October 24, 2025 • 6 mins
Omi Bell is CEO of Black Girl Ventures
Follow Will Lucas on Instagram: @willlucas
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You said something about one thing creators and honestly small
business owners don't have is marketing dollars. And too often
we get into business and we think about every expense
or investment except marketing dollars, advertising dollars. And so can
you talk about how important it is number one, to
(00:20):
have the thinking that I need to set aside resources
to put my brand, my product, my stuff in front
of people and build awareness, and how we get those
resources to be able to do that when we already
have limited resources.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
One hundred percent. I mean, part of what I want
to bring up here is the power storytelling. That's really
what is in that that your business has to sell things.
You have to sell yourself, and you have to sell yourself,
not your soul, right like you have to sell your product,
you have to sell your service. But the story you're
(00:57):
telling and the way you position that story is every thing.
And this is you know, with our the way we
use our TikTok is all about like how do we
help these founders get positioned to tell the story. So
if you're local and you're like I'm looking for that
hair braider or that skin caroline or that, and you're
like hey, or it's at the nearest variety store, go
(01:18):
buy it. So to a mass of a two hundred
thousand dollars over thirty million impressions, and working with TikTok,
the way that we work, it's all about how can
we tell the best stories so that people can get
access and so in terms of marketing dollars, that's when
I realized that people are missing. If I could go
if I were to go back to twenty sixteen, we're
gonna be ten next year. If I were to go
back to twenty sixteen and launched BGV all over again,
(01:40):
I would launch your impact report. I would watch some
kind of white paper, some kind of report, and then
I would go on a narrative tour and I would
build the narrative first. So what I did was I
went into the I went off of the statle's than
one percent of black and miround women are receiving a
venture capital, less than two percent and a women over
is even venture capital. And I was looking at so
(02:02):
much of that as problem. I'm a solution problem, I'm
a solution. But in the narrative of this, all of
all of this is what I learned over time, which
is we talk about families. We're not talking about some
flippant just like oh a VC didn't give you funding. Know,
we're talking about your ability to be economically sound. And
(02:24):
I experienced that firsthand. It still didn't see that tie
into a way later where I was like, shoot, had
it not been for me starting a business, I wouldn't
better put my kids through college by myself on a
teacher salary. It's just not a reality, you know. So
I think that in terms of like where I've developed
over time, what I've learned over time is like I
(02:45):
wish that I could get out to founders because sometimes
founders can't hear. Yeah, sometimes creators they can't hear. They're
doing what they're doing. They're in it, that's all they
see that. And I probably was like at some point
I was a hard headed teenager, you know what I mean.
So I mean, but I'm just saying that, like it's
hard to hear. But if a narrative storytelling position yourself,
(03:07):
because I'm the kind of person that if you if
I'm on a list and they say, oh, you only
is the top one hundred people with glasses, honey, you
would have thought I was number one.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I was poking it.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I'm the top person with glasses all, you know, like
you got to really maximize everything you get when you're
in the early stages of entrepreneurship. And I never let
that go. Which is why we are so well positioned
with companies like Nike or TikTok or pim Co is
because that narrative part. I'm always focused on that.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
So when you partner with a company slash brand like
a TikTok, and what are some of the things you
insist on, like non negotiable things that you know you authentic.
You come into this authentically and they have things that
they are trying to achieve. Also, like what are some
of the things that are like non negotiables for you
(03:58):
and that you assiste on And where might you have
had the compromise if at all.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, that's a great question. We live in this crazy
economic time, so I think that it's shifted in terms
of what I have the ability to insist on, who
we serve and how we serve in a way. And
it's not that you know, it's not the brands that
are saying that to me, right, it's more like the
(04:25):
landscape that we are living in that causes us to
have to shift right, the brands are still doing the work.
I'll be honest, I have not the brands that we
work with behind the scenes. They still are doing the work.
It's just that again from that storytelling Pius, of that
narrative feast, we all got to be talking different about it.
So I would say that now I feel like I
have to compromise because of where we exist the current landscape,
(04:49):
not because of the brands. I want to be clear
on that. I feel like I have to compromise with
how I want to refer to the audience that I serve. Yeah,
and that pains me. If I'm being honest, it pains me.
I hate it. I don't want to do that, Like
I don't want to do that. I want to lout
and proud say black and brown and not feel like
I got to worry about being sued or anything like that.
(05:12):
We're just not living in that kind of space right now.
And so I so I've been bullished on that though,
I've been bullished that, like I want to serve who
I want to serve the way I want to serve
them where I need to serve them. I know I'm
an entrepreneur. I serve entrepreneurs, and I know exactly what
I need to do. Just fund us, tell us your wins.
(05:33):
We will make the winds happen for you, will make
these winds mutual. In terms of compromising, I can't say.
I can't say I've had to make a lot of compromises.
I mean maybe sometimes I compromise on location, Like somebody,
you know, maybe a partner wants to go to a
city that I don't that I'm like, we could go
to that city, but it is the best city for
(05:54):
us to be in. Sometimes I'm lifting a city for
a partner, right, So, and that's why they want me
to go there, because they're trying to lift the city themselves,
and so we One of the things that we're good
at behind the scenes, this is something I want to
share my entrepreneurship is reporting. Our reporting is a unique
value proposition for us in the ways of white people
work with us because we really focus on how much
(06:16):
impact we can make and how we can report it
to you according to your wins. You get money based
off of who needs a raise. If I can get
you a raise, I'm gonna get money. So yeah, I
mean like that that but a me. Ultimately, I haven't
had to make a lot of compromises. Like I said,
(06:36):
I feel extremely blessed that the partners who come to
us say I am authentic, this is who I am,
and I'm like, hey, we're gonna do what we do
and we want your to rock with us. And they
haven't
You said something about one thing creators and honestly small
business owners don't have is marketing dollars. And too often
we get into business and we think about every expense
or investment except marketing dollars, advertising dollars. And so can
you talk about how important it is number one, to
(00:20):
have the thinking that I need to set aside resources
to put my brand, my product, my stuff in front
of people and build awareness, and how we get those
resources to be able to do that when we already
have limited resources.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
One hundred percent. I mean, part of what I want
to bring up here is the power storytelling. That's really
what is in that that your business has to sell things.
