BE A BALLER -"Building a lifelong legacy"

Christian Johnson and High School Student Caden Gadjigo: How Passion Fuels Entrepreneurship

• Coach Tim Brown, Uncommon Life • Season 5 • Episode 4

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Christian Johnson and Northland High School student Caden Gadjigo share how they turned their passions into thriving entrepreneurial ventures. Christian reveals her evolution from crafting greeting cards to becoming a business co-founder of ABC Black Iconic Figures, driven by a thirst for autonomy and a deep commitment to education. Meanwhile, Columbus Northland high school senior Caden shares how a simple sketch set him on a journey to fashion entrepreneurship and creation of his Creatively Guided Attire clothing brand . Together, they offer a wealth of insight and inspiration for anyone on a similar entrepreneurial quest.

In this engaging episode, we also discover how Christian's initiative, ABC Black Iconic Figures, born from the challenges of 2020, aims to empower black and brown students through representation and diverse role models. We explore the vital role of business connections and mentorship in shaping careers, as Christian and Caden recount their experiences with organizations like MBK and Columbus Fashion Alliance. Through their stories, listeners will find valuable lessons on the importance of authenticity, hard work, and perseverance in building a lasting legacy in the creative design world.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Be A Baller where we're building a lifelong legacy for our families, communities and the world. Your host, coach Tim Brown, is excited for you to join him on this journey. On each episode, we'll be talking about how to be intentional about building a lasting legacy. We'll be exploring what it means to leave a mark that goes beyond just our lives but has a positive impact on those around us and even generations to come. So if you're looking for inspiration, guidance and practical tips on how to build a lasting legacy that makes a difference, then you're in the right place. So grab your earbuds, get comfortable and let's dive in. It's time to be a baller.

Speaker 2:

We are live from the Be A Baller Ballers Edge event. All right, I like that. Okay, y'all ready? All right, let's roll, let's roll, let's roll. All right, hello everybody, and I am Chris Stevens, and I am the guest host for the Be a Baller podcast, where we teach and talk about building a lifelong legacy. I'm live at the Ballers Edge event and I have the absolute honor of interviewing two powerhouses of both creative design and entrepreneurship.

Speaker 2:

Our first guest, our first guest today. I am so excited about doing this today and I hope they're excited to do this. Our first guest Christian Johnson. Christian is a project manager and creative designer with experience in business and logistics. She is the co-founder of ABC Black Iconic Figures. She, a Christian, possesses a strong background in education projects for women, girls and marginalized and underrepresented communities around Columbus. She is also the CEO and founder of C Noel Designs and business manager for Broken English 101.

Speaker 2:

Please give a hand for our first guest, kristen Johnson. Our second guest hails from Northland High School. Caden is a creative, a graphic designer, a scholar, as well as a myriad of other titles. He has interned at various companies, including NBBJ, columbus Fashion Alliance and Warhol on White Wall Street, acquiring skills such as personal branding, architectural principles and trend and analytic research. Man Music. Again, just a reminder he is a current and soon-to-be graduate of the Northland High School, where he is a part of the STEM club. There's a few other things he's doing, so much, he's so busy, and he also attends Columbus State and Fort Hayes Career Center. He's also a proud member of the National Honor Society and Technical Honor Society, and here's a thing we should really celebrate he's been on honor roll all four years, all four years.

Speaker 2:

Give it up everybody for kate and gejigo. How you folks doing today. Everybody. Good, hopefully those mics are on and not muted. Team here, switch me. I got you. Yeah, I got you. I'll do that one. Thank you alright. So I'm so glad you guys are here. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 3:

Happy to be here happy to be on stage. You're a celebrity out here, apparently let me find out.

Speaker 2:

There's a few vikings in the room. I hear y'all over there, okay alright. Um, first question for this is for both of you. This is for both of you because you both are in both creative design and you both are entrepreneurs as well. Um, the first question I want to give give to both of you, or want to ask you, is tell your story about how you got into creative design and entrepreneurship for those who are like in hopes to do the same thing, sure.

