The Power Of Influence with Latoya Shambo

This week Tamika and Mysonne speak with Latoya Shambo founder and CEO of Black Girl Digital, Inc, an agency that looks to equity wage disparities for Black and Multicultural women in the influencer marketing industry. During the episode, Latoya shares gems and her thoughts on social media influencers, the do's and don'ts of branding, and how she got her start. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
That's what's up. Family. It's your girl to mek A D.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Mallory, and it's your boy, my son and general.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
And we are your hosts of street politicians, the place
where the streets and politics.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Me.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Why you gotta say it like I said, Why you
can't say it your own way?

Speaker 4 (00:20):
Because I have to match the cadence to me, because
because they're gonna match them together. So if it's no cadence,
then it's gonna be off. So when you say it away,
I try to say it the same way so when
they put them together that it actually messhes. No, I
want you to go police, because it doesn't. It's not
going to line up. It's not going to line up together.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Can't line up.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Don't talk like me anyway you want to. That's called
being a bier.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Trying to be an alignment.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Oh, alignment on street politicians. I didn't know about that.
Now let me get into alignments.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yes, sometimes in sync, how about that.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Let me tell you this about my situation.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
I don't know if I already told you this or not,
but for the audience, I wake up at three thirty
in the morning to leave New Orleans for no.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
I woke up at three o'clock.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
To leave New Orleans for a five to twenty nine flight.
So I wake up and I see it's three o'clock.
I'm like, yo, I need thirty more minutes. Because mind
you bet week weekend and essence weekend are one week apart,
and then in between you go home for a few days.

(01:44):
You got to repack your bag, you got to get
yourself together, get back to work.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Just that, and the third it's a whole lot.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
It's a lot of fun, a lot of drinking, a
lot of party and standing up till six seven o'clock
in the morning, and working also because we do panels
and go to events and do all of this stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
So it's a lot going on in both times. So
I'm tied tied.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
So I was laying down and I said, at three o'clock,
I said, yo, I just need thirty more minutes.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
But I need to know.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
How long the check in for a bag is. So,
in other words, is it an hour? Which is only
a few places around the country that's an hour. JFK
is one of those places. So in New York, if
you're going to JFK, you know you gotta be at
the airport before an hour. I have certainly learned the
hard way. They're not gonna talk, they're not gonna try.

(02:30):
If it's literally three minutes after an hour, they you
do asked out.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
That's it. It's not happening.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
So but then, and most airports is forty five minutes
and then some airports is thirty minutes to check your bag.
So I wanted to just check real quick to make
sure do I got thirty minutes to sleep or do
I need to get up now and move? So I look,
I look, I look, I look, I'm looking. I'm like,
I'm looking for Houston Airport. I'm looking, I'm looking. I

(02:57):
don't find Houston Airport. I'm like, damn, I need to
know Houston, Houston, Houston. Looking everywhere, can't find it. So
I still say, fuck it, we'll see. Hopefully it'll be
all right. I go to sleep. I wake up at
three twenty five hustling to the airport.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yet in the car the driver says no.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
So when we pull up in front of it, and
I'm in the shot with thinking, Yo, the Houston Airport,
it's gotta be it's not JFK. It's got to be
forty five minutes. I'm gonna be good.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
I leave, I go in the car.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
We pull up at the airport, and as soon as
we get there, I'm looking at the outside of the
airport and I've been to Houston Airport a million times,
and I say to the driver, Sir, are you sure
this is the only place for delta? Because I never
looked to see the terminal, So I'm like, is this
the only place for the for delta?

Speaker 1 (03:48):
He like yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
I go inside. Still I'm in Houston. I go to
the desk and I'm like, ma'am, how long for because
it was a little line, so I ask like, hey,
excuse me, how long is for check back? So she
said thirty minutes. I'm like, okay, cool. And then I
hear us say something and I'm.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Like, oh shit, I'm in New Orleans. I literally I
swore I.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Was in you thought she was already there.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
I land in my connection in Atlanta and get on
a conference call line and I'm looking for everybody that's
supposed to be on there, and I'm like, this is crazy,
Like my whole team they didn't make the call, Like,
what the hell is going on here? I'm about to
start texting people it was the wrong day. So you
know what I did when I arrived in Houston.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
I laid down because clearly I'm tired.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Literally, it wasn't clear. He wasn't clear. He was not
clear of man. You know, sometimes you do a lot, man,
you know.

Speaker 4 (04:49):
I know BT was a lot, you know, coming home
and just being with my sons all week and traveling,
taking them to boxing practice, and then we went to
a rally that I had to do, then a speaking
engagement and.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Oh wait, we left the rally.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
Wait a minute, We left b T weekend and went
to DC and the heat wave for the rally for
Jalen Walker.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
So I forgot that.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
You said rallies all types of shit. We just was moving.
So yesterday was a day that I just laid down.
I ain't do much at all, laid and rest because
you gotta you gotta rejuvenate, You gotta rejuvenate. So I
get it, man, because sometimes you just don't be clepped.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
Speaking of rejuvenation, people better get rejuvenated for the fight
that's ahead of us.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
You know, I think that we're going to We're in
a time when.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
A lot more things, excuse me, a lot of things, unfortunately,
are going to have to happen to like make people
get serious, I want to say, And I'm being careful
because just because people are not out there pumping their
fist and doing all of that, does not mean that

(06:02):
they're not seriously engaged, that they're not angry about the
things that's happening in this country. But it feels like
folks are kind of just so tired of dealing with
all of it, that things are just happening and people
are not really engaged. And it's a little scary because
last week should give us an example.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
And you know, this is my thing. I listen to.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
I pay attention to a lot of people. I pay
attention to a lot of pages. I listen to a
lot of feedback. And what I noticed is that even
in the midst of the Supreme Court decisions last week,
so the Supreme Court is now out of session, but
while they, you know, all these last few months, they

(06:45):
were working and having decisions come out and voting on
stuff that would be which governs our lives, right, And
a lot of people don't understand that. When I was
making the decision, when we were talking through how we
were going to engage in the last election, one of

(07:06):
the bigger parts of the whole dialogue, and the reason
why we decided to support the Biden administration was because
of the courts. Not just the courts locally, I mean,
excuse me, not just the Supreme Court, but also federal
courts where our people are often caught in the system.

(07:27):
So we were really really concerned because if you are
a student of history and you understand what's happening in
this moment, one of the bigger pieces of what we
see in this moment is that they always had an agenda.
And when I say they, I'm talking about conservatives and

(07:48):
specifically the white supremacist arm of the Republican Party. Their
specific goal and focus was to af fac the courts.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
They wanted court they want the federal courts.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
They wanted to make sure that their judges were in
position so that they would be able to roll back
things like Roe v. Wade, you know, to tamper with
affirmative action in education, to advance some of their own causes,
you know, different things that they want to do. The
judges are super important, so the courts have to be protected.

(08:26):
And so a lot of people are like, oh, you
know so and so, ain't no good and this and
that I we say all.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
The time, i am not a Joe Biden fan.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
I'm not invited to see Joe Biden damn near about anything.
For some reason, I'm back on the White House list
every now and then, and I got i'ven't been invited
to a few things assigning and a couple social events,
but overall I'm not on the list. So I'm not
a Biden. They don't love me, and I certainly did
not want to support Joe Biden for president. That is

(08:57):
not a thing, right, But I also knew that from
a strategic perspective, that these people were working on taking
the court so that they could change laws that govern
our lives and that.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Will be in place for generations.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
And so when you have a situation like the affirmative
action piece that happened last week, while and there are
still people who are like, well, I don't care about
white institutions anyway, It's not about white institutions. Sure, we
should be going to HBCUs, but we also should not
have situations in this country after our people.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
Fought for us to have access to.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
Any institution in inequitable situations, to just allow those rights
to be rolled back and taken from us.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
And I think that what people are struggling with.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
Understanding is that this is not an an isolated thing.
The police violence, the laws being changed in terms of stacking,
the courts, the way, the banning of EDG. All of
this stuff is designed to be able to put us,
as black people back in our place. And yes, sure,

(10:09):
not just black people but others as well, but just
for the purpose of our show, we're talking about black people.
And yes, it is true that we need to focus
on economic stability and all of that, but again, they
make the laws and the rules as it relates to
that as well, and as soon as they catch on
to what people are trying to do economically, they're gonna

(10:30):
shift the codes and the laws and start voting on
things that would make it where it's more difficult to
even do some of these things from an economic perspective
that a lot of our people are pushing and rightfully so,
so we have to be engaged in the political process.
There's no way around it, because everything you want to
do is impacted by what these folks are doing. And

(10:51):
they are smart. They know what we're trying. They're watching
the chatter online, they know who's hot. They know the
conversations and how it's being shifted, and they sit back
and plan while I don't know what sometimes some of
our people be doing. I just don't know.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
I mean, it's it's the reality.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
Like they say, if you don't do politics, politics gonna
do you. You know, And we're looking at we're looking
at the result of us talking about.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
We not doing politics. You know, us talking about Trump.

Speaker 4 (11:19):
Wasn't that bad when Trump was intentionally putting in Supreme
Court Justice Kavanaugh and others to make sure that these laws,
these these monumental you know, laws that were being passed
and roll back and these you know, these Supreme Court
rulings in the past were being overruled and turned back,

(11:39):
and we all knew these things were happening. So I
just think that we're at a very very critical time
where we have to understand every level of government. Right.
We have to understand the Supreme Court, we have to
understand House representatives, we have to understand the local We
have to look at how every part plays a role
in our day reality. You know, when we're talking about

(12:03):
a lot of our friends and family are talking about,
you know, the tuitions and and and and being in
forgiveness to tuition.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
These are.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
Right now situations. We're looking at that and we're seeing
how those things are impacted. And people are like, oh,
well this and that and and I hate when people
keep saying, oh, that's to white people.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
No, you can't.

Speaker 4 (12:28):
Now, you can't look at things that are affecting us
as a whole.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
It is just white.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
No, the white people are the ones that's implementing laws.
And if you're not, dont matter who's in government. When
they implement them laws, you got to follow them. So
you got to make sure that the people that's in government,
the people that's being voted in that you at least
have a chance to understand what the fuck are their policies, right,
what are the policies that they stand firm more? How

(12:54):
does that affect my everyday life, How does that affect
my long term life?

Speaker 2 (12:57):
How does that affect my life in general? Like, we
have to play.

