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Speaker 1: I don't want lucas in This is black tech, green money.

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Speaker 1: Lanny Smith is founder and CEO at Actively Black in

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Speaker 1: active faith both wildly successful athletes your brands doing numbers

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Speaker 1: and unlikely fashion mogul Landy is a former college star

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Speaker 1: basketball player and pro athlete. But this wasn't the road

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Speaker 1: he chose, but he found his path. In his first

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Speaker 1: year in businesses brands earned one hundred thousand dollars in revenue.

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Speaker 2: Now he's doing seven million.

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Speaker 1: He talks about how there's a void of representation and investment,

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Speaker 1: specifically the gap in the market that Actively Black aims

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Speaker 1: to address.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, first and foremost, this at

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Speaker 3: leisure segment of apparel has been the fastest growing segment

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Speaker 3: of all apparel for the last seven years. There was

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Speaker 3: a huge spike during you know, during COVID, and people

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Speaker 3: thought that it would slow down afterwards, but it hasn't.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I think because of the nature of this

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Speaker 3: industry where it's you know, people are not just wearing

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Speaker 3: this apparel to work out anymore, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 3: At leisure is now something that people are wearing to

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Speaker 3: travel to work, and it's even become like a fashion

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Speaker 3: thing as well. So I think because of that, there's

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Speaker 3: so much room in space in this particular segment. I

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Speaker 3: think the last numbers I saw was that by twenty thirty,

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Speaker 3: at leisure is going to be a four hundred billion

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Speaker 3: dollar market itself. And then, you know, when you think

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Speaker 3: about the black audience, Mackenzie actually just released a report

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Speaker 3: that showed that by twenty thirty, Blacks in the United

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Speaker 3: States alone will be spending seventy billion annually on apparel

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Speaker 3: and footwear. So, you know, in a space that seems

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Speaker 3: like it's oversaturated and crowded, there's so many brands that

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Speaker 3: are doing some real numbers, that are doing some real things.

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Speaker 3: I think the the differentiating factor for actively Black is

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Speaker 3: I saw voids specifically in this sports apparel at leisure

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Speaker 3: wear space. So we're not a streetwear brand, We're not

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Speaker 3: a fashion brand. We are a true at leisure sports

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Speaker 3: apparel brand. And you know, when you think about some

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Speaker 3: of the legacy companies that have existed in this space,

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Speaker 3: you know, these brands have profited billions of dollars off

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Speaker 3: of Black talent, black consumerism, black culture, and I feel

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Speaker 3: like they hadn't adequately reinvested back into the Black community

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Speaker 3: in a meaningful way. And so you know it's time.

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Speaker 3: It's like, you know, why not have the black version

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Speaker 3: of Nike, the black owned version of of of Nike

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Speaker 3: and Lulu Limit? Why not? You know? And so I

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Speaker 3: think our level of quality and the way that we've

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Speaker 3: built the brand has positioned us to be in a

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Speaker 3: place where, you know, a lot of our customers we

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Speaker 3: get comments from them where they're like, hey, I don't

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Speaker 3: have to buy Nike or Lululemon again. I can replace

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Speaker 3: all of those types of items in my closet with

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Speaker 3: actively Black. And so I think that's the void that

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Speaker 3: we're feeling. And because we are unapologetically and boldly black

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Speaker 3: and celebrating Black culture and centering Black culture in everything

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Speaker 3: that we do, it stands out it makes us different

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Speaker 3: from what exists in the market.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that, And I want to talk about

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Speaker 1: that market segmentation that you know, being by black people

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Speaker 1: and you know, you've got active faith and actively Black,

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Speaker 1: and I think about you know, these are both in

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Speaker 1: many ways sub categories of you know, populations of people.

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Speaker 1: And so when you think about segmentation in that way,

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Speaker 1: often entrepreneurs, erroneously or correctly depending on the effort, you know,

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Speaker 1: miscalculate the size of the market or try to go

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Speaker 1: after a market that's wildly inappropriate.

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Speaker 2: For what they're trying to do.

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Speaker 1: And so how do you how do you think about

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Speaker 1: what is the big opportunity for a black owned you know,

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Speaker 1: athletes your brand when you think about those two categories,

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Speaker 1: like is it big enough? Talk about the size and

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Speaker 1: you know, you know, obviously yes, yes it's going to

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Speaker 1: be big enough. But talk about how you got there?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, So you know, first, I think in

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Speaker 3: general with entrepreneurs, one of the things that a lot

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Speaker 3: of us will do is we'll have an idea for

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Speaker 3: something and we'll put all of our energy and resources

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Speaker 3: into building that product and building that service or whatever

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Speaker 3: it is, and then we go and try to find

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Speaker 3: an audience to to to sell it to, where to

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Speaker 3: serve it to where for both active faith and actively black.

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Speaker 3: I feel like where I've I've kind of reversed engineered

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Speaker 3: some of this. And I learned this from Greta. I

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Speaker 3: can't remember Greta's last name, but she's built six or

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Speaker 3: seven different e commerce direct to consumer brands, and one

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Speaker 3: of the pieces of advice that she gave was find

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Speaker 3: and build an audience first, and then build product that

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Speaker 3: serves that audience, right, And so that kind of gives

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Speaker 3: you a better chance at success and a better chance

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Speaker 3: at succeeding because now you're creating product that super serves

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Speaker 3: an audience that you or that you found instead of

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Speaker 3: the other way around where you're building it and they're like, Okay,

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Speaker 3: now let me go find somebody who wants this for

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Speaker 3: the black audience specifically. It's been interesting when I first

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Speaker 3: was launching Actively Black, I had black people tell me

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Speaker 3: that if I named it actively Black and if I

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Speaker 3: focused on the black audience, that it was going to

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Speaker 3: prevent this brand from being successful, that we wouldn't have

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Speaker 3: the TAM right, the total addressable market wouldn't be big

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Speaker 3: enough for us to be successful.

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Speaker 2: I was hoping to go here. I'm glad you going here.

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Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah yeah.

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Speaker 2: And it was it was.

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Speaker 3: Disheartening and disappointing at times to hear that, because this

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Speaker 3: wasn't just other people telling me this. This is black

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Speaker 3: people telling me this too, Like, nah, I don't name

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Speaker 3: it actively Black, it's going to limit its chances of success.

