Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion interviews Melody Brown, from slime producer on Double Dare to Associate Vice President of Consumer Media Content at Blavity, Inc
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
- 0:07Speaker 1: has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
- 0:10Speaker 1: Brandon expert Rashaan McDonald. I will know he's given me
- 0:13Speaker 1: advice to many occasions. In the case you didn't notice,
- 0:16Speaker 1: I'm not broke, you know he'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs,
- 0:19Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. It's what he likes to do,
- 0:23Speaker 1: it's what he likes to share. Now it's time to
- 0:25Speaker 1: hear from my man, Rashaan McDonald money Making Conversations. Here
- 0:29Speaker 1: we go, absolutely absolutely welcome to Money Making Conversations masterclass.
- 0:33Speaker 1: As he stayed its stephen A. Smith, I am Rashaan McDonald,
- 0:37Speaker 1: Welcome to my show. I theme today is there is
- 0:39Speaker 1: no perfect time to start following your dreams because I
- 0:42Speaker 1: recognize that we all have different definitions of success. For you,
- 0:46Speaker 1: it may be the size of your paycheck. Mine really
- 0:48Speaker 1: is inspiring you to accomplish your goals and live your
- 0:51Speaker 1: very best life. Actually, it's time to start reading other
- 0:54Speaker 1: people's success stories and really start living your own. People
- 0:57Speaker 1: always talking about their purpose or gift. If you have
- 1:00Speaker 1: a gift, leave with your gift and don't let your friends, family,
- 1:02Speaker 1: or co workers stop you from planning or living your dreams.
- 1:05Speaker 1: My guests on the show today Melodie Brown. She's on
- 1:08Speaker 1: called She's on hold right now. If you don't know
- 1:10Speaker 1: who Melandie Brown is, She's the Associate vice president of
- 1:12Speaker 1: Consumer Media Content at Blade Blade b l a v
- 1:17Speaker 1: I t Y, Incorporated. When my next guest is Melanie Brown.
- 1:20Speaker 1: She is the Associate vice president of Consumer Media Content
- 1:23Speaker 1: at Lavide, a corporation that builds solutions for black and
- 1:27Speaker 1: multicultural audiences and enterprises who want to reach them. She
- 1:31Speaker 1: explained to every explaining to us exactly what all that means,
- 1:33Speaker 1: because it's important because multicultural or black, understanding who your
- 1:38Speaker 1: voice is and the community out there is kind of
- 1:40Speaker 1: like dissecting and telling you where you should go and
- 1:42Speaker 1: what you cannot do. As part of her role, Melandi
- 1:45Speaker 1: Lee's innovative editorial franchises and verticals where they focus on
- 1:49Speaker 1: driving affiliate revenue. It's all about money. This includes integrated
- 1:52Speaker 1: strategic strategies focused on inspiring and engaging audience in the
- 1:56Speaker 1: way that constantly drives action. She's gonna tell us about
- 1:59Speaker 1: all the projects the travel magazine she's involved. She's on
- 2:02Speaker 1: the show to discussed how she drives that revenue in
- 2:05Speaker 1: the ever changing world that we live in. Please walk
- 2:07Speaker 1: with the money Making Conversation Masterclass, Melanie Brown. How you doing,
- 2:11Speaker 1: Melandie Hayler, Sean, It's so great to be here. I'm
- 2:14Speaker 1: really excited about this conversation. I mean, following Sherry, I'm hyped. Well,
- 2:18Speaker 1: you know, Sherry, I was. I said, I think Sharry
- 2:21Speaker 1: will keep talking. But I got Melandie home and not worried. No, no,
- 2:26Speaker 1: you know, because if I feel fortunate to have not
