THE BLACK EXCELLENCE BRUNCH w/ TRELL THOMAS

So thank you for rating this podcast five stars. Today, afro Tech seventeen, San Francisco, California, tech investor and Platinum's last Grammy Award winning rapper Chamillionaires on the afro Tech stage talking about how he found his way into the world of investing in tech startups. A little known fact is Mr Ride and Dirty wasn't investor early in his tech career in a company called Makers Studio, which would later be sold to Disney for reported six hundred seventy

five million dollars. On the afro Tech stage, these stresses the hunger for knowledge and the power of relationships that's required to be successful at scale. What I did was I focused on the information and relationships Because if I asked everybody in this room, thinking about the last person that you bumped into that you know probably could have helped you, Um, did you follow up with that person on email? Did you did you reach out to that person.

Did you stay in touch with that person that? Think about how many people in the room next to you could possibly help you on your journey to be something great. Right now sitting next to you have no idea. This person sitting next to you. We take that for granted. We do not value relationships and information like we should. The whole time I was on a path to consume information as much as possible. Somebody said, well, what about these other people to have more advantages than us. Yeah,

that's true, they do have more advantages than us. But information is right under your nose right you go. I used to get frustrated in school only for you, of h and you had this routine where you would go in there and you would, you know, learn during this period and then you have to come back the next day.

I was like, give it to me now, I need it now, because they were here ten years in front of us, and I'm showing up in this tech world and seeing all these people already with all these advantages, already with all the equity, and I'm late to the party, and I'm like, I need that now. I need it all right now for me. I'm Will Lucas and Mrs Black Tech, Green Money. I'm gonna introduce you to some of the biggest names, some of the brightest minds and

brilliant ideas. If you're black in building or simply using tech to secure your bag, this podcast is for you. Troll Thomas is the founder of Black Excellence Brunch and Then You'll event that gives Black Excellence a seat at

the table. His work spans from career beginnings on the historic Obama presidential campaign in two thousand eight to overseeing talent relations and communication with some of the biggest brands at Viacom to perfectly align socially good causes, corporations and celebrities. Many people work to produce events, so I asked Troll, how has he been able to get corporate buy into

authentic events for the culture. What is it he understands about how to decipher corporate objectives to securing their participation. My secret is actually no secret at all. It's just authenticity. You know. I go in there as myself. Um, and that's the biggest thing I think, or the biggest mistake a lot of people making. They say, well, what does the brand want? What do they what do they want?

Who do they want? Me? To be, you know. And so they're shape shape shifting and colde switching and changing all these things about themselves. But the thing about it is an idea that's yours, something that's yours. It is of you, you know what I mean is you've been

your author. Like the Black Excellence Brunch came from my experience as a black person growing up in South Carolina and my mom posting these Sunday dinners at my house at well at her house, at our house, right, Um, and I you know, and that's my truth, you know. And I created that from the essence of who I am. So at no point when I go to these brands, am I trying to be something else or sell something else.

I'm going in I'm giving them that same essence. And I feel like that's the thing that makes people buy into it. I never forget, you know, the first uh French that that I had a big corp response to a corp responsor in general, which was Netflix. It happened so organically, you know. I was sitting at um at dinner with some friends of mine and I was gonna do the brunch anyway, you know what I mean? Um, And you know I was saying, hey, guys, I want

you to come to this thing. I want you to do this thing with me, and and they were like, oh, this seems really cool. I remember you did this in New York and you did that when you came uh here, so this is kind of the next step of that. And I was like, yeah, yeah, that's the next step. I'm growing it. And they said, well, what do you you know, the general question, well, what do you want to do? Where do you see it going? I said, you know, what would be great? Um? And I had

been watching Netflix. They had just launched Strong Blackly and I remember thinking this is so incredible, like what they're doing, the intentionality behind it, at the offense tensity that I felt from it. And I said, you know, it would be great to partner with Netflix and to do something with strong Black Lead because I feel like they're highlighting strong black leadings, strong black leads and TV and film and I'm doing it in real life and so this

is a great collaboration. Do you know the divinity of it all? The girl that was sitting right next to me, Um, Jasmine, who was amazing and works at Netflix. She was sitting there and she said, hey, I'm Jasmine and I run strong Black lead at Netflix, and I'm just like wow. But I said that to say that, for me, it was just authentic. It wasn't me trying to like sell a thing or do. It was just me authentically being myself and speaking from that place and that I believe

attracts what you need. And so when I go to these brands and I have these conversations, I'm strategic, right. I think about who is the right person to contact at the brand or um, you know that sort of thing. So if there's any massaging, it's thinking about those things. But when I get to have the conversation like we're having now, I am a hundred percent myself and also, well, I'm not afraid to walk away from something that doesn't align.

