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00:00to our teams, to our companies, and we have a beautiful, great moderator orchestrating that
00:07conversation. But before he comes up here, I just want to know, is everybody feeling good on this
00:12beautiful Sunday in New Orleans? How have y'all been enjoying Essence Fest? If this is your first
00:17time at Essence Fest, please make some noise. Have you been here two, three, four times? Make some
00:23noise. Listen, it's Sunday. God has blessed us with another breath of fresh air, so I need
00:29y'all to give me a little bit more energy. How are y'all feeling, New Orleans? Please
00:34make some noise. All right, so are we ready to go? Is my man Mr. Jones ready yet? Because
00:44this is a very, very important conversation, and I'm glad we're having it very early in
00:47the day because y'all can turn up after this, but I want y'all to hear this conversation.
00:51I want y'all to be ready for this conversation, and I want y'all to be ready for me and Dr.
00:56Godfrey, we're going to turn up after this panel is over. Hold on. Oh yeah, they always remind me of
01:03this. If you want to get up, please make it to the left, make it to the right, because we have cameras
01:07right here in this middle, so we don't want nobody to block what we're doing right here. So without
01:11further ado, I want to introduce our moderator for this financial literacy conversation, and the
01:17panelists that are going to be up here are very informative, they're very well known, and they're
01:21very respected. But first and foremost, I would like to introduce my guy, my friend, my brother,
01:27Okla Jones from Essence.
01:32Essence Fest, what's going on today? How y'all doing? My name is Okla Jones. I'm the entertainment
01:37editor here at Essence, and I want to introduce and welcome y'all to the Inner Zone Minute Experience.
01:42So today, we're going to check in with four incredibly successful entrepreneurs and find out how they
01:49built their businesses from the ground up and took the uncommissional route to generating
01:53sustainable wealth and achieving their career goals. So everybody, I want y'all to give a
01:59great round of applause and welcome boss man Brewster, million dollars worth of game creator
02:05and host Wilo, M-Line CEO James Mays, and black smoke owner Black Taddy. Y'all give it up for
02:11the gentleman.
02:20I guess they're almost coming.
02:26Okay, well, so waiting on somebody real quick guys, I actually wanted to talk to you about the
02:32man's experience. And I know that Essence has always been a digital publication that's catered to black
02:38women. But we just want y'all to know that us black men, we love y'all too. And we enjoy the
02:43love that y'all have given us too, giving us this platform and everything. And I think it's just an
02:47amazing thing that y'all are doing. And I'm glad that y'all are here to witness it too. And it's
02:51something that I think that we're going to keep doing as well too, because we also want to show
02:55love to us fellas here, because we love to show love to y'all too. So, um, but this next panel too,
03:01uh, I think is really important. It's called trapping out of poverty, because a lot of these
03:05men, you know, you don't have to be in a bad situation and stay in that situation as well
03:10too. You can get out of it. You know, if you stay positive, if you seek the knowledge for
03:15things that you're trying to do as well too, and just because you may be in a bad situation,
03:19financial literacy, that's for everybody. That's for everybody, you know.
03:24All right. So let's bring these gentlemen back out of camp. Brewster Logistics founder,
03:32boss man Brewster, million dollars worth of game cred, and host, Wallow, M-Line CEO,
03:37James Mays, and Black Smoke owner, Black Tatted.
03:54Y'all give it up for him. All right. So Black Tatted, I'm going to start with you, my brother.
04:15What was it that first let you know that a traditional nine to five wasn't going to work for you?
04:19I mean, I just never, ever found myself being, you know, drawn to the traditional lifestyle.
04:29I felt like it was traditional for our parents, for our grandparents, because that's what they
04:34known and they seen. But for our lifestyle, our generation, I feel like entrepreneurship
04:40is what's normal to us. So once I seen it, once I realized, like, I wanted to really be a boss,
04:46I was okay, well, you know, being a follower and taking notes, but I realized that being a leader
04:52just always suited me best. So I knew that was the zone that I needed to be in. So now I'm in the zone.
04:59How about you, Wallow?
05:00You know, you know, I don't think this worked.
05:03Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, me, I was always in the streets growing up. So I was always a risk taker.
05:16So I always said to myself, once I realized if I could change my mind, I could change my world.
