SPEAKER_00 1:45

Welcome to another episode of the Hilltop Glove Podcast, where we dive into the lives and stories of remarkable individuals making a difference in the world. Today we are thrilled to have the talented Bryant Kirk White in the building, also known as a father, a husband, a DJ, and an experienced director. Hailing from Lawrence, South Carolina, Bryant is driven by a profound commitment to uplifting purpose and inspiring others. His educational journey began at the University of South Carolina, where he earned his Bachelors of Arts in Marketing and Management. Okay. You're like, yeah, did that. He continued to hone his craft at the Savannah Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, receiving a master's degree in film and television. Okay. His journey from selling CDs to becoming a DJ who brings hope and joy through music exemplifies his belief in music. Let me repeat that. His journey from selling CDs to becoming a DJ who brings hope and joy through music exemplifies his belief as a universal language. Okay, Brian? Brian is a creative endeavor. His creative endeavor extended to the H of H events.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

All events.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

All events. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Maybe that was all that. Birthday party. Education events in the schools, everywhere. All of that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Well, thank you for being here. It's been a minute, a long minute. Definitely. But I know Brian from uh fashion.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Oh, that's how you know Brian. Fashion. Great word to use, fashion.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Fashion. That's where it all started, right? Really? Is that really where it all started for you at the University of South Carolina?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

I think I think as far as the getting to a pivotal moment of feeling that experience, curiosity, and the passion I have for creating experiences, I say fashion-defined, definitely. Or fashion shows is what we were calling them. But you know, but we got to redefine what we considered fashion. We got to talk, talk, talk, talk how we wanted to talk and tell our own stories through that runway and through those screens and through those clothes. So that was a big point. That was a big point. You were there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

That was 2011, I think. Um I was at Benedict, but my friend Gabby went to USC. So she invited me to a fashion show.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Try it all together.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

And that's what I started hanging out with USC people.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Oh LaBridge, a little bridge, you know, bring it all together.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

It was pretty cool.

Top Influences: Mom, Jay-Z, And Death

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Yes, snoop to D. So um starting off, um, one of the things we always open up about is about beginnings of influences. But specifically, I want to ask you this question. Who would you say are your top three influencers in your life and why?

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Top three influencers. I probably have to go young because that's like the baseline. And without being cliche and shan my mama, her and her parents, I'ma still say my mama. I'ma say Jay-Z as a rapper, which we can get in that too. And I say death. If we can make death a person, I say those three things. My mama, Jay-Z, and death. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 5:11

Top three influences.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

That's a first. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Hilltop history.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Yeah, death is kind of um, it's a goal. It's the goal. It's the the end point, um, the undeniable one. So looking at life as a scope from a young age, whether it be morbid or not, to the masses, it was a driving influence for a lot of decisions I made and things I wanted to do, things I didn't want to do.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

So what about um siblings?

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Siblings. I have one sibling um that I grew up with, Adrian White, uh, my big sister. She is two years older than me. Um we probably only fell out like once. That was like high school. That's normal though. Yeah. But outside of that, uh growing up, best friends, building forts together with pillows, playing uh Mario tennis, um, playing Pokemon Snap all the way to now. Um being the person I can call, ask anything. I can be, I can be anything in front of her. I can just be myself. I can I can cry, I can ask questions, I can ask for help. Um, so she's definitely a top best friend. Um I also have a a sibling, Bethany White, the other B White, the real B White, who's a younger sibling, who I got to grow closer to as an adult. Um, so two siblings, two girls. Girls run the world. They do. Yeah, man. Facts.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Every time I'm you're doing an event, I just know Adrian's has some type of part in it. You know.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Every time. If I got to create, she got to put together the the behind-the-scenes specifics and and how it all worked, all the moving parts. So we may have some big vision, but how does it make sense? And and that uh kind of started with her. And even in my future, I I always continue to work with with black women or women in general, um, probably just off of how I grew up and and trusting women and knowing that it was a good balance of mindsets between me and them.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

And I do have a question um for you, because I know a lot of the lot, of course, a lot of the work that you do is very extroverted, right? Yeah. It's really um outside. Um now growing up, um, like your parent, like your mom, or even like your grandparents, were they people that were kind of like the life of the party in a sense?

