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Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host Coley Witt, and today we have very

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Speaker 1: special guest, Blake van Putton in the building. Did I

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Speaker 1: say that right?

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Speaker 2: You did?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I did say that right, owner, founder, creator of fashion

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Speaker 1: house brand Sice is in the building.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, So I'm.

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Speaker 1: Really excited to have you. I feel like I did

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Speaker 1: the grocery shopping guys, so I know what he's making

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Speaker 1: us is extremely healthy and budget friendly. Yes, so go ahead.

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Speaker 1: What are you going to have me eating today?

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Speaker 2: So today we have overnight oats, very very basic. But

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Speaker 2: the good part about it is you can get as

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Speaker 2: specific and as curated as you want, depending on your

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Speaker 2: budget and how many you're trying to make.

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Speaker 1: Oh I thought this was like a yogurt parfe or something.

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Speaker 2: It is it is. So. The way it is is

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Speaker 2: it has a liquid base which is going to be

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Speaker 2: like the oat milk and everything that's in it, and

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Speaker 2: then has the oatmeals that absorb it. Then you top

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Speaker 2: it with whatever types of like food and everything that

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Speaker 2: you want on top of it. So you could get

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Speaker 2: as intricate as you want, you could get as basic

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Speaker 2: as you want.

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Speaker 1: I'm nervous about this dish. But is this now? Is

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Speaker 1: this considered vegan? No?

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Speaker 2: Huh because of the Greek yogurt. It could be depending

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Speaker 2: on your ingredients. But I was using what I had

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Speaker 2: in my kitchen.

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Speaker 1: Okay, And you ate this when you were broken?

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: See, I was like talking smack when I was buying this.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 1: I was actually shopping with my dad, and I was like,

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Speaker 1: I called bullshit. I called bullshit. He was eating this

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Speaker 1: at a Mason Jars, Like, come on, man. But then

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Speaker 1: I was driving and I was like, you know, technically

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Speaker 1: it could be considered broke because your oats, your honey,

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Speaker 1: your chi seeds, they're the staple, right, And I'm guessing

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Speaker 1: oat milk doesn't go bad because it wasn't in refrigerated section,

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Speaker 1: So the only moving parts of this dish that you

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Speaker 1: would have to rotate out would be the fruit and

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Speaker 1: the yogurt. So technically, i'm guessing based on this this

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Speaker 1: this dish costs me about forty five dollars, guys, and

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Speaker 1: that included the Mason jars. So typically I'm guessing this

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Speaker 1: could be your breakfast for at least a week, and

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Speaker 1: it would probably run you about twelve dollars if you

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Speaker 1: already have the staple ingredients.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and for a lot of it. You have a

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Speaker 2: lot of this stuff at home. A majority of people

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Speaker 2: have well my assasion, they have honey, they have oats,

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Speaker 2: they've got some type of like milk or anything like that.

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Speaker 2: Any milk work, yeah, any milk can work. I just

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Speaker 2: like oat milkause it's a little easier on my stomach.

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Speaker 2: But I've used almond milk. I've used two percent and

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Speaker 2: anything that's good. And then, just like I was saying before,

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Speaker 2: as you want to curate it, make it more special.

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Speaker 2: You can make it high protein by putting protein powder

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Speaker 2: in it. You can add a lot of stuff. And

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Speaker 2: then Mason jars. You could just get them from like

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Speaker 2: the dollar store. The fruits are nice.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you can get everythingle all right, But when you

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Speaker 4: make these at home, do you make them like on

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Speaker 4: the spot, like when you're making cereal, or do you

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Speaker 4: like have these in your fridge?

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Speaker 2: Why the mason jar? So, the mason jar is good

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Speaker 2: because it kind of ferments it, right you. I usually

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Speaker 2: make them the night before, so planning a lot of them,

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Speaker 2: I'll do my meal prep for the week. So I'll

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Speaker 2: make probably about five or six of these in one

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Speaker 2: in one go, So it's really really easy to make.

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Speaker 1: But that's not the night before. If it's like, you.

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Speaker 2: Can still make it like really quickly. It's just the

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Speaker 2: flavor absorbs into the oatmeal the longer you wait, so

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Speaker 2: it could be really dense and kind of just not

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Speaker 2: as hard to eat if you're just like really in

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Speaker 2: a quick like punch. But you can also make it

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Speaker 2: and plant it out, so the meal that you make

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Speaker 2: that night before three days later would be even better

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Speaker 2: and even sweeter from like the fruits and like the

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Speaker 2: honeys and stuff that absorb into it the longer you wait.

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Speaker 1: I'm just genuinely curious if you make it, say I'm

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Speaker 1: I'm like, I love this dish. It's fantastic. I'm going

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Speaker 1: to make these at home. And I like to meal

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Speaker 1: prep on Sundays. I'm a huge meal prepper. Okay, yeah,

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Speaker 1: but my whole thing is consistency. Like if I make

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Speaker 1: this on a Sunday and I go and eat it

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Speaker 1: on a Wednesday, is everything going to be like mushy

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Speaker 1: and slimy?

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Speaker 2: It depends if you go and put fruit in it

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Speaker 2: and stuff, Like the fruit eventually can start to get

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Speaker 2: like mushy and things. I'm the type of person that

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Speaker 2: I can make something on Sunday and eat the same

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Speaker 2: dish over and over and over and over. Yeah, if

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Speaker 2: you want to make sure it's not like a crazy consistency,

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Speaker 2: you can always put like the fruit in at the end.

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Speaker 2: So when you're about to eat it, maybe just like

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Speaker 2: Garners shit and put it on, you're going to.

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Speaker 1: Say the milk was gonna make it nasty. All right,

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Speaker 1: let's how to make it. I'm excited, Mason jars out.

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Speaker 1: All right, what's the first ingredient?

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Speaker 2: So the first ingredient? You want to put the liquid

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Speaker 2: in first. A lot of people put the oats in first,

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Speaker 2: but I find that it absorbs easier when you start

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Speaker 2: off with the liquid. So, okay, we got the oat milk.

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Speaker 2: Care show me how it's done.

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Speaker 1: You're making two by the.

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Speaker 2: Way, Okay, perfect one's going to be all I display take.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna shoot pictures with it because I'm probably gonna

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Speaker 1: like this dish and be like this is amazing. All right,

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Speaker 1: So we got the oat milk. For the oat milk

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Speaker 1: how much?

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Speaker 2: So we do like half a cup like.

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Speaker 1: Big Mason Jars so use the little ones at home.

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Speaker 2: I used the little cheap ones that I just got

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Speaker 2: because I got like fifty of them. I've got I

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Speaker 2: don't know, I don't.

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Speaker 1: Because they were selling the little ones at rouse and

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Speaker 1: they were so cute and I was like, we should

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Speaker 1: totally get it. But it was like sixteen bucks and

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Speaker 1: these Mason jars were.

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Speaker 2: Three and I was like, Yeah, the funny thing about

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Speaker 2: it is you get so many and then you eventually

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Speaker 2: lose the lids and you eventually like lose them and

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Speaker 2: put them different places. Yeah, so this is just kind

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Speaker 2: of one of those things where you have a whole

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Speaker 2: bunch but you kind of don't know where they came from,

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Speaker 2: and as long as they're all the same size, you're

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Speaker 2: good to go.

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Speaker 1: So all right, so we're not going to fill these

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Speaker 1: Mason jars ideal?

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Speaker 2: No, absolutely not. So it says the measurements on it,

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Speaker 2: which is also like a cool little hack. I eyeball

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Speaker 2: stuff in general, but I use pretty much half a cup,

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Speaker 2: so it's like a two to one ratio. So the

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Speaker 2: oatmeal is going on cups today. No, I'm not eyeballing, No.

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Speaker 1: No, no, you eat this still to this day or.

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Speaker 2: No, sometimes no my stomach for a lot of the

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Speaker 2: most part is I've done a lot more stuff of

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Speaker 2: being more gluten free and more considerate of it as

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Speaker 2: opposed to before I could just kind of have the

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Speaker 2: same thing every single day. So I have to be

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Speaker 2: a little bit more intentional with what I'm prepping so you.

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Speaker 1: Can be like, okay, yeah, have fun. Yeah all right.

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Speaker 1: So what was going on in the time of Mason

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Speaker 1: jar are cereal whatever be called? Second you add this

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Speaker 1: milk to it, I'm I'm nervous. I thought this was

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Speaker 1: gonna be a.

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Speaker 2: Part fait it kind is at heart right During this time,

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Speaker 2: I was I was starting my business up, and I'm

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Speaker 2: very as you probably know, like when you start your

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Speaker 2: business up, you're very hard on yourself. Where all the

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Speaker 2: money goes in that you're making right back into the

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Speaker 2: business exactly. So I wasn't investing a lot of it

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Speaker 2: into anything else aside from strictly the business and the brand.

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Speaker 2: So I didn't have that extra time where I was

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Speaker 2: going to the grocery store. I go to the grocery

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Speaker 2: store a whole bunch of times a week now, but

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Speaker 2: before I was just what do I have on my

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Speaker 2: pantry for a couple a week I do. I go twice.

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Speaker 2: I go twice, but it's mainly because I forget to

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Speaker 2: get everything the first time.

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Speaker 1: Yeah ye.

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Speaker 2: So nowadays, uh, I'll just go and I have a

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Speaker 2: lot of this stuff at the house, so it's fine

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Speaker 2: and it's easy to just put together. But when I

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Speaker 2: was building my business out, I wasn't getting any haircuts.

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Speaker 2: I wasn't like going outside.

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Speaker 1: I was just as lovely as you do today.

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Speaker 2: Oh man. I was just strictly just deoderant, deodorant in lotion.

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Speaker 2: That's that's all.

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Speaker 1: I that's right.

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Speaker 2: You know what.

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Speaker 1: I have a rule on every company I own, because

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Speaker 1: I've been an entrepreneur since I was nineteen, especially after

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Speaker 1: my first company, I don't take on my second company.

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Speaker 1: I don't take a paycheck until year three. I make

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Speaker 1: it a rule, absolutely not, and year three the company

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Speaker 1: has to have a really nice cash flow to budget

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Speaker 1: for the year.

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Speaker 2: I like that rule.

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Speaker 1: Okay, if I can't cover all the expenses without another

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Speaker 1: dime coming in for the year, then absolutely not.

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Speaker 2: In my pulling.

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Speaker 1: And when I say a paycheck, I mean like it

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Speaker 1: can pay the mortgage.

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Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: It's not paying for anything outside of like mortgage, gas car,

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Speaker 1: you know, and then you know, typically year three and four,

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Speaker 1: by four or five, you start to see, oh, she

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Speaker 1: has a little bit of money, I'm saying, But yet

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Speaker 1: I feel like cash flow is the king and the

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Speaker 1: life and death of a company. So definitely, like you're

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Speaker 1: pretty much working with like a side hustle and your business.

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Speaker 1: But your side hustle is like a full time job,

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Speaker 1: and your business is a full time job, and your

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Speaker 1: lover and your boyfriend and your cousin and your whatever,

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Speaker 1: there is no life. When I meet people that are

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Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and like I volunteer, I'm like, yeah, you're not

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Speaker 1: there yet. You're not there yet, So pour some oats

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Speaker 1: in this because we are going to eat.

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Speaker 2: During the episode.

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Speaker 1: So the next thing is oats. So you're building SI

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Speaker 1: Sprand how long has SIS been around?

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Speaker 2: Has been around for four and a half years right now, geez.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And to your point earlier, I think it's important to

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Speaker 2: note that I am the same way when it comes

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Speaker 2: to like paying myself for the business, because I would

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Speaker 2: hate to be in a position where the business tanks

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Speaker 2: because of my personal wants. When it comes down to

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Speaker 2: like a paycheck before, just like waiting that investment in

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Speaker 2: the future. Right, So if I knew that I was

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Speaker 2: out going getting something crazy to eat for dinner and

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Speaker 2: bawling out the first couple of years, year three, we're

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Speaker 2: no longer able to stay afloat. It's because of those

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Speaker 2: personal reasons. I just like to kind of thug it out.

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Speaker 2: Just make sure we keep your head low, keep the

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Speaker 2: costs low, and you also get creative. You might start

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Speaker 2: off and say, hey, I want to sell a couple

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Speaker 2: of items, but then you find out that you completely pivot,

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Speaker 2: which is yeah, if that's what our brand did. We

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Speaker 2: started with T shirts and hoodies, and then we eventually

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Speaker 2: hand back.

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Speaker 1: Oh okay, you started there, Okay exactly. Now you can multitest.

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Speaker 1: You can do this every time. Every time he starts talking, y'all,

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Speaker 1: he's like, he puts down the oats, and I'm like, no,

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Speaker 1: we still got to eat on this show. It's okay.

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Speaker 1: If you make a mess, I am the being. I'm

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Speaker 1: like the I clean kitchens, I do the groceries, I

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Speaker 1: wash the fruit.

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Speaker 2: Got it.

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Speaker 1: But another reason why I think it's important to skip

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Speaker 1: payroll is one, yes, you're talking pivots, but two. There's

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Speaker 1: nothing worse than having someone that is working for you

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Speaker 1: and they're not really making the adequate money, and then

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Speaker 1: you messed up the cash flow and you technically can't

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Speaker 1: pay them to me, Like everyone has to get paid

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Speaker 1: around me, and I don't want to mess around because

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Speaker 1: chances are in the beginning, when they're starting out, they're

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Speaker 1: not making the type of money that you know they're worth.

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Speaker 1: So you have to be a very good employer. You

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Speaker 1: have to be extremely you know, gentle, but you also

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Speaker 1: got to make sure that when they ask for their money,

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Speaker 1: like it's in their pockets immediately. That's the difference between

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Speaker 1: them being like, yeah, I guess I'll make a couple

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Speaker 1: of bucks, and man, he ain't paid me a two

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Speaker 1: weeks again, you know.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's never been a position where people have asked

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Speaker 2: to be paid for me, so I was. I always

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Speaker 2: make it a rule and a point that you never

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Speaker 2: have to ask me, like, hey, so what's up with

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Speaker 2: the money? You'll know ahead of time before working with

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Speaker 2: me at all, because I know that people people translate

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Speaker 2: that to their work right where I like, I don't

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Speaker 2: get paid enough to do this and anything like that

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Speaker 2: is nobody will ever say that working with me is

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Speaker 2: because we will make sure that you're taking care of

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Speaker 2: and anything. The expectations are upfront. And I'm also the

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Speaker 2: type of person that's like, if we have enough payroll

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Speaker 2: to pay for three people and we have four people

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Speaker 2: on the team, I'll take that cut, Like I'll take

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Speaker 2: the one hundred percent loss on that and make sure

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Speaker 2: everybody else is good, but before myself, because I know I'm

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Speaker 2: the one that cares the most about the business compared

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Speaker 2: to anybody else. Like anybody else who comes to work

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Speaker 2: for us, they will love the company and love everything

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Speaker 2: part of it. But I'm going to be the one

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Speaker 2: that's putting all my investment in compare to everybody else.

