Miami Sneaker Culture & Lifestyle: In-Depth Interview with Ray Guzman PR_Sneaks23

Join host Bryan the Botanist on Sneaker Impact News as he interviews Ray Guzman, aka PR_Sneaks23, a renowned digital creator and Miami’s OG sneakerhead. Discover Ray's journey within the sneaker enthusiast community, influenced by his Puerto Rican roots and upbringing in Miami. Explore his role as a brand ambassador, and his lessons on sustainability and sneaker preservation. Gain insights into the vibrant Miami sneaker community, the impact of events like Art Basel, and Ray's involvement in local charity initiatives. Additionally, delve into the challenges of living in hurricane-prone Miami, including evacuation stories, the nostalgic value of cherished sneakers, and the city's rich sports culture. Engage with heartwarming personal anecdotes and learn about the importance of community support, future aspirations, and adapting to change. Tune in for an inspirational and dynamic discussion on Miami's unique lifestyle and sneaker scene.

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Instagram @Pr_Sneaks23

Chapters

• 0:18 Meet Ray Guzman: Digital Creator and Sneakerhead
• 0:41 Ray's Early Life and Sneaker Passion
• 2:05 The Story of Ray's First High-Value Sneakers
• 7:16 Growing Up in Miami
• 8:04 The Evolution of Miami and Sneaker Culture
• 14:27 Ray's Journey as a Sneaker Influencer
• 19:15 The Business of Being a Sneaker Influencer
• 30:15 Sneaker Enthusiast vs. Sneaker Head
• 31:00 The Role of Resellers in Sneaker Culture
• 33:24 Sustainability in the Sneaker Community
• 37:56 The Influence of Iconic Sneaker Models
• 39:55 Sneaker Collaborations and Special Editions
• 46:07 Sneaker Enthusiasts and Community Events
• 49:26 Art Basel and Sneaker Culture
• 53:14 Life in Miami and Family Time
• 57:34 Hurricane Evacuation Chaos
• 58:29 Hurricane Andrew's Impact
• 1:00:07 Living with Natural Disasters
• 1:01:31 Sneaker Stories and Collecting
• 1:05:23 Favorite Miami Spots
• 1:06:56 Sports and Community Involvement
• 1:08:50 Future Goals and Influencing
• 1:13:37 Adapting to Change
• 1:20:06 Closing Thoughts and Inspirational Message

Transcript

Bryan The Botanist: 0:00

All right, welcome back everyone to Sneaker Impact News. I'm your host, Bryan the Botanist, and today my special guest is Ray Guzman. Ray, how's it going?

Ray Guzman: 0:07

Ooh, it's going good. It's Friday. Can't complain. It's it's not raining. It's things are going well, so I can't complain at all. We live in Miami. It's a beautiful day in Miami. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Bryan The Botanist: 0:18

We're really excited to get to know you today. Guys we got introduced to Ray through our founder, Moe. Ray is a digital creator, social media influencer, brand ambassador, and OG sneakerhead based in Miami, he's a legend, PRSneaks23 thank you so much for joining us. Let's get into it, man tell us about your background. Who is Ray Guzman where were you born and raised? How has that influenced your identity?

Ray Guzman: 0:40

Yeah, for sure. Ray Guzman, so I was raised in Miami, but I was born in Puerto Rico born in Puerto Rico, lived in Chicago for some time. But raised in Miami. Within Miami, there's, there's a high volume of Hispanics here, but mostly, Cuban, from a Cuban descent especially as growing up. But, I used to always travel back to Puerto Rico, and I was influenced a lot with the fashion, that Puerto Rico has. A lot of the colors and stuff like that, and I was big into the arts growing up. Arts, and what I mean by the arts is just anything has to do with anything artistic, right? I love the background this year. That's why, you see how I was attracted to when I first got in here? Think that's what started the story with my sneakers. So I, when I, first started, just started just, I guess in the third grade or the grade or something like that, I would notice individual sneakers and they were just different colors, right? Even though, the the base color was maybe white, cause it's not like it is now, you have yellows and you have reds all over the place. but I was always intrigued by individuals and in the individuality, individuals will wear the sneakers and different colors. And I, for me, I saw it like art. And that's the same way I am now, in my current age now, same way I look at things, not only with fashion, but with sneakers. That influenced me a lot as growing up and what I do now and how I got introduced to the sneaker culture.

Bryan The Botanist: 1:56

Being a sneaker head, your shoes, represent your identity so much. And that was something that you found passion in as a youngster.

Ray Guzman: 2:04

Absolutely.

Bryan The Botanist: 2:05

I read online that your first pair of sneakers you got as a gift from your mom, was it? The first year Shaquille O'Neal was in the NBA? Yeah. story?

Ray Guzman: 2:12

Yeah. So the story goes like this. That's not necessarily my first pair of sneakers obviously. I wanted these the high sought after sneakers, right? the Jordans and all these things as a kid, right? My mom really couldn't afford to buy me these type of sneakers, right? Yeah. And as I think in the 19, around 1991 92 as Shaquille O'Neal was coming on the draft, I fell in love with the, sneakers that he was introducing for, with Reebok. And I begged my mom Mom, I want these sneakers, I want these sneakers. My mom worked really hard to to get those sneakers, you Groceries are more important. Yeah, my mom worked and worked hard and, we didn't have a lot of money to go around, and not only that, if she got me one, she had to get my brother as well. My brother, she got both of those. It's a high value item, too. It's a high value item, right? Especially, it's a brand hype, especially at the time. It could have been 125, 150. She's up for 200 now, but it was a pretty expensive sneaker back then. And that was my first like I said, high sought after sneaker at the time. And I think that kind of, that's what springboarded me into saying, Hey, I got these shoes, and going forward, I always wanted nice pairs of sneakers. Now that was the first and only time my mother bought me a pair of high sought after sneakers. Thereafter. I had to go work at the grocery store and obtain enough money, not to help my mom, but to scrap the leftover money in order to go to Foot Locker or Champs or whatever the case may be and go buy me the sneakers that I wanted. So very hard, very difficult, I had to cut a lot of lawns and I had to go work a lot of, at the store, but I ended up saving enough money to continue to feed my my obsession with sneakers growing up and that's how I did it. Wow so that was your passion as a youth was fashion and also the sneaker culture. Was it tied into fashion, being fashionable, like looking your best? Or was it that and the fact that you were part of a community that is very passionate about shoes. About shoes and sneakers? Yeah. No, growing up. Were you part of the community at that point? No, growing up no, growing up that wasn't a you are part of a you're not really part of a community that way, but you're part of a community within your own area. So the kids on your block. Exactly. There you go. Like the kids in your school that like sneakers. But, we'll get into the piece of the community and all that stuff in a little while. I think that's more got introduced later on with before social media. It was original how you fell in love with shoes. And it wasn't even, fashion wasn't even a thing, it was just sneakers and some shorts and some ripped up jeans. It didn't really matter, as a kid. The sneakers were the, how you express yourself, was the art, right? Yeah a lot of times, now you hear hype and you hear, you just want a pair of sneakers because everyone else has the same pair of sneakers. Sure. I think back then it wasn't necessarily that. Yeah, marketing had a lot to do with it, right? You saw the Shaquille O'Neal commercials and that's how I liked it, right? So marketing always influences, right? Which now marketing is, influencing through social media, right? But before it was through commercials or whatever the case may be. But yeah. In reality, it was just really the sneakers. It was the sneakers were it, the sneakers were everything, and back then were mostly basketball sneakers. That's all you using them for basketball as well? Or were they more for your style? It's funny you say that. I will say that most individuals, especially back in the 80s, late 80s and 90s, used them more for basketball, right? And a little bit for fashion. So they destroyed their sneakers. I, early on, I kept my good sneakers, my, the ones, and I try to keep them like in good condition, right? And then I had my ones that I played basketball, football with, went outside with, messed them up, and I knew the ones that, again, that I worked hard for, my mom bought, to keep those. Those were going on display. Yeah, exactly. But let me tell you a funny story that the Shaquille O'Neal shoes one day I only had them for two months, I had friends that came over, a bunch of kids came over from different neighborhoods and we went to go practice football, because they were also playing football teams, right? In high school. And so we went to go play. We went to the lot, to do that. And I suffered a devastating ankle and fibulativity injury, even a compound fracture. And they had a, Rip my sneaker off and oh my god move because it was a guy like cut it off They cut it off the paramedics, right? Oh my god. So that shoe always it always meant a lot because I know how hard my mom worked and I didn't get a chance to change my sneakers. I left them on. Oh, those are the original ones? Yeah, those are the original ones. Okay. I left them on, so I I left them on and I went out to play. And I wouldn't have, originally, I wouldn't have done that and I would have thought about it. Especially going out like that on basketball sneakers where it doesn't have a lot of traction. Part of the reason also I probably sustained that injury. Anyway, that happened and I always felt bad about that. I would say, there I said, I'm never going to let my mom buy me a pair of sneakers. I'm going to pay for it myself. That's how I got to that part of the story, yeah, that you fell in love and you realized that this isn't something that is, should be expected of a parent. No, yeah. It's more if someone falls in love with any passion a lot. You got to take upon that responsibility. You can't just ask for more. Absolutely. But I think part of the injury helped me realize that. It also helped me realize that I had a brand new sneaker. And now it's gone. Oh, so you lost it pretty quickly. Yeah. It was cut. It was cut completely. You're like, I'm going to work hard. I like that. So you grew up in Miami. Yeah, I grew up in Miami. Okay, tell us a little bit about that. I wanted to learn before we get into your current projects like your youth, like your family. How many, you had a brother? Yeah, I have two brothers. I have two younger brothers. Two younger brothers. So three boys? Three boys. Okay. I came from a family of four boys. And I'm from Wisconsin. Now you grew up in what part of Miami? North Miami. North Miami. Yeah, I grew up in North Miami. I lived in Miami Beach for a while, but I grew up in North Miami. And that's where my, my middle schools and high school years came from. It was it was me. It was basically us three and my mom. That's it. Yeah. My mom had to work hard to keep the boys, fed. And we're big boys. And you're the oldest. And I'm the oldest. Awesome. That's really cool. Tell us about Miami back in the, growing up. How is it different than today? Because there's probably so many changes and differences. Yeah things change everywhere, things have changed every 10 or 15 years, generational things change. But Miami was, different in a lot of aspects, and what I mean by that is I think that right now we're a melting pot, and we were a melting pot before, but I think more Things have started to develop in Miami, the music scene was, a lot of like pop and and and hip hop and a lot of like house music they will call it, and that also influenced sneakers, and vice versa a lot of things change when it comes to, little cities, like for example, Miami now is divided by so many different little cities, right? We had that before too. But there it was just a pocket. You got your plan. It wasn't as developed as, it wasn't as developed like Wynwood like Wynwood the way it's now. Back when I was a kid, it was not a nice area. And I remember I used to Coldplay basketball, Windwood rent were affordable artists live there. Oh yeah. Now it's every single square inch of Wynwood is worth millions of dollars. My windwood was not a place you even wanted to go live. It's the, it was an entertainment epicenter of the city. And that's ha And that started happening in the past. 12 to 15, 12 years or so. I would say I would even want to go back 15. I think 15 years ago still like developing like really and so maybe 12 years ago started just jumping. Where is that now? So this was in the 90s when you were growing up? Yeah, I grew up in the 90s. Even the 80s. I grew up in the 80s here. I was here and but I lived on the beach and it was very, and close by, it was North Bay. Traffic wasn't as bad, probably. Traffic was not as bad, it was, it simpler times. I used to take the bus to go places I used to tell my mom, give me a dollar if you can, please, two dollars. We used to just take the bus and go to a movie theater, we used to go to movie theaters, we used to have 99 cents movie theaters. Wow. And you used to go to the movie theaters and pay a dollar to get in. Not the new releases now, these are for releases that have already been out for five years. 4 or or five weeks. Okay. After that, they'll transfer over to these theaters. Okay. And they were called 99 cents movie theaters. And you'll go to the theater and pay a dollar

