Clarity is Love: Jermaine Ee's Mission to Transform Estate Planning Through Connection

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with Curveball. If you believe, you can achieve.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire. Today's guest is Jermaine E. He is a serial entrepreneur with humanitarian project spanning the world. He is the founder of Air Light. And this is a guided estate planning platform with the powerful belief that clarity is love. And Jermaine decided to develop this platform after a deeply personal loss, the loss of his mother, and he is here to help people prepare for life's most important conversations to help people prepare for uncertainty and also to help people help their loved ones prepare for the future. So, Jermaine, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Sure. Will I like to introduce myself as a brother, a son, and a girlfri uh and a boyfriend. And the reason why I like to say that is because I like to remind myself to be present in those roles of my life. Everything else is secondary. And what I'm building today is a reflection of who I am as a person. Airlight started as a story, as a conversation that I had with my mom. And it turned into somewhat of a legacy project for me. It's an accumulation of all that I've worked on in my 20s and the relationship I've built in my early 30s. And so I feel that things are more aligned now than ever before. And it's a great feeling to be living this way. Tell us about the platform that you decided to uh found uh and and uh what it's all about and the circumstances surrounding that so my mom came to the United States in the early 80s, late 70s, early 80s, and she went to Oklahoma, uh, and she met my father there, who came from the same country. So in their entire life, they essentially have played one role and one role only. My mom only cared about being a really good mother, and so all her focus was on making money and saving it to take care of her kids. So as we get older, I realize I wanted to get to know her more. I wanted to help her check off the bucket list that she has accumulated. I wanted to take her to places that she's dreamt about, she's talked about, but just never thought of taking the time to do those things. So one day we were having lunch outside of our office. I asked her, Why do you keep working? Because if I had to guess, you've probably made the last dollar that you need in this lifetime. And what I realized from this conversation, after prying a little bit more, is that she has this fear of running out of money before she dies. And it's a fear that I think is so relatable to many. But it's a fear that is rooted not in having not enough, but rather from having lack of clarity. And so I built a very simple chatbot to talk to her. And months go by, the chatbot asks her questions such as, how many bank accounts do you have? As well as, what was your favorite song when you were 18 years old? Or what is one place you've always wanted to visit that you've been putting off. And when I look at the things that she told this AI chatbot, I realized that because I knew who she cared about and the things that she cared about, I was able to make an estate plan for her. And so that's how the app was born in the first place. And now in the coming months, I created a bunch of features and you know, it started, I started working with lawyers to make sure that this entire thing was legal, and it is legal in 16 states now across the United States. But one of the side effects that I realized with this app is that as the app is talking to my mom, interviewing my mom, I got to shine a light on the things that we don't usually talk about. And I found out a few things. For one, I found out that she really wanted to go back to Oklahoma to see how things have changed in 40 years. And so, if it wasn't for me working on this project, I wouldn't have found out about these things. And months later, uh, we planned a trip to Oklahoma. We flew in, we rented a car, we drove around, and we tried to visit these places that she talked about all these years. These places that only existed in stories for me, uh as a as a grown-up child, 33 at the time. And we found ourselves driving around town, chasing this nostalgia that no longer exists anymore. The buildings were gone, you know, it's it's been developed. And of the things that we remembered, we couldn't quite paint a picture of how it was at 40 years ago. But there was one thing that was still there. It was a Burger King in Edmund, Oklahoma. So in one of the main streets there, still standing to this day. It was remodeled, so it looks pretty nice, it looks new. So I rolled the camera, we got off the car, and we walked in there. And I told my mom, hey mom, why don't you order exactly what you did 40 years ago when you first arrived in this country? It was her first meal in the United States. So she walked up to the counter with my dad and she ordered a chicken sandwich. Right before she ate the chicken sandwich, I told her to walk me through what was she thinking back in those days? Why why do you why did you leave your family when it was so comfortable? Why did you leave everything behind in Malaysia? For what? For higher pay? Or you know, the American dream, what did it mean to her at the time? And she said, she paused and she said, Before I tell you that, I need to cut the sandwich in half. Because 40 years ago, when I sat here, I did the mental calculation of what it costs in my local currency, and I realized that this sandwich was too expensive, and I had to save the half for dinner. And as she was doing that, she took a pause and she you know looked at her two sons with her, and she realized how far she came in this journey. And she told us jokingly that I'm so happy that I can I can eat 10 sandwiches if I wanted to now. Um my mom, a few months after that, she passed away from a stroke. It was a sudden, unexpected death. And as as I think back to my journey of building this app, I think about this feeling of helping my mom feel seen while she's alive, helping her bring out these stories that has been kept and put away just because life gets busy. It's not that we don't care, but life kind of catches us by surprise, and before you know it, we've gone too long without realizing that people around us are growing up as we are and living life for the first time as we are, and experiencing aging for the first time, as we all are. And so, what this app really symbolizes is a reminder to me, and as you mentioned in the intro, that clarity is love in practical form.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