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Speaker 1: So what made what's the what a site stand for?

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Speaker 1: So are definitely not your initially.

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Speaker 2: No, it's not. I went to school at Howard in DC,

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Speaker 2: and at Howard, to size something in DC means to

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Speaker 2: like hype it up. Yeah, just eyeball it. It means

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Speaker 2: to hype something up. And part of CYSE is to

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Speaker 2: uplift and celebrate the black community. So we sice it up.

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Speaker 2: That's what it is. And then I always write an

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Speaker 2: all caps So that's why it looks like an acronym,

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Speaker 2: but it's not.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so you've sized it up. So you started with clothing.

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Speaker 2: Yes, we started clothing back in twenty twenty. We started

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Speaker 2: with the murder of George Floyd. We felt as if

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Speaker 2: we were operating as an agency, and as an agency,

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Speaker 2: we were creating clothing, so if you wanted to make

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Speaker 2: something for like your show, we could create the start

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Speaker 2: to finish, from the designs to the websites everything. We

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Speaker 2: felt as if George Floyd was murdered, that's literally not

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Speaker 2: helpful for us to just make like T shirts for

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Speaker 2: you guys. So we pivoted to be more for the

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Speaker 2: community and we donated to the first organization, which was

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Speaker 2: Anti Racism Fund. So after all of that, we came

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Speaker 2: out with the first collection called Tech Black People donated

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Speaker 2: all the proceeds to different nonprofit organizations that were focused

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Speaker 2: on celebrating the black community.

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Speaker 1: And this is around when George Floyd. So you was

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Speaker 1: giving up a lot of money, all of it. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and you just was signing a money yeah. Yeah, And

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Speaker 1: the devil wasn't like, hey man, you shouldn't want to

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Speaker 1: go to don a seventy percent because during that time,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure that was a lot of money.

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Speaker 2: It was a it was a dark time. I felt

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Speaker 2: as if a lot of times where people felt I

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00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:34,440
Speaker 2: felt so hopeless. During that time, I would come into

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Speaker 2: just environment of people not understanding what it's like carrying

307
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Speaker 2: the burden of not knowing somebody and feeling the pain

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Speaker 2: of his death and like his murder that I just

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Speaker 2: didn't know what else to do, and I felt like

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Speaker 2: everything I was doing I had a guilty conscious that

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Speaker 2: I wanted to pivot and I wanted to do it

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Speaker 2: in my own way. So all of that money, it

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Speaker 2: was never a thought to me about how it could

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Speaker 2: be a business out of it. It was really a

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Speaker 2: side project. I was trying to do the agency side

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Speaker 2: first because I was helping these black owned businesses with

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Speaker 2: their production of clothing. So it was very easy because

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Speaker 2: I saw other people involved in things, and I'm very

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Speaker 2: much big supporter of if somebody's better in something, I'm

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Speaker 2: gonna let them do that. Yeah, And there were different

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Speaker 2: organizations that are very strong within the community. The I'm like,

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Speaker 2: let's just donate all the proceeds, because if I tried

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Speaker 2: to start the organization up that's trying to help the

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Speaker 2: Black community specifically, I didn't have the pillars and the

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Speaker 2: structures that these other companies and organizations had.

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Speaker 1: So is that why you call it a fashion house?

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Speaker 1: Because you initially started as like a creator of clothing

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Speaker 1: for different brands exactly particular in particularly slice like in

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Speaker 1: the black community.

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Speaker 2: Exactly to help build the branches out. If you think

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Speaker 2: of an entity, and the entity like branches out where

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Speaker 2: we have the agency side of it, we have the

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Speaker 2: clothing side of it. Everything around it is its own

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Speaker 2: entity in its own face. Where the fashion house aspect

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Speaker 2: of it we go beyond just like a T shirt.

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Speaker 2: We started with that in mind, but there's so much

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Speaker 2: that goes into it. Even when we were talking earlier

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Speaker 2: about what goes into like a five dollars T shirt

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Speaker 2: versus actually construction of the shirt, from like the overall

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00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:18,880
Speaker 2: grading of a shirt to the fit of it, there's

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Speaker 2: a lot more that people don't really think about, and

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Speaker 2: I want that to be the business. So a fashion

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Speaker 2: house celebrates where it's not just oh yeah, we have

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Speaker 2: a clothing brand. It's not just another clothing brand. It's

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Speaker 2: focused on the purchase you make goes beyond the items

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Speaker 2: that we have. We have statement pieces, but it goes

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Speaker 2: deeper than that, and people can feel that in the

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Speaker 2: clothing that they wear.

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Speaker 1: So but now if someone buys the Protect Black Women

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Speaker 1: bag or the Protect Black People back, do those proceeds

351
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Speaker 1: actually go to SISE now or do they still go

352
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Speaker 1: to Anti Racism?

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Speaker 2: So that was a partnership with the organization when we

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Speaker 2: first started with Anti Racism Fund. Now we do a

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Speaker 2: lot of contributions externally and internally for our proceeds. So

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Speaker 2: a purchase of a size back, the campaigns that will

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Speaker 2: produce will hire like black photographers, videographers, editors, producers, social

358
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Speaker 2: media managers, the set and the crew will be like

359
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Speaker 2: focused on the black community. We also do like in

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Speaker 2: kind donations where we're working with organizations now within like

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Speaker 2: Los Angeles and the US to help like uplift and

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Speaker 2: celebrate the community. To date, we've donated over sixty thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars in products to different black owned organizations and eighty

364
00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,520
Speaker 2: thousand dollars monetarily to different orgs. So we take like

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Speaker 2: part of the proceeds from the sales to do that.

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Speaker 2: And then the way we operate, like our team is

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Speaker 2: completely like black lad and just we focus on just

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Speaker 2: celebrating and all in all building the community around us.

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Speaker 1: Nice. Yeah, we got milk, yeah, oh.

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Speaker 2: Yes, you want to stir it a little bit though, Oh,

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Speaker 2: I got to stir it just a little bit so

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Speaker 2: that way it can like absorb it.

373
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Speaker 1: Do I really want it to absorb it?

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Speaker 2: Though?

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Speaker 1: I feel like I put way too many.

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Speaker 2: It's gonna be too It's gonna be too much on

377
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Speaker 2: the stomach. If you're just like eating it, it's.

378
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Speaker 1: Gonna be mushy.

379
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Speaker 3: Nah.

380
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Speaker 1: I have no idea what I'm doing.

381
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Speaker 2: Guys, you're doing good?

382
00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:07,480
Speaker 1: All right? Do I have too many oats? Is it

383
00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:08,159
Speaker 1: supposed to be this?

384
00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:10,560
Speaker 2: Like this? You can always add more like if it's

385
00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:12,800
Speaker 2: not working out, we can always add more more oat milk.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So their mine looks all cereal esque. Yeah, just

387
00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:21,440
Speaker 1: so you know, I'm not a huge fan of oatmeal.

388
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Speaker 2: It looks like a little granola bur aunt.

389
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Speaker 1: Yeah, except for it doesn't have anything sweet in it.

390
00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:27,760
Speaker 2: Yeah.

391
00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:29,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, what's the next step.

392
00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:31,919
Speaker 2: So the next thing that we'll do is we'll add

393
00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:35,160
Speaker 2: y yogurt that'll give.

394
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Speaker 1: It more of a Is there a reason why we

395
00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:37,520
Speaker 1: have vanilla flavored?

396
00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:39,760
Speaker 2: So that way you don't have to addohole bunch of like

397
00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:42,280
Speaker 2: sweeteners and stuff. It gives it its flavor without having

398
00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:44,200
Speaker 2: like ado whole bunch of sugar and stuff that comes

399
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:44,600
Speaker 2: with it.

400
00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:46,560
Speaker 1: Here, you want to use different spoons?

401
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,920
Speaker 2: I personally don't care. Oh yeah, just kidding. I care

402
00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:50,240
Speaker 2: a lot.

403
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:56,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like this sho yeah yeah, here here, oh

404
00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:58,800
Speaker 1: just use I'll just you're using it just to right,

405
00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:03,200
Speaker 1: You're right, I'm helping you, Okay, okay, So we're putting

406
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Speaker 1: a spoon.

407
00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,639
Speaker 2: Two spoons, two or three tablespoons in it? Nice on

408
00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:11,080
Speaker 2: your consistency? Do you want it more like running consistency?

409
00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,200
Speaker 2: Do you want it thicker? How do you like if

410
00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:15,960
Speaker 2: you were to choose thicker?

411
00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:21,040
Speaker 1: I just don't want it mushy? Okay, all right, this

412
00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:33,000
Speaker 1: definitely Oh man, here we go. Okay, all right, here

413
00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:35,240
Speaker 1: we go. I'm gonna all right, what's the next step

414
00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:35,679
Speaker 1: after this?

415
00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:40,480
Speaker 2: We're gonna add our garnish in here. So cheese seeds,

416
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,800
Speaker 2: cheeseas are really good for fiber and like digestives, Like

417
00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:47,479
Speaker 2: when you have things like oatmeal and stuff, it's pretty

418
00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:49,600
Speaker 2: heavy on the stomach, so it'll keep you full. And

419
00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,080
Speaker 2: I just like to add a little bit of cheese

420
00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:54,480
Speaker 2: seeds in it to get the fiber side of it,

421
00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,359
Speaker 2: but they have to soak up in the liquid. So

422
00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:01,040
Speaker 2: I just add just really a third of it, tablespoon

423
00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:06,000
Speaker 2: in here, just a little bit, because seeds can get

424
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Speaker 2: kind of.

425
00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:12,439
Speaker 1: Crazy crazy as in mushy, yeah, mushy, or you'll be

426
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:14,480
Speaker 1: on this kind of both.

427
00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:18,880
Speaker 2: That's too much.

428
00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:22,640
Speaker 1: We bought this big bag of chis seeds just for this.

429
00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:24,040
Speaker 2: I could have brought something from home.

430
00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:27,560
Speaker 1: All right, Is that enough? Or do I need to

431
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:28,360
Speaker 1: put less?

432
00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:29,280
Speaker 2: That's good?

433
00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:31,520
Speaker 1: Okay, that's good. I'm gonna end up in the middle

434
00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:34,760
Speaker 1: of interviews. All right, So we got the chis seeds

435
00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:36,400
Speaker 1: on the Greek yogurt.

436
00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:40,320
Speaker 2: It, honey, you add stuff on top of it, honey,

437
00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:41,760
Speaker 2: makes it a little week sweeter too.

438
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:43,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's do that.

439
00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:43,840
Speaker 2: You know.

440
00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:49,720
Speaker 1: You better put a lot. I'm joking. I mean, that's

441
00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:52,800
Speaker 1: not even mine. Who knows. I know, the one with

442
00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:57,040
Speaker 1: the least is probably gonna be yours mine. I'm gonna

443
00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:58,120
Speaker 1: treat it like it's syrup.

444
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,880
Speaker 2: Here we go, and then mix it. Just make sure

445
00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:06,359
Speaker 2: that consistency. I know, it's just mine doesn't look too

446
00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:09,679
Speaker 2: good right now, so why I just don't like the

447
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:10,600
Speaker 2: way it looks.

448
00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:12,800
Speaker 1: It doesn't look right.

449
00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,760
Speaker 2: This one doesn't. This one looks fine. Yours looks good too.

450
00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:19,240
Speaker 1: Why don't you eat the one that looks fine?

451
00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:21,840
Speaker 2: You gotta give GC some time otherwise it's gonna be

452
00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:22,959
Speaker 2: like too hard on your stomach.

453
00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:33,120
Speaker 1: You keep saying hard on your stomach. You're making me nervous.

454
00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:43,000
Speaker 2: Wells is like absorbed with the consistency and texture that

455
00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:45,280
Speaker 2: they have with it. So when you put chiese seeds

456
00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:49,520
Speaker 2: into these different yeah, just a little bit, but chis

457
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:52,200
Speaker 2: is also absorbed to about like ten times the size

458
00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:54,399
Speaker 2: of it. So you don't want to just be like

459
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:56,720
Speaker 2: crunching on them. It's not supposed to be all that.

460
00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,920
Speaker 1: I'd rather crunch in slickery slick.

461
00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:02,040
Speaker 2: No, it's not gonna do all that just cause you

462
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:03,639
Speaker 2: got like a little tea spoon of it.

463
00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 1: Okay, this looks like uh, is mine supposed to look

464
00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:08,000
Speaker 1: like soup?

465
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:10,320
Speaker 2: You should probably put like a little bit more oatmeal

466
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:10,600
Speaker 2: in it.

467
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:14,639
Speaker 1: Oh alright, guys, so when you're making it at home,

468
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:20,040
Speaker 1: it's not supposed to look too soupy. Alright, When do

469
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:20,840
Speaker 1: we hit the fruit?

470
00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:27,720
Speaker 2: That's the last step, to be honest. So that's right now, Thanks, alright, there.

471
00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:30,359
Speaker 1: I love this one.

472
00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:37,040
Speaker 2: Mm hm like hm or mmm.

473
00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:38,880
Speaker 1: It's pretty good.

474
00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:42,600
Speaker 2: Okay, there you go. And the cool thing about the

475
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:45,239
Speaker 2: fruit is that the longer you let it sit, so

476
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 2: if you're making them overnight, the fruit, it's natural sugars

477
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:54,360
Speaker 2: go into the oatmeal. So it's it's good.

478
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:57,720
Speaker 1: There's it good because of the honey or the yogurt.

479
00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:00,800
Speaker 2: I think it's just a culmination of everything. What I

480
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:02,440
Speaker 2: like to do now is when I do make it,

481
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:04,719
Speaker 2: I'll add a protein powder in it, and the protein

482
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:06,680
Speaker 2: powder I have would be like either like a chocolate

483
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:08,400
Speaker 2: or like a honey protein powder.

484
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:15,960
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna front it's good, right, as long as

485
00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:19,159
Speaker 1: it doesn't get too soggy, I'm with it. Yeah, all right,

486
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:21,919
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be all being septical loves right now.

487
00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:24,640
Speaker 2: No judgment, no judgment.

488
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,080
Speaker 1: All right, we got the little fruit in there?

489
00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:28,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, you got the fruit.

490
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:31,160
Speaker 1: I thought this was gonna be a yogurt parthe.

491
00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:33,639
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's why I said kind of right, because it

492
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:35,040
Speaker 2: kind of looks like it, but it's also not.

