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Speaker 1: Wake that answer up in the morning.

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Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club.

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Speaker 1: Morning.

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Speaker 3: Everybody is DJ en Vy, Jess Hilarious, Chelamaane the guy

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Speaker 3: we are the Breakfast Club. Lonla Rosa is here as well.

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Speaker 3: And we got a special guest in the building. He

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Speaker 3: has so many titles.

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Speaker 2: Well, ladies and gentlemen, Richard, We'll go ahead.

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Speaker 4: I'm gonna say he's the executive chairman of Sundown Group

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Speaker 4: of Companies. That's right, we have rich Dennis.

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Speaker 5: Yes, it is a group of companies. Tell them some

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Speaker 5: of the companies.

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Speaker 1: Uh, Richard, Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. As

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Speaker 1: I was saying earlier, like every couple of.

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Speaker 2: Years, talk to Mike, talked to Mike. You should know

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Speaker 2: every couple of years.

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Speaker 1: No, I only do this like once every two years,

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Speaker 1: explain myself to you. But so, Sundown Group of Companies

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Speaker 1: consist of Sundown Media Group and Media and Technology Group.

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Speaker 1: Uh So, that's Essence, Refinery twenty nine, Afro Punk, Beauty

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Speaker 1: con and a few other media assets, Sunday Aile uh Financial,

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Speaker 1: which is New Voices fund in which we we invest

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Speaker 1: in and businesses. One of the largest investors in black

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Speaker 1: owned businesses and people of color. So that's that's the

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Speaker 1: and then the consumer. We have so now consumers. So

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Speaker 1: some of you guys know us for the brands that

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Speaker 1: we've built like Shade Moisture and in Heritage and Madam C. J.

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Speaker 1: Walker and now some of the newer brands like Alafia

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Speaker 1: and some of those things. So so we we we

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Speaker 1: we play across the the economic landscape of culture.

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Speaker 4: And also, if I'm not minatake, you said afroc, I

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Speaker 4: mean afroch afro punk, afropunk Okay, and a beauty conk and.

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Speaker 5: Beauty he said, you know, listening, he said, Okay, I'm

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Speaker 5: just making sure man.

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Speaker 4: I'm the reason I want to stress that is because

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Speaker 4: you said you got to come in here every couple

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Speaker 4: of years to explain yourself.

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Speaker 5: But I want people to know who you are, and

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Speaker 5: I want.

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Speaker 4: Them to know how important you are to a lot

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Speaker 4: not not just you know yourself, but to a lot

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Speaker 4: of other black companies in black Absolutely.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean we've we've invested in, uh probably

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Speaker 1: at this point, well over one hundred black businesses we've

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Speaker 1: focused in on. We started with a keen focus on

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Speaker 1: women on black businesses, and then we we spread that

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Speaker 1: out to men. So you know, we've invested in and

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Speaker 1: helped build companies like Mael Honey Pot Square Squire rather

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Speaker 1: than not Square Squire solo funds. So we go across

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Speaker 1: everything from consumer to to deep tech, right with the

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Speaker 1: lens of trying to solve vexing problems in the black community,

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Speaker 1: investing in businesses as solve vexing problems in the black community.

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Speaker 1: We see ourselves as building the UH, the cultural infrastructure

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Speaker 1: and monetization engines that allow us to keep ownership of

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Speaker 1: our intellectual property as a community and to build and

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Speaker 1: scale businesses that can then reinvest back in the community.

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Speaker 1: One of the last times I was here, now one

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Speaker 1: of the last times with the time before the last time,

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Speaker 1: I came in here and we're talking about me selling

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Speaker 1: Shae Moisture, and I said to you guys, I'm selling

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Speaker 1: this company because I am going to unlock wealth that's

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Speaker 1: never been seen in our community before. I'm going to

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Speaker 1: invest that wealth back in our community.

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Speaker 5: And you did it.

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Speaker 1: I did that right six years later, seven years later,

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Speaker 1: not only have we done that, we've now had four

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Speaker 1: or five exits that have delivered more than a billion

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Speaker 1: dollars wow back into Black families in this country. So very,

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Speaker 1: very proud of the journey that we're on. But every

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Speaker 1: once in a while, you know, we don't get it

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Speaker 1: one hundred percent right, But what we do do is

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Speaker 1: come back and fix it and get it one hundred

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Speaker 1: percent right.

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Speaker 4: So that's and I do want to say it's very important,

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Speaker 4: h what you do and have done is so important

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Speaker 4: and even more important now when you see all these

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Speaker 4: DEI initiatives getting rolled back, when you see these fundings,

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Speaker 4: when you see this funding for these black organizations and

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Speaker 4: black companies getting cut.

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Speaker 5: All we gonna have is us that's to invest back

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Speaker 5: in each other.

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Speaker 1: That's it. That's it, you know. And and part of

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Speaker 1: that is if you don't create wealth, we don't have

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Speaker 1: us to invest back in each other. Right, then we're

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Speaker 1: we're constantly needing to have other people support us to

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Speaker 1: I mean, look, you know we've got we've got changes

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Speaker 1: in healthcare coming, right, We've got changes in our abilities

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Speaker 1: to get an education. It's going to cost it. We're

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Speaker 1: going to have fewer opportunities and higher costs. Right. The

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Speaker 1: only thing that we can control is our economic destiny, right,

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Speaker 1: And so I'm fiercely protective of that because if we

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Speaker 1: don't have that we've got, We've got nothing, and to

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Speaker 1: do that, we've got to build big businesses. We've got

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Speaker 1: to build infrastructure to support those businesses, and we've got

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Speaker 1: to train up people so that they can run those

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Speaker 1: businesses right, all things that we all know are missing

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Speaker 1: from our community infrastructure today. So we've got a lot

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Speaker 1: of work to do, and we're here to do the

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Speaker 1: work now.

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Speaker 2: Of course, trendon all.

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Speaker 3: The last couple of days was the Essence Festival yep,

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Speaker 3: thirty first Essence Festival. Some people were upset, some people

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Speaker 3: were mad about timing. Some people said it wasn't as

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Speaker 3: packed as it usually is. They were mad that target

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Speaker 3: was a sponsor. So I know you're here today to

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Speaker 3: break some of that down. So yeah, what happened I

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Speaker 3: guess Essence Festival weekend?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So, first of all, a lot of the criticism

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Speaker 1: is warranted, a lot of it is not right. There's

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Speaker 1: always an explanation for things that go wrong, and people

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Speaker 1: always excited to take credit for things.

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Speaker 5: That go right.

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Speaker 1: My job is to balance that all out, right. So

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Speaker 1: we have an incredible team that's running Essence Festival. They

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Speaker 1: have built something that when you look at it, if

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Speaker 1: you look at the scale of what it is today

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Speaker 1: that competes against the best in the world, right without

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Speaker 1: the resources of the best in the world, right and

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Speaker 1: without the access that the best in the world has. Right.

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Speaker 1: So I'm extremely proud of that team. I'm also proud

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Speaker 1: of the fact that they took risks that we don't

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Speaker 1: normally get to take in order to build something better,

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Speaker 1: and some of those risks worked out exceptionally well. Like

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Speaker 1: you go into the convention Center extraordinary, right. We had

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Speaker 1: problems in production with the mics. That happens seems seems

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Speaker 1: to happen more in the Superdome or in domes rather,

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Speaker 1: but we had problems there. Those problems will be addressed

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Speaker 1: because they are easily addressable. There's reasons for why that

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Speaker 1: happened at some point. We can get into that if

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Speaker 1: you want to. But they look, we had over forty

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Speaker 1: acts over the three day weekend in the in the

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Speaker 1: in the Superdome. Right, best talent in the world, and

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Speaker 1: they deserve the best acoustics, they deserve the best production,

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Speaker 1: and we'll give that to them. We've given that to

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Speaker 1: them for thirty years. This thirty first year, we didn't

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Speaker 1: we didn't do as good a job as we normally do,

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Speaker 1: and next year we'll do a better job than we've

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Speaker 1: ever done. Is we've learned what the what the issues were.

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Speaker 5: So why would Lauren hillsow Lake?

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Speaker 4: She said it wasn't her fault, Absolutely was not her fault,

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Speaker 4: she says, she thanks y'all for actually stepping up and

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Speaker 4: saying it wasn't a Well.

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Speaker 1: Our job is to protect black women. We're not going

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Speaker 1: to sit here and say, hey, you know, because she's

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Speaker 1: taking the heat for it, We're going to be quieter

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Speaker 1: because that's just not that's not what we are, that's

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Speaker 1: not what essence it's about, that's not what we're building.

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Speaker 1: There were there were production issues with the audio video

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Speaker 1: system that caused the delay in her performance. We own that, right.

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Speaker 1: Those delays you know, were primarily because we've been very

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Speaker 1: aggressive in as I said earlier, our job is to

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Speaker 1: develop the infrastructure that drives black businesses, right, So we

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Speaker 1: also want to make sure that we're investing in the

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Speaker 1: local businesses in New Orleans, right, And so our partner,

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Speaker 1: our production partner, from our mandate and my team's directive,

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Speaker 1: which which again we're very proud that we're able to

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Speaker 1: do this. You know, One of the things that that

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Speaker 1: that that is also satisfying but scary, is that there

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Speaker 1: are no more black festivals around, right. We're about the

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Speaker 1: only independent one left, right. And so what that means

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Speaker 1: is that the people that get to produce these festivals

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Speaker 1: fewer and fewer and fewer of them have the resources

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Speaker 1: and the access and the ability to run these large

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Speaker 1: festivals because they're not getting those opportunities. Right. I said

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Speaker 1: to my team a year ago, is we need to

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Speaker 1: go out and find the types of partners that we

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Speaker 1: can develop and grow so that they have the opportunities

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Speaker 1: to do these right. So we probably should have been

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Speaker 1: a little bit more uh thoughtful in the execution of that, right,

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Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, I'm proud of

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Speaker 1: the fact that they took the risk. Right. Next year,

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Speaker 1: we will have a local, well trained, well developed a

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Speaker 1: partner in that area because we got the experience we

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Speaker 1: had this.

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Speaker 4: Year, y'all didn't have the right production team to pull

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Speaker 4: off a.

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Speaker 5: Concert of that scale base.

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Speaker 2: For the sound.

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Speaker 1: Yes, right, however, sorry, sorry, you go ahead that right. However,

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Speaker 1: our job is to train them up. It's not their fault, right,

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Speaker 1: it's our fault. Right. We have to we have to

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Speaker 1: if we if we're going to go that route, we

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Speaker 1: have to continue to make sure that we're investing in

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Speaker 1: their development and then their training, and we're gonna we're

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Speaker 1: going to continue to do that and rest assured that

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Speaker 1: will not happen again. I'm sorry.