05:21So I always was a hustler in the streets. So once I was able to transform that energy
05:24and I had to worry about the risk that comes with the street life, losing my life, going to prison,
05:29and I hustled in that way and took that ingenuity that I had from the streets, I knew I would be able
05:33to kill it in corporate America. So that's when really the light came on and I said, I'm going to go
05:37out here and have it. James, how about you, man?
05:44So I feel like I didn't want to be in a traditional working world because to be totally transparent,
05:52y'all, I like to get up when I want to get up. You know what I'm saying? I'm not a morning person.
05:56I'm a night person. I work on my own schedule. So I designed at night. You know what I'm saying?
06:01But I always had the mindset of leading. I wanted to create something for my kids, for my family
06:07that I could work hard at. You know what I'm saying? And that's why I chose to get into entrepreneurship.
06:14You know what I'm saying? So it's been good.
06:16Boss, man. So what are some myths around taking a non-traditional career route that you can dispel
06:22based on your experiences?
06:23Some myths?
06:25Yeah, like some things that I guess people think that happens when you're trying to build
06:29your own businesses, you know, that you can dispel.
06:31So one of the first things people think that once they become business owners, that mean
06:35they can do what they want to. And that's the farthest from the truth. And unless you like
06:40James and you're in a position to work your schedule, once you start your own business,
06:45you still have a routine you got to follow. You still got people dealing with customer service.
06:49You still have to deal with employees as well as the customers. A lot of people are up under the
06:55impression that, you know, once I start my own business, I get away from the nine to five. Well,
07:00once you start your own business, it's more 24 hours.
07:04So I want to build upon that too. You built your own trucking company as well too, correct?
07:08Right.
07:09So what are some of the first steps you took to begin making self-employment and business ownership a reality for you?
07:14One of the first things I did was went and got experience in the particular field that I'm in.
07:20So I know a lot of people that want to start trucking companies, but they know nothing about
07:24the industry. For me, I got my CDL license and went and drove. And I was able to learn the ins
07:29and the outs from actually working at a company. I did that for about nine months. And then I left
07:34and started my own trucking company. I didn't just wake up one day and say, hey, I'm going to start a trucking
07:39company. Yeah. So Wilo, my brother, you created a million dollar worth of game for you and your
07:44cousin. It's an amazing show. We all love it. And it's grown at a pretty impressive weight.
07:50What strategies do you use to attribute that success to? Like, what strategies have you used
07:54like in your journey to make your podcast successful?
07:57Not really caring. Like we knew who our audiences was, but you got to have thick skin in this game
08:03and you got to approach this game with you. Nothing is more lucrative than when you can make money
08:08being you. We get on there every day. We us. We unapologetically us. We don't care. And that's
08:13very important in this critical world. Being a black person in America, black people are some of the
08:18most critical people. And you got to be able to live above the comments, live above the criticism,
08:24live above the hate. And I think that's what makes us so good and make us be able to just deliver us
08:29every week and just be businessmen too. You got to handle a lot of businesses in order to do it on our
08:33level. You got to be strategic. You got to understand marketing. You got to understand
08:37licensing deals. You got to understand the structure of a podcast. I think a lot of people
08:42think a podcast is just some people sitting on the couch talking. No. It's got a lot to do with
08:47big time sponsorship. They got a lot to do with partnership. And it got a lot to do with knowing
08:52you're a consumer. Knowing who your consumers is. And just, you know, like he said, you running a
08:57business. There's not just no hobby. And when you running a business, there's a lot of responsibilities
09:02like taxes. You know, and when you see us, we are a big time business. So you got to make a lot of
09:08money to make a lot of money. And the reason I say that is because money bring money and give money
09:14to money. And I'm saying that to say, you got to pay a lot of taxes. And you got to be able to show
09:20a spreadsheet that you making money. So when you're going out there getting licenses and deals and
09:23stuff, they can see on paper that you making money. See, a lot of times in our culture, we try to show
09:29money, but we ain't got money. And when you're dealing with the big corporations, they want to
09:34see money on that financial statement to say, okay, if y'all making this, we're going 10 times
09:40that. And we're going to give you this type of partnership in order to do this. So it's about
09:43a lot of business, like you said, and just being on your game. So James, your brand M line is
09:50authentically New Orleans, you know, and I love that too, because I'm from New Orleans too. So we
09:53definitely love you out here, man. Have you been able to maintain that widespread appeal and
09:58hometown connection and scale your business worldwide at the same time?