And that's another mistake I think that people make is that they they give off this air of desperation, which nobody really wants to be attached to something that's that's desperate. Right. We all want to feel like, you know, you kind of don't need us, you know, And I think but for me, it ain't pretending like it it's it's it's the truth of the matter is whether I had brands involved, it's not I was gonna do it, you know. And

that's the same energy I take into those meetings. Keep that same energy, right, and I keep that same energy when I go into those meetings. It's just like, Okay, this can happen with you, and I love that, but guess what it's gonna happen with or without you? And um and if it doesn't in line, then I walk away and I say, hey, you know, guys, this is this is why could why should uh people get so used to brands or companies or corporations telling them this

isn't a good bit for us right now. Well, sometimes it's not a good fit for me, Like this is a good fit for me right now, and this you know. And so I just know my work when I walk

into those meetings as well. So so let's back up a little bit, because it sounds like if that, if that was the extent I knew of your story, it sounds like you just walk in and say, hey, I'm trail like you are somebody to get the meeting, and so let's talk about who you are, because I I want to make sure you know it's black tech, green money. I want to make sure people have the keys to getting in that room in order to show their authenticity.

So how what what is it that you've done historically that gets you the meeting in the first place, that puts you in the room next to the lady who runs strong black lead. Yeah, yeah, yeah, great question. And um, and thank you for for that compliment. You are the

crown king of the flood compliment. Um no, man, I you know, honestly, it is work ethic and uh and and one thing that I'm really good at and I acknowledge that I'm great ending and I'm great at seeing something and then aligning the thing the pieces so that it really comes to life. So you know, I've done And I also I'm an advocate of knowing how everything runs.

You know, have you ever heard that when people tell the story of like you know, um, if you want to be the CEO of company, you need to know everything from what the gender does to you know, the hot But I am an advocate of understanding all of the moving pieces. And so you know, I get to a point where I can do events because I've done pr I've done marketing, I've set up tables for events, i helped launch a event series called Musically Master Menu,

which I think gave me the best insight. It was at H one Stafe Music, which is a nonprofit that's a part of viacom UM that gives music education to schools all across the schools and kids all across the country. And UM one thing that I was kind of in charge of is UH is helping bring in funds for

the organization. And I love being created. So I said, well, you know, we got together and we were like, well, what if we do this UH, this dinner series, And so we called the Musically Master Menu and what we did was prepared a chef with a musician, and the chef curated UH a menu based off a song or an album, and then we would have the artists performed at the event and it was this dinner and we

raised lots of money, et cetera. But you know, it was moments like that, UH that I learned all of these skills that were necessary to do what I do now, you know. And so I think, to answer your question, it's playing the different positions and playing them and and really, you know, learning as much as I could and putting

all these tools. One of my mentors always tells me about putting tools in your toolbox and then once you get to a certain place, you can go back and you're like, oh, I can use that hammer for this

wrench with this. And so I was constantly along my career from you know, working at the news stations where now I can interview people right, which I did with these events, to you know, doing pr and publicity, which now I know how to contact the publicists and what to say to get you know, the time to my events, to you know, actually putting on the events, setting the tables, knowing how things go, to you know, having to pitch different brands UM and bring in corporate responses to donate

to the foundation UM that I was working for souls. All those tools that now I could go back in and pull out. But along with the tools came contact. You know, your network. Work is your network, it really really is. So you know, um, lots of people that I've met along the way, you know, while I was building along my journey. I can reach back out to those people and if they're not the person, they can say, hey,

