Just 33 days after signing his first NBA contract in 2009, Lanny Smith suffered a career-ending knee injury. Afterwards, he transitioned to entrepreneurship, and in 2020, he launched an athleisure brand called Actively Black. Smith’s company donates a meaningful percentage of its profits to organizations and programs that support Black communities in the United States.

The first brand that I actually launched is called Active Faith, a faith-based sports apparel brand. Launched that brand out of my mom’s house in 2010, had some great success with it. Unfortunately, we do have to deal with the realities of society. I was actually hiding myself from people knowing that I was the founder of Active Faith. I was afraid that if they knew it was this young Black male that was the founder that it would have a negative impact on the business. And unfortunately, I had multiple experiences that supported that fear. There was a group that was emailing in that had interest in possibly investing in Active Faith, and go back and forth over email, set up the in-person meeting. I’ll never forget walking through those doors and just seeing the looks on their faces. They were shocked that it was me, and all of a sudden, they weren’t interested in investing anymore.

My parents raised me to be proud of who I am, to be proud of my culture. To be hiding myself for those reasons was something that I struggled with internally. And so in 2018, the movie Black Panther came out, and, you know, it shows the power of representation. That was my first time really seeing a superhero that looked like me, and it was just such a powerful thing. And I saw the way the Black community and the entire diaspora really came together around, you know, Black Panther and the movie. I remember walking out of the theatre, saying: ‘Man, I want to create a brand that makes my people feel the way that we felt in that movie.’

When you make something that makes somebody feel a certain type of way, people might forget what you say, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel. I think that’s part of the success that we’ve had is people are getting the product, they’re buying into the brand, and how they feel changes.

One of my favourite pieces of feedback I get is when there’s complete strangers who are in an airport or somewhere and they see each other wearing Actively Black, and then they have a conversation. They connect over them both being part of this tribe. There’s power in that. The negative images, the oppression, all the things that have been… the negative things that have been attached to being Black, we’re moving our people away from that and talking about, you know, the greatness that lives within us. The Nikes of the world, the Adidas, the Puma, et cetera, et cetera, Nike wants you to be a walking billboard for Nike. They want you to wear the swoosh across your chest and be a walking billboard for Nike. The power and the brand and what we’re building with Actively Black is that my customers, the tribe, they don’t see themselves as a walking billboard for Actively Black. They actually see Actively Black as something that is the billboard for them.

Giving back and impacting our community is … it’s part of the why, of why we’re doing this. In 2022, we did over 5 million in revenue. We donated $500,000 back into the Black community. So that’s 10% of our revenue. When our audience also sees that: ‘Oh, they’re actually about what they’re talking about, like this isn’t just lip service, they’re actually putting action behind it,’ it continues to have that compounding effect because now, you know, we get those comments all the time where our customers are like: ‘You know what? I know that my money is going to something that’s also going back into my community, that’s also helping somebody. I don’t mind spending this money with Actively Black.’ You know what I mean? I want to spend my money with Actively Black because I know that it’s going for good. That makes me… that makes me very proud, and this is just the beginning of that.

Some people will look at, you know, you’re serving a niche audience as a negative, but to me, that’s actually the positive. Actually that is the unlock. That is the way that you stand out and give yourself the best chance of success. I can’t compete with Nike on research and development, on R&D. We don’t have a budget for that. I can’t compete with them on the technical side of the product. Can’t compete with them on so many different things. But I have a place where Nike cannot compete with me. They cannot ‘outblack culture’ a company that is literally built from that. That’s our foundation. That’s who we are. We are this 365 days out of the year. It’s not just a Black History Month collection that, you know, Nike’s going to release that. You know what I’m saying? It’s not just for Juneteenth. Those giants cannot compete in that space.

