1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:01,040 Speaker 1: Money. 2 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:04,160 Speaker 2: It comes with a lot of questions. How do I save? 3 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 2: Where should I invest? Can I build wealth to pass on? 4 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 2: It's hard to know where to get answers. That's why 5 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 2: the people at Fidelity do what they do to make 6 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,639 Speaker 2: it easier for you to get information to make better 7 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,639 Speaker 2: money decisions. It's what they've built their business on. They've 8 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:24,600 Speaker 2: got articles and videos, tips and apps and insights and 9 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 2: perspectives that make planning, saving and investing a little less stressful. 10 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 2: And when you want to talk it through, there's a 11 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:36,159 Speaker 2: real person on the other end with real answers. Helping 12 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 2: people is what they do, and they can help you too. 13 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 2: Help you buy a home, save for your kids education, 14 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 2: start a business, support your community, and feel more confident 15 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 2: about the future. Want to learn more, visit Fidelity online 16 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 2: at fidelity dot com. Slash black Wealth. 17 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 3: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child 18 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 3: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador 19 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:08,399 Speaker 3: accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with 20 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 3: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just 21 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 3: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President 22 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:19,839 Speaker 3: Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christy nom the United States 23 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:24,639 Speaker 3: Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border 24 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 3: crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded, and over 25 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 3: one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested. If you 26 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 3: are here illegally, your next you will be fine nearly 27 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 3: one thousand dollars a day. Imprisoned and deported, you will 28 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 3: never return. But if you register using our CBP home 29 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 3: app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally. 30 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 3: Do what's right. Leave now. Under President Trump, America's laws, 31 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 3: border and families will be protected. 32 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 4: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security. 33 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 5: One of the things that I learned from the first 34 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 5: business that I took into the second one was the 35 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 5: power of building audience and community and then serving them right. 36 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 5: A lot of entrepreneurs get an idea for a productor 37 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 5: or something, and they rushed to build that. They rush 38 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 5: to do that, and then they go try to find 39 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 5: an audience to sell it to. My advice would. 40 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 6: Revert be to reverse engineer that right. 41 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 5: So before I dropped, before we actually launched, I had 42 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 5: ten thousand names on my email list. 43 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:27,079 Speaker 6: I had five thousand names on my SMS list. 44 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 5: As we were building out the Instagram and the social presence, 45 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 5: it was more so about what this brand was, about 46 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 5: what it was going to stand for and showing the 47 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:42,239 Speaker 5: audience the and I was showing mock ups and people 48 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:46,520 Speaker 5: were just resonating with it because it spoke to them. 49 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:52,920 Speaker 7: My graduates from my school being false backdrop drop, Mike drop, 50 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 7: backdrop drop. 51 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: All right, guys, welcome back. E y L. 52 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:13,079 Speaker 8: This is gonna be a dope conversation. Actively black. This 53 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 8: is somebody that we got introduced to the brand. 54 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: I think Kwame Uncle, Yeah, like two years ago. 55 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 8: Yeah, he introduced us to the brand. And then we 56 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:26,519 Speaker 8: got the merchant. 57 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 2: The biggest package of merchandise that I've ever seen from 58 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 2: a brand. I said, wait, what is this? 59 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 8: But what's happened is that they've been actually progressively like 60 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 8: climbing up the rankings of this whole situation. You've probably 61 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 8: seen them being wore. I see the list of celebrities 62 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 8: that have championed the brand, from Steph Curry to Pinky Cole, Meganica, 63 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 8: Steve Harvey, Deon Sanders, Cam Newton, Damon John a bunch 64 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 8: of people, and then a lot of the IL deals, 65 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 8: especially with the Sanders family, Shiloh Sanders, Shador Sanders, Travis Hunter, 66 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 8: our guy Stagah, Kelly. 67 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: Somebody's been down in Jackson. Well somebody's in Colorado now. Yeah. 68 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:17,280 Speaker 6: Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna be in that cold for 69 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:17,840 Speaker 6: a little bit. 70 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 8: So it's a it's a I guess the best way 71 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 8: to describe it is an athletic where brand. 72 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 6: At leisure at leisure sports apparel. 73 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:30,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, at leisure sports apparel. 74 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 8: So it's a dope conversation from starting growing the brand VC, 75 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 8: because you guys took some VC money as well, right, 76 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 8: So that leads into that conversation with the seed rounds 77 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 8: different things in nature, collaborations with Foolble, collaborations with the 78 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 8: Muhammad ali A State, a bunch of different things that's happening. 79 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:48,840 Speaker 1: So congrats on. 80 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 6: That, man, appreciate it. 81 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,240 Speaker 1: He just like breaking news today. Yeah, I just saw you. 82 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:54,280 Speaker 1: I just saw the post. 83 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 6: Multi year deal with the Muhammad ali Ah State. 84 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: We gotta get into that. Yeah. So yeah, we got 85 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:01,560 Speaker 1: the CEO, Landy Smith. 86 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 8: Thank you for joining us. 87 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 6: Appreciate you for having me, man. 88 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:08,239 Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's been it's been a long time coming. 89 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 5: Yeah, man, it's funny you say two years ago when 90 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 5: Kwame introduced you. That's literally when he introduced the brand, 91 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 5: before we even got started. We just made two years 92 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 5: on Black Friday this past Black Friday. So we're we're 93 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 5: brand that's twenty five months years old, man, twenty five 94 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 5: months old. 95 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 2: So yeah, I feel like we've been in text conversation 96 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 2: probably for about a year of that about that year 97 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 2: and I'm like, yeah, we coming to LA. When we 98 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,360 Speaker 2: come and we're coming, it's like, yoh, man, I just 99 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:35,080 Speaker 2: did this deal that you think Now, I'm like, yo, bro, 100 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 2: it's coming. 101 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,799 Speaker 1: Here we are, So yeah, let's talk about it. Man. 102 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,159 Speaker 8: A lot of people start holding brands, but you, like 103 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:45,839 Speaker 8: I said, you've actually been able to reach success and 104 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 8: you're reaching more success. 105 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: You've been able to raise money and everything. But take 106 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: us back to the beginning. 107 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 8: What's the idea to start the brand and what's the 108 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 8: beginning things that you did to get the brand off 109 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 8: the ground. 110 00:05:57,040 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 6: Yeah, well this is actually my second one. 111 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 5: The first brand I launch is called Active Faith, launched 112 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 5: that back in twenty eleven. My two business partners in 113 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 5: that with Steph Curry and Anthony Tolliver. 114 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:11,600 Speaker 6: How'd you get those guys. Man, So I'm a former 115 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 6: basketball player. Man, excuse me? 116 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: Where'd you play? Man? 117 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 5: I played at the University of Houston and finished up 118 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:22,239 Speaker 5: with the Sacramento Kings. I tore my knee up thirty 119 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:26,159 Speaker 5: three days after signing my first NBA contract, So, you know, 120 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 5: something that was a dream for me since I was 121 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 5: five years old, chased that dream. Like I said, played 122 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,160 Speaker 5: my college basketball at University of Houston and had the 123 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:37,520 Speaker 5: opportunity to play in the NBA. And that was a 124 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 5: devastating moment for me, but it ended up being pivotal 125 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 5: and would led me to doing what I'm doing today. So, 126 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,799 Speaker 5: I mean, jay Z has this this lyric where he says, 127 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 5: if if you would have told him that whole was 128 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 5: so clothing not in his lifetime. Wasn't in my right 129 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 5: mind that that lyric. I mean, if there's anything that describes, 130 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 5: you know, my experience and my testimony, that would be it. 131 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 5: Because there's no way that I thought I'd be sitting 132 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 5: here talking to you guys about a clothing brand. I 133 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:08,800 Speaker 5: was one of those guys where it was NBA or BUS. 134 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 5: You know, I didn't have a plan B. I thought 135 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 5: I was gonna plan in the league for ten twelve years, 136 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 5: take care of my family, hopefully take care of a 137 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 5: few people in my neighborhood, and that would be my legacy, 138 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 5: you know what I mean. But God had a different 139 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 5: plan for me. So the first brand man I from 140 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 5: that injury. Man, I was in practice, a guy fell 141 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 5: into my knee. To the articular cartage in my left knee. 142 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 5: I had two micropractice surgeries in my career was over with, 143 00:07:33,720 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 5: just like that. So I'm back home in Houston when 144 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 5: I'm from shout out East. 145 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: Town by the way, number one in the country, number two, Yeah. 146 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 5: We number three right now. We lost, you know, last 147 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,360 Speaker 5: game number three. But and you know, I'm back home 148 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:50,960 Speaker 5: in Houston. I'm a grown man. I'm broke, living at 149 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 5: home my. 150 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: Mother, and. 151 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 5: It was it was embarrassing for me to leave the 152 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 5: house because every time I'm somewhere, somebody like, yo, that's 153 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 5: Landy Smith, the basketball player, and she's supposed to be 154 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 5: in the league. Thought she was in the NBA. And 155 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 5: I'm at home, broke, you know, not knowing what I'm 156 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,840 Speaker 5: gonna do next next with my life. So I was praying, man, 157 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 5: I asked God to give me some guidance, and I 158 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:16,480 Speaker 5: literally said this prayer. I said, if you're gonna take 159 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 5: this game away from me, I'm begging you to show 160 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 5: me what you want me to do with my life. 161 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 5: And it was probably a week after that that I 162 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 5: had this idea to create a sports appel brand that 163 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 5: was faith based. That's how the first brand came to 164 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 5: be Active Faith. Growing up as an athlete, I was 165 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 5: privy to all the best of the best when it 166 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 5: comes to sports apparel. And you know, when I thought 167 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:38,559 Speaker 5: about my passions in life, my faith was always important 168 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 5: to me. 169 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 6: Sports was always important to me. 170 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 5: So I was like, maybe this would be a cool 171 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 5: way to put those passions together to create this sports 172 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:46,680 Speaker 5: appel brand that was faith. 