SPEAKER_09 0:00

Welcome to the Blurred Spectrum Podcast, ladies and gentlemen, non-binary followers, people of all ages, races, credos, religious beliefs. Everyone, yes, welcome and thank you for joining us again for this episode. Today we are continuing the melanated solstice, this uh this uh continuation of how the summer will bring this this this cornucopia of melanated skin, these uh these in entrepreneurs of different trades and passions, these uh uh future seekers of uh uh uh artistry and and skill. Today we have brought to you our this cascade of cocoa butter bathed beauty.

SPEAKER_10 0:46

Wow. Yes, you're welcome. That is a good one. Thank you.

SPEAKER_09 0:54

I was not expecting that. Um so today we have our black business episode. This is where we are bringing some excuse me, some black businesses who are uh definitely individuals who you either need to A follow, B uh uh uh provide uh your wealth into their pockets, or C, see what they have going on because it can better yourself in some way, shape, or form. Uh so first I'll introduce our panelists and then we'll go ahead with the individual introduction of our uh uh guest business owners. Uh, starting with myself, your moderator, Suchino Shogun. Uh, second, I have the Black McCoy.

SPEAKER_10 1:35

Bonjour, everyone. How are you? I'm good. Thank you for asking.

SPEAKER_09 1:39

Did you ask yourself a okay, Miss Skittles? Hello, Shan Plue bracelets.

SPEAKER_06 1:47

What's up? How y'all doing?

SPEAKER_09 1:50

And Miss in the lovely blue with with with the swoop to the side, Miss Sayoneg. She got the bag, the blue bag.

SPEAKER_15 2:01

Hello, you know. I got the Nissan Ultimate Hair going on over here.

SPEAKER_09 2:11

So, real quick, I'm going to introduce our guests before we do individual uh kind of introduce uh interviews and questions, uh, starting with uh from Prime America, Adrian and D. Bobbit. We also have uh from Melanin's Paradise, Khadija Oladi Poopo from Otako Noir and from uh Lazy Girl Nerd, we have Haneet and Kay. And then from Gird Clothing, we have Indra. Should I say it like that or should I just say Indra?

SPEAKER_04 2:40

Oh, the pronunciation of my name is very awkward. It's Indra, it's it's Indra, but Indra.

SPEAKER_09 2:49

Okay, so I'm I'm I'm not even gonna try.

SPEAKER_10 2:51

I'm just gonna say, I will uh perpetuate that. I will take your time vicariously.

SPEAKER_09 2:56

Maybe by the end of the episode, somebody will say it correctly. I'm not I'm gonna butcher it.

SPEAKER_10 3:00

Wait, wait, pause. It you said Indra?

SPEAKER_04 3:03

Inda.

SPEAKER_10 3:04

Indra. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 3:05

Yeah. A guy from India taught me how to say that. I was like, oh, okay.

SPEAKER_09 3:10

See, you know what's interesting? From since I was a kid, I was always like, don't tell me how to pronounce my name. That's a different type of thing.

SPEAKER_05 3:17

I couldn't tell him. I was like, that's how you I mean, you know, you wouldn't know how to pronounce my name.

SPEAKER_10 3:22

Very true.

SPEAKER_05 3:23

He said, Do you know who you're named after? I said, yes.

SPEAKER_10 3:27

Do you know your history?

SPEAKER_09 3:32

So starting off our episode, we're going to give uh, like I said, each of our individual uh guest business owners an opportunity to you know explain a little bit about what their business is and what it does. Uh so who we're gonna start with is from Pri America, Adrian Andy Bobbett.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Hey, y'all. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I'm sorry. I would just like to first say this is a pleasure. Um, I appreciate the opportunity, um, just more so to learn than anything, um, to hear from you all. I know we gotta jump off real quick, but as soon as we're done with that one, I said I'm gonna jump back on because we got till three. Um, just so I can hear more from um you all. So it's not really about me speaking. I really want to hear from y'all um today. But I do thank y'all for um allowing us to uh be here.

SPEAKER_11 4:21

Okay. So for us, uh we are in the financial services industry. Um, we've been in the financial services industry for about nine years. Um, what we do is uh we uh uh simply teach families how to become financially independent um through different uh services that we provide. Um just because we feel like a lot of our community don't have the education needed. Um it's not that we can't get it, it's just we don't have the education. We don't have the education, we don't know where to go, and then that just leads to everything else that comes with that. Um so pretty much we teach families how to uh uh make money, uh save money, eliminate debt, how to also protect their income during that process.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Um yeah, just to touch off piggyback off of Adrian, um what you had mentioned before was talking about business and talking about people pouring their wealth into other black businesses. Well, what tends to happen is people don't understand how to protect their wealth, how to manage their wealth, how to leave uh generational wealth. And one way that we do know is past generations of her se non-melanated people, a lot of them have built their wealth through um protecting their income through life insurance policy. So that's one of the that's one of the financial services that we offer, um, being able to teach our people how to, or teach people in general to invest in um different avenues to help build their wealth, not just dropping your money in the bank, thinking and believing that you're gonna get a greater return on your money. So in other ways that we can help people, but that in a nutshell is like pretty much the forefront of what we of how we help people.

SPEAKER_11 6:13

Outside of helping people um build wealth, um, like protecting their wealth also, because what happens is um with a lot of families, if uh somebody transitions unexpectedly, that leaves that fight that family of financial ruin. And it doesn't just ruin that generation, it ruins many generations after. Um so not not only do you can you get wealthy in that type of way, but you can also protect your family from um having to sell all your stuff while you're even that family member.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Setting up GoFundMe.

SPEAKER_09 6:43

No, not definitely. I I'm very familiar uh with the you know the the the potential ruin when you know either somebody, as you said, transitions or you know, uh when something unexpected occurs with a family member and you know those who are left have to, you know, grieve and at the same time figure out what's next. And uh and and the sad part is when you're grieving, and even when you're figuring out what's next, you forget what's happening right now, and you know, you know, you think it's just you know somebody's gone and then that's it. But no, there's all of these affairs to tie together and all of these things to do. So, you know, I I I firmly understand and uh I believe that, you know, not just life insurance, but just you know, having those uh that that preparedness for the what ifs, the preparedness for what could potentially happen is always something to, you know, have in mind and then think about and make sure that your family, whoever that may be, whether it's your parents, god forbid, or your kids or you know, relatives, that they, you know, understand what could potentially happen. So, you know, you explained uh kind of why you're doing it. And, you know, of course, it's because of you know, our people are, you know, whether it's just people of color as a whole or you know, black people specifically, it's it's not something that our panelists can agree. It's not something we're taught in schools. It's not something that we're informed of, it's not something that we know about. Um, I think for the most part, from my experience growing up, it's almost um not even talked about, almost shown as a negative. Like, why you why you think about life insurance? Who's about to die? Or you see those, you know, those uh commercials that you know played during your grandmother's stories. Um, you like, oh, I ain't about to do that. You either you see the Gerber life one or you see the one where the person's in the hospital bed about to die, and you ain't trying to think about either one of those. So, you know, it's um the dichotomy out there. It's it's it's it's not the it's not a comfortable or or easily talked about conversation. So, you know, why you do it, I know it's as you said, it's because of you know, informing our people and you know helping them become more more prepared, but I'm sure that wasn't your initial, this is what I'm gonna do, or this is what we want to do. So uh how did you get into uh one primarica and then of course, more in in more general, you know, giving this opportunity to our people or just people in general?

SPEAKER_11 9:14

Okay, so what happened was um uh we were both working at the time, and then uh she had lost her job. Um for me, I had to go out and get a second job, and I applied to get a third job. My my idea was to work all week and all weekend, and she wanted to stay home and raise the kids. Um, but when we got introduced to Primerica by a uh ex-family member, it was weird, uh, my brother's ex-wife, and she was the ex- at the time. So she was cool with the family, so I guess that's why we talked to her. Um, but what that allowed us to do was she never she hasn't gone back to work and it's been about 10 years. Um you know, so that was one of the biggest goals that we had is we didn't want somebody else raising our kids. Um, so she was able to stay home and do that. Um, and then that grew to um have the passion and and the why that we do now uh with helping the people once we've seen how we help people. You know, we talk about the life insurance part, like you just mentioned, with something happening now, but I think another thing people forget is the long-range part of what can happen later. You know, so a lot of people think about now or they don't think about now, and then 30 years down the road, um, you want to retire or something like that, and you haven't looked at what you need to do. Um, because I think a lot of people think that retirement is an age when it's actually a dollar amount. Yeah, so that's that's where my wife comes in. She helps people um look at that retirement because when you know what you need to do to retire, it's you're more likely to reach that goal versus most people just taking their money and throwing it somewhere, hoping that one day they'll end up in retirement.

SPEAKER_09 10:52

Yeah, I I mean I've I've spoken to a lot of younger and older individuals. You know, I I also teach and I also, you know, I work in uh IT and cybersecurity. And you know, our pay scale obviously is a lot different than a lot of other people's. And one of the things that a lot of cybersecurity professionals or just IT professionals will say is, you know, I'm retiring at 65, I'm retiring at 35, I'm retiring at 55. You know, they have a an idea of when they're going to retire. And I I know for a fact um that the regular working nine to five, whether they work at McDonald's or they work at the bank or they, you know, want to start their own business or they don't want to start their own business or whatever they're doing, retirement is is is furthest away from their mind. So even what you just said about the fact that it's not even an age, it's more so an amount. I'm sure I didn't know that. I didn't even know that until you just said it. So, you know, what can you expound on that a little bit more? What does that mean that it's a an amount versus an age?

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Well, for for most people, the a lot of the average person doesn't really know how much they need to live off of. Um, people usually just get a paycheck and spend it based on what they have right now. Um, but retirement being a dollar amount is once you understand that I I want this and I need this, and this is how much I can actually live off of, um, then we have a way we can put the numbers in the system and it can tell us, okay, well, this is how much you need to retire. And like he said before, once people know and have a plan with this plan, people can implement this plan and save and put away the dollar amount that they need in order to retire. The only reason why people feel like they need to retire at 65 and a half is because that's what the federal government has told people they need to that's retirement age. Then you have movements like the fire movement and the early retirement movement, where people have proven that I don't need to wait until 65 and a half to retire. What I need is a decent investment where I can put my money away, I can live beneath my means and eliminate or avoid debt altogether, and I can have a million dollars saved and I can retire at 35 or I can retire at 40. I don't have to wait until this predated age that that the government has issued me because people think that the only retirement, even my grandfather, my grandfather is 80, 86 years old, and to this to this day, he swears Social Security is the only way to retire. Social security is not the only way uh to retire. And I think that's that's the that's what's out there still in a lot of people's minds, like a lot of people are not aware of there's way more ways to put your more avenues that you can put your money to avoid, you don't have to rely on social security to retire. Right.

