September 16, 2025 • 36 mins
Ep. 233 JoJo Simmons is Host and Producer of For Good Podcast and was co-CEO of 3isFor, an NYC based creative agency. As the son of hip hop icon Rev Run of Run DMC, he rose to fame on MTVs Runs House which ran from 2005 - 2009 and won him an NAACP Image Award. Later, he also starred in Growing Up Hip Hop.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Afrotech Conference is back and return to AIDS Town, Houston, Texas,
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(00:22):
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(00:46):
Whether you're launching your first startup, pivoting into a new role,
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Tickets are moving fast to keep your spot nowt at
Afrotech Conference. Dot com will lucas here, Black tech, green money,
so good to be with you guys again today I
got a special guest I've been looking forward to this morning.
I saw it on my calid. Now I'm like, it's
about to go down. So Jojo Simmons, co CEO of
(01:09):
three is four, New York City based creative studio, redefining
storytelling by transforming purpose driven brands into global cultural movements.
Three is four delivers bespoke content strategies emotionally resident media
across film, television, digital, experiential and social platforms. Son of
(01:29):
Hip Hop Ikona Rev Run of Broun the MC, You've
seen him on TV. You've seen Jojo all over your screens.
Me rose to fame on MTV's Runs House, which ran
from two thousand and five to two thousand and nine
and won him an NAACP Image Award. Later, he also
started in Growing Up Hip Hop. Welcome Jojo Simmons, what's up?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Brother?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
And there is one thing I do want to say,
and it's not that you're wrong. I do want to
correct that. For the last two two and a half
years I had I was co CEO of my my
founding partner, Chris Carl. We recently named Shreff Tomlin as
our new CEO. She's a black woman, so happy to
have her take over that role, as a lot of
people don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
CEO is a hard role.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Torounding members, We're like, thank you take those responsibilities. Then
we can hand the business and include and close the
deals and keep on bringing.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
The clients in. But I do want to shout and
I don't say that to correct you.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I say that to give sharer the love and honor
that she's been doing an amazing job over the last
few weeks to a last few months with really you know,
turning things up at three or four. So just want
to shout out to our CEO, Sharyl Tomlin, as absolutely
we start this up, and I'm sure she'll be doing
a lot of interviews and things coming up when people
will really learn who she is and why we chose
her to be in that position. But just wanted to
(02:43):
put that out there and thank you for that introduction. Brother,
it was it was more.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Than no no. Thank you for that, and thank you
for the clarity also, that is important. As we said
the stage for today's conversation, I'm interested in you know,
you had an upbringing unlike most of us, you know,
in the public eye, and you know a legacy that
you come from also, and you're the next generation of that.
And I wonder how coming up under that sort of
(03:10):
legacy and pressure, how that shapes your identity both as
an artist and as an activist and business person.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I think in all senses when you can wrap all
of those from artists to entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
To activists to advocates.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
You know, growing up and watching not only my dad
performed for you know, thousands of people, and watching my
uncle go in rooms and close deals that were amazing.
Deals weren't not just like fat farm deathcam deals, but
like doing things where he was stopping gun violence and
stuff like that in New York, where he was really
showing up in those.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Types of spaces.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I think watching that, being inspired by the ones before me,
Like I said, my dad, my uncle, and you know,
the older ones in front of me showing me what
was really important in life, really molded me to understand
what was important as I got older, and what I
wanted to take from what they were doing and kind
of implement into the way that I run myself and
my business in my life is you know, keep carrying
(04:05):
that sort of advocacy and giving back an intention.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
And I think that's what really helped molding.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
You know and being on screen. What did you learn
about storytelling from that experience, because I imagine you didn't
know back then, like, yo, this could be my life
on the other side of the camera one day. What
did you learn? What lessons did you learn from being
on screen about you know, what happens behind the scenes
to make sure that story gets told properly.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I think the biggest thing that I learned being on
screen is you know, take advantage of the time you
do get on screen, because only you can, you know,
control your narrative on screen.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
First, we can only judge.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
You or think who you are through what you know
you show, no matter if it's editing and people edit
you to look in a different light or whatever. They
can only give what you get. You know, they can
only get what you give, and they can only put
out what you put out right, So I think that
one thing I did learn growing up is that you
can control your narrative on that screen.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
You can truly control your narrative. You can change the
way people look. You can, you know you can. You can.
You can inspire through your storytelling on TV.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
You can really use that time while you're on screen
to really you know, use it, use it intentionally as
I would feel.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, I want you to go all level deeper there,
because we hear so much about you know, brand is
what other people say about you, not what you say
about you. It's how as a storyteller, Now, how do
you help both your clients and the public understand that
this is what you know? Pick a brand that you
work with, this is what we are, so that the
clients the customers also say, Yeah, that's what we love
(05:33):
them for. That's why we rock with them.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Authenticity. You know, we don't try to forge anything.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
If you're not doing that in your brand, we're not
going to tell you to go do that now so
we can get content of it.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh let's go go into this space.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
No, what are you doing now or what do you
what are what could you be doing that you that
would feel natural to you that we can catch and
we can tell the story to the consumer, so the
consumer remembers why they even purchased from you in the
first place.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Of course, they probably like your product, of your or
your service, but mainly they like who you are, they
like your story, they like where you came from.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
I love the same story. You know, my wife and
I were talking.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I said, you know, you go in to the supermarket
and there's six different toilet roll brands and all of
them make money, not because you know one is better
than the other.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
It's because they all have their own story.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
They all came from a certain place, they all you know,
they all etched their name in the game some type
of way. So I think that I always tell people
the best sale is being yourself and telling your story
because once somebody can relate, they want to buy the product,
not just because of the product, but because they relate
to the story.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I love.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I love that. You know, we talk a lot about
legacy on this show. People wanting to build wealth and
legacy building or utilizing tech, implementing tech. So maybe they're
not building it, but they're leveraging it in a specific way.
You know, you grew up in a world of legacy.
It was legacy all around you. You know, but you
also have ideas for yourself and you know things that
you want to do and carve your own path. You know,
(06:56):
when you talk about the expectations that were on you
and that you've maybe or even self inflicted because you
came up around.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
This very self inflicted.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
You know, I thought about this the other day, and
I love that question because I was thinking about the
other day and I was like, you know, although I
enjoyed rap and I'm very passionate about rap music, I
almost felt like I wouldn't safe force because nobody forced
me to do anything.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
But I felt more drawn.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
To that space because of what dad does and what
Dad did, and it's like, maybe I'm supposed to be
in an entertainment space to carry this torch, whether it's
through the entrepreneurial spirit in the music space or it's
the rapping side, right. I always I think I feel
like I self inflicted that pressure on me. I don't
think my dad or my uncle ever's like you need
to do this and you need to carry this torch
and you've got.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
To be run junior, or you got to be just
like Russell.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I think that they always just supported me in anything
and everything I did, whether it was to play basketball
or it was anything that I wanted to do, I
think they supported it. So I think it was a
lot of self inflicted pressure, but I won't fully say
self inflicted because they were still pressure to win, and
it was still a pressure to represent the legacy in
the in the right way and to uphold the legacy
in the right way. So I would say the pressure
(08:04):
of answering into the spaces that I did came from
myself thinking I need to do that. But the pressure
of wanting to win and having to win and dealing
with losses bad came from like knowing that my family
was is a team of.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Winners, and you know, and we were able to win
for a really long time.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, you know. I think about people who have won
and you know, let's say you've won Grammys before, you've
you know, won Academy Awards, or you're a best selling author,
and then other people come to you and they say,
I want to be a best thing. R to show
me how, and you're like, I can show you what
I did, but I can't guarantee that you have that outcome.
When you say that, you know they supported you. Your
(08:40):
uncle supported you, your father supported you. Did they also
put on you like yo, like, yeah, we support you,
but I can't necessarily guarantee that you're going to be
the biggest rapper out.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
There always always.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I mean, I think that's important to keep it real.
I was talking with a friends about that. At the
end of the day, they would tell me that there's
someone to your rapper and he's young, and I was like,
you know, just support them to like be real with
them at all times. And I think that's what kept
it cool. That's what was good for me is my
dad would never was like, you're going to be the
biggest this, or you're gonna be you know, just work
hard and what however God plans it out for you
(09:12):
or however life unravels, is that's how it's going to unravel.
But just because you know you have the resources, are
even if I give you my blueprint of how I
did it, it isn't necessarily going to work for you
the same way. You know, like like one like I
heard the other day. You know, people's plans aren't one
size fits all, you know, like just because the way
that they had a plan, it may not fit your plans.
