Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Alex Okafor & Rynae Lindsey Full Interview

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Alex Okafor & Rynae Lindsey Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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1:07
Speaker 1: My next two guests there on the phone, they just
1:10
Speaker 1: call in. I love it. I love it when people
1:12
Speaker 1: call in all time. You know, they don't have to talk,
1:14
Speaker 1: but I love to talk anyway, So I'm good. One
1:16
Speaker 1: is the director of Operations, which means that that person
1:20
Speaker 1: runs things, and the lead creator for the Napturalistic Moji Team,
1:24
Speaker 1: and the other person the CEO of the Napturalistic Moji Team.
1:28
Speaker 1: Please working to money making conversations. Alex okafor and Renee lindsay, Hi,
1:34
Speaker 1: thank you for having us the low. Thank you happy
1:37
Speaker 1: to be on Alex. She just blasted right in front
1:39
Speaker 1: of you, man, that that's how That's how it is
1:41
Speaker 1: all the time. Man, you know, just oh you're gonna
1:44
Speaker 1: do it like that because man, care about your brother. Hi.
1:49
Speaker 1: I thought she's on the phone by herself there for
1:50
Speaker 1: a minute. But it's beautiful because you're working to do
1:54
Speaker 1: to change lives here. So first of all, before I
1:57
Speaker 1: get started, we got two great breaks to talk about.
1:59
Speaker 1: To take your time. How did you two get together?
2:04
Speaker 1: Alex even to speak on that. Okay, she's so nice. Okay, Alex,
2:12
Speaker 1: speak on Alex speaking on that. Please speak on that. Please,
2:14
Speaker 1: So we go. We met, um. I want to say,
2:18
Speaker 1: this is like we're looking at like maybe ten years ago,
2:21
Speaker 1: um in in Oakland, California, um at an outing in
2:25
Speaker 1: the evening, and we remained very very good friends and
2:30
Speaker 1: got friendlier over the years and now count her as
2:34
Speaker 1: a lucky are to be the lucky man in her life.
2:38
Speaker 1: And uh, she's obviously wonderful woman to have in my life.
2:41
Speaker 1: So yes, we're looking been in a relationship for a
2:44
Speaker 1: long time now and just been a blessing for sure. Now, Renee,
2:51
Speaker 1: how y'all actually mad? You know, give me, give me
2:53
Speaker 1: a little more n half story. He told me if
2:57
Speaker 1: I feel like I was watching Black Panther, it was
2:59
Speaker 1: that we made that's that's that's a true story. We
3:02
Speaker 1: met in Oakland at at a poetry night, and we
3:07
Speaker 1: love Jones, love Jones, come on nothing, love Jones to
3:10
Speaker 1: kind of like Leve Jones. Yeah, we just engaged in
3:13
Speaker 1: some really interesting conversation and so we decided to keep
3:16
Speaker 1: in touch and the rest of history. Okay, keep into
3:18
Speaker 1: How did you guys, stay in touch. How how is
3:20
Speaker 1: that work? How they did there? Because he was playing
3:23
Speaker 1: basketball correct at the time? Was he not? He? He was?
3:26
Speaker 1: He was? And you know what's interesting is he ended
3:29
Speaker 1: up playing in Europe at a time that I was
3:30
Speaker 1: moving to Europe, and so we both lived in Europe. Yeah,
3:35
Speaker 1: a few years, so it worked out. Okay, now we're
3:37
Speaker 1: about in Europe that you moved to and bought in Europe.
3:40
Speaker 1: Were you playing, Alex I'm I moved to London and
3:45
Speaker 1: then I was I was in Germany at the time initially,
3:48
Speaker 1: but I moved, I moved throughout euro I was in Germany,
3:51
Speaker 1: I was in France. Uh, Luxembourg, back to France. So
3:54
Speaker 1: I moved a little bit France. You know, you were
3:57
Speaker 1: just a train ride away. You know, you could just
3:59
Speaker 1: taken You can swim, you could swim to your love
4:02
Speaker 1: from France, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, it was
4:06
Speaker 1: kind of nice. We would like meet on the weekends
4:08
Speaker 1: and parents, you know, it was kind of movie asked.
