- 2 days ago
Entrepreneurs and besties in the business dish on how they make money together and take their friendship...and bank accounts to new heights. Get the inside scoop on what it's like going into business with your best friend and how to establish a healthy relationship/professional balance.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Jim's okay look I know that line is long and I want to give a big shout out to the ladies of
00:05Cantu because we were actually backstage just doing a little bit of networking um I'm thinking
00:10about starting my natural hair hair journey and I think um just talking to them you know it's got
00:15me excited so this is what I want everybody to do can everybody pull out their phones really quickly
00:19I think this is very very important networking is something that we're here for it's something that
00:24we have to absolutely do so if you could turn to the person on the right of you get their their
00:30Instagram and follow do not unfollow them tomorrow follow them right now all right now go to the
00:39person to your left get there is I don't even know why you don't even have each other's Instagrams by
00:44now take your time take your time it's very important if you got a tick tock
00:53Instagram what you got somebody got my space deal no only fans no don't give out your only fans
01:01all right so you should have two new followers that is exactly how easy networking is
01:12all right so speaking of networking our next panel features three influencers who have definitely made
01:21a name for themselves individually but together they have taken social media by storm so this panel is
01:27going to be very very important so here to introduce partner in prime our GU founders and their real
01:34sisters and they're getting money together and they're making power moves together make some
01:38no matter of fact everybody on your feet on your feet on your feet right now everybody stand up
01:44make some noise for Rochelle and Sophia Dennis what's up disruptors what's up what's up y'all need to make
01:52more noise than that because we have an amazing panel that is about to come up and y'all not excited
01:58enough for me make some noise make some noise all right so how many people came here with their sister
02:06okay how many people came here with their best friend with their cousin and if that person makes
02:14you feel like you are getting better each and every day with them by your side turn to them and say thank
02:21you thank you all right so we got a lot of appreciation in the room this is all for you guys so without
02:29further ado i'm excited to introduce these next panelists i know y'all know you guys got a lot of
02:35the corporate baddie looks we know who the originator of that is so here's to everything partners in prime
02:43let's give it up for our panelists deandre malik and ray monte
02:52hello
02:55y'all look so good
02:59all right one more time make some noise come on
03:12all right so this panel right here is one of my favorite because of the power of social media of
03:20influence and of just personality and authenticity so remonte i'm gonna start with you okay
03:26you set the internet on fire for three days
03:33no we wouldn't we don't talk we love you i just want you to know it's all been love from the job
03:38okay okay okay don't worry i just wanted to say that this is something that we have been really looking
03:45forward to because of right you talk about influence you talk about power you talk about
03:51authenticity and that's something that we always want to make sure that we're doing and we're
03:55supporting and just being on this journey with each one of you guys i know all of you guys have been
04:01at festival and and whatnot and to see you guys launching your new podcast
04:06yes i am so give it up
04:13the podcast launches tomorrow
04:17being honest 12 p.m eastern 12 p.m eastern and deandre corporate baddies see we got a lot of corporate
04:24baddies in the room and malik entrepreneur hey this is boss boss
04:31this is like the fashionista fashionista model oh i keep going oh yeah hold on go no go off go
04:40off please okay yeah you're right we do have a time limit but no we got we can go over you know
04:47it's for you guys you can keep going and listing off all of the wonderful attributes about your friends
04:53about your sister and that's really what this whole panel is about it's about being able to compliment the
04:59people that bring you up it's about being able to have these conversations with your partner
05:04in crime and even more importantly your partner in prime the people who are helping you reach the
05:09highest levels of success so i would really like to know how this how this whole friendship between the
05:15three of you guys came about and how you guys were able to meet one another and build what you're able
05:22to build with one another because it's really awesome to see three successful black men come together
05:29and build not only just a friendship but business relationships and the fact that you guys inspire
05:35so many other people and that you're able to also just list off you know all the wonderful attributes
