That's what's up. Family. It's your girl to mek A D.
Mallory, and it's your boy, my son and general.
And we are your hosts of street politicians, the place where the streets and politics.
Me.
Why you gotta say it like I said, Why you can't say it your own way?
Because I have to match the cadence to me, because because they're gonna match them together. So if it's no cadence, then it's gonna be off. So when you say it away, I try to say it the same way so when they put them together that it actually messhes. No, I want you to go police, because it doesn't. It's not going to line up. It's not going to line up together.
Can't line up.
Don't talk like me anyway you want to. That's called being a bier.
Trying to be an alignment.
Oh, alignment on street politicians. I didn't know about that. Now let me get into alignments.
Yes, sometimes in sync, how about that.
Let me tell you this about my situation.
I don't know if I already told you this or not, but for the audience, I wake up at three thirty in the morning to leave New Orleans for no.
I woke up at three o'clock.
To leave New Orleans for a five to twenty nine flight. So I wake up and I see it's three o'clock. I'm like, yo, I need thirty more minutes. Because mind you bet week weekend and essence weekend are one week apart, and then in between you go home for a few days. You got to repack your bag, you got to get yourself together, get back to work.
Just that, and the third it's a whole lot.
It's a lot of fun, a lot of drinking, a lot of party and standing up till six seven o'clock in the morning, and working also because we do panels and go to events and do all of this stuff.
So it's a lot going on in both times. So I'm tied tied.
So I was laying down and I said, at three o'clock, I said, yo, I just need thirty more minutes.
But I need to know.
How long the check in for a bag is. So, in other words, is it an hour? Which is only a few places around the country that's an hour. JFK is one of those places. So in New York, if you're going to JFK, you know you gotta be at the airport before an hour. I have certainly learned the hard way. They're not gonna talk, they're not gonna try. If it's literally three minutes after an hour, they you do asked out.
That's it. It's not happening.
So but then, and most airports is forty five minutes and then some airports is thirty minutes to check your bag. So I wanted to just check real quick to make sure do I got thirty minutes to sleep or do I need to get up now and move? So I look, I look, I look, I look, I'm looking. I'm like, I'm looking for Houston Airport. I'm looking, I'm looking. I don't find Houston Airport. I'm like, damn, I need to know Houston, Houston, Houston. Looking everywhere, can't find it. So
I still say, fuck it, we'll see. Hopefully it'll be all right. I go to sleep. I wake up at three twenty five hustling to the airport.
Yet in the car the driver says no.
So when we pull up in front of it, and I'm in the shot with thinking, Yo, the Houston Airport, it's gotta be it's not JFK. It's got to be forty five minutes. I'm gonna be good.
I leave, I go in the car.
We pull up at the airport, and as soon as we get there, I'm looking at the outside of the airport and I've been to Houston Airport a million times, and I say to the driver, Sir, are you sure this is the only place for delta? Because I never looked to see the terminal, So I'm like, is this the only place for the for delta?
He like yeah.
I go inside. Still I'm in Houston. I go to the desk and I'm like, ma'am, how long for because it was a little line, so I ask like, hey, excuse me, how long is for check back? So she said thirty minutes. I'm like, okay, cool. And then I hear us say something and I'm.
Like, oh shit, I'm in New Orleans. I literally I swore I.
Was in you thought she was already there.
I land in my connection in Atlanta and get on a conference call line and I'm looking for everybody that's supposed to be on there, and I'm like, this is crazy, Like my whole team they didn't make the call, Like, what the hell is going on here? I'm about to start texting people it was the wrong day. So you know what I did when I arrived in Houston.
I laid down because clearly I'm tired.
Literally, it wasn't clear. He wasn't clear. He was not clear of man. You know, sometimes you do a lot, man, you know.
I know BT was a lot, you know, coming home and just being with my sons all week and traveling, taking them to boxing practice, and then we went to a rally that I had to do, then a speaking engagement and.
Oh wait, we left the rally.
Wait a minute, We left b T weekend and went to DC and the heat wave for the rally for Jalen Walker.
So I forgot that.
You said rallies all types of shit. We just was moving. So yesterday was a day that I just laid down. I ain't do much at all, laid and rest because you gotta you gotta rejuvenate, You gotta rejuvenate. So I get it, man, because sometimes you just don't be clepped.
Speaking of rejuvenation, people better get rejuvenated for the fight that's ahead of us.
You know, I think that we're going to We're in a time when.
A lot more things, excuse me, a lot of things, unfortunately, are going to have to happen to like make people get serious, I want to say, And I'm being careful because just because people are not out there pumping their fist and doing all of that, does not mean that they're not seriously engaged, that they're not angry about the things that's happening in this country. But it feels like folks are kind of just so tired of dealing with all of it, that things are just happening and people
are not really engaged. And it's a little scary because last week should give us an example.
And you know, this is my thing. I listen to.
I pay attention to a lot of people. I pay attention to a lot of pages. I listen to a lot of feedback. And what I noticed is that even in the midst of the Supreme Court decisions last week, so the Supreme Court is now out of session, but while they, you know, all these last few months, they were working and having decisions come out and voting on stuff that would be which governs our lives, right, And
a lot of people don't understand that. When I was making the decision, when we were talking through how we were going to engage in the last election, one of the bigger parts of the whole dialogue, and the reason why we decided to support the Biden administration was because of the courts. Not just the courts locally, I mean, excuse me, not just the Supreme Court, but also federal courts where our people are often caught in the system.
So we were really really concerned because if you are a student of history and you understand what's happening in this moment, one of the bigger pieces of what we see in this moment is that they always had an agenda. And when I say they, I'm talking about conservatives and specifically the white supremacist arm of the Republican Party. Their specific goal and focus was to af fac the courts.
They wanted court they want the federal courts.
They wanted to make sure that their judges were in position so that they would be able to roll back things like Roe v. Wade, you know, to tamper with affirmative action in education, to advance some of their own causes, you know, different things that they want to do. The judges are super important, so the courts have to be protected. And so a lot of people are like, oh, you know so and so, ain't no good and this and that I we say all.
The time, i am not a Joe Biden fan.
I'm not invited to see Joe Biden damn near about anything. For some reason, I'm back on the White House list every now and then, and I got i'ven't been invited to a few things assigning and a couple social events, but overall I'm not on the list. So I'm not a Biden. They don't love me, and I certainly did
not want to support Joe Biden for president. That is not a thing, right, But I also knew that from a strategic perspective, that these people were working on taking the court so that they could change laws that govern our lives and that.
Will be in place for generations.
And so when you have a situation like the affirmative action piece that happened last week, while and there are still people who are like, well, I don't care about white institutions anyway, It's not about white institutions. Sure, we should be going to HBCUs, but we also should not have situations in this country after our people.
Fought for us to have access to.
Any institution in inequitable situations, to just allow those rights to be rolled back and taken from us.
And I think that what people are struggling with.
Understanding is that this is not an an isolated thing. The police violence, the laws being changed in terms of stacking, the courts, the way, the banning of EDG. All of this stuff is designed to be able to put us, as black people back in our place. And yes, sure, not just black people but others as well, but just for the purpose of our show, we're talking about black people.
And yes, it is true that we need to focus on economic stability and all of that, but again, they make the laws and the rules as it relates to that as well, and as soon as they catch on to what people are trying to do economically, they're gonna shift the codes and the laws and start voting on things that would make it where it's more difficult to even do some of these things from an economic perspective that a lot of our people are pushing and rightfully so,
so we have to be engaged in the political process. There's no way around it, because everything you want to do is impacted by what these folks are doing. And they are smart. They know what we're trying. They're watching the chatter online, they know who's hot. They know the conversations and how it's being shifted, and they sit back and plan while I don't know what sometimes some of our people be doing. I just don't know.
I mean, it's it's the reality.
Like they say, if you don't do politics, politics gonna do you. You know, And we're looking at we're looking at the result of us talking about.
We not doing politics. You know, us talking about Trump.
Wasn't that bad when Trump was intentionally putting in Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh and others to make sure that these laws, these these monumental you know, laws that were being passed and roll back and these you know, these Supreme Court rulings in the past were being overruled and turned back, and we all knew these things were happening. So I just think that we're at a very very critical time where we have to understand every level of government. Right.
We have to understand the Supreme Court, we have to understand House representatives, we have to understand the local We have to look at how every part plays a role in our day reality. You know, when we're talking about a lot of our friends and family are talking about, you know, the tuitions and and and and being in forgiveness to tuition.