SPEAKER_01 7:30

My grandfather was a DJ. Okay. Uh, which kind of didn't hit me until I got older as a DJ. Uh my grandmother was a talker, a helper, uh a preacher. So that's there. And then my mama was all the things, you know, any room she goes in, her mind goes directly to how can I help. It goes to how can I make this thing a success. Um, she had a before, you know, entrepreneurship, definitely social media was a thing. Us growing up, she had a company called Paisley Orchids, just doing events and uh helping other people put their put their visions and dreams into reality. So definitely got that from her. So I guess say extroverted, my mama talk a lot too. So um expressing yourself definitely came, I say, all from her. But I can't I can't short my grandparents either because they definitely were there and and having something to say wasn't something that they strayed away from.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Well, I can definitely see all of that because during fashion show practice he'll be preaching at like a hundred kids. Straight up just preaching. Yeah. Like getting us motivated. Let's go. We're about to do this. Yeah. It's our last time, it's midnight. They got finals the next day.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yeah, that's definitely a cornerstone moment. Like, let's create those experiences, which could be a whole episode within itself. Yeah. Like you mentioned midnight. Like, I forgot about that. We're in another 12. Midnight. It's 12, y'all can go home now. Or we can talk about life and how this scene it relates to what you're going through, or just making friends and camaraderie and community at an early point, 2010, 11 and 12. Shout out to Fashion Define, man.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Yeah. Man, you just seem like the type of person that's passionate about the process. Like, of course, you love the end results, right? That the public gets to see. But you seem like when it comes to like that planning aspect, you're very detail-oriented. Is that true?

SPEAKER_01 9:28

I think intention matters the most. And that goes to the Jay-Z influence, which I won't give all credit to him. I give it to hip hop in general, music in general, art in general. But being intentional matters. When you talk about the end goal, bringing back up my influence is like death is the you know, like it has to end. Yeah. This event has to end, this moment has to end. Our handshake has to end when you walk down the street and smile at somebody. That smile and connection has to end. So what are you doing within that time that you have this moment? What are you leaving? What are you giving? And you got to make it your best. So why not be intentional, you know? Yeah, that's true. Shake the table a little.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Shaking the table. Every time I hear shaking the table. Okay, okay. Next question. All right, purpose versus passion. Can you tell us about your journey to identifying your purpose and what activities are you passionate about?

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Identifying my purpose. The main event that hit that on the head was my grandfather's death. My grandfather passing during my sophomore year of college. Attending the University of South Carolina, I didn't like it. It wasn't my thing. Mainly just because I was uncomfortable. So that's an awakening moment that opens up a whole life lesson. Hey, a child can be uncomfortable, and what does that mean? Are we going to run from it or are we going to embrace it? Luckily, growing up, my grandparents and my mother and people that surrounded by me that surrounded me, it wasn't a thing to run from it. I mean, I couldn't drop out of school, but my mom won't let me drop out of school. Especially with the reason being, like, I just didn't like so many, I just didn't like seeing so many people, like not understanding so many people, not being around people who were from Lawrence, which I understood. I understood Lawrence. I understood where I was from. But then to go to Columbia and everybody's different threw me off. So miraculously, I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go study abroad, and it's gonna be more comfortable. No. I went to Northern Europe, went to Sweden in the fall and winter, where it was, you know, heights of snow, uh only daytime, probably like eight hours a day, you know. And within that discomfort, tripling down on it, my grandfather passed. The only man I grew up looking up to, getting advice from, um, being scared of, you know, for good reasons and good lessons. But him passing made me question life, like what is life really about? Um, if life can end just in a snap, again, like I'm embracing the death idea growing up, but now it's in your face, now it's here. So I'm asking, you know, asking God, what is life about? And the answer was, you know, life isn't about what we have when we're here, but more so about what we leave when we're gone. Like, and it goes back to that process, the process of life. What are you doing? Like, what are you standing on? And so him passing led me to question all of that. And it led me to question my discomfort and to see the positives in it.

SPEAKER_04 12:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

And then having the urge to want to enlighten and awaken others, expose them to that same exact journey. Um, so I say that's a pivotal point as far as my purpose and that baseline of clearly putting it on paper, making it tangible, be able to build a career off of it. But that moment itself was I have an urge to help others uh see their lives and actually dig deep introspectively to say, what am I here for and what can I lead for this world that'll make it better?

SPEAKER_00 13:02

And what did that lead to your businesses?

