‘I want this to be the home of possibilities’ — PinkTalk Podcast amplifies voices of entrepreneurs

Featured photo: Adrien, Vice President of Ancient Homage clothing line and Bugatti (courtesy photo)

Robert “Bobbie Bugatti” Wilder rides the elevator every other Wednesday to the 24th
floor of Winston Tower. Bugatti enters the Lab @ 301 North where the owner EA Green
is setting up the camera.

“What’s going on Winston Salem?” Robert “Bugatti” Wilder asks as he introduces the
“PinkTalk” podcast. A guest-turned-host, Bugatti explains getting the gig was the result
of a successful interview.

“I got interviewed for episode three, came back as a co-host for episode four and now
I’m the leading host,” he says.

The Winston-Salem based show was created by Faith “Mizz Faith” Hauser, a healthcare
worker from the city who has had her own success with entrepreneurship. Downtown
was a staple of her childhood: she recalls how she used to go shopping after school and
visit a now-closed record store. Winston Tower felt like home, and that’s why she chose
it as the filming location.

“It was only natural to return downtown,” she says.
She aspired to create a space for entrepreneurs to feel comfortable boasting about themselves. She hoped their stories would influence other entrepreneurs, who may be feeling discouraged to persevere.

“I want this to be the home of possibilities,” she says.

Hauser says she chooses the guests of each show based on how they treated her when
she shopped with their company. She also paid attention to how they responded to
customers on social media. She stressed the importance of featuring guests that not
only owned good businesses, but were also good people.

The show aired on her son’s birthday this year, Jan. 6 and now has 18 episodes. She
chose the premiere day to encourage him to pursue his music career, and to show him
if she could broadcast her work, he could, too. Hauser let her son produce the theme
song of the show to give him an additional boost of encouragement. Her daughter
Mesha was also involved, naming the show “PinkTalk,” saying that pink is typically
viewed as a feminine color, but men look good wearing it, so it’s for everyone.

The podcast was strictly audio in the beginning, but Mizz Faith was influenced to go
visual after viewing the success of other visual podcasts. After a visual podcast trial run
with Episode 6,”Valentine’s Day Demo,” she realized her viewers reacted more
positively this way. Her son said she should take advantage of Instagram live while
people are quarantined at home.

She tried writing scripts, but found that podcasts are unpredictable because they’re
recorded live and receive little to no editing. Print and electronic scripts were
unsuccessful, as her team is full of free spirits.

“With men, they do whatever the hell they wanna do,” Mizz Faith says. “They get in
here, start drinking and say whatever they wanna say!”

Now, she lets her hosts and guests say what they please, her only restrictions being
avoiding the N-word and excessive cursing.

Bugatti prepares for the show by tapping into each guests’ social media and drafting
questions to ask them. He avoids questions that could easily be answered by visiting
the guest’s page.

“I don’t want my questions or the interview to seem repetitive,” he says.

Episode 6,”Valentine’s Day Demo,” featured Naomi Quinones, a cake decorator who
started Custom Creations by Naomi, doing a cake decorating demonstration for Bugatti.
He stared in amazement as she listed each item and ingredient she’d be using.

“You can tell she’s a professional artist,” he said. “She has all her materials. She ain’t
got no fork and a butter knife. She’s got materials.”

To Quinones, cake decorating is a time-consuming craft, but the end results are worth
it.

“I spent many years collecting all my tools of the trade,” she says. “They make my life
easier and make me look that much better.”

To Mizz Faith, the most interesting episode of the podcast was Episode 8, “Cutt Game.”
The episode featured the barbers of Cutt Game barber shop, whom Mizz Faith found to
be positive male role models.

“They got like, hella swag,’’ she says. “I was looking for that cool-dude type.”

Mizz Faith enjoyed the episode as it was a refreshing change to see young boys look to
successful male barbers instead of rappers as role models.

“A lot of our kids look to music and stuff like that and listen to what they’re saying about
dope and stuff like that,” she says, “So I wanted to find some cool entrepreneurs that
give that image, but doing the right thing with that image.”

The “PinkTalk” podcast can be found on multiple platforms including Spotify, YouTube,
and iHeart Radio. Each episode is a treat, according to Bugatti.

“I want you to be on the edge of your seat while getting the ‘PinkTalk’ experience,” he
says.

To Mizz Faith, the ultimate goal of the podcast is for entrepreneurs to make a name for
themselves in a city where she knows it is difficult to pursue certain dreams.

“I want to be the person they can reach out to,” she says. “If there’s a dream or
something they want to do, it’s possible.”

The PinkTalk podcast airs every other Thursday at 7 PM. To learn more, visit the
Facebook page and YouTube channel.