that's John are you there testing testing good morning rocks you know when
Twitter just isn't cooperating with you and I keep I've approved you to speak
John I don't know why it's still showing up as request
good morning to John I can't believe we we're missing our DJ our music is not
playing stay tuned I'm just going to mute myself and check in with the host Manny
good morning everyone can everyone whoever can hear me put your hand up I can hear you
now I'm like oh gosh am I the one right well I don't know it was funny because I was speaking
before and like I I'm like what the heck I can't hear anybody okay now we can hear you
now we just need the DJ Manny Manny the man you're gonna text them I didn't move like we
have a group chat so I sent the link he knows um let me just send something so that's okay
we will just trying out fill the room out well let's see if we can set some sounds just
so that people that be John and racks and I'm actually under the weather today and I'm
my partner who is so amazing Jen will be steering the conversation with Manny absolutely thank you
for Manny to come here how can you be late to your own party exactly
although you know they and they're saying people that are late to things live longer
ten years they reported you live ten years longer than somebody who is always on time
or early I know and I and I'm kind of like that I get to you I arrive always 15 minutes
early and and I used to get mad at my ex for always being late I was like we can't be late
but yeah it's like damn it he's gonna be the one that loves me kind of I get it it makes sense
because you're busy like you're you're worried when people yeah are if they're late you're like
oh my gosh why aren't they here why aren't they here you were the one taking on the pressure
meanwhile they're the ones that are just maybe going with the flow yeah exactly maybe that's
what I should do yeah and I wouldn't be feeling this under the weather right now I'm glad you
posted the link up top to the for the the ticket so that's great I know and I love that shows like
on that post it goes day by day the the agenda yes that's great yeah it's not just a one-day
thing it's a week long couple weeks long isn't it yeah the 26th to February 11th which is great
and just like showing even each day how like it will be doing art like painting the canvas yeah
which is what I am I definitely would like Manny to elaborate on because I want to know okay once
the canvas the piece is created is it going to be auctioned off and will that money go to support
mental health like it should be I think that's my my take but other people may have or if it was
like displayed somewhere yeah there's something we could do with that yeah no kidding um okay
Manny I know I sent him another note maybe I'll invite does anyone else want to does anybody have
any questions on the event or I mean Bijon is in the event in the event Rax Rax has been she's an
artist musician and she is Canadian I believe I think she's in Toronto excellent nice to meet
you Rax maybe I'll hit him up too
I know we're a week away yeah we are it's coming up fast not that everyone good morning
good morning Bijon how are you today I'm feeling so good I'm so happy and excited and ready for the
first chic Expo yep it's coming soon that is awesome will you be there opening on the 26th
I will I will get to meet you IRL fighting totally I know unfortunately I will not so I will meet you
guys virtually that will be great too where do you live Jen I am in Calgary Alberta Canada
and I'm the other Jen that is in Vancouver Canada oh cool that's awesome I'm in LA I'm local here near
the art department so I'll probably be going to most of the events most of the days I have a
question for you yeah have you heard anything about LA NFT conference happening actually I'm not I
have not heard anything about enough TLA okay and I was on the space recently and met a lark who I'm
hoping will join confirmed it is happening I was like well you go to the website and like there's
nothing up saying that it's happening so I think there's a lot of confusion but it it is accordingly
according to metal arc it is happening in March okay maybe she has an inside scoop who's hosting
it do you know or did you know it's the Zach I don't know his handle his last name on Twitter
and that he has they've done it every year I guess right I think I'm assuming so don't take my
work for it but I do it's confirmed it's happening in March well if it is going on I'll probably be
there find a way to get involved John maybe while we're waiting why don't you tell us a bit about your
pieces at for fashion expo absolutely well the piece that Manny designed is really dope I really like
Manny's just ideation and how he's thinking about fashion as a social construct or our social
practice and a force for good and something that we can use to educate people and bring more
awareness and start conversations so I do something similar with a lot of the work that I make whether
it's paintings whether it's abstract music also make fashion pieces but it's about opening people's
minds and getting people to come into my world which is essentially about helping people to feel
unlimited uplifted inspired introducing the concept of abundance the abundance mentality and
letting folks know about the true power we hold and how when we come together open up celebrate
positivity get our minds in the right place and kind of operate at the highest levels and
uplift the world so I try to put that in everything that I do I have a podcast as well
called abundance universe would love for all of you to subscribe it's on Spotify Apple music and
Amazon it's on YouTube as well abundance universe podcast and abundance universe is why I bring in
artists and entrepreneurs and talk about things where people can tell their story and share some
