How Morgan DeBaun Built a $40M Media Empire & Acquired 3 Black-Owned Brands

0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting? Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts, then add supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. Learn how podcasting can help your business. Call 844-844-IHEART. You know, we always say new year, new me, but real change starts on the inside. It starts with giving your mind and your spirit the same attention you give your goals. Hey, everybody, it's Michelle Williams, host of Checking In on the Black Effect Podcast Network.

0:35And on my podcast, we talk mental health, healing, growth and everything you need to step into your next season, whole and empowered. New year, real you. Listen to Checking In with Michelle Williams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Crook and Chase Nashville chats with the coolest cat in country music. He is edgy. He's fun. He is Chase Matthews. Keith Urban helped make him a global sensation last year, but it's his recent number one hit, Darling, that put Chase on the map and launched a fun and difficult conversation about lovers who cheat and lie.

1:14That's why I'm scared to get married. You're giving me trust issues, brother. Crook and Chase Nashville chats with Chase Matthews. Listen and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. earners what's up you ever walk into a small business and everything just works like the checkout is fast the receipts are digital tipping is a breeze and you're out the door before the line even builds odds are they're using square we love supporting businesses that run on square because it just feels seamless whether it's a local coffee shop a vendor at a pop-up market or even one of our merch partners square makes it easy for them to take payments manage inventory and run their business with confidence, all from one simple system.

1:59If you're a business owner or even just thinking about launching something soon, Square is hands down one of the best tools out there to help you start, run, and grow. It's not just about payments. It's about giving you time back so you can focus on what matters most. Ready to see how Square can transform your business? Visit square.com backslash go backslash E-Y-L to learn more. That's square.com backslash go backslash EYL. Don't wait. Don't hesitate. Let Square handle the back end so you can keep pushing your vision forward.

2:35This episode is brought to you by PNC Bank. A lot of people think podcasts about work are boring. And sure, they definitely can be. But understanding a professional's routine shows us how they achieve their success little by little, day after day. It's like banking with PNC Bank. It might seem boring to save, plan, and make calculated decisions with your bank, but keeping your money boring is what helps you live a more happily fulfilled life. PNC Bank, brilliantly boring since 1865. Brilliantly boring since 1865 is a service mark of the PNC Financial Service Group, Inc. PNC Bank, National Association, member FDIC.

3:17Let's talk about this. Um, the rollback of DEI, the rollback of corporate involvement with black organizations, you are in the crossfires of that because you work with a lot of corporations and you have a black event, right? Yeah. Has that impacted you? What's your thoughts on, on this? Cause a lot of times people just hear this, but it doesn't really matter if it doesn't impact you personally. so you as somebody that's operating at a high level and have a lot of corporate relationships what's what's your thoughts on everything that's been happening yeah you know our business has over 40 million in revenue um half of it is afro tech half of it is media so on the media side revenue is up like all these consumer advertisers are completely like captain when it comes to d and I.

4:12It's very much a political fodder, but when it comes to their bottom line and their top line, you have to invest in Black audiences and consumers. We are where growth is. Multicultural is where growth is. They already have the white consumers, so they can't put their foot off the gas and not advertise to us. Now, how they advertise, that shifts slightly, but actually the tariffs are having a bigger impact on the media business than the D &I executive orders. on. Really? How so? Yeah. So the D &I executive order was basically saying, like, you can't have preferential treatment. So all the programs and, you know, these big commitments of we're going to spend$100 million on blackout media, like they weren't honoring those anyways.

4:58So nothing really changed. Like you were already going to spend what you were going to spend with me, regardless of what you said you were going to do. So nothing changed on our end. For the tariffs, the tariffs require people to be more risk adverse, because they're not quite sure what's going to happen. And Trump is changing his mind constantly. I mean, literally Friday afternoon, like, dude, what are you doing? You know, so there when people become unstable, they become more risk adverse, they become slower, you know, they slower repayment terms, They're slower with, are we going to release this product line?

5:38Are we not going to release this product line? Advertising is tied to campaigns and launches. So if things get held up because things are stuck in the ports or whatever, that impacts how much they're willing to spend on advertising those products and services. That's interesting. And the other side of it, and we've seen it as well, especially in media, when there's uncertainty, when people are unsure, then they go to trusted sources for news. Have you seen an uptick, obviously, in your space during this, I don't even know, this 100 days post election? Yeah, traffic's up. I mean, media companies do well under Trump because it's chaos.

6:13You kind of have to stay involved. And because people know they can't trust mainstream media anymore, they're looking for alternative platforms like y 'all. I mean, I'm sure your traffic on your YouTube is probably skyrocketing. I saw Roland Martin's numbers. He's good for business. He's good for business. He's not good for society, but he is good. Thank you. Thank you for drawing that line.

