It is one thing to have a dream, but it is certainly another thing to build a life around all of your dreams. Some of the most powerful and most influential people in the world have often said that it takes hard work, self-discipline and an insane amount of determination to become great and do great things. Mary Boyde says, “It takes God.”
A native of Washington, D.C, now residing in Atlanta, Georgia, Mary Louella Boyde grew up knowing she was different – not in the way most would think, but early on she answered a calling that would later not only set her apart from that which was deemed normal, but it would also prove that she was created different to make a difference. The call became abundantly clear at Howard University, where her studies in Electrical Engineering were interrupted by her entrepreneurial spirit and her passion for helping women. Tired of seeing women undervalue themselves and not live in their purpose, Mary dedicated her life to helping women reach beyond who they think they are and became a self-titled, Reposition Specialist and Empowerment Speaker. Her mission is to help and support women that are tired of living everyone else’s life and are ready to live in their own purpose and live out their passion through the gifts that God has given them.
As a CEO of Mary L. Boyde Enterprises, and having been an entrepreneur for more than 20 years, she also runs several businesses including Heavenly Hands Catering & Bakery, a homebased baking and catering company, I Live For Vacations, a professional travel agency, Kingdom Traders, a financial literacy trading company, and I AM Tees, an empowerment apparel company just to name a few.
However, her most recent endeavor, becoming the founder of the Breaking Chains Private Cooperative(BCPC), is by far one of her greatest accomplishments that is definitely falling in line with her destiny to make a difference. Her story is inspiring and motivating.
At the beginning of 2020, when most of us were dealing with the implications of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Mary had a vision. A God vision to create a new Black Wall Street across nations, uplifting and supporting the African American community by redefining cooperative economics within the community. In the midst of a global pandemic, unemployment, economic uncertainty, racism and even death – Mary saw a solution, a divinely -inspired effort to help motivate, educate, and empower the African American community, that started with a group of less than 30 people.
“African Americans, especially our ancestors, have always participated in cooperative economics in some way shape or form. It’s about coming together, collectively to support each other individually and as a whole, by not only sharing resources, but developing and sharing our own ideas and creating our own capitalism within our community. But that can only be accomplished with a specific mindset, a wealth-oriented mindset and a success mentality.”
Mary set out to build a community of like-minded, reliable and trustworthy people who would accept the challenge of becoming better and doing better for themselves, their families and their community, which is unapologetically stated in her vision statement; To boldly and confidently create a continuous, self-supporting, wealth-building platform that enables every man, woman and child to become socially and economically self-motivated, self-educated and self-empowered to break the proverbial chains of generational curses.
Fast forward to just six months later and over 15,000 members, the Breaking Chains Private Cooperative is now a close-knit, family-oriented, self-sustaining and wealth building environment that is carrying out Mary’s mission to engage a community of family and friends in cooperative economics and shared wealth by supporting one another through motivation, financial education, wealth generation, debt elimination and tax minimization. However, she also advocates the understanding of the responsibility of generosity.
“It’s not enough to just come together, to learn together , to work together and build together. What is most important is how we give together. How we transfer our knowledge, transfer our resources, and give to others by sowing our time, our talents and our money into those who need our help, especially to break the chains of poverty and learn how to create wealth for the next generations to come.”
In their weekly presentations, Mary and the BCPC team often share alarming statistics regarding the economic disparages in the African American community and she often compares them to other ethnic communities. For the most part, members and guest alike, often gasp at the fact that African Americans are one of the largest consumer groups and spend billions of dollars on products and services outside of their community, largely causing the African American dollar to only stay within its community an average of six hours compared to other ethnic groups where the dollar circulates anywhere from 6-28 days within their respective communities. That’s a huge problem for Mary.
Like so many other African American leaders who have made it their life’s mission to eradicate the economic disadvantages that their community experiences, BCPC is being positioned to help center those issues as well. The Breaking Chains Private Cooperative is based on three main concepts: Shared Wealth and Works, Economic Self-Reliance and the Responsibility of Generosity.
Mary’s heart for people in general, and her community fueled her passion to start this movement, this journey to rebuild Black Wall Street that was once created as a support system that fostered community, safety and economic support in Black communities and businesses. Her dream of building a community network led to her creating Breaking Chains, a multidimensional platform that has created access to resources, education, and financial support. Her leadership style has influenced thousands to join and she does not take that lightly and values the input and participation of each member. As a thought leader she puts the overall well-being of the collective group first when developing programs and seeking strategic partnerships that will benefit each member.
“I see the Breaking Chains cooperative as a big family, and my team and I treat them as such. We have our brothers and sisters, our cousins, we have our aunties and uncles. But we also operate the cooperative as a business. Everything must be implemented and executed in decency and in order. We must also grow mentally, spiritually, physically, emotionally and even intellectually. You must take responsibility for yourself and for your own education. We want everyone to be self-empowered, self-educated and self-motivated to create wealth and we provide the resources for our family to be able to do that. To literally break chains. The name Breaking Chains was given to me by God. I was speaking to a member about changing the name and God told me that we are breaking the chains of poverty. Not just financial poverty, but poverty of the mind and replacing it with joy, peace and everything Kingdom!”
BCPC has over a dozen programs that support its members on their journey to personal freedom, financial freedom, economic empowerment and wealth including a Co-op Business Directory, B.R.I.D.G.E.S. (Bringing Real Investments During Global Economic Seasons) an investment arm, the Eden Project ( a financial support arm), BEES (Black Economic Empowerment System) and the WINDS Wealth Academy, an educational platform providing courses and seminars on economic wealth and development. There is also a weekly member empowerment session called Co-op Talks and even a BCPC Scholarship Fund to support the youth, the future leaders of tomorrow.
Mary is very strong in her faith. She values relationships and connection and has purposely cultivated an environment where not only members can thrive, but leadership thrives as well. As a community, everyone feels connected and there is a strong bond that keeps it together as members are given the opportunity to share their ideas, their gifts and their talents and bring their creativity to the table that literally and figuratively feeds the collective – thus redefining cooperative economics.
Having accomplished many things in her lifetime, Mary refuses to believe that adversities should define who we are. Mary is extremely passionate about helping people & organizations to reach their full potential and she believes that if we choose to see our own value and use it to help others, we can become a greater nation. The answer is in YOU. Her motto is…
“There is no such thing as failure. You succeed in learning something from every experience. I stand on my favorite scripture which is Philippians 4:13, so I know that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. My other motto I surely live by is, “I DON’T UNDERSTAND CRAZY NOR WILL I TRY!”
For the most part, great leaders often make great sacrifices. As they walk in their purpose, their calling can take them away from family and friends, sometimes leaving them to walk certain paths alone as they carry out the vision. On the contrary, Mary does not feel that way. She has always been surrounded by those she feels were divinely chosen to take this journey with her. She refuses to dwell on negativity and chooses to see obstacles as opportunities…and most importantly she doesn’t believe in balance, only maintaining harmony between her personal and professional life. And it helps that she is an ultra-extrovert and loves to socialize with friends when she is not doing what she loves most of all – cruising!
As a wife, a mother, a sister and friend, Mary’s first ministry is her family, which is her “WHY.” Its why she works hard to make a difference, ensuring that she leaves a legacy for not just her son, but for his children’s children.
Her belief that there is no such thing as failure has greatly and positively impacted those around her. As she continues to speak life into others and impact her growing community, Mary is looked upon as a visionary, motivator and encourager. So what does the future hold for this visionary, Mary L. Boyde?
“Only God knows!!! I have learned to allow him to lead me. But what I can tell you is…GREATER IS COMING!”