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Speaker 3: And I have seen I see that more as a

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Speaker 3: sign of the effects of oppression and the systemic discrimination

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Speaker 3: and all the things that black people have had to

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Speaker 3: deal with, especially in corporate America, where black culture and

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Speaker 3: you authentically showing up as yourself is something that it's

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Speaker 3: kind of frowned upon, you know what I mean. So

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Speaker 3: when you start to internalize that, you think, okay, well,

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Speaker 3: anything that is so boldly and unapologetically black is a negative.

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Speaker 3: And so even the mission and purpose of what I'm

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Speaker 3: doing with Actively Black is to reclaim and redefine what

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Speaker 3: it means to be black. We've unfortunately listened to what

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Speaker 3: oppressors have told us what black means instead of us

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Speaker 3: actually owning what it means to be black. And I

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Speaker 3: think that's why it shows up in that way. And

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Speaker 3: so you know, my response to many of them is

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Speaker 3: one when you think about the size of the diaspora,

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Speaker 3: because that's one thing that I need people to understand.

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Speaker 3: We're not building this for Black Americans. This is Actively

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Speaker 3: Black to me, is a global brand that will galvanize

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Speaker 3: the entire diaspora around the globe under this brand that

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Speaker 3: represents all of us. The tagline for Actively Black is

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Speaker 3: There's greatness in our DNA. You know, so whether you

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Speaker 3: are you know, from Houston, Texas like myself, Brooklyn, London, Jamaica, Legos, Nigeria, wherever,

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Speaker 3: there's a part of our DNA that ties us together.

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Speaker 3: And I don't think that there's been a brand so

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Speaker 3: far that has existed that has chosen to put all

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Speaker 3: of us under the same umbrella as one tribe. And

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Speaker 3: that's what we're trying to do actively Black And when

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Speaker 3: you think about the size of the diaspora, then you

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Speaker 3: start to realize we're actually not the minority, you know

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Speaker 3: what I mean. I think there's this misconception that we

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Speaker 3: are the minority in the world. So if we're only

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Speaker 3: speaking to the black audience, it's too small of an

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Speaker 3: audience to speak to or to sell to, right. And

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Speaker 3: the crazy part about that is every corporation, every multi

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Speaker 3: billion dollar brand, either has a department or they're having

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Speaker 3: meetings to figure out how to sell to the black consumer. Right, So,

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Speaker 3: if the black consumer is big enough for Nike to

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Speaker 3: be figured out, how do we sell to the black audience,

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Speaker 3: for Coca Cola to figure out how do we sell

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Speaker 3: to the black audience? If our audience is big enough

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Speaker 3: for these multi billion dollar brands to focus on how

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Speaker 3: they sell to us. Then why would it not be

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Speaker 3: big enough for a black on brand to sell to us?

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Speaker 3: You know what I mean? Like that's that's the part

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Speaker 3: that has never made sense to me. But I know

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Speaker 3: part of it is just because some of this hasn't

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Speaker 3: been done before. And so you you know, I'm a

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Speaker 3: believer that you can't be what you can't see, you

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Speaker 3: know what I mean. And so if we've never seen

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Speaker 3: a black Nike before, then maybe it's just it hasn't

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Speaker 3: existed before in our minds, so it can't be done.

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Speaker 3: That's what I'm fighting against, you know. I don't know

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Speaker 3: if you remember, I'm sure you do the viral video

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Speaker 3: with with Yay and Sway and he was like, Sway,

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Speaker 3: you ain't got the answers. And Sway was telling him like, man,

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Speaker 3: you're trying to get Adidas to do this with you,

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Speaker 3: Nike to do this with you, Louis Baitan duds with you.

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Speaker 3: Why don't you just do this yourself?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: You know what I mean, Like, You've got this this

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Speaker 3: influence over all these people, why not just do it yourself?

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Speaker 3: And he's like, you ain't got the answer, Sway and

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Speaker 3: I'm sif there like bro like that's the way. That

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Speaker 3: is the way, you know what I mean? And unfortunately,

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Speaker 3: I think sometimes we put limitations on ourselves on what

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Speaker 3: we can do and if we can. If I can

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Speaker 3: launch this brand out of my apartment and in three

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Speaker 3: years we've created a multimillion dollar brand, what could Kanye

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Speaker 3: have done it? That's with the route that he decided

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Speaker 3: to go from the beginning, instead of instead of what

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Speaker 3: And I don't want to focus on him. Our culture

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Speaker 3: has historically we've lent our cultural influence and our celebrity

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Speaker 3: and our creativity to all these other brands to help

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Speaker 3: all these other brands profit and benefit from our culture.

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Speaker 3: Why not do that on our own? What do you

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Speaker 3: think would happen if the cultural influencers and leaders of

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Speaker 3: our culture all decide to galvanize around actively black, What

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Speaker 3: do you think would happen? You know what I mean? Like,

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Speaker 3: we can build a multi billion dollar brand that is

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Speaker 3: owned by us. We just have to change our frame

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Speaker 3: of mind of how we view what we lend our

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Speaker 3: influence too. So, Yeah, the market is big enough. As

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Speaker 3: I mentioned, the McKenzie report showed that black people just

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Speaker 3: in the United States alone will be spending seventy billion

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Speaker 3: dollars annually by twenty thirty on apparel.

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Speaker 1: When you said Greta, we're talking about Greta rose van Real.

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Speaker 2: I think your name is.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, White Ladies, New Zealand.

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Speaker 1: I believe, Yeah, Greta rose van Riel's at Greta with

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Speaker 1: two t's on ig just for those who want to

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Speaker 1: look look her up. So there is a quote I

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Speaker 1: saw on your site and I've been saying this for years.

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Speaker 1: Also when we talk about tech specifically, there have been

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Speaker 1: people and I got the thought when I heard Jesse

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Speaker 1: Jackson doing this to the Googles, to Apples and et

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Speaker 1: cetera of the world of like trying to get us

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Speaker 1: seats at the table, and I'm like, I don't want

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Speaker 1: to beg these companies for seats at the table. I

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Speaker 1: want to build my own. And then I saw your

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Speaker 1: site and I'm like he said and the same thing,

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Speaker 1: and I'm like, Okay, I feel my brother there because

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Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm not asking nobody for nothing. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: just go do this thing. So I want you to

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Speaker 1: speak to you know, and it's honestly along the lines

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Speaker 1: of what you just talked about with Kanye and that mindset,

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Speaker 1: because it's not just about Kanye, it's the mindset of,

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Speaker 1: you know, thinking we need an institution to give us

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Speaker 1: a stamp of approval or something else when we live

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Speaker 1: in a day of distribution that is at your fingertips.

