January 3, 2024 • 46 mins
Ep. 147 Randall Yarborough is a multidisciplinary designer with professional experience in sporting equipment, apparel, and footwear. He was Senior Footwear Designer at YEEZY, working under Ye (Kanye West), and recently launched his own company, Joyshed, an athletic shorts brand.
On this episode, Randall speaks with AfroTech's Will Lucas about the technical aspects of design and how to balance moving fashion design forward artistically while still driving market demand.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm Will Lucas and this is black Tech, Green Money.
Randal Yarbro is a multidisciplinary designer with professional experience in
the fields of sporting equipment, apparel, and full weear. He
was seeing your footwear designer at Easy and It's not
leading his own label joy Shit, where he serves as
creative director. Knowing what he knows about reaching some of
the highest levels in creative direction, what would he say
(00:24):
is the most important non design related thing to know
about achieving success.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I think one of the things that aren't design related
is kind of just being honest with yourself and with others.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
That's probably the biggest thing that.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I can think of right at the top of my
head when it comes down to it, Like, you can
be a great designer, and you can do amazing things,
you make beautiful pictures, but at the end of the day,
being very honest and truthful about what you're doing makes
it much easier to do those things right, to portray
what you're trying to portray or convey what you're trying
(01:01):
to convey that message or that design, because at the
end of the day, like you know, you can't fall
back on something that you make up. I think you
know what I mean. So, yeah, just being honest and
truthful about what you're doing at the end of the
day will kind of get you and guide you into
the right place.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So I was having this conversation with another designer a
few episodes ago, and we were talking about, you know,
the need for the ability of storytelling and the need
for designers to be able to tell stories, because that
could potentially be just as important as having the asset.
Can you talk a little bit about that from your perspective.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, just the storytelling part, like being able to have
the ability to storytell.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, communicating your idea, because it's one thing to have
a dope shoot, I imagine it's another thing to be
able to translate that dope shoot to make people other
people know that it's dope.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, No, it's true.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I mean it's kind of like, uh, like stand up comedy. Right.
I'm not saying that trump make people left, but just
being able to kind of like transfer everything that you
just put into that work, whether it's a building, whether
it's a chair, whether it's a shoot, and kind of
being able to share that journey. And that's also where
(02:17):
that truthfulness. That honestness comes back where you're like, I
worked so hard throughout the entire process. Once I get
to that point where I'm either in front of a
bunch of people, in front of the CEO, in front
of the team, sharing the journey or sharing what I
just created or put in front of them, you know,
I don't have to fall back on made up stories
(02:38):
or made up things like the entire journey, the entire process.
You know, I was honest, I was truthful, and then
that story is just so easy to tell.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
It's like, you know, not everybody's able to talk about themselves.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
But you know, once you do have that little rhythm,
that cadence, you're able to kind of just go back
and just grab a few things, and that storytelling becomes
extremely easy. It's not something that you have to like
you have to make it up, you know what I mean.
It makes it much easier at the end of the
day when it comes to storytelling it.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
But it's definitely important though.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I think lucky thing for me is I study architecture
in undergrad and just being able to sit there in
front of like fit the other classmates in six six architects,
you know, training trained architects, practicing architects and your professor
and being able to take what you just did for
over the past you know, a month or so and
(03:35):
put it in you know, being very like vulnerable and
sharing that story and that journey with people in front
of you is a it is a hard thing to do,
but it makes everything that you did before it's super exciting.
It's like it's a feel good moment.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, you've said a couple of things that picked my
interest there. And I'm from the middlest also from Toledo,
which is like, you know, half an hour forty five
minutes from where you're from Detroit, and I remember, I
remember growing up and designing clothes and you know, tearing
apart some genes I had with some corduroys that I
had also and putting them together and making something new
(04:13):
out of them. And then like the places that we
grew up, so you know, it's a lot like Detroit
and like that that isn't necessarily something that's you know, amplified,
Like there's not a lot of people trying to do
that type of work where we're from. And so I'm wondering, like,
what was the fuel in the tank? Or the encouragement
(04:34):
you had or the self determination you had to fight
for those ideas so that it was like me. I
stopped doing it after I was probably like twelve or
thirteen because I'm like, Okay, nobody around me does this,
Like this is not what we do right here, right,
So I wonder like, what was it about your coming
of age that helped you fight for that idea?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, I'm the number one thing. And I always said,
it's just like Gruffy Troit. I was there until I
was nine. But that entire time I learned so much
Like I've seen I saw. I saw a lot of stuff,
so you're just like, you know, you grow up faster there.
But the entire time I was like, man, how do
(05:15):
I how I get my mom out of this? Like
you know, typically we think, you know, playing basketball, playing football,
you might do a support activity something to get that
money because it only makes sense, or you can go,
you know, a totally different route. But the entire time
I can think if I was like, I want to
build her a house. If I build our house, we
can get out of where we're at right now. So
(05:37):
in my head, that's that's what I had installed, like
building her house. I didn't know what it was or
how to do it exactly, but I knew I loved
the idea of it. You know, I love music, I
love the buildings that are around me. I love shoes
and all these things that that were Detroit. And then
when I finally went left Detroit and got to South Carolina,
(05:58):
that's when I I kind of learned about architecture and
I was like, Oh, that was my That's what I
want to do.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
That's where I want to be. Become an architect.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
And so that was kind of like the guideline of
seeing the things around me and then finally understanding what
that goal was or what I was looking to become
to then achieve the things that I saw or the
things that I was thinking about. So it started off
as a kid and just wanted to, you know, literally
just build my mama house. And then the love of
(06:29):
like music, architecture, footwear, sports somehow got me to that
point of like, oh, I want to do architecture.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
So what's interesting to me is that you there's a
lot of us that grow up, you know, I want
to build my MoMA house or I want to buy,
you know, my grandma car I want to you know,
do I want to do something for somebody that I love?
And part of the disconnect we have, like even in tech,
it's like so many of us are consumers of the
applications and software that we use, and not enough of
(06:57):
us think about there's somebody on the other side of
building this thing, right, and so, because you're so passionate
about mentorship and teaching and you know, leading along the
next generation of black designers, what's important to you or
how is it important to you to tackling the idea
or the concept of representation and awareness to know that
there's us out here doing this work so that more
(07:19):
people do desire to be this. I mean I was
I was raised. I wanted Jordan's my whole life, you know,
but I never thought of I could be a Jordan designer,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, yeah, no, I mean it's definitely true.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
I guess like at a certain point I got I
got pretty lucky, and you know, just less because even
living in Detroit, there were CCS, you know, ten fifteen
minutes from my house, and you know at CCS that
they study you know, architecture design, footwear design, they industrial design,
they do everything there. But I was only fifteen minutes
(07:55):
a way and I knew I knew nothing about it.
You would think that I was across the country, but
I was just down the street. And so I didn't
have that you know, same as you like, I didn't
have that representation. I didn't have that understanding that I
could literally not walk down the street, but I could
go down the street and I could be at a
place where, you know, all those needs that I was
looking for could be like fulfilled.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
It was.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
It wasn't until my last year, my fourth year of
architecture school, and I entered into full like this T
shirt competition called Future Soul with Nike and Jordan Brand,
and I was just doing t shirts, just graphics, but
it was my first time doing graphics, and I was
like trialing it out. And that's where like I kind
(08:41):
of got that start in that representation. They flew us
out to Nike, so the contestants there was apparel and footwear.
They flew us out to Nike, got the tour the
campus and I got to meet a lot of black designers.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
The main person Dwayne Doctor, Dwayne.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Edwards who now runs Lewis Pencil College. You know, he
was the reason why people of color were in that space.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
At that time, just for the future soul.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
And that's that representation and that like, that's that that
little drop that I needed at the time to.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Push me and continue like push me into the right direction.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Because with his guidance, you know, East got Jason Maiden,
like those those guys Wilson Smith, being able to finally
see that representation of black people not just in fullward design,
but just in in the corporate setting doing creative things
was it was just like it was eye opening, you know, architecture.
(09:40):
The entire time there was like maybe three or four
of us, uh that that were black, and then just
seeing that there were so many more in the professional space,
it was like, oh, well, now I got that drop
of guidance. And then their words and their you know,
their feedback was telling me, Hey, you get to this point,
you got to do same thing we did. You know,
(10:01):
we built this bridge, you got to continue to build it.
You got to continue to give rides, you got to
you know, you got to do these things to help
pull other people up, just like you know, Hope, we
were pulling you up. And that's where that that's the
representation came from and that's the reason why I try
to do it as much as possible when I can.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah. So I was talking with a friend of mine,
Darryl Brown, who you might know was me midlest Kids
and Darryl Brown Clothing company was at one point Kanye's
he was one of the stylists for Kanye. And we
were talking about his aesthetic and if you know Darryl
or even his line, it's very work where it's work
where effectively crossed the board because he used to work
(10:42):
on the train, you know, the railroad, and we're both
from Toledo, and we were talking about this is because
I'm interested in your design aesthetic and how much of
your upbringing in the Midwest and Detroit may speak to it.
