Elton Paul Brandan, how are you
doing, sir?
Brandan “BMIKE” Odums I’m well. How are you doing?
EPI cannot complain. If I did, no one’s
gonna listen, so why bother doing it?
B“B”O That’s true.
EP (laughter) As with all great stories,
and yours is certainly one without
question, we should start at the
beginning. Tell me about your family.
B“B”O I was a military brat and
grew up in a military household.
My dad is from outside Shreveport,
Louisiana, and was in the Marines for
thirty years. My mom is from New
Orleans. She’s definitely New Orleans
to her core. My parents met in New
Orleans when my dad was stationed
here. I have a big family. I’ve got seven
aunts and uncles and a lot of cousins
here. This city has always been home,
but every two and a half years, we were
stationed in a different city, different
country, up until I was in seventh
grade. That’s when my dad retired.
Me and my older brother were in high
school, and he didn’t want us to have
to move around anymore. Once he
retired, the whole family moved back
to New Orleans. My father is a pastor
too. My cousin is also a pastor, and he
converted the entire family, my mom
first and then my dad a few years later.
My dad became a minister when I was
thirteen, and then he became a pastor
and started his own church. That’s
just little bits and pieces about my
family dynamic.
EP That’s a village. It reminds me
of the proverb, “It takes a village to
raise a child.” I’m hearing military
background—so that’s discipline. I’m
hearing faith—so you’ve got a belief in
something bigger than you. How did
those influences shape your life, especially in New Orleans?
B“B”O By the time I was in high
school in New Orleans, I already had
the privilege of traveling the world to a
certain extent. I had lived in California;
North Carolina; Okinawa, Japan; and
South Korea. I had a broader scope
than most of my peers. This was before
the internet, so you couldn’t just simulate experiences by following people
from different parts of the world. I had
genuine friends and connections in
random places all over the world. That
privilege, on top of the discipline and
the focus from my family, whether it
be church or the culture of a military
household, and my understanding that
there was more than the West Bank,
the East Bank, Baton Rouge, and New
Orleans, allowed me to not get caught
up in some of the same traps as some
of my peers. Some of the decisions
they made, I think, came as a result of
not having that experience, not having
that broader scope. And then I just
always loved being creative. I loved the
curiosity that came with creativity.
I think that really helped as well.
EP What do you think were some of
the core values you took from your
village that gave you direction and
purpose?
B“B”O Living with religion brought
about ideas of service and being
empathetic toward other people—what
would Jesus do? We could talk about a
lot of aspects of religion, but at its best,
it was being of service and thinking
about other folks, especially those
less fortunate.
My father is a very philosophical
person who’s always trying to insert
these questions about purpose or about
discipline into our lives in a very literal
sense. When we played basketball
growing up, everyone else’s parents
shouted “Defense!” or “Shoot it!” My
dad stood on the sideline shouting
“Purpose! Purpose!”
EP(laughter)