WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.559 Welcome everyone to the Blacks and Technology bit tech Talk podcast, 2 00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:10.439 a show where we talk to black people who are engineers, innovators, educators, invenors, 3 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:14.800 change makers, and entrepreneurs doing amazing things in the world 4 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:18.760 of technology. The bit tech Talk podcast is where they 5 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:23.519 show how they are stomping the divide by sharing their stories, ideas, 6 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:26.640 knowledge and perspective on tech with the big community. 7 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:31.559 Welcome to the show. Dennis, glad to have him. 8 00:00:32.039 --> 00:00:34.479 I appreciate it. Greg, glad to be here. I'm and excited. 9 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:37.840 Yeah, excellent, excellent. Yeah, It's been a minute since I've 10 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:40.359 done these podcasts, so I'm excited to jump back into it. 11 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:42.479 Tell us a little bit about yourself, you know, kind 12 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:44.759 of where you're from, and give us a little bit 13 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:45.560 of that background. 14 00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:46.399 Yeah, for sure. 15 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:48.600 So recently. I'm from Saint Louis, Missouri. I grew up 16 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:51.600 in Saint Louis, lived there to about two thousand and eight. 17 00:00:51.799 --> 00:00:54.320 I had a really just different childhood growing up in 18 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:56.600 the city like Saint Louis. It was not always as 19 00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:58.759 much opportunity as I would like in the take industry 20 00:00:58.759 --> 00:00:59.600 when I was growing up. 21 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:01.799 Ultimately, I kind of. 22 00:01:01.799 --> 00:01:04.799 Svered into a pathway that was a little bit different 23 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:06.640 than most of the people that were my peers at 24 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.920 that time period. Eventually, after high school, I moved to Atlanta. 25 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:14.359 I studied electrical computer engineering down to Georgia Tech, and 26 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:16.879 then from Georgia Tech, I had the opportunity to start 27 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:19.079 in the power industry, but eventually got into computing and 28 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:22.000 hardware and software and things of that nature, shifting in 29 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:24.519 shifting my gears later in my college career to really 30 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:28.000 locking in on computing, and then ultimately it's really amazing 31 00:01:28.040 --> 00:01:31.159 opportunities out of Atlanta, which originally I was intended on 32 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:33.799 moving to California right after I got out of Georgia Tech, 33 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:36.400 but just opportunity kind of presented themselves out there that 34 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:38.480 allowed me to want to stay in Atlanta for a 35 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:42.680 little bit longer, and I basically grew myself professionally and 36 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:44.920 my network, my experience and that stuff in Atlanta and 37 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:46.719 eventually moved out here to California to the top of 38 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:47.280 twenty twenty. 39 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:51.280 Nice. Nice. So I'm curious about, you know, your time 40 00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:54.920 in Saint Louis. By the way, we're kind of neighbors, 41 00:01:55.040 --> 00:02:00.200 like I'm in Cincinnati, while so you know, that's what 42 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:01.680 five hours west. 43 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:03.239 Yeah, we're mid West brothers. 44 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:03.799 Midwest. 45 00:02:03.879 --> 00:02:04.120 Yeah. 46 00:02:04.439 --> 00:02:08.080 Yeah. So tell me a little bit about, you know, 47 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:11.319 your early interest in tech, Like how did you you know, 48 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:13.919 you said you didn't wearing a lot of your peers 49 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:16.120 that were in attack. How did you get into it? All? 50 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:16.719 Right? For sure? 51 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:19.280 So my age, I'm thirty five. So when I was 52 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:22.400 growing up, and I want to say, the Internet started 53 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:25.479 to pop around maybe six or seventh grade for me, 54 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:27.719 like commercial side of the Internet started to come out more, 55 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:29.520 so you know, you get stuff like AOL and all 56 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:31.639 these different things that were kind of popping up a lot. 57 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:35.319 So around like middle school, early high school, I really 58 00:02:35.319 --> 00:02:38.199 started to get intrigued by the Internet. We had like 59 00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:40.680 dialog for a while, but I used to literally walk 60 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:43.080 to the library in my neighborhood to go get on 61 00:02:43.080 --> 00:02:45.280 the internet when I was like I could vividly remember 62 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:47.840 these times when I'm like eleven twelve years old, like 63 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:50.639 walking to the library to use the Internet and just 64 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:53.400 accessing a lot more information. So for me, I always 65 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:55.960 had a fascination with it once I got exposed to it. 66 00:02:56.599 --> 00:02:58.400 Once I got into high school, there was some things 67 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:00.360 they kind of peaked my interest even more so I 68 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:03.439 had chosen pathway. Wanted to be in technology in middle school. 69 00:03:03.479 --> 00:03:07.080 I wanted to kind of focus in on technology, specifically 70 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:09.960 from a business perspective. So I was always an entrepreneur, 71 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:12.400 even before I was actually passionate about technology, Like I 72 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:16.039 actually started out more like my first job wasn't even 73 00:03:16.039 --> 00:03:18.360 a job. I was actually an entrepreneur cutting grass in 74 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:20.919 my neighborhood. I literally the moment my dad gave me 75 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:24.280 an line more, I literally walked around my whole neighborhood 76 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:26.439 trying to find people, trying to get myself out of 77 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:28.080 ten people that I can cut their grass on the 78 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:30.800 regular basis. So I was an entrepreneur first, but I 79 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:33.120 knew that I needed a pathway that would kind of 80 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:35.960 allow me to unlock more economic opportunity. Given that I 81 00:03:35.960 --> 00:03:37.840 was coming from a city like Saint Louis. It wasn't 82 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:40.879 like there was just overflowing amounts of resources in the 83 00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:42.039 environment that I grew up in. 84 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:44.479 I did have access and we did, we were blessed. 85 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:45.159 But I just. 86 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:47.080 Knew that there was a difference from some of the 87 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:49.520 other things that I had saw. Given just being a student, 88 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:51.759 like I was a very active student, like I could 89 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:55.080 I was like always doing really really good on standardized tests, 90 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:56.960 and I always had really really good grades. So I 91 00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:59.479 was a student a certain kind of way. But eventually, 92 00:03:59.719 --> 00:04:02.199 when I got to middle school and I chose that 93 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:05.199 pathway of technology and business. In high school, the thing 94 00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:07.159 that really peaked my interest in the direction I wanted 95 00:04:07.159 --> 00:04:10.080 to go in was Facebook. Facebook came out when I 96 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:12.319 was in high school. Excuse me, when I was in 97 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:14.400 high school two thousand and four, two. 98 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:15.599 Thousand and three, something like that. 99 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:17.879 And when I was in high school, Facebook wasn't even 100 00:04:17.879 --> 00:04:19.000 for a high school students yet. 101 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:21.000 It was literally only a college platform. 102 00:04:21.399 --> 00:04:23.240 But the high school that I went to was called 103 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:25.720 Cartner Rid or College Prep, and given that college was 104 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:29.399 in our high school name, it honestly let our high 105 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:31.079 school be one of the first high schools that had 106 00:04:31.079 --> 00:04:33.120 access to Facebook, because high. 107 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:34.279 Schools were not on this platform. 108 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:36.439 So there was like me and all the guys and 109 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:38.720 people that were in my high school, we were on Facebook. 110 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:41.040 My parents had no idea about it, the faculty and 111 00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:43.120 staff had no idea about it. It was just like 112 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:45.560 this own little island that we had, and it kind 113 00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:47.680 of peaked my interest in So when I'm about fourteen 114 00:04:47.720 --> 00:04:48.680 to fifteen years old and. 115 00:04:48.600 --> 00:04:49.560 I'm seeing Facebook. 116 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:52.199 The first thing I started thinking was, first of all, 117 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:54.959 who made this? Then when I figured out who made it, 118 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:56.439 and I was like, hold on, a guy in college 119 00:04:56.439 --> 00:04:56.759 made this. 120 00:04:56.759 --> 00:04:57.680 What college did you go to? 121 00:04:57.720 --> 00:04:59.759 Then I started going down that rabbit hole, the kind 122 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:01.920 of und standing and stuff. This was stuff that I 123 00:05:01.959 --> 00:05:04.040 was interested in that like very few people were interested in. 124 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:07.040 Everybody was just more interested in, like having conversations and 125 00:05:07.079 --> 00:05:09.560 talking about music and sports on Facebook. And I'm just like, 126 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:13.439 hold on, man, somebody in college made this. What kind 127 00:05:13.480 --> 00:05:13.959 of college was? 128 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:15.160 Yet? What made them? 129 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:16.920 So then I started going down the rabbit hole and 130 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:20.240 studying people and technology and stuff like that. Mark Zuckerberg 131 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:22.720 definitely inspired me to want to go in the pathway 132 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:25.360 of technology, and then I just started studying all the 133 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:27.600 other great So I started studying people like Bill Gates, 134 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:29.959 which we all Microsoft and all this stuff, and all 135 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.439 these things were already ever present during the nineties and 136 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:35.279 the early two thousands, but I just wasn't infatuated with 137 00:05:35.319 --> 00:05:37.040 this stuff because I didn't see it as something that 138 00:05:37.160 --> 00:05:39.720 was like a pathway that made sense for me growing 139 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:41.240 up in the way that I was growing up. But 140 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:43.360 when I figured out a college kid made Facebook. I 141 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:45.600 kind of felt like, this is something I probably could do, 142 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:48.079 but I knew that, of course, coming from the background 143 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:49.120 that I was coming from, it might not. 144 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:50.879 Be as director of a pathway for me there. 145 00:05:50.920 --> 00:05:52.480 So I just was like, all right, what kind of 146 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:54.279 school can I go to that would get me into 147 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:56.000 an environment where I could kind of learn these kind 148 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:58.160 of things. So that's what opened up my eyes to 149 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:01.000 First I wanted to go to MIT, which I did 150 00:06:01.079 --> 00:06:03.079 apply to MIT. I had the opportunity to go to MIT, 151 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:05.399 but I didn't think Boston would be the best place 152 00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:08.399 for me coming of kids straight out of the Midwest 153 00:06:08.439 --> 00:06:10.959 side of just the kind of environments and the communities 154 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:12.920 that I was coming from. So I started looking and 155 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:14.439 I started like, all right, what are the other schools 156 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:17.079 that are kind of on this level that ultimately could 157 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:19.160 give me the opportunity to get around this kind of stuff. 158 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:21.040 So then you know, I start going down the list, 159 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:24.839 like Old Stanford, I go see Carnegie mailing, you see 160 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:26.720 different schools, and then I see Georgia Tech is like 161 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:29.040 in the top five. Then I realized that Georgia Tech 162 00:06:29.079 --> 00:06:32.199 is right in Atlanta, which is ultimately a cultural hotbed 163 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:35.120 for African American people, so I ultimately like, I think 164 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:37.279 Georgia Tech could be a good fit for me, And 165 00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:39.279 by my junior year in high school, I was just like, 166 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:41.360 I want to go to Georgia Tech, and I started 167 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:44.040 figuring out the pathways to get there. And then ultimately 168 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:46.160 that's I did a lot of work. I tried to 169 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:47.680 make my SAT scores as good as I. 170 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:48.199 Could get them. 171 00:06:48.279 --> 00:06:50.279 I always had really good grades and things of that nature, 172 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:53.240 did community service, and just did as much as I 173 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:55.680 could to present myself as somebody that could be able 174 00:06:55.720 --> 00:06:57.959 to survive in an environment like that and thrive as well. 175 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:00.120 But ultimately I had the opportunity to get the set. 176 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:01.920 At the Georgia Tech my senior year of high school, 177 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:04.639 and that's when I kind of started my real journey 178 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:06.759 into the tech space, because most of what I was 179 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:09.279 doing in Saint Louis was more just kind of dibbling 180 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:11.839 and dabbling in different things, learning different stuff. But I 181 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:15.360 didn't have enough access as I would have ideally wanted 182 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:17.040 at that time, so I was just like, how can 183 00:07:17.079 --> 00:07:18.480 I get to the place where I can get some access, 184 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:20.639 And that's what Georgia Tech open the doors up for me. 185 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:21.879 Nice. 186 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:25.160 Nice, Yeah, that's a I kind of had that same mindset. 187 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:28.560 I mean, I'm older than you, but there was it 188 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:33.279 always intrigued me when I when I seen like people 189 00:07:33.319 --> 00:07:38.360 depicted geniuses so to speak, or smart people. My my 190 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:41.360 thing was War Games. There was an old school movie 191 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:45.120 about a computer hacker hacking the Norarat uh kind of 192 00:07:45.160 --> 00:07:48.079 took control and was so that was kind of my 193 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:51.000 my influence. And then I had a couple of people 194 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:54.079 in my life as well that were that were kind 195 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:56.560 of heavy into electronics and things like that that would 196 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:59.800 show me things. Uh. But but seeing that on screen 197 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:03.519 and just wondering, like, wow, man, if that person and 198 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:06.000 in War Games, I'm not sure if you're if you're 199 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:09.160 hit to the to the movie, but uh, it starred 200 00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:12.240 Matthew Broderick, uh and he was a teenager in high 201 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:15.639 school and so he was he had an affinity for 202 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:18.639 computers and so like he had a modem, like an 203 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:21.360 old school modem of the modem where you set the 204 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:24.720 phone actually uh, and he was connecting into his his 205 00:08:24.839 --> 00:08:27.600 high school and changing grades and things like that. And 206 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:30.319 then you know, so he was doing that kind of 207 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:33.799 hacking and then he hacked into uh, the Defense Department 208 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:36.120 Nor at and I thought that. I was like, man, 209 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:38.480 that's that's pretty cool. So that's kind of like where 210 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:42.320 the spark of technology started with me. And then like 211 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:45.159 along along the way, like you start seeing like like 212 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:47.440 you said, like Marcus Zuckerberg, and started seeing people like 213 00:08:47.480 --> 00:08:51.840 Bill Gates and uh, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and 214 00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:55.080 cats like that, uh, and just being more intrigued about 215 00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:57.200 like how did they get to where they are? Like 216 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:00.240 how did they obtain, you know, the knowledge that they had. 217 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:02.720 I started seeing they like, you know, like Steve Wisney 218 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:05.039 act was going to all these computer club groups and 219 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:07.679 things like that, so that that intrigued me as well. 220 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:11.120 But I relate to you on that level where you know, 221 00:09:11.159 --> 00:09:14.559 you kind of see these folks that are in this space. 222 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:17.519 The sad part about it is is that none of 223 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:21.879 these folks were black people exactly, at least not my 224 00:09:21.960 --> 00:09:24.480 early exposure. Of course, now I know a ton of 225 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:27.279 black people intact. But at the time, you know, growing 226 00:09:27.399 --> 00:09:31.039 up to anybody, of course, it was kind of that, 227 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:33.320 you know, it was a good thing, and at the 228 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:35.720 same time it was you know, I kind of wish 229 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:39.039 there were it was more representation. 