I'm not the person, but this is the person. Because that's I'm so glad you said that, because you know this business is about relationships, right, And I remember listening to this Easter Rate quote where I'm gonna paraphrase it, but she talked about, you know, people are always trying to like get with the east Rays or get with the Denzels, or get with the big dog, when it's actually the people next to you that you should be in the trenches with, and you build it together like

she did with her friends. To your point alongside that is, how do you build purposeful relationships where yes, we're all homies, were all good, but produced value for each other. Also yeah, yeah, so I think the way to do that Again, it's like I always talk to people about transact being transaction versus versus being purposeful, And so for me, I don't focus on what I can get for from somebody. I'm always thinking about, Okay, what can I bring to the table,

what can I add? How can I add value? What what am I leaving here? As opposed to like what am I what am I getting? Or just saying hey this is an A two B thing. It's like, well, let's really connect, let's have a genuine connection, let's really build with one another. And as a result, you know, people will bring things to me. You know, I've gotten to the point now. I was having this conversation the other day where things, uh literally, I'm attracting opportunities, I'm

attracting things to me. I'm attracting people and attracting relationships. And it's because I put out that energy of you know what, like I want to get to know will for will, right, Like I want to know about you know where you're from, what what you what you like? You know who you you know what music you listen to,

like that sort of thing. And I think that you know when you when you enter the space with that kind of authenticity, with that kind of genuine iss, people let down there the guard of you know, being used or trauma or whatever that they're They're like, you know what, I can relax and as a result they you have

this more more genuine connection. Too. Many of us are taught to not be boastful, you know about our successes, you know, but the work you do like encourages us to recognize our value and the rewards that they come with. Right and um, so talk about that dichotomy. How do you balance that? Brouh. That's wow, that's such a great question. I For me, it is this idea of you know, we we we over celebrate, this idea of being like humble, and you gotta like, you know, be uh quiet about everything.

You can't you know what I'm saying, like, don't get arrogant or what And and I think that there's a fine line, right, there's a fine line between arrogance, and but also you have to know your worth and if if, if you're not speaking up for yourself, if you're not letting people know who you are and what you bring

to the table, like, then how will they know? And so I let go of this idea that you know, um, I gotta you know, put my head down and do all this hard work and never like I let go of that, and I encourage other people to let go of that as well. Live in your excellence, shine your life, right, you know there was there were a lot of times will where I used to dim my light so somebody else could feel comfortable. And now I put on the shade, put your shades, you know what I mean. I'm not

I'm not doing that anymore. And you don't have to. And you can and guess what, you know, you can be nice and you can be friendly, and you can be great to be around, but you can still know your worth and move like you know what you're worth. You know what I mean, Because I don't think anybody would tell you about me that I am a arrogant person, or that you know, I am very boast for or anything like that. What they will tell you is that I understand who I am, and I understand what I

bring to the table. But I also understand who you are and what you bring to the table, you know what I'm saying. So it is I encourage people, you know, I that they should talk about what they're doing because you never know. You might say, Hey, true, I make T shirts or whatever. You know what I'm saying. You might be doing the side I think, and and I might be able to put you in a place where you can do more of that what you can do on a larger scale. But how would I know if

you didn't say anything. So how important is it that we don't compete with each other? Compete? Yeah? Man, I think what I'm of the mind is that what's mine you can't have, right, what's for me, it's for me, um, and I think that it can it That mentality came from not operating in this space of lack or scarcity. I think we're taught so often to that there's not enough and that life is hard and like all these things, right, Um, But I'm of the mind of that that we live

in an abundant universe. We live in a in a place where we can have we can think a thing and then it can start to be. And as a black person, I know that to be true because look at where how we have overcome and risen time and

time again, even under the um of oppression. Right as so as a black person that he is different because not only do I believe that we live in an abundant universe, I have my ancestors to look back and say, look what we've been able to do with everything and everybody that's been trying to hold us back every step of the way. So you know, I think that it's okay to want to be the best, and it's okay to strive for higher and bigger and better. But I don't think you have to I have to cut you

out of anything to get what's for me. Love it, love that. Um. I want to talk about like the economics of events, right, And because I when I used to throw parties and stuff, and I remember learning the lesson that if you're counting on the door to make the money, then you've already got it back with the door. What you get in ticket sales should be a bonus on top of what you already So, so can you talk about how the economics of events actually works from

your perspective? Yeah, first of all, you know, I don't even charge people. It's not a cost to come to the Black Excess Brunch. You know. I'm of the mind that uh that we that is an honor as a brand to be a part of the Black Excellence Brunch, because I feel like, especially you know, black people, we give so much to the culture, to these brands, you know, to uh we lend our voices, we lend our skills, we lend our talents, we we we give our money.

