January 21, 2025 • 48 mins
Text Beyond the Threshold w/ your thoughts or questions!
In this episode of Beyond the Threshold, host Sidney Evans is joined by Walter Gainer II, a digital content producer and social media manager at Urban One.
Walter's journey started from his early content creation on Snapchat to founding Boss Locks—a platform dedicated to advancing Black professionals and promoting racial equity in the workplace.
In this episode they discuss.
- How college journalism classes inspired Walter’s entry into podcasting.
- Walter’s personal experiences with hairstyle discrimination.
- Supporting Black professionals through the "Working While Black Show."
- Strategies for building connections for both extroverts and introverts.
- His current role as a producer for a major agency.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Before college I had two moments where people were
kind of like my locks.
Having locks was likepotentially jeopardizing
potential of having a job.
One was I knew that I could geta job without cutting it but I
just didn't really understandhow to do it in that corporate
environment.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Tune in as we give flowers to black men and women
making waves in the audioindustry.
I'm your host, Sidney Evans,and this is Beyond the Threshold
.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcometo Beyond the Threshold.
(00:45):
I'm your host, Sidney Evans, anaward-winning audio editor,
mixer and producer.
For those of you who don't know, on this show I interview Black
men and women working in theaudio industry to highlight the
lessons and experiences it takesto achieve success in the field
.
We have another great episodein store for today.
Before I introduce the guest,I'd like to give a little bit of
(01:07):
a background of the connectionpoint and what led to them
actually being on the show.
So, if you listen to JahiWhitehead's episode, we had a
great conversation.
But once the episode ends andright before we go our separate
ways, I like to ask who theythink would be a perfect fit for
the show to have on um, notonly as far as their
(01:27):
contributions to audio, buttheir personality.
Their personality, uh, justbeing a good, solid person and
but having an engagingconversation.
So this is someone who herecommended, highly recommended.
So, um and I got recommended tohim from Dante Hodge, who I
previously worked with um atFrequency Media.
(01:48):
So, uh, we're already kind ofcreating a uh, a community of of
uh black people in audio towhere we just keep making these
connection points and keep uhbuilding those relationships and
growing the show.
So, uh, to introduce the guest.
After recognizing his passionfor storytelling centered around
the black community, he pivotedfrom the e-commerce industry to
(02:10):
dive deep into podcastproduction, which led him to
becoming a digital contentproducer and social media
manager at the urban one partnerat the urban one pack at the
urban one podcast.
He's also the founder andcreator of Boss Locks, a
platform created by Boss LocksMedia that aims to educate,
(02:32):
empower and create opportunitiesfor Black people to access
resources and grow in theirjourney.
The mission is to raise the barfor racial equality.
The mission is to raise the barfor racial equity and the way
people are respected inprofessional environments.
So, without further ado, I'dlike to introduce Walter Gaynor
(02:55):
II to the show.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Hey, it is great to have you Shout out to Jahi just
for recommending me.
He's a super, super producer.
It's really cool working withhim and I was excited to be on
this show.
This is really, really dope.
I feel like podcasting issomething that went from like
what is that?
To like oh, that's what it islike really quickly.
(03:18):
Well, it feels like reallyquickly, but yeah, so it's kind
of cool.
This is happening becausethere's a lot of people in this
space who are doing some reallydope stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And I'm excited to be on that list of people.
So thank you, I appreciate, Ireally do appreciate the invite.
Thank you, no problem, man, I'mexcited to that.
You don't actually know andasked to you know, take time out
of your day to you know, comeon their platform and kind of
chop it up with them.
So I appreciate you being superopen and willing to just, you
know, hop on and share yourexperience.
(03:56):
I guess we'll just jump intothe show man and kind of get a
little bit of background on you,where you're from.
I know you have an interestingstory as far as jumping from one
field to another to get to thepoint where you were working in
audio.
So, yeah, just tell thelisteners a little bit of
background about yourself andwhere it led up to that journey
(04:18):
and then, once we get to theaudio piece, we'll start diving
in deeper.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Okay, cool, yeah.
Piece will start start divingin deeper.
Okay, cool, yeah.
Um, I originally charleston,south carolina, my hometown,
born and raised in that area.
I grew up, um, you know,actually a couple pivots in my
life because at one pointactually was on a path or wanted
to become on the team the USMen's National Team for soccer
(04:46):
to bring home the World Cup, theFIFA World Cup.
I ended up playing soccer justhappened to end up on a team, so
I was kind of curious aboutwhat people were playing that I
saw.
Ended up playing throughelementary high school and got a
scholarship to go to college,went there and immediately
realized that everyone who wasgood in high school was in
college.
So it was a whole notherplaying field.
(05:08):
Did well, held my own, but Ithink, around like junior year,
realized that, okay, you knowwhat this is like.
I could go a little harder inthis, but I'm not sure if I love
it in the same way as I didbefore when I was just doing it
for fun and for the love of thegame type of thing.
(05:28):
So I kind of stepped down fromthe team and really just started
pursuing other things I enjoy,just like creating content when
I was in school, it was aroundSnapchat.
It got really big and I wasjust going around and creating
just content or interviewingrandom people just to do it for
fun and stuff like that atparties and just everyday life.
(05:49):
I ended up doing things likeinterviewing the president of my
college for this journalismclass.
So I just started to get moreinto content seriously and
really understanding that worldat school and really
understanding that world atschool.
But still wasn't like somethingwhere I was like, okay, yeah,
I'm about to drop everything andbecome like a YouTuber or a
podcaster tomorrow.
(06:10):
It was just like, oh, I likedoing this stuff, this is fun,
but I don't really know what todo with it.
Like I was just experimentingin different things from going
live on Facebook because I waslike the first thing you could
go live on, just continue withSnapchat stuff, getting into
(06:31):
this and that, but was justdoing it randomly for fun type
of thing.
Um, but what got me into audio?
It was, um, it took me a longtime actually to get into it
because I wasn't very familiarwith the world.
I would, uh, started to becomea little bit more familiar into
podcasting when I was going onlong trips from Charleston to
where I went to school inVirginia, but it was still kind
of foreign to me.
I was only a few podcasts thatI listened to and it was just
(06:54):
for fun.
When I thought about content, Iwas thinking about YouTube and
stuff like that.
So, yeah, it took me a minuteto make that pivot and I think
it was really just more so, likeI, creating audio was more
accessible to me at the timethan video okay.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
So, uh like your journey with the audio going
from, you know, general contentcreation to zeroing in on audio
itself, was it the podcast spacein particular that you decided
to pursue?
And, if so, like what was themoment where you maybe were
introduced to another podcast orsomething within the realm
(07:37):
where you were like, oh yeah, Ican do this?
Like this is cause it seemslike you already you had the bug
to create something for yourown, or seemed like you had a
passion and love for mediabefore, but it didn't.
It didn't make sense for you,practically about, okay, how can
I uh like pursue this in a waythat I'll be fulfilled, I'm
doing what I want to do, butalso it's like, okay, I can make
(07:59):
a living off this, this issomething that I could do
sustainably and kind of youablyand still be able to do the
things that I want to do.
So when was that moment for you?
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, good question.
That moment where I was like Icould do this for real, for real
, actually, you know what?
The same journalism class,actually, where I was doing
things like interviewing thepresident of the college.
Doing things like interviewingthe president of the college,
one of the assignments we hadwas to create a podcast and at
(08:30):
the time I was listening topodcasts.
I listened to a podcast calledStartup by Good Media and I was
very, very impressed with it butdidn't think it was something
that I could do at all, butreally just kind of showed us
how simple uh, creating apodcast could be, using
something like iMovie, um, aslike the beginning stages, and
(08:51):
at that point it just kind ofclicked like oh okay, yeah,
there is like different levelsto this game, but it really can
be as simple as just recordingsomething, even if it is like
using um.
I was using an iPad to recordjust the, the regular apple
camera thing to record stuff,didn't even have a microphone,
but, um, just doing that andthen editing it in imovie and
(09:12):
just exporting as audio onlycould be as simple.
It could be that that, thatthat simple using the free music
from youtube's um audio libraryI don't know what they call it
now.
But yeah, youtube's like free,royalty-free audio library.
Adding that in there and justboom, it was just real.
I was very surprised by howsimple it could be.
(09:34):
So that was while I was incollege, but as sustainable, I
think that came way, way later,after I started jumping into it.
After school, I wanted to createa YouTube channel around social
media marketing.
So I was watching Hello GaryVee and I was like, yeah, I
could be the black Gary Vee, I'mout here, but I just wasn't
really connecting with it.
(09:54):
So what I ended up doinginstead was just creating a
podcast around proving thatnatural hair and professionalism
could coexist, and interviewingblack people with locks in
different professionalenvironments to learn how they
navigated professionalenvironments while staying true
to themselves and not cuttingtheir hair.
(10:16):
Because at the time I waslooking for jobs and was kind of
nervous about being able to gethired even though I had locks,
because everyone was saying, no,you got to cut them to get a
job.
So I ended up creating that asa podcast, interviewing people
with audio, because I was morecomfortable with the audio than
putting my video stuff out thereand I wasn't as familiar with
(10:38):
video editing for a podcast.
So I was like, okay, I could dothe audio part, get it out
there.
Sounded terrible first was, butthe content was really good.
Content was good but it wasn'tuntil 2021, when I was in this
group and this man named RobConlon ended up getting a job at
this podcast agency.
(11:00):
We ended up meeting Jahi whereI was like, okay, okay, fine, I
see like a way for it to becomean actual profession for real.
So it was like 2021, ended upgetting a job as a podcast
producer, left the e-commerceand marketing field, did a hard
pivot into it and at the time myonly experience was producing
for myself, helping just someother people I knew with
(11:24):
production for myself, helpingjust some other people I knew
with production, and just I justwas really good with account
management and marketing.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
So I kind of stood out, okay.
So when you so, when youcreated the podcast about locks,
like I know, you brieflytouched on, like that was
something that you were kind ofapprehensive about as far as
pursuing jobs and thinking thatthat may have been an obstacle
for you.
Um, it's funny you say thatbecause I, uh, I remember a
particular episode of a livingsingle back in the day when kyle
(11:56):
was.
