Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Co-Founders Brandon “Puncho” Williams & Ebony Blanding talk about their Puncho’s Late-Nite Fry Trap restaurant

Transcript

Co-Founders Brandon “Puncho” Williams & Ebony Blanding talk about their Puncho’s Late-Nite Fry Trap restaurant · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: you their story and from their story you can get
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Speaker 1: the secrets of success that you can use for your
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Speaker 1: own dreams. My guests today are Brandon Puncher. Wheels had
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Speaker 1: him on, but he got a sidekick on the day.
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Speaker 1: Last time I had him on everybody itself, you know,
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Speaker 1: but he's gonna bring on Ebony Blanded Punchers the owner
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Speaker 1: of Punch of Late Night Fried Trap. If you got video,
3:31
Speaker 1: if you're watching the TV, you can see he's promoting
3:34
Speaker 1: it right on his chest. He's a man that I love.
3:37
Speaker 1: I love Bertha that understands the value promotion and ebony.
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Speaker 1: She's a talented writer and director who's recently featured in Variety.
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Speaker 1: It is one of the Black Magic's future feature film director.
3:48
Speaker 1: While while working at The fire Trap, she handled the
3:50
Speaker 1: front office and behind the scenes and creating content, ideas
3:53
Speaker 1: and as they say, building community relationships. The only show
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Speaker 1: to talk about their new movie project Jordan's and tse
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Speaker 1: Late Night. I got the menus right here, I got
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Speaker 1: the music. We're gonna talk about some of this food.
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Speaker 1: Because you know, I love I'll be I'll be I'll
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Speaker 1: be liking you on Instagram and everything, so I'll be
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Speaker 1: giving you love there. The Fried Trap, they their pride
4:12
Speaker 1: and themselves and preserving the history and the culture. Is
4:14
Speaker 1: serving a piece of Magic City and the former Fries.
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Speaker 1: Please worping the money making conversations Brandon Punch of whims
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Speaker 1: and for the first time I would call it director, producer,
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Speaker 1: you know, black magic, black girl magic Everony Blanding much,
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Speaker 1: thank you so much. Well, but you know, you know
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Speaker 1: we've we've been talking man and um. When you first
4:38
Speaker 1: came over the air, you know us the early stages
4:40
Speaker 1: you know, of the business launch. But you were like, man,
4:43
Speaker 1: this is for real. You know, you know you I
4:45
Speaker 1: love it because you know you started something. It was
4:48
Speaker 1: it was jumping off, but you didn't trust whether any
4:52
Speaker 1: longevity was there. So tell people about that early stage
4:56
Speaker 1: so we can talk about with you, because you didn't
4:58
Speaker 1: you have to ride through the pandemic me and now
5:01
Speaker 1: we're on the show talking about you. Got een you
5:02
Speaker 1: sitting next to you to talk about those early days
5:05
Speaker 1: of just having an idea and not really wanting to
5:08
Speaker 1: step out there full time with that idea. Well, the
5:12
Speaker 1: first initial start was a proof of concept. Does this
5:16
Speaker 1: idea really work? Does it really serving audience the audience
5:21
Speaker 1: that we want to serve? Um? And again in testing
5:24
Speaker 1: it out from our own we we did see that
5:26
Speaker 1: it did work. But then came the pandemic. So does
5:29
Speaker 1: this work within the pandemic? Within uh? These this this
5:32
Speaker 1: dire situation and actually still sustain us. And we found
5:36
Speaker 1: out that indeed it did. Um. It's kind of wild
5:41
Speaker 1: because now we we we have to close and track Rush.
5:43
Speaker 1: It's it's crazy, but not in the bad way. We're
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Speaker 1: actually moving and we're moving into another phase that allows
5:49
Speaker 1: us to expand our menu more, expand our culture and
5:53
Speaker 1: our experience for our customers more. UM and that indeed
5:57
Speaker 1: is the next next testament to where the punch Os
5:59
Speaker 1: is a two institution of the matter, well is a
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Speaker 1: true institution, you know. And the reason you win because
6:07
Speaker 1: first time my interview used by yourself, use hustling, and
6:10
Speaker 1: now you have a person who shares your vision. Evany,
6:13
Speaker 1: she's sitting right next to you, and every talk about
6:16
Speaker 1: coming into brandess like and what do you see your
6:19
Speaker 1: vision of the company growing? Let me add Evan to
6:24
Speaker 1: be here from the job. She she wasn't with me
6:26
Speaker 1: with me on the last interview. She was probably doing
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Speaker 1: some something, but she co founder and co offer excuse me, Ebony.
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Speaker 1: They didn't put that in the in the little bio
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Speaker 1: they sent over here. They just said, you you know,
6:37
Speaker 1: you just uh front offers and everything. They didn't say
6:41
Speaker 1: an originator, you know, a true instigator, a true visionary.
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Speaker 1: Tell him next to whoever doing the bio, Ebony, you
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Speaker 1: need to look at the bio before it go out. Okay,
6:52
Speaker 1: so you can get your just rewarding because you know,
6:54
Speaker 1: I do my homework. Not okay, so I do my homework.
