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July 26, 2023 46 mins

This week Tamika and Mysonne addressed the Carlee Russell kidnapping hoax, and their true feelings towards it. Moreover, they made sure to let their listeners know that they wouldn't change anything they did to try to get a young woman back home. Next, they spoke to two black entreprueners Jamal Anderson the founder of engagement platform "Fanmire" and Arthur Thomas who spoke about building their company from the bottom.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's up family, It's your girl to me could Mallory.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
And it's your boy my song the Gentleman, and.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
We are your host of street politicians, the place and politics.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Me.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
When I hear us talking saying street politicians, I keep
wondering when we're gonna announce our new name. I thought,
we we we you know, we.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Didn't let the people vote. We should do the people
choice on the names. We should we should do that.
We should do the people's choice. Actually I like that,
I do, so let's do that.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
I think because I came up with it, I kind
of have like an affinity to the name.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
But also I also understand evolution, and I did too.
It was me that came up with Yes, I did.
I did. Oh my gosh. You okay, so you came
up with it, of course I did.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
You forget.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
You did not come anyway today because today we are
on a ti time got our guests telling you, I'm
not gonna get caught up on you, just like I'm
not going to stay caught up on Carly Russell for
the rest of my life, because Lord have mercy. People
are still It's days and days and days later, and

(01:24):
they're not gonna just and and and you know what
someone said to me or said They didn't say it
to me, they wrote in the comments section of one
thing or the other.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Either the Shade Room reposted my.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Comments on the situation when it first happened right after
the press conference last week, and it was either there
or on my page where someone said, it's so crazy
that people want us to just move on and be
more mad at us for being mad at Carly than
we are than they are at Carly. So I don't
know if they would talk to me, but I know

(02:00):
that the fact that it came up in on my
feed means it was in some of those comment sections,
And I was thinking, I don't think anybody is telling
people to move on. I know I haven't said that.
I think there's a whole lot of discovery and deep
dives and discussion that needs to be had, So you know,
I'm not I wouldn't say that. I definitely definitely don't

(02:25):
think that people should just move on. I think that
people have the right to go through all different types
of emotions. There's some grief, there's some anger, there's frustration,
there's disappointment.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
There's a lot of.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
Things that I think people have the right to feel,
and I think people have the right to call for accountability.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
No, no, I agree. You know what I'm saying, And
my thing is this, I'm not mad at y'all being
mad at the situation. I'm not mad at you being
mad because you know there's a possibility that the lady lie,
I wouldn't. I'm not angry at that. I'm confused with
why people are mad at other people who have good

(03:07):
hearts and good natures for trying to save somebody's life
that they thought was in trouble, Like because you, because
you you're overly skeptical, and if you would because the
thing is, if you if the people who were saying
she was lying was wrong and she would have died,
I could have been okay with that. You're to say,
I'm saying because what's the worst of her, Well, the worst.

(03:30):
When I looked at both case scenarios, I said to myself,
if this is not the truth, the worst case scenario
is we find out it's not the truth, nobody dies.
If somebody is done something illegal, they go to jail. Cool.
But the worst case scenario, if I'm wrong for not
believing or trying to find out if something happened to
this woman that she could lose her life, and that
wasn't I mean, the trade off for me was easy.

(03:52):
It's like, okay, now, whatever colleagues issues is, whatever the
problem is, whatever her the legal ramifications is for whatever,
if they were are. You know, those are things that
she kind of deal with. But me, on my heart,
I did the right thing, and I would do it
every time. Every time I see the situation where women
was you know, quote unquote supposedly abducted, nobody knew who

(04:15):
she was, and people were trying to find it. I
would lend my voice in my platform every time to
try to find out where she is without question.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
And I said, and I said every time that I can, right,
because I want to be honest that none of us
are going to show up the right way every time.
And I saw Teslin figure out our girl from a
straight shot, no chaser talking about how it's classism as well, right,

(04:43):
because there are a lot of people who are missing
that never get the type of attention that Carlie Russell received.
And a part of the reason why she got that
attention was because her status, her parents' status, they were
able to reach people who reached people who took it
to a high level. So it wasn't really on the

(05:05):
news at all until Star Jones contacted you know, different
people in the media. And I know she did it
because she was We was on text threads and she
was like, Okay, they're gonna running on CNN at this
time in that time and this and that, because she's
got those relationships. I mean, we know who Star Jones
is and so if you don't look her up and
so that helped. But what I will say is that

(05:27):
from our perspective, Breonna Taylor didn't have that type of profile.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
She didn't have that type of profile.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
And there's other cases that we worked on where they
did not have those types of profiles or they didn't
she didn't come from a family that was you know,
sorority members and whatever. I don't know anything about what
this family has, but just based upon what I'm able
to gather, the relationships that she had helped them to

