The Breakfast Club - The Blavity CEO on Leaving LA, Losing the Mask & Choosing Herself

Episode Date: September 17, 2026

Loren Lorosa sits down with Morgan DeBaun — founder and CEO of Blavity Inc. and Afrotech — for a real conversation about building a business as a Black woman without losing yourself in the process. Morgan opens up about ditching the "pattern matching" she learned raising venture capital in Silicon Valley, why she left LA for Nashville to protect her peace, and her "control alt delete" moment that changed everything. They talk mental models for entrepreneurship, giving yourself permission to opt out, and why choosing yourself isn't selfish — it's strategy. Plus, Loren gives you the scoop on her new iHeart series, Love Lately with Loren Lorosa, launching this weekend live from the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Vegas.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast? Here's what you missed. People wake up and go, oh, damn, wait a hold up. They change all of that. Yes. It's real.

This is a wholesale attack. It is targeting black people in every federal agency. It's raw. White folks have never allowed that reckoning to last more than a decade. Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the Black Information Network. And download Roland Martin Unfiltered on a Facebook. The IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a homeguard that knows a little bit about everything and everybody.

You hear that excuse? You know if you're going to lie about that, right? Lauren came in hot. Hey, y'all, what's up? It's Lauren LaRosa, and this is another episode of the latest with Lauren LaRosa. This is you daily dig on all things, pop culture, entertainment news, and all of the conversations that shape the room, baby. All right, y'all, so y'all know, before we get into. the latest with Lauren La Rosa.

We always kick it off behind the scenes of the grind. Let's get into it. We are headed to Vegas, y'all. The team, the Breakfast Club, we are headed to Vegas. The I-Heart Radio Music Festival goes down this weekend. This is my second I-Heart Radio Music Festival with the team. This year, I will be back live streaming the whole weekend. So if you guys are looking to join me in Vegas, come on

over to the Breakfast Club's Twitch account will also be live on the TikTok. I'll also be posting everything on my socials across my Instagram, my YouTube channel, all the recaps. Y'all come along on the ride with me. The most amazing thing about this year's IHart Music Festival, though, for me, is the fact that I am launching a new audio series and partnership with IHeart. So you guys listen to me right here on the latest with Lauren the Rose of the podcast. And now I'll have eight episodes of something a little different. So you guys can listen to both. You don't got to pick and choose. You should listen to both. Okay. It's something called Love Lately with Warren La Rosa. This is a, this is a love letter to women navigating love in real life.

So we talk about, makeups, sexual health, and everything that you whisper about or you talk about in a group chat. A lot of times, too, those things don't ever make it to our OBGYNs, ladies, our doctors. And for the fellas, this is a listen that you're going to want to tune into because I think from a woman's perspective, sometimes y'all need to hear it. But also, I'll be talking, because, you know, I'll be talking now with Dr. Contessa from Married to Medicine, who has been married for over 13 years, just about, you know, building her relationship and her marriage and kind of seeing both sides of it for the men and the ladies. But also, we will have guests that come on as well.

We are kicking it off in Vegas with Sierra, singer Sierra to start. So make sure you guys tap in. I'm really excited. I've been getting ready for that all week long. The travel is kicking my behind, but y'all know I'm always down for the grind. So make sure you guys tune in to me on socials this weekend. Lauren LaRosa everywhere, L-O-R-E-N, L-O-R-O-S-A, to enjoy the I-Hart Radio music podcast festival.

To enjoy the I-Hart Radio music festival with me in Vegas for the days that I'm there. I'll also be bringing some audio back from the festival right here on the latest with Lauren the Rosa because y'all know it's not just the latest news but it's also the latest scene that we on as well too let's get on into the latest new music and the next big thing always on the new music first your first place to hear it all because you're going to like it love her want to play it twice playing now i heart new music new drops, fresh vines, and tomorrow's bangers. I think we need something new. Discover I heart new music. Always fresh. Always first. Stream now on the free IHartRadio app.

Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast? Here's what you missed. And the argument is, do you want to win? If you don't win, you have no power. It's real. Those are the very people who I always say vote against their own economic interest and they complained about the very thing to receive it's raw i knew that the issue of transgender athletes was not going well with a lot of black men roland martin unfiltered i went off i said this is

exactly what i'm talking about y'all going to scream at chenel but you don't want to see a black luxury company in the same vein catch roland martin's daily commentary on the black information Network. Twelve seats. Those are moving south. So if you Democrats, you don't wait to 2030, you better be hitting the ground going hard in the South now. And download Roland Martin unfiltered on the IHart radio app, Apple Podcasts. Wherever you get your podcasts. Now, speaking of conversations, wow, this one, this is a good one, y'all. We have... Hey, y'all, it's Morgan. I'm here on the latest with Lauren LaRosa. So when Morgan talks about AfroTech, y'all, let me, because she's being a little humble, okay, let me just tell y'all,

AfroTech is the leading platform for black professionals in tech. They help a network of over 45,000 professionals, communicate, collaborate, and unleash their creative within the tech space. Morgan, as a venture capitalist, she's raised millions and millions of dollars in the tech space. I mean, she, just across her Instagram, talked so much across various platforms, from Blavity to Afro Tech to travel noir to from her to her personal Instagram, just about how to sustain in business, how to raise money in your business, in your field, in the tech arena, but also

some of the things that are going on with black media, some of the things that we are facing, some of the things that we are scared to call out. And she's doing it from the CEOC. Okay, I'll give it up to my girl. Let's get on into the conversation. You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. Do we want to jump right in? Watch all your favorite podcasts from start to finish right inside the free IHard Radio app. Make some noise. Wooee! Catch every laugh and eye roll on shows like Bestie Listen, Hey Jonas, and Las Culturistas.

Now with full video. I'll just leave that there. It's the same hosts and the same chemistry with all the hilarious moments you've been missing right on your screen. Open the free IHard Radio app. Search video podcasts and tap watch. Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast? Here's what you missed. And the argument is, do you want to win?

If you don't win, you have no power. It's real. Those are the very people who I always say vote against their own economic interest, and they complain about the very thing they're receiving. It's raw. I knew that the issue of transgender athletes was not going well with a lot of black men. Roland Martin unfiltered. I went off, I said, this is exactly what I'm talking about.

Y'all going to scream at Chanel. nail, but you don't want to see a black luxury company in the same vein. Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the Black Information Network. 12 seats. Those are moving south. So if you Democrats, you don't wait to 2030, you better be hitting the ground going hard in the South now. And download Roland Martin Unfiltered on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.

Now, y'all know, whenever I have a special guest pull up on the podcast, We love to get a little message for all the people listening. And today I have an inspiration to us all in the building space. I'm going to let her introduce herself because can't nobody say it like she do. Hey, everybody. It's Morgan Abond, founder, CEO of Blavid and Apertech. Happy to be here. Hey, Lauren.

Hey. So you have a video, not even a video series, I would call it on your Instagram, or you post content, right? And you're very honest. You're very to the point. You hold the people accountable, but you say how you feel. and you are the head of your businesses and of your world. For me, watching you that's inspiring as a black woman.

My first thing I thought, and every time I see your videos, I'm like, she's not ever afraid of like what that will trickle down into for her business because she's a black woman and they make it seem like it's so scarce for us to do what you're doing. Yeah. I think one of the benefits of being a CEO is that you are your own boss. Yeah. So when it's a rough day, it's my rough day. When it's a great day, it's my great day.

when you start working for other people, somebody else can ruin your day. I can't really ruin my own day because I have chosen this life. And I think for anyone who's considering being an entrepreneur or is currently employed, you got to get to the mental model where you feel confident in who you are and you feel a piece of who you are because at the end of the day, entrepreneurship is a journey. So there's going to be ups and downs. That's guaranteed.

