WEBVTT - Pride is a Fight 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.760 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to woke F Daily with 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:20.240 me your girl, Danielle Moody, recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:26.079 it has been a wonderful Pride month here on WOKF 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:30.880 and we are going to be rounding out our Pride celebration. 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:35.400 You can't ban queer joy this week. And I'm excited 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:42.800 because one, We've gotten to speak with some really amazing, thoughtful, innovative, 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:49.920 courageous activists, writers, content creators this month that have really 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:55.080 reminded me about the purpose of pride. Right, And you know, 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.360 particularly in this time that we are living in which 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.520 I'm gonna be honest with you to say that I 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:08.440 never saw this kind of backslide coming. I feel really 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.480 ignorant to say so, right, because there is nothing in 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.720 our history that should have made me believe that it 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:19.280 was just going to be smooth sailing from you know, 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:24.440 from the passage of marriage and you know, and down 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.800 with you know, bands on queer people in the military 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.320 and the embracing of so much over the course of 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:35.360 my life that I didn't see this coming, you know. 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:37.840 And so a part of me is just like wake 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:40.880 the fuck up, right, And then the other part of 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.400 me is just really sad because every time that I 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:49.480 feel in this country that we make progress on any front, 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:56.080 it's like, then we take like seventeen thousand fucking steps backwards. 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:01.120 And the fight for LGBTQ quality is honestly different than 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.480 any other fight, right, Like, I'm a black woman in America, 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.280 still fighting to be free, and we're coming up on 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:13.320 the two hundred and fiftieth you know, year of America's 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:16.480 existence in a handful of years, and I'm like, and 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:18.600 we still just freeish, right. 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:21.440 So I think that. 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:26.560 As we move forward, and there have been a couple 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:31.200 of wins that have taken place over the last couple 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.480 of days that I think are really important, and those wins, 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.440 you know, have been and I just want to, you know, 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:42.680 name a couple, which is that judges are beginning to 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:50.519 rule against these outrageous laws against drag performers, against LGBTQ 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:54.840 people having freedom of speech and expression right, which is 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:58.240 still a part of our constitution, and our constitution still 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:03.040 dictates things, right. So we saw that happen with a 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:07.200 federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked a new law allowing 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.760 the state to penalize businesses that admit children to quote 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:15.120 adult live performances such as drag shows. So that happened, 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:17.680 and that was yet another slap in the face to 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:24.520 Ron DeSantis, who also had the Hamburger Mary ruling that 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:28.960 came up against him as well, because guess what, folks, like, 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:34.480 they're breaking the law in trying to deny people their voice. 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:38.240 And they're also calling drag shows quote unquote adult entertainment 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:41.760 and like or as if it's burlesque, as if it's 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.360 a strip club. But I don't see anybody trying to 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:49.040 pass fucking legislation to deny strip clubs, right, you know, 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:54.280 like so amazing the hypocrisy here. But you're seeing these 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:58.040 incremental wins that are happening, and they give me hope, 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:02.080 and they give me, you know, that kind of mustard 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.480 seed that we need to continue to walk around with, 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.480 because if you just take in all of the bad 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:09.360 day in and day out, you're not gonna want to 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.720 get out of bed in the morning. Which brings me 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:18.360 to my next guest, Anna Deshaun. I was so excited 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:24.080 folks about this conversation, and I'll tell you why because 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:29.520 Anna has come on WOKP before as a matter of fact, 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:35.960 Anna was on last year where Anna is the co 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:40.760 founder and creator of The Cube, which is an LGBTQ 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:47.000 and bipop app which is curated of all of these 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:53.760 amazing black queer people of color voices and their podcasts 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:57.200 and their content that is just like on one app. 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:01.120 So instead of going through let's say, you know, these 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:05.000 larger streaming places and trying to figure out, well, what 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.039 do I really want to listen to, the Cube is 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:11.320 a for us, buy us app. Anna and I get 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:15.359 into really great conversation about what it feels like to 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:20.760 be a black queer creator, the obstacles that she has faced, 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:25.800 the obstacles to funding, right to have to show proof 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:30.120 of concept when you know, white cysts, hetero men can 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:33.719 walk into a room with like, you know, their fucking 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:37.120 idea sketched out on a napkin and be given millions 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:39.640 of dollars. And so we talk about the real wheel, 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.760 but we also talk about, you know, the power in 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:48.719 creation and in owning something that is for the community 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:52.599 it's being