Speaker 1: Wake me up before you go go. I bet y'all
Speaker 1: weren't expecting.
Speaker 2: I was asking for it. I was like, ready to
Speaker 2: go go.
Speaker 1: I know that is totally Mandy's fault. Before we started recording,
Speaker 1: she said are you ready to go? Go? And I
Speaker 1: was like, oh snap, she started something. Now, Hey, ba,
Speaker 1: I hope you guys are listening and enjoying. We're back,
Speaker 1: like that's where we all have. I used to be
Speaker 1: like so into like in high school, I was so
Speaker 1: into Garth Brooks, Like he's like a country music star.
Speaker 2: It's like the one country music star that like black
Speaker 2: people can love. I feel like Garth Brooks is universal,
Speaker 2: is he?
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I just really like Garth because
Speaker 1: my sister liked it and I was just like totally
Speaker 1: into Garth Brooks and I was like, yeah, that.
Speaker 2: Was done things.
Speaker 1: This weather is gorgeous, Yes it is, honestly, and that
Speaker 1: was actually gonna really my round. Boost.
Speaker 2: Well, don't give it out away, I know, but we're
Speaker 2: here now. Too early, too early, save it, save it.
Speaker 2: I got lost. I got so lost on the trains today.
Speaker 2: Thank you New York City subway system. I appreciate that,
Speaker 2: but I almost didn't mind because it was so gorgeous outside.
Speaker 1: Right, where were you going?
Speaker 2: Well, I was on my way. So my couple of
Speaker 2: my good friends had a fundraiser for Hillary, you know,
Speaker 2: whichever your political weaves are. We had they had a
Speaker 2: little fundraiser. It was like, it was cute. They they
Speaker 2: made crapes. It was like a brunch mimosas thing, and
Speaker 2: you know, everyone kind of kind of donated to the
Speaker 2: Hillary Clinton campaign. And it was fun because I haven't
Speaker 2: really had a chance to get super political so far
Speaker 2: in the season. I've sort of been watching and like
Speaker 2: shaking my head and like just feeling the pain of
Speaker 2: what's whatever's happening on the Republican side, and it hasn't
Speaker 2: really I haven't really had time to like think about.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: My whole thought process so far has been like just
Speaker 2: vote for anybody on the Democratic tracket. Just anybody, Yeah,
Speaker 2: Ernie Hillary, a sock puppet.
Speaker 1: Who like somebody's newborn puppy whoever.
Speaker 2: Yeah. But it was nice. I mean, how many chances
Speaker 2: do you get to sit around like just with with
Speaker 2: your girlfriends and there's some guys there too, and and
Speaker 2: and talk about politics and the election. It was it
Speaker 2: was kind of nice and it was fun.
Speaker 1: I did yesterday, I got a I got an award
Speaker 1: from you. Have you ever heard of Jack and Jill
Speaker 1: the Bar? No, Jack and Jill of America. It's like
Speaker 1: a I guess it's a social club, I guess. But
Speaker 1: the purpose of Jack and Jill of America is just
Speaker 1: to promote strong black families.
Speaker 2: I think, oh, yeah, okay, you got a very bored Yeah,
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: Honestly, it was really weird, not weird, but in a
Speaker 1: good way, because you know, it was nice to be honored,
Speaker 1: but it's like such a I mean, if anybody knows me,
Speaker 1: I'm so silly. And it was so everyone there was
Speaker 1: so refined, and so my husband works golden sacks, you know,
Speaker 1: and so it was weird that I was like, do
Speaker 1: they know who it gave you award to?
Speaker 2: You feel a little bit of an imposter syndrome coming on?
Speaker 2: I was like, why did you overcome it?
Speaker 1: Honestly, you know what I loved because at first, when
Speaker 1: you first came in, it was very very much like
Speaker 1: the Hues who of Black of Black society. You could
Speaker 1: tell they do like cotillions and stuff like that, you know,
Speaker 1: and then they had this amazing band and when that
Speaker 1: woman saying like old school like black hits the dance floor,
Speaker 1: let me know, Oh no, no, we're dealing with folk.
Speaker 1: So it was so fun to see, like you know,
Speaker 1: it go from the cocktail every hour where everybody was
Speaker 1: like because the name of the event was called rims
Speaker 1: and bow Tie, so you had to wear like big
Speaker 1: hats and all the men wore bow ties, so it
Speaker 1: was very fancy. But then the music came on and
Speaker 1: they got on that dance floor like it was nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty five, and I was like, look at my folks,
Speaker 1: no matter what, you could be the CEO of Goldman
Speaker 1: Sacks and you always hear torking on a dance floor.
Speaker 1: So it was fun, so much fun honestly. Of you know,
Speaker 1: I go to a lot of like you know, award
Speaker 1: dinners or whatever not that not necessarily.
Speaker 2: For me too all the time, you know, and most
Speaker 2: of the time of them.
Speaker 1: Exactly, but honestly, this one was really good. It was
Speaker 1: mostly dancing. They honored three people, me a gentleman I
Speaker 1: forget his name, but he's the president of the Black
Speaker 1: Chamber of Commerce, and Alfred Edmonds, he is the senior
Speaker 1: by president. Yeah Black the three of us and we
Speaker 1: just it was just every we each had like five
Speaker 1: minute speeches and it was just dancing basically. So it
Speaker 1: was actually really fun. And I just want to thank
Speaker 1: Jack and Jill Off America, the Central New Jersey Chapter
Speaker 1: for the award, for the dancing and for the yummy food.
Speaker 2: Congratulations.
Speaker 1: Donka.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about some craziness happening in the news this week.
Speaker 2: Where I was, I was going between two different headlines
Speaker 2: that I that I've noticed. One of them was Scarlett
Speaker 2: Johanson is playing a Japanese anime character in a movie.
Speaker 2: Her and till this win. Two white women are playing
Speaker 2: Japanese characters in this anime movie and people are losing
Speaker 2: their minds. And then the second one is Kobe. Kobe's
Speaker 2: I retired this week, and you know, of course she
Speaker 2: has a long, illustrious career in basketball, but people sort
Speaker 2: of drudged up from the nineties Woman's two thousand's his
Speaker 2: sex scandal. So yeah, which of those two shall we
Speaker 2: dive into.
Speaker 1: I'm curious about this Scarlett Johansson. So is she so
Speaker 1: it is she just a voice of the character or.
Speaker 2: Is it like, no, no, no, she is the character.
Speaker 2: They have that there's a photo of her, and I'm
Speaker 2: not familiar with this particular Japanese movie, this anime, and
Speaker 2: you know, all anime is is is a mostly is Japanese.
Speaker 2: But I'm not familiar with this this anime. But she's
Speaker 2: playing a character and the photo that I've seen. What
Speaker 2: they did is they released screenshots from the movie and
Speaker 2: she has the same haircut as a character, and she
Speaker 2: sort of looks like the character, but she's not Japanese,
Speaker 2: and people are sort of like, why would you go
Speaker 2: out of your way to cast her? And then there
Speaker 2: was there was a story that there was a rumor
Speaker 2: that the whatever studio was financing the film had had
Speaker 2: like experimented with CGI to make her look more Japanese.
Speaker 1: Is okay?
Speaker 2: It's called ghost in the show.
Speaker 1: I wonder because I was gonna say, I know, I like,
Speaker 1: I've seen some of these these anime characters and I
Speaker 1: don't I'm like, are they like it's the anime character
Speaker 1: itself Japanese, because sometimes it doesn't seem like the character
Speaker 1: itself is Japanese, because they'll have like, I don't say Japanese,
Speaker 1: you know, So I'm always confused. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: So much about this has been written. I'm sure it's
Speaker 2: been written a bet or talked about. But yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean I used to be a huge fan of Sailor Moon.
Speaker 2: I mean you see, okay, real talk. I still am, like,
Speaker 2: I love Sailor Moon. I was obsessed. But all I mean,
Speaker 2: the main character is blonde and blue eyed, and they
Speaker 2: all have huge round eyes, and I haven't I don't
Speaker 2: think any of the characters in the whole show. I
Speaker 2: think only the evil characters when I think back to it,
Speaker 2: that evil characters had like not the huge eyes, but
Speaker 2: like more almond shaped eyes. And I don't know what.
Speaker 2: I don't know what is why. I don't know why
Speaker 2: anime characters sort of lean that way. But there's all
Speaker 2: these like cultural stereotypes about in Asian culture and all
Speaker 2: these sort of I think the same way that you
Speaker 2: have the light skin debate European beauty standards in the
Speaker 2: black culture. I think, I mean, the most popular surgery,
Speaker 2: the most common surgery now are becoming the most common
Speaker 2: surgery is like eyelid surgery for people of Asian descent
Speaker 2: who want to make their eyes look round her and
Speaker 2: more American. And uh, I mean maybe the studio thought, oh, well,
Speaker 2: she has big eyes in the anime, so we'll just
Speaker 2: make her American.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I'm gonna know, I'm gonna google. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: hit the Google and see what to be about.
