Speaker 1: I'm Will Lucas and this is Black Tech, Green Money.
Speaker 1: Javoris and Arlene Holling's Worth are the found us at
Speaker 1: Gracie's Corner, which features their daughter Gracyn, who was the
Speaker 1: inspiration for the hit YouTube animated series, which was also
Speaker 1: nominated for an NAACP Image Award up against big budget
Speaker 1: animation studio Offers.
Speaker 2: Gracie's Corner was.
Speaker 1: A COVID project for Javor's.
Speaker 2: Which he undertook after not finding enough.
Speaker 1: Black representation in cartoons to show his kids, and the
Speaker 1: show today gets millions of views every month. I asked
Speaker 1: the family about the grand idea for Graci's Corner. Was
Speaker 1: a desire just to put out a good piece of
Speaker 1: content or was there a business strategy they wanted to follow.
Speaker 3: We had no idea it was gonna grow the way
Speaker 3: it did, especially at the pace it did.
Speaker 4: It was mostly from the mindset of just seeing that
Speaker 4: a lot of the country that was out there and
Speaker 4: seeing that there really wasn't much representation.
Speaker 5: Where you can see children of color at the forefront.
Speaker 5: And for me that was a big problem because I
Speaker 5: feel like, you know, if our children.
Speaker 4: Are country seeing images that don't look like them, they
Speaker 4: started to wonder like, Okay, there's something wrong with me.
Speaker 4: Do I belong in this grand scheme of you know, society.
Speaker 4: And we just wanted to do something that was proactive
Speaker 4: and then it just.
Speaker 5: Kind of caught on with other parents and now we've
Speaker 5: come to this thing.
Speaker 1: At what point did you say, Okay, this is getting
Speaker 1: serious when it goes, you know, past X number of views? Like,
Speaker 1: at what point did you say, like, hold on, there's
Speaker 1: something here.
Speaker 5: It was lad in the game for me. When we
Speaker 5: first started.
Speaker 4: We weren't getting the type of viewership we're getting now,
Speaker 4: Like it was fairly thousands or so views on like
Speaker 4: it was.
Speaker 5: It was. It was kind of rough, and I was
Speaker 5: I was the believer.
Speaker 4: And she also had faith in the whole project itself
Speaker 4: because we were just putting money into this and you're
Speaker 4: seeing zero returns, right, So she could have she could
Speaker 4: have easily said you know what, honey, but she just
Speaker 4: allowed me to continue to explore and we.
Speaker 5: Just kept pressing through it.
Speaker 1: I really talk about that because it sounds like, you know,
Speaker 1: there was like some idea of like we're trying to
Speaker 1: make something happen other than just feel a need. It's
Speaker 1: like there's there's got to be some sort of return.
Speaker 1: That's what it sounds like. So talk to me about
Speaker 1: what you were looking for.
Speaker 2: Did happen?
Speaker 6: So I would say, what the first year when we
Speaker 6: first started this journey, this fun journey, we you know,
Speaker 6: saw the followers and the subscribers kind of slowly building,
Speaker 6: and I think the minute I knew, oh my goodness,
Speaker 6: this is something that is big was when we reached.
Speaker 7: One hundred thousand.
Speaker 6: Because up until then, you know, and he'll tell you
Speaker 6: every single milestone, I'll say, wow, it would be great
Speaker 6: if we can reach that, And it happened, so we
Speaker 6: surpass it. But I would say when I really knew
Speaker 6: it was gonna be something was around that mark where
Speaker 6: he had one hundred thousand subscribers.
Speaker 7: And then on top.
Speaker 6: Of it, when I saw like all the parents posting
Speaker 6: videos of himself dancing, I said, okay, we have something
Speaker 6: because not only is it something that is educational, but
Speaker 6: it's entertaining not only for the children but for the parents.
Speaker 7: And so that's what I really knew, like, wow, okay,
Speaker 7: this is something.
Speaker 1: Was there any education you consumed with trying to figure
Speaker 1: out how to manage a YouTube channel? Because I know
Speaker 1: there's so many things talk about. You know, you got
Speaker 1: to post so many times, and think YouTube wants quantity
Speaker 1: versus quality in so many respects, and you've got to
Speaker 1: post twenty eight million times a week and all these
Speaker 1: types of things. So talk to me about how you
Speaker 1: gained the knowledge, if you explored that, and what did
Speaker 1: you learn.
