The T.V. personality is on a mission to mentor the next generation of professionals and encourage other people successful in their industries to do the same. That’s why Banfield started the free monthly symposium called “Rising Tide: The Value in Mentoring Others” with guests like Gayle King, Savannah Guthrie, Lisa Ling, Billy Bush, and more. During the sessions, those getting started in broadcast journalism can get advice from the very best in the profession. 

As part of this new initiative, I was able to chat with Banfield to find out why mentorship is so important to her, how it’s shaped her life, and why others should seek it out. 

How do you define mentorship?

“Mentorship can present itself in myriad ways: a helping hand, a great example, a steady guide. For the most part, I see the most valuable mentors as magnanimous of their time and knowledge. But it behooves a mentee to ask the right questions too.”

Why is mentorship something that’s so important to you?

“Everyone wants to give back. Unfortunately, time and treasure are in short supply in our younger years. But after three decades of broadcasting, I have acquired a fair bit of broadcast “treasure” that I would love to share with those seeking to be better in this craft. I love this industry, and I want to see it constantly improve. If I can share what I know and make it easier for NextGen to be thoughtful keepers of our craft, all the better!”

Why do you think it’s important for current workers and college students?

“Let’s face it; there’s a lot of information out there, and sorting through it is time-consuming, tedious, and can often feel unproductive. The veterans have been to this rodeo a few times, and they can help those just getting started cut a few corners by avoiding the hiccups and pitfalls we lived through. While innovation and technology have changed our industry at warp speed, some things never change; human interaction, telling stories, and clear communication. These are dynamics about which we can provide is valuable intelligence.” 

Who are some of your mentors, and how did they change your career path?

“Sadly, I had very few mentors early on in the broadcast business. It was uncommon for women in the 80s to help other women as the environment was extremely competitive. Men, for the most part, saw us as a joke. But the one person who truly changed my life was Jack Ford, defense attorney, prosecutor, legal analyst, and anchor of “Good Morning America,” “The Today Show,” and Court T.V. We hosted the program “Courtside” together, on Court T.V. in the mid-2000s, and Jack spent every commercial break explaining the intricacies of American law to me. I feel I earned a de facto law degree through his generous tutelage.”

What was the inspiration behind Rising Tide?

“I’d always wanted to scale the individual efforts I had made throughout my career to help young people in the business with advice. Dozens and dozens of young broadcasters have reached out to me over the years, asking for my time and helping hone their careers. I did what I could, when I could, but felt this was finally a wonderful opportunity to do more.”

What have you learned so far about mentorship from hosting these symposiums?

“I’ve been so overwhelmed and delighted by the generosity of the dear friends I contacted who have risen to the top of the industry. Without hesitation, those who signed on to be VIP Mentors in the Rising Tide series have done so with aplomb. I thought I’d struggle more in populating the calendar with leading mentors. But the opposite happened. The positive response has been heartwarming.”

How do you recommend people go about finding a mentor?

“It’s important to choose wisely. Identify someone you admire for all the right reasons. Choose a person you know will have time and commit periodically to lunch, coffee, a phone call, or a few emails. It’s important not to ask too much of a mentor, as their time is at a premium. Instead, choose a mentor with whom you identify and feel comfortable because asking the right questions can be as valuable as listening to the best advice.”

The post NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield is on a Mission to Promote Mentorship appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Unlike many entrants to the smart products space, Berdugo saw the potential for the sector as early as 2013, when Wellbots was founded. Smart products are entering more areas of daily life, not only in personal life, but also in the professional world. As a leading retailer of numerous smart products, Wellbots has to stay on top of market trends. Wellbots offers large discounts to schools, universities, hospitals and other corporate clients.

Grit Daily had the opportunity to ask Berdugo about the success of Wellbots, as well as where he sees the space going in the future.

GD: You were an early mover in the smart products space. Why did you see potential in smart products so early?

Philippe: Growing up, I always had an interest in technology and the most innovative products on the market. It was hard to ignore how popular new forms of technology were at the beginning of the last decade. Smartphones were just starting to become a common consumer item, and I saw that the same kind of smart technology could be applied to numerous other everyday items. The founding of Wellbots made sense to me, as I thought there would be a huge opportunity for any company that could make connections in the smart products sector, and offer competitive prices on great new products. As I grew Wellbots, I realized the company was ideally positioned to issue a ranking of the best 25 smart products on the market. It has since become the Annual Wellbots Ranking and includes the best robot vacuums, electric scooters, smartwatches, drones, air purifiers and more.

GD: How do you see the role of data in the smart economy?

Philippe: Data is at the center of the modern economy. It is a highly-coveted skill and asset to be able to leverage data to make business decisions. Companies large and small are fighting to get more data on their (potential) customers’ behaviors and interests. It allows companies to be much smarter at marketing their products, reaching out to the right people to grow their business. At the same time, data collection has become a growing concern for many because of its impact on privacy.

In addition, smart products are now able to connect and communicate with other products to make our lives easier. That is what has been coined the Internet-of-Things, which heavily relies on data and is expected to be one of the fastest-growing industries in the coming decade.

GD: Can you tell us more about how Wellbots has been such a success in a competitive marketplace?

Philippe: At Wellbots, we curate the best products in each category of smart products. We pride ourselves on only selling the best. We are not generalists, we are experts in the space. The Wellbots Brand Partnership team carefully vets the best products such as drones, robotic pool cleaners, connected toys, portable power stations, electric bikes and more. There is a thorough selection process for a brand to make it to Wellbots.

Our team knows all the products we sell: customers call us and live chat with us every day. We are known for our white-glove customer service and offering innovative & pioneering features such as:

Pay with crypto

The Wellbots VIP Program

Free Shipping on Everything

2% Cashback Loyalty Program

Extended 2 or 3-year warranties

The Special Wellbots Bundles

GD: Can you tell us a little more about the bulk buying program that Wellbots offers?

Philippe: The bulk buying program at Wellbots offers discounted quotes to business customers placing large orders. The B2B team members are always available to answer any questions business customers may have: our team has been carefully trained and educated on the technicalities and functionalities of all the products we sell. Our goal is to make the process as seamless, enjoyable and efficient as possible.

