Q+A with the Bronx Direct
Written by Brittany Villalona / Photo via Brayan Daniel Feliz
The Bronx Direct, is a collective database that highlights the Bronx community and documents local efforts and inspirations, created and organized by Brayan B.D. Feliz. We spoke with him to find out more behind the inner-works and process of creating it.
Thank you for joining me today, Brayan. Why don’t you introduce yourself to our audience. Please tell us about where you are from and what you do for a living?
Well, my name is Brayan Daniel Feliz, officially. But I tend to go by B.D. Feliz, because it’s easier and my branding. I would say that I am a Bronx-based visionary. I am a designer, artist, and writer. My main area of expertise is in design.
Are you originally from the Bronx? Tell me about your personal experience as a Bronxite in your particular neighborhood.
I was born in [Santo Domingo,] Dominican Republic, but raised in the Bronx pretty much since I was two. So that technically doesn’t count. I kind of moved around throughout the Bronx so I can say I’ve lived in more or less the different regions of the Bronx. I started on the D line and then moved around to the 4/5 line, 2/5 line, and now I live by the 6, by Pelham.
I would say my experience growing up has been like everyone else’s experience growing up in the Bronx. A lot of hardships in the sense of when you’re growing up in the hood, it just is what it is. I lived in the struggle, basically. And then going from that environment, it teaches you what you should know. It’s a really New York upbringing. You have your mom and pop shops that you go to and your bodega. And then you have your friends that you would hang out with all the time.
I went to college in Brooklyn, first City Tech initially and then I transferred to Hunter. It was obviously very different from living in the Bronx. But [City Tech] was small, community-based and everyone there was like family. So I feel like it wasn’t too much of a change.
To be honest with you, I feel like that is one thing that is unique to the Bronx. In other boroughs, it’s a little bit easier to just say “I live here and I work here and I’m going to stay here.” But the way that things have been for the longest, from what I know of the history of the Bronx, most of us tend to work outside of the Bronx. Unless you work in your neighborhood, like at a mom and pop shop, or a food spot, a lot of the income that comes into the borough is from people working outside of the borough. So it’s normal for us to just travel to get anywhere. Unless you’re driving, then it’s not that bad. If you want to travel to Brooklyn, it’s an hour. But if you want to get to the other side of the Bronx, it’s over an hour and you have to take mad buses.
I know the feeling. I live in the Bronx by Sedgwick, so I have to take the 12 bus to get to you all the way in Pelham. It’s a whole journey and a half.
And the 12 bus is chill!
How would you describe your pandemic experience? Have you been able to stay productive or have you taken this time to reflect and rest mostly?
It’s been okay. Let me give you an example of the past and right now. Typically because I occupy a creative space, I’m used to having to freelance and it’s like being an entrepreneur. I started designing when I was sixteen. There weren’t a lot of people that were designing in my area back then. This was before Instagram or any of that stuff, I actually had to learn it on my own. Coming from that space and growing up in the type of environment where you had to just hustle. I had to teach myself. It taught me at an early age to use my downtime as hustle time. If I wasn’t in class, I would either join clubs or get involved.
Before the pandemic, I was working corporate for a while and then I decided I would do my own thing. I wanted to focus on myself and build a business. I was also working on this Creative Bronx book, where I interviewed your team, the Bronx Narratives.
So when the pandemic happened, it didn’t affect me too much. I was already on that wave, to work remotely. As much as there are people working in offices that are in tech, most people are working from home. One, because it’s cheaper for the companies, compared to having a fully occupied office building. Two, because it’s efficient.
This year, my sister was diagnosed with cancer, so that hit me much harder.
Oh wow, I’m sorry to hear that.
Thank you, she beat it thankfully.
That’s great news.
Yeah, this year was bad news and good news. But that was something that affected me more because of the pandemic. In a way, it was a blessing in the sense that society slowed down because sometimes it feels like things are moving so fast if you’re in the Bronx. But then also looking at the rest of the world, you realize how slow things are moving here relative to the rest of the world. The fact that the world slowed down, it gave us a chance to catch up. That’s been my experience with the pandemic.
