How Depression Led to a Streetwear Line ! Ft. Alex Malebranch

Speaker A: What's up, y'? All? Y' all are listening to Living Corporate's flagship podcast. If you didn't know, Living Corporate helps organizations build employee engagement and market trust through data analytics and data transformation, our elearning platform and brand marketing storytelling. We're so excited for you to be here today. The conversation you're about to hear is going to connect the dots between employee experience and go to market effectiveness. If you're not ready, get ready. Here we are. Go.

Speaker B: Hm.

Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. All right, man. So we're sitting down, you know, we're sitting down with, uh, someone that I connected with years ago. And I think I want to say life got in the way. Life. Life. Life. Lifed. Um, and continues to life. But I'm excited about us connecting again. Now, hold on, Alex. Uh, I should have done this before we recorded. I don't wanna butcher your last name. Cause I'd be saying Alex Malibranche, but I don't think that's right.

Speaker B: Uh, Male Branch.

Speaker A: See? And you know what? You know the crazy part? My first mind. My first mind went with male branch, believe it or not. But I was like, it can't be Mel Branch. And I saw Ignorant saying that.

Speaker B: And here you go telling me many people find themselves starting there, and then they go with their second brain, and then they find out, oh, ah, dang, I had it right.

Speaker A: It was Male Branch. Anyway, so look. But now people really know what your last name is. Now we got Alex Mel Branch. Um, tech leader, executive entrepreneur, nonprofit founder, speaker, coordinator, collaborator, comrade, uh, even I dare say, Alex. Welcome to Living Corporate. How you doing, man?

Speaker B: Man, I'm living the dream, buddy. I'm appreciative that I get the platform right next to you, man. This is awesome.

Speaker A: Hey, it's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. You know, when we first connected, um, you know, you were. You've been in. And how we got. How we got familiar quickly is you've been like, you've been working at the intersection of technology and community, right? Um, really trying to help mobilize and connect folks with the technological resources, especially those around on the margins with the technological resources. Technology resources to help accelerate their small business, to help accelerate their career goals and their personal goals. Um, talk to me about, like, why those things came together for you the way that they did early on.

Speaker B: Well, it actually, it happened, um. It happened accidentally a little bit.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Um, because I started working in tech for a while, and then I became an entrepreneur. I founded my own tech company. Um, and it was through that experience of being a founder. I was a solo founder, um, and of course a black founder. And if you look at the statistics, there's something just uh, you know, less than 1% of Black founders get, get venture capital funding. I uh, was less than that 1%. But going through that process, those rooms, the pitches that I would do, the way that people would be, when I told them I built something, it was like, dude, what is this? And so when I finished that chapter, um, and I started work in the startup ecosystem and do more community stuff, um, you know, joined tech companies to lead their, their startup and venture capital. Motions point to, while I was doing that, um, make sure that I'm facilitating knowledge sharing and like collaboration with underrepresented founders. Because having just come from that space, I was like, this is the most outrageous thing of all time. So I just tried to make it a part of my ethos as I moved forward because I had that lived experience.

Speaker A: You know, there's something about. When I think about um, and shout out to Cam Ward, the founder of Black Men in Tech, but I think about black and brown folks in tech. I think it's some of the most dynamic things when you can take people from marginalized backgrounds and experiences and put them in spaces of empowerment. Because so often, not all the time, but so often they think about connecting, think about relationship, they think about community. And that's powerful because we're in such a, we are resource rich and distribution poor. Like in this. Right? And so when you have agents, people who are acting as agents of redistribution, um, it's powerful. In fact, redistributing resources is in itself power. Right? Like you're giving power to people.

Speaker B: And if you also think about it like our, our background as African Americans is always rooted in community. Community, because that's what we. Whereas the majority, they've been rooted in individualism and what's for their own. So when we enter a space where collaboration is key like that there's something that takes over, um, because it's, it's embedded with our, within our entire history versus being a learned skill. And you can tell, you can tell the differentiation between um, like this skill that has been learned over time for others versus this innate community building within us. Because when, when we see people and they're like, I think you can help us like come along for the, you know, we just start bringing people next to come along for the. Walking down the street and there's 50 people behind us, uh, where some people had to learn that skill. And, uh, I think when we have opportunities to, um, lead from the front, we get to. We get to bring a lot of perspectives with us. And to others, it seems like, oh, how did this happen? Where did this come from? How were you able to come. Come up with this? It's. It's natural for us to be able to piece these things together because we. Community, we always have.