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Speaker 2: And so can you talk about how you.

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Speaker 1: Think about that and what led you to this, how

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Speaker 1: you got to that, and how it actually works in

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Speaker 1: fashion when you do need some.

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Speaker 3: Resources to be able to get started. Yeah, yeah, So,

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Speaker 3: you know, I think the full quote that's on the

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Speaker 3: side is it's time for us to stop asking for

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Speaker 3: a seat at the table and build our own table,

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Speaker 3: right And so prior to launching Actively Black, you know,

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Speaker 3: I launch Actively Black on Black Friday twenty twenty. So

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Speaker 3: November twenty seven, twenty twenty, we all experienced twenty twenty

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Speaker 3: from our different things and his points, you know, and

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Speaker 3: after the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, etc.

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Speaker 3: And you saw the reaction. I saw all these brands

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Speaker 3: start making these performative declarations about what they was going

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Speaker 3: to do for the black community and how they cared

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Speaker 3: about the black community. And it felt performative to me

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Speaker 3: from the very beginning. To me, it seemed like this

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Speaker 3: was just now a new part of their marketing strategy,

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Speaker 3: because if you take the pandemic part away from twenty twenty,

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Speaker 3: these events, these tragedies, these struggles have existed for the

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Speaker 3: black community for decades, for centuries, and none of these

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Speaker 3: brands had ever said anything about it before. So now

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Speaker 3: all of a sudden, they're giving these performative declarations. And

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Speaker 3: I think that's what pushed me not only to take

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Speaker 3: the idea for actively Black off the shelf and actually

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Speaker 3: launch it, but that's what kind of is the energy

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Speaker 3: behind that. Stop asking for a seat at the table

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Speaker 3: and build our own table, Because these brands, like I said,

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Speaker 3: have profited billions from black culture, black talent, black consumers,

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Speaker 3: but hadn't adequately reinvested back into the Black community. And

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Speaker 3: so the thought was, well, why am I even expecting

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Speaker 3: or asking Nike or Lulu Limit or anybody else to

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Speaker 3: be given back to us. Why not if we build

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Speaker 3: our own table, we can feed our people how they

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Speaker 3: deserve to be fed. And I think, far too often,

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Speaker 3: coming from a place of lack at times, some of

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Speaker 3: us have been been satisfied with getting the crumbs off

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Speaker 3: of that table, you know, what I'm saying, let's give

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Speaker 3: you these crumbs and make you happy to shut you up.

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Speaker 3: And I'm like, nah, we were more valuable than that.

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Speaker 3: We're more powerful than that. We just don't recognize our

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Speaker 3: own power collectively. And so if we build our own

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Speaker 3: table and we get the support the group economics, when

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Speaker 3: we have the tribe as I call them, supporting Actively Black,

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Speaker 3: that's what allows us to donate to Black kids CODE,

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Speaker 3: which get getting these black kids access to to tech

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Speaker 3: and STEM and and and things so that they don't

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Speaker 3: fall behind. This next wave of what's happening in tech,

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Speaker 3: which is going to broaden the wealth gap even further.

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Speaker 3: We need our black kids to have access to that. Well,

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Speaker 3: if Actively Black becomes that next multi billion dollar brand,

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Speaker 3: and it's built into what we do to make sure

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Speaker 3: that we're giving back, to make sure that we're donating,

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Speaker 3: we're creating programs for our community, then we're not asking

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Speaker 3: for anybody else to give us that because we can

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Speaker 3: do that ourselves, you know what I mean. So that's

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Speaker 3: really the mentality behind it. You know. We we've put

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Speaker 3: on mental health clinics and events for the black community,

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Speaker 3: specifically for the black community. We've funded Black Mama's Matter.

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Speaker 3: That's fighting against the ridiculous uh black maternal mortality rate

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Speaker 3: that these black women are facing be being pregnant. Black

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Speaker 3: women are dying at three or four times the rate

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Speaker 3: that white women are during pregnancy. We're not asking for

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Speaker 3: nobody else to do this. We we can. We can

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Speaker 3: help ourselves. And that's the message that I even try

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Speaker 3: to give to the tribe. You know, we've had. You know,

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Speaker 3: we fight against those instances where where our own people like,

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Speaker 3: why I gotta pay this much for this hoodie? Why

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Speaker 3: I gotta pay this much for this shirt? And it's

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Speaker 3: like you pay Gucci for that, You'll pay Louis Baton

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Speaker 3: for that, You'll pay Nike and Lulu Limit for that,

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Speaker 3: and none of them care about our community at all.

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Speaker 3: So why not pay that premium price for actively black

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Speaker 3: because you know, not only are we providing a premium product,

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Speaker 3: but we're also hiring black talent. We're also giving back

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Speaker 3: to the black community. That's where your support goes. So yeah,

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Speaker 3: that's that's just where we are with it. And to

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Speaker 3: your point, in the time that we live in now,

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Speaker 3: with social media, the Internet, e commerce, you don't even

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Speaker 3: need a distribution channel outside of being able to speak directly,

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Speaker 3: I can reach my audience directly. I don't need a

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Speaker 3: store to decide they're gonna pick up actively black I

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Speaker 3: don't need, you know, I don't need that. I can

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Speaker 3: sell directly to my target audience, speak to them. And

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Speaker 3: the power in that is I'm also able to maintain

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Speaker 3: a certain level of integrity and authenticity for my brand

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Speaker 3: that I don't have to compromise because I don't have

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Speaker 3: to minimize our blackness or quiet down what we're doing

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Speaker 3: in order for this chain of stores to accept us.

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Speaker 3: I can just get directly to my consumer. And I

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Speaker 3: think that's the power of the era that we live

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Speaker 3: in now.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and so I think you might have just answered

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Speaker 1: my next question for me. And I'm going to give

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Speaker 1: you what I think was going to be the response

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Speaker 1: to this. So your site talks about, you know, we're

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Speaker 1: a movement and you know, not just like a product,

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Speaker 1: a weird movement.

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Speaker 2: And as you've seen, like there's a ton of.

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Speaker 1: Companies that say, like, you're weird movement, and you said

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Speaker 1: rubber bands, and like, you know you but you're a

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Speaker 1: movement something rubber bands.

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Speaker 2: It's like so three.

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Speaker 3: People use that it's like this cliche.

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Speaker 1: But what I'm hearing you say, which I think I

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Speaker 1: get now, it's.

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Speaker 2: Like, you know, we're a real movement in.

