Your Biggest Startup Mistake Might Be Obvious

What does it really take to build a creative platform without privilege, shortcuts, or hype? 

Founders often get caught up in big ideas, forgetting the power of their community. Nai shares how to adapt by focusing on available resources and scaling down, proving that effective community building can lead to significant social change. Learning how to pivot in business through resource allocation and fostering engagement can help even small business owners achieve significant social change.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction: Scaling Down and Community Focus
• 0:37 Welcome to The Student Guide
• 1:07 Meet Nai: Cultural Curator and Fashion Enthusiast
• 2:54 Early Influences and Creative Identity
• 8:42 Founding ALT WORLD: Supporting BIPOC Creatives
• 13:52 The Journey and Growth of ALT WORLD
• 18:43 Treasure Talks: The Significance of a Topaz Bracelet
• 20:30 Diversity and Representation in Fashion
• 34:33 The Importance of Contingency Plans
• 35:17 The Reality of Freelancing and Working Jobs
• 36:25 Learning from Various Job Experiences
• 38:20 The Misconceptions of Business Success
• 43:52 Balancing Commercial Goals with Inclusion
• 47:59 Navigating the Podcast Space as an Independent Creator
• 51:26 Scaling and Future Plans for the Podcast
• 1:02:21 Final Thoughts and Takeaways

Transcript

One thing I realized that a lot of founders do is we get so obsessed over the big things and we don't know how to scale down and actually tap into our community. So I decided to do that and to just like focus on what I can do with the resources that I had and not to just like focus on these large scale events.

So I think throughout every single year there's been a pivot. So like the first year we were really gearing towards moving into production and you know, like creating our own fashion week, but I felt that was very premature. Mm-hmm.

Hello everyone. Hope you're doing well. Hope you're looking after yourselves. Welcome to another episode of The Student Guide. We are, if I am correct, this is episode nine. So we are slowly approaching the end season eight, which is wild to think. Uh, we're coming up to 80 episodes. Uh, we have another amazing guest speaker, uh, here today to tell you another amazing story.

As you all know, I don't like doing introductions because I think we should hear from these amazing individuals themselves. So instead, I'm gonna hand over this as the two today's guest speaker. Could we please know a bit more about you and what you do? 

Amazing. Hey guys. Isha Gona. Uh, my name is Naomi. Um, I work as a cultural curator and I also work within fashion doing pr, creative consultancy, and I'm building a platform called Alt World, which empowers POC fashion creatives.

That's incredible. Thank you. And thank you. Uh, before we go into learning more about, uh, you two, the questions I've got, we come first to our first segment of the episode, 44 questions brought by Amanda from 44 words where she reviews the buyers of our speakers and comes up with a creative question so we can all learn a bit more about them.

So, NA um, the question is, if you were to write an essay on the current state of creativity, what would the first line be? 

A, uh, I would say

the, the creative industry or creativity? 

Creativity. 

Okay. Creativity is not creativity. Mm. 

Okay. Do you wanna expand on that? 

Yeah. I feel like, and I'm, this is coming from someone who admires hyper creative and isn't the most artistic, but I have a creative mind. I feel like, especially within my ecosystem, which is more the fashion industry, I feel like there's a lack of creativity and there's more focus on tags and brands, which is fine in itself, but I feel like, um, there isn't enough emphasis on, you know, creatives and, and deep creativity.

Yeah. I really get that. Um, yeah, that's really interesting. I, well, you don't have to write the full essay. Mm-hmm. But, uh, if you ever do, I'm looking forward to hearing the rest. Um, we're gonna get started with the first official question we've got for you. Uh, and this is linked to your early. Influences and identity.

Uh, so, you know, in your, your bio you've spoken about your, your mother's reselling business mm-hmm. And your childhood upbringing of wandering through Herod's and how that shaped your relationship with fashion. Yeah. So the question is, how did those early experiences influence your creative identity and mission?

Yeah, no, thank you for bringing that up. I love that question. Um, so yeah, I think seeing my mom being an entrepreneur, but within her special interest, which at that time was closed, made me realize that like, you can literally live your best life and do whatever you want as long as you have a plan. And my mom was, um, she started her business after being stuck in a very dry nine to five.

And even though, like within our culture and Nigerian, um, you know. You are supposed to have, be a lawyer, a doctor in all these prestigious roles. She, I could see her crumbling and her, her love was just for clothes and for vintage pieces. And, um, I just saw the love and passion that she would have and she would like go to certain outlets and then curate like a barrel to send back to Nigeria for the shop in comparison to when she was doing her nine to five.

And I've, I have that, I have that too, where it's like if I'm not doing something that I enjoy, I genuinely feel brain dead and I don't feel like I can actually succeed or be successful. So I think she was definitely an inspiration for me too. And I feel like, um, during that time as well, my mom was very detailed in regards to, like, her thing was bags, right?

Like she's a bag lady. Like she loves archives, archive, vintage pieces, designer bags and stuff like that. And just like watching her. Being an entrepreneur was, it was so, it was so powerful for me. I didn't have like a strong male presence in, and I don't really, there's a lot more women. I come from a matriarchal home.

Mm. So like, it was, it was very powerful and empowering to me to know that like, wow, she's a boss and a go-getter. I can be that too. Um, and then in regards to, um, Herods and stuff, so I'll explain the story 'cause it's probably just like, what was that? So again, growing up things were quite difficult as you can already gather.

My mom had two jobs, so she had to, um, make it work for us. Um, and even though there was times where children were going on holiday and they had money to go, mom would just take us salads. Mm. I was just like, it's your holiday. Go, go and wander and look at stuff that you can't afford. Mm. But just fill, fill the clothes.

And I remember, like I, at that time, we lived in the. In an area that wasn't the best. Mm-hmm. But then that escape, that was a level of escapism for me, just going down to knightsbridge, feeding the clothes. And, and I always used to wonder, um, around, um, the different departments and the different designers and look at the way they style the mannequins was like, this is rubbish.

Like you should actually put this and that. So I feel like my love for clothes and for putting things together and piecing, um, for style rather than fashion really came from, from just wandering around in Herod's. So yeah, I've always just loved fashion. That's been a special interest of mine. So, yeah.

That's really nice. And I think it's clear to see like the influence, like how that's influenced even like your style now. Like people can see, well you, they can't see your bag, but you, your bag literally matches your outfit. You style this all out. Yeah. And I think it's really shown how, like you said, those early experiences really impact like.

Where you like who you become afterwards. Yeah. Um, but also I think, like you said, like as also as a, as a Nigerian, um, there is definitely the perception of you need to go down like the doctoral route, right. Especially if you are like going into like entrepreneurship. Mm-hmm. Um, that's seen as like unclear grounds.

Mm-hmm. Um, but I agree with you that it was really nice. Like even like I know my parents, both of them run businesses, uh, like outside of work. Mm-hmm. Um, and I've, that's been a real inspiring thing for myself and also my siblings because it's like, oh, cool. Like if our parents can do it, we can do it too.

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. I think it's something, and I feel like I, I wish there were more examples of that, of successful entrepreneurs as well, and even if the. Even if the venture wasn't successful, just that risk taking, you know, because ENT entrepreneurship, it's, it's a, it's a big, it's character building for sure, for sure.

But just seeing someone that was able to take risks and, yeah, I saw a lot of failures. There was times where, you know, things didn't go right, but then there was loads of wins too. Mm. Um, I think it inspired me to just have this go-getter, fierce mindset. And I think, again, one thing I was inspired by my mom with is that my mom is actually a pharmacist by trade.