SPEAKER_10 14:06

So um I uh just a quick interjection. Do you think that as far as that kind of like mentality comes along with this um this kind of older um kind of loyalty to the idea that the government will take care of you like once you put in amount of like a certain amount of time working and um being a good citizen that you know, once you've paid your dues, so to speak, that you know, you'll be taken care of by the government that's you know you've been working for and serving and doing right by all this time, and they'll do right by you because that's you know their job to take care of you as a citizen.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Because I think that's the that's the narrative that they've been fed with our previous generations, older generation, speaking of like my grandfather's generation, that was what they worked to because they came from something so far away from that. So what has happened is they've worked to that, and then they brought up their children to get a good education, to get a good job, and they've worked to that. And now we're moving into our generation where we're going back to wait, wait a minute. No, we've owned businesses, we've worked for ourselves, we've come up from um from different, you know, we've overcome different things. So I think with that generation being taught, oh no, we have to get a job, we've exchanged our time for money. Whereas we're coming into a generation now where we're understanding, no, we need to do more to make our money work for us. Our dollar matters, our our dollar is worth more than they've told us that it was worth.

SPEAKER_11 15:41

I think too, um on top of that, um, we also um what we do, we also teach people that you can like you to retire without because everybody's not going to be an entrepreneur or owner business. All right. People are gonna work jobs till they can't work anymore. Yep, but um what happens is sometimes your body makes you retire. Oh, yeah. You know, so we have people like that, we have clients like that who just aren't entrepreneur mindset, and we just show them how they can get to whatever age it is they want and stay retired. Because I I think that's another uh thing that people say too. I'm retired, but you're working another job. You didn't retire, you just transfer a job. So we're talking about retirement. Um, retirement looks different for everybody. So we want we help people get to whatever retirement looks like for you, whether that's staying at home and watching uh stories all day. Whatever it is that you want, we can we show people how to get there.

SPEAKER_10 16:32

Yeah, I actually it's interesting that you said because my mother retired in a lot of maybe like oh, I don't even know how long my mother's my mother's been retired. That's sad. But um, no, my mom's a good thing. That means she's retired for some time. But my mom's been retired, and you know, she still works, like she worked in the school system for basically the majority, if not all, of my life so far. Like, and so like she was working in it even before I was born. So she has at least like 30 years under her belt when it comes to doing that work. And you know, she still does like election work sometimes, like she'll go work the polls. And like I remember last week she was talking about, you know, thinking about getting like another side job to just, you know, get some extra income in. It was like, well, you're not retired, retired. Like when you said that, it's like, well, you're not retired if you're still working. Like if you're still out here, you know, selling your your late your like physical labor or labor of any sort for for a wage, you know, that that's that's a whole different concept. I think you start moving away from the idea of retiring, of resting, of having that free time to invest in your in yourself and your passions and your pleasures and so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_06 17:39

And it's interesting that you say that because my dad's probably been retired since I think I graduated college because that was back in 2012. And yes, he is a carpenter by trade, but I swear he works harder now than he did when he was in the fire department. And then even now, my mom's about to retire and she's already planning for what she's going to do after she officially retires from the school system. And a lot of her friends, they've retired and then they're getting second jobs. And I'm like, well, what's the point of that? You're supposed to be able to travel and enjoy your retirement because you no longer have somewhere to go. Um, so I think even at your job, maybe they they don't explain retirement or your investment accounts, nor are those investment accounts to me set up for you, they're set up for whatever company you work for. But um, D and Adrian, what age do you think people should start investing? Because you know, like Ducci said, no one's teaching our kids that in school.

SPEAKER_08 18:40

Nope.

SPEAKER_06 18:40

So at what age would you start saying, hey, you need to start putting this amount aside so that in the long run you won't have to work as long?

SPEAKER_11 18:51

I I'll go first and uh she'll um probably be more technical than I am. But my my we teach our kids right now um that you know we have um and she started this, I'm not gonna take her credit. Um they have like three buckets, you know, they have a save bucket, a spin bucket, and a um give bucket. So when they get money, they have to break it down in those three buckets. So we feel like that teaches them how to save. And then once they get older, um, then they'll already know how to save. But um, I I don't know what age she's gonna say, but I would say probably 18 or maybe even 16, whenever they start working, start with the savings. Because with anything else, when you start and you learn how to do it and you're doing something for so long, it becomes a part of you. Now you don't know how to not do it. And I think one thing that people uh don't do and that they should is they they should save first. So, like the first 10% of whatever they make, that should go to themselves versus uh giving it away to the bills and because they're the bills are gonna be there. They don't leave if you save for yourself, right? So your first like 10% of whatever you're gonna save should go to you first. That's why, like, when we think about our taxes, you're right, they don't allow us to tell them how much that uh that we're gonna give them, they take it first off the top because they don't trust well. Guess what? We're gonna take our money off the top for us because we don't trust the rest of these companies.

SPEAKER_08 20:15

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

As parents, the best time for children to invest is as early as possible. As soon as you, as a parent, become aware of the of being able to invest and save for your child. There's no there's no such thing as too early when it comes to putting putting money away. Um, as a as a as an adult, we can as a parent, you can open up uh an account for your child, even if it's something as small as a savings account. But even with investment accounts, you can put an investment account in your name and save it for your your child. There's a such thing as trust. Trusts are a very good way, a very good way to put money away for a child for a future. But the key to that is having a conversation with your child about what this account is. This is, and you can explain to your child, this is your investment, this is what I'm doing to help you secure your future. I'm putting the money away. This is how your money is growing and making them aware, having a conversation, just showing them this is this is your money for the future, and then showing them every every month. Or if it if you know, bank statements usually come every month, but investment statements usually come every every uh quarter. So you can show them every quarter when the statement comes, you know, even though your name is on it, you can tell them this is yours and this is why we're saving. So it the the one, the conversation can never be too early for a child, but it's and the the just showing them the steps, like, hey, and even if you don't know, even if you don't understand investments, even if you don't understand the market, even if you don't understand the way the savings account works, you show them hey, this money is putting away for you for your future, just allowing them. them to see because we all know how children children learn by our our be from our behaviors and our actions and what we do and if we show them we're saving for them then it's in their mind and they know okay if mommy or daddy is saving for me then I know that I can save for myself and it becomes a part of their their language and their act their behavior you know in the future my um second oldest daughter is 21 and we started early you know before we had all of this technology um before she had a little um a little book that we got from the bank where I started teaching her how to save and she would write her debits and her credits this is the money and when you want to go shopping you get your birthday money this is how much you put in when you want to go shopping because kids want stuff they want all the time they want stuff still want stuff they still want I got some stuff I want right now and it's one thing that I know as a parent and what and what I've learned is the more that I tried to push them to save more the more resistant they were the more they wanted to hold on to their money. So I had to teach them you know just put a little bit away and then you can spend the rest of this but still see how much is in there and one thing I learned up learned about my my uh 21 year old not so much my 23 year old but my 21 year old she was like oh I like to see this balance going up my 23 year old was more like well I want this now so I don't care what that violence is like but so each each child and their personality is different. But when you teach them and they know and she's she's learned now she's like okay no I like when the balance goes up I like to see say say see see me saving but with her being 23 what I see now is even though she didn't want that at 12 and and and 10 but she but because I had that conversation with her and I showed her she didn't wait until she was 30 right to be like oh no I don't you know now I need to start saving like when she was about 22 she was like wait a minute no that's this is this is not right I don't like seeing me working and I'm spending money and there's nothing else there so it's the comment it's it's in our mind you know like the scriptures say train up a child they're gonna do it eventually but exactly it's never it's never too too early to start um what when we're talking about how early you save and it's probably self-explanatory but I think a lot of people don't think about it.

SPEAKER_11 24:34

If you start early you can save smaller amounts to get to that bigger goal a lot of people thinking about it at 40 because now they're looking at retirement in a couple in 20 years or so now they got to save large amounts that they might not be able to afford. So now they got to dumble it down to what they can afford versus when you start really early you can start with a small amount of money and maybe add more as you get older versus trying to do it in a shorter timeframe.

SPEAKER_10 25:03

I think that the the the piece that you all said about that that literacy aspect that comes along with the savings is like saving regardless of when you know start at what child at what point with your child is super important. Because full transparency like my mom created my mom my dad and my grandma like they created like money for the inheritance and you know like uh like savings accounts and stuff for me when I was younger but and you know I remember getting a like whenever I would get money from like relatives and stuff you know I would hold on to it but that was partly because you know I was a child I didn't really one I didn't have a means to get around and spend money on money myself and two I you know didn't have a concept of buying things myself or spending money or using money because you know I had people in my life who would do that for me. And so now I'm at that stage where I'm 30 and trying to figure all of that out. But I I I I I like the concept that you know if I had been sat down very early on and had those things explained to me rather than quote unquote you know and there's nothing wrong with you know being taken care of because you know parents are supposed to take care of their children. But like that that very like that literacy piece is so important because I feel like I would be a lot better off or like I would be more I would find myself to be more capable if I had those pieces, you know, as I was growing up. Because you know learning to save money and having people save money for you, you know, without having a real relationship to that process can be damaging if you know you just find out oh yeah this is a bunch of money that's been saved up for you sitting here, use it wisely, but you don't really know what that means and you never really had a connection as to what that meant. And so you know end up using it to you know do whatever you do literally do whatever you need to do to you know survive and so on and so forth. So it that that that concept that children don't just like saving for children is great, but they need to be able to see what's happening along that process like that's the important part because if you're not learning as it's growing then they can't grow along with it.

SPEAKER_04 26:59

Can I can I say something? Of course I interject I'm so sorry. I would as far as the actually going back to what Champlain Francis was saying about um the saving her father being a carpenter meeting my customer I'm an electrician and we have um within our union we have um a savings of 401k but not many people know that you can you can we have an investment company that does the investment for us but you can go in there and do your own pick your own stocks or your own investments that you want to do. And on top of that what I decided to do on my own is create my own 401k through Fidelity and um do kind of um have like a four a kind of like a rollover account. I rolled over some money and um I'm using that too as well as a second uh way of creating a retirement for myself because I can't just base it on um on retirement uh through my union because even though yeah there's a it ends up being a lot I want to have that cushion and for not just me but for my kids and um it's a kind of a frustrating thing because that all is based on uh negotiations and it's frustrating that it's not based on how much you work uh that is a part of it too but a lot of it's based on negotiations through the um through the organization that runs all that but um also going back to what the black employees said um as far as kids um I have four of them so um teaching them a lot of people are a saint all of you are some of the most powerful people I've ever met and it's funny because I talk to my kids every day about you know saving money and everything and um they have um like CDs saved up and um kind of bonds saved up for them since they were younger so it'll help pay for their schooling. But on top of that I started like telling them hey you got if you guys want money let's work for it.

