Latest / Creative Roots Podcast / What I've Learned From Having A Business Partner - Ammar | Ep. 47

Transcript

What I've Learned From Having A Business Partner - Ammar | Ep. 47 · Creative Roots Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: I understand.
• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's you know one of the big things about being an entrepreneur that I think folks who are not that don't realize is the uh infrastructure and resources you get when you work for somebody.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: And it was funny, I threw the question out there and I didn't prep Nigel.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: He had no idea.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: Shamar had no idea.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I said, this is a question that's probably gonna get the room going.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: If I took the camera away completely and gave you a year without it, what would we see?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: Where do you think that goes?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: What are some of your other interests created?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_03: Truth in the air, let it speak.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well, software.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm working on some design projects and I'm learning Illustrator.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: Do you know how to use Illustrator?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Illustrator.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: I have not touched Illustrator in a minute.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: I've um I've used Illustrator more than I used um Photoshop, honestly.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, okay.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: I usually use Lightroom before I did anything else.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, me and Photoshop, we we've never been friends.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: Ever.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: So that's crazy.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's crazy.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I and I know you're a shooter too.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: You're a photographer, right?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: So your process when going through photography is straight to Lightroom.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: So straight out the camera, where you go first.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I have affinity.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even have Adobe anymore.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: I um I kind of got rid of that uh some years ago when I switched to Da Vinci.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: I stopped paying for it because I'm like, I was on a truck, so I was only using it like once every two months.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that was when I would go home, I would do motorcycle content, and then I would come back on the truck, and about eight hours or so, I'm done.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just paying for Adobe, nobody's using it.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, my daughter wanted to do graphic design, so I was like, all right, use it.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: She didn't use it.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then my cousin, he was only getting on there to use Photoshop for like a thumbnail.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like he'll create thumbnails for his um YouTube channel, and that was it.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, nah, I'm not gonna keep paying for this, and I'm not, you know, at that time I'm not doing photos like that.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I quit.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um I stopped, I slowed down on my motorcycle stuff too.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, not paying for this.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: I forced myself to learn Da Vinci.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: When I did, I bought um Affinity.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, um, Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Something, and they're like Photoshop Illustrator, and I think Adobe InDesign.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: One payment.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, oh, that's it.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: They function similar without all the the newer AI stuff that's out there.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then Canva just bought them.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: So there's that.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, Canva.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: So they have a whole new online platform and everything.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's supposed to be a whole lot better, but I haven't taken the time to dive into it yet.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: I've been getting in the Illustrator.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I use Capture One to start with.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: I actually completely quit Lightroom.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, Capture One, and then I take that over to Photoshop to do kind of actual retouching, capture one more color theory and um and and bulk processing.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: Photoshop, do the retouching.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I'm trying to learn illustrate, I want to learn how to use vector-based graphics.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because I'm trying to get into clothing design.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you know, what we do over at Color Mag, you know, it thrusts me into the world of fashion and just being in that world immersed in that, going to different fashion weeks, seeing, you know, pre-fall and pre-spring lines, spring lines, fall lines, seeing the rollout of of apparel.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: I just became real interested.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I wanted to start designing clothes.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: And really, to be a clothing designer, you gotta know Illustrator, you gotta know vector-based graphic programs.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: So um this last few weeks, learning that it's been like my brain feels like mush right now.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but that's where I'm at right now, trying to get into fashion design.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Fashion, that was one of the reasons why I was learning Illustrator too.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Creating all those, like you said, those vector files, um, you know, all the the fonts and things like that, and being able to make that vector file, and uh I think it's like rasterizing or something like that.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is, you take that pixeled edge off of it.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I was using it for.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I liked Illustrator, but like I said, I wasn't gonna keep paying for it and want nobody using it.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so yeah, nah, it had to go.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: I understand.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's you know, one of the big things about being an entrepreneur that I think folks who are not that don't realize is the uh infrastructure and resources you get when you work for somebody.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't realize it just how just how much you're given when you have an involved.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: Your software, your hardware, even this the office space, all that stuff costs money once you lose it.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like, damn.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: Even where I work out of, now I gotta work from home.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: And your home ain't set up like an office is.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: So now you gotta either make it get set up that way or you gotta go spend some money.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a lot.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: So like my um my office at home, um, I'm literally like facing a blank wall.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: We haven't painted that room yet.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but behind me is where all my wife's stuff is, and she does um like graphic tea, she does custom mugs, uh uh tumblers, blank.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: She got a print shop.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you need something screen printed on the shirt, basically.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Basically, she got a print shop and um all that stuff.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: So like um, you can get like the screens, the screen print, direct to film, and she'll you know, heat press them on the shirt.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh she does hats.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she made some shirts for some daycares, and she made like a whole little kit for some little kids' birthday, like the shirt, the shorts, um, and like a little tote bag.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a little, it was a little girl.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: So she made all this stuff for this little girl.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, she takes pictures and put them on mugs.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so all this stuff is behind me, and I'm like, song gotta happen.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: That can't be in my background.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, t-shirts and hoodies stacked up, you know, her whole computer set up is behind me, and I'm like, hey, what's going on?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to another vlog.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Da-da-da-da-da.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, but what is that?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: My wife, she got this big old oven that she can put the mugs and stuff in instead of having to put it in just the the uh the wrap, the thing that wraps the mugs, she's got a whole oven.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it's sitting back then.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: People be like, what is that?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: What is that?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh man.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm working on switching this office up without me feeling like I'm in prison because I gotta face a blank wall.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: But I also don't want my stuff like right at the window because I do open the window.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm trying to figure it out.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I got the the custom-built PC, I got the monitor, I got keyboard and mouse, I got um studio uh monitor speakers, um, I got a gaming mouse, and I got a regular, uh not even a regular, but a Logitech mouse, the one of the MX Masters.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, when you say you're trying to turn it into a trust me.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know PC or Mac gonna be expensive straight out of the gate.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm a PC guy and Apple.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta build from there.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you just gotta build it.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not either.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you just gotta build it.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I build them.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I know what needs to go in there.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: I know how to how to make that stuff operate the way it's supposed to.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: So if you need me to build you one or at least create you a list, let me know.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: I got you.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: I know who to go to.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, um, I don't know if you know, and I'm pretty sure you do, there's no intro.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're already recording, so we're in here.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: So, welcome back to another episode of Creative Roots Podcast with Seed Stone Become Visions Grown.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: I am your host, Tay, and I'm by myself today.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's been a lot going on this week that I won't talk about.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have to go and check out me and Shamar's personal pages, and that's if we even put something out there.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: But listen, today we have a very uh special guest today.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And as y'all can see, the set is different.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: We've already been talking, so y'all already know.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're virtual.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: We are sitting down with Amar from Color Magazine.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: You are the photographer.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Photographer.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: And what else over there?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh So over at Color Mag, I'm the photographer, uh chief of photography, but I'm also the art director of Color Magazine.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: We are we are one-stop shop media company publication, and my partner, Nigel, and I had to go and learn everything where it comes to publication.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: And so where I started off as just photographer, him stylist, um, we started to graduate to many other hats.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: He became fashion director, he became editor-in-chief, um, I became art director.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I took on sometimes entertainment director.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh whatever we have to do to create a print in digital magazine, we do it.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: So who I am today is our director, uh and your chief photographer.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: Who I am tomorrow, for color, who knows?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yup.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: I get it, I get it.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of um, that's kind of like me and Shamar.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I might be your videographer today.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Tomorrow I might be your photographer, and then I'm still gonna have to edit that video.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Shamar, he he get out there and he does video when he got to.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: But we know our lane.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we stick in our lane, but every nine and then, you know, you gotta switch it up on them.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, one thing about one thing about being creative today is you have to be kind of a one-stop shop.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: You gotta be a generalist in some ways.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, what's going on, good people?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is Shamar Taste, Trusty Sidekick.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, I just wanted to come in real quick to let you all know here at Creative Roots, we are more than a podcast.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: We are a whole community.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, a community of creatives, and we want you all to tap in.