0:08

What's up. I'm Laura Currency and I'm Alexa

0:10

Kristen. Welcome back to ed Landia. Got

0:12

a great show. Rakia Reynolds,

0:15

executive officer and

0:17

founder of sky Blue Media's

0:19

here before we get to Rakia,

0:22

Laura and I, as you guys

0:24

know, talk all the time about

0:26

random threads and philosophies. So

0:28

this morning you sent me the IKEA

0:31

catalog. Ikea did an audio

0:34

catalog, all the whole catalog,

0:36

like four hours, four hours, a marathon

0:38

of audio. The point to me, and

0:41

the thing that we were talking about is that now commerce

0:44

is kind of unbound. It

0:46

should have no boundaries at this point,

0:48

and that's really where we're getting to. And it's interesting,

0:51

like if you think about commerce not having

0:53

any boundaries of format, the fact

0:55

that you could buy anything anywhere

0:58

and that you should have the ability to do that

1:00

as a as a consumer, it's

1:03

really exciting. And then what conversely

1:07

does that do to advertising?

1:09

Is it a podcast? Is it an audio instruction

1:12

manual? It's like an audio catalog

1:15

from the standpoint of it's trying to story

1:18

tell and help

1:20

you visualize rooms

1:23

in the catalog, like what they would actually be

1:25

showing in the catalog. But I think the big point

1:27

is this idea that you should be able to buy from

1:29

audio content. Content should

1:32

be commerce period, full stop

1:34

well and also new and interesting ways to literate

1:38

or build on and keep a consumer engaged.

1:40

Right, what's really exciting is creation.

1:44

Commerce, an asset,

1:47

right, or artifact or thing that's created

1:50

are coming together in a way

1:52

that I don't think we've ever experienced,

1:55

not something that's been accessible like

1:57

this. What does the world look like where campaigns

2:00

become open sourced. Let's just say

2:02

I Ka puts that for our catalog

2:05

down, and you and I have

2:07

the ability to come in and say, actually

2:10

we should drop a meditation here, and

2:13

then you can submit that back to a brand, not

2:15

in the form of social media

2:18

feedback, truly having the opportunity

2:21

and open source campaign to

2:23

be able as a fan, consumer,

2:26

etcetera, to contribute, influence, contribute.

2:30

I don't want to just be a fan of your

2:32

company or your brand or your product.

2:34

I want to own a part of it.

2:36

In a different way. I want to own part of that. I p

2:38

that fiduciary relationship means we

2:40

have a completely entirely different

2:43

relationship that we haven't even been able

2:45

to imagine with our consumer that we trust

2:47

them enough if they are fans to

2:50

represent that brand, shareholders in

2:52

the business, yes, and create on it. But

2:54

at the end of the day, that all comes back to

2:56

community. You're talking about trust in

2:59

the consumer. Yes, how well

3:02

do you know your community? Yes? And the

3:04

thing Laura, totally and the thing that

3:06

has been on my mind. A lot of brand

3:09

owners, a lot of brand stewards

3:11

not even gonna call them marketers because it's beyond

3:13

the marketing organization or the marketing

3:15

role, talk about having community,

3:18

that they've built a community or that they're

3:21

part of a community. And that may be true,

3:23

but more often than not, brands

3:26

and people at brands

3:28

are talking about their community as buyers,

3:32

as buyers transaction transaction

3:35

I have, we have we have people that like us,

3:37

we have people that buy us, they like this product.

3:40

We have this community of buyers and that they're like community

3:42

of buyers. That's a sales force

3:45

breadsheet. We're going to talk

3:47

to for Kia about this, but

3:49

I think that it behooves us

3:51

to start to really unpack, like what

3:54

makes up a community.

3:57

I think that right now is a really

3:59

good time for marketers to be thoughtful about

4:02

some of the new structure

4:05

and new kind of points of power,

4:07

as I would say, that are coming to life in

4:09

the world. There's an army of

4:11

natural born marketers

4:15

who are rising, and

4:18

they know how to sell and probably

4:21

in some cases are better product marketers

4:24

and brand marketers then

4:27

marketers. You've got a major institutionalized

4:31

companies, you know, big corporates,

4:33

and so if you think about that, it starts

4:36

to become depending on where you stand, is

4:38

either really exciting or

4:40

maybe a little bit scary. We'll

4:43

be right back and

4:54

we are back on the mic with Rikiya Reynolds,

4:56

founder and executive officer of

4:59

sky Blue Media. Sky Blue

5:01

is a multimedia strategic communications

5:03

firm focus on people, products and

5:06

places. Rikia, we have waited so

5:08

long to say this. Welcome to Atlantia.