We give so much these brands that they should want to get back and pour into us, right, Um, but with these events, Yeah, you're right, it's not it's not about that. And so I had to think strategically about how to get to the level that I wanted to get to. And so I usually start with my budget, right, like, what are all the things I'd like to do. You know, what are all the components that I'd like for this event to have? And then I think about before you

know who you can get the money from? You already you're just writing the list. I'm thinking about what I wanted to look like, what I wanted to look like? What? Because I think that, you know, that is a part of I'm a big manifesto, and that's a part of manifestation, right, Like, you can't start with okay, well what would I have? You know, and then I can do what I want to do? You guys, to start well what do I

want to do? You know what I mean? And think about all the pieces and think as grand and as big as you can think, and as cool and as creative as you can think, and then attract the resources. Right. So then after I do that, I'm like, I want to do all these things. Okay, what is aligned with that? Right? So I'll go back since we talked about Netflix already in the shrunk like lead. When I first so I thought about how I want this event to look like.

I want all all these amazing you know, I wanted to celebrate these young black people who I thought, you know, We're excellent, you know, all the excellent people in my world, and I wanted to celebrate them in this kind of way. I wanted to bring a Sunday dinner to them. One of the components of a Sunday dinner. Here's all the things I wanted to Now, how can I make that excellent? Okay, well I want to you know, deck it out with the cord, and I want to do this, and I

want to do that. And then after that, I said, okay, well what aligns with that? And I thought about Strong Black Lead. I'm like, okay, that aligns um it just launched. I know they've got a marketing budget. You know, from from having worked in these spaces, I know they've got a marketing budget. The marketing budget isn't tapped because it just started, you know what I mean. So I'm just thinking about all those pieces. And then I'm like, okay, well,

what happens at brunch? There's drinks, right, so and I know that also, uh, liquor brands have budgets, so let's let's talk to them about that. Butget and let's bring all these pieces together. So it's just being for me. It's starting with what do I want it to have and then who uh that has money that I can find too a lot. It's one thing to know who you want to partner with for your venture. It's another thing to sell them on the idea when they probably

aren't even thinking about you. So get incorporated buying the projects you believe may benefit their brand. How exactly is that done? I mean tactically, what are the steps we should take? TRYL Thomas speaks on it. So usually I put together a debt, you know, a pitch deck, and I cater it to to each brand. Um, I mean it's I don't have to tweak. Sometimes I tweak a

page or two, you know what I mean. They're there are pieces that go with that can go in every deck, but then there are pieces that have to be cared too. And I think about to the point of alignment that I was talking about. Okay, what does that brand looking for? Some brands want as many influencers holding their stuff, posting it, talking about it or whatever. Some brands that's what they want. Some brands, uh, you know, want to be up. They have like a certain amount of of budget that they

spend to have an event. Okay, how can this event become one of those events that they have that they've scheduled for right, and then some brands want to know about impression. Some brands want to get this many press mentioned. So it's just thinking about all of those pieces and knowing the brand right, having to do your research. You know, don't just reach out to a brand be because you saw them on a billboard. It's like, okay, does this

align with what I'm doing? Stronger lead that aligned Netflix? Okay, cool? Um, what are they looking for? You know, they're trying to get more people to talk about their event? Okay, I know that I have the friends and the contacts that you know that have that are in this influential sphere, so I and I was going to invite them anyway. So now I provide them a hashtag and everything they

can use and I'll encourage people to use it. So it's just being that's when I get strategic, when I'm researching their brands, when I'm thinking about what they need or what they're looking for. Um. And sometimes it's not always what they say that they need, it is what I look and I say, this is what you need. Sometimes it's telling brands like this is what you need. This is what you're missing, and I think people get

