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Speaker 1: Afro Tech twenty nineteen, Oakley, California. Alfonso Morris, who's at

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Speaker 1: the time of product designer at Corsera, the world's leading

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Speaker 1: online educational platform, isn't an afro tech lounge, and he

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Speaker 1: drops rup with three keys about making it. As a

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Speaker 1: designer for tech companies, we work on web apps, websites.

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Speaker 1: It's interesting because a product designer is responsible for all

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Speaker 1: the stages of developing a product. Where some people might

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Speaker 1: think of a visual designer as what it looks like

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Speaker 1: or ux designer as what it feels like, a product

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Speaker 1: designer is actually umbrella of all of the stages of

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Speaker 1: developing a product. So we do strategy, we do discovery,

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Speaker 1: we do brainstorming, we do prototyping, We do wire framing

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Speaker 1: and information architecture and visual design as well as we

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Speaker 1: have a close relationship with engineering, usually because that's who

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Speaker 1: ends up developing the actual product. I think the biggest

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Speaker 1: myth that I hear is you have to be an

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Speaker 1: engineering to be in tech, And I understand why people

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Speaker 1: think that, but that's why I also said the biggest

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Speaker 1: myth that I hear tech has so tech is so big,

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Speaker 1: there's so many layers that engineering is honestly just one

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Speaker 1: slice of the pod. That's who's responsible for building the product.

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Speaker 1: But you got the marketing team, you got the advertising team,

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Speaker 1: you got ux writers, you got conscious strategist, You've got designers,

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Speaker 1: got data scientists, you got product managers, project managers, design leads.

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Speaker 1: There's so many different lanes in tech that if more

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Speaker 1: people knew that there was other positions besides for engineering

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Speaker 1: and tech, I think you would see a lot more

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Speaker 1: people of color in tech. What skills are necessary to

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Speaker 1: become a product designer in T I would say you

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Speaker 1: definitely need to know a design tool app for example,

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Speaker 1: a sketch or a figma. You definitely need to know

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Speaker 1: about data as far as quantitative verse qualitative. You definitely

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Speaker 1: need to understand apps. And I would tell everybody something

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Speaker 1: that a skill that they can learn on their own

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Speaker 1: is to take out their phone and play with some

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Speaker 1: of the apps that's on their phone and judge the app,

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Speaker 1: what you like about the app, what you don't like

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Speaker 1: about the app, And after you do that little app

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Speaker 1: review with yourself, see what part of that process stood

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Speaker 1: out to you. And that's the laying that you might

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Speaker 1: be able to follow into product design because that's what

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Speaker 1: you're interested in. So there's a lot of design tools

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Speaker 1: you can learn. There's a lot of books and methodologies

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Speaker 1: you can read, but there's a lot of social media

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Speaker 1: places you can go to to get inspiration and follow

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Speaker 1: leaders in the industry. So I would say start with

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Speaker 1: a design tool, but also a lot of research. Do

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Speaker 1: you need to go to a four year school to

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Speaker 1: become a designer? Which is pretty much saying do I

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Speaker 1: need a degree to become a designer? No. I don't

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Speaker 1: think there's a threshold of when somebody can actually not

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Speaker 1: me called the designer, you know what I mean. So

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Speaker 1: you don't become a designer once you get a degree.

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Speaker 1: You would go to college for design if there was

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Speaker 1: something super specific that you wanted to study. Can you

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Speaker 1: go to a boot camp? Yes, But I also think

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Speaker 1: you can become a self toward designer like I did.

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Speaker 1: I just spent every second that I could learning this software,

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Speaker 1: and as I did that, I grew and I understand

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Speaker 1: and I learned more about becoming a designer and what

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Speaker 1: it takes to be a designer. So I'm all for

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Speaker 1: four year colleges, but I'm also for allline education. I

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Speaker 1: worked at an Allline and Company Corsarra. But I also

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Speaker 1: believe in somebody spending the time to use the resources

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Speaker 1: that's available through social media or medium or Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Speaker 1: So no, I do not think you need to go

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Speaker 1: to college to become a designer, and I don't think

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Speaker 1: you'll be a better designer if you go to college.

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Speaker 1: I think it's about preference and where you want to

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Speaker 1: go because certain positions may require a degree, and if

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Speaker 1: they require that degree, then you should probably get it.

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Speaker 1: But I don't think the degree will make you the designer.

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Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. You gotta feel the not inside

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Speaker 1: that you're a designer, and you gotta show her through

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Speaker 1: the work and the product actually produced. I'm will Lucas.

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Speaker 1: This is black Tech dream Money. I'm gonna introuce you

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Speaker 1: to some of the biggest names, some of the brightest

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Speaker 1: minds and brilliant ideas. If you're black in building simply

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Speaker 1: using tech to subcut your back, this podcast is for you.

