Under the terms of the agreement, Slate Milk will receive prominent branding in the world-famous Octagon at some of UFC’s biggest events, including select Pay-Per-Views and Fight Nights, all episodes of Dana White’s Contender Series starting this August, and all episodes of season 32 of The Ultimate Fighter, which debuts in 2024. 

In addition, Slate Milk will receive branding integration within a number of Pay-Per-View broadcasts as well as within event-specific social media content that is distributed through UFC’s popular digital and social channels, which collectively reach over 233 million global users.

Slate Milk will also be featured within UFC’s state-of-the-art Performance Institute in Las Vegas and will be made available to UFC fighters and other elite athletes for their use. 

“I got turned on to Slate from a friend of mine and started using the product, fell in love with it, and now they are an Official UFC partner,” said UFC President Dana White. “There is nothing better than doing deals with people, products or a company that you actually love and use.”

Slate Milk, co-founded by Manny Lubin and Josh Belinsky in Boston, Mass., has seen rapid growth since their launch. “UFC is an incredible organization with some of the most loyal and passionate fans in the world. The continued growth of their business is really one of the more remarkable entrepreneurial stories of our generation,” said co-founders Manny and Josh. “Our mission at Slate Milk is to help make people and the planet stronger. We’re extremely excited to partner with UFC to amplify our brand awareness and provide the UFC fanbase with shamelessly chuggable high protein, low sugar, delicious drinks.”

Slate Milk began as an idea for “helping to give chocolate milk a clean slate,” as stated by Lubin and Belinsky. After a successful Kickstarter campaign and an appearance on ABC’s Shark Tank, the business launched in late 2019. Since then, the business has raised over $20 million in venture funding and has grown to over 12,000 retail locations across the U.S.  Their products do not require refrigeration and are also sold online at slatemilk.com (U.S. only) and on Amazon.com.

Years before a tourist submersible went missing on an expedition to explore the Titanic shipwreck with five passengers on board, red flags about safety issues emerged about the company that designed and operated the vessel. 

OceanGate, which charged $250,000 per person for the Titanic voyage, is a privately held company that touts its “innovative use of materials and state-of-the-art technology” in developing submersibles that can fit five passengers. 

But behind the marketing lingo, lawsuits and industry experts had raised serious safety concerns about the project years before the sub’s disappearance. In 2018, a professional trade group warned that OceanGate’s experimental approach to the design of the Titan could lead to potentially “catastrophic” outcomes, according to a letter from the group obtained by CBS News.

That same year, an employee of OceanGate raised safety concerns about the Titan’s design and the company’s protocol for testing the hull’s reliability. That employee, David Lochridge, was fired by OceanGate after airing his complaints to government regulators and OceanGate’s management, with the latter then suing him for breach of contract. 

In response to OceanGate’s lawsuit, Lochridge counter-sued, airing his concerns about Titan’s safety in a 2018 court document. 

Lochridge claimed he believed the company could “subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible,” according to the legal filing. 

In February, the CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, was sued by a Florida couple after they struggled to get a refund on their deposits for several canceled trips on the Titan. The pair, Marc and Sharon Hagle, said in their lawsuit that OceanGate canceled one expedition saying it hadn’t had enough time to certify that the Titan could reach the depths of the Titanic. Another trip was canceled because of “equipment failure,” according to a copy of the Hagles’ lawsuit published by the Fort-Myers News Press. 

Attorneys for the Hagles didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

OceanGate didn’t respond to requests for comment about the lawsuits and allegations. In a statement to CBS News, Lochridge’s attorney said he had no comment regarding his allegations. “We pray for everyone’s safe return,” the attorney said.

Certification issues

One of the red flags about the Titan was its certification — or lack thereof. 

The 2018 letter from a professional trade group, the Marine Technology Society, flagged the company’s marketing materials which advertised that the Titan’s design would meet or exceed a certification called DNV-GL. Stemming from the independent Norwegian foundation Det Norske Veritas, or DNV, the certification is considered the gold standard for marine equipment. 

But, the Marine Technology Society noted, “it does not appear that OceanGate has the intention of following DNV-GL class rules.” Such representations would be “misleading to the public and breaches an industry-wide professional code of conduct we all endeavor to uphold,” the letter added.

A factsheet about the Titan on OceanGate’s website doesn’t mention if the vessel had received DNV certification.

“Refused to pay”

Certification and testing was also a focus of Lochridge’s countersuit, in which he refuted OceanGate’s claims that he breached his employment contract when he filed a whistleblower complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 

Lochridge wrote that he learned the viewport on the sub was only built to a certified pressure of 1,300 meters, even though the Titan intended to go down to 4,000 meters in depth. He also urged OceanGate to use an agency such as the American Bureau of Shipping to inspect and certify the Titan.

“OceanGate refused to pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport that would meet the required depth of 4,000 meters,” Lochridge’s filing alleges. 

He claims that rather than address his concerns or use “a standard classification agency to inspect the Titan,” OceanGate immediately fired him. 

OceanGate’s lawsuit against Lochridge stresses that he wasn’t an engineer, and that he refused to accept its lead engineer’s “veracity of information,” leading to his firing. In his legal response, Lochridge admitted he wasn’t an engineer, but noted that “he was hired to ensure the safety of all crew and clients during submersible and surface operations.”

From a young age, DOCG was taught he should become a doctor, lawyer or engineer.