05:41about one another yeah should i take this or do you want to take it i kind of want to take it okay
05:46you take it okay so deandre he had a podcast and he invited me and malik on it and we went on there
05:52and we had like such a good time and after that we went out for drinks and like we just laughed
05:57and we talked and then we created a group chat and we just started like talking every single day
06:02and we just started like hanging out and we realized like wow we really like each other so it was
06:06never like a thing like we were going to take the internet by storm we're going to give views we're
06:10going to do any of that like we really genuinely enjoyed each other company and then like our friendship
06:15kind of just blossomed so it's organic it was very very organic it was very organic and very unexpected like
06:22so sometimes people always say like i don't see how their friends their personalities are so different
06:27i think that's what makes it the best and honestly people don't know the behind the scenes how
06:32much things we have in common and like similarities you know yeah i agree i think that we also all just
06:39balance each other out like we keep each other level-headed within different aspects of what we
06:45contribute to the friendship so i think it's just so beautiful and just great to have them and for to be for
06:52them to be a part of my life and to be a part of theirs as well she's very emotional like she gets
06:59a lot of people also don't know that like i'm the only child and dre's the only child so our friendship
07:03is kind of like my first time of having like a brother it's like the first time i had to like
07:07share things and it's the first time i've had to like you know experience things with somebody else
07:12like growing up with siblings in the house that's something that like a lot of people take for
07:15granted like i know your brother and your sister probably get on your nerves but just that experience
07:19to all the things that y'all went through y'all have the same experiences that means a lot and i want
07:23y'all to cherish that because as the only child it's like i never got that but now i do i feel like
07:27god gave me brothers now so it's real beautiful and my mom has six kids
07:34so i'm always something i'm like well you only child your only child so i gotta understand our only
07:37children do you have a favorite sibling yes i do alayah let me go back
07:41period i'm gonna say that quick fast and hard y'all love my sister
07:46i love my sister too hey sophia
07:50so what specific engagement techniques have you guys used to prove how effective you guys are
07:56growing your audience and building community especially as you guys venture into your podcast
08:02that's definitely a you question miss this is so we all have like titles in the group and he's like
08:08the pr like i'm that pr girl he's the pr girl i don't care what nobody says put a little spin on
08:14it you got it um i think just being active being consistent and not really caring what people say
08:20and like just being authentic like if you do something bad people won't talk about it for 24
08:24hours but they're gonna move on to the next thing because somebody else gonna do something
08:27crazy while not out of control so they're gonna be over you another thing that i would add to that
08:32something that raymonte does is raymonte is the same person on and off camera like
08:37he compliments people on tick tock but he compliments people in real life all day that's
08:41like another thing that like just be who you are online just be that light in real life because that
08:47shines and that people can tell and also it's like you don't have to look for pr moments because they
08:51just happen when you're a good person yeah i love you you always show me something like that
08:58so with that have you guys faced any challenges or anything when it comes to being influencer and
09:05you're dealing with so many thoughts so many opinions how do you make sure that you remain
09:09true to yourself and like authentic okay so i i feel like i was in the military before and that
09:17puts a lot of strain on your mental health and i feel like i honestly feel like influencing
09:22is kind of worse in some ways because it's like you're being perceived by millions of people online
09:28and sometimes how you're perceived isn't who you actually are and it's like you you're constantly
09:34battling with how you're perceived versus who you really are and it's like i want to show people it's
09:39like you you're fighting to show people that you're really who this this person that you think that you
09:43are but it's like the internet is going to change the narrative and it's like you have to learn how to
09:48not care you if you know you're a good person if like like i just said about raymonte raymonte is one of the
09:54best friends i ever had in my life you know he's so nice to everybody he comes across i heard that
10:00so if you know that you're a good person if you know you can't let how other people view you because
10:04you can't change that i can't change how you perceive me i can only change the type of person
