October 3, 2025 • 30 mins
Brand builder, marketing strategist, and entrepreneur Martin Ekechukwu joins Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder on The North Star to unpack how entrepreneurship can drive equity in a time when formal DEI programs are retracting.
From his immigrant roots to founding WHTWRKS, Martin shares the mindset required to build resilient businesses, align profit with purpose, and create brand ecosystems—not mere diversity checkboxes. He lifts the curtain on the truths of influencer marketing, opens up paths through supplier diversity and local impact, and shows why AI-fueled service models are the next frontier for founders and students alike.
Whether you’re starting out or scaling up, this is a guide to turning tension into opportunity.
• Immigrant roots, academic household, love of culture
• Leaving corporate to build, connect, and lead
• The limits of “change agent” roles in big firms
• Ecosystems over campaigns in multicultural marketing
• Influencer work as discipline, not luck
• DEI retrenchment, new access and supplier diversity gaps
• Social impact through arts, politics, and partnerships
• Profit with purpose in health and skincare needs
• Student playbook for organizing and peer networks
• Act local: councils, boards, and community service
• Becoming fluent in AI for practical business value
• A 10-year vision to reinvent product promotion
🔗 Find out more about Dr. JeffriAnne Wilder.
🔗 Follow the Center for DEI Innovation and Leadership on LinkedIn.
🌎Visit Oberlin College's website.
Podcast Produced by: Paradigm Media Group
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the North Star, a space for candid
conversations on leadership,equity, and social justice.
This season, we're exploringdisruption, how bold thinkers
are reimagining what changelooks like.
Today, I'm joined by MartinEkachuku, an entrepreneur and
change maker whose storychallenges the idea that social
(00:22):
impact is limited to nonprofitsor education.
Martin is the co-founder and CEOof What Works and co-hosts of
the newly launched The QuietTruth podcast.
Together, we'll explore howinnovation and business can
drive equity and what that meansfor the next generation of
(00:45):
leaders.
Welcome, Martin.
SPEAKER_01 (00:48):
Thank you very much.
I appreciate all of it.
And the great, great intros.
SPEAKER_00 (00:53):
Yeah.
All right, let's jump right intoit.
So you were born and raised inNigeria as well as the Czech
Republic before coming to theU.S.
How did your immigrantexperience and family values
shape your outlook and yourcareer path?
SPEAKER_01 (01:09):
Honestly, because I'm coming from an immigrant
family, my entire outlook wasall based off of achievement and
taking advantage of things thatmost people are taking for
granted, unfortunately.
So my father being Nigerian, mymother being Czech, very highly
educated academics.
They wanted to come to theStates in order to be able to
have a better opportunity fortheir children.
So for me, it's all abouteducation, achievement,
(01:31):
identifying new opportunities,and really understanding that
nothing is promised and we haveto work extremely hard for it.
And being transplanted from onecountry, not even like a state
or a city, one country to thenext, the adjustment period and
the understanding of how toblend my cultural background
with the cultural background andthe platform that I'm stepping
(01:51):
into, and then using all myexperiences to bring things to
life uniquely, which is reallywhat I've been focusing on the
last, you know, since I've beena real an adult, like a real
full-fledged, fully formedadult, has been trying to figure
out ways to build opportunitiesfor myself and my kids because I
know that there's a very shorttime period for all of us to
(02:12):
kind of do things that we loveto do.
And uh and I hope that I'mactually trying to achieve some
of it now.
SPEAKER_00 (02:17):
So I'm a sociologist, and I hear that um,
is it your mom who was ananthropologist who's an
anthropologist?
SPEAKER_01 (02:26):
Uh my father uh is a has got his master's degree from
the Czech Republic.
SPEAKER_00 (02:31):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (02:32):
Um and his doctorate from Oxford, one or the two.
I keep on forgetting which oneis.
But uh yeah, he's ananthropologist and sociologist.
And so I used to listen to himtalk.
He became a family counselor,uh, you know, kids in learning,
and got into sociology andtaught for many, many years,
almost 20 years.
Still actually, frankly, quiteas he's still teaching as an
(02:53):
adjunct professor online to abunch of core um schools now.
So he loves it.
And being in an academic family,uh that that was also part of it
as well, is kind of learningabout different people and
backgrounds.
And I actually enjoyed it.
My dad used to used to take usto Oklahoma to learn about the
Amish and their culture, whichwas actually quite fascinating.
And I used to actually enjoythose trips quite a bit.
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
You know, when you you have a family member, your
parent is, you know, asociologist or an
anthropologist, right?
You learn to be a lover ofculture, people of culture.
You consume that, right?
In what ways has that shaped youand maybe think thinking about
how that shaped you as perhapsuh a parent or uh even a lover
(03:36):
of culture and society?
SPEAKER_01 (03:38):
I absolutely love culture and I absorb so much of
it as a as much as possible, andreally is instilled into me from
my father.
Um, and you got to love New YorkCity.
You know, I'm in the middle ofculture right now where anything
can happen in the back streets,absolutely any moment in time.
You could hear fights and youcould hear loves, you can hear
(03:59):
agreements, children,everything.
So to me, being embedded insidea culture is incredibly
important.
My father, who brought me intothe Amish country, Amish
culture, taught me how to reallyappreciate other cultures.
Frankly, uh, because I'm Czechand Nigerian, I kind of came a
little bit naturally.
My father really kind ofbroadened my experience beyond
(04:21):
just my particular background,helped me to understand other
cultures in a very unique way.
And also within black culture aswell, having to go into the
United States, move to the US,move to the South, move to
Arkansas from two big, verydisparate countries, that that
was also a culture shock.
But I also had to take it thesame way my father took it,
(04:41):
which is try to understand theculture, immerse yourself in the
culture and allow it to shapeyou somewhat.
SPEAKER_00 (04:48):
Absolutely.
So um, and thinking about sortof your career path, um, you
know, it's it's very fascinatinglearning a little bit about your
path because you sort of chartedyour own path and you've said a
lot about how you didn't reallychoose entrepreneurship, right?
Um, you realized that youweren't really built to conform
(05:12):
to corporate expectations.
How did you think about thatdecision now in terms of
creating disruption in your ownlife and finding alignment?
SPEAKER_01 (05:22):
Well, when I was younger, it scared the
everything out of me, frankly,because you're brought up to be
able to go through a particularpathway.
And going into business school,it's almost like you go to
business school and there's ajourney you kind of follow as a
result of going to businessschool, whether it's finance,
marketing, operations, branding,whatever it might be.
It is a pathway that's created.
(05:42):
And for me, coming from anotherculture, another experience,
another career path, coming intobusiness school and allowing me
to kind of go into newexperiences was really what
helped me shape myentrepreneurial journey.
It allowed me to have so muchexposure to so many people.
Even when I was interning, evenwhen I had my first job, it
(06:02):
allowed me to really get a senseof how companies run.
What are what are theoperational capabilities that
are required to run a bit largecompany?
What are the ways to network?
How do you ultimately workwithin a large team environment?