5:10

Welcome Rikia. Oh my gosh,

5:13

thank you so much, y'all. This is such

5:15

a long time coming, Like for real, I'm

5:17

excited to be here. You're just celebrating

5:19

your tenure anniversary, recently

5:22

named to Forbes one thousand

5:24

like last week. Congratulationslations

5:28

to you, thank you, thank you. Working

5:30

with some of the biggest talent and brands

5:32

in the industry. Tell us about

5:34

the origin story of how sky

5:36

Blue came to be. Oh, I love you

5:39

know, I love a good origin story. I like to

5:41

call it the story behind

5:43

the glory. Um. I recently

5:46

actually on Instagram recently recap

5:48

the last decade because we're in our celebratory

5:51

tenth year at sky Blue Media. So

5:53

I broke it down into sort of

5:55

business growth stages or the stages

5:58

of business, so like zero

6:00

to three and then four to six

6:02

and what did that look like? Um,

6:05

So, I will say the story behind this glory

6:07

is that I started sky Blue Media. I was a

6:09

former TV producer. I worked

6:12

in magazines. I had a

6:14

five year stint in working in higher

6:16

education for a large university,

6:19

working on I was actually pursuing

6:21

my degree in counseling psychology,

6:24

working with students who were

6:26

suffering from you know, going to college

6:29

and what it meant. So I was advising

6:31

a lot of students as as a counselor.

6:34

So I worked for five years in higher education,

6:36

then went onto TV, then went onto magazines.

6:39

And working in TV, y'all,

6:41

it was more than an

6:43

emotional roller coaster because in the world of

6:45

TV, you're on, you're off, your you have a

6:48

hiatus, you go dark and

6:50

I was like, I can't keep doing this. But

6:52

one day they called us into the office

6:55

and I was like, oh my gosh, this is so exciting.

6:57

They were like, okay, we're having a special meeting

7:00

and they said special, but I took it

7:02

as like they're giving us like something exciting.

7:04

They brought us in they had envelopes for

7:07

everyone, and I was like, oh my gosh, bring getting

7:09

a bonus right when I needed this bonus.

7:11

It was like super exciting. And

7:13

so we opened the bonus and it was like an

7:15

additional check and I was like, oh my gosh,

7:18

like we've done such a great job. I was working

7:20

on all of these shows and they were like, okay, so

7:22

this is the last check for everyone. We're laying

7:24

everybody off. And I was like,

7:26

oh, I'm sorry, this is not a

7:29

work bonus that we're getting. So

7:32

I was I was pregnant with our second child,

7:34

my husband was just finishing greadful.

7:36

I mean, when I tell you, I was like trying to figure

7:38

out like are we gonna have old meal for dinner or

7:40

tuna fish sandwiches for dinner? Like

7:43

it was it was that like my friends

7:45

are like we like to say, like a struggle sandwich.

7:47

It was like a struggle sandwich. And so at

7:50

that point I was like, I don't really have anything to

7:52

lose. I've always been a risk taker. Why

7:55

don't I sort of jump off this cliff

7:57

of entrepreneurship, start my own

7:59

company, take all of the things that I've

8:01

learned from, you know, from TV and

8:04

magazines and counseling, psychology

8:06

and studying all of these amazing

8:09

people, and sort of disrupt

8:11

the traditional model of public relations.

8:13

And then I started my own agency taking

8:15

all of the things that I had learned in TV,

8:18

you know, producing traditional pr

8:21

psychology, and then formed

8:23

my own digital communications multimedia

8:25

coms agency like you just

8:28

imagined it forward. And

8:30

what I think is interesting what you told us off

8:32

Mike, and I want to actually ask

8:34

you about, is that you don't call yourself a

8:36

CEO. You

8:39

can call yourself a chief, which

8:41

is probably aligned to your

8:44

philosophy and your ethos and

8:46

your values. Tell us why you don't call yourself

8:48

a CEO? Right, So, I think we

8:51

need to analyze words more. We need to look

8:53

at the etymology of words, We need to look at

8:55

the origin of words. And there

8:57

are a lot of culture vultures out there,

8:59

people appropriating. There's

9:01

so much miseducation, and

9:04

so when I get to the point where

9:06

I feel like I am educated completely,

9:08

fully and amazingly or

9:10

acutely aware of my surroundings

9:12

and the words and why we use them, then I may

9:15

incorporate them back into my lexicon.