It was, um, but yeah, her special interest was fashion at that time. Now it's changed into wellness, but, um, it was fashion and like, she didn't study, she didn't go to school to learn about styling or buying and stuff, but she used to do international trade. Wow. Um, again, buying certain pieces and selling them, um, sending them back home.

And I feel like. That was so inspirational for me because I realized you don't have to have everything together. You don't have to always be the most knowledgeable person at first, but you can learn on the job and if it's something you're passionate about, you'll get it and you'll go clear. Um, hard work sometimes beats talent 

a hundred percent.

Um, and yeah, that was, that was, I think having that and seeing that on a day to day was something that I found very inspiring. Yeah. Yeah. 

That's really cool. Um, but it is, it's interesting 'cause we ended the last question talking about. Your mother, her business. But this, now the next question is all about your own business.

Okay. So as the founder of ALT World, you amplify, um, uh, bi Oh, see, look, acronyms in me. I tell you. I'm, I'm not the, I'm not, you can 

say 

POCP. Thank you. 

Yeah, 

yeah, yeah. Because like, I was like POC. Or 

bipoc. 

Or bipoc because the thing is, you know what I was going, I was like, I was gonna say the whole acronym and I was like, should look 

black in digitalized people of color.

And I was just like, 

save it. 

But you amplify Bipoc and, um, POC led brands. Yes. Which is one really incredible because, uh, thank you. We all know, uh, it's interesting, I guess one, as being a black founder, it's interesting to see how the world has changed post 2020. Mm-hmm. In the sense that like, there was a lot of things of like, oh yeah, we need to support black owned businesses.

We need programs that support them, funding that supports them. And then like five years later. 

Is bees. 

Nothing. There's nothing there. 

Yeah. 

And it's almost as if people feel like we've solved, uh, the problem that is racism. Yeah. Um, but you, the work you're doing is incredible. Thank you. And you're supporting all of these brands.

Thank you. Um, so my question to you is, what gaps did you see in the industry that drove you to create this pr, create this platform, and how has it grown so far? 

Yeah. You asked such good questions. Thank you. This is probably one, yeah. This is one of my favorite things I've been on so far. Yeah. So, um, okay.

I had a brand, I had an eyewear brand, and I remember struggling so much because I kept having, I, I kept being told to look and aspire to brands that don't relate to me. Mm-hmm. So again, like the luxury brands, like the Gucci and the Pars, and for me that's like a final, that was a final goal at that time.

However, like again, I, when I had GI started G in what, 2021. It was very shortlived, but culture was the currency for me. Mm-hmm. Like my biggest supporters were people within the creative industry, just like black creatives, old creatives. Mm. Um, people who didn't just buy into the product, but bought into me as well.

Mm. And I found that there wasn't really like a support system or a space that spotlighted a lot of independent brands. I felt like, and that's what also led me to PR because I felt like I needed more PR at that time. And when I would try and get pr, I remember like having certain companies reaching out on dms, huge companies for me to pay them to spotlight me.

And for me, I was like, I can't, I'm just about spending money on, on packaging. I don't have time to now pay for pr. So, um, alt world was kind of birthed from, well, not out world, not the whole thing, but. I saw a gap, and the gap was spotlighting independent black owned brands globally as well. So in London, London has its token brands that I love and that I respect.

I'm not one of those creators that popped down anyone. I respect every single person who has built a cool career, but I feel like London has its favorites. Mm. And they tend to champion those. Mm. However, there's, you'll find a girl in Ghana who is incredible at crochet and no one's spotlighting her. Mm. Or you will find like a really cool, um, bespoke beaded band, um, bag brand from a babe from Belgium that is, has like a hundred and something followers.

Mm. And as someone that has a very good eye, if I like to say, so, if I would like to say so myself or like I've got good taste, I like to literally scan, look at these brands and put them on. I don't care how much followers you have, it's important. Another reason as well is, um, I used to do styling and one thing I find is that a lot of stylists go to the same prs and all their talents are all wearing the same things.

But if you are able to tap into new brands, and again, we're, we are kind of becoming more of like a discovery platform as well because, um, of the spotlight of different brands, you can literally go on Old world and find a new designer and then, you know, dress up your talent in something really cool and you're supporting, you know, a babe who's probably trying to make it outta the hood, you know?

So yeah. So that was the niche. I think that was the gap. I think the gap was that there wasn't a lot of support to independent bipoc designers and I wanna create, you know, a platform to do so. 

Mm-hmm. Well, I think that's really cool. Uh, and then, yeah, the second part is, well, actually before I go to the second part, I think that's really cool because also I agree that like.

There is this huge misconception of you need to be like, you need a massive audience to be really great. Yeah, 

no, 

like, uh, funny enough, she's behind the camera, so she'll smile when I say this, but my, one of my sisters basically says like, it's interesting because they're literally, like you said, there may be people that can create like the most amazing pieces of clothing, but just because they don't have like a social media following or big platforms.

Yeah. You may never hear of this person. Yeah. 

Yeah. 

And, um, platforms are like yours are helping to address that. 

Yeah. Thank you. Bit by brick, by brick. It's not like always easy as well. Um, but again, that's the, that's the 

aim. Mm, no, it's really cool. And I guess the second part is how has it grown so far? So I guess from when you first launched to now, how has that journey been?

It's been interesting. I think good things take time because funny enough, my story isn't like, wow, within two years I did all these in No, it's actually been. A journey. So initially when we started off, it was very much focused on brands. We had like a runway event, which went really, really sick at that time.

I was working with a different team as well. Um, and yeah, it was so incredible the, the stuff we were able to do spotlight in, um, brands in Ghana. Mm. But then funny enough, um, one thing I realized that a lot of founders do is we get so obsessed over the big things and we don't know how to scale down and actually tap into our community.

Mm-hmm. So I decided to do that and to just like focus on what I can do with the resources that I had and not to just like, focus on these large scale events. So. I think throughout every single year there's been a pivot. So like the first year we were really gearing towards moving into production and, you know, like creating our own fashion week, but I felt that was very premature.

So we had to scale it all the way down to just like, research and again, becoming more of a discovery platform as well as also, um, creating like DNI initiatives for like brands to tap in to, um, bipoc creatives. So again, main focus was designers. Then we start speaking to stylists, then we start speaking to prs, fabric technologists, and just like different black and, you know, POC taste makers within fashion.

So yeah, I feel like the first five years, whenever you are launching something. You, you need to allow, don't be too rigid. Mm. Allow yourself to pivot. Allow yourself to grow with the brand and with the business too. Because then you can like, think of new creative ideas to really like, you know, work on your mission and stuff like that.

Yeah. 

Yeah. I think, I think that's so true because even like for, for us, like we, so we started off with this podcast. Mm-hmm. It was like the first thing we were doing. Um, and then within that first year it was good, you know, we were doing different episodes, it was coming along. Mm-hmm. Um, and then it, like, we then started doing all this additional content.

'cause we would have conversation with people and it'd be like, oh, this is really cool, but like, we don't feel like to do another episode focused on this would make sense. We were just like, let's create all these additional content. And we were doing all of this. And then we got to a stage where we were just like, oh, this additional stuff is literally.

Takes the same amount of time, same amount of effort, same amount of love as our, as this podcast. We were just like, actually are we really saying that we've got one main podcast and loads of additional podcasts? Mm-hmm. Then when actually we've actually got like loads of podcasts under us and we, our podcast network and then now, like we, within the last year I said, we've run our creative hub or creative platform for people and now that's changed.

'cause basically after doing some research and really thinking about it, I've been like, we actually basically are essentially a social enterprise. 

