March 5, 2024 • 26 mins
The BluePrint Connect Podcast LIVE serves as an extension of the 7th annual 2023 Waymaker Men's Summit, inviting listeners to delve into the realms of success, ambition, and inspiration! Join us for a special podcast episode featuring Coltrane, the Founder and Managing Partner of the full-service creative agency, Team Epiphany. Coltrane shares his 19-year journey in the marketing industry alongside his wife, Lisa Chu, pioneering influencer marketing while emphasizing trust over paid influence. Additionally, he reflects on diversity within his agency, highlighting efforts to address the lack of black male representation through scholarships and outreach to institutions like Morehouse College. Welcome to this exclusive podcast episode, featured at the #1 Men's Empowerment Conference in the country. Enjoy the show!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi. I'm Lewis Carr, host of the Blueprint Connect podcast.
The Blueprint Connect podcast is an extension of the Waymaker
Men Summit, where we consistently give men a prescription for growth,
not just for themselves, but also for their families and
their communities. During these podcasts, we will educate and motivate
our listeners about entrepreneurship, careers, finance, health and relationships. We're
(00:30):
at the seventh annual Waymaker's Men Summit in Chicago, so
welcome to this special podcast episode featured at the number
one men's empartment conference in the country, Waymaker Men's Summit.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Welcome to the Waymaker Studio, the podcast. We're here today
with Coltrane Culture.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
And how you doing my man, I'm doing well this
morning in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Y'o Chicago, Glad to have you. Let's talk about Team
of Epiphany, you and your wife's business, what that is
and how you guys came up with it at all.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I started my agency nineteen years ago,
twenty twenty years next year in January. And I started
my agency because my dad ran an agency for about
twenty twenty five years, and so he started the business
in our Brownstone in Brooklyn, in Bedstye, and I lived
(01:21):
in it. I lived through it. I lived through the growth.
I lived through the challenges of trying to grow it.
I lived through the challenges of him being an incredible
marketer and you know, multicultural marketing and then wasn't really
even marketing. It was pretty much glorified sampling, you know.
And then the brands that you know, you got the
opportunities to work with nine times out of ten was
(01:42):
a spirit or a cigarette company.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And so my.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Dad's first clients that he was working with was Christian Brothers,
Brandy with the campaign called cooland with the Brothers, and
another one was was RJR. Tobacco and it was Winston
Cigarettes and I don't even know if they were new
ports at the time, but it was sam And I
watched him grow the business from being able to grow
it from Brooklyn to our to our neighborhood in Mancola
(02:07):
in New Jersey to Princeton Broadway, and he grew up
pretty large. And what I really knew was that I
understood strategy and tactics at a very very young age,
you know. And so the argument is me and my
dad used to get into It was about a book
called Positioning when I was probably like eight or nine
years old, and so I grew up in it. And
so I always say, if Michael Jordan's kids can't hit
(02:27):
free throw, shame on them. And so I really realized
after I got out of Morehouse that I wanted to
be a marketer. And but I don't really think Morehouse
gave me the tools to be the cat that I
wanted to be. And so I worked for a company
called Echo Unlimited, where I was the VP of marketing,
and then I discovered and created gu and An Apparel,
and then we started a complex magazine where I was
(02:48):
editor extra large, and then I went to MTV where
I was a VJ and I was hosting like shows
like House of Style and things like that, interviewing celebrities
about what they had on. And then from that red carpet,
I really realized that I didn't want to talk to
celebrities because I didn't think celebrities knew anything right. Celebrities
are engineered right, they're created there right, and they're created
by a community and a network that they curate. And
(03:09):
so I was so close to celebrity that I understood
that they were created by network, and so basically when
I started my agency, my agency wasn't about one to
one directly with celebrity. It was about the network that
can build celebrity, how we can leverage that network to
work for brands, and that that particular point in time,
there was no such thing as influencers. They were called tastemakers.
(03:29):
And so when I started my agency, our tagline in
two thousand and four was we influence Influencers, and we're
basically a credit as being the first influencer marketing agency
of its kind. And at that particular time, we weren't
really doing more influential work. We were injecting influence into
live experiences. And my wife at the time, my girlfriend
at the time, this was the crazy story. She was
working for Puff and she was producing a lot of
(03:50):
events for him. And in New York, you hustle, right,
So I was throwing parties and so my wife was
producing events. I can throw a party, and that became
the DNA for the agency in two thousand and four.
Since then, we've grown into about, uh, you know, one
hundred and ten people New York, Miami, LA, huge brands,
But that's basically the origin story and uh and hundred.
I don't think everybody's really heard that one like that,
(04:11):
but yeah, that's a real one.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
That's a hell of a story. A few things that
come out of that one thing. I'm meant to ask
you right at the top. Somebody in your house like jazz.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Oh yeah. So yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
So I got two kids also Ellington and County. So
that was that was a that was a you know,
you know, you know, I started my own agency, but
I worked for my wife, right and so there are
very few times you get a chance to put your
foot down at work or at home. But I knew
my first son's name was going to be Ellington. There's
a brother that I went to school with at Morehouse
(04:40):
and his name was Ellington. And I always love Coltrane,
right like, but it wasn't cold training. If you love jazz,
you know, it's you know, he's gonna he's gonna hit
you with the schizophrenic you know, like, and it's very
me But I really felt like Ellington was so elegant,
you know, and I love the name and I love
you know, being able to able to chase the name,
(05:01):
right that have something to aspire to. So the first
kid I got was Ellington and the second one is
Count Ellington plays a trumpet. Count doesn't do much musically now.