173 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 6: Based, had these faith based messages. 174 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,600 Speaker 5: So that's how the first one started, man, And just 175 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:54,080 Speaker 5: through those relationships. The basketball world is very small, man. 176 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,559 Speaker 6: So you know Steph. 177 00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 5: I've been friends with Steph for what was it twelve 178 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,280 Speaker 5: thirteen years now. Obviously he's a man of faith. So 179 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:05,560 Speaker 5: when I was talking to him about this brand that 180 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 5: I was getting ready to start that was going to 181 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:09,280 Speaker 5: be faith based, he wanted to be a part of it. 182 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:12,280 Speaker 5: So yeah, that's how that first one got started. 183 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 8: And then What were the issues with the first one? 184 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:17,680 Speaker 6: Why that didn't work out? Oh? 185 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 5: It worked, It still works still. Yeah, we've still got 186 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 5: that one. Active Faith has done over twenty million in revenue. 187 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 5: We've got customers in seventy five different countries, all e 188 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 5: comm It's the first of its kind of. 189 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:30,720 Speaker 6: Faith pushed that brand. 190 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 1: You push that because I've seen this pushed a lot. 191 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 6: Is that being pushed in a different channel. 192 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: Yeah. 193 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 5: It's got its own Instagram, it's got its own website. 194 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 6: It's completely separate. 195 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 5: You know, I don't I don't have kids yet, but 196 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 5: I would imagine it's like, you know, you're having a newborn. 197 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 5: It's got to take all of your attention, you know 198 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 5: what I mean. Active Faith has been going since twenty eleven. 199 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:53,960 Speaker 5: I've got a partner that's still making sure, you know, 200 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 5: running all the day to day with that. But when 201 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 5: I had the vision for Actively Black and once this 202 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:01,679 Speaker 5: thing got started, man it was it was a snowball. 203 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 5: So I've had to give it, you know, my full 204 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:05,439 Speaker 5: attention to make sure that we grow this thing the 205 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:05,880 Speaker 5: right way. 206 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:07,200 Speaker 2: So I want I want to go back to a 207 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 2: little bit right because embarrassed to come out understandable from 208 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:13,440 Speaker 2: a standpoint, like you're the man in the town and 209 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:16,440 Speaker 2: now you've got this injury that's devastated. You didn't have 210 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:19,200 Speaker 2: any income, but you had an idea. How did you 211 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,240 Speaker 2: go from my idea to actually creating the brand itself? 212 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:24,319 Speaker 2: Like what was the manufacturing process that? 213 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:26,120 Speaker 1: Who gave you? You know what I mean? Like? What was 214 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:26,840 Speaker 1: that process? Like? 215 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,920 Speaker 5: Yeah, man, it's funny all your different experiences in life, 216 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 5: how you can look back and you see where you 217 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 5: know God was orchestrating things or where these different relationships 218 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:38,800 Speaker 5: will come back into play. So in two thousand and eight, 219 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:41,160 Speaker 5: I was invited to go on the NBA Asia Tour 220 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 5: and so they took you know, a bunch of us. 221 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 5: We went and played games in the Philippines and China 222 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:51,200 Speaker 5: and in Korea. And when we were in China, we 223 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 5: actually went on this tour. They took us on this 224 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:56,080 Speaker 5: tour of some factories, and you know, most of the 225 00:10:56,120 --> 00:11:00,120 Speaker 5: guys wasn't paying any attention to the tour guide. I'm 226 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:04,920 Speaker 5: asking questions and the dude ended up befriending me on 227 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 5: Facebook at the time. And so when I had the 228 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 5: injury and I had this idea, the first thing I 229 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 5: did was I went to Facebook and I hit my 230 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 5: guy up and I was like, Yo, I need the 231 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,240 Speaker 5: best of the best. I need like real sports apparel. 232 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:19,600 Speaker 5: I'm not talking about buying blanks and T shirts and 233 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:23,160 Speaker 5: printing on them. I need moisture, wicking, high quality performance apparel. 234 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,080 Speaker 5: Can you point me in the right direction. And that 235 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 5: relationship that we have formed when I was over there 236 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,320 Speaker 5: in China helped to come back and help me to 237 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:34,599 Speaker 5: find my first factory at the time to get the 238 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:36,640 Speaker 5: samples and everything that I needed. I knew I wanted 239 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:40,360 Speaker 5: this to be premium performance fabrics, you know what I'm saying. 240 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:42,400 Speaker 5: So I knew I had to go get it, you know, 241 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 5: from the source. You know, Frank Lucas style, so it 242 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 5: sounds like Frank. And then I tell people all the time, Man, 243 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:52,559 Speaker 5: I went to YouTube university. 244 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 6: You know what I'm saying. 245 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:54,000 Speaker 1: I didn't. 246 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 5: I was a kinesiology major at the University of Houston, 247 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 5: so I had no background in design clothes. The only 248 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 5: job I ever had was playing basketball, you know what 249 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,480 Speaker 5: I'm saying. So I went to YouTube and I was 250 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:09,840 Speaker 5: just religiously looking up everything I could. 251 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:12,640 Speaker 6: Man, I remember googling how to come up with a 252 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 6: company name you know what I mean. 253 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 5: And I remember the article was saying to make columns 254 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:19,959 Speaker 5: of words that described what your brand was going to 255 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:20,440 Speaker 5: be about. 256 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 6: And literally, you know. 257 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:25,160 Speaker 5: Active in Faith were next to each other in this 258 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:27,960 Speaker 5: column of words that I was trying to figure out 259 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 5: the name for the first company was going to be. 260 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 5: And when I thought about active faith and the double 261 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 5: entendre of it being the active where brand wanting to 262 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 5: be active but also knowing that would activate your faith 263 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:42,000 Speaker 5: is is you actually have to put forth action, you 264 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 5: know what I mean. People talk about manifestation, they talk 265 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:47,680 Speaker 5: about speaking things into existence, but it's the action that 266 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:52,360 Speaker 5: actually unlocks, you know, a lot of these blessings. So, man, 267 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,600 Speaker 5: I was on there looking up videos how to build 268 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:58,960 Speaker 5: your own website because at the time I'm looking up 269 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:00,040 Speaker 5: you know who am I. 270 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 6: Hire a build website? 271 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:04,120 Speaker 5: And I'm looking they charging ten, fifteen, twenty thousand dollars 272 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 5: to build a website. I don't have no money, So 273 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 5: I'm like, I gotta I gotta figure out how to 274 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 5: do this myself. So I taught myself to cold my 275 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 5: own website, taught myself how to use photoshop and illustrator. 276 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:18,120 Speaker 5: Like I said, I don't come from a design background, 277 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 5: so I'm just figuring out how to create mock ups 278 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:22,880 Speaker 5: just to get the ideas out of my head and 279 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:25,760 Speaker 5: get them visually onto a platform. 280 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:28,439 Speaker 6: And really that was the start of it, man. 281 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 2: So when you get the first product right, the next 282 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 2: thing is how do you market it? Are you thinking 283 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 2: that yourself? Do I need a break a mortar or 284 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:36,680 Speaker 2: is it like I'm a solely ecommerce this thing and 285 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:37,640 Speaker 2: get it in the right hand. 286 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:38,040 Speaker 6: Yeah. 287 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 5: So, in the beginning with Active Faith, there was two 288 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:44,960 Speaker 5: big Christian sports appail I mean Christian retailers at the time, 289 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,360 Speaker 5: Family Christian LifeWay. I'm thinking, once I pitched them this idea, 290 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 5: they picking me up, We launched and were gone. They 291 00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:54,720 Speaker 5: all told me they'd never heard of Christian sports apparel before, 292 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 5: so they were like, this isn't gonna work. So I 293 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:02,679 Speaker 5: actually went to e commerce route by necessity, but it 294 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:04,439 Speaker 5: ended up being a blessing, you know what I mean. 295 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 5: I utilized my existing network. The funny thing, the thing 296 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,559 Speaker 5: that actually put Active Faith on the map, that gave 297 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:14,120 Speaker 5: us our first big exposure was do you. 298 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:15,160 Speaker 6: Guys remember Lynn Sanity? 299 00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:18,560 Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, So Jeremy's went a closet 300 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 5: of mind, yeah exactly, and he was wearing wrist bands 301 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:25,400 Speaker 5: from my company. So I got these wrist bands that 302 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 5: said active Faith. The tagline was in Jesus, name I 303 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 5: Play instead of name I prayed. The tagline is just 304 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:32,600 Speaker 5: name I Play. And so I was sending these wrist 305 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 5: bands out to all the basketball players that I knew 306 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:38,360 Speaker 5: that would understand this concept of a faith based sports 307 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:41,480 Speaker 5: a pearl brand. Jeremy was one of them. He was 308 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:43,840 Speaker 5: in the D League at the time when I first 309 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 5: got him the wristbands, and the Rockets called him up. 310 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:51,640 Speaker 5: We met for lunch, gave him some wrist bands, they 311 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 5: cut him. The Knicks called him up, but he's at 312 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 5: the end of the bench. Nobody, I mean nobody saw 313 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:59,280 Speaker 5: that coming. And it was it was two weeks after 314 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 5: the Knicks has signed. They came back in time to 315 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:02,920 Speaker 5: play the Rockets. We went to lunch again. I was like, yo, 316 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 5: let me give you these orange wristbands to match the 317 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 5: Knick's uniform. 318 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 6: And it was probably two weeks after that. 319 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:12,880 Speaker 5: I think Baron Davis got hurd whoever the two point 320 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 5: guards wherever in front of him got hurt and he 321 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 5: was forced into this role. And you know what, happened 322 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:20,240 Speaker 5: when with insanity and so he's on the cover of 323 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 5: Sports Illustrated. Time magazine is everything you could think of 324 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 5: laying the ball up and you see Active Faith and 325 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 5: you see these wristbands on his wrist. I mean, you 326 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 5: go look at it right now. Look up any picture, 327 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:35,080 Speaker 5: you're gonna see him wearing these wristbands. And Man, USA 328 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 5: Today reached out to do a story on it. Next thing, 329 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:42,560 Speaker 5: I know, my website crashing because everybody in America was 330 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 5: trying to get these wrist bands that he was wearing. 331 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 6: And then we were. 332 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 5: Getting all this traffic from China and Taiwan. So first 333 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 5: year out the gate with Active Faith, we did three 334 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:58,280 Speaker 5: hundred thousand in revenue off wristbands. Yeah yeah, so man, 335 00:15:58,320 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 5: that's how it got started. 