3 Burst results for "Walker Central"
How I Built This
"walker central" Discussed on How I Built This
"From NPR, it's how I built this. A show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements, they built. And guy raz and on the show today, how a lifetime of shaving with products that irritated his skin inspired Tristan walker to build a better shaving and beauty brand for men and women of color. Walker and company. So what are the guiding principles of creativity? Is that some of the very best ideas? Come out of sheer frustration. Products like honest tea or clif bar were all birds or Dyson. These all came about because their founders couldn't find the beverages or energy bars or shoes or vacuum cleaners that they wanted. So they invented them. But in the case of Tristan walker, I think it's safe to say that he didn't just start from a place of mild frustration. He actually started from a place of being fed up. Even angry, because for most of his life, he had felt completely ignored, totally overlooked whenever he walked into the shaving aisle of a drug store. Virtually all the big shaving brands were making products that worked well on men with relatively straight hair. But Tristan couldn't find a high quality razor that worked on his curly facial hair without leaving razor bumps all over his neck and jawline. And he knew that like him, many African American men were dealing with the exact same problem. So he decided to design bevel, a shaving system with a simple, single blade razor that was easy on his face. And he wanted everything about the product to look and feel great, not like the dusty boxes of shaving products for African American men that always seemed to be on the bottom shelves of the drugstore, and his ambition to build a black owned and lead consumer brand as big as Johnson & Johnson or Procter & Gamble. But of course, when he first tried to raise money from all those VC firms on sandhill road in Silicon Valley, he got a lot of nose. But eventually, he was able to launch his company with the Razer, some shaving cream, a bit of oil, and a brush. And over the past 5 years, his brand has grown to include more than 30 specialized hair and beauty products for men and women, which are now sold in lots of big retailers across the country. A few weeks ago, Tristan sat down to tell me how he did it. In front of a live audience at the Lincoln theater, in Washington, D.C.. Thank you. This is like Tristan walker central. I'll take it. So let's start at the beginning. Tell me about your childhood. You grew up in Queens. The way I like to describe it is I had a bit of the rose that grew from concrete story. I grew up in Queens, New York, projects, welfare, bounce of homelessness, that sort of stuff, right? And I realized very early, I had one goal in life. And as a kid as wealthy as possible as quickly as possible. I realized three ways to do it. The first was to be an actor and an athlete. That didn't work. The second was to work on Wall Street. That didn't work. And the last entrepreneurship and thank goodness I came to that realization. We were little boy, your dad died. He was killed. He was killed. And you grew up with an older brother and your mom. What did your mom do? For work. So my mom worked three jobs, mainly New York City housing authority and administrative assistant. She spent some time working for Time Warner cable. And she did some retail, all at the same time within 7 days. I don't know how she did it. She did it, thank goodness for her. It was not easy, but she persevered as a result of, I think, her perseverance. I had to get fortune to be first graduate college in my family. And she really of course actually. What do you remember about your neighborhood growing up as a kid? Was it, I mean, I don't know, what did you do? Did you, you know, it's funny. I didn't do much because I couldn't do much. My father was killed when I was three years old. I don't remember too much about him other than the fact that he was killed when I was three years old. Which is a little bit telling to kind of the type of environment that I did grow up in. So I lived probably the first 6, 7 years of my life in Jamaica, queens, New York, 40 projects. And the time I turned around 7 years old, we moved to flushing queens to another project, kind of development. And it was much of the same, right? And my mother was like, you're going to be the one, you're not going to go through this stuff. So it's very disciplined. Stay home, get your studies done. You're not going outside. When I snuck outside, she caught me, I got in a lot of trouble. But that was really kind of my life. Get to school, get home, do your work, repeat. Wow. And that discipline actually kind of got me to where I am now. Easy for you, as a kid? Yeah. You a good student. I was a good student. Because of the discipline that was inspired in me, I always excelled. I tended to be at least up until high school anyway. At or near the top of my class. And I kind of slowed down when I say that stuff because by the time I got to high school, I realized I didn't even know what a verb was. I went through this entire kind of time all the way up until my high school years doing really, really well. And some of my class, not even knowing what the verb now, and that sort of thing was. As a teenager, you ended up going to this really elite private boarding school Hotchkiss in Connecticut. Shut up. So the way I like to describe Hotchkiss is is the first time I got to see how the other half lived. I went to school literally with rockefellers. Ford's, right? And I learned a couple things first, name, mattered. To being wealthy, wasn't the same as being rich. And the last and probably the most important was I can compete with each and every one of them. While. I didn't know what a verb was, I learned. And by the end of my four years there, on a roll, that sort of thing. It was a absolutely just wonderful experience for me. But transformative in a little bit different from how I grew up. Was it, I mean, was the transition for you when you got there? Because you were like 14 years old. Yes, I've been living away from home since I was 13, 14 years old. And were the first few months that hard for you? Academically, yes? We get to the school and I realize I don't even have a computer. And all of my other classmates had computers that sort of thing. And I went to, I believe it was the English professor who was my adviser at the time. And I remember he took me to like this basement and where all the used textbooks are. And then there was this old compact presario computer. That we had to haul out and take it to my room. So academically, it was very tough because I wasn't equipped with the tools to compete. But over the years, that kind of accelerated in one way. So you finish Hotchkiss, you go to stony brook.