Launching A Bevy And The “Why Are You Alive” Tour

SPEAKER_01 13:04

ABeby. It definitely lets it let the A-Bvy out of the gate. So initially, A-Bebvy, we just wanted to have a life conversation. We created scholarships, one in Lawrence, one at USC, where the application was just asking the question, like, why are you here? Like, why are you alive? You know, and that goes straight into the why are you alive tour that I did in 2014. During grad school, I traveled up the East Coast, all across the South. I think it was 20 plus colleges for free. They weren't paying me. Um, I didn't think that was a thing. I had been a part of so many student audits in college that I knew I could reach out and say, I just want to come speak. And some schools it might have been five people that came, some it might have been 500 that came. But doing that why are you alive tour took a Bevy to another level, created a Bevy in a collegiate sphere as a collegiate organization that we could then produce and challenge uh certain thought processes and have initiatives that students between the 18 to 22-year-old spectrum could all come together and talk about and be about? Like the world is falling apart, but we want to have fun. Within that fun, once we're done celebrating, what are we doing about the world falling apart? And even deeper than that, uh, what am I doing if I'm falling apart in response to the world falling apart? How can we bring it all together? How can we build together? How can we become one no matter what's falling apart? So Abeby grew from there. Uh man, that's a long story after that. Because everything just aligned to that. It was just like, how can we, how can we be self-aware in everything we do from then on?

SPEAKER_02 14:40

Quick question. Um, how old are the students that you work with in ABVI?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

And ABEVI currently with our three programs, Abeby Academy encompasses high school students. They're able to join that eighth grade, uh up to 12th grade. We follow you up to graduation. A Bevy Collegiate group is our second program. Uh, that's 18 to 22-year-olds. So, and uh being able to gather digitally and in person, uh, especially from a collegiate sphere and express yourself in a safe space, be honest, figure out what you want to do with your life, because this is America. You gotta have some feasible idea of how I can be successful, not just within yourself in the mirror, but also be successful out here in this world and then a Baby Stage Association, which is post-collegiate age young professional individuals who just serve as our mentors that help our high school and college students.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

I like that. Usually the 18 to 22 age range is forgotten about, and a lot of kids usually drop around that time frame and they can't recover.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Yeah, you get lost. That's it's crazy because that's the most that's the most impactful time in your life. Yeah. I always say, like, going to jail. I just want to say that. See, we were going to store wrenching there. Like going to jail, joining the military. I say, going to jail, joining the military, going to college, and getting pregnant.

unknown 15:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Can all happen with that. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Those are probably the most life-changing experiences. Life-changing instances. And so, what are you gonna do? You gonna go, you gonna go back, you're gonna regress, or you're gonna progress? You know, or how are you and how you supported during those times? Yeah, because you don't know what you're doing. Whether you get pregnant at 16, whether you get pregnant at 28, it's a new challenge. But again, at 18 to 22, it's so much that you're that so many changes that's being thrown at you. And uh, even a baby, our goal is so you can progress and grow from it, no matter what's happening. Death, too, you know, all those things. Shout out to death again. Shout out. That's gonna be the name of the episode. Why you ain't gonna turn that up. Shout out to death. Shout out to death.

SPEAKER_03 16:40

Hey, but I had to ask this though, because you were saying this, I just wanted to chime in. You're talking about the 18 to 21 year olds and the things that they need to worry about, like that really can take them and turn their path. How did you identify those things? Is this are these things that occurred to you or things that you saw on people that were around you growing up?

Serving High School, College, And Young Pros

SPEAKER_01 16:59

I don't know. I think I had to speak one time and I was just like, I need to be able to bottle this up. And I'm like, I want to look at them and say, you're gonna do one of these things. I'm already speaking at colleges, so I'm telling you, college is gonna change your life. I mean, we all know the the saying, you know, it may not even be what's happened in the classroom unless you pre-med or you know, engineering, or, you know, you're gonna go live under the under the sea and do welding. Um you can get that knowledge, but the main plus of that quarter million dollars you're gonna spend in college or less or more is the or the people you meet, the experiences that you go through. Like I'm saying, me meeting you, like me having those opportunities, me being uncomfortable, the consistent discomfort that college provides, uh led me to a point of like, okay, and I was aggressive at first. We're talking about the baby, I'm I'm being aggressive and saying, hey man, mess up, go make mistakes. When the last time you messed up? When the last time you cried? Who died in your life? Like, let's talk about it. Like, who broke your heart? And so if I'm asking these questions, it was like, okay, how can we make people cry? Like, I want to see you cry. I want to see you uh tap into the pain. I don't want to see you in pain, but I want to see you tap into the last time you were at your lowest, and let's talk about how we can build you up to your highest. And so, just those examples I'd say, um, those are just high examples of discomfort, high examples of being challenged, and and with that are there high examples of introspection.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