(05:57):
get this story going the way that it did.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
In a situation with Brianna, it took two months.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
And so I do agree with Tesla's point that based
upon where you sit in life sometimes and circumstances because
it's looking for a child on the side of the
road and blah blah blah, and then you go missing.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
That would make people respond quicker.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
And Breonna Taylor's case, there was a drug dealer boyfriend
and they were trying their best to make it the
worst story ever, and as a result, people kind of
turned a blind eye, really didn't know about it. The
media didn't cover it, and it took people like Ben
Crump and I'll needed Baker and Sam Agyar and the
local community and all of us to get together and

(06:38):
bring it to life. So I think to you know,
those are conversations we have to have that we can't
just we can't stop at Carly Russell. But we also
have to think about what are the things that block
us or stop us from engaging in these situations, and
then how do we use the same power for the
hundreds of thousands of people who are harmed, missing, whatever

(07:01):
in different ways, the kidnappings, the children that are missing
in Ohio, the people being killed by police. And it
takes me to the topic of right now, what we
should be talking about all this legislative shit that's happening.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Because I understand that people are.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
So worn out and we say it all the time
because we want to acknowledge that folks feel tired. They
feel tired, they feel like, you know, it's just too
much of the same thing. Keep on having a conversation
about the legislators and this and that. But this stuff
is really, really, really really serious. And the only point
that I would make is that, you know, first of all,

(07:40):
let me just read what happened in Florida last week.
Very simple thing that happened in Florida last week, and
it was going on at the same time as the
Carly Russell discovery or uncovering What's happening. So the Florida
Board of Education approves several new controversial laws passed by

(08:03):
the legislature and signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. Several Democratic
state lawmakers attended the board meetings on Wednesday, and each
disagreed with the standards. So all of this shit that
people arguing with us about political sides, and they all
ain't nothing.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
One group was.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
Pushing for these laws, the other group disagreed with it
and tried to fight it. Okay, they took particular issue
with one instructional change that includes how slaves developed skills,
skills which in some instances could be applied for their

(08:46):
personal benefit. So basically, what they're doing is changing the
way that history is told.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Now.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
I know y'all say, well, people need to tell a
history to their children.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
That's not the point.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
You need to do all that, but your kids should
still not be going to a school.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
To the public year, to the public.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
To the public school.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
That is teaching them that being enslaved meant that you
were able to develop skills for later on in life.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
And some people just don't know. To Mika, some of
the parents don't some of the parents are the reality situations.
What I realized was my I didn't mean to cut.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
You off, no, please.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
What I realized was my parents, my grandparents, my grandparents,
they sacrifice so that we can have a better education
in them, right, they sacrificed. They weren't as aware of
our history. They didn't know all those things. I remember
coming home with lessons and teaching it to my grandmother
and telling her. She was like, I didn't know that,
and I would teach her things and she wanted to learn.

(09:46):
But her job was, you know, I'm gonna make sure
that your mother has a better education, and me and
my mother's to us to make sure I have education
in her. Sometimes we don't know the things so while
we while our parents were working hard and putting, that's
a position to be able to go to school and
not have to worry about if we starve or if
we didn't have clothes on our backs. You know, the

(10:07):
schools that say that we go to should be teaching
us the proper curriculum. And that's the bottom mind it
it's not even though of course it would be ideal
if every parent was able to teach you know, African
history and the African American history to their children and
be accurate upon it. But that's not the reality. And
we shouldn't have to. You know, we should want to

(10:29):
if we're able to, but we shouldn't have to. We
shouldn't be able to go to schools and get the
proper education and gractually.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Schools that are paid for by our tax.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
The public schools.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yes, but can I say one thing though, and this
is my thought of the day today as we get
ready to and you know, we were supposed to talk
about Daniel Cameron, and I guess we need to probably
do a live or something to really break that down.
I just before I get to my thought of the day,
I want to encourage everybody. You already said what you said,

(10:59):
so let's just wrap that up and make the point
that even though yes, we absolutely and I disagree with you,
I don't think it's that we shouldn't have to We
should want to know.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
We should absolutely make it a.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
One hundred percent demand that in our homes we teach
our children history the right way. They're never gonna teach
it exactly as it needs to be told for the
benefit of our children and our communities and for our
well being and our understanding and for their well being.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
They're never gonna do that.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
But they should not be allowed legislatively to pass laws
that erase our history and their history. They should be
exposed to and it is not right, and we should
not sit by and say, well, I don't care, and
allow it to happen.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
Because no matter what you teach.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
Your children at home, if they go somewhere else every
single day and spend more time in that place than
they do at home with their parents and they're being
taught something different, it conflicts what you're telling them, and
that is not okay. You pay taxes, the taxes should
be spent to do the right job. So we needed
first of all put that to this side. On the