- 2:28Speaker 1: only her on the show, but you on the show
- 2:29Speaker 1: because of the fact that you drive a different medium
- 2:32Speaker 1: in this business and we're always talking about what can I,
- 2:35Speaker 1: what kind of business can I? What kind of careers
- 2:38Speaker 1: can our children have? Of color? And then we know
- 2:40Speaker 1: in this industry there's a general tendency to believe that
- 2:43Speaker 1: we only do a certain type of career choices. And
- 2:47Speaker 1: when you when when we discuss what you're doing, I
- 2:50Speaker 1: wanted you to first explain to everybody what you do
- 2:52Speaker 1: and then we're gonna talk about how did you get there? Yeah? Absolutely,
- 2:57Speaker 1: thank you so much for Sean. I'm currently, as you mentioned,
- 2:59Speaker 1: the Associate vice president of consumer Media at Blavity. So
- 3:02Speaker 1: what does that mean? That means basically, I'd leave all
- 3:05Speaker 1: of the content strategy for our commerce and when you're
- 3:08Speaker 1: talking about shoppable content, things that you see online on
- 3:11Speaker 1: our website, as well as content that includes lifestyle trending
- 3:16Speaker 1: topical stories for our brands, which include travel, New Hours,
- 3:19Speaker 1: that's our vacation brand twenty one ninety, which is like
- 3:22Speaker 1: our lifestyle beauty um wellness brand, and then our newest
- 3:27Speaker 1: brand which just launched two months ago, Home and Texture,
- 3:30Speaker 1: which is our home to core inspiration brand. So that's
- 3:33Speaker 1: my role they're at Blavity. Okay, that's your role there
- 3:36Speaker 1: at Blavity. But we know you one of these people.
- 3:41Speaker 1: You you you just as though, just as worse. I
- 3:43Speaker 1: would say worse because it's a compliment when you develop
- 3:45Speaker 1: multiple strains of income, because not only that, but you're
- 3:49Speaker 1: you're also involved in slime. I feel like, who's releasing
- 3:56Speaker 1: the secret? Well, you know, you know the title of
- 4:01Speaker 1: the show money Making Conversation mastercland I bring on people
- 4:04Speaker 1: who can tell you how you can sit up here
- 4:07Speaker 1: and say what do I do with twenty four hours?
- 4:09Speaker 1: You listen to my show and you will hear people
- 4:11Speaker 1: tell you what you do with your twenty four hours.
- 4:13Speaker 1: So tell us about this slime in your life. Yeah,
- 4:16Speaker 1: so this is a slime that kind of started my life,
- 4:19Speaker 1: if you will. So years and years ago, I graduated
- 4:23Speaker 1: from the University of Central Florida, which is based in
- 4:25Speaker 1: Orlando where I live, right and got an internship at
- 4:28Speaker 1: Nickelodeon Studios, which was based here at the time, and
- 4:31Speaker 1: they did a reboot for those back in the days
- 4:34Speaker 1: who remember Double Bear, which was like this kid's game
- 4:36Speaker 1: show that was messy like slide boeiness, etc. And part
- 4:41Speaker 1: of my responsibilities as a intern starting out the sidescraft
- 4:45Speaker 1: services that basically is like today's DoorDash and Eat For
- 4:48Speaker 1: those who don't know, I had to make slime for
- 4:52Speaker 1: the show. Okay, you know you had to make slime.
- 4:54Speaker 1: See I always tell people, like my first job, My
- 4:57Speaker 1: first job was unloading drugs. I tell people trucks. So
- 5:00Speaker 1: I realized that once they put me on the back
- 5:03Speaker 1: of a truck head at one thousand inter twos or
- 5:05Speaker 1: fifty pounds each. After that job, right there, I realized,
- 5:08Speaker 1: that's not my career. That's not my career. Now you
- 5:11Speaker 1: were doing making slime. How old do you make slime? Listen?