These are.
Right now situations. We're looking at that and we're seeing how those things are impacted. And people are like, oh, well this and that and and I hate when people keep saying, oh, that's to white people.
No, you can't.
Now, you can't look at things that are affecting us as a whole.
It is just white.
No, the white people are the ones that's implementing laws. And if you're not, dont matter who's in government. When they implement them laws, you got to follow them. So you got to make sure that the people that's in government, the people that's being voted in that you at least have a chance to understand what the fuck are their policies, right, what are the policies that they stand firm more? How does that affect my everyday life, How does that affect my long term life?
How does that affect my life in general? Like, we have to play.
This game from a strategic standpoint and stop just being pieces on the board. You know, no more of us just being pawns on the board and you can just sacrifice us. No, we were moving as kings and rooks, and we got to start acting like it, And we're in position, you know, I think we're in the age of awakening, especially for black people, economic awakening, understanding how
economics are entrepreneurship. And I don't care how much money you got, if you don't understand the dynamics of the politics, how to you know how to utilize that money, then you'll lose that money if you don't understand the laws that's going to place. So how do you keep that money, how do you invest that money? How are they taxing that money, how they taking that money? Who gets this who doesn't get.
That property tax?
If you're not aware of those things, and these politicians keep putting people in place that are going to negatively affect you and the dynamic and the community that you I'm from all the time, because like they said, when when shit happens to the white.
People, you know we're gonna get it a million times worse.
So if white people is fighting against most of the shit that these conservatives putting in place, the average white person, right then you know the shit that we need to be fighted. So we just got to pay attention to be a lot more, you know, hands on, Yeah.
I think so. And And by the way, it's important to say that we do vote right. We do vote right.
Ninety four percent of Black women voted in ninety four percent of Black women continue to vote in presidential elections. We're showing up in local elections. Black women are literally the difference between in many cases, you know, two candidates, right, like, we make the difference. Black men followed us at like
eighty something percent in the presidential elections. So we are voting, but not enough of our people are showing up, and not enough of our people are running for office and also donating your resources and your time to help people get elected if you want somebody who you feel is going to represent your community better. And we just we really do have to be focused. I'm just saying, like, it's just a time, it's a time, it's the time,
and I don't know, I don't I don't know. I think also because so we we we've been shielded so much from and banned, if you will, from understanding civic engagement and understanding.
How laws work.
That in a way, many of us don't even understand the seriousness of the.
Time we're in.
And that's why they didn't want us to learn it right and there and Meanwhile, white people are participating in you know, a lot of them, not in all everybody, because both.
Sides have whites. We have white and black.
People who don't vote, right, So it's not to say that all white people are voting on majority of white people and black people are not. But there's some intentional stuff that they're doing in the white community because they are taught about civic engagement, so they understand the power
of the vote. And that's why voter suppression exists to try to suppress us from voting, because they know that if we ever make up our mind that we're going to show up at the polls and then large enomb, they can never beat us.
They literally could never win if most of us vote. So this is a.
You know, it's a hard conversation to have in a short period of time. But when you talked about student loans, the only point I wanted to add on that is that even if the strategy is economics, money, money, money, we got to get the money, get the money cool. If we didn't have to pay student loans, we would be able to advance so much more in buying property and buying land and buying stocks and other things that benefit us from investing right because student loans is as
we have the studies have been done. It shows that canceling student loans is one of the ways that you help level the plan field in terms of the doug the wealth gap between white and black and other ethnic groups. So it should make common sense to folks why this needs to be done. But some of our people just you know, are just jaded and tired and everything else. And I just hope that all of this is waking
us up. So another conversation that I've been watching unfold online is that in Georgia, a man who were an employee at a restaurant saw a man fondling and groping aggressively a woman, and he stepped in and told the man he had to leave, and he needed to stop and touch the woman. The predator touched the woman on her bottom. And so the black I mean, excuse me, not the black guy.
The other man.
I don't know what their race are or what their races are. He approached him and told him he had to leave. The guy looks like out side the restaurant, predator shoots this man six signs And so a lot of people, a lot of the comments are people being like, see, this is exactly why people don't like to step in
and help. And in fact, the reason why I know that this happened is because in my mentions, there was a guy that was like, oh, I hope Tamika and my son see this and understand and I, you know, and I hope that they would go and support this guy's gofund me, which I certainly want to do.
That I didn't say.
I was looking for the information. I couldn't find it, you know, to support this guy. And so a lot of people are like, this is why mind your business, Mind your business, mind your business. And I'm sticking to myself, Wow, this again, it's a time because I hear that, I
hear that people are afraid for their lives. I still think in the situation where we most recently talked about people stepping in was in that restaurant where the fourteen year old boy shot the guy who punched the woman right his mother, And I still say that I don't think people had to aggressively get involved. But I do think that a simple voice of someone saying, hey, y'all, look, this ain't come on y'all. You know this ain't this ain't worth it.
Since come on out of here. You know, something would have been better than people saying nothing.
What concerns me and you take it from here, is that it really makes me fear for my life so much that I could be being growth by somebody.
And people.
I'm not talking about whether or not she the woman in the restaurant was arguing back because by the way.
Listening to what she was saying, she wasn't even telling him.
You you know, like like I said me, I probably would have been saying, you bitch ass so and so talking crazy.
You know what I'm saying.
She wasn't even doing all that, just merely was making her point and unwilling to tell let somebody tell her that she was not allowed to speak. But in this situation, this woman was being growth by man. And so what we are now saying is let the woman be growth. Let whatever it is happen, let it play out. Let people be robbed. You see elderly people being robbed, folks
just keep walking by. You see women being harm children, whatever, Just let whatever happen, and just mind your business, because our society is about save yourself.
So where does that leave us?
I think you know there is, it's very it's very it's kind of cut and dry for me. Everybody is not built a certain way, and I don't and I don't. I don't expect everyone to step up, right, I don't. I don't expect every man to be aggressive and be a hero or step up. But I do think that there should be men in our community that see and say, Okay, I'm going to step in. And I understand that when I step in there's amount of danger that comes with that, right,
I understand. But if I get involved and I see a man aggressively in a woman's face, I understand that I'm taking on the aggression that he has for the woman. So the possibility of him trying to hit me or him trying to shoot me, I know exists. I'm not telling men to just step up and be yo. No, if you see if they're getting disaggressive with a woman and that angry, then you should be very aware that
this person is aggressive. This person might be violent. This person might shoot you, this person might try to stab you. I'm not saying to interfere and engage with somebody without being aware that the possibility of violence exists. That's what Bravery is bravery is stepping into a situation in being well aware that the possibility of conflict violence, that you're taking a sacrifice, that you're putting yourself in harm's way to protect somebody else.
That's just what it is.
So what I'm saying when we look at this god, this guy is a hero. Yes he took some shots, but that woman could have got shot right. So he made a condious decision as a man that look, this is not right. That's happening to this woman, and I'm going to step up and I'm going to say something about it.
And came what it was.
He was shot and it was the worst thing, you know, And I want to find his goal from me and contributed to. But I don't want men to feel like to be scared like most of us.
I'm not worrying.
I understand that there's a level like I was saying earlier, understand that there's a level of danger, level of everything that comes to what we do. And that's what the man, the man part of it is. That's what I want men.
I want men to understand that anytime that you are in a society, it is your duty, is your to understand to take on the hard part of life, to not allow women who are naturally innately physically or not physically as strong as as we are to deal with other men who are I want us to take on that responsibility. I want us to be brave enough to deal with it. And I realized that all men aren't right.
But I realized that a lot of men went away from that because society made it seem like it was something. And I don't want men, men who have integrity, men who have honor, to.
Get comfortable in this.
Let me tape somebody doing something wrong to a woman, let me laugh and Joe, No. I want men of honor and integrity to step up. And that's not everybody. So, yes, you're gonna you're gonna have the cowards that's online saying, oh look look what happens.
Yeah, that shit happens. It happens.
You know, you see men jump in front of the train to try to save kids and try to save old ladies.
And everybody ain't gonna do that.
But we want to celebrate those men who are brave enough to make those you know, we see.
Men we've seen I just saw a couple of stories where God or men have tried to help children drowning and they drowned and die.
So that's howl that it comes.
This is what comes with it, This is what.
Comes the man and bravery.
We our, our innate nature is to protect and provide for our loved ones and those in need and in harm.
That's my nature.
I don't I don't feel like any I don't feel that it's something I'm forcing to do.