4:12
Speaker 1: Parents is one of my favorite city. By the way,
4:13
Speaker 1: I love Mr Paris. Now, don't don't don't you're talking
4:16
Speaker 1: about the boy parents. I've been the parents a couple
4:18
Speaker 1: of times. You know what I'm saying. I got photos
4:21
Speaker 1: in Paris, so I got some stories too. Though. You know,
4:24
Speaker 1: I always tell people that you know, you live a
4:27
Speaker 1: good life. You know I lived there. I live a
4:28
Speaker 1: good life. I don't say lived a good life. And
4:31
Speaker 1: uh and when I look back by life, I would
4:34
Speaker 1: have moved to Paris. It's such a really cool cultural environment.
4:39
Speaker 1: Uh that just the language, the food, that the city,
4:44
Speaker 1: and the fact when you're in France you go everywhere,
4:46
Speaker 1: you go, everywhere, you experience anything. So so that's the
4:50
Speaker 1: reason I wanted to talk about that, because of the
4:51
Speaker 1: fact that that that worldly, this that you guys have
4:54
Speaker 1: to be able to. I've seen the world you from
4:57
Speaker 1: a standpoint of playing in different countries and fel it
5:00
Speaker 1: lee and from an athletic standpoint, and from you have
5:03
Speaker 1: to say, an entrepreneur standpoint, and then you moved to
5:05
Speaker 1: London getting experience that lifestyle. Then you brought it back
5:09
Speaker 1: to the United States. Talk to you about that? Sure sure,
5:15
Speaker 1: sure so um in the summers, um, regardless of whether
5:18
Speaker 1: or not I was planning, UM, you know Europe or
5:20
Speaker 1: as you're aware for um, you know, my my home
5:22
Speaker 1: basis of Bury, California and I was fortunate to have
5:26
Speaker 1: that be Renee's home base as well, where most a
5:29
Speaker 1: lot of her family is UM and so we would
5:32
Speaker 1: we'd be able to kind of sustain that relationship in
5:35
Speaker 1: the meantime. UM. And I think from an entrepreneurial standpoint, UM,
5:39
Speaker 1: I always wanted to get my stuff, my hands involved
5:41
Speaker 1: in something, see what I could learn about, what I
5:43
Speaker 1: could work to create in the off season. You know,
5:45
Speaker 1: I didn't want to reduce myself to just being an athlete. UM.
5:48
Speaker 1: I was privileged to have a good education, to have
5:51
Speaker 1: a lot of friends who are doing a lot of
5:52
Speaker 1: exciting and um exciting things, and they kind of inspired
5:55
Speaker 1: me to want to create and build and think about
5:57
Speaker 1: the next chapter of my life personally. UM. And I'll
6:01
Speaker 1: allow Renee to speak for herself concerning the professional track.
6:05
Speaker 1: Come on, big talker, Come on, big talker. Well, actually,
6:10
Speaker 1: I I interpreted the question a little bit differently at
6:12
Speaker 1: UM and I was thinking in terms of I was
6:15
Speaker 1: thinking in terms of naturalist emoji. UM. And then the
6:17
Speaker 1: way that my experience in different spaces influence my thought
6:22
Speaker 1: processes on the reason that it was created. UM And
6:26
Speaker 1: it's just kind of like looking around and observing the
6:30
Speaker 1: interaction that black people have all over the world, and
6:34
Speaker 1: how it's not really unique to America, right, that we
6:36
Speaker 1: are other and that we're not really represented. UM. And
6:40
Speaker 1: I would say that that kind of stuck with me
6:42
Speaker 1: throughout But no matter where I go, it always seems
6:45
Speaker 1: as though black women are you know, beautis other, like
6:48
Speaker 1: not highlighted as a beautiful ones. And so that's kind
6:51
Speaker 1: of like what triggered our thought process on the project. Cool.
6:55
Speaker 1: So now you guys are team members on this project?