(09:34):
You know, you got to everybody has to go through
their own experience and everybody has to have their own,
uh you know, their own kind of you know, lessons
in life to get to where they need to go.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
I always like you to describe storytelling for good, Like
what does that mean to you and what principles drive
this mission that you're on.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
It's intentional storytelling. It's telling the story that needs to
be told. It's telling the story of the underrepresented people.
Is telling the story of the people that you don't
hear about. It's telling the stories of all the positivity
in the world, the things that are going on, the
things that can change, the things that can impact.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Like I like telling stories.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
And of course we see all these great TV shows
and movies and all this other stuff, and I like
working on the things that create impact. I like working
on the things that get people passionate about being part
of a community to change things right, to be good,
to be positive, to build each other up. Because I
always say this, we're in a space in a world
where people are just beating each other down all the time.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
And that's what I truly feel like.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Every every podcast, every blog space, every space you walk in,
it's like somebody's being judged for something.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And and and my and our idea of for good
is literally just being.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Good man and putting out the good in the space,
and putting out the good in the world, and being
that little room of good that you could just come
into and just breathe for a minute. Everything over here
is positivity. We're not judging you, we're not biased, we're
not doing none of that. We're you know, a multi
cultural team over here at a three or four in
the four good in four good universe. So like that's
what we wanted to look like in the world, Like
(11:08):
just everybody working together, you know, in unison, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
So when somebody of your name, you know, puts out
we're doing this thing, I would assume that you have
a lot of inbound Yo, we have this idea for
a project. We would love to work with you, Jojo,
more things than you have the time with bandwidth, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
To do.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
How do you filter through what is worth you working on?
Because not everything that's you may want to work on
you should work on either.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, we try to work on everything, but we do
have a policy if if if the intention isn't good,
then we're probably gonna turn it down. Like we're not
just picking.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Up every dollar. You know. Obviously I say this whole time.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Revenue and income, all of that is important in any company,
but we will not work with assholes.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I'm sorry if I curse, but we just won't work
with assholes.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
We won't work with people that don't understand the intention
of being good. We won't work with people that don't
understand the importance of what we do. And I don't
never want to shy away our clients everything. Oh he
doesn't work with us because maybe I'm not a good
enough person.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I'm not saying that I think everybody has good in them,
but I'm just saying like, we're just not going to
work with people that aren't going to speak to us
with respect and aren't going to respect the craft and
respect the time that we put into our work and
respect that you know that there's you know, what they
do is deeper than just you know, sales in revenue
because ultimately with drive sales and revenues, like I said.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Authenticity and really connecting to the people.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
And there's so many clients that we're so thankful for
that you would never think would care about the storytelling,
but they do, and they telling us that it's working
and that the community is really biting on it in
it and it's amazing because these are spaces that they
wouldn't be a lot of storytelling about what like you know,
We've worked in the tobacco space, and you would never
think that the storytelling matters, but it does, you know,
(13:00):
it really does, and and and and the brands that
we work with understand that. And then they come back
to us and say, hey, it's working and it looks great,
and those are those are those are the kind of
clients we love to work with. It's like, it doesn't
matter what space you in, understand that the storytelling and
being real with people, you know, it goes a long way.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
What's the project you've worked on that you're most proud.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Of right now?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
It has to be the for a good podcast, you know,
my podcast that that that I'm hosting. We obviously work
on a lot of projects with a lot of different clients.
We've done experiential work, We've done documentaries, We've done you know,
all types of content.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
For people that I'm super proud of.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Like I said, but I think just the podcast, Like
I literally before this, I was just doing an interview
on the other side. I would you I was interviewing
somebody in the same space, because.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
You know, I love the conversations we're having.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
They're so inspiring AND's so impactful, and they're not always celebrities.
That's the biggest thing to me is like, yeah, we
have the big names, the millions of followers, but then
we're talking to the people that don't really have that
many followers but have an amazing story. And the impact
is crazy because when we look at the audio downloads,
they're about the same neck and necklace somebod these celebrity downloads,
because it's like the conversation is amazing and the conversation
(14:13):
is impactful.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
And my byline on it is, you know, welcome to
the Four Good Podcast.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Where we focus on the good, never the bad, and
we're measured by what we do, not what we have.
So this isn't about how much money you have, how
many cars you've got, how many cars you you know,
how many houses you bought, how many women. I don't
care about that. What are you doing in the world,
What are you doing for your mental health, what are
you doing for your personal growth? And how can somebody
that's a fan of you or that's listening right now
be inspired by that if they're going through a time
(14:40):
where they just don't know what to do. Those are
the conversations I love having. The Four Good podcast is
just everything that I envisioned it to be when I
came up with the idea and I came up with
the name with my.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Team, It's everything we envisioned to be.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
It's like a non biased, non judgmental space, a safe
space as we like to call it, a brave space
as we.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Super like to call it, for people to just come
into and not be judging.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah, let's say more about that. You know, I think
about there's You're obviously talented. There's a lot of things
you could be spending your time doing, and what was
the decision making like process for you know what? It's
worth it for me to spend a few hours a
week doing the podcast versus the other things you could
be doing.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
My curiosity, I'm passionate about my curiosity. I'm curious about everything.
I'm curious about people. I love people, so I love
having conversations. I will literally have conversations in the supermarket
with the lady checking me out and just you know,
ask where she's from, and ask how she's doing, and
ask how mental health is because that's who I am
at my core.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So it makes it very easy.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
It doesn't feel like work when I have to When
I have to go interview every week.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
It feels like, oh, who do I get to interview
this week? Okay, great, Like this is amazing.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I'm passionate about conversation, you know, Like it's funny because
I've been in front of the screen my whole life.
In some senses, I do want to step back. In
some senses, I don't want to be in front of
the screen. But these conversations are needed. It feels like
my calling, right. It feels like if I have a
platform and I can use the platform for good, I'm
gonna do that, right. So that's why, you know, I'm
just so passionate about those conversations that it doesn't feel
(16:09):
like I have to take some hours out of my
day to do something that I don't want to do,
or do something that, oh I check off my feel
good list for today. No, it's genuinely not that. It's
an authentic conversation that I love having with people.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
You know.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
That's why I tell my team, Hey, keep them booked
up every Tuesday. Keep them booked up, you know, and
then you know, I go, you know, I do some
in persons with people, so like keep me booked, Please
keep me booked, and please keep me with guests because
I love talking to everybody.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
You've been recognized for your work with mental health, and
you know, I wonder, you know, other than just being
curious about things like what, what dedicates you to that
particular conversation.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
My own mental health.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know, growing up being a teen star, a child star,
I'm sure you can think that that took a toll
on my mental health. It was a little different for
me to go right into fame and then really not
ever be normal again. Like still to this day, I'm
not normal, right, And I don't say that in like
a cocky way. I say it in a way of
like I'm going to be recognized everywhere I go, So
(17:09):
just focusing on me and making sure that my mental
health is good and that I don't let any of
the outside world distract my positivity or my happiness. That's
the main thing about mental health is you know people
are they find it hard to stay happy and stay positive,
and it's because all the distractions of the outside world
and all the prejudging and the judging yourself and then
putting pressures on yourself. I think that I had a
(17:32):
lot of that growing up, and when I was able
to really sit down and realize there was a mental
health issue and I needed to really take time to
myself and really figure out who I am and what
makes me happy and what doesn't matter in life. What
does matter is when I realized that, Okay, I'm good,
I want to pour into others. I want others to
understand that mental health doesn't mean you're crazy, it doesn't
mean it's something wrong with you. We all go through
(17:53):
these mental health problems where we all think about or
we're all on our head about something.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
And I think that me just being once again.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Platform where I could talk for that space, especially in
black and brown communities where we know that a lot
of people aren't taking advantage of therapists and a lot
of people aren't understanding that they have mental health issues.
I thought it was important that I'd be one of
those people would follow us to kind of you know, represent.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
How do you open the storytelling with that effort to
destigmatize it.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
I mean, we all have a story to tell and
it all plays a part of our mental health. Whether
it's a sad story, a happy story, or a mad story.
We all went you know, it all plays into your
mental health.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (18:31):
And I think that's the most important thing is relatable storytelling.
