I'm personally of the belief that the election of Barack Obama is one of the major inflection points in the history of this country in terms of race relations, and I could begin to feel some of that when I was at Virginia, right? It's not necessarily, well, the schools fault, the school, you know, may have some blame in that. But there was something from a, uh, fundamentally a cultural standpoint within America that things were different than they had been previously. Right? And myself and my, my classmates who were black, we all noticed this. Some of us were a lot more vocal about it than others, right? Um, that there's clear racial animosity here that no one's speaking about. Why is that? Why is that the case? Um, you need to do better as an institution and you need to do better as a

community. We'll discuss race and how it plays a factor and how we didn't even talk about this topic 'cause we were afraid

A Black Executive Perspective

We're coming to you live from the new BEP studio for another thought provoking episode of A Black Executive Perspective Podcast, A safe space, discuss all matters regarding race, culture, and those uncomfortable topics people tend to avoid. I'm your host, Tony Tidbit,

and I'm your co-host Chris P. Reed. Before we get started, I'd like to always remind you to check out our partners at Code M Magazine. Code M Magazine, whose mission is saving the black family by first saving the black man. Check them out. Code m magazines two m code m magazine.com.

Yeah, definitely check out our partners. And today we have Sharif Bennett, tech executive. Standup comic and co-founder of CineBlock, joins us to explore the journey from student to entrepreneur while block from elite schools to boardrooms and comedy stages, Sharif shares how he navigated bias, burnout, and breakthrough. We'll dive into his time at Darden, uh, school of Business during the night, the right rally and the realities of a corporate double standards, and the launch of CineBlock, a platform reshaping who gets to tell stories and who gets to invest in them.

Before we get deep into the episode, let me give you a little overview about Brother Sharif Bennett. Um, Sharif Bennett is a tech sales executive turned entrepreneur with a passion for storytelling and equity. Right after earning a BA from Swarthmore College, he pursued standup comedy and improv in Chicago. Before obtaining an MBA from the University of Virginia's prestigious Darden School of Business, he built a successful tech career with companies such as IBM New Relic. And GitLab before co-founding CineBlock, an equity crowdfunding platform designed to give filmmakers access to capital by allowing accredited and non-accredited investors to invest in their Ip CineBlock aims to transform, who gets to tell their stories and who gets to profit from them? Sharif Bennett, welcome to A Black Executive Perspective Podcast, bro.

Well, Chris, Tony, thank you. Thank you for having me. And first and foremost, lemme say how proud I am of both of you for creating a forum where, uh, like-minded folk can get together and really share stories in a safe place. Um, I think this is extremely important, uh, in this modern era. So hats off to you guys.

Alright, cool man. Well do this. You know, you had everything in the bio except for the Heisman Trophy. Tell me a little bit about where you currently reside, A little bit about, you know, your family, if you have a family there, and, uh, you know, what you got going on.

Yeah, so I'm, I'm currently in Princeton, New Jersey. Um, been back in Princeton here for about, ooh, I'd say about six weeks. Um, don't have any family, not married, no children. Uh, so fully dedicated to, to growing this business. Um, in terms of growing up, grew up in a nuclear family. Mom, dad, two brothers, really good people. Uh, predominantly a town called Nak, New York, which is right north of, uh, New York City. Okay,

awesome. My brother. Awesome. And look like I, you know, I didn't say anything, but I really appreciate the shout out, um, for Chris and I. But more importantly, we really are grateful that you're willing to come on and share your story. We feel this is an important topic, and at the end of the day, we're only as good as people come on and share. So I really appreciate that. But I'm gonna ask you this question, you know, um, why did you wanna come on A Black Executive Perspective Podcast? Talk about this topic.

I think these conversations are necessary. Um, I know for, for many of people, you know, myself included, they're really what wasn't a space for these conversations. When I was a teenager, much less than, you know, in my twenties and thirties, right? There wasn't a place, really, a forum for black people or people of color to really get together and talk about their experiences. You might have had your small, uh, community, uh, in, you know, within your particular neighborhood or a group of people, you know, but you know, the internet and now podcasting has allowed for that world to expand. So I think it's important that people across, uh, the United States and the world really get a chance to collaborate, communicate, and share these stories. So when I saw you guys immediately, I was like, I, I need to speak with them.

Well, buddy, I'm glad that you thought that and thank you for that. So look, seems like you're chomping at the bit. You ready to talk about it, my brother?

Let's do it.

All right, let's talk about it, my man.

All right. So, you know, I like to say that every superhero has an origin story. You know, when we were talking earlier in, in the pre-production, you were talking about physically. Being all over the world, you know, with the internet and things of that nature. People can virtually be everywhere. But you have a, a path that you've taken that is, uh, uh, less travel because you've been so nomadic. Uh, give a gimme the beginning of that. How did that start? And, you know, from, from your time in high school or where you grew up to, how did you be wanna be exposed to things outside your window?

You know, that's a really good question. Um. I really think it, it stemmed from my parents. Right. Um, my father is, uh, originally from Winston-Salem, uh, North Carolina, and moved to New York, uh, to pursue academia. He went to, uh, Columbia. My mother is from the Bronx. That's where they actually met right on the hundred 16th and Broadway. For those, for those of you in New Yorkers who, who know the actual intersection. But the way my mom was raised every summer, she was in a different place. Uh, she came from a very large family that originated in Brunswick, uh, Georgia. So every summer growing up, her and my aunt would be shipped off to a different family member. Uh, whether that was in, in Georgia, in, in New York, wherever. So the same for me growing up. I never spent a summer in Nyack New York until I, uh, graduated high school. So I was either in the Bronx, I was in Brooklyn, I was in North Carolina, I was in Georgia. Um, I, I'd be, you know, sort of all over. So I, it just, it became normal to me to want to, to go and travel.

And buddy you, you, you grew up in Ni, in Nyac, right? New York, right. And you went to school there, is that correct?

That is correct.

Tell us a little bit about that experience. My brother. Tell us a little bit about the people in Nyac. The, I, because I, if I remember correctly, in terms of Chris, when we were talking in the pre-production, you know, that was a, a melting pot of people that came across and it was really a, a, a turning, I don't wanna say a turning point, but it, it really, um, it, it, it struck you a certain way. All right. And that set you up for your next journey, going to college and all the other things, corporate America. So speak to us a little bit about that.

Yeah, absolutely. It had a massive impact, uh, on me. Um, I was in NIAC from 1995 until 1999. Uh, and during that time, wave was a very unique, uh, time to be in niac. Uh, on a daily, I heard about four languages in my high school. And by my senior year, I'd really say it was about five. So obviously there was English, um. There was also a large Haitian, uh, community, uh, within Rockland County, New York, which is the county that NIAC is in. Um, so I heard Creole every single day. Um, that was the second most spoken language. The third most spoken language was Spanish, which is what I also took from an academic standpoint. So there was a Puerto Rican and Dominican population there. Uh, there was also a collective of people from South India who spoke m Allam. Uh, that's a dialect outta South India, and I heard that every day. And literally by my senior year, I'm, if my memory serves me correct, I'm hearing Mandarin. So, so by so, so when I go away to, to college, I think for people who are lucky enough to go to away to college, right, because that's, that's a, a certain sector of people for them that is really their first foray into diversity for a lot of people, you know, going away or even let's say like going to the military. Right. It might be the first, or even if they enter the workforce at 18, that might be the first time that they're around people of different cultures. I got to college and I was like, this is less diverse in my high school. And it wasn't. It wasn't a knock on the college. It was really just about the environment that I was in, and I think it really just helped prepare me to be able to engage with Al with people across the board.