6:58
Speaker 1: Is the naturalistic Moji talked to Moji? Okay, cool, help
7:08
Speaker 1: me out now you know project and how did this thought? Okay, yeah,
7:14
Speaker 1: I can take that one. Um. So kind of like
7:17
Speaker 1: what I was getting on earlier. I started from from
7:19
Speaker 1: conversations amongst friends about the lack of representation that we
7:23
Speaker 1: see about black people, black women in particular in the
7:27
Speaker 1: media and um images about beauty and things like that,
7:31
Speaker 1: and also from observations that were made during play DAGs
7:34
Speaker 1: with our nieces around the engagement that they had with
7:37
Speaker 1: dolls and the way that it influenced the way that
7:39
Speaker 1: these see themselves. UM. And then conversations with with some
7:43
Speaker 1: of my older nieces about some of the challenges that
7:46
Speaker 1: they feel as black girls growing up in spaces that
7:49
Speaker 1: are primarily occupied by non black people, you know, laying
7:52
Speaker 1: in the Bay Area. Um. And then the messaging that
7:56
Speaker 1: accompanies that, right, And so we both hadn't had a desire.
7:59
Speaker 1: We both are really close to our nieces and so
8:01
Speaker 1: had it had a strong desire to to um influence
8:06
Speaker 1: positively the way that they see themselves, UM and the
8:09
Speaker 1: way that they interact with the world. And so um yeah,
8:13
Speaker 1: just just like I was saying reflections about the harsh
8:15
Speaker 1: realities that black women and girls are often excluded in
8:19
Speaker 1: conversations around beauty and worse and desirability. So we really
8:23
Speaker 1: wanted to do something that was made with black women
8:27
Speaker 1: as the focus. UM. And then particularly with the natural
8:30
Speaker 1: least the Emoji project being in in a digital space
8:34
Speaker 1: is UM to carve a digital space for black women
8:36
Speaker 1: to be celebrated that was free from intrusion. So that
8:39
Speaker 1: was truly ours. So if you look at our emojis,
8:42
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's us, Like, it's it's for us,
8:45
Speaker 1: it's by us, with us in mind. And yeah, it's
8:48
Speaker 1: a beautiful thing. Yeah. One of my producers she you know,
8:50
Speaker 1: she sent it to me. You got that on the show.
8:52
Speaker 1: Look at this is so cool. This is so cool,
8:55
Speaker 1: you know, and uh, what age group are you looking at?
8:57
Speaker 1: What are your group? Are you trying to brand in
9:00
Speaker 1: saw these mojis too? Oh sure, I'll take that. The
9:05
Speaker 1: unique thing about it is there's a little bit of
9:07
Speaker 1: something for everyone. So you know, yes, for sure, for sure. Um.
9:13
Speaker 1: The idea was to make it playful enough that you know,
9:16
Speaker 1: young kids and you know, this is obviously up to
9:18
Speaker 1: parents at what time they exposed their their children too
9:21
Speaker 1: screens and things of that nature, but young kids could
9:23
Speaker 1: have an appeal. And what we did, which what we
9:26
Speaker 1: thought would be very important. Um. And as much as
9:29
Speaker 1: you know, um, some of the lead ladies on the
9:31
Speaker 1: creative side had influence. We were sure to check in
9:34
Speaker 1: with our nieces and in my case, my my daughter
9:37
Speaker 1: to make sure it passed the cool the cool factors, um,
9:41
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, So that it had an appeal.
9:43
Speaker 1: Um that was that was fairly broad and we wanted,
9:45
Speaker 1: you know, little black girls to be able to see
9:47
Speaker 1: themselves in these characters. And obviously you know millennial, Um,
9:51
Speaker 1: the millennial age group is an age group that obviously
9:53
Speaker 1: we have a close connection to UM seeing as that
9:56
Speaker 1: we're part of it. So I think we wanted to
9:58
Speaker 1: make sure it was broad reaching and that the the
10:00
Speaker 1: emoji spoke to him. So we were intentional about making
10:03
Speaker 1: sure that UM the unique value proposition was the three
10:07
Speaker 1: D characters that really popped and showed our melanin risk
10:10
Speaker 1: in complexions and our afrotexture here kind of work to affirmer. Right.
10:15
Speaker 1: You know my daughter, she's twenty one and uh and
10:18
Speaker 1: so and she's into gamification, into art work, you know,
10:21
Speaker 1: and so how about and so I'm to make sure
10:24
Speaker 1: she Uh So you talked about content, you talked about
10:27
Speaker 1: a team, I know YouTube of the two visionaries, let's
10:29
Speaker 1: talk about that. Let's transition a little bit to the
10:31
Speaker 1: to the content team. How does that work? Sure? Sure? Sure?
