ADCOLOR founder Tiffany R. Warren has one mission — diversifying the workplace.
Recently, a California judge struck down a law mandating corporate diversity, a measure many believed was necessary to increase the numbers of underrepresented people in boardrooms. The time for industry leaders like Warren couldn’t come at a better time.
Warren is geared up to quite literally add diversity to the workplace.
Her foundership and presidency of the non-profit community organization ADCOLOR have crafted a whole new vocabulary for the working world, leaving the days of monochrome sameness behind.
“I’m trying to make an army of accomplices so that we can shorten the time for equity,” Warren said.
Warren boasts new ideas in the name of diversity and inclusion. She designed newfound titles like her current Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer role at SONY which allowed her to break the mold within the age-old creative industry.
Have you ever thought about diversity and inclusion?
A question she constantly asks, spotlighting the pressing need for diversity.
But if Warren was going to make a change, she was going to have to start from the bottom up.
From sugar dots to FAFSA forms
“Enterprising behavior is in my blood,” Warren said.
The Boston native grew up with entrepreneurs all around her. She had her own versions of Oprah Winfrey and Jeff Bezos.
Examples of tough love and resourcefulness gave Warren the perfect background to nurture a business mindset just as she entered her teenage years.
Rewind the clock to Warren’s fifth-grader self as she burst through the door boasting her co-valedictorian status. High fives from her cousins didn’t stop her Grandmother’s indifference.
“‘Okay, what’s next?’,” Warren said, recounting the rude awakening.
“I didn’t have a lemonade stand but … she was my greatest teacher,” Warren said about her early days in the business world.
But Warren’s first taste of business training was unorthodox, to say the least.
From her Grandmother charging her 10 cents for sugar dot sweets, to her Mother that made a trade out of helping Warren’s friends. “[My mom] was a whiz,” as Warren was reflecting on her mom filling out FAFSA forms for incoming college hopefuls.
The realization for the need of diversity in the workplace
The ADCOLOR founder was certainly no stranger to success. The high-achiever was consistently at the top of her class and graduated from Bentley University with a Liberal Arts degree.
Yet Warren’s scholarship was rarely paired with a sense of inclusion, “I had been in rooms since pretty much the fourth grade, where I was one of two people of color,” Warren said.
The business mogul always made sure to include herself in multicultural networks, through roles like her Presidency of Bentley University’s “Black United Body.”
The further up the career ladder Warren went the less diversity she saw.
There was simply no place for Black, Asian, American Indian, and Native Hawaiian leaders and innovators.
So Warren took matters into her own hands.
“That’s ADCOLOR magic”
ADCOLOR has “become a verb and a noun … it’s in the hearts of people,” Warren said.
There’s a buzz going on within the creative industry, pushing ‘ADCOLOR’ into everyday vocabulary.
It’s an organization that’s a testament to the strength, power, and ingenuity within the black community. ADCOLOR brings attention to shining stars and their lack of inclusion.
After ADCOLOR’s 2005 founding, Warren looked to pioneer the inclusion of black and brown workers in creative industries – especially those at the top of their game.
ADCOLOR aims to be the torchbearer of diversifying the workplace
“I have it a lot easier because of Martin Luther King. I have it a lot easier because of Coretta Scott King and Malcolm X,” Warren said with a subtly confident smile radiating across her face at how she herself is going to push the history of black greatness that little bit further…
ADCOLOR is renowned for its annual awards show. Every year they honor newcomers, rising stars, and seasoned experts.
Additionally, their conferences allow critical voices in the creative sectors to rise up.
It’s like a blueprint. “If people can see it then they can be it,” Warren said.
“When I launched, people actually told me that I would run out of people to honor in three years,” the ADCOLOR founder said about the doubt and alarming lack of diversity people believed there to be.
However, 2022 will see the 16th and 17th anniversary of the ADCOLOR Conference and Awards respectively, smashing previous expectations out of the water.
Despite starting out as just a conference, ADCOLOR now boasts several different facets that make it stand out from the rest.
ADCOLOR Futures and ADCOLOR Leaders have innovated the way ADCOLOR operates, leaning into the organization’s motto of “rise up and give back.”
Futures acts as a “true family,” Warren said. The program allows for young individuals at the precipice of their careers to excel.
While the Leaders program is a pillar for the experienced without support. “Even at EVP, I’m still a learner. I’m still curious,” Warren said. The program seeks to give its members even more of what they already have: experience.
All the initiatives behind ADCOLOR add a greater richness to diversifying the workplace.
“When I go back to my office, and I’m one of two, I know that I have a whole army that’s behind me [now],” Warren said, “that’s ADCOLOR magic … it’s like my mantra.”
The grind doesn’t stop
ADCOLOR and the founder won’t stay complacent.
“I create, I make it happen and then I keep it moving,” said Warren.
The mogul’s accolades are tough to keep track of.
From Broadway co-producer and TONY winning hopeful, Warren’s “Thoughts of A Colored Man” graced the stage for 76 shows. Alongside ADCOLOR’s Emmy nomination, where she produced a concert in partnership with CMG and Wyclef Jean.
Warren seems to dominate whatever creative industry she feels like taking a spin at.
Boasting her 25th year in the Equality and Inclusion sector, the SONY EVP is mindful of keeping her humility.
The assignment still remains.
“Staying humble and staying hungry and staying on assignment,” Warren said are her mental go-tos whenever she gets overwhelmed by the success stories already behind her.
Warren is aware of the role she was given.
“I’m not being punched or kicked or hosed,” like her freedom-fighting predecessors, Warren said. Her mission? Diversifying the workplace for all. She won’t be distracted by personal wins and will keep fighting the fight.
Letting go of your baby, or bringing it on stage
Despite Warren’s accomplished portfolio, her biggest success has nothing to do with diversity or business at all.
It’s letting her loved ones shine first.
“My biggest achievement is being a really great aunt,” Warren said. The businesswoman has brought her niece on stage at the end of every ADCOLOR Awards to say goodnight since she was two years old.
“I just love her so much and I look forward to seeing her become the woman I know she’s gonna be,” Warren said.
Letting others take the spotlight always came with ease. Still, letting go of her life’s work wasn’t natural.
“‘I only know what is right for ADCOLOR!’,” Warren said, mocking how tightly she used to hold on to her bundle of joy before she was able to let the micromanaging go.
“[Now] it’s making sure that everybody at the table has a point of view,” Warren said – reflecting on ADCOLOR’s past eight years of passing the torch onto the next set of visionaries.
The Diversity and Inclusion expert now sees herself in the role of mentor, taking inspiration from Tupac, Warren “‘may not change the world, but [hopes to] inspire the person that will’.”
The wins Warren has under her belt have changed the world of diversity and inclusion, but the entrepreneur will not give in.
She will continue to make a change and diversify the workplace.
One classroom, work office, telecast list, and Grammy nomination at a time.
When do cherry blossoms bloom? Spring has arrived in New York City and one of the first signs is Cherry Blossom pictures. Also known as sakura trees, these eye-catching plants, sprout beautiful white and pink leaves every year for a short period of time.
The Cherry blossoms are a beautiful representation of New York City’s rich history of diversity. Much like many New Yorkers, the trees are not from the U.S.
The sakura tree finds its roots in Japan. You can find more than 20 different varieties of sakura trees growing for centuries there. In New York City, many cherry blossoms were gifts, planted by Japanese residents. In Japan, the Sakura is a symbol of love and good luck.
What a strange thing! to be alive beneath cherry blossoms”
Kobayashi Issa
When do NYC cherry blossoms bloom?