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Speaker 6: I want to ask you the production company that you're

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Speaker 6: talking about, is that separate from the Solomon Group company,

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Speaker 6: because there was articles about them working with you guys,

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Speaker 6: and people throwing a lot of blame on a Solomon

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Speaker 6: g people too.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, at the end of the day, it's

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Speaker 1: not any of our partner's fault. Is our fault because

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Speaker 1: we engage them, we we hire them, we pay them,

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Speaker 1: we manage them, and it's our job to make sure

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Speaker 1: that everything is delivered properly. I'm not gonna sit here

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Speaker 1: and say that it's the Solomon Group's fold or is

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Speaker 1: this group's Faulds that.

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Speaker 2: Group's fault, right, Richiere a nice guy.

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Speaker 1: At the end of the day, Well, if I want

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Speaker 1: you to do.

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Speaker 3: Sound, I'm not a sound guy. It sounds supposed to

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Speaker 3: be right. I'm paying you a certain amount of money

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Speaker 3: to sound supposed to be perfect. That's what you're paying for.

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Speaker 3: You don't sit there with the mics and it just

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Speaker 3: levels and stuff like you pay somebody.

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Speaker 5: About the artist. Yeah, that was the other thing I

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Speaker 5: kept hearing. I kept hearing people was you know, late.

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Speaker 7: But Lauren Hill says she wasn't late though, So.

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Speaker 1: Let me get to that. But first, let me take

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Speaker 1: this right. It's not that I'm a nice guy. Is

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Speaker 1: that I am trying to build something that's lasting. If

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Speaker 1: I don't invest in people and I don't have the

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Speaker 1: patience with them, plenty of people allowed me to fail, right,

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Speaker 1: And because they allowed me to fail, I'm where I'm

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Speaker 1: at today. Right. My job and the role that I

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Speaker 1: see myself playing is to make sure that when somebody fails,

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Speaker 1: I'm there to pick them up right, because that's the

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Speaker 1: other thing that we don't have the luxury of as

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Speaker 1: black people. We get one shot right and then you

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Speaker 1: walk away. So we're gonna take the hit. It's our fault,

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Speaker 1: it's our responsibility. We will deal with our internal partners.

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Speaker 1: Our internal partners will step up and if they then

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Speaker 1: don't step up to the plate, then they will be gone.

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Speaker 1: But it will not be because they made a mistake here.

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Speaker 1: It will be because they haven't been able to learn

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Speaker 1: from those misses, right, So that that's that's the answer there.

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Speaker 1: I think you you you were asking the tardiness.

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Speaker 4: You know, I read the open letter that you know,

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Speaker 4: Stephanie Mills wrote, and you know, I love God, bless God.

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Speaker 5: Loves Stephanie Mills. And what she said was, you know,

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Speaker 5: she's a professional. This is an o G veteran in

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Speaker 5: the game. He said.

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Speaker 4: The challenges I encountered were multifaceted and in my view,

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Speaker 4: indicative of broader organizational shortcomings. The scheduling and time management

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Speaker 4: were severely lacking, creating a chaotic and stressful, stressful environment backstage,

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Speaker 4: This organization cascading onto the stage, impacting the flow of

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Speaker 4: the event and ultimately diminishing the quality of the performances.

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Speaker 4: Then she got into the logistical issues, and oh, she said,

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Speaker 4: beyond the logistical issues, the technical difficulties is what we

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Speaker 4: just talked about.

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Speaker 5: The sound system, she said, all that was deeply problematic.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean she she said it there's nothing

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Speaker 1: that there's nothing to.

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Speaker 5: Argue there, right, The I guess the why is what

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Speaker 5: I'm asking.

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Speaker 1: Well, I think I think the why is one scale, right,

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Speaker 1: and when you have when you start with the technical issues.

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Speaker 1: As you guys are in this business, things have a

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Speaker 1: way of having domino effects and they impact they impact

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Speaker 1: other things. Right, So we're tracking all of that down.

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Speaker 1: We've got, you know, folks that have been working nonstopper

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Speaker 1: on the clock to make sure that we not just

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Speaker 1: identify these So so whether it's it's Mills, or it's

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Speaker 1: the security guard on the floor, or whether wherever it is,

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Speaker 1: we're talking to everybody and we're making the adjustments that

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Speaker 1: we need that we need to make. This isn't a

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Speaker 1: matter of hey, you know we're oblivious to these issues.

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Speaker 1: It's not This isn't a matter of, hey, we don't

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Speaker 1: understand that there were challenges. We understand there were challenges.

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Speaker 1: We're getting to the bottom of it. We're correct.

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Speaker 4: I think I understand what you're saying as far as production,

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Speaker 4: because you know, we deal with that, especially in.

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Speaker 5: Radio a lot of times.

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Speaker 4: Right, you're giving people an opportunity, you're giving people a chance,

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Speaker 4: but they may not have the experience. And you said

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Speaker 4: you got to train them up. But man, when you

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Speaker 4: got something that needs to hit the ground running, I

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Speaker 4: can't teach you how to run. I need you already

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Speaker 4: know how to run.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well you know, and a lot of times

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Speaker 1: too because we don't get the opportunity. We may know

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Speaker 1: how to run, but we may be rusty, right, I

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Speaker 1: may not have done it in a year a year

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Speaker 1: and a half, so things slip, right, I may have

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Speaker 1: I may have new team members that haven't really run

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Speaker 1: it with me before. So I've got it. I've got

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Speaker 1: to figure out how to do that. So this is

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Speaker 1: not this is not this isn't anything new to this

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Speaker 1: business or to the to the the music or the

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Speaker 1: festival business. But I think it is particularly heightened because

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Speaker 1: we care about the people that we care about, and

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Speaker 1: the people that we serve care deeply about what it

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Speaker 1: is that we're doing. Right, So this this criticism, I

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Speaker 1: don't take it as criticism to criticize, although there is

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Speaker 1: some of that, right, there's some piling on this all that,

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Speaker 1: but that's that's part of the game. But people really

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Speaker 1: care about what essence means to them and it's a

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Speaker 1: source of pride for them, right, So we have to

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Speaker 1: deliver that. That's why I'm here, right, So we have

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Speaker 1: to be able to deliver that, and we have to

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Speaker 1: deliver that excellence every day and so you know, five

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Speaker 1: hundred things may go right, and one thing may go wrong,

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Speaker 1: or two things or ten things may go wrong. We

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Speaker 1: owe it to ourselves to say, hey, this isn't working

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Speaker 1: and be for us to correct it. So I do

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Speaker 1: have to ask.

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Speaker 3: You know, I go to Essence every year, right, and

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Speaker 3: I was there this year. I actually spoke on one

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Speaker 3: of the stages, this Wade Lounge.

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Speaker 1: I did dope. Was that it was dope? Yeah?

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Speaker 5: It was really.

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Speaker 3: I mean I love that because I get you get

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Speaker 3: to see your core of people that you don't usually

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Speaker 3: necessarily get to see.

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Speaker 2: Right, everybody comes in one place.

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Speaker 5: And you don't see that as the Puerto Rican I'm

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Speaker 5: not Puerto.

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Speaker 2: Rican black, stop that.

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Speaker 3: But I really get a chance to see people, and

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Speaker 3: not just at the convention center, not just at the concert,

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Speaker 3: at restaurants, at day parties, at just being out and about.

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Speaker 3: But I did notice that it wasn't his pact that

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Speaker 3: it usually is, right right. Some people say it was

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Speaker 3: maybe because of the boycott of Target. Some people say

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Speaker 3: maybe you know, people can't afford it. Right now, What

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Speaker 3: do you say to that?

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Speaker 5: Was it Target?

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Speaker 1: Was it? You know?

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Speaker 5: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Look, I think I think we live in a world

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Speaker 1: right now, where there's so much uncertainty right and and

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Speaker 1: people are trying to figure out where this is all headed. Right,

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Speaker 1: they're they're they're hurting financially, or they're or they're unsure

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Speaker 1: of what's going to happen to them financially. So they're

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Speaker 1: they're they're they're taking a beat on things and say, hey,

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Speaker 1: am I going to do this? There's uh a sort

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Speaker 1: of deep sense of of responsibility for to just share

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Speaker 1: everything right and and to be and to be as

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Speaker 1: as loud and as and as vocal and as visible

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Speaker 1: as as possible. So so things that may not be

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Speaker 1: fully understood get discussed in ways and in places that

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Speaker 1: sound like they actually know what they're talking about. But

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Speaker 1: so at the convention center again, phenomenal success. Here's why.

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Speaker 1: Last year there was a lot of lines, a lot

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Speaker 1: of blockage of the aisles. Our elders couldn't move freely,

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Speaker 1: they couldn't get from one place to another. So we

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Speaker 1: made a strategic decision to increase the size by one

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand square feet. Right. What that enabled us to

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Speaker 1: do was wider aisles right spread the spread the place

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Speaker 1: out of tuk tuk lines on the sides and away

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Speaker 1: from the center aisle, so people could move more freely. Right.

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Speaker 1: So when you look at that, you say, oh, there's

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Speaker 1: fewer people here, right, And you couple that with an

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Speaker 1: active boycott that's going on, right, and you couple that

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Speaker 1: with all of the uncertainty that I just talk about,

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Speaker 1: and then it's easy to come to that conclusion. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, we had almost fifty thousand people a day

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Speaker 1: go through the convention center in some days more right,

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Speaker 1: that's the first thing. So same numbers as last year

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Speaker 1: right in the convention Center, same numbers are last year,

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Speaker 1: better organized, better plan. That's the lessons that we won

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Speaker 1: last year. Right. Now, we got to turn our attention

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Speaker 1: to our production in the Superdome and make sure that

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Speaker 1: that's just as tight. You don't have any issues in

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Speaker 1: the convention Center, and we're engaging with that many people

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Speaker 1: a day, right. I think it's something like I don't

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Speaker 1: like four hundred panels, right, twenty something thousand minutes of content, right,

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Speaker 1: like massive stuff, right scale stuff. The last part about

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Speaker 1: that is it's all free. Right, So when you come

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Speaker 1: into that experience. The other thing that I think you

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Speaker 1: noticed this year, for those of you that have Ben

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Speaker 1: is the elevation of the experience, right, the the the

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Speaker 1: the the visuals, right, the the content, the the the uh.

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Speaker 1: The quality of the presenters right, the quality of the

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Speaker 1: presentations extraordinary. Right. I was extremely excited about about the

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Speaker 1: programming at swayet right for for the first time, it

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Speaker 1: wasn't an afterthought A men's experience wasn't an afterthought. It

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Speaker 1: was it was a real intentional experience and execution.

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Speaker 3: Right, we'll bring down with Swede is for people that

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Speaker 3: don't know it and worry there because they might not know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So Swayed is Swayed is what is now essences uh,

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Speaker 1: men's platform and experience that we're that we're slowly building

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Speaker 1: up because if you go out, then you look in

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Speaker 1: in the media landscape today, there's nothing that's really focused

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Speaker 1: on on on black men in an elevated and aspirational way.

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Speaker 1: And so Swede was actually a a magazine that was

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Speaker 1: owned by Essence, that was launched by Essence back in

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Speaker 1: the day as as a and was then shuddered shortly thereafter.

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Speaker 1: And I looked at it and I said, you know

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Speaker 1: what a cool what a cool name uh for for men? Right,

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Speaker 1: And and so we're gradually building that up. But I

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Speaker 1: think from your experience there you can see where we're.