9:17

But for now, with the foundation

9:20

that I have been taught, with

9:22

the history that I was taught as a child

9:25

and then as a and as an adolescent

9:27

and as an adult, I don't think that I

9:30

was educated to the point where I should be using

9:32

any of the language that was delivered

9:34

to me. We're very intentional

9:37

with what we say, Like we don't say things like oh,

9:39

that's tone deaf. Instead of saying like that's

9:41

tone deaf, we may say, well, it lacks

9:43

the nuance needed to

9:45

inform the conversation, so

9:48

we won't say or it's a blind spot.

9:50

Will say, hey, you know what, let's make sure that

9:52

we cover all parameters. So for

9:55

us, it's really about the intentionality

9:57

of words. I've actually

10:00

had a client that is of the

10:02

deaf and heart of hearing community,

10:04

So in terms of being informed

10:07

and sometimes for folks, there's I think that there

10:09

is like personal empathy and collective

10:11

empathy, and once we get to a space

10:13

of collective empathy where we can like put

10:16

our thoughts aside and really be intentional.

10:19

Um. I noticed that on calls

10:21

I will take a little bit of time or

10:24

process my thoughts, But with words,

10:26

I really tried to slow

10:28

it down to say, why are we

10:30

using these words? What will it mean

10:32

to someone else, and how will

10:35

it impact someone who

10:37

may hear this or experience this

10:40

later on down the line. So we typically

10:42

will look at all of our words,

10:45

but no chief, no chief in this executive

10:47

officer over here. As you were introducing

10:50

sky Blue at the top of the conversation,

10:52

you said you were going back through chapters right

10:54

where there are points along the way that shaped

10:57

or evolved the way you approached

10:59

your work. Yeah. I think there were two

11:01

pivotal moments

11:03

in my sort of sky

11:06

Blue media career or

11:09

history. One was sort of

11:11

midpoint, maybe three or

11:13

four years in. I

11:16

was faced with so many different challenges

11:18

where I was not hiring

11:20

people, I wasn't hiring the right people, and

11:23

so I had the wrong

11:25

people surrounding me. I had

11:27

someone steal mail, steal money, all

11:29

of these things. It was like a compounded

11:32

stressor for me, and what

11:34

I learned was how to respond

11:37

to things during a crisis because

11:39

I was in a constant crisis.

11:42

Constant I mean with employees, with

11:45

news, with all of these

11:47

things that were just happening to me. It was a compounded

11:49

stress moment. So for me,

11:51

it was a pivotal moment to learn how

11:54

to maneuver through chaos

11:57

and crisis. And then I will

11:59

say sort of bad us forward when

12:01

we really started at the beginning

12:03

of my career, people because

12:05

I'm a black woman, would say, we

12:07

want you to work on all of our black marketing,

12:10

or we want you to work on this, or we want you to work

12:12

on that. And it became like this multicultural

12:15

marketing way of bringing us

12:17

into companies like, oh, you know, larger

12:19

corporations would be like and I would

12:21

say, you don't just bring someone in because

12:23

of the way they look. It's their expertise. Let

12:26

me build this a little more. So it's not just

12:29

you know, the black market, but it's the indigenous

12:31

cultures market. It is the Latin X

12:33

market, it is the l g B t q i

12:36

A market, it is the Asian American

12:38

and Pacific Islanders market. So

12:40

I started doing a lot of

12:43

research, bringing in people that had

12:45

their PhD in sociology, bringing

12:47

in people that were experts in their field

12:49

to do think tanks, workshops, professional

12:52

development to inform our teams

12:55

in order to effectively communicate.

12:57

And then we started bringing those folks in as

13:00

consultants to have brand extensions

13:02

to our work because I don't think that everyone

13:05

out there should be doing the work that they're doing

13:07

because they're not an expert in their field.

13:10

Just because you did one project or

13:12

um, you have one case study, I don't think

13:15

that you should. You know, you can be doing the work.

13:17

I think when people become seasoned in

13:19

their fields, that's when you can

13:21

put it on your website. That's when you should

13:23

say this is you know what we do.