Some of our business customers include local police departments, fire stations, coast line guards and government agencies, private/corporate campuses and buildings, hotels, amusement parks, hospitals, universities among others.

Philippe Berdugo graduated from ESSEC Business School in France and also the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Wellbots offers its products in both the USA and France, and was featured by the Financial Times of London in 2021 on its list of the 500 Fastest-Growing Companies in the Americas. It ranked #7 in the ecommerce section of the 500 companies, as at #122 across the entire group. Berdugo is also a co-founder of Berd Industries, an investment firm that focuses on real estate and a director at TP NYC, which is a real estate investment firm.

The post Wellbots CEO Philippe Berdugo Sees More Growth Ahead in Smart Products appeared first on Grit Daily News.

In late March 2021, Semrush filed for an IPO at the NYSE (SEMR). At around the same time, other digital intelligence and marketing tech brands also went public.

Unlike some bootstrapped startup IPOs that can prefer to use more risky IPO paths (think special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs as they’re called), Semrush, a well-established digital marketing platform already prominent within its niche (and the darling of the SEO and martech awards scene), decided to go public the traditional way. 

They managed to get to some solid and sustainable growth numbers before deciding to file for an IPO.

Oleg Shchegolev, one of the Semrush co-founders, shares his story towards success and a company valued at more than $2 billion.

The Background Story

Back in 2008, Oleg Shchegolev and Dmitry Melnikov founded Semrush, initially an SEM-focused tool for scouting competitors’ online marketing strategies. 

They started with building a tool for themselves. Later, the founders shared it with a circle of friends, who shared it with their friends – that’s how Semrush’s functionality started getting greater recognition among the digital marketers’ audience.

Always very community-driven and user-friendly, Semrush started to get serious about business somewhere around 2013, when both Oleg and Dmitry realized that they had a solid brand and decided it was time to get to targeted product development, growth, and expansion.

As Oleg puts it, “marketing is about insights, experiments, trends, and research. We have always focused on helping clients find or develop new, dynamic ideas. It’s true that when we started 13 years ago, we offered services that allowed you just to analyze other sites. Still, even then, we were focused on market research and analysis as means to a greater, more comprehensive marketing strategy”.

By 2021, Semrush had grown into a versatile platform that enabled its users to deal with every key aspect of online visibility — from SEO, content management, and advertising to social media, market analysis, and competitive research. This comprehensiveness, full marketing workflow coverage, and an all-in-one approach differentiate Semrush from other more fragmented marketing solutions. With 50+ tools across its product suite, Semrush now has more than 72,000 paid users, including giant brands such as Tesla, Apple, P&G, and more. 

Business-model-wise, Semrush’s revenue growth is supported by a freemium model enabling the company to acquire new customers cost-effectively. Semrush’s effective pricing model was designed to address all user levels from free to small, medium, and large businesses – and encourage customers to upgrade their subscriptions and purchase add-ons. 

Over the years, Semrush has built a large and diverse user base with customers of all sizes and industry verticals, from retail to finance to ad agencies to software and media companies.

Semrush has seven offices around the globe across a few continents. The company’s annual revenue in 2020 was $125 million.

How Semrush Found the Money to Grow Its Brand

Oleg and Dmitry always saw Semrush’s growth as internal-driven. With a big emphasis on community-building and a product/customer-centric approach, the company grew at high yet sustainable rates.

A big dream led the two co-founders: they believed that marketing would become a skill everyone would acquire with time. 

The pandemic only strengthened this belief, with many businesses turning to accelerated digitization – a trend they saw long before it was a thing.

With their “everyone’s a marketer” approach, Oleg and Dmitri realized that the platform had tremendous audience potential. If they wanted to deliver the product to everyone, they might have to raise external capital. 

Up to 2017, Semrush was growing at its pace without any investors. Operating as a bootstrapped startup not only allowed the brand to laser-focus its resources and efforts on strategies and products that mattered, it also enhanced employee engagement and overall performance. The startup ambiance tends to promote and encourage incredible company-wide drive and motivation.

In 2017, though, the founders started to consider attracting some external cash to supercharge the company’s growth.

“Extra money was the least important objective during our investment rounds. We wanted investors who had the same vision for the future of online marketing, who understood that it’s a fast-changing overarching process (rather than simply a field) that has the utmost importance in today’s world. We are a product-led growth company, and it was crucial to find someone who believed in the same ideas,” says Oleg.

In 2018, they raised $37 million in capital from investors such as Greycroft and e.ventures.

“Years later, I can say that this was the best decision we could make at that time. Our investors were invaluable in helping us manage and navigate through the incredible growth we’ve experienced over the years since the very first investment round. We got way more than just money – we got advice, feedback, connections, and real engagement,” says Eugene Levin, Chief Strategy Officer that was one of the headliners of the investing process. 

Finding the Balance Between Bootstrapped Development and External-Driven Growth

The journey towards investment was a lengthy one. It took around ten years to build such a comprehensive platform, ensuring that every feature and functionality compares to, and even goes beyond, the top solutions across all key digital marketing aspects. So even before investment, Semrush was already growing at a reasonable scale.

Unlike Semrush, some founders rush into investment deals and start the company with an “I’ll build a promising brand just to take it to a big-shot sale” mindset. Some startups go down this path, but this can only be the case for founders who aren’t looking to build a sustainable business. 

Yet this way, you can lose your leverage over the investment deal and end up losing control over the company’s future. 

This is what Semrush’s founders were wary about when they started thinking of attracting external investment. The decision not to raise money until the company had reached a point where it was seeing sustainable traction helped Semrush preserve its long-term vision without necessarily being tempted by short-term gains. 

One way to build a sustainable global brand is to find the perfect balance between bootstrapped development and external growth drivers. Some may think of it as a choice between staying small and being fully independent and expanding your reach with the help of investors. Yet Semrush’s example shows that you can reconcile both by targeting particular investors who pass the cultural fit and share your ideas about the company’s future. 