493
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:37,880
Speaker 1: So are we supposed to smash the fruit in here?

494
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:40,919
Speaker 2: You can? I don't like that just because it's like,

495
00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:42,160
Speaker 2: what am I eating, but.

496
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:45,919
Speaker 1: Oh, yours looks I put a way too.

497
00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:48,520
Speaker 2: No, No, it's cool, all right, let.

498
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:55,560
Speaker 1: Me see, No what I can get good down with this.

499
00:23:55,760 --> 00:24:01,240
Speaker 1: But I would never male practice hmmm, because I'm afraid

500
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:04,119
Speaker 1: that it would be mush m.

501
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:09,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's good if.

502
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:15,520
Speaker 1: It's probably two week because I'm not trying to let

503
00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:19,560
Speaker 1: it soap. But I like it. Yeah, as long as

504
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:23,480
Speaker 1: the consistency is more like this, because I promise you,

505
00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,560
Speaker 1: I feel like in a couple of hours this will

506
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:27,840
Speaker 1: be mush.

507
00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:30,000
Speaker 2: And then you can always add more oatmeal, just kind

508
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,359
Speaker 2: of how you had a lot going on earlier, but

509
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,159
Speaker 2: you add more so it's not too much. If you're

510
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:37,960
Speaker 2: prepping it in the morning or you're doing it on

511
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:39,760
Speaker 2: the go, you can maybe do like half of it

512
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:41,880
Speaker 2: and then mix it so it's like maybe like half

513
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:43,679
Speaker 2: of it might be a little bit more soggy compared

514
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:45,840
Speaker 2: to like half of it is not as much.

515
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:47,879
Speaker 1: If I get in the bottom, is it gonna be

516
00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:48,560
Speaker 1: really soggy?

517
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 2: I don't think so.

518
00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,639
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm impressed.

519
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:02,680
Speaker 2: See you were questioning it before.

520
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:04,120
Speaker 1: I was questioning the whole time.

521
00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,200
Speaker 2: This is really good and I would make a lot

522
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,119
Speaker 2: of them at the same time because you can just

523
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:12,400
Speaker 2: have it. Some people like it a little bit runnier.

524
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:14,560
Speaker 2: I don't because I like to have a hearty feeling.

525
00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 2: If it's if we're looking like a breakfast and stuff,

526
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:20,560
Speaker 2: I like it to be a little thicker.

527
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:25,080
Speaker 1: And why do you like the oat milk with the yogurt?

528
00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:27,439
Speaker 1: Is there a reason that if someone wanted to just

529
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,840
Speaker 1: do it with the yogurt and the oats, would it work?

530
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:36,719
Speaker 2: Mm hm. I feel like it wouldn't be as good.

531
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:38,600
Speaker 2: It would be like a little harder. So it's just

532
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:42,000
Speaker 2: like eating dry oatmeal. I love it.

533
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:44,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it. I don't know it's because I

534
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,040
Speaker 1: put a lot of sugar in its.

535
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:48,520
Speaker 2: Right, you know, it works.

536
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:53,240
Speaker 1: It's a definite win for affordability mm hm, portaste, and

537
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:54,480
Speaker 1: I guarantee I won't be hunger.

538
00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:58,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely feeling. And you have a lot of it,

539
00:25:58,359 --> 00:25:59,760
Speaker 2: you don't have to eat it all in one go.

540
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:01,280
Speaker 2: You can always add more to it.

541
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:04,040
Speaker 1: The fruit are just amazing in it.

542
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 2: And people will put like chocolate chips and stuff in it. Yeah,

543
00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:09,560
Speaker 2: it depends on what you're trying to do. Right, Like

544
00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:11,760
Speaker 2: when I was first starting my business, I didn't have

545
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:14,640
Speaker 2: all those chocolate chips and all that stuff. I wasn't

546
00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:17,240
Speaker 2: like baking cookies. This was eating this.

547
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 1: Yeah during the pandemic.

548
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:21,439
Speaker 2: During the pandemic, you didn't try to get.

549
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:23,040
Speaker 1: Did you get unemployment during the pandemic?

550
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:31,240
Speaker 2: I did? But like it? Yeah, like especially just from

551
00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:35,679
Speaker 2: like my livelihood perspective, it wasn't. I'm also a person

552
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,320
Speaker 2: of habit. So I'll eat this and I'll just continue

553
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:40,000
Speaker 2: eating it until I just get sick of it, and

554
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:41,200
Speaker 2: then I have another obsession.

555
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,119
Speaker 1: Not mean, not me.

556
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:46,120
Speaker 2: You want variety.

557
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,680
Speaker 1: It's weird. I'll meal prep for the week. This week

558
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:53,399
Speaker 1: it's sprends. You know. Oh, let me tell you something.

559
00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:57,240
Speaker 1: Someone better email me if you're listening to this episode

560
00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:03,000
Speaker 1: about how to properly cook benzino man, because when I

561
00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:04,720
Speaker 1: go to the store, they cook it in a way

562
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,840
Speaker 1: where it's really soft. Yeah, but when I cook it,

563
00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 1: I cook it on a very low heat in butter. Now,

564
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:13,840
Speaker 1: I do add a lot of flavorings of mine. Is

565
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:16,320
Speaker 1: like taste great, But I can't seem to get the

566
00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:21,240
Speaker 1: benzino to be soft without going dry. And I don't

567
00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:23,639
Speaker 1: know if it's because I'm paranoid. Because some parts of

568
00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 1: the fish don't look fully good. Yeah, you know, it's

569
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:29,520
Speaker 1: like it looks cooked, but it doesn't look cooked.

570
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:33,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm very big proponent of overcooking instead of undercooking.

571
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,600
Speaker 1: That's not say like when you try it today, Like,

572
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 1: but I'm like, yo, try this benzino. You're gonna be like,

573
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:42,200
Speaker 1: it's good, but it's a little dry. But then I'll

574
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,640
Speaker 1: go to like a restaurant and they make it perfect

575
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 1: and I'm like, what the fuck are you doing? Can

576
00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:48,920
Speaker 1: someone just tell me how to cook brenzino?

577
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 3: Man.

578
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:51,359
Speaker 2: I went to this restaurant when I was in New

579
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:53,800
Speaker 2: York for a New York Fashion Week and it had

580
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,679
Speaker 2: a They had this branzino. It's the best branzino I've

581
00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,600
Speaker 2: probably ever had, But it was on top of this dish.

582
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,800
Speaker 2: It was boiling in a stew the whole time, so

583
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 2: it was still cooking while all of the juices inside

584
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:07,320
Speaker 2: of it were kind of marinating it.

585
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:08,360
Speaker 1: Where was that.

586
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:10,640
Speaker 2: It's a place called fish Cheeks.

587
00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:13,200
Speaker 1: Fish Cheeks, so we need to go hit a fish.

588
00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:17,160
Speaker 2: I'm going at the best one brazino I've had.

589
00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 1: Really Yeah, that sounds really good.

590
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:20,960
Speaker 2: It was really good.

591
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:24,520
Speaker 1: I love me a good bronzino, but I still haven't

592
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:26,760
Speaker 1: perfectly mastered cooking.

593
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:27,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the art.

594
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:30,720
Speaker 1: Yeah it's I know it's a low heat. It's got

595
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,239
Speaker 1: to be a low heat. Question is is like I

596
00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 1: always get nervous, like it has to be cooked.

597
00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 2: It has to be cooked. You can't have that under But.

598
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:39,080
Speaker 1: You see how they make it in the restaurant where

599
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:41,280
Speaker 1: it's like just the perfect texture and.

600
00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 2: You're like, what are you doing?

601
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,840
Speaker 1: Are you like, is it like the type of butter

602
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 1: or because you got to be cooking it in a butter.

603
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:49,160
Speaker 1: I would imagine.

604
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,480
Speaker 2: Something like that. Got probably covering it and doing.

605
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:53,800
Speaker 1: You think covering it? Maybe I was thinking that yesterday

606
00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 1: actually covering it.

607
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 2: Maybe I don't cover it. You know, one part of

608
00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:01,760
Speaker 2: it's going to be really good and the rest is like, okay.

609
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 1: I love me. By the way, guys shout out to

610
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 1: Trader Joe's because Trader Joe's sells uh Brenzenore with all

611
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:12,080
Speaker 1: the bones out lace bag.

612
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 2: I had their cod. I didn't have the branzino.

613
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:16,080
Speaker 1: Oh do you know how a cood cod?

614
00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:22,360
Speaker 2: I try? We talked about burning stuff. I'll try it on.

615
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:23,520
Speaker 2: Try it.

616
00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,479
Speaker 1: Okay, So let's go back into sice here you can

617
00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:30,680
Speaker 1: slide all these ingredients. Ober, Now we know we could

618
00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 1: make affordable, healthy meals exactly. So take me back to siss. Yeah,

619
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:41,240
Speaker 1: under the bags into the picture.

620
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 2: The bags entered the picture a couple months after the

621
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:47,240
Speaker 2: first collection we came out with. So the first collection,

622
00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 2: we donated all the proceeds to Anti Racism Fund. And

623
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,960
Speaker 2: then I just remembered I have a background in finance,

624
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 2: so I used to work in New York, and in

625
00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:58,320
Speaker 2: New York I did project management, and a big thing

626
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,560
Speaker 2: people cared about were watches and purses. I knew that

627
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:04,600
Speaker 2: the way that somebody cared about like collecting, you're even

628
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 2: talking about like cars in general, the way people I.

629
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:08,200
Speaker 1: Love me to watch. I was trying not to say

630
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,080
Speaker 1: it because I'm broke, so I don't have the Rolexes yet,

631
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:13,360
Speaker 1: but yeah, I dream of rolex.

632
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:16,160
Speaker 2: All the time. And I think that that's the feeling

633
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 2: I want people to have when they have my products,

634
00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 2: is that it's the even if I'm not buying something immediately,

635
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,640
Speaker 2: I want to aspire to have that or I want

636
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 2: to be around that. It's not just the status symbol.

637
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:30,760
Speaker 2: It's like the acquiring it's you look forward to it.

638
00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:34,720
Speaker 2: So that feeling and seeing people I'd see people get

639
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,560
Speaker 2: so excited about the handbags and I didn't understand it

640
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 2: at first, and I said, I want that same feeling

641
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 2: with the clothing that we make, especially with the messaging

642
00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:46,760
Speaker 2: we make. Because the messaging we say says protect black people,

643
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,920
Speaker 2: protect black women. Those are statements, and when you think

644
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,600
Speaker 2: of the messaging that you have from that, it's very

645
00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 2: easy for the messaging to get carried away if the

646
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:58,520
Speaker 2: branding is not very intentional. Yeah, and I think a

647
00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,080
Speaker 2: lot of times when you look at iHeart New York

648
00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:04,280
Speaker 2: t shirts, people slap that on a whole bunch of shirts.

649
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 2: You don't know who originally started it and how it

650
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,360
Speaker 2: became what it is. And I don't want that for

651
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,880
Speaker 2: the brand. I wanted to be like, protect black people,

652
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:13,880
Speaker 2: how this is the brand of cis, this is how

653
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 2: we do. So I've translated that over to handbags, and

654
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:19,440
Speaker 2: I wanted to do an embossing effect, and with the

655
00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,880
Speaker 2: embossing effect that way, it's not just like a big, bright,

656
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,200
Speaker 2: screen printed design. I wanted to be something that's still subtle,

657
00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:27,400
Speaker 2: bold and stands out.

658
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:31,440
Speaker 1: With the definitely stands out. Yeah, I'm like, yeah, it

659
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:35,440
Speaker 1: is right there, exactly out there. So how hard was

660
00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:37,160
Speaker 1: it to do that transition into back.

661
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,800
Speaker 2: It was interesting. A lot of my community didn't believe

662
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:45,080
Speaker 2: in me making them, so at first my friend was like,

663
00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:46,640
Speaker 2: you don't know how to make handbags. You're never going

664
00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:47,400
Speaker 2: to be able to do that.

665
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:49,320
Speaker 1: Is that friend still your friend?

666
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yes, shout out to JB YEA.

667
00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,680
Speaker 1: All the way out there. Okay, he's very I don't

668
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:04,960
Speaker 1: know if he's gonna be a friend after this interview. No.

669
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,520
Speaker 2: It's funny because he always like, there's absolutely no way

670
00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:10,680
Speaker 2: this can work. This is the dumbest thing ever, Like,

671
00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:14,640
Speaker 2: there's no way that you can do the bus. But

672
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 2: as the brand started to build up, he would call

673
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,600
Speaker 2: me and he's like, I just saw the release that

674
00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:23,800
Speaker 2: you did, and I've been doubting you all this time,

675
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:26,880
Speaker 2: and I just like to say, I'm sorry everything I

676
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:29,600
Speaker 2: doubted about you making this like you did it.

677
00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:31,760
Speaker 1: He's like, now when you call me, you can say

678
00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:35,040
Speaker 1: that you're making Tou Tou and I'm on board. Does

679
00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:36,200
Speaker 1: I know you're gonna do it?

680
00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:39,160
Speaker 2: Yeah? So he when that happened, he would call me

681
00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:41,440
Speaker 2: for every release, and it was so funny because he

682
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:43,720
Speaker 2: would call me and be like, I just didn't think

683
00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:45,760
Speaker 2: that you could do it and you're really doing it.

684
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:49,560
Speaker 2: He bought his family bags, he bought like everybody friend. Yeah,

685
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,840
Speaker 2: so it's it's not yeah, but I'm the person that's like,

686
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:55,760
Speaker 2: when you say I can't do something, I'm gonna go

687
00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:56,920
Speaker 2: out of my way to try to figure out how

688
00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:57,200
Speaker 2: to do. So.

689
00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,160
Speaker 1: He's a really close friend. He's a close so when

690
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:03,680
Speaker 1: he said it, you were like, all right to challenge mofo. Exactly, Okay, exactly,

691
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:07,640
Speaker 1: Thank you JB for your contribution towards this bag that

692
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 1: we all now can celebrate and rock. Yes, because of

693
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:14,320
Speaker 1: you and Blake, it's possible.

