Diatribes by Joah

On speaking in public schools

Just finished speaking to three 5th grade classes here in Aurora, CO and I am exhausted! Everytime I speak at public schools - and I've done so around 100 times over the last six years - my respect and admiration for teachers goes up another notch. They wake up early, take on other people's problems, teach curriculum that they have a declining say in, and are asked to do all this with very little pay. Meanwhile, I stroll in for a few hours and I'm held up as some model citizen / role model / mentor because I've done well for myself. It's a tough position to be in, but instead of rejecting the opportunity to impact young people, I try my best to acknowledge the limitations of anything I could possibly say while also sharing the lessons I learned, the struggles I had growing up, and the opportunities that I've been able to create for myself (and with the help of many others) over the years. Real Role Models wasn't a bestselling book or critically acclaimed, but it still may end up being the most important thing I ever did when it's all said and done. More than famous athletes and rappers/singers, what young people need from us non-teachers is people to come into their schools or help them after school by sharing our stories and trying to relate to them where they are. It's easier for me to speak to college and even high school students, but it's the elementary and middle school kids who I know I can impact the most. I'll keep at it no matter how ineffectual a group of 50 5th graders can make me feel. Thank God I'm not a teacher. And thank God we do have teachers!

Early Thoughts on "Lean In"

(first posted on Facebook) So I read about half of Sheryl Sandberg's book "Lean In" on my flight to Denver and my initial observations/thoughts are as follows: (not that I'm anything of an expert) 1) I am so thankful to have had wonderful female bosses throughout my career from Hannah Calvert Peters who I interned for at Public Strategies to Heather J. Brunner who I most recently worked for at Bazaarvoice and I can't even imagine how unique their careers have been compared to their male counterparts, 2) I've honestly found that women can relate to what it's like to be an ambitious Black male professional far more (like times 1,000) than white men, 3) Between Marisa Mayer and Sandberg, Google obviously did something right with hiring, 4) You better believe Localeur will be hiring women as the earliest opportunity, and 5) growing up with just a mom in the house helped me understand the sacrifices women make as mothers. I was 22 when I graduated from college; when my mom was 22 she was having me her third son, 6) I greatly admire and respect women who don't "take themselves out" of opportunities to pursue their ambitions even before they're actually married or with child.

Stream of...

My brother Kahron is probably more capable of keeping me grounded than anyone on the planet. Whenever I start to feel myself too much, I know I can count on him to bring me down a notch. Not because he’s the most accomplished person in the world and makes me feel insignificant as some big brothers are prone to do (although he’s surely made more money, heard more music, bought more sneakers and traveled to more countries than me), but because a) he’s my big brother (literally and physically, he’s 6’3”, 250lbs), b) he’s lived in Kuwait for much of the last 9 years (carrying much more of our family’s financial burden than myself), and c) he’s the most even-keeled person I know and doesn’t get over-excited about shit. Well, I share all this to say that K has probably said two of the most important things to me in my life in the last year; one in which he supported my decision to get married to Star so quickly (understanding that I wasn’t seeking his approval or advice) and the other in which – just the other day – he said something that I’d consider maybe the best compliment I’ve ever received in my entire life. We were in the car driving back from Lake Austin and having the kind of quality time that I cherish even more today than I did as a teenager (although I wasn’t sure that was possible), and we were talking about life and career decisions. He said that the thing that sets me apart and the reason why he and so many of my friends have supported me and continue to do so (as investors and friends) over the years dating back to my time in high school and Sneak Attack and on forward wasn’t about the ideas or business plans. He said the trust and confidence people have placed in me is because – even when things don’t work out – it’s clear that I’m willing to stand on an island, despite its heavy risk of failure and chagrin, if I truly believe in something which is something not many people are willing to do and that I can face failure head on and accept risk directly. This speaks directly to the Abe Lincoln quote on resillency that I love about the person being successful only if they’re willing to fail multiple times without losing their enthusiasm to try again (or something like that). My brother said he’s confident that Localeur is the entrepreneurial spaceship I’ve been working towards all these years, and his confidence in me is paramount to me feeling like a success already (to some extent). In the moment that he said these words, I realized that no one could have said something to me that would have hit me harder and more deeply as an entrepreneur. This island I’ve been standing on for some time now has gotten to be very lonely, full of doubt and uncertainty and worry and concern that I myself have battled through to take whatever lessons God (and these situations) had in store for me. I fought past the lack of a father, poorly-rated schools, being ostracized by other black kids as “acting white” because of my good grades, paying my own way through college, and going through life without the kind of fatherly advice and financial safety net that most of the people I know have had at some point in their 20s and all the while knowing that even as I age my path would never be a clear and easy path to the kind of success I’ve sought for myself even if others perceive me as someone whose “made it” because my own measure of success is so closely aligned with the opportunities I hope to bring to others which is both a burden and responsibility that makes me constantly question whether or not I’m ever making the right decisions knowing how many other people each and every one of them may impact if I don’t reach my potential and make the most of my gifts. All this is to say that when I hear people say things about me or write things online about me that aren’t particularly friendly – for example, someone recently implied in a comment on a blog that Localeur is going to fail, primarily because I’m at the helm – it just reinforces to me how important it is to 1) keep good people around me even if they’re not of blood relation and 2) keep trusting myself. It doesn’t mean everyone has to agree with me, think I’m a genius or anything like that, God knows even my wife doesn’t (and I love her to death even as she gets more experienced with hitting my weak spots and calling me out on my shit ☺). I just need people who see me out here on an island most of the time (that’s what it feels like) and give me a hand to hold, an arm to pull on, a shoulder to cry on, a listening ear, a stern talking to…and all because they care, know I have a good heart and mind (but make mistakes like everyone) and, most importantly, know that I’m desperately trying to build the kind of life that no one in my family has ever had, trying to build a company that no one else has ever thought of, and trying to find a purpose that God gave to me and no one else. And I’m thankful that these people know they can count on me too. Next week, I’ll fly to Aurora, Colorado (yes, that Aurora), to speak in an elementary school’s 5th grade class before they head off to middle school. Originally the teacher, a friend, asked me to Skype in the talk, but I suggested I travel to the class because when I think back to my sources of inspiration they were people I could reach and touch like my mom and my high school track coach and such. It’s not to say that I’m not inspired by history and idols like MLK and Jay-Z, but to say I realize more and more that people like my brother and close friends inspire me by being the type of caring, patient, understanding people they are. They inspire me to become the person God intended me to be and fulfill every single iota of potential I have so that I can turn this island into a continent of excellence and overwhelming joy and satisfaction not only for myself but for everyone around me. Maybe some of these Aurora kids don’t have big brothers like mine, so I’ll try to share something with them that speaks to my experience and connects with what they may be thinking or what they may someday experience or what they would like to hear someone say about them and to them in hopes that it will have a similarly positive impact.

