Time for Taylor

 

I feel I have a different experience in business school. Most of my fellow colleagues are wishing to be blue-collar or white-collar workers in the corporate world. I actually want to work with more unorthodox business. I have looked at opening a business of my own in beauty, medical marijuana, women’s clothing, and other ideas not for the typical business man or woman. With that being said, I just never felt like I fit in some of my courses.

When  I’m sitting in some of my courses I can’t help but to think “How will this help me ? I don’t want to work in a corporation my entire life.” However, I humble myself and I remind myself that a lesson can always be learned. Sometimes we aren’t receptive to lessons because we think that they do not relate to us but they could in the future.

I know that I do not want to work an average business related job but there is still so much to learn in school. Even making those networking connections is helpful. I might meet someone like me who has an idea and we might be able to join together.

This is my senior year and I’m nervous because I’m not sure exactly what job I want to do but I know that it will come to me in the right timing.

 

 

I, like most young adults am obsessed with social media. I love posting my every move, making new friends, and reading comments. However, lately I’ve noticed I have more of a social media life than a social life.

For me personally, I have what is considered a medium following on all my social media accounts. These people who follow my accounts I consider as my internet friends. It’s amazing how people can love you from a screen on their laptop or cell phone. I fell in love the minute I gained supporters from another country. It was awesome and humbling at the same time. My supporters like to know what I’m doing , what I’m wearing, what I’m eating , and etc. I use my social media for blogging or what’s now called vlogging. I’m not even sure when it started but I’ve always posted my every move on social media. I did it for myself really. I liked to watch my day and document it so that I could look back on it.

Fast forward to today, I can barely go one day without posting at;east one thing. To be honest, I haven’t gone one day without at least one post in as long as I can remember. As fun as it is having internet friends, I don’t have many real friends and the real friends I do have just don’t understand. They often ask why I have to post everything or get annoyed when I ask them to hold the camera for me. It makes me feel so egotistical but I promised that I’m not I just know that my supporters love to watch me and if I don’t post often I will receive many messages asking if I’m okay. I find solace in having supporters who are always there for me. Unfortunately, internet friends come with internet haters but that’s another post for another day….

Photo taken by me.

With today’s media, people feel the need to voice their opinions now than ever. In fact, due to the increase in popularity f social media such as Twitter, Facebook commenting, and Instagram commenting I’ve noticed people feel compelled to voice their opinion on everything.

The game has changed, especially in recent years, because social media has made it possible to not only voice your opinions but get “likes” and “reshares ” on them. You can now have an emotional reaction to someone’s comment under a post on Instagram and Facebook. Due to this, people have increased voicing their opinions simply because someone will agree with them ,and in turn, that makes them feel like they are right.

When I read social media comments I see arguments, bullying, and outright bashing. Whats worse is to see how many people agree or how far below the belt someone will go just to insult another person over their opinion.

Today we have to be careful because the new social media thing is to expose people for their comments on social media albeit in the past or present. Oftentimes, celebrities are put on blast for even liking someone’s negative comment appearing as if they share this same view. Having hurtful or negative comments has resulted in many people losing their jobs over their social media comments. Unfortunately, sometimes people are even harassed or physically assaulted.

Next time you respond to a social media post or even ” like” someone’s comment be aware that the internet is forever and that simple thing might change your life.

I write to you today as I am on the train traveling to Kansas City, Missouri.  I know you’re thinking who takes the train anymore these days? Especially to a place most would drive. I personally hate driving especially to other Midwestern states. I mean think of the scenery… cows, corn….oh look! More cows and corn. I would fall asleep from the boredom so taking the train was the only other option for me.

I’m going to be honest I’m a bit of a daydreamer. I thinks it’s because I’ve always loved watching movies. There’s something so cathartic about watching a movie. Sometimes you want to get lost in another life and just get away for a few. Also, I have a knack for trying to find fun in even the most titillating of tasks but this time, I may have met my match. In previous train rides I’ve made friends from small talk and it’s something so beautiful about small talk. It’s a preview into another human being’s life and dare I say the soul? For one moment, we are all the same in small talk.

Anyway, being bored and having no one to talk to since everyone’s on their electronic devices and avoiding eye contact (eye roll) all I have to do to pass the time is to look out the window and daydream.

