CONTENT CREATOR

Cox: Happy to have you here today DeAndre Brown aka The Corporate Badd e, aka the Leader in the Gen Z corporate workforce! How are you doing today?

Brown: Hello, I'm great, and thank you for having me

Cox: You have taken social media by storm with your entertaining and educating content on what Gen Zs want out of the workplace Before we get nto where you are now, I want to know a little more about you and your past

Brown: Well, I'm originally from Ch cago and went to school in Atlanta, where I attended Morehouse College It was there during my undergraduate program I had several great nternships with corporate companies Dur ng those nternships, I realized how much of a d fference we can make as minorities for these companies when we are in these spaces, and our vo ces are heard

Cox: N ce! So now, when did you know that content creation was go ng to be your th ng?

Brown: Honestly, I just started post ng daily on TikTok and p cked up two clients After that, I wondered what would happen f I devised a strategy to grow my channel actively So, I started to research TikTok I found t interest ng that over 70% of the users were Gen Z So, I wanted to create content geared towards them but also to talk about corporate America

Cox: Why was bringing corporate America something of nterest to you n your content strategy?

Brown: I wanted to help educate people on how to get into the spaces since I am Gen Z and came from a corporate America background

Cox: Were you surprised when it took off?

Brown: Yes! I figured I'd create content from the corporate America lens about Gen Zs! And when I woke to my content reaching m ll ons of views, I was like, 'Oh my Gosh, this is actually good

Cox: There was a b t of a pivot, right? You went from creat ng content for Gen Z's on how to get into the spaces to teaching Corporations how to get and keep Gen Zs n those spaces

Brown: Yes and it showed me that what I had in my m nd for myself init ally was go ng to be something even b gger than I had imagined

Cox: I want to touch on what I saw you speak about regarding companies hav ng strict employee soc al media polic es

Brown: It's such a great question that we need to explore more When it comes to tech spaces, companies are lenient with the r employee's soc al media pol c es It s much stricter when look ng at traditional banking and business companies I think companies have to really evolve their practices to stay current with where society s headed with technology and tools like soc al media Social media and the internet are so much part of our daily lives in how we interact, communicate, and express ourselves So, limiting that for employees won t be beneficial for corporations n the long run I do bel eve that people will start to turn down positions with strict soc al media guidel nes

Cox: I love your content when t comes to you br ng ng awareness to companies trying to take advantage of employees You generate a lot of content around that topic in such a fun and diverse way

Brown: I get the inspiration from my own exper ence and from stor es I hear from others You know, they try to make employees feel more 'connected' as a way to get over on them They put more on their plates without increasing the r pay or benef ts

Cox: Speaking of employees, what s something you stress with corporations to keep them?

Brown: I think they can actually keep talent by l stening to what they want! We don t care about pizza parties and spec al events Those are great for creating wonderful team environments We want the raise and different benefits when we know corporat ons have budgets and tools to provide those requests

Cox: You reference tech culture a lot

Brown: Yes because the tech companies and people I speak w th aren t required to be at their desks for 9 to 10 hours daily They work on more project bases Compan es don't need to hold employees hostage when there is nothing to be done I th nk moving forward, companies should start to let t be about complet ng the ass gnments at hand and then let employees go about their bus ness

Cox: You recently opened up about leaving your corporate job to become a full-time entrepreneur You talked about things that happened that let you know t was t me to leave

Brown: First, I was hardly sleeping I was doing my full-time job, and after I got off, I worked on my brand deals and content creation It was a lot! And th s was when things were really picking up for me from social media Then I started to learn that people with n the company weren't happy with the content was creating I mean there were some support ve people but I didn't know some h gher-ups were really aga nst t

Cox: That s definitely known of their business on what you do with your free time that isn t tied to the company

Brown: Yes that's how I felt And the last straw was when I was contemplating putting n my two weeks I went to HR to speak about everything I'm going through and the hardships of balancing things They mentioned that there had been a lot more talks about my content That's when I said, you know what, this is the perfect t me to put in my two weeks I felt then that I wasn't called to that job and company anymore and that my purpose was bigger than it

Cox: I know it s not hard to leave a place when pay is stable and consistent What was it that really let you know this was the time to ex t and start your own?

Brown: That s a really good quest on! When things started to line up from winn ng the Career Content Creator award to be ng asked to speak on mult ple panels and engagements I would have to say It really let me know people genuinely cared about my perspective outside of social media You see a lot of influencers and content creators on social media, but only a few of them are asked to speak on panels I realized I d dn t want to lim t myself and that I could do so much more

Cox: How does it feel now to be fully n control?

Brown: It feels great and a blessing I m just lett ng God lead me in the right path and trusting h s process