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

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Speaker 1: Javoris and Arlene Holling's Worth are the found us at

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Speaker 1: Gracie's Corner, which features their daughter Gracyn, who was the

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Speaker 1: inspiration for the hit YouTube animated series, which was also

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Speaker 1: nominated for an NAACP Image Award up against big budget

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Speaker 1: animation studio Offers.

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Speaker 2: Gracie's Corner was.

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Speaker 1: A COVID project for Javor's.

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Speaker 2: Which he undertook after not finding enough.

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Speaker 1: Black representation in cartoons to show his kids, and the

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Speaker 1: show today gets millions of views every month. I asked

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Speaker 1: the family about the grand idea for Graci's Corner. Was

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Speaker 1: a desire just to put out a good piece of

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Speaker 1: content or was there a business strategy they wanted to follow.

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Speaker 3: We had no idea it was gonna grow the way

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Speaker 3: it did, especially at the pace it did.

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Speaker 4: It was mostly from the mindset of just seeing that

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Speaker 4: a lot of the country that was out there and

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Speaker 4: seeing that there really wasn't much representation.

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Speaker 5: Where you can see children of color at the forefront.

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Speaker 5: And for me that was a big problem because I

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Speaker 5: feel like, you know, if our children.

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Speaker 4: Are country seeing images that don't look like them, they

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Speaker 4: started to wonder like, Okay, there's something wrong with me.

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Speaker 4: Do I belong in this grand scheme of you know, society.

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Speaker 4: And we just wanted to do something that was proactive

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Speaker 4: and then it just.

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Speaker 5: Kind of caught on with other parents and now we've

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Speaker 5: come to this thing.

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Speaker 1: At what point did you say, Okay, this is getting

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Speaker 1: serious when it goes, you know, past X number of views? Like,

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Speaker 1: at what point did you say, like, hold on, there's

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Speaker 1: something here.

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Speaker 5: It was lad in the game for me. When we

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Speaker 5: first started.

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Speaker 4: We weren't getting the type of viewership we're getting now,

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Speaker 4: Like it was fairly thousands or so views on like

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Speaker 4: it was.

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Speaker 5: It was. It was kind of rough, and I was

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Speaker 5: I was the believer.

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Speaker 4: And she also had faith in the whole project itself

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Speaker 4: because we were just putting money into this and you're

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Speaker 4: seeing zero returns, right, So she could have she could

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Speaker 4: have easily said you know what, honey, but she just

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Speaker 4: allowed me to continue to explore and we.

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Speaker 5: Just kept pressing through it.

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Speaker 1: I really talk about that because it sounds like, you know,

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Speaker 1: there was like some idea of like we're trying to

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Speaker 1: make something happen other than just feel a need. It's

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Speaker 1: like there's there's got to be some sort of return.

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Speaker 1: That's what it sounds like. So talk to me about

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Speaker 1: what you were looking for.

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Speaker 2: Did happen?

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Speaker 6: So I would say, what the first year when we

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Speaker 6: first started this journey, this fun journey, we you know,

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Speaker 6: saw the followers and the subscribers kind of slowly building,

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Speaker 6: and I think the minute I knew, oh my goodness,

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Speaker 6: this is something that is big was when we reached.

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Speaker 7: One hundred thousand.

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Speaker 6: Because up until then, you know, and he'll tell you

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Speaker 6: every single milestone, I'll say, wow, it would be great

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Speaker 6: if we can reach that, And it happened, so we

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Speaker 6: surpass it. But I would say when I really knew

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Speaker 6: it was gonna be something was around that mark where

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Speaker 6: he had one hundred thousand subscribers.

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Speaker 7: And then on top.

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Speaker 6: Of it, when I saw like all the parents posting

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Speaker 6: videos of himself dancing, I said, okay, we have something

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Speaker 6: because not only is it something that is educational, but

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Speaker 6: it's entertaining not only for the children but for the parents.

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Speaker 7: And so that's what I really knew, like, wow, okay,

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Speaker 7: this is something.

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Speaker 1: Was there any education you consumed with trying to figure

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Speaker 1: out how to manage a YouTube channel? Because I know

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Speaker 1: there's so many things talk about. You know, you got

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Speaker 1: to post so many times, and think YouTube wants quantity

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Speaker 1: versus quality in so many respects, and you've got to

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Speaker 1: post twenty eight million times a week and all these

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Speaker 1: types of things. So talk to me about how you

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Speaker 1: gained the knowledge, if you explored that, and what did

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Speaker 1: you learn.

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Speaker 6: So this is where his background as a researcher. So

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Speaker 6: he has a PhD in organic and macro molecular chemistry,

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Speaker 6: and so.

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Speaker 7: In everything he does, he does.

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Speaker 6: Thorough research, thorough research, and so you know, credit goes

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Speaker 6: to divorce because you know he researched everything at nauseum.

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Speaker 6: And you're right, it's not just hey, you go out,

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Speaker 6: you start something, but he researched what he needed to

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Speaker 6: go into it. How to get animation, how to you know,

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Speaker 6: master and make quality music, how many times.

