Thank you, thanks so much. As all of you know, we have a special guest joining us tonight, and it's no surprise right now. We're going to talk about this intersection between culture and commerce. One of the things that we recognize at Visa is that commerce doesn't operate in a vacuum. Among other things, it's shaped by culture and it also shapes culture. What we buy, why we buy, how we buy, even the things of value that we exchange, it's all deeply cultural. What we've noticed is that within that dynamic, creativity has risen as a force that's differentiating those who are successful. It's not just the act of creating something new, it's the art and science of expanding what is possible for more and more people. It's something emanating deep from within creators, but it's also showing who we can become. What's exciting for me is that we're seeing this range of creators across music and fashion, but also social media, podcasters, streamers, and in tech, leading to what we all see is projected to be a $480 billion business: the creator economy. One of the things I'm proud to announce today is that Visa is going to start treating creators as small businesses within our network. They're going to receive the same tools, the same access that any other small business has. They're going to have Visa business credit and debit cards, but also payment controls, payment infrastructure platforms. For us, that's a very exciting step. It's Visa being alongside creative people and small businesses as they take small steps forward. It's really that process of taking small steps that we're going to talk about. Before I bring Pharrell up on stage, let me play this video that alludes to what I'm talking about for small steps. Let's roll the video.
With that, we're very fortunate. Thank you. We're very fortunate to have with us tonight Grammy award-winning artist and producer, Academy Award nominated filmmaker, philanthropist, all-around great human being, and creative director of Louis Vuitton. Please give a warm welcome to the stage, Pharrell Williams.
Welcome, welcome. I gave this whole wind-up about all the things that you've done, and I skimmed the surface of it really. You've done a lot more, but I think I want to dispel that whole myth of overnight success. I want to go back in time a little bit and start early, before your career had even started. Back in Virginia Beach, you thinking about what you might want to become. I'm curious, what were some of the sources of inspiration, the things that inspired you? Your company was called Star Trek Entertainment, so I assume there's something around that. The things that inspired you and the people that inspired you.
Well, first of all, thank you for having me, and thank you all for being here tonight. I really wish that I had some amazing, poetic, symbolic origin story, but really what I was was a child who was filled with imagination. I came from a federally subsidized household, and then we moved to a modest part of the suburbs. We couldn't afford things like a lot of my classmates could, so I daydreamed. I used to sketch all the time when I should have been doing my schoolwork. I also thought about the things I really wanted that I wish I could have. My friends would wear Jordans, and I remember thinking, 'Man, I would love to have a pair of Jordans.' But if I got them, I would make them in green, or red, or yellow. Twenty years later, they did end up doing that. That imagination that fostered imagination came in handy when it came time for me to start making music. My imagination was getting me in trouble in school, but the imagination for the things that I wanted and the way that I wanted things to show up in terms of product ended up working out for me later. I never dreamt that we would ever end up having a professional career in music or anything like that. I just knew that I loved music so much. Once I heard A Tribe Called Quest, I was like, 'Wow, this is amazing, and I want to learn how to do this.' Then I met Chad Hugo, and a couple times a week after school we would go and make music on these very small, cheap keyboards, one called Casio and another one called C. We just never looked back. We just did it so much. Then, ironically, this big producer who had done Michael Jackson and a few other really big artists, Teddy Riley, he pops up and parks his studio next door to my high school. We had this talent show, and that's how we got discovered. I went right into music. Dreaming of the way that I wanted to make shoes one day materialized. Making music all the time and being so slightly delusional about not being responsible as a young man growing up, trying to figure out how to really get a job because I just loved music so much, that worked out for me. I wish I could say that I had this really responsible journey, but it wasn't. It was kind of like I was blinded by my delusion and ambition and my unwavering love for music.
No, I think it's a great origin story because you're in Virginia Beach, and I'm not saying nothing has happened in Virginia Beach, but it wasn't a lot happening. Just imagining what's possible, to me that's a beautiful story. Not to geek out too much on this, but A Tribe Called Quest and Q-Tip, what was it about that moment?