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Speaker 1: That, like we've talked about with distribution channels and being

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Speaker 1: able to do this for ourselves and the things that

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Speaker 1: you contribute to is like what I hear you say

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Speaker 1: in that we are movement is we are the ones

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Speaker 1: we've been waiting for, whether you're talking about mindset or

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Speaker 1: whether you're talking about athletics, because on that field, you

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Speaker 1: the one.

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Speaker 3: Here's the thing. A lot of people use these different buzzwords,

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Speaker 3: right to try to make it seem as if they're

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Speaker 3: doing something for the culture and all that kind of stuff,

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Speaker 3: and you know, it is what it is for us.

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Speaker 3: I've actually started to say that we're not actually building

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Speaker 3: an apparel brand. The clothes are just the uniform for

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Speaker 3: the movement. Right. And so when we say actively black,

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Speaker 3: that speaks to to so many black people in different ways. Right,

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Speaker 3: that doesn't necessarily mean while we do encourage our audience

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Speaker 3: and our people to get more active so we can

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Speaker 3: be healthier, right, because that is a part of what

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Speaker 3: we need to do to get to that next level

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Speaker 3: of success for us. As a people. But being actively

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Speaker 3: black could be that student that is, you know, doing

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Speaker 3: everything they can do to make sure that they get

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Speaker 3: that degree, you know, so they can get the job

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Speaker 3: that they want to help better their family. You're being

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Speaker 3: actively black. That black person that is maintaining their identity

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Speaker 3: and integrity within corporate America, which it's extremely hard to do,

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Speaker 3: but that's being actively black. There's so many ways that.

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Speaker 2: Being excellent is being being and.

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Speaker 3: Whatever you're doing the mother, the father who's in their

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Speaker 3: child's lives and making sure that they are loved and

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Speaker 3: they and they have direction, that's being actively black, you

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Speaker 3: know what I mean. And so because of this umbrella

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Speaker 3: and the way that being actively black can be defined,

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Speaker 3: it makes this more than just apperil. This ain't about

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Speaker 3: the hoodie or the T shirt. This is actually about

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Speaker 3: this is about the mindset, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 3: The tagline for Actively Black is There's greatness in our DNA.

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Speaker 3: And so one of the things that I wanted to

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Speaker 3: focus on and building this brand is shifting our mindsets.

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Speaker 3: Right Like I didn't want to focus on black trauma.

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Speaker 3: We know about all of these things that have oppressed us,

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Speaker 3: that have traumatized us, but We're more than our trauma. Right,

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Speaker 3: There's so much greatness that we have now that we've

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Speaker 3: had throughout history. And when you think about think about

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Speaker 3: how powerful just do it has been for Nike, Right.

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Speaker 3: I grew up with that, So there were times where

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Speaker 3: I applied that to things that had nothing to do

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Speaker 3: with sports, you know what I mean, whether it was

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Speaker 3: you know, studying for a test, whether it was whatever

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Speaker 3: I was going through where I needed to push through

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Speaker 3: that mantra kind of you know, you know what, just

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Speaker 3: do it. What if this next generation is growing up

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Speaker 3: with there's greatness in my DNA, you know what I mean,

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Speaker 3: like the power in that in whatever obstacle they face,

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Speaker 3: in whatever journey that they're going on in their life,

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Speaker 3: they know that, no matter what society tells me, no

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Speaker 3: matter what these oppressive systems are telling me, there's greatness

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Speaker 3: in my DNA. And I'm going to operate from that

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Speaker 3: place of greatness. Whether that's on the court, whether that's

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Speaker 3: in school, whether that's on my job, whether that's with

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Speaker 3: my family. That's something that's bigger than the apparel, you

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Speaker 3: know what I'm saying. That's bigger than an udie or

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Speaker 3: a T shirt. And then what I've seen is the

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Speaker 3: tribe connecting in a way that's so beautiful. Like we'll

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Speaker 3: see complete strangers. We'll get these testimonials and complete strangers

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Speaker 3: in the airport, but they'll see each other we're in

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Speaker 3: Actively Black, and they're like, oh, you're part of the tribe.

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Speaker 3: Oh you're part of the tribe. And then they're connecting

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Speaker 3: Like that's a that it's a real movement. Like we

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Speaker 3: for years trying to figure out how do we find

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Speaker 3: a way to unify our people. I think we have

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Speaker 3: an incredible opportunity through Actively Black, to unify our people,

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Speaker 3: unify the diaspora through a brand that represents them in

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Speaker 3: a way that hasn't been done before.

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Speaker 1: So there are dozens, if not hundreds of people who

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Speaker 1: have your passion doing this. There are dozens, if not

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Speaker 1: hundreds of people who are trying to do athleisure and

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Speaker 1: they're black, and they're all these things.

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Speaker 3: What helped you break out? Like what was.

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Speaker 1: In three years? And you see who've been doing it

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Speaker 1: for a long time. You multiplied your three years by

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Speaker 1: whatever number, But something helped you break out?

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Speaker 2: What was that?

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Speaker 3: I think it's a combination of things. Man. One me

409
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Speaker 3: being a former professional athlete. There's a certain level of

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Speaker 3: experience that I've had, Like I've always had the best

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Speaker 3: of the best when it came to ath leisure in

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Speaker 3: sports apparel. You know, I was a top player in

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Speaker 3: the country. I was top seventy five since the sixth grade.

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Speaker 3: So I was on the Nike teams that was traveling

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Speaker 3: across the country and middle school playing against the best

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Speaker 3: of the best. We had the best of the best,

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Speaker 3: you know what I mean. And so when I launched

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Speaker 3: actively Black, I heavily invested in the quality of the product.

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Speaker 3: So when I tell people that we're building the Black Nike,

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Speaker 3: the product has to support that claim, right, So when

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Speaker 3: people are getting our product, they're like, Wow, this feels

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Speaker 3: just as good, if not better than my Nike, my Jordan,

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Speaker 3: my Lululemon, et cetera. And so that plays a part

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Speaker 3: in it because we're also fighting that stereotype that black

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Speaker 3: owned means that you're going to have to sacrifice quality,

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Speaker 3: that's going to be second perida. But now when you

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Speaker 3: give our people something that they can be proud to

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Speaker 3: wear because of what it stands for, but also proud

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Speaker 3: to wear because oh yeah, this looks or feels just

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Speaker 3: like Nike and Lulu Limen and everybody else. It has

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Speaker 3: that compounding effect that I think has set us apart

432
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:11,720
Speaker 3: from some of what has existed in the market before us.