Oleg shares that “it was certainly possible to remain a bootstrap. But at some point, it became clear that investment could serve as a trigger. By remaining a bootstrap, it was challenging to look at our business globally. It seems like we understood everything about the market and users and the future, but it was all somehow without getting out of its shell. We needed to see the big picture to develop further. Hypothetically, we could have done this without raising money, but it would simply take longer, and we were already growing out of our shell pretty fast.”

The IPO

The path to IPO is never something you just decide on today and go for tomorrow. It’s generally a well-thought-through course of events, and sooner or later, it had to happen for Semrush.

Semrush felt confident in its decision to go public, and its growth numbers only supported the timing of Semrush’s decision:

• Semrush’s compounded average annual growth rate between December 31, 2016, and December 31, 2020, was over 50%.
• Semrush achieved $6.8 million ARR from a single add-on product in 8 quarters from launch. 
• Semrush’s dollar-based net revenue retention rate during the year ending December 31, 2020, was 114%. In other words, this shows that the revenue from clients at the end of 2019 had grown by 14% in 2020. 

As Eugene Levin shares, “an important metric we track is revenue by cohort, and we have consistently seen each cohort expand purchases over time. This confirms the quality of our product and the value we deliver to our customers”.

Given the strong performance and consistent growth, in March 2021, Semrush went up to NYSE to ring the opening bell. 

The IPO was also an effort to promote the idea of marketing becoming a widespread thing, which every person should be taught in the same way as Word or Excel, and through Semrush events such as Global Marketing Day, is becoming a reality. We’re living in an era of digital brands, startups, and ecosystems, and each person should be ready to navigate in this digital ocean, with marketing becoming a mariner’s compass. That compass is Semrush.

The post Tech Lessons Learned: From Two Dream-filled Co-Founders to a $2-Billion Public Company appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Katya Grokhovsky ‘s site-specific installation FANTASYLAND at Smack Mellon explores the rise and fall of a fantastical empire and its uncertain future. The artist scrutinizes the American Dream through an immigrant lens, exposing a desirable yet unattainable mirage.

Katya Grokhovsky and I met during my fellowship at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA). I had the chance to interview EFA’s current artists-in-residence. Grokhovsky was one of the first people I reached out to. She gave me a rare glimpse into her studio and the chance to document the installation process on-site. Through working together, I was drawn to the consistency and dedication in her practice; as well as to the vision and ambition for her seminal solo exhibition FANTASYLAND at Smack Mellon, which acts as a summation of many motifs and topics Grokhovsky has explored over the years. From performance, sculpture, video, painting to collage and installation, the show’s intersectionality highlights the breadth of her practice and paints a comprehensive yet complex picture of the modern American landscape experienced by an immigrant femme body. 

AS: There’s such a dystopian quality in FANTASYLAND, a paradise lost, which feels especially eerie as America is slowly coming out of the last four years of political mayhem. How long have you been conceptualizing this exhibition? What inspired and motivated you to put this vision together?

KG: I am interested in the idea of the American dream and the failing state of Capitalism overall and I deal with these subjects consistently through a variety of media. FANTASYLAND has been in the process for a few years and was inspired both by the political climate and the pandemic. The exhibition has been postponed from 2020 and has gone through numerous iterations. The ideas of lost paradise, deflated promises and tainted optimism pulse throughout the mixed media installation, which resembles an abandoned, decaying theme park, situated in the alternate, grotesque universe.

AS: Beach balls, mannequins, soft toys are some of the leitmotifs that have been present in your work in the last few years. What drew you to these specific objects?

I get obsessed with certain materials and objects for a period of time and for the last few years I have become increasingly interested in working with mass produced consumer goods and novelty items such as teddy bears, inflatable pool toys, dollar store bags, giant beach balls, paper plates, etc. I like to juxtapose these with plaster, paint, found textiles, etc in order to push the boundaries of sculptural and installation practice and explore our relationship with materialist values.

AS: The yards of fabric draping from the ceiling and on top of the sculptures and beach balls look at times like a circus tent, a flowy dress, or draped over a giant beach ball, a shell of a snail, yet the strings piling on the floor from these fiber works suggest they could be parachute canopies. Are they actually parachutes and why did you decide to employ them in this installation, and to have them draped and dyed in this way?

KG: I bought six used vintage parachute canopies of various sizes, ranging from 60 feet to 2 feet long on eBay and decided to partially dye them in different colors and hang them from the ceiling. The industrial quality of the space dictated this decision, as I was thinking of creating a site-specific work, feminizing the space and exploring the possibilities of height. The choice of parachutes as material came from my thought process about impossibility of escape during the onset of the global pandemic and the feeling of lifeless deflation of hopes of the future, mimicked in the limp fabric of an object, which could once fly. I am curious about the structure and use of these particular objects as well as their imagined prior history. There is an idea of post-performance fatigue and failure prevalent in these works. The color scheme is uniform throughout the installation, focusing on pastel, slightly saccharine, attractive candy tones, employed to lull and seduce you into a false sense of comfort and joy.

AS: The printed and painted murals on the walls also add another layer to the exhibition. As a viewer, it’s hard to decipher what the specific source images are. One can only make out strokes of paint and abstract/glitched out shapes. What inspired you to use this way of collaging?

KG: The wall murals extend the element of immersive experience of the installation and the images I remixed come from the series of digital collages and paintings I was working on during lockdown. Titled Postcards from America, the works are based on vintage snapshots of theme parks as well as families posing with costumed Disney characters. The mixed media murals create illusions and snippets of abstracted, faded memories, unfulfilled wishes and ghostly shadows and bodies, which inhabit FANTASYLAND.

AS: The way you embedded video works in sculptures provides another interesting mode of interaction, bringing television and media into the dialogue of the consumerist dystopia. I was surprised to learn that you recycled the outfits and objects used in your prior performances and installations into the three sculptures that display the videos. Could you talk about your thought process of recycling those materials and mounting the TV monitors inside these specific works?