Thank you for respecting my journey.

There’s a difference between thinking you have all the answers and wanting to find the answers. I can sometimes come across as someone with all the answers, but those who know me know that I’m more focused on lifelong learning than anything else. I’ve spent the first 30 years of my life feeling as if it’s my duty to find my own answers in life.  Specifically, what does God want me to contribute. I lived in different places, worked different jobs, started different businesses, and served different purposes for different organizations over the years. What I’ve been trying to figure out, at least primarily, is what it is that I’m supposed to be doing on this planet. I figured out that it wasn’t mowing lawns in middle school. I knew it wasn’t working at Pizza Hut when I was in high school. Since high school, I’ve served on different boards from the March of Dimes and Dance Marathon to AIDS Services of Austin and the Austin Music Commission, in part to use whatever skills I have to help others. But nonprofit work isn’t my calling, it’s more of a passion and way to give back to my city. Hopefully, along the way, I've done some good including writing Real Role Models, raising more than $250,000 for charitable organizations and speaking in more than 100 public schools and colleges. I also learned it wasn’t sports or PR during and after college working for UT and FEMA. More recently, I’ve realized that my passions for sneakers (Sneak Attack), consulting businesses and running events (AvecMode) isn’t exactly what I should focus on either. And learning these lessons wasn’t easy, but much needed to get where I need to be as an individual and someone who wants to have a true positive impact. The most direct way I’ve been able to have an impact is by supporting local businesses and local creatives who are photographers, DJs, entrepreneurs, fashion designers, etc. These creatives are the very people that I’ve learn to appreciate the most and strive to support tirelessly. Ultimately, I realized I’ve been looking for something that would allow me to help more people than just the ones in my personal network. Localeur is about as confident as I’ve ever felt about something I’ve put my heart and mind into. I love to travel and learn new cities, I love social media and technology, and most importantly I love local. I’ve taken my lumps and learned many a lesson – especially as an entrepreneur - over these last several years that have hopefully prepared me to bring that extra bit of … whatever it is… to Localeur what I couldn’t fully bring to the many other jobs or projects I’ve done. Thank you for respecting my journey and being my friend.

Sometimes What I Do Is Annoying, And Other Thoughts on Fashion

I consider myself a very blessed and lucky man in part because I never learned how to follow; at least not in the traditional sense.

One of the most annoying things about working within and around the fashion industry is how much follower’s mindset there is. So many of my conversations with bloggers, brands, designers, and marketers for fashion-related companies begin and end with questions about who else is doing something. I have trained myself to hide my disdain with these types of questions in person and over the phone, but it’s not easy.

If technology and social media have taught us anything in the last few decades, it should be that following someone else’s path – especially when building a business – is not a sustainable model. A company cannot be built to last if their business plan is to ride a continuous stream of short burst of copy-cat and me-too successes.

You ever wonder why when people think of fashion industry success stories you very seldom hear the word “entrepreneur”? It’s mainly because very few of them actually are. I’ve spent a lot of my time over the last three years mining through a lot of crap to find good people who approach the fashion and tech industry through an entrepreneurial lense. People like Alle Fister (Bollare) and Ari Goldberg (StyleCaster), Mick Boogie and Marcus Troy and designers and fashion brand CEOs like Seth Weisser (What Goes Around Comes Around), John Varvatos, Billy Reid and Uri Minkoff (Rebecca Minkoff). For every one of these individuals there are at least 10 people following their every move, literally, to try to make money by being an early adopting thief of those people’s best work.