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Speaker 1: But this is I've just met and whenever, just all good,
7:01
Speaker 1: but still be had anybody. I got six sisters, I
7:05
Speaker 1: got a wife, I got Samanthaw she dejecutive producer. I'm
7:09
Speaker 1: just saying, all these females make me better. So I'm
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Speaker 1: not shocked. Ebony, did you shit there? You know, holding down,
7:17
Speaker 1: but you need to get on the bio. Okay, now,
7:21
Speaker 1: thank you for having us. I think that early on
7:24
Speaker 1: with Punchos and when Puncho came up with the idea,
7:27
Speaker 1: because it did come from his um. It's his namesake,
7:30
Speaker 1: so it came from his brain. But we both love
7:32
Speaker 1: to eat um. When we like to eat a particular
7:35
Speaker 1: type of way. We're foodies, if you will. So we
7:38
Speaker 1: eat a lot of local things in Atlanta and go
7:40
Speaker 1: to spots that perhaps people wouldn't venture two, but we
7:43
Speaker 1: don't necessarily mind traveling a good distance for some great food.
7:47
Speaker 1: Um and with that being said, we're both artists, both filmmakers,
7:51
Speaker 1: and um, we were in between gets. And anyone who
7:54
Speaker 1: works in the art industry or the film industry, UM,
7:58
Speaker 1: they know that. Um, unless you're working for like a
8:01
Speaker 1: big studio, and even then you're always kind of chasing jobs.
8:05
Speaker 1: And Puncho is an entrepreneur. He was that when I
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Speaker 1: first met him, and he's done other things, and I
8:11
Speaker 1: think for him and when I'm so fortunate for um
8:14
Speaker 1: in regards to my life as a as a filmmaker,
8:18
Speaker 1: but also his partner is for someone to introduce a
8:22
Speaker 1: different way to be an entrepreneur to you. UM. And
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Speaker 1: so Brandon early on A K. Punchow really understood that
8:30
Speaker 1: for us to be where we wanted to be in life,
8:32
Speaker 1: and for us to really be able to make the
8:34
Speaker 1: stories that we want to make, because we make stories
8:36
Speaker 1: that have black people front and center, then it was
8:38
Speaker 1: gonna look like for us having to have a have
8:42
Speaker 1: our own pocketbook, so to speak, be able to finance
8:44
Speaker 1: our own things. UM, And it doesn't look like chasing jobs.
8:48
Speaker 1: It looks like making your own jobs. And so Puncho's
8:51
Speaker 1: Late Night frid Trap has really been able to do
8:54
Speaker 1: that for both of us UM, allowing us to not
8:57
Speaker 1: only manifest um I guess like the physical culture part
9:02
Speaker 1: of being from Atlanta wanting to have an institution here
9:06
Speaker 1: um because we're both natives, but also from the art perspective,
9:10
Speaker 1: putting us in position where we don't have to compromise
9:13
Speaker 1: our values. We don't have to compromise the world that
9:16
Speaker 1: we're creating on screen. M because Punchos allows us to
9:20
Speaker 1: humbly but allows us to be able to really put
9:23
Speaker 1: some backing behind our projects and be able to really
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Speaker 1: and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families and the Council. Well,
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Speaker 1: you know, she said a lot. Okay, she's articulating the
11:31
Speaker 1: artistic side of it, but the base of it is
11:35
Speaker 1: Pacho's late night Fright track. Absolutely okay. She said it
11:38
Speaker 1: earlier on Foodies. And I'm gonna ask you because I
11:41
Speaker 1: called myself a foodie, and I would tell you something.
11:43
Speaker 1: If anybody watched me eat, they go, dude, I don't
11:46
Speaker 1: know why you're not four times bigger than what you
11:48
Speaker 1: are because that's what the food here. That's that's the
11:50
Speaker 1: testament of food. I I go in, dude, that sample stuff.
11:53
Speaker 1: I love variety. I don't run from any type of
11:56
Speaker 1: new idea and new stuff. Now, the lesson to our
12:00
Speaker 1: relationship is that French fries. Boy, I love me some
12:07
Speaker 1: good French fries. Now, I'm gonna tell you just a
12:09
Speaker 1: little history of me. Like all black people, you know,
12:12
Speaker 1: back in the day, McDonald's was my number one fry. Okay,
12:16
Speaker 1: love me. Couldn't couldn't go roll with McDonalds. They tried
12:19
Speaker 1: to copy bird can try to cull everybody. And then
12:24
Speaker 1: then I fell in the five guys because you know
12:26
Speaker 1: you're going there for a medium. They get your extra lord.
12:28
Speaker 1: Anybody who by the Lord Fry from five Guys is
12:31
Speaker 1: crazy because you get the media, they're gonna get your lords,
12:33
Speaker 1: all right. And then it's the math of my executive producer.
12:37
Speaker 1: She she know I love Fry. She said, how you
12:39
Speaker 1: five have you try to punch your late night five try?
12:41
Speaker 1: As it was that she said, you need to try that.