KG: By embedding several of my recent video works, in which I perform my alter ego characters, who are now residents of this theme park, directly into the sculptures, I am weaving a cohesive narrative of mediums and characters together. Constructing a singular, upcycled world, imbued with the aura and echoes of past lives of these materials and fragments of their previous iterations and ambitions, the installation is a culmination of many of my experiments. Arising from years of lived and wished-for experience in the world as an immigrant female artist, FANTASYLAND presents a dreamscape, a nightmarish scenario of post-American landscape.

To see more of Katya Grokhovsky’s work visit her website or follow her on Instagram.

The post A Paradise Lost: Immigrant Artist Katya Grokhovsky Recreates America – FANTASYLAND, at Smack Mellon appeared first on Grit Daily News.

We spoke with 1001Tracklists CMO Jacob Merlin about the unique challenges that go into producing such an event, the virtual landscape the live events industry is taking hold of, and the future of events as a whole. Get a taste of the madness with the official after movie and check out the interview below. You can enjoy all of the sets from the festival on their Soundcloud page; if you enjoy them, be sure to head over to the 1001Tracklists website for—what else?—the full tracklist from each set!

Grit Daily: Gaming and virtual festivals seem like an unlikely match at first, but the success of your event and the Travis Scott x Fortnite event seems to indicate that this is a trend that will stick around. What do you think? 

Jacob Merlin: Definitely, I think that it’s a trend that is here to stay. There are certainly a lot of overlaps between the fanbases of electronic music artists and gamers, and we’ve only just started to see those avenues really be explored. They were already being explored before COVID, but now with everyone stuck at home and everything going digital, you’ve seen the crossover events rapidly increase. Gaming is also definitely a unique way to connect with some younger audiences. It was funny how many artists and artists’ managers mentioned to us how excited their kids were for the Minecraft festival experience. Obviously, they’re excited more from the gaming perspective, but it then gives them a chance to discover new artists and music. 

GD: There are a lot of unique opportunities with virtual festivals and concerts that would be logistically impossible in the past, giving attendees an experience they may not have been able to get otherwise. How do you think the industry will keep pushing forward?

JM: I think interaction is definitely the name of the game here. The first thing is the ease of artist-to-fan direct engagement in chat. With pre-recorded sets that are then steamed, artists can chat with their fans in real-time and see how fans respond to their music in a whole new way, almost comparable to reading a dancefloor. It’s definitely an extra incentive for a fan to tune in to a stream if they know that their favorite artist will be answering fan questions and interacting.

The next level of interactivity I see coming is fans being able to influence the environment of the stream in real-time. Both as an option for all participants – for example, real-time polling of what color scheme or graphic to display next – as well as an option for paid / tipping opportunities, like donating and setting off a special effect, or getting your face put on the stream.

GD: What do you think makes music festivals hosted in online game lobbies more appealing than livestreams?

JM: Definitely having the first person point of view and the ability to interact with the environment. You’re in control of where you go, what you’re looking at, and what you’re interacting with. We had some posts on socials that looking for friends in the festival world within our Minecraft virtual event was the most normal thing that they’ve done in 2020 haha. I think that people miss creating and enjoying their festival experiences, and so the gaming world allows for more options, choices, interactivity, and a greater sense of community than a livestream by itself (which you could maybe get from the chat or putting fans on screen via Zoom). 

GD: What challenges go into putting on a virtual event like this?

JM: Quite a lot of challenges went into putting together the virtual Minecraft event. Together with Genesis, we approached things as if we were putting on a real festival, so many of the challenges were the same. There was the build team, who were physically building the environment and the stages weeks in advance. The production team installed all of the LEDs, lights, lasers, and other effects in the game in advance, and then they were responsible for setting those off in real-time during the sets. There was a stage manager who coordinated with artists when to go on stage for their set (we created a backstage for them to come to in advance, just like a real event) and then there were actors who were dressed and played the DJ character on stage if the artist couldn’t be in the game. 

On top of all of that, there are the challenges associated with streaming – you need in-game camera operators, a streaming coordinator, admins to moderate the chat for each stage, any many little things that pop up spontaneously and concurrently. With the need to be coordinating with 50+ artists during the event, posting on socials, messaging giveaway winners, and more, it’s certainly a whirlwind set of hours! Add in all of the troubleshooting issues with virtual events – poor internet, trouble accessing the server, etc. – and your hands are full! And lastly, I should mention that for me personally, the event started at 1 am local time in Bali and ran until 11 am – it was the best time to run the event from a global perspective, but certainly made for quite a night and morning! 

GD: Once in-person festivals return, do you think the demand for virtual events will still be as high? 

JM: I think that naturally the demand for virtual events will decline somewhat, but I do think that virtual events will have a lasting place. I think the big festivals will return to their in-person events as much as possible, but individual artists, brands, and labels who have built strong online fanbases during this time will continue to want to connect and engage with those audiences. Especially when this time has allowed anyone geographically, and many times also anyone economically (if free events), to engage in these events where they never could have before besides listening to set replays or watching on YouTube.  

GD: What are your thoughts on the current state of the music industry amidst the covid pandemic? 

JM: For me, the hardest part is definitely the challenges that I see so many, including myself, facing with mental health. Electronic music is a uniting thread across countries and cultures, a source of gathering on nights and weekends, and an integral part of the summer for so many with festivals, that being devoid of those things takes a toll on not just artist creativity and output, but also overall health.

With dance music specifically, I think there’s a definite shift in the music that you’re seeing released and that will be released in 2021, as it heads away from club music. How can you be making club music if you have no dance floors to test it out and play the tracks on? This is on top of a long-term shift that has been happening, where artists are making music for streaming appeal, so this only further moves artists down that path. 

On a positive note, this time period acts as sort of a reset – it’s afforded an enormous amount of time to work on new music and harness creativity in a way that I don’t think we’ve seen in a long time. It’ll be interesting to see who’s positioned themselves for a strong emergence out of these times, where there will be plenty of opportunities in the times ahead! 

