Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Lee Buckley.
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?
My name is Brandon Lee Buckley but I go by “B.Lee” I started in Indianapolis Indiana where I was born and raised. Once I graduated high school and attended college. Throughout my life I was always involved with anything doing entertainment rather its internships with Indiana Black Expo in my hometown to NFL Super Bowl Events like Celebrity Football Hoops hosted by Julie for Foster Kids, to NBA All star basketball events and FashionShows. I was always in the scene. By being in those scenes I met people like Kendrick Lamar, J.Cole, Young Joc, Chris Brown, Master P, Day 26, Big Sean, and more. By having those opportunities, I was blessed to pick the brains of the greats to see how I could make ways for success upcoming black talent when it comes to branding.
Fast forward during the pandemic is where I started building Melanin House Brandz. Where I provide black creators and talent all over the world including the UK and Canada opportunities to work with brands that are globally known. The brands that we have partnership with and have work with include Belaire, Bumbu, Fashion Nova, Fashion Nova MEN, BoohooMan, Savage Fenty by Rihanna, Rap Snacks, FUBU, B Condoms, Drawlz Brand, GLD, and many more. Melanin House and clients have also been featured on shows that include The Cw’s F Boy Island season 1 and season 3, The Cw’s Lovers and Liars, Netflix’s Too Hot To Handle, Adam 22’s For the Love of Lena, and more. Working with these brands has grown my clients to more opportunities than ever before, and has opened my roster to not only be in Atlanta area but areas like Miami, Houston, NYC, Tampa, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and more. Majority of my clients reside in the Atlanta area where black talent is the cream of the crop. Clients or Social Media Impactors in the Atlanta area include Dejuane McCoy ( @dejuane.mccoy on Tik Tok ) who has 2.5 Million Followers, Greg Metelus ( @metelus_1 on Tik Tok ) with 4.6 Million followers, Kay ( @worldwidekayy on Tik Tok ) with 1.2 Million Followers , D.Will ( @theylovedwillss on Tik Tok ) with 917K followers to helping creators like Coco ( @cocoshinele_ on Tik Tok ) who is a female celebrity barber in ATL all build and connect with the many brands mentioned above.
With all my success I just want to provide black talent the opportunities to sit at these tables and network with some of the best brands known to show that with passion, hard work and dedication and team work the dream can happen. ATL is the Mecca to provide those opportunities to upcoming talent and B.lee and Melanin House Brandz will continue to provide talent opportunities in not just ATL but all over because Global is the goal.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
On this journey it has not been a smooth road. Sometimes it was always hard to get anyone to believe in your goals but it really only takes you to believe. At the time of the come up a lot of people didn’t see the passion in social media it was taken as a joke. Until the world started to see that it was real money being made from the successes of DC young fly , B Simone, Pretty Vee and more. I as a brand owner of Melanin House Brandz had to show that I not only walk the walk but I had to talk to talk. So I had to sit in these meetings where I seen people that looked like me not get as many opportunities and demand that we do and with my team show that ” We were the right people” to do so. When I got my first deal with Rockstar Original Brand for my company that opened up and pathed the way for more brands to come. It took me 3 different group sets of talent to find the lane that would help build me to the person I am and the company that I am today. Don’t take No’s as the final answer, keep going til that yes comes even if it takes you years to achieve.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I like to call myself the ” The Big C.E.O”. I am known to be a social media culture curator , brand builder & manager to some of the biggest social media faces on the apps of Instagram and Tik Tok.
I am very proud of my dedication to the culture and how from the ground up I hustled and bustled and manifested where I am today.
What sets me apart from others is my dedication and my heart and how focused and driven I am. I don’t care to be in relationship, having kids, and more until my goals are achieved to where my legacy can be focused and pushed to the next level like never before. I could care less about the distractions I am too driven.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I wouldn’t be where I would be without people like B swift from back home in Indianapolis who is a huge radio personality who truly supported me since day 1 and helped push the envelope in many rooms. My creator Yahweh for blessing me with each and every opportunity and talent since day. My non profit team for B.Legendary from Diondra Forte, Shauna Campbell, Robin Hill, Antoine Gardner, Dorian Hayes, Andrea Beverly who help keeps me humble and on point . The youth that participate in my non profit in my home town of Indianapolis who encourage me and push me every single day who help me understand that dreams are possible. To my parents Pamela and John Buckley and brothers Adrian, John, and Deionte and sister Keela who birthed and was raised to be a great king, who instilled in me entrepreneurial traits and self love. To my clients who ” B.leeve” ( which is saying is use to my supporters) in me no matter what and show me, that hard work can be achievable from Norris Crawford Jr. ( like my little brother ) and Mama V who pushes me daily and lets me know my worth to the support of my team on Melanin House new and old ( LA , Trapyayo, Metelus, SK, Seven, CJ, DeMari, Andy, MadeBuck, Dejuane, B.Dot, D.Will, Bahri, Dev, Ric, spook, leek, stump, rns tray, Deno, Den, Shadean, Asia , Benet, Macho, Dae Dae, Roman, D.hayes, J Thompson, Hashan, Ray Gant, Horace Dodd, Keyon, and more who has since day 1 supported in some kind of way. I thank you all and Will continue to push to the next level. To my future kid this is all for you. Legacy is the goal
Contact Info:
- Website: www.melaninhousebrandz.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamtheofficialb.lee?igsh=MWNkNWQ4Zzd2eXVjMw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-lee-45b6bb9a?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@thebsidepodcasttv?si=cflcYpvuTrI0dVIF
Image Credits
Image credit : ( @rapsnacks on instagram ) Image Credit : Greg Ashbuck Image Credit: N.V Filmz Image Credit : Creative Native Films
