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

Brandi , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

When I was about 4 or 5 years old, I could recite every commercial that came on from start to finish. I could do it in their voice and mimic their gestures. I knew then, I wanted to be in commercials when I grew up. Of course I did not know those people were actors at the time. I did not know you had to be an actor to do commercials. I thought that was only for TV and Film. I started taking theatre classes as an elective in 6th grade. Thats when in dawned on me that unless you are a natural born talent, you must be a trained professional in the field to master it. Throughout the years, I never had the tools or right people around me to help me get started. I had to get an acting coach and take various classes to learn the art and business of acting before I could even apply for a gig. You can’t just call up a production and say “Hey, I want to be in the next commercial you film” That is not how it works. You have to build your speaking skills, stage presence, and range in order to be ready for different roles. If you are good at comedy, that does not mean you will automatically be a great fit for a drama role. You have to be able to show your range in the different genres in Theatre and Film.

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

I was born and raised in Missouri City Tx. I attended Sam Houston State Univserity and gradution with a bachlors degree in Human Resource Management. I started The Black Way Podcast while in the middle of pursing my acting career in 2021. I had a previous podcast but I would talk about things that were over-saturated in our community. It was also negative news. I wanted to do something that would set me apart from the thousands of podcast across various platforms. I wanted to create a platform for my community that was positive and informative. Most blogs or podcast like to highlight the negative images in our community only because it brings in the most clicks and views. That’s when I came up The Black Way Podcast. I chose this name because not only am I pro black, but I wanted to show my people we can do things “our” way and not have to subjective ourselves to the rules of other communities. I got the idea to create a target audience of actors, writers, directors, producers, etc from my acting coach. She reminded me that I am surrounded by talented individuals who can tell their story. Everyones story is different. Everyones journey is different. My platform is created for them to tell their story their own way. You don’t have to censor yourself or be afraid to speak your truth, good or bad. I did not want to limit my platform to the entertainment and film industry so I then started to bring on black creatives from every field. It doesn’t matter if you are not in the industry I am in, you still have an amazing story to tell and we want to hear it. From my first video up until my most recent video, you can see the growth. You can see overtime how I’ve changed the way I prep, my confidence in what I am doing and saying, and better quality. Originally I was doing everything by myself. The prepping, filming, editing, posting, promo, booking. All of that was me. Once the people around me notice what I was trying to build they stepped in to help. My goal for this platform in the next coming months is to become monetized so I can build the platform up to where I would like it to be. I think what sets me apart from others is I’m not afraid to start from the bottom and work my way up. I’m ok with filming at different locations until I am in a studio of my own. I am ok with filming from my iPhone until I get my 3 camera set up. I am ok with editing my own videos until I can hire an editor. I’m ok being told “no” or “pay me and I will come on” Most people in my situation would have given up. It does get hard at times when people don’t live up to their end of the deal but at the end of the day you have to keep going. Regardless of the obstacles I face, The Black Way podcast will be a household name. I will not stop until it is.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I feel like people in our community only want to support big names or someone with a large following. They don’t care about the people at the bottom putting in the hard work to get to the top. If they did, they would support them while they are at the bottom. If we could come together and help build each-other up, we could thrive perfectly in the creative ecosystem. A shout out, like, repost, retweet or a simple share is free. Why not offer that free support to help a creative get to the next level? Artist never forget who was there when they were climbing their way to the top.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

I think at one point NFTs were lucrative and a new way to make money digitally. The problem is when too many celebrities were trying to push it. They would present it as a “get rich quick” thing. Now they are worthless. I do believe and support blockchain technology. With the value of the US Dollar decreasing every day, month, and year, a digital currency will be used at some point. Some countries have already dropped the US dollar and are using their own digital system. I think NFTs will be back at some point, maybe within the next 5-7 years. With the amount of celebs who were sued for “scamming” I doubt the general population will support or trust NFTs any time soon.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.youtube.com/@theblackwaypodcast
• Instagram: Actinglikebrandi
• Facebook: Brandi Brooks
• Twitter: littlebrandii
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@theblackwaypodcast