But my dad was a huge jazz fan.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
My dad passed away about eleven twelve years ago, and
in my office I have all his wax, I have
his record play. I still wear his his his college ring,
and nah, you know it's so crazy about it. He
went to Queen's College. Man, he's and my dad, my
dad was the smartest person I've ever met in my life.
And I was very lucky to have the smartest person
that I've ever met. And my best friend beat my dad.
(05:34):
But he was a morehouse man more than me, you
know what I mean. Like, so, I mean he was
you know, you know, I yeah, I mean he was
a bow tie every day, you know, and you know,
he was the guy that like, you know, when you
get up in the morning, you get dressed, you know,
your shirt is crisp, you tuck it in, you know.
I remember getting in trouble for going to gym class
with penny loafers on.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Like my dad was very prim proper and very structured
like that, but he didn't get a chance to go.
So I went and which was funny. I only applied
to one school and uh and.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
That was it. That was it. That was it. That
was it.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So he obviously had a big influence on your life
all the way through as we can hear. Oh yeah,
did he get into advertising?
Speaker 4 (06:11):
You know, you know, I mean I really felt like,
just like my wife and I and my dad, he
loved entertaining. You know, he was always social. You know,
he grew up in South Jamaica, Queens, you know, born
and born in Harlem, and he just really loved academia,
you know, and he loved hustling. You know, my Grandpap's
(06:33):
drove a cab and a and a school bus and
you know, in a city bus and hustled. And so
we just always worked. My great grandfather owned a thrift
store in Harlem.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
His nickname was Frog Shorty, you know, like you know,
like just all of those great, great stories. But my
dad was just always a connector and and and a
brilliant man.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
And uh and I.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Was just very fortunate that, you know, after he passed,
you know, you go through all their stuff. My dad
literally wrote out a blueprint for my life, right, and
so he was just really prepared.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
And I'm not as prepared.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
As he was with my kids, but hopefully I'm doing
a solid job with them. I think that I am.
But my dad was when I started my agency. He
was the first person in the morning with you know,
fresh greeze, orange juwe, some boutosar croissant, and a Wall
Street Journal or New York Times.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
You know, on everybody's desk, you know.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Like so he would beat me in to my own
my own office, and he would leave after me, you know.
But I was very, very very very lucky to have
a role model who was my superhero.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well it feels like it and sounds like it, and
looking forward to seeing what you share with us here
at the summit.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So am I A whole.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Lot of this is coming through, But I want to
talk to you about Yeah, yeah, this is you and
your wife have to get what's it like working with
his spouse?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
And people always ask that question, you know, and I
always have to be careful how I answer it, right,
you know, I would not suggest that anybody does what
I did not because it's not the best decision of
my life. Because the fail rate is very high, right, Like, so,
I run an agency fail rate high.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Running a business with family fail rate high.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
I couldn't think of anything more risky, maybe like opening
a restaurant right or something like that. But I basically
realize that, you know, people say you spend more time
with people at work than you do with your actually
family and your blood and the people you love. So
why can't you do both? You know, the reason why
(08:31):
you can't really do both is because you know, you know,
catch just channel. Sometimes ain't that talented, right, Sometimes it
just doesn't work that way. But I think what I
was able to do with the agency my dad also
taught me was that he taught me zero based budgeting, right,
the cost of business will put you out of business.
(08:51):
And so for the first nine years of my agency,
we didn't have our own office spase. I basically barted
hours with bigger holding companies and worked out of their
offices until we got to about four three people. And
then when I had those those spaces. You know, the
one thing, even if I had the money at that
particular time in four and five and all the way
through nine, I couldn't afford an office space in New
(09:12):
York City, And neither could any of my peers, right,
neither could any of the creatives that I was. You know,
my friends, my peer group didn't have office space, and
so ultimately what I was was a place where I
guess I was kind of like the first we workspace
or the first kind of like you know, communal workspace.
But I was able to carrate my friends who are
(09:32):
extremely talented, whose skill sets didn't overlap, and we can
all sit in the same environment.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
You know.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
I kept one hundred percent ownership of the company. They
got office space, and when it was time to form Voltron,
if I needed a publicist or a stylist or a
creative director or a writer, I can just pull them
in on different projects. And the agency grew that way,
and my wife happened to be Honestly, now she runs
the agency, she runs the company, she runs the experiential team,
but she she was just somebody that like when I'm
(10:00):
at her. I told my best friend when I was
with her that I was going to marry her. And
we were like in miam No. We were in LA
party in our face off and like literally I pop
up and me like I'm gonna marry her.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
You know. He was like what, all right? Cool bro?