Speaker 6: So this is where his background as a researcher. So
Speaker 6: he has a PhD in organic and macro molecular chemistry,
Speaker 6: and so.
Speaker 7: In everything he does, he does.
Speaker 6: Thorough research, thorough research, and so you know, credit goes
Speaker 6: to divorce because you know he researched everything at nauseum.
Speaker 6: And you're right, it's not just hey, you go out,
Speaker 6: you start something, but he researched what he needed to
Speaker 6: go into it. How to get animation, how to you know,
Speaker 6: master and make quality music, how many times.
Speaker 7: You have to post?
Speaker 4: How to what is it called s seo?
Speaker 6: And like he just has this this method he uses
Speaker 6: to make sure that when he posts something, it's gonna
Speaker 6: get optimal search because of keywords and different things like that.
Speaker 2: So, Gracie, and when Dad comes to you and says, hey,
Speaker 2: I got this idea for this show.
Speaker 1: If it happened like that, you know, talk to me
Speaker 1: about how you felt and like you're like, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: in or like I got questions, like tell me about
Speaker 1: what you were thinking.
Speaker 8: What he was saying was like we have like kind
Speaker 8: of like a project going on like together, and he
Speaker 8: was like like so the only thing we have to
Speaker 8: do is like we have to like do this and
Speaker 8: this and then like it'll.
Speaker 5: Be like.
Speaker 1: So the anxiety was there from the beginning, like you
Speaker 1: knew you felt like that this could be something special.
Speaker 4: Yeah, she she actually wanted she wanted a YouTube channel
Speaker 4: where she wanted one of those weird ones where you know,
Speaker 4: you unboxed toy like that type of stuff with me.
Speaker 4: I know a lot of those kids who do YouTube
Speaker 4: channels that the way they have to devote a lot
Speaker 4: of their life to constantly being in front of the camera,
Speaker 4: and this is like it's it's it's like they're constantly online.
Speaker 4: But this was kind of like a nice compromise where
Speaker 4: you know, she's the voice behind the character, but we
Speaker 4: just record when we record, and then once that's done,
Speaker 4: she just plays and you know she's not on on
Speaker 4: camera like that. So it was kind of a way
Speaker 4: to kind of balance the two and yeah, she's been enjoying.
Speaker 1: So you didn't come up as a cartoon designer, I imagine,
Speaker 1: And so I wonder, like, what was that process like
Speaker 1: when you said, you know what, I'm going to learn
Speaker 1: how to do this and what did you like, what
Speaker 1: did you do to learn how to make cartoons?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 4: So, yeah, just like I said, I that side of it,
Speaker 4: I'm still oblivious on the whole.
Speaker 5: I mean, I've.
Speaker 4: Learned the ins and outs of what goes into it,
Speaker 4: but as far as I actually applying. But I did
Speaker 4: a lot of research on like even writing the script,
Speaker 4: Like I do a ton of writing. That's probably like
Speaker 4: the biggest piece, like writing, writing the songs, writing the scripts.
Speaker 4: But I've partnered with I have a team of animators
Speaker 4: down there, you know. I send those scripts off to
Speaker 4: those guys and they bring it to life, you know,
Speaker 4: based on I mean, they'll send something back that I
Speaker 4: may ask for a revision or whatever.
Speaker 5: But but the the.
Speaker 4: Imagery itself, she can tell you, like the I started
Speaker 4: by sending an animator a picture of her when she
Speaker 4: was like oh seven, I think, But yeah, they took
Speaker 4: that and came up with.
Speaker 5: This rendition of what you guys.
Speaker 1: See, so were these animators people that you knew or
Speaker 1: you went to you know, upwork, Like how did you
Speaker 1: find these people?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so using like upwork for the identify freelancers. And
Speaker 4: then once I identified the freelancer, it was, like I said,
Speaker 4: early on, it was really one side of where we're
Speaker 4: just constantly putting money into it. So we didn't really
Speaker 4: we had like a shoe string budget really this thing
Speaker 4: together because at the time I was still a professor
Speaker 4: my wife she's you know, still a professor with we
Speaker 4: were trying to use income, you know, to live with
Speaker 4: also try to keep this project going. But anyway, we
Speaker 4: eventually got some point where the channel actually was making money,
Speaker 4: and then we were able to even grow our animation teams.