It is difficult to predict when in spring the Cherry Blossoms will bloom. Climate and daylight contribute to when they’re ready to show off their foliage.
Aside from that, the appearance of the sakura differs with each stage of bloom. The best time for cherry blossom pictures is when they peak. Not only that but the trees don’t stay in bloom for long.
Sakura trees only hold their blossom for 10 days or around 2 weeks. Our friends over at the Brooklyn botanical gardens are updating us with “Cherry Watch” so you know when the right time is.
As a result, you need to capture your aesthetic NYC cherry blossom pictures quickly for your Instagram followers.
1. Brooklyn Botanical gardens
Top of the list is The Brooklyn Botanical gardens. The Gardens pay homage to the trees of Japanese roots in their Hill-and-Pond Garden. Here you will find an authentic Japanese torii or the red arc gate shrine.
In Japan, they are used to identify sacred spots. These gates make a great addition to your cherry blossom pictures by showing respect to the Japanese culture they originated from.
Sakura Park is named after the 2,000 sakura trees planted in New York. This park features the most common type of sakura tree in Japan, the Yoshino cherry tree. The Yoshino cherry trees were gifts planted in Riverside park from Japan.
Take a Tram to Roosevelt Island and capture some aerial Cherry Blossom pictures. These beautifully vibrant pink trees will stand out in every photograph.
You can find some vibrant Japanese Kwanzan sakura trees in the northern part of Roosevelt Island’s cherry tree walk.
A cemetery might be the last place you’d think to look to find life. However, the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn is filled with plant life.
The grim tombstones and breathtakingly designed mausoleum are outshined by the vibrant leaves in spring.
Honorable mention: Branch Brook Park
Photo credits: @ Jerseyphotographer
Not exactly New York, but just a PATH train away. Newark’s iconic Branch Brook Park has more than 5,200 Japanese cherry blossoms trees. That’s more than Washington, D.C.
The colorful pink hues are a rare sight outside spring so take advantage of the changing of the season and capture those cherry blossom pictures.
Blockchain started as a revolutionary technology capable of transforming the financial world, but the decentralization trend has spread everywhere to touch many aspects of our lives. The latest buzzwords in this emerging industry are the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse.
The latest report from Nonfungible.com shows that NFT trading exploded last year by 21,000% to hit $17.6 billion, and momentum keeps intensifying. While 2020 was the year when NFTs got the attention of crypto nerds, these tokens are now going mainstream.
Earlier this month, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that his mega-popular app Instagram was ready to add NFTs to the platform, although we don’t know more details about the integration as of today.
The metaverse trend is following a similar path. The trend has exploded recently the same as NFTs did in 2020, also thanks to Facebook’s rebranding to Meta.
While it used to be associated with the entertainment industry, the metaverse will touch upon a lot of use cases and is also enjoying adoption among big names. According to US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) filings dated March 9, American Express – the world’s second-largest payment processor – is exploring this emerging trend.
The company is seeking to secure trademarks on software for a virtual environment for entertainment and an NFT marketplace.
While the two trends can be implemented for a lot of use cases, they most often overlap for online games and entertainment platforms. The latest example is Onliners Metaverse, an NFT platform still in development, which will eventually become a large metaverse ecosystem.
What Is Onliners Metaverse?
Onliners is promoting itself as a metaverse of 8,000 so-called Onliners “who are trying to fit in this world.” The ecosystem starts with an NFT collection comprising a maximum supply of 8,000 units, which will define the community for the upcoming metaverse. The platform uses themes and concepts related to the age of the internet.
The NFT collection will feature many different things that “online” people could have or look like. The goal of the metaverse is to let users find look-alike characters and feel one with them. There will be hundreds of unique features, costumes, and gadgets representing online communities, such as crypto enthusiasts, artists, gamers, musicians, traders, students, anime fans, writers, developers, and many more.
Onliners Roadmap
The Onliners Metaverse will be launched in several phases, with the ultimate goal to build an interactive ecosystem that allows users to hold NFTs that represent them. Here are the main components of the upcoming platform:
Onliners community – to begin with, the team behind Onliners will build a strong and healthy community to ensure the long-term success of the project.
A powerful community that supports and understands the founding team is imperative for achieving the subsequent goals. Thus, the team, which comprises about six members, will establish a strong bond with the community through AMA sessions, events, and keep everyone up-to-date.
Onliners treasure vault – the team plans to save 15% of OpenSea royalties revenue for various project operations that will encourage the community.
For instance, not everyone can have the digital assets to buy their own Onliner, given the price increase after mint. Thus, the team will use the treasure vault to buy the floor and conduct giveaways for the community, and make some people happy.
Onliners merchandise – the Onliners team wants to encourage the community to feel one with the project even when off-line.
The community will decide on the merchandise they want so that the most voted NFTs could appear on those. Onliners will collaborate with big clothing brands as well.
Onliners charity – while the internet seems to be omnipresent, only about 60% of the world’s population has access to it. Even today, four out of ten people are totally off-line.
It means they cannot enjoy the same tools for communication, education, and entertainment. The Onliners Team plans to donate $50,000 to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) so that people in the poorest countries could buy computers and have internet access.
Onliners season 2 – there will be another launch of new NFTs, traits, and animated characters. Loyal community members will have reserved allocations.
Metaverse – finally, the NFTs will act as a gateway for the upcoming metaverse, which will represent an online virtual game where one can use his/her NFT as an avatar, with custom attributes, strength, and abilities. There are more plans for the ecosystem that will be announced as the project grows.
There are three ways to get your own Online NFT: you can get whitelisted through giveaways or by supporting the community on Discord, join the public sale, or purchase the NFTs after being listed on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace out there. The date of the launch will be announced soon.
Shoe tutting is a unique art form and one Filipino-American dancer, Jeremy Tiongson, is looking to make it a staple of dance culture.
Jeremy Tiongson’s unique combination of incorporating shoes with a dance style known as “tutting” has become an entertaining and innovative form of dance. He is hoping to make shoe tutting a more prevalent form of dance.
What is tutting, tho?
Also known as @Angles_TV, the Filipino dancer’s shoe tutting has helped make a name for himself in the viral dance community. Luckily his grind over the years of perfecting this craft prepared him for this moment. Now he plans to capitalize on it.
The response from the dance community was extremely positive. Mario Lopez even took notice and interviewed him on Access Hollywood.
Ever since Jeremy Tiongson was a kid, he had a passion for both shoes and for dancing. As he mentions in our interview, he would go as far as to save his lunch money every day until he had enough money to buy new sneakers.
Now, Jeremy is focused on continuing to innovate and level up. To make this possible, he needed to develop a love for the art first. The Filipino dancer is hopeful the popularity of his niche content will continue to grow. He hopes that his shoe tutting will eventually land a sneaker deal.
But it all started in his early days when he first started dance battling.
As he got older, Jeremy discovered the dance battle scene in the Bay Area. He was inspired by the top dancers and their ability to grow such a large and loyal following.
Jeremy was committed. He would travel across the country to pursue his passion and participate in battles. Some that didn’t even pay the dancers. He was spending entire paychecks to travel to battles and compete for free. Experiences like this would help the Filipino dancer find more supportive audiences.
“Back then, what I was doing was more accepted on the east coast. They embraced what I did. This made it easier for me to be a part of that culture and community out there. It took a while,but a lot of different opportunities popped up.Working with other dancers started to get me some more local support which is something I have always wanted.”
-Jeremy Tiongson
The Only Constant is Change
Society, technology, and dance are always evolving. It is important to stay true to yourself, but you also need to evolve as well.