How do you build um things fromscratch, from the ground up?
And how do you lead teams tokind of do things?
How do you also get coalitions?
How do you uh get folks to be onyour side?
(06:24):
How do you get advocates?
All those things are created.
And all of it has served me insome way in entrepreneurship.
The thing about entrepreneurshipversus corporate is really about
resilience, right?
Is it entrepreneurship iscontinuously grinding and
pushing your foot on the gas allthe time.
And I'm not saying corporate,you don't necessarily do that
(06:44):
too, but it's a little bitdifferent.
You can, you have a little bitmore time, you have a little bit
more grace, you have a littlebit more ability to maneuver
within a system and getadvocates for you and get team
members for you.
While here you're largely onyour own, kind of an island for
the most part.
But your job at the end of theday is to bring people around
you.
And so from the corporateexperience, entrepreneurship
experience, I brought peoplearound me that were able to help
(07:06):
me be smarter, make betterdecisions, support me, open up
doors.
I didn't necessarily know we'rethere.
And I align myself with peoplethat I frankly are and very
blessed to have in my life thatwere able to create a pathway
for me into some level ofsuccess.
So entrepreneurship for me wasnot necessarily a uh a given
from day one.
(07:27):
But once I got into the roles ofcorporate and I realized on my
skill set's actually not bestserved here, it's best served
building things and havingownership of the build of those
things and then watching it growand then rinse, wash, repeat.
I just didn't know what job, ifthere was a job description at
(07:47):
Pepsi that says that, I probablywould be there, frankly.
Would be there.
But there was no job descriptionthat really fit my expertise.
The closest that I could findwas actually a cultural change
agent or just change agent.
It's like marketing senior brandleader responsible for culture
(08:07):
or responsible for change orsome sort of change agent,
right?
That was like the closest that Ifound, but I found that most
organizations they want they saythey want to see change, but
then the minute you prov presentthem with change, they just want
to do what they did last year.
SPEAKER_00 (08:22):
How did you know when you were on the right
track?
What what did it take?
And I and I imagine there are alot of barriers that you kind of
met along the way.
At what point did you know, yep,I'm doing the right thing?
SPEAKER_01 (08:37):
I I still don't know.
Uh there is there is no there'sno no no.
It's uh you know, I I I was onthe podcast, The Quiet Truth
with Enaton, and we wereactually talking about one
particular topic, which is iffor those of you that remember
the TV show Martin, um there wasTommy, and everyone was like,
What does Tommy do?
What does Tommy do?
(08:58):
And and I saw myself as a reallife Tommy, right?
That's because I was always inthe mix, moving the ball
forward, doing different things,but I didn't necessarily have a
box to be able to put in.
But somehow wasn't homeless.
Somehow I was able to buythings, somehow I was able to
kind of move things around, ableto kind of shuffle all together.
But I never really knew becauseI have I I've always had
multiple interests in multiplethings.
(09:18):
And my wife, bless her heart,has been like, Martin, find the
thing you're really mostpassionate about and do that.
And and I'm still trying tofigure out to this day, frankly,
it's like what what do I whathave I figured out?
What I figured out is that Iknow how to build things, I know
how to create ecosystems, I knowhow to create connect dots.
Those are the three things thatI know absolutely that I do
(09:40):
hands down better than anybodyout there.
The difficulty becomes how do Imonetize it?
SPEAKER_00 (09:47):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So in 2013, you launched yourown marketing agency, right?
Rather than, like you said, stayin stay in a role that felt like
you were being boxed in, right?
How did that sort of umdisruption change the way you
saw yourself and what you feltlike your purpose was?
SPEAKER_01 (10:07):
Well, my purpose um then was to really write
impactful strategy for brandslooking to get into the
multicultural space and havingnecessarily figured it out.
So I had just come off of amulticultural marketing role.
And from that role, I realizedthat brands think they know what
(10:27):
multicultural marketing is, butsimply putting a person of color
into the ad doesn't necessarilymake it multicultural.
So from that process of workingwith people within particular
roles that were like, let's justmake the imagery, imagery
diverse, that was notmulticultural marketing.
Obviously, things have changedin the last 12 years, but at the
time it was do it differently,uh create alignment between
(10:52):
brand and talent that happen tobe diverse, create ecosystems
around brands where they canplug into multiple diverse
spaces and fee, and then as aresult, provide audiences and
consumers what they're lookingfor and develop real emotional
connections between the brandand the audience.
Now, today, social media helpsyou to get there a little bit,
(11:13):
activations and events helpedyou to get there.
But back then, everyone was justthinking campaign, campaign,
campaign.
And we were saying, let's createan ecosystem that actually has
some value that's ownable by abrand.
So it's it's it's completelydifferent now than it was then.
But that was really what helpedme to focus because I was like,
I see a problem that was notbeing addressed within the brand
(11:35):
marketing, uh, marketingflywheel.
Can I present something thatmight be unique and different?
SPEAKER_00 (11:40):
Now forgive my ignorance on this question, but
this is something that's always,you know, been very curious to
me just as a sociologist.
So over the past, I don't know,decade, maybe even past five
years, you've seen a lot offolks who go onto social media
become influencers, right?
And generate tons and tons ofcontent.
And it makes it seem likemarketing, there's just like
(12:03):
this super easy sort of magic tobecoming an influencer and a
marketer.
It becoming marketing, right?
And I know for a fact that it isnot that easy.
Can you sort of dispel this mythfor us right now?
SPEAKER_01 (12:15):
It is the hardest thing on the planet.
It's like going to the NBA.
It really is.
You have 450, you have 450 slotsevery year, 450 new jobs every
single year that show up, right?
That's all you get out of 10million people that are in that
are playing basketball on anongoing basis.
So it's 0.00001% of the folksthat actually can get traction
(12:35):
and make money off of it.
Influencer marketing is probablysome of the hardest like career
jobs to do.
Looks like fun.
And frankly, even in our currentpodcast, it's an everyday job.
It's continuously engaging theaudience, talking to them, and
building a relationship.
You're dating and dating anddating for you know thousands of
(12:58):
people, hoping that you'llmonetize it at some point.
So influencer marketing andbecoming an influencer and being
successful at it is anincredible difficult thing.
Sometimes people will get therebecause of one of three things
will happen.
Super aggressive clickbaitstrategy where you're being
incredibly divisive anddenigrating or whatever, which
(13:19):
will bring a very polarizedaudience to the table.
And that frankly has some levelof success.
I'm not gonna lie to you.
It does.
Because what you're doing isyou're creating a pit right
between a large audience,creating them to fight against
each other.
Whatever it is, they're gonnafight, they're gonna create
(13:40):
news, noise, and whatever, whichbrings brands and money inside
the funnel.
There's the other there areother people within influencer
space that simply just have aproduct that they'd like to be
able to promote, have alifestyle, an attitude, things
like that.
That requires a curation, whichwhich also has a condition that
you should have taste.
(14:00):
And not everyone has taste to beable to create a lifestyle that
actually has is interesting.
Now, there are others that playin very niche categories that
are incredibly successful.
