innovation in community building w/kham ward, ceo of blk men in tech

full transcript

auto-generated from the audio, so expect a few typos. the audio is the source of truth.

Ely Al righty good morning everybody good morning good morning happy Monday happy Monday I you know I didn't get my Polo in the mail cam yeah Hey listen I got you um all right everybody good morning let's see here I'm just checking make sure I haven't gotten anything on YouTube yet so we gotta make all right got that all right then we gotta do this hold on last thing we want to do is go ahead and get started and it doesn't work L linkedin's got a bad hat of it sinking all right we're live sweet good morning everybody happy Monday uh Tik Tok Facebook LinkedIn

YouTube Twitter X cam you calling it Twitter you calling it X which one I call it Twitter man yeah 100% 100% um but it's great to see y'all this morning uh is a great Monday um can't wait to hang out with Cam um I was very blessed to meet cam uh ran L you know it's it's funny and we can talk more about the story and the power of networking just being in the rooms but H and I ran each other a podcasting with with our guy Cyrus and and um and uh man we just really hit it off and and I had the wonderful

unique opportunity to come uh speak on a panel at Cam's conference down in Florida the last year and it was it was a hell of a time and listen I'm not just saying that um because you're here I'm saying that because I mean it and uh and the amount of chatter that I've seen in my community with black men and Tech is obviously huge so cam you're building something special man I just want to say that publicly um so but you already know that but based off that smile um but for those of you tuning in welcome good morning say hey we love to hear

from you want to give a quick rundown if you're tuning in on Tik Tok or whatever and you're like what the heck is this thing this thing I was telling cam backstage I started this thing four years ago this was a way to give back to the engineering community at at scale um uh I'm a recruiter I'm always going to be a recruiter and a recruiter in the software industry and really trying to help people level up their career and I was like man there's got to be a better way to scale this information than have like 20 calls a day and so I started

going live on LinkedIn I was one of the early adopters on LinkedIn live and and um man it's it's it's it's a lot of fun and four years later we're interviewing me and you and I've had a bunch of guests on the show so again say hey we love to hear from you and I I have the reason why I tell people to say hey is because this is a networking platform and I'm not kidding you two people have found jobs because of this live show not through me so literally I had somebody comment the other day um somebody was engaging with with him on

the comments um and then like a few months later they opened up a role and then that person slid into the DMS and then and then now they're at the company so I just found that out so that makes me so happy so again say hey we love to hear from you um again we're not in the metaverse yet we're not we're not in our Apple Vision Pro goggles yet um and so uh we don't know if you're tuning in unless you comment and I know there's a lot of lurkers there's a lot of lurkers because one I see the analytics up the top left

and people watching so one it rats you out and number two I get a lot of people in my DMs go man that was a great show and I'm like well why didn't you comment right so definitely want to uh encourage people to comment second thing ask cam questions I think what cam is building is amazing he's a great resource for those who maybe want to start a conference want to start Community want to start just being a badass cam is your guy so ask some questions um and then want to give a shout out to Ryan it's good to see you my guy thanks

for tuning in I want to give a shout out to two of my partners this morning first and forem most two of my sponsors that conference um so I I will not be there but um uh they are going to be it's gonna be hell of a conference at the end of July I will be having my baby boy around that time so I I will not be there but I keynoted last year at this conference it was a hell of a time so highly recommend thatc conference.com back Wisconsin if you use the code TD you get 25% off and Al and also shout out

to the gold Premier platinum diamond sponsor whatever you want to call it render ATL for picking up the show to years in a row my guy Cam's going to be there and then I'm going to be there too I can't announce it yet publicly um but uh it's going to be a heck of a time um but render thank you again for picking up the show for two years in a row I appreciate you um and then what else I think that's it so cam let's go ahead and dive in man yeah what they want who are you what do you do yeah we'll go