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Speaker 7: You have to post?

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Speaker 4: How to what is it called s seo?

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Speaker 6: And like he just has this this method he uses

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Speaker 6: to make sure that when he posts something, it's gonna

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Speaker 6: get optimal search because of keywords and different things like that.

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Speaker 2: So, Gracie, and when Dad comes to you and says, hey,

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Speaker 2: I got this idea for this show.

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Speaker 1: If it happened like that, you know, talk to me

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Speaker 1: about how you felt and like you're like, hey, I'm

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Speaker 1: in or like I got questions, like tell me about

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Speaker 1: what you were thinking.

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Speaker 8: What he was saying was like we have like kind

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Speaker 8: of like a project going on like together, and he

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Speaker 8: was like like so the only thing we have to

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Speaker 8: do is like we have to like do this and

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Speaker 8: this and then like it'll.

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Speaker 5: Be like.

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Speaker 1: So the anxiety was there from the beginning, like you

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Speaker 1: knew you felt like that this could be something special.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, she she actually wanted she wanted a YouTube channel

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Speaker 4: where she wanted one of those weird ones where you know,

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Speaker 4: you unboxed toy like that type of stuff with me.

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Speaker 4: I know a lot of those kids who do YouTube

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Speaker 4: channels that the way they have to devote a lot

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Speaker 4: of their life to constantly being in front of the camera,

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Speaker 4: and this is like it's it's it's like they're constantly online.

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Speaker 4: But this was kind of like a nice compromise where

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Speaker 4: you know, she's the voice behind the character, but we

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Speaker 4: just record when we record, and then once that's done,

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Speaker 4: she just plays and you know she's not on on

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Speaker 4: camera like that. So it was kind of a way

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Speaker 4: to kind of balance the two and yeah, she's been enjoying.

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Speaker 1: So you didn't come up as a cartoon designer, I imagine,

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Speaker 1: And so I wonder, like, what was that process like

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Speaker 1: when you said, you know what, I'm going to learn

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Speaker 1: how to do this and what did you like, what

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Speaker 1: did you do to learn how to make cartoons?

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Speaker 3: Man?

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Speaker 4: So, yeah, just like I said, I that side of it,

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Speaker 4: I'm still oblivious on the whole.

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Speaker 5: I mean, I've.

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Speaker 4: Learned the ins and outs of what goes into it,

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Speaker 4: but as far as I actually applying. But I did

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Speaker 4: a lot of research on like even writing the script,

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Speaker 4: Like I do a ton of writing. That's probably like

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Speaker 4: the biggest piece, like writing, writing the songs, writing the scripts.

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Speaker 4: But I've partnered with I have a team of animators

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Speaker 4: down there, you know. I send those scripts off to

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Speaker 4: those guys and they bring it to life, you know,

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Speaker 4: based on I mean, they'll send something back that I

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Speaker 4: may ask for a revision or whatever.

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Speaker 5: But but the the.

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Speaker 4: Imagery itself, she can tell you, like the I started

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Speaker 4: by sending an animator a picture of her when she

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Speaker 4: was like oh seven, I think, But yeah, they took

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Speaker 4: that and came up with.

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Speaker 5: This rendition of what you guys.

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Speaker 1: See, so were these animators people that you knew or

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Speaker 1: you went to you know, upwork, Like how did you

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Speaker 1: find these people?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so using like upwork for the identify freelancers. And

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Speaker 4: then once I identified the freelancer, it was, like I said,

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Speaker 4: early on, it was really one side of where we're

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Speaker 4: just constantly putting money into it. So we didn't really

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Speaker 4: we had like a shoe string budget really this thing

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Speaker 4: together because at the time I was still a professor

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Speaker 4: my wife she's you know, still a professor with we

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Speaker 4: were trying to use income, you know, to live with

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Speaker 4: also try to keep this project going. But anyway, we

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Speaker 4: eventually got some point where the channel actually was making money,

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Speaker 4: and then we were able to even grow our animation teams.

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Speaker 4: So now it's it's actually a team of animators that

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Speaker 4: work on them.

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Speaker 6: So the animators, we took them from the I guess

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Speaker 6: you found them through like a freelance website, and now

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Speaker 6: they work with us and full time, full time, and

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Speaker 6: it's teammate animators and from one animator to like four,

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Speaker 6: so and it's pretty awesome just to see them growth

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Speaker 6: of everything overall.

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Speaker 1: So early and I'm interested in your in your thoughts

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Speaker 1: on this, and either of you guys can speak up

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Speaker 1: on it, but I wonder, like to what.

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Speaker 2: Do you attribute the success of the show.

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Speaker 1: Would it be you know, your ability to market it,

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Speaker 1: or there was purely just a market demand? Like how

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Speaker 1: what would you say is the key to you know, your.

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Speaker 2: Success in this.