694
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:17,120
Speaker 2: Yes. And then my other best friend Vernon, so Vernon

695
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:19,200
Speaker 2: was like, yeah, don't listen to him. You can definitely

696
00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:21,080
Speaker 2: do it. He was a very big proponent when we

697
00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:25,280
Speaker 2: started as an agency. He makes grooming products, and with

698
00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:28,560
Speaker 2: his grooming products we made hoodies with like satin lining

699
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:30,600
Speaker 2: on the inside to be protective hair. He was one

700
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:34,000
Speaker 2: of our first clients, so as we were starting to

701
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 2: like produce clothing for him because he's focused on grooming,

702
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,400
Speaker 2: he wasn't focused on the apparel side of it. He's like,

703
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,120
Speaker 2: you just need to do it. This is something that's

704
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:42,320
Speaker 2: like maybe might not be in your wheelhouse, but you

705
00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,440
Speaker 2: can learn it take the steps to it. So Vernon

706
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 2: was like my crutch in terms of like, oh, do

707
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:50,000
Speaker 2: you think that this is a realistic thing that I

708
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:53,200
Speaker 2: can accomplish? And Vernon helps a lot with like the

709
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,880
Speaker 2: thought and intentionality for programming for me. So my community

710
00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:58,960
Speaker 2: has been like even if it was like a form

711
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:01,320
Speaker 2: of doubt, that form of doubt has been a pillar

712
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:04,040
Speaker 2: to the success and the growth around. Instead of it

713
00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 2: being like people behind my back saying that you can't

714
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:08,799
Speaker 2: do it and wanting me to fail, it's more so

715
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,040
Speaker 2: like saying that this is a challenge, you can overcome it,

716
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:14,799
Speaker 2: but there are requirements to be able to do that.

717
00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:16,799
Speaker 2: So I'm very thankful for the people that are running me.

718
00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:19,080
Speaker 1: Well. They also sound very much like because you have

719
00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:20,759
Speaker 1: the guys that are like, you can't do this, and

720
00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:24,400
Speaker 1: they're like whatever. But when he calls and he says like, hey, wow,

721
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:26,880
Speaker 1: you did it, and I'm not only gonna you know,

722
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:30,120
Speaker 1: you know, just be like shout out. So I'm gonna

723
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:32,160
Speaker 1: buy it from my family and friends like oh yeah,

724
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:34,279
Speaker 1: that's a really good Yeah, it sounds like you have

725
00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:35,840
Speaker 1: a good set of friends.

726
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:38,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, And the community. I wouldn't be anything without the

727
00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:40,600
Speaker 2: community around us. So not only my friends, my family,

728
00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:42,560
Speaker 2: the people who I don't know were the people that

729
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:44,799
Speaker 2: launch and got the business to where it is. So

730
00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,920
Speaker 2: without them, when we were originally starting to advertise, we

731
00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,920
Speaker 2: couldn't advertise because of the presidential election in twenty twenty.

732
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:55,600
Speaker 2: Anything that's considered a political message was paused. It was

733
00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:58,960
Speaker 2: illegal to promote any type of political statements, so we

734
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:03,480
Speaker 2: couldn't do any type of paid advertisement on Facebook, Google, Instagram,

735
00:35:03,719 --> 00:35:06,040
Speaker 2: you couldn't do anything like that. So everything had.

736
00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:07,440
Speaker 1: To be I don't even know that was a rule,

737
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:08,120
Speaker 1: it was.

738
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,440
Speaker 2: It was. It was started back in September of twenty twenty,

739
00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:13,200
Speaker 2: I believe, and it was supposed to only go through

740
00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:16,279
Speaker 2: the election, but they pushed it all the way from

741
00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:19,120
Speaker 2: September up until I believe March or April of twenty

742
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:19,640
Speaker 2: twenty one.

743
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:21,240
Speaker 1: And these are like social media.

744
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:23,840
Speaker 2: This is like Facebook, Instagram, this is the start of

745
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 2: everything for the brand. So our brand was all social media.

746
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:29,080
Speaker 2: So if you were focused on that and you're focused

747
00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:31,600
Speaker 2: on paid advertisement, it would have killed our business. So

748
00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:34,239
Speaker 2: the community around us was really like, we're promoting you

749
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:36,360
Speaker 2: the word of mouth We had a lot of celebrities

750
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,759
Speaker 2: wearing our items without asking them to do it. They

751
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:42,560
Speaker 2: were just part of the community that built us. And

752
00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:45,160
Speaker 2: it's funny because the original start of it was for

753
00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:48,080
Speaker 2: the community, but the community was the backbone to actually

754
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:49,200
Speaker 2: help us thrive as well.

755
00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:52,080
Speaker 1: You got to clarify when you say community because it

756
00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:54,600
Speaker 1: sounds like I don't know what you're talking about when

757
00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:55,160
Speaker 1: you say that.

758
00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:58,960
Speaker 2: So community to me would be the people I work with,

759
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:03,280
Speaker 2: the customers, it'd be family, friends, anybody who's in charge

760
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:05,560
Speaker 2: of like having opportunities to be on a show like this.

761
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:08,360
Speaker 2: This is like community to me. And I think community

762
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:10,759
Speaker 2: is somebody that wants you to be around in any

763
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:13,520
Speaker 2: type of environment they see fit. So that would be

764
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:19,600
Speaker 2: if I can see success in other people without any benefit,

765
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:23,719
Speaker 2: that's community to me. So if I were to say that, oh,

766
00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:25,320
Speaker 2: do I know a good show that I want to

767
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:27,560
Speaker 2: invest in, I think of your show. I'll be like, hey,

768
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,040
Speaker 2: look at this show. This is a good opportunity for me.

769
00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:32,520
Speaker 2: I might not get anything out of it, but because

770
00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:35,759
Speaker 2: you are there for me, that vouch is the community,

771
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,799
Speaker 2: and people would buy these items, buy the handbags and

772
00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:40,920
Speaker 2: be like, regardless of if I know you are not.

773
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:43,280
Speaker 2: This is what I stand for, this is what I represent.

774
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:44,520
Speaker 2: I'm part of the thing.

775
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:47,000
Speaker 1: And then they're in, they're posting this and they're like

776
00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:51,799
Speaker 1: integrating in any power that they can't. Oh, okay, that's

777
00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:55,320
Speaker 1: amazing yea. So even though you couldn't advertise, the community

778
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:58,160
Speaker 1: was the one that really built the brand. Yes, that's awesactly.

779
00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:02,280
Speaker 1: Now take me back to like the very beginning first steps.

780
00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:05,239
Speaker 1: You said you had a background in finance. Yes, so

781
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:09,080
Speaker 1: let's backtrack a little bit. Yakay, what's going on there?

782
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,840
Speaker 2: I used to study supply chain management before going to Howard.

783
00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:15,160
Speaker 2: I did a lot of T shirts and I had

784
00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:17,359
Speaker 2: like a brand where I was creating T shirts, screen

785
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:18,960
Speaker 2: printing and doing a lot of that, and I was

786
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:24,520
Speaker 2: doing international design. So with that, I was creating varsity jackets,

787
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:28,320
Speaker 2: T shirts for fraternities and sororities on campus. I wanted

788
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:30,600
Speaker 2: to figure out what the business side of it was,

789
00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 2: so I wanted to take a job on Wall Street

790
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:36,640
Speaker 2: and that's when I did project management under financial institution groups,

791
00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:38,719
Speaker 2: which in it like.

792
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:41,279
Speaker 1: Give me an example of financial institution.

793
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:43,759
Speaker 2: So like a credit rating agency, you will issue a

794
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:46,560
Speaker 2: bond for a company if they're able to secure like

795
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:48,520
Speaker 2: a loan or like a large amount of money. It

796
00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:50,920
Speaker 2: rates the likelihood of them paying them back or not.

797
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,000
Speaker 2: I was doing the operation, data and control side of it,

798
00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:57,160
Speaker 2: so any of the operations internally within the company. I

799
00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:59,440
Speaker 2: was helping them build that out from like a project

800
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:02,279
Speaker 2: management soe of like saying that you guys need to

801
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:04,880
Speaker 2: do this in order to succeed. Here is what I

802
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:07,480
Speaker 2: was doing. I was learning the business intricacies of how

803
00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:10,000
Speaker 2: to build the business and how the corporation was running

804
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:12,120
Speaker 2: from like a day to day perspective.

805
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:18,520
Speaker 1: That's a lot. Yeah, I think that's the first time

806
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:22,160
Speaker 1: where I almost would need us to go off camera

807
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:26,520
Speaker 1: and take that down. Okay, that's a lot. I'm not

808
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:30,000
Speaker 1: even gonna entertain how intrat that just went down a

809
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:33,080
Speaker 1: hole that I it was almost like you speak at Chinese.

810
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,280
Speaker 1: But okay, so you were in this line of work

811
00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:38,960
Speaker 1: and then what happens.

812
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:44,320
Speaker 2: I broke my ankle. I was at a rollerblading birthday party,

813
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:46,799
Speaker 2: and I thought I was better than what I was.

814
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 2: You've seen a roll bounds, right. I'm having the time

815
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:51,799
Speaker 2: of my life. I used to play hockey as a kid.

816
00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:55,960
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, I am just getting too conceded.

817
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,440
Speaker 2: I'm going around the rink doing like three sixties and

818
00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:01,120
Speaker 2: all that, and I fell back clip my broke my ankle.

819
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:02,960
Speaker 1: I mean I would have been mortified.

820
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:06,919
Speaker 2: It was crazy. So I ended up calling an uber

821
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:10,160
Speaker 2: to the hospital and they're like, yeah, you broke it

822
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,720
Speaker 2: really bad. You need to have surgery on your ankle.

823
00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:15,319
Speaker 2: And I remember, I'm like, oh, I don't have time

824
00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:20,319
Speaker 2: for this. I flew from New York to LA to

825
00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:23,600
Speaker 2: go to to have surgery on my ankle. My mom

826
00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:25,839
Speaker 2: had knee replacement surgery and I took care of her,

827
00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:26,919
Speaker 2: so I was like, I'll just go to the same

828
00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:29,440
Speaker 2: place that she went to have the surgery that comes

829
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:32,920
Speaker 2: with it. And I just remembered how happy I was

830
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,640
Speaker 2: being back in LA because everything I described to you

831
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:38,880
Speaker 2: was exactly how it felt working in that office. It

832
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:42,120
Speaker 2: was just very structure, structure, structured. It's confusing what am

833
00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:44,560
Speaker 2: I doing on a day to day basis. My habits

834
00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:48,080
Speaker 2: were very like New York. Every single day was very repetitive,

835
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:50,759
Speaker 2: and I remember that when I had surgery. It's it's

836
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:53,359
Speaker 2: fun to come back and visit. I love coming back

837
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:55,319
Speaker 2: to visit New York, but I'm glad that I moved, like,

838
00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:57,319
Speaker 2: I'm glad that that chapter has So.

839
00:39:57,239 --> 00:39:58,839
Speaker 1: You went all the way home to do.

840
00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:00,359
Speaker 2: The surgery, to have the surgery.

841
00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:01,920
Speaker 1: And what's your job saying at the time.

842
00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:04,160
Speaker 2: I don't know because I sent an email I said,

843
00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:07,879
Speaker 2: broke my ankle going to LA to have surgery. I'll

844
00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:08,239
Speaker 2: be back.

845
00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:10,520
Speaker 1: And they were like, oh, it's cool.

846
00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:15,520
Speaker 2: Probably not because at the time it wasn't popular to

847
00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:19,360
Speaker 2: work remote. So this is before this was before COVID,

848
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:21,719
Speaker 2: and I was saying that, hey, I should do a

849
00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:24,160
Speaker 2: remote role. They're like, that's never going to work. That's

850
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:25,279
Speaker 2: never going to work, anything like that.

851
00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:27,760
Speaker 1: Okay, got you got fired?

852
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,399
Speaker 2: No, I didn't you. I didn't. I was like, okay, cool,

853
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:32,960
Speaker 2: I'll come back. So after I healed, I flew back

854
00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:34,680
Speaker 2: to New York and I was like, okay, well, I

855
00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:37,239
Speaker 2: was really happy in LA. Do you think I could

856
00:40:37,239 --> 00:40:40,600
Speaker 2: do remote? And They're like, hmmm, probably not. I don't

857
00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:43,200
Speaker 2: see how that could work in the foreseeable future. So

858
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:46,520
Speaker 2: I said, okay, well, I really want to pursue for

859
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:50,480
Speaker 2: my own happiness, like clothing and production and apparel. I

860
00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:52,440
Speaker 2: put in a month's worth of notice before.

861
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:56,279
Speaker 1: I left my job, so you literally told them that. Yeah, yeah,

862
00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:58,239
Speaker 1: I said, so I want to go do this. Yeah,

863
00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:00,640
Speaker 1: we got four weeks to figure it out out. I'll

864
00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:01,360
Speaker 1: train whoever.

865
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:04,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, because normally people will give like two weeks or

866
00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:07,160
Speaker 2: even if if company is very confidential, if you tell

867
00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:09,160
Speaker 2: somebody about to leave, they'll kick you out the same day,

868
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:09,840
Speaker 2: depending on.

869
00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:13,480
Speaker 1: The company they valued you. You were like, I'm going

870
00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:16,839
Speaker 1: to LA. They're like, there's New York hospitals all over yeah.

871
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:19,720
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah. And then being in La, I just felt

872
00:41:19,719 --> 00:41:24,560
Speaker 2: really happy and I didn't think about it is just

873
00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:27,040
Speaker 2: so great because I could do everything. I was sitting

874
00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:28,520
Speaker 2: at home eating better.

875
00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:31,200
Speaker 1: You can't eat pizza over there. There's no good Chinese.

876
00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:34,839
Speaker 1: But okay, there's good Chinese here. There's good Chinese food here.

877
00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:41,239
Speaker 1: There's a couple not there are spots, I'll tell you. Yeah,

878
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:42,520
Speaker 1: so comparable.

879
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:48,480
Speaker 2: No, it's not as good, but it's comparable. It is comparable.

880
00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:49,319
Speaker 2: Like you can't get that.

881
00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:52,919
Speaker 1: Okay, So you're eating you know, alts and stuff in La,

882
00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:54,880
Speaker 1: got it right?

883
00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:58,400
Speaker 2: Yeah. So going from the job of that, it was

884
00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:01,080
Speaker 2: a complete change, because it's a bleat change that I

885
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:02,799
Speaker 2: didn't have a job. I didn't have anything like that.

886
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:05,920
Speaker 2: I had my family back home. I wasn't making the

887
00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:08,239
Speaker 2: income I was making in New York, so I had

888
00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:10,359
Speaker 2: resources that I could always fall back on. I'm very

889
00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:12,920
Speaker 2: privileged to have that, but I didn't have it to

890
00:42:12,960 --> 00:42:14,080
Speaker 2: just be like, you know what, We're gonna get a

891
00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:15,480
Speaker 2: haircut every single week.

892
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:16,919
Speaker 1: So did you move back with your mom?

893
00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:19,640
Speaker 2: I moved back in with my mom. Yeah. Shoot, I

894
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:21,360
Speaker 2: moved back in with my mom. And my mom didn't

895
00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:22,799
Speaker 2: know what I was doing. She's like, what do you

896
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:24,520
Speaker 2: do for a living? I was like, I'm trying.