Jeremy Tiongson displays tutting style
He needed to transition to taking his focus from battling to content creation. He found that it was more advantageous to be able to do things on your own terms. This is how shoe tutting was born.
“I’m really into innovating and pushing this tutting style to where it’s not a sub-style. I want it to become a main style indance. To a point where it’s okay for people to want to become a tutter.”
-Jeremy Tiongson
Smooth Seas Don’t Make Strong Sailors
Although Jeremy has experienced lots of growth and success, it wasn’t always smooth sailing. Today, so many people experience several internal struggles, from mental health to finding purpose.
The same is true for the 27-year-old Pinoy dancer from Daly City, California. In today’s world of dance, tutting is still not as widely used. During our conversation, The Filipino dancer stressed the importance of not quitting the things you love to do.
“Keep doing what you’re doing. Try not to let the outside opinions of other people affect you or get you off your path.”
-Jeremy Tiongson
He continued, “When I was 17-20 I was being told that what I was doing wasn’t real dancing. It was very hard to hear as a kid. Stick with what you love, and everything you want will all come. Just stay true to yourself and keep doing what you’re doing.”
Tough Times Don’t Last. Tough People Do!
At one point in his journey, he had taken a step back from dancing. He almost gave up on it. The pandemicaffected everyone — physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. After losing his job, Jeremy was lost and in need of a new direction.
Many people can relate to this and have experienced something similar. The key is how you respond and how you can pick yourself back up after you’ve been knocked down.
The Filipino dancer showed the world you could get back on your feet by putting your shoes on one hand at a time… Chris Brown even took notice of the shoe tutting sensation.
Jeremy isn’t close to reaching his final form yet. He is looking forward to growing with other dancers and becoming a more consistent content creator. Outside of dancing, he would like to be able to help others with their social media strategy and content creation.
“I would love to push tutting to a broader audience so people could see it for how beautiful it is.”
Jeremy does one-on-one private lessons from time to time. In the future, he plans to start his own dance studio and even host battles. Everyone will come to a crossroads or a hurdle along their journey. Remember, you just have to do what you love and follow your feet.
Who would’ve thought MRIs, audio, and music would cross paths? How do you ease the worries of a hospital patient strapped inside of a whirring, radioactive magnetic tube?
It’s a puzzle that MRIaudio CEO Spencer Howe set out to crack as a bright-eyed college graduate in his parent’s garage just over a decade ago.
The pieces have since fallen into place, and the Carlsbad-based entrepreneur has swept the fruits of his labor into the imaging rooms of over 1000 hospitals and health clinics worldwide.
After a statement year that put MRIaudio on the map with its patient-driven technology, the intrepid entrepreneur spoke of the values and experiences that road mapped his entrepreneurial journey to success.
MRIaudio joins the mix
Spencer Howe’s MRIaudio is making strides in a niche of medical technology focused on improving patient comfort.
Once a solo act without a dime of venture capital to his name, Howe now presides over a multi-million dollar company that posted $3,500,000 in revenue by the close of 2021.
MRIaudio has sold more than 3,500 units of its flagship technology to a clientele of leading health service centers including Sharp & Children’s MRI Center in San Diego, Scripps Memorial Hospital, UC San Diego, and Rayus Radiology.
A marquee partnership with GE Healthcare over the past year alone tripled MRIaudio’s business “overnight”, Howe says.
More significantly, for the Carlsbad-based founder, the numbers represent the realization of decade-long efforts to improve the quality of patient accommodations in an industry already rife with tragedy and life-changing moments.
“MRIs are considered to be an uncomfortable procedure. A lot of patients get anxiety and claustrophobia,” Howe said. “The presence of music and communication help alleviate that stress when a patient is undergoing an MRI scan.”
Magnetic resonance imaging is one of the most frequent procedures done by diagnosticians across the country. The average MRI center may scan anywhere between 10 to 20 patients per scanner.
“If you assume that each system we’ve sold helps 10 people per day, we help 30,000 patients each day complete their MRI scan and reduce the number of patients that require a sedative,” Howe said.
MRIaudio is not the first or only company to tackle the issue of integrating audio systems into MRIs. However, up until now, delivering audio to patients has come at the cost of sound quality due to the engineering challenges involved.
“An MRI at its basic level is a giant magnet. Most traditional headphones use magnets to create sound. So traditional headphones are not MRI compatible,” Howe said. “Most other companies that make MRI sound systems use piezo ceramic speakers which are MRI compatible because they are non-magnetic, but they only produce high frequencies.”
“This compromises the sound quality the patient hears,” he said. “I wanted to create a system that produces a full frequency response: high frequencies and low-frequency sound, bass.”
Howe consulted with a career audio expert who had plied his trade at Bluetooth speaker company JBL Audio. The pair sifted through ideas before settling on an older piece of engineering: tube television.
“Back when tube televisions existed, the magnetic speakers on the sides of the TV would interfere with the picture,” Howe said. “As a solution, the engineers building these tube TVs actively shielded the speakers.
This means using an opposing magnet as a shield on the speaker which significantly helps cancel out the magnetic field.”
The perfect fit
It was a perfect fit for what MRIaudio wanted to achieve. A test run carried out by a speaker manufacturer confirmed that the engineering was sound.
“As it turns out the lower frequencies produced by the actively shielded speaker did a much better job masking the cacophonous sounds produced by the MRI,” Howe said. “With our MRIaudio system, the patients could better hear the music which reduced their awareness of the loud noises produced by the MRI.”
The breakthrough on full-spectrum audio delivery to patients during MRIs has garnered plaudits from the medical community.
Radiology Supervisor at Mount Nittany Medical Center Sherry Piper says that her staff at the facility’s Outpatient MRI center has “not stopped raving” about the system’s effectiveness and breadth of functionality.
“This system has proven to be the best MRI system that I have used in my 30-year career,” Piper said. “It provides adequate volume, even for people with hearing issues. It provides a vast selection of music including Pandora, I-Heart, Tune-in Radio, and Podcasts.”
The veteran radiologist was also impressed with the service provided by Howe and his team.
“Spencer was extremely helpful from the first phone call to the end result,” Piper said. “The pricing was excellent and they worked with our schedule to complete the installation.”
Service is the golden rule for MRIaudio
Photo Courtesy: MRIaudio
For Howe, customer service is the lifeblood of his company and his identity as an entrepreneur and founder.
“I joke with MRIaudio team members that we are a customer service company that just happens to make MRI sound systems,” he said. “Quality customer service means delivering what you promise and continuing to take care of the customer after the sale is made.”
MRIaudio provides a 30 day trial period for customers weighing whether or not the audio system is the right fit for them.
“If a prospect decides not to keep the system, the invoice is voided,” Howe said. “The only customers who move forward are the happy ones.”
The company also offers complimentary installation. Howe was frank in his assessment of the policy.
“We don’t make money off of installation, but it makes the customer’s life easier,” he said. “Our motto is to make the customer’s life as easy-as-possible.”
Howe has made it a point to make every aspect of his customer experience as convenient as possible. MRIaudio will also replace a broken component after warranty expiration overnight for free, for example.
“It is both satisfying and promising to hear a customer say ‘wow are you serious, that was so easy, thanks!’” Howe said. “And the next time they need to buy another MRI sound system, they call us.”
Howe says that customer service is an underrated tool to garner success as an entrepreneur, especially as a means to subvert catastrophe and create winning opportunities.
In one incident, a trusted customer — a mobile MRI distributor who outfits his fleet with MRIaudio systems — had been working with a major Boston hospital that had already been set back by other technical issues.
