Behind The Wheel Podcast

Axel Merced is the CEO/Founder of Barber Geeks and The Pros Barber Shop in Bridgeport CT.  Axel knew at 11yrs old he wanted to be a barber and he set out to turn that goal into a reality, Ms Robinson Axel's High School English teacher, thought it was strange for him to want to pursue barbering as a career, but he didn’t let that deter him from pursuing his dream.

Immediately after HS Alex enrolled in Renasci Academy upon graduation he opened The Pros Barber Shop.  In his first year he was earning more than Ms Robinson.  Axel is a designer at his core and that creative passion led him to start creating his own razor blade and other designs which gave birth to Barber Geeks.

During this episode Axel shares with us what it was like sourcing material and identifying vendors during the early days and what some of the keys to his success have been along his entrepreneurial journey.  

Thanks for tuning into to the podcast, I certainly appreciate your continued support if you haven't already done so, please write a review and rate us on apple podcast.  

We're proud to announce the launch of our Behind The Wheel Patreon Page, as we look forward to brining you the best in running/entertainment aka Runutainment listener support will enable us to amplify voices of BIPOC who are doing amazing things within their communities.

We should live in a society where disputes are solved without shaming people into doing the right thing by filming them and putting them on blast. Because once the apology tour starts that’s exactly what they’re doing, acting.

Claira Janover posted a hyperbolic, satirical TikTok video about a month ago and it was immediately recognized as an analogy.  But, once it was tweeted by a self described internet troll it took on a life of its own.  Media outlets started regurgitating different versions of the same story.  Harvard, Deloitte, Fired, TikTok and Stabbing became the buzzwords that plastered the headlines.  I was curious to hear Claira's story, beyond a snippet of a TikTok video, so I invited her to be a guest on the podast.  

Claira Janover, 22, tearfully claimed on Wednesday that supporters of Donald Trump 'took my job away from me' by calling for her firing, in response to the video.  It turns out she was never employed by Deloitte, she was scheduled to start an internship, but they have since rescinded their offer.  

In the video which clearly was meant to be sarcasm and hyperbole in my opinion.  Claira was making analogy, drawing a comparison between all lives matter in response to black lives matter and all wounds matter in response to paper cut and a stab wound.  It is an absurd response, which further drives the point home.  Saying All lives matter in response to Black Lives Matter is the quintessential example of being tone death, whilst attempting to silence the voices of BIPOC.  

I do not now, nor have I ever advocated for violence.  I do respect Claira for using her voice for advocating on behalf of Black Lives Matter.  I find it ironic, that the online mob who claim Claira was advocating violence, have no problem sending her actual death and rape threats.  Why is that?  Hypocrisy much?  

Folks like to conduct studies, look at the raw data and then arrive at a conclusion. So, I conducted my own study from the Runner’s World Magazines I had laying around the house, which I’ve collected since I started running in 2010.

In total, I had 43 Magazine, 36 featured white people, 15 were blonde white women, 8 brunettes, 13 men. There were 7 Black people, 2 were women and 5 were men.

There’s a common theme on the covers, they were all slim supposed runners profile. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I show up to a marathon, I see all different types of hues, beautiful bodies, tall, short, fat, LGBTQ, just about every race is represented and yes slender bodies are displayed on race day. Marketing departments know this already they don’t need yet another study to tell them that representation matters.

Sprinkling in a token black every now and again isn’t progress in my opinion, I’m not striving to arrive on the cover of Runner’s World Magazine. I don’t need to be a part of Runner’s World Magazine to confirm my existence in the world as a black man or my contribution to the running community.

I stopped buying Runner’s World Magazine. I don’t look to the media to see how I should behave in the world.  keeping-track.com had an interesting episode on why race matters. 

Perhaps instead of waiting for the Runner's World to catch up with the world we should create our own.

In Tulsa, Okla- A man high on bath salts climbed on top of an ambulance and refused to come down after 3hours.  Solofa, happened to be reporting live on the scene, he covered the standoff for 2hours.  Solofa is an exotic animal specialist-(think of Joe Exotic, but black and better looking), photographer and traveling model.  

Travis Withers is a 42 years old Husband and father to three boys, Hillman 10, Harrison 7, and Hugh 3.  He's a Native of North Carolina currently residing in Chattanooga, TN.  Travis has BS in Industrial Engineering from NC State U -MBA in Marketing from UNC Chapel Hill -Worked at Procter & Gamble, Sanofi and ConAgra Foods.  Throughout the years Travis has moved all over the country as he climbed the corporate ladder.  When Covid-19 shut the nation down Travis decided to homeschool his sons and support his wife's Shayla's medical practice.  During our candid conversation, Travis shared what it's been like for him to take on a non-traditional role as a stay at home father, a role he takes seriously.  A few things intrigued me about Travis' use of social media, his transparent "Daddy Chronicles," are hilarious and his stance on politics specifically as it relates to race in America.  

Chris Sewell is an avid runner and educator based in MA.  He's originally from Brooklyn and is interested in talking abut the experiences of Black gifted students and LGBTQ people of color.  This was a timely conversation about running race and the role of LGBTQ community has played and continues to play within the civil rights movement.

Perhaps by now you've seen the video of Lecrae, pastor Louie Giglio and Dan Cathy, In the clip Louie tries to rebrand "white privilege as white blessings"-epic fail.  In the clip Lecrae can be seen nodding as if in approval and later on even starts using the term "white blessings."  They've both went on their apology tours.  Sarah Pulliman Bailey caught up with Lecrae in an interview for the Washington Post.

I applaud the introduction of the "Police Reform Bill," but I don't get excited over performance theatrics-lets get this bill passed.  When I initially saw a picture of Nancy and Chuck wearing Kente-Cloth I thought it was a joke, when I found out later in the day it was legit, I thought it was ridiculous and I said as much in a post.  It is possible to find something offensive or funny, for whatever reason and not allow it to distract you from the big picture.  There's a growing trend on social media to snuff out opinions that don't align with your world view.  

I one point I hated macaroni & cheese, people couldn’t understand why I didn’t like it.  How can you be black and not like macaroni & cheese?  That argument never made since to me.

As young black man growing up adults constantly beat into my head: “if your friends all jump off a roof are you gonna do it?” We were encouraged to think critically and independently. I don’t look to social media, politicians or entertainers to formulate my opinions on current events or politics nor do I post things with the intent of pissing people off or alienating a particular demographic. 

I’ve since changed my position on Mac & Cheese-change is possible.