You know, he like him and maxwere like the two most ambitious
ones and I think he was, Ithink he worked for like wall
street or something dealing withfinances, financial services or
something like that, and, um, Ithink he was going up for a
promotion or or a partner or adeal or something, and somebody
had, I guess, in in a slight of,in a slighting kind of way,
(12:19):
kind of mentioned it that hewouldn't get the job because of
that and he was very um on thefence about whether he should
cut it or he should.
He should stand his ground andand you know, make it a point to
be known like this is part ofmy heritage, this is a part of
who I am and stand his ground.
He ultimately ended up doingthat and the response was like,
(12:40):
okay, and you know, I don't knowwhat, what was the, the, the
apprehension about, uh,mentioning that?
But you were going to get thejob anyway.
So, um, even though in thatparticular, even though in that
particular moment it wasn't um,there was no validity to well,
it didn't prevent theopportunity.
But that's something, as blackpeople, that we potentially
(13:01):
would have to face, that, youknow, maybe other races don't
even have to, you know, thinktwice about that type of thing,
about how they presentthemselves.
So was it just all kind of inyour mind, or knowing the
possibility of it happening, ormaybe someone else it happened
to, or is it something, or wasit a direct experience that you
had that kind of put it?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
in the forefront of your mind.
Yeah, it was honestlyeverything and I love that
reference, by the way, shout outto the team at Living Single.
It was a wide range of things Ihad had locks for at that point
, maybe like almost 10 years orand I was, you know, they were
(13:42):
kind of long and everything inmy whole life.
You know people always admiredthem and stuff like that.
But I, before college, I hadtwo moments where people were
kind of like my locks havinglocks was like potentially
jeopardizing potential of havinga job.
One was just at a career fair.
I was looking for stuff andsomeone asked like how important
are the locks to me?
(14:03):
And at the time, like I wasn'teven real sure if I really
wanted to work there.
So I just kind of told themlike oh, it's just hair.
I mean it was kind of a lie,but I was like I mean I'll just
say whatever, it's an interview.
And then the other time I wasworking at Jimmy John's and they
wanted to train me to become amanager and take over the store.
I had luck and no one had aproblem with it.
(14:24):
But they would have this likelike at these retail places if
y'all haven't worked in retailbefore.
You know, they always have,like some corporate inspector
come through, they work at thecompany and they go through
everything.
They check to see how dirty theplace is, are you up to code,
are you handling things properly, and in food, you know, there's
a whole bunch of other stuffthere too.
(14:44):
So they like, at the store Iworked at, they did very well,
very well, but they got somepoints taken off for grooming
and the only thing they couldthink of was like, oh Walt, he
has locks.
And it was basically it wasagainst their like policy to
have hair that was long, for men, to have long hair.
(15:06):
So basically, the next timethey kind of knew that God was
coming, they asked me to kind ofjust like they weren't like
telling me to cut them, butthey're like I just just hang in
the back for a little bit andwait till after he leaves and
they come in.
So but those two moments alsotaught me like that, that moment
, even though they really didn'thave to like, you know, hide me
or whatever, it did kind ofshow that yeah, they, they did
(15:29):
hire me anyways to work thereand everything, even though it
was against policy.
So I knew that I could get ajob without cutting it, but I
just didn't really understandhow to do it in that um
corporate environment.
And then also, on top of that,I was just kind of insecure and
discouraged about the wholeprocess.
And then, on top of top of allof that, that same year I left
(15:49):
college, for the same year thatthese, like there was this huge
um case, um, and it ended uplike going to like higher courts
and courts and stuff like that,and they've ruled that
companies can't, uh, uh,basically dismiss a job
applicant for their hairstyle.
Basically they could not hiresomeone simply just because of
their hair, and that was one ofthe things that sparked off the
(16:12):
whole crown movement andeverything as well.
I mean, that happened later,but that was one of the cases
they always talked about and asa way for, like, this isn't
necessarily right, the hairdoesn't, you know, just
shouldn't disqualify someonefrom uh working or uh
experiencing any form ofdiscrimination.
So so, yeah, so all of that.
(16:32):
And then also, I personally justwanted to prove to really to
black people more than anything,that we don't have to change
who we are or conform for real,like if we really wanted to.
There's people out here who aredoing the work, like, yes,
they're going to face certainthings that won't always be
accepted in every environment,but we shouldn't have to change
(16:55):
ourselves, you know.
We shouldn't have to toleratethings like someone being upset
at me for having locks becausethey hate my locks and they're
likely just to not really likeme because I'm black as well.
So that was a lot ofinspiration for that show, and
then that ended up leading intothis new show that actually
launched this year, but I wascreating content for it before,
(17:18):
during this like acceleratorprogram I was in with LinkedIn
called the Working While BlackShow, and that was all around
just career growth andentrepreneurship advice for
black people, blackprofessionals, whether you, you
know, you know, in retail, incorporate, wherever, exploring
entrepreneurship just justconversations with just geared
(17:40):
towards black professionals whowant to grow, win and all that
stuff.
So so yeah, that was amotivation.
Help, help our people out.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
OK, so you started the podcast, so which which came
first?
I feel like I'm asking like,which came first, like the
chicken or the egg?
But what came first?
Boss Lost, the podcast or theentire media platform to you
mentioned?
You have other shows like underthe umbrella, so I would assume
(18:11):
that the podcast came first andyou were like, okay, this is
something, something I want toexpand upon and, if so, you know
, like kind of what went, whatwent into and what was the
process for like, getting popthe boss locks podcast to a
certain point?
Speaker 1 (18:27):
um, that you were confident in and then wanted to
expand out into producing othershows man, so that the key word
in all this, I think, is aconfidence, because I didn't
have that at all.
Um, in addition to just feelingdiscouraged and insecure about
job prospects, I was also veryinsecure about creating content,
(18:47):
even though I had done itpreviously.
But it was just for fun, itwasn't serious to me, I just
enjoyed it and this was so.
I was just very nervous aboutit.
The very first interview I did,my voice was shaky, um, so
technically, the podcast camefirst, but no one saw it.
It wasn't published until afterI did a whole bunch of other
(19:08):
stuff.
So the first thing that peoplesaw was I started an Instagram
page where I was justhighlighting people with locks
who are doing something eitherimpactful for a community or
have had some type ofachievement or in professional
environments, and so just peopleI would just find just being
just on the Internet would kindof write up some type of profile
(19:30):
piece on them, publish it, tagthem, and that's when they found
out about it and they wouldshare it, and so really, the
first thing that was shown wasjust an Instagram page.
And then I started doing thesewritten interviews.
So I'd like send questions topeople they've replied and I put
in an article.
So that came next and thenafter that I eventually launched
(19:51):
the podcast during the pandemic, when everything was kind of
stripped away.
I had a contract that was dopeand it kind of ended because
they're like we can't, we can'tdo this pandemic.
I was like, shoot, all I got isa podcast now.
So, yeah, basically launched it.
So the podcast was like thelast thing in a way, but it
really was the beginning of itall.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Okay, and you also mentioned earlier that I guess a
lot of this conversation goesback to like confidence and you
being confident about who youare with their locks, you being
confident enough so, even thoughrecording the podcast, having
the confidence to put it out,but eventually that confidence
(20:37):
did come.
Then you also mentioned that,excuse me.
You also mentioned that, afterproducing content for yourself,
that the opportunity to producefor other people and, um,
working at you know, urban, onepodcast network presented itself
and obviously there's anotherlevel of confidence that comes
from, okay, I'm not just doingthis for myself, so I'm kind of
(20:59):
being you know, when you're,when you're producing it for
yourself or on your own, likethere's no, there's kind of no
one.
You know, when you're producingit for yourself or on your own,
like there's no, there's kindof no one over your shoulder,
there's no.
Another layer of accountabilityto kind of meet a certain
standard outside the one thatyou provide for yourself.
So what was that transitionlike to producing and being in a
room with other people and kindof the somewhat pressure that
(21:22):
goes into having someone who'slike critique your work and
giving you feedback?
Speaker 1 (21:28):
yeah, um also just want to say you're really good
at this, you're good at this man.
Um, appreciate it.
Yeah, so yeah, absolutely.
I feel like I should probablywrite a book called like the 50
stages of confidence orsomething like that, because it
is like a whole evolution ofjust everything.
(21:50):
So, yes, I think that myjourney post college was all
tied together having Lux, justunderstanding myself more and
also podcasting.
I think each of these is, asthey continue to grow, I just
learn more about myself and justhad like a greater level of
trust.
I know I got to be a part of aaccelerator program that
(22:13):
LinkedIn ran.
It was this whole campaign theywere doing and I was part of
their first class and that was ahuge like moment of confidence,
because previously, with mypodcast, I was highlighting
other people and I was just kindof there, but that was the
first time where I was front andcenter.
So that was interesting becauseI was in a program with people
that I followed and I was like,oh, I'm here with the big dogs.
(22:34):
This is crazy Imposter syndrome, all of that.
So that was one level.
So that was one level.
And then, yeah, working as aproducer for an agency, where I
(22:54):
was kind of responsible for theproduction of podcasts for these
, like, really big businesseshad to have a lot of trust there
.
So I think, really, working inthis field, I think I really
started to understand anxiety alot more as well.
Because a different type ofpressure.
Like you said, you're not justdoing it for yourself.
Well, because it's a differenttype of pressure.
Like you said, you're not justdoing it for yourself.
If you mess up, that sucks, butit's like I'm doing for myself
and like I have a crazy hugefollowing.
That's only so many peoplegonna find it, but doing for
other people you mess somethingup and you know there's certain
(23:15):
uh, just it could be a dominoeffect to like maybe someone
else in leadership being like,nah, we're not doing this
anymore, kill the trash at this,at this.
Or just be like, yeah, you'renot the one Go skedaddle, go
down to the playground, you'renot with the big dogs anymore.
So I think, different levels ofthat.
So I think the biggest thingfor me is just developing a
(23:35):
sense of trust and also justknowing to just what I'm
responsible for and how toimprove, where my weak points
are and strengths and all that.
So okay.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So, uh, I'm glad you said that, because I'm curious
to know, like, what were theactual like once you got in that
environment, like, what werethe skills where you were like
okay, this is my bread andbutter, I'm really really strong
, really strong in this area.