One other thing that I think we’ll see across all genres of music – more local bookings for shows rather than paying high fees for international artists. I think that this will be true more for individual shows and concerts; festivals will continue to book high paying acts as this is what they need to create separation from one another and also to justify high ticket prices. As we dig ourselves out of COVID, I think that people will be so excited to get back into clubs and concerts, that they won’t care as much if they’re seeing a local artist or an expensively booked artist. Not to mention, it could take a while until it’s easy to travel, and also there will likely be lower budgets contributing to why I think you’re going to see an emphasis placed on booking local acts. 

GD: What do you guys have planned next?

JM: The next big project coming up is our yearly A State Of Dance Music report. We release the report at the beginning of the new year, taking a deep dive into the plethora of data that we have on our website and sharing all of the biggest insights. You’ll be able to get a good sense of trends across the electronic music scene as well as find highlights such as top tracks and top tracklists of the year – both overall and by genre – top-performing labels of the year, and much more! You can check out last year’s report in advance and watch out in early January for the 2020 report!

The post Talking to 1001Tracklists about virtual music festivals after their successful Minecraft event appeared first on Grit Daily News.

The museum celebrated its one year anniversary during the week that would have been Art Basel Miami 2020. They hosted two simultaneous shows as well as activations at hotels across Miami. As COVID-19 cases surged, the museum needed to make sure to operate safely. We spoke to co-founders Allison Freidin and Alan Ket about the precautions they were taking during their celebration week, and they told us:

“The Museum adhered to strictly timed ticketing, with only 6 adult guests allowed in the Museum every 15 minutes. Tickets were available to reserve online in advance so that there is no need to transact at our front desk. We implemented touch-less check out in the gift shop, removed all interactive exhibitions where touching is allowed, there are new hand sanitizer stations, and masks are mandatory at all times. Routine disinfecting takes place throughout the day, and visitors are encouraged to take our brand new self-guided audio tour with their own headphones as no live tours are currently taking place.”

Allison Freidin and Alan Ket

The Museum of Graffiti is Wynwood’s only museum, and their specialty is perfectly appropriate for the district known for its world-famous graffiti murals, the Wynwood Walls. The district has a very unique feel to it, combining Miami’s luxurious, party atmosphere with the grittiness of the surrounding city and dropping that vibe in a landscape adorned with stunning graffiti murals. So, really, there is no better place for the world’s first museum dedicated to graffiti.

Since the launch of Miami’s Museum of Graffiti, similar venues have popped up in Washington DC and New York City. Graffiti is an art form that has existed in many iterations throughout history, the ethos of the craft is very in line with our current cultural zeitgeist. Freidin and Ket shared their thoughts on that and offered a theory as to why the museum has been so successful in 2020.

Graffiti in the art is a break from the rules that one might learn in art school. It is a self-taught path where the school is the great outdoors and the path of the artist is tied with his/her ability to learn what it is like to paint publicly. The entire world becomes a gallery and thus there is a freedom of expression granted to the artist that chooses this path. Graffiti by definition is a social political tool as a result of its illegality – artists risk arrest to express themselves and challenge authority and society’s rules by their art making. In cities where graffiti is embraced or at the very least ignored, it becomes a fabric of the city that showcases what artists and the general public are thinking and feeling. The recent protests in the United States related to the murder of George Floyd is a good example of this and of the importance of the existence of illegal and legal graffiti in the streets. Graffiti shows that a city and its citizens are alive and believe in free and open expression.

Allison Freidin and Alan Ket

Naturally, even though the Museum of Graffiti offers an experience that captures the hearts and minds of art aficionados and rebellious youth alike, the founders had to make some adjustments to their business model due to the pervasive pandemic. In order to keep the momentum they built from their launch at Art Basel Miami 2019 going, the founders had to switch up their gameplan.

The Museum sustained through the COVID-19 pandemic by enhancing its virtual presence.  The Museum launched an online gift shop, conducted live art talks with over 75 graffiti artists on Instagram Live, created 10 editions of a free downloadable “Stay Home” coloring book for kids, presented Gustavo Oviedo: Symbiosis in 360 degree virtual reality, and curated a YouTube channel with a playlist of educational #BLM videos that correspond to the American History mural that was created by 8 portrait artists in the wake of George Floyd’s death along NW 25th St. 

Allison Freidin and Alan Ket

Perhaps the reason why the museum thrived during the pandemic is that it is a groundbreaking experience dedicated to a revolutionary art form and it is something that you can enjoy while observing all CDC guidelines. Be sure to go to their website and check out some of their stunning virtual exhibits, you won’t be disappointed.

The post How Miami’s Museum of Graffiti made it to its one year anniversary during the pandemic appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Clubbing TV has the honor of being the first channel dedicated to clubbing and Dance Music, broadcasting over 1500 hours of clubbing streams since its launch ten years ago. In the face of the pandemic, the pioneering platform launched Clubbing.live, a minimalistic, interactive streaming service dedicated to live streams. The new platform allows Clubbing TV’s international following to interact with each other via chat during the live streams, creating a community experience at a time when we need it most.

Clubbing.live looks to tackle the copyright issues DJs faced with on the typical social media platforms, something that “restrains DJs, meaning they often perform DJ sets for their followers but get cut off if they don’t own the music right of the tracks they play. This muted the voice of the artists who are not still not allowed to play in a club, a bar or a festival for sanitary reasons, and now, even online for copyright reasons.”

Check out their new platform and get an insider’s perspective on the future of Dance Music in our interview with Schweitzer below!

Grit Daily: The clubbing world is struggling right now, how do you think the industry is going to handle the resurgence of the virus? 

Stéphane Schweitzer: It will be very hard for most of the industry, especially the clubs, promoters, talents, managers, bookers and technicians, they are hit harder than anyone else, but let’s look at the bright side of things, we have many vaccination programs getting ready for Q1_2020, even earlier in the UK, this is the light at the end of our tunnel and we have a fresh start, an opportunity to make our industry fairer to all the players and the actors of the industry, I hope it will happen. But for sure I’m certain that our industry will be more creative than ever! Look at what happened during the lockdowns, for example, I was really impressed by the virtual environments which were created during the lockdown for people to enjoy live streamings differently, in a more immersive way. Or the live streaming in-game environments, this is really a new era and it’s just a small example, our industry and its talents are very creative, this is our strength and it only grew stronger during the pandemic. 