Speaker 2: You know, it's it's the same thing happened with Emma
Speaker 2: Emma Stone in that that movie about Hawaii. I don't
Speaker 2: ever watch it, but she played like a Hawaiian princess, right, No,
Speaker 2: not a princess. I think she was in the military
Speaker 2: or the air force. But good guess.
Speaker 1: No, there was a movie about a Hawaiian princess, and
Speaker 1: I thought, that's what it's.
Speaker 2: Oh, I excited about that though. That's the Rock. The
Speaker 2: Rock is doing that. It's like a Pixar movie. I
Speaker 2: think with the first Hawaiian princess or something like that.
Speaker 2: They's still royalty in Hawaii. Did you know that?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think I cause I had watched I had
Speaker 1: watched like a documentary of like a Hawaiian princess or
Speaker 1: queen or something like that. It was really interesting. I
Speaker 1: thought maybe they were doing a big movie on it.
Speaker 2: There was a Hawaiian dynasty. I don't know whatever, I'm
Speaker 2: not so okay, fine, forgive me. I'm not a Hawaiian
Speaker 2: Royalty expert. But yeah, so Emma Stone was cast in
Speaker 2: this movie and she's supposed to be like one quarter
Speaker 2: Asian and she's clearly not. I just don't see why
Speaker 2: Hollywood continues to think they can get away with this,
Speaker 2: that they won't get dry for it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, why don't care?
Speaker 2: Why not just go find a Japanese actress? I mean,
Speaker 2: I see why. Scarlet Johansen is fucking beautiful, like gorgeous, hot, sexy,
Speaker 2: huge fan base, so why not put her in a movie?
Speaker 2: But I don't know what the rest of the cast
Speaker 2: looks like, but they could have done a better job,
Speaker 2: probably representing the Actually, they.
Speaker 1: Clearly didn't see that movie. Remember the movie? I think
Speaker 1: it was Christian Bale. Didn't he play like Moses?
Speaker 2: I think it was called Like, wasn't it called Moses?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well whatever, you totally Yeah. People were like, oh,
Speaker 1: so we refuse, We're not going to go see it,
Speaker 1: and it bombed. So maybe that's what needs to be done, Kings. Yes,
Speaker 1: if just don't go and then they'll they'll learn today
Speaker 1: because money makes the world go round, So it's movies
Speaker 1: like that, don't get supported with your dollars. They'll stop
Speaker 1: making them.
Speaker 2: That's why I spent my money on Big Fat Greek
Speaker 2: Wedding too, although I knew it was going to be
Speaker 2: a terrible movie and it was a bad movie, but
Speaker 2: I went anyway because I had a female lead and
Speaker 2: she's Greek and I I love her, and I went anyway.
Speaker 2: It was fine. You just had to like lower your
Speaker 2: expectations a little bit.
Speaker 1: And you have the buzzworthies.
Speaker 2: Kobe Kobe. Well, I would just a quick word on
Speaker 2: Kobe because the whole thing is, you know, he's retiring.
Speaker 2: He had this, you know, the high this highest rated
Speaker 2: game I think in ESPN history was his last game
Speaker 2: last week and I was at work and I was,
Speaker 2: you know, we have a group chat and people were
Speaker 2: talking about him. Someone was like, oh, why is he
Speaker 2: called the Black Mamba And people were like, oh, the
Speaker 2: Black Mama was fierce animal nature blah blah blah. And
Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, and just like black Mamba, you
Speaker 2: can sexually assault someone and get away with it scott
Speaker 2: free and have a great career and come out on top.
Speaker 2: And one of my coworkers was just like, I was like,
Speaker 2: oh God, what do we have to bring up his
Speaker 2: sexual past? Just get over it. It's not a big deal.
Speaker 2: It is a fucking it is a big deal. And
Speaker 2: why why it's a disservice not to talk about it.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm sure the girl he raped, it's not like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I'm over it, Like what it's so
Speaker 1: easy to say, But if that happened to you and
Speaker 1: someone raped you and had sex with you against your will,
Speaker 1: no matter no amount of years, it's gonna erase that.
Speaker 1: No matter how many like games he wins, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna say, like, oh my gosh, that guy who raped me.
Speaker 1: But you know, he's a really good basketball player, so
Speaker 1: I'm over it. Like that doesn't It's just so crazy
Speaker 1: to me why people can't see like, yes, we can
Speaker 1: acknowledge Kobe's a good basketball player, but I can also say, hey,
Speaker 1: you know he did this to this woman. It's not okay,
Speaker 1: Like yeah, that's just so crazy, Like, oh, god forbid,
Speaker 1: we should bring up that he did something terrible, but
Speaker 1: he did.
Speaker 2: You know, Alegedly have a hard I think people have
Speaker 2: a hard time. You want. It's naive to me. You
Speaker 2: think that your hero has to be perfect, and why
Speaker 2: can't you accept the fact that your hero who's an amazing
Speaker 2: basketball player, is also has his dark side, and the
Speaker 2: fact that he has been you know, you can say
Speaker 2: it's a symptom of how he's been, you know, from
Speaker 2: his early twenties. Is like rock Star, who's gotten everything
Speaker 2: he wanted and won all the games and been entitled
Speaker 2: to everything and the millions of dollars, would that would somehow,
Speaker 2: you know, lead him over to his darker side of
Speaker 2: feeling like entitled to a woman's body. I don't think
Speaker 2: it's so far fetched. I don't see why he can't
Speaker 2: be both. But we can't celebrate the good without I
Speaker 2: think recalling those darker moments too, because it just sort
Speaker 2: of like it does that young woman a disservice. It
Speaker 2: reminds me of all the Bill Cosby stuff. People just
Speaker 2: want to throw it under the rug and say, oh, well,
Speaker 2: he's something so much good. Doesn't that just like make
Speaker 2: up for this little, you know, little moment of indecency.
Speaker 2: I just think it's bs.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, I'm sure Hitler did a lot of
Speaker 1: good too, but you know.
Speaker 2: Okay, I don't know, well, it's not He's not like Hitler.
Speaker 2: I don't think.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that, like it's not like because you know,
Speaker 1: I guess what.
Speaker 2: I'm saying is, yeah, what are you saying?
Speaker 1: I know, I'm just saying. And like it's no one
Speaker 1: is all good or all bad, you know hardly. I
Speaker 1: mean do you definitely get some super evil people, but
Speaker 1: for the most part, we all have that, like both
Speaker 1: of us. And it's okay to recognize, you know, this
Speaker 1: is kind of messed up, like the whole African Bada
Speaker 1: like stuff. Have you been Have you heard of this?
Speaker 2: I heard it? Yeah? Is this the guy who goes Africa?
Speaker 2: Is that the guy you like? A singer? Okay, never mind,
Speaker 2: maybe I just made it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so he is a song He is like an
Speaker 1: old school like legend and like hip hop like community,
Speaker 1: like you know, just like just very well respected and apparently, uh,
Speaker 1: a young man came forward recently to say that African
Speaker 1: Babada sexually assaulted him years ago, and of course everyone
Speaker 1: was like the lies you tell. And now three other
Speaker 1: young men have come forward because especially in the hip
Speaker 1: hop brown community, and you know, homosexuality is not something
Speaker 1: that's openly discussed. And then on top of that, you know,
Speaker 1: like I don't know if I can't remember that the
Speaker 1: men were under age, but pedophilia possibly, And so people
Speaker 1: are of like because he was like mister black and
Speaker 1: I'm proud and you made me feel like proud to
Speaker 1: be a part of this hip hop culture, to be
Speaker 1: black during a time when it was not easy to
Speaker 1: say that, And so people are very torn because he
Speaker 1: was like a hero in the community basically, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: I just don't take it. I just don't think people
Speaker 2: are I don't believe that everyone's perfect. Like it doesn't
Speaker 2: surprise me. I feel like every famous I'm just waiting.
Speaker 2: I'm just waiting. Okay, he's big, now he's famous. Great,
Speaker 2: let's just see what he's done. What skeletons in the closet.
Speaker 2: It reminds me of that movie. Remember the did you
Speaker 2: watch the movie about the Catholic priests in Boston That
Speaker 2: was like a huge story in the early two thousands
Speaker 2: that just dozens and dozens of Catholic priests in Boston
Speaker 2: had been sexually molesting, molesting young boys. And it went
Speaker 2: on to win the Pulitzer Prize. And anyway, it was
Speaker 2: a movie recently, and I think it was the same thing.
Speaker 2: You know, not that Kobe or this you know, hip
Speaker 2: hop star or like on the level of Catholic priests.
Speaker 2: But it's it's it's not out of the realm of
Speaker 2: possibility that these men, when you put men in places
Speaker 2: of power, that they'll take advantage of you know, weak people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, not just men, but just anyone in place of power,
Speaker 1: taking advantage of vulnerable people, you know, but mostly men. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to make I'm trying to make up for
Speaker 1: the Hitler common Okay.
