WEBVTT - Intentional Words with Rakia Reynolds 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:11.440 What's up. I'm Laura Currency and I'm Alexa Kristen. Welcome 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:15.200 back to ed Landia. Got a great show. Rakia Reynolds, 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:20.720 executive officer and founder of sky Blue Media's here before 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:24.440 we get to Rakia, Laura and I, as you guys know, 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:28.720 talk all the time about random threads and philosophies. So 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:33.280 this morning you sent me the IKEA catalog. Ikea did 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:37.199 an audio catalog, all the whole catalog, like four hours, 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:40.800 four hours, a marathon of audio. The point to me, 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:43.320 and the thing that we were talking about is that 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:47.040 now commerce is kind of unbound. It should have no 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:50.240 boundaries at this point, and that's really where we're getting to. 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:53.080 And it's interesting, like if you think about commerce not 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:56.120 having any boundaries of format, the fact that you could 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:59.680 buy anything anywhere and that you should have the ability 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:04.440 to do that as a as a consumer, it's really exciting. 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:09.760 And then what conversely does that do to advertising? Is 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.920 it a podcast? Is it an audio instruction manual? It's 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:17.080 like an audio catalog from the standpoint of it's trying 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:24.040 to story tell and help you visualize rooms in the catalog, 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:25.920 like what they would actually be showing in the catalog. 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.360 But I think the big point is this idea that 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.760 you should be able to buy from audio content. Content 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:35.320 should be commerce period, full stop well and also new 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:39.600 and interesting ways to literate or build on and keep 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:45.520 a consumer engaged. Right, what's really exciting is creation. Commerce, 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:50.280 an asset, right, or artifact or thing that's created are 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:53.960 coming together in a way that I don't think we've 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:58.120 ever experienced, not something that's been accessible like this. What 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:01.080 does the world look like where campaigns become open sourced. 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:05.600 Let's just say I Ka puts that for our catalog down, 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:08.520 and you and I have the ability to come in 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:13.240 and say, actually we should drop a meditation here, and 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:15.560 then you can submit that back to a brand, not 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:20.200 in the form of social media feedback, truly having the 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:27.240 opportunity and open source campaign to be able as a fan, consumer, etcetera, 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:31.160 to contribute, influence, contribute. I don't want to just be 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.359 a fan of your company or your brand or your product. 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:36.680 I want to own a part of it. In a 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:38.359 different way. I want to own part of that. I 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.600 p that fiduciary relationship means we have a completely entirely 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:46.120 different relationship that we haven't even been able to imagine 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.960 with our consumer that we trust them enough if they 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:52.959 are fans to represent that brand, shareholders in the business, yes, 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:54.960 and create on it. But at the end of the day, 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.880 that all comes back to community. You're talking about trust 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:03.640 in the consumer. Yes, how well do you know your community? Yes? 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:06.480 And the thing Laura, totally and the thing that has 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.840 been on my mind. A lot of brand owners, a 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:12.880 lot of brand stewards not even gonna call them marketers 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.119 because it's beyond the marketing organization or the marketing role, 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:20.720 talk about having community, that they've built a community or 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.200 that they're part of a community. And that may be true, 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:28.519 but more often than not, brands and people at brands 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:34.360 are talking about their community as buyers, as buyers transaction 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.800 transaction I have, we have we have people that like us, 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.160 we have people that buy us, they like this product. 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:42.080 We have this community of buyers and that they're like 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:46.880 community of buyers. That's a sales force breadsheet. We're going 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:50.280 to talk to for Kia about this, but I think 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:53.080 that it behooves us to start to really unpack, like 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:59.360 what makes up a community. I think that right now 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:01.720 is a really good time for marketers to be thoughtful 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:06.440 about some of the new structure and new kind of 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.040 points of power, as I would say, that are coming 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.440 to life in the world. There's an army of natural 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:19.840 born marketers who are rising, and they know how to 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:24.240 sell and probably in some cases are better product marketers 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:31.680 and brand marketers then marketers. You've got a major institutionalized companies, 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:35.440 you know, big corporates, and so if you think about that, 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:38.400 it starts to become depending on where you stand, is 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:43.120 either really exciting or maybe a little bit scary. We'll 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:55.600 be right back and we are back on the mic 0:04:55.640 --> 0:05:00.279 with Rikiya Reynolds, founder and executive officer of sky Blue Media. 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:05.200 Sky Blue is a multimedia strategic communications firm focus on people, 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:08.560 products and places. Rikia, we have waited so long to 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:13.040 say this. Welcome to Atlantia. Welcome Rikia. Oh my gosh, 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:15.520 thank you so much, y'all. This is such a long 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.279 time coming, Like for real, I'm excited to be here. 