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you visit us at Creative Roots Podcast.com where you can join the community.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can check out the merch that we have over there, and you can just tap in.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good way to connect with us.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Also, if you want to be on the show, you can fill out a form on the website.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: So again, visit creative roots podcast.com.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now back to the episode.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Peace.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: One thing about being creative today is you have to be kind of a one-stop shop.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: You got to be a generalist in some ways, um, but still learn really well how to do the at least one thing, but be ready to do it all.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Learn one thing specific, master that as much as you can, and then turn into that jack of all trades.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm with you.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm with you.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm with you.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: So how you uh how's your day going so far?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think I asked you that off camera, but how's your day going so far?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: You I know you got a lot going on today.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so far, so good.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um again, and and we did talk a bit off camera.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: We even jumped right on camera and started going with it, but brain is just mush right now, learning some new skills.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I recently, and and this is crazy.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: I recently decided to return to college.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: You know, um, I've been completely self-taught in in this trade that we do, just being a creative.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I decided it was just time.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: I felt like uh it really it never was an intellect thing, it was more so maturity, it was more so time.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it was coming to find out how valuable it could be to me specifically.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I felt like this was the time where I've learned probably all I can learn is a self-taught creative.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, maybe go back to school and and hone in a bit, or even learn some of these new practices with the with the onset of AI.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: These colleges' curriculums, they move quick in kind of being prepared for the world and getting people job ready.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, there's a world coming that they are going to be on the cutting edge or the front line up.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's time to go over there and learn something.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um but in going back, you don't just get to jump right into the major because I'm going after a bachelor's.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: You gotta go do all of everything.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I I literally was just reading psychology.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm in a psychology class, I'm over there reading psychology chapters or um thinking, learning, and intellect, um, thinking language and intellect.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and as soon as I get those chapters done, then I gotta go shift and do some editing.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I gotta edit some photos.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I gotta do like my brain is just being taxed right now, but it's all good.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's a fun process.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: I I know how college was.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um man, I went to NASCAR tech.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about something intense.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then I got out and was like, I'm gonna go to Devra and learn this business, you know, and then I'm sitting there, you know, learning psychology, um, you know, these math classes and stuff like that.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I got this, I got this.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then you turn around and be like, what is this?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm and I'm pretty sure that now, like you said, with with the introduction of AI and everything, classes being taught different.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Classes are being classes, classes are shifting more toward technology for sure and not you know, handwritten, you know, um motions.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: But so yeah, I I I I'm with you.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I can't.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: This whole week is a blur.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: There's been a lot going on this week.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: So listen, man, I I want to appreciate you for coming on here.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we we talked during the live.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you said the question during the live, and we talked to Nigel on the live.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, this is this has been a long time coming.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, again, I appreciate you for being here on Creative Roots, where we sit with creatives and talk about their journey from the beginning.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: So, with that being said, what seed or seeds were planted that got you into this whole creative space?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, that's a great question.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: And thank you for having me.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: Let me really like sincerely thank you for having me.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm glad I was able to participate on that live.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_02: That was a really just dope live, like Paula episodes y'all did.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: And it was funny, I threw the question out there and I didn't prep Nigel.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: He had no idea.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: Shamar had no idea.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I said, this is a question that's probably gonna get the room going.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: But I I actually had a show that day and had to log off before I even heard my question read and couldn't uh jump in.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: So this was a lot, a long time coming.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: But to go back to uh the question about what seeds have been planted, you know what's interesting is it took a really long time for me to find my passion.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: But when I was very young, um 10, 11, 12, early preteens, I was always fascinated with magazines.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um I was fascinated with with stills, with imagery, with fashion, uh with lifestyle photography in general, but fashion lifestyle photography.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: I would go pour through GQ magazines, Esquire magazines.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um I remember I got to high school and Complex magazine had really kind of popped.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and they were one of the first magazines I saw.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: They would have two alternating covers.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: You would have one cover of a cover star, you flip the magazine upside down, the rear cover and and how it was oriented, literally, you just flip it upside down.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um you flip it upside down, the rear cover was a completely different cover star, and they cut the book in half.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_02: And you can read it from back to front or front to back.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: It was awesome to me.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like it blew my mind.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I've been I didn't realize it, but I've been really fascinated with imagery, with um with storytelling, with narrative, creative narrative for a really long time.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: But um, where I grew up, I grew up in North New Jersey, uh, in between North and Elizabeth, New Jersey, there weren't any creatives like being almost pushed as a career.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: There weren't any creatives being celebrated.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so never did I even think you can go into creative services, you can be creative and make a living.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: And so even though I loved imagery and loved fashion magazines, I went right for let me go to school for business, let me go to school for computer science, let me go go to school for the things that we're told you can make a career out of marketable careers.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: And never did I even do anything in creative services or be a creative until I had been at work for maybe fifteen years.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: I I I worked in banking, used to work for JP Morgan Chase at the time.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: I left there, I went to insurance, was working for Blue Cross Blue Shield, and I was miserable.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like I was like, this is not what I'm supposed to be doing.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I started to think back of like now I'm I'm probably like early 30s, trying to figure out what have I always been passionate about?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like what spurs me, what moves me.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: And what I went back to was my preteens, my teens, where it was it was images, it was imagery.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so literally I bought a camera, a canon rebel.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, can't even remember which one, T T something.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean it started with a rebel, and um I Googled where everybody had a T3i.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: It was a T it was a T3 or T4.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's where you start.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_02: T three I T four I yeah, that's that's where you start.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so I grabbed my rebel and I Googled where's Fashion Week.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: And literally, because I'm here in Jersey, about 30 minutes outside of New York, you know, us Jerseyans, we have it, we have it good, we have the benefit of living here, but also having access to the city.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, popped on a train, went over to Fashion Week on a weekend, and I was standing right in the middle of street photographers, street people just walking the street with the craziest clothes and looks you've ever seen.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'm standing outside a fashion show and I was like, this is where I'm supposed to be.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how do I stay here?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: How do I make money being in this environment?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um How do I get in a fashion show?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: I was just so intrigued, and so from then on that was the goal.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I ended up leaving just leaving the job.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um like it didn't take long either.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, I left the nine to five and said, I'm gonna just figure this out.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: And um I've been going at it ever since, figuring it out.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, a lot of people can't say that.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people can't say that.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I give you credit because a lot of people that I know personally, including myself, when it, you know, certain things, it's like, but what about these bills?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we we we gotta make sure we still got somewhere to stay.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I got three kids.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta make sure they can eat.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, my wife gotta eat too.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: So, hey, shout out to you for stepping out there like that.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, everybody can't do that.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, note to everybody watching, everybody, y'all, all y'all can't do that.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: Well, well, let me tell you.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: And and you know what?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to tell them that.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want them to be dissuaded or discouraged.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what I'll say is right, what I'll say is this, because no, you're absolutely right, because there's a big piece of the story that's missing.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: How do you do that?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what folks, right, folks who watch Creative Uh Creative Roots want to know.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because we all got our story and our journey.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: I got three kids too, I have three daughters, right?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so what I'm missing is all a sacrifice.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: Because you're right, everybody don't want to do that.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, right?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody, you don't want to do that.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: And what I try to tell prospective uh entrepreneurs today is before you become an entrepreneur, be an entrepreneur is this entrepreneur spell with an IN.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: Be an entrepreneur, what that is is someone who starts their business from within another company.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so stay in your job, stay where you're at, where you have stability and security, and you're getting a check, but devote all of your other time to that passion until you can transition more comfortably.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: But the sacrifice that it took me to do what I did, I went from making money to broke.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like, don't be let's let's I'm not gonna sugarcoat it at all.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um I had to go and live back home.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no, please don't.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I got you then.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: Had three kids, right?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: I had to go and move back home.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: I said I can't I can't even survive out here on my own with these three kids without a check.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so even when I first left the the main job, I was already I was already working a full time and a part time.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: I was working retail part time.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so when I left the main job, I still did have a part time job.