And then what were the skillsthat were like okay, I have some
room to improve and grow, andso, if I really want to be in
(24:11):
the top tier of what I'm doing,these are the steps that I need
to take, this is what I need toimprove on, while also not
forgetting that barriers, whereyou're strong, are things that
you got to emphasize as wellyeah, that's a good question too
.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So some of them were technical producer skills and
other things were kind ofself-management and
communication, like I mentionedbefore.
Like I was working in rolespreviously where I was like
doing some type of accountmanagement or communication.
So I was, I was really good atbuilding relationships with
people I was working for whetherit was clients or talent and
(24:48):
just really understanding whattheir needs were and just kind
tight schedule.
It's like a bigger emphasis ontime management within
production.
So it's like having to getfaster and find ways to be more
(25:10):
efficient with the editing, um,starting to learn like
previously I was doing all, allediting and, like davinci
resolve within premiere.
So I still kind of new to thead world.
So learning Premiere and thenalso Adobe Audition and then, if
I'm being very, very honest,just figuring out what I could
get away with uh, just doing inPremiere and not Audition and
(25:32):
thank God to Adobe.
You know, uh, I wish I wassponsored by Adobe but just
adding more features to it so Icould, like uh, do enough to get
by, while also still learningall the tools that I needed to
learn.
Communicating weak points to mymanagers and kind of just
trusting they could kind ofguide me in areas as well.
(25:53):
Yeah, I'd probably go on and onand on, but did that answer
your question?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
It actually prompted another question, so we're going
to dive a little bit deeper.
So I want you to talk about howyou actually got that
opportunity because, honestly,I've been through it.
I'm sure a lot of people havebeen through it and, to be
honest, I'm kind of goingthrough it right now with
pursuing opportunities of my ownto where you know, the
(26:18):
advertised job or the positionthat you may be interested in
has like a wide variety ofskills that you have to have.
And it kind of goes to thequestion that I just asked you.
Like you may see, you know halfof the skills you're like okay,
I'm really strong in this area,I have a lot of experience.
I can do this in my sleep.
I have no reservation aboutbeing able to deliver on this.
(26:42):
But then it might be the secondhalf of the skillset You're
kind of like oh, I've only donea little bit of this, I haven't
done that much of that.
Cause in in, for the most part,jobs like you, there's there's
a training aspect to it.
Like you have to learn certainthings.
Like even if you know how to doit you may have to learn how
they like to do it or a moreefficient way to do it, or you
(27:03):
may not have the ability to doit that great at all, but you
can learn if you're a hardworker and you're curious.
So, in that role, how did youend up getting that opportunity,
even though later on yourealized or maybe you even
realized upfront that, okay, Imay not be very strong in the
entire skillset, but I knowthese particular skills will get
(27:26):
me in the door, and the otherstuff I can just learn if I'm
willing to put in the effort.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Okay, yeah, that's a good one, shout out to everyone
who's on the job hunt right now.
So, all right.
So when I first pivoted frome-commerce and marketing to
podcast producer because thatwas a big, big, big one, because
previously I was just doingthings for myself and a few
things for other people.
But, um, I think what stood outto the and this was not at
(27:54):
urban one, that's which butpreviously at an agency and what
stood out was, I think, someother skill sets that I had, and
editing and stuff wasn't at thebeginning, it wasn't like the
main thing that I was doing inthat role.
Um, at the agency it was moreso like managing the whole
production process.
(28:15):
So they had other people to dothe editing, but needed someone
to truly understood the podcast,understood what clients wanted
and what the deliverables were,and could manage the whole
process, get it done on time andcould also help people to learn
about podcasting as a whole,and so I could do all of that.
I just wasn't very strong as anediting, so like I was able to
(28:39):
just lean on things that I coulddo well, which was customer
service, account management,managing projects.
So I had done all of thosethings in other roles I was in,
and also the e-commerce role Iwas in was also marketing as
well, and part of what theywanted is someone who could help
their clients with taking thepodcast and turning it into
(29:02):
other types of content theycould use to grow the show and
grow their brand.
So I was able to lean in onlike those things that I did
well and also show that I havedone some editing.
I might not be my strongestskill point at right now, but
you know, just communicatingwhat I can do, my weak points in
areas I can learn and for them.
Actually, I'll be honest withyou.
(29:23):
I didn't get the job.
Um, I don't know what happenedto whoever they offered it to,
but they called me back like afew weeks later.
It's like, hey, you want thatjob still.
So, um, that was that for me.
And, and really what also helpedwas somebody I knew.
I was in this accountabilitypodcast group with other
(29:43):
podcasters who were looking togrow their own show.
So we're all just kind ofsharing what we're learning and
how we're going about things,and so one of the people in that
group his name was Rob Conlonhe got the job and then he was
telling us about it.
So luckily I had a relationshipwith him which helped to make
me look a little bit better,because he was doing very, very
(30:03):
good at the role and I was justduring the interview and I suck
at interviews, y'all but duringthe job interview me and the
hiring manager we just kind ofgot along very well.
So that helped as well.
So each time I've gottensomething it's been because of
some sort of relationship by therelationship I had previously.
That just helped to make melook better.
(30:24):
It wasn't like a oh, you knowhim, you're good, or you know
her, you're good, it was justmore so.
Oh, okay, yeah.
So this person told us aboutyou type of thing, us about you
type of thing.
And then with Urban One, thatwas once again just I had kind
of networked and someone elsehad joined and they just knew
what I had done previously, kindof saw I was able to be a part
(30:47):
of the creator program and sothey kind of trusted that I
understood content andpodcasting, and at the time
podcasting was something thateveryone already had, but they
wanted to really have a strongeremphasis on it by creating a
whole network.
So they wanted to bring inpeople who were in the podcast
space.
So for that one it was just meknowing a great deal about
(31:10):
podcasting, production, what'sneeded, and the area that I
needed to kind of prove in therewas like the video editing side
of things.
I had done it before but justdidn't have a huge portfolio of
projects because all the otherstuff at the previous agency was
mostly audio and some othertypes of content.
So I just had to once again.
(31:31):
They just trust that I could dowhat they wanted me to do and
help with the other sides ofpodcasting and everything and
just deliver value.
So I think each time I've hadto, I never actually thought
about this until you asked forreal, because, honestly, when it
comes to interviewing, I'm likeI don't know, I don't know
(31:51):
nothing, but there's always beensomething that I wasn't
necessarily as strong at, butI'm just I'm an obsessive
learner type of thing, so justlearning what I need to do and
just showing, I guess, potential.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Cool.
So you, I'm glad you touched onlike the building relationships
and networking piece and we'regoing to dive a little bit more
into that.
But before um, so you're thefirst guest that I had who kind
of has a background in audio andvideo and, honestly, like I've
been seeing a lot of like jobopportunities and postings, so
(32:28):
where it's like a podcastproducer, but you, uh, the
requirement is that you have tobe strong in audio and video.
So I'm kind of envisioning thatas, like companies kind of
consolidate roles and they maynot have as big of budgets for
podcasts or shows in generalthat they're kind of absolving
them into the same role.
So I know this is an audiofocused podcast, but I've kind
(32:51):
of already came to thisrealization on my own that in
order to supplement your skillin audio whether it be recording
, editing, mixing etc thatdevelop a strong skill set in
video editing, because thosethings are kind of meshing
together and if you want to getthe best opportunities, the top
(33:14):
opportunities, you want to do alot of the top tier stuff with
you know, these larger companies, these bigger companies, then I
think that's a skill set thatyou should definitely emphasize.
And I feel like if someone wholikes to create content in
general, it's kind of a naturalprocess because you may start
off just doing audio, but thenyou want to, may add a video
(33:35):
component to your podcast,whether you want to do YouTube,
like, you may make videostalking about audio, but you're
actually going to have to editthe videos on your own.
And then, as you continue to doit and do it and want to
increase the quality of yourvideos and your productions in
general, that's a skill set thatyou've become really strong in
and I don't think you should setthat to the side just because
(33:56):
you say, like, oh, I'm an audioengineer or my, I produce
podcasts just for audio only.
Like, if you, if you can beable to cover the full spectrum,
um, it'll lead to opportunity,a lot of opportunity.
So I just wanted to touch onthat.
Um, and as far as your likemindset, uh, we're going to get
into the building, buildingrelationships portion.
Um, as far as doing that, likeI know and I mentioned this on
(34:21):
other episodes and this is how Ifeel that it can kind of be
like a daunting task if youthink about it in a traditional
sense of like going to theseevents and shaking hands and
being buttoned up and handingout business cards and 20, maybe
even 10 years ago, like that,was kind of the norm.
But with, I guess, thepopularity of social media and
(34:44):
people just have more access toyou, you can find a lot more
points of relatability tosomeone, whether it's just
shooting a message on LinkedInor following them on Instagram
or Twitter, and you can kind ofsee their interest and maybe
that be a conversation starter.
That can you know.
That is organic in the momentbut that could build a
(35:05):
relationship that over time isbeneficial from a career
standpoint.
Or you could just be, you know,have an opportunity.
That's simply from through theInternet or through social media
but for like in person, if youcome across someone who you may
be, you know, working onsomething introduced to somebody
(35:25):
, I kind of just hit it off likey'all, y'all get along and the
relationship grows and thenlater you find out how you know
the relationship can be mutuallybeneficial from a career
standpoint.
You can kind of go one of twoways.
So, as far as the relationshipsthat you built that led to the
opportunities that you had orhave or will have, what do you
(35:46):
think is the thing that allowsyou to build these relationships
that last, that turn intothings down the road that turn
into things down the road.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Um, I am just like, I just am an introvert.
I do extroverted thingsoccasionally.
Um, so when I'm at networkingevents, I'm not the person going
up to everyone, be like, hey,what's up?
Just start conversation withrandom people.
Not that person at all.
I when I go, and it took me awhile to get comfortable with
this.
But now when I'm at events Idon't even try to talk to
everyone, like I'm morecomfortable just chilling in one
(36:24):
area by the food and just likewhoever I happen to talk to is
who I talk to.
So I think because of that I domiss out on certain
opportunities to meet people.
But I think for me when it doeswork, because the people I do
(36:46):
network with I think there'slike an energy exchange type of
thing.
It's like people we kind ofhave a similar vibe or just
something.
It's just kind of like a deepertype of connection.
So while some people can walkaway with 30 contacts contacts I
have three, but those three I'mstill reach out to and speak to
for like the next 30 years typeof thing.
One thing, one, one tip actuallyI would say, because like I
(37:07):
think business cards dependingon where you're at.
