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Benoni: I was working at Abercrombie and Fitch and I was like in the stockroom and I'm like folding boxes of t-shirts. And one time they were like, oh, the Jonas brother have a photo shoot, and I'm an intern. They're like, we need interns to work it. And I was like, I got to get out of here. And I remember I didn't finish folding that box of shirts and my manager came up to me and he's like, you didn't finish your box of shirts. You're letting your team down. I was like, bro, I got to go. I got to get out of here. There's a great opportunity for me elsewhere.
Felecia Hatcher: [00:00:30] Welcome to So Ambitious, a podcast series about what's possible when Black and Latinx founders can build uninterrupted. I'm your host, Felecia Hatcher. I'm an author, an entrepreneur and investor and a mom. I'm also the CEO of Black Ambition, a nonprofit initiative founded by the Pharrell Williams, working to close the opportunity and wealth gap for Black and Latinx communities [00:01:00] through entrepreneurship.
In today's episode, we welcome Benoni Tagoe, head of business development for Hoorae Media and President of Raedio, the audio arm of Hoorae. As a serial entrepreneur with over a decade of experience building businesses for creators and influencers, Benoni has found his footing by approaching the entertainment industry with a startup mentality. Today, we'll learn how Benoni handles the business of pivoting and adapting, leveraging fandom to monetize and prioritizing [00:01:30] the opportunities that will make the most difference.
Way before Benoni was negotiating high level contracts with high caliber artists. He grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the hustler spirit the city is known for.
Benoni: I grew up very humble beginnings, situations where maybe your parents don't have a car or situations where you see them on the phone negotiating with bill collectors. Everybody's story is different, and there's a lot of reasons [00:02:00] as to why my parents were in that situation. My dad's from Ghana, so he's first generation from on his side, and then my mom's from Louisiana. So there's a lot of things that they had to navigate. And for me seeing that, I was like, okay, well, I have an opportunity to change the course of how things are set up, I feel set up for me. And that's always what I focused on.
Felecia Hatcher: Benoni wanted to shift his circumstances and found inspiration in people that had the lifestyle he desired.
Benoni: [00:02:30] And so just growing up in Vegas, went to school and always was hustling, trying to figure out ways to build things, ways to sell things, et cetera. And as I got older, I started looking up to people like Diddy and Jay-Z and Irv Gotti, all of these people who I'm like, oh, they are moguls, Dame Dash. Dame Dash was like the pinnacle at that time. And so you're like, oh, here's these successful [00:03:00] black men who showcasing a lifestyle first of all, lifestyle looks fun. But then they look successful and they're able to have things and they have control and they have power, right?
Felecia Hatcher: Control and power are two things that Benoni believed with help change the course of his life, not because it was the way to more money, but because it would lead to more freedom.
Benoni: I thought that I always wanted to just make a lot of money and to have power. I understood later in life [00:03:30] that it was about control, but it was about having control of your life and not doing things that you don't want to do because you need the money. At the end of the day, I want to work on things that I'm passionate about. If I need to take a break and kick my feet up, I want to have the luxury to be able to do that. And so I've always just started to make that my goal.
Felecia Hatcher: And for Benoni following that goal looked a lot like following in the footsteps of his role model Dame Dash.
Benoni: I originally started off managing my nephew because he was a rapper, [00:04:00] and so we're running around Vegas. I'm managing him, I'm booking him shows and looking for interview opportunities, putting together mix tapes at literally old school out the trunk, selling the mix tapes for $5.
Felecia Hatcher: Slinging mixtapes in the back of the trunk of his car. This reminds me so much of the early days of the food startup that my husband and I ran. Before we raised money, before we had major brands as our clients, we used to run from event to event selling our popsicles in [00:04:30] our ice cream out of a Chevy P30 ice cream truck and a Scion XB. Like straight hustler mode to just get things done and build some sort of traction and some sort of brand.
