WEBVTT - Poetic Voice: Sekou Andrews on Creation and Evolution 0:00:01.400 --> 0:00:04.720 This episode is sponsored by FX's Fleischman Is in Trouble, 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.399 starring Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Lizzie Kaplan, and Adam Brodie. 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:12.680 The strama tells the story of recently divorced Toby Fleischmann, 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:15.320 who dies into the world of at bass dating with 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:17.360 the kind of success he never had in his youth. 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:21.280 Then his ex wife disappears, leaving him with their two 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:24.880 children and no hint of her return. Effexus Fleischman is 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:42.640 in Trouble, streaming November seventeenth only on Hulu. Welcome to 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:46.480 P M Mood then No Talking Points, no Bullshit podcast 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:49.519 that takes you behind the curtain, off the red carpet, 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.519 and to the front lines of progress with change makers 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:55.480 and innovators that are doing the work to shift our 0:00:55.520 --> 0:01:00.280 culture and expand our social impact. I am so decided 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.639 to welcome to PM mood sec who Andrews who is 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:09.399 a seventeen year full time poet, a twenty nineteen Grammy 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:15.200 Award nominee for Best Spoken Word Album. And I mean, 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:19.760 if you read the man's bio, it is exceptional. You're 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:24.600 doing backyard hangouts with Oprah and Michelle Obama. You do 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:28.000 and Ted talks. You are named by Forbes to be 0:01:28.160 --> 0:01:32.240 like their poet Laureate for Corporate America. I mean, my god, 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:36.480 you've turned a title of poet, which everyone is associated 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:41.000 with being broke into something amazing. Secod, thank you for 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.360 coming to PM Moods. So tell me how you've done 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:53.920 this with lots of creativity, perseverance, innovation, and just stubborn persistence, 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:56.720 you know. I mean, if you can imagine trying to 0:01:57.840 --> 0:01:59.920 you know, when I tell people that I introduced myself 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:02.360 as a as a full time poet, and they look 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:04.120 at me like I said, I'm a full time mermaid, 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:09.040 you can imagine. You can imagine the challenges of trying 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:12.200 to create something that people don't think even is even possible. 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:16.280 So it has been a lot of you know, four 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:18.639 to two that is taken. But it's also been very 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:22.760 purpose driven for me, because at the end of the day, 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:26.440 my purpose has been to create a more commercially viable 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:28.920 industry for the art form of spoken word, so that 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.400 poets can make a purposeful and a profitable living off 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:34.640 there of art, so that when other young poets, you know, 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:37.160 when their parents asked them in the future, what do 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:39.000 you want to be when you grow up and they 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:40.840 say I want to be a spoken word artist, I 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:44.440 want to be a poetic voice, that there will be 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:48.000 some context for success in that. And I think that's 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:49.680 one of the things that we don't have as an 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.840 industry for spoken word artists like you have in comedy, 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:55.000 like you have in theater, like you haven't even some 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:56.680 of the you know, a kid can say I want 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:58.240 to be a dancer, and the parents still might look 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:00.360 at them like, boy, go get a job, but at 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.200 least they understand the trajectory of a dance so they 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:07.000 understand that you can sign with a company, that you 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:09.080 can make a living, that you can't go on World 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:12.520 of Dance or Americas got talent and then get signed 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:14.639 and joined and tour and so forth. They have no 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.320 context of what that means to a force spoken word artist. 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:19.480 And so that's been the biggest joy for me is 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:22.120 just with the Grammys, with Poetic Voice, with the business 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:24.720 world of the speaking world, creating that model so that 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:29.120 poets can actually, you know, follow towards success. Tell me 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:33.280 you you know, we're initially a teacher, yea, what inspire? 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:36.880 And we share that similar background. I too was a 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.200 teacher I taught first and second grade, our special education 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:45.119 and went to school everything, got my master's in education 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:47.640 because I believe in it. I just used education as 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.840 a different tool. Now, how did you make your transition 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:55.680 from the classroom to the stage. Yeah, so I was 0:03:55.720 --> 0:04:00.880 originally planning on doing law school and becoming me too 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:08.600 because of the the day. Yeah. Yeah, girl, we keep talking, 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:13.960 We're gonna mind out. We got relatives. Yeah, I was, 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:16.839 you know, I was gonna do entertainment law. Um. And 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.480 then I started working in law firms after college and 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:22.920 decided that I didn't want to do law, and so 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:27.520 I took up um substitute teaching, you know, as my 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:29.920 sort of that was gonna be my actor waiter job, 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:32.280 you know what I mean, like flexibility to go on 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:34.880 auditions or in my case, go on the world tour. 