Speaker 1: Afro Tech is a global gathering where inclusive tech companies
Speaker 1: meet innovators. It's the only tech event you.
Speaker 2: Need all year.
Speaker 1: Get ready for Afrotech twenty twenty three in Austin, Texas,
Speaker 1: November first through the fifth.
Speaker 2: We built a whole.
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Speaker 1: stage of your career. Whether you're a college student looking
Speaker 1: for your next internship, or if you're work in a
Speaker 1: venture capital looking for your next business to invest in,
Speaker 1: and if you're looking for a co founder of a
Speaker 1: people that'soin your team, there's no better place to be.
Speaker 1: The massive corporate layoffs of twenty twenty two and twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three have affected our community in a big way.
Speaker 1: An Afrotech wants to help you get back on your
Speaker 1: feet with skill development, making it easier to switch industries
Speaker 1: if that's your route. In an afro tech, you'll make
Speaker 1: connections to help you get your next opportunity. Visit afrotech
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Speaker 3: To learn more.
Speaker 1: I'm Will Lucas and this as Black Tech, Green Money.
Speaker 1: Charles Beloved cirtaindal is the founder at R and B
Speaker 1: House Party a unique party experience where R and B
Speaker 1: and gospel and music are at the center, bringing the
Speaker 1: vibes as well as the nostalgia. Just recently, R and
Speaker 1: B a House Party was acquired by Blavity, Inc. Which
Speaker 1: is also the peering company Afrotech is rebranded as Blavity
Speaker 1: House Party. Charles comes aboard as the general Manager Community
Speaker 1: at Blavity, Charles was creating even more experiences for us
Speaker 1: to connect globally around music, networking and more. Pre used
Speaker 1: to joining Blavity, Charles was also a recruiter and had
Speaker 1: leadership roles at companies like Facebook, Play Versus, and Stripe.
Speaker 1: But by nightfall, he was back on the stage in
Speaker 1: every corner of the globe curating R and B experiences.
Speaker 1: After being laid off earlier this summer, Glavity CEO Morgan
Speaker 1: Debond sent them a DM that basically said, you don't
Speaker 1: have to live two separate lives. Come to Blavity.
Speaker 4: Yes, So in June of this year, just a knowing
Speaker 4: what Blavity is, what has been built over time, you know,
Speaker 4: it just felt like a blessing to even be considered
Speaker 4: for an opportunity to come join you guys, in house,
Speaker 4: but the novice thinking that I had to think that
Speaker 4: it was only gonna be just for what I had
Speaker 4: proven to do from like a talent acquisition space to
Speaker 4: date and not the product that you know, we had
Speaker 4: been building myself in Kareem over some years and have
Speaker 4: partners successfully with blvity on for so many, so many years.
Speaker 4: So when it became clear that the opportunity that was
Speaker 4: being presented was an acquisition, I think.
Speaker 2: That it a blew my mind. But be put me and.
Speaker 4: My business partner in the space to say, not only
Speaker 4: is this like incredible for us as founders and what
Speaker 4: that looks like, but be like to be able to
Speaker 4: join forces with this company, like this was the right company.
Speaker 4: So it was really exciting and should Knight got it done?
Speaker 1: Jada, because it's so interesting to me because you know,
Speaker 1: coming to Blavity, like my experience like on day one,
Speaker 1: like being in slack on this one black really slack,
Speaker 1: it's super black, and you get the memes, you get
Speaker 1: the jokes, like you get all the things, and you've
Speaker 1: talked about having the code switch in your corporate career,
Speaker 1: so like, what what has that experience been like knowing
Speaker 1: that you can bring your full self. You can be
Speaker 1: beloved over here.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, like and the intriguing party is beloved is
Speaker 4: signed to bloviting.
Speaker 2: Now I'm really my authentic self.
Speaker 4: But what was interesting to me to see now having
Speaker 4: been a part of the company for going on a month,
Speaker 4: what's the incredible infrastructure that has built the culture that.
Speaker 2: Is built here.
Speaker 4: And I'm just a fan, like I'm in slack and
Speaker 4: I'm even feeling like, hey.
Speaker 2: Am im too corporate.
Speaker 4: Meme And it's really because people are just like being
Speaker 4: the authentic self. The level of depth of conversation that
Speaker 4: I've even seen take place on political issues and things.
Speaker 2: And I'm from.
Speaker 4: I'll go it's a place where hey, MJ said, Republicans
Speaker 4: are democrats by shooting.
Speaker 2: That is that is my line of thinking.
Speaker 4: But to just see the depth of conversation that has
Speaker 4: taken place in this organization, it's just been beautiful, Like
Speaker 4: people feel heard.
Speaker 2: It's just an incredible company Like.
Speaker 4: That is one of the things that I felt like
Speaker 4: I knew, but I didn't really know.
Speaker 2: Until I joined.
Speaker 1: I understand And before we talk about the business, I
Speaker 1: want to get into the beginning of your journey here,
Speaker 1: because if anybody has seen you on stage, they can
Speaker 1: tell that guy has directed a choir before. And you've
Speaker 1: talked about this, and it makes me think, and I've
Speaker 1: said this before on this podcast, my favorite quote from
Speaker 1: Steve Jobs, which says, you can't connect the dots looking forward.
Speaker 1: You can only connect the dots looking backward. And so
Speaker 1: when you look back at your life, you can see, oh,
Speaker 1: now I know why I did that, so I can
Speaker 1: do this. And so can you talk about how that
Speaker 1: journey from being a kid in the black church directing
Speaker 1: the choir enables you to do what you do today.
Speaker 2: No, that's a great question.
Speaker 4: And you know I didn't realize and I won't say
Speaker 4: that I won't be a pastor. People are on my
Speaker 4: comments saying that that's inevitable future.
Speaker 2: My dad is a pastor. I'm leaving that all to him.
Speaker 4: But you know, directing the high school choir the entire time,
Speaker 4: and then going to college primarily white institution, who had
Speaker 4: a gospel choir and was able to like step in
Speaker 4: and lead that choir for another four years.
Speaker 2: I was heavy into like music production.