SPEAKER_09 28:51

You know they work for my dad they work for me and um one thing I did to deter them from asking me for money is hey um you want to pay for it yourself they were like uh I'll save it now like I'll save it what I gotta pay for it for you got money they always say hey you got money I'm like you got money too what you gotta watch out for is when they get to that age where they're petty enough to be like but why would I spend my money when I can spend your money and the money is right now do you have McDonald's money do you have you got McDonald's money they will and the message they'll say yeah we do I'm like dang but do you have it with you is the question owes me money let me go get it from the oh boy but um sorry just having problems no no no that was that was excellent that was excellent and I want to make sure we uh uh that we definitely appreciate uh uh Adrian and uh and these time so I want to make sure I ask one more question before I know they have to jump off and um this is actually a question that Shamflu bracelets uh uh gave us actually a couple weeks ago um and it was what's one and this is for our listeners you know trying to help them out what's one investment secret you can share with our listeners something that I mean I'm sure a bunch of the information that you've given us today is already was a secret and now the veil's been lifted but um what is something that you can say uh is a like is a secret that not many people know that can definitely help them out um it's not I wouldn't necessarily say that you know it was a secret and that's the thing about the information when it comes to saving and investment is it's not a secret it was only a secret to us who had not sought it right because I remember um I remember even learning about um the little bit of things that I learned about it was because I was at school one day and I and I went to a PW and so I was sitting in the student service center and MSNBC was on and Susie Orman came up to speak.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

So my whole interest in the financial um aspect or financial arena came from sitting in a student service center listening to Susie Orman I went out books and just read whatever she had whatever information I went to school for I went to school for mechanical engineering. Wow so financial services was not even closed in my in my mind because I was like I'm gonna get this engineering money I'm trying to get the salary you know what I'm saying I need that you know I need all the benefits but sitting in the student services um see sitting in student services one day with MSNBC on listening to Susie Orman put my mind on a whole nother track so I just feel like it was one of those things when Primerica came to us it was it was God ordained because it was like confirmation like yo I put this in front of you years ago I need that I need you to revisit this arena um so that the the secret is there is no secret it's just we have to go out and we have to we have to listen and we have to just not be afraid just not be just not be afraid take a chance like it's scared money don't make no money like that is true.

SPEAKER_09 32:24

Write that down somebody write that down somebody we put that on the page today scared money don't make no money it really it really doesn't and I that now just to not be fearful because that was one of the things when we talk about that previous generation that was that fear of being taken advantage of of not where you know knowing where your money is going like it's just it it just it blows it blows my mind you know but just there's there the secret is there is no secret just the information is out there just go go get it and be open to it okay I mean I I think that's the perfect way to actually end your uh your segment scared money don't make no money written down it is in my is in my Gengar notebook thank you can we bolden italicize underline it and share it hashtag it is going to be a special graphic on our Instagram page thank you because uh honestly I think um that actually reminds me of one of the we we uh ideas we came up with earlier on to have like a kind of like a financial not to like go too deep into it but to give more insight into like financials and how to handle their money episodes so we definitely would want to have uh Adrian and D back on for uh a future episode so I'm really excited about that potentially we will you know circle back to you all but I know you have uh uh uh places to go people to help money save and invest lives to save black people black people to liberate black wealth to accumulate next thing I wanted to add like a last uh comment uh actually uh for Adrian and D I actually have a prime america account and um I need to get I need to get on one wait a minute I have one and um for in the aspects of saving you know my mother uh she's always the big saver but um you know she's like you know she know you need to save you save but like kind of telling someone to save and like actually showing them as a child is very different.

SPEAKER_15 34:28

So I would hear I need to save but I didn't really actually have the I didn't know how to save so to speak. So what ended up happening is that I I end up just constantly living paycheck by paycheck not being able to have the money to go out or go to travel things like that. I'm I'm just starting to travel in my 30s um just because like I always would just be so crunched with money and not really knowing how to save. So I don't mind struggling when I'm young but I don't want to struggle when I was when I'm retired. Find someone that can help me you know get those tools to save. And so my mother actually knew somebody I was a financial advisor for Crime America and you know I was 28 and I was like you know I want to have a life insurance policy and I also want to IRI Roth. And so he set that up for me because I was like you know nothing no one knows how long I'll be on this earth but at least I know that my family you know you know they'll be taken care of when I go and of course it's a morbid a morbid conversation for a lot of people but I'm very much a realist in that sense like you know I just you just never know. So I want I don't want to have my family stress or wonder financially how to take care of like trivial preparations or anything like that. That's already out the board. And also when you're younger and you get life insurance it's a lot cheaper. So you can get a higher policy for a a lot um for a cheaper amount per month. So I also want to say hey you know all right that's the that's what happens when I pass but I'm gonna also you know enjoy my money when I'm retired too. So that's when they set up the IRA for me. So each month out of my account I have both the IRA and the life insurance policy that comes out by the time you know I am 60, the same amount of money for my life insurance will be the same amount of money when I retire. And that for me is the ultimate goal because you know let some I'm not the best saving for myself but for me I want to kind of have control taken out from me. I just kind of want to come out I'm bad. So like yeah just take it from my account. So you know I can have let something automatically do it for me so that I know that hey I'm not paying attention is kind of second nature and by the time I'm retired I got money sit in the bank that I can really just kind of help me, I can help invest you know I just started getting into stocks so you know I don't want to be 40 trying to figure out how to save money because it's never too late. But like you said you really want to start when you're younger you have more opportunities to do so have more time to to really grow. So um yeah just I just want to say thank you. You know you help people like me who are not the best at saving but at least you know it's never too late to start. So I just want to say thank you.

SPEAKER_06 37:09

Yes because Dean Adrian definitely um got Mark and I situated because we are like you say on a saving is hard. Don't wait don't don't be like oh I'll do it on Monday you know contact a a D and Adrian so you can get set up right I I might need to contact D and Adrian hey yeah we don't hear from the whole blurry spectrum we're gonna have a life you get the life insurance to protect you in case you die too early and you invest in case you live too long absolutely amen that's that that's a new that's a new hashtag too all right you got that one you got that one black one for hold on let me let me get my notebook say it one more time your life insurance in case you die too early and you get your investment in case you live too long.

SPEAKER_08 38:07

All right I know that's right not a bad issue in any way shape or form so uh again I know you uh Adrian and D you have to leave uh but you know we're definitely going to share your information uh for our listeners you know who are following and who are listening will definitely have it posted so uh uh if we have to you let them know you know tell them Blurred Spectrum sent you uh to Adrian indeed so we'll see what happens and we'll definitely have you on for uh when we have that future financial uh information episode so thank you again for joining us today thank you guys so well thank you we got some quotables I'd love to I'll be back in an hour all right we'll be here thank you thank you so you know moving forward uh I wanted to make sure we go on to our next business uh and you know uh this business uh was some what was a business that we all were very interested in you know speaking to and having on and that is a taku noir uh as well as of course um excuse me as well as of of course uh lazy um lazy girl lazy girl nerd I'm trying to say it right my it's it's it's Sunday it's it's Sunday you're right it's been a very long weekend I need another chicken sandwich but um aside from that uh I'm really excited to uh you know speak with uh both Hanif and Kay uh see what they you know are promoting and see what they have going on uh so I will first let you take the floor I I guess you want to do you want to talk Kay or shall I talk first?

SPEAKER_12 39:45

I'll I'll talk um thank you for having us um uh I mean you may see me more in the social media aspect of it is because I have a lot more time on my hands. Kay is really Kay a lazy girl nerd aka lazy girl nerd she's the the brainchild of a talk and noir collection um she literally had an idea just why don't we just make something where we can have as much uh word centric content like a Comic Con in a box due to the pandemic you know we can go to New York Comic Con we usually go to New York Comic Con City Dragon Con basically we could we travel the country most times her and I to different uh different events pandemic shut shut us all down yeah we miss seeing the interaction we miss the cosplay um so we're just like well this sucks we can't interact with anyone from artist alley so I wish there was a box where we can just get nothing but black comics black creators I was like well you know what that's a good idea why don't we just do that well I mean you know you know sometimes the best ideas the ones you just have to casual conversations you know um so I give all the credit to to to Kay because she had the idea the foresight to to do it um but yeah it's pretty much every quarter we come out with a different box a different theme um Kay had the beautiful idea for September's theme uh it's called uh powerful women cocoa butter and sacrifice oh Jesus write it down hashtag it what one more time please it's powerful women cocoa butter and sacrifice oh my god so that's that's that's Kay so if she wants if she wants to unk wants to unmute herself then take uh take all the friends please brain child yes what we're doing with the September box obviously it's gonna it's it's all centered around women so you might have seen our uh social media we're looking for you know female artists of color uh creators of color that are are women so we want books posters collectibles all made by women um so that's what we're doing now you know we're we're already focusing on September as well as December's box uh you might have seen things like what we put inside of um the Juneteenth box was like you know yeah black falcon or Captain America whatever you want to call it we even did like little miles morales okay all right that's that's amazing so um I think what we want to do I think is there's uh as we reopen as the country or the world reopens um I still think there's still a strong desire for people to look for content of from people of color not everyone's gonna be able to make it to New York not everyone's gonna make it to Atlanta for Dragon Con or uh Hero Con in North Carolina or wherever have you we want our box to be that bridge between your potential uh uh clientele your fans and new work that you haven't put out yet because there are artists that we've done uh in the March box like Chuck Brown who was you know helped with bitter roots they do a lot of these guys do independent work they have their own idea that they may be Marvel or Image and DC won't bite on it. So they make their own comic they make their own artwork and we want to be able to say you know what that's a great idea I enjoy it too I think people who are like me uh birds uh uh nerds of color will also like it can we get that in the box um so you know we work well I mean we we've reached out to a lot of people uh no we've also touched space with um bad uh waifu as well Linda she's doing a lot of stuff for uh anime inspired uh apparel for women yep so seen her content yeah yeah it's it's some great content i mean we we interviewed her um yeah it's is and the thing is everyone's contacting us wanting to be in the box and it's a great feeling it's now we're trying to figure out if you're gonna become bi monthly or maybe even monthly so it's just so much content it's a beautiful thing to see this go online or or people get send us messages I want to be in this box. Well it may not fit the theme it's like I don't know if I want to wait till December to get my hands on this myself put in the box that we may have to explore in the future do a more uh uh not so much more Multiple months, uh multiple boxes per month, but just maybe do it bi-monthly so people can have access to new stuff because there's uh as people of color, you know, we're all hustlers, we're all entrepreneurs, we have that spirit in us to always want to be our own boss and do for self. So ain't that it? Yes. Yes, I mean, right, exactly. You guys created uh the blood spectrum. It wasn't like someone gave this to you. You guys went out and and created this.