(12:12):
other side, right, this is the Daniel Cameron story, y'all know.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
We talk about it all the time. Y'all know the deal.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
This is the.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
Attorney General of Kentucky and what he did to Brianna
Taylor's family where he refused to prosecute those officers. The
jurors came forward and said that they were never presented
with charges for Brionna Taylor's killers, and that if they
hadn't been presented with the charges, would they would have
indicted them because they believed that what those officers did

(12:43):
was wrong.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
He did nothing.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
He only got an indictment for the wall and the
potential for the bullets that went through a wall to
harm other people, and nothing for a dead woman nor
a young man whose life has been destroyed forever, which
is Kenny Walker. So we know that we know that
that's what the Attorney General's done. We know that his
relationship with Mitch McConnell and his status as a very

(13:09):
high ranking Republican. He is a well liked Republican in
the state of Kentucky. He has a twelve point plan
that includes drug offenders being getting the death penalty. This
is what he's running on. This is his platform. He
wants to get rid of the Civilian Complaint Review Board
so that there is no recourse, no mechanism for being

(13:32):
able to challenge police officers and hold them accountable when
they when they when I want to say when they assault,
but that's not the right word, because it's not just assault.
It's also just illegal behavior in general, the way that
they treat people in communities. So when they are wrong,

(13:54):
when they are God what I don't know. I want
to because I keep going to a violent part, but
I have to always remind myself that it's not always
just violence. Sometimes it's harassment in communities and people are
able to report what police officers have done.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
And he wants to get rid of the Civilian Complaint.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
Review Board, which people fought for to make sure that
we had a mechanism for accountability within policing. Okay, he's
talking about centering police and now he's running for governor.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
We need your help.

Speaker 3 (14:26):
We are going to fight Daniel Cameron tooth and nail,
and in order to fight him, we are asking you.
I know it's a lot fifty dollars for a T shirt.
You gotta be kidding me. The T shirt on the
front has a beautiful picture of Breonna Taylor. It's the
shirt that we wore when we wore when we went
to the Beyonce concert or the Renaissance tour with forty

(14:46):
of our people, protesters and lawyers and others who've been
involved in the Brionna Taylor movement. And we are asking
you to spend fifty dollars to buy yourself and everybody
in your family stretch as far as you can, and
a T shirt on Until Freedom's website. Right now, you
go to until freedom dot com and purchase a T shirt.
We need to sell ten thousand T shirts at fifty

(15:09):
dollars so that we can pay for our office space
in Louisville, Kentucky and in Lexington, Kentucky, hire our staff
and put people to work to fight this man and
not allow him to be rewarded to go from attorney
general to governor. Because he becomes governor, he can become president.
So we have to put a stop to it. So
I'm gonna let you respond to that, but I just

(15:30):
want to give you my thought of the day. And
then you take us out and take us to our guests. Okay,
here's my thought.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Of the day.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
It's a damn lie. So, first of all, it's one
thing to try to change history and try to skew
it where it sounds better and it's softer. So you
don't want to say that these people were brutally beaten,
they were murdered, they were rates, they were robbed from

(16:02):
their homeland. It is absolutely one hundred percent alive. Now
you can try to change history so it sounds better,
so it feels better, so that people don't understand that
the Africans who were robbed and and stolen and brought

(16:23):
to America under freaking the worst atrocity that this country
has ever or that the Europeans have ever committed in
order to create this nation that we're in, that they
stole from another group of people.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
So that that's the history.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
That's the history, and you could try to change it
to make it sound softer so it feels better, and
so people will not take with them your history.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
When they're voting, when they're spending their money.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
And when they are just living in their everyday lives
and have to make decisions. Understand the devil that exists
within some of those who are still walking among us.
So you can try to change it, but then you're
a damn liar because you sit there and say, and
this new Florida, these legislative items have been put in

(17:17):
place to make it seem like, from our history perspective,
when we got here to America, we learned skills.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
That's a damn lie.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
We already had the skills when we got here. That's
why you came to get us. Because the Europeans were
among the people in Africa. They were on the continent,
and they learned that we were already some of the
most skillful people.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
In the world.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
There was nobody anywhere else that was more skillful than
us as Africans.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
These That was one of the reasons why they chose
Africans as set Absolutely, they realized how talented, durable all
the things in the world.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Right, we were not just talented, but we also could
stay in the sun for longer than any other group
of people, and so they found us to be a commodity.
We was a hot commodity. So don't you let anybody
tell you that when we got here we developed skills. No,
we bought our skills here. We bought skills that the

