Speaker 1: When we talk about social networking crucial to really gaining
Speaker 1: access to professional opportunities, whether it's business, entrepreneurship, you name it.
Speaker 1: Those networks have often been in place for decades for
Speaker 1: the establishment, and I'm often talking tim about white men. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: two co founders and entrepreneurs are working to change that.
Speaker 1: Nancy Tellum and Natasha Hildebrand are the co founders of
Speaker 1: bass Blue. It's a nonprofit space dedicated to women's needs
Speaker 1: and fostering a diverse, authentic, and inclusive community. They joined
Speaker 1: us on the phone from Detroit. Nancy, Natasha, how are
Speaker 1: you great? Thank you for having us all. Hey, Nancy,
Speaker 1: I want to start with you. Um. You moved to
Speaker 1: Detroit a few years ago from l A. Give us
Speaker 1: the story about how you started bass Blue. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: I moved from Los Angeles to Detroit about six years ago,
Speaker 1: and upon rising Um, I was just amazed by the
Speaker 1: amazing women who I met, but many of whom didn't
Speaker 1: know each other. And I realized that what was really
Speaker 1: lacking in the city and Francie and old cities is
Speaker 1: that that connection, a space where women can indeed connect
Speaker 1: and with that UM be able to add resources and
Speaker 1: support for for working women, whether they're starting in the
Speaker 1: working space, whether they're in it, or they're looking to
Speaker 1: transition into something else. Well, and Natasha come on in
Speaker 1: on this. I mean, how does it work at pass
Speaker 1: Blue in terms of bringing people together? Who are you
Speaker 1: bringing together? How does it all work? And you've done
Speaker 1: it before in l A, New York, London. Um tell
Speaker 1: us the results of bringing these people together? What's the impact? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know, as you mentioned, UM networks are vital to success,
Speaker 1: right and I've seen that success take shape in all
Speaker 1: of those cities you've mentioned, and that really starts with
Speaker 1: creating space, space for those conversations, as Nancy mentioned, to
Speaker 1: create base connections as well as space to learn and
Speaker 1: grow and be exposed to individuals and areas outside kind
Speaker 1: of your silos. And especially as we you know, kind
Speaker 1: of get rooted in our careers sometimes and even just
Speaker 1: world we live in, we kind of stick to those silos.
Speaker 1: And what Boss Blue is aiming to do these really
Speaker 1: break those silos and get people talking to one another.
Speaker 1: And we do that through programming. So everything from having
Speaker 1: a mentorship sessions to member matching programs where we match
Speaker 1: our members based on interests or life stages or educational
Speaker 1: seminars on how to you know, start over against essentially,
Speaker 1: or how to brand a business um to education in
Speaker 1: the other side of the coin of the cooking class
Speaker 1: um or how to learn how to play poker even
Speaker 1: or all the kind of different things um that might
Speaker 1: go into the personal and professional Well, it's so true,
Speaker 1: Like I think about guys forgive me, but you know golf,
Speaker 1: like the amount of networking and deals that get done
Speaker 1: on the golf course or just talking sports. I see
Speaker 1: it just in and around our world. You know, where
Speaker 1: guys come in they don't even know each other, but
Speaker 1: they they automatically start talking sports and there's a connection.
Speaker 1: You know, Nancy, So much of what happens, whether it's
Speaker 1: when we're talking diversity, whether it's women, whether it's people
Speaker 1: of color. I mean, we need to figure out how
Speaker 1: to create that pipeline so individuals can create companies or
Speaker 1: really have um a trajectory to some of those senior
Speaker 1: positions and companies. For sure, I mean to your point,
Speaker 1: and this is obvious something that I've experienced personally throughout
Speaker 1: my whole career, is that men's do have an easier
Speaker 1: way through golf through men's sorts of things to connect
Speaker 1: and they connect on a I'll say on a much
Speaker 1: more base level through sports fans, through actually playing of golf.
Speaker 1: For women, actually, our connection is a little bit more complex.