336 00:15:59,320 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 3: Man. 337 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:03,160 Speaker 5: And then you know, having that initial audience that saw 338 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:06,160 Speaker 5: the wristbands, when I introduced the apparel, it just kind of, 339 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,200 Speaker 5: you know, did his thing. We went from three hundred 340 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:12,240 Speaker 5: thousand to jumped from three hundred thousand to one point 341 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:16,800 Speaker 5: five million, to six million to eight and a half million, 342 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:19,600 Speaker 5: Like it was something that was just moving at a 343 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 5: speed that you know, to this day, it's hard to 344 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:24,680 Speaker 5: really put it into words. 345 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:25,280 Speaker 6: What was happening. 346 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 5: I mean, I had I had friends at my mom's 347 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 5: house feeling orders. You know, my mom's house. I turned 348 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,480 Speaker 5: her my mom's house into an order for filming facility, 349 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 5: you know what I'm saying, And was feeding my friends 350 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:38,120 Speaker 5: pizza to helped have them come over and help. 351 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:40,680 Speaker 6: Me feel orders. So yeah, that's that's how the first 352 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 6: thing got off the ground. 353 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 8: So all right, so you get that going, Yep, you're 354 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 8: taking that money and then starting with actively black. 355 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: Is that how that started? 356 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 6: Man? 357 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:53,960 Speaker 5: So so, like I said, so, Steph was my business 358 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 5: partner also, and at the time, you remember he wasn't 359 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:59,320 Speaker 5: the guy that everybody sees now, you know what I mean, 360 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:03,520 Speaker 5: A lot of people don't realize those ankle injuries and 361 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 5: the surgeries that he had that. 362 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:05,840 Speaker 6: Second year in the league. 363 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:08,520 Speaker 5: You could be looking at a Grant Hill trajectory with 364 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:12,400 Speaker 5: Steph versus what he's on. So, man, people wasn't checking 365 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 5: for him like that. But he was rocking with me. 366 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:16,640 Speaker 5: He was rocking with the brand. Same thing with him. 367 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 5: He gets healthy, he wins multiple MVPs. To this day, 368 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 5: he doesn't play a game without wearing his Active Faith 369 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:25,399 Speaker 5: Risbane and he still wears them every single game. But 370 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:31,199 Speaker 5: I was having some personal experiences that were challenging what 371 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:35,159 Speaker 5: I was doing with Active Faith, so I hid myself 372 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:38,320 Speaker 5: from people knowing who the founder of Active Faith was. 373 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:42,399 Speaker 5: In fact, my Instagram was private up until I launched 374 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:47,040 Speaker 5: Actively Black. My personal instagram. Over sixty percent of my 375 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:50,639 Speaker 5: customer base for Active Faith the Evangelical Christians, which in 376 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:54,359 Speaker 5: this country could be synonymous with racist. I didn't want 377 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:56,560 Speaker 5: them to know that it was this black man who 378 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:00,280 Speaker 5: was behind the brand. And so you couldn't found my 379 00:18:00,359 --> 00:18:02,919 Speaker 5: name on the website. I wasn't on the social media, 380 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:07,919 Speaker 5: none of that, and that started to bother me internally, 381 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:09,920 Speaker 5: you know what I mean. My mother and my father 382 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 5: raised me to be proud of my blackness. That's something 383 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:14,800 Speaker 5: that was taught to me at a very early age. 384 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 6: And here it is I. You know, I bounced back from. 385 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 5: An injury that ended my NBA career, built a multimillion 386 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:28,320 Speaker 5: dollar business out of my mom's house, and I'm afraid 387 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 5: to even show that this is me, you know what 388 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:36,120 Speaker 5: I'm saying. And I had instances where customers will call 389 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:38,199 Speaker 5: you know, entrepreneur in the beginning, you wearing all the 390 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 5: hats I'm doing customer service. A customer is like, you 391 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:43,160 Speaker 5: sound like you black, and I was like I am. 392 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 5: They immediately asked for a refund. I had experiences where 393 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:51,639 Speaker 5: there were people wanting to invest in Active Faith and 394 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:57,439 Speaker 5: would write in go back and forth over email, we 395 00:18:57,440 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 5: would set up in person meeting and I'll never forge 396 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 5: get like walking into that room and seeing the looks 397 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:05,800 Speaker 5: on their faces like, oh damn, he's black. You know 398 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 5: what I'm saying. Like I saw it in their faces, 399 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,680 Speaker 5: and all of a sudden, those conversations about investing in 400 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,400 Speaker 5: the brand completely went quiet, you know what I mean. 401 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 5: And so I was already having this internal struggle with 402 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,439 Speaker 5: who I am as a black man and how I 403 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:25,360 Speaker 5: was hiding myself from this brand. So I started having 404 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,159 Speaker 5: this idea, if I could build this brand for this 405 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:30,399 Speaker 5: faith based community, can I do the same thing for 406 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:35,720 Speaker 5: my people, for black people? And you know, to this day, 407 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 5: I get emails from Active Faith customers who were going 408 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:43,160 Speaker 5: through chemotherapy and they were saying, I felt like giving up, 409 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:45,520 Speaker 5: but I wore my Active Faith risk band. I wore 410 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:48,080 Speaker 5: my Active Faith hoodie to chemo today, and they gave 411 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:50,359 Speaker 5: me the strength to keep fighting. That let me know 412 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:52,120 Speaker 5: that what I was building was bigger than just another 413 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:56,160 Speaker 5: apparel brand, Like this meant something to somebody intrinsically, this 414 00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:59,520 Speaker 5: was having an effect on somebody's life, and so I 415 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:02,800 Speaker 5: wanted to do that same thing for black people. And 416 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 5: really the catalyst to me finally deciding to do it 417 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:10,119 Speaker 5: twenty eighteen, the movie Black Panther comes out, and I 418 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 5: remember walking out of the theater for the first time, 419 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,600 Speaker 5: and I just remember that feeling that I felt. Man, 420 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 5: it was unbelievable to see like the diaspora come together. 421 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:21,680 Speaker 6: You know what I'm saying. 422 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 5: You saw African Black, Jamaica, whatever you were, if you 423 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:27,720 Speaker 5: were black, you felt something the first time you saw 424 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:29,920 Speaker 5: that film. And I was like, you know what, I'm 425 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:32,919 Speaker 5: gonna create that brand, and I want people to have 426 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:34,600 Speaker 5: the feeling that I had walking out of the theater 427 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 5: watching Black Panther for the first time. I want them 428 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:41,360 Speaker 5: to have that feeling they when they interact with this brand. 429 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:43,680 Speaker 6: Act of faith kept me plenty busy. 430 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 5: I moved out to LA six months before the pandemic 431 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,280 Speaker 5: shut the whole city down, and so I told myself, 432 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:51,720 Speaker 5: I'm not gonna let this time pass without burthening something new. 433 00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 5: And you know, we all witnessed murder George Floyd and 434 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 5: the aftermath and everything that happened after that, and so 435 00:20:58,080 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 5: I started to see all these brands. I saw Nike, 436 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,879 Speaker 5: you know, Adeeda, everybody make these declarations about what they 437 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:06,000 Speaker 5: were going to do for the black community after the 438 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,160 Speaker 5: murder of George Floyd, and to me, it. 439 00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:10,280 Speaker 6: Felt very performative. 440 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:12,240 Speaker 5: It felt like this was just part of their new 441 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 5: marketing strategy because outside of the pandemic, the stuff that's 442 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 5: been happening in black people has been happening for centuries, 443 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 5: for decades, and none of these brands had ever said anything, 444 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:23,200 Speaker 5: So why are y'all saying something now? And finally that's 445 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:25,199 Speaker 5: when I decided I wasn't gonna put this idea on 446 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,840 Speaker 5: the shelf anymore. Ink Magazine called me to do a 447 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:31,560 Speaker 5: story on Active Faith for Juneteenth. They were looking for 448 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:34,239 Speaker 5: a black founder to do a Juneteen story on, and 449 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:37,000 Speaker 5: I said, I'll do the story, but I want to 450 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:38,840 Speaker 5: talk about this new thing that I'm going to launch, 451 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:42,520 Speaker 5: And so I announced it in that article, that Ink 452 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:46,280 Speaker 5: Magazine article on Juneteenth, and on Black Friday twenty twenty, 453 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:47,560 Speaker 5: I launched Actively Black. 454 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:52,160 Speaker 8: So now that people know that you're black and you're 455 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,080 Speaker 8: running Actively Faith. Has that affected the company? 456 00:21:57,720 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 6: I've had some I've had some detractors, you know what 457 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:00,199 Speaker 6: I mean. 458 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:05,280 Speaker 5: But I've also had people who who have decided to 459 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 5: support because. 460 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 6: Of those detractors. 461 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 5: They're like, you know, we want to support this, this 462 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 5: black entrepreneur. And and and then also the brand awareness, 463 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:18,200 Speaker 5: the brand equity that already had already been built over 464 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 5: so many years. A lot of people attributed to being 465 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:23,919 Speaker 5: Steph Curry's brand or you know, the brand that Jeremy 466 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 5: Lynn was wearing. 467 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:26,400 Speaker 6: So I'm not. 468 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:30,080 Speaker 5: As as as visible for Active Faith as I am 469 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:30,920 Speaker 5: for Actively Black. 470 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: Is there a level of fulfillment that you that you 471 00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:33,240 Speaker 1: have now? 472 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 2: Knowing that, because even when I watch your Instagram now, 473 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:41,400 Speaker 2: it's like I feel it's like unapologetically Like from what 474 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:44,040 Speaker 2: you're telling me the story of the private business, it 475 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:47,720 Speaker 2: was like I had to hide it. This time, I'm overcompensated, 476 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 2: and I'm going to be unapologetic about it in everything 477 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:52,159 Speaker 2: I do, because when I see you posts, I'm like, 478 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:54,159 Speaker 2: I feel, I feel the power in it. 479 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,560 Speaker 5: I wouldn't say over compensating. My my my personal instagram 480 00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:00,480 Speaker 5: was just private. I've been talking this way whole life 481 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:02,960 Speaker 5: I've been this way the whole time. People just outside 482 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:05,679 Speaker 5: of who didn't didn't know me personally, who who are 483 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:07,920 Speaker 5: allowed to follow me on my personal Instagram They didn't, 484 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 5: they didn't know. But everybody who knows me, they're like, Oh, 485 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,159 Speaker 5: that's that's that's been landing. You scroll back through my Instagram, 486 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:16,440 Speaker 5: you gonna see the same thing. I've always been this way. 487 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:18,560 Speaker 5: It's just more visible and more public. 488 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,199 Speaker 1: Now do you, I mean, do you? How does that 489 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 1: feel now? Right? 490 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:24,840 Speaker 2: Because you've launched Active Black and it's successful. Yeah, Like 491 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:26,520 Speaker 2: we said, you mentioned a list of people that are 492 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:29,680 Speaker 2: actually engaged with the brand, that been supporting it as 493 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:33,960 Speaker 2: opposed to just having the monetary success from Active Faith. 