SPEAKER_09 44:24

Definitely.

SPEAKER_12 44:25

So we're going out, we're creating this skirt. Clothing's got went out and created her brand. We just want to become, we want us to become a digital black Wall Street, if you will. We want to be able to keep investing in ourselves. By we want to buy uh content from creators of color and then put that in a box and then have people of color purchase that box from us, keep that money rolling and within our community. And there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to do that.

SPEAKER_09 44:49

Definitely. Um, I I first off think that's absolutely wonderful. I mean, I'm trying to get the words, uh I'm still stuck on the cocoa. I'm sorry. So, do you need my fan? I'm a fan, I'm a fan.

SPEAKER_12 45:11

Yeah, that that fan. We're gonna have to get a fan like that in the box.

SPEAKER_10 45:13

Yeah, that's that's such you. You got it for me. Yes, I can tell you where it is uh easily.

SPEAKER_12 45:18

Um right now we just got the towel, so you know we gotta dab off with the towel for now.

SPEAKER_09 45:25

Excellent. That definitely uh a fan, I think is is gonna be a huge, huge attraction, and I'm sure you know why. Um but um you know it as it pertains to you, you explain again, you explain why you decided to, you know, do the box, you know, for content creators, for uh other black businesses, for individuals who you know want to, you know, find themselves in the box. As you said, you you know, you're you know struggling with the idea of maybe going you know bi-monthly with your uh your box sales. And you know, the question I have is what who who is what who is Otaka Noir for? Like I know it's for you know blurred and it's for people as a whole, but like when you first sat down and had your first meeting, who is it for?

SPEAKER_13 46:15

Um okay, so I sort of came up with the idea for a con in a box. Well, basically con in a box because I was suffering from withdrawal. COVID was in rare form, and I hadn't been to a con in almost a year at that point. Maybe it was like before like a little bit less than that, but I just really truly honestly missed going to Comic Book of Avengers, and I also missed the fact that I only saw black creators at certain cons and I was like, Well, I want that, I want that, I want that. So I just kind of really, really, really, really, really, really wanted to unbox for myself um because I missed it. And that's pretty much how I came up with the idea. Because I was like, well, why can't there why can't we get a subscription where I can just send out and pay or hey, this is mine, I get like new content every month or every other month. Um this way I don't have to deal with people and COVID, but I can still get my con experience. That's pretty much the way I came I came with my idea because I'm kind of selfish and I want to do it for myself.

SPEAKER_10 47:20

That's all. No, I I I agree. Like I've personally been going to cons since I was a junior in high school. Like I like every single, every single year except 2020, I have been to at least one con every single year. And yeah, it was wild. Um, I might not go this year, but we'll that's up in the air. We'll see. But but no, I I completely agree that like cons are cons are addictive and they're therapeutic at the same time. Like the the love of going to them is strongly rooted in the community that you have while you're there. And that could be like internet friends, people you have been following and been fans of, but are just getting the first chance, like first chance to meet people you may have gamed with online, and you know, you're meeting them for the first time, or like, oh yeah, you're gonna be here, blah, blah, blah. Like it, it's it's a it's a it's a like it's an annual communal space for people. I remember I had one friend, she recently got married, actually. She, I remember one con we went to, she was in grad school at the time, and she did um, she was studying anthropology, and she did a presentation at one of the cons we went to about con spaces as sacred spaces. And you're taking that, um, yeah, like it was a very interesting anthropological like examination of like cons. And it's like you're taking that concept, you're taking that like that that uh that fellowship, that communion of being at cons and you know, compartmentalizing it into a box that people can have at home to you know supplement that experience.

SPEAKER_12 48:51

Yeah, truly. I mean, like Kay said, uh it's really it was really just an idea that had we wanted to be able to get some cool stuff. No, get like you know, you walk into the con, you go home at the end of the day, you got the swag bag. The swag bag! Listen, and and that's I mean, that's pretty much what our idea was. But as we started to reach out to people and and and you know, check the landscape, there really wasn't much, not so much competition. I mean, there's like the loot crates and uh and the geek and stuff, but they don't focus on nothing black color. I was like they're nice, but they're not black. Yeah, I mean, granted, the the majority of the masses will recognize Black Panther and and and and uh Black Lightning and Um even uh Green Lantern with um John Lickless, but it's just like there's so many other characters that people of color have created that's not inside of Marvel, not inside of DC, not inside of uh Dark Horse. Why not give them a chance? I mean, comics has been doing stuff for decades, you know. My first comic, my first comic uh of a person of color was Brotherman. I don't know if you guys remember Brotherman comic from like the early 90s. So I mean things like that, like we don't have to sit back and wait for them to the white guy to give us a roll of, yeah, no, I I thought I created T'Challa back in the 60s, and yeah, yeah, it's like no, that's we'll wait for that for February, Jack. You know, all respect to Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. I don't need to wait for a white guy to give me a uh uh show me representation. Right. Right, you know, Bitterroot, Chuck Brown, you know, uh Rob Gilroy with Machu. We could sit here till the cows come home and reveal up a number of names of people of color, uh, of all genders and ethnicities that have done something that hasn't been uh recognized by the masses within the comic book and geek industry, whether it's anime-based or just you know, uh just comic-based. And that's where we want to be able to find those individuals. Like we got the young brother over in Japan that has his own African uh studio. Yeah, we want to reach out to you. You know, we got uh Noir Caesar doing stuff, we want to reach out to you. And at the same time, we don't want people to think we're trying to brand ourselves as their product. We just want to be able to purchase or or if you want to donate to us stickers or whatever have you inside the box that way we can give to our customers. And this is June's comic book uh uh uh uh Comic Con Experience in a box for June. Here you go. Bads, lanyards, books, posters, apparel. I mean, I don't have my t-shirt on, but it's it's it's laundry there. But you get the you get the you get the uh you get the idea. So that's what we hit with it. Um but yeah, I mean it it it has room to grow. Um there's always something in the box that we want to add that it may not fit. I mean, the box is no the box is only so big. It's a big box, but that means we gotta try to get money.

SPEAKER_10 51:54

When I when I first so uh when I first saw you all on our on our Instagram, and I was immediately infatuated with the design on your box. Like I so I told I told it, I told all of our Black McCoy spent the next four weeks saying so about this Otapa Noir box. I'm like, can we can we can we get one and we do like a video together? Like we need to like we need to do something. And so when we started putting this episode together, I was like, no, we need we need to we need to we need to have them on. Like I can't I cannot.

SPEAKER_08 52:29

Yeah, well, I think, and you know, a part of that was we wanted one, we wanted to definitely have you on here just to you know give you the opportunity to promote yourselves, and then two, we definitely wanted to, you know, do videos of what is gonna be next in your top and noir box. Like I think, you know, people have asked us, do we know? Do we because we have a couple of people who know that we reached out to you and they're like, So do you know what's in the next box? Do you are they're gonna tell you what's gonna be in the next box? So it you know, it's we're we're excited for the opportunity to see, you know, black uh people of color, black people be able to connect us and kind of reinvigorate our con experience.

SPEAKER_09 53:15

Um any of our listeners who've you know been paying paying attention and listening since day one, one of our, if not our first, or it's our second and third episode was um the convention episode where you know the pandemic started and all of the uh conventions were being canceled. It's called yeah, Corona Vengeance, and we were like, we are going through withdrawals. The the cosplayers can't cosplay, the the gamers can't go game with their friends, we can't buy no comics, we can't go to artists row, can't publicly shame people by beating the ass and checking and so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_08 53:52

It was full withdrawal, and we we it it I think it was the two two episodes, yeah, two-week episodes.

SPEAKER_09 53:58

It was just so much to to try to talk about because it was just I and it was interesting to hear each of our individual perspectives on what conventions do, what they're for, and what they do for us, and you know, from the introverts to the extroverts, the introverted, extroverts, to the extroverted introverts, just how we operate in those spaces and how your boxes give just a moment, even not in moments, uh quite it gives a uh a bit of solace because it's like ah I got something from a convention, even though it's in a box, even though it's a box form, it's like it's what is that word? It's um it releases a certain sense of anxiety. Like, okay, I got my fix now. I gotta wait for the next one, but it's it's coming soon. So if it is by week, be bi-monthly, um, I think we're gonna be on it.

SPEAKER_10 54:53

Um we should have got Miss Skittles a box. Y'all don't know when when Corona, she was cosplaying every day, like it was a problem. Like she set up a whole little studio in her house.

SPEAKER_12 55:07

Cosplay of color, that's what we see. But I know you you had asked about like what's gonna be. I mean, uh we've nominated my wife as the creative director because there's been times like I have a notebook here, I'm writing stuff down, and she's like, Well, you know, June is also Black Music Month, which I never knew. Yeah, no, I just knew June's that's what creative directors are around for. We that's what they're there for. I'm like, Well, you know, that's a good idea. I'm writing it down. So that's why we know we did the um uh anime uh themed samurai shampoo Juneteenth shirt that we know because hip hop and anime is like this.

SPEAKER_10 55:43

So um shampoo bracelets, we got a box for y'all.

SPEAKER_09 55:48

I knew they was gonna come back.

SPEAKER_12 55:51

I got him starting here.

SPEAKER_07 55:52

My husband is a a fan of um I got this.

SPEAKER_09 55:58

Her her husband is her husband is a uh uh a deep, like that's why their name is Shampoo Bracelets.

SPEAKER_12 56:05

Oh man, I guess I gotta I'll I gotta send you guys the uh the picture of the t-shirt. That's that's also sometimes the downside of doing the boxes because people will wait until they see the box and then want to purchase. Most times we get product or we create a finite number. Right, like if we get 100 subscribers, I may order maybe 105 just in case something gets lost in the mail or damage. But then some other people, oh my friend has it. Do you still have any more? I'm like, I don't have it more, especially for shirts. I don't have it in a size, I don't have any more books.

SPEAKER_10 56:37

But you know what? That's the that's the beautiful part of the product because it's like these are limited, these are limited items. So I mean we it raises the value, it raises the value alone of the of what you're doing and the product that you're putting out. It's like, well, you know, we only have this out of number because you don't have these folks. I mean, you got to get on it next time ahead of time if you want to make sure you get the good stuff that's in the box.