Speaker 4: So now it's it's actually a team of animators that
Speaker 4: work on them.
Speaker 6: So the animators, we took them from the I guess
Speaker 6: you found them through like a freelance website, and now
Speaker 6: they work with us and full time, full time, and
Speaker 6: it's teammate animators and from one animator to like four,
Speaker 6: so and it's pretty awesome just to see them growth
Speaker 6: of everything overall.
Speaker 1: So early and I'm interested in your in your thoughts
Speaker 1: on this, and either of you guys can speak up
Speaker 1: on it, but I wonder, like to what.
Speaker 2: Do you attribute the success of the show.
Speaker 1: Would it be you know, your ability to market it,
Speaker 1: or there was purely just a market demand? Like how
Speaker 1: what would you say is the key to you know, your.
Speaker 2: Success in this.
Speaker 6: I definitely think it's more so just a demand zero marketing,
Speaker 6: you know, with regards to to like paid marketing has
Speaker 6: gone into Gracie's Corner still, everything honestly has been just
Speaker 6: of course word of mouth and because of people actually
Speaker 6: watching it enjoying it, the algorithm likes us and push.
Speaker 7: Us us out, and so I feel like that just
Speaker 7: speaks to the need.
Speaker 6: You know, people were hungry for something like Gracy's Corner.
Speaker 6: I mean, and Jemors will say, when we were first starting, we.
Speaker 7: Were hungry for something like Gracie's Corner.
Speaker 6: That's the reason why you know, we worked hard and
Speaker 6: we developed Crazy's Corner, right, And.
Speaker 1: So, Gracie, I wonder when you think about the journey
Speaker 1: that you've watched your parents go on to build this thing,
Speaker 1: and previous to that, you know how young you were
Speaker 1: at the time, but previously they were just working day jobs,
Speaker 1: but now they're also entrepreneurs. Also, you know, what do
Speaker 1: you think about the life that you guys live in
Speaker 1: the amount of work that you guys put in to
Speaker 1: build something that's.
Speaker 7: Special, I'd say it's like really huge.
Speaker 8: Like most times my dad might ask me to be
Speaker 8: like he might be like, oh, let's record this like tonight,
Speaker 8: or like let's start like at this moment, and my
Speaker 8: mom would probably be like, Okay, so let's get the
Speaker 8: boo tea.
Speaker 7: We have a whole entire process we do. So she
Speaker 7: loves like bubble tea.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so, and she probably honestly records like like once
Speaker 6: or twice her week, and so she very much it's
Speaker 6: not every day, right, Yeah, but when he does record,
Speaker 6: she knows I'm going to be sending some bubble tea
Speaker 6: or having something that.
Speaker 7: She can have. And does it take like using two
Speaker 7: to three hours to record?
Speaker 5: What's your record?
Speaker 1: So, yeah, Javoris isn't a cartoon producer by trade, and
Speaker 1: it is informally trained. Yeah, he producers every episode. So
Speaker 1: I asked him from start to finish, walk me through
Speaker 1: the development of an episode.
Speaker 5: Javorce speaks on it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think about it from two different angles.
Speaker 5: So one angle I think about is.
Speaker 4: What is what's what's the piece of knowledge that most
Speaker 4: parents would want their kids to know?
Speaker 5: ABC?
Speaker 4: You know that was the first that's you know what
Speaker 4: I mean, like that type of development, and then also
Speaker 4: tapping into like good old traditional nurtural runs and things
Speaker 4: like that too, But yeah, what what do kids?
Speaker 5: What do parents want their kids to know?
Speaker 4: And so J tackling those core uh fundamental uh things
Speaker 4: and then from there, uh coming up with the whole
Speaker 4: piece for for the music and I, as you can see,
Speaker 4: I try to tap into different genres so it can
Speaker 4: range from it can range from uh hip hop to
Speaker 4: afrobeats to reggae to go go music. So that's probably
Speaker 4: the most fun part for me, honestly, like figuring.
Speaker 5: Out like, okay, what what we're gonna do this time?
Speaker 5: Let's let's uh and I try to mix it up.
Speaker 4: You probably if you see it the cat you about
Speaker 4: to see that. But but then once that part.
Speaker 5: Is done and then the music is is in place,
Speaker 5: then it's to writing.