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Speaker 1: Pet mc williams is a tendued creative industry leader and

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Speaker 1: executive and is currently host of Claim Up, a career

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Speaker 1: discovery podcast to help black and brown creators discover their

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Speaker 1: dream careers and it's rated number one in iTunes. He

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Speaker 1: was also previously in global entertainment marketing at Nike and

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Speaker 1: global foodware product marketing for Yeasy at Adidas, and he's

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Speaker 1: held other creative roles at global brands. This is a

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Speaker 1: strong bridge between technology and the creative industries where to

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Speaker 1: be through how creative work has distributed, the opportunity to

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Speaker 1: collaborate with other creatives, or how creatives actually create maybe

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Speaker 1: it's a hot new app as being a How has

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Speaker 1: technology opened up the floodgates on how creators can monetize

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Speaker 1: their work in intellectual property? Oh, my goodness, has changed everything, right,

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Speaker 1: if you think about it, we got to go go

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Speaker 1: back just a time bit before you could monetize whatever

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Speaker 1: you were doing, right, And so I think back to

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Speaker 1: the time of life when we think about this creator

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Speaker 1: kind of community that's happening in the midst of of

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Speaker 1: tech creator economy. There are times you're talking like two

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Speaker 1: thousand eleven, two thousand and ten specifically where you know

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Speaker 1: Facebook was maturing, Instagrams coming online, Twitter's Create mature, and

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Speaker 1: some of these other things started up, and at the

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Speaker 1: time people had like these these big followings but there

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Speaker 1: was no way for you to really do anything with

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Speaker 1: from a monetization standpoint, right, Like you might get something

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Speaker 1: here and there. But when you think about today and

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Speaker 1: how those tools have really advanced to literally you can

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Speaker 1: literally have like a Patreon account where you can get

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Speaker 1: a subscription model going for for you and that becomes

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Speaker 1: a business. Right Other than that, folks are selling merch

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Speaker 1: which is still a great, you know, revenue generator for

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Speaker 1: a business. But from the tech perspective, you weren't able

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Speaker 1: to charge people's subscriptions seamlessly. You weren't able to have

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Speaker 1: digital events where people could pay to attend those events

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Speaker 1: um and then just the seamlessness of those services, it

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Speaker 1: didn't exist at that time. And you think about now

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Speaker 1: Apple Apple now doing that directly through Apple Podcasts. From

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Speaker 1: a tech side, right like, these are leaps and bounds

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Speaker 1: from where we were a decade ago. I wonder your

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Speaker 1: thoughts on, you know, and I appreciate everybody out there,

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Speaker 1: whatever stage of the entrepreneurial journey they're own, but I

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Speaker 1: wonder your what what do you think when you see

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Speaker 1: people who may have in their bio you know they're

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Speaker 1: a designer or whatever, but the products may just be

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Speaker 1: the T shirt that they started. And again, I appreciate

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Speaker 1: everybody's journey because we've got to start somewhere. But I wonder, like,

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Speaker 1: at what point is somebody a bona fide design At

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Speaker 1: what point am I at least in the direction of

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Speaker 1: being like a Jeff Staple versus somebody who bought some

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Speaker 1: Haynes T shirts or something, you know what I'm saying,

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Speaker 1: and put my logo on them and I'm selling them

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Speaker 1: and it still has the tag from Haynes or your

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Speaker 1: you know, American apparel or whatever. Like, at what point,

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Speaker 1: from your perspective, and this is your perspective, is somebody

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Speaker 1: really on the right road to becoming a real designer? Right? So, well,

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Speaker 1: one thing I want to touch on that that you

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Speaker 1: said is at a certain degree, you could be a

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Speaker 1: designer at multiple different levels, right if if if if

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Speaker 1: you have a graphic that shows upon a T shirt,

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Speaker 1: you are a designer, and there's a space it is

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Speaker 1: in a place for you to show up in the

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Speaker 1: industry in different ways. When you think of the traditional word, uh, designer,

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Speaker 1: And I think in this instance, if you're thinking about

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Speaker 1: maybe the consumer that's looking at it versus the brand

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Speaker 1: that's looking at it um the brand and working with partners.