Like some other designers might have something in their childhood
that speaks to how they design. So is there anything
about your upbringing in in the Midwest and Detroit that
(11:04):
speaks to what you put to pen and paper?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, I mean, I definitely think so.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Again, going back to being a kid, just like that, architecture, music,
the design, like you think about so many different things
that that kind of pop out. Even right now I'm
wearing like Carhart my T shirt and.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Not even on purpose, it's just a it's a good feeling.
So yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Would definitely say so at least from my my visual aesthetics,
you know.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
But then when it comes to like from.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
A design perspective, I would say, so it might not
always be in what I physically create, so you know, consciously,
it might be subconsciously, but even in the way that
I like appreciate certain how It's like if you if
you think about like the tall brick do places that
that we have in the Midwest. You know, the way
(12:07):
that we dress is a little bit different, the way
that we speak is different. So there's there's a lot
of different things that that pop up. And it might
not be as I'm not I might not be like
very cautious of like yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Me doing it. It might just be like you know,
muscle memory not even noticing it.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
H I was reading an interview where you talked about
before you got too Easy, and you said this in
the in the interview said when I went into the interview,
I was talking to them and I was like, Hey,
I'll do this technical designer role for now, but just
so you understand, after a year, I want to be
(12:46):
a footwear designer. I already had the tools and the knowledge.
So after a year being a technical designer, I was
a footwear designer that easy and so or Adidas maybe
even before ye say, I'm not sure which was it
Adidas or Easy.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Specifically it was easy in Adidas, so it was like
it was a Dida's easy, gotcha, gotcha?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
And so I wonder what gave you the confidence to
speak up in that way, like so many of us
just want the opportunity to get into something that could
be special. But you were effectively putting it like yo,
I want, this is what I want, and that could
even put you at risk of not getting it, but
you were you had the confidence. And what I wonder
what gave you that?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Man?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Just I just had to do it.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
To be honest, I think it's just kind of my personality.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
It's like at the end of the day, like you
have nothing to lose.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Grandpa told me the same thing, like, you know, you
asked for what you want, all they can say is no,
and it doesn't know it really hurts you, and I
you know, I didn't. I didn't see anything wrong with
what I was saying. Also, I just came from Skills,
which was in Carlsbad, and I was a product designer there.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
So for me, I was taking a step back.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I was about to be a senior designer doing sports
performance training equipment and stuff like that, but it was
gonna be a step down. So I wanted them to
understand like where my goals were, so then I wouldn't
I couldn't like say that it was ever lost or
it wasn't heard. It was like you have to kind
of you have to speak up for yourself, represent yourself.
Otherwise you know, they'll just say, oh, well, you didn't
(14:18):
tell me.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
That you wanted to do that.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I didn't know, and that's a great response for them to,
you know, kind of cover up your progress pretty much.
So it was pretty That was probably the reason why.
And then also you know, understanding that I was going
to be one of the only black people again in
the space, especially for easy. I did the same thing
(14:42):
at Skills, like for about two years I was the
only black person at Skills. So for me, I was like,
you know, I was gonna stick out anyway, so I
might as well, you know, make it understood and know,
you know.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Before I even started in the brand.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, just so I'm clear when we talked about you know,
it was Adidas slash Yeasy. I'm curious on how that
relationship between Adidas and Easy was because I know, sometimes
it's okay Easy and the team can go do whatever
they want and they just showed they show up at
the end of the day and show Adidas what they did.
But is it more integrated that relationship between that Adidas
(15:18):
team and that Easy team.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah. Yeah, especially footwear. Apparel was was separate at the beginning.
Apparel was like a part of Adidas as well Adidas Easy.
But for footwear it was pretty integrated. Like you know,
working with people like Steven Smith and and the team
over over at Easy, it was we were all one.
So it was a it was a group that we
(15:42):
were working together every single day. So yeah, it was
It wasn't like I was working in the Adida's office. I
was working in the in the Calabasas Easy office with
the team.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
So actually it felt like I wasn't even Adidas.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I would go I would go to Portland to visit
the campus and stuff like that, and you felt like
you were still just Easy. You didn't really feel like
you were a Beata. So it was it was interesting.
Nobody made it that way. It was just kind of
how it was set.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Up, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
And so further on the question about your transitioning to
a role that I'll say this was beneath you in
in your career trajectory, How did it make sense for you?
What was the thesis, what was the thought process you
went through to say, you know what, taking this step
back in my career makes sense.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah. I mean the biggest thing I wanted to get
in full wear.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
My my friend Sarah, Sarah Sabino, she she was a
full wed designer on the team, and she called me
and she just said, hey, you still want to get
in full wear?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
And I was.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
I was four years into my time at Skills, and
I was just like it was like a decent trajectory.
I had products out and I had patents already already out,
and on paper it looked like a step back, but
in reality it was like, I want to get into
full wear, so I'll take this, this chance and this
(17:09):
opportunity to also kind of come in as like a
childlike mindset where I can just learn and learn without
trying to sit there and be like, oh, already you know,
you know, big up my chest and be like already
know what I'm doing, Like I'm good.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I was about to be a senior blah blah blah.
I didn't have to do that.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I could just come in there and be very open
to accepting knowledge and understanding without kind of having the
fault of being like thrown in as a fullward designer
and then someone telling me like, hey, this guy's not
working out. So it was it was kind of a blessing.
Even on paper that it might look step backwards, it
(17:47):
felt like a major like hop leap forward for.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
The people who don't myself included, understand the whole difference
between you know, a technical designer versus a junior designer
versus as a design director or a senior director senior designer.
Can you explain the differences between those particular roles in
a in the house.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yeah, it all depends on the profession and the product
that's being made. But typically, like you can see it,
you know, very similar technical designer. Like you know, you
come in there, you're kind of doing blueprints and working
on certain certain things. And when I say blueprints is
just you know, kind of doing like the very technical
(18:30):
drawings to then get it communicated with the factory in
China or with the team in general. So whether that's
a tooling or an upper shell tech pattern, you're kind
of doing that baseline. So you're doing a little bit
less of designing conceptual you know, conceptualizing, and you're taking
receiving those concepts and trying to make them, you know,
turn them into reality. When it comes to the junior designer,
(18:53):
you're you know, you can kind of be doing both.
You can be doing the technical work and you can
also be doing a little you know, concepting. They might
have you on laces, they might be outshold design. Just's
a few different things like that. And then when you
jump up to like a forward designer, then you take
on more projects and you should be walking in from
(19:14):
the content phase, so like the sketch phase all the
way through production.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
So they bounced around a little bit. Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
And so when you think about there's so many easy
issues particularly that have pushed the boundary of what we
think about. When you're thinking about boots or sneakers, they
don't look like any other sneakers in the market, or
they didn't before everybody else started to copy the style,
I should say. When you think about that, and you
also think about driving market demand, how do you balance
(19:49):
creating something that doesn't look like anything else and think about, Okay,
this thing has to sell also to be successful.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Yes, that's a super importan and that's a super important
part of the whole journey. And you know, honestly, yeay
is the reason why he's pushed so hard. So you know,
him being able to take that and then turn it
into a marketable product. You know, product is a little
bit different than you know, you putting it behind someone else.