(18:19):
Europeans didn't have. They didn't have the skills to build
their own white house, to build their own monuments, to
build their own society. They did not even have the
skills to be a civilized people. We were the ones
who had the skills set, who had the ability to
even raise their babies and feed their children. That was us, Okay,

(18:43):
that was Africans who were robbed of our homeland, our culture,
everything everything about us, our names. They took everything and
they stripped us down so that they could bring here.
So bring us here and use the skills.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
That we already had.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
We were already carpenters. We were all refraed. What are
you talking about? First of all, if you go into
Egypt and look at the walls, we were writing. We
were already writing.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
When you think about how TV.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
Shows were made, if you look at the cinema and
how all those things happened, where you see an image
and another image and another image and another image and
it tells a full story.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
That's on the.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
Walls in the damn pyramids and inside of the different
tombs and whatnot in Egypt, in Africa, it's already there.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
So we had the skills.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
We built things that the world can't even imagine, that
you would never have been able to And we're still
doing it now.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
We ain't land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
I'm just saying it's a lie. It's not just it's
not just distorted. It's a flat line that we had
to learn those skills. No, we were the farmers, we
were the carpenters, We raised the children, We were the builders.
We did the cooking. We found things in the gardens

(20:10):
and out in the wild that they didn't even know existed,
to create the food that we all still eat right now.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
That's a fact. I mean, we've contributed so much to
American civilization, you know, so to for Florida to even
come up with this stupid ass you know, laws and
legislation they're trying to pass in these schools, it's it's
actually just disrespectful, you know. And and I just say

(20:39):
to myself, we realized this America, you know, this is
this is what they've done. They've they've done so many
atrocities to so many different people, but black people being
the most. Continue to compound those atrocities by trying to
erase the history of those atrocity these and not reckon

(21:01):
with that history, you know, and not be honest about
that history. It's just just so disrespectful to me.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
The thing about it is that it's not just disrespectful,
it's criminal because it's coming from elected officials, right.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
And we better, we better, we better Carly.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
That because we're busy worrying about huh, that's we better.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
Car Lead that you're hustle.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
That is what a lie can do, and a lie
can do great damage, and it has done great damage.
But if you think that Carly's lie is worse than
a lie that they're trying to tell to the people
of the whole state of Florida and across this world, no, sir, no,
it ain't the same.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
Do you be mad at you?

Speaker 2 (21:47):
Especially? My thing is this, Especially if you're somebody who
supported her, and you know you you were actually scared
praying for her, you know, trying to reach out, utilizing
your platforms to speak up for her, and then you
find this out, you have no right. You have every right,
I mean to be disappointed, you know, and to say

(22:08):
that you know what she did was wrong because you
actually supported the person. But those of you who were
just wanted to say I told you and I ain't
never believe that anyway, and just want to ask you
to the fire, like your opinion doesn't really matter, you
know what I'm saying, because the reality is you never
support her anyway, So she doesn't care about or nobody

(22:29):
should care about what you think about somebody when you
never supported them. If you supported Carli, you didn't support
You supported a woman you didn't know, Carley. You know
what I'm saying. You supported a black woman that you
felt was in need, that life was in jeopardy, and
that's something that you would probably do every time, and
you should do every time. So to put it all

(22:51):
on Carly, it's like, no, I supported a woman, a
black woman, who I thought was abducted, and there was
no evidence that that time that suggested anything else, you know,
So what I did was utilize my voice platform whatever
I had to amplify that. And I'm not going to
be angry about that. I'm not going to you know,
I'm not even gonna let her take my joy or

(23:13):
take because it just shows me the individual I am,
you know, it shows my own character. So I can't focus.
I wish her the best. I hope, you know, whatever
help she needs, she receives it. You know, whatever time
she has, she reflects. It reflects on what's going on here.
And you know, and if what they say is true,
then you know, at some point this needs to be

(23:35):
some level accountability. But it's not my job to say
what that is. But I think we have to definitely
make sure that people know that we can't play with
serious things like this. This is not one of those things.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
So I could have stayed on those topics. I mean,
like I said, I have so much more to talk about.
You know, I got a lot to talk about. But
we during this summer right here, we are doing our
work and trying to find ways to celebrate the culture
and enjoy ourselves. And these next two individuals that's coming up,
I mean, they do more than make people enjoy themselves,