13:25

So I think for me getting into

13:28

the space of like research and

13:30

expertise and really sort

13:32

of refining what are offerings are

13:35

and were we were able

13:37

to go beyond the lens of marketing,

13:40

public relations, social

13:42

media, and digital media. I think

13:44

there have been all of these pivotal learning

13:46

moments in my career. UM

13:48

and then the work that we get to do, and then the people

13:51

that I've sort of surrounded myself

13:54

with and the folks that are running

13:56

the company in a way that I never

13:58

thought would run. You talk about

14:01

and Laura's told me about this, but I want to get

14:03

into it more. People, products,

14:06

places. That's what you do

14:08

well, and that's how you think about your business.

14:10

Can you explain that a bit more? Yeah,

14:13

I love you know, like alliteration, and

14:15

and I have to when I'm

14:17

remembering things. But on the people's side, um,

14:20

I think really early on and Laura knows

14:22

this, really early on, we were able to

14:25

work with Ashley Graham for the first five

14:27

years of her business and build her brand

14:29

and you know, work with her on what

14:32

she or her presence in how she

14:34

was entering the world. So from a people's standpoint,

14:37

we worked with Serena Williams on her

14:39

apparel brand for HSN and then when she

14:41

went independently, we still,

14:43

you know, we still have the honor to work

14:46

with people such as you

14:48

know, icons like Serena Williams. We work

14:50

with people such as m Night

14:53

Shamalan, and people such as Marley

14:55

Dais who started hashtag one thousand

14:57

black girl books, social activists

15:00

like Alicia Garza, authors

15:02

like Glenn and Doyle and love You a gi

15:05

Ye. So like, you know, we look from

15:07

a people standpoint, We've got

15:09

some amazing people that we get to

15:11

work with on and I'm honored and privileged

15:13

that we get to learn from them and work with

15:15

them. On the product side. That

15:17

p is getting to work with larger

15:20

tech companies like Dell. UM

15:22

we work with soft Bank, we work with Airbnb,

15:26

UM, and I'm like forgetting a couple of folks,

15:28

but I'll just leave it at that. And then on the place space,

15:30

I think you leave it like soft Bank Airbnb,

15:33

you pretty much got it locked up. You're good.

15:36

And let me be specific, the soft Bank SB

15:39

Opportunity Fund, that's what we work on

15:41

UM. And then yeah, on the places

15:43

space. So just I worked

15:46

with cities like Memphis and their storytelling.

15:48

Cities like Philadelphia hired

15:51

us, you know years ago on o hey,

15:53

we have all of this research, how do we distill

15:55

this and make it into a great

15:57

story. So cities from a place

16:00

ending standpoint have hired us

16:02

on storytelling for them. What

16:04

are the signments, projects, opportunities,

16:07

challenges people are calling with right

16:09

now? And then what you project over the next

16:12

you know, twelve to eighteen months. What

16:14

are the areas within comms

16:16

um that we really need to be thinking about

16:19

as an industry and just sort of trends and

16:21

signals you're picking up based on your conversations.

16:24

Yeah, I think I would say a lot of

16:26

people call on us now, and I

16:28

want to be clear, all of our clients have been with

16:30

us for years. We we don't typically

16:32

take on projects, and

16:34

I always tell folks, you know, we're in it for

16:37

the long term, in the long run. You

16:39

know, some of our clients have been on our board for

16:41

five years because

16:44

we don't believe in you know, coming in

16:46

for a sixty day project or a

16:49

six month project. I think

16:51

right now we've actually had to say

16:53

no to a lot of companies because

16:55

they are calling us. They see our clients

16:57

perfectly position in the marketplace on

17:00

what to say and how to say it. So

17:03

it's one of the things that it pains

17:06

me sometimes because I'm like, if

17:08

we had, you know, a larger team, or

17:10

if I wanted to take on more clients, that would

17:12

help said corporation or

17:15

help dead person. But we've

17:17

closed the door, you know, sadly

17:20

enough to to a lot of folks just saying hey, we

17:22

are we're not taking on any more clients.

17:25

And so what we did start to do was

17:27

we created this monthly tool

17:29

kit on effective communications.

17:31

So every month we put out this tool

17:33

kid, like, here's what you should be saying,

17:35

here's how you should say it. Here the words

17:37

that you should refrain from.

