Detavio Samuels is on a mission. As the CEO of Revolt Media & TV, America’s fastest-growing Black-owned media company, his goal is to build the world's largest ecosystem for Black storytelling.

“I very much feel like I am in the right place, at the right time, doing what I’m supposed to do," Samuels said in an interview with NY1. "And when I think about my future, the only thing I think about is scaling impact."

“I just believe that Black culture deserves a media company who is telling stories for them, by them, who is centering Black people, who comes at it from a lens that is relevant to their lived experience. A lot of times, the way that I like to think about media, is that it’s mirrors and windows," he added.

"And so whoever is telling the story, whoever the story is about, it is a mirror for that community to look themselves in the mirror and see who they are, what they’re capable of, what’s possible. And then for those people who are outside of that community, that's a window into those people who they are, what they're capable of, what they aspire to."

At 42, Samuels is one of the country’s youngest CEOs. He says he grew up in a rough part of Denver. In middle school, after he was jumped by a gang, his mother moved him to the suburbs.

There, surrounded by lawyers and doctors, he said he had opportunities that many did not. He went to Duke University, then Stanford Business School. He began a career in advertising, consulting some of the country's largest companies, including Walmart and Johnson & Johnson. And three years ago, he was hired by Revolt’s founder — Sean "Love" Combs — to be CEO.

“I think that I always knew that there was a great call on my life. And so I’ve always led with that. Like the mission is more important than anything else," Samuels said. "The mission is more important than the moment. The purpose is more important than the moment."

Revolt’s content comprises scripted series, talk shows, live events, music, podcasts, newscasts and more. It’s a long list. Its cable channel reaches 55 million U.S. homes.

But as Samuels works to expand and scale Revolt, he faces the same economic challenges as other Black-owned companies. In Revolt’s case, limited access to capital, and too few distributors carrying Black media companies, which limits revenue, which limits advertising.

"So in that case, what you want to do is look for access to capital and investors. And on that side, Black folks are also kind of starved in every phase of the fundraising cycle. So, when you think about it, Black communities have lower net worth. So that means you don’t have access to angel investors that other people might have," added Samuels.

For Samuels, it’s a frustrating dynamic. In his view, Black culture is driving global culture, but Black media doesn’t get the resources to invest the way that many other companies do.  

The data are glaring. In 2022, Black founders raised less than 1% of all the venture capital funds allocated in the US: $2.3 billion out of an estimated $216 billion. That represents a drop from the year before, when many companies had pledged billions to help Black-owned businesses.

Samuels says the 2020 murder of George Floyd was an inflection point. But now, with fears of a recession, he worries about the commitment behind those pledges.

"We know that a lot of those pledges were performative. We know that there was no accountability, there was no transparency. And you know, there’s a saying in the Black community, that when white America gets a cold, Black America gets the flu," he said. "And so I'm challenging CEOs, I'm challenging CMOs, like one CMO come out on AdAge and say, forget the recession, we're still growing Black media. Forget the recession, Black media will be the last place we cut. I haven't heard that yet, and I haven't seen that yet. So I'm a little bit nervous."

Under Samuels' leadership, Revolt is determined to keep telling stories that shift the narrative.

"You need Black media companies who can tell the stories, who can say that we are kings and queens, who can tell the story of the riches and the glory, and not just this other side of the story that you hear so often in the media," he said. "The world is going to be a different place, the more we see the Black Panthers and the Wakandas Forever, and we get to see Black people in a different light. So in that sense, I do think that there’s an inflection point, and I do think that the world will change.”