10:08that i am and i know that i'm a good person and the internet is very fickle out on top of that so you
10:12can't don't try to like maneuver and try to please everybody just be yourself be a good person put
10:19good things out into the world and you're going to get blessed for a minute and eventually people are
10:22always going to see through all of the smoke yeah i want to add to the oh okay i want to add to that
10:30because i had a very hard time for a very long time accepting it because the narrative about me is
10:37always he's elitist and that's so far from my reality and everyone who really knows me knows that
10:42and the thing that my mom told me is she said only start to worry about it when your people that are
10:48closest to you tell you that you really are that it's like if the people that are closest to you
10:54don't tell you that then that's not the case like she's like you can't listen to everything that people
10:59say online um so that's one thing i do and now when like things are like up and uproar i don't really
11:06look at like the quotes or i don't go quote surfing i'll like maybe wait a day or two after it like dies
11:11down or something i think people build you up to bring you down so it's like who are you like
11:18where are your credentials that were all these critiques that's how i look at it like
11:22that's absolutely absolutely factual so i think a lot of times with short form social media tiktok
11:30instagram it's really easy for your opinions and your ideas and what you say to be misconstrued
11:35but you guys are obviously launching a podcast tomorrow at 12 p.m eastern yes right uh it is
11:41called if we're being honest so if you could tell us a little bit about what inspired you to start
11:47your podcast was it some of these experiences are you excited to be able to dive a little bit deeper
11:53into your lives in a longer format to be able to talk to your audience a little bit more yeah i think
11:58i'll answer i'll tackle the first question about um what inspired it i think for all of us i'm
12:05speaking for all of us i think for all of us the what it really inspired the podcast was a having such
12:11a great dynamic b also knowing that we do bring different perspectives and like when we come together
12:20it's phenomenal and it's amazing and it's something that people can start to look and view us from
12:25different lenses and see um what's the word see how take your time how much like to like see our range
12:36and to see like us outside of just a box that people have placed us all in um and also just being black
12:44gay males um a lot of people usually perceive all black gay men in one way and i think that we are
12:54actively showing that you can be you can be black and gay and you can be completely different and
12:59have different walks of life but still come together and have similarities with one another
13:04so i think that's what really inspired the podcast you asked some other questions but i'll let them
13:11um i think with the podcast like everybody always talking about us need to make some money off of
13:14come on come on tune in and stream it listen watch it we need to love it
13:20you can answer the third one
13:24hello like oh my god i think it's just um it's good for the community too like both of the communities
13:30that we're a part of i feel like you don't really see collaboration often so it's good to see all of
13:35us come together and not be like all catty and competitive and it shows people that like you don't
13:41have to claw each other down to get to the top we can walk across the finish line together yeah
13:46also i don't think the podcast is what people is going to expect it's like very different it's
13:51very positive it sheds lights on people that are not getting their tens like we speak on a lot of
13:56different things we give advice people i want to be able to call in and ask us questions because i
13:59don't think i'm a therapist i might say fix my life very demure very demure my life i love it
14:05so i actually have a question for the audience how many of you guys are honest with your friends
14:09okay a lot of honesty in here so how are you guys honest with each other oh baby deandre holds no
14:16bar she hold i just heard that yesterday i'm like something i really really respect about you is if
14:22something bothers you you're going to address it with anyone like he always says boundaries
14:26in a relationship in a business like with even with me he'll be like wait what did they offer you
14:30like no you're not taking it he'll write me a whole email and response like that's he he's
14:36the most honest person that i honestly know in my life oh thank you that wasn't all
14:46is nobody i think we all honest with each other honestly but i feel like deandre is the most
14:52critical like it's something if deandre is bothered you will know we have a thing where
14:58like if you say something we'd be like yeah oh yeah i love that i love yeah wait let's give an
15:03example like like like girl you big yeah yeah and we do that a lot like
15:14i love it that's oh my god that's it that's incredibly so i love when i love when people begin