17:39

And we we give it to companies

17:42

that were unable to work with right now

17:44

due to our capacity um

17:46

so that they can use it as an

17:48

internal learning tool with

17:50

their comms and marketing teams. What's

17:53

been the reaction to them and are there things that

17:55

you know, you're you're seeing clients maybe

17:57

not be aware of and saying like, this

17:59

is something I'm to be implementing as a result. Oh

18:02

goodness, I mean so many you know, they're

18:05

you know, large corporations that have come

18:07

to us and said, hey, we didn't know

18:09

that we should be you know, considering

18:12

or looking at Indigenous People's Day

18:14

instead of Thanksgiving, or you

18:17

know, not being super overt with

18:19

our messages around July fourth because

18:21

not all black people were free and

18:23

you know, this is how we are looking

18:26

at Juneteenth, or this is how

18:28

we're looking at the word feminist, because

18:30

typically the word feminist is assist,

18:33

gendered, white woman and not inclusive

18:36

of all communities, or this is how

18:38

we're thinking of the world. I mean,

18:40

there's there's so many. So we put one

18:42

out for Women's History Month and said,

18:44

this is how people are going to be acknowledging it.

18:47

Make sure you are careful around

18:49

this language. Not every woman

18:51

looks at, you know, sort of Women's

18:54

Month in this way because not all folks

18:56

were included. So when you look from a lens

18:58

of historical irrelevance going

19:01

back, you have to really really go

19:03

back and say where did it start?

19:05

What is the origin? Right we talked about origin,

19:07

what is the origin story? And how

19:10

did this come about? And did

19:12

it include all people? And if it didn't include

19:14

all people, let's sort of remix the vocabulary

19:17

a little bit and say this

19:19

is how we're going to be approaching it now. Not all

19:21

companies have to do that. I mean not all companies

19:24

serve all communities. I mean, I can't

19:26

speak for everyone, but I would think

19:28

that where we are in one,

19:31

you know, we should be more on the

19:33

gender list side because of the way

19:36

that you know, folks identify.

19:38

We should be thinking about every

19:40

single word that we're putting on an

19:42

email because you don't know

19:44

how it will impact someone I

19:46

think we're beyond diversity and

19:48

inclusion and we're at the space of belonging

19:51

and mattering. Do people feel like they belong

19:53

in your space? Like, do they

19:56

feel like they should be there? I think I

19:58

read a great research a poor

20:00

a while ago and

20:02

it said that not belonging, not

20:05

feeling like you belong inside of

20:07

a company or space is akin

20:09

to physical pain. So pay

20:11

attention to the people that call out of work.

20:13

It's not and it is akin to physical

20:16

pain. So I think we just have to be It

20:18

just goes back to that intentionality. I

20:20

have a question, Rikia, like we're

20:23

in this time where we're

20:25

in massive social upheaval. Still

20:27

millions and millions of people just in this country

20:30

out of jobs, you know, health

20:32

crisis like we've never seen in the

20:34

history of the world, in the history

20:36

of the world and the history of the I mean think about

20:38

right. My daughter by the way side now asked

20:41

me the other night, um what I did when

20:43

I was a little kid during the virus and

20:45

I said, oh, honey, we don't have the

20:47

virus. And I had a moment like I

20:49

was like, WHOA. So I guess

20:52

the question to come back to is we're

20:54

in unprecedented times like everyone has

20:56

said too much and

20:59

instead of brands going

21:02

backwards in terms of kind

21:04

of reverting into fear and

21:08

non communication, not talking

21:10

about things, not addressing

21:12

things, not kind of driving

21:15

their reputation forward and their perspective

21:17

for it. How do they imagine it forward

21:20

like you did in your own career. How

21:22

do you both be bold and empathetic

21:26

at a time like this. I do

21:28

think in my field, in

21:30

the world of communications,

21:33

I think folks need to pause

21:35

and hit the breaks. Um

21:38

they're people, are, you know, scrambling

21:41

and trying their best. I see it

21:43

and it's like, Wow, you'all are really

21:45

trying. Let's get the right people in and

21:47

that's good. You know, was

21:50

the year of words and

21:52

beyond should be the year and years

21:54

of the works? What is the

21:57

work that you're doing so you set all those

21:59

things in T twenty, What is the work

22:01

that you're putting in, you know, in

22:04

one What does it look like? What councils

22:07

have you formed? What does it look

22:09

like in terms of your employee

22:11

hiring, your employee resource groups,

22:14

the comms people that you've brought on, the

22:16

marketing people. Who are the people that really do

22:18

have the seat at the table. Who are the

22:20

decision makers? Who is scanning

22:23

your language? Who is helping you

22:25

to inform your decisions. If

22:27

I'm sitting here typing an

22:29

email to you in Google automates and

22:32

finishes it, am I really going to be intentional?

22:34

Am I really gonna go and click more

22:36

keys? Or am I gonna scroll that little arrow

22:39

over, finish the sentence and put a period?