Speaker 2: It was mostly men in power, So you do the math.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is true.
Speaker 2: Oh, speaking of that, I was just just a quick
Speaker 2: shout out so for actually for the same story. So
Speaker 2: I it's the same story that are our guests on
Speaker 2: today's show that I interviewed for. I also talked with
Speaker 2: Stacy phil Brown Philpott whose name you may not know,
Speaker 2: but she was formerly the CEO of task Rabbit. You know,
Speaker 2: do you know task Grabbit, Yeah, for sure. So she
Speaker 2: was a CEO and I COO, and I interviewed her
Speaker 2: for my story on black business leaders that are changing
Speaker 2: Silicon Valley because there's just so few of them. And
Speaker 2: I just found out last week she got it was
Speaker 2: announced that she was promoted to CEO Chief executive officer
Speaker 2: of task Rabbit, which was a huge win, which is
Speaker 2: which is awesome. And there's just so few. I mean,
Speaker 2: talk about how few black leaders there are in Silicon Valley,
Speaker 2: but then talk about black women leaders and it's the
Speaker 2: pools even smaller. So just quick shout out to Stacy, say.
Speaker 1: Stacey, congrats, that's awesome. A lot of them people I know,
Speaker 1: I know a lot of like folks in my DreamCatcher group.
Speaker 1: A lot of them use task Rabbit. I think a
Speaker 1: lot of them have signed up to actually make extra
Speaker 1: money during that.
Speaker 2: You know. One of my favorite things that she told
Speaker 2: me in the interview for the story, at one point
Speaker 2: in her career, she decided to move to India. She
Speaker 2: was working at Google way back when, and she decided
Speaker 2: to move to India. At the time, she was married
Speaker 2: to her husband and she left him behind. And she
Speaker 2: talked about how her entire family just couldn't understand why
Speaker 2: would you move to India to run Google's sales ops
Speaker 2: and leave your husband behind? And she talked about how
Speaker 2: it's she U shouldn't be afraid to ask for what
Speaker 2: you need, both at home and at work. And she
Speaker 2: talked about how for her and her husband moves a
Speaker 2: personal decision and they decided they were going to make
Speaker 2: it work together, and she felt empowered to make this
Speaker 2: career move. I mean, obviously it worked out for her
Speaker 2: career wise to make that you know, risky career move
Speaker 2: that wouldn't have been as popular, you know, a couple
Speaker 2: decades ago. So I like that. I like what she
Speaker 2: had to say about that.
Speaker 1: I like that too. That's dope.
Speaker 2: Not that I'm moving into India anytime soon. Yeah, I'm not,
Speaker 2: but you know, and did you see the what do you?
Speaker 2: Did you see the BuzzFeed video?
Speaker 1: I honestly I have to. It's like watching Rosewood, you know,
Speaker 1: or like Twelve Years a Slave. I always tell myself
Speaker 1: cause I've heard so much buzz about it. I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm ready for those emotions. You
Speaker 1: didn't want it now, I know, but I just I've
Speaker 1: been feeling really happy lately, and everyone it's like every
Speaker 1: time somebody posted, it's clear that they're like pissed off
Speaker 1: about it. So I'm like, yeah, I just I just
Speaker 1: gonna wait until I'm not feeling extra happy and I'm
Speaker 1: really yeah, so like, tell me about it.
Speaker 2: Like you know so, well, I'm gonna tell you about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Basically, well, Buzzfe's done this before. I think they had
Speaker 2: a video where it was like questions white people have
Speaker 2: for white people and it was like, why are you
Speaker 2: so racist? Why do you know that kind of stuff?
Speaker 2: And they did the same thing for it was like
Speaker 2: questions black people have for black people, and they had
Speaker 2: I mean, I watched a lot of BuzzFeed videos, so
Speaker 2: I recognize a lot of their black talent, and they
Speaker 2: had a bunch of their you know im pretty much
Speaker 2: like Look, they pulled out every single black reporter and
Speaker 2: producer on their staff and just had them ask questions
Speaker 2: they're just dying to know about black people, and it
Speaker 2: was but the questions were fucking acinine. It was like
Speaker 2: why do we like watermelon so much? Where did that
Speaker 2: come from? Why can't we be on time? It was
Speaker 2: like every stereotype you've ever had or seen promoted in
Speaker 2: the media, it was these and it was what was
Speaker 2: made it painful for people was that it was black
Speaker 2: people ask you yes questions.
Speaker 1: You're like, why did you let them why?
Speaker 2: One of the questions was like, am i un fleak?
Speaker 2: It was like my grandma wrote these questions, and you know,
Speaker 2: God rest her soul. I love you, Nana, But like,
Speaker 2: what was BuzzFeed thinking? And I think they rightfully got dragged.
Speaker 2: I mean, the video is still up there. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm sure that they knew it was gonna be controversial
Speaker 2: when they put it out. I'm sure they got record
Speaker 2: page views, good for you, Happy for you, and millions
Speaker 2: and millions of clicks, but it didn't do any favors
Speaker 2: to people black people in general and the stereotypes that
Speaker 2: are out there as told.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wonder if there's anybody in the office who's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do that.
Speaker 2: You know, my friend, I should have asked my friend Kevin. So,
Speaker 2: my friend Kevin, Hey, Kevin Kevin Smith. He's a senior
Speaker 2: editor at BuzzFeed, and he's been in a couple of
Speaker 2: their videos. But he was not in this video. And
Speaker 2: I should ask him because he's a I should ask
Speaker 2: him why he wasn't in it. But I can't imagine
Speaker 2: I would have my hand for that video. I'd been
Speaker 2: like what, but why? But what do you want me
Speaker 2: to ask? I wonder if those were actually questions they had,
Speaker 2: you know, yeah, at any rate, tis what tis and
Speaker 2: I will stay on the on the whole. I mean,
Speaker 2: BuzzFeed has the fact that they even had like, I mean,
Speaker 2: it looked like they had ten, you know, five to
Speaker 2: ten reporters who are of a color on the video,
Speaker 2: and that's pretty rare in newsrooms. So the fact that
Speaker 2: they even have that many black people working for them
Speaker 2: is something too that it tells me that that should
Speaker 2: never have happened.
Speaker 1: Yeah, bab you're right, because yeah, you're right. Because what
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, wow, you guys have like a nice
Speaker 1: little mix of people. Then it's like, wait, nobody said, hey,
Speaker 1: not the best idea.
Speaker 2: No, that got green lip. I don't know why, And
Speaker 2: I think it's all for Buzzworthy. We could talk about
Speaker 2: the Nina sim Own movie. You know, I realized we
Speaker 2: haven't talked about that yet.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll say that for next week.
Speaker 2: You just like, I'm ruining your happy mood.
Speaker 1: You're supposed to be into.
Speaker 2: Are your happy topics? Do you have any?
Speaker 1: Yeah? And I'm just like, I've just been enjoying the weather.
Speaker 1: So I'm just like, that's not a happy topic. So
Speaker 1: let's let's say let's say that Zoe Saladonna or whatever
Speaker 1: the heck, your last name is Zoe, Zoe, Zoe whatever,
Speaker 1: close enough Sally's and we're gonna save you that dragging
Speaker 1: for next week when I'm in the dragging mood.
Speaker 4: But let's move on to brown breaks.
Speaker 2: What's my brown break gonna be or my brown boost?
Speaker 2: Do you want to go first? I don't really have one.
Speaker 1: I don't think hmmm, my brown break.
Speaker 2: Positivity, And it can't be your workout routine or taking
Speaker 2: your break from work because that's been your brown boost
Speaker 2: for like five weeks.
Speaker 1: Okay, so the police, all right, so my brown you
Speaker 1: know I'm actually gonna take a brown break from I
Speaker 1: don't know. I feel like so I just got like
Speaker 1: a petticare and a manicure, and you would think that
Speaker 1: like I moved, I, like, you know, cured cancer, when
Speaker 1: I such a big deal that I have to get
Speaker 1: a pedicare in manicure. I mean, like, I mean it's
Speaker 1: not to say I'm like ungroomed. I just usually just
Speaker 1: cut my nails down and then that's it. But like,
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's such a big deal, Like
Speaker 1: why is that like boyfriends I've had in the pasta
Speaker 1: like you don't get regular pandicares and manicures. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I wash my feet, I cut my nails like boyfriends
Speaker 1: said that, Yeah, like you don't get paid. Like like
Speaker 1: I don't know. I've like had boyfriends be like like Tiffany,
Speaker 1: I never see you go get a pedicure of manicure.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah'm my my feet are fine, Like you know,
Speaker 1: I don't. I've only I only will do it if
Speaker 1: I'm going away on like a vacation or if I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be in somebody's wedding and I'm like, well let
Speaker 1: me get fancy for but on a regular you know.
