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Speaker 1: Afro Tech is a global gathering where inclusive tech companies

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Speaker 1: meet innovators. It's the only tech event you.

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Speaker 2: Need all year.

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Speaker 1: Get ready for Afrotech twenty twenty three in Austin, Texas,

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Speaker 1: November first through the fifth.

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Speaker 2: We built a whole.

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Speaker 1: Temper you can use to help you get your employer

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Speaker 1: to sponsor your trip and enjoy experiences built for every

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Speaker 1: stage of your career. Whether you're a college student looking

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Speaker 1: for your next internship, or if you're work in a

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Speaker 1: venture capital looking for your next business to invest in,

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Speaker 1: and if you're looking for a co founder of a

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Speaker 1: people that'soin your team, there's no better place to be.

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Speaker 1: The massive corporate layoffs of twenty twenty two and twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three have affected our community in a big way.

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Speaker 1: An Afrotech wants to help you get back on your

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Speaker 1: feet with skill development, making it easier to switch industries

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Speaker 1: if that's your route. In an afro tech, you'll make

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Speaker 1: connections to help you get your next opportunity. Visit afrotech

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Speaker 1: dot com Slash conference.

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Speaker 3: To learn more.

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Speaker 1: I'm Will Lucas and this as Black Tech, Green Money.

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Speaker 1: Charles Beloved cirtaindal is the founder at R and B

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Speaker 1: House Party a unique party experience where R and B

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Speaker 1: and gospel and music are at the center, bringing the

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Speaker 1: vibes as well as the nostalgia. Just recently, R and

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Speaker 1: B a House Party was acquired by Blavity, Inc. Which

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Speaker 1: is also the peering company Afrotech is rebranded as Blavity

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Speaker 1: House Party. Charles comes aboard as the general Manager Community

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Speaker 1: at Blavity, Charles was creating even more experiences for us

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Speaker 1: to connect globally around music, networking and more. Pre used

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Speaker 1: to joining Blavity, Charles was also a recruiter and had

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Speaker 1: leadership roles at companies like Facebook, Play Versus, and Stripe.

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Speaker 1: But by nightfall, he was back on the stage in

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Speaker 1: every corner of the globe curating R and B experiences.

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Speaker 1: After being laid off earlier this summer, Glavity CEO Morgan

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Speaker 1: Debond sent them a DM that basically said, you don't

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Speaker 1: have to live two separate lives. Come to Blavity.

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Speaker 4: Yes, So in June of this year, just a knowing

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Speaker 4: what Blavity is, what has been built over time, you know,

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Speaker 4: it just felt like a blessing to even be considered

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Speaker 4: for an opportunity to come join you guys, in house,

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Speaker 4: but the novice thinking that I had to think that

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Speaker 4: it was only gonna be just for what I had

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Speaker 4: proven to do from like a talent acquisition space to

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Speaker 4: date and not the product that you know, we had

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Speaker 4: been building myself in Kareem over some years and have

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Speaker 4: partners successfully with blvity on for so many, so many years.

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Speaker 4: So when it became clear that the opportunity that was

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Speaker 4: being presented was an acquisition, I think.

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Speaker 2: That it a blew my mind. But be put me and.

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Speaker 4: My business partner in the space to say, not only

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Speaker 4: is this like incredible for us as founders and what

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Speaker 4: that looks like, but be like to be able to

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Speaker 4: join forces with this company, like this was the right company.

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Speaker 4: So it was really exciting and should Knight got it done?

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Speaker 1: Jada, because it's so interesting to me because you know,

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Speaker 1: coming to Blavity, like my experience like on day one,

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Speaker 1: like being in slack on this one black really slack,

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Speaker 1: it's super black, and you get the memes, you get

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Speaker 1: the jokes, like you get all the things, and you've

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Speaker 1: talked about having the code switch in your corporate career,

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Speaker 1: so like, what what has that experience been like knowing

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Speaker 1: that you can bring your full self. You can be

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Speaker 1: beloved over here.

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Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, like and the intriguing party is beloved is

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Speaker 4: signed to bloviting.

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Speaker 2: Now I'm really my authentic self.

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Speaker 4: But what was interesting to me to see now having

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Speaker 4: been a part of the company for going on a month,

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Speaker 4: what's the incredible infrastructure that has built the culture that.

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Speaker 2: Is built here.

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Speaker 4: And I'm just a fan, like I'm in slack and

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Speaker 4: I'm even feeling like, hey.

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Speaker 2: Am im too corporate.

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Speaker 4: Meme And it's really because people are just like being

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Speaker 4: the authentic self. The level of depth of conversation that

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Speaker 4: I've even seen take place on political issues and things.

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Speaker 2: And I'm from.

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Speaker 4: I'll go it's a place where hey, MJ said, Republicans

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Speaker 4: are democrats by shooting.

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Speaker 2: That is that is my line of thinking.

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Speaker 4: But to just see the depth of conversation that has

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Speaker 4: taken place in this organization, it's just been beautiful, Like

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Speaker 4: people feel heard.

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Speaker 2: It's just an incredible company Like.

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Speaker 4: That is one of the things that I felt like

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Speaker 4: I knew, but I didn't really know.

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Speaker 2: Until I joined.

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Speaker 1: I understand And before we talk about the business, I

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Speaker 1: want to get into the beginning of your journey here,

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Speaker 1: because if anybody has seen you on stage, they can

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Speaker 1: tell that guy has directed a choir before. And you've

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Speaker 1: talked about this, and it makes me think, and I've

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Speaker 1: said this before on this podcast, my favorite quote from

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Speaker 1: Steve Jobs, which says, you can't connect the dots looking forward.

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Speaker 1: You can only connect the dots looking backward. And so

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Speaker 1: when you look back at your life, you can see, oh,

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Speaker 1: now I know why I did that, so I can

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Speaker 1: do this. And so can you talk about how that

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Speaker 1: journey from being a kid in the black church directing

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Speaker 1: the choir enables you to do what you do today.

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Speaker 2: No, that's a great question.

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Speaker 4: And you know I didn't realize and I won't say

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Speaker 4: that I won't be a pastor. People are on my

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Speaker 4: comments saying that that's inevitable future.

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Speaker 2: My dad is a pastor. I'm leaving that all to him.

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Speaker 4: But you know, directing the high school choir the entire time,

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Speaker 4: and then going to college primarily white institution, who had

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Speaker 4: a gospel choir and was able to like step in

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Speaker 4: and lead that choir for another four years.

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Speaker 2: I was heavy into like music production.

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Speaker 4: And I thought I was gonna, you know, be a

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Speaker 4: famous I don't want to say singer because I know

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Speaker 4: people who could really sing. I'm not a famous background singer,

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Speaker 4: like I knew my space, and then I just let

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Speaker 4: all of that passion and music, that love for bringing

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Speaker 4: people together to the wayside, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 4: I just attend church, and the hecticness of our lives

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Speaker 4: didn't allow me to like continue being acquired director. But

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Speaker 4: who knew this medium of r and being music you

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Speaker 4: can still kind of like bring that level of ministry

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Speaker 4: and how people feel in the way that they feel

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Speaker 4: leaving church, which is to be uplifted, which is to

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Speaker 4: you know, be inspired, and that is all that we

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Speaker 4: were trying to do at the now. You know, formerly

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Speaker 4: I call myself the artist formally, and what we will

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Speaker 4: continue to do through Blaviting House party bring that level

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Speaker 4: of inclusiveness and that level of community. So I didn't

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Speaker 4: even know it that the church was grooming this opportunity

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Speaker 4: to kind of be in the seat of like a

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Speaker 4: community gatherer or community organizer.