SPEAKER_12 56:56

Yeah, well, I mean, if we have leftovers, what we'll start doing is maybe do uh promotional giveaways or contests and something like that on social media just to listen because I'm at we're both from New York. New York apartments are notoriously small. So we get some apartment space back. Who wants a free t-shirt or three? Get this out of my house, get it out of the house. Um wants a small, a large, and an extra large. Yeah, it may not fit you. It's gonna fit someone in your house. Don't worry. But um this we usually don't know what we're gonna put into the box until well, we have until I would say by July 4th, we should be confirmed what we want to put in the box. We have a list of about 10 different items for this box that we want to put in there. Whether or not all 10 are gonna make it, possibly more. There's a lot of stuff. Um, it's definitely gonna be uh since uh well, not since it's because a woman's box, but it's gonna be more apparel than what we normally did. The last two boxes with t-shirts. So it's gonna be a t-shirt, it's gonna be some other apparel, uh, some other custom stuff. Definitely some books. I I part of me was to tell you guys what's in it. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_09 58:08

It's okay. Part of the experience is not knowing until you're gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_10 58:10

You don't have to give us spoilers. Nah, this girl's ready. She's like, give me that what you what you got though.

SPEAKER_12 58:18

I'll give you uh, I guess towards the December and the 2022 boxes. I can I can let you know without a doubt. Again, I give all her credit to Kay, uh, who's close friends with my wife who introduced me to Kay. Um June, which she put me on too. I didn't realize June is actually the month that Prince was born in, so there's gonna be a Prince theme box next June.

SPEAKER_10 58:40

What oh clothing excited.

SPEAKER_12 58:45

So I was gonna involve that. It's just like I got we got about a year to figure that out. Yeah, no, June, it's not gonna be Juneteenth, but it'll be perfect. Perfect.

SPEAKER_10 58:55

That box is gonna be purple as hell.

SPEAKER_09 58:59

About adding the blurred spectrum to the list of like subscribed uh box openers. Uh-huh. How would we go about doing that?

SPEAKER_12 59:14

I'm picking up what you're putting down.

SPEAKER_09 59:16

Okay, this is you know, not so subtle.

SPEAKER_12 59:26

I don't know how many boxes you're gonna get, so you're gonna have to have us uh you're gonna have to tussle for it though. That's perfectly fine. I I have no problem chin-checking a couple people.

SPEAKER_09 59:34

Uh giving one of the boxes for layers, give them a couple things.

SPEAKER_07 59:41

Um we definitely boxing it.

SPEAKER_10 59:43

Like we will be boxing for the box. What y'all don't know is that Suchi and Miss Skittles both be trying to throw hands at all times. You might as well have it, you might as well have a showing in battle anime.

SPEAKER_12 59:57

We're gonna have to do something special because she said this she's cosplaying, she's got the studio, she's doing cosplay. Um, Kay and I were talking about uh since we're starting the new year 2022, our December box. I'll give this away. We want to do a calendar with uh either well-known or at least um definitely cosplayers of color. Like you know, 12-month catalog each month. We got three. Um, and then obviously we haven't designed it yet. We haven't come up. We it's our homework assignment that Kay and I have been slacking on. We're supposed to come up with a list of uh six each class players, uh male and female. Um, and then each person we select who we want to get a month. And we would love to have it so that way either the picture is exclusive for our calendar or something like that. But I see you see you raising your hands, right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:48

Me, yes, yes, July. Yes, oh Lord.

SPEAKER_10 1:00:54

So she she she I I if she's calling July, I'm calling February.

SPEAKER_12 1:01:00

Okay, well, y'all got my y'all got our information. We definitely gotta get you guys on a calendar.

SPEAKER_09 1:01:04

Sayone, I don't hear you saying anything, or you better show up. We booking months, Sione. She's trying to deblue herself right now. Right, right.

SPEAKER_12 1:01:21

But I mean, that's that I mean, but definitely December's gonna have a calendar, uh cosplay. We haven't figured out the official title of the calendar, but uh it's going to be a uh cosplay calendar of color or something like that. The three seasons we'll figure it out, but you're getting the gist of where we're going with for December. Okay, and you only know what June is gonna be. So you guys are first outside of the three of us to know what June is June 22 is gonna be. Y'all hear that? Blurred spectrum exclusive exclusive.

SPEAKER_09 1:01:52

We the we the ones to give it to you. Right, boom. I I will most certainly put sound effects into that exclusive. Insert bomb here. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:08

Okay, there you go.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:10

So uh, no, that's that's first of all, that's phenomenal. That's extremely exciting. Um, so not only do you know, uh we want to, of course, do videos opening your boxes. Um, we of course, you know, have cosplayers that can definitely grace the uh the panels of your calendar. And then we would love to, if if necessary, uh, we have a lot of, as you see, content creators and businesses. So, you know, maybe we can, you know, create a synergy where we can send you some individuals who would be interested in, you know, helping you uh uh increase. I mean, I'm sure you already have plenty for the for the bi-monthly, but so you don't run out. We have plenty who would be interested in uh uh adding themselves to your boxes. So I'm really excited uh for what we could potentially do together. Otak noir, lady girl nerd, blurred spectrum on deck.

SPEAKER_10 1:02:59

I mean UAL, UAL, no, no, I mean we can get it in the girl, get some GERD clothing in them boxes too.

SPEAKER_12 1:03:08

We got a whole situation going, right? The more successful we become, the more we can give back to the content creators. Right, more purpose, more apparel than more pins, more lanyards, scrunchies, bonnets, whatever the guy is selling. Did he say bonnets?

SPEAKER_10 1:03:22

People asking from us, I almost put my bonnet on today. Y'all playing with me.

SPEAKER_12 1:03:30

Does it match the fans?

SPEAKER_10 1:03:32

It does not bonnet. I do, I do. Gurry Clothing feels me. Let's get look listen.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:41

I had I it was early, it was like seven o'clock. I woke up. I was like, oh, this is bonnet time still.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:48

Um, we are all about bonnet supremacy on this podcast. That's true.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:53

Gotta keep the air moisturize.

SPEAKER_10 1:03:55

Amen.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:58

So uh, yes, first of all, thank you for joining us on the podcast. Of course, we're gonna ask a couple more questions a little bit later. Um, but thank you. And uh let's move on to our next business. And our next business is a GERD clothing. Uh, with the owner in front of us, we have uh, and I'm gonna say it the way she told me to say it, but that's not the way it's pronounced, and I'm not gonna butcher it. So with Indra.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:24

Hi, hey guys, man. I'm thankful for coming being able to come on here. Thank you guys for inviting me.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:30

Oh no, no problem at all. So, you know, tell us tell us about GERD clothing. Uh, where did it get started? Why did it get started? You know, who are you and what is it?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:40

Oh, okay. So um as far as the clothing line, um, I got it started. Um, you know, Adrian and Dee were talking about taking risks. That was the risk I took. Actually, that was the second risk I decided to take. Um, the first one was investing in stock. Um, I had to do some research on that before I did that. Um, I decided to just be an uh that this was gonna be another risk. I've been wanting to do it. Um, I actually went to fashion school for a little bit. Um had a yes in San Francisco.

SPEAKER_10 1:05:14

It shows that little that little fishing gown is cute. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:17

Oh, thank you. Um I don't get to look cute all the time. I have all these clothes, and I like when you look at my cloud, you're like, why do you have all these clothes and purses and stuff? And I'm like, I don't get to dress nice.

SPEAKER_10 1:05:31

2020 took so much from all of us.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:34

And I work in construction, so I'm an electrician, so I wear like coveralls and I'm dirty all the time. So when I get to look fabulous, I look fabulous. So I had uh wanted to do this for a while and I kind of just um did my research on as far as like materials, which is an important thing, um how much I was gonna be investing, who I'm you know, as even the artists uh my whole goal was working with only black uh artists and because it's my this is this platform that i've created is my platform to help do my part within our community to try to bring out the black creatives and um me and myself as a black creative um i found a really good artist me and him started working together he gave me some really good prints and really good images and i was like let's do this so i went ahead and me myself i had to start learning some um software to be able to do all those things too on my own and i did and now it's it's growing man i got two more collections coming out along with gird um yeah these collections one is called verdict squad and that's kind of like uh you know somebody was like oh why you call it that was like because that's literally what it is there's uh black nerds and geeks of all different like backgrounds so that one's kind of to incorporate the black geeks and nerds I seen growing up and I hung out with that little bit of friends I had uh hung out with which were the ghetto hood nerds and geeks that doesn't mean we're not intellectual that doesn't mean that doesn't mean yeah that doesn't mean we're nothing that doesn't mean we're not smart we're not intellectual we're not able to uh do all these same things it's just we had a different environment and that's what it was and so this next that that line is to incorporate that to bring that out and it's oh my gosh look I got some stuff coming some teas some crop tops some jogger sets some uh basketball shirts some booty shirts for the girls some A you will be um in uh the girl clothing calendar as well yes shampoo bracelets i i see you hiding over there you're gonna be in there too don't play with me i'm telling I've got the um letterman jackets that I posted the mock-ups I got both two of them are coming wait a minute um I got one right here if you guys wanted to see I got it's just just like the owner's exclusive this is like the owner's one but wait a minute wait wait hold on hold on hold on now so how um is this on the market or is this like pre-order or what is this right um we're gonna do so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna do a live and I'm gonna show you guys every single thing I'm doing actually I'm doing a live today for one of the uh two of the designs I want to uh I have four different designs two for each shirt that I kind of just was like um kind of which one do I want so I'm gonna go live today about 1 p.m um Pacific Standard time which is probably like what 4 p.m you guys's time and I'm gonna be showing those off and letting you guys pick which one do you guys want which one of the two you know for each one do you guys want because I kind of want to give you guys give the customers a the ability to jump in and say hey yeah this is what I want not just everything be based on me but it's a lot of anime references coming up a lot of comic book references coming up we got some jujutsu Kaisers some family braces you got the people look we got some some black black female artists and black male artists as anime characters coming up like we got some stuff coming up and then we have GERD university which is dedicated to the HBCUs the black nerds and he's in HBCUs so that's another thing we have coming up and we have our GERD which is we have some more stuff coming out from there which is the joggers jogger sets and stuff like that which you guys are gonna love um the jogger one of the jogger sets I actually did like the old school vintage video game stuff and it looks like you're playing a video game on the back of it like you're playing the actual like starred spaceship video game on the back of it and it looks like it literally took me a while um girl we just talked about trying to save money what you do I was like I thought all we was gonna have to do was buy a box. Now she's talking about leatherman jackets and jumpers as soon as you said letterman jacket I'm like Lord this man is no that letterman jacket is is purchased I'll be on the live today and that one actually um that one is just um that's gonna be a different that's a different design than similar it's they're similar than the ones that are coming out okay but the ones that are coming out I changed did a change up on the designs a little bit and I it's even way better than those jacket I loved it I was like oh my god yes you gotta do this so I got windbreakers coming out so I got a bunch of windbreakers coming out I I got stuff I wanted to be able to give us the ability to be fly and our stuff and wear something that looks like us and that was my whole dynamic when I went into this I was like I want to have these references you know to be known I wanted to look like us this is what we envision when we watch anime we see ourselves in these characters or why can't we see ourselves on these shirts or these pants on whatever we're wearing and that has them on there. So that was a big thing for me and um yeah this line I was kind of nervous at first I was like I don't know if everybody's gonna get it they're gonna be like why are you doing hood nerds?

