Speaker 1: Enjoying Black Tech Green Money. It would mean a lot
Speaker 1: if you rate us five stars on Apple Podcast or
Speaker 1: Google Play. The way the algorithm works. The more you
Speaker 1: rate and say nice things, they'll introduce black tech Green
Speaker 1: Money to more people and more of us need this content.
Speaker 1: So thank you for rating this podcast five stars. Today,
Speaker 1: afro Tech seventeen, San Francisco, California, tech investor and Platinum's
Speaker 1: last Grammy Award winning rapper Chamillionaires on the afro Tech
Speaker 1: stage talking about how he found his way into the
Speaker 1: world of investing in tech startups. A little known fact
Speaker 1: is Mr Ride and Dirty wasn't investor early in his
Speaker 1: tech career in a company called Makers Studio, which would
Speaker 1: later be sold to Disney for reported six hundred seventy
Speaker 1: five million dollars. On the afro Tech stage, these stresses
Speaker 1: the hunger for knowledge and the power of relationships that's
Speaker 1: required to be successful at scale. What I did was
Speaker 1: I focused on the information and relationships Because if I
Speaker 1: asked everybody in this room, thinking about the last person
Speaker 1: that you bumped into that you know probably could have
Speaker 1: helped you, Um, did you follow up with that person
Speaker 1: on email? Did you did you reach out to that person.
Speaker 1: Did you stay in touch with that person that? Think
Speaker 1: about how many people in the room next to you
Speaker 1: could possibly help you on your journey to be something great.
Speaker 1: Right now sitting next to you have no idea. This
Speaker 1: person sitting next to you. We take that for granted.
Speaker 1: We do not value relationships and information like we should.
Speaker 1: The whole time I was on a path to consume
Speaker 1: information as much as possible. Somebody said, well, what about
Speaker 1: these other people to have more advantages than us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true, they do have more advantages than us. But
Speaker 1: information is right under your nose right you go. I
Speaker 1: used to get frustrated in school only for you, of
Speaker 1: h and you had this routine where you would go
Speaker 1: in there and you would, you know, learn during this
Speaker 1: period and then you have to come back the next day.
Speaker 1: I was like, give it to me now, I need
Speaker 1: it now, because they were here ten years in front
Speaker 1: of us, and I'm showing up in this tech world
Speaker 1: and seeing all these people already with all these advantages,
Speaker 1: already with all the equity, and I'm late to the party,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I need that now. I need it
Speaker 1: all right now for me. I'm Will Lucas and Mrs
Speaker 1: Black Tech, Green Money. I'm gonna introduce you to some
Speaker 1: of the biggest names, some of the brightest minds and
Speaker 1: brilliant ideas. If you're black in building or simply using
Speaker 1: tech to secure your bag, this podcast is for you.
Speaker 1: Troll Thomas is the founder of Black Excellence Brunch and
Speaker 1: Then You'll event that gives Black Excellence a seat at
Speaker 1: the table. His work spans from career beginnings on the
Speaker 1: historic Obama presidential campaign in two thousand eight to overseeing
Speaker 1: talent relations and communication with some of the biggest brands
Speaker 1: at Viacom to perfectly align socially good causes, corporations and celebrities.
Speaker 1: Many people work to produce events, so I asked Troll,
Speaker 1: how has he been able to get corporate buy into
Speaker 1: authentic events for the culture. What is it he understands
Speaker 1: about how to decipher corporate objectives to securing their participation.
Speaker 1: My secret is actually no secret at all. It's just authenticity.
Speaker 1: You know. I go in there as myself. Um, and
Speaker 1: that's the biggest thing I think, or the biggest mistake
Speaker 1: a lot of people making. They say, well, what does
Speaker 1: the brand want? What do they what do they want?
Speaker 1: Who do they want? Me? To be, you know. And
Speaker 1: so they're shape shape shifting and colde switching and changing
Speaker 1: all these things about themselves. But the thing about it
Speaker 1: is an idea that's yours, something that's yours. It is
Speaker 1: of you, you know what I mean is you've been
Speaker 1: your author. Like the Black Excellence Brunch came from my
Speaker 1: experience as a black person growing up in South Carolina
Speaker 1: and my mom posting these Sunday dinners at my house
Speaker 1: at well at her house, at our house, right, Um,
Speaker 1: and I you know, and that's my truth, you know.
Speaker 1: And I created that from the essence of who I am.
Speaker 1: So at no point when I go to these brands,
Speaker 1: am I trying to be something else or sell something else.
Speaker 1: I'm going in I'm giving them that same essence. And
Speaker 1: I feel like that's the thing that makes people buy
Speaker 1: into it. I never forget, you know, the first uh
Speaker 1: French that that I had a big corp response to
Speaker 1: a corp responsor in general, which was Netflix. It happened
Speaker 1: so organically, you know. I was sitting at um at
Speaker 1: dinner with some friends of mine and I was gonna
Speaker 1: do the brunch anyway, you know what I mean? Um,
Speaker 1: And you know I was saying, hey, guys, I want
Speaker 1: you to come to this thing. I want you to
Speaker 1: do this thing with me, and and they were like, oh,
Speaker 1: this seems really cool. I remember you did this in
Speaker 1: New York and you did that when you came uh here,
Speaker 1: so this is kind of the next step of that.
Speaker 1: And I was like, yeah, yeah, that's the next step.
