Amanda gets pushback on a logo revision, and the team is faced with a poignant reckoning.
Amanda and her team learn how highways and urban renewal tore Minneapolis' Black community apart, and discover some unintended consequences of desegregation.
To truly thrive, businesses of all size and color need access to capital.
Each episode kicks off at Urban Lights Music, where DJ Tim Wilson accompanies a Twin Cities poet.
CREATIVE TEAM
Amanda Brinkman
Creator & Executive Producer
Matt Naylor
Writer/Director
Erin Sharkey
Producer
David Rice
Executive Producer
Matthew L. Wallis
Post Producer
MMYYKK
Musician/Composer
Rose Bush
Director of Photography
Matt Hirst
Editor
Za’Nia Coleman
Assistant Camera
Ashley DuBose
Musician/Composer
Tanya Belk
Producer
Nick Clark
Musician/Composer
Sarah McCaskill
Motion Graphics Artist
Erik Allen Johnson
Editor
Justin Barclay
Editor
Daniel Tarr
Story Producer
Sandra Guardado
Editor
David Fabelo
Editor
Billy West
Producer/Composer
Andrei The Vampire
Musician/Composer
Sara Hicks
First Assistant Camera, Camera Operator
Amanda Brinkman is the Chief Brand Officer of Deluxe and is creator, producer and host of their hit series “Small Business Revolution,” which streams on Hulu and Prime Video was named among Inc. Magazine’s top shows for entrepreneurs. In this inspirational reality show, Amanda showcases her passion for small towns by spearheading efforts to revitalize entire communities through small business makeovers.
Amanda is a sought-after public speaker, sharing her “Do Well By Doing Good” philosophy on stages around the country. She demonstrates how both companies and individuals can make a meaningful and positive difference in people’s lives, while fostering their own success in the process. She believes that companies must not only identify their brand purpose, but put that purpose into action. Through her work, Amanda has defined what it looks like for brands to truly act “as publishers” creating movements through their content strategy.
Amanda is a nationally renowned brand expert, Forbes contributor, and frequent on-camera personality for national news outlets and celebrity interviews, ranging from LL Cool J to Peyton Manning. She has appeared on CNBC’s “Cleveland Hustles,” in addition to hosting the online “Small Talks” series that features successful entrepreneurs across the country.
That’s all while charting an acclaimed career that spans groundbreaking campaigns for brands like BMW, Reebok and Sony, in addition to her role as an inspiring female executive at Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies, such as United Health Group, Allianz, General Mills, and Deluxe.
Amanda’s current and former board service includes the Children’s Cancer Research Fund, Make-A-Wish, the Children’s Theatre Company, the Ordway Performing Arts Center, Ad Council, ANA (Association of National Advertisers) and the Women’s Business Development Center.
She also passionately volunteers for causes such as Special Olympics, Feed My Starving Children, Habitat for Humanity and more. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband (who happens to be her best friend), her daughter (who is a small but mighty force of nature) and their puppy (who is, of course, adorable).
Matt Naylor
Erin Sharkey
Erin Sharkey is a writer, producer, educator, and graphic designer based in Minneapolis. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University and is, with Junauda Petrus, the co-founder of an experimental arts production company called Free Black Dirt. Erin has appeared or is forthcoming in publications such as Walker Art Center’s Untitled, Brooklyn Quarterly, and Paper Darts. She currently teaches with the Minnesota Prison Writers Workshop.
Erin is a 2016/17 Loft Mentor Series winner in creative nonfiction, was a 2016 VONA/Voices Travel Writing fellow, 2015 Givens Foundation for African American Literature Emerging Writers fellow, as well as a Coffee House Press in the Stacks artist-in-residence at the Givens Collection at the University of MN, where she now is helping to promote Umbra Search, a digital search tool for African American memory.
David Rice
I’m a San Francisco based musician, photographer, filmmaker, and small business owner. My career began as a performer and recording artist, culminating with the 1998 Columbia Records release greenelectric. I went on to earn some platinum records as a writer/producer, before my journey as a composer for TV and commercials opened my eyes to a much broader artistic field to cultivate.