created by. And so it was a really 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:57.120 great conversation and I really hope that you will enjoy 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:02.200 this as we close out month this week, my conversation 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:07.000 with content creator and the co founder of The Cube, 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:15.279 Anna Deshon. Folks, I am very happy to welcome to 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:19.120 woke f Daily Anna Deshon, who is the co founder 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:24.640 of the Cube. The conversation is centered around this, what 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.279 this does. What the Cube is is an app that 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:29.440 is created for and by us. I don't know how 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:31.560 else to say that. You'll say it better, but I 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:35.320 feel like it is four queer people of color about 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.920 peer queer people of color. It is a space where 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.680 you can find new artists, where you can find new creatives. 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.200 And you know, we know that people who are listening 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:49.359 to this right they find wok F Daily in a 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.720 couple of different places. You're at being one of them. 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:58.400 iHeart being another place. And so tell people exactly what 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:03.560 it is that makes your and are so special and 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:05.080 important and necessary. 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:10.239 Yes, yes, and yes see all of that. And thank 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:13.920 you for inviting me to share this with your audience 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:16.920 and for being back on WOKF because I love your 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:20.320 work and always have so I'm always grateful to be 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:24.200 on your platform. What makes us different is that it 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:28.679 was born out of our own need. I was sitting 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:30.520 around with my two co founders, who are also my 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.600 two best friends talking about the radio station that we 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.240 have that's online. We play queer music all day, we 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:40.520 report on prier news. But we knew we had to 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:42.920 expand in the podcasting to remain relevant because we're in 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.400 such an on demand society. But we couldn't find any 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:49.280 podcasts that were hosted by queer folks of color, that 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.840 were hosted by black and brown folks within these apps 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:54.400 that exist today, and we were like, where do we 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.640 find the pods for us? We know they're out there, 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:01.280 but we can't find them. And as we began digging 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:02.960 into this idea, we were like, we got to create 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:05.440 this app. We can create it. We can create the 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.480 change right And one of my favorite quotes and I 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.200 share it all the time Shirley chisholm, Okay, if they'll 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:12.680 give you a seat at the table, bring a fold 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.560 in chair. And I just felt like we brought plenty 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:18.000 of chairs, and it was just time for us to 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.640 build our own tables. Like what are we waiting on? 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.760 We can do this ourselves. And so the idea came 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:27.600 to create this platform where we can curate, you know, 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.440 these podcasts and create a hub for the very best 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:32.920 and that's really at the heart of what makes our 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:35.720 platform different is that we do listen to everything. It's 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.839 not just oh, come here, you can claim your pod, 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:42.559 and you know, I'm not interested in the quantity. I'm 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:44.680 interested in the quality. I want you to come here, 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:47.400 and even if you're not down with this particular topic, 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.000 it's gonna be a good podcast and you can just 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:55.000 go find another good podcast hosted by a bipod or 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:59.400 qt pock person. And we deserve that. We deserve a 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:03.559 place built for us, centering us and centering our identities. 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:09.000 And because of technology, we're using artificial intelligence to be 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.960 really smart around things that we value, which are our 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:16.240 identities and the things we care about. And so when 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:19.680 you come to our platform, you create an account, you 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:22.120 select your identities, you select the categories you'd like to 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:26.880 listen to, and our platform serves you up content that 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:29.640 uds you both of those things at the same exact time. 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:33.440 And I'm really excited about what we're building. We've got 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:36.720 ninety four podcasts accepted into the platform. Today you can 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.120 go to the q dot app and begin discovering and 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:45.200 searching and listening right from our platform and being an 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:49.640 entrepreneur out here in the world is tough raising money BC. 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:50.880 We could talk so many. 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:55.120 Things right right right, yeah, and all. 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:57.760 Of the disparities around funding for women, funding for people 0:09:57.840 --> 0:09:59.800 of color in the BC space. But at the end 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:01.680 the day to day, I'm doing it because I feel 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:04.079 like we need it. I wanted it when I talk 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.679 to other people, they wanted and I also I also 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.640 know that we can create something that's really beautiful. Some 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.319 folks have said it's like the be et a podcast. 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:21.040 I'm like, I mean, okay, okay, we can receive like, okay, okay, yeah, 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:22.760 I get where you're going. I've had people say, like, 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.000 you like the Green Book of podcasts. I was like, Okay, 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:27.120 I see where you're going. I see the vibe, you know. 