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Speaker 1: That typically comes down to, like a product designer, can

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Speaker 1: you design a product from start to scratch that shows

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Speaker 1: up as this new thing? Right? And so when we

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Speaker 1: think about if you take it to a T shirt,

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Speaker 1: you could be considered a graphic designer if you design

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Speaker 1: that graphic that shows up on that printed shirt. Another

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Speaker 1: level of design is also a designer that decided like, hey,

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Speaker 1: I like the way that that shirt is, but I

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Speaker 1: want to change the entire shape of that shirt. So

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Speaker 1: you might come change, right, You might come change how

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Speaker 1: you know the shoulder lines fall here. You might change

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Speaker 1: the width and the boxingness of the shirt. You might

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Speaker 1: change you know, the size of the neckline, etcetera. Like,

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Speaker 1: those are different iterations of design. I think if you

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Speaker 1: think about a Jeff Staple level designer, Jeff, Jeff Staple

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Speaker 1: is a designer that has been through multiple phases and

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Speaker 1: iterations in his career. Right. Jeff has a background in

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Speaker 1: graphic design. Jeff has also now been able to jump

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Speaker 1: into industrial and product design. I think he's even got

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Speaker 1: projects where he's designed bikes now, right. It just comes

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Speaker 1: from different levels of experience and I'd also think you

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Speaker 1: have to think about if you're thinking about it from

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Speaker 1: a career side, you have to also think about where

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Speaker 1: you want to go. For example, if you want to

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Speaker 1: design sneakers, right that as a tangible product, it does

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Speaker 1: not come from maybe veneering, which is what we consider

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Speaker 1: when maybe you add colors to a retro sneaker like

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Speaker 1: a Jordan, right. And now if you have a totally

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Speaker 1: new Jordan, like a Jordan thirty six that likely went

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Speaker 1: through a whole eighteen month, sixteen month, maybe even longer

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Speaker 1: process to design with multiple people working on different parts

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Speaker 1: of that sneaker. Yeah, and we're gonna come back to

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Speaker 1: that because you just sparked so many ideas that that

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Speaker 1: come to me. But I wonder before we want to

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Speaker 1: continue setting the stage here before we go deeper into

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Speaker 1: this um, I wonder how a designer who's really putting

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Speaker 1: the work, how do they become a brand? Because I

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Speaker 1: think about, like, how did what was the work like

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Speaker 1: in Virgil of Virgil ap blow did, or like a

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Speaker 1: Darryl Brown or at what point? At what point are

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Speaker 1: they a brand that broke out got shelf space at

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Speaker 1: Barney's or whatever? Like at what point do you get

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Speaker 1: to that, like what are the moves you have to

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Speaker 1: make right? Or or the person you need to know?

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Speaker 1: What is it that gets me there? Right? I think

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Speaker 1: the two interesting things that are the one interesting thing

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Speaker 1: that that comes from the two folks that you just

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Speaker 1: mentioned is that, uh, they came from under a certain

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Speaker 1: designer and creative and that design and creative being Kanye West.

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Speaker 1: And you have to think about when you are building

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Speaker 1: a brand, right, the benefit of being a brand yourself

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Speaker 1: or being at a brand, uh if you're thinking about it,

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Speaker 1: or a business lens, is the visibility that that brand

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Speaker 1: can offer, right, the doors that that brand can open,

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Speaker 1: the conversations that you could be at, the tables that

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Speaker 1: you could sit at, the tables that you can then

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Speaker 1: build right after you've you've you've been through kind of

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Speaker 1: that journey. And when I think of someone like Daryl,

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Speaker 1: I think of someone like Virgil. The start of that

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Speaker 1: was they had to set that foundation for being a designer.

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Speaker 1: Like where did they start to cultivate those initial skills? Right?

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Speaker 1: We know Virgil went to ri Is the we know

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Speaker 1: Daryl has his background had to start somewhere, so they

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Speaker 1: had some sort of understanding about design to begin with.

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Speaker 1: I think after you have that particular experience, you want

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Speaker 1: to start to figure out, Okay, how can I like

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Speaker 1: get more experience that takes me a level above. Maybe

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Speaker 1: you know some of the other the diners because the

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Speaker 1: space is crowded, right, There's a lot of folks that

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Speaker 1: want to be in design, a lot of folks want

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Speaker 1: to be creatives, a lot of folks want to be

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Speaker 1: small business owners and entrepreneurs. And so if if, if

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Speaker 1: that next step for you is like, okay, how can

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Speaker 1: I start to separate myself? And naturally you're looking for

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Speaker 1: experiences that are going to do that. That usually starts

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Speaker 1: with a network, right, That is that next phase is

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Speaker 1: a huge like separator from the pack, and it's all

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Speaker 1: about what sort of network that you can get into.

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Speaker 1: Some networks come from going to work at other brands.

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Speaker 1: For example, I want to go work at soken E,

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Speaker 1: Adidas and Nike. There's a certain thing that comes when

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Speaker 1: you're able to get into that because proximity puts you

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Speaker 1: into certain circles. If you're thinking about a Darrow or

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Speaker 1: a Virgil, you have to imagine before we knew Virgil

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Speaker 1: as Vergil today, Virgil was in the easy and Kanye

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Speaker 1: Camp for several years and no one knew who he was.