Mental model, I love that phrasing. And another thing that, you know, I've seen and heard you talk about is as black women, us choosing to work for ourselves and on ourselves before doing it for other people and how you grow up typically. And that is not how you were taught to lead in the world. Yeah, 100%. You know, I was raised in a traditional black household. My mom, stay-at-home mom, my dad was a doctor. And we were very much taught to, you know, put your head down, do the work, get good grades, good scores. go to college, get a job, do that.

You know? And so the idea that I was going to take myself out of a pretty much guaranteed route for what my parents and the generations before us actually really worked for them, that was pretty risky. And I think that actually now, when you look at the economy and you look at the outcomes that are happening to black women in the workplace, being self-employed and having a portfolio of career where you have multiple things going on, even if you have that day job, making sure you have a side-hub.

where you bring an income in, that is going to actually give you more financial stability in the long run. It's also a safe space now, too. Yeah, mentally it's a safe space too because you're able to have a little bit more control over your own environment and what you're working on and maybe work on things that you're passionate about. Love horror movies, but also working on yourself. Mental health is horrifying is the podcast where those two worlds collide. I'm Candace Green, a registered psychotherapist and I'm inviting you to journey into the darkness with me. I explore the mental health themes behind your favorite horror stories and what they can teach us about fear, resilience, and healing.

It's self-care with a sinister twist. Listen to Mental Health is horrifying on the free IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast? Here's what you missed. And the argument is, do you want to win? If you don't win, you have no power. It's real.

Those are the very people who I always say vote against their own economic interests, and they complain about the very thing they're receiving. It's raw. I knew that the issue of transgender athletes was not going well with a lot of black men. Roland Martin unfiltered. I went off, I said, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Y'all going to scream at Chanel, but you don't want to see a black luxury company in the same vein. Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the black information.

Network. 12 seats. Those are moving south. So if you Democrats, you don't wait to 2030, you better be hitting the ground going hard in the south now. And download Roland Martin unfiltered on the IHart radio app, Apple Podcasts. Wherever you get your podcasts. There's things that are profitable.

That autonomy over your own life. You said, like, you know, growing up in your household, are you, are your siblings? I have a brother, yeah. Brother, older. Older brother. Okay. Growing up in your household, like, that not being something that is at the forefront

your conversation. At what part of your life were you like, I'm going to stop over explaining and y'all here or y'all not? Oh, that took me a while. That was probably maybe year three or four of Blavity. Even when I started my own company, I was still indoctrinated into the system because I moved from a career into, from a corporate career into a Silicon Valley career where I was raising venture capital and there's a certain way that you do it. They have this thing called pattern matching where you basically you need to look and sound and talk like how the white boys talk like because that's what's going to make them comfortable enough to invest in you. Issa Ray had that episode on Insecure.

I think it was called like Tom or something like that where it was like that where you had to like he walked through the world and her workplace doing whatever and she just could not. Right. So I would wear black combat boots, a black t-shirt. Like I was, but it wasn't me, you know. I wasn't leaning into my feminine. I was very aggressive. I was very like just trying to fit into this mold.

but there's literally no way that black women can fit into their mold. So the more you try, the more you deplete yourself. And here's the thing. When you do that, you are no longer operating at your highest self because you're spending so much energy and mental capital trying to conform that that's the same energy that could be put into innovation. Yes. And the moment you stop doing that is the moment you're going to be able to grow faster, whether that's financially, whether that's personally, whether that's spiritually. and I truly believe that. That's why your content like sticks with me.

Like I'm not like the big, I mean, I guess I naturally have to kind of be in tech being the media. Yeah. But I'm not like a techie girl. Right. But with you and follow your journey and your brand, what I love about you and that kind, you give yourself the permission to do that over and over and over again. And it seems like unwavered. Like that is like, I was going to say it's a brave thing to do, but I feel like it's such

a necessary thing to do today. I'm at peace. Yeah. You know, that's the other thing. I left L.A. I lived in L.A. I built my company from San Francisco to L.A. But you're here in New York, which is the same level of intensity, in my opinion.