Those that play specificallywithin, you know, healthcare or
anything related to politics orother other spaces.
Healthcare in particular is aunique space.
(14:21):
So if you are like, I followlike a bunch of dermatologists,
a bunch of medical professionalsthat are just talking about
things about your body and skinand changes and whatever,
incredibly niched, but veryeffective because you're coming
with credibility.
So it's kind of like the threeplaces that I see.
But no matter what, building anaudience is some of the hardest
work, especially if you'rebuilding it organically.
(14:41):
I can just go buy some people,but if you're building
organically, it's incrediblydifficult to do.
SPEAKER_00 (14:47):
So I'm gonna shift gears a little bit and talk
about, you know, things withinthe diversity, equity, and
inclusion space and how that umimpacts the world that that you
live in.
A lot has shifted um over thepast year as it relates to
diversity, equity, andinclusion.
And when we we've seen so muchchange within diversity, equity,
and inclusion, um, how have youseen entrepreneurship become
(15:12):
this viable avenue uh for impactand change now that um
diversity, equity, and inclusioninitiatives effectively being
shut down?
Is there a way for an avenue forentrepreneurship to um become
sort of this pathway, if youwill, to revive potentially
(15:34):
diversity, equity, inclusion?
SPEAKER_01 (15:36):
I I wish I had a very clear answer for that
because it it's multimultilayered.
DEI initiatives have gone awayin the official way, but there
are still a lot of there's stilla lot of energy around targeting
people of color generally to beable to kind of have them drive
revenue for brands.
That's that's still there,right?
So, so some of the supportingsystems have kind of gone away.
(15:57):
Um, if you're an agency likemine, we were preferred vendors
for a lot of brands, and thatsort of kind of went away.
We were also part of an internalgroup of others that were
advocates for us, and so thatkind of went away.
So a lot of the likeunderpinnings there within the
DEI space, but there's still, ifyou can maneuver your way
through an organization, you canstill find the bread, the money,
(16:19):
the opportunity that's that'sthere, right?
So that there's that part of it.
Entrepreneurship as a segue intobuilding back up DEI initiatives
and diversity initiatives, thethe entrepreneurship opportunity
really exists in helping otherentrepreneurs, right?
So if you have, if you were ableto start a company because you
had access and network intolarge organizations where you
(16:39):
can help them maneuver throughan organization.
Uh, for example, if you happento be an expert in supplier
diversity and have all the rightnetworks into the Cokes and the
Pepsi's and the and such, right?
You could be a great value tosomeone like myself as and that
we would pay you for the accessto get into the door to then
pitch our business to those thatwe would never have access to
(17:02):
because you're an expert insupplier diversity and you have
the network that we just don'thave.
So that's an that that's a wayto kind of connect two dots with
um with a missing piece, whichcould be an entrepreneur, a
major entrepreneurshipopportunity because that gap has
not been filled, because all theopportunities now that we are
seeing, we are on the same levelof as any everybody else, get no
(17:25):
prefer preferential treatmentand no doors are opening just
because we happen to be peopleof color.
SPEAKER_00 (17:30):
Absolutely.
Over the course of your careers,and especially given um the role
that you've had as anentrepreneur, have you been a
part of any projects that havecreated any social change?
And if so, what has thatexperience looked like for you?
SPEAKER_01 (17:47):
Mm my biggest opportunity within the social
change uh atmosphere is actuallythrough my business partner,
Jeffrey Burroughs.
And we he's actually has beenworking very closely with the
Sankofa Foundation.
So I was pulled in to work withthe Harry Belafonte and Sankofa
Foundation years ago, and thatwas incredibly enriching.
In addition, we've also done alot of work here in New York
(18:08):
with the mayoral race and tryingto advocate for certain
individuals as well.
And we've also been working anddonating our time to the arts as
well.
So Robert Kraft uh put moneyinto an organization called
Chelsea Factory, which helped tobring the arts together in New
York City of local artists andhelping them to establish
(18:29):
themselves in the New York Cityarea.
He took over a full building,paid a bunch of money for it.
And so we supported in bringingthe arts into New York City in a
different, unique way, in a muchmore of a diverse way.
So yeah, it has been incrediblyenriching, frankly, because
again, I know what it's like tohave to build from the ground
(18:50):
up, both personally andprofessionally.
And I like helping all thosethat are looking to be able to
cross barriers.
If that means supporting fromthe social change side, that's
what I'll do.
SPEAKER_00 (19:02):
Yeah.
One of the, you know,conversations that a lot of
folks have, particularly when itre relates to social justice and
and social change, um, and thenalso, you know, in in
entrepreneurship is is makingthis uh reconciling the tension
between um, you know, profit andpurpose, right?
How do you reconcile thattension?
(19:23):
What does that mean to you?
SPEAKER_01 (19:25):
Profit and purpose, I'd like to make money while
doing good.
So I actually joined anorganization four or five years
ago.
Uh, while I was in the agency, Istepped out to be able to build
brands for celebrity talent thataddressed a lot of the issues
that were unaddressed byproducts already sitting in the
market.
So we developed products for uhunderrepresented communities,
(19:46):
under addressingunderrepresented needs.
So I developed the Neomini SakaSuncare line, which addressed
the needs of people of colorwhen it comes to melanoma, which
unfortunately people of colordie at a three times greater uh
rate than non-people of colorbecause of late stage diagnoses.
In addition, I've also developedthings with uh Gabrielle Junga
(20:07):
and Dwayne Wade when it comes toproviding products for children
of color, in particular becausewe have drier skin and a lot of
products that exist on themarket don't actually address
the challenges with loss ofmoisture and more darker skin
tones.
So we created that, right?
And so, so for me, the way thatI've always been impactful is by
developing things that fits aneed in the audience, in the
(20:30):
market rather, that has didn'texist before.
So it's and it's veryfulfilling.
SPEAKER_00 (20:36):
So I've been an educator for almost 20 years and
then been teaching at thecollege level.
And it's something that I truly,truly enjoy.
And I have the the wonderfulpleasure right now of working
with students at OberlinCollege.
And in particular, I'm workingwith a group of students who are
um going through athree-semester fellowship
(20:58):
program related to socialjustice and change.
And one of the things that hasreally struck me thus far over
the course of working with thesestudents is how much of an
impact students currently wantto make.
Students are really uncertainright now on how exactly to make
that change, particularly givena lot of the shifts that that
(21:19):
we've seen recently as itrelates to diversity, equity,
and inclusion, especially withinthe nonprofit um and you know,
um, the not for profit spaces.
And many of my students feel ina number of ways, particularly
boxed in and aren't necessarilycertain about how they could
(21:39):
make effective changes incorporate spaces, right?
So what kinds of things couldstudents learn um from your
journey about how to effectivelycarve out space for change,
regardless of the space thatthey're in, but particularly if
they're in a corporate space?
SPEAKER_01 (21:58):
Well, a few things.
One, a lot of corporate spacesnow are going doing away with
ERG programs.