Makes sense. And so, with that said, and I'm I'm kind of glad we're talking about this, is this really reflects on, you know, of course, self-awareness and self-development, and especially to where um can you just explain for us just the importance of self-awareness and just how it leads to that development? And of course, like just some of the specific things that you're doing with a ABV to support students and our youth that is, and doing it and being able to go through that process.

Self-Awareness As The Core Curriculum

SPEAKER_01 18:55

I think self-awareness is what I like to say is the most important subject we can study. Uh I think within the past six to ten years, we've acknowledged the fact that uh social emotional skills, uh even in the educational sphere of like college and career readiness, we've acknowledged the benefit of things outside of the classroom. Like you can have straight A's, but if you don't have yourself, what do you have? You're gonna crash sooner or later. We all have peers, we all have friends, we all have people that are older than us who may be quote unquote successful monetarily. Um, they may even look good, they may feel good, they might be the most self-confident on the outside, but in order to keep that facade up, we know people who actually don't like their lives. They don't like waking up, they don't have the hope for better. They're not getting the fulfillment that they probably deserve. They probably deserve better, they probably deserve more opportunities, more freedom, more uh more times when they can just be themselves. But because of the rat race, um, even the American dream at times, which I think we can redefine that if we just base it off of self-awareness. How can we invite the world to be themselves? How can we embrace the commonality of I'm different, I'm weird, this is why, this is what it means, and this is how I can help you because of those things. Uh and so a Bevy, uh, with everything we do, especially now, uh reformatting our program and bringing in members, especially from a virtual standpoint, uh, and creating what I call the school of social school of self-awareness, which is a virtual space that I call SOSA. So school of self-awareness, where high school, college, and those young professors can come together and connect. Uh, we're able to continue to produce events, bring events back that we used to have, which I don't want to I don't want to say nothing uh ahead of time, but um, whether it be like event events like impress yourself, going back or doing summits or creating experiences like a fashion to find, which at the end of the day we started calling, we started calling, what do we call, we called it just art on stage, telling stories on stage. And so being able to remember that feeling also providing opportunities where we can create an avenue for our members to tell their story publicly. Because you gotta look at the times and say, The big step is to say, I felt it and I want to talk about it. So the more we can create an avenue for those people to talk about it, be about it, and learn from it, it's just a continuous cycle where we as the circle that a baby represents, we just continuously help each other and spread those, spread those ideas and growth together.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

So you do a lot with the arts. What's your favorite? You know, DJing, directing. Oh, music, easy, yeah.

