Meet The Black Creators Club: Podcast Show and Media Brand

We had the good fortune of connecting with The Black Creators Club and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi The Black Creators Club, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
The Black Creators Club is a weekly, high-energy show that expands the definition of what a creator is through amplifying successful black innovators from all fields and providing a modern experience for enthusiasts to discover, share, and connect.

We created the Black Creators Club because we have aspirations to be entertainment journalists and on air hosts, and recognized this day in age, it’s not enough to wait for opportunities- you have to make them.

The ethos of our brand and what we do is centered around creativity, and that starts with us. As an entrepreneur you need to have passion for what you put out in the world to be able to keep you moving through all stages of the process. We have passion for what we do, which is amplifying Black voices and sharing Black stories.

There is so much mystery around how to start a business and so much doubt around the black success story so we are here to celebrate the creativity in the community.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
EC: Born and Raised in Los Angeles, CA the land of endless dreams and possibilities.  Since I was in high school I knew that entertainment journalism was the career I wanted to pursue.  I received my  degree in Broadcast Journalism and Mass Communications at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at ASU. After a long job hunt out of college, I landed at the Oprah Winfrey network which was the perfect step in the right direction of being part of the entertainment industry.  I have always pursued my passion for journalism on the side (until I can make it my full time career) with my web series called “Millennial Visionaries” where I talk to Black entrepreneurs about their businesses and encourage others to shop Black owned. I also worked with media company Afterbuzz TV to sharpen up my skills and get more experience in the entertainment hosting world. I want the world to know that this is not the last time they will be seeing my name in print or hearing it, this is just the beginning of the journey.

AF: Bronx, NY roots, Jamaican heritage, and worldly ambitions, I am a Television Host and Media Businesswoman and have an MBA from Columbia Business School. Currently, I am a full-time Marketing Lead at HBO Max where I develop and lead our tv series and film campaigns. In addition, I serve up energy, depth, and realness as a digital creator and especially enjoy talking about the business side of media and creating content around lifestyle and motivation (follow me @akilahffriend to keep up and get inspired!) As someone who is a first-generation American and has had multiple instances where I’ve had to forge my own way, my passion is to inspire the underrepresented to build the lives they’ll love in style and I see entertainment hosting as the perfect vehicle to do just that! In parallel to my business journey, I am an experienced digital host, writer, and on-air talent at Cheddar Inc. and AfterBuzz TV to name a few.

During the pandemic, an opportunity came up for us to start a podcast and we took the idea and ran with it. This journey has not been easy- in fact, it’s a daily challenge as we are still in the beginning stages of building our brand and empire. The biggest thing to overcome is staying consistent. There are many days when everything feels overwhelming, with building on old ideas to make them better and developing new ideas and then fleshing them out. There are a lot of moving parts when running a business especially when you don’t have a lot of capital and are trying to balance time for work, your personal business, and social life.

The main lesson we’ve learned is to slow down and not to feel rushed to keep up with someone else and their brand or media company etc. Moreover, to just get started! It’s okay to take time to figure out the next best move while you are in the building stage of your brand.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If our friend was visiting for a week in LA, this is the itinerary we would put together.

Activities:
Workout with a view- Culver City Stairs
Malibu Beach
Melrose Rooftop Movies

Food:
Mama Shelter -West Hollywood
Perch -Downtown LA
Escala – Koreatown

LA has so much to offer and has a little bit for everyone to enjoy, and we are still exploring.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
It all started at Afterbuzz TV, a media company founded by former E News host Maria Menounos and her husband Producer Keven Undergaro.

The two of us hit it off right away and we knew that based on our shared interest and gap in the market that we could do more together. In less than a year of being at Afterbuzz TV, we learned skills that help us produce an entertaining show on and off screen.

Keven is our mentor and sounding board for developing our show and continues to be supportive by offering us his platform to use by posting our articles and sharing our episodes with their Afterbuzz TV audience.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackcreatorsclub/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theblkcreators

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr7RraiajpboG8CFWzHua9A

Image Credits
Image Credit goes to Micheal Reyes @visionaryimaging