Yeah. 

Um, but like you said, allowing yourself to pivot and like not limiting yourself to just have like one thing or like your business to stay in one area is so key.

Yeah. I love that. And I feel so seen by you saying that. And I feel like also for anyone who is a founder, stop allowing people to put you in boxes and stop allowing people to pressure you into also describing yourself. I found that all the time. People always like, what do you, so what is art world? You see what art world is?

Art world. The, as long as your core mission is. It is, is, um, consistent. You can grow. Like you can change, you can pivot. Think of like huge brands like Fenty. Fenty started off, she'd done, um, round on clo and then lingerie and then beauty. No one's questioning her to say, oh, what's this all about? They know that the baseline is that she's big on inclusivity and obviously she's a talent who has now pivoted into, you know, entrepreneurship.

So I think there's so much pressure on people to have it all figured out, and it's like, no, don't allow anyone to pressure you. Just as long as you know your vision. And you know, the, the main principle again with you, the main principle from what I know and what I've observed is like storytelling, exploring stories, bridging the gaps between communities.

So however you do that, it doesn't matter as long as the main, the, the main value is, is there and you keep growing and you're not growing backwards, then it, you can pick for me, you can pivot 10,000 times. Like, um. Yeah, I think sometimes a lot of people follow this really rigid approach and for me, as someone who's neurodivergent neuro spicy, that doesn't work for me.

So I can say, this is what art world is, and then in two years it changes, but regardless, y'all gonna benefit from it, so, yeah. 

Yeah. 

Oh good. 

Um, we're now gonna go on to, uh, our new segment for this season, which is Treasure Talks. Nice. Which is, uh, an item or belonging of significance to our speakers. Uh, so now what is your item?

Could you tell us what it is, but also, um, what is the significance to you? 

Okay, so it's just Topaz bracelet that I got from Paris. Um, and why it's important to me is because it makes me feel, um, calm. 

Mm-hmm. 

Um, with what I do. It's very dynamic. You are meeting a lots of people and yes, I do have a big personality, but your girl gets a bit anxious sometimes and I feel like there's, um, sometimes.

You just need something to ground you to feel regulated. And basically it's heavy and, but the pressure it has, like, it sounds very dramatic, but it actually makes you feel quite zen. Mm. Um, so yeah, I always wear this, it's like a weighted, it has the same effects a weighted blanket would have on you, but just on your arm.

So something dynamics, um, something you can wear on your, on your day to day. So yeah, I always like to feel grounded and to reset with what I do. I speak to so many people and like sometimes I'm overstimulated, so yeah. This doesn't leave me nice. Very 

nice. And I think, like you said, like sometimes, um, like people do forget that, like, especially as a founder, like yes, you will have to go out there and talk to people and all that stuff, but like you said, sometimes you will have times when you're like, this is getting overwhelming, this is a lot.

And you're just like, like you said, you need something to ground you. Mm-hmm. Like to keep you in the moment. Or even just to like. Give you like a five minute breather to just relax. Yeah. So that's really cool. 

Thank you. Thank you. 

Um, we're gonna go on, before we get into the next question, we're gonna start, uh, with our mic check, which is our fact figure that's relevant to the top we're talking about.

Wow. Um, and this one is, according to the UK Fashion and Textile Association, just 7% of senior leadership roles in the uk fa in UK fashion, are held by people from ethnic minority backgrounds. And this really highlights the importance of, uh, diversity, DEI mm-hmm. As a whole, but also representation and advocacy in fashion.

Yeah. 

More so now than ever. 

Mm-hmm. 

So you've spoken on the elitist and exclusionary, uh, under circuits. Not under circuits undercurrent, sorry. Yeah. In fashion. 

Mm-hmm. 

My question to you is, what are some of the barriers you face per personally, and how do you help other creatives navigate through those pressures?

Gatekeeping, 

mm-hmm. 

Um, and I'm gonna speak on quite a sensitive topic. Mm. I think it's so sad that like, because of this, guess because there isn't a lot of, um, POC leaders within the fashion industry, sometimes those are the ones that are the biggest gatekeepers. Mm. And it doesn't, I don't even take it personal.

It's more from a place of like, you have to work so hard to get here. So now you kind of wanna just hog everything to yourself. Mm. Um, I like to simplify and dumb down fashion. Okay. And the fashion industry, I feel like it is just a, it's a space that has, it's so unnecessary, unnecessarily elitist. At the end of the day, what are the four main major factors?

Every human needs food. Sustenance. I wore three. And clothes. Yeah. Clothes. It's fashion. I'm not talking about style styles. Different. That's more from within. And it's about fashion. Mm-hmm. And I just feel like. If you have a love for clothes and a love for, you know, like also culture as well. 'cause culture really, a lot of people just think fashion is just trends and stuff, but there's a lot of like culture and even like sociology that goes into and history within fashion.

But I digress. But what I'm a major thing is gatekeeping. I feel like everyone is so hush hush about everything and everyone uses all these big fashion terms and now that I've kind of like cracked certain things, I'm like, you guys are just jar. Because this is so easy and in fact we need more representation in the industry.

There's no point hiding. And I think how I'm able to combat is with Fashion Insights, which is a series that I have. Um, and it's where we delve into like, um, conversations with different. Fashion taste makers in order to, for them to speak about their journey. Because there's so many people that feel like they have to have it all together in order to enter into the fashion world.

Or to become a stylist. To become a PR when really, like, it's actually kind of easy. Um, and it's always good for it is what I needed. I remember wanting to see someone that looks like me, who came from the same space as I came from, who wasn't, you know, a nepo baby. There's no problem with Nepo babies, by the way.

I love them. Love y'all. But I'm just saying like, who just had a very regular ular life? Like, you know, who was able to build brick by brick? No, no. Like no shortcuts. Um, yeah. And a lot. And I needed to see a lot, a lot more female representation as well. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, I think my way of combating that is with fashion insights.

Mm-hmm. Um, and also with. I would like to say that I've kind of built a name for being someone that just ask. Mm. If you ask, you can get, obviously don't use me now. Don't, don't be crazy. But I just feel like there's too much gate keeping and it's like if the greater good is take away, egos, egos is to help, um, and to build a more inclusive fashion industry, then I feel like there should be a lot more knowledge exchange.

No, a hundred percent. Yeah. And I think, like you said there, that like, like I had an interesting conversation, not just about like fashion, but also about just like essentially like business as a whole. And we were talking about that it does sometimes, uh, or like I've spoken with different people and it does sometimes feel that like, especially for certain founders who've maybe been in the business game for a lot longer or they've gotten traction a lot quicker, um, they, they're just like, oh, like.

We are not at the same stage. So like, you need to work hard, you need to, like, you're not putting in this time and energy. Um, that is, yeah. No, honestly, and I agree. And we were talking about it 'cause we were just like, it's, it's I guess to me, like, to me, I'll speak from my perspective, for me it's mind boggling that like mm-hmm.

You can, I don't know, have the hardest experience to grow your business. Mm-hmm. You get like, let's get, say you get six figures, you're getting, bringing all this like great things in and then to just, I don't know, almost like forget how much, how hard it was for you. Yeah. And then to be like, oh yeah, like this person needs help.

Don't worry about it. Like, they need to work as like twice as hard as I did. 

Yeah. 

To even, like, for me to give them like the time of day for like a simple conversation. Yeah. I've just never really understood like that mentality. 

Neither have I, and I love this conversation so much because I've gotten in so much trouble for it.