They're doing away with programsthat focus on um diverse
audiences and bringing diverseuh employees together to talk
about challenges and ways theycan sort of make it through.
I would encourage anyone on acorporate track in a corporate
(22:20):
environment where that's notthere to create their own space
and create moments where theycan all come together and help
to identify ways to support eachother from an and from a black
executive or an Asian executiveor Hispanic executive and
creating these moments wherethey're able to pass on
information from their careersand their pathways and their
journeys, right?
(22:40):
So that that's one way.
Uh the second way is to frankly,I've I've always been a big
advocate of supporting local.
So we have an unfortunate orfortunate uh homeless population
in New York City.
We have a fortunate drugaddiction um population here as
well.
So we try to always be local andsupport locally.
(23:01):
So doing things at local foodbanks, local houses, local
homeless shelters, and really beengaged in that way uh as well.
So it's it's important to usthat we do a lot.
So I would encourage anyonethat's in the corporate space
that feels as though they can'tnecessarily be impactful
socially to step out andactually create these groups and
be and frankly be advocates forthe people that look like them.
SPEAKER_00 (23:24):
Absolutely.
Um so you and I aren'tnecessarily Gen Z, right?
But uh we are both interfacing alot with people who are.
What advice do you have foryoung people who um are truly
discouraged about our currentstate of affairs?
SPEAKER_01 (23:43):
Man.
Uh I would say, hey, Gen Z, youhave more power than you think
you do.
And sitting on the sidelines isnot gonna solve the problem.
And sitting in your parents'basement for whatever reason is
also not gonna solve theproblem.
What I would encourage everyoneto do is they have to be act
active in their own community.
They've got to actually bethere, show up to all the
(24:04):
conversations when it comes tothe local politics.
It look all all nationalpolitics starts locally.
So be involved in your councils,be involved in your school
boards and show up and talk andemail, write.
And I know it's difficult to dothat because you're stretched.
You're simply trying to figureout, you know, what the next job
is gonna be, what the next moveis gonna be, what the next
(24:24):
opportunity lives.
And you have to do that and alsobe impactful in your community
in some way.
So don't sit on the sidelinesand just just hang out and just
know that things will pass.
This country, life,opportunities are on a pendulum.
Sometimes you just catch it onthe wrong one.
And uh, but things always swingback at some point in time and
(24:47):
just be patient about it.
SPEAKER_00 (24:48):
Yeah.
So for students who have asocial justice heart, and there
are a lot of students who I workwith who truly have a social
justice heart who might bethinking, you know, my only
options are really disappearing.
How can they still bedisruptors?
And I know you've already talkedabout engaging locally and, you
(25:09):
know, don't sort of dig yourhead in the sand.
You know, what are some otherways that students can still be
um dis disruptors and and socialjustice warriors?
SPEAKER_01 (25:20):
Listen, if you want to be a social justice warrior
and then stay in involved, thereare some easy things that people
can do.
You can create a Facebook grouparound a topic to be able to
bring people together to havethis conversation about it.
You can petition your localcongressman about challenges
you're seeing.
You can also show up to theprotests and show up where you
(25:41):
need it.
I think that all social justicewarriors should be frankly
enraged if they are not seeingchange in their neighborhoods or
in their country and should showup to all the things that have
energy behind them.
I think that there's also a lackof leadership out there.
So look for leadershippositions, jump in and lead
people.
(26:02):
The challenge that we have rightnow is that I don't think we
have anyone that's reallystepping out.
Like back in the 60s, you hadDr.
Martin Luther King, you hadMalcolm Max, you had so many
people.
You even had um, I mean, John MoBryan is probably the closest
that we have to sort of like apolitical slash, you know,
leader for black culture.
But you're we're still we'restill missing a lot of people
(26:22):
that can really step out.
You can be one of those.
SPEAKER_00 (26:24):
Absolutely.
What about students who arethinking about entrepreneurship
and business as a route?
What else should they beconsidering right now?
SPEAKER_01 (26:33):
Frankly, they should be jumping directly into AI, but
not AI and tech and development.
Not like not like let me workon, but but be a student of AI
and understand how it works, bemore informed with the
operations of it, and figure outwhere it can be beneficial to
business, right?
(26:53):
Because everyone is headingthere.
We are using AI more, frankly,in the last two weeks than we
probably used ever.
Frank, because we now havediscovered new plant programs
and new ways of doing things andnew ways of approaching things,
and we're using it to help usget a lot better and faster at
the end of the day.
So it's it's for entrepreneurs,potential business, business
(27:14):
owners, and founders, gettinginto tech is standard.
Developing an app is obviouslystandard, developing new tools
and tech might be standard.
But understanding tech, being aservice provider in tech is also
incredibly important.
So those are the those are themissed opportunities, is that a
lot of my friends that got superwealthy developed service lines,
(27:38):
service businesses that wereable to sell off, that they were
able to present and provide thathad absolutely nothing to do
with the ownership of thatthing.
They just knew how to work thatthing and they solved the
problem for those that could notfigure it out.
A lot of people will buy versusbuild a solution.
So figure out how to buy, how tocreate a solution so that
(28:00):
someone can buy.
SPEAKER_00 (28:01):
Okay.
Before we close, we've got sortof three rapid fire questions
for you.
Okay.
Um, first thing, something thatkeeps you up at night.
SPEAKER_01 (28:14):
Something that keeps me up at night, besides my
children and my new 18-year-oldson driving.
Um the the one thing that keepsme up at night is what did I
forget to respond to the daybefore, right?
That's what's like it is like,wait, I'm forgetting something
(28:34):
that I should have done.
And that's that's the businessside of it.
What keeps me up at night reallyis trying to figure out right
now, it right now what's keepingme up at night is where my kids
are going to college.
That that's really, we're in themiddle of college everything.
So we've got two, one burgeon18-year-old, one 18-year-old,
both of our are seniors, andwe're trying to figure out where
to go to college.
So that's what's keeping me upat night is where they're gonna
(28:56):
go and how am I gonna pay forit?
SPEAKER_00 (28:57):
How are you gonna pay for it?
Oh my goodness.
Second rapid fire.
Something that has made yousmile really big this week.
SPEAKER_01 (29:05):
Oh, see, my wife was gone to visit uh actually, my
wife was gone on a school visitwith my with our son, and I'm
not and she's been on rapid firetraveling for the last like
couple weeks.
And so she came home yesterday,and I that was that put a big
smile on my face when she washome.
SPEAKER_00 (29:22):
Now that puts a big smile on my face.
That's very sweet.
That didn't start off.
I was a little worried how thatwas gonna end.
Okay.
Were you happy that she wasgone?
Okay, but you're happy thatshe's gone.
SPEAKER_01 (29:34):
So that's good.
SPEAKER_00 (29:36):
Okay.
All right.
And last question as we close.
Ten years from now, when we lookback on this era, what kind of
disruption do you hope your workwill represent?
SPEAKER_01 (29:47):
Oh man, I'm literally in the middle of
developing that 10 year vision.