Tensions had already come to a head when the hospital reported that their MRIaudio system stopped working. With his reputation on the line, the distributor contacted Howe directly.
The CEO immediately helicoptered to Boston later that night to personally troubleshoot the system.
“The only issue with their MRIaudio system was that one of the cords had become disconnected,” Howe remarked. “It took me less than 10 seconds to fix it.”
Every single second paid for itself in dividends.
“That same very large hospital in Boston was so elated… that they bought 7 more MRIaudio systems,” Howe said. “Even though I knew I could help repair the system with phone support, they wanted me onsite. I obliged and showed up with a positive attitude — I consider this to be a win/win deal.”
It’s one of the five core values that Howe has hammered into the fiber of MRIaudio’s identity.
“When you walk into MRIaudio’s office the first thing you see is our company logo and our 5 core values,” Howe said. “Every employee knows these core values and they are an integral part of decisions we make.”
Win/Win:“Every deal should benefit both parties whether that be with a customer, a supplier, or internally.”
Teamwork:“I am a huge believer that if you want to go far you should go together. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Working as a team keeps everyone aligned and aware of what is going on outside their department.”
Simplicity:“I believe that the easier a product is to use and a procedure is to follow, the more it will be used. We try to make all of our products as easy-to-use as possible.”
Positivity:“Having a good attitude is critical to being successful. We spend most of our time at the office — we should enjoy it. That’s not to say there aren’t hardships at times, but facing a challenge or an obstacle with a positive attitude helps improve the quality of work and increases your chances of crossing the finish line.”
Celebration:“I believe that both big and small victories should be celebrated. Whether that be a high five, a company barbeque, or some other form of acknowledgment. We have a Gong in the office that people are encouraged to ring; for example when a sale is made or a big order is shipped.”
Each value goes a long way in fulfilling the basic requirement of customer service that has been the bedrock of MRIaudio’s story. Howe hopes that the wider corporate culture will one day adopt similar standards of customer care.
“Personally, I often feel disappointed with the customer service I receive and I don’t think I am alone with my feelings on the standard of customer service we’ve gotten used to,” Howe said. “I think often as companies grow, they try to cut as many costs as possible to increase their bottom line. I imagine they mistakenly see cutting customer service costs as an opportunity.”
Customer service satisfaction has been dropping since the start of the 2010s, according to a report by the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
“I think that skimping on customer service is short-sighted because you will eventually lose your customer base and damage your brand. I would argue that current customers are more important than new ones.”
At the end of the day, the experiences of customers or patients are a direct representative of the trials and tribulations Howe had to overcome to build MRIaudio to what it is today.
A trip to the University of Wisconsin was enough to assure Howe that what he had set out to do was worthwhile.
“I was on-site while they were scanning a patient. The patient successfully completed their scan and thanked me afterward for installing an MRI sound system,” Howe said. “She was extremely complimentary of how the music helped her complete the MRI scan without needing anti-anxiety medication.”
“To me, this is confirmation that the product really helps patients and serves its purpose.”
The founder is already thinking about how to further improve the patient MRI experience. The company is working on an MRI-compatible display so that patients can watch video entertainment during scans.
Going it alone
Amidst the whirlwind of his company’s recent success, Howe loathes to forget where it all began: the nebulous days when even selling just ten audio systems seemed like a distant impossibility.
Reeling from a dissolved partnership and working without venture capital, Howe had very little else to rely on other than himself while navigating through the genesis of MRIAudio.
At its conception, the company flew under a different moniker. Global Imaging Source, Inc, was founded as an MRI parts brokerage company by a college friend of Howe’s at the University of Colorado Boulder.
It had seemed like a perfect union. The pair was on a balcony of a mutual friend’s wedding when Howe’s friend made the proposal to work on a new business idea together. Intrigued, Howe accepted.
The idea of an MRI audio system drew them together, but after several disagreements, the pair decided to part ways, with Howe plowing ahead with the project despite having no experience in the medical sales industry, he says.
The young entrepreneur was left with just an idea, a machine, and an open room to work with.
“Every day was hard and uncertain at first,” Howe said. “I had to figure most things out on my own, without damaging a multimillion-dollar MRI machine — fortunately, I never did — I had no capital and was building the systems in my parent’s garage.”
Despite the novelty of the challenge, he was determined to prove that he had the frame of mind to plow through. “I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset — MRIaudio is not the first business I started,” Howe said.
He first ran a business earlier in his college career as the owner of a house-painting franchise for College Pro Painters.
Keeping the faith in MRIaudio
MRIaudio Bose Technologists Speakers
“I didn’t make very much money, but I did get a firsthand education of how businesses worked,” Howe said. “This motivated me to start another business. I was actively seeking another opportunity.”
And so with no capital and a steep learning curve to scale, Howe set to work to make the most out of the opportunity he had.
Howe used whatever he could get his hands on to build his first MRIAudio systems. An old computer speaker. An amplifier. A bundle of standard cables. A desktop microphone. Whatever he couldn’t salvage, he built on his own, though he was beginning to discover the limits of his resourcefulness.
“The primary system component is called an audio transducer which I had to custom design,” Howe said. “I built the first transducer out of pinewood. I knew a hospital would never purchase it and that it needed a more professional appearance.”
Bridging the gap in manufacturing quality was a necessary step, albeit an expensive one for a company without any venture capital.
Howe pinged his collegiate network, hiring a student from ITT Tech career services to design a CAD (Computer-Aided Design) speaker box. With the blueprints in hand, he pitched his project to roughly 50 different manufacturers over the internet.
Scrolling through quotes ranging up to $50,000, he began to feel discouraged. Then he spotted a $5000 quote from a family-owned factory in Tecate, Mexico. Howe grabbed his passport and drove down to the Mexican border from San Diego.
“One of the brothers picked me up and drove me to their factory about 10 minutes away,” Howe said. “I explained my situation and that if this product worked I would continue to order and we agreed on a total price of $3,500 for ten transducer speaker boxes.”
The deal was on after he field-tested the system’s compatibility in a local hospital. With the product coming together, Howe began to tend to other elements of his business, doing whatever he could to save funds along the way.
He spent late nights on his website to bridge the time difference working with a web developer based in India. He tapped a fellow student to design the company logo and used vista print to print business cards and brochures.
Sensing the markings of a proper business coming together, Howe turned his attention to cold calling and traveling to trade shows over the next year. The process, however, proved to be one of the most harrowing experiences of his entrepreneurial journey.
“Cold calling was free and I had plenty of time,” Howe said. “Anyone who has made cold calls knows it can be discouraging. The idea of starting a business was extremely exciting, but my initial sales proved to be more difficult than I thought it would be.”
In its first year, MRIAudio posted just $40,000 in revenue. At that point, Howe had little to no established clientele or feedback to gauge whether or not his efforts would come good.
“I spent almost all my time in my first year in business making cold calls. There was so much uncertainty whether MRIaudio would be successful, or whether I was wasting my time. I didn’t know if I priced the equipment properly, I believed I had designed a good product, but that wasn’t confirmed by any customers,” Howe said. “I had faith it MRIaudio would be successful, but I was so discouraged at times that I felt like giving up.”
Howe attributes many of his hardships to the intrinsic difficulties of ‘bootstrapping’ or starting a company without any outside investment or venture capital.
“In a lot of ways bootstrapping is a harder road,” he said. “If an investor would have offered me money when I first started, I probably would have taken it, although I would have regretted it now.”
The entrepreneur says there are plenty of upsides to bootstrapping, although he admits that the perks aren’t necessarily immediately clear.