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Speaker 1: And at the time, you know, Virgil is continuing to

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Speaker 1: get more experience as a designing himself. He is also

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Speaker 1: getting challenge with all these different creatives that come through

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Speaker 1: that network of which he has been working with. And

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Speaker 1: then in addition to that, he is getting, you know,

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Speaker 1: his own ideas about what it might look like for

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Speaker 1: him to create his own brand. And when you think

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Speaker 1: about a brand, a lot of times people think about

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Speaker 1: brands and they're like, it's a logo and they think

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Speaker 1: it's a name. That's not a brand, Like that's a logo,

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Speaker 1: it's a it's a design thing that tells you what

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Speaker 1: the brand is. The brand is hard, right, The brand

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Speaker 1: is purpose. The brand is how do you make people

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Speaker 1: feel if we leave this call today and will remember

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Speaker 1: is nothing else. He remembers that I talked about careers.

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Speaker 1: That's a brand. The brand is what you leave here

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Speaker 1: on that person that you intend to connect with. That's

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Speaker 1: what a brand is. And so when you think about

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Speaker 1: Virgil right at this current point in time, his his

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Speaker 1: brand is always going to shift. As a as a creative,

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Speaker 1: that's what he should do. But his current brand sits

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Speaker 1: around this kind of deconstruction of design really be mystifying,

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Speaker 1: democratizing design, if you will. When you think about Darryl,

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Speaker 1: he's really down this path of work where and actually

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Speaker 1: doing authentic work where and coming from this different perspective.

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Speaker 1: And so that's what brands are. It's what. It's not

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Speaker 1: a name, it's what what does it make that person

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Speaker 1: to feel? What does that takeaway when you're no longer

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Speaker 1: in the room or in the presence. But like, at

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Speaker 1: some point there has to be where the name doesn't

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Speaker 1: hit an inflection point, because how do you get people

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Speaker 1: to pay attention? So I imagine and tell me if

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Speaker 1: I'm wrong, but I imagine. I found out like Daryl's

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Speaker 1: from my hometown, so I knew that, and so I'm like,

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Speaker 1: but like with his stuff really hit you know, the

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Speaker 1: upward trajectory because I saw Lebron wearing it in a

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Speaker 1: press conference and so I'm like, so does you You

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Speaker 1: talked about proximity? So is it that you need because

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Speaker 1: the marketplace is so crowded, do you need that co sign?

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Speaker 1: You need a you need a concert of co signs

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Speaker 1: is what I would call it. Right, You need several

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Speaker 1: things working for you almost citaneously right in order to

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Speaker 1: have that sort of that presence, right for Daryl, It's

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Speaker 1: a couple of different things that happened, right, Like Darryl

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Speaker 1: came into my My, my monmental when he was doing

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Speaker 1: the hats the of Friends has, right, So that was

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Speaker 1: like one of the things that started to bubble and

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Speaker 1: it started to circulate in the in the pr But

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Speaker 1: then you know, as you look at him now, he

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Speaker 1: was a stylust for Kanye West for a certain point

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Speaker 1: in time. So then you have that co sign that

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Speaker 1: raises his profile a bit, and then he's seating folks,

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Speaker 1: and then he's developing relationships and then he's doing partnerships

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Speaker 1: with different brands. Those things actually start to propel you

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Speaker 1: to a different lane. It's not just gonna be that

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Speaker 1: one Lebron seating that's gonna do it. It's gonna be

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Speaker 1: the Lebron hit. And then it's gonna be oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is the brand of watch because Complex just you know,

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Speaker 1: listed Darrow as the brand to watch. And then oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: Kanye is wearing those pants that you know, Daryl just designed.

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Speaker 1: And so it is always you know, I think Darrel

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Speaker 1: is you know, working on a couple other projects too.

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Speaker 1: Like it's always a concert of things. It's never just

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Speaker 1: one thing. But if I'm talking to someone who is

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Speaker 1: vastly interested that, I would say, yo, like it is

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Speaker 1: one your network, right, Do you have a network of

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Speaker 1: other designers or a community of people that work in

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Speaker 1: that fashion space that you can you know, send products

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Speaker 1: to get their feedback if they like they might wear

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Speaker 1: that might show up somewhere that's great. Can you do

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Speaker 1: collaborations with with other people that is mutually beneficial and

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Speaker 1: it's not just about oh, we did a collaboration and

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Speaker 1: you wanted to show up on the site. You know,

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Speaker 1: we're kind of past that from from you know, a

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Speaker 1: culture standpoint, like that's been done before, Like what's the

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Speaker 1: meaning behind that? And then storytelling. A lot of folks

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Speaker 1: are really doubling down on how they storytell, how they

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Speaker 1: bring these ideas of their brands to life, and those

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Speaker 1: things start to circulate and gain attention. Uh So I

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Speaker 1: would say it's a it's a concert kind of those