22:41

Most of the time scroll it over

22:44

and put a period. Can you tell us

22:46

about some of the other projects, including

22:48

the AI platform that you're working on. And I'm

22:51

actually building an ethical intelligence

22:53

platform as a product

22:55

of all of the work that we've done in the equity

22:57

and communications space with sky Blue Media

23:00

UH to help marketers and communicators

23:02

make more informed decisions when they're writing

23:05

and marketing. So that will launch

23:07

sometime later this year. Who are you building

23:10

that? So girl, listen, I'm

23:12

actually building my advisory board

23:14

now. So are brought on two advisors

23:17

who are advising me. And

23:20

I just secured my first angel investment,

23:22

so I know I'm not supposed to thank

23:24

you, But he is the vs knees okay,

23:27

Like he's invested in

23:29

a lot of companies. When I pitched him

23:32

over the phone without a deck. He was like, Rakia,

23:35

the world needs this. I don't make investments

23:37

like this. I've not done this in

23:39

three years, but this is what the world

23:41

needs. And then with a media

23:44

company, a big media entity,

23:46

um, I am building a community

23:49

of women who are not

23:51

quite forty yet but not they

23:54

can't be on the under thirty list. I

23:56

noticed in the market space, we have all of

23:58

these like milestones lists right

24:00

like it's I'm on the under thirty

24:03

lists, I'm on the over fifty

24:05

list, But what about the people that are

24:07

right in between, like I'm i

24:09

might not be forty, I'm thirty seven, I'm

24:12

getting there, or I might be a little over

24:14

forty. And so I found that that there

24:17

was a good market space and

24:19

place for people that were in this forty

24:21

issue. There they you

24:23

know, they figured it out. However,

24:25

they still have questions. They still

24:28

need a community. There's someone's mentor,

24:30

but they need a mentor. They've sponsored

24:33

people, they've done all the things, but they

24:35

still need someone to do all the things for

24:37

them. So I think in the world of micro

24:40

communities and the trend of micro

24:42

communities, where it's the kitchen

24:44

table is where we need to be focusing.

24:47

What do you think the future of talent is when

24:50

you start to actually invest

24:52

in micro communities. I think

24:54

in terms of talent as it relates to

24:56

community, there are

24:58

folks that will crumble because they've

25:00

not built the community before they needed the

25:02

community. And so people

25:04

are scrambling now to make sure

25:06

that they've built some sort of community

25:10

and they built it when they needed

25:12

the community. So build communities before you

25:14

need the community. Built community because you

25:16

want community, because you value community,

25:18

because you want to foster community. Don't

25:21

build the community as you need it. What would

25:23

be your advice to just get started

25:25

in that capacity? So if there are creators listening

25:28

or brands who want to

25:30

build community, how

25:32

do you get started? So I think there are

25:34

a couple of ways to answer that, but I would start

25:36

with folks that are in the nano influencer

25:39

space. A SOS very early on

25:42

started working with nano influencers,

25:45

and they were working with like really nano

25:47

influencers, folks that had like five hundred and

25:49

six hundred followers on Instagram.

25:52

And they did that because they saw the spike

25:54

in the engagement, because their communities

25:56

really trusted them. So I tend

25:58

to look at folks is lower followings

26:01

because I do know that it's in organic

26:03

following, So looking at their messages,

26:05

how they're posting, how their people

26:08

are commenting. You could have someone that has

26:10

a thousand followers and they get three

26:12

hundred likes or engagements, and I know

26:14

we don't measure it on that, but just sort of

26:16

for an optics standpoint, I sort of like will

26:19

go in just to just kind of look,

26:21

and then you could have someone with like ten thousand

26:24

followers with three hundred likes,

26:26

and you can easily sort of deduce that

26:28

these folks don't have a really engaged audience,

26:30

or they have fake followers, or their people

26:33

don't really care what they're posting. And

26:35

you have to understand because of algorithmic

26:38

changes frequently and the rug can be pulled

26:40

out of under your foot at any given time.

26:43

Build a trusted community that

26:46

and that's really that's really just it. Build

26:48

a trusted community. Asked the people,

26:50

like, if you're in, if you're into

26:53

you know, sort of influencer and you want to build a community,

26:55

ask your people why they are following you? Post

26:58

a photo? Why are you following me? Someone

27:00

might say to me, I might think that people

27:02

are following me because of business.