10:36
Speaker 1: So UM. Initially when I was when we first started
10:40
Speaker 1: to kind of conceive of the project, we knew that
10:43
Speaker 1: we needed some support, UM from like a developer. We
10:47
Speaker 1: had a lot of creative people on our team that
10:50
Speaker 1: had ideas and that can kind of chart that course
10:53
Speaker 1: on the creative side, but we knew that we needed
10:54
Speaker 1: support from a developer, and so what we did is
10:56
Speaker 1: we tapped UH, a former alumni at my score. A
10:59
Speaker 1: pretty sin by the name of Morio O. Come. Uh.
11:03
Speaker 1: He's a brother who's been in the app and the
11:05
Speaker 1: app world for a long time. Um, he's he's had
11:08
Speaker 1: great success and so we tapped him. He's become much
11:10
Speaker 1: of a mentor of sorts for me over the years,
11:14
Speaker 1: and he has a group called the app Magic Crew,
11:16
Speaker 1: and his his company was a Magic Yes yes, shout
11:21
Speaker 1: out at Magic. His company was who we worked with
11:23
Speaker 1: to put the project together. And then from the creative side,
11:26
Speaker 1: it was the mostly popularly the ladies taking the lead
11:29
Speaker 1: for curating the look and the design, and internally we
11:31
Speaker 1: have a designer um, so that that made it much easier.
11:35
Speaker 1: From there it was just mostly conceptualizing and I would
11:38
Speaker 1: call like you Ui and UX so the design and
11:41
Speaker 1: making sure that it's just a sleek project that's kind
11:43
Speaker 1: of product that's easy to use and iterating and uh yeah,
11:47
Speaker 1: the rest is history. We were able to to chart
11:50
Speaker 1: a course for lunch. Now, you know, everybody has a
11:54
Speaker 1: good idea, okay, and then this is tied to emotion.
11:57
Speaker 1: I can hear in Renee's voice you know this is
12:00
Speaker 1: a passion and I'm not saying you know, you got pastor.
12:02
Speaker 1: You always say you have a daughter, and I was
12:05
Speaker 1: my daughter the same way, I won't have a better
12:07
Speaker 1: life than I have than I had. Now looking at
12:09
Speaker 1: your Instagram account, went to it and I see these
12:12
Speaker 1: different images and just walk way through. How do you
12:15
Speaker 1: post and what do you when you do post on
12:17
Speaker 1: your Instagram account? What are you trying to achieve on
12:20
Speaker 1: your Instagram account? M hmm, yeah, we can both take
12:24
Speaker 1: that one, um and you can chime in. We really
12:28
Speaker 1: look for things that celebrate black people because it says
12:31
Speaker 1: black women are amazing. So we created a three D
12:33
Speaker 1: emoji app and necessaries in your honor, and that's one
12:37
Speaker 1: of the buying lines on it. I'm just trying to
12:39
Speaker 1: expand when I when I've invited individuals on my show,
12:42
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to promote. I'm trying to promote and
12:44
Speaker 1: let everybody have a clear understanding of what you bring
12:46
Speaker 1: to the table, which you got me excited because everybody
12:49
Speaker 1: that comes on my show, it's a relationship. You and
12:51
Speaker 1: I are in a relationship, not my relationship is to
12:54
Speaker 1: expand your brand and to promote your brand, And I
12:56
Speaker 1: see this is so cool when I'm looking at these
12:59
Speaker 1: very is different women size type. Uh, colored tones, hairstyles
13:06
Speaker 1: are different, means that African American women beauty of black
13:10
Speaker 1: women beauty comes in all type. That's what I took
13:12
Speaker 1: away from this Instagram account. Yeah, yeah, I mean black
13:16
Speaker 1: women are the target demographic, you know. Um we because
13:19
Speaker 1: like I was saying, there's a lack of affirmation and
13:22
Speaker 1: black beauty and just the general media, and so we
13:25
Speaker 1: like to take this opportunity to show and the social
13:27
Speaker 1: media space that you know, we are beautiful, you know,
13:31
Speaker 1: and we deserve to be celebrated in all of our
13:34
Speaker 1: tones and hair textures and all the differences that we
13:37
Speaker 1: have different styles, different bone structure and it's all beautiful.