Speaker 4 (10:10):
And then next thing, you know, Like, you know, she's
changed my life, but I couldn't.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I couldn't do it without her.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
And I think it's become a lot easier as the
company's been gotten bigger because we have our own swim lanes,
you know. And I think she and I also have
a very good, honest understanding of skill sets and what
we can and what we can't do. Her family, she
grew up an entrepreneurial family also, you know, and you know,
we really saw our parents' businesses do extremely well but
(10:40):
also turn for the worst when you really have people
in your environment who steal from you, who aren't just
who aren't true. And so the one thing that she
and I both really said was that we're going to
figure it out right. The one thing that we know
is that no one's gonna work harder than us, no
one's gonna we're not going to steal.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
From one another.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
And that is basically the bedrock for the agency. It
was just incredible amount of trust. And so since then,
you know, I mean, we have I probably would say
we probably have fifteen people the agency that's been here
longer than ten years. We probably have ten people who's
been at the agency longer than fifteen years. And it's
because we're a big family, you know, Like I have
(11:21):
people at the agency who came to New York single,
met their significant other, had children, moved to other states,
opened up offices for us there. So for me, I
think business the best byproduct of business is community and family,
and so that's part of our value set. And so
for me, I've never been a P and L chaser, right, Like, yes,
(11:43):
I have to make money, Yes, I have to you know,
hit payroll every month and do all those other things
at businesses. But I think we are defined by things
that are a little bit more important than just how
much money we make.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Who will be right back with more of my interview
after this quick break.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I want to talk about that a little bit more
about business because we had on my I do a
radio show here at and this morning we were talking
about the amount of money that flows through, the amount
of spend that.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
And then the.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Lack of turnaround of that dollar in our community. Yes,
talk about how you make your business successful, right, give
some advice to entrepreneurs or would be entrepreneurs.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Yeah, maybe out Yeah, got so many good good points
I can kind of say there My big advice was,
you know, I'm a I'm a I'm a basketball dat right.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
And a lot of times when I talk, I always
use sports analogy, so sometimes when I lose folks when
I talk about it.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
But like basketball is I.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Think a good analogy for business, right, Like I believe
basketball is a beautiful art. Like I think basketball is
also very very simple and very basic. Keep demand in
front of you right when you don't when you defend
and you're defending the ball carrier, if you don't keep
him in front of you, it creates all types of
(13:16):
other different problems for everybody else. And so that's our philosophy.
We take off, we we bite what we can chew.
We we understand what we're great at and we stick
to that. And and I think that's probably been you know,
the the secret to our success is that we didn't
(13:39):
get too big, we didn't get too small. We were
very even keel. And it's kind of cultural for my wife.
My wife is Chinese, and so literally it's very cultural
for her, right, you know, not be wasteful, be respectful,
and I think you know, her her Buddhist principles of
living have kind of like influenced my life, but also
influenced the company that we run. And so I think
(14:02):
that you know, we we're smart people, right, And I
think and I think we can give ourselves the opportunity
to learn the things that I think you generally trust
in other people to do for you.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Right.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
So, you know, my accountant has been with us since
I was paying him five hundred dollars out of the ATM.
You know, he handles money for huge celebrities, but he
took us on in that particular point in time, and
so anybody else that you know, I needed to help.
The legal support that I needed came from a relationship
(14:36):
with a guy who took a risk on me to
manage my money when I was paying him five hundred
dollars out of the ATM in two thousand and four. Right,
And so I think what we really do is really
build solid relationships and maintain those relationships beyond just what
they provide for our business. And so I'm probably a
testament to you know, maintaining relationships, you know, and doing
(14:58):
good bye people because you know that the same people
you see, you know on the way up and the
same people you see on the way down. Whatever that is, right,
I don't plan to be on the way to hen
but I want to take them people with me to
the top, you know, And so I think, you know,
I'm excited by you know, the people at my agency
who get the opportunity to grow in life, and they
can grow through the company, and the company can continue
(15:20):
to support them as they start families or other businesses
or do things.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
We're here for that.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Coature, I talk about the importance of what you do
with people of color and influencing and how that engages
and involves and helps make the brands.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I can't even go back to
your early question when you're really talking about spending power
of people of color, right, you know, there's one challenge
here just identifying that. Right, So are trillions and zillion
like all these numbers, right, it's nebulous, right, but we
know it's a lot. It's a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
I would probably say that.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
What we influence as a culture is even greater than
what we spend as a people, and it's so hard
to determine that influence that that, to me, would be
the kryptonite to our business. I believe in earned influence.
When we started the agency and we were like, we're
(16:18):
in influencer firm. First we had to educate people who
that was. But for me, influence is about trust, right,
And so the way that we're really looking at influence
now is a form of media which is paid right
xyz person is now.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Their influence is predicted. Their influence is determined.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
By a follower account, by a metric, by a number,
And to me, I really believe that the most influential
people in the world aren't beholden to some metric about
who they influence. I believe that the most influential people
in the world are too busy being influential and talking
about everything that they do that they deem to be
influential in culture. And so for me, I believe that
(17:04):
influence is earned, and I believe when you pay for it,
it's actually counterintuitive to what you're actually trying to do.
I believe that if you pay for something, it's distrustworthy.
If I'm following someone on social and I love what
they do, and then one day I find out that
they were paid to tell me that, well, what does
that do for me? It erodes all trust I have
in them, And then the brands that they're paid to
(17:25):
actually market And so for me, I would say that
we are an earned influencer agency. We generate trust and
we speak to communities with respect, and we identify people
who actually move the need forward. And so are we
looking at influence, No, we're looking at another form of
paid media, right, And why are we looking at another
(17:47):
form of paid media?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
It's because media will always.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Work because who owns media companies and who has to
make money from it?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Right?
Speaker 4 (17:55):
But when magazines go away, when TV shows go away,
when you know you look at ten fifteen years ago,
we grew up with Vibe and The Source and Double
Excel and you know, all these different magazines. Now there's
less inventory in the media shelves to sell. So now
the commodity are us again?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Right, people?
Speaker 4 (18:13):
And so I believe that influence has earned and I
believe that it's something that you can't bestow upon yourself.
So everybody walking around, I'm an influencer, I'm a creator,
I'm all of these things. Well that's great, cool, bro,
But who told you that? You know, like who gave
you that title?
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Right?
Speaker 4 (18:27):
And you know I have twenty eight thousand followers in
influence on Instagram?
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Right?
Speaker 4 (18:32):
And it's so crazy, because if you follow me on Instagram,
you know that, like the only thing I really really,
really truly care about.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Is being a father and being a dad.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
And when you really think about, you know, the way
my channel looks and all these different things. No brand
has ever come to me and asked me to rep
them from an influence per perspective, because my.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Follower accounts to us. But if you go through who follows.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Me and who listens and who engages with what I publish,
why would you think that some weirdo with exillion followers
is more influential than me?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Right?