433
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,040
Speaker 3: And then the way that we've chosen to show up,

434
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:16,480
Speaker 3: Like I we try to show up in the way

435
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:20,879
Speaker 3: that you would expect from Nike or from Adidas and

436
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:25,200
Speaker 3: these other brands, being the only black owned brand present

437
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,640
Speaker 3: at the Winter Olympics a few years ago, and then

438
00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:30,200
Speaker 3: now you know, we just announced we're outfitting Team Nigeria

439
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:32,600
Speaker 3: for the Summer Olympics in Paris, like we're on a

440
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:36,560
Speaker 3: global stage, those same global stages as Lulu Leomen and

441
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,560
Speaker 3: Puma and Nike in them. And so I think just

442
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:43,000
Speaker 3: the way the audience is able to see our brand,

443
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:48,439
Speaker 3: how we show up in excellence, in quality, and we unapologetic.

444
00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:51,199
Speaker 3: I think that's another thing is there have been some

445
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:55,720
Speaker 3: brands that have told that line, you know, kind of

446
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,200
Speaker 3: one funny and one fit out on that we are

447
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:02,840
Speaker 3: not compromised seeing who we are, what we stand for

448
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:07,560
Speaker 3: for anybody. Our collabs have helped as well. So the

449
00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:10,639
Speaker 3: official collab for Black Panther two Wi kinda forever we

450
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,920
Speaker 3: were the official you know at Leisure where on that.

451
00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:18,520
Speaker 3: We've had collabs with Fubu, with the Bob Marlea State,

452
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:24,280
Speaker 3: Muhammad Alijah State. Those types of collabs have helped with

453
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:29,639
Speaker 3: the brand awareness standpoint, legitimizing us as a brand as well,

454
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,200
Speaker 3: but then also the brand deals that we've turned down.

455
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:37,080
Speaker 3: We had a partnership with Peloton. We were we had

456
00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:39,199
Speaker 3: a collab that we were working on with Peloton that

457
00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:45,280
Speaker 3: was going to be released, and they wanted us to

458
00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 3: minimize some of the boldness and blackness that we are

459
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 3: known for. And I told them, I'm not compromising who

460
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:56,919
Speaker 3: we are for anybody and for no amount of money,

461
00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,879
Speaker 3: and that separates us. There's no amount of money that

462
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:03,879
Speaker 3: anybody can put in front of me that's gonna make

463
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:08,640
Speaker 3: us change who we are as a brand. And there

464
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:10,119
Speaker 3: are a lot of people that were afraid of that.

465
00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,560
Speaker 3: I'm telling you, I have black people telling me if

466
00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:14,879
Speaker 3: you were going to be this bold about being black,

467
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:17,440
Speaker 3: you're not going to be able to be successful. Black

468
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:19,399
Speaker 3: people were telling me that, you know what I'm saying,

469
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,359
Speaker 3: And so I just decided I'm going to lean all

470
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:24,439
Speaker 3: the way in on this and if you rock with it,

471
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,440
Speaker 3: join this tribe. If you don't. You don't. But now

472
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:33,080
Speaker 3: what's happening is that separation of Toyota's calling us, Coca

473
00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:35,080
Speaker 3: Cola's calling us, all these other brands are calling us

474
00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:37,040
Speaker 3: because they're like, well, we want to reach the black audience.

475
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,280
Speaker 3: You're actively black, the black audiences responding to you. How

476
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:43,159
Speaker 3: do we partner with you to reach the black audiences?

477
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:43,840
Speaker 3: You see what I'm saying.

478
00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 1: So yeah, Zoan, but that's gotta be like a painful

479
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,600
Speaker 1: call to say, you know, like, man, I'm about to

480
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,080
Speaker 1: tell Peloton no, like oh, I can't believe I'm about

481
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:58,800
Speaker 1: to do this or no, no, second guest, Man, I'm.

482
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 3: Not at all. I didn't I have a second guest.

483
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,360
Speaker 3: That decision not not one time, not one day. This

484
00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 3: is this is a very purpose driven thing for me,

485
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. Like, this wasn't a let

486
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:11,800
Speaker 3: me start a brand so I can make a bunch

487
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,679
Speaker 3: of money and have a popping brand like that was

488
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:16,960
Speaker 3: not the motivation for me. The motivation for me is

489
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,480
Speaker 3: to uplift and reinvest back into the black community through

490
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:25,439
Speaker 3: actively Black, and so anything that doesn't align with that mission,

491
00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:27,439
Speaker 3: I'm not rocking with, you know what I mean? And

492
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:31,680
Speaker 3: I think for too long, whether through some of our brands,

493
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,920
Speaker 3: through some of our cultural leaders and influencers and things

494
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:39,600
Speaker 3: like that, we've been willing to sacrifice and compromise our

495
00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:42,639
Speaker 3: identity to get that seat at that table, or to

496
00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:45,639
Speaker 3: get that check or to you know, it's time for

497
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,439
Speaker 3: us to finally stand on our own and realize the

498
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:51,639
Speaker 3: power that we have and we don't. We don't need

499
00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:58,119
Speaker 3: their approval or their check to build this global brand.

500
00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:02,160
Speaker 3: And my plan is approved that now, have I missed

501
00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:06,879
Speaker 3: out on money because of that? One hundred percent? Would

502
00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,400
Speaker 3: I have more money in my own personal pocket if

503
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:14,960
Speaker 3: I wasn't like this one hundred percent? But money is

504
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:17,720
Speaker 3: not the motivation for me. Motive. Money is the is

505
00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:20,879
Speaker 3: the tool. We need to make the money so I

506
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:25,000
Speaker 3: can hire more black people so that I can catch

507
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:27,199
Speaker 3: up to the demand, so I can give back to

508
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:30,159
Speaker 3: more black organizations so that we can scale. That's what

509
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:31,720
Speaker 3: we need the money for, you know what I mean. Like,

510
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,640
Speaker 3: so if it's not supporting that mission, you know, I don't,

511
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 3: I don't care, And and that's what we need. That's

512
00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:41,600
Speaker 3: what that's what we need is somebody who's willing to

513
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:46,040
Speaker 3: not compromise or sacrifice what we stand for. And who

514
00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:47,720
Speaker 3: we are for the sake of a check.