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.160 And when people tell me things like that or mirror 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:32.840 what the Cube is to them, it reminds me just 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:36.520 how important it is that we exist. And so yeah, 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:38.600 y'all check out the Cube. Be down with it. Yeah, 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:39.680 I think, you know. 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:41.720 I think it's like, there are a couple of things 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:43.880 that you said that I think are really important, which is, 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:51.320 you know, when we see let's say, companies like Spotify 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:55.800 that promote the voices, you know of people who are 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:01.520 anti uh, you know, anti humanity, and trans, anti queer, 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:04.880 anti black, you know, anti women. Just the list goes 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.959 on and on and on. And we see the ability 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.560 of you know, governments to threaten to pull away apps 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:15.840 like TikTok because of what country is behind them. You know. 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:20.000 We often say or we see takeovers of the town 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:23.800 square like with Twitter, right, people say, well, we need 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.560 something that is for us, by us. We need something 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:30.079 that we own because what happens, particularly with black creatives 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.960 I feel as one myself, is that you get on 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.360 these other apps, right, and you create content, and you 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:41.920 try and monetize, and you try and build out an 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.040 audience in a platform, but at the end of the day, 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:46.120 if you don't own it, it can be taken away 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:46.600 from you. 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:51.000 At any given moment, right, And that's exactly the opposite 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.920 of what we're doing. We don't own anybody's content that's 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.000 inside the platform. Everybody owns their own stuff. We are 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:01.240 really pulling in their RSS feed. And my hope is 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:03.079 that by the end of twenty twenty five, because y'all 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:04.840 gonna get into my business head right now, and by 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:06.520 the end of twenty twenty five, my hope is that 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:10.320 we have the brands and the advertising relationships needed that 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.560 if folks who are in our platform want to monetize 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:15.439 with us, that we can do that, that we can 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:19.760 write add campaigns across you know, our entire platform to 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:22.560 help support creatives because we know so many people, especially 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:25.760 in the podcasting space, are not getting paid for their work, right, 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:29.760 and people do not value who they reach, And I 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:33.280 think that it's it makes me actually kind of upset 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.280 because I feel like, if you are reaching one hundred 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:38.640 people every week, those are one hundred people that somebody 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:41.640 else isn't reaching, and there's value in those hundred people. Right. 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:44.320 We live in a society where people are always trying 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:47.679 to be the billion dollar or million follower person, and 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:51.320 I'm like, you don't need that. You need to five 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:54.080 your people, cultivate your audience. Right. It could be one 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:56.360 hundred people, it could be five hundred people, a thousand people, 0:12:56.360 --> 0:12:58.840 but those are your people and they're gonna listen to you, 0:12:58.880 --> 0:12:59.360 and there's. 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.440 Valuation and they'll show up. And that that's the thing too. 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.920 I think that that people really need to understand. Yes, 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.199 they're always looking for, you know, the million followers or 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:11.400 what have you, but when you turn to those people 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:15.720 and you're like, you know, for action or to activate them. 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.080 Are they really connected or are they just you know, 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.360 a bot that is in You know that that is 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:25.600 a part of your of your viewership. You know, are 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:27.800 they really are they really down for you? And I 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.400 think that that what you said is really important. I 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:32.960 do want to talk about the business aspect of it, 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:36.360 because you know, if you go to tech conferences, which 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.400 I know that you do, and go into these spaces, 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:43.400 what we know is that black women get zero points 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.680 zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero. 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.280 I think I could keep going. You could point one 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:55.360 percent of VC funding. Can you speak to that and 0:13:55.679 --> 0:14:01.240 how you have been able to to to to create this, 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:05.160 to create this app given the statistics that. 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:09.320 Do not work in our favor. Yeah, I put a 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:13.240 pause on fundraising with vcs because of that. I actually 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:16.079 I was like, you know what, I'm gonna build this 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.440 with my people. I'm gonna do what I know which 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:23.640 is grassroots community building, building relationships with my audience, and 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.880 then let's do this the way that I know how 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.560 to build. In this moment, I will say I entered 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:33.920 this space thinking about going the BC route. We definitely 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.480 got our first check. Big up to Fifth Star Funds. 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:39.480 They wrote us our first check. They are a VC 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:44.840 firm out of Chicago who who support BIPOC founders here 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:46.880 in the city, and they wrote us a twenty five 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:48.880 thousand dollars check. That was our first check that we 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:54.600 got and their support has been invaluable. Okay, but all 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:58.520 vcs are not like Fifth Star Funds. And what I 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:02.600 found was that people are not investing in media and entertainment. 