Speaker 4 (19:05):
It's not the case. And so I not only try
to educate brands on the right way to let leverage influence,
we actually activate programs for them and for us, influence
is something that's always on. It's not an amplification tool,
it's not a pr tool. It's something that we use
to inform the work, and it's what we use to
(19:26):
amplify the work. If there's a piece of talent that
we want to use, I might ask that talent. Hey, one,
b I'm in Houston. I need a barbecue caterer. Can
you help me with that?
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Cool?
Speaker 4 (19:37):
And so now Bun is just more than a performer
for me, he's actually influencing what we do. And if
you're able to get buy in across all of the
work that you do and all of the disciplines that
you activate, it's connected to culture, right, and that's basically
where brands need to be. So it's basically brands. I
just make brands roll their sleeves up, let's get dirty,
(19:58):
let's win.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
You know, I simply share this with you, and this
tells you that I get it.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
I used to work for Oprah. Do you go? Do
you go?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
So you think about the favorite things and all those
other things that happened and never getting paid and refusing
to endorse. Yes, is what helps to make all that happen,
Which is really what you just explained to tell me
before we run out of time. This summit is really
dealing on dealing with how to deal with uncomfortability for growth.
Can you share with us a time in which you
(20:30):
have been uncomfortable and how you got through that time?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
When I feel uncomfortable m hm, oh, let's just.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Look back at my emails about an hour ago. I mean,
I think I feel really uncomfortable when I have to
explain things about my culture to people in rooms who
don't care, but I need to make them care because
(21:05):
I need to get to the check.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
I think the thing that makes me.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Really feel the skirmish is honestly my own reflection, Like
a lot of times when I'm by myself, like I'm
kind of like the guy who kind of like cries
like twice twice a week by myself.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
I you know, I always like to balance what I do, and.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
I give brands the ability to talk to our communities, right,
and by doing that, it's my job to make sure
that they think of the most of our communities.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Right.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
I would consider myself an aspirational marketer and marketing towards
where consumers are going as opposed to where they've been,
and brands don't necessarily look at us that way.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
We don't do our best job as a people trying.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
To put the best image out a lot of times,
so we're probably you know, the own thrown in our
side at times. But what I have to do is
paint this picture of aspiration for brands that don't necessarily
want to or have to because going back to that
spending power, we're always going to consume regardless, right, So
you know, you look at a brand, it's like, you know,
(22:21):
it's always fun so fhow you on your own company
because you can name names. But like you look at
a brand like a Hennessy, you know, and I work
with them for a very long time and I would
never work with them ever again. And you know, you
when you really see a brand like that, you know,
everybody there high fives at how great of a brand
that they are because they're all supermarketers. Not really, it's Hennessy,
it's a household name. There's no ebb and flow on
(22:43):
the brand because we're so consistent, right, and you know
the imagery that you see that they portray right of
you know, uh, you know, Parisian opulence and Cognac France
and you know all of that that's not indicative of
who's drinking their brand, nor is it indicative of who's
(23:03):
buying their brand.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Right.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
So, brands tell you that they sell in spare category
all of this liquid, right, and you think that you
get it in this like seven to fifty mL, which
is a big bottle. Majority of a lot of their
liquid is in you know, one to fifty mls which
are sold in bulletproof stores, which going in your back pocket, right,
And so when you really start thinking about that is
who your consumer is, they're missing the market actually reaching
their consumer and doing good by them. So what we
(23:28):
would try to do in that situation is how do
you take the actual real consumer and give them images
that they can achieve, images that they can be, and
and find things for them to grapple on and to
inspire them to be great and as opposed to not
even identifying them as an actual consumer. And so that's
(23:48):
what I mean. It's very difficult for me because I
want to do right by everyone. Every consumer, regardless of
how much money you have, is spending power, where you live,
what you do. I think everyone deserves the rite to
be properly marketed to.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
If that makes sense, it makes perfect sense.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Coach Ryane, You've been amazing, very interesting brother.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
I'm glad to have met you.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
I don't understand why. I do understand.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
This is a black man's summit, and I'm now done
four podcasts today, three of whom have been more House.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Oh Man, oh Man.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
I mean, you know, we always the loudest one in
the room, but we got some work to do at
Morehouse too, you know, like at my company.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
We I'll leave you on this note.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
You know, one day I looked up at our at
our company and maybe we're like eighty people. And I
looked up and it may have been about you know,
we're heavily minority and females more than seventy percent in
each category, which is unheard of in our in our
in our industry. And I looked up and you know,
my best friend Giant runs my strategy team KP runs.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
My influencer stuff. And there were only seven black men
at my agency. Seven And I was like, why is that?
Speaker 1 (24:52):
How?
Speaker 3 (24:52):
What is that?
Speaker 4 (24:53):
And I talked to my one of my one of
my young Morehouse cats, Mark Anthony Green, and what we
really identified was that we we got to get to
the young talent at the schools quicker than the traditional industries.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Right.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
So when you go to Morehouse, it's like I'm going
to my daddy's church, I'm going to medical school, work
for JP Morgan.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
I'm gonna do that, right, And so you pick these
kinds of plates tho those guys you kind of pick
too too.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Right, And so I understand why because that is a
guaranteed pathway to getting paid.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Right. But going into the creative field.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
When mom and dad leveraged the farm to kind of
pay your tuition, you're not going to go back to
them sophomore y and be like, hey, I want to
go be a creative director or copywriter, right, And so
what we wound up doing and to kind of like
course correct that we went to Morehouse and I started
a scholarship with my dad's name.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
And I wasn't the.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Best of students, so like the GPA was like two
point seventy five, but my idea was really being able
to get the talent before the killers come for him.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
And so we've been successful.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
But you know, we have a lot of HBCU grads
at the agency and a lot of Howard alum, a
lot of Howard alum, a lot of Howard alums.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Oh you know, those are not bad places.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
It's not, it's not, it's not those trend has been
great to me, so much of it said very good,
very good.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
H
Hi. I'm Lewis Carr, host of the Blueprint Connect podcast.