897
00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:27,719
Speaker 1: Like so you you went, showed up to work, gave

898
00:42:27,719 --> 00:42:31,040
Speaker 1: a month notice, and I'm the fallback.

899
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:32,719
Speaker 2: It was kind of like I'm going to send all

900
00:42:32,719 --> 00:42:35,399
Speaker 2: my stuff back home. She's like, what do you mean?

901
00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:37,360
Speaker 2: What do you mean I got Yeah, I started shipping

902
00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:38,040
Speaker 2: and stuff back back.

903
00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:39,359
Speaker 1: I already moved into your room.

904
00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:42,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, she decorated it. It was like a little area

905
00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:44,839
Speaker 2: that her friends would get together. So I didn't have

906
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:47,839
Speaker 2: a room for probably about six months when I moved back.

907
00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:49,920
Speaker 2: Because she didn't believe I was trying to move back.

908
00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:52,000
Speaker 2: She's like, it's nuts that you're trying to come back.

909
00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:57,640
Speaker 1: To try to come back, it soun like, yo, you

910
00:42:57,719 --> 00:42:59,960
Speaker 1: really ain't got to come back here.

911
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:01,600
Speaker 2: I don't have anything for you.

912
00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:02,080
Speaker 1: Yeah.

913
00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:03,120
Speaker 2: So I was.

914
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:04,400
Speaker 1: There and she forced it.

915
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:06,359
Speaker 2: You forced it. I told her stuff was on the way.

916
00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:08,719
Speaker 2: The stuff was on the way, and it's.

917
00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:12,000
Speaker 1: Like wise like, Okay, you come back and you're gonna

918
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:13,160
Speaker 1: put in on these bills.

919
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:17,439
Speaker 2: No, because I was I would give her money before

920
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:19,680
Speaker 2: she asked. And that's just like I was saying before

921
00:43:20,239 --> 00:43:23,240
Speaker 2: payroll is like, let's get it over with before people

922
00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:26,239
Speaker 2: feel as if you're taking advantage of them. And that's

923
00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:28,400
Speaker 2: like the biggest advice I give to anybody is like,

924
00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:30,920
Speaker 2: put those expectations up front. And I told her It's

925
00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:33,560
Speaker 2: like it never surprised her that I was moving back,

926
00:43:33,719 --> 00:43:36,200
Speaker 2: Like I never blindsided her. She may not have wanted it,

927
00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:37,080
Speaker 2: but I moved back.

928
00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:43,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, so my mom, you're gonna tell I know this

929
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:44,560
Speaker 1: story is gonna end.

930
00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:47,080
Speaker 2: It's gonna be great. So my mom never knew what

931
00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:49,719
Speaker 2: I did. And I was creating clothing for all these

932
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:53,720
Speaker 2: different businesses, and as it started to get larger and larger,

933
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:58,759
Speaker 2: I helped design my grandmother's obituary. I did like all

934
00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:03,120
Speaker 2: the design for it because originally just standard obituaries they

935
00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:05,640
Speaker 2: put the wings on people, and it's like the background,

936
00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:08,080
Speaker 2: it looks kind of crazy. So I was like, let

937
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:10,760
Speaker 2: me redo everything, and that's when she understood the branding

938
00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:19,719
Speaker 2: side of it.

939
00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:26,920
Speaker 1: But go back before you get to the obituary. Respectfully,

940
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:30,879
Speaker 1: you said you were doing this for other brands. You

941
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:35,200
Speaker 1: move here from finance, you don't have I don't have anybody,

942
00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:37,400
Speaker 1: So how are you picking up these brands?

943
00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:39,520
Speaker 2: Just word of mouth. I'd reach out to people and

944
00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:41,960
Speaker 2: pitch these ideas, and I think that that was like

945
00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:44,320
Speaker 2: a pivot point for me. Is because a company like

946
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:46,880
Speaker 2: a grooming company, does not make apparel.

947
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:49,920
Speaker 1: So what'd you call? You were going through not the

948
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:53,080
Speaker 1: Yellow Pages obviously, Well who were you calling? Like what

949
00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:55,560
Speaker 1: was your mindset? I'm going to land at home. I'm

950
00:44:55,560 --> 00:44:59,239
Speaker 1: gonna call oatmeal companies, Like what. I want to know

951
00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:02,560
Speaker 1: exactly what that plan was? Like, you fly in, your

952
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:04,840
Speaker 1: mom's like he's crazy. Hopefully he leaves in a week.

953
00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:07,399
Speaker 1: You're sitting at home. You're like, I know, I want

954
00:45:07,400 --> 00:45:10,560
Speaker 1: to do this fashion brand. Yeah, what are your exact

955
00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:11,280
Speaker 1: next steps?

956
00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:14,040
Speaker 2: I just started reaching out to anybody I knew who

957
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:16,160
Speaker 2: had a company or anybody who had an idea for

958
00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:18,279
Speaker 2: a company, and I just started talking to people and

959
00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:20,799
Speaker 2: you get creative. When the first couple of years of

960
00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:24,080
Speaker 2: my business, I was just I'd make T shirts for

961
00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:25,800
Speaker 2: this brand, I would make hoodies for this brand. I

962
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:28,000
Speaker 2: would call somebody say, hey, have you thought about making

963
00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:30,919
Speaker 2: a clothing brand? They're like, no, I haven't. Oh well

964
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:33,480
Speaker 2: I made designs for you. I make the designs for them,

965
00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:35,240
Speaker 2: and then if it works, it works. If it doesn't,

966
00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:37,440
Speaker 2: it doesn't. And I think that that was a turning

967
00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:41,320
Speaker 2: point for me is that with the murder of George Floyd,

968
00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:44,520
Speaker 2: it showed that the clothing that I would make for

969
00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:49,080
Speaker 2: another business may not be conducive as a black business

970
00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:51,400
Speaker 2: to support them. So making T shirts for a grooming

971
00:45:51,440 --> 00:45:55,240
Speaker 2: company was not helping them open up a new stream

972
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:57,440
Speaker 2: of revenue. It was just kind of like a side

973
00:45:57,440 --> 00:45:59,920
Speaker 2: project for them. So I wanted to instead of it

974
00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:02,120
Speaker 2: being like we're trying to solve the problem for businesses

975
00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:04,600
Speaker 2: that they never had, I wanted to pivot it and

976
00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:08,080
Speaker 2: use the intention that we have with our branding for

977
00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:11,360
Speaker 2: the clothing, and that contribution would give back to the

978
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:12,640
Speaker 2: organizations around us.

979
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:15,240
Speaker 1: So you're physically designing, though.

980
00:46:15,120 --> 00:46:18,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, you not outsourced designing. I was making the websites

981
00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:20,960
Speaker 2: of learning how to code. I was just doing anything

982
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:23,279
Speaker 2: because I just wanted to be involved. And then I

983
00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:27,960
Speaker 2: realized that as time progressed, what is the intentionality behind

984
00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:30,840
Speaker 2: what am I doing with these businesses? And that's refining

985
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:33,960
Speaker 2: it from business to business to business to consumer. And

986
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:36,760
Speaker 2: that started the brand of SIS as a clothing brand.

987
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:40,960
Speaker 1: Okay, Now going back to the grooming. So you call

988
00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:43,959
Speaker 1: me grooming as in pets are grooming as.

989
00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:44,880
Speaker 2: An adult neck beard?

990
00:46:45,120 --> 00:46:47,480
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, groom and beard. Just you're like, hey, man,

991
00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:51,120
Speaker 1: have you ever thought of peril? Absolutely not. I groomed beards.

992
00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:55,239
Speaker 1: You know. You're like, okay, well, let me shoot you

993
00:46:55,320 --> 00:46:58,560
Speaker 1: some ideas on some designs. You see, this is designs.

994
00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:02,320
Speaker 1: He's like, that's great man. You know, as a business owners,

995
00:47:02,320 --> 00:47:04,160
Speaker 1: he's going to say, how much is it? It's great?

996
00:47:04,239 --> 00:47:06,880
Speaker 1: Maybe I will consider who knows, maybe someone will buy it.

997
00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:09,759
Speaker 1: How are you even coming up with the numbers on

998
00:47:09,880 --> 00:47:11,919
Speaker 1: what to charge them? Or is it like I'm doing

999
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:14,280
Speaker 1: this pro bone if you're in this is the package

1000
00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:15,120
Speaker 1: that you get with it?

1001
00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:17,040
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm making it up. Like I'm making it up.

1002
00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:18,520
Speaker 2: I would lose a lot of money when I first

1003
00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:22,600
Speaker 2: started because sometimes I would spend my I wasn't charging

1004
00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:23,120
Speaker 2: for my time.

1005
00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:24,000
Speaker 1: Mm hm.

1006
00:47:24,040 --> 00:47:25,719
Speaker 2: So if I made all these designs and like, oh, yeah,

1007
00:47:25,719 --> 00:47:27,919
Speaker 2: but I don't have the money for it, I lost

1008
00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:29,839
Speaker 2: the time on that, Yeah, so it doesn't really matter.

1009
00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:31,880
Speaker 2: But then I would charge. It'd be like, hey, maybe

1010
00:47:31,920 --> 00:47:33,600
Speaker 2: this could be like a couple hundred dollars i'd make

1011
00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:35,960
Speaker 2: or maybe this would be this. I would lose some

1012
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:38,440
Speaker 2: money on stuff. I would make money on things. And

1013
00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:41,959
Speaker 2: then sometimes I started to realize that with business there's

1014
00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:44,560
Speaker 2: always an extra expense you didn't think about where maybe

1015
00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:46,680
Speaker 2: we need to fix the spelling on a sweatshirt, or

1016
00:47:46,719 --> 00:47:49,040
Speaker 2: we need to change some things that the size and

1017
00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:51,120
Speaker 2: the fit doesn't work. I'm just trying to figure it out.

1018
00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:53,400
Speaker 2: But I wasn't trying to take on too much that

1019
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:55,440
Speaker 2: it would become a problem for me.

1020
00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:57,840
Speaker 1: Did you have a fat savings.

1021
00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:00,560
Speaker 2: I No, I didn't because I just spent a lot

1022
00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:03,880
Speaker 2: of my savings on my surgery. So a lot of

1023
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:04,920
Speaker 2: that was you.

1024
00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:10,960
Speaker 1: Are a high risk mom. You you can come to LA,

1025
00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:14,960
Speaker 1: but you just can't stay exactly. So how long did

1026
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:15,839
Speaker 1: you have to stay with her?

1027
00:48:16,239 --> 00:48:20,319
Speaker 2: I was staying with her for about almost a year,

1028
00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:22,839
Speaker 2: but six months I was on the couch in her

1029
00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:26,360
Speaker 2: house and I was just doing designs and building stuff out.

1030
00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:30,239
Speaker 2: And then one day I was packing orders. She was

1031
00:48:30,239 --> 00:48:32,359
Speaker 2: trying to but I heard about it every day because

1032
00:48:32,400 --> 00:48:34,480
Speaker 2: I used to work in the kitchen, so I had

1033
00:48:34,480 --> 00:48:36,239
Speaker 2: like a little desktop set up in the kitchen. She

1034
00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:37,759
Speaker 2: come and cooked, She's like, what do you what do

1035
00:48:37,800 --> 00:48:40,319
Speaker 2: you what are you doing. I'm like, I'm designing, and

1036
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:44,719
Speaker 2: she's like, please go back to work. So but eventually

1037
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:48,440
Speaker 2: she saw me get a lot of My dad, unfortunately

1038
00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:51,560
Speaker 2: passed when I was in college, but he was always

1039
00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:54,439
Speaker 2: like an entrepreneur and had his own like his own

1040
00:48:54,480 --> 00:48:58,040
Speaker 2: businesses and stuff like that. So she always supported that.

1041
00:48:58,040 --> 00:48:59,839
Speaker 2: That's something that she's always known.

1042
00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:07,840
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, okay, So George Floyd happens during the pandemic

1043
00:49:08,960 --> 00:49:10,799
Speaker 1: for the first time. I'm gonna say this is gonna

1044
00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:15,440
Speaker 1: sound terrible, shout out to my white fans, but you know,

1045
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:18,640
Speaker 1: white America started paying attention to something that's been going

1046
00:49:18,640 --> 00:49:19,360
Speaker 1: on for years.

1047
00:49:19,719 --> 00:49:20,000
Speaker 2: Right.

1048
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:26,120
Speaker 1: I really blame sports for taking a knee, because I

1049
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:29,440
Speaker 1: think if we had sports during the pandemic, George Floyd

1050
00:49:29,440 --> 00:49:32,960
Speaker 1: would have been another you know, because it was happening

1051
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:36,320
Speaker 1: this this was happening, happens every year for black people,

1052
00:49:36,440 --> 00:49:41,279
Speaker 1: it's it's the norm for us, right, But for White America,

1053
00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:44,200
Speaker 1: I felt like to really take it serious. It took

1054
00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:48,239
Speaker 1: the whole world coming to an end for them to

1055
00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:52,480
Speaker 1: be like, oh damn, this is crazy, and it's like, Yo,

1056
00:49:52,560 --> 00:49:54,680
Speaker 1: it's been happen. It's been it happens every six months,

1057
00:49:54,719 --> 00:50:00,000
Speaker 1: it happens all the time. But so this huge thing happened.

1058
00:50:00,600 --> 00:50:02,560
Speaker 1: You know, at this point, I feel like I'm so

1059
00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:04,200
Speaker 1: I become numb to it.

1060
00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:04,760
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1061
00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:08,080
Speaker 1: For me, I was just like, look, they catch these

1062
00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:12,440
Speaker 1: police doing everything on camera, yeah, and they still get acquitted.

1063
00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:15,120
Speaker 1: So in my mind, it's just like I am numb.

1064
00:50:15,960 --> 00:50:18,400
Speaker 1: Just that's just where I was at. I was not

1065
00:50:19,520 --> 00:50:21,200
Speaker 1: I was more dealing with how we're going to survive

1066
00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:25,760
Speaker 1: this pandemic exactly. But you, you know, you took it personal,

1067
00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:28,719
Speaker 1: and so you what was your next step.

1068
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:36,759
Speaker 2: I think that there was always It's always happened within

1069
00:50:36,800 --> 00:50:42,319
Speaker 2: the black community, just in terms of anything from segregation

1070
00:50:42,719 --> 00:50:45,480
Speaker 2: to like discrimination, like that's the reality of being black.