They're expected or they're not.
But me personally, I justdecided I'm not going to carry
business cards at all, ever,because I don't like them.
They end up in, like, somecorner in the desk.
I use them as bookmarks, maybe,but they end up in the trash,
um, and also you have to pay tomake book, uh, business cards.
(37:27):
So what I do is I use some ofthese apps, um, the free apps
where you can have yourinformation.
People scan.
It's a lot more common now.
But what's cool about that isthat when you hand someone your
business card, you're relying onthem to actually keep it, take
down your information and reachout to you.
But when you use some of theseapps, they scan it.
You got their phone numberright away, their email right
(37:49):
away.
You could text them, call them,so there isn't as much
dependency on them hitting youup later.
There isn't as much dependencyon them hitting you up later.
So that's something for sure.
So really, it's just like justconnecting with people that I
just feel some type ofconnection to, and sometimes it
is like a immediate, liketransactional, but like it's
like mutually beneficiallytransactional, but majority of
(38:12):
the time it's like a oh, youseem cool.
Yeah, let's, let's talk latertype of thing.
I connect with more peopleonline than offline LinkedIn.
I've just met a lot of reallyreally dope people there and
somewhat I was a lot heavierwith networking on Instagram
previously, but lately it'smostly been LinkedIn for
(38:32):
networking, especially in thispodcast space.
I met a lot of producers viaLinkedIn and different like kind
of podcast communities.
So I guess another thing I'dsay is like go where you want to
be as far as events.
You could pop up at whateverevents, but I like to go to
places that are kind ofconcentrated around something
that I know about, I'minterested in, and then it's a
lot easier to meet people thatat at the very least, if you
(38:56):
don't necessarily vibe with them, at least you're there for like
a similar mission.
So that helps too.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
So, yeah, that's all my bad all right, I'm uh, I'm
gonna kind of get it in thereand kind of give my spiel on
what you just touched on.
But, um, as far as networking,like, I kind of I kind of like
to take the same approach as you.
Um, I prefer to do it moreonline.
Just because you can, um, youcan only connect with a certain
amount of people in person.
Like online is is unlimited.
(39:22):
You know, essentially, if youtake time out of, uh, you know
whether it's, you know, 30minutes a day or it's a certain
day, I'm just gonna donetworking, like, if you really
put in the time to um, like, goin, you know, comment on stuff,
share, share things of your own,um, just be interested, just be
interesting, comment and do itin an organic way, comment on
(39:44):
things that you're actuallyinterested in.
You know, if, whether you likemake a comment, if you do make a
comment may have the comment beyour personality, don't, you
know, try to be too corporate orum, use all this jargon or kind
of seem robotic like you haveto do it in your using your
natural personality.
Um, and as far as in person,myself, I prefer to kind of like
(40:06):
, just like, like you said, likenot be too pushy.
You know, um, there are momentswhere you know people, just the
group, that the like mindedpeople will find each other,
that they kind of go off in agroup and, you know, do their
thing, and you know you makeintroductions like that and it
starts off casual and you canget more into what you do and
(40:27):
you know how you can help eachother.
So that's the approach that Ilike to take as well.
So we're similar in that way aswell.
So we're similar in that way.
And then also the thing bigthing you mentioned is linkedin.
Like I know instagram is likesexy and it's, you know, to me
much more superficial, but ifyou're trying to get your, your
career popping for real, you gotto be on linkedin.
(40:49):
Like I posted, uh, just ateaser for this episode, not for
the episode, teaser for thepodcast in general, just
introducing the podcast and likerevealing the cover art and
stuff, and I thought it may mayhave got a few hits, but it kind
of well, not kind of itdefinitely exceeded what I
thought it was going to do, notonly for people that had already
(41:10):
followed me, but I got so manyconnection requests and messages
and comments and things likethat just from from and things
like that, just from a twominute clip talking about the
podcast.
So if you're serious aboutwanting to make connections and
progressing your career andtaking it seriously, I think you
should definitely be onLinkedIn as well.
(41:31):
So yeah, man, you you shared alot.
Well.
So yeah, man, you, you shared,uh, a lot.
Um.
So we've, you know, we'vecovered your journey.
We've covered, uh, you know,your insecurities and addressing
them and overcoming those.
We talked about the, the jobitself.
We talked about buildingrelationships, um, but you are
(41:51):
getting into the to the endportion of the show.
So I kind of want to end on alighter note and just kind of
get a feel for what you're into.
So I got a couple of questionsand just answer with the first
thing that comes to your mind.
So, first off, what is yourfavorite piece of equipment that
(42:11):
you own?
Speaker 1 (42:13):
First thing I can't imagine is my phone equipment
that you own.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
First thing I came to mom's my phone, um, but okay,
audio related equipment.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Audio related or content, yeah, okay, okay, first
thing, um, all right.
So having a roadcaster was was,uh, between the roadcaster and
this, uh, the mic is, I'm sure,mb7.
Um, the roadcaster always gonnahave I could use a Shure, mb7.
The Rodecaster always going tohave love for it, because that
helped me out a lot in theclubhouse days where I wanted to
have rooms and record them.
(42:42):
And then even when I starteddoing live streamed events, just
playing music and everything orjust integrating different
sounds, it's just super, supereasy on it.
It took a minute to reallylearn it.
It had a lot of terriblerecordings because I didn't
fully understand it.
Um, so, yeah, shout out toeveryone who had me on as a
guest and it was terriblebecause of the audio.
(43:03):
But, um, yeah, the roadcasterfor sure, and then this sure mb7
just kind of leveled up a lotof uh, just just the, the sound
and everything.
So, yeah, tie between those two.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
Rollcast is winning, though, okay those are, those
are two, probably every listthat you can think of as far as,
like, top, you know, mixer or,and microphones.
Those are, those are definitelybeing a list.
So those are, those are somesolid, that's some solid gear.
Um, next is what's your, what'syour favorite album?
Speaker 1 (43:36):
oh, that's not fair.
Um, I'm gonna say, 2014, foresthill drives by j cole.
Yeah, I'll just stop there.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
I'll stop there okay, sometimes you just gotta, you
gotta let things speak forthemselves.
So I'm, you know, uh say nomore.
Next is uh who's your favoritemovie?
Who's your favorite musicproducer?
Speaker 1 (44:01):
uh, I'm gonna shout out DJ Mustard right now, I
don't know.
I'm gonna say DJ Mustard, he'shad one hell of a year right now
and not like us record reallyjust just took.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
So shout out to him, oh yeah that's this, he that's
has elevated him to legendarystatus.
If he it wasn't, if he wasn'tthere already, all right.
Next, uh favorite film scorefilm score.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
So I would say um the first black panther, because I
actually listened to it like thelike I was listening to an
album for real.
Yeah that's a favorite.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
Okay, black Panther solid.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
And last is favorite TV theme song.
Okay, this is a tough one Shoutout to everyone who makes
memorable theme songs.
They don't for real.
You know what's interestingactually?
Um, it's about podcasts andthere's like a conversation
around like, are introsimportant anymore?
Like, she skipped them, leavethem out.
And people talk about likelistener retention and
(45:06):
consumption time and justgetting straight to it.
And me personally on themindset of like, do whatever you
want, just make.
If you do do it, just make sureit's really, really good,
because, um, some podcast justkind of skip through to the part
I want to start listening toand then eventually I might just
stop listening others.
I just just love it.
So, um, tv intro doing all thisto buy time.
(45:26):
Um, it's a split between and,uh, it's a split between new
Girl, fresh Prince and theWayans Brothers.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
New Girl, Fresh Prince.
I knew the Fresh Prince wasgoing to be in there.
It's funny.
I hadn't watched the WayansBrothers in a while and me and
my girl was watching it theother night.
So it's funny you say thatbecause it's fresh on my mind.
And then New Girl.
I'm not familiar with New Girl.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Yeah, that's just.
I'm a big fan of comedy TV.
I'm not familiar with New Girl.
Yeah, that's just.
I'm a big fan of comedy.
Tv shows are just all over.
It's a very.
But New Girl it just followsthese three white people and one
black person, but it's a reallygood.
I think it's a really good show.
(46:12):
It's a comedy show.
It had quite a few seasons and,um, yeah, they're just kind of
singing at the beginning everytime somebody mentions, for this
last portion, something they'renot familiar with.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Uh, make sure I go check it out and see if it you
know check it out as far asbeing at the top of somebody's,
list.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
So if you love it, you gotta let everyone know.
You gotta put a special,special, special episode out.
Just be like yo Walt has thebest TV taste ever in all
eternity.
Now that show isn't foreveryone, but I think I think
that show deserves a little morecredit.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
OK, all right.
Oh, I love having you knowpeople to have their own taste.
So I'm not, I'm a judge, butnot too harshly.
But yeah, man, I think thatbrings us to the end here.
You know, definitely want to becognizant of your time, so you
shared a lot.
I appreciate it.
Man, before we get out of here,where can people find you on
(47:07):
social media?
I know you say you're superactive on LinkedIn, so make sure
you share how people connectwith you on there and anything
else you want to share.
Make sure you share how peopleconnect with you on there and
anything else you want to share.
Speaker 1 (47:19):
Yeah, if you're listening to it, appreciate
y'all's time and yeah,definitely, I don't even just
follow, but just reach out to me.
I'm all about justrelationships and especially if
you're listening to this andfollowing me, let me know that
you are listening to thispodcast.
You can find me on LinkedIn, ofcourse, walter Gaynor II,
(47:44):
instagram, all the otherplatforms you can search for.
It's the great walt.
I t s the great walt on all theplatforms.
Um, yeah, I'm really excitedabout um.
I've been kind of like quietfor the past two years as I've
kind of pivoted into this newworld for me as like a
professional in the podcastspace and now I'm starting to
kind of bring back a lot of thecontent that I had done
previously.
So I'm just excited to kind ofreturn to that and return to
(48:07):
podcast and so if you arefollowing me, I appreciate you.
I definitely want to get toknow y'all all right, I think we
got it, brother.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
I appreciate you and everyone listening.
I'll catch you on the nextepisode.
Thank you for joining us ontoday's episode.
Please don't forget tosubscribe to the show and leave
us a review.
If you'd like to work with meor connect, please go to
soundbossitcom and schedule acall there.