Music As Universal Language And DJ Origins

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Music, music, DJing, um, just utilizing music, utilizing sound, uh, the sound of things. I think again, music is a universal language, any genre. I was brought up. Um, I used to call hip hop the Bible. Hip so hip-hop isn't literally the Bible. No, shout out to the Bible. A lot of good stuff in the Bible. Amazing, amazing, life-changing, life-altering, life-telling things in the Bible. But hip-hop, as far as growing up as a young black man, it it provided me with wisdom, exposure to things that I couldn't get at home. You know, I couldn't get around the corner. You know, I was outside by the definition of it, but I was also inside by the definition of it. So I say being outside when we talk about mixtape days, whether it be G unit mixtapes, again, burning CDs and these times all the way up to a little Wayne takeover. Also being inside and going to church and listening to what my mama was listening to, uh, whether it be neo soul or jazz and being in church and those gospel songs and even having opportunities in church to make CDs that are played for performances in church. Um, music just engulfed me as a whole. So I think the balance of both, like, where you could hear a 50 Cent, a Nelly, uh, all the way up to a Lupe Fiasco. Um, and then also know why Kirk Franklin uh can get you excited. Music, yeah, you can't beat music, man. Then I just get to D, I get to DJ, like I get to play it. So how so when did you start DJing? I started DJing in 2000 and 2005. Twenty years in the game. So uh At 15, I was going to older clubs. I was going to 18 to 21-year-old clubs. So back then you had to be 18 if you were a girl, 21 if you were a boy. Um, I guess at the time they say 18 for women, 21 for men. Um, but I was 15, going early. Big shout out to uh my friends Trey Evans, Rodney Grant, Fontello Neely, uh, and a uh a host of more that were all older than me in high school. So I'm in ninth, tenth grade. Uh again, the CDs are there. Started selling B-white mixes. I'm utilizing PlayStation 2 equipment to record people, creating skits and stuff. And that literally led to here's a party on a CD. So if you had a house party, I could make a B-white mix for it. Or I could make a just a mixed CD for it. And that slowly led to going to specifically a club called Club Hush in Spartan, South Carolina, with a guy named DJ Philly, who at the time worked with my friend Trey. And DJ Philly, he brought me in. Um, I'm not gonna say he was a promoter of this 15-year-old being in the club, but he was like, he was saying his thing was in the club. Smacking money. It rang. I don't even remember the money. I don't remember the bottles. But again, y'all know, you know, this is you know late 2000s, so things were definitely different era, definitely different era, but again, I'm there at like 9 45. Okay. Um, so at 10 o'clock, I'm watching him. Nobody's there at that time. Yeah. Um, but I also would say I was there while people were out were there too, because we were there at 2 a.m. too. But as far as my lessons outside. As far as my lessons, and again, that goes from 1560. I'm not capable of man, I was outside. So but my lessons stem from probably that first hour to um being able to touch uh at the time those uh those CDJs, and then watching him connect songs, tell stories, produce narrative, how every song connected, and how the crowd reacted. It stemmed from there. So by the time I got to college, I said my 12th grade year, and by the time I got to college, I was doing my own parties and events, um, and it it was no turning back from there.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

Right, right. So you always like a CD, like were you a CDJ person? Mm-hmm. So you were always CDJ.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

C DJ out of the gate. He gave me his like some old ones. They were like some cheap joints. Shout out to Philly. They were like some real cheap ones that you just put the CD in and take forever to load. But, you know, it's literally the skill, the first skill I developed was what song is here, and then what song were you playing next? That's gonna complement this song that's then gonna complement the mood that you're trying to set. That's true. Song selection was the first thing he taught me, so that was the most important. And that goes into we shooting videos, the next question you're about to ask, like everything has an order, everything has a purpose. We're creating experience. Um, we we want people to feel a certain thing. Uh, we want to be intentional with that. Because one day you gotta die.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

That kind of goes into our next question. How do you control the atmosphere when you're DJing?

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Yeah, same route. Uh for one, we're looking at the specific event. So we mentioned weddings on TBH Wedding House changed my life. Um, me and my sister starting that, growing into that, and seeing that when you look at weddings, this is pre-social media takeover where you got your you know hundred thousand dollar weddings, but in general, a wedding is stressful because it's a big moment. Yeah. So if I'm talking about 18 to 22 year olds and having those multiple moments where their life is gonna change, a wedding, yeah, no matter who you are, no matter where you're being, what you're going through, it's gonna shake you up regardless. Yeah. You know, whether you get divorced later, whether you stay together forever, you're gonna get shook up regardless. So our goal with Operation Make the Bride Happy, which was a hashtag that turned into a company, was how do we just hit the happiness bar? How do we make sure that this couple, um, it was kind of even double down on like happy, happy wife, happy life, but in general, no matter who you're marrying, man, it was how can we take this couple and make sure they leave and see the positives? Because the cake might fall, some guests might act up, the the preacher might mispronounce your name, the food might be nasty. But what makes you happy and why are you truly here? And we want to be able to create experience with that. And I give that example because now when we look at H of H events, which we call House of Happiness, and being able to now promote and provide services for any type of experience, um, whether it be sound, lighting, or just the production value through planning and coordination, we just want to keep keep the focus on remembering the good things. Um, because when people leave, they might not know where that whole hundred thousand went. They don't know you know, they they don't know what books are on this table, why the books are on this table, how much that light costs. Yeah. That you in the you in the photo booth, y'all went at it and you had to pick another photo booth two days before. Um, that you bought too much liquor or or that the flowers, some of them came up dead, and you just had to work with what you got. Um, the goal is for people to leave and experience a specific thing within that one hour to six hours, uh, within that day, a conference of events. And so the key to that is that happiness, which is a fleeting thing, we ain't gotta go that deep, but in that moment, wherever people are going through, when they come into this experience, let's take them to a point where they are happy, where they can be positive, where they can be hopeful, and then let them leave and take that energy into their own lives.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

So, about one of these experiences. Um, can you just give us an example? Maybe because you know, every time you do an event, yeah, there's always gonna be things that happen, or there's always a certain expectation that's set up. Tell us about a time where it seemed like everything was gonna be messed up, but it actually turned out to be a beautiful event.

