Black History Month isn’t just about celebrating the past. It’s also about fostering and shaping what’s to come.
That’s the premise behind Assemble, a new online learning platform established by veteran artist manager Cortez “Tez” Bryant (Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj) and his two fellow co-founders: actor activist Jesse Williams and tech entrepreneur Cortney Woodruff. Among Assemble’s investors is actress/comedian Tiffany Haddish.
Directed primarily at young BIPOC adults seeking insight, guidance and inspiration in their professional and personal pursuits, Assemble offers lessons culled from the experiences of successful Black and Brown trailblazers. The courses they lead range from music management, art and fashion to writing, business and politics.
“Representation matters,” says Bryant, Assemble’s CEO and one of its instructors. He’s also co-CEO of management firm the Blueprint Group (Lil Nas X, G-Eazy, T.I.) and teaches as well at his alma mater Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. “The exposure that comes with seeing others like us who are building successful careers in various areas of this and other businesses is very important,” Bryant adds. “So when Cortney came to me with this powerful idea for Assemble, I said, ‘I’m in.’”
Jackson native Woodruff, Assemble’s president, initially met Bryant several years ago through a cousin. Woodruff and Bryant later reconnected when the former migrated from Silicon Valley to Los Angeles. “I was fed up with how the tech ecosystem has treated minorities,” recalls Woodruff. “And I thought, why don’t I create a new platform that highlights Black professional excellence and gives them a chance to share their wisdom and insights?”
Angela Yee
Adopting the tagline “Who You Learn From Matters,” Assemble launched its free trial on Black Friday last November and ran it through December. Its initial rollout featured sessions led by Bryant, venture capitalist and Backstage Capital founder/CEO Arian Hamilton, makeup guru Sir John (Beyoncé) and Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter/producer/composer Maurice “Mobetta” Brown. Upcoming instructors include The Breakfast Club co-host Angela Yee from New York’s Power 105.1, Blacksmith Recordings CEO Corey Smyth (Vince Staples), director/choreographer Debbie Allen and co-founder Williams.
In fact, it was Williams who gave Assemble its moniker. As he notes here on the website: “We have everything we need to train and inspire our own in any field. We have all the parts; we just need to assemble.”
Now in preproduction with its next series of classes, Assemble will return later this year. To view a full course on the platform, users have the option of renting it for 14 days at $6.99 or purchasing the session for $69.99. While the majority of classes thus far feature the instructor speaking straight to camera, the Assemble team has also been exploring other scenarios such as doing one-on-one interviews, having students ask questions of an instructor during the tapings or following a teacher as he or she interacts with other executives and staff during a typical work day.
As Assemble continues to build out its curriculum to encompass businesses beyond music and entertainment, Bryant stresses the through-line will remain the same. “It’s not easy being Black or Brown in some of these and other fields,” he explains. “So we’re not here to sugarcoat anything. We want people to talk realistically about how hard they had to work, about how they confronted a particular challenge, what pitfalls to avoid.”
“We want people to see all aspects of what happens, not just the work done behind the desk or the final product,” adds Woodruff. “The sky’s the limit for what we want to do with Assemble … like how about building the first HBCU campus in the Metaverse?”
