CASEY: Welcome to the Questions to Hold podcast. I'm your host and BWB founder, Casey Carroll. In a world that often praises answers over questions, the act of holding a question is an act of resistance, presence, and devotion. In this podcast, I hold space for discussion at the intersection of life's biggest questions and our personal and professional worlds.
These are honest conversations with progressive leaders dedicated to questioning our institutions, igniting change, and provoking new possibilities. Join me for my next discussion.
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CASEY: Hello everyone, and welcome to Questions to Hold. I am so excited about our guest today, Randi Matthews. She is a beloved friend, collaborator, and honestly, a true inspiration. Ever since I've met you, Randi, I've been inspired and impacted by you so positively in your influence. So, so grateful to be in conversation today.
Rather than try to introduce you myself, I'm gonna kick it over to you and let you introduce yourself to the listeners. You can give any, you know, social identifiers that feel relevant for you. You can talk about your businesses. Anything else that you might wanna name about who you are and how you show up in the world?
RANDI: Well, first of all, thank you for having me. I'm super excited to be here and the feeling is mutual. We are always talking about how, uh, impactful we have been to each other and how much I think we've grown since we've known each other, which is awesome. I am a mommy of a three year old, almost four year old, who'll be four in December.
I am a wife to my awesome husband. I am a CEO of a boutique marketing influencer agency. I am a black woman and I am a friend. And a daughter and many more things and all the things. I'm a documentary maker.
CASEY: Uhhuh, yes, I was gonna say that. We'll come back to that too, but do you wanna share a little bit about your marketing agency for us, just to ground us in that context?
RANDI: Sure. So, um, my agency is called Multi-Hyphen Media. I named it that because I've always been a little bit of a jack of all trades when I came up in the industry. I always had the mindset that I should be able to do everyone's job so that I could make myself indispensable. As we all know, that's not really a thing, but you know, that was kind of what was instilled in me as a, as a young woman and as I grew. And so that's how I have always operated. So I try to be as knowledgeable about all the things that kind of intersect in my industry as I can. And what I realized is that being in an agency, had really, uh, siloed me and the skills that I had built, and so I stepped out on my own to start Multi-Hyphen Media. And we specialize in, uh, influencer marketing, celebrity procurement, social media strategy, brand partnerships. We do everything, work with everyone from. Traditional, like C-Suite, 500 brands to streamers, to studios, to startups, you name it, we've probably worked with them. So that's Multi-Hyphen Media in a little bit of a nutshell.
CASEY: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And just to say, so Randi and I never actually met, but we both kind of came through a similar, uh, the same company in some of our marketing career, if you will, and also then went on to start our own businesses and that's where we kind of reunited and were able to do things on our own terms, in our businesses together and kind of be collaborators with some shared values and missions in the marketing space and know, knowing that we're coming from that context. Also know, you know, in the traditional kind of agency models that we were in, being a black woman, um, has a great impact on how, you know, the work was done, what your experience was in the work, and then I'm imagining going on to start your own agency here. So I'm curious if you wanna just also speak a little bit to how that bigger question of your identity and how your identity is fitting into this work has impacted – Where you are now, where you're taking Multi-Hyphen Media and also where you're just taking your life personally from here.