from there yeah so I'm cam Ward founder and CEO of black men and Tech I've been doing this work full time now for about 18 months prior to I was a chief diversity officer both in higher education and in the tech space I was blessed to be uh the leader of diversity strategy all over the world um it for me it's about inclusion I'm really big on inclusion for me I believe that diversity is very easily to do um you just put a people in a bunch of a bunch of people in a room and it happens um inclusion to me is the harder part

is a Step Beyond tolerance it's um it builds with trust and vulnerabilities things that you know people really don't get into especially when you first meet them so it's something that we got to work on as a whole um I'm really focused on inclusion because inclusion is the only way to get to belonging if you truly want belong in a space you know where I can be my authentic self I first got to trust you and I got to be able to be vulnerable with you so that's me at my core I believe in um you know people thriving in every every every Walk of

Life every every part of life so that's our big mission at um black men and Tech and make sure people thrive in a diverse and interconnected World outside of that a for athlete I played sem pro football and I did track and field for a year at the University of Florida um and then I'm home based in South Florida but we do programming all over the world that's awesome that's awesome I didn't know you played football man that's really really cool that's yeah yeah I say I was gonna tell you backstairs a cam Ward is like a very football name like that's just very football

name so it's funny she played man I mean obviously a lot to dive into today I mean I I think I think first thing I want to start is like man what what prompted you to to kind of start something right there's a lot of conferences out there there's a lot of meetups out there there's a lot of community groups out there what prompted you to to to start something um being black men in Tech honestly it was out of pure need right so uh 2020 was rough for black men in particular black people as a whole you know fall was rough was probably even

more rough right dealing with all that was going on around the country so for me in my seat I wanted to start something just for people that look like me black men to have a conversation of course we get BR Sports we hang out we do that sort of thing but it was like it was like yo how are you are you okay like you know um what you I feel a lot so are you feeling a lot yeah so I started the community with eight people at mine man called a bunch of my friends from all over the world and was like yo is

it me or is it all of us and I was like no it's all of us yeah started a call just talking about y like how your day years ago had had about uh 10 people to First Call about three weeks later it jumped about 50 and about a couple months later was like up to 300 wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait so you started the the the nucleus of Blackman Tech was a simple Zoom call and just saying how are you doing yeah Zoom call because because what I wanted to create is is a safe space for black men to be able

to to have conversation like intentionally right um and it and it jumped and it moved so quick man I had to buy Zoom I was like what man extra Bill no it's all good but it grew into a space where people just started talking more about life uh uh job opportunities it started to grow organically into something to the point where I was like I have to create and do something with this thing um but it was organic man and that's why like I never intended to start out making conference I never intended it was just a group of fellas that got together and what

I wanted to do is invite more people to the conversation so allies people that were you know supporter of the community and that's where we started our first conference I planned our first conference in four months and I gave you serious yep and I gave this past year wasn't the first right no this was the third year okay okay so our first conference was in 2021 I had two chains Tristan Walker and Cortez Bryant as keynote speakers and I gave it away for free didn't charge anybody anything because what I was trying to do is show the world that black men are very different but

can be very successful and and I wanted to explain to individuals how that happens so yeah I had three different uh Keynotes and it was really cool but I gave it away for free because I was just like it you know it wasn't a money grab for me like it wasn't conference and stuff is not that for me it's about access and opportunity and that's what we really focused on I love that so I I have to ask you a question of this because so I I I've T and again I'm not saying this because you're on the show I'm saying this because I I've

talked about your conference and and and and I said I said what was so cool about it is was the first conference I went to where where every talk I almost choked on my coffee we almost had to end the show just then uh where almost every talk was a panel yeah and I thought that was brilliant because the meaningful and the depth of the conversation was so greater so can you talk about where your thought was for from almost everything being a panel I mean obviously there was some oneoff you know individuals but yeah yeah so for me our our our conference design is