(24:12):
but they certainly even helping us enjoy ourselves. So I'm
excited to bring out two new friends to the two
Street politicians today. You know, I love when I find
black people, especially black men. You know, this show we
cover a lot of black women. I have to give
it to you that you are very very gracious with

(24:35):
making sure black women get the proper representation and time
on Street Politicians. But whenever I find and whatever we
are able to bring forth black men that are doing
powerful things and helping to transform people's life, their energy,
their time, and to lend themselves to the culture, I

(24:55):
get really excited about it. So let me introduce these
two gentlemen, these too young black men. First of all,
we have the founder of fan Meyer, which you all
are about to learn all about this company, Fan Meyer,
and his name is Jamel Anderson, so thank you for
joining Street Politicians. And then there's author Thomason, who is

(25:17):
from the Bronx where I currently live, and you kind
of from the Bronx, I guess, I mean I.

Speaker 4 (25:24):
Think from Harlem.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
Okay, So Jamel and Ire, you know, we're together more
than the Bronx people. But this is a gentleman who
went from being a marine all the way to the
chief branding officer at Fan Meyers. So we're about to
figure out, like, how do you go from that to that?
What's the transition? And I guess the best way to

(25:48):
kick it off is for Jamel, first of all, for
you to tell us why did you start this company
and what is fan Meyer.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
Thank y'all so much for joining Street Politicians.

Speaker 4 (25:57):
Thank you, thanks guys for having us. And you know,
I'm always excited to talk about famire. The name represents
a fan admiring the favorite whatever, right. I grew up
a big time sports fan and I loved my nixt Giants,
and I had the opportunity to stick my toe in
the concert business. I was unsuccessful to fund major tours

(26:22):
and it was like a lot of one offs, but
nothing was short of missing in terms of excitement and
sellouts to a lot of these shows. And it was
one in particular, it was a little Wayne Tour when
he was first coming home. That tour went on to
gross forty six million, and I was like, wait a minute,

(26:43):
The Aions and the it was back then, the Meadowlands
and the Garden, it was another arena. All of these
shows sold out like in two days, in like five venues.
So I asked myself, way back then, how can you
connect that energy around what fans have for the things

(27:06):
that they love in a digital way. So we fast
forward a few years later. A friend of mine was
doing a commercial in MSG and he was the silhouette
for the Top fiftieth Moments, Ali Mo from Harlem. He
was a silhouette for the Top fiftieth fifty Greatest Moments

(27:26):
in MSG. Then I had all access pads in there,
and I'm like, wow, this is what John Starks do
with at, this is what Patrick Ewing is at every night.
And I said, I can imagine people want to experience
what it's like in these arenas after the game, after
the show. So I said, wait a minute, I need

(27:51):
to do some research and see if anything like this exists.
And back then it didn't, right, So, you know, one
thing led to another, but that energy never left me.
I galvanized the team. We did some research and development
for about two years. I built some versions of it
that didn't work. So for me, connection and bringing people

(28:15):
together was something I was always passionate about. So the
concept kind of fit my personality and me and already
known each other for over twenty years now and we've
had success at things on both sides of life, and
our friendship maintained throughout that. So I built this thing,

(28:38):
and there were versions of it that you know, we
could have made better. I made it Wes Seth where
I was you know, invited to do capstone projects, and
if these kids would select family as a project they'd
work on, they would pick us. And I kind of
knew when I went there one year and we were selected.
I think I was in a pool with DocuSign, and

(29:01):
so when these kids picked this project to work on,
I kind of knew from there, like, you know, we
need to finish this thing out. And that's that's kind
of how it all came together.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
Wow, So that's amazing. How long has Fann might have
been in business?

Speaker 4 (29:17):
Well, I had the concept a little over ten years ago,
but what I would say is right during the pandemic,
it was it was only fans and myself and a
few others out there that that was still dormant. Then
only fans took off. So I had the idea for
ten years, but I would say about three years ago

(29:38):
is when it all started to come together.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
You said something I think is important.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
You said, first it didn't work, and you had some
apps that it just wasn't it wasn't right. So I
think that's important because a lot of people they feel
like as soon as they do something, it's supposed to
just pop immediately. But you're you know, you're an example
of how it takes time.

Speaker 4 (30:01):
Yeah, listen, technology concept and idea it never works right
you just at the present moment of where you are,
it's just going right because it always can be enhanced
and anything that you're doing around connecting is always going
to take more effort.

Speaker 5 (30:21):
Right.