Uh, what, what do we do this for, for me? I've, I've made so many mistakes and I want to build art world to a place where people can just like view our content view, um, enjoy our experiences and things that took me five years to do. They can do it two years. That's what we do it for. Like I feel like yeah, there's a struggle mentality that a lot of people have and, and unfortunately I think it's just ego.

Mm-hmm. It's just when you are building within the creative industry from a place of ego, you're never really, you, you don't really care about empowerment. Mm-hmm. You just wanna hug everything to yourself. But I feel like, again, I'm gonna pick up a few people as well. People like myself, um, Jena, um, the Fashion Blueprint, um, and some other cool other collectives as well.

Um. We're all focused on trying to help and trying to actually change, um, the trajectory as well within, within the fashion industry so that taste makers don't have to go through a lot of the microaggressions and a lot of the struggles we had to go through. Um, this whole obsession with it takes you five to 10 years to be in a room.

Um, I think it's just comes, it shouldn't take that long. Number one, also a, a lot of people's insecurities block them from being in certain rooms, and I feel like our generation is a lot more audacious. So sometimes people from the generation above have an issue with that. But I think instead of there being that gap between Gen Zs and millennials or et cetera, I think it's important for us to have an interchange.

We can benefit from the wisdom of, you know, people who have done what we've done and they can benefit from the audacity of us and even. Employers, so Gen Zs too, of course. So that your business can last long and doesn't just last for a, a few years. 

No, it's 

true. But, but yeah, I have such a, I have such a thing with that, and I just don't wanna ever be that OG that is like, try to humble young, creative and telling them that no, they, if someone comes to you, an idea, I want 'em to know they can do it if they have the right systems in place, not because it took me a long time to do it, if that makes sense.

No, a hundred 

percent. 

I don't subscribe to that. 

No, definitely. And like one story, like one like. Video I saw about this, it kind of sum this up perfectly, is it was, I think it's shark, I think they call it Shark Tank in Canada, but it was basically like their version of dragons then. 

Okay. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I've seen that. 

And there was this guy, he, so one of the investors was like, oh cool, I'll give you the money, and just wanted to know a bit more about him. And he was like, yeah, I don't do my business full, full-time. I actually like, it's not paying me enough. So I do like I'm working another job. And then the guy was like, yeah, I'm so sorry.

I can't, like I'm out. He's like, I can't give you the money because you know, when I was. Like your age doing a business. I was committed. Like I knew I, my business was gonna grow and I committed like all my time and energies and all this stuff. And then what I really liked was, um, gts shout out to, if you, if you watch Marvel, you'll know him from Marvel, but he was also in the Barbie movie as well.

Uh, SMU Lee, um, he was there and like, he was just like, I'm so sorry, but I actually really don't agree with that at all. Like this whole mentality was like, look, I get that. Like that might have been the case for you. He was just like, you need to understand like one times have change. Two things are not the same as like, it's not as easy to get into markets as it was before.

Thank you. Um, and he was like, you also need to understand that like, just because you are able to do that, like you don't have other responsibilities. Um, which kind of leads me to my second story, which is, um. I, I haven't listened to his podcast, but I've seen his videos before and I recommend it to anyone who wants, like, he's very much a motivational speaker.

Uh, Gary, do you know Gary V? 

No, I don't. 

So he is this, I actually don't really know what he does other than like, he does a lot of motivational stuff. Um, and he talks a lot about like young people. Mm-hmm. So he was like to, so there's two videos of his that I really love. One was, there was this person that was talking like that he met them on the road and she was, she asked 'em a question and he was, she was just like, oh yeah, like, I want to do something, you know, when I do something, I'll matter and like, I'll be famous and all this.

I'll be well known, all of this. And he was like, no, no, no, no, no. Like, you don't need to wait. That he was like, you matter now. No. Like you're doing, you're like, you can do whatever you want now and you'll still matter. Mm-hmm. Um, and like you just saw the shift in the person's like, like when she, he was just like, I need you to like pause and think about that.

And you saw the shift and like how inspiring that was to hear. Mm-hmm. But then he also talks a lot about like Gen V and he's just, uh, gen Z, sorry. And he's just like, with Jen, uh, Z black people, he's just like, yeah. Why would, like, he was like, now is the time when you do take vigorous. Because he said, look, most people who are Gen Z, you are not married.

You are most likely living at home or could have the potential, if things didn't work out, you could move back home. Mm-hmm. Um, he was like, you don't typically have children. Mm-hmm. Um, and you, you're probably having this is like the most free time you have. Thank you. So you said either at university, maybe you're still at college, maybe you are working, but maybe you're working on like zero hour contracts, whatever.

Mm-hmm. But it's like, this is the time when like. You hit the road hard and you trial as much as you can. 

Yeah. 

Because he said you don't want it to be, because he was just like, I don't subscribe to this whole idea of like, wait until you're like settled in your career and then you can put like, go on business stuff.

Because he was just like, you'll have so many responsibilities and like your life will be different. And also the market changes. Like, 

like 

my dad, my dad always would brings this up. He was just like, no one knew COVID was coming, but who, who made Microsoft? Um, with teams Zoom, like all of these companies.

Had all these, like they didn't know COVID was coming, but as soon as like the pandemic hit, thank you. Teams now is basically boomed and replaced Skype. Um, zoom is still really used worldwide. Like if, if schools aren't paying for it, workplaces are, um, but these companies, if the person who created Zoom was just like, you know what?

Exactly. 

I don't really, you know, remote working isn't really as big as it could be. Exactly. Like, I'm gonna wait. Honestly, 

anything that you've just dropped, 

they would've missed out on so 

much. I wanna like, if you don't mind, like dissect it bit by bit. So going back to the No, of course. Um, okay. We touched on the five years, but going back to the, oh, you mentioned something in regards to.

Ah, DH adhd. DH adhd. 

The gate there was the gatekeeper. Was it 

gate? Was it the Have to be There was the gatekeeper then Gate, um, oh, yes. Um, your job. 

Yes. Yes. 

But then, um, 

now, yes, this is advice that he plagued me. Do not quit your job. This is advice. Don't do it. Stop. Don't do it. Like there is this, I'm gonna look at you in the camera and speak so real because this is like my five year anniversary of being like, working within fashion.

Do not quit your job or let me tell you something. A lot of people in the fashion industry, they're cozy. They have a dynamic where they can stay at home and not pay bills. However, like one thing that, again, with Old World is that like I cater to girls or boys who live real lives, who, if you don't bring rent home, your mum is giving you headache.

Like you have to work. And a lot of people in within the fashion industry come from a place of privilege. And because they come from a place of privilege, even if. 

Privilege. 

You are not privileged. Let's say you don't have money. You have the, a family dynamic where your mom believes in you or something and your mom is like, yeah, I believe in you, John.

Go and do whatever you want. Even if it takes 10 years. Some of us, we don't have that. Some of us don't have that. Some of us we have to, some of us we have to hustle. So there's this dark narrative that a lot of people say, um, tap into, which is about quit your job. No, there are systems in place where you can actually build on your dreams.

Obviously that means that you're gonna work very hard. And that's one thing I'm always an advocate for. Um, we do have this, some, some of us gens have this delusional mindset that you don't have to work hard. You can work ridiculously soft. I don't, I don't subscribe. I'm known to not subscribe to that. I don't, and I, I'm a big advocate for wellbeing and stuff like that, but you must work hard to get what you want.

It's as simple as that all works. Extremely smart. Do you know what I mean? And in fact, tapping into working smart. There are systems in place where you can have a nine to five and still build your brand and your business, because I don't believe you should self-sabotage and self-sabotage for your dreams.