You chose to use your time wisely and create with that time.
Yes. I think this year, I’ve done more than in the last two years, working on ideas I’ve always wanted to do and that I’d put in the back seat. Part of that, because of finances. When society is in full effect and the machine is running, you have to either keep up or start moving faster than it. Having everything slowed down allowed me to not go crazy for money because right now there is barely anybody working, so if I had anything saved up, I could afford to focus on my ideas. And it’s also just straight up not having any other choice. Either you’re gonna stay the whole pandemic waiting for things to open up or you’re gonna find a way to adapt to it. So for me, amongst other things, it was building The Bronx Direct.
The front page of The Bronx Direct.
“To me, that was an act of resistance by saying that if anyone is going to own anything with ‘The Bronx’ in it, they need to be from there. So that’s what makes me proud of this. The Bronx Direct, I’m glad it’s somebody from here that did this. And it makes me excited just to see other people doing things in the Bronx and discovering them along the way.”
Great, I appreciate that. I think many of us feel the same way about this year in general. Now that we know a bit about you, let’s discuss your brainchild, The Bronx Direct. What would you say was your inspiration for this project?
The inspiration was the fact that there really isn’t a space that is for us by us. As far as the Bronx is concerned, when you look at what’s available, like the Bronx Arts Council has a directory, there’s the Bronx 200, the Bronx Chamber of Commerce. There are a couple here and there, but they are all mostly narrowly focused and very specific. They have certain people on some lists, and others on different lists. There’s a lot of disconnect. If I’m not an artist, but I’m a designer, where am I gonna be listed? If I’m not a business or I’m not registered with the Chamber of Commerce, where am I gonna be listed? So I figured it would be cool to create a space that addressed that. To create a space that is inclusive for all in the Bronx.
At first, I thought “there are already directories out there, so do I really want to do this?” Then part of me was like, “Is this something that could be a business?” But then I realized that certain things can be business and certain things that you just do. I felt like this was something that needed to be done, because there was a genuine need to have a space where people could discover one another. I figured why not? It can only help. So that’s what motivated me. The need for this space for creatives and professionals to come together regardless of their association.
I understand that you are the solo creator of The Bronx Direct. Can you tell me how working alone affected the creation process?
A lot of the projects I do I tend to do on my own. It’s not necessarily because I don’t want to work with other people. I legit don’t have the patience for certain things. If I can do it and solve that problem, I’ll do it. I’m trying to do the teamwork thing more.
I understand. If people don’t pull their weight on a project, that’s unfair.
Right, and honestly, it took me about a month to build The Bronx Direct. I’m sure that if I had spent more time, I would’ve been able to build something crazy. But the main thing with me was that it was something that I needed to get off the ground because sometimes I tend to become a perfectionist about things and then… don’t launch it. I’ve thankfully gotten around this by just saying ‘you know what, lemme just put it out there and we’ll grow from there’. Ultimately, I have an idea of where it could go in the future.
More power to you. Most people couldn’t even accomplish this with a team. Are you currently looking for more partners/team-members or do you want to continue managing this project solo?
I don’t have expectations per se, I’m really treating this as something that should grow organically and I’m not doing it for profit. To me, it’s what the community wants it to be. It’s a project that I want to live on its own and can be used as a tool.
I embrace the idea of having a team. I have so many things I’m working on, so it’s hard for me on the time and the resources. If anyone donated, it would go right into the mechanics of running the Bronx Direct. It would go into automation. I’ve always wanted someone to build this, but I know it’s not something I want to control in the long run. That wasn’t my endgame. I would hope that people want to step up and want to get involved with this.
Okay awesome, thank you for elaborating on that. The Bronx Direct seems to have a very user friendly interface that’s easy to navigate. Can you describe how it works as a platform?
Back in the days we used to have the Yellow Pages, I think they still exist, but I haven’t seen a book in forever.
I have not seen a book in a long time!