Speaker 1: I'm just like I just scrub down my feet in
Speaker 1: my hands and I trim my nails. I just don't see,
Speaker 1: like why, like why is that like a rite of passion?
Speaker 1: I guess it's like, you know, is it the same
Speaker 1: thing like packed underwear? Like it's tack for me to like,
Speaker 1: you know, move on to like, but I just don't understand,
Speaker 1: Like it's so crazy because I'm like, when did all
Speaker 1: my friends start getting regular petticure manicers, even my friends
Speaker 1: who were not like fancy girls or whatever. It's just
Speaker 1: like girl, I always get my petty and nanny, even
Speaker 1: if it's not like you know, they get tips or whatever.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, really, when did I No one, I didn't.
Speaker 2: Get that memo.
Speaker 1: No one told me to the side in gym class.
Speaker 2: I think it's a personal thing. I think so sorry.
Speaker 2: I think it's a personal thing where Actually what's funny
Speaker 2: is I also got a Mani petty yesterday. Okay, but
Speaker 2: just because I knew the weather was going to be
Speaker 2: nice and I just want to treat myself. I was
Speaker 2: supposed to go to the dentist, but I woke up
Speaker 2: and I was like, I'm going to cancel that appointment
Speaker 2: and go get a Manni pettist. Toothache be damned, and
Speaker 2: my two still hurts my feet as so judge me
Speaker 2: as you want. But you know what I think I've
Speaker 2: talked about that before is during the recession, the number
Speaker 2: of women who spend money on menies and petties like skyrocketed.
Speaker 2: And it's because it's sort of a small treat you
Speaker 2: can give yourself. It doesn't cost the world. I mean hopefully,
Speaker 2: I mean for me, it was like thirty bucks and
Speaker 2: I had two hours of relaxing time at the nail
Speaker 2: salon and it's just a little treat for yourself. I
Speaker 2: don't think it's mandatory, but I think women do it
Speaker 2: because it makes them feel nice.
Speaker 1: No, but I've actually had people like shake my hand,
Speaker 1: like grown women who are kind of like kind of know,
Speaker 1: they're like, ooh girl, you don't get manicures on my geez.
Speaker 1: I judging, I know, very judging, And that's why I
Speaker 1: guess that's like kind of like my I don't mind
Speaker 1: a petticare madicr. But I know some people are like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, they like live by because I get
Speaker 1: my eyebrows done and where I get them done is
Speaker 1: a petty manny spot, and so I see women in there,
Speaker 1: you know, they go regularly, and I'm just like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, like when I get them done, it's it's cool,
Speaker 1: but it's not like, oh my gosh, this is my
Speaker 1: peaceful time, this is my like you know, wu sah.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's just kind of like all right,
Speaker 1: they're done, Like I like taking walks, that's my USA.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so I'm just taking a brown break from
Speaker 1: the judgment of I don't get regular and it's a
Speaker 1: pays I'm sure if you see me in the street
Speaker 1: to can be looking at my toes in my hands
Speaker 1: and I don't care.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, I guess it's kind of a brown boost.
Speaker 2: I just want to give a hey for It took
Speaker 2: me a long time to master to figure out how
Speaker 2: to use credit cards. No one ever taught me this,
Speaker 2: and I fell into the same pitfalls after collars, and
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people do. Where I was
Speaker 2: earning like no money when I, you know, lost my
Speaker 2: job in New York, and then I was for a
Speaker 2: whole summer just out of work, and I foundally got
Speaker 2: a job that paid me like practically nothing, and I
Speaker 2: was starting to lean on my credit card and the limit,
Speaker 2: thank god, it was really it was low. It was
Speaker 2: something like two thousand dollars. But I would constantly, like
Speaker 2: have one thousand, nine hundred and ninety dollars on the card,
Speaker 2: and then I would buy lunch, and then I would
Speaker 2: pay it down and I'd buy lunch like it was
Speaker 2: max out all the time, and then I would get
Speaker 2: interest fees. And it took me, I don't know, like
Speaker 2: up until three or four years ago to finally understand
Speaker 2: how to use credit cards. So I'm really proud of
Speaker 2: where my credit score is now. I've I've I've mastered
Speaker 2: the art of giving yourself a budget for your credit
Speaker 2: card that is actually what you can afford to pay
Speaker 2: off every month, because I've had friends who've like one
Speaker 2: of my friends told me, hey, Mandy, I you'd be
Speaker 2: so happy I got a new credit card and I already,
Speaker 2: you know, almost maxed it out, and isn't that great.
Speaker 2: I'm like, no, why do you think that's great? He's like, oh, well,
Speaker 2: I heard that if you you know, you carry a
Speaker 2: balance every month, and that looks great better to credit
Speaker 2: credit agencies. And I was like, no, no, honey, who
Speaker 2: need boo boo child? No, Like you put money on
Speaker 2: it and you paid off immediately every month, you don't
Speaker 2: get charged interest fees. I like to say that, like
Speaker 2: every card is zero percent interest. If you paid off
Speaker 2: every month, like they won't charge you fees. That's how
Speaker 2: it works. But doing this for like the last three years,
Speaker 2: just putting a little bit of money on there, I
Speaker 2: put like my cable bill, I put my my cell
Speaker 2: phone when I used to pay for that, I put
Speaker 2: it on my phone and I just paid off every
Speaker 2: month it and I figured out exactly what I couldn't
Speaker 2: afford to pay, and it's working out great. My credit
Speaker 2: scores in the high seven hundred's almost eight hundred. And
Speaker 2: what I'll say about having a high credit score is
Speaker 2: it doesn't really matter, like in terms of of day
Speaker 2: to day stuff, like I don't need to have a
Speaker 2: super high credit score. It really only matters when you're
Speaker 2: looking for credit or you want to take advantage of
Speaker 2: the perks of credit. And last week I had to
Speaker 2: put my deposit down on our wedding venue mm hm.
Speaker 2: And this is like, I mean, I'm putting down like
Speaker 2: thousands of dollars at one time. And I was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: they're gonna charge me a processing fee for using a
Speaker 2: credit card, so let me try and find like the sweetest,
Speaker 2: sickest rewards credit card on the market. And I don't really,
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't condone signing up for all these
Speaker 2: credit cards that have bonus offers, you know how they
Speaker 2: are like, oh, if you just spend five thousand dollars
Speaker 2: and three months and we'll give you fifty thousand miles.
Speaker 2: Like I don't think it's right because you get caught
Speaker 2: in that trap, you know, are you really gonna spend
Speaker 2: five thousand dollars in the next three months, Like I
Speaker 2: probably don't spend that much on an average basis, so
Speaker 2: you end up spending money just to get money, which
Speaker 2: doesn't always add up. But for this purchase, I knew
Speaker 2: with my I was going to qualify for rewards on
Speaker 2: the this one credit cards called the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Speaker 2: It has awesome rewards benefits, and I was like, let
Speaker 2: me get this card and put this deposit down, and I,
Speaker 2: you know, with approofd for the card, and I put
Speaker 2: the deposit down and I immediately paid it off with
Speaker 2: my wedding savings and I got like fifty thousand miles
Speaker 2: which I can use on my honeymoon. It's like over
Speaker 2: six hundred dollars and travel rewards that I'll get to
Speaker 2: use toward airfare or my hotel for the honeymoon. And
Speaker 2: I feel like, I feel like this is something I
Speaker 2: couldn't have done, like three or four years ago, when
Speaker 2: I was had terrible credit and I hadn't figured out
Speaker 2: how credit worked at all.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I was super smart.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a proud moment, and I paid it off,
Speaker 2: and I feel like I feel like I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 2: screw you credit company. It's like, I'm not going to
Speaker 2: pay interest and I'm taking my bonus points. So thank
Speaker 2: you very much, Thank you, Chase. I appreciate it. On
Speaker 2: today's show, I'm really excited about today's guest. I've been
Speaker 2: wanting to talk to this person for months and months
Speaker 2: and months, ever since I interviewed her for a story
Speaker 2: on Yahoo back in February. But she was like, I'm
Speaker 2: taking a little bit of a media break. Can you
Speaker 2: talk to me in April? And so I put a
Speaker 2: calendar reminder for myself to email her, and I'm really
Speaker 2: excited to have her on the show. It's Morgan Debon,
Speaker 2: who you may not know, but you may know her company.
Speaker 2: It's called blavity dot com and I mean, I'm obsessed
Speaker 2: with Blavity. I go to it every day. It's it's
Speaker 2: one of the only black media sites. Well it's one
Speaker 2: of the newer black media sites that I follow, and
Speaker 2: I think it does a really like a fresh look
Speaker 2: at you know, what people are talking about and what
Speaker 2: is buzzing and what's viral in the black millennial space.