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Speaker 6: I definitely think it's more so just a demand zero marketing,

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Speaker 6: you know, with regards to to like paid marketing has

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Speaker 6: gone into Gracie's Corner still, everything honestly has been just

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Speaker 6: of course word of mouth and because of people actually

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Speaker 6: watching it enjoying it, the algorithm likes us and push.

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Speaker 7: Us us out, and so I feel like that just

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Speaker 7: speaks to the need.

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Speaker 6: You know, people were hungry for something like Gracy's Corner.

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Speaker 6: I mean, and Jemors will say, when we were first starting, we.

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Speaker 7: Were hungry for something like Gracie's Corner.

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Speaker 6: That's the reason why you know, we worked hard and

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Speaker 6: we developed Crazy's Corner, right, And.

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Speaker 1: So, Gracie, I wonder when you think about the journey

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Speaker 1: that you've watched your parents go on to build this thing,

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Speaker 1: and previous to that, you know how young you were

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Speaker 1: at the time, but previously they were just working day jobs,

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Speaker 1: but now they're also entrepreneurs. Also, you know, what do

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Speaker 1: you think about the life that you guys live in

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Speaker 1: the amount of work that you guys put in to

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Speaker 1: build something that's.

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Speaker 7: Special, I'd say it's like really huge.

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Speaker 8: Like most times my dad might ask me to be

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Speaker 8: like he might be like, oh, let's record this like tonight,

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Speaker 8: or like let's start like at this moment, and my

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Speaker 8: mom would probably be like, Okay, so let's get the

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Speaker 8: boo tea.

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Speaker 7: We have a whole entire process we do. So she

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Speaker 7: loves like bubble tea.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, so, and she probably honestly records like like once

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Speaker 6: or twice her week, and so she very much it's

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Speaker 6: not every day, right, Yeah, but when he does record,

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Speaker 6: she knows I'm going to be sending some bubble tea

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Speaker 6: or having something that.

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Speaker 7: She can have. And does it take like using two

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Speaker 7: to three hours to record?

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Speaker 5: What's your record?

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Speaker 1: So, yeah, Javoris isn't a cartoon producer by trade, and

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Speaker 1: it is informally trained. Yeah, he producers every episode. So

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Speaker 1: I asked him from start to finish, walk me through

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Speaker 1: the development of an episode.

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Speaker 5: Javorce speaks on it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think about it from two different angles.

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Speaker 5: So one angle I think about is.

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Speaker 4: What is what's what's the piece of knowledge that most

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Speaker 4: parents would want their kids to know?

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Speaker 5: ABC?

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Speaker 4: You know that was the first that's you know what

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Speaker 4: I mean, like that type of development, and then also

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Speaker 4: tapping into like good old traditional nurtural runs and things

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Speaker 4: like that too, But yeah, what what do kids?

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Speaker 5: What do parents want their kids to know?

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Speaker 4: And so J tackling those core uh fundamental uh things

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Speaker 4: and then from there, uh coming up with the whole

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Speaker 4: piece for for the music and I, as you can see,

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Speaker 4: I try to tap into different genres so it can

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Speaker 4: range from it can range from uh hip hop to

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Speaker 4: afrobeats to reggae to go go music. So that's probably

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Speaker 4: the most fun part for me, honestly, like figuring.

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Speaker 5: Out like, okay, what what we're gonna do this time?

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Speaker 5: Let's let's uh and I try to mix it up.

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Speaker 4: You probably if you see it the cat you about

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Speaker 4: to see that. But but then once that part.

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Speaker 5: Is done and then the music is is in place,

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Speaker 5: then it's to writing.

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Speaker 4: Sometimes I think the toughest one is like writing the

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Speaker 4: original songs, because now you're creating something that's completely new

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Speaker 4: and it's not based on something that's kind.

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Speaker 5: Of already been made.

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Speaker 4: So but then once the song was created then written,

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Speaker 4: that's when she steps in.

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Speaker 5: And we have an at home studio that I built.

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Speaker 4: And even when building that, thank thankfully for things like YouTube.

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Speaker 4: That's how I gained the knowledge on you know, how

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Speaker 4: to get the necessary equipment in.

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Speaker 5: Place at a small budget.

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Speaker 4: So and I try to say that to people too,

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Speaker 4: to let them know that you don't have to have

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Speaker 4: this huge production studio, like you can start you can

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Speaker 4: start small and then things will just kind of continue

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Speaker 4: to build that way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought that was interesting, but I was. I remember.

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Speaker 1: I remember like when we were the NAACP Image Awards

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Speaker 1: and you talked about how you know, everybody you are

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Speaker 1: up against like a Disney production, and like you have

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Speaker 1: a YouTube show, You're going up against these guys, and

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Speaker 1: like what does what does that tell you about the

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Speaker 1: state of content that we're in today?

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Speaker 8: Yeah?

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Speaker 4: Then, you know what, that really made me realize how

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Speaker 4: things have changed because back in the day, you know

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Speaker 4: what I'm saying, It's like I'm an old man, but

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Speaker 4: back in the day, if you want to have your

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Speaker 4: stuff on any type of platform, you had to go

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Speaker 4: through these big you know, these big roots, but now

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Speaker 4: it's just so easily accessible for someone to enter.