“When you bootstrap you don’t have money to do all the things that you want to grow your business,” Howe said. “You carefully have to decide what is absolutely necessary and allocate your money to that cause. Because of this, I probably didn’t waste as much money as I would have had an investor given me $100,000.”
Living at his parents’ home also left Howe with fewer financial obligations, which created easier conditions for him to bootstrap MRIAudio. Now living independently, Howe admits that having investors would go a long way in terms of being able to have steady income if he started another business now.
Still, Howe swears by the financial liberation of forgoing venture capital.
“If you can get through the growing pains of starting a company organically, bootstrapping is a beautiful thing,” he said. “You don’t owe anyone anything, you don’t have a board to report to, so you can focus on long-term strategy instead of worrying about short-term earnings.”
With just over a decade worth of experience building MRIAudio in the rearview mirror, Howe offered a word of advice for the next entrepreneurs.
“Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems,” he said. “There were a few times where I thought I was going to be an overnight millionaire, that did not happen.”
Howe likened his journey to a steady upward trend with lots of ups and downs. “Most of the time things aren’t as bad as they seem,” he said.
The founder encountered his own fair share of bloopers, each seeming just as catastrophic at the time.
“I had this idea for these electrostatic headphones that were MRI compatible. I thought these were going to revolutionize the industry and invested most of my money into them,” Howe said.
When the move didn’t pay off, he was initially gutted. “They didn’t work at all, but it wasn’t the end of the world, I got through it.”
Howe also recounted a test run for an MRIAudio-compatible microphone that would let MRI technologists speak to patients.
“Unfortunately, on very rare occasions the microphone became live without being triggered,” he said. “This led to a few patients hearing the MRI techs saying things that they weren’t supposed to hear.”
Howe was horrified. “I immediately resolved the issue but at first, I thought my business venture was over,” he said.
Howe says that similar potholes will always come up, but that it’s important to continue to plow through. The entrepreneur invoked his own journey from humble beginnings and overcoming roadblocks to that point.
“Problems usually aren’t as bad as they seem. You can work through them and find a solution and learn a lot in doing so.”
Aiko Tanaka is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker creating powerful imagery for BIPOC creatives through her docuseries I Don’t Camouflage. She’s originally from Tokyo, Japan. Tanaka spent her time between Toronto, Canada, and Tokyo which informed her about cultural awareness of the world around her.
Her college years were spent at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, and Rutgers University in New Jersey. There she majored in Social Sciences mainly studying media literacy and race in film. She moved to New York in 2005 where she earned her Masters in Arts and Cultural Management at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
In 2011, Tanaka went on to found the community-based documentary series I Don’t Camouflage. The series highlights the migration and patterns of creatives who dare to stand up.
Tanaka currently features Japanese creatives who migrated to New York, to find themselves and comfort in their identity expression. In terms of creatives making space, Tanaka is a champion of building community through the arts.
In terms of BIPOC creatives making space Tanaka is a champion of building community through her powerful imagery and filmmaking. She began an educational program for a non-profit, where she facilitated workshops with international recording artists on issues of immigration and identity.
Tanaka has done amazing work thus far and is so inspirational, to say the least. I found myself enveloped in the diverse experiences of the individuals she highlights through her docuseries.
We should all take a page from Tanaka’s book and uplift the BIPOC voices of those in and outside our communities to create awareness and promote our differences to find community and understanding through powerful imagery.
Aiko Tanaka
Feeling like an outsider and how to cope
Jade Rogers: I was watching some of your videos. I really loved the way you are giving BIPOC creatives a stage to talk about their experiences leaving their place of origin and coming to the states through powerful imagery.
I was watching the one about Sophie the makeup artist, and how her experience was vastly different. As a multiracial artists and the experiences she faced before moving to New York. Could you talk about getting started in videography and what that journey has been like?
Aiko Tanaka: Thank you for watching. I had a wonderful experience getting to know Sophie and filming her and her aunt, April Walker. She is a strong, passionate, and powerful woman and I was very inspired by her. I couldn’t believe that she was only 17 years old, she is so mature for her age.
When I started videography I wanted to create content for I Don’t Camouflage (IDC). Using video was the most powerful tool to tell stories. I was able to tell stories of people from marginalized communities who were embracing their individualities.
I couldn’t afford a crew for every shoot so I had to figure out how to do it myself.
– Aiko Tanaka
When I was in Japan, I felt like an outsider in Canada and an outsider when I came to New York. I didn’t fit in. It led me to struggle with my identity. I am what is called a “Returnee”, which refers to Japanese kids who returned to Japan after having lived abroad for several years. I lived in Canada from 5 to 10-years-old.
My parents used to recommend that I not talk about my life in Canada, because I could be bullied. I began to forget English and it felt like a part of me was disappearing.
Until college, where I met a lot of people who were more open and accepting of me. I started watching foreign films and listening to foreign music so as not to forget my English and learn about other cultures and society.
Aiko Tanaka uses her craft as a space for Healing and telling the stories of BIPOC creatives through powerful imagery
JR: Did you feel as though building that community was a healing process for you?
Yes, because when you connect authentically, it heals you.
– Aiko Tanaka
AT: IDC helped me heal myself. It became my healing journey. I connect with the subject because I can relate with them and sometimes, they might express their feelings and that translates my own feelings in a way I did not know how to. Which oftentimes brings me to tears. I hope it heals others too.
JR: That is an incredible feeling of understanding and healing through your craft. I would love to go into depth about your process of creating powerful imagery for BIPOC creatives. As well as some more background on how you got to this point in your creative practice.
AT: In terms of process, I film, direct and edit myself. Since it is just me, I am always thinking about traveling light, so I fit all my equipment in my suitcase. Having a crew would be nice, but just having myself on set also creates a very intimate dynamic and I think that is special.
How I got to this point goes back to the day I was working in the music industry as a marketing person. I wore many hats, meeting/networking with artists and industry professionals every day and night. I became good friends with some of them. When I first got here to New York, I can admit, I was a weirdo, as I tried to figure out my identity.
I also faced stereotypes that I didn’t really experience when I was a kid. All the friends around me accepted me for who I was. They treated me like family.
– Aiko Tanaka
I didn’t have family in New York, but they were my family. I wanted to show people the personal side of these artists, that a lot of people didn’tknow about. That’s when I started to record and interview them.
I did not go to film school and I had to teach myself how to film and edit, but fortunately, I met great people who helped me with my career along the way and IDC led me to different opportunities in the film, TV, and media industry.
Be Bold… Don’t Blend In
JR: Dope. I love that you used the connections you made to kick start your docuseries. Thinking about your choice of titling for the project, “Camouflage”, it really made me think about visibility, powerful imagery around BIPOC creatives, and that you’re emphasizing this idea of being seen. Can you speak to the decision behind that?
AT: I Don’t Camouflage means not to blend in, and be who you are. Don’t disguise yourself wherever you go and be vivid. It was important to find a name that is visual, like the camouflage patterns, and something that has layers of meaning to it. So that’s why I chose I Don’t Camouflage.
JR: Yes. That does have a very visual aspect to it. I enjoy the meaning behind I Don’t Camouflage. It fits the theme of the work you’re making. Also, I noticed that we’re both Pratt Cats, I love hearing about Pratt alumni in the art world and what they are up to. Especially since you got your master’s at Pratt. What was your experience like going to all these different institutions?
AT: The Arts and Cultural Management program that I was enrolled in at Pratt was only on the weekends. I had the whole weekday to myself and most of my classmates were already working.
So, I built more with the people I met through the non-profit organization I was at during the week. The organization used international hip-hop as a tool for social change. We organized International Hip-Hop festivals and I began an education program for international students. This program had a similar dialogue to IDC. BIPOCs talked about blending in through this educational workshop.