Speaker 4: Sometimes I think the toughest one is like writing the
Speaker 4: original songs, because now you're creating something that's completely new
Speaker 4: and it's not based on something that's kind.
Speaker 5: Of already been made.
Speaker 4: So but then once the song was created then written,
Speaker 4: that's when she steps in.
Speaker 5: And we have an at home studio that I built.
Speaker 4: And even when building that, thank thankfully for things like YouTube.
Speaker 4: That's how I gained the knowledge on you know, how
Speaker 4: to get the necessary equipment in.
Speaker 5: Place at a small budget.
Speaker 4: So and I try to say that to people too,
Speaker 4: to let them know that you don't have to have
Speaker 4: this huge production studio, like you can start you can
Speaker 4: start small and then things will just kind of continue
Speaker 4: to build that way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought that was interesting, but I was. I remember.
Speaker 1: I remember like when we were the NAACP Image Awards
Speaker 1: and you talked about how you know, everybody you are
Speaker 1: up against like a Disney production, and like you have
Speaker 1: a YouTube show, You're going up against these guys, and
Speaker 1: like what does what does that tell you about the
Speaker 1: state of content that we're in today?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Then, you know what, that really made me realize how
Speaker 4: things have changed because back in the day, you know
Speaker 4: what I'm saying, It's like I'm an old man, but
Speaker 4: back in the day, if you want to have your
Speaker 4: stuff on any type of platform, you had to go
Speaker 4: through these big you know, these big roots, but now
Speaker 4: it's just so easily accessible for someone to enter.
Speaker 5: I don't want to say.
Speaker 4: Through the back door, but it's easier to kind of
Speaker 4: get in now because we got the YouTube, we got
Speaker 4: the the instagrams, the US it called tiktoks and all
Speaker 4: these different things where you can reach this audience now
Speaker 4: versus back in the day. You know, it was just
Speaker 4: these only a few ways. But we've found this other
Speaker 4: way to reach the audience. And it's cool to see
Speaker 4: that our work can be appreciated, you know amongst the
Speaker 4: biggest names like Disney and Nikola and all these you know,
Speaker 4: top production where these guys are company millions of dollars
Speaker 4: into this stuff and we're not.
Speaker 7: We have a kind of doubt.
Speaker 6: It speaks to like how much technology has advanced MM
Speaker 6: all of us. You know, think about like our animators.
Speaker 6: You know they they're in Nigeria. You know, it was
Speaker 6: technology that allowed us to access these phenomenal animators. Technology
Speaker 6: that allowed us to even put I guess what some
Speaker 6: would call our product out there to be viewed by
Speaker 6: the masses. And so you know, with a doubt, you
Speaker 6: know the reason why we're able to stand and you know,
Speaker 6: being the same conversation as some of these you know
Speaker 6: things that have millions of dollars behind them with these
Speaker 6: big production companies. Is because of technology and you know
Speaker 6: that's including social media.
Speaker 7: We also upgraded.
Speaker 1: Our Yeah, I mean that's it's super important. Like when
Speaker 1: I've learned, you know, when you're doing this side of work.
Speaker 1: You know, for me, at least from my perspective, the
Speaker 1: money goes back in. How do we continue to make
Speaker 1: it bigger instead of pulling the money out and going
Speaker 1: to you know, to Sizzler, Like, we're gonna put the
Speaker 1: money back in so we can continue growing this thing.
Speaker 1: So talk to me about that, like why you decided
Speaker 1: to continue to invest when you have you got the
Speaker 1: guys in Nigeria, you got the equipment that's making it work.
Speaker 1: What makes you continue to want to invest.
Speaker 2: To Gratia's point, man, my.
Speaker 4: Vision for this is way bigger than what people are
Speaker 4: even seeing right now. And I feel like we haven't
Speaker 4: even stretch of service yet with what's possible because.
Speaker 5: At the moment, some people even refer to us like
Speaker 5: the Black Cocoa Meling.
Speaker 4: But you know, even with the Coco Mela franchise on,
Speaker 4: you can see how Yeah, they're available on YouTube with
Speaker 4: these guys, you can also find them on Netflix and
Speaker 4: all these other areas. And then you have your live shows,
Speaker 4: you have your merchandise that you can find it in
Speaker 4: Walmart and Target.