And that's why storytelling is so great, because you may
tell a story and somebody.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Be like, I went through the same thing. Oh wow,
he did he went through I went through the same thing.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
And that's the importance of importance of storytelling and mental
health because people like Jay Barnett, who was an ex
NFL player who almost committed suicide, now is a mental
health advocate and he speaks to so many men and
people and you would never think somebody is so powerful,
will we be going through that?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
But there's somebody on the other side that said.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
I was to commit suicide too, and I wasn't even
an NFL player and I wasn't probably even making the more.
But he made me stop. He made me not do
it because his story related to my story, and I
realized that it wasn't over.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I realized that I.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Still have strength to keep going. That's why storytelling is
the most important part of mental health. It's telling your
story so other people. Other people can hear it and say, oh,
I'm okay, I'm all right, I'm not the only one
going through this.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You know, we've talked about some of your projects and
some of your ideas, and you seem like and you
here the energy of someone who has a lot of ideas.
I wonder, like, what's your process like? So when you
have an idea for a concept, you know you can
pick three of the things that you're working on, Like,
what's the first thing that you do in order to
take that thing from just concept to actually reality.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Bring into the team, Bring into my partners, see what
they think about it first, because sometimes as creative with ADHD,
I throw things at the wall and most of the
time they like it. But like, yeah, man, bring it
to the team and see if not if it's possible,
because anything is possible. Bring it to the team and
see what it will take to bring that to life,
or what it will take to bring that vision to life.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
So that's always the next thing is envisioning it and
then planning it.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
A lot of people are great at envisioning an idea,
but then get lazy or don't really want to put
the work in the actually plan it. Right, You need
to envision, you need to plan, and they need to execute.
And I think that's the most important thing. So envision first,
planning with the people that matter and that can help
you really execute and then execute it.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
So how do you balance the freedom to be creative
that you have with the efforts to have actual outcomes?
They don't always play together.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
How do I say that I asked that question against really.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So, you have a lot of creative freedom. You can
you have a studio, you can do all the projects
you want to do. You got a camera, the microphones,
all the things, and you got the ideas to go
produce these things. But you need specific outcomes to make
them make sense. So how do you balance those two things?
Like yo Jojo just wants to do this, but how
do we know, well, how do we ensure that the outcomes,
(21:02):
the revenue, the numbers, the watchers, listeners are their best
suited to target that thing.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
It's hard, you know, obviously stats play into it, and
you know, looking at the algorithm and all that stuff.
You can say all of that, but I think that
you know, I've been blessed to be able to get
on camera and just be authentic and it really gravitate
towards the people we've you know, we've.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Had a few viral clips and we've done really well.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
You know, when it comes to cloud of the views
and downloads, So I just say, like I wouldn't never
say like I couldn't do something I didn't envision. I
just say that, really, it's just been. It's just it's been.
It's just been easy for me. It's it hasn't felt
like I've done anything that I haven't wanted to do.
When it comes to the podcasts or talking to people,
it just feels like easy. And you know, obviously we
(21:48):
need to have an outcome. You're pouring money into it,
so we need to get money out of it. But
that comes with consistency and building. And what I do
know is are we better than yesterday? That's my main question,
you know, are we Are we growing from yesterday or
are we Are we regressing? Are we progressing or are
we regressing? And from what I see is we're constantly progressing.
The followers are going up, the community is growing, the
(22:11):
you know, the conversation is getting longer, and the conversation
is starting of how important for a good podcasts is.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
For the world.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
So you know, yeah, that's how I see the outcome
right now is that it's impacting people.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
And when you impact people, the revenue comes. The revenue
always comes when you impact people.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
You know, you brought up the words stats, and I
think about there are there's feedback that you get when
you produce content and strategies stories for other people. You
get an audience feedback, you get an audience reaction, and
there's also like, you know, just creatively, creatively you want
to do a certain thing, how has the feedback you
(22:50):
received shaped or changed or altered or you know, massaged
the ideas that you wanted to put into the world.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I used to be super protective over my creative ideas,
especially when people used to give feedback. I used to
not want to really hear it because like, you have
this idea and you know it's gonna work. But I've
become way more open to feedback, I believe, even on YouTube,
Like after one of my biggest first episodes with my
sister Vanessa, I had a lot of feedback about me
talking over her and kind of host I was. And
instead of like being heard about it but like everybody's wrong,
(23:19):
I came and said, Okay, I'm gonna look at your
feedback and I'm gonna implement some of the things that
I do think you guys are right about. You know,
I'm not gonna automatically be offended.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I want to be taught how to be better every day.
So always open and.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Hearing feedback nowadays, you know, even if it's not feedback,
I want to hear.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I got to, you know, hear that.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Feedback and really, let really think, is that real feedback?
Is that right feedback? Can I implement that feedback? So
like feedback isn't bad for me? I love feedback. I
look for feedback every chance I get.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
You know, you know, you talked a little bit about
mental health and your upbringing and how being in the
public eye, you know, kind of affected you and most
of us will never have that sort of experience. But
I wonder how your thoughts and efforts to opening up
this discussion from mental health for people who've been in
(24:08):
the industry music, TV or whatever. What gaps exist still
for them?
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Oh man, You know a lot of people, you know
don't know who to speak to. A lot you know,
the truth of the matter is people are having problems
finding mental health therapists that relate to them. You know,
there's harder to you know, especially in the black and
brown communities and the artists. You know, you don't you know,
not everybody is going to understand what the artist is
going through, or even even a black and brown artist
at that right. There's a lot of different therapists, but
(24:38):
a lot of them are finding it hard to find
black therapists and they are out there, but a lot
of them are you know, finding that a hard thing.
So that's one of the loops. And another thing is
like them not paying attention to their mental health. They're
not them not being aware. I think once everybody becomes
more aware, they take it a little bit more serious.
But people are just living and just going and just
you know, going on with their life, you know what
(24:59):
I mean, and not really taking the time to say, hey,
am I okay, because you know, I love that.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I had a.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Recent conversation and somebody said, you know, you go through
these mini traumas all day and sometimes you never sit
with it and say, you know, I am.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Bothered by that or you know, this did bother me?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
And you know, I think that's that's the main thing,
is like, it's you know, people not being aware of
their mental health and also you know, people just not
finding the right help for the mental health.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
You know.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Other than the conversations which you said, you love to
have these conversations on your show and otherwise just talking
to people, like how do you sustain your own mental health?
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Like myself, I give myself the space to breathe and
I run in my family.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I love my family.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
I got kids and a wife, so like spending time
with them or just getting my time to take to myself.
So I always say, if I if I have an
empty glass, I can't fill nobody else's glass. So I
need to fill my glass of positivity first so I
can give everybody else the glasses of positivity. So I
really just take the time to myself. I'm very big on,
(25:59):
you know, my barriers. I'm very big on my space,
and I'm very big on just you know, making sure
that I take care of me so I can take
care of abody else.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
What advice do you offer creatives, entrepreneurs and others who
are trying to diversify revenue, because especially like in the beginning,
when you are building content studio, whether you're a creative
yourself and you are a videographer, or you're building a
studio or you're trying to just put together a collective,
the revenue isn't always there in the beginning, and you're
(26:31):
trying to, you know, put things into the world that
show you you can do this and that people can
trust you with it. So talk about, you know, diversifying,
how to find the money, How do you find the money?
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Show up in spaces and show up and show you
your value and your strengths.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
And all spaces.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
A lot of you know, it's crazy, I could tell
the story, you know, and three is four first started,
we were only showing up in the cannabis spaces and
doing content in the cannabis spaces. And although that was
great and we were telling great stories, is that's what
we wanted to do, A lot of the revenue wasn't there.
A lot of these cannabis brands didn't have money for content.
They had more money for like location and license and
all that other stuff, and like it wasn't like we're
(27:10):
ready to spend a nice bag on a good content
piece of storytelling. So we had to diversify, like you said,
and go on to other spaces and say, Okay, we're
not just good at storytelling in cannabis, We're good at
content storytelling and content strategy for anybody. We're creatives, right,
We're not just creative in cannabis, we're creative anywhere. So
I tell people that, you know, never put yourself in
(27:30):
a box. You know you can you can do more
than just one thing. You can do more than you envision,
Especially if you find your strengths and you lean into
your strengths. Your strengths can lead you to so many
different places, not just the place that you thought you
could go.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
You know, being a husband and a father, how do
you integrate you know, that work that you do in
whether it be advocacy or you know, creative work, how
do you integrate that in your whole life?
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Man?
Speaker 3 (27:57):
I just think, you know, you know, being a husband
and a father is just super inspiring. And I think that,
you know, it's just like the gym for me. It
sets discipline, it sets routine, it sets you know, it
sets you know. I feel like the most successful people
that you know, they got a family and they're just
super focused and they're just focused on the task at hand.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
And I think that that's how I integrated.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Is just having a solid foundation at home so I
can go and be the best meet and I don't
have to be distracted by any of the other things.