Bryan The Botanist: 9:43

to go watch a

Ray Guzman: 9:44

movie. Okay. So back

Bryan The Botanist: 9:45

those days.

Ray Guzman: 9:45

It, you don't see those kind of things anymore?

Bryan The Botanist: 9:47

Things have changed a Interesting. Yeah. I've lived here for about 16 years since 2008, and I've seen it change a lot too. We lived in the beach for about 14 or 15 years, and now I live on the Upper East Side here by Little River. And Miami is a very incredible city. So I definitely want to come back to that topic later. If you have any other, we're going to talk about some of your partners that you've worked with in Miami and some of the big events you've done. But first I want to talk about your identity. How has being Puerto Rican and growing up in Miami influenced your identity as an artist and as a digital creator and I think that being in the Hispanic community, right? I think I alluded to that earlier, be it from a Puerto Rico standpoint or being Puerto Rican, you get a lot of different like flavors and tastes from the island, right? Whenever, if you're still connected to the island, which I feel like I am still connected to the island. Regardless of that, it influences here in Miami and you also see different, it's a multipath. Not only do you have from Puerto Rico, you got Cuba, you got Colombia, you got Venezuela, you got all different. And not only that, you got individuals that are coming from Wisconsin from New York, from, so you get all these different type of influences that I think that together I unite that together, I collaborate with that, but going back to your question, being Puerto Rican, my family and my culture, Puerto Rico, whatever's going on over there, whatever the styles are, I watch that very closely, I and I try to put that all to my own, right? At the end of the day, as I'm getting older, it's a little bit different, right? And the stuff that I could probably wear and get away with, right? But still, from a fashion standpoint, I still look at different things and I I bring it into my own style, if that makes any sense. Yeah, and outside the colors, the beauty of the, I've been to Puerto Rico. See, the colors, the beauty of the islands, yeah and I'm, again, like I told you I'm attracted to a lot of the food I'm attracted to a lot of the colors and a lot of the artistic form, and you can see Miami is a very vibrant city, right? Yes. The magic, right? The magic city, right? And you go to South Beach and you have art deco styles and you have different kind of colors, and I think that, that comes from different influences, but, and it's just not Puerto Rico, it's all over, I think that from being a multi party, the you bring that in. And then it cultivates those things that you want to do, right? And I think that's what I, that's how I end up being me. It sets me into who I am. Remember, like I told you early on, I get, I'm very attracted by, even though I work for a very simplistic fashion when it comes to clothes usually it's one color, kind of thing or No, I love this, I love the top, it's really cool. Yeah, it's cool, different, right? It's got style. But it's different, right? With the Marlins hat and all. It has the same colors, it matches, but it's simplistic. Yep, the oranges. It's simplistic. So I try to keep everything simplistic as possible. My sneakers, They changed everything because at that point is when I may wear something wild on the bottom I will it may wear orange and okay and purple whatever the case would be it doesn't mean I may not wear purple everywhere Yeah, that's not gonna happen, but I but the shoes that's where I'll express myself So I think a lot of sneaker enthusiasts That's what they do, they let the sneakers talk, although they have fashion and they'll, and they're into the big, into the fashion community as well, what talks the loudest and what speaks volumes more are the sneakers. So like you can show up in some jeans, some nice jeans and a regular, just like you said, nothing too flashy, just something that kind of, and that's a big, that's interesting how the style is And it's important, I think, how we present ourselves because, when we dress nicely, we feel right? I think people say that it affects your mood, who you are, when you take care of yourself. I agree with that. And you also care about your appearance. I agree with that. And it's your style. And it's just really it's interesting and cool. I'm more of a runner, as I told you before, but today we're learning about the sneakerhead world. So that's really cool to hear about the Puerto Rican influence because that just is, like you said, a melting pot. of different cultures and combining in Miami and you've still got the connections and your ear is close to the ground still. Oh, and you have to. Even at my age as growing up in art and, the scene. Going, going through things, even, sometimes I get disconnected out because I got so many things going on with my personal life, work, and all that stuff. I try to keep my, ears close to the streets and to the community and what's going on because at the end of the day, it's still something that, It's a love, right? It's something that, I just don't like sneakers just because it's a fad or it's a thing, and for me it's a passion, so I get into a lot of these conversations, I get I go to different events, I'll go to different group meetings or whatever the case would be, that I get invited to as the OG or whatnot, and I like to have discussions as to where were we where are we now and where are we heading, and at the end of the day, you just got to be open to all that because, you're never, you're only here today. Tomorrow's different. Tomorrow things are going to change. And the only thing that's constant is change and we have to be, learn to accept that and continue to grow with that. That's a really good point and good message to just take advantage of the present the moment. Absolutely. That was a really good segue, too, because my next section I would like to talk about events and partners that, you've worked with over the years. I read an online Grails, which I've actually gone to for a Sneaker Impact event in the past year. Or two, we worked with Lizzie, Izzy Lugo and I believe he's based in Milwaukee. And I, and so I went there one time and I realized that people there really care about their shoes and sneaker aficionados hang out at Grail's in Wynwood. I also saw that the Miami Sneaker Convention has a big, been a big part of your background and Art Basel. Which is really cool. Tell us about some of the partners and events you've worked with Yeah, I think that as the years have gone, we've had a lot of sneaker events over the years. What I mean by, I think it started out being more like an, events that were catered to sneaker enthusiasts, to come out, to hang out, to meet, right? And prior to even social media taking off, that's where you got to meet the sneaker community, right? You were able to meet everyone at these events. And within there, then they started to think of, okay, now You buy, sell, and trade shoes, right? Hey, look, I have shoes, sneakers, right? I'll trade you two for one. Okay. And like baseball cards and stuff like that back growing up, sneakers are treated that way, throughout the time. I think this is going back to 2006, 7, 8, right? They're cataloged and studied. There's a value. There's a value. And then they started, the value started growing from there. Before now, the community sets the value, but it's sold on platforms out there. So then they'll say, Hey, if it's sought after, and a bunch of individuals took to these sneakers, they call'em usually resellers, they'll grab the sneakers, they'll set the value because they're start selling it online at whatever price. Now, the value limited also quantity, right? A lot of these are limited quantity, but back then it wasn't like that. Back then. You'll have gatherings in these these events that you'll start doing and to start the process of case. So now a big event. That's huge. It's probably the biggest sneaker event that came around called SneakerCon, and I was a part of the SneakerCon team, and I will travel with them, for about three years. For about three years, and it was awesome. It was an awesome traveling experience, they got a lot of individuals. So they used to do a lot of in their sneaker events they will host and they'll host them in different cities. They will have areas where you'll have talking areas, right? Forums. Not only do they have these influencers out there or brand ambassadors out there, they'll have just individuals in the sneaker communities come in and just have conversations and talk about different topics. Okay. And everyone wants just to listen because this is, that was the area where you got to listen to everyone else, ask questions get to meet individuals. A little bit I think right during COVID that kind of stopped a little bit. And then I started taking off with the Miami Sneaker Convention. When did Miami Sneaker Convention start? I think Miami Sneaker Convention and that the team, they started in Tampa. If I'm not mistaken, Orlando and Tampa. Okay, I've seen them. And so they started working in Orlando. Started in Orlando and Tampa. So I don't know what year necessarily they started. But when they started coming down to Miami I I was introduced to the individuals that worked that, right? And I know that there's a lot of individuals, but there was a main guy. And he was like, Hey, look, I want you to be a part of it. I want you to be part of the team when I come to Miami. And great guy, great event. I think it, they come, they were coming out to Miami so frequently that it built a great following, right? And but I think more now compared to what it was before, it's more just an area where. Individuals sell their sneakers. Okay. And then they use it for resale. Exactly. So not only resale, individuals say, yeah, they'll resale sneakers. Or meeting also people only. I think that's secondary now. That's to convey. But the marketplace is actually The marketplace is the biggest feature. So do you have your own area? I don't. When I go, I'll go there more just to go out there and and speak to everyone that's out there to meet, to, to go out there and just talk to individuals that I haven't seen in a while. It's really just more of a place to Hang out, have conversations with local, with the sneaker community, and individuals that travel, individuals that come down from different areas to travel to that event because they want to meet others. That's what SneakerCon used to be. We have, in SneakerCon, when we, when it was back in 2015, We had individuals come from all over. Wow. Just to come to the Sneaker Con in Miami and then we'll use that platform to really have us meet that meet, go out bowling, go out to eat, have, have conversations and get to know individuals, and you build relationships with these individuals. So now again, the community really grows compared to, it was when I was in the nineties. You don't have that opportunity, right? Because again, you just, you don't have those platforms now you have platforms that also social media. Track. Yeah. You have the attraction there, you have the commu, the connection. Yeah. You could communicate. And I think with that being said, you get to meet individuals in the community from not only here, Florida, not only the us, outside of the us. UK and all. Wow. So you, it's really interesting. Yeah. The conventions are basically like, they're international, you're saying, and you get to meet a lot of people. Yeah, you get to meet a lot of people. That's really cool. So the conventions are something you've been a big part of. How did you develop, I want to also hear about some of the events like Art Basel, but how did you develop your reputation as a sneakerhead, OG sneakerhead, influencer, ambassador? Did it all happen slowly over the years? Through consistency, I'm guessing, or was there a big moment that really sprung you into? Yeah, I don't think I, I, I didn't start off to want to do any of that. That wasn't the, I think what the, no, it wasn't the intention. And I don't think it was the intention for many individuals either. I think, so the way I started out to you, my story was, Instagram popped off, and if I'm not mistaken, around 2010 11, and I was always slow into social media. I didn't have my space. I have Facebook later in the years You know, I was always hesitant as I guess probably, you know My age group, in my generation? And so but when Instagram took off, when I started looking at it, it was just, pictures, right? It was just hey, look a carousel of pictures. Your pictures. It was all about just the photo. And I was looking at it and I was at actually an event, a real small event, and I got to talking to someone there and they were like, hey, I saw them taking pictures of the shoes and they're like, hey, it goes, I, it goes, I just use it to take pictures. So I started thinking, I could use Instagram. This is the only place I could use it as an electronic diary of my personal sneaker collection. So When I started it out, it was just that. It was just, and it wasn't taking great quality pictures or anything like that. It was just saying, Hey, today I have on these sneakers and I'm going to show my following that I have these sneakers. So it was just like more like a diary of saying, Hey, these are my, this is my sneaker collection. Yeah. Everyone has their, Instagram was supposed to be for whatever. I'm eating something or I'm whatever, I just did it for sneakers. So it morphed into. My page still is, and when it was, when it came about, if you see, when I started it, it was