The Blueprint Connect podcast is an extension of the Waymaker
Men Summit, where we consistently give men a prescription for growth,
not just for themselves, but also for their families and
their communities. During these podcasts, we will educate and motivate
our listeners about entrepreneurship, careers, finance, health and relationships. We're
(00:30):
at the seventh annual Waymaker's Men Summit in Chicago, so
welcome to this special podcast episode featured at the number
one men's empartment conference in the country, Waymaker Men's Summit.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Welcome to the Waymaker Studio, the podcast. We're here today
with Coltrane Culture.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
And how you doing my man, I'm doing well this
morning in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Y'o Chicago, Glad to have you. Let's talk about Team
of Epiphany, you and your wife's business, what that is
and how you guys came up with it at all.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I started my agency nineteen years ago,
twenty twenty years next year in January. And I started
my agency because my dad ran an agency for about
twenty twenty five years, and so he started the business
in our Brownstone in Brooklyn, in Bedstye, and I lived
(01:21):
in it. I lived through it. I lived through the growth.
I lived through the challenges of trying to grow it.
I lived through the challenges of him being an incredible
marketer and you know, multicultural marketing and then wasn't really
even marketing. It was pretty much glorified sampling, you know.
And then the brands that you know, you got the
opportunities to work with nine times out of ten was
(01:42):
a spirit or a cigarette company.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
And so my.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Dad's first clients that he was working with was Christian Brothers,
Brandy with the campaign called cooland with the Brothers, and
another one was was RJR. Tobacco and it was Winston
Cigarettes and I don't even know if they were new
ports at the time, but it was sam And I
watched him grow the business from being able to grow
it from Brooklyn to our to our neighborhood in Mancola
(02:07):
in New Jersey to Princeton Broadway, and he grew up
pretty large. And what I really knew was that I
understood strategy and tactics at a very very young age,
you know. And so the argument is me and my
dad used to get into It was about a book
called Positioning when I was probably like eight or nine
years old, and so I grew up in it. And
so I always say, if Michael Jordan's kids can't hit
(02:27):
free throw, shame on them. And so I really realized
after I got out of Morehouse that I wanted to
be a marketer. And but I don't really think Morehouse
gave me the tools to be the cat that I
wanted to be. And so I worked for a company
called Echo Unlimited, where I was the VP of marketing,
and then I discovered and created gu and An Apparel,
and then we started a complex magazine where I was
(02:48):
editor extra large, and then I went to MTV where
I was a VJ and I was hosting like shows
like House of Style and things like that, interviewing celebrities
about what they had on. And then from that red carpet,
I really realized that I didn't want to talk to
celebrities because I didn't think celebrities knew anything right. Celebrities
are engineered right, they're created there right, and they're created
by a community and a network that they curate. And
(03:09):
so I was so close to celebrity that I understood
that they were created by network, and so basically when
I started my agency, my agency wasn't about one to
one directly with celebrity. It was about the network that
can build celebrity, how we can leverage that network to
work for brands, and that that particular point in time,
there was no such thing as influencers. They were called tastemakers.
(03:29):
And so when I started my agency, our tagline in
two thousand and four was we influence Influencers, and we're
basically a credit as being the first influencer marketing agency
of its kind. And at that particular time, we weren't
really doing more influential work. We were injecting influence into
live experiences. And my wife at the time, my girlfriend
at the time, this was the crazy story. She was
working for Puff and she was producing a lot of
(03:50):
events for him. And in New York, you hustle, right,
So I was throwing parties and so my wife was
producing events. I can throw a party, and that became
the DNA for the agency in two thousand and four.
Since then, we've grown into about, uh, you know, one
hundred and ten people New York, Miami, LA, huge brands,
But that's basically the origin story and uh and hundred.
I don't think everybody's really heard that one like that,
(04:11):
but yeah, that's a real one.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
That's a hell of a story. A few things that
come out of that one thing. I'm meant to ask
you right at the top. Somebody in your house like jazz.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Oh yeah. So yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
So I got two kids also Ellington and County. So
that was that was a that was a you know,
you know, you know, I started my own agency, but
I worked for my wife, right and so there are
very few times you get a chance to put your
foot down at work or at home. But I knew
my first son's name was going to be Ellington. There's
a brother that I went to school with at Morehouse
(04:40):
and his name was Ellington. And I always love Coltrane,
right like, but it wasn't cold training. If you love jazz,
you know, it's you know, he's gonna he's gonna hit
you with the schizophrenic you know, like, and it's very
me But I really felt like Ellington was so elegant,
you know, and I love the name and I love
you know, being able to able to chase the name,
(05:01):
right that have something to aspire to. So the first
kid I got was Ellington and the second one is
Count Ellington plays a trumpet. Count doesn't do much musically now.
But my dad was a huge jazz fan.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
My dad passed away about eleven twelve years ago, and
in my office I have all his wax, I have
his record play. I still wear his his his college ring,
and nah, you know it's so crazy about it. He
went to Queen's College. Man, he's and my dad, my
dad was the smartest person I've ever met in my life.
And I was very lucky to have the smartest person
that I've ever met. And my best friend beat my dad.
