Roshawnna:                  Hi, I'm Dr. Roshawnna Novellus, host of Startup Funding and producer of the EnrichHer Initiative. I am so excited to be highlighting so many fabulous entrepreneurs from the city of Atlanta. Today we have Diamonde from Blossom. Diamonde:                  Hello. No I'm excited, I really am excited. I like talking. Roshawnna:                  Tell us more about Blossom and all of the awesome work you're doing here in Atlanta. Diamonde:                  So Blossom is a digital television destination for women of color by women of color and it simply came from the fact that I was working in television production myself for actual networks and I would pitch my own ideas and I was rejected so many times. Granted I have no problem with rejection but God was like, "Girl just do it yourself if this is what you really want to do." I've just always been passionate about creating an opportunity for women of color to tell their story and have equal opportunity to do the work that others get to do. Roshawnna:                  Right I know that you and I met awhile ago when you were working on some projects and you had some ebbs and flows then. Diamonde:                  Oh my god, the challenges. Roshawnna:                  Can you tell me more about the challenges of breaking in to this industry? Diamonde:                  Well so as a producer in television you know I have a cameraman that gets paid good money to do his work so the quality is already awesome but when you become an independent creator you have to have more money and the quality may not be the same so that's something that I'm learning. How to leverage my resources or where to put my money so that we can create quality content because at the end of the day we're competing with the Netflix, Hulu and all the other digital television destinations. Having money to create or really figuring out how to use our resources to create at high levels has been the challenge but we're definitely overcoming it and we're getting it done. Roshawnna:                  I know that recently you've had a lot of great accolades mentioned in the newspaper, the events, what is the most exciting thing that's going on right now with Blossom. Diamonde:                  So exciting. Honestly it's creating the content. We have so many great ideas and a few good productions that are happening over the next eight weeks so it's really just getting those done. Also we're traveling. We're going to go meet other content creators outside of Atlanta just that we can elevate the work of our content creators on our platform now. If we just remain in the one space, our content creators can't really be seen so we're going to be traveling. Roshawnna:                  Awesome. Diamonde:                  Yes I'm excited. Roshawnna:                  So what does success look like for Blossom? Diamonde:                  Honestly it's having tons of content like if I want to put a numeric value on it, 500 pieces of content that are created by women of color. I just can't even imagine what that's going to look like if we have feature films, web series, talk shows, I mean this mass amount of content that was all created by women of color, I think you really start to give them a voice at that point. Roshawnna:                  Now I heard that there are a lot of content creators that exist right now but they have no platform to distribute their work. Diamonde:                  This is true. Roshawnna:                  So is all of the work going to be original? Diamonde:                  It's going to be both. Roshawnna:                  Okay. Diamonde:                  So we at Blossom create original content but then we also have filmmakers or talk show hosts or anyone that has content themselves. They may have a web series and they can put it on our platform. Roshawnna:                  Okay. Atlanta is a big hug for entertainment so how are you connected with the whole entertainment buzz? Diamonde:                  Yes well naturally this is why I got started in television production. I have those relationships and I've kind of been in the space but now I'm getting more connected with the Indy scene, which I love and enjoy because these creators are creating at high levels frequently. They're very passionate about it. Roshawnna:                  Mm-hmm (affirmative)- Diamonde:                  I'm connected in that space, I love it, it's good. Roshawnna:                  So how are you helping shape the scene in Atlanta? Diamonde:                  I mean it's different providing a platform for these Indy filmmakers. A lot of them strive right to get on ABC or to get on NBC or to have their film in a theater. Well we want to provide them with that opportunity and ultimately we have goals of creating true economic value in Atlanta, that takes money but we're going to get that. Roshawnna:                  Right. Diamonde:                  We definitely want to be and have a home here in Atlanta. Roshawnna:                  Okay so what can our viewers do right now to support Blossom and make sure you have the capital that you need to be successful? Diamonde:                  That's easy. Go to www.watchblossom.com. Get a free trial, subscribe, come in and let us know what you think. We just launched a month ago but we are in the process of onboarding lots of content. Like I said the goal is 500 pieces and hopefully within the year, that's our goal, it's gonna happen. Roshawnna:                  Well Diamonde I'm so happy that not only you're doing this but you believe in yourself so much to go out there and take this leap forward to bring this much needed content to the marketplace. I wish you the best of luck. Diamonde:                  Thank you so much. Thank you, I'm so excited. Roshawnna:                  Thank you so much for being a guest on Startup Funding. Diamonde:                  No problem. Roshawnna:                  Startup Funding partnering with the EnrichHer initiative to showcase the best women led enterprises from the city of Atlanta. Go to startupfunding.co and click on EnrichHer to learn about every entrepreneur that we showcase and how you can take part in this amazing initiative.