• 21:45
  unknown: Right.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: And at some point I ended up leaving that too.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: But that that day one, I had no skill, no experience, and now no job.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I was terrified.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it's so funny.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Just last week, I was invited to sit on a panel discussion at my oldest daughter's school for Black History Month.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it was a creative panel.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: It was myself, a filmmaker, and a songwriter.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we were speaking to the Black Student Union at her school.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the kids asked, Can you give us a highlight of your career thus far in a low light?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: And um I I told the other two on the panel, why don't y'all go first?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Let's start with uh uh basically let's start on our low light and end on the high so that we end on a high for these kids, these high school kids.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: My oldest daughter's uh 17, soon to be 18.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I listened, I listened to the other panelists talk about their lowlights, and one of them literally, her low light, it was so funny.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: She graduated from NYU, she's a film filmmaker, um, really dope.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: I wish I could remember her name, but her lowlight was this.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: It was soon after college.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: She was a production assistant on a set of a commercial for Make the Stallion.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: And she looked around and it was just her Meg and one other person with only black women on set.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought, damn, if your lowlight is you on set with Make the Stallion, I want to, I want your life.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: Put me on set with Make the Stallion.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's never a bad day.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_03: I'm okay with it.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: Never a bad day.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: I just want to smell her.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like I just want to be near her.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um that was an amazing low light.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so when it got to me, I'm like, you know what?
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: My daughter's, you know, she's in the Black Student Union.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, let me tell a quick, a real quick story.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: She don't even know this.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_02: And what my lowlight involved was this.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: I was shooting, um, I was so broke that I had a gig pop up in Brooklyn.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: And for those who are in the tri-state area, you know, it costs money to get from Jersey to Brooklyn, right?
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_02: Even via public transportation.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: So for those outside of this area, I'll just tell you it's gonna cost you some money.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna buy a train ticket in NJ Transit, get from Jersey to New York.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: From New York, you're hopping on a subway, getting out to Brooklyn, right?
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: Because NJ Transit takes you usually to Manhattan.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I had about$20 of my bank account,$20 to my name.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: But the gig paid$500.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: I needed that$500, right?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: And so$20 don't get you from Jersey to Brooklyn and back home.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: But I figured if I just get there, I get my check, now I'm up$500.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_02: I get on the train and I decide I ain't buying the train ticket.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: So every time the conductor comes on my car, I gotta move to the next car.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I gotta run from them basically.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_02: And it works.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: I get to New York.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: Get on the subway, I buy a train, uh, subway ticket, a metro car for about$10.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_02: I got$10 left.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: Make it out to Brooklyn.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: Might have cost me like$7.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I get there, it's a hot summer day.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: I buy a bottle of water, that's$2 New York prices, right?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: And in my mind, my bank account is just ching.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: I might be down to like$8 now.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: Shoot goes amazing.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: I shoot e-commerce, right?
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm shooting on-model and off-model product.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: End of the shoot, I'm like, this has been a great experience, guys.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'll take my money and be on my way.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, oh, you're on the net 30.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: You didn't read the email?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: Oh.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know what that was at the time.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I yeah, I read the email.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know what it was.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know what it meant.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um early on in my journey.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, I had to pull somebody aside, a black person on set, and say, yo, explain this to me real quick.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: And they said, Oh, it's real simple.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: Means you ain't getting paid for 30 days.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, Right.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: I'm ready to scrap now.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, hold up.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: So who do I have to throw in a chokehold real quick?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: I can get my bread.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm like, I don't I don't know what to do.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: So now I'm like, yo, I gotta get back home.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: So man, I go to the train station and I hop a turnstile, running to make a train, a cop grabs me.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: New York Liddy, I'll put New York City police officer grabs me and said, I saw you have that turnstile, so I'm gonna write you this ticket.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: Ticket is for$60.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: I only got$10 in my bank account, maybe eight.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: So he let me get on a train and I'm devastated.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: So my head is hanging low.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: I get down to the next train station to go back to Jersey.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm too scared to run or get on the train without a ticket.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so this was why it was already a low point, but why it was really low is for me to get home, I decided I would beg.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so I became a panhandler in that moment.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm walking around the train station, and I'm I'm all meek and meager, and I'm embarrassed.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm too proud of to call somebody to ask for money.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I walked around the train station and I'm trying to find black folks, trying to find folks who look like us.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, could you please help me with a ticket?
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: I just need to get home.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: And a black woman gives me a ticket and a bottle of water, and she just was like, I see, I can see in your eyes, you're a good person, and you just fell on some hard times, a hard circumstance.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: So God bless you on your way and pay it forward.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I got home.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I was like, that it can be no low for me.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm out here begging for a train ticket.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I think a seven, eight dollar train ticket.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_02: So you know, it it can get it can get bad.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when you when you have Yeah, and and I mean that compared to being the only black person in the room other than one other person that made the stallion, yeah, girl.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: You you had a nice, a nice low.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's not even a low.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's not a low.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh you know, the lowest it's ever gotten for me is sleeping and living out of my car.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a lot.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's my low.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's my low.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when things change, you know, you're not the one smelling your drawers, as they say, you know, but everybody else feels like you are, and you don't want to, you know, in a sense or lack of words, comply, you know, with with house rules, you gotta figure it out.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I I figured it out.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: I stayed in my car, and wherever I went, that's why I stayed.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: But if I ain't had nowhere to sleep that night, I was in my car driving through the night, you know, and by daytime my mom goes to work, I go back to the house, wash my clothes, take me a nap, you know, and I'm take me a shower.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm gone.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I always had somewhere to take a shower, but I ain't always had somewhere to sleep.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Or at least not to me, because I know some family are gonna be like, you know, you could have just came here.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I ain't want everybody in my business either, you know.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: So that that's my low.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: And and again, try not to beg, because I wasn't even working.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm yeah.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: These lows get real low.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: The lows get low.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: Compared to Meg the Stallion.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: Compared to Meg the Stallion.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a great low.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's a great low.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_02: The lows get real low.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um the thing, the things we creators go through mentally.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the pride, the ego, um, you know, I mean, how we craft and curate our journey along the way.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of times, though, that's what makes you the creative you are.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's what really um that's what builds the character and and also gives you a fight and a fire in you to really be pushing, keep going and keep doing.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and these days, my lows will never compare to that low.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so sometimes I think about that in comparison, and I'm like, if I could have done, if you could sleep in the car, um, when you wake up every day in a warm bed and your family is there, but you just had a rough day as a creator, oh, I can handle that.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: You can handle that.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: So oh yeah.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: So um, what was your uh your highlight?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Or is it has it changed since then?
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because I don't know how far how long ago that was.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: So what's your highlight?
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that that panel discussion was just last week, so the highlight is definitely the same.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: The highlight I shared there, I'll share here.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, I just was on the panel because it was a Black History Month panel discussion.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um so Okay, okay.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I'll share that same highlight, and and it literally was about two years or three years from the moment of me begging to get home.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it was rather quick.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: But the highlight was as art director for Color Magazine, um, interestingly enough, uh Nigel and I, we had we had grown in leaps and bounds, and it did take a long time, but once we got into it, things picked up kind of quickly, which was amazing.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, from the time we shot our first talent, it might have taken five years before we shot talent.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: We were shooting all models, but once we started shooting talent, we hit a stride.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so the highlight was on behalf of Color Magazine, I flew out to Milan for fashion week.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: I was in Italy, first time in Italy.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um and oh, yeah, and um the whole trip was the highlight, but specifically, it was, you know, the art director of Color Magazine, myself receiving an invitation to these different fashion houses.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I can't remember which specific fashion house.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: It might have been um uh a designer called Baggioli, which is a rather well-known for uh Italian fashion house.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_02: But I got invited to this atelier, and I walk in there, first, and I'm an only black person, and I'm not surprised by that.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: But um, I walk into this atelier room, you know what I'm saying?