15:22to create their own like language and idiosyncrasies with their friends so you guys all that's an
15:28idiosyncrasy idiosyncrasies like their own like language their own like things that they do with
15:34their friends their own like nuances things that they would on yeah like little small things that
15:40they all pick up on and like little you know like little small tendencies that they pick up on
15:45another favorite is like in a group shout out we will say something crazy and then we'll like
15:49i'm cindy oh yeah yeah that would kill me like if you miss it like i hate to miss i'm like i'm
15:56the quickest i'm the quickest i'm the quickest i'm the quickest i'm trying to catch your ass
16:00so who unsens a lot
16:02you unsens a lot too yeah i'm second well we don't really be getting malik we need yeah but
16:06we don't really be unscended he said what he said so you stand on it i'll stand on it i love that
16:12standing on business so as you guys are merging and developing a brand as the three of you guys
16:20as if we're being honest um how are you also going about developing your individual brands
16:27as part of this larger brand and thinking about it as a step towards growing your individual careers
16:35as you're taking this leap as a collective i think we all do a really good job at making sure that we
16:41don't lose ourselves in our friend group you know it's like we all have niches um deandre doesn't
16:46lose sight of his corporate content and making sure he's still giving advice to gen z in the workforce
16:53and i'm still very passionate about fashion and business and raymonte uses his platform in so many
16:58ways to speak out about things i feel like so many people choose to stay silent about and i feel like
17:02none of us lose sight of that even when with everything that we do together and i feel like we also do
17:08a good job at holding each other accountable and making sure that like okay you're like we's doing
17:12stuff we having fun in the club but deandre don't forget you got content you got to make today and
17:16like we we do a good job at making sure that we stay and maintain individuals and it's important
17:21in friend groups to not lose your individuality and it's important to stay focused on your own goals
17:26i'm going back to college next semester how i'm going to do it
17:28i never got to go to college because i didn't have the money for it so i joined the military to
17:35be able to pay for it now i can go to college and they're going to pay for it so exciting
17:39congratulations you ate that yeah i think individuality is very very important and we
17:44always stretch that like i don't want to just be i don't want we're not destiny child but we work
17:50together and we do what we do we get the money together we having fun but like i still want to
17:54stand alone because when we all made each other we stood alone we all had our own platforms and we were
17:58all doing our things so we need to continue to do that so we don't have to do everything together
18:02but we can do some things together and still do go back and like do your solo stuff yeah and i think
18:07we do i really think we do a good job at that and speaking for the podcast specifically for me
18:12for example there's little things that they're small but it still keeps me like on the track that
18:20i want to be on and like my personal career as well so like on every episode i have on like a suit
18:25and it's just it's something so small but it's like i know that i want to do more within the
18:31business room of things and this is an opportunity for me to show that um and i think even the topics
18:37we decide to talk about on the podcast um like we all have we all have like take turns choosing a
18:44topic for the the episodes and like my topics are usually more gen z or corporate focused and you know
18:51know everyone's topics change um blade which also again allows you to utilize the platform
18:58and utilize the podcast to continue to push your narrative and push what it is that you want to be
19:03seen as to the world as well yeah i noticed that on the imagery uh and the photography that you guys
19:08selected for the cover of the podcast that all of you guys have like your very distinct style and i think
19:14that that really ties back into kind of what you were talking about showcasing your range specifically as
19:19young black gay males showcasing that you know you're not monolithic in how you think about
19:26things your perspectives or your audiences at all just really showcasing that you know you can have
19:31different perspectives different thoughts different styles even uh which i think is really awesome and
19:37i think part of the reason why your podcast is so important and it would be really awesome and
19:42people are really excited to hear more from you guys and hear a longer format content from you guys
19:47tomorrow at 12 o'clock one thing i want to say too about that that was malik's idea we all came up
19:53with a concept and i like that each one of us gets a chance to be like take the lead i just never just
19:58like oh deandre picked this or am i say pick this or malik picked this like we all come together and