afraid to do that as well. Um, but but you know, how will the brand know when they're missing the mark? Like if I'm saying I'm providing this cultural event and I'm providing these uh movers and shakers within the black community, you know, if I can't provide some advice on how to reach us, how to connect with us, then what is the point? You know? So I'm also telling them they I like what you're doing. Here is the way

that I can amplify it. So are you is it working in tandem the getting the brands on board and getting the people who the influencer or whoever they need at the party, Like how are you strategizing or curating the audience, the attendees and the partners? Yeah? Sure. So I'll give a more recent example. Um, I partnered with Warner Brothers for Juice in the Black Messiah, which I don't know if you've seen the business, I've seen it. The best movie I've seen the all years so far. Yeah, man,

so so so good. Um, Well with them, you know, and I thought I got to see the film early, so they sent me a screen I watched the film, and I just thought about the people in my network who would appreciate it, you know, um, who it resonates with, who's on their Instagram, on their Twitter, on their you know, Facebook or TikTok, who's talking about things that align with this film. You know. So it's really just thinking about those and and and the great thing about this too

is me providing this space. The event that I provide gives the brand a chance to activate people as well. They want to they want to talk to. So they might have a list of people that they haven't really known how to approach, but now they can approach them through my vehicle of the Black Excellence frunt if that makes anything. That So it's providing uh uh space for them to reach out to people that they wouldn't have a reason to necessarily before. And you know, they're they're

able to lean in. Um Fortunately, at least so many people know about the Black Excellence Brunch and if they haven't come, they know they know somebody who's come or who's spoken at it. And so when when you mentioned that, it's like people's ears pregnant, like okay, you know, and they don't And it's and it's also less transaction for the brand because you've given somebody something that they want

versus just asking them for something. Can you can you uh to use a to like, for lack of a better word, sell a person who you want in the audience that you don't know. If you, let's say, you know that this person should be here because judas in the black mood sign, Oh your brand on Instagram or TikTok or whatever, you need to be at this party, but you don't know them. How do you then get

them there? Yeah? Well number I feel. I definitely believe that there are six greeks of separation and they're less and when you get in places like Los Angeles and New York is probably like three. Um. And so I reach out to people, you know, I reach out to people or I reach out to someone that I know that I do have a relationship with that has a

relationship with them. Um. And sometimes I tell the brand like, hey, you know, which is another additive right for me to be able to put together a list for the brand and say this is who you should have there and I know this because I'm tapped in because I you know.

So then they're like, oh, super appreciate that I did that research and net work, and they use their you know, uh, the way they throw their way around a little bit and say, you know, it's different for Will to reach out versus for Netflix to reach out right, um, and so that looks a little bit different, but they don't know that Will is the one that whispered the Netflix is here, so and then it's a win win And now that's someone who not only is supporting the film,

it's also they're also now supporting the Black Excellence Brunch. And so I actually like it sometimes when it's like that. I was reading an article and you talked about um, you work on things that convict you, like if you feel convicted about it, and only can when you feel convicted truly about it. That's when you go in, UM, talk to me about like that, because you you you did mention earlier, Like you know, you don't have to

take every opportunity you can. You can walk away talk to me about what convicts you and how you recommend other people pursue that conviction versus just taking opportunities for the take of opportunity. Man, Yes, I I definitely only I tell people people always ask it, what do you do you know, and I tell people at this point in my life, I do things that I'm passionate about with people and causes that I'm passionate about that I

care about, and that's the truth. And I feel that's taking, you know, years of learning and unlearning to get to that point, right. Um. But you know, I'm of the mind that we have one life to live well, and we have to live it on our terms. And I realized that there was a lot of my life that I was living on somebody else's terms. So it was the really I started asking myself a bunch of questions.