6:42But I do think I mean, even Roland Martin, I think, had like 300000 subscribers in like 90 days. You know, these are crazy numbers, but it's because people are looking for reliable sources of people they trust that they know they're going to get the truth from. Yeah. I saw that you began investing into the stock market at the age of 13, which I think is amazing. What lessons from investing so early have you taken into your media empire? Cash is king. You know, the more cash you can sit on, the more you can take advantage when the moment strikes. You know, I've done three acquisitions in the last five years of Black-owned businesses.

7:18The only reason we've been able to do that is because we had cash waiting for a moment that made sense for us. And then the other thing is like when it comes to investing, you know, I've also raised venture funding, which, you know, you guys have talked about quite a bit. So I raised over 12 million dollars. You got to treat every dollar that you get as your last and you got to figure out how you're going to flip it. That's the same thing with investing. When you get those moments where you have unreasonable gains, you got to take some chips off the table. for sure do not get greedy okay and if we had listened to that we all would be doing really well right now if we had sold in november december being like this is looking pretty darn good and now that money would be worth basically 60 70 percent more because the stocks are down so you sold at the high plus you're getting everything at the low that's a double win so can you walk us through like some of your acquisitions that you made companies?

8:20Yeah, the first one I bought was Travel Noir. So Travel Noir was an Instagram brand. They had group trips, which was amazing. They did trips in Bahia and Johannesburg and Almaty Coast with little grandmas cooking pasta and stuff. And they had no media brand. Well, what we know is that Black travelers have huge discretionary income and are really growing. because millennials and Gen Z, we spend on experiences way more than our parents did. So I was like, all right, how do I build out Blavity in a way where we're off of interest groups, not just being Black, but like what Black people are interested in and travel is one of them.

9:04So we bought Travel Noir. That was like 2017. I talk about it in my book, Rewriting Your Rules. And then the other brand that we bought was Shadow and Act. Same, but for entertainment in Hollywood. But, you know, black people watch more TV than any other demographic in the country. And we just love TV and we love watching TV as an activity with other people, which is different. So that was the second brand we bought. And then two years ago, I bought a brand called R &B House Party, which is a traveling party series so that we could build out Blavity Fest, which is our new festival, which will be in Atlanta at the end of May with 2 Chainz and Kirk Franklin and all types of programming around black wealth.

9:44so just starting out our experiential business on the blabby side which is super important for our business yeah you you reference the book rewrite your rules let's talk about it you said master yourself master your method master your growth uh break that down for us yeah you know i i'm fromst louis originally and nobody really told me the game what they told me was you work hard you get a good job you go to school the best education you can get and like it should all work out. And that's just not true. Like there are so many people watching this where it's like, you did all the things you like had the good job and you did all the things that you did what was right.

10:23And we're watching a system more so today than ever before, where the people who are making the rules, they're making them for all of us to follow, but they're not even following them. So what do you do? You know, you have to decide for yourself how you want to interact in that kind of system. So this book is basically a framework to help you figure out, well, if success isn't like do all these things and then you get this golden egg at the end, what is my definition of success? And how do I get there? What is the strategy and the frameworks that I need to have in order to do it? So it really is a workbook and a playbook for people to be able to do that, you know, leveraging all the ups and downs of Blavity and the things that I've done.

11:02But more importantly, like whether you're a career nine to five or an entrepreneur, like you can do what you want to do, but you have to define it for yourself. An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child in Massachusetts. An MS-13 gang member from El Salvador accused of murdering a Texas man. A Venezuelan charged with filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Kristi Noem, the United States Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, Attempted illegal border crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded.

11:41And over 100 ,000 illegal aliens have been arrested. If you are here illegally, you're next. You will be fined nearly$1 ,000 a day, imprisoned and deported. You will never return. But if you register using our CBP Home app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally. Do what's right. Leave now. Under President Trump, America's laws, border and families will be protected. Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security. You know, we always say New Year, new me, but real change starts on the inside. It starts with giving your mind and your spirit the same attention you give your goals.

12:20Hey, everybody, it's Michelle Williams, host of Checking In on the Black Effect Podcast Network. And on my podcast, we talk mental health, healing, growth and everything you need to step into your next season. whole and empowered. New year, real you. Listen to Checking In with Michelle Williams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Crook and Chase Nashville chats with the coolest cat in country music. He is edgy, he's fun, he is Chase Matthews. Keith Urban helped make him a global sensation last year, but it's his recent number one hit, darling, that put Chase on the map and launched a fun and difficult conversation about lovers who cheat and lie.

13:05That's why I'm scared to get married. You're giving me trust issues, brother. Crook and Chase Nashville Chats with Chase Matthew. Listen and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. This is Ryder Strong, and I have a new podcast called The Red Weather. In 1995, my neighbor, Anna Traynor, disappeared from a commune. It was nature and trees and praying and drugs. No, I am not your guru. Back then, I lied to everybody. They have had this case for 30 years. I'm going back to my hometown to uncover the truth. Listen to The Red Weather on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

13:46This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.