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:40.600 That was just around the corner always, and and I 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.720 eventually decided to sign on as a full As a 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:45.880 full time teacher, I taught fifth grade. I couldn't do 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.520 the little ones. You could talk little ones, right, but 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:51.680 most of the little most of the teachers, the first 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:53.120 secon grade teachers, they didn't want them to do a 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.800 fifth grade. So it was a good balance um, that 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:57.800 is very true. See fifth grade, I'm like, that's too 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.240 many hormones. You started to figure out yourself if I'm 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.400 not about that life right, And I see I wasn't 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:05.080 about that running around the room played with you all 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:06.680 day life. I was like, I need you to be 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:12.480 able to understand Sardcastle. That was my room and so 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:16.600 I you know, I talked fifth grade. But during that 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.880 time I had been pursuing I mean even since middle school, 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:22.400 I had been pursuing music. I fell in love with 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:23.960 hip hop and I fell in love with acting at 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:25.800 the same time, and I kept pursuing both of them 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:30.120 through high school through college. So during this time of teaching, 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:31.800 I was still sort of trying to figure out how 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:35.680 to build a career in entertainment. And I started going 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:39.000 to poetry over Mikes, and I kind of just accidentally 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.720 fell in love with poetry. Like it was not plan right. 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:44.119 Nobody was waking up in the morning going I'm gonna 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:46.080 be a full time spoken word just because nobody knows 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.200 what that is. But I was just like, this art 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:51.240 form is dope. And I kind of loved being appreciated 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.719 for just my words, Like I didn't have to worry 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:56.120 about how dope the hook was, and did I have 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.760 a dope feature? And what was the mute? Was the beat? 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.760 You know, a trendying enough for whatever? It was just 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:04.560 like people were like, yo, your words moved you. Even 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:06.040 when I was up there as a hip hop artist 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.280 delivering my stuff spoken word style, they were like, your 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:11.800 words moved me. And that got good to me. And 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:15.360 so I found myself, why do we not have an 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:17.680 opportunity to make a living off of our words as 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:19.560 performance artists? You know? Why does it always have to 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.479 be coupled with something else? And so I found myself going, 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:24.640 let me do that, you know, let me see what 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.479 explore that. And the entrepreneur in me got excited about that, 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.159 like this is a this is kind of fertile ground, 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:33.640 this is this is a trail week of blade, you know. 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.479 So I think that was really what pushed me to 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:38.880 make that transition. I talked for about four years. In 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:43.000 fifth grade, I remember pulling up to my principal. Pull 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:44.760 on to the school to have a meeting with my principle, 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:49.120 and I sat down and she said, you're leaving me, 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.919 aren't you? And I had prepared each you know what 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:53.640 I mean. I was like ready to go in and 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:55.840 she already knew and she was like, you said for you. 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:57.480 She was like I get it. She was like, we're 0:06:57.520 --> 0:06:59.479 gonna miss you and you and we need you here, 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:02.760 but you're meant for a different stage, for a bigger stage. 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.479 And I appreciated that send off, and so I quit 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.000 my job and three days later I did my first 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.880 CD release show and I made my rent in CD 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.600 sales that night and it's been non stuff ever since. 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:18.280 That is beautiful one because there's a meme that has 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:22.160 been going around on social media that asked a question, 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:25.760 what age were you when you had your first black teacher? 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.520 And I and it is so beautiful to me that 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:34.280 you have classrooms of children that can say fifth grade, 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.440 because unlike them, my first black teacher I didn't have 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:42.760 until college and I only had two in my entire life. 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:46.600 And so just that just that that I so I 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:48.640 want to commend you for that because I think that 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:54.760 that's that that's beautiful. Yeah. So you you make you 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:59.280 see now in your with the CD that you're able 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:03.600 to make a career and you know, unlike some artists, 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:07.160 you like you said, you have an entrepreneurial spirit. This 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:09.840 is a business. You were building a business, not just 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:12.760 a brand. Um. I always equate that with Jay Z 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:16.400 when he was just like, you know, I'm a business man, right, 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:18.840 not a you know, not a businessman. And I think 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:24.280 that you know too often as artists, you can get 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.280 very connected and should be very connected to your craft 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.840 and you're you're the best salesperson for that craft. You 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.679 can try and go out and get agents and scouting managers. 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:38.959 But if you don't really know how to sell yourself, right, like, 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:41.400 then no one's going to really be picking up what 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.959 you're putting down. Yeah, that's it. How did you yet 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:48.240 tell me? What's funny about that? Is so you're not 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.200 both know Teresa, And so I literally just had this 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.080 conversation with Teresa the of the day because I was 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.480 telling her the history of trying to create a business 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:01.040 that is selling poetry to places that have previously dismissed it. 