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When you are experienced and grow up in that type of environment, the beauty of diversity is that you think that there's a level of equity, equality, and everybody has the same opportunities and chances. I know that you traveled abroad and had some, uh, eye-opening experiences. Can you take us back to that, when that happened and what was going on at that time in the world and things of that nature that kind of shifted your paradigm to, to realize, you know, some, some, some relevant truths as it relates to you?

Yeah. Um, my first experience, uh, was a study abroad when I was in college. Um, and, you know, I went to a school that once again really, really pushed study abroad, so I, I was fortunate enough to attend small liberal arts college outside of Philadelphia called Swarthmore. Um, very small, intimate community, but because of that, they fostered the real study abroad experience. So I decided to go to Egypt. Um, Egypt, I, I know for many of black people is sort of this beacon for many of us. Like, you know, it's one of the first civilizations, um, uh, in the, in the history of mankind. Um, there's a lot of history there. I wanted to see the pyramids and there was another unique requirement. I didn't need to learn Arabic, right. So that made it really easy for me to, for me to attend there. Um, and I'll never forget the date I left. It was August 23rd, 2001. Uh, and I say 2001 because three weeks 9-11 Yeah.

Nine 11. Yeah.

And being a New Yorker also made it a real unique experience and that my aunt was in one of the towers when it got hit. Oh, wow. Or, or right before it got hit, she had literally just walked out of the building. So for me, it was a real, real wake up moment as to geopolitical, uh, events happening. And I was a pol a political science major to begin with. So it was, it was really, really fascinating. Um, but it sort of shed light. Uh, to me as to the privilege that a lot of people had. So when nine 11 happens, they shut down the school there at the, I attended the American University in Cairo for anyone who wants to know. So the school was shut down for about three, four days during that week where the shutdown happened of the eighties study abroad students, 25 of them returned back to the United States States, you know, for obvious fears. They didn't know what was going on. They're living in an era.

Right. Right. That makes sense.

Fear happening. Um, but you know, my outlook on it was, and keep in mind, most of the students, uh, who were attending and most who left were white. There's no getting around that. Right. And so it's like they left and it's like, you know, my thinking at the time was, well, now you know what it's like to be a minority when it's really time to be a minority, not when it's easy to be a minority. You're seeing it when it's hard to be a minority. And at the first sign of conflict you left, you went back to your safe space.

Right, right,

right,

right, right. Which

is what so many people of color, uh, specifically black people don't have the option ever really to do. Right, right.

Um,

the experience really opened me, um, opened me up and like I said to the world, like, you know, so many of us here in the United States, United States, think we don't have opportunity. We don't have, uh, access to resources. But then when you go to what's considered an emerging market country, you get an entirely different viewpoint, right? There are no scholarships at the time to attend the American University in Cairo. The students who attend there are all the children of, uh, ar, uh, children of oil tycoons, diplomats, uh, et cetera. There's no middle class kids, so everyone there is uber wealthy. Um, the tuition had to be paid in dollars, so you just had to have access to US dollars, and the tuition itself was, I mean, a hundred x with the average Egyptian could spend. So you're seeing the most elite of elite. And it really opened my eyes to like, wow, the rest of this world is really, really different.

And when you said it is really, really different, like, what did you mean? What did, what, what do you mean by that?

Um, and just the fact that only the wealthy even have the, not just the opportunity to go, but the pathway set up for them to attend college. I don't think the average 6-year-old, 7-year-old who's growing up in Cairo, Egypt right now really thinks I can attend the American University of Cairo. Mm-hmm. Or the University of Cairo. Right. Like it's, it's such a farfetched dream for them. They're literally living day to day paycheck to paycheck, right. Just because of that cost of living. So, um, that was really, you know, it was extraordinarily eye-opening. The, the second part to it, and there's no getting around this, is the different, the gender divide between males and females there. Right. Um. Just little nuance things, right? Like they first told us, you know, if you're with a group of women, uh, if there's a group of you and you're traveling in a cab,

right?

Do not let your female friends sit in the front seat of the cab. And we were all like, you know, well, why? And they're like, well, that might be seen as her being promiscuous. She makes sure that the, whoever males are in your group, you sit in the passenger seat and let the females then sit in the back. There were separate train cars for females to ride, um, just once again. And then the whole hijab, the covering of, of the face and the body, you know, very, very different reality. And seeing, it's one thing to hear that, but then it's another thing to then see it, right? So it was really, really eye-opening. Um, and to basically see a country that was, well, you know, a, a Muslim Arab state, right? Where that religion plays a fundamental component of your day-to-day activities. I, I was fortunate enough to be there during ramad. Um, and during the holy month of Ramadan there, the entire city changes. Its operational hours, right? Mm-hmm. Um, you're not supposed to eat when the sun is up. Businesses change hours, the schools shift hours. Americans we're so individualistic and caught up in our own world, there's no way that we could do unite and do something like that, right? We're not, we don't move like a machine like to, and so to see that many millions of people moving as one, like a machine was just mind boggling to a 19-year-old for sure.

It's funny that you say that, um, because it appears that the barriers of entry work in the positive and the negative because it creates a, a civilized. Dynamic that makes it a machine. In one way that benefits because of civility and uniformity, but in the other way, it excludes people. You know what I mean? The same machine who ain't got no money.

Yeah,

absolutely.

You ain't got no money. It don't matter how smart you are.

Right. It doesn't matter

what your IQ is. You ain't got the money, you ain't going.

Facts. Facts. And then, you know, the other thing too, when was the world was just beginning to open up. Right? I, I would say 2001 really the internet had just sort of started. It was just beginning to open up. And America's greatest export is culture. It's not cars, it's not manufacturing, it's it's culture. And so when I get there, you know, here I am, you know, 19, 20 years old. It it's me, you know, baggy jeans. Let's think back to what the fashion was in 2001. You know, baggy jeans, backwards, Yankee cap. I'm wearing a, a sports jersey of some sort. Yeah. And all I kept getting from people was Michael Jordan. You, you know, Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan. I was just like, well, thank you. But I, you know, I'm not Michael Jordan, but I had to sit and take a step back and say, this is the only African American they've ever seen.

Right?