Unofficial Partner Podcast
"walker central" Discussed on Unofficial Partner Podcast
"And if you do all these right then in the final shortlist you will have very qualified diverse candidates as well. It's not that they don't exist. But you need to just run the process in the right way. How that helps in my opinion is again. A it lifts the single focus if we're talking about football. What's the biggest. Kpi days because all the most of the revenues are dependent on success. The biggest kpi is whether you finish the league in number one position or it in england for example lucky to have several clubs going to champions league or european finish in the top quarter for example. Right ever. i'm a. I'm a spurs fan so i want you campaigning against that we need to relate to retain more floor places exactly exactly so so if you can divert attention from the single kpi and make sure that the business strategy also involves the three hundred sixty degree approach with diversity inclusion being a main pillar in it then it is much more meaningful for everybody in the organization and what we are still seeing is you might have seen the headlines of our research from last year that we announced during our rebrand in october sixty six percent of the women. Say they face discrimination or witness discrimination it only walker central to reported so when we dissect that first of all a lot of male colleagues at male allies. Say wow what what are they citing as discrimination in that sixty six percents and when you go down the list you know it's sexist remarks it's banter. It's being passed promotional opportunities. It's being sent to away meetings or away games. It can be a whole myriad of things after receiving and who feel like you're discriminated but the person who is doing discrimination maybe doesn't realize consciously or unconsciously that he or. She is discriminating against this person. So it's very important that the top of the organization is connected to the middle to the bottom. Because a lot of the times. You might get taking some boxes at the top. But your internal policies are not tickling down so the assumption or expectation. Is that when you have a fifty fifty split lord with Being diverse that diverse fifty percent will ensure that other diverse people in the organization are getting equal treatment and it can be about women's football it can be about You know professionals receiving the same kind of training education promotional opportunities so it's a whole range of of things and especially in this case. It helps a lot that you know the board or decio hold town halls or have the mentoring internal mention program weather As well for example but even when they do hold the town halls. I heard from several women saying i want to raise my hand and say this but i was afraid during this confidence sessions. It's coming up for example. I was afraid that it would be held against me in some way right so they pass on the single opportunity to raise the concern to the ceo. Because they're way too afraid that it can have negative consequences on their future in that club so this a lot of work to do in terms of creating safe environments and inclusive environments in the workplace for women. You mentioned that the is a powerful sort of within. Football was the dynamic within that room when you went and we're interesting moment with european club football oversee with lots of conversations about where the power lies and just take us inside that reward. What's who where the powerbrokers. Where's it going. Just give us an idea of of. I mean first of all. I haven't been there eight years..