Speaker 4:

Well, you can go first, Cause my story is super long.

Speaker 3:

I have a long story as well, but I'll make it short. First of all, good afternoon everyone. I am honored to be here with all of you. Thank you to Mr Brown for the invitation.

Speaker 3:

So my pathway into creativity and entrepreneurship probably started in high school. I am far removed from high school, so it's been many, many moons ago, but I started making greeting cards. I wanted to be the next hallmark. When I was in high school it was really just a passion of mine to make greeting cards. It didn't go anywhere whatsoever, but you got to start somewhere. I had family friends just buying greeting cards from me. They were terrible looking back, but I did. That's kind of where it started. But I always had this passion to create.

Speaker 3:

Moving forward, I went to school for education, so I got my teaching degree. Then I decided that I didn't want to be a teacher for the rest of my life because no? And then so, once I decided that I didn't want to be in the educational space anymore, I still had the passion to educate. So I went back to college and got my master's degree in business administration, and that's where my passion for entrepreneurship lied. I realized that I was not designed to work a nine to five.

Speaker 3:

But I did not know what that looked like. My passions lied in various different areas, from event planning to mentoring to just being in the space where I could curate an exciting environment for the folks who decided to share space with me. And when I realized that I no longer wanted to work for the man, if you will, I said let me give this business thing a try. You know, I just I knew nothing about owning a business. No one in my family owned a business. I didn't have mentors that were able to educate me on learning business. It just sounded cool. And I'll stop there to say I have learned a lot about earning owning a business just by trial and error. I'm sure there'll be more questions after that.

Speaker 4:

I'd love to hear that. Well, I started my business mainly, like I would say, about freshman year of high school. I was in in English class and we were doing everything but English work. I was sketching in my notebook like a character in my like sketchbook. It was about like it's my mascot now, essentially. And my friend was like, well, why don't you put that like on a shirt and start like a whole like brand off of that? And he was joking at the time. But I was like, why not? Like I was interested in fashion already so I was like, let me start a brand.

Speaker 4:

So the same day we ended up getting like it was like me, a couple of my friends we came into the library at lunch and we started like having a meeting about like what this brand should be and everything, what the name is. So just from like conceptualizing, getting together. And then I learned from that that I just don't really like doing the design process mainly with like a group of people. There's just too many cooks in the kitchen. Not that that's a bad thing or anything, but it's just not how I like to do it. So I just kept working on it by myself for just about a couple of years and then, moving over to like my junior year, I got introduced to the graphic design program at Fort Hayes and my teacher was a I think he was like a retired, like millionaire with his business, essentially. So he was telling us about like all these things that we can do, so that just like shot up in me. So I applied, got in there and then I just started working on my brand from there, start coming up with the values and everything.

Speaker 4:

I noticed like growing up that I never really had like that community around being a creative. So I realized like what if I made that my brand's mission to be able to provide like creatives that are also in my shoes, that have all these great ideas but don't have like that community of people that can they can come workshop with or like even just be able to just like talk to about their work on like an artistic standpoint. So that's why I started my cold clothing brand and everything and, moving from that, I've done a lot of great work with my brand. My brand has hit about one year in the making right now. So we're doing about three pop-up shops, a couple fashion shows I've been. I've also been to a couple conventions and spoke about it as well, and currently we're doing a Valentine's drop on February 7th as well.

Speaker 4:

It's the sweater I got on right now Just got done with the photo shoot, but it's just been a lot Happened to juggle entrepreneurism, college school sports Not sports, but like club stuff as well. So, yeah, it's been a journey, honestly, but I'm very grateful to be here and I'm grateful that you all came here to come support our vision and everybody who's been out here.