I have.
I feel like innately when I see someone in danger, when I see a woman being harmed or in a way, I feel like it's my duty to step up and say something and whatever comes with it. I'm not looking like, see this why I am No, I understand what comes with that situation, and that's.
What that's what men do.
We don't do shiit saying thinking about all all lu who could happen anything and have and No, that's not what bravery is. Bravery is understanding that something can go wrong and saying, you know what, despite the fact that something can go wrong, I could get hurt, I could lose this or all those things, I'm still gonna do it because it's the right thing morally and it is.
My integrity tells me that it's the right.
M Well, I mean, hey, I don't even know. It's nothing else to be said.
I'm not gonna let no woman or child have to fight a man or be harmed by some a big man or whatever and just do nothing.
I just can't do it.
So I realized, like you said, and I'm not a man, and I know that if I'm in that restaurant and I'm watching this man before they start that part, hopefully God knows. I would hope that somebody would do something, but it's the point that he hit her. It's no way. I just can't do it. I'm so sorry, So you know, God bless us. But anyway, aj owens this weekend. There's a rally in O Calli, Florida. People are gearing up
to be there to stand up for AJ. There's some folks that said, well, what is there to do now? They can't change They're not going to change the status of the charges. It's still gonna be manslaughter, even though it should be murder. Here's the thing though, for people who are listening. First of all, there are ways that the charges can be upgraded.
They probably won't, but there are always.
But more importantly, It's really about making sure that we are so vocal on this issue that the prosecutors know they cannot play with us. So aj Olwens needs support. She needs visible support, her family, they need visible support because.
Guess what manslaughter.
While yes, there is a maximum I think of somewhere at thirteen years I saw somewhere, But there's also a way that you can give her that she can get probation or a little bit of time after murdering somebody. She literally shot a woman to death that she said she bought a gun for her. She called her children racial names, and she told the children go get your mother and bring her back.
So she knew that.
It was likelymeditated. We keep saying this is premeditated.
It is likely that if I tell you to go get whoever and bring them back, it's like I already.
Told you I brought a gun for them in the first place. Yeah.
If I'm sitting in the house and I tell my granddaughter, go get your mama or your dad and bring them back and tell them come here, and then all of a sudden somebody knocks on my door, I'm going to assume that the person that's knocking on my door is the person I just told somebody, go get so this is this is not rocket science. It's not that difficult.
This woman she researched that day. That day she reached researched stand your ground, so she went online that day before the shooting occurred and researched stand your ground laws to make sure she was within her rights.
She had a.
Gun that she says she purchased for a j She told kids to go get their mother, and.
When the mother came back, she shot them through the door.
And for whatever reason, on her camera, her cloud, her camera on her phone where the videos throughout the day. She there is no video after eight forty, which is before the shooting happened, and before she killed a Jones.
And they talking about manslaughter. That is murder.
I'll tell you it's premeditated.
It's pure murder.
So with all of that being said, when there are people who are who say, well.
Why do we need to go there?
She got charged, there are there are some people in our society that feels like.
We're so tired.
Anything is something, at least it is nothing. But that's not that's not okay. And if you don't stand up for ag and make sure that your voice is heard on this issue. What will happen ultimately is that they will find because that's what they're trying to do. They're trying to find ways to limit the consequences for her actions, Susan Lorenz.
They're trying to limit the consequences.
And I just hope that our people, you know, don't let don't don't let this black woman be murdered like that, and and we don't raise Holy hell, and not just online. But that's when it that's when the tough part comes, when you actually got to put your boots on the ground, your feet in the mind. So that's where Saturday, two o'clock, Okalla, Florida, more information about the rally will be released and today actually,
so that's the deal. So my thought of the day, I had a little situation happened while I was at my book signing at Essence Fest. Shout out to so many listen, child, it's so many people.
Hold on a second, let me just make sure I have this space.
Yeah, I know.
That's so.
I had a little situation happened in New Orleans right after I finished panel that I did for a book, the authors section, So the authice section. They were hosting panels and having book signings and my book was featured, and so I was on a panel. Shout out to my girl Kasey Kelly. She her and Mahogany Books. They organized all of this and she had me to be
a part of the author session. And so when we finished the panel, right before we went to sign books, a woman was saying she wanted to talk to me, and she said, you know, telling me she wanted to talk to me. And so during the panel, I made a statement that people have to stop being so scared, like, you know, stop being so scary.
Speak up, you know, speak up, and stop.
Letting people tell you who you can and cannot be friends with because you're afraid that if people find out, you know, you might not get this deal or have this opportunity. Like, let's stop doing that because those those that type of behavior is what fractures our community. And people know they play on that, Oh don't my sa shuldn't talking to Mika this and that. So I'm like,
stop doing that, stop being so scary. So when the panel was over, the woman she says she want to talk to me, and she comes up to me and she says, and she waited patiently to speak to me, and so she said, listen, I agree with you so much on what you said. Stop being so scared, she said, I say that all the time, you know, stop it.
And she said, and.
You know what y'all need to be talking about, She said, I went to the concert last night and she the artist, she said, and she was performing. You know, she says somethingboy busting it open, and this now she was like, I just like, what is that. They need to stop doing that. That's what's wrong with our society and our young people. And so I said to her, you know,
she said, and y'all need to talk about that. And I said to her, you know what, I hear you, because sometimes I do think that the it's a little it's a little racy out here, right, And so I said, you know, I hear what you're saying.
What you're saying. However, the pushback is, we always.
Have sex has always been tolling, Music has always been sexy.
Artists have always been sexy.
Right.
People didn't like when Tina Turner was out there with them them fringes, shaking her behind all over the place.
That was the.
Twerking of that time. It literally was that was the twerking of that time. When Tina Turner turned around and she's shaking them fringes be going, going.
Going, go and going.
All of that, that cabaret that you know, sexy artistry or whatever has always existed. Yeah, it might look different now it's more vulgar or whatever or whatever her opinion
or the language you like to use. But I don't know that you could go tell women today that they have to change their style because some folks are uncomfortable when people have always been uncomfortable and those and and you, as this woman standing here talking to me, I'm sure you was out there celebrating the fringes popping back then, but now.
Because of the fact that it's skin and ass fat back.
You wanted to change I said, so, I don't know, and she started flipping out like, oh, you're a hypocrite.
And I'm like, okay, I'm hypocrite. Wow.
Like if I was like okay and the people there were like, oh my god, you are kam, I'm like, now, I'm used to people pushing and we have these conversations and I don't have an answer to it. But you know, I guess My thought of the day today is like, can we now try to censor artists in their especially female artists, and say that they're too sexy when sex has always been selling, Like, why what's different about this time? That's the question I have for myself and for us, just as people who are.
Influencers, we don't talk about that.
In a few minutes.
Well, I think for me, like, I definitely agree. You know, sex is always so, it's always been one of the primary things. But I think at this point, I don't think it's the artistry of sex that's selling them, right. I think the artists now have turned into sexual objects. Right like before when you when you heard Little Kim talking about queen business and that when she had an interview Kimberly, the Kimberly that you interviewed was intelligent. She
was talking about certain shit. There was a different level of there was a separation of artistry in the individual right when you even like when you listen to Jay Z talking about you the hustle, this and that when you interview them, his mind was on a different plane when you listen, when you listen to all of the artists, there was a separation from the artistry in the individual. You can see the difference. You can see where there
was an elevation in the mind. You can see when you talk to them, they just wasn't pussy dicking this and that they had the interview and and and the personal interaction with that individual was separate.
When you found at the most for the most part.
Right, you get to these these they were talking about intelligence.
Ship talking about but I don't remember, but.
Flavor flav wasn't talking about nothing, right, since Flavor Flavors artistry was he was a hype man, right, so he was talking about this and that there were certain individuals that you got it and and and and and the thing was you treated them as such if they was the man and this and that, that was.
The credence you gave them.
So I think now when you're having these conversations with the artists, I think it's still just this sexual shit. Still, it's still based on sex. It's still based on this. So people aren't able to separate the individual from the entertainer no more. And that's why you have situations like even though I thought it was the dumbest shit with with Tsukiana in this individual, this guy, right, because he's Kosyrus because in his mind, this is who she is. She's just sex.
That's it.
Every conversation she has about sex, all the music is about sex. There's nothing that I've seen in her. And even though that's completely wrong, but this is what happens. And and people are just seeing the individuals as just sex. They don't see them as something that's separated from the artist.