515
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:51,120
Speaker 1: At the risk of bringing up Kanye again, but I

516
00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:53,080
Speaker 1: think this is a really great point. And you know,

517
00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:55,560
Speaker 1: one of the things he was talking about was having

518
00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:58,720
Speaker 1: the access to the right manufacturers and right channels and

519
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,240
Speaker 1: et cetera. And so, you know, it doesn't sound like

520
00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:03,280
Speaker 1: you came from a background that says, you know, I'm

521
00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:06,600
Speaker 1: going to go learn you know, supply chain and manufacturing

522
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:10,600
Speaker 1: for fashion and clothes. And so when you think about,

523
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,640
Speaker 1: you know, what's the step that Landy took on the

524
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,600
Speaker 1: day before. You know, you made a call or got

525
00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 1: on the website or set or to find a manufacturer,

526
00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:22,760
Speaker 1: and how did you get that? Like, how did you

527
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 1: find the right company to partner with?

528
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:36,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, so first and foremost saying a disc It's ain't

529
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:42,040
Speaker 3: a disc to Kanye, but with the level of resources

530
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 3: that he has and has access to, he could have

531
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:51,760
Speaker 3: found manufacturing. There's so many entrepreneurs who start with nothing

532
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,640
Speaker 3: and have found it. Now, it takes time, got to

533
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,880
Speaker 3: put in the work. Remember, Actively Black is the second

534
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:01,800
Speaker 3: brand that I launched. Active was the first brand that

535
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:08,680
Speaker 3: I launched back in twenty ten, and it took eight

536
00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:13,240
Speaker 3: months just of sourcing fabric just of getting samples from

537
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,719
Speaker 3: hundreds of manufacturers to find the right one that had

538
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:19,640
Speaker 3: the quality that I was looking for, that could produce

539
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:21,320
Speaker 3: the type of product that I was looking for. It

540
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:23,760
Speaker 3: took time, it took effort, it took me having to

541
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,640
Speaker 3: it took investment of money that I didn't get an

542
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:30,160
Speaker 3: immediate return on to find the right manufacturer. And now,

543
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:34,160
Speaker 3: when you're living in a world with the access to

544
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 3: some of these sourcing websites and things like that, if

545
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 3: you take the time and you serious about it, you

546
00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:44,360
Speaker 3: can find that. So that's one. But my experience was

547
00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:48,360
Speaker 3: unique in that I was a basketball player before this, right,

548
00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:51,880
Speaker 3: And so I want to clarify this, like I don't

549
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:54,240
Speaker 3: have for any entrepreneur out there that's listening to this

550
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,120
Speaker 3: that will see this. I don't have any background in business.

551
00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:59,600
Speaker 3: I don't have any background in design. I don't have

552
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,000
Speaker 3: any back ground in apparel. I don't have any background

553
00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:04,080
Speaker 3: in e commerce and anything that I'm doing right now,

554
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 3: I have no background in it. I tore my knee

555
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:10,440
Speaker 3: up thirty three days after signing my first NBA contract

556
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,520
Speaker 3: in two thousand and nine with the Sacramento Kings, and

557
00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:15,920
Speaker 3: my career was over with in thirty three days. The

558
00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:18,160
Speaker 3: NBA was my dream. That's what I thought I would

559
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:20,280
Speaker 3: be doing, and that's you know, that's how it would

560
00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:23,280
Speaker 3: make my mark on the world. I had no plan B.

561
00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:27,560
Speaker 3: I went to YouTube University. I literally talked myself through

562
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,880
Speaker 3: hours and hours and hours on YouTube how to build

563
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:32,920
Speaker 3: my own website because I ain't had no money to

564
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:36,160
Speaker 3: pay somebody to build a website. How to use photoshop

565
00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:38,520
Speaker 3: and illustrator, because I don't come from a design background.

566
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:40,680
Speaker 3: I didn't go to design school. So just to be

567
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 3: able to make the mockups of the divisions I saw

568
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:44,640
Speaker 3: in my head, I had to learn how to use

569
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 3: photoshop and illustrator. And but prior to my career ending,

570
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,000
Speaker 3: when I was in the NBA Development League, I was

571
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:55,840
Speaker 3: invited to go on the NBA Asia Tour and we

572
00:31:55,960 --> 00:32:00,200
Speaker 3: played exhibition games in the Philippines, in South Korea and China,

573
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 3: and they took us on a tour of factory on

574
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:10,600
Speaker 3: that trip, and I remember the tour guide. I was

575
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:12,200
Speaker 3: right there next to him the whole time. I was

576
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:14,760
Speaker 3: just fascinated by getting this behind the scenes look at

577
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:16,680
Speaker 3: how some of these things work. And I was asking

578
00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 3: him questions. A lot of other guys that were on

579
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:22,360
Speaker 3: the tour, they weren't. They weren't paying attention like that,

580
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 3: you know, I mean, it was it was what it was.

581
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:31,239
Speaker 3: But that tour guide was so impressed with my with

582
00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:34,000
Speaker 3: me being so inquisitive that we befrinted each other on

583
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,120
Speaker 3: Facebook at the time. So fast forward when I was

584
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:41,040
Speaker 3: trying to find a factory, I hit him up on Facebook.

585
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:43,640
Speaker 3: Is like, Yo, I'm trying to start a faith based

586
00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,880
Speaker 3: sports appairl brand. This isn't streetwear, so I don't need

587
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,080
Speaker 3: like te's and hoodies that I can find here. I

588
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:54,840
Speaker 3: need like moisture wicking fabrics, things that that Nike would use.

589
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,680
Speaker 3: He helped point me in the right direction where I

590
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,360
Speaker 3: started that journey of getting those samples to figure out

591
00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 3: who was going to be the best for me. But yeah,

592
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:07,920
Speaker 3: it was through that experience that led me to finding

593
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:10,640
Speaker 3: the factory that I've been using to this very day.

594
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:13,680
Speaker 3: But now you know, I'm diversifying. I have different factories

595
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:17,080
Speaker 3: that I use for different products. I say all that

596
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:20,760
Speaker 3: to say, if this is something you really passionate about,

597
00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:23,440
Speaker 3: it's something that you really want to do, You're gonna

598
00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:25,400
Speaker 3: put in the time the effort and the money to

599
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,239
Speaker 3: find those factories, and you can, and in the day

600
00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:30,280
Speaker 3: and a's that we live in now, you don't have

601
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:34,040
Speaker 3: to be Nike to find those factories. So uh, you know,

602
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,600
Speaker 3: for with with risk to have to bring up Kanye again,

603
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:42,160
Speaker 3: I just adamantly disagreed with everything that he said in

604
00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:44,880
Speaker 3: that interview and then following interviews about this. You didn't

605
00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:48,680
Speaker 3: He don't need Louis Vatan, he don't need Ralph Lauren,

606
00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:53,280
Speaker 3: he doesn't need anybody else, especially with the resources that

607
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:58,480
Speaker 3: he has. If I can do this out of my apartment, Yeah,

608
00:33:58,520 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 3: that's what I'll say. If I could do this out

609
00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:03,520
Speaker 3: of my apartment, then somebody of his status could definitely

610
00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:04,040
Speaker 3: have done this.