that of transferable skills and then and then transferable action transferable action means to us at black menate Tech is that you take what you have and take it to recruiter role where we where all all sponsors and partners are and then go activate go get that next job with oneoff convers ations or with Fireside Chats they're really cool because you get personal you get in depth you did you get that sort of thing but for panels for us that means that people got point of views and perspective that all need to be highlighted right so when you're on a panel you're talking about say for

instance uh how to get your next job right my I'mma tell my version of the story and how you should do your resume but a you gonna tell your version that you gonna tell me how to change my resume look somewhere in the middle yes I'm find I'mma find where I need to go to make feel comfortable so the panel conversations are about making sure individuals have the opportunity to see themselves or see their perspective represented on the stage I love that yeah again it was so awesome and I always tell people that like I am not the end all Beall when it comes to

like the job search and stuff right and I was like I was like you can shop my advice around to like 10 other recruiters and they're probably going to disagree with me but I think what you said is so key like like meeting people where they're at and and and and there's like an in between of of where you can probably lie but if there's only one voice on stage you're not going to be able to find because like the panel you had me on was amazing around hiring with Texs our boy with guy John um Karen uh and then what was what was the

media she was wonderful she and I still go back and forth from Salesforce I forgot her name she was great um huh Kim Kim yeah yeah yeah Kim she she she gonna kill me next time she sees me um uh for sure um and so no it was just so wonderful so wonderful so um I mean talk about um talk about when it comes to building Community you know this started with a phone call I feel like so many people are sitting on the sidelines want to be a part of something but they're too scared to start something what would be your advice to them

do it it's it's it's so much room for every one of us to do exactly what we need to do to benefit the culture in the community when I talk about culture in particular I'm talking about the minority culture at any level under represented culture so do it like you know there's no small feed of opportunities for people eager to walk in purpose not passion passion is a is an emotion that you can get over you know when you walk in purpose you gonna do it and you're G to run through a wall to make sure it happen so I I tell anyone that started

Community like well K we got a lot of you know EXC communities name name it like you said a lot of conferences but they don't have what to have and this is needed for the way Society is moving now so I tell anybody to jump in and do it then I say how can I support like authentically like yo how can I support your movement if it's another black men experience how can I because my black men experience isn't the only black men experience it shouldn't be the only one there's so many types of different black men there's so many types of women there's so

many types of um Hispanic lgbtq it's so it's so many types of experience that need to be expressed so I say everyone there's no shortage of it so always do it yeah absolutely I love that and and and I think one thing I think people always think networking and community building has to be around work topics right but like you started this whole thing off of a off of a zoom call saying how are you doing so I mean c can you talk about maybe sometimes the best way to build community is actually not through work right right yeah so I wholeheartedly agree like a

lot of people sometimes get stuck and the fact that it's called black men in Tech right right and they say well am I in Tech first of all every company is a tech company yeah I mean yeah like like like everybody's a tech company but what the reason why I called the black man a tech early on is because um I wanted the world to know black men was doing something positive in our communities taking care of our communities I'm a huge believer to whom much is given much is required so much was given to us so we had to give it back you know

so that's the origin name of black men and Tech you know and I wanted the world to know that we were running a nonprofit like our our earli on tagline was rewriting the urban legend right so so rewriting the urban legend of black men at the same times the technology piece is a it's a it's a connector right because we can get around the fact that all us working Tech in some space I I was on the uh diversity side you're on the engineering side there's a recruiting side there's a marketing side Tech is more than just being technical another about being in a tech

space right so I built the name because of that but outside of that create we create space for others like teachers um lawyers um you know you name it and we and if you came to our first uh tour stop or come to you see a bunch of people from different places and it's because it's the networking piece that happened you may not even be interested in Tech but you're interested in a community and then you show up so I I love the fact of being able to network outside of work because you network in work that's cool but your next job is always out