Egypt is next to Sudan, and the Sudanese were given, uh, asylum to go to Egypt. Um, but the average Egyptian there had never seen an actual African American person. They'd only ever seen someone who was Sudanese. So I was basically like a celebrity to them. I would walk and people would just stare. Right. Um, now luckily it was an era before smartphones, uh, so people weren't taking pictures of me taking pictures. I'm not one of those. Please, please, please don't approach me with a camera. Right, right. Um, but you know what was funny? It was really eye.

You know what's funny though? My nephew had come, spent a few days with me for the 4th of July, and him and his wife, when he graduated college, he went to the University of Houston. And when he graduated college, he was trying to figure out what he wanted to do. And so he took this job in China, him and his, um, him and his wife to teach the Chinese English, right? And I thought he had went abroad. It was, he said, no. He told me that. He said, no, it was a job, and I had to go. And then they trained me and I said, how did you teach him? He said, we used different, like little flashcards and this and that yards. So he stayed over there like a year. And I asked him, I said, so what? He said, look, he said at the end of the day, he said, I had so many people taking pictures with me. Okay. Because they had never seen a black dude from the United States. Okay. And so he said, flat out, I'll be on the basketball court, I'll be playing and somebody, can I take a picture? And he, and he said, they wasn't calling me Michael Jordan or nothing. Yeah. They were just one to take a picture because I was black. Right? Yeah. Because they had never seen anybody, uh, black, especially a black American before. So I can definitely relate to that. But let me ask you this though, man, you, like I said, you are a multi-talented, so you know, college. Uh, uh, going abroad, but then you also got into comedy and improv. Why don't you tell us a little bit how you got into comedy and improv, and then how did that help you if it did in terms of you navigating your, your career and Darden and all the other things that came after it?

Yeah, absolutely. Um, so I always grew up at the fascination with comedy. Um, I grew up in a household where we watched a lot of comedy, Richard Pryor, uh, bill Cosby, um, Eddie Murphy. Like these were, these were requirements to be in my household to, to speak about and to know about these things. So I remember being a little boy and watching that standup Bill Cosby himself. I could recite the whole standup by H five, by myself, right? So it was always something that I wanted to do. So I had the opportunity to move to Chicago,

uh, at

the age of 25 and, or excuse me, I'm sorry. Lemme take a step back. So, I first started doing standup when I was living in New York. Um, YouTube had just come out. Um, it was a, it was this new platform, right? And people, I still think were sort of figuring it out and, you know, I just started uploading standup comedy there, right? I didn't have a lot of money. I always had a passion for films, but was just like, wait, I don't have necessarily money to make a movie. What I can do is get my brand out there. So I'll use YouTube as a platform to get my brand out there. Um, so I started doing standup comedy. I started doing sketch comedy, then I had the opportunity to move to Chicago and was working my day as a marketer, but still thinking about, you know, how am I gonna break through? How am I gonna break through? And then I got laid off during that great recession, like, like many of folks did. And I said, this is my opportunity to dive in this full time. So I went right back into standup and I did standup for a year straight. Um, and let me say this, it is in my personal belief that standup comedy is the hardest performance based art form in the world. The only performance based art form that is maybe comparable to it. Is being a pornographic actor or actor,

like it's pun intended. I like that.

I like that. Pun intended. It's hard. It's hard, right? Um, and, and the reason I say that to people is think of any standup you've seen once you listen to it once you want to hear something new, it doesn't, has that, it doesn't really have that repetition value that say music does. Right, right, right. Um, a, a group or person can get one song and live off the rest of their life on the strength of that one song. Right? Right. A standup constantly has to be doing new and new and new material and you're up there by yourself. There's no one, uh, it's you and a conversation in your head that you're just literally articulating to people in the audience.

If you like what you hear and wanna join us on this journey of making uncomfortable conversations comfortable, please subscribe to A Black Executive Perspective Podcast on YouTube, apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Hit subscribe now to stay connected for more episodes. That challenge inspire and lead the change,

right? They don't even need to be there and you can still do it.

Um, so what, what type of, so what was your flow though, buddy? What, so what did you, what type of comedy did, you said sketch and stuff, but what was your, what, what was your genre that you spoke about?

Sure. From a standup standpoint, very sociopolitical. So I, you know, my biggest influences were, uh, Chappelle was huge. Chris Rock was huge. George Carlin was huge, and Paul Mooney was huge. Right? Love that hat you're wearing Tony, by the way. Paul Mooney would absolutely have one of those on. So like that,

you know. That's right.

Right. So that was, that was the paradigm. Those were the my forefathers, right. And I used race, politics, and class as the lens that I would look through things through, right. Um, and yeah, I did that for like a year and suffered from burnout. Right. Um, it's very, very difficult you find yourself, uh, performing in these bars. Um, so for me, here's what would happen. Before I would get on stage, my heart would be ironing. I mean, literally, I would be shocked that people couldn't see it literally coming out of my chest,

right? Mm-hmm. And

then I would step on stage, nothing, absolutely nothing, no emotion, no anxiety, no nothing. And then I would go into the routine and then I would get off stage and all of a sudden hit an emotional load. It was literally like dopamine was being released into my body prior to getting on that stage. Yeah. Yeah. And then the minute I got off, I was doing anything I could to get back to that level. 'cause there's no feeling like before you get on that stage. Correct. And so you're in comedy clubs and bars and the alcohol's there and, and so many comics, you run straight to the bar and that's how it's felt. And then a night where you were just supposed to be doing a 15 minute set turns into a four hour, five hour long bender with you and other comics. And after a year of doing this, my girlfriend at the time who was from Chicago looked at me and was like, this is killing you. Like you're good, but this is killing you. Um, you need to, you need to transition. And she was like, look, we're here in Chicago. Why don't you study improv? And I was like, you know what? That's a great idea. So then I transitioned to doing improv comedy where I actually trained at, uh, Chicago, improv Olympic and, and Second City and learned the art form of the Yes and right working with a team to build a specific world, right? Very, very different from standup. People often confuse the two. Um, there is some similarity between the two, but they're very, very, very different. Improv is all about you and your team and moving to the next goal. Right. And, uh, it taught me a lot. It taught me a lot about team building. It taught me a lot about patience. It taught me a lot about listening, and it taught me a lot about understanding things that I would later have to incorporate in the professional world.

Let me, let me take a moment to tell you about yourself. Um, if you are a white dude, and it is, it is, it's a white dude and his dad is in academia at the Columbia University. He goes to a multinational high school. He goes to college and studies political science, finds himself in Egypt. Uh, during nine 11, the next thing he does is become a spy. But you as a brother, but you as a brother, instead of getting into espionage, got into to stand up and improv comedy. Yeah. I mean, what was your pops thinking when you was like, Hey Pop, I know that you done blazed this path and put all these, you know, this, this, this, uh, this set before me, but I'm gonna go ahead and just jump on this stage and let my heartbeat out my chest. Was he, did he have an opinion at all?

Yeah, he loved it because my father was also part-time, my father was also part-time jazz musician. He played the saxophone for 15 years. Renaissance

man.

Okay. Yeah. He played for 50 years. I had to play for 10. So that was partially what made it easy, easier for me to get on stage. 'cause I'd been doing it from the time I was seven years old until I was 17 years old in, in high school. So he always understood, um, what performance, creativity, and ways to channel it.