That's not, you don't have to. That's that dark mindset that a lot of people have. Um, and again, tapping back into the wellbeing side of things, I feel like there needs to be a lot more focus on the wellbeing of an entrepreneur and a founder. Because a lot of people, a lot of unsuccessful business like founders go from going from zero to nothing, quitting their job, going all or nothing, and then there's no systems in place or plans for.

Contingency, there's no contingency plan, and there's this toxic narrative that having a contingency plan, having a plan B means you failed or means that r that means you don't love it enough. No, it doesn't mean that. It means that you are actually working smarter and you are trying to create systems to ensure that your system and your, your, um, company grows at a sustainable pace.

And yeah, a lot of people that I've spoken to, and a lot of, a lot of people lie, a lot of people will be doing warehouse jobs and they won't talk about, they won't open their mouth to say, they say, oh, I don't work a job. They're doing warehouse, which is amazing. But just say the truth or say nothing because a lot of young people are so impressionable.

And they see the, like, they see the glitz and glam of, of, of what we do. I work, I only started freelancing this year. I worked consistently and everyone knows that. I did not hide from that. I would do crazy hours and stuff like that, but I've always worked and I have no shame in that because at the end of the day, I, I had to provide for myself.

I had a dynamic I had to provide for myself. I have siblings I have to provide for, provide for as well. And some again, like. This is, this is where we have these toxic narratives of a young girl thinking, oh really? Or a young boy thinking, really, I have to quit my job. Okay. I don't think this is for me when they could be the next like innovator within the creative industry, but because there's now all this chat about you have to quit your job, like no, you don't.

You just have to be someone that uses your job as a stepping stone for your dreams. That's the only thing. There has to be a mindset shift. Otherwise, you're always gonna have that duality and like, if you are obviously money driven, then having a job might delay you in a sense where like you're always just chasing stability and constant cash.

But if you do wanna work, and I always, I actually advise working whilst building a business. You need to have a job that allows you to either, so this is what I used to do. Yeah. I used to change. I through the last five years, I had so many jobs, but because I didn't have the qualifications within fashion or just within like leadership.

To know certain, like I didn't know what to do. I got jobs that allowed me to learn certain things. So again, going back to that awful job I had, I wanted to know more about innovation and, um, because I, I love change management, so working as a product innovation manager, it showed me certain elements of that.

Working in the NHS as an assistant service manager helped me learn how to manage people. I use that now in what I do. Or like working as an events manager at, um, UCL. The worst job ever. When I make it, I'm gonna call you all out 'cause y'all, y'all are not neurodivergent friendly. And I want this, this is on you.

YouTube. Do not cut out. Um, don't cut that out. Um, unless it causes you trouble. Don't, don't cut that out only. No, you can cut out. But otherwise don't cut out. But, um, but I remember I got that job and it was so intense, but it, it taught me how to run an event, how to produce an event, how to. Get partnerships and sponsorships because again, people within the fashion industry were not giving me, they were closing doors for me.

So I was like, I'm gonna learn from another industry and I'm going to use all the skills, the transferable skills into what I'm doing now. So that's the way you need to, there needs to be a strategy, like you have to be ridiculously strategic if you're gonna work so that it benefits you when the final aim is entrepreneurship.

You have to be selfish. Everything you do has to, has to be geared towards that, not the other way. Otherwise you're gonna get lost. And I think that's why people say, oh, don't have a job because you can get 

distracted, 

but really say the job should serve you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

The job should 

serve hundred percent.

No, definitely. Um, and I think like, one, one final thing to say about what you just said there is I think the misconception about jobs, like having, not having, like focusing on your business full time is also because like, I guess like it's the age old thing of saying like, oh, I. I don't remember how this came up, but like, I saw someone post on LinkedIn about this whole idea about everyone wants to be on the Forbes, like 30, under 30 or Forbes 40 under 40.

And I was like, oh, you know, you would be nice. It'd be great. And it was interesting, the person posted an article and it was just like, oh yeah. So every Forbes 30 under 30 who like, basically from being on the list, like stuff's come out about them. And it was like embezzlement, um, fraud. Uh, the businesses apparently, like basically on borderline sketches slash illegal.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And initially people just like, oh yeah, but these are people that like. You are celebrating, you're being like, oh yeah, these are Forbes 30 under 30. I've done incredible stuff and all of this stuff. No, but it's like what you said, people see that and then they'll be like, oh my day, this person's been doing really great.

Even like you said, big companies. It was, uh, on an accelerator program I was on, they were talking about like, oh, when it comes to like essentially financial readiness and like to, for investment, all of this. Mm-hmm. And the person was just like, oh, did you know that? Like, I think, was it Netflix? He was just like, Netflix only recently became a profitable company.

Mm. And I was like, what do you mean? And he was just like, yeah, you like, and everyone was just like, whatcha talking about like Netflix? They make loads of films. They have big stars. Yes. They're subscription increases every year, but they're bringing in all these like big, like they're bringing in big names to produce stuff for them.

Mm-hmm. And they're just like, yeah, no, Netflix has only recently become a profitable company. Wow. For the most part, it's just been surviving on like investments and some of these projects doing really well, but also through like the subscription model changing and stuff like that. Um, and I think to me, it showed me that, like you said, like.

Even the big companies that you're like, you're aiming to be these people. Perfect example, another example is WeWorks. So like WeWorks, um, there were issues and it was like, there was beliefs that like some of them were, or some of them did actually close because there were issues of grouting their finances and stuff like that.

So like, all of this stuff comes about. Yeah, because like, like you said, like it's, you are not seeing, you see the pretty stuff, the things that they're like, everyone's like, oh yeah, this is what it is. But no one's telling you like, oh yeah, Netflix isn't a profitable company. So yeah, 

it's, and like, thank you.

And, and, and you know what, like the more honest we are, the better. And I feel like that's something I really wanna start championing. 

Mm-hmm. 

Don't get it twisted. There's a certain level of fake it. You make it. I do subscribe to hundred percent. 'cause if you get too stuck in your situation, or if Netflix, for instance, saw all the investment issues they had and didn't keep pushing, they would never become a profitable business.

They kept going, you know, it is only just come out now. 

Mm-hmm. 

Um, I remember seeing, I cannot remember whether it was Clint. Or someone that, they offered him a 30 under 30 and he, 

wow. 

He, he, uh, revoked it or he said he didn't wanna do it. And I, I respected that so highly. 

Mm-hmm. 

I don't subscribe to like, flashing wealth.

Mm-hmm. I feel like there's always a, this might bite me, but I've always had this. Mm. Um, when I mean flashing wealth, I feel like, let, be careful what I say. 'cause I'm pro wealth. Do you get me? I'm Nigerian, but I mean, I'm, I'm not gonna say 

I want, I want a lot too. I want bare 

bread. Like, but I just feel like, um, order 30 under 30 and all of that.

Like, because I work in pr I know what's cap. 

Mm. 

That's cap pr, like all of it's cap 

because 

it's like.

Let me, let me, it's cut. But I, I, I, I respect, I think the aim of Forbes really, I guess it's there to maybe empower people, to motivate people to be like, yeah, there's different entrepreneurs that look like you that have done it. Maybe you should go and do it. Hopefully that's the case. Mm. Um, I'm starting to find that sometimes it can be a little bit of just overly elitist for me, but, um, Hey, 

no, I think that's 

fair.

Yeah. I respect everyone that's been on Forbes, so I respect it, but I'm like, I also really respect the people that turn it down. 