- 5:18Speaker 1: I don't know if I can with all the secrets,
- 5:21Speaker 1: but I will say it's all edible. And there are
- 5:23Speaker 1: two different versions at that time that they were used,
- 5:25Speaker 1: and one was kind of a pudding base and one
- 5:28Speaker 1: was almost like the thick apple sauce base and other
- 5:31Speaker 1: ingredients to you know, mix it together and it would
- 5:34Speaker 1: go on different slides and different cyber foam toys, et
- 5:38Speaker 1: cetera for the game. But that was, yeah, that was
- 5:41Speaker 1: starting out. And I will say, like when you start
- 5:43Speaker 1: out in a career in an industry, sometimes you know,
- 5:45Speaker 1: like the phone goes, start from the bottom, now we'll
- 5:48Speaker 1: hear it. Sometimes you have to get your foot in
- 5:50Speaker 1: the door. And honestly, it was such a cool, fun
- 5:53Speaker 1: time to be in that environment fresh out of college.
- 5:55Speaker 1: I enjoyed it. But one you didn't have to travel
- 5:59Speaker 1: across to get into the Hollywood you were involved in
- 6:04Speaker 1: in the early stages of creativity. You see where Okay,
- 6:06Speaker 1: this is how people create content, This is how people
- 6:09Speaker 1: reach a certain audience. That was a very strong and
- 6:12Speaker 1: powerful learning curve for you, because you know they was
- 6:15Speaker 1: reaching a certain audience with this show. Absolutely absolutely, and
- 6:20Speaker 1: I think, you know, it's so interesting you say that
- 6:22Speaker 1: that was kind of my first makings of like media.
- 6:26Speaker 1: But then my career as far as starting out my
- 6:28Speaker 1: full time gig, did kind of a parallel pivot. I
- 6:32Speaker 1: started out full time in TV news. So I started
- 6:36Speaker 1: as an associate producer at the ABC station here in Orlando,
- 6:39Speaker 1: which teams I was writing. I was editing for various newscasts.
- 6:43Speaker 1: Sometimes my shifts would be early in the morning talking
- 6:46Speaker 1: about the crocodile and I have to get in at
- 6:47Speaker 1: three am. Then sometimes I would have to fill in
- 6:50Speaker 1: at night. And then you know, worked my ranks up,
- 6:54Speaker 1: transitioned to the NBC station in Georgia, where I worked
- 6:57Speaker 1: up the ranks to executive producer and basically that the
- 7:00Speaker 1: person who's in charge of all of the newscasts creating
- 7:03Speaker 1: content and storytelling. And after about ten years into that, Rashaun,
- 7:07Speaker 1: you know, I got to the point where I love storytelling,
- 7:10Speaker 1: but I was over breaking news, crime and destruction content.
- 7:14Speaker 1: Love storytelling, but that was no longer for me after
- 7:17Speaker 1: doing it for ten years, and so then opportunity presented
- 7:20Speaker 1: itself for me to enter this you know, well known
- 7:24Speaker 1: hospitality company to create content from a publishing perspective, doing
- 7:28Speaker 1: their digital magazines, video content, and marketing campaigns. And I
- 7:32Speaker 1: did that for several years and then that brings me
- 7:35Speaker 1: to Blavity several months Melody. Now I'm talking to Melodies,
- 7:39Speaker 1: associated vice president of Continual Media Content and Blavity. Okay,
- 7:43Speaker 1: we talked about slam because you know, I gotta bring
- 7:44Speaker 1: everybody up to speed. Anybody just rolled into this conversation. Slime,
- 7:48Speaker 1: Slime and the ice machine, some story like that. We
- 7:50Speaker 1: talked and you know what was your degree in. It
- 7:56Speaker 1: was in radio TV Communications. That was my degree from
- 7:59Speaker 1: the University of Florida. Okay, So but now you're talking
- 8:02Speaker 1: about you. When you was talking about marketing, you was
- 8:04Speaker 1: talking about news. So these were areas where they would
- 8:07Speaker 1: you say, they would tie to use a degree or
- 8:08Speaker 1: you were just taking the opportunity and making the most
- 8:11Speaker 1: of it. Team and news was definitely tied to my degree.