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Speaker 1: different ideas building momentum over time. Just for everybody watching

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Speaker 1: live on lunch Table or Facebook right now, we do

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Speaker 1: have producers watching the chat, so feel free to drop

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Speaker 1: your comments, questions or other inside the chat, and if

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Speaker 1: you know we can get to it, we would certainly

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Speaker 1: do our best to get to them. And feel free

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Speaker 1: to be selfish and specific, because I want to make

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Speaker 1: sure we're being we're bringing actual value to you in

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Speaker 1: your situation. Um, so go ahead and drop that stuff

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Speaker 1: in the chat. So I wonder how collabs work and

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Speaker 1: how money is made, and so you think about some

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Speaker 1: of the names we talked about, the Virgils, the Darrel's,

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Speaker 1: the Jeff Staples instead who have done collaborations with other brands,

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Speaker 1: And one that specifically struct my interest when I was

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Speaker 1: preparing for this talk was like the Little nas X

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Speaker 1: and Mischief for the Demons shoe, And I wonder, number one,

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Speaker 1: how do collaborations make money for the designer? And to

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Speaker 1: like the Mischief one with Nike said we don't have

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Speaker 1: anything to do with this, So how did they even

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Speaker 1: get this? How did they get all of the sneakers

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Speaker 1: to be able to you know, hack them up and

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Speaker 1: then put the like how did that happen? Yeah? So

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Speaker 1: I would say that particular collaboration is more one of

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Speaker 1: those black market collaborations, right, It's not anything that's officially

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Speaker 1: done with a brand the size of Nike. So if

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Speaker 1: you're gonna do something like that is likely more so considered, uh,

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Speaker 1: those the collab here. We would typically consider that there's

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Speaker 1: somebody customized sneakers and they sold them, you know, separately,

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Speaker 1: on their own, I think not. Little Nozex and his

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Speaker 1: team took it to a different place by putting a

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Speaker 1: whole campaign around us. So essentially the way they had

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Speaker 1: to get those shoes is they likely had to go

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Speaker 1: purchase those shoes off of retail one hundred percent, unless

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Speaker 1: they had some sort of connection and somebody you know,

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Speaker 1: hook them up with a discount from somewhere. But likely

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Speaker 1: they bought those shoes retail. After they bought all of

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Speaker 1: those sizes, the company that was the customizer would literally

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Speaker 1: had to buy hand or whatever team that they have

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Speaker 1: would have to customize those shoes one by one, and

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Speaker 1: then they put those those sneakers up for sale a

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Speaker 1: project project like that. I think they had under a

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Speaker 1: thousand pairs for those sneakers, right, and then I think

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Speaker 1: the price tag was somewhere around two d three hundred bucks.

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Speaker 1: And so you know, it's a it's a it's a

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Speaker 1: good bit of a chunk of change. But if you're

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Speaker 1: talking about you know, we look at the global sneaker market,

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Speaker 1: you're talking billions and billions of dollars in a large

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Speaker 1: scale of things. That's that's not a huge chunk for

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Speaker 1: the team that customizes those shoes. They made money because

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Speaker 1: Little Nozex team likely paid them a commission for being

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Speaker 1: the designers behind that. If we think about that from

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Speaker 1: a brand side and in the sneaker industry and how

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Speaker 1: that works on that side, Well, if you you bring

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Speaker 1: in someone like a Virgil or a Darrel, usually UM

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Speaker 1: there's a design fee behind that, right, So that's how

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Speaker 1: they automatically recruit UM or make money from that particular deal.

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Speaker 1: Beyond that, depending on how things are negotiating and how

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Speaker 1: they move forward, you know, they may have you know,

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Speaker 1: additional money that comes from the sale of those sneakers.

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Speaker 1: And if you think about where collapse were back in

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Speaker 1: the day UM, and you think about where collapse are now,

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Speaker 1: collapse have become a part of what we consider in

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Speaker 1: the industry like inline product, Like people buy collapse more

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Speaker 1: than they buy you know, the white on white or

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Speaker 1: the black on black airs one that's on the shelf.

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Speaker 1: They want the Virgil. And so you see you see

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Speaker 1: an of White Air Force one in bigger volumes than

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Speaker 1: we would ever have seen when you know, I was

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Speaker 1: camping out the speakers in you know, two thousand five

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Speaker 1: or whatever. Like, it's a completely different scenario. And I

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Speaker 1: think the other way that folks were making money have

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Speaker 1: been making money and from those collapses. A lot of

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Speaker 1: times those uh, those those personalities and those individual brands

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Speaker 1: also have their own retail and so they would have

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Speaker 1: an allocation of products that they could sell through their

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Speaker 1: own channels, and they can make a bigger markup on

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Speaker 1: that product. And so you've gotta be thinking a couple

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Speaker 1: of different ways about how you would do that. But

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, collapse are starting to scale, right,

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Speaker 1: they are volume based products. Now, they aren't just these

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Speaker 1: we made a hundred pairs and um, you know it

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Speaker 1: was a good marketing thing. You know, these things are

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Speaker 1: actually generating depending on how big you can get volumes,

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Speaker 1: they're actually generating real business. And so that's how a

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Speaker 1: lot of folks who are doing designing and collapse are

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Speaker 1: getting design fee, they're getting royalties and if they, you know,

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Speaker 1: have their own retail, they can sell it and make money.