SPEAKER_09 1:11:17

I'm like because there's nerds in the hood too there's nerves in the hood animated backgrounds and I can tell you like it's it's a different it's a everybody has their own different experience but we can all collaborate on the fact that being a nerd a black nerd and geek within our community was not a you know they made it it was frowned upon it was yes it was very frowned upon and me being who I was I was always picked on that wasn't you know they're like you're weird you're weird and I was like that's fine you know that's cool that's I'm cool with that I'm the weirdo so no that's that is that is I cannot stress how amazing that is uh the detail the the thoughtfulness of incorporating you know what what what how man I'm just speechless because that is it's just it's it's a lot it's such an amazing idea to incorporate how you grew up the people who you were around the the people you got to be around who had certain uh interests you know being a nerd being a blur and you know being into those things growing up in the areas that some of us grew up in and being around the friends that some of us had because you know if you weren't an athlete or studious in some way shape or form or a cheerleader slash dancer or you know one of those you know roles then you were kind of like at the table off at the side and I mean for those listeners who know what I'm talking about you know in the movies where you architect the outcast table in in in the in the black community unfriendly black hotties in the Pac community there's a there's a there's an even smaller table which what what community the Pac POC I didn't want to say outcast oh okay I didn't hear Packl but yeah there's an even smaller table because you know when you look in those movies and you see like there's a you know uh there's there's nerds who are white and you know uh Asian or black and it's uh uh other you know nationales and they're all kind of at the table at least they have like one or two tables in when we were younger and we were you know people of color black in general and we're in the lunchroom especially majority neighborhoods it was like three maybe five at the most maybe seven and then if you if you in a different school it's probably just you by yourself scribbling drawing Goku and stuff and if you were lucky you had an anime club if lucky anime club was listen the boats we had was like thing I never heard of animal I know that's why I said if you were lucky because like me and my friends in high school we had we started the anime club but we don't even know if it's still going it wouldn't even let us do that.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:06

Yeah we have like anime so you want to talk about cartoons if the if the anime character didn't have a basketball it was going to be exactly and and that we're we're just such a most audacity set of people that we why should we have be limited to one thing you know I literally like I when I was come sitting down with these designers because I'm working with different artists and when I was sitting down with them I kind of explained to them they were like I was like look is it a lot of like uh it kind of is but the idea is like I can see it I'm like okay let's work with the vision is there the vision is there you know and I'm like so excited to see how they're gonna come out because I have at least 50 about 10 to 15 screen teeds coming out and they're all different for you know for each set um between all three collections and it's just gonna be like so different. I just put out my first part to see gauge how people will feel about it. Now it's time to run and that's my thing like I've put a lot into this like I literally had nights I'll stay at three o'clock in the morning have to go to sleep and wake up at like five o'clock in the morning and go to work for 10 hours and come back home deal with four kids and still do the same thing over again but that's the grind that you have to do in order to be a small business owner in order to keep going and that's something I kind of kept in my mind I've always been ambitious but it's you know meeting those goals and at the point in my I'm out of my life I kind of want to start doing things that more are not just towards just surviving. I don't want to just survive I've never been that person I came from a one a single parent household my mom had four kids before she was 23. So I was the oldest so and she was young when she had me she was she was a teenage mom. So having that background and seeing what poverty is like it's not that I don't want to be there. I definitely don't want to be there nobody want to be broke. Nobody wants to be broke nobody don't want it don't want it I rebuke it. So but it's just wanting to have something of my own um I I just wanted to have that and be able to share it with everybody and give everybody else something within our community of their own. Because I got tired of seeing all these shirts with these characters that don't look like us but we relate so much to them and that's the frustrating thing. We see everybody anything that we've had has been gentrified that we've created has been gentrified and capitalized on now it's time for us to start creating something for our own. If there's gonna be a capitalizing on anything it has to be with we should be able to capitalize on our own stuff because we're so creative. The community black community in the whole is such a creative uh overwhelmingly like profound group we've come from so much even with our history and being able to see all this and getting the chance to do what I love I love fashion I love all this stuff and be being a nerd is kind of like I gotta do it I gotta do it for the culture. That's all I can say for the culture because that's what it is it's for the culture.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:15

So uh shampoo bracelets I believe you have a question yes I do so what gave you I guess the push or the gumption I know you said you took a risk but what pushed you to take that risk like you know a lot of people want to start business but that thought of failing is always in the back of their head.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:38

So what made you just be like no I'm gonna do this thing or I'm gonna start I actually started a business like years ago I was like early 20s and it was a um fashion fashion magazine and it was going well I had a lot of uh well-known artists being ready to be debuted into my first um episode my first you know issue but I got scared you know and I was pregnant at the same time but I got scared and um it just was it wasn't gonna be able to work for me. I wasn't ready you know and I seen I wasn't ready with all the amount of work that was gonna take um now as a mother of four I kind of want to I want to show my children that they don't have to be scared to take risks at times. Like every risk is not a bad risk you know and even if it does not turn out great at least you have that learning experience and oh okay this is what I'm not gonna do and learning from that. So that was a big thing me seeing my kids and saying to myself everything I've done from uh you know the way I've raised them everything I've done from being a black going to school being the only black female electrician and dealing whatever I had to deal with within that community that community of you know you know the good old boys and being being being I'm I'm like a black unicorn walking around because they're like you're black and you're a woman what are you doing here what are you doing here making money and building systems let's do this out my way I got something get out of my way I can be out bend I can out uh wire and all that stuff so like what are you doing here I'm minding my business what are you minding my business making some money let's do this mind my business making some money like you need to do but um I've always tried to be I don't want them to necessarily look up to me but I want them to have a a guide of okay my mom did this so I'm able to do it you know it's it it just takes a little bit a little bit more effort on my part so I decided to go ahead and take this risk and I I we me and my kids have a good you know um bond so we talk about it a lot I'm like hey did you what you guys think about this what you guys think about that and at least two of my kids are super into anime one of them is like a super geeky nerdy person and I love it I'm like I created one it came from me that's really why that's really why nerds reproduce we need to oh my gosh and you see you're like hey little nerdy boy like you what's your name you're mine you're trying to pass that ex gene along yeah and it's it's so awesome though but I I just having them see me move how I've been moving um and accomplishing a lot of things that I've been able to accomplish it's like me now sitting back that's a big reason why I took that risk you know and I'm glad that I did um the outpour of love I've been getting back is so amazing y'all don't even know I'm like I'm such a hermit and going out there into the world it was kind of scary besides work and going grocery shopping but going out there into the world and showing my personality was been like a big thing and I love that the feedback I'm getting is good.

SPEAKER_09 1:20:51

I'm like okay you guys actually do like yeah I actually have a group I can hang out with well I mean as we same thing we said to a talk on the we have you know cosplayers we have you know content creators you have people a part of the blurred spectrum that if you need models or you need promotions or you need cosplayers uh uh we got show information I hope you got ours uh oh yes I'm gonna be look I am so this uh when I do this live this live is gonna only have I'm only gonna be dropping 25 at a time of each thing I have to sell out the first 25 before I drop another 25 because I want to make sure that everybody but there's gonna be a list that everybody can get on.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:33

So if you guys want to get on the list and once I drop that live recorded visit my DM we will already have at least the DM now so half of our thing ahead of time because it's just vibrant colors like I really wish I could show you guys uh all my designs me personally I've been working on because I got some Naruto stuff that's just like out of this world like that's what you guys gonna see at 1 p.m these shirts that I did that are Naruto based and it's just like oh I showed like the VP who's my brother my little brother I showed him he was like where where did you come up with this I was like I don't know I just thought about it. He was like I just thought it would be cool to see that he was like this is crazy like I got the galaxy I got a girl and a guy version of it and that's why I'm trying to decide how I want it to look so I can go ahead and drop it. So please go into this live at 1 p.m you will see me in here with it you get to see those shirts and I'll show you guys another shirt I did which is like based on one of my favorite movies attack uh attack the block if you guys have never seen that movie uh it's in my queue I need to watch it you gotta watch it I love it it's okay so we're going into you gotta you can't be like oh this has to be a high you know all spectacular movie no it's a good movie based in uh in the UK and it's about John Boygo or Daniel Kalua one of them is in it I think it's John Boygo yes that's what actually got him his um role in Star Wars uh yeah yeah so yeah and and that movie was so good and just sci-fi black you know all the black kids all the kids of various different hues and there's kids of very different other ethnicities in there too but mostly black kids are in there and they're fighting off aliens is crazy. I was like I like this I'm a I'm sci-fi and horror so I loved it so one of my shirts is based on that I got a couple shirts based on different things and I'm just ready to like drop but I know I have to just build it up so you guys can get ready.