Mm mm 

Because those people, in my opinion, they always stay rich. Mm. I dunno what that link is, what synergy it is, but every single person I know that's turned down Forbes is super rich.

Mm. 

And then people that go on, go on it. It becomes a kle and, and I dunno where, I dunno what that's all about, but again, I do feel like these things are like blessings. And sometimes when you flaunt it too much it can, it can bite you in a bit. 

No, of course. No, definitely. Um, we can't, you, 

you might have to edit some of that out still.

I'm gonna get something lot. I 

that's, um, we've come to the last question before. Okay. I hand over to you for passing the mic where you get to ask me a question. 

Oh, I was having so much 

fun. Um, no, honestly, it's been incredible conversation. Yeah. I've really enjoyed it. But, uh, this, I think this is a nice way to end.

So this is looking at your strategic approach and your impact. So you combine business strategy, cultural insights, and community building altogether. 

Mm-hmm. 

My question to you is, how do you balance commercial goals with the purpose of inclusion and equity in your work? 

Incredible question, and I think that's something I've only gotten the hang of now.

Mm. 

Um, I think coming out of survival mode will allow you to think and, and focus on your values. Okay. As a founder, when you're in survival mode, you are, you tend to veer towards more commercial things. And I found that I was getting to a point where I was just doing a lot of stuff. 

Mm-hmm. 

Right? Mm-hmm.

But it wasn't really fully aligned with alt. 

Mm-hmm. 

Um, so there's two ways you can go, right? Because again, if you are someone that has a hustler mentality and you have your very business savvy, you can, if you have a purpose led company, um, was the, wait, what was the question? My, my personal advice or to give advice?

What was the question? 

Uh, how do you balance commercial goals with the purpose of purpose, uh, with the purpose of inclusion, equity in your work? 

Okay, so every single deal I have, there has to be an element of, um, DNI. 

Mm-hmm. 

Even if I'm working with a company that's extremely whitewashed, injecting culture there.

Mm-hmm. 

Your values is what is gonna take you far. Mm-hmm. People really feel like tampering to a brand is what gets you these partnerships and deals, but no. Mm-hmm. Brands value, um, startups and emerging platforms that are so heavy on their values. So I know with me, no matter what I do, no matter how commercial it is, there has to be an element of inclusivity.

So Fashion Week is the height of fakeness in fashion. Within fashion, there's nothing fake up than Fashion Week. Yeah. There is nothing more fake commercial elitist than Fashion Week. I will tell you that. Nothing but for me, my USP has always been injecting. Um, African talent into spaces that they've been underrepresented.

I, I remember going fashion week before I started doing, um, placement strategy and seeing Asian, um, talent and not even enough Asian talent to be honest, just like white European talent, taste makers, influences that I don't even relate to who are at all these shows. And however, I'm seeing loads of like African talent who buy, they spend their hard earned label money to buy all these brands.

They should be at the show because they're actually consumers. Yeah. Like, and again, that was for me, that is what made me feel positive about doing Fashion Week or again, like ensuring that stylists who are underrepresented are involved or addressing the talent. For instance, in some independent designers for Fashion Week, I always like to inject my values into everything I do.

Um. And I think that's the only way you can keep grounded, because there is always gonna be a commercial element. Like, gotta eat, gotta make money. Okay. But as, as long as it aligns with your values, um, and, and, and your core belief system of your, well, the purpose then yeah. That's, that's my way of, of balancing it.

Um, and anytime I get anything that is, let's say like super, super commercial, sometimes I don't put it under old world because it just doesn't align. I put it under another like, commercial arm. Um, and I think that's also something that a lot of founders should like tap into, because sometimes, yeah, we wanna focus on our purpose as well, but you may get other opportunities that might be lucrative, which can help you power your purpose.

But it doesn't always, you don't always have to broadcast it. 

Yeah. 

Like as long as you, um. I'm not saying anything completely left filled, but like Yeah, as long as you maybe keep it separate. That's, that's also a way of balancing it too. Yeah. 

Well that's really good. Um, yeah. I have nothing else to say, uh, other than we are, we're heading over to passing the mic, so this is your opportunity to ask me any question or questions that you'd like to, to ask.

Okay. Can I be the first one to make a statement? 

You can be the first one to make a statement. 

This is so incredible. Thank you. Uh, you are such good questions. Thank you. I'm really inspired that you. Incredible. Okay. Question. Um, how many questions I can I ask? You can 

ask as many as you want. 

Okay. How have you found navigating this space?

I would say like the podcaster space is an independent black man because I feel like. There is a, there is quite a bit of representation. Mm. But I feel like there's still more to, to be had, especially within the community space. Mm. I feel like there's a lot of women. 

Mm. 

Dominating it. 

Hundred percent. 

But, um, how have you found it?

I think there's different aspects that I would say I've found. So like for one thing about that I like about being independent and like not being sponsored by anyone is I have freedom over the topics that I talk about. I have freedom over the guests. I have freedom over like the length of the episodes.

So I'm not like limited to like anyone else's agenda, but my own, which I like. Obviously that comes with the fact that like, I don't have like the backing of let's say like Spotify. So I don't have, like I work, I record where I can and I use the equipment that I've got, whereas like others who maybe have been in the game longer, they've gotten sponsorship straight away, they're able to get like, I don't know, like use Spotify as like head office for example, for stuff like that.

Mm-hmm. Um, I would say it's interesting that you met, like, spoke about it from like, I guess like also like when it comes to like being a black man because. I had a conversation with someone about this and they were, so, they're kind of into podcasts and they were saying that it's interesting about my podcast because they said when it comes to, like, when you hear a lot about, especially like black men in podcasting, it's typically like your, um, like ous.

Yeah. Like it is, it's not good. It's not really supporting of black women. No. It's typically just like, almost like, not even reality tv, but like, it's just 

No, it is gist, it's reality TV at this point. Yeah. 

And it's just like really not supportive. No. Um, so people are just like, oh, it's really interesting that yours is not basically around that.

And it's, it is interesting as you mentioned that like, when it comes to especially like a community building aspect, like, um, especially like black or at all from my experience, black women, um, are very much open to that. Even like I was talking to my sister about it, like. People may look and be like, oh, you've had a lot of like women on your podcast, like throughout, like across everything.

And I'm just like, that's not by design. That's 'cause like I'll reach out to whoever and like whoever gets back to me will organize a call and then we'll go from there. But like some people have just been like, like some people who've been not interested at all, some people haven't responded. Some people, like you said, sometimes been an ego thing.

Um, I've had to deal with like people who I've invited to either be on a podcast or be involved in one of our events and have difficulties with them and like having conversations and they're sort of like coming with their own expectations, which goes against literally everything I've already listed is like, oh, setting the parameters.

So for me, I think the thing all in all to say with that is that I like the freedom of like the control that I have over it. So I can decide who I interview, where, what we talk about, like how that conversation goes. Mm-hmm. And I think, like you said, like I like the fact that I'm not told like, oh, you can only bring on like.

You know, big people in industry on it. Um, 'cause I'm like, like you said, like there might be someone that I bring on and maybe they, I don't know, they have a small community that they host events with and that then leads, I don't know, they come on the podcast maybe two years or a year later. They're then running like their own business based off of like that small thing that they were doing.

But I like the fact that I can have those conversations with whoever I want. 

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

So, yeah. 

Yeah. No, that's so sick. I feel like, do you have plans of scaling though? Because I feel like it, what you have is such a unique niche. Oh, thank you. Like even just me feeling so like calm and zen to speak to you as a guy like that.

