Patrick Taylor Has Mocha Entertainment On The Move
Mocha Entertainment Group, Inc (MEG)
is an entertainment production and publishing company. The
primary goal of the company is to create and maintain the
Internet's premier destinations for urban individuals around
the world, all housed under the common brand of “Mocha.”
Patrick C. Taylor,
Vice President of Strategic Planning & Technology is a
self-proclaimed Internet Technologist responsible for
Mocha’s Internet application design, development and
implementation experience. Patrick has worked for various
high profile companies within the sectors of Finance, Health
Care, E-commerce and Entertainment. Patrick has designed and
developed high profile applications for companies such as Earthlink, Inc., TicketMaster-CitySearch, PayMyBills.com,
and BlueFrogMobile.com.
In addition, Patrick has worked with companies abroad
assisting with the implementation of middle to large scale
Internet applications and the training of the employees
using those systems. He has traveled as far as Sweden and
Australia on behalf of his previous employers.
In his current role as Vice President of Strategic Planning
and Technology, Patrick reports directly to the Chief
Executive Officer providing oversight, management and
coordination of the technological infrastructure within the
company. He is responsible for comprehensive planning
coordination, strategic planning, research and technical
assistance required to implement all Internet services
produced by the Mocha Entertainment Group, Inc.
Patrick
Taylor of Mocha Entertainment
BMIA.com:
So you’re the Vice President of Strategic Planning and
Technology? Tell us
about yourself, your background and how you came to be a
part of mocha. Were you there from the beginning?
Patrick Taylor:
Yes,
that is correct. I hold that title within the
Mocha Entertainment Group
(Mocha), but I have never seen the president of my
department he/she must be on an extended vacation!
I
report directly to the CEO providing oversight, management
and coordination of the technological infrastructure within
the company.
I am
responsible for comprehensive planning coordination,
strategic planning, research and technical assistance
required to implement all Internet services produced by the
Mocha Entertainment Group,
Inc.
Whewww..
I really just flip burgers!
As for
my background, I have over ten years of Internet application
design and development experience. I have worked for various
high profile companies within the sectors of Finance, Health
Care, E-commerce and Entertainment. Some of the companies
that I've worked for prior to the Mocha Entertainment Group
are, Earthlink, Inc., TicketMaster-CitySearch,
PayMyBills.com, and BlueFrogMobile.com, just to name a few.
How
did I become a part of Mocha? Well, I am good friend and a
previous business partner of the CEO,
James Lincoln. He initially
asked if I wanted to be apart of something "destined to be
big", something made for our culture. I declined because of
existing consultant projects that required the majority of
my time, in addition to my own personal projects.
But
even with that decline, I was unofficially apart of the
Mocha team because I helped with the initial infrastructure
setup and application testing.. A month after the launch of
our first Mocha service
"The
Mocha Lounge,"
is
when I officially became a apart of the Mocha team.
BMIA.com:
How did you become a part of Mocha?
Patrick Taylor:
Well, I am good friend and a previous business partner of
the CEO,
James Lincoln. He initially asked if I wanted to be
apart of something "destined to be big", something made for
our culture. I declined because of existing consultant
projects that required the majority of my time, in addition
to my own personal projects. But even with that decline, I
was unofficially apart of the Mocha team because I helped
with the initial infrastructure setup and application
testing.. A month after the launch of our first Mocha
service "The Mocha Lounge," is when I
officially became a apart of the Mocha team.
BMIA.com:
Patrick, Mocha is an amazing site. Tell us about Mocha and
its history. Who are the original founders?
Patrick Taylor:
Mocha is a brand, which I feel exemplifies the essence of
our culture. It's alive and vibrant, soulful (even for the
Internet) and it's rich with beauty!
Mocha
from the aspect of business, is an entertainment company
providing online and offline services for the "Urban"
demographic. The official launch date of our first service
was March 17th, 2004. If I'm wrong on that, don't stick me
James!
We
provide services in the areas of online dating, message
board, forums, Internet radio, free personal WebPages,
blogging, sms chat, event/venue promotion and we even have a
record label, Mocha Music.
The
originating Founder is James Lincoln, and The Mocha
Entertainment Group, Inc. is the manifestation of his desire
to create something of quality for our culture, that will be
around for a long time.
The
Mocha team consists of (4) total, James, Kiarash (KB),
Tyrone and myself.
BMIA.com:
You told me that Mocha has changed a lot since its creation.
Does this have anything do with
Mocha City?
Patrick Taylor:
Mocha has experienced growth. It has become a "living
entity" on the Internet. My statement about change needs
clarification. Mocha has grown a lot since it's creation.
Mocha City and
Mocha Vibe are
great examples. Mocha along with any other large e-Community website is like
a big social culture dish from my perspective. From the
first entity introduced, the first member, to the next, to
the next and so on. In 1 1/2 years of being operable, there
is enough history within Mocha to write a book or make a
movie! “Cough, all you producers out there. Hit me up!”
BMIA.com:
I remember you telling me that Mocha has spawned its own
culture such as people starting other businesses based on
Mocha and others were spawning long lasting relationships.
Can you tell me a little about this?
Patrick Taylor:
Yes, continuing on from what I wrote earlier, if you just
look at the word "Community" whether it is online or
offline, it's a place where people "live," mingle, hangout,
chill or just kick-it.