20:03whatever is best for all of us is what we end up going with yeah i think that leads into a great next
20:09question as everybody's in this room as everybody is also you know interacting with each other i think a lot of
20:15people get in the mindset of like there's a lot of girls here that want to go into media how do you
20:20guys make sure that you guys are keeping that individuality which we know that you guys just
20:24touched on but how do you guys also like maintain that friendship through it all through the journey
20:30um you know also not getting competitive or anything not talking to the internet and like not
20:36letting that like affect a real friendship like if somebody says something crazy about one of us like
20:40we could talk about each other us three but anytime anybody else says something you're getting
20:44jumped we all come and we are under like every single time i'm gonna always speak up even like
20:49i'd be telling like be quiet don't get it on my own but they feel the need and the urge too because
20:53these are my girls you know what i'm saying it's a real friendship it wasn't something that was
20:57put together about like tick tock or like spotify didn't come and offer us and say like hey we want
21:01y'all breathe to do this we already had a friendship of our own like these are my friends for real you know yeah
21:07definitely siblings yeah these are my sisters family somebody on in on underneath our socials
21:12were like they're like the black powerpuff girls oh yeah i love that one malik love that
21:18because it makes so much sense it's like you got blossom you got buttercup you got bubbles
21:25i don't think that's like a no-brainer like everybody already knows like
21:30wait i so me never seeing powerpuff girls like i don't even know the characters
21:34okay oh y'all want to test it all right who do y'all think is blossom
21:41who's buttercup
21:44i'm buttercup exactly yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
21:48and who's bubbles
21:52but i don't know which one is buttercup the one with the blue no green
21:55oh i'm not buttercup
21:56i'm not buttercup oh my god okay i'm buttercup
22:00no bubbles no nobody nobody
22:02i did not want to be buttercup at all like oh my god y'all so fake and wrong and evil
22:09you literally just proved why you buttercup
22:14oh my gosh so i think
22:18that was amazing i want to kind of i want to kind of take it back because i think a lot of us
22:22were introduced to you guys through your individual success like i know deandre
22:27your audio's going viral on tick tock like i love a hood jam like that will never
22:34not be one of my favorite tick tock audios at what point through your journey did you realize oh
22:41this is something like this is something this is going to be my future career i should really place
22:46all of my energy and focus towards this at what point did you realize this is really going to take
22:53off for me i think the point that i realized it was
23:02i mean it's that's i don't know okay okay the only reason i'm saying that is because there are multiple
23:07points that i realized different things so i just kind of walked through that journey so like when i
23:13first started and i had like viral videos i realized oh okay like i can engage an audience
23:18i can keep people entertained so i kept that going but i didn't think at that moment oh i'm gonna quit
23:24my job and leave and do all of what i do now like that was never a thought and then brand deal started
23:30coming and i was like oh okay i can make money from this again not thinking quit job then i'm speaking
23:35on panels and i'm making like a lot of money and i'm like wait okay maybe i can like actually do this
23:41so i think that's the stage where i realized this can be a real thing um but i know that i believe
23:49you asked earlier your question about creating a brand and like how you can grow on social platforms
23:58and i think that the the best way for people that do want to do this and um do want to be online is to
24:04really um create some create a brand for yourself like don't just try to chase trends don't try to do
24:15what you see everybody else doing do something unique and have a goal or have a vision as to
24:21what it is you want to do with that in the long term even if that's not going to happen right in the
24:26immediate but long term what can this be what can i make this into it's something that's really
24:31important to consider when it's something that you're serious about like don't try to follow
24:35everyone else because a either it's not going to work or b it'll work but then like it's not original
24:42so it's like there's not going to be a lot of um i guess there's not going to be a lot of
24:51it's not going to last that long yeah you can only do it for so long yeah i got you yeah
24:58somebody here said sustainability sustainability yeah that's the word oh what was the question
25:04again basically like how at what point did you realize oh like this is this is something big like
25:11i should place focus into this is going to be my career this is i think my journey is a little
25:16different than theirs because i didn't start off with um brand deals like i started off with like
