Bryan Logan

"When you tell your own story, it changes the way other people see you, and it changes the way you see yourself," Aaron Samuels, cofounder and chief operating officer of <a href="https://blavity.com/" id="bfc2d30a-3538-3a50-a8f4-66de806b3ead"> Blavity </a> , a digital-news publication geared toward Black millennials told Business Insider.

Blavity has been a hot topic in the media world since it <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/20/blavity-raises-6-5-million-series-a-round-led-by-gv/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29" id="5c1397ea-5254-3de7-a5b5-7a3d9bd0b04e"> closed a $6.5 million Series A round with Google Ventures </a> in July, bringing its total venture investment so far to $8.5 million. That's an almost of unheard-of amount of money for an early-stage, Black-owned startup, much less a new digital publication — especially one with a young, Black, female CEO, Morgan DeBaun, Samuels' cofounder.

But it is clearly doing something right. Blavity has only been in business for four years, and it already has seven million readers per month.

And much of that success is anchored in Samuels' personal mission for the company.

Come see Aaron Samuels speak at Business Insider's Ignition conference, December 3 &amp; 4 in New York.

He believes that by creating a company — and a community — that lets Black millennials "really control their own narratives" in ways that mainstream media doesn't understand, "we could change the way people see themselves."

Samuels calls it "Black gravity," a microcosm of Black people who would move toward each other in public spaces. At the campus in St. Louis, the lunch table was a central meeting place.

"The Black community at Washington University was really tight. Although Washington University was primarily a white institution, Black folks stuck together, we looked out for each other," Samuels told Business Insider in an interview at Blavity's downtown Los Angeles headquarters.

"That experience represented support; it represented love, and trust," Samuels said. "It was a way for us to flourish and thrive, and also represented all the different kinds of Black conversations that were happening simultaneously."

They talked about everything from politics to engineering homework to where the party was going to be on the weekend.

But for Samuels, who grew up in a mixed-race, mixed-faith household in Providence, Rhode Island, with a Jewish mother and a Black father — both of whom are clinical psychologists — finding common ground is a practiced art.

His parents taught him to identify with all corners of his cultural identity and to embrace and share it with others. And that ultimately helped him navigate a world where he often found himself in the minority.

"I could see that learning how to own and tell my story can change the way that others see me, and more importantly change the way that I see myself," Samuels said.

"I wanted to imagine what happens if we do this on a community level, if everyone who I'm friends with is also owning their own stories and their own narrative," he said.

<h1> Living at the office, literally </h1>

His Washington University friends would eventually become his cofounders, but not right away. Immediately after they graduated, they went to work on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley.

Samuels worked as a strategy consultant at Bain &amp; Company in New York, DeBaun became a product manager at Intuit, Nelson was an early engineer at Palantir, and Jackson was a community manager at LinkedIn.

Those roles taught them the necessary skills they would take to Blavity, but there was a downside.

With social and political unrest brewing in places like Ferguson, Missouri, Samuels said he and his friends — who were, at the time, separated by distance and their careers — shared a less edifying experience than their happy college days.

"This time, we didn't have that core Black gravity linking us together. The world was exploding. This is 2014; this is coming off the heels of the government execution of Troy Davis; this is after Trayvon Martin. And that was building up to 2014 when Mike Brown was killed," Samuels said.

On some days, Samuels recalled, he would walk into work, and it would feel like none of the political unrest he and other Black millennials saw as an existential threat was happening at all.

So, he did what most Black millennials did at the time.

"I was texting my friends and family, or I was going to social media to feel what needed to be felt, so that at least I knew I wasn't crazy to be like, sad, or upset, or angry, or frustrated."

Samuels wasn't alone. That's when he, DeBaun, Jackson, and Nelson landed on an idea. They could take their combined experience in digital technology and business strategy, along with the creative people they knew who were sharing stories on social media, to replicate their college-years' feeling of Black gravity. And they could do that on a national level, he said.

So, in July 2014, Blavity was born. Early on, it existed as a virtual company. The team worked via Slack, Asana, and Gmail. After a year and a half of bootstrapping, they opened their first office, inside a large live-work loft in LA's arts district — but the hustle continued.

Samuels, DeBaun, and the team lived in that loft; they created separate micro-apartments inside — one for DeBaun and the other for Samuels — while the office occupied the rest of the space.

"It doesn't get any closer than living, eating, and breathing your work," Samuels quipped.

That early focus on elevating Black millennials in a digital media landscape where they were inadequately represented proved to be the right move.