10:03So creating a brand, I do like a lot of studying, you know what I'm saying? I pay attention to
10:08like all of the bigger brands and how things are supposed to be done. The type of clothes
10:13you're supposed to make, the way you market. So I want to keep New Orleans inside of my brand,
10:18like the culture inside of it. But I also understand fashion. You know what I'm saying? You got to
10:25say fashion is, there's a bubble. You know what I'm saying? You can't be outside of the bubble. You
10:29can't be too far behind. You can't be too far ahead. You know what I'm saying? So to get to
10:35speak to my people, I got to, I got to speak to them in a certain type of way. You know what I'm
10:40saying? And that's looking, looking apart, creating the things that I know that they like. You know what I'm
10:46saying? So it's been, it's been going good. And I have like a lot of love inside of my brand here in
10:51New Orleans, which makes, it makes it, it go. New Orleans, it gives me a real push. You know what
10:58I'm saying? And I knew that before I crossed that bridge to being national, I had time to keep
11:05restructuring. So I went, where I was five years ago as a designer, I'm way ahead of that now. I can
11:11look back at my designs from six years ago and say, I would, I would never really create that right
11:16now. You know what I'm saying? It was dope for that particular time, but you have to grow as a
11:21designer. You know what I'm saying? And then, like I said, it's been a lot of love inside of my brand
11:26in New Orleans and they helped me push. They helped me keep restructuring. You know what I'm saying? So I
11:31had to keep focusing on where fashion is going so I could stay inside of the bubble. So I want to build on
11:37that real quick. You say you can create pieces that you know people like. How do you do that research
11:41to find out like what's hot and what people like? I have, I don't know, in my mind, I have an eye
11:50for fashion itself. You know what I'm saying? Before I had a brand, I wasn't on the styling
11:55side. So actually like putting clothes on, I already had that eye creating, knowing the classic
12:02color patterns and stuff like that. You know what I'm saying? So I just have, I don't know, I just
12:08have that eye for it, I feel like. And it's been my passion. And I'm not going to say it's
12:13easy, but it's just natural. You know what I mean?
12:19And then, Wilder, you spoke earlier about, you know, being authentically you and everything.
12:23But when you're trying to start a podcast, how do you separate yourself from other podcasts?
12:28Um, you got to, you got to step out there. Like, um, and you got to stop watching too many
12:33podcasts. Because if you look at the podcast again now, when it comes to brothers, you got
12:38a thousand podcasts of brothers just talking about women all day. That ain't going to work,
12:41buddy. It ain't going to work. You got to just bash some women on. And it's like, come on,
12:45bro. You got to be a creative. Like if you look at the podcast space, black people was getting
12:50more in the podcast, but I'm, I still haven't seen a podcast. That's a directory on podcasts.
12:58Like we keep making the same podcast. Everybody just sitting there gossiping and talking.