Speaker 4: And I thought I was gonna, you know, be a
Speaker 4: famous I don't want to say singer because I know
Speaker 4: people who could really sing. I'm not a famous background singer,
Speaker 4: like I knew my space, and then I just let
Speaker 4: all of that passion and music, that love for bringing
Speaker 4: people together to the wayside, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: I just attend church, and the hecticness of our lives
Speaker 4: didn't allow me to like continue being acquired director. But
Speaker 4: who knew this medium of r and being music you
Speaker 4: can still kind of like bring that level of ministry
Speaker 4: and how people feel in the way that they feel
Speaker 4: leaving church, which is to be uplifted, which is to
Speaker 4: you know, be inspired, and that is all that we
Speaker 4: were trying to do at the now. You know, formerly
Speaker 4: I call myself the artist formally, and what we will
Speaker 4: continue to do through Blaviting House party bring that level
Speaker 4: of inclusiveness and that level of community. So I didn't
Speaker 4: even know it that the church was grooming this opportunity
Speaker 4: to kind of be in the seat of like a
Speaker 4: community gatherer or community organizer.
Speaker 2: But I'm very thankful for that. And be on key,
Speaker 2: don't come to correct.
Speaker 1: Somebody's off in soprano section with the sopranos flat. So
Speaker 1: so when I think about you know, there's a story
Speaker 1: you told about having to learn how to host, because
Speaker 1: it's one thing that's different about just being a hype
Speaker 1: man on stage and yelling out a bunch of cool stuff,
Speaker 1: but learning how to actually create a narrative of the night,
Speaker 1: create movement to the party. Can you talk to me
Speaker 1: about learning how to create these moments during a party?
Speaker 1: To us, you found success where a lot of people
Speaker 1: have tried. They just party promoters and it's a lit party,
Speaker 1: but they've not been able to have the type of
Speaker 1: success you've had.
Speaker 4: So I really just replicated church. And there's an arc
Speaker 4: to every church service. You have typically the beginning praise
Speaker 4: and worship, and they set in the tune for like choir,
Speaker 4: and then they're going up a notch, and then you
Speaker 4: get to the sermon, which again is high, but.
Speaker 2: It's also low.
Speaker 4: But then they build up their sermon to end on
Speaker 4: like a crescendo of shouting praise or an organ going
Speaker 4: they're tithes and off a mixture. You know they're not
Speaker 4: on a high too, and then they get out of there.
Speaker 4: And so I was just over talking. When I first
Speaker 4: started out, I did not understand how to translate this movement,
Speaker 4: which is choir directing, where I didn't have the microphone
Speaker 4: into where to pick my spots.
Speaker 2: And then that was when it became.
Speaker 4: Clear and I had hired previous hosts, and I just
Speaker 4: felt like the vibe wasn't the same as when I
Speaker 4: did it. And then I had even like brought in
Speaker 4: artists and things, and I didn't in my opinion, the
Speaker 4: artists had done very very well. But patrons will respond
Speaker 4: on our page and say, hey, we prefer the party
Speaker 4: with just you. Then that was a nice to have,
Speaker 4: And I was like, wait a minute, Okay, we really
Speaker 4: need to like lock in and understand what this experience
Speaker 4: is for the people and continue and consistently deliver that.
Speaker 4: So what that ultimately looked like was us building a
Speaker 4: crescendo of moments, us taking you on a musical journey.
Speaker 2: Not to not certain songs too early, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 4: It just build up to a point where we're doing
Speaker 4: that sing along where we're on that nostalgic moment of
Speaker 4: you and your tens, your twenties of Terrence J and
Speaker 4: Rocks on one O six in Park, or if you
Speaker 4: were older like me, you know what I mean, freeing
Speaker 4: age one Park and all the songs that you have
Speaker 4: memorized because we were all at home together, like bringing
Speaker 4: you to that moment and then you know, get getting
Speaker 4: you out of there on a high note, you know,
Speaker 4: going gospel. So it was important to like learn what
Speaker 4: that looked like and to understand that you could control
Speaker 4: the vibe of the party without speaking. And that's when
Speaker 4: it went back to that choir director mindset. So it
Speaker 4: was like picking spots, let them do the talking.
Speaker 2: I choose to like pick and choose.
Speaker 4: Now it's about like forty five minutes that I'm really
Speaker 4: trying to heavily be on the mic, But early on
Speaker 4: it's like greeting people like your ushers. I go around
Speaker 4: every party, you know, back when we were first starting out,
Speaker 4: and even now we still do it.
Speaker 2: My wife and I.
Speaker 4: We meet everybody, we say thank you so much for
Speaker 4: coming out, the same way you would at church, make
Speaker 4: them feel welcomed at home. People don't ask me these questions,
Speaker 4: so this is great. But secondarily, we used to do
Speaker 4: it because we didn't want them to leave. Because if
Speaker 4: you had like a group of four that didn't think
Speaker 4: the party was going to be popping, and they left.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2: Stay Yeah.
Speaker 4: As a mechanism but now it's just you set you usher,
Speaker 4: feeling the bob early on to get people to have
Speaker 4: self facilitate the party.
Speaker 1: I love that because you know, I'm one of those
Speaker 1: people when I go to an event, like I'm looking
Speaker 1: at the logistics if I'm looking at the tresses that's
Speaker 1: holding the lights, and you know how they weren't in
Speaker 1: the wires? Are the wires? Neat are they just ran
Speaker 1: up there? And I was paying attention to you. I
Speaker 1: was on stage last year afro Tech for the while
Speaker 1: at Andrew Hill, and so I'm watching you on stage
Speaker 1: and I'm paying attention to the level of excellence and
Speaker 1: perfection that you were operating in. And there was as
Speaker 1: an attendee, they wouldn't notice that a certain drop didn't
Speaker 1: land when you wanted it to land. But I saw
Speaker 1: you go off on the DJ. No shade to the DJ.
Speaker 1: But I'm watching you like here's things and see things.
Speaker 1: I'm watching you like, you know, getting ready to go
Speaker 1: in because you you're noticing things. And this is gonna
Speaker 1: lead to a question. I don't know what the question is,
Speaker 1: but I just want you to speak to this, like
Speaker 1: what are you seeing in or what are you feeling?
Speaker 1: In the space that says, you know what, bro, you
Speaker 1: gotta feel me because this is there's something about the
Speaker 1: preacher like you got to know when the organ should drive,
Speaker 1: and you got to know when the organ is supposed
Speaker 1: to drive, and so he speak to this.