And what I will tell you is thatI hope that my my soon to be
achieved work will Disrupt theentire way that we promote
products within the media andmarketing ecosystem.
That I want it to be a brand newway for us to be able to
(30:11):
discover new things that we needas a society, whatever it might
be, whether the toothbrush,toothpaste, and whatever.
But I want to make it easier forcreators to make money off of
their businesses.
SPEAKER_00 (30:22):
Love that.
Today's conversation with MartinEkachuku reminds us that
disruption isn't only aboutchallenging systems, it can also
mean disrupting your own life tofind alignment, purpose, and a
new way forward.
Thank you so much for joining uson the North Star.
Stay tuned for moreconversations with leaders who
are shaping what's next.
SPEAKER_01 (30:44):
Thank you so much for the time.
Welcome to the North Star, a space for candid
conversations on leadership,equity, and social justice.
This season, we're exploringdisruption, how bold thinkers
are reimagining what changelooks like.
Today, I'm joined by MartinEkachuku, an entrepreneur and
change maker whose storychallenges the idea that social
(00:22):
impact is limited to nonprofitsor education.
Martin is the co-founder and CEOof What Works and co-hosts of
the newly launched The QuietTruth podcast.
Together, we'll explore howinnovation and business can
drive equity and what that meansfor the next generation of
(00:45):
leaders.
Welcome, Martin.
SPEAKER_01 (00:48):
Thank you very much.
I appreciate all of it.
And the great, great intros.
SPEAKER_00 (00:53):
Yeah.
All right, let's jump right intoit.
So you were born and raised inNigeria as well as the Czech
Republic before coming to theU.S.
How did your immigrantexperience and family values
shape your outlook and yourcareer path?
SPEAKER_01 (01:09):
Honestly, because I'm coming from an immigrant
family, my entire outlook wasall based off of achievement and
taking advantage of things thatmost people are taking for
granted, unfortunately.
So my father being Nigerian, mymother being Czech, very highly
educated academics.
They wanted to come to theStates in order to be able to
have a better opportunity fortheir children.
So for me, it's all abouteducation, achievement,
(01:31):
identifying new opportunities,and really understanding that
nothing is promised and we haveto work extremely hard for it.
And being transplanted from onecountry, not even like a state
or a city, one country to thenext, the adjustment period and
the understanding of how toblend my cultural background
with the cultural background andthe platform that I'm stepping
(01:51):
into, and then using all myexperiences to bring things to
life uniquely, which is reallywhat I've been focusing on the
last, you know, since I've beena real an adult, like a real
full-fledged, fully formedadult, has been trying to figure
out ways to build opportunitiesfor myself and my kids because I
know that there's a very shorttime period for all of us to
(02:12):
kind of do things that we loveto do.
And uh and I hope that I'mactually trying to achieve some
of it now.
SPEAKER_00 (02:17):
So I'm a sociologist, and I hear that um,
is it your mom who was ananthropologist who's an
anthropologist?
SPEAKER_01 (02:26):
Uh my father uh is a has got his master's degree from
the Czech Republic.
SPEAKER_00 (02:31):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (02:32):
Um and his doctorate from Oxford, one or the two.
I keep on forgetting which oneis.
But uh yeah, he's ananthropologist and sociologist.
And so I used to listen to himtalk.
He became a family counselor,uh, you know, kids in learning,
and got into sociology andtaught for many, many years,
almost 20 years.
Still actually, frankly, quiteas he's still teaching as an
(02:53):
adjunct professor online to abunch of core um schools now.
So he loves it.
And being in an academic family,uh that that was also part of it
as well, is kind of learningabout different people and
backgrounds.
And I actually enjoyed it.
My dad used to used to take usto Oklahoma to learn about the
Amish and their culture, whichwas actually quite fascinating.
And I used to actually enjoythose trips quite a bit.
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
You know, when you you have a family member, your
parent is, you know, asociologist or an
anthropologist, right?
You learn to be a lover ofculture, people of culture.
You consume that, right?
In what ways has that shaped youand maybe think thinking about
how that shaped you as perhapsuh a parent or uh even a lover
(03:36):
of culture and society?
SPEAKER_01 (03:38):
I absolutely love culture and I absorb so much of
it as a as much as possible, andreally is instilled into me from
my father.
Um, and you got to love New YorkCity.
You know, I'm in the middle ofculture right now where anything
can happen in the back streets,absolutely any moment in time.
You could hear fights and youcould hear loves, you can hear
(03:59):
agreements, children,everything.
So to me, being embedded insidea culture is incredibly
important.
My father, who brought me intothe Amish country, Amish
culture, taught me how to reallyappreciate other cultures.
Frankly, uh, because I'm Czechand Nigerian, I kind of came a
little bit naturally.
My father really kind ofbroadened my experience beyond
(04:21):
just my particular background,helped me to understand other
cultures in a very unique way.
And also within black culture aswell, having to go into the
United States, move to the US,move to the South, move to
Arkansas from two big, verydisparate countries, that that
was also a culture shock.
But I also had to take it thesame way my father took it,
(04:41):
which is try to understand theculture, immerse yourself in the
culture and allow it to shapeyou somewhat.
SPEAKER_00 (04:48):
Absolutely.
So um, and thinking about sortof your career path, um, you
know, it's it's very fascinatinglearning a little bit about your
path because you sort of chartedyour own path and you've said a
lot about how you didn't reallychoose entrepreneurship, right?
Um, you realized that youweren't really built to conform
(05:12):
to corporate expectations.
How did you think about thatdecision now in terms of
creating disruption in your ownlife and finding alignment?
SPEAKER_01 (05:22):
Well, when I was younger, it scared the
everything out of me, frankly,because you're brought up to be
able to go through a particularpathway.
And going into business school,it's almost like you go to
business school and there's ajourney you kind of follow as a
result of going to businessschool, whether it's finance,
marketing, operations, branding,whatever it might be.
It is a pathway that's created.
(05:42):
And for me, coming from anotherculture, another experience,
another career path, coming intobusiness school and allowing me
to kind of go into newexperiences was really what
helped me shape myentrepreneurial journey.
It allowed me to have so muchexposure to so many people.
Even when I was interning, evenwhen I had my first job, it
(06:02):
allowed me to really get a senseof how companies run.
What are what are theoperational capabilities that
are required to run a bit largecompany?
What are the ways to network?
How do you ultimately workwithin a large team environment?
How do you build um things fromscratch, from the ground up?
And how do you lead teams tokind of do things?
How do you also get coalitions?
How do you uh get folks to be onyour side?
(06:24):
How do you get advocates?
All those things are created.
And all of it has served me insome way in entrepreneurship.
The thing about entrepreneurshipversus corporate is really about
resilience, right?
Is it entrepreneurship iscontinuously grinding and
pushing your foot on the gas allthe time.
And I'm not saying corporate,you don't necessarily do that
(06:44):
too, but it's a little bitdifferent.
You can, you have a little bitmore time, you have a little bit
more grace, you have a littlebit more ability to maneuver
within a system and getadvocates for you and get team
members for you.
While here you're largely onyour own, kind of an island for
the most part.