494 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,959 Speaker 1: Is there a difference in the way that you are 495 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: personally taking this on now? 496 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 6: One hundred percent? 497 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:42,879 Speaker 5: I mean, because the funny thing is, I feel like 498 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:45,919 Speaker 5: we're building this in a way that hasn't been built before, 499 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:49,959 Speaker 5: especially in this in this particular industry where there's been 500 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:54,920 Speaker 5: a lack of black ownership and representation, and in this 501 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:59,680 Speaker 5: industry that has profited heavily from black culture, from black 502 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,280 Speaker 5: ath leads, from the black community, but I felt like 503 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:05,440 Speaker 5: hadn't adequately reinvested back in the black community. So there 504 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 5: is a sense of pride of seeing this be successful, 505 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:12,919 Speaker 5: not only because I believe that it would it would 506 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 5: be successful, but I'm also proving people wrong. 507 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:17,440 Speaker 1: Man. 508 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:19,800 Speaker 5: I had black people telling me actively black wouldn't work. 509 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:22,080 Speaker 5: I had black people telling me, Man, if you put 510 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 5: black in the name, it's going to prevent this from 511 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:29,040 Speaker 5: being successful. So there were a lot of people that 512 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,560 Speaker 5: I initially told about the idea for actively black that 513 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:37,200 Speaker 5: now are looking at me like, damn, it works, you 514 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 5: know what I'm saying. And I have a little grace 515 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:43,879 Speaker 5: for some of those that didn't believe. A lot of 516 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:49,040 Speaker 5: them come from corporate backgrounds where blackness is suppressed. I 517 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,200 Speaker 5: got friends at Nike, at Adidas, at Jordan Brand. I 518 00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:54,399 Speaker 5: got friends that work in all those different places, and 519 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 5: they can't authentically be themselves where they are, and so 520 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:04,119 Speaker 5: their doubt or they're not believing it just it stems 521 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 5: from their experiences of you know, what they've had to 522 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,159 Speaker 5: do to try to move up on the corporate ladder. 523 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:11,680 Speaker 5: I've never I've never been corporate, you know what I'm saying. 524 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:13,880 Speaker 5: Like I said, I was a basketball player that that 525 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 5: went straight into entrepreneurship. So I didn't have those same 526 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,920 Speaker 5: limits to my thinking as far as we're actively black 527 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:24,680 Speaker 5: was going to be. And I knew. I knew once 528 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 5: once people saw the quality and understood that. When I say, 529 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:31,359 Speaker 5: I just tell people were getting ready to build a 530 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:35,159 Speaker 5: black Nike, and they would laugh. Then I send them 531 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,119 Speaker 5: some gear and they're like, oh shit, this this feels 532 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,040 Speaker 5: like my Nike, or this feels like my Little Limit, 533 00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:44,360 Speaker 5: or this feels like my Jordan. And so now some 534 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,960 Speaker 5: of those some of those doubters are turning into believers. 535 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 8: So all right, so you made two point three million 536 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,800 Speaker 8: in the first twelve months. Yeah, that was done through 537 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 8: mostly like online set like what was. 538 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 6: All e com all e comm. 539 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,760 Speaker 5: I knew that I needed to cultivate this audience that 540 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:04,200 Speaker 5: I could reach you online through social media. And one 541 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,399 Speaker 5: of the things that I learned from the first business 542 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:08,919 Speaker 5: that I took into the second one was the power 543 00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:13,000 Speaker 5: of building audience and community and then serving them. Right, 544 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,120 Speaker 5: A lot of entrepreneurs get an idea for a product 545 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,640 Speaker 5: or something and they rushed to build that. They rush 546 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:20,880 Speaker 5: to do that, and then they go try to find 547 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,879 Speaker 5: an audience to sell it to. My advice would revert 548 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 5: be to reverse engineer that right. So before I dropped, 549 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:30,960 Speaker 5: before we actually launched, I had ten thousand names on 550 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,320 Speaker 5: my email list. I had five thousand names on my 551 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:37,879 Speaker 5: SMS list. As we were building out the Instagram and 552 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:41,119 Speaker 5: the social presence, it was more so about what this 553 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:43,200 Speaker 5: brand was, about what it was going to stand for 554 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 5: and showing the audience the and I was showing mock 555 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:51,240 Speaker 5: ups and people were just resonating with it because it 556 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 5: spoke to them. By the time we launched, give it an example, 557 00:26:56,359 --> 00:26:58,760 Speaker 5: we did a three hundred thousand that first year of 558 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:03,560 Speaker 5: After Faith. We did three hundred thousand probably the first 559 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 5: first two months of actively Black. 560 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,359 Speaker 6: There were so many people who were waiting for what 561 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:09,920 Speaker 6: we were providing. 562 00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:11,960 Speaker 5: So by the time it was time for launch date, 563 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:17,800 Speaker 5: they came at it, and actually I was underprepared for 564 00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 5: the support. 565 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:20,320 Speaker 1: Talk about that. 566 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:22,520 Speaker 8: So the first year is two point three Yeah, two 567 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,400 Speaker 8: was five point six million in revenue, but you said 568 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 8: you missed out on eight million due to demand growing 569 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:29,880 Speaker 8: way faster than inventory. 570 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:31,040 Speaker 6: So talk about that, man. 571 00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:34,520 Speaker 5: So I've been playing ketchup since day one. The initial 572 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 5: inventory that I bought for actively Black, I thought would 573 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:41,199 Speaker 5: last me the first three months. It sold out in 574 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:46,000 Speaker 5: the first three weeks. So I've literally been playing ketchup 575 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:50,520 Speaker 5: from day one. But I didn't know how fast this 576 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:55,480 Speaker 5: demand was going to grow. So there's a data analytics 577 00:27:55,480 --> 00:28:03,680 Speaker 5: company called Singuli Black founder Black CEO. They specialized in 578 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,800 Speaker 5: analyzing your back end data on your e comm site 579 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:13,320 Speaker 5: and they provide this for small startups, midsize small businesses. 580 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:15,879 Speaker 5: You know, because Nike all these other brands, they've got 581 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 5: entire departments that are that are analyzing this data so 582 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:21,120 Speaker 5: they can make the decisions for inventory and things like that. 583 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:25,880 Speaker 6: They did an audit on my site and he came back. 584 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,919 Speaker 5: And he he called me and he said, Man, you know, 585 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:31,359 Speaker 5: I'm I'm the founder of this company. I normally don't 586 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 5: I normally I'm not on these calls. I have somebody 587 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 5: to make these calls for me. But when I saw 588 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 5: your back end analytics and what's going on, I had 589 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 5: to reach out and call you because I haven't seen 590 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:44,040 Speaker 5: these numbers since I was at birch Box. I don't 591 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,760 Speaker 5: know if you'll familiar with birch Box. It was one 592 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 5: of the most successful what do you call it, the 593 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,760 Speaker 5: subscription subscription businesses subscription boxes. 594 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:57,200 Speaker 6: They went from zero two. 595 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:00,120 Speaker 5: Hundred million in two years and and. 596 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:03,760 Speaker 6: So, and he was there at Birch Box. 597 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:06,120 Speaker 5: So he hit me, He's like, I haven't seen these 598 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,600 Speaker 5: types of numbers since I was at Birch Box, and 599 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 5: you need to sit down when I tell you how 600 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 5: much revenue you missed out on. And so he went 601 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:16,520 Speaker 5: through everything, went through the deck and the presentation, and 602 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:18,280 Speaker 5: he was like, you missed out on eight million on 603 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:21,600 Speaker 5: the low end, because we noticed when you sold out 604 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:25,640 Speaker 5: of these certain things, you also turned off your advertising forum. 605 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:28,720 Speaker 5: So if you had kept your advertising going and the 606 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:30,920 Speaker 5: type of return that you were getting on it, you 607 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:33,040 Speaker 5: would have done well more. You'd have done way more 608 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:35,560 Speaker 5: than eight million. We're just telling you base level you 609 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:37,320 Speaker 5: lost that you missed out on eight million dollars of 610 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 5: revenue not having enough inventory to support the demand. So 611 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:47,680 Speaker 5: when when you think of those types of numbers, are 612 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:50,640 Speaker 5: you got familiar with Jim Shark? Yeah, yeah, yeah, So 613 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,120 Speaker 5: Jim Shark just became a unicorn last year. They're valued 614 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:58,800 Speaker 5: at one point six billion. Another e comm direct consumer 615 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,200 Speaker 5: at leisure where brand their niche audience is the gym 616 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 5: heads who were in the you know, in the gym 617 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 5: seven days out of the week and their founders started 618 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:09,200 Speaker 5: that company nine years ago. 619 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:11,520 Speaker 2: I had no idea who they were, and then they 620 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:13,400 Speaker 2: were walking the streets in London and walked. 621 00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:14,760 Speaker 6: Past and I'm like, they're based in the UK. 622 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:17,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, Like wait, I've never seen or heard this brand, 623 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,160 Speaker 2: but I just kept seeing that the store was flooded, 624 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 2: but they had like classes inside the store. I'm like, oh, wait, 625 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:24,959 Speaker 2: this makes perfect sense. I'm about to closing. They work 626 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:26,840 Speaker 2: out when them right in the same space. 627 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:29,240 Speaker 5: And that's their first store, is their flagship store there. 628 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:31,680 Speaker 5: Everything that they've done before then was all e comm 629 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 5: director consumer And so the reason why I bring them 630 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 5: up is they were a brand that I looked at 631 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,360 Speaker 5: as my as my north star in getting this thing started. 632 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:43,720 Speaker 5: Because when I would tell people, man, we get building 633 00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 5: a black Nike, it's hard for them to fathom that. 634 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:50,600 Speaker 5: They can't they can't envision that. I actually encourage everybody 635 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,200 Speaker 5: to read Shoe Dog if you haven't. Shoe Dog is 636 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,480 Speaker 5: the memoir written by Phil Knight, founder of Nike, and 637 00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:59,480 Speaker 5: he's talking about those early days, those beginning days when 638 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:03,280 Speaker 5: he's selling shoes out as trunk at track meets. People 639 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 5: can't fathom Nike that way, right. You see this big 640 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:08,920 Speaker 5: machine that's been that way for fifty years now. But 641 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:12,080 Speaker 5: it started with Phil Knight and he had he had 642 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:15,200 Speaker 5: inventory in his mom's house and he was selling track 643 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:17,600 Speaker 5: shoes at track meets out as trunk. So when I 644 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:22,600 Speaker 5: tell people we building the next the black Nike, We're 645 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 5: just I'm just I'm just at the track selling the 646 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:27,440 Speaker 5: shoes out the trunk right now. They can't see the 647 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:29,520 Speaker 5: vision that I have for this, you know what I'm saying. So, 648 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:31,480 Speaker 5: but Jim Shark, the reason why I made that one 649 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:37,000 Speaker 5: to one comparison is their founder, Ben Francis, did the 650 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:39,600 Speaker 5: same thing. He started this out of his apartment, did 651 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:41,840 Speaker 5: it with e comm, did it with social media, did 652 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:43,760 Speaker 5: it with the influencers, and. 653 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 6: Our first twenty four months those. 