Speaker A: You know, and it's so interesting that you bring that up, uh, because I agree. And I've been having this conversation off mic now for some. Feels like some years there's a difference in learning how to build community. But then being raised in a culture where community is default, where relationship and connection is default, it's a difference, because if you have to be trained up, that means you have to teach your. You have to remind yourself to look for it. Whereas if you. If it's something that you were raised in, it's innate. It's part of you. Kind of reminds me of that Bane scene with Batman, right? Where he's like, uh, Bane's like, look, you. You. I was. I was. I was. I was like a teenager when I first saw light. I've been in this. I know what I'm doing, right?

Speaker B: I was born in this.

Speaker A: I was born in this. Right? Um, incredible monologue. Not even gonna try to do the impression. Um, but. But I. But I agree. You know, I think, like, right now, like, you think about the landscape today, right? I think it's interesting because we connected a couple years ago when we start seeing layoffs, we start seeing a little bit of pushback, uh, against dei. This was like. I feel like it was like three years ago. It was a few years ago.

Speaker B: It was three or four years ago. Renji.

Speaker A: Three or four years ago, Alex. Um, but now we're in the full swing of it, right? We're seeing, um. You know, oftentimes mainstream media really wants to center and highlight black women layoffs. Uh, but the reality is that black folks across the board, I think there's like over a million layoffs. So, I mean, for black women, I think it's like 500,000 at this point. Black men is like 500,000, 600,000. So over a million, like, black folks are getting the brunt. Uh, be it, um, intentional or disparate impact, they are facing the brunt of these labs. You know, when they say, like, when white America gets a cold, black American gets pneumonia. Um, we're also seeing, like, the tech space contract and change in a lot of different ways. Um, roles that we thought were Recession proof. Or um, or you know, you have, you have, you have engineers with 10, 15 years experience making uh, go fund meetings.

Speaker B: Recession proof. When greed is in the equation, man,

Speaker A: come on, that's a bar. We're gonna clip it up too. Let me. What's up Riverside? I'm about to mark this as a clip. Bam. Um, but I wanna say like, there's something that is to be said about like this moment. Like what have you seen and what are you learning in this moment? As a black tech creator, um, as someone who's been in this industry, you know, what are you, what you are, what have kind of been your revolving thoughts in this season?

Speaker B: Um, I think the second thing that you said is more important. Revolving thoughts versus what have I learned? Because we've been over the last ten years and more in the last five years. Uh, the ruminating or revolving thoughts I think are interesting because you start to build a pattern of what is and what isn't. Because I think a lot of us, um, as it pertains to the first thing I'm going to bring up, maybe have these things for a long time and it's like we need initial put. My uh, first ruminating thought or revolving thought is like, bro, you can't, you cannot rely on them, um, being salary W2 corporate. Like their stability is no longer, um, having that comfort is no longer. And so the question that I have to ask myself and that I prompt people with all the time is like, uh, what sorts of momentum are you building around your own talents? Um, and it does not need to be big. When people think about being like an entrepreneur or a founder, they think about billion dollar businesses like Elon Musk and Zuckerberg. And like, you know, there are very successful entrepreneurs that have $3 million businesses and like that extraordinary, right? So like you think about what is a $3 million business? Like that's God, now, now I'm gonna get myself in trouble. Uh, that's a couple hundred thousand dollars a month in terms of like revenue, whatever that is, depending on what you're selling. Like, um, you know, if you're selling something that you get a margin of a hundred bucks, it's a thousand. That's selling a thousand items. That's, that's, that's not much. So and for a lot of things, like a service, right, you can provide the initial service and then there's a recurring service to maintain it. So like whatever you are thinking about wanting to do, like what does that look like it started? Because I guarantee you that yes it's not going to be $3 million the first year, maybe the second year. But like you can make $5,000, ah, $5,000 a month doing something that you're really great at. Great at.

Speaker A: It's so true. I remember I had this conversation, uh, with a founder some years ago about the idea of like a vc, right. And like, oh, people are looking for unicorns and it's like looking for a billion dollar. You're looking for these billion dollar exits and everything like that. And it's like every business, I would actually say in a, in a healthy equitable economy, uh, most businesses are not billion dollar businesses.