But your job at the end of theday is to bring people around
you.
And so from the corporateexperience, entrepreneurship
experience, I brought peoplearound me that were able to help
(07:06):
me be smarter, make betterdecisions, support me, open up
doors.
I didn't necessarily know we'rethere.
And I align myself with peoplethat I frankly are and very
blessed to have in my life thatwere able to create a pathway
for me into some level ofsuccess.
So entrepreneurship for me wasnot necessarily a uh a given
from day one.
(07:27):
But once I got into the roles ofcorporate and I realized on my
skill set's actually not bestserved here, it's best served
building things and havingownership of the build of those
things and then watching it growand then rinse, wash, repeat.
I just didn't know what job, ifthere was a job description at
(07:47):
Pepsi that says that, I probablywould be there, frankly.
Would be there.
But there was no job descriptionthat really fit my expertise.
The closest that I could findwas actually a cultural change
agent or just change agent.
It's like marketing senior brandleader responsible for culture
(08:07):
or responsible for change orsome sort of change agent,
right?
That was like the closest that Ifound, but I found that most
organizations they want they saythey want to see change, but
then the minute you prov presentthem with change, they just want
to do what they did last year.
SPEAKER_00 (08:22):
How did you know when you were on the right
track?
What what did it take?
And I and I imagine there are alot of barriers that you kind of
met along the way.
At what point did you know, yep,I'm doing the right thing?
SPEAKER_01 (08:37):
I I still don't know.
Uh there is there is no there'sno no no.
It's uh you know, I I I was onthe podcast, The Quiet Truth
with Enaton, and we wereactually talking about one
particular topic, which is iffor those of you that remember
the TV show Martin, um there wasTommy, and everyone was like,
What does Tommy do?
What does Tommy do?
(08:58):
And and I saw myself as a reallife Tommy, right?
That's because I was always inthe mix, moving the ball
forward, doing different things,but I didn't necessarily have a
box to be able to put in.
But somehow wasn't homeless.
Somehow I was able to buythings, somehow I was able to
kind of move things around, ableto kind of shuffle all together.
But I never really knew becauseI have I I've always had
multiple interests in multiplethings.
(09:18):
And my wife, bless her heart,has been like, Martin, find the
thing you're really mostpassionate about and do that.
And and I'm still trying tofigure out to this day, frankly,
it's like what what do I whathave I figured out?
What I figured out is that Iknow how to build things, I know
how to create ecosystems, I knowhow to create connect dots.
Those are the three things thatI know absolutely that I do
(09:40):
hands down better than anybodyout there.
The difficulty becomes how do Imonetize it?
SPEAKER_00 (09:47):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So in 2013, you launched yourown marketing agency, right?
Rather than, like you said, stayin stay in a role that felt like
you were being boxed in, right?
How did that sort of umdisruption change the way you
saw yourself and what you feltlike your purpose was?
SPEAKER_01 (10:07):
Well, my purpose um then was to really write
impactful strategy for brandslooking to get into the
multicultural space and havingnecessarily figured it out.
So I had just come off of amulticultural marketing role.
And from that role, I realizedthat brands think they know what
(10:27):
multicultural marketing is, butsimply putting a person of color
into the ad doesn't necessarilymake it multicultural.
So from that process of workingwith people within particular
roles that were like, let's justmake the imagery, imagery
diverse, that was notmulticultural marketing.
Obviously, things have changedin the last 12 years, but at the
time it was do it differently,uh create alignment between
(10:52):
brand and talent that happen tobe diverse, create ecosystems
around brands where they canplug into multiple diverse
spaces and fee, and then as aresult, provide audiences and
consumers what they're lookingfor and develop real emotional
connections between the brandand the audience.
Now, today, social media helpsyou to get there a little bit,
(11:13):
activations and events helpedyou to get there.
But back then, everyone was justthinking campaign, campaign,
campaign.
And we were saying, let's createan ecosystem that actually has
some value that's ownable by abrand.
So it's it's it's completelydifferent now than it was then.
But that was really what helpedme to focus because I was like,
I see a problem that was notbeing addressed within the brand
(11:35):
marketing, uh, marketingflywheel.
Can I present something thatmight be unique and different?
SPEAKER_00 (11:40):
Now forgive my ignorance on this question, but
this is something that's always,you know, been very curious to
me just as a sociologist.
So over the past, I don't know,decade, maybe even past five
years, you've seen a lot offolks who go onto social media
become influencers, right?
And generate tons and tons ofcontent.
And it makes it seem likemarketing, there's just like
(12:03):
this super easy sort of magic tobecoming an influencer and a
marketer.
It becoming marketing, right?
And I know for a fact that it isnot that easy.
Can you sort of dispel this mythfor us right now?
SPEAKER_01 (12:15):
It is the hardest thing on the planet.
It's like going to the NBA.
It really is.
You have 450, you have 450 slotsevery year, 450 new jobs every
single year that show up, right?
That's all you get out of 10million people that are in that
are playing basketball on anongoing basis.
So it's 0.00001% of the folksthat actually can get traction
(12:35):
and make money off of it.
Influencer marketing is probablysome of the hardest like career
jobs to do.
Looks like fun.
And frankly, even in our currentpodcast, it's an everyday job.
It's continuously engaging theaudience, talking to them, and
building a relationship.
You're dating and dating anddating for you know thousands of
(12:58):
people, hoping that you'llmonetize it at some point.
So influencer marketing andbecoming an influencer and being
successful at it is anincredible difficult thing.
Sometimes people will get therebecause of one of three things
will happen.
Super aggressive clickbaitstrategy where you're being
incredibly divisive anddenigrating or whatever, which
(13:19):
will bring a very polarizedaudience to the table.
And that frankly has some levelof success.
I'm not gonna lie to you.
It does.
Because what you're doing isyou're creating a pit right
between a large audience,creating them to fight against
each other.
Whatever it is, they're gonnafight, they're gonna create
(13:40):
news, noise, and whatever, whichbrings brands and money inside
the funnel.
There's the other there areother people within influencer
space that simply just have aproduct that they'd like to be
able to promote, have alifestyle, an attitude, things
like that.
That requires a curation, whichwhich also has a condition that
you should have taste.
(14:00):
And not everyone has taste to beable to create a lifestyle that
actually has is interesting.
Now, there are others that playin very niche categories that
are incredibly successful.
Those that play specificallywithin, you know, healthcare or
anything related to politics orother other spaces.
Healthcare in particular is aunique space.
(14:21):
So if you are like, I followlike a bunch of dermatologists,
a bunch of medical professionalsthat are just talking about
things about your body and skinand changes and whatever,
incredibly niched, but veryeffective because you're coming
with credibility.
So it's kind of like the threeplaces that I see.
But no matter what, building anaudience is some of the hardest
work, especially if you'rebuilding it organically.
(14:41):
I can just go buy some people,but if you're building
organically, it's incrediblydifficult to do.
SPEAKER_00 (14:47):
So I'm gonna shift gears a little bit and talk
about, you know, things withinthe diversity, equity, and
inclusion space and how that umimpacts the world that that you
live in.