[Laughs]
Yeah, well it works the same way. There were so many design elements that I wanted to add, but at the end of the day, the simpler it is, the easier it is for users. Not everybody that will go on this directory may be a young person. It might also be an older person that lives in the Bronx and wants to get involved with something. So it needed to be extremely easy to navigate. As soon as you go on there, it’s listing everyone that’s on it. Or, you can filter it. On the left side tab, you can click different areas of expertise and that would narrow down the folks that are on the platform. Then you can click on the different profiles and take you to either their twitter page, website, etc. The way that I have it set up at the moment — is that it relies on Twitter. I built the Bronx Direct off of a code that’s based on discovering people on Twitter. But it’s limited because unless you’re on Twitter at the moment, you won’t be able to be listed. This is something I’m looking to change very soon.
I noticed that your ‘about’ page mentions that your directory is full of professionals that have been Nominated. Please explain this process.
For the most part, anyone can submit a nomination. There’s a form on The Bronx Direct that can be filled out. I take a look at it, to make sure it’s a real person with a professional profile. I take into consideration any type of bias I might introduce. I don’t want to ever not create a space for someone I personally might not like. There are extremes, like if someone is a harm to the community. Cases like that, I want to create a space where everyone can feel comfortable. If a nomination seems correct, I can potentially honor that. I would like to get to a point where there’s a team that reviews nominations. Then to take it a step further, we could eventually create algorithms to sort that out.
Does a nominee have to be an actual professional or can they be more amateur level? Their interests could align with someone else’s and they could grow together via The Bronx Direct.
At the moment, it’s more so about what I can see. If I can see you are active and doing something, then I’m more likely to list you versus if you only have a profile that says you’re an artist but there’s no art. It’s hard to gauge that if you don’t have social media, or a website or something so I can get an idea of what you do.
My hopes are, that in the future, there’s a situation where literally everyone can just be listed on there and the categorization might change a little bit. There may be a way to show if someone is professional or not, or just looking to try something new that interests them.
As for the Job Board section, how do you select the small local businesses to highlight?
It’s not necessarily about me choosing who gets highlighted, but it’s more so about anyone who wants to list a job, can list a job. There’s a fee on there, of course, because it does cost money to have that. That flows back into development. But it’s definitely cheaper than Craigslist, at about a dollar a day. At a certain point in the future, I want to allow people to just list certain things for free. But right now, while we’re still getting off the ground, we needed something on there to help fund the building of the platform.
What would you say have been some of the more difficult issues in regards to creating the Bronx Direct as well as running the platform currently?
Part of what’s made it difficult has been finding enough people… more so on Twitter. I had to look for the Bronx twitter, but we’re not really there. We’re not really on there. Which is crazy because it’s such a useful tool. I hate big data, but at the same time, I understand that it’s really useful if you needed to communicate certain ideas. Twitter is perfect for politics, to connect to your representatives too. There are actual conversations about things. Trying to find Bronxites on Twitter was definitely a challenge. But after I started to really put in work and create good search queries, it made it much easier to find people. That was probably the biggest challenge.
What has been the most exciting or rewarding part for you?
The most rewarding part was, first of all, to just able to get The Bronx Direct. I’m a brand person. I’m always thinking of brands, ideas, and words. The fact that no one owned that is crazy. It’s interesting because when I first started getting involved in the Bronx from an activist standpoint, it was really about digital activism and about making sure we owned our spaces online. A good five or six years ago, the conversation of gentrification was just starting to happen. I remember a time period where people in the Bronx didn’t even understand what gentrification means or how it works.
It also didn’t affect us that much in the past. I like to call the Bronx “The Last Frontier” of New York City, because it’s not like Brooklyn or Queens, where gentrification has been prevalent for over a decade now.