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:06.440 That's one thing that's different right about our platform. I 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:09.160 also found that I have to prove a little bit 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:14.040 more right. I'm not just going off of what is possible. 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:16.280 I have to go off of what we've done, which 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:20.240 is not always the same standard as anybody. 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:22.280 Else calling for a second, it is not the same 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.520 standard that it's not kind of the same standard. It's 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.280 not the same standard. You as much you you have 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:32.640 listened and you've heard, you know, sis white straight men 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:35.560 talk about the ability to you know, continue to fail 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:39.040 up and talk about somebody just putting millions of dollars 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:43.560 behind the dream. Meanwhile, you know, people of color, particularly 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:47.440 black women, have to show you know, a body of 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:51.760 work and wrapped around their dream and so much more 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:55.000 when dudes are walking in with a handshake. 0:15:55.600 --> 0:16:00.280 A handshaking idea, nothing proving, right, I've got a with 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:06.120 proof traction supporters, beta users, you know, all this other, 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:09.680 all this other stuff, and it's so exhausting. I had 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:11.760 this experience. I got to meet the Brat and Judy. 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.280 It's just it's gonna sound like a random story, but 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:18.520 it's not. Daniell Arms, Okay, what had the opportunity to 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:20.760 meet Brett and Judy? It was really dope. There's a 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.440 queer basketball club here in Chicago called Swish and they 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:26.960 invited me, They invited them, we got to meet. I'm 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.000 in this room with Brat and Judy. I'm thinking to myself, 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:32.120 I want to talk to Judy because she has built 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:37.000 a multimillion dollar brand from the ground up, and I 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:39.800 believe the Cube has an opportunity to be that. And 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:41.880 I'm like, who knows it's gonna get a chance to 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:44.360 talk to her again. I want to pick her brain. Right, 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:48.840 So we're in the back before Brat, before Brat performs, 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:52.160 I'm talking to Judy. I'm like, what do you think 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:55.240 I should do? Should I continue fundraising VC? And she 0:16:55.400 --> 0:17:01.280 was just like Nope, no, build it, build it, figure 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:04.000 out how you bring in consistent cash flow, figure out 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.159 your business how you want it to be before you 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:09.640 let someone in who may want to control it, who 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.119 want to push their own agenda. Come on, She's like, 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:14.240 She's like, I know too many people who have taken 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:17.240 VC funding and their business doesn't look like anything they 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:21.439 wanted to be. And I took that and I listened. 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:25.119 I haven't fundraised since that moment, and I feel like 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.720 that was some of the best advice. It was worth 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:30.919 the brat coming over there like are you okay? I 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:32.800 thought the brat was gonna come get me dam up 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:37.840 if everybody was with her and I was with Judy, 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.760 and I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm married. We're good. 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:42.320 We're good here. We are so good. I don't want 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:46.040 no problems, Brad. Respect. But that was some of the 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.320 best advice because when you are doing a startup, and 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.120 you're doing a tech startup, that's the way everyone thinks 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:55.639 you should be going vc BC. But at the end 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.359 of the day, they're giving you capital. But can you 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:00.399 keep the capital going or you're gonna can you the 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.160 fundraise for the rest of your life? Because that's also 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.720 what I hear. Once you start fundraising, you can't stop 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:09.000 because you have more milestones to me, more people to manage, 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:10.720 more people on your cap table, and. 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.440 More money to give back, right, more money to get 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:15.440 that to And that's stairus. 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:19.359 Right, that's right. Yeah, that's right, And they want it quickly, 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:21.680 depending what the type of investor you have. Some people 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.600 want one hundred x ten x in the next two months. 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:29.159 Can you turn that over? No? No, Oftentimes the answer 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.879 is no. So where we're at right now, I have 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:36.920 leveraged our audience. We've done crowdfunding, right, we have. I've 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.120 got a monthly give call them the Cute Crew. They 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:43.480 give monthly to our Queer News podcast. And I have 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:47.160 built just based on my community and building on partnerships 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.480 and aligning our brand with other people who are doing 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.199 the same exact thing in the podcast and community. And 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.160 that's fueling our Cube tour that we're actually going on 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:58.320 starting in July. We're kicking off in New York City 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:00.200 with the Black Podcast is a social. 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:02.480 I mean, hello, do I get an invite? I'm in 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:04.120 New York City. I would like to come? 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:10.639 Yeah, absolutely please, It's because summer social. We're kicking it 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.920 off July fifteenth in Brooklyn. And you know what, Danielle, 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:17.280 you should actually be our special guest in Manhattan. 