12:45
Speaker 1: They're good. They're good. So that's how I came into
12:48
Speaker 1: your work, do my executive producer. So that word of
12:52
Speaker 1: mouth plays a big role into what you're doing. Talk
12:56
Speaker 1: about like you said, man, you're not like me as
12:59
Speaker 1: a baker. I didn't go to a culinary school. You're
13:03
Speaker 1: not You're not a you know, a degreed chef. So
13:07
Speaker 1: you just took an idea. Talk about that idea, because
13:09
Speaker 1: as we always talking about in this show is that
13:11
Speaker 1: people have all these great ideas, they are afraid to
13:13
Speaker 1: pursue them. They're people knock them downs saying that ain't
13:16
Speaker 1: you you don't have time for that. But here you
13:18
Speaker 1: are took an idea, like Evon. He said, it was
13:20
Speaker 1: your idea, but you guys have grown into a business
13:24
Speaker 1: that's not being transferred to a new location, but still
13:27
Speaker 1: able to live your other fantasy or other dreams. I
13:30
Speaker 1: should say not fantasy because it's happening. Fantasies are not reality.
13:34
Speaker 1: The things you're doing in the filmmaking businesses or dreams
13:36
Speaker 1: that are reality. Talk about that whole pushing past the doubters. Listen,
13:44
Speaker 1: pass Man. That was so much rist because I feel
13:48
Speaker 1: it internally, cellularly and just being a being that Punch
13:55
Speaker 1: ows was an idea that we know people love fries,
13:58
Speaker 1: but how do you this connect to to the true energy?
14:02
Speaker 1: And I need to attract to where I based my thoughts,
14:04
Speaker 1: and it is in the energy and it's not necessarily
14:06
Speaker 1: in my skill um and and as a friedmaker, although
14:10
Speaker 1: I do take a lot of focus on making this
14:12
Speaker 1: fry like the best one. It was like comparable to
14:14
Speaker 1: the McDonald's fry. So there's intention behind just knowing that
14:19
Speaker 1: the name connects to the need being Punch shows and
14:22
Speaker 1: is an Atlanta brand. We need late night food. Everyone
14:25
Speaker 1: loves fried so I know these things connect um and
14:28
Speaker 1: the idea of the energy being that this box of
14:31
Speaker 1: fries can be a key to many other doors. It's
14:34
Speaker 1: not just the box of fries. This keys this this,
14:37
Speaker 1: this box of fries open the door to money making conversations,
14:40
Speaker 1: to crack PULLM industry, to Pittsburgh Yards, to uh Atlanta United,
14:45
Speaker 1: to the Hawks, to the thout. So it's more than fries,
14:48
Speaker 1: and the idea behind it is knowing that all these
14:51
Speaker 1: things are nationally intertwined in your idea and that once
14:54
Speaker 1: you give it out into the universe, these things will
14:57
Speaker 1: necessarily be attracted to it. So that's truly what the
15:00
Speaker 1: intention behind and the power behind that first initial idea
15:03
Speaker 1: and lunching it the way that you you see it.
15:06
Speaker 1: Although you do need some insight and a layer of
15:08
Speaker 1: the land to understand where you're going. Um, but once
15:11
Speaker 1: you do that, you go for it and you you
15:14
Speaker 1: trust what you what you feel, and what the universe
15:16
Speaker 1: gave you. Well, you know one thing about black people, man,
15:19
Speaker 1: you know you give him a lot of anything. Man,
15:22
Speaker 1: they in love. You know, you get him a lot
15:24
Speaker 1: of rice. You know who they're gonna come back. You
15:26
Speaker 1: know I'm saying, you get a lot of fries. Bro,
15:29
Speaker 1: You put some on top of the fries. Boy, you
15:31
Speaker 1: got come on now, you know they're coming back up
15:33
Speaker 1: in that joint because they wanted they want more for
15:36
Speaker 1: that dollar. And that's your brand, the brand that you're
15:39
Speaker 1: doing their part yours Late night Fried track. You get value,
15:42
Speaker 1: good food, dollar value, and you get a lot to
15:45
Speaker 1: take on because I don't know any Black person that
15:47
Speaker 1: doesn't get excited when youre going the restaurant and they go,
15:49
Speaker 1: can I have my dog you back? Because they want
15:51
Speaker 1: to take stuff home, you know, because money means something else.
15:54
Speaker 1: And when I say that, you know, people always say
15:56
Speaker 1: money means something to everybody. Nah, Black people, money something
16:00
Speaker 1: to us man, because it's so hard to get it
16:04
Speaker 1: and sometimes we can't even save it. So when we
16:06
Speaker 1: have to spend it, it has to go a little
16:08
Speaker 1: bit further than the normal everyday dollar. And so when
16:12
Speaker 1: you see that, whenever you hear me talking like that,
16:13
Speaker 1: everything and you you know you entered the community. What
16:16
Speaker 1: are they saying about Ponchos Late Night frod trafl? I
16:20
Speaker 1: think in particular because we're based in Atlanta, and for
16:23
Speaker 1: folks who know, like you'll hear people talk about Old
16:26
Speaker 1: Atlanta versus New Atlanta, um Old Atlanta. So to speak um.