Speaker 4: So, you know, six or seven years into curating these spaces,
Speaker 4: like it's to get to that point where you feel
Speaker 4: highly likely that almost every person, almost like every single person,
Speaker 4: almost every person in that event is going to have
Speaker 4: a great time. That build up, you got to hit
Speaker 4: the marks to get that build up, to build that nostalgia,
Speaker 4: and so I'm extremely meticulous when it comes to that.
Speaker 4: And when we think about the future of livet the
Speaker 4: house party and the music festival, Like even that Afrotech
Speaker 4: event that you're mentioning.
Speaker 2: I lost my voice. I was supposed to host the
Speaker 2: entire night.
Speaker 4: I couldn't, but it actually unlocked something that you know,
Speaker 4: I hadn't leaned into heavily, which was like being an
Speaker 4: executive producer.
Speaker 2: I pretty much eped that event.
Speaker 4: And now along with the Blavity team, we're excited to
Speaker 4: executive produce this festival for everybody that's locked into culture,
Speaker 4: that's locked into the musicality, musicality and the diverse, you know,
Speaker 4: plate of songs and artistry that we all have grown
Speaker 4: to love. So that level of meticulousness that I was
Speaker 4: bringing to R and B House Party, Like, it's a
Speaker 4: level of meticulousness that Afrotech has with all of.
Speaker 2: The events in the Wilde event.
Speaker 4: There's level of meticulousness that you have with this podcast
Speaker 4: in your posting on stage. So I think that we
Speaker 4: really really fit well with each other to you know,
Speaker 4: understand the needs and put the people at the forthfile.
Speaker 4: It wasn't about my ego. It was about making sure
Speaker 4: that we gave the people what they wanted.
Speaker 3: When I was sorry, nobody was like you were going off,
Speaker 3: But if you were on stage, you saw I saw it.
Speaker 2: I saw it.
Speaker 1: I fell for him a little bit, I'm like, but yeah,
Speaker 1: but he took it like a champ. He took it
Speaker 1: like a chimp.
Speaker 2: He's just.
Speaker 1: And so one of the things, and I do encourage
Speaker 1: everybody who is not listening to your podcast with Morgan
Speaker 1: Debond on the Journey that you should go listen to
Speaker 1: that podcast because you talk about some things. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to step on those questions, but there are things
Speaker 1: I want to follow on to. But you talked about
Speaker 1: getting acquired and having to learn how to get acquired,
Speaker 1: and most people, if you ever get acquired, it happens
Speaker 1: once in your life, and so it's kind of one
Speaker 1: of those things that you got to do right and
Speaker 1: you're only going to do it one time ever, And
Speaker 1: so how did you learn how to get acquired? So
Speaker 1: you were asking the right questions, the right call outs
Speaker 1: in the contract, were picking your interest in et cetera.
Speaker 4: So first I was respectful smart enough to know what
Speaker 4: I did not know, and we put together that's me
Speaker 4: and Kareem, my business partner for our house party c
Speaker 4: or A team. Uh he has his NBA. I graduated,
Speaker 4: but we were like no, no, no, no, no. You see
Speaker 4: what's called a due diligence checklist and it was the
Speaker 4: most robust, in depth but naked document I have ever
Speaker 4: had to fill out my life.
Speaker 2: Like you know.
Speaker 4: I actually got a chance to meet Wasser, who is
Speaker 4: the chief business officer here, maybe a week into being acquired.
Speaker 4: He was like, hey, Charles, nice to meet you. I said, no,
Speaker 4: it's not nice to meet you. You know everything my
Speaker 4: social Security numbers give me. But that's the level of
Speaker 4: depth that you had to go into. And so the
Speaker 4: team that I put together, I'll give some per sistent people. No,
Speaker 4: my account want played a huge role in the acquisition.
Speaker 4: My lawyer, my my counsel played a huge role in
Speaker 4: the acquisition in terms of breadlining and getting and explaining
Speaker 4: all of the legal terms from all the different contracting components.
Speaker 2: And then I had an.
Speaker 4: Acquisition consultant who was able to do research on like
Speaker 4: what this acquisition looks like, what comps look like, and
Speaker 4: all of that for us to be able to properly
Speaker 4: valuate what we thought the brand was worth on the
Speaker 4: asset was worth. And then obviously we had conversations with
Speaker 4: Poverty about where they thought the asset was worked in
Speaker 4: Lower air Landed and then coming to the middle of
Speaker 4: how we both can walk away from this fielding real
Speaker 4: good about moving forward.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned, you know, when you first started to
Speaker 1: brost these conversations, like your business was kind of all over,
Speaker 1: like your documents were everywhere. Things were not because you
Speaker 1: weren't planning to be acquired. You weren't building a business
Speaker 1: to be acquired. Talbot talk about the bridge between having
Speaker 1: stuff all over the place to having it in a
Speaker 1: format that you can actually deliver it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so the term is called data will and shout
Speaker 4: out to my account USAIO, a big copple of account.
Speaker 2: He might have listed his name, but you could look
Speaker 2: at Mosiah.
Speaker 4: He had been preaching to me about a data room
Speaker 4: for multiple years. But being CEO slash host, which are
Speaker 4: two completely different whole side has me on the road
Speaker 4: literally seventy percent of every weekend, I will and CEO
Speaker 4: side the planning of the events. Like I'm very very
Speaker 4: much in the weeds. From the experience standpoint as well.
Speaker 4: That type of stuff, I don't really care. But when
Speaker 4: it came to, you know, a company doing their due
Speaker 4: diligence on you, I wish I would have cared when
Speaker 4: he told me to care two years ago, and had
Speaker 4: that stuff in order, and had all of our partners outline,
Speaker 4: and had all of our you know, P and L
Speaker 4: in order gross versus net and all of that. What
Speaker 4: I really cared about, what my business partner really cared about,
Speaker 4: was our net profit because that was what we were
Speaker 4: able to take home our business partners. But gross top line,
Speaker 4: that is a very important metric for companies, and we
Speaker 4: were oftentimes not you know, leaning into doing things that
Speaker 4: we're going to help us at the top line, but
Speaker 4: doing things that we're going to, you know, help us
Speaker 4: from a net profit perspective.
Speaker 2: So just really.
Speaker 4: Understanding that balance with something that we needed to do,
Speaker 4: and we just had to get our business in order.