(20:19):
And we can kind of see that when it comes
to you know, other people that are part of like
Adidas or other like you know, celebrities, how different their
life trajectory were was. You know, ya could put on
a sock or you could put on a shoe with
a bunch of layers and people would be like, oh,
that's that's quality versus you know someone else who might
(20:41):
not actually have that that reach and that convincing like manner.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
So it was a little bit easier on our behalf.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
But when it came to like pushing the boundaries of design,
it was very like holistic between himself and the design team,
like him really being specific of what he wants in
very detailed and then us making sure that we could
like be very like intricate in how we created and
made something to the liking of what he was looking for.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I want you to speak a little bit more on
that because I've heard stories about like, you know, he
actually does draw also, and he actually, you know, had
comes to the office with concepts. And I'm sure you've
worked with people who just say I want this thing,
go design it also and then't have a concept. So
talk to me about the different relationship and different working
(21:32):
types there is when you have somebody who actually has
some skill and they come to the office with jawings
versus just being given a task.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yeah, at the end of the day, like a lot
of people do just take what's given to them when
it comes from a design perspective, or they might be
a little bit nicer, you know. I've heard stories about
Pharrell where he's a little bit you know, as we
can all see that he has like a very like
caring soul.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
So when it comes to sharing you know, footwear.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
And designs with him, it can be much different than
when it comes to the a where he's like, you know,
you come in and you show him something and he's
liking it, but he has a specific eye what he wants,
so he might take it and sharp, be it updated,
or you know. I think his mind works a lot
different than a lot of people's, where he has like
(22:25):
this rolodex of designs and footwear and names in his
head and he can like kind of call out to
a specific shoe or a specific area of with shoe
and just be like, hey, can we go get this
and then translate it into like how we would actually
put it through our lens. So it is much different
(22:45):
working with you know, certain people like you might best
why athlete. You might take the shoe and hand it
directly to him, like I did that at Skills where
we worked on a product and you know, it's it's
less you know, apparel footwear focused. It was more like,
you know, something that they were using to make themselves
play better, whether it's football or basketball, and so a
(23:08):
lot of times they didn't have the the burbage to
be like giving great detailed feedback. They might be like, yeah,
that's cool and that's it, where they might just accept
the product as this and have no feedback. But I
think with Yay, it's more so the sense where he's
very just very detailed, very like that detail orient mindset
(23:28):
that he has is super specific and it really does
push the groundary.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So you can like put.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Up one hundred different designs and only two might be
the one that we go forward with, and you know,
concept out, prototype out, sample out, and it's just.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
A different way of working.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
And that that goes through all across his products, whether
it's footwear, apparel, architecture, you.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Know, you name it.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So talk to me, so I want to understand differences
in these working relationships. I was interviewing Jeff Staple for
this podcast also, and he was talking about at his
level or his the way his business is designed. There's
a bunch of designers there, obviously, but there's designs that
he had nothing to do with one and some he's
(24:18):
and some he said he probably wouldn't have even put up.
He like he wouldn't even wear that, but he understands
where he's at, like this is what you know, I
guess the market is the many I'm I'm I'm pair
of phasing that part, But talk to me about like
the different ways these fashion houses work and these labels
works where you can have somebody like a Jeff Staple
(24:39):
who's got you know, these things out in the marketplace
that he has ain't nothing to do with and be
you know, probably wouldn't wear it himself because it doesn't
sound like easy. Would ever work that way?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's tough. Like outside of work with
I think the only thing that that I could think
of that would be similar to it just goes back
to you know, I guess what Jeff said, where you
have this idea of what you want and then if
(25:14):
he goes into you know, Adidas or Nike whatever, and
he's putting up his idea of what he's looking for,
just meet ten filters. You know, that means ten designers
creating something for him and depending on you know, the brand,
the business unit, they might the marketing people might see
(25:35):
a direction for the design. The way we worked was
a little bit different because typically the marketing people they
give you like a brief, like here's the direction of
what we want.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
For us.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
It was different, like he would give us the brief,
not not a paper, but just like a brief like, hey,
I want to waterproof food. That could you know that
could help me fly. So you started figuring out, like,
this is the idea of what he wants. Now let's
put it through the filter of how are many designers
we have, and then, you know, make sure we have
(26:08):
an outcome of what he's looking for. I guess for
Jeff's you know, the way that Jeff was putting it,
it is a little bit different. It's just a different filter, right,
Like that's the that's the biggest difference when it comes
to Easy versus any other business unit or brand. You
just have a different filter or different people that are
creating the filter and then out putting the products.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I want to talk about Joys Shed a little bit first.
If you can introduce us to what you're working on
with Joys, I'm gonna give it to you to just
introduce it first. Then I have some questions.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Yeah, So joycech had started off with me just wanting
to have something of my own. I think it's important,
Like we spend so much time giving our life, designed
mind and our creations to a brand and you know,
to different people, and we have nothing to like have
for ourselves, right, we have nothing that we built ourselves
and can say that it's like one hundred percent ours.
(27:05):
So you know, I was thinking, like what could I
create that would be you know, ultimately myself, what would
be me? And so I thought it was like basketball shorts.
I love basketball. I play it as much as possible.
I played growing up as a kid, and you know,
growing up, I would just buy if I have money,
I would just buy every single short. I go go
in Ebany and get the authentic or the replicas of
(27:27):
u NC or Detroit Pistons, whatever whatever I could find,
just something to be you know, tangible and just see it.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
And I probably, I mean, I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
I probably have like a or I've had over like
two hundred pairs of different basketball shorts, different brands, and
so I was like, what can I do that's gonna
be real to myself? And that's where it came with
just the idea of having basketball shorts. The naming was
super hard, right because you know, I was born in
Detroit and left there when I was nine, got to
(27:56):
South Carolina. You know, it was there for nine years,
you know, until I grab your high school eighteen and
you know, going from Detroit to South Carolina, everybody'd be like, yo,
where are you from?
Speaker 2 (28:07):
And I'd be like, oh, Detroit.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
So every single time for about you know, five years,
somewhere actually where I'm from, and I would say Detroit
because I've only been in South Carolina for you know,
short of my time.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
But then when I.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Went to college, that's where I started seeing people. I
started getting confused myself. Where am I from? Oh I Detroit,
but I just came from South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I don't know what to really tell you.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
So anytime I would say that, you know, the South
Carolina people be like, yoh, ain't gonna leave us out.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
So I had to try to find a way to
put the two together.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
And what I did was I wanted to just represent
both at the same time. And so I grew up
on Joy Jeord Road in Mansfield, west side of Detroit,
and when I got to South Carolina, our first house
was on Holly Shit Road.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
So I was like, how do I how do I
make this right? So I took.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Joy Joy Road to Holly Shd to the first part
of that joy Shed put them.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Together and it just sounded right.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
It clicked for a little bit and I was like, Okay,
I can make this work. And that's how it was born.
Just from just from the idea, at least the naming
part of it. It's like, where's my d NA? You know,
where the two places that influenced me the most? And
how can I represent that through a product or you know,
through a look? And yeah, that's that's where it all
(29:35):
came from.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
How do you go about repping where you're from in
a way that can translate successfully to people who have
no affinity towards you know, joy Road and how shed like,
how do you how do you do that? What does
it matter that they know what it means?
Speaker 2 (29:55):
I think?
Speaker 3 (29:56):
What what what has worked or what I feel that
work is people being again being honest and truthful, truthful
with themselves and then that hopefully you know, comes across
the right way to the other people. Right, so if
you can like show your your honest self and be
truthful to yourself, like you know, the people who Detroy,
(30:18):
the people from Almo, South Carolina, you know obviously right
off rip, they'll love it just because of the naming,
just because.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Of like, you know, who I am.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
But when it comes to other people, that's when the
design pustion comes in. I think people will love the
honest truth about you know, why you create the brand
and what you're trying to do with it, and then
also the products will then speak for yourself, so you know,
that's why it took so long to get to.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Where it's at right now.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
And and as simple and simplistic and clean as it looks. Again,
I think that's where that detroited I've comes from that
that very simplistic look and not being like too loud,
but also being very you know, very like you're you
know yourself that Midwest like you're not We're not very
(31:06):
I don't feel that we're very loud, but we do
like we do know ourselves, and you kind of like, uh,
there's like a preparation of respect in the way you
carry yourself as well. So that's kind of how I
see the brand.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
You're very passionate as we discussed about mentoring the next
generation of black designers. What piques your interest in who?
In selecting who you're going to work with? I mean,
I can imagine you get a lot of emails, a
lot of d ms or you know whatever is people
reach out. You know, I want to be I would
work for free, I would do whatever just to be around. Like,
how do you what gets you excited about somebody.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
I think the consistency right a lot of people, and
you're right, like definitely get.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
A lot of d ms or a lot of emails
and I try.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I try my best to respond to them all, and
it's not easy, Like and I'm not I'm not even
I don't think I'm a.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Big time at all. I'm just like a small whatever person.
I'm just chilling.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
And it's tough still, so I can't imagine being you know,
even more you know, face forward to the public. But
I think the biggest thing is someone being very consistent.
And one thing I've learned from having mentors myself is
once I do get that person having a conversation, whether
(32:28):
it's the first or second, once that person shows that
they can kind of like be very like strategic and
very on top of the things that I do share
with them, that really helps. Like with one of my mentors,
Jason Maiden, like anytime that we have a conversation and
anytime that he shares his knowledge with me and then
(32:50):
almost gives me like a task, even if he doesn't
say as a task, I take it as a task, right,
just from playing sports. I try my best to make
sure that I come back to them with results, just
so I can say, like, hey, I didn't take what
you just said and the time you gave me for granted,
I made sure that I like went through, I built
what you said and I brought it back to you
(33:11):
so I can show it to you. So that consistency
and that person being under understanding of like the timing
and the knowledge share and then appreciating it and then
you know, finding a way to either share it back
with me or you know, give it to the next person.