• An injury (noun): physical damage or harm to someone’s body caused by an accident or attack.
• To transition (verb): to change from one type of form to another.
• Entrepreneurship (noun): skill in starting new businesses, especially seeing new opportunities.
• To launch something (verb): to introduce something new (e.g. a new product).
• To donate (verb): to give money or things to help a person or organisation.
• Faith (noun): religion or related to religious groups.
• Apparel (noun): clothes of a particular type.
• To deal with something (phrasal verb): to take action to solve a problem.
• A founder (noun): someone who starts an organisation.
• To support (verb): to help show something is true.
• To invest in something (verb): to put money, effort or resources into something to make a profit.
• Back and forth (idiom): going in one direction and then the opposite direction.
• To set up something (phrasal verb): to organise or arrange an event or activity.
• Shocked (adjective): surprised or upset because something unexpected or bad has happened.
• All of a sudden (idiom): quickly and without warning.
• To struggle with something (verb): to find something difficult and make an effort to try to do it.
• To come out (phrasal verb): to be released and become available for people to buy or see.
• Representation (noun): including different types of people in films, politics, sports etc so that different groups are visible.
• A diaspora (noun): a group of people who move from one country or place to other places.
• To come together (phrasal verb): to join, meet, or work together to do something.
• To buy into something (phrasal verb): to completely believe in a set of ideas.
• A stranger (noun): someone you don’t know.
• A tribe (noun): a group of people who share the same culture, language, and history.
• Oppression (noun): a situation in which people are prevented from having freedom and opportunities.
• Et cetera (adverb): and similar things.
• A billboard (US, noun): a very large board where adverts are shown, normally next to a road.
• To give back (phrasal verb): to return something or do something that benefits other people.
• (To pay) lip service to something (phrase): to say you approve of and agree with something, but not do anything to support it.
• A compounding effect (phrase): something that grows larger over time.
• To serve (verb): to provide a product or service for other people.
• A niche (noun): an opportunity to sell a product to a particular group of people.
• An unlock (informal, noun): a way to access something.
• To stand out (phrasal verb): to be different and noticeable from other things.
• To compete (verb): to try to be more successful than someone/ something else.
• A budget (noun): an amount of money you have available to spend.
• Out- (prefix): used to add the meaning ‘going further’ or ‘being better than’ to verbs (or nouns informally).
• A foundation (noun): an idea or fact that something is based on.
• Black History Month (noun): an event to celebrate, share, and understand the impact of black heritage and culture.
• Juneteenth (noun): June 19^th, a holiday in the USA that commemorates the end of slavery.
• A space (noun): an area or zone.

In this text, there are examples of the zero, first, and second conditional. Conditionals describe the result of a certain condition. The if/ when clause tells you the condition, the main clause tells you the result. The order of the clauses can be changed, and this does affect the meaning.

Zero Conditional

Used for general truths, laws, or rules. Structure: if/when + present simple → present simple:

‘If you touch fire, it burns.’    ‘Water boils if it reaches 100°C.’   ‘When you smile, other people smile.’

First Conditional

Used for real or possible future situations.

Structure: if/when + present simple → will + infinitive:

‘If it rains, we’ll stay inside.’   ‘She’ll call when she arrives.’   ‘When I’m finished I’ll let you know.’

Other words like unless, as long as, as soon as, or in case can replace if:

‘I’ll go unless you need me here.’   ‘We’ll start as soon as you’re ready.’   ‘Here’s my number in case you need it.’

Second Conditional

Used to imagine unreal, unlikely, or hypothetical (imaginary) situations in the present or future. Structure: if + past simple → would (‘d) + infinitive:

‘If I had wings, I’d fly everywhere.’   ‘He’d be happier if he lived by the sea.’   ‘I’d help if I could.’

With the verb ‘to be’, ‘if I/ she/ she/ it were’ is grammatically correct, but ‘if I/ she/ she/ it was’  is common in informal speech.

‘If I was taller, I’d play basketball.’    ‘If he was rich, he’d buy a yacht.’   ‘I’d sleep if it was quieter!’

Examples in the text:

• … if they knew it was this young Black male … it would have a negative impact on the business: if + knew (past simple) >> would + have (infinitive) … the second conditional is used here to talk about the hypothetical effects of people knowing a young black man is the founder of the company.
• When you make something that makes somebody feel a certain type of way… they’ll never forget how you made them feel: when + you make … (present simple) >> they’ll (will) + never forget (infinitive) … the first conditional is used here to talk about the likely effects of a brand.
• … when there’s complete strangers who are in an airport … they have a conversation: when + there is … (present simple) >> they have a conversation (present simple) … the zero conditional is used here to talk about what generally happens – what is generally true – when people wearing the brand see another person wearing the brand.

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/b1-b2-grammar/conditionals-zero-first-second

https://www.englishpodcastscollected.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Harvard-Business-Review-How-I-created-a-successful-brand-that-makes-people-feel-something.pdf

https://www.englishpodcastscollected.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Harvard-Business-Review-How-I-created-a-successful-brand-that-makes-people-feel-something.docx