GD: What are your thoughts on the virtual music festivals taking place in video game lobbies?

SS: It is interesting, not because it’s taking place in video games environments, which was more like a quick and fast way to repurpose something already existing in order to how virtual music festivals, but more because it’s going to open the festival markets to millions of game players, often from a younger age group but when they’ll turn 18, they surely will want to go. I’m often taking this example but when we did on Clubbing TV the live broadcasting of elrow at Amnesia Ibiza in summer 2019 we got so many kids reaching out to us via emails and social networks telling us they saw the show on TV and they wanted to see and experience it in real, that’s the power of TV and live streaming.

GD: How has the covid-19 pandemic affected your platform?

SS: We had to cancel so many events, we canceled more than 25 live broadcastings from major festivals and conferences in the first 6 months after March 2020, and one full ibiza season, it was very hard, but it gave us some time as well to work on many projects. For example our partnership with Tomorrowland for their digital edition opened new doors for us to work on a similar project, we created 2 virtual environments where DJs can play called ELSEWHERE, one for Clubbing TV in some kind or intergalactic stage and one with a major party promoter in Ibiza, they are produced by our Clubbing TV India team in collaboration with Pixadoo, Vj Kaycee & Minitech recordings, to be honest we would never thought about doing things like this before, this pandemic is devastating in so many ways but at least it’s also forcing us to be more creative.

GD: How are you handling the copyright issue that resulted in DJ livestreams being shut down on other platforms? 

SS: We encountered the same problems. Even if we already had all the necessary agreements in place for the broadcasting of Clubbing TV as a traditional TV channel and online, paying thousands of euros of music rights per month in order to respect the rights of all the actors of the music industry but still, we were shut down anyway. it was quite unfair compared to so many players that are broadcasting and streaming without any agreement at all, and very frustrating. So this is why we decided to create our own platform, in order to be able to manage everything from A to Z without any external content ID system which wasn’t aware of the broadcasting rights we have.

GD: Do you think livestreaming will stay in high demand once we return to “normal”? 

SS: Yes, we think that physical events and live streamings will co-exist in the near future or so called “New normality”. It can complement the live scene. It shall not be an alternative but something that extends the live scene to those who could not make it to the live events.

The post Clubbing TV Director Stéphane Schweitzer talks to us about the state of the Dance Industry and livestreams appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Rad Cat’s “Levitate” is a heavy and cathartic electronic track. Armen Paul’s vocals are haunting and Rad Cat’s production is both danceable and emotional; think The Weeknd meets Illenium. This is one of Rad Cat’s darker productions, one that just so happens to speak directly to my soul and surely will do the same for many others. The bassline, drums and melodic progression are truly top-tier.

So, without any further ado, check out “Levitate” and get to know your newest favorite producer below!

Grit Daily: Thanks for sitting down to do this interview! I’m sorry to hear that this has been a difficult quarantine for you but I am very happy that you turned it into art. How has 2020 treated you otherwise? 

Rad Cat: I think the quarantine situation has been difficult for a lot of us artists and creatives, but I have definitely been trying to make the best of the situation! Being stuck at home this year has helped me create a lot of new music. Whenever I’m not in front of Ableton though, I also love to watch anime. Hunter x Hunter has been my favorite one lately. I also hop on Call Of Duty Warzone with my friends whenever I have the chance. 

Being stuck at home has also led me to discover a ton of new music from different artists such as Mikazuki BIGWAVE and Moe Shop. Just some very funky and unique stuff!

GD: The story about your blackbear bootleg getting an official release is an inspiring one for many aspiring musicians. What was that like?

RC: Ah yes, the unofficial blackbear remix that started it all. I believe this was around 2016. I had just gotten home from school, and I was in the mood to make a new remix so that I could drop it on SoundCloud. I wanted to try something different though, I didn’t want to go the safe route and remix some popular Top 40 chart song, so I went onto SoundCloud and did some digging in order to find a cool track from an underground artist. 

bear was kind of underground at the time. I ended up stumbling upon blackbear’s song ‘idfc’ and the track really just HIT for me. I finished up remixing his song, and uploaded it to my SoundCloud. I didn’t expect for him to actually listen to the song or anything like that, I just created the remix for fun, because I genuinely enjoyed the original. bear ended up somehow hearing my edit, and he liked it enough to shoot me a DM on Twitter. Some artists get angry when you bootleg their track, but instead, he invited me to work on music for his project.

Once I began collaborating with him, I started to treat music as something that could actually be a career for me, rather than just a hobby.

GD: You seemed to skyrocket after that, producing for superstars like Kevin Gates. How did you handle that intense career trajectory?

RC: It was definitely wild to me, to just be thrusted into the music industry so quickly. I think I handled it well though! Nothing about my creative process changed, I was still just trying to make the best music that I could.

GD: What is it like working with an artist of Kevin Gate’s caliber?

RC: That whole process went pretty smoothly actually! He listened to a couple of beats that I had made, chose his favorite one, and then that’s how “Showin Up” came to life. It was a cool experience! Hip hop is one of my favorite genres, so I definitely had fun when I was making those beats for him.

GD: What is the transition into solo-work like for you? I can imagine it is both liberating and stressful. 

RC: Solo work is definitely liberating in the sense that you are free to do whatever you want. You’re free to be creative and try your crazy ideas out. It’s where as an artist, you really just get to be yourself.

GD: How is producing for artists different than your solo work? 

RC: Solo work is definitely a whole different game than producing music for another artist. With production for others, there’s a clear direction that they will guide you to. There’s a certain sound that they’re looking for, so all you have to do as a producer is try to achieve that vision for them. 

With solo work though, there isn’t anyone telling you what sound/direction to go for, you have to figure that out for yourself. It’s both a crazy and rewarding process, and I’m excited to be doing more of my solo producing now.

GD: Could you speak on your creative process in general and what influences your work?