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Speaker 5: I don't want to say.

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Speaker 4: Through the back door, but it's easier to kind of

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Speaker 4: get in now because we got the YouTube, we got

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Speaker 4: the the instagrams, the US it called tiktoks and all

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Speaker 4: these different things where you can reach this audience now

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Speaker 4: versus back in the day. You know, it was just

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Speaker 4: these only a few ways. But we've found this other

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Speaker 4: way to reach the audience. And it's cool to see

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Speaker 4: that our work can be appreciated, you know amongst the

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Speaker 4: biggest names like Disney and Nikola and all these you know,

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Speaker 4: top production where these guys are company millions of dollars

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Speaker 4: into this stuff and we're not.

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Speaker 7: We have a kind of doubt.

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Speaker 6: It speaks to like how much technology has advanced MM

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Speaker 6: all of us. You know, think about like our animators.

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Speaker 6: You know they they're in Nigeria. You know, it was

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Speaker 6: technology that allowed us to access these phenomenal animators. Technology

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Speaker 6: that allowed us to even put I guess what some

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Speaker 6: would call our product out there to be viewed by

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Speaker 6: the masses. And so you know, with a doubt, you

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Speaker 6: know the reason why we're able to stand and you know,

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Speaker 6: being the same conversation as some of these you know

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Speaker 6: things that have millions of dollars behind them with these

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Speaker 6: big production companies. Is because of technology and you know

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Speaker 6: that's including social media.

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Speaker 7: We also upgraded.

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Speaker 1: Our Yeah, I mean that's it's super important. Like when

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Speaker 1: I've learned, you know, when you're doing this side of work.

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Speaker 1: You know, for me, at least from my perspective, the

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Speaker 1: money goes back in. How do we continue to make

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Speaker 1: it bigger instead of pulling the money out and going

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Speaker 1: to you know, to Sizzler, Like, we're gonna put the

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Speaker 1: money back in so we can continue growing this thing.

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Speaker 1: So talk to me about that, like why you decided

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Speaker 1: to continue to invest when you have you got the

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Speaker 1: guys in Nigeria, you got the equipment that's making it work.

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Speaker 1: What makes you continue to want to invest.

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Speaker 2: To Gratia's point, man, my.

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Speaker 4: Vision for this is way bigger than what people are

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Speaker 4: even seeing right now. And I feel like we haven't

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Speaker 4: even stretch of service yet with what's possible because.

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Speaker 5: At the moment, some people even refer to us like

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Speaker 5: the Black Cocoa Meling.

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Speaker 4: But you know, even with the Coco Mela franchise on,

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Speaker 4: you can see how Yeah, they're available on YouTube with

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Speaker 4: these guys, you can also find them on Netflix and

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Speaker 4: all these other areas. And then you have your live shows,

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Speaker 4: you have your merchandise that you can find it in

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Speaker 4: Walmart and Target.

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Speaker 5: And all of the place.

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Speaker 4: Like, there's so many areas that we haven't even tapped

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Speaker 4: into yet, and right now we're just on the YouTube

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Speaker 4: side of things. But I see the grand scheme. Man,

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Speaker 4: this can be much larger because we're we're doing something

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Speaker 4: that really is resonating with the culture, and you know

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Speaker 4: what I mean, that's that's big in itself, and I

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Speaker 4: think that's a huge part of the success of it, honestly,

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Speaker 4: is that when people view it, like, yeah, it's very simple,

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Speaker 4: but at the same time, it resonates with people because

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Speaker 4: it just comes across this authentic content and yeah, that's.

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Speaker 5: I think that's I think there's just so much more

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Speaker 5: that can be done.

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Speaker 4: So I just want to continue investing into it and

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Speaker 4: making sure that it reaches the potential that I know

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Speaker 4: can it can have.

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Speaker 1: How do you vet the opportunities that you know come

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Speaker 1: to you because of the success, Like, what are the

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Speaker 1: filters that you put on to make sure that what

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Speaker 1: you're partnering with people on or allowing them to be

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Speaker 1: in your ear about makes sense, feel man.

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Speaker 5: That that's a good question question and something.

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Speaker 4: We struggled with earlier on because as soon as we

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Speaker 4: start to gain some traction where we're getting let's say

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Speaker 4: earlier to back then when we're when we reached the

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Speaker 4: point where we're able to get like a million views

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Speaker 4: in a month or something, now you know it. I

350
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Speaker 4: think the last one was like over one hundred and

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Speaker 4: thirty million in a single one.

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Speaker 2: But everybody up there, that's when they pop up.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so now you you getting a lot of phone

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Speaker 4: calls people that you probably never would imagine you would,

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Speaker 4: you know, talk.

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Speaker 5: To and and.

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Speaker 4: And it's really tough to really kind of weed through

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Speaker 4: like Okay, it.