Try and when you when you have this, these these intimate moments with them, there's this deep person like damn, I didn't know that about this person, or this person is dope when you meet him, like they it's like they all stay in character. They staying in character. So the individuals, like before, my mother used to like Little Kim right, even though she was like they was talking about.
But when she listened to Little Kim talk and she heard the interviews and this and that, she reminded her of her, Like, Okay, Little Kimar, even though there's this this raunchy shit about her, there's this this young woman still here. You understand, I'm saying. Even with Nicki Minaj, even though Nicki is selling all that shit, she said all that shit. But when you listen to Nicki Minaj have an interview, that's an intelligent business woman. You understand
I'm saying. I think right now, what they're doing with these young girls, you're not seeing that aspect of them. Every interview is about so you're doing this and this and that, and it's just all every video, every interview, everything is just this sexual shit to where they just just see him as sex.
So I think it's just like with the rappers.
Before the rappers, you heard it it was shoot them up, bangman in the music, but when you had an interview with them, there's somebody. We're trying to ever evolve from this, you know, we're trying to flip this money.
We had to get off the streets. We lost too many people in the street. This and that.
Now Yo, Yeah, we got beef with such and such and we're gonna shoot them and this and that, and it's on when we poping, it's no, there's no separation. So it's it's like, what happened is I don't know.
I think the guys are better.
I think some of them are, but I'm talking but some of them are.
But for the most part, you still that's what that's all the interviews be around they don't interview. And that's why I started sit down with the stand ups, because I want to focus on the evolution of the mind.
The other ship you want to talk about.
We know they come from this, we know they've done that, but talk about the other ship. Let people understand that these are intelligent individuals who have brains, who have aspirations, who you know, don't just focus on the dumb shit all time.
And I think that's what happens most of the time, is that everything.
Is complete focused on this sex and the individual becomes just in people's minds as a sex object.
And well women have always been objectified though, so I don't know.
I guess, I guess I see what you're saying.
And I'm thinking about if we think about how what people's argument was with Tory and Meghan, right, it's Tori.
I mean, Megan just graduate, graduated from college.
This is the one with a college degree, right, And what what what our social media and people will try to focus on is the sexual ship that she talks about in the music. Everything is all all of the interview questions about sex and who you are sex with and this and that. So people just seeing her when the situation happened and she got shot.
People said, fuck her.
All she is is somebody that's sex and shaking her ass anyway, So we don't give a fuck because they just seen her as that. They separate the pure human being from it. They don't even look at the other aspects of this intelligent, young black woman that overcame shit, because that's not what's being shown to the public.
We don't even see that aspect no more. We don't see it that.
We don't see I don't see no interviews where it's highlighting the minds of these chicks. It's like, oh, I would fuck you, you fuck me? Oh, I would lick you. What look at my ass or my ass or you squat? Oh those are combination. But where's the rest of the ship that goes with the women? Why I don't show
the rest of the interview? What she talked about, she graduated, she overcame this and that, But you want to talk about who she slept with and who she said is sexy, and like, that's what that's what this eerror is doing now.
It's objectifying women.
And until we stopped doing that and we start showing the human side and the aspiring side, and the evolutionary side and the intelligence side of our women.
Like we used to do, We're gonna keep getting these same responses.
Well, I think I would say two things on this.
One is that it's the object objectifying or whatever objectification of women and the promotion of violence. So those two things that happening at the same time. But I also think that, yes, it is the media in a lot of ways, but we as women and just people and artists in general, have a responsibility to.
Shift the conversation.
And so I'm sure you know they tried all that stuff with Queen Latifa and Jada Pinkett and all, and I've always had to deal with that the line of questioning.
You happy to be.
No, but I'm just saying your intellect was respected.
No, No, but you're not understanding what I'm saying.
I'm saying that there's always been because at some point it might not so much have been about sex, but it was colorism or competition. They've always tried to shift the conversation to something that's controversial, and it is incumbent upon us as individuals. And that's me and you doing interviews all the way to artists that you keep the converse station where you wanted to go.
So when they ask.
You about your but hole, you gotta say that's funny.
You know.
I talk that all the time, but I ain't come up here to talk about that. I do want to tell you, though, about blah blah blah bah blahlah blahlah blah thing. So you have to educate yourself, right, You've got to make yourself. You have to put you have to develop your mind in a way that you have something else to talk about.
But I hope that because a lot of these young girls that's being objectified, they don't know. They just getting theme and people saying, Yo, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, And as they grow they be like, I'm not doing that shit no more. But what happens
is that's what your brand is right now. If people don't even want to hear you talk about nothing else, you know, they want to like I heard stupid ass fucking I'm not saying no names, but these blog dudes twenty one savages evolving in his music, and they like, all right, we just want to hear you shoot and kill and sell drugs, nigga. We don't want to hear that positive shit, and that that's they try to put
you in right so they don't eat. They sound bite you on negativity and stupidity once you will, but you.
Gotta keep on your path.
And again I'm just saying that I want to make sure we talk about the personal responsibility of these individuals because again, I'm sure the question back in the days was old Queen Latifah, did you hear you know what, I'm just making this up what mc light said. And you know, how do you feel about hugs? You think she's this, that and the third or so. They always try to find something. It could be sex, it could like I said, competition, colorism, you think she's too light,
too dark to this and the third. But they're always going to try to focus on negativity because that's what they want to stick in our community.
I want to say one thing before we start, right.
I was looking somebody I don't know who posted it, but it was a post about Kevin Gates and it was showing like his old interviews right like they were showing clips of his old interviews.
It's like, Yo, Kevin Gates used to be a real hard interview.
And he was militant, like he was so militant that it was it was shocking him. Dude, please says, please, don't put your hands on me. You don't want to touch me to talk to me. He's like, yeah, I didn't come up here to talk about that nonsense. Like he was militant. He was getting up there. And then I was listening to and I watched and I started listening, and I benefit Kevin Gates fan because I understand the
militancy he has. And I've listened to like full interviews, and I watched the way he interviews now and he said it before that he has a massive degree in psychology. And what he started to do was give you all the bullshit that you wanted to hear.
He knew that that's what they was gonna grab one too.
But when you started listening to a full interview, it's so much shit in here that he's saying that's on point, but he gonna give you all of the most wrong.
Cheers, craziest shit that.
He knows going headline because he understood the games, so a lot of it's a lot of artists what they start doing and say, you know what, I'm not gonna fight the system. I'm gonna play the game, and I'm gonna add this ship I want to do, but I'm gonna figure out the game because when you when I was playing it the way that I thought it should be played, it wasn't getting these headlines.
They wasn't paying attention, they wasn't listening. I wasn't in these things.
But now that I give y'all a bunch of this bullshit, y'all pay attention. So now you're gonna go get the whole body of work and listen and be like, damn this thing. You're talking some ship. But the thing that brought you here was the bullshit and the sound bites. So that's what we at sound but we in the sound by error.
Well we've always been in the sound bite error, and I'm not really good at it. We always have because I mean, that's that's something that because it's in every it's in every aspect, like in civil rights, sound bites is like what's supposed to sell.
So I think it's been there, but I think.
I don't think it sound bites that I don't think what you mean is the sound bite, because we've always been sound bites.
It's just the raunching like it's.
Sound bites have always existed, right, There's always been a need for sound but there's always been a thing about sound like that one or two things that you could take that they say, that's always been, but it wasn't as prevalent as it is now.
There was an overall thing.
Before.
They would take sound bites from people who have overall talent, and they would take that. Now they just take they take sound bucks over overall talent.
Okay, well listen, speaking of sound bite talent and online and how you get noticed and all of that, we have a digital marketing or marketing expert coming up and she's going to be our guest.
I am you know, I'm pretty.
I know her work and she's actually really good at what she does. And so people who are influencing needs to listen into this interview so you can learn more about ways to uh bring value to companies and also bring money to your pocket for your followers, and not just be online to be online scrolling, but to be online and make.
All Right, let's bring our guests on.
Speaking of our friends, we had, we have a friend that is joining us today on street Politicians, someone I've had a lot of time or spent a lot of time with and had the opportunity to get to know this sister, who is quite influential in her own right. But she has a company called Black Girl Digital, which deals with influencer marketing. So her firm focuses on helping uh influencers with their marketing strategies, and her own form.
Of activism within her business is.
To help shape and make sure that there are equitable opportunities for brand partnerships between the influencers and some major brands. And what I appreciate and have learned much about this sister is how much she has been able to do in terms of getting people the type of online imprint that they deserve and need in order for their businesses to grow. You know, some people think that it's an easy job. You just go online and throw up a page.