Ray Guzman: 21:07

like 2011.

Bryan The Botanist: 21:08

Okay. And it started out with sneakers and it still is that way. Obviously, it's a little bit more added to it, I put fashion into it now and I obviously the quality of my pictures have enhanced and all

Ray Guzman: 21:17

those

Bryan The Botanist: 21:17

things have changed, but that's how it started. In saying.

Ray Guzman: 21:20

that,

Bryan The Botanist: 21:21

When that, that I started creating a following at that time, creating followers was a lot easier. Is the algorithm from Instagram that was com completely different? And I just, people started following me just because of the sneakers, And I would go to events. Were you hashtagging? I was hashtagging. Hashtag was a thing back then, right? Yeah. And those hashtags created followers, right? Yeah. But I think the local events helped me create also a local following, right? Yeah. And then I got more of a local following and. I think my first big break into Bryan Ambassador was I would I wore sneakers and I took a, I started taking nicer pictures of it. I got a better camera. And I took a nice picture, like of a pair of shoes, and Champ Sports reached out to me. And said, hey man those pictures are great. Do you mind if we use it? Yeah, sure. Yeah. I'm cool with it. So yeah, I'm like, whatever, and yeah. That individual reached out to me, will reach out to me again, like a week, like maybe a next week, maybe like a month later, or two weeks later. I don't recall now, it's like 2015, 14 at the time, at this And I said, yeah, cool, you could use it, yeah, I was happy, I was like, wow, they will use it in their platform. I imagine I have a big following. They will tag me, and at that time, whoa, they're tagging this person, so now I'm getting another big follow, right? And that started off with, hey man we'd like to start sending you some stuff. To start down. Yeah. We'll start, we like to start and then every so often they'll send me shoes and every, and I got to a point, yeah, they were sending me sneakers and then they were sending me PA like they will call it like I forgot the name for it now. But they will call, they will basically have packages for their selective brand ambassadors. Sure. Or, and then so then sometimes they'll have packages that were different special packaging stuff. Yeah. And they'll send me special packaging, different shoes, different sneakers. Wow. And. That started the movement of I just did it organically. They just started sending me stuff. I started posting it and then they're like, started the thing. Hey, we're doing something with ACES. And they want to contact you. Do you want to be a part of that kind of stuff? And they'll have they'll have events or what they call activations that they'll call them and they'll say, Hey, look, we're doing something with New Balance and then New Balance, so I worked with Asus, with New Balance, with Nike, I don't have any of that in my profile, but there's so many back then. And it started off with, Hey, look, I saw you at Champs, right? I saw you with the Champs stuff, right? And obviously they're related with Foot Locker. So with that, I also did Foot Locker stuff, right? It really just started off With that avenue and sneakers and then it morphed into not only other brands, but also fashion and also byproducts of something else bags and, all kinds of stuff. Gym wear. It's just once you're recognized as an influencer in one arena there. Exactly. Fashion is more than just shoes. Exactly right, so you get them everywhere, so it's the accessories, it's what comes with that, you know what I'm saying? The bags, the hat, you know what I'm saying? So now I wear a lot of caps, but I also get contacted a lot from companies that do the caps, and it's hey, look, we want to send you some caps, can you take some pictures? Or what, sometimes they're contracts, sometimes it's hey, look, for six months, can you do XXX, and we'll pay you X. So we'll get those deals done, and that's how it was with the New Balance, with the Aces, with Timberland. Yeah, did it evolve to where you actually are getting rewarded then? Oh, absolutely. Good, so absolutely. It started organically that way, but eventually And then it becomes somewhat of contract, yeah. Yeah, so then it becomes side of a business. So you have to be very business oriented, where at first it was more like, yeah, it's fine. And then after a while, you understand that Hey, look my following and what I'm doing, my exposure is worth something. And you, you start learning that as you go. At first, you don't know that, then you start seeing your value, right? And you start saying, okay, you start communicating with the others. Hey, what do you charge for so and what do you charge for so and and then that started becoming a thing where it's okay, now if I'm gonna do this, if I'm gonna be presented in this event, or I'm gonna do X, what is, what am I gonna get paid for, right? Yeah, you gotta get that, you gotta be And it's still secondary to me to this day, even though I've slowed down a lot, but I think even when I, my highest peak, it wasn't something that I was very keen on because it was just a secondary thing, it was so organically, but I still knew That wasn't your primary focus. It wasn't my primary focus and it never was. At the end of the day, I still ended up obviously getting rewarded to whatever extent I felt was necessary, but it wasn't something that I was completely like, seeking because it was always just a by product of the love that I had for what I was doing. You, you earned it through, in the sense that they, it's a win for them. They want to get their new products there. They are, they're probably doing some studies on, but also just they want to get it to the key people in the communities. Just all the brands have that. And right now there's a bunch of, there's a bunch of young guys and a young, and a different group. Like I said, it evolves and I'm happy for that. I'm like, I'm always like, the cool thing is that I get reached out, they reach out to me a lot because they know that, hey, I'm the OG, I've done it for so long, and I'm always big on helping out and talking to them and it's not a thing, I love to communicate with anyone that They just ask for it, what do you think, what's going on, how did you do it, what happened in the past, and I'm always I'm always like like rooting and cheering for everyone else that's trying to jump into that because, especially if they're younger, this is your time, it's your time to shine, so go ahead.

Ray Guzman: 26:20

it

Bryan The Botanist: 26:21

Evolve it, make

Ray Guzman: 26:21

it

Bryan The Botanist: 26:21

better. Things are different but, yeah,

Ray Guzman: 26:24

out, that's how I

Bryan The Botanist: 26:25

started the whole process of like I guess brand ambassador. Yeah. It's a really cool story because, in Miami, that's a big thing. I'm a DJ and in Miami that's also a

Ray Guzman: 26:34

a big thing, but that's just one of my.