I know that I got a great wife at home.
I know, I got beautiful, smart kids at home, and
that just helps me keep on going every day.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
That just helps me know.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
That that part of my life is good, right, that
part of my life is set, and now I can
go be creative and do it and be the best
I can be.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
I don't have to worry about all that other things,
all other stuff.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I mean when people we hear stories of people who
have grown up like you, they grow up with means,
they grow up in the public eye, and there's often
which I'm sure you've heard, there's there's stories about how
maybe they don't know how to hustle. Maybe there's you know,
spoiled by it. You know, there's quotes that you know,
one generation earns it, one generation and you know, takes
(29:01):
advantage of it, uses it up. The third generation loses
it all, you know, right.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
And so one generation earns it, one generation burns it.
That's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
And so I how both how did your upbringing ensure
that that doesn't happen? And what are you teaching your
children so that they understand what it means to work hard.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
I think my dad did a great job of making
sure we had everything we needed, but making sure that
we weren't entitled.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
To believe that what he worked hard for that we
would take or or or he would just constantly give.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
It was more of the fact that, Okay, now that
you're on your own, I've given you the lessons, and
I've given you everything you need to get I need
to give you. I think he gave us all the
greatest opportunity, you know, as much as it you know
might not you know, there might have been some downfalls
for it. But the greatest opportunity was putting us all
on TV and giving us all our own career, right
you know, you know, that's the best thing you can
do for somebody to try to figure out how to
(29:52):
make some money out here. And I think that that
was one of the greatest things he did. But not
just that, it was the morals that he instilled in
us that like you got to hustle, like I hustle.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
You know, I'm not going to just.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Give you what I've worked for, you know, but what
I've worked for you should be able to build on that.
So I think that he was very good in teaching
us that. And that's the same thing I teach my
little ones. Although only nine and four, I'm able to
speak to my nine year old now and just tell
her how important the legacy is. And you know, no
matter how much Dad has or how much Dad's gonna
do for you, I always want you to go out
(30:23):
and work hard and go get it on your own
and make me proud on your own no matter what
you do, you know what I mean. I don't never
want her to also feel entitled. I never want her
to feel like I don't support her. But I also
don't want her to feel like she doesn't need to
work for you know, what she needs to do, and.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
That plays you know, even in school now, like hey.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Work hard, get good grades, you get rewarded for it.
Those are the type of things that in life. You
know you work hard, you get a promotion at work,
or you work hard, you know you're able to blow
your brand up.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
You know you blow your company up.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
That's the same thing that I kind of instill her
in school, in sports and whatever she does in life.
It's like we don't give up. We see things through,
you know what I mean, And nobody owes you anything.
You got to go get it.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
How did you learn to lead. I mean, it's one
thing from being self determined and going to get it,
waking yourself up and going to hustle. It's a different
thing when you are leading other people.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
It's funny because I thought about this the other day.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Somebody you know, talk to me about and I said,
I just think I've always been a natural born leader.
People have always, you know, gravitated towards following me, whether
it was a bad decision or a good decision. I
think a lot of my friends always knew that I,
you know, always thought I had it all together or
always believed that, like, hey.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
This is the guy that's gonna lead us to the water.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Not just because I'm run sun or I'm a celebrity,
but because I've always had the plan. I've always had
the vision, and I've always known how to use people
in their strengths around me to make people feel empowered,
to make people feel part of the team. And that's
a special thing to do, and it's and a lot
of people don't understand that. Like, you can be a
person with a team, but to be a leader is
to understand everybody that you have around you. They do
what they do best to make it all work for
(31:51):
all of you guys so you can all get money. Like, listen,
I'm getting money and I have companies with the guys
that I went to high school with. You can't tell
me that, like that's not, you know, the coolest thing
in the world, because we were all able to find
our strengths and understand what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
But I think that, like, you know.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Most of my life, you know, people just gravitated towards
you know, following my lead, and I've taken pride in
like leading my guys to the to the water so
we can all drink.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
You know, looking back at the work that you've done,
what legacy are you building?
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Oh, I'm building a legacy of impact. I say this
in every interview. It's impact.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
You know. It's not about how much money I'd have made.
It's not about you.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Know what you know, what I've do, you know what
I've done when it comes to all the other stuff,
It's about what I've done to add to the legacy
that I'm already came from, but in my own way,
in my own space, right, So, like it's the impact
that I create.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
When I'm long going, I want people to say, man.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
He really showed up for people he really represents, represented
the people he wanted to represent, and he really did
as all that he can do. Because I know a
lot of people look at myself, my siblings and people
like me that may you know, came with means and
opportunities and say, well, they don't care.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
About other people. They're good. But I don't want nobody
to ever think that about me.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
I want people to know that I late and I understand,
and in any chance or way that I can help
the community, I'm always going to show up. Whether it's
in the cannabis space, the mental health space, the financial space,
any space where black brown underserved, or people that just
don't get it don't get it, I want to be
the one that educate and help them get it.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
And finally, for black creatives, young ones, particularly, but not solely,
the young ones, you know, it's called context. You for
black creatives aspiring to you know, find their way in
the great you know, culture, commerce, creativity and community in
their work and find an opportunity to build their life
(33:38):
off of that. What's some of the pieces of advice
you would have for them?
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Oh, how would they mess creativity?
Speaker 1 (33:45):
You said, say that creativity community, commerce, they got to
make money. Culture, how do they do that?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
All of that? You just said it. You just said it.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Being in the culture, being in the community, you know
what I mean, Like showing up in the spaces and
seeing what's happening, you know, being outside, being amongst the people,
being amongst all the people.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
And I think that's how you stay creative.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
That's how I get my inspiration is being around my people,
going around Other times, I just like to walk around
Halem and just look at my people, you know, you know,
I just that's how I get inspired.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
That's how I get creative.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
So I think that just being outside, man, I tell
people the best way to make money is being outside
and knowing how to talk to people and starting conversations
with people. You never know who you're speaking to when
you go outside to you know, get outside, get to
the events with the like minded people like you, get
to the spaces where people are doing things that you're doing,
and just build relationships. You know, don't think about obviously
(34:39):
we think about money, but think about relationships.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Think about people.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Because one thing I have learned is the greatest relationships
that we've made were authentic relationships that have spun the
block on us and came back and said, I got
some money for you, I got an opportunity for you.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
I got to check for you.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Why Because we showed up in spaces and we showed
our strengths, we showed our values, but we showed out.
We showed who we were. We didn't just show that
we can offer you something. We showed you that we're
good people. And I think that people like working with
good people, and that's why it works for us. Or
I say that to everybody else out there. Go out
there and be authentic, good person into the company.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Afro Tech Conference is back and return to Ads Town, Houston, Texas,
from October twenty seventh through thirty first, twenty twenty five
the George R. Brown Convention Center. For years, afro Tech
has been the go to experience for black tech innovators, founders, engineers, creators, investors.
In twenty twenty five is shaping up to be the
biggest year yet, though with fortyzery tennees expected. This year's
(35:33):
conference will feature five days of dynamic programming across six
curator stages from discovery to executive leadership. Join us to
hear from industry leaders at the forefront of change, learn
from top ten engineers and designers, and connect with recruiters
from nearly two hundred companies. This year, we're digging deeper
into what's next with tracks exploring AI and machine learning,
mad tech and health equity, cybersecurity, climate tech, and much more.
(35:57):
Whether you're mounting your first startup, pivoting into a new role,
or scaling as an exec, there's something here for you.
Take us and moving fast to keep your spot now
at Afrotech Conference dot Com. Black Tech Green Money is
a production of Blavity afro Tech on the Black Effect
podcast Networking Night Hire Media. It's produced by Morgan Debonne
and me Well Lucas, with ad digital production support by
(36:17):
Kate McDonald, Sarah Ergan and Jada McGee. Special thank you
to Michael Davis and Lovebeach. Learn more about my Guess
and other technivef that's an Innovator's an afrotech dot Com.
The video version of this episode will drop to Black
Tech Green Money on YouTube, so'll tap in. Enjoy your
Black Tech Green Money shitus to somebody, go get your money.
Peace and love
Afrotech Conference is back and return to AIDS Town, Houston, Texas,
from October twenty seven through thirty first, twenty twenty five
at the George R. Brown Convention Center. For years, Afrotech
has been to go to experience for black tech innovators, founders, engineers,
creators and investors. In twenty twenty five is shaping up
to be the biggest year yet, though with fortyzery tenees expected.