And that's why most people get frustrated because they find out that there's a lot more work that goes into being a viable company that brands will look at, and you know, and also just having viable strategies.
And so I'm excited to.
Bring to the show today to welcome on our sister, my friend LaToya schambeau Hey.
Guys, thank you so much for having me on.
Always excited to join the show and talk all things influencer marketing and marketing and getting your businesses rocket and rolling.
It's amazing, man.
I just want to know because every time we get influencers and different entrepreneurs, the first thing I want to know is like, what was the inspiration behind you doing it?
Well, interestingly enough, I've been in advertising and marketing for seventeen year eighteen years now, and I've always just had a love for the advertising industry, and through my experiences, I was like, well, who who's doing all of this and bringing deals to black women? And since I just had to know how of where the money sat, it was an easy way. It was just an easy way for me to live out my passion as well as my purpose and kind of merge it all together. Still
support my industry and support my community. So it was really fait you know, and my desire to just help the community get paid to do the things that they love to do.
So when did you like first start this company?
Like you say you've been doing advertage, So what did you first start your own company?
Twenty sixteen?
It was twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, and it was right before social media took off. So originally the idea was to be the largest black female ad network, so very similar to Complex. I was managing at operations for some major black female bloggers at the time, so I took the extra the Nicole BITCHI to excel. Nicole was managing her ad operations, and then fashion Bomb Daily, The Cut Life, and a couple of other publishers.
But the interesting thing was, let's say it literally.
Happened overnight, like December thirty first, I went to sleep January first, the new year twenty to seventeen. It was all about influencers. So I'm very much a visionary and I assess business for what the future could look like, not for what we have to do like right this second.
And I was like, it's I have to pivot.
You know.
All of my bloggers were turning into influencers. The brands that I was working with, they wanted to test out influencer marketing, and I was like, well, I know how to do it. I know how to package, I know how to price, and I have the inventory. So it was an easy pivot in the product, but not in
the purpose. I was still able to continue down the road of supporting black women and really helping them get paid fairly in a space where out they gate they were immediately you know, not paid in an equitable manner.
So it really.
Twenty seventeen was a critical year in the pivots.
So there are people out here who need and I'm one of them, who need to understand in a very very.
Basic way.
I was gonna say elementary, but that's probably the wrong turned to use a very basic way. First of all, what is an influencer? And then what does influencer marketing mean? You know, Like I know, I think I know, and it sounds really good, but I'm not sure that we understand all the intricacies of what being an influencer is in and of itself, Like, for real, not just somebody who people see and you know, you just around, but
a true influencer. Your brand is something folks want to connect to their brand.
What does that mean?
And then what does it mean to be What does influencer marketing mean?
Sure, so in different industries it might be different things, you know, but from the advertising perspective, from the lens of the advertising industry, it's an influencer is someone just being contracted to promote something on behalf of a brand, whether it's you're being paid.
Or you're doing a hard right. And the term.
Influencer marketing was adopted in the industry to really serve as a channel in which that marketer leverages that influencer.
Right.
So an influencer can come in many different forms. It can be I'm working with this influencer because they have reach. It also can be I'm working with this influencer because they have a really niche audience where this they post something, they really care about what they're posting, and they want to buy from them.
They want their interested right, so they have that niche audience.
Or this influencer creates really great content and as a new brand business owner, I need quality content that that's.
Produced by this influencer.
So from an advertising perspective, again, it's really more of a channel that influencer marketing is a channel in which they go about marketing the business through influencers. And an influencer is someone who is being there's an exchange, there's an exchange of service.
Okay, that sounds dope, but so give us like a couple of influencers or artists whoever that you've worked with and connected them to certain brands that we probably would.
Know of it.
Oh Jesus, we work done so so many campaigns.
It really just depends.
So for example, right now, we're working on a couple of campaigns for Disney.
We we just wrapped up or wrapping up.
Run Disney, a campaign for that's really amplifying and showcasing that Disney has a program for runners, and they wanted to really amplify the diversity of the program and how fun it was, so we contracted a couple of black.
Influencers that love to run.
One of our influencers that we worked with a young micro influencer, Charlene, based out of Boston.
I mean, she's so dynamic.
The first time we worked with her was on a Boston and we worked with the City of Boston to amplify and drive tourism to Boston and kind of shift the sentiment. And she loves Boston and she went above and beyond for that campaign. So just remembering how hard she worked on that one campaign, it always made us
go back and think about her her future campaigns. And we've worked with her a couple of times and that for us is really critical, you know, because some of our programs they take a long time to negotiate or they turn over the next day, and we're always looking for flexibility when we're working with the creators, and Charlene was really a dope creator that we work with to get.
The job done.
I also mentioned LaToya Forever, so we worked with her on a Walmart campaign and her audience they are stay engaged so well and responded so much to her to her post, she had the highest, the best engagement. And it's not it wasn't necessarily because she had a million followers, because generally what we see with an influencer who has a million followers, they have really low engagement, you know, one percent.
Maybe maybe maybe two percent maybe.
But LaToya her audience there they genuinely love the content that she makes and supports the branded content that she makes, and that makes that makes for her to be a really good influencer partner to work with.
Okay, so let me ask you some fire questions here because I wrote down sixteen things I need to know because I know people people really need to notice because they want to be an influencer. And I think it's different like you said, I mean you're talking about brands. But some people think being an influencer, you know, means that they just need to put up really cute pitches all the time, or they need to have something to say about everything on the internet, and they think that somehow they're.
Supposed to make them a viable.
Person to, you know, for larger opportunities, when the reality is that you have to have something that will help people make money and just being on the internet is not that. Because I hear you continuously talking about, you know, the engagement of your audience. So if your audience is not the type that will go purchase the lift glass or buy the thing, or get the tickets the movie tickets or whatever, that you still are in progress in
terms of your influencer status. Right, So influencers are not just people who look good, who've got the best body types and all of that. But there are people who can move dollars, move people, move things, make things happen with their audience. So the question is do you need millions of followers, Because from what I'm hearing, you don't
need millions of follows. You could have a small group of followers, but if they are special type of group that will actually engage in whatever the campaign is that could be looked.
At by a brand as well.
So you don't have to buy followers in order to be a strong candidate for partnership.
No, you absolutely do not need to have a lot of followers to have a great partnership. I think the misconception is that follower count matters. It does matter to a certain degree, But the issue is that most creators they don't know they Everyone screams, pay me what I'm worth, pay me what I'm worth. But the issue isn't about people paying you what you're worth. It is about that you don't know how to articulate your value.
So that's someone to pay you knowing how to articulate your value.
You have to know how. I don't know how to articulate my value.
It it's not an overnight thing. It's really about first understanding who you serve.
Right.
When you know your audience, you can you can better select the brands that you want to work with because you know what your audience, what they come here for, Why are they here every day? What are they saying, what are they talking about? What are they asking you? What's in your DMS like you have to be the you have to be the expert in your audience so that you then communicate that to that brand so that
they can see the value that you bring to their partnership. Right, and that in itself that you can have ten.
Thousand followers, but if you.
Have if eight percent of them are highly engaged, you can move mountains for a new business.
And the more money you make a new business.
They're going to come back again and again and they might increase the partnership. The point of marketing is if I invest a dollar, I want three.
Four or five back.
Right.
Point of marketing, And so now we're adding influence and marketing. The point of influence of marketing is to get some sort of ROI right and where when an influencer can articulate the value that they bring and how they can
contribute to that ROI, its gold. And oftentimes they don't ask the right questions too in understanding clearly what a brand means and what the real goal is and getting the real goal out of a marketer can be challenging, but the success is when you recognize that the brand really just wants to see you know, they just want ten thousand impressions, not saying that everyone can do deliver ten thousand impressions, but if they can clearly articulate what the needs are, then you can give back.
Well, this is how I can help you do that.
Okay, so let me ask.
I got a couple of, like I said, fire questions here.
So what are the.
Dang you just said something that made me want to ask a different question when you said ten thousand impressions. Okay,
so I'm gonna shift to this question first. So now that Instagram is doing this new stupid thing where they decide whether they want to show your likes, your views, or whatever, it just depends because sometimes I'll look at a post of mine and it'll say that I have two hundred likes, but when I open it, like opening insights, it shows that I have that twenty thousand people watched or there's been twenty thousand views of the content.