Right, and back then, when I started to realize what was happening, I realized that in Brooklyn, outside people started to take control of the Brooklyn brand, and that made it easier for gentrification to happen. It’s always about the brand. That’s how they’re able to convince people to move in and build things that compete with the natives. When Brooklyn as a brand slipped out of the hands of native Brooklyn, old Brooklyn was, in a way, over. Then, you started getting all of these brands. Brooklyn this, Brooklyn that, everything Brooklyn. Everything was advertised towards people that weren’t from Brooklyn. That’s what really made gentrification work. Other than that, people probably wouldn’t have gone to Brooklyn. People were like ‘Nah it’s kind of dangerous in parts of Williamsburg’. That’s what the neighborhood was — I saw that back then because I was in Brooklyn all the time. So I decided that whatever happens, we need to control our digital selves like as a borough and a brand. I bought domain names that had the Bronx in it, in order to make sure people that requested the domains were actually from the Bronx.
To me, that was an act of resistance by saying that if anyone is going to own anything with ‘The Bronx’ in it, they need to be from there. So that’s what makes me proud of this. The Bronx Direct, I’m glad it’s somebody from here that did this. And it makes me excited just to see other people doing things in the Bronx and discovering them along the way.
Does the Bronx Direct give back to the Bronx community?
At the moment, I haven’t done any fundraising. That’s something I would like to do if we had a team and we can really start working more so on the job board side of it. I hate job fairs not because they don’t work, but because they don’t work here. The advertising sucks, the people who advertise them are not popping like that, and the events themselves are not really popping as well. But that would be a way that we would be able to give back. It’s a goal for the future. At the moment, there’s a platform, but I’m not really getting money for this project. The most I can do is provide the service.
Right and if you connect others on your platform, there might be someone that has access to fundraising if someone is interested.
That’s all doable and I’m open to it, if we had the time and resources to do it. That’s taking an idea that works and making it something big.
Could you see an expansion into an app interface?
It’s a web app. It’s a website that’s not static. It’s constantly pulling new data from Twitter. It works on a mobile phone as well. Theoretically, if you add it to your home screen, it would behave like an app. It functions like one, but it’s not in the app store.
Last question, Brayan. Where do you see The Bronx Direct in 6 months, especially when New York City really starts to reintroduce itself post-Covid?
Six months from now, it would probably be in a place where it is a lot more inclusive. It would be able to list people regardless of what platform they’re on. I would like to make it a lot easier for people to continue to find more Bronx creatives, professionals, movers, and shakers. And hopefully to have more Bronxites involved in managing this and realizing the vision, to create different and newer ways to improve our platform and brand.
Thank you so much for your time, Brayan. I look forward to The Bronx Direct continuing to grow and connect the Bronx community.
You can follow The Bronx Direct on Twitter. Brayan’s socials: Instagram and Twitter
Brittany Villalona is a writer and videographer. She holds a B.A. in English Creative Writing from CCNY and an M.A. in International Affairs from the New School. She lives happily in the Bronx with her cats and plants.
BXN RADIO: S2 EP 04 - Protest 2020
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BXN radio talks with Ethelyn Daley about recent episodes of police brutality, the immense social media response, and Ethelyn’s experience and tips for organizing a rally in the Bronx.
How Do You End Hate?
Written by Javon Chasten / Photo by Oliver Ragfelt
In the 50’s and 60’s we had segregation, and Jim crow as the preeminent figures so to speak of racism. We had something tangible to focus our energy and efforts towards putting an end to. We could mobilize and target specific locations that openly embodied these ideologies and practices. We were able to aim our acts of civil disobedience at the right places to leave the strongest message.
Today segregation has ended, or at least the blatant signs on the front door. However what fueled these practices has far from been abolished, demolished, or destroyed. So I begin to ask myself, how do you end hate? How do you destroy a feeling? How do you abolish an emotion? An emotion, feeling, thought, solely directed at anyone with a darker hue than those with fair skin and those with anything but historically European features.
The simple answer logically seems to be love right? Both hate and love take the same amount of energy and effort to truly do. And when I say truly do, I mean putting your ALL into these things. Focusing the maximum amount of energy and effort to sustain and maintain these beliefs and practices. Yet I find myself faced with a new question, I don’t know why you hate us, and quite frankly I don’t know why we should love you?
My people and my ancestors have done nothing to you historically, by way of account through your own text books and teachings. None of my people came up to the captains of slave ships looking to hitch a ride here. This has all been by the design of YOUR forefathers, and perpetuated by your Grandfathers. When the Constitution was written we were only considered to be three-fifths of a person, so the term “People” in that same Constitution didn’t, and has rarely, represented us since the dawn of this country.