25:21club postings so i was getting like five thousand dollars like a book in and then it went to like
25:25ten thousand and i would go to these places and it'd be like packed like cameras lights flashing
25:30people want to take pictures like run after the car so i was like okay i'm a little style i'm a little
25:34style i'm gonna do this i'm a little style it wasn't just naturally happened just organically
25:40i'm from minneapolis minnesota like a little smaller town i got booked in detroit and my friend he
25:45lived in houston at the time he was like oh detroit in the building but um my friend was like just come
25:52to houston and stay and like i'm like okay i didn't have i didn't have no job i was doing tiktok
25:57and i stayed and i just kept getting more bookings and it was like okay i can do this and my people
26:02know who i am people recognize me this can like provide something for myself for the time being i love
26:07that and you came from minnesota which is great because i think a lot of people when they think about
26:11like getting into entertainment or anything they think they need to be in new york or la
26:15and so to see you organically build your audience and like just do it big and bigger than a lot of
26:21most people one thing i want to say is your hometown might not get it right away but they will get it
26:26later you can't expect people like your friends or family like people focus so much on getting
26:33support from their peers when really the support from the strangers will get you the furthest
26:37and leak how about you okay so um a lot of people know me from tiktok but like if you have been like
26:47following my journey for a long periodically time then you know that i started making videos on
26:51facebook first when i was like 14 15 years old and the reason why was because like i said i was the only
26:56child and my mom worked a lot so i would get home from school and i would just be there home alone and
27:00then one day like i just had like these thoughts like i just had these like i just pull my phone now and
27:05this is like literally still like kind of like my content today i sat my phone down and i just
27:09started ranting i put it on facebook and it went viral and i was like oh and in that moment i kind
27:14of just didn't feel like i was by myself no more you know i felt like i had like some type of
27:19community so for me it was kind of like that was what it was for it was like a sense of community and
27:23then i joined the military and i was like who finna take me serious if i'm on here you know cussing
27:27people out and ranting and all this stuff so i stopped and then the military had moved me from
27:32hawaii to san diego and it was kind of like the same thing i didn't know nobody there so i got there
27:38this is before i had met them i got on tick tock and i think my first tick tock that went viral it
27:42was i was at home drinking wine by myself and i was just like this is my life like i like this like
27:47this is cool and like it went viral and i feel like when you're meant to do something it's always
27:53gonna find you again and that's kind of like how my journey started and i that tick tock went viral
27:58and then i kept doing it and then next thing you know estee lauder wanted me to be the face of the
28:02campaign and it was kind of just like wow clap it up clap it up that's amazing so there's a lot of
28:08young girls in here that you know might be wanting to do go into influencing or whatever career have
28:14your parents always been supportive and if not how did you guys work through that was it when those
28:20checks started coming in or was it well my mama wasn't supportive of either of my careers in the
28:26beginning because i'm only child like who wants the only child to go to the military and i was a
28:29submariner to it on top of that a lot of people don't know that i was underwater for months at
28:32a time insane crazy but i had to get out of chicago y'all someone's gonna give um what to call it in
28:38the internet thing like she didn't really see that either because older generations kind of don't
28:41really understand like you want to how do you monetize this a lot of people don't see like
28:46the benefit but there is like it is once the estate lot of thing happened i think that's when my mom was
28:52like oh this is a thing i'm like yeah girl i told you and what's crazy is that campaign happened
28:58three months before i was about to get out of the military and around that time i was thinking to
29:02myself like what am i gonna do i know i'm not meant to be in the military i know that i have all this
29:07creativity and all this passion what am i gonna do with it and then that happened and it was kind of
29:11just like that's why i believe in god's time man and i believe that everything happens for a reason
29:15so i said that to say like like i said my journey started when i was 15 and then everything kind of
29:21changed for me when i was about like 23 24 so don't be discouraged and just know that everything
29:27takes time especially in the creative field like it's so easy to get discouraged and to think like