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.440 Saying I mean going to Podstream Studios. 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:24.440 We're gonna be with Chris. With Chris, Yeah, I want 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.840 to come, all right, Yes, Okay, we're gonna get it. 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:31.080 We're gonna do that. Yeah, We're doing the second tecond 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:35.960 Activation and Podstream Studios in Times Square with Chris. We're 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:38.040 gonna be going to the DMB. We're going to Atlanta, 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:41.120 We're going to Denver, We're gonna hit Oakland, We're going 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:43.920 to Minneapolis, and we're partnering with all of these amazing 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:48.159 podcasting companies who are amplifying black and brown voices in 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:52.280 the space. And there's a lot of them, but there's 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:54.520 a lot of them, and we're gonna do this together 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:57.080 and I'm really excited about that. Also, going to Baltimore, 0:19:57.160 --> 0:19:59.320 we're gonna take our podcast to the people. We're using 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:03.159 silent Head as our immersive way of people listening to 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:07.160 the Yeah. Yes, we're gonna play trailers from our Cube 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:10.480 original podcast. We've got Black HIV in the South, which 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:13.159 is now an award winning podcast. I'm so grateful for 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:16.760 that piece of work, and we've got PolyAm chats coming out. 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.520 We just dropped the WNBA podcast called Rebound Revolution. It 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:23.320 is so queer, it is so black, it is so great. 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:26.000 If you enter the WNBA, you should tap in. If 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:28.640 you're not, that's okay too. We actually made this pod 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:31.359 for people who don't follow the w but want to 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:33.920 know more about it. And then we're doing a podcast 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:37.440 called Second Sunday in collaboration with PRX about being black 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:39.560 and queer in the Black Christian Church. So we're gonna 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:44.920 play trailers, have conversation, highlight podcasts within the Cube network, 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:49.000 and come together. We listened to podcasts alone, but podcast 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:51.840 is community, so we should do it together sometimes. You know, 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:52.840 I love that. 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:55.760 I love that idea because you're right, you know, the 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:58.800 whole the experience of listening to a podcast for the 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:01.360 year June it on a run on your commute, walking, 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:04.960 you know, gardening and taking care of your house or 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:07.439 what have you, is a very solo app But I 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:10.399 do find that when people get into community, whether you're 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:12.879 at brunch with friends or what have you, it's like, 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:14.199 oh what are you listening to? 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:16.520 You know, what what are you getting into? This? 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.520 Similar way would people watch shows, you know on the streaming, 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:21.800 it's like, you know, what are you watching? You want 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:23.600 to be able to have conversation about it. So I 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:26.800 love the idea of bringing something that is a very 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:32.240 siloed activity together in community with people. And I also think, 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:38.040 you know, Anna that frankly crowd funding right, Getting people 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:42.600 who are able to see themselves in what it is 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:45.719 that you're creating to be a part of something that 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:50.399 is being built for you matters more, I want to say, 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:53.280 than like, you know, the millions of dollars that you 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:56.920 could get from a faceless person that has no real 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:00.480 connection to this community. Look, the money is great, but 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:02.520 the money is only great if you're able to do 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:05.640 with it what you want, what you envision and what 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:08.280 you see. And I think that that's really important. You know, 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:11.439 you hear these stories of folks, you know, going on 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:14.720 shows like Shark Tank, right, and they're thinking like this 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:16.840 is going to be their biggest thing, And you hear 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:20.879 more stories of people that end up failing, you know, 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:26.080 hard after that, or losing diluting their business in order 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:29.360 to bend to the whims you know of the sharks, 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:31.119 and then the at the end of the day, They're like, 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:34.560 we were doing fine as as is, you know, and 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:38.000 we could have just kept building incrementally. But our society 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:43.400 is about immediate gratification, immediate fame, immediate wealth, and anything 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:47.840 outside of that is not applauded. It's not celebrated. And 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:50.280 I think so, I think that what you're doing in 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:53.520 the way that you're doing it will do so much 0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:57.720 more for the community and so much more for your company, 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:00.840 h than than than anything else. 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:04.679 Thank you, because I believe in a strong foundation and 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:06.520 it can't be built just because we have a whole 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:08.560 bunch of money to throw at something. I think we've 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:12.159 all felt, as black, brown queer folks, what it feels 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:14.600 like with someone when you know someone's just throwing money 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:16.959 at something they can just market to you over and 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:19.880 over again. But I still have no connection to them. 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:21.600 I don't want to support them. I don't want to 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:25.280