(05:34):
But he was a morehouse man more than me, you
know what I mean. Like, so, I mean he was
you know, you know, I yeah, I mean he was
a bow tie every day, you know, and you know,
he was the guy that like, you know, when you
get up in the morning, you get dressed, you know,
your shirt is crisp, you tuck it in, you know.
I remember getting in trouble for going to gym class
with penny loafers on.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Like my dad was very prim proper and very structured
like that, but he didn't get a chance to go.
So I went and which was funny. I only applied
to one school and uh and.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
That was it. That was it. That was it. That
was it.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So he obviously had a big influence on your life
all the way through as we can hear. Oh yeah,
did he get into advertising?
Speaker 4 (06:11):
You know, you know, I mean I really felt like,
just like my wife and I and my dad, he
loved entertaining. You know, he was always social. You know,
he grew up in South Jamaica, Queens, you know, born
and born in Harlem, and he just really loved academia,
you know, and he loved hustling. You know, my Grandpap's
(06:33):
drove a cab and a and a school bus and
you know, in a city bus and hustled. And so
we just always worked. My great grandfather owned a thrift
store in Harlem.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
His nickname was Frog Shorty, you know, like you know,
like just all of those great, great stories. But my
dad was just always a connector and and and a
brilliant man.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
And uh and I.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Was just very fortunate that, you know, after he passed,
you know, you go through all their stuff. My dad
literally wrote out a blueprint for my life, right, and
so he was just really prepared.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
And I'm not as prepared.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
As he was with my kids, but hopefully I'm doing
a solid job with them. I think that I am.
But my dad was when I started my agency. He
was the first person in the morning with you know,
fresh greeze, orange juwe, some boutosar croissant, and a Wall
Street Journal or New York Times.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
You know, on everybody's desk, you know.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Like so he would beat me in to my own
my own office, and he would leave after me, you know.
But I was very, very very very lucky to have
a role model who was my superhero.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well it feels like it and sounds like it, and
looking forward to seeing what you share with us here
at the summit.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So am I A whole.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Lot of this is coming through, But I want to
talk to you about Yeah, yeah, this is you and
your wife have to get what's it like working with
his spouse?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
And people always ask that question, you know, and I
always have to be careful how I answer it, right,
you know, I would not suggest that anybody does what
I did not because it's not the best decision of
my life. Because the fail rate is very high, right, Like, so,
I run an agency fail rate high.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Running a business with family fail rate high.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
I couldn't think of anything more risky, maybe like opening
a restaurant right or something like that. But I basically
realize that, you know, people say you spend more time
with people at work than you do with your actually
family and your blood and the people you love. So
why can't you do both? You know, the reason why
(08:31):
you can't really do both is because you know, you know,
catch just channel. Sometimes ain't that talented, right, Sometimes it
just doesn't work that way. But I think what I
was able to do with the agency my dad also
taught me was that he taught me zero based budgeting, right,
the cost of business will put you out of business.
(08:51):
And so for the first nine years of my agency,
we didn't have our own office spase. I basically barted
hours with bigger holding companies and worked out of their
offices until we got to about four three people. And
then when I had those those spaces. You know, the
one thing, even if I had the money at that
particular time in four and five and all the way
through nine, I couldn't afford an office space in New
(09:12):
York City, And neither could any of my peers, right,
neither could any of the creatives that I was. You know,
my friends, my peer group didn't have office space, and
so ultimately what I was was a place where I
guess I was kind of like the first we workspace
or the first kind of like you know, communal workspace.
But I was able to carrate my friends who are
(09:32):
extremely talented, whose skill sets didn't overlap, and we can
all sit in the same environment.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
You know.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
I kept one hundred percent ownership of the company. They
got office space, and when it was time to form Voltron,
if I needed a publicist or a stylist or a
creative director or a writer, I can just pull them
in on different projects. And the agency grew that way,
and my wife happened to be Honestly, now she runs
the agency, she runs the company, she runs the experiential team,
but she she was just somebody that like when I'm
(10:00):
at her. I told my best friend when I was
with her that I was going to marry her. And
we were like in miam No. We were in LA
party in our face off and like literally I pop
up and me like I'm gonna marry her.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
You know. He was like what, all right? Cool bro?
Speaker 4 (10:10):
And then next thing, you know, Like, you know, she's
changed my life, but I couldn't.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I couldn't do it without her.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
And I think it's become a lot easier as the
company's been gotten bigger because we have our own swim lanes,
you know. And I think she and I also have
a very good, honest understanding of skill sets and what
we can and what we can't do. Her family, she
grew up an entrepreneurial family also, you know, and you know,
we really saw our parents' businesses do extremely well but
(10:40):
also turn for the worst when you really have people
in your environment who steal from you, who aren't just
who aren't true. And so the one thing that she
and I both really said was that we're going to
figure it out right. The one thing that we know
is that no one's gonna work harder than us, no
one's gonna we're not going to steal.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
From one another.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
And that is basically the bedrock for the agency. It
was just incredible amount of trust. And so since then,
you know, I mean, we have I probably would say
we probably have fifteen people the agency that's been here
longer than ten years. We probably have ten people who's
been at the agency longer than fifteen years. And it's
because we're a big family, you know, Like I have
(11:21):
people at the agency who came to New York single,
met their significant other, had children, moved to other states,
opened up offices for us there. So for me, I
think business the best byproduct of business is community and family,
and so that's part of our value set. And so
for me, I've never been a P and L chaser, right, Like, yes,
(11:43):
I have to make money, Yes, I have to you know,
hit payroll every month and do all those other things
at businesses. But I think we are defined by things
that are a little bit more important than just how
much money we make.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Who will be right back with more of my interview
after this quick break.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I want to talk about that a little bit more
about business because we had on my I do a
radio show here at and this morning we were talking
about the amount of money that flows through, the amount
of spend that.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
And then the.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Lack of turnaround of that dollar in our community. Yes,
talk about how you make your business successful, right, give
some advice to entrepreneurs or would be entrepreneurs.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Yeah, maybe out Yeah, got so many good good points
I can kind of say there My big advice was,
you know, I'm a I'm a I'm a basketball dat right.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
And a lot of times when I talk, I always
use sports analogy, so sometimes when I lose folks when
I talk about it.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
But like basketball is I.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Think a good analogy for business, right, Like I believe
basketball is a beautiful art. Like I think basketball is
also very very simple and very basic. Keep demand in
front of you right when you don't when you defend
and you're defending the ball carrier, if you don't keep
him in front of you, it creates all types of
(13:16):
other different problems for everybody else. And so that's our philosophy.