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's James Milan.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I go up in there and they knew me by name, they were expecting me, excited to see me.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm seeing all these folks, they speaking Italian, but then flipping right to English for me, and they're not even offended that I'm I know very little Italian, obviously.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I tried to learn as much as I could, but when I just really got to a point where I couldn't communicate, what I did learn is new capisco, which is I don't understand in Italian.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I would say that a lot, and I'll say I was saying that all true.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so I would flip over, you know, I would speak English to them, and they would speak English right back, and they were just so accommodating.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: They had me sit down and they serve me um, I think it was a cappuccino.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but they served me a cappuccino and brought out some Italian-baked goods, and just wanted to, they roll out the red carpet to show me their line, incoming season line, and ask how we as color at Color Magazine can be involved and how they can be involved with us, how they can send us some clothes for our next shoot.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_02: We'd already used them on set many times, how thankful they were, how much they loved what it is we were doing.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: And again, I'm just sitting back there thinking, I was in New York City begging a couple years ago.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Nigel and I grinded all our money, our time, our effort.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, no investors.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: We built something, and that something has me sitting in Italy, like being served cappuccino.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: Mr.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: Tomas, Mr.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_02: Jamal.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm like, right, I'm like, damn, right.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: This is crazy.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, so that was a highlight.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Asking you questions.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: Man.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: Asking for your feedback.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: You're not just sitting there just to be there.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: You in there with a reason for a reason with a purpose.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I just, you know, I realized in that moment just the power of our creative efforts, of our determination, um, and and also the power of of community and brand building, of platform building, of building something and then finding your your audience, um, and learning how to reach and connect them and how we can elevate each other.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: Because we don't get there if people don't buy in.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was it was it was special.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was special.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you you just you really said a lot right there, you know, being able to build your brand and being able to reach the people that need to be reached.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um because a lot of people start off and they're not niche down.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now, there's this whole conversation of you don't have to start out or have a niche.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: But I think we both know, and I think even those that say that, no, once you've narrowed down who your real target audience is, things tend to get a little smoother.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Things get a lot easier because you're not trying to please everybody.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: You're trying to only please these few people.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: And while I'm thinking about it, it's another thing of you don't have to have all these followers in order to get these brand deals and to get these sponsorships.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: You just really need that core audience, hardcore audience that's gonna stick with you and that's gonna be there.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um so when it comes to Color Magazine, how do um how does all of that play into everything that y'all do as far as like niching down and sticking on this this this path?
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_02: So let me tell you, target audience is a conversation that Joe and I we fight about all the time.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_02: And it's good fights, it's great fights actually, right?
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: Because we both have different ideas of who they are, number one, and then how we scale up and who they can be, right?
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_02: These are important things.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_02: And based on who they are and who they can be, that also directs who we are looking for ad dollars from, who we gonna go get this money from.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_02: But how we initially developed it, you know, Nigel came up with this great idea.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: He said, This publication is a conversation between you and I, right?
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: Who do you want to talk to?
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because he had an idea of who he wanted to speak to, the voice that uh he was putting into this, these magazines and this blog really started a fashion blog, but eventually a fashion and lifestyle website.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: But he's like, this is a conversation between you and I, and we are very different, Nigel and I, which is which is great, honestly, because we can reach a broader audience with our differences, and we can introduce, I can introduce somebody who might follow the magazine for what I bring to it, something different by reading what Nigel is bringing to it, and vice versa.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so really the target audience is birthed out of our authentic voice.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_02: What is it we want to show?
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_02: What is it we want to share, and who is interested in that thing?
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_02: And um, I think that archetype was based on us.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_02: I think, you know, I mean, I was thinking, I'm speaking to black men, let's say 35, maybe even 30, 30 and up, who um like some of the finer things in life, are interested in travel, interested in sports, interested in entertainment, love music, um, like streetwear, but also like luxury.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, maybe our foodies.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like I started to build this target audience or this user, uh, is the term I like to use a lot, but I started to build that that user, that target audience from my own the things that I like, things that I'm interested in.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then after building that person, now how do I speak to them?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um and and I think Nigel did so similarly.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_02: When we go about trying to choose who and what we put into our magazine, we think of how do we reach that person?
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_02: And now, because you know we're working on our fourth book right now, I'm starting to even think, well, how do I reach his person?
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: What can I say that I know my my target audience is going to love, but we'll draw curiosity out of his target audience and we bring that together.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um so that is kind of how we've gone about.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: Pick with um from your um oh shoot, I forgot how I was going to word that.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: But you basically pick some similarities from his people so you can uh what's the word?
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: You you cross them.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, so I I know um when you work with somebody else, Lord knows it can be a challenge.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's not always a bad challenge.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: But when you have that partner in crime, this business partner, you have this person with you and you guys are talking things out, it's like, oh, I ain't thinking about that.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, but now that I'm saying it out loud, it does sound stupid.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, well, now that I'm saying it out loud, I see the vision and I see where you're able to help in the sense with this vision and vice versa.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um do you feel if it was just you?
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: And and Nigel, don't come over here, don't come in the comments, don't come for me.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: But do you feel if it was just you, color would be in the same space?
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, I know the answer, but I want I want the other people to hear the answer.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely not.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely not.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_02: It would not have been possible.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_02: I I and I tell Nigel this, that couldn't have done what we did.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think Nigel could have done what we did if he was solo.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_02: It would be something completely different.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, not only would it be completely different because it wouldn't have Nigel's voice, but the workload that we carry together.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um one thing I say to the creatives is this or or I'll ask the question and then I'll answer it for myself as well is and I do ask again potential creatives this, so even creators who have been in it, what awards or or treat certificates, what muffin do you get by doing everything by yourself?
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like what's the benefit in that for real?
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um other than your ego, other than to say, I did all this, and that's cool, but if you can get with somebody and you can go twice as far, twice as fast as the two of you, what are you doing?
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what is the benefit of doing everything by yourself?
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_02: I don't I used to think that way.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_02: I used to think I gotta do this thing soup to nuts, got it from the mud, this is all me.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then I was wondering why it's taking me so long to accomplish something.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_02: Because you and I, we got kids, we got family, you got a whole life.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you only got but so much bandwidth, so much time in the day.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_02: You start to get with other people, and they bring so much more to everything it is that you do.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: They amplify your ideas, your voice, your vision.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they can give you some corrective action.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes they can just sit there and say, you know that's stupid, right?
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um and that's where we Nigel and I are.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's the beautiful thing about our relationship, our friendship, our partnership is we have such rapport where he can just call me up and say, You know that's stupid.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I can go, yeah, you might be right.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you you're right.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: That don't make no sense.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I can call him and do the same thing.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's why it's it's a a beautiful partnership that we've been able to form.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_02: That's why I call him my brother, because through these years, we've been able to develop personally and professionally.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we just I wouldn't even be the same person without our publication and our inclusion, his inclusion in my life.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's not even it's it goes beyond just the professional side of it.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's somebody who I can go to and just have a conversation.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um and it was Girth Out of Color magazine, but what uh what do I benefit from doing all this myself?
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: Nothing to me.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta be honest with you.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: You don't get much from it.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: You don't.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: You don't get much from it.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I You don't get much.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: You you you do it by yourself and you get to say, I, I, I.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, how well are you gonna work when this thing gets bigger and it can't just be you anymore?
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, how much of a team player can you be?
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, because everybody that has been here for the most part, they work with somebody.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_01: Not necessarily a business partner, but they've partnered with somebody to do something else.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're a filmmaker, you have to, in a you know, director, producer for films, you gotta have a crew.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you you don't necessarily need help as a photographer or videographer, but you you gonna be one of those people that do both at the same event at the same time.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: What's more now you gotta decide is the video more important than the photography?
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, are they would they want pictures here instead of videos?
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta that to me, that's too much.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's a headache.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want no parts.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, Shamar, they uh they need a a photograph of that, you know, because I don't do no photos.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't do no video.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: They're asking me to do videos, right?
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: You don't do video?