I say all that to again ask the question, why do you hate us, and why should we love you? And when I say you, you know who you are. This isn’t some written condemnation on white people, this is my written condemnation of racism and senseless hate. You can’t fix what is broken. You can’t replace pieces that you didn’t know were there to begin with. Racism is a broken concept, it can’t be replaced with Love when you don’t know where the hate truly comes from.
I don’t know if you want us to love you, I don’t know if you will ever love us, what I do know is that WE outnumber YOU. Those old systems you built on hate are being broken. Those old motions of violence are being exposed. Those old ways of thinking are being changed and it's time for you to change with it. The world as you once knew it of us standing still and just taking orders is over. You aren't a master anymore.
This country, and more importantly this world, are no longer your plantation that you can beat, sculpt, groom, or cultivate in a way you deem fit. The power is slowly but surely shifting to the people. We are at a tipping point in history, a place we’ve been many times before, and will likely be time and time again. So long as we continue to put pressure on the needle, the needle will shift; slowly but steadily. One day we'll look back and realize the needle is much further than it was when we began pushing, unfortunately that day is not today.
With all the progress we’ve made in science and technology, it’s such a shame we’ve made so little progress in humanity and empathy. How long will we allow classifications to keep us apart?
Javon Chasten is an artist and writer born and raised in the Bronx.
To see more work and get updates follow him on Instagram and Twitter .
Hands Up!
Written by Javon Chasten / Photo by Clay Banks
What is a protest? According to Google a protest is “a statement or action expressing disapproval of or objection to something”. A protest can be made in so many ways; kneeling, sit ins, bus boycotts, posts and tweets, marching. All powerful statements that send a message or spark a conversation. However what makes a protest, or who rather, are the people!
Red, Black, and Green. Those were the colors chosen by Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. for the Pan African flag. A flag that has become a common sight in the streets across the United States of America. States that seem far less united recently than the country’s name would suggest. One of Garvey’s plans and dreams was to facilitate African American migration to Liberia. Almost 80 years after his death, and African Americans, and all people of color, are fighting for our liberation here on American soil. Today thousands of modern day freedom fighters and revolutionaries have flocked to the streets of the United States, and streets around the globe, to demand the freedom and right for Black people everywhere to live without the fear that our skin color will make us targets. That it will no longer be open season for us as if we are doe’s and buck’s in a forest.
Signs in the windows of stores, homes, and apartments reading “Black Lives Matter” can be seen all around. Workers standing outside of storefronts cheer on those marching. Tenants hang outside their apartment windows banging pots and pans to show their support of protesters. In the sea of those marching are people of all colors, ages, occupations, and backgrounds. A beautiful sight of togetherness and camaraderie. Good samaritans hand out water, snacks, and food. Everything from peanuts to vegan empanadas were given to protesters who were tired and covered in sweat from the glaring sun above. At one point the heavens seemed to part, granting those marching a refreshing shower for a few moments. Rain would not deter anyone from marching to get their messages across, that the systematic racism of old will no longer be tolerated and blindly accepted.
Thousands of hands raised in solidarity to signify the many Black and brown unarmed men, women, and children who have died in front of the guns of trigger happy police officers. Names like Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, Breonna Taylor and Philando Castile can be seen written on signs raised all around you. The name of George Floyd is shouted through the streets in unison. His is just one of many names on a sad, yet long, list of people who died at the hands of police brutality. A brutality that is all too common for Black and brown people. Historically police rarely receive any type of real punishment for their acts of violence. It seems like they are held to lower standards than that of the average American citizen.
There is no comprehensive government data on the topic, but most, if not all, independent studies show that Black people are killed at a disproportionately higher rate than that of any other race of people in America. Mappingpoliceviolence.org, which uses data from 3 databases - Killed by Police and Fatal Encounters, and the U.S. Police Shootings Database, says that 99% of police killings from 2013-2019 went without a conviction. The site also states that in 2019 police killed 1,098 people in America. Of those 1,098 people, Black people killed account for 24% of those deaths, despite only being 13% of the American population.