RANDI: Talk about big questions, Casey. Um, I'm not here to answer that. We're just here to be in that question. It's a life question we're answering here. So I can tell you that in an industry like entertainment, you don't see a lot of people of color, especially as you start to get up in the ranks, um, let alone women of color. You see definitely more men of color, I believe, but women of color you don't see much of. And so I would say that has drastically framed how I operate and move through my industry because I always wanted to have a mentor, but I never could find one that I could identify with or that felt like a safe space for me to really, you know, offload or grow or ask questions. So I always kind of took the brunt of like, learning things on my own, making mistakes on my own, and never really having the benefit of even like, peer to peer mentors, I like to call them. You grow with people in your industry. And so as I've grown, I've developed that, but starting out, not so much for sure. I know that I was never promoted or given the salaries that I always felt I deserved or the opportunities that I felt that I deserved. I was at one agency for several years and started my own PNL center. I was requested by most of the clients. I was, I'd like to think, relatively easy to work with, and I didn't get a promotion. I got a promotion one time in that whole five years. While others around me were promoted. Multiple times. And a lot of the times when I was pushing for a promotion, it felt like I would get pushed back because I was either being too aggressive and asking to be promoted, asking for more pay. And so what I've come out of that and my, I think one of my biggest goals in Multi-Hyphen Media is to make sure that I am mentoring, that I am helping to grow the field, that I am giving people the encouragement and also the insights to the industry that I never got the fast tracks that a lot of people are given the opportunity to have, that in my experience, young people of color don't get, and so that's for sure shaped, uh, a lot of my mission and how I kind of show up for people in Multi-Hyphen Media, but also just as a person.
CASEY: Yeah. I'm curious how, in a sense like, why and how? Like, what's motivated you and continued to drive you in a system that hasn't been built for you, that you haven't had mentorship, that you've had to fight for your own promotions and your own value and your own worth every step of the wa?
What have been some of those reasons and resources essentially, that have kept you striving in this space, and obviously going into Multi-Hyphen to kind of, you're now mentoring and kind of giving into the industry what you wished you had. But what's really fortified you to be able to do that when you know there's such a strong awareness and evidence that the system was not built for you?
RANDI: I'll give a lot of credit to my mom. I have seen her take a non-traditional path to being very successful in a company that also does not necessarily look for people like her. She kind of has taught me that it's the work that you put in. It's the way that you show up for other people. It's in the nuance. I can remember being in high school and writing papers and my mom would read them and I’d have to rewrite them like three or four times just for her before it even got to the teacher. Similarly, when I was in like summer, she'd make me do workbooks before I could go out and play. It’s just always kind of been instilled in me that success comes in many different shapes and forms, but you gotta put the work in in order to be successful if that's the path that you want to take. And so I think it's just kind of like one of those things where the more that I felt like I couldn't get ahead, the more I bullish I became like, I am going to do this and I am gonna get ahead and I'm gonna be great at it, whether you wanna give me that acknowledgement or not. And I think along the way, I've built that support staff. My husband has been a huge support and encouragement, my biggest fan, and he's really allowed me the space, especially as I stepped out on my own, to make things on my own terms, to build Multi-Hyphen Media for how I want it to be and how I want it to look. And I think showing up for him and my son and, and letting them see that, you know, their encouragement and the way that they support me is A. allowing us to kind of afford our own paths. But B. like, it's kind of like a thank you. Like, I can't do this, I can't be who I am without you.
CASEY: Mmhmm. And I also know in the beginning we talked a little bit, cuz it kind of dovetails into this too, about your identity as a documentary filmmaker. So I'd love to hear both, you know, your role at Multi-Hyphen and what you're doing in the entertainment influencer space, but then in this other kind of hat that you wear as a documentary filmmaker, how you're kind of bringing into that, if you could speak to Deliver Us, the film, as well.
RANDI: Yeah, so I'm working on a film about the black maternal crisis in America, but through the eyes of black midwives specifically. Most people have heard the statistic that black women are three to four times more likely to die during childbirth or in childbirth related circumstances. And a lot of that, again, goes back to a system that was never designed to treat or to care for black women. I mean, midwives were the first doctors in many cases in any household, and most midwives, women of color, specifically, black women. And then in the onset of the, um, westernized medical system, they were completely eradicated. And because of that and through that, honestly, uh, the doctors, the physicians, the administration who are, you know, hailed as fathers of mothers of did that on the backs of slaves, practicing on slaves in some cases, with slaves and black women giving their lives for science, not even knowing that that was what was happening.