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:23.320 You're just celebrating your tenure anniversary, recently named to Forbes 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:29.360 one thousand like last week. Congratulationslations to you, thank you, 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:31.920 thank you. Working with some of the biggest talent and 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:35.640 brands in the industry. Tell us about the origin story 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:38.880 of how sky Blue came to be. Oh, I love 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:41.000 you know, I love a good origin story. I like 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:45.320 to call it the story behind the glory. Um. I 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:50.119 recently actually on Instagram recently recap the last decade because 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.240 we're in our celebratory tenth year at sky Blue Media. 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.520 So I broke it down into sort of business growth 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:00.560 stages or the stages of business, so like zero to 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:03.640 three and then four to six and what did that 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.400 look like? Um, So, I will say the story behind 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:09.680 this glory is that I started sky Blue Media. I 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.760 was a former TV producer. I worked in magazines. I 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:17.359 had a five year stint in working in higher education 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:21.320 for a large university, working on I was actually pursuing 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:26.480 my degree in counseling psychology, working with students who were 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:30.040 suffering from you know, going to college and what it meant. 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:33.560 So I was advising a lot of students as as 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:36.359 a counselor. So I worked for five years in higher education, 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:40.120 then went onto TV, then went onto magazines. And working 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:44.640 in TV, y'all, it was more than an emotional roller 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.320 coaster because in the world of TV, you're on, you're off, 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:50.600 your you have a hiatus, you go dark and I 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.880 was like, I can't keep doing this. But one day 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:56.240 they called us into the office and I was like, 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.559 oh my gosh, this is so exciting. They were like, okay, 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.440 we're having a special meeting and they said special, but 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.599 I took it as like they're giving us like something exciting. 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.719 They brought us in they had envelopes for everyone, and 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:09.679 I was like, oh my gosh, bring getting a bonus 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:13.000 right when I needed this bonus. It was like super exciting. 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.520 And so we opened the bonus and it was like 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:17.920 an additional check and I was like, oh my gosh, 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.239 like we've done such a great job. I was working 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:22.120 on all of these shows and they were like, okay, 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:24.520 so this is the last check for everyone. We're laying 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:28.280 everybody off. And I was like, oh, I'm sorry, this 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:32.160 is not a work bonus that we're getting. So I 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.120 was I was pregnant with our second child, my husband 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:37.760 was just finishing greadful. I mean, when I tell you, 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:39.600 I was like trying to figure out like are we 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:41.960 gonna have old meal for dinner or tuna fish sandwiches 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.240 for dinner? Like it was it was that like my 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:47.800 friends are like we like to say, like a struggle sandwich. 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:50.920 It was like a struggle sandwich. And so at that 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.120 point I was like, I don't really have anything to lose. 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.120 I've always been a risk taker. Why don't I sort 0:07:56.120 --> 0:08:00.240 of jump off this cliff of entrepreneurship, start my own company, 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:02.880 take all of the things that I've learned from, you know, 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:07.480 from TV and magazines and counseling, psychology and studying all 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.840 of these amazing people, and sort of disrupt the traditional 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:14.560 model of public relations. And then I started my own 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.200 agency taking all of the things that I had learned 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:22.920 in TV, you know, producing traditional pr psychology, and then 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:27.920 formed my own digital communications multimedia coms agency like you 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:31.440 just imagined it forward. And what I think is interesting 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:33.480 what you told us off Mike, and I want to 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:36.640 actually ask you about, is that you don't call yourself 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:41.320 a CEO. You can call yourself a chief, which is 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:47.200 probably aligned to your philosophy and your ethos and your values. 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.280 Tell us why you don't call yourself a CEO? Right, So, 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.080 I think we need to analyze words more. We need 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.160 to look at the etymology of words, We need to 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.719 look at the origin of words. And there are a 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:02.040 lot of culture vultures out there, people appropriating. There's so 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:06.199 much miseducation, and so when I get to the point 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.280 where I feel like I am educated completely, fully and 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:13.560 amazingly or acutely aware of my surroundings and the words 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:16.000 and why we use them, then I may incorporate them 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:20.439 back into my lexicon. But for now, with the foundation 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:23.640 that I have been taught, with the history that I 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.160 was taught as a child and then as a and 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.400 as an adolescent and as an adult, I don't think 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:31.840 that I was educated to the point where I should 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:35.000 be using any of the language that was delivered to me. 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:38.280 We're very intentional with what we say, Like we don't 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:40.679 say things like oh, that's tone deaf. Instead of saying 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.480 like that's tone deaf, we may say, well, it lacks 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:48.920 the nuance needed to inform the conversation, so we won't 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.400 say or it's a blind spot. Will say, hey, you 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:53.920 know what, let's make sure that we cover all parameters. 