Speaker 2: So we're joined today by Morgan Debon. Just a little
Speaker 2: bit about her. I know exciting, right, So she's at
Speaker 2: the tender age of twenty six. She launched Blavity in
Speaker 2: two two thousand and four with the co founder Aaron
Speaker 2: sam Samuels, after realizing she was she She talks a
Speaker 2: little about this later in the show, how black people
Speaker 2: at her university in Saint Louis congregated together no matter
Speaker 2: where they were, cafeteria, the classroom, We all kind of
Speaker 2: came together. Two years later, she after bootstrapping the company themselves,
Speaker 2: Blavity is one of the you know, a fast growing
Speaker 2: media company, and Morgan's joining us to talk about how
Speaker 2: she launched Blavity, how she's raising capital in a man's
Speaker 2: world in Silicon Valley, and about a really exciting venture
Speaker 2: she's launching in May called empower Her and they Empower
Speaker 2: her conference.
Speaker 1: So, without further ado, we present.
Speaker 2: Morgan Morgan, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Yes more, we have to come up with a new babe,
Speaker 1: new babe, like like a button we can press Mandy.
Speaker 2: Like a big like a foghorn or something, or.
Speaker 1: A something that said like new fave. So that way
Speaker 1: people you know are well where it's a new fave.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, one of the first things I do
Speaker 2: before we even do the podcast is I checked Blavity.
Speaker 2: I'm like, what's happening in the world, let me go
Speaker 2: check blavity real quick.
Speaker 3: So writers so quickly, so fast that I'm always like, wait,
Speaker 3: did that happen? Did we cover that yet?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been done. So tell me tell me about Blavity.
Speaker 2: When did it start? How did you start Blavity? Where
Speaker 2: did the concept come from?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: So you know, I say Blavity started like I don't
Speaker 3: know seven years ago in my brain. I went to
Speaker 3: Washington University in Saint Louis for college, and I had
Speaker 3: an amazing experience there with my co founders, Jonathan, Jeff
Speaker 3: and Aaron I went to school together. And you know,
Speaker 3: I tell this story a lot, but it's just so true,
Speaker 3: Like we had this moment every day at the black table.
Speaker 3: Was it in the cafeteria exactly? And I think a
Speaker 3: lot of people have similar experiences, regardless of whether you're
Speaker 3: black or not. I mean, you know, the Korean students
Speaker 3: sat together, Hispanic students sat together. It's just kind of
Speaker 3: what you do, right, And but that moment of like,
Speaker 3: you know, I was the only black person in like
Speaker 3: an econ class or whatever, and then you go to
Speaker 3: the lunch table and you're like, hey, guys, how's your
Speaker 3: day going, you know, and it's a mix of people
Speaker 3: from different classes. You know, we're talking about what the
Speaker 3: outfits did last night at the step show. You're talking
Speaker 3: about you know, that racist thing that somebody said in class,
Speaker 3: and it's just a great kind of like opportunity to
Speaker 3: get outside yourself and to embrace the diversity of what
Speaker 3: at that time was college. You know, you have people
Speaker 3: coming from different parts of the world and the country.
Speaker 3: People who grew up in all black communities are people
Speaker 3: who are just now discovering their blackness and stepping into that.
Speaker 3: And those emotions that you go through, you know, those
Speaker 3: are the emotions and the process that we are developing
Speaker 3: and designing online with Glavity. Right, So people use Glavity
Speaker 3: in very different ways. You know, you ask somebody who
Speaker 3: follows us some Instagram, you know, what do you like
Speaker 3: about Blavity, They're going to give you a totally different
Speaker 3: answer than somebody who life tweets with that song when
Speaker 3: we watch scandal, Right, And that's okay, Like, that's how
Speaker 3: the company is designed.
Speaker 1: It's designed for.
Speaker 3: Black millennials in the world and figuring out how we
Speaker 3: can build shared experiences and build connections with each other.
Speaker 3: You know, we're starting with content, which is the version
Speaker 3: of the company that you all see, and you know,
Speaker 3: very quickly moving into other spaces as well to try
Speaker 3: to figure out what our group is in this market.
Speaker 2: So you're question.
Speaker 1: Man is the interviewer, But I'm like, I got questions.
Speaker 1: Mine is not experience. I just want to know, Like
Speaker 1: such a cool name, glavity, Like where did that come from?
Speaker 3: Yes, glavity means black gravity. It's the term that we
Speaker 3: used at the black table. So it was like, you know,
Speaker 3: one person sat down, then like three people will sit down.
Speaker 3: Then all of a sudden, you've got like twenty five
Speaker 3: people on a table that only fits like fifteen, and
Speaker 3: you're like, where did you guys come from? Like didn't
Speaker 3: you have class on the other side of campus? Like
Speaker 3: how did you get over here so quickly? So it's
Speaker 3: kind of like the bat signal, but the black signal.
Speaker 1: So I love that black gravity.
Speaker 2: I like that it's nice to have a name for it.
Speaker 2: I never because I feel like it happens everywhere you go,
Speaker 2: but it's nice to have like a term for it.
Speaker 2: I never heard that before before blavity.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can be able to you can say Glavity's happening.
Speaker 2: Now, let's talk about it. I mean, I was just
Speaker 2: reading there was an article in Chicago Tribune last week,
Speaker 2: you know, about black business owners and especially black startup owners,
Speaker 2: and how they can sometimes be afraid to market themselves,
Speaker 2: like put their face on the company's website to say
Speaker 2: this product is made with the intention of serving the
Speaker 2: black community, because they're afraid that as soon as customers
Speaker 2: and potential investors see that it's owned by, you know,
Speaker 2: owned buy and for black people, that they won't want
Speaker 2: to take part, contribute invest Is that something that you've
Speaker 2: confronted or thought about as you're you know, moving forward
Speaker 2: with glavity.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I mean I think it's a reality of the
Speaker 3: world that we live in that every business owner should
Speaker 3: be at least acknowledging.
Speaker 1: You know, that doesn't mean you.
Speaker 3: Have to consider it and how you move in the
Speaker 3: business world, but you should at least acknowledge that it's
Speaker 3: a reality. And for me, I mean, white people love
Speaker 3: glavity like they love it, and they should because it's
Speaker 3: an authentic point of view that it's unapologetic and consistent,
Speaker 3: and you know, we tell it like it is. And
Speaker 3: I think a lot of the voices that are able
Speaker 3: to use the platform appreciate that it's a space designed
Speaker 3: for black people specifically, and so there is no sense
Speaker 3: of explaining, you know, we can use gifts and you know,
Speaker 3: all everything that you guys know of without having to
Speaker 3: worry about how are white people going to like digest
Speaker 3: this information on glavity. We don't care. We're not thinking
Speaker 3: about it.
Speaker 2: I love that is the money following. What's the reception
Speaker 2: you've gotten from investors? Are you actively raising capital? And
Speaker 2: can you talk about that process, because that's sort of
Speaker 2: the ugly side of you know, launching a startup. It's
Speaker 2: so competitive, you know, when you're reaching for those investment dollars, it.
Speaker 3: Is incredibly combetitive, particularly in the media market. And yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, who isn't always raising? I mean, as a.
Speaker 1: Startup founder, you always have to be raising, and I mean.
Speaker 3: It's a challenge. You know, I've been raising quote unquote
Speaker 3: for since the company launched. In a lot of ways,
Speaker 3: you know, we don't actively have a note that we're
Speaker 3: trying to fill. We've already raised around of funding, but
Speaker 3: you're always in discussions with people trying to get a
Speaker 3: sense of industry, what the financing market looks like, what
Speaker 3: kind of partners do we need to bring on so
Speaker 3: that Glavity can get to the next level and scale quickly.
Speaker 3: And as it relates to the fact that the majority
Speaker 3: of investors don't look like me, you know, I think
Speaker 3: what I try to do a lot of my meetings
Speaker 3: is help them realize how much they have personally been
Speaker 3: affected by black influences.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: So I asked them about, oh, are you big on Twitter?
Speaker 3: You know, I asked them about are you what are
Speaker 3: you listening to right now? Right? What did you watch
Speaker 3: on TV last night?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 3: And I try to help them see how the market
Speaker 3: is actually incredibly large because the influence of people of color,
Speaker 3: of the DIASCA specifically is huge. Yeah, and it takes
Speaker 3: a little bit, you know, not everybody gets it right
Speaker 3: off the bet.
Speaker 1: What's your proudest moment as it relates to Blavity, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, you're proud, it's like, oh my gosh, I
Speaker 1: can't believe we're here a moment.
Speaker 3: Well, right now I'm sitting in our new office and
Speaker 3: this is pretty weird.
Speaker 1: That's awesome, It's very cool.
Speaker 3: It's kind of it's in like construction notes, it's kind
Speaker 3: of a disaster. But I'm just so proud that we've
Speaker 3: been able to get to this place from a financial
Speaker 3: perspective that it makes sense and it's good for the
Speaker 3: business for us to actually have a physical location. You know,
Speaker 3: for a while, I thought we were going to be
Speaker 3: a remote company because of the speed of media and
Speaker 3: because of you know, you don't necessarily need to be
Speaker 3: face to face for everything, particularly when you're thinking about engineers.