After moving from Los Angeles to Austin in 2005, I forged a creative partnership with filmmaker Matt Naylor while working together on a series of Clinton Global Initiative short films. In the decade since, we’ve built a Clio-winning multimedia content studio, delivering over $30MM in carefully curated brand-commissioned projects designed to promote social good.
While building the company I’ve developed other areas of expertise and interest, but stay grounded in music as a composer on Flow’s Hulu series Main Street: Small Business Revolution and as a creator of our video series Clubhouse: Music up Close, where we film intimate 5-song concerts with touring artists in our Travis Heights blackbox studio. We’ve hosted Suzanne Vega, Arkells, Lights, Band of Skulls, Larkin Poe, Frank Turner, flor, and lots of other acts in all stages of their careers.
I stepped into artist management briefly in 2018, helping Americana artist Chelsea Williams land a video premiere and 12-week rotation on CMT, and creating successful cross-promotions with Crosley, Martin Guitars, Third Man Records, and Airstream.
Having established a strong base with our work at Flow, I’m focused now on creating smart, slow-build partnerships with like-minded people across a wide range of industries.
Matthew L. Wallis
Matthew L. Wallis is an Emmy Award-Winning and Critic’s Choice Nominated Independent Producer, Post Producer, and Editor. Based in Austin, TX, Matthew is the Co-Creator and Co-Executive Producer of Showtime Films’ Emmy Award-Winning Documentary, DISGRACED. He’s the Series Post Producer for the award-winning Hulu series, Small Business Revolution, and he’s run post-production for Jerry Bruckheimer’s Marshall Law: Texas; CNN’s original series High Profits; Shipping Wars; and My 600lb Life. He is Producer of Juice: How Electricity Explains the World. His work has appeared on Showtime, Netflix, Hulu, Prime, Verizon, TNT, A&E, TLC, History, Nat Geo, Food Network, and CNN.
MMYYKK
“If neo-soul is once more having a moment, then MYYKK is its new high priest.” – The Guardian
Rose Bush
Director of Photography on the 2021 Oscar® Winning Documentary Short COLETTE.
Matt Hirst
It’s an honor to take home any trophy at the Twin Cities Film Festival, but it’s something else entirely when Bill Murray personally declares your work Best Comedy Short.
12 Sips to Glory is indeed a comedy on the surface, but its real magic comes from the compassionate and joyful approach Hirst takes to the screen. A full-time filmmaker with Flow Nonfiction since 2012, Hirst has explored veterans issues, women’s issues, and voting rights for national organizations like Wounded Warrior Project, Boys and Girls Club, and Move On.
Za’Nia Coleman
The root of my work is sustaining traditional and historical practices around love, pleasure, cultural expressions, and community building. In James Baldwin‘s words, the intention behind my work is to be a “witness” to the experiences of those around me. Not only a witness but keep records using different mediums. Whether that’s oral history or replicating the house dresses of Black women in the early 1900s. My intention is to be a reference of what came before. My work centers the expression and thoughts of Black folks in a hope to facilitate the spaces where liberation can be dreamt.
Ashley DuBose
Ashley DuBose is probably most widely known for her hit single, “Intoxicated”, and for her participation in Season 5 of NBC’s The Voice.
Ashley began singing and writing music at the age of 10 years old. The desire to be a recording artist and performer grew from watching pop artists like Britney Spears, Destiny’s Child, and Aaliyah perform on television. Ashley’s first performance was in the sixth grade when she performed in her school’s talent show. Encouraged early on by her mother to sing for family, friends and strangers alike, Ashley would go on to perform at various national league sporting events, concerts, open mic events, colleges, schools, weddings, talent shows and corporate and non-profit galas.
In May 2012, Ashley released her first independent full length project, titled Somethin’ More. The album was created while Ashley juggled college and parenting her then two year old daughter. Released just a day before graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics, Somethin’ More was a culmination of Ashley’s life experiences over the four years leading up to its creation – hope, discouragement, love, betrayal, faith, and the desire to achieve what she believes is a greater calling on her life. The unplugged acoustic version of Somethin’ More was released in the following year, catering to the listeners that enjoy a more stripped down approach to the album’s originals.