Speaker 2:

This question is also for both of you, because we all have something that really ignites us to to do, um, whether it's to play a sport, whether it's to create a song, whether it's to draw a picture, what is that one thing that ignites your passion for entrepreneurship?

Speaker 4:

well, I do know mine. Um, what ignites my like drive for entrepreneurship is just to be that change for the next generation. I always try to think of things like five, ten years ahead and think how I can make an impact on the next group of people who want to do what I'm doing. So I want to be that inspiration that I had when I saw other people doing clothing, brand spaces and doing entrepreneurism. I want to be that change. That's what gets me up every morning.

Speaker 3:

My drive for entrepreneurship is very basic. I'm not even going to hold you. I have a lot of passions in life and maybe we'll get to talking about that, but, honestly, my drive to be an entrepreneur is because I don't like people telling me what to do. I'm being very honest. I don't like someone to tell me that I have to be somewhere by a certain time to do this thing. I can only make this amount of money. I don't. I don't like that. So and that's just how I'm hardwired. I don't believe everyone is built to be an entrepreneur, because I need people to work for me, um, but me personally, I don't. I don't like people telling me what to do so entrepreneurship is what drives me.

Speaker 2:

I definitely understand that Absolutely Christian. This question is for you. I want you to talk just briefly about ABC Black Iconic Figures. How did it come to be and how has it been an impact?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so I love our story. So, really quickly, just a quick show of hands. I do have a teacher background, so I'm gonna try and reel that in for. But just honestly, if you will entertain me for just a moment, with all of you being high schoolers, if you think back from kindergarten to where you are now, just by a show of hands, besides our greats right, besides our martin luther kings, besides our rosa parks, besides our possibly mal right, besides our Martin Luther Kings, besides our Rosa Parks, besides our possibly Malcolm X, how many of you all can honestly say there's been a great deal or an equal amount of representation of black people in your educational experience? Okay, look around. This is why I do what I do, right?

Speaker 3:

So, essentially, my co-founder and I, delana Green she is my best friend. We've known each other since we were nine. She essentially was. She decided. We both graduated with our teaching degree. She kept going. I did not.

Speaker 3:

But she realized in 2020, when the world shut down, and most specifically at the time she was working for Columbus City Schools she realized that there was a lack of resources, most specifically for black and brown students. So not only was there the lack of internet access, because everything went virtual, but there was nothing that was tying them to or holding them accountable, or even entertaining enough for them to continue to want to learn while they weren't in school. So she said I have to create something for my babies, right, like I want to create something for black and brown students. What happened was she decided to create something that did not look like anything close to what we have now, but the essence was we want to make sure that, as our students are learning to read and write, they have something that looks like them and inspires them to be whatever they want to be. So, 2020, black Iconic Figures was birth.

Speaker 3:

Right 2020, 2021, we started getting with an illustrator friend of ours who does all of our illustrations. She came to me at that point and says Christian, I know that you've created many things. Can you make this happen? 2022, abc, black Iconic Figures was birthed. We got our first line of products in 2023. And last year was the first year we were in full production. But what drives us is the fact that we want black and brown students to know, from two years old two to three years old that you can literally be anything that you want to be, but it has to first start with being exposed to people who look like you to understand that you have the ability to do what you want to be. Do what you want to do and do what you want to be.

Speaker 2:

Do what you want to do and be what you want to be. All right, Caden Caden, this next question is for you. How did you get connected with companies and organizations like MBBJ and Columbus Fashion Alliance?

Speaker 4:

And how has that experience propelled you into what you're striving to become or what you're doing now with your business? Now, well, with MBBJ. I got partnered with MBBJ because I was working with ACE Mentorship Program through my STEM club and they didn't have an internship for me that was lined up, so my STEM advisor had to pull a couple strings to see if I can get an internship for the summer. And I actually got connected with the project manager. Her name is Monica Wengler and she was mainly just showing me around about, like, all the ins and outs of architecture, from design landscaping. Like there's a lot of things that you that actually go into making a building that I didn't even know. Like, for instance, there's a whole team that just does like the greenery and everything. Like I didn't even know that when it comes to buildings and everything. But with that that's how I got connected.