And so in doing this documentary, which by the way, I never ever saw myself as a documentary filmmaker or an entrepreneur, which are two things that I have now embraced in my later life in making this movie. There's so many parallels to stepping out on my own and being able to, uh, really celebrate my identity and seeing that come to fruition in this film as well with black midwives, really stepping back into what was theirs to begin with and owning, uh, a space in medical history that is going to basically save lives.
CASEY: Mm-hmm. It's so important, and I mean, we've talked about this, but just so that the listeners know, I mean, my original career path was to become a midwife. That's where I thought I was going and doing the doula work and then moving into that space and I like to think I do a different type of midwifery these days, but I mean so many of these kinds of issues and context came up in a lot of the work that I was doing, both in practice but in and in the study of it. And I think there should be a million more films, a million more art pieces about this, a million more opinion pieces, more writings about this. And I mean, it should just be in so many ways, flood the market. It's such an important issue, and I'm so grateful that you've taken your skill as somebody who's such a natural storyteller and a listener and who has access to kind of create something like this, and then being able to bring this story into hopefully a bigger awareness over and over again. So I’m just really admiring the work in that way, and I'm curious what the experience for, you know, the midwives you did interview and you are and like are on the film of being able to, you know, get some true highlight on what they've been going through, what they're trying to do, the struggles that they are up against institutionally and even in the community. And, you know, what their feedback or what their perspective has been as you've done this film with them.
RANDI: Overwhelmingly, they're so happy that someone is telling their story because nobody is telling their story. And also making sure, like my, uh, producing partner, Jenny Callahan and I, are very intentional about being respectful of the space that they hold, their time, how they show up for their clients and for their families. And it, it is, uh, one of the things they love to say is that it's a calling. It is not something that you choose, it chooses you. And so they welcomed us with open arms, honestly, because they understand that we are honoring them and wanting to share the best of what they do and the struggles that come along with that. And so it's been a very humbling process for sure, because you're seeing these women who are, have given up their lives in a lot of a sense because obviously birth is very unpredictable and have to be on call at all hours of the night and the day, and that takes away time from their own families to be there for someone else's family.
CASEY: It's really beautiful to see how they've been able to cultivate the space for themselves, even against all the things stacked up against them. When does the film actually come out?
RANDI: So we're hoping for next year. Um, we're still fundraising for post, for editing, but we will be done filming, probably– we're following a mom through her birth through December– so hopefully 2023. The top of 2023 it will be in post and the end of 2023, mid to end of 2023, that the film will be out.
CASEY: Do you imagine, you know, this kind of, and obviously Deliver Us is such a special project, but do you see this kind of way of storytelling and maybe future films being a way that you would like to like continue to, you know, unite the community and live into some of these bigger questions that we were talking about at the top of the conversation?
RANDI: You know what? I don't know. I'm not much of a planner in the sense that like, I never have been the type of person that's like, I have a five year plan, I have a 10 year plan. I've always been able to– one of my skills I think is recognizing opportunity. Um, that doesn't always come with much notice for me, but that's kind of how I've been able to navigate my career. And so I'm always open. That could be the path that I take. But I don't know that I would say that that's something I've given much thought to.
CASEY: What would you say, like for your son to be able to see, you know, you working on kind of these two big projects, both as an entrepreneur and as a filmmaker from, I mean, again, this is a huge question, but from a legacy perspective of what that's instilling in him or what that's leading you and your family down to? Is there kind of a ripple that you're seeing at this point or that you're kind of intending to see?
RANDI: Yeah. I have to tell you, um, I really– and we all wanna do better than what our parents did for us, right? Set us up to be successful in the best way that they know how. And similarly, each generation, at least, that's the hope, right? That you want to give your kids all the things you didn't have. And my parents gave us a lot, me and my sister, we had a lot of foundational work, a lot of emotional, and, you know, integral foundation and things like that. Not much money. And so I would love for my son to have both of those things and really feel like he has ownership of what my husband and I are building, but also the opportunity to make it what he wants it to be and to see that it's not just handed to you, it is work. So I, I want him to see the work, I want him to see what we put in and how hard we're, how hard things can be sometimes but that if you're doing it the right way, you have the support and the encouragement and the foundation that you can do anything and make anything.