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Speaker 1: They right. I think Travis Scott has a spot called

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00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:04,920
Speaker 1: Space on Houston, and so he's able to distribute products

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Speaker 1: through that. Um Kanye has easy supply. He's able to

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00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,919
Speaker 1: sell his product directly from his own platform, and so

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, you can get scale

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Speaker 1: and you can do it through that lane. That's how

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Speaker 1: you're making your money. So so I have a deep question.

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Speaker 1: Streets want to know. Does Nike care about bots on

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Speaker 1: the sneakers app? Does Nike care that you cannot hit

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Speaker 1: on the sneaker's app? They don't, can't care. I'm taking it.

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Speaker 1: Was just like, just like everyone else. Streets want to know, mants,

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Speaker 1: what was the last sneaker you tried to get on

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00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:49,840
Speaker 1: on Sneakers? Oh, the last ones I tried to get

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Speaker 1: I actually hit on. They were the Blue fours and

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Speaker 1: I actually get blue concrete for actually hit. But I

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Speaker 1: was like I didn't even really want them. I was

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Speaker 1: just like, I'm just seeing you just try. But the

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Speaker 1: ones I actually want taking else left and right. So

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Speaker 1: so let's but let's but let's actually go because there's

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Speaker 1: something here now, because I wonder there are people really

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Speaker 1: making money on these bots? And I'm like, okay, but

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Speaker 1: if if you know, our non melinated friends are building

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00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,280
Speaker 1: these bots and getting getting the bag, how do we

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Speaker 1: cash in Because apparently the system is built for people

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Speaker 1: to be able to manipulate it in some way. So

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Speaker 1: I wonder how do we take advantage if we're not

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Speaker 1: going to be the designers? Wait, what are the other

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00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:36,159
Speaker 1: opportunities to make money, whether it be in the secondary market,

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Speaker 1: whether it be you know, buying a thousand pair of

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Speaker 1: air Force ones and finding somebody in our community who's

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Speaker 1: got a name and then doing it for a rapper

429
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Speaker 1: in our community, And like, how how do we find

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Speaker 1: interesting and creative ways to take advantage of the opportunity

431
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,480
Speaker 1: of creativity. I talked to me some of some of

432
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,720
Speaker 1: the things that you've seen happen. Yeah, totally, I've seen

433
00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,280
Speaker 1: I've seen it though from that the entrepreneurial side, right,

434
00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:02,600
Speaker 1: And I think you got to think about it in

435
00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,439
Speaker 1: multiple ways. You have Jock Slate, who has made a

436
00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:10,320
Speaker 1: career out of creating content around sneakers and fashion all

437
00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:14,720
Speaker 1: on YouTube, right, and literally has a fan base that's

438
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,040
Speaker 1: in the millions at this point, and they show for

439
00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:22,280
Speaker 1: the videos, receives conversation through ads, through other monetor monetization avenues.

440
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,720
Speaker 1: It's done work with foot locker, has done work with

441
00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,119
Speaker 1: eBay and you name it, right, And so that's one

442
00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:29,800
Speaker 1: of the lanes, right you can you can go through

443
00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:32,800
Speaker 1: the through the lane of maybe the creator economy and

444
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,199
Speaker 1: do it that way. I think another way could be

445
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:38,119
Speaker 1: seeing yourself in retail. Right. Yes, we know that the

446
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:42,440
Speaker 1: stock x exists and some of these other um resale

447
00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:46,040
Speaker 1: platforms uh that are out there, But folks also love

448
00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:48,480
Speaker 1: brick and mortar, right. We also love supporting the businesses

449
00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:52,320
Speaker 1: in our neighborhood. I'm in uh Portland's right now and

450
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:55,800
Speaker 1: Index is still alive and well and it is a

451
00:23:56,359 --> 00:24:00,480
Speaker 1: you know, an aftermarket sneaker boutique. Right. You can then

452
00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:02,879
Speaker 1: if you have passion for those things, and maybe you

453
00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:05,440
Speaker 1: could take it into a different bits may not even

454
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 1: think of. So for example, um, that stock Coffee here

455
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,720
Speaker 1: is a sneaker inspired coffee shop. Right. Who you know

456
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:14,040
Speaker 1: who would have thought like that would be a thing,

457
00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:17,040
Speaker 1: But it's one of the pillars of the community here. Uh.