That's what really really shows me that that person cares,
and it's you know, it feels good once you see
(33:33):
them doing that too. So it's the best part about it.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
When I think about the industries that are being democratized
in so many ways. If I want to drive for
a living, I don't have to go work for a
limo company or a bus company. I can legit, just
jump on uper and do it myself. I want to
be a musician, I don't have to get on death
Row or deaf Jam or whatever you know, or good music.
I can put out my music by myself. From a
(34:00):
fashion perspective, where's the opportunity for designers to find success
without you know, getting hired by a house.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
You know, honestly, a lot of people have been doing
amazing jobs on Instagram and social media, which is it's
a lot different, right, Like they've been able to people
have been able to have their almost resume from creating
things online.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Now that doesn't.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Always turn into a product or it turns into the opportunities,
but I have seen it work for a lot of
people where you know, some you might see somebody on
Instagram and be like, hey, like let's go get them
and have a conversation. See what else they can do.
Then see you know how they work and how their mind.
You know how their mind works. So I don't think
(34:48):
that they know anyone needs to jump, you know to
a Nike or an Adidas. I think it's a great
opportunity for people that want to do that, but you know,
nowadays we haven't and I don't want to see easier route,
but you know, multiple routes. It's not just like you know,
Nike or Adidas or a rebod. You don't have to
go down those paths. There's other ways around it, like
(35:09):
you know, creating your own brand not. You know, it's tough,
it's tough, but it's an opportunity that you kind of
create for yourself and then once you get to that point,
people hopefully will see it. Uh. And then also what's
amazing now is people are able to do like three
D printing. You know, I would speak to AI, but
(35:30):
I'd rather jump to the three three D printing because
we've seen it become you know, something major like Zellerfeld,
you know, creating three D and giving designers the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
To put their brand or you know, put their.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Ideas out there into a physical form, because it's not
always easy to create a product or.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Even especially not a shoot.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
A shoe takes mold costs, it takes upper costs, you know,
and doing three D printing it also costs, but the
upfront it's not as much as like creating you know,
a person's own shoes.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
So again, I think you're right. You don't have to
go through like a house or through a brand.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
You can always find other ways, and I think those
ways are definitely being opened up, like three D printing,
even you know AI conceptualizing and sharing it on Instagram
or TikTok. There's just so many new ways of finding
finding your voice and kind of being able to share
with other people.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Two more things I wanted to get to before I
let you go. One. I just thought this was super interesting.
I was thinking about this that hip hop has had
an undeniable impact on fashion. I think we would all
agree with that. And now you have afrobeats, which is,
you know, top of the charts, you know, a lot
of music. I was reading this tweet by a little
duval the other day. You talk about you don't have
(36:52):
the afrobeats take over because you know, you go to
the club now all they playing is afrobeats, And I
wonder what you think that impact may have on fashion.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Just just afrobeats in general, the.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Culture of African the African culture number one, but afrobeats
more specifically.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Yeah, I mean again, we've had we've had an impact
on America, on the world, ourselves, just being black people
in general. Like you know, they put us on marketing campaigns.
You know, they don't We're not always behind the scenes
creating the product or creating.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
The guidelines of the marketing plan, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
But you know, we are the reason why you know,
fashion apparel. But where all these things are in the
space that it's in today, now add on afrobeats or
you know, the kind of Africa it's just gonna make
the takeover is gonna be very interesting just because you
(37:51):
know a lot of us, even you know, being African black,
you know, black Americans, we have the ability to sit
you know, see our history here not always right. We
don't see it in our books, we don't always get
to see it in our on TV unless it's in
a negative light. But to be able to kind of
(38:12):
have that connection back to Africa and just being able
to open up the doors, it's.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Going to be very exciting.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
And I and I don't and I think that it's
going to be a lot different than people might think.
Whether it's like us going being able to go back
to Africa and have an experience in that experience really
challenging what we do and how we see things today
and also how people see Africa. You know, the way
that it's displayed in America isn't you know, it isn't
(38:45):
always in the best light. But you know, they can't
put us, they can't hold us in the dark anymore
when it comes to you know, how we travel there,
how we communicate with our with our own people.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Uh, there.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
So I think that it's going to make a big difference,
and just in apparel, like not just in a bit
like a visual sense, Like visually we'll be able to
see it in the way that people wear their clothing
or their garments, the footwear that might come from it.
But also I think mentally that's where the big change
will be, not just for you know, Black.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Americans, but for America, Europe, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Like how influential Africa is not just in fashion but
in everything else that you know, resources, real resources, not
like paper that has.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Been turned into currency.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
So I know that was long winded, but just my
mind started racing when she said that.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
I didn't know how to answer that question.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
It was good, though, it was really good. Lastly, I
was listening to a previous interview. Were you talking about,
you know, not effectively creating in a vacuum, And you
talked about you know, design inspiration and where you find
inspiration and you said the best place to find it
from your perspective was in nature and like literally go
(40:06):
outside and be inspired by what you see, the trees,
the air, the whatever. And I was I immediately thought
about Michael Jordan because I grew up as a big,
humongous Michael Jordan fan. I remember almost every sneaker in
his line was designed after some sort of vehicle like Corvette.
And I want you to talk about two things in closing,
(40:29):
and what elements in the shapes of your work. If
you look at your resume, what elements in nature do
you most frequently find inspiration from? Because if I think
about it easy, I'm thinking it probably like leaves probably
if I'm thinking about nature. So I'm gonna let you
answer that, and then I want I also want you
to talk about the idea or concept of both problems
(40:55):
being all around you therefore opportunities being all around you.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Yeah, you know, so when it comes to the inspiration
that that I take and try to like implement in my.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Design process or just in design general.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
Uh, you know, I think that the closest thing to
us as humans are you know, other animals, right, So
just being able to see like how they live their
lives and how they work. Now, I'm not saying I'm
going out and like messing around with rattlesnakes or anything
like that, but you know, even watching it on TV
is very interesting just seeing how you know, a panther
(41:35):
might run, you know, same thing, like you know, how
a tinker us like a black cat to to represent
and create some footwear for for my just seeing how
you know, they live their lives and how fascinating they
move compared to the human body. But how also you know,
these animals are also more connected to the ground. They're
(41:58):
more connected to the earth versus versus how we are
where we have now removed ourselves from the areas a
lot more so that you know, just in the design
phase in general, it's trying to look at like how,
you know, how do we use bironmenticry? You know, typically
environmentry can be you know, almost anything that has to
do with nature. But how can we focus on like
(42:20):
animals and seeing how they live their lives and almost
either whether it's stripped back or in addition to create
things for ourselves appareil foot where you know, prosthetics. You know,
there's a lot of things like that that come off
of looking and creating off animals. And I think that's
that's probably where I gather most of my my information.
(42:42):
But I definitely you know, in nature in general, but
when it comes to animals that keep it on the
TV as much as possible. And and then for the
second question, Uh, can you repeat that?
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Yes, the second part was in the idea of the
both problems are all around you and therefore the solution,
the opportunity is all around you, and just if you
open your eyes you can see opportunities all around you.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Yeah, okay, So for the second question, just like the
problems and opportunities, I think that's how a.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
Lot of you know, design is created. That's you know,
you might think.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
That way, but a lot of times it's you know,
sometimes it's not. But for me personally, it's like having
an equation, right, and it goes back to the idea
of process and progress through that process. So just understanding
and seeing like there are opportunities everywhere, how do you
(43:41):
really take that internally and then filter through your own
lens because a lot of people are I wouldn't call
it like an opportunist, but instead of really finding a problem,
more people just kind of like that what they're creating
is not solution based. You know, they didn't they're not
(44:02):
solving a problem. They're just creating extra two what's already
out in the world. And I can even say that
about you know, there's a lot of things out there
that I like that.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
But again, I think when.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
It comes back to what I said before, that honesty portion,
even if you're not necessarily solving a problem, you're creating
this idea of like, hey, there is a market for
what I'm creating. There are people that I'm looking for
this specific thing, and it might not be a specific problem,
(44:34):
but you might just be saying like, Okay, here's a
group of people here, these are the things that I
want to represent. How do I be honest with myself
and then tell a true story? So then that that
opportunity then gains you know, real life customers or consumers,
but then also people that feel a part of something
(44:58):
that wasn't there before. So you know, not to be
like opportunists, but you're trying to create like a safe
space for other people. You're trying to create a product
that represents a certain group of people that might feel
not represented, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Black Tech Green Money is a production of Blavity Afro
Tech on the Black Effect podcast network and iHeart Media.
It's produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas, with
the additional production support by Sarah Ergan and Rose McLucas.
Special thank you to Michael Davis, Vanessa Serrano, and Mayamoju.