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: And that's not a failure. And if you're a small business owner, let's say it's like you and like two other people and then you like mobilize some contractors or you know, whatever and like you're pocketing 2, $300,000 a year. You like. And maybe look, and this is me though, right? This is me.

Speaker B: I

Speaker A: like, I would take, I'll take, I'll take what I can receive as long as I'm doing it in a way that does not betray my values. Not harming and supporting people.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: But for me, like living corporate, we're doing three, $4 million a year in total rev. And I'm pocketing three, four, $500,000. And even, even when you take it down even further, like if you're making enough Money, you're making 10, $12,000 a month and you're an entrepreneur and you're keeping your mark and you're, and you're keeping your expenses down. That's something you can like. And I think so often like we get caught up in this trap of like, oh, we need to be like huge and it's like it needs to be massive. And it's like, well doesn't need to be massive. Or do you need enough to take care of yourself, your family and like support your community? Like if that's the goal and when you rescale it that way, you're, it's m. It's, it's tangible, it's doable. You might need to get some investment, some partnerships, whatever the case is. But if you're consistent, you try and then let's just say. But what's interesting to me is I meet people who's like, okay, let's say they may had a job and the job was m paying them, I don't know, a hundred thousand dollars. I've met people who, they have a business and they might make $170,000.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: And after. And then, so then after they pay their taxes and after they get their insurance, they're kind of even. The personal enrichment of still having something on your own for certain people, for a lot, for many people I know is still that much better.

Speaker B: It's better to have something on your own, to have something that you put so much work into that you can see the outcome of. Um, to have something that you're passionate about, like all of these things if you make the exact same amount of money, but you have those things which you cannot corporate, like, you are winning on the ledger. But too many people have relied on the salary. But now we're starting to learn, hopefully starting to learn, like, all right, this is not as, uh, reliable as it once was. I need to figure out what that thing is. And you don't have to stop salary to do that. But like, you start to facilitate what this looks like so that you're continuing to build on it. And like, three or four or five years later, like, maybe you look over and you're like, oh, you know what? That's making enough money for me to stop doing this if I want to stop doing that.

Speaker A: A hundred percent agree. Um, and to that end, man, let's talk about code 22.

Speaker B: Right?

Speaker A: Like, you've, um, been doing a lot of different things. Um, you've been working, man, you've been moving around since, uh, we last. Since we last spoke.

Speaker B: I've been shaking.

Speaker A: Yeah, man. Talk to me about the space, talk to me about the name. Talk to me about the origin. Like, just give it to me.

Speaker B: Yeah. So, um, going back to the founder story that I had just told you about, when I had raised money, my tech company, I had not taken care of myself. I had been, as I said, solo founder. I had been driving goal of raising money and building product. Um, when I had raised the money, I had crashed probably weeks later. Um, so much so that I had gotten to a suicidal place. Um, not the first time I had been there. And that experience led me to the psych ward. Um, and while I was getting treatment and in the psych ward, I was standing in the hallway. I could see it very clearly. Standing in the hallway over the loudspeaker comes code 22. Um, and I was like, I don't know what that means. Look around. And one of the, um, patients was trying to escape the psych ward. That was a hospital code for escaping the psych ward. Um, that visual always stayed with me. Um, I was in the Hospital for probably another month after that. But when I, the first day out, um, I got a tattoo on my right hand, code, uh, 22. Because I wanted to remind myself, I find myself in that very dark place. Um, there is this vision that I have around how what I saw in this word represents kind of the struggle of mental health on an everyday basis. Like, we are in this essentially jail that we put ourselves in, um, but we're actively trying to escape it all the time, only to have security drag us back, heels kicking and everything. And it's like this cycle that it's hard to control, it's hard to get outside of and remedy. And so, um, that's all it was. I also, like, after that moment, I decided, okay, Alex, you've been struggling with mental health for a long time. Maybe, um, you should be an advocate to talk about what that actually means and looks like. So at that time, this was like five or six years ago, I started to talk on stage at tech conferences about mental health as a founder, mental health in the tech space. And when I would do that, I would look online for, um, hoodies and things that I can wear on stage to be a part of the conversation. Well, when I was doing that, I realized, okay, like, these are fine, but like, 90% of these, this mental health wear is very bumper sticker. Meaning, like, it's purple, it's yellow, it's red, it's protect your peace, it's mental health matters, it's smile, it's okay, um, I'll wear it for this purpose, but I'm not going to wear it anywhere else. And again, like, it was a passing thought. I was traveling for work, um, and I was wearing an essential long hoodie. And then I saw somebody else in, like an essentials, uh, crew neck. And I was like, dang, man, you can wear essentials everywhere. You can see essentials at the hookah bar, at the club, in the airport, uh, you know, anywhere, because. And it only says essentials on it, but, like, they come in different styles. It's thick, durious. And I was like, dang, that's cool, man. I. I wish there was something around mental health that could be like that same thing. And I was like, well, why not let me just build it? Um, and so my. Just when I was thinking about, cause I'm not a fashion person, I'm not any of these things. Like, well, let me just figure out how I'm gonna do this. Took me two years to put together something that I felt comfortable releasing because I'd Be so specifically curated for not just like, oh, this is a cool thing, but like, everything has meaning in it. Every single thing. So when you buy a hoodie, when you look at this hoodie, like, every single thing that you see, there's a meaning for it. And, um. And when I was thinking about what I want to call it, code 22, again, just kind of stuck to me. So, um, you know, it's mental health, street wear, luxury street wear. The idea is, um, it's not really about the street wear. It's a vehicle to have conversations around mental health anywhere. So when I wear this, and it's already happened when I've taken this to, like, the hookah bar or when I've been there for. Man, that's a cool hoodie. Where'd you get that? It's like, yeah, let me tell you about it.