654 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:49,680 Speaker 1: Earners, what's up? 655 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,280 Speaker 2: You ever walk into a small business and everything just 656 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 2: works like the checkout as fast the seats of digital 657 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 2: tipping is a breeze and you're out the door before 658 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:03,240 Speaker 2: the line even builds. Odds are they're using Square? We 659 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 2: love supporting businesses that run on Square because it just 660 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,240 Speaker 2: feels seamless, whether it's a local coffee shop, a vendor 661 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 2: at a pop up market, or even one of our 662 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:15,240 Speaker 2: merch partners. Square makes it easy for them to take payments, 663 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 2: manage inventory, and run their business with confidence, all from 664 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:22,680 Speaker 2: one simple system. If you're a business owner or even 665 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 2: just thinking about launching something soon, Square is hands down 666 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:28,640 Speaker 2: one of the best tools out there to help you start, 667 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:32,640 Speaker 2: run and grow. It's not just about payments, it's about 668 00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:35,080 Speaker 2: giving you time back so you can focus on. 669 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:36,440 Speaker 1: What matters most ready. 670 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,840 Speaker 2: To see how Square can transform your business, visit Square 671 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:44,600 Speaker 2: dot com backslash, go backslash eyl to learn more. That's 672 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:50,080 Speaker 2: Square dot com backslash, go backslash eyl. Don't wait, don't hesitate. 673 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,600 Speaker 2: Let's Square handle the back end so you can keep 674 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:58,719 Speaker 2: pushing your vision forward. This episode is brought to you 675 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,000 Speaker 2: by P and C Bank. A lot of people think 676 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:04,960 Speaker 2: podcasts about work are boring, and sure, they definitely can be, 677 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:08,719 Speaker 2: but understanding a professionals routine shows us how they achieve 678 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:13,000 Speaker 2: their success little by little, day after day. It's like 679 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 2: banking with P and C Bank. It might seem boring 680 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 2: to save, plan and make calculated decisions with your bank, 681 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 2: but keeping your money boring is what helps you live 682 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 2: a more happily fulfilled life. P and C Bank brilliantly 683 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:30,400 Speaker 2: Boring since eighteen sixty five. Brilliantly Boring since eighteen sixty 684 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 2: five is a service mark of the PNC Financial Service Group, Inc. 685 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:37,560 Speaker 2: P and C Bank National Association Member FDIC. 686 00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:43,000 Speaker 3: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child 687 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 3: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from El Salvador 688 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:51,200 Speaker 3: accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with 689 00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:55,160 Speaker 3: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just 690 00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 3: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President 691 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 3: Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christy Noman, the United States 692 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:07,480 Speaker 3: Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border 693 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,040 Speaker 3: crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded, and over 694 00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:14,319 Speaker 3: one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested. If you 695 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:18,240 Speaker 3: are here illegally, your next you will be fine nearly 696 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:22,359 Speaker 3: one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned and deported. You will 697 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:26,040 Speaker 3: never return. But if you register using our CBP home 698 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:29,440 Speaker 3: app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally. 699 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:34,600 Speaker 3: Do what's right. Leave now. Under President Trump, America's laws, 700 00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:37,160 Speaker 3: border and families will be protected. 701 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,840 Speaker 4: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security. 702 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:43,120 Speaker 5: Numbers are blowing their first twenty four months out the 703 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,440 Speaker 5: water while missing out on eight million dollars in revenue. 704 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:49,719 Speaker 5: So if you think about their trajectory of creating a 705 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:53,759 Speaker 5: billion dollar at leisurewear brand in nine years, and I'm 706 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:55,719 Speaker 5: telling you my numbers are better than that and I 707 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 5: missed out on eight million, That's why I'm telling you. 708 00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:01,600 Speaker 6: That's why know what we'll be getting ready to build. 709 00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:04,160 Speaker 2: When we spoke about inventory, what it was the difference 710 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:06,680 Speaker 2: in the products, because when you're trying to create Actively Black, 711 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,120 Speaker 2: obviously you want to differentiate from the other brand. I 712 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:11,359 Speaker 2: know we had risk bands with the other products. How 713 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:12,960 Speaker 2: did you sit down and come up with the listeners? 714 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,040 Speaker 2: All right, well, this is going to be specifically for 715 00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:18,160 Speaker 2: this brand. These products in this line is specifically for 716 00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:18,680 Speaker 2: that one. 717 00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:20,640 Speaker 6: They're all they're all very similar. 718 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:24,359 Speaker 5: I'd say the only difference is I elevated the materials 719 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:28,720 Speaker 5: on Actively Black and and then the messaging the messaging 720 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:29,280 Speaker 5: in the branding. 721 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:31,080 Speaker 6: But other than that, they're very similar. 722 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:34,400 Speaker 1: So it's like the premium. 723 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:37,960 Speaker 8: So all right, talk about so at what point do 724 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:41,759 Speaker 8: you decide to good idea to raise money and talk 725 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:43,920 Speaker 8: about the process of raising money like I said, I 726 00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:48,200 Speaker 8: know you had Kwame uncle on the Black Star Fund 727 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:52,160 Speaker 8: it's a black venture capital fund. And then Rich Dennis yep, 728 00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:56,080 Speaker 8: who invested in a variety of different companies. 729 00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:58,239 Speaker 2: We spoke to Risk Dennis a few days ago. He said, 730 00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:01,080 Speaker 2: if it's black and it's business, yo, man. 731 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:02,400 Speaker 6: Shout out to both of them. 732 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:06,600 Speaker 5: One Kwame, it became, you know, the cool thing to 733 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:09,640 Speaker 5: invest in black after twenty twenty. Kwame's been doing this 734 00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:13,600 Speaker 5: long before that, you know what I mean. And he 735 00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:17,120 Speaker 5: was the first money in off of a conversation. To 736 00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:18,600 Speaker 5: be honest with you, I told him the vision for 737 00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:22,839 Speaker 5: actively Black. He put in fifty thousand before before I 738 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:26,560 Speaker 5: had the website up, so you know, shout out to 739 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:29,040 Speaker 5: Kwame for believing in the vision from from the jump. 740 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,560 Speaker 6: And then Man, to be honest. 741 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:37,480 Speaker 5: My journey with with raising capital hasn't been traditional and 742 00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:41,319 Speaker 5: it hasn't been with what most people have to go 743 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:43,680 Speaker 5: through with doing that, I've been very fortunate, very blessed. 744 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:48,080 Speaker 5: I had a friend of mine who is the founder 745 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:51,560 Speaker 5: of Solo Funds, Rodney William. Shout out to Rodney man 746 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:56,759 Speaker 5: doing incredible things as another black founder, and he Rich 747 00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:59,840 Speaker 5: Dennis had already invested in his company and he was 748 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:03,960 Speaker 5: I went over to Rich's house for Christmas and I 749 00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:07,320 Speaker 5: was like, bro, I got this actively black hoodie and joggers. 750 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,439 Speaker 5: Just take this with you. Man, just gifted to him. 751 00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:12,759 Speaker 5: I'm not making no pitch. I just wanted to see 752 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:16,520 Speaker 5: what I'm building. And to Rodney's credit, man, he was like, man, 753 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:18,319 Speaker 5: give it to me. I'm gonna take it to him. 754 00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:22,840 Speaker 5: And a week later he was like, Yo, Rich loves 755 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:25,919 Speaker 5: your stuff. Man, he wants to meet you. He set 756 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,520 Speaker 5: up a meeting. I came over to Rich's house and man, 757 00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:33,840 Speaker 5: we sat right there at his kitchen table and I 758 00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:35,440 Speaker 5: told him my vision. I told him what I was 759 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:37,680 Speaker 5: trying to build, and he laughed at me and said, man, 760 00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:42,480 Speaker 5: you remind me of myself thirty years ago. And after that, 761 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:44,200 Speaker 5: he said, I'm gonna make sure you get an invite 762 00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:46,040 Speaker 5: to my Entrepreneur Assembly. 763 00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:51,120 Speaker 6: Man, what can I actually say about about that that 764 00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:52,560 Speaker 6: I share? I'll just say this much. 765 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:56,719 Speaker 5: Rich is one of those people who's really about this 766 00:37:56,800 --> 00:37:59,960 Speaker 5: thing when people talk about investing in black and power 767 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:04,560 Speaker 5: black founders. He has an assembly every year that he 768 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:09,560 Speaker 5: allows black founders to pitch. It's a combination of Shark 769 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:14,319 Speaker 5: Tank meets gladiator, because uh, you up there in front 770 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:18,719 Speaker 5: of in front of a lot of powerful people and 771 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:22,319 Speaker 5: they throw you in the fire. I went and I 772 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:24,719 Speaker 5: pitched and riched it up and said, ma, I'm gonna 773 00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:28,640 Speaker 5: take your whole first round. So we closed our Series 774 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:35,560 Speaker 5: A in April of twenty twenty two seven million dollars. 775 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:36,800 Speaker 6: And that's seven million dollars. 776 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:38,759 Speaker 1: Actually, how much of the equity is that? 777 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:43,680 Speaker 5: So we did it at thirty two post evaluation, so 778 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:46,880 Speaker 5: give up a little a little less than twenty four percent. 779 00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:52,000 Speaker 8: So the idea of did you have to take the 780 00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:55,719 Speaker 8: money or did you feel like what was your even 781 00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:59,720 Speaker 8: thought process of even going down that path? Was it 782 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:03,279 Speaker 8: to just do it faster? Or were you really in 783 00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:04,440 Speaker 8: need of capital? 784 00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:07,239 Speaker 5: I understood through a lot of the struggles that I 785 00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:10,480 Speaker 5: went through with active Faith that I did need that 786 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:12,800 Speaker 5: next level capital. So I told you those numbers for 787 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,600 Speaker 5: active faith, those those numbers for active faith would be 788 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:18,120 Speaker 5: triple if I had, if I had the capital to 789 00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:20,279 Speaker 5: do what I needed to do with those things. A 790 00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:22,560 Speaker 5: lot of the things that I'm experiencing were actively black 791 00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:26,920 Speaker 5: I already experienced before active faith. My best year of 792 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:30,240 Speaker 5: active faith, we did eight and a half million. That year, 793 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:33,319 Speaker 5: and my website was sold out for almost four months 794 00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:35,799 Speaker 5: of that year, So that lets you know what I 795 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:36,200 Speaker 5: could have. 796 00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:37,000 Speaker 6: Done, you know what I'm saying. 