Many of these deaths came from false raced-based 911 calls. An old trend that has gained new attention thanks to the advancement of technology in the form of camera phones. By now I’m sure we’ve all seen at least one video of an outraged white woman threatening to call the police on Black people for seemingly no reason. Some of which are quite hilarious, but its origins are sinister and heinous. The story of Emmett Till comes to mind. A young 14 year old boy who was falsely accused of flirting with or whistling at a white woman in a grocery store. Till was kidnapped, beaten, mutilated, and murdered. His body was thrown in the Tallahatchie River, and left there for three days before it was discovered. Today we’ve seen Black people threatened with calls to the police because they were barbecuing with family in a park, walking into their apartments, or like Ahmaud Arbery, jogging in a neighborhood. Being Black should not be suspicious and make someone a target.
The persistence of the people has begun to pay off though and progress has been made. One of the focuses of the New York marches was to repeal 50-a, which was a state law that did not allow the review of personnel records of police officers, firefighters, and corrections officers. Therefore not allowing police misconduct records to be seen by the public. On June 12th however New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation into law that repealed 50-a, bans police chokeholds, and prohibits false race-based 911 calls.
That has not stopped the call for continued progress and reform. The marches have not, and will not stop there. As long as police brutality goes uncharged and unpunished, the people will not and should not let up. So long as unjust laws remain written, we must fight to rewrite them. Change is the only constant, and the time for change in our system is now!
Javon Chasten is an artist and writer born and raised in the Bronx.
To see more work and get updates follow him on Instagram and Twitter .
Alone Together
Q+A by Brittany Villalona / Photo by Julian Myles
An interview with co-founder, Daniel Ahmadizadeh, of the new innovative dating app, ‘Quarantine Together'—which uses current quarantine conditions to its advantage.
Daniel, please introduce yourself to our readers. Including where you are from and your occupation.
Thank you for having me, Brittany. My name is Daniel Ahmadizadeh. I’m a Bronx native and co-founder of Quarantine Together. I live by 231st street currently with my parents during Quarantine season. Growing up, I had a brief time where I went to middle school in Harlem, but I returned to the Bronx for high school and I’ve been here since then. Yeah, that’s kind of my story here as a local. 1 train all the way.
1 train all the way for me too. So, how have you been holding up during this pandemic? What do you find has been the most productive way to spend your free time?
Well, my dad’s a doctor in the Bronx. Immediately, the first concern was his health. For me personally, it’s been about just staying positive and taking this time to be creative. There’s a lot of negativity happening all around us. So it’s like, how can you create something that is positive? Whether that’s conversations you have with other people or projects that you work on. There are a lot of new behaviors that we have been doing since this all started. Six feet apart, face masks. Even though this virus is really negative, there are a lot of positives that can come out of it. When the recession happened 12 years ago, companies like Uber and Venmo were launched during this time. This has been an opportunity to make something good out of the bad.
Positivity is a great tool to deal with this stress. Awesome, thank you for that. So let’s dive in, shall we? What was the source of the inspiration for ‘Quarantine Together’?
Quarantine Together is a project that my friend and I kicked off and started working on for fun on March 8th. That same night, we launched it. It was very easy to get it off the ground. 14 days later, it was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. We have about 30,000 people all over the world that use it every day. We work on it nights and weekends. It’s been exciting to see how people are looking for human connection.
“The root of it is we crave authentic human connections.
Loneliness is not going away. In fact, it’s always been here before Covid-19. ”
Wow! QT has really taken off since its inception. How does this app stand out from other dating apps and websites, such as Hinge or Tinder?