So, you know that people often put off things. We we often put off things that we know know that we need to get done sooner than later. So talk about what why you feel it is that people you know feel like we have more time than we really do, so we just kind of put off stuff.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

I think things that are abstract are easy to delay. And there is very few things more abstract than death itself. When we think of the concept of death, you know, the people who have urgency around it or around life typically comes from a place where they've recently experienced death, someone like me. And I think it's true for many things in our life. You know, life insurance, health checkup. Right? We we think mostly, especially if someone's young, that I'm probably not gonna die tomorrow, and my health is probably fine. I'm young. And so we put this off for a very long time until we no longer have the option to. And part of what our goal is to do, is to switch the conversation, not to make death less abstract, but to instead focus on the benefits of reflecting on these topics. Because honestly, estate planning and life insurance and all these common topics that people put behind, I believe it's just very poorly marketed. Because why are we focusing on deaf when we can focus on life? The benefits that we get by going through a journey like this to talk about these things, all the benefits that we can get today, not when we're dead.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Well, I know how you often talk about people's calendars, reflect what they truly value. So give some practical tips how a person can stop living on autopilot and start living more intentionally.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

You know, I've got a fun example from last night. This literally happened last night, where I was standing in a group of a few men at a investor meeting, investor meetup. And the purpose of this event is to socialize and get to know each other. And I'm I'm the young guy in the room, I'm I'm hungry, I'm eager. And I've had this conversation with these four gentlemen. One just had a child, and two were older and more successful objectively. And I I asked them, both of them, I say, it sounds like you guys have had a lot of success in your last deal, right? You've made a lot of money. What keeps you going? Like, why are you still here at 11 p.m. on a Thursday night? And they didn't give me a very good answer. But when they left, um I totally I look to the guy who has a child, has recently had a child, and I say, you know, one thing I realize in this room is that there's a lot of people richer than me, but I have something that these people don't have, which is I have enough. It kind of goes back to your original question here, which is oftentimes, you know, because of the way we live in the West, in this materialistic society, keeping up the Joneses, uh, we we forget to align sometimes what we're anchoring our ambitions to, our dreams, and at what costs, what opportunity costs, and what time costs, or relationship costs that is uh taking us away from what truly matters. And so I often tell people, you know, one of the one of the coolest things you can do, forget your calendar. One of the coolest things you can do is to pull up your bank account, print it, encircle the the things that made you feel good on your bank statement, and cross out some of those that didn't make you feel good. Make note of it. You know, there are things that are necessary. You've got to pay for your car insurance, you gotta pay for your healthcare things and your electrical bills. I'm sure it doesn't always feel good, but that's life. But if your bank statement is anywhere like mine, there's probably a few dinners where you know you attended and you thought, I I didn't need to do that. Uh what did I what did I buy that new uh jewelry for? You know, uh is that purely out of the fear of missing out or does it really serve me? And I love this exercise because on it's beyond calendar. Your bank statement is the true tell of what you value.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Well, I know that it it's day planning can be difficult because you know it forces you to discuss death, illness in the future. So talk about how families can create this discussion without introducing fear, tension, or anxiety.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Yeah, it is a very complicated topic because different cultures have different perceptions and beliefs about it. Um, you know, interestingly enough, the younger generation, the Gen Zs and Gen Alphas are more casual about the topic of death. And my my guess is that it's because they've gone through so many once-in-a-lifetime catastrophic crises in their life, and so they're a little bit desensitized to the topic of death. I think the best place to start really is to look inward, is to know where you are and where you stand, is to reflect for yourself first before jumping into a conversation with your family. Because I think oftentimes death shouldn't be the focus. Life should be the focus. Right? It's it's the it's the good old saying of how could you possibly know where you're going unless you know where you are today? And estate planning doesn't have to be about death, it has more to do with let's figure out where we are today so that we can together define what is enough in our lifetime, but also to figure out where we're going from here. And if we change our mindset, the perception around this, then I think the conversation shifts for most people.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Well, I know that you you are able to get answers from people even when you know you don't have a direct path into their world. So talk about a story that that you might recall that involved an unreasonable ass and and opened doors for you.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Yeah, I've done a lot of this throughout my career. You know, I at some point I wanted to go into politics and and the reason is because I thought the world lacked empathy, and I didn't want to you know constantly live in a world where I'm I'm building more things to make more money, to accumulate more wealth. And I wanted to understand how the war worked. And I always thought the best way to do something and learn something is to be as close as possible to the people who are doing it. And I found this gentleman by the name of John Chung. Uh, like me, he's an Asian American guy who started off with humble beginnings in this country and eventually made his way to become the treasurer of California. And so I found him. I found I heard of him online and I cold emailed everyone in his staff and made an unreasonable ask, which is I wanted to work close to him. And I'd do anything to be a fly in the ball. Carry his packs, grab water, you name it. Um, this unreasonable ass opened up a pretty crazy experience for me. We uh ran in a California governor's campaign against the current governor of California. I was running around the state and the country raising money, and and for the first time in my life, I had to stand up for something that I believe in. Uh, in politics, you know, we you're you're required to do that. You're supposed to pitch to the public uh why you, and also to defend your choices and sometimes your track records. I think a lot about this topic as I come into the space of estate planning, because I'm not a lawyer, right? I am someone who has a good reason, a good story to be building this app, but I'm certainly not an expert. But the unreasonable ask that I've been making to attorneys, you know, is to come along with this journey because 70% of Americans don't have an estate plan. And what is available today just is not working. And so we ought to push the limits of what is available in technology to actually make a difference in the industry. And so I've been making unreasonable ask for people to come along on this journey, to have this difficult conversation from all sorts of angles, be it parents with adult children, new homeowners, new parents, and people like me who just lost a loved one, to approach this conversation with courage and uh share their stories. And it's been very inspiring so far.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Well, I know that you've also done humanitarian projects spanning the world. So you want to talk to the listeners a little bit about the humanitarian projects you've participated in?