Speaker 1: I'm growing it. And they said, well, what do you
Speaker 1: you know, the general question, well, what do you want
Speaker 1: to do? Where do you see it going? I said,
Speaker 1: you know, what would be great? Um? And I had
Speaker 1: been watching Netflix. They had just launched Strong Blackly and
Speaker 1: I remember thinking this is so incredible, like what they're doing,
Speaker 1: the intentionality behind it, at the offense tensity that I
Speaker 1: felt from it. And I said, you know, it would
Speaker 1: be great to partner with Netflix and to do something
Speaker 1: with strong Black Lead because I feel like they're highlighting
Speaker 1: strong black leadings, strong black leads and TV and film
Speaker 1: and I'm doing it in real life and so this
Speaker 1: is a great collaboration. Do you know the divinity of
Speaker 1: it all? The girl that was sitting right next to me, Um, Jasmine,
Speaker 1: who was amazing and works at Netflix. She was sitting
Speaker 1: there and she said, hey, I'm Jasmine and I run
Speaker 1: strong Black lead at Netflix, and I'm just like wow.
Speaker 1: But I said that to say that, for me, it
Speaker 1: was just authentic. It wasn't me trying to like sell
Speaker 1: a thing or do. It was just me authentically being
Speaker 1: myself and speaking from that place and that I believe
Speaker 1: attracts what you need. And so when I go to
Speaker 1: these brands and I have these conversations, I'm strategic, right.
Speaker 1: I think about who is the right person to contact
Speaker 1: at the brand or um, you know that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: So if there's any massaging, it's thinking about those things.
Speaker 1: But when I get to have the conversation like we're
Speaker 1: having now, I am a hundred percent myself and also, well,
Speaker 1: I'm not afraid to walk away from something that doesn't align.
Speaker 1: And that's another mistake I think that people make is
Speaker 1: that they they give off this air of desperation, which
Speaker 1: nobody really wants to be attached to something that's that's desperate. Right.
Speaker 1: We all want to feel like, you know, you kind
Speaker 1: of don't need us, you know, And I think but
Speaker 1: for me, it ain't pretending like it it's it's it's
Speaker 1: the truth of the matter is whether I had brands involved,
Speaker 1: it's not I was gonna do it, you know. And
Speaker 1: that's the same energy I take into those meetings. Keep
Speaker 1: that same energy, right, and I keep that same energy
Speaker 1: when I go into those meetings. It's just like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this can happen with you, and I love that, but
Speaker 1: guess what it's gonna happen with or without you? And
Speaker 1: um and if it doesn't in line, then I walk
Speaker 1: away and I say, hey, you know, guys, this is
Speaker 1: this is why could why should uh people get so
Speaker 1: used to brands or companies or corporations telling them this
Speaker 1: isn't a good bit for us right now. Well, sometimes
Speaker 1: it's not a good fit for me, Like this is
Speaker 1: a good fit for me right now, and this you know.
Speaker 1: And so I just know my work when I walk
Speaker 1: into those meetings as well. So so let's back up
Speaker 1: a little bit, because it sounds like if that, if
Speaker 1: that was the extent I knew of your story, it
Speaker 1: sounds like you just walk in and say, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: trail like you are somebody to get the meeting, and
Speaker 1: so let's talk about who you are, because I I
Speaker 1: want to make sure you know it's black tech, green money.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure people have the keys to
Speaker 1: getting in that room in order to show their authenticity.
Speaker 1: So how what what is it that you've done historically
Speaker 1: that gets you the meeting in the first place, that
Speaker 1: puts you in the room next to the lady who
Speaker 1: runs strong black lead. Yeah, yeah, yeah, great question. And um,
Speaker 1: and thank you for for that compliment. You are the
Speaker 1: crown king of the flood compliment. Um no, man, I
Speaker 1: you know, honestly, it is work ethic and uh and
Speaker 1: and one thing that I'm really good at and I
Speaker 1: acknowledge that I'm great ending and I'm great at seeing
Speaker 1: something and then aligning the thing the pieces so that
Speaker 1: it really comes to life. So you know, I've done
Speaker 1: And I also I'm an advocate of knowing how everything runs.
Speaker 1: You know, have you ever heard that when people tell
Speaker 1: the story of like you know, um, if you want
Speaker 1: to be the CEO of company, you need to know
Speaker 1: everything from what the gender does to you know, the
Speaker 1: hot But I am an advocate of understanding all of
Speaker 1: the moving pieces. And so you know, I get to
Speaker 1: a point where I can do events because I've done
Speaker 1: pr I've done marketing, I've set up tables for events,
Speaker 1: i helped launch a event series called Musically Master Menu,
Speaker 1: which I think gave me the best insight. It was
Speaker 1: at H one Stafe Music, which is a nonprofit that's
Speaker 1: a part of viacom UM that gives music education to
Speaker 1: schools all across the schools and kids all across the country.