13:01When is somebody going to come up with a show to say, Oh, you know what? We're going to
13:04do the show. Me and black going to start the show. Whereas though we educate black people
13:08on what podcasts is hot. If you just enter in the game, like a, like a podcast directory,
13:14once you do something like that, um, we don't have no podcasts. It's like a woman can start
13:18a podcast, just telling romance stories. Another brother can start a podcast, just telling
13:23crime story, podcasts and podcasts, podcasts, which is video that is, it don't have nothing
13:28to do with the same old, just gossip talk. We got to get more, more conceptual with the
13:34approach. And I'm pretty sure a lot of these women, they love a romantic podcast. Some of
13:38us will love, um, you know, when the street novels was popping, like a street novel podcast
13:43where people just telling stories. It don't have to be just people gossiping, talking about
13:47nothing. You got to be creative in order to hit the mark. When me and Gil came, only people
13:52you really had was like Joe, uh, Joe Buttons, you had, uh, Nori and them, but they catered
13:57to like older hip hop, different. Joe really ain't dealing with too many interviews. So
14:02we said, we're going to tap into the young cats to right now and then tomorrow. We're
14:05going to tap into the entrepreneurs, mix that up, make some gumbo and serve it to the people
14:09because nobody was doing, nobody was embracing the young boys. We did that and it took, but now
14:15we, I just think there's too many people just talking about nothing and then on top of talking
14:21about nothing. Podcast is a business. It's a billion dollar business. They're giving away
14:25tons of money. Like I don't think people understand. They're giving away tons of it, but you got
14:30to position yourself right. If a sister come out with a romantic, um, they come out with
14:35a podcast. There's so many brands that's catered towards sisters that will pay them money to
14:40advertise on their podcasts. So you got to look at the whole thing, your demographic
14:46that, but the content is very important. And I think we got to start taking different
14:50approaches instead of just sitting here talking about anything and start structuring the tab
14:56into one niche or one lane. And you can be able to show the advertisers, yo, this is what
15:01we're on. This is what we listen to us. Boom, boom, boom, boom, bang. And I think that's
15:04what it's about. So we're talking about oversaturation. Black, you in a hookah business with your company
15:11Black Smoke. How do you stay competitive in a lane that's so oversaturated? Oh, well, I
15:18feel like when it comes to the hookah game, I know it so well because I'm not just a person
15:24that's, that's in a business for the money. Like I literally look at it as far as like
15:29me being a consumer because I truly love to do it too. And by me doing it so much, doing
15:34it every day, going to certain lounges, going to all these different places and literally
15:38looking for something that was not there, something that, that I couldn't access, something
15:43I couldn't find. That, that's where I know my lane was, to literally be in a lane on my
15:49own. And also, if we being real, being transparent, when we talk about the hookah world, talk about
15:55the tobacco world, when you don't see people like us, you know, I was actually told like,
16:00I don't think you should do that. You don't want to do that. They're not going to let you
16:04do that. You know? So to me, that challenge was enough for me. Not only, I always tell
16:09somebody, if you're going to do a business, the, the, the main objective to doing a business
16:13is doing something that you love to do. Because even when the money get low, even when, when,
16:19when a business is not going to the pace or the magnitude of what you want it to be, that
16:24passion is what's going to keep you hungry. That passion is going to make you keep doing it
16:28regardless and get to the next point. So by me already doing something that I love and
16:32having a challenge of being able to kind of be the first black man to enter the tobacco
16:37industry and such force like I have and dominate it, you know, it just gives me that, that,
16:44that drill, baby. That's what I love. I see it in your face too, man. I love it. I'm passionate
16:48about it. I promise. So for this last question, fellas, I'm going to go down the line too, man.
16:53I'm going to start with you, my brother. What's a rule that you're so glad you never followed
16:58when it came to find a career path and it worked best for your goals that you had in mind?
17:04Oh, that's interesting. A goal that I don't follow?
17:10That's interesting. A rule, a rule that you never follow? Like,
17:12you know, they have a bunch of rules, gatekeepers, that what you're not supposed to do,
17:14whatever you not follow that made you reach your goals you made.
17:18Um, so one of the rules is, people always say, I'm not getting paid to do this, so I ain't doing it.
17:26Well, with me, I'm somebody that believes in doing more than what the job is requiring.
17:31Uh, that's one of the biggest reasons why I became successful in the industry. I'm somebody that,
17:36so these three guys right here, they like, man, Brewster, I ain't getting paid to go take this load five miles.
17:42Okay, Brewster will do it. And it became to the point to where every time these people need some move,
17:47we gonna call Brewster to do it. So one of the things I tell people, quit focusing on the money
17:52and focus on producing more than what that job is requiring.
17:57James, how about you, my brother?
18:00Hey, can you repeat the question one more time?
18:03What's a rule that you're so glad you never followed when it came to find a career path that works,
18:09that worked best with the goals that you had in mind?
18:12Um, so a rule that I feel like, um, let me see.
18:17So I was in the military, uh, did 14 years. And in the military, they go by a chain of command.
18:25You know, you gotta work your way up, uh, to get to a point of leadership.
18:31You know what I'm saying? I hated that rule.
18:34I hated that you have to be in the military for these amount of years for me to be in this position of leadership.
18:41Because I could come in at a mature mindset and I could be a leader and lead this team.
18:46You know what I'm saying? So if I, if I take that rule and structure it under my business,
18:51say I bring in a young designer to help me design and I have somebody that I've been working with,
18:57but he's better. Why should he be, why should he follow his lead?