13:42
Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more. Hi, just Ra Sean McDonald.
13:46
Speaker 1: You're listening to money making conversations on the phone. Is
13:49
Speaker 1: the director of operations and lead creator and the CEO
13:52
Speaker 1: of Natural Lista. I said, all right, team, you got it. Okay,
13:57
Speaker 1: that's actually sounds a lot a lot of cooler now
14:00
Speaker 1: now I was saying Lester least, So I'm a fan.
14:04
Speaker 1: Now I'm a fan Stu Alexa for and Renee and
14:08
Speaker 1: Renee spelled r y a r n A. Lindsay, So
14:14
Speaker 1: you guys have a gala coming up. Tell me about
14:16
Speaker 1: that gala and how can ra Sean McDonald help promote
14:19
Speaker 1: it besides this show through social media? Hey man, use me,
14:23
Speaker 1: use me? Okay? Oh so sore sore? So. UM. I
14:28
Speaker 1: guess the bigger picture what we wanted to do is, UM,
14:31
Speaker 1: consistent with the mission of Naturalista, is we have a
14:34
Speaker 1: larger brand called Win for the Culture, and so that's
14:37
Speaker 1: used to actually fall under it falls under the umbrella
14:40
Speaker 1: of Win for the Culture and Went for the Culture.
14:42
Speaker 1: The brand is similar. It's to work to create spaces
14:45
Speaker 1: and experiences and content, products and services that kind of
14:49
Speaker 1: work to affirm and connect and empower you know, black people, um.
14:53
Speaker 1: And so we've partnered, We've done a number of events
14:55
Speaker 1: and we have our upcoming annual galla in the Bay Area, California,
14:59
Speaker 1: come up on February second of next year, so right
15:02
Speaker 1: at the start of a Black History Month. So it's
15:04
Speaker 1: going to be a special time. And what we're gonna
15:07
Speaker 1: do is we're gonna partner with some small businesses to
15:09
Speaker 1: kind of celebrate some of the work that people are
15:11
Speaker 1: doing to blaze trails, um, you know, for for those
15:14
Speaker 1: generations to come UM and So it's a really special
15:17
Speaker 1: event UM hosted by our parent company UM that we
15:20
Speaker 1: are awful executive members of us. And yeah, it's called
15:24
Speaker 1: the Black renof Gala and UH in east By, California, Berkeley.
15:28
Speaker 1: So we're really excited about that. Okay, what what? What?
15:30
Speaker 1: What got it started? Everybody comes with an idea. My
15:33
Speaker 1: idea was the Neighborhood Awards, and it was about uplifting
15:35
Speaker 1: the community and recognizing what I've considered the real stars
15:39
Speaker 1: in the community that are the entrepreneurs. What what What
15:43
Speaker 1: launched this idea? And I always say that because a
15:45
Speaker 1: lot of people have ideas, and then the ideas never
15:48
Speaker 1: they are the fear or improper planning. It never goes anywhere.
15:53
Speaker 1: Your idea was tied to emotion. You're in the Bay Area,
15:56
Speaker 1: which which which seems fittingly the right place to launch it.
16:00
Speaker 1: Talk to me about Yeah, yeah, it was just it
16:04
Speaker 1: was it was just reflections about things that we wanted
16:07
Speaker 1: to see and we felt, uh, maybe a level of
16:10
Speaker 1: dissatisfaction that you know, we we tended to be afterthoughts
16:14
Speaker 1: and a lot of the conversations UM, whether it was
16:16
Speaker 1: a case with the naturalist emoji or creating spaces where
16:20
Speaker 1: black people can feel whole and affirmed or recognized. We
16:23
Speaker 1: seem to always be kind of a footnote in these conversations.
16:26
Speaker 1: And rather than waiting on other people to create things
16:29
Speaker 1: for us or being disappointed with what they do for us,
16:32
Speaker 1: we figured, why don't we start to produce these things?