Right, So if you want to load.
That's how you upload your content though, because you if you're if you uploaded video first, like.
In reels, it's views.
But if you upload it like if you uploaded like a regular post.
And then you have an image behind it.
It's going to show lights, it's not going to show the view sometimes it sometimes it depends on how you upload the content.
But I know that's not your question, Kary.
No, no, no, no no.
I mean that's good because that's technical and that's Those are the types of things that people want to hear.
But what I'm trying to say is based upon that.
In this time when it's clear that social media companies have started to sort of suppress people's engagement for whatever reason because they don't want you to make a real business out of your social media platforms.
And our brother Isaac Hayes at fan Base.
Talks all the time about how most people are not even seeing your content when you post because the algorithm is suppressing the the eyeballs that you get on because if they let a million people see the product and purchase it, then you have your own business and no longer really need them. Right, So the question I have is how are you measuring success? And how are the brands that you work with measuring success?
See my question did come together? How how are they? How do you measure success.
When the algorithm is so influential in the influencers work?
M Okay, it's so dominant this this is this is a deep question. I'm going to answer it in a couple of different ways. So from the influencer perspective, right, in my humble opinion, the these platforms they owe you nothing, right, they have given you a space to create, to be, to build, right, and it is a tool that I think all you you just have to use it the way that you need to, the way that you see fit and not get so caught up on what the algorithm is against me, because honestly, the.
Algorithm the way that it's the way that it kind of works.
And I'm no I'm no pro but as it relates to the algorithm, it's really about interests. Right, So if you are creating content that is of interest to the audience that you are serving, they're going to continue to
serve that that that post. Right, So if somebody is suit like if people are if you create content as engaging, so and an engagement looks like in your if you think about your your your caption, think about your caption, right, you can see one sentence, maybe you can see like two lines, and engagement is when someone clicks on that.
To open more.
Right, the platform who on the algorithm recognizes that as an engagement. So they they're basically saying, oh, you you're interested in reading this and reading something.
Like this, well, let me serve you more of this. And that is that's what's.
Really triggering a lot of how content is growing or not growing.
Well, but LaToya, before you finish your answer, and then I know my song has more questions. These companies are racist, So let's be clear that there are people who yes, there is an interest thing. And of course, and not only are they racist, they're racist, they're sexist, it's a whole lot of things.
And they're even looking out. They will block you immediately.
Yeah, and and and also they suppress your content based upon what you're talking about.
So if you are.
Showing ass and titties and you know, talking about freaking off, everybody can find it all the time. But if you're talking about white supremacy and so social justice and political issues, they have a way of ensuring that your content does not move.
But so far, and so often so keywords.
It's a it's that's embedded in a lot of keyword triggers on the back end. So you know, I and I noticed that like if you if you use certain keywords. It'll it just automatic because of a machine, you know, because they don't have enough humans to vet through all
of the content. They have these lists, they have these these block lists that automatically triggers that then yes, suppresses the content that and it's silly, it's awful, But from a branded partnership perspective, right, and keeping those things in mind, you know, I think that we're we're in on is what they don't leverage often is the pay to play because at the end of the day, you do have to deliver.
Right, So, a brand is booking you for something and.
The goal if the goal is they want to see engagements meaning likes.
Follows or shares or whatever. And you know that.
Your branded content does not perform well because whatever, for whatever reason, then you should be thinking about, well, how can I boost this post to deliver?
It?
Literally will cost you five.
Dollars to deliver, you know, and when when you're kind of negotiating your deal and looking at your rate, you have ten dollars to spare to make sure that your campaign delivers in full. So when you ask about what that goal that ROI and you know, the marketer generally when booking and influencer campaign. Their goal can be built
around impressions mm HM, breach and engagement. And then if somebody says this is a brand awareness campaign, get more details, Well, what do you mean by brand awareness?
You know? How many how many likes are you hoping to see here?
Or what to ask the specific question? Get more specific?
You know, do you want to see your follower account grow the minute I.
Post, like, what what are you looking for?
So that I can better structure the caption so that I can better select the plot, the placement that's going to work best for what you're trying to execute, Because if you want like massive eyeballs really quick, then it might be I need to do a real right, I need to do a real because video views are it's the jam, and it's what that's what performs best here. So it's it's a very loaded.
So what I want to know is just based on what you're saying. So I just want to.
Know so if I get it right, if I have certain content that I post on my my page that I don't think gets the level of engagement that I wanted to, if I invested a certain amount of dollars to continue to boost those things, then I would see the engagement.
Increase, because that's what I want you to do anyway. But it's cost effective. It's really paying to play. That's what you mean by paying to play exactly.
It's so because we because you know what it is.
I think both of our followings have grown organically, right, So we just organically have posted things and and got a following.
You know, just woke up and say, oh shit, we got five.
Hundred million follars. So it's organic. So we didn't understand. I didn't until you really just said that. I didn't really didn't really get it. And then I realized it's certain things that react like crazy on my page, somebody violence or something.
It reacts. I get over.
Sixty thousand and three thousand comments this and that, and then other things that I think people should react to they don't. And people said, I didn't even notice on your page. It never showed up. There have been times and they say, yo, yo, I'm not getting your posts anymore. You understand saying because I start, I guess I was posting certain things that wasn't within the algorithm that they didn't believe my following wanted to see, so it didn't get the level of.
Engagement, but it's also you're following.
They might be interested in what you're posting for that day, and then they move on, right, They move on to start engaging with other things, and then their algorithm changes. So it's not necessarily that you're doing something awful. It's just that today I might be into looking at you know, I don't know Rihanna's stuff, and so then my algorithm is gonna change to give me more celebrity entertainment because that's what I'm interested in today. So it's it's really not always.
It's not like all the way for me.
Sometimes it works something okay, and another thing I think there's just for me. I think there's an oversaturation of what we call influencers, like.
And people who think that and maybe I'm wrong.
Do you think that it's on the influencers are on the rise, that's the next wave, or do you think it's on a decline?
What do you think?
As a I think that.
Everyone has the opportunity to become an influencer, to become an expert in their field and monetize.
It is absolutely positively possible.
That anyone can monetize their expertise their passion. I think the future the wave is going to be more around.
Validation and credibility.
And really being able to source authentic creators that can deliver. You know, the especially for big legacy brands. You know, their issue right now is brand safety.
You know, so work a legacy brand. What's a legacy brand like Coca Cola, A Coca.
Cola, Colgates, brands like that that's been around for a long time, Walmart, things like that. Right, they have this this big reputation to protect, So their concerns around brand safety and the type of creator that they work with are important, right. But in some of the conversations that that I'm having, I'm like, you know, I hear you.
On the brand safety part.
But you have to recognize that some of that is built on bias, right, Like you you you might think that when you hear you know, black women in conversation, be like, yeah, that's bitch. That might that might sound offensive to you, right, because that's just not where you come from. So but that's our that's this is where
we come from. This is how this is who we are, This is how we you know, we we carry on and for some influencers that's just the nature of their platform, and that's what their audience recognizes and loves and appreciates about.
Them, you know, And for them to be on.
A block list or for them to be on a list where it's like, oh, this person isn't brand safe because of the vernacular that she uses.
It limits the growth of the black people in the space.
And it's really it's even it's even harder for the lgbt Q.
Plus I think they added another.
One I l g is lgbt Q I eight plus plus, right, So it's it's really hard.
For that community as well to negotiate deals because of this brand safety, brand safety issue and things in this in this space. But everyone has the opportunity, to answer your question. Everyone has the opportunity to monetize their audience, monetize their platform, monetize their expertise.
So let me say one more thing and then we're gonna get you out of here, because I know, I understand, I overstand. We stay on on, you know, sometimes with our guests for a long time because we really want to get to the nitty gritty of what's going on.
Let's talk about brand safety for a second. That was one of my other questions, I wrote down what's the dos and don't write so for influencers and and people even like the two of us, if we're pissed off about something that's going on in the world, or you know, there are other people who maybe they want to you know, they want to show their damn near their whole ass on this page today and then they want to go.
So if I'm pissed off about whatever kind of political issue, that probably impacts the amount of brands that would be willing to work with us or with me, or you know, with anybody. So it's from everything from being explicit to being too political, being whatever. And I don't think you'd have to be too political, but just for the sake of this conversation. So what if you found to be dosingdun'ts of how people are using their social media platforms
just in their regular everyday lives. Do you think it's two separate pages. I thought that at one point that it's two separate pages. But what I found is that when most people take they look at everything. Right, when most brands are trying to find individuals, they don't just say, oh, well, that's your personal page.