Speaker 5: And all of the place.
Speaker 4: Like, there's so many areas that we haven't even tapped
Speaker 4: into yet, and right now we're just on the YouTube
Speaker 4: side of things. But I see the grand scheme. Man,
Speaker 4: this can be much larger because we're we're doing something
Speaker 4: that really is resonating with the culture, and you know
Speaker 4: what I mean, that's that's big in itself, and I
Speaker 4: think that's a huge part of the success of it, honestly,
Speaker 4: is that when people view it, like, yeah, it's very simple,
Speaker 4: but at the same time, it resonates with people because
Speaker 4: it just comes across this authentic content and yeah, that's.
Speaker 5: I think that's I think there's just so much more
Speaker 5: that can be done.
Speaker 4: So I just want to continue investing into it and
Speaker 4: making sure that it reaches the potential that I know
Speaker 4: can it can have.
Speaker 1: How do you vet the opportunities that you know come
Speaker 1: to you because of the success, Like, what are the
Speaker 1: filters that you put on to make sure that what
Speaker 1: you're partnering with people on or allowing them to be
Speaker 1: in your ear about makes sense, feel man.
Speaker 5: That that's a good question question and something.
Speaker 4: We struggled with earlier on because as soon as we
Speaker 4: start to gain some traction where we're getting let's say
Speaker 4: earlier to back then when we're when we reached the
Speaker 4: point where we're able to get like a million views
Speaker 4: in a month or something, now you know it. I
Speaker 4: think the last one was like over one hundred and
Speaker 4: thirty million in a single one.
Speaker 2: But everybody up there, that's when they pop up.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so now you you getting a lot of phone
Speaker 4: calls people that you probably never would imagine you would,
Speaker 4: you know, talk.
Speaker 5: To and and.
Speaker 4: And it's really tough to really kind of weed through
Speaker 4: like Okay, it.
Speaker 5: Seems like a nice person.
Speaker 4: Oh, this guy's cool and you know, but luckily we
Speaker 4: got to a point where we got with an agency,
Speaker 4: so we're now with United Talent Agency or UTA, and
Speaker 4: those guys are taking a lot of these phone calls
Speaker 4: on our behalf and kind of narrowing down like, Okay,
Speaker 4: here's the value proposition from this person, here's the vague
Speaker 4: proposition this person, and just kind.
Speaker 5: Of weeding it out that way.
Speaker 4: But one of the biggest things for us has been
Speaker 4: being able to maintain the direction that this is going,
Speaker 4: as far as keeping it authentic, because there's we've had
Speaker 4: conversations with some some people that they made it clear
Speaker 4: that hey, like you're doing but you know, maybe we
Speaker 4: could take it this direction and do X y Z,
Speaker 4: and the direction that they were taking it. It's almost
Speaker 4: like diluting what we've created. And that's the nicest way
Speaker 4: I can put it. Yeah, like that the way we
Speaker 4: made it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not just I want you to go in there,
Speaker 1: because you know, there's when you've gotten something, you know,
Speaker 1: everybody has an idea on what you should be doing.
Speaker 1: Everybody has an idea, you know, So how do you
Speaker 1: protect your your mission because it's not just about money.
Speaker 1: Money is important, but it's not just that you're trying
Speaker 1: to solve a need in the marketplace for representation. So
Speaker 1: talk to me about how well you protect that thing
Speaker 1: in the middle of the money, in the middle of
Speaker 1: the people who are further along and want to help you,
Speaker 1: quote unquote you know, So how do you protect that?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 4: The the I think the biggest part is being comf
Speaker 4: being comfortable with saying no, and honestly, for me that
Speaker 4: that was a struggle. Like you know, I'm I'm all.
Speaker 4: I've always been a type to try to, you know,
Speaker 4: meet people in the middle and make things work if possible.
Speaker 4: But I find myself having to say a lot of
Speaker 4: those now because people will try to sell this grand vision,
Speaker 4: but their vision is pretty much their vision in it.
Speaker 5: If if it aligns with the vision that we have,
Speaker 5: I'm all forward.