kind of inspiration share something that can get someone from where they are to where they want to
be and again everything that I do is kind of in that same vein of education inspiration and
creative empowerment I love that and the job how often do you do your podcast is it like a weekly
show I usually do once a month okay still gonna I'm getting ready to decide who I want to be my first
guest for this year did about 13 episodes last year and I just want to continue to innovate so
every episode last year had a guest and I'm thinking this year I might start doing some
episodes with just me teaching something because I like that format as well so just exploring but
I want to get to at least once a month but I'm thinking two per month would be a great kind of
flow to get started but right now this month has been busy because I'm actually working on a book
a nonfiction book that is scheduled to be released here in the next three weeks so I've been heads
down focused on that and of course getting ready for this expo but once that's out and then you
know we'll have the expo to kind of kick off that as well I'll be bringing some of my pieces to art
department I have some shirts that I've made some sweaters and t-shirts as well that are just kind
of abstract painted reflecting the energy of the music that I make and I'll be selling those
items as well I have a website Bijonmachin.com shop where I sell all kind of prints and fashion items
and things like that and have a blog and everything like that as well so that's what I do on the art
side and I'm also a philanthropist so I founded a 501c3 art and technology education organization it's
called the we uplift the world foundation and we're all about creating sustainable careers for artists
and entrepreneurs showing them ways to get paid for their talent and we do the after-school programs
for the whole Inglewood unified school district we work with kids in Compton in Chicago New York
Atlanta DC and just try to give kids a leg up who want to be creative but don't necessarily know
or have the guidance or mentorship to get to the next level that's where we step in and
provide the arts education paid job experience things like that teaching kids how to make videos
how to start your own ecom store so if anybody's interested in charity and donating and supporting
you can go to we uplift the world.com we uplift the world is our 501c3 and then Bijonmachin.com is where
I host all my fine art activities and author activities community building and then I make
music under the name Lambo-mach Lambo like the car m-a-c-h-mach like Machin which is my last name
and that's like electronic abstract type of music so those three things work together the fine art
the community and the music all work together to represent me and my art and what I'm bringing to
the world and kind of my legacy that I want people to remember me for because that's what I think art
is really really special because you can create something that impacts people long after we're
gone and I love that idea because I've been impacted positively by so much poetry music and
art comic books movies films things created by other people I decided that that's the path that
I wanted to choose is create things that can inspire uplift entertain and educate others
and that can stay here after I'm gone so I'm grateful that we are here together you know
supporting and uplifting each other because every opportunity to showcase my work is confirmation
that I'm on the right path and that I'm living my life purpose and doing things in the right
direction so I appreciate all of you amazing really honestly like yeah I'm just I'm curious to
know um what got you into this space to start this journey you're talking about NFT space
yeah it's just like the the NFT space kind of creating this legacy yes well I like NFTs
because of the the technology and what it what it allows us to do we talk about the longevity
and art being able to inspire for generations and when you look about that look at the blockchain
and talk about the things that we can do and create longevity um I really like the idea of
the royalty conversation um that's that's a game changer and that's kind of one of the
main drivers I think that caused me from being someone who was interested in NFTs to being an
NFT artist and somebody who had to make them was knowing that I can get royalties on my work for
prepared in perpetuity um and the ease of the ease of transfer between artists and collectors
just really attractive um I've had to pay shipping prices to ship paintings that were
more than the painting before but you know just looking at all that it's like wow somebody
can literally just click a button and have my art and I have the money instantly this is something
I have to get involved in it's like it's it's not even an option it's a no-brainer I have to be a
part of this so uh I would say it was like late 2020 when I started hearing about it and then by
2021 I was like I got to get in I got to create these NFTs I got to understand what this is about
so we just went on a deep dive studying and then by the end of 2021 I was joining different groups
and collectives met some really cool people at um our Basel in Miami in 21 that were in web3 and
that kind of just caused me to say I'm going all in and then most of 2022 was spent doing NFT
had a couple projects work with some different organizations some of them rugged out some of
them are just slowed down um still part of some really cool projects um love working with the art
department with sick world which is a NFT created by Miguel and um I think the thing I love the
most about this web3 space initially it was the tech and what the tech could do but it's
it's really become the community and the people that I've met I've met some of my closest and most
supportive friends in the last two years in this space people that we've traveled together we've