(48:34):
You can also check out the fulllist of productions I've worked
on.
If you'd like to connect onsocial media, my handle is
soundbysitcom on Twitter andInstagram and I'm Sidney Evans
on LinkedIn.
Don't forget to follow Beyondthe Threshold on Instagram as
well.
I'll catch you on the nextepisode.
Before college I had two moments where people were
kind of like my locks.
Having locks was likepotentially jeopardizing
potential of having a job.
One was I knew that I could geta job without cutting it but I
just didn't really understandhow to do it in that corporate
environment.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Tune in as we give flowers to black men and women
making waves in the audioindustry.
I'm your host, Sidney Evans,and this is Beyond the Threshold
.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcometo Beyond the Threshold.
(00:45):
I'm your host, Sidney Evans, anaward-winning audio editor,
mixer and producer.
For those of you who don't know, on this show I interview Black
men and women working in theaudio industry to highlight the
lessons and experiences it takesto achieve success in the field
.
We have another great episodein store for today.
Before I introduce the guest,I'd like to give a little bit of
(01:07):
a background of the connectionpoint and what led to them
actually being on the show.
So, if you listen to JahiWhitehead's episode, we had a
great conversation.
But once the episode ends andright before we go our separate
ways, I like to ask who theythink would be a perfect fit for
the show to have on um, notonly as far as their
(01:27):
contributions to audio, buttheir personality.
Their personality, uh, justbeing a good, solid person and
but having an engagingconversation.
So this is someone who herecommended, highly recommended.
So, um and I got recommended tohim from Dante Hodge, who I
previously worked with um atFrequency Media.
(01:48):
So, uh, we're already kind ofcreating a uh, a community of of
uh black people in audio towhere we just keep making these
connection points and keep uhbuilding those relationships and
growing the show.
So, uh, to introduce the guest.
After recognizing his passionfor storytelling centered around
the black community, he pivotedfrom the e-commerce industry to
(02:10):
dive deep into podcastproduction, which led him to
becoming a digital contentproducer and social media
manager at the urban one partnerat the urban one pack at the
urban one podcast.
He's also the founder andcreator of Boss Locks, a
platform created by Boss LocksMedia that aims to educate,
(02:32):
empower and create opportunitiesfor Black people to access
resources and grow in theirjourney.
The mission is to raise the barfor racial equality.
The mission is to raise the barfor racial equity and the way
people are respected inprofessional environments.
So, without further ado, I'dlike to introduce Walter Gaynor
(02:55):
II to the show.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Hey, it is great to have you Shout out to Jahi just
for recommending me.
He's a super, super producer.
It's really cool working withhim and I was excited to be on
this show.
This is really, really dope.
I feel like podcasting issomething that went from like
what is that?
To like oh, that's what it islike really quickly.
(03:18):
Well, it feels like reallyquickly, but yeah, so it's kind
of cool.
This is happening becausethere's a lot of people in this
space who are doing some reallydope stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And I'm excited to be on that list of people.
So thank you, I appreciate, Ireally do appreciate the invite.
Thank you, no problem, man, I'mexcited to that.
You don't actually know andasked to you know, take time out
of your day to you know, comeon their platform and kind of
chop it up with them.
So I appreciate you being superopen and willing to just, you
know, hop on and share yourexperience.
(03:56):
I guess we'll just jump intothe show man and kind of get a
little bit of background on you,where you're from.
I know you have an interestingstory as far as jumping from one
field to another to get to thepoint where you were working in
audio.
So, yeah, just tell thelisteners a little bit of
background about yourself andwhere it led up to that journey
(04:18):
and then, once we get to theaudio piece, we'll start diving
in deeper.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Okay, cool, yeah.
Piece will start start divingin deeper.
Okay, cool, yeah.
Um, I originally charleston,south carolina, my hometown,
born and raised in that area.
I grew up, um, you know,actually a couple pivots in my
life because at one pointactually was on a path or wanted
to become on the team the USMen's National Team for soccer
(04:46):
to bring home the World Cup, theFIFA World Cup.
I ended up playing soccer justhappened to end up on a team, so
I was kind of curious aboutwhat people were playing that I
saw.
Ended up playing throughelementary high school and got a
scholarship to go to college,went there and immediately
realized that everyone who wasgood in high school was in
college.
So it was a whole notherplaying field.
(05:08):
Did well, held my own, but Ithink, around like junior year,
realized that, okay, you knowwhat this is like.
I could go a little harder inthis, but I'm not sure if I love
it in the same way as I didbefore when I was just doing it
for fun and for the love of thegame type of thing.
(05:28):
So I kind of stepped down fromthe team and really just started
pursuing other things I enjoy,just like creating content when
I was in school, it was aroundSnapchat.
It got really big and I wasjust going around and creating
just content or interviewingrandom people just to do it for
fun and stuff like that atparties and just everyday life.
(05:49):
I ended up doing things likeinterviewing the president of my
college for this journalismclass.
So I just started to get moreinto content seriously and
really understanding that worldat school and really
understanding that world atschool.
But still wasn't like somethingwhere I was like, okay, yeah,
I'm about to drop everything andbecome like a YouTuber or a
podcaster tomorrow.
(06:10):
It was just like, oh, I likedoing this stuff, this is fun,
but I don't really know what todo with it.
Like I was just experimentingin different things from going
live on Facebook because I waslike the first thing you could
go live on, just continue withSnapchat stuff, getting into
(06:31):
this and that, but was justdoing it randomly for fun type
of thing.
Um, but what got me into audio?
It was, um, it took me a longtime actually to get into it
because I wasn't very familiarwith the world.
I would, uh, started to becomea little bit more familiar into
podcasting when I was going onlong trips from Charleston to
where I went to school inVirginia, but it was still kind
of foreign to me.
I was only a few podcasts thatI listened to and it was just
(06:54):
for fun.
When I thought about content, Iwas thinking about YouTube and
stuff like that.
So, yeah, it took me a minuteto make that pivot and I think
it was really just more so, likeI, creating audio was more
accessible to me at the timethan video okay.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
So, uh like your journey with the audio going
from, you know, general contentcreation to zeroing in on audio
itself, was it the podcast spacein particular that you decided
to pursue?
And, if so, like what was themoment where you maybe were
introduced to another podcast orsomething within the realm
(07:37):
where you were like, oh yeah, Ican do this?
Like this is cause it seemslike you already you had the bug
to create something for yourown, or seemed like you had a
passion and love for mediabefore, but it didn't.
It didn't make sense for you,practically about, okay, how can
I uh like pursue this in a waythat I'll be fulfilled, I'm
doing what I want to do, butalso it's like, okay, I can make
(07:59):
a living off this, this issomething that I could do
sustainably and kind of youablyand still be able to do the
things that I want to do.
So when was that moment for you?
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, good question.
That moment where I was like Icould do this for real, for real
, actually, you know what?
The same journalism class,actually, where I was doing
things like interviewing thepresident of the college.
Doing things like interviewingthe president of the college,
one of the assignments we hadwas to create a podcast and at
(08:30):
the time I was listening topodcasts.
I listened to a podcast calledStartup by Good Media and I was
very, very impressed with it butdidn't think it was something
that I could do at all, butreally just kind of showed us
how simple uh, creating apodcast could be, using
something like iMovie, um, aslike the beginning stages, and
(08:51):
at that point it just kind ofclicked like oh okay, yeah,
there is like different levelsto this game, but it really can
be as simple as just recordingsomething, even if it is like
using um.
I was using an iPad to recordjust the, the regular apple
camera thing to record stuff,didn't even have a microphone,
but, um, just doing that andthen editing it in imovie and
(09:12):
just exporting as audio onlycould be as simple.
It could be that that, thatthat simple using the free music
from youtube's um audio libraryI don't know what they call it
now.
But yeah, youtube's like free,royalty-free audio library.
Adding that in there and justboom, it was just real.
I was very surprised by howsimple it could be.
(09:34):
So that was while I was incollege, but as sustainable, I
think that came way, way later,after I started jumping into it.
After school, I wanted to createa YouTube channel around social
media marketing.
So I was watching Hello GaryVee and I was like, yeah, I
could be the black Gary Vee, I'mout here, but I just wasn't
really connecting with it.
(09:54):
So what I ended up doinginstead was just creating a
podcast around proving thatnatural hair and professionalism
could coexist, and interviewingblack people with locks in
different professionalenvironments to learn how they
navigated professionalenvironments while staying true
to themselves and not cuttingtheir hair.
(10:16):
Because at the time I waslooking for jobs and was kind of
nervous about being able to gethired even though I had locks,
because everyone was saying, no,you got to cut them to get a
job.
So I ended up creating that asa podcast, interviewing people
with audio, because I was morecomfortable with the audio than
putting my video stuff out thereand I wasn't as familiar with
(10:38):
video editing for a podcast.
So I was like, okay, I could dothe audio part, get it out
there.
Sounded terrible first was, butthe content was really good.
Content was good but it wasn'tuntil 2021, when I was in this
group and this man named RobConlon ended up getting a job at
this podcast agency.
(11:00):
We ended up meeting Jahi whereI was like, okay, okay, fine, I
see like a way for it to becomean actual profession for real.
So it was like 2021, ended upgetting a job as a podcast
producer, left the e-commerceand marketing field, did a hard
pivot into it and at the time myonly experience was producing
for myself, helping just someother people I knew with
(11:24):
production for myself, helpingjust some other people I knew
with production, and just I justwas really good with account
management and marketing.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
So I kind of stood out, okay.
So when you so, when youcreated the podcast about locks,
like I know, you brieflytouched on, like that was
something that you were kind ofapprehensive about as far as
pursuing jobs and thinking thatthat may have been an obstacle
for you.
Um, it's funny you say thatbecause I, uh, I remember a
particular episode of a livingsingle back in the day when kyle
(11:56):
was.
You know, he like him and maxwere like the two most ambitious
ones and I think he was, Ithink he worked for like wall
street or something dealing withfinances, financial services or
something like that, and, um, Ithink he was going up for a
promotion or or a partner or adeal or something, and somebody
had, I guess, in in a slight of,in a slighting kind of way,
(12:19):
kind of mentioned it that hewouldn't get the job because of
that and he was very um on thefence about whether he should
cut it or he should.
He should stand his ground andand you know, make it a point to
be known like this is part ofmy heritage, this is a part of
who I am and stand his ground.