While managing his nephew gave Benoni a few early pointers about what it took to manage an artist's career. He knew he needed to learn a lot more, so he packed his bags and headed where millions of people go to break into the entertainment industry, Los Angeles, California. There Benoni [00:05:00] enrolled in school at the Musicians Institute, and it didn't take long for him to feel like he was on the right path.
Benoni: I went to that school and I studied the music business there, that was my one time in life where I was like, oh, this is my aha moment where it's like, oh, I'm in the environment. All I got to do is put my head down and get busy because before I was never in the environment. I was always hustling and working hard and willing to make the sacrifices, but I wasn't in the environment. Fast forward, now I'm in LA, so [00:05:30] now I'm 10 toes deep in the environment. So now it's like, okay, well what are you going to bring to the table to this opportunity?
Felecia Hatcher: Benoni wasted no time making himself as useful as possible and was soon asked by his professor to help with social media marketing for their management company. Benoni helped his professor set up Facebook and Twitter pages at a time
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where folks were still figuring out what these platforms were even for, and it paid off. The same professor then offered Benoni a once in [00:06:00] a lifetime opportunity.
Benoni: And then one day he's like, Hey, the Jonas Brothers, they need an intern. And I was like, I got to take this opportunity. So I did the internship and in that time, I just made sure I was first one in, last one to leave because again, I'm like, I got the opportunity, I got to take full advantage of it.
Felecia Hatcher: Benoni was ready to take this opportunity on full steam ahead, but his financial struggles made it challenging to get the literal steam he [00:06:30] needed to get there.
Benoni: It was a struggle. I was struggling to get to school. I was struggling to get to the internship because I just didn't have money to barely feed myself, let alone put gas in the car.
Felecia Hatcher: Creatives and entrepreneurs at their core are problem solvers. They are always going to find a way, and Benoni knew he had to find a way to make this internship happen, so he took on easy gigs that he hoped would offset his traveling costs. But these gigs offered a whole new dilemma.
Benoni: [00:07:00] I was working at Abercrombie and Fitch and I was in the stockroom and I'm folding boxes of t-shirts. And one time they were like, oh, the Jones brother have a photo shoot, and I'm an intern. We need interns to work it. And I was like, I got to get out of here. And my manager came up to me and he's like, you didn't finish your box of shirts. You're letting your team down. I was like, bro, I got to go. I got to get out of here. There's a great opportunity for me elsewhere.
Felecia Hatcher: Even though Benoni didn't know what was to come from the [00:07:30] internship, he recognized that it would definitely bring him closer to his goals than folding t-shirts would. So he said the hell with those t-shirts. After his internship with the Jonas Brothers was over, Benoni got a job with AEG, a global sporting and music entertainment presenter.
Benoni: AEG is a concert promoter. And I remember thinking like, oh wow, I'm actually 10 toes deep in my dream now. I'm working on music stuff. I have a paycheck from a reputable music company.
Felecia Hatcher: [00:08:00] Benoni felt closer to his dreams than ever before, but he just couldn't seem to shake the financial struggles he'd known all his life.
Benoni: My life is still not where it needs to be mostly financially because I'm still struggling to pay my bills. I'm still struggling to pay rent.
Felecia Hatcher: Attempting to chase your dreams while also dealing with the realities of not affording your rent can dampen anyone's spirits. And if you're not careful, you will stop in the middle of your assignment. But Benoni didn't allow his financial circumstances [00:08:30] to sway him from his vision. He knew that if he just stayed the course, he'd eventually find his way. So he kept
up his work at AEG until.
Benoni: Out of the blue, I'm at lunch on my work break and I get a phone call from the head of the Jonas Brothers management company, and they're like the Jonas Brothers, we loved you as an intern. We're sad that you had to leave as an intern, but now they need an assistant and we want to offer you the job as an assistant, and this job is a six figure job.
Felecia Hatcher: [00:09:00] I just love full circle moments like this, despite the financial challenges that he faced up until this point. Benoni remained committed to the bigger picture. His memorable work as an intern was now providing him a job that for the first time would ease his financial struggles.