A lot has shifted um over thepast year as it relates to
diversity, equity, andinclusion.
And when we we've seen so muchchange within diversity, equity,
and inclusion, um, how have youseen entrepreneurship become
(15:12):
this viable avenue uh for impactand change now that um
diversity, equity, and inclusioninitiatives effectively being
shut down?
Is there a way for an avenue forentrepreneurship to um become
sort of this pathway, if youwill, to revive potentially
(15:34):
diversity, equity, inclusion?
SPEAKER_01 (15:36):
I I wish I had a very clear answer for that
because it it's multimultilayered.
DEI initiatives have gone awayin the official way, but there
are still a lot of there's stilla lot of energy around targeting
people of color generally to beable to kind of have them drive
revenue for brands.
That's that's still there,right?
So, so some of the supportingsystems have kind of gone away.
(15:57):
Um, if you're an agency likemine, we were preferred vendors
for a lot of brands, and thatsort of kind of went away.
We were also part of an internalgroup of others that were
advocates for us, and so thatkind of went away.
So a lot of the likeunderpinnings there within the
DEI space, but there's still, ifyou can maneuver your way
through an organization, you canstill find the bread, the money,
(16:19):
the opportunity that's that'sthere, right?
So that there's that part of it.
Entrepreneurship as a segue intobuilding back up DEI initiatives
and diversity initiatives, thethe entrepreneurship opportunity
really exists in helping otherentrepreneurs, right?
So if you have, if you were ableto start a company because you
had access and network intolarge organizations where you
(16:39):
can help them maneuver throughan organization.
Uh, for example, if you happento be an expert in supplier
diversity and have all the rightnetworks into the Cokes and the
Pepsi's and the and such, right?
You could be a great value tosomeone like myself as and that
we would pay you for the accessto get into the door to then
pitch our business to those thatwe would never have access to
(17:02):
because you're an expert insupplier diversity and you have
the network that we just don'thave.
So that's an that that's a wayto kind of connect two dots with
um with a missing piece, whichcould be an entrepreneur, a
major entrepreneurshipopportunity because that gap has
not been filled, because all theopportunities now that we are
seeing, we are on the same levelof as any everybody else, get no
(17:25):
prefer preferential treatmentand no doors are opening just
because we happen to be peopleof color.
SPEAKER_00 (17:30):
Absolutely.
Over the course of your careers,and especially given um the role
that you've had as anentrepreneur, have you been a
part of any projects that havecreated any social change?
And if so, what has thatexperience looked like for you?
SPEAKER_01 (17:47):
Mm my biggest opportunity within the social
change uh atmosphere is actuallythrough my business partner,
Jeffrey Burroughs.
And we he's actually has beenworking very closely with the
Sankofa Foundation.
So I was pulled in to work withthe Harry Belafonte and Sankofa
Foundation years ago, and thatwas incredibly enriching.
In addition, we've also done alot of work here in New York
(18:08):
with the mayoral race and tryingto advocate for certain
individuals as well.
And we've also been working anddonating our time to the arts as
well.
So Robert Kraft uh put moneyinto an organization called
Chelsea Factory, which helped tobring the arts together in New
York City of local artists andhelping them to establish
(18:29):
themselves in the New York Cityarea.
He took over a full building,paid a bunch of money for it.
And so we supported in bringingthe arts into New York City in a
different, unique way, in a muchmore of a diverse way.
So yeah, it has been incrediblyenriching, frankly, because
again, I know what it's like tohave to build from the ground
(18:50):
up, both personally andprofessionally.
And I like helping all thosethat are looking to be able to
cross barriers.
If that means supporting fromthe social change side, that's
what I'll do.
SPEAKER_00 (19:02):
Yeah.
One of the, you know,conversations that a lot of
folks have, particularly when itre relates to social justice and
and social change, um, and thenalso, you know, in in
entrepreneurship is is makingthis uh reconciling the tension
between um, you know, profit andpurpose, right?
How do you reconcile thattension?
(19:23):
What does that mean to you?
SPEAKER_01 (19:25):
Profit and purpose, I'd like to make money while
doing good.
So I actually joined anorganization four or five years
ago.
Uh, while I was in the agency, Istepped out to be able to build
brands for celebrity talent thataddressed a lot of the issues
that were unaddressed byproducts already sitting in the
market.
So we developed products for uhunderrepresented communities,
(19:46):
under addressingunderrepresented needs.
So I developed the Neomini SakaSuncare line, which addressed
the needs of people of colorwhen it comes to melanoma, which
unfortunately people of colordie at a three times greater uh
rate than non-people of colorbecause of late stage diagnoses.
In addition, I've also developedthings with uh Gabrielle Junga
(20:07):
and Dwayne Wade when it comes toproviding products for children
of color, in particular becausewe have drier skin and a lot of
products that exist on themarket don't actually address
the challenges with loss ofmoisture and more darker skin
tones.
So we created that, right?
And so, so for me, the way thatI've always been impactful is by
developing things that fits aneed in the audience, in the
(20:30):
market rather, that has didn'texist before.
So it's and it's veryfulfilling.
SPEAKER_00 (20:36):
So I've been an educator for almost 20 years and
then been teaching at thecollege level.
And it's something that I truly,truly enjoy.
And I have the the wonderfulpleasure right now of working
with students at OberlinCollege.
And in particular, I'm workingwith a group of students who are
um going through athree-semester fellowship
(20:58):
program related to socialjustice and change.
And one of the things that hasreally struck me thus far over
the course of working with thesestudents is how much of an
impact students currently wantto make.
Students are really uncertainright now on how exactly to make
that change, particularly givena lot of the shifts that that
(21:19):
we've seen recently as itrelates to diversity, equity,
and inclusion, especially withinthe nonprofit um and you know,
um, the not for profit spaces.
And many of my students feel ina number of ways, particularly
boxed in and aren't necessarilycertain about how they could
(21:39):
make effective changes incorporate spaces, right?
So what kinds of things couldstudents learn um from your
journey about how to effectivelycarve out space for change,
regardless of the space thatthey're in, but particularly if
they're in a corporate space?
SPEAKER_01 (21:58):
Well, a few things.
One, a lot of corporate spacesnow are going doing away with
ERG programs.
They're doing away with programsthat focus on um diverse
audiences and bringing diverseuh employees together to talk
about challenges and ways theycan sort of make it through.
I would encourage anyone on acorporate track in a corporate
(22:20):
environment where that's notthere to create their own space
and create moments where theycan all come together and help
to identify ways to support eachother from an and from a black
executive or an Asian executiveor Hispanic executive and
creating these moments wherethey're able to pass on
information from their careersand their pathways and their
journeys, right?
(22:40):
So that that's one way.
Uh the second way is to frankly,I've I've always been a big
advocate of supporting local.
So we have an unfortunate orfortunate uh homeless population
in New York City.
We have a fortunate drugaddiction um population here as
well.
So we try to always be local andsupport locally.