Learn more about my guests and other tech thisss and
innovators at afrotech dot com. Enjoy your black tech, green money.
(46:00):
Share this to somebody, Go get your money. He's some love.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
M
I'm Will Lucas and this is black Tech, Green Money.
Randal Yarbro is a multidisciplinary designer with professional experience in
the fields of sporting equipment, apparel, and full weear. He
was seeing your footwear designer at Easy and It's not
leading his own label joy Shit, where he serves as
creative director. Knowing what he knows about reaching some of
the highest levels in creative direction, what would he say
(00:24):
is the most important non design related thing to know
about achieving success.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I think one of the things that aren't design related
is kind of just being honest with yourself and with others.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
That's probably the biggest thing that.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I can think of right at the top of my
head when it comes down to it, Like, you can
be a great designer, and you can do amazing things,
you make beautiful pictures, but at the end of the day,
being very honest and truthful about what you're doing makes
it much easier to do those things right, to portray
what you're trying to portray or convey what you're trying
(01:01):
to convey that message or that design, because at the
end of the day, like you know, you can't fall
back on something that you make up. I think you
know what I mean. So, yeah, just being honest and
truthful about what you're doing at the end of the
day will kind of get you and guide you into
the right place.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So I was having this conversation with another designer a
few episodes ago, and we were talking about, you know,
the need for the ability of storytelling and the need
for designers to be able to tell stories, because that
could potentially be just as important as having the asset.
Can you talk a little bit about that from your perspective.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, just the storytelling part, like being able to have
the ability to storytell.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, communicating your idea, because it's one thing to have
a dope shoot, I imagine it's another thing to be
able to translate that dope shoot to make people other
people know that it's dope.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, No, it's true.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I mean it's kind of like, uh, like stand up comedy. Right.
I'm not saying that trump make people left, but just
being able to kind of like transfer everything that you
just put into that work, whether it's a building, whether
it's a chair, whether it's a shoot, and kind of
being able to share that journey. And that's also where
(02:17):
that truthfulness. That honestness comes back where you're like, I
worked so hard throughout the entire process. Once I get
to that point where I'm either in front of a
bunch of people, in front of the CEO, in front
of the team, sharing the journey or sharing what I
just created or put in front of them, you know,
I don't have to fall back on made up stories
(02:38):
or made up things like the entire journey, the entire process.
You know, I was honest, I was truthful, and then
that story is just so easy to tell.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
It's like, you know, not everybody's able to talk about themselves.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
But you know, once you do have that little rhythm,
that cadence, you're able to kind of just go back
and just grab a few things, and that storytelling becomes
extremely easy. It's not something that you have to like
you have to make it up, you know what I mean.
It makes it much easier at the end of the
day when it comes to storytelling it.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
But it's definitely important though.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I think lucky thing for me is I study architecture
in undergrad and just being able to sit there in
front of like fit the other classmates in six six architects,
you know, training trained architects, practicing architects and your professor
and being able to take what you just did for
over the past you know, a month or so and
(03:35):
put it in you know, being very like vulnerable and
sharing that story and that journey with people in front
of you is a it is a hard thing to do,
but it makes everything that you did before it's super exciting.
It's like it's a feel good moment.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, you've said a couple of things that picked my
interest there. And I'm from the middlest also from Toledo,
which is like, you know, half an hour forty five
minutes from where you're from Detroit, and I remember, I
remember growing up and designing clothes and you know, tearing
apart some genes I had with some corduroys that I
had also and putting them together and making something new
(04:13):
out of them. And then like the places that we
grew up, so you know, it's a lot like Detroit
and like that that isn't necessarily something that's you know, amplified,
Like there's not a lot of people trying to do
that type of work where we're from. And so I'm wondering, like,
what was the fuel in the tank? Or the encouragement
(04:34):
you had or the self determination you had to fight
for those ideas so that it was like me. I
stopped doing it after I was probably like twelve or
thirteen because I'm like, Okay, nobody around me does this,
Like this is not what we do right here, right,
So I wonder like, what was it about your coming
of age that helped you fight for that idea?
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah, I'm the number one thing. And I always said,
it's just like Gruffy Troit. I was there until I
was nine. But that entire time I learned so much
Like I've seen I saw. I saw a lot of stuff,
so you're just like, you know, you grow up faster there.
But the entire time I was like, man, how do
(05:15):
I how I get my mom out of this? Like
you know, typically we think, you know, playing basketball, playing football,
you might do a support activity something to get that
money because it only makes sense, or you can go,
you know, a totally different route. But the entire time
I can think if I was like, I want to
build her a house. If I build our house, we
can get out of where we're at right now. So
(05:37):
in my head, that's that's what I had installed, like
building her house. I didn't know what it was or
how to do it exactly, but I knew I loved
the idea of it. You know, I love music, I
love the buildings that are around me. I love shoes
and all these things that that were Detroit. And then
when I finally went left Detroit and got to South Carolina,
(05:58):
that's when I I kind of learned about architecture and
I was like, Oh, that was my That's what I
want to do.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
That's where I want to be. Become an architect.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
And so that was kind of like the guideline of
seeing the things around me and then finally understanding what
that goal was or what I was looking to become
to then achieve the things that I saw or the
things that I was thinking about. So it started off
as a kid and just wanted to, you know, literally
just build my mama house. And then the love of
(06:29):
like music, architecture, footwear, sports somehow got me to that
point of like, oh, I want to do architecture.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
So what's interesting to me is that you there's a
lot of us that grow up, you know, I want
to build my MoMA house or I want to buy,
you know, my grandma car I want to you know,
do I want to do something for somebody that I love?
And part of the disconnect we have, like even in tech,
it's like so many of us are consumers of the
applications and software that we use, and not enough of
(06:57):
us think about there's somebody on the other side of
building this thing, right, and so, because you're so passionate
about mentorship and teaching and you know, leading along the
next generation of black designers, what's important to you or
how is it important to you to tackling the idea
or the concept of representation and awareness to know that
there's us out here doing this work so that more
(07:19):
people do desire to be this. I mean I was
I was raised. I wanted Jordan's my whole life, you know,
but I never thought of I could be a Jordan designer,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, yeah, no, I mean it's definitely true.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
I guess like at a certain point I got I
got pretty lucky, and you know, just less because even
living in Detroit, there were CCS, you know, ten fifteen
minutes from my house, and you know at CCS that
they study you know, architecture design, footwear design, they industrial design,
they do everything there. But I was only fifteen minutes
(07:55):
a way and I knew I knew nothing about it.
You would think that I was across the country, but
I was just down the street. And so I didn't
have that you know, same as you like, I didn't
have that representation. I didn't have that understanding that I
could literally not walk down the street, but I could
go down the street and I could be at a
place where, you know, all those needs that I was
looking for could be like fulfilled.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
It was.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
It wasn't until my last year, my fourth year of
architecture school, and I entered into full like this T
shirt competition called Future Soul with Nike and Jordan Brand,
and I was just doing t shirts, just graphics, but
it was my first time doing graphics, and I was
like trialing it out. And that's where like I kind
(08:41):
of got that start in that representation. They flew us
out to Nike, so the contestants there was apparel and footwear.
They flew us out to Nike, got the tour the
campus and I got to meet a lot of black designers.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
The main person Dwayne Doctor, Dwayne.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Edwards who now runs Lewis Pencil College. You know, he
was the reason why people of color were in that space.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
At that time, just for the future soul.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
And that's that representation and that like, that's that that
little drop that I needed at the time to.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Push me and continue like push me into the right direction.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Because with his guidance, you know, East got Jason Maiden,
like those those guys Wilson Smith, being able to finally
see that representation of black people not just in fullward design,
but just in in the corporate setting doing creative things
was it was just like it was eye opening, you know, architecture.
(09:40):
The entire time there was like maybe three or four
of us, uh that that were black, and then just
seeing that there were so many more in the professional space,
it was like, oh, well, now I got that drop
of guidance. And then their words and their you know,
their feedback was telling me, Hey, you get to this point,
you got to do same thing we did. You know,
(10:01):
we built this bridge, you got to continue to build it.
You got to continue to give rides, you got to
you know, you got to do these things to help
pull other people up, just like you know, Hope, we
were pulling you up. And that's where that that's the
representation came from and that's the reason why I try
to do it as much as possible when I can.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah. So I was talking with a friend of mine,
Darryl Brown, who you might know was me midlest Kids
and Darryl Brown Clothing company was at one point Kanye's
he was one of the stylists for Kanye. And we
were talking about his aesthetic and if you know Darryl
or even his line, it's very work where it's work
where effectively crossed the board because he used to work
(10:42):
on the train, you know, the railroad, and we're both
from Toledo, and we were talking about this is because
I'm interested in your design aesthetic and how much of
your upbringing in the Midwest and Detroit may speak to it.