You know, I have that journalism background, and anybody that that's closed to me, we'll tell you that I asked a ton of questions. But I started asking myself questions, are you excited about this? What? What do you like about this? What don't you like about this? If you weren't doing this, what else would you be doing? You know, just questions like that that were really challenging me to

be to have real conversations with myself. And as a result, I just started to discover and uncover things about what I liked and what I didn't like. And once I really got to the core of who I am and and and and granted I'm not like I haven't arrived totally yet. I'm still you know, tat seeing you know, but I will say that I'm a lot closer to me. Like, what you get, what you're getting on this zoom is trail. You know what I'm saying. I can confidently say that

whereas five years ago I couldn't. You were getting a little bit of trail, a little trails, mama, summer trails, best friends in college, you know what I mean? You would get in a piece of that. And I think all those people are still with me, but now I can run them through the filter of myself. Um. And so what I would encourage people to do is have those hard conversations with you. I read this quote today, UM,

and it really resonated with me. It's like you, you are the only person that you have to spend all of your time with. Why are you're not in love with yourself yet? And but it really hit me hard because I'm like, yo, we spend so much time trying, like disliking things about ourselves, yet we have to spend all this time with our We should be in you, We should wake up and be in love. I should every day like try. I love you so much, you know what I mean. And I think that for me,

this that self discovery has has been. That has been, you know, unlearning, Like I said, a lot of things that I was taught or told that I should be and I shouldn't be. Like even the concept that life is is hard. You know how many times have you said that just based on what somebody else has told you? But that's you know, that's not true. Life does not have to be hard, you know what I mean. And so it's just it was just unlearning a lot of

those things. And once you get to that point, UM, where you are comfortable with you, where you're asking yourself the hard questions, where you've taken the time to learn what you like and unlearn what you don't like, then you know you can be a lot more intentional and you can work on things that you are passionate about um and that you know make you come alive, and you're okay walking away from anything that is not aligned

with that. So I imagine it's easy for a lot of people to hear you say you know you do things you love with people or things you love and you're passionate about, right, But they they look at their like me, Oh, if it was that easy, you know, we always just go do things we love people that we you know, are passionate about it. But how do you how do you know that people want what it is that you're passionate about because you still gotta eat. Yeah,

Oh that's a great question, and it is. It is really just um, I feel like and I always get really kind of you know, in my head when I answered this question, because um, I understand. So they're practical, logical thinkers, right, realists if you will. And then they're optimists people who just believe that. And I tend to to to leave weigh over on the optimist side, So I think sometimes just hard for for realists to understand that.

But I think simply put it, like, you know, going back to what I was talking about, what's for you? It's for you, It's I don't I think people life becomes hard for people or things become difficult when you desire something that is not in line with you, that is not for you. Right when I'm wanting what what's for Will? When I'm trying to ride in Will's lane? Then yeah, it's hard for me, you know what I mean, because I'm not I don't have all the tools in

my toolbox that will has. So when it's time for you to use the hammer, you can use the ham. But if I haven't gotten that, or if if that's not in my tool box then or a different kind of hammer, you've got a different kind of hammer than I got, Right, it's hard for me to do it with with the wrong hammer or the wrong wrench or the wrong screw. You know what I'm saying. And so I think that and social media makes this uh amplifi asis right, people coverting what other people have, people wanting

to get to this place. Even when I say I do things I love that you know, with people I love, I'm not telling people you know, to only do what I do. What I am saying is that when you are aligned with who you are, when you are I have done the inner work, when you are moving in your purpose, it'll fit. Things will work out. And then you can't say, oh, I'm doing things I love with people I love, right, because it's aligned with you. Um, but that doesn't always look like what's what's with me?

What's for for for me? Or for you. And the last thing I'll say about that is, you know, to your point where people have to eat, um, I do. I'm I've done every single kind of anything, right, like from working at McDonald's to you know, working with Presidental bomb Like I've done all sorts of things. Um. But what I take taking with me in every single uh thing that I that I did, I when I've always felt something that I was I always found something that

I was passionate about within it. That's one thing. So you know at McDonald's, I hated cleaning the ice cream machine, but I love talking love, you know, making people happy and talking to people through the drive through. And it was something about like getting on that intercom and like hearing people's voices and talking to them and then seeing them when they came around the corner. I loved that, and so I was always like, oh, let me do work to drive through, Let me work to drive through,

let me work to drive through. And then it became something that I was excited to do, you know what I mean. So if you are a person who does isn't necessarily is of the mind like, well, I have to eat, so I have to work this job. I challenge people to find something within that space, within what they're doing that they love and that they can gravitate and guess what that will take you to the next space.