Speaker 4 (13:01):
This game from a strategic standpoint and stop just being
pieces on the board. You know, no more of us
just being pawns on the board and you can just
sacrifice us. No, we were moving as kings and rooks,
and we got to start acting like it, And we're
in position, you know, I think we're in the age
of awakening, especially for black people, economic awakening, understanding how

(13:24):
economics are entrepreneurship. And I don't care how much money
you got, if you don't understand the dynamics of the politics,
how to you know how to utilize that money, then
you'll lose that money if you don't understand the laws
that's going to place. So how do you keep that money,
how do you invest that money? How are they taxing
that money, how they taking that money? Who gets this

(13:45):
who doesn't get.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
That property tax?

Speaker 4 (13:49):
If you're not aware of those things, and these politicians
keep putting people in place that are going to negatively
affect you and the dynamic and the community that you
I'm from all the time, because like they said, when
when shit happens to the white.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
People, you know we're gonna get it a million times worse.

Speaker 4 (14:07):
So if white people is fighting against most of the
shit that these conservatives putting in place, the average white person,
right then you know the shit that we need to
be fighted. So we just got to pay attention to
be a lot more, you know, hands on, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
I think so. And And by the way, it's important
to say that we do vote right. We do vote right.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
Ninety four percent of Black women voted in ninety four
percent of Black women continue to vote in presidential elections.
We're showing up in local elections. Black women are literally
the difference between in many cases, you know, two candidates, right, like,
we make the difference. Black men followed us at like

(14:47):
eighty something percent in the presidential elections. So we are voting,
but not enough of our people are showing up, and
not enough of our people are running for office and
also donating your resources and your time to help people
get elected if you want somebody who you feel is
going to represent your community better. And we just we

(15:08):
really do have to be focused. I'm just saying, like,
it's just a time, it's a time, it's the time,
and I don't know, I don't I don't know. I
think also because so we we we've been shielded so
much from and banned, if you will, from understanding civic
engagement and understanding.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
How laws work.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
That in a way, many of us don't even understand
the seriousness of the.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Time we're in.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
And that's why they didn't want us to learn it
right and there and Meanwhile, white people are participating in
you know, a lot of them, not in all everybody,
because both.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
Sides have whites. We have white and black.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
People who don't vote, right, So it's not to say
that all white people are voting on majority of white
people and black people are not. But there's some intentional
stuff that they're doing in the white community because they
are taught about civic engagement, so they understand the power
of the vote. And that's why voter suppression exists to

(16:10):
try to suppress us from voting, because they know that
if we ever make up our mind that we're going
to show up at the polls and then large enomb,
they can never beat us.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
They literally could never win if most of us vote.
So this is a.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
You know, it's a hard conversation to have in a
short period of time. But when you talked about student loans,
the only point I wanted to add on that is
that even if the strategy is economics, money, money, money,
we got to get the money, get the money cool.
If we didn't have to pay student loans, we would
be able to advance so much more in buying property
and buying land and buying stocks and other things that

(16:49):
benefit us from investing right because student loans is as
we have the studies have been done. It shows that
canceling student loans is one of the ways that you
help level the plan field in terms of the doug
the wealth gap between white and black and other ethnic groups.

(17:09):
So it should make common sense to folks why this
needs to be done. But some of our people just
you know, are just jaded and tired and everything else.
And I just hope that all of this is waking
us up. So another conversation that I've been watching unfold
online is that in Georgia, a man who were an

(17:32):
employee at a restaurant saw a man fondling and groping
aggressively a woman, and he stepped in and told the
man he had to leave, and he needed to stop
and touch the woman. The predator touched the woman on
her bottom. And so the black I mean, excuse me,
not the black guy.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
The other man.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
I don't know what their race are or what their
races are. He approached him and told him he had
to leave. The guy looks like out side the restaurant,
predator shoots this man six signs And so a lot
of people, a lot of the comments are people being like, see,
this is exactly why people don't like to step in
and help. And in fact, the reason why I know

(18:15):
that this happened is because in my mentions, there was
a guy that was like, oh, I hope Tamika and
my son see this and understand and I, you know,
and I hope that they would go and support this
guy's gofund me, which I certainly want to do.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
That I didn't say.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
I was looking for the information. I couldn't find it,
you know, to support this guy. And so a lot
of people are like, this is why mind your business,
Mind your business, mind your business. And I'm sticking to myself, Wow,
this again, it's a time because I hear that, I
hear that people are afraid for their lives. I still
think in the situation where we most recently talked about

(18:53):
people stepping in was in that restaurant where the fourteen
year old boy shot the guy who punched the woman
right his mother, And I still say that I don't
think people had to aggressively get involved. But I do
think that a simple voice of someone saying, hey, y'all, look,

(19:15):
this ain't come on y'all. You know this ain't this
ain't worth it.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
Since come on out of here. You know, something would
have been better than people saying nothing.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
What concerns me and you take it from here, is
that it really makes me fear for my life so
much that I could be being growth by somebody.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
And people.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
I'm not talking about whether or not she the woman
in the restaurant was arguing back because by the way.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
Listening to what she was saying, she wasn't even telling him.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
You you know, like like I said me, I probably
would have been saying, you bitch ass so and so
talking crazy.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
She wasn't even doing all that, just merely was making
her point and unwilling to tell let somebody tell her
that she was not allowed to speak. But in this situation,
this woman was being growth by man. And so what
we are now saying is let the woman be growth.
Let whatever it is happen, let it play out. Let

(20:20):
people be robbed. You see elderly people being robbed, folks
just keep walking by. You see women being harm children, whatever,
Just let whatever happen, and just mind your business, because
our society is about save yourself.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
So where does that leave us?

Speaker 4 (20:36):
I think you know there is, it's very it's very
it's kind of cut and dry for me. Everybody is
not built a certain way, and I don't and I don't.
I don't expect everyone to step up, right, I don't.
I don't expect every man to be aggressive and be
a hero or step up. But I do think that

(20:58):
there should be men in our community that see and say, Okay,
I'm going to step in. And I understand that when
I step in there's amount of danger that comes with that, right,
I understand. But if I get involved and I see
a man aggressively in a woman's face, I understand that
I'm taking on the aggression that he has for the woman.
So the possibility of him trying to hit me or

(21:19):
him trying to shoot me, I know exists. I'm not
telling men to just step up and be yo. No,
if you see if they're getting disaggressive with a woman
and that angry, then you should be very aware that
this person is aggressive. This person might be violent. This
person might shoot you, this person might try to stab you.
I'm not saying to interfere and engage with somebody without

(21:41):
being aware that the possibility of violence exists. That's what
Bravery is bravery is stepping into a situation in being
well aware that the possibility of conflict violence, that you're
taking a sacrifice, that you're putting yourself in harm's way
to protect somebody else.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
That's just what it is.

Speaker 4 (22:03):
So what I'm saying when we look at this god,
this guy is a hero. Yes he took some shots,
but that woman could have got shot right. So he
made a condious decision as a man that look, this
is not right. That's happening to this woman, and I'm
going to step up and I'm going to say something
about it.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
And came what it was.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
He was shot and it was the worst thing, you know,
And I want to find his goal from me and
contributed to. But I don't want men to feel like
to be scared like most of us.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
I'm not worrying.

Speaker 4 (22:32):
I understand that there's a level like I was saying earlier,
understand that there's a level of danger, level of everything
that comes to what we do. And that's what the man,
the man part of it is. That's what I want men.
I want men to understand that anytime that you are
in a society, it is your duty, is your to
understand to take on the hard part of life, to

(22:53):
not allow women who are naturally innately physically or not
physically as strong as as we are to deal with
other men who are I want us to take on
that responsibility. I want us to be brave enough to
deal with it. And I realized that all men aren't right.
But I realized that a lot of men went away
from that because society made it seem like it was something.

(23:15):
And I don't want men, men who have integrity, men
who have honor, to.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
Get comfortable in this.

Speaker 4 (23:21):
Let me tape somebody doing something wrong to a woman,
let me laugh and Joe, No. I want men of
honor and integrity to step up. And that's not everybody. So, yes,
you're gonna you're gonna have the cowards that's online saying,
oh look look what happens.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, that shit happens. It happens.

Speaker 4 (23:37):
You know, you see men jump in front of the
train to try to save kids and try to save
old ladies.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
And everybody ain't gonna do that.

Speaker 4 (23:45):
But we want to celebrate those men who are brave
enough to make those you know, we see.

Speaker 3 (23:49):
Men we've seen I just saw a couple of stories
where God or men have tried to help children drowning
and they drowned and die.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
So that's howl that it comes.

Speaker 4 (24:01):
This is what comes with it, This is what.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
Comes the man and bravery.

Speaker 4 (24:08):
We our, our innate nature is to protect and provide
for our loved ones and those in need and in harm.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
That's my nature.

Speaker 4 (24:17):
I don't I don't feel like any I don't feel
that it's something I'm forcing to do.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
I have.

Speaker 4 (24:23):
I feel like innately when I see someone in danger,
when I see a woman being harmed or in a way,
I feel like it's my duty to step up and
say something and whatever comes with it. I'm not looking like,
see this why I am No, I understand what comes
with that situation, and that's.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
What that's what men do.