RC: I’d say that 90% of the time, I start songs off by finding a cool chord progression to use. A good chord progression is very important to me, as it really sets the tone for the song. Once I am able to figure out which chords I’m going to use, the rest of the song elements just kind of fall into place for me. Drums & Percussion are also VERY important to me. The drumbeat is what makes people move, so if my drums don’t absolutely slap, I will not be happy with the song.

GD: I’m also the child of two immigrants, I am very thankful for the unique outlook on life my parents have instilled in me and believe that my life would not be the same if I was born to a long lineage of Americans. How has your upbringing as a first-generation Mexican-American influenced your work?

RC: That’s awesome to hear! My parents came to the US from Mexico with nothing. They really showed me that you can achieve anything you want in life with hard work and dedication. 

My dad grew up in a family of musicians, so as a child, I was exposed to a lot of traditional Mexican music, such as Banda and Corridos. Whether it was at home, at family parties, in the car, there was always some type of Mexican music playing. All of this exposure to music definitely made me want to pick up an instrument and learn how to play music myself. This led me to learn how to play the guitar, which then led me to become curious about how music is produced and made as a whole.

GD: You have performed on some pretty big stages, CRSSD Festival, Rad Cat EDC Mexico, Nocturnal Wonderland, and Space Yacht San Diego, what was your biggest highlight?

RC: Honestly, all of these events hold a special place in my heart. I was surrounded by friends showing their love and support at each one of these places. 

If I had to pick one event though, I think CRSSD Festival was the most special event for me. CRSSD Festival was my first time ever performing, and it was on the big main stage as well. To go from never performing a single show in my life, to suddenly being thrown onto a mainstage, especially in my hometown of San Diego, was honestly insane to me, and something that I’ll forever be grateful for. 

GD: The industry is struggling right now as live performances have been put on hold due to COVID-19. How has this affected you personally?

RC: Going to events, having fun and vibing to music with my friends was definitely something that I loved to do. So with live events being on hold, it’s been a tough adjustment. However, the current crisis has given me time to be at home and spend more time with my family. It’s also given me the time to create a bunch of new music and learn a ton of new music production techniques, so I’m taking it all in stride, one day at a time. 

GD: Your new works “Levitate” and “Diamond” are a departure from your typical sound. Unfortunately, heartbreak is a tragically good source for powerful art. Do you think that your creative output was also influenced by the lockdowns and the current state of the world?

RC: Yes, “Levitate” and “Diamond” are definitely both departures from my usual bubbly sound! When I made those tracks, I was going through the final stages of a break up. I was finally getting over something, but the dark mood was still there, and I channeled that energy into my studio work. 
Funny enough though, the quarantine situation has actually made me want to create happier music. This year has had a dark vibe to it, and I’m just kind of tired of the gloominess of it all.

“Levitate” and “Diamond” are like the finale of this dark music chapter in my music career. Moving forward, I’ll mainly be making the OG rad cat happy/bubbly four on the floor music like I used to. I just want to create fun music again! But I’m definitely glad I got to explore these moodier productions, its expanded my spectrum of sounds.

GD: What are your thoughts on Spotify’s new promotional offerings which trade boosting song placement for a reduction in per-play-payout? How do you feel about Spotifty CEO Daniel Elk’s view of the music business, specifically the thought that artists need to pump out music in order to maintain a liveable lifestyle?

RC: I honestly think it’s ridiculous. Spotify’s payouts per stream are already pretty low to begin with, so for them to offer a boost in exchange for even LOWER pay rates is blatantly disrespectful to all artists that use their platform. Artists shouldn’t need to pump out music in order to maintain a liveable lifestyle. Artists deserve to be paid FAIRLY for their streams. Spotify makes huge profits, while many of the artists on the platform are left to starve. I think Elk needs to realize that Spotify wouldn’t be anywhere without the artists on the platform.

GD: Have you seen the new live stream platform Bandcamp just launched? What are your thoughts on that? 

RC: I think what they’re doing with that is really cool. They have given artists a way to perform virtual events and make some money from it. I see this being something that will stick around post COVID-19 as well.

GD: What is next for Rad Cat?

RC: A return to my OG Rad Cat sound for sure!! More happy, fun, and cute music! I’ve been working on a lot of that, so I am excited to put all of that out into the world. Also, assuming we have the pandemic under control, maybe play some shows across the states? Who knows. What I do know is that we are entering a new chapter, and I’m so excited for everyone to be a part of it.

The post Talking with Rad Cat about Life and ‘Levitate’ appeared first on Grit Daily News.

“I’ve always been a world explorer. I started traveling in high school and never stopped. To date, I’ve been to 100 countries. I never felt “ready” to get on a plane or even book a ticket. Each time was a huge gulp praying I am not making some mistake. All I knew was I didn’t want my life to end without having truly lived so I continually take a leap into the unknown over and over again. It’s terrifying. I’ll let you know later if it worked out.” Devora told us, punctuating her profound thought with a contagious laugh. It certainly seems like that leap of faith has worked out to us. But that is the beauty in her entrepreneurial drive, she is never finished.

Devora has an intoxicating spirit, which could very well be rooted in the mystical nature of her name. Her mother decided on Espree after waking up from a dream, knowing that this would be the name of her child. “My first name (which I love) Espree means spirit in French,” Devora told us. Espree, we love it too.

“One mic, one girl, one plane ticket could change so many people’s lives”

Devora is a trailblazer, carving out a niche for herself in the dense environments that are the tech industry and the world of podcasts. While she is a great success, she has certainly not let it go to her head, and she isn’t finished.

“[Women In Tech is] pretty big, apparently I’m in the top 1% of podcasts, didn’t even know! What matters to me most though is not my ranking (thought I am very grateful) it’s the impact the show has on guests and listeners. Women have raised money for their companies, met their business partners and secured jobs all because of my podcast. 

I podcast to bring opportunity to people who it wouldn’t otherwise be attainable. For example, when I traveled to Bosnia and ended up meeting these extraordinary women in tech and have the ability to feature them on my show all the fancy VCs in Silicon Valley know they exist, that is pure magic. One mic, one girl, one plane ticket could change so many people’s lives. I feel very lucky to do what I do.”