230 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:39.399 For sure. 231 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:41.759 Yeah, I definitely had to deal with that, like, and 232 00:09:42.039 --> 00:09:43.679 I just want to spend a little bit off there, 233 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:45.639 because you just kind of triggered the thing for me, 234 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:48.519 because realistically, being as young as I was and wanting 235 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:51.679 to go in those directions and coming from the community 236 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:54.440 that we're coming from, it seems like most people that 237 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:57.440 are successful from our communities come from different backgrounds, whether 238 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:00.440 it's in the entertainment fields or sports. 239 00:10:00.200 --> 00:10:01.000 Things of that nature. 240 00:10:01.559 --> 00:10:05.200 And for me, I realized that given that there weren't 241 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:08.200 role models. And the crazy thing about it is I 242 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:10.279 had no idea about it. I don't know if you 243 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:15.120 know about David Stewart, that the CEO Worldwide Technology. Worldwide 244 00:10:15.159 --> 00:10:17.759 Technology is like, he's actually a billionaire. It's one of 245 00:10:17.799 --> 00:10:20.600 the biggest tech companies. It's a tech service providing company. 246 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:23.200 But ultimately it's a guy named David Stewart. He actually 247 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:25.360 runs one of the largest tech companies in the world, 248 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:27.240 and it's a black guy, and it's actually based in 249 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:29.759 Saint Louis. It's actually based in the Saint Louis area. 250 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:33.080 And I literally had no idea about this company the 251 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:35.320 whole time I was growing up in Saint Louis, and 252 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:38.120 I had no access, no exposure, but I was extremely 253 00:10:38.120 --> 00:10:40.879 passionate about technology. So for me, I learned out. I 254 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:41.360 figured out. 255 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:43.639 I learned about him later on in my career, But. 256 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:45.799 For me, it was always like I always looked at 257 00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:48.039 all the other guys that I studied at, like from 258 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:51.360 Bill Gates to Steve Jobs, to Jeff Bezos to Mark Zuckerberg. 259 00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:54.080 I always had to like study them and also remember 260 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:56.879 that everything with a caveat these guys are either in 261 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:00.200 certain types of communities that ultimately kind of make it 262 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:03.519 and their stories. They definitely had to deal with resistance 263 00:11:03.559 --> 00:11:05.519 to do the things that they did, but there were 264 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:08.039 things that allowed them in their pathways to be able 265 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:09.759 to kind of, you know, make it a little bit 266 00:11:09.799 --> 00:11:12.320 less less what do you call it, friction to get 267 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:14.200 where they wanted to go. I knew that the process 268 00:11:14.279 --> 00:11:15.799 might have been a little bit more difficult for me, 269 00:11:15.879 --> 00:11:18.320 but coming from Saint Louis, I just always knew that 270 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:20.240 I just have to be resilient if I want to 271 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:22.440 do something, even though a lot of people didn't believe, 272 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:24.600 Like I told people when I was twelve or thirteen 273 00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:26.919 years old living in Saint Louis, like I'm moving to California, 274 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:29.279 one day I want to be in technology doing all 275 00:11:29.320 --> 00:11:32.279 of this stuff, and plenty of people told me things 276 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:34.840 of the nature of and little Dennis, you sound crazy, 277 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:37.399 Let Dennis, Oh, okay, all these different kind of things, 278 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:39.480 And for me, it was always one of those things 279 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:41.639 where I just knew that something was calling me in 280 00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:43.399 those directions and whatever it was going to take me 281 00:11:43.399 --> 00:11:45.879 to get there. I just stayed persistent, but definitely had 282 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:49.080 to have a level of faith and belief to kind 283 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:51.200 of be in the minority in this space early in 284 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:53.559 the two thousands and stuff like that, to keep just 285 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:56.759 staying dedicated to the process of really developing the skills 286 00:11:56.759 --> 00:11:59.159 and then ultimately building those relationships to get where I 287 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:00.759 ultimately wanted to to any space. 288 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:05.919 Yeah, and you know, it's super important, and that's why 289 00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:10.279 I'm glad, Like you know, this organization exists now because 290 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:12.960 folks that are coming up now they have that, they 291 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:17.559 have that support system, they have those images of positive 292 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:20.120 images of people black people are tech that they can 293 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:23.480 look towards and say, Okay, yeah, I can do it too. 294 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:25.480 You know, we've got a whole community of people that 295 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:27.480 are doing it. I can do it. So yeah, that's 296 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:34.200 that's definitely important. What's up everyone. We hope that you're 297 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:36.879 enjoying this episode of the Blacks and Technology Big Tech 298 00:12:36.919 --> 00:12:40.279 Talk podcasts. Do you or someone you know have a 299 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:43.000 dope story that they want to share with our big audience. 300 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:46.679 Blocks and Technology is seeking guests to be on our podcast. 301 00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:50.240 We're looking to highlight the journeys and experiences of black 302 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:52.879 women and men in the tech industry. So if you 303 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:56.240 know of someone, send them our way, shoot us an 304 00:12:56.279 --> 00:12:59.600 email to contact us at Blacks and Technology dot net, 305 00:12:59.879 --> 00:13:02.720 or click on the link in the show notes and 306 00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:07.639 fill out our form. We're looking to hear from you. 307 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:12.039 You talk about Georgia Tech and you went there for 308 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:12.960 electrical engineering. 309 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:15.840 Correct, that's playing computer So Georgia take the schools of 310 00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:17.039 electrical and computer engineering. 311 00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:19.519 That kind of like merged together. Wow. Wow. 312 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:23.480 So I know because I took some electrical engineering courses 313 00:13:23.720 --> 00:13:26.519 when I was when I was in school, and I. 314 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:30.240 Know I actually started on that pathway. So I literally 315 00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:32.960 started on the electrical pathway. I literally spent two and 316 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:37.600 a half years doing government contracting in the energy space, 317 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:42.039 so basically doing feasibility studies, power grid designs, forty to 318 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:46.120 fifty year plans for military bases and small municipality. 319 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:48.080 So I spent years. I spent literally. 320 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:49.799 Two and a half almost three years working in the 321 00:13:49.879 --> 00:13:52.559 electrical space before I converge it over to computing and hardware. 322 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:56.120 Wow, what was your experience like there in Georgia Tech? 323 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:01.399 Tell us about like, you know, your your workload for 324 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:04.799 class and just the experience of being at Georgia Tech. 325 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:07.559 I mean, to be completely honest with you, Georgia Tech 326 00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:10.080 was the best way I can describe it. It was 327 00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:12.080 a place that pushed my mind to the brinks of 328 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:15.320 what it was capable of. That was like the most 329 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:18.399 positive way I can describe it. So the environment was 330 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:21.080 definitely especially when you chose so you know, they have majors, 331 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:24.120 so multiple different majors than all colleges. The pathway of 332 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:27.120 electrical computer engineering at Georgia Tech is like the It's 333 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:29.519 like one of the most elite pathways you can take 334 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:33.480 inside of the school. So this environment has certain pathways, architecture, 335 00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:36.360 some of the other pathways that are really really highly 336 00:14:36.360 --> 00:14:39.919 intense that ultimately they figure out what you're made of 337 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:43.360 really really quickly. So within the first semester of Georgia Tech, 338 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:46.039 you're gonna figure out whether or not you're cut for 339 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:49.559 this pathway or not really really quickly, And it pushed 340 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:52.200 the bounds instantly when I got there, But ultimately I 341 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:54.159 was still fresh out of Saint Louis and I'm in 342 00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:57.159 Atlanta for the first time, so I wanted it as 343 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:00.600 adjusted to what that climate act the woods, but I 344 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:02.519 knew my mind had the ability to adapt to it, 345 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:05.799 but I also was still wanting to experience Atlanta. So understanding, 346 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:08.240 Georgia Tech is an island in the middle of Atlanta. 347 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:11.399 It's like Atlanta, it's this big, you know, it's a 348 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:13.960 very i won't even say culture diverse. It's a very 349 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:18.080 African American driven environment where black people are highly successful. 350 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:19.919 They really run a lot of the things that go 351 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:21.759 on in an environment, and it's one of those things 352 00:15:21.799 --> 00:15:24.960 where you see success in all different ways. Georgia Tech 353 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:28.320 itself is like it's a huge thing in Atlanta, but 354 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:31.440 it's ultimately like this island that kind of is separated 355 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:33.840 from the actual culture of Atlanta in a certain kind 356 00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:35.799 of way. So for me being a part of the 357 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:39.000 black community in Atlanta, I mean, in Georgia Tech, it 358 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:41.279 was like, Okay, we're on this island. But for me 359 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:43.440 I'm coming from Saint Louis in the community where I'm 360 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:45.279 around all black people all the time. So I come 361 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:47.200 to Georgia Tech and now I'm in it's bubble, and 362 00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:49.960 then it's bubble is a little bit different. So for me, 363 00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:51.919 I had to figure out how to find my cultural 364 00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:54.600 balance of Okay, I like being in this in this 365 00:15:54.759 --> 00:15:56.720 environment because it's doing stuff on my mind that I 366 00:15:56.759 --> 00:15:59.120 always wanted to do. It's helping present me the new 367 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:01.519 perspective and all these different things. But there was things 368 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:03.360 that I knew they were in the rest of Atlanta 369 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:05.519 that I wanted to experience as well, which a lot 370 00:16:05.559 --> 00:16:07.399 of people at Georgia Tech don't step out of that 371 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:10.639 bubble like's you could probably imagine there there are areas 372 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:13.879 in Atlanta that some people that may come from certain backgrounds, 373 00:16:13.879 --> 00:16:16.279 they're not as comfortable in these types of environments. For me, 374 00:16:16.919 --> 00:16:19.840 it was actually more serving for me to go to 375 00:16:20.039 --> 00:16:23.480 Like I had one of my high school partners who graduated. 376 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:25.919 We graduated at the same time. He went to Morehouse 377 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:27.879 the same time I went to Georgia Tech. So I 378 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:30.240 had the opportunity to go into the environment in the 379 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:33.799 AUC in a very very comfortable fast and then what 380 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:35.879 most people that Enjoorgia Tech at that time had the 381 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:38.159 ability to do because without having people in the AUC, 382 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:40.519 you really can't just go over there and kind of 383 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:42.519 be in that environment. So for me, I had the 384 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:44.080 opportunity you used to, but I didn't have a car, 385 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:46.320 So I hop on the Marta, go to the West 386 00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:48.559 then get off at the West N station. I'm walking 387 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:52.360 up through the Reil Atlanta and the Georgia Tech student 388 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:54.600 and I'm just going through all this stuff and it's 389 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:56.440 one of those things. For me, it was like very 390 00:16:56.600 --> 00:16:59.399 natural and organic because I'm coming from Saint Louis where 391 00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:01.919 I rolle up transportation in Saint Louis too, and it's 392 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:04.119 like you can see different things in those environments. 393 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:05.720 So for me, the comfort was. 394 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:07.519 There with the city of Atlanta, but I had to 395 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:09.240 figure out how to find my comfort in an environment 396 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:09.920 at Georgia Tech. 397 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:11.160 Eventually I found it. 398 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:13.480 But the workload at Georgia Tech is intense, like it's 399 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:17.640 not a regular it's not your tip, especially when you're 400 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:19.680 in certain pathways like when you're in electrical and the 401 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:21.200 computer engineering at Georgia Tech. 402 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:22.480 It's extremely intense. 403 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:26.400 I used to describe it as like having a full 404 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:29.440 time job plus overtime. I'm like, maybe you gotta work 405 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:31.599 at least fifty to sixty hours a week just to 406 00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:33.920 stay above water in this mouth. You want to be 407 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:35.839 excelling in Georgia Tech, you might have to give it 408 00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:36.440 sixty five. 409 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:39.759 You know what I'm saying. It's just that real, especially 410 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:40.799 in certain pathways. 411 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:43.400 But the type of preparation that I got in that environment, 412 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:46.599 I can never downplay what it is. Like it taught 413 00:17:46.599 --> 00:17:48.920 me how to be an innovative thinker and how to 414 00:17:49.079 --> 00:17:53.240 actually adapt to just almost anything that's thrown in front 415 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:54.960 of me as an engineer, Like it hardened me to 416 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:57.200 be the type of engineer than I am where I 417 00:17:57.240 --> 00:17:59.240 wanted to go in a certain pathway in engineering, and 418 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:01.119 I knew that to be the type of engineer I 419 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:04.640 wanted to be, I needed to be capable of adapting 420 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:06.440 almost any problem throw in front of me. And that's 421 00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:08.759 what Georgia Tech really helped prepare me for. But at 422 00:18:08.759 --> 00:18:11.839 the highest level. So if prepared me from a perspective level, 423 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:14.400 it prepared me from a network level. Like coming into 424 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:17.480 this environment, it's multicultural. There's people from all over the 425 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:20.440 world here, there's people that are now running all the 426 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:22.920 different type of corporations and businesses all over the world, 427 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:25.400 because it's preparing people to be just that, but it's 428 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:27.680 about being able to network and building those environments, but 429 00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:31.079 also being able to perform because it's a performance based environment. 430 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:32.759 So if you're not performing, you're not going to be 431 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:33.640 able to survive here. 432 00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:36.680 So for me, I had to find a perfect balance 433 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:39.200 because I still had to, like, I'm still living in Atlanta, 434 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:41.039 and there's a cost that comes along with living here. 435 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:44.279 So I had to given that I had some financial 436 00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:47.319 support going to Atlanta in Georgia tech, given I didn't 437 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:49.319 have everything, So I had to figure out how to 438 00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:52.720 also work a job, work multiple different jobs, and also 439 00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:55.680 still do this sixty hours plus a week of course 440 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:57.400 work and kind of maintain that. 441 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:00.000 And that was always I had to find that balance. 442 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:01.319 It was just one of those things where I had 443 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:04.480 to create a balance, And yeah, it was. 444 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:06.960 It was I don't even like to call it difficult. 445 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:08.319 I just know it pushed me to the balance that 446 00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:10.880 allowed me to become hardened enough to be what I 447 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:14.079 ultimately became as a professional. But I enjoyed my time there. 448 00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:16.039 I enjoyed the network that I had the opportunity to build. 449 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:18.519 I enjoyed the experience and the knowledge that I gained, 450 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:20.559 and I just enjoyed being able to grow in a 451 00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:21.920 city like Atlanta. 452 00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:25.559 What what type of support system did you have there? Uh, 453 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:29.480 we're part of any groups, any any student union groups 454 00:19:29.559 --> 00:19:32.480 or anything like that. Like you know, when you described 455 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:35.480 like the the the hours that you had to put 456 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:38.519 in as far as like your workload and the intensity 457 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:43.279 of the studies, there's obviously some things like you're not 458 00:19:43.400 --> 00:19:45.559 going to get you know, right off, Like you go 459 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:47.839 into a class, you start seeing it looks like Greek. 