It is. But I think, like, Silicon, I mean, I've never been in Silicon Valley. But I have friends, black women that are in tech, right? My old business partner was in tech. And every day, there's so many challenges because she's a mom. And there's different things she wishes she could remove herself from. But the type of job she has and being in that way, it's a world of it doesn't allow her. If she literally takes a step away or doesn't take.

the ride in that they give her so she can start working in the car, she may lose everything. And that is so hard for her to function as a mother and as a, you know, woman who's just navigating life in the world, you know? Yeah. And I think at some point you have to decide, especially after you've made some level of success, how much more are you willing to personally sacrifice? And so for me, leaving L.A. and moving to Nashville, Tennessee, which for someone of my level, moving to Nashville, Tennessee, there's not like...

It was slow. Yeah. You know, I'm like... But it was beautiful for me because it was beautiful for me because of... it gave me the space to focus on my personal life and to focus on my health and to focus on my mental and that opened up an even brighter life than I could have ever imagined for myself. So sometimes you have to take yourself off the rat race and relocate physically if you must. Were you scared?

No, I don't think I was scared. I think I was fed up. I was over it. So I was looking for a hard reset. I called it my control alt delete moment. Like control out delete, I'm out. I need something else entirely. That's crazy because most of the,

most, you know, people that are building anything, whatever your color is, but especially black people and black women in the space, you feel so out of sight, out of mind. Like, if I remove myself right now, will this even ever happen again? I want it to be out of mind. Please don't invite me. I'm not interested. I'm not interested in going to the red carpet for the whatever the hell video, movie. I don't care. I don't care. Yeah. I think you can get caught up and caring about things that don't matter. And then when you look at your life, the things that do matter, love, relationships, family, God, where are they?

Where are they? You didn't leave any room for them because you were so busy working every moment of every day. Right, I'm trying to figure it out. Yeah. Well, we appreciate you at the latest with Lauren La Rosa. Thank you for having me, ladies. You could do like a sign-off line now.

I mean, if it's like one thing you want our audience to remember about you, about your company, about your journey. I'd say the one thing I want anyone who's listening to this to remember is that it's okay for you to put yourself first. you can do anything for a season. So it doesn't always have to be forever if you're making a decision to step out of the rat race and to rebalance yourself.

Do it for three months. Do it for six months. Do it for a weekend if that's all you can take. But building that muscle and that habit of knowing when to opt out and finding a space that can be your peace is going to revolutionize your ability to continue to grow and succeed in business.

You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. Hello. Oh my gosh. Watch all your favorite podcasts From start to finish, right inside the free IHR Radio app. Gets the blood going up. Catch every laugh and eye roll on shows like the Tom Green Farmcast and park the bus.

Now with full video. We're building a ramp for Tony Hawk. It's the same hosts and the same chemistry with all the hilarious moments you've been missing. Right on your screen. Cheers. Open the free IHRR radio app. Search video podcasts and tap watch. Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast?

Here's what you missed. And the argument is, do you want to win? If you don't win, you have no power. It's real. Those are the very people who I always say vote against their own economic interest, and they complain about the very thing they're receiving. It's raw. I knew that the issue of transgender athletes was not going well with a lot of black men.

Roland Martin unfiltered. I went off, I said, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Y'all going to scream at you. Chanel, but you don't want to see a black luxury company in the same vein. Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the Black Information Network. 12 seats. Those are moving south. So if you Democrats, you don't wait to 2030, you better be hitting the ground going

hard in the South now. And download Roland Martin Unfiltered on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts. Wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Lauren Rosa. This has been another episode of the, latest with Lauren the Rosa. I tell you guys all the time, y'all could be anywhere with any old body having all of these conversations, but you guys choose to be right here with me. My lowriders, I appreciate you, and I'll catch you in my next one.

Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast? Here's what you missed. There should not be a single law enforcement agency. It does not have body cameras. It's real. Black farmers have been under attack. This is just the latest example of them just slapping DEI on anything. It's raw. And obviously, here going, they are playing y'all for fools. Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the Black Information Network. And download Roland Martin unfiltered on the IHart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.