(23:01):
So doing things at local foodbanks, local houses, local
homeless shelters, and really beengaged in that way uh as well.
So it's it's important to usthat we do a lot.
So I would encourage anyonethat's in the corporate space
that feels as though they can'tnecessarily be impactful
socially to step out andactually create these groups and
be and frankly be advocates forthe people that look like them.
SPEAKER_00 (23:24):
Absolutely.
Um so you and I aren'tnecessarily Gen Z, right?
But uh we are both interfacing alot with people who are.
What advice do you have foryoung people who um are truly
discouraged about our currentstate of affairs?
SPEAKER_01 (23:43):
Man.
Uh I would say, hey, Gen Z, youhave more power than you think
you do.
And sitting on the sidelines isnot gonna solve the problem.
And sitting in your parents'basement for whatever reason is
also not gonna solve theproblem.
What I would encourage everyoneto do is they have to be act
active in their own community.
They've got to actually bethere, show up to all the
(24:04):
conversations when it comes tothe local politics.
It look all all nationalpolitics starts locally.
So be involved in your councils,be involved in your school
boards and show up and talk andemail, write.
And I know it's difficult to dothat because you're stretched.
You're simply trying to figureout, you know, what the next job
is gonna be, what the next moveis gonna be, what the next
(24:24):
opportunity lives.
And you have to do that and alsobe impactful in your community
in some way.
So don't sit on the sidelinesand just just hang out and just
know that things will pass.
This country, life,opportunities are on a pendulum.
Sometimes you just catch it onthe wrong one.
And uh, but things always swingback at some point in time and
(24:47):
just be patient about it.
SPEAKER_00 (24:48):
Yeah.
So for students who have asocial justice heart, and there
are a lot of students who I workwith who truly have a social
justice heart who might bethinking, you know, my only
options are really disappearing.
How can they still bedisruptors?
And I know you've already talkedabout engaging locally and, you
(25:09):
know, don't sort of dig yourhead in the sand.
You know, what are some otherways that students can still be
um dis disruptors and and socialjustice warriors?
SPEAKER_01 (25:20):
Listen, if you want to be a social justice warrior
and then stay in involved, thereare some easy things that people
can do.
You can create a Facebook grouparound a topic to be able to
bring people together to havethis conversation about it.
You can petition your localcongressman about challenges
you're seeing.
You can also show up to theprotests and show up where you
(25:41):
need it.
I think that all social justicewarriors should be frankly
enraged if they are not seeingchange in their neighborhoods or
in their country and should showup to all the things that have
energy behind them.
I think that there's also a lackof leadership out there.
So look for leadershippositions, jump in and lead
people.
(26:02):
The challenge that we have rightnow is that I don't think we
have anyone that's reallystepping out.
Like back in the 60s, you hadDr.
Martin Luther King, you hadMalcolm Max, you had so many
people.
You even had um, I mean, John MoBryan is probably the closest
that we have to sort of like apolitical slash, you know,
leader for black culture.
But you're we're still we'restill missing a lot of people
(26:22):
that can really step out.
You can be one of those.
SPEAKER_00 (26:24):
Absolutely.
What about students who arethinking about entrepreneurship
and business as a route?
What else should they beconsidering right now?
SPEAKER_01 (26:33):
Frankly, they should be jumping directly into AI, but
not AI and tech and development.
Not like not like let me workon, but but be a student of AI
and understand how it works, bemore informed with the
operations of it, and figure outwhere it can be beneficial to
business, right?
(26:53):
Because everyone is headingthere.
We are using AI more, frankly,in the last two weeks than we
probably used ever.
Frank, because we now havediscovered new plant programs
and new ways of doing things andnew ways of approaching things,
and we're using it to help usget a lot better and faster at
the end of the day.
So it's it's for entrepreneurs,potential business, business
(27:14):
owners, and founders, gettinginto tech is standard.
Developing an app is obviouslystandard, developing new tools
and tech might be standard.
But understanding tech, being aservice provider in tech is also
incredibly important.
So those are the those are themissed opportunities, is that a
lot of my friends that got superwealthy developed service lines,
(27:38):
service businesses that wereable to sell off, that they were
able to present and provide thathad absolutely nothing to do
with the ownership of thatthing.
They just knew how to work thatthing and they solved the
problem for those that could notfigure it out.
A lot of people will buy versusbuild a solution.
So figure out how to buy, how tocreate a solution so that
(28:00):
someone can buy.
SPEAKER_00 (28:01):
Okay.
Before we close, we've got sortof three rapid fire questions
for you.
Okay.
Um, first thing, something thatkeeps you up at night.
SPEAKER_01 (28:14):
Something that keeps me up at night, besides my
children and my new 18-year-oldson driving.
Um the the one thing that keepsme up at night is what did I
forget to respond to the daybefore, right?
That's what's like it is like,wait, I'm forgetting something
(28:34):
that I should have done.
And that's that's the businessside of it.
What keeps me up at night reallyis trying to figure out right
now, it right now what's keepingme up at night is where my kids
are going to college.
That that's really, we're in themiddle of college everything.
So we've got two, one burgeon18-year-old, one 18-year-old,
both of our are seniors, andwe're trying to figure out where
to go to college.
So that's what's keeping me upat night is where they're gonna
(28:56):
go and how am I gonna pay forit?
SPEAKER_00 (28:57):
How are you gonna pay for it?
Oh my goodness.
Second rapid fire.
Something that has made yousmile really big this week.
SPEAKER_01 (29:05):
Oh, see, my wife was gone to visit uh actually, my
wife was gone on a school visitwith my with our son, and I'm
not and she's been on rapid firetraveling for the last like
couple weeks.
And so she came home yesterday,and I that was that put a big
smile on my face when she washome.
SPEAKER_00 (29:22):
Now that puts a big smile on my face.
That's very sweet.
That didn't start off.
I was a little worried how thatwas gonna end.
Okay.
Were you happy that she wasgone?
Okay, but you're happy thatshe's gone.
SPEAKER_01 (29:34):
So that's good.
SPEAKER_00 (29:36):
Okay.
All right.
And last question as we close.
Ten years from now, when we lookback on this era, what kind of
disruption do you hope your workwill represent?
SPEAKER_01 (29:47):
Oh man, I'm literally in the middle of
developing that 10 year vision.
And what I will tell you is thatI hope that my my soon to be
achieved work will Disrupt theentire way that we promote
products within the media andmarketing ecosystem.
That I want it to be a brand newway for us to be able to
(30:11):
discover new things that we needas a society, whatever it might
be, whether the toothbrush,toothpaste, and whatever.
But I want to make it easier forcreators to make money off of
their businesses.
SPEAKER_00 (30:22):
Love that.
Today's conversation with MartinEkachuku reminds us that
disruption isn't only aboutchallenging systems, it can also
mean disrupting your own life tofind alignment, purpose, and a
new way forward.
Thank you so much for joining uson the North Star.
Stay tuned for moreconversations with leaders who
are shaping what's next.
SPEAKER_01 (30:44):
Thank you so much for the time.
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