460 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:50.920 You're like, oh man, you know, what is this all about? 461 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:53.079 But then you start searching for like, well, you know, 462 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:55.519 I gotta I gotta get some people around me who 463 00:19:55.640 --> 00:19:58.640 knows this stuff or who's been through this before. Uh 464 00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:00.720 so maybe they can help me. Kind of what was 465 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:03.680 that whole process like and what groups were you part of? 466 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:05.599 I'll be transparent with you. 467 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:09.200 When I first got to Georgia Tech, I did find 468 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:11.599 myself in like what they call the BSO at Georgia Tech, 469 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:13.839 the Black Student Organization. I spent some time in that 470 00:20:14.119 --> 00:20:16.839 environment for the early part. So like maybe the first 471 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:18.920 semester a little bit of the second semester when I 472 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:22.480 was at Georgia Tech, but I quickly learned that there 473 00:20:22.519 --> 00:20:25.039 was very few people in so like there's a lot 474 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:26.880 of black people, what matter, let me say a lot. 475 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:29.079 There was a decent amount of black people at Georgia Tech, 476 00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:31.839 but there was very small amount of black people that 477 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:33.960 were on the same pathway that I was on. So 478 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:37.200 there weren't like, like a decent amount of black people 479 00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:39.640 at Georgia Tech or the athletes or in those kind 480 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:43.319 of environments. Some maybeing management or business and things of 481 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:46.000 that nature, but when it comes to the engineering pathway, 482 00:20:46.039 --> 00:20:48.480 there are people inside of these pathways, but we're very 483 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:51.079 few and far between. So inside of the electrical and 484 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:53.880 computer engineering pathway, I had one of my closes to 485 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:55.480 this day's one of my closest friends in name of 486 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:56.319 Vanilla Woods. 487 00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:59.079 He's like, we've done amazing things and technology to gather. 488 00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:00.400 We had the opportunity to be, you know, some of 489 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:02.400 our first companies together and things of that nature. But 490 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:05.799 we literally were roommates from the whole from our sophomore 491 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:08.160 year in Georgia Tech all the way throughout the whole 492 00:21:08.200 --> 00:21:10.079 time we were there. And I had somebody who was 493 00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:12.720 on a computer engineering pathway while I was on the 494 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:15.839 electrical engineering pathway that ultimately was dealing with some of the. 495 00:21:15.799 --> 00:21:16.680 Same types of things. 496 00:21:16.680 --> 00:21:19.000 So we had a really really close brotherhood because I 497 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:20.720 got to see the difficulties that he had to go 498 00:21:20.759 --> 00:21:23.039 through to survive and maintain in the environment. He got 499 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:24.440 to see the same thing that I was going through 500 00:21:24.440 --> 00:21:28.319 to maintain, and we had a different pathway because ultimately, 501 00:21:28.839 --> 00:21:31.240 like well, my friend Brenew he was a full ride 502 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:33.119 student in Georgia Tech, so he had the opportunity to 503 00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:35.359 get what they call the President's Scholarship, And I got 504 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:37.839 to have a friend who had a different level of 505 00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:41.359 exposure to the environment of Georgia Tech, which ultimately allowed 506 00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:43.359 me to see some of the differences and how you 507 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:45.200 have to operate to get to the highest level of 508 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:48.000 the space. But ultimately I had some really good relationships. 509 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:50.359 But I also had a student, a I mean a 510 00:21:50.359 --> 00:21:52.480 student what do you call this a work study job 511 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:54.920 that was in the financial aid officer Georgia Tech, which 512 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:56.440 kind of helped me a decent amount. 513 00:21:57.279 --> 00:21:58.920 And then from it. 514 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:00.799 There was also other organists that I was in, so 515 00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:03.559 there was another organization called the music production I played. 516 00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:05.839 This was a group of guys that just liked making 517 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:08.559 music and beats, and this was something that was more 518 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:11.440 of a everybody in there was in different majors and 519 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:13.240 things of that nature. But it actually gave me like 520 00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:16.000 a community that allowed us to kind of have something 521 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:18.759 to breathe and relaxing while we were inside of Georgia Tech. 522 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:21.200 And we all liked making music and talking about music 523 00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:22.880 and stuff like that. So that was kind of like 524 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:25.400 a release space for me inside of the Georgia Tech environment. 525 00:22:25.960 --> 00:22:28.279 And then luckily I had my friend from Saint Louis 526 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:30.400 who went to a moralhouse, which I had some amazing 527 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:32.039 relationships with the guys that he kicked. 528 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:32.480 It with over there. 529 00:22:32.519 --> 00:22:34.880 So I kind of had like a good I had 530 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:37.119 a healthy balance of the things that I needed to 531 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:40.440 keep myself kind of balanced out. But ultimately, by the 532 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:42.920 time my third second third year in Georgia Tech, when 533 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:45.200 it came to my studies and just doing what I 534 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:47.799 had to do to maintain in my major, I. 535 00:22:47.880 --> 00:22:49.960 Was in the library by myself, reading. 536 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:53.599 I was doing my research in the library, locked in 537 00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:56.599 just figuring out what it took to make it makes 538 00:22:56.640 --> 00:22:59.079 sense for me because you learned really quickly at Georgia 539 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:01.240 Tech that you do do a lot of group projects. 540 00:23:01.240 --> 00:23:02.559 You do do a lot of kind of group and 541 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:06.200 collective work. But there are certain things that once you're 542 00:23:06.279 --> 00:23:08.480 in it, like you either you're going to man up, 543 00:23:08.519 --> 00:23:10.720 put the big boy breaches and boots on and kind 544 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:13.160 of buckle down and do it, or you're going to 545 00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:14.759 figure out that this is in the place for you. 546 00:23:14.839 --> 00:23:17.279 So I just put on the boots and just kind 547 00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:19.359 of locked in after my second third year and just 548 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:21.000 did what I had to do to continue to be 549 00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:22.599 in an environment drive and strive. 550 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:26.359 Nice, nice, And that's that's a you know, I actually 551 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:29.400 these type of questions, you know, more for not only 552 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:31.920 to understand, you know, kind of your background and everything 553 00:23:31.960 --> 00:23:34.039 like that, but also for an audience, especially if there's 554 00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:37.400 younger people that are in college right now that might 555 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:39.480 view these podcasts and are just like, you know, what 556 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:42.079 if this person do in order to you know, get by. 557 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:44.880 You know, some of them may feel isolated, uh, and 558 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:47.799 they might not know you know, who to turn to, 559 00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:50.680 where to go, and things like that. So giving a 560 00:23:50.680 --> 00:23:53.440 little insight into how how you kind of navigate it, 561 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:56.279 we'll get that information on you know and pass out 562 00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:59.000 on to people who are who are watching and listening 563 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:02.680 to this podcast. So for sure, you've been around quite 564 00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:08.200 a few industries professionally, energy, government, and some others. Tell 565 00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:10.000 us a little bit about kind of what led to 566 00:24:10.759 --> 00:24:13.480 led to you choosing those paths. Let's start with the 567 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:17.000 energy and let's go into into government for. 568 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:18.279 Sure, So we can start with the energy. 569 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:19.920 So, like I said, that was a pathway that I 570 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:21.720 took while I was still in college. So Georgia SEAK 571 00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:24.519 had a program was called the Cooperative Education Program. The 572 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.960 Cooperative Education Program in Georgia SEAK. It gives you the 573 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:30.119 opportunity to work a full time semester then go back 574 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:31.799 to class for a full time smester. You have to 575 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:34.200 get accepted into this program, and then you have to 576 00:24:34.279 --> 00:24:39.920 also get accepted into different basically different corporations that sponsor 577 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:42.319 the program. They come in and it's not like just 578 00:24:42.359 --> 00:24:45.680 the traditional internship. It's more like you're actually a full 579 00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:49.440 time employee for this company and you start up like 580 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:51.759 in a certain level. I came in as a project 581 00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:54.400 engineer and I literally like built up my rapport with 582 00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:55.000 the company. 583 00:24:55.400 --> 00:24:55.960 I worked with a. 584 00:24:55.960 --> 00:24:58.279 Company called Highline Engineering. So this is when I got 585 00:24:58.279 --> 00:25:02.359 the exposure to government contract Literally I got to work 586 00:25:02.359 --> 00:25:04.839 with some really amazing professional engineers. One of the guys 587 00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:07.559 who led the company that I worked with the company's 588 00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:10.359 called GDS, but I worked for the Highline subsidiary GDS, 589 00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:12.519 so Highline was ran by a guy named Kevin mar 590 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:16.200 He literally was kind of like a mentor to me. 591 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:18.680 Once I got into the cooperative vegucation program and I 592 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:22.119 had the opportunity for my second third year at Georgia Tech, 593 00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:24.119 and going into my fourth year of Georgia Tech, I 594 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:28.200 had the opportunity to work really four semesters full time 595 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:32.079 at a full fledged engineering firm, and I started out 596 00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:35.759 helping write government contract proposals, eventually scaled up to start 597 00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:38.319 helping with different types of feasibility work and the research 598 00:25:38.359 --> 00:25:40.400 for those proposals, and then eventually I got to go 599 00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:42.759 into the field later on into my process and be 600 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:45.440 a part of projects where we would go to military 601 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:47.160 bases and they would take us into areas where we 602 00:25:47.160 --> 00:25:49.839 would get to survey they're doing different kind of projects 603 00:25:49.880 --> 00:25:52.839 to convert from overhead energy to underground and all this 604 00:25:52.920 --> 00:25:54.839 kind of stuff. I mean, I learned a lot in 605 00:25:54.920 --> 00:25:58.240 that time period. I learned about government contract proposal writing. 606 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:01.880 I learned about success and men contracts. Also learned about 607 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:04.759 the type of engineering that goes into the energy related projects, 608 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:06.680 and I also learned a lot about that industry too. 609 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:09.279 So the industry that I was in in power, which 610 00:26:09.720 --> 00:26:11.920 I saw some amazing opportunities in there, and I got 611 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:14.920 to learn some amazing things. But for what I wanted 612 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:17.559 to be as a professional, or at least what I 613 00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:21.039 saw myself becoming, I didn't think that that industry would 614 00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:24.559 lean heavily into the type of disruption I wanted to 615 00:26:24.599 --> 00:26:27.440 be able to do inside of technology. So when I 616 00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:29.640 was in the energy space, I kind of felt like 617 00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:32.519 I needed to make a pivot out of energy into 618 00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:35.319 something else that would allow me to spread my wings. 619 00:26:35.319 --> 00:26:38.519 Remember I told you I was intrigued by Mark Zuckerbray. 620 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:40.960 When I'm thirteen or fourteen years old in the software space, 621 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:43.559 I get to Georgia Tech and I realized that and 622 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:46.079 the real thing that I learned about in electrical engineering, 623 00:26:46.079 --> 00:26:49.440 you know, when you do well, when you do what 624 00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:52.960 they call feasibility work for power design, they come in 625 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:54.279 and they say this is the stuff that they do 626 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:56.039 before they build cities. This is the stuff that they 627 00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:00.720 do when they're redesigning cities and municipalities and military bases, 628 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:02.640 all this kind of stuff. They come in and say, Okay, 629 00:27:02.759 --> 00:27:05.039 how many people are going to potentially be in this area, 630 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:07.960 or how many are already hear? How many generators do 631 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:11.200 we need to feasibly kind of serve energy to all 632 00:27:11.240 --> 00:27:14.920 these people? Now many residential places are going to potentially 633 00:27:14.920 --> 00:27:17.720 be here, how many commercial places? All these different things, 634 00:27:17.799 --> 00:27:19.880 and you kind of survey things, and then they create 635 00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:22.440 what they call these They basically create the grids that 636 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:25.440 ultimately allow the power to flow through these places. And 637 00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:27.400 when you do that stuff, you realize that hold on 638 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:29.599 these same grids are the same grids that they run 639 00:27:29.640 --> 00:27:33.039 for roads, they run them for waterlines. But they also, 640 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:37.160 outside of distributing energy, they're distributing the internet connectivity that 641 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:40.680 allows us to have access to computers, phones and telephone 642 00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:42.279 lines and all that kind of other stuff. And I 643 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:44.400 realized that this was the foundation of the stuff that 644 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:48.200 allows computing to actually work. So this is how, this 645 00:27:48.279 --> 00:27:50.200 is how those towers that are put up that get 646 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:52.359 you Internet connection and all this stuff. All of this 647 00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:55.519 stuff flows on very similar pipelines. But the people that 648 00:27:55.599 --> 00:27:58.079 do the energy design projects are the people that kind 649 00:27:58.079 --> 00:28:00.079 of lay the foundation for all of this stuff. And 650 00:28:00.119 --> 00:28:01.799 that's the thing that I really learned. I was like, oh, 651 00:28:02.119 --> 00:28:04.440 so this comes in and it lays the foundates for 652 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:06.680 everything else. And then I realized that everything else kind 653 00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:09.440 of stacks on top of the accessibility of this stuff. 654 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:10.599 So it opened my eyes up. 655 00:28:11.079 --> 00:28:12.720 But I knew that I kind of wanted to be 656 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:14.160 in a different space, So I just learned a lot 657 00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:16.000 in that industry. But that was while I was still 658 00:28:16.039 --> 00:28:18.839 in college. That was even before I really took the 659 00:28:19.240 --> 00:28:21.720 like went really crazy as a professional and started doing 660 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:24.279 the things that kind of have created who I am 661 00:28:24.279 --> 00:28:27.000 to this day in the computing and the software space. 662 00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:29.559 And once I kind of converted over, it was it 663 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:31.640 was just kind of like a new world. I kind 664 00:28:31.640 --> 00:28:34.240 of saw opportunity from a totally different leans when I 665 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:36.319 got into computing and all worn software. 666 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:42.880 That is always focused on forming new partnerships and opportunities 667 00:28:42.920 --> 00:28:46.440 to assist the community and our members with their continued 668 00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:50.240 professional growth and development. If you'd like to partner with us, 669 00:28:50.440 --> 00:28:55.960 send an email in queries at blacks and Technology dot net. 670 00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:03.400 Yeah, I had a kind of a similar journey myself. 671 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:04.319 Uh. 672 00:29:04.599 --> 00:29:07.799 I took computer network engineering in college. I went to 673 00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:13.079 a local community college. But engineering, the word engineering is 674 00:29:13.720 --> 00:29:17.960 the key, right. It's not the same as computer science. Uh, 675 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:21.680 it's not the same as information systems. It's engineering, and 676 00:29:21.799 --> 00:29:25.880 engineering usually encompasses more low level. And I don't mean 677 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:29.759 low level from the standpoint that it from. 678 00:29:29.720 --> 00:29:31.240 Talking about foundational level. 679 00:29:31.559 --> 00:29:37.039 I'm talking about foundational level. You know, computer chips and uh, 680 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:41.839 integrated circuits, all that stuff, right, Like that's the level. 