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Speaker 2: Headed with it.

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Speaker 3: And I think a lot of women all the time

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Speaker 3: always look for men at essence.

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Speaker 1: Right, because there's a lot of relationships.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of women and they're.

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Speaker 3: Looking for relationships, they're looking So that Swede Lounge was

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Speaker 3: a great opportunity for me looking at the panel. So

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Speaker 3: but I do want to say too, I want to

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Speaker 3: stay on the economic point that and be brought up.

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Speaker 3: I saw people came plaining about the BBIP super lolenges.

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Speaker 3: I guess they said the super Lounge used to be

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Speaker 3: a part of the standard ticket price, but then they

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Speaker 3: had to charge extra for the v VI I P.

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Speaker 5: So a lot of people was like, man, that prices

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Speaker 5: me out.

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Speaker 4: So that was one how do you balance like financial

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Speaker 4: sustainability with accessibility.

401
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Speaker 1: Well, And but I think that's also part of a

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Speaker 1: part of what I was saying earlier about people having

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Speaker 1: an idea but not really fully having all of the

404
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Speaker 1: information to make to make decisions right. So that super

405
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Speaker 1: Lounge experience was was a free experience where the convention

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Speaker 1: center had not the conventions the super don't have these

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Speaker 1: spaces right inside of them. That essence used as a

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Speaker 1: way to showcase up and coming talent, right, give them opportunities,

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Speaker 1: and went quite for the for the main stage for

410
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Speaker 1: the past three year years or so, the super Dome

411
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Speaker 1: was under construction and those spaces went away, so we

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Speaker 1: haven't had that for three years. The way that we

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Speaker 1: solved for that was doing super lounges early on the

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Speaker 1: main stage. Right. That didn't change, right. But what we

415
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Speaker 1: also are dealing with is one we should talk about

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Speaker 1: the economics of it, right, and we'll come back to

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Speaker 1: the economics of how an event like this gets pulled

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Speaker 1: off and what it takes and what it requires. But

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Speaker 1: what we then did was said, hey, we're trying to

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Speaker 1: over deliver on the value proposition of why you come

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Speaker 1: to why you would go to the Superdome, why you

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Speaker 1: would buy a ticket, right. And what has happened is

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Speaker 1: for our community, they get charged more and they receive less.

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Speaker 1: We're guilty of trying to give more for the same price, right,

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Speaker 1: and that has to then be accompanied by other sources

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Speaker 1: of revenue in order to sustain that free convention center. Right.

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Speaker 2: How about I didn't I've been going for so many years.

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Speaker 2: I didn't know the convention center was free.

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Speaker 1: I had no idea convention centers.

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Speaker 2: I had no.

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Speaker 7: Idea, well, you'd be working. I just was an attendee

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Speaker 7: and I just went and you just had no idea.

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Speaker 2: It was free.

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Speaker 1: That's crazy. I had no clue. Nowhere else on this planet.

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Speaker 1: Which is amazing is anybody giving us that. I mean,

436
00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:30,960
Speaker 1: think about who you got to see, and they got

437
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:33,439
Speaker 1: to see and talk to you, right, they got to

438
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:35,480
Speaker 1: see on that same they got to see and talk

439
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:37,359
Speaker 1: to Maxwell. They got to see and talk to it.

440
00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:39,080
Speaker 1: And let me explain it this a little bit.

441
00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:41,359
Speaker 3: So the convention center, of course, it's it's a huge

442
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,960
Speaker 3: convention center and they have different stages, podcasts, artists performing,

443
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:46,280
Speaker 3: and I didn't know all that was free.

444
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:48,000
Speaker 2: But all that is free, So like you can go there.

445
00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:50,680
Speaker 3: And when I was there doing one stage, Lloyd was

446
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,359
Speaker 3: doing another stage performing, so there was like ten thousand

447
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:55,200
Speaker 3: people at Lloyd's stage. There was a couple thousands people

448
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,280
Speaker 3: that our stage, people doing podcasts, conversations with Maxwell, And

449
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:00,040
Speaker 3: I didn't know that's free, that's.

450
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:06,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's dope. No. But in order to maintain that,

451
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:10,560
Speaker 1: that money has to come from somewhere, right, so we're

452
00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:15,840
Speaker 1: we're trying to find other ways that we can monetize

453
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,639
Speaker 1: so that we can continue to provide that experience, so

454
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:22,080
Speaker 1: we don't have to charge because our community is going

455
00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:28,200
Speaker 1: through I don't know if people know this, right, unemployment

456
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:32,800
Speaker 1: rate for black women in this country right now is skyrocket, right,

457
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:37,680
Speaker 1: unemployment rate for black people in this country is skyrocket. Right.

458
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:43,960
Speaker 1: The opportunities that we were promised just two years ago

459
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:49,600
Speaker 1: have evaporated. Right, We're gonna stand by our community and

460
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,639
Speaker 1: we're gonna build. We're gonna use our business acumen to

461
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,560
Speaker 1: build a sustainable business that will be here one hundred

462
00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:59,560
Speaker 1: years from now. Right, We're gonna make those investments. We need,

463
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:03,879
Speaker 1: our commun need to come along. We also, though taking

464
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,640
Speaker 1: full accountability, need to make sure that our community knows

465
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,080
Speaker 1: that that's what we're doing. Right. I think we take

466
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:12,800
Speaker 1: for granted that they know what we're doing. The fact

467
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:16,080
Speaker 1: that you guys in here have been there, I don't

468
00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:19,639
Speaker 1: know how many times you've probably been there fifteen times

469
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:22,760
Speaker 1: that you didn't know that all of those experiences were three.

470
00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:26,199
Speaker 5: Right, So it's only been once, I'm sorry, once and

471
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,040
Speaker 5: once in Houston.

472
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,680
Speaker 1: Oh so you went ra Trina Katrina yeah, yeah, yeah,

473
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:36,440
Speaker 1: But that's that's a million square feet that we produce

474
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:41,080
Speaker 1: in that convention center for our community, serving anywhere from

475
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:44,640
Speaker 1: fifty to seventy thousand people a day, right for three

476
00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:49,000
Speaker 1: days straight. It's where we bring black businesses in the

477
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:53,080
Speaker 1: Soco market so they can sell their products. And when

478
00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:56,720
Speaker 1: they come to that SoCal market that one weekend, many

479
00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:59,000
Speaker 1: of them make more money in that one weekend than

480
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 1: they make the entire year.

481
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,280
Speaker 3: But the only other thing that I would say that

482
00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:06,440
Speaker 3: I did not like is every night at that convention center,

483
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:09,639
Speaker 3: well at the concert when people were performing, I didn't

484
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:11,440
Speaker 3: know who was really performing until I got there.

485
00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,560
Speaker 2: You guys had, I mean, think about it. You got

486
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:16,560
Speaker 2: Looe Rilla, Patty LaBelle.

487
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:22,159
Speaker 3: I think they had the last Line Law in the Hills,

488
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 3: nas Boys.

489
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:30,040
Speaker 1: Too, Menie Dougie f Babyface, so many.

490
00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,000
Speaker 7: It was like that wasn't properly promoted. But I didn't

491
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:33,880
Speaker 7: know what I got.

492
00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:36,240
Speaker 2: I didn't know what I got there about all those artists.

493
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:38,040
Speaker 3: And I feel like it would have been a bigger

494
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,119
Speaker 3: push if you to know, like you got to see

495
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:42,200
Speaker 3: all those artists in the weekend. You never see nothing

496
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:45,719
Speaker 3: like that, old and new coming up artists like it was.

497
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:46,880
Speaker 2: It was a dope show.

498
00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,679
Speaker 1: That's but that's what we do every year, right, and

499
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:52,199
Speaker 1: that's and that's the idea.

500
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,920
Speaker 3: So you usually you know when new addition is closing out,

501
00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:57,359
Speaker 3: you know when Mary's before.

502
00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:59,640
Speaker 1: Like you never it was, I didn't. I didn't.

503
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:01,040
Speaker 2: I didn't Niles was there until.

504
00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 5: I got there.

505
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: So let me so I'll tell you I don't know

506
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:04,880
Speaker 1: was there too, I see want to play.

507
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 2: That's true.

508
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:07,240
Speaker 5: By the way, he's being biased.

509
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:11,520
Speaker 4: All the people are from Queens, Okay. I bet y'all

510
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:15,439
Speaker 4: promoted Patty Leabell and crazy Queens.

511
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:17,160
Speaker 2: If you asked you, I did not know.

512
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:21,880
Speaker 1: So so that's another learning, right, So but I tell

513
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:26,200
Speaker 1: you more than that, more than than Hey, we need

514
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:30,199
Speaker 1: to we need to really amp it up because you know,

515
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 1: people need to know. More than that. We need to

516
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:36,520
Speaker 1: be earlier so that people can plan because in this economy,

517
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,440
Speaker 1: in the world that we're in, right, people need to plan.

518
00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 1: And people this is this is some people's vacation, right,

519
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 1: Like some people are like, Hey, I'm gonna save up

520
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 1: my money this year so I can go so I

521
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 1: can go to Essence, right, Great, we need to make

522
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,400
Speaker 1: sure that we give them enough of a window for

523
00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 1: them to plan. The other part of it is we're

524
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:05,200
Speaker 1: we're the music and the festival. The concert part of

525
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 1: it is an important part in the celebration, But that

526
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:15,640
Speaker 1: convention center is where the nourishment and the learning and

527
00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:18,920
Speaker 1: the nurturing comes in. And so we've got to make

528
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,160
Speaker 1: sure that we tie those closer together so that people

529
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,120
Speaker 1: know all of all of what's happening and they can

530
00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:29,160
Speaker 1: understand just exactly how massive it is. So we'll do

531
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,880
Speaker 1: a better job of marketing so that people know more

532
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:35,920
Speaker 1: and that they know earlier. So that's that's certainly something

533
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:38,720
Speaker 1: that we can improve on, and that feedback is very well.

534
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 5: I want to talk to you about Target.

535
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:45,360
Speaker 4: I totally get you need targets dollars to even do

536
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:45,920
Speaker 4: this event.

537
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:47,280
Speaker 5: You don't have to explain that.

538
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:51,320
Speaker 4: But was that a tough decision being that you know,

539
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:55,000
Speaker 4: the Jamal Bryant, the Tamika Mallory's, a Nina Turner's have

540
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:58,080
Speaker 4: you know, staged this boycott against Target that a lot

541
00:29:58,120 --> 00:29:58,560
Speaker 4: of people.

542
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:00,560
Speaker 5: Are participating in out So.

