Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and
Speaker 1: Tim Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio. Hey, I want to switch
Speaker 1: gears because our next guest spent a decade at NBC Universal,
Speaker 1: ultimately becoming a communications executive before striking out on her own.
Speaker 1: Monty Ellis is founder and CEO at The Creative Collective.
Speaker 1: It's an organization that, in its own words, is building
Speaker 1: a more equitable future for thousands of black and brown creatives.
Speaker 1: Manti Ellis joins us on Zoom from New York City.
Speaker 1: Good to have you with us, Amani, how are you?
Speaker 2: I'm great, Carolyn, Tim, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: I should note the Creative Collective your company, also puts
Speaker 1: on Culture con. It's a conference for diverse creatives and
Speaker 1: young professionals. Hey, tell us a little bit about your story,
Speaker 1: because you left a job that you know you started
Speaker 1: basically as a page I thought this was really interesting.
Speaker 1: At NBC working, you're working your way up to an
Speaker 1: executive there. At what moment were you like, I want
Speaker 1: to strike out on my own.
Speaker 2: Wow, it was such an amazing experience. I was in
Speaker 2: my dream job, love ingad working at NBCUniversal and what
Speaker 2: I realized was I really was in search of community,
Speaker 2: and so I invited a few friends over to my
Speaker 2: one bedroom apartment. Ten people turned into thirty people, turned
Speaker 2: into fifty people, and I realized there was truly just
Speaker 2: so much hunger for education, sharing and resources. And that's
Speaker 2: how the Creative Collective and then ultimately culture con was
Speaker 2: was born.
Speaker 3: So tell us about some of what you guys are
Speaker 3: doing today and what the creative Collective does in terms
Speaker 3: of helping those who either want to enter the influencer economy.
Speaker 3: Talked us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2: Well, what we're seeing, you know, the creator economy is
Speaker 2: now a two hundred and fifty billion dollar enterprise. It's
Speaker 2: not going anywhere, and we want to make sure that
Speaker 2: the creators, the black and brown creators that are starting
Speaker 2: a lot of these trends, are equipped with the resources
Speaker 2: and the tools and the education to really compete in
Speaker 2: that market. And so one of the really great things
Speaker 2: that we're doing, you know, is culture con. Culture brings
Speaker 2: together brands, creators, mentors, educators to really equip them with
Speaker 2: that education, sharing everything from how to build your own deck,
Speaker 2: how to negotiate on your own terms, discovering if you
Speaker 2: need a manager, if you need a publicist. All of
Speaker 2: those tools are available at Culture Con and then throughout
Speaker 2: the year we have classes where creators can really learn
Speaker 2: about how to find their zone of genius, how to
Speaker 2: collaborate with other creators again, how to negotiate their rates,
Speaker 2: really getting into the nitty gritty of those tools, those
Speaker 2: conversations to really make sure that they have a seat
Speaker 2: at the table money.
Speaker 1: We're talking about this on our editorial call this morning,
Speaker 1: and our YouTube and TV producer Elizabeth brought our attention
Speaker 1: to some context when it comes to black and brown
Speaker 1: folks in the creator community and what's happened over the
Speaker 1: last few years when it comes to really not receiving
Speaker 1: credit for their work. An NPR story from a few
Speaker 1: years ago talked about how black TikTok creators are on
Speaker 1: strike to protest a lack of credit for their work.
Speaker 1: Talk a little bit about the history here and what
Speaker 1: you guys are doing to kind of change some of
Speaker 1: the pattern that we've seen.
Speaker 2: Absolutely unfortunately, you know, black creativity is nothing new, but
Speaker 2: we really want to make sure that black creatives are
Speaker 2: getting credit for all of the contributions that they are giving,
Speaker 2: you know, to the social platforms. One of the agencies
Speaker 2: that we work very closely with is Kensington Gray, and
Speaker 2: Kensington Gray is really fighting on the front lines with
Speaker 2: these creators, making sure that brands are not only considering
Speaker 2: these creators, but also prioritizing them when they should and
Speaker 2: not just during a certain time of the year.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: We want to make sure that when we think about
Speaker 2: the future of creativity, the future of equitable you know,
Speaker 2: creative influence, that it's not just during a certain time
Speaker 2: of the month or during certain themes of the month.
Speaker 2: Diverse black and brown creatives are not just to be pigeonholed,
Speaker 2: you know, for specific campaigns. They also have lives out
Speaker 2: side of Black History Month, Indigenous People Month, and for us,
Speaker 2: it's just really widening the scope of what America looks like,
Speaker 2: what the world looks like. In that perspective, it's diverse
Speaker 2: and so I we're seeing a new generation that's not
Speaker 2: going to you know, accept anything that's handed to them.
Speaker 2: They want credit, and there will be, you know, voices
Speaker 2: that want to make that.