I have
met numerous members on Mocha that conduct daily business
transactions, where the customer or lead was generated from
another member within Mocha. From sales of crafts, to sales
of books, to the selling of phone accessories and more. Our
e-Community is a resource to many people, in many forms.
Our premier service was "The Mocha Lounge," which is a
quality online dating service for, but not limited to, Black
and African-American singles. As with any dating site, you
will have those love connections and breakups, but with
Mocha we have the blessing of people creating "family-like"
bonds. These bonds are long-lasting friendships and
relationships that will hopefully last for years.
BMIA.com:
What’s the difference between Mocha and the other large
black community sites?
Patrick Taylor:
Laughing! I should ask you that question? How do you think
we are different from the other large black community sites?
But first, can you give me a list of those besides the
obvious one that I will not mention; this is my interview
and not theirs! *Jab*
From
the aspect of basic functionality, we are not that different
from any community website. But, after registration, the
differences are noticeable from the get-go.
Mocha
is about the people within the e-Community, you will notice
that we feature members throughout the e-Community
services. Why? Because without them there is no Mocha.
I
believe this to be true; the members themselves create 90%
of all content within our e-Community. We give the Mocha
members the tools to be creative and express themselves, and
to promote themselves. There is a simple fact about the
behavior of people; we love to talk about ourselves!
Mocha
is a brand, Mocha is an association, Mocha is family. Mocha
is quickly becoming the example of how a black online
e-Community should be built.
During
the early days of Mocha, or even earlier, James and I joked
about writing books about our experiences working for
others, and writing about how to properly design and build
an Internet application. I think Mocha would serve as the
perfect example for such a book. Whatcha think?
BMIA.com:
I think you should write a book. Let me shift gears. There
are difference cultures within the black community. For
example you have Caribbean, African, and West Indian. Mocha
seems to bridge the gaps. What does Mocha have to offer to
the entire black community at large?
Patrick Taylor:
Wow, I’m really feeling these questions you are throwing at
me. Kudos to you! Mocha offers "Community," a place to
come and meet whoever is within the community. As you said,
Mocha exists to be of service to all cultures that fall
under the "Black" umbrella.
I want
to state this, although Mocha was created with our culture
specifically in mind. We are an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
e-Community.
BMIA.com:
What does that mean?
Patrick Taylor:
We don't care what pigment of skin color you have!
BMIA.com:
The growth of Mocha is phenomenal. Just browsing through the
site I can see that it has its own feel and culture. It
seems to become very personal to the people that are
involved there. Does Mocha recognize that it has a lot of
power with its members and how they live in real life?
Patrick Taylor:
I believe everyone on the Mocha team is aware of how Mocha
has become an integral part of our member’s lives. Our
members have told us this, and when an unfortunate service
outage occurs, they really let us know! (Laughing).
We do
not have "Power" over our members, because they empower us
to provide the best for them and in return together we are
becoming something quite cool.
And
you are correct, Mocha gives off a personal feeling.. And I
will attribute that to the fact that we make the e-Community
about the people that are within it. Even in our newsletter,
we allow our members to create some of the content, why?
Because Mocha is about Community!
BMIA.com:
Mocha does features on its members. Many are not celebrities
but are just as interesting. How did this fantastic Idea
come about?
Patrick Taylor:
Ummmm.. I guess I’m jumping ahead of you in this interview
huh? (Laughing).
The
concept of "Featured Members" came from James, and it goes
beyond the typical "put a picture on the main page" of a
website with a little blurb. Why not feature more than one
member? And not just on one website, but all the websites
that may be in your e-Community. We make celebrities within
Mocha, but that was not our intention. Or was it? It has
been a fantastic hit within the e-Community, because we do
it at random and it surprises most. That two-minutes of
"fame" goes along way with building smiles.
BMIA.com:
What are some of the big projects that Mocha has going on
now?
We
have a number of projects going on, and at times. It’s
enough to scramble the brain like some delicious eggs! I am
not a liberty (gag order, non-disclosure, fear of a beat
down) to discuss some of the projects on the whiteboard.
I'll just state, that whatever we drop, it will be
Hot! Oooh, but we did
just release our new event/promotion service called "MochaVibe,”
and it's Hot. We
allow promoters to list events happening locally,
nationwide, for FREE. There is also a service directory for
people wishing to promote their event related services (DJ'ing,
Security, etc).
BMIA.com:
Is Mocha involved in the community at large other then just
the black community?
Patrick Taylor:
No, but it's only a matter of time. Mocha is spreading like
FIRE!
BMIA.com:
Where is Mocha going in 2005 and beyond?
We are
trying to market ourselves more this year, to get the name
Mocha out to the masses. We would love for Mocha to be a
household name, (Laughing). "Did you Mocha today?" 2005 is
almost over, and this was a year of stabilization and
acceptance.. We are definitely a player in the game! For
the future, I would say we will continue to build the Mocha
brand, continue to provide quality entertainment for our
members, grow the e-Community, have fun and be successful in
our business.
BMIA.com:
Thank you Patrick, it has been a pleasure.
Patrick Taylor:
Thank you.This interview was
conducted by Mike McKoy of FullBlown
Entertainment and was
posted on December 7, 2005.
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