So I know so many like founders that would benefit of this. Like, it's so inspiring and a lot of us are tapping into the podcast as well. So for instance, I told you like fashion insights, we are gonna make that into like a little show for just fashion taste makers and stuff like that. But I feel like with what you are doing, there's a certain level of like.

Yeah, I feel like you can like have you got plans of scaling it? 'cause you really should. 

We definitely do. Um, I think it's figuring out like capacity, I think like one is definitely like the, it is figuring out my team. I work a lot of freelancers who are either like friends or people who've interned me in the, interned with me in the past.

But the difficulty has been 'cause uh, especially the interns, 'cause they go back to university, like until they graduate, they're typically like super busy. Mm-hmm. Uh, and while we do get like paid work, they're like, unless the paid work is gonna be substantial because like a lot of them don't live in like Central London.

So they're like, unless the pay is gonna be enough, like for the project that um, they're getting paid for, they would prefer to just do paid stuff within their local area instead. Um, but yeah, no, we definitely do have plans to scale. I would be, I mean it's funny 'cause like. I guess I've been, I've probably been asked this question throughout all the episodes this year, and like, I would probably say the answer every maybe quarter for example, has changed.

Uh, so like literally two weeks ago I had a pitch and I was, it, was it last week we did the pitch? It was last week. Ah, thank you. Uh, so last week I had a pitch, um, and that was for like 2,500 pounds. And even though I didn't get it, it had a, it was like a really, it was a really interesting opportunity to pitch because it was something that I've, for the longest time since starting, I've wanted to do.

Um, and I was just like, this would be really cool to use this money to do it. I didn't get it, but it gave me the opportunity to think about, oh, well now I just know like this isn't even a, a lot of money. If I was to ask like, someone to sponsor to cover this. It wouldn't be a hard thing to get. Um, but it also then showed me like how even with what we would be offering, how we could like level it up and scale it.

Um, and like you saw about what you said about like the niche, what was really interesting at that pitch was like the positive feedback I was given about it was the, the panel basically said, I can really see your like about community. They were just like, mm-hmm. You are a community person. You wanna support people, you want to use the tools that you've got to support them.

Mm-hmm. You want to uplift them. And I was like, that's really good for me because, not because like, like you said, like from an ego thing or whatever, but it's good. No, but it is. No, but I'm like, honestly, like that's generally all I wanna do. 'cause like you said, even with podcasting, so, uh, like, uh, we did an event yesterday and there was someone, she was like, oh, you mentioned you do podcasting.

I've wanted to start a podcast. Like, what should I do? And I was like, the biggest thing I would tell you, which is what I was thinking. And it was only because my family like. Kept slapping my wrist every time I suggested it is. I was like, you don't need to buy like an amazing microphone when you start. I said, if you can only afford to just record on like two, uh, on like Zoom or Teams or like Google Meet or whatever, or if you can only afford to just use your like phone camera and not use a mic, just do that.

And I was like, there's this big misconception that you need to have all this equipment you need to like rent a studio. And I was like, studios are expensive. Uh, equipment isn't cheap. Mm. Uh and I was like, even though like this setup, like yeah, I love this setup, it's great, but this, this setup like was only happened because we got paid work that could then cover it.

But when we started, and also bearing in mind when we started, this was in COVID, I was like, oh, how are we gonna do it? You know? Uh, you know, we need to find a online recording service that will have really good audio. But then my family were just like, no, like. Just like use what you've got. Mm-hmm. Like people understand and people appreciate it more if you grow with them.

And that's why like now we do mostly video. We still have like, obviously this is both audio and video, this podcast. Um, but this podcast specifically, like, I like it because it's a clear journey of growth. Um, and even like one final, like, I guess one. Final thing with this podcast specifically is, I think it's still there.

I haven't gone back to check, but I've been told I haven't changed it, so I'm assuming it's there. Um, the first episode of this podcast, when I was editing it, uh, after four minutes, there's like a short, like maybe two to four minute gap 

mm-hmm. 

Between the, that like the first four minutes and the rest of the episode.

And, and the reason why is because when I was editing it, I didn't notice that. I didn't actually, like, I cut a bit out, but I didn't move the, like, the gap. Yeah. So the gap is still there. Um, but I haven't changed it. And like people have asked like, oh, why haven't you? And I've been like, oh, well I feel like it's a perfect example of like where we are now.

'cause now I have tools that enable me to like do this like whole multi-camera thing. Um, you know, I know how to make the audio better if the audio's not great. Um, but I'm just like, that's a perfect example. So you can literally see us upgrade and like grow with like how we edit and stuff just through.

Like essentially like this, this whole like eighth, eighth series, like journey. Um, so for me it's really cool and I'm just like, I don't know what the next, like next season there might be something completely different. Like maybe, um, I don't know. We use different microphones or we use like the backdrop, like even like this backdrop stuff, like people are just like, oh, like we see the YouTube thing.

They're just like, oh, did YouTube pay you to do this? Are you sponsored by YouTube? I was like, no, like YouTube. Um, they got rid of it, which was a shame. But YouTube had this thing, um, where if you were, you had enough subscribers and you qualified for YouTube monetization, they had this rewards tab. So essentially they would give people stuff.

So it was like, you got free, I think you got like a free Greg sausage roll. Mm-hmm. Um, yeah, they gave you free like m and ms, uh, with the YouTube logo on it. Uh, and then they gave this, which was like a free YouTube light. Um, because typically YouTube will only give stuff to people. I think you get a plaque when you've got a hundred thousand subscribers.

You get another plaque when you get a million. No. So you get one with a hundred thousand. 500,000 and then a million. And then after that, like essentially, I think they might send you plaques, but they'll announce that you are like on millions of subscribers. But I was like, this was nice because it was from YouTube.

I didn't like pay for it or anything. Like it was just through the channel, like getting more subscribers and like qualifying for their monetization. Um, but literally even like this being in the back of like, I've had this for like two years in my room, but it was literally one of my interns were just like, oh, I feel like you need to jazz up the room and needs to look a bit nicer.

I was like, oh yeah, I've got this YouTube. Like I never use it. Like, do you think it would be good? And they was just like, yeah, bring it in. Try it. So yeah, so I'm like, the scaling is definitely what I want to do. I have a lot of plans of how that could look. Uh, I think 

don't even show 'em here. We just wanna see.

But yeah. 

Can I do some PR for you? 

You can do some me. 

Can I, can I get into work mode? Yeah. Okay, cool. So guys, if you are a founder, you are starting up, you have a startup, you are a community. Person, you're trying to build your community and you are a visionary or a leader and you wanna speak about your brand and you really wanna, um, let the world know this is the, this is the podcast to, to, to be at.

I've been blessed here and this has set me up and I want you guys to get exactly the same feeling. So again, this is, uh, community grants. People please pick up the mic because he's doing the Lord's work. Okay, 

thank you. 

So, um, yeah, some of my friends, again, big up my friend Gianna who told me about, um, this and I listen to your com.

Yeah, you really do your research on everyone's niche and like, you're so versatile. I feel like. Yeah, if you are a founder and you know, being a founder in 20, 25 and beyond is definitely not gonna be easy. Have your transition 'cause I'm in a transition mode. So this is, have your transition conversation.

Mic. Yeah. 

Thank you very much. 

No problem. 

And it's funny that you mentioned like, uh, like founders, 'cause we we're actually getting to the stage where that cycle's sort of like coming back again. But we have a entrepreneur podcast specifically called The Hustle Chronicles 

Oh Fire. And 

it is all about intro interviewing, like founders and freelancers on their journey.