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:58.480 So for us, it's really about the intentionality of words. 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.560 I've actually had a client that is of the deaf 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:06.040 and heart of hearing community, So in terms of being 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.040 informed and sometimes for folks, there's I think that there 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.920 is like personal empathy and collective empathy, and once we 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:15.720 get to a space of collective empathy where we can 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.400 like put our thoughts aside and really be intentional. Um. 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.120 I noticed that on calls I will take a little 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.240 bit of time or process my thoughts, But with words, 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:30.360 I really tried to slow it down to say, why 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.040 are we using these words? What will it mean to 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:38.040 someone else, and how will it impact someone who may 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.520 hear this or experience this later on down the line. 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.920 So we typically will look at all of our words, 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.480 but no chief, no chief in this executive officer over here. 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:51.320 As you were introducing sky Blue at the top of 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.280 the conversation, you said you were going back through chapters 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.480 right where there are points along the way that shaped 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:00.920 or evolved the way you approached your work. Yeah. I 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:05.400 think there were two pivotal moments in my sort of 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:12.240 sky Blue media career or history. One was sort of midpoint, 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:16.640 maybe three or four years in. I was faced with 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:20.960 so many different challenges where I was not hiring people, 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:24.920 I wasn't hiring the right people, and so I had 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:28.920 the wrong people surrounding me. I had someone steal mail, 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:31.000 steal money, all of these things. It was like a 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:36.520 compounded stressor for me, and what I learned was how 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:40.000 to respond to things during a crisis because I was 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:46.080 in a constant crisis. Constant I mean with employees, with news, 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:48.800 with all of these things that were just happening to me. 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.920 It was a compounded stress moment. So for me, it 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:56.320 was a pivotal moment to learn how to maneuver through 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.720 chaos and crisis. And then I will say sort of 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:03.240 bad us forward when we really started at the beginning 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:07.600 of my career, people because I'm a black woman, would say, 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:10.120 we want you to work on all of our black marketing, 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:11.640 or we want you to work on this, or we 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:13.920 want you to work on that. And it became like 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:18.559 this multicultural marketing way of bringing us into companies like, oh, 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.880 you know, larger corporations would be like and I would say, 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.320 you don't just bring someone in because of the way 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:26.840 they look. It's their expertise. Let me build this a 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:30.240 little more. So it's not just you know, the black market, 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:33.560 but it's the indigenous cultures market. It is the Latin 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:35.599 X market, it is the l g B t q 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:39.400 i A market, it is the Asian American and Pacific 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:43.520 Islanders market. So I started doing a lot of research, 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:47.440 bringing in people that had their PhD in sociology, bringing 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.080 in people that were experts in their field to do 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:55.280 think tanks, workshops, professional development to inform our teams in 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:59.120 order to effectively communicate. And then we started bringing those 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:03.000 folks in as consultants to have brand extensions to our 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.800 work because I don't think that everyone out there should 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:08.240 be doing the work that they're doing because they're not 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.280 an expert in their field. Just because you did one 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:14.720 project or um, you have one case study, I don't 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:16.880 think that you should. You know, you can be doing 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.040 the work. I think when people become seasoned in their fields, 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:22.760 that's when you can put it on your website. That's 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:25.640 when you should say this is you know what we do. 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.880 So I think for me getting into the space of 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:33.720 like research and expertise and really sort of refining what 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:37.800 are offerings are and were we were able to go 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:42.920 beyond the lens of marketing, public relations, social media, and 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.640 digital media. I think there have been all of these 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:49.240 pivotal learning moments in my career. UM and then the 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.320 work that we get to do, and then the people 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:55.160 that I've sort of surrounded myself with and the folks 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:58.520 that are running the company in a way that I 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.360 never thought would run. You talk about and Laura's told 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:06.719 me about this, but I want to get into it more. People, products, places. 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:09.400 That's what you do well, and that's how you think 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.920 about your business. Can you explain that a bit more? Yeah, 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:16.840 I love you know, like alliteration, and and I have 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.640 to when I'm remembering things. But on the people's side, um, 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.480 I think really early on and Laura knows this, really 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.160 early on, we were able to work with Ashley Graham 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:28.840 for the first five years of her business and build 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:32.280 her brand and you know, work with her on what 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.720 she or her presence in how she was entering the world. 