- 8:14Speaker 1: You know, during my college years, back in the day,
- 8:17Speaker 1: we would do kind of a you know, on campus newscast,
- 8:20Speaker 1: and so at the Timershan I was like, I want
- 8:22Speaker 1: to be on air, I want to be a reporter,
- 8:24Speaker 1: I want to be an anchor. And work through that
- 8:27Speaker 1: and when the Nickelodeon's position opportunity came for intern, I
- 8:30Speaker 1: was like, oh, well, this is another avenue to venture out.
- 8:33Speaker 1: But it wasn't until I got the position, you know,
- 8:36Speaker 1: my first full time gig as an associate producer, where
- 8:39Speaker 1: I was like, you know what, I liked this writing thing.
- 8:42Speaker 1: I like being able to put news casts together, to
- 8:44Speaker 1: put shows together, to lead teams. So it changed for me.
- 8:49Speaker 1: You know, I will say one of the things for
- 8:51Speaker 1: anybody who's fresh out of college or who's either doing
- 8:55Speaker 1: a trade or looking to get into an industry, being
- 8:58Speaker 1: open minded, because here's the thing, the position or the
- 9:01Speaker 1: role you think you may want. Try things out, and
- 9:05Speaker 1: you may surprise yourself actually find out you're actually better
- 9:08Speaker 1: and blessed in another area. Right, And I've learned that,
- 9:12Speaker 1: you know, people always talk about how I do a
- 9:14Speaker 1: lot of different things. I've done a lot of different
- 9:16Speaker 1: things in my life, and I will do a lot
- 9:17Speaker 1: of the things in my life. I always tell people
- 9:19Speaker 1: that I give one hundred percent when the opportunity is
- 9:21Speaker 1: being presented to me, and I will pivot when an
- 9:24Speaker 1: opportunity feels very comfortable and enjoyable. Because I'm always intrigued.
- 9:28Speaker 1: I'm always ready to accept the challenge, and that seems
- 9:31Speaker 1: to be a path in your life. You know, you're
- 9:32Speaker 1: not intimidated by change, and a lot of people are. Absolutely.
- 9:37Speaker 1: I think you have to kind of go with your gut.
- 9:40Speaker 1: Same reason I said, you know, after TV News love
- 9:42Speaker 1: storytelling people, I'm like, you know, this is not the
- 9:44Speaker 1: type of stories I want to tell. And then moved
- 9:48Speaker 1: to Hospitality and then several months ago I found an
- 9:51Speaker 1: opportunity at Blavity. Ain't that interests me? And even more
- 9:54Speaker 1: so the fact that the company is all in, Rashan,
- 9:57Speaker 1: all in when it comes to blast multicultural customers. You know,
- 10:02Speaker 1: that set out to me because in my twenty year career,
- 10:05Speaker 1: I've never ever worked for a company where diversity, equity
- 10:10Speaker 1: inclusion goes beyond like HR policies or social injustice moments.
- 10:15Speaker 1: That's literally Blavity's brand and it just jumps out at me.