Bryan The Botanist: 26:35

Passions, and just like sneakers are for you, but DJs can get taken advantage of, artists can take and get taken advantage of, but it comes down to them to step up and also protect themselves through good advice, which you're giving, and through having the tools, and through getting contracts, and understanding your value, because musicians, artists, all type of people, if you don't establish your value, then it will just you won't really be rewarded for it, last year, prior to, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to say, last, it's funny you mentioned that, last year prior to Art Basel, I had a conversation with a local DJ that's pretty popular. And he had something going on, so we had a conversation about what was going on for Art Basel that, that year prior, so months And he had the same thing. He was like, he was, he had, he was letting me know about all the issues and all the things and all the challenges, let's call it, let's call it better that he had the DJ, making sure that all the DJs also unite and are on the same page so they don't get devalued, right? And what they're also, it was funny you mentioned that. A fair wage, a fair value, that it's not just about exposure, it's not just about an opportunity. Sometimes it is, and you have to understand that's how the way the world works. He expressed that same concern, yeah. But you also should understand that you're providing a value to the companies and to, and there's just so many, and it's just, it happened. I think it happens. It just happens to the right, it's funny you mentioned that and that's that when I started like also negotiating, what I guess not, I guess what I feel I should be rewarded, right? Or how I should be compensated. I had a lot of conversations and part of my method into negotiations also were that I didn't want to not only undercome myself, but also undercome myself because. The others, because if I start doing that, then they're going to low ball other individuals. And then those individuals may need them more than I, because maybe that's, this is their bread and butter. It's not individuals that live off Brandon Bassett. And this is what they do. They don't, that's their nine to five, and they do great. And they do amazing. And God bless them. They do great on that. So I, if I say it doesn't matter too much to me. So I'm going to go lower. Cause I've got a full time job. I'm also not doing right by them. You're right. Does that make sense? Yeah, if you've got the opportunity, then stand up for the artists. Exactly. It's the same thing what's wrong with the DJ thing. It's funny. So we have a lot of conversations. You don't think about that in the front, but in the back end, as I was doing that and having conversations, that was one of the things I always had in the back of my head as well. If you really are about the community, then you want to look at it in the whole and make sure that you stand your ground, not only for you, but for who's, what's happening now and who's coming in the future, because you always got to think about that. Sure. the industry and for all the people that you're, your community. Absolutely. So that was a great, I love that you recovered. So the stores that you've worked with, like I had on my list, Foot Locker and Champs and Nike and the brands that you've worked with. And Do you have a little bit more you want to add about the Miami sneakerhead scene and culture in general versus the rest of the country? Is there a difference in like LA, New York, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, what, how is Miami special? It's, people will listen to me in this podcast and some people may just roll their eyes or, and I'll explain what I mean by that. Yeah. Miami is, we got a bad rap sometimes. We got a bad rap in sports, fair weather fans, you need to, you But they leave the games early. Same thing here in the sneaker community. And one would argue that there's reasons behind that. We don't got a lot of patients here, right? And then also we change on the whim. We move, we come in, we like something, we don't like it, we, we leave. And that's what happens here, because there's not a lot of patients, there's a lot to do. We're going to go play some darts, play some purl, go out to the snow. Here, you think about, hey look, if you're products aren't satisfying my need, I'm out of here. You know what I mean? And that's what, listen, I'm not a fan of that either. I think that if you are committed, go and do it. So with the sneaker community, it leans to the same thing, and I don't say sneaker head, so you know I could say sneaker enthusiast, because I And it's not anything, bad or anything like that, it's just because there's a difference, in a way. Explain it. And I'll explain there's individuals that like sneakers, and are into the sneaker scene, but it's really just, this is what's in right now, this is cool, I like it, I'm just hyped up, I'm moving on to the next one. After this one, I may sell it, I'm not attached to it. A sneaker enthusiast is more attached to their sneakers. It's more of a collector's piece to them, so it's like what you'd call someone who collects art. An art enthusiast versus an art head. Same thing. Got it. Okay, so we're going to rewire the brain to say sneaker enthusiast. Exactly. And it's not bad a sneaker head either. That's part of the thing I was talking to you about. We've evolved to the point where you have to understand that you have, in the sneaker community, you have an array of individuals that, they're resellers. They like sneakers, but not to the point that they're going to obtain the sneaker, they're procuring the sneaker and they're just going to sell it back to the community at a higher price. They're part of the culture, you may not like that, they may be vultures to you, but that's just part of it, we let that happen, now it's here. With that being said, you also have individuals that are sneaker heads, and they are proud that the fact that they love their sneakers, but they're also, In their brain, they're also smart because they say, you know what? I'm not gonna keep the sneaker, let it break on me or devalue in me. I'm gonna get it, use it have fun with it. And get rid of it and go move on to the next sneaker. So I have a friend that does that and he's had the best sneakers he could ever think of, the most he could afford, but he doesn't hold on to them. His theory is that, and I understand I don't, I get it, I still There's differences in the community. Some people do hang on to them though, right? And those are more the sneaker enthusiasts. And so what I, just like the art thing, because again, they hold on to it. It's more of a collector's thing to them. They appreciate quality. They appreciate the the storytelling, because sneakers as well, there's stories behind them. There's a story, not all of them, right? If you go to your local Foot Locker and you pick up a pair of Asus or New Balance or whatever, there's a story behind them. But the ones the sneaker community and the sneaker enthusiasts collects, they're not buying the shoe that's sitting at the local Foot Locker there at night. They're buying it to go work out or whatever, but the ones that they're going after are the ones that have a story behind'em. Sure. The ones that may, may have a collaboration with another, the artist or with now of'em have collaborations but some of them just have, these are not your typical shoes. These are not, at a running store. This is a special edition style, like collaborations. I love that because I'll say about 90% Yeah. Of the sneakers that a sneaker enthusiast has, or you're seeing them in their rotation. You're just not picking up at your local store. Okay, special events and releases. No, there are special releases. They release that mom and pop shop. Yeah, that's where you see the lines around the world. Exactly that. People camping out. That's exactly right. They're not, they're just not going to be, and if they did, they released them through a raffle or whatever. They only had a certain amount of, like a certain amount. But that means that when you walk in, by the time you walk in there, that pair is no longer there anymore. Okay. You may have some. There are some. But I would say about 90%. Okay. the value. That's part of the value and the mystique, exactly. Just like art, right? Yeah. Just like art. That's really cool. It segues also very well. This is happening often that we were talking with our founder, Moe, before, our good friend, Moe Hachem, the founder of Sneaker Impact, who is we'll throw up a photo right now of Moe and Ray hanging out in the studio and you, and Moe was telling me that sneaker enthusiasts like you are the people that came up with the idea of sustainability within the shoe world long before. Even Sneaker Impact was born or environmentalists were talking about it, is that Sneaker enthusiasts are known to take very good care of their shoes and hold onto them generally for a long period of time versus runners and other users, consumers that use them for a year or two. My dad used to keep his shoes for five to 10 years. He's, from the fifties. And so that's our parents do that. And that's also an interesting perspective, but sneaker enthusiasts came up with the idea of. Valuing a shoe versus it just going in, what happens is 87 percent of the shoes in the U. S. are going into landfills and the ocean. Only 13 percent are getting recycled or up cycled for a second life. Sneaker heads have probably been a big part of getting that going, the 1 percent in the beginning. How are your thoughts on that? Yeah, it's funny because when when I met Moe, he has great energy, great vibe. And, we got into many conversations and one of the conversations was that, I think without knowing it sneaker enthusiasts you know Maybe they're also wired to be for sustainability. And I, what I mean by that is I don't think just my sneakers and I'm not a hoarder necessarily, but I like to keep things, that I have and keep them well kept, so throwing them in landfills is not a thing. I turn over my clothes every once in a while, but they're not going to landfills. They're going to the goodwill. They're going to areas that need it. They're going to in bags back to Cuba or something like that. So they could use it, when they get to that point they're not being destroyed and being thrown in landfills. Going back to the sneaker thing, we talked about that and, I think without even knowing, just the fact that we keep the sneakers, we keep it in good condition. And we don't let go of it from a standpoint that it means something to us. We're sustaining the sustainability is incredible from a sneaker, There's a long life, which is so important. The amount of carbon generated by recycling a shoe is 17. 5 kilograms per shoe. Is what, when you just give it a second life, but to build a shoe, it takes a lot of. Carbon, through fossil fuels and other materials. So it really is cool to see an example of a community that like treats it like art, but they also wear it out to special occasions and then when they're done wearing it, they clean it up versus it just getting, not really appreciated. Does part of that come from growing up without having a lot, or do you think that's part of the sneaker head culture as well? Around the just across the board, or is it, do you think that every, also how much did that play into it? Do you think for you, just not having the ability to just have a parent, because some kids do, have 20 pairs of shoes and then we worked with Jackson Senior High recently and, we helped some of the students there get some shoes and, I say that very humbly because, it's something we. don't do often, but that we found a need that's great. That's great if you guys could definitely do that, because I think the community definitely needs that being able to go out there and have the opportunity to have any of those things where you're able to give back, it's fantastic. And I've done that with Foot Locker a couple of times, we're able to do that working with different areas to do that helps tremendously. But going back to your question with that, Sustainability. I think, as a, growing up, Okay growing up, if I had sneakers my mom bought me a pair of sneakers and says, hey, the school year started, these need to last you. So these, I'm not buying you another pair of sneakers, these are the sneakers for the school year. So you learn to take care of your sneakers, although you're also going outside and playing football and playing tag and running around, so you may have another pair to do that, but you gotta understand that these that you have, you're gonna, so I think that gets wired in your head, as well. And then. To attach the fact that, you have a pair of sneakers and you know these are sought after. You know it's not going to be easy to obtain another pair or it's going to come back to you. So I want to take care of it because I want to be able to use it and have it because it's not that, yeah, I'm gonna be able, next year I'm gonna be able to buy another pair. If I like this black pair of New Balance or just sitting at the store, Once these go bad, like the gray pair, I'm going to get another pair next month, next year, because they're always there, year round, all the time, right? The model may change a little bit, but it's different. So a runner might buy five of the same shoe in a row. Because they love it. Or just someone who likes to wear New Balance. They you'll see them, you'll always see the same pair, remember Steve Jobs always wore a gray pair of New Balance, sure. It's the same number, same one, 990s or whatever. So it's the same one, you could just buy them, they're, they do them all the time. Yeah. In the sneakers that we collect, that's not the way it works, although they retro them now. And they probably retro'd them a little bit more. What does that mean? Retro's just to re release them. Okay. For example, a lot of the popular Jordan shoes now so Jordan shoes. Jordan shoes are probably up to number, I don't know what they are, like 39 or whatever, who wants to correct me? Wow. Or 40 or whatever it is now. It's been since, the Jordan series started in 1985, so you just think about it, right? Wow. And we're in 2000, so they're, so almost 39, 40, right? We're gonna be in 2025. Wow. Yeah. But no one in the sneaker community. Within the sneaker enthusiasts really go after anything that's above a 17 or 18. So they re released the Jordan 1. Why is that? Is that? Because it's the thing. It's like not the same. No, it's because it's a lifestyle shoe. It's the shoes, the ones they're sought after ones are the Jordan 1s, 2s, and 3s. That means Jordan's, the Jordan's model from 1985, 6, and 7. More 87, 88, 89. Those are the sought after models. Interesting. And yes, they're not models. That's correct, not the new technology. Because there are two, they're too bulky and too basketball shoe y. They like the ones, you saw the ones that Moe was wearing? They must have worked good for Michael Jordan back in 1985. Yeah, that's how big, I remember I got a pair of Jordans when I was a kid. There you go. And people love them, and they and I grew up near Chicago, I liked Michael Jordan a lot. That's right, because Wisconsin is very close to that. Madison, two hours away. Wisconsin's right there. I remember that Moe was wearing the Jordan 3s. When we saw him today, those were 3s. Okay. That's a model. That model is from back in, what? 87. 87. 87. Wow. And he work, it's a retro model, Uhhuh, but it's a model of a technology from back then. And that's what's in Now there's a lot more, and there's different ones, but the ones like the, that those models are the ones that kind of brought where the communities, the one now, the two and three. So the Jordans are the ones that like, yeah, there's Nike, there's new, there's all these different brands now. But what I'm trying to tell you is that the, that some of them are more sought after than nurse. Sure. And and that's the way it leads, but there, we could go down a rabbit hole with that type of, that, that topic, but, the rarest ones, what are you wearing today? Tell us about your sneakers. Oh, these are the Jumpman Jacks. This is a new model, but it's by Travis Scott, which is a music artist, right? Yup. And he collab I can see Jack on the bottom. Yeah, you see that? And he collabed with with Mikey and Jordan. Huh. He's been collabing with Jordan, but he's, he normally collabs with their Jordan 1 model. Okay. He's done a Jordan 4 model as well. Okay. He's done some Air Maxes with Nike, but eventually, or officially, finally, last month, he released his own model. Okay. And so finally, they designed a model where it's his touch and feel, and this is what this shoe is. Okay. It's called the Jumpman Jack. Interesting. Model. I like it. Travis Scott in collaboration with Air Jordan. So you like the story behind it a lot. That's important to you. Yeah, I'm a big fan. How's the feel? Is the feel important to you? Yeah, I don't just I don't know. It depends. Look for example some sneakers the story is even in the box Okay, like we keep our boxes so you can understand so it's like we don't take the box and throw it away No We keep the box. Is it because they spend so much time and energy creating a beautiful box and is also for the pre It's obviously also protected and presentation part of the It's part of the art. Not all the sneakers are going to be that way. Some sneakers come in generic boxes. Some of them, the special releases and stuff like that, some of them come in their own special box. Really nice boxes. And there's, the paper has their own storytelling behind it and it gives you a story behind it, okay. Not all of them, but some of them. So I'm giving you just a story behind them. Like most of them, it's like these. You gotta Travis Scott ones, they come with pink paper and they come with some, come with a bandana, based on the stuff that he does. And the box is a little bit different, so it's just the whole presentation. Some of them have a different story, he's from Houston, so they they're, and they're more earth tone colors. Like Kanye, when he was doing his stuff with with Adidas and a lot of it was just earth tones and people just united with that and liked that earth tone cut. So all the releases were browns, not flashy colors. Yeah. Those type of colors. And some have flashy, some, some you go to, so you go into the LeBron James or you go into some of these other like basketball stores or Kobe Bryant's. They would have, rest in peace. But he would have amazing shoes with crazy colors as well. But they all dabble into different kind of areas. And the cool thing about sneakers is I was having, I have this conversation all the time, is. You wear what you like, and, some of them may think one shoe is ugly and the other one may think it's a beautiful sneaker. But it's all because the way you look, the lens that you have, the way you look at it it's, some of them is hype. Everyone loves that pair of shoes just because it's hyped up. But, some models, some people just love, some colors, some people love, and some People are just not attracted to it. They don't want a white and purple sneaker. Your shoes can be, your sneaker can be polarizing. It is. It can be very polarizing to some. They just say, hey, look, it's too much for me. I want a white base and simple colors. Some say, hey, look, no. But it also depends how you wear stuff. Like I told you, look. Very diverse community. Very diverse community, yeah. That's why you can have discussions all the time and you can have conversations because you're not going to have One opinion, the opinions are going to be vast because again, it's art. When it comes to art and those opinions become, very it becomes vast. It could even become controversial. Absolutely. Yeah, we brought up the Mr. Candy. I was once part of his I was a musical enter I was part of his musical team for Donda I got to be like in a motorcycle helmet. I was one of the dancers, 300 of us. No way. I trained for that. That's awesome. First time ever. I never did anything like it in my life, but I was in a Kanye West production. And that was here in Miami? Yeah, at the Marlins at at the Lone Center Stadium. Oh, wow. Not many people know that about me. It was about two or three years ago. Wow. They had us train for two days and we met with his artistic team and then we got to actually perform with him and Marilyn Manson. That's fantastic. But he's become a very controversial person, yeah. It's a topic. Is he a sneaker, is he a sneaker enthusiast? I would say he's, I would say he Who are some of the biggest sneaker enthusiasts besides PR sneaks? You mean, what are you talking about?