Speaker 2: There the very quickly.
Speaker 4: The bill took place very quick, but we were both
Speaker 4: motivated to make it happen. But I would just say
Speaker 4: to somebody who was even starting out their entrepreneurial journey,
Speaker 4: had get your ROC now, get your business credit card.
Speaker 2: Now, don't file.
Speaker 4: Your taxes as an individual, like have your entity separate
Speaker 4: from your person.
Speaker 2: It was a mess four or five years ago.
Speaker 4: Then it got better after I paid the government a
Speaker 4: lot of money, but it still wasn't to the level
Speaker 4: that it needed to be for like an acquisition.
Speaker 2: So I would just say, take care of your business.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you are very much R and B House Party,
Speaker 1: and therefore you are very much Blackvity House Party like
Speaker 1: you're It's kind of like the acquisition of a personal brand.
Speaker 1: Because you talked about when you were building R and
Speaker 1: B House Party befre that people were going to the
Speaker 1: party because they wanted to know if you were there,
Speaker 1: and so when you're being acquired. You know, I've talked
Speaker 1: to so many founders who are who will talk about
Speaker 1: the dismay of being a when you're the when you're
Speaker 1: the face of it, how hard that is to sell
Speaker 1: it because you're a human being. Can you talk about
Speaker 1: and you still have other things? I mean, you've got
Speaker 1: you know for better best podcast that you're still a
Speaker 1: personal brand and so can you talk about the pathway
Speaker 1: for very much a personality driven brand in an acquisition
Speaker 1: type of landscape.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I think that in an acquisition landscape, the
Speaker 4: personal brand it's actually worked in my favor. And it
Speaker 4: worked in my favor because you know, Blavity Morgan executive
Speaker 4: team could see me fitting into the culture. This was
Speaker 4: just going to be I said, purchase agreement hard stop,
Speaker 4: thank you for what you did before. Now we take
Speaker 4: it to the next level independent of view. You know,
Speaker 4: that is what could have been the call out if
Speaker 4: the personality or the person didn't fit with the overall
Speaker 4: company's brand value. So I'm just appreciative and grateful that
Speaker 4: they saw, you know, who I was, you know, in
Speaker 4: my previous roles as a leader in tech across recruiting
Speaker 4: and the partnerships.
Speaker 2: They saw that as a value add to an organization.
Speaker 4: How I operated as a CEO to manage my business
Speaker 4: and secure brand partnerships and you know, to mortgage point say,
Speaker 4: one of the hardest work of people that she's met,
Speaker 4: which is a compliment, but you know, a second nature
Speaker 4: to me because I really really cared, cared about all
Speaker 4: the things that I did in tech to enable people
Speaker 4: to get jobs. I cared about every experience that we
Speaker 4: curated with the R and B House Party, and so
Speaker 4: it made a lot of sense to bring the person
Speaker 4: with the brand. And I'm just really excited about what
Speaker 4: the future looks like. You know, now being under the umbrella,
Speaker 4: I feel like there's an army, you know, what happens,
Speaker 4: all aligned to create these experiences for people, versus just me,
Speaker 4: my business partner and the great, great, great team that
Speaker 4: helped build R and.
Speaker 1: B House Party or what it was, and now being
Speaker 1: the director of Community of Blavity. So there had to
Speaker 1: be conversations around, Okay, there's there could be one day
Speaker 1: where Charles is not the guy out there on stage
Speaker 1: one day, So how do you continue to build this
Speaker 1: thing so where you're still a so where you can
Speaker 1: build in the in the interim, like this is based
Speaker 1: on Charles Beloved, you know, coming along, but there's there's
Speaker 1: a day two years, five years, twenty years away that
Speaker 1: it's not going to be Charles.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that makes that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 4: And it's already not Charles. This is Glavity House Party.
Speaker 4: And that even you know, to some degree, had to
Speaker 4: be an ego cham Like, this is not Charles's baby anymore.
Speaker 4: This is Glavity House Party. We're opening up the demographic
Speaker 4: of you know, people that fall under what we're looking
Speaker 4: for from our experiences.
Speaker 2: From an inclusive standpoint.
Speaker 4: It was a silo community that we were trying to
Speaker 4: really attract. Now we've opened that up and we think
Speaker 4: that with the things that we're able to do, everybody
Speaker 4: can benefit and have a great time at the experiences
Speaker 4: that we ultimately curate. But in this seat now it's
Speaker 4: general maiged community. It's really all about the community. It's
Speaker 4: about the community of DJs that exist that we can
Speaker 4: amplify through the things that we do. It's the community
Speaker 4: of hosts who have so many different styles that can
Speaker 4: add value to the events that we care about to do.
Speaker 4: It is the community of music and the diversity of
Speaker 4: music have been gone and done events and Ghana. You
Speaker 4: gotta me feel like I'm preaching. I told you'll can
Speaker 4: build it up, you know what I mean. I'm an
Speaker 4: Afro peace the great game. My wife is you know,
Speaker 4: from Antigua and Jamaica, what type of music do they love?
Speaker 2: Soca and all that.
Speaker 4: I'm anovilist, But to celebrate all of those cultures in
Speaker 4: the constructs of what's to come, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: But still having that r and beat, you know, that's
Speaker 4: my bread and butt of that gospel.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's my bread and But we want to open
Speaker 2: it up.
Speaker 4: And so I'm excited that in this role, you know,
Speaker 4: we will have the opportunity to ultimately create new avenues
Speaker 4: and highlight other people. It is no longer the beloved show,
Speaker 4: and I'm really excited about what that.
Speaker 2: Could look like.
Speaker 1: There's this quote I found that I'm going to read back,
Speaker 1: and it's something you said a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: and it made sense because speaking to what we're talking
Speaker 1: about today, and you said, the biggest challenge that I've
Speaker 1: had to overcome was fear. I think a lot of us,
Speaker 1: myself included approach problems with a high level of caution.