Speaker A: Uh, now. I'll catch you. Keep going. Go ahead.

Speaker B: No, I was just going to see that the. Hopefully, like, I have the blessing of, like, this being popular enough where. And there's a customizable feature to it that if. If I'm in the airport and you're in the airport and we both have CO22 hoodies. But, like, yours looks different than mine. It can be two things. One, it's like that seeing, like knowing that there's somebody there. So I always tell people, it's like the black people head nod, like, what's up? Uh, like, we don't have to. We don't have to acknowledge each other, but it's like, I see you, my man. Or like, if you're sitting at a bar and you, like, feel compelled to be more, uh, you know, expressive, you can, like, talk to the person. So you can talk to them and be like, hey, man, I see that you got that. What does yours mean? Because I know that there's hidden features in here that I recognize, but you can tell me about what it means to you. So.

Speaker A: That's so dope. Um, but I think before I react to that part, man, M. I just wanna say I'm glad that you're here.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker A: I'm glad that you're here. Um, and, you know, I've had my own challenges, you know, in terms of, you know, there's seasons in my life where in the past they're really driven by white supremacy culture in corporate America, frankly. Um, where you just realize that you see very clearly that you are on the outside and you can get in cycles where you feel like you're alone and there aren't points of Support or community of people that care about you and love you. Um, but I'm glad. And so I say I can empathize. Um, I can relate to those seasons, those moments. And so I just want to stay again. I just want to say I'm glad that you're here. Let's acknowledge that. And thank you for sharing your story about the name, because I would have never thought. And I'm confident that when you're having these conversations out in the wild, that that's not what people go to or think or even presume. Right. Um, because it's just. It's very powerful. Um, and then I want to say what a dope way to bring conversations around mental health and wellness to the forefront.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Um, there's something to be said about also leveraging fashion to then facilitate conversation and facilitate community. You know, you're absolutely right. I mean, it happens all the time. You think about, like, when people wear jerseys or they wear. Or they're just certain brands. There's certain brands that you wear where it's like, hey, if you wear this brand, you're kind of part of a, uh, community. You're part of a club. You belong to a space. And so there's something to be said about that. And I. Man, I would love. First of all, let's make sure that we put the link in the, uh, that you shout out the. Well, we're gonna make sure we put the link in the show notes so that people can cop some code 22. I'm gonna make sure to get some code 22 apparel.com code22apparel.com, I'm gonna make sure I cop a hoodie today. Um, so that'll be. That'll definitely be something I do. Um, you know, as we think about. As we think about some of, like, the space. Right. So you're doing code 22. You're focused on mental health. I'm confident you're having conversations, talking about mental health. And there's intersection and in streetwear, too, which is, again, is. I'm gonna say again, it's also dope because you think about black and brown communities. We're underserved and underdiagnosed when it comes to all manner of things. Uh, but certainly when it comes to our mental health and depression, I remember having a conversation. I've had this. I've asked so many psychologists, this psychiatrist, this. It's like, you know, neurodivergence is like, this broad term. And so, you know, you think about, um, you think about, you know, what does it mean to be neurodivergent? There are certain groups and spaces that consider depression to be a part of neurodivergence, right? And so it's like, okay, well, if depression is part of neurodivergence, and we know that black and brown people, particularly just marginalized groups, they suffer from depression and at higher rates than, um, majority groups and spaces, then, like, what does that mean for the types of support and resources we should be providing to them as a neurodivergent community? Um, and so you talk about streetwear. Everyone loves streetwear, right? Streetwear is not exclusive to black and brown people. And yet streetwear is fire. Like, we created streetwear. And the fact that, like, so you're creating something that's accessible to everybody and yet still has, like, its cultural roots within a space that's very same space as the space that needs it the most. Um, I just. I think you're hitting on a lot of different. You're hitting the problem from a lot of different dimensions, and it's exciting.

