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00:00Hey, what's up? Derek Moore here, co-founder of Slimmin' Huskies Pizza.
00:05Hey, what's up everybody? I'm EJ, co-founder of Slimmin' Huskies.
00:09And I'm here with Ebony.
00:10We started the idea to create Slimmin' Huskies around late 2014, early 2015.
00:15We ate a lot of pizza, right? And we said, man, we could do this better, right?
00:20We could create something that, you know, people would love, where, you know,
00:23you come in and you have visual art, you have a nice music playing,
00:27you have, you know, just an experience of a hospitality experience that, you know,
00:33kind of blows people away.
00:34We can kind of take you on this journey of flavors and things and be very creative
00:39with our approach to the restaurant space.
00:43In the business world, there is a need for diversity.
00:46There is a need to be able to also, as a black business, operate in different spaces,
00:52to be in the space where our businesses aren't necessarily seen or appreciated
00:58is, number one, very important to that space because diversity brings about these different ideas
01:06that allows people to grow and businesses to grow, right?
01:10Being in these different spaces and being able to play in these different arenas
01:14is very important, just as much as brand awareness.
01:17When they hear the name Slimmin' Huskies, number one, I want them to remember first,
01:21the product.
01:21The product is the most important piece of Slimmin' Huskies, right?
01:26So I want them to walk away with the flavors and how good the pizza was and how the cheese
01:31was pulling and all those type of things, right?
01:33I want them to remember how they felt coming in and how they felt leaving Slimmin' Huskies.
01:39I get to wake up every day and work with two of my best friends.
01:41I get to, you know, come into spaces and listen to dope music and, you know,
01:47try different pizza flavors and different things.
01:51So I wouldn't trade it for the world.
01:54All of that sparked during our time at Tennessee State University.
01:58We all three collectively built a really strong bond in high school.
02:03Moe and Clint both playing football.
02:05They had an athletic scholarship to attend Tennessee State.
02:08I had an academic scholarship to attend Tennessee State.
02:12Moe and I were roommates our freshman year.
02:17Clint was up the hall from us, right?
02:18So we spent a lot, a lot, a lot of time together.
02:23So much so, you know, Clint, when Clint came and told us that he was going to pledge Kappa
02:28Alpha Psi, I was like, man, you sure?
02:31And, you know, so we had this whole conversation about pledging.
02:33And so he pledged first and then made us.
02:37And so Moe and I are both Kappas as well.
02:39And it was really like a full circle thing to, you know, have known, you know, from basically
02:45as kids.
02:46We've three collectively known each other since about 16 years old and have shared a
02:50lot of all, most of our life milestones together.
02:53You know what I mean?
02:54And all these things that we've been able to share together really was born out of this
03:00brotherhood that we have with one another.
03:03Being an HBCU alum is the reason why we are who we are.
03:07We walked away with the motto of TSU, right?
03:09Think, Work, Serve.
03:11And all three of us have that embedded in us.
03:14And those are the three things that we take into our business.
03:18I think every African-American student, child, whatever you want to call it, should attend
03:26an HBCU, whether it be undergraduate or postgraduate.
03:30There is nothing like being on campus and being around people that look like you, that
03:38are from your same background, and that have the mind to want to go further.
03:44We take great pride in being, you know, a TSU alum, but also encouraging others, you
03:51know, to come here and follow in our footsteps.
03:54So it was very important and, you know, I was elated and glad that I chose Tennessee
04:00State University for my undergraduate education.