Speaker 4: But if I can see clearly like Okay, this is
Speaker 4: gonna go some direction where like like now, be very
Speaker 4: intentional about make sure that you're like cheer of color
Speaker 4: in the forefront with when I I see moments where okay, yeah,
Speaker 4: let's let's exchange one of Gracie's black friends for I
Speaker 4: don't know, something else and then put me you know,
Speaker 4: that's when it is starts to you know, worry me
Speaker 4: because it's like, Okay, now we're going I think from
Speaker 4: Marcus standpoint, their mindset is like, okay, how can we
Speaker 4: reach the the masses? But at the same time, I
Speaker 4: feel like there's there's some negative impact that can come
Speaker 4: to that too at the same time, So it's just
Speaker 4: I don't know, been just just trying to it's a
Speaker 4: it's a it's a rough dance.
Speaker 5: I put it that way.
Speaker 8: I was gonna say, like maybe like a reference would
Speaker 8: be like maybe like instead of trying to like take
Speaker 8: other people's like ideas and stuff, maybe like trying to
Speaker 8: make something better and like more like of a franchise
Speaker 8: that you could think would like grow big and I
Speaker 8: would like would if you wouldn't have to worry about
Speaker 8: anything instead of like copying other people's things.
Speaker 6: Yeah, And I think she's right, Like, I think a
Speaker 6: big part of George likes to say it's his favorite
Speaker 6: thing to say is people can smell when something is
Speaker 6: not authentic.
Speaker 7: And he says that's.
Speaker 6: Why when a lot of people who don't necessarily have
Speaker 6: all the right people in the room try to make
Speaker 6: a product that's not at the core authentic, people can
Speaker 6: smell it because it doesn't pass that smell test. And
Speaker 6: so I think for us, you know, she's right, Like
Speaker 6: in the very beginning, we had people telling us this
Speaker 6: is a truth. People were telling us, why are.
Speaker 7: You doing nursery rhymes?
Speaker 6: Nursery rhymes aren't going to be successful.
Speaker 7: You should have graciec pop songs.
Speaker 6: For real, for real, I'm pretty sure that person they
Speaker 6: won't name names who said that is sitting back saying wow.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 6: And that's just one example, but there have been a
Speaker 6: lot of people who will say do this, do that.
Speaker 7: And I think one of the things we've.
Speaker 6: Done is you know, family owned, you know, business company,
Speaker 6: and we just to be honest. One of the biggest
Speaker 6: things we do is discuss things amongst ourselves and we
Speaker 6: just say, no, what feels right, you know, what's what's
Speaker 6: in alignment with why we started this and why we
Speaker 6: do this, and if things don't align with it, we
Speaker 6: don't do it.
Speaker 7: We say no. Yeah.
Speaker 8: Mostly like you have to be resourceful, and also like
Speaker 8: you also have like self con you have to have
Speaker 8: like self control on what you're doing, and also like
Speaker 8: just to have self control.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And that's that's a really good point. And
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up because it makes me
Speaker 1: think about something Javoris said earlier. It's like, you know,
Speaker 1: there are things that he didn't know was going to
Speaker 1: get as big as they are today, and there's other
Speaker 1: things that you could be doing, you know. I think
Speaker 1: about when I went to Disney for the first time.
Speaker 1: It's like just the cartoon was the gateway to get
Speaker 1: you to Disney, to get you to buy the product,
Speaker 1: to get you to leave with the stuff. Then more
Speaker 1: a T shirt the umbrella of the thing. And so
Speaker 1: how do you think about and this is a dual question,
Speaker 1: but they point to the same thing, how do you
Speaker 1: think about retaining ownership and expanding the enterprise?
Speaker 5: Yeah, and that's that.
Speaker 3: Was something we've had a long conversation about too, where
Speaker 3: we know, in order to get to that point where
Speaker 3: I know it can go, it's gonna take some more
Speaker 3: fire power.
Speaker 5: And you know what we're doing now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we could easily sustain this and just kind of
Speaker 4: keep it black, but if we really want to put
Speaker 4: some fire to it, it's gonna take that right partnership.
Speaker 4: And in order to secure that partnership, you gotta be
Speaker 4: willing to give up some everybody like that was That's
Speaker 4: one of the biggest things that I think a lot
Speaker 4: of people aren't willing to.
Speaker 5: Have that conversation.
Speaker 4: But I feel like when you have, when you can
Speaker 4: identify the right partner giving up that equity, it's only
Speaker 4: going to build you know, even more so, it's just
Speaker 4: being just being smart about it. So we're not we
Speaker 4: don't have an issue with giving up a piece of
Speaker 4: a pie and make sure that this thing can really
Speaker 4: get to where it's.