Riding on the train is a totally different experience than driving. Looking out the window in a train is like a form of meditation for me. I look out into the small towns and imagine what life I would have lived and how it would have changed the outcome of the person I am today. Before I get into a deep thought, the train has already entered into another town , and therefore another imagined life. Don’t get me wrong I love my life but it’s fun to think of an alternate you. Would you find love there? Would you still love the music you do now?  Would you grow old there or move away to the big city to pursue a life similar to the one you live now?

In the meantime, consider taking a train you never know where you might end up.

Two years ago, Jay-Z performed a freestyle in a New York venue named Terminal 5. This was soon after the debut of his streaming service titled “Tidal”. When Tidal came out it received many negative views. Fans were not pleased with the idea of paying a $20 subscription fee to exclusively see and hear their favorite artist who they had most likely been streaming for free before. This freestyle was Jay-Z’s response to all the backlash. He starts off the freestyle with the lines:

“So I’m the bad guy now I hear, because I don’t go with the flow?
Don’t ever go with the flow, be the flow.”

Jay-Z received a lot of backlash when all he wanted to do was offer a streaming service that would represent the artist under it and make sure they got their correct cut. Why should he receive hate for only wanting to do the right thing, right? As a business professioanl you may recieve backlash for what you feel is the right thing to do, but the excellent advice he offers is to not go with the flow, but to be the flow. He contiunes:

 

“Google dangled around a crazy check
I feel like Youtube is the biggest culprit
Them n—– pay you a tenth of what you supposed to get
You know n—– die for equal pay right?
You know when I work I ain’t your slave right?
You know I ain’t shucking and jiving and high fiving
You know this ain’t back in the days right?
But I can’t tell, how the way they killed Freddie Gray right
Shot down Mike Brown how they did Tray right?”

All of the lyrics mentioned can be further explained here.

You know I came in this game independent right?
Tidal, my own label, same difference
Oh n—- is skeptical when it’s their own shit
You bought nine iPhones and Steve Jobs is rich
Phil Knight worth trillions you still bought those kicks
Spotify is nine billion they ain’t say s—

Here Jay-Z raps about how many people criticize him for the “exepnsive” price of Tidal yet supporting other companies that use the same tactics. He explains that people have no issue buying Apple IPhones and Nike shoes, which he alludes are known for being expensive, but complain about the price of Tidal. He ends that thought with the fact that Spotify  and other streaming sites still haven’t changed their ways of “cheating” artists and offering them low royalty fees which resulted in certain artists pulling their music from the streaming site. He says that black people are often skeptical about other fellow black people’s ideas and creations, yet they don’t question non-blacks. Jay-Z goes on to say:

The only one they hating on look the same as you
That’s cool, I know they trying to bamboozle you
Spending millions on media trying to confuse you
I had to talk to myself, Hov you used to it
It’s politics as usual.

Here Jay-Z admits the ugly truth, the majority of people criticizing Jay-Z are black people. As a black person, sometimes there is this underlying crabs in a barrel type mentality. This reminds me of D’jango Unchained the character Stephen was a black slave who always told on his fellow slaves to get in good with the white slave owners. He turned on his own people to impress those who did not even see him as their equal. Stephen was created because there are people like Stephen to this day. As a black business student, a running joke among us is that you won’t see many people like you in your classes. It’s sad, but true. We need to uplift each other not see each other as compeition. As a black business professional you will have trying times where you may feel like you’re leaving your culture behind and trading in for a new one just to be accepted in business society. This is an issue that no one talks about. Jay-Z mentions that the only person getting backlash is him because he’s black and some black people do not want other fellow black people to prosper, but will support non-blacks doing the same exact thing.

He even goes on to say he doesn’t blame his fellow black people because he knows that the media , majority non black, has spent millions to ensure that he does not prosper.  There are still racist people in high places that are going to try to thwart you every step of the way just because you are a minority. I will never understand the mentality ,but to them we have some nerve to even think that we could step in the same space as them. A popular saying in the black community is ” You have to work twice as hard as them            ( non-blacks) just to get half of the credit.”

He then finishes the freestyle saying that he’s used to it because after all this is politics as usual. To some this may seem as him accepting it, but I take this as him saying he doesn’t care what they say about him, people are going to talk, and he’s still going to try to build his own company. Here we are two years later and ,amongst all the controversy, Tidal still stands.

As a future black business professional it is unrealistic to assume you will be treated like everyone else. That goes for any minority, but you should still try to be successful regardless of what anyone says about your dream or how many times others try to discredit your name.  In my opinion, there should be a class or at least a seminar taught for minorities preparing themselves for the business world about the good, the bad, and the ugly. I will speak more on this next time you tune in time for Taylor.