543
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:06,640
Speaker 1: Those are always difficult decisions, right, And this wasn't a hey,

544
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:09,880
Speaker 1: we decided to go with Target against the boycott or hey,

545
00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:12,320
Speaker 1: we decided to go with the boycott against Target. Right,

546
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:18,160
Speaker 1: You've got to remember what our value proposition is to

547
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:21,400
Speaker 1: this community, and that is to help them build their

548
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:25,720
Speaker 1: businesses and to help them build their build their build

549
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 1: the infrastructure that supports their business. Right, we build the

550
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:32,479
Speaker 1: infrastructure they build their businesses. So it wasn't a it

551
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:38,960
Speaker 1: wasn't a uh A decision around here's you know, here's

552
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:41,719
Speaker 1: this boycott that we want to go against, or here's

553
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:46,560
Speaker 1: this retail partner that we want to support, right, it

554
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:50,000
Speaker 1: was it was the decision first of all, was we

555
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:53,720
Speaker 1: already had a contract right prior to all of this

556
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:58,560
Speaker 1: four years now, and they've been good partners, right, They've

557
00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:00,440
Speaker 1: they've done what they've told us to we're going to

558
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:07,480
Speaker 1: do and even recently not recently at at festival, Brian Cornell,

559
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 1: their CEO, came on the ground. He's like, look, I

560
00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:12,440
Speaker 1: want to see the people, I want to talk to

561
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,719
Speaker 1: the people. I want to understand. But he also shared

562
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:19,200
Speaker 1: that we haven't stopped doing the things that we had

563
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:22,560
Speaker 1: committed to. We're going to complete We've made a two

564
00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:27,800
Speaker 1: billion dollar commitment that was who the black community.

565
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,480
Speaker 4: But isn't at the whole point of the whole point

566
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:32,080
Speaker 4: of the protest is that because they rolled back to

567
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 4: DEI initiatives, but they haven't you know, done those things

568
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:37,320
Speaker 4: from what I've been told.

569
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:41,960
Speaker 1: No, So what he shared was that they actually never

570
00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:46,080
Speaker 1: stopped those things. Right, They're they're two billion dollar commitment.

571
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:48,840
Speaker 1: He said that they are going to complete that two

572
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:52,080
Speaker 1: billion dollar commitment at the by the end of this year.

573
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:54,360
Speaker 5: They just can't label the d GAD a trump.

574
00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:57,600
Speaker 1: I'm not going to get into the politics of it,

575
00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:03,200
Speaker 1: but what I will say is that they've committed to

576
00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:07,640
Speaker 1: and have exercised and from what I've been able to see,

577
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 1: they have done what they said, certainly with the businesses

578
00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:14,680
Speaker 1: that are in there, that are in their retail environment,

579
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:16,880
Speaker 1: which is where I think the bulk of those dollars

580
00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:19,840
Speaker 1: go anyway. But that's for that's not for me to

581
00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 1: that's not for me to answer, right What I what

582
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:27,360
Speaker 1: I can say, though, is that they have shown me

583
00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:30,680
Speaker 1: and provided evidence that they have continued that they've continued

584
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:35,040
Speaker 1: those programs. They've continued their HBCU program and the scholarships.

585
00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 1: They've continued their their their their their dollar commitments. Right. So,

586
00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:48,200
Speaker 1: for our decision making was based on the economic impact

587
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:53,160
Speaker 1: or the or the inadvertent economic impact that we're seeing

588
00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:56,800
Speaker 1: in the black businesses that So if that convention center

589
00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:01,440
Speaker 1: didn't happen, there's two hundred vendors that would have lost

590
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 1: their income for that weekend, right, which, as I said earlier,

591
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:08,360
Speaker 1: for some of them, is the bulk of their income.

592
00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:14,440
Speaker 1: There are retail there are brands that have been preparing

593
00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:19,959
Speaker 1: all year to have a showcase to get retail distribution, right,

594
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:24,000
Speaker 1: So there's other retailers that come there. Because we also

595
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,840
Speaker 1: have a program through the New Voices Foundation that trains

596
00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:31,320
Speaker 1: up our vendors to be ready to go into retail.

597
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:33,680
Speaker 1: So that's the other thing that we do. We have

598
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:38,360
Speaker 1: almost thirty thousand black businesses on our platform and women

599
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:43,000
Speaker 1: own businesses on our platform that we're providing developmental services

600
00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 1: to every day and also at the festival, right. So

601
00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:54,640
Speaker 1: that's everything from preparedness to go into retail, to business planning,

602
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,200
Speaker 1: supply chain development, all the things that it takes to that.

603
00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:01,640
Speaker 1: So we've also then as a result of that, really

604
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:06,360
Speaker 1: curated the SoCal markets so that when our guests come in,

605
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:08,600
Speaker 1: they're getting the best of the best, and that when

606
00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 1: retail partners come in, they're able to then say, hey,

607
00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:14,880
Speaker 1: they're ready to do business and go and go to

608
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:18,960
Speaker 1: the next level. Right, So we don't want to deprive

609
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:23,760
Speaker 1: them of that opportunity. Greater than that is they've already

610
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,560
Speaker 1: made the investments, right, Some of these people have not

611
00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:30,400
Speaker 1: some of the many of them, because where do we

612
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,239
Speaker 1: go to get funding in our community when we need

613
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:35,759
Speaker 1: to build a business today? Right?

614
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:37,960
Speaker 5: Go fund me right?

615
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:43,520
Speaker 1: Right? So part of what they use this weekend for

616
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:48,080
Speaker 1: is to recoup the investments that they've made. So how

617
00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:51,440
Speaker 1: do they get these investments? They're taking our second mortgages

618
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:54,239
Speaker 1: on their homes, they're drawing down on their four to

619
00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:58,400
Speaker 1: one ks, they're borring from their neighbors and their friends

620
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:03,479
Speaker 1: and their family. Go for every single person here right, right,

621
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 1: And if they don't get these opportunities, what happens to them? Right?

622
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:14,359
Speaker 1: So we've got we've got to think about. So it's

623
00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:18,280
Speaker 1: it kind of you know, it's I'm a I'm older

624
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 1: than all of you guys. I grew up at a

625
00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:25,160
Speaker 1: time where it was, you know, it was it was

626
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:31,080
Speaker 1: we had MLK to follow and learn about, and you

627
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:36,279
Speaker 1: had two sides to mlk's platform. The first one was

628
00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:39,319
Speaker 1: the civil rights platform. The second one which he didn't

629
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:41,600
Speaker 1: get to see all the way through unfortunately, and we

630
00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 1: can all speculate as to why was the economics rights platforms? Right?

631
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,719
Speaker 1: So the boycott is focused on the civil rights platform.

632
00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:52,920
Speaker 1: I'm focused on the economic rights platform. That's what I've

633
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:56,160
Speaker 1: done my entire career, right, thirty something years now, almost

634
00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:58,880
Speaker 1: forty years. This is what I've done, right, I started.

635
00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:01,759
Speaker 1: I started when I was nineteen years old, right, so

636
00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:05,319
Speaker 1: almost forty years. It's kind of crazy to think, right,

637
00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:07,680
Speaker 1: but that's all I've done, right, All I've done is

638
00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:11,800
Speaker 1: build businesses that invest back in black communities and develop

639
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:15,200
Speaker 1: new businesses that can then stand on their own. So

640
00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:19,200
Speaker 1: I'm looking, I'm faced with this and I'm seeing the

641
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:22,760
Speaker 1: impact that this is not just having here but also

642
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:30,560
Speaker 1: on shelf. So, yeah, the boycott can. Our voice has

643
00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:34,760
Speaker 1: been heard, there is no doubt about it. Our voice

644
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:42,200
Speaker 1: has been heard, fantastic, Right. My question is what next? Right?

645
00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:46,080
Speaker 1: And how do we now? How do we now protect

646
00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:50,799
Speaker 1: those businesses that have been impacted because targets, traffic may

647
00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:55,560
Speaker 1: be down, right, their revenue may be down, But think

648
00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:58,960
Speaker 1: about those I don't know how many there has I

649
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:03,800
Speaker 1: know that we're involved with maybe twenty businesses in that

650
00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,400
Speaker 1: that cell to the target that at other retailers, but

651
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,880
Speaker 1: we're talking specifically here. Some of them, their businesses are

652
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:14,480
Speaker 1: down more than fifty percent. Some of them their business

653
00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:21,840
Speaker 1: the average is around thirty percent. Right, the right, because

654
00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:26,160
Speaker 1: the traffic isn't there and the the So the impact

655
00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:33,759
Speaker 1: of that is the longer this goes on, I can't

656
00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:38,440
Speaker 1: pay my mortgage. I can't pay you back the money

657
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:41,640
Speaker 1: that I barred you from you, Right. I can't send

658
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:43,520
Speaker 1: my kids to the schools that I've not put them

659
00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:46,760
Speaker 1: in because I thought, Hey, I've got I've got this business.

660
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:50,799
Speaker 1: That's that's ramping up. Right. I'm worried about healthcare because

661
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,640
Speaker 1: there's all kinds of changes coming there. There's there's an

662
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:58,440
Speaker 1: undue amount of stress that goes on those businesses as

663
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:04,799
Speaker 1: a result of this. Right, the boycott I think has

664
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,840
Speaker 1: served its purpose. I think it has been one that

665
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:11,880
Speaker 1: showed our economic might, It showed our voice, It showed

666
00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: that we can be we can be united. I'm all

667
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:18,160
Speaker 1: for that, right, But what I have to think about

668
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,640
Speaker 1: is how I make sure that these people and these

669
00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:26,080
Speaker 1: businesses that have made these investments survived through this. Until

670
00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:27,000
Speaker 1: all of that is the result.

671
00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:29,040
Speaker 4: Can you move on from a boycott if a demand

672
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:32,719
Speaker 4: hadn't been met? Though, again, if you have, because the

673
00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:34,600
Speaker 4: whole point of boycott is because you have demand. If

674
00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:37,520
Speaker 4: Target hasn't met those demands, why should we tell people

675
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:39,920
Speaker 4: to move on if they have not met those If

676
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,000
Speaker 4: they haven't met those demands, why should we tell the

677
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:43,440
Speaker 4: protests to move on?

678
00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,840
Speaker 1: Yeah? So I haven't told anybody.

679
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:48,880
Speaker 5: To move on, right, It sounds like you're saying that.

680
00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:51,760
Speaker 1: Just No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying

681
00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:55,640
Speaker 1: is that my responsibility, the place that I've lived my

682
00:38:55,800 --> 00:39:00,759
Speaker 1: life is in building out that ecosystem. Right, So my

683
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:06,160
Speaker 1: job is to ensure that our ecosystem survives. Right, That's

684
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:08,359
Speaker 1: my job, right, And that's what I'm doing.

685
00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:10,279
Speaker 5: I guess my mother's real quick.

686
00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:10,440
Speaker 1: God.

687
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:10,880
Speaker 5: I just want to.

688
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:14,920
Speaker 4: Just from a just from your standpoint, just Essence, right,

689
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:18,080
Speaker 4: not the black owned businesses within Target, just Essence and

690
00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:20,399
Speaker 4: Essence Festival. If you would have said, you know what,

691
00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:22,719
Speaker 4: I'm listening to the protesters Target, I don't want you

692
00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:23,719
Speaker 4: to be a sponsor this ship.

693
00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:26,120
Speaker 5: How would that have impacted y'all business? Because I know

694
00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:26,800
Speaker 5: you had a contract.

