Today we’d like to introduce you to Cirilo Manego III.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Before we formed the viral multimedia company Black With No Chaser, it was born in our hearts, because for us Black With No Chaser is not just a brand but a way of life. From there, Charles “CJ” Lawrence III, George “Chuck” Patterson, and Tyson Jackson, who attended and graduated from Tougaloo College, had the vision to bring that feeling to life. It wasn’t until November 2017, however, when the brand was formed in Jackson, Mississippi. Now, we have offices in Jackson, MS, Atlanta, GA, Seattle, WA and Washington, DC. In our own right, we are an influencer brand while simultaneously being a conduit to other influencers as a credible source to plug other influencers into campaigns in which we vet to discern if those campaigns are in fact putting Black communities first. Thinking Black and Living Black is our mission and running parallel to that is our purpose of educating, organizing and mobilizing Black people.
We started on Facebook first doing what we called “journalistic mixtapes” where we would re-write articles on top of article links that would misrepresent Black people and communities. Those began to go viral which helped us build out our other social media platforms, including intersectional communities on Facebook like BWNC Money Talks, BWNC Politics, What’s Good, Bruh?, which is a community of brothers speaking on mental health, BWNC LGBT, and so much more. We understand and appreciate that we, Black people, are not a monolith. As a thought leader and community builders, we have a duty and responsibility to those who are a part of our tribe to ensure that all forms of Blackness are safe.
So, in a nutshell, our willingness to be authentic and as Black as we want to be has carved out a special lane for us. The name speaks for itself.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Building anything from scratch is not a smooth road. Add that to the fact that we weren’t necessarily the most social media savvy team; however, we made it work. We educated ourselves on how to produce quality content that had the tone of children from the South. We are proud of that. Another thing we did not have a handle on, initially, was standard of procedures or SOPs. In the beginning, we just had one goal: build the brand’s voice and tone. The rest of it would have to come along the way. Even understanding things like insertion orders and strategic partnerships in media was a different lane and language. It took getting burned a few times to understand that portion of the business. Ad sales was another piece. When you get into media, you really want to have someone on the team who understands sales and growth strategy. We actually had that but the missing piece was someone with connections to corporations and agencies that could keep our brand at the top of mind – not just during Black History Month but every fiscal quarter. The latter was tough to get to. Whew! Now, our main focus is developing our brand into its own platform that officially operates outside of social media because they do not serve Black people, Black creators and Black communities the way we envision. More on that coming soon. So, stay tuned.
As you know, we’re big fans of Black With No Chaser. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Black With No Chaser is a viral multimedia brand and influencer. We’ve been around for nearly five years. In that time, we’ve broke stories that have shut down jails for inhuman conditions. We’ve been the voice, actually me in that moment, at the insurrection. That video by itself was viewed over 20+ million times being shared by people like QuestLove, Rosario Dawson, DL Hughgley, and many many more. We like to say, “We are just as good in the streets as we are in the tweets.” In other words, we don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk.
We specialize in narrative building, thought leadership, curating safe communities (online and offline), growth strategy for start-up tech companies, event management and production, content design, paid media, digital organizing, social media strategy, digital strategy, DEI, corporate social responsibility, influencer marketing, ad sales and merchandise.
As a brand, we are most proud of building a platform that ensures all forms of Blackness are safe. Equally as proud of being a platform that is not bought and retains our autonomy to be freethinkers in a world that nearly forces people, especially those living in the margins, in a space of double consciousness. Every day we wake up, we know that the culture of our brand is inviting, passionate, accountable, and unapologetically Black.
Be on the lookout for our BWNC Radio app about to drop which is being finalized by Sika Noxolo, Director of Music and Entertainment and Dolla Black.
Lastly, tune into our marquee shows called The Black Lunch Break and Black People Be Knowing. Season 4 of TBLB is dropping soon.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We are always ready to collaborate and partner with other brands and creators. Simply reach out to cirilo@blackwithnochaser.com.
You can support us by visiting our website and subscribing to our listserv. We won’t disappoint.
Follow us across all social media platforms. Most are @blackwithnochaser but on Twitter, you can follow us @BeBlackNoChaser.
Thanks for supporting!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.blackwithnochaser.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/blackwithnochaser
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackwithnochaser
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeBlackNoChaser
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BlackWithNoChaserTV