797 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:38,000 Speaker 1: So the. 798 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:44,920 Speaker 5: Cycle of the inventory, that's been a challenge, right because 799 00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:47,440 Speaker 5: I'm not going to buying blank T shirts and hoodies 800 00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:50,520 Speaker 5: and printing on them. Everything we got is made from scratch, 801 00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:53,520 Speaker 5: like they're sourcing the material, they're cutting and so on 802 00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:59,640 Speaker 5: it all the embellishments. So that type of production in Asia, 803 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:02,719 Speaker 5: it's gonna take thirty to forty five days just to 804 00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,440 Speaker 5: make it, you know what I mean. And so that 805 00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:08,759 Speaker 5: cycle of selling through something and then trying to get 806 00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:10,760 Speaker 5: it back as fast as possible to meet that demand 807 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:14,839 Speaker 5: was tough. And when you are just flipping your profits 808 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:16,839 Speaker 5: and waiting to you know, you sell through something, I'm 809 00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:21,080 Speaker 5: flip this profit. You need that infusion of capital not 810 00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:24,600 Speaker 5: only to plan further ahead and buy more inventory, but 811 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:28,080 Speaker 5: then also to be able to grow your team and 812 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:33,080 Speaker 5: reinvest into the marketing and advertising and all those things 813 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:35,319 Speaker 5: that can grow your brand. So I knew what I 814 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:38,239 Speaker 5: was trying to build Actively Black, I knew how much 815 00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:41,960 Speaker 5: not having that extra capital stifled some of the growth 816 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:42,600 Speaker 5: to Active Faith. 817 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:45,000 Speaker 6: So I was like, man, let's let's go do it, man. 818 00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:48,400 Speaker 6: And it's been been beneficial. 819 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:51,239 Speaker 5: It's allowing us to start scaling in a way that 820 00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:54,560 Speaker 5: I know most black businesses struggle to do without getting 821 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:55,560 Speaker 5: that outside capital. 822 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:55,879 Speaker 1: Yeah. 823 00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:58,640 Speaker 2: So you're building a brand and obviously you had that 824 00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:01,640 Speaker 2: opportunity to see what it like with the first one, 825 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:04,920 Speaker 2: not make the mistakes with the second one. But you 826 00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:08,920 Speaker 2: launched this during the pandemic, and so you're setting out 827 00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:13,120 Speaker 2: the merchandise to get made in China. While you're taking orders, 828 00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:14,880 Speaker 2: you said, you've been playing for mine since day one. 829 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:17,720 Speaker 2: So what was the impact that that had on the business? 830 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:19,879 Speaker 2: And now coming out of it, what has that been 831 00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:21,200 Speaker 2: like from a supply issue. 832 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:21,520 Speaker 6: Yeah. 833 00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:25,600 Speaker 5: So the funny part is I knew about COVID and 834 00:41:25,719 --> 00:41:30,880 Speaker 5: what was getting ready happened months before. Like everybody in 835 00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:34,400 Speaker 5: America realized what was going on because of my relationship 836 00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:36,960 Speaker 5: with my factories and stuff in China. I had people 837 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:39,040 Speaker 5: telling me like, yo, stuff is shutting down over here. 838 00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:44,640 Speaker 5: And I'm talking to one of them. They were illegally 839 00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:47,520 Speaker 5: in their country because you know, their government's different. They 840 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:51,000 Speaker 5: were showing me stuff of how many people were dying 841 00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:53,680 Speaker 5: every day. They were showing me, you know all what 842 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:56,520 Speaker 5: was going on, and in my mind, I'm like, Okay, 843 00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:00,000 Speaker 5: this is happening in China. I didn't I didn't expect 844 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:02,400 Speaker 5: this thing to become the global pandemic that it did. 845 00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:07,560 Speaker 5: But I also knew that what was going to happen 846 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:10,520 Speaker 5: when things shut down At leisure, weear has become this 847 00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:13,000 Speaker 5: thing that it's not just for in the gym and 848 00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:15,560 Speaker 5: working out, people traveling in it, people want to relax 849 00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:18,920 Speaker 5: in it. And most at leisure where brands actually saw 850 00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:23,880 Speaker 5: a spike during the pandemic. Nike, Yeah, even outside of 851 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:27,400 Speaker 5: the apparel space, you know, your pelotons, anybody who was 852 00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:29,640 Speaker 5: kind of in that space, you actually saw a spike 853 00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:34,360 Speaker 5: during that time. So the initial inventory I had already 854 00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:38,560 Speaker 5: ordered before things had started shutting down, getting those reorders, 855 00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:40,799 Speaker 5: that's where things were delayed, and that's why I was 856 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:43,399 Speaker 5: missing out on so much revenue because it was taken 857 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:45,800 Speaker 5: so long to restock the things that were. 858 00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:48,040 Speaker 2: Sold out, and so you really didn't have an accurate 859 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:50,319 Speaker 2: This is year two, so you haven't really had an 860 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:53,319 Speaker 2: accurate two to three year span of seeing like what 861 00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:54,480 Speaker 2: the business really could. 862 00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:55,879 Speaker 6: Be at all at all. 863 00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:59,440 Speaker 5: I'm this year moving forward from today, moving forward will 864 00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:03,640 Speaker 5: be the first first opportunity I actually have to really 865 00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:06,600 Speaker 5: see what my real demand is and actually meet it 866 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:10,000 Speaker 5: because we we've just been behind so much. But the 867 00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:13,120 Speaker 5: thing is we've had all these multiplying factors that are 868 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:18,440 Speaker 5: pushing that meeting that demand further and further away. So 869 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:21,120 Speaker 5: when you're talking about you know, in February, last February 870 00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:24,040 Speaker 5: and were talking about Black History Month, we were the 871 00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:26,880 Speaker 5: only black on brand present at the Winter Olympics. We 872 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:29,480 Speaker 5: outfitted Team Nigeria at the Winter Olympics. That's February, you 873 00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:31,759 Speaker 5: know what I'm saying. So when people see that and 874 00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:35,319 Speaker 5: not just not just being there, not just showing up, 875 00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:37,560 Speaker 5: but People magazine ranked. 876 00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:38,000 Speaker 6: The top. 877 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:43,160 Speaker 5: The top outfits for the opening ceremony for the Olympics. 878 00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:46,640 Speaker 5: We came in number four. There's eighty five countries and 879 00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:50,319 Speaker 5: you on the same global stage with Nike, Adidas, everybody else. 880 00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:52,680 Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying, Actively Black was number four 881 00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:56,000 Speaker 5: out of eighty five countries. And so that type of 882 00:43:56,040 --> 00:44:00,799 Speaker 5: exposure exposed the demand. Then you have things like you know, 883 00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:04,080 Speaker 5: Barack Obama wearing the Actively Black I. 884 00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:04,600 Speaker 1: Was going there. 885 00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:06,799 Speaker 2: I was because the first time that Kwame sent us 886 00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:09,480 Speaker 2: a text message it was you got to see this brand. 887 00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:11,920 Speaker 1: Oh Barack Obama's wearing to watch too. 888 00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:12,320 Speaker 6: Yeah. 889 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:16,080 Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, so how did how did that relationship even, like, 890 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:16,840 Speaker 2: how did that happen? 891 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:21,400 Speaker 5: Yeah? Make sure I'm careful my words. What I what 892 00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:24,120 Speaker 5: I can say. So I had this. 893 00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:24,719 Speaker 6: I had this. 894 00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:29,040 Speaker 5: I have this notebook that has all my I write 895 00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:31,680 Speaker 5: everything down, all my visions, all my ideas, all my dreams. 896 00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:33,560 Speaker 6: And I've got this Active Black notebook. 897 00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:36,000 Speaker 5: And I was as we were heading towards launch, I 898 00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:39,080 Speaker 5: was writing down all the people that I thought this 899 00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:41,120 Speaker 5: brand needed to be on or who needed to wear 900 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:43,239 Speaker 5: this brand, and who would be a great brand ambassador 901 00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:44,000 Speaker 5: for Actively Black. 902 00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:44,239 Speaker 1: Right. 903 00:44:44,280 --> 00:44:45,799 Speaker 6: So I've got this list of people. 904 00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:51,040 Speaker 5: And I wrote down Michelle Obama And in my mind, 905 00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:53,839 Speaker 5: I was like, only thing that would be bigger than 906 00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:58,319 Speaker 5: Beyonce's Ivy Park with Adidas is if Michelle Obama had 907 00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:00,560 Speaker 5: her own active wear line with a black brand. 908 00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:01,640 Speaker 6: When you think. 909 00:45:01,520 --> 00:45:03,640 Speaker 5: About what her brand was at the White House, it 910 00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:08,200 Speaker 5: was getting people moving, getting people fit, getting people healthier, 911 00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:12,080 Speaker 5: especially our community. And you know that's that's one of 912 00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:14,839 Speaker 5: the missions for Actively Black, is to you know, get 913 00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:17,279 Speaker 5: our people in our community healthier. So I was like, 914 00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:20,960 Speaker 5: she would be the perfect brand ambassador for Actively Black. 915 00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:25,040 Speaker 5: I've got a couple of friends, I'll just say this much. 916 00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:27,719 Speaker 5: I've got a couple of friends that worked in the administration. 917 00:45:28,719 --> 00:45:30,440 Speaker 5: And when I told them my idea, they were like, 918 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:33,879 Speaker 5: you crazy, it ain't gonna never happen, So just leave 919 00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:35,120 Speaker 5: that alone, you know what I'm saying. 920 00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:37,120 Speaker 6: And I just I was. 921 00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:39,319 Speaker 5: I was begging them, begging them, begging them, like, Yo, 922 00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:41,680 Speaker 5: just just send the gear to him. That's all I'm 923 00:45:41,719 --> 00:45:46,279 Speaker 5: asking to send the gear to him. And they eventually like, 924 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:47,840 Speaker 5: that's all we're doing. We're just going to send it 925 00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:49,839 Speaker 5: to them. That's all we're doing. And when they got 926 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:54,239 Speaker 5: the gear, I got a letter from President Barack Obama 927 00:45:55,239 --> 00:45:58,520 Speaker 5: probably three weeks later, and when I read it, I 928 00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:01,239 Speaker 5: saw that he unders stood what I was building because 929 00:46:01,239 --> 00:46:04,200 Speaker 5: he didn't say thank you for the package the gear 930 00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:04,760 Speaker 5: was nice. 931 00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:07,320 Speaker 6: He was like, the mission of this. 932 00:46:07,280 --> 00:46:11,239 Speaker 5: Brand to uplift and reinvest back into the black community 933 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:15,279 Speaker 5: is an important one, and we love the gear, you 934 00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:18,640 Speaker 5: know what I'm saying. And so that started that relationship, 935 00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:24,319 Speaker 5: and you know, I've been I'll say this much. We 936 00:46:24,360 --> 00:46:26,960 Speaker 5: are kind of a standing orders you know, whenever a 937 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:29,960 Speaker 5: new collection or a new product drops, make sure we 938 00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:30,680 Speaker 5: get to him. 939 00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:34,160 Speaker 6: And they requested some gear for Christmas. 940 00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:37,239 Speaker 5: I just we had just got the samples in for 941 00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:40,279 Speaker 5: the actively Black watch, and I just I just threw 942 00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:43,080 Speaker 5: it in, you know as a Christmas gift. Wasn't expecting 943 00:46:43,239 --> 00:46:44,920 Speaker 5: to actually wear it. You know, this is a man 944 00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:48,480 Speaker 5: who wears rolex'es aps. He's got, he's got, you know, 945 00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:52,960 Speaker 5: everything at his disposal. So on January first, New Year's 946 00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:57,279 Speaker 5: when the Queen Michelle Obama posted that picture of them 947 00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:00,319 Speaker 5: celebrating New Year's and he had on the actively Black watch, 948 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:02,120 Speaker 5: I just I just I couldn't even believe it, to 949 00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:03,960 Speaker 5: be honest with you, it's pretty crazy. 950 00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:04,439 Speaker 1: Yeah. 951 00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:08,520 Speaker 8: Yeah, So talk about working in athletics yep. As far 952 00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:12,239 Speaker 8: as the nail deals that you've signed and noticed, shit, 953 00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:16,160 Speaker 8: you're tapped in with Dion Sen and his people. So 954 00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:19,959 Speaker 8: how that relationship happened and how have you been able 955 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:20,840 Speaker 8: to grow that? 956 00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:22,040 Speaker 6: Yeah? 957 00:47:22,280 --> 00:47:24,160 Speaker 5: To be honest, the nil stuff was something that I 958 00:47:24,160 --> 00:47:26,000 Speaker 5: didn't think we would get involved in this early. 