outside of work you know outside of work your next opportunity might be that so you always want to focus on those things as well 100% And I think it's really awesome because you know again what you're building I think is pretty special right the panels was a different vibe really just the conference in general was just it was just a different vibe a great vibe in general I I I want to ask because I I think you're doing some really cool stuff around um different activations that again aren't necessarily work-related but but and I feel like from a corate setting because I think one of

them you're doing right now is something around cigars right what was it cigars and conversations cigars and conversations right love that right if I if if I spoke to cigar with you I'd hack I can't do it but but I'll come for the conversations but talk about because again right I think a lot of traditional people are gonna be like oh that's not professional it's cigar or I don't know whatever and it's just like but it's like man I feel like you're meeting people where they're at can you talk about that yeah so our our methodology around event planet is to do events year round

our thought process is that we really want to focus on the fact of like connecting people in things that make sense for them for instance we went on a cruise um in April and it was about curating Community for the fellas to be able to travel internationally it's not only for them but for their entire family we did a summit it's called The Source Summit we went on Carnival Cruise Line spent the weekend in the Bahamas we connected Ed we we built Community we cried we hug we shared and then we continue to do work this cigars and cigars and um conversation towards a five

City Tour that's focused on ele elevating the experience of individuals in in their understanding of cigars and also Spirits right A lot of people that came to our first stop which was in Fort Lauderdale last week they didn't necessarily smoke cigars they didn't even know about cigars but they learned to cut they learned the leaves they learned how to start a cigar and they paired it with the uh with the spirits right the alcohol but it was a learning experience yeah so so a lot of great conversation that mind pin has had over cigars so let's teach people about cigars and just being in the

atmosphere is different so we got four different uh four more cities on the tour right now we're in Dallas we in New York we're in DC and and we we was in Atlant we gonna be in Atlanta yeah but but those are opportun just to learn something new like step outside of yourself and and be a continued learner yeah I love this is is this is is this a cigar joke I don't I don't understand this Fuente short story kind of guy I don't know I don't know that yeah it is all right cool sweet awesome yeah sounds great uh yeah agree 100% not tying

something to your current employer since they probably yeah I mean that that but also too just like in a sense because obviously cam Works cam runs black man Tech in his own thing but yeah again I think I think trying to what what what I've realized is I think I think we we all sat at home for two years in during covid kind of ingesting whatever content that we preferred which was primarily in my experience a little bit more educational right we're at homes everything so now I feel like there's this need and I've noticed it for my content and cam I'm sure you're seen

it from your events around like cigars and stuff that actually the non-technical stuff is is actually is the thing that actually moves the needle um you can talk about the tech stuff wherever but really bonding over whatever topic it is really really goes the extra exra extra mile so cam I want to ask you this man I mean let's let's dive into Dei uh you know I want to talk about it I want to talk about how companies can can hire better right from a hiring perspective um you know I I think uh fully remote um immediately increases your diversity on your teams um I

know the team that I ran at V my last company was literally the most diverse team I would argue in all of v and we were fully remote right um you know I I think I think offering pay in terms of uh non-geographical locations right I think I think pay banss tied to cities is stupid um what are some other things man that that that you think companies can do to to to Really increase their their diversity within the organizations yeah so a couple things first thing I would always say um how you're a recruiting team that reflects the people that you want to um

recruit that's that's one major thing other thing is having representation layered throughout the organization what I mean by layered is not necessarily at the top and at the bottom but through the Hing process through the levels right making sure you have representation there so people get to work with individuals that look like them and that's another a key thing those are things that uh are are not easy fixes take a little time to get done but you can get it done with intentionality right um I also would say as well uh show up to experiences and be authentically yourself meaning that you know if you're

going to you know a Women's Conference and that sort of thing or don't just do the conference but to one of their their meetups that they have like build authentic relationships because the thing I love about our partners black men and Tech they don't only just show up the conference they show up year round we're actually going to McDonald's in June to do uh Tech connect which is our annual uh immersion Chicago right yeah immersion experience in Chicago and the thought process is that we don't want to just see you one time we want to see you multiple times let's let's not be transactional right