Like some other designers might have something in their childhood
that speaks to how they design. So is there anything
about your upbringing in in the Midwest and Detroit that
(11:04):
speaks to what you put to pen and paper?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, I mean, I definitely think so.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Again, going back to being a kid, just like that, architecture, music,
the design, like you think about so many different things
that that kind of pop out. Even right now I'm
wearing like Carhart my T shirt and.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Not even on purpose, it's just a it's a good feeling.
So yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Would definitely say so at least from my my visual aesthetics,
you know.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
But then when it comes to like from.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
A design perspective, I would say, so it might not
always be in what I physically create, so you know, consciously,
it might be subconsciously, but even in the way that
I like appreciate certain how It's like if you if
you think about like the tall brick do places that
that we have in the Midwest. You know, the way
(12:07):
that we dress is a little bit different, the way
that we speak is different. So there's there's a lot
of different things that that pop up. And it might
not be as I'm not I might not be like
very cautious of like yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Me doing it. It might just be like you know,
muscle memory not even noticing it.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
H I was reading an interview where you talked about
before you got too Easy, and you said this in
the in the interview said when I went into the interview,
I was talking to them and I was like, Hey,
I'll do this technical designer role for now, but just
so you understand, after a year, I want to be
(12:46):
a footwear designer. I already had the tools and the knowledge.
So after a year being a technical designer, I was
a footwear designer that easy and so or Adidas maybe
even before ye say, I'm not sure which was it
Adidas or Easy.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Specifically it was easy in Adidas, so it was like
it was a Dida's easy, gotcha, gotcha?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
And so I wonder what gave you the confidence to
speak up in that way, like so many of us
just want the opportunity to get into something that could
be special. But you were effectively putting it like yo,
I want, this is what I want, and that could
even put you at risk of not getting it, but
you were you had the confidence. And what I wonder
what gave you that?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Man?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Just I just had to do it.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
To be honest, I think it's just kind of my personality.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
It's like at the end of the day, like you
have nothing to lose.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Grandpa told me the same thing, like, you know, you
asked for what you want, all they can say is no,
and it doesn't know it really hurts you, and I
you know, I didn't. I didn't see anything wrong with
what I was saying. Also, I just came from Skills,
which was in Carlsbad, and I was a product designer there.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
So for me, I was taking a step back.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I was about to be a senior designer doing sports
performance training equipment and stuff like that, but it was
gonna be a step down. So I wanted them to
understand like where my goals were, so then I wouldn't
I couldn't like say that it was ever lost or
it wasn't heard. It was like you have to kind
of you have to speak up for yourself, represent yourself.
Otherwise you know, they'll just say, oh, well, you didn't
(14:18):
tell me.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
That you wanted to do that.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I didn't know, and that's a great response for them to,
you know, kind of cover up your progress pretty much.
So it was pretty That was probably the reason why.
And then also you know, understanding that I was going
to be one of the only black people again in
the space, especially for easy. I did the same thing
(14:42):
at Skills, like for about two years I was the
only black person at Skills. So for me, I was like,
you know, I was gonna stick out anyway, so I
might as well, you know, make it understood and know,
you know.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Before I even started in the brand.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, just so I'm clear when we talked about you know,
it was Adidas slash Yeasy. I'm curious on how that
relationship between Adidas and Easy was because I know, sometimes
it's okay Easy and the team can go do whatever
they want and they just showed they show up at
the end of the day and show Adidas what they did.
But is it more integrated that relationship between that Adidas
(15:18):
team and that Easy team.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah. Yeah, especially footwear. Apparel was was separate at the beginning.
Apparel was like a part of Adidas as well Adidas Easy.
But for footwear it was pretty integrated. Like you know,
working with people like Steven Smith and and the team
over over at Easy, it was we were all one.
So it was a it was a group that we
(15:42):
were working together every single day. So yeah, it was
It wasn't like I was working in the Adida's office. I
was working in the in the Calabasas Easy office with
the team.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
So actually it felt like I wasn't even Adidas.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
I would go I would go to Portland to visit
the campus and stuff like that, and you felt like
you were still just Easy. You didn't really feel like
you were a Beata. So it was it was interesting.
Nobody made it that way. It was just kind of
how it was set.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Up, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
And so further on the question about your transitioning to
a role that I'll say this was beneath you in
in your career trajectory, How did it make sense for you?
What was the thesis, what was the thought process you
went through to say, you know what, taking this step
back in my career makes sense.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah. I mean the biggest thing I wanted to get
in full wear.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
My my friend Sarah, Sarah Sabino, she she was a
full wed designer on the team, and she called me
and she just said, hey, you still want to get
in full wear?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
And I was.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
I was four years into my time at Skills, and
I was just like it was like a decent trajectory.
I had products out and I had patents already already out,
and on paper it looked like a step back, but
in reality it was like, I want to get into
full wear, so I'll take this, this chance and this
(17:09):
opportunity to also kind of come in as like a
childlike mindset where I can just learn and learn without
trying to sit there and be like, oh, already you know,
you know, big up my chest and be like already
know what I'm doing, Like I'm good.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I was about to be a senior blah blah blah.
I didn't have to do that.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I could just come in there and be very open
to accepting knowledge and understanding without kind of having the
fault of being like thrown in as a fullward designer
and then someone telling me like, hey, this guy's not
working out. So it was it was kind of a blessing.
Even on paper that it might look step backwards, it
(17:47):
felt like a major like hop leap forward for.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
The people who don't myself included, understand the whole difference
between you know, a technical designer versus a junior designer
versus as a design director or a senior director senior designer.
Can you explain the differences between those particular roles in
a in the house.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Yeah, it all depends on the profession and the product
that's being made. But typically, like you can see it,
you know, very similar technical designer. Like you know, you
come in there, you're kind of doing blueprints and working
on certain certain things. And when I say blueprints is
just you know, kind of doing like the very technical
(18:30):
drawings to then get it communicated with the factory in
China or with the team in general. So whether that's
a tooling or an upper shell tech pattern, you're kind
of doing that baseline. So you're doing a little bit
less of designing conceptual you know, conceptualizing, and you're taking
receiving those concepts and trying to make them, you know,
turn them into reality. When it comes to the junior designer,
(18:53):
you're you know, you can kind of be doing both.
You can be doing the technical work and you can
also be doing a little you know, concepting. They might
have you on laces, they might be outshold design. Just's
a few different things like that. And then when you
jump up to like a forward designer, then you take
on more projects and you should be walking in from
(19:14):
the content phase, so like the sketch phase all the
way through production.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
So they bounced around a little bit. Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
And so when you think about there's so many easy
issues particularly that have pushed the boundary of what we
think about. When you're thinking about boots or sneakers, they
don't look like any other sneakers in the market, or
they didn't before everybody else started to copy the style,
I should say. When you think about that, and you
also think about driving market demand, how do you balance
(19:49):
creating something that doesn't look like anything else and think about, Okay,
this thing has to sell also to be successful.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Yes, that's a super importan and that's a super important
part of the whole journey. And you know, honestly, yeay
is the reason why he's pushed so hard. So you know,
him being able to take that and then turn it
into a marketable product. You know, product is a little
bit different than you know, you putting it behind someone else.