Great question. So let’s think of people as “books.” Apps like Tinder and Hinge are first and foremost about your picture, your clever bio, and the ‘cover’. People are getting judged by that ‘cover’. With us, there’s no photos, no judgement. It’s two people, anonymous and having a private text conversation. The ‘content’ of said ‘book - that’s really the primary difference. For a segment of the population, physical appearance is the number one way that they want to connect with someone. And that’s fair. You have different types of bars. You have the Irish pub. You have the bar that plays Spanish music. And that’s what we’re doing here. Just like every bar has its own flavor and vibe, many apps are the same. Tinder is about hookups, Hinder is a little bit more serious, Bumble is women first. For us, it’s about people that don’t want to be judged based off of their appearance. They want to have a genuine conversation first.
As we both know, many dating apps and websites utilize the “swipe-right” technique or personal profile methods to match potential partners or friends together. Others use a ‘face-to-face’ speed dating method. But for ‘Quarantine Together,’ it uses a combination of the two, aiming for a genuine connection free from visual bias. Why did you go with this concept rather than the more common methods I described?
The root of it is we crave authentic human connections. Loneliness is not going away. In fact, it’s always been here before Covid-19. Just like we crave authentic experiences in life in general, we look at the movement of how things are happening. We don’t want fake, we want real. That’s why people buy organic food or look for real raw content. The reality is Tinder makes 2 billion dollars a year on revenue with 60 million users. What about all the people who aren’t on dating apps because of how they work? We focus on the users that never liked traditional dating apps. We think it’s a great opportunity to help those people.
Photo by Max Ducourneau
Does this app take into consideration non-binary people or members of the LGBTQ community? How so? (If not, any ideas on how to implement this?)
Absolutely. So when you look at our form to sign up, there’s a section for gender. There are multiple options, not just male or female. There is non-binary and we have a place where you can put it in yourself. Then we match people based off of those preferences. In fact, Buzzfeed did a video about the QT experience. One of the reporters in the video matched with another man and talked about his experience. QT is about no judgement… on all fronts. It comes down to connecting with another human being.
What kind of criteria do you use to connect people?
The way the matching works is by age preference, location, availability (when they send the ‘wash hands text), and gender preference. It can be tailored to preferences in regards to what is craved from this experience. This can all be accessed from your dashboard before you begin matching with other people.
The internet is a tough terrain to navigate for some, especially with internet bullying being a major social issue in today’s society. Have you all created precautions or a code of conduct to combat bullying should this problem arise within the realm of ‘Quarantine Together’?
When we match people, you get matched and introduced to each other. It might say “Daniel, meet Jasmin. You have thirty minutes to chat. Be kind to one another.” Then it says “P.S. If for any reason your match is being disrespectful, just text back ‘End Chat’.” This function immediately ends the chat. Look, when you’re texting your match, they don’t know your phone number and vice versa. It’s all anonymous and it’s a private number. Just like when you text your Uber driver.
So like a secondary number that keeps a level of respect and protection for both people?
Exactly. So let’s say your match is disrespectful or you’re having a bad experience, you text back ‘End Chat’. In fact, we think this will be a meme someday [laughs]. So we want to be proactive about bullying and we thought of this way to help users remain in control. Another thing that we do is that every single chat is rated by both parties. You’re not rating the person, necessarily, but you are helping us understand how your conversation and experience were. But we do ask you if we should keep your match in the QT community? And it allows you to explain. So the feedback really helps us police QT and help users feel comfortable.
Can you tell me a little bit about the process in developing QT with your team? Maybe give us a short rundown on the collaboration it took to create this app?
My friend and I were catching up via email on 3/8. Decided to build something that night and we launched the first prototype the same night. We used no-code tools like Typeform, Webflow, Zapier, and Twilio to make it happen.
Thanks for that, Daniel. So let’s take a step back and talk a bit about you. Are you currently dating? (IF yes, how did you guys meet, dating app?)
Not dating! Single.
What would you say is your most memorable form of connection with another person?
Ones where we have something to bond over. Where there is shared context. Sometimes it can be surprising context.
I understand what you mean. You never know what will spark a connection between you and someone else. Speaking of connections, the ‘Quarantine Together’ website mentions covid resources and donations. Could you explain this aspect and why it was important for you guys to include in this project?
My dad is a ER physician on the front lines and we recognize that many hospitals around the world do not have the resources for protection, so we wanted to link out to organizations that are raising funds for the cause.