695
00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:28,600
Speaker 1: Well, we have a we have a contract, so that

696
00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:31,040
Speaker 1: that would that would impact our business. I tell you

697
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:38,200
Speaker 1: something else, Right, there's many others that have either pulled

698
00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:42,919
Speaker 1: out of supporting uh uh uh black media and and

699
00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:45,520
Speaker 1: and and black businesses. There are many others that have

700
00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:50,600
Speaker 1: cut down what they have, what their commitments had been,

701
00:39:50,719 --> 00:39:55,160
Speaker 1: or or where they have where they have invested before.

702
00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:59,279
Speaker 1: So it's not just this isn't just an issue that

703
00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:03,000
Speaker 1: related just to target, right, this is an issue that

704
00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:05,879
Speaker 1: you know, we've had partners you know that didn't come

705
00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:09,959
Speaker 1: back for didn't come back right, used to be able

706
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:13,000
Speaker 1: to you know, do the ride and drive and you know,

707
00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:16,840
Speaker 1: they they they've cut back. They didn't come back, Delta

708
00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:19,600
Speaker 1: didn't come back right. So there's partners in it. But

709
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,160
Speaker 1: we still put on the same, the same show. We

710
00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 1: still put on the same the same event. So we're

711
00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 1: gonna ride for our community. Right. We knew we were

712
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:29,600
Speaker 1: going to take a loss going into this, but it's

713
00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:31,960
Speaker 1: better to me that we take a loss and that

714
00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:36,640
Speaker 1: those those that community, that business community, the broader community

715
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:39,280
Speaker 1: of New Orleans, the broader community that comes to Essence

716
00:40:39,320 --> 00:40:41,960
Speaker 1: Festival has an extraordinary experience.

717
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:44,839
Speaker 2: We did have hiccups, Yes, why didn't those companies come back.

718
00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:48,520
Speaker 1: Well, I mean you know some of them have. Some

719
00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:51,960
Speaker 1: of them have have Yeah, I mean they've they've they've

720
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:56,319
Speaker 1: they've they got rid of program. There's no money, there's

721
00:40:56,320 --> 00:41:00,560
Speaker 1: no there's nobody, right, So so you know, but this

722
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,120
Speaker 1: is the new world that we live in, and I

723
00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:09,120
Speaker 1: think it's very important that we are that we're moving forward.

724
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:11,400
Speaker 1: Like we can't just we can't just go to sleep

725
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:13,799
Speaker 1: or we're not going to wake up and it's going

726
00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:15,399
Speaker 1: to be better. We got to work through it, right,

727
00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:18,120
Speaker 1: And so I think that, like I said earlier, you've

728
00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:23,680
Speaker 1: got the the civil rights part of the civil rights

729
00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:26,359
Speaker 1: and civil justice part and you've got the economic rights

730
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:30,160
Speaker 1: and economic justice part of it. The two have to work, right,

731
00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:33,600
Speaker 1: and so I'm looking forward to us getting the two

732
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:36,319
Speaker 1: to work in the interim. You've got to sustain what's there,

733
00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:37,560
Speaker 1: otherwise it's not recoverable.

734
00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:38,640
Speaker 2: Do you bring it back next year?

735
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:40,560
Speaker 3: And you know, with the difficulties that you had this year,

736
00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:41,960
Speaker 3: especially with sponsors.

737
00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:43,000
Speaker 2: Pulling out, do you bring it back?

738
00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:47,799
Speaker 3: And that's question The reason I asked is you said

739
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:51,000
Speaker 3: you took a huge loss this year, right, yeah, yeah, right,

740
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:52,960
Speaker 3: and you don't have the sponsorship, So how do you

741
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:56,319
Speaker 3: sustain that without raising prices and making sure that people

742
00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:59,440
Speaker 3: can still enjoy what they enjoy without hitting the consumer

743
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:01,400
Speaker 3: in the pocket, you know, especially since you lost a

744
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:03,879
Speaker 3: car company, lost Delta and whatever else.

745
00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:05,239
Speaker 2: Those are big hits.

746
00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:08,640
Speaker 1: You never know. Next year they may be back, gotcha, right, you?

747
00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:11,480
Speaker 1: They may be back. And there are other there are

748
00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:14,919
Speaker 1: other brands out there who value our community, who want

749
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:19,720
Speaker 1: to engage with our community. Right There's there's new revenue

750
00:42:19,719 --> 00:42:22,520
Speaker 1: streams to find, there's new partners to go find. It's like,

751
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,760
Speaker 1: we can't just give up because it's hard, right because

752
00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:28,560
Speaker 1: otherwise we won't be here.

753
00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:32,640
Speaker 4: You know, I agree with you, and you know, yes,

754
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:35,120
Speaker 4: there is going to be criticism for any event. But

755
00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:37,440
Speaker 4: based on what you just said, I wonder if people

756
00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:42,560
Speaker 4: realize that, let's say, next year, these companies that pulled

757
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,440
Speaker 4: out this year for DEI initiatives, they want they might

758
00:42:45,480 --> 00:42:47,000
Speaker 4: want to come back, but they're not going to come

759
00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:49,319
Speaker 4: back to something that is getting so criticized. They're not

760
00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:51,520
Speaker 4: going to come back to something that's getting so slammed

761
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:53,640
Speaker 4: on social media. That's when they be like, I want

762
00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:55,000
Speaker 4: to stay away from that, like you know.

763
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:58,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, And and the thing is it's Look,

764
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:06,520
Speaker 1: what we did this year was an extraordinary success. It

765
00:43:06,719 --> 00:43:10,799
Speaker 1: had faults and issues like everything else. Right, but I

766
00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:13,760
Speaker 1: can go through the stats with you. You same number

767
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:16,600
Speaker 1: of people in the convention center. Right, we're dealing with

768
00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:20,759
Speaker 1: what feels like a recession, especially in our community. We're

769
00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:24,680
Speaker 1: dealing with, Hey, you know, the conscious decision of do

770
00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:28,279
Speaker 1: I support this or not support this? Because I want

771
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:31,080
Speaker 1: to support my community, but I also want to support

772
00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:34,280
Speaker 1: this this economic stance that we're taking here, we're dealing

773
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:37,120
Speaker 1: with all of those things. Right. I don't think we'll

774
00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:39,719
Speaker 1: be dealing with that next year, Right I have I

775
00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,960
Speaker 1: have faith and confidence that we won't be I can't

776
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:47,239
Speaker 1: speak for the economy, but I think the the the

777
00:43:47,239 --> 00:43:51,399
Speaker 1: the inner dialogue that we're having with ourselves around do

778
00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:53,000
Speaker 1: I do this? Do I not do this? I don't

779
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:54,879
Speaker 1: think we'll be dealing with that next year. And yes,

780
00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:56,560
Speaker 1: the criticism doesn't.

781
00:43:56,320 --> 00:44:00,640
Speaker 4: Hurt, butomy no, That's why I'm not going.

782
00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:04,080
Speaker 7: So this target thing has been going on for a while.

783
00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:07,000
Speaker 6: So if next year the boycott is still there, do

784
00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:08,759
Speaker 6: you guys, I don't know how long your contract is,

785
00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:10,319
Speaker 6: you guys will still be in contract next year, so

786
00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:11,279
Speaker 6: they'll be back next year.

787
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:18,839
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, so the answer to that question is we

788
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:25,319
Speaker 1: have a we have a responsibility to our community to

789
00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:28,919
Speaker 1: deliver to them the best product that we can deliver. Right,

790
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:33,080
Speaker 1: every year, we get better at delivering that product. Right

791
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:38,759
Speaker 1: that to your point, the criticism doesn't help at all, Right,

792
00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:41,279
Speaker 1: doesn't help at all, But it's not going to deter

793
00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:44,320
Speaker 1: us from doing the work that needs to be done

794
00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:46,920
Speaker 1: so that we can get those partners right and we

795
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:49,000
Speaker 1: can grow and we can scale and we can do

796
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:51,319
Speaker 1: the things. Like I said, our vision for this is

797
00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:53,320
Speaker 1: not for next year. Our vision for this is one hundred,

798
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:57,239
Speaker 1: one hundred years. So we're building the infrastructure that allows us,

799
00:44:57,320 --> 00:44:59,840
Speaker 1: that allows us to do that. We'll do the work,

800
00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:04,799
Speaker 1: we'll make the adjustments from the that we see from

801
00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:08,200
Speaker 1: the criticisms, the one that the ones that are that

802
00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:10,719
Speaker 1: are reasonable in that work, we'll do that. Right. So,

803
00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:15,279
Speaker 1: as far as you know what happens next year with partners, right,

804
00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:19,719
Speaker 1: we have to go through the process to see what happens, right,

805
00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:21,560
Speaker 1: we have to go through the process, see what the

806
00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:25,080
Speaker 1: other partners come through. We have to we have to

807
00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:30,480
Speaker 1: look at who what's going on with the boycott, what

808
00:45:30,680 --> 00:45:33,880
Speaker 1: changes are made to it, how things get resolved. So

809
00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:38,200
Speaker 1: to your point, there is a resolution to everything, right,

810
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:41,440
Speaker 1: we have to come to a resolution. I think that

811
00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:42,080
Speaker 1: will happen.

812
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:45,520
Speaker 6: How did you feel when they turned the conversation because

813
00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:50,520
Speaker 6: of Target in Caroline are your CEO's past involvement with Target?

814
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:54,160
Speaker 6: They turned it into a Black American versus Black African conversation,

815
00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:57,240
Speaker 6: and that whole thing exploded of like essence is losing

816
00:45:57,320 --> 00:45:59,359
Speaker 6: its focused on Black Americans.

817
00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:03,680
Speaker 1: I mean, those are one of the I mean, I'd

818
00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:05,799
Speaker 1: love to hear how you guys think about that, But

819
00:46:06,239 --> 00:46:09,839
Speaker 1: that's one of those ones that I struggle with understanding

820
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:13,680
Speaker 1: intellectually right, for a host of reasons, just from let's

821
00:46:13,719 --> 00:46:19,440
Speaker 1: just talk about the actual facts. Right. So we had

822
00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:27,360
Speaker 1: I don't know forty plus acts and performers, right, we

823
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:36,799
Speaker 1: had one Jamaican act performer and we had one African performer, David. Right.

824
00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:42,680
Speaker 1: That to me doesn't say that we're losing our center. Right.

825
00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:50,680
Speaker 1: We remain extremely centered on African American culture, right and

826
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:54,600
Speaker 1: on black women. That's our center. That doesn't mean we

827
00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:57,440
Speaker 1: can't expand out from our center. All that means is

828
00:46:57,440 --> 00:46:59,719
Speaker 1: we can't lose our center. So, if you were on

829
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:03,120
Speaker 1: the G if you were there, you see that that

830
00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:07,239
Speaker 1: center is very much there. Right, you go into the

831
00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:10,719
Speaker 1: convention center, right, you look at what happened on the stages.