Speaker B: You're like, you're cheating a little bit because you're touching on something not even mentioned. Okay, maybe like, 70% of the founding story.

Speaker A: Okay, keep going.

Speaker B: The other 30% is something you just hit on. So when I was. When I was, um, doing code 22, or. Excuse me, when I was talking, um, on stage, and I decided that I wanted to be an advocate, what I actually started with is I want to provide free therapy for communities of color. How do I do that? And, uh, nonprofit 501C3. I'm like, man, this stuff is like, I'm getting lost. I don't know what the hell to do, how to do this. So I started to look up people that I can emulate their model of like, okay, um, you started a business because I've started businesses before. You've got a business, and you've got your foundation. It's like, all right, well, we got Bill Gates, Microsoft, the Gates Foundation. Okay, we got. Okay, well, I could do this. Let me find a business so that I can create a foundation. And so then that's how Code 22 apparel starts. But what's actually happening in the same time is I'm creating Code 22 foundation, which is meant to provide free therapy for underserved communities. And I'm doing so with the help of, uh, a few family members that are clinical psychologists and some other people that have been in the nonprofit space. But that's really what I want. And it turned into hoodies.

Speaker A: That's Incredible. And, and I think, and I think creating, built. I love the. Again, it goes back to network, right? So, like, you know, you use. You built, you have something that's tangible and understandable and accessible and allow that to then be the center spoke. Or, um, even if it's not the, like the operational center spoke, it's the emotional center spoke that all these other things can then come out of. Right?

Speaker B: Facilitator.

Speaker A: It's the facilitator. Um, that's just an incredible thing. Um, you know, Alex, I just, I want to say, I appreciate you. I want to say again, because, um, you know, we have people come up here and they share their stories. I know I'll share some of my own experiences. I'm just going to reiterate. I'm glad that you're here. We're glad that you're here. Um, I appreciate. And, uh, you know, the world is better off for you being here and the world is better off for your resilience. Um, so thank you. Um, one more time before we let you go. Where can people engage you? Where can people engage and learn more about Code 22 and the work that you're doing and also this larger space and vision and mission that you're building.

Speaker B: Yeah, man. Um, everything's just kicking off. So ode22apparel on Instagram, on TikTok, on LinkedIn, um, code22apparel.com and hopefully, uh, soon, code22foundation.org um, but we got a lot of things in the background right now. Um, things to be released, weeks that are going to just establish of what the heart around what I'm doing is. And, uh, we hope people just decide to join in whatever way that is, whether it's telling their own story on, on a medium that I, that I create. Buying a hoodie to show, um, support for either themselves or somebody that they love or, uh, you know, participating in a way of providing, um, therapy for people that need it. Uh, whatever that looks like for you, please do that.

Speaker A: That's awesome to hear. Um, look, it's been Alex, male branch. Um, again, tech entrepreneur. Tech entrepreneur. Um, thriver. I'm not gonna say survivor thriver, um, creative speaker, advocate, um, and founder of Code, uh, 22, code22apparel.com. Make sure y' all click the links in the show notes till next time, y'.

Speaker B: All.

Speaker A: Love y'. All. Peace.

Speaker B: Thank you, Zach.

Speaker A: Thank you, man.

Speaker B: Bye.

Speaker A: Living Corporate is a podcast by Living Corporate llc. Our logo was designed by David Dawkins. Our theme music was produced by Ken Brown. Additional music production by Antoine Franklin for Musical Elevation. Post production is handled by Jeremy Jackson. Got a topic suggestion? Email us@livingcorporatepodcastmail.com you can find us online on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and living-corporate.com thanks for listening. Stay tuned.