SPEAKER_09 1:23:28

I mean we're ready too I'm kind of mad that we're not getting all of them right now but it's like I know I'm just waiting on I'm waiting on some of my artists to finish up what they're doing so I can send the rest of it out only half of it is coming on its way in like the next week or so like a lot of wind breakers and stuff like that and I just want to I want to give everybody a big spectrum of things to be able to go get well you want to give them the blurred spectrum of things to go get the blurred spectrum of things to go get at GERD clothing you guys go ahead I know you're just joining back with us because you had you know D sailor moon but we didn't think all of the blue it's okay but um what just to give you a quick update you will be modeling for Otaka Noir's uh cosplay calendar as well as GERD clothing so prepare yourself yes oh I oh oh I'm I'm I'm modeling yes yes yes okay we called out to you and uh we knew you were uh deep but we we we got we we got you the hookup girl you you good I was hearing it in the background I was like cosplayers um cosplayers like I heard you I'm coming oh yes you you will be modeling GERD clothing you will also be in uh otaku noir's calendar that will be coming out later this year well they're they're settling exactly the months and the different uh cosplayers and everything like that so I'm not gonna say you're gonna be in it she's gonna be in it but um I already called February Miss Skills of course has July so July that's all I need right that's all she needs that's all I need so no we we are definitely excited uh uh for Gird clothing we um I I I know for a fact if not all of us the majority of blurred spectrum will be up in that live at four o'clock today um or one o'clock your side four o'clock our side um and then you know we definitely uh if the Blackman question go ahead and send that DM you could just send it on the behest of black uh of the blurred spectrum oh I was gonna do it about half of myself but sure thank you so this don't include me was I supposed to include everybody I just need that letterman I need like that that's the start to all that letterman is like literally it's leather leather sleeves oh my god uh classic wool the designs it's just like you i you don't see many many lettermen with writing on the sleeves and stuff like that and that was very important with me and it's just all geeky and nerdy and I was just like that letterman so that this is and this is just my little drop honestly because my December drop is gonna be super crazy because I got some more artists that I wanted to work with and I want and a lot of a lot of the artists I'm working with you guys know them and you guys seen them so I got a lot more artists that I wanted to work with some of the other ones I am working with again going to be working with again I'm sorry I'm asking too much don't tell me don't tell me that's it.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:21

Okay you'll probably if you don't know I I'll go ahead and just shout them out when when everything drops so I can let them know so they can get their shot I love the lot I want more you can shout them out now of them he's doing some work for me see this is why I said that's my dog that you also I can't even repeat that one more time. You've seen them on Instagram you would you would know I probably seen them there's so many like I love how there's so many black cosplayers now that I can't actually remember the names because there's so many now but I can see them and recognize them but before you know it was even like such it was always a small community but it was smaller like year ago and now it's just exploded to so many black cosplayers and it's like wow I can't even remember all the names so but I know I'll probably I probably recognize the picture so I'm excited though I want to see the list with Liz that yes oh I got I'll give you guys a list when as soon as all the t-shirts I get all my t-shirts in I'm gonna give you guys a list as I show everything all of that's gonna be done in that live and it's you guys will get to see the entire collection of every single thing. So I this is just a little drop but December is going to be super crazy because I get to get in my uh my jacket page where if I get to look at we can do bubble jackets we get to do some more sweatshirts and more hoodies some more screen tees and some other stuff that I want to do and I love it. I can't wait.

SPEAKER_09 1:27:58

Awesome awesome awesome so Like I said, we will be following, we will be ret uh resharing. Uh people gonna know about girl clothing.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:06

So make sure.

SPEAKER_09 1:28:08

No, no, most definitely. Uh well, after we buy ours, then they'll know exactly. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:14

I'm sorry, one one more one more thing. I do have a sale going on right now. So for my stock that I have in right now, I have a sale going on.

SPEAKER_10 1:28:20

Um Negro, that's all you had to say.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:25

If you go to my Instagram page, it shows exactly the uh the promo codes for it for each one. So hey, you go from 10, I think up to 25 or 30.

SPEAKER_10 1:28:35

It's up to 25.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:37

Up to 25, yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_09 1:28:38

Um, yes, I was about to say the black and court has a Twitter finger. So anytime you say on my page, they're there within about me.

SPEAKER_10 1:28:48

Don't tell my business like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:50

And it's up to 25%. So that's I'm trying to just get that sale going on with the rest of my stuff until because I just got my um the rest of my hoodies in, and because we changed the colorways on the black ones, um, for at least some of it, so it looks totally different, and I actually love it better than the other ones where and I was like, Oh yeah, we gotta do this. So it's kind of like it. I posted pictures on there too of those uh hoodies, um, the colorway changes, and those are all on sale right now. I got patches, I got hoodies, we got all that stuff going on.

SPEAKER_09 1:29:23

Phenomenal. So we're gonna share some of that stuff after this. Well, after we're done recording, we're gonna share it this week. And then of course, when the episode drops, uh, I guess what we'll probably do is after we see the live, if you have any specific ones that you want to promote, we'll definitely promote it when the episode comes out on Wednesday. So that's awesome. Um, so thank you, Girl Clothing. Thank you, Indra. Uh, we want to go on to our uh final business of today, and that is Khadijah of Melanin's Paradise. Uh, I've known this uh business owner for some time, and one thing I know about Melanin's Paradise is uh based off of uh well Khadija or Miss KD's uh experience, her her, you know, her occupation, I'll say. Uh Melanin's Paradise is a an apparel-based store that you know gives you a little bit of, gives you things to think about uh in its in in its approach, gives you some soothing messages, some some eye-opening messages, some check yourself before you wreck yourself messages. Uh so I'm gonna let her go ahead. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna take the thunder. Uh miss uh Miss KD, Miss Khadija.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:39

Wow, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Um it was that's a very beautiful introduction. That was a marvelous introduction. Thank you. Um Melanin's Paradise is honestly my baby. I started it October 2020. Um, this is for me to be in such a short time of business. I was able to have my business exposed on local news. Um, I was able to gain up to 300 followers in less than like two months. Like the message itself has um gathered people together the way that I wanted it to, and I want it to continue. Um, our main home message for Melanin's Paradise is don't be scared. It's only Melanin. I mean, how you gonna be mad at someone for being black? That's mainly how it started. Me and my friends, we always have conversations about racism, racial injustices. It's especially how it's now playing in front of our faces like a movie. Um, it's not something that we hear about on the news anymore, like we can wake up and hear the next thing happen to a fellow brother or sister in less than five minutes. And usually 80 to 90 percent of the time is because they are a person of color before they figure out their crime, if there is even a crime committed. So you being a different shade than what the norm shade is is a crime. So me and my friends were just having casual conversations about racism. And I said, okay, so let's just take away the whole fact that I'm black into skin color. What will really be the point of racism? No one had a no one had an answer. Because if you really think about it, it goes down to the skin color, whether it's increase or deep decrease in my skin, how you're gonna treat me or the value of you thinking of how I am. So with melanin's paradise.

SPEAKER_10 1:32:40

I just gave a lecture on it last week.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:43

We're not talking about it is all it's it is a continuous thing. And um, with my shirt, I want people to stop and stare. I want them to first see it and think about the phrase, say, wait, don't be scared, it's only melanin. What does that mean? Then they will repeat it to themselves. Don't be scared, it's oh wow. Oh, the amount of Caucasian when I tell you the uncomfortability on their faces. But I want you to be uncomfortable because you have to check yourself. You have to think, wait, why am I so bad at this person for being darker? Wait a minute. But also with Melanist Paradise, um, I have two collections. The first collection is to do the checking, doing the telling people about themselves. But also my second collection, blackness, is to represent us, those who understand that I am black. I love my blackness from the top to the bottom, ancestry and all. But I see that people don't want to be black until it's time to be black. My blackness is not a personality trait. That is the phrase of our second collection. So my main thing with Melanin's Paradise is to challenge societal's awareness towards racism just through these phrases alone. Like one of my um, your sister, she just went on a trip. Lady Lady, she wears my mask. Uh, I I don't have it with me, but it has don't be scared, it's only melanin. So she took a picture and she sent it to me. She was like, We don't know why people keep staring at you, but you forgot that you have this mask on.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:23

I said, Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 1:34:26

And I know what wearing, and I and I know exactly what pace she was probably making.

SPEAKER_08 1:34:30

Why are you over there?

SPEAKER_05 1:34:31

Why are y'all staring?

SPEAKER_08 1:34:32

Why are you over there looking at me?

SPEAKER_03 1:34:36

And it's very crazy how, well, you know, this is gonna come out into the world, but according to AB7 News, how the phrase came is because me and my friends were having conversations about racism, which is true, yeah, you know. But how I really came up with the phrase, y'all, y'all gonna sit here and laugh. I was up exclusive one day, and I was um watching the movie How High with uh Method Man and Red Man. And I in this time I was making shirts, I don't know why, but I liked it and I loved it. So he it was a part when uh I think it was around the Halloween part when they had the costume, and then I guess two of the guys that were about to have sex with girls, and he said, Don't be scared, it's only the P word. You know, I'm gonna keep it family friendly on here. Thank you.

SPEAKER_10 1:35:27

And I was like, You don't have to, it's okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:29

Wow, don't be scared, it's only pussy.

SPEAKER_14 1:35:31

He said I could say, I can say immediately, immediately when that happens, but but my my uh ratchet self over here, like the D dog. Okay.

SPEAKER_10 1:36:06

All right, y'all, don't be projected.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:10

Immediately when he said that line, I said, that's how I feel about racism. Don't be scared, it's only melanin. I just put it on the shirt and then I printed it. This was back in 2017. When this company came to be, I was in my nine to five. I felt so unyoked. I just felt so unaligned, I just felt so confused, so upset. And I just cried that day. I'm like, God, you have something on my heart for me to start, you have something on my heart for me to open. I was just crying that day. I went to sleep, woke up. God told me to create the teespring thing, the tea spring, whatever, because I was doing my research for clothing brands before that. So I was doing print on demand before I did vendors. Now I'm transferring over to that, and that costs us a lot of money.

SPEAKER_08 1:36:58

But anyway, your clothing is an agreement.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:03

She said, Yeah, come talk to me. Actually, come talk to me. I got somebody um you might want to um deal with for your t-shirt, they're really good. Thank you. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_10 1:37:13

Come talk to you too.

SPEAKER_09 1:37:14

Oh connections. I love connections.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:18

So so at so after I oh oh, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_09 1:37:22

And then after that, we can all you know send y'all over to uh uh uh somebody's box where you can potentially put your um clothing and t-shirts. Oh, taco noir, uh lazy girl nerd.

SPEAKER_10 1:37:38

Yes, but then you two news creations, we haven't forgotten about you, sis.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:46

But uh when I went to sleep, like I was told, like, you know, make the teespring. I made the teespring. I I was like, but when I was sitting there, I was like, God, I don't know nothing about no clothing line. I don't know nothing about no clothing brain. What the hell am I doing here? I'm sitting here like what the hell am I doing here? Then I heard don't be scared, it's only melanin. I was just like, all right, cool.

SPEAKER_10 1:38:07

Typed it in and there we go.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:15

And I got crazy enough, I got fired from my job the very next day. The very next day I got fired from my job.

SPEAKER_10 1:38:22

Okay, racism makes its way into every aspect of our lives.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:27

But now we we are now we started just with t-shirts and joggers and things like that, but you know, I'm trying to go further. I want to be able to have it like in houses. We also have tote bags, weekend bags, but I'm now transform transforming to having jogger short sets since it's about to be the fall time, fall, winter time. But I want to have jogger short sets that are good for the winter, inter, spring, summer. Um my idea now is since we're all since we're all one shade, essentially, I want to be able to have each of the clothing match to each other's shade. We have nude, we have cocoa, we have chocolate, and we have mahogany. So it goes from the lightest of the light to the darkest of the dark. Any shade that you are, you have melanin, you can wear it.