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: Nah, I'm a a photo only.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm working on Shamar.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: Shamar don't come for me in the comments either.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: But I I I want Shamar to get to that point.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, he knows I can take pictures, but oh my god, that is not the first thing I want to do.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we we did the whole art show, we did the whole uh residency, and I'm like, I mean, I took pictures, and everyone's like, oh my God, these pictures are dope.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, they're just pictures, to me, is how I'm looking at it.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: And someone's like, hey, those are not just pictures.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like the first time he asked me to do photography at an event, he was like, I thought you said you couldn't do pictures, but I didn't say I couldn't.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: I said I don't like to.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: There's a difference.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't like to.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, and you're right, you know, having that person there, um moral support, emotional support, uh, thought process support, it it goes a long way.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think at the end of all of that, find somebody.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't have somebody, find somebody.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, here at Creative Roots, that's why we're we're building this community, because there could be a previous guest that was here that you're interested in, you know, talking to or learning from, and vice versa.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: They might need an assistant.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they might want to be somebody's assistant, you know.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, and and yeah, shameless plug.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm working on that page, the uh the community page, to where people can go there and say, oh, okay, well, I heard about Omar and what he's doing.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: Let me go to Omar's profile on Creative Fruits and let me, you know, see if I can tap in with him, you know, because I want to learn fashion.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm in the same area, you know, up there in Jersey and New York.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: Let me I'm closer to the city.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: Let me tap in with him, see if I can get with him so I can learn some stuff from him.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, because here we don't gatekeep.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna give the information.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's up to you to do whatever it is you need to do with it, you know what I'm saying?
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: So with that, knowing what we're building here, um, how has the support been on your side of Color Magazine?
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_02: So how I've been supported or how I give the support?
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um both.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so you know, how are people, are people supporting you, so people backing you up?
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, are people like bruds?
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's time for you to stop.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how were how are people moving in that space with you?
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, again, this is a great question.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um when I decided to really make the pivot to being a creative, like a full-time creative.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_02: One thing I told myself, one thing I told myself, and this is something that uh I I continue with this practice, I was like, I'm not actually going to a few things.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna tell anybody what I'm doing.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_02: The people who know me, I'm not gonna tell anybody what I'm doing.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_02: And and this is why.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_02: Number one, it's a litmus test.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_02: If I'm doing well enough at what I'm doing, you'll find it.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_02: You will find it.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_02: Number one, number two, um, you know, God bless our friends and family, but they have a certain vision of us, and it is very hard for them to see see us outside of who we are in comparison to who we've been or who we are to them.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: And so what happens is they project on us, they project our their fears, their anxieties, they project their version of us onto us.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_02: And you can run out and say, Yo, I really want to do this big film project.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know what?
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_02: I I want to do a featureless film.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I want to do.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_02: And the people around you say, Well, you ain't never did that, so why do you want to do that?
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_02: You you good with Creative Roots podcasts?
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's going pretty well for you.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I've seen you shoot like weapons and stuff like that.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_02: I've seen you.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_02: They start to just go down the the list of why you can't do what it is that you want to do because they don't know you to do it, right?
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so support is funny for me.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_02: Support is funny for me because I don't tell nobody until you I can't resist or help but to tell you.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: I don't tell you until I'm, yeah, I'm about to fly out tomorrow to Paris.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_02: Why are you going to Paris?
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_02: Huh?
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_02: Now there's more questions.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um I didn't was you say it so nonchalantly.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_01: Just yeah, you know.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's what we do.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's what we do.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's what we do.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's all.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I didn't when when Nigel and I first put out a magazine, uh, other than my mama and my and my uh my father, I didn't I didn't tell nobody.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_02: I I still don't tell people to be honest with you.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_02: This my close friends and family.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_02: My mother buys uh a a stack of our magazines every time we've dropped, right?
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um love her to death.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: My mother and father, they are big supporters of Nigel Nine.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_02: Other than that, honestly, to this day, and we done put three books out, multiple covers each book.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know none of my friends, and I don't know none of my friends who bought a copy.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I only know maybe one family member, one of my uncles who has definitely bought copies of the magazine.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_02: And if I were to bring it up, they'd be like, Well, you ain't telling me.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_02: That part.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know what I do.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_02: That part.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_02: Look at look at the social media.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's where I sell to everybody.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_02: I sell to you like I sell to anybody.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Nike don't have to come directly to you.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_02: The CEO of Nike don't have to say, hey, you're gonna buy this sneaker.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um so so either that means either that means I gotta do a better job at marketing and selling, um, or you might have to open your eyes.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_02: But what I'm not about to do is tell nobody.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't ask for support.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta be honest.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even cross-promote.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm so happy and thankful that y'all invited me on Creative Roots because it gave me another platform to speak to who I am and what I do because I don't even really cross-promote.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm on a podcast myself.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I have a podcast with about six or seven of my friends.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't never talk about color on that podcast.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: And and we do a lot of views.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_02: So I just I don't I don't cross-promote.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_02: I just go out there and do the work, and I let I guess how hard I'm working and how good we are at growing my audience determine where support is gonna come from.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_02: I I truly believe though.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody will find out I think we're doing the the right thing.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I I let the work I'll let the work determine the support.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_02: Other than that, I'm I don't say nothing.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's different.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: The reason I say that's different is because you know, it's it's one of those things where people expect you.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, look what I'm doing.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_01: Look what I got.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm doing this, I'm doing that.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, I'm kind of the same way.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: I just do it.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if if you on social media, you following me on social media, you see what's going on.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm not asking you to buy the magazine, you know, I'm not asking you to let me be your your new photographer.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not asking you to let me come to your event and do the videos, but you know where I'm at.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's all you know.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: Is I don't know.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't know.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because again, that's one of those that's one of those things that's like it's not really a soft spot, but it's also a I'm not about to give you any specific attention or special attention to watch me or to uh utilize my services.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's either you are or you're not.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, this is a good conversation.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because I tell people, my mama is not my target audience.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_01: Mine either.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, my wife is not my target audience, you know.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, as bad as it sounds, Shamar is not my target audience.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_01: We work together.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not expecting him to buy what we sell, you know what I'm saying?
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I know you ain't expecting Najee to be like, hey man, I'm about to buy five of our magazines.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_01: No, like, bro, what you doing?
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_01: You gonna buy them and you're gonna what you gonna do with them?
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we got everything.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so from that, even even and and and you kind of touched on it a little bit, but the people that are like, you didn't tell me how do you I'm gonna go here.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_01: How do you perceive that?
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do you perceive that as somebody they're they're looking for that special invitation?
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you perceive it as they kind of don't care, but that's their excuse.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or is it just it's one of those things of it is what it is?
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: How do how do you perceive people that move like that?
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_02: Well, since you went there, I'm gonna go there with you.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I have a few different thoughts.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_02: My first thing.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_02: All right, all right.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_02: My first thought, my first thought is entitlement.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know what I mean?
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_02: We want to be real.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_02: My first thought is entitlement.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, like you said, you know what I do?
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I use social media as a marketing tool.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_02: So you can see it right there.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um every it and I know you follow me.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I know you follow me.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_02: You you liked it.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_02: Nigel and I liked it.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_02: Our last magazine, we we we got to uh the first time we put a magazine out, we got a magazine stocked in um uh Casa Magazines in New York.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_02: By this third issue, we're now in two um two stockers.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_02: We're in Casa Magazine and Magazine Cafe, right?
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna just keep growing this thing.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_02: But every time we get a book in a in a store, him and I run to that store.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_02: We do, we do videos, we do photos.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's a picture of me and him standing right in front of our book on newsstand.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so it ain't no excuse.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_02: Can't nobody come to me who knows me personally and go, I didn't even know.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's just not possible.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_02: I promoted it, I did my part.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_02: And so either what you're saying is I didn't do a bad job, which I can learn from.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'm cool with that.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_02: That can be constructive, or you feeling entitled, you feel like I needed to treat you special.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I don't operate that way.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I don't operate that way.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_02: No, and so and but that's why let me say this too.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't take any of it personally, I just take it for what it is.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't take it personally, exactly.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_02: I just say I'm gonna work a bit harder, I'm gonna promote it a bit better this next month.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um maybe it tells me something about my target audience.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I even think, so yeah, algorithms didn't even you know what I mean.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's nothing connected you to it.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_02: I need to work a little bit harder, I need to do something different.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_02: But it is entitlement.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_02: You think because we know each other, I'm supposed to run to you and and you know what I mean, tell you expressly, specifically, hey, listen, and I ain't doing that, not for nobody.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it's okay now now.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: I I will say this though.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_01: For those that I know are not on social media, yes, I'll reach out.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: But out of a hundred people, that might only be maybe five per hundred people that I know.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe five, maybe I'll send you something.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you know, especially if I go on your account and it's like deactivated.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I know you didn't see it.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, your last post and the last thing you did was back in 2020, 2022.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_01: I I might send you something, but for the most part, y'all need to go sit y'all'll little entitled selves down.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I said it.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: Shamar, write me up.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's what it comes down to.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm I'm and um yeah, because I'm definitely with you on that.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why do we have to go out of our way to tell you about something when you have never gone out of your way to tell us about something?