29:32this isn't working for me and if i would have had that mentality and i would have let that defeat me
29:36i wouldn't be on this panel right now right now with y'all so i just want everybody to stay
29:40motivated and just remember that it takes time and everybody has their own individual journey and
29:45you're on the right path period i think all three of us have very very close relationships
29:52with our mothers like we are all um mama's boys but with me my mom has always taught me to be like
29:59very independent and be a provider so she didn't kind of understand like me getting on the internet
30:04like because she took so good care of me growing up so she i i feel like i'm obligated to take care of
30:09her like you know i feel like we all kind of feel like that so she wasn't really for it in the
30:15beginning but if you follow my content you know my mom is like me but like 30 times worse so she
30:21really didn't understand it but she started to get it like after like i started to like make money and
30:26stuff like that so she like jumped on the bed wagon now she wouldn't have podcasts would you guys bring
30:31her on no well we i would do it like with all our moms we discussed that yeah oh i like that yeah
30:38that's pretty um um me my mom always supports everything i do i think she was just a little
30:49confused and i rightfully so she's like you're leaving a really great corporate job and and ib to
30:56make videos like like let's think that through um but she was super supportive and now she's
31:05the most supportive like she literally works for me she's like my momager she handles all the money
31:10and things um and it's just like i said we all really have close relationships with our parents
31:16and i love that um through our relationships with our parents i think it continues to motivate us and
31:24encourage us to keep putting out great content and keep doing what we're doing because i think
31:29have the people closest to you loving what you like loving what you're doing like rooting you on
31:34really does keep you like going i want to say something about deandre mom you guys we was on the
31:40deandre was on the tamra hall show and we were sitting in a crowd and i was sitting next to her and
31:45the lady was like you did a good job and she was like and i thought that was so cute because she was
31:50like so proud like i just thought that was beautiful that's amazing so you guys have incredible
31:57audiences that you guys have built right um they are motivated like they love you guys they're
32:03supporting everything that you guys do so the last question that i really want to ask you guys and you
32:09guys can take a little time to think about it because i think it's a loaded question
32:12what is the legacy that you guys hope to create through your podcast through your social media presence
32:18um both individually and as a group okay i can answer this so i always like get back to my
32:25supporters and my followers online like when they ask me for stuff i kind of just do it if you follow
32:29me on twitter i do like random cash apps um i support black women because black women support me like
32:35i love black women so i want to like say that again i love black women like i love black women like
32:41i'm a i'm a girl's gay to be honest i want to have like i want to be when i get to like my millionaire
32:49billionaire trillionaire status like i want to have like foundations i want kids in urban communities to
32:53know that they don't have to be a hairstylist or they don't have to be a singer or a rapper or
32:58athlete because growing up i thought that was the only way out was to pick up a ball or a mic so i want
33:03to like hone in on different skill sets and show people that they can really do anything they want to
33:07do they can be alternative because in the hood when you want to do something that's from the normal
33:14it's like you're weird or like why are you doing that one it's not weird like you can be uh you can
33:19build cars if you want to do that you know i want to show people that they can really go after every
33:24opportunity that they want and i want to help people achieve that i don't want to get rich to stunt i
33:31want to get rich to help hey that's a bar i think for me i'm very passionate about like college um
33:40hbcu specifically because i went to an hbcu uh more house so um come on yeah um so because of that
33:50i think that it's so important for me that i start a scholarship and continue to give back to people that
33:57are not only in college but specifically black gay males that are in college because going to
34:04morehouse i saw how a lot of my count a lot of people that look like me or identify with me were
34:10treated and it wasn't the best honestly um you're always overlooked unless you're like really exceptional
34:19um and i don't like that so i really want to like go to hbcus and help black gay men like find not
34:30only just find themselves within this professional space but guide them throughout their journey from
34:35college to the um workforce uh that's something that i really am passionate about and i have been
34:42working on for some time now um and then overall i just want my legacy to to show