Speaker 1: And what we came up with Bossblu that we wanted
Speaker 1: to create a homelike feeling, so when people came to
Speaker 1: the space, it was very accessible and comfortable and at
Speaker 1: the same time using the programming in order to initiate conversation,
Speaker 1: collaboration creation. We're really focused on, you know, providing that
Speaker 1: kind of conversation, providing the network, allowing the members to
Speaker 1: offer up resources and to mentor each other to advance well.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting too when you think about I think
Speaker 1: about anybody I've been part of clubs or something. When
Speaker 1: you actually have Natasha a physical space where people could
Speaker 1: collect it, there's something about it where you know you
Speaker 1: can go and you can meet people that you've seen
Speaker 1: before and meet some new people. And you guys have
Speaker 1: a great um mansion that you've done. I think it's
Speaker 1: in midtown on Ferry Street, right, uh, in Detroit. Tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit about the space itself. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: we've got three or four stories really and if you
Speaker 1: if you've open the ground up. On the bottom floor,
Speaker 1: we've got showers and lockers and a wellness and fitness space.
Speaker 1: We've got some peloton bikes in there if you want
Speaker 1: to squeeze in a quick ride if you will UM
Speaker 1: in between meetings of the day UM as well as
Speaker 1: get ready UM. I will also be doing a lot
Speaker 1: of meditation workshops and just kind of general wellness things
Speaker 1: down there. You then go up to our our next
Speaker 1: floor and we've got a full cafe UM and bar area,
Speaker 1: and that's in partnership with Marrow UM. You'll have an
Speaker 1: amazing options for breakfast and lunch and happy hour. We've
Speaker 1: also got a lovely library area which we planned to
Speaker 1: stopic books from local luminaries as well as the amazing
Speaker 1: female authors. You then go up UM actually my favorite
Speaker 1: space in the house, which is kind of like the mezzanine.
Speaker 1: We have this little nook of a room that is
Speaker 1: as cozy as they come UM, which is actually fully
Speaker 1: stopped for conferences and conference calls and whatnot. UM. And
Speaker 1: then we've got on the next floor phone books as
Speaker 1: well as a large conference room that is free of
Speaker 1: us to our members, as well as a little bar area, UM,
Speaker 1: and additional lounge space and meeting space, and then the
Speaker 1: last floor really is our gathering space. UM. I mean
Speaker 1: it's all kind of a gathering space, so that's kind
Speaker 1: of our event space. So when we talk about that programming,
Speaker 1: a lot of that will be hosted up there. UM.
Speaker 1: We've got a full screening capability. Of course, another bar
Speaker 1: because happy hour is great network UM and can't forget that. UM.
Speaker 1: And and then little touches throughout the house that really
Speaker 1: can have softer collaboration and Nancy, you've spent years working
Speaker 1: for for profit companies. You were at CBS for fifteen
Speaker 1: years a senior adviser to the CEO. You're the president
Speaker 1: of CBS Network Television Entertainment Group. You're a president of
Speaker 1: Xbox Entertainment Studios. UM. Bass Blue. Though Boss Blue is
Speaker 1: a it's a it's a nonprofit. So talk to me
Speaker 1: about the structure and how how you plan to keep
Speaker 1: it making money and how why you chose a nonprofit
Speaker 1: for it. Yeah, well, you know what I gotta say, Honestly,
Speaker 1: when we first conceived of the idea, we thought of
Speaker 1: it as a for profit, much like a lot of
Speaker 1: other spaces that you find primarily in New York and California.
Speaker 1: But as we kept going back, we kept going back
Speaker 1: to the mission, and we felt it was essential that
Speaker 1: the space be the mission first, and therefore we really
Speaker 1: were committed to making it a nonprofit and particularly you
Speaker 1: know again, as a nonprofit it kind of um kind
Speaker 1: of uh liberates us from this drive to actually make
Speaker 1: money to actually if we could break even and really
Speaker 1: have our mission first and bring in, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: a really diverse, inclusive membership that's the most important, and
Speaker 1: provide the programming and those connections that so needed. So
Speaker 1: the nonprofit piece of it is extraordinarily important. As far
Speaker 1: as you know, we've had amazing response from donors who
Speaker 1: really believe in the mission. We also have membership fees
Speaker 1: that hopefully will um also help us reach to this
Speaker 1: break even point, hopefully in a couple of years. We
Speaker 1: also we had private events base help us as well. Nancy,
Speaker 1: we forgive, forgive us because and we hope you can
Speaker 1: come back and talk some more about what you guys
Speaker 1: are doing, because it really is important, and especially in
Speaker 1: terms of the access that you're giving. Nancy Tellum and
Speaker 1: Natasha Hildebrand joining us right here have a good and
Speaker 1: safe evening everyone. This is Boomberg