959 00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:30,319 Speaker 6: I knew it would be something that we would eventually do. 960 00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:32,120 Speaker 5: If I'm saying that we want to compete with the 961 00:47:32,200 --> 00:47:34,600 Speaker 5: likes of Nike and Adidas and these other brands. Then 962 00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:36,040 Speaker 5: we've got to be at a place where we're able 963 00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:39,279 Speaker 5: to sign athletes. So I'm thinking that would be year three, 964 00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:42,880 Speaker 5: four something down the line. But I saw Travis Hunter's story. 965 00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:45,680 Speaker 5: I saw him, uh when he you know, I watched 966 00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:48,520 Speaker 5: the press conference when he decommitted from Florida State and 967 00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:52,080 Speaker 5: decided to go to Jackson State, and I was like, 968 00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:57,000 Speaker 5: that's that's somebody who represents what actively black kids. If 969 00:47:57,040 --> 00:48:01,080 Speaker 5: I'm telling our people to support a black on athletes, 970 00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:03,440 Speaker 5: you where a brand instead of these other ones, then 971 00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:04,759 Speaker 5: this is somebody who understands that. 972 00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:06,319 Speaker 6: That's literally what he did with his action. 973 00:48:06,719 --> 00:48:09,360 Speaker 5: He could have went to this PWY and he decided 974 00:48:09,400 --> 00:48:11,960 Speaker 5: I'm gonna take my talents to an HBCU and I 975 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:14,799 Speaker 5: was like, I gotta sign him. I need that kid, 976 00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:19,359 Speaker 5: and man reached out was able to get some gear 977 00:48:19,440 --> 00:48:22,320 Speaker 5: to him. Same thing, the same reaction man that that 978 00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:24,680 Speaker 5: that you guys had. He was like, Oh, this is legit. 979 00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:26,680 Speaker 5: This s ain't some dude just printing T shirts in 980 00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:28,440 Speaker 5: his garage Like this feels like Nike. 981 00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:30,719 Speaker 6: This feels like, you know, something premium. 982 00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:33,799 Speaker 5: And you know he understood the message and what we 983 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:36,600 Speaker 5: were trying to build actively black. He was the first 984 00:48:36,640 --> 00:48:40,719 Speaker 5: one that we got that that nil deal done. But 985 00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:44,879 Speaker 5: then Shiloh and Shador they're seeing his gear and they're like, Yo, 986 00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:47,920 Speaker 5: what's this and they're asking about it, and that just 987 00:48:47,960 --> 00:48:50,719 Speaker 5: turned into them wanting to be a part of what 988 00:48:50,760 --> 00:48:55,480 Speaker 5: we were building with this brand as well. So initially, man, honestly, 989 00:48:55,600 --> 00:48:58,719 Speaker 5: I was just trying to get Travis Hunter and it 990 00:48:58,800 --> 00:49:04,160 Speaker 5: led to Shadora Shiloh signing with us, and then definitely 991 00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:09,000 Speaker 5: got a shout out Dejah Kelly. We actually made her 992 00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:11,239 Speaker 5: be the first official athlete because I wanted to be 993 00:49:11,239 --> 00:49:12,759 Speaker 5: a black woman to be the first one that we 994 00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:17,600 Speaker 5: officially signed. So Dajah Kelly, point guard All American at 995 00:49:17,600 --> 00:49:20,640 Speaker 5: North Carolina, was actually our first official athlete that we signed. 996 00:49:20,719 --> 00:49:24,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds similar to the story of how under 997 00:49:24,560 --> 00:49:27,360 Speaker 2: Armor got Steph Curry when they had Baise War and 998 00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:29,080 Speaker 2: he was getting all these sneakers and that he couldn't 999 00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:31,680 Speaker 2: find out to figure what to do with Steph because 1000 00:49:31,680 --> 00:49:33,239 Speaker 2: he was having the ankle injuries, and he was like, 1001 00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:35,759 Speaker 2: these guys will make you a shoe for every game, 1002 00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:37,560 Speaker 2: And that's kind of how it got signed. So you 1003 00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:40,120 Speaker 2: have a bunch of people who have supported the brand, 1004 00:49:40,760 --> 00:49:42,960 Speaker 2: but I know a lot of times that's not always 1005 00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:45,320 Speaker 2: the case. And so talk about the struggles of having 1006 00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:49,360 Speaker 2: some people, especially influencers, who really don't understand the vision 1007 00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:52,439 Speaker 2: and not are as supportive as you think they would 1008 00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:53,480 Speaker 2: be when they see the vision. 1009 00:49:53,800 --> 00:49:58,640 Speaker 5: Yeah, I would say. If there's anything that's that's pained 1010 00:49:58,719 --> 00:50:02,239 Speaker 5: me the most in this journey actively black, it has 1011 00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:05,719 Speaker 5: been seeing a lot of people something that I've looked 1012 00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:09,680 Speaker 5: up to, who publicly are delivering a message that, man, 1013 00:50:09,719 --> 00:50:12,360 Speaker 5: we're supporting black you know, we want to support black business, 1014 00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:16,040 Speaker 5: and then behind the scenes that's not really the case, 1015 00:50:16,120 --> 00:50:16,800 Speaker 5: you know what I'm saying. 1016 00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:17,279 Speaker 1: And so. 1017 00:50:18,760 --> 00:50:23,359 Speaker 5: I've always thought that for for people like us, you know, 1018 00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:26,120 Speaker 5: our culture is the most influential culture on earth. 1019 00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:29,240 Speaker 6: And there's so much that. 1020 00:50:31,400 --> 00:50:34,439 Speaker 5: Has provided value for brands that are not owned by us, 1021 00:50:34,640 --> 00:50:36,520 Speaker 5: by our culture, you know what I mean. You know, 1022 00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:39,359 Speaker 5: I wanted a Rolex growing up, because that's all That's 1023 00:50:39,360 --> 00:50:41,239 Speaker 5: what I heard Biggie n jay Z talk about. When 1024 00:50:41,280 --> 00:50:42,960 Speaker 5: you know, when you reach a certain level of success, 1025 00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:47,919 Speaker 5: you know you need to roll How how much money 1026 00:50:47,960 --> 00:50:50,560 Speaker 5: has Rolex made over the years, just because that has 1027 00:50:50,600 --> 00:50:53,440 Speaker 5: been embedded in our minds that that's what we need 1028 00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:55,640 Speaker 5: to go get when we become successful. Right, And so 1029 00:50:55,719 --> 00:50:57,200 Speaker 5: in my mind, I was like, if we could get 1030 00:50:57,239 --> 00:51:01,839 Speaker 5: some of these black celebrities and influence to champion our 1031 00:51:01,960 --> 00:51:05,600 Speaker 5: brands the way that they do these other European owned 1032 00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:08,160 Speaker 5: brands that don't care nothing about our people. You know, 1033 00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:13,440 Speaker 5: if we turn that global influence inward, what kind of 1034 00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:14,600 Speaker 5: power would that give us? 1035 00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:18,080 Speaker 6: You know what I'm saying. And you know, been talking 1036 00:51:18,080 --> 00:51:19,040 Speaker 6: about that a long time. 1037 00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:21,560 Speaker 5: And so as I'm having these meetings and having these 1038 00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:24,960 Speaker 5: calls or some of these black celebrities and they're like, yeah, 1039 00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:27,439 Speaker 5: I got your package a lot of gear, but I'm 1040 00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:29,000 Speaker 5: not going to post it unless you pay one hundred 1041 00:51:29,040 --> 00:51:33,160 Speaker 5: thousand dollars. It's like you, but you're wearing Nike on 1042 00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:34,960 Speaker 5: your gram and they not paying you. You know what 1043 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:38,960 Speaker 5: I'm saying, You wearing you're tagging Louie and Gucci and 1044 00:51:39,320 --> 00:51:42,160 Speaker 5: all of your posts, but they're not paying you. But 1045 00:51:42,200 --> 00:51:44,080 Speaker 5: you're telling me that in order for you to wear 1046 00:51:44,080 --> 00:51:45,600 Speaker 5: my stuff and for you to give a shout out 1047 00:51:45,600 --> 00:51:47,120 Speaker 5: to actively black, I got to pay you one hundred 1048 00:51:47,160 --> 00:51:50,560 Speaker 5: thousand dollars like that. That doesn't that doesn't make any 1049 00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:53,400 Speaker 5: sense to me. So what that tells me is even 1050 00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:55,759 Speaker 5: though a lot of these people are publicly portraying a 1051 00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:59,239 Speaker 5: certain image that they're supporting us, it's not really that 1052 00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:03,080 Speaker 5: support And that it also to me, lets us know 1053 00:52:03,120 --> 00:52:06,120 Speaker 5: that there's still an inferiority complex even amongst our biggest 1054 00:52:06,120 --> 00:52:12,399 Speaker 5: and our brightest, that we think European designer is more 1055 00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:16,560 Speaker 5: than our own because of who that is, Like we 1056 00:52:16,600 --> 00:52:18,160 Speaker 5: are the blueprint, you know what I'm saying. If you 1057 00:52:18,160 --> 00:52:21,320 Speaker 5: go look at even the style and how it's changed 1058 00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:23,879 Speaker 5: with even a lot of those high end designers, they're 1059 00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:26,239 Speaker 5: taking inspiration from the street where and the things that 1060 00:52:26,280 --> 00:52:28,359 Speaker 5: we already made popular, you know what I'm saying. And 1061 00:52:28,400 --> 00:52:32,440 Speaker 5: so that's been disappointing. That's been highly disappointing to see 1062 00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:39,200 Speaker 5: a lot of those figures have a pay for play 1063 00:52:39,239 --> 00:52:42,800 Speaker 5: mentality when it comes to Black Owned, but they'll endorse, 1064 00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:46,400 Speaker 5: not even endorse, they'll promote these other brands in our 1065 00:52:46,400 --> 00:52:47,280 Speaker 5: own bios for free. 1066 00:52:47,360 --> 00:52:50,640 Speaker 2: But I feel like that just watching actively Black bro 1067 00:52:50,680 --> 00:52:52,759 Speaker 2: I feel like that that didn't discourage you. I feel 1068 00:52:52,760 --> 00:52:55,920 Speaker 2: like the game plan kind of changed or it was 1069 00:52:55,960 --> 00:52:57,440 Speaker 2: altered a little bit and you could correct me if 1070 00:52:57,440 --> 00:52:59,640 Speaker 2: I'm wrong, But it seemed like it wasn't let me 1071 00:52:59,680 --> 00:53:01,120 Speaker 2: go for the aless celebrity. 1072 00:53:01,760 --> 00:53:04,879 Speaker 1: Let me get the entrepreneurs doing that thing and let's 1073 00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:06,200 Speaker 1: put the merch on them. 1074 00:53:06,440 --> 00:53:08,640 Speaker 2: Was that like the part of the marketing strategy because 1075 00:53:08,640 --> 00:53:10,360 Speaker 2: I started seeing with I'm looking at the people in 1076 00:53:10,400 --> 00:53:11,759 Speaker 2: our space, I'm like, oh, they were in it too. 1077 00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:15,640 Speaker 5: Yeah. I mean, honestly, the strategy. I never thought that 1078 00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:18,880 Speaker 5: getting my brand on the celebrity what was gonna was 1079 00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:22,040 Speaker 5: going to build a brand. I would actually tell anybody who, 1080 00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:25,640 Speaker 5: especially people who are getting into this apparel space or whatever, 1081 00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:28,600 Speaker 5: don't let that be don't let that be your goal. 1082 00:53:29,160 --> 00:53:31,240 Speaker 5: To me, the power to me was always with the people. 1083 00:53:31,280 --> 00:53:34,439 Speaker 5: To be honest with you, those are the people who 1084 00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:38,120 Speaker 5: were on that site. They one and have been selling 1085 00:53:38,120 --> 00:53:41,040 Speaker 5: out all of this stuff without a celebrity endorsement. So 1086 00:53:41,080 --> 00:53:43,440 Speaker 5: I figured, if I got the people, it doesn't matter 1087 00:53:44,239 --> 00:53:45,000 Speaker 5: what celebrity is. 1088 00:53:45,040 --> 00:53:45,880 Speaker 6: Rocking with it or not. 1089 00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:48,319 Speaker 5: I got the people with me, and that's what's going 1090 00:53:48,360 --> 00:53:51,400 Speaker 5: to sustain you more than any celebrity giving you a 1091 00:53:51,440 --> 00:53:55,600 Speaker 5: co sign. And it has established us in a way 1092 00:53:55,719 --> 00:53:58,320 Speaker 5: with the people where they know We're always going to 1093 00:53:58,360 --> 00:54:01,120 Speaker 5: be authentic with whatever we do, whatever we say, whatever 1094 00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:03,200 Speaker 5: we put out. It is not going to be because 1095 00:54:03,280 --> 00:54:07,440 Speaker 5: of what any celebrity thinks. It's not going to be 1096 00:54:07,520 --> 00:54:12,839 Speaker 5: for any amount of money. My marketing I don't even 1097 00:54:13,440 --> 00:54:15,280 Speaker 5: even call I wouldn't even call it a marketing strategy. 1098 00:54:15,280 --> 00:54:18,000 Speaker 5: It's always been about serving the people. And here's the 1099 00:54:18,040 --> 00:54:21,160 Speaker 5: powerful thing about it is Nike wants you to be 1100 00:54:21,200 --> 00:54:25,440 Speaker 5: a walking billboard for Nike, where the swoosh Adidas, they 1101 00:54:25,440 --> 00:54:27,839 Speaker 5: want you to be a walking billboard for Adidas. All 1102 00:54:27,840 --> 00:54:29,759 Speaker 5: of those brands want you to be walking billboards for 1103 00:54:29,840 --> 00:54:34,200 Speaker 5: the brand. What I flipped it is my customers are 1104 00:54:34,239 --> 00:54:36,880 Speaker 5: the tribe as I call them. They don't see themselves 1105 00:54:36,880 --> 00:54:39,360 Speaker 5: as walking billboards for Actively Black. They look at actively 1106 00:54:39,360 --> 00:54:43,760 Speaker 5: Black and something that represents them. We're not showing you 1107 00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:46,880 Speaker 5: the best athletes in the world and the biggest celebrities 1108 00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:50,759 Speaker 5: in the world with the psychology of the marketing to 1109 00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:52,360 Speaker 5: make you think if you buy this, you're gonna be 1110 00:54:52,440 --> 00:54:55,360 Speaker 5: one percent closer to being Lebron James. You're gonna be 1111 00:54:55,400 --> 00:54:58,759 Speaker 5: one percent closer to being whatever celebrity is. We're making 1112 00:54:58,800 --> 00:55:01,919 Speaker 5: stuff not for you to aspire to be anybody else 1113 00:55:01,920 --> 00:55:03,399 Speaker 5: for making stuff for you to be the best version 1114 00:55:03,400 --> 00:55:03,800 Speaker 5: of you. 1115 00:55:03,800 --> 00:55:04,279 Speaker 6: You know what I mean. 1116 00:55:04,320 --> 00:55:07,400 Speaker 5: So these other brands are very aspirational, Actively Black and 1117 00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:07,839 Speaker 5: Active Fate. 1118 00:55:07,840 --> 00:55:08,560 Speaker 6: They're inspirational. 1119 00:55:08,600 --> 00:55:10,640 Speaker 5: We want you to be the most authentic and best 1120 00:55:10,719 --> 00:55:14,359 Speaker 5: version of you and the people resonate with that. So 1121 00:55:14,560 --> 00:55:17,960 Speaker 5: that's more powerful to me than any co sign from 1122 00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:19,440 Speaker 5: any celebrity, to be honest with you. 1123 00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:23,960 Speaker 8: So before we wrap, talk about your collab with Muhammad 1124 00:55:23,960 --> 00:55:26,359 Speaker 8: Ali's The State and Marvel. 