Speaker 4 (24:38):
We don't do shiit saying thinking about all all lu
who could happen anything and have and No, that's not
what bravery is. Bravery is understanding that something can go
wrong and saying, you know what, despite the fact that
something can go wrong, I could get hurt, I could
lose this or all those things, I'm still gonna do
it because it's the right thing morally and it is.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
My integrity tells me that it's the right.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
M Well, I mean, hey, I don't even know. It's
nothing else to be said.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
I'm not gonna let no woman or child have to
fight a man or be harmed by some a big
man or whatever and just do nothing.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
I just can't do it.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
So I realized, like you said, and I'm not a man,
and I know that if I'm in that restaurant and
I'm watching this man before they start that part, hopefully
God knows. I would hope that somebody would do something,
but it's the point that he hit her. It's no way.
I just can't do it. I'm so sorry, So you know,

(25:43):
God bless us. But anyway, aj owens this weekend. There's
a rally in O Calli, Florida. People are gearing up
to be there to stand up for AJ. There's some
folks that said, well, what is there to do now?
They can't change They're not going to change the status

(26:05):
of the charges. It's still gonna be manslaughter, even though
it should be murder. Here's the thing though, for people
who are listening. First of all, there are ways that
the charges can be upgraded.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
They probably won't, but there are always.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
But more importantly, It's really about making sure that we
are so vocal on this issue that the prosecutors know
they cannot play with us. So aj Olwens needs support.
She needs visible support, her family, they need visible support because.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Guess what manslaughter.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
While yes, there is a maximum I think of somewhere
at thirteen years I saw somewhere, But there's also a
way that you can give her that she can get
probation or a little bit of time after murdering somebody.
She literally shot a woman to death that she said
she bought a gun for her. She called her children

(27:05):
racial names, and she told the children go get your
mother and bring her back.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
So she knew that.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
It was likelymeditated. We keep saying this is premeditated.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
It is likely that if I tell you to go
get whoever and bring them back, it's like I already.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Told you I brought a gun for them in the
first place. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
If I'm sitting in the house and I tell my granddaughter,
go get your mama or your dad and bring them
back and tell them come here, and then all of
a sudden somebody knocks on my door, I'm going to
assume that the person that's knocking on my door is
the person I just told somebody, go get so this

(27:48):
is this is not rocket science. It's not that difficult.
This woman she researched that day. That day she reached
researched stand your ground, so she went online that day
before the shooting occurred and researched stand your ground laws

(28:13):
to make sure she was within her rights.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
She had a.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
Gun that she says she purchased for a j She
told kids to go get their mother, and.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
When the mother came back, she shot them through the door.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
And for whatever reason, on her camera, her cloud, her
camera on her phone where the videos throughout the day.
She there is no video after eight forty, which is
before the shooting happened, and before she killed a Jones.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
And they talking about manslaughter. That is murder.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
I'll tell you it's premeditated.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
It's pure murder.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
So with all of that being said, when there are
people who are who say, well.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
Why do we need to go there?

Speaker 3 (29:03):
She got charged, there are there are some people in
our society that feels like.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
We're so tired.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
Anything is something, at least it is nothing. But that's
not that's not okay. And if you don't stand up
for ag and make sure that your voice is heard
on this issue. What will happen ultimately is that they
will find because that's what they're trying to do. They're
trying to find ways to limit the consequences for her actions,

(29:32):
Susan Lorenz.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
They're trying to limit the consequences.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
And I just hope that our people, you know, don't
let don't don't let this black woman be murdered like that,
and and we don't raise Holy hell, and not just online.
But that's when it that's when the tough part comes,
when you actually got to put your boots on the ground,
your feet in the mind. So that's where Saturday, two o'clock, Okalla, Florida,

(29:59):
more information about the rally will be released and today actually,
so that's the deal. So my thought of the day,
I had a little situation happened while I was at
my book signing at Essence Fest. Shout out to so
many listen, child, it's so many people.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
Hold on a second, let me just make sure I
have this space.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
Yeah, I know.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
That's so.

Speaker 3 (30:30):
I had a little situation happened in New Orleans right
after I finished panel that I did for a book,
the authors section, So the authice section. They were hosting
panels and having book signings and my book was featured,
and so I was on a panel. Shout out to

(30:51):
my girl Kasey Kelly. She her and Mahogany Books. They
organized all of this and she had me to be
a part of the author session. And so when we
finished the panel, right before we went to sign books,
a woman was saying she wanted to talk to me,
and she said, you know, telling me she wanted to
talk to me. And so during the panel, I made
a statement that people have to stop being so scared, like,

(31:12):
you know, stop being so scary.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
Speak up, you know, speak up, and stop.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
Letting people tell you who you can and cannot be
friends with because you're afraid that if people find out,
you know, you might not get this deal or have
this opportunity. Like, let's stop doing that because those those
that type of behavior is what fractures our community. And
people know they play on that, Oh don't my sa

(31:35):
shuldn't talking to Mika this and that. So I'm like,
stop doing that, stop being so scary. So when the
panel was over, the woman she says she want to
talk to me, and she comes up to me and
she says, and she waited patiently to speak to me,
and so she said, listen, I agree with you so
much on what you said. Stop being so scared, she said,
I say that all the time, you know, stop it.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
And she said, and.

Speaker 3 (31:55):
You know what y'all need to be talking about, She said,
I went to the concert last night and she the artist,
she said, and she was performing. You know, she says
somethingboy busting it open, and this now she was like,
I just like, what is that. They need to stop
doing that. That's what's wrong with our society and our
young people. And so I said to her, you know,
she said, and y'all need to talk about that. And

(32:16):
I said to her, you know what, I hear you,
because sometimes I do think that the it's a little
it's a little racy out here, right, And so I said,
you know, I hear what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
What you're saying. However, the pushback is, we always.

Speaker 3 (32:35):
Have sex has always been tolling, Music has always been sexy.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
Artists have always been sexy.

Speaker 5 (32:42):
Right.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
People didn't like when Tina Turner was out there with
them them fringes, shaking her behind all over the place.

Speaker 2 (32:49):
That was the.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
Twerking of that time. It literally was that was the
twerking of that time. When Tina Turner turned around and
she's shaking them fringes be going, going.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
Going, go and going.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
All of that, that cabaret that you know, sexy artistry
or whatever has always existed. Yeah, it might look different
now it's more vulgar or whatever or whatever her opinion
or the language you like to use. But I don't
know that you could go tell women today that they
have to change their style because some folks are uncomfortable

(33:24):
when people have always been uncomfortable and those and and you,
as this woman standing here talking to me, I'm sure
you was out there celebrating the fringes popping back then,
but now.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Because of the fact that it's skin and ass fat back.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
You wanted to change I said, so, I don't know,
and she started flipping out like, oh, you're a hypocrite.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
And I'm like, okay, I'm hypocrite. Wow.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
Like if I was like okay and the people there
were like, oh my god, you are kam, I'm like, now,
I'm used to people pushing and we have these conversations
and I don't have an answer to it. But you know,
I guess My thought of the day today is like,
can we now try to censor artists in their especially
female artists, and say that they're too sexy when sex

(34:09):
has always been selling, Like, why what's different about this time?
That's the question I have for myself and for us,
just as people who are.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
Influencers, we don't talk about that.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
In a few minutes.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
Well, I think for me, like, I definitely agree. You know,
sex is always so, it's always been one of the
primary things. But I think at this point, I don't
think it's the artistry of sex that's selling them, right.
I think the artists now have turned into sexual objects.

(34:42):
Right like before when you when you heard Little Kim
talking about queen business and that when she had an
interview Kimberly, the Kimberly that you interviewed was intelligent. She
was talking about certain shit. There was a different level
of there was a separation of artistry in the individual

(35:04):
right when you even like when you listen to Jay
Z talking about you the hustle, this and that when
you interview them, his mind was on a different plane
when you listen, when you listen to all of the artists,
there was a separation from the artistry in the individual.
You can see the difference. You can see where there
was an elevation in the mind. You can see when
you talk to them, they just wasn't pussy dicking this

(35:26):
and that they had the interview and and and the
personal interaction with that individual was separate.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
When you found at the most for the most part.

Speaker 4 (35:36):
Right, you get to these these they were talking about intelligence.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
Ship talking about but I don't remember, but.

Speaker 4 (35:44):
Flavor flav wasn't talking about nothing, right, since Flavor Flavors
artistry was he was a hype man, right, so he
was talking about this and that there were certain individuals
that you got it and and and and and the
thing was you treated them as such if they was
the man and this and that, that was.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
The credence you gave them.

Speaker 4 (36:03):
So I think now when you're having these conversations with
the artists, I think it's still just this sexual shit. Still,
it's still based on sex. It's still based on this.
So people aren't able to separate the individual from the
entertainer no more. And that's why you have situations like
even though I thought it was the dumbest shit with

(36:25):
with Tsukiana in this individual, this guy, right, because he's
Kosyrus because in his mind, this is who she is.
She's just sex.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
That's it.

Speaker 4 (36:35):
Every conversation she has about sex, all the music is
about sex. There's nothing that I've seen in her. And
even though that's completely wrong, but this is what happens.
And and people are just seeing the individuals as just sex.
They don't see them as something that's separated from the artist.
Try and when you when you have this, these these

(36:57):
intimate moments with them, there's this deep person like damn,
I didn't know that about this person, or this person
is dope when you meet him, like they it's like
they all stay in character. They staying in character. So
the individuals, like before, my mother used to like Little
Kim right, even though she was like they was talking about.
But when she listened to Little Kim talk and she

(37:17):
heard the interviews and this and that, she reminded her
of her, Like, Okay, Little Kimar, even though there's this
this raunchy shit about her, there's this this young woman
still here. You understand, I'm saying. Even with Nicki Minaj,
even though Nicki is selling all that shit, she said
all that shit. But when you listen to Nicki Minaj
have an interview, that's an intelligent business woman. You understand

(37:38):
I'm saying. I think right now, what they're doing with
these young girls, you're not seeing that aspect of them.
Every interview is about so you're doing this and this
and that, and it's just all every video, every interview,
everything is just this sexual shit to where they just
just see him as sex.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
So I think it's just like with the rappers.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
Before the rappers, you heard it it was shoot them up,
bangman in the music, but when you had an interview
with them, there's somebody. We're trying to ever evolve from this,
you know, we're trying to flip this money.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
We had to get off the streets. We lost too
many people in the street. This and that.

Speaker 4 (38:12):
Now Yo, Yeah, we got beef with such and such
and we're gonna shoot them and this and that, and
it's on when we poping, it's no, there's no separation.
So it's it's like, what happened is I don't know.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
I think the guys are better.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
I think some of them are, but I'm talking but
some of them are.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
But for the most part, you still that's what that's
all the interviews be around they don't interview. And that's
why I started sit down with the stand ups, because
I want to focus on the evolution of the mind.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
The other ship you want to talk about.

Speaker 4 (38:43):
We know they come from this, we know they've done that,
but talk about the other ship. Let people understand that
these are intelligent individuals who have brains, who have aspirations,
who you know, don't just focus on the dumb shit
all time.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
And I think that's what happens most of the time,
is that everything.

Speaker 4 (38:59):
Is complete focused on this sex and the individual becomes
just in people's minds as a sex object.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
And well women have always been objectified though, so I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
I guess, I guess I see what you're saying.

Speaker 4 (39:14):
And I'm thinking about if we think about how what
people's argument was with Tory and Meghan, right, it's Tori.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
I mean, Megan just graduate, graduated from college.