I understand that certain practices are standard for various industries and that innovation – not necessarily invention – is where a lot of immediate profit is, but why even be in a creative industry like art or fashion or music or tech if you’re not actually going to create anything?

And, no, I’m not trying to say we should always be 100 percent focused on creating brand new things at all times. Actually that’s also a quick way to run a business to the ground because you’re not taking the time to focus on what your customers are telling you about your existing products and services. I’m not so idealistic as to think every season’s collection, every new product, every new offering has to be that…new. Recycling things from the past and siphoning from others is what helped the Civil Rights Movement (following in Gandhi’s footsteps) and Facebook (following MySpace’s lead, before taking over).

But come on, man! Or woman, as is often the case in fashion.

***

Don’t be mistaken, I’ve followed in the footsteps of many men and women before me and learned countless lessons from others. From my mother, I learned about accountability as she raised my two brothers and me alone. From reading about MLK and Ben Franklin, my idols, I learned about finding your calling and following your passions. From my high school track coach, Rob, I’ve learned well-roundedness, as he’s been an exemplary father, public school teacher, and competitive runner despite very little compensation in doing so. From my brothers, I developed my early and continued love for music, sports and style. There are many others I can point to for lessons learned and passions developed thanks to them.

But I’m no follower.

As I approach my 30^th birthday later this year, the thing I’m proud of thus far is that I’ve charted a path for myself unlike anyone I know or have ever read about. From the way I spent my time in high school and college to D.C. and back to Austin, I’ve always sought a path that wasn’t made easier by someone else’s footsteps. When I moved back to Austin, I knew I wanted to start a business, but I never knew that Sneak Attack would lead to Style X which would lead to AvecMode getting business with the likes of ESPN X Games and that I’d get to work with some of my favorite bloggers, designers, and events in the process.

Was Sneak Attack the most brilliant, inventive concept? Not really nor was Style X, which largely depended on the success of SXSW. My point isn’t about the most creative, inventive business ideas, though. My point is that people should never follow someone else toward what should be their own unique set of passions and skills.

My passion in 2009 was sneakers, so I didn’t look around to do what someone else was doing, I launched a business. My passion in 2010 was seeing to it that a conversation I had with the late SXSW creative director Brent Grulke led to the creation of an authentic style component during SXSW.

Maybe I’ll never come up with something as genius as the Macintosh computer or A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders or Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, but I can apply myself to a lifetime of two things: 1) pursuing my passions and 2) trying to bring a new perspective to what I’m doing instead of waiting for others to show me the way.

I have also been blessed to have a number of friends who’ve had the same mindset I’ve had about not following and trying to chart their own path. To these people I am grateful for the inspiration they routinely give me, albeit indirectly. I don’t envy any of my friends…I am motivated by them. People who follow are the ones with envy. They envy because they don’t focus on creating.

Whenever I get emails or FB messages from people, typically students I’ve spoken to in a classroom/speech setting, saying they’re inspired by something I’ve said or written and ask me for advice, I usually try to start by helping them identify their passions and getting them to be very focused on what truly matters to them. Like many of those fashion companies, there are a lot of short term benefits in following others and taking your eye off the creative ball, but the long term rewards take a lot of sacrifice.

I’ve sacrificed a lot of time, energy, friendships, money, and God only knows what else to be in the position that I’m in today. Last week, when I was recognized as an Emerging Business Leader by the Capital City African American Chamber of Commerce, here in Austin, in the same hour Austin Under 40 named me a finalist for one of their awards, I thought to myself…”wow, all these years of hard work is finally getting me to a point where my perception of myself matches what others think of me.”

***

Anyway, back to the original topic…this all one big reason why our new project, The Neighborhood, isn’t an official SXSW event and why it’s going to be built with entrepreneurs – designers, brand managers, technologists – in mind along with the consumers they strive to reach. Someone has to create because so much marketing at the event is about copy-cat marketing that never actually does anything except annoy people. There’s plenty of me-too tradeshows and fashion week events scattered all over the country, but who’s really out there going against the grain and not looking around for tips on what to do based on other companies, but genuinely trying to establish new ways of doing business and new fashion industry trends? Not to be all self-promotional, but I believe the people I surround myself with are.

Thank God! I’d be bored to death if I was one of those fake creatives, just looking around for ideas from people willing to take risks and do something unique. OK. My gripe session is over. Thanks for your time.

Entrepreneurs listen up: Here's an epiphany I recently had

If you do it for money, you're a banker.

If you do it for risk and opportunity, you're an investor.

If you do it to help others, you're an advisor.

If you do it to get ahead or learn from people with true responsibility, you're an employee.

If you do it for respect, you're a hustler.

If you do it to change the world, you're an entrepreneur and you're going to need a banker or some investors, a few advisors, lots of employees, a whole lot of hustle and, most likely, a psychologist.