We caught up with the brilliant and insightful DeAndre Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi DeAndre, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

This is a great but simple story. I was coming back from my second deployment and freshly divorced. My post deployment ritual is to go to Waffle House with my friends for my first meal. We were there and my friend said that every time me and my podcast cohost get together, the best stories are told. So he basically told us we should have a podcast. Me being home after years of being away from family because of college, military, and government work decided to stay home for a bit. That boredom led to me actually starting the podcast. That eventually branched off into the business I have today.

DeAndre, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

The Ignorant Noodle is a black media company. We prefer to focus on black excellence. Aside from the sporadic podcast schedule and the weekly news show, we promote and network black businesses. Even with collaboration efforts, we try to work with black businesses first and if none are willing to work, then I ask other businesses. The only downside is that I do most of my promotions for free so I can’t afford to create any of the skits and short films that I write in my spare time. I offer a video and script writing services but most people in my area do not create enough content to take full advantage of our services.

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

I strive to make content that Black people can be proud of. Representation has been dwindling since the Black era of late 90s and early 2000s. The Ignorant Noodle plans to bring that back. From animation to live action content, I want black people to feel seen no matter what type of person they are. Not everybody is a nerd or drug dealer.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Basically all of Black content creators on youtube. Even before starting my business, I have loved black content. That natural fandom has helped put me in connections with plenty of people in my field that can offer advice and assistance. The digital era makes it so much easier to study all the past work so you can see what works or didn’t work. Then because of the vast selection of creators, you can see similar skills implemented in different ways. You can gauge your ability by their work and even combine separate ideas from multiple creators to make a really cool original idea.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theignorantnoodle.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/theignorantnoodle
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheIgnorantNoodle/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/ignorantnoodle
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/theignorantnoodle

Image Credits
Mystery Lex Visions Photography (Alexsia Brown)