Ray Guzman: 43:34

like People

Bryan The Botanist: 43:34

People that you respect and like people that you like Wow! Shout out section. There's so many. There's a, in my community here, look, Kickstanz is a friend of mine and he he's, well respected as well. And he's here in the

Ray Guzman: 43:45

in the

Bryan The Botanist: 43:45

I've heard of Kickstanz. Yeah,

Ray Guzman: 43:46

Yeah, in Miami

Bryan The Botanist: 43:47

as well. There's there's B Boy The Spin, there's There's so many, there's Jumpman Bostic, these are older sneaker, enthusiasts that have, they're real big collectors right out there. There's just, there's so many of them, but I think those are probably the top three that I'm like, or top two that I'm really they're huge influences on me because of the way they collect their sneakers or keep their sneakers, but remember, there's also like Kanye's and artists that like that. They're a big influence, they're a big influence. All the rappers, and also like fashion designers, and like celebrities. But even outside of, look, Action Bronson, like just released a new balance today. And everyone, even new balances are going crazy right now. And he has a collaboration right there, so it's really stylish. It goes into the women and females, side of it, serena Williams had a big piece of it as well from that side. So there's, I know that there's a, and I forget her name, but there's a basketball player that she's new. But there's a basketball player that she's new. They just, not really, I think they just showed her first collaboration with Nike today, and people are looking at that it's all over, it's outside of, it's crossing over into every brand everything, it used to be basketball, those basketball players, Jordan, Ewing, Bird, with Converse, and Magic Johnson growing up, but, it's completely out, way outside of that. It's now, it's within the music culture. I wouldn't even say hip hop. I'll say more than that. Oh, of course. I know hip hop plays a big influence, but I think it's even more than that. Sure, that's where it Yeah, it morphed into that, but I think it's all over the place. You know what I mean? You'll see collaborations. Justin Timberlake has done stuff like that, so with with Nike as well, and he's pop, right? So you just get so many individuals. I know even Michael Jackson had an LA gear. Oh, wow. Back in the, 90s, so there's just a lot of individuals have dabbled into sneakers and jumped in outside of basketball. And I think now even more the ones that move the needle are not even basketball players, because they used to be basketball shoes, but the LeBrons and these, they don't move the needle like, like the other shoes do now, virgil that that did a lot of collaborations with Rest in Peace as well that he passed away and that he had his Off White brand and he also was the creative director for Louis Vuitton before he passed away. He had amazing collaborations with Nike. Which helped them move their market space even more back in like in 17 or something like that. He was big, he was a big influence, and he was just a creative director. It's, it's huge. That's huge. That's a really big again, this is a big topic, shoes and the world in general cause everyone needs a pair of shoes art and fashion is so I wanted to come back to Sneaker Impact. How did you meet our founder, Moe? And what, how have you. What have you noticed about us over the years? We're a young brand, but if we can do a little sneaker impact section and a little bit about your, how you met Moe and I know you guys are good friends. Yeah, absolutely. I think it was really just a good vibe with Moe, so I, I met him at Grails. And I did, we, listen, Grails, I love Grails here in in Miami. It's the only it's in Wynwood. Okay. It's the only sneaker, I would say, bar, or at the time where it started, it was the only sneaker sports bar in the world, right? And a lot of individuals come and they want to visit, Grails to to be a part of that, I think they do a great job of catering to the, the community with sports as well, catering to the individuals that come to Wynwood and also, but evolve it into also having a lot of fun. Sneaker Enthusiasts want to visit and go out there. Events too. I went to an event there myself. Yeah, it was a big party and I noticed that they have a lot of TVs. Is it like the most in Wynwood? They have 30 or 40 monitors, gigantic everywhere. And then they also had a lot of really nice couches. Yeah. And then I noticed that they were doing a Sneaker Impact had a charity event there. And I noticed that other sneaker enthusiasts were there with their Like, art, right? So it was just really cool to see that. I remember they had a shoe Yeah, they have a drink, and they have

Ray Guzman: 47:33

even shots

Bryan The Botanist: 47:34

where again, you could,

Ray Guzman: 47:35

they have

Bryan The Botanist: 47:36

A regular size one,

Ray Guzman: 47:37

they have

Bryan The Botanist: 47:38

a shot one, and

Ray Guzman: 47:38

then

Bryan The Botanist: 47:39

they got this huge gigantic one,

Ray Guzman: 47:41

that's like a Cardio 10 or 15, Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist: 47:43

And okay. It's really just for a good time, from that standpoint, but you can get your, you're shoe drink like you call it and have great food

Ray Guzman: 47:50

introduce

Bryan The Botanist: 47:50

that's where you met Moe. So I had an event. There was an event that we were having and and Sneaker Impact was there and I met

Ray Guzman: 47:56

had great conversations there.

Bryan The Botanist: 48:00

there. He he really was passionate about Sneaker Impact and what it was It means, right? And what it does, he really helped me understand again, sustainability and what, how everything you discussed earlier. And, that really intrigued me. And I, I was like, I'd like to visit your area, of course, right? When would you like to come? We took, me and my boy Kickstands actually came out here and we took a tour of Moe and we hung out with Moe for an afternoon. The whole facility. The whole facility. Where they sort the shoes and they receive them. From beginning to end. The people that work here. The people that work here, on the back, on the side, everything. Haitian families, yeah. Everything they do when they come here, their families, everything they take back. Oh, it was awesome. Their own business that they can set up here. Own business. Yeah. How many micro businesses were there? 20 plus. 20 plus, right? It's incredible. Yeah. You don't realize it, right? And how much they're putting back into those areas, right? Yeah. Into their world. I just felt that it was fantastic. And I was like, I told Moe, man, what you got going on here is fantastic. And I think that your story and, and your brand, you got to put it out there more. Because, sometimes it gets misconstrued and not understood. But I think that if you understand, if people understand. The story, and people understand what you guys are all about. I think that it's all, there'll be all for it, you gotta go out there and put it out there. I've seen it, I've seen it grow. I've seen a lot of things that the brand has done and and continues to do. I'm always proud, I always tell them, whatever you need, I'm here, man. Not only as a friend, but, anyone that can help out. That's awesome. Thank you for promoting it over the years. Of course. Have you, some of the events before we move to the last section, like Art Basel, tell people a little bit about Art Basel, that aren't familiar with Miami, I know it's one of the biggest festivals in the world. Yeah, but what's Art Basel? Think about it, Art Basel is just a It's a giant week of parties. But, organically, or home, or the foundation of our basil, what is it? Oh art. So people, artists from around the world. Artists from around the world, yeah. So it started in Switzerland, right? Correct. And it started out with, hey lads, come out here, introduce your art, showcase your art, sell your art. That was it. For a week. All right, for a week. Really, in December. Starts in December. Starts off really like a Wednesday. First week in December. All the way to about month Sunday. That's my birthday week actually. There you go. It's a party week. There's been weeks where it started on Tuesday and it went till Sunday. Exactly. Exactly right. Exactly right. Yeah. But it started, you described the best, started becoming really a party. Which is. There's satellites of parties everywhere. There's thousands of parties. It's everything. And we talked about sneakers is art. And, the individuals around sneakers notice that, and so not only brands, but stores start taking advantage and started creating a lot of exclusive stuff just for Art Basel. Happening that week. So tell us some examples of stuff you've done with. Yeah, so I started working with different with brands. I think based in 2000 and 15 and 16, I did something with ACEs, okay. And we started working out with something on, Hey look, come out here, we're gonna go ahead and do an event. Art Basel style. Different colors. Release a different color shoe. Okay. Release an Art Basel exclusive shoe. And I started working with stuff like that. And then from there it started off with, okay, let's just do an event. similar like to a sneaker event, but let's focus it on Art Basel. And not only that, let's have artists. Come in showcase to art. Maybe there it has some sneaker ties or influence in it, And also people go out there and get there's this is what Grails comes into play Grails is a great job Of having events throughout the time frame, but they get individuals to sponsor Bring out shoes and now you paint your shoes. Now you color your shoes. Yeah, I've seen those events. I went to one in Hollywood one time where you create your own custom shoes. They actually use like acetone to remove the colors. Exactly. And then you have your own paint, your own special laces, the whole thing. You can decorate them to your liking. Absolutely. That's really cool. I worked with one with Grails that brought in moss, which is really cool.