What does the future look like for I Don’t Camouflage and creating powerful imagery for BIPOC creatives?
JR: Incredible. You were able to accomplish so much during that time. What other events were you able to work on? Also, what’s something you might plan to do beyond videography with this work?
AT: I threw an “I Don’t Camouflage” event back in August 2013, sponsored by Mocada Museum. It was hosted by M1 of Dead Prez and it was a music showcase where some of the artists I featured in the interview / docuseries performed live on stage.
The place was packed. The audience was wearing patterned outfits, enjoying the performances, doing step and repeat. It was beautiful. I would love to do more interactive events where people can feel unity and celebrate themselves.
I enjoyed the creation of more engaging spaces where people could have an open dialogue about identity issues in the future.
– Aiko Tanaka
JR: Absolutely, I think that’s a crucial factor for sure. You want to be able to reach people on a more personal level that goes beyond surface level interactions.
Building these bonds and creating powerful imagery to foster stronger communities of BIPOC creatives or any type of community really. In terms of, when you worked within the music industry did that in any way inform your practice?
AT: I worked in the music industry, as a marketing person after graduating Pratt. Record labels would hire my boss to produce “The Best of” mixtapes for their artists, as a way to promote their official album. The mixtapes were more like an audio documentary with lots of great sound bites, and I believe it influenced me, come to think of it.
As I was more involved in the business side in music, I wanted to be more hands on in the creative process of the storytelling. That is also another reason why I started I Don’t Camouflage.
When you have the tools to do what you love…
JR: Did you ever use the events you attended to practice your videography work? During that time was your camera always in hand?
AT: No, I didn’t have a camera on me. Well, sometimes I would take pictures of the behind the scenes of the events. That wasn’t my role per se. I was always serious about film and media. While I was in college I enrolled in the social sciences but I focused on media literacy.
Which is about race, and more specifically how the Japanese race and culture were depicted in film throughout history and how certain races are depicted in film in general. I was always curious about it, but I didn’t get a chance to learn.
When a camera became more accessible to me, I decided to use that as a tool.
– Aiko Tanaka
JR: It comes through in your work, the embracing of culture. I am incredibly connected to your work because of that. As a Black woman and thinking about what goes on in my community, I feel a kinship to your films.
In thinking about community and understanding those who have shared experiences with you. Your medium is film and mine, photography. Though I have these deep feelings and, in a way, see myself in the people you interview. Which I think again is why I love the way you’ve just opened this space for conversation.
AT: I feel like you know, you’re a photographer and I’m a filmmaker, and we both work behind the scenes.
We all have different perspectives and it is important to share our visions through our lens to the world, now, more than ever.
– Aiko Tanaka
I am happy to hear that you feel kinship to my films. Also, I find that when I feature female and non binary artists, there is a very different energy than when I work with male artists. I feel more empowered.
JR: Absolutely. Also, just the pure Girl Boss energy that’s circulating right now. It’s always beautiful to see more women in the film industry. I don’t personally know a lot of women filmmakers, but I just love when I find out about them. It’s such a badass job and I really do appreciate you speaking with me about it. You create such beautiful work and powerful imagery around BIPOC creatives.
AT: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I appreciate you too. Please keep me posted with your work.
There is a lot that goes into succeeding as an athlete at the next level. Not only do you need to be blessed with physical talent but you need to have a good work ethic. And don’t forget you need to perform!
It takes hours of dedication and developing lots of mental toughness as you will need to persevere through many challenges and overcome adversity. You need to be willing to make the necessary sacrifices in order to be a master of your craft. Many athletes are fully engulfed in this way of life.
There’s always more to life after ball
But eventually, every athlete will reach their time. Some sooner than others. Unfortunately many do not know how to deal with life after ball or know what to do when it happens. Coaches provide mentorship and having teammates creates a brotherhood you can’t replicate anywhere else.
This is a problem many athletes deal with once the final buzzer sounds. It’s all about how you take those lessons learned from being an athlete and apply them to a new passion.
“Being a former athlete, most of us dedicated our entire childhood & teenage years to the respective sports that we play. Our identity as we know it is heavily tied into our athletic success, which can be extremely hard to walk away from. Many athletes even describe retirement as feeling though a part of them has died once the ball stops bouncing. “
– Julian Aiken
Keeping the dream alive
The ball may stop bouncing, but the days will continue to keep passing. Julian was 18 years old when he had a moment of realization that in the grand scheme of life, eventually, his basketball career was about to end sooner rather than later. As a star in high school and then went on to play at the next level in college as well.
Over the course of this time, he started thinking about the importance of being able to find success in other lanes. Having a dedication to the grind, and being really committed to a goal, are two key fundamentals to have when finding success in any lane and these are 2 things that a successful athlete can carry over off the court.
“After graduating, I had my sights set on getting into the ever growing tech market. A former teammate of mine helped me secure a Business Development role at an NYC tech-startup.”
– Julian Aiken
Julian was a killer on the court and a killer in the sales game. To excel in sales, you need a mentality of a prideful competitor, and that’s something that he has always had.
“I was very confident that I’d excel in sales since I was in 4th grade. I started off setting up a lemonade stand with my brothers, safe to say we sold out. I was never one to focus on any problems at hand, rather I’d search for the solution to the issue at hand, which is the same approach I take in my career.”
– Julian Aiken
Some things happen for a reason
Julian attended Assumption University where he had a full athletic scholarship playing basketball for all 4 years.
Following graduation, he would excel in the world of professional sales and a few years later, after some encouragement from NBA player Mo Bamba, Julian found a perfect fit and made the decision to work with PWRFWD, an online marketplace that drives the athlete to consumer industry.
“I knew PWRFWD would be a great fit for me to contribute to when I met Luke Bonner, our CEO. It’s the perfect combination of tech + sports, which I’ve got nearly 10 years of experience working within. Luke truly is about empowering athletes & putting THEM before any of OUR interests at PWRFWD, our interests are their interests. This is something you don’t see often from someone in a position of power especially in the world of sports. That being said, we are going to shake the table starting with Women’s Sports, specifically the WNBA”
– Julian Aiken
Get in your Duffy!
Julian’s bag might be even deeper off the court than it was on the court. He is also working directly with a handful of professional athletes in the Web3 space.
“I’m currently working with a few professional athletes in building out their web3 brands & getting them aligned with strong, meaningful projects that authentically align with their interests & who they are. This is a long-term game, so we’re looking to boost brand equity by doing things the right way.”
– Julian AIken
Although the one time New Jersey state leading scorer was unable to realize the childhood dream of playing in the NBA, Julian Aiken certainly was still able to flourish in life and find lots of success.
That being said I asked him if he could give his younger self any advice. He told me: “I’d tell myself to dream even bigger. Ignore all of the limitations that others try to set on you.
“Realistic for them doesn’t define what’s realistic for you…”
Aiken continued, You can truly be anything that you aspire to be if you’re willing to work for it; you’ll get to meet all of your idols & role models from Maverick Carter to Kobe Bryant. Never get boxed in, because anything truly is possible just work harder than hard & be ready for the moments when they come. “
“If you’re a ruthless competitor & love winning, I’d suggest giving tech-sales a look. Great with numbers & have a wide network of successful individuals? Look into becoming a CFA (Certified Financial Accountant) or a CPA (Certified Public Accountant).“
You have got to be willing to work for it. Great advice for any young person to receive. Being ready for the moments when they come is especially valuable for athletes that may be considering retirement or are beginning to think about what to do or how life will be once the ball isn’t getting passed to you anymore.