Speaker 3: You know, a lot can be done actually when you've
Speaker 3: got engineers on different production cycles and sprints, and same
Speaker 3: thing with media, right, having somebody on the East Coast
Speaker 3: is actually really important for news cycle and or having
Speaker 3: someone in London. So it's it's been an interesting transition
Speaker 3: to be like, yes, we have a physical location and
Speaker 3: you know you can come you can come find me
Speaker 3: on any given day.
Speaker 2: So where are you guys based. You're in California, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, my first office is actually in la even though
Speaker 3: I started the company in San Francisco.
Speaker 2: Okay, congratulations, Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. That is like a very big, like you know,
Speaker 1: it's like when you hire your first employee, Like I
Speaker 1: can't believe.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when we last, when we last talked, you had
Speaker 2: I got the impression that you were doing this kind
Speaker 2: of like in the wee hours of the morning after
Speaker 2: work and you were juggling a full time job. Is
Speaker 2: that still the case? What's your what's your schedule? Like
Speaker 2: these days were able to work on blavity full time?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I quit a long time ago. I still work
Speaker 3: wee hours in the morning and at night and on weekends,
Speaker 3: but that's just what we do, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I quit.
Speaker 3: I can't even remember, like October, not this year, but
Speaker 3: the prior year. So yeah, no more salaries.
Speaker 2: What was it like to quit your job? When did
Speaker 2: you get to the point where you you knew it
Speaker 2: was time?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a question I get frequently, and there's really
Speaker 3: just no good answer. Like, at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: I was working on Blavity so much that it was
Speaker 3: emotionally and mentally too tiring to switch back and forth.
Speaker 3: And I was already doing my bear so my bare minimum,
Speaker 3: but I wasn't focused on my day job. And I
Speaker 3: think that's okay to some extent, But if I had
Speaker 3: taken it any longer, it would have just been like
Speaker 3: morally not okay with me personally, Like you know, I
Speaker 3: didn't go out to happy hour and like let's go
Speaker 3: get a beer. I'm like nah, like I'm good, Like
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go right And after a point, like I
Speaker 3: would have I rather even those like six hours that
Speaker 3: those solid six hours that I was working at my
Speaker 3: day job, it was just too much. It was six
Speaker 3: hours that I needed and wanted to be doing something else.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome. I just remember those days. So I
Speaker 1: have a question because I was talking to my entrepreneur
Speaker 1: friends and I most of my really post friends own
Speaker 1: their own businesses. And now we're at I call it
Speaker 1: beginning mid level. So you know, the beginning level when
Speaker 1: you're like, girl, you got one hundred dollars, look at you,
Speaker 1: you know, and then you kind of pass the like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, you don't have you know, I'm lucky
Speaker 1: to have enough money to pay my bills. And then
Speaker 1: you enter into mid level where the money's pretty consistent.
Speaker 1: You know, you're not worried about bills, but now you're
Speaker 1: just trying to like strive to like build just like
Speaker 1: that next level company so most of us are in
Speaker 1: that beginning mid level. So I was talking to my
Speaker 1: friend this morning and we were talking about the good,
Speaker 1: the bad, the ugly, and that most entrepreneurs not most,
Speaker 1: but many will only share like the good. And so
Speaker 1: I would like to ask you that, like, you know,
Speaker 1: just because I know a lot of our listeners are
Speaker 1: curious about entrepreneurship or want to become entrepreneurs, can you
Speaker 1: tell us, like, you know, one really good thing, one
Speaker 1: bad thing, and one ugly thing about like doing what
Speaker 1: you do.
Speaker 3: You gotta spend money to make money. That's the first thing.
Speaker 3: Is like I'm incredibly cheap and frugal and can not
Speaker 3: anybody on that team, or my boyfriend or my parents
Speaker 3: talk with anyone. And I'm like, oh, I don't really
Speaker 3: know if it's necessary for us to turn that light
Speaker 3: on right now, but we can perhaps this window.
Speaker 1: That's the good of the bad. That's the bad thing.
Speaker 3: I think it's bad in a lot of ways, at
Speaker 3: least in a company that I'm building, Like I think
Speaker 3: it was great in the beginning because we're bootstrapping and
Speaker 3: so everything be mattered, But now that we have a
Speaker 3: little bit of capital, like you're racing against the clock
Speaker 3: in a lot of ways, particularly when it comes to
Speaker 3: a media company where scale is key, right, So you
Speaker 3: have to spend money to make money. Does it make
Speaker 3: more sense to spend five thousand dollars in Facebook ads
Speaker 3: today as opposed to spending one thousand dollars a month
Speaker 3: for five months? Okay, right, because you're going to get
Speaker 3: the same results, the same conversion rate. So what's the
Speaker 3: benefit of having you know, ten thousand to twenty five
Speaker 3: thousand more likes now than it would be to have
Speaker 3: you know, two to three thousand more likes month over
Speaker 3: five months. Those are the equations and the things that
Speaker 3: we're thinking about right now, and it's it's been a
Speaker 3: mental shift for me to say, like, actually, it makes
Speaker 3: more sense for us it's been that five thousand dollars
Speaker 3: all at once right now than it does for us
Speaker 3: to spread it out over time, because now, you know,
Speaker 3: the bigger we are today, the more that I can sell,
Speaker 3: the more that I can connect with people, the more
Speaker 3: that we can get them into the Blavity family, as
Speaker 3: opposed to waiting.
Speaker 1: So that's the bad. So what's the good and what's
Speaker 1: the ugly?
Speaker 3: I mean, the good is like you get to wake
Speaker 3: up every day and do what you want, you know.
Speaker 3: I mean there's obviously pressures involved, but I feel completely
Speaker 3: blessed and honored, and I pinch myself frequently that like
Speaker 3: I can wake up and say, you know, today I'm
Speaker 3: going to send out an Instagram question about seeing the
Speaker 3: dopest like web series creators in Brooklyn, you know, and
Speaker 3: find like thirteen people I've never even heard of before,
Speaker 3: and then like talk to them and potentially help them
Speaker 3: use the blavity audience to accomplish their goals. Like that's amazing.
Speaker 3: And the ugly with that specifically or in general, no,
Speaker 3: in general.
Speaker 1: The ugly is it relates to your business.
Speaker 3: I mean, the ugly is like I'm I'm ten thounds
Speaker 3: overweight right now. I'm not cute. I'm five feet for
Speaker 3: people that don't know, I'm incredibly petite and carvey, and
Speaker 3: so ten pounds like matters?
Speaker 2: Is it? Like a happy weight?
Speaker 5: Is it?
Speaker 2: Because the business is going good.
Speaker 3: It looks cute, like it's okay, But I prefer not
Speaker 3: to be overweight. And the ugly is that, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm working hard, and everybody is working hard, and it's
Speaker 3: not easy to always take care of yourself first. You know,
Speaker 3: you want to put the business first. You want to
Speaker 3: put your teammates first, you want to put your investors first,
Speaker 3: you want to put your users, you know, absolutely first. Right,
Speaker 3: So to make the decision at times to like go
Speaker 3: on that extra walk instead of just having it delivered
Speaker 3: to you, the food whatever, Like, it's not easy. It's
Speaker 3: something that I'm currently trying to work on. But for
Speaker 3: the first year, Like, I don't think that I could
Speaker 3: have been as productive if I was like I'm going
Speaker 3: to work out for an hour every day, Like no,
Speaker 3: like I need to email people, you know, but you
Speaker 3: know there's an intended consequence with those decisions.
Speaker 2: What is your schedule? Like walk us through a normal.
Speaker 3: Day depends on a coast time on if I'm on
Speaker 3: the West Coast, I wake up feeling behind a little
Speaker 3: bit because everything's already happened. So I usually wake up
Speaker 3: around six five thirty just to check to see what's
Speaker 3: viral on the site if anything. If there's nothing viral,
Speaker 3: then I usually send off a few Slack messages to
Speaker 3: our team, like or check to see what's going on
Speaker 3: with our news team, like what are you guys writing
Speaker 3: or are the headlines does something any sense. If everything's
Speaker 3: good and we're viral, I go back to sleep hour
Speaker 3: and a half and then I start I just start
Speaker 3: knocking out emails. Depending on the day, I usually block
Speaker 3: off like big blocks of time for projects. So for example,
Speaker 3: Mondays are my one on ones. I have one on
Speaker 3: ones with everybody on our leadership team and my direct reports.
Speaker 3: And then you know, Tuesdays are engineering, so I spend
Speaker 3: the morning thinking about features and writing up user stories
Speaker 3: and designs things like that. So it depends on the day,
Speaker 3: but I try to do a block of emails and
Speaker 3: then a block of project and then usually it's the
Speaker 3: rest is just beatings.
Speaker 2: Do you have an unplugged time? You know, I talked
Speaker 2: with Arianna Huffington. She's all about the sleep and the unplugging.