Speaker 4 (39:24):
This is the one with a college degree, right, And
what what what our social media and people will try
to focus on is the sexual ship that she talks
about in the music. Everything is all all of the
interview questions about sex and who you are sex with
and this and that. So people just seeing her when
the situation happened and she got shot.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
People said, fuck her.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
All she is is somebody that's sex and shaking her
ass anyway, So we don't give a fuck because they
just seen her as that. They separate the pure human
being from it. They don't even look at the other
aspects of this intelligent, young black woman that overcame shit,
because that's not what's being shown to the public.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
We don't even see that aspect no more. We don't
see it that.

Speaker 4 (40:05):
We don't see I don't see no interviews where it's
highlighting the minds of these chicks. It's like, oh, I
would fuck you, you fuck me? Oh, I would lick you.
What look at my ass or my ass or you squat?
Oh those are combination. But where's the rest of the
ship that goes with the women? Why I don't show
the rest of the interview? What she talked about, she graduated,

(40:26):
she overcame this and that, But you want to talk
about who she slept with and who she said is sexy,
and like, that's what that's what this eerror is doing now.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
It's objectifying women.

Speaker 4 (40:37):
And until we stopped doing that and we start showing
the human side and the aspiring side, and the evolutionary
side and the intelligence side of our women.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
Like we used to do, We're gonna keep getting these
same responses.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
Well, I think I would say two things on this.

Speaker 3 (40:53):
One is that it's the object objectifying or whatever objectification
of women and the promotion of violence. So those two
things that happening at the same time. But I also
think that, yes, it is the media in a lot
of ways, but we as women and just people and
artists in general, have a responsibility to.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Shift the conversation.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
And so I'm sure you know they tried all that
stuff with Queen Latifa and Jada Pinkett and all, and
I've always had to deal with that the line of questioning.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
You happy to be.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
No, but I'm just saying your intellect was respected.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
No, No, but you're not understanding what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
I'm saying that there's always been because at some point
it might not so much have been about sex, but
it was colorism or competition. They've always tried to shift
the conversation to something that's controversial, and it is incumbent
upon us as individuals. And that's me and you doing
interviews all the way to artists that you keep the

(41:59):
converse station where you wanted to go.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
So when they ask.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
You about your but hole, you gotta say that's funny.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
You know.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
I talk that all the time, but I ain't come
up here to talk about that. I do want to
tell you, though, about blah blah blah bah blahlah blahlah
blah thing. So you have to educate yourself, right, You've
got to make yourself. You have to put you have
to develop your mind in a way that you have
something else to talk about.

Speaker 4 (42:26):
But I hope that because a lot of these young
girls that's being objectified, they don't know. They just getting
theme and people saying, Yo, you gotta do this, you
gotta do this, And as they grow they be like,
I'm not doing that shit no more. But what happens
is that's what your brand is right now. If people
don't even want to hear you talk about nothing else,
you know, they want to like I heard stupid ass

(42:48):
fucking I'm not saying no names, but these blog dudes
twenty one savages evolving in his music, and they like,
all right, we just want to hear you shoot and
kill and sell drugs, nigga. We don't want to hear
that positive shit, and that that's they try to put
you in right so they don't eat. They sound bite
you on negativity and stupidity once you will, but you.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
Gotta keep on your path.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
And again I'm just saying that I want to make
sure we talk about the personal responsibility of these individuals
because again, I'm sure the question back in the days
was old Queen Latifah, did you hear you know what,
I'm just making this up what mc light said. And
you know, how do you feel about hugs? You think

(43:32):
she's this, that and the third or so. They always
try to find something. It could be sex, it could
like I said, competition, colorism, you think she's too light,
too dark to this and the third. But they're always
going to try to focus on negativity because that's what
they want to stick in our community.

Speaker 2 (43:47):
I want to say one thing before we start, right.

Speaker 4 (43:49):
I was looking somebody I don't know who posted it,
but it was a post about Kevin Gates and it
was showing like his old interviews right like they were
showing clips of his old interviews.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
It's like, Yo, Kevin Gates used to be a real
hard interview.

Speaker 4 (44:04):
And he was militant, like he was so militant that
it was it was shocking him. Dude, please says, please,
don't put your hands on me. You don't want to
touch me to talk to me. He's like, yeah, I
didn't come up here to talk about that nonsense. Like
he was militant. He was getting up there. And then
I was listening to and I watched and I started listening,
and I benefit Kevin Gates fan because I understand the

(44:26):
militancy he has. And I've listened to like full interviews,
and I watched the way he interviews now and he
said it before that he has a massive degree in psychology.
And what he started to do was give you all
the bullshit that you wanted to hear.

Speaker 2 (44:43):
He knew that that's what they was gonna grab one too.

Speaker 4 (44:45):
But when you started listening to a full interview, it's
so much shit in here that he's saying that's on point,
but he gonna give you all of the most wrong.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
Cheers, craziest shit that.

Speaker 4 (44:56):
He knows going headline because he understood the games, so
a lot of it's a lot of artists what they
start doing and say, you know what, I'm not gonna
fight the system. I'm gonna play the game, and I'm
gonna add this ship I want to do, but I'm
gonna figure out the game because when you when I
was playing it the way that I thought it should
be played, it wasn't getting these headlines.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
They wasn't paying attention, they wasn't listening. I wasn't in
these things.

Speaker 4 (45:18):
But now that I give y'all a bunch of this bullshit,
y'all pay attention. So now you're gonna go get the
whole body of work and listen and be like, damn
this thing. You're talking some ship. But the thing that
brought you here was the bullshit and the sound bites.
So that's what we at sound but we in the
sound by error.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
Well we've always been in the sound bite error, and
I'm not really good at it. We always have because
I mean, that's that's something that because it's in every
it's in every aspect, like in civil rights, sound bites
is like what's supposed to sell.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
So I think it's been there, but I think.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
I don't think it sound bites that I don't think
what you mean is the sound bite, because we've always
been sound bites.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
It's just the raunching like it's.

Speaker 4 (46:05):
Sound bites have always existed, right, There's always been a
need for sound but there's always been a thing about
sound like that one or two things that you could
take that they say, that's always been, but it wasn't
as prevalent as it is now.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
There was an overall thing.

Speaker 1 (46:21):
Before.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
They would take sound bites from people who have overall talent,
and they would take that. Now they just take they
take sound bucks over overall talent.

Speaker 3 (46:33):
Okay, well listen, speaking of sound bite talent and online
and how you get noticed and all of that, we
have a digital marketing or marketing expert coming up and
she's going to be our guest.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
I am you know, I'm pretty.

Speaker 3 (46:53):
I know her work and she's actually really good at
what she does. And so people who are influencing needs
to listen into this interview so you can learn more
about ways to uh bring value to companies and also
bring money to your pocket for your followers, and not
just be online to be online scrolling, but to be

(47:15):
online and make.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
All Right, let's bring our guests on.

Speaker 3 (47:26):
Speaking of our friends, we had, we have a friend
that is joining us today on street Politicians, someone I've
had a lot of time or spent a lot of
time with and had the opportunity to get to know
this sister, who is quite influential in her own right.

(47:47):
But she has a company called Black Girl Digital, which
deals with influencer marketing. So her firm focuses on helping
uh influencers with their marketing strategies, and her own form.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
Of activism within her business is.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
To help shape and make sure that there are equitable
opportunities for brand partnerships between the influencers and some major brands.
And what I appreciate and have learned much about this
sister is how much she has been able to do
in terms of getting people the type of online imprint

(48:28):
that they deserve and need in order for their businesses
to grow. You know, some people think that it's an
easy job. You just go online and throw up a page.
And that's why most people get frustrated because they find
out that there's a lot more work that goes into
being a viable company that brands will look at, and
you know, and also just having viable strategies.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
And so I'm excited to.

Speaker 3 (48:52):
Bring to the show today to welcome on our sister,
my friend LaToya schambeau Hey.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
Guys, thank you so much for having me on.

Speaker 6 (49:02):
Always excited to join the show and talk all things
influencer marketing and marketing and getting your businesses rocket and rolling.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
It's amazing, man.

Speaker 4 (49:12):
I just want to know because every time we get
influencers and different entrepreneurs, the first thing I want to
know is like, what was the inspiration behind you doing it?

Speaker 6 (49:22):
Well, interestingly enough, I've been in advertising and marketing for
seventeen year eighteen years now, and I've always just had
a love for the advertising industry, and through my experiences,
I was like, well, who who's doing all of this
and bringing deals to black women? And since I just

(49:48):
had to know how of where the money sat, it
was an easy way. It was just an easy way
for me to live out my passion as well as
my purpose and kind of merge it all together. Still
support my industry and support my community. So it was
really fait you know, and my desire to just help

(50:11):
the community get paid to do the things that they
love to do.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
So when did you like first start this company?

Speaker 4 (50:18):
Like you say you've been doing advertage, So what did
you first start your own company?

Speaker 5 (50:22):
Twenty sixteen?

Speaker 6 (50:24):
It was twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, and it was right
before social media took off. So originally the idea was
to be the largest black female ad network, so very
similar to Complex. I was managing at operations for some

(50:45):
major black female bloggers at the time, so I took
the extra the Nicole BITCHI to excel. Nicole was managing
her ad operations, and then fashion Bomb Daily, The Cut Life,
and a couple of other publishers.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
But the interesting thing was, let's say it literally.

Speaker 6 (51:04):
Happened overnight, like December thirty first, I went to sleep
January first, the new year twenty to seventeen. It was
all about influencers. So I'm very much a visionary and
I assess business for what the future could look like,
not for what we have to do like right this second.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
And I was like, it's I have to pivot.

Speaker 2 (51:27):
You know.

Speaker 6 (51:29):
All of my bloggers were turning into influencers. The brands
that I was working with, they wanted to test out
influencer marketing, and I was like, well, I know how
to do it. I know how to package, I know
how to price, and I have the inventory. So it
was an easy pivot in the product, but not in
the purpose. I was still able to continue down the

(51:52):
road of supporting black women and really helping them get
paid fairly in a space where out they gate they
were immediately you know, not paid in an equitable manner.

Speaker 1 (52:05):
So it really.

Speaker 6 (52:06):
Twenty seventeen was a critical year in the pivots.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
So there are people out here who need and I'm
one of them, who need to understand in a very very.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
Basic way.

Speaker 3 (52:27):
I was gonna say elementary, but that's probably the wrong
turned to use a very basic way. First of all,
what is an influencer? And then what does influencer marketing mean?
You know, Like I know, I think I know, and
it sounds really good, but I'm not sure that we

(52:47):
understand all the intricacies of what being an influencer is
in and of itself, Like, for real, not just somebody
who people see and you know, you just around, but
a true influencer. Your brand is something folks want to
connect to their brand.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
What does that mean?