Got it. Buddy. You talked a little bit about you learned patience, team building, listening and it helped you talk how you incorporated that into your career. And obviously you build incentive block.

Yeah. Uh, the fundamental component of, of improv is the yes and right. What it means is that when you are building a scene, not just improv acting, period, when you're building a scene, there's a level of agreement you have to have with your fellow actors on stage, right? So you can't be antagonistic towards their ideas when they're presenting something. You can take their idea and move it in an entirely different direction, but it's fundamentally dependent. The scene is fundamentally dependent upon you having certain foundational parameters for which you all agree upon. I think a lot of people in business could stand to take an improv class, um, because I think that is necessary in order to build anything, right? To have a healthy corporate environment. People have to be thinking, alright, well I see this idea. I'm not gonna say it's a terrible idea or it's a stupid idea or negated, but let's see where we can build from right here to then move this idea to the next level. Let me say yes and on top of what you just articulated, this is what I think we need to do, right? It's one of the core, core principles that most people in the business world should probably do a better job of doing. In my personal opinion, how did that, so yeah, you always take it with

you. How, how did, how did, how did all of this, it seems like your trajectory is like the game Plinko, right? So you ended up in Charlottesville. What the, I mean mean we dropped the ball here and we ended up, we he all over the place.

But to speak on that, because I want you to jump in because you went to the uni, you went to University of Virginia, the Darden School of Business, right? Yeah. And I attended the Darden School of Business. And you know, one of the things which you just got finished saying, um, about, you know, people accepting somebody's idea and instead of saying that it's horrible or, well, I don't think we should do that, is taking it and then trying to build on it. Right. And I'm pretty sure when you were there, I forget the professor, but we did a case where this company. Um, they built out this, I forget what it was, right? But what it was, nobody was knocking nobody's ideas. They were just building upon those ideas, right? And they built this Q system that now that they go to companies and they train people how to be able to do that. So I don't know if you remember that at all, but it just sparked, um, what you just got finished saying. But to Chris's point, my brother, you know, you were there when the unite the right impact. So talk a little bit about that, that experience and, and more importantly, what did you get out of it? What did you learn from it? Talk to us a little bit about that.

Yeah. Well, slight correction, I graduated before the Unite the right rally. Okay,

got it, got it.

No worries. So I graduated Darden from in 2015. Um, but it was a really unique environment. You might just, like you said, Chris, how did I end up there? Right? So that transition, I was broke. Point blank period. Um, blank. No, I had, I had developed, you know, I had, you know, completely gone, you know, uh, two feet in into being a standup improv comic. I was writing, I was writing, uh, scripts and TV shows, and after two years I was flat broke. Mm-hmm. And I needed to get a job. And I got a job, uh, selling home security systems. So I was going to people's homes. I was selling home security systems. And after about six months of doing that, I literally said to myself that I literally attend one of the premier undergraduate institutions in the world to be selling home security systems. I'm not knocking people that do Right. Uh, but I was like, in all probability I could be doing something else. Uh, I hit a bit of a crisis point or inflection point in life. I also turned the big dirty 30. Um, for some people, turning 30 is normal for me. I got hit with a sledgehammer, is literally how it felt. So it was like, look, I, I, I'm no longer young. When you're 30, you're no longer young, right? And it was just like, I need to be able to start making money. And so that's when I decided to look at business schools. And I ultimately ended up at the University of Virginia, um, because I was, I was looking at a transition and potentially at the time I was living in Chicago during my application, as I stated earlier, and I was interested in the city of Atlanta itself, right? And I literally said to myself, how can I get to Atlanta? And I took a look at schools that had, uh, uh, regional diversity, so that could send me potentially to New York, back home to DC and other city I had my eyes on. And then, you know, uh, Atlanta. So, uh, I was, uh, awarded a full scholarship to attend, uh, the darn school of business at UVA and packed up and moved to Virginia. And it was a really, really unique experience. Um, for those of you who don't know, Virginia is the case study method. Which means you can't sit in the back and not talk.

Correct? Correct.

You are going to be put on the spot. Okay. Um, by your professors, by your classmates, et cetera. Um, about your thinking about a particular business scenario or a business case. So they call it high engagement learning. It's certainly that. Um, but I'd say there was something else that I hadn't foreseen going into, uh, UVA and, uh, we're gonna get into it now, gentlemen. Um, and it's sort of the, the, when you go away to schools like this, right, and you're living in that community, let's just keep it a buck. As a black person, I'm now living in a predominantly white

community,

just like I did in college. I'm now living once again with white people. Make no mistakes. And there was something in the air at that time. And when I look back on it, it's like, wait, well, what was happening? It wouldn't come to the forefront until later. But I'm personally of the belief that the election of Barack Obama is one of the major inflection points in the history of this country in terms of race relations. And I could begin to feel some of that when I was at Virginia. Right. It's not necessarily, well, the school's fault, the school, you know, may have some blame in that. Right. But there was something from a, uh, fundamentally a cultural standpoint within America that things were different than they had been previously. Right. And myself and my, my classmates who were black, we all noticed this. Some of us were a lot more vocal about it than others. Right. Um, that there's clear racial animosity here that no one's speaking about. Why is that? Why is that the case? Um. You need to do better as an institution and you need to do better as a community. And some people heard it, and I think some people, when I say some people, not just students, but administrators, people in positions of power heard it and understood it and said, okay, these are some changes that we need to make. But I'll be honest, most didn't it probably thought we were just being loud, uh, angry black people, the typical stereotype. And then two minutes or two years later, the unite, the right rally happens, which sheds total light on the situation at hand, not just within Charlottes the Charlottesville community, not just within UVA, but America as a whole. Right? That the election of Barack Obama ultimately leads to the election of Donald Trump. And with that comes a whole new attitude towards racial dynamics within the United States, and that there were a percentage of people in the United States. Who the mere election of a black person triggered something in them fundamentally to say, this is no longer my country. The election of a black person means America is no longer mine. I'm no longer entitled to this entire country. I have this sort of, they're taking my job, right? Like, these were my things and all of a sudden that has been usurped and I'm going to act out violently if need be. And I could begin to see that transition happening when I was at University of Virginia.

When you did get out of there and decided to dip your toe into a stable career, to, to make this money since you came from being broke, um, how did you absorb the concept of being cast as the bitter brother? Or did that even occur in some of these large firms that you were operating within at that time?