Speaker 1: And UM one thing that I was kind of in
Speaker 1: charge of is UH is helping bring in funds for
Speaker 1: the organization. And I love being created. So I said, well,
Speaker 1: you know, we got together and we were like, well,
Speaker 1: what if we do this UH, this dinner series, And
Speaker 1: so we called the Musically Master Menu and what we
Speaker 1: did was prepared a chef with a musician, and the
Speaker 1: chef curated UH a menu based off a song or
Speaker 1: an album, and then we would have the artists performed
Speaker 1: at the event and it was this dinner and we
Speaker 1: raised lots of money, et cetera. But you know, it
Speaker 1: was moments like that, UH that I learned all of
Speaker 1: these skills that were necessary to do what I do now,
Speaker 1: you know. And so I think, to answer your question,
Speaker 1: it's playing the different positions and playing them and and really,
Speaker 1: you know, learning as much as I could and putting
Speaker 1: all these tools. One of my mentors always tells me
Speaker 1: about putting tools in your toolbox and then once you
Speaker 1: get to a certain place, you can go back and
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, I can use that hammer for this
Speaker 1: wrench with this. And so I was constantly along my
Speaker 1: career from you know, working at the news stations where
Speaker 1: now I can interview people right, which I did with
Speaker 1: these events, to you know, doing pr and publicity, which
Speaker 1: now I know how to contact the publicists and what
Speaker 1: to say to get you know, the time to my events,
Speaker 1: to you know, actually putting on the events, setting the tables,
Speaker 1: knowing how things go, to you know, having to pitch
Speaker 1: different brands UM and bring in corporate responses to donate
Speaker 1: to the foundation UM that I was working for souls.
Speaker 1: All those tools that now I could go back in
Speaker 1: and pull out. But along with the tools came contact.
Speaker 1: You know, your network. Work is your network, it really
Speaker 1: really is. So you know, um, lots of people that
Speaker 1: I've met along the way, you know, while I was
Speaker 1: building along my journey. I can reach back out to
Speaker 1: those people and if they're not the person, they can say, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm not the person, but this is the person. Because
Speaker 1: that's I'm so glad you said that, because you know
Speaker 1: this business is about relationships, right, And I remember listening
Speaker 1: to this Easter Rate quote where I'm gonna paraphrase it,
Speaker 1: but she talked about, you know, people are always trying
Speaker 1: to like get with the east Rays or get with
Speaker 1: the Denzels, or get with the big dog, when it's
Speaker 1: actually the people next to you that you should be
Speaker 1: in the trenches with, and you build it together like
Speaker 1: she did with her friends. To your point alongside that is,
Speaker 1: how do you build purposeful relationships where yes, we're all homies,
Speaker 1: were all good, but produced value for each other. Also yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so I think the way to do that Again, it's
Speaker 1: like I always talk to people about transact being transaction
Speaker 1: versus versus being purposeful, And so for me, I don't
Speaker 1: focus on what I can get for from somebody. I'm
Speaker 1: always thinking about, Okay, what can I bring to the table,
Speaker 1: what can I add? How can I add value? What
Speaker 1: what am I leaving here? As opposed to like what
Speaker 1: am I what am I getting? Or just saying hey
Speaker 1: this is an A two B thing. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: let's really connect, let's have a genuine connection, let's really
Speaker 1: build with one another. And as a result, you know,
Speaker 1: people will bring things to me. You know, I've gotten
Speaker 1: to the point now. I was having this conversation the
Speaker 1: other day where things, uh literally, I'm attracting opportunities, I'm
Speaker 1: attracting things to me. I'm attracting people and attracting relationships.
Speaker 1: And it's because I put out that energy of you
Speaker 1: know what, like I want to get to know will
Speaker 1: for will, right, Like I want to know about you
Speaker 1: know where you're from, what what you what you like?
Speaker 1: You know who you you know what music you listen to,
Speaker 1: like that sort of thing. And I think that you
Speaker 1: know when you when you enter the space with that
Speaker 1: kind of authenticity, with that kind of genuine iss, people
Speaker 1: let down there the guard of you know, being used
Speaker 1: or trauma or whatever that they're They're like, you know what,
Speaker 1: I can relax and as a result they you have
Speaker 1: this more more genuine connection. Too. Many of us are
Speaker 1: taught to not be boastful, you know about our successes,
Speaker 1: you know, but the work you do like encourages us
Speaker 1: to recognize our value and the rewards that they come with.
Speaker 1: Right and um, so talk about that dichotomy. How do
Speaker 1: you balance that? Brouh. That's wow, that's such a great question.
Speaker 1: I For me, it is this idea of you know,
Speaker 1: we we we over celebrate, this idea of being like humble,
Speaker 1: and you gotta like, you know, be uh quiet about everything.
Speaker 1: You can't you know what I'm saying, like, don't get
Speaker 1: arrogant or what And and I think that there's a
Speaker 1: fine line, right, there's a fine line between arrogance, and
Speaker 1: but also you have to know your worth and if if,
Speaker 1: if you're not speaking up for yourself, if you're not
Speaker 1: letting people know who you are and what you bring
Speaker 1: to the table, like, then how will they know? And
Speaker 1: so I let go of this idea that you know, um,
Speaker 1: I gotta you know, put my head down and do
Speaker 1: all this hard work and never like I let go
Speaker 1: of that, and I encourage other people to let go
Speaker 1: of that as well. Live in your excellence, shine your life, right,
Speaker 1: you know there was there were a lot of times
Speaker 1: will where I used to dim my light so somebody
Speaker 1: else could feel comfortable. And now I put on the shade,
Speaker 1: put your shades, you know what I mean. I'm not
Speaker 1: I'm not doing that anymore. And you don't have to.