1071
00:50:46,320 --> 00:50:48,799
Speaker 2: I think that there were a lot of organizations that

1072
00:50:48,840 --> 00:50:53,480
Speaker 2: were built in response that kind of forced the hand

1073
00:50:53,840 --> 00:50:58,040
Speaker 2: to make change, right, So with fifteen percent pledged for

1074
00:50:58,160 --> 00:51:02,200
Speaker 2: Aurora James. She started organization and to force corporations to

1075
00:51:02,239 --> 00:51:06,000
Speaker 2: do fifteen percent of their shelf life for black owned

1076
00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:08,120
Speaker 2: businesses and stores like Target and like all that. So

1077
00:51:08,719 --> 00:51:11,840
Speaker 2: there was response from that. One of the organizations we

1078
00:51:11,880 --> 00:51:16,720
Speaker 2: worked with, walk Good, they started as a wellness company.

1079
00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:19,960
Speaker 2: They started as a wellness company to host different events

1080
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:22,839
Speaker 2: within the black community from like meditation and everything like that.

1081
00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:26,080
Speaker 2: And I think that my reality is that everything I

1082
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:28,920
Speaker 2: was warped around, whether it's having a black owned business,

1083
00:51:29,080 --> 00:51:32,480
Speaker 2: we're working with companies like fifteen percent pledge my wellness

1084
00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:35,120
Speaker 2: and my mental health. We're working with companies like walk Good,

1085
00:51:35,560 --> 00:51:38,279
Speaker 2: everybody that I kind of surrounded myself with. That's what

1086
00:51:38,560 --> 00:51:41,600
Speaker 2: built the business. So it's it's really something that was

1087
00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:46,279
Speaker 2: the trauma was translated into something that's a little bit

1088
00:51:46,280 --> 00:51:49,000
Speaker 2: different than what any of us could expect. And it

1089
00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:51,960
Speaker 2: was a it's a weird paradigm and the shift between

1090
00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:55,080
Speaker 2: how people are acting in the situation where I had

1091
00:51:55,520 --> 00:51:57,600
Speaker 2: I had random white people calling me every day like

1092
00:51:57,760 --> 00:51:59,600
Speaker 2: what can I do? How can I be involved? It

1093
00:51:59,640 --> 00:52:01,880
Speaker 2: was a it was a weird time. Yeah, it was

1094
00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:02,520
Speaker 2: a weird time.

1095
00:52:02,600 --> 00:52:06,320
Speaker 1: It was like the first time they heard the cry exactly.

1096
00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:09,719
Speaker 2: And it's give and take, because it's good that the

1097
00:52:09,760 --> 00:52:13,280
Speaker 2: conversation is happening, but like, at what cost is it?

1098
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:15,400
Speaker 2: It takes all of this to happen to be in

1099
00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:19,440
Speaker 2: response to what we're building out. But it was something

1100
00:52:19,520 --> 00:52:21,960
Speaker 2: that I think the organizations did a good job in

1101
00:52:22,120 --> 00:52:25,920
Speaker 2: leading how people should handle these situations, right, Like, instead

1102
00:52:25,960 --> 00:52:29,680
Speaker 2: of it being like the black square, everybody posts the

1103
00:52:29,719 --> 00:52:32,120
Speaker 2: black square and now that solves racism, It's like, no,

1104
00:52:32,640 --> 00:52:34,919
Speaker 2: that's not you can post the black square all you want.

1105
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:38,480
Speaker 2: But there were companies that were tracking. You said, this

1106
00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:41,440
Speaker 2: is the commitment and you're making to these black owned companies,

1107
00:52:41,440 --> 00:52:44,360
Speaker 2: and these organizations were holding you to it. And I

1108
00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:45,120
Speaker 2: think that that was.

1109
00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:47,640
Speaker 1: There were companies behind doing like actually tracking.

1110
00:52:47,800 --> 00:52:50,880
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I think that fifteen percent pledge was really big

1111
00:52:50,920 --> 00:52:53,799
Speaker 2: on that. I think Anti Racism Fund was good for

1112
00:52:53,880 --> 00:52:57,280
Speaker 2: pillars for organizations within the community. I think that that's

1113
00:52:57,360 --> 00:53:00,600
Speaker 2: kind of the before cancel culture. I think that that

1114
00:53:00,719 --> 00:53:04,359
Speaker 2: was like the accountability of people boycotting businesses if they

1115
00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:07,120
Speaker 2: weren't standing next to the obligations that they were promising

1116
00:53:07,160 --> 00:53:09,520
Speaker 2: to their consumer. Yeah, and I think that that was

1117
00:53:09,560 --> 00:53:11,959
Speaker 2: the reality that we were living is like, we're tired

1118
00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:15,600
Speaker 2: of spending money on these places and people that don't

1119
00:53:15,640 --> 00:53:19,120
Speaker 2: value us. Yeah, and enough is enough. Let's change that.

1120
00:53:19,760 --> 00:53:22,160
Speaker 2: And I think it translates back to when people start

1121
00:53:22,160 --> 00:53:25,320
Speaker 2: to see it as a regular where people aren't talking

1122
00:53:25,520 --> 00:53:28,480
Speaker 2: about this as much as they used to a couple

1123
00:53:28,520 --> 00:53:31,160
Speaker 2: of years ago, but people are still having the conversation.

1124
00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:35,160
Speaker 2: And I think having the opportunities and educational resources that

1125
00:53:35,360 --> 00:53:37,840
Speaker 2: is what controls where people will be in the world.

1126
00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:42,759
Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, that's interesting. Oh yeah, I remember after Black

1127
00:53:42,800 --> 00:53:45,680
Speaker 1: Lives Movement, I saw a lot of corporations step up

1128
00:53:46,840 --> 00:53:49,760
Speaker 1: and it was like bittersweet because it was like, damn,

1129
00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:53,120
Speaker 1: it took all this, but thank god, you know, but

1130
00:53:53,239 --> 00:53:56,440
Speaker 1: it was also like why did it take all this?

1131
00:53:56,640 --> 00:53:59,000
Speaker 1: And to see that that change is still in effect

1132
00:53:59,080 --> 00:54:01,600
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty for I'm thankful, you know, I'm thankful.

1133
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:04,759
Speaker 1: I a walk into Target or any store and you

1134
00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:08,480
Speaker 1: know see black owned brands, Yeah, you know, making headway.

1135
00:54:09,120 --> 00:54:12,480
Speaker 1: Brands that you know, we're mainly online or boutiqui are

1136
00:54:12,520 --> 00:54:15,680
Speaker 1: now getting picked up by major chains. Huge, huge deal.

1137
00:54:17,040 --> 00:54:19,520
Speaker 1: I know Afro Unicorn shout out to them. They had

1138
00:54:19,600 --> 00:54:24,200
Speaker 1: the license at first, like licensed character in a major retailer,

1139
00:54:24,320 --> 00:54:29,800
Speaker 1: you know, and it was like a black unicorn. It's brilliant,

1140
00:54:29,920 --> 00:54:32,640
Speaker 1: you know. And now even when I go shopping and

1141
00:54:32,680 --> 00:54:35,440
Speaker 1: I see a white one, I'm like, ah, there's a black.

1142
00:54:35,239 --> 00:54:39,640
Speaker 2: One somewhere around here, like Santa yeah, black Santa, Yeah.

1143
00:54:39,719 --> 00:54:44,120
Speaker 1: I I know, I'm want to see this. But like

1144
00:54:44,280 --> 00:54:46,120
Speaker 1: I tell my dad all the time, like, you know,

1145
00:54:46,200 --> 00:54:50,560
Speaker 1: this is the first year actually registered to vote ever.

1146
00:54:52,040 --> 00:54:53,960
Speaker 1: Matter of fact, I thought I was voting. And then

1147
00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:57,520
Speaker 1: I was talking to Tony card AND's wife was congressman

1148
00:54:58,200 --> 00:55:01,000
Speaker 1: and I was like calling her about Kamala Harris and

1149
00:55:02,719 --> 00:55:04,799
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, I'm voting this year. She was like, yeah,

1150
00:55:04,800 --> 00:55:07,920
Speaker 1: did you register? I was like, what's that was like,

1151
00:55:08,520 --> 00:55:10,600
Speaker 1: She's like, maybe you're just calling so you can learn

1152
00:55:10,600 --> 00:55:12,719
Speaker 1: how to register to vote. And she like sat on

1153
00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:16,160
Speaker 1: the phone and help me register. And luckily she was like,

1154
00:55:16,239 --> 00:55:18,520
Speaker 1: do a register by mail and she was right because

1155
00:55:18,520 --> 00:55:20,360
Speaker 1: I'm going to be in New York. So I was like,

1156
00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:24,959
Speaker 1: thank god she helped me with it. But I told

1157
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:30,440
Speaker 1: my dad, this is intentional. I'm specifically voting for Kamal

1158
00:55:30,560 --> 00:55:32,480
Speaker 1: and I'm not afraid to say it because she's a

1159
00:55:32,480 --> 00:55:36,960
Speaker 1: black woman. Now she was out here murdering kids and

1160
00:55:37,000 --> 00:55:39,520
Speaker 1: all that. You know, I would be like, okay, but

1161
00:55:39,760 --> 00:55:43,000
Speaker 1: I'm not going to get to anything past. It's about

1162
00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:46,239
Speaker 1: damn time my daughter or myself can say, like my

1163
00:55:46,360 --> 00:55:50,200
Speaker 1: daughter can be like, you know, I want to be president.

1164
00:55:50,239 --> 00:55:53,880
Speaker 1: I'll be like, you know, yes you can. And here's

1165
00:55:53,920 --> 00:55:56,520
Speaker 1: an example. And I was even telling her the other day,

1166
00:55:56,600 --> 00:56:00,920
Speaker 1: if you become president, forget it. I'm in heaven as

1167
00:56:00,960 --> 00:56:04,120
Speaker 1: an adult, like, forget it. Like if that ends up

1168
00:56:04,160 --> 00:56:07,319
Speaker 1: being the case, girl, there is no greater gift you

1169
00:56:07,320 --> 00:56:09,560
Speaker 1: can give me, you know. And she's only three, But

1170
00:56:09,640 --> 00:56:12,279
Speaker 1: I only believe in it now because of comea.

1171
00:56:12,840 --> 00:56:16,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the resources and opportunity people around you

1172
00:56:17,960 --> 00:56:21,319
Speaker 2: was not a thing that we had where being the

1173
00:56:21,320 --> 00:56:25,000
Speaker 2: first black president was like a dream as a kid

1174
00:56:25,080 --> 00:56:27,680
Speaker 2: that you would say, that's adorable, but it was not

1175
00:56:27,760 --> 00:56:30,439
Speaker 2: a reality that people were really facing. And I think

1176
00:56:30,440 --> 00:56:33,840
Speaker 2: that now as the world is starting to have figures

1177
00:56:33,920 --> 00:56:36,440
Speaker 2: that are standing and sitting in that presence of it,

1178
00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:39,080
Speaker 2: the change is coming for sure. And I think that

1179
00:56:39,160 --> 00:56:42,880
Speaker 2: representation and resources really matter a lot. So like for you,

1180
00:56:42,880 --> 00:56:46,440
Speaker 2: you've never voted before, you could have had the resources

1181
00:56:46,440 --> 00:56:49,680
Speaker 2: to vote, but the resources weren't enough to provide you

1182
00:56:49,760 --> 00:56:53,560
Speaker 2: with reason to be like, here's a reason why I'm

1183
00:56:53,640 --> 00:56:56,480
Speaker 2: actually going to vote, and they're I think that that's

1184
00:56:56,480 --> 00:56:58,600
Speaker 2: the same thing, especially like the community that we're in,

1185
00:56:58,719 --> 00:57:01,560
Speaker 2: is that things have to be set up properly, but

1186
00:57:01,600 --> 00:57:04,400
Speaker 2: they also have to be set up properly for you specifically.

1187
00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:06,279
Speaker 2: And I think a lot of times when it comes

1188
00:57:06,280 --> 00:57:09,200
Speaker 2: down to like voter registration, for me, it's like I've

1189
00:57:09,440 --> 00:57:13,080
Speaker 2: registered to vote, like I've voted several times. My journey

1190
00:57:13,120 --> 00:57:14,879
Speaker 2: compared to like somebody I've been classed with or I'm

1191
00:57:14,880 --> 00:57:18,720
Speaker 2: sitting next to be completely different because my reality is

1192
00:57:18,760 --> 00:57:21,200
Speaker 2: like the neighborhood I grew up with, like everybody went

1193
00:57:21,240 --> 00:57:23,840
Speaker 2: to go vote on the special day, everybody had like

1194
00:57:24,200 --> 00:57:27,200
Speaker 2: I voted sticker, Like that's my reality, and sometimes some

1195
00:57:27,240 --> 00:57:29,040
Speaker 2: people just don't. Like I even have people in my

1196
00:57:29,080 --> 00:57:32,240
Speaker 2: family that are like, they don't prioritize things the same way.

1197
00:57:32,520 --> 00:57:35,760
Speaker 2: But I think between having more resources, more role models,

1198
00:57:35,760 --> 00:57:38,200
Speaker 2: and more people that are actively like getting on platforms

1199
00:57:38,200 --> 00:57:41,280
Speaker 2: and speaking about it, it's a really really dope thing.

1200
00:57:41,360 --> 00:57:44,560
Speaker 2: And then the things that we're instilling in kids and

1201
00:57:44,600 --> 00:57:47,440
Speaker 2: we're instilling in the next generation is more so not

1202
00:57:47,520 --> 00:57:49,960
Speaker 2: like this is a dream that could possibly happen, is

1203
00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:54,160
Speaker 2: like this has actually happened. The statistics on it compared

1204
00:57:54,200 --> 00:57:57,720
Speaker 2: to like everybody else is lower, but it's still an opportunity,

1205
00:57:58,240 --> 00:58:00,520
Speaker 2: whereas like we I'm so used to Even when I

1206
00:58:00,520 --> 00:58:03,880
Speaker 2: was applying for colleges, my college advisors were like, don't

1207
00:58:03,880 --> 00:58:05,880
Speaker 2: apply for this college because you like there's nowhere you're

1208
00:58:05,880 --> 00:58:08,200
Speaker 2: going to get in. Don't apply for this like instead

1209
00:58:08,240 --> 00:58:12,400
Speaker 2: of maybe there's an opportunity, That opportunity of like slight

1210
00:58:12,440 --> 00:58:15,720
Speaker 2: possibility even is like less than one percent if it's there.

1211
00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:19,120
Speaker 2: I think that that is what allows people to really

1212
00:58:19,320 --> 00:58:21,480
Speaker 2: just be dedicated to stuff around us.