They're more so.
I'm sorried about who you are as a person, right, you know, so talk about the dudes and don't.
So interesting.
I've I've I've pitched you before and I've run into this issue. It's same thing you know with Yandy, Like I pitched all of you guys, right, and I run into this this brand safety issue. And you know it's I have conversations with brands like you want, you want reach, you want to be a part of this conversation, but you wanted to be.
Politically correct, politically correct.
You wanted to be politically correct, you wanted to be softly delivered. So but that's just that's just not that's not how it works. But what I would say to you know, creators really trying to figure out censorship and you know, for better words, is just be mindful of if you want to take this as if you want to make this a career, like if you want to work with major brands, then look at who they are and really considered is there going to be real alignment?
And if you're not saying, you know, dumb down your content or.
Not be authentic, what I'm saying is keep things in mind.
E scrub your page every six months, you know, just to.
Make sure right like nothing is overly offensive, but.
Also being just be who you are, right, you have to.
Kind of stand firm and this is who I am and this is how my content shows up in the space because I serve my people. Right, You either want to be here or not, and trust that the right partnerships will come along. Like not every brand needs to be up under your brand, and you don't need to be up under everybody else's brand if it's not aligned, right, But I don't think that people should. I don't think
you need to create a brand safe page. And that's just too It's already too much to create content for a billion other platforms, you know. I just think that you have to just be mindful of what the content looks like.
That it's a hard questions, it is.
Because it just basically comes down to you just got to know what you want.
You gotta know what you see.
What I'm saying, if you're trying to attract certain kind of individuals, certain kind of brands, you got to understand that certain things don't attract those individuals. And then you've got to say to yourself, well, I don't care because I'm authentically be me and I'm willing to deal with what comes with being me.
Yeah, and when you stand firm and who you are, it's easy to say no respectfully, like this doesn't align, it doesn't work, it doesn't make sense, and even the the no matter how much money they offer, like it just this does not make sense. And being okay with you pitch yourself and you don't get it because they don't feel like.
The brand aligns.
If that's okay, Like that is okay, but don't go and change who you are just to accommodate a brand.
That's what if you have to feature children and you what we do ain't for everybody, That's all I'm saying.
Right, Like, so, I because I want to be sensitive to like we want everybody to be as outspoken on issues as we are, right And I don't know if I can.
I don't think I want that.
No, Well, what I'm saying is that I do I want don't.
I want people to be authentic because if you outspoken just because I want you to be outspoken or you you're just following something that's not really you, that doesn't fit who you are, that you can't stand on that you can't say, well I need to feed my kids, then it ain't for you, because that's never gonna be a conversation I have.
Whatever I say or whatever I.
Stand, somebody come to me and say, well you said this, I'm gonna say I said that, there's never gonna be a conversation that they gonna have with me.
I'mna saying well I gotta feed.
My kids or I gotta pay my That's never gonna be a conversation for me. So I think you have to have that conversation. Then whatever you're doing doesn't coincide.
With who you are. No.
Well, what I'm saying when I say I want everybody to be as outspoken, what I mean by that is that I want people to care about the issues and to speak up as well. So in my mind, if you're saying something, you would have educated yourself you care about this or whatever I want, And maybe being outspoken is the wrong place to start. But what I should say is I want everybody to be as outraged as I am about so much shit that goes on in this nation, right, so understanding that I also am sensitive
to the fact that what we do. Who comes with a lot of sacrifice, because I'm pretty sure that all the times that you've tried to pitch me here there in the third place, and you have these walls that go up, it gets to be frustrating. We have a number of individuals that come to us and they're like, yo, I got this idea, I'm gonna put you on.
We had a guy who was a friend of Mycen's telling.
Us not you need that I need a biopic. You know that we need to get a film done about your life. Your books are great. I'm gonna go I'm gonna talk to this person. I know for sure, and I just you know, when I'm thinking to myself the whole time, just listening to the spaces that he was intending to go to, it's not gonna happen because I already know that it's gonna get blocked by certain individuals
who work within TV, who work within entertainment. I already know those individuals are going to say she can't be on here because of this, this, this, this and this and this, her previous relationships, her current relationships that I already know what they're gonna do, right, So, based upon that, I know that there is a major sacrifice that.
You're taking and making when.
You choose to step on the side of being more.
Outspoken about the issues.
So therefore, if you need to feed your family and you are afraid and you're scared, don't come step over here with us, because you are you know, for real, don't stay.
That's what I'm saying.
That's pretty much I'm saying.
It's not for you because it's hard, it's tough.
It's no joke, Like you know, it's no joke what we deal with, So don't step over here, now, that's what I.
Also think that people don't google themselves enough, like take the time to check on your reputation.
That I haven't looked at a Google about my name. I can't because there's so many lies.
But that's that's.
Where I'm going, right, Like a lot of people allow other people to drive the.
Narrative on who they are, right because.
While you may speak about the things that are going on in the world because that is who you're called to be, that doesn't mean that your character is awful, right, That doesn't mean you're.
A terrible person.
And sometimes this is where a pr strategy needs to come into play, so that you can have the the the digital footprint of your character to back up whatever negative,
whatever hearsay is out in the world as well. Like there has to be a balance, Like I think that it's really important, especially for public figures, to pay attention to their personal reputation and devise a personal strategy on this is what I want people to find when they look for me, if you put my name, and this is what I want you to find, not what other people are searching for. You have to be proactive in the positive information that's being put out into the digital space as well.
Right, Yeah, you got a grip. I mean, you know what to do because I just know what I hear. What all these brands are doing.
We like when we do a deep vetting on our side, but when it goes to the brand and then it goes to their legal they're googling everybody. They're not just going to your social page. They are They're literally typing your first and last name in and doing a full on investigation.
Now they are.
And I tell you another thing, and we we we have internal conflict about this all the time, especially my son and me. Were you also have to know that the things you say and the ways in which you.
Present online doesn't just impact you.
It impacts everybody that works with you, everybody around you, right, And and that's a that's a tough conversation to have with somebody who is speaking up because they really truly do believe in something and they want to say it. So it's like, you know, I, I I and not just how you present online, but just how you move in general. So I am the person who you know made It's just for the purpose of us not getting into a long dialogue about it.
But I made.
Certain moves and went places and was and and in relationship with certain people, and other people around me had absolutely nothing to do with it.
But when the heat came down, it impacted everybody. Right.
And then how a brand feels when they work with you. Yeah, people they are getting in bed.
With you, and that they because.
They work with you, they stand behind all of your beliefs, everything you've said, everything you've done. That is why it's challenging for a brand to commit to a partnership.
Because it's a real partnership mm. Yeah.
And that people will use it against you and force you to have to speak against your own or to speak up for something that you.
Don't even believe in. So it's a real tough space.
And like I said, a lot of people just don't know, they don't understand, and some people are not ready like you think you are, but you're not necessarily ready because it comes with a lot and it's not you know, it's not easy. I would never forget that my Cadillac commercial, which by the way, I never talked to Cadillac.
One day in my life.
I talked to a black ad agency that asked me to do this ad which was for Women's History months. And the way in which people went crazy about out that ad and started like calling the company, and it was all types of people, you know, there were there was a trans woman in the ad, so there was the anti lgbt QIA community calling Cadillac. Then there were the white supremacists calling. Then it was just the anti
Tamika people. Then it was the black you know, people who feel like I shouldn't have brand endorsement work.
So it was so much and.
It really impacted the relationship that thankfully we've moved past it. Life is you know, going on, and no weapon that's ever been formed against me has prospered. But nonetheless, it was a really difficult time to have all of this going towards this brand, and they didn't even have They really didn't even know me, you know what I'm saying. So it's just people don't really understand all the details.
They don't really get it. But everybody just so caught on their own things.
So anyway, it's much love to you, LaToya, appreciate you for helping us to get a little bit deeper into this influencer marketing world.
Black Girl Digital is a real business. Do a real uh numbers for.
Influencers from our community, young black girls. Do you work with the Black boys too?
Or we do? We do?
We?
Again, it really depends on the audience, staff, the client is trying to reach and we'll kind of structure the partnerships that way.
So yeah, we.
Started with we started with We're not leaving the boys. I actually feel like we need more black men empowerment things because when I run into black men, I mean, they feel left out, They feel a lot of conversations.
And you know they want to they want to win.
Too, and I think we need to make more space for them to win and thrive as well.
