IAM535- Podcast Host and Content Creator Focuses on Black Masculinity

Jeremy Herte is a Digital Marketer and Content Creator. After graduating from Hampton University in 2013, he began his career in management consulting before switching to a career in social media and content creation. From 2016-2017 Jeremy hosted and produced the podcast, “For The Culture Radio” interviewing up and coming DC hip-hop and r&b artists. Now focusing completely on black masculinity, Jeremy hosts the podcast, “Let's Talk Bruh”.

• CEO Hack: Therapy
• CEO Nugget: Don't forget to be creative
• CEO Defined:  Focusing on the process

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/letstalkbruh

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long long interview? If so, you've come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today I have Jeremy Herte of the “Let's Talk Bruh” podcast. Jeremy, it's awesome to have on the show.

Jeremy Herte 0:39

Thank you. Thank you glad to be here. Good chance to connect.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

Yeah, absolutely get a chance to connect and hear a little bit more about Jeremy and what I want to do, which is read a little bit more about him so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's working on and doing. And Jeremy Herte is a digital marketer and content creator.

And, after graduating from Hampton University in 2013, he began his career in management consulting before switching to a career in social media and content creation. From 2016 to 2017. Jeremy hosted and produced the podcast for the culture radio interview up-and-coming DC hip hop and radio, in R&B artists.

Now focusing completely on black masculinity. Jeremy hosts the podcast, let's talk bruh. Jeremy are ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Jeremy Herte 1:19

I'm ready, let's do it.

Gresham Harkless 1:20

Let's do it. So they kick everything off. I want to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you to get started with your podcast and everything you do?

Jeremy Herte 1:28

So yeah, I'm been doing the podcast for about a year and a half. Now. I think we started in June 2018. And, it kind of actually, started even maybe six, seven months before that I was just kind of sitting on Twitter, maybe 2017. And kind of just really wanted to have a platform for black men to kind of talk about black masculinity, manhood in a way that wasn't really awesome Hotep, type stuff, kind of just looking at the conversations, seen black women carry these conversations on Twitter.

And in real life for so long. I wanted to do something about it. And I wanted to just have deeper conversations, more meaningful conversations, more challenging conversations with the black men in my life and in my network. So I ended up hitting up one of my good friends Kier Mac at the time, when we started the podcast, he did the podcast for about a year and some changes.

And I eventually transitioned to more of a solo host. But yes, that's kind of how it got started, like, just really wanted to kind of create a platform for black men talking about this masculinity stuff. It really kind of, you know, reshape, rethink, create more healthy versions of masculinity in the process.

Gresham Harkless 2:32

Yeah, I definitely, appreciate that, especially as a black man. So I think there's, you know, and I love the aspect of this day and age where a lot of times, you know, we want to see and have different, you know, narratives and voices and stories going out. So we have the power a lot more time now than ever before to go out and create a podcast, create a blog create these, these, I guess alternative narratives? A lot of times I don't have all the time to happen.

Jeremy Herte 2:57

Yeah, definitely, definitely. It's needed. Like, I think, I think there's a lot of guys, I mean, for men, we typically, you know, we may speak about certain things with our guys, but it almost gets to a limit of that kind of level of vulnerability. And like, I think that's another reason why like, I wanted to start this show, because I was almost tired of having those,

Gresham Harkless 3:18

Surface level conversation

Jeremy Herte 3:19

Surface level, exactly, exactly. And like, you know, just are but what can I do with my little abilities over here to kind of create something that will give us a platform to be vulnerable, to talk about mental health, but also to talk about, you know, patriarchy and what we can do to, you know, stop perpetuating patriarchy in our communities and in our lives. So, yeah, I mean, it's so change the narrative is definitely a part of it.

Gresham Harkless 3:43

Yeah, absolutely not. I appreciate that so much. And, I know you kind of touched on it a little bit about some of the things that we can hear on the show, can you break down a little bit more and tell us, you know, some of the things you're working on some of the past episodes, and some of the things we can expect in the future.