611
00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:07,680
Speaker 1: You brought up, you know, your journey that you were pursuing,

612
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:12,480
Speaker 1: you know, was the NBA Professional basketball And so often

613
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:15,760
Speaker 1: we start off our life where we find these paths

614
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:18,399
Speaker 1: in our lives that we I'm going there, like that's

615
00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 1: the thing that I'm gonna achieve and either you know,

616
00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:24,239
Speaker 1: it doesn't work out for you, like you just didn't

617
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:26,480
Speaker 1: get there, or you get there and you find out

618
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,440
Speaker 1: this ain't what I thought it was. So those things happen.

619
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:32,560
Speaker 1: Can you talk about you know, I'm not necessarily thinking

620
00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:35,319
Speaker 1: about the need, but I'm talking about what is the

621
00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:37,760
Speaker 1: mindset like that you went.

622
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:41,040
Speaker 3: Through to like, Okay, this road I thought I.

623
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,080
Speaker 2: Was gonna go on, Ain't it so?

624
00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:46,040
Speaker 1: Because some people get stuck in the kip bounce back once,

625
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:47,480
Speaker 1: Oh that thing happens.

626
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:49,000
Speaker 2: How did you think that?

627
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:54,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, first and foremost, man, I gotta give glory to God.

628
00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:59,160
Speaker 3: My faith pulled me through some dark moments where U

629
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:03,879
Speaker 3: you know, I went through the depression, I went through

630
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:06,120
Speaker 3: the identity crisis. I mean I was You got understand,

631
00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 3: I was a grown man living back at home with

632
00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 3: my mother. So I go from the highest of highs.

633
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:14,120
Speaker 3: I Dodne made it to the NBA. You know, this

634
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:15,959
Speaker 3: is the dream I've had. I was five years old.

635
00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:18,440
Speaker 3: Boom is over with just like that. I didn't have

636
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:22,279
Speaker 3: a plan B. I didn't have a parachute. It was

637
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 3: a non guarantee, non guaranteed contract. I didn't have anything

638
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:26,920
Speaker 3: to fall back on. I had to move back home

639
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,239
Speaker 3: with my mom. I'm a grown man broke, not knowing

640
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:30,719
Speaker 3: what I'm going to do with the rest of my life.

641
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 3: And the identity crisis. It's the first time in my

642
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:37,600
Speaker 3: life where it's like, Okay, well who am I without

643
00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 3: a basketball? You know what I mean. I was embarrassed

644
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,000
Speaker 3: to go outside of my home. I'm from Houston, Texas.

645
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,200
Speaker 3: I played my college basketball at the University of Houston.

646
00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:48,120
Speaker 3: People would see me and be like, hey, I thought

647
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:49,680
Speaker 3: you was an NBA or I thought you was supposed

648
00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:51,920
Speaker 3: to be playing basketball, Like what are you doing? And

649
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:55,120
Speaker 3: that was just that constant reminder of what seemed like

650
00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:57,759
Speaker 3: failure in my mind, you know what I mean. And

651
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:03,719
Speaker 3: so so first and forms my faith because I had

652
00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:07,960
Speaker 3: to believe that God had a purpose for me that

653
00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:09,839
Speaker 3: I couldn't see at the moment, you know what I mean.

654
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:13,040
Speaker 3: And I remember praying a prayer where I literally told God,

655
00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 3: I said, Hey, if this dream that you blessed me

656
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:18,560
Speaker 3: with is being taken away from me, then I'm begging

657
00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:20,719
Speaker 3: you to reveal to me what you want me to

658
00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:22,799
Speaker 3: do with my life. I literally said that prayer. And

659
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:25,920
Speaker 3: it was probably maybe two weeks after that that the

660
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:30,279
Speaker 3: idea for active faith was given to me, you know

661
00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:33,399
Speaker 3: what I mean. My mother was a huge part of

662
00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:39,040
Speaker 3: that support system to help pull me out of that

663
00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:40,920
Speaker 3: that dark place where I didn't know what I was

664
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:42,800
Speaker 3: going to do, and I was and I was depressed,

665
00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:48,080
Speaker 3: and even some of her history helped with that. You know,

666
00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:51,600
Speaker 3: my mom is is a country girl from Jeana, Louisiana,

667
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:56,200
Speaker 3: a small town in Louisiana. Both of her parents had

668
00:36:56,200 --> 00:36:59,759
Speaker 3: to stop their schooling at the fourth grade level. They

669
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:02,120
Speaker 3: were sharecroppers to help in the fields. So my mother

670
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:04,480
Speaker 3: was the first person in our family to go to

671
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:08,160
Speaker 3: college and to graduate from college. She became a computer programmer,

672
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:12,200
Speaker 3: moved to Houston, Texas, was one of the top computer

673
00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 3: programmers in the state of Texas. So you got to

674
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:19,000
Speaker 3: think about a black woman in the early eighties in

675
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:26,279
Speaker 3: Texas as a computer program right that level of inspiration

676
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:29,279
Speaker 3: in my own home, I got to see a superhero

677
00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:32,600
Speaker 3: in my home. So just the way that she raised

678
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:34,879
Speaker 3: me and what she instilled in me, I never had

679
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:36,800
Speaker 3: any limits to my dreams. So at five, when I

680
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:38,520
Speaker 3: said I wantn't play in the NBA, that wasn't like

681
00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:40,200
Speaker 3: a far fetched dream. That was just like, Oh, that's

682
00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:42,440
Speaker 3: just what I'm gonna do. When I decided I was

683
00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:45,720
Speaker 3: going to start active faith after losing my NBA career,

684
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:48,879
Speaker 3: that didn't seem like this far fetched thing. That was like, oh,

685
00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:50,319
Speaker 3: that's what I'm going to do. And the same thing

686
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:53,560
Speaker 3: with actively Black. I don't see the limitations that everybody

687
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:57,400
Speaker 3: else sees. I see the opportunity and what can be built.