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Speaker 2: But I'm very thankful for that. And be on key,

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Speaker 2: don't come to correct.

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Speaker 1: Somebody's off in soprano section with the sopranos flat. So

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Speaker 1: so when I think about you know, there's a story

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Speaker 1: you told about having to learn how to host, because

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Speaker 1: it's one thing that's different about just being a hype

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Speaker 1: man on stage and yelling out a bunch of cool stuff,

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Speaker 1: but learning how to actually create a narrative of the night,

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Speaker 1: create movement to the party. Can you talk to me

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Speaker 1: about learning how to create these moments during a party?

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Speaker 1: To us, you found success where a lot of people

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Speaker 1: have tried. They just party promoters and it's a lit party,

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Speaker 1: but they've not been able to have the type of

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Speaker 1: success you've had.

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Speaker 4: So I really just replicated church. And there's an arc

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Speaker 4: to every church service. You have typically the beginning praise

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Speaker 4: and worship, and they set in the tune for like choir,

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Speaker 4: and then they're going up a notch, and then you

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Speaker 4: get to the sermon, which again is high, but.

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Speaker 2: It's also low.

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Speaker 4: But then they build up their sermon to end on

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Speaker 4: like a crescendo of shouting praise or an organ going

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Speaker 4: they're tithes and off a mixture. You know they're not

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Speaker 4: on a high too, and then they get out of there.

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Speaker 4: And so I was just over talking. When I first

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Speaker 4: started out, I did not understand how to translate this movement,

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Speaker 4: which is choir directing, where I didn't have the microphone

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Speaker 4: into where to pick my spots.

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Speaker 2: And then that was when it became.

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Speaker 4: Clear and I had hired previous hosts, and I just

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Speaker 4: felt like the vibe wasn't the same as when I

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Speaker 4: did it. And then I had even like brought in

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Speaker 4: artists and things, and I didn't in my opinion, the

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Speaker 4: artists had done very very well. But patrons will respond

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Speaker 4: on our page and say, hey, we prefer the party

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Speaker 4: with just you. Then that was a nice to have,

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Speaker 4: And I was like, wait a minute, Okay, we really

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Speaker 4: need to like lock in and understand what this experience

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Speaker 4: is for the people and continue and consistently deliver that.

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Speaker 4: So what that ultimately looked like was us building a

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Speaker 4: crescendo of moments, us taking you on a musical journey.

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Speaker 2: Not to not certain songs too early, you know what

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Speaker 2: I mean.

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Speaker 4: It just build up to a point where we're doing

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Speaker 4: that sing along where we're on that nostalgic moment of

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Speaker 4: you and your tens, your twenties of Terrence J and

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Speaker 4: Rocks on one O six in Park, or if you

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Speaker 4: were older like me, you know what I mean, freeing

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Speaker 4: age one Park and all the songs that you have

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Speaker 4: memorized because we were all at home together, like bringing

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Speaker 4: you to that moment and then you know, get getting

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Speaker 4: you out of there on a high note, you know,

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Speaker 4: going gospel. So it was important to like learn what

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Speaker 4: that looked like and to understand that you could control

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Speaker 4: the vibe of the party without speaking. And that's when

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Speaker 4: it went back to that choir director mindset. So it

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Speaker 4: was like picking spots, let them do the talking.

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Speaker 2: I choose to like pick and choose.

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Speaker 4: Now it's about like forty five minutes that I'm really

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Speaker 4: trying to heavily be on the mic, But early on

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Speaker 4: it's like greeting people like your ushers. I go around

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Speaker 4: every party, you know, back when we were first starting out,

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Speaker 4: and even now we still do it.

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Speaker 2: My wife and I.

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Speaker 4: We meet everybody, we say thank you so much for

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Speaker 4: coming out, the same way you would at church, make

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Speaker 4: them feel welcomed at home. People don't ask me these questions,

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Speaker 4: so this is great. But secondarily, we used to do

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Speaker 4: it because we didn't want them to leave. Because if

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Speaker 4: you had like a group of four that didn't think

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Speaker 4: the party was going to be popping, and they left.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's right.

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Speaker 2: Stay Yeah.

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Speaker 4: As a mechanism but now it's just you set you usher,

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Speaker 4: feeling the bob early on to get people to have

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Speaker 4: self facilitate the party.

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Speaker 1: I love that because you know, I'm one of those

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Speaker 1: people when I go to an event, like I'm looking

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Speaker 1: at the logistics if I'm looking at the tresses that's

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Speaker 1: holding the lights, and you know how they weren't in

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Speaker 1: the wires? Are the wires? Neat are they just ran

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Speaker 1: up there? And I was paying attention to you. I

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Speaker 1: was on stage last year afro Tech for the while

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Speaker 1: at Andrew Hill, and so I'm watching you on stage

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Speaker 1: and I'm paying attention to the level of excellence and

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Speaker 1: perfection that you were operating in. And there was as

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Speaker 1: an attendee, they wouldn't notice that a certain drop didn't

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Speaker 1: land when you wanted it to land. But I saw

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Speaker 1: you go off on the DJ. No shade to the DJ.

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Speaker 1: But I'm watching you like here's things and see things.

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Speaker 1: I'm watching you like, you know, getting ready to go

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Speaker 1: in because you you're noticing things. And this is gonna

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Speaker 1: lead to a question. I don't know what the question is,

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Speaker 1: but I just want you to speak to this, like

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Speaker 1: what are you seeing in or what are you feeling?

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Speaker 1: In the space that says, you know what, bro, you

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Speaker 1: gotta feel me because this is there's something about the

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Speaker 1: preacher like you got to know when the organ should drive,

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Speaker 1: and you got to know when the organ is supposed

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Speaker 1: to drive, and so he speak to this.

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Speaker 4: So, you know, six or seven years into curating these spaces,

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Speaker 4: like it's to get to that point where you feel

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Speaker 4: highly likely that almost every person, almost like every single person,

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Speaker 4: almost every person in that event is going to have

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Speaker 4: a great time. That build up, you got to hit

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Speaker 4: the marks to get that build up, to build that nostalgia,

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Speaker 4: and so I'm extremely meticulous when it comes to that.

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Speaker 4: And when we think about the future of livet the

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Speaker 4: house party and the music festival, Like even that Afrotech

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Speaker 4: event that you're mentioning.

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Speaker 2: I lost my voice. I was supposed to host the

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Speaker 2: entire night.

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Speaker 4: I couldn't, but it actually unlocked something that you know,

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Speaker 4: I hadn't leaned into heavily, which was like being an

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Speaker 4: executive producer.

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Speaker 2: I pretty much eped that event.

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Speaker 4: And now along with the Blavity team, we're excited to

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Speaker 4: executive produce this festival for everybody that's locked into culture,

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Speaker 4: that's locked into the musicality, musicality and the diverse, you know,

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Speaker 4: plate of songs and artistry that we all have grown

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Speaker 4: to love. So that level of meticulousness that I was

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Speaker 4: bringing to R and B House Party, Like, it's a

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Speaker 4: level of meticulousness that Afrotech has with all of.

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Speaker 2: The events in the Wilde event.

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Speaker 4: There's level of meticulousness that you have with this podcast

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Speaker 4: in your posting on stage. So I think that we

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Speaker 4: really really fit well with each other to you know,

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Speaker 4: understand the needs and put the people at the forthfile.

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Speaker 4: It wasn't about my ego. It was about making sure

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Speaker 4: that we gave the people what they wanted.

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Speaker 3: When I was sorry, nobody was like you were going off,

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Speaker 3: But if you were on stage, you saw I saw it.

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Speaker 2: I saw it.

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Speaker 1: I fell for him a little bit, I'm like, but yeah,

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Speaker 1: but he took it like a champ. He took it

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Speaker 1: like a chimp.