Ray Guzman: 51:39

For his customizing work.

Bryan The Botanist: 51:40

He also does his own shoe now and he's evolved a lot and works with a lot of like stars and athletes and stuff like that. He came down and did and they used his white shoe as a base and they did a whole contest where a bunch of artists did and then they auctioned off the shoe. Oh wow. Okay. It's it works out that way. It's just all based on art, right? But they do a lot of sneaker collaborations. During that time, focusing on Art Basel, focusing on the colors of Art Basel, a lot of white and pinks and and stuff like that. So I've done, just a plethora of different, stuff, but all around events that, that includes the party scene, getting the sneaker community involved with Art Basel during that, and bringing them in to work. What else? Do they have special charities that sneaker enthusiasts get behind too? What, besides Sneaker Impact, I know that's actually probably One of the ones that we hope is always present in we want to be a part, but are there other things that they do to give back? Oh man, there's, yeah, there's definitely, I've worked with quite a few with Foot Locker, and they do a lot of stuff, especially during the Thanksgiving timeframe. In the holidays and they'll, we did one with Alonzo Mourning one time in the Miami Heat and we just brought in, again, food, turkeys, gave them out to families, gave out shoes, for the kids and even for the adults that need them as well. We've done charities like that in the past over here. So we've been involved, but usually during the holiday times is when we've done it. That makes sense, yeah, during Thanksgiving Cool. So We got a couple sections left. We're closing it out soon because we know your time is valuable. No, no worries. I'm having a great old time over here. Listen, you talk about sneakers. It's Friday here. It's Friday. We're good. It's TGIF. Besides being a sneaker enthusiast, what are some of your favorite things to do in Miami? And tell us a little bit about what, if you don't mind, your family because I heard you're a dad. Dad. My favorite thing to do is spend time with my family. Basically, that's it. I work my 9 to 5, after that, I try to keep myself healthy, go to the gym for the most I can. My kids are in gymnastics during the week, it's really difficult because they got gymnastics, why the school's still, in, but why school's there, they got to do their homework, they got to get, I got to help them with that stuff, get everything settled, get them settled, make sure their schooling is right, but then, during the weekends, just, have fun. Go to the beach in the morning, we like to go to the beach in the morning. It's too hot. It's extremely hot. Do you prefer a certain beach in Miami? Oh, yeah, actually, I go down to what's the beach over there in South Beach, the last the last portion of the beach. South Point? South Point. So we go to South Point. So this is the thing. We go early in the morning usually Saturday or Sunday, and we go at around 7 30 in the morning, 7 7 in the And we find parking. That's a really calm time of day too. Yeah. It's still, it's hard to find parking. Oh, it's still hard to find. But you find it easily. You can't go at noon there. It's impossible. Where are you going to find parking? Yeah. We find parking, right? And get our things in this beautiful area, you got, you got nice scenery, you go by the rocks, and the kids love it because, again, it's the sun's not crazy yet, they get to enjoy the water. Start the day nicely. Start the day nicely, by 11, 1130, we're out, you're hungry, go to lunch, and do some stuff, it's not every weekend, but some stuff, the beach is one of those things during the summer that we like to the rotation. It's in the rotation, and that's whatever my kids like, but I try to keep them active. I try to keep them out of the iPads and stuff like that. I try to say, Hey, look, let's go, I have two daughters and they like to skateboard and they like to do all kinds of different things or be outside. But, during the summer, it's just hot. So we try to do early outside stuff. So during the day, it's Hey, Yeah, we gotta figure something o'clock you gotta be inside or something. Yeah, be inside. But look, but you remind me, Tourists, what are they doing? They're Out on the beach at one o'clock, and for me I'm running. You don't do that. Locals don't do that. We don't like the water in the winter as much. I'm saying we now, I'm including myself in, but. You're paying for how long? 16 years. You're better than here already. Once you're in the 15th year, you're better already. That's it, you are local already, I like the 305 till I die expression but during the one of the hurricanes, I had to evacuate and one of my friends who's from here revoked my status temporarily. Oh yeah. Because I evacuated during Matthew or one of the hurricanes, but I was actually going home anyways to Wisconsin. I had bought my ticket before the hurricane, let the record show, I had bought the tickets before the hurricane, was ever a hurricane, and I happened to fly out. The day before everyone evacuated Miami and then it missed Miami. And they gave everyone endless shit for saying you can't say anymore because it was a thing that used to say 305 till I die because 305 is part of your identity. That's right. Being from the 608 from Madison I've fallen in love with Miami too and, but to call myself a local, I don't know if I'm there yet. After you told me the story of you evacuating, I'm revoking that 305, so you got to figure that out because I had a boss that that donated for years at one time and. He's originally from Pittsburgh, and he evacuated as well, one time during a hurricane. Yeah, they're like, you're not 305 too, dad. Alright no, listen, guy, you're, that's it. It's not happening anymore, you're not 305. How are you? Oh, no, the hurricane's got me. And we've been blessed here, because yes, We got hit hard, Andrew, years ago, and we did get swiped by Katrina and Wilma, we got swiped That was before I came here. Yeah, we got swiped. That was 2006. Yeah, and there were a little bit of a respite. Yeah, but it's been a while, it's Category 1 we haven't really got hit by, again, bless us a Category 5, because it's devastating, right? Or a Category 4. But so there's a big risk where we live. There is a big risk. No, absolutely. It's a huge risk because then, so you understand the individuals, I don't know now with a family. What would happen? I've always stayed, it's never been an issue to me, but you think about it, we're gonna have a really big really heavy hurricane. Hurricane season is starting right now, actually. Yeah, and it's gonna be heavy because of the heat, and we had El Nino last year, and it's getting off topic, but that also prevented hurricanes from coming because of the of the airflow that was pushing down any, Potential Hurricanes. That's gone. So now it's all vapor and all heat coming up. So it's been higher than normal lately too. We've got a potential active hurricane season. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be an active there. So we got to, guys, we got to be aware of that and be prepared. And as far as evacuating, it's a case by case basis. If you live in the beach, they actually make you evacuate. No, they make you do it. I was living in Miami Beach at the time. I got so much crap on social media on there. Yeah, but usually you go inland. You don't leave to Wisconsin. You're like, that's it. What are you doing? You just go. Everyone was flooding the airports and then people were trying to drive to Orlando and the traffic was so bad, they were stuck. They couldn't even get. So if you did have a flight or if you didn't, you'd have to pay, if you did, you were lucky. If you didn't, you're going to have to pay a thousand plus dollars for a 200 flight. And then, what ended up happening was, is it. It missed Miami, and then it went up to, I believe, Atlanta, where everyone had gone to, or the East Coast. I remember that. And it was just following along. And that's what happens with hurricanes, they're unpredictable. See, we're here in that panhandle, right? Yeah, we're always subject to getting hit. But because of wind shear, you get the hurricanes that move, so you say, it's coming, and then it just, quick, some turn, and it goes up. And it's very dangerous. You've read a good point. Many were like that. That's why we've been missed, because we're, we're looking, and we're going to get a direct hit. Sometimes it just maneuvers over and wobbles and it goes up north. It's 50 miles off coast. It's so close. Yeah, and it could just quickly. 10 miles off coast. Yeah, it just, sometimes it just skitters right by the coast and it just keeps going up. His St. Augustine. Were you here during Andrew? I was here during Andrew. Absolutely. I remember it vividly. What do you remember most particularly? We, got, the good thing is we did not get hit. We were supposed to. Horses that got hit hard. We were supposed to get hit hard. The eye was supposed to hit North Miami. It was supposed to pass right by us. Oh. Exactly what I'm talking about. And. Towards the, as it was coming in, right? It wobbled. It just did a turn like this. It was just a wobble, and that wobble took it to Homestead. And it wasn't it. Yeah, if you go look at the records and everything, it was right towards, because it happened at night, right? Didn't it also intensify a lot the last minute? It intensified. It was from 4 to 5. It was Category 4 at the time and they hit, because there's a lot of, the warm waters, there's a lot of warm waters there, and it intensified and they hit Homestead and they weren't prepared as much because they thought, hey, like us, we lost power for two weeks. Yeah, but the home didn't have much damage, but if you look at the whole You still lost power for two weeks. Yeah, we still lost power for two weeks. Yeah. I think The whole Yeah, I don't know who had power, we lost power as well, and we didn't have generators, so luckily our neighbors of ours had a generator. We, we remember we just hot wired that generator with a wire across the street. It was sweet, all kinds of stuff. All the food was basically gritting outside. You know when that power, but Homestead got devastated. Homestead had to become new because they're, it was just wiped, it was wiped out. No, the whole city was wiped out. Yeah, it was wiped out. Yeah, it was wiped out. They had to rebuild everything, but then they changed building codes and stuff like that. But again, I don't think a Category 5, you could really like, if you have a direct impact, it'd be difficult to, unless you have a base or something that's made out of, once a window breaks, if it does, you're, and that's the scary part. that's it's part of living in Miami. It's part of, in Miami. It's if you live up in the Midwest and you have the or the tornadoes, yeah. I lived in Tennessee for six years. And although we were not in tornado alley per se, we were try, we were right towards the end of it. Missouri used to get a lot of that stuff. And we were, we had a bluff in Memphis. In Memphis. Yeah, a lot of times you miss those tornadoes, even though we got them, but still it's always, I remember doing the risk. Yeah, there's no basements down here as much because of the limestone, but in the Midwest we need basements because of tornadoes. That's where you go to hide. Yeah, you get them all the time, and that's scary because they come, there's a cell coming and all you get is an alert, right? And all of a sudden you got to go hide. I remember my first year in Memphis, we had that and I was like, what is that alert? It's a new experience for some people. What is that? And, getting home you start seeing the wins and we had us so very close to us. And the tornado did hit, but it hit a mall maybe like 10 miles out, yeah, it hit a mall, it hit a I think a Macy's, and it broke, and it messed it up. But it was prevalent back then, here, we may get a tornado, but they'll pop in, they're very weak. The water spouts don't even do much damage. Correct, exactly. Exactly. Those they look really cool. The ones on the water, but I guess they don't do a lot of damage. Maybe they can pick up a boat. They'll pick up something if they come to you, but it depends on the, but an F3 or F4 or F5 tornadoes, all those ones in the Midwest are a mile wide. Yeah, they're massive, scary. Yeah. That's that's the season we're in guys. This is this is life, so we gotta be prepared. Take care of your sneakers so they don't fly away. Exactly. Keep them, you got to keep them off the ground too. You don't want them to go out. Do you store them in like a shelving system? Do you have a refrigeration cryotherapy? Oh, wow. Nitrogen, gas, like protection. I do, so I do. So basically, what is your fanciest one too? Or the nicest one, the one closest to your heart? So like my storage or my shoe? Like shoe, do you have a most valuable shoe? It's funny because people ask what's your most favorite shoe, And what's the shoe you hold dear to your heart? Remember I told you the story about the Shaquille O'Neal shoe? The first one ever that you had, yeah. So in 2016, they re released. Okay. And it was in very limited qualities. At the time now you could pick one up at for$80. At a, not at a resale, whatever.'cause they're not okay.'cause they released so many times after that. But it, they never released again from 1992 to 2016. That's a lot of years. So they rereleased in 2016. I don't have'em, remember what happened. So I had to have them. So I went to the, that they had a release party. At a local store that was here, that's closed now called Mr. Rs in South Beach. I know I used to work at Mr. I was an employee of Mr. ars. You're kidding. Really? Rob? Probably, yeah. But I know Mr. R himself. Oh yeah. I know R too. Yeah. Joe. Shout out to Joe. Yeah. Yeah. I actually, he was a, he's a sneaker impact partner. That I worked for them when I lived in Miami Beach. Mr. Rs was my spot to get shoes back in the day, especially when Wow. Did you were at the one It's legendary. It's been open since 1973, I believe. Yeah, 1973. They opened a second store on Washington Avenue. I worked at the first store on Washington and Lincoln. Clyde? I probably, this was, I worked there in 2009 and 10. Yeah, Clyde was there back then, too. Clyde was there. Clyde works at Puma now. Joe and his wife are sweethearts. Yeah. I've seen them even last year. Shout out to Mr. Joe. Awesome. Yeah. That's cool. You did something big out there with, or that's where the release party was. It was at Joe's shop. In the new one, 1973, right? Oh, in the new one, in Washington. Because I think that they opened around 2015 or 16 there, right? They eventually moved locations. Yeah so there, that location that they moved, which was no longer in, what was that in Alton Road? It was Lincoln. Lincoln, my apologies, in Lincoln, right? So in Lincoln. At least the one I worked at. That's, yeah, that's it, that was the main one. That's the first one. On the corner. I used to get a lot of my releases there. That was a very Big corner, right? It was a big corner of Lincoln and Washington. Yeah, you guys used to get all the cool shoes back then. Yeah, I was a runner and I was working there and I mainly, but we had a lot of the Nike stuff. Yeah, I know. We had a big Nike account. We had a huge Nike back then. Things changed later. Ars is legendary. That's that was the main Running, not running, I would say shoe store in Miami Beach for the last 30 years. It was. They were legendary, it was funny. I think they recently closed their doors. Yeah, they recently closed their doors. We sent them just regards or just best wishes on the next chapter because, at some point, Joe and his wife want to probably retire. Of course, they want to retire and enjoy some life, right? They worked so hard all those years. But it's but the release party was there. Okay. And so it was it was put together by a friend of mine named Clyde, who also worked there with Mr. Arce and and anyway, he put it over with Reebok and the whole thing. I went over there and got my pair. And to me, that's the pair. That's the pair That's your favorite. Because that pair takes me back to my memory. And I remember my mom busting her butt to get me that pair of shoes, the story I told you. People know, I always tell the story that's my shoe. I have that shoe and I don't wear it, it's up like on a pedestal. It's not even worth much. Do your kids know the story? No, they're too young. They're too young right now. They're too young, in reality I don't really care. That's an important story, though, I think, for, don't know it. You've probably talked, I'm sure you've talked about the value. I've told the story. I've told the story in several sneakers. And the value of what you have. Correct. It's not even a value. It doesn't, it's not a high Appreciating gratitude? And there's not even a value from a monetary standpoint, that shoe doesn't cost that much, but to me, it's a value, so there's more of a value to it than, I have shoes that cost 3, I could sell them for 3, It's a personal value. But it's a personal value. It's personal, yeah. Yeah, and it's a big deal to me, so for me, I can't, I won't trade that shoe away. That's really cool. Okay, so that's the favorite shoe of Mr. Ray Guzman, and I have a couple more questions. Yes. Favorite restaurant in Miami?