Jeremy Herte 3:57

Yes, so see, I mean, I guess maybe so my favorite episodes, we did a Mental Health Series already this year, like a three-part series, one episode on a Black Man's Guide to anxiety. The second part was a Black Man's Guide to depression. And the third part was a guide on self-care and kind of the healing process. And that was just a good one. Because, you know, at the time I was with Mike back here, and we did it and you know, we typically put an episode out and kind of just let it go from there.

But the response we received from those three episodes was just like, kind of overwhelming in terms of how many black men just wanted to kind of just get some advice and you know, about dealing with anxiety and dealing with depression. And people just talked about how seen that they felt just listening to the episode which was, you know, you don't necessarily think about that going into it.

I think with a creative project, you don't necessarily always think about the outcome. You're kind of just so wrapped up in you know, getting this thing done and putting it out, and then when people kind of tell you how much it meant for them, it's like, like, Damn, that we that it has meant a lot. So those are some episodes I really liked. We did another series on toxic masculinity.

And then part two was healthy masculinity. I think, if you're on social media, like you see so many conversations, just talking about toxic masculinity, which is great, but also trying to kind of bring the other half of it, you know, what does healthy masculinity look like? So those are some favorites of mine this year, too. I'm biased. I'm a fan of all of them. It's hard to pick one topic, like some of them are favorites from this year.

Gresham Harkless 5:26

Yeah, no, I appreciate that. And I think that a lot of times you think about, like, the whole idea of masculinity, that it because it's not talked about, and it doesn't exist, but that's why I appreciate you know, you have your podcasts. You bring light to that and have a conversation around it.

Because a lot of times that's something that's, you know, hidden, and not to talk about, but as you said, like when you listen to it, and you're like, oh, man, I feel like you're talking about me. A lot of times you get that connection, you feel like you have that outlet, you feel like you're a lot of times you're not alone, which sometimes happens a lot.

Jeremy Herte 5:54

Man. Yeah, yeah, I know, I need that reminder for myself. Like just knowing that, even though like, I think so often, we're in our heads and like, instead of talking to somebody about it, we kind of just internally process this stuff. And it's like, wait a minute, there's a million other people probably going through the same thing that we're going through, but we don't talk about it. So yeah, we definitely not alone.

Gresham Harkless 6:14

Yeah, absolutely. And it starts to change the narrative about it, especially around things like anxiety and depression, because that is something that is rampant. And it's something that is, I guess, definitely something that people don't talk about, and you don't feel like you are masculine a lot of times when you talk about that stuff, but it's very, very real. And it's very, very kind of rampant amongst people just not talking about it, but kind of trying to figure out how to deal with it.

Jeremy Herte 6:36

Right, right. And I think one of my, we had a therapist on for we have two therapists on for that series I mentioned. And one of my friends as a therapist was on it, Dr. Justin Hopkins. And, you know, he just kind of stressed the importance of talking to yourself, as if you're somebody you want to love, like talking to yourself, and that men are like, oh, like, I feel like we're always our own worst critic.

And it should be the complete opposite of that. Like, we should always be ourselves. Be our biggest cheerleader. But what we often do is the opposite. So..

Gresham Harkless 7:05

Yeah, absolutely. No, it makes so much sense that it's funny, I think I saw something on Instagram, or it was somewhere. And it was talking about like, you know, writing down, like all the things like all the bad things, you think about yourself. And it was like, okay, so you say you're dumb, you say you're not smart. You say this, that in the third, you have all these lists of bad things? Like, would you hang out with somebody that said that about you? So why would you say that about yourself?

Jeremy Herte 7:26

Right, like, it's funny, but at the same time, it's just like, why don't we do that? And I think another point is to kind of add on to that, you know, I think, I think it's okay to feel down sometimes I think sometimes we get in that spiral of oh, man, I I should have you know, got an eight plus on that test, or I should have done something else when you it's okay to have that feeling.