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean, you might not have anything to tell us, but you ain't okay.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm getting off that horse.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm I'm coming back to creative roots.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: We we're gonna leave that alone.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna leave them alone.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, we appreciate y'all for even asking or saying anything when you do, if you did.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_01: But um, so um, I don't even know where we're gonna go from here, Mar.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_01: What are we doing now?
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_02: We want to jump in the question because I did hear the question stirred up some interesting conversation that I unfortunately was not present for.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_02: The question I had through into the uh holiday live.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_01: I was looking for the uh the question and I couldn't find it.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember what the question was?
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I shouldn't have had that ready myself.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um I basically asked.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's all good.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna we're gonna make it happen.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_02: What I basically asked was Right, for how long, or should we, as creative, black creative specifically, how how what is the uh responsibility for us to continue to depend on black dollars, uh supporting black business and black interests, only trying to cater to black dollars?
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_02: At what point do we sit there and say, we're gonna work with any and everybody who's gonna get these bills paid?
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_02: Or is there a responsibility even for us still in this in this landscape to cater to black business and and and black viewership?
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how are we curating our platforms?
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I know personally for me, um at the beginning it's it's one of those things where you reach out to who you know.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and it just so happened that the majority of creatives that I know when it comes to creative roots, you know, were black.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and over time, not thinking about it, not processing what is going on, because I talk to a plethora of different um ethnicities, right?
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_01: But over time, people have just been telling me, hey, we appreciate what you're doing for the black community.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, what are you talking about?
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because to me, I'm just talking to people that I know.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm talking to people that I've reached out to personally.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so when it comes to this platform, um yes, support for creative roots has come from the majority of black people.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna uh what's the word?
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna uh dismiss it, I'm gonna embrace it.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, for sure.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_01: But I've also said before, hey, I'm I'm interested in talking to more than just, you know, us.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_01: But it's only us that are reaching out.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe again that goes back to maybe I'm not marketing right.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'm not saying certain things and you know, promoting these different aspects.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh maybe it's a subconscious thing.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'm I'm missing it quote unquote intentionally because uh I'm just spearheading everything and oh, excuse me.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just talking to who is relatable in this creative space that I know or has reached out.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh so the other part is uh I do feel at some point okay, let me see how I want to word this.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_01: We know who we are, yes, we know what we are.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_01: But if you are not in that same vein and you want to help, okay, but understand this is still a black platform.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_01: This is still a black platform.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's going to always be ran by a black person.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, creative rules can get to the point where you don't see me, Dina, or Shamar anymore.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we have other co-hosts, you know, we have other people here, but no offense to anybody, but I don't see there ever being a white person in this particular seat as the host.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_01: You can be a guest, you may even be able to come on as a co-host or you know, somebody to if we get to a a race um episode or something like that, then yeah, come on.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, but again, I'm not telling you you can't be here.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's up to you.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've had two reach out to me.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_01: I just didn't like what one person was talking about because it was more like a I'll pay you to be on your show to promote my product, which has, in a sense, nothing to do with what Creative Roots is about.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the other one, he's a um songwriter for a Christian uh music group.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna reach out to him, but again, you know, understand where you are.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when it comes to all the other entities and businesses, we have clients that are not black that come here.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we have people that come here and use Charlotte Podcast Studio, we've had um Allen Look Studios, you know, we've gone and done photos and videos for people that are not black.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_01: But to get back to what I remember, um the question being build on us first.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_01: Unless you can't.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_01: If you have no other choice but to cross those lines, that those imaginary lines, let me put that there too.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_01: These lines that we put in place, if you feel you have to go over there, go over there.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_01: But when you go over there, remember who you are.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_01: And for the most of us, remember where you come from.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um I I I think that's important to every culture because every other culture has been known to stick together.
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's only us that are still being perceived as not knowing how to work together as a collective.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_01: But me and Shamar, you and Nigel, you know, Queen Latifah and um, and I can never remember his name, but you know, Queen Latifah in in her um quote unquote sidekick, you know, uh uh Tyler Perry and Oprah.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's always somebody else that's there to help you build.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to find the person that is willing to help you build and not tear you down at the same time, unless you being torn down has everything to do with you approaching things the wrong way.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think I spoke enough.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_01: Does that answer the question?
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_01: That was excellent.
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I went a little left.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, that was excellent.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_02: That was excellent.
• 1:03:21
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like you I feel like you touched on a lot.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_02: That was excellent.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_02: And and my thing is, like you said, only we uh feel these these external pressures, uh, we being black folks feel these external pressures to be all things.
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes some of those pressures comes from other people who look like you to go when you start to when you start to step outside of if someone were to see a white face on front of color magazine, we would hear a whole lot of well, why is a white person on that black magazine?
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's still black owned, it's still black run, it's still black operated.
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but what those what those people may not know is this is how we keep color the lights on, this is how we keep it going.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think sometimes we're putting this undue pressure on ourselves to um be super black.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like I something something that we we're putting the pressure on ourselves and sometimes limit limiting our creativity and limit limiting our opportunity by trying to uphold um what we set out to uphold.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_02: And the thing is, if you built it, then you are you are who you set out to be.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_02: If you wanted to build a black platform and you've built it, you've built it.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I just want creatives sometimes to give themselves some grace.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um pursue that money, pursue that money wherever it's going to come from, with the understanding that if you own it, it's a black, it's a black platform.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_02: So your voice, who you are, what you represent, is always going to be a part of that black form, that platform, as long as you're not compromising um who you are, what it is that you do.
• 1:05:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I don't go back and forth to again some of our great debates.
• 1:05:04
  SPEAKER_02: I am I'm ready to see um someone who might look a little bit different on the color uh cover mag um on the cover of Color Magazine, especially if they are some still someone who is very much so um within our culture, who is respected within our culture, who is an advocate.
• 1:05:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think it opens up the type of conversations we have, and it definitely broadens the type of ad dollars and monies we get to, because at the end of the day, if someone Hispanic uh or Latino, if someone Caucasian sees themselves on Color Magazine, then they think that that is a space that is that can embrace them as well.
• 1:05:42
  SPEAKER_02: Even if 99% of the people they see on Color Magazine are black, and that's probably what it's gonna be.
• 1:05:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but if Bad Bunny reached out to us, if the if the people, the handlers of Bad Bunny reach out to us and he wants a cover, he would be on the cover of the magazine.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 1:05:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um I love I love what he represents.
• 1:06:01
  SPEAKER_02: I love what he's about.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_02: And he's a global superstar.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_02: And again, I think I just think sometimes as black creatives, we just have this higher bar that is there.
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_02: And it is truly there for us.
• 1:06:14
  SPEAKER_02: Because sometimes we feel like what we do represents all of us.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_02: And again, I just want black creatives, give yourself some grace.
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_02: Get the money where it's coming from.
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_02: Just don't compromise who you are and what you set out to do in the community that you that you service.
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes you can't listen to the screams from the people way at the back of that community who are like, you doing something different.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_02: Nah, I'm just evolving.
• 1:06:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm evolving.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_02: The platform is evolving.
• 1:06:39
  SPEAKER_02: I'm evolving in my business.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it's only going to be one or two naysayers.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_02: But do what you do.
• 1:06:48
  SPEAKER_02: Work hard at what you do.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_02: Love what you do.