CASEY: Well, maybe so, I have no doubt that it will be for what you're already setting up and kind of all these pieces and so many of the projects you're working on too, this is kind of one thing I love about it. It's like they're all living into some of that bigger question that you're sitting with in your work, but also asking bigger questions themselves. And so it's like the, you know, it's like it all kind of feeds in and spreads out into seeing how basically that one question can go into so many different layers and be a question for the rest of your life, essentially, or the lives of all of the different involved. Is there anything else you'd like to kind of, you know, share in terms of what you're sitting with or how, how you want people to find you or what kind of support would be, you know, what you might ask for, for support for people that are listening?
RANDI: For sure, support the film. You can find it at www.deliverus.com. My Instagram for my Multi-Hyphen Media is exactly that, @multihypenmedia. For me, my bread and butter has always been based on relationships and referrals and community, and so I think that if someone is interested in like working with me or you know, supporting the film in any way, I'm always more inclined to do introductions and to have conversations and to talk and so I can build that foundation of a relationship, which is, is way more fruitful than just someone dropping in and out, or just like faceless, nameless things. So I'm all for support through community and making sure that we're continuing to support each other as we, as everyone moves forward.
CASEY: And we'll have all of your contact information and details and the show notes. Full disclaimer. We also did a course together and the proceeds of that course also go to Deliver Us, which is um, amazing. So we can share that as well, a little bit more about that. I wanna wrap up today with if you had a question that, not to be answered, but just to ask back out to the listeners as something for us to kind of like sit with and chew on. What would be the question that you ask?
RANDI: I think the question that I ask myself that I would ask of other people is, what is your impact in your community? What is, how would people say that you show up for them? Like what are tangible and maybe sometimes not tangible results of what you bring to the table? And I think if you think about it and you can't figure out what that is, then I think maybe there's some work to be done. And if you think about it and you can figure it out, how can you continue to expand on that?
CASEY: Um, this is why I love how the universe works because before every episode I always pull a card from the Questions to Hold deck and the card I pulled for our session was, “What impact am I having?”
RANDI: Oh, wow.
CASEY: So it's so interesting to me that now that's the question that you're putting out to others, but I think it's absolutely true. To your point, not just what impact am I having, but you asked, what impact am I having in my community and how am I showing up in that format? So I think they're actually two different shades of a similar question, um, of what impact am I having generally in my life, and then what impact am I having directly in my community and how, what kind of impact do I want to be having also? So I love that. That's so funny though. Cause I pulled that and I'm like, okay, well I'm not gonna say anything about that. And then you brought it in.
RANDI: Never mistakes.
CASEY: Never, never a mistake. And I know that that question is certainly core to a lot of the work we've done together and certainly the work that, uh, Bold Woman Brands has hired you to help us do as well, um, to help grow our agency and be more thoughtful and intentional around our impact and how we want to be, be of most impact, especially in the realms of social media and things like that. So thank you so much, Randi, for giving us a taste of what is so special and beautiful about you and the work that you're doing. And this is just the beginning of many conversations and many ways we'll continue to follow and celebrate and support the work you're doing. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This has been such a fun conversation and obviously we're gonna continue to do more work.
RANDI: Yeah, you just can't get rid of me that easy.
CASEY: No!
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CASEY: Thank you for listening to the Questions to Hold podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode and are leaving the conversation with way more questions than answers. I invite you to build a more meaningful relationship with yourself and the world around you through the simple yet profound act of holding questions.
Visit questionstohold.com and we are BWB.com. To learn more about this practice, our Questions to Hold card, deck, and explore more conversations. See you there.