He ultimately ended up doingthat and the response was like,
(12:40):
okay, and you know, I don't knowwhat, what was the, the, the
apprehension about, uh,mentioning that?
But you were going to get thejob anyway.
So, um, even though in thatparticular, even though in that
particular moment it wasn't um,there was no validity to well,
it didn't prevent theopportunity.
But that's something, as blackpeople, that we potentially
(13:01):
would have to face, that, youknow, maybe other races don't
even have to, you know, thinktwice about that type of thing,
about how they presentthemselves.
So was it just all kind of inyour mind, or knowing the
possibility of it happening, ormaybe someone else it happened
to, or is it something, or wasit a direct experience that you
had that kind of put it?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
in the forefront of your mind.
Yeah, it was honestlyeverything and I love that
reference, by the way, shout outto the team at Living Single.
It was a wide range of things Ihad had locks for at that point
, maybe like almost 10 years orand I was, you know, they were
(13:42):
kind of long and everything inmy whole life.
You know people always admiredthem and stuff like that.
But I, before college, I hadtwo moments where people were
kind of like my locks havinglocks was like potentially
jeopardizing potential of havinga job.
One was just at a career fair.
I was looking for stuff andsomeone asked like how important
are the locks to me?
(14:03):
And at the time, like I wasn'teven real sure if I really
wanted to work there.
So I just kind of told themlike oh, it's just hair.
I mean it was kind of a lie,but I was like I mean I'll just
say whatever, it's an interview.
And then the other time I wasworking at Jimmy John's and they
wanted to train me to become amanager and take over the store.
I had luck and no one had aproblem with it.
(14:24):
But they would have this likelike at these retail places if
y'all haven't worked in retailbefore.
You know, they always have,like some corporate inspector
come through, they work at thecompany and they go through
everything.
They check to see how dirty theplace is, are you up to code,
are you handling things properly, and in food, you know, there's
a whole bunch of other stuffthere too.
(14:44):
So they like, at the store Iworked at, they did very well,
very well, but they got somepoints taken off for grooming
and the only thing they couldthink of was like, oh Walt, he
has locks.
And it was basically it wasagainst their like policy to
have hair that was long, for men, to have long hair.
(15:06):
So basically, the next timethey kind of knew that God was
coming, they asked me to kind ofjust like they weren't like
telling me to cut them, butthey're like I just just hang in
the back for a little bit andwait till after he leaves and
they come in.
So but those two moments alsotaught me like that, that moment
, even though they really didn'thave to like, you know, hide me
or whatever, it did kind ofshow that yeah, they, they did
(15:29):
hire me anyways to work thereand everything, even though it
was against policy.
So I knew that I could get ajob without cutting it, but I
just didn't really understandhow to do it in that um
corporate environment.
And then also, on top of that,I was just kind of insecure and
discouraged about the wholeprocess.
And then, on top of top of allof that, that same year I left
(15:49):
college, for the same year thatthese, like there was this huge
um case, um, and it ended uplike going to like higher courts
and courts and stuff like that,and they've ruled that
companies can't, uh, uh,basically dismiss a job
applicant for their hairstyle.
Basically they could not hiresomeone simply just because of
their hair, and that was one ofthe things that sparked off the
(16:12):
whole crown movement andeverything as well.
I mean, that happened later,but that was one of the cases
they always talked about and asa way for, like, this isn't
necessarily right, the hairdoesn't, you know, just
shouldn't disqualify someonefrom uh working or uh
experiencing any form ofdiscrimination.
So so, yeah, so all of that.
(16:32):
And then also, I personally justwanted to prove to really to
black people more than anything,that we don't have to change
who we are or conform for real,like if we really wanted to.
There's people out here who aredoing the work, like, yes,
they're going to face certainthings that won't always be
accepted in every environment,but we shouldn't have to change
(16:55):
ourselves, you know.
We shouldn't have to toleratethings like someone being upset
at me for having locks becausethey hate my locks and they're
likely just to not really likeme because I'm black as well.
So that was a lot ofinspiration for that show, and
then that ended up leading intothis new show that actually
launched this year, but I wascreating content for it before,
(17:18):
during this like acceleratorprogram I was in with LinkedIn
called the Working While BlackShow, and that was all around
just career growth andentrepreneurship advice for
black people, blackprofessionals, whether you, you
know, you know, in retail, incorporate, wherever, exploring
entrepreneurship just justconversations with just geared
(17:40):
towards black professionals whowant to grow, win and all that
stuff.
So so yeah, that was amotivation.
Help, help our people out.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
OK, so you started the podcast, so which which came
first?
I feel like I'm asking like,which came first, like the
chicken or the egg?
But what came first?
Boss Lost, the podcast or theentire media platform to you
mentioned?
You have other shows like underthe umbrella, so I would assume
(18:11):
that the podcast came first andyou were like, okay, this is
something, something I want toexpand upon and, if so, you know
, like kind of what went, whatwent into and what was the
process for like, getting popthe boss locks podcast to a
certain point?
Speaker 1 (18:27):
um, that you were confident in and then wanted to
expand out into producing othershows man, so that the key word
in all this, I think, is aconfidence, because I didn't
have that at all.
Um, in addition to just feelingdiscouraged and insecure about
job prospects, I was also veryinsecure about creating content,
(18:47):
even though I had done itpreviously.
But it was just for fun, itwasn't serious to me, I just
enjoyed it and this was so.
I was just very nervous aboutit.
The very first interview I did,my voice was shaky, um, so
technically, the podcast camefirst, but no one saw it.
It wasn't published until afterI did a whole bunch of other
(19:08):
stuff.
So the first thing that peoplesaw was I started an Instagram
page where I was justhighlighting people with locks
who are doing something eitherimpactful for a community or
have had some type ofachievement or in professional
environments, and so just peopleI would just find just being
just on the Internet would kindof write up some type of profile
(19:30):
piece on them, publish it, tagthem, and that's when they found
out about it and they wouldshare it, and so really, the
first thing that was shown wasjust an Instagram page.
And then I started doing thesewritten interviews.
So I'd like send questions topeople they've replied and I put
in an article.
So that came next and thenafter that I eventually launched
(19:51):
the podcast during the pandemic, when everything was kind of
stripped away.
I had a contract that was dopeand it kind of ended because
they're like we can't, we can'tdo this pandemic.
I was like, shoot, all I got isa podcast now.
So, yeah, basically launched it.
So the podcast was like thelast thing in a way, but it
really was the beginning of itall.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Okay, and you also mentioned earlier that I guess a
lot of this conversation goesback to like confidence and you
being confident about who youare with their locks, you being
confident enough so, even thoughrecording the podcast, having
the confidence to put it out,but eventually that confidence
(20:37):
did come.
Then you also mentioned that,excuse me.
You also mentioned that, afterproducing content for yourself,
that the opportunity to producefor other people and, um,
working at you know, urban, onepodcast network presented itself
and obviously there's anotherlevel of confidence that comes
from, okay, I'm not just doingthis for myself, so I'm kind of
(20:59):
being you know, when you're,when you're producing it for
yourself or on your own, likethere's no, there's kind of no
one.
You know, when you're producingit for yourself or on your own,
like there's no, there's kindof no one over your shoulder,
there's no.
Another layer of accountabilityto kind of meet a certain
standard outside the one thatyou provide for yourself.
So what was that transitionlike to producing and being in a
room with other people and kindof the somewhat pressure that
(21:22):
goes into having someone who'slike critique your work and
giving you feedback?
Speaker 1 (21:28):
yeah, um also just want to say you're really good
at this, you're good at this man.
Um, appreciate it.
Yeah, so yeah, absolutely.
I feel like I should probablywrite a book called like the 50
stages of confidence orsomething like that, because it
is like a whole evolution ofjust everything.
(21:50):
So, yes, I think that myjourney post college was all
tied together having Lux, justunderstanding myself more and
also podcasting.
I think each of these is, asthey continue to grow, I just
learn more about myself and justhad like a greater level of
trust.
I know I got to be a part of aaccelerator program that
(22:13):
LinkedIn ran.
It was this whole campaign theywere doing and I was part of
their first class and that was ahuge like moment of confidence,
because previously, with mypodcast, I was highlighting
other people and I was just kindof there, but that was the
first time where I was front andcenter.
So that was interesting becauseI was in a program with people
that I followed and I was like,oh, I'm here with the big dogs.
(22:34):
This is crazy Imposter syndrome, all of that.
So that was one level.
So that was one level.
And then, yeah, working as aproducer for an agency, where I
(22:54):
was kind of responsible for theproduction of podcasts for these
, like, really big businesseshad to have a lot of trust there
.
So I think, really, working inthis field, I think I really
started to understand anxiety alot more as well.
Because a different type ofpressure.
Like you said, you're not justdoing it for yourself.
Well, because it's a differenttype of pressure.
Like you said, you're not justdoing it for yourself.
If you mess up, that sucks, butit's like I'm doing for myself
and like I have a crazy hugefollowing.
That's only so many peoplegonna find it, but doing for
other people you mess somethingup and you know there's certain
(23:15):
uh, just it could be a dominoeffect to like maybe someone
else in leadership being like,nah, we're not doing this
anymore, kill the trash at this,at this.
Or just be like, yeah, you'renot the one Go skedaddle, go
down to the playground, you'renot with the big dogs anymore.
So I think, different levels ofthat.
So I think the biggest thingfor me is just developing a
(23:35):
sense of trust and also justknowing to just what I'm
responsible for and how toimprove, where my weak points
are and strengths and all that.
So okay.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
So, uh, I'm glad you said that, because I'm curious
to know, like, what were theactual like once you got in that
environment, like, what werethe skills where you were like
okay, this is my bread andbutter, I'm really really strong
, really strong in this area.
And then what were the skillsthat were like okay, I have some
room to improve and grow, andso, if I really want to be in
(24:11):
the top tier of what I'm doing,these are the steps that I need
to take, this is what I need toimprove on, while also not
forgetting that barriers, whereyou're strong, are things that
you got to emphasize as wellyeah, that's a good question too
.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
So some of them were technical producer skills and
other things were kind ofself-management and
communication, like I mentionedbefore.
Like I was working in rolespreviously where I was like
doing some type of accountmanagement or communication.