I send you a resume book you look at it you decide but let's let's build community together if we truly want to me meet uh move that needle that that imaginary needle that people talk about all the time but it take consistently it take trust and vulnerability that's why we really focus on inclusion and the way companies and Brands show up and that way is to be consistent but also be inclusive right and the more you do that the easier it is to build a pipeline where people's like I want to work for your yeah yeah and you don't have to look like them to

be consistent or inclusive you just got to be able to show up and show that you care and that's a major thing as well talk about showing up yeah because like it I never really understood it yeah until I started doing it yeah it was right and it's amazing what happens when you start showing up yeah yeah people like what are you talking about just showing up so can you talk about just the act of being present being engaged with folks and just the impact that it can play in your career yeah so showing up is a major thing and uh I'll give you example

like uh when when T and I first met T showed up I asked him to show up and he did you know the showing up is doesn't take much energy but it takes it takes much accountability what that means is that when you show up places right you actually have to be present and be there and and it's a thing it's a thing in in in most communities where you want to show up and be critical but you got to show up with Grace and space in order to get things moving and things done um showing up takes an opportunity for you to walk into

a space and say you know what I'm going to be here I'mma bring my skill set whatever that is I'm G bring my team whoever that is and we're going to be active participants what that mean is at a conference for example I can be the guy that's speaking or I can be the guy that moving tables or I could be the guy that's helping at the front with the uhet titing with individuals getting their bag I do not care if I tell you I'm coming I'm coming to serve I'm coming to help service leadership uh servant leadership is like the the number one part

of showing up for someone else so when you when I say show up I show up in show up and tell me what you want me to do and we'll get it done right um and with with no Personal Agenda just in support of right and so for me that's what showing up look like and and T when you answer the call like yo I'm doing this conference I know we a couple weeks out can you show up you boom what you need me to do you want me to jump on the panel you want me to be around I think we even had on

a boot at the time yeah so wow yeah something wow but you showed up you know what I'm saying you showed up and made it happen that was important yeah yeah I like this if you if you hang around the barber shop long enough everyone gets a cut yeah exact 100% 100% um uh yeah show up with Grace in space I like that 100% um so uh I I want to I want to ask just honestly for for my for my own uh sake how how can people we're not wrapping up but I just want to ask so I don't forget how can people find

out more about the events were going on black man Tech because I need to know too because like I see stuff pop up I'm like I I want to know about that yeah no you gotta come so ww.

Blackman and Tech BLK uh not the whole world black bblack menant tech.com backevents um on our website there there's there's all the events also if you're on our dist list um you'll get a email that tell you how do I get on a dis list do do I just go down here and do email address yep Y and drop your email and it'll go to our list yeah but no but it's it's we have a ton of great events this summer U my team is absolutely amazing we put it all together and it's four people like we want to go meet people like I I

have a I have a really a really um big initiative to wherever City I I am at I'm going to meet the ERG the employee resource groups I'm going to meet the brands and Company and I'm not asking for anything I just want to host people um because it's important to build community with people that already are doing the work in that space So yeah so follow us uh on on on all our socials at B uh black men and Tech uh you'll see the latest and greatest we just announced our render activation last night which was absolutely amazing so if you're in the city

of um during r in Atlanta I will be there come come hang out with us Justin is a really a really great partner friend and col and we're going to show up again show up and activate in a space where uh where where it's truly an opportunity for us to connect um he talk about uh so one of the things I've talked about right now is I feel like I feel like people in this market are getting tired of being asked for things right like everybody everybody and I feel like you got to romance a girl a little bit right now right and and and

and I feel like I'm sure you've seen it too people coming at you wanting things can you just talk about the importance from a networking perspective just again kind of this whole showing up theme right I probably should have changed changed the title of this episode to just showing up yeah but can you talk about the importance of showing up and just maybe just like keeping your mouth shut right because you talk about not being cred keeping your mouth shut and just vibing and then like show up a few times before you ask for something can you talk about that right so I I said