16:30
Speaker 1: And with that being said, there's a lot of gentrification
16:34
Speaker 1: that has happened in the city, and I think people's
16:36
Speaker 1: first thing when they see us, two black folks of
16:39
Speaker 1: our age doing what we're doing, UM, I think they're proud.
16:43
Speaker 1: I think that's the first energy that I kind of
16:46
Speaker 1: received from people is how proud they are that we're
16:48
Speaker 1: doing this in the city that UH is our home,
16:51
Speaker 1: and how we're really just like leaning into being an institution.
16:55
Speaker 1: We tell people early on that like if you know
16:57
Speaker 1: about the Varsity, if you know about JR Crickets, um,
17:00
Speaker 1: if you know about pastor. We want to play that
17:03
Speaker 1: same um, that same pun and people receive that energy,
17:06
Speaker 1: I think because we set the tone UM, and I
17:09
Speaker 1: think that's something for anyone who's like doing a business.
17:13
Speaker 1: You have to really lean into what you're saying you're
17:15
Speaker 1: doing and mean, would you say that you're doing like
17:17
Speaker 1: you say that you're UH doing fries for the culture?
17:21
Speaker 1: Then what does the culture mean? So the culture for
17:23
Speaker 1: us looks like we are very involved in our community.
17:26
Speaker 1: It looks like we know the kids that walk up
17:27
Speaker 1: and down the street. It looks like they can call
17:29
Speaker 1: out Puncho's name and he responds, um, and you know
17:33
Speaker 1: they actually have a homie if you will, to the relationship,
17:37
Speaker 1: talk to on a big brother level. So it's it's
17:39
Speaker 1: it's it's more than fries. And you say that all
17:42
Speaker 1: the time, but it really is more than fry's. Well
17:45
Speaker 1: you're smiling. Come on, get it out, Brandon, come on
17:49
Speaker 1: about I just have to salute some of the young
17:52
Speaker 1: guys who do come and they patronize, but y'a also here.
17:55
Speaker 1: They they will be some of the hand that that
17:58
Speaker 1: people will see over prap wool and who might be
18:00
Speaker 1: un familiar faces, but they will be making some delicious
18:04
Speaker 1: fries and providing some awesome service that this is true
18:08
Speaker 1: TOI ano. That's that's what I love about it. And
18:09
Speaker 1: again we're we're in the middle of Peaceburg. Peaceburg is
18:12
Speaker 1: uh one of the most dangerous neighborhoods. And so these
18:15
Speaker 1: young guys are not your normal young guys. They're they're
18:19
Speaker 1: involved in a lot of things that they shouldn't be.
18:21
Speaker 1: At the same time, it's not because they want it's
18:25
Speaker 1: not because they're horrible people. Because they don't have a
18:28
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18:31
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18:33
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18:35
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19:13
Speaker 1: Roker here as a guy with his own catchphrase. I
19:16
Speaker 1: appreciate that Smokey's only said only you can prevent wildfires,
19:20
Speaker 1: but I'm filling in because there's a lot more to report,
19:23
Speaker 1: like when they're parched or windy conditions out there, you've
19:26
Speaker 1: gotta be extra careful with things like burning yard waist.
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Speaker 1: Forest Service, your state Forester, and the AD Council. What
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Speaker 1: grows in the forest trees, sure no one else grows
19:47
Speaker 1: in the forest, Our imagination, a sense of wonder, and
19:51
Speaker 1: our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from
19:54
Speaker 1: this and connect with this, we rea connect with each other.
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Speaker 1: The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
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Speaker 1: near you and start exploring. I discover the forest dot
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Speaker 1: Org brought to you by the United States Forest Service
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Speaker 1: and the AD Council. You know, the beauty of us
20:14
Speaker 1: talking and being at me interviewing, and I would thank
20:17
Speaker 1: you for coming on my show. I consider you a
20:19
Speaker 1: special brand and entity, you know, and Pacho's. I wanted
20:23
Speaker 1: to be like Varsity. I wanted to be like Pascales.
20:25
Speaker 1: I wanted to be like you know, Slooty Vegan, you know, inteed,
20:29
Speaker 1: brands that people kind of know off the top of
20:31
Speaker 1: the head, and it also could rattle off the menu
20:33
Speaker 1: like you know, the Magic City. You know, gang Gang.
20:37
Speaker 1: You know the bluff Old Atlanta ninety six Olympics. You
20:40
Speaker 1: know seafood shalty, you know seafood wild caught shrimp and
20:45
Speaker 1: crab salte with fresh garlic and herbs over garden fry.
20:50
Speaker 1: Do see what I'm saying, man, I'm you know, when
20:55
Speaker 1: you can just read it and it sounds annible, it
20:58
Speaker 1: sounds like you mad because you can't get over there
21:01
Speaker 1: to the fried chap and get it. That's a good
21:03
Speaker 1: frighting baby who wrote that? Then? But that you happen
21:06
Speaker 1: that you happen. Okay, So punctus very very easy. He
21:12
Speaker 1: studies a lot about colors and moods. Um. And you know,
21:17
Speaker 1: I will say that I'm a good copy editor. So
21:19
Speaker 1: if there's anything that he writes, um, I definitely will
21:21
Speaker 1: get a second glance. But um, you said you see too.