When Events Underperform: Reframing Impact

SPEAKER_01 29:36

You want like one of my events or somebody? I don't want to do my events. Of course. Um everything was gonna mess up. Interview question. Yeah, it's like, dang, if I hire you, how well they say when they say in interviews, they say um when the when was the last time you got you dropped the ball at work and then you figured it out? You want me to say how bad I am? Um, could we see how you turned it around? Yeah, I don't really have an example to be honest with you. I could probably think of one, um, whether it be rain, sleet, uh, uh, or or shine. Uh I say ticket sales. Uh not being able to market appropriately and bring people in, people not having people come to the door. And at that time it's real draining. So let's say you wanted 200 people there, you only sold 80 tickets. At that point, you're not matching your budget, you're in the red. And at the same time it's raining outside. And at the same time, there's no parking downtown.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

No parking downtown.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

You got to fussing with you got to fussing with your wife a little earlier, because your kid is sick. Um and so that mood you have in general, because I again anything can happen. Yeah, of course. But it's gonna boil down to like being in charge, your mood just goes down. And that's everything just gonna follow you. So I've had moments like that where I had to stop and then say, okay, with the 80 people here, with the 10 people here, with the four people here, we gotta hit them though. You gotta have a moment where you stop, go to the bathroom, go down the street, you might need to go to the bar, you might need to pray, pick up the real Bible, or listen to some music, go call your, go call your big sister, whoever, whatever, and snap out of it, snap out of that negative and get back to the positive. Okay, but these four people are here for a reason. These 80 people are here for a reason, and let's do the best with what God has given us. And again, it goes back to now let's make sure they leave happy, make sure they leave um on a positive note. We gotta give them what they want, and then maybe we'll have 81 people next time. Maybe we'll have five people next time. You know?

SPEAKER_03 31:41

Because at the end of the day, everyone dies.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

At the end of the day, they could leave this event. I'm not gonna put no wing on it. It's power in the tongue, guys. It's power in the tongue.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

That kind of goes into our next question. Um, how do you use marketing or how do you leverage marketing over all the events that you do?

Honest Marketing And The “Missing” Campaign

SPEAKER_01 31:59

Yeah, I got a degree in marketing. I don't think I'm the best marketer because of death, because of like my, you know, my uh honesty and truth. And I'm glad we just keep I just keep the questions. But more marketing, you gotta balance it out. So y'all know how social media works now, especially if you're talking now, you gotta be direct, you gotta be creative, you gotta fit the algorithm, all of those things. Um, but one thing I remember I created a marketing campaign where I went missing. Um and this was to promote the Why Are You Alive tour the second year I did it. Okay, I went missing, and I had already shot like a funeral video of myself, but the casket was empty, and I was seeing myself in the casket, not in the casket. So I would I was going into the church, not being in the casket, and the voiceover for that video was a news reporter speaking to the idea of Bryant White passing. So now that we're talking about death, I can bring all the deaf stuff back. So even marketing-wise, what happened was you know, back in the day I'd be on Facebook, like, has anybody talked to Brian today? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Then you get a third, second or third person be like, has anybody talked to Brian today? Then you get them to comment on each other thing. Um, that's what I did. So I and then I I cut my phone off. I don't even know how long I did it. Might have been like half a day. It wouldn't fly out. It wouldn't fly now. There's no way you could do it now. Um yeah, so I and that's crazy. I was at my sister's house. I was hiding at my sister's house. I was like, I can't, I can't, you know, go around Columbia or nothing like that. I'm gonna just stay there.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

Why did you bring me instagram?