Speaker 3 (53:06):
And then what does it mean to be What does
influencer marketing mean?

Speaker 6 (53:11):
Sure, so in different industries it might be different things,
you know, but from the advertising perspective, from the lens
of the advertising industry, it's an influencer is someone just
being contracted to promote something on behalf of a brand,
whether it's you're being paid.

Speaker 1 (53:32):
Or you're doing a hard right. And the term.

Speaker 6 (53:35):
Influencer marketing was adopted in the industry to really serve
as a channel in which that marketer leverages that influencer.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
Right.

Speaker 6 (53:47):
So an influencer can come in many different forms. It
can be I'm working with this influencer because they have reach.
It also can be I'm working with this influencer because
they have a really niche audience where this they post something,
they really care about what they're posting, and they want
to buy from them.

Speaker 5 (54:06):
They want their interested right, so they have that niche audience.

Speaker 6 (54:10):
Or this influencer creates really great content and as a
new brand business owner, I need quality content that that's.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
Produced by this influencer.

Speaker 6 (54:21):
So from an advertising perspective, again, it's really more of
a channel that influencer marketing is a channel in which
they go about marketing the business through influencers. And an
influencer is someone who is being there's an exchange, there's
an exchange of service.

Speaker 4 (54:42):
Okay, that sounds dope, but so give us like a
couple of influencers or artists whoever that you've worked with
and connected them to certain brands that we probably would.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
Know of it.

Speaker 6 (54:56):
Oh Jesus, we work done so so many campaigns.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
It really just depends.

Speaker 6 (55:05):
So for example, right now, we're working on a couple
of campaigns for Disney.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
We we just wrapped up or wrapping up.

Speaker 6 (55:17):
Run Disney, a campaign for that's really amplifying and showcasing
that Disney has a program for runners, and they wanted
to really amplify the diversity of the program and how
fun it was, so we contracted a couple of black.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
Influencers that love to run.

Speaker 6 (55:38):
One of our influencers that we worked with a young
micro influencer, Charlene, based out of Boston.

Speaker 5 (55:46):
I mean, she's so dynamic.

Speaker 6 (55:49):
The first time we worked with her was on a
Boston and we worked with the City of Boston to
amplify and drive tourism to Boston and kind of shift
the sentiment. And she loves Boston and she went above
and beyond for that campaign. So just remembering how hard
she worked on that one campaign, it always made us

(56:11):
go back and think about her her future campaigns. And
we've worked with her a couple of times and that
for us is really critical, you know, because some of
our programs they take a long time to negotiate or
they turn over the next day, and we're always looking
for flexibility when we're working with the creators, and Charlene

(56:33):
was really a dope creator that we work with to get.

Speaker 1 (56:36):
The job done.

Speaker 6 (56:37):
I also mentioned LaToya Forever, so we worked with her
on a Walmart campaign and her audience they are stay
engaged so well and responded so much to her to
her post, she had the highest, the best engagement. And

(57:01):
it's not it wasn't necessarily because she had a million followers,
because generally what we see with an influencer who has
a million followers, they have really low engagement, you know,
one percent.

Speaker 1 (57:13):
Maybe maybe maybe two percent maybe.

Speaker 6 (57:16):
But LaToya her audience there they genuinely love the content
that she makes and supports the branded content that she makes,
and that makes that makes for her to be a
really good influencer partner to work with.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
Okay, so let me ask you some fire questions here
because I wrote down sixteen things I need to know
because I know people people really need to notice because
they want to be an influencer. And I think it's
different like you said, I mean you're talking about brands.
But some people think being an influencer, you know, means
that they just need to put up really cute pitches

(57:56):
all the time, or they need to have something to
say about everything on the internet, and they think that
somehow they're.

Speaker 1 (58:03):
Supposed to make them a viable.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
Person to, you know, for larger opportunities, when the reality
is that you have to have something that will help
people make money and just being on the internet is
not that. Because I hear you continuously talking about, you know,
the engagement of your audience. So if your audience is
not the type that will go purchase the lift glass

(58:29):
or buy the thing, or get the tickets the movie
tickets or whatever, that you still are in progress in
terms of your influencer status. Right, So influencers are not
just people who look good, who've got the best body
types and all of that. But there are people who
can move dollars, move people, move things, make things happen

(58:51):
with their audience. So the question is do you need
millions of followers, Because from what I'm hearing, you don't
need millions of follows. You could have a small group
of followers, but if they are special type of group
that will actually engage in whatever the campaign is that
could be looked.

Speaker 1 (59:09):
At by a brand as well.

Speaker 3 (59:11):
So you don't have to buy followers in order to
be a strong candidate for partnership.

Speaker 6 (59:19):
No, you absolutely do not need to have a lot
of followers to have a great partnership. I think the
misconception is that follower count matters. It does matter to
a certain degree, But the issue is that most creators
they don't know they Everyone screams, pay me what I'm worth,

(59:44):
pay me what I'm worth. But the issue isn't about
people paying you what you're worth. It is about that
you don't know how to articulate your value.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
So that's someone to pay you knowing how to articulate
your value.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
You have to know how. I don't know how to
articulate my value.

Speaker 6 (01:00:03):
It it's not an overnight thing. It's really about first
understanding who you serve.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:00:10):
When you know your audience, you can you can better
select the brands that you want to work with because
you know what your audience, what they come here for,
Why are they here every day? What are they saying,
what are they talking about? What are they asking you?
What's in your DMS like you have to be the
you have to be the expert in your audience so

(01:00:32):
that you then communicate that to that brand so that
they can see the value that you bring to their partnership. Right,
and that in itself that you can have ten.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Thousand followers, but if you.

Speaker 6 (01:00:47):
Have if eight percent of them are highly engaged, you
can move mountains for a new business.

Speaker 5 (01:00:55):
And the more money you make a new business.

Speaker 6 (01:00:58):
They're going to come back again and again and they
might increase the partnership. The point of marketing is if
I invest a dollar, I want three.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
Four or five back.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:01:08):
Point of marketing, And so now we're adding influence and marketing.
The point of influence of marketing is to get some
sort of ROI right and where when an influencer can
articulate the value that they bring and how they can
contribute to that ROI, its gold. And oftentimes they don't
ask the right questions too in understanding clearly what a

(01:01:31):
brand means and what the real goal is and getting
the real goal out of a marketer can be challenging,
but the success is when you recognize that the brand
really just wants to see you know, they just want
ten thousand impressions, not saying that everyone can do deliver

(01:01:53):
ten thousand impressions, but if they can clearly articulate what
the needs are, then you can give back.

Speaker 5 (01:02:00):
Well, this is how I can help you do that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
Okay, so let me ask.

Speaker 3 (01:02:03):
I got a couple of, like I said, fire questions here.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
So what are the.

Speaker 3 (01:02:13):
Dang you just said something that made me want to
ask a different question when you said ten thousand impressions. Okay,
so I'm gonna shift to this question first. So now
that Instagram is doing this new stupid thing where they
decide whether they want to show your likes, your views,
or whatever, it just depends because sometimes I'll look at

(01:02:35):
a post of mine and it'll say that I have
two hundred likes, but when I open it, like opening insights,
it shows that I have that twenty thousand people watched
or there's been twenty thousand views of the content.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
Right, So if you want to load.

Speaker 6 (01:02:57):
That's how you upload your content though, because you if
you're if you uploaded video first, like.

Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
In reels, it's views.

Speaker 6 (01:03:06):
But if you upload it like if you uploaded like
a regular post.

Speaker 5 (01:03:12):
And then you have an image behind it.

Speaker 6 (01:03:14):
It's going to show lights, it's not going to show
the view sometimes it sometimes it depends on how you
upload the content.

Speaker 5 (01:03:23):
But I know that's not your question, Kary.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
No, no, no, no no.

Speaker 3 (01:03:26):
I mean that's good because that's technical and that's Those
are the types of things that people want to hear.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
But what I'm trying to say is based upon that.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
In this time when it's clear that social media companies
have started to sort of suppress people's engagement for whatever
reason because they don't want you to make a real
business out of your social media platforms.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
And our brother Isaac Hayes at fan Base.

Speaker 3 (01:03:51):
Talks all the time about how most people are not
even seeing your content when you post because the algorithm
is suppressing the the eyeballs that you get on because
if they let a million people see the product and
purchase it, then you have your own business and no
longer really need them. Right, So the question I have
is how are you measuring success? And how are the

(01:04:13):
brands that you work with measuring success?

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
See my question did come together? How how are they?
How do you measure success.

Speaker 3 (01:04:21):
When the algorithm is so influential in the influencers work?

Speaker 6 (01:04:28):
M Okay, it's so dominant this this is this is
a deep question. I'm going to answer it in a
couple of different ways. So from the influencer perspective, right,
in my humble opinion, the these platforms they owe you nothing, right,

(01:04:48):
they have given you a space to create, to be,
to build, right, and it is a tool that I
think all you you just have to use it the
way that you need to, the way that you see
fit and not get so caught up on what the
algorithm is against me, because honestly, the.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
Algorithm the way that it's the way that it kind
of works.

Speaker 6 (01:05:13):
And I'm no I'm no pro but as it relates
to the algorithm, it's really about interests. Right, So if
you are creating content that is of interest to the
audience that you are serving, they're going to continue to
serve that that that post. Right, So if somebody is

(01:05:34):
suit like if people are if you create content as engaging,
so and an engagement looks like in your if you
think about your your your caption, think about your caption, right,
you can see one sentence, maybe you can see like
two lines, and engagement is when someone clicks on that.

Speaker 1 (01:05:56):
To open more.

Speaker 6 (01:05:58):
Right, the platform who on the algorithm recognizes that as
an engagement. So they they're basically saying, oh, you you're
interested in reading this and reading something.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
Like this, well, let me serve you more of this.
And that is that's what's.

Speaker 6 (01:06:15):
Really triggering a lot of how content is growing or
not growing.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
Well, but LaToya, before you finish your answer, and then
I know my song has more questions. These companies are racist,
So let's be clear that there are people who yes,
there is an interest thing. And of course, and not
only are they racist, they're racist, they're sexist, it's a
whole lot of things.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
And they're even looking out. They will block you immediately.

Speaker 3 (01:06:42):
Yeah, and and and also they suppress your content based
upon what you're talking about.

Speaker 1 (01:06:47):
So if you are.