681 00:29:41.960 --> 00:29:44.599 When I say low level, I'm talking about integrated circuits 682 00:29:44.599 --> 00:29:46.920 and circuit boards and all that stuff. That's what you 683 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:49.680 end up learning, you know, so you know, you know, 684 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:52.880 with me, it was like a C circuits, DC circuits, electronics, 685 00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:55.640 all that stuff, how to how to how to wire 686 00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:59.000 up circuits, you know, using a breadboard and how that 687 00:29:59.319 --> 00:30:02.640 all that, you know, all the low level programming languages 688 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:06.599 and everything like that. So I realized, although it was 689 00:30:06.680 --> 00:30:09.039 out I like learning that stuff, I realized like, well, 690 00:30:09.079 --> 00:30:10.279 I don't know if I want to do this for 691 00:30:10.279 --> 00:30:11.680 the rest of my life. I don't know if I 692 00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:14.799 want to be replacing you know, integrated circuits or or 693 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:17.640 testing them to see if they if they're working correctly 694 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:19.319 and things like that, like I don't know if that's 695 00:30:19.400 --> 00:30:22.240 that's so that would you know, that's kind of what 696 00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:25.319 led me more into what I do now, which is 697 00:30:25.400 --> 00:30:30.759 more along the lines of DevOps engineering, computer administration, network administration, 698 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:33.680 and engineering that type that type of thing. Uh So, 699 00:30:33.799 --> 00:30:36.599 it's it's interesting that you know that that's kind of 700 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:39.000 like the same journey, like you found out quickly like 701 00:30:39.039 --> 00:30:42.279 oh this is this is different and this is at 702 00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:45.519 a more base foundational level and what I want to 703 00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:49.200 be at, and so making that pivot, Yeah, I definitely 704 00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:49.839 understand that. 705 00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:51.920 And then I would even I was just a little 706 00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:54.039 bit there because because the first thing when you talk 707 00:30:54.119 --> 00:30:56.319 when I say engineering, whenever I talk about engineers, I 708 00:30:56.440 --> 00:30:58.759 like to just tell people that engineers are system designers. 709 00:30:59.079 --> 00:31:02.759 So engineers do the designs for the systems that actually 710 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:04.440 are the things that make most of the stuff that 711 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:06.480 we actually interact with and work with every day, no 712 00:31:06.519 --> 00:31:09.759 matter what laying there in they design systems. And for me, 713 00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:12.279 in the power industry, for me, it wasn't even about 714 00:31:12.279 --> 00:31:14.359 it being because there was a lot of opportunity to 715 00:31:14.359 --> 00:31:16.359 do stuff. You know, there's so much innovation that happens 716 00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:19.200 in power but I also was, like, like I said before, 717 00:31:19.240 --> 00:31:21.640 I was an entrepreneur before I was an engineer. So 718 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:24.160 when I came into this space, I wasn't just looking 719 00:31:24.200 --> 00:31:26.799 to be an engineer. I was actually looking to be 720 00:31:26.839 --> 00:31:30.680 more of an industry leader. And I realized that to 721 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:34.119 be an industry leader in power is very unlikely for 722 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:36.160 you to have the ability to disrupt enough to become 723 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:38.240 a leader in the industry that's been here for so long. 724 00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:40.799 So I saw things like I even saw stuff about 725 00:31:40.839 --> 00:31:44.240 like you could see the energy like you could see 726 00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:46.119 solar energy coming when I was in the industry, like 727 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:48.640 I saw the ways of solar energy coming, and I 728 00:31:48.680 --> 00:31:51.240 saw how it was being forced to rely on everything 729 00:31:51.240 --> 00:31:53.759 else that was there, and I realized that like for me, 730 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:55.680 it was more of a business based decision why I 731 00:31:55.799 --> 00:31:58.880 left the energy space rather than just say because I 732 00:31:58.920 --> 00:32:02.119 saw it as this industry read that was so I 733 00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:03.799 don't want to use the wrong word to describe it, 734 00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:06.599 but it was an industry that like prevented people that 735 00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:10.279 wanted to disrupt the opportunity to disrupt enough to gain 736 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:13.480 enough opportunity from it. So I was just like, yeah, no, 737 00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:15.559 I think I should go somewhere else. Where if I 738 00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:18.559 want to be disruptive and innovative, I could be able 739 00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:20.839 to really truly benefit from doing all of those things 740 00:32:20.839 --> 00:32:22.839 and the work that comes along with it. So that's 741 00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:24.960 kind of what took me into the computing space more 742 00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:26.440 in the software space for sure. 743 00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:30.599 Yeah, makes sense. I would say the energy I feeled 744 00:32:30.839 --> 00:32:34.200 is is a lot proper, you know, at the time 745 00:32:34.359 --> 00:32:38.119 was probably a lot I guess, more mature, Yeah, and 746 00:32:38.519 --> 00:32:42.680 less less likely to be disrupted with you know, we 747 00:32:42.799 --> 00:32:45.720 still have a lot of our you know here in America, 748 00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:47.720 a lot of our infrastructure is still based on a 749 00:32:47.799 --> 00:32:51.880 lot of the older technologies. Uh, it's harder to disrupt 750 00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:55.240 that when you when you know you have that that 751 00:32:55.359 --> 00:32:57.680 kind of traditional long standing. 752 00:32:58.799 --> 00:33:01.839 Yeah. I used to say, it's kind it's called gray hair. 753 00:33:02.119 --> 00:33:05.359 They have like great leaders inside of the energy industry 754 00:33:05.400 --> 00:33:09.160 that they're not willing to bend in fold. They don't 755 00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:10.920 really like a lot of the stuff that's happening in 756 00:33:10.920 --> 00:33:13.279 the solar space right now. There's things and the reason 757 00:33:13.319 --> 00:33:15.960 why this stuff is all economicy driven though, So it's 758 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:18.640 just kind of like telling somebody that's been generating so 759 00:33:18.799 --> 00:33:21.559 much for so long that this can be more efficient. 760 00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:27.000 But efficient at will cost it costing me losing billions 761 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:28.759 of dollars a year. I don't know if I want 762 00:33:28.759 --> 00:33:31.920 that efficiency. That's that's kind of it's an interesting conversation 763 00:33:31.960 --> 00:33:34.240 that topic. You know what I'm saying, it's a tricky 764 00:33:34.279 --> 00:33:34.799 one for sure. 765 00:33:35.279 --> 00:33:41.000 Yeah, I've I've watched shows documentaries on Nikola, Tesla and 766 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:43.480 and and he was kind of in that kind of 767 00:33:43.480 --> 00:33:46.440 in that situation where he was talking about, yeah, I 768 00:33:46.440 --> 00:33:49.759 have a way to generate free electricity, and Western House 769 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.200 was just like nah nah free yeah. 770 00:33:54.400 --> 00:33:56.079 No no no no no no no no no no no, 771 00:33:56.880 --> 00:34:00.000 how how how how can we You're talking about being 772 00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:03.599 able to wire wirelessly transmit energy to you know, because 773 00:34:03.640 --> 00:34:06.599 he had all his starts of being able to utilize 774 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:10.519 the earth to conduct it and send electricity and different 775 00:34:10.760 --> 00:34:12.039 advices and things like. 776 00:34:11.960 --> 00:34:14.039 That, He's going down the rabbit hole right. 777 00:34:14.360 --> 00:34:16.559 One of his backers were just like, yeah, so how 778 00:34:16.559 --> 00:34:18.559 do we how do we how do we? How do 779 00:34:18.599 --> 00:34:20.440 we generate revenue from that? How do we meter that? 780 00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:23.559 And he was just like meter it, No, this is 781 00:34:23.599 --> 00:34:27.199 going to be free. Yeah, so let me let me 782 00:34:27.239 --> 00:34:28.119 talk to you for a second. 783 00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:33.039 Nicolas exactly, rabbit hole right there, and he didn't just 784 00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:35.119 have theary A lot of this stuff was actually like 785 00:34:35.159 --> 00:34:37.480 he had the real like there. But I mean there's 786 00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:39.039 people that actually do a lot of this stuff that 787 00:34:39.039 --> 00:34:41.400 he's talking that he talked about this is this is 788 00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:43.159 a deep rabbit hole though, So I don't want to 789 00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:45.159 get too deep into that one, like it'll take us 790 00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:45.840 off course, you. 791 00:34:45.800 --> 00:34:48.559 Know, to take us off course in the conversation. So 792 00:34:48.639 --> 00:34:49.800 that's a deep one for sure. 793 00:34:50.039 --> 00:34:53.599 So you you you have some experience or you have 794 00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:58.079 experience with geo fencing technology and tell us a little 795 00:34:58.119 --> 00:35:01.239 bit about you know, explain to audience what geo fencing 796 00:35:01.400 --> 00:35:03.639 is and then tell us how you got into it 797 00:35:03.719 --> 00:35:06.679 and how that led to you founding your first company. 798 00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:07.159 For sure. 799 00:35:07.239 --> 00:35:10.199 So yeah, So late in my career Georgia Tech, my 800 00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:12.800 partner of vanill House talking about previously, he was knee 801 00:35:12.840 --> 00:35:16.800 deep into a lot of high level just research projects 802 00:35:16.840 --> 00:35:19.239 in computing and software. So I kind of started working 803 00:35:19.239 --> 00:35:20.320 with him and some of the guys that he were 804 00:35:20.360 --> 00:35:22.280 working within some of the research labs at Georgia Tech, 805 00:35:22.440 --> 00:35:24.159 and we're doing some really really dope stuff at that 806 00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:26.079 time at Georgia Tech, you know, we had access to 807 00:35:26.280 --> 00:35:29.639 a lot of just really really interesting research, and there 808 00:35:29.719 --> 00:35:31.760 was funding for different types of projects and things of 809 00:35:31.800 --> 00:35:33.800 that nature, so we had the opportunity to see some 810 00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:36.679 really cutting edge stuff before it was actually a market 811 00:35:36.760 --> 00:35:39.320 ready thing. Geo fencing was one of those things that 812 00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:41.440 we had the opportunity to kind of explore, along with 813 00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:44.559 some other security based stuff, but geo fencing was literally 814 00:35:44.679 --> 00:35:47.840 the thing that was the innovative backbone behind the first 815 00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:50.800 funded technology company I was a part of. So literally 816 00:35:51.480 --> 00:35:54.559 in our last seminster, Georgia Tech, we had the opportunity 817 00:35:54.639 --> 00:35:57.719 to partner with well really t I was the person 818 00:35:57.760 --> 00:35:59.639 that invested in our company, so we basically had this 819 00:35:59.639 --> 00:36:03.559 class form was called Yopima, and he ultimately invested a 820 00:36:03.639 --> 00:36:06.119 decent amount of money and supporting my partner from there, 821 00:36:06.159 --> 00:36:07.599 who's at the leader of the company at that time. 822 00:36:07.639 --> 00:36:10.480 But I was literally just more focused on making my 823 00:36:10.599 --> 00:36:13.039 transitioning to the software space. In the computing space, so 824 00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:15.360 we had done some stuff like hardware related, we built 825 00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:17.599 some supercomputers and all this kind of other stuff, but 826 00:36:17.719 --> 00:36:20.719 once we realized we wanted to create a halfway. We 827 00:36:20.840 --> 00:36:22.719 realized that software was probably going to be the way, 828 00:36:22.920 --> 00:36:24.800 so we wanted to figure out Okay, what can we 829 00:36:24.920 --> 00:36:27.639 do that's innovative in software that allows us to kind 830 00:36:27.679 --> 00:36:29.719 of differentiate the platform that we wanted to create. We 831 00:36:29.800 --> 00:36:33.199 were seeing social media. Remember we're still inspired by the 832 00:36:33.320 --> 00:36:36.639 social media eraror. So this is twenty eleven, twenty twelve, 833 00:36:36.840 --> 00:36:39.199 this is when Facebook is really starting to gain momentum. 834 00:36:39.280 --> 00:36:42.199 Companies like Facebook and Twitter, they're starting to balloon and 835 00:36:42.280 --> 00:36:45.239 blossom in different ways, and we're completely inspired by the 836 00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:49.440 social media transition and disruption into space. So we created 837 00:36:49.480 --> 00:36:52.719 a social platform called Yopima that basically was focused on 838 00:36:52.880 --> 00:36:54.760 letting people know we lived in Atlanta too, which is 839 00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:57.280 the mecca like clubs and parties and entertainment and all 840 00:36:57.320 --> 00:36:59.320 this stuff. So this, the platform that we built, was 841 00:36:59.360 --> 00:37:01.800 literally focused on letting people know how many girls and 842 00:37:01.840 --> 00:37:04.440 guys were at a club or a show or an 843 00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:06.440 event before you go there, so you could look at 844 00:37:06.440 --> 00:37:09.719 your PEMA and kind of check what's the temperature at 845 00:37:09.760 --> 00:37:11.599 the place before I go. So it was just kind 846 00:37:11.639 --> 00:37:13.400 of this thing that was kind of a cool you 847 00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:15.559 know what I'm saying. The cool implementation of some the 848 00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:18.280 geo fencing technology that we used was basically, you have 849 00:37:18.440 --> 00:37:20.599 our app on your phone when you get here. I 850 00:37:20.639 --> 00:37:22.239 don't know if you remember some of those early aps 851 00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:23.599 that you used to like do check in when you 852 00:37:23.679 --> 00:37:25.920 go to places and stuff like that. Our app was 853 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:27.559 like one of those first that was like a silent 854 00:37:27.639 --> 00:37:30.199 check in, So you get to a club, or you 855 00:37:30.320 --> 00:37:33.480 get to a music show or a bar or something 856 00:37:33.519 --> 00:37:35.320 of that nature. If you have our app on your phone, 857 00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:38.400 it basically with the technology that we created, it would 858 00:37:38.440 --> 00:37:40.960 basically just let people know there's another guy here, there's 859 00:37:40.960 --> 00:37:41.599 another girl here. 860 00:37:41.639 --> 00:37:43.440 There was other components to a. 861 00:37:43.480 --> 00:37:45.920 Social components that we built into the application, but that's 862 00:37:45.960 --> 00:37:48.440 what allowed the entertainment industry want us to support us 863 00:37:48.440 --> 00:37:51.840 in that application. We ultimately did some really high impact stuff, 864 00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:54.000 but that technology was there was a lot of things 865 00:37:54.039 --> 00:37:55.599 that we had to learn from a business respective. 866 00:37:55.639 --> 00:37:56.679 We were really good engineers. 867 00:37:56.719 --> 00:37:59.760 We were really good at finding innovative things and creating 868 00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:02.920 an native stuff and working with high level technology to 869 00:38:03.039 --> 00:38:05.480 do stop stuff, but there was things in business that 870 00:38:05.679 --> 00:38:07.920 given it we were starting in Atlanta, there was things 871 00:38:07.960 --> 00:38:11.719 that we didn't understand completely about the scalability of an 872 00:38:11.719 --> 00:38:15.079 infrastructure of innovative technology like geo fencing when the infrastructure 873 00:38:15.159 --> 00:38:16.519 wasn't designed for us yet, like this. 874 00:38:16.719 --> 00:38:19.880 Was still very early. There weren't geo fence bubbles. 875 00:38:19.519 --> 00:38:21.480 All over the place like they are now, So we 876 00:38:21.559 --> 00:38:24.320 were doing this stuff very early, and we were literally 877 00:38:24.400 --> 00:38:26.920 had we went on tour with Tip two Chains and Wane, 878 00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:29.960 and we were like literally going to different cities creating 879 00:38:30.079 --> 00:38:33.039 geo fences at clubs and bars and doing them in 880 00:38:33.159 --> 00:38:36.199 shows and stuff like that, and physically making geofences that 881 00:38:36.239 --> 00:38:39.280 would ultimately be at certain locations that would activate. 882 00:38:38.960 --> 00:38:39.480 For our apps. 883 00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:42.760 And we did that for quite some time, and we 884 00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:45.880 had the opportunity to build, but ultimately the cost of 885 00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:48.960 the business started to be like the cloud infrastructure costs 886 00:38:48.960 --> 00:38:51.760 for that business, given that we were maintaining and managing 887 00:38:51.800 --> 00:38:55.239 these geo fences ourselves on our own data infrastructure, it 888 00:38:55.320 --> 00:38:58.000 started costing a hefty amount. And that was ultimately the 889 00:38:58.039 --> 00:39:00.440 thing that kind of one of a few different things, 890 00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:02.239 but ultimately that thing was kind of the biggest thing 891 00:39:02.320 --> 00:39:04.639 that ballooned the business into a way where it was 892 00:39:04.719 --> 00:39:08.480 almost not manageable for us to operate with that innovative technology, 893 00:39:08.719 --> 00:39:11.199 given that the rest of the landscape of technology wasn't 894 00:39:11.199 --> 00:39:12.960 ready for what we was doing at the time, so 895 00:39:13.079 --> 00:39:14.039 we had to pivot. 896 00:39:13.800 --> 00:39:16.000 Out of that, but ultimately we still had the patent. 897 00:39:16.039 --> 00:39:20.000 We got patents for creating for comparative methods around geo finhing, 898 00:39:20.119 --> 00:39:24.039 So basically anything that kind of tells you how many. 899 00:39:23.880 --> 00:39:25.440 People are at a specific location. 900 00:39:25.559 --> 00:39:27.559 This is the same data they use in different apps 901 00:39:27.639 --> 00:39:30.639 and advertisings and things of that nature. Right now, that 902 00:39:31.039 --> 00:39:34.119 ultimately that pattern kind of is just extremely relevant in 903 00:39:34.199 --> 00:39:36.079 today's time currently based off of the way that people 904 00:39:36.159 --> 00:39:38.639 use geo fencers to do things. But yeah, that was 905 00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:42.239 kind of my introduction and technology as a software developer 906 00:39:42.280 --> 00:39:45.039 and things of that nature, and we did some amazing stuff, 907 00:39:45.039 --> 00:39:46.760 but ultimately we kind of pivoted out of that and 908 00:39:46.800 --> 00:39:48.880 then started just doing other things after. But it was 909 00:39:48.960 --> 00:39:52.360 definitely a great introduction to the industry and inted us 910 00:39:52.400 --> 00:39:55.039 to introduced us to entertainment. It introduced us to high 911 00:39:55.119 --> 00:39:57.199 level tech business and a number of different things. 912 00:39:57.239 --> 00:39:59.519 So that was a great start. Nice. 913 00:39:59.639 --> 00:40:03.639 Nice Did you all just end up shutting the company down? 914 00:40:03.760 --> 00:40:05.239 Did you exit or. 915 00:40:05.480 --> 00:40:07.599 Like how we definitely could shut the company down, So 916 00:40:07.719 --> 00:40:10.480 the company basically phased, But ultimately, since we had the patent, 917 00:40:10.760 --> 00:40:13.400 the company still basically has some intellectual property that has 918 00:40:13.440 --> 00:40:16.480 extreme value. So while the software platform costs a lot 919 00:40:16.519 --> 00:40:19.679 of money. Maintaining that entity, with that infant, with that 920 00:40:20.159 --> 00:40:22.639 with that IP ultimately is something that kind of has 921 00:40:23.199 --> 00:40:25.440 permeating in a number of different ventures that we've created 922 00:40:25.480 --> 00:40:28.239 since then. But ultimately, given that we were some of 923 00:40:28.280 --> 00:40:30.000 the first people to kind of do some innovative working 924 00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:32.039 in jail fensis space, it always kind of creates different 925 00:40:32.039 --> 00:40:35.000 opportunities for us to kind of bring that padding up 926 00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:37.440 in different type of things over time. So it's always 927 00:40:37.480 --> 00:40:39.440 been something that's been relevant, but that business we did 928 00:40:39.639 --> 00:40:42.440 phase it out and started focusing on gotcha. 929 00:40:42.880 --> 00:40:46.079 And I think that's even just a good nugget right there, 930 00:40:46.320 --> 00:40:50.599 just when people are thinking about creating companies and understanding 931 00:40:51.519 --> 00:40:55.840 their intellectual property, whether it's a patent, whether it's a trademark, 932 00:40:56.639 --> 00:40:59.760 whether it's a copyright or like whatever, it's important, right 933 00:41:00.559 --> 00:41:03.280 you do something, you have a logo, you have a brand, 934 00:41:03.440 --> 00:41:07.239 or what you know, do the legal stuff. You know, people, 935 00:41:07.760 --> 00:41:11.000 I remember a friend of mine told me when I've 936 00:41:11.320 --> 00:41:14.199 started blacks and Technology, you know, you know, for me, 937 00:41:14.719 --> 00:41:16.840 blacks and Technology has always been like, you know, the 938 00:41:16.960 --> 00:41:21.079 safe space for uh technologists engineers could come that we 939 00:41:21.199 --> 00:41:24.000 can you know, create this community. So I was just hardcore, 940 00:41:24.920 --> 00:41:29.440 you know, engineer, engineer technology, technology, and this person told 941 00:41:29.519 --> 00:41:31.800 me that you need to get you a marketing person 942 00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:34.199 and you need to get your lawyer. It's one of 943 00:41:34.239 --> 00:41:37.199 the first two things that you should get. And I 944 00:41:37.239 --> 00:41:40.199 didn't early on, I didn't listen, and I've gotten burned 945 00:41:40.239 --> 00:41:43.360 by that. But it's you know, since then, it's it's 946 00:41:43.519 --> 00:41:46.280 it's uh, you know, I've gotten those things and everything 947 00:41:46.360 --> 00:41:48.519 like that. But for all the people who are talking 948 00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:51.480 about starting a business or pursuing a business venture or 949 00:41:51.480 --> 00:41:56.280 anything like that, legal is important because they are going 950 00:41:56.360 --> 00:42:00.280 to protect that intellectual property that you have. You know, 951 00:42:00.400 --> 00:42:02.840 and I know the patent process is not an easy 952 00:42:02.920 --> 00:42:03.679 process at all. 953 00:42:03.960 --> 00:42:06.840 And we were blessed, We were really blessed at Georgia Tech. 954 00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:07.280 We got some. 955 00:42:07.719 --> 00:42:10.280 So we had a law firm called Folly and Lardner 956 00:42:10.360 --> 00:42:13.840 that was a former Georgia Tech alumni who had worked 957 00:42:13.880 --> 00:42:16.639 on a lot of different patent work and for different companies, 958 00:42:17.599 --> 00:42:18.119 you name them. 959 00:42:18.199 --> 00:42:19.519 They worked on stuff with them. 960 00:42:19.920 --> 00:42:22.519 So we ultimately had the opportunity to work with Foley 961 00:42:22.559 --> 00:42:25.880 and Lardener to pursue our patents. They were still working 962 00:42:25.920 --> 00:42:28.760 and they ultimately helped us get through the full process, 963 00:42:29.519 --> 00:42:31.039 and that was some of the best support that we 964 00:42:31.079 --> 00:42:33.000 could have had because they helped us get that IP 965 00:42:33.159 --> 00:42:34.880 that helped us differentiate the company. 