19:03If he's already able and ready to lead already. You know what I'm saying?
19:07A lot of people want you to take your time and, because you're young, because you're fresh in the game.
19:16You know what I mean? And I don't think that's, that's right.
19:19I think some people just have it. Some people already, you know what I'm saying?
19:24Some people get it. Some people have that understanding.
19:26So when you have that understanding, I think you should just go.
19:29So that's, that's something that I always go against the grain with.
19:32You know what I mean? I feel like I'm just as good as the people at these big brands.
19:38At a Gucci, Louis Vuitton, whoever. I could design with the best of them.
19:42You know what I'm saying? But that don't mean I feel like, in my mindset, I shouldn't feel like they are better than me because they're hip.
19:51You know what I'm saying? So I'm, I'm putting it in.
19:54I always put it in to take that initiative to, to know that I'm just as good as these people.
19:59You know what I'm saying? So if you don't think that you just as good, you won't move like that.
20:05Black, how about you, my brother?
20:08Uh, well, I feel like I need you to repeat the question.
20:12So you kind of actually spoke on it a little earlier, but the question is, what's a rule that you're glad you never followed when it came time to find a career path that worked for you?
20:22Okay. Also, one thing that I'm, I'm glad I never really followed or paid attention to was the fact that, and, and, and not to discourage nobody.
20:32We all start somewhere. We all can start small, but my motto is always go big, go home.
20:38So when it come to me entering the hookah game, it was always like, you don't have to do so much so fast.
20:45Just start with your hookah, then start with this and gradually get there.
20:49But I did a whole, it took me way longer, but I came out with a whole shebang.
20:53I did everything at once. Like I literally opened my business with my own hookahs, my own foil, my own coal, my own candy tips, my own lights for the hookah, my own batteries for the lights that go into the hookah.
21:05That's how I started. And the, the, the thing that, that took me the longest that, that made me feel discouraged is the very thing that made my business stand out and pop from jump.
21:14So what I'm going to say to everybody is nothing wrong with starting small, nothing wrong with taking your time, but don't limit yourself.
21:21Don't let nobody put you in the box. Don't start small because you feel like you have to. Go as big as your heart desire. Dream as big as your mind allow you to.
21:30And it's only you to be in control of your own destiny.
21:35Hey, and before while I go, I want to say one thing, uh, just to kind of piggy off of what he's saying.
21:41Um, a, a rule that a lot of people think is they tell you to play it safe. You know what I'm saying?
21:47Uh, don't put all your money into this. Have a little bit. We got to stop playing it safe. You know what I'm saying?
21:54If you believe in something, put all the cards on the table, put everything. I went, I've been to the point where I put my last dollar, my last dollar on this. You know what I'm saying?
22:05You got to stop playing it safe. If you believe in something, go all the way with it.
22:09All right, Walo, how about you, my brother?
22:12First and foremost, I want to say, I know black personally. I know a boss man person. I don't know James, but I just want to salute y'all for doing y'all thing.
22:20Um, I always see you grinding. I always see you, uh, James. I'm just meeting you.
22:25But it's a point of, um, as black men, we got to start. We so quick to shoot each other, but we ain't quick to salute each other.
22:31So we got to always acknowledge each other and push each other. I mean, you know what I mean? Cause that's, that's important.
22:37All of y'all bringing something different to the culture is necessary. But a lot of times we be so used to doing stuff and helping others.
22:44We don't never get the acknowledgement ourselves. So I just want to take the time to acknowledge y'all.
22:48Cause y'all really, y'all really get some footprint in the ground and y'all necessary and y'all needed in our culture.
22:52Um, but I'm going to say this, um, people always over planning. Uh, we just woke up one day and started our show.
23:03We, we, everybody get this. Oh, you got to plan. You know how many people were plans and ain't do nothing.
23:08I believe you got to start doing. And when you start doing, you will flow into knowing what you doing, but you ain't got to know what you're doing at first.
23:15You just got to get the motion. And I, and I think a lot of times we don't even try to get no motion.
23:20Cause we listening to every, that's the rule. I don't, I don't, I'm not lit. Don't, don't try to give me advice about my dream when you ain't never go after your dream.