At this point, “Barracuda” by Heart starts playing faintly in the background, something that this writer considers a fitting omen: an iconic, revolutionary female-led band’s hit song playing while interviewing one of the more influential women in tech.

Speaking of Dream Guests…

This is a dream interview for us, so we had to ask Devora what her top three dream guests would be. She slyly told us, “I don’t really have dream guests to be candid. I like finding the people I don’t know,” with a telling yet charming grin.

“If you made me pick I would desire connecting with the CMO of Netflix, Bozoma Saint John, she is my hero. She’s a rare unicorn, resilient, smart and creates her own path while lifting others up along her journey. She seems to have tremendous compassion. Boz actually inspired my next podcast ‘BRAG: Businesswomen Reaching Awe-inspiring Greatness.'” she continued, giving in to our bad habit of being journalists.

She then said “A candid conversation with Paris Hilton, that made our eyebrows raise, something she definitely noticed. Perhaps that was our fault, but either way, I would not want to play poker with Devora.

“I know, I know, [but] think about it…” she says before laying down a very well thought out rebuttal, “Paris Hilton is a phenomenal businesswoman who built a billion-dollar brand. I’d only be interested if the conversation was candid with the real Paris though. I’d want to know how she builds, how she manages her time, her workflows, what tasks she does herself versus which tasks she delegates, how she hires, how she fires, her true fears and how she is unapologetically confident yet completely approachable.”

“And last…” she takes a pensive break, “Mother Teresa, Gandhi or the Dalai Lama. I have QUESTIONS about how to continuously lead from the heart with vibrancy when so much cruelty exists in the world.”

To be sure that she did not leave us in an existential crisis, she closed things out on an inspirational note. “[Women In Tech] is for all of us… “If she can do it, so can I.”

Featured Image by Dan Taylor

The post Espree Devora: “This is for All of Us” appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Grit Daily spoke with Shark Tank alumni and inventor Cheryl Rigdon, who is the Founder and CEO of Spatty. Rigdon has developed Spatty from scratch and pitched the Sharks with just a handmade prototype–now she has grown it to a multi-million dollar product line. 

Grit Daily: What did your transition from your career to entrepreneurship look like? 

Cheryl Rigdon: I created my Spatty business in 2012. I continued to work full time as a Speech and Language Pathologist as well as run the Spatty business until 2014. Then, as the business grew and I had my first child, it became too much for me to work full time, run a business, and take care of a baby so I quit my full-time job as a Speech and Language Pathologist in the schools but I continued to do Speech and Language evaluations for the state to help supplement the income that was going to be lost from me no longer working full time in the schools. I worked part-time as a Speech and Language Pathologist, ran Spatty, and took care of my daughter until 2018. In mid-2018, I quit working as a Speech and Language Pathologist completely because I was about to have my second child. Since 2018 I have been a full-time mom and running my Spatty business out of my home. I have had great support from my family, friends, and employees that have allowed me to make my entrepreneurial dreams come true! 

GD: What are the biggest problems that you are trying to solve with Spatty and what unique approach are you taking in regard to the solution? 

CR: Spatty solves A LOT of problems! You never know what you might use your Spatty for! I have heard of at least 100 different ways people have used their Spatty! But the two main problems Spatty solves is:

1. Getting every last drop of product out of the container
2. Saving you money/Getting your money’s worth out of your products 

Consumer Reports studies show there is up to 25% of product left in containers when it is no longer easy to get out! So when you throw away your product simply because you can not get any more out you are trashing up to 1/4 of your product and with it 1⁄4 of the money you spent! That adds up to A LOT of money and product thrown in the trash a year! 

Spatty is a money-saving tool that is designed like a spatula and goes into practically any container on the market and retrieves every last drop of product! 

It is reusable, made of BPA free and FDA approved material, made in the USA and is easy to clean. 

GD: Was sustainability and climate change a driving force in the creation of Spatty? 

CR: The driving force behind my creation of Spatty was being frustrated with not being able to use all the product I spent my hard-earned money on. I was tired of not being able to get all my product out of the bottle. I was tired of wasting money. I was tired of throwing products in the trash just because I could not get to it. It was a waste of product and a waste of money! Sustainability is a great by-product of Spatty. By using Spatty, you are able to get all of your product and thus are not having to buy and throw away as many containers. Spatty was also created to be reusable and not just a one-time use product like a Q-tip. 

GD: Why did you choose clean water as the supported mission for your non-profit donations? 

CR: UNICEF and WHO state that 1 in 3 people globally do not have access to safe drinking water! I feel everyone should have close, safe, and easy access to safe drinking water. You need water to live! Plain and simple! 

GD: How has mentorship played a role in your journey as an entrepreneur? 

CR: Finding the right mentor(s) is a very important part of being an entrepreneur. It is an invaluable resource to have people you can go to that have been through starting up a company from the ground up and have reached success and who can help you navigate the challenging but rewarding life of being an entrepreneur. 

GD: Do you aspire to be on the other side of the pitch, giving out the money as an investor? 

CR: I would love to have the money to invest in other people and help them achieve their dreams. As of now I am not there…but hopefully one day I will be In the present I do help out other entrepreneurs to the best of my ability when they reach out to me. 

GD: What advice would you give to a young entrepreneur who wants to create physical products? 

CR: There were times in my life that I did not do things or say things or go into a career I wanted to, etc. because I let fear and self-doubt talk me out of it. I look back at those times and I have regret or I wonder what if. Spatty was no different. I had fear and doubts about starting Spatty but I did not want to wonder 10 years down the road…what if! I am so thankful that I went for my dream!
 

For the young entrepreneurs out there who want to create physical products that you are passionate about, I say go for it! Find the right people to mentor you. Be prepared for a lot of ups and downs! Know that in the beginning, you are going to be working long hours. It is also extremely important to know your market (the people who are going to be buying your product). Starting a business is not for the faint of heart but for me it has been well worth it! 

The post The rise of Spatty from startup to Shark Tank to empire appeared first on Grit Daily News.