16:35
Speaker 1: You know, why don't we create the things that we
16:37
Speaker 1: want to see? And so we were very strategic. You mentioned,
16:40
Speaker 1: you know, having a proper planning. We were very strategic
16:42
Speaker 1: in assembling, you know, a team of qualified people who
16:46
Speaker 1: work in a number of different sectors and areas, and
16:49
Speaker 1: we just we started started with an ideation process, from
16:52
Speaker 1: an ideation process and went to writing down thoughts and
16:55
Speaker 1: then we started getting to action. And so we're unique.
16:58
Speaker 1: The privilege that we have is our close FAMI league.
17:00
Speaker 1: Our team has constituted a close family and friends and
17:03
Speaker 1: they have unique UM unique insights. So, for example, one
17:07
Speaker 1: of our league curators, faith On Woosa, is a she
17:10
Speaker 1: she has a history of curating and design and she
17:13
Speaker 1: works on that. My older sister has been a creative
17:16
Speaker 1: director for our team. My brothers are are in sales
17:20
Speaker 1: and business development respectively, and so UM provided with Renee's
17:25
Speaker 1: operations background and my kind of role as an entrepreneur strategist.
17:28
Speaker 1: UM is made for a beautiful accommodation. So we just
17:32
Speaker 1: you know, it always starts with ideation and we go
17:34
Speaker 1: to strategy. We think about what take what it takes,
17:36
Speaker 1: how much money, how much time on much effort, and
17:38
Speaker 1: we start to piece things together and we don't we don't.
17:41
Speaker 1: We didn't go for home runs out the gate Um.
17:43
Speaker 1: We we kind of work slowly but surely worked our
17:45
Speaker 1: way up. So we did, you know, smaller events and
17:48
Speaker 1: smaller gatherings. We partnered with other people until we're so
17:50
Speaker 1: confident like we could we could really do something special. Cool.
17:53
Speaker 1: I'm going to do a website right now, which is
17:55
Speaker 1: really cool. Now you now you have you have a
17:57
Speaker 1: chat now, Okay, that's some youth you and a good
18:00
Speaker 1: thing because you're community. You want to communicate with the
18:02
Speaker 1: people come to your site. What initiated that thought process
18:06
Speaker 1: on your website? Are you thinking about the chat? Yes?
18:11
Speaker 1: Oh yes, for sure, for sure. What we found is UM.
18:15
Speaker 1: You know they even mentioned is this reach. Sean McDonald
18:20
Speaker 1: got my little, my little, my little avatar right there
18:22
Speaker 1: and Sean is that yes, that's yes, that's me. Chat
18:26
Speaker 1: now when you start talking, brother, I've been doing my
18:29
Speaker 1: little homework team. It's really cool site. So let's talk
18:32
Speaker 1: about why. You know, because there's a lot of website
18:34
Speaker 1: we have a chat now on my website. Okay, so
18:37
Speaker 1: why did you guys decide to do chat now because
18:39
Speaker 1: that sounds really cool. Yes. The thing that we found is, um,
18:44
Speaker 1: we were a bit overwhelmed. So the good thing about
18:47
Speaker 1: the project and the fact that people were really interested
18:50
Speaker 1: in the things that we have going on, is that
18:52
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people reaching out. Sometimes they're reaching
18:54
Speaker 1: out with questions. Sometimes they're reaching out just to say hello,
18:57
Speaker 1: We're to tell us that they appreciate it. If you
18:59
Speaker 1: see our e commerce shop, you'll notice that we have
19:01
Speaker 1: a lot of unique products. Sometimes they have inquiries about products,
19:04
Speaker 1: and just in terms of bandwidth, it was very difficult
19:06
Speaker 1: for us to manage it, you know what I mean,
19:08
Speaker 1: to manage it all. And so this was another medium
19:10
Speaker 1: as opposed to having to respond to maybe you know,
19:13
Speaker 1: a hundred of backlog of hundreds of emails. Um, we figured,
19:17
Speaker 1: why don't we make chat available and to the extent
19:19
Speaker 1: that one of us is available during the time, we
19:22
Speaker 1: can all just kind of offer our support, you know,
19:24
Speaker 1: kind of in real time. So if somebody's interested in
19:27
Speaker 1: the product on our on our website once to Buy,
19:29
Speaker 1: you know, one of our unique products, you know, we'd