Great thank you tooy Shampo. Black growth digital things for joining the street politicians.
He being great, Queen, appreciate you.
This is great. Thank you so much.
Right shout out to LaToya Shambaud. Her information was critical.
You know, I think it's you know, even though she's right, you know, anybody can be influencers, but I just think we in the day of where the troll turns into influencer, and it's so many trolls online that call these self influence and they're actually influencing people with stupidity, you know.
So I'm glad that we have.
Organizations and corporations and people like LaToya who are able to take real influencers and market and strategize and make it into something that's you know, that's viable.
Mm hmm, yeah, No, I like it.
I think what she's talking about is kind of like it's just like the information you don't know, but you're trying to like find your way and there. And for her to be somebody who actually has studied the digital marketing space and brand partnerships, She's like, that's somebody that
a lot of people need. Like a lot of people do have dope pages and they don't know how to move the page to like becoming a viable opportunity for major brands, and so there's money to be made there, Like, there's so much money that's in the world for people to make in different ways. But you do need some type of expert support in helping to navigate the process properly, especially if you know, because being an overnight success is
not a real thing for most people. So some people they are an overnight success where they you know, they just put up a post and the next thing, you know, boom. Everybody wants to deal with them, but most people have to work a little bit harder.
Yes, you're one hundred percent right, but it seems like the trolls work less hard on only got to do it say negative stuff and create conflict amongst people who have some level of celebrity names and they get thrown all around, you know. So when you actually play by better rules and deal with morality and integrity and you just put out dope content, it's actually harder. So with that said, we're gonna go to my I don't get it.
So last week I saw that the Governor's Awards will be presenting Angela Bassett with an honorary oscal Why the hell does Angela Bassett need anything to be honorary, Like I'm it's so it's so disturbing to me, Like I understand when you give somebody certain honorary things that they're really not in their field. Like you know, when you get a doctor's degree and you know you've done so much other work that that they feel equates to being doctorate levels, so they give you a people have gotten
honorary doctorates. But when you are actress, right, and you act at the level that Angela Bassett has acted her whole career, you know, when you deserve to get Oscar, when you deserve Academy awards and you don't receive them.
I think, to me, to give somebody an.
Honorary oscar that deserves a real Oscar doesn't make sense to me. Why don't you just give the lady the oscar that she deserves. We don't want no honorary shit.
But it's about it.
But for me, it's like, no, I think it's I think it's a slap of the face, you know. I think the fact that you know, especially what she did in Wakanda forever and she wasn't and everybody know that she deserves that record. I think it's time some level trying to mend some bullshit you did wrong. But no, we don't deserve no honorary shit. She deserved the thing thing like.
So, for instance, I have three honorary doctorates, and the other day I tagged you to a post where I was kind of like, oh, people were saying, because you had said already you were like not understanding this whole thing about Angela Baskett and the honorary Oscar, and I agreed with you. And then I didn't know anything about the Governor's awards. I just saw honorary Oscar, was like, what is that? It didn't matter to me who was
giving it to it. I just still think that it's very it's very disrespectful, and so so then I so then I tagged you somewhere in one of these posts that was also saying the same thing.
Somebody else was like, nah, I don't think this is cool.
And then someone wrote a comment back, and I don't know if they were trolling because it was me, or if they were just making a general statement. They said they said it's sort of like getting an honorary doctorate, So they might have been trying to like dis me or they might have just been, you know, offering that as their thought and the thing that came to my mind.
I know that the honorary doctorates are given from institutions that you may never have attended their school, right, you didn't go to their college, or and you didn't necessarily study to your point whatever specific coursework they have, but you've done enough in your daily life or in your field or in some capacity that makes the institution want to have your name associated with them.
At that high level of giving you a doctorate degree.
Right, So that does make sense one hundred percent, and some people would some people would say, well, you didn't earn it. And I know people who definitely feel that if you received an.
Honorary doctorate, you did not earn it.
So from my perspective, because I try to balance the two thoughts, which I probably shouldn't, but I don't, I don't necessarily use doctor to Meeka Mallory.
I don't write that. I don't say I don't write.
It anywhere or whatever, even though other people say it about me, and you know, I've shown up at events and my place cards or the program book or whatever, or when they introduce me, it says doctor's meek A Mallory, And they stated, and it is true, because when you have an honorary doctor from an accredited institution, you are doctor so and so. But I do try to balance the idea that I did not study at the institution and work every day in the same way that.
Some of the other students have. Now I do.
Also recognize that some people who went to get their doctorate degrees. While it's tough, it's not easy, it's a lot of work. If you look at what I've done, it runs down the same path, right like the sacrifice, the work, the hard time, the hours.
The whole thing.
So I get it. But I do try to balance that thought. So that brings me to when I think about Angela Bassett. She can't even though she might feel great that the academy, you know.
That these people are honoring her in this way.
She I don't think that she's gonna feel maybe we're speaking for her. We don't know one hundred percent hole until she actually receives the oscar that she deserves. Now, one thing about it that since we now have learned that this is the same academy that does the Governor's awards, One thing that is important to note is that people vote, right, There are people who vote. And I don't know if you saw the comments from the racist who's on the board,
the academy board. They didn't say his name or her name, they didn't say their name, but the person was like, I'm tied to all of this, you know, diversity and you know, give a black person an award like no work for it, which.
Is very much so in line.
They said that she just wasn't good, she just wasn't good, or they weren't good, like the black people in the category. They just weren't good, which is very much in line with what's happening with the affirmative action piece.
There is an attempt.
To roll back any opportunities that have been created for us when you look at an inequitable society.
But Angela Bassett.
Is not even that she can out act damn near anybody. So to me, it's a slap. To me, it's a slap in the face. But she might not feel that way.
No, and that's what it is for me.
It's like when you look at your your example is exactly what I'm saying.
You You you're an.
Expert in the field, right, and people acknowledge the expertise in the field that you are, so they give you an honorary doctorate because the field that you have, you have reached the level of excellences. It's something that they want in you in that field to be attached to that you know, to that facility.
But institution, institution, rather my fault to that institution.
But when you when you're an expert in your field, right, and they failed to give you the degree that you've earned, and then they want to give you an honorary degree in that same field, in that same institution, I don't think it's right, you know, and I don't know how she feels about it.
I'm not speaking on behalf of her. Right.
When you get an honorary ward, it means that it might not be something that you've actually earned per se.
In that field, but we believe that you deserve it.
Well, I think.
But see, but going back to the voting process, it's possible that the academy recognizes that she should have got it, but because they can't override quote unquote the voting process, they're now doing something to show.
The actual academy's respect for her.
Right. I don't know if that.
I don't know if that's the way to do it, but I guess I mean for me, you know, I don't know if I would like after I put all this blusts, sweat and tears and have years and in movies where I know I deserved some level of an oscar and not get it, and then, you know, decide that you want to honor me in a non televised event that's still attached to the same, you know, the same academy and saying it's an honorary thing. I don't know if that's something I want, but and I don't.
And my personal thing is I think she deserves more. So that's why I don't get it. I just believe that she deserves more. And you know, I don't want you to try to appease. No, we want what we deserve. We want what we earned. We don't want you to give us the honorary ship. We want the shit that we've earned, and she's earned it. And that's how I feel. And on that note brings us to the end of
another Dope episode. Shout out to LaToya Shambol about coming up here and explaining to us and breaking us down about Black Girl Digital and all the amazing work because she's doing it, actually helping us to understand what we be needing to do on our social media.
Is you know how you post? She says, how you post?
What you post?
And you might have to pay a couple of dollars for promo, and it ain't.
I did it while we were talking. I boosted.
Boosted the flyer for a j Owens, the fly for a j Owens for the rally for Saturday.
Yeah, shout out.
We're definitely gonna be there, you know, so pull up if you and Florida pull up, We're gonna be out there in.
Florida for a j Owens.
And that brings us to another end of another episode and shout out to all of our followers. Street politicians go to the street politicians pot tell us howmuch you love us, tell us some much you don't like us, give us some ideas for shows, but keep us number one, number one podcasts in the world. We love you, we appreciate you, and we're gonna always do what we gotta do.
On street polticition, we ain't gonna bite our tongue. We don't care about no brands you don't want to mess with us, then cool, because we're gonna be authentic.
We're gonna keep on doing what we do. I don't care to meik is not gonna always be.
Right, she ain't gonna always be wrong, but she gonna always be authentic and sue in my.
Peace.
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