The Coolest Kids In Town

Cut to Thursday – and PhillyIn’s exclusive interview.

PI – “For the one or two people in Philly that don’t know you already, let’s get some personal info. How did you two meet?”

RB – “Basketball brought us together…we would be together everyday on the court. It turned into a friendship off the court.”

JW -“Plus we were the two best players out there…”

PI – Talkin Trash’ already boys? It turns out Reggie Berry is Atlanta born, and Houston raised, graduated Western Michigan University a business major, and left the states to play basketball overseas after college. Jackiem “Jacky” Wright is Philly born, South Jersey raised, graduated Franklin and Marshall College a government major, and entered the corporate world directly after college.

JW – “I’m not a corporate kind of guy…But I did what I had to do. ‘Gotta’ survive.”

RB – “That’s right, you ‘gotta do’, what you ‘gotta do’; to be able to do, what you want to do!”

The Business Side Of Cool

PI – How did a personal friendship turn into a successful business?

They confide that they had no particular game plan when they apprenticed themselves to Jackiem’s uncle, the legendary Charlie Mac. But soon they were attending movie premieres, all the award shows, and walking that red carpet.

RB – “We know all the tricks.” Reggie laughs, “How to do it… It’s a confidence thing. It’s the way you carry yourself, the way you interact with people.”

PI – So, they found themselves among the elite, and were fitting in. But when asked about their part in the business, it wasn’t so easy to explain.

RB – “It was kind of like, shame on us…” Reggie quips. “I remember someone saying, ‘You need to find a need and fulfill it. Find something that people are in need of, and you fill it up.’”

PI- So that’s what they set out to do. And, hence, on 08/08/08, Reggie and Jackiem found themselves the proud parents of a spanking new company — The 400 P.T.M. And it was designed personally by them to fill a lot of needs for a special group of people.

What does The 400 PTM actually do?
Jackiem explained that the core of The 400 provides finance and life management services to entertainers, athletes, and other celebrities. The 400 helps clients preserve the money they’ve earned, and creates opportunities for them to earn more – something that many entertainers and athletes are not good at doing for themselves.

RB – “The entertainment world is seamless: athletes want to be rappers; rappers want to be actors; actors want to be football players.”

JW – “We want the client, whatever his craft, to feel like he can focus on it. If you’re Lebron James…you need to focus on basketball, and be able to trust your team for everything else that needs to be accomplished.”

PI – The point of The 400 PTM is to make the client’s need it’s single-minded passion.

Reggie went on to explain that the services provided by The 400 are far broader than might be expected, because they are tailored to very specific needs of the client being served. The 400 has helped its clients with everything from ordinary house or auto buying decisions, to creating charitable foundations, to planning celebrity golf tournaments. Reggie and Jackiem handle the relationship-building, and the networking needs, while specialists, behind the scenes, provide the technical support required for success.

It all works best when Reggie and Jackiem find the client, or the client finds them first; before turning to an agent.

JW – “A lot of the agents never meet, never speak, to the people working with these entertainers. The agent doesn’t know what business-management is doing, and vice versa. There’s no communication. People get money pulled right out from under them.”

PI – The 400 can help them in the agent-picking process as well, and guarantee good communication thereafter.

JW – “The perfect client ‘gets it.’ You’re not always going to be hot. You only have a finite time to make x amount of dollars. You need to maximize that money, and maximize your exposure.”

RB – “And maximize the decisions you can make with that, because there’s a lot of relationships that can be built when you’re a celebrity that aren’t available to you later.”

JW – “Yeah, because once you retire, it’s like ‘who’?”

PI – “OK guys. Tell us what it means. The name of your company – The 400 PTM.”

RB – “We were looking for a name that was kind of obscure but sounded ‘fly’. Something that sounded like us…that makes you think, ‘What’s up with ya’ll?’ Something that sounded exclusive, and made you want to be a part of it.

JW – “Samuel Ward McAllister, a 19th century arbiter, coined the phrase ‘The 400’. In New York City, at the time, everyone thought they were better than whomever; but at the end of the day, there were only ever 400 people that really mattered in high society.”

PI – Reggie and Jackiem set out on a quest to ensure that they and their clients are always counted among The 400 People That Matter.

JW – “You want to make people feel like their special. I think that’s one of the things that we do subconsciously and why a lot of people are drawn to us…They can feel it, it’s definately a vibe thing.”

RB – “ Tyrese Gibson told us, ‘In my experiences in life, you gotta make people care. You have to MAKE people care about you. Because people genuinely don’t care….Everyone has their own lives to worry about. So you have to make people care, once you make people care, the possibilities are endless.”

Cool Kids Turn Tuesday into Saturday Night

PI – The 400 claims there’s nothing it can’t do. Strongbox challenged them to fill the club on a Tuesday night.

RB – “We said CAN we? Please! We’ll SHOW you.”

PI – “The party was originally dubbed ‘Tuesdays at StrongBox.’ How did it become the ever popular ‘Cool Kids Tuesdays’?”

RB – “We just thought that if you want to be where The Cool Kids are, come to Tuesdays. And we stuck it on the flyer. Cool Kids didn’t mean us…it just meant whoever came to the party. Everyone there is a Cool Kid.”

PI – “How would you describe ‘Cool Kid Tuesdays’ to someone who’s never been?”

JW – “The time of your life.” He smiles, ”Well… actually, it’s not for everyone…”

RB – “But, if you’re looking to have a good time regardless of race, color, or creed, and party with genuinely good people, then it’s the place for you to be.”

JW – “A lot of the stigma of going out is that you don’t want to date a girl who you meet in the club. But you could potentially meet a good girl at our party…”

RB – “I mean, you’re there…no seriously.”

JW – “Yeah, seriously…”

PI – These boys know how to make a girl blush. “Thanks guys.”