19:32
Speaker 1: be able to answer some questions. And we saw like
19:33
Speaker 1: that be an easier way to kind of facilitate communication,
19:36
Speaker 1: you know, because a lot of times that can be
19:38
Speaker 1: the difference between securing the sale and you know, having
19:41
Speaker 1: an unhappy customer, and we really wanted to be able
19:43
Speaker 1: to satisfy um, the customer's request. Well, I love it
19:46
Speaker 1: because that's what leads to long time success. I'm just
19:50
Speaker 1: I just I just folded just to my daughter so
19:54
Speaker 1: she can see it, because, like I said, this is
19:55
Speaker 1: really cool. And I'm marketing as we speak. Man. Man,
20:03
Speaker 1: Because just so, you talked about the gala. Now that's
20:07
Speaker 1: the Bay Area. So do you said, is it is
20:11
Speaker 1: it cool to promote it nationally or just focused in
20:13
Speaker 1: that California area. Yes, So the the in terms of
20:18
Speaker 1: a physical presence, you know, obviously there's limitations we have. Um,
20:22
Speaker 1: we we do have uh, we do have the gala
20:24
Speaker 1: in the Bay Area, California. But one thing that's unique
20:28
Speaker 1: is that when we are partnering with national companies. So
20:31
Speaker 1: we're in some celiminary discussions with potential sponsors and so
20:35
Speaker 1: long as you so long as you support the mission UM.
20:39
Speaker 1: You know, we welcome, we welcome to support UM, you know,
20:42
Speaker 1: from from a national perspective, from a sponsorshuppect for providing
20:45
Speaker 1: resources UM maybe to support or recognized we call them
20:48
Speaker 1: public spotlights, in which case we we recognize local UM,
20:54
Speaker 1: you know, nonprofits and people who are doing really good
20:56
Speaker 1: work to trail based paths. You can sponsor a scholarship
20:59
Speaker 1: or an award UM in your company's honor. So so
21:02
Speaker 1: really it's about mission alignment as much as UM, even
21:06
Speaker 1: more so than demographic or geographic location. Now, the reason
21:11
Speaker 1: I say this is because I'm excited. Okay, this feels
21:14
Speaker 1: like a multi day event. I'm already promote, I'm already
21:16
Speaker 1: producing the event, multi day event because of the fact
21:19
Speaker 1: that you know, it's about the culture, but it's also
21:21
Speaker 1: about education. Now, is it just a gala or y'all?
21:24
Speaker 1: Are you eventually gonna go to vendors and you know
21:27
Speaker 1: another day, Hey, the AS is in New Orleans. Why
21:30
Speaker 1: can't you Why can't you guys be in the Bay Area.
21:32
Speaker 1: Why can't you guys do that what they're do in
21:33
Speaker 1: the Bay Area. Come on now exactly exactly long term
21:42
Speaker 1: but long term goal could be sure, you could be short.
21:46
Speaker 1: It could be short. Believe me, you guys. Are you guys?
21:48
Speaker 1: Are you guys on my show? Okay, you're on my
21:49
Speaker 1: show because you're recognizable brand. I'm just telling you this
21:53
Speaker 1: is what I love about your project, on your concept
21:56
Speaker 1: and what you're doing. It's tied to emotion. She Once
21:59
Speaker 1: you tie something to emotion, people become passionate by it.
22:03
Speaker 1: So when you sit down the line down the line
22:05
Speaker 1: is this year this, you just start adding, just add
22:08
Speaker 1: a little bit to it. Like I said, you had
22:11
Speaker 1: one day, you have one thought because you are tapping.
22:14
Speaker 1: And that's why I said. I immediately fought this to
22:16
Speaker 1: my daughter. You know I knew about it. And I'm
22:18
Speaker 1: going through the website. I'm looking at this. I'm looking
22:20
Speaker 1: at your social media and every time my turn I
22:23
Speaker 1: see there's no specific look. You look at the what
22:27
Speaker 1: was the Victorious Secrets fashion show? Every girl came down
22:30
Speaker 1: that ill was what looked like she needed to eat? Okay,
22:33
Speaker 1: everybody need to eat, eat a lot, eat a lot,
22:37
Speaker 1: and eat a lot. Why why are you not eating
22:39
Speaker 1: are You're hungry girl. You're hungry and they're trying to
22:41
Speaker 1: And so when I look at your site, I see
22:44
Speaker 1: the range, which means that anybody who comes to your
22:47
Speaker 1: your event or comes to your brand will feel comfortable.