I don't think, yeah, good question. I don't think I was the bitter brother. Once again, I'm a trained comic, right? So I can, I can, I can use comedy to, to diffuse the situation. Um, what I think it, within some people, I think there, let's take a step back, right? I, I joined, uh, IBM, right? And IBM is a really large conglomerate, right? Mm-hmm. Uh, very, very old. And i, BM, like a lot of companies, was going through a major transition at the time, basically from 1995 to when I started there at 2015, IBM did not hire in mass in order to base within the United States in order to basically become an IBM employee. You almost had to know someone. There were very, even though it's a massive conglomerate, the doors for entry were very, very small and they were gatekeepers. So when I joined in 2015, um, as a, as a sales representative, it were the most, it was the most people that IBM had ever hired. 'cause they were going through a transition as a company. They were no longer about hot thing, it was now Microsoft. It was now Apple. They were perceived as being not cool and on the decline, right? So I come in there and because of my advanced degree, I'm put at a higher level than the immediate college graduates. And I think there were people there who were resentful of that, um, similar to what we, what I just mentioned earlier about, oh, they're taking jobs. Like some people just viewed it as, yo, this, this kid's here for my job, right? He's here to take me out. And that was certainly not the case. That was not how I approached it. I did not have this long history here at IBM. I was just someone who's literally coming into just learn and try and do my best work. But it was clear and evident that there were people there who wanted no parts of that and wanted no parts of me. Not everyone, but certain people. Um, and you just have to navigate that as best as you can, right? Um. And to lack of a better term, I didn't get these degrees, so I'd have to kiss your ass. Excuse my language. Right. Let's, let's be 1000%. Check the back of my baseball card that, like that

check the back of my baseball card. That

me, that that is not happening. So let

me ask you this though, buddy. So thanks for sharing that. But obviously, like you said, there were some people they thought you was a DEI hire. Okay. Of course, maybe that wasn't the term at that time, but that, that's what they thought. Okay. How did that affect your performance, um, when you realized, you know, we all realize at some point we go in, our mindset is, I'm gonna go in, I'm gonna do a good job, I wanna move up, I wanna stand out. That's our mindset when we walk in. It seems like that was your mindset as well, right?

Yeah. Yeah. But

when you get there, you feel sometimes you see that you're not being measured. The same as everybody else, and the things that you might have jumped hoops through and the value you bring, it's like, it doesn't, it does, and especially if you make a mistake, okay? Because at the end of the day, you've been doing all Sharif, we glad we hired you. You're the best. You've been there five years, they love you. They did this, they made an award after you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then one mistake you, you missed, a, you, you, you missed some lunch hour or you decided something. And the next thing you know, like, did we hire the right person? Everything that you did is gone. All the accolades, they just forgot about it. So did you speak to

that a little bit? Did you experience that? 100%. 100%. Every person of color, specifically black people, is gonna experience that. Now, one of the things now, I went into sales, in part because I had a sales background, and the beautiful thing about sales, it's a number.

Right.

And if you hit that number, there's nothing anymore. Nothing.

Nobody can say, yeah.

Yeah. Like, like I said, check the back of the baseball card, right? Yeah. So automatically I entered a profession where I assumed that as long as I did what I was supposed to do, I hit my number. I did all these things that the trajectory and the pathway for me would be just as transparent as it would for any other non-black person. And what I had to learn is the moving of the goalpost that happens. Tony, you alluded to it, right? Yes. So all of a sudden, the things that were talked about in your one-on-one review, all of a sudden all the things it is that you were asked to do, and you did it, they're now finding excuses as to why you can't be promoted, right? As to why you can't do this or why you shouldn't, you know, do that. Right? So at first there's anger, there's resentment, right? I think for me, the way I handled it was, you take it, you make a note of these things. It, it's sort of like the, the, the Kobe Bryant Mamba mentality, right? Uh, you take it, you make a note of it and say, I'm gonna use this as motivation to crush you, uh, moving forward. And whether that means I do even better my next year, or I just leave this organization and you're left dumbfounded as to why it is I'm leaving. Because you've just let a, a two time Ivy League, essentially Ivy League educated, educated, black person, walk out the door with nothing, right? And now you were gonna have to then ask your manager then is gonna have to ask you why did Sharif just leave when he built all of these things? So that was sort of how, how I dealt with it, right? Um, or sort of that was the, the strategy that I used to always sort of keep a level head. Right. Um, I don't know if I answered your question there

entirely, Tony.

You you did,

but No, you did

buddy.

Let me ask you this for the audience though. Is it the comedy? Is it the support of your parents? Is it just your faith in yourself? What kept you from believing the na from, from, from believing the naysayers or folding your, your swag? Because it seemed like you was like, look, I, you know, Willie Beman, right? Steam and Willie Beamer. I was always a star. No, just, y'all just now recognize that I'm do the movie for you, Tony. You know what I'm saying? And, and you didn't let them shake your, you know, because a lot of us black folks, what we'll do is we'll start listening to the clippings and, and, and get insecure and, and allowing for these things to get into our head. And no question, no question, no question. Take away, like you said, you knew, you had the receipts on receipt, you had all the low spades. What led, what led you to be so confident? Dude, I got a good hand. Tell what they talking about, I guess.

Yeah. Um, I guess it was all the things it is that you just mentioned. Like, once again, look at, look at my entire track record. It's like, what, who else is checking these boxes but me here. Yeah. Right. If you can find someone else who has my exact track record, I'll get out and leave. I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll resign right now. Sort of, you know how I looked at it, right? So it's like, look, I'm a graduate of Swarthmore College, you probably couldn't get in there. I'm a graduate of University of Virginia. You probably get in there and not to be elitist. Right, right, right, right. But it's just like if we're, if we're literally talking the academic portion, that's already taken care of. Right? Now, if we're talking sales and the actually doing the work, the number's, the number, it doesn't lie. Right? So what is the actual problem here, right? If we're talking about, I've gone in these companies and I've also then built, uh, uh, ERG groups, uh, employee, I'm sorry, acronym, resource employee Resource groups, resource specifically for people of color. Right? I developed an entire mentoring program. Right. Um, so I literally built organizations within these institutions, so that's how I always sort of kept my confidence. I know I'm good. I have a proven track record, uh, that says that. Um, but you're right. It's easy. Not say it's easy falling into that mind state of what others say about you being your reality. Reality is something that you can, that an, uh, someone could easily fall into. It's a trap.