Speaker 3 (01:06:48):
Showing ass and titties and you know, talking about freaking off,
everybody can find it all the time. But if you're
talking about white supremacy and so social justice and political issues,
they have a way of ensuring that your content does
not move.

Speaker 1 (01:07:07):
But so far, and so often so keywords.

Speaker 6 (01:07:11):
It's a it's that's embedded in a lot of keyword
triggers on the back end. So you know, I and
I noticed that like if you if you use certain keywords.
It'll it just automatic because of a machine, you know,
because they don't have enough humans to vet through all

(01:07:33):
of the content. They have these lists, they have these
these block lists that automatically triggers that then yes, suppresses
the content that and it's silly, it's awful, But from
a branded partnership perspective, right, and keeping those things in mind,

(01:07:56):
you know, I think that we're we're in on is
what they don't leverage often is the pay to play
because at the end of the day, you do have
to deliver.

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
Right, So, a brand is booking you for something and.

Speaker 6 (01:08:12):
The goal if the goal is they want to see
engagements meaning likes.

Speaker 1 (01:08:19):
Follows or shares or whatever. And you know that.

Speaker 6 (01:08:23):
Your branded content does not perform well because whatever, for
whatever reason, then you should be thinking about, well, how
can I boost this post to deliver?

Speaker 4 (01:08:34):
It?

Speaker 1 (01:08:34):
Literally will cost you five.

Speaker 6 (01:08:36):
Dollars to deliver, you know, and when when you're kind
of negotiating your deal and looking at your rate, you
have ten dollars to spare to make sure that your
campaign delivers in full. So when you ask about what
that goal that ROI and you know, the marketer generally
when booking and influencer campaign. Their goal can be built

(01:09:00):
around impressions mm HM, breach and engagement. And then if
somebody says this is a brand awareness campaign, get more details, Well,
what do you mean by brand awareness?

Speaker 5 (01:09:12):
You know? How many how many likes are you hoping
to see here?

Speaker 1 (01:09:16):
Or what to ask the specific question? Get more specific?

Speaker 6 (01:09:20):
You know, do you want to see your follower account
grow the minute I.

Speaker 5 (01:09:23):
Post, like, what what are you looking for?

Speaker 6 (01:09:25):
So that I can better structure the caption so that
I can better select the plot, the placement that's going
to work best for what you're trying to execute, Because
if you want like massive eyeballs really quick, then it
might be I need to do a real right, I
need to do a real because video views are it's

(01:09:47):
the jam, and it's what that's what performs best here.
So it's it's a very loaded.

Speaker 2 (01:09:57):
So what I want to know is just based on
what you're saying. So I just want to.

Speaker 4 (01:10:01):
Know so if I get it right, if I have
certain content that I post on my my page that
I don't think gets the level of engagement that I
wanted to, if I invested a certain amount of dollars
to continue to boost those things, then I would see
the engagement.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
Increase, because that's what I want you to do anyway.
But it's cost effective. It's really paying to play. That's
what you mean by paying to play exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
It's so because we because you know what it is.

Speaker 4 (01:10:35):
I think both of our followings have grown organically, right,
So we just organically have posted things and and got
a following.

Speaker 2 (01:10:43):
You know, just woke up and say, oh shit, we
got five.

Speaker 4 (01:10:45):
Hundred million follars. So it's organic. So we didn't understand.
I didn't until you really just said that. I didn't
really didn't really get it. And then I realized it's
certain things that react like crazy on my page, somebody
violence or something.

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
It reacts. I get over.

Speaker 4 (01:11:04):
Sixty thousand and three thousand comments this and that, and
then other things that I think people should react to
they don't. And people said, I didn't even notice on
your page. It never showed up. There have been times
and they say, yo, yo, I'm not getting your posts anymore.
You understand saying because I start, I guess I was
posting certain things that wasn't within the algorithm that they

(01:11:24):
didn't believe my following wanted to see, so it didn't
get the level of.

Speaker 1 (01:11:29):
Engagement, but it's also you're following.

Speaker 6 (01:11:33):
They might be interested in what you're posting for that day,
and then they move on, right, They move on to
start engaging with other things, and then their algorithm changes.
So it's not necessarily that you're doing something awful. It's
just that today I might be into looking at you know,

(01:11:53):
I don't know Rihanna's stuff, and so then my algorithm
is gonna change to give me more celebrity entertainment because
that's what I'm interested in today. So it's it's really
not always.

Speaker 2 (01:12:06):
It's not like all the way for me.

Speaker 4 (01:12:08):
Sometimes it works something okay, and another thing I think
there's just for me. I think there's an oversaturation of
what we call influencers, like.

Speaker 2 (01:12:19):
And people who think that and maybe I'm wrong.

Speaker 4 (01:12:21):
Do you think that it's on the influencers are on
the rise, that's the next wave, or do you think
it's on a decline?

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
What do you think?

Speaker 5 (01:12:30):
As a I think that.

Speaker 6 (01:12:35):
Everyone has the opportunity to become an influencer, to become
an expert in their field and monetize.

Speaker 1 (01:12:44):
It is absolutely positively possible.

Speaker 6 (01:12:48):
That anyone can monetize their expertise their passion. I think
the future the wave is going to be more around.

Speaker 5 (01:13:00):
Validation and credibility.

Speaker 6 (01:13:05):
And really being able to source authentic creators that can deliver.
You know, the especially for big legacy brands. You know,
their issue right now is brand safety.

Speaker 3 (01:13:21):
You know, so work a legacy brand. What's a legacy
brand like Coca Cola, A Coca.

Speaker 6 (01:13:26):
Cola, Colgates, brands like that that's been around for a
long time, Walmart, things like that. Right, they have this
this big reputation to protect, So their concerns around brand
safety and the type of creator that they work with
are important, right. But in some of the conversations that

(01:13:49):
that I'm having, I'm like, you know, I hear you.

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
On the brand safety part.

Speaker 6 (01:13:53):
But you have to recognize that some of that is
built on bias, right, Like you you you might think
that when you hear you know, black women in conversation,
be like, yeah, that's bitch. That might that might sound
offensive to you, right, because that's just not where you
come from. So but that's our that's this is where
we come from. This is how this is who we are,

(01:14:14):
This is how we you know, we we carry on
and for some influencers that's just the nature of their platform,
and that's what their audience recognizes and loves and appreciates about.

Speaker 5 (01:14:26):
Them, you know, And for them to be on.

Speaker 6 (01:14:29):
A block list or for them to be on a
list where it's like, oh, this person isn't brand safe
because of the vernacular that she uses.

Speaker 5 (01:14:40):
It limits the growth of the black people in the space.

Speaker 6 (01:14:45):
And it's really it's even it's even harder for the
lgbt Q.

Speaker 1 (01:14:52):
Plus I think they added another.

Speaker 3 (01:14:54):
One I l g is lgbt Q I eight plus plus, right,
So it's it's really hard.

Speaker 6 (01:15:03):
For that community as well to negotiate deals because of
this brand safety, brand safety issue and things in this
in this space. But everyone has the opportunity, to answer
your question. Everyone has the opportunity to monetize their audience,
monetize their platform, monetize their expertise.

Speaker 3 (01:15:25):
So let me say one more thing and then we're
gonna get you out of here, because I know, I understand,
I overstand. We stay on on, you know, sometimes with
our guests for a long time because we really want
to get to the nitty gritty of what's going on.
Let's talk about brand safety for a second. That was
one of my other questions, I wrote down what's the

(01:15:45):
dos and don't write so for influencers and and people
even like the two of us, if we're pissed off
about something that's going on in the world, or you know,
there are other people who maybe they want to you know,
they want to show their damn near their whole ass

(01:16:08):
on this page today and then they want to go.
So if I'm pissed off about whatever kind of political issue,
that probably impacts the amount of brands that would be
willing to work with us or with me, or you know,
with anybody. So it's from everything from being explicit to

(01:16:29):
being too political, being whatever. And I don't think you'd
have to be too political, but just for the sake
of this conversation. So what if you found to be
dosingdun'ts of how people are using their social media platforms
just in their regular everyday lives. Do you think it's
two separate pages. I thought that at one point that
it's two separate pages. But what I found is that

(01:16:51):
when most people take they look at everything. Right, when
most brands are trying to find individuals, they don't just say, oh, well,
that's your personal page.

Speaker 1 (01:17:01):
They're more so.

Speaker 3 (01:17:03):
I'm sorried about who you are as a person, right,
you know, so talk about the dudes and don't.

Speaker 1 (01:17:11):
So interesting.

Speaker 6 (01:17:13):
I've I've I've pitched you before and I've run into
this issue. It's same thing you know with Yandy, Like
I pitched all of you guys, right, and I run
into this this brand safety issue. And you know it's
I have conversations with brands like you want, you want reach,

(01:17:34):
you want to be a part of this conversation, but
you wanted to be.

Speaker 1 (01:17:41):
Politically correct, politically correct.

Speaker 6 (01:17:43):
You wanted to be politically correct, you wanted to be
softly delivered. So but that's just that's just not that's
not how it works. But what I would say to
you know, creators really trying to figure out censorship and
you know, for better words, is just be mindful of

(01:18:06):
if you want to take this as if you want
to make this a career, like if you want to
work with major brands, then look at who they are
and really considered is there going to be real alignment?

Speaker 1 (01:18:19):
And if you're not saying, you know, dumb down your
content or.

Speaker 6 (01:18:24):
Not be authentic, what I'm saying is keep things in mind.

Speaker 5 (01:18:29):
E scrub your page every six months, you know, just to.

Speaker 6 (01:18:34):
Make sure right like nothing is overly offensive, but.

Speaker 1 (01:18:41):
Also being just be who you are, right, you have to.

Speaker 6 (01:18:45):
Kind of stand firm and this is who I am
and this is how my content shows up in the
space because I serve my people. Right, You either want
to be here or not, and trust that the right
partnerships will come along. Like not every brand needs to
be up under your brand, and you don't need to

(01:19:05):
be up under everybody else's brand if it's not aligned, right,
But I don't think that people should. I don't think
you need to create a brand safe page. And that's
just too It's already too much to create content for
a billion other platforms, you know. I just think that
you have to just be mindful of what the content

(01:19:29):
looks like.

Speaker 1 (01:19:30):
That it's a hard questions, it is.

Speaker 2 (01:19:33):
Because it just basically comes down to you just got
to know what you want.

Speaker 1 (01:19:36):
You gotta know what you see.