832
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:13,400
Speaker 1: You look at what happened. If you were there, you

833
00:47:13,600 --> 00:47:17,520
Speaker 1: know that we're still centered. Right. But if you were there,

834
00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:20,200
Speaker 1: you also know that we're growing and that we're broadening,

835
00:47:20,239 --> 00:47:24,759
Speaker 1: because everybody has to grow abroadened otherwise you won't be around. Right.

836
00:47:25,239 --> 00:47:31,680
Speaker 1: There's also sort of the philosophical approaches to these. To

837
00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:40,200
Speaker 1: this is I view myself as black. I've benefited from

838
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:44,200
Speaker 1: being black, and I have also lost from being black.

839
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:47,279
Speaker 1: When I walk in the room. What people see, if

840
00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:48,839
Speaker 1: they don't know me, when I walk in a room,

841
00:47:48,880 --> 00:47:52,120
Speaker 1: I walk down the street, they see a black man. Right.

842
00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:57,200
Speaker 1: My entire life has been dedicated to uplifting black. I've

843
00:47:57,239 --> 00:48:01,600
Speaker 1: focused it on the economics, on the economic side of

844
00:48:01,719 --> 00:48:03,680
Speaker 1: black because that's what I know how to do. That's

845
00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:06,920
Speaker 1: that's that's what I'm skilled at. The Thing that I've

846
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:10,960
Speaker 1: learned from that is we're much better off when we're

847
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:14,480
Speaker 1: focused on our commonalities and we're building on those commonalities.

848
00:48:14,719 --> 00:48:18,680
Speaker 1: As I said earlier, I grew up you know, King

849
00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:27,160
Speaker 1: Garvey L. Mumba, right that the thinking around. Hey, we

850
00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:31,879
Speaker 1: have a much better chance of developing and growing our

851
00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:36,239
Speaker 1: communities when we find the commonalities and the alignments and

852
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:40,680
Speaker 1: we're working towards shared goals and shared objectives. When we

853
00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:44,439
Speaker 1: don't do that, we become much smaller, right, and much more,

854
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:48,600
Speaker 1: much more volatile, and much more vulnerable.

855
00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:50,440
Speaker 5: I can't even believe you took the time to explain that.

856
00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:52,319
Speaker 1: I mean something, if me.

857
00:48:52,440 --> 00:48:55,239
Speaker 4: Booju, Bonting and and Devido or walking down the street

858
00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:57,160
Speaker 4: and a white supremacist see us, guess what do you see?

859
00:48:58,400 --> 00:48:59,920
Speaker 1: That's it? What do we talk?

860
00:49:00,719 --> 00:49:03,279
Speaker 6: Do you feel like though we criticisms like that and like,

861
00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:05,080
Speaker 6: you know, just some of the stuff that you you

862
00:49:05,120 --> 00:49:06,799
Speaker 6: would feel like we're not going to get y'all took

863
00:49:06,800 --> 00:49:09,799
Speaker 6: ownership for a lot of things even before the articles hit, right,

864
00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:11,600
Speaker 6: the things that you're like, this is nonsense, We're not

865
00:49:11,600 --> 00:49:14,799
Speaker 6: going to take ownership for that. Do you ever feel

866
00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:16,719
Speaker 6: like it's kind of like unfair? Are you ever hurt

867
00:49:16,719 --> 00:49:19,760
Speaker 6: by it? Because you do so much censored in black people,

868
00:49:20,239 --> 00:49:21,960
Speaker 6: regardless of where they come from.

869
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:25,439
Speaker 1: I don't have the luxury of being hurt by it, right.

870
00:49:25,520 --> 00:49:27,960
Speaker 1: I think the first couple of times that it happened.

871
00:49:28,239 --> 00:49:32,360
Speaker 1: You know, there was oh you know, I think the

872
00:49:32,400 --> 00:49:37,640
Speaker 1: first time I was here, and very very similar circumstances. Right,

873
00:49:39,160 --> 00:49:44,120
Speaker 1: we did an add for Shay right, and that ad

874
00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:47,600
Speaker 1: had run for months, and they cut it down for

875
00:49:47,719 --> 00:49:51,600
Speaker 1: Social and the person that cut it down from social

876
00:49:51,680 --> 00:49:57,360
Speaker 1: for social cut it where there was a It ended

877
00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:01,360
Speaker 1: it was a white woman in the front and a

878
00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:04,680
Speaker 1: white woman in the back, and then there was a

879
00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:08,279
Speaker 1: very small glimpse of a black woman, right, And that

880
00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:11,600
Speaker 1: wasn't intentional at all, and it wasn't the message we

881
00:50:11,640 --> 00:50:17,600
Speaker 1: were trying to convey. But you know, people got hurt

882
00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:21,560
Speaker 1: by it, right, And because we build we build brands,

883
00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:24,759
Speaker 1: and we're involved with brands that are all about our

884
00:50:24,800 --> 00:50:28,040
Speaker 1: culture and all about our identity, and we ride hard

885
00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:34,879
Speaker 1: for it. Right. So the person that made that mistake, right,

886
00:50:35,480 --> 00:50:39,200
Speaker 1: I could have walked in and fired that person, right,

887
00:50:39,960 --> 00:50:44,840
Speaker 1: I chose not to because that was a person that

888
00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:49,560
Speaker 1: was trying to do something and trying to create something,

889
00:50:50,520 --> 00:50:55,799
Speaker 1: and that deserved an opportunity to fail. And they got

890
00:50:55,800 --> 00:51:01,759
Speaker 1: that opportunity to fail. Okay, they are today running one

891
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:06,880
Speaker 1: of the most acclaimed agencies out there. Right, if we

892
00:51:06,960 --> 00:51:11,120
Speaker 1: had not if we had reacted differently, they probably wouldn't

893
00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:14,200
Speaker 1: have gotten that opportunity, right, So it's our responsibility to

894
00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:17,719
Speaker 1: give them an opportunity to fail. I have chosen to

895
00:51:17,800 --> 00:51:22,960
Speaker 1: spend my career trying to develop businesses and economic engines

896
00:51:23,239 --> 00:51:28,560
Speaker 1: in our community. I can't if I were so thin

897
00:51:28,640 --> 00:51:32,440
Speaker 1: skinned that, you know, every time I did something wrong,

898
00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:36,319
Speaker 1: or every time people perceived me to do something wrong,

899
00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:39,000
Speaker 1: I walk away from what the mission was. We wouldn't

900
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:42,239
Speaker 1: be here, right, We wouldn't have these hundreds of businesses

901
00:51:42,719 --> 00:51:45,880
Speaker 1: that are now on the shelves of Target or Walmart

902
00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:49,399
Speaker 1: or CVS. If I had listened to the criticism when

903
00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:52,920
Speaker 1: I sold Shay, I would have gone off into somewhere

904
00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:55,959
Speaker 1: and hidden away and gone and done my thing there.

905
00:51:56,480 --> 00:51:57,040
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have.

906
00:51:57,760 --> 00:52:00,279
Speaker 4: But then Honeypot wouldn't have been Honeypot wouldn't have man

907
00:52:00,320 --> 00:52:02,759
Speaker 4: Miel wouldn't have been here, Lipbar wouldn't have been here,

908
00:52:04,840 --> 00:52:06,479
Speaker 4: Solo Funds wouldn't have been here.

909
00:52:07,080 --> 00:52:08,880
Speaker 1: I mean, you name it. List goes on and on

910
00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:13,400
Speaker 1: and on. So you know, I don't have that luxury,

911
00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:15,680
Speaker 1: you know, And I have to take the other thing

912
00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:19,239
Speaker 1: is because because what we're doing is so novel in

913
00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:24,560
Speaker 1: our community, right, I have an accountability to say, hey,

914
00:52:24,560 --> 00:52:26,440
Speaker 1: this is what's working, and this is not what this

915
00:52:26,520 --> 00:52:28,920
Speaker 1: is what's not working. Right. People have the right to

916
00:52:29,040 --> 00:52:32,200
Speaker 1: decide whether or not they want to rock with us, right,

917
00:52:32,239 --> 00:52:34,719
Speaker 1: But we're going to keep doing what we what our

918
00:52:34,760 --> 00:52:37,359
Speaker 1: intentions are. We going to continue to share what those

919
00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:39,960
Speaker 1: intentions are, and we're going to continue to do the

920
00:52:40,040 --> 00:52:42,480
Speaker 1: work and be accountable for what we get. Like I

921
00:52:42,480 --> 00:52:47,440
Speaker 1: said earlier, when something goes wrong, when something goes right.

922
00:52:48,280 --> 00:52:49,960
Speaker 4: You know, I be here for both. And I'm glad

923
00:52:49,960 --> 00:52:52,200
Speaker 4: that you're open to all this criticism. But the reality

924
00:52:52,239 --> 00:52:54,239
Speaker 4: is it's hard to explain business to people who don't

925
00:52:54,320 --> 00:52:57,880
Speaker 4: run one, especially corporate business, especially when you are, you know,

926
00:52:58,040 --> 00:53:00,600
Speaker 4: a black person running a business trying to do things

927
00:53:00,640 --> 00:53:03,920
Speaker 4: specifically for black people. We are so hard on each other, man.

928
00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:07,319
Speaker 4: I haven't heard Essence talked about. I haven't heard Essence

929
00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:09,919
Speaker 4: be talked about this much in years at least Essence

930
00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:13,480
Speaker 4: probably decades, you know what I But now everybody talking

931
00:53:13,480 --> 00:53:15,120
Speaker 4: about it so much because we got so much negative

932
00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:15,879
Speaker 4: things to say.

933
00:53:16,120 --> 00:53:17,720
Speaker 5: And like you said, some criticism is valid.

934
00:53:17,719 --> 00:53:19,600
Speaker 1: Something is valid, not all of it, that's right, right,

935
00:53:19,640 --> 00:53:23,279
Speaker 1: And the levels of criticism is definitely not warrant, right,

936
00:53:23,320 --> 00:53:31,880
Speaker 1: I will tell you that right. But if we Hurtanie.

937
00:53:29,719 --> 00:53:30,640
Speaker 5: Mills, got to make that right.

938
00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:31,680
Speaker 1: That's what we're here for.

939
00:53:31,760 --> 00:53:33,279
Speaker 4: Heart, Lauren Hill, you got to make that right, gott

940
00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:35,680
Speaker 4: to make But those are actual valid issues, right that letter.

941
00:53:35,760 --> 00:53:39,440
Speaker 5: She has actual valid issues, valid issues. Y'all got too

942
00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:41,200
Speaker 5: much Africans. It's not a valid criticism.

943
00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:45,759
Speaker 6: No, But I like the way that I like the

944
00:53:45,760 --> 00:53:48,320
Speaker 6: way that you guys responded to things because it curved

945
00:53:48,320 --> 00:53:50,960
Speaker 6: the headlines, Like the headlines about Laurence Hill had to

946
00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:53,399
Speaker 6: include fescal says it's not her fault.

947
00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:54,520
Speaker 7: Here's exactly what happened.

948
00:53:54,560 --> 00:53:56,799
Speaker 6: A lot of most festivals don't do that because she

949
00:53:56,800 --> 00:53:58,080
Speaker 6: said that this has happened to her before.