SPEAKER_01 33:33

And then, you know, by by 8 p.m., I'm gonna post. Yeah, I'm like, Adrian, don't answer the phone. My close people, I'm like, y'all just don't tell them where I am. Just be like, I ain't talk to him neither because then you get the text and don't answer the phone. Be like, I don't know where he is, for real. He's missing. But I think I and I think I dropped the video a little early because people did get scared. But um, I dropped the video and it was the announcement of the second year of the tour. But I say that as an example because I'm not the I'm not the best at marketing, because it's like I be too honest sometimes. Like, this is what it is, you either want to come or you don't. Um I don't have it in me to kind of like manipulate people in the want to come or like sell something that we don't actually have. Um, or even at the event, I I just don't want you to die unhappy. So if you come into the event, like this is my goal. But at the same time, I know people just want to have fun. They just want to party, have a good time. But I'm gonna be like, why you want to party? What are you going through that makes you want to release these inhibitions right now? Why you at that bar? Why y'all buying that bottle? You know what I'm saying? That's the preacher's side. That's my grandma coming out. But um, I don't even remember the question you asked, but I think my answer was marketing is tricky. Yeah, yeah. So I have to be able to shut all that off and be like, bruh, just post a flyer with contrasting colors that are bright and engaging. Get the event right up, get the post, get whatever up, give them a good link, make it easy for them, make sure they can just click and pay. Don't set the price too high, even though you're worth it, you think it's worth this. But at the same time, you want it to be free. Sometimes you want it to be free, but we gotta pay these these vendors and these bills. Yeah. It's all a balance, man. But that's where the women in my life come in. Like, you gotta get have a good team around you. Um, but I think overall, being honest is my thing. I'm never gonna let go of that. I think going back to that intention and having a purpose, I think the best art has that and it stands out. And you gotta be your your true artistic integrity and ability comes out with what medicine you put in the food. So even though I I'd be heavy on the medicine, I gotta call some people in and make sure the food is pretty, and then we're gonna we're gonna cure all the sicknesses.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Speaking of food, what you got cooking up for us?

Building SOSA: The School Of Self-Awareness

SPEAKER_01 35:46

Cooking up. Um, I'm going heavy right now and building that digital space, that social space, that school of self-awareness, uh, the school with no walls, uh, looking at the world and saying, do we have a space where everybody can connect? Whether you look at it like a social media space, whether you look at it like an online group, the goal is how can we create that space where people can come in and have real life benefits and be consistent with that. So invite everybody, um, whether you're in high school, whether you're a college age or you're a professional, which right now we're looking at uh 22 to 40, uh, you go to abevy.org and you can join the School of Self-Awareness. Um, there's a free line where you can, it's free to join. You can be a part of the conversation. Um, there's another level where you can receive more benefits, and then there's another level where you're actually part of an active face-to-face group that we call sectors. Uh so whether you're in a Bevy Stage Association of young professors in Greenville who are meeting and and coming up with dope ways to to provide experiences in Greenville or the upstate of South Carolina to combat and stand on the things that we believe in, or whether you're at a college that has an aby collegiate group sector, um, which has been our most popular for years, or you're at a high school, which is mainly the advisors, the staff, if they want to be able to create a student uh student club on their campus, um, those students are able to join. And with a Bebvy Academy, those high school students, we aim to sponsor them. So we're not exactly asking the high school kids to uh when you get to that level to pay for your membership or whatever. We want to be able to sponsor them to introduce them directly into that journey, and then from then on, you grow and you give. It just keeps going. It's a circle. Again, that circle, the circle with a Bevy as far as the logo, um, is a world that we're aiming to build based on uh change, progression, and growth, uh pursuing your passion, path, and purpose, and then just giving that right back uh through a compassionate uh goal of fulfillment for everybody, not just yourself. Which is hard in America's. We're selfish, you know, we promote, you know, it's all about me. But how can we say, well, whatever you gain with yourself, what are you doing uh to help others and make the world a better place? Yeah, man. Each one teach one.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

And um how can the community support you or if anyone wants to support what you have going on?

SPEAKER_01 38:05

A baby.org. You can go donate.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

Yeah, that's all I was about to say.

