The Matt Show

Makafui Searcy is the owner of Fourtune House, a creative empowerment workshop and event space on the South Side of Chicago in Bronzeville. At 22 years old, Makafui has lead a way for empowering the creative development of young artists to access reassures and opportunities. Makafui’s inner circle consists of some of Chicagos most talented rising artist from musicians, to film makers, to visual artists and more. Makafui has a well-rounded mind and is an avid explorer from many counties to many disciplines.

Learn more about Fourtune House:

Follow Makafui on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makafuikofisearcy/

Follow Makafui on Twitter: https://twitter.com/makafuisearcy

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DM the Intersection on Instagram to contact us: https://www.instagram.com/the.intersection.pod/

Eric Zhu is a 15 year old 2x exited founder, investor, and current founder at Aviato. Eric has raised over $500K in his high school bathroom over video calls. Eric and I talk about what its like being such a young founder and more about what he's working on at Aviato.

Learn more about Eric: https://ericzhu.co/

Learn more about Aviato: https://www.joinaviato.com/

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Watch the Intersection on YouTube: https://fanlink.to/theintersection

Follow The Intersection on Instagram (DM to reach out): https://www.instagram.com/the.intersection.pod/

Aaqib Usman is the founder of Light Pong, the world's first 1-Dimensional game console or you could say the world's first connected toy company. As of this recording, I happen to work for Light Pong! Aaqib is an entrepreneur with an extensive background in bringing together the physical and digital worlds. He's previously the founder of Midwest Immersive, a tech installation and tech-based experiential company where he did work for Verizon, Progressive and many other companies.

You can connect with Aaqib via...

Learn more about Light Pong at: playlightpong.com

or on YouTube: youtube.com/playlightpong

Gabe Tavas is the founder of Symmetry Wood. At Symmetry Gabe has developed Pyrus, a material made from bacteria that closely mimics wood to prevent deforestation. 

Gabe and Symmetry won the national James Dyson award and have been featured in the World Economic Form.   

Gabe is a long time friend of mine and we worked as co-founders for 3 years on and off on different projects. 

Gabe is an avid maker-of-things, sustainability specialist, and materials specialist.  

Learn more about Symmetry here: http://symmetrywood.com/

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The Intersection YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheIntersectionPod

The Intersection Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MXARDdPTmyuJra6uo1k3d

The Intersection Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intersection/id1317620369

Mirza Baig is a software engineer and entrepreneur. He's the creator of an app called Monk Mode to help you stay on track of your desired habits, he created an event discovery tool for Muslim events at mosques around your area, and is building a coaching/therapy platform. He's also a founding engineer at Cash Drop. 

Follow The Intersection on Instagram: The.Intersection.Pod

Ruben Flores is the founder and CEO of CashDrop. He’s on a mission to create as much generational wealth for Latinos world wide as possible. He’s a serial entrepreneur and I’ve actually had the pleasure of interviewing him two other times in the past.

@the.intersection.pod / all socials

@cashdrop.biz to follow CashDrop

DM me on Instagram for podcast inquiries @nonstop.matt

Jonah is an amazing artist in graphic design, film, fashion, modeling, and music who has done work with large molding agencies including Photogenics LA and Anti-Agency as a model and media creator. Jonah has worked along side Tyler The Creator for GOLF (but didn’t wanna talk about it cause he’s tired of being recognized for that). Jonah has made various short films on his own and for large brands. Jonah has made a lot of amazing drawn and graphic art as stand alone works, for his clothing, and for various clients.

Check out Jonah’s work at: http://www.jonahtwallach.net/

Follow Jonah on Instagram @Jonah_of_arc

Email Jonah: [email protected]

This episode included conversation around: freeing yourself from being self-obsessed, what is truth & ego mascaraing as truth, going to college at USC, the culture of LA, status, making normal vs weird art, taking your art seriously vs playfully, not losing faith in your efforts, dressing intentionally, why privileged people should always be uncomfortable, empathy, and much more…

Matt has known Jonah since high school where they shared various classes and Matt watched Jonah just draw and draw and draw… Jonah even designed Matt’s initial logo for @hustlegurus (a documentary series about Chicago startups) and various song covers from when Matt rapped in high school and after.

Please share and review the show if you enjoyed this episode!

Matt finally interviews a couple of his best friends after years and years of working along side them and watching them grow… Ra Gordon and Emmanuel Isreal (GoldenBoyMnny) are two underground Chicago hip-hop legends in-the-making. Ra is an 18 year old producer who went from making beats in his family’s basement to working in professional studios all around Chicago and has managed to create songs with artists that have garnered millions of plays and is currently being mentored/managed by Chicago icon Freddy Burton AKA Supa Bwe. GoldenBoyManny has gone from making music videos for his friend’s YouTube gaming channel as a young teenager to securing a performing spot and official poster listing for Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash 2021.

Manny is the founder of a hip-hop collective called Exit The Premises (ETP) that both Ra and Matt are members of.

The three discuss Ra and Manny’s journey in the music industry, being genuine and using their authenticity to connect with other creatives in the music industry who have helped them rise up.

Follow Ra & GoldenBoyMnny:

GoldenBoyMnny:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgvo40DLDYo9nZNSgJvr26w

Instagram: @goldenboymnny

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/goldenboymnny/1437734560

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/09yOJNztuGRIdAS1V3PZ8t

Ra:

Instagram: @prod.ra

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeVEjzysSteq4NKjAUKas6g

BeatStars: https://www.beatstars.com/ra_beats/tracks

Matt finally interviews a couple of his best friends after years and years of working along side them and watching them grow… Ra Gordon and Emmanuel Isreal (GoldenBoyMnny) are two underground Chicago hip-hop legends in-the-making. Ra is an 18 year old producer who went from making beats in his family’s basement to working in professional studios all around Chicago and has managed to create songs with artists that have garnered millions of plays and is currently being mentored/managed by Chicago icon Freddy Burton AKA Supa Bwe. GoldenBoyManny has gone from making music videos for his friend’s YouTube gaming channel as a young teenager to securing a performing spot and official poster listing for Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash 2021.

Manny is the founder of a hip-hop collective called Exit The Premises (ETP) that both Ra and Matt are members of.

The three discuss Ra and Manny’s journey in the music industry, being genuine and using their authenticity to connect with other creatives in the music industry who have helped them rise up.

Follow Ra & GoldenBoyMnny:

GoldenBoyMnny:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgvo40DLDYo9nZNSgJvr26w

Instagram: @goldenboymnny

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/goldenboymnny/1437734560

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/09yOJNztuGRIdAS1V3PZ8t

Ra:

Instagram: @prod.ra

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeVEjzysSteq4NKjAUKas6g

BeatStars: https://www.beatstars.com/ra_beats/tracks

Sir Trevor James is a producer, creative director, and entrepreneur and AM (Amin Mashadi) is a music artist, both part of the “Collected” collective. We sat down and discussed their most recent fully self-product event “Collected As One.” We talked about their experience going to music-focused colleges in Chicago such as Columbia and SAE. We discussed best practices in the music industry, Trevor and Amin’s growing-up stories (including Amin moving from Iran to Turkey to Chicago and being split from his family multiple times for years on end. We ended with how they want to evolve as creatives from creating music for movies to hosting events for fitness and car shows and much more.

Follow Trevor and Amin:

Sir Trevor James:

Instagram: @sirtrevorjames

Website: https://www.sirtrevorjames.com/

Amin Mashadi:

Instagram: @its.amofficial

Website: https://www.itsamofficial.com/