Speaker 5: Supposed to give.
Speaker 6: But we don't want to give up all of the pie.
Speaker 6: So before the numbers started looking the way they were looking,
Speaker 6: the discussion was full acquisition all of the pie.
Speaker 8: Wow.
Speaker 7: And for us that was all.
Speaker 6: And we're talking about you know, big production companies like
Speaker 6: major ones, and we were like, no, you know, regardless
Speaker 6: of what you know, it's throwing the front that made
Speaker 6: look a pilling. We understood that, you know, this is
Speaker 6: bigger than us. We could see it at.
Speaker 7: That point, understood that, you know, yes, we.
Speaker 6: Could say, okay, give it all up, but then we
Speaker 6: don't have the ability to have control over what it
Speaker 6: looks like, and that was something we didn't want, you know.
Speaker 6: So I guess, going along with what Janora said, it's
Speaker 6: you know, right now, we still have one hundred percent
Speaker 6: ownership of it, so we haven't you know, we're we
Speaker 6: are open to partners, but it's one of those things
Speaker 6: where it has to be the right partner and if
Speaker 6: they have to understand the vision and want to keep
Speaker 6: with that.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I was gonna say, like maybe like what you
Speaker 8: can do is like save the pie and like wait
Speaker 8: for like another moment that makes you like feel like
Speaker 8: it's like okay, Like does it like feel like disturbing?
Speaker 8: And like when you have it has to like feel
Speaker 8: like the right decision. Yeah, like are what you're making.
Speaker 8: So I say, like save the pie until like.
Speaker 7: The next moment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you gotta have that desernment to know to to
Speaker 1: our least a previous point like if it does smell right,
Speaker 1: it's probably not right. So talk to me aside from
Speaker 1: the numbers. So you're looking at your numbers every month,
Speaker 1: every week, and these numbers are coming in one hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty million lass a month. Congratulations on that. What
Speaker 1: are the things that matter to you other than views?
Speaker 4: I feel like the the awareness like yeah, we were
Speaker 4: getting a lot of views or whatever.
Speaker 5: But there's a lot of people who still don't know
Speaker 5: a thing about Grace's Corn, like, and I feel like.
Speaker 4: I would love to see this become like a household
Speaker 4: name where you know, especially the people who need to
Speaker 4: be able to see it know about it at least,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, Because there's a lot of
Speaker 4: people who are still watching stuff that don't quite hit
Speaker 4: the mark, whether it is with the representation itself or
Speaker 4: the content, because like if you listen to some of
Speaker 4: the stuff that's out there.
Speaker 5: Man, you can you can as a creator, you can
Speaker 5: kind of.
Speaker 4: Tell what stuff a lot of thought goes into and
Speaker 4: what stuff that they're just trying to create something just
Speaker 4: for the sake of making sure that they can, Like
Speaker 4: you're saying earlier that quantity aspect of I got to
Speaker 4: have something, so.
Speaker 2: I just feed the machine.
Speaker 4: Yeah, some people just focus on feeding feet feeding with
Speaker 4: we really put a.
Speaker 5: Lot of thought into the content itself.
Speaker 4: The words like if you go and listen to any
Speaker 4: of the song that, but not like there's an actual
Speaker 4: thought that's going into it.
Speaker 5: So it's it's I.
Speaker 1: Don't know, Yeah, I wanted to I want to dig
Speaker 1: in there because I wonder how you determine the content?
Speaker 1: How do you how do you determine how long.
Speaker 5: The episode should be?
Speaker 2: How how how do you determine.
Speaker 5: Which subjects to discuss?
Speaker 2: Like how do you determine these things?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 4: That that's pretty much almost like a team of her
Speaker 4: there because she's the psychologist. So whenever you hear a
Speaker 4: song I got like any mental health components wrapped up
Speaker 4: into it. Like for instance, the Deep Breath song that
Speaker 4: was that was her idea.
Speaker 7: A song.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that that affirmation was part of the ABC song
Speaker 4: that was that was her idea.
Speaker 5: So she can speak.