Speaker 1: When you overcome that fear and try something new, you
Speaker 1: get a whole new perspective and a whole different set
Speaker 1: of learnings and options become available because you tried. But
Speaker 1: if you just never actually step out on faith and
Speaker 1: actually do something where you already know what not doing
Speaker 1: looks like. So overcoming fear is something very very hard
Speaker 1: to do. That's something you said, Yeah, yeah, you said that. Wow,
Speaker 1: So you said that, and so I want to I
Speaker 1: want to bring that that quote up under the guise
Speaker 1: of getting acquired, because there's you know, when you're building
Speaker 1: a company, particularly a lifestyle thing, to whereas you you
Speaker 1: may have some of your homies, some of your people
Speaker 1: that grew up with you working with you, and then
Speaker 1: somebody wants it. You're like, there's a part of you,
Speaker 1: this side that wants the bag. Yeah, but there's also
Speaker 1: a part that's like romantic about the thing that you built.
Speaker 1: You're like, this is my baby. And so that fear
Speaker 1: that what is that internal dialogue like where you're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I like the number you presented me with, but how
Speaker 1: am I going to let go of this thing?
Speaker 2: Mm hmmm.
Speaker 4: So to that end, it was important that I actually
Speaker 4: heavily leaned on where that initial quote came from, which is,
Speaker 4: you know, the birth of R and B House party
Speaker 4: and the fear that came of doing something new, or
Speaker 4: the fear that came with the career change from working
Speaker 4: in finance to you know, taking an agency recruiter job
Speaker 4: that paid me less than my internships when I was
Speaker 4: you know, five years into my career. I leaned on that,
Speaker 4: and it was if we look at the brand five
Speaker 4: years from now, and I look at my career five
Speaker 4: years from now, I know what this path looks like.
Speaker 4: I mean, tech was laid off that there were another roles.
Speaker 4: There were other opportunities that could come. You get you know,
Speaker 4: your marginal increase in salary, you get a higher level
Speaker 4: that equity package increasing slightly. But then there was like
Speaker 4: this other path of being a P and L owner,
Speaker 4: being general manager community, doing things that are literally the
Speaker 4: most authentic to the twenty four hour charles of the
Speaker 4: entire day and learning under the tutelage of a Morgan
Speaker 4: Debond and a small White and you know, being on
Speaker 4: the back end of afrotech that I love as a product,
Speaker 4: Like what does five years of that look so personally
Speaker 4: hate when people say it wasn't about the money that
Speaker 4: let me.
Speaker 2: Be clear, I would fix my mouth to say that.
Speaker 4: But the value pop for me for us to be
Speaker 4: able to get to the finish line was the money,
Speaker 4: honestly with secondary for me, what me and my business
Speaker 4: partner were extremely after was knowing like, hey, there's some
Speaker 4: point we're not gonna be able to do this experience
Speaker 4: in the way that it was, and that means it's
Speaker 4: either gonna phase out, that means that we're gonna have
Speaker 4: to shift it. But there was a shift that was
Speaker 4: going to need to ultimately take place. And what better
Speaker 4: way for that to have taken place than an opportunity
Speaker 4: for our community to be able to get this experience
Speaker 4: on a ten X level of a music festival and
Speaker 4: then secondarily from a career side, the role was just
Speaker 4: literally from day one, the minute that you mentioned it,
Speaker 4: where I saw as the next step for my life,
Speaker 4: my career that the role was a yes.
Speaker 2: From the first call, it was getting through all the
Speaker 2: other people.
Speaker 1: So talk to me about you said, this deal happened quick,
Speaker 1: So talk to me like, what, like what the milestones
Speaker 1: look like when you're putting from that first DM to
Speaker 1: the day where you both signed off.
Speaker 2: What does that? What do those mile markers look like?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so initially you know the conversation. Then it was like, Okay,
Speaker 4: we're going to figure this out. I'll introduce you to
Speaker 4: my cheap business off for Sir watsap, and then he
Speaker 4: sent the due diligence checklist. So I was like quite
Speaker 4: quite quiet on social for a while, but because I
Speaker 4: was literally putting in twenty four hour days to get
Speaker 4: all of that stuff together. So it took about a
Speaker 4: week of many sleepless nights on my accountant, myself, my
Speaker 4: business partner are consultant to figure out all the documents
Speaker 4: that needed to be in place to be able to
Speaker 4: present back so that Blobary could then do their due
Speaker 4: diligence to see if this was something that they did
Speaker 4: actually want, and so went through that the NBA and
Speaker 4: then from that point we were able to trying to
Speaker 4: transition into actually determining what the value of the asset
Speaker 4: was and negotiations. Negotiations took a while because this was
Speaker 4: quite the complex deal A because it was going to
Speaker 4: include an employment contract for me, meaning that there was
Speaker 4: not going to be Charles doing his tech job, and
Speaker 4: then this on the side.
Speaker 2: This was now going to be my full time role.
Speaker 4: I have a lot of things happening as Charles Beloved
Speaker 4: the influencer, and then there was a separation that needed
Speaker 4: to take place between Charles Beloved the talent and Charles
Speaker 4: Beloved the host of R and B House Party, in
Speaker 4: which I used R and B House Party interchangeably with
Speaker 4: myself since I went to every event under the construct
Speaker 4: of the now Blobbery House Party.
Speaker 2: My role is to produce it.
Speaker 4: But not necessarily be talent at it, and so we
Speaker 4: had to like segment those two and then price out
Speaker 4: what that looked like and then that I said, outside
Speaker 4: of me being a talent. So it was extremely complex
Speaker 4: to make all these different pieces make sense. That part
Speaker 4: probably took an additional week and a half, but we
Speaker 4: were I mean, Morgan was working twenty four seven. Whys
Speaker 4: was working twenty four seven because I would take me
Speaker 4: a few days to come back, and I'm sure she
Speaker 4: was like, what's taking someone with texting men just like, bro,
Speaker 4: what's up? And I'm trying to get advice. We're creating
Speaker 4: this document. And then once we actually got to it,
Speaker 4: the actual negotiations happened there very fast because we were
Speaker 4: both motivated. She understood what the value prop of you know,
Speaker 4: I was trying to get for myself and my shareholder Kareem,
Speaker 4: as well as.
Speaker 2: You know, understanding what the future needed to look like for.
Speaker 4: Us to still be incentivized to build this into what
Speaker 4: we think it has potential to be. Then everything worked out,
Speaker 4: but we just had to be silent because we had
Speaker 4: to do it. It was suppress release. So I was
Speaker 4: actually like, they're working already, no one knew.
Speaker 2: She was like, Charles, please do not go out other
Speaker 2: people until oppress rely. So then when I was able
Speaker 2: to happen, it was an exciting day.