Speaker 4 (30:21):
So for me, yes, a lot of those versions within
the technology, it felt, the concept wasn't the concept wasn't clean.
So you know, it felt I felt, and I continue
to fail. But for me, it's about failing forward. So
you know, it takes Tom. I mean I'm talking about
I'm twelve years in right, so this is not overnight.

(30:44):
You only can lose it overnight, right, but we constantly
stand at it and you know, so for me, it
just takes Tom. And we like where we are today.
It's a lot of energy around what we're doing. We're
starting to meet decent people, the relationships are for going
into place. I know later on in the show you'll
probably ask me about the whole journey around VCS. And

(31:07):
we know that one percent of black founders get funded,
so it's an uphill battle to say the least, But
I don't have an option but to do it, you know,
So it motivates you, so, Arthur, what you know?

Speaker 2 (31:21):
I know this is your friend, you know, just watching
your transition being from the VX, you know, shout out
to the VX and you know, being in the Marines
then going into construction. Like, what what made you shift
and say I want to be a part of this?
What was it?

Speaker 6 (31:38):
Well, like he said, we've been friends for like twenty years, right,
and we've done many things together right on all walks
of life.

Speaker 5 (31:47):
Mel's always been the passionate one.

Speaker 6 (31:49):
So when he started fan Meier, obviously me coming out
of the military, and then I started in the Union.
I'm working Local seventy nine. And then I started my
own business. I started my own company, and obviously that's
what keeps the lights on, That's how I support myself.
But Mel's been super, super passionate about family and us
being so so close to friends. We started spending a

(32:11):
lot of time together and I started learning more and
more about it. And it wasn't just his passion. I realized,
like this is this is real and I'm more of
like the go getter, like I'm outside, I'm I'm gonna
figure it out, Like he's the brains he figured he
he puts all the pieces together.

Speaker 5 (32:26):
But then I'm gonna go out and make it happen.

Speaker 6 (32:27):
So as we start to spend more time together and
talk about it, I just jumped on full fledged. And
it's been like we've been gaining so much traction together,
you know, like we every day we have meetings and
we sit down and we figure out how to bring value,
how to move forward.

Speaker 5 (32:45):
And it's him.

Speaker 6 (32:46):
It's the passion that he has, and I just pretty
much follow mel follow his lead and regards.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
Give us like a complete understanding of what you do
as family, like exactly what you do.

Speaker 5 (32:57):
How I wull best describe it is, I'm more like
the glue.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Right.

Speaker 6 (33:01):
So we have certain we have a team that goes
out and they start vetting potential influences, potential creators, potential ambassadors. Right,
and obviously we're now having all the moving parts. They
would come to me after that and the vetting process
will start. Right, We'll figure out if this person is
a good fit, if this person works. So putting pretty

(33:23):
much all the pieces together and then making sure it
works before we on board anybody, before we figure out
if this is a relationship that would that would potentially work.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
Who have you guys worked with in the past.

Speaker 6 (33:35):
Yeah, we have Davits on the platform. We have Peter
Guns on the on the platform.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
B X, that's right, BX.

Speaker 6 (33:44):
We have Fred I don't know if familiar Fred de
God has a brother, fat boy guy all right on
the platform now heaven.

Speaker 5 (33:55):
This is what we're doing. What I'm saying, it's ex
heavy man. So yeah, we have so many.

Speaker 6 (34:01):
We have a bunch of smaller influences that we've been
talking to, a bunch of models stylists, Like anyone could
be an influencer, right, anyone can have followers, right. So
this is where right now it's getting is getting busy,
where we're getting.

Speaker 5 (34:17):
Barrage with calls or potential influence.

Speaker 6 (34:19):
People want to come on, but there's a vetting process
because on fan Meire there's no sex, no cyberbiliton, no negativity.
So there's a vetting process. Everybody's not gonna we can't.
We're not only fans, right, We're not selling sex. So on,
once they go through the proper channels in the process,
then we on board them and then the rest is

(34:40):
its history.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
I want to ask, so, being a black own company,
is it hard for you to get certain opportunities and funding.

Speaker 4 (34:49):
What I would say, you know, I'm one to not
try to complain or use obvious adversities as a crutch, right,
But I think it's an understatement of is it hard? Right?
It's virtually impossible in a lot of cases. But I

(35:09):
feel fortunate in that I've been afforded a lot of
support through friends and family. So what I can say
is like funding this thing thus far has been just
everything for me, the wife, friends and family. So VC
money has been really a hurdle for myself.

Speaker 5 (35:28):
Right.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
So but what I will tell you is we presently
just secured it.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
Can you said, can you explain what VC means to
some of the audience. Ain't going to know what it is?