Born to Sri Lankan immigrants, the Melbourne-based artist — who wants to go by his artist name, DOCG — said his cultural upbringing never gave him room to explore other career paths.

Like many Asian-Australian migrants, DOCG’s parents wanted him to chose a stable, high-paying profession.

“All my cousins were becoming engineers and doctors,” he told the ABC.

But as DOCG grew up, he realised that he did not like the expectations of what he was meant to do with his career, and wanted to carve his own identity as an artist.

“I’ve never seen someone have that kind of career path, especially in our culture.”

After seven years working as a creative director, stylist, artist and photographer, DOCG has collaborated and worked with big brands including Platypus, Adidas, Reebok and New Balance.

He said his parents were initially confused by his artistic career path.

“They were like, ‘Where did this come from, who were your friends, who have you been listening to, we never taught you this.'”

However, DOCG said that as he grew older, he began to have “a lot of empathy and understanding” for his parents’ reasoning for wanting him to pursue a different career.

He said the culture had taught people, like his parents, that only those with professional jobs could make a living.

DOCG said people who grew up in a developing country would also have different views on art and design compared to those from a Western culture.

“[My parents] were unaware of how important art and design is in Western society,” he said.

Having designed and released everything from clothes and jewellery to hosting international shows and exhibitions, DOCG said he enjoyed the sense of expression and freedom of doing something he loves.

And although the artist did not become a doctor, the creation of his moniker “DOCG”, allowed him to turn this cultural expectation into a name that he has made on his own.

“I just want to have fun. I want to be able to make things and hope that when people see what I make as an individual, they become inspired to do that for themselves,” he said.

“I want to expand, grow and evolve — and I hope that’s what the future for others will look like.”

‘Staying true to yourself’

Many Australians from Asian backgrounds have reported experiencing cultural and social barriers when choosing a career in the art industry.

Diversity Arts Australia chief executive Lena Nahlous said Australia’s art and cultural practices were deeply rooted in the Euro-American model, which could exclude many migrants.

Ms Nahlous said they were often unable to access funding, not recognised for the work they produced and had limited access to opportunities and work.

Many were also under-represented and “historically excluded and marginalised” in these workplaces, she said.

Research from Diversity Arts Australia revealed that only 9 per cent of the 1,980 leaders of the country’s institutions are culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) Australians, even though the Australian Human Rights Commission found 39 per cent of the Australian population have a CALD background.

“Research tells us that culturally diverse people have struggled to find work in the sector and that there is an over-representation of people from Anglo-Celtic backgrounds in the arts, screen and creative sectors,” Ms Nahlous said.

“Calling-out and countering this exclusion and opening pathways into the funded or mainstream creative industries for historically excluded people is critical to our work at Diversity Arts Australia.”

The under-representation of CALD Australians in creative roles has discouraged many aspiring Asian-Australian artists from pursuing a career in the industry.

But Asian-Australian artists like musician Grant Perez say it’s time for that to change.

Perez, who is also known as grentperez, is a Sydney-based musician who has performed across Australia and in Europe and the United States.

The indie pop artist has more than 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify and has released his latest EP, When We Were Younger, earlier this month.

When asked about his musical journey, Perez told ABC News that he did not think people like him could succeed in the industry.

“Growing up, I was just unaware of other Asian-Australian artists. I think I wasn’t presented enough with it compared to the Western American pop music scene,” Perez said.

Despite this, Perez never gave up on his dream.

“I am a big believer of staying true to yourself,” Perez said.

“And I always pictured myself performing on stage and singing stuff that I made in front of people.”

And with the success of his YouTube covers and debut single, Cherry Wine, Perez believed he could impact communities as a young Filipino artist.

“I really try to convey the message of being yourself because that’s what makes you unique,” Perez said.

“It makes me really happy to see more Asian people come into the industry — that’s a big motivator.

“I just tell them to just go for it because there’s nothing stopping you.”

‘Steer the boat to where you want it to go’

Many first-generation migrants who worked in industries such as IT, medicine and accounting in their home countries had to chose lower qualification jobs in Australia to meet visa requirements, according to Nick Parr, professor of demography at Macquarie University.

Those migrants would often encourage their children to pursue the professions they originally had back home, but their children have more freedom to chose what they want to do, Professor Parr said.

“It has been suggested that parents from Asian countries have tried to influence their children’s choice of degree programs, educational qualifications and occupations,” he said.

“[Their children] don’t have the same constraints on their choice of occupation as opposed to their parents’ generation.

“It shouldn’t be surprising if there is more diversity in occupations.”

Melbourne-based photographer Luisa Brimble said at one point in her career, she was pressured to become a nurse.

She then studied banking and finance at college for two years in the Philippines before migrating to Australia with her family, and eventually worked in marketing.

However, when Brimble decided to pick up her old DSLR camera and started taking photos of her family and friends, she quickly realised that photography was her passion and left her marketing job of 10 years.

As a food photographer for more than 15 years, Brimble has worked with leading publishing houses including Penguin Random House and Hardie Grant Publishing, and was a James Beard nominated photographer in 2019.

Brimble told the ABC that sometimes people did not listen enough to what they love to do.

“It’s a much different generation [now] because we don’t have the pressure to be a person [working] in the stock exchange or nursing — you don’t have to wait for others to tell you,” Brimble said.