I was at uh diversity Tech uh a couple weeks ago and I said on a panel I said do not walk up to someone and say hey could you be my mentor and you don't even know who they are I say that's pretty weird right you want to you want to know people first right it is I think the same thing with people in acing things like I'm sure you know especially in this space of like nonprofit entrepreneurs ship you know people that's you know trying to build community organize the culture that sort of thing we're always giving like everyone's always given the time energy

space you know travel whatever how we can support most people I'm not going to say all all is an absolute statement most people what you want to do though is you want to not only build community immediately but over time like if I got a community you have a community how can we collabor the name of the game is collaborate that's it what can we do together that's it's not it's not me giving up my resources you giving up your resources it's not transactional it's supposed to be in spirit of community right harmonious if you will and how can we collaborate together my thought process

is that we get on the call we talk about what we're both doing we have an opportunity to connect and then find Synergy and and within a six months or so to do something together something light something slight but just start to build that relationship before you make that huge ass I think sometimes people get loss and the fact of what I need right now instead of what I'm going need a year from now how how can I build you know they played a short game instead of the long game and I think for me the long game wins because I want to consistently be

in community with you and not just right now yeah I totally agree and I think it goes to the job search right now right I get a lot of people like Hey Taylor in my DM Taylor find me a job first off don't work that way second off you really think that's gonna work people like really like you think that's gonna work uh so again I think right now I think just General job search advice too but also from a networking and building brand and building relationships is you constant and again Gary vaynerchuk called it years ago it's it's give give give give give give

give give maybe give some more and then ask right so um again and that goes to from a networking perspective right like you know I I was I was super blessed to to obviously speak at black men and tech and and Cam and me and and so I was like I was like well like I want to give back right I want to give back I want to help in any way I can so again like I think having that mindset is going to fuel you very far especially right now either building a business or finding a job um go ahead and also and also

and also the thought process around just like um not only giving but adding value people like people that add value add value yeah like you gotta you got to bring something to the table like like okay you don't have a job but what can you do can you send this email can you make this phone call can you make this connection like when when you add value people keep you around you know some of the rooms and some of the people that I've been able to be in in community with NE like not necessarily I'm supposed to know these people because they may be in

a different tax bracket they may be doing the but because I add value and that's the thing that you can't you can't fake it has to be authentic and it has to be authentically you so yeah you might not have X but what do you have and how can you make sure that thing is the thing that that person need right then and then continue if you do that you'll be fine absolutely absolutely I love it all right Camas we wrap up here any any uh exciting things happening again anything else you want to say just about black man Tech Andor just last last words

of wisdom before we do a little rapid fire here we go ready black menate Tech is for everyone all right we cater to the black black mail experience we it's our point of view but it's for everyone please come out and please be involved we got the cigar and conversation tour that's going on now next week we're in Atlanta and we hit in five three more cities please show up you know please show up and come hang out with us we got our render activation um in a couple weeks uh Young Jock is our host which is really cool we working with eight amazing brand

shout out to all the Community Partners that jumped in shout out to ship for being a part of this well people believing in us in our community I do not say this likely thank you for believing in me thank you for believing in us um also last thing I'll tell you is that um conference Thrive 2024 is coming around the corner our early bird tickets are still on sale now but they will not be on sale for long I promise you I'm trying to make it as affordable as possible I give people ample opportunity to ensure that they get in at the price because I

definitely understand um what it's like you know not to have and I really focused on that from my heart to your heart so grab your early bird ticket early October 10th through the 13th at the Weston for ladale Beach Resort it's going to be absolutely amazing y'all yeah come hang out with us it is a great location I can confirm right right on the beach right on the beach right have my boot if I had my boot at the time uh I would have gone to the beach but I had my boot but it's right across the sand all you have to do is walk

right across the sand exactly uh cam what's uh what's your Twitter uh uh MIM me gonna kill me for this one right the go the.