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Speaker 2: He's just.

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Speaker 1: And so one of the things, and I do encourage

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Speaker 1: everybody who is not listening to your podcast with Morgan

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Speaker 1: Debond on the Journey that you should go listen to

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Speaker 1: that podcast because you talk about some things. I'm not

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Speaker 1: going to step on those questions, but there are things

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Speaker 1: I want to follow on to. But you talked about

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Speaker 1: getting acquired and having to learn how to get acquired,

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Speaker 1: and most people, if you ever get acquired, it happens

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Speaker 1: once in your life, and so it's kind of one

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Speaker 1: of those things that you got to do right and

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Speaker 1: you're only going to do it one time ever, And

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Speaker 1: so how did you learn how to get acquired? So

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Speaker 1: you were asking the right questions, the right call outs

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Speaker 1: in the contract, were picking your interest in et cetera.

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Speaker 4: So first I was respectful smart enough to know what

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Speaker 4: I did not know, and we put together that's me

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Speaker 4: and Kareem, my business partner for our house party c

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Speaker 4: or A team. Uh he has his NBA. I graduated,

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Speaker 4: but we were like no, no, no, no, no. You see

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Speaker 4: what's called a due diligence checklist and it was the

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Speaker 4: most robust, in depth but naked document I have ever

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Speaker 4: had to fill out my life.

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Speaker 2: Like you know.

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Speaker 4: I actually got a chance to meet Wasser, who is

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Speaker 4: the chief business officer here, maybe a week into being acquired.

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Speaker 4: He was like, hey, Charles, nice to meet you. I said, no,

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Speaker 4: it's not nice to meet you. You know everything my

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Speaker 4: social Security numbers give me. But that's the level of

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Speaker 4: depth that you had to go into. And so the

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Speaker 4: team that I put together, I'll give some per sistent people. No,

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Speaker 4: my account want played a huge role in the acquisition.

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Speaker 4: My lawyer, my my counsel played a huge role in

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Speaker 4: the acquisition in terms of breadlining and getting and explaining

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Speaker 4: all of the legal terms from all the different contracting components.

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Speaker 2: And then I had an.

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Speaker 4: Acquisition consultant who was able to do research on like

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Speaker 4: what this acquisition looks like, what comps look like, and

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Speaker 4: all of that for us to be able to properly

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Speaker 4: valuate what we thought the brand was worth on the

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Speaker 4: asset was worth. And then obviously we had conversations with

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Speaker 4: Poverty about where they thought the asset was worked in

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Speaker 4: Lower air Landed and then coming to the middle of

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Speaker 4: how we both can walk away from this fielding real

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Speaker 4: good about moving forward.

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Speaker 1: So you mentioned, you know, when you first started to

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Speaker 1: brost these conversations, like your business was kind of all over,

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Speaker 1: like your documents were everywhere. Things were not because you

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Speaker 1: weren't planning to be acquired. You weren't building a business

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Speaker 1: to be acquired. Talbot talk about the bridge between having

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Speaker 1: stuff all over the place to having it in a

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Speaker 1: format that you can actually deliver it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so the term is called data will and shout

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Speaker 4: out to my account USAIO, a big copple of account.

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Speaker 2: He might have listed his name, but you could look

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Speaker 2: at Mosiah.

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Speaker 4: He had been preaching to me about a data room

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Speaker 4: for multiple years. But being CEO slash host, which are

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Speaker 4: two completely different whole side has me on the road

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Speaker 4: literally seventy percent of every weekend, I will and CEO

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Speaker 4: side the planning of the events. Like I'm very very

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Speaker 4: much in the weeds. From the experience standpoint as well.

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Speaker 4: That type of stuff, I don't really care. But when

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Speaker 4: it came to, you know, a company doing their due

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Speaker 4: diligence on you, I wish I would have cared when

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Speaker 4: he told me to care two years ago, and had

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Speaker 4: that stuff in order, and had all of our partners outline,

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Speaker 4: and had all of our you know, P and L

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Speaker 4: in order gross versus net and all of that. What

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Speaker 4: I really cared about, what my business partner really cared about,

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Speaker 4: was our net profit because that was what we were

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Speaker 4: able to take home our business partners. But gross top line,

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Speaker 4: that is a very important metric for companies, and we

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Speaker 4: were oftentimes not you know, leaning into doing things that

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Speaker 4: we're going to help us at the top line, but

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Speaker 4: doing things that we're going to, you know, help us

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Speaker 4: from a net profit perspective.

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Speaker 2: So just really.

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Speaker 4: Understanding that balance with something that we needed to do,

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Speaker 4: and we just had to get our business in order.

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Speaker 2: There the very quickly.

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Speaker 4: The bill took place very quick, but we were both

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Speaker 4: motivated to make it happen. But I would just say

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Speaker 4: to somebody who was even starting out their entrepreneurial journey,

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Speaker 4: had get your ROC now, get your business credit card.

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Speaker 2: Now, don't file.

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Speaker 4: Your taxes as an individual, like have your entity separate

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Speaker 4: from your person.

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Speaker 2: It was a mess four or five years ago.

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Speaker 4: Then it got better after I paid the government a

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Speaker 4: lot of money, but it still wasn't to the level

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Speaker 4: that it needed to be for like an acquisition.

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Speaker 2: So I would just say, take care of your business.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you are very much R and B House Party,

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Speaker 1: and therefore you are very much Blackvity House Party like

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Speaker 1: you're It's kind of like the acquisition of a personal brand.

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Speaker 1: Because you talked about when you were building R and

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Speaker 1: B House Party befre that people were going to the

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Speaker 1: party because they wanted to know if you were there,

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Speaker 1: and so when you're being acquired. You know, I've talked

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Speaker 1: to so many founders who are who will talk about

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Speaker 1: the dismay of being a when you're the when you're

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Speaker 1: the face of it, how hard that is to sell

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Speaker 1: it because you're a human being. Can you talk about

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Speaker 1: and you still have other things? I mean, you've got

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Speaker 1: you know for better best podcast that you're still a

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Speaker 1: personal brand and so can you talk about the pathway

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Speaker 1: for very much a personality driven brand in an acquisition

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Speaker 1: type of landscape.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so I think that in an acquisition landscape, the

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Speaker 4: personal brand it's actually worked in my favor. And it

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Speaker 4: worked in my favor because you know, Blavity Morgan executive

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Speaker 4: team could see me fitting into the culture. This was

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Speaker 4: just going to be I said, purchase agreement hard stop,

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Speaker 4: thank you for what you did before. Now we take

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Speaker 4: it to the next level independent of view. You know,

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Speaker 4: that is what could have been the call out if

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Speaker 4: the personality or the person didn't fit with the overall

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Speaker 4: company's brand value. So I'm just appreciative and grateful that

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Speaker 4: they saw, you know, who I was, you know, in

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Speaker 4: my previous roles as a leader in tech across recruiting

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Speaker 4: and the partnerships.

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Speaker 2: They saw that as a value add to an organization.

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Speaker 4: How I operated as a CEO to manage my business

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Speaker 4: and secure brand partnerships and you know, to mortgage point say,

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Speaker 4: one of the hardest work of people that she's met,

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Speaker 4: which is a compliment, but you know, a second nature

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Speaker 4: to me because I really really cared, cared about all

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Speaker 4: the things that I did in tech to enable people

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Speaker 4: to get jobs. I cared about every experience that we

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Speaker 4: curated with the R and B House Party, and so

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Speaker 4: it made a lot of sense to bring the person

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Speaker 4: with the brand. And I'm just really excited about what

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Speaker 4: the future looks like. You know, now being under the umbrella,

403
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Speaker 4: I feel like there's an army, you know, what happens,

404
00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:08,199
Speaker 4: all aligned to create these experiences for people, versus just me,

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Speaker 4: my business partner and the great, great, great team that

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Speaker 4: helped build R and.