- 10:21Speaker 1: And you know, I least at the opportunity. I was
- 10:23Speaker 1: glad that they had me. So as you said, you know,
- 10:26Speaker 1: my career has had different you know, paths and parallels,
- 10:29Speaker 1: all in communication or storytelling to some degree, but it's
- 10:33Speaker 1: so broad and I'm just so excited about what's still
- 10:37Speaker 1: to come with my time here at Bravity. We know
- 10:39Speaker 1: it's really interesting because Blavity, you know, as a industry medium,
- 10:46Speaker 1: and that has a voice for us, you know, because
- 10:48Speaker 1: we realized today how important that voice plays out because
- 10:51Speaker 1: so many people are trying to shift a narrative of
- 10:54Speaker 1: what really is black culture or black history. Now, what
- 10:57Speaker 1: is the importance of your role? I know you involved
- 11:00Speaker 1: in different brands and different scales at Blavity, What is
- 11:05Speaker 1: your role when you're talking about storytelling it, making it
- 11:08Speaker 1: or think and making it accurate? I think so my
- 11:12Speaker 1: role is like listening to our customers, see what's resonating
- 11:15Speaker 1: with them, see where they are in the journey. I think,
- 11:17Speaker 1: for example, our Newness brand, home and texture. Sometimes we're
- 11:20Speaker 1: trying When people think about millennials, they're like, all they
- 11:22Speaker 1: are these young kids in their twenties. No, millennials are
- 11:25Speaker 1: straight up mid thirties plus early forties. They're setting up roots,
- 11:31Speaker 1: they're becoming entrepreneurs, they're buying homes, they're traveling, they're interested
- 11:37Speaker 1: about their health and wellness. And so those are the
- 11:41Speaker 1: pieces of content and the storytelling that I want to
- 11:44Speaker 1: tell for our audience, Like where are they in the
- 11:47Speaker 1: various funnels of journey. Also black and multicultural folks. We're
- 11:51Speaker 1: not monolithic, We're not the same. There's some folks. Even
- 11:55Speaker 1: when you talk about home right home ownership, that can
- 11:58Speaker 1: be a condo, that could be a remodeled home, that
- 12:03Speaker 1: could be a new spec home, that could be an apartment.
- 12:06Speaker 1: Like there's different variables and variations to what it means
- 12:10Speaker 1: to set up roots in your home, and those are
- 12:13Speaker 1: the stories who want to tap into. Absolutely when we
- 12:16Speaker 1: come back, I want to talk about more than the
- 12:18Speaker 1: travel aspect because I think that's where the African American
- 12:21Speaker 1: community has grown so much and travel because they know
- 12:24Speaker 1: I grew up in the era. You know you're hopping
- 12:25Speaker 1: the back of the car with mom music, go down
- 12:27Speaker 1: to your cousins in the next state, and that was
- 12:29Speaker 1: your vacation, that was your extent of traveling. Well, we're
- 12:32Speaker 1: world travelers now in the African American community, of the
- 12:34Speaker 1: community of color. When we come back, we're asked Melanie
- 12:37Speaker 1: about that, and we also talked about the home and
- 12:38Speaker 1: texture why that brand is so special. Be right back
- 12:41Speaker 1: with more money making conversation masterclass with the Queen. I
- 12:44Speaker 1: had the Queen of talk show. Now, I got the
- 12:45Speaker 1: Queen of Blavity, Melanie b. Maybe Princess the Princess. We'll
- 12:54Speaker 1: be right back with the Princess Oblade Melanie Brown. Please
- 13:00Speaker 1: don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more Money
- 13:03Speaker 1: Making Conversations Masterclass. Let me tell you about the host
- 13:07Speaker 1: of Money Making Conversations Rushan McDonald. He's a social media influencer.
- 13:12Speaker 1: Eighty percent of his one million plus social media followers
- 13:15Speaker 1: are female. Rushawn's a two time Emmy Award winner, three
- 13:18Speaker 1: time in double ACP, Emmage Award winner, sitcom writer, stand
- 13:22Speaker 1: up comic, and former IBM executive, and he has a
- 13:26Speaker 1: degree in mathematics. More importantly, Rushan McDonald will interview his
- 13:30Speaker 1: business and celebrity relationships to empower you with tips to
- 13:34Speaker 1: succeed in your career that you can only hear in
- 13:37Speaker 1: The Money Making Conversations Masterclass show. Welcome back to the
- 13:42Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rushawn m Sean McDonald.