Speaker 1: And you can and guess what, you know, you can
Speaker 1: be nice and you can be friendly, and you can
Speaker 1: be great to be around, but you can still know
Speaker 1: your worth and move like you know what you're worth.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, Because I don't think anybody
Speaker 1: would tell you about me that I am a arrogant person,
Speaker 1: or that you know, I am very boast for or
Speaker 1: anything like that. What they will tell you is that
Speaker 1: I understand who I am, and I understand what I
Speaker 1: bring to the table. But I also understand who you
Speaker 1: are and what you bring to the table, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So it is I encourage people, you know,
Speaker 1: I that they should talk about what they're doing because
Speaker 1: you never know. You might say, Hey, true, I make
Speaker 1: T shirts or whatever. You know what I'm saying. You
Speaker 1: might be doing the side I think, and and I
Speaker 1: might be able to put you in a place where
Speaker 1: you can do more of that what you can do
Speaker 1: on a larger scale. But how would I know if
Speaker 1: you didn't say anything. So how important is it that
Speaker 1: we don't compete with each other? Compete? Yeah? Man, I
Speaker 1: think what I'm of the mind is that what's mine
Speaker 1: you can't have, right, what's for me, it's for me, um,
Speaker 1: and I think that it can it That mentality came
Speaker 1: from not operating in this space of lack or scarcity.
Speaker 1: I think we're taught so often to that there's not
Speaker 1: enough and that life is hard and like all these things, right, Um,
Speaker 1: But I'm of the mind of that that we live
Speaker 1: in an abundant universe. We live in a in a
Speaker 1: place where we can have we can think a thing
Speaker 1: and then it can start to be. And as a
Speaker 1: black person, I know that to be true because look
Speaker 1: at where how we have overcome and risen time and
Speaker 1: time again, even under the um of oppression. Right as
Speaker 1: so as a black person that he is different because
Speaker 1: not only do I believe that we live in an
Speaker 1: abundant universe, I have my ancestors to look back and say,
Speaker 1: look what we've been able to do with everything and
Speaker 1: everybody that's been trying to hold us back every step
Speaker 1: of the way. So you know, I think that it's
Speaker 1: okay to want to be the best, and it's okay
Speaker 1: to strive for higher and bigger and better. But I
Speaker 1: don't think you have to I have to cut you
Speaker 1: out of anything to get what's for me. Love it,
Speaker 1: love that. Um. I want to talk about like the
Speaker 1: economics of events, right, And because I when I used
Speaker 1: to throw parties and stuff, and I remember learning the
Speaker 1: lesson that if you're counting on the door to make
Speaker 1: the money, then you've already got it back with the door.
Speaker 1: What you get in ticket sales should be a bonus
Speaker 1: on top of what you already So, so can you
Speaker 1: talk about how the economics of events actually works from
Speaker 1: your perspective? Yeah, first of all, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: even charge people. It's not a cost to come to
Speaker 1: the Black Excess Brunch. You know. I'm of the mind
Speaker 1: that uh that we that is an honor as a
Speaker 1: brand to be a part of the Black Excellence Brunch,
Speaker 1: because I feel like, especially you know, black people, we
Speaker 1: give so much to the culture, to these brands, you know,
Speaker 1: to uh we lend our voices, we lend our skills,
Speaker 1: we lend our talents, we we we give our money.
Speaker 1: We give so much these brands that they should want
Speaker 1: to get back and pour into us, right, Um, but
Speaker 1: with these events, Yeah, you're right, it's not it's not
Speaker 1: about that. And so I had to think strategically about
Speaker 1: how to get to the level that I wanted to
Speaker 1: get to. And so I usually start with my budget, right, like,
Speaker 1: what are all the things I'd like to do. You know,
Speaker 1: what are all the components that I'd like for this
Speaker 1: event to have? And then I think about before you
Speaker 1: know who you can get the money from? You already
Speaker 1: you're just writing the list. I'm thinking about what I
Speaker 1: wanted to look like, what I wanted to look like? What?
Speaker 1: Because I think that, you know, that is a part
Speaker 1: of I'm a big manifesto, and that's a part of manifestation, right, Like,
Speaker 1: you can't start with okay, well what would I have?
Speaker 1: You know, and then I can do what I want
Speaker 1: to do? You guys, to start well what do I
Speaker 1: want to do? You know what I mean? And think
Speaker 1: about all the pieces and think as grand and as
Speaker 1: big as you can think, and as cool and as
Speaker 1: creative as you can think, and then attract the resources. Right.
Speaker 1: So then after I do that, I'm like, I want
Speaker 1: to do all these things. Okay, what is aligned with that? Right?
Speaker 1: So I'll go back since we talked about Netflix already
Speaker 1: in the shrunk like lead. When I first so I
Speaker 1: thought about how I want this event to look like.
Speaker 1: I want all all these amazing you know, I wanted
Speaker 1: to celebrate these young black people who I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: We're excellent, you know, all the excellent people in my world,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to celebrate them in this kind of way.
Speaker 1: I wanted to bring a Sunday dinner to them. One
Speaker 1: of the components of a Sunday dinner. Here's all the
Speaker 1: things I wanted to Now, how can I make that excellent? Okay,
Speaker 1: well I want to you know, deck it out with
Speaker 1: the cord, and I want to do this, and I
Speaker 1: want to do that. And then after that, I said, okay,
Speaker 1: well what aligns with that? And I thought about Strong
Speaker 1: Black Lead. I'm like, okay, that aligns um it just launched.