1125 00:55:26,760 --> 00:55:30,200 Speaker 5: Yeah, man, Marvel, we got a chance to do a 1126 00:55:30,239 --> 00:55:34,479 Speaker 5: collab with Black Panther Wakonda Forever. That was a full 1127 00:55:34,480 --> 00:55:36,359 Speaker 5: circle moment. As you know I'm telling the story. Part 1128 00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:38,440 Speaker 5: of my inspiration for creating Actively Black was seeing the 1129 00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:41,719 Speaker 5: first movie. I got a shout out Damon John because 1130 00:55:41,719 --> 00:55:45,360 Speaker 5: this wouldn't have happened without him. Damon reached out to 1131 00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:48,480 Speaker 5: do a Footboo collab and he came to La. He's like, 1132 00:55:48,520 --> 00:55:50,759 Speaker 5: let's sit down and talk about it. We're talking about 1133 00:55:50,760 --> 00:55:52,200 Speaker 5: the food Boo collab and he asked me, well, what 1134 00:55:52,239 --> 00:55:56,239 Speaker 5: else are you working on? And I almost didn't show 1135 00:55:56,320 --> 00:55:59,719 Speaker 5: him because I had created a deck of what it 1136 00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:02,440 Speaker 5: would look like of an Actively Black and Black Panther collab. 1137 00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:05,480 Speaker 5: When I first launched Actively Black, I have no contacts 1138 00:56:05,480 --> 00:56:07,799 Speaker 5: that Marvel and Disney and nothing. I just knew that 1139 00:56:08,320 --> 00:56:10,960 Speaker 5: the synergy and what that movie meant to me and 1140 00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:13,120 Speaker 5: what it stood for, and what Actively Black stood for 1141 00:56:13,200 --> 00:56:14,000 Speaker 5: and what it meant. 1142 00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:16,279 Speaker 6: It was just just so much energy there. 1143 00:56:16,320 --> 00:56:19,640 Speaker 5: So I created a deck, had a whole collection designed, 1144 00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:21,000 Speaker 5: and so I showed him the deck. 1145 00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:23,439 Speaker 6: In the middle of the meeting. He picked up the phone. 1146 00:56:23,480 --> 00:56:25,560 Speaker 5: He calls the head of licensing for Marvel and Disney 1147 00:56:25,560 --> 00:56:28,200 Speaker 5: and he's like, you guys need to see this right now. 1148 00:56:28,840 --> 00:56:31,960 Speaker 5: And two days later he set up a meeting. I 1149 00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:33,799 Speaker 5: pitched Marvel and Disney. I showed him the deck and 1150 00:56:33,840 --> 00:56:38,400 Speaker 5: they were blown away. They fast tracked the whole licensing 1151 00:56:38,440 --> 00:56:41,080 Speaker 5: journey so that we could get stuff in time for 1152 00:56:41,520 --> 00:56:43,960 Speaker 5: the movie to release, and so we were able to 1153 00:56:44,040 --> 00:56:48,800 Speaker 5: drop the first of our collabse with Marvel and Disney 1154 00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:52,320 Speaker 5: for Black Panther o'conorf Forever, which has been absolutely amazing. 1155 00:56:52,360 --> 00:56:53,800 Speaker 6: It's opened up so many other doors. 1156 00:56:53,840 --> 00:56:56,360 Speaker 5: Now Marvel and Disney want us to take on some 1157 00:56:56,480 --> 00:56:59,719 Speaker 5: other properties that they own, So the next up is 1158 00:56:59,719 --> 00:57:03,120 Speaker 5: going to be Miles Morales, the Black Spider Man. 1159 00:57:03,800 --> 00:57:06,400 Speaker 6: So yeah, so so we'll be working on that next. 1160 00:57:07,760 --> 00:57:13,960 Speaker 5: And then Man Muhammad Ali collab another uh just incredible opportunity, 1161 00:57:14,239 --> 00:57:16,600 Speaker 5: uh that we were blessed with. They actually reached out 1162 00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:23,560 Speaker 5: Lani Ali, his his wife, uh widow. She was unhappy 1163 00:57:23,640 --> 00:57:27,520 Speaker 5: with how some other brands that have had that licensing 1164 00:57:27,600 --> 00:57:32,600 Speaker 5: with them haven't fully portrayed who he was, which to 1165 00:57:32,600 --> 00:57:36,280 Speaker 5: me is a microcosmo what what happens in American society 1166 00:57:36,320 --> 00:57:39,160 Speaker 5: any with some of these mainstream brands. He's watered down 1167 00:57:39,200 --> 00:57:42,000 Speaker 5: to just be float like a butterflies, thing like a bee, 1168 00:57:42,000 --> 00:57:43,760 Speaker 5: you know what I mean. He's watered down to just 1169 00:57:43,840 --> 00:57:48,880 Speaker 5: be the champion that that they are molding him uh 1170 00:57:48,880 --> 00:57:50,480 Speaker 5: to be. But we all know when he was alive 1171 00:57:50,480 --> 00:57:52,520 Speaker 5: and when he could speak, he was one of the 1172 00:57:52,520 --> 00:57:54,800 Speaker 5: most hated men in white America, you know what I mean, 1173 00:57:54,840 --> 00:57:57,920 Speaker 5: because of what he stood for, because of his unflinching, 1174 00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:02,560 Speaker 5: uncompromising stance on his blackness and what he stood for. 1175 00:58:03,160 --> 00:58:06,840 Speaker 5: And when she saw actively black, she was like, this 1176 00:58:06,920 --> 00:58:10,720 Speaker 5: is the brand that can actually represent who my husband 1177 00:58:10,920 --> 00:58:15,240 Speaker 5: was in his full essence. And so when they reached out, uh, man, 1178 00:58:15,360 --> 00:58:19,440 Speaker 5: of course we say yes, and I'm just I'm honored 1179 00:58:19,440 --> 00:58:21,720 Speaker 5: and humble to be able to represent his legacy in 1180 00:58:21,720 --> 00:58:25,000 Speaker 5: a way that is reflective of who he actually was. 1181 00:58:25,400 --> 00:58:27,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think I mentioned this to you when 1182 00:58:28,160 --> 00:58:32,120 Speaker 2: you have posted the Instagram posts about the potential collapse 1183 00:58:32,120 --> 00:58:33,560 Speaker 2: that you're coming in and it's going to be life 1184 00:58:33,640 --> 00:58:34,760 Speaker 2: changing and it's going to be legacy. 1185 00:58:34,840 --> 00:58:37,280 Speaker 1: Yep. In my mind, I was going to text you, 1186 00:58:37,320 --> 00:58:38,640 Speaker 1: I'm Mike. Yeah. 1187 00:58:38,680 --> 00:58:41,680 Speaker 2: I think he signed Kyrie Irving because it felt like 1188 00:58:41,920 --> 00:58:44,720 Speaker 2: somebody who had been outcast. Yeah, it felt in that time, 1189 00:58:45,160 --> 00:58:47,280 Speaker 2: and I was like, that would be a dope class. 1190 00:58:47,320 --> 00:58:49,520 Speaker 2: So for the future of that, are you looking for, 1191 00:58:49,960 --> 00:58:53,320 Speaker 2: you know, major athletes to partner with on Brandon? 1192 00:58:53,600 --> 00:58:54,520 Speaker 6: So I'll say this much. 1193 00:58:55,000 --> 00:58:58,880 Speaker 5: I've got a couple of NBA players who's Nike and 1194 00:58:58,960 --> 00:59:02,160 Speaker 5: Adidas deals have did that have expressed interest in Wane 1195 00:59:02,200 --> 00:59:05,080 Speaker 5: to sign with actively Black. But one thing that I'm 1196 00:59:05,080 --> 00:59:08,640 Speaker 5: going to always maintain is the authenticity about who we are, 1197 00:59:08,720 --> 00:59:16,480 Speaker 5: what we stand for. And I'll put it like this, 1198 00:59:17,840 --> 00:59:20,840 Speaker 5: I had a meeting with Kyrie's team six months before 1199 00:59:20,920 --> 00:59:23,760 Speaker 5: all of everything that ended up happening that led to 1200 00:59:24,400 --> 00:59:30,960 Speaker 5: the Nike releasing him, and nobody was talking about what 1201 00:59:30,960 --> 00:59:33,000 Speaker 5: they're talking about. Now, that's the thing that's interesting to me. 1202 00:59:33,320 --> 00:59:36,200 Speaker 5: I've been yelling from the rooftops, Hey, the same support 1203 00:59:36,200 --> 00:59:38,440 Speaker 5: that you're given the Nike and everybody else, do it. 1204 00:59:38,560 --> 00:59:41,200 Speaker 5: Do it for a black on brand, and black people 1205 00:59:41,200 --> 00:59:44,320 Speaker 5: will ignoring me. And then once Nike dropped Kyrie, then 1206 00:59:44,360 --> 00:59:47,080 Speaker 5: it was like, ah, man, forget Nike, we need Black 1207 00:59:47,160 --> 00:59:49,240 Speaker 5: And I'm like, yo, I've been saying this forever. You 1208 00:59:49,240 --> 00:59:51,160 Speaker 5: know what I'm saying, and y'all weren't listening to me 1209 00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:54,600 Speaker 5: in that meeting with his team. I'm gonna just be 1210 00:59:54,640 --> 00:59:58,880 Speaker 5: honest with you. It didn't align with what I thought 1211 00:59:58,880 --> 00:59:59,840 Speaker 5: it was going to align with. 1212 00:59:59,880 --> 01:00:00,080 Speaker 1: It. 1213 01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:02,280 Speaker 6: It wasn't about the. 1214 01:00:02,280 --> 01:00:06,120 Speaker 5: People in the community and and everything that actively Black 1215 01:00:06,160 --> 01:00:12,600 Speaker 5: stands for. The meeting didn't go the way that I 1216 01:00:12,640 --> 01:00:15,560 Speaker 5: thought that it would go based on what I thought 1217 01:00:16,560 --> 01:00:21,520 Speaker 5: that would represent. I'll say that much and that's no, 1218 01:00:21,760 --> 01:00:25,080 Speaker 5: that's no, that's no dis or no slight to to Kyrie. 1219 01:00:25,240 --> 01:00:29,520 Speaker 5: I also understand a lot of times people's teams don't 1220 01:00:29,600 --> 01:00:33,840 Speaker 5: accurately reflect their personal growth or what they're thinking or 1221 01:00:33,840 --> 01:00:34,880 Speaker 5: what they want to do at the time. 1222 01:00:35,360 --> 01:00:37,760 Speaker 6: So I have grace for that, but. 1223 01:00:37,840 --> 01:00:39,840 Speaker 5: It didn't align with with who we were, and I'm 1224 01:00:39,880 --> 01:00:41,600 Speaker 5: not going to sacrifice that for anybody. We had a 1225 01:00:41,640 --> 01:00:44,640 Speaker 5: we had a Peloton deal that I pulled the plug 1226 01:00:44,680 --> 01:00:48,320 Speaker 5: on because they wanted us to minimize the black talk. 1227 01:00:48,560 --> 01:00:51,240 Speaker 5: They wanted us to minimize how bold we were. Matter 1228 01:00:51,240 --> 01:00:52,560 Speaker 5: of fact, it was supposed to. It's supposed to it's 1229 01:00:52,560 --> 01:00:53,920 Speaker 5: supposed to drop today. It was supposed to be a 1230 01:00:54,000 --> 01:00:58,280 Speaker 5: Black History Month. Collabed with Peloton, and they wanted to 1231 01:00:58,320 --> 01:01:00,840 Speaker 5: water down who we were, and I was like, man, 1232 01:01:01,080 --> 01:01:03,320 Speaker 5: I'm not. It's no amount of money that's gonna make 1233 01:01:03,400 --> 01:01:08,600 Speaker 5: me that's gonna make me suppress who we are. You know, 1234 01:01:08,680 --> 01:01:10,800 Speaker 5: we're proud to be black. That's what this is about. 1235 01:01:11,160 --> 01:01:13,400 Speaker 5: The name is Actively Black, you know what I'm saying. 1236 01:01:14,600 --> 01:01:17,400 Speaker 5: And because they wanted us to change some things that 1237 01:01:17,440 --> 01:01:20,480 Speaker 5: I thought would sacrifice the integrity of who I am 1238 01:01:20,640 --> 01:01:21,800 Speaker 5: and what this brand. 1239 01:01:21,520 --> 01:01:23,600 Speaker 6: Stands for, I'll pull the plug on that deal. 1240 01:01:23,720 --> 01:01:27,960 Speaker 5: So with anybody that we're gonna partner with, or that 1241 01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:30,240 Speaker 5: we're gonna work with, or that we're gonna sign, they 1242 01:01:30,280 --> 01:01:33,760 Speaker 5: got to understand that, you know, we're standing firm on 1243 01:01:33,920 --> 01:01:36,640 Speaker 5: what we on, what we are about. You know, the 1244 01:01:36,680 --> 01:01:39,240 Speaker 5: tagline for Active Black is there's greatness in our DNA 1245 01:01:39,560 --> 01:01:44,280 Speaker 5: and and we're unflinching in our boldness about about our blackness. 1246 01:01:44,400 --> 01:01:47,680 Speaker 5: So if there's anything that's gonna that's gonna uh that's 1247 01:01:47,720 --> 01:01:51,480 Speaker 5: going to uh sacrifice that integrity, we're not about it. 1248 01:01:52,920 --> 01:01:53,640 Speaker 6: There you have it. 1249 01:01:53,680 --> 01:01:57,200 Speaker 8: So how can people buy actively black on the website, 1250 01:01:57,240 --> 01:01:58,080 Speaker 8: social media and all that. 1251 01:01:58,320 --> 01:02:02,320 Speaker 5: Yeah, actively black dot com, the socials, actively black on 1252 01:02:02,360 --> 01:02:07,520 Speaker 5: all the different socials, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok. You know a 1253 01:02:07,520 --> 01:02:09,520 Speaker 5: lot of people think I'm They still think I'm crazy. 1254 01:02:10,320 --> 01:02:12,479 Speaker 5: I'm gonna stop saying we're building a black Nike because 1255 01:02:12,520 --> 01:02:17,360 Speaker 5: what we're building is much more, has much more depth 1256 01:02:17,400 --> 01:02:20,720 Speaker 5: to it. It's not just another apparel brand. The way 1257 01:02:20,760 --> 01:02:23,160 Speaker 5: we give back to the community. You mentioned a five 1258 01:02:23,480 --> 01:02:26,560 Speaker 5: point six million that we did in revenue last year, 1259 01:02:26,560 --> 01:02:30,080 Speaker 5: we also donated over five hundred thousand dollars. That's almost 1260 01:02:30,120 --> 01:02:32,880 Speaker 5: ten percent of our revenue that was donating. There's no 1261 01:02:32,960 --> 01:02:35,960 Speaker 5: brand that's donating ten percent of their over our revenue. 1262 01:02:36,200 --> 01:02:38,680 Speaker 5: You look at what Nike promised the black community, and 1263 01:02:38,680 --> 01:02:41,120 Speaker 5: you actually think you actually look at the numbers of 1264 01:02:41,160 --> 01:02:42,920 Speaker 5: what their revenue and what their profit was and what 1265 01:02:42,960 --> 01:02:47,040 Speaker 5: they're actually giving back. It's less than one percent. And 1266 01:02:47,440 --> 01:02:49,240 Speaker 5: we can go across the board of all these different 1267 01:02:49,280 --> 01:02:51,200 Speaker 5: brands that have promised what they're gonna do for the 1268 01:02:51,240 --> 01:02:54,240 Speaker 5: Black community, and it's really just this minimal thing that 1269 01:02:54,240 --> 01:02:55,360 Speaker 5: they feel like is charity. 1270 01:02:55,760 --> 01:02:58,720 Speaker 6: We really about this, you know what I'm saying. So 1271 01:02:59,000 --> 01:03:00,320 Speaker 6: not only do we give back to the. 1272 01:03:00,280 --> 01:03:05,280 Speaker 5: Community, but what we're building is bigger than just another 1273 01:03:05,280 --> 01:03:07,960 Speaker 5: a pair of brand. Hopefully I get a chance to 1274 01:03:07,960 --> 01:03:09,680 Speaker 5: come back and talk with you guys, because there's some 1275 01:03:10,120 --> 01:03:13,320 Speaker 5: there's some plans with this that involve the next level, 1276 01:03:13,320 --> 01:03:16,000 Speaker 5: that involve Web three, that involves some of the things 1277 01:03:16,000 --> 01:03:19,040 Speaker 5: that we're going to be doing to make sure our community, 1278 01:03:19,320 --> 01:03:22,000 Speaker 5: our people are not left behind in this new era 1279 01:03:22,080 --> 01:03:25,280 Speaker 5: of what's getting ready to happen in tech and how 1280 01:03:25,320 --> 01:03:27,080 Speaker 5: that applies to actively black. 1281 01:03:26,920 --> 01:03:29,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, we appreciate you coming, man, and we show you 1282 01:03:29,520 --> 01:03:30,440 Speaker 1: that Fashion Week. 1283 01:03:30,480 --> 01:03:32,520 Speaker 6: Yes, sir. Shout out to that, Yes, sir, New York 1284 01:03:32,520 --> 01:03:33,080 Speaker 6: Fashion Week. 1285 01:03:33,200 --> 01:03:33,680 Speaker 1: Yeah. 1286 01:03:33,480 --> 01:03:37,120 Speaker 2: The first and only black athletes are where company to 1287 01:03:37,200 --> 01:03:38,960 Speaker 2: have a show on fashion. 1288 01:03:38,720 --> 01:03:41,880 Speaker 5: Week exactly, So it's black history, man, were making Black history. 1289 01:03:41,600 --> 01:03:44,080 Speaker 1: Every day, yes sir. No, not just for a month, man, 1290 01:03:44,160 --> 01:03:48,080 Speaker 1: Yes sir, all right, Troy House, Yeah, shout to everybody. 1291 01:03:48,120 --> 01:03:51,440 Speaker 2: On Patreon dot com. Shout to everybody on eyl University. 1292 01:03:51,680 --> 01:03:54,520 Speaker 2: Shout to actively black. I am wearing my actively black. 1293 01:03:54,600 --> 01:03:56,880 Speaker 2: My brother's here with us, he works out and is 1294 01:03:56,880 --> 01:03:59,400 Speaker 2: actively black man. That's a shout out to you. Keep 1295 01:03:59,440 --> 01:04:02,760 Speaker 2: supporting and keeps bought in to merch or in Elisia. Obviously, 1296 01:04:02,800 --> 01:04:04,280 Speaker 2: we got ask the c ovill abilities to shout out 1297 01:04:04,280 --> 01:04:04,840 Speaker 2: to the Mers team. 1298 01:04:05,120 --> 01:04:07,080 Speaker 1: Love is love. Y'all all right, God, thank you guys 1299 01:04:07,120 --> 01:04:07,680 Speaker 1: for rocking us. 1300 01:04:07,720 --> 01:04:08,840 Speaker 6: We see you next week. Peace. 1301 01:04:09,120 --> 01:04:15,720 Speaker 7: Peace, My graduates from my school being force back drop 1302 01:04:16,360 --> 01:04:19,960 Speaker 7: bag Drop Mike droft backdrop. 1303 01:04:30,480 --> 01:04:34,160 Speaker 3: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child 1304 01:04:34,160 --> 01:04:37,960 Speaker 3: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador 1305 01:04:38,200 --> 01:04:42,360 Speaker 3: accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with 1306 01:04:42,440 --> 01:04:46,320 Speaker 3: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just 1307 01:04:46,400 --> 01:04:50,120 Speaker 3: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President 1308 01:04:50,200 --> 01:04:53,800 Speaker 3: Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christy Nohm, the United States 1309 01:04:53,800 --> 01:04:58,600 Speaker 3: Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border 1310 01:04:58,640 --> 01:05:02,200 Speaker 3: crossings are at the lowes levels ever recorded, and over 1311 01:05:02,240 --> 01:05:05,480 Speaker 3: one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested if you 1312 01:05:05,520 --> 01:05:09,400 Speaker 3: are here illegally. Your next you will be fine nearly 1313 01:05:09,480 --> 01:05:13,479 Speaker 3: one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned, and deported. You will 1314 01:05:13,520 --> 01:05:17,160 Speaker 3: never return. But if you register using our CBP home 1315 01:05:17,200 --> 01:05:20,600 Speaker 3: app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally. 1316 01:05:20,960 --> 01:05:25,720 Speaker 3: Do what's right. Leave now. Under President Trump America's laws, 1317 01:05:25,880 --> 01:05:28,320 Speaker 3: border and families will be protected. 1318 01:05:28,400 --> 01:05:30,560 Speaker 4: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security,