- 13:46Speaker 1: Welcome back to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. You know, you know,
- 13:50Speaker 1: always try to hype yourself off, try to hype your
- 13:51Speaker 1: show off, trying to make it, you know, as big
- 13:53Speaker 1: as as possible. See, I got the Queen and the
- 13:55Speaker 1: Princess on my show today. The Queen of Daytime talks
- 13:58Speaker 1: the Princess a Black. Now, when I talk about the Blavity,
- 14:02Speaker 1: I'm talking about an e commerce brand that is totally
- 14:04Speaker 1: focused on the African American community from the standpoint of
- 14:08Speaker 1: travel as far as Home and Texture. Talk to us
- 14:11Speaker 1: about that brand and what makes that so special and
- 14:13Speaker 1: then we're going to go back to travel. Okay, sure, sure,
- 14:16Speaker 1: So in talking about Home and textuare you know it's
- 14:19Speaker 1: about our community. The brand launched two months ago, and
- 14:23Speaker 1: we know the home buying and designing industry generates millions
- 14:27Speaker 1: rashan upon millions of dollars, but none of that goes
- 14:30Speaker 1: really all in for us, right, So when we're talking
- 14:32Speaker 1: about homeowners, home seekers and designers and that demographic is
- 14:37Speaker 1: setting up roots. It's one of the reasons we chose
- 14:39Speaker 1: to have the Home and Texture launch party event and
- 14:42Speaker 1: Atlanta at the Garden Room last month. When you talk
- 14:44Speaker 1: about the Black home buying journey, the atail is one
- 14:47Speaker 1: of the city's experiencing significant growth. Plus, not only is
- 14:51Speaker 1: this branch share information that's really unique to our community.
- 14:54Speaker 1: So whether it's disparities and mortgage lending, how to embrace
- 14:57Speaker 1: your personal file and culture you know, and bring light
- 15:00Speaker 1: to your space, but also given a platform to entrepreneurs
- 15:04Speaker 1: in this space, so rashan when we're talking about real
- 15:06Speaker 1: estate agents and designers. Matter of fact, today we just
- 15:09Speaker 1: launched our social first series called Homo Texture House Tours,
- 15:13Speaker 1: which is so amazing. It features for fabulous designers from
- 15:16Speaker 1: the Memphis area showcasing their homes and so for listeners
- 15:20Speaker 1: listening who want to check that out, go to homotextu
- 15:23Speaker 1: dot com. But what I'm excited about this brand is
- 15:26Speaker 1: that it's showing how we are building equity as a community. Wow.
- 15:31Speaker 1: You know, I tend to believe like I've been in
- 15:34Speaker 1: the person who has been been in the home buying industry.
- 15:38Speaker 1: I've been out there trying to buy the right furniture,
- 15:41Speaker 1: trying to get to the right also contractor trying to
- 15:45Speaker 1: But then when you look at TV these uh do
- 15:47Speaker 1: it yourself shows our vision of our colors and always
- 15:51Speaker 1: showcase what what what what role? And why is that
- 15:55Speaker 1: why there's such a popularity, there's such a need for
- 15:58Speaker 1: what you We launched just months ago. Yes, we saw
- 16:02Speaker 1: that it was definitely an empty space. You know, we
- 16:05Speaker 1: talk about Blavity, the Queen of Blavity, she'd probably you know,
- 16:08Speaker 1: disagree with me, but I think she is is market
- 16:11Speaker 1: to bond our CEO. She is so forthinking as well
- 16:15Speaker 1: as our executives about where can we spread our blavity
- 16:19Speaker 1: ache influence. And we saw the need. You know, I
- 16:23Speaker 1: mentioned earlier for those just joining the conversation that when
- 16:26Speaker 1: you're talking about millennials, they're not babies. These are folks
- 16:30Speaker 1: who are making money, good money, who are looking to
- 16:34Speaker 1: buy homes, who are looking to even buy second homes,
- 16:36Speaker 1: right investment homes, and we feel like there needs to
- 16:39Speaker 1: be an avenue in a vehicle to them or vehicle