But here's the thing though though, too, bro. And, and, and, and, and, and part of the trap though too, is to what you were saying is that a lot of people, uh, have accolades, okay? A lot of them check every box. A lot of them using your verbiage. You could look at the back of their baseball card and they got stats. That's insane, right? However, what happens sometime, they still wanna keep you limited. Okay. Regardless. And so yeah, you do feel like, yeah, what are you talking about? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But when people start, then start nitpicking about some stuff that ain't on the baseball card like you just talked about. They start, uh, talking about stuff, moving the goalposts or you know what? You don't spend enough time with people outside, you know, these subjective type things. You don't spend enough time why you get promoted. Well, you know what? We haven't seen you at the networking parties enough, right? Or we haven't, you know, they'll throw these things up. Okay. Where you're like, what are you, look, I'm here in sale. I built the brand. I, I I hit every number, blah, blah, blah. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm teammates with my colleagues. I help them close deals. I give them, blah, blah, but, and they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't get me wrong. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they'll come up with other, let give you an example, man. Let me, I give you a prime example. And this was year, this was broad. This was years. I think when I first moved to Connecticut, I got this job. I was an accounting clerk at Traveler's Insurance Company. And then I, you know, I was, I, you know, look, I was young. I didn't understand, and then I left and I went to this small company called, uh, steward Therapy. It was a physical therapy, and I was working in the billing department, small, maybe 40, 50 people, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right? What, again, what did we say earlier? It's mindset come in. I'm gonna kick ass, take names later. Right? And that's what I did. And I, look, I'm the only black dude, okay? Only, okay. I come in kick ass. They hire this woman. Her name was Rosemary. She was the new manager. And Rose just loved me. Tony, you do this, do that, do this, do that, do this. This other woman who was there, who had been there longer and she was white, her name was Lori, and she started noticing. That Tony's running circles around me, Tony's gonna end up getting promoted. So, you know what she used to do? She used to nitpick and say, oh, I think Tony made a mistake on that thing. Oh, I think Tony did this. Oh. And I would hear it. And to your point, I wanted to go off, but I didn't 'cause I knew what she was trying to do. Okay. And, and, but Rosemary knew. And so Rosemary was, 'cause she knew what she was trying to do. Right. And then she pulled me aside one day. She said, Tony, don't pay attention to anything that she says, because at the end of the day, she sees that you are running, and I'm just using the phrase running circles, but she sees you're the best one in here. And she's afraid of that. So don't, and so having a manager like that, that, that told me, that pulled me aside and then ended up promoting me. Right. But my point is, you will have people that see Sharif. Okay. And yeah, you can check all the baseball cards, but they'll still try to hold you back. Or more importantly, mentally going back to your uh, uh, uh, you know, uh, uh, Barack Obama being uh, uh, uh, uh, elected president and this ain't my country no more. They'll start thinking, he's gonna take my job. Even though you're outworking them, you're out strategizing them, you are out networking them, they still think it's their job.

Yep. 100%. So during my last years of, when I worked in corporate America, I came up with a, a framework. 'cause I was asked to do some mentoring for some younger people, uh, on the job, younger black people on the job. And I came up with a framework. Did you guys ever play that game? Mad Libs. As, uh, youth? Mm-hmm. No, I never played. No. Chris, you had, are you familiar with Mad Libs, Tony? No,

I don't. It's

where you are given a particular scenario, right? I used to play it all the time as a kid, and it's like, pick a and you're asked to make a story, right? But there are blanks within the actual story. So it's like all of a sudden Tony goes to, and there's a blanket, it says, pick a noun. This made Tony feel pick, pick a, pick a verb, right? And then at the end of it, you then read back the entire story. Oh, and it, and it, it's a funny scenario. We used to do it all the time in elementary school. So the format that I came up with was, don't underestimate blank's blank. I'm gonna say that again. Don't underestimate blank's blank. The first word, and this is for people starting out in the world, the first word, the first blank, should be generally your manager or your coworker. So for example, so if we just go to one, your manager, so don't underestimate your managers. And then the next word, the next blank, insert the blank. That can be insecurity. Yes. That can be intelligence, that can be their, their stupidity or lack of their intelligence.

Right? Right.

And so when young people enter in the corporate world, you always need to have this mind state. And what it allows you to do is build a basic profile or outline on the first, in your first entry job, first level entry job, it's going to be your manager and your coworkers. But as you progress in your career, you then need to not just take a look at those people. Your, your first line manager and your. Coworker, but also maybe people who report to you, your second line manager, your third line manager. And once you're able to construct this outline within six to eight months of actually interacting with these people, it can give you an idea as to where you stand within that organization and what the potential for evolution and career growth is. If you are able to then see that you are, you know, you have to say, don't underestimate your second line manager's insecurities. There's a strong possibility that there is going to be a ceiling for you there. Point blank period. And if you think that's the case, then what you might be want to do is think of, how can I go around this person? And if I can't, then it might be time for me to look or exit this organization and go somewhere else, right? But that's, that's what I give to young people. Don't underestimate blanks blank. And you fill it in. You fill it in. Just like the game of Madlib.

You were educated and experienced in navigating these waters, and you did a good job emotionally and mentally of doing so. So what in the world had you leave the bosom of corporate America and the serenity of that good insurance and that, that pension maybe, or that 401k and say, you know what, I'm gonna do my own thing. I'm, I'm, I'm gonna jump out, I'm gonna jump off the porch like they said, where I'm from. What made you jump off the porch?

Well, I, like, I always had that passion for standup film and entertainment. And part of the negotiation that I made with myself when I decided to, to go back to business school was, or to go back to school was, I will return to this at some point. I don't know what it is, right? I don't know how it's gonna look. I don't know if I'll ever be a standup again. I don't know if I'll ever be an improviser again, but I am going to return back to this industry in some way, shape, or. So the whole process of going and getting that MBA and working these jobs is basically to build up money so that I could wait for that right moment to strike. Hmm. Now I was fortunate enough, one of my closest friends, um, in college, we would just sit and talk about how we were gonna break into the industry. Like at time and time again, like we were writers, we actually, we knew as 19 year olds, the world was just gonna love whatever it is we did. Right. So what happened was, was I had been in corporate America now, it was about maybe five years out from Darden, and he came up with the idea of what ultimately was going to be CineBlock. He just called me up one day and said, Sharif, I need you. And I looked at the white paper he'd essentially wrote, and I was like, this is it. It was like the light bulb went off and I was like, this is the moment. I've been waiting for. We're absolutely gonna do this, you know, on top of it. So what we had spoken about before, you know, when you see that there are these ceilings that are being placed upon you in corporate America, uh, and they're not necessarily recognizing your talents, it's time for you to begin building your exit strategy, right? Go where you're appreciated, not tolerated, right? Is what they often say. And so for me then to. To reach the goals, uh, and pursue the passions it is that I always loved. I felt it was necessary to venture out into this and become this entrepreneur. And CineBlock was the vehicle, uh, that was gonna do it. That is going to do it.

So buddy, tell us about CineBlock. What is CineBlock? You know, we didn't get a chance to read Dwight paper, so let us know what time it is. All right.