RB – “You really never know who’s going to be there…If we say Keifer Sutherland is coming, you have to believe it. Because he just may be there….you never know with us.

And I have full confidence that any celebrity that comes in is going to be the type of person who is all for the interaction and it’s not gonna be a big deal. If Lebron James comes, we want people to feel like, ‘I partied with Lebron.’ Not like, I saw him over there in a fortress.”

JW- “Yeah, like, he’s down the street or something…”

RB – “It’s everything that we would want for a party in Philadelphia. So since we can’t go out and get it, we provide it for ourselves. At the end of the day, it’s for us to have a good time.”

JW – “We probably party harder than anybody in there. We look forward to Tuesdays.”

PI – “You’ve gone by many names to date. You’ve been known as The 400, the Young Punkys [a name Charlie Mac affectionately bestowed upon them], and The Cool Kids. Am I missing any?”

JW – “The 2 sexiest men alive…For whatever reason nicknames we get just stick. Even this whole ‘Cool Kids’ thing…people just started calling us that. We were like…ooookay. You can’t stop that. Someone gives you a name and who are we to tell you we’re not?”

You Can’t Teach Cool

PI – “Were you Cool Kids in High School?”

RB – “Absolutely. You can’t teach cool.”

JW – “We’ve been cool our whole life.”

PI – “What’s ‘YOUGETCHO?’”

RB – “It’s a phrase, it’s a drink, it’s a way of life.

PI – So “yougetcho” went from a private joke, to a catchy phrase, to a trendy topic on twitter. You can even buy a “yougetcho” drink at Cool Kids Tuesdays.

JW – “Everything we do, we like to do grandiose.”

PI – “Reggie, you were named one of Daily New’s “Sexy Singles” this year. How did that happen?”

RB – “Well, what happened was a fine young man from Chester, PA and a sweet young damsel from Chicago met each other and produced me, this fine specimen of a man. All I did was grow up. That’s all I did. Apparently, I exude sexiness… Really, I enjoyed the experience. Of course, I think everything is funny. So,’ Sexy Single’? Why not?”

PI – “Who will be the first to settle down?”

JW – “I feel like it would be me, but he’s very bizarre; so, I wouldn’t be surprised if he said some dumb thing like, ‘Yo man, I’m in love’ and eloped or something.”

RB – “We should probably just do it at the same time. ‘Do you love her? Ok, then let’s wrap this up!’ Have a dual wedding or something crazy.”

PI- “One-on-One Basketball who would win?”

RB – “Wow that’s deep! I’m always gonna say that I would win.”

JW – “We’re both gonna say we would win. We’re both good…so it would probably come down to whoever got the ball last.”

PI – “What are you favorite places in Philly?”

RB – “Denim, G Lounge and Recess.”

JW – “Shout out to our buddies: Carlton, Drew “The Mayor”, Terressa and Steph. The Cool Kids Clique at Strongbox.”

PI – “Reggie, what makes Jacky good at what he does?”

RB – “He’s tremendously intelligent. I don’t trust too many people to make important decisions in my life. But with anything from girls to business decisions, I value and trust his decision making. He ‘gets it.’”

JW – “I’m the total package.”

PI -“Jacky, what’s the best part of working with Reggie?”

JW – “That he’s a raging lunatic. But seriously, certain things he does better than I do and vice versa. So, we compliment each other well.”

PI – “What’s the biggest misconception about you?”

RB – “I don’t know this to be true, but I’m just assuming that some people think that we think we’re better than everybody else.”

JW – “The best part about us is that we love to talk to people. We welcome that. Anybody who wants to talk, please, set up a lunch, a dinner, Starbucks, sit down and talk to us.”

RB – “I honestly feel, if you don’t like us, or at least respect us, then you genuinely don’t know us….we promote nothing but positivity…And if you don’t like me because I’m too over the top, then you got Jacky, who’s more laid-back. You gotta like one of us.”

JW – “They usually like us both though.”

PI – “One of your favorite expressions is, ‘I am relevant.’ What do you mean by that?”

JW – “We kind of stole that from Tyrese. It was a joke at first…”

RB – “…but it’s true. I don’t have a financial goal. My passion is success, and I’ll know when I get there, but it’s not something tangible. That’s the same thing with relevance, when people care about you, and the things you do and the decisions you make, to me, that’s being relevant.”

PI – “Who do you think of as relevant?”

JW – “Obama, Will Smith, Lebron…Gandhi, he’s relevant.”

RB – “I don’t even want to name people, because it’s too hard. There are a lot of Philly people who are relevant, it’s all situational. When you reach ‘uber-relevance’ you transcend race, gender, and religion.”

PI – “How does Philly fit into your plans?”

JW – “We want to be synonymous with Philadelphia. If you come to Philly, people should ask, ‘Do you know Jack and Reg? Point blank, do you know them?”

RB – “And if you don’t, then clearly you’re not relevant, because you need to know them.”

JW – “We’re everywhere; we’re at Sixers games, Eagles games, the diner, the hottest clubs, on TV. That’s another goal of ours and we’re striving everyday to do things to expand our horizons and networks. We’re gonna make you care.”

After working the crowd, Reggie and Jacky come back to have their drinks and dance the rest of the night away.

I once saw this is on Jacky’s facebook page, and I think it sums it up nicely, “I hate my life every Wednesday, and you should too. CoolKids!”

Follow Reggie on Twitter: @TheRealReggieB
Follow Jackiem on Twitter: @JackiemW
Follow The 400 ptm on Twitter: @The400PTM

And for more information on The 400 P.T.M., visit their Official Website: http://www.the400ptm.com/

Want more Cool? Take a look at their PhillyIn photoshoot: Behind-the-Scenes with Cool