- 16:42Speaker 1: for them, and not just how they design their home,
- 16:45Speaker 1: but even the nuances of insurance. You know. One of
- 16:48Speaker 1: the stories I tell, you know, my team members is
- 16:50Speaker 1: like when me and my husband bought our home. You know,
- 16:53Speaker 1: it's little things. We have all of these windows. I'm like, oh,
- 16:56Speaker 1: we need curtains and window treatments like the defense, large
- 17:01Speaker 1: insurance and lending to kind of those you know, smaller
- 17:04Speaker 1: things that you don't think about. And we're trying to
- 17:06Speaker 1: fill that space because there's obviously a need for it
- 17:09Speaker 1: with this demographic. Well, you know, it's really interesting because
- 17:12Speaker 1: you know, you learned so much about home buying, and
- 17:15Speaker 1: you know, like all African Americans, I started in my
- 17:18Speaker 1: little apartment. I remember my very first apartment. It was
- 17:20Speaker 1: kind of like a studio, had that little wall. It
- 17:23Speaker 1: wasn't really one bedroom because if you looked around, the
- 17:26Speaker 1: wall didn't have a door. But I was happy in
- 17:27Speaker 1: my little seven hundred graat feedo. I was I was
- 17:29Speaker 1: rocking and rolling in there. It was mine. It was mine,
- 17:33Speaker 1: you know, technically in rent it was mine. And then
- 17:36Speaker 1: what did you realize is that we are renting all
- 17:39Speaker 1: the time. And really, when you do the math and
- 17:42Speaker 1: you take care of your credit, then you can become
- 17:44Speaker 1: take that rent and turn it into a mortgage and
- 17:47Speaker 1: then you have equity. And that's the part of the
- 17:49Speaker 1: conversation that I really love about when you talk about
- 17:52Speaker 1: home and texture, because it educates a process to you
- 17:56Speaker 1: that you may not be thinking about. And it's also
- 17:59Speaker 1: when you talk about millennials. I think the media has
- 18:02Speaker 1: has time time trapped millennials to some some twenty five
- 18:07Speaker 1: there's twenty seven year old person who who wants to
- 18:10Speaker 1: skip the line and wants to wants to what, don't
- 18:13Speaker 1: want to work hard. That's what the millennials have been
- 18:15Speaker 1: trapped into that world. Like you said, excuse me, that's
- 18:18Speaker 1: not us. That's not us. With homebuyers, you know, we
- 18:21Speaker 1: buy stock. We were about our retirement and we make
- 18:24Speaker 1: a contribution to society. And that's that's the stereotype that
- 18:28Speaker 1: you're dennouncing right now, and you're doing a very good
- 18:31Speaker 1: job of it. But another stereotype that you're announcing, it's
- 18:33Speaker 1: the whole travel concept because people like me, I'm older
- 18:37Speaker 1: than you, so I know the traditional travel that we
- 18:40Speaker 1: used to do and in the Europe travel wasn't part
- 18:45Speaker 1: of my mantra going out of town, the Camcoon wasn't
- 18:48Speaker 1: part of the Jamaica wasn't part of it. But now
- 18:51Speaker 1: that's part of the regular routine. What excites you about
- 18:54Speaker 1: that growing a very explosive component of your brand. Yeah,
- 19:00Speaker 1: I think everything I mean in full transparency, Rashaun. Like
- 19:03Speaker 1: our vacations where at the time I lived in New York,
- 19:05Speaker 1: was taking a road trip down south that we called
- 19:08Speaker 1: to South Carolina to visit family, which you know I
- 19:12Speaker 1: loved at the time. But now when you look at travel, Yes,
- 19:15Speaker 1: people want these international experiences, especially now post COVID people
- 19:20Speaker 1: are trying to fly and get away. But also what
- 19:22Speaker 1: we're finding out with our Blovity audience, particularly for travel
- 19:26Speaker 1: new are for that brand, is that they also want
- 19:30Speaker 1: unique experiences where they don't feel like a tourist. Right.