21:25
Speaker 1: To to to geniuses, I'll say that I set the
21:30
Speaker 1: humility yourself. You gotta promote like I always tell people,
21:36
Speaker 1: you know, and I would tell people in the era
21:38
Speaker 1: we live, I call it the Muhammad our lead era
21:41
Speaker 1: because social media allows you to shout and say you
21:44
Speaker 1: great and see you she said to geniuses. See punt,
21:48
Speaker 1: I didn't run from that because that's what she's supposed
21:50
Speaker 1: to do. She supposed to let everybody know that when
21:53
Speaker 1: I say, you know, when I say that magic City
21:56
Speaker 1: fried eight hours fried salmon or salmon salmon, you know
22:00
Speaker 1: I see salvath people are salmon, you say saving even
22:02
Speaker 1: black you say salmon and shrimp tossing our very own
22:06
Speaker 1: honey garlic sauce over garlic and child's fry top with
22:10
Speaker 1: tessively seed and Child's with ranch drizzle. That's genius, baby chee.
22:15
Speaker 1: Every time, by every time I don't reading me, can
22:17
Speaker 1: you do something with your hands there spoking at the
22:21
Speaker 1: end and a little I can't help but do it right,
22:23
Speaker 1: like no, thank you so much. It's just nasurue. That's
22:26
Speaker 1: where that's what it is. These are the flavors that
22:28
Speaker 1: we love. These are the things that we want to
22:31
Speaker 1: eat when we go to a late night location. So
22:34
Speaker 1: it's it's truly very simple to us in this form
22:37
Speaker 1: of it came from a genuine place. That comes from
22:40
Speaker 1: a genuine place, so we don't have to search long
22:42
Speaker 1: and hard to buy the things that connect. Because we
22:44
Speaker 1: are the people we want to commit with um and
22:47
Speaker 1: that that goes beyond skin color. It goes. It's it's reagional,
22:51
Speaker 1: it's uh, you know, it's human base. We all love
22:54
Speaker 1: fries and I don't care you are one. I don't
22:57
Speaker 1: care if you're just gonna salt on that. I got you. There,
22:59
Speaker 1: you go, you go. Now, let's let's flip because I
23:01
Speaker 1: gotta talk about Evan, you know, writer director who recently
23:04
Speaker 1: featured in Variety and one of Black Magic's future feature
23:08
Speaker 1: film director. First of all, let me tell you all
23:10
Speaker 1: about varieties, and Variety is not I'm not gonna rod
23:15
Speaker 1: is like you have Hollywood Reporter and you have Variety
23:19
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. Okay, I've been in Los Angeles two Okay.
23:23
Speaker 1: I know when you your name appear Variety, you frame that,
23:28
Speaker 1: you put it on the wall, you call your mama
23:30
Speaker 1: calls them best friends. The girl I'm in Variety because
23:32
Speaker 1: they put it in Sheld. I know she was sending
23:34
Speaker 1: that link out there. Everybody. She was taking that link
23:36
Speaker 1: out there everybody. You put it on social media. You
23:39
Speaker 1: had to because that's one of the top entertainment magazine
23:42
Speaker 1: in the country. Did when you get in Variety and like,
23:45
Speaker 1: that's like, uh, that's like the front page of the
23:48
Speaker 1: New York Times. You know, you know, you have the
23:50
Speaker 1: Atlanta Constants in general constitution, then you have New York
23:53
Speaker 1: Times different levels. You know, no disrespect to a j C.
23:58
Speaker 1: Read it all the time. No disrespect used to chronicles
24:00
Speaker 1: all the time. When you tell us about you in
24:02
Speaker 1: New York Time, they go, girl, what did you do?
24:05
Speaker 1: You did something really good or something bad? Okay, you
24:08
Speaker 1: did something really good. To talk about the reaction to
24:11
Speaker 1: you being acknowledged like that, so people get a sense
24:14
Speaker 1: of because I always like people, there's so many costumes
24:18
Speaker 1: that we wear a black people, you know, because we
24:20
Speaker 1: have to do a lot of different things just to
24:21
Speaker 1: get to that get to the end game, and then
24:23
Speaker 1: eventually you can just take off a real reveal to
24:26
Speaker 1: everybody who you really are, the genius that you are
24:29
Speaker 1: right now. You're an entrepreneurial genius and you've been recognized
24:32
Speaker 1: as a future star as a writer director. Talk about
24:35
Speaker 1: that by Variety magazine. Talk about that acknowledgement. Um, Well,
24:40
Speaker 1: to your point, yeah, I definitely sent that article to
24:43
Speaker 1: my dad and my grandma and everybody. So proud of it. Um.