Speaker 1: I know they've got a marketing budget. You know, from
Speaker 1: from having worked in these spaces, I know they've got
Speaker 1: a marketing budget. The marketing budget isn't tapped because it
Speaker 1: just started, you know what I mean. So I'm just
Speaker 1: thinking about all those pieces. And then I'm like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: what happens at brunch? There's drinks, right, so and I
Speaker 1: know that also, uh, liquor brands have budgets, so let's
Speaker 1: let's talk to them about that. Butget and let's bring
Speaker 1: all these pieces together. So it's just being for me.
Speaker 1: It's starting with what do I want it to have
Speaker 1: and then who uh that has money that I can
Speaker 1: find too a lot. It's one thing to know who
Speaker 1: you want to partner with for your venture. It's another
Speaker 1: thing to sell them on the idea when they probably
Speaker 1: aren't even thinking about you. So get incorporated buying the
Speaker 1: projects you believe may benefit their brand. How exactly is
Speaker 1: that done? I mean tactically, what are the steps we
Speaker 1: should take? TRYL Thomas speaks on it. So usually I
Speaker 1: put together a debt, you know, a pitch deck, and
Speaker 1: I cater it to to each brand. Um, I mean
Speaker 1: it's I don't have to tweak. Sometimes I tweak a
Speaker 1: page or two, you know what I mean. They're there
Speaker 1: are pieces that go with that can go in every deck,
Speaker 1: but then there are pieces that have to be cared too.
Speaker 1: And I think about to the point of alignment that
Speaker 1: I was talking about. Okay, what does that brand looking for?
Speaker 1: Some brands want as many influencers holding their stuff, posting it,
Speaker 1: talking about it or whatever. Some brands that's what they want.
Speaker 1: Some brands, uh, you know, want to be up. They
Speaker 1: have like a certain amount of of budget that they
Speaker 1: spend to have an event. Okay, how can this event
Speaker 1: become one of those events that they have that they've
Speaker 1: scheduled for right, and then some brands want to know
Speaker 1: about impression. Some brands want to get this many press mentioned.
Speaker 1: So it's just thinking about all of those pieces and
Speaker 1: knowing the brand right, having to do your research. You know,
Speaker 1: don't just reach out to a brand be because you
Speaker 1: saw them on a billboard. It's like, okay, does this
Speaker 1: align with what I'm doing? Stronger lead that aligned Netflix? Okay, cool? Um,
Speaker 1: what are they looking for? You know, they're trying to
Speaker 1: get more people to talk about their event? Okay, I
Speaker 1: know that I have the friends and the contacts that
Speaker 1: you know that have that are in this influential sphere,
Speaker 1: so I and I was going to invite them anyway.
Speaker 1: So now I provide them a hashtag and everything they
Speaker 1: can use and I'll encourage people to use it. So
Speaker 1: it's just being that's when I get strategic, when I'm
Speaker 1: researching their brands, when I'm thinking about what they need
Speaker 1: or what they're looking for. Um. And sometimes it's not
Speaker 1: always what they say that they need, it is what
Speaker 1: I look and I say, this is what you need.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's telling brands like this is what you need.
Speaker 1: This is what you're missing, and I think people get
Speaker 1: afraid to do that as well. Um, but but you know,
Speaker 1: how will the brand know when they're missing the mark?
Speaker 1: Like if I'm saying I'm providing this cultural event and
Speaker 1: I'm providing these uh movers and shakers within the black community,
Speaker 1: you know, if I can't provide some advice on how
Speaker 1: to reach us, how to connect with us, then what
Speaker 1: is the point? You know? So I'm also telling them
Speaker 1: they I like what you're doing. Here is the way
Speaker 1: that I can amplify it. So are you is it
Speaker 1: working in tandem the getting the brands on board and
Speaker 1: getting the people who the influencer or whoever they need
Speaker 1: at the party, Like how are you strategizing or curating
Speaker 1: the audience, the attendees and the partners? Yeah? Sure. So
Speaker 1: I'll give a more recent example. Um, I partnered with
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers for Juice in the Black Messiah, which I
Speaker 1: don't know if you've seen the business, I've seen it.
Speaker 1: The best movie I've seen the all years so far. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: so so so good. Um, Well with them, you know,
Speaker 1: and I thought I got to see the film early,
Speaker 1: so they sent me a screen I watched the film,
Speaker 1: and I just thought about the people in my network
Speaker 1: who would appreciate it, you know, um, who it resonates with,
Speaker 1: who's on their Instagram, on their Twitter, on their you know,
Speaker 1: Facebook or TikTok, who's talking about things that align with
Speaker 1: this film. You know. So it's really just thinking about
Speaker 1: those and and and the great thing about this too
Speaker 1: is me providing this space. The event that I provide
Speaker 1: gives the brand a chance to activate people as well.