dn.

guy that's my personal Twitter outside of thatb Blackman and Tech okay um as you can see I don't use Twitter that much gotta get on it man gotta get on it all right last kind of four rapid fire questions I do with everybody uh first off if you couldn't uh so what do you do outside of work for fun yeah so we travel um I'm really into airplanes so if I doing this work I'll probably be a pilot I'm going to go on a discovery flight in like the next no what you just answered my next question was if you can't if you if you

had a job and you can't do Tech what would it be I'll be a pilot no way that's awesome seriously like I I'm fascinated by planes so um I'm actually going to learn how to fly um next year that's my goal for 2025 that's awesome so yeah so yeah so that's what I love to do that's really cool um uh let's see here what else uh is there any um man I I this is kind of a Content recommendation anybody who you're watching admiring doing really cool um you know in the market right now that you want to give a shout out to yeah so

shout out to I'm going give I'm going give a couple shout outs because I I know some amazing people doing amazing things so shout out to the home team shout out to um coach round Tre doing amazing work shout out to uh Matt actually his name Dr ma Sheldon McLean with soundcheck absolutely amazing uh shout out to my entire team meimi as our project manager and not Chief uh operation officer she she the one in the comments right now make sure everybody get what they need I love it I love it I saw her PO yeah yeah shout out to and then um shout out

to uh one of my one of my really cool colleagues and Friends becoming fast friends and family Simone Simone BC's absolutely amazing she killing Tech if y'all haven't heard U if y'all haven't heard or been in one of her sessions yet y'all want to move to go gotech definitely tap in with her yeah absolutely 100% last question my guys we wrap up and again thank you'all for tuning in we appreciate the comment section has been very active uh a little slow this morning but but but we got active which is great and again thank you all so much for hanging out um uh cam the

show's called guidance counsel 2.0 because we had guidance counselors a middle school high school and college but now as adults we don't necessarily have a guidance counselor to turn to to ask career advice questions what would be your biggest piece of career advice Cam you want to end on that one God all right here we go I don't like to prep people either okay top top of the Noggin all right here we go career advice that I would give young Cam is to um is to literally follow your heart and walk in your purpose no matter what meaning that no matter what life tell you

you should be doing just do exactly what you want to do because I mean chasing money you know chasing you know whatever it is it only lasts for a certain amount of time but your purpose will always sustain you so for me you know I would have said to myself do this thing I I it's it's I wrap this up this really wild I never said this publicly but I had a nonprofit in college that I ran called The Goonies project and it was all about getting students and our middle school students the opportunity to learn leadership skills through sports but because I never I

thought it wouldn't make me no money I decided to go another route huh only to come back to it now in in an adult form and run it for black men and black people around the country that's awes so I I would say and and then life in itself happens and you want to you know if it wasn't for my experiences in higher education and in the tech space I wouldn't have started this group but I literally said do what you love immediately walk in purpose and not taste the bad I love that I love that so much well y'all thank you again for hanging

out with us this morning cam stay on so I can say bye to you backstage but thank you so much listen I was there last year black man Tech I'm not bullshitting it's it's awesome it really really is I've made some great friends even since that conference cam obviously being one of them so um y'all have a great one tomorrow morning 9:30 a.m.

Central I have a VP of engineering coming on the Pod um he's doing some fractional work right now we're gon talk about hiring the job search right now kind of what he's seeing how to find fractional work how to navigate it um and then Wednesday um I have a former Tesla recruiter coming on the show he's a dear friend of mine Aaron Harmon um he his he is garnering two million impressions a month on LinkedIn right now it is he he he is a Powerhouse so uh talking about covering positions that don't exist so the job that he just got he uncovered and the job I have it gun did not exist either like like there was no job description so we're GNA talk about uncovering uh basically like jobs that don't exist in organizations so yall have a great one cam thank you my friends I appreciate you with ton