Benoni: And so when you get a situation like that, your life changes from one phone call and then you step into that new life almost overnight, and then you [00:09:30] start seeing like, oh, this is what it feels like to be good, to have the money that you need to be in control to and to fully be happy. Then it starts to adjust your perspective on how you think about things.
Felecia Hatcher: Benoni left his job at a AEG and started his work as an assistant for the Jonas Brothers. Soon he realized that the job provided not just financial freedom, but actual free time as well. And with that free time, Benoni began searching for other creative projects that sparked [00:10:00] his interest. During his research, he came across a newly dropped YouTube series called Awkward Black Girl that was a little rough around the edges, but it had a lot of potential.
Benoni: Issa had put out maybe two or three episodes of Awkward Black Girl, and I simply sent her an email and I was like, I'm a fan of what you're doing and I believe you're talented and I believe in you ultimately and what you can become. And so I said, here's an email of all the things that I feel I could bring to the table. [00:10:30] And a lot of it was social media based things like I could run your social media accounts. And then there were some business things that I was able to bake in because I've always been a business person, I've always been an entrepreneur.
Felecia Hatcher: This is what I call Stepping Up to the Plate. Benoni saw an opportunity that he was interested in and immediately acted upon it. It wasn't long after that Issa sent Benoni a response back.
Benoni: She was like, I want you on my team, but I can't afford to pay you at the time. [00:11:00] And I was like, it's okay. It's not about the money because again, I'm working with the Jonas Brothers at this point, so money is fine. I have time in my life and the space in my life to work on passion projects. And so we just started cooking.
Felecia Hatcher: And the two made a great team.
Benoni: Issa was writing, I was helping with marketing and social media things and responded to emails and just organizing things from a business standpoint. And I think at the time she just needed someone
who was an all-encompassing person who was just [00:11:30] willing to hustle alongside of her. And my role was to one, increase visibility for the project that we're working on, which was Awkward Black Girl at the time. And then two, bring in money, find ways for us to make money. Now, when I think back about it, I was like, oh, I was taking a piece of IP and I was finding out different ways to monetize that IP, very similar to how Disney would do or Star Wars or whomever. And so what I would do is, one, I'm like, okay, what's our merch plan? [00:12:00] Great. Oh, this character is the most popular on the show. Great, let's create merch around this character.
Felecia Hatcher: Since Benoni had come on board to Awkward Black Girl as a fan himself, he knew just how important their fans were and took their love for the show as a way to create new ideas from marketing it.
Benoni: I remember one time we had Awkward Black Girl cookies because there was a fan. I used to read all the emails in response to all the emails, and there was this fan who was like, Hey, I do these custom cookies and I do custom [00:12:30] candy. I would love to find a way to work with you guys. So we reached out and we're like, Hey, let's a Awkward Black Girl gift pack. And they literally put together the Awkward Black Girl gift pack, and then we would add that the link to our video so people can go buy them. So it was really just about being creative and working with what we have and finding different ways to try to make money and exploit the brand in as many ways as possible.
Felecia Hatcher: Awkward Black Girl was getting more and more popular, soon garnering millions of views [00:13:00] on YouTube, but despite their popularity, the show needed more capital to continue making new episodes. So Benoni once again leveraged the awkward Black girl audience for support.
Benoni: And so we did the first season of Awkward Black Girl. We finished the first season by doing a Kickstarter. We raised $60,000 in 30 days, and then in the second season, YouTube had put out an initiative where they were investing a hundred million dollars into creators, and Pharrell was one of those people that [00:13:30] received a portion of that money to create his own channel. So for the second season of Awkward Black Girl, we put it on Pharrell's channel, I Am Other.