Speaker 4: One more piece though, is that you know, I think
Speaker 4: we undervalued or didn't really put enough stock into what
Speaker 4: people would think about this collaboration coming together. I thought
Speaker 4: it was a great call, not just personally, but for
Speaker 4: the brand and for the people and for you know,
Speaker 4: the people that we serve, which is our patrons.
Speaker 2: But it was a lot of positive feedback about a.
Speaker 4: Black owned entity acquiring another black entity, about what collaboration
Speaker 4: looks like. Promoters thinking of saying, hey, there's a new
Speaker 4: pathway that we didn't even know existed for the things
Speaker 4: that we're building from people to I mean, it blew
Speaker 4: my mind how positive people felt about im. Obviously, I'm
Speaker 4: sure some people that was like, no, horrible idea, and
Speaker 4: I get that, but you know, we're excited for the
Speaker 4: opportunity to try and.
Speaker 2: Prove that this was the right call. As people were saying.
Speaker 1: Afro Tech is a global gathering where inclusive tech companies
Speaker 1: meet innovat It's the only tech event you.
Speaker 2: Need all year.
Speaker 1: Get ready for Afrotech twenty twenty three in Austin, Texas,
Speaker 1: November first through the fifth. We built a whole temper
Speaker 1: you can use to help you get your employer to
Speaker 1: sponsor your trip and enjoy experiences built for every stage
Speaker 1: your career. Whether you're a college student looking for your
Speaker 1: next internship, or if you work in Avention Capital looking
Speaker 1: for your next business to invest in, and if you're
Speaker 1: looking for a co founder or people that's join your team,
Speaker 1: there's no better place to be. The massive corporate layoffs
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three have affected
Speaker 1: our community in a big way. An afro Tech wants
Speaker 1: to help you get back on your feet with skill development,
Speaker 1: making it easier to switch industries.
Speaker 2: If that's your route.
Speaker 1: In an afrotech, you'll make connections to help you get
Speaker 1: your next opportunity. Visit afrotech dot com slash conference to
Speaker 1: learn more. Is you've used the phrase here on that
Speaker 1: you know Blavity boughten asset and you've not said Blavity
Speaker 1: bought a company. Can you talk about the difference between
Speaker 1: buying the assets and buying a company, which Blavity didn't do.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So when Morgan and Shama business as all over the place,
Speaker 4: we had two LLC's that kind of I want to
Speaker 4: say co manage the brand of R and B House Party.
Speaker 4: It's made a little bit more difficult. So we have
Speaker 4: the Quest LLC, which Kareem and I started, and we use.
Speaker 2: That as the housing for R and B House Party.
Speaker 4: I also have Charles Kirkandaal LLC, which ultimately we pivoted
Speaker 4: R and B House Party two. But I was operating
Speaker 4: all of my individual Charles Beloved things out of that LLC.
Speaker 4: So the money without her, you know, spilling my dirty
Speaker 4: laundry was all mixed in because I had influencer stuff,
Speaker 4: brand partnerships, I had hosting stuff, stuff, and R and
Speaker 4: B house party revenue all going into you know, the
Speaker 4: same LLC, So that would have been a purchase of
Speaker 4: the company.
Speaker 2: Charles kirkandaal LLC. She said, I don't want that be.
Speaker 4: Very clear, but the asset purchase agreement was like the
Speaker 4: logo purchasing, the licensing, the e mail list serve, purchasing
Speaker 4: our website domain. So just all things that were R
Speaker 4: and B house party specific that could be transferred of
Speaker 4: ownership is well. Ultimately the APA asset purchase agreement was purchasing.
Speaker 2: No, I love that.
Speaker 1: The elephant in the room is how you guys are friends,
Speaker 1: you know, and so how do you go to the
Speaker 1: negotiating table against somebody that you know previous pre pregnancy,
Speaker 1: like you might have a drink with and you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, and so you know, how do you
Speaker 1: do that?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was it was very tough. I know I
Speaker 4: had a lot of frustrated days. I'm sure she had
Speaker 4: a number of frustrated days. And you know, working with
Speaker 4: friends is always like what's the word, A touchy, touchy
Speaker 4: topic girl, and maybe even discussing something that you should
Speaker 4: not do. I actually disagree with that for a number
Speaker 4: of reasons. But primarily I think that doing business with
Speaker 4: your friends when you both have interry and how moral
Speaker 4: compass and you know how.
Speaker 2: A shared vision is the greatest.
Speaker 4: Kareem is my business partner and also my best friend,
Speaker 4: and we have operated great and sure we get frustrated
Speaker 4: with each other. That makes sense, and so on my
Speaker 4: operatings with Morgan. It wasn't like this is the first
Speaker 4: thing that we ever did together. We have four years
Speaker 4: of partnering with Blivity and R and B House Party
Speaker 4: as entities, also seeing success with the collaborations, but also
Speaker 4: going through the growing pains of the yes is the
Speaker 4: nose the disappointment. And so I think from my own
Speaker 4: personal purview, Morgan has always had my best interests at part.
Speaker 2: Now in this deal she had blobdy.
Speaker 4: Art, But I couldnot lose sight of that every single
Speaker 4: thing that we have done as business entities, as Blivity
Speaker 4: and as R and B House Party has benefited me exponentially.
Speaker 4: So I knew the collaboration would work and just understanding like, hey,
Speaker 4: it was never Charles Morgan thing. It was a business
Speaker 4: thing and a business thing, and that was how we
Speaker 4: were able to get to the table and work together.
Speaker 2: But our moving forward relationship.
Speaker 4: I have worked with all the personalities you could possibly
Speaker 4: think of, and Morgan is a phenomenal CEO. I'm excited
Speaker 4: to learn so much from her and the other executives
Speaker 4: in this organization. But we keep the friendship separate. We
Speaker 4: get frustrated with each other more. I'm gonna tell you
Speaker 4: an example. Morgan asked the R and B House party,
Speaker 4: or to say, block the ass RMB House party, to
Speaker 4: produce happy hours in the pandemic at three different times
Speaker 4: across three different locations.
Speaker 5: And I listen what I need to three pm, LA,
Speaker 5: five pm Chicago, six pm New York, exact same time,
Speaker 5: same video needed to play in three different me I said,
Speaker 5: she's nuts, that's crazy now.