Speaker 1: They want to they want to talk to. So they
Speaker 1: might have a list of people that they haven't really
Speaker 1: known how to approach, but now they can approach them
Speaker 1: through my vehicle of the Black Excellence frunt if that
Speaker 1: makes anything. That So it's providing uh uh space for
Speaker 1: them to reach out to people that they wouldn't have
Speaker 1: a reason to necessarily before. And you know, they're they're
Speaker 1: able to lean in. Um Fortunately, at least so many
Speaker 1: people know about the Black Excellence Brunch and if they
Speaker 1: haven't come, they know they know somebody who's come or
Speaker 1: who's spoken at it. And so when when you mentioned that,
Speaker 1: it's like people's ears pregnant, like okay, you know, and
Speaker 1: they don't And it's and it's also less transaction for
Speaker 1: the brand because you've given somebody something that they want
Speaker 1: versus just asking them for something. Can you can you
Speaker 1: uh to use a to like, for lack of a
Speaker 1: better word, sell a person who you want in the
Speaker 1: audience that you don't know. If you, let's say, you
Speaker 1: know that this person should be here because judas in
Speaker 1: the black mood sign, Oh your brand on Instagram or
Speaker 1: TikTok or whatever, you need to be at this party,
Speaker 1: but you don't know them. How do you then get
Speaker 1: them there? Yeah? Well number I feel. I definitely believe
Speaker 1: that there are six greeks of separation and they're less
Speaker 1: and when you get in places like Los Angeles and
Speaker 1: New York is probably like three. Um. And so I
Speaker 1: reach out to people, you know, I reach out to
Speaker 1: people or I reach out to someone that I know
Speaker 1: that I do have a relationship with that has a
Speaker 1: relationship with them. Um. And sometimes I tell the brand like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, which is another additive right for me to
Speaker 1: be able to put together a list for the brand
Speaker 1: and say this is who you should have there and
Speaker 1: I know this because I'm tapped in because I you know.
Speaker 1: So then they're like, oh, super appreciate that I did
Speaker 1: that research and net work, and they use their you know, uh,
Speaker 1: the way they throw their way around a little bit
Speaker 1: and say, you know, it's different for Will to reach
Speaker 1: out versus for Netflix to reach out right, um, and
Speaker 1: so that looks a little bit different, but they don't
Speaker 1: know that Will is the one that whispered the Netflix
Speaker 1: is here, so and then it's a win win And
Speaker 1: now that's someone who not only is supporting the film,
Speaker 1: it's also they're also now supporting the Black Excellence Brunch.
Speaker 1: And so I actually like it sometimes when it's like that.
Speaker 1: I was reading an article and you talked about um,
Speaker 1: you work on things that convict you, like if you
Speaker 1: feel convicted about it, and only can when you feel
Speaker 1: convicted truly about it. That's when you go in, UM,
Speaker 1: talk to me about like that, because you you you
Speaker 1: did mention earlier, Like you know, you don't have to
Speaker 1: take every opportunity you can. You can walk away talk
Speaker 1: to me about what convicts you and how you recommend
Speaker 1: other people pursue that conviction versus just taking opportunities for
Speaker 1: the take of opportunity. Man, Yes, I I definitely only
Speaker 1: I tell people people always ask it, what do you
Speaker 1: do you know, and I tell people at this point
Speaker 1: in my life, I do things that I'm passionate about
Speaker 1: with people and causes that I'm passionate about that I
Speaker 1: care about, and that's the truth. And I feel that's taking,
Speaker 1: you know, years of learning and unlearning to get to
Speaker 1: that point, right. Um. But you know, I'm of the
Speaker 1: mind that we have one life to live well, and
Speaker 1: we have to live it on our terms. And I
Speaker 1: realized that there was a lot of my life that
Speaker 1: I was living on somebody else's terms. So it was
Speaker 1: the really I started asking myself a bunch of questions.
Speaker 1: You know, I have that journalism background, and anybody that
Speaker 1: that's closed to me, we'll tell you that I asked
Speaker 1: a ton of questions. But I started asking myself questions,
Speaker 1: are you excited about this? What? What do you like
Speaker 1: about this? What don't you like about this? If you
Speaker 1: weren't doing this, what else would you be doing? You know,
Speaker 1: just questions like that that were really challenging me to
Speaker 1: be to have real conversations with myself. And as a result,
Speaker 1: I just started to discover and uncover things about what
Speaker 1: I liked and what I didn't like. And once I
Speaker 1: really got to the core of who I am and
Speaker 1: and and and granted I'm not like I haven't arrived
Speaker 1: totally yet. I'm still you know, tat seeing you know,
Speaker 1: but I will say that I'm a lot closer to me. Like,
Speaker 1: what you get, what you're getting on this zoom is trail.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. I can confidently say that
Speaker 1: whereas five years ago I couldn't. You were getting a
Speaker 1: little bit of trail, a little trails, mama, summer trails,
Speaker 1: best friends in college, you know what I mean? You
Speaker 1: would get in a piece of that. And I think
Speaker 1: all those people are still with me, but now I
Speaker 1: can run them through the filter of myself. Um. And
Speaker 1: so what I would encourage people to do is have
Speaker 1: those hard conversations with you. I read this quote today, UM,
Speaker 1: and it really resonated with me. It's like you, you
Speaker 1: are the only person that you have to spend all
Speaker 1: of your time with. Why are you're not in love
Speaker 1: with yourself yet? And but it really hit me hard
Speaker 1: because I'm like, yo, we spend so much time trying,
Speaker 1: like disliking things about ourselves, yet we have to spend
Speaker 1: all this time with our We should be in you,
Speaker 1: We should wake up and be in love. I should
Speaker 1: every day like try. I love you so much, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And I think that for me,
Speaker 1: this that self discovery has has been. That has been,
Speaker 1: you know, unlearning, Like I said, a lot of things
Speaker 1: that I was taught or told that I should be
Speaker 1: and I shouldn't be. Like even the concept that life
Speaker 1: is is hard. You know how many times have you
Speaker 1: said that just based on what somebody else has told you?