458
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:20,120
Speaker 1: You can go down the realm of what we've done, right.

459
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,200
Speaker 1: We are a you know, at the at this current point,

460
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:25,560
Speaker 1: we have a podcast, and we're expand into some other things.

461
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,760
Speaker 1: But we've been able to take digital content and figure

462
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,120
Speaker 1: out how to monetize that content with different sponsors um

463
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 1: that support the work that we're doing in the audience

464
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:39,800
Speaker 1: that we're trying to cultivate and teach about different career possibilities.

465
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:41,880
Speaker 1: I think at the end of the day, the other

466
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,720
Speaker 1: thing that is most important is taking the time to

467
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:47,399
Speaker 1: figure out how can you learn more from other people

468
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,119
Speaker 1: that may be doing things creatively that you may be

469
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:54,240
Speaker 1: interested in. Right, we talked to an unlimited amount of people,

470
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:56,320
Speaker 1: and we try to record that information so that that

471
00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:58,960
Speaker 1: next generation or even folks that are in career paths

472
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:01,879
Speaker 1: and want to pivot right from a creative standpoint, we

473
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 1: try to give them as many examples. That's how you

474
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,320
Speaker 1: can go about doing that, because nine times out of ten,

475
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,480
Speaker 1: you didn't grow up with that information. Right. We didn't

476
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,959
Speaker 1: grow up in communities where you literally had you know,

477
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,159
Speaker 1: your mom's best friend may have been in you know,

478
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:18,400
Speaker 1: a VC, or had may have been working at Facebook

479
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,520
Speaker 1: or working at Gravity. Right. We didn't necessarily grow up

480
00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:23,800
Speaker 1: with a lot of those networks, and so now it's

481
00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:27,399
Speaker 1: important that either our generation shares of information back or

482
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:30,760
Speaker 1: we can partner with these different corporations and organizations to

483
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:34,200
Speaker 1: make sure that information is readily available. There was a

484
00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,879
Speaker 1: question that came in on Facebook from Tamika Carroll says,

485
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:41,800
Speaker 1: how is sustainability playing a part in consumer choices? How

486
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:45,320
Speaker 1: does a sustainable company garner support? And does branding matter

487
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,240
Speaker 1: with regards to sustainable products? And I just want to

488
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 1: throw this a little caveat in because I remember Nike

489
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:52,720
Speaker 1: came out with it this is trash like a year ago,

490
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,000
Speaker 1: which are left over pieces from the cutting, you know,

491
00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:58,520
Speaker 1: room floor, and they made other sneakers out. So how

492
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 1: is sustainability playing a part in the creative industries? I

493
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,639
Speaker 1: think sustainability has a long way to go um from

494
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:10,040
Speaker 1: the standpoint of how it actually resonates with consumers, and

495
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:14,200
Speaker 1: I think it is actually directly tied to diversity and inclusion, right.

496
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:15,680
Speaker 1: And so one of the things that I've been saying

497
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,520
Speaker 1: for a very long time when we talk about sustainability

498
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,520
Speaker 1: is how is it humanized? From the brand standpoint? How

499
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:24,040
Speaker 1: is that? How is that being humanized? Because when I

500
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,320
Speaker 1: think about sustainability, right, I think about, Hey, I'm a

501
00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:30,480
Speaker 1: black man, and my sustainability as far as definition is

502
00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:32,960
Speaker 1: actually my life because I don't think about it when

503
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,840
Speaker 1: it comes to I can't think about recycling that product,

504
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,800
Speaker 1: that that that bottle just yet. I can't think about

505
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:42,000
Speaker 1: the specific recycled to yet because if I'm a kid

506
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 1: in Baltimore, if I'm a kid growing up in New Orleans,

507
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 1: I'm trying to figure out how I'm getting home. A

508
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 1: lot that to me is sustainability. So I think when

509
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,359
Speaker 1: we think about that and we think about brands, you've

510
00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:54,080
Speaker 1: got to humanize right now. It's not human right now.