(00:22):
This year's conference will feature five days of dynamic programming
across six curator stages from discovery to executive leadership. Join
us to hear from industry leaders at the forefront of change,
learn from top ten engineers and designers, and connect with
recruiters from nearly two hundred companies. This year, we're digging
deeper into what's next with tracks exploring AI and machine learning,
mad tech and health equity, cybersecurity, climate tech, and much more.
(00:46):
Whether you're launching your first startup, pivoting into a new role,
or scaling as an execut there's something here for you.
Tickets are moving fast to keep your spot nowt at
Afrotech Conference. Dot com will lucas here, Black tech, green money,
so good to be with you guys again today I
got a special guest I've been looking forward to this morning.
I saw it on my calid. Now I'm like, it's
about to go down. So Jojo Simmons, co CEO of
(01:09):
three is four, New York City based creative studio, redefining
storytelling by transforming purpose driven brands into global cultural movements.
Three is four delivers bespoke content strategies emotionally resident media
across film, television, digital, experiential and social platforms. Son of
(01:29):
Hip Hop Ikona Rev Run of Broun the MC, You've
seen him on TV. You've seen Jojo all over your screens.
Me rose to fame on MTV's Runs House, which ran
from two thousand and five to two thousand and nine
and won him an NAACP Image Award. Later, he also
started in Growing Up Hip Hop. Welcome Jojo Simmons, what's up?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Brother?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
And there is one thing I do want to say,
and it's not that you're wrong. I do want to
correct that. For the last two two and a half
years I had I was co CEO of my my
founding partner, Chris Carl. We recently named Shreff Tomlin as
our new CEO. She's a black woman, so happy to
have her take over that role, as a lot of
people don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
CEO is a hard role.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Torounding members, We're like, thank you take those responsibilities. Then
we can hand the business and include and close the
deals and keep on bringing.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
The clients in. But I do want to shout and
I don't say that to correct you.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I say that to give sharer the love and honor
that she's been doing an amazing job over the last
few weeks to a last few months with really you know,
turning things up at three or four. So just want
to shout out to our CEO, Sharyl Tomlin, as absolutely
we start this up, and I'm sure she'll be doing
a lot of interviews and things coming up when people
will really learn who she is and why we chose
her to be in that position. But just wanted to
(02:43):
put that out there and thank you for that introduction. Brother,
it was it was more.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Than no no. Thank you for that, and thank you
for the clarity also, that is important. As we said
the stage for today's conversation, I'm interested in you know,
you had an upbringing unlike most of us, you know,
in the public eye, and you know a legacy that
you come from also, and you're the next generation of that.
And I wonder how coming up under that sort of
(03:10):
legacy and pressure, how that shapes your identity both as
an artist and as an activist and business person.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I think in all senses when you can wrap all
of those from artists to entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
To activists to advocates.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
You know, growing up and watching not only my dad
performed for you know, thousands of people, and watching my
uncle go in rooms and close deals that were amazing.
Deals weren't not just like fat farm deathcam deals, but
like doing things where he was stopping gun violence and
stuff like that in New York, where he was really
showing up in those.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Types of spaces.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I think watching that, being inspired by the ones before me,
Like I said, my dad, my uncle, and you know,
the older ones in front of me showing me what
was really important in life, really molded me to understand
what was important as I got older, and what I
wanted to take from what they were doing and kind
of implement into the way that I run myself and
my business in my life is you know, keep carrying
(04:05):
that sort of advocacy and giving back an intention.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
And I think that's what really helped molding.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
You know and being on screen. What did you learn
about storytelling from that experience, because I imagine you didn't
know back then, like, yo, this could be my life
on the other side of the camera one day. What
did you learn? What lessons did you learn from being
on screen about you know, what happens behind the scenes
to make sure that story gets told properly.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I think the biggest thing that I learned being on
screen is you know, take advantage of the time you
do get on screen, because only you can, you know,
control your narrative on screen.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
First, we can only judge.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
You or think who you are through what you know
you show, no matter if it's editing and people edit
you to look in a different light or whatever. They
can only give what you get. You know, they can
only get what you give, and they can only put
out what you put out right, So I think that
one thing I did learn growing up is that you
can control your narrative on that screen.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
You can truly control your narrative. You can change the
way people look. You can, you know you can. You can.
You can inspire through your storytelling on TV.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
You can really use that time while you're on screen
to really you know, use it, use it intentionally as
I would feel.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, I want you to go all level deeper there,
because we hear so much about you know, brand is
what other people say about you, not what you say
about you. It's how as a storyteller, Now, how do
you help both your clients and the public understand that
this is what you know? Pick a brand that you
work with, this is what we are, so that the
clients the customers also say, Yeah, that's what we love
(05:33):
them for. That's why we rock with them.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Authenticity. You know, we don't try to forge anything.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
If you're not doing that in your brand, we're not
going to tell you to go do that now so
we can get content of it.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh let's go go into this space.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
No, what are you doing now or what do you
what are what could you be doing that you that
would feel natural to you that we can catch and
we can tell the story to the consumer, so the
consumer remembers why they even purchased from you in the
first place.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Of course, they probably like your product, of your or
your service, but mainly they like who you are, they
like your story, they like where you came from.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
I love the same story. You know, my wife and
I were talking.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I said, you know, you go in to the supermarket
and there's six different toilet roll brands and all of
them make money, not because you know one is better
than the other.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
It's because they all have their own story.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
They all came from a certain place, they all you know,
they all etched their name in the game some type
of way. So I think that I always tell people
the best sale is being yourself and telling your story
because once somebody can relate, they want to buy the product,
not just because of the product, but because they relate
to the story.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I love.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I love that. You know, we talk a lot about
legacy on this show. People wanting to build wealth and
legacy building or utilizing tech, implementing tech. So maybe they're
not building it, but they're leveraging it in a specific way.
You know, you grew up in a world of legacy.
It was legacy all around you. You know, but you
also have ideas for yourself and you know things that
you want to do and carve your own path. You know,
(06:56):
when you talk about the expectations that were on you
and that you've maybe or even self inflicted because you
came up around.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
This very self inflicted.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
You know, I thought about this the other day, and
I love that question because I was thinking about the
other day and I was like, you know, although I
enjoyed rap and I'm very passionate about rap music, I
almost felt like I wouldn't safe force because nobody forced
me to do anything.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
But I felt more drawn.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
To that space because of what dad does and what
Dad did, and it's like, maybe I'm supposed to be
in an entertainment space to carry this torch, whether it's
through the entrepreneurial spirit in the music space or it's
the rapping side, right. I always I think I feel
like I self inflicted that pressure on me. I don't
think my dad or my uncle ever's like you need
to do this and you need to carry this torch
and you've got.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
To be run junior, or you got to be just
like Russell.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I think that they always just supported me in anything
and everything I did, whether it was to play basketball
or it was anything that I wanted to do, I
think they supported it. So I think it was a
lot of self inflicted pressure, but I won't fully say
self inflicted because they were still pressure to win, and
it was still a pressure to represent the legacy in
the in the right way and to uphold the legacy
in the right way. So I would say the pressure
(08:04):
of answering into the spaces that I did came from
myself thinking I need to do that. But the pressure
of wanting to win and having to win and dealing
with losses bad came from like knowing that my family
was is a team of.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Winners, and you know, and we were able to win
for a really long time.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, you know. I think about people who have won
and you know, let's say you've won Grammys before, you've
you know, won Academy Awards, or you're a best selling author,
and then other people come to you and they say,
I want to be a best thing. R to show
me how, and you're like, I can show you what
I did, but I can't guarantee that you have that outcome.
When you say that, you know they supported you. Your
(08:40):
uncle supported you, your father supported you. Did they also
put on you like yo, like, yeah, we support you,
but I can't necessarily guarantee that you're going to be
the biggest rapper out.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
There always always.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I mean, I think that's important to keep it real.
I was talking with a friends about that. At the
end of the day, they would tell me that there's
someone to your rapper and he's young, and I was like,
you know, just support them to like be real with
them at all times. And I think that's what kept
it cool. That's what was good for me is my
dad would never was like, you're going to be the
biggest this, or you're gonna be you know, just work
hard and what however God plans it out for you
(09:12):
or however life unravels, is that's how it's going to unravel.