966 00:42:34.960 --> 00:42:36.119 But yeah, that marketing. 967 00:42:36.719 --> 00:42:38.679 Luckily we had the entertainment industry that helped us a 968 00:42:38.719 --> 00:42:41.119 lot too when we had a celebrity coming. 969 00:42:40.920 --> 00:42:41.960 And invested in our company. 970 00:42:42.039 --> 00:42:43.599 So there was a lot of things that kind of 971 00:42:43.679 --> 00:42:46.679 benefited us early in our career as engineers that were 972 00:42:46.840 --> 00:42:49.280 very focused on being businessmen. We just knew that we 973 00:42:49.400 --> 00:42:51.960 had engineering skills, we needed to do the other things 974 00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:54.239 that could help politize as businessmen and people that kind 975 00:42:54.280 --> 00:42:57.159 of understood the balance. Like I always was focused on 976 00:42:57.239 --> 00:42:59.039 the balance, Like it was never about me just being 977 00:42:59.079 --> 00:43:03.280 an engineer and not understanding what my output was actually 978 00:43:03.880 --> 00:43:06.679 creating what it could create for myself and just really 979 00:43:06.719 --> 00:43:08.519 allow my gifts to kind of open the different doors 980 00:43:08.559 --> 00:43:10.639 for me and always being aware of that. So yeah, 981 00:43:10.760 --> 00:43:13.119 legally and marketing and branding, these are things that are 982 00:43:13.159 --> 00:43:16.360 critical no matter even if you're just an engineer yourself, 983 00:43:16.440 --> 00:43:19.559 Like you still want to properly brand yourself because there's 984 00:43:19.599 --> 00:43:21.440 a time they could come a time if you're working 985 00:43:21.519 --> 00:43:24.519 for another corporation or something of that nature, and if 986 00:43:24.559 --> 00:43:28.039 you're not properly branding yourself as who you are, there 987 00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:30.679 could be a chance where your experience and knowledge that 988 00:43:30.840 --> 00:43:32.599 they actually taught me that in the engineering front, and 989 00:43:32.639 --> 00:43:34.519 I work with too, they always told me make sure 990 00:43:34.559 --> 00:43:37.320 that you anything that you do, you document it properly 991 00:43:37.360 --> 00:43:39.639 and make sure that it's a part of the narrative 992 00:43:39.760 --> 00:43:42.559 of who you are as a professional. Don't downplay the 993 00:43:42.719 --> 00:43:44.920 value of your resume, don't downplay the value of your 994 00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:48.239 networking experience, because those things actually create more of a 995 00:43:48.320 --> 00:43:50.519 way for you than even just having a certain amount 996 00:43:50.519 --> 00:43:53.039 of knowledge at certain times, because that validation is the 997 00:43:53.119 --> 00:43:55.679 thing that makes your experience. Your experience brings stuff that 998 00:43:56.360 --> 00:43:58.400 just knowing something that happening a degree can't validate. 999 00:43:58.440 --> 00:44:02.400 You know, Yeah, that's one hundred percent, man, I definitely 1000 00:44:02.480 --> 00:44:05.960 share that. You know, so you start your first company, 1001 00:44:06.360 --> 00:44:07.840 you know, I know there was a lot of lessons 1002 00:44:07.960 --> 00:44:11.519 learned and a lot of bruises, pumps and bruises, and 1003 00:44:11.519 --> 00:44:14.119 then tell us a couple of like lessons that you learned, 1004 00:44:14.679 --> 00:44:16.559 a couple of the successes and failures that you. 1005 00:44:16.639 --> 00:44:19.679 Have for sure, man, so Yo Pima, like I said, 1006 00:44:19.719 --> 00:44:21.199 we did have to pivot out of it. Because we 1007 00:44:21.360 --> 00:44:23.599 scared like it just skilled and when the infrastructure was 1008 00:44:23.679 --> 00:44:25.280 prepared for That was probably one of the first really 1009 00:44:25.320 --> 00:44:27.440 hard lessons that we learned in technology, or that I 1010 00:44:27.559 --> 00:44:31.039 learned primarily. So then eventually like I wanted to immerse 1011 00:44:31.159 --> 00:44:35.320 myself in more experiences that could because understanding that I 1012 00:44:35.360 --> 00:44:37.199 didn't even go back to college to get the NBA 1013 00:44:37.440 --> 00:44:39.679 or get any of the other stuff. I focused in 1014 00:44:39.760 --> 00:44:43.719 college on developing innovative engineering skill sets, and I knew 1015 00:44:43.760 --> 00:44:46.519 that for me, as somebody who was always an entrepreneur, 1016 00:44:46.800 --> 00:44:48.440 I knew that the best way for me to get 1017 00:44:48.480 --> 00:44:50.880 business knowledge was to just keep dumping myself into business 1018 00:44:50.920 --> 00:44:53.880 experiences and using my knowledge to kind of get access 1019 00:44:53.960 --> 00:44:55.880 to more the stuff that I felt like would allow 1020 00:44:55.920 --> 00:44:57.360 me to be a more polished business person. 1021 00:44:57.440 --> 00:44:59.519 So I would say, just over the. 1022 00:44:59.519 --> 00:45:03.199 Whole ration of me working in Atlanta, probably later on 1023 00:45:03.320 --> 00:45:05.639 in our career, I started in my career, I started 1024 00:45:05.679 --> 00:45:07.559 that I was a part of starting a mobile phone company. 1025 00:45:07.760 --> 00:45:08.639 It was called Mulai. 1026 00:45:09.159 --> 00:45:11.239 We started a phone company and we built out some 1027 00:45:11.440 --> 00:45:14.320 software that allowed phones to kind of be monetized. So 1028 00:45:14.400 --> 00:45:16.239 basically there was an ad system that we built in 1029 00:45:16.280 --> 00:45:18.840 the mobile devices. We started this in twenty sixteen, and 1030 00:45:18.920 --> 00:45:20.480 there was a lot of stuff that we learned when 1031 00:45:20.519 --> 00:45:23.639 we started that company that ultimately let me know that 1032 00:45:24.639 --> 00:45:27.599 some industries are much more difficult to mainonstrate than others. 1033 00:45:28.400 --> 00:45:30.719 And the war stories that come along with trying to 1034 00:45:30.719 --> 00:45:36.119 get into the telecom industry from a technology perspective or countless. 1035 00:45:36.639 --> 00:45:39.800 Literally the company that we started was just recently like 1036 00:45:39.880 --> 00:45:42.119 we like, it's just crazy things that come along with it, 1037 00:45:42.199 --> 00:45:44.719 but we get other partners that come in and they're 1038 00:45:44.760 --> 00:45:48.000 intended on one way and we're focused on innovating, and 1039 00:45:48.119 --> 00:45:50.760 things just kind of don't always align properly. And these 1040 00:45:50.800 --> 00:45:52.559 were things that me and my partners that were building 1041 00:45:52.599 --> 00:45:55.400 those companies had to deal with consistently. And we started 1042 00:45:55.440 --> 00:45:56.760 that in twenty sixteen. 1043 00:45:56.719 --> 00:45:59.320 And those war stories and wars still come to this day. 1044 00:45:59.400 --> 00:46:02.639 Like we're literally that company Moulah that we started as 1045 00:46:02.639 --> 00:46:04.639 a mobile company that my partner ver now he took 1046 00:46:04.679 --> 00:46:07.960 it into the telecom industry completely and started selling phone. 1047 00:46:07.760 --> 00:46:10.559 Service and all these different things and devices. 1048 00:46:10.880 --> 00:46:13.280 There's just a lot of difficult things that come with 1049 00:46:13.440 --> 00:46:17.800 navigating industries like telecom that you just have to be 1050 00:46:17.960 --> 00:46:21.360 resilient to stay in those industries because the resilience that 1051 00:46:21.480 --> 00:46:24.000 comes along, like the amount of resistance that you get, 1052 00:46:24.280 --> 00:46:26.320 the amount of people that want to either take. 1053 00:46:26.239 --> 00:46:30.119 What you have or reshape what you've created to make 1054 00:46:30.199 --> 00:46:30.960 it their own thing. 1055 00:46:31.119 --> 00:46:34.039 And it's just difficult to navigate different industries when you're 1056 00:46:34.079 --> 00:46:36.519 coming from something like we're software experts. So me and 1057 00:46:36.599 --> 00:46:39.320 miaf you were in the software in the computing space, 1058 00:46:39.400 --> 00:46:41.679 we're in the We do dabble into the hardware space 1059 00:46:41.679 --> 00:46:43.000 as well, Like we spent a lot of time in 1060 00:46:43.079 --> 00:46:46.360 all these spaces. But knowing that the telecom industry is 1061 00:46:46.440 --> 00:46:48.400 the thing that's like been here for even longer than 1062 00:46:48.679 --> 00:46:51.639 the devices. Those mobile devices are here, but the industry 1063 00:46:51.679 --> 00:46:53.880 has been here for so long that when these mobile 1064 00:46:53.880 --> 00:46:56.440 devices come in and start disrupting, it's a certain way 1065 00:46:56.480 --> 00:46:59.760 that they expect. Company like Apple and Samsung the interfacce 1066 00:46:59.760 --> 00:47:02.239 with telecom reunuistry and they play a certain kind of way. 1067 00:47:02.639 --> 00:47:04.320 And we happen to be in the mix of being 1068 00:47:04.360 --> 00:47:06.920 one of those players that were like interfacing with telecom 1069 00:47:07.000 --> 00:47:10.880 from a mobile technology and hardware projective And just like 1070 00:47:11.119 --> 00:47:13.719 I don't like going down that rabbit hole and stuff 1071 00:47:13.800 --> 00:47:18.239 is just crazy. But ultimately I would say that the 1072 00:47:18.360 --> 00:47:21.000 experience that we gained. The experience I gained being in 1073 00:47:21.079 --> 00:47:24.400 those spaces was just I can't put a dollar amount 1074 00:47:24.519 --> 00:47:26.960 on it. I just know that I learned how to 1075 00:47:27.280 --> 00:47:30.360 operate in manufacturing at the highest levels. I learned how 1076 00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:34.320 to operate at software at the highest levels because I 1077 00:47:34.360 --> 00:47:36.480 went from building one or two apps here and there 1078 00:47:36.559 --> 00:47:39.360 and like doing different application projects to running a team 1079 00:47:39.440 --> 00:47:43.039 or we're building seven building advantaging seven and eight apps 1080 00:47:43.039 --> 00:47:45.519 at the same time that are a software suite that go. 1081 00:47:45.559 --> 00:47:46.599 In the firmware system. 1082 00:47:46.880 --> 00:47:49.119 That also if you can see behind me, these are 1083 00:47:49.159 --> 00:47:50.760 some of the devices that I created, Like I created 1084 00:47:50.840 --> 00:47:53.920 multiple tablets in twenty twenty three, so I built three tablets, 1085 00:47:54.000 --> 00:47:55.719 two mobile phones, and led a team that we did 1086 00:47:55.760 --> 00:47:57.920 all of that stuff. So that was something that it 1087 00:47:58.119 --> 00:48:00.920 was a journey to get to the place, but it 1088 00:48:01.039 --> 00:48:03.559 ultimately taught me so much about business in a way 1089 00:48:03.599 --> 00:48:06.239 that I'm like, there's not a dollar sign that you 1090 00:48:06.280 --> 00:48:06.800 can put on it. 1091 00:48:06.880 --> 00:48:09.280 So I would say the experience that comes along. 1092 00:48:09.079 --> 00:48:11.280 With those war stories are the things that I choose 1093 00:48:11.320 --> 00:48:14.239 to dwell on more now than anything, because now I'm 1094 00:48:14.280 --> 00:48:16.679 in a totally different place than an executive, and there's 1095 00:48:16.679 --> 00:48:20.599 an experience like developer, innovator, all of those kind of things. 1096 00:48:20.639 --> 00:48:22.280 So now I just kind of focus on using the 1097 00:48:22.360 --> 00:48:25.039 experience to really be more of a bestling the vehicle 1098 00:48:25.280 --> 00:48:27.119 and also to do some of the things that I'm 1099 00:48:27.119 --> 00:48:29.280 focused on doing into the future. Which yeah, man, it 1100 00:48:29.400 --> 00:48:33.119 definitely comes with bumps and bruises, but I'm very rough 1101 00:48:33.159 --> 00:48:35.239 and rugged from all of those kinds of experiences. 1102 00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:35.960 To be completely honest. 1103 00:48:38.440 --> 00:48:40.599 Do you have a product or service that you would 1104 00:48:40.679 --> 00:48:43.239 like to share with the big audience or maybe you'd 1105 00:48:43.320 --> 00:48:45.679 like to support the big community and do your part 1106 00:48:45.800 --> 00:48:50.159 in helping us with stomping the divide. Start by sponsoring 1107 00:48:50.199 --> 00:48:55.480 one of our podcasts. Please email us at contact us 1108 00:48:55.800 --> 00:48:58.719 at blacks and Technology dot net. 1109 00:49:02.800 --> 00:49:03.000 Yeah. 1110 00:49:03.119 --> 00:49:06.800 Yeah, I have a friend that he is out of Austin, Texas. 1111 00:49:07.199 --> 00:49:12.360 He he deals with like open source technologies. Uh, and 1112 00:49:12.519 --> 00:49:14.679 he's he's told me some of the some of the 1113 00:49:14.800 --> 00:49:21.440 stories that some of these telecom folks that he's involved with, right, Like, 1114 00:49:21.719 --> 00:49:24.199 and I can't I can't recall exactly what he what 1115 00:49:24.320 --> 00:49:26.480 he was doing, but it involved some of these telecom 1116 00:49:26.599 --> 00:49:31.800 companies and like he always tells me how how how 1117 00:49:31.960 --> 00:49:35.280 much like they are pissed at him, right like because 1118 00:49:35.280 --> 00:49:37.719 he'll call them out on certain things on you know, 1119 00:49:37.840 --> 00:49:40.480 they say they operate one way, and then you you 1120 00:49:40.639 --> 00:49:42.280 kind of get into the nitty gritty of it and 1121 00:49:42.360 --> 00:49:44.480 they don't actually operate like that, or they try to 1122 00:49:44.880 --> 00:49:47.159 hold things back and things like that. So he's told 1123 00:49:47.199 --> 00:49:49.960 me some stories where I'm just like, man, that's that's 1124 00:49:50.079 --> 00:49:51.119 they cut through over there. 1125 00:49:51.199 --> 00:49:53.800 Man, Yeah, it's shark and fisted waters for sure. Man, 1126 00:49:53.920 --> 00:49:54.840 for sure, tell. 1127 00:49:54.800 --> 00:49:58.800 Us about let's talk talk about on another world experience. Uh, 1128 00:49:59.159 --> 00:50:03.559 that's your your XR company. Sure for one, you know, 1129 00:50:03.719 --> 00:50:06.119 tell tell the people, tell the folks like what XR is, 1130 00:50:06.639 --> 00:50:08.440 and then let's talk a little bit about like what 1131 00:50:08.840 --> 00:50:11.800 what why you why you chose to go into the 1132 00:50:11.960 --> 00:50:12.599 XR space. 1133 00:50:13.079 --> 00:50:15.920 Sure. So first XR it stands for extended reality. 1134 00:50:16.239 --> 00:50:19.000 It's the umbrother that includes what most people know about 1135 00:50:19.039 --> 00:50:21.239 this augmented reality kind of those filters and all the 1136 00:50:21.280 --> 00:50:23.480 layouts and stuff that you do in social media. Then 1137 00:50:23.559 --> 00:50:27.039 the next lane is virtual reality, which is like, you know, 1138 00:50:27.280 --> 00:50:29.079 like I got a few VR head sets back here. 1139 00:50:29.119 --> 00:50:31.119 Those some of the prototypes that I have for the company, 1140 00:50:31.400 --> 00:50:36.440 But ultimately there are VR head sets that are like Oculus, Medicut, Apple, 1141 00:50:36.519 --> 00:50:39.320 Vision Pro, and then there's a version that's called mixed reality, 1142 00:50:39.360 --> 00:50:41.000 which is that's kind of the next frontier. 1143 00:50:41.159 --> 00:50:43.559 Apple Vision Pro is more of a mixed reality advice. 1144 00:50:43.840 --> 00:50:46.360 And then the medicalest three they're mixed reality vices, but 1145 00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:48.960 they actually lean heavily in the virtual reality. So all 1146 00:50:49.039 --> 00:50:51.079 three of those are three different umbrothers that fall under 1147 00:50:51.119 --> 00:50:54.559 the extended reality umbrella. And ultimately this this is basically 1148 00:50:54.559 --> 00:50:56.800 the next frontier media. So if we want to be 1149 00:50:56.880 --> 00:51:01.199 completely transparent about immersive media, it's the I like to 1150 00:51:01.400 --> 00:51:05.119 like give a quick like historical timeline of what's happened 1151 00:51:05.119 --> 00:51:07.559 in media. So you know, we started there was a 1152 00:51:07.960 --> 00:51:09.840 it was just oral tradition in the beginning, like people 1153 00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:12.239 just new communications and stuff around story. 1154 00:51:12.480 --> 00:51:13.000 It was oral. 1155 00:51:13.239 --> 00:51:14.960 Eventually they got to this form where they kind of 1156 00:51:14.960 --> 00:51:17.920 got physical written stuff. You start carving stuff out in tabs. 1157 00:51:17.960 --> 00:51:20.400 You got written languages and letters and stuff like that. 1158 00:51:20.599 --> 00:51:22.519 Now you got stuff that you can kind of record stuff. 1159 00:51:22.800 --> 00:51:26.880 Then we transition from written stuff to audio formats. They 1160 00:51:26.920 --> 00:51:29.360 can kind of like take your audio and vocal stuff 1161 00:51:29.400 --> 00:51:32.719 and kind of put it on radio transmissions and eight 1162 00:51:32.840 --> 00:51:35.679 tracks and records and all of these different things, and 1163 00:51:36.119 --> 00:51:38.239 thos all eventually, of all in the CDs and all 1164 00:51:38.280 --> 00:51:40.760 this other stuff, we eventually got the visual stuff where 1165 00:51:40.760 --> 00:51:43.559 you got TVs and all this other stuff. And now 1166 00:51:44.639 --> 00:51:46.800 now we have digital stuff, so we got streaming that 1167 00:51:46.920 --> 00:51:48.840 kind of has taken all of that video and audio 1168 00:51:48.920 --> 00:51:50.519 stuff that was traditional and kind of put it in 1169 00:51:50.559 --> 00:51:52.880 a more quick consumption format so you don't need the 1170 00:51:53.000 --> 00:51:53.880 same physical. 1171 00:51:53.639 --> 00:51:55.400 Apparatuses to access all of this stuff. 1172 00:51:55.599 --> 00:51:58.320 But now we're in another custpane of transition to media 1173 00:51:58.599 --> 00:52:01.000 that it really has been happening for a few years, 1174 00:52:01.119 --> 00:52:03.280 really for a decent amount of years now, but it's 1175 00:52:03.320 --> 00:52:05.960 a very slower transition because the other formats that we've 1176 00:52:05.960 --> 00:52:08.159 been using for so long, people have just grown the 1177 00:52:08.239 --> 00:52:12.000 custom to them. So right now, this transition from the 1178 00:52:12.079 --> 00:52:16.440 more traditional digital media formats to now this immersive media 1179 00:52:16.519 --> 00:52:19.480 format that will be mixed reality and virtual reality, this 1180 00:52:19.559 --> 00:52:21.440 stuff is happening right now in front of us. So 1181 00:52:21.960 --> 00:52:24.960 as somebody who's always been passionate about innovative technology and 1182 00:52:25.199 --> 00:52:29.000 doing innova making innovative creation, so like being an innovative 1183 00:52:29.239 --> 00:52:33.239 thinker and an innovative business mind, I saw the immersive 1184 00:52:33.280 --> 00:52:35.400 media space like I've known about it for years, but 1185 00:52:35.519 --> 00:52:37.599 I knew that, Like, one of the things I really 1186 00:52:37.719 --> 00:52:40.000 learned with Yo Pima that I can probably bring into 1187 00:52:40.039 --> 00:52:43.840 this now is that if you innovate too much, too fast, 1188 00:52:43.960 --> 00:52:46.239 and the infrastructure a business isn't there for you while 1189 00:52:46.280 --> 00:52:48.480 you're innovating, you end up in a very very tough 1190 00:52:48.519 --> 00:52:51.719 space from a business perspective, because if you innovate five 1191 00:52:51.800 --> 00:52:54.320 steps ahead of the market and you just did all 1192 00:52:54.360 --> 00:52:58.079 this crazy innovation, then now the business and the rest 1193 00:52:58.119 --> 00:52:59.760 of the market is not ready for all this stuff 1194 00:52:59.760 --> 00:53:01.920 that you made, and now you're dealing with costs of 1195 00:53:02.039 --> 00:53:04.239 trying to bring something that's innovative back to the market, 1196 00:53:04.440 --> 00:53:06.280 which never serves anybody's business. 1197 00:53:06.360 --> 00:53:06.519 Well. 1198 00:53:06.880 --> 00:53:09.599 So for me, what I learned in that experience is 1199 00:53:09.639 --> 00:53:13.239 that while I've known about any immersive technology and mixed 1200 00:53:13.280 --> 00:53:15.559 reality and virtual reality tech for quite some time, I 1201 00:53:15.639 --> 00:53:17.760 knew that it wasn't the timing for me to take 1202 00:53:17.840 --> 00:53:20.519 myself into that innovative space. So for me, I literally 1203 00:53:20.679 --> 00:53:22.800 was like, all right, I think now is a much more. 1204 00:53:23.840 --> 00:53:24.719 I think it's a good time. 1205 00:53:24.800 --> 00:53:27.639 Like I was inspired to move into the immersive media 1206 00:53:27.639 --> 00:53:29.280 space in twenty twenty three at the end of twenty 1207 00:53:29.320 --> 00:53:31.719 twenty three, and really I kind of wanted to figure 1208 00:53:31.719 --> 00:53:34.039 out what my ID in concept was. This was after 1209 00:53:34.159 --> 00:53:36.639 I had worked in a company called okay Play when 1210 00:53:36.639 --> 00:53:38.719 I moved out here to Cali, which ultimately was a 1211 00:53:39.119 --> 00:53:41.960 it was a gaming company for children that ultimately I 1212 00:53:42.000 --> 00:53:44.320 had the opportunity. They sold that company in like two years, 1213 00:53:44.360 --> 00:53:45.960 so I was one of the first engineering hires on 1214 00:53:46.000 --> 00:53:47.840 that team that company saw that I got to work 1215 00:53:47.840 --> 00:53:50.400 in this other company called Dapper Labs, biggest one of 1216 00:53:50.400 --> 00:53:52.880 the biggest NFT companies in the world. Working for those 1217 00:53:52.920 --> 00:53:55.199 two companies gave me this insight that I didn't get 1218 00:53:55.239 --> 00:53:56.960 the opportunity to get when I was living in Atlanta 1219 00:53:56.960 --> 00:53:58.360 and working in technology when I. 1220 00:53:58.440 --> 00:53:59.519 Moved here to California. 1221 00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:01.719 I got to tell this story now because it's why 1222 00:54:01.800 --> 00:54:04.000 I'm actually doing what I'm doing in the immersive media space. 1223 00:54:04.280 --> 00:54:07.800 So those two companies were extremely critical for my growth 1224 00:54:07.880 --> 00:54:10.599 and development as an executive. But it was really from 1225 00:54:10.679 --> 00:54:13.280 an engineering perspective that I had the opportunity to learn 1226 00:54:13.320 --> 00:54:16.239 your stuff. So with okay Play, I had the opportunity 1227 00:54:16.239 --> 00:54:18.159 to work with some amazing people out here that were 1228 00:54:18.199 --> 00:54:22.880 all Silicon Valley and California based tech executives and professionals 1229 00:54:22.960 --> 00:54:24.960 that had done a lot of successful things and technology. 