(20:19):
And we can kind of see that when it comes
to you know, other people that are part of like
Adidas or other like you know, celebrities, how different their
life trajectory were was. You know, ya could put on
a sock or you could put on a shoe with
a bunch of layers and people would be like, oh,
that's that's quality versus you know someone else who might
(20:41):
not actually have that that reach and that convincing like manner.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
So it was a little bit easier on our behalf.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
But when it came to like pushing the boundaries of design,
it was very like holistic between himself and the design team,
like him really being specific of what he wants in
very detailed and then us making sure that we could
like be very like intricate in how we created and
made something to the liking of what he was looking for.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
I want you to speak a little bit more on
that because I've heard stories about like, you know, he
actually does draw also, and he actually, you know, had
comes to the office with concepts. And I'm sure you've
worked with people who just say I want this thing,
go design it also and then't have a concept. So
talk to me about the different relationship and different working
(21:32):
types there is when you have somebody who actually has
some skill and they come to the office with jawings
versus just being given a task.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yeah, at the end of the day, like a lot
of people do just take what's given to them when
it comes from a design perspective, or they might be
a little bit nicer, you know. I've heard stories about
Pharrell where he's a little bit you know, as we
can all see that he has like a very like
caring soul.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
So when it comes to sharing you know, footwear.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
And designs with him, it can be much different than
when it comes to the a where he's like, you know,
you come in and you show him something and he's
liking it, but he has a specific eye what he wants,
so he might take it and sharp, be it updated,
or you know. I think his mind works a lot
different than a lot of people's, where he has like
(22:25):
this rolodex of designs and footwear and names in his
head and he can like kind of call out to
a specific shoe or a specific area of with shoe
and just be like, hey, can we go get this
and then translate it into like how we would actually
put it through our lens. So it is much different
(22:45):
working with you know, certain people like you might best
why athlete. You might take the shoe and hand it
directly to him, like I did that at Skills where
we worked on a product and you know, it's it's
less you know, apparel footwear focused. It was more like,
you know, something that they were using to make themselves
play better, whether it's football or basketball, and so a
(23:08):
lot of times they didn't have the the burbage to
be like giving great detailed feedback. They might be like, yeah,
that's cool and that's it, where they might just accept
the product as this and have no feedback. But I
think with Yay, it's more so the sense where he's
very just very detailed, very like that detail orient mindset
(23:28):
that he has is super specific and it really does
push the groundary.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
So you can like put.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Up one hundred different designs and only two might be
the one that we go forward with, and you know,
concept out, prototype out, sample out, and it's just.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
A different way of working.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
And that that goes through all across his products, whether
it's footwear, apparel, architecture, you.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Know, you name it.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So talk to me, so I want to understand differences
in these working relationships. I was interviewing Jeff Staple for
this podcast also, and he was talking about at his
level or his the way his business is designed. There's
a bunch of designers there, obviously, but there's designs that
he had nothing to do with one and some he's
(24:18):
and some he said he probably wouldn't have even put up.
He like he wouldn't even wear that, but he understands
where he's at, like this is what you know, I
guess the market is the many I'm I'm I'm pair
of phasing that part, But talk to me about like
the different ways these fashion houses work and these labels
works where you can have somebody like a Jeff Staple
(24:39):
who's got you know, these things out in the marketplace
that he has ain't nothing to do with and be
you know, probably wouldn't wear it himself because it doesn't
sound like easy. Would ever work that way?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's tough. Like outside of work with
I think the only thing that that I could think
of that would be similar to it just goes back
to you know, I guess what Jeff said, where you
have this idea of what you want and then if
(25:14):
he goes into you know, Adidas or Nike whatever, and
he's putting up his idea of what he's looking for,
just meet ten filters. You know, that means ten designers
creating something for him and depending on you know, the brand,
the business unit, they might the marketing people might see
(25:35):
a direction for the design. The way we worked was
a little bit different because typically the marketing people they
give you like a brief, like here's the direction of
what we want.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
For us.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
It was different, like he would give us the brief,
not not a paper, but just like a brief like, hey,
I want to waterproof food. That could you know that
could help me fly. So you started figuring out, like,
this is the idea of what he wants. Now let's
put it through the filter of how are many designers
we have, and then, you know, make sure we have
(26:08):
an outcome of what he's looking for. I guess for
Jeff's you know, the way that Jeff was putting it,
it is a little bit different. It's just a different filter, right,
Like that's the that's the biggest difference when it comes
to Easy versus any other business unit or brand. You
just have a different filter or different people that are
creating the filter and then out putting the products.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I want to talk about Joys Shed a little bit first.
If you can introduce us to what you're working on
with Joys, I'm gonna give it to you to just
introduce it first. Then I have some questions.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Yeah, So joycech had started off with me just wanting
to have something of my own. I think it's important,
Like we spend so much time giving our life, designed
mind and our creations to a brand and you know,
to different people, and we have nothing to like have
for ourselves, right, we have nothing that we built ourselves
and can say that it's like one hundred percent ours.
(27:05):
So you know, I was thinking, like what could I
create that would be you know, ultimately myself, what would
be me? And so I thought it was like basketball shorts.
I love basketball. I play it as much as possible.
I played growing up as a kid, and you know,
growing up, I would just buy if I have money,
I would just buy every single short. I go go
in Ebany and get the authentic or the replicas of
(27:27):
u NC or Detroit Pistons, whatever whatever I could find,
just something to be you know, tangible and just see it.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
And I probably, I mean, I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
I probably have like a or I've had over like
two hundred pairs of different basketball shorts, different brands, and
so I was like, what can I do that's gonna
be real to myself? And that's where it came with
just the idea of having basketball shorts. The naming was
super hard, right because you know, I was born in
Detroit and left there when I was nine, got to
(27:56):
South Carolina. You know, it was there for nine years,
you know, until I grab your high school eighteen and
you know, going from Detroit to South Carolina, everybody'd be like, yo,
where are you from?
Speaker 2 (28:07):
And I'd be like, oh, Detroit.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
So every single time for about you know, five years,
somewhere actually where I'm from, and I would say Detroit
because I've only been in South Carolina for you know,
short of my time.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
But then when I.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Went to college, that's where I started seeing people. I
started getting confused myself. Where am I from? Oh I Detroit,
but I just came from South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
I don't know what to really tell you.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
So anytime I would say that, you know, the South
Carolina people be like, yoh, ain't gonna leave us out.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
So I had to try to find a way to
put the two together.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
And what I did was I wanted to just represent
both at the same time. And so I grew up
on Joy Jeord Road in Mansfield, west side of Detroit,
and when I got to South Carolina, our first house
was on Holly Shit Road.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
So I was like, how do I how do I
make this right? So I took.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Joy Joy Road to Holly Shd to the first part
of that joy Shed put them.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Together and it just sounded right.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
It clicked for a little bit and I was like, Okay,
I can make this work. And that's how it was born.
Just from just from the idea, at least the naming
part of it. It's like, where's my d NA? You know,
where the two places that influenced me the most? And
how can I represent that through a product or you know,
through a look? And yeah, that's that's where it all
(29:35):
came from.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
How do you go about repping where you're from in
a way that can translate successfully to people who have
no affinity towards you know, joy Road and how shed like,
how do you how do you do that? What does
it matter that they know what it means?
Speaker 2 (29:55):
I think?
Speaker 3 (29:56):
What what what has worked or what I feel that
work is people being again being honest and truthful, truthful
with themselves and then that hopefully you know, comes across
the right way to the other people. Right, so if
you can like show your your honest self and be
truthful to yourself, like you know, the people who Detroy,
(30:18):
the people from Almo, South Carolina, you know obviously right
off rip, they'll love it just because of the naming,
just because.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Of like, you know, who I am.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
But when it comes to other people, that's when the
design pustion comes in. I think people will love the
honest truth about you know, why you create the brand
and what you're trying to do with it, and then
also the products will then speak for yourself, so you know,
that's why it took so long to get to.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Where it's at right now.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
And and as simple and simplistic and clean as it looks. Again,
I think that's where that detroited I've comes from that
that very simplistic look and not being like too loud,
but also being very you know, very like you're you
know yourself that Midwest like you're not We're not very
(31:06):
I don't feel that we're very loud, but we do
like we do know ourselves, and you kind of like, uh,
there's like a preparation of respect in the way you
carry yourself as well. So that's kind of how I
see the brand.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
You're very passionate as we discussed about mentoring the next
generation of black designers. What piques your interest in who?
In selecting who you're going to work with? I mean,
I can imagine you get a lot of emails, a
lot of d ms or you know whatever is people
reach out. You know, I want to be I would
work for free, I would do whatever just to be around. Like,
how do you what gets you excited about somebody.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
I think the consistency right a lot of people, and
you're right, like definitely get.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
A lot of d ms or a lot of emails
and I try.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I try my best to respond to them all, and
it's not easy, Like and I'm not I'm not even
I don't think I'm a.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Big time at all. I'm just like a small whatever person.
I'm just chilling.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
And it's tough still, so I can't imagine being you know,
even more you know, face forward to the public. But
I think the biggest thing is someone being very consistent.
And one thing I've learned from having mentors myself is
once I do get that person having a conversation, whether
(32:28):
it's the first or second, once that person shows that
they can kind of like be very like strategic and
very on top of the things that I do share
with them, that really helps. Like with one of my mentors,
Jason Maiden, like anytime that we have a conversation and
anytime that he shares his knowledge with me and then
(32:50):
almost gives me like a task, even if he doesn't
say as a task, I take it as a task, right,
just from playing sports. I try my best to make
sure that I come back to them with results, just
so I can say, like, hey, I didn't take what
you just said and the time you gave me for granted,
I made sure that I like went through, I built
what you said and I brought it back to you
(33:11):
so I can show it to you. So that consistency
and that person being under understanding of like the timing
and the knowledge share and then appreciating it and then
you know, finding a way to either share it back
with me or you know, give it to the next person.