Speaker 4 (35:38):
Oh? VC is venture capital, right, most projects are funded
by venture capitalists. Right, you go back ten years ago.
You can have a good idea on a napkin, and
you know somebody can write twenty thirty million dollars for
you to see if you can fulfill it. But what
I've learned in this space, not only does the concept

(35:58):
have to be right, you have to have a build.
Then you actually have to be scaling it before, at
least in my case, be considered to be funded. I
can't speak to anyone else's journey, but the work that
I did thus far with the support of the team. Man,
I don't understand why it's been as hard as it's been,

(36:19):
but it's been really hard. We haven't secured no VC
funding none.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Well, so everything is just you guys, just believing in
each other and investing in yourself.

Speaker 4 (36:29):
And friends and family. And what I tell you is
we just what I'm proud of this. We just secured
a brand partnership and sponsorship with the Brooklyn Nets in
New York Liberty that has tremendously validated and infused some
energy into us as a company. Our brand credibility has

(36:50):
went up like overnight. Right, And I was listening when
you was asking Artie, he's so authentic, Right, Well, what
do you do? He does a lot more than that. Right,
has strategically aligned every relationship that he humanly has to
line up to the goals and values to Fanily. Right,
And I would say we're fortunate even for this opportunity.

(37:14):
This came from audise background networking. We have more scheduled
interviews with high level influences. That's a result of a
lot of Audie's ability to connect. So you know, we
just been really doing what we have to do to
leverage resources and network to stay afloat.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Well, I just want to say I appreciate you, guys.
I swear like I know, I feel like me and
Artie used to hang out somewhere before.

Speaker 5 (37:41):
I know we know each other.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
I know we have I'm just I'm looking like this.
We've definitely met a bill from the BX. But you know,
I just I love I love watching young black individuals
just grime, you know, because a lot of times that's
not something that's celebrated in the big is way more
when you grind right and you know you're not giving

(38:04):
anything and you're not looking for anything. I love the
mindset you said you don't want to look. You notice
the obvious hurdles, but you don't want to use it
as a question because you're gonna grind regardless. What do
you see, FAMI in the next ten years? What do
you want? What do you vision?

Speaker 4 (38:18):
I like to look at it, guys, What will happen
in ten years? Right? And we'll continue to add value relationships.
My philosophy will always be to give more than I ask, right,
and I think will be the platform where genuine connection

(38:41):
is preferred to be used. One of the initiatives that
we got coming forth from a rebranded standpoint is to
become the preferred platform for HBCUs and I got a
lot of energy around what that's going to look like
for us. So in ten years, I think will be
a diverse community with the DNA of black creators created

(39:08):
a home for each other that opened itself up to
the world as well. So in ten years will be
a place that people are still saying they found genuine
and authentic connection in a responsible way.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
I love it, man, dude, I just want to ask,
does it get hard sometimes? Do you ever feel like
I don't know what I started this for? Or you
always have this enthusias because me, I'm gonna be honest
with you. You know a lot of you know, I've tried
so many different things. I started out in music in basketball.
Like when I started music, and when I got locked

(39:42):
up and I came home, it was frustrated, Like a
lot of things frustrated me. But then I start I
stopped the business part of it and then started realizing
just I love music, you know, and I would do
it for free. So that's how it is. And then
when I transitioned into the space that I am now
in doing activism, it wasn't work for me, you know.

(40:03):
But sometimes even in this it's a little frustrating because
Breonna Taylor dies and you can't get the officers arrested.
You know. It is young people getting killed and arrested
every day for crimes they didn't commit, in all types
of things, and then trying to stop by. So sometimes
it gets a little overwhelming. Do you ever feel like
you get overwhelmed or you feel like you're not progressing

(40:26):
the way that you want to?

Speaker 4 (40:27):
Man, you hit hit, you hit a nerve for me
with that, right, I'm always overwhelmed. Right, And a lot
of it stems from some of the things that you
just said. Right. I grew up in the old Harlem, right,
where all my friends' parents, who mine, were either alcoholics
or alcoholics or on drugs. Right. So I grew up

(40:48):
in a generation where we pretty much raised ourselves. Right.
I didn't know what real I didn't know what community
looked like. I ain't I never been on a vacation
as a child, right. My expo to the world was limited,
and a lot of the things that happened in a
low income community has a lot to do with lack

(41:09):
of lack of awareness and lack of resources. Right, And
that's not something that is a big surprise on a
big scale. Right. So when you start hearing about you
can't lock a cop up for something that he did, right,
think about the limited of resources that who used the
word entrepreneur twenty years ago? Right? It wasn't a word,

(41:31):
was it. So with someone who had a passion and
drive to build something. Did school teach us you can
build a business? Did school teach us that you could
you could own something or have a Korean sports if
either you were in some talented and gifted program or
you played ball, or you was locked, you wasn't considered
rap ball, or you were really bright. But in the

(41:53):
middle there with where was their room at? So what
drives me and keep me going is Jamel the kid
didn't have the support that Jamel the man know he needs.
Now I'm taking care of that kid that wasn't treated right.
But that's to keep me going. So yeah, I get discouraged.