950
00:53:58,120 --> 00:54:02,040
Speaker 1: But this isn't most festivals. Is essence, we're accountable to

951
00:54:02,120 --> 00:54:04,640
Speaker 1: our community and to those black women that we're here

952
00:54:04,680 --> 00:54:06,839
Speaker 1: to serve and protect, and when we get it wrong,

953
00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:09,439
Speaker 1: we're going to say it right. Caroline, you just brought

954
00:54:09,480 --> 00:54:12,680
Speaker 1: up Caroline Wanga had nothing to do with this, all right.

955
00:54:13,719 --> 00:54:14,080
Speaker 1: I saw it.

956
00:54:14,120 --> 00:54:17,120
Speaker 4: I saw people blaming her, but I told I was

957
00:54:17,200 --> 00:54:19,560
Speaker 4: told she's not even really she's.

958
00:54:19,400 --> 00:54:22,279
Speaker 1: On leave, Yeah, she's on leave. She just she'd go

959
00:54:22,320 --> 00:54:25,280
Speaker 1: buy her book. Guys, she she just she just dropped

960
00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:29,120
Speaker 1: a phenomenal book and she's been an incredible leader for

961
00:54:29,120 --> 00:54:31,160
Speaker 1: for essence, and we're grateful.

962
00:54:31,400 --> 00:54:32,840
Speaker 7: Is she still in the CEO?

963
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:35,560
Speaker 1: S she's still in the CEOC because she's on leave.

964
00:54:36,440 --> 00:54:38,200
Speaker 5: Why was it so quick? Why was people so quick

965
00:54:38,239 --> 00:54:39,840
Speaker 5: to blame her when she had nothing to do with

966
00:54:39,920 --> 00:54:40,200
Speaker 5: this year?

967
00:54:40,560 --> 00:54:44,600
Speaker 1: I mean, look, I don't know. We we live in

968
00:54:44,640 --> 00:54:47,800
Speaker 1: a world. We live in a world now where it's

969
00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:51,319
Speaker 1: it's easy to do that right, and so people do that.

970
00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:54,600
Speaker 1: And you can you can shy away from it right,

971
00:54:54,840 --> 00:54:56,840
Speaker 1: or you can face it head on. I choose to

972
00:54:56,880 --> 00:54:59,239
Speaker 1: face it head on because I think people get an

973
00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:02,000
Speaker 1: opportunity to lo learn from my mistakes. They learned from

974
00:55:02,040 --> 00:55:05,520
Speaker 1: my team's mistakes. My team gets to learn from their mistakes.

975
00:55:05,840 --> 00:55:08,840
Speaker 1: And the greatest blessing is to be in a position

976
00:55:08,960 --> 00:55:12,280
Speaker 1: where you're allowed to make mistakes. That's the greatest blessing,

977
00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:17,200
Speaker 1: because if you're not allowed to make mistakes, you shrink, right,

978
00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:20,040
Speaker 1: you don't try things. You're you're you're You're stuck in

979
00:55:20,120 --> 00:55:21,880
Speaker 1: one thing, and that's the only place you can be.

980
00:55:22,239 --> 00:55:25,080
Speaker 1: For our community to grow, We've got to be able

981
00:55:25,080 --> 00:55:27,799
Speaker 1: to afford to make mistakes. Right, We've got and but

982
00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:29,919
Speaker 1: the other thing is we've also got to be able

983
00:55:29,960 --> 00:55:32,200
Speaker 1: to the thing that I'll notice that I'll say now

984
00:55:32,280 --> 00:55:37,640
Speaker 1: is I've gotten on in years, is my community no

985
00:55:37,680 --> 00:55:40,200
Speaker 1: longer has the grace it once had for each other.

986
00:55:40,800 --> 00:55:46,040
Speaker 1: All right, we go on these platforms and did we ever?

987
00:55:46,120 --> 00:55:50,080
Speaker 1: I don't know if we know we maybe maybe yeah,

988
00:55:50,520 --> 00:55:53,719
Speaker 1: in my day, yes, there was grace. You know, if

989
00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:56,479
Speaker 1: something went wrong, somebody pulled you aside and said, hey,

990
00:55:57,000 --> 00:55:59,080
Speaker 1: you know this is going wrong, if your kid did

991
00:55:59,120 --> 00:56:06,080
Speaker 1: something wrong, they're like, community, it was, But we've got

992
00:56:06,120 --> 00:56:08,080
Speaker 1: to bring We've got to bring that back. Right. It's

993
00:56:08,120 --> 00:56:10,400
Speaker 1: like if we run away from these things, it doesn't

994
00:56:10,400 --> 00:56:13,000
Speaker 1: come back. If our kids grow up and don't see,

995
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:15,239
Speaker 1: they think that this is this is the way it

996
00:56:15,280 --> 00:56:19,640
Speaker 1: should be. So where did we get some things wrong? Absolutely?

997
00:56:19,680 --> 00:56:22,920
Speaker 1: But I think if you measure us against any festival

998
00:56:23,000 --> 00:56:26,400
Speaker 1: that happened this year, I think we we we rise

999
00:56:26,400 --> 00:56:30,080
Speaker 1: to the top. Right. I don't know of one festival

1000
00:56:30,080 --> 00:56:32,200
Speaker 1: that happened this year that didn't have some sort of

1001
00:56:32,239 --> 00:56:37,120
Speaker 1: production issue. Right, ours is amplified because people care. Right,

1002
00:56:37,440 --> 00:56:39,839
Speaker 1: ours is amplified because our community is under a lot

1003
00:56:39,880 --> 00:56:43,680
Speaker 1: of pressure. Ours is amplified because we have a boycott

1004
00:56:43,680 --> 00:56:46,000
Speaker 1: going ours is amplified for a whole host of reasons.

1005
00:56:46,239 --> 00:56:48,600
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean that we run away from it, right,

1006
00:56:48,640 --> 00:56:50,520
Speaker 1: It means that we got to talk about it. Absolutely.

1007
00:56:50,719 --> 00:56:53,160
Speaker 4: I think the valid criticisms and I know you gotta

1008
00:56:53,160 --> 00:56:54,680
Speaker 4: get out of here. I think the valid criticism or

1009
00:56:54,719 --> 00:56:58,239
Speaker 4: the production issue, the lateness, the cost for people, and

1010
00:56:58,520 --> 00:57:01,200
Speaker 4: I do think the target, the target conversation is a

1011
00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:03,800
Speaker 4: valid conversation to have. It's a valid criticism for people

1012
00:57:03,800 --> 00:57:05,160
Speaker 4: that are boycotting to bring up.

1013
00:57:05,480 --> 00:57:07,480
Speaker 5: But I think with you the way you're explaining it

1014
00:57:07,480 --> 00:57:08,360
Speaker 5: makes sense to me.

1015
00:57:08,520 --> 00:57:13,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, because if if, if we don't have sponsors. But

1016
00:57:13,040 --> 00:57:15,640
Speaker 1: here's here's the other. Here's the other bigger thing, right

1017
00:57:16,480 --> 00:57:22,600
Speaker 1: is we don't know, right, and it hasn't been shared,

1018
00:57:22,640 --> 00:57:24,439
Speaker 1: and we probably need all need to do a better

1019
00:57:24,520 --> 00:57:28,400
Speaker 1: job with that of the impact. As I said earlier,

1020
00:57:29,240 --> 00:57:33,960
Speaker 1: that it has the the unintended consequences, right that it's

1021
00:57:34,040 --> 00:57:40,439
Speaker 1: having on the dozens, if not hundreds of businesses that

1022
00:57:40,760 --> 00:57:44,160
Speaker 1: do business and target. Right, we don't, we don't, we don't.

1023
00:57:44,280 --> 00:57:48,320
Speaker 1: We don't know that, right. So there's two sides to this.

1024
00:57:48,840 --> 00:57:51,720
Speaker 1: And as I said, my job is to make sure

1025
00:57:51,840 --> 00:57:55,880
Speaker 1: that those companies are protected, those people, those people are protected,

1026
00:57:56,200 --> 00:57:59,480
Speaker 1: and that our community continues to get the opportunities. Because

1027
00:57:59,480 --> 00:58:01,840
Speaker 1: the other thing that happens, and I said this on

1028
00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:03,480
Speaker 1: one of the other times out here because this is

1029
00:58:03,520 --> 00:58:07,640
Speaker 1: something that I believe to be extremely true, is if

1030
00:58:07,680 --> 00:58:11,040
Speaker 1: we make people scared to do business with us, they

1031
00:58:11,160 --> 00:58:14,760
Speaker 1: already have a reticence to invest in us and to

1032
00:58:14,840 --> 00:58:18,800
Speaker 1: do business with us if they're concerned about, Hey, you know,

1033
00:58:18,840 --> 00:58:21,720
Speaker 1: if I do business with this person, are and something

1034
00:58:21,760 --> 00:58:24,959
Speaker 1: goes wrong between them and their community, right we burn

1035
00:58:25,040 --> 00:58:28,400
Speaker 1: the house down, they won't. They have plenty of places

1036
00:58:28,440 --> 00:58:31,160
Speaker 1: to put to put their money, and they have plenty

1037
00:58:31,160 --> 00:58:33,520
Speaker 1: of choices to as to who to put that money with.

1038
00:58:35,000 --> 00:58:37,440
Speaker 1: We have to and as it, you know, when I

1039
00:58:37,480 --> 00:58:39,400
Speaker 1: was growing up, he used to tell, you know, you

1040
00:58:39,520 --> 00:58:42,080
Speaker 1: have to be three times better than the next guy.

1041
00:58:42,720 --> 00:58:45,080
Speaker 1: Right in the world that we're growing up in today,

1042
00:58:45,360 --> 00:58:47,520
Speaker 1: we have to be five times better. It's just that

1043
00:58:47,560 --> 00:58:48,600
Speaker 1: nobody's telling us that.

1044
00:58:48,720 --> 00:58:50,160
Speaker 4: But that's the point I brought up earlier when I

1045
00:58:50,160 --> 00:58:52,160
Speaker 4: talked about, you know, the criticism, because the people will

1046
00:58:52,160 --> 00:58:54,240
Speaker 4: go on social media and they may think about, okay,

1047
00:58:54,280 --> 00:58:55,720
Speaker 4: let's put some money there next year. But if they

1048
00:58:55,760 --> 00:58:57,520
Speaker 4: go on social media and see a bunch of backlash,

1049
00:58:57,560 --> 00:58:57,920
Speaker 4: they'd be.

1050
00:58:57,880 --> 00:58:59,800
Speaker 2: Like, no, I'm not going to why why am I

1051
00:58:59,800 --> 00:59:00,240
Speaker 2: doing now?

1052
00:59:00,280 --> 00:59:02,120
Speaker 1: I don't want my brand associated right with them.