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Speaker 5: Seems like a nice person.

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Speaker 4: Oh, this guy's cool and you know, but luckily we

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Speaker 4: got to a point where we got with an agency,

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Speaker 4: so we're now with United Talent Agency or UTA, and

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Speaker 4: those guys are taking a lot of these phone calls

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Speaker 4: on our behalf and kind of narrowing down like, Okay,

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Speaker 4: here's the value proposition from this person, here's the vague

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Speaker 4: proposition this person, and just kind.

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Speaker 5: Of weeding it out that way.

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Speaker 4: But one of the biggest things for us has been

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Speaker 4: being able to maintain the direction that this is going,

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Speaker 4: as far as keeping it authentic, because there's we've had

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Speaker 4: conversations with some some people that they made it clear

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Speaker 4: that hey, like you're doing but you know, maybe we

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Speaker 4: could take it this direction and do X y Z,

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Speaker 4: and the direction that they were taking it. It's almost

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Speaker 4: like diluting what we've created. And that's the nicest way

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Speaker 4: I can put it. Yeah, like that the way we

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Speaker 4: made it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not just I want you to go in there,

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Speaker 1: because you know, there's when you've gotten something, you know,

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Speaker 1: everybody has an idea on what you should be doing.

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Speaker 1: Everybody has an idea, you know, So how do you

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Speaker 1: protect your your mission because it's not just about money.

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Speaker 1: Money is important, but it's not just that you're trying

384
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Speaker 1: to solve a need in the marketplace for representation. So

385
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Speaker 1: talk to me about how well you protect that thing

386
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Speaker 1: in the middle of the money, in the middle of

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Speaker 1: the people who are further along and want to help you,

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Speaker 1: quote unquote you know, So how do you protect that?

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Speaker 6: Yeah?

390
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Speaker 4: The the I think the biggest part is being comf

391
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Speaker 4: being comfortable with saying no, and honestly, for me that

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Speaker 4: that was a struggle. Like you know, I'm I'm all.

393
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Speaker 4: I've always been a type to try to, you know,

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Speaker 4: meet people in the middle and make things work if possible.

395
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Speaker 4: But I find myself having to say a lot of

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Speaker 4: those now because people will try to sell this grand vision,

397
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Speaker 4: but their vision is pretty much their vision in it.

398
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Speaker 5: If if it aligns with the vision that we have,

399
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Speaker 5: I'm all forward.

400
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Speaker 4: But if I can see clearly like Okay, this is

401
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Speaker 4: gonna go some direction where like like now, be very

402
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Speaker 4: intentional about make sure that you're like cheer of color

403
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Speaker 4: in the forefront with when I I see moments where okay, yeah,

404
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:57,600
Speaker 4: let's let's exchange one of Gracie's black friends for I

405
00:20:57,600 --> 00:20:59,919
Speaker 4: don't know, something else and then put me you know,

406
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:02,600
Speaker 4: that's when it is starts to you know, worry me

407
00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:05,720
Speaker 4: because it's like, Okay, now we're going I think from

408
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:07,879
Speaker 4: Marcus standpoint, their mindset is like, okay, how can we

409
00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:11,119
Speaker 4: reach the the masses? But at the same time, I

410
00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:14,359
Speaker 4: feel like there's there's some negative impact that can come

411
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Speaker 4: to that too at the same time, So it's just

412
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Speaker 4: I don't know, been just just trying to it's a

413
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Speaker 4: it's a it's a rough dance.

414
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Speaker 5: I put it that way.

415
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Speaker 8: I was gonna say, like maybe like a reference would

416
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Speaker 8: be like maybe like instead of trying to like take

417
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Speaker 8: other people's like ideas and stuff, maybe like trying to

418
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Speaker 8: make something better and like more like of a franchise

419
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:45,359
Speaker 8: that you could think would like grow big and I

420
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Speaker 8: would like would if you wouldn't have to worry about

421
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Speaker 8: anything instead of like copying other people's things.

422
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Speaker 6: Yeah, And I think she's right, Like, I think a

423
00:21:56,760 --> 00:21:59,800
Speaker 6: big part of George likes to say it's his favorite

424
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:05,280
Speaker 6: thing to say is people can smell when something is

425
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Speaker 6: not authentic.

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Speaker 7: And he says that's.

427
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Speaker 6: Why when a lot of people who don't necessarily have

428
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Speaker 6: all the right people in the room try to make

429
00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:19,479
Speaker 6: a product that's not at the core authentic, people can

430
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Speaker 6: smell it because it doesn't pass that smell test. And

431
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,159
Speaker 6: so I think for us, you know, she's right, Like

432
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Speaker 6: in the very beginning, we had people telling us this

433
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Speaker 6: is a truth. People were telling us, why are.

434
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Speaker 7: You doing nursery rhymes?

435
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Speaker 6: Nursery rhymes aren't going to be successful.

436
00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:41,960
Speaker 7: You should have graciec pop songs.

