Tracey Syphax tapped as keynote speaker for Free Black History Month Panel

Tracey Syphax, Author/Entrepreneur/President & CEO of Phax Group LLC, a multi-million dollar real estate development company, will be part of a Black History Month panel discussion on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 2 p.m. The virtual event and Q&A session are sponsored by New York City-based Ready Capital, a commercial mortgage REIT that specializes in commercial real estate loans and is a leading provider of capital to small businesses through the U.S. SBA 7(a) loan program and the USDA OneRD Initiative.

Syphax was formerly incarcerated in his youth, and rebounded not just as an individual, but as a nationally recognized voice in reentry advocacy. Despite decades of successful real estate entrepreneurship, becoming an award-winning author and documentary contributor, a 2014 President Obama “White House Champion of Change,” and receiving a pardon by NJ Governor Chris Christie in 2017, Syphax still could not easily access small business financing. In 2023 he aimed to purchase Booker’s Restaurant and Bar, an established Philadelphia restaurant with his wife, Cheri, a highly successful business consultant and sales director, and it took a dedicated team at Ready Capital to get their deal done.

“Ready Capital helped us secure the SBA $2.5 million loan to acquire the restaurant, but that deal almost fell through because the SBA wanted me to go back to the 1980s and provide proof that my criminal drug charges were adjudicated in the courts – which was an impossible task,” explained Tracey. “The firm went above and beyond to work with the SBA to get my loan approved. If they hadn’t gone the extra mile, that deal would have been dead and the 58 employees we provide paychecks for would be out of jobs.”

As part of the panel discussion, Syphax will talk about the unique financial challenges faced by African Americans; key steps to sustaining generational wealth; tools, resources, and community programs that are available; how entrepreneurship can serve as a pathway to building wealth and creating generational legacies in the African American community.

To learn more about Tracey Syphax, please visit https://traceysyphax.com.