Julian touched on the type of mindset that’s helpful to have when this time comes.
“Some advice I’d give is to not allow your ego to stop you from being interested in new things. Don’t look at your career potentially coming to an end as failure, instead look at all of the doors & opportunities that have opened up due to your athletic success! Start to identify what your interests are outside of the sport you’ve played all of your life, it’s 2022 – there’s endless opportunity. “
“I can guarantee someone sitting in the crowd at one of your games can assist you in obtaining one of these roles, most will be ecstatic to hear your interest!”
– Julian Aiken
Life after ball…
Julian Aiken is the epitome.
Ball is life. But Julian is the perfect example of even when the ball stops moving, life does not. The lessons you learn from ball carry into all aspects of life including the chapter that happens once you hang up your jersey.
For Julian, the goal is to help athletes reach their potential as enterprise businesses, using his background in tech, investing, and the corporate space to help them build brands that outlast their playing career.
So far he has successfully helped over a dozen former African-American athletes launch budding careers in the tech industry and he is determined to increase that number into the thousands.
When it comes to drawing up a game plan and executing, the GOAT you want to look at for mentorship or guidance is Julian Aiken.
This crypto crowdfund is for creators, supporters, and collectors seeking to participate in the birth of “yams.” A unique collaborative work by VSN & friends.
VSN’s goal: Introduce the universe of VSN through a high-quality visual production.
A unique musical talent. A master of transmutation. A new future for People of Culture. A magnetic community builder in the Black Web3 ecosystem. An onramp for the best and brightest, led by compassion and equity.
VSNendeavors to work within the tenets of compassion and equity to build a cycle of creation and healing through music, art, and Web3 technology.
The music itself is a calling card infused with overarching themes of joy, self-celebration, and spirituality. It’s meant to spark listeners to action around wellness and community
“In order to create, we must heal. In order to heal, we must create.” – vsn
The Fact: Black Culture is the first decentralized protocol
It was (and is) viral, wireless, and open-source – longbefore any of these concepts manifested in technology.
Watch two Black kids from two different countries who’ve never met performing almost identical dance moves to different genres of music. Listen to artists from foreign countries adopt Hip-Hop culture and Rap music.
Trace the lines between Country, Jazz, Blues, Rock n’ Roll, Soul music, Funk, and Future Beats.
This protocol lies within us all. It’s who we are, and who we have always been.
The Problem: The spectrum of Black Culture is not properly represented in media.
At the highest level, our culture is commodified by people who lack authentic proximity to it. The existing mindset toward diverse projects in major industries limits the breadth of culture; what is deemed marketable is allowed to exist.
Diversity and Inclusion initiatives in traditional industries that deal in culture won’t be enough to solve this problem. The innovation and inspiration provided to the world by People of Culture require new systems for recognition, payment, and distribution.
Our Solution: Create a crypto crowdfund infrastructure befit for Cultural Works.
The provenance and autonomy afforded by Web3 technology will allow more Black and Brown creators to own their means of distribution.
The more control artists have overhow people access their work, and the price of that access, the more integrated their brands become in the lives of their supporters.
Web3 affords creators new ways to grow fruits through holistic ownership.
The future is flora; a sovereign garden made up of creators growing at their own pace and scale, designing new futures through collaboration.
What’s our first crop in this garden? “yams.”
VSN’s solo visual genesis project
A music video centering Black women in joy, leisure, and power, created with People of Culture. Logline: An auspicious beauty pageant featuring Black women showcasing their hidden talents. 🔮
“yams.” will set a new standard for collaborative Web3 projects by working with the Web3 community to raise funds for the video itself through the crowdfund, and assigning value to the people who produce and capture this work upon the project mint.
The key to VSN’s system for creators in Web3: rewarding their faith.
A radical shift in how contributors are integrated into large-scale projects is necessary.
When artists own their content and its’ means of distribution, they’re able to displace middlemen and embrace the community in their collaborative exchanges. Create + Heal.
Create a high-visibility project for People of Culture that nurtures their full selves, while onboarding key creators into Web3 through what they do best.
For “yams.”, this means providing collectors the privilege of holding space for the creation of high-level Black culture on-chain as associate producers of “yams.”.
Future VSN projects will prioritize early adopters as the ecosystem expands to incorporate large collaborative projects, token utility, and events.
In the sale of this work, vsn will split ~50% of primary and secondary sales with the creative team producing “yams.”Culture creators deserve this level of integration on the backend because these projects don’t happen without them.
Intention
“yams.” will capture Black Culture in real time, through a community-centric architecture that will:
Incentivize collaboration between artists
Encourage the appropriate engagement of all people in cultural works
Maintain the cultural authenticity of vsn projects
Utility
The tokens disseminated through the crypto crowdfund will allow contributors to play a part in the vsn. Holders are granted (varying by token):
A special edition version of vsn’s 2nd album, “flora.”
New music first via private virtual spaces held by vsn
A unique pass into “the garden.”, the growing universe of vsn where compassion and equity underpin cultural Web3 projects
And most importantly…
Production credits and governance in the “yams.” music video crypto crowdfund, to be released this Summer.
There’s a lot of magnetic Black energy, technology, and community baked into “yams.”, and the project is only in pre-production.
All will be revealed in the coming weeks via Mirror and **vsn’s** Twitter. Token holders will know what’s coming ahead of time.
Join our diverse community. Create a new vsn. If you read through the crypto crowdfund, tweet the link, your (brief) thoughts, and some yams.
Trust, that there are levels to this glow up. Growing up in the violent parts of the East Bay Area of Northern California, Coogler’s future wasn’t very hopeful.
Born in Oakland and raised in Richmond during a time where an African-American was more inclined to become a statistic than a star, the now 31-year-old director with only three feature films stands on the edge of glory.
Put yourself in Coogler’s shoes. You’re in the trenches where everyone around you is warring over street turf, selling or shooting up drugs, and getting shot while most of your peers end up either dead or in jail. You happen to be different because unlike most around, you have two loving, educated, and supportive parents.
Neighborhood kids tease you because your life seems better and your only escape is the house after the front door closes behind you. Coogler mentioned the tough times he dealt with while growing up in Oakland in an interview with The Undefeated. He said,
“Where we were living … there were kids that were on Section 8… There were housing projects … right behind us. I would play with those kids, but I would get teased because I went to a nicer school. I had both parents in the house. So, I didn’t really fit in.”
Shutting out a dangerous world, Coogler escaped to a fictional one by turning on the TV, popping tapes into the VCR, and watching multiple movies with his father. Little did Coogler know watching Rocky II with his dad would have a huge impact on his creativity and where he is today.
Still, even with an unknown deep interest in film, no one told Coogler that he could be a director and screenwriter at a young age. So, he took the route most looked to in order to get out of his situation and at the age of 7 picked up football.
In his interview with The Undefeated, he said,
“A lot of kids struggle. Somebody asks you who you are, man, you got to be something, ‘Are you in the streets? Are you an athlete? What are you?‘ Growing up, it was always one of those two things…”
Football changed Coogler’s life and he knew that when he stepped onto the field it provided him the balance he needed to progress. His grades were always great, but he ended up sticking to the sport, became captain of Saint Mary’s College High School Panthers and snagged a football scholarship to Saint Mary’s College of California.
Finally, Coogler made it out the hood, but this would only be a small step in his life. He still had obstacles to face. During his freshman year, he would major in chemistry in order to become a doctor, but little did he know that a creative writing class would change his life.