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Speaker 1: B House Party or what it was, and now being

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Speaker 1: the director of Community of Blavity. So there had to

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Speaker 1: be conversations around, Okay, there's there could be one day

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Speaker 1: where Charles is not the guy out there on stage

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Speaker 1: one day, So how do you continue to build this

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Speaker 1: thing so where you're still a so where you can

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Speaker 1: build in the in the interim, like this is based

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Speaker 1: on Charles Beloved, you know, coming along, but there's there's

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Speaker 1: a day two years, five years, twenty years away that

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Speaker 1: it's not going to be Charles.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and that makes that makes a lot of sense.

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Speaker 4: And it's already not Charles. This is Glavity House Party.

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Speaker 4: And that even you know, to some degree, had to

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Speaker 4: be an ego cham Like, this is not Charles's baby anymore.

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Speaker 4: This is Glavity House Party. We're opening up the demographic

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Speaker 4: of you know, people that fall under what we're looking

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Speaker 4: for from our experiences.

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Speaker 2: From an inclusive standpoint.

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Speaker 4: It was a silo community that we were trying to

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Speaker 4: really attract. Now we've opened that up and we think

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Speaker 4: that with the things that we're able to do, everybody

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Speaker 4: can benefit and have a great time at the experiences

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Speaker 4: that we ultimately curate. But in this seat now it's

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Speaker 4: general maiged community. It's really all about the community. It's

431
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Speaker 4: about the community of DJs that exist that we can

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Speaker 4: amplify through the things that we do. It's the community

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Speaker 4: of hosts who have so many different styles that can

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Speaker 4: add value to the events that we care about to do.

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Speaker 4: It is the community of music and the diversity of

436
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Speaker 4: music have been gone and done events and Ghana. You

437
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Speaker 4: gotta me feel like I'm preaching. I told you'll can

438
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Speaker 4: build it up, you know what I mean. I'm an

439
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Speaker 4: Afro peace the great game. My wife is you know,

440
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Speaker 4: from Antigua and Jamaica, what type of music do they love?

441
00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:56,600
Speaker 2: Soca and all that.

442
00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:02,320
Speaker 4: I'm anovilist, But to celebrate all of those cultures in

443
00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:05,160
Speaker 4: the constructs of what's to come, you know what I mean.

444
00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 4: But still having that r and beat, you know, that's

445
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:08,800
Speaker 4: my bread and butt of that gospel.

446
00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:10,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's my bread and But we want to open

447
00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:11,040
Speaker 2: it up.

448
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:14,080
Speaker 4: And so I'm excited that in this role, you know,

449
00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:18,560
Speaker 4: we will have the opportunity to ultimately create new avenues

450
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:22,400
Speaker 4: and highlight other people. It is no longer the beloved show,

451
00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:24,080
Speaker 4: and I'm really excited about what that.

452
00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:24,560
Speaker 2: Could look like.

453
00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:28,200
Speaker 1: There's this quote I found that I'm going to read back,

454
00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:30,320
Speaker 1: and it's something you said a couple of years ago,

455
00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:34,760
Speaker 1: and it made sense because speaking to what we're talking

456
00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,360
Speaker 1: about today, and you said, the biggest challenge that I've

457
00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:39,800
Speaker 1: had to overcome was fear. I think a lot of us,

458
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,720
Speaker 1: myself included approach problems with a high level of caution.

459
00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:45,760
Speaker 1: When you overcome that fear and try something new, you

460
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:47,960
Speaker 1: get a whole new perspective and a whole different set

461
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:51,800
Speaker 1: of learnings and options become available because you tried. But

462
00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:54,320
Speaker 1: if you just never actually step out on faith and

463
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,320
Speaker 1: actually do something where you already know what not doing

464
00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:00,560
Speaker 1: looks like. So overcoming fear is something very very hard

465
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:04,280
Speaker 1: to do. That's something you said, Yeah, yeah, you said that. Wow,

466
00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,159
Speaker 1: So you said that, and so I want to I

467
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,879
Speaker 1: want to bring that that quote up under the guise

468
00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:18,600
Speaker 1: of getting acquired, because there's you know, when you're building

469
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,480
Speaker 1: a company, particularly a lifestyle thing, to whereas you you

470
00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:23,240
Speaker 1: may have some of your homies, some of your people

471
00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:25,400
Speaker 1: that grew up with you working with you, and then

472
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:27,840
Speaker 1: somebody wants it. You're like, there's a part of you,

473
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:29,920
Speaker 1: this side that wants the bag. Yeah, but there's also

474
00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:32,679
Speaker 1: a part that's like romantic about the thing that you built.

475
00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:37,200
Speaker 1: You're like, this is my baby. And so that fear

476
00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:41,080
Speaker 1: that what is that internal dialogue like where you're like, yeah,

477
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,920
Speaker 1: I like the number you presented me with, but how

478
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,360
Speaker 1: am I going to let go of this thing?

479
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:48,040
Speaker 2: Mm hmmm.

480
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,960
Speaker 4: So to that end, it was important that I actually

481
00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:57,240
Speaker 4: heavily leaned on where that initial quote came from, which is,

482
00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 4: you know, the birth of R and B House party

483
00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:01,840
Speaker 4: and the fear that came of doing something new, or

484
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 4: the fear that came with the career change from working

485
00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:08,080
Speaker 4: in finance to you know, taking an agency recruiter job

486
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,600
Speaker 4: that paid me less than my internships when I was

487
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:14,280
Speaker 4: you know, five years into my career. I leaned on that,

488
00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:17,120
Speaker 4: and it was if we look at the brand five

489
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:19,120
Speaker 4: years from now, and I look at my career five

490
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,399
Speaker 4: years from now, I know what this path looks like.

491
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,480
Speaker 4: I mean, tech was laid off that there were another roles.

492
00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 4: There were other opportunities that could come. You get you know,

493
00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:32,320
Speaker 4: your marginal increase in salary, you get a higher level

494
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:36,119
Speaker 4: that equity package increasing slightly. But then there was like

495
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,879
Speaker 4: this other path of being a P and L owner,

496
00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:42,080
Speaker 4: being general manager community, doing things that are literally the

497
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:45,960
Speaker 4: most authentic to the twenty four hour charles of the

498
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:49,320
Speaker 4: entire day and learning under the tutelage of a Morgan

499
00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:52,159
Speaker 4: Debond and a small White and you know, being on

500
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,880
Speaker 4: the back end of afrotech that I love as a product,

501
00:24:55,920 --> 00:25:00,560
Speaker 4: Like what does five years of that look so personally

502
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,399
Speaker 4: hate when people say it wasn't about the money that

503
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:04,040
Speaker 4: let me.

504
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:08,919
Speaker 2: Be clear, I would fix my mouth to say that.

505
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:11,520
Speaker 4: But the value pop for me for us to be

506
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,080
Speaker 4: able to get to the finish line was the money,

507
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:19,560
Speaker 4: honestly with secondary for me, what me and my business

508
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:23,800
Speaker 4: partner were extremely after was knowing like, hey, there's some

509
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:25,959
Speaker 4: point we're not gonna be able to do this experience

510
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:28,680
Speaker 4: in the way that it was, and that means it's

511
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,119
Speaker 4: either gonna phase out, that means that we're gonna have

512
00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:33,280
Speaker 4: to shift it. But there was a shift that was

513
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:35,760
Speaker 4: going to need to ultimately take place. And what better

514
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,399
Speaker 4: way for that to have taken place than an opportunity

515
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:40,880
Speaker 4: for our community to be able to get this experience

516
00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:45,359
Speaker 4: on a ten X level of a music festival and

517
00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:49,240
Speaker 4: then secondarily from a career side, the role was just

518
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:52,200
Speaker 4: literally from day one, the minute that you mentioned it,

519
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:55,560
Speaker 4: where I saw as the next step for my life,

520
00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:57,400
Speaker 4: my career that the role was a yes.