1053
00:59:02,200 --> 00:59:03,800
Speaker 6: So we talked about this on my podcast, and my

1054
00:59:03,840 --> 00:59:06,360
Speaker 6: thing was the criticisms are valid. Like Charlomagne said, I

1055
00:59:06,440 --> 00:59:09,360
Speaker 6: just wish that we understood how we shape what conversation

1056
00:59:09,440 --> 00:59:12,200
Speaker 6: and impression is. But when you say that, like people

1057
00:59:12,200 --> 00:59:13,680
Speaker 6: don't want to do business with us because they say

1058
00:59:13,720 --> 00:59:15,280
Speaker 6: that we can burn the house down, what's the happy

1059
00:59:15,320 --> 00:59:18,439
Speaker 6: medium of But at the same time, you want people

1060
00:59:18,520 --> 00:59:20,680
Speaker 6: who feel like they need to boycott for whatever reasons

1061
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:23,240
Speaker 6: to get what they need and feel respected too, because

1062
00:59:23,240 --> 00:59:25,080
Speaker 6: that's an obvious pushback, someone would say, but like, you

1063
00:59:25,120 --> 00:59:26,360
Speaker 6: don't want people to run all over you.

1064
00:59:26,320 --> 00:59:30,960
Speaker 1: Either, Yeah, and that's fair, right, There's no I'm not

1065
00:59:31,200 --> 00:59:34,600
Speaker 1: arguing that. I'm just saying that there's another side to it.

1066
00:59:34,720 --> 00:59:38,280
Speaker 1: Two things can be true, right, So I'm not arguing that.

1067
00:59:38,360 --> 00:59:40,520
Speaker 1: All I'm saying is that there's a side to it

1068
00:59:40,560 --> 00:59:44,000
Speaker 1: that has a consequence, right, And as a community, we're

1069
00:59:44,040 --> 00:59:45,800
Speaker 1: going to have to figure out what the balance is,

1070
00:59:46,200 --> 00:59:49,440
Speaker 1: because neither side is good if I'm feel like I'm

1071
00:59:49,440 --> 00:59:52,640
Speaker 1: being disrespected here, let's let's let's dive into it and

1072
00:59:52,760 --> 00:59:56,520
Speaker 1: understand what that actually means. And if I feel like

1073
00:59:56,560 --> 00:59:58,960
Speaker 1: I'm not getting an opportunity here, let's dive into that,

1074
00:59:59,120 --> 01:00:03,240
Speaker 1: understand what it not just jump on a platform that

1075
01:00:03,800 --> 01:00:08,360
Speaker 1: and then just spill. And I personally think a lot

1076
01:00:08,360 --> 01:00:11,520
Speaker 1: of this stuff is driven by bots. I don't even

1077
01:00:11,520 --> 01:00:12,360
Speaker 1: think it's well, not.

1078
01:00:12,320 --> 01:00:14,200
Speaker 3: Only that a lot of people weren't even there, like

1079
01:00:14,240 --> 01:00:16,480
Speaker 3: the people that left those they weren't even there, and

1080
01:00:16,520 --> 01:00:18,200
Speaker 3: they do those type of things. I say this, and

1081
01:00:18,240 --> 01:00:20,080
Speaker 3: I tell me Charlaman talk about it all the time.

1082
01:00:20,440 --> 01:00:22,880
Speaker 3: The bad thing is we reward this type of behavior right,

1083
01:00:22,920 --> 01:00:25,680
Speaker 3: And the way we reward it is there's likes, there's views.

1084
01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:28,000
Speaker 3: They get paid for the amount of views. So if

1085
01:00:28,040 --> 01:00:30,760
Speaker 3: I get a million views for issue on Essence and

1086
01:00:30,800 --> 01:00:32,760
Speaker 3: I get paid one thousand dollars for it, you know

1087
01:00:32,800 --> 01:00:34,280
Speaker 3: what I'm gonna do tomorrow, I'm gonna do it again.

1088
01:00:34,360 --> 01:00:36,200
Speaker 5: Well, you probably right, but let's not dismiss the people

1089
01:00:36,200 --> 01:00:36,720
Speaker 5: who are there.

1090
01:00:37,320 --> 01:00:39,240
Speaker 2: But there weren't people there. But there were people there,

1091
01:00:39,280 --> 01:00:40,640
Speaker 2: and he said they did have some problem.

1092
01:00:40,640 --> 01:00:43,000
Speaker 3: But what I want you to do too, rich is

1093
01:00:43,040 --> 01:00:46,040
Speaker 3: instead of coming when is fed up to talk about

1094
01:00:46,040 --> 01:00:48,040
Speaker 3: fixing it. When we want you to come before and

1095
01:00:48,040 --> 01:00:50,040
Speaker 3: talk about what you're doing so we can get that

1096
01:00:50,080 --> 01:00:51,000
Speaker 3: good word out to the people.

1097
01:00:51,040 --> 01:00:52,160
Speaker 5: But you're too busy doing the work.

1098
01:00:52,200 --> 01:00:54,480
Speaker 1: So that's I was gonna say, yes, So let me

1099
01:00:54,560 --> 01:00:57,640
Speaker 1: let me, let me tell you what I grew up by. Right.

1100
01:00:58,160 --> 01:01:01,680
Speaker 1: My mother would always tell us, let's do the things

1101
01:01:01,680 --> 01:01:04,400
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about. Let's not talk about the

1102
01:01:04,440 --> 01:01:09,280
Speaker 1: things we're going to do. Oh, So that's my mentality. Right.

1103
01:01:09,680 --> 01:01:11,720
Speaker 1: If it's something, if I have something to share that

1104
01:01:13,040 --> 01:01:16,400
Speaker 1: I think like this conversation, I'm happy to share it.

1105
01:01:16,640 --> 01:01:19,640
Speaker 1: But other than that, i'd rather be I'd rather be

1106
01:01:19,720 --> 01:01:22,960
Speaker 1: working with my team solving these problems. Right. And now

1107
01:01:23,000 --> 01:01:25,360
Speaker 1: that you know i'm executive chairman, we have CEOs in

1108
01:01:25,400 --> 01:01:28,760
Speaker 1: different roles, you know they're they're doing that so I

1109
01:01:28,800 --> 01:01:33,200
Speaker 1: can sit here and talk. But the reality of it is,

1110
01:01:35,280 --> 01:01:38,560
Speaker 1: we have to give each other more grace and we

1111
01:01:38,800 --> 01:01:43,400
Speaker 1: have to build more businesses. Right, that's our only way

1112
01:01:43,600 --> 01:01:47,000
Speaker 1: out of this, Right, we have to build more businesses,

1113
01:01:47,320 --> 01:01:50,040
Speaker 1: and we have to treat those things that allow us

1114
01:01:50,080 --> 01:01:54,919
Speaker 1: to build those businesses with that mindset. Right. So I'll

1115
01:01:54,960 --> 01:02:02,200
Speaker 1: say this, Those sponsor dollars that come in go into

1116
01:02:02,240 --> 01:02:08,320
Speaker 1: the investments to put on the free experiences that you get,

1117
01:02:08,880 --> 01:02:12,600
Speaker 1: and they'll allow us to pay for the talent that

1118
01:02:12,680 --> 01:02:15,160
Speaker 1: we won't be able to pay for just by ticket sets.

1119
01:02:15,520 --> 01:02:19,440
Speaker 1: I got you right. There's nowhere else on this planet

1120
01:02:19,680 --> 01:02:22,160
Speaker 1: that you can go and get what Essence Vest gives you.

1121
01:02:22,760 --> 01:02:26,880
Speaker 1: And that's why I believe people are so protective of it, right,

1122
01:02:26,960 --> 01:02:29,600
Speaker 1: And so I appreciate that, and I understand that, and

1123
01:02:29,640 --> 01:02:33,080
Speaker 1: we will continue to do the work to make it

1124
01:02:33,400 --> 01:02:39,720
Speaker 1: continuously better. But I will say this, what we put

1125
01:02:39,760 --> 01:02:48,400
Speaker 1: on lives on the world stage. Right. It's not nobody's bigger, right.

1126
01:02:49,240 --> 01:02:52,720
Speaker 1: It's just that a lot of what we do is free, right,

1127
01:02:52,760 --> 01:02:57,360
Speaker 1: But nobody's bigger. So our revenues don't match everybody else's

1128
01:02:57,400 --> 01:02:59,840
Speaker 1: revenues because they charge it. The other thing is when

1129
01:02:59,840 --> 01:03:03,200
Speaker 1: you go when you go to Cochella, you go to

1130
01:03:03,400 --> 01:03:07,120
Speaker 1: any one of these other places, you're just there for

1131
01:03:07,480 --> 01:03:10,120
Speaker 1: the act that's on the stage. When you come the

1132
01:03:10,280 --> 01:03:14,680
Speaker 1: Essence Community, you're there for community. Right. So I think

1133
01:03:14,800 --> 01:03:17,680
Speaker 1: we did a great job with community. We didn't do

1134
01:03:17,760 --> 01:03:20,560
Speaker 1: a great job with the production, right, But I think

1135
01:03:20,760 --> 01:03:23,160
Speaker 1: that just the community of the talent that was there,

1136
01:03:23,640 --> 01:03:29,120
Speaker 1: and we need to communicate more frequently, earlier and more frequently,

1137
01:03:29,960 --> 01:03:33,160
Speaker 1: who's here, who's not here, what's happening? Right? So those

1138
01:03:33,160 --> 01:03:35,000
Speaker 1: are those are things that those are things that are

1139
01:03:35,040 --> 01:03:36,840
Speaker 1: fixing when we're here to we're here to do the work.

1140
01:03:37,080 --> 01:03:39,880
Speaker 4: All criticisms are valid and Essence is just going to

1141
01:03:40,200 --> 01:03:41,240
Speaker 4: try to do better next year.

1142
01:03:41,240 --> 01:03:42,480
Speaker 1: There we go. That's it.

1143
01:03:42,520 --> 01:03:42,880
Speaker 5: That's it.

1144
01:03:44,720 --> 01:03:46,760
Speaker 6: We appreciate you, I said, God bless you have a

1145
01:03:46,800 --> 01:03:48,200
Speaker 6: lot of patience, like.

1146
01:03:48,960 --> 01:03:52,760
Speaker 5: You don't have to you said, luxury of being hurt. No,

1147
01:03:52,840 --> 01:03:53,680
Speaker 5: I don't.

1148
01:03:53,240 --> 01:03:54,800
Speaker 1: I don't have that luxury.

1149
01:03:55,440 --> 01:03:57,120
Speaker 2: I appreciate you for joining us this morning.

1150
01:03:57,760 --> 01:04:00,000
Speaker 4: Caroline Wing is the president and CEO. I called it

1151
01:04:00,040 --> 01:04:00,880
Speaker 4: our editor in chief.

1152
01:04:01,360 --> 01:04:07,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, of Essence Ventures, which is, uh, the the Essence

1153
01:04:07,520 --> 01:04:08,560
Speaker 1: business you all right.

1154
01:04:08,400 --> 01:04:11,080
Speaker 2: Well it's rich Dennis, it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning,

1155
01:04:11,080 --> 01:04:11,800
Speaker 2: thanks for joining us.

1156
01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:15,240
Speaker 1: Wake that answer up in the morning. The Breakfast Club