Felecia Hatcher: Here we are again with another full circle moment. In this environment that we're in where you're looking for resources, being able to be a resource magnet and create your own opportunities is so important. And most times VC and angel investors get all the intention, but there's these alternative sources of being able to get the capital that you need. And crowdfunding [00:14:00] and equity crowdfunding or partnering with major corporations is something that you can actually do. Benoni found a creative partner that he could trust as a new home for Awkward Black Girl and its audience. As an indie creator, that's huge, but no matter how large the opportunity is, it's still important for indie creators to be intentional and principled when entering partnerships.
Benoni: I mean, what makes a good partner all the time is someone who understands or a company who understands. [00:14:30] Obviously there's always going to be education on both parts. You're going to have to educate them on what you believe you do well and how you like to operate and what your core values are, and that company's going to have to do the same, but number one, you just want to have a foundation that they understand where you're going and who you are. And behind the scenes as Issa is growing as a talent and as a talent personality, and as a writer, I'm growing as the business person that is standing beside her. So she's growing, I'm growing, we're growing in different ways, but we're still building [00:15:00] the same thing.
Felecia Hatcher: All that growing led to Awkward Black Girl eventually getting some attention from the folks at HBO, they were interested in using the comedic story elements from the web series to build a new series for their service.
Benoni: Issa starts working on Insecure and then from Insecure, the rest is kind of history.
Felecia Hatcher: Okay. I just have to pause here for a second so that we can all take in Benoni's journey so far. Thanks to his willingness to prioritize [00:15:30] the opportunities that mattered and stepping up to the plate to turn those opportunities into huge business moves. Benoni was now working with one of the most innovative creators of our time and gearing up to expand on what they just started. That is so ambitious. By 2011, Benoni was working with Issa to build out Issa Rae Productions, now known as Hoorae Media, a multifaceted entertainment media company.
Benoni: For Hoorae, there's four parts to it. There is the [00:16:00] film and TV part of it, there's the management company, there's our digital part of it, and then Raedio is our audio component.
Felecia Hatcher: Raedio was launched in 2019 as a means to bring all the companies audio endeavors under one roof, and one of those first endeavors included their very own record label.
Benoni: In the early days when we were doing Insecure, what was happening was is that when we put a song in the show, a lot of labels noticed that there was a difference of streams. They were like, [00:16:30] if you get a song in the Insecure show, now you're getting streams. Insecure was the number one Shazam rated show while it was in season. And so Insecure really meant something to the music industry. It was a platform that the music industry gravitated to. And so we were getting a lot of opportunities where people were coming to Issa and asking her to be an artist, and she was like, no, I don't want to be an artist, but I'd be down to do a record label.
So we started getting record label deal offers [00:17:00] pretty
much from every major label. And we really sat down and said, okay, if we're going to do a label deal, this is what it needs to be and this is the only way that we would sign it. And we put together our business plan and our business model and we're like, okay, this is what this record company is. It's a new age record company. It serves audio and music from every different facet. It's not just about putting out artists, it's also doing podcasts, it's also doing music supervision. It has to be this full [00:17:30] fledged platform.
Felecia Hatcher: Benoni was excited to get back to what he started off his career doing. Supported musicians and Raedio would be a place that understood the importance of supporting your talent fully.
Benoni: I mean, at the end of the day, we're talent first. Issa Rae was arguably one of the most popular YouTubers, most successful YouTubers, off of YouTube of all time. Essentially. That's what she started from. And so because we are talent, we put talent first. And so we think about things from the perspective of talent. [00:18:00] For instance, we have a artist that we just signed, oh, maybe about a year ago. His name is Josh Levi, and when we heard a song from him, we were like, yo, he's dope. And we reached out to management and we were like, we want to work with him. And for him, he was just happy that somebody believed in him and not only believed in him, but actually took the time to listen to his music and was able to get feedback on his music.
Because a lot of times, you'll be surprised, a lot of artists will go to these labels and it'll be 20 people [00:18:30] at the label. And out of those 20 people, maybe two people have listened to the music, which is the irony to me. But the fact that we listened to his music and we took the time to get to know him as a person and, oh, it's your mom's birthday. Cool. We're going to send your mom flowers. And when I see you in person, I'm going to ask you how your mom's doing. That's on the personal human side of things.