But just because you know you have the resources, are
even if I give you my blueprint of how I
did it, it isn't necessarily going to work for you
the same way. You know, like like one like I
heard the other day. You know, people's plans aren't one
size fits all, you know, like just because the way
that they had a plan, it may not fit your plans.
(09:34):
You know, you got to everybody has to go through
their own experience and everybody has to have their own,
uh you know, their own kind of you know, lessons
in life to get to where they need to go.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
I always like you to describe storytelling for good, Like
what does that mean to you and what principles drive
this mission that you're on.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
It's intentional storytelling. It's telling the story that needs to
be told. It's telling the story of the underrepresented people.
Is telling the story of the people that you don't
hear about. It's telling the stories of all the positivity
in the world, the things that are going on, the
things that can change, the things that can impact.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Like I like telling stories.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
And of course we see all these great TV shows
and movies and all this other stuff, and I like
working on the things that create impact. I like working
on the things that get people passionate about being part
of a community to change things right, to be good,
to be positive, to build each other up. Because I
always say this, we're in a space in a world
where people are just beating each other down all the time.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
And that's what I truly feel like.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Every every podcast, every blog space, every space you walk in,
it's like somebody's being judged for something.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And and and my and our idea of for good
is literally just being.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Good man and putting out the good in the space,
and putting out the good in the world, and being
that little room of good that you could just come
into and just breathe for a minute. Everything over here
is positivity. We're not judging you, we're not biased, we're
not doing none of that. We're you know, a multi
cultural team over here at a three or four in
the four good in four good universe. So like that's
what we wanted to look like in the world, Like
(11:08):
just everybody working together, you know, in unison, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
So when somebody of your name, you know, puts out
we're doing this thing, I would assume that you have
a lot of inbound Yo, we have this idea for
a project. We would love to work with you, Jojo,
more things than you have the time with bandwidth, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
To do.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
How do you filter through what is worth you working on?
Because not everything that's you may want to work on
you should work on either.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, we try to work on everything, but we do
have a policy if if if the intention isn't good,
then we're probably gonna turn it down. Like we're not
just picking.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Up every dollar. You know. Obviously I say this whole time.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Revenue and income, all of that is important in any company,
but we will not work with assholes.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I'm sorry if I curse, but we just won't work
with assholes.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
We won't work with people that don't understand the intention
of being good. We won't work with people that don't
understand the importance of what we do. And I don't
never want to shy away our clients everything. Oh he
doesn't work with us because maybe I'm not a good
enough person.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I'm not saying that I think everybody has good in them,
but I'm just saying like, we're just not going to
work with people that aren't going to speak to us
with respect and aren't going to respect the craft and
respect the time that we put into our work and
respect that you know that there's you know, what they
do is deeper than just you know, sales in revenue
because ultimately with drive sales and revenues, like I said.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Authenticity and really connecting to the people.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
And there's so many clients that we're so thankful for
that you would never think would care about the storytelling,
but they do, and they telling us that it's working
and that the community is really biting on it in
it and it's amazing because these are spaces that they
wouldn't be a lot of storytelling about what like you know,
We've worked in the tobacco space, and you would never
think that the storytelling matters, but it does, you know,
(13:00):
it really does, and and and and the brands that
we work with understand that. And then they come back
to us and say, hey, it's working and it looks great,
and those are those are those are the kind of
clients we love to work with. It's like, it doesn't
matter what space you in, understand that the storytelling and
being real with people, you know, it goes a long way.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
What's the project you've worked on that you're most proud.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Of right now?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
It has to be the for a good podcast, you know,
my podcast that that that I'm hosting. We obviously work
on a lot of projects with a lot of different clients.
We've done experiential work, We've done documentaries, We've done you know,
all types of content.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
For people that I'm super proud of.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Like I said, but I think just the podcast, Like
I literally before this, I was just doing an interview
on the other side. I would you I was interviewing
somebody in the same space, because.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
You know, I love the conversations we're having.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
They're so inspiring AND's so impactful, and they're not always celebrities.
That's the biggest thing to me is like, yeah, we
have the big names, the millions of followers, but then
we're talking to the people that don't really have that
many followers but have an amazing story. And the impact
is crazy because when we look at the audio downloads,
they're about the same neck and necklace somebod these celebrity downloads,
because it's like the conversation is amazing and the conversation
(14:13):
is impactful.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
And my byline on it is, you know, welcome to
the Four Good Podcast.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Where we focus on the good, never the bad, and
we're measured by what we do, not what we have.
So this isn't about how much money you have, how
many cars you've got, how many cars you you know,
how many houses you bought, how many women. I don't
care about that. What are you doing in the world,
What are you doing for your mental health, what are
you doing for your personal growth? And how can somebody
that's a fan of you or that's listening right now
be inspired by that if they're going through a time
(14:40):
where they just don't know what to do. Those are
the conversations I love having. The Four Good podcast is
just everything that I envisioned it to be when I
came up with the idea and I came up with
the name with my.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Team, It's everything we envisioned to be.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
It's like a non biased, non judgmental space, a safe
space as we like to call it, a brave space
as we.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Super like to call it, for people to just come
into and not be judging.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah, let's say more about that. You know, I think
about there's You're obviously talented. There's a lot of things
you could be spending your time doing, and what was
the decision making like process for you know what? It's
worth it for me to spend a few hours a
week doing the podcast versus the other things you could
be doing.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
My curiosity, I'm passionate about my curiosity. I'm curious about everything.
I'm curious about people. I love people, so I love
having conversations. I will literally have conversations in the supermarket
with the lady checking me out and just you know,
ask where she's from, and ask how she's doing, and
ask how mental health is because that's who I am
at my core.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So it makes it very easy.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
It doesn't feel like work when I have to When
I have to go interview every week.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
It feels like, oh, who do I get to interview
this week? Okay, great, Like this is amazing.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I'm passionate about conversation, you know, Like it's funny because
I've been in front of the screen my whole life.
In some senses, I do want to step back. In
some senses, I don't want to be in front of
the screen. But these conversations are needed. It feels like
my calling, right. It feels like if I have a
platform and I can use the platform for good, I'm
gonna do that, right. So that's why, you know, I'm
just so passionate about those conversations that it doesn't feel
(16:09):
like I have to take some hours out of my
day to do something that I don't want to do,
or do something that, oh I check off my feel
good list for today. No, it's genuinely not that. It's
an authentic conversation that I love having with people.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
You know.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
That's why I tell my team, Hey, keep them booked
up every Tuesday. Keep them booked up, you know, and
then you know, I go, you know, I do some
in persons with people, so like keep me booked, Please
keep me booked, and please keep me with guests because
I love talking to everybody.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
You've been recognized for your work with mental health, and
you know, I wonder, you know, other than just being
curious about things like what, what dedicates you to that
particular conversation.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
My own mental health.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know, growing up being a teen star, a child star,
I'm sure you can think that that took a toll
on my mental health. It was a little different for
me to go right into fame and then really not
ever be normal again. Like still to this day, I'm
not normal, right, And I don't say that in like
a cocky way. I say it in a way of
like I'm going to be recognized everywhere I go, So
(17:09):
just focusing on me and making sure that my mental
health is good and that I don't let any of
the outside world distract my positivity or my happiness. That's
the main thing about mental health is you know people
are they find it hard to stay happy and stay positive,
and it's because all the distractions of the outside world
and all the prejudging and the judging yourself and then
putting pressures on yourself. I think that I had a
(17:32):
lot of that growing up, and when I was able
to really sit down and realize there was a mental
health issue and I needed to really take time to
myself and really figure out who I am and what
makes me happy and what doesn't matter in life. What
does matter is when I realized that, Okay, I'm good,
I want to pour into others. I want others to
understand that mental health doesn't mean you're crazy, it doesn't
mean it's something wrong with you. We all go through
(17:53):
these mental health problems where we all think about or
we're all on our head about something.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
And I think that me just being once again.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Platform where I could talk for that space, especially in
black and brown communities where we know that a lot
of people aren't taking advantage of therapists and a lot
of people aren't understanding that they have mental health issues.
I thought it was important that I'd be one of
those people would follow us to kind of you know, represent.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
How do you open the storytelling with that effort to
destigmatize it.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
I mean, we all have a story to tell and
it all plays a part of our mental health. Whether
it's a sad story, a happy story, or a mad story.
We all went you know, it all plays into your
mental health.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (18:31):
And I think that's the most important thing is relatable storytelling.