• 1:06:50
  SPEAKER_02: Fall in love with the labor of love that this creative, these creative practices are.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_02: Because they're going to keep you up long nights.
• 1:06:57
  SPEAKER_02: And understand that with all that work, you need to have some benefit.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_02: So work with whoever you got to work with to build that platform to be whatever it's going to be.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_02: Tyler Perry services our community.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm pretty sure he works with some white folks.
• 1:07:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm pretty sure some of those studios he works with are you got some on staff somewhere.
• 1:07:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know what I mean?
• 1:07:16
  SPEAKER_02: It don't make him any less um Tyler Perry.
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_02: It don't make him any less of a black, black producer, black movie producer, black owned studio.
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_02: So work with whomever, just understand who you are in the context of that.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 1:07:34
  SPEAKER_01: So we done we done had a whole good conversation.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_01: If Shaman was here, he'd be like, all right, Tay.
• 1:07:40
  SPEAKER_01: So let's let's do this.
• 1:07:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um three things.
• 1:07:44
  SPEAKER_01: One, um, out of everything that you've been through, right?
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_01: Your low points, your high points, and even with this conversation, um, what seed would you plant for the next creative um that's or the next person that's looking to be in this creative space?
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_02: Good question.
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_02: What seed would I plant?
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_02: What I would say to the the next creative, creators who are watching Creative Roots, um, those folks who want to become creatives, understand what your creative practice, or figure out rather, what your creative practice means to you.
• 1:08:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um I was recently asked, what is art?
• 1:08:28
  SPEAKER_02: What is what is art?
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_02: What does it mean to you?
• 1:08:31
  SPEAKER_02: And my immediate response, and it's not even a difficult question for me to answer, art is is narrative, art is storytelling.
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_02: So what I would say to that next creative is find your voice, um, own that voice, figure out what medium or what tools you need, and bring those stories forth.
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 1:08:54
  SPEAKER_02: We all got some different experiences, although they're shared experiences, we all have something that makes us unique.
• 1:09:01
  SPEAKER_02: We all got something we can speak to.
• 1:09:03
  SPEAKER_02: And again, they're shared experiences.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we're gonna be able to relate to each other, but tell your story.
• 1:09:09
  SPEAKER_02: Bring forth that narrative, whether you whether it be through painting, photography, videography, um, podcasting.
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_02: Tap into we got that that voice, that whatever that is, that creative voice, that vision, tap into what it is that you have that we need to know and share it.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's how you stay motivated, that's how you stay loving this thing, because it's gonna be difficult.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_02: But um find your voice and share it with us.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's what I would that's what I would say to uh to the next creator.
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_01: I agree.
• 1:09:48
  SPEAKER_01: Find your voice because you don't want anybody else to be speaking for you.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_01: So that right there.
• 1:09:54
  SPEAKER_01: So yes, yes.
• 1:09:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so let the people know where they can find um Color Magazine.
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, easy.
• 1:10:07
  SPEAKER_02: So colormagazine.com, um, at Color Magazine on Instagram and all social media.
• 1:10:13
  SPEAKER_02: You can find me specifically at Amar Jamal on Instagram, and you'll find Color Magazine tags all across there as well, and on my link and bio.
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, the website, I say colormagazine.com.
• 1:10:24
  SPEAKER_02: You could also purchase our magazines um in our upcoming issue, which will be out towards the end of the first quarter, right there on colormagazine.com.
• 1:10:32
  SPEAKER_02: Check out our uh check out uh definitely our IG.
• 1:10:35
  SPEAKER_02: We probably update that the most.
• 1:10:37
  SPEAKER_02: But we're on threads a little bit, we're on Twitter a little bit, it's all at Color Magazine.
• 1:10:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um so pop by there, pop by my my page as well at Amar Jamal, and pop by um Nigel as well at Nigel Isaiah.
• 1:10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Cool, cool, cool.
• 1:10:53
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so last thing.
• 1:10:55
  SPEAKER_01: All right, the uh long-awaited part.
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um I open the floor for people to ask me a question or make a comment or statement.
• 1:11:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so whatever you got for me, I'm I'm here.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_02: First off, uh I want to do this again in person.
• 1:11:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm holding you to that.
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I'm pulling up in Charlotte.
• 1:11:17
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna do this again in person.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, let's go.
• 1:11:22
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna do this again in person.
• 1:11:23
  SPEAKER_02: I guess you know what?
• 1:11:24
  SPEAKER_02: One thing I'll say to you is this, especially because Shamar lamented as to how well you did photography.
• 1:11:32
  SPEAKER_02: I want to see, I'm challenging you.
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_02: I want to see some, I want to see you touch on some other forms.
• 1:11:37
  SPEAKER_02: I want to see you stretch that creative voice a bit, whether it be through photography, um, I want to see something outside of video production.
• 1:11:46
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's something that I've been asking a lot of really skilled creators because I do think that you've been doing video for for a long time.
• 1:11:53
  SPEAKER_02: How many years has it been?
• 1:11:54
  SPEAKER_02: Let me ask.
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_01: I've been doing photography longer.
• 1:12:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think collectively 15.
• 1:12:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been doing video since oh no, both.
• 1:12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now that I'm thinking about since 2020, 2010.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_02: So you got 15 plus years behind that camera.
• 1:12:18
  SPEAKER_02: You've put in your thousand hours.
• 1:12:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:12:20
  SPEAKER_02: You put in your 10,000 hours, your thousand hours, your 10,000 hours.
• 1:12:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:12:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm gonna challenge you to show us something else.
• 1:12:28
  SPEAKER_02: Because I do think as creatives, we get we start to rest on our laws.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_02: We be like, man, I've been doing this like 10 years.
• 1:12:34
  SPEAKER_02: I know how to do it.
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_02: I can wake up out of my sleep and just take a good nice photograph.
• 1:12:39
  SPEAKER_02: And that's not even arrogance.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_02: I can do that.
• 1:12:41
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 1:12:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just being real with people.
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_02: I know I'm right.
• 1:12:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I haven't been behind my camera in a couple months because I've been working on other things, but trust me, you give me a camera, I'm a bad boy with a camera.
• 1:12:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 1:12:54
  SPEAKER_02: And as are you, and so I'm gonna make it happen.
• 1:12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 1:12:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's all.
• 1:12:58
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna make it.
• 1:12:59
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even need the canon, the the camera that I'm used to.
• 1:13:01
  SPEAKER_02: What you want, a canon, icon, Sony?
• 1:13:03
  SPEAKER_02: Just give me a camera.
• 1:13:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 1:13:05
  SPEAKER_02: It got shutter speed, it got it got F-stop, they got the same things.
• 1:13:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna make it happen, right?
• 1:13:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so I want to challenge you, I want to see something different.
• 1:13:13
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it ain't behind the camera.
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_02: I told you um a little bit off camera, maybe some on camera, that I'm moving more into design fashion design now.
• 1:13:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'm learning Illustrator, putting down Photoshop.
• 1:13:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm amazing at Photoshop.
• 1:13:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'm amazing at Capture One.
• 1:13:25
  SPEAKER_02: Vector designs.
• 1:13:27
  SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to design something.
• 1:13:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to work on a clothing brand.
• 1:13:30
  SPEAKER_02: I think one day I want to open my own full-on clothing brand.
• 1:13:34
  SPEAKER_02: I've been in fashion for a while, but that's something some people have never seen from me, right?
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I ain't gonna even talk about it too much more than that because as I said earlier in uh in our conversation, I don't be telling people what's up next.
• 1:13:46
  SPEAKER_02: So just know you're gonna see some designs one day.
• 1:13:49
  SPEAKER_02: But um, I want to see what else you got.
• 1:13:52
  SPEAKER_02: I want to see in other ways, what other ways you can share with us your creative gifts, tell a story.
• 1:13:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um we only in February, it's Black History Month.
• 1:14:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh before the end of this year, show me something else.
• 1:14:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's what I'm putting to you.
• 1:14:08
  SPEAKER_02: And and I want to ask you, if I took the camera away completely and gave you a year without it, what would we see?