More than two years after Blavity's founding, <a href="https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/press-room/2016/nielsen-2016-report-black-millennials-close-the-digital-divide.html" id="7f55a70a-e5e9-3f4a-abc0-8dc3377004aa"> an October 2016 Nielsen report </a> illustrated just how effectively Black millennials, with their multibillion-dollar buying power and "undisputed cultural influence" was driving conversations online.

Blavity team founders Aaron Samuels Morgan DeBaun Jonathan Jackson Jeff Nelson

As if growing a startup with his best friends and living at the office with them weren't enough, Samuels was also attending Stanford business school and traveling.

He calls his life a game of endurance.

"It's a statement about the journeys that some entrepreneurs have to go through, that other entrepreneurs never have to go through," he said.

Things changed after Blavity raised $1.86 million of seed-round funding in April 2017 from the Oakland, California-based New Media Ventures and LA-based Macro Ventures. The company has since gone on to raise $8.5 million total.

Now the company has an office parked in a pristine high-rise in bustling downtown Los Angeles, where Samuels oversees 48 full-time employees, as well as a new office and staff in Atlanta.

Samuels is excited about expansion but doesn't want to lose sight of the bigger mission: empowering a generation of leaders.

"I'm also terrified. I think that it is difficult being a Black millennial in this country. That is something that has probably always been true for the entire history of this country. And I don’t think that it’s different now."

Samuels recognizes the progress Black people have made in the world, but he warns against using that progress to justify that things still are not as they should be.

He hopes that Blavity can lead the way in moving the cultural conversation forward. To Samuels, that conversation should include everyone, without neglecting Blavity's foundational principles.

"I am hoping for more support from our current community to expand, to be welcoming, and to share in our collective excitement about the possibilities of what we can build together," he said.

Find <a href="https://www.facebook.com/aaronlsamuels/" id="77df3625-f176-3786-a8e9-b05c8297a49e"> Aaron Samuels on Facebook </a> , and on Twitter and Instagram @PoetryAaron.

Hear more of Samuels' story, building a business as an artist and founder, and the future of Black digital media at IGNITION 2018.

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How an LA upstart is redefining the media world by helping Black millennials 'tell their own story'

Police in the Northern California town of Redwood City arrested a man who was traveling on Highway 101 early Friday morning while sleeping behind the wheel of his Tesla Model S.

Officers first spotted the electric luxury sedan driving south at about 70 mph around 3:40 a.m., California Highway Patrol Officer Art Montiel told Business Insider on Friday night.

Montiel said the officers took action when it became clear that the driver, 45-year-old Alexander Samek, was sleeping.

"The driver wasn't responding to lights and sirens," Montiel said.

The officers believed the Tesla may have been operating on Autopilot, <a id="bad01857-2851-3a70-a1c8-ab33024ee3a9" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tesla-autopilot?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> a semi-autonomous-driving feature </a> that allows Teslas to drive and change lanes in traffic with minimal human input.

In order to get the sleeping driver's Tesla to stop, Montiel said officers blocked traffic behind the vehicle while another officer traveling in front of the car gradually slowed down, forcing the Tesla, which can respond to varying traffic speeds and accelerate or slow down accordingly, to a complete stop.

"Once the vehicle came to a stop, the officers got out of their patrol cars, approached the Tesla, and knocked on the windows to wake up the driver," Montiel said.

Officers placed Samek in a patrol car, while another one drove the intoxicated man's Tesla off the freeway and parked it at a nearby gas station.

Samek was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Montiel applauded the CHP's "quick thinking" to get the Tesla and its driver out of harm's way.

Several Teslas <a id="1bfb74fb-f340-3edc-a107-9eb2cf969226" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-model-s-driver-says-autopilot-engaged-in-utah-crash-2018-5?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> have crashed while operating on Autopilot </a> in recent months. A man was killed when <a id="991eade3-34d4-31d4-a241-1cc0845eed87" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-model-x-fatal-crash-autopilot-was-activated-2018-3?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> his Model X SUV slammed into a highway barrier </a> in Mountain View, California, in March.

Teslas equipped with Autopilot cannot drive themselves. The system deploys an escalating series of warnings if it detects that the driver does not have their hands on the steering wheel. If the driver does not respond, the system deactivates itself.

Tesla declined to comment on the incident.

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Police in the San Francisco Bay Area took an unusual approach to stop a Tesla operating on Autopilot as a drunk driver slept behind the wheel

Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith won a Senate runoff election in Mississippi on Tuesday night, beating her Democratic challenger Mike Espy in what had become a tumultuous contest in the state.

Hyde-Smith and Espy were vying for the seat in a deep-red state where President Donald Trump took nearly 58% of the vote in 2016.