Felecia Hatcher: I think oftentimes we throw around support ideas, support dreams, but acknowledging the work of artists and entrepreneurs is especially important. [00:19:00] These are people that have bet the house, right, stepped out on faith and are doing things that oftentimes most people are just not bold and ambitious to do.
Beyond signing new artists, Benoni was motivated to create more opportunities for independent composers too.
Benoni: We did this Raedio creators program and we signed two artists and two composers, and for those two artists, we put out two EPs and for the composers, we created a collection of instrumentals that we can go and put into the projects that were working on, the film and TV projects [00:19:30] that we're working on for music supervision.
Felecia Hatcher: With the program, Benoni was able to offer song placement for independent artists. This was a big deal, and big deals
usually mean complex contracts.
Benoni: It was a complex deal because we had to go and do a deal between Raedio and Google, and we had to make sure we hit all the deliverables that they wanted and what they felt like was success for their brand. But then on top of that, we had to go do deals with each of the individual talent as [00:20:00] well, separate, so almost as the middle person between Google, it was Google, Raedio, and then the talent.
So overall, those deals are easier to close because you're able to find talent that just is looking for an opportunity and needs the funding, but you're working with a big brand and they have a specific set of things that they want. So you have to navigate that and make sure you're delivering on that. And then you have these independent artists, this independent talent who's looking for the money, but you need them to deliver [00:20:30] X, Y, Z deliverables as well. So you're kind of just constantly trying to make sure that everybody's getting what they want and then making sure that Raedio is profiting and Raedio is getting what they want.
Felecia Hatcher: With all the excitement that goes into securing new deals, it can be easy to not give as much attention to your contracts as you should. I know as an entrepreneur over the years, I've made that mistake plenty of times and it's cost me fortunes. And so Benoni recognized its importance and came up with his own [00:21:00] guidebook to ensuring he always knew what he was signing off on.
Benoni: Well, my number one principle is read the contract yourself. Because a lot of people get stuck in situations where they have lawyers and they have managers and they rely on the lawyers and managers POV or opinion on the deal, but before they give me their opinion, I'm reading the contract and I'm forming my own opinions.
Number two, you got to be, have a clear vision of what you want out of this deal. [00:21:30] And then number three, you got to be willing to give up things, and you have to be clear with yourself about what you're willing to give up because it's going to come a point in every deal where it's like, okay, you're going to have to give something that you didn't want to give up. And that's going to be the determining factor of closing the deal or not closing the deal.
Felecia Hatcher: Benoni's right, you won't always get everything you want out of a deal. So knowing what your hard yeses and your nos are, are critical. Sometimes because you're clear about what you're willing to accept, [00:22:00] some deals just won't happen. And other times you can find yourself signing onto something where folks just don't live up to what they offered. Benoni has grown familiar with that too.
Benoni: There are some times, and there has been times that happen where there's a certain set of promises that are made to you in recruit in the recruiting phase. So, when you're having drinks at the bar, and they're like, these are the things we're going to provide for you. And when you go into their big conference room and they bring all the executives [00:22:30] to the conference room and you're sitting at this table of 20 executives and they're like, yeah, I'm in this department, I'm in that department, and these are the things that we're going to do.
Everything always sounds good. And they tell you all the right things. And when you call them, they respond right away or they text you back right away. But sometimes you get into situations where the things that were promised were... maybe they weren't able to deliver on for whatever reason. [00:23:00] And then you get into it and you're like, oh, I'm realizing now that I'm into this that everything that was said was actually not the case. And so then you have to ask yourself, okay, well bottom line, am I still able to accomplish what I'm able to accomplish in this deal?