Speaker 3: Hurt and many I'm so glad you went there. I
Speaker 3: have conversations like that with our black colleagues here at
Speaker 3: Bloomberg you know, I think it's really important that we
Speaker 3: have Black History Month, but I feel like I want
Speaker 3: to be thinking about this twelve months of the year
Speaker 3: every day. So how do you think about that so
Speaker 3: that it's not pigeonholed or that we constantly put people
Speaker 3: in pockets or groups in pockets. How do we do that.
Speaker 2: One of the things that we do at the Creative
Speaker 2: Collective is we really work hand in hand with our
Speaker 2: brand partners, right, and so we're not asking them to
Speaker 2: come in and cook and know everything. It is about
Speaker 2: collaboration and so a lot of our partners come to
Speaker 2: the Creative Collective and they say, listen, we want to
Speaker 2: get this right the community. Tell us about the community,
Speaker 2: And the first thing that we say is, let us
Speaker 2: show you the work that's already being done. There's no
Speaker 2: need to reinvent the wheel. If you're looking for creatives
Speaker 2: that are talking about fashion, we know where to find them.
Speaker 2: And so I think, again, it's really pivoting, not that
Speaker 2: these creatives don't exist, you might just not be looking
Speaker 2: in the right place.
Speaker 1: I'm very curious about your business and how you're making
Speaker 1: this business work. I understand it. It's a live events
Speaker 1: company and you do events throughout the year. Are you
Speaker 1: also doing consulting?
Speaker 2: Well, I would say majority of our business does come
Speaker 2: through our sponsorships and our agency work that we do.
Speaker 2: We also do do some consulting with our partners. A
Speaker 2: lot of the campaigns before they go live, they pass
Speaker 2: through our front door, and our partners have seen incredible
Speaker 2: success by just by putting that extra step instead of
Speaker 2: skipping over the culture, involve the culture. It's been really
Speaker 2: important for us and I think super beneficial for them.
Speaker 3: We'll talk to us about give us a specific story
Speaker 3: or two in terms of where you guys have come together,
Speaker 3: figured something out and kind of the payoff if you will.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: One of my favorite kind of examples, and this was
Speaker 2: a few years ago, but we were actually invited into
Speaker 2: Conde mass by Anna Wintour and her team. They wanted
Speaker 2: to talk about diversity in front of the camera and
Speaker 2: behind the camera, and so we came in spoke with
Speaker 2: their leadership team, and I think for me, what that
Speaker 2: really showed was that there was an appetite to learn,
Speaker 2: there was an appetite to do better. And so we
Speaker 2: sat down with the executive team and said, listen, we
Speaker 2: are so inspired and impressed by the diversity we're seeing
Speaker 2: on the cover. But let's also talk about the makeup artists.
Speaker 2: Let's also talk about who's doing their hair. We want
Speaker 2: to make sure that the model feels comfortable in her
Speaker 2: skin and that she isn't getting on the cover just
Speaker 2: to have realized, oh wait, this complexion isn't my color.
Speaker 2: And so for us, it starts all the way at
Speaker 2: the top working its way down. And I think we
Speaker 2: were so inspired by Anna Wintur and her team for
Speaker 2: taking that first step and really inviting us into the conversation.
Speaker 3: You know, when you talk about kind of the digital age,
Speaker 3: the influencer economy, marketing and all that great stuff, how
Speaker 3: do you think that that can ultimately maybe reduce the
Speaker 3: gap that we see in wealth between black individuals or
Speaker 3: and the white population, if you will. How do we
Speaker 3: break that gap? We've talked so much about the importance
Speaker 3: of wealth creation, right, that can be passed down from
Speaker 3: generation to generation. How do we get there through what
Speaker 3: you are doing? Like I said, through an influence or
Speaker 3: economy or platform.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you know, there's so many different lanes,
Speaker 2: and I think that we need them all Right, You
Speaker 2: look at Aurora James and the fifteen percent Pledge and
Speaker 2: doing you know, very important equitable work in terms of
Speaker 2: fashion and making sure that black and brown individuals are
Speaker 2: represented on the shelves. At the Creative Collective, we're doing
Speaker 2: similar work in terms of creative equitable solutions. And so
Speaker 2: for us, again it starts with education, opening up the doors,
Speaker 2: opening up the budgets, and making sure that we're not
Speaker 2: pigeonholing specific people during certain times of the year. I
Speaker 2: think we're also seeing in terms of creators, they're building
Speaker 2: their own platforms. The barrier to injury has never been lower,
Speaker 2: and now you can build your own audience, monetize your
Speaker 2: own audience, and so I think we're going to see
Speaker 2: more creators of building their own shows, building their own audiences,
Speaker 2: selling ebooks, digital courses, merge and realizing that they can
Speaker 2: actually be the drivers of their fate.
Speaker 1: Imani really cool stuff. Really appreciate you taking the time
Speaker 1: and joining us on Bloomberg Business Week. Amani elis founder
Speaker 1: and CEO at the Creative Collective. They put on Culture Con,
Speaker 1: a conference for diverse creatives and young professionals. Creative Collective
Speaker 1: is an organization that is working to build a more
Speaker 1: equitable future for thousands of black and brown creative