His creative writing teacher at the time, Rosemary Graham, gave them an assignment where students had to write about the most emotional experience they have ever faced. Coogler then submitted a story about his father almost bleeding to death in his arms.
Coogler thought nothing of it after he submitted his assignment but Graham was touched by the story and requested his presence immediately. She wanted to tell him that he had a rare talent, a talent rarer than having the brain of a doctor. Coogler had the visionary mind of a screenwriter. Peep what he told the East Bay Times,
“She looked at my essays and told me I had a creative eye, that I should go to Hollywood and write screenplays… I thought, ‘Where is she getting this?’ Then I thought ‘Why not?’ I went on the Internet, learned how to write a screenplay and fell in love with it.
However, after Coogler’s freshman year, Saint Mary’s College of California cut their football program and he lost his scholarship. Yet, that didn’t stop the future Black Panther director from obtaining a college degree, but let him know how little power you have as a student-athlete.
He could’ve quit and gone home but he stayed strong and carried on. That same year, because of his good football season at his previous university, New Mexico State, Brigham Young University, and Sacramento State all recruited the young wide receiver. Once again Coogler was able to use football as a platform to launch him to an education.
He ended up choosing Sacramento State where he majored in finance and ended his football career grabbing 112 receptions for 1,213 yards and six touchdowns. Don’t think Coogler forgot about a possible career in screenwriting. He lowkey chose Sacremento State because of their interesting film production programs.
At Sacremento State Coogler would get the creative film experience he needed. According to the East Bay Times, it was there he made “Story of a Dollar,” which was about a $20 bill that circulates around the Bay Area and the lives of the people it reaches. Plus, a 12-minute movie named “Eyes Like Mine,” which was about a young man in college who struggles with the loss of his girlfriend.
After graduation, Coogler had a decision to make — to go pro football or pro in screenwriting. He told Film Magazine about his decision to attend USC film school. He said,
“It was either go there or play wide receiver. I was short, my prospects weren’t the highest, so I jumped off that cliff and drove to L.A.”
In L.A. he honed his craft at USC creating a grip of short films like Fig. Actually, during his first semester, Coogler had to live out the whip, couch hop, and post up with Jesuits, before finding an apartment in LA.
“When I first went to film school, however, because it was such a sporadic thing, I went down to Los Angeles and I didn’t have anywhere to stay yet. So I kind of had to jump-start in classes and things like that. So, for a few—I would say, for about a week and a half, you know what I mean, I was getting dressed in my car, spending most of my time in school, you know, until I found a place. But I bumped around quite a bit. I stayed with some Jesuits, you know what I mean, with a group of Jesuits that were in training, basically. I stayed with like a distant relative for a day or two.”
He never let the pressure get to his head which is something he can thank football for. As an ex-athlete myself I know that times when you’re under stress you have a chance at performing your best.
This mentality is probably what led him to win big at the Sundance Festival for Fruitvale Station back in 2013. Lowkey this jump started Coogler’s career and gave him the confidence to talk to Sylvester Stallone, make Creed, and continue the Rocky legacy.Coogler explained the feeling when he first tried to pitch Creed to Sly. He told Deadline,
“The filmmaker inside of me…well, I’ll never forget the feeling I had when Sly was telling me stories. He would become so animated, he’d go across to the side of the desk and pretend to be this person or that person. I thought, this dude is an off-the-charts actor. I felt a little bit like a coach gets when he sees a greatly talented player, and I thought, if I ever had the chance to work with this dude, I’ll have to jump at it because this is nuts…”
Take Coogler’s story into consideration. The odds were against him. Yet, he managed to maneuver to space where he can now call himself a legendary director. Homie never expected that his three feature films would rank award-winning.
Nor did he expect to create Fruitvale Station, Creed, and Black Panther, but mission accomplished. Now, I bet that young boys from the East Bay Area when they see Coogler winning an award on TV it’ll change their lives for the better.
Listen, don’t be afraid to jump and use the tools provided for you to get out of a shitty situation or into an even better one. You never know where you’ll land if you take a leap of faith.
I was able to spend a few minutes with ESPN analyst and former NBA player Richard Jefferson and talk to him about the tradition of NBA All-Star weekend and all the hype around his new Ruffle Sneaker.
#Ruffles_Partner You can’t celebrate the NBA 75th without a 1/1. Look out for first-time Celebrity Game Analyst @richardajefferson, who will be rocking the @ruffles 75th Anniversary Ridge Tops throughout the #RufflesCelebGame. Let the shoes do the talking pic.twitter.com/yzABB4xZLD
Ruffles didn’t miss a beat at the NBA All-Star Game
For the first time, RUFFLES debuted as the title partner of the 2022 RUFFLES All-Star Celebrity Game. The game featured the RUFFLES 4-point Ridge Line, a 4-point line resembling the ridges in RUFFLES potato chips.
And for every shot made from behind the line, RUFFLES and the NBA will donate $4,000 to support the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, a minimum of $40,000.
Adding more hype, TV and film stars, musicians, and professional athletes from the likes of Tiffany Haddish, Jack Harlow, Machine Gun Kelly, Quavo and Mayor Justin Bibb flooded the court.
After all, ball is life right?
Life moves extremely fast. Everything around us is constantly growing, changing, and evolving at what seems to be an increasingly rapid rate. The same holds true for the game of basketball.
After all, ball is life right? One of the most crucial things to remember in both life and basketball is to remember how important tradition is.
“One thing that stays constant is change. The game is always going to evolve. The league got so offense heavy with everyone playing small ball and shooting threes and Steph Curry changing the game.”
Richard Jefferson on next generation style of basketball
In the course of my lifetime, I have seen the game evolve from an inside offense, lower scoring, defensive type of game to a run-and-gun, fast-paced, 3 point shooting, high scoring game.
Even today we are in the midst of the game developing even further.
“Currently right now who are probably the best players in the NBA? It’s probably Jokic, Embiid, and Giannis. There are big men dominating the league and we haven’t seen that since the early 2000’s and the 90’s.”
Richard Jefferson points out how there is a return on the emphasis of bigs and defense
A Change for Better or for Worse?
There are good changes, bad changes, but always constant evolution. One of the traditions that could use a little change for the better is the NBA All-Star game.
Over the course of the past decade, it has been a little disappointing for fans because there is a blatant lack of defense and competitive spirit. Kobe Bryant describes how the game used to be different and what the fans want to see.
Not trying to win an All-Star game? Couldn‘t be Kobe. 😤
Although the game itself has lost a little of its luster, the weekend as a whole is still a special tradition that is important to be carried on. It is a rare opportunity for fans, players, and celebrities as well.
Since 2003, one of the featured events of the weekend has been the All-Star celebrity game. It’s not only fun for the fans to see their public figures in a competitive setting, but RJ also brought to light how it’s good for growth.
“Everybody loves to play sports. I think it’s cool that celebrities love the game of basketball. They actually help grow the game of basketball, they contribute to it. I think it’s awesome to see who can play, who can’t and who wants to just be out there for fun.”
Richard Jefferson on looking forward to seeing the Celebs hoop
Richard Jefferson speaks on his custom Ruffle sneakers
All-Star weekend isn’t only special for fans but for players as well. Richard Jefferson also described to me what was most special from a players’ perspective.
Another traditional element of basketball culture for both NBA fans and players is the love for sneakers. One of the official partners for NBA All-Star weekend is Ruffles who had a feature shoe being worn by several of the participants.
Life and basketball may be in a constant state of change and evolution.
Whether it be growing the popular swag of sneaker collecting in pop culture or enhancing the facets of NBA All-Star weekend, honoring and carrying forward the traditions is the key to slowing down the moment and providing balance.