Speaker 1: But that's you know, that's not true. Life does not
Speaker 1: have to be hard, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: so it's just it was just unlearning a lot of
Speaker 1: those things. And once you get to that point, UM,
Speaker 1: where you are comfortable with you, where you're asking yourself
Speaker 1: the hard questions, where you've taken the time to learn
Speaker 1: what you like and unlearn what you don't like, then
Speaker 1: you know you can be a lot more intentional and
Speaker 1: you can work on things that you are passionate about
Speaker 1: um and that you know make you come alive, and
Speaker 1: you're okay walking away from anything that is not aligned
Speaker 1: with that. So I imagine it's easy for a lot
Speaker 1: of people to hear you say you know you do
Speaker 1: things you love with people or things you love and
Speaker 1: you're passionate about, right, But they they look at their
Speaker 1: like me, Oh, if it was that easy, you know,
Speaker 1: we always just go do things we love people that
Speaker 1: we you know, are passionate about it. But how do
Speaker 1: you how do you know that people want what it
Speaker 1: is that you're passionate about because you still gotta eat. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Oh that's a great question, and it is. It is
Speaker 1: really just um, I feel like and I always get
Speaker 1: really kind of you know, in my head when I
Speaker 1: answered this question, because um, I understand. So they're practical,
Speaker 1: logical thinkers, right, realists if you will. And then they're
Speaker 1: optimists people who just believe that. And I tend to
Speaker 1: to to leave weigh over on the optimist side, So
Speaker 1: I think sometimes just hard for for realists to understand that.
Speaker 1: But I think simply put it, like, you know, going
Speaker 1: back to what I was talking about, what's for you?
Speaker 1: It's for you, It's I don't I think people life
Speaker 1: becomes hard for people or things become difficult when you
Speaker 1: desire something that is not in line with you, that
Speaker 1: is not for you. Right when I'm wanting what what's
Speaker 1: for Will? When I'm trying to ride in Will's lane?
Speaker 1: Then yeah, it's hard for me, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: because I'm not I don't have all the tools in
Speaker 1: my toolbox that will has. So when it's time for
Speaker 1: you to use the hammer, you can use the ham.
Speaker 1: But if I haven't gotten that, or if if that's
Speaker 1: not in my tool box then or a different kind
Speaker 1: of hammer, you've got a different kind of hammer than
Speaker 1: I got, Right, it's hard for me to do it
Speaker 1: with with the wrong hammer or the wrong wrench or
Speaker 1: the wrong screw. You know what I'm saying. And so
Speaker 1: I think that and social media makes this uh amplifi
Speaker 1: asis right, people coverting what other people have, people wanting
Speaker 1: to get to this place. Even when I say I
Speaker 1: do things I love that you know, with people I love,
Speaker 1: I'm not telling people you know, to only do what
Speaker 1: I do. What I am saying is that when you
Speaker 1: are aligned with who you are, when you are I
Speaker 1: have done the inner work, when you are moving in
Speaker 1: your purpose, it'll fit. Things will work out. And then
Speaker 1: you can't say, oh, I'm doing things I love with
Speaker 1: people I love, right, because it's aligned with you. Um,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't always look like what's what's with me?
Speaker 1: What's for for for me? Or for you. And the
Speaker 1: last thing I'll say about that is, you know, to
Speaker 1: your point where people have to eat, um, I do.
Speaker 1: I'm I've done every single kind of anything, right, like
Speaker 1: from working at McDonald's to you know, working with Presidental
Speaker 1: bomb Like I've done all sorts of things. Um. But
Speaker 1: what I take taking with me in every single uh
Speaker 1: thing that I that I did, I when I've always
Speaker 1: felt something that I was I always found something that
Speaker 1: I was passionate about within it. That's one thing. So
Speaker 1: you know at McDonald's, I hated cleaning the ice cream machine,
Speaker 1: but I love talking love, you know, making people happy
Speaker 1: and talking to people through the drive through. And it
Speaker 1: was something about like getting on that intercom and like
Speaker 1: hearing people's voices and talking to them and then seeing
Speaker 1: them when they came around the corner. I loved that,
Speaker 1: and so I was always like, oh, let me do
Speaker 1: work to drive through, Let me work to drive through,
Speaker 1: let me work to drive through. And then it became
Speaker 1: something that I was excited to do, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. So if you are a person who does
Speaker 1: isn't necessarily is of the mind like, well, I have
Speaker 1: to eat, so I have to work this job. I
Speaker 1: challenge people to find something within that space, within what
Speaker 1: they're doing that they love and that they can gravitate
Speaker 1: and guess what that will take you to the next space.
Speaker 1: You know. There's whenever I got to a point of,
Speaker 1: you know, feeling good about what I was doing, I
Speaker 1: often graduated to the next level of my life. Um.