Speaker 2: But when you work for a digital media company, like
Speaker 2: when do you have time to unplug?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I unplug on Saturdays. Our traffic also shows that
Speaker 3: we unplug on Saturdays at this company. But yeah, Saturdays
Speaker 3: are usually my like let's go for brunch day, you know,
Speaker 3: let's go frolic in the sand at the beach, right,
Speaker 3: and then at night I tend to unplug, you know,
Speaker 3: after like eight point thirty nine, and that she's kind
Speaker 3: of like personal me time. You know, I still might
Speaker 3: wind up doing catching up on some work, but it's
Speaker 3: usually nothing that's related to anybody else. It's usually just
Speaker 3: something I want to think through or work on.
Speaker 1: Wow, you're like speaking to my life right now. I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, Like, do you have like a I
Speaker 1: So my best friend has a public relations company and
Speaker 1: we started at the same time, and she's like my
Speaker 1: talk me off the ledge partner. You know, when you're
Speaker 1: just like I'm done with this, I'm leaving, I'm running away,
Speaker 1: no one will find me. So when I'm like I
Speaker 1: need literally when your toes are at the edge of
Speaker 1: the ledge and you're ready to jump. So she's like
Speaker 1: the person that I call because she's an entrepreneur as well.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, I need you to talk me off
Speaker 1: the ledge, and she would slowly talk me to backing
Speaker 1: up and realizing how much I love what I do.
Speaker 1: But do you have like you're talking off the ledge partner?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I have, you know, three co founders.
Speaker 3: So that helps because when I'm not feeling it and
Speaker 3: I'm like everybody, y'all are all crazy I'm good. You know,
Speaker 3: I'll call up Jeff. Usually Jeff is our CTO, and
Speaker 3: I've known Jeff the longest, like barely the longest by
Speaker 3: a few months, but and I'm like, Jeff, help me
Speaker 3: think through why this is bothering me, because usually there's
Speaker 3: a reason why something gets me to the point where
Speaker 3: i'mum the ledge right, like there's something mentally that I
Speaker 3: can't work through, or I'm upset about something that I
Speaker 3: don't know why that requires me to reach that level.
Speaker 3: And he's just really great asking questions, kind of like
Speaker 3: a therapist. I mean usually get to it after like
Speaker 3: a day or so or you know, an hour conversation.
Speaker 3: So he's he's one when it comes to like business things.
Speaker 3: And then you know, my girlfriends from college I'm very
Speaker 3: close with, and so I'll email one of them, I'm
Speaker 3: or text men we have like a group text and
Speaker 3: I'll be like, hey, so this is not going well
Speaker 3: and I don't know what to do. And usually they'll
Speaker 3: remind me of like random things happening to me and
Speaker 3: me mar Chiff or something. I think it's great for
Speaker 3: any entrepreneur to, like one have people that understand the
Speaker 3: process that you're going through from a business perspective, because
Speaker 3: that's really helpful, and then too to I'll talk to
Speaker 3: people who have like no idea what's going on. You know,
Speaker 3: one of my friends is in med school, so it's
Speaker 3: great talking to her because her reality is just so
Speaker 3: different than mine and her challenges are just very different
Speaker 3: than mine, and so we can unplug mentally by involving
Speaker 3: ourselves in each other's worlds.
Speaker 1: Awesome advice.
Speaker 2: One of the things that was really funny that you
Speaker 2: mentioned is that when you were and I did the
Speaker 2: same thing. Actually when I was in school when I
Speaker 2: was younger, is you started your own little kool aid
Speaker 2: selling business, like on the side and the lunch room.
Speaker 2: Is that right now?
Speaker 3: Absolutely?
Speaker 2: Talk about like where did you get the You say
Speaker 2: you have an entrepreneurial spirit, but who's been your biggest
Speaker 2: influence in that? In that way, because not all of
Speaker 2: us grow up saying I'm going to launch a company.
Speaker 3: You know, I have to credit my parents, And I.
Speaker 5: Don't even know if they like knew that they created
Speaker 5: like me this way, but they did, Like my dad
Speaker 5: and my mom and dad have been together since they
Speaker 5: were they've known each other since high school.
Speaker 3: Being together since college, and they are just awesome people.
Speaker 3: My dad's a doctor and a researcher, so he's always
Speaker 3: writing grants, which is like such a hospital mentality, right,
Speaker 3: Like you don't just you get to use the money
Speaker 3: to fund your research, but you have to, you know,
Speaker 3: justify it and have a budget and write these intense
Speaker 3: documents with scientific backing. My mother is was a stay
Speaker 3: at home mom, and she was all about creativity and
Speaker 3: teaching me to be my own person. And you know,
Speaker 3: so I was always in art classes and you know,
Speaker 3: I did taekwondo, I did feel nacky. I was, you know,
Speaker 3: your typical middle income black girl, right, just like thriving,
Speaker 3: but also had a lot of issues as well socially.
Speaker 2: And do people know what that is? Because I feel
Speaker 2: like you don't see the typical middle income black girl
Speaker 2: so much. Do I feel that way in media? You
Speaker 2: really don't like especially know.
Speaker 3: What that means. I don't know it means it's kind
Speaker 3: of spoiled, but like not too spoiled, because I.
Speaker 2: Know what it means. I just don't feel like it's
Speaker 2: like represented so much in media as much as it
Speaker 2: probably should be, where it's like that's normal, but for
Speaker 2: people who you know don't see that in everyday life.
Speaker 3: It's like what it's like Girlfriends. It's like the TV
Speaker 3: show Girlfriends, you know, like we need a more dramatized
Speaker 3: version of myself and lived in New York, Like I
Speaker 3: probably be like the girlfriend show.
Speaker 2: You feel about what's your favorite show on TV right now?
Speaker 3: I don't watch Blackish, which I know is unpopular with
Speaker 3: black opinion, but I don't I neither do.
Speaker 2: I for a reason or just because you don't have
Speaker 2: time or it's.
Speaker 3: Not feeling it. No, I watch TV. I watch a
Speaker 3: lot of TV. I'm not feeling it, Like it's just
Speaker 3: not I don't think I'm the target demographic. Like I
Speaker 3: don't have kids, so I don't need like a family
Speaker 3: friendly show, and I don't really find them all funny.
Speaker 3: Like I love them all as individual actors and actresses
Speaker 3: and I support their careers, but the show just doesn't
Speaker 3: really appeal to me. What shows do I like? I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm a huge Netflix person, so you know, I don't
Speaker 3: know what do you guys think? Do you guys consider
Speaker 3: Netflix like real TV or do you consider it in
Speaker 3: this like hybrid world At this point.
Speaker 1: I think that honestly, I don't really watch TV much,
Speaker 1: and so I'm really like a YouTube like Netflix, stream
Speaker 1: online type of girl. You know, I'm not loyal to
Speaker 1: like ooh every night. I feel like, I mean, my
Speaker 1: boyfriend does that, but I feel like it's so old school.
Speaker 1: You're like, I've got to sit down on thursday'st but
Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm going to be doing on Thursdays,
Speaker 1: so I need to be able to watch one I
Speaker 1: want to watch, you know, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm the same way. I don't have a television.
Speaker 3: I haven't had a television in years.
Speaker 2: Well really, since you admitted you don't like Blackish, I'll
Speaker 2: admit that I'm done with Scandal. I'm gone.
Speaker 1: I've been done with Scandal. I checked out after season two.
Speaker 1: I was like, I can't. I just I need, I
Speaker 1: need to get my life back.
Speaker 3: I watch it in solidarity. I don't watch it in
Speaker 3: real time, but I'll watch it like passively.
Speaker 1: It's one of those things.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of shows that I'll watch passively where
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm going to work on this car point
Speaker 3: deck and like place can't watch Scandal play Scandal on
Speaker 3: the background.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, even though you may not like all
Speaker 2: these you know, we all have our own individual taste.
Speaker 2: You guys have a really good I mean not blavity.
Speaker 2: I feel like whenever you go, it's a pretty good
Speaker 2: mix of pop culture with more newer, newsier things. What
Speaker 2: sort of like balance do you try to strike with
Speaker 2: your content and what have been some stories that have
Speaker 2: done the you know, done amazingly well for you with
Speaker 2: your audience.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting the ebbs and flows based off of
Speaker 3: what's happening in the world. So, like you know, last fall,
Speaker 3: we spent a lot of time thinking about Ferguson and
Speaker 3: Black Lives Matter and how do we elevate voices of activists,
Speaker 3: local activists that are doing the work and maybe haven't
Speaker 3: reached the media level that they deserve, right, So we
Speaker 3: spent a lot of time doing doing work with that.