That's what really really shows me that that person cares,
and it's you know, it feels good once you see
(33:33):
them doing that too. So it's the best part about it.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
When I think about the industries that are being democratized
in so many ways. If I want to drive for
a living, I don't have to go work for a
limo company or a bus company. I can legit, just
jump on uper and do it myself. I want to
be a musician, I don't have to get on death
Row or deaf Jam or whatever you know, or good music.
I can put out my music by myself. From a
(34:00):
fashion perspective, where's the opportunity for designers to find success
without you know, getting hired by a house.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
You know, honestly, a lot of people have been doing
amazing jobs on Instagram and social media, which is it's
a lot different, right, Like they've been able to people
have been able to have their almost resume from creating
things online.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Now that doesn't.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Always turn into a product or it turns into the opportunities,
but I have seen it work for a lot of
people where you know, some you might see somebody on
Instagram and be like, hey, like let's go get them
and have a conversation. See what else they can do.
Then see you know how they work and how their mind.
You know how their mind works. So I don't think
(34:48):
that they know anyone needs to jump, you know to
a Nike or an Adidas. I think it's a great
opportunity for people that want to do that, but you know,
nowadays we haven't and I don't want to see easier route,
but you know, multiple routes. It's not just like you know,
Nike or Adidas or a rebod. You don't have to
go down those paths. There's other ways around it, like
(35:09):
you know, creating your own brand not. You know, it's tough,
it's tough, but it's an opportunity that you kind of
create for yourself and then once you get to that point,
people hopefully will see it. Uh. And then also what's
amazing now is people are able to do like three
D printing. You know, I would speak to AI, but
(35:30):
I'd rather jump to the three three D printing because
we've seen it become you know, something major like Zellerfeld,
you know, creating three D and giving designers the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
To put their brand or you know, put their.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Ideas out there into a physical form, because it's not
always easy to create a product or.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Even especially not a shoot.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
A shoe takes mold costs, it takes upper costs, you know,
and doing three D printing it also costs, but the
upfront it's not as much as like creating you know,
a person's own shoes.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
So again, I think you're right. You don't have to
go through like a house or through a brand.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
You can always find other ways, and I think those
ways are definitely being opened up, like three D printing,
even you know AI conceptualizing and sharing it on Instagram
or TikTok. There's just so many new ways of finding
finding your voice and kind of being able to share
with other people.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Two more things I wanted to get to before I
let you go. One. I just thought this was super interesting.
I was thinking about this that hip hop has had
an undeniable impact on fashion. I think we would all
agree with that. And now you have afrobeats, which is,
you know, top of the charts, you know, a lot
of music. I was reading this tweet by a little
duval the other day. You talk about you don't have
(36:52):
the afrobeats take over because you know, you go to
the club now all they playing is afrobeats, And I
wonder what you think that impact may have on fashion.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Just just afrobeats in general, the.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Culture of African the African culture number one, but afrobeats
more specifically.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Yeah, I mean again, we've had we've had an impact
on America, on the world, ourselves, just being black people
in general. Like you know, they put us on marketing campaigns.
You know, they don't We're not always behind the scenes
creating the product or creating.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
The guidelines of the marketing plan, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
But you know, we are the reason why you know,
fashion apparel. But where all these things are in the
space that it's in today, now add on afrobeats or
you know, the kind of Africa it's just gonna make
the takeover is gonna be very interesting just because you
(37:51):
know a lot of us, even you know, being African black,
you know, black Americans, we have the ability to sit
you know, see our history here not always right. We
don't see it in our books, we don't always get
to see it in our on TV unless it's in
a negative light. But to be able to kind of
(38:12):
have that connection back to Africa and just being able
to open up the doors, it's.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Going to be very exciting.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
And I and I don't and I think that it's
going to be a lot different than people might think.
Whether it's like us going being able to go back
to Africa and have an experience in that experience really
challenging what we do and how we see things today
and also how people see Africa. You know, the way
that it's displayed in America isn't you know, it isn't
(38:45):
always in the best light. But you know, they can't
put us, they can't hold us in the dark anymore
when it comes to you know, how we travel there,
how we communicate with our with our own people.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Uh, there.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
So I think that it's going to make a big difference,
and just in apparel, like not just in a bit
like a visual sense, Like visually we'll be able to
see it in the way that people wear their clothing
or their garments, the footwear that might come from it.
But also I think mentally that's where the big change
will be, not just for you know, Black.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Americans, but for America, Europe, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Like how influential Africa is not just in fashion but
in everything else that you know, resources, real resources, not
like paper that has.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Been turned into currency.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
So I know that was long winded, but just my
mind started racing when she said that.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
I didn't know how to answer that question.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
It was good, though, it was really good. Lastly, I
was listening to a previous interview. Were you talking about,
you know, not effectively creating in a vacuum, And you
talked about you know, design inspiration and where you find
inspiration and you said the best place to find it
from your perspective was in nature and like literally go
(40:06):
outside and be inspired by what you see, the trees,
the air, the whatever. And I was I immediately thought
about Michael Jordan because I grew up as a big,
humongous Michael Jordan fan. I remember almost every sneaker in
his line was designed after some sort of vehicle like Corvette.
And I want you to talk about two things in closing,
(40:29):
and what elements in the shapes of your work. If
you look at your resume, what elements in nature do
you most frequently find inspiration from? Because if I think
about it easy, I'm thinking it probably like leaves probably
if I'm thinking about nature. So I'm gonna let you
answer that, and then I want I also want you
to talk about the idea or concept of both problems
(40:55):
being all around you therefore opportunities being all around you.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Yeah, you know, so when it comes to the inspiration
that that I take and try to like implement in my.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Design process or just in design general.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
Uh, you know, I think that the closest thing to
us as humans are you know, other animals, right, So
just being able to see like how they live their
lives and how they work. Now, I'm not saying I'm
going out and like messing around with rattlesnakes or anything
like that, but you know, even watching it on TV
is very interesting just seeing how you know, a panther
(41:35):
might run, you know, same thing, like you know, how
a tinker us like a black cat to to represent
and create some footwear for for my just seeing how
you know, they live their lives and how fascinating they
move compared to the human body. But how also you know,
these animals are also more connected to the ground. They're
(41:58):
more connected to the earth versus versus how we are
where we have now removed ourselves from the areas a
lot more so that you know, just in the design
phase in general, it's trying to look at like how,
you know, how do we use bironmenticry? You know, typically
environmentry can be you know, almost anything that has to
do with nature. But how can we focus on like
(42:20):
animals and seeing how they live their lives and almost
either whether it's stripped back or in addition to create
things for ourselves appareil foot where you know, prosthetics. You know,
there's a lot of things like that that come off
of looking and creating off animals. And I think that's
that's probably where I gather most of my my information.
(42:42):
But I definitely you know, in nature in general, but
when it comes to animals that keep it on the
TV as much as possible. And and then for the
second question, Uh, can you repeat that?
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Yes, the second part was in the idea of the
both problems are all around you and therefore the solution,
the opportunity is all around you, and just if you
open your eyes you can see opportunities all around you.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Yeah, okay, So for the second question, just like the
problems and opportunities, I think that's how a.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
Lot of you know, design is created. That's you know,
you might think.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
That way, but a lot of times it's you know,
sometimes it's not. But for me personally, it's like having
an equation, right, and it goes back to the idea
of process and progress through that process. So just understanding
and seeing like there are opportunities everywhere, how do you
(43:41):
really take that internally and then filter through your own
lens because a lot of people are I wouldn't call
it like an opportunist, but instead of really finding a problem,
more people just kind of like that what they're creating
is not solution based. You know, they didn't they're not
(44:02):
solving a problem. They're just creating extra two what's already
out in the world. And I can even say that
about you know, there's a lot of things out there
that I like that.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
But again, I think when.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
It comes back to what I said before, that honesty portion,
even if you're not necessarily solving a problem, you're creating
this idea of like, hey, there is a market for
what I'm creating. There are people that I'm looking for
this specific thing, and it might not be a specific problem,
(44:34):
but you might just be saying like, Okay, here's a
group of people here, these are the things that I
want to represent. How do I be honest with myself
and then tell a true story? So then that that
opportunity then gains you know, real life customers or consumers,
but then also people that feel a part of something
(44:58):
that wasn't there before. So you know, not to be
like opportunists, but you're trying to create like a safe
space for other people. You're trying to create a product
that represents a certain group of people that might feel
not represented, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Black Tech Green Money is a production of Blavity Afro
Tech on the Black Effect podcast network and iHeart Media.
It's produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas, with
the additional production support by Sarah Ergan and Rose McLucas.
Special thank you to Michael Davis, Vanessa Serrano, and Mayamoju.
Learn more about my guests and other tech thisss and
innovators at afrotech dot com. Enjoy your black tech, green money.
(46:00):
Share this to somebody, Go get your money. He's some love.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
M
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