We take off, we we bite what we can chew.
We we understand what we're great at and we stick
to that. And and I think that's probably been you know,
the the secret to our success is that we didn't
(13:39):
get too big, we didn't get too small. We were
very even keel. And it's kind of cultural for my wife.
My wife is Chinese, and so literally it's very cultural
for her, right, you know, not be wasteful, be respectful,
and I think you know, her her Buddhist principles of
living have kind of like influenced my life, but also
influenced the company that we run. And so I think
(14:02):
that you know, we we're smart people, right, And I
think and I think we can give ourselves the opportunity
to learn the things that I think you generally trust
in other people to do for you.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Right.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
So, you know, my accountant has been with us since
I was paying him five hundred dollars out of the ATM.
You know, he handles money for huge celebrities, but he
took us on in that particular point in time, and
so anybody else that you know, I needed to help.
The legal support that I needed came from a relationship
(14:36):
with a guy who took a risk on me to
manage my money when I was paying him five hundred
dollars out of the ATM in two thousand and four. Right,
And so I think what we really do is really
build solid relationships and maintain those relationships beyond just what
they provide for our business. And so I'm probably a
testament to you know, maintaining relationships, you know, and doing
(14:58):
good bye people because you know that the same people
you see, you know on the way up and the
same people you see on the way down. Whatever that is, right,
I don't plan to be on the way to hen
but I want to take them people with me to
the top, you know, And so I think, you know,
I'm excited by you know, the people at my agency
who get the opportunity to grow in life, and they
can grow through the company, and the company can continue
(15:20):
to support them as they start families or other businesses
or do things.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
We're here for that.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Coature, I talk about the importance of what you do
with people of color and influencing and how that engages
and involves and helps make the brands.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I can't even go back to
your early question when you're really talking about spending power
of people of color, right, you know, there's one challenge
here just identifying that. Right, So are trillions and zillion
like all these numbers, right, it's nebulous, right, but we
know it's a lot. It's a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
I would probably say that.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
What we influence as a culture is even greater than
what we spend as a people, and it's so hard
to determine that influence that that, to me, would be
the kryptonite to our business. I believe in earned influence.
When we started the agency and we were like, we're
(16:18):
in influencer firm. First we had to educate people who
that was. But for me, influence is about trust, right,
And so the way that we're really looking at influence
now is a form of media which is paid right
xyz person is now.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Their influence is predicted. Their influence is determined.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
By a follower account, by a metric, by a number,
And to me, I really believe that the most influential
people in the world aren't beholden to some metric about
who they influence. I believe that the most influential people
in the world are too busy being influential and talking
about everything that they do that they deem to be
influential in culture. And so for me, I believe that
(17:04):
influence is earned, and I believe when you pay for it,
it's actually counterintuitive to what you're actually trying to do.
I believe that if you pay for something, it's distrustworthy.
If I'm following someone on social and I love what
they do, and then one day I find out that
they were paid to tell me that, well, what does
that do for me? It erodes all trust I have
in them, And then the brands that they're paid to
(17:25):
actually market And so for me, I would say that
we are an earned influencer agency. We generate trust and
we speak to communities with respect, and we identify people
who actually move the need forward. And so are we
looking at influence, No, we're looking at another form of
paid media, right, And why are we looking at another
(17:47):
form of paid media?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
It's because media will always.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Work because who owns media companies and who has to
make money from it?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Right?
Speaker 4 (17:55):
But when magazines go away, when TV shows go away,
when you know you look at ten fifteen years ago,
we grew up with Vibe and The Source and Double
Excel and you know, all these different magazines. Now there's
less inventory in the media shelves to sell. So now
the commodity are us again?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Right, people?
Speaker 4 (18:13):
And so I believe that influence has earned and I
believe that it's something that you can't bestow upon yourself.
So everybody walking around, I'm an influencer, I'm a creator,
I'm all of these things. Well that's great, cool, bro,
But who told you that? You know, like who gave
you that title?
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Right?
Speaker 4 (18:27):
And you know I have twenty eight thousand followers in
influence on Instagram?
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Right?
Speaker 4 (18:32):
And it's so crazy, because if you follow me on Instagram,
you know that, like the only thing I really really,
really truly care about.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Is being a father and being a dad.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
And when you really think about, you know, the way
my channel looks and all these different things. No brand
has ever come to me and asked me to rep
them from an influence per perspective, because my.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Follower accounts to us. But if you go through who follows.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Me and who listens and who engages with what I publish,
why would you think that some weirdo with exillion followers
is more influential than me?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Right?
Speaker 4 (19:05):
It's not the case. And so I not only try
to educate brands on the right way to let leverage influence,
we actually activate programs for them and for us, influence
is something that's always on. It's not an amplification tool,
it's not a pr tool. It's something that we use
to inform the work, and it's what we use to
(19:26):
amplify the work. If there's a piece of talent that
we want to use, I might ask that talent. Hey, one,
b I'm in Houston. I need a barbecue caterer. Can
you help me with that?