So I was, I was really good atbuilding relationships with
people I was working for whetherit was clients or talent and
(24:48):
just really understanding whattheir needs were and just kind
tight schedule.
It's like a bigger emphasis ontime management within
production.
So it's like having to getfaster and find ways to be more
(25:10):
efficient with the editing, um,starting to learn like
previously I was doing all, allediting and, like davinci
resolve within premiere.
So I still kind of new to thead world.
So learning Premiere and thenalso Adobe Audition and then, if
I'm being very, very honest,just figuring out what I could
get away with uh, just doing inPremiere and not Audition and
(25:32):
thank God to Adobe.
You know, uh, I wish I wassponsored by Adobe but just
adding more features to it so Icould, like uh, do enough to get
by, while also still learningall the tools that I needed to
learn.
Communicating weak points to mymanagers and kind of just
trusting they could kind ofguide me in areas as well.
(25:53):
Yeah, I'd probably go on and onand on, but did that answer
your question?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
It actually prompted another question, so we're going
to dive a little bit deeper.
So I want you to talk about howyou actually got that
opportunity because, honestly,I've been through it.
I'm sure a lot of people havebeen through it and, to be
honest, I'm kind of goingthrough it right now with
pursuing opportunities of my ownto where you know, the
(26:18):
advertised job or the positionthat you may be interested in
has like a wide variety ofskills that you have to have.
And it kind of goes to thequestion that I just asked you.
Like you may see, you know halfof the skills you're like okay,
I'm really strong in this area,I have a lot of experience.
I can do this in my sleep.
I have no reservation aboutbeing able to deliver on this.
(26:42):
But then it might be the secondhalf of the skillset You're
kind of like oh, I've only donea little bit of this, I haven't
done that much of that.
Cause in in, for the most part,jobs like you, there's there's
a training aspect to it.
Like you have to learn certainthings.
Like even if you know how to doit you may have to learn how
they like to do it or a moreefficient way to do it, or you
(27:03):
may not have the ability to doit that great at all, but you
can learn if you're a hardworker and you're curious.
So, in that role, how did youend up getting that opportunity,
even though later on yourealized or maybe you even
realized upfront that, okay, Imay not be very strong in the
entire skillset, but I knowthese particular skills will get
(27:26):
me in the door, and the otherstuff I can just learn if I'm
willing to put in the effort.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Okay, yeah, that's a good one, shout out to everyone
who's on the job hunt right now.
So, all right.
So when I first pivoted frome-commerce and marketing to
podcast producer because thatwas a big, big, big one, because
previously I was just doingthings for myself and a few
things for other people.
But, um, I think what stood outto the and this was not at
(27:54):
urban one, that's which butpreviously at an agency and what
stood out was, I think, someother skill sets that I had, and
editing and stuff wasn't at thebeginning, it wasn't like the
main thing that I was doing inthat role.
Um, at the agency it was moreso like managing the whole
production process.
(28:15):
So they had other people to dothe editing, but needed someone
to truly understood the podcast,understood what clients wanted
and what the deliverables were,and could manage the whole
process, get it done on time andcould also help people to learn
about podcasting as a whole,and so I could do all of that.
I just wasn't very strong as anediting, so like I was able to
(28:39):
just lean on things that I coulddo well, which was customer
service, account management,managing projects.
So I had done all of thosethings in other roles I was in,
and also the e-commerce role Iwas in was also marketing as
well, and part of what theywanted is someone who could help
their clients with taking thepodcast and turning it into
(29:02):
other types of content theycould use to grow the show and
grow their brand.
So I was able to lean in onlike those things that I did
well and also show that I havedone some editing.
I might not be my strongestskill point at right now, but
you know, just communicatingwhat I can do, my weak points in
areas I can learn and for them.
Actually, I'll be honest withyou.
(29:23):
I didn't get the job.
Um, I don't know what happenedto whoever they offered it to,
but they called me back like afew weeks later.
It's like, hey, you want thatjob still.
So, um, that was that for me.
And, and really what also helpedwas somebody I knew.
I was in this accountabilitypodcast group with other
(29:43):
podcasters who were looking togrow their own show.
So we're all just kind ofsharing what we're learning and
how we're going about things,and so one of the people in that
group his name was Rob Conlonhe got the job and then he was
telling us about it.
So luckily I had a relationshipwith him which helped to make
me look a little bit better,because he was doing very, very
(30:03):
good at the role and I was justduring the interview and I suck
at interviews, y'all but duringthe job interview me and the
hiring manager we just kind ofgot along very well.
So that helped as well.
So each time I've gottensomething it's been because of
some sort of relationship by therelationship I had previously.
That just helped to make melook better.
(30:24):
It wasn't like a oh, you knowhim, you're good, or you know
her, you're good, it was justmore so.
Oh, okay, yeah.
So this person told us aboutyou type of thing, us about you
type of thing.
And then with Urban One, thatwas once again just I had kind
of networked and someone elsehad joined and they just knew
what I had done previously, kindof saw I was able to be a part
(30:47):
of the creator program and sothey kind of trusted that I
understood content andpodcasting, and at the time
podcasting was something thateveryone already had, but they
wanted to really have a strongeremphasis on it by creating a
whole network.
So they wanted to bring inpeople who were in the podcast
space.
So for that one it was just meknowing a great deal about
(31:10):
podcasting, production, what'sneeded, and the area that I
needed to kind of prove in therewas like the video editing side
of things.
I had done it before but justdidn't have a huge portfolio of
projects because all the otherstuff at the previous agency was
mostly audio and some othertypes of content.
So I just had to once again.
(31:31):
They just trust that I could dowhat they wanted me to do and
help with the other sides ofpodcasting and everything and
just deliver value.
So I think each time I've hadto, I never actually thought
about this until you asked forreal, because, honestly, when it
comes to interviewing, I'm likeI don't know, I don't know
(31:51):
nothing, but there's always beensomething that I wasn't
necessarily as strong at, butI'm just I'm an obsessive
learner type of thing, so justlearning what I need to do and
just showing, I guess, potential.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Cool.
So you, I'm glad you touched onlike the building relationships
and networking piece and we'regoing to dive a little bit more
into that.
But before um, so you're thefirst guest that I had who kind
of has a background in audio andvideo and, honestly, like I've
been seeing a lot of like jobopportunities and postings, so
(32:28):
where it's like a podcastproducer, but you, uh, the
requirement is that you have tobe strong in audio and video.
So I'm kind of envisioning thatas, like companies kind of
consolidate roles and they maynot have as big of budgets for
podcasts or shows in generalthat they're kind of absolving
them into the same role.
So I know this is an audiofocused podcast, but I've kind
(32:51):
of already came to thisrealization on my own that in
order to supplement your skillin audio whether it be recording
, editing, mixing etc thatdevelop a strong skill set in
video editing, because thosethings are kind of meshing
together and if you want to getthe best opportunities, the top
(33:14):
opportunities, you want to do alot of the top tier stuff with
you know, these larger companies, these bigger companies, then I
think that's a skill set thatyou should definitely emphasize.
And I feel like if someone wholikes to create content in
general, it's kind of a naturalprocess because you may start
off just doing audio, but thenyou want to, may add a video
(33:35):
component to your podcast,whether you want to do YouTube,
like, you may make videostalking about audio, but you're
actually going to have to editthe videos on your own.
And then, as you continue to doit and do it and want to
increase the quality of yourvideos and your productions in
general, that's a skill set thatyou've become really strong in
and I don't think you should setthat to the side just because
(33:56):
you say, like, oh, I'm an audioengineer or my, I produce
podcasts just for audio only.
Like, if you, if you can beable to cover the full spectrum,
um, it'll lead to opportunity,a lot of opportunity.
So I just wanted to touch onthat.
Um, and as far as your likemindset, uh, we're going to get
into the building, buildingrelationships portion.
Um, as far as doing that, likeI know and I mentioned this on
(34:21):
other episodes and this is how Ifeel that it can kind of be
like a daunting task if youthink about it in a traditional
sense of like going to theseevents and shaking hands and
being buttoned up and handingout business cards and 20, maybe
even 10 years ago, like that,was kind of the norm.
But with, I guess, thepopularity of social media and
(34:44):
people just have more access toyou, you can find a lot more
points of relatability tosomeone, whether it's just
shooting a message on LinkedInor following them on Instagram
or Twitter, and you can kind ofsee their interest and maybe
that be a conversation starter.
That can you know.
That is organic in the momentbut that could build a
(35:05):
relationship that over time isbeneficial from a career
standpoint.
Or you could just be, you know,have an opportunity.
That's simply from through theInternet or through social media
but for like in person, if youcome across someone who you may
be, you know, working onsomething introduced to somebody
(35:25):
, I kind of just hit it off likey'all, y'all get along and the
relationship grows and thenlater you find out how you know
the relationship can be mutuallybeneficial from a career
standpoint.
You can kind of go one of twoways.
So, as far as the relationshipsthat you built that led to the
opportunities that you had orhave or will have, what do you
(35:46):
think is the thing that allowsyou to build these relationships
that last, that turn intothings down the road that turn
into things down the road.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Um, I am just like, I just am an introvert.
I do extroverted thingsoccasionally.
Um, so when I'm at networkingevents, I'm not the person going
up to everyone, be like, hey,what's up?
Just start conversation withrandom people.
Not that person at all.
I when I go, and it took me awhile to get comfortable with
this.
But now when I'm at events Idon't even try to talk to
everyone, like I'm morecomfortable just chilling in one
(36:24):
area by the food and just likewhoever I happen to talk to is
who I talk to.
So I think because of that I domiss out on certain
opportunities to meet people.
But I think for me when it doeswork, because the people I do
(36:46):
network with I think there'slike an energy exchange type of
thing.
It's like people we kind ofhave a similar vibe or just
something.
It's just kind of like a deepertype of connection.
So while some people can walkaway with 30 contacts contacts I
have three, but those three I'mstill reach out to and speak to
for like the next 30 years typeof thing.
One thing, one, one tip actuallyI would say, because like I
(37:07):
think business cards dependingon where you're at.
They're expected or they're not.
But me personally, I justdecided I'm not going to carry
business cards at all, ever,because I don't like them.
They end up in, like, somecorner in the desk.
I use them as bookmarks, maybe,but they end up in the trash,
um, and also you have to pay tomake book, uh, business cards.