521
00:25:57,440 --> 00:25:59,560
Speaker 2: From the first call, it was getting through all the

522
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:00,000
Speaker 2: other people.

523
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,600
Speaker 1: So talk to me about you said, this deal happened quick,

524
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 1: So talk to me like, what, like what the milestones

525
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,879
Speaker 1: look like when you're putting from that first DM to

526
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:11,920
Speaker 1: the day where you both signed off.

527
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:14,560
Speaker 2: What does that? What do those mile markers look like?

528
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:19,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, so initially you know the conversation. Then it was like, Okay,

529
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,040
Speaker 4: we're going to figure this out. I'll introduce you to

530
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:24,679
Speaker 4: my cheap business off for Sir watsap, and then he

531
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,840
Speaker 4: sent the due diligence checklist. So I was like quite

532
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,040
Speaker 4: quite quiet on social for a while, but because I

533
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:34,080
Speaker 4: was literally putting in twenty four hour days to get

534
00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:36,520
Speaker 4: all of that stuff together. So it took about a

535
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:40,399
Speaker 4: week of many sleepless nights on my accountant, myself, my

536
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:45,080
Speaker 4: business partner are consultant to figure out all the documents

537
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 4: that needed to be in place to be able to

538
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,640
Speaker 4: present back so that Blobary could then do their due

539
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:51,880
Speaker 4: diligence to see if this was something that they did

540
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:57,399
Speaker 4: actually want, and so went through that the NBA and

541
00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 4: then from that point we were able to trying to

542
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:05,439
Speaker 4: transition into actually determining what the value of the asset

543
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:09,359
Speaker 4: was and negotiations. Negotiations took a while because this was

544
00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 4: quite the complex deal A because it was going to

545
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,399
Speaker 4: include an employment contract for me, meaning that there was

546
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:17,919
Speaker 4: not going to be Charles doing his tech job, and

547
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:18,960
Speaker 4: then this on the side.

548
00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:21,440
Speaker 2: This was now going to be my full time role.

549
00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:24,640
Speaker 4: I have a lot of things happening as Charles Beloved

550
00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:27,840
Speaker 4: the influencer, and then there was a separation that needed

551
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:31,280
Speaker 4: to take place between Charles Beloved the talent and Charles

552
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:33,760
Speaker 4: Beloved the host of R and B House Party, in

553
00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:36,920
Speaker 4: which I used R and B House Party interchangeably with

554
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,280
Speaker 4: myself since I went to every event under the construct

555
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:41,800
Speaker 4: of the now Blobbery House Party.

556
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,159
Speaker 2: My role is to produce it.

557
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:46,719
Speaker 4: But not necessarily be talent at it, and so we

558
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:49,280
Speaker 4: had to like segment those two and then price out

559
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,480
Speaker 4: what that looked like and then that I said, outside

560
00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:56,240
Speaker 4: of me being a talent. So it was extremely complex

561
00:27:56,320 --> 00:28:00,560
Speaker 4: to make all these different pieces make sense. That part

562
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:04,840
Speaker 4: probably took an additional week and a half, but we

563
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:08,040
Speaker 4: were I mean, Morgan was working twenty four seven. Whys

564
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:10,080
Speaker 4: was working twenty four seven because I would take me

565
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:12,119
Speaker 4: a few days to come back, and I'm sure she

566
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,719
Speaker 4: was like, what's taking someone with texting men just like, bro,

567
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:20,439
Speaker 4: what's up? And I'm trying to get advice. We're creating

568
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,639
Speaker 4: this document. And then once we actually got to it,

569
00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:27,159
Speaker 4: the actual negotiations happened there very fast because we were

570
00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:31,280
Speaker 4: both motivated. She understood what the value prop of you know,

571
00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:34,960
Speaker 4: I was trying to get for myself and my shareholder Kareem,

572
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:36,600
Speaker 4: as well as.

573
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:40,600
Speaker 2: You know, understanding what the future needed to look like for.

574
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 4: Us to still be incentivized to build this into what

575
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 4: we think it has potential to be. Then everything worked out,

576
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 4: but we just had to be silent because we had

577
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:49,600
Speaker 4: to do it. It was suppress release. So I was

578
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 4: actually like, they're working already, no one knew.

579
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 2: She was like, Charles, please do not go out other

580
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:59,280
Speaker 2: people until oppress rely. So then when I was able

581
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:01,720
Speaker 2: to happen, it was an exciting day.

582
00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:05,719
Speaker 4: One more piece though, is that you know, I think

583
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 4: we undervalued or didn't really put enough stock into what

584
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:18,400
Speaker 4: people would think about this collaboration coming together. I thought

585
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:21,160
Speaker 4: it was a great call, not just personally, but for

586
00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 4: the brand and for the people and for you know,

587
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:25,640
Speaker 4: the people that we serve, which is our patrons.

588
00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:28,840
Speaker 2: But it was a lot of positive feedback about a.

589
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:33,560
Speaker 4: Black owned entity acquiring another black entity, about what collaboration

590
00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:37,080
Speaker 4: looks like. Promoters thinking of saying, hey, there's a new

591
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:39,560
Speaker 4: pathway that we didn't even know existed for the things

592
00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:42,800
Speaker 4: that we're building from people to I mean, it blew

593
00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:46,280
Speaker 4: my mind how positive people felt about im. Obviously, I'm

594
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:48,760
Speaker 4: sure some people that was like, no, horrible idea, and

595
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:51,560
Speaker 4: I get that, but you know, we're excited for the

596
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:52,720
Speaker 4: opportunity to try and.

597
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,360
Speaker 2: Prove that this was the right call. As people were saying.

598
00:29:56,440 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 1: Afro Tech is a global gathering where inclusive tech companies

599
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,680
Speaker 1: meet innovat It's the only tech event you.

600
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:02,280
Speaker 2: Need all year.

601
00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,400
Speaker 1: Get ready for Afrotech twenty twenty three in Austin, Texas,

602
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Speaker 1: November first through the fifth. We built a whole temper

603
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Speaker 1: you can use to help you get your employer to

604
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Speaker 1: sponsor your trip and enjoy experiences built for every stage

605
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Speaker 1: your career. Whether you're a college student looking for your

606
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Speaker 1: next internship, or if you work in Avention Capital looking

607
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Speaker 1: for your next business to invest in, and if you're

608
00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:22,000
Speaker 1: looking for a co founder or people that's join your team,

609
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,760
Speaker 1: there's no better place to be. The massive corporate layoffs

610
00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:26,880
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three have affected

611
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,320
Speaker 1: our community in a big way. An afro Tech wants

612
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:31,560
Speaker 1: to help you get back on your feet with skill development,

613
00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:33,280
Speaker 1: making it easier to switch industries.

614
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:34,160
Speaker 2: If that's your route.

615
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:36,680
Speaker 1: In an afrotech, you'll make connections to help you get

616
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:40,080
Speaker 1: your next opportunity. Visit afrotech dot com slash conference to

617
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:43,880
Speaker 1: learn more. Is you've used the phrase here on that

618
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:46,800
Speaker 1: you know Blavity boughten asset and you've not said Blavity

619
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 1: bought a company. Can you talk about the difference between

620
00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 1: buying the assets and buying a company, which Blavity didn't do.