34:49that you can like business can be done within um influencing and you can really make this a
34:56sustainable career and i think i really want to translate that message because y'all i mean
35:01everyone here knows that but i want to translate that message to older generations because sometimes
35:06i get on flights i'm sitting in first class and i tell people what i do and then i'm an influencer and
35:11they'll be like oh so what do your parents do i'm like well because they just assume like why are you
35:17here like as an influencer so i really want other generations to understand that this is a real
35:22thing this is a career and yeah it's profit is um profitable too
35:30um i don't know i kind of want people to just look at me and think like because i'm from chicago
35:35and like ray monte said it's like when you from a city like chicago or where he from it's like you
35:41you don't really make it you don't see people make it out unless they the next big like chief
35:45keef or they play sports and i wasn't getting drafted i'm 5a i like to like i like to sketch
35:51and doodle in class and it's like i think it's really important from people for my city and people
35:57from cities like me to see somebody like me become somebody by just being the authentic self and being
36:03a creative because i feel like it's so it used to be so discouraging like being a creative growing up
36:10because everybody thought you were weird you were a guy which is crazy when you really think about it
36:15because the people that become the actresses and the painters and you know they were once those
36:21kids that got picked on but now when they become famous and everybody's i want to show people to
36:26celebrate those kids when you have them in the classrooms and not when they become famous you
36:30know what i mean i want to show people to pour into them to invest in them and i kind of think like
36:35that's the avenue i kind of want to go in with my legacy is i want to get back to chicago and i
36:40want to show people that you don't have to drop the rakes in your pictures to be somebody you don't
36:45have to you know be at the you can be creative you can be weird it's okay malik did it you know exactly
36:52you ain't wrong king wonderful thank you guys so much unfortunately we don't have much time and
36:58production might kill me but i'll ask one more brief question i think it'd be really great if rapid
37:04fire we could just go through the line and i think we'll start with the prefix if we're being honest
37:10and finish with a funky little ending that we can just come up with on our own and then plug everyone's
37:17social so you can plug your own social um i'll go first if we're being honest this blazer is really
37:22tight and i can't breathe um i just had to get up get that off my chest sorry uh my name is sophia
37:30phia dennis on everything if we're being honest they felt us so good in the back and i'm sitting
37:37on this i'm sitting up here and i am stuffed i'm stuffed like and i cleared the plane like i ate it
37:43all so yeah if we're being honest i'm wearing this suit to the plane but i'm on the back of the plane
37:49so they're gonna be like girl you could have spent that money on a higher ticket my instagram
37:54is bd shayla brother oh i'm jay brown i'm sorry i forgot to
38:08i don't know if we've been honest i'm just really like gagged that all these beautiful people came
38:13here to like hear what we had to say and i'm really appreciative and i i'm so grateful for
38:19y'all and thank y'all for following our journey oh my god let me stop um malik d mcinty everywhere
38:24thank you did we do good y'all yes yeah okay okay if we're being honest i think this was the best
38:31panel of the day just saying hey thank you hey you keep that trash too no no shade to any other panels
38:40but oh no no no listen we got an all-star lineup here i know the powerpuff girls
38:48and nobody still want to be bubbles exactly i like being bubbles okay so you accept bubbles
38:55all right well thank you so much everybody and thank you so much to our panelists deandre
39:01malik raymonte y'all did that okay y'all have a wonderful day love y'all
39:10all pictures do it all so i want to know how did you guys build your team there's been a lot of
39:18really good people um that i've had a part of my team but i just realized that they didn't always
39:23have that vision that i have for myself i genuinely love you but i'm not gonna be held back because you
39:29can't expand your vision i love that you know this this early no one should ride the bus for free
39:34what do you do here what do you do here what do you do here oh that's a new line they're gonna be
39:39sick of me now what do you do here
39:53all right one more time for partner in pride
39:56okay so i'm tired of walking up and down the stage i want to interact with y'all a little bit
40:04i want to have some fun okay can i have fun with y'all all right who in here got a business
40:11who in here has a brand how many influencers do we have in a room how many micro influencers do we have
40:18okay so i'm looking for the most energetic business owner in the room right now
Comments