1230 00:54:25.239 --> 00:54:27.079 They gave me the opportunity to come into the team 1231 00:54:27.119 --> 00:54:29.559 and help them build out Android technologies. In the early 1232 00:54:29.639 --> 00:54:32.199 process of them building an application. Me working with them, 1233 00:54:32.239 --> 00:54:34.239 I got to learn some amazing things. I got to 1234 00:54:34.360 --> 00:54:37.320 learn how to be successful as selling a technology company, 1235 00:54:37.360 --> 00:54:39.440 but also how to build a culture that was conducive 1236 00:54:39.440 --> 00:54:41.519 to building a team that could build a highly successful 1237 00:54:41.519 --> 00:54:44.039 technology business. I also got to work with people that 1238 00:54:44.079 --> 00:54:46.239 had already done it before. Everybody that I was working 1239 00:54:46.320 --> 00:54:48.800 with ten to fifteen years my senior, maybe five to 1240 00:54:48.880 --> 00:54:51.679 ten years my senior. But they ultimately had the opportunity 1241 00:54:51.800 --> 00:54:54.320 to teach me things because I had engineering skills that 1242 00:54:54.360 --> 00:54:56.519 can help what they were looking to get accomplished. But 1243 00:54:56.639 --> 00:54:58.920 they also had knowledge and insight on what does it 1244 00:54:58.960 --> 00:55:01.360 take to build a company, and what does it take 1245 00:55:01.400 --> 00:55:03.280 to build a company and raise the capital to build it, 1246 00:55:03.400 --> 00:55:06.000 What does it take to build a company and build 1247 00:55:06.039 --> 00:55:08.679 a team and a culture that can Then we actually started. 1248 00:55:08.800 --> 00:55:11.280 They started the company in twenty twenty, so the pandemic 1249 00:55:11.400 --> 00:55:14.000 hit while the company was getting ready to launch. They 1250 00:55:14.119 --> 00:55:16.840 still knew how to navigate the waters of a pandemic 1251 00:55:17.079 --> 00:55:20.199 to build a mobile technology company, grow it, scale it, 1252 00:55:20.320 --> 00:55:22.920 get over half a million kids on the platform during 1253 00:55:22.960 --> 00:55:25.320 the pandemic, and then ultimately be able to sell the 1254 00:55:25.400 --> 00:55:29.320 company to a billion dollar NFT company. So when I 1255 00:55:29.480 --> 00:55:32.400 was a part of the process pre product launch and 1256 00:55:32.519 --> 00:55:33.840 I got to see it all the way through exit 1257 00:55:33.880 --> 00:55:36.760 and liquidation, and when I got to be a part 1258 00:55:36.800 --> 00:55:38.800 of that full process and I saw the camaraderie of 1259 00:55:38.840 --> 00:55:41.519 that team, I saw the culture of that company, and 1260 00:55:41.639 --> 00:55:44.920 I saw the leadership that allowed me to see things 1261 00:55:44.960 --> 00:55:46.559 that I did not have the opportunity to see. While 1262 00:55:46.599 --> 00:55:49.199 I was doing business in Atlanta and working with them 1263 00:55:49.280 --> 00:55:51.519 and selling to that billion dollar NFT company, I learned 1264 00:55:51.559 --> 00:55:54.440 some really really interesting things as well. I've known about 1265 00:55:54.440 --> 00:55:57.599 the blockchain space and the innovative in the crypto space 1266 00:55:57.679 --> 00:55:59.239 for years as well. There was a reason why I 1267 00:55:59.280 --> 00:56:01.400 didn't go direct into that industry because I knew that 1268 00:56:01.440 --> 00:56:04.360 it was extremely volatile. Even though it was innovative, it 1269 00:56:04.480 --> 00:56:06.360 was so volatile that it didn't make sense for me 1270 00:56:06.440 --> 00:56:08.440 to dive deep into that based off of what I 1271 00:56:08.679 --> 00:56:10.920 understood from a business perspective. But when I had the 1272 00:56:11.000 --> 00:56:13.719 opportunity to work with that for Labs and I saw 1273 00:56:13.840 --> 00:56:16.559 that there wasn't as much volatility working with a company 1274 00:56:16.599 --> 00:56:18.800 who had a partnership with the NFL already, who had 1275 00:56:18.800 --> 00:56:21.400 a partnership with the NBA, who was the licensed NFT 1276 00:56:21.519 --> 00:56:23.920 provider for these companies, and a lot of other large 1277 00:56:23.960 --> 00:56:26.639 scale entities. So it made it more comfortable for me 1278 00:56:26.719 --> 00:56:28.840 to want to work with an NFT company. But they 1279 00:56:28.920 --> 00:56:31.480 also let us come in and build out the first 1280 00:56:31.519 --> 00:56:34.360 mobile technology for their whole company. So they had no 1281 00:56:34.519 --> 00:56:36.840 mobile tech. Everything was web based and all of this stuff, 1282 00:56:36.960 --> 00:56:39.639 and they brought our team in and we had built 1283 00:56:39.679 --> 00:56:41.840 some really dope mobile tech and they brought us in 1284 00:56:41.960 --> 00:56:43.599 and said, hey, we need to build mobile tech and 1285 00:56:43.679 --> 00:56:45.239 we don't have any yet, and you all just made 1286 00:56:45.280 --> 00:56:47.360 some mobile stuff. Can you all bring in your mobile 1287 00:56:47.360 --> 00:56:49.920 So it was really an acquisition where they phased out 1288 00:56:49.920 --> 00:56:52.119 maybe about eighty to ninety percent of the company and 1289 00:56:52.280 --> 00:56:54.719 kept some of the executives as well as the guys 1290 00:56:54.719 --> 00:56:56.440 who were building a technology, which was me and a 1291 00:56:56.639 --> 00:56:58.719 group of about three other guys. We came in and 1292 00:56:58.840 --> 00:57:02.079 became the lead more mobile team for Dapper Labs, and 1293 00:57:02.599 --> 00:57:05.239 I had the opportunity to work on really high level 1294 00:57:05.280 --> 00:57:08.039 projects for about sixty seven months before the NFT market 1295 00:57:08.079 --> 00:57:10.880 took another dip and that company had to let some 1296 00:57:10.960 --> 00:57:13.639 people go, and for me, I was already like I 1297 00:57:14.239 --> 00:57:17.119 was already past wanting to be in that infrastructure, but 1298 00:57:17.239 --> 00:57:18.960 I saw it as an opportunity to work on some 1299 00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:20.800 really high level stuff. So I was like, okay, cool. 1300 00:57:21.519 --> 00:57:23.400 So they gave us a servance and said, hey, we 1301 00:57:23.440 --> 00:57:25.440 got a downsize and I was like, that's perfect. That 1302 00:57:25.480 --> 00:57:27.559 was right before I was about to get married, so 1303 00:57:27.679 --> 00:57:29.480 my wedding was a few months later, and I was like, 1304 00:57:29.480 --> 00:57:31.840 all right, cool. That was the motivation that I needed 1305 00:57:31.880 --> 00:57:34.079 to get back into the entrepreneurial space and get back 1306 00:57:34.159 --> 00:57:36.639 focused on building something and innovating in a way that 1307 00:57:36.639 --> 00:57:38.519 would allow me to use that experience in a more 1308 00:57:38.559 --> 00:57:41.400 beneficial way. That ultimately took me back to the mobile 1309 00:57:41.400 --> 00:57:43.119 company where I did all that stuff in twenty twenty 1310 00:57:43.159 --> 00:57:47.159 three that I talked about and eventually gaining those hardware experiences. 1311 00:57:47.360 --> 00:57:49.239 It kind of motivated me to want to get into 1312 00:57:49.239 --> 00:57:51.400 the VR and next SA our space. That's how I 1313 00:57:51.440 --> 00:57:53.559 got to the place of wanting to start a not 1314 00:57:53.840 --> 00:57:56.719 just a million dollar VR company, but I wanted to 1315 00:57:56.760 --> 00:57:59.480 build a billion dollar VR tech company that has the 1316 00:57:59.639 --> 00:58:02.559 IP or potential that I feel like the insight that 1317 00:58:02.599 --> 00:58:04.440 I got working at all these companies kind of leans 1318 00:58:04.480 --> 00:58:06.800 heavily into and these are the things that I'm saying. 1319 00:58:06.960 --> 00:58:09.000 Just you know, people can say a lot of things. 1320 00:58:09.079 --> 00:58:10.639 I'm more like, no, I just got out of a 1321 00:58:10.719 --> 00:58:13.320 billion dollar NFT company and they brought us in to 1322 00:58:13.360 --> 00:58:16.719 build a department that ultimately built a new wing of 1323 00:58:16.760 --> 00:58:19.400 their business. And then it showed me things that as 1324 00:58:19.440 --> 00:58:25.159 a young, growing, innovative tech entrepreneur, that things that gave 1325 00:58:25.199 --> 00:58:26.920 me insight that I feel like, I know what it 1326 00:58:27.000 --> 00:58:28.639 takes to kind of do, and I know it's not 1327 00:58:28.719 --> 00:58:30.920 an easy process, but I do know that right now. 1328 00:58:31.400 --> 00:58:33.599 That insight let me want to go into this immersive 1329 00:58:33.599 --> 00:58:35.280 tech space because I see it as the next frontier 1330 00:58:35.400 --> 00:58:38.239 media and that's kind of what brought me to OAW 1331 00:58:38.920 --> 00:58:41.360 and OAW. I guess I could talk a little bit 1332 00:58:41.400 --> 00:58:45.239 about that now. Yeah, for sure, One Another World Experiences, Well, 1333 00:58:45.280 --> 00:58:47.400 it's going to be one Another World Experiences in technology. 1334 00:58:47.760 --> 00:58:53.159 It's a premium immersive entertainment company or entertainment and experiences company. 1335 00:58:53.239 --> 00:58:55.639 So what we're doing is creating solutions that will allow 1336 00:58:56.000 --> 00:58:59.199 people all around the world that either have commercial real estate, 1337 00:58:59.320 --> 00:59:01.920 vehicles or or that have spaces that they want to 1338 00:59:02.119 --> 00:59:06.679 provide immersive technology as a solution to make it more accessible, 1339 00:59:06.920 --> 00:59:08.039 but also making it more. 1340 00:59:08.000 --> 00:59:09.079 Private and safe for people. 1341 00:59:09.159 --> 00:59:12.039 So the sweet science of one Another World is that 1342 00:59:12.760 --> 00:59:15.079 while most of the other competitors in this space currently 1343 00:59:15.119 --> 00:59:18.079 focused primarily on gaming, if you go to almost any 1344 00:59:18.719 --> 00:59:22.400 VR entertainment space, it's more arcade based, like a sandbox 1345 00:59:22.519 --> 00:59:25.199 or zero latency. These companies are very much so they 1346 00:59:25.239 --> 00:59:27.880 are quite so much successful inan with things that they're doing, 1347 00:59:28.039 --> 00:59:31.079 but they focus primarily on gaming based experiences, which I 1348 00:59:31.159 --> 00:59:34.440 feel like limits what this frontier media actually can become. 1349 00:59:34.800 --> 00:59:36.840 So our faces are meant to be something that allows 1350 00:59:36.880 --> 00:59:39.119 people to explore it in a much more open fashion. 1351 00:59:39.320 --> 00:59:40.559 You don't have to come in here and think that 1352 00:59:40.639 --> 00:59:42.639 you just had the ability to play a zombie shooter 1353 00:59:42.719 --> 00:59:45.199 and an escape room. You can do a number of 1354 00:59:45.239 --> 00:59:47.599 different things in our verticals and it allows it will 1355 00:59:47.639 --> 00:59:50.559 allow that accessibility and comfort and also make it more 1356 00:59:50.880 --> 00:59:53.639 readily available. So our models are meant to make the 1357 00:59:53.760 --> 00:59:56.760 technology much more accessible. I don't want to give too 1358 00:59:56.840 --> 01:00:00.679 much about what that accessible means conversation, it's definitely that's 1359 01:00:01.000 --> 01:00:04.800 the sweet science. Yeah, So that's the sweet science of it, 1360 01:00:04.920 --> 01:00:07.199 so we're actually looking and we're in the process of 1361 01:00:07.559 --> 01:00:08.840 starting our first capital raids. 1362 01:00:08.920 --> 01:00:09.039 Now. 1363 01:00:09.239 --> 01:00:11.199 We spent all the twenty twenty four doing the building 1364 01:00:11.239 --> 01:00:14.199 the foundation of it, so I got my manufacturing partnership 1365 01:00:14.239 --> 01:00:16.800 and relationship. I started building some of the initial software 1366 01:00:16.840 --> 01:00:19.559 we need for the software suite that we're building. We 1367 01:00:19.679 --> 01:00:22.159 also did our first commercial real estate deal that's going 1368 01:00:22.239 --> 01:00:24.760 to be for our first flagship pilot location that we'll 1369 01:00:24.800 --> 01:00:28.480 be opening in Saint Louis later on this year. And ultimately, yeah, 1370 01:00:28.519 --> 01:00:31.159 we build some of those initial partnerships. I built a 1371 01:00:31.239 --> 01:00:33.960 founding team that I feel will aligned to the culture 1372 01:00:34.000 --> 01:00:36.199 that we're looking to have on another world. I have 1373 01:00:36.280 --> 01:00:38.760 one of my partners who's heavily in real estate and development, 1374 01:00:38.960 --> 01:00:40.519 and I have a couple of other guys, one of 1375 01:00:40.559 --> 01:00:42.559 my guys in education, one of my guys in the 1376 01:00:42.599 --> 01:00:46.119 community engagement and development. So we ultimately have built a 1377 01:00:46.159 --> 01:00:48.639 team that's kind of leaning very heavily into I have 1378 01:00:48.760 --> 01:00:52.079 tech experience and knowledge, and my other kind of parts 1379 01:00:52.119 --> 01:00:53.440 in this company who are all my. 1380 01:00:53.519 --> 01:00:55.559 Friends of fifteen to twenty plus years. They just have 1381 01:00:55.679 --> 01:00:56.800 experienced in different lanes. 1382 01:00:57.239 --> 01:00:58.760 It allows us to kind of have a really really 1383 01:00:58.800 --> 01:01:01.679 strong base of we need to take one another world 1384 01:01:01.760 --> 01:01:02.840 to another world. 1385 01:01:03.000 --> 01:01:03.400 Honestly. 1386 01:01:05.960 --> 01:01:09.880 The BIT Foundation has established featured partnerships and programs with 1387 01:01:10.039 --> 01:01:15.559 companies such as Amazon, at and t comp, Tia, tech Stars, 1388 01:01:16.039 --> 01:01:18.840 and more to provide our members with the resources we 1389 01:01:18.960 --> 01:01:22.880 want and need to thrive and succeed in this tech ecosystem. 1390 01:01:23.920 --> 01:01:28.639 To learn more, visit Foundation dot blacks and Technology dot net. 1391 01:01:33.239 --> 01:01:36.679 Nice man, I mean that sounds super exciting. All right, 1392 01:01:36.960 --> 01:01:38.760 I'm ready. I'm ready to see it. 1393 01:01:38.840 --> 01:01:40.320 Appreciate it. Yeah. 1394 01:01:40.400 --> 01:01:46.000 Yeah, And I don't see a ton of black people 1395 01:01:46.760 --> 01:01:50.840 in that space from as creators like I see them 1396 01:01:51.000 --> 01:01:55.719 utilizing you know, other platforms and doing things within that platform, 1397 01:01:56.159 --> 01:01:59.199 but not actually creating a platform itself. So this is 1398 01:01:59.719 --> 01:02:04.920 this is very I would say, monumental. Uh. And I 1399 01:02:04.960 --> 01:02:08.719 would also say, like you're probably gonna get like once 1400 01:02:08.880 --> 01:02:12.079 once this episode drops and people within the big community 1401 01:02:12.440 --> 01:02:14.320 see this, they're gonna they're gonna want to holler at 1402 01:02:14.360 --> 01:02:18.400 you because you know, we we need to be And 1403 01:02:18.719 --> 01:02:21.239 I'm saying, like, you know, just saying from a standpoint 1404 01:02:21.320 --> 01:02:24.039 of like you know, when when is this when is 1405 01:02:24.119 --> 01:02:26.760 your your your platform gonna drop? How can we you 1406 01:02:26.840 --> 01:02:28.960 know when it drops can contribute to it or what 1407 01:02:29.159 --> 01:02:33.800 have you. Just I love seeing folks like within our 1408 01:02:33.840 --> 01:02:37.840 community collaborate, uh and have outlets and spaces like this, 1409 01:02:38.400 --> 01:02:41.079 uh where where they can you know, connect and make 1410 01:02:41.199 --> 01:02:44.480 things happen. So uh, I know there's already folks that 1411 01:02:44.800 --> 01:02:47.920 that are in the space, uh, in the community. And 1412 01:02:48.079 --> 01:02:50.800 so you know, once this episode drops out, I love 1413 01:02:50.880 --> 01:02:53.079 to see folks like connect with you and and and 1414 01:02:53.519 --> 01:02:56.119 you know, share ideas and and see where this whole 1415 01:02:56.199 --> 01:02:59.079 thing can go. But yeah, that's that's dope. So you 1416 01:02:59.159 --> 01:03:03.119 know AI is a thing right now? How is that 1417 01:03:03.280 --> 01:03:06.199 playing a role and what you all do all cool? 1418 01:03:06.320 --> 01:03:09.679 So I mean AI like, So just to give another 1419 01:03:09.760 --> 01:03:12.440 caveat the amazing thing about being in Georgia Tech, I 1420 01:03:12.480 --> 01:03:15.840 got to learn about AI in twenty and ten, twenty eleven, 1421 01:03:15.880 --> 01:03:19.119 Like I was doing research projects on AI. Like I 1422 01:03:19.239 --> 01:03:22.920 literally have like PowerPoint presentations of projects that I was 1423 01:03:23.000 --> 01:03:25.480 doing studying the history of AI in twenty ten. 1424 01:03:26.360 --> 01:03:28.480 So I've been aware of AI for years. 1425 01:03:29.199 --> 01:03:30.840 I knew that it was going to eventually become more 1426 01:03:30.880 --> 01:03:34.840 commercialized with more the data infrastructure to empower it came 1427 01:03:34.920 --> 01:03:37.599 to life, and more the hardware infrastructure required for it 1428 01:03:37.920 --> 01:03:40.079 came to life, which now over time it has now 1429 01:03:40.159 --> 01:03:44.239 got there. But for me, as somebody who's always been like, 1430 01:03:44.480 --> 01:03:48.039 I'm a knowledge and information junkie. So like I literally, 1431 01:03:48.440 --> 01:03:50.159 like I said, I walked to the library when I 1432 01:03:50.199 --> 01:03:51.760 could get on the internet when I was a kid, 1433 01:03:52.679 --> 01:03:55.719 I always was interested in having more access to information 1434 01:03:55.840 --> 01:03:59.079 and wasn't constrained to like any one thing. That's if 1435 01:03:59.119 --> 01:04:01.119 some beside my to me, I couldn't learn something, I 1436 01:04:01.280 --> 01:04:03.199 know that there was probably a book or something out 1437 01:04:03.199 --> 01:04:03.679 there to get. 1438 01:04:03.599 --> 01:04:04.159 Access to it. 1439 01:04:04.239 --> 01:04:07.159 So for me, AI has been like a It's almost 1440 01:04:07.199 --> 01:04:09.559 like a supercharger for my brain. Like I use it 1441 01:04:09.679 --> 01:04:12.199 and almost use it in so many different ways. I 1442 01:04:12.239 --> 01:04:14.599 could talk about a million AI platforms that I use. 1443 01:04:14.639 --> 01:04:17.480 Of course, I use chat, GPT, and I use I 1444 01:04:17.639 --> 01:04:20.519 use a couple of like visual platforms like mid Journey 1445 01:04:20.639 --> 01:04:21.719 and things of that nature. 1446 01:04:22.079 --> 01:04:23.719 Like I kind of use it a little bit of everything. 1447 01:04:23.840 --> 01:04:26.360 I use it for, Like so like I have platforms 1448 01:04:26.400 --> 01:04:30.079 to create documents and like create frameworks for branding materials 1449 01:04:30.119 --> 01:04:31.000 and all this kind of stuff. 1450 01:04:31.039 --> 01:04:33.320 So for me, AI it's just a supercharger tool. 1451 01:04:33.360 --> 01:04:35.840 I look at this like a supertool for me, as 1452 01:04:36.280 --> 01:04:38.119 it kind of integrates in almost the way that I 1453 01:04:38.199 --> 01:04:41.119 operate and do everything as an executive, as an entrepreneur, 1454 01:04:41.199 --> 01:04:43.719 as an innovator. It's just kind of like it's like 1455 01:04:43.800 --> 01:04:46.159 that supertool that I use for It's almost like a 1456 01:04:46.159 --> 01:04:48.719 Swiss army knife, and I just kind of pull it 1457 01:04:48.760 --> 01:04:50.159 out when I feel like it's going to enhance what 1458 01:04:50.199 --> 01:04:51.199 I'm trying to get accomplished. 1459 01:04:51.239 --> 01:04:51.480 Right now. 1460 01:04:51.679 --> 01:04:53.159 A lot of people ask me about AI and I 1461 01:04:53.280 --> 01:04:55.239 just tell them, man like, learn about prompting and figure 1462 01:04:55.239 --> 01:04:56.719 out how to make it make sense for something that 1463 01:04:56.800 --> 01:04:58.519 you're already doing and spending a lot of time on. 1464 01:04:58.719 --> 01:05:02.800 Because it's it's literally whatever you need it for, you 1465 01:05:02.840 --> 01:05:04.880 can kind of figure out how to implement it. You know, 1466 01:05:04.920 --> 01:05:06.679 a lot of people are fearful of AI. They say 1467 01:05:06.679 --> 01:05:09.119 it's like the leading jobs and stuff like that. It's 1468 01:05:09.159 --> 01:05:10.599 not going to delete your job if you know how 1469 01:05:10.599 --> 01:05:12.079 to use it, Like, if you know how to use 1470 01:05:12.159 --> 01:05:13.960 it properly, always going to do is make you more 1471 01:05:14.000 --> 01:05:17.440 efficient at doing something that like, it's an efficiency tool 1472 01:05:17.480 --> 01:05:20.000 in my opinion, so I used to be more efficient honestly. 1473 01:05:20.280 --> 01:05:22.280 Are you do you have any plans for integrating it 1474 01:05:22.440 --> 01:05:25.199 into the XAR space? 1475 01:05:25.400 --> 01:05:27.360 And yeah, of course, Like, so that's what I was 1476 01:05:27.400 --> 01:05:29.840 talking about, the image generation stuff. There's so many components 1477 01:05:29.880 --> 01:05:32.320 of AI that we're going to use to integrate. Like 1478 01:05:33.400 --> 01:05:36.480 there's a component of creating VR worlds and creating VR 1479 01:05:36.679 --> 01:05:41.039 experiences that can be highly influenced by AI. So now 1480 01:05:41.119 --> 01:05:45.639 you can rapidly create immersive worlds, rapidly create immersive. 1481 01:05:45.199 --> 01:05:46.559 Games and things of that nature. 1482 01:05:46.679 --> 01:05:50.559 Not just games, but like there's education components, there's mental health, 1483 01:05:50.679 --> 01:05:53.719 and like there's different types of components that AI lean 1484 01:05:53.800 --> 01:05:56.480 heavily into. Then you can kind of take the VR 1485 01:05:56.679 --> 01:06:00.559 in the immersive media space to frontiers. That definitely working 1486 01:06:00.599 --> 01:06:02.199 to unlock a lot of those things right now. I'm 1487 01:06:02.199 --> 01:06:04.920 actually building a few VR apps right now that lean 1488 01:06:05.039 --> 01:06:07.039 heavily in and using AI for some of the generative 1489 01:06:07.039 --> 01:06:09.719 stuff as well as components are just kind of like 1490 01:06:09.840 --> 01:06:13.159 having the level of interaction that can help people kind 1491 01:06:13.199 --> 01:06:15.320 of navigate stuff more effectively and learn more effectively. 1492 01:06:15.639 --> 01:06:18.800 Nice. Nice, So I know you're part of a couple 1493 01:06:18.880 --> 01:06:23.880 of other ventures. DNY Enterprise is Campfan. Tell us a 1494 01:06:23.920 --> 01:06:25.239 little bit about those two. 1495 01:06:25.400 --> 01:06:27.599 All right for sure? So DNY, Yeah, I got your 1496 01:06:27.639 --> 01:06:29.480 DNY Enterprise. That's my service vehicle. 1497 01:06:29.559 --> 01:06:33.079 So I've had probably three consulting firms over my journey 1498 01:06:33.119 --> 01:06:36.480 and check for the past fifteen years. DNY Enterprises, it 1499 01:06:36.679 --> 01:06:38.320 literally is a family based. 1500 01:06:38.119 --> 01:06:39.800 Business for me. So d is my name. 1501 01:06:40.119 --> 01:06:42.159 Why is the first initial of my wife's name. We 1502 01:06:42.239 --> 01:06:44.679 call it DNY Enterprises because I'm building it for the 1503 01:06:44.800 --> 01:06:47.199 legacy of my family. And I really just figured out 1504 01:06:47.239 --> 01:06:50.000 how to build systems to caps on all the experiences 1505 01:06:50.000 --> 01:06:51.519 that I just talked to you about and make it 1506 01:06:51.679 --> 01:06:53.480 in a way for me to make profit from having 1507 01:06:53.800 --> 01:06:56.880 systems that help entrepreneurs business owners that want to be 1508 01:06:56.920 --> 01:06:59.559 more effective at using technology as an asset for their business. 1509 01:07:00.079 --> 01:07:01.960 I do is I help people all around the world. 1510 01:07:02.000 --> 01:07:03.039 Like I have some clients out in. 1511 01:07:03.039 --> 01:07:05.800 Africa, I have people all over America that I help 1512 01:07:05.840 --> 01:07:08.400 and build things. But ultimately I come in and I 1513 01:07:08.480 --> 01:07:10.639 take people through what I call a Vision Adventure service. 1514 01:07:10.880 --> 01:07:13.159 It's like a four step process where I help people 1515 01:07:13.239 --> 01:07:15.639 itemize and clear their vision out. After they clear out 1516 01:07:15.639 --> 01:07:17.480 the vision and we go through the process, I help 1517 01:07:17.519 --> 01:07:20.679 them really understand what is it going to take to 1518 01:07:20.679 --> 01:07:22.480 build the technology that's going to help your business and 1519 01:07:22.519 --> 01:07:24.079 how does it align with the goal of your business. 1520 01:07:24.239 --> 01:07:24.960 So I got like this. 1521 01:07:25.079 --> 01:07:27.760 Project planning service that we offer, and then I go 1522 01:07:27.880 --> 01:07:31.320 into project management and development, Like I've developed so many 1523 01:07:31.360 --> 01:07:33.039 things that I don't let people come to me and say, 1524 01:07:33.360 --> 01:07:35.079 Like people can't pay me to develop an app in 1525 01:07:35.119 --> 01:07:37.360 twenty twenty five. It's not a hey, Dennis, can you 1526 01:07:37.440 --> 01:07:40.039 develop all? Can you help me building app? I'm not 1527 01:07:40.159 --> 01:07:42.679 in the business of building people's apps anymore. I'm in 1528 01:07:42.760 --> 01:07:45.000 the building in the business of helping people be successful 1529 01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:48.639 with technology business and typically most people don't know what 1530 01:07:48.719 --> 01:07:50.840 they require. So my service is more of a coaching 1531 01:07:50.880 --> 01:07:53.440 and consulting service. So I kind of consult and help 1532 01:07:53.480 --> 01:07:55.320 people understand. First of all, you have to have a 1533 01:07:55.360 --> 01:07:58.000 clear runway before you start building technology and just thinking 1534 01:07:58.039 --> 01:07:58.960 it's just going to make sense. 