Yeah. Well, I'll pitch you the black paper, right? So Sunblock CineBlock is an equity crowdfunding platform, right? Um, that is specifically designed for media and entertainment monetization. Now, those are a lot of words that are put together, and you're like, well, what does that really mean? Right? So let's, let's look at what films are right and what goes into making a film, right? Generally, an independent filmmaker has to go to or get on their knees and beg accredited investors people have, who have a high net worth to invest in their project so that then that project can come to life. Right. The problem, um, is that there are a very, very small number of accredited investors who have historically invested in films, right? So basically all of the, so many indie filmmakers are all chasing the same person, and there's so few of them. So what we decided to do was we took a look at crowdfunding, which many people know vis-a-vis Kickstarter. Yeah. GoFundMe, right? Yeah. And basically using your communities or regular everyday people to help raise funds for projects. What we said was, we can leverage this idea, but flip it. Remember the yes and right, yes, crowdfunding is great, but I think there's also something else that can be even better. And so we then decided to create an equity crowdfunding platform, right? Which basically fractionalize the investment for films so that. A filmmaker doesn't have to go to one person for $1 million. They can go to a hundred people for a thousand, right? Or a thousand people for a thousand dollars. Excuse me. Make sure my math is correct. Um, so what we've done is basically fractionalized that investment and made it so that everyday people, regular people, non-accredited investors, not people with necessarily high net worth, can now be investors in film. Remember, culture is America's number one export, right? And culture's really only about seven, eight tangible things, right? It's food, fashion, sports, film, television, right? Um, so we said, we opened it up and have made a platform that allows regular everyday people to now invest in culture and see what it is they want to be made. On top of that, we decided to use blockchain as a vehicle for transparency purposes. For people who are unfamiliar with the blockchain, that is the backbone of cryptocurrencies. Mm-hmm. Right? Um, we are not a cryptocurrency. We are not a crypto company. I wanna be clear. Right. But what we use is the same technology that crypto companies use. Now, why we use blockchain is because it speeds up the investment process once again. Let's think back to what that filmmaker has to go through, right? So after they have, uh, begged enough people to, uh, get money from it, they now are responsible for, uh, uh, keeping the log of everyone who invested, right? Um, they're then responsible then for ensuring that the people who invested, if there's any return on that film whatsoever, then get their money back. We can speed up that entire process and essentially log all the investments right there on the blockchain. Uh, and it is, as they say, irrefutable.

Right, right,

right. Um, so that all these investments are tracked, we make use of smart. Right, which normally, um, elongate the process, right? Because you have to get a lawyer to look at things, et cetera, et cetera. And you have to get this contract booked. We can, uh, create it so that a smart contract is just easily, uh, mailed out to someone and they're able to see and execute that document, and then it goes right back onto the blockchain irrefutably and it's there in perpetuity, right? Mm-hmm. So that was our goal. You know, our goal is to make it so that filmmakers and oftentimes people of color, marginalized communities have the ability to make the films it is that they wanna see.

I love it, buddy. That's what

CineBlock

is.

Go ahead Chris.

How, how pioneering is this? How innovative and, and, uh, risky is this endeavor? Uh, because, you know, uh, when you guys are trailblazing and things of that nature, I know we were, you know, earlier you talked about barriers to entry in Egypt from an education perspective. Obviously now fast forward, it's funny how your life is all tying into each other. You're trying to break down barriers of entry for filmmakers, including the concept where you've incorporated AI in the script doc, you know what I mean, uh, portion, um, to kind of help the filmmakers along the way as far as other things, not just getting money. Um, but how innovative and, and groundbreaking is this

very, there very 100% true, right? Why would I lie? There are other companies out there that have. Uh, gotten into this idea of saying like, all right, we're gonna make it so that people can invest in films. What I'd say is no other company that's out there is created the ecosystem. It is that cinema block is right. So we do this for film and television, right? Crowdfunding, uh, blockchain for film and television. But the reality is, is that our platform can be used for a plethora of use cases. Film and television will just be the first one. This whole, this same concept and model holds true for gaming, right? Mm-hmm. It holds true for any type of entertainment and virtual reality. So anyone who needs, who has an idea, who wants to see that idea built from the ground up, can go now to their respective communities. And when I say respective communities, that means people who follow you on social media, LinkedIn, uh, YouTube, uh, Instagram, TikTok, and use them, um, as financial backers. For this product. And now say we are now all going to financially leverage one another to build something. It is that we all want to see. The whole point of this, as you alluded to earlier, is to remove gatekeepers from these industries, which are notorious from it. So it is very, very revolutionary. And as I've told people, Tony, Chris, if anything happens to me in the next 18 months, I did not slip and fall in the shower. They came, they came and got, they came for

you. Yeah. They came and got you. What they,

well what they can't stop is the movement. Right? They can't stop that. Once, once, once the genie's out of the bottle, there's no going back. So and so, yeah, it's, it's really revolutionary.

So real quick, so where, how far are you guys along? Are you alive? Are you still looking? So this beta, is this real?

So we are looking to launch this fall and when I say this fall, I mean this September it has been years of work because we're dealing in equity. Um, what also differentiates us from some of the other competitors out there is that we have FINRA and SEC approval, sorry, I use an acronym there. FINRA is the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority that oversees financial transactions, right? Uh, they were, uh, they became then sort of partnered with the SEC after the great recession of 2008. So we had to go through a two year approval process for our crowdfunding platform to be approved by them, right? So there's certain standards it is that we have to meet, uh, in order to be FINRA and SEC sponsored, which we now are, right? So it took years for that. For some companies it takes four or five years, you know. Um, so that was necessary in the process. Um, but now that we figured that out, um, we're now looking to launch our first wave of campaigns, uh, come this fall in September, which is when we then have our go live date. We are bringing on any and everyone. If you are looking to do crowd campaigns, if you are sick and tired of dealing with these gatekeepers, if you want to see your project made, whether you just have a completed, whether you have a completed film, or you just have a basic idea of a script, you can come on our platform and run a campaign, right? And say, this is the type of money that we're looking to raise.

I love it, buddy. I love it. We gotta have you come back on and talk about it, right? And share when it goes live, because that is revolutionary. It's fantastic, and I'm really proud that you guys put that together. So keep us in the loop here. As we end, I wanna throw a couple things at you. Um, you know, Chris and I can do this together, right? So, you know, let's unpack the quote that you, you talk about, right? Don't let your manager treat you like a side chick. What do you mean by that?

That means is you need to understand where you stand in the relationship, right? Uh, I think most people grasp the idea of a, of a spouse and a side piece, right? Spouses get the best treatment, right? The relationship evolved from, you know, just dating, uh, to now courtship, to now significant other. The side piece is there, just for one specific term. And so what I also tell young people is like, look, you know, your manager is treating you like a side piece. When there is no progress or evolution of your career at that job, if a certain amount of time has come and you've, you've checked these boxes, you've done this, you've done that, but you're seeing your contemporaries, you're seeing your colleagues now being promoted to new roles, um, that are surpassing you, you need to grasp, you are a side chick right then and there at that moment. You, you are a side piece, and so you need to, you need to then have that conversation with yourself first and say, am I comfortable with this? Or am I uncomfortable with this? If I'm uncomfortable with this? There's only two things I can do. One I can leave and no longer be a side piece and go look to be a significant other with someone else. Or I can approach said manager and it lay it out and say, what is the definitive plan? I have done these things. If I don't see definitive results in a certain timeframe, then I'm gonna have to take certain action. Uh, and that's one thing I always tell young people, especially young folks of color. 'cause as you said, Tony, they'll give you accolades, they'll clap you, they'll clap for you, they'll ask you to speak at company engagements. Everyone will know you. Mm-hmm. But then all of a sudden you see someone who's younger than you, less educated than you. You'll see someone, uh, who has less experience than you, all of a sudden be promoted all of a sudden, and they've done nothing to what it is you've done. If that moment happens, it's time to move on.