621
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:55,560
Speaker 2: Yeah.

622
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,560
Speaker 4: So when Morgan and Shama business as all over the place,

623
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,240
Speaker 4: we had two LLC's that kind of I want to

624
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,240
Speaker 4: say co manage the brand of R and B House Party.

625
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:08,200
Speaker 4: It's made a little bit more difficult. So we have

626
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:12,360
Speaker 4: the Quest LLC, which Kareem and I started, and we use.

627
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,880
Speaker 2: That as the housing for R and B House Party.

628
00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:20,360
Speaker 4: I also have Charles Kirkandaal LLC, which ultimately we pivoted

629
00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:23,320
Speaker 4: R and B House Party two. But I was operating

630
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 4: all of my individual Charles Beloved things out of that LLC.

631
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:30,600
Speaker 4: So the money without her, you know, spilling my dirty

632
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,719
Speaker 4: laundry was all mixed in because I had influencer stuff,

633
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 4: brand partnerships, I had hosting stuff, stuff, and R and

634
00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:42,400
Speaker 4: B house party revenue all going into you know, the

635
00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:46,960
Speaker 4: same LLC, So that would have been a purchase of

636
00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:48,040
Speaker 4: the company.

637
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,480
Speaker 2: Charles kirkandaal LLC. She said, I don't want that be.

638
00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:55,720
Speaker 4: Very clear, but the asset purchase agreement was like the

639
00:31:55,760 --> 00:32:01,800
Speaker 4: logo purchasing, the licensing, the e mail list serve, purchasing

640
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 4: our website domain. So just all things that were R

641
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:07,680
Speaker 4: and B house party specific that could be transferred of

642
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:12,920
Speaker 4: ownership is well. Ultimately the APA asset purchase agreement was purchasing.

643
00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:13,840
Speaker 2: No, I love that.

644
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:18,200
Speaker 1: The elephant in the room is how you guys are friends,

645
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:20,760
Speaker 1: you know, and so how do you go to the

646
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:25,560
Speaker 1: negotiating table against somebody that you know previous pre pregnancy,

647
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:27,000
Speaker 1: like you might have a drink with and you know

648
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 1: what I mean, and so you know, how do you

649
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:29,880
Speaker 1: do that?

650
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:35,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was it was very tough. I know I

651
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:37,719
Speaker 4: had a lot of frustrated days. I'm sure she had

652
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,520
Speaker 4: a number of frustrated days. And you know, working with

653
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:46,840
Speaker 4: friends is always like what's the word, A touchy, touchy

654
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 4: topic girl, and maybe even discussing something that you should

655
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:54,120
Speaker 4: not do. I actually disagree with that for a number

656
00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:57,800
Speaker 4: of reasons. But primarily I think that doing business with

657
00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:00,800
Speaker 4: your friends when you both have interry and how moral

658
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:02,440
Speaker 4: compass and you know how.

659
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:04,000
Speaker 2: A shared vision is the greatest.

660
00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:07,120
Speaker 4: Kareem is my business partner and also my best friend,

661
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 4: and we have operated great and sure we get frustrated

662
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,240
Speaker 4: with each other. That makes sense, and so on my

663
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,520
Speaker 4: operatings with Morgan. It wasn't like this is the first

664
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,880
Speaker 4: thing that we ever did together. We have four years

665
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,880
Speaker 4: of partnering with Blivity and R and B House Party

666
00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:27,200
Speaker 4: as entities, also seeing success with the collaborations, but also

667
00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:29,920
Speaker 4: going through the growing pains of the yes is the

668
00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:33,960
Speaker 4: nose the disappointment. And so I think from my own

669
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:38,120
Speaker 4: personal purview, Morgan has always had my best interests at part.

670
00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:44,160
Speaker 2: Now in this deal she had blobdy.

671
00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:47,240
Speaker 4: Art, But I couldnot lose sight of that every single

672
00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:51,280
Speaker 4: thing that we have done as business entities, as Blivity

673
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:55,160
Speaker 4: and as R and B House Party has benefited me exponentially.

674
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:58,680
Speaker 4: So I knew the collaboration would work and just understanding like, hey,

675
00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,920
Speaker 4: it was never Charles Morgan thing. It was a business

676
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,320
Speaker 4: thing and a business thing, and that was how we

677
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 4: were able to get to the table and work together.

678
00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:08,160
Speaker 2: But our moving forward relationship.

679
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 4: I have worked with all the personalities you could possibly

680
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:15,239
Speaker 4: think of, and Morgan is a phenomenal CEO. I'm excited

681
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,120
Speaker 4: to learn so much from her and the other executives

682
00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:21,680
Speaker 4: in this organization. But we keep the friendship separate. We

683
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,080
Speaker 4: get frustrated with each other more. I'm gonna tell you

684
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:28,239
Speaker 4: an example. Morgan asked the R and B House party,

685
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:30,400
Speaker 4: or to say, block the ass RMB House party, to

686
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:34,920
Speaker 4: produce happy hours in the pandemic at three different times

687
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:37,360
Speaker 4: across three different locations.

688
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,480
Speaker 5: And I listen what I need to three pm, LA,

689
00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:47,440
Speaker 5: five pm Chicago, six pm New York, exact same time,

690
00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:50,720
Speaker 5: same video needed to play in three different me I said,

691
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:54,480
Speaker 5: she's nuts, that's crazy now.

692
00:34:54,640 --> 00:34:56,359
Speaker 2: So I referenced that, like she's a.

693
00:34:56,360 --> 00:35:00,239
Speaker 4: Visionary, I believe in doing the work and to that

694
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:02,040
Speaker 4: we're gonna be able to make anything.

695
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 2: Of benefit in the community.

696
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:08,399
Speaker 1: And so, you know, I've heard these stories of tech

697
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:11,840
Speaker 1: companies particularly but companies in general, when they get acquired,

698
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:14,440
Speaker 1: they call these big all hands meetings, get everybody in

699
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:16,759
Speaker 1: the room so everybody can hear, the whole staff can hear,

700
00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:19,440
Speaker 1: and then there's questions about what okay, what happens to

701
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:22,319
Speaker 1: us based on you know, this us selling to this

702
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:25,920
Speaker 1: other thing. What happens to the team that you built?

703
00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:28,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great that you asked that.

704
00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:32,960
Speaker 4: And so from an ownership perspective, you know, I was

705
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:35,880
Speaker 4: an owner along with my wife and then Kareem equity

706
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:39,520
Speaker 4: owner and started a sweat equity and earned the opportunity

707
00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:41,880
Speaker 4: to be the partner of R and B House Party

708
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:47,080
Speaker 4: and just a strong business mind Michigan NBA owner of

709
00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 4: a you know, a Chip fil A.

710
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:51,680
Speaker 2: He's just phenomenal guy. And I couldn't have gotten to

711
00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:52,400
Speaker 2: this point without them.

712
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:54,200
Speaker 4: So I want to say that now R and B

713
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:57,359
Speaker 4: House Party is the DJs, is the team that has

714
00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:00,839
Speaker 4: just helped us get to this point. And so while

715
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:03,040
Speaker 4: they were not a part of the acquisition in terms

716
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:06,279
Speaker 4: of like becoming employees of Livity, I think the opportunities

717
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:10,120
Speaker 4: for them with me in this community role are endless.