How I Built This
"So what are the guiding principles of creativity is that some of you very best ideas. Come out of sheer frustration products like honest tea or cliff bar olders dyson these all came about because their founders couldn't find the beverages or energy bars or shoes or or vacuum cleaners that they wanted so they invented them but in the case of Tristan Walker. I think it's safe to say that he didn't just start from a place of mild frustration. He actually started from a place of being fed up even angry because for most of his life he had felt completely league ignored totally overlooked whenever he walked into the shaving. I'll drugstore virtually all the big shaving brands were making products that worked well on men with relatively straight hair but tristen couldn't find a high quality razor that worked on his curly facial hair without leaving razor bumps olivarez neck Kajol line and he knew that like him many African American men were dealing with the exact same problem so he decided to design bevill a shaving system with a simple single blade razor that was easy on his face and he wanted everything about the product to look and feel great not like the dusty boxes of shaving products for African American men that we seem to be on the bottom shelves at the drugstore and his ambition to build a black owned and led consumer Marand as big as Johnson Johnson or proctor and gamble but of course when I tried to raise money from all those VC firms on sand hill road in Silicon Valley and he got a lot of knows but eventually he was able to launch his company with a razor some shaving cream but of oil and brush and over the past five years his brand has grown to include more than thirty specialized hair and beauty products for men and women which are now sold and lots of big retailers lers across the country a few weeks ago. Tristan sat down to tell me how he did it in front of a live audience at the Lincoln Theater in Washington. DC tristen Walker Central. I'll take it so let's start. Let's start at the beginning. Tell me about about out your childhood knew you grew up in Queens where I like to describe. It is a bit of the Rosa grew from concrete story. I grew up in Queens New York projects. It's Welfare Bouts of homelessness that sort of stuff right and I realized very early at one goal in life and as as wealthy as possible as quickly as possible Salaam. I realized three ways to do it. I was to be an actor athlete that didn't work second second was to work on Wall Street that didn't work in the last entrepreneurship and then thank goodness. I came to that realization. We were a little boy. A A your dad died. He was killed killed and you grew up with an older brother and your mom. What did your mom do yet for work so oh my mom worked three jobs mainly New York City Housing Authority Administrative Assistant? She spent some time working for Time Warner Cable and she did some retail all at the same time within seven days. I don't know how she did it. She did it. Thank goodness for her. It was not easy but she persevered and as a result of I think her perseverance good fortune beam I graduate college in my family and she she really in what what do you remember about like your neighborhood growing up as a kid I mean would did you do. Did you add in do much because I couldn't do much like my father was killed. When I was three years old? I don't remember too much about him other than the fact that he was killed when I was three years old which is a little bit telling to Kinda type of environment that I did grow up in so you know I lived probably the first six seven years of my life live in Jamaica Queens New York forty projects in the time I turned around seven years old. We moved to flushing Queens. Another project can development and it was much of the same right. My mother was like you're going to be the one you're not gonNa go through this stuff very disciplined. Stay home. Get Your studies and you're not going outside. When I snuck snuck outside? She caught me. I got in a lot of trouble but that was really kind of my life right. Get to school get home. Do you work repeat and you know that discipline actually Kinda got me to wearing them. Now school easy for you has a kid yeah. I was a good student because the discipline that was inspired me I always excelled right. I tended to be at least up until high school anyway at or near the top of my class you know and I kinda slow down when I say that stuff because by the time I got to high school. I realized I didn't even know what a verb was right. I wouldn't do this entire time. All the way up until my high school years doing really really well at the top of my class not even knowing what verb now and that sort of thing was as a teenager you ended up going to this really elite private boarding school hotchkiss in Connecticut the way I like to describe posh kisses is the first time I got to see how the other half lived. I went to school literally rockefellers Ford's right and I learned a couple of things first name mattered to being wealthy wasn't same as being rich and the last and probably the most important was I can compete with each and every one of them while while while I didn't know Oh what a verb was I learned and by the end of my four years they're you know on a roll like that. Sort of thing you know is then absolutely just wonderful experience for me but transformative in a little bit different from how I grew up was it was the transition for you when you got there because you were like fourteen years old. I've been living away from home since I was thirteen fourteen years old and were the first few months at hard for you. academically we get to the school and I realize I don't even have a computer and you know all of my other classmates had computers that sort of thing and I went to leave as the English professor who is my adviser at the time and I remember he took me to this basement. We're all used textbooks are and then he was old compaq like Presidio L. Computer that we had the like hall out and take it to my room so academically. It was very tough because I wasn't equipped with the tools to compete but over the years accelerating so you fish you go to Stony Brook University New York to study economics. Most most students don't necessarily know what they're gonNa do but did you have a sense of what you want to pursue their and what you thought you would do after I mean I was always thinking about the after I wanted to get wealthy yeah I was pretty singular in that help very singular in that hope and overtime that's kind of morphed and changed and the things that are important Ed Morrison changed but I knew I was very very very focused on how to get there and Wall Street was the next greatest option. All this silicon valley stuff at new idea about my world was New England so you're thinking do this degree and I'll go into finance plows e- economics is the closest degree we had at Stony Brook again to Wall Street Okay and in between my first and second year of university I got an internship and Lehman Brothers back office halfway through I I said I want to try some of this front office stuff so I left that enjoined trading desk at the time just observing so when you graduate so you you went actually went to work for Leman and then as a traitor and then everything and eventually JP Morgan in that time at that time time period. Did you still think this is what I should be doing. This is my sort of path to the worst years of my life. This is two thousand and five when I joined the company and as a traitor. Your job is to make money