Speaker 6: We actually we'll sit down and we'll come up with
Speaker 6: a list of concept we feel are important that we've
Speaker 6: liked them because at the same point, we have a
Speaker 6: three year old and we have a five year old,
Speaker 6: so we actually have children that are the same age
Speaker 6: as a children who views Crazy's Corner. And so the
Speaker 6: question is, Okay, what kind of things do we want
Speaker 6: our children to be learning? You know, if you know,
Speaker 6: there's a time.
Speaker 7: Of the day where.
Speaker 6: You know, we allow them to have screen time and
Speaker 6: we want them to have quality content. What are the
Speaker 6: things we want them to be looking at? What are
Speaker 6: the things we want them to learn? And so we'll
Speaker 6: make a long list of like nursery rhymes and different
Speaker 6: learning concepts.
Speaker 7: And then we'll just go from there. And to be honest, Divores,
Speaker 7: will you know, he'll go and.
Speaker 6: Try to look for beats or make beats, and what
Speaker 6: will happen is he'll hear something and he will say, oh,
Speaker 6: this would be a cool beat to do. Mary had
Speaker 6: a little lamb to or account by two songs, you know,
Speaker 6: and so we have a lot of different concepts, but
Speaker 6: it's led by of course us knowing what we want
Speaker 6: children to you know, have, as well as you know,
Speaker 6: making sure there is music that.
Speaker 7: Fits really good with it.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask this in closing Gavars and you know,
Speaker 1: any ice welcome to chime in. But I wonder what
Speaker 1: lessons you learned about how to view opportunity in the
Speaker 1: middle of in the midst of turmoil, because like you
Speaker 1: got this idea during COVID when so many other people
Speaker 1: were just distracted by you know, can you get toilet
Speaker 1: paper at the grocery staff?
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: So, but you saw an opportunity. So how what lesson
Speaker 1: did that teach you about how to take advantage of
Speaker 1: those moments in life where you could be distracted by
Speaker 1: other things, worthy things, but you can still be distracted
Speaker 1: by the things.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I think the biggest thing is once you have
Speaker 5: that idea, hold on to it.
Speaker 4: I know, it's so easy to, like you said, get
Speaker 4: distracted by something else that may be tapping you on
Speaker 4: the shoulder or tugging you some other direction. Because at
Speaker 4: the time I was grading papers, writing exams and doing
Speaker 4: all this and being a dad, and you know, I
Speaker 4: I it's it's easy to get pulled away in.
Speaker 5: A different direction. But you know, if you if you
Speaker 5: have an idea or a vision that you truly believe in,
Speaker 5: just stayed the course. And especially if it's something that's.
Speaker 4: If to have a positive impact on a gr uh
Speaker 4: grand skill, it's just stay the course and stick with it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, something I don't stay there.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I think learning also that sometimes things can say. I
Speaker 6: can tell you early on when we started off with
Speaker 6: what like ten views, a hundred views, early on, I
Speaker 6: think all of us could say, wow, we're not sure,
Speaker 6: you know, if if this is gonna pan out. But
Speaker 6: I think there is a lot that we can get
Speaker 6: from staying the course, as Divorce said, and understanding that patience.
Speaker 7: I mean because honestly, like you heard him say, the.
Speaker 6: First year, there wasn't any return, and it was honestly
Speaker 6: something that we were pumping.
Speaker 7: It was a labor of love and we were like, yeah,
Speaker 7: you know, where's this going? And so stay course. And
Speaker 7: I guess all great things take sacrifice.
Speaker 6: There definitely, you know has been and still is a sacrifice,
Speaker 6: you know, but well worth it.
Speaker 7: So I think it's the bias of the importance of.
Speaker 6: Without a doubt, patience and understanding that things don't happen overnight,
Speaker 6: and just because it doesn't look like it's gonna happen.
Speaker 7: Doesn't mean it will.
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Wheny is a production of Blavity Afro
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effects Podcast Network and Night High Media.
Speaker 2: It's produced by Morgan Devonne and me Well Lucas.
Speaker 1: With the additional production support by Sarah Ergon and Rose McLucas.
Speaker 2: Special thank you to MIKEL.
Speaker 4: Davis.
Speaker 2: Ifan that's a serrano.
Speaker 1: Learn more about my guests and other tech This repeorsent
Speaker 1: innovators at afrotech dot com. Enjoying Black Tech Green Money.
Speaker 1: Share this with somebody, Go get your money.
Speaker 2: Pat in Love