• 1:14:14
  SPEAKER_02: Where do you think that goes?
• 1:14:17
  SPEAKER_02: What are some of your other interests created?
• 1:14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Music.
• 1:14:25
  SPEAKER_01: There we go.
• 1:14:26
  SPEAKER_01: I do music.
• 1:14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um no camera, I do music.
• 1:14:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm a writer.
• 1:14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I've got ideas for books.
• 1:14:39
  unknown: Okay.
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, stored in my little my little head right here.
• 1:14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um what else?
• 1:14:45
  SPEAKER_01: No camera?
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Dang, that's a horrible not really hard, but like it's interesting.
• 1:14:51
  SPEAKER_01: It it's it's a look very because if there's no I'cause I'm still a storyteller.
• 1:14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:14:58
  SPEAKER_01: I can still tell a story.
• 1:14:59
  SPEAKER_01: I don't need a camera to tell the story.
• 1:15:02
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it would have to be music or book.
• 1:15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the main two things I can think of.
• 1:15:11
  SPEAKER_01: There we go.
• 1:15:12
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, man.
• 1:15:13
  SPEAKER_02: There we go.
• 1:15:14
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what I'm that's what I'm on right now.
• 1:15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:15:17
  SPEAKER_02: And in this creative journey, I'm like, I've relied on that camera for so long.
• 1:15:22
  SPEAKER_02: If if I if I if I took the camera from me for a year, what am I gonna do?
• 1:15:27
  SPEAKER_02: Because I'm still a storyteller.
• 1:15:29
  SPEAKER_02: I can't lose that.
• 1:15:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm still a creative, I'm still capable.
• 1:15:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna, it's gonna manifest, right?
• 1:15:36
  SPEAKER_02: So, how does that come out?
• 1:15:37
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what I'm challenging really experienced creatives as well.
• 1:15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Is man, let me if you're a painter, let me take that paintbrush, let me take the easel, let me take the canvas.
• 1:15:46
  SPEAKER_02: Now what?
• 1:15:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm loving some of the answers.
• 1:15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_01: I draw, I have not drawn in shh, I haven't drawn a decent picture in years.
• 1:16:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I might need to pick that back up too.
• 1:16:03
  SPEAKER_02: First of all, let's get out here.
• 1:16:05
  SPEAKER_02: I'll see.
• 1:16:06
  SPEAKER_02: Let's do some of this.
• 1:16:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'ma see.
• 1:16:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, let's pick up some of these things.
• 1:16:09
  SPEAKER_02: Cause because what I find is a lot of creatives are multi-talented.
• 1:16:12
  SPEAKER_02: You're multi- you're multi-hyphen it.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_02: You although you might be good behind the camera, the the gift really is the story, the ability to tell story.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_02: The gift is the voice.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's gonna come out.
• 1:16:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:16:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, we stifling it to a certain extent.
• 1:16:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:16:28
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 1:16:29
  SPEAKER_02: We we holding ourselves back to a certain extent.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I want to see these stories in some other way.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_02: I want to read a book, I wanna, I want to see a drawing.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I wanna, I'm looking at screenwriting right now.
• 1:16:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm really interested in I've been telling pictures of stories to I was just about to say that.
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like that's it.
• 1:16:47
  SPEAKER_02: See what I'm saying?
• 1:16:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like, when you start to think about it, I've been really interested in screenwriting lately.
• 1:16:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I've been seeing so many films, short films, even that I'm like, this isn't this is impressive.
• 1:16:58
  SPEAKER_02: I love Sinners.
• 1:16:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I was so inspired by Sinners.
• 1:17:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what was that last year when that came out?
• 1:17:03
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, Ryan Coogler is doing something, man.
• 1:17:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I recently saw a short film that starring Joey Badass, the rapper Joey Badass.
• 1:17:13
  SPEAKER_02: I can't even think of the name of it right now, but I recently saw this short film.
• 1:17:16
  SPEAKER_02: It was only like a 10-minute film, but I was like, damn, this was powerful for only 10 minutes.
• 1:17:23
  SPEAKER_02: I could do that.
• 1:17:25
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think I could direct you.
• 1:17:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I've I've I've done short films.
• 1:17:32
  SPEAKER_01: I got a micro, a mini, and a short.
• 1:17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um I just recorded another short film uh this past weekend.
• 1:17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this past week, because it's the weekend uh at the time of recording.
• 1:17:45
  SPEAKER_01: And um that's gonna come out in about two weeks on my Tay with the Edits YouTube channel.
• 1:17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um and the follow-up to that, I'm gonna have to take my time, but I need to get it recorded in about two weeks.
• 1:18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um because the instrumental that I have created for it, I ain't gonna lie.
• 1:18:11
  SPEAKER_01: That instrumental made me cry.
• 1:18:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it had me like teary-eyed, like eyes was watering, and I was like, I can't just put together a simple story with this.
• 1:18:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna have to go back in, and instead of this instrumental being three minutes and some change, I'm gonna have to stretch it because I'm expecting this short film to be every bit of eight minutes.
• 1:18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:18:38
  SPEAKER_01: No more than twelve, because I feel like anything longer than eight is gonna just be um repetitive and it's gonna be a lot.
• 1:18:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna be like part two of the main, I think it's gonna be the part two to the main short film that I've been talking about doing for five plus years now.
• 1:19:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it's I'm I'm I'm in the making of making these short films feel like feature films on a small scale.
• 1:19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm not using just a camera and and just going out.
• 1:19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, no, I'm taking my time to make sure that this final version sits and resonates on so many levels with so many people about so many things.
• 1:19:35
  SPEAKER_01: And anybody that's been paying attention or watching the episodes, they know it'll mostly be about mental health because that is a strong thing that I've seen with um creatives to the point where uh in January I had a therapist, you know, um, me and her went to school together, she reached out and was like, hey, um, love what you're doing, whatever, whatever.
• 1:20:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay, cool.
• 1:20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Let me get her on here.
• 1:20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because a lot of people like a lot of things are being their creativity is being birthed from childhood trauma.
• 1:20:10
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 1:20:11
  SPEAKER_01: Adult trauma.
• 1:20:11
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 1:20:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, we gotta get a therapist on here because now I know it's not just me.
• 1:20:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 1:20:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm I'm working on some stuff.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, this 2026 is gonna be good.
• 1:20:25
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 1:20:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be good.
• 1:20:27
  SPEAKER_02: It is, absolutely, absolutely, and I'm looking forward to everything, everything that you produce, everything that your mom's putting out.
• 1:20:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm looking forward to what's coming from Creative Roots Podcast.
• 1:20:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but like you said, it's gonna be good.
• 1:20:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be real good, man.
• 1:20:43
  SPEAKER_02: But let's keep challenging ourselves.
• 1:20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
• 1:20:45
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it, man.
• 1:20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, oh yeah.
• 1:20:48
  SPEAKER_01: So we we definitely gonna be in contact.
• 1:20:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you let me know when you touch down in the city.
• 1:20:53
  SPEAKER_01: We'll get everything set up.
• 1:20:55
  SPEAKER_01: We'll be right here, man.
• 1:20:56
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 1:20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um what else is it?
• 1:20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, shoot, yeah, because you told them where where to find you and where to find colors.
• 1:21:02
  SPEAKER_01: So listen, uh, yeah, I appreciate you again for being on here.
• 1:21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um I appreciate you for that question too.
• 1:21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that challenge at the end.
• 1:21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what else is it?
• 1:21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, because I didn't do it at the beginning.
• 1:21:16
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Allen Lux Studios, Charlotte Podcast Studio, and Artbox Charlotte.
• 1:21:22
  SPEAKER_01: We would like to thank us, even though it's just me today.
• 1:21:25
  SPEAKER_01: Say something in the comments about that, Shamar.
• 1:21:27
  SPEAKER_01: Go ahead.
• 1:21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um man, so that's it.
• 1:21:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's it for this episode.
• 1:21:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thank y'all for tuning in to another episode of Creative Roots where Steve Stone become visions grown, and we are out.