Speaker 2: So I referenced that, like she's a.
Speaker 4: Visionary, I believe in doing the work and to that
Speaker 4: we're gonna be able to make anything.
Speaker 2: Of benefit in the community.
Speaker 1: And so, you know, I've heard these stories of tech
Speaker 1: companies particularly but companies in general, when they get acquired,
Speaker 1: they call these big all hands meetings, get everybody in
Speaker 1: the room so everybody can hear, the whole staff can hear,
Speaker 1: and then there's questions about what okay, what happens to
Speaker 1: us based on you know, this us selling to this
Speaker 1: other thing. What happens to the team that you built?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great that you asked that.
Speaker 4: And so from an ownership perspective, you know, I was
Speaker 4: an owner along with my wife and then Kareem equity
Speaker 4: owner and started a sweat equity and earned the opportunity
Speaker 4: to be the partner of R and B House Party
Speaker 4: and just a strong business mind Michigan NBA owner of
Speaker 4: a you know, a Chip fil A.
Speaker 2: He's just phenomenal guy. And I couldn't have gotten to
Speaker 2: this point without them.
Speaker 4: So I want to say that now R and B
Speaker 4: House Party is the DJs, is the team that has
Speaker 4: just helped us get to this point. And so while
Speaker 4: they were not a part of the acquisition in terms
Speaker 4: of like becoming employees of Livity, I think the opportunities
Speaker 4: for them with me in this community role are endless.
Speaker 4: You know, the number of events that we could do,
Speaker 4: the visibility of those events go ten next. So when
Speaker 4: you think about, you know, having the stage of twenty
Speaker 4: three hundred people at Drew Hill versus having the stage
Speaker 4: of ten thousand plus, I'm gonna say plus at the
Speaker 4: Music festival, we're able to further amplify their work. The photographers, Hey,
Speaker 4: you you only doing the seventeen events a year that
Speaker 4: you know I can do on the weekends. Now you
Speaker 4: can do thatfro text you can you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: So it's just way more opportunity for me to be
Speaker 4: able to bring them along in this seat without it
Speaker 4: getting to a stop data just saying hey, I no
Speaker 4: longer want to do this, this is the end. Like,
Speaker 4: the opportunities for the team are endless, and to amplify
Speaker 4: the amazing things that they were doing for R and
Speaker 4: B House Party, now they could do it for the
Speaker 4: Liberty House Party and maybe even for all these other
Speaker 4: brands that we're going to bring in to be a
Speaker 4: part of this system and community.
Speaker 1: If you hadn't lost your job, would you have considered
Speaker 1: an acquisition?
Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely, I absolutely would have considered the acquisition I did.
Speaker 2: I do not know that I.
Speaker 4: Would have wanted to do the full time thing, because
Speaker 4: everyone asked me, they were like, Okay, we see the
Speaker 4: trajectory of R and B.
Speaker 2: This is the Lord pushing you to do R and
Speaker 2: B House Party full time.
Speaker 4: And every time somebody said that, I said, absolutely not
Speaker 4: because I love what my role was at my previous company.
Speaker 4: I loved the career that I had in tech. So
Speaker 4: this was very unique for me to be able to
Speaker 4: steal essentially do that, but on the other side, not
Speaker 4: the client side, but on the afrotech side, to create
Speaker 4: these experiences, to assist in getting people jobs and creating
Speaker 4: the spaces for all of that to take place.
Speaker 2: That's what I love.
Speaker 4: It did not feel like work to me, and so
Speaker 4: I still get that aspect, plus being able to do
Speaker 4: the efense stuff for R and B or now Black
Speaker 4: House Party. And so when I tell you, it was
Speaker 4: the fine alignment for this to have been the opportunity
Speaker 4: for this to have been the company, because if it
Speaker 4: were another company that was interested, I probably would have
Speaker 4: been open to selling that I said, but not like
Speaker 4: working there full time.
Speaker 2: I wanted to work here. It was very clear. I
Speaker 2: was like, well, a month more, what we're doing outside?
Speaker 4: You actually posted a photo from old last acrotechnic video
Speaker 4: because I actually took.
Speaker 2: The photo of all of you all yeah, yeah, yes,
Speaker 2: and I had Phonemos sitting there. I have Phon because
Speaker 2: I'm still why I wasn't in the photo. I'm not
Speaker 2: a black employee. I was the one that ye have
Speaker 2: those my homies.
Speaker 1: Out here out here. I'm excited, and so I think
Speaker 1: this is a good time to being to bring up
Speaker 1: Queen Charen because the partnership there. You guys have talked
Speaker 1: about this on your you know, for better or best,
Speaker 1: and I think it's important and there's something here because
Speaker 1: you know, I wouldn't be at Blavity afro Tech if
Speaker 1: it wasn't for my wife. And so when I went
Speaker 1: to my second afro Tech, I took my wife with
Speaker 1: me because.
Speaker 2: I'm like, you've got to see this thing.
Speaker 1: And at the end of it, she's like, wonderful, great,
Speaker 1: all the things. You should not come back unless you're
Speaker 1: on stage, and I'm like, how am I going to
Speaker 1: get on that stage? And so, to make a long
Speaker 1: story short, I'm like, all right, but challenge accepted. That's
Speaker 1: what she said. I'm gonna figure it out. So I
Speaker 1: put a picture of that, that last afrotech on my
Speaker 1: vision board, and every day I woke up and I
Speaker 1: saw the thing on my dresser and I said, by
Speaker 1: the time they opened up speaker proposals, I'm gonna apply.
Speaker 1: When they put up the speaker proposals. I actually got
Speaker 1: an email and said, hey, we actually want you to
Speaker 1: run it, and so I wouldn't have had the vision
Speaker 1: if my wife hadn't called that out. And you talked
Speaker 1: about your journey like your wife saw it, and she
Speaker 1: saw R and B House Party and you before you
Speaker 1: saw it, and therefore you're here now doing Blavity house party.
Speaker 1: So can you talk about the importance of that partnership
Speaker 1: and what it brought out of you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I would just say a having a partner,
Speaker 4: whether that is through marriage or friendship, that's able to
Speaker 4: see your blind spots, because it was a blind spot
Speaker 4: for me to know that I could monetize my energy.