1535 01:07:59.159 --> 01:08:01.400 You got to build some then that'll actually allow their. 1536 01:08:01.400 --> 01:08:04.280 Technology being an asset to a business, because technology is 1537 01:08:04.280 --> 01:08:07.079 a health, it's not a business. Technology is a tool 1538 01:08:07.119 --> 01:08:10.159 and the resource to a business. Now there's components to 1539 01:08:10.199 --> 01:08:11.960 technology that you have to manage like a business, Like 1540 01:08:12.000 --> 01:08:13.880 those costs that I was talking about in your pemas 1541 01:08:14.039 --> 01:08:17.239 not understanding business properly enough. We got costs that balloon 1542 01:08:17.640 --> 01:08:20.520 the technical infrastructure, and now this thing is burdening it 1543 01:08:20.600 --> 01:08:22.640 down our whole business. So I spend a lot of 1544 01:08:22.720 --> 01:08:25.479 time helping the people that I work with understand how 1545 01:08:25.560 --> 01:08:28.640 to connect the dots between the technology and the business 1546 01:08:28.680 --> 01:08:30.960 ideas and the problems that they're trying to solve. And 1547 01:08:31.039 --> 01:08:33.439 then like the fourth step we go do, I say, 1548 01:08:33.520 --> 01:08:35.720 we go do project management and development. So we offer 1549 01:08:36.000 --> 01:08:38.239 a few different services there where we can bring in 1550 01:08:38.359 --> 01:08:40.640 I have contractors that work with me all around the world. 1551 01:08:40.840 --> 01:08:44.880 We help people build technology, hardware, software, websites, whatever you 1552 01:08:44.920 --> 01:08:46.399 want to need to build that that you feel like 1553 01:08:46.439 --> 01:08:48.279 aligns with the goals of your business. And then I 1554 01:08:48.319 --> 01:08:50.000 help people kind of strategize on what is it going 1555 01:08:50.039 --> 01:08:52.199 to take to make this sustainable, So whether you want 1556 01:08:52.199 --> 01:08:55.880 to raise some capital, whether you want to boostrap and 1557 01:08:56.039 --> 01:08:58.359 how you're going to strategize to make this bootstrapping process 1558 01:08:58.560 --> 01:09:00.840 makes sense. But we take people do pilots to get 1559 01:09:00.880 --> 01:09:02.800 them some data and then figure out what's going to 1560 01:09:02.840 --> 01:09:04.079 make the most sense for how they want to grow 1561 01:09:04.159 --> 01:09:06.159 the business in DNY enterprises. 1562 01:09:06.239 --> 01:09:07.199 That's our core service. 1563 01:09:07.439 --> 01:09:11.520 We also offer courses that I created that ultimately help 1564 01:09:12.159 --> 01:09:15.000 bring youth as well as seniors and stuff like that 1565 01:09:15.199 --> 01:09:18.640 into the tech space. So really introducing kids to technology 1566 01:09:18.640 --> 01:09:20.920 and ways that make sense. We kind of introduce kids 1567 01:09:20.960 --> 01:09:23.680 to technology via gaming and applications because that's kind of 1568 01:09:23.840 --> 01:09:26.399 their first introduction to it. So we walk them from 1569 01:09:26.520 --> 01:09:30.079 gaming and that and the core app that they like 1570 01:09:30.399 --> 01:09:33.640 into how the business of all of it works. Because 1571 01:09:33.720 --> 01:09:36.079 these kids, they're they're living in this digital economy where 1572 01:09:36.119 --> 01:09:39.119 they know stuff about money that people in their age period. 1573 01:09:39.119 --> 01:09:41.399 They probably you wouldn't understand how much they understand about 1574 01:09:41.399 --> 01:09:43.800 economy until they ask their mom and dad for some 1575 01:09:43.920 --> 01:09:47.119 robox books, are asked for some Minecraft cash or something 1576 01:09:47.239 --> 01:09:49.199 like that, and once they start doing that stuff, you 1577 01:09:49.279 --> 01:09:52.119 understand they understand economy. But I also walk them back 1578 01:09:52.199 --> 01:09:54.560 to from that gaming and application all the way to 1579 01:09:54.920 --> 01:09:58.520 how this is infused with math and science and artistic 1580 01:09:58.600 --> 01:10:01.239 work and creativelopments and coupon And that's kind of how 1581 01:10:01.279 --> 01:10:04.119 our course teaches kids how to stop looking at technology 1582 01:10:04.119 --> 01:10:06.039 it's just something to consume, but also how to see 1583 01:10:06.039 --> 01:10:09.000 it as a world of opportunity, specifically coming from our communities. 1584 01:10:09.600 --> 01:10:11.920 Given that I live out here in California, I've learned 1585 01:10:11.920 --> 01:10:14.239 a lot of things about the tech industry. Also learned 1586 01:10:14.279 --> 01:10:17.359 that if we just look at the percentages of the 1587 01:10:17.399 --> 01:10:19.640 biggest tech companies in the world, and how many people 1588 01:10:19.680 --> 01:10:24.840 that come from communities that are predominantly minority driven. 1589 01:10:25.039 --> 01:10:27.960 You'll see that there's still a very small percentage. 1590 01:10:27.960 --> 01:10:30.159 While the number of the percentages are growing, it's still 1591 01:10:30.199 --> 01:10:33.359 a smaller percentage of people from our communities in these industries. 1592 01:10:34.000 --> 01:10:36.000 One of those things has to do with the visibility 1593 01:10:36.039 --> 01:10:38.920 of people like ourselves being more in their face and 1594 01:10:38.960 --> 01:10:42.560 allowing them to understand it as possible, but also really 1595 01:10:42.720 --> 01:10:45.039 just knowing that they have to be taught the pathways 1596 01:10:45.079 --> 01:10:47.079 to get into the technology industry, Like it's not a 1597 01:10:47.159 --> 01:10:48.279 thing where you just can. 1598 01:10:48.239 --> 01:10:49.239 Jump knee deep in here. 1599 01:10:49.439 --> 01:10:51.119 You need to kind of like walk your way into 1600 01:10:51.199 --> 01:10:54.760 understanding those value propositions and then also the work as 1601 01:10:54.800 --> 01:10:57.720 you would know it takes. Like if you go into 1602 01:10:57.760 --> 01:11:01.159 the tech industry without being driven properly, you need to 1603 01:11:01.279 --> 01:11:03.520 have some type of purpose driven thing that allows you 1604 01:11:03.600 --> 01:11:06.760 to have the persistence that's required to learn what it takes. 1605 01:11:06.800 --> 01:11:08.359 Whether you even if you want to be a cold 1606 01:11:08.439 --> 01:11:10.600 or developer, it takes a lot of persistence. But even 1607 01:11:10.640 --> 01:11:12.359 if you want to be a salesperson in tech, or 1608 01:11:12.359 --> 01:11:13.840 if you want to be a marketer in tech, or 1609 01:11:13.840 --> 01:11:15.319 if you want to be a legal person in tech, 1610 01:11:15.600 --> 01:11:17.479 there's things that you have to have a level of 1611 01:11:17.600 --> 01:11:20.520 passion for and a purpose driven kind of motor for 1612 01:11:20.760 --> 01:11:21.880 to develop those skills. 1613 01:11:22.039 --> 01:11:24.359 But we have to help our community at the earlier phase. 1614 01:11:24.439 --> 01:11:25.760 So that's what I built these courses for. 1615 01:11:26.399 --> 01:11:28.600 Also built it to kind of help senior citizens that 1616 01:11:29.119 --> 01:11:32.199 want to be more engaged in technology because that disconnect 1617 01:11:32.279 --> 01:11:36.520 between the current use generation and the older generation that 1618 01:11:36.680 --> 01:11:37.720 technology is building. 1619 01:11:38.560 --> 01:11:39.960 The bridge needs to be closed. 1620 01:11:40.720 --> 01:11:43.880 But if people like I said, or like yourself, don't 1621 01:11:44.039 --> 01:11:47.159 kind of help bridge the gaps between the older generations 1622 01:11:47.199 --> 01:11:49.800 and the next and the next generation that's already engraved 1623 01:11:49.800 --> 01:11:52.279 in and stuff, it's just going to continue to build 1624 01:11:52.319 --> 01:11:54.520 this thing that I don't think is healthy for our community. 1625 01:11:54.760 --> 01:11:57.520 So that's why I built the courses to introduce and 1626 01:11:57.560 --> 01:12:00.319 bring people into the community of technology, but also to 1627 01:12:00.359 --> 01:12:02.479 help kind of close that gap. And then the other 1628 01:12:02.520 --> 01:12:05.079 thing I do offer is public public speaking services. So 1629 01:12:05.399 --> 01:12:07.680 I do public speaking. I kind of I'm looking to 1630 01:12:07.720 --> 01:12:09.920 scale my public speaking into twenty twenty five and kind 1631 01:12:09.960 --> 01:12:12.279 of being more focused on just kind of being more 1632 01:12:12.399 --> 01:12:14.640 vocal about some of the things that we're discussing here. 1633 01:12:15.279 --> 01:12:17.239 So that's d and Y Enterprise in the Nuts Sale. 1634 01:12:17.399 --> 01:12:19.800 It's literally meant to be like a Swiss army knife 1635 01:12:19.880 --> 01:12:23.039 of me taking my experience, knowledge and networking tech and 1636 01:12:23.159 --> 01:12:25.760 really just helping serve all businesses. 1637 01:12:25.880 --> 01:12:27.960 But I really love helping under. 1638 01:12:27.880 --> 01:12:32.039 Resource and under just people that come from communities that 1639 01:12:32.079 --> 01:12:34.000 don't typically have access to this stuff. And I really 1640 01:12:34.039 --> 01:12:36.199 want to help people that have either professional experience in 1641 01:12:36.279 --> 01:12:38.680 other industry figure out how to take advantage of technology 1642 01:12:38.680 --> 01:12:41.039 when it comes to scaling and growing their business. The 1643 01:12:41.119 --> 01:12:44.039 other business Camp Fam Productions. That's a family based organization 1644 01:12:44.079 --> 01:12:46.600 as well. That's something that I bualt with my immediate family, 1645 01:12:46.720 --> 01:12:49.880 my brothers and my parents. We built out this thing. 1646 01:12:49.920 --> 01:12:53.039 It's going to be a media company basically that's to 1647 01:12:53.079 --> 01:12:54.720 do a number of different things. So I have an 1648 01:12:54.840 --> 01:12:57.079 animated series that we're producing that's going to kind of 1649 01:12:57.119 --> 01:13:00.239 tell the story of a futuristic world that kind of 1650 01:13:00.319 --> 01:13:02.640 brings up it's borderline and sci fi, but it's going 1651 01:13:02.720 --> 01:13:06.520 to be much more relatable to our community. It's almost 1652 01:13:06.600 --> 01:13:09.359 imagine like a fusion of I'm gonna say it now, 1653 01:13:09.439 --> 01:13:11.520 but people are going to be inspired by this idea, 1654 01:13:11.600 --> 01:13:15.079 but imagine the fusion of the Boondocks and the Jetsons. 1655 01:13:15.439 --> 01:13:20.199 Imagine that type of fusion, but something that's totally yeah, 1656 01:13:20.319 --> 01:13:21.279 that's meant to really. 1657 01:13:21.159 --> 01:13:23.880 Inspire and make it more relatable. A lot of stuff 1658 01:13:23.880 --> 01:13:24.680 that we're talking about. 1659 01:13:25.000 --> 01:13:27.399 The characters of the show are based loosely around me 1660 01:13:27.439 --> 01:13:29.960 and my brother's personas because we're all very different, but 1661 01:13:30.079 --> 01:13:31.680 we all have a tie that brings us together. 1662 01:13:32.039 --> 01:13:34.319 So it's really a family based show. 1663 01:13:34.399 --> 01:13:36.039 But there's a number of other things we're doing under 1664 01:13:36.079 --> 01:13:39.279 that umbrella, just like from a creative component, like as 1665 01:13:39.319 --> 01:13:41.359 you can say, like I can talk about technology all day, 1666 01:13:41.399 --> 01:13:43.399 but there's creative things that I feel like I need 1667 01:13:43.520 --> 01:13:45.560 to do to make sure that I'm making my story 1668 01:13:45.640 --> 01:13:48.000 more relatable and accessible to people in our community. So 1669 01:13:48.359 --> 01:13:50.800 I create music that ultimately kind of paints a very 1670 01:13:50.840 --> 01:13:54.399 clear picture of just who I am authentically. My brother 1671 01:13:54.520 --> 01:13:56.359 he does spoken words, so we kind of put all 1672 01:13:56.399 --> 01:13:58.520 of our creative things. And he's also an educator too, 1673 01:13:58.680 --> 01:14:01.319 So my brother's an educated but he spoken words. I'm 1674 01:14:01.359 --> 01:14:04.760 a tech executive and innovative, but also make hip hop music. 1675 01:14:05.119 --> 01:14:07.960 I mean, we kind of create this umbrella camp fan 1676 01:14:08.039 --> 01:14:10.159 production that kind of allow us to put our creations 1677 01:14:10.399 --> 01:14:13.159 in that thing to ultimately bring some some life to 1678 01:14:13.239 --> 01:14:15.000 our family long after we'll be here. 1679 01:14:15.039 --> 01:14:16.359 So that that's kind of the plan of what camp 1680 01:14:16.399 --> 01:14:17.520 Fan production is focused on. 1681 01:14:17.840 --> 01:14:20.960 Man, you are the epitome of giving back. You reach 1682 01:14:21.119 --> 01:14:24.880 back and man putting the family on Like, that's that's incredible, 1683 01:14:25.520 --> 01:14:30.359 that appreciated, incredibly inspiring man. And I love that you 1684 01:14:30.560 --> 01:14:35.920 touched on because I used to. I used to do music, right, 1685 01:14:36.119 --> 01:14:38.560 hip hop music. Okay, so I've seen the Wu tang 1686 01:14:38.600 --> 01:14:41.560 in the back. Yeah, yeah, you know, wo tanks for 1687 01:14:41.600 --> 01:14:44.439 the children. But you know, so there was an early 1688 01:14:44.520 --> 01:14:47.880 two thousands of a pretty robust hip hop scene here 1689 01:14:48.520 --> 01:14:51.119 in Cincinnati. You know, we've got you know, cuts like 1690 01:14:51.239 --> 01:14:55.880 high Tech producer and him and you know Quality. Of 1691 01:14:55.960 --> 01:14:59.439 course Quality is from New York, but he really got 1692 01:14:59.439 --> 01:15:02.439 a lot of his huge his start here in Cincinnati. 1693 01:15:02.560 --> 01:15:05.199 So like, you know, it was this huge group of 1694 01:15:05.760 --> 01:15:08.520 people who kind of grew up in the hip hop 1695 01:15:08.600 --> 01:15:10.880 team together and we all knew each other and everything 1696 01:15:11.039 --> 01:15:14.560 like that. Man, And but you know, I had this 1697 01:15:14.680 --> 01:15:18.640 other persona in tech, and the two didn't merge a 1698 01:15:18.800 --> 01:15:21.960 long time. Like I wouldn't even tell folks like in 1699 01:15:22.079 --> 01:15:25.560 my professional setting that I did music and it was 1700 01:15:26.239 --> 01:15:29.119 It wasn't a thing of embarrassment. It was a thing 1701 01:15:29.319 --> 01:15:34.079 of like, I want people to take me seriously when 1702 01:15:34.119 --> 01:15:36.800 it comes to, you know, my engineering skills, Like I 1703 01:15:36.840 --> 01:15:39.279 don't want people looking at me differently and things like that. 1704 01:15:39.720 --> 01:15:43.920 But as I got older, I stopped caring. Like you know, 1705 01:15:44.680 --> 01:15:48.199 it came a point where I just I realized, like 1706 01:15:48.680 --> 01:15:51.119 I'm not I'm not going to hide my who I am. 1707 01:15:51.920 --> 01:15:54.319 I see so many of these, you know, other white 1708 01:15:54.359 --> 01:15:57.960 people who have all these outside interests, and you you 1709 01:15:58.079 --> 01:16:00.399 read about them, and they don't they don't don't care 1710 01:16:00.439 --> 01:16:03.039 about touting what they do. Like you know, one of 1711 01:16:03.079 --> 01:16:05.840 the one of the gentlemen. I always use him as 1712 01:16:06.079 --> 01:16:09.800 an example, this this gentleman named Jeneral Bacon. He he 1713 01:16:10.039 --> 01:16:14.239 was a community spokesperson or advocate for a boon to 1714 01:16:14.840 --> 01:16:18.880 Buntu Linux right when it first came out. And this 1715 01:16:19.039 --> 01:16:21.039 dude was part of like you know, so, you know, 1716 01:16:21.039 --> 01:16:22.720 I used to go to a bunch of you know, 1717 01:16:22.840 --> 01:16:25.960 open source Linux conferences and things like that, and he 1718 01:16:26.119 --> 01:16:27.880 spoke at one of them one time, and then I 1719 01:16:28.159 --> 01:16:30.039 read up on having this dude was part of like 1720 01:16:30.119 --> 01:16:33.680 this thrash metal band right like so and then I. 1721 01:16:34.319 --> 01:16:37.039 So I'm reading about him, I'm like, oh, it's part 1722 01:16:37.039 --> 01:16:40.119 of a thrash metal band. Nobody cares like, nobody nobody 1723 01:16:40.359 --> 01:16:41.680 judges him for that, right. 1724 01:16:42.359 --> 01:16:42.479 Uh. 1725 01:16:42.640 --> 01:16:44.960 And then I seen this, this one, this picture that 1726 01:16:45.079 --> 01:16:46.239 was pretty profound for me. 1727 01:16:47.039 --> 01:16:47.159 Uh. 1728 01:16:47.279 --> 01:16:49.560 There were there were It was a picture of all 1729 01:16:49.640 --> 01:16:55.079 these white hds like they had PhDs and uh, technology 1730 01:16:55.239 --> 01:16:57.920 and computer science. And it was like a group of 1731 01:16:58.000 --> 01:17:00.000 them just lined up side by side. 1732 01:17:00.079 --> 01:17:00.159 Uh. 1733 01:17:00.800 --> 01:17:05.039 And they all had like shorts, flip flops, T shirts, 1734 01:17:05.159 --> 01:17:09.159 just looking super normal, super regular and everything like that. 1735 01:17:09.359 --> 01:17:11.600 And I started like, man, like, what we don't have 1736 01:17:11.760 --> 01:17:15.319 to We don't have to put on a mask for conform. 1737 01:17:15.960 --> 01:17:18.840 They don't need to conform, right like, we we can 1738 01:17:18.920 --> 01:17:22.560 be who we are uh. And and and being who 1739 01:17:22.600 --> 01:17:25.840 we are in this space and having this community. It's 1740 01:17:26.399 --> 01:17:30.079 more of an inspiration than than if I was to 1741 01:17:30.439 --> 01:17:32.319 you know, show up in a suit and tie all 1742 01:17:32.399 --> 01:17:35.520 the time and acting as if you know, oh like 1743 01:17:36.079 --> 01:17:38.920 no hip hop music and no, no sport, no man, 1744 01:17:38.960 --> 01:17:41.760 I love sports. I love basketball, I love football, I 1745 01:17:41.840 --> 01:17:44.239 love hip hop. I grew up on hip hop, So 1746 01:17:45.199 --> 01:17:47.119 why wouldn't I want to show that side of me? 1747 01:17:47.680 --> 01:17:52.319 And and and and keep young people from you know, 1748 01:17:52.720 --> 01:17:55.359 one thing I used to always run into when I 1749 01:17:55.439 --> 01:17:57.800 when I first started blacks and technologies, there used to 1750 01:17:57.840 --> 01:18:00.920 be discussions around, yeah, we want to do is being 1751 01:18:01.640 --> 01:18:04.319 in sports and hip hop and music and blah blah 1752 01:18:04.319 --> 01:18:06.680 blah blah blah, you know, from older, older people at 1753 01:18:06.720 --> 01:18:09.119 the time. And I used to think, like, what's wrong 1754 01:18:09.159 --> 01:18:10.880 with that? Like what's wrong with us wanting to be 1755 01:18:11.000 --> 01:18:15.319 in you know, and in those types of industries And 1756 01:18:15.840 --> 01:18:17.840 they see that it's lucrative for one, you know, for 1757 01:18:17.960 --> 01:18:20.720 some people who can make it, and two that shouldn't 1758 01:18:20.760 --> 01:18:24.840 prohibit them from anything else, Like that's just a part 1759 01:18:24.880 --> 01:18:27.359 of who they are growing up in the environment that 1760 01:18:27.439 --> 01:18:29.560 they grew up. But what we need to do is 1761 01:18:29.640 --> 01:18:33.199 we need to show them an image of that plus 1762 01:18:33.359 --> 01:18:34.560 des you can do both. 1763 01:18:34.960 --> 01:18:38.800 Man, Look, you're literally talking into my core. Like the 1764 01:18:38.880 --> 01:18:41.279 reason why I didn't say anything about the music stuff 1765 01:18:41.359 --> 01:18:42.680 if I didn't say it to the end, like I'm 1766 01:18:42.680 --> 01:18:44.840 glad you asked me about camp fan productions at the end, 1767 01:18:45.039 --> 01:18:47.079 because you you just talked to me for an hour 1768 01:18:47.159 --> 01:18:49.680 about technology, and I can do it for three or 1769 01:18:49.720 --> 01:18:52.000 five more hours about technology and it could just keep going. 1770 01:18:52.359 --> 01:18:55.079 But when I talk about my culture and my community. 1771 01:18:55.359 --> 01:18:58.600 I understand like hip hop is the most authentic way 1772 01:18:58.640 --> 01:18:59.560 to express ourselves. 1773 01:18:59.760 --> 01:19:04.119 Is we have to remember that the media conglomerates that 1774 01:19:04.399 --> 01:19:07.680 marketed hip hop for years made it seem like there 1775 01:19:07.800 --> 01:19:09.760 was only one way that you could be in hip hop, 1776 01:19:10.199 --> 01:19:13.119 and there was only one demographic that they wanted to promote. Remember, 1777 01:19:13.199 --> 01:19:14.960 hip hop started a certain kind of way, and it 1778 01:19:15.039 --> 01:19:17.399 eventically in the nineties evolved into something else because they 1779 01:19:17.479 --> 01:19:20.039 wanted a certain image to be portrayed from hip hop artists. 1780 01:19:20.239 --> 01:19:22.760 And then remember in the early two thousands that moment 1781 01:19:22.840 --> 01:19:25.560 when Kanye West and fifty Cent had that head to 1782 01:19:25.640 --> 01:19:27.800 head thing, and it was like hold on because like 1783 01:19:27.840 --> 01:19:30.199 you were just talking about Kwali, there was artists like 1784 01:19:30.279 --> 01:19:32.840 Kwaliti and Common and all these guys, and there was 1785 01:19:33.319 --> 01:19:36.760 until the moment when Kanye said, hey, you can be 1786 01:19:36.920 --> 01:19:37.680 something different than. 1787 01:19:37.640 --> 01:19:41.239 Hip hop and put his head up against what he 1788 01:19:41.319 --> 01:19:41.600 was one. 1789 01:19:41.479 --> 01:19:44.359 Of my favorite rappers, like literally one of my favorite artists, businessmen, 1790 01:19:44.640 --> 01:19:47.039 he's one of my favorites. But when they put Kanye 1791 01:19:47.159 --> 01:19:51.000 against fifty cent, you understand that Kanye inspired a whole 1792 01:19:51.119 --> 01:19:54.000 generation of other artists who didn't want to portray that 1793 01:19:54.079 --> 01:19:58.199 same image that was downplaying what are what the narrative 1794 01:19:58.239 --> 01:20:00.560 of hip hop was being painted as in the nineties, 1795 01:20:00.600 --> 01:20:02.119 it was like there was this thing that was in 1796 01:20:02.159 --> 01:20:04.680 our community that was only portraying a certain thing that 1797 01:20:04.840 --> 01:20:07.039 makes hip hop seem like it was just this negative thing. 1798 01:20:07.199 --> 01:20:09.119 But hip hop was never just this negative thing, and 1799 01:20:09.239 --> 01:20:10.800 most people that listen to hip hop know it was 1800 01:20:10.840 --> 01:20:14.319 never just that. That's just what became mainstream publicized. For me, 1801 01:20:15.119 --> 01:20:17.199 hip hop always was this place where I could hear 1802 01:20:17.600 --> 01:20:20.399 the most authentic stories from my community, and it was 1803 01:20:20.479 --> 01:20:23.039 a relatable way to do that. I spent years recording 1804 01:20:23.119 --> 01:20:25.039 music before I ever talked about it, Like I literally 1805 01:20:25.520 --> 01:20:28.079 like when I lived in Atlanta, it was like in Atlanta, 1806 01:20:28.159 --> 01:20:31.079 it was hip hop was just like playing basketball. 1807 01:20:31.159 --> 01:20:32.680 It was just like going to the boy. 1808 01:20:32.880 --> 01:20:35.079 It's just like going to the club. Everybody just goes 1809 01:20:35.079 --> 01:20:37.119 to studios and it's like a regular thing that people 1810 01:20:37.199 --> 01:20:39.239 do in that community. Because it's one of the most 1811 01:20:39.279 --> 01:20:40.880 effective expressing b hippos that. 1812 01:20:41.079 --> 01:20:42.159 We have in our community. 1813 01:20:42.520 --> 01:20:45.319 Now it's on people like now because my monitor and 1814 01:20:45.399 --> 01:20:47.880 hip hop, Like I literally was moved just last year 1815 01:20:47.960 --> 01:20:50.039 to actually create an album, Like I've been recording music 1816 01:20:50.119 --> 01:20:52.319 for ten plus years. Like probably the whole time I 1817 01:20:52.399 --> 01:20:54.600 was in Atlanta, I never was like, I want to. 1818 01:20:54.640 --> 01:20:55.279 Release this music. 