(42:14):
It's it's it's an uphill battle on roller skates, but
you gotta have that energy. You gotta have that passion
because you gotta. You can't get through it if you
don't go through it right right.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
You got to go through it to get through it, man.
You know so I just want to say once again,
I commend you guys. Man. Let everybody know where they
can find you, guys, how they can support you, how
to follow you and just keep up with you're.

Speaker 4 (42:37):
Going with you got going on, man, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Man.

Speaker 4 (42:39):
It starts with fan Maya that's f A N and
myr dot com. You can actually get us on Instagram
too at fan Mayer, f A N and my RI.
You can subscribe to be a part of our newsletters
to stay in tuned for what we're doing. And uh,
I'm just excited for this opportunity. This was great. Thank
you and I look to forward to continue to build

(43:01):
with you guys.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
Definitely, Man, I make you ford to continue to build
with you. I just want to I want you to
leave us with It's a young boyfriend, the BX. He's
watching this right now. You know he's he wants to
be successful, and I want you to give him some
words of encouragement. What would you say to him?

Speaker 6 (43:18):
I would say, main thing is to stay focused, right,
Like we talked about so many things today, so much
has happened and so much is going on in society.
Is stay focused, like we're trained, Like Jamel just said,
play ball or if you don't play ball or your rap,
you can't be successful. Stay focused. And if you stay
focused and you put everything into it, you can do

(43:40):
whatever you want to do. I got two boys, one
twenty two, one sixteen, and I tell him the same thing, like,
stay for whatever you want to do.

Speaker 5 (43:47):
I'm gonna support you. I'm not gonna steer you in
no direction.

Speaker 6 (43:51):
Whatever you feel is your passion, whatever you want to do,
I'm support you.

Speaker 5 (43:54):
So stay focused.

Speaker 6 (43:55):
It's hard, it's gonna be a little harder for us,
but it's not impossible, right. And I think that's what
me and Jamel are trying to show people, right, that
people that look like you can make it happen.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
I hope y'all get it. Stay focused, because I tell
my sons that every day. Man, you know, every day
it's gonna be hard. It's nothing that that's worth having,
it's not gonna be worth going through. You know, you're
gonna go through a lot of stuff if you're trying
to really get somewhere to be successful. So I want
to appreciate y'all. Everybody. Shout out Jamel Anderson, founder of
fan Mayer and author Thomason. I've been calling them audio

(44:27):
all day, so that's what I want to be calling
you Aldi man like we've been outside, Like we've been
friends for forty years. So it's Aladi now man, author Thomason,
Chief Brandon officer at Famine. I appreciate you guys. You know,
I look forward to working with you guys, and I
know in the next ten years y'all gonna be the
biggest thing, so keep it going.

Speaker 4 (44:47):
Thank you. I appreciate you guys. Thanks.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
So I want to thank my guest Jamel Anderson, the
founder of fan Mayer off the time, the chief branding
officer of fam Mind, for coming through today. I want
to support these guys. You know, you could tell that
they grinded and they really believe in what they doing,
you know, brand building brands and connecting brands with influencers.
It's just a dope thing and is a fast growing

(45:19):
industry right now, you know. So I love the passion
in both of these guys.

Speaker 5 (45:24):
Man.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Shout out to my co host ms Timikid Mallory who
just threw me a curveball, you know, and vanished. I
guess she had to go get her head done and say,
you know how y'all women do. Y'all got shit to do,
and we just got to figure it out because y'all
got to go. So shout out to her, everybody. I
appreciate y'all. Man. I hope y'all continue to enjoy the show.

(45:44):
Number one podcasts in the world, Street Politicians. Let me
know what you don't like, let me know what you love.
Hit us up on Street Politicians Pod. Give us all
your feedback. We love it. Let us know what shows
who you want us to interview everything, everything you know.
I'm not gonna always be right to make it the
Mallories not gonna always be wrong, but we will both
always and I mean always, be authentic. Salute y'all, and

(46:09):
we're gone.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Listen to Street Politicians on the Black Effect Network on
iHeartRadio and.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
Catch us every single Wednesday for the video version of
Street Politicians on iwomen dot TV.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
That's how we owned
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