A Novice Studio And The Next PBS

SPEAKER_01 38:10

A dollar, two dollars, a hundred dollars annually, to help you support a high school student. You should definitely do that. Uh H of H events, hit us up. Um H of H events.com, H of H.evs, uh go book us whatever services you need. I'm the best DJ alive, uh, mainly because I care for you. I care. I care. Uh and and and then a novice studio, I don't want to forget a novice studio. I'm able to uh do work in the in the schools mainly currently, but my goal is to be the new PBS, the new SCE TV. Um how can we create uh shows? How can we create moments where we're telling the stories that we believe our youth need to hear? Where is the new Zoom? You know what I'm saying? Yo, Zoom? You know what I mean? Where is the new Zoom? What does Zoom look like in 2026? Yes. Um that's my baby. A novice studio is my baby. I I again my my post uh my graduate degree being in TV and film. Um it was I wanna like, what is my ultimate goal? I want to be able to have a show that that that encompasses everything. What is Fashion to find look like as a show? Wow. You know, a weekly show. What does it look like to again have that medicine in there nowadays? You know, Zoom Legends of the Hidden Temple. Like, how are we getting the show?

SPEAKER_04 39:37

You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 39:39

Um I don't know about animation. I gotta I would have to meet some more friends.

SPEAKER_00 39:43

We got people, we know people. You know what I'm saying? We'll talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

But that's the vision. I'm this is my first time, I think, publicly saying that. Because right now it's just, you know, going into the schools or going um and interviewing athletes or doing highlight videos and whatnot. The regular, but with a novice's studio, the goal is to create a platform that's similar to an educational uh production company, but making it fly, making it, making it progressive, making it dope, um, and hitting everything on the head. Shout out to PBS though. They're doing the work, whether they're giving you the money or not, you still doing the work. Um shout out to SCE TV. Uh, but yeah, just want to create another lane for that. Excellent.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

Yep. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, before we wrap up, because you know this is technical, this is a live event. Does anybody have any questions in the audience? Hey.

SPEAKER_03 40:30

No, we ain't got that many people here right now. You know what I'm saying? Y'all don't have to be nervous, though. Y'all can get it up and whatever. Get personal there's some beautiful food over here. Get nose. Can you tell them what we're at?

Live Q&A, Studio Shoutouts, And Wrap

SPEAKER_02 40:41

Yes. All right, so we are at um Celeb Studio Um over on 224 O'Neill Court, Columbia, South Carolina. Um, this is a space wherever we do anything in Columbia, we record out of this is a space we record out of. Um also we rent this out as a peer space. Um so if you're interested in running the space itself, um, feel more than free. Like I said, we'll have the um information in the episode link. Um the beautiful thing about us um rent out space is not only do you get to use the space, but you also get uh us as support. That's true. So what better what better way to actually record a podcast or to do content creation by actually being supported by people who actually do it? Yep. And this is not you know it's not a dig to anybody or anything like that, but the good equipment is here. The good equipment is here, and they run it for you. Yeah, that yeah, and we just teach you how to do everything. That's really our goal. We don't hide we don't hide the jewels. We don't hide the jewels.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Yeah, we don't check them up. That's it. Shout out y'all, man. Thanks, appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 41:40

Tell everybody about where they can find you on social media.

SPEAKER_01 41:42

You can find me at B Kirk White, that's be like the second letter, Kirk Like Franklin, white like the color. I love that. Um Bryant Light Kobe, Kirk Like Franklin, white like the color. Um, Bryant Kirkwhite.com, that's Bryant like Kobe, Kirk Like Franklin, white like the color. Uh dot com because it's short for computer. What is Compson? I forgot. Um, but yeah, I'm there. And I also want to shout out my wife, shout out Dr. Piquetrius White. I want to shout out my two girls, surrounded by girls, there in my world, uh, Saiyan Mirror. It's Woman's History Month. Woman's History Month, man. Yeah. Look at us. Better know it. Look at us. Better uplift them. He ain't gonna go nowhere. You wouldn't even be here without him. I know.

SPEAKER_00 42:19

But that's pretty much wraps up our episode.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

Appreciate y'all, man. Yeah, we appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

We gotta talk to you afterwards because we got a lot of jewels to give you because Kevin, you know, he's in the education industry.

SPEAKER_01 42:31

So I've never said that that PBS thing out loud. So I know a baby exists, but a baby again, the way I described it is it it it can fulfill itself. Clearly, we're doing the work. But I'm like, for if somebody asked me what's next, I've never said that out loud. So shout out to y'all for pulling that out of me.

SPEAKER_00 42:48

Awesome. That's what we're here for.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

That's it. That's what we do.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

Thank you guys for watching another episode and thank you for our live audience.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

Yes, peace. Boom, boom.