And that's why storytelling is so great, because you may
tell a story and somebody.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Be like, I went through the same thing. Oh wow,
he did he went through I went through the same thing.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
And that's the importance of importance of storytelling and mental
health because people like Jay Barnett, who was an ex
NFL player who almost committed suicide, now is a mental
health advocate and he speaks to so many men and
people and you would never think somebody is so powerful,
will we be going through that?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
But there's somebody on the other side that said.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
I was to commit suicide too, and I wasn't even
an NFL player and I wasn't probably even making the more.
But he made me stop. He made me not do
it because his story related to my story, and I
realized that it wasn't over.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I realized that I.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Still have strength to keep going. That's why storytelling is
the most important part of mental health. It's telling your
story so other people. Other people can hear it and say, oh,
I'm okay, I'm all right, I'm not the only one
going through this.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You know, we've talked about some of your projects and
some of your ideas, and you seem like and you
here the energy of someone who has a lot of ideas.
I wonder, like, what's your process like? So when you
have an idea for a concept, you know you can
pick three of the things that you're working on, Like,
what's the first thing that you do in order to
take that thing from just concept to actually reality.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Bring into the team, Bring into my partners, see what
they think about it first, because sometimes as creative with ADHD,
I throw things at the wall and most of the
time they like it. But like, yeah, man, bring it
to the team and see if not if it's possible,
because anything is possible. Bring it to the team and
see what it will take to bring that to life,
or what it will take to bring that vision to life.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
So that's always the next thing is envisioning it and
then planning it.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
A lot of people are great at envisioning an idea,
but then get lazy or don't really want to put
the work in the actually plan it. Right, You need
to envision, you need to plan, and they need to execute.
And I think that's the most important thing. So envision first,
planning with the people that matter and that can help
you really execute and then execute it.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
So how do you balance the freedom to be creative
that you have with the efforts to have actual outcomes?
They don't always play together.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
How do I say that I asked that question against really.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So, you have a lot of creative freedom. You can
you have a studio, you can do all the projects
you want to do. You got a camera, the microphones,
all the things, and you got the ideas to go
produce these things. But you need specific outcomes to make
them make sense. So how do you balance those two things?
Like yo Jojo just wants to do this, but how
do we know, well, how do we ensure that the outcomes,
(21:02):
the revenue, the numbers, the watchers, listeners are their best
suited to target that thing.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
It's hard, you know, obviously stats play into it, and
you know, looking at the algorithm and all that stuff.
You can say all of that, but I think that
you know, I've been blessed to be able to get
on camera and just be authentic and it really gravitate
towards the people we've you know, we've.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Had a few viral clips and we've done really well.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
You know, when it comes to cloud of the views
and downloads, So I just say, like I wouldn't never
say like I couldn't do something I didn't envision. I
just say that, really, it's just been. It's just it's been.
It's just been easy for me. It's it hasn't felt
like I've done anything that I haven't wanted to do.
When it comes to the podcasts or talking to people,
it just feels like easy. And you know, obviously we
(21:48):
need to have an outcome. You're pouring money into it,
so we need to get money out of it. But
that comes with consistency and building. And what I do
know is are we better than yesterday? That's my main question,
you know, are we Are we growing from yesterday or
are we Are we regressing? Are we progressing or are
we regressing? And from what I see is we're constantly progressing.
The followers are going up, the community is growing, the
(22:11):
you know, the conversation is getting longer, and the conversation
is starting of how important for a good podcasts is.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
For the world.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
So you know, yeah, that's how I see the outcome
right now is that it's impacting people.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
And when you impact people, the revenue comes. The revenue
always comes when you impact people.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
You know, you brought up the words stats, and I
think about there are there's feedback that you get when
you produce content and strategies stories for other people. You
get an audience feedback, you get an audience reaction, and
there's also like, you know, just creatively, creatively you want
to do a certain thing, how has the feedback you
(22:50):
received shaped or changed or altered or you know, massaged
the ideas that you wanted to put into the world.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I used to be super protective over my creative ideas,
especially when people used to give feedback. I used to
not want to really hear it because like, you have
this idea and you know it's gonna work. But I've
become way more open to feedback, I believe, even on YouTube,
Like after one of my biggest first episodes with my
sister Vanessa, I had a lot of feedback about me
talking over her and kind of host I was. And
instead of like being heard about it but like everybody's wrong,
(23:19):
I came and said, Okay, I'm gonna look at your
feedback and I'm gonna implement some of the things that
I do think you guys are right about. You know,
I'm not gonna automatically be offended.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I want to be taught how to be better every day.
So always open and.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Hearing feedback nowadays, you know, even if it's not feedback,
I want to hear.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I got to, you know, hear that.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Feedback and really, let really think, is that real feedback?
Is that right feedback? Can I implement that feedback? So
like feedback isn't bad for me? I love feedback. I
look for feedback every chance I get.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
You know, you know, you talked a little bit about
mental health and your upbringing and how being in the
public eye, you know, kind of affected you and most
of us will never have that sort of experience. But
I wonder how your thoughts and efforts to opening up
this discussion from mental health for people who've been in
(24:08):
the industry music, TV or whatever. What gaps exist still
for them?
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Oh man, You know a lot of people, you know
don't know who to speak to. A lot you know,
the truth of the matter is people are having problems
finding mental health therapists that relate to them. You know,
there's harder to you know, especially in the black and
brown communities and the artists. You know, you don't you know,
not everybody is going to understand what the artist is
going through, or even even a black and brown artist
at that right. There's a lot of different therapists, but
(24:38):
a lot of them are finding it hard to find
black therapists and they are out there, but a lot
of them are you know, finding that a hard thing.
So that's one of the loops. And another thing is
like them not paying attention to their mental health. They're
not them not being aware. I think once everybody becomes
more aware, they take it a little bit more serious.
But people are just living and just going and just
you know, going on with their life, you know what
(24:59):
I mean, and not really taking the time to say, hey,
am I okay, because you know, I love that.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I had a.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Recent conversation and somebody said, you know, you go through
these mini traumas all day and sometimes you never sit
with it and say, you know, I am.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Bothered by that or you know, this did bother me?
Speaker 3 (25:12):
And you know, I think that's that's the main thing,
is like, it's you know, people not being aware of
their mental health and also you know, people just not
finding the right help for the mental health.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
You know.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Other than the conversations which you said, you love to
have these conversations on your show and otherwise just talking
to people, like how do you sustain your own mental health?
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Like myself, I give myself the space to breathe and
I run in my family.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I love my family.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
I got kids and a wife, so like spending time
with them or just getting my time to take to myself.
So I always say, if I if I have an
empty glass, I can't fill nobody else's glass. So I
need to fill my glass of positivity first so I
can give everybody else the glasses of positivity. So I
really just take the time to myself. I'm very big on,
(25:59):
you know, my barriers. I'm very big on my space,
and I'm very big on just you know, making sure
that I take care of me so I can take
care of abody else.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
What advice do you offer creatives, entrepreneurs and others who
are trying to diversify revenue, because especially like in the beginning,
when you are building content studio, whether you're a creative
yourself and you are a videographer, or you're building a
studio or you're trying to just put together a collective,
the revenue isn't always there in the beginning, and you're
(26:31):
trying to, you know, put things into the world that
show you you can do this and that people can
trust you with it. So talk about, you know, diversifying,
how to find the money, How do you find the money?
Speaker 3 (26:43):
Show up in spaces and show up and show you
your value and your strengths.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
And all spaces.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
A lot of you know, it's crazy, I could tell
the story, you know, and three is four first started,
we were only showing up in the cannabis spaces and
doing content in the cannabis spaces. And although that was
great and we were telling great stories, is that's what
we wanted to do, A lot of the revenue wasn't there.
A lot of these cannabis brands didn't have money for content.
They had more money for like location and license and
all that other stuff, and like it wasn't like we're
(27:10):
ready to spend a nice bag on a good content
piece of storytelling. So we had to diversify, like you said,
and go on to other spaces and say, Okay, we're
not just good at storytelling in cannabis, We're good at
content storytelling and content strategy for anybody. We're creatives, right,
We're not just creative in cannabis, we're creative anywhere. So
I tell people that, you know, never put yourself in
(27:30):
a box. You know you can you can do more
than just one thing. You can do more than you envision,
Especially if you find your strengths and you lean into
your strengths. Your strengths can lead you to so many
different places, not just the place that you thought you
could go.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
You know, being a husband and a father, how do
you integrate you know, that work that you do in
whether it be advocacy or you know, creative work, how
do you integrate that in your whole life?
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Man?