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Yeah, I've been lucky enough to have been in places where I felt the kindness of the world, uh, at least the kindness to strangers. When I was 17 years old, my my mom decided to uh put a credit card down and pay for me to go on a humanitarian trip to help build an orphanage uh south of the border in Mexico. And I think it was one of the first times that I realized, you know, I may not have a lot, but I certainly have enough energy and maybe a little bit of savings to make a pretty big impact in a stranger's life. And in return, I get to, you know, feel empowered and feel a contribution beyond just myself. So three weeks ago, I was in Kyiv in Ukraine. And most of the reason for me being there is because my partner is Ukrainian, and so we went to visit her family. But the other part of it is we we're currently in the process of sourcing uh window panels and doors to help the elderly in Ukraine rebuild their homes, because as of this point, the war is getting worse, and many of them have lost electricity, and winter is coming. And when I see suffering, no fault of their own, completely. By circumstances that it's totally out of control, having a neighbor who um believes in war and believes in invading countries. I see the resilience of people to focus on what actually matters in life, which is uh family, faith, which is the belief that we can't control things that are out of our control, but what we can do is counter blessings and keep going. And here I am sitting in Los Angeles with blue skies and sunny day, no missiles in the sky. I think to myself often, you know, this is the lottery that I've won. And that's what the humanitarian projects I've worked on has given to me, which is this gift of perspective.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Well, I know uh airlight was created with technology, guided technology and a co-pilot AI. So what problem were you looking to solve that existing solutions weren't? And you know what um what were you trying to accomplish that you saw basically that existing platforms were not the number one competition we have is procrastination.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

The tools out there that's available today, they work. They all work. Well, most of them. What doesn't work is, you know, when someone is busy, a new parent, just had their first child, working two jobs, going back from maternity leave on a Wednesday night, making their dinner, and they're sitting in front of their computers, they know they have to make an estate plan. They gotta name the guardian and the custodian of who will take care of this precious little baby they just brought into life. And then they get to question number 15 and 17 and 25, and they're thinking to themselves, you know, we're probably not gonna die today. Why don't we do this next week? And that next week turns into next month, and that is the biggest challenge of the industry. So, what we're solving here is to use what is available, beautiful designs and the AI conversations to understand our users and help them remind them and make it a conversation about what matters to them. So when users come into our app, the first thing we ask them is, why are you here? And we want you to name a few people you care about, uh, maybe some pets that you care about. And we use those information to remind you from time to time to get you to the finish line. Uh, that's primarily what makes us different from all the other things that are out there.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Well, when most people think about estate planning, they think about property savings or inheritance. But what is the most important thing you think families should leave behind that doesn't involve money?