In 2013, Ashley auditioned for NBC’s The Voice. Her blind audition compelled all four celebrity coaches to turn their chairs and vie for her to be on their team. Ashley chose Team Adam and went on to become a top 32 contestant on the show. After her participation on the The Voice, Ashley returned home to begin working on her second body of work which would later be known as Be You. Ashley released Be You in March of 2015.
In 2014, Ashley was chosen “Best Vocalist (Female)” by one of the most respected news and entertainment sources in her hometown, City Pages, for their annual Best of the Twin Cities magazine issue.
Always a dreamer and determined woman, Ashley is working to spread feel-good music to the masses, with dreams of one day realizing Cee-Lo Green’s 2013 prediction that he would be routing for Ashley “front row at the Grammys!”
And she is on her way! Her music is making its way to listeners all over the world. With fans in over 37 different countries, Ashley DuBose’s music (leading the count is her hit single “Intoxicated”) has amassed just under 5 million streams online through outlets such as Spotify, YouTube and Soundcloud.
Since the release of her album, Ashley has been performing and speaking around the country. In 2015, just before the release of her second album Be You, Ashley joined a special events cover band with which she has had the privilege of traveling the world performing at private and corporate events.
In addition to parenting, writing and performing music, Ashley has done work as an instructor for the Twin Cities Mobile Jazz Project, a music program designed to empower youth through music and the arts. Ashley is also an on-camera talent and voice-over actor.
Ashley DuBose is realizing her childhood dream. She is determined to be a living example to her daughter that when you fuel a dream with heart and action, that dream will, in time, become reality.
Tanya Belk
Formally trained in live theater at the University of Texas, Senior Producer Tanya Belk applies the fundamentals of stage management and project management to her decade-long career with Flow Studios.
Nick Clark
Nicholas Clark is a producer, musical director, and bassist who splits his time between Austin and L.A. He played college football at Texas State University where he earned a master’s in physics before spending four years as a Semiconductor Engineer at Samsung while integrating himself into the Austin music scene. He’s now a full-time musician and has worked with some of the greatest artists across genres including Kanye West, H.E.R., Demi Lovato, Christian McBride Big Band, Jojo, Chrisette Michelle, Carrie Rodriguez, and Problem, and has played an integral role in producing and programming for Coachella, YEEZY SZN 8 Paris, SXSW, ACL, award shows, and late night TV shows
Sarah McCaskill
Erik Allen Johnson
Justin Barclay
Daniel Tarr
Sandra Guardado
David Fabelo
Billy West
Andrei The Vampire
Andrei’s musical portfolio has never quite fit into any category. From electronic, to indie and hip-hop, the Romanian-born artist has been bending genres in the same ways his biggest influences taught him. A member of RDGLDGRN, alternative hip-hop group championed by fellow Virginians Pharrell Williams and Dave Grohl, Andrei branches out with his solo project, exploring a unique sound.
Sara Hicks
Ramy Antoun
Hailing from Alexandria Egypt, drummer Ramy Antoun toured with Seal and Buckethead before founding A&F DrumCo, makers of the world’s most in-demand handmade drums.
Grooveline Horns
Grooveline Horns is an American funk and R&B-based horn section, originating in Austin, Texas. They are best known for touring and recording with Maroon 5, Kelly Clarkson, Jason Mraz,[1][2] and Zac Brown Band.
Senah Sampong
Warlock, imagineer, and first- generation American with roots in Ghana and Uganda respectively. He loves to read and has practiced writing for 23 of his 31 years. He has used his interest in various media to cultivate and cross-pollinate interests in history, political science and Afrofuturism. Senah’s aim has been to develop a critical analyses of social engineering with a focus on mythology, race, class, and cultural imperialism. His ultimate goal is to help bridge gaps in collective memory and remedy the effects of cultural amnesia born from the traumas of patriarchy, colonialism and white supremacy.