You know, those feelings of rejection resentment, or, you know, anxiety or depression, it's okay to feel like that. Because that's a part of being a human like having a full range of emotions and feelings and expressions. But it's also like, How can I you know, this, this doesn't make this as this is not like, the entire you who I am like, this depression doesn't define me. My trauma doesn't define me.

Masculinity in itself does not define me. So like understanding that there are things that we want to work on to get better, but those things don't define who we are as people. We're so much more than that.

Gresham Harkless 8:21

Absolutely, no, that makes so much sense. And I think a lot of times I usually say like the entrepreneur, entrepreneurship rollercoaster, because its ups and downs to growing and building a business or creating anything. But you're absolutely right, as far as there are ups and downs as far as life.

And I think that when we have opportunities to hear like, we're not the only ones going and having a bad day, or we had a bad week, and that, you know, you can still have another great week after that. It's an up-and-down. And sometimes that's just part of the process.

And we have to kind of understand that, but I definitely appreciate you for doing that. So I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and it could be for you personally or for your podcast. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Jeremy Herte 8:59

That's tough, a secret sauce like myself as a person?

Gresham Harkless 9:03

Can be for yourself as a person or the podcast itself.

Jeremy Herte 9:06

Um, I think for me, like for the podcast, I think what sets Let's Talk for a part is that sometimes you have, you know, different platforms that are for Black men. And they only kind of do one of two things. Sometimes you see platforms that just tackle the mental health side, which is great, which is a good thing about it. But I just tackle, you know, the career success and achievement and all that stuff.

I think it lets us talk because I've made it a point to kind of do both in terms of yes, we're going to talk about this mental health. But at the same time, we're gonna as I said earlier a little bit, kind of hold ourselves accountable for how we may be toxic and kind of, you know, put ourselves in check sometimes.

And I think that's one thing that I am really proud of, Let's talk pros I tried to make it a point to do both of those things like we can be, we can empathize with other black men because we know what it's like to be a black man. We can kind of talk to each other in ways that will make sense.

So as much as we're going to talk about mental health, we're also going to talk about toxic masculinity. We're talking about all this at the same time. So that's one thing that I, am proud about. And maybe that's my secret sauce a little bit in terms of how I approach it.

Let's talk, we're in the platform and the content that I put out there. But in terms of a secret sauce for myself, I gotta do that. But you will. Now I don't even know what the working on this is in 2020 Right?

Gresham Harkless 10:23

There you go. There you go. But now I think it actually sounds like you know, that's part of your secret sauce. And I think the thing I love and I find out a lot about, you know, creatives, people that create certain products and services are founders of podcasts and things and blogs and stuff like that. There's a lot of times the perspective, kind of, in the perspective of philosophy, a lot of the secret sauce itself, and it takes on who we are, you know, the product itself takes on a lot of who we are.

So as you said, like, making sure to have that holistic view around it and not just show one side, but show the whole view, you know, not just answered the question for me or anything, but that, to me, is unique. And that is something that I think helps the podcast itself, be so valuable.

Jeremy Herte 11:03

Thank you. I'm gonna take it. Appreciate it.

Gresham Harkless 11:07

Awesome, awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app or book or habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Jeremy Herte 11:18

Well, I'm so I would say therapy has been helpful for me over the past year, I ended up stopping going to therapy, and maybe May or June or whatever. But I'm thinking about going back just because it's, you know, it's rare to get like just a space of just like unbiased feedback and criticism and just, you know, reflection. So that's been helpful for myself as like, just my growth and development.

Gresham Harkless 11:41

Awesome. So now, I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you could happen to be in a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Jeremy Herte 11:51

I think what I would just tell my younger self in general, is, don't forget to be creative. Like, I think that's probably something I would tell my younger self. I mean, I think for a while, like, as a kid, I was really creative. And I used to draw a little bit and play a couple of instruments, but that kind of fizzled out.