SPEAKER_02 26:45

I think the most important thing that that people should leave behind that isn't money is their why. Why why did my mom make that decision to leave her home and travel 8,000 miles across the world? Um what was it about that American dream that attracted her? I think this why informs the people that we love the meaning that we give our own lives. And in turn, my mom's story has inspired me to build an entire company in her honor. It's also inspired me to realize that the blessings that I've been that I've been given, and also to give back and to do keep doing good and to be kind to others. I think sometimes when we focus too much on ourselves, we we get anxious because it's all about the me. It's what do I want? What can I get? But by sharing these stories, we help the people we love realize that there's so much more in life that we can do in service of others and to give some meaning to it. And I think that's one of the most beautiful things that our users have created on our app. You know, I've I have a I have a user who uh who works in healthcare. And one of the questions, she reached out to me to share the story because one of the questions that she was prompted is to was to leave a love story, a love note for a husband. And she told me that between residency and graduating nursing school and working, she had forgotten to thank her husband for supporting her through her entire nursing school journey. And I think if anything, this app is a way to stop us at our tracks and say, let's slow down a little bit, right? Let's let's think about the things that we say is important to us and document some of them and share it with the people we love. I think that is the most beautiful thing uh that that uh the app has done so far.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Well, I know that um the platform that you created has encouraged families to have conversations that they most likely would have avoided. But what is the bigger dream you're working towards and w what do you hope uh people will say about how you live your life and the impact you made when it's all over with?

SPEAKER_02 29:44

You know, I used to think that legacy is this incredible thing that we all should achieve to leave something great behind. But as I watch my mother and my idol, the late great Kobe Bryan, as I watch them depart earth in the past few years and see that the world keeps moving on, I often think to myself, you know, who am I? How big does my ego have to be to think that I am going to create something that people will remember forever? And so my my journey now has brought me to a place where, you know, back to how I introduced myself today, at my funeral, my life would have been successful if my brothers, my sister, my dad, my future wife and look at each other and say, Jermaine was present when he was with us. And that's all that I strive for, just to be present.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to be aware of.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

Well, a little bit on the side and fun note, I'm I'm headed to Day of the Dead in Mexico, so I'm really excited about that. But I've been on top of doing podcasting, I've been posting a little bit on YouTube capturing stories of my life. And you know, I I think of it as I'm making these videos for my future kids to see. Because gosh, do I wish I have some cool YouTube videos from my parents' early days for me to watch? So I'm doing it for my kids in the future. So if my future child is listening to this, you're welcome. Um, Erolite is is on a roll. You know, we're in 16 states now. We're in both the iPhone and the Android store. We're looking to keep going. We want to cover as many states as we possibly can. And uh that is what is driving me. That's what's keeping me really excited about life and very glad that I get to wake up every day and work on something that feels so aligned with my mission as a as a person.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

Well, some people can keep up with everything that you're up to. The like your contact info.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Yeah, I'm also very easy to find online. Uh, I'm named after Jermaine Jackson, the Jackson 5. Could be a cousin of yours, Curtis. But I'm named after Jermaine Jackson because my parents uh love the Jackson 5, and they uh thought their first American-born child should be named after the big brother Jermaine. And my last name is spelled two E's. So if you just find Jermaine E anywhere on the internet, you'll find me.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

Gotcha. And so you don't have a website, it's just uh they need to type in airlight into the uh Android or Apple store.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

Yeah, Apple store, Android store is H-E-I-R-L-I-G-H-T. You can also go to download.airite.com and it'll lead you to the Apple store of your device.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

Okay. We'll close this out with some final thoughts, maybe if that was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on. Uh any final thoughts you have for the listeners.

SPEAKER_02 33:05

No, I think, you know, when we when we go through life and we often stop and think, oh gosh, wow, it's already October, time flies. Uh I would like to challenge that because I think oftentimes it isn't that time flies, it's that we forget that we we did a lot and we don't give ourselves credits for it. So if you want to pick up a new habit, this is something that I do. Uh I I write down one thing that I did every day in just a random journal. And as you look back at it, you'll realize actually, yeah, time didn't fly. I did a whole lot of things. I just we just forget about them. And also helps us appreciate the the little things in life a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

Right, ladies and gentlemen, download.com or just type in airlight into your favorite app store, Android or iPhone, and go download that app. Uh, we all need to get our affairs in order, whether we want to or not, because we never know what tomorrow might bring. So please follow rate review and share this episode to everybody. This this uh applies to pretty much everybody. Uh, we all need to get uh the estate so people know what they need to do when we leave here because we definitely don't want to keep it up up to the court. And also to keep up with all things live in the dream and know when we release a new episode. A lot of times we release bonus episodes. If you haven't done so, visit www.curveball337.com. And please be sure to share the website and the show to everybody that you know. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Jermaine, thank you for all that you do for this app and for your humanitarian projects around the world. And thank you for joining me.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, visit www.curveball337.com. Until next time, keep living the dream.