Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alexander Martin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alexander, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Taking a risk can be extremely hard for someone who struggles to believe in themselves at times and lack the fear of failure. I am more than sure many of us have had this feeling at some point in time in our lives and I am no different. Creating my podcast Ethnic Ish N More was a major risk for me because I was not sure how it would be received. Having such a random thought turn into a wonderful organically grown show was the least thing that I expected would happen but, it would not have happen had I not taken that initial risk to gauge interest in creating a show.

This risk alone has allowed me to have over 200 guest on the show and counting. This exact risk also made my love and passion for content creation come to life and assisted in the birth of Ethnic Ish N More TV Productions. Through this avenue, I have become a self taught videographer and video editor and have been booked for shoots of all kinds.

I will also tell me people to take the leap of faith into whatever their passion is and do not be afraid of failure because with every failure, a lesson will come and help to prepare for your future.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Well, my name is NicoThaGreat and my story for the creation of Ethnic Ish N More was such a random occurrence in my life and would ultimately change my life for the better. It was May of 2019 and I decided that I wanted to go skating at Skateway in Pontoon Beach, IL. On this day, I wore a shirt that read “Support Black Women” and didn’t think much about it. Now for those who know me, know that roller skating is one of my biggest passions and I use it as my self-therapy.

As I am skating around the rink, in what is more of a predominantly caucasian skating rink, I notice I am one of the only black people in there. I notice people watching me enjoy my leisure time on the floor, but some of those faces were not giving such a pleasant look to me at all times. After maybe about 45 minutes, I chuckled to myself and realized that the patrons of the rink are reading my “Support Black Women” shirt and it could be the cause for the slight disdain.

I say to myself, “they are probably reading my shirt and saying “look at this ghetto shit”. just as soon as I laugh to myself about the said incident, it was like my whole body stopped moving and the light bulb kicked off in my head. I then took the word “Ghetto” and changed it to “Ethnic and took the word “shit” and changed it to “Ish” and added the “N More” right there. I smiled to myself like I just had a million-dollar idea and get off the floor, took my skates off, and proceeded to head to my car.

As soon as I get in the car, I hop on Facebook and make a post stating that if I were to create a show called “Ethnic Ish N More” would anybody care to watch it. I drive off the lot and head back to my home and check my post and noticed I had a ton of notifications with excitement about my potential new show and that they would love to watch me. I let that thought marinate until the morning and notice I am still getting responses about my post. I decided to follow up with another post and offered times of when I would do the show, which was all based on times I knew skaters around the US would generally have an adult night skate session.

After a few hours, I settle on the time of Wednesday’s at 9:00 pm CST and knew the first episode would start the following week on May 15th, 2019. I start to plot and plan out how my show would be in the coming days and reached out to a good friend of mine to be my first guest, Chad Ha of Skatelyfe TV. Now mind you, I picked the time being this late because I was employed by Crate and Barrel at that time and worked from home in their live chat department. I would literally set my iPhone up against the computer, clock out the computer with my right hand, and press the live button on Facebook with my left hand so that the show starts on time lol.

My first ever episode of the show garnered about 1K views after the first day or so and sits at 4K currently, which I thought was crazy at the time. I could not fathom that people watching me just talk and interview people on social media but there was a lane for it and I knew at that point I had the ability to make something happen. My first 7 episodes were done via FB Live and the next 3 were pre-recorded with my first guest Chad Ha. This 10 episode I call my pilot season and between FB and YouTube, I managed to get about 25K views for the show and I stopped the season there.

I hit a major standstill mentally with the show and everything else going in my life and decided to take a break from making content and this was in August of 2019. I really wasn’t sure if I was going to pick back up because I knew I needed to take it to another level and I just wasn’t sure which route I would go. I let months go by and had many people asking when I would bring Ethnic Ish N More back and I just kept telling them to wait on it.

We approach the New Year and I still was in limbo about what I wanted to do with it and thoughts of turning it into more of a podcast format would’ve been better for me. I knew I didn’t have the funds to purchase all the equipment and living on the Illinois side of the river, most people would not want to travel to my home to record, so I had to figure what my next move would be, and soon. I get a text from a great friend of mine and she is asking me what were something I wanted to see come about in the new year and I said make Ethnic Ish N More a Podcast.

The same day I catch an episode of a show called What Up Doe Radio and loved the look of where they were and decided to research into it and found out they recorded as a place called Overtime Studios and with MyCityMyMusic Radio. I reached out to Justin Kickett and he told me that I could come down and check a show out that Friday. I loved the atmosphere when I did and decided to join and sign my contract to the station that Sunday, January 7th, 2020. My first episode at the radio station was February 5th, 2020 and I am coming up on my 87th episode.

I started with 2 amazing women cohosts, Melanie Marie, and Yeyo LaFlare, and we all went out separate ways due to personal life goals and achievements, and now my great friend and Masonic brother A.D. Grimes, known as Past Master on the show and amazing woman named Shamara “Big Jiz” Stephens. They both have been a wonderful addition to the show and we make a great team. I have had a ton of guests on the show from Kyjuan of the St. Lunatics, Dasha Kennedy of The Broke Black Girl, Michael Brown Sr., Adam Murphy of Midwest Mixtapes, BlancoTarintinoTV, Grammy Award-Winning Sid “Uncle Jamz” Johnson, Nandostl, Ohun Ashe of Fortheculturestl.com, and many many more. We are currently on episode 134.

I’ve been sponsored by Cashapp and The Law Offices of Attorney Roderick C. White, won the award for Podcast of the Year 2020 for the Yours Award in St. Louis. I’ve been featured in Dear Fathers, Delux Magazine, Hood Illustrated Magazine. I was also featured on the cover of the 2022 314 day edition for Deluxe Magazine. I am the owner of Ethnic Ish N More TV, which is what I produce all of my content under on the YouTube channel and for my clients. I shoot music videos, commercials, social media content and much more.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I have been apart of the “social media” phenomenon since the Myspace and Black Planet days (lol shows my age). One thing that has helped me in the growth of my social media platforms is the fact that I have stayed with the same pages since they were originally created. I have never had to create multiple pages due to reasons of being removed from the platforms. I provide comedic and artistic content that captivates my followers and allows them into my life and my creative side.

A piece of advice I would give someone just starting to build their social media to pick a lane and remain consistent. Do not worry about if other people are creating similar content to you and focus more so on what will make your content stand out from others.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My particular goal that is driving my creative journey is knowing that I have the potential to create something that can withstand the test of time and be here long after I am gone. I created my media platform not to be the forever host and driving creative force but to be create a system and platform that will allow other creatives to grow and thrive within. I want my brand to be the first stop in someone’s upcoming media career and help assist them with the tools and skills they need to thrive outside of the Ethnic Ish N More brand.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ethnicishnmore.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicothagreat357/ , https://www.instagram.com/ethnicishnmoretv/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Nicothagreat357
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NicoThaGreat357
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4VX-nSV-KesHgLP1t1LXMw

Image Credits
Photo cred: Ade Tokunbo , Jeremy Love