Native Tongues, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Tribe Called Quest, even Leaders of the New School, even Black Sheep. These people shaped the way I thought about music. It made me feel a certain kind of way. Between that and skateboarding, skateboarding is the lens that I look at everything through. While I wasn't the best, that sense of achievement when you land a trick, you never let that go. You've been working really hard to get this trick, and when you finally get it, it means the world to you. That taught me discipline, along with being in the marching band. I got discipline from very different areas in my life. The last thing I'll touch on, I'm curious, your earliest companies was called Star Trek Entertainment, so I'm assuming you were a Star Trek fan growing up. How do you think that inspired you? At that time, we call it geek culture, and now it's intersected with pop culture. I'm curious how that sparked your imagination.
It's funny you said 'Spock.' That was like my nickname. They used to call me Dr. Spock when I was a kid because my ears were pointy. I just love the TV show, and I love that they would go to different worlds and meet different species. That just made me dream as a child.
I'm going to shift gears a little bit. The video I was showing, part of what it was trying to say is that the process or the path to success, a lot of times people see people at the finish line. They see someone on the stage holding multiple Grammys, but the real story is about the process of getting better. Most people don't see that. I was wondering if you could shed some light on how you think about that.
I think the biggest issue... How's everybody feeling right now? Just want to make sure. In my country, we are raised to think about how to make the most money because our parents thought that way. They had this false sense of what the American dream is or should be. The American dream is not about making the most money. In fact, the human dream and the consumer's dream shouldn't be about making the most money. It should be about spending the most time doing something that you love. So many times your parents told you they wanted you to be a doctor, they wanted you to be a lawyer. Some of you did it, and it's cool. But then some of you go to college, you're taking that major, and you find out, 'You know what, I know my mom and dad have spent all this money, they're going to be really pissed, but I'm changing my major.' That happens too, and you are happy. But that's not what happens to the vast majority. The vast majority go after it and they don't get it, and then they end up working somewhere that they hate because it's the next best thing financially. I always say, if you think about something that you love so much that if you could snap your fingers right now and you could work there and you never made any money but all your bills were paid, would you do it? Would you? Right now, that same job, let's say it's football and you're 34 and it's not going to happen. There are other jobs connected to it. There is being the trainer, there is designing the uniforms, there is being the coach, there is being the bus driver, there is selling popcorn, there's the concession stand. There's so many things you could be. You could work production, you could work the cameras. Whatever it is, if you can find a vocation around something that you love, you now have a dream job. You will show up there, you'll be the first one there, and you'll be the last one to leave, and you'll love it. If you can actually find a way to service other human beings well, now you have a human universal dream job that you feel like you get paid for because you would do it for free if you could. To me, that is what we should be telling our children. That is the way that we should be leading our society, for people to do what they love. Then you're not on a Monday afternoon going, 'Oh man, it's just 1 PM, I got like five more hours to go.' Instead, you're the first one that shows up to work, and on Friday around 10 PM everyone's like, 'Are you ready to go? Let's go,' and you're like, 'No, no, no, I just need five more minutes.' That's a dream job. That's what we should be talking about as a society.
I've heard you say before that 'I don't have a job.' I think what you meant by that is that you don't think of this as work in the classic sense. At Louis Vuitton, that is an artist in residency. Interesting. So you said it's not a job. In what sense?
It's not a job. I've never looked at a check like, 'Oh, I'm being subsidized to be creative.'
Did you ever imagine you would be in that position? Because I love this idea of don't have a fallback plan, a plan B. If you're going to fall, fall forward. Part of that is discovering new things. Sometimes you don't know a certain job even exists or a certain opportunity. There are industries that haven't even been created yet. How do you remain open to the universe or to the opportunities? How do you adapt as change is happening in front of you all the time?