Let me ask this, and this is a hard one. Um, because you started this with your guy, right? And y'all had a friendship and association prior to it morphing into a business founder relationship. Correct. Um, they say don't do business with family and all this other, how, what's the difficulty in having your brother, having your person, uh, that you've been cool with? Start to mix money and ideas and, and actually run the business? 'cause if they didn't go to Darden, they don't know that everybody could say something. They don't know that all ideas are welcome. Right. Like

they, they don't know. Yes. And

right. Well, the good thing with, with this particular, with this friend of mine is that our relationship was always 100% transparent. We were always on an idea of, no, that's not gonna work. Right. Like, so before the yes and happened, it was always like, ah, no, that, that, and, but at the end of the day. He was so passionate about this.

Mm-hmm.

Right. And one of the things that I immediately grasped when he was pitching it to me was his passion. I noticed that first and foremost. So that was the first thing I noticed was, alright, he's clearly passionate, that matters. Right? Number two, this is an idea that I'm grasping. I don't grasp all of it because it, it's, it can be, it can get fairly complicated, like, you know, talking about blockchain and things of that nature. But at the end of the day, it fills a niche that is highly, highly in need. So when I, when I speak, when, 'cause when people ask me about entrepreneurship, they ask me questions like, you know, one of the first things I say is, is there a need for this product? If there isn't a need, then you don't have a pathway towards doing anything for anyone, right? Can you solve someone else's problem? Right? That's how you make a difference and that's how you can make money. Can you solve someone else's problem? So those two things automatically said, all right, this, this is. This is something we can work with now. How do we navigate the day to day being friends and then, and then dealing with this? Oh, you have your moments to all entrepreneurs. You, you're gonna have those moments where it's just like, what did you say? I'll hop on a plane and I'll be there in 10 minutes, man. Like, don't, or I'll hop in a car like you'll see me in 10 minutes. Don't worry. And you have to have those screaming matches sometimes, right? That's, that is what it is. Entrepreneurship is a contact sport.

I love it. I love it. Final thoughts, my brother? What do you wanna leave the audience?

I'll leave you with something that I learned at dar. Go where you are doing your best work. If you find yourself at an organization or working for someplace and you're no longer giving it the passion, you're no longer doing the best it is that you know you can do. And you can look back and say, wait, five years ago I was doing this, I was doing that, I was doing this. And it's not there. You don't need to be there anymore. It's just gonna suck the lifeblood out of you. Go where you do your best work. And if doing your best work means starting your own thing, then by all means find a pathway to do it and get there.

Bars. Bars. Let me ask you this, how can A Black Executive Perspective Podcast help you?

Well, for all the followers out there, please check us out on cineblockfilms.com. Follow us on social media, CineBlock films.com. We are there, um, uh, sign up for our newsletter. Like I said, we will be launching in the near, uh, future, and you will hear a lot about us in the, uh, in, in, in the very upcoming months. You will hear about our, our, our new release. But yes, sign up on our website, follow us on, on all social media platforms, and that's, that's the best thing to do right now.

And what's your website again? My brother

CineBlock films.

CineBlock films. CI,

yeah. Spell it out. C-I-N-E-B-L-O-C-K-F-I-L-M s.com. Cine block films.com.

Awesome, my man. Well, listen, you didn't have to spell out, you know, BEP because we're ha I'm gonna use, I'm gonna spell we're H-A-P-P-Y that you came on and chatted with us today. My brother. You, you were awesome. You fed us. I know a lot of people are really going enjoy, you know, the, the, the, the stories, but also the advice that you give, because that's really the key here is to help other people be able to navigate these issues and more importantly, be able to play chess, not checkers, right. And be able to see things before they become, they, they're, they're in trouble. Right? And you really spoke a lot to that today. So we wanna thank you for appearing on A Black Executive Perspective Podcast.

Gentlemen, thank you for having me. It's been an absolute pleasure with more people like you are needed out here, uh, doing, doing good work, uh, for people like us 100%. Thank you.

Thank you buddy. So I think it's now time for Tony's tidbit and the tidbit today. I wasn't underperforming, I was outperforming in a system designed to overlook me, but being exceptional shouldn't feel like punishment. The moment I stopped trying to prove I belong, I started building spaces where I had never have to explain why I do. And you heard a lot of that, that encapsulate a lot of what our brother, Sharif Bennett talked about today.

Absolutely. And we're gonna remind you to tune in two segment. Need to know with Singa where Dr. Singa Burton provides poignant insights and passionate commentary on things that shape our world today. Make sure you tune in each week, Dr. Singa Burton, or a Black executive podcast, uh, A Black Executive Perspective Podcast. Need to know with Singa.

Absolutely, and don't miss the next pull up. Speak up here on the Black Executive Perspective Podcast. Our round table dives into the most provocative issues. There's bold, unfiltered voices, sharp perspectives, real talk, and a call to action. This is not just an episode, this is a revolution, so you don't wanna miss the next pull up. Speak up here on A Black Executive Perspective Podcast.

We always like to leave the audience to remind them with our call to action to incorporate LESS. Our goal here is to eliminate all forms of discrimination and to achieve this, we're asking you to embrace less LESS. The L stands for learn. Educate yourself on racial and cultural nuances and learn that what you bring to the table is valuable and do not allow for people to talk you away from that.

Absolutely. And then after you learn, you have the letter E, which stands for empathy. Now, since you've learned about people that you are not, you don't hang with, or that's not in your network, now, you can be more empathetic to them because you now have placed yourself. In their shoes.

And then the first set stands for share. Share your insights to enlighten others. Don't hide it, divide it. Allow for people to gain as you gain and grow as you grow. Because that's how the community grows together.

Absolutely. And the final S is stop. We want, you want to stop discrimination as it walks in your path. So if Aunt Jenny or Uncle Joe says something that's inappropriate at the Sunday dinner table, you say, aunt Jenny, uncle Joe, we don't believe that. We don't say that. And you stop it right there. So if everyone can incorporate less. LESS will build a more fair, more understanding world and we all will see the change that we wanna see because less will become more.

We wanna make sure that you tune into our next episode. Check out our the other episodes and things that we have on our platform. Check us out live each week, but go to a website, sign up for the newsletter, make sure that you review us, provide us insights and topics that you'd like to hear about. Subscribe wherever you're listening, and where can they find us? Tony,

my brother. You can find A Black Executive Perspective Podcast on YouTube, apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. And you can follow us on our social channels of LinkedIn, X YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram at a black exec for our fabulous guest. My man, the CEO co-founder of CineBlock, Sharif Bennett. Let's give him a round of applause. We wanna thank him. That's right. Stand up and clap. Stand up and clap. Exactly. Exactly. That's what we want. Right? And then look for my boy down in Dallas, the co-host with the most crispy reed. I'm Tony Tidbit. We talked about it. We learned about it, we laughed about it. We gonna keep striving about it and we're gonna thrive about it. We love you. And guess what? We're out

A Black Executive Perspective