23:29See, people will give up on their dream, right? People will give up on their dream and, and the saddest thing about what's going on in our community, the black community,
23:37some of the biggest hate, um, some of the biggest push down, gonna be from the people that we love the most.
23:44Cause a lot of times a person will look at black and be like, black, how dare you have that big dream?
23:48It might be your mom, might be your aunt, might be your cousin, might be your brother. How dare you have that big dream?
23:52And I ain't, and I gave up on mine. So why I'm gonna try to push you and encourage you to live yours.
23:57We got to stop asking people for advice that abandoned their dreams.
24:01We asking people, Oh, what'd you think? What'd you think? Come on, man. Like, you know, you don't believe in dreams cause you lost your imagination.
24:10So we just got to be mindful about that. And that's one of the rules. I don't ask nobody nothing. I don't care who you is.
24:15You might even be in the field that I'm trying to get in because the route that we going to take, especially as black people, we always take an unorthodox route to make this thing happen.
24:26We don't never take the, if we got to go down A street, we might go down F street because we always going to find another way.
24:33So I just think it's very important that you just don't listen to nobody when you're trying to do it.
24:38And stop asking friends and family members that ain't doing nothing they self because they going to hinder you and they going to hate them.
24:46Listen, the biggest haters that we got in life is people we know right now that's in our life or people that was in our life that's out of our life.
24:54Ain't nobody going on social media that don't like them and creating a fake page to hate on you.
24:59That's your cousin hating on you black. Your cousin hating on him because you told him no.
25:04That ain't no stranger cause a stranger don't know you. They going to pop it from they real.
25:08So we got to understand about that black hate. It's vicious. So, but you got to be able to live above that and you got to be able to see above that in order to materialize your dream.
25:16And that's how I look at it. You know what I mean? But I salute all you brothers, man. Keep winning. You know what I mean?
25:20Likewise, King.
25:21So I want y'all to give a loud round of applause for Black, Wildo, Boss Man, and James.
25:33But before we leave, I want y'all gentlemen to tell everybody where they can find y'all on social and y'all websites and everything too.
25:41You can follow me on all social media platforms with Boss Man Brewster. We are pushing big reform.
25:49Hey, I'm on social media at MLine James and my brand page is Doug underscore MLine.
25:58And my website is MLine.co.
26:02You can find me at Black Tatted, Black Smoke. Don't put no CK y'all. It's B-L-A-K-K.
26:09And I'm going to just say one more thing before we go.
26:12All y'all in here, I know everybody here probably have a dream. I just want y'all to do me one favor.
26:17Y'all probably have this vision, this dream, and y'all feel like I'm about to start or I'm going to do after I get my house, after I get my call, after I get my income tax.
26:26Could y'all just go home and start? It's never going to be the right time. It's never going to be the perfect time.
26:33You're never going to know everything. You're never going to have all the information. You're going to learn as you go.
26:38After you just start, just start. That's it. That's all I got to say.
26:42Y'all can find me at WALLO267, W-A-L-L-O 267 on all social media platforms.
26:48You can also follow my movement, Million Dollars Worth of Game, that's M-Word for Game, on all social platforms.
26:53First of all, I appreciate y'all even stopping to check us out, man.
26:57Go out there, live your dreams, and I'm telling you, black folk, we some extraordinary people.
27:02We've been in some extraordinary struggles. I don't care what you're going through today or yesterday.
27:06You're bigger than what you're going through, and tomorrow is going to be better than yesterday. I love y'all.
27:11Y'all give it up.
27:13Thank y'all.
27:15All right, thank y'all, people.
27:21If y'all want to take pictures, go to the side over there, line up. We're going to do it in front of the men's experience.
27:26The side. Just go over there. She's waving her hand over there. Get her.
27:31Kick it, DJ. Kick it, DJ. Kick it, DJ. Kick it, party. Throw it on.
27:43On the wall. If y'all want to holla at them, go over there to the right. Then holla at them.
27:50Find somebody you don't know and say hello. Stick to somebody.
27:56I got it. I got it. I got it.
28:01That's beautiful right there.
28:09Yup, yup.
28:13Yes, yes, yes.
28:17Trapping out of poverty right there. That's your star.
28:19I got it.
28:21Oakland Jones carrying a beautiful conversation one time for a while.
28:24Don't know.
28:26One time for the entire panel.
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