24:47
Speaker 1: And I think for anyone who does filmmaking, you know
24:50
Speaker 1: how long it takes for you to go throughout your
24:54
Speaker 1: journey to be able to get exposure and to be
24:57
Speaker 1: able to get articles. So I think for me us
25:00
Speaker 1: early on to your point of um of kind of
25:03
Speaker 1: like taking off your shell, if you will, and showing
25:06
Speaker 1: people who you are. I always leaned into telling people
25:09
Speaker 1: who I was. I'm very um before being a Black
25:14
Speaker 1: girl with Magic was a hashtag, I knew, I knew
25:17
Speaker 1: it was powerful. UM. So I haven't necessarily needed to
25:21
Speaker 1: wait for the culture to catch up because I know
25:23
Speaker 1: that black women are the culture, um and so I
25:26
Speaker 1: write about that in a way that I believe it's
25:28
Speaker 1: very true to myself and it seems to be relatable
25:31
Speaker 1: to other Black women in particular, but women at large.
25:34
Speaker 1: And so I think for me, getting the Variety article
25:37
Speaker 1: is just the world catching up. To be honest, I've
25:40
Speaker 1: been doing this for a minute. So anytime Rush, you
25:43
Speaker 1: know that the work that we do, we know that
25:45
Speaker 1: we uh we do it for ourselves, we do it
25:47
Speaker 1: for our communities, but we we definitely expect some sort
25:51
Speaker 1: of fanfare around it. So I'm appreciative at this point
25:54
Speaker 1: in my career to uh to be landing some bigger spots.
25:58
Speaker 1: But I mean, Rush, you know, it doesn't come without
26:01
Speaker 1: a bunch of smaller articles, right, Um, it doesn't come
26:05
Speaker 1: without some of the chilling circuit um. And so just
26:08
Speaker 1: putting in that work and then allowing some of the
26:11
Speaker 1: bigger markets to uh when they catch up to it,
26:14
Speaker 1: to amplify you as a really great feeling. Well, first
26:17
Speaker 1: of all, to be recognized by any level. And I've
26:20
Speaker 1: learned that. You know, sometimes you know you're on the
26:22
Speaker 1: grind and you don't respect the recognition of acknowledgement. That's
26:27
Speaker 1: why that's why I'm letting you know, just in case
26:30
Speaker 1: you know it's died down, you know, uh ever happened. Now,
26:35
Speaker 1: that's still a big deal and it has to be
26:37
Speaker 1: recognized as a big deal. It just led to a
26:39
Speaker 1: project that we're gonna talk about for a little bit
26:41
Speaker 1: on the show, because I know I brought you on
26:43
Speaker 1: to talk about Ponchos Late Night Fried Trap. But there's
26:46
Speaker 1: the film called Jordan's that's out there that that you
26:49
Speaker 1: guys have produced. Shot tell us the synopsis of the movie,
26:53
Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk about the importance of you producing
26:56
Speaker 1: and writing and directing that movie. Absolutely well, I'm the
27:00
Speaker 1: writer director. Puncho is one half of the producing team.
27:03
Speaker 1: He's also the editor. UM and to keep it short,
27:06
Speaker 1: I guess no, no no, don't keep it short. Girl. Come on, hey, Brandon,
27:12
Speaker 1: you ain't telling her what you're talking to. You tell
27:14
Speaker 1: your story on my show like we're talking to like
27:16
Speaker 1: just a five minute of you. Girl, Take your time,
27:19
Speaker 1: get the word out. I got you. Um. The story
27:21
Speaker 1: is about a black girl adventure discovering a black mermaid,
27:25
Speaker 1: a mermaid who looks like the women who she looks
27:28
Speaker 1: up to. Um. And if anyone is familiar with black
27:32
Speaker 1: folklore and uh, some of the older stories of mermaids
27:37
Speaker 1: and merk folks have always been tied to a lot
27:40
Speaker 1: of our storytelling. So my story centers a black girl
27:45
Speaker 1: from Georgia, go figure, who is on a fishing trip
27:49
Speaker 1: with her father. Um And she discovers a mermaid and
27:53
Speaker 1: she's a mermaid enthusiast, so she takes her back home,
27:55
Speaker 1: only to discover she's not what she seems. Uh. So
27:58
Speaker 1: this story involved a lot of clientify, which is a
28:03
Speaker 1: climate fiction. And we talk about the environment. We talk
28:06
Speaker 1: about pollution and how in particular it affects black and
28:10
Speaker 1: marginalized communities. UM. And we talked about a black father
28:14
Speaker 1: supporting his black daughter's wildest dreams in a manner. For me,
28:19
Speaker 1: that's something I'm very familiar with. I'm a daddy's girl,
28:22
Speaker 1: and so I used to go on fishing trips with
28:23
Speaker 1: my dad and Georgia and Alabama. Um, and there's nothing
28:27
Speaker 1: that my dad. There's nothing that I thought I couldn't
28:30
Speaker 1: do because I had my dad telling me always that
28:33
Speaker 1: you can do anything. Um. And so this is a
28:36
Speaker 1: story that I feel, uh, in particular, black dads and
28:40
Speaker 1: black daughters will be very happy to watch together because
28:43
Speaker 1: we see a lot of course in media where we
28:45
Speaker 1: see black fathers are represented, they're not there, they're not
28:50
Speaker 1: showing up. And this is a dad who loves his daughter.