Speaker 4:

And then, with Columbus Fashion Alliance, I went to a job fair. My um, like freshman year, it was freshman year and they, they were there and they were telling me about like oh, you can start your home brand and you can learn how the ins and outs of creating your own fashion brand, which I was already interested in. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna sign up for it. And I just got connected through there and we started a, did a brand called it's called Central Ave, and we did a pop-up show and gave up all of our pieces to the community, to people in need for that don't have clothing and students that are going back to school with that there's still some people that actually come around and wear it as well and how it's basically helped my brand.

Speaker 4:

Now, at least with MBBJ, it showed me that I don't want to be in that like corporate space, like I enjoy like being in the like professional space.

Speaker 4:

But I just realized I don't really like the nine to five aspect of it, like how you were saying, like having someone tell you what to do. So I just learned from that. Like that that's not really for me. And then with Columbus Fashion Alliance, I'd say that they gave me the foundation of building my brand, because my brand at when I came, before I came to CFA, was more of an idea, but with them being able to teach us about like store storytelling, marketing, production, design, even visual merchandising, which I didn't even know went into creating a brand. But it's one of the key pillars of of like how, why our stores look like this now, like when you walk into hollister, like it has like a certain vibe compared to like h&m, like that's all visual merchandising. So with that, I would say that cfa mainly gave me like the foundation to build my brand up and create something that will last and not something that will fade away in six months. That's good.

Speaker 2:

This question is for both of you. What advice were you given along your journeys that carry you on today or that you carry in your heart today? That's a deep one isn't it?

Speaker 4:

That's a head scratcher right there. I would probably say the advice I got from my teacher his name is Zachary Traxler. He told me to always eat the cake before the icing. Now I know y'all probably thinking, like the cake before the icing, like both of them is good. But what he really means by that is like do the hard work before you can accept like the benefits of it. Like, for instance, like waking up and not like scrolling on your phone or something, and that lines like just being able to do the work first and then just be able to enjoy the benefits. And I've carried that throughout like my work ethic a lot, because there's been a lot of times where I've been like I don't really feel like doing this right now, I'll do this later. And then, and then I just remember that and I'm like, well, if I do the hard work now, I'll be able to enjoy the benefits later. So I just carry that mainly.

Speaker 3:

For me, I'd have to say they're kind of twofold One is trust the process and two is be authentic to who you are, no matter what spaces you're in. Um, so, trusting the process. Business is hard work. It looks fun, it looks easy, um, but it's it is hard work. It is a slow grind. Um, you do not see immediate results.

Speaker 3:

I know that social media makes you think that it's glamorous and everyone is just making all of the money the minute they decide to own a business. That is far from the truth. Um, so it is. It is hard work and you have to ensure that this is what you want to do, day in, day out, long hours, no money, all the things. You have to be willing. You have to be willing to put in the hard work to start seeing a payoff and then be authentic to yourself. We are a black brand period. We tried to teeter the line of saying we were for all people and, yes, absolutely Anybody of any race can use our products. But we had to stand 10 toes down on why we created our brand, and that was it was originally for black students, because there is a lack of resources that our students specifically need, and we weren't willing to to negotiate on that.

Speaker 2:

It's good Listen. Thank you for joining me on the podcast. Can we give one more hand for Christian Johnson and Caden Gajigo? As always, thank you for joining the Be A Baller podcast. Make sure to follow us on Instagram at Be A Baller podcast. Thanks for joining us today.

Speaker 1:

If you've enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends. The Be A Baller podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. This podcast was created by Coach Tim Brown and recorded and edited by the video production class of Worthington Christian High School. Be sure to come back next week as we continue to discuss on how to build a lifelong legacy. Until then, don't forget to be a baller.