718
00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:12,600
Speaker 4: You know, the number of events that we could do,

719
00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:15,399
Speaker 4: the visibility of those events go ten next. So when

720
00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:18,400
Speaker 4: you think about, you know, having the stage of twenty

721
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:20,720
Speaker 4: three hundred people at Drew Hill versus having the stage

722
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,000
Speaker 4: of ten thousand plus, I'm gonna say plus at the

723
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:28,799
Speaker 4: Music festival, we're able to further amplify their work. The photographers, Hey,

724
00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:32,799
Speaker 4: you you only doing the seventeen events a year that

725
00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:36,080
Speaker 4: you know I can do on the weekends. Now you

726
00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:37,960
Speaker 4: can do thatfro text you can you know what I mean.

727
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,480
Speaker 4: So it's just way more opportunity for me to be

728
00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:43,319
Speaker 4: able to bring them along in this seat without it

729
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:46,080
Speaker 4: getting to a stop data just saying hey, I no

730
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:47,880
Speaker 4: longer want to do this, this is the end. Like,

731
00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:51,080
Speaker 4: the opportunities for the team are endless, and to amplify

732
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:53,360
Speaker 4: the amazing things that they were doing for R and

733
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:54,960
Speaker 4: B House Party, now they could do it for the

734
00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:57,839
Speaker 4: Liberty House Party and maybe even for all these other

735
00:36:57,880 --> 00:36:59,400
Speaker 4: brands that we're going to bring in to be a

736
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:01,120
Speaker 4: part of this system and community.

737
00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:04,600
Speaker 1: If you hadn't lost your job, would you have considered

738
00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:05,320
Speaker 1: an acquisition?

739
00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:13,200
Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely, I absolutely would have considered the acquisition I did.

740
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 2: I do not know that I.

741
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:18,719
Speaker 4: Would have wanted to do the full time thing, because

742
00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:21,680
Speaker 4: everyone asked me, they were like, Okay, we see the

743
00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:22,880
Speaker 4: trajectory of R and B.

744
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:25,680
Speaker 2: This is the Lord pushing you to do R and

745
00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:26,759
Speaker 2: B House Party full time.

746
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:30,480
Speaker 4: And every time somebody said that, I said, absolutely not

747
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:36,640
Speaker 4: because I love what my role was at my previous company.

748
00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:38,960
Speaker 4: I loved the career that I had in tech. So

749
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,560
Speaker 4: this was very unique for me to be able to

750
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:45,680
Speaker 4: steal essentially do that, but on the other side, not

751
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:48,760
Speaker 4: the client side, but on the afrotech side, to create

752
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:53,040
Speaker 4: these experiences, to assist in getting people jobs and creating

753
00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:54,880
Speaker 4: the spaces for all of that to take place.

754
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:55,719
Speaker 2: That's what I love.

755
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:57,759
Speaker 4: It did not feel like work to me, and so

756
00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:01,440
Speaker 4: I still get that aspect, plus being able to do

757
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:04,360
Speaker 4: the efense stuff for R and B or now Black

758
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:08,200
Speaker 4: House Party. And so when I tell you, it was

759
00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:11,080
Speaker 4: the fine alignment for this to have been the opportunity

760
00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:12,680
Speaker 4: for this to have been the company, because if it

761
00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:16,520
Speaker 4: were another company that was interested, I probably would have

762
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:18,759
Speaker 4: been open to selling that I said, but not like

763
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:20,120
Speaker 4: working there full time.

764
00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:22,600
Speaker 2: I wanted to work here. It was very clear. I

765
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:27,359
Speaker 2: was like, well, a month more, what we're doing outside?

766
00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:30,880
Speaker 4: You actually posted a photo from old last acrotechnic video

767
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 4: because I actually took.

768
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,200
Speaker 2: The photo of all of you all yeah, yeah, yes,

769
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:39,719
Speaker 2: and I had Phonemos sitting there. I have Phon because

770
00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:41,440
Speaker 2: I'm still why I wasn't in the photo. I'm not

771
00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:45,360
Speaker 2: a black employee. I was the one that ye have

772
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:47,000
Speaker 2: those my homies.

773
00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:52,600
Speaker 1: Out here out here. I'm excited, and so I think

774
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:54,600
Speaker 1: this is a good time to being to bring up

775
00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:59,040
Speaker 1: Queen Charen because the partnership there. You guys have talked

776
00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:01,840
Speaker 1: about this on your you know, for better or best,

777
00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:03,920
Speaker 1: and I think it's important and there's something here because

778
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:06,279
Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't be at Blavity afro Tech if

779
00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:08,640
Speaker 1: it wasn't for my wife. And so when I went

780
00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:12,120
Speaker 1: to my second afro Tech, I took my wife with

781
00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:12,640
Speaker 1: me because.

782
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:14,200
Speaker 2: I'm like, you've got to see this thing.

783
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:18,239
Speaker 1: And at the end of it, she's like, wonderful, great,

784
00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:20,480
Speaker 1: all the things. You should not come back unless you're

785
00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:24,360
Speaker 1: on stage, and I'm like, how am I going to

786
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:26,799
Speaker 1: get on that stage? And so, to make a long

787
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:29,279
Speaker 1: story short, I'm like, all right, but challenge accepted. That's

788
00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:31,440
Speaker 1: what she said. I'm gonna figure it out. So I

789
00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:34,840
Speaker 1: put a picture of that, that last afrotech on my

790
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:37,640
Speaker 1: vision board, and every day I woke up and I

791
00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:39,680
Speaker 1: saw the thing on my dresser and I said, by

792
00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:43,480
Speaker 1: the time they opened up speaker proposals, I'm gonna apply.

793
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:46,640
Speaker 1: When they put up the speaker proposals. I actually got

794
00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:48,640
Speaker 1: an email and said, hey, we actually want you to

795
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:51,840
Speaker 1: run it, and so I wouldn't have had the vision

796
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:54,680
Speaker 1: if my wife hadn't called that out. And you talked

797
00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:58,360
Speaker 1: about your journey like your wife saw it, and she

798
00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:01,000
Speaker 1: saw R and B House Party and you before you

799
00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:04,600
Speaker 1: saw it, and therefore you're here now doing Blavity house party.

800
00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:07,640
Speaker 1: So can you talk about the importance of that partnership

801
00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:08,799
Speaker 1: and what it brought out of you.

802
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:14,120
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I would just say a having a partner,

803
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:18,360
Speaker 4: whether that is through marriage or friendship, that's able to

804
00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:21,440
Speaker 4: see your blind spots, because it was a blind spot

805
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:24,440
Speaker 4: for me to know that I could monetize my energy.

806
00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:27,480
Speaker 4: And that's literally what R and B House Party was

807
00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:29,959
Speaker 4: was a monetization of the energy that I bring into

808
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:32,840
Speaker 4: the world. And I was going to other people's events,

809
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:37,560
Speaker 4: literally going viral on Snapchat and whatever medium was popping

810
00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:39,680
Speaker 4: at that time, like this guy's in the circle dance

811
00:40:39,719 --> 00:40:42,520
Speaker 4: that through it all, kicking heads and all of that.

812
00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:45,920
Speaker 4: And she's like, you're going to these other people's events

813
00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:48,280
Speaker 4: and making a popping. The promoter's like, are you coming?

814
00:40:48,719 --> 00:40:50,160
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, Making sure you're in the

815
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:52,279
Speaker 4: building because the parties on another level. When you're in

816
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:56,120
Speaker 4: the building, you need to create your own and so

817
00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:59,120
Speaker 4: that blind spot and being able to listen to it,

818
00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:01,680
Speaker 4: being able to have a part of that say, hey,

819
00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:03,920
Speaker 4: we're willing to put up our money, you know what

820
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:06,239
Speaker 4: I mean. Like obviously the first time we did it,

821
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:08,640
Speaker 4: you know, we just got five dollars ahead. But when

822
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:11,880
Speaker 4: it came to touring, when it came to expansion, it

823
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:14,840
Speaker 4: was out of our personal savings account. We saving for

824
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:19,239
Speaker 4: we saving for homes where you know, having kids and

825
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:22,359
Speaker 4: having a partner that really truly believed in what it was.