You have to sell yourself, and you have to sell yourself,
not your soul, right like you have to sell your product,
you have to sell your service. But the story you're
(00:57):
telling and the way you position that story is every thing.
And this is you know, with our the way we
use our TikTok is all about like how do we
help these founders get positioned to tell the story. So
if you're local and you're like I'm looking for that
hair braider or that skin caroline or that, and you're
like hey, or it's at the nearest variety store, go
(01:18):
buy it. So to a mass of a two hundred
thousand dollars over thirty million impressions, and working with TikTok,
the way that we work, it's all about how can
we tell the best stories so that people can get
access and so in terms of marketing dollars, that's when
I realized that people are missing. If I could go
if I were to go back to twenty sixteen, we're
gonna be ten next year. If I were to go
back to twenty sixteen and launched BGV all over again,
(01:40):
I would launch your impact report. I would watch some
kind of white paper, some kind of report, and then
I would go on a narrative tour and I would
build the narrative first. So what I did was I
went into the I went off of the statle's than
one percent of black and miround women are receiving a
venture capital, less than two percent and a women over
is even venture capital. And I was looking at so
(02:02):
much of that as problem. I'm a solution problem, I'm
a solution. But in the narrative of this, all of
all of this is what I learned over time, which
is we talk about families. We're not talking about some
flippant just like oh a VC didn't give you funding. Know,
we're talking about your ability to be economically sound. And
(02:24):
I experienced that firsthand. It still didn't see that tie
into a way later where I was like, shoot, had
it not been for me starting a business, I wouldn't
better put my kids through college by myself on a
teacher salary. It's just not a reality, you know. So
I think that in terms of like where I've developed
over time, what I've learned over time is like I
(02:45):
wish that I could get out to founders because sometimes
founders can't hear. Yeah, sometimes creators they can't hear. They're
doing what they're doing. They're in it, that's all they
see that. And I probably was like at some point
I was a hard headed teenager, you know what I mean.
So I mean, but I'm just saying that, like it's
hard to hear. But if a narrative storytelling position yourself,
(03:07):
because I'm the kind of person that if you if
I'm on a list and they say, oh, you only
is the top one hundred people with glasses, honey, you
would have thought I was number one.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
I was poking it.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I'm the top person with glasses all, you know, like
you got to really maximize everything you get when you're
in the early stages of entrepreneurship. And I never let
that go. Which is why we are so well positioned
with companies like Nike or TikTok or pim Co is
because that narrative part. I'm always focused on that.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
So when you partner with a company slash brand like
a TikTok, and what are some of the things you
insist on, like non negotiable things that you know you authentic.
You come into this authentically and they have things that
they are trying to achieve. Also, like what are some
of the things that are like non negotiables for you
(03:58):
and that you assiste on And where might you have
had the compromise if at all.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, that's a great question. We live in this crazy
economic time, so I think that it's shifted in terms
of what I have the ability to insist on, who
we serve and how we serve in a way. And
it's not that you know, it's not the brands that
are saying that to me, right, it's more like the
(04:25):
landscape that we are living in that causes us to
have to shift right, the brands are still doing the work.
I'll be honest, I have not the brands that we
work with behind the scenes. They still are doing the work.
It's just that again from that storytelling Pius, of that
narrative feast, we all got to be talking different about it.
So I would say that now I feel like I
have to compromise because of where we exist the current landscape,
(04:49):
not because of the brands. I want to be clear
on that. I feel like I have to compromise with
how I want to refer to the audience that I serve. Yeah,
and that pains me. If I'm being honest, it pains me.
I hate it. I don't want to do that, Like
I don't want to do that. I want to lout
and proud say black and brown and not feel like
I got to worry about being sued or anything like that.
(05:12):
We're just not living in that kind of space right now.
And so I so I've been bullished on that though,
I've been bullished that, like I want to serve who
I want to serve the way I want to serve
them where I need to serve them. I know I'm
an entrepreneur. I serve entrepreneurs, and I know exactly what
I need to do. Just fund us, tell us your wins.
(05:33):
We will make the winds happen for you, will make
these winds mutual. In terms of compromising, I can't say.
I can't say I've had to make a lot of compromises.
I mean maybe sometimes I compromise on location, Like somebody,
you know, maybe a partner wants to go to a
city that I don't that I'm like, we could go
to that city, but it is the best city for
(05:54):
us to be in. Sometimes I'm lifting a city for
a partner, right, So, and that's why they want me
to go there, because they're trying to lift the city themselves,
and so we One of the things that we're good
at behind the scenes, this is something I want to
share my entrepreneurship is reporting. Our reporting is a unique
value proposition for us in the ways of white people
work with us because we really focus on how much
(06:16):
impact we can make and how we can report it
to you according to your wins. You get money based
off of who needs a raise. If I can get
you a raise, I'm gonna get money. So yeah, I
mean like that that but a me. Ultimately, I haven't
had to make a lot of compromises. Like I said,
(06:36):
I feel extremely blessed that the partners who come to
us say I am authentic, this is who I am,
and I'm like, hey, we're gonna do what we do
and we want your to rock with us. And they
haven't
Host
Will Lucas
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