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:39.400 So from a people's standpoint, we worked with Serena Williams 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:41.680 on her apparel brand for HSN and then when she 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:45.080 went independently, we still, you know, we still have the 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:49.480 honor to work with people such as you know, icons 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.720 like Serena Williams. We work with people such as m 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:56.400 Night Shamalan, and people such as Marley Dais who started 0:14:56.440 --> 0:15:01.440 hashtag one thousand black girl books, social activists like Alicia Garza, 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.200 authors like Glenn and Doyle and love You a gi Ye. 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.479 So like, you know, we look from a people standpoint, 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:11.440 We've got some amazing people that we get to work 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:13.840 with on and I'm honored and privileged that we get 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.480 to learn from them and work with them. On the 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:20.480 product side. That p is getting to work with larger 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:24.040 tech companies like Dell. UM we work with soft Bank, 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.960 we work with Airbnb, UM, and I'm like forgetting a 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:29.480 couple of folks, but I'll just leave it at that. 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:31.480 And then on the place space, I think you leave 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:34.840 it like soft Bank Airbnb, you pretty much got it 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.880 locked up. You're good. And let me be specific, the 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:41.760 soft Bank SB Opportunity Fund, that's what we work on UM. 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.800 And then yeah, on the places space. So just I 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:49.480 worked with cities like Memphis and their storytelling. Cities like 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:53.160 Philadelphia hired us, you know years ago on o hey, 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:55.400 we have all of this research, how do we distill 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:59.120 this and make it into a great story. So cities 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:03.640 from a place ending standpoint have hired us on storytelling 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:08.360 for them. What are the signments, projects, opportunities, challenges people 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:11.280 are calling with right now? And then what you project 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.480 over the next you know, twelve to eighteen months. What 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:18.080 are the areas within comms um that we really need 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.560 to be thinking about as an industry and just sort 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:24.400 of trends and signals you're picking up based on your conversations. Yeah, 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.120 I think I would say a lot of people call 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.560 on us now, and I want to be clear, all 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:31.920 of our clients have been with us for years. We 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:36.120 we don't typically take on projects, and I always tell folks, 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:38.000 you know, we're in it for the long term, in 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.440 the long run. You know, some of our clients have 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:44.840 been on our board for five years because we don't 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:47.760 believe in you know, coming in for a sixty day 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:51.800 project or a six month project. I think right now 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:54.440 we've actually had to say no to a lot of 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.840 companies because they are calling us. They see our clients 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:01.560 perfectly position in the marketplace on what to say and 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:05.320 how to say it. So it's one of the things 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:08.639 that it pains me sometimes because I'm like, if we had, 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.119 you know, a larger team, or if I wanted to 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:15.280 take on more clients, that would help said corporation or 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:19.399 help dead person. But we've closed the door, you know, 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:22.040 sadly enough to to a lot of folks just saying hey, 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.119 we are we're not taking on any more clients. And 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:28.200 so what we did start to do was we created 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:32.560 this monthly tool kit on effective communications. So every month 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:34.879 we put out this tool kid, like, here's what you 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.359 should be saying, here's how you should say it. Here 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.840 the words that you should refrain from. And we we 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.719 give it to companies that were unable to work with 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:47.120 right now due to our capacity um so that they 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.960 can use it as an internal learning tool with their 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:54.360 comms and marketing teams. What's been the reaction to them 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:56.280 and are there things that you know, you're you're seeing 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.480 clients maybe not be aware of and saying like, this 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:02.760 is something I'm to be implementing as a result. Oh goodness, 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.720 I mean so many you know, they're you know, large 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:09.080 corporations that have come to us and said, hey, we 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:12.720 didn't know that we should be you know, considering or 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:17.239 looking at Indigenous People's Day instead of Thanksgiving, or you know, 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.920 not being super overt with our messages around July fourth 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:24.000 because not all black people were free and you know, 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:28.080 this is how we are looking at Juneteenth, or this 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.160 is how we're looking at the word feminist, because typically 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:35.080 the word feminist is assist, gendered, white woman and not 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:39.320 inclusive of all communities, or this is how we're thinking 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:41.879 of the world. I mean, there's there's so many. So 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:44.920 we put one out for Women's History Month and said, 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.080 this is how people are going to be acknowledging it. 