You know. There's whenever I got to a point of, you know, feeling good about what I was doing, I often graduated to the next level of my life. Um. And so that is the advice that I would that I would give people. And then once you figure it out, once you get that formula down, once you are are moving and you are aligning, then only the things that you love will start coming to you and you'll be

able to work on those. And I hope that makes sense. Yeah, how have you learned, um, to keep the momentum of an event alive in between cycles like that? What are the tactics like? What do you what do you actually do to build the hype for the next one four months after the event? The last one is over five months? Yeah, man, um, honestly, I so I'll talk about the Black ex Unch in particular, and um, there are a few things that I was

very intentional about. One is I was intentional about not like curating the guest list, not curating, no, curing the guest I was about to say, not just inviting people, curing the guests. I was very intentional that I wanted to curate the guest list. I want to to uh put together this you know, dream team of people that would attend this event. And unintentionally that created kind of an exclusivity. So people are like, wait, how do I how did you? Where did that come from? What? What?

How did you get invite to that? You know what I mean? Um? And with that, I also only sent the invites out a week before the event happened. M hm, So I was about like I sent people. Uh basically, I message people the event UH invite seven day years before. I just message everybody saying, hey, I really want you to be here. UM, this is something special for me. I want to celebrate you and honor you. Uh. There

here it is. And people are usually pretty responsive to that and so um and I didn't want people sharing it, which is the reason why I did. I didn't want, you know, to send it two weeks three weeks in advance, and then I have everybody in there and their brother and sister showing up at the door, you know, because I was doing it especially especially for specific people. So that's another thing. And that creates this air of like

mysterious around the event. And then, um, the third thing, uh with social media, you know everything right now, and I didn't put anything on social media. People only learned about the event after it happened. And that those things, those three things with the Black Excellence PROUDJEC in particular, really helped it grow because I had people texting me, calling me, asking other people like how can I get that? How do I be a part of that? Like who's who?

Like what do I need to do? I have people submit their resume to me UM to come to a brunch and and really it's an I'm honored you know that people want to come. But uh, again, it was just me curating something to uplift, uh people that I felt were black and excellent. And I'm just being intentional

about that space. And I'm I'm very protective of the energy of the space, you know, I want to know who is in there and what kind of energy that they're they're bringing with them, and so I wanted to really protect that UM and yeah, and so it just that coupled with the rollout of like seeing all these beautiful pictures after word and all these things that helped really drum up the support for and people were waiting for the next one, knowing that they either they wouldn't

find out until seven days before the event or they might or might not get Yeah. Wow, Um, how important is this moment in time? And I mean this moment of COVID, this moment of UM racial uprising, this moment of this like what is how important is this moment in time for black opportunity for us to take advantage of the things that we want. This moment is very important. It is it is our time. And I don't say that in uh a cliche way. It is definitely our time,

you know. Um, I think that you know the there's a the rest of all the pieces of the recipe have come together, right like there is UM spotlight on the black community. There is all this opportunity UM to elevate. There is UM there are You have the ears and the eyes of a lot of people that you didn't have the ears and the eyes of before. And the most you know, the most valuable thing about this moment

is that you have this We have this voice. Right if we've ever felt voiceless, now we have this voice, you know, and you shouldn't and and we should proudly and confidently walk into spaces now, you know, um, if we've ever been able to before, now is the time to to walk in with your head held high, with your chest out and ask for those things that that not only you want, but that you deserve. Um. And I think that is what this moment is a US

and we have to take advantage of black Tech. Green Money is a production of Black of the Afro Tech on the Black Deffect podcast network and Our Media. It's produced by Morgan Dabon and me Will Lucas, with additional production support by Love Beach and Raven Neerport. Special thank you to Michael Davis and some car savan Yan you know like the wine. Yes that's his real name. Learn more about my guests and other tech disrupts and innovators at afro tech dot com. Go get your money, Piece of Love