Ray Guzman: 1:05:24

That's

Bryan The Botanist: 1:05:25

Quick shots. Huh? Quick shots. Quick shots. Favorite restaurant in Miami. Wow. I would say It's hard to pick one, I know. It's hard to pick one because there are so many. Where do you like to eat

Ray Guzman: 1:05:36

lately? Is there a

Bryan The Botanist: 1:05:37

Is there a spot that You know, I eat a lot at home. Okay. I try to keep, I try to keep myself healthy, but, so I would say when I want to have a cheat meal is when the favorite restaurant pieces come into play, right? When I want to really cheat, I just go to Flanagan's, man. Okay, I love Flanagan's, yeah, I was just talking about them yesterday. I just go to it, I just go to the, get the wings, get the ribs. They're Miami based. Yeah, they're Miami based and yeah, they're doing something with the Marlins tomorrow, which I'm going to go to with my kids. Okay. Yeah. Shout out to Flanagans. Yeah, they do a race with the running community called Flanagans Rocking Rib Runner. Yeah. I've done that a couple of times. Yeah, I've seen that. I've seen that. I love the stuff they do with the community. They're always doing something with the community. I like just, and again, it's not a big, there's all the big restaurants I can name, but the reason I name Flanagan's is because whenever I say, hey, look, I want to sit there, now I have myself really some ribs and some wings. Low key. Low key, I just go to my local Flanagan's. And they got the famous green cup. And I love that. They have the tall green plastic cup. I don't take any of those things, anytime, but I have two green cups. I have the big one, and I have the kids one. Okay. I have my kids one, when I want to make myself a drink at home, I'll make it my Flanagan's cup. For a small one, so the kids cup. And I just keep to that one, and the big one. Which is funny. If right? If you gotta have your Flanagan's cup. So me, I like to go to Flanagan's. I'm very low key, and that's my spot. That's cool, I like that answer. Okay we talked about your favorite shoes. Favorite Miami sport? Miami Sport I'm big into football and basketball, and the Miami Heat, and Miami, and the Miami Dolphins. I could say Miami Highlight, all that stuff that they do. I have a friend who does that, yeah. Yeah, and it's awesome, and I've been to it, but to be honest with you I'm big into Do you go to the Dolphin Games? Or do you like to watch You know, it's funny you say that, so And I talk about it all the time, I don't go to the Miami Dolphin Games as prevalently because I just, I hate the heat. And there's no roof, so it's so hot, it's so hot. So if I, and again, I don't want, I don't, I guess I don't mean to sound like, almost gonna sound like I'm not a guy from Miami, but if I, like I'm soft, yeah, exactly. But sometimes I get invited, to a box suite. And I would go. And I would say, man, if I get a friend who invites me to a box suite, then I'll go. But out there in the heat, and that heat getting you is so hard. Last year, we were planning on going, so we made plans to go and everything, and it had to be a night game. And I'll go to a night game, so the night game I'll go, but how I went, but I wouldn't, but a day game is really difficult for me to go in August and September at that, in that heat. It's just hard. So anyway, I don't go as much. But do I go to the heat games? Yes, I go to heat games. I love the heat games. Awesome. I love the experience I like Martin's, that's where I'm going tomorrow and I've never taken my kids, this is going to be the first time, so I'm going to get really excited, because I want them to, because I think Martin's do a really good job, although the product is not the best, with stuff, they always have a mediocre team, sub part team, but they do a really good job with the, making it a big family atmosphere. Interacting. Interacting with the community and the events. They do a good job. Oh yeah, they're out at a lot of the 5k's they do. All the time. They're big on that. Their marketing team and what they do with the community is fantastic. Yeah, shout out to botanists for that. From that standpoint, I want to bring them and make that more of a, maybe more of a tradition if they like it. Because they're my girls and they may not like it as much. I like gymnastics, so I'm gonna try to see if I introduce them to this and see if they like it. Cool did some shout outs, here what type of future goals do you have for your brand and for life? The honest truth is I'm winding down as a, when it comes to the sneaker ambassador sneaker brand ambassador type stuff or, whatever they want to call it, influencer, I don't like that name, but yeah, brand ambassador, whatever. Because influencer, fine, you could because, every time you take a picture you took a picture of those shoes, they look awesome. You're making me want to buy it. You just influence someone to buy it, right? Yeah, you're not an influencer in the cheesy way. Yeah, it's more okay, now you see you could put together the shoe this way. It does look this way. It looks great And back then I used to get a lot of early pairs before they released. So I would show a pair off They were like, oh my goodness. It looks great. Now because you worded it, I think I'm gonna buy it So that's the part of the influencing. You influence someone to buy it, right? So that's where the whole marketing piece comes in and the influencers works out. So You Going back, as the years have progressed, I've diminished that more and more, or I'm dabbling into other things like I do skincare, with some companies. I used to work for a skincare company. Yeah, so I do. Design skincare products. That's crazy. Tell us, let's talk skincare. What's your favorite? Right now, I was working for a good year with Pinnacle. Okay. Or Particle. Particle, because Pinnacle is another one that I actually use. Particle. Particle for Men. Particle? Yeah. Particle for Men, I worked with them for a year and I did a lot of their face and neck cream. Okay. Stuff like that. You'll see it in some commercials that they're out there as well. So anyways, I dabbled into different things. I did another skin care and I can't remember the name right now but I did one about a year ago, a year and a half ago. That I did before Particle for Men. I've worked with that. I did I've done some coffee brands as well. You know what I mean? Because those are pictures of coffee and stuff like that. I've done hats, like I told you. It's a lifestyle then. It's a lifestyle. People see you do different things. And the thing is, it's really, are you attracting an audience? Because my audience is sneakers, mostly. But they'll look and they'll say, Hey, you may be attracting an audience that, that, Hey, look, I love hats because I love to wear caps. Then they'll try, they'll do that, yes. Or they'll see me, I take a lot of full body pictures. Hey, look, you're in your, a guy in your 40s, maybe do some skin care and showcase, hey, skin care is something good. That's how I got hit up, I got hit up by Fat Joe's representative to do a beard thing, I haven't even taken pictures of that yet, you represent a demographic, too. Yeah. And I do, too, exactly. We're both in our 40s and, Exactly you represent a demographic. The individuals hit me up with a beard it's called Rewind. And I think that Fat Joe and DJ Kado, big thing of working with them right on that, I, they hit me up, we talked about it a little bit, and they sent me a bunch of their products, so I'm working on doing something with them as well. So that just happened about, maybe