22:50
Speaker 1: And I think that's very key to what I'm trying
22:52
Speaker 1: to say, is that you're speaking. There's no different than
22:55
Speaker 1: Black Girl's rock. There's no diss Festival, okay, and now
22:59
Speaker 1: no Essence took the music out of Essence Music Festival
23:02
Speaker 1: because I recommended it. So I'm a guy that's telling
23:05
Speaker 1: you I know what I'm talking about. I created the
23:08
Speaker 1: Hoodie Awards, which came to the Neighborhood Awards, which tractor
23:11
Speaker 1: a hundred and fifty thousand people to the city of Lanta,
23:13
Speaker 1: and for sixteen consecutive it was sold out. So when
23:16
Speaker 1: I when I come to the bar area, I know
23:17
Speaker 1: the barrier. I used to participate in the Black Comedy
23:19
Speaker 1: Explosion down there. I made the finals down that in
23:23
Speaker 1: two so I know that area and I know how
23:25
Speaker 1: it works. So just know this advice to me and
23:28
Speaker 1: you can and you can take me on as a
23:30
Speaker 1: mentor a guy you can call. Okay, listen to me.
23:33
Speaker 1: When I tell you this, you have an emotional event.
23:36
Speaker 1: Emotional event, you have to capitalize on them because of
23:39
Speaker 1: the fact that so many people don't know and once
23:42
Speaker 1: they you're the aha event. I understand what I'm saying.
23:46
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you're the oh my god event. All right,
23:48
Speaker 1: that's so relatable. Can I bring my daughter? Can I
23:51
Speaker 1: can I bring? And you you you have multiple generations.
23:54
Speaker 1: I'm sure coming to your event the daughter of the
23:56
Speaker 1: mom and the grandmama. You know, that's what your event
23:59
Speaker 1: is us. And I'm not saying you don't see that
24:02
Speaker 1: because Renee is pretty smart and you're You're an exceptionally
24:06
Speaker 1: gifted guy who went to Princeton, you know, so that's
24:09
Speaker 1: a lot of intellect happening here. So I'm just saying,
24:11
Speaker 1: from a marketing and the branding standpoint, you guys have
24:15
Speaker 1: something special just blowing up on the West Coast. Take
24:18
Speaker 1: it to the next level. And I have no problem
24:20
Speaker 1: offering my advice. No, this is for your charge here,
24:23
Speaker 1: call me and I advise you to get there. Okay,
24:26
Speaker 1: because you guys have something specials and I appreciate you.
24:30
Speaker 1: Let's just step back here. Okay, this ain't my vision.
24:33
Speaker 1: I didn't think of this, this great idea. You're You're
24:36
Speaker 1: affecting young people, and I love it because of the
24:38
Speaker 1: fact that you're saying you you you you, You're speaking
24:41
Speaker 1: the truth and say, hey, this is the this is
24:44
Speaker 1: an underserved, undervalued core group that should be recognized. We've lived,
24:48
Speaker 1: We've lived all over this world and African American women
24:51
Speaker 1: are Black women are undappreciated and time to stop. That's right,
24:56
Speaker 1: that's right. Stop. We got and we do anything, and
25:00
Speaker 1: so you gotta get what's the what's your day? That
25:01
Speaker 1: gave the February fifth, that's the Gila date, February second.
25:06
Speaker 1: We would love to have you. I've been trying to
25:08
Speaker 1: put that on my candy. I'll be coming into a
25:10
Speaker 1: lot of stuff. My staff over shure. How are you
25:12
Speaker 1: gonna go to all these different places I go to
25:14
Speaker 1: places I love. I love man, alex Rene, thank you
25:19
Speaker 1: for coming on the show. You've got my support log
25:21
Speaker 1: term and definitely short term. Okay, you need to check
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