Speaker 1: And so that is the advice that I would that
Speaker 1: I would give people. And then once you figure it out,
Speaker 1: once you get that formula down, once you are are
Speaker 1: moving and you are aligning, then only the things that
Speaker 1: you love will start coming to you and you'll be
Speaker 1: able to work on those. And I hope that makes sense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: how have you learned, um, to keep the momentum of
Speaker 1: an event alive in between cycles like that? What are
Speaker 1: the tactics like? What do you what do you actually
Speaker 1: do to build the hype for the next one four
Speaker 1: months after the event? The last one is over five months? Yeah, man, um, honestly,
Speaker 1: I so I'll talk about the Black ex Unch in particular,
Speaker 1: and um, there are a few things that I was
Speaker 1: very intentional about. One is I was intentional about not
Speaker 1: like curating the guest list, not curating, no, curing the
Speaker 1: guest I was about to say, not just inviting people,
Speaker 1: curing the guests. I was very intentional that I wanted
Speaker 1: to curate the guest list. I want to to uh
Speaker 1: put together this you know, dream team of people that
Speaker 1: would attend this event. And unintentionally that created kind of
Speaker 1: an exclusivity. So people are like, wait, how do I
Speaker 1: how did you? Where did that come from? What? What?
Speaker 1: How did you get invite to that? You know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Um? And with that, I also only sent
Speaker 1: the invites out a week before the event happened. M hm,
Speaker 1: So I was about like I sent people. Uh basically,
Speaker 1: I message people the event UH invite seven day years before.
Speaker 1: I just message everybody saying, hey, I really want you
Speaker 1: to be here. UM, this is something special for me.
Speaker 1: I want to celebrate you and honor you. Uh. There
Speaker 1: here it is. And people are usually pretty responsive to
Speaker 1: that and so um and I didn't want people sharing it,
Speaker 1: which is the reason why I did. I didn't want,
Speaker 1: you know, to send it two weeks three weeks in advance,
Speaker 1: and then I have everybody in there and their brother
Speaker 1: and sister showing up at the door, you know, because
Speaker 1: I was doing it especially especially for specific people. So
Speaker 1: that's another thing. And that creates this air of like
Speaker 1: mysterious around the event. And then, um, the third thing,
Speaker 1: uh with social media, you know everything right now, and
Speaker 1: I didn't put anything on social media. People only learned
Speaker 1: about the event after it happened. And that those things,
Speaker 1: those three things with the Black Excellence PROUDJEC in particular,
Speaker 1: really helped it grow because I had people texting me,
Speaker 1: calling me, asking other people like how can I get that?
Speaker 1: How do I be a part of that? Like who's who?
Speaker 1: Like what do I need to do? I have people
Speaker 1: submit their resume to me UM to come to a
Speaker 1: brunch and and really it's an I'm honored you know
Speaker 1: that people want to come. But uh, again, it was
Speaker 1: just me curating something to uplift, uh people that I
Speaker 1: felt were black and excellent. And I'm just being intentional
Speaker 1: about that space. And I'm I'm very protective of the
Speaker 1: energy of the space, you know, I want to know
Speaker 1: who is in there and what kind of energy that
Speaker 1: they're they're bringing with them, and so I wanted to
Speaker 1: really protect that UM and yeah, and so it just
Speaker 1: that coupled with the rollout of like seeing all these
Speaker 1: beautiful pictures after word and all these things that helped
Speaker 1: really drum up the support for and people were waiting
Speaker 1: for the next one, knowing that they either they wouldn't
Speaker 1: find out until seven days before the event or they
Speaker 1: might or might not get Yeah. Wow, Um, how important
Speaker 1: is this moment in time? And I mean this moment
Speaker 1: of COVID, this moment of UM racial uprising, this moment
Speaker 1: of this like what is how important is this moment
Speaker 1: in time for black opportunity for us to take advantage
Speaker 1: of the things that we want. This moment is very important.
Speaker 1: It is it is our time. And I don't say
Speaker 1: that in uh a cliche way. It is definitely our time,
Speaker 1: you know. Um, I think that you know the there's
Speaker 1: a the rest of all the pieces of the recipe
Speaker 1: have come together, right like there is UM spotlight on
Speaker 1: the black community. There is all this opportunity UM to elevate.
Speaker 1: There is UM there are You have the ears and
Speaker 1: the eyes of a lot of people that you didn't
Speaker 1: have the ears and the eyes of before. And the
Speaker 1: most you know, the most valuable thing about this moment
Speaker 1: is that you have this We have this voice. Right
Speaker 1: if we've ever felt voiceless, now we have this voice,
Speaker 1: you know, and you shouldn't and and we should proudly
Speaker 1: and confidently walk into spaces now, you know, um, if
Speaker 1: we've ever been able to before, now is the time
Speaker 1: to to walk in with your head held high, with
Speaker 1: your chest out and ask for those things that that
Speaker 1: not only you want, but that you deserve. Um. And
Speaker 1: I think that is what this moment is a US
Speaker 1: and we have to take advantage of black Tech. Green
Speaker 1: Money is a production of Black of the Afro Tech
Speaker 1: on the Black Deffect podcast network and Our Media. It's
Speaker 1: produced by Morgan Dabon and me Will Lucas, with additional
Speaker 1: production support by Love Beach and Raven Neerport. Special thank
Speaker 1: you to Michael Davis and some car savan Yan you
Speaker 1: know like the wine. Yes that's his real name. Learn
Speaker 1: more about my guests and other tech disrupts and innovators
Speaker 1: at afro tech dot com. Go get your money, Piece
Speaker 1: of Love