511
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:57,440
Speaker 1: It is more of an elitist viewpoint that we can't

512
00:26:57,480 --> 00:26:59,639
Speaker 1: really wrap our heads around when we're all trying to

513
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:02,280
Speaker 1: figure out the day to day of what's happening in

514
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:07,520
Speaker 1: this world, what's happening in the US. So I could

515
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,600
Speaker 1: talk to you another. We we got like a couple

516
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:11,920
Speaker 1: of minutes, but I want to make sure I get

517
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:14,359
Speaker 1: this question in before we get out of here, because

518
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,480
Speaker 1: we all remember, you know, the Kanye conversation with sway

519
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:19,439
Speaker 1: and Swaye was saying, why don't you just put your

520
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 1: own money up in the ass? Way um? And so

521
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:26,439
Speaker 1: we do have this conversation in our communities about like

522
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:28,480
Speaker 1: if you can't get to see at your table build

523
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:32,119
Speaker 1: your own table. And I wonder like, yeah, while we

524
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 1: laugh at the meme of the house sway, like what

525
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:40,080
Speaker 1: is it that causes black owned brands and smaller brands

526
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:42,520
Speaker 1: across the board, not just black owned brands, but brands

527
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,159
Speaker 1: period from being able to break through to being big

528
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:48,879
Speaker 1: houses like the Ralph Floor is the Calvin Klein's and

529
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:53,200
Speaker 1: Michael Corps. Like what is it that these smaller brands

530
00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:57,880
Speaker 1: don't have that those brands have somewhat of a monopoly

531
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:03,640
Speaker 1: on per Kanye fight anting financing is the number one

532
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:09,320
Speaker 1: difference maker because when you think about what a LVMH

533
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:13,119
Speaker 1: is able to do with a Louis Batton uh, and

534
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,840
Speaker 1: you think about fenty, which I know was just rolled down.

535
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:18,160
Speaker 1: But the thing that's able to happen is they can

536
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:21,360
Speaker 1: show up at fashion Week and they can spend millions

537
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:25,160
Speaker 1: of dollars on campaigns that circle the world. They can

538
00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:29,120
Speaker 1: sign contracts with rodal a Blow, they can have fashion

539
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:33,399
Speaker 1: fashion shows where Kick Cutty walks down. Right, all of

540
00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:38,479
Speaker 1: these things costs money. Now there is a scale to it, right,

541
00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 1: you don't necessarily have as much money as that and

542
00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 1: still be able to make waves. I think Telfer is

543
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,760
Speaker 1: a great example of how to build a brand and

544
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:49,680
Speaker 1: not have maybe access to the same amount of funding

545
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:54,400
Speaker 1: as Louis Batton. But Telfer is granting a ton of traction.

546
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:58,600
Speaker 1: It is the community built brand and slowly built over time.

547
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,000
Speaker 1: And so when you think about what you have, creativity

548
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:06,120
Speaker 1: plays a huge part of it. Money doesn't always equal success, right,

549
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:10,120
Speaker 1: but money added on top of really great ideas could

550
00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:12,800
Speaker 1: definitely add fire to the to the flame, fuel to

551
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,320
Speaker 1: the flames and so but at the end of the day,

552
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:17,959
Speaker 1: if you're asking me, it's sictly that is a major difference.

553
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: It's funding. It takes money to build these brands. It

554
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:23,960
Speaker 1: takes you know, resources when you think about supply chain,

555
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:27,120
Speaker 1: it takes uh money to to innovate, continue to come

556
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,000
Speaker 1: up with great ideas, to bring in the best talent

557
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,200
Speaker 1: for expanding. After you have one high item, how do

558
00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:36,920
Speaker 1: you continue to have multiple high items? It takes those resources.

559
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 1: If you need more visibility, maybe you want to bring

560
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:43,400
Speaker 1: in a personality like a you know, a person a

561
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,040
Speaker 1: creative director, or you want to bring in the celebrity,

562
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:47,800
Speaker 1: or you want to bring an athlete to maybe wear

563
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:50,800
Speaker 1: that product, it takes funding and resources to do that,

564
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 1: and for our businesses, we need more access to that

565
00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 1: type of capital, which is why it's great to see

566
00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 1: more of some of those options showing up, but we

567
00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:01,560
Speaker 1: need more. It's not enough because as you can see,

568
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:05,360
Speaker 1: there's such a vast difference in what's accessible to black

569
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:08,920
Speaker 1: and brown businesses versus you know, the LBM majors that

570
00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:12,520
Speaker 1: are out there that have been around for so long.

571
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production of Blackvity, Afro

572
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,560
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeart Media,

573
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:38,040
Speaker 1: and it's produced by Morgan Dabon and me Well Lucas,

574
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,640
Speaker 1: with additional production support by Love Beach and Marisa Lewis.

575
00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:45,720
Speaker 1: Special thank you to Michael Davis's car Savon Jan you

576
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:49,240
Speaker 1: know like the Wine. Yes that's his real name. Learn

577
00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 1: more about my guests and other technis from this the

578
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:54,479
Speaker 1: innovators at afro tech dot Com. The video version of

579
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:56,520
Speaker 1: this episode would drop the Black Tech Green Money on

580
00:30:56,560 --> 00:31:00,440
Speaker 1: YouTube next week, So tap in joining Black Tech Money

581
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:05,440
Speaker 1: people sur five star rating one iTunes, don't get your money.

582
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:11,640
Speaker 1: Peace in Love, h