28:53
Speaker 1: Like you see it from the beginning to the end. Um.
28:56
Speaker 1: He relish is in her playtime. He relish is in
29:00
Speaker 1: her adventure. And so when she discovers a black mermaid
29:03
Speaker 1: and brings her home, um, he's excited to be a
29:07
Speaker 1: part of that. And so yeah, it starts Besett Williams,
29:10
Speaker 1: who is a force of nature. Uh. She's like a
29:13
Speaker 1: fourteen year old uh, young protege you'll see here. Um.
29:17
Speaker 1: And then we have playing the mermaid, a beautiful actress
29:21
Speaker 1: her name is artrees Um Johnson. And then for the father,
29:25
Speaker 1: playing the father, we have a Jeff Kanje all black cast,
29:30
Speaker 1: beautiful talent. They're truly like the next superstar that you're
29:33
Speaker 1: gonna see if I believe. Well good ever, any um,
29:38
Speaker 1: Oh you said that, Pancho, what's the producer? You know? Okay,
29:42
Speaker 1: they say they all say black people can't swim, black
29:46
Speaker 1: people go to the beach, they don't go in the water.
29:48
Speaker 1: You know, we just walk along the beach, you know.
29:51
Speaker 1: You know, then then she gonna come to you, Pancho,
29:54
Speaker 1: which is idea about a little girl fascinated with a
29:57
Speaker 1: black mermaid. Okay, kemp walk We threw just stamps Man
30:02
Speaker 1: through the pitch. Come on, well, it's not even It's
30:08
Speaker 1: so timely that it wasn't even a pitch. It didn't
30:10
Speaker 1: need to be a pitch. Once I heard the story
30:12
Speaker 1: and I know and saw how much she put into it,
30:17
Speaker 1: I knew what time it was in the sense of
30:19
Speaker 1: us creating our own stories, because again, were we started
30:22
Speaker 1: this frost traft things so we could so we could
30:24
Speaker 1: do this. And that's what hit me was like, oh,
30:27
Speaker 1: now it's time and the level that we previously worked
30:32
Speaker 1: at it was. It was pretty greatful at any level.
30:35
Speaker 1: But this time rest. This time we went mate. This
30:38
Speaker 1: time we had a full camera, lighting and grip package
30:42
Speaker 1: from PCNE, which is a rental house in Atlanta who
30:45
Speaker 1: rest to the Marble. Yeah, I know what I say. Absolutely,
30:49
Speaker 1: I'm just let everybody. So that's pretty big. It makes
30:51
Speaker 1: once of the full package. Also, we had a sponsorship
30:54
Speaker 1: from Atli, a prop house for our heart and problems.
30:57
Speaker 1: And these are things that rest when it comes to
31:01
Speaker 1: if there was a lot of your shoulders, I won't
31:03
Speaker 1: put the number on it, but man, we we we
31:05
Speaker 1: were blessed. And to see it come together with our crew,
31:10
Speaker 1: which again is a community of our our our family,
31:12
Speaker 1: people who were created with over the past few years,
31:15
Speaker 1: past five six years um. To have them work collectively
31:19
Speaker 1: after week, come along individually, you know, watch all the
31:22
Speaker 1: synergy come together. To see people and hear people speak
31:25
Speaker 1: to the energy that they felt like they're on our sex. Um,
31:29
Speaker 1: it's just overwhelming. Man, I can't even I can divorce
31:33
Speaker 1: how much, but then it would go on and all
31:35
Speaker 1: because we get it from every side when it comes
31:38
Speaker 1: to people appreciate it and being grateful and in time
31:40
Speaker 1: we are openly grateful soldier to be able to produce
31:43
Speaker 1: this level of film, even though in short form, and
31:45
Speaker 1: to know that we have a proven concept that we
31:47
Speaker 1: can now take into other worlds and other officers and
31:50
Speaker 1: present to the people who we want to present to
31:53
Speaker 1: um and and just to see what the response is.
31:55
Speaker 1: But you know, we have something solid, especially a by
31:58
Speaker 1: plaque girl tween and with the I want I want
32:01
Speaker 1: to mention what the Mermaid actually is, but the discovers
32:04
Speaker 1: the Mermaid and we really see this. We don't like
32:08
Speaker 1: a lot of times as filmmakers, especially independent filmakas, we
32:11
Speaker 1: get criticized for the quality of our work, being in
32:13
Speaker 1: the visual or the sound, especially in the story. We
32:16
Speaker 1: don't always have complete stories. But there is a mighty
32:20
Speaker 1: feet and getting it done and getting what you want
32:23
Speaker 1: and not necessarily what you needed, because that's filmmaking and
32:25
Speaker 1: that's exactly what we did, right. So that was a
32:27
Speaker 1: process getting in it, like really getting into the noos
32:32
Speaker 1: and crannies of the nooks and crannies to find out
32:34
Speaker 1: what this story is and where this story aligns with
32:36
Speaker 1: where the intersection now two years between whether it's time
32:39
Speaker 1: to justice or racial justice, all these things are affected.
32:42
Speaker 1: All these things are something that we had to swim through.
