May we be meek

Dear Allies,

May we be meek: may we have strength in restraint.

Meek Earth Studio has undergone another significant structural change.

I figured out a way to hold the benefit concert I envisioned. I have been working tirelessly to create a legal framework where nonprofits can raise money without worrying about expenses, exposure, and the overhead it costs to raise the money, along with the money it takes to keep the nonprofit running.

It started with my mom. It started with my pro-bono video work for STEP DC. It started with the Deanwood concert (as risky as it was). It continued with my quest to follow money transmission laws. And finally, God gave me the insight to do it.

First he gave me the platform and the model in the form of community space. Community space reimagines the relationship between the asset/supply (artists) and the demand (concert-goers). It’s basically a fair trade marketplace.

Then, I realized that the only legal way for the nonprofit to take the money in a concert the studio helped produce was to use the platform so that the nonprofit is the sole merchant of record.

That’s when studio transformed into nonprofit world.

You can read more about the platform on the site, but I want to take a moment to reflect…

There are times when it feels like I have nothing going for me due to how people treat me. I wonder why no investors see the value of this platform. I was on a zoom call with a founder whose friends and family put out $350,000 dollars to get his project going. I was shocked. My family and friends don’t have $350,000 to give me for my business, not in this economy. My parents have helped pay for my google workspace subscription, but other than that, I have been struggling with wondering why such a great platform is being overlooked. And then, I realized: God is protecting me.

In the book of Job, Job was struggling. He had no prospects. His closest friends assumed that he was a bad person who caused the tragedies in Job’s own life. The truth is that I have no idea what is going on for the most part, but I know that God is faithful and my defense.

I don’t need to defend myself or my future, because God is my defense. Though my enemies have laid traps and snares for my life, God has and will trap them in the traps they meant for my destruction. But like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, even if my God doesn’t save me, I will still hold truth to my convictions.

I built this platform to protect the vulnerable. I built this platform based on this verse:

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Regardless of what happens around you or to you, remember. Our cornerstone is Christ. We have the mind of Christ, and nothing happens without His permission. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

That said, I realized that while I am still looking for investors, I can’t rely on them as a black founder. I need Jesus and His will for my life. I see the truth that is Jesus Christ, and the first step to doing right by Jesus in my life is to pay the workers the wages they deserve. Jesus believed that workers deserve fair, living wages.

And this, is just the beginning.

Sincerely,Carlton B. Reid IIICEO, Founder, and Follower of Christ