Speaker 4 (01:19:37):
What I'm saying, if you're trying to attract certain kind
of individuals, certain kind of brands, you got to understand
that certain things don't attract those individuals. And then you've
got to say to yourself, well, I don't care because
I'm authentically be me and I'm willing to deal with
what comes with being me.

Speaker 6 (01:19:51):
Yeah, and when you stand firm and who you are,
it's easy to say no respectfully, like this doesn't align,
it doesn't work, it doesn't make sense, and even the
the no matter how much money they offer, like it
just this does not make sense. And being okay with
you pitch yourself and you don't get it because they
don't feel like.

Speaker 5 (01:20:11):
The brand aligns.

Speaker 6 (01:20:12):
If that's okay, Like that is okay, but don't go
and change who you are just to accommodate a brand.

Speaker 1 (01:20:23):
That's what if you have to feature children and you
what we do ain't for everybody, That's all I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (01:20:33):
Right, Like, so, I because I want to be sensitive
to like we want everybody to be as outspoken on
issues as we are, right And I don't know if
I can.

Speaker 2 (01:20:46):
I don't think I want that.

Speaker 3 (01:20:48):
No, Well, what I'm saying is that I do I
want don't.

Speaker 4 (01:20:52):
I want people to be authentic because if you outspoken
just because I want you to be outspoken or you
you're just following something that's not really you, that doesn't
fit who you are, that you can't stand on that
you can't say, well I need to feed my kids,
then it ain't for you, because that's never gonna be
a conversation I have.

Speaker 2 (01:21:08):
Whatever I say or whatever I.

Speaker 4 (01:21:10):
Stand, somebody come to me and say, well you said this,
I'm gonna say I said that, there's never gonna be
a conversation that they gonna have with me.

Speaker 2 (01:21:15):
I'mna saying well I gotta feed.

Speaker 4 (01:21:17):
My kids or I gotta pay my That's never gonna
be a conversation for me. So I think you have
to have that conversation. Then whatever you're doing doesn't coincide.

Speaker 2 (01:21:25):
With who you are. No.

Speaker 3 (01:21:26):
Well, what I'm saying when I say I want everybody
to be as outspoken, what I mean by that is
that I want people to care about the issues and
to speak up as well. So in my mind, if
you're saying something, you would have educated yourself you care
about this or whatever I want, And maybe being outspoken
is the wrong place to start. But what I should
say is I want everybody to be as outraged as

(01:21:50):
I am about so much shit that goes on in
this nation, right, so understanding that I also am sensitive
to the fact that what we do. Who comes with
a lot of sacrifice, because I'm pretty sure that all
the times that you've tried to pitch me here there
in the third place, and you have these walls that
go up, it gets to be frustrating. We have a

(01:22:11):
number of individuals that come to us and they're like, yo,
I got this idea, I'm gonna put you on.

Speaker 1 (01:22:18):
We had a guy who was a friend of Mycen's telling.

Speaker 3 (01:22:20):
Us not you need that I need a biopic. You
know that we need to get a film done about
your life. Your books are great. I'm gonna go I'm
gonna talk to this person. I know for sure, and
I just you know, when I'm thinking to myself the
whole time, just listening to the spaces that he was

(01:22:42):
intending to go to, it's not gonna happen because I
already know that it's gonna get blocked by certain individuals
who work within TV, who work within entertainment. I already
know those individuals are going to say she can't be
on here because of this, this, this, this and this
and this, her previous relationships, her current relationships that I

(01:23:04):
already know what they're gonna do, right, So, based upon that,
I know that there is a major sacrifice that.

Speaker 1 (01:23:12):
You're taking and making when.

Speaker 3 (01:23:14):
You choose to step on the side of being more.

Speaker 1 (01:23:20):
Outspoken about the issues.

Speaker 3 (01:23:22):
So therefore, if you need to feed your family and
you are afraid and you're scared, don't come step over
here with us, because you are you know, for real,
don't stay.

Speaker 2 (01:23:34):
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 6 (01:23:35):
That's pretty much I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (01:23:39):
It's not for you because it's hard, it's tough.

Speaker 3 (01:23:41):
It's no joke, Like you know, it's no joke what
we deal with, So don't step over here, now, that's
what I.

Speaker 6 (01:23:49):
Also think that people don't google themselves enough, like take
the time to check on your reputation.

Speaker 3 (01:23:56):
That I haven't looked at a Google about my name.
I can't because there's so many lies.

Speaker 1 (01:24:02):
But that's that's.

Speaker 6 (01:24:03):
Where I'm going, right, Like a lot of people allow
other people to drive the.

Speaker 5 (01:24:09):
Narrative on who they are, right because.

Speaker 6 (01:24:12):
While you may speak about the things that are going
on in the world because that is who you're called
to be, that doesn't mean that your character is awful, right,
That doesn't mean you're.

Speaker 1 (01:24:22):
A terrible person.

Speaker 6 (01:24:23):
And sometimes this is where a pr strategy needs to
come into play, so that you can have the the
the digital footprint of your character to back up whatever negative,
whatever hearsay is out in the world as well. Like

(01:24:45):
there has to be a balance, Like I think that
it's really important, especially for public figures, to pay attention
to their personal reputation and devise a personal strategy on
this is what I want people to find when they
look for me, if you put my name, and this
is what I want you to find, not what other

(01:25:07):
people are searching for. You have to be proactive in
the positive information that's being put out into the digital
space as well.

Speaker 1 (01:25:21):
Right, Yeah, you got a grip. I mean, you know
what to do because I just know what I hear.
What all these brands are doing.

Speaker 6 (01:25:30):
We like when we do a deep vetting on our side,
but when it goes to the brand and then it
goes to their legal they're googling everybody. They're not just
going to your social page. They are They're literally typing
your first and last name in and doing a full
on investigation.

Speaker 1 (01:25:49):
Now they are.

Speaker 3 (01:25:50):
And I tell you another thing, and we we we
have internal conflict about this all the time, especially my
son and me. Were you also have to know that
the things you say and the ways in which you.

Speaker 1 (01:26:06):
Present online doesn't just impact you.

Speaker 3 (01:26:10):
It impacts everybody that works with you, everybody around you, right,
And and that's a that's a tough conversation to have
with somebody who is speaking up because they really truly
do believe in something and they want to say it.
So it's like, you know, I, I I and not
just how you present online, but just how you move
in general. So I am the person who you know

(01:26:34):
made It's just for the purpose of us not getting
into a long dialogue about it.

Speaker 1 (01:26:38):
But I made.

Speaker 3 (01:26:39):
Certain moves and went places and was and and in
relationship with certain people, and other people around me had
absolutely nothing to do with it.

Speaker 1 (01:26:50):
But when the heat came down, it impacted everybody. Right.

Speaker 6 (01:26:53):
And then how a brand feels when they work with you. Yeah,
people they are getting in bed.

Speaker 1 (01:27:00):
With you, and that they because.

Speaker 6 (01:27:02):
They work with you, they stand behind all of your beliefs,
everything you've said, everything you've done. That is why it's
challenging for a brand to commit to a partnership.

Speaker 1 (01:27:14):
Because it's a real partnership mm. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:27:17):
And that people will use it against you and force
you to have to speak against your own or to
speak up for something that you.

Speaker 1 (01:27:23):
Don't even believe in. So it's a real tough space.

Speaker 3 (01:27:26):
And like I said, a lot of people just don't know,
they don't understand, and some people are not ready like
you think you are, but you're not necessarily ready because
it comes with a lot and it's not you know,
it's not easy. I would never forget that my Cadillac commercial,
which by the way, I never talked to Cadillac.

Speaker 1 (01:27:45):
One day in my life.

Speaker 3 (01:27:46):
I talked to a black ad agency that asked me
to do this ad which was for Women's History months.
And the way in which people went crazy about out
that ad and started like calling the company, and it
was all types of people, you know, there were there

(01:28:06):
was a trans woman in the ad, so there was
the anti lgbt QIA community calling Cadillac. Then there were
the white supremacists calling. Then it was just the anti
Tamika people. Then it was the black you know, people
who feel like I shouldn't have brand endorsement work.

Speaker 1 (01:28:26):
So it was so much and.

Speaker 3 (01:28:27):
It really impacted the relationship that thankfully we've moved past it.
Life is you know, going on, and no weapon that's
ever been formed against me has prospered. But nonetheless, it
was a really difficult time to have all of this
going towards this brand, and they didn't even have They
really didn't even know me, you know what I'm saying.

(01:28:49):
So it's just people don't really understand all the details.

Speaker 1 (01:28:52):
They don't really get it. But everybody just so caught
on their own things.

Speaker 3 (01:28:55):
So anyway, it's much love to you, LaToya, appreciate you
for helping us to get a little bit deeper into
this influencer marketing world.

Speaker 1 (01:29:06):
Black Girl Digital is a real business. Do a real
uh numbers for.

Speaker 3 (01:29:12):
Influencers from our community, young black girls. Do you work
with the Black boys too?

Speaker 1 (01:29:18):
Or we do? We do?

Speaker 2 (01:29:20):
We?

Speaker 6 (01:29:20):
Again, it really depends on the audience, staff, the client
is trying to reach and we'll kind of structure the
partnerships that way.

Speaker 1 (01:29:30):
So yeah, we.

Speaker 6 (01:29:30):
Started with we started with We're not leaving the boys.
I actually feel like we need more black men empowerment
things because when I run into black men, I mean,
they feel left out, They feel a lot of conversations.

Speaker 1 (01:29:49):
And you know they want to they want to win.

Speaker 6 (01:29:51):
Too, and I think we need to make more space
for them to win and thrive as well.

Speaker 1 (01:29:57):
Great thank you tooy Shampo. Black growth digital things for
joining the street politicians.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
He being great, Queen, appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (01:30:06):
This is great. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:30:07):
Right shout out to LaToya Shambaud. Her information was critical.

Speaker 4 (01:30:16):
You know, I think it's you know, even though she's right,
you know, anybody can be influencers, but I just think
we in the day of where the troll turns into influencer,
and it's so many trolls online that call these self
influence and they're actually influencing people with stupidity, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:30:34):
So I'm glad that we have.

Speaker 4 (01:30:37):
Organizations and corporations and people like LaToya who are able
to take real influencers and market and strategize and make
it into something that's you know, that's viable.

Speaker 1 (01:30:49):
Mm hmm, yeah, No, I like it.

