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@SXSW2021

It's here! We’re talking with people about the fun, the purpose, and the impact of their presence at this year's SXSW.

@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 0:56

SXSW Session Host | Reporter at Business Insider, Dominic Madori Davis

article image placeholderDominic-Madori Davis - Insider
And, of course, beyond. Before we get started, I thought I would just check in with you and see how your South By Southwest online experience is going. And also if you'd maybe tell us a little bit about how you got involved not only with South By Southwest, but also with this particular session that you were a part of so great to have you here. And I'm really looking forward to our conversation

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@Dom
Dominic-Madori Davis
@Dom · 2:10
But basically, I moderated a panel talking about building racial equity in startup communities. And I got the panel, actually, because me and my coworker, we were working on a story about, I believe it was, like, the top ten black business professionals that are working to build a more equitable society
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@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 2:11

Your experience speaking w/ small business owners and young entrepreneurs

But I'm sure that next year, when we can all be together in person, we'll all have a ton of fun and just do a ton of learning, which is what I really appreciate about this festival conference festival. It could be a myriad of things. Your work as a reporter for Business Insider covering small businesses and young entrepreneurs. I was reading some of the pieces that you've done over the last year, and some of them were really blowing me away
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@Dom
Dominic-Madori Davis
@Dom · 4:44
Yeah. I mean, like, it's so interesting. You bring up the lemonade stories. So when I wrote that I was actually on a news shift for the weekend, and it was like, I was looking for stories to write. And then when I saw that I was like, oh, my gosh, like, this is we need to because I know that I took it from a local publication. And I was like, I just want our audience to know how bad things are
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@Dom
Dominic-Madori Davis
@Dom · 0:51
And also just to add, like, one more thing, something that I did see with a lot of entrepreneurs, most of them, actually, is that there was, of course, the fear of what the pandemic would do to them. But people were also incredibly fearful or are worried about what the pandemic was actually going to do to groups that were less fortunate than them. So I saw a lot of giving back a lot of people raising awareness, a lot of charity incentives tied to purchases
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@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 1:48

Journalism during the age of Covid

What was, I guess, surprising to you or how did you have to adapt to this new world that we were living in? I mean, so much of the time, journalism does require you to either move around or interact with people. And like so many other professions, I imagine that a lot of that had to be dialed back. A lot of things went digital. I mean, we're fortunate that we have tools where we could interact with each other, whether it's voice or video
@Dom
Dominic-Madori Davis
@Dom · 3:48
Yeah. I mean, like, it was. Yeah. They expected me to deliver and perform. And it I kind of feel this is where I was really grateful that I kind of grew up on the internet because when everything did go back or did go digital, it's not that I was missing much in terms of, like, I didn't really know what it was like to do on the ground reporting before
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@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 1:03

Advice for young professionals venturing off into this new world?

It's really incredible to hear that you were thrust into this insane new world and were able to acquire the tools that you need to come out on the other side, feeling victorious and going forward into that new world with this really strong skill set, seeing as though you are a young reporter who's covering young entrepreneurs and small businesses, you've covered so much over the last year
@Dom
Dominic-Madori Davis
@Dom · 4:47
If you have access to a phone and you have an Instagram account, you can make Instagram your own website. You can do it, and you should do it, and then you put it on your resume like, hey, editor in chief of my own Instagram magazine or something like that, taking every opportunity, making every opportunity get really creative and how you want these opportunities to come to you imagine the life that you want and see what you have to do to get it
@Taylor
Taylor J
@Taylor · 1:06

In closing! 🙏

And so, Dom, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us and being here and taking time out of your busy week south by Southwest. There's a lot that you can be doing right now, and I'm so glad that you spent the time here with us
@Dom
Dominic-Madori Davis
@Dom · 0:36
And if I can't cover you myself, I can certainly put you in touch with a team at Bi that wouldn't be happy to, like, really look into your story. And so, yeah, thanks again for having me. This has been so cool
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