27:05

Hey, rich kid, we're following you because you give

27:07

business advice. And they don't give two

27:09

shakes a ship about my business advice. They

27:12

might just say we follow you because we like

27:14

your blue glasses. And when you post yourself

27:16

wearing different color sneakers, so

27:18

then it's like, oh, they like what

27:20

I'm wearing, So I need to serve the

27:23

audience. Can we talk about

27:25

story creation?

27:28

How do you think about building

27:32

from ground zero? The

27:34

story and the story are like the strategic

27:37

story of a brand, a person,

27:39

a place, a product. How

27:41

does your team do that differently? I think

27:44

it for us starting the stories,

27:47

it depends on the person. There's no

27:50

cut, copy and paste answer to that. But

27:52

I think what we like to do is start

27:55

from the beginning. We're huge

27:57

fans of like historically, what

28:00

does this mean? I like to break things

28:02

down. I also like

28:04

to understand the way that our brains work.

28:06

Our brains work in stories. Everything is

28:08

the beginning, middle, and end. There's a one

28:10

to three, there's an ABC. So

28:13

how do you do that with the storytelling?

28:15

What is the beginning? What do you want to say? How

28:17

do you want to attract people? Why do

28:19

they care um. We used to say in the

28:21

office all of the time. You know,

28:23

there's no new news. If

28:26

you don't have any new news, you don't

28:28

need to tell a story. Or you

28:30

know, all marketers will say, what is that they're

28:32

there. We firmly believe in that. Like,

28:34

if you want to go out to market with the story

28:37

and you want to, you know, proclaim it

28:39

to the world, make sure you have it. They're there.

28:42

Make sure you know your why before you start

28:44

to tell other folks. Make sure

28:46

make sure you understand the importance

28:48

of the impact that you're going to

28:50

sort of extend out to the world. I think

28:52

all of us are rushing to tell a story because

28:54

we're like, we want to get a message

28:56

out. We or for people that are

28:59

influencers, we want to get followers, we

29:01

want we want to attract people. But do

29:03

you believe your own story? Do you believe

29:06

it? Like, do you believe it? Can

29:08

you nurture that one story? You

29:11

don't have to talk just to talk, you know,

29:13

save it for you know, save it for

29:15

something else, for the group chat, and

29:18

save it for the group chat. Hype your girls up

29:20

in your group Chad, do it? Don't know WhatsApp that's

29:22

why, that's why I am. I

29:24

love the idea of people

29:26

in micro communities because the conversations

29:29

are a little more closed off in their

29:31

slag channels, you know, their slag groups.

29:33

You know, I have a list of what'sapp

29:36

groups that I'm involved in, or

29:38

telegram groups or um

29:40

now you know people are taking it off

29:42

of What's happen and starting their own apps.

29:45

What is the most effective channel for

29:48

creators or talent today? But I think

29:50

you work with what works best for you, and

29:52

it goes back to meeting your audience

29:54

where they are and how they're

29:56

consuming media. It's not how you

29:58

want to tell your story, it's how are people

30:01

receiving your story, consuming your story

30:03

and relating to your story.

30:06

Okay, Rikia, before you go, we need

30:08

to do our game. I'm gonna be really intentional

30:10

about our words. What would you

30:13

get rid of in the world could be anything.

30:15

What would you buy, what would

30:17

you acquire? And what would you do

30:19

yourself? What I would get rid of is

30:22

clutter. I keep a lot of

30:24

stuff, y'all. So that's

30:26

my first thing. My husband would be so proud. Um.

30:28

I would get rid of a lot of stuff in

30:30

my closet, things that this girl cannot fit

30:33

in anymore. I fit into anymore

30:35

and still dreams to fit into. Let girl, you are not

30:37

a six. Throw the clothes out. Forty

30:40

ish was for ish and

30:42

four ish is about seven sizes

30:44

away. Yeah, I'm girl, you

30:47

are not going to be a six again. And stop dreaming.

30:49

Get in that good tin and you're

30:51

gonna be Okay, what would you buy? I

30:54

would love to acquire other

30:56

companies. They're right at the cusp of doing

30:58

the things that they're supposed to do in the right way,

31:01

so that we could work with him on

31:03

doing the right things in the way that they should

31:05

do them for the future. Give us an example.

31:08

I can't do that because I am trying to. I'm

31:10

actually trying to acquire a few companies.