437
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Speaker 6: For real, for real, I'm pretty sure that person they

438
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Speaker 6: won't name names who said that is sitting back saying wow.

439
00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:49,520
Speaker 5: Now.

440
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Speaker 6: And that's just one example, but there have been a

441
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Speaker 6: lot of people who will say do this, do that.

442
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Speaker 7: And I think one of the things we've.

443
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Speaker 6: Done is you know, family owned, you know, business company,

444
00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:05,600
Speaker 6: and we just to be honest. One of the biggest

445
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Speaker 6: things we do is discuss things amongst ourselves and we

446
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,359
Speaker 6: just say, no, what feels right, you know, what's what's

447
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,800
Speaker 6: in alignment with why we started this and why we

448
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:20,280
Speaker 6: do this, and if things don't align with it, we

449
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:20,800
Speaker 6: don't do it.

450
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:22,120
Speaker 7: We say no. Yeah.

451
00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,719
Speaker 8: Mostly like you have to be resourceful, and also like

452
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,960
Speaker 8: you also have like self con you have to have

453
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:34,560
Speaker 8: like self control on what you're doing, and also like

454
00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:36,280
Speaker 8: just to have self control.

455
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:38,639
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And that's that's a really good point. And

456
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:40,199
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up because it makes me

457
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:43,640
Speaker 1: think about something Javoris said earlier. It's like, you know,

458
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,600
Speaker 1: there are things that he didn't know was going to

459
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:49,200
Speaker 1: get as big as they are today, and there's other

460
00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:51,320
Speaker 1: things that you could be doing, you know. I think

461
00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:53,200
Speaker 1: about when I went to Disney for the first time.

462
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,720
Speaker 1: It's like just the cartoon was the gateway to get

463
00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:58,639
Speaker 1: you to Disney, to get you to buy the product,

464
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:00,199
Speaker 1: to get you to leave with the stuff. Then more

465
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:02,760
Speaker 1: a T shirt the umbrella of the thing. And so

466
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,640
Speaker 1: how do you think about and this is a dual question,

467
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:08,080
Speaker 1: but they point to the same thing, how do you

468
00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,640
Speaker 1: think about retaining ownership and expanding the enterprise?

469
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:15,200
Speaker 5: Yeah, and that's that.

470
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:18,679
Speaker 3: Was something we've had a long conversation about too, where

471
00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:22,240
Speaker 3: we know, in order to get to that point where

472
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,000
Speaker 3: I know it can go, it's gonna take some more

473
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:26,639
Speaker 3: fire power.

474
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 5: And you know what we're doing now.

475
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,040
Speaker 4: Yeah, we could easily sustain this and just kind of

476
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:34,360
Speaker 4: keep it black, but if we really want to put

477
00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 4: some fire to it, it's gonna take that right partnership.

478
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:39,879
Speaker 4: And in order to secure that partnership, you gotta be

479
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:41,680
Speaker 4: willing to give up some everybody like that was That's

480
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:43,160
Speaker 4: one of the biggest things that I think a lot

481
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:44,640
Speaker 4: of people aren't willing to.

482
00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:45,400
Speaker 5: Have that conversation.

483
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:48,680
Speaker 4: But I feel like when you have, when you can

484
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:53,400
Speaker 4: identify the right partner giving up that equity, it's only

485
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:55,760
Speaker 4: going to build you know, even more so, it's just

486
00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,760
Speaker 4: being just being smart about it. So we're not we

487
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,560
Speaker 4: don't have an issue with giving up a piece of

488
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:05,080
Speaker 4: a pie and make sure that this thing can really

489
00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:05,840
Speaker 4: get to where it's.

490
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:06,640
Speaker 5: Supposed to give.

491
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,760
Speaker 6: But we don't want to give up all of the pie.

492
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:14,159
Speaker 6: So before the numbers started looking the way they were looking,

493
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:17,720
Speaker 6: the discussion was full acquisition all of the pie.

494
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:18,160
Speaker 8: Wow.

495
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,360
Speaker 7: And for us that was all.

496
00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 6: And we're talking about you know, big production companies like

497
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:29,919
Speaker 6: major ones, and we were like, no, you know, regardless

498
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,880
Speaker 6: of what you know, it's throwing the front that made

499
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:35,920
Speaker 6: look a pilling. We understood that, you know, this is

500
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:37,439
Speaker 6: bigger than us. We could see it at.

501
00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:40,760
Speaker 7: That point, understood that, you know, yes, we.

502
00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:45,040
Speaker 6: Could say, okay, give it all up, but then we

503
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,639
Speaker 6: don't have the ability to have control over what it

504
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:51,239
Speaker 6: looks like, and that was something we didn't want, you know.

505
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,640
Speaker 6: So I guess, going along with what Janora said, it's

506
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 6: you know, right now, we still have one hundred percent

507
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,280
Speaker 6: ownership of it, so we haven't you know, we're we

508
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,399
Speaker 6: are open to partners, but it's one of those things

509
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:05,280
Speaker 6: where it has to be the right partner and if

510
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:08,320
Speaker 6: they have to understand the vision and want to keep

511
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:08,720
Speaker 6: with that.

