be visible as the CEO and founder for the better, quote-unquote, betterment of the brand, which is like, you know, can you even believe this is where we're going? It's

crazy.

No, it's absolutely crazy.

Because I thought if they found out it was this...

Young black man that was behind his brand, it would negatively affect the business.

And unfortunately, I had several incidents that supported that theory.

Right.

And then it's selling overseas, and there's all these stories, but what happened to the storytelling? Yeah.

Smith's company donates a meaningful percentage of its profits to organizations and programs that support Black communities in the United States.

The first brand that I actually launched was called Active Faith, a faith-based sports apparel brand.

Launched that brand out of my mom's house in 2010.

Had some, some great success with it.

Unfortunately, we do have to deal with the realities of society.

I was actually hiding myself from people knowing that I was the founder of Active Faith.

I was afraid that if they knew it was this young Black male that was the founder, that it would have a negative impact on the business.

identity is more than a basketball player

yeah you know what i mean and and that's that's a that's a it's a tough acceptance and realization to come to because you normally start so young that your self-worth, your self-identity, your self-esteem, everything has been tied into this thing and it just grows, that bond grows stronger and stronger as you get older and then boom, it's ripped away and you're trying to figure this thing out.

And then the other side of it is the opportunity cost of all the sacrifice and the hours that you poured into this one thing, because the truth of the matter is similar to entrepreneurship and building a successful business, the percentages of success of making it are so small that you have to be laser focused, almost obsessive and And putting everything that you have into this thing.

So when you're doing that, you are also kind of missing out on maybe the education on other things or the interest in other things or being able to explore other things because you're so singularly focused on this thing.

So now you wake up.

that thing is gone.

Your classmates have done internships and they've been planning for a career that's not based on their athletic ability and all these things.

And like when it comes to actually running the community round, like what works well for you? How should they go about it?

... walk in the Actively Black fashion show?

Yeah.

So one, the tagline for Actively Black is, "There's greatness in our DNA." And very intentional about that, because I think over the centuries of oppression, um, subconsciously our people have accepted...

Nah, I won't say accepted.

Sometimes it seeps into our subconscious that we are less than, not as good as.

This is what has been told to us.

This is what has been preached to us for, for centuries.

Mm-hmm.

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That's exactly right.

And, you know, I've, I've, I've had this...

I've had this argument in a different context where I went to the University of Houston.

That's where I played my college basketball.

So I play...

I, I, I...

My dream was to play in the NBA.

Lanny?