Why it's Called Taste

tl;dr listen to this via our pilot episode.

Hello, my friend. We haven’t become acquainted yet, but all the best things take time, and this is the beginning of ours together. My name is Asia Grant, and I am excited to welcome you to It's Called Taste, conversations with the best tastemakers of our time on how they hone their crafts and build their careers.

Let me tell you a story. I have always considered myself a creative. However, when I went to school, I studied business. It was there that I learned about entrepreneurship. I loved art because it was something I created and could call my own. I was drawn to entrepreneurship for the same reason. But instead of creating the art of my dreams, it was my entire life that could be designed.

But I faced a problem. My entrepreneurial peers aspired to be a Zuckerberg, Musk, or Gates. I wanted to be like Virgil Abloh, David Ogilvy, or even Oprah. I was drawn to the mastery of their creative skills and the life they made using them. But to those around me, none of these individuals registered in their minds. At that point, I put my entrepreneurial dream on the back burner.

After graduating college, I became a consultant and worked at a huge multinational company. On the first day of work, I knew that I wasn’t made for a corporate job. The office politics, bureaucracy, and, worst of all, the confinement of creativity shredded my spirit.

At that point, I learned one of my core truths: I could not sacrifice my creativity for financial gain (taking a high-paying job that I hated), but I would not live a life of squalor just to exercise creativity (I couldn’t be a classic starving artist).

I want to marry my creativity to my financial prosperity - each of them acting as the bricks I lay for the foundation of my dream life.

I didn’t personally know many people who were on that path, and none who had succeeded at it at the volume I aspired to. But I got started anyway.

It was only after I started my own creative business with my best friend that I started to meet others who were actually living this dream. The creatives who were building their dream lives through their creative skills - the designers, chefs, photographers, writers, musicians, artists, and more. Anything felt possible when I was around them.

Virgil Abloh said, “You have to have mentors, dead or alive,” and that’s how I approached each of these cherished relationships. As mentors. I’ve asked the questions that I could never find answers to explicitly. What was possible? How did they make it happen? What was needed? Mentally. Emotionally. Financially. Strategically. Tactically.

We would share lessons, hardships, and ideas - becoming better in our individual pursuits together. As time went on, I learned that they too craved conversations where other creatives would openly share their knowledge on the topics that felt taboo or off-limits: money, business, and their next ideas.

Which brings us here. With It's Called Taste, I aim to satiate those cravings for knowledge. The knowledge not easily found or readily accessible.

It's Called Taste is for those driven to make their creative work their life and are hungry enough to act on the advice of those creatives who have realized it before them.

You may wonder why I am charging for a podcast. Simply put, my friend, because knowledge is power. And power, when used well, is extremely valuable. Think of it like this. Imagine the professional or creative person you aspire to be like or have as a mentor. And you have one uninterrupted hour with them to ask them anything you’d like. How much money did it take for them to start? What did they do to get so good? How did they start making money? How much did they charge? What would they have done differently? What ideas are most exciting for them now? And they answered all of them.

If you subscribe, this is what I promise you. Because, I am like you. I want to learn from the absolutely best - the people who have actually done it, not just someone posing on Instagram. So I will find them and ask the burning questions - mark my words.

And I have a track record to prove it. In 2014, I was inspired by Emily Weiss (founder of Glossier) to one day start a beauty company. Then in 2018, I was inspired by Ben Gorham (founder of Byredo) for that beauty company to focus on fragrance. I promised myself that I’d meet both of them and ask them the burning questions I had. And I did! In Feb 2021, my co-founder and I met Emily, and she introduced me to Ben, whom I met in May 2021. Their advice helped us focus the strategy of our business and saved me over $100,000 (they convinced me I didn’t need business school).

That’s just one example of the power, time, and dollar value of knowledge.

You might not be ready to buy today; that’s okay. For free, you can enjoy our newsletter that recaps key learnings from the full episodes and a preview episode wherever you listen to podcasts. These will be free forever. When you are ready, I will be here. And if all goes to plan, I will be here for the rest of your life.

So sit down, grab your favorite bag of fancy chips, and get ready to dig into It's Called Taste.

xx Asia