Ray Guzman: 1:11:16

or three

Bryan The Botanist: 1:11:17

weeks ago. Oh wow. So I get stuff that comes in, but I don't Do you have an agent helping you, or is this just organic? No, this is just me. It's organic. I don't, I'm not even looking for it. You're not even looking for it. So what I'm trying to tell you is Just getting, but through the messages, obviously. And again, I get a lot, but the ones, I really just I go into, or I work with accounts and I work with brands that I believe in. Okay. So if I feel like, hey, look, that product is something I could use, right? And it looks good. And I read up on them, then I do it. But I, there's a lot of times that are just stuff that I You passed on certain things. I, oh my goodness. Yeah. Because you get so many different offers all the time. And it's I'm not doing this. This is just a side thing. And then if it works for me, If it's conducive for what I'm doing, then I'll work with it, right? But going back to the future, it's like I'm, I'm slowing down on this, but I think my future will be to continue to be a influencer and ambassador, but more to the community that's growing within, within the sneaker community now, within the culture now, and be part of stuff like this, be part of conversations, be part of different forums where I could talk about the history, talk about what's going on and be there to help and support others. I think that's where I'm at right now. It's more in that kind of area, more like when you retire, that's the kind of situation. And I think now I'm more in that later portions of my years and that with that, when it comes to that. And when I see the younger generation take this and they have, they've already started doing it, things have changed a lot, social media, like I'm not even into TikTok, and TikTok is what it is, right? And they, and to me that's foreign, because I don't, I'm not even, I haven't even dabbled in that, because that's another generation. I actually haven't either yeah. But that's a big, that's a huge, that's a huge That's another realm, and it's great for influencers. That is huge for influencers. I'm already a generation prior to that. You know what I mean? Yeah. I'm already a generation prior to that. But, I think a lot of brands understand that there's still, individuals that fit my demographic, or fit the demographic that I'm still well respected or individuals in our demographic are respected because we come with an experience level that we could also talk about. through or about yeah, and I think that's the part that I talked to you earlier that is good because you are you Know you have the past you got the present you got the future and you got to understand all that you can say Oh, it used to be like that. It was better before sure Yeah, it was better at the time but things change so now you got to learn to adapt and I'm gonna hate it on any Of that stuff. I'm always like a look and that's what's going on Now you learn to live with it learn to understand it and then learn to unite a look This is what the past is the history behind it. Here's how you could you know, improve it and make it better Okay, yeah adapting is key you gotta adapt man, if you don't think it's constant, this world is changing. With inflation and everything. Inflation, change man, you gotta adapt, right? If it costs 10 now, do you have to buy it? If a burger costs 10 to buy it? No, do you want it? No, you gotta change, if you want it as bad, then you better make 10 to be able to afford it. Let's just change, the way it is now. Housing, same thing, it's expensive now. You're not gonna change the world. You're not gonna change the world, it is. You can, but it takes You can, you get into politics and stuff like that, make sure you elect the proper, Political figures in your local area, whatever the case may be, but even with that being said Things that, once it's there, you're not going to, once we all get over the inflation, it's not going to rewind. Yeah, I mean we can make, I shouldn't say there's no change that can happen, but a dollar does, how we spend our money does influence the world. It's just that we aren't going to be able to say, oh, let's take things back like they were in 1985. No, you have to adjust. You're not putting the social media back in the, they're not putting cryptocurrency back in the toothpaste bottle. You have to change. Yeah, that's the future of currency with the future of fashion. We have AI here now. Yeah. Exactly. Helping us with these podcasts. All right. Now AI is here. So how do you now evolve with that? How do you change with that? This cost this much, this is this. How do you, so you have to make sure that you adapt to that, and change with that. And you may not like it. So now how do you make it better? You know what I mean? Or how do you Social media is a great example too. It didn't exist before 2010. was Yeah, there was MySpace. I think That wasn't really the What really impacted social media was Instagram. I think that was 2011 takeoff or whatever the case may be. Facebook and Twitter. Yeah. I saw you're on X. You're at Do you have a presence on X? Or no, I don't have, I'm on X, I'm on X, but it's more of a, it's more, I'm on X, but it's really, it's not a presence. If you see it, it's more of a, I'm active, but it's only active because I'm following like sports accounts and also sneaker accounts. And I like to read, but I don't necessarily post on there now. But your Instagram account is, that's where I'm more, yeah, that's where I'm more well known for. Okay. So that's how people can stay in touch with you the best. Absolutely. Is there any other websites or other things you want to give a shout out to that you've been working on or projects, people to follow and learn more about? No, to be honest with you, you could just, like I said, follow me on PR underscore sneaks 23 on Instagram. That's it. I give a shout out to all my local, areas. We've already talked about, Grails. Sandviper I've worked with as a brand. You guys gotta go check them out as well. Sandviper. Yeah, I looked up Sandviper today. They're based out of Miami Beach. They're based out of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, they're they David is their founder and he does a really great job of working on that brand impacting, they're going to schools and he does a lot of stuff with with their uniforms, basketball and football he has a wide range of products within that and he's really trying to take it off. He's a one man show taking it off, but, yeah, I think he's gonna, he's gonna be a big brand at some point and be up there with the underarmors and stuff. He's gotta go watch out for it. Cause he has drive and passion, if you have drive and passion you'll definitely do it. But yeah, like I said, anything local I like to, that's the other thing, I'm big into supporting local efforts, but local efforts that have a, a vision and then they have a good foundation, that's what they're doing. That's why I love Moe and Sneaker Impact and your team. Anything to do with, like Grails and I've worked with them in the past or anything like that, the sneaker stores out there, we talk about Mr. R's, you got Shoe Gallery. Get creative and do something creative. You got creative. All the time. There's always stuff. I've been involved, I've been in runs sometimes, I'm not a runner, but I've worked, I've done it, I've done 5Ks or whatever at some point. I know that Shoe Gallery and Dan and his team does stuff like that. Late Night Menu Crew. Yeah, huh, you know what I'm saying? I've I've been part of those years ago. I don't do them as much anymore, older, at the end of the day, and I'm not a runner, I don't know. They'll bring the girls out eventually when they're ready. Yeah, that's what I want to do. And they'll bring them out to Brickell Run Club or South Beach Run Club. Frankie, our good friend, is the founder of that. With the Miami Marathon, but you could bring them out to Did you guys work at Nike in their run club down in South Beach? Yes, and it started at Mr. R's. Yeah. Frankie Ruiz, shout out to him, he started it at Mr. R's. In 2008, and then he moved it to the Nike store. Yeah, I remember that. So I've been invited to that, but I've never, I know, I've been invited to it, I just haven't gone, and so it was kick ass. I can't go right now because I had foot surgery, but once I'm, I can go starting in July again. I had to take a three or four month break, but I used to go for years, and it's the best. Let me know. Yeah, I'll invite you, I'll invite you. We're part of the city of, or never mind, you're going to have to talk about that. Yeah, no, I'm in Cutler Bay, so I'm closer to the Homestead area. Okay, because we have some run clubs down south. Yeah, I know they have many, but I'll come down, I don't mind driving, so at the end of the day I've been invited, just never haven't, I haven't gone to it. There's a Brickle Run Club too on Tuesday nights. There's a Brickle Run Club, that's right. There's the one on Monday night that our dear friend, he's going to be on the podcast soon, it's called No Sleeping Run Club. And he's partnered with Puma. Carlos leading that one, Carlos Del Valle. And he's with Puma and CL, brand, but they are out of the American social in Brickell on Mondays. And then we also have the Little Havana Run Club on Wednesdays. I'm having the founders on in two weeks, Leticia and David, they started an amazing run club in Little Havana. That's fantastic. And they meet by the Bay of Pigs on Monument on Wednesdays. And there's so many others around town. There's so many, there's over a hundred run clubs, just like the sneaker enthusiast community. It's like there's huge community. There's just so many communities. We were talking about that before the podcast of how. That's how Sneaker Impact is getting in. It's, there's so much to get involved in. That's what we're like. It's so much to do. You can dabble in so many different things. We need more support because there's a lot of opportunities. We go to universities on a weekly basis almost. We go to events like Earth Day is just a big week of the year for us, but we also do stuff with many Invitations we get, we got an invitation to do the art of the shoe decoration one time at a club in Hollywood, and I went up and it was awesome. It was outside of my comfort zone, I would say. That's the good part of getting, getting outside of the comfort zone. I was actually outside my comfort zone, because when I walked in there, I didn't really everyone's it was a club, it was a scene. It was a scene, right? A lot of energy. I didn't know anyone. A lot of energy. I didn't know anyone yet, so I just was like, oh my god. I'm from Wisconsin, and I walk in this crazy, experience, people around the couches dancing and stuff, and yet there's What time did you go? It was later on? It was 11 or midnight. Yeah, once you pass, listen, once you pass like the 10 o'clock hour, I think, around Wynwood, the dancing on couches starts happening, you gotta So I usually go earlier than that, but hey, but listen, anytime you go to any of these things, let me know, I'll try to take part of it, whatever the case may be, and we'll have a good time. Listen, anything to support the local community, so reach out to at PR underscore Sneaks 23. It's been a really great day hanging out with you. Likewise, man. Likewise. We've covered a lot of great topics. We're going to get this out as soon as possible. And we'll have you back in the future. This is a new studio and you're welcome to, bring guests, too. You're part of the family here, Is there any closing thoughts you want to share with Sneaker Impact? I always ask people about, love and hope inspirational message

Ray Guzman: 1:20:11

Man, I say, I'm always thinking about this. And I say, and I said this probably a couple of times here. The only thing that's constant is And the only thing, the message I'll give is that let's just all continue evolving as and send positive messages out there, there's a lot of negativity going on, and there's a lot of competition, and there's a lot of, elbows shoving, but at the end of the day, man, be out there to support one another, each other, and do what you can in order to always live or leave a lasting impact in the world, you do it for your kids, you do it for your offsprings, which are your kids, your family, but again, at the end of the day, do whatever you can to support, and that's why, again, I love Sneaker Impact. And and everything goes on in the community. Support one another, be there, stay positive.

Bryan The Botanist: 1:20:53

Awesome. I love that inspirational message about kindness and about your legacy. Thank you again for joining us Ray. Absolutely. Thank you, Bryan. I appreciate you for having me. Have a great weekend. Thank you.