1819 01:20:55.359 --> 01:20:57.119 It was always just a place where and I spent 1820 01:20:57.279 --> 01:20:59.079 years like we had a studio in our house, Like 1821 01:20:59.319 --> 01:21:02.800 I literally to record all the time. But the thing 1822 01:21:02.880 --> 01:21:04.880 about me not wanting to put it out was very 1823 01:21:04.960 --> 01:21:06.800 much so aligned with the thing that you were talking about. 1824 01:21:06.880 --> 01:21:08.760 I didn't want people to get distracted from the fact 1825 01:21:08.800 --> 01:21:10.600 that I liked making hip hop when I was trying 1826 01:21:10.640 --> 01:21:12.680 to build my perfect Now it don't matter if I 1827 01:21:12.720 --> 01:21:15.000 talk about my hip hop, because you can't discredit everything 1828 01:21:15.039 --> 01:21:17.279 else that I've done. Now I can talk about all 1829 01:21:17.359 --> 01:21:18.960 of this stuff and I can be free about it. 1830 01:21:19.199 --> 01:21:21.560 But now I feel a level of freedom that I 1831 01:21:21.640 --> 01:21:23.920 didn't have before. And in twenty twenty four, I started 1832 01:21:23.960 --> 01:21:26.039 recording more music because I stopped the whole time I 1833 01:21:26.119 --> 01:21:28.720 lived in California. When I moved to California, I stopped recording. 1834 01:21:28.760 --> 01:21:30.479 It wasn't the same type of energy that I had. 1835 01:21:30.760 --> 01:21:34.000 But the top of tween twenty four into twenty twenty three, 1836 01:21:34.239 --> 01:21:36.520 I got inspired to start writing stuff again, and then 1837 01:21:36.600 --> 01:21:39.159 I mentally wrote more records, and then eventually I got 1838 01:21:39.560 --> 01:21:41.800 inspired with an album A name for an album. I 1839 01:21:41.920 --> 01:21:44.399 created a whole album that I'm still in the process 1840 01:21:44.439 --> 01:21:46.960 of post production for. But all of this stuff came 1841 01:21:47.600 --> 01:21:49.960 at the time period when now it's like, I'm perfectly 1842 01:21:50.000 --> 01:21:51.520 fine being the artist that I wanted to because I 1843 01:21:51.560 --> 01:21:53.680 was inspired by artists like Jay Z and Rick Ross 1844 01:21:53.760 --> 01:21:56.680 and fifty seven. These guys aren't just rappers, like, these 1845 01:21:56.720 --> 01:22:00.399 guys are business mobiles. They actually chose to say, yeah, rap, 1846 01:22:00.680 --> 01:22:02.199 I can tell my story, I can tell where I 1847 01:22:02.279 --> 01:22:04.760 came from, but I also can go run this multimillion dollar, 1848 01:22:05.079 --> 01:22:07.560 billion dollar company as well doctor Dre's and like, you 1849 01:22:07.840 --> 01:22:09.720 see what these guys are doing, so they have the 1850 01:22:09.800 --> 01:22:12.199 capability of doing all this other stuff. It's just hip 1851 01:22:12.199 --> 01:22:13.720 hop's just happened to be the thing that allowed them 1852 01:22:13.760 --> 01:22:15.960 to get in the industry. But for me, like my 1853 01:22:16.119 --> 01:22:19.600 monitoring hip hop is mister buzin Tech because that's who 1854 01:22:19.640 --> 01:22:21.479 I want to be. That's who I am. Actually, Like 1855 01:22:21.560 --> 01:22:23.960 it's like, more, take me serious. I'm gonna put mister 1856 01:22:24.000 --> 01:22:25.640 in front of it, so you can take this serious. 1857 01:22:25.680 --> 01:22:28.239 This is not a joke rap. This is serious music. 1858 01:22:28.319 --> 01:22:31.119 I'm not making just party music and kicking music. Now, 1859 01:22:31.239 --> 01:22:31.920 this is the stuff. 1860 01:22:32.000 --> 01:22:35.680 My album is called you can't unsee this because once 1861 01:22:35.760 --> 01:22:37.560 you hear it, it's one of those things where, just 1862 01:22:37.640 --> 01:22:40.279 like this conversation, where people hear it, you've got a 1863 01:22:40.359 --> 01:22:42.680 number of different ways you can process me. I know 1864 01:22:42.840 --> 01:22:44.680 that it can push some people one way, it can 1865 01:22:44.720 --> 01:22:46.640 push other people another way. But I do know that 1866 01:22:46.720 --> 01:22:49.039 it's just gonna be authentically who I am at all times. 1867 01:22:49.119 --> 01:22:52.680 And the music itself is just a true embodiment of 1868 01:22:52.720 --> 01:22:54.680 of that, and it's meant to like make me more 1869 01:22:54.880 --> 01:22:57.319 like bring a more relatable way of my narrative. Because 1870 01:22:57.399 --> 01:22:58.960 I could write a book, I'm like, I don't want 1871 01:22:58.960 --> 01:23:00.680 to write my book till LIE finish a couple of 1872 01:23:00.720 --> 01:23:02.520 other things and business like, I need to get over 1873 01:23:02.520 --> 01:23:04.359 a couple more I want to do it, Like there's 1874 01:23:04.359 --> 01:23:07.000 some other accomplishments that need to happen as an executive 1875 01:23:07.119 --> 01:23:08.800 and a business owner that I want to accomplished before 1876 01:23:08.800 --> 01:23:09.079 I get to. 1877 01:23:09.079 --> 01:23:09.640 Write in a book. 1878 01:23:09.960 --> 01:23:12.520 But when it comes to this music, this thing is 1879 01:23:12.640 --> 01:23:14.760 like probably the closest thing that somebody will get to 1880 01:23:14.840 --> 01:23:18.079 my truest narrative. So I'm probably gonna let it out 1881 01:23:18.119 --> 01:23:20.000 sometime later on this year. But it's not the thing 1882 01:23:20.079 --> 01:23:22.279 that's like the top of my priority list is like 1883 01:23:22.359 --> 01:23:24.640 I'm raising cappling to what I want to be a 1884 01:23:24.720 --> 01:23:28.079 billion dollar immersing technology company right now and serving people 1885 01:23:28.119 --> 01:23:31.600 all around with my consulting firm. And really my I 1886 01:23:31.720 --> 01:23:34.399 tell people I'm a technology rock star, like I have 1887 01:23:34.560 --> 01:23:37.680 traveled the world on technology. I have had the opportunity 1888 01:23:37.720 --> 01:23:39.439 to do all different types of things in this space. 1889 01:23:39.560 --> 01:23:42.560 And my personna as a rapper is this guy who 1890 01:23:42.920 --> 01:23:45.399 took technology to a place that I feel like that, 1891 01:23:45.720 --> 01:23:48.560 like I'm in a selective group of people that come 1892 01:23:48.600 --> 01:23:50.439 from our community that have done these types of things. 1893 01:23:50.479 --> 01:23:52.880 And now I'm just more forthrighting about about what that 1894 01:23:53.000 --> 01:23:53.920 story narrative is. 1895 01:23:54.279 --> 01:23:57.159 Man's super I'm glad. I'm glad we talked about this. 1896 01:23:58.319 --> 01:24:00.279 I'm glad playing on getting into that bad but you 1897 01:24:00.359 --> 01:24:02.560 had me boy Camps fans, so I had to, you know, Yeah. 1898 01:24:03.239 --> 01:24:04.439 I'm glad. I'm glad you did. 1899 01:24:04.600 --> 01:24:04.760 Man. 1900 01:24:04.920 --> 01:24:08.600 Like we we ran this series and it's it's it 1901 01:24:08.760 --> 01:24:14.119 was called a cusc yourself, and it was around the 1902 01:24:14.279 --> 01:24:17.600 non technical things that make us who we are, right 1903 01:24:17.760 --> 01:24:20.359 like you know, black technology, like oh yeah, you know, 1904 01:24:21.439 --> 01:24:25.359 we've got people that are software engineers, CEOs, entrepreneurs. They 1905 01:24:25.399 --> 01:24:28.920 got you know, DevOps engineers, database engineers, But what do 1906 01:24:29.000 --> 01:24:31.279 you what else? What else do you do? You know, 1907 01:24:31.439 --> 01:24:34.039 that's not the totality of who you are. That's just 1908 01:24:34.119 --> 01:24:36.199 a part of it, right, So what else do you do? 1909 01:24:36.399 --> 01:24:39.880 So my whole thing was cus see yourself. Was is 1910 01:24:40.920 --> 01:24:46.000 promoting us to folks who are looking at technology and 1911 01:24:46.520 --> 01:24:49.760 as as maybe a career path and they're unsure. They 1912 01:24:49.840 --> 01:24:51.760 might be unsure, like, man, I don't know if I 1913 01:24:51.880 --> 01:24:53.720 fit in. I don't know if I can do that. 1914 01:24:53.840 --> 01:24:56.680 I don't know, because they you know, I like to 1915 01:24:56.760 --> 01:24:58.920 do this, so I don't do I have to give this. No, 1916 01:24:59.039 --> 01:25:01.399 you don't need to give that, Like this is this 1917 01:25:01.560 --> 01:25:05.079 is who you are, and you bring that your full 1918 01:25:05.159 --> 01:25:09.479 self to the table and share that with other people 1919 01:25:09.560 --> 01:25:12.039 so you can help inspire other people. That's that's really 1920 01:25:12.119 --> 01:25:12.840 what it's all about. 1921 01:25:12.920 --> 01:25:13.079 Man. 1922 01:25:13.199 --> 01:25:15.880 So I'm glad you mentioned that, and I like to. 1923 01:25:16.039 --> 01:25:17.880 I mentioned that all the time when I'm doing talks 1924 01:25:17.920 --> 01:25:21.720 and everything like that. I mentioned he I used to wrap, 1925 01:25:22.159 --> 01:25:24.039 and folks are like what you used to rap? 1926 01:25:24.159 --> 01:25:24.359 Yeah? 1927 01:25:24.520 --> 01:25:27.560 Yeah, I used to get down and I still can 1928 01:25:27.640 --> 01:25:31.760 if I felt like I still drop off. But it's 1929 01:25:31.840 --> 01:25:35.880 just something like you know, so folks can see themselves 1930 01:25:36.119 --> 01:25:38.760 and that's alienating us. 1931 01:25:38.880 --> 01:25:41.760 Like because it's a thing where I grew up. 1932 01:25:42.119 --> 01:25:44.760 I grew up extremely alien when I talked about the 1933 01:25:44.800 --> 01:25:46.560 first part of my story and I said I wanted 1934 01:25:46.600 --> 01:25:48.840 to get in check when I was thirteen fourteen, And 1935 01:25:48.960 --> 01:25:51.439 do you know how many people I just had to 1936 01:25:51.479 --> 01:25:54.159 stop talking about that passion. I had to stop talking 1937 01:25:54.199 --> 01:25:56.039 to my community about it because I could feel it 1938 01:25:56.079 --> 01:25:59.239 alienated me. I already knew that I was somewhere alienated 1939 01:25:59.279 --> 01:26:02.000 because of how my was already operating and how much 1940 01:26:02.079 --> 01:26:05.079 I desired more knowledge than maybe everybody else that I 1941 01:26:05.319 --> 01:26:07.039 I don't want to say everybody, but like I was 1942 01:26:07.079 --> 01:26:08.520 in the pursuit of knowledge in the way that I 1943 01:26:08.600 --> 01:26:11.079 didn't see as many people actively pursuing it, so I 1944 01:26:11.119 --> 01:26:13.520 could feel there was something different there. But I also 1945 01:26:13.680 --> 01:26:15.399 knew that it kind of used to put me on 1946 01:26:15.479 --> 01:26:18.359 this island. So I would have to do not even unattended, 1947 01:26:18.399 --> 01:26:19.800 like I just used to do stuff that would make 1948 01:26:19.840 --> 01:26:23.199 sure that my family my friends like know that like I'm. 1949 01:26:23.079 --> 01:26:25.319 Still us, but I might just nigga a little bit 1950 01:26:25.479 --> 01:26:25.640 like this. 1951 01:26:26.680 --> 01:26:30.119 And the thing that's very intentional about my music, it's 1952 01:26:30.199 --> 01:26:33.479 meant to like take that alienation factor that people look 1953 01:26:33.520 --> 01:26:35.520 at people like Bill Gates. And the reason why I 1954 01:26:35.560 --> 01:26:37.600 said those guys' names in the beginning not just because 1955 01:26:37.600 --> 01:26:39.279 I'm trying to do a name drop. It's like, I 1956 01:26:39.439 --> 01:26:41.760 know how people used to look at Mark Zuckerberg and 1957 01:26:41.920 --> 01:26:42.800 Bill Gates and. 1958 01:26:43.279 --> 01:26:45.119 Steve Jobs, and Steve Jobs. 1959 01:26:45.159 --> 01:26:46.920 He didn't have it as bad as everybody else, but 1960 01:26:47.079 --> 01:26:49.640 like a lot of these other guys were extremely alienated, 1961 01:26:49.720 --> 01:26:53.000 Like you can see that people didn't humanize them in 1962 01:26:53.039 --> 01:26:55.720 a certain kind of way. And Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff 1963 01:26:55.760 --> 01:26:59.840 Bezos and Bill Gates, they've been spending years rehumanizing their 1964 01:27:00.079 --> 01:27:02.479 else to the rest of the world because they, like 1965 01:27:02.560 --> 01:27:04.560 everybody in the world is looking at these guys like 1966 01:27:04.880 --> 01:27:08.039 they're alienated. They're in a whole different plateau. And Eli 1967 01:27:08.239 --> 01:27:11.319 Musz he he he made sure that you know, like 1968 01:27:11.399 --> 01:27:13.760 I'm a real human, but I'm just gonna keep doing 1969 01:27:13.800 --> 01:27:16.079 crazy stuff. And he lets it be known in the 1970 01:27:16.159 --> 01:27:18.640 most disruptive way. So it rubs a lot of people 1971 01:27:18.680 --> 01:27:21.119 the wrong way. But you can't never confuse him for 1972 01:27:21.720 --> 01:27:24.359 what Mark Zuckerberg used to be like five to maybe 1973 01:27:24.399 --> 01:27:26.199 seven eight years ago, where people just used to look 1974 01:27:26.199 --> 01:27:28.439 at him as like this thing that was like he's 1975 01:27:28.479 --> 01:27:30.319 on his own little thing. Now it's like he in 1976 01:27:30.399 --> 01:27:33.119 the mix of UFC. He's showing his family, his wife, 1977 01:27:33.199 --> 01:27:35.840 He's showing like I'm a human just like everybody else, 1978 01:27:35.880 --> 01:27:36.039 you know. 1979 01:27:36.039 --> 01:27:37.880 What I'm saying. And that's one of the things that 1980 01:27:37.880 --> 01:27:39.039 I'm truly intentional about. 1981 01:27:39.079 --> 01:27:41.760 Like I know that especially coming from our community, Like 1982 01:27:41.840 --> 01:27:44.760 I know how you think about how alienated they are. 1983 01:27:45.159 --> 01:27:47.880 You just think how alienated, like and I know you've 1984 01:27:47.920 --> 01:27:50.000 had to deal with similar things being in these spaces 1985 01:27:50.039 --> 01:27:53.880 where it's like, na, I'm still of the same Yo, 1986 01:27:53.960 --> 01:27:55.920 I'm the still same little Dennis that grew up in 1987 01:27:56.039 --> 01:27:57.960 Saint Lewis that had to figure out how to go 1988 01:27:58.119 --> 01:28:01.439 cut grass everywhere else that ultimately had to I found 1989 01:28:01.479 --> 01:28:03.399 things that I was passionate about that maybe it was 1990 01:28:03.399 --> 01:28:05.880 different from the people in my community, but like, remember, 1991 01:28:05.920 --> 01:28:07.960 I'm still the same dude. Like, it ain't nothing that's 1992 01:28:08.239 --> 01:28:09.880 too much different other than the fact that I got 1993 01:28:09.960 --> 01:28:12.319 some more knowledge and experience in the space that everybody 1994 01:28:12.479 --> 01:28:14.079 wasn't looking at it as accessible. 1995 01:28:14.159 --> 01:28:16.439 So yeah, I think alien is like one of the 1996 01:28:16.479 --> 01:28:17.640 biggest things that we have to do. 1997 01:28:18.600 --> 01:28:22.319 Yeah, I've unfortunately had to do that with family as well, Like, 1998 01:28:23.720 --> 01:28:28.399 but I distinctly remember a situation back when I first 1999 01:28:28.439 --> 01:28:31.560 went to college. There was a guy seeing there that, 2000 01:28:31.800 --> 01:28:33.560 you know, I used to play a lot of outdoor 2001 01:28:33.680 --> 01:28:37.640 basketball and I've seen this guy who I who I 2002 01:28:38.640 --> 01:28:41.000 who used to play on the outdoor course with us, 2003 01:28:41.560 --> 01:28:43.880 And so he was like, oh, I didn't know. You 2004 01:28:44.159 --> 01:28:45.720 knew if you went to the score, it's like yeah. 2005 01:28:45.720 --> 01:28:47.119 He was like, what are you taking? I was like, 2006 01:28:47.159 --> 01:28:50.600 computer network engineering? Why are you taking that? That was 2007 01:28:50.720 --> 01:28:53.560 his response. And I was looking at him like what 2008 01:28:54.000 --> 01:28:55.439 do you What do you mean by that? Why am 2009 01:28:55.439 --> 01:28:58.079 I taking that? Like it was just so foreign just 2010 01:28:58.520 --> 01:29:01.119 for him to see me another black deal to be 2011 01:29:01.199 --> 01:29:04.000 taking engineering. And I was just like, because it's the future, 2012 01:29:04.039 --> 01:29:06.159 what are you talking about? Why am I taking that? 2013 01:29:06.920 --> 01:29:09.439 So yeah, I definitely I definitely understand that. 2014 01:29:09.840 --> 01:29:12.039 That's so crazy that you say that, because I felt 2015 01:29:12.119 --> 01:29:13.680 the same way when I told people I wanted to 2016 01:29:13.680 --> 01:29:15.359 study computer science the whole time I was in. 2017 01:29:15.359 --> 01:29:16.720 Atlant I mean in Saint Louis. 2018 01:29:16.880 --> 01:29:18.520 The moment I got to Georgia check and I was 2019 01:29:18.560 --> 01:29:21.920 telling people I'm studying elect computer engineering, they looked at 2020 01:29:21.960 --> 01:29:24.479 me like it was almost like I was like you 2021 01:29:24.600 --> 01:29:26.880 you get praised for being in that major in this environment, 2022 01:29:26.920 --> 01:29:28.520 and it was just like a totally different world. It 2023 01:29:28.640 --> 01:29:31.239 was like, oh my god, you're this, Oh you're doing that, 2024 01:29:31.560 --> 01:29:33.800 and it was more like and I could just see 2025 01:29:33.840 --> 01:29:36.720 the totally different. So that's when I understood the perspective 2026 01:29:36.800 --> 01:29:39.359 is everything. Like I just realized that it's all about 2027 01:29:39.359 --> 01:29:40.720 how you see the world and how you look at 2028 01:29:40.760 --> 01:29:43.039 things because from one perspective you can see this it's 2029 01:29:43.079 --> 01:29:45.720 something that's impossible. From another perspective, you see it's like 2030 01:29:45.880 --> 01:29:47.479 some of the most admirable things you can do, and 2031 01:29:47.560 --> 01:29:48.479 it's more about. 2032 01:29:48.520 --> 01:29:50.399 Can you really complete the task? Can you really get 2033 01:29:50.439 --> 01:29:50.720 it done. 2034 01:29:50.760 --> 01:29:52.520 I'm like, you know, I definitely can get it done, 2035 01:29:52.520 --> 01:29:54.880 you know what I'm saying. But that was more h 2036 01:29:55.159 --> 01:29:57.520 it's dope to understand that now, just to hear from 2037 01:29:57.560 --> 01:29:59.800 somebody else too, because it's a real thing. But I 2038 01:30:00.000 --> 01:30:02.039 I feel like now we're close to being able to 2039 01:30:02.079 --> 01:30:03.359 close that gap up because it's. 2040 01:30:03.239 --> 01:30:03.640 Time for it. 2041 01:30:03.680 --> 01:30:06.279 For me, I agree, what's next for you? 2042 01:30:06.520 --> 01:30:09.319 I mean, the next thing is really the next twelve months, 2043 01:30:09.359 --> 01:30:12.159 I'm going to be locked in on raising capital, doing 2044 01:30:12.199 --> 01:30:14.159 a preceding seed round for on another world. 2045 01:30:14.199 --> 01:30:14.760 Experiences. 2046 01:30:15.439 --> 01:30:17.800 The next thing also with my consulting firm, which I 2047 01:30:17.840 --> 01:30:20.000 don't My consulting firm is not something that takes all 2048 01:30:20.039 --> 01:30:21.399 of my time. I have a team that kind of 2049 01:30:21.479 --> 01:30:23.239 runs and manages a lot of stuff there with me, 2050 01:30:23.560 --> 01:30:25.720 but ultimately it's to scale that as well. So I 2051 01:30:25.800 --> 01:30:27.479 want to get more active in the public speaking. 2052 01:30:27.840 --> 01:30:28.199 I need to. 2053 01:30:28.479 --> 01:30:30.560 I'm glad that I have the opportunity this podcast with you, 2054 01:30:30.640 --> 01:30:33.199 but I know right now there's a level of visibility 2055 01:30:33.239 --> 01:30:35.239 that I didn't have in the process and the journey 2056 01:30:35.279 --> 01:30:37.520 of me developing my skills and experience that I know 2057 01:30:37.680 --> 01:30:40.960 I need to flip the switch for the visibility that 2058 01:30:41.000 --> 01:30:43.920 I need. So I'm actually focused on doing stuff to 2059 01:30:43.960 --> 01:30:46.520 actually be more visible and being more accessible to my 2060 01:30:46.600 --> 01:30:48.279 community in a more tangible way. 2061 01:30:48.359 --> 01:30:50.600 So that's what the consulting company is a vehicle for. 2062 01:30:51.560 --> 01:30:54.359 And really just locked in on taking my experience to 2063 01:30:54.399 --> 01:30:56.800 the next trajectory and becoming a type of executive that 2064 01:30:57.680 --> 01:31:00.000 can be mentioned in the name with the great subf 2065 01:31:00.039 --> 01:31:01.720 of people that have done amazing things in the tech 2066 01:31:01.760 --> 01:31:03.680 industry and really doing the work to get there. 2067 01:31:03.800 --> 01:31:06.119 So that's the next thing for me, and just doing 2068 01:31:06.159 --> 01:31:07.279 the work that comes along with that. 2069 01:31:07.640 --> 01:31:10.439 That's super dope, man. And before we get out of here, 2070 01:31:10.520 --> 01:31:12.960 how can folks if they want to reach out to you? 2071 01:31:13.439 --> 01:31:17.760 You know websites, social media handles, Yeah, give us all 2072 01:31:18.119 --> 01:31:18.439 all right? 2073 01:31:18.520 --> 01:31:21.560 So on Instagram, that's probably the place I most frequent 2074 01:31:21.640 --> 01:31:23.960 I have with My handle is mister b i z 2075 01:31:24.359 --> 01:31:27.560 n tech t ch I mean tch, but mister busin 2076 01:31:27.560 --> 01:31:29.920 and tech is my Instagram handle. You can find me 2077 01:31:30.000 --> 01:31:33.479 on LinkedIn, Dennis Campbell, I'm all. LinkedIn is probably one 2078 01:31:33.520 --> 01:31:35.359 of my most You can kind of see the rolls 2079 01:31:35.359 --> 01:31:37.159 of decks, the things that I've been through as a professional. 2080 01:31:37.880 --> 01:31:41.199 And then I have my consulting company, DNY Enterprises dot com. 2081 01:31:41.319 --> 01:31:43.520 If you're interested in kind of engaging with anything there. 2082 01:31:43.760 --> 01:31:45.920 We help entrepreneurs and business owners of all types with 2083 01:31:45.960 --> 01:31:48.000 all different types of projects, so we can kind of 2084 01:31:48.039 --> 01:31:51.119 help almost anybody there. I'm also looking at expanding public speaking, 2085 01:31:51.159 --> 01:31:52.520 so if you want to reach out for me, public 2086 01:31:52.600 --> 01:31:56.520 speaking courses also stuff there. And then on Another World, 2087 01:31:56.680 --> 01:31:59.920 literally our website is on another dot World, so basically 2088 01:32:00.119 --> 01:32:02.439 everything on another World will be there. We also have 2089 01:32:02.560 --> 01:32:04.800 a members platform for on Another World right now, so 2090 01:32:05.159 --> 01:32:07.760 you can literally go in there sign up for early 2091 01:32:07.840 --> 01:32:09.800 actions and kind of standing loop and everything on another 2092 01:32:09.840 --> 01:32:11.520 world related because we will be doing a lot of 2093 01:32:11.600 --> 01:32:13.640 stuff over the next few months as we get ready 2094 01:32:13.680 --> 01:32:15.399 to roll up for our space of our spot will 2095 01:32:15.439 --> 01:32:17.079 be opening up sometime this summer. 2096 01:32:17.199 --> 01:32:19.680 So we're just in the process of doing the build 2097 01:32:19.760 --> 01:32:20.520 up for all of that right now. 2098 01:32:21.520 --> 01:32:23.279 And I'll put all that, you know, all those links 2099 01:32:23.319 --> 01:32:25.920 in the show notes as well. Uh so folks can 2100 01:32:26.039 --> 01:32:28.159 just you know, we go to the episode and click 2101 01:32:28.199 --> 01:32:31.000 on those links. Man Dinnis, this has been super dope, 2102 01:32:31.079 --> 01:32:36.239 man Like, from from an inspirational standpoint, it's been a pleasure, 2103 01:32:36.319 --> 01:32:38.920 and it's been a pleasure just to hear your journey, 2104 01:32:39.399 --> 01:32:41.199 to see where you're going to see that, you know, 2105 01:32:41.359 --> 01:32:44.319 hear about the things that you've done. I have no doubt. 2106 01:32:44.399 --> 01:32:46.760 I mean you're already you're already going there. I have 2107 01:32:46.880 --> 01:32:48.720 no doubt you're going to be at the top, man. 2108 01:32:48.840 --> 01:32:51.960 And once folks check out this episode, like I said, 2109 01:32:52.840 --> 01:32:54.720 folks are going to reach out because you have a 2110 01:32:54.760 --> 01:32:58.600 lot to offer, not just in the term you know, intact, 2111 01:32:58.680 --> 01:33:02.079 but just from a business stand point, uh as well, Man, So, 2112 01:33:02.279 --> 01:33:06.119 I you know, I really really enjoyed this, this this episode, 2113 01:33:06.159 --> 01:33:08.319 and I wish you like the Mother the best. I'll 2114 01:33:08.399 --> 01:33:11.319 definitely be reaching out. We got bigcoin coming up in 2115 01:33:11.720 --> 01:33:15.920 uh in October, uh, I mean so yeah yeah, So 2116 01:33:16.159 --> 01:33:18.159 you know we're gonna need speakers and all that stuff 2117 01:33:18.199 --> 01:33:20.800 as well, so, uh, we definitely want to put you 2118 01:33:20.840 --> 01:33:23.319 on a list for that, So you know, we'll be 2119 01:33:23.399 --> 01:33:25.000 reaching out to you for sure. 2120 01:33:25.079 --> 01:33:28.079 I appreciate the time Greg got this interview. It was mutual, 2121 01:33:28.199 --> 01:33:30.079 man h