SPEAKER_10 1:39:15

That's just it. We want our listeners to be on the light. There will be a special black McCoy shade.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:22

Period.

SPEAKER_10 1:39:24

Listen, send your swatches.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:39

It'll come in nice indigo.

SPEAKER_10 1:39:41

Okay. But no, um, so one thing I absolutely want to put like just listening to the the the birth of Melanin's Paradise. The thing that I love the most about these two collections is that you've built a very intentional um relationship to consumers based on these two different collections. And so um it and this is not just for y'all, but also for our listeners. Like, there's this um, there's this um writer or thinker, philosopher called Linda Alcallff. She does has this wonderful piece talking about you know race and the visibility of racism and um how you know we see race and how race has gained um a lot of its meaning and interpretations over the years. But um the the thing that stood out to me when you explained these two collections is that one of them, the the first collection you talked about, it's about the interpersonal relationship that people have with melanin, like the the relationship with the other, the relationship with how the other understands melanin, how they interpret it, how they take it into their lives. And the and the latter, it's for us, but those who are not melanin deficient. Like it is the intra-personal relationship, it's the relationship that we have with ourselves, and that the more empowering aspect and that communal and connected aspect. And that is I I love that. Like that, those two distinctions make such a strong identity for Melanin's Paradise, especially with those two collections. And I'm excited to see like what other like very fundamental concepts that come with critical race theory that you're going to imbue into your products as you continue to make more because it's it's brilliant.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:16

Thank you. I truly appreciate that because I I wanted to not only spark conversations within yourself so that you can check your own biases. Because my because myself, I'm not gonna lie. Before, I would say a couple of years ago, when I would see a whole bunch of black boys getting on a metro, I would feel some type of way because that's what I was conditioned to do. And then I'll like, but why do I feel that way? And it checked me. I'm like, they have melanin like I do, and then it go into that cycle. So I also want to be able to spark conversations in the household, um, spark conversations with children as well, because the generation is going to have to lead us. Everyone now is trying to how can I say appease one another, but they are not understanding what they're trying to appease if that makes any sense.

SPEAKER_10 1:42:10

Trying to serve the other, but you don't know who the other is.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:14

Right. And you can't say that you can't recognize my people's freedom as a national holiday when you just now put into federal written that it's a crime to now be lynched. That does not make sense to me. It does not make sense to me, but y'all want my personality on TikTok. I don't understand that.

SPEAKER_09 1:42:41

Don't go for the TikTokers. We already know they on strike. I know, I love it.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:46

I'm glad for them for that. And I'm very glad because honestly, if I can reach every actually, you know what? I if I can reach every black TikToker and give them my blackness is not a personality trait, I will give it to them for the free because that is exactly what that's about. Period.

SPEAKER_05 1:43:02

Oh thank you guys.

SPEAKER_09 1:43:07

It's truly what we're here for. That is what the blurred special is about. I don't know how a better way to end that. Uh that was excellent.

SPEAKER_10 1:43:18

Um we're gonna pass the collection plate around.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:23

Oh no, just one, just one quick one.

SPEAKER_10 1:43:26

Please go ahead. That's fine. We have Adrian with the benediction.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:29

The views, the views of Adrian and Deanna Bobbitt are not necessarily the views of Prime America. Glory, there it is. Just giving my disclosure before we get to you must, you must, you must.

SPEAKER_09 1:43:43

Thank you. Um, yes, so uh I hope our listeners, those who may watch this on YouTube, um, anyone who um hears the sound of our voices, uh takes anything that our panelists, our guests have said today to heart and is able to uh get apparel, get insurance, get get boxes, uh learn more about themselves as potential entrepreneurs, uh, be able to push forward and take those risks, uh, be able to identify you know different things that may cause you to be apprehensive, you know, any of the above. I I hope that this episode has helped you to figure those things out and is able to just take you another step forward, even if it you know takes a little bit of time. Uh, but oh, he found the shirt. Jesus Christ. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_06 1:44:35

Let me see, let me see. I mean you see it.

SPEAKER_07 1:44:37

He's how he's that shirt.

SPEAKER_09 1:44:45

They don't have anymore. That's the only one.

SPEAKER_10 1:44:47

What size is that one? This is the wife's shirt. This is my wife's shirt. I can't give this away. So I mean, you you should be all right.

SPEAKER_09 1:45:00

I play no games with nobody's wife. No, anywho.

SPEAKER_11 1:45:03

Okay, but he won't. Right.

SPEAKER_09 1:45:08

So uh we'll we'll we'll see what we can do about those shirts. But outside of that, uh, we want to thank all of our all of our businesses, all of our panelists, uh, for being on this episode today. We were very excited to do the episode. Um, and now I'm even more elated that we've done it, all the information that has been shared uh between each other, uh, and then of course to our listeners. Uh I feel like this this episode itself is going to uh uh create a lot of synergies and create a lot of opportunities, not just for each other, but definitely for those who will benefit from what we do in the future. Uh so I'm I'm I'm thankful for all of us who are here and thankful what for what's uh going to happen in the future. But at the end of all of our episodes, as I always do, I give each and every one of those who are on the episode the opportunity to uh you know tell us how to reach you, tell us how you know those who are listening can uh reach out to you. Uh so I'll just go in order, starting with our panelists and then well, no, I'll end with our panelists. I'll start with the businesses, starting with GERD Clothing. How can they reach you?

SPEAKER_04 1:46:12

All platforms at GERD Clothing, or you can go to my site again. And sale's going on right now, G-E-R-D clothing.com. Um, we're gonna be there, and again, you can see me at 1 p.m. today, uh Pacific Standard Time, three, what, four Eastern Standard Time. We're gonna be doing a live.

SPEAKER_10 1:46:31

So and in an hour, but this episode will go up on Wednesday, so we'll just make sure that we tell people.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:39

Make sure you tell everybody today.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:42

Uh Otaku Noir, Lazy Girl Nerd.

SPEAKER_12 1:46:45

Uh, our website it's uh otaku noir.com, so o-t-a-k-u-n-o-i-r dot com. Uh Instagram and TikTok, we are uh otaku noir, one word, so o-t-a-k-u-n-o-i-r. Uh we respond quickly to Instagram. We are on Facebook and Twitter. Uh Twitter is otaku underscore uh noir. So definitely you can sign in our DMs, we'll go uh answer all questions and comments there. Awesome sauce.

SPEAKER_10 1:47:14

I don't think you know how much it means to me that you say dms.

SPEAKER_09 1:47:17

Oh, here you go. How can you be reached?

SPEAKER_11 1:47:23

Um, well, you can reach us by email, uh Adrian A-D-R-I-A-N that bobbit, V-O-B-B-I-T-T at Primerica.com. Um, I'm also on Instagram, Adrian underscore Bobbit underscore sink senior s r awesome, awesome.

SPEAKER_09 1:47:43

Um, and then also for Melanin's Paradise, uh, we had uh Miss K D, she had to step out. Uh, but to reach her, Melanin's Paradise uh uh collect uh Marilyn's Paradise Collection.com or Marilyn's Paradise Collection, Melanin's Paradise Collection. I didn't want people to think I'd say Marilyn because that's not what I said, Melaninsparadise.com, also on Instagram, Melanin's Paradise Collection, um, as well as Facebook. Um, and then of course, our panelists, our Steam panelists, uh Shampoo Bracelets.

SPEAKER_06 1:48:15

You always do that when I was looking at something. You're welcome. Yeah, it's at shampoo bracelets on Instagram, at shammyb87 on Twitter, and I believe his Discord is Shampoo Bracelets as well.

SPEAKER_09 1:48:31

Uh, the Black McCoy.

SPEAKER_10 1:48:32

You can find me at the Black McCoy on uh Instagram and the Black McCoy cosplay on Facebook. Please stay tuned. We have very interesting projects coming. This WIP is going to be one for the black record books.

SPEAKER_09 1:48:48

Yes, quite Ms. Skittles.

SPEAKER_07 1:48:53

Uh Ms. Skittles, uh TR underscore cosplay on Instagram and Facebook.

SPEAKER_09 1:49:01

And then of course, uh Ms. Sayone Cosplay had to step out as well. Her socials are Sayone underscore cosplay. It's Sione Cosplay on Instagram, Syone underscore cosplay on Twitter. I hope. I don't know about Twitter, but uh she also has a she also has a TikTok. What'd you say, Miss Kittles?

SPEAKER_07 1:49:24

I said Facebook.

SPEAKER_09 1:49:25

Oh, Facebook, sorry, not Twitter, Facebook.

SPEAKER_07 1:49:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:49:29

Also, if you wanted to reach out to me, it is Umbral Star Cade on all platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, and uh on Discord, Suchino Shogun. And then, of course, as a collective, if you maybe want to hear more about uh GERD clothing, more about Prime America, more about Otako Noir, more about Melana's Paradise, you can send a message to our mailbag at the blurred spectrum at umbral umbrellk.com, or you can reach out to our direct messages of uh of the blurred spectrum on Instagram.

SPEAKER_10 1:50:04

That was abusive.

SPEAKER_09 1:50:06

And then Blurred Spectrum on Twitter. Once again, thank you all. Uh, thank you all for being on this panel. Thank you all for listening. Uh, we will have many, many, many more things during this Melanin solstice. Uh, check out the calendar that is definitely gonna come soon, featuring some fantastic people. Uh, check out uh all the bomb drops that we did today of shirts and and jackets. Uh uh check out GERD clothing. Granted, this will be posted on Wednesday, but we're gonna talk about it on the day we recorded this.

SPEAKER_10 1:50:37

So wait, pause for those of you who uh can't see us right now. You don't see Suchino Shogun doing the Birdman head rub as he's saying all of this.

SPEAKER_09 1:50:44

Like I didn't even touch my head anyway.

SPEAKER_10 1:50:46

I said hand, the bird man hand rub.

SPEAKER_09 1:50:49

Oh sorry. Okay, um, yes. So uh GERD clothing is going live today. Uh one 4 p.m. Eastern, one 1 p.m. Pacific. Uh I said Pacific, right? I didn't say specific. Good. Okay, Pacific. Um also uh if you need any information about uh life insurance or investments, uh we can give you, we'll make sure to post Adrian and D's contact information on our Instagram and Facebook. And then if you want any motivational messages or apparel for Melanin's Paradise, we can give you, or we'll share uh uh their uh uh Instagram and their website on our social media as well. Other than that, thank you everyone for listening. And we will be back next week for another episode of the Blurred Spectrum and of course Melanin's I said Melanin's Paradise, melanated solstice. Thank you, everyone. Bye, everybody.

SPEAKER_07 1:51:46

Bye.