Felecia Hatcher: The road to getting what you're after might not always go as planned, but if you're willing to adapt and pivot when necessary, you can still find yourself accomplishing what you set out to do. It's very important to get clear and granular [00:23:30] on exactly what you want. So if you're actually tracking towards the things that you want, if not, you will constantly get these things that kind of feel like what you kind of want it to be, but it will never be quite it unless you get very clear and very honest with yourself on what you want. With the clear visions Benoni had for Hoorae and Raedio, he refused to allow a few underdelivered promises to get in the way. Plus he understood that there were always room for improvement.
Benoni: [00:24:00] We're positioning ourselves to be a full fledged, siloed, independent company, but it takes time to get there. And in order to get there, you got to work with companies and you take the good or the bad. Because we're not the perfect company either.
Sometimes you'll sign a deal with a company, and the reason why the deal isn't going that way is because you didn't deliver on what you said you were going to deliver. And there could be a variety of reasons. One, you didn't understand the depth of what you said you were going to deliver. Two, maybe you don't have the manpower [00:24:30] or the resources, et cetera. So there's a lot of different ways that this can go, and that's just business. Business is just about constantly adapting and pivoting and evolving.
Felecia Hatcher: And like Benoni said, you have to be open to taking the good with the bad because when things are good, that feeling is like no other.
In an episode already packed with several full circle moments. Benoni has one more.
Benoni: So we signed a joint venture label deal, and recently that deal was [00:25:00] ended, and we are now in the process of signing another label deal. I'm most proud of because I looked, the people that I looked up to were record label owners, Dame Dash,
Diddy, et cetera. And I just was in Vegas sometimes sleeping on the floor as a kid and looking up to these guys and watching what they're doing. And here I am, fast forward all these years later, I'm on the verge of signing my second label deal, which is no ordinary feat. To be able to sign a label deal. That's a multi [00:25:30] million dollar deal. To be able to sign two of them, a lot of people don't ever get to sign one of them, but I've been able to sign two. So that is probably what I'm most proud of because it just really speaks to the fact that people believe in what we're building and our ability to go out and execute.
Felecia Hatcher: From his humble beginnings of managing his nephew and folding t-shirts to sign a multimillion dollar record deals, Benoni had worked tirelessly to turn his dreams into reality, [00:26:00] and then he worked to turn other people's dreams into reality as well. Because for Benoni, that's what it's all about.
Benoni: I mean, I think black ambition is just getting up no matter what your circumstances are and having a dream for yourself and then being able to just go out and do it. And sometimes you may not even have reference points or you might not have people around you, but there's something inside of you that says, Hey, there's something out there for me. I just got to get up and go get it. I mean, it [00:26:30] feels great to see other peoples succeeding based off of a dream and a vision that you had, and to see that your dream and vision helps other people, like that's the ultimate feeling. That's what it's really all about.
Felecia Hatcher: On the next episode of So Ambitious, we'll be hearing from Jeffrey and Marcus LaBeija from The Royal House of LaBeija, the first Drag family in New York City. Marcus and Jeffrey have been using their respective roles as fathers [00:27:00] of the NYC House and overall overseers to build a business plan that will ensure the Drag family's community is everlasting.
Speaker 3: Some people come into Ballroom with a skewed version or vision of what ballroom is. They think, oh, we're just hanging out, or it's just like going to the club, and it's not any of those things.
Felecia Hatcher: That's next time on So Ambitious. To learn more about Hoorae Media and Raedio, check out the show notes [00:27:30] and be sure to rate like and subscribe to So Ambitious wherever you listen to podcasts.
So Ambitious is a Black Ambition Production brought to you by Heineken and co-produced by MoSo Haus, and You Had Me at Black. Our executive producers are Martina Abrahams Ilunga, and Ivanna Tucker. Samaya Adams is our supervising producer. This episode was produced by Jess Jupiter. Charlotte Morley is our associate producer. Our music is composed [00:28:00] by Terrell Brook. Sapphire Stubbs is our marketing consultant. Special thanks to Moses Soyoola at OTHERtone and Samiyah Malik, Christine Joseph and Jermeen Sherman at Black Ambition. I'm your host, Felecia Hatcher.