And I haven't seen others that do it. 'cause I, I've said there's a lot of business podcasts they talk about, like hustle hard, all of this hustle, culture, all of this. And the, the reason why it's called the Hustle Chronicles is because it's supposed to be like an honest look entrepreneurship. Mm-hmm. So we bring people on, we interview them about their businesses, we bring them on a year later, and then it's like, okay, how has the last been the last year been for your business?

What's new? What's different? Has it been a good year? Has it been a bad year? Let's talk about it. So if the founder's open to it, we'll have an open conversation about like, oh, like. How have you, like how's the, like you mentioned you wanted to get funding last year, like have you been able to get funding?

And they might be like, yes, we've got, we secured like loads of grants, we've got investment, all of this. They might be like, actually, you know what, we've really struggled with revenue because like the market's just changed so drastically. And I've said I like that format because one, I also open up on like honesty of like my experience with Pick Mic two.

I actually, as a part of that podcast, I like get someone to interview me as pick like as a founder, pick up mic and like talk about the last year for pick up the mic. Um, but three, I also from the business or the big business ones that I've seen, I don't see ones where it is like, okay, let's not like, oh yeah, you're super successful.

Like let's talk about how hard it was for you to get to where you are. But like, hey, if you are a business owner, like you're gonna have times when like. Money's slow. Or you might have times when you have to like manage a difficult team member. Mm-hmm. Or you might have to like work with a difficult client.

Um, and I'm like, let's have honest conversations about entrepreneurship. So like you said, like we were talking about before that it's not like, oh hey, like, um, just start a business. It's super fun, it's super easy. Like 

it's great. No, it is raw. It's, yeah. I love that. I think that's why we aligned. 'cause I do that with fashion insights.

Oh, nice. With the fashion insights, um, conversations. Yeah, because like, again, specifically within fashion, it needs to be more honesty, but I can only imagine event entrepreneurship in general. Like keeping it real and Yeah, I haven't seen it as well. And there's a lot of really cool like podcasts I watch, but I feel like this also, it sometimes someone like myself, I am, I, I shy away from speaking and stuff.

Like I have not even done half the things I want to do. But I feel like coming on here, it's great to, you feel like, you know what, yeah, this is gonna inspire. So I feel like, yeah, that's a niche in itself. You know, that you should pop a tap too. Like having conversation with like startup founders and stuff like that.

Oh, very cool. Because sometimes you do need to just have these conversations to feel like, actually I actually, I'm doing something or I can do it, you know? Mm-hmm. 

Hundred 

percent. So, yeah. This is cool. 

Any other questions? 

Uh, no, I don't have any questions. That's, that's all right. I'm just, so thank, thank you so much for having 

me.

No, thank you. We have two, two more sections to go before we wrap up. 

Okay. 

Um, the sec second to last is our entity of the month organizational individual related to the conversation that we're talking about. And today we're talking about black in Fashion Council. Uh, this organization supports black talent across the fashion industry by offering mentoring, uh, opportunities and visibility.

Uh, and we feel that their mission aligns very closely with yours. Mm-hmm. Uh, and that's why they're a compelling individual, uh, sorry, organization to be the empty of the month. Um. It makes the, uh, essentially, I'll very quickly touch on some information that they have mentioned. So, uh, they are founded to hold the industry accountable and empower black professionals.

The council connects designers, stylists, and creators with the resources and opportunities that they deserve. So whether this is through mentoring programs, whether it's just through visibility initiatives, they are building an infrastructure for lasting change, which isn't just about having these conversations.

And like you said, in a world where essentially support that was very much existent in 2020 to 2021 for black creators, or even just black people as a whole, uh, may has now, has now basically kind of dwindled. Um, organizations like this are still doing incredible work to support, um, black creatives. So, uh, check them out if you're interested.

Um. But yeah, they are actually of the month. Uh, we are now gonna go to the takeaway section, um, which is our,

and we spoke about a lot, so it's gonna be very hard to do this. I don't, if I was situation, I.

The big,

um. Else. I think that's a perfect way to end the episode. So thank very much now for coming onto the podcast. Thank you. Uh, this is your opportunity to share any opportunities that you've got, how people can connect with you. Um, as we are recording this, this is December, 2025, so, uh, and this may, this most definitely will come out early next year.

Nice. So if there's anything throughout the whole year people should be keeping an eye out from Alt world or either yourself, um, this is your opportunity to Yeah. Work. 

Perfect. Well, um, alt world has been running residencies with fashion insights again, um, in the spirit of like, on conversations. We are also gonna be doing more comm, well, more fashion focused events for fashion insights and exploring that in general, speaking to more designers, um, stylists, prs and more behind the scenes, uh, taste makers.

Um, so yeah, definitely lucky. We have a really cute announcement in January, um, for our new residency. Um, and yeah, as I likely touched on as well, um, more knowledge exchange, especially within fashion, more conversation and yeah, we are gonna be teasing some new exciting bits. So just tap into Old World. Um, Instagram is, we are old world TikTok.

We are old world, don't have Twitter, don't have time to be hearing other people's noise, but tap into Instagram and yeah, we have some exciting stuff loading. Um, and then in regards to some other personal projects as well. Um, yeah, no, just 2026 is gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun. Um, I've connected some really ex really incredible taste makers who are.

Vision who are visionaries and aligned in different areas of the fashion industry. And we are all very aligned on trying to make a change. So that's all I'll say. 

Perfect. Thank you very much. Uh, and thank you to you, our wonderful audience at Hope. If you like this episode, like comment subscribers, always appreciated.

If you wanna make sure you don't miss any episodes of this podcast or any of the other stuff on the pickup that might YouTube channel, then please make sure you head to, uh, it's been a long day, man. This is why, this is why I don't record after work. But if you, uh, if you won't wanna miss anything else, hit the notification bell at the bottom of this video.

If you wanna receive, uh, discounts on our merch, or if you want to receive discounts at our events, you can support us in three ways. So you can either subscribe to our monthly subscription of our YouTube channel membership. Or our patron page, or if you want to do a one-off donation or a monthly subscription, you can go click the buy me a coffee link, which is in the bio, uh, in the description below.

Uh, and then last but not least, uh, if you want to find out about other channels, then please head to the full, uh, one, you hit the main pick up the mic YouTube page. You scroll down past the full e section, you'll see our three YouTube channels For centers of anime or anime podcast, pick up the controller Gaming.

Yeah, haven't got anime podcast. Yeah, we've got a gaming podcast as well. Um. Pick up the controller. Uh, and finally the two Macas for sci-fi and fantasy fans out there as well. Um, and yes, we have already kind of announced that we will be doing at least one event per year. So we keep an eye on the space.

We'll be doing more events throughout this whole year if you've missed one that's just happened. Um, but also we will be continuing to do more content for those three channels as well. So I know 2025 has been a bit of a slow year for the, some of those channels, but don't worry, we'll be hitting 2026 with the ball rolling.

'cause there's a lot of big things happening both with us. Amen. The community. Amen. Um, but yeah, we're gonna wrap it up. I believe. I should have checked this before the episode, but I believe this is the second to last episode of this season. So, uh, keep an eye out because, uh, obviously the balls are not gonna stop.

Uh, there's no point in me pretending like we're gonna end next season. Um, but we will be continuing with the final episode next time. Um, so keep an eye out. Uh, we hope you've enjoyed season eight. Uh, and there'll be more discussions of what season nine, um, and, uh, what Season 10 will bring because, uh, we are working on what our hundredth episode of this podcast will look like.

Wow. Yeah. Thank you very much to all of you, and we'll see you on the next episode. 

Bye.