512
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,720
Speaker 8: Yeah, I was gonna say, like maybe like what you

513
00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:16,920
Speaker 8: can do is like save the pie and like wait

514
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,439
Speaker 8: for like another moment that makes you like feel like

515
00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:24,160
Speaker 8: it's like okay, Like does it like feel like disturbing?

516
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,879
Speaker 8: And like when you have it has to like feel

517
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 8: like the right decision. Yeah, like are what you're making.

518
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,560
Speaker 8: So I say, like save the pie until like.

519
00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:36,760
Speaker 7: The next moment.

520
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:39,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, you gotta have that desernment to know to to

521
00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:42,320
Speaker 1: our least a previous point like if it does smell right,

522
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 1: it's probably not right. So talk to me aside from

523
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 1: the numbers. So you're looking at your numbers every month,

524
00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:51,120
Speaker 1: every week, and these numbers are coming in one hundred

525
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:54,639
Speaker 1: and thirty million lass a month. Congratulations on that. What

526
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:58,640
Speaker 1: are the things that matter to you other than views?

527
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:05,280
Speaker 4: I feel like the the awareness like yeah, we were

528
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:06,639
Speaker 4: getting a lot of views or whatever.

529
00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:09,119
Speaker 5: But there's a lot of people who still don't know

530
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,760
Speaker 5: a thing about Grace's Corn, like, and I feel like.

531
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:14,879
Speaker 4: I would love to see this become like a household

532
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:19,040
Speaker 4: name where you know, especially the people who need to

533
00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 4: be able to see it know about it at least,

534
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, Because there's a lot of

535
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:30,320
Speaker 4: people who are still watching stuff that don't quite hit

536
00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:33,919
Speaker 4: the mark, whether it is with the representation itself or

537
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:37,040
Speaker 4: the content, because like if you listen to some of

538
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:38,320
Speaker 4: the stuff that's out there.

539
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:42,800
Speaker 5: Man, you can you can as a creator, you can

540
00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:43,200
Speaker 5: kind of.

541
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 4: Tell what stuff a lot of thought goes into and

542
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,720
Speaker 4: what stuff that they're just trying to create something just

543
00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:50,760
Speaker 4: for the sake of making sure that they can, Like

544
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:54,879
Speaker 4: you're saying earlier that quantity aspect of I got to

545
00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 4: have something, so.

546
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:58,440
Speaker 2: I just feed the machine.

547
00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:02,399
Speaker 4: Yeah, some people just focus on feeding feet feeding with

548
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:03,880
Speaker 4: we really put a.

549
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,520
Speaker 5: Lot of thought into the content itself.

550
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:08,640
Speaker 4: The words like if you go and listen to any

551
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:11,439
Speaker 4: of the song that, but not like there's an actual

552
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:12,439
Speaker 4: thought that's going into it.

553
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:14,439
Speaker 5: So it's it's I.

554
00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:16,040
Speaker 1: Don't know, Yeah, I wanted to I want to dig

555
00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:20,160
Speaker 1: in there because I wonder how you determine the content?

556
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:22,640
Speaker 1: How do you how do you determine how long.

557
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:23,399
Speaker 5: The episode should be?

558
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,600
Speaker 2: How how how do you determine.

559
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:26,760
Speaker 5: Which subjects to discuss?

560
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:28,600
Speaker 2: Like how do you determine these things?

561
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:29,520
Speaker 6: Yeah?

562
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:31,879
Speaker 4: That that's pretty much almost like a team of her

563
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:36,280
Speaker 4: there because she's the psychologist. So whenever you hear a

564
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:39,680
Speaker 4: song I got like any mental health components wrapped up

565
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:43,160
Speaker 4: into it. Like for instance, the Deep Breath song that

566
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:45,640
Speaker 4: was that was her idea.

567
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:46,120
Speaker 7: A song.

568
00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:50,360
Speaker 4: Yeah, that that affirmation was part of the ABC song

569
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:51,560
Speaker 4: that was that was her idea.

570
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:53,160
Speaker 5: So she can speak.

571
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:57,280
Speaker 6: We actually we'll sit down and we'll come up with

572
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:04,000
Speaker 6: a list of concept we feel are important that we've

573
00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:07,360
Speaker 6: liked them because at the same point, we have a

574
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 6: three year old and we have a five year old,

575
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:12,800
Speaker 6: so we actually have children that are the same age

576
00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:16,480
Speaker 6: as a children who views Crazy's Corner. And so the

577
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:18,360
Speaker 6: question is, Okay, what kind of things do we want

578
00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 6: our children to be learning? You know, if you know,

579
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:22,920
Speaker 6: there's a time.

580
00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:24,160
Speaker 7: Of the day where.