1213
00:58:21,640 --> 00:58:25,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I also think that, like one of all

1214
00:58:25,200 --> 00:58:27,760
Speaker 1: other reasons why I ended up voting or registering to

1215
00:58:27,840 --> 00:58:30,640
Speaker 1: vote was I actually had congressmen on the show, Okay,

1216
00:58:30,840 --> 00:58:33,640
Speaker 1: and he broke down like how he was able to

1217
00:58:33,680 --> 00:58:38,120
Speaker 1: win or win his first like electoral race because he

1218
00:58:38,200 --> 00:58:40,400
Speaker 1: was reaching out to the Brown community. It was like

1219
00:58:40,480 --> 00:58:45,280
Speaker 1: Latinos people that like the other competitors weren't even wasting

1220
00:58:45,320 --> 00:58:47,240
Speaker 1: their time. They were like not even wasting their time,

1221
00:58:47,880 --> 00:58:50,880
Speaker 1: and he just he like was able to articulate like

1222
00:58:50,920 --> 00:58:53,880
Speaker 1: what happens when you don't vote, yeah, and like the

1223
00:58:53,960 --> 00:58:56,760
Speaker 1: damage that can happen and what happens when you do.

1224
00:58:56,880 --> 00:59:00,240
Speaker 1: But he was very much able to articulate, like how

1225
00:59:00,280 --> 00:59:03,040
Speaker 1: the government is run when you sit silent, And I

1226
00:59:03,120 --> 00:59:06,640
Speaker 1: think there just really isn't enough education for those that

1227
00:59:06,720 --> 00:59:09,240
Speaker 1: are like nobody listens to us, Like that's so out

1228
00:59:09,240 --> 00:59:10,560
Speaker 1: of there. I'm trying to figure out how to put

1229
00:59:10,680 --> 00:59:13,960
Speaker 1: groceries on my table. But I feel like from the

1230
00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:17,200
Speaker 1: midllennials on up, they more care about, like what's the

1231
00:59:17,240 --> 00:59:19,680
Speaker 1: brand's mission and purpose and who do they support when

1232
00:59:19,680 --> 00:59:26,720
Speaker 1: they purchase. I'd be honest, I'm much like if I

1233
00:59:26,760 --> 00:59:28,680
Speaker 1: see what I like, I like, I buy, you know,

1234
00:59:29,240 --> 00:59:33,240
Speaker 1: mission or no mission, as long as you're not harring

1235
00:59:34,320 --> 00:59:37,160
Speaker 1: you know, sounds terrible, but this.

1236
00:59:37,360 --> 00:59:43,200
Speaker 2: Just that's that's your moral compass. And I think that

1237
00:59:43,200 --> 00:59:45,400
Speaker 2: there's like an opportunity cause right, like so somebody might

1238
00:59:45,440 --> 00:59:48,400
Speaker 2: be like, I don't buy any fast fashion. To not

1239
00:59:48,440 --> 00:59:50,640
Speaker 2: buy fast fashion is expensive?

1240
00:59:50,760 --> 00:59:52,320
Speaker 1: What's fast fashion? Like fashion?

1241
00:59:52,320 --> 00:59:56,320
Speaker 2: Ova? Like shean sh t MoU like any company that

1242
00:59:56,880 --> 01:00:01,000
Speaker 2: exploits workers in exchange to make it's cheaper.

1243
01:00:01,360 --> 01:00:02,080
Speaker 1: That's what they do.

1244
01:00:02,360 --> 01:00:05,880
Speaker 2: Or yeah, for sure, oh like to make clothing from

1245
01:00:05,920 --> 01:00:09,120
Speaker 2: fabric perspective, and like working you cut costs and like

1246
01:00:09,280 --> 01:00:11,560
Speaker 2: how much cost can you cut before it starts to

1247
01:00:11,560 --> 01:00:15,760
Speaker 2: be like lower quality or somebody else's livelihood, you know.

1248
01:00:16,440 --> 01:00:18,600
Speaker 2: And that's the conversation that you have, is that if

1249
01:00:18,640 --> 01:00:21,000
Speaker 2: you're like I no longer support any of these brands,

1250
01:00:21,400 --> 01:00:22,960
Speaker 2: you have to have the money to pay for that,

1251
01:00:23,440 --> 01:00:25,840
Speaker 2: or you need to find some opportunity. And I think

1252
01:00:25,880 --> 01:00:28,440
Speaker 2: that there's a given take, just like a business being sustainable,

1253
01:00:28,440 --> 01:00:30,960
Speaker 2: Like we have products that are sustainable, but the whole

1254
01:00:31,040 --> 01:00:34,919
Speaker 2: business to be a completely sustainable business requires a lot

1255
01:00:34,920 --> 01:00:38,520
Speaker 2: of effort for that specifically that that might not be

1256
01:00:38,680 --> 01:00:41,160
Speaker 2: It's like a give and take. My prices may be

1257
01:00:41,320 --> 01:00:45,560
Speaker 2: higher if I were to like source packaging from somewhere

1258
01:00:45,560 --> 01:00:50,160
Speaker 2: else to be like completely sustainable and biodegradable as opposed

1259
01:00:50,200 --> 01:00:54,440
Speaker 2: to like this is like packaging, maybe we are focused

1260
01:00:54,480 --> 01:00:56,480
Speaker 2: on tissue paper that gets thrown out. We don't really

1261
01:00:56,560 --> 01:00:59,240
Speaker 2: care as much on that. It's a give and take.

1262
01:00:59,320 --> 01:01:01,240
Speaker 2: And I think a lot of times with apparel, the

1263
01:01:01,280 --> 01:01:04,200
Speaker 2: reality is you wear clothes every day, so people aren't

1264
01:01:04,240 --> 01:01:06,120
Speaker 2: being like, oh, I don't support this and all that,

1265
01:01:06,240 --> 01:01:08,440
Speaker 2: Like go to the liquor store, get a T shirt

1266
01:01:08,480 --> 01:01:10,000
Speaker 2: and all that, like you spill on it, what are're

1267
01:01:10,000 --> 01:01:11,600
Speaker 2: gonna do? Oh, now I have to go buy like

1268
01:01:11,640 --> 01:01:14,360
Speaker 2: a high end brand, it's very difficult to get like

1269
01:01:14,440 --> 01:01:16,120
Speaker 2: in the weeds. And I think that we are so

1270
01:01:16,400 --> 01:01:19,240
Speaker 2: like very big on like I want a company with

1271
01:01:19,320 --> 01:01:21,800
Speaker 2: the mission on it. But I think that having a

1272
01:01:21,840 --> 01:01:25,000
Speaker 2: brand with the beliefs of it and understanding that if

1273
01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:28,000
Speaker 2: you are purchasing like cargo pants for my brand, aside

1274
01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:30,560
Speaker 2: from a bag that says protect black women, you know

1275
01:01:30,600 --> 01:01:33,840
Speaker 2: that the same effect is still happening within our brand

1276
01:01:33,960 --> 01:01:37,040
Speaker 2: is because our contribution aside from being like we donate

1277
01:01:37,200 --> 01:01:39,120
Speaker 2: x amount from the sales of bags, it's like our

1278
01:01:39,200 --> 01:01:42,439
Speaker 2: brand is focused and mission driven for this it makes

1279
01:01:42,440 --> 01:01:45,040
Speaker 2: it better. And there are some people that purchase the

1280
01:01:45,080 --> 01:01:48,080
Speaker 2: brand not because we're black owned, but they like the messaging.

1281
01:01:48,120 --> 01:01:50,560
Speaker 2: Everybody's intention is different, and I think that when you

1282
01:01:50,680 --> 01:01:53,200
Speaker 2: understand your intention behind it, and like, I don't shame

1283
01:01:53,240 --> 01:01:57,000
Speaker 2: people because I don't know the full extremity on what

1284
01:01:57,040 --> 01:01:59,200
Speaker 2: it is. Like some people they might be like I

1285
01:01:59,200 --> 01:02:02,160
Speaker 2: wear three dollars tea every single day. There's my one outfit.

1286
01:02:02,400 --> 01:02:04,520
Speaker 2: I don't have anything else in the budget for that.

1287
01:02:04,560 --> 01:02:07,120
Speaker 2: People have kids all my money goes to my kids.

1288
01:02:07,480 --> 01:02:08,920
Speaker 2: You don't know what people are going through, but I

1289
01:02:08,960 --> 01:02:11,880
Speaker 2: think that when you know what your moral compass is,

1290
01:02:11,920 --> 01:02:13,880
Speaker 2: and I think that not everything needs to be like

1291
01:02:13,880 --> 01:02:16,680
Speaker 2: a moral and ethical decision, but like where you decide

1292
01:02:16,720 --> 01:02:19,000
Speaker 2: to put that, Like maybe my moral compass, for like

1293
01:02:19,040 --> 01:02:21,800
Speaker 2: my tithing goes here, and maybe it goes to that.

1294
01:02:22,400 --> 01:02:24,800
Speaker 2: But not everything needs to be like a dissertation or

1295
01:02:24,800 --> 01:02:26,280
Speaker 2: like a deep dive in it. And I think that

1296
01:02:26,320 --> 01:02:28,560
Speaker 2: we make things a lot more than it actually is.

1297
01:02:29,480 --> 01:02:31,400
Speaker 2: But it's interesting. It is interesting why.

1298
01:02:31,240 --> 01:02:33,840
Speaker 1: People that when it comes to sit people can purchase

1299
01:02:33,880 --> 01:02:38,080
Speaker 1: your clothing and your bags online, Yes, and where else.

1300
01:02:38,960 --> 01:02:40,920
Speaker 2: We're currently only online. So the goal right now is

1301
01:02:40,920 --> 01:02:42,120
Speaker 2: to be into different retailers.

1302
01:02:42,200 --> 01:02:45,400
Speaker 1: Yes, and prior to us recording, you said you wanted

1303
01:02:45,440 --> 01:02:47,800
Speaker 1: to be in specifically two retailers.

1304
01:02:47,960 --> 01:02:53,120
Speaker 2: Yes, go ahead. So I want to be in Sacks, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's,

1305
01:02:53,640 --> 01:02:55,560
Speaker 2: places that I like to shop and everything, and I

1306
01:02:55,640 --> 01:02:57,920
Speaker 2: also want to be in local boutiques. I think that

1307
01:02:58,000 --> 01:02:59,880
Speaker 2: being in boutiques is really cool because we know some

1308
01:03:00,080 --> 01:03:02,200
Speaker 2: of the boutique owners and being in those spaces that

1309
01:03:02,240 --> 01:03:05,920
Speaker 2: you shop is really cool and it's part of the community.

1310
01:03:05,960 --> 01:03:07,800
Speaker 2: That helped build us around.

1311
01:03:08,120 --> 01:03:11,720
Speaker 1: Yes, your price point on your bags and your clothing is.

1312
01:03:13,240 --> 01:03:16,080
Speaker 2: It's on average, a canvas tote bag is forty dollars.

1313
01:03:16,120 --> 01:03:19,320
Speaker 2: The handbags are between one fifty to one ninety five

1314
01:03:19,400 --> 01:03:22,000
Speaker 2: depending on the material in the size of it.

1315
01:03:22,280 --> 01:03:23,640
Speaker 1: And you have a cool hard wallet.

1316
01:03:23,880 --> 01:03:25,680
Speaker 2: Yeah we do. We've got the Charlotte card holder.

1317
01:03:25,760 --> 01:03:27,320
Speaker 1: I feel like, what was the price point on them.

1318
01:03:27,280 --> 01:03:27,840
Speaker 2: That was forty?

1319
01:03:28,200 --> 01:03:28,560
Speaker 1: It was?

1320
01:03:28,680 --> 01:03:31,880
Speaker 2: Yeah? Was it? Yeah? What was it?

1321
01:03:32,680 --> 01:03:34,120
Speaker 1: Why do I feel like it was a lot more?

1322
01:03:34,800 --> 01:03:38,320
Speaker 2: That's good? Yeah it's forty.

1323
01:03:38,480 --> 01:03:40,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, But you want to be in but you

1324
01:03:40,840 --> 01:03:44,800
Speaker 1: don't want to Why would you not consider, like because

1325
01:03:44,840 --> 01:03:48,040
Speaker 1: those price points you could be in like a Tarja Yeah,

1326
01:03:49,400 --> 01:03:51,200
Speaker 1: tarje I was. I would say Walmart, but I don't

1327
01:03:51,240 --> 01:03:54,000
Speaker 1: know if any you know Walmart accounts. But why would

1328
01:03:54,000 --> 01:03:56,080
Speaker 1: you be opposed to going inside a Target?

1329
01:03:56,360 --> 01:03:58,120
Speaker 2: I'm not opposed to it. I think that there's a

1330
01:03:58,160 --> 01:04:00,600
Speaker 2: way to curate it right where if you look at

1331
01:04:00,600 --> 01:04:04,360
Speaker 2: a company like north Face. North Face has the Purple

1332
01:04:04,400 --> 01:04:09,360
Speaker 2: label and that's their lux line that's only in designated locations,

1333
01:04:09,400 --> 01:04:12,880
Speaker 2: but they also are in places like TJ Max and

1334
01:04:14,000 --> 01:04:15,080
Speaker 2: Marshals there.

1335
01:04:15,440 --> 01:04:18,600
Speaker 1: Like how guessed by Marciano is like, guess, yeah, there's

1336
01:04:18,640 --> 01:04:21,360
Speaker 1: different branches in each one that comes out. Would you

1337
01:04:21,400 --> 01:04:22,160
Speaker 1: be opposed to that?

1338
01:04:22,280 --> 01:04:25,360
Speaker 2: No, I'm not against it, okay, yeah.

1339
01:04:25,600 --> 01:04:29,760
Speaker 1: So and then where do you see yourself in like

1340
01:04:29,800 --> 01:04:30,880
Speaker 1: a couple of years.

1341
01:04:31,800 --> 01:04:34,480
Speaker 2: I see it. I see SISS as a big brand

1342
01:04:34,480 --> 01:04:40,600
Speaker 2: that houses everything where either we have ownership or we

1343
01:04:40,680 --> 01:04:44,400
Speaker 2: work with direct companies in things that we don't specialize in. Right,

1344
01:04:44,440 --> 01:04:48,320
Speaker 2: so for a media company, we're not a media outlet,

1345
01:04:48,400 --> 01:04:50,560
Speaker 2: but it would be really cool if we work with

1346
01:04:50,800 --> 01:04:52,960
Speaker 2: a black owned media company to.

1347
01:04:53,440 --> 01:04:54,440
Speaker 1: Like us exactly.