688
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 3: And I think the mind set has to be knowing

689
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:16,640
Speaker 3: that we all have a purpose for our lives, and

690
00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:18,359
Speaker 3: even though things may not go the way that we

691
00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:20,360
Speaker 3: expect them to the way that we plan them to,

692
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:23,440
Speaker 3: there's still a purpose for you. And so that hope

693
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:27,440
Speaker 3: of knowing that there's something for me to fulfill regardless

694
00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:30,319
Speaker 3: of how things look or seem right now, if you

695
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:33,319
Speaker 3: can keep that hope alive, if you can keep the

696
00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:38,799
Speaker 3: faith in that, it will allow you to use your

697
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:42,560
Speaker 3: experiences to propel you forward. So all of those experiences

698
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:45,880
Speaker 3: of being a basketball player, of what I had to

699
00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:49,440
Speaker 3: do just to make it to the NBA, all those

700
00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:51,439
Speaker 3: things have helped me now, you know what I mean,

701
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:53,880
Speaker 3: Like I'm pulling on all of those experiences now. So

702
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:57,160
Speaker 3: now when I look back, it looks like a great story,

703
00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:59,080
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, Like, Oh, he lost his

704
00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:01,560
Speaker 3: career and then he's at these businesses and now he's

705
00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:03,799
Speaker 3: doing these things. In the moment, it didn't feel good.

706
00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:06,280
Speaker 3: In a moment, I couldn't see what is happening now.

707
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 3: I just had to have the faith that there was

708
00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:10,719
Speaker 3: a purpose for my life that was going to come

709
00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:14,720
Speaker 3: to fruition. And you're looking in that faith. Yeah.

710
00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:15,960
Speaker 2: You reminded me of one of.

711
00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:18,719
Speaker 1: My favorite quotes, which was from Steve Jobs when he

712
00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:22,720
Speaker 1: gave his I think it was Stanford, his graduation commencement speech,

713
00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:24,479
Speaker 1: and he said, you know, you can't connect the dots

714
00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:27,360
Speaker 1: looking forward. You can only connect the dots looking backwards.

715
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:29,359
Speaker 1: And so sometimes when you're in a situation, you don't

716
00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:32,360
Speaker 1: realize why you're in that situation. But a week from now,

717
00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:34,160
Speaker 1: two weeks from now, a year from now, ten years

718
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:34,560
Speaker 1: from now.

719
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:35,000
Speaker 2: You look back.

720
00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:38,560
Speaker 1: That's why I did that, so I could do this and.

721
00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:40,680
Speaker 3: Then it all then it all makes it all, makes

722
00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:46,759
Speaker 3: it Yeah, And I think there's a reason why the dreamers,

723
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:49,279
Speaker 3: like a Steve Jobs, the dreamers like some of these

724
00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:52,200
Speaker 3: people are able to accomplish what they accomplish is because

725
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:56,080
Speaker 3: you know, we it's a risk, you know what I mean,

726
00:39:56,120 --> 00:40:01,680
Speaker 3: Like there's no guarantee on the other side. But the

727
00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:06,640
Speaker 3: path reveals itself as you're walking, right, It's not like

728
00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:08,959
Speaker 3: the path is there, and then you follow the path

729
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,680
Speaker 3: to get to that next It's like, well, and that's

730
00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:14,840
Speaker 3: that's faith, right, That's what's walking in faith is that

731
00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:18,479
Speaker 3: I can't trust just my sight because I can't see

732
00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:21,000
Speaker 3: the path going forward. So I've got to actually start walking.

733
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:23,440
Speaker 3: I've got to do the work, and then the path

734
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,000
Speaker 3: will reveal itself as I'm walking. You know what I mean.

735
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:31,640
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people are afraid to take

736
00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:34,480
Speaker 3: that risk, for whatever reasons there are, you know, I mean,

737
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:36,160
Speaker 3: right now, it's a lot of people who are afraid

738
00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:38,920
Speaker 3: to do it because they're afraid of failure and how

739
00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:40,680
Speaker 3: that might make them. Look you know what I mean, Like,

740
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:43,439
Speaker 3: you have to take the risk of putting yourself out there,

741
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:45,480
Speaker 3: and the risk is you might fall flat on your

742
00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:47,359
Speaker 3: face and everybody's going to see you fail and fall

743
00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:51,359
Speaker 3: flat on your face. Some people don't want to don't

744
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:54,640
Speaker 3: want to risk that level of embarrassment. People think that

745
00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:59,880
Speaker 3: I had this perfectly orchestrated plan, and I tell them, like,

746
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:02,279
Speaker 3: you know, when I started actively black, like, everybody told

747
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:04,000
Speaker 3: me this would not work, you know what I mean,

748
00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:07,520
Speaker 3: there was no guarantee that this was going to be successful,

749
00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:09,479
Speaker 3: but I still had to put it out there into

750
00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,560
Speaker 3: the world. I announced this on social media. I had

751
00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:15,000
Speaker 3: to put all the things out there not knowing what

752
00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:17,400
Speaker 3: the response was going to be. This thing could have

753
00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:19,440
Speaker 3: went completely different. People could have just laughed at it

754
00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:21,759
Speaker 3: and honestly, but I had to take that risk of

755
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,799
Speaker 3: putting it out there into the universe and speaking into

756
00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:28,040
Speaker 3: existence and put the work behind it for this to

757
00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:31,000
Speaker 3: even be a possibility. Some people are not willing to

758
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:34,160
Speaker 3: take that lead and that risk. You're never going to

759
00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:36,120
Speaker 3: see that other side unless you do so.

760
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,840
Speaker 1: Black Tach Green Money is in production in Blavity Afro

761
00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:56,360
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effect podcast network in nine hier Media.

762
00:41:56,480 --> 00:42:00,520
Speaker 1: It's produced by Morgan Debond and me Well Lucas Traditional

763
00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 1: production support by Sarah Ergin and Lovepeace.

764
00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:06,400
Speaker 2: Special thank you to Michael Davis and Kate McDonald.

765
00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:08,759
Speaker 1: Learn more about Mike Guests and other tech disruptors and

766
00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:10,720
Speaker 1: innovators at afrotech dot com.

767
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:13,600
Speaker 3: The video version of this episode will drop the Black.

768
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:16,920
Speaker 1: Tech Green Money on YouTube, So tap in, enjoy your

769
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:21,160
Speaker 1: Black Tech Green Money, Share this with somebody, look at

770
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:22,240
Speaker 1: your money.

771
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:23,160
Speaker 2: Peace and love