Speaker 3: I even remember the college students at the Zoo and
Speaker 3: Yale and you see Berkeley, and so we spent a
Speaker 3: lot of time reaching out to those students and saying, hey,
Speaker 3: you know, if you have a point of view and
Speaker 3: you want to share it, feel pretty as lavvy will
Speaker 3: help you write it, et cetera, et cetera. So those
Speaker 3: stories did really well, and then when Beyonce and Kendrick
Speaker 3: went ham during Black History Month, you know that would
Speaker 3: so it really I mean, the beauty of Blavity is
Speaker 3: that it's not necessarily about having a strict editorial content
Speaker 3: theme per month, or per week or per day. It's
Speaker 3: really a reflection of whatever is going on. And that's
Speaker 3: why we stay relevant because we have so much user
Speaker 3: generated content. So when something is happening, it's going to
Speaker 3: be elevated on the website and on the platform. And
Speaker 3: we'll continue to do that because that's the only way
Speaker 3: I think a media company can work at this point.
Speaker 3: It can't be a top scout approach. It has to
Speaker 3: be Okay, something's happening in Detroit. Let's not just send
Speaker 3: like investigative, not investigative, investigatory reporters to Detroit. Now, why
Speaker 3: don't we talk to the person who's been there forever,
Speaker 3: put a camera in their hands and ask them what
Speaker 3: they think and ask them to submit something. So, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's the way I approach it, and those are the
Speaker 3: stories that do well.
Speaker 2: Now empower her. I'm really excited about this. So this
Speaker 2: is a conference you're launching or has it been around for?
Speaker 2: Is it first year? This year or has it been
Speaker 2: around for a while?
Speaker 3: First year?
Speaker 2: This year, first year really exciting. So talk about empower
Speaker 2: Her and how people can get involved with that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so this is like my baby right now. So
Speaker 3: empower Her is our first Glavity conference, and it's a
Speaker 3: conference for black millennial women targeted mostly at women who
Speaker 3: are in the creative or technology industry. So folks who
Speaker 3: are influencers on YouTube, working on getting their startup off
Speaker 3: the ground, starting their own businesses, or thinking about making
Speaker 3: a career switch where they maybe worked in a midy
Speaker 3: like mid level at a corporate company, you know, they
Speaker 3: work for Bane or Deloitte or whatever, and they want
Speaker 3: to get into a different industry. And empower Her is
Speaker 3: all about helping these women and us realize our potential
Speaker 3: and get to the next step. So it's about networking,
Speaker 3: it's about inspiration, and it's about coming away with like
Speaker 3: really tangible tips and tools on how to get to
Speaker 3: the next step. And that has to do with visioning exercises,
Speaker 3: hearing people's stories about how they have started their business
Speaker 3: and gotten to the next step. So we've brought an
Speaker 3: amazing group of women together. Levy Meta, Hey Frien, Hey,
Speaker 3: Avida from the Madness Tribe, Kalichi from Zuva amazing e
Speaker 3: commerce website, Lenora Champagne who is a venture capitalist at
Speaker 3: six or five Ventures and just wrote a book. I mean,
Speaker 3: we just have some amazing lineup, Like the list goes
Speaker 3: on of women who are speaking and sharing their stories.
Speaker 3: So that's a little bit about the conference. And it's
Speaker 3: in New York. It's May twenty. First people were a
Speaker 3: little sticker shocked at the price, but people have to live.
Speaker 3: It's in New York, and think about the women I
Speaker 3: just named. We got to get them there, right.
Speaker 2: And what is how do you get involved? You have
Speaker 2: to have a business to come and participate.
Speaker 3: No, you just there's there's no requirements beyond you have
Speaker 3: to just buy a ticket. And so it's all day
Speaker 3: with each breakfast and lunch and we have a little
Speaker 3: happy hour at night. And you just sign up on
Speaker 3: an event. Right, it's on our website and the homepage
Speaker 3: and it's all over our social media.
Speaker 2: Gotcha, And it's okay, what's the what's the website where
Speaker 2: they can find out more? And I'll include a link
Speaker 2: to in the in the blog.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's empower for dot lavity, dot com.
Speaker 1: Perfect so we have some of my faths on face
Speaker 1: Like I talked to Alvida and Lovey and just like
Speaker 1: bouncing step off of them. There's there's some of my
Speaker 1: like just entrepreneur French, what were like, huh so they're amazing?
Speaker 3: Are lare an astron blackgiron Ome that's like my favorite
Speaker 3: Instagram accounts right now, just so many awesome Gabby Fresh,
Speaker 3: I mean, she's like blown up in the last two years.
Speaker 3: Just got to split a suit line somewhere line. It's amazing. So,
Speaker 3: I mean I'm looking forward to it. Like I was like,
Speaker 3: if I didn't, what kind of event can we plan that?
Speaker 3: If I wasn't planning it, I would still go. Like
Speaker 3: that's what we always try to think of, was like,
Speaker 3: if you weren't the one doing this, would you still
Speaker 3: read this article or would you still go to this event?
Speaker 2: Why do you think now is the time for an
Speaker 2: event like this? I mean, it's an obvious reason why
Speaker 2: you want to, you know, target an event toward black
Speaker 2: millennial women. But are what are some of the like
Speaker 2: why now? Why this year?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 3: I think that's a good question. I guess a little
Speaker 3: bit to share about my personal journey, like I was,
Speaker 3: I don't know, never really like encouraged to be as
Speaker 3: ambitious as I've been, and that I am. You know,
Speaker 3: there's always a reason why it didn't make sense for
Speaker 3: me to to do something, whether that was to go
Speaker 3: to wash you or to run for student body president
Speaker 3: as a sophomore micro sophomore year in college, or to
Speaker 3: start Blavity without an MBA or without having raised capital
Speaker 3: before or ever working at a startup before. There's always
Speaker 3: a reason why you shouldn't do something, and I think
Speaker 3: for Black women that list is always very long, given
Speaker 3: the statistics, And I wanted to create a space selfishly
Speaker 3: for myself to be affirmed by like awesome women who
Speaker 3: are doing these things and where it's normalized, where it's
Speaker 3: not an anomaly, and you're surrounded by excellence, and you're
Speaker 3: surrounded by women who are energized by the possibilities of
Speaker 3: staff instead of the constant negativity and the constant reminder
Speaker 3: of why we aren't supposed to be as successful as
Speaker 3: we are. So in spite of all these things, we're amazing.
Speaker 3: We're the fastest growing population of women of entrepreneurs is
Speaker 3: Black women. We are the most some of the most
Speaker 3: educated people in this country, huge influence in terms of
Speaker 3: change in politics and education reform. I mean I literally
Speaker 3: I could keep going, and so to me, it's a
Speaker 3: space that needed to be created and I didn't see
Speaker 3: it anywhere else, particularly for women our age. You know,
Speaker 3: I think Essence says an amazing job with Essence Music Festival.
Speaker 3: I went last year. We're going again this year with
Speaker 3: the Glavity House, but we wanted to do a more
Speaker 3: professional take on how can we bring people together and
Speaker 3: inspire these moments of like self fulfillment in a lot
Speaker 3: of ways.
Speaker 2: Sounds like Brown Ambition to me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm so excited for you and for the conference,
Speaker 2: and I wish you guys continued success. I'll continue to
Speaker 2: be a fan and tell the Brown Ambition fan where
Speaker 2: they can find you outside of Glavity or social media
Speaker 2: and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. My social media is super simple. It's just Morgan
Speaker 3: to five everywhere on the internet. So Facebook, we'll actually
Speaker 3: don't Facebook for I mean that's weird. Twitter, Instagram, and
Speaker 3: then email, you know, same old stop just Morgan at
Speaker 3: Blaberty dot com. We'll get get you in my box.
Speaker 3: So yeah, reach out anytime, happy to chat.
Speaker 1: Alike. How areright, guys? Another awesome show, another awesome guest.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you guys were here. I know we
Speaker 1: have a bunch of new listeners, dreamcatchers. We welcome you.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to connect with us outside of the podcast,
Speaker 1: you can tweet us at the BA Podcast on Twitter
Speaker 1: and we're also on Facebook, Brown Ambition, and our email
Speaker 1: is If you have any questions, you can definitely send
Speaker 1: them over. You want to send some praise, some high five,
Speaker 1: some we love you Mandy and tiffany emails, you could
Speaker 1: pertably send them.
Speaker 2: At Brown Invasion Podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna remember that one day. I'm gonna remember that.
Speaker 2: No, we're really excited to have you guys on it.
Speaker 2: And as we say every week, please leave us a
Speaker 2: review on iTunes. It helps people find us, It raises
Speaker 2: us in the ranks on iTunes, and we are just
Speaker 2: a little podcast that could totally grassroots and we could
Speaker 2: use all the sport we can get, So please leave
Speaker 2: a review. Just take two seconds on iTunes. You will
Speaker 2: be your We'll just love you to death. We'll give
Speaker 2: you a shout out.
Speaker 4: We will all right, Mandy all right, Tiffany, it's been real.
Speaker 2: It's been real real, have a lovely week, Go out
Speaker 2: and enjoy this weather.