1348
01:04:54,440 --> 01:04:58,439
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, what we wouldn't take the ownership of that,

1349
01:04:58,480 --> 01:04:59,960
Speaker 2: but we know that it's like, okay, if we want

1350
01:05:00,120 --> 01:05:03,080
Speaker 2: to have a show and an audience of people, we

1351
01:05:03,160 --> 01:05:06,120
Speaker 2: can now be a supporter of your show. If people

1352
01:05:06,120 --> 01:05:09,360
Speaker 2: wear clothes, like we could make the clothes for this show,

1353
01:05:09,720 --> 01:05:11,560
Speaker 2: and that would be like something that would be part

1354
01:05:11,600 --> 01:05:15,160
Speaker 2: of it we can make and be big with. Now

1355
01:05:15,200 --> 01:05:17,920
Speaker 2: the people that come in, they have an awareness for programming.

1356
01:05:18,320 --> 01:05:21,040
Speaker 2: We have hosted events, but there are other companies we

1357
01:05:21,120 --> 01:05:22,640
Speaker 2: work with to be part of it. So being an

1358
01:05:22,840 --> 01:05:26,680
Speaker 2: entity that's like ancillary and supports other businesses is really

1359
01:05:26,760 --> 01:05:29,520
Speaker 2: the goal and to sit in these big retailers. We

1360
01:05:29,560 --> 01:05:31,280
Speaker 2: do want to have our own brick and mortar store,

1361
01:05:31,720 --> 01:05:33,480
Speaker 2: but I do want it to be like this is

1362
01:05:33,480 --> 01:05:37,880
Speaker 2: a luxury upscale business. Those are like heavy hitters and

1363
01:05:37,920 --> 01:05:40,760
Speaker 2: like Sacks and Norsetrum that are sitting there. We are

1364
01:05:40,800 --> 01:05:44,440
Speaker 2: also in an everyday accessible company like a Target. I

1365
01:05:44,520 --> 01:05:47,440
Speaker 2: want to have those and like curate it tastefully to

1366
01:05:47,520 --> 01:05:48,240
Speaker 2: be able to be.

1367
01:05:48,280 --> 01:05:50,240
Speaker 1: Like all in all, how hard is it to get

1368
01:05:50,240 --> 01:05:52,200
Speaker 1: in a Sax and a Norseum? Tell, have you made

1369
01:05:52,240 --> 01:05:54,040
Speaker 1: the calls? What does it take to get in there?

1370
01:05:54,640 --> 01:05:57,600
Speaker 2: It takes a lot. I think that when you're looking

1371
01:05:57,640 --> 01:06:00,840
Speaker 2: at companies nowadays, people are very digital. So you can

1372
01:06:00,880 --> 01:06:04,000
Speaker 2: be on a website like Macy's. Macy's will have a

1373
01:06:04,040 --> 01:06:06,920
Speaker 2: program where you can sell and never be in their

1374
01:06:06,960 --> 01:06:09,720
Speaker 2: physical store. You could be on like Macy's dot com.

1375
01:06:09,760 --> 01:06:10,320
Speaker 1: That's awesome.

1376
01:06:10,440 --> 01:06:14,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good opportunity. But the curation piece of

1377
01:06:14,560 --> 01:06:16,960
Speaker 2: where it sits on the floor if you were in

1378
01:06:17,040 --> 01:06:19,880
Speaker 2: store is also different. So on Macy's dot com. When

1379
01:06:19,880 --> 01:06:22,720
Speaker 2: you see all of the listings on Macy's, Macy's has

1380
01:06:22,760 --> 01:06:25,600
Speaker 2: like tens of thousands of items online. Where's your brand

1381
01:06:25,640 --> 01:06:27,080
Speaker 2: going to be? And if somebody is just like, let

1382
01:06:27,080 --> 01:06:28,720
Speaker 2: me just see what I can get from Macy's and

1383
01:06:28,760 --> 01:06:31,280
Speaker 2: I go to handbags. How many companies do you know

1384
01:06:31,560 --> 01:06:34,240
Speaker 2: make handbags? So I think that the curation piece on

1385
01:06:34,320 --> 01:06:37,560
Speaker 2: it is like more intentional to be in store, which

1386
01:06:37,560 --> 01:06:38,480
Speaker 2: is what we thrive for.

1387
01:06:39,320 --> 01:06:41,520
Speaker 1: You're so good at online. And like even when I

1388
01:06:41,560 --> 01:06:45,320
Speaker 1: shop at Macy's, which I rarely do now because the

1389
01:06:45,320 --> 01:06:49,080
Speaker 1: a riodte takes all my money, but I usually will

1390
01:06:49,080 --> 01:06:51,480
Speaker 1: type in like if I type in shoes, I'll be

1391
01:06:51,560 --> 01:06:54,600
Speaker 1: like Booty's and then it'll be like price point this

1392
01:06:54,760 --> 01:06:57,040
Speaker 1: dollar amount to this dollar amount. So I do like

1393
01:06:57,080 --> 01:06:58,800
Speaker 1: that about Macys. So like if I were to if

1394
01:06:58,840 --> 01:07:02,440
Speaker 1: Seyss was in macy I would just be like handbags

1395
01:07:02,840 --> 01:07:05,720
Speaker 1: this price point, yeah, you know, and then obviously I

1396
01:07:05,760 --> 01:07:10,120
Speaker 1: always go over that budget because sometimes the nicer bags

1397
01:07:10,160 --> 01:07:12,960
Speaker 1: or more or whatever. But I do think that, like

1398
01:07:13,040 --> 01:07:15,160
Speaker 1: if everything's going online, because I can't even remember the

1399
01:07:15,240 --> 01:07:18,520
Speaker 1: last time I like walked into Macy's. Yeah whatever, what's wrong.

1400
01:07:18,560 --> 01:07:20,880
Speaker 1: I do for the shoes, you know, because she's yeah,

1401
01:07:20,920 --> 01:07:24,760
Speaker 1: you know, every girl's addiction. But for the most part, yeah,

1402
01:07:24,960 --> 01:07:28,440
Speaker 1: like I would so if you had an opportunity be

1403
01:07:28,520 --> 01:07:30,920
Speaker 1: on Macy's. Would you be like, Eh, No.

1404
01:07:31,120 --> 01:07:33,960
Speaker 2: I'm open to it. I think that we're not too

1405
01:07:34,000 --> 01:07:36,600
Speaker 2: good for any opportunity. I think it just needs to

1406
01:07:36,640 --> 01:07:38,840
Speaker 2: make sense as an opportunity for the business.

1407
01:07:39,040 --> 01:07:41,360
Speaker 1: And then but how are you how do you get

1408
01:07:41,360 --> 01:07:44,000
Speaker 1: into the stores? Like who are you calling? Or or

1409
01:07:44,080 --> 01:07:45,040
Speaker 1: have you made the calls?

1410
01:07:45,120 --> 01:07:48,240
Speaker 2: We've We've made calls and we're in conversations with different companies.

1411
01:07:48,240 --> 01:07:49,880
Speaker 2: But there will either be like a buyer for the

1412
01:07:49,920 --> 01:07:53,440
Speaker 2: specific department. So Seise could be a brand inside a

1413
01:07:53,480 --> 01:07:57,000
Speaker 2: place like a Macy's, but it might be Sis's handbags,

1414
01:07:57,160 --> 01:08:00,160
Speaker 2: not the apparel. And it depends on like your or

1415
01:08:00,160 --> 01:08:02,040
Speaker 2: strength as a business. And it also depends on like

1416
01:08:02,040 --> 01:08:05,840
Speaker 2: a buying calendar. If we have right now, it's fall.

1417
01:08:06,080 --> 01:08:07,840
Speaker 2: If we're selling a whole bunch of like tank tops

1418
01:08:07,880 --> 01:08:10,560
Speaker 2: and stuff right now, people in New York are probably

1419
01:08:10,560 --> 01:08:13,600
Speaker 2: not going to buy tank tops. So from a buying perspective,

1420
01:08:13,920 --> 01:08:18,120
Speaker 2: listing it online as opposed to in store two different beasts.

1421
01:08:18,200 --> 01:08:20,320
Speaker 2: So it just depends on how we're going to be.

1422
01:08:20,720 --> 01:08:25,519
Speaker 2: But I think that accessibility should be open to everybody.

1423
01:08:25,720 --> 01:08:28,720
Speaker 2: You go online and you purchase stuff online. I buy

1424
01:08:28,760 --> 01:08:30,880
Speaker 2: all my stuff online, or I like occasionally go to

1425
01:08:30,920 --> 01:08:33,160
Speaker 2: the mall. My mom doesn't believe in buying anything online.

1426
01:08:33,640 --> 01:08:36,920
Speaker 2: She has to see she is, but she's part of

1427
01:08:36,960 --> 01:08:39,960
Speaker 2: like the clientele that purchases from me, and like her

1428
01:08:40,000 --> 01:08:42,200
Speaker 2: friends would purchase from it, and they have to feel

1429
01:08:42,400 --> 01:08:45,360
Speaker 2: the items. No matter how sell them, you got to

1430
01:08:45,360 --> 01:08:47,680
Speaker 2: be in person. Will either do like pop ups or

1431
01:08:47,680 --> 01:08:50,000
Speaker 2: be in a store or like I'll have to bring

1432
01:08:50,040 --> 01:08:52,080
Speaker 2: it to people. Like there's just certain things that I

1433
01:08:52,080 --> 01:08:54,360
Speaker 2: think that we lose and I don't feel as if

1434
01:08:54,400 --> 01:08:56,880
Speaker 2: a brand were too big to do those things right.

1435
01:08:56,920 --> 01:09:00,599
Speaker 2: Like my mom is spending the same amount of money

1436
01:09:00,640 --> 01:09:02,600
Speaker 2: that somebody else would spend on something, but she's like

1437
01:09:02,600 --> 01:09:05,880
Speaker 2: a loyal customer. She does not know of new brands

1438
01:09:05,920 --> 01:09:07,840
Speaker 2: that come out like on a consistent basis, because she

1439
01:09:07,880 --> 01:09:10,160
Speaker 2: sticks with her consistent businesses.

1440
01:09:10,400 --> 01:09:12,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, she's like me and.

1441
01:09:12,600 --> 01:09:14,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I want that for people where it's like

1442
01:09:14,840 --> 01:09:17,559
Speaker 2: I want some people that have a whole bunch of brands.

1443
01:09:17,720 --> 01:09:19,840
Speaker 2: I want people that want like a culmination of black

1444
01:09:19,840 --> 01:09:22,439
Speaker 2: owned businesses. I want people that just want handbags. I

1445
01:09:22,479 --> 01:09:24,880
Speaker 2: want it all, and we're not too big to be

1446
01:09:25,000 --> 01:09:26,519
Speaker 2: in anything like that. I just think that there are

1447
01:09:26,520 --> 01:09:28,960
Speaker 2: certain aspirations that we have. I think that even if

1448
01:09:29,000 --> 01:09:31,880
Speaker 2: we're not in stores, the business will be successful.

1449
01:09:31,960 --> 01:09:34,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, it will. It is successful, and it's a beautiful brand.

1450
01:09:35,120 --> 01:09:38,719
Speaker 1: I particularly want to go and get the car Ballet.

1451
01:09:39,280 --> 01:09:40,840
Speaker 1: For some straight reason, I thought it was more and

1452
01:09:40,840 --> 01:09:42,680
Speaker 1: I don't know why. Maybe I was like doing too

1453
01:09:42,680 --> 01:09:46,000
Speaker 1: many things at the same time. Yeah, because I do

1454
01:09:46,080 --> 01:09:49,120
Speaker 1: that sometimes, I'm sure. Because John was like, you have

1455
01:09:49,160 --> 01:09:51,160
Speaker 1: to you have to get to Blake. You have to

1456
01:09:51,160 --> 01:09:53,679
Speaker 1: get this guy Blake. I was like, all right, John,

1457
01:09:53,920 --> 01:09:58,320
Speaker 1: it's not why I'm calling, but okay, send me his info.

1458
01:09:58,439 --> 01:09:59,920
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, yeah, we should definitely get

1459
01:10:00,040 --> 01:10:02,040
Speaker 1: I looked at your stuff, that's right. I remember I

1460
01:10:02,080 --> 01:10:03,960
Speaker 1: was in Beverly hos And I was looking at your

1461
01:10:04,000 --> 01:10:06,240
Speaker 1: stuff and I said, oh, his stuff is pretty amazing.

1462
01:10:06,280 --> 01:10:06,680
Speaker 2: Thank you.

1463
01:10:06,840 --> 01:10:10,800
Speaker 1: But that's a high recommendation. It was a very high recommendation.

1464
01:10:10,840 --> 01:10:12,680
Speaker 1: He was like, you got to hear his story. He

1465
01:10:12,760 --> 01:10:16,960
Speaker 1: worked very hard and this is a John from Hustle

1466
01:10:17,000 --> 01:10:21,040
Speaker 1: to create what's his coffee? Coffee Don Mundo shout out

1467
01:10:21,040 --> 01:10:23,880
Speaker 1: to coffee Don Mundo. All right, tell all our listeners

1468
01:10:23,880 --> 01:10:26,519
Speaker 1: where we can keep up with everything Seise related.

1469
01:10:26,720 --> 01:10:28,960
Speaker 2: Yes, you can check us out at Seise dot Store,

1470
01:10:29,200 --> 01:10:31,800
Speaker 2: CI s E, Dot S, t O r E. We're

1471
01:10:31,840 --> 01:10:34,719
Speaker 2: on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, We're on everything.

1472
01:10:35,120 --> 01:10:39,080
Speaker 1: Yes, And if some brands or particular brands, since you

1473
01:10:39,200 --> 01:10:45,040
Speaker 1: are very intentional with the black footprint, if some organizations

1474
01:10:45,080 --> 01:10:47,559
Speaker 1: wanted to reach out to partner or to do business

1475
01:10:47,600 --> 01:10:49,360
Speaker 1: with you, because it seems like SEIS is very open

1476
01:10:49,360 --> 01:10:51,320
Speaker 1: to that, how would they get a hold of.

1477
01:10:51,280 --> 01:10:54,120
Speaker 2: You as a DM And like our emails are connected

1478
01:10:54,160 --> 01:10:55,479
Speaker 2: to everything as well, So.

1479
01:10:55,600 --> 01:10:59,720
Speaker 1: Okay, perfect, Thank you so much for sharing and affordable,

1480
01:11:00,280 --> 01:11:04,080
Speaker 1: very healthy, and I will give you this like most

1481
01:11:04,080 --> 01:11:07,200
Speaker 1: of my jar is actually eight look at that. It's

1482
01:11:07,280 --> 01:11:10,599
Speaker 1: really good. Shares to this dish. I absolutely love it.

1483
01:11:10,880 --> 01:11:34,000
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, y'all. Peace out for more eating while

1484
01:11:34,080 --> 01:11:38,040
Speaker 1: broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect, visit the iHeartRadio app,

1485
01:11:38,160 --> 01:11:41,200
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.