826
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:25,279
Speaker 2: That she had built with me was key.

827
00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:27,840
Speaker 4: And when we get to you know, the partnerships with

828
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:30,120
Speaker 4: our protech and things of that nature, it was like, hey,

829
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:32,840
Speaker 4: she put the battery in my back to be able

830
00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:35,200
Speaker 4: to take risks and be comfortable with risks.

831
00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:38,720
Speaker 2: She works every day. She's genuinely a queen. She's a boss.

832
00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:41,719
Speaker 4: Even when I was let go on a random, you know,

833
00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:46,319
Speaker 4: Wednesday in June, I didn't think about, thank God, about us,

834
00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:48,680
Speaker 4: you know, losing our house or anything. This wanting to

835
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:52,360
Speaker 4: go to work every day, she getting paved. Let me

836
00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:54,680
Speaker 4: just figure it out. I didn't have to worry, and

837
00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:58,400
Speaker 4: so that's just truly, truly, truly a blessing. And without

838
00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:00,880
Speaker 4: her none of this is possible. Well, I can't travel

839
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:05,120
Speaker 4: seventeen weekends twenty weekends out the year without someone taking

840
00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:08,120
Speaker 4: care of managing our children and managing our household. And

841
00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:10,840
Speaker 4: she does that on top of her job. So I

842
00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:13,880
Speaker 4: spoil her as best I possibly can. She says, this

843
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:14,520
Speaker 4: money is.

844
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:19,560
Speaker 2: Part of this. I'm not going now far now, wal.

845
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:28,319
Speaker 1: But so I want to end this talking about where

846
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:31,040
Speaker 1: Blavity House Party is going. But I'm going to preface

847
00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:33,600
Speaker 1: it with something you've said before, and I love it

848
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:36,800
Speaker 1: because our generation has not had its own time, Joiner,

849
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:40,600
Speaker 1: And I think that's a beautiful thing that you've had

850
00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:42,520
Speaker 1: that vision for yourself. Like you know, I want to

851
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,400
Speaker 1: get bigger than just parties. I want to do cruises.

852
00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:48,160
Speaker 1: I want to do concert series, all these things, and

853
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,960
Speaker 1: this provides that jet fuel. So where is Blavity House

854
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:52,680
Speaker 1: Party going?

855
00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:54,160
Speaker 2: Yeah?

856
00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:56,560
Speaker 1: And where's the community of Glavity going too?

857
00:42:56,920 --> 00:42:59,880
Speaker 4: Absolutely, you know, the goals of blab the house party

858
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:04,280
Speaker 4: is to celebrate culture and connect communities. And that nission

859
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,400
Speaker 4: statement that has yet to roll out publicly, what you

860
00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:10,439
Speaker 4: always see soon is because that is the ultimate goal.

861
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:13,839
Speaker 4: It's not about us, it's really about we. And there

862
00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:17,760
Speaker 4: are you know a lot of festivals events on the market,

863
00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:18,840
Speaker 4: and they're all phenomenal.

864
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:19,919
Speaker 2: I go to them.

865
00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:22,520
Speaker 4: But we're excited to kind of step into that space

866
00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:26,839
Speaker 4: as well and bring something new with the different value proposition,

867
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:31,360
Speaker 4: a unique market positioning to this space and this space

868
00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:34,279
Speaker 4: for everybody. And so what we're trying to do is

869
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:38,279
Speaker 4: again that musical diversity that makes everybody feel inclusive, that

870
00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:43,040
Speaker 4: celebrates all the different you know, makeups and backgrounds of

871
00:43:43,080 --> 00:43:46,640
Speaker 4: a community. I've always from a recruitment perspective and that's

872
00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:47,240
Speaker 4: like my subject.

873
00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:48,080
Speaker 2: Out of expertise.

874
00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:50,840
Speaker 4: They say, hey, it's diversity of ethnicity, but it's diversity

875
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:51,280
Speaker 4: of thought.

876
00:43:51,719 --> 00:43:54,440
Speaker 2: I'm from the Shah, you're from toll House. Talk to me,

877
00:43:56,320 --> 00:43:56,520
Speaker 2: you know what.

878
00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:02,680
Speaker 4: And we have soul got different minds even under this

879
00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:05,120
Speaker 4: ecosystem of having some familiarity.

880
00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:08,360
Speaker 2: And so it's just excited to be able to build for.

881
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:12,200
Speaker 4: That and across these tent pole moments that we have

882
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:15,839
Speaker 4: grown to love and enjoy. NBA All Star Games, we're

883
00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:20,760
Speaker 4: talking about sports, Grammys, We're talking about music potentially our boss,

884
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:24,120
Speaker 4: We're talking about art, and fashion. We're able to curate

885
00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:29,400
Speaker 4: this experience that is about you, that is about inclusiveness

886
00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:32,560
Speaker 4: and the ecosystem that's already created things that you know,

887
00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:36,759
Speaker 4: this broad demographic is excited about. So we're excited to

888
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:40,279
Speaker 4: just keep it about the community, about the people, and

889
00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:43,080
Speaker 4: create this music festival and then this road map of

890
00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:45,960
Speaker 4: times that we can have touch points and just have

891
00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:48,719
Speaker 4: self facilitated.

892
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:03,760
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production to Blavity afro

893
00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:06,640
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effect podcast network at Night Heart

894
00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:10,239
Speaker 1: Medium and it's produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas,

895
00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:13,920
Speaker 1: with additional production support by Sarah Ergin and Rose mc lucas.

896
00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:18,600
Speaker 1: Special thank you to Michael Davis, Vanessa Suruno, and Maya Mouldrew.

897
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:21,279
Speaker 1: Learn more about my Guess and other tech distructors an

898
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:25,080
Speaker 1: innovators at afrotech dot com. Enjoying Black Tech Green Money.

899
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:29,120
Speaker 1: Share this with somebody, Go get your money.

900
00:45:30,160 --> 00:45:30,759
Speaker 2: He's in love.

901
00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:40,400
Speaker 1: Afro Tech is a global gathering where inclusive tech companies

902
00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:42,799
Speaker 1: meet innovators. It's the only tech event you.

903
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:43,399
Speaker 2: Need all year.

904
00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:46,520
Speaker 1: Get ready for afro Tech twenty twenty three in Austin, Texas.

905
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:48,839
Speaker 1: No ven refers through the fifth We built a whole

906
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Speaker 1: temper you can use to help you get your employer

907
00:45:50,719 --> 00:45:53,600
Speaker 1: to sponsor your trip and enjoy experiences built for every

908
00:45:53,600 --> 00:45:55,959
Speaker 1: stage of your career. Whether you're a college student looking

909
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Speaker 1: for your next internship, or if you work in avention

910
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Speaker 1: capital looking for your next business to invest in, and

911
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Speaker 1: if you're looking for a co founder of people that's

912
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:04,799
Speaker 1: join your team, there's no better place to be. The

913
00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:07,320
Speaker 1: massive corporate layoffs of twenty twenty two and twenty twenty

914
00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:09,680
Speaker 1: three have affected our community in a big way. An

915
00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:11,719
Speaker 1: afrotech wants to help you get back on your feet

916
00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:14,560
Speaker 1: with skill development, making it easier to switch industries if

917
00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:17,360
Speaker 1: that's your route. In an afrotech, you'll make connections to

918
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Speaker 1: help you get your next opportunity. Visit afrotech dot com

919
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Speaker 1: slash conference to learn more.