32:45
Speaker 1: To your point about swimming, no black people swim, we
32:47
Speaker 1: swim hard and we walk light, and that was all
32:49
Speaker 1: stoken for the whole film. So it's funny that you
32:51
Speaker 1: said that, but it's it was a matter of getting
32:55
Speaker 1: through those with getting through those moments with all of
32:57
Speaker 1: our crew are lovely DP James Fraser James, if you
33:00
Speaker 1: watch this, I love you bro then them powdering that
33:04
Speaker 1: story that's kind of the bus and then not me
33:06
Speaker 1: in post, but that she's looking at the footage like
33:09
Speaker 1: my god, this and knowing that. I'll just give a
33:13
Speaker 1: quick on. Another sponsorship that we're looking at is mom
33:15
Speaker 1: House Studios moon Shine. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Moming Shot.
33:19
Speaker 1: I'm starting shot sho. You can google them to do
33:22
Speaker 1: everything so more than to have a confirmation from them
33:27
Speaker 1: that their assistance with this project too. So well, you know,
33:31
Speaker 1: come on there talking about Pancho the first time I
33:33
Speaker 1: got to meet Eppeny, you know, doing that thing. But
33:36
Speaker 1: you know, she's been It's kind of great because she's
33:38
Speaker 1: been shouted out by our power that's bigger than me.
33:41
Speaker 1: Variety Magazine Entertainment, Los Angeles, base. You're gonna be a
33:46
Speaker 1: prapp palmer district that menu. You know, I just shouted
33:49
Speaker 1: out some of the men. You just let y'all know.
33:51
Speaker 1: Whenever he knows. Last time he camera show, I printed
33:53
Speaker 1: out his menu. You know, I do fry trap. I'll
33:56
Speaker 1: be talking about that menu. Now. You had something about
33:58
Speaker 1: we're gonna close this outre shark. You're saying, boy, when
34:01
Speaker 1: do you expect to see Rashwan homemade pies on the menu?
34:07
Speaker 1: Look at me, now, we want to hustle with you.
34:11
Speaker 1: We want Did you say said genius genius genius? Okay,
34:18
Speaker 1: three genius is gonna get together, gonna make that happen.
34:20
Speaker 1: All right, That's all I'm saying. But she said genius genius.
34:24
Speaker 1: She just left that this genius, three geniuses, gonna three gees,
34:28
Speaker 1: three gs, gonna get to CALIBERI no, seriously, I man,
34:33
Speaker 1: I love you Russell because the way that you posture
34:37
Speaker 1: this money making a conversation and just the way that
34:39
Speaker 1: you speak to the so how to traverse life in entrepreneurship,
34:44
Speaker 1: and you uncovered all and you speak directly to the
34:48
Speaker 1: points in the places that people a lot of times
34:50
Speaker 1: um just simply overlooked or simply overthink. So I think
34:54
Speaker 1: the more that we not necessarily simplified because it's not
34:58
Speaker 1: a simple process. Its business and entrepreneurship is are until
35:01
Speaker 1: you understand the game and the little man and what
35:04
Speaker 1: factors me and what um. I will say that question.
35:07
Speaker 1: I didn't not doing it because again I'm the best show.
35:10
Speaker 1: But I do understand how to make customers experiences great.
35:14
Speaker 1: And that's what I want to do through Prides. That's
35:16
Speaker 1: what we want to do through Frides and him so
35:18
Speaker 1: and pies. So let's get those ties, bro, Let's get
35:20
Speaker 1: those fies. I love it. Man. Look, I want to
35:24
Speaker 1: hold you the more. Thank you both. Ever, then, thank
35:26
Speaker 1: you for coming into my world and brand you always
35:29
Speaker 1: gonna be in my world because you're a little brother. Okay,
35:31
Speaker 1: I'm gonna treat you right. I feel the same, and
35:33
Speaker 1: I'm definitely coming by to see you. I want. I
35:35
Speaker 1: just want to thank everybody, especially Samantha interesting well bringing
35:39
Speaker 1: us back. What we're gonna do is when you're coming here,
35:42
Speaker 1: when you come with him. Okay, So i'mna make some
35:44
Speaker 1: dessert and everything so we can have fun. Okay, I'm
35:46
Speaker 1: making I'm gonna make some of my homemade ice cream
35:49
Speaker 1: for y'all too. I'm saying, all right, thank you all
35:53
Speaker 1: for coming on Money Making Conversations. Okay, if you want
35:57
Speaker 1: to see or hear any of my interviews, please go
35:59
Speaker 1: to Money Make Conversation dot com. McDonald i am your host.
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Speaker 1: Visit adopt us Kids dot org, slash podcast, or subscribe
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Speaker 1: to Navigating Adoption presented by adopt Us Kids. Brought to
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Speaker 1: you by the U. S Department of Health, Human Services,
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Speaker 1: Administration for Children and Families, and the AD Council. What
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Speaker 1: girls in the forest, our imagination, and our family bonds.
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Speaker 1: The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
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Speaker 1: near you and discover the forest dot Org brought to
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Speaker 1: you by the United States Forest Service and the ad Council.