Speaker 4: And that's literally what R and B House Party was
Speaker 4: was a monetization of the energy that I bring into
Speaker 4: the world. And I was going to other people's events,
Speaker 4: literally going viral on Snapchat and whatever medium was popping
Speaker 4: at that time, like this guy's in the circle dance
Speaker 4: that through it all, kicking heads and all of that.
Speaker 4: And she's like, you're going to these other people's events
Speaker 4: and making a popping. The promoter's like, are you coming?
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, Making sure you're in the
Speaker 4: building because the parties on another level. When you're in
Speaker 4: the building, you need to create your own and so
Speaker 4: that blind spot and being able to listen to it,
Speaker 4: being able to have a part of that say, hey,
Speaker 4: we're willing to put up our money, you know what
Speaker 4: I mean. Like obviously the first time we did it,
Speaker 4: you know, we just got five dollars ahead. But when
Speaker 4: it came to touring, when it came to expansion, it
Speaker 4: was out of our personal savings account. We saving for
Speaker 4: we saving for homes where you know, having kids and
Speaker 4: having a partner that really truly believed in what it was.
Speaker 2: That she had built with me was key.
Speaker 4: And when we get to you know, the partnerships with
Speaker 4: our protech and things of that nature, it was like, hey,
Speaker 4: she put the battery in my back to be able
Speaker 4: to take risks and be comfortable with risks.
Speaker 2: She works every day. She's genuinely a queen. She's a boss.
Speaker 4: Even when I was let go on a random, you know,
Speaker 4: Wednesday in June, I didn't think about, thank God, about us,
Speaker 4: you know, losing our house or anything. This wanting to
Speaker 4: go to work every day, she getting paved. Let me
Speaker 4: just figure it out. I didn't have to worry, and
Speaker 4: so that's just truly, truly, truly a blessing. And without
Speaker 4: her none of this is possible. Well, I can't travel
Speaker 4: seventeen weekends twenty weekends out the year without someone taking
Speaker 4: care of managing our children and managing our household. And
Speaker 4: she does that on top of her job. So I
Speaker 4: spoil her as best I possibly can. She says, this
Speaker 4: money is.
Speaker 2: Part of this. I'm not going now far now, wal.
Speaker 1: But so I want to end this talking about where
Speaker 1: Blavity House Party is going. But I'm going to preface
Speaker 1: it with something you've said before, and I love it
Speaker 1: because our generation has not had its own time, Joiner,
Speaker 1: And I think that's a beautiful thing that you've had
Speaker 1: that vision for yourself. Like you know, I want to
Speaker 1: get bigger than just parties. I want to do cruises.
Speaker 1: I want to do concert series, all these things, and
Speaker 1: this provides that jet fuel. So where is Blavity House
Speaker 1: Party going?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And where's the community of Glavity going too?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, you know, the goals of blab the house party
Speaker 4: is to celebrate culture and connect communities. And that nission
Speaker 4: statement that has yet to roll out publicly, what you
Speaker 4: always see soon is because that is the ultimate goal.
Speaker 4: It's not about us, it's really about we. And there
Speaker 4: are you know a lot of festivals events on the market,
Speaker 4: and they're all phenomenal.
Speaker 2: I go to them.
Speaker 4: But we're excited to kind of step into that space
Speaker 4: as well and bring something new with the different value proposition,
Speaker 4: a unique market positioning to this space and this space
Speaker 4: for everybody. And so what we're trying to do is
Speaker 4: again that musical diversity that makes everybody feel inclusive, that
Speaker 4: celebrates all the different you know, makeups and backgrounds of
Speaker 4: a community. I've always from a recruitment perspective and that's
Speaker 4: like my subject.
Speaker 2: Out of expertise.
Speaker 4: They say, hey, it's diversity of ethnicity, but it's diversity
Speaker 4: of thought.
Speaker 2: I'm from the Shah, you're from toll House. Talk to me,
Speaker 2: you know what.
Speaker 4: And we have soul got different minds even under this
Speaker 4: ecosystem of having some familiarity.
Speaker 2: And so it's just excited to be able to build for.
Speaker 4: That and across these tent pole moments that we have
Speaker 4: grown to love and enjoy. NBA All Star Games, we're
Speaker 4: talking about sports, Grammys, We're talking about music potentially our boss,
Speaker 4: We're talking about art, and fashion. We're able to curate
Speaker 4: this experience that is about you, that is about inclusiveness
Speaker 4: and the ecosystem that's already created things that you know,
Speaker 4: this broad demographic is excited about. So we're excited to
Speaker 4: just keep it about the community, about the people, and
Speaker 4: create this music festival and then this road map of
Speaker 4: times that we can have touch points and just have
Speaker 4: self facilitated.
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money is a production to Blavity afro
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effect podcast network at Night Heart
Speaker 1: Medium and it's produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas,
Speaker 1: with additional production support by Sarah Ergin and Rose mc lucas.
Speaker 1: Special thank you to Michael Davis, Vanessa Suruno, and Maya Mouldrew.
Speaker 1: Learn more about my Guess and other tech distructors an
Speaker 1: innovators at afrotech dot com. Enjoying Black Tech Green Money.
Speaker 1: Share this with somebody, Go get your money.
Speaker 2: He's in love.
Speaker 1: Afro Tech is a global gathering where inclusive tech companies
Speaker 1: meet innovators. It's the only tech event you.
Speaker 2: Need all year.
Speaker 1: Get ready for afro Tech twenty twenty three in Austin, Texas.
Speaker 1: No ven refers through the fifth We built a whole
Speaker 1: temper you can use to help you get your employer
Speaker 1: to sponsor your trip and enjoy experiences built for every
Speaker 1: stage of your career. Whether you're a college student looking
Speaker 1: for your next internship, or if you work in avention
Speaker 1: capital looking for your next business to invest in, and
Speaker 1: if you're looking for a co founder of people that's
Speaker 1: join your team, there's no better place to be. The
Speaker 1: massive corporate layoffs of twenty twenty two and twenty twenty
Speaker 1: three have affected our community in a big way. An
Speaker 1: afrotech wants to help you get back on your feet
Speaker 1: with skill development, making it easier to switch industries if
Speaker 1: that's your route. In an afrotech, you'll make connections to
Speaker 1: help you get your next opportunity. Visit afrotech dot com
Speaker 1: slash conference to learn more.