Most big brands do not care about small cities. ⁣ ⁣ If you live in a smaller “fly over” city like a Memphis, Cleveland or St. Louis, etc. Chances are you are not getting a thoughtful, well-produced, high profile event coming to your town. If you want that type of experience and access to leaders, you gotta go to New York, Los Angeles or Atlanta. ✈️⁣ ⁣ As we pitched brands for months, they would come back and say: ⁣ ⁣ 🚫There is no budget for this (note: if anyone tells you this, that’s code for “we don’t value this”)⁣ ⁣ 🚫The event wasn’t sexy enough ⁣ ⁣ 🚫They didn’t see how their brand would fit in a city like Memphis (even tho you accept our Memphis consumer dollars) ⁣ ⁣ 🚫The audience was not “Instagram worthy” enough ⁣ ⁣ 🚫Or last, there was not enough celebrity tied to the event.The brands would ask me “what celebrities were going to be attending?” I would say it’s not about celebrity, it’s about COMMUNITY. And if anybody is the “celebrity”, as the creator, b*tch its me!!!😩⁣ ⁣ This is why I’m SO GENUINELY thankful our partners @choose901 , @courvoisierusa and @googlepixel who came on board. ❤️ They believed in me. And they believed in the community we were aiming to serve.🙏🏽⁣ ⁣ In everything I do I ask myself: “What is the lesson here?” And with OTB, the lesson was once again to BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! 🔑Because if nobody else is f*cking with you, YOU gotta f*ck with YOU!💙⁣ ⁣ BLACK CREATORS, INFLUENCERS, ENTREPRENEURS, PROFESSIONALS DESERVE TO BE SEEN. And if others won’t see us, then we will celebrate and see ourselves. 🔥⁣ ⁣ @coachshaquan - thank you for gathering souls during your Office Hours✔️⁣ ⁣ @kahlanabarfield - the streets already loved you, but the way you pulled up, embraced my hometown, and took us deeper into your career journey, just up’d the love to ANOTHER LEVEL✔️⁣ ⁣ Thank you to Councilman Martavius Jones⁣ for honoring me with a PROCLAMATION from the City of Memphis. 😭🥹☺️⁣ ⁣ And last, THANK YOU to everyone who supported OTB. 🙏🏽I hope we left you with the wisdom to take control and OWN your life. ✨⁣ ⁣ My heart is full mane... Until the next oneM️⁣ ⁣ #OwningTheBlock ⁣