And then I got to college, I was very dead set on, you know, the Business Administration route, and ended up working in finance and consulting for a couple of years. So if I were to tell my younger self was, you know, just continue to be creative.

Gresham Harkless 12:21

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're all gonna have different quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So Jeremy, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Jeremy Herte  12:31

Ah, that's another interesting question I don't know if I consider myself a CEO. I got more so consider myself a creative person. But I think it is just kind of an insight into what I kind of have for less talk right, definitely do plan to take it a little bit beyond, you know, just the podcast content for 2020.

So maybe I'll have to put on my CEO hat a little bit more because I hadn't necessarily been kind of your traditional entrepreneur. I've kind of strayed away from that. I do the anxiety, some of the things, but I think that SEO things, I think I'm starting to maybe come around to embracing in terms of like, putting that hat on. So they for me, I'm just kind of in that mindset of, you know, creating content, creating dope episodes, creating dope content for let's talk bruh platforms. I was in a session yesterday.

So yeah, in terms of trying to put that CEO hat on, like I was in a session conference session in DC on Wednesday, one of the speakers, she actually Shelly Bell, she's the CEO and founder of Black Girl Ventures. And she was talking about how like, it's important if you're an entrepreneur or CEO. And you want to make that next step, like how are you turning your passion into a science?

In terms of like that CEO hat, as you mentioned, like that's kind of where, my mindset is right now. Like, let's talk bruh is my passion, I want to make this my life's work. But how do I actually make this, you know, a science in terms of a proven method of the content hidden, you know, a proven method of it being a kind of results-driven thing impacting black men.

So that's kind of the shift that I'm trying to, you know, do right now in terms of looking at 2020. And, you know, forecasting, maybe a five-year plan down the line, kind of turning my passion into more of a sign. So that's, I guess, my CEO hat, or whatever the question was, even if I answer I don't know.

Gresham Harkless 14:22

You definitely did it kind of like the definition and perspective on what it means to you to be a CEO. And that's what I love and I appreciate because we talked a little bit about the process as well, too. And in the process, as far as starting a business, I think one of the things I love is that, you know, so many times some of the greatest inventions and things that have been created came about from, you know, passion projects.

And I think a lot of times we forget the process that it takes to be quote, unquote, a CEO, be a business owner, be an entrepreneur, whatever, you know, and how are we defined and I think there's a process to go to, to be there and to get there.

And I think that by you know, approaching it, as you said, and you heard about, you know, from that, that process is driven and looking at it and like a science that helps you to kind of get there to reach whatever your goal might be.

Jeremy Herte 15:06

Yeah exactly. So that's just helpful for me to hear, especially this week.

Gresham Harkless 15:10

Awesome. Well, I truly appreciate that definition. Appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass this mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know. And then of course, how best people can get ahold of you. Subscribe to the podcast, and find out all the awesome things we're working on.

Jeremy Herte 15:25

Oh, yes. So you could follow Let's Talk bruh on Instagram at Let's Talk, bruh. And follow us on Twitter at Let's Talk bruh pod. We drop episodes every Wednesday, basically, anywhere. You can find podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, all those platforms.

And yeah, I mean, I really am proud of the show and of our listeners. It's an interesting show. So check it out. You want to learn more about black masculinity, you want to kind of have a platform to tune into for the black men in your life. So check it out, you know, shout out to my guys in our Facebook group, too.

Let's talk about a podcast group on Facebook. It's a group of all-black men. And we talked about basically the same things that we talked about from the show, bringing it into the group. So yeah, check us out, and let me know what you think.

Gresham Harkless 16:09

Awesome. Well, we'll definitely have those links and information in the show notes. So truly appreciate you appreciate your time appreciate you for creating the podcast and all the awesome things that are coming from it and they will come from it. So appreciate you and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 16:21

Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 media tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE And leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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