- 19:33Speaker 1: So when somebody's traveling, whether it's going to DC, they
- 19:38Speaker 1: don't want to go to eight cheen restaurants. They want
- 19:41Speaker 1: to have that localized experience where they feel like they're
- 19:44Speaker 1: really being part of the community there. Yes, they like luxury,
- 19:49Speaker 1: they like the finer things. And even when those who
- 19:52Speaker 1: want to road trip, like I said, black and multicultural,
- 19:55Speaker 1: our demographic's not monolithic. So one of the franchises that
- 19:59Speaker 1: we're looking at is hidden jams. So these are those
- 20:01Speaker 1: unique destinations, whether it's going to New Mexico, going up
- 20:05Speaker 1: to Montana, that are very unique and also where black
- 20:09Speaker 1: and multicultural skill they can be their authentic self. You
- 20:12Speaker 1: know the interesting thing about when I hear you talk
- 20:15Speaker 1: about travel and it's a little note about me. I
- 20:18Speaker 1: used to be I should do stand up and let's
- 20:20Speaker 1: just stand up on cruise ships. I've done performing on
- 20:22Speaker 1: probably eight different cruise ships, eighty different eighty different cruise ships.
- 20:25Speaker 1: And it was always funny because from from like September
- 20:29Speaker 1: to April, the audience I had performing in front of
- 20:33Speaker 1: me was white. When it got made to September, the
- 20:38Speaker 1: cruise ship was predominantly black. I don't care if it
- 20:41Speaker 1: was I don't care where cruise like was Norwegian, it
- 20:43Speaker 1: was raw Caribbean. That those are the two out dominantly
- 20:46Speaker 1: performed on. But it was always let me know that
- 20:49Speaker 1: the black culture was very seasonal, very summer oriented. When
- 20:52Speaker 1: we did our vacation and with Blavity, you're starting to
- 20:55Speaker 1: open up those chains as we wrapped this interview, and
- 20:58Speaker 1: I want to tell you thank you for coming on
- 20:59Speaker 1: the show. How can we get in touch with you.
- 21:01Speaker 1: How can we learn more about and give us some
- 21:03Speaker 1: websites of Blavity that we can that we can go
- 21:05Speaker 1: and start adding to that amazing website traffic did y'all
- 21:09Speaker 1: have every month? Yes? Absolutely so. For let's start with
- 21:13Speaker 1: Home and Text, our news brand. You can follow us
- 21:15Speaker 1: at Home and Texture also our website Home and Texture
- 21:18Speaker 1: dot com. Same handles for Travel NEWIR vacation brand at
- 21:23Speaker 1: Travel Newir and at twenty one ninety for me. Just
- 21:26Speaker 1: look me up, hit me up on LinkedIn, Melody Bostic Brown,
- 21:29Speaker 1: you can find me there. And you know, I'm just
- 21:32Speaker 1: excited about what's to come with Blovity and it's house
- 21:35Speaker 1: of brands, because again Blovity Inc. Has dozens of brands
- 21:39Speaker 1: in the lifestyle space from travel to home, to court,
- 21:42Speaker 1: to beauty, to news, the information, to politics to entertainment
- 21:46Speaker 1: where we're serving up the content that we know our
- 21:49Speaker 1: audience craves and needs. Well, you know, if summer's coming,
- 21:52Speaker 1: so I'm going to reach out back to you, miss
- 21:55Speaker 1: Melody Bostic Brown, and we're gonna talk about travel and
- 21:58Speaker 1: we're gonna call them call you the Princess and get
- 22:00Speaker 1: you the right title. I'm bringing the Princess back on
- 22:02Speaker 1: your show from Blavity and we're gonna have a lot
- 22:04Speaker 1: more fun. But again, thank you for coming on Money
- 22:06Speaker 1: Making Conversations Masterclass. You are fantastic. Thank you so much
- 22:11Speaker 1: for shan enjoyed it, appreciate it. Let me tell you
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