built things started little businesses and projects made money together lost money together a lot of
things have happened because it's such an involved community and we show up to these spaces every
day we're going to IRL events NFT NYC going all over the place and um I hadn't seen anything like
that in the traditional art world the fine art world is a bit more closed off in that way
information is not as free flowing especially the higher up you go but I found that that was
quite the opposite in the web3 space and I really like that I like the openness of it
and uh yeah I kept hearing about it and I said I gotta get involved I'm an artist I care about art
I care about royalties I care about sovereignty I care about finances and how this whole thing
plays into what we're doing here because part of my mission is to help artists and creators be more
sustainable so NFTs made perfect sense for me I'm glad I got involved because like the system
is here to support us and it keeps moving forward um the folks in web3 are some of the
most active and pioneering people that I've ever met and there's always something going on there's
always somebody doing something and I like that you know I like how art can bring us to people
who have like minds and similar interests and similar drive and I think that's one of the
greatest things that web3 has done for me I think that's great I uh you know it's interesting you
talk about the fine art world and it being very closed off um agree on so many levels and um
you know so many artists like we do have some artists we're working with right now that are
really high caliber artists and it's just you know it's a shame that the industry has really
created a really closed off um version of itself and to have this web3 come out and
and allow artists to to do something different to you know reach a different crowd to you know
touch people in a different way that's what art was meant to do in the first place um you know
is to be enjoyed to listen to the artist's story I don't know I've been shooting art for last 17
years and I always loved that part of the art is listening to the creation why why did you make
this what tell me a bit about the inspiration behind it what were you feeling what were you
thinking I love that part of it and I think that the art is really the power of the story
and then the image coming together with all of that and um when these people they just kind of
lock it off to these fine art galleries then they don't really say too much about it you're kind of
missing out on a lot um bringing the artists forward and really getting them to to tell their
stories and and to really understand the the creation idealistic behind it uh really helps in
in selling artwork too I agree and that's another thing I really appreciate is the the collectability
of NFTs it's it's much more fun and exciting than physical paintings I think um to to an extent now
it depends on the process but as the artist the process of interacting with collectors and getting
them their artwork and getting paid is way more fun with NFTs and that's something that I think
is kind of a main driver is like okay I love to make this art but how can I get it out to
as many people as possible and create as much sustainability as possible so I can continue to
make the art and anything that can answer those two questions is going to be exciting and interesting
to a creative entrepreneur so well and it's great because um you know the companies that
are coming down the pipeline are starting to figure out like it's interesting because I do
have digital art on my walls um and it's Samsung it's Samsung's the frame but unfortunately they're
not using NFT technology what they're doing is making you subscribe to galleries again
unfortunately and and really what they need to be doing and I know other companies will
be picking this up and doing this is having a frame that connects to your wallet and then you don't
have uh limitations of which gallery you're dealing with you have artists that you select
yourself personally what's in your wallet attaches to what's on your wall right so
and uh I love love love love the fact that you can change digital daily to whatever you
feel like on your walls I mean I'm uh I'm sold on that
so I it looks like Manny might uh not been able to come for unknown reasons today which is no big deal
because what we can do is reschedule the room so that we don't waste people's time and we can
come back again and and have Manny there to talk about some of these pieces he's got in the project
also talk about you know the benefits of buying an NFT because you know there is huge benefits
to buying this NFT um being having access to the event access to merch with discounts
um there's a lot of bonuses with buying an NFT and the fun thing about this event is
is that if you can't make it um we're holding it virtually as well so you don't have to feel like
you're missing out because we are going to be holding it virtually as well so we are really
looking forward to helping with this event and making this a success we're excited for all the
artists that are participating and yeah we're just excited so we will um put out on twitter
the next time we have this rescheduled and hopefully you all can make it back in the room
again thanks for coming today thank you jen and jen and rocks thanks for joining i'm happy to get
on a twitter space this weekend if you want to tomorrow saturday sunday evening time something
whatever works for people let's keep it going let's keep the energy up again i'm very grateful
i want to thank you all for such effort and attention and awareness of just helping us do
this and making it happen helping mani bring this vision of life very grateful for all of
you so i want to thank you and let's keep it going let's let's be back here as soon as possible
sounds great we have a good day and look forward to talking to everybody soon