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Cool?
Speaker 4 (19:37):
And so now Bun is just more than a performer
for me, he's actually influencing what we do. And if
you're able to get buy in across all of the
work that you do and all of the disciplines that
you activate, it's connected to culture, right, and that's basically
where brands need to be. So it's basically brands. I
just make brands roll their sleeves up, let's get dirty,
(19:58):
let's win.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
You know, I simply share this with you, and this
tells you that I get it.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
I used to work for Oprah. Do you go? Do
you go?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
So you think about the favorite things and all those
other things that happened and never getting paid and refusing
to endorse. Yes, is what helps to make all that happen,
Which is really what you just explained to tell me
before we run out of time. This summit is really
dealing on dealing with how to deal with uncomfortability for growth.
Can you share with us a time in which you
(20:30):
have been uncomfortable and how you got through that time?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
When I feel uncomfortable m hm, oh, let's just.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Look back at my emails about an hour ago. I mean,
I think I feel really uncomfortable when I have to
explain things about my culture to people in rooms who
don't care, but I need to make them care because
(21:05):
I need to get to the check.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
I think the thing that makes me.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Really feel the skirmish is honestly my own reflection, Like
a lot of times when I'm by myself, like I'm
kind of like the guy who kind of like cries
like twice twice a week by myself.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
I you know, I always like to balance what I do, and.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
I give brands the ability to talk to our communities, right,
and by doing that, it's my job to make sure
that they think of the most of our communities.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Right.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
I would consider myself an aspirational marketer and marketing towards
where consumers are going as opposed to where they've been,
and brands don't necessarily look at us that way.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
We don't do our best job as a people trying.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
To put the best image out a lot of times,
so we're probably you know, the own thrown in our
side at times. But what I have to do is
paint this picture of aspiration for brands that don't necessarily
want to or have to because going back to that
spending power, we're always going to consume regardless, right, So
you know, you look at a brand, it's like, you know,
(22:21):
it's always fun so fhow you on your own company
because you can name names. But like you look at
a brand like a Hennessy, you know, and I work
with them for a very long time and I would
never work with them ever again. And you know, you
when you really see a brand like that, you know,
everybody there high fives at how great of a brand
that they are because they're all supermarketers. Not really, it's Hennessy,
it's a household name. There's no ebb and flow on
(22:43):
the brand because we're so consistent, right, and you know
the imagery that you see that they portray right of
you know, uh, you know, Parisian opulence and Cognac France
and you know all of that that's not indicative of
who's drinking their brand, nor is it indicative of who's
(23:03):
buying their brand.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Right.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
So, brands tell you that they sell in spare category
all of this liquid, right, and you think that you
get it in this like seven to fifty mL, which
is a big bottle. Majority of a lot of their
liquid is in you know, one to fifty mls which
are sold in bulletproof stores, which going in your back pocket, right,
And so when you really start thinking about that is
who your consumer is, they're missing the market actually reaching
their consumer and doing good by them. So what we
(23:28):
would try to do in that situation is how do
you take the actual real consumer and give them images
that they can achieve, images that they can be, and
and find things for them to grapple on and to
inspire them to be great and as opposed to not
even identifying them as an actual consumer. And so that's
(23:48):
what I mean. It's very difficult for me because I
want to do right by everyone. Every consumer, regardless of
how much money you have, is spending power, where you live,
what you do. I think everyone deserves the rite to
be properly marketed to.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
If that makes sense, it makes perfect sense.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Coach Ryane, You've been amazing, very interesting brother.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
I'm glad to have met you.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
I don't understand why. I do understand.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
This is a black man's summit, and I'm now done
four podcasts today, three of whom have been more House.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Oh Man, oh Man.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
I mean, you know, we always the loudest one in
the room, but we got some work to do at
Morehouse too, you know, like at my company.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
We I'll leave you on this note.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
You know, one day I looked up at our at
our company and maybe we're like eighty people. And I
looked up and it may have been about you know,
we're heavily minority and females more than seventy percent in
each category, which is unheard of in our in our
in our industry. And I looked up and you know,
my best friend Giant runs my strategy team KP runs.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
My influencer stuff. And there were only seven black men
at my agency. Seven And I was like, why is that?
Speaker 1 (24:52):
How?
Speaker 3 (24:52):
What is that?
Speaker 4 (24:53):
And I talked to my one of my one of
my young Morehouse cats, Mark Anthony Green, and what we
really identified was that we we got to get to
the young talent at the schools quicker than the traditional industries.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Right.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
So when you go to Morehouse, it's like I'm going
to my daddy's church, I'm going to medical school, work
for JP Morgan.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
I'm gonna do that, right, And so you pick these
kinds of plates tho those guys you kind of pick
too too.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Right, And so I understand why because that is a
guaranteed pathway to getting paid.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Right. But going into the creative field.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
When mom and dad leveraged the farm to kind of
pay your tuition, you're not going to go back to
them sophomore y and be like, hey, I want to
go be a creative director or copywriter, right, And so
what we wound up doing and to kind of like
course correct that we went to Morehouse and I started
a scholarship with my dad's name.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
And I wasn't the.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Best of students, so like the GPA was like two
point seventy five, but my idea was really being able
to get the talent before the killers come for him.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
And so we've been successful.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
But you know, we have a lot of HBCU grads
at the agency and a lot of Howard alum, a
lot of Howard alum, a lot of Howard alums.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Oh you know, those are not bad places.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
It's not, it's not, it's not those trend has been
great to me, so much of it said very good,
very good.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
H
Host
Louis Carr
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com