Hyde-Smith, the state's former agriculture and commerce commissioner who was appointed to the Senate seat in March after Sen. Thad Cochran resigned, was favored to win, despite recent criticism she received after telling a supporter she would attend a "public hanging," if invited.

That remark conjured Mississippi's history of racism, lynchings, and Jim Crow laws — and <a id="440f1820-5f37-3d29-a380-699d3e70d2a6" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-responds-to-sen-cindy-hyde-smiths-public-hanging-remarks-2018-11?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> caused a handful of companies to withdraw their support </a> for Hyde-Smith's campaign. She has apologized for the comment.

Espy had sought to capitalize on the fallout from Hyde-Smith's missteps, as well as subsequent revelations that his Republican opponent <a id="0f272063-5840-3fe6-a758-2ccc8cbac087" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mississippi-republican-senate-candidate-accused-of-racial-insensitivity-2018-11?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> attended a "segregation academy" and celebrated the Confederacy </a> .

But he, too, faced significant headwinds on the road to Washington.

An assessment from FiveThirtyEight indicated that Espy <a id="e7385e6d-f9a3-3795-a6bf-b7606e3f61bb" href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/mike-espy-needs-an-unprecedented-swing-to-win-the-mississippi-runoff"> would need an "unprecedented" swing in order to win </a> Tuesday night.

Some Democrats held out hope for Espy citing a resemblance between the Mississippi runoff and the December 2017 special election in neighboring Alabama, <a id="4e799f22-2615-3399-af23-d84b810186dc" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alabama-senate-election-results-roy-moore-and-doug-jones-2017-12?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> where voters chose Democrat Doug Jones </a> over the embattled Republican <a id="50548aef-8ba9-37e5-a29d-8d7ef48ed0ee" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/roy-moore?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> Roy Moore </a> , whose campaign was crushed under the weight of a sexual-misconduct scandal.

The Alabama election gave the state its first Democratic senator in more than two decades, but that energy did not transfer to Mississippi, which has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1972.

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Cindy Hyde-Smith is projected to win in Mississippi runoff, ending tumultuous Senate race against Democrat Mike Espy

Now, when guests go to a hotel, restaurant, or nightclub, they want to see multiple avenues for entertainment, like ping-pong tables, slackline, boules pitch, and more. But very few hospitality and nightlife players understand this.

And those who offer these become leaders of the game. Bryan Michael Nolan is one such entrepreneur who has been drawing on his passion for entertaining people ever since he stepped foot in the business, and therefore, has been excelling in the nightlife and hospitality scene. Here’s Nolan sharing more on how his drive for entertainment makes him a sought-after man in the field.

Nolan, from a young age, developed an urge to go against the grain and hustle. He had a dominant work ethic and only expected the best for himself, his family, and everyone he was associated with.

About using this passion for entertainment as a key to open the doors to success in the hospitality and nightlife space, Nolan says, “Hospitality, nightclubs, shows, parties – all of these run and persist on the petrol of entertainment. If you want to be a superstar in this space, then you need to first show people that your property has more entertainment options than that of anyone else in the market.”

Ask Nolan why passion is indispensable to excel in the hospitality scene, and he says, “It’s because the millennials, who are the majority of our customers, want it.” Millennial requirements are definitely changing the game. For example, hotel properties are becoming less of a space to doze off and more of a springboard to priceless and memorable moments of life: meeting up with friends, going to an event, and so on. And what’s the common link between all of them? Entertainment.

Nolan shares that around 60% of all offers are targeted towards Generation Y or the ‘Millennials’ in 2019, who are gradually taking control and driving the hospitality and nightlife market. And all that they need are newer, more disruptive means to entertainment. Nolan says, “It is their rising expectations that pushes me to think differently and break my own benchmarks for entertainment.”

So, it’s clear that be it over the Internet, at EDM festivals, or in nightclubs and hotels, the target group of young millennials expects interaction, fun, and entertainment anytime and anywhere. And Bryan Nolan has been giving his customers exactly that for over a decade, thus catapulting him to new heights of success in the field.

Handing over a metal key at the reception with a big smile on the face is no longer sufficient to please the guests.

Bryan Michael Nolan on how the hospitality industry has evolved with modern crowds

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Bryan Logan

Articles written by the author

How an LA upstart is redefining the media world by helping Black millennials 'tell their own story'

Police in the San Francisco Bay Area took an unusual approach to stop a Tesla operating on Autopilot as a drunk driver slept behind the wheel

Cindy Hyde-Smith is projected to win in Mississippi runoff, ending tumultuous Senate race against Democrat Mike Espy

Bryan Michael Nolan on how the hospitality industry has evolved with modern crowds