(37:27):
So what I do is I use some ofthese apps, um, the free apps
where you can have yourinformation.
People scan.
It's a lot more common now.
But what's cool about that isthat when you hand someone your
business card, you're relying onthem to actually keep it, take
down your information and reachout to you.
But when you use some of theseapps, they scan it.
You got their phone numberright away, their email right
(37:49):
away.
You could text them, call them,so there isn't as much
dependency on them hitting youup later.
There isn't as much dependencyon them hitting you up later.
So that's something for sure.
So really, it's just like justconnecting with people that I
just feel some type ofconnection to, and sometimes it
is like a immediate, liketransactional, but like it's
like mutually beneficiallytransactional, but majority of
(38:12):
the time it's like a oh, youseem cool.
Yeah, let's, let's talk latertype of thing.
I connect with more peopleonline than offline LinkedIn.
I've just met a lot of reallyreally dope people there and
somewhat I was a lot heavierwith networking on Instagram
previously, but lately it'smostly been LinkedIn for
(38:32):
networking, especially in thispodcast space.
I met a lot of producers viaLinkedIn and different like kind
of podcast communities.
So I guess another thing I'dsay is like go where you want to
be as far as events.
You could pop up at whateverevents, but I like to go to
places that are kind ofconcentrated around something
that I know about, I'minterested in, and then it's a
lot easier to meet people thatat at the very least, if you
(38:56):
don't necessarily vibe with them, at least you're there for like
a similar mission.
So that helps too.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
So, yeah, that's all my bad all right, I'm uh, I'm
gonna kind of get it in thereand kind of give my spiel on
what you just touched on.
But, um, as far as networking,like, I kind of I kind of like
to take the same approach as you.
Um, I prefer to do it moreonline.
Just because you can, um, youcan only connect with a certain
amount of people in person.
Like online is is unlimited.
(39:22):
You know, essentially, if youtake time out of, uh, you know
whether it's, you know, 30minutes a day or it's a certain
day, I'm just gonna donetworking, like, if you really
put in the time to um, like, goin, you know, comment on stuff,
share, share things of your own,um, just be interested, just be
interesting, comment and do itin an organic way, comment on
(39:44):
things that you're actuallyinterested in.
You know, if, whether you likemake a comment, if you do make a
comment may have the comment beyour personality, don't, you
know, try to be too corporate orum, use all this jargon or kind
of seem robotic like you haveto do it in your using your
natural personality.
Um, and as far as in person,myself, I prefer to kind of like
(40:06):
, just like, like you said, likenot be too pushy.
You know, um, there are momentswhere you know people, just the
group, that the like mindedpeople will find each other,
that they kind of go off in agroup and, you know, do their
thing, and you know you makeintroductions like that and it
starts off casual and you canget more into what you do and
(40:27):
you know how you can help eachother.
So that's the approach that Ilike to take as well.
So we're similar in that way aswell.
So we're similar in that way.
And then also the thing bigthing you mentioned is linkedin.
Like I know instagram is likesexy and it's, you know, to me
much more superficial, but ifyou're trying to get your, your
career popping for real, you gotto be on linkedin.
(40:49):
Like I posted, uh, just ateaser for this episode, not for
the episode, teaser for thepodcast in general, just
introducing the podcast and likerevealing the cover art and
stuff, and I thought it may mayhave got a few hits, but it kind
of well, not kind of itdefinitely exceeded what I
thought it was going to do, notonly for people that had already
(41:10):
followed me, but I got so manyconnection requests and messages
and comments and things likethat just from from and things
like that, just from a twominute clip talking about the
podcast.
So if you're serious aboutwanting to make connections and
progressing your career andtaking it seriously, I think you
should definitely be onLinkedIn as well.
(41:31):
So yeah, man, you you shared alot.
Well.
So yeah, man, you, you shared,uh, a lot.
Um.
So we've, you know, we'vecovered your journey.
We've covered, uh, you know,your insecurities and addressing
them and overcoming those.
We talked about the, the jobitself.
We talked about buildingrelationships, um, but you are
(41:51):
getting into the to the endportion of the show.
So I kind of want to end on alighter note and just kind of
get a feel for what you're into.
So I got a couple of questionsand just answer with the first
thing that comes to your mind.
So, first off, what is yourfavorite piece of equipment that
(42:11):
you own?
Speaker 1 (42:13):
First thing I can't imagine is my phone equipment
that you own.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
First thing I came to mom's my phone, um, but okay,
audio related equipment.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Audio related or content, yeah, okay, okay, first
thing, um, all right.
So having a roadcaster was was,uh, between the roadcaster and
this, uh, the mic is, I'm sure,mb7.
Um, the roadcaster always gonnahave I could use a Shure, mb7.
The Rodecaster always going tohave love for it, because that
helped me out a lot in theclubhouse days where I wanted to
have rooms and record them.
(42:42):
And then even when I starteddoing live streamed events, just
playing music and everything orjust integrating different
sounds, it's just super, supereasy on it.
It took a minute to reallylearn it.
It had a lot of terriblerecordings because I didn't
fully understand it.
Um, so, yeah, shout out toeveryone who had me on as a
guest and it was terriblebecause of the audio.
(43:03):
But, um, yeah, the roadcasterfor sure, and then this sure mb7
just kind of leveled up a lotof uh, just just the, the sound
and everything.
So, yeah, tie between those two.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
Rollcast is winning, though, okay those are, those
are two, probably every listthat you can think of as far as,
like, top, you know, mixer or,and microphones.
Those are, those are definitelybeing a list.
So those are, those are somesolid, that's some solid gear.
Um, next is what's your, what'syour favorite album?
Speaker 1 (43:36):
oh, that's not fair.
Um, I'm gonna say, 2014, foresthill drives by j cole.
Yeah, I'll just stop there.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
I'll stop there okay, sometimes you just gotta, you
gotta let things speak forthemselves.
So I'm, you know, uh say nomore.
Next is uh who's your favoritemovie?
Who's your favorite musicproducer?
Speaker 1 (44:01):
uh, I'm gonna shout out DJ Mustard right now, I
don't know.
I'm gonna say DJ Mustard, he'shad one hell of a year right now
and not like us record reallyjust just took.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
So shout out to him, oh yeah that's this, he that's
has elevated him to legendarystatus.
If he it wasn't, if he wasn'tthere already, all right.
Next, uh favorite film scorefilm score.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
So I would say um the first black panther, because I
actually listened to it like thelike I was listening to an
album for real.
Yeah that's a favorite.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
Okay, black Panther solid.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
And last is favorite TV theme song.
Okay, this is a tough one Shoutout to everyone who makes
memorable theme songs.
They don't for real.
You know what's interestingactually?
Um, it's about podcasts andthere's like a conversation
around like, are introsimportant anymore?
Like, she skipped them, leavethem out.
And people talk about likelistener retention and
(45:06):
consumption time and justgetting straight to it.
And me personally on themindset of like, do whatever you
want, just make.
If you do do it, just make sureit's really, really good,
because, um, some podcast justkind of skip through to the part
I want to start listening toand then eventually I might just
stop listening others.
I just just love it.
So, um, tv intro doing all thisto buy time.
(45:26):
Um, it's a split between and,uh, it's a split between new
Girl, fresh Prince and theWayans Brothers.
Speaker 2 (45:38):
New Girl, Fresh Prince.
I knew the Fresh Prince wasgoing to be in there.
It's funny.
I hadn't watched the WayansBrothers in a while and me and
my girl was watching it theother night.
So it's funny you say thatbecause it's fresh on my mind.
And then New Girl.
I'm not familiar with New Girl.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Yeah, that's just.
I'm a big fan of comedy TV.
I'm not familiar with New Girl.
Yeah, that's just.
I'm a big fan of comedy.
Tv shows are just all over.
It's a very.
But New Girl it just followsthese three white people and one
black person, but it's a reallygood.
I think it's a really good show.
(46:12):
It's a comedy show.
It had quite a few seasons and,um, yeah, they're just kind of
singing at the beginning everytime somebody mentions, for this
last portion, something they'renot familiar with.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
Uh, make sure I go check it out and see if it you
know check it out as far asbeing at the top of somebody's,
list.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
So if you love it, you gotta let everyone know.
You gotta put a special,special, special episode out.
Just be like yo Walt has thebest TV taste ever in all
eternity.
Now that show isn't foreveryone, but I think I think
that show deserves a little morecredit.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
OK, all right.
Oh, I love having you knowpeople to have their own taste.
So I'm not, I'm a judge, butnot too harshly.
But yeah, man, I think thatbrings us to the end here.
You know, definitely want to becognizant of your time, so you
shared a lot.
I appreciate it.
Man, before we get out of here,where can people find you on
(47:07):
social media?
I know you say you're superactive on LinkedIn, so make sure
you share how people connectwith you on there and anything
else you want to share.
Make sure you share how peopleconnect with you on there and
anything else you want to share.
Speaker 1 (47:19):
Yeah, if you're listening to it, appreciate
y'all's time and yeah,definitely, I don't even just
follow, but just reach out to me.
I'm all about justrelationships and especially if
you're listening to this andfollowing me, let me know that
you are listening to thispodcast.
You can find me on LinkedIn, ofcourse, walter Gaynor II,
(47:44):
instagram, all the otherplatforms you can search for.
It's the great walt.
I t s the great walt on all theplatforms.
Um, yeah, I'm really excitedabout um.
I've been kind of like quietfor the past two years as I've
kind of pivoted into this newworld for me as like a
professional in the podcastspace and now I'm starting to
kind of bring back a lot of thecontent that I had done
previously.
So I'm just excited to kind ofreturn to that and return to
(48:07):
podcast and so if you arefollowing me, I appreciate you.
I definitely want to get toknow y'all all right, I think we
got it, brother.
Speaker 2 (48:14):
I appreciate you and everyone listening.
I'll catch you on the nextepisode.
Thank you for joining us ontoday's episode.
Please don't forget tosubscribe to the show and leave
us a review.
If you'd like to work with meor connect, please go to
soundbossitcom and schedule acall there.
(48:34):
You can also check out the fulllist of productions I've worked
on.
If you'd like to connect onsocial media, my handle is
soundbysitcom on Twitter andInstagram and I'm Sidney Evans
on LinkedIn.
Don't forget to follow Beyondthe Threshold on Instagram as
well.
I'll catch you on the nextepisode.
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