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:51.359 Make sure you are careful around this language. Not every 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:54.600 woman looks at, you know, sort of Women's Month in 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:57.520 this way because not all folks were included. So when 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:01.520 you look from a lens of historical irrelevance going back, 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:04.880 you have to really really go back and say where 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:07.120 did it start? What is the origin? Right we talked 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:10.280 about origin, what is the origin story? And how did 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:13.679 this come about? And did it include all people? And 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:16.240 if it didn't include all people, let's sort of remix 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.800 the vocabulary a little bit and say this is how 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:22.200 we're going to be approaching it now. Not all companies 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:24.440 have to do that. I mean not all companies serve 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:27.359 all communities. I mean, I can't speak for everyone, but 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:32.000 I would think that where we are in one, you know, 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:35.520 we should be more on the gender list side because 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:38.680 of the way that you know, folks identify. We should 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:42.240 be thinking about every single word that we're putting on 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:46.240 an email because you don't know how it will impact 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:49.960 someone I think we're beyond diversity and inclusion and we're 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:52.879 at the space of belonging and mattering. Do people feel 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:56.399 like they belong in your space? Like, do they feel 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:58.480 like they should be there? I think I read a 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:03.240 great research a poor a while ago and it said 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:07.040 that not belonging, not feeling like you belong inside of 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:10.919 a company or space is akin to physical pain. So 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:13.359 pay attention to the people that call out of work. 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:17.159 It's not and it is akin to physical pain. So 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:18.760 I think we just have to be It just goes 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:22.280 back to that intentionality. I have a question, Rikia, like 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:26.920 we're in this time where we're in massive social upheaval. 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:30.120 Still millions and millions of people just in this country 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:33.320 out of jobs, you know, health crisis like we've never 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.560 seen in the history of the world, in the history 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:38.239 of the world and the history of the I mean 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:40.639 think about right. My daughter by the way side now 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.080 asked me the other night, um what I did when 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:46.439 I was a little kid during the virus and I said, oh, honey, 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:49.400 we don't have the virus. And I had a moment 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:52.560 like I was like, WHOA. So I guess the question 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:55.840 to come back to is we're in unprecedented times like 0:20:55.880 --> 0:21:01.679 everyone has said too much and instead of brands going 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:07.520 backwards in terms of kind of reverting into fear and 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:13.160 non communication, not talking about things, not addressing things, not 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:18.080 kind of driving their reputation forward and their perspective for it. 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:21.280 How do they imagine it forward like you did in 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:24.600 your own career. How do you both be bold and 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:28.800 empathetic at a time like this. I do think in 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:33.880 my field, in the world of communications, I think folks 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:39.400 need to pause and hit the breaks. Um they're people, are, 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:43.480 you know, scrambling and trying their best. I see it 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:46.400 and it's like, Wow, you'all are really trying. Let's get 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:50.080 the right people in and that's good. You know, was 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:54.120 the year of words and beyond should be the year 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:57.600 and years of the works? What is the work that 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:00.880 you're doing so you set all those things in T twenty, 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:03.520 What is the work that you're putting in, you know, 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:07.119 in one What does it look like? What councils have 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:10.320 you formed? What does it look like in terms of 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:15.080 your employee hiring, your employee resource groups, the comms people 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:17.080 that you've brought on, the marketing people. Who are the 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:20.399 people that really do have the seat at the table. 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:24.399 Who are the decision makers? Who is scanning your language? 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:28.160 Who is helping you to inform your decisions. If I'm 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:31.840 sitting here typing an email to you in Google automates 0:22:31.920 --> 0:22:34.320 and finishes it, am I really going to be intentional? 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:37.320 Am I really gonna go and click more keys? Or 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:40.119 am I gonna scroll that little arrow over, finish the 0:22:40.160 --> 0:22:43.439 sentence and put a period? Most of the time scroll 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:46.600 it over and put a period. Can you tell us 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:49.720 about some of the other projects, including the AI platform 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:52.960 that you're working on. And I'm actually building an ethical 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:56.480 intelligence platform as a product of all of the work 0:22:56.520 --> 0:22:59.119 that we've done in the equity and communications space with 0:22:59.160 --> 0:23:02.880 sky Blue Media UH to help marketers and communicators make 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:06.440 more informed decisions when they're writing and marketing. So that 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:10.119 will launch sometime later this year. Who are you building that? 0:23:10.800 --> 0:23:14.720 So girl, listen, I'm actually building my advisory board now. 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:19.600 So are brought on two advisors who are advising me. 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:22.639 And I just secured my first angel investment, so I 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:25.480 know I'm not supposed to thank you, But he is 0:23:25.560 --> 0:23:30.280 the vs knees okay, Like he's invested in a lot 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:33.040 of companies. When I pitched him over the phone without 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:36.120 a deck. He was like, Rakia, the world needs this. 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:39.520