Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaiah Parks. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Isaiah Parks (@isaiahparks) and Dwayne Tucker co-founded Bidabloc with a focus on creating awareness through community engagement. The mobile app generates rapid advancement for brands and small businesses by scaling them to our global audience. Concepts of Bidabloc stem from the belief that every individual has a talent for something, they just need a platform!
I was born in Rockford, IL. Growing up in Rockford, I developed a huge work ethic. There isn’t much opportunity outside the factories to make enough money to live a better life. I grew up around all types of people from middle-class working families to areas that contained drug dealers, robbers, and very extreme personalities. I never viewed these individuals as bad because it was normal but honestly, I think it built character. This world isn’t easy, the bills don’t stop, the debt increases and some new expense occurs every day, your mind has to be a little different to handle these challenges alone.
And that was how most of my time was spent, alone. I grew up with an older brother that was 7 years older than me. He left the house when I was about 9 or 10. My father was there but he worked so much that you would think he owned the company. My mother was a teacher and she was probably the person I was around the most but even her hours were consumed by work and helping with my grandmother. Our house was far from my schools and community center growing up, the neighborhood I lived in was filled with a lot of older individuals so I didn’t really grow up around my peers. This left me learning how to manipulate my words to develop friends that all lived somewhere else, and being from Rockford, you kind of latch on to who you know.
Danger and violence was a normal thing where I’m from and being isolated in those environments caused me to develop more survival skills. The one I feel that is most helpful to my industry is the fact that I can lack emotion to the point nothing affects me. In sales and marketing, that’s a very needed quality. Because of my life I’ve come to understand so many different cultures, views, emotions, habits, differences, and similarities of life. That’s why GOD put me through it I guess, to help connect individuals who have misinformed or misguided concepts of one another.
I guess if you could sum Isaiah Parks up into one word, that word would be REALATBLE.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Some of our struggles along the way include seeing communities that have been strategically disadvantaged and disenfranchised. Our app is for small businesses that can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars on advertisements and marketing research. But because these communities don’t have access to these luxuries- they don’t understand the immense value these things can bring to the small business. Bidabloc brings both accessibility and a shift in the culture.
Another struggle has been obtaining our own financial resources. We have funded our own business endeavors. My co-founder and I started the business when we were in our mid-twenties. We did not have large savings accounts or the padding of wealthy investors. There was no safety net. This has been our biggest risk and I believe it will be part of our biggest reward.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Bidabloc?
Bidabloc is a mobile app that uses the leverage of social media to scale small businesses. We work for small businesses by collecting consumer data and performing market research in a way that both educates and entertains the crowd – we call this Edutainment! In turn, we generate data, awareness, and engagement for the small business. Our business model allows us to then host engaging events that are televised on our streaming platforms. The events receive foot traffic from 200-500 attendees on average! One of our prior events includes The Food Bloc, a tasting event highlighting local Nashville chefs and Food and Fashion, which included a fashion show and a food tasting, highlighting both up-and-coming designers and local Nashville restaurants.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
When I was a teenager, my grandmother developed a case of severe dementia. This affected her ability to speak and communicate with our family. I remember she hadn’t spoken all day and my mother and our family friend, Ms. Georgia, sat at the dinner table with her just trying to get her to communicate. When Ms. Geogria questioned my grandmother about who I was, she remembered that I was her grandson and said it with no hesitation at all. That moment is probably my favorite childhood memory.
Pricing:
- Tier I Sponsorship Package – $99
- Tier II Sponsorship Package – $149
- Tier III Sponsorship Package – $199
Contact Info:
- Email: isaiah@pozr.org
- Website: https://bidabloc.com/
- Instagram: bidabloc.app
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4INNk5cI9w5dZv8qvFOrug
- Other: https://bidabloc.tv/
Image Credits
@353 Media Group
@Jay The Photographer
@Film Or Die Ent