Speaker 3 (01:30:51):
I think what she's talking about is kind of like
it's just like the information you don't know, but you're
trying to like find your way and there. And for
her to be somebody who actually has studied the digital
marketing space and brand partnerships, She's like, that's somebody that
a lot of people need. Like a lot of people

(01:31:12):
do have dope pages and they don't know how to
move the page to like becoming a viable opportunity for
major brands, and so there's money to be made there, Like,
there's so much money that's in the world for people
to make in different ways. But you do need some
type of expert support in helping to navigate the process properly,

(01:31:35):
especially if you know, because being an overnight success is
not a real thing for most people. So some people
they are an overnight success where they you know, they
just put up a post and the next thing, you know, boom.
Everybody wants to deal with them, but most people have
to work a little bit harder.

Speaker 4 (01:31:54):
Yes, you're one hundred percent right, but it seems like
the trolls work less hard on only got to do
it say negative stuff and create conflict amongst people who
have some level of celebrity names and they get thrown
all around, you know. So when you actually play by
better rules and deal with morality and integrity and you

(01:32:14):
just put out dope content, it's actually harder. So with
that said, we're gonna go to my I don't get it.
So last week I saw that the Governor's Awards will
be presenting Angela Bassett with an honorary oscal Why the
hell does Angela Bassett need anything to be honorary, Like

(01:32:39):
I'm it's so it's so disturbing to me, Like I
understand when you give somebody certain honorary things that they're
really not in their field. Like you know, when you
get a doctor's degree and you know you've done so
much other work that that they feel equates to being
doctorate levels, so they give you a people have gotten

(01:33:01):
honorary doctorates. But when you are actress, right, and you
act at the level that Angela Bassett has acted her
whole career, you know, when you deserve to get Oscar,
when you deserve Academy awards and you don't receive them.

Speaker 2 (01:33:17):
I think, to me, to give somebody an.

Speaker 4 (01:33:20):
Honorary oscar that deserves a real Oscar doesn't make sense
to me. Why don't you just give the lady the
oscar that she deserves. We don't want no honorary shit.

Speaker 1 (01:33:29):
But it's about it.

Speaker 4 (01:33:31):
But for me, it's like, no, I think it's I
think it's a slap of the face, you know. I
think the fact that you know, especially what she did
in Wakanda forever and she wasn't and everybody know that
she deserves that record. I think it's time some level
trying to mend some bullshit you did wrong. But no,
we don't deserve no honorary shit. She deserved the thing

(01:33:53):
thing like.

Speaker 3 (01:33:55):
So, for instance, I have three honorary doctorates, and the
other day I tagged you to a post where I
was kind of like, oh, people were saying, because you
had said already you were like not understanding this whole
thing about Angela Baskett and the honorary Oscar, and I
agreed with you. And then I didn't know anything about
the Governor's awards. I just saw honorary Oscar, was like,

(01:34:18):
what is that? It didn't matter to me who was
giving it to it. I just still think that it's
very it's very disrespectful, and so so then I so
then I tagged you somewhere in one of these posts
that was also saying the same thing.

Speaker 1 (01:34:36):
Somebody else was like, nah, I don't think this is cool.

Speaker 3 (01:34:39):
And then someone wrote a comment back, and I don't
know if they were trolling because it was me, or
if they were just making a general statement. They said
they said it's sort of like getting an honorary doctorate,
So they might have been trying to like dis me
or they might have just been, you know, offering that
as their thought and the thing that came to my mind.

(01:35:03):
I know that the honorary doctorates are given from institutions
that you may never have attended their school, right, you
didn't go to their college, or and you didn't necessarily
study to your point whatever specific coursework they have, but
you've done enough in your daily life or in your
field or in some capacity that makes the institution want

(01:35:27):
to have your name associated with them.

Speaker 1 (01:35:29):
At that high level of giving you a doctorate degree.

Speaker 3 (01:35:32):
Right, So that does make sense one hundred percent, and
some people would some people would say, well, you didn't
earn it. And I know people who definitely feel that
if you received an.

Speaker 1 (01:35:43):
Honorary doctorate, you did not earn it.

Speaker 3 (01:35:46):
So from my perspective, because I try to balance the
two thoughts, which I probably shouldn't, but I don't, I
don't necessarily use doctor to Meeka Mallory.

Speaker 1 (01:35:58):
I don't write that. I don't say I don't write.

Speaker 3 (01:36:00):
It anywhere or whatever, even though other people say it
about me, and you know, I've shown up at events
and my place cards or the program book or whatever,
or when they introduce me, it says doctor's meek A Mallory,
And they stated, and it is true, because when you
have an honorary doctor from an accredited institution, you are

(01:36:20):
doctor so and so. But I do try to balance
the idea that I did not study at the institution
and work every day in the same way that.

Speaker 1 (01:36:32):
Some of the other students have. Now I do.

Speaker 3 (01:36:34):
Also recognize that some people who went to get their
doctorate degrees. While it's tough, it's not easy, it's a
lot of work. If you look at what I've done,
it runs down the same path, right like the sacrifice,
the work, the hard time, the hours.

Speaker 1 (01:36:51):
The whole thing.

Speaker 3 (01:36:52):
So I get it. But I do try to balance
that thought. So that brings me to when I think
about Angela Bassett. She can't even though she might feel
great that the academy, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:37:04):
That these people are honoring her in this way.

Speaker 3 (01:37:06):
She I don't think that she's gonna feel maybe we're
speaking for her. We don't know one hundred percent hole
until she actually receives the oscar that she deserves. Now,
one thing about it that since we now have learned
that this is the same academy that does the Governor's awards,
One thing that is important to note is that people vote, right,

(01:37:30):
There are people who vote. And I don't know if
you saw the comments from the racist who's on the board,
the academy board. They didn't say his name or her name,
they didn't say their name, but the person was like,
I'm tied to all of this, you know, diversity and
you know, give a black person an award like no

(01:37:50):
work for it, which.

Speaker 1 (01:37:51):
Is very much so in line.

Speaker 3 (01:37:53):
They said that she just wasn't good, she just wasn't good,
or they weren't good, like the black people in the category.
They just weren't good, which is very much in line
with what's happening with the affirmative action piece.

Speaker 1 (01:38:05):
There is an attempt.

Speaker 3 (01:38:07):
To roll back any opportunities that have been created for
us when you look at an inequitable society.

Speaker 1 (01:38:15):
But Angela Bassett.

Speaker 3 (01:38:16):
Is not even that she can out act damn near anybody.
So to me, it's a slap. To me, it's a
slap in the face. But she might not feel that way.

Speaker 2 (01:38:27):
No, and that's what it is for me.

Speaker 4 (01:38:28):
It's like when you look at your your example is
exactly what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:38:32):
You You you're an.

Speaker 4 (01:38:34):
Expert in the field, right, and people acknowledge the expertise
in the field that you are, so they give you
an honorary doctorate because the field that you have, you
have reached the level of excellences. It's something that they
want in you in that field to be attached to
that you know, to that facility.

Speaker 2 (01:38:52):
But institution, institution, rather my fault to that institution.

Speaker 4 (01:38:57):
But when you when you're an expert in your field, right,
and they failed to give you the degree that you've earned,
and then they want to give you an honorary degree
in that same field, in that same institution, I don't
think it's right, you know, and I don't know how
she feels about it.

Speaker 2 (01:39:13):
I'm not speaking on behalf of her. Right.

Speaker 4 (01:39:15):
When you get an honorary ward, it means that it
might not be something that you've actually earned per se.

Speaker 2 (01:39:21):
In that field, but we believe that you deserve it.

Speaker 1 (01:39:25):
Well, I think.

Speaker 3 (01:39:25):
But see, but going back to the voting process, it's
possible that the academy recognizes that she should have got it,
but because they can't override quote unquote the voting process,
they're now doing something to show.

Speaker 1 (01:39:48):
The actual academy's respect for her.

Speaker 2 (01:39:52):
Right. I don't know if that.

Speaker 4 (01:39:53):
I don't know if that's the way to do it,
but I guess I mean for me, you know, I
don't know if I would like after I put all
this blusts, sweat and tears and have years and in
movies where I know I deserved some level of an
oscar and not get it, and then, you know, decide
that you want to honor me in a non televised

(01:40:13):
event that's still attached to the same, you know, the
same academy and saying it's an honorary thing. I don't
know if that's something I want, but and I don't.
And my personal thing is I think she deserves more.
So that's why I don't get it. I just believe
that she deserves more. And you know, I don't want
you to try to appease. No, we want what we deserve.

(01:40:33):
We want what we earned. We don't want you to
give us the honorary ship. We want the shit that
we've earned, and she's earned it. And that's how I feel.
And on that note brings us to the end of
another Dope episode. Shout out to LaToya Shambol about coming
up here and explaining to us and breaking us down
about Black Girl Digital and all the amazing work because

(01:40:55):
she's doing it, actually helping us to understand what we
be needing to do on our social media.

Speaker 1 (01:41:01):
Is you know how you post? She says, how you post?

Speaker 2 (01:41:04):
What you post?

Speaker 4 (01:41:04):
And you might have to pay a couple of dollars
for promo, and it ain't.

Speaker 1 (01:41:08):
I did it while we were talking. I boosted.

Speaker 3 (01:41:12):
Boosted the flyer for a j Owens, the fly for
a j Owens for the rally for Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:41:21):
Yeah, shout out.

Speaker 4 (01:41:22):
We're definitely gonna be there, you know, so pull up
if you and Florida pull up, We're gonna be out
there in.

Speaker 2 (01:41:28):
Florida for a j Owens.

Speaker 4 (01:41:31):
And that brings us to another end of another episode
and shout out to all of our followers. Street politicians
go to the street politicians pot tell us howmuch you
love us, tell us some much you don't like us,
give us some ideas for shows, but keep us number one,
number one podcasts in the world. We love you, we
appreciate you, and we're gonna always do what we gotta do.
On street polticition, we ain't gonna bite our tongue. We

(01:41:52):
don't care about no brands you don't want to mess
with us, then cool, because we're gonna be authentic.

Speaker 2 (01:41:57):
We're gonna keep on doing what we do. I don't
care to meik is not gonna always be.

Speaker 4 (01:42:01):
Right, she ain't gonna always be wrong, but she gonna
always be authentic and sue in my.

Speaker 2 (01:42:08):
Peace.

Speaker 3 (01:42:10):
Listen to Street Politicians on the Black Effect Network on iHeartRadio.

Speaker 4 (01:42:15):
And catch us every single Wednesday for the video version
of Street Politicians on iwomen dot TV.

Speaker 2 (01:42:20):
That's