581
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 6: You know, we allow them to have screen time and

582
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:30,120
Speaker 6: we want them to have quality content. What are the

583
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:32,360
Speaker 6: things we want them to be looking at? What are

584
00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:34,560
Speaker 6: the things we want them to learn? And so we'll

585
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,400
Speaker 6: make a long list of like nursery rhymes and different

586
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:40,360
Speaker 6: learning concepts.

587
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:43,840
Speaker 7: And then we'll just go from there. And to be honest, Divores,

588
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 7: will you know, he'll go and.

589
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:50,640
Speaker 6: Try to look for beats or make beats, and what

590
00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:54,240
Speaker 6: will happen is he'll hear something and he will say, oh,

591
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:59,040
Speaker 6: this would be a cool beat to do. Mary had

592
00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 6: a little lamb to or account by two songs, you know,

593
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:04,760
Speaker 6: and so we have a lot of different concepts, but

594
00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:08,040
Speaker 6: it's led by of course us knowing what we want

595
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 6: children to you know, have, as well as you know,

596
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,280
Speaker 6: making sure there is music that.

597
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:16,240
Speaker 7: Fits really good with it.

598
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:21,360
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask this in closing Gavars and you know,

599
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:24,040
Speaker 1: any ice welcome to chime in. But I wonder what

600
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:27,440
Speaker 1: lessons you learned about how to view opportunity in the

601
00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:29,400
Speaker 1: middle of in the midst of turmoil, because like you

602
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,360
Speaker 1: got this idea during COVID when so many other people

603
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:34,760
Speaker 1: were just distracted by you know, can you get toilet

604
00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:36,400
Speaker 1: paper at the grocery staff?

605
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:36,880
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?

606
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,120
Speaker 1: So, but you saw an opportunity. So how what lesson

607
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:43,120
Speaker 1: did that teach you about how to take advantage of

608
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,120
Speaker 1: those moments in life where you could be distracted by

609
00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:48,760
Speaker 1: other things, worthy things, but you can still be distracted

610
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:49,720
Speaker 1: by the things.

611
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 5: Yeah. I think the biggest thing is once you have

612
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:58,040
Speaker 5: that idea, hold on to it.

613
00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:00,920
Speaker 4: I know, it's so easy to, like you said, get

614
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,800
Speaker 4: distracted by something else that may be tapping you on

615
00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:07,520
Speaker 4: the shoulder or tugging you some other direction. Because at

616
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:10,880
Speaker 4: the time I was grading papers, writing exams and doing

617
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,640
Speaker 4: all this and being a dad, and you know, I

618
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,560
Speaker 4: I it's it's easy to get pulled away in.

619
00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 5: A different direction. But you know, if you if you

620
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,840
Speaker 5: have an idea or a vision that you truly believe in,

621
00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:25,600
Speaker 5: just stayed the course. And especially if it's something that's.

622
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 4: If to have a positive impact on a gr uh

623
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:30,920
Speaker 4: grand skill, it's just stay the course and stick with it.

624
00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:33,680
Speaker 5: Yeah, something I don't stay there.

625
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 1: Yeah.

626
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:42,160
Speaker 6: I think learning also that sometimes things can say. I

627
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:44,440
Speaker 6: can tell you early on when we started off with

628
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 6: what like ten views, a hundred views, early on, I

629
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,800
Speaker 6: think all of us could say, wow, we're not sure,

630
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:57,240
Speaker 6: you know, if if this is gonna pan out. But

631
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,800
Speaker 6: I think there is a lot that we can get

632
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:05,640
Speaker 6: from staying the course, as Divorce said, and understanding that patience.

633
00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:10,240
Speaker 7: I mean because honestly, like you heard him say, the.

634
00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 6: First year, there wasn't any return, and it was honestly

635
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 6: something that we were pumping.

636
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:19,080
Speaker 7: It was a labor of love and we were like, yeah,

637
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,600
Speaker 7: you know, where's this going? And so stay course. And

638
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:25,760
Speaker 7: I guess all great things take sacrifice.

639
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:29,360
Speaker 6: There definitely, you know has been and still is a sacrifice,

640
00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:31,120
Speaker 6: you know, but well worth it.

641
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:34,040
Speaker 7: So I think it's the bias of the importance of.

642
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:38,000
Speaker 6: Without a doubt, patience and understanding that things don't happen overnight,

643
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,120
Speaker 6: and just because it doesn't look like it's gonna happen.

644
00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:44,120
Speaker 7: Doesn't mean it will.

645
00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:58,520
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Wheny is a production of Blavity Afro

646
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,720
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effects Podcast Network and Night High Media.

647
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 2: It's produced by Morgan Devonne and me Well Lucas.

648
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:08,440
Speaker 1: With the additional production support by Sarah Ergon and Rose McLucas.

649
00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:10,800
Speaker 2: Special thank you to MIKEL.

650
00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:11,120
Speaker 4: Davis.

651
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:12,080
Speaker 2: Ifan that's a serrano.

652
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:14,600
Speaker 1: Learn more about my guests and other tech This repeorsent

653
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Speaker 1: innovators at afrotech dot com. Enjoying Black Tech Green Money.

654
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