31:14

Okay, but you'll you'll come back and tell us once

31:16

acquire Yes, okay, And what

31:18

would you do yourself that you're not already

31:20

doing. I'm a good vacation

31:23

lady, Like I

31:26

mean tears y'all because I don't get

31:28

to go on vacation. Um,

31:30

but is that like a thing like you're all saying, like

31:32

what would I do? I would go on at

31:34

vacation. I would go on

31:37

some sort of sort of vacation to recharge

31:39

and center myself at least

31:42

every other month. What's the first place

31:44

we're going somewhere? Oh

31:46

my gosh, I would love to go to mad I

31:48

do want to do I'm in I

31:50

like my families from the Islands, so I'd

31:52

love to just do something like I'd love to

31:54

go to St. Thomas. Um.

31:57

I need the sand and the water, like

31:59

that's who I am. But then I want

32:01

to do I want to do a camping

32:03

trip. I'm afraid of the woods, Like

32:06

I don't like snakes, I don't like any of

32:08

that kind of stuff. But I want to like get

32:10

myself to do like a camping trip,

32:12

just to say, Rickia, you did the camping

32:15

trip. Um. I want to go to the desert.

32:18

I want to tree in a lake. Yes,

32:20

I want to go to Joshua Tree. We

32:24

have so many things to do. We'll

32:26

do that. I'm like, I just want to go to dinner with

32:28

the both of you, but I'll do it any of

32:30

those places. I love that. We were like what would

32:32

you do yourself? And it became what are we

32:34

gonna do? You just tell us where we go?

32:37

Where are we going? Rickia? Because we'll be there,

32:40

Rickia Reynolds. If people want

32:42

to get in touch with you, learn more about

32:44

sky Blue, do business with you. How do they get

32:46

in touch with you? Um, you can just follow

32:49

me on Instagram, Rickia Reynolds,

32:51

because that's the easiest place to find me at

32:54

Rikia Reynolds are a k I

32:56

A Reynolds like the rep love it Rickia.

33:00

Rickia, you are like a breath

33:03

of fresh air.

33:05

And uh wow, I hope the industry

33:09

gets a lot more of you. And

33:12

I'm so excited about your ethical

33:15

language AI technology.

33:17

Just one last parting thought, what

33:19

about an eyewear line, Rickia. You

33:22

know what someone said that before, I would love

33:24

I've been wearing glasses since the kindergarten, so it's

33:27

a no brain to be continued, Rickia

33:29

Reynold, Sky Media. Okay,

33:36

so big, thank you Rickia Reynolds for

33:38

coming by Atlandia. So many

33:40

important things for us to consider and think

33:42

about as marketers

33:44

and communicators. I love what

33:47

she said that before

33:50

was the year of words, not

33:52

works, and now we are moving into

33:55

works, which is really the call

33:57

to action to the industry. More

33:59

of out what are you gonna what

34:01

are you gonna do? Not just say

34:04

I think that it is more

34:07

important not just as people,

34:10

but as people who are

34:13

building companies, building agencies,

34:16

building brands, building

34:18

products that we are intentional

34:21

in the language that

34:23

we use. And what I love that she

34:25

said that I think can be easily

34:28

passed by it was, UM,

34:31

the trend that I'm all in for is

34:34

micro or nano influencers

34:37

at the kitchen table. And the point there

34:39

was these are intimate conversations.

34:42

The more brands and marketers

34:46

take some time and maybe

34:48

even take some budget to really

34:51

invest in the works

34:54

into communities and doing it in

34:56

a meaningful, truly meaningful way to those

34:58

communities. UM,

35:00

there's some exciting things that

35:02

will come out of that. And I think real

35:05

long term partnership can

35:07

come out of that, UM

35:09

where potentially these

35:12

are co collaborators in

35:14

your product, in your brand. Well.

35:16

And as I think about coming back to the top of this episode

35:19

and talking about shareholder, really thinking

35:21

about sitting around a table

35:23

having influence because you have expertise,

35:26

you have understanding, your your thought leader

35:28

in what it is that you're bringing to the table

35:30

that is what shape's decisions. This

35:33

is a really interesting provocation

35:35

to think about as marketers is

35:37

it really about one to a million, or

35:40

is about one to four? And I think we'll find

35:42

that it's one to four over

35:45

and over and over and over and

35:47

over again. Laura hit it with

35:49

the list of all of our friends and family I heart

35:51

who have been so good to us and helped us

35:53

get back on air. Big thank you

35:55

to Bob Connal, Carter, Andy, Eric

35:58

Gayle Val, Michael Jen. We appreciate

36:00

you. Thank you so much for this opportunity. We'll

36:03

see in two weeks. M