Photo by Derick Anies
What was the most challenging part about creating this app?
The beauty of our app is that it is not even an app. No download required. It's all via SMS. The challenging part for us in creating QT in the early days (10 weeks) was more around messaging and positioning. Setting the vibe and energy of the QT experience.
What’s the most exciting part?
Feedback from users. They share with us magical conversations that took place and how QT helped them feel less lonely.
So once ‘Quarantine Together’ launches, what’s next for the app? Where do you see it going in 6 months, when hopefully, quarantine is officially over?
We'll probably just call ourselves Together or just QT. Loneliness isn't going anywhere.
Okay, to wrap up, I have one question I’m sure our readers have eagerly been waiting for: is this app available on all platforms, Android and iPhone? How do we sign up?
You can sign up on Quarantine Together - no app download required!
Move and Groove
Written by Jonathan Olivencia / Photo provided by Jonathan Olivencia
Quick tips to start a workout routine during these times.
These are stressful times, especially for our community.
The constraint of time is what I often hear from people who really want to get started on exercise, but cannot find the time. My name is Jonathan, an online strength and nutritional coach, born and raised in the Bronx. Many of us put ourselves last because of the responsibilities of children, bills, and other pressing problems to manage. Doing too much will overwhelm your wellbeing, as we are already in a stressful state during this pandemic.
How to get started.
Start by understanding that your body's capacity for stress is like a cup and has only so much space for stress.
If you are overly stressed, imagine you pouring too much liquid in a cup, What happens? It overflows! We tend to do this with our bodies. What happens when we are constantly overflowing our bodies with stress?
This Stress Cup worksheet walks you through what your cup might be like.
When our stress cup is overflowing, our health deteriorates and this is when we can fall to illness and disease. You also need to understand that chronic is long term. This means that it is happening consistently for a very long time. The term acute is short term. Many of us are living in a chronically stressed state. This means that we are damaging our bodies every day, but since it is not at the onset of lets say a bruise after a fall, we overlook it.
Here is a list of common stressors that may take up space in your cup.
Lack of sleep
Lack of water
Too many fried foods and sugar
No exercise
Rumination (worrying)
Relationships and personal problems
How can a little movement help you?
If you are filling your cup every day with so much stress that it is overflowing, how about we upgrade your cup to make it larger?
Exercise can increase your capacity for stress, which allows you to deal with more stress. If you can manage. Get reacquainted with the floor. Why? Your bones and body need ground contact to stimulate bone resilience and also keep you able to get up and down from the floor.
Here is a way to get started: Pick two exercises. Do them for the time allotted. You can pick a different pair of two everyday for up to 5 days. If not, stick to the first two and get really good at them.
Let’s get it going!
Set a 10 minute timer. Pick 2-3 exercises and do them in a circuit. Complete each exercise for the prescribed repetitions, That is one round. Complete as many rounds as you can within the set time. Break as needed, but push yourself :)
If you follow this for a full month, you will be surprised at how much stronger and conditioned you feel. It takes only a little to get started. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or need some extra assistance. Visit www.trainwithjon.com or email me at jonathan@trainwithjon.com
BXN RADIO: S2 - SPECIAL EP COVID-19 (PART 2) - WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER
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Here is part two of We're in This Together, which was recorded earlier during the pandemic and may not reflect current news and developments.
BXN RADIO: S2 EP 03 - For The (Dating) Culture
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BXN Radio discusses relationships with special guests Relationship Insurance. The team reviews cuffing season, how to date with intention and share the biggest gift of self care before all.
Design by Hoay Smith / Show Notes by Sabrina Hall
BXN RADIO: S2 - SPECIAL EP COVID-19 - We're In This Together
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With COVID-19 bringing everyone to a still, we decided to do a two-part special podcast with the team.
Bronx Picks - Playlist 01
We’ve started a new playlist featuring our homegrown talent.
We’re open to all genres, submit your music to info@bronxnarratives.com to be featured.
Listen on Apple Music
Listen on Spotify