Speaker 3 (27:57):
I just think, you know, you know, being a husband
and a father is just super inspiring. And I think that,
you know, it's just like the gym for me. It
sets discipline, it sets routine, it sets you know, it
sets you know. I feel like the most successful people
that you know, they got a family and they're just
super focused and they're just focused on the task at hand.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
And I think that that's how I integrated.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Is just having a solid foundation at home so I
can go and be the best meet and I don't
have to be distracted by any of the other things.
I know that I got a great wife at home.
I know, I got beautiful, smart kids at home, and
that just helps me keep on going every day.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
That just helps me know.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
That that part of my life is good, right, that
part of my life is set, and now I can
go be creative and do it and be the best
I can be.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
I don't have to worry about all that other things,
all other stuff.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
I mean when people we hear stories of people who
have grown up like you, they grow up with means,
they grow up in the public eye, and there's often
which I'm sure you've heard, there's there's stories about how
maybe they don't know how to hustle. Maybe there's you know,
spoiled by it. You know, there's quotes that you know,
one generation earns it, one generation and you know, takes
(29:01):
advantage of it, uses it up. The third generation loses
it all, you know, right.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
And so one generation earns it, one generation burns it.
That's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
And so I how both how did your upbringing ensure
that that doesn't happen? And what are you teaching your
children so that they understand what it means to work hard.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
I think my dad did a great job of making
sure we had everything we needed, but making sure that
we weren't entitled.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
To believe that what he worked hard for that we
would take or or or he would just constantly give.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
It was more of the fact that, Okay, now that
you're on your own, I've given you the lessons, and
I've given you everything you need to get I need
to give you. I think he gave us all the
greatest opportunity, you know, as much as it you know
might not you know, there might have been some downfalls
for it. But the greatest opportunity was putting us all
on TV and giving us all our own career, right
you know, you know, that's the best thing you can
do for somebody to try to figure out how to
(29:52):
make some money out here. And I think that that
was one of the greatest things he did. But not
just that, it was the morals that he instilled in
us that like you got to hustle, like I hustle.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
You know, I'm not going to just.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Give you what I've worked for, you know, but what
I've worked for you should be able to build on that.
So I think that he was very good in teaching
us that. And that's the same thing I teach my
little ones. Although only nine and four, I'm able to
speak to my nine year old now and just tell
her how important the legacy is. And you know, no
matter how much Dad has or how much Dad's gonna
do for you, I always want you to go out
(30:23):
and work hard and go get it on your own
and make me proud on your own no matter what
you do, you know what I mean. I don't never
want her to also feel entitled. I never want her
to feel like I don't support her. But I also
don't want her to feel like she doesn't need to
work for you know, what she needs to do, and.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
That plays you know, even in school now, like hey.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Work hard, get good grades, you get rewarded for it.
Those are the type of things that in life. You
know you work hard, you get a promotion at work,
or you work hard, you know you're able to blow
your brand up.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
You know you blow your company up.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
That's the same thing that I kind of instill her
in school, in sports and whatever she does in life.
It's like we don't give up. We see things through,
you know what I mean, And nobody owes you anything.
You got to go get it.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
How did you learn to lead. I mean, it's one
thing from being self determined and going to get it,
waking yourself up and going to hustle. It's a different
thing when you are leading other people.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
It's funny because I thought about this the other day.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Somebody you know, talk to me about and I said,
I just think I've always been a natural born leader.
People have always, you know, gravitated towards following me, whether
it was a bad decision or a good decision. I
think a lot of my friends always knew that I,
you know, always thought I had it all together or
always believed that, like, hey.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
This is the guy that's gonna lead us to the water.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Not just because I'm run sun or I'm a celebrity,
but because I've always had the plan. I've always had
the vision, and I've always known how to use people
in their strengths around me to make people feel empowered,
to make people feel part of the team. And that's
a special thing to do, and it's and a lot
of people don't understand that. Like, you can be a
person with a team, but to be a leader is
to understand everybody that you have around you. They do
what they do best to make it all work for
(31:51):
all of you guys so you can all get money. Like, listen,
I'm getting money and I have companies with the guys
that I went to high school with. You can't tell
me that, like that's not, you know, the coolest thing
in the world, because we were all able to find
our strengths and understand what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
But I think that, like, you know.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Most of my life, you know, people just gravitated towards
you know, following my lead, and I've taken pride in
like leading my guys to the to the water so
we can all drink.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
You know, looking back at the work that you've done,
what legacy are you building?
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Oh, I'm building a legacy of impact. I say this
in every interview. It's impact.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
You know. It's not about how much money I'd have made.
It's not about you.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Know what you know, what I've do, you know what
I've done when it comes to all the other stuff,
It's about what I've done to add to the legacy
that I'm already came from, but in my own way,
in my own space, right, So, like it's the impact
that I create.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
When I'm long going, I want people to say, man.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
He really showed up for people he really represents, represented
the people he wanted to represent, and he really did
as all that he can do. Because I know a
lot of people look at myself, my siblings and people
like me that may you know, came with means and
opportunities and say, well, they don't care.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
About other people. They're good. But I don't want nobody
to ever think that about me.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
I want people to know that I late and I understand,
and in any chance or way that I can help
the community, I'm always going to show up. Whether it's
in the cannabis space, the mental health space, the financial space,
any space where black brown underserved, or people that just
don't get it don't get it, I want to be
the one that educate and help them get it.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
And finally, for black creatives, young ones, particularly, but not solely,
the young ones, you know, it's called context. You for
black creatives aspiring to you know, find their way in
the great you know, culture, commerce, creativity and community in
their work and find an opportunity to build their life
(33:38):
off of that. What's some of the pieces of advice
you would have for them?
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Oh, how would they mess creativity?
Speaker 1 (33:45):
You said, say that creativity community, commerce, they got to
make money. Culture, how do they do that?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
All of that? You just said it. You just said it.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Being in the culture, being in the community, you know
what I mean, Like showing up in the spaces and
seeing what's happening, you know, being outside, being amongst the people,
being amongst all the people.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
And I think that's how you stay creative.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
That's how I get my inspiration is being around my people,
going around Other times, I just like to walk around
Halem and just look at my people, you know, you know,
I just that's how I get inspired.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
That's how I get creative.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
So I think that just being outside, man, I tell
people the best way to make money is being outside
and knowing how to talk to people and starting conversations
with people. You never know who you're speaking to when
you go outside to you know, get outside, get to
the events with the like minded people like you, get
to the spaces where people are doing things that you're doing,
and just build relationships. You know, don't think about obviously
(34:39):
we think about money, but think about relationships.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Think about people.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Because one thing I have learned is the greatest relationships
that we've made were authentic relationships that have spun the
block on us and came back and said, I got
some money for you, I got an opportunity for you.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
I got to check for you.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Why Because we showed up in spaces and we showed
our strengths, we showed our values, but we showed out.
We showed who we were. We didn't just show that
we can offer you something. We showed you that we're
good people. And I think that people like working with
good people, and that's why it works for us. Or
I say that to everybody else out there. Go out
there and be authentic, good person into the company.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Afro Tech Conference is back and return to Ads Town, Houston, Texas,
from October twenty seventh through thirty first, twenty twenty five
the George R. Brown Convention Center. For years, afro Tech
has been the go to experience for black tech innovators, founders, engineers, creators, investors.
In twenty twenty five is shaping up to be the
biggest year yet, though with fortyzery tennees expected. This year's
(35:33):
conference will feature five days of dynamic programming across six
curator stages from discovery to executive leadership. Join us to
hear from industry leaders at the forefront of change, learn
from top ten engineers and designers, and connect with recruiters
from nearly two hundred companies. This year, we're digging deeper
into what's next with tracks exploring AI and machine learning,
mad tech and health equity, cybersecurity, climate tech, and much more.
(35:57):
Whether you're mounting your first startup, pivoting into a new role,
or scaling as an exec, there's something here for you.
Take us and moving fast to keep your spot now
at Afrotech Conference dot Com. Black Tech Green Money is
a production of Blavity afro Tech on the Black Effect
podcast Networking Night Hire Media. It's produced by Morgan Debonne
and me Well Lucas, with ad digital production support by
(36:17):
Kate McDonald, Sarah Ergan and Jada McGee. Special thank you
to Michael Davis and Lovebeach. Learn more about my Guess
and other technivef that's an Innovator's an afrotech dot Com.
The video version of this episode will drop to Black
Tech Green Money on YouTube, so'll tap in. Enjoy your
Black Tech Green Money shitus to somebody, go get your money.
Peace and love
Host
Will Lucas
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