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:02.800 And I said, look, I don't know, there's not too 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:05.160 much there's not too many things that I claim I'm 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.120 the best fad in the world, but I would I 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.840 would venture to say I am among the best in 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:15.200 the world at selling spoken word poetry in places where 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:19.400 it's been said it doesn't belong because that alone is 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.319 a science and an art form and it's incredibly nuanced. 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:26.600 And I've worked with masters, sells people, professional marketers, and 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:28.400 they all come in with you know, they got their 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:30.760 their resumes and the and the hit lists and there 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:32.880 and the egos that I've done this and I can 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.120 do this and so forth, and I'm like, Okay, that's cute, 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:38.439 I get it. But here's what's gonna happen. The minute 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:40.959 that you mentioned spoke spoken words. Here's what's gonna happen. 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:43.600 If you say these wrong words, you will you will 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:47.160 instantly remove three or four zeros off of my value 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:49.959 simply by using the wrong words, simply by creating the 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.640 wrong context for what it's it's possible for this art form. 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:56.599 And so I'm constantly in a place of having to 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:00.560 train people how how how to sort of be the 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:05.839 mouthpiece and the voice for my voice for this art form. Right, 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:10.280 So you're right, it absolutely is a challenge trying to 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:13.560 figure out how to communicate the possibilities for this art form. 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:15.800 But that's also the double edged sword. It's I call 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:19.839 it my joyful challenge because it's it's a challenge. It's 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:22.560 an uphill battle constantly. But it's also my baby, you 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.480 know what I mean. It's like it's my creation poetic voice, 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:29.000 it's it's me being able to say to the world. Yeah. 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.200 I know that you thought that spoken word was only this. 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:34.920 I know that you thought that it was only relevant 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:39.320 at your company holiday party. But you're wrong. Spoken word 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:43.560 can have more values in some context than any of 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.800 your other presenters at your most important senior leadership executive meeting. 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:50.720 If you don't believe me, watch this, and my life 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:54.440 has been the living embodiment of watch this. I love 0:10:55.040 --> 0:11:00.440 I mean joyful right in facing obstacles, I think is 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:05.840 what is what transcends most people, right because when you 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:10.880 look at something as it is, this burden that you 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:14.320 are carrying to do, that's what people see, That's what 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:16.800 that's what comes off of you, that's what emanates off 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:21.559 of you, is the toiling rather rather than the spirit 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:25.360 of it. So I think that that is brilliant. You 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:30.840 mentioned poetic voice. Talk to me about what you created, 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.880 what is meant by and what is the meaning behind 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:39.280 poetic voice because it's different than spoken word. Yeah, yeah, 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:41.160 I love I love that you even you know that 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:44.400 you recognize that because you know, it's it's an evolution, 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:47.640 it's an extension, but there is a difference. I define 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:53.920 poetic voice as a speaking category that fuses inspirational speaking 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:58.520 seamlessly with spoken word poetry. That's the sort most simplest definition. 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:02.840 So it's you know, it's not there plenty of folks 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:08.440 that are performers and speakers, nothing novel there, but this 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:10.560 is not. I'm going to perform and then you applaud 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:12.480 and I speak, and then I perform and you applaud 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:15.199 and I speak. This is sort of a seamless integration 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:17.840 where you don't really know where the theater ends and 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:21.760 the poetry begins, the business content ends, and the storytelling begins. 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:23.640 One minute, it feels like I'm in a story. The 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:27.040 next minute it feels like you're getting actionable business takeaway. Suddenly, 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:28.960 wait a minute, he's rhyming. And now wait a minute. 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.120 Now I'm crying because wearing a story and this is 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.199 this is a tech conference, and what the hell is 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:34.880 going on? You know what I mean? And so it 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:38.120 makes that sense of wonderment of throwing an audience off 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:40.520 of their off of their feet, a little bit of 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:43.840 cracking them open, and ways that they didn't come in expecting, 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.880 which is the power of art. And so infusing the 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:50.640 power of art into a business context, into a speaking 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:55.160 context in this way is what creates that new experience 0:12:55.320 --> 0:13:02.600 and offers creates a higher perceived value for spoken word 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:05.400 than we've previously had. The challenge that I had, you know, 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.160 people look sometimes at my brand and they go, man, 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:11.240 you you know you don't like the metric for success 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:13.560 A lot of times these days is you don't you 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:15.320 know how many lights do you have? You know, how 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:17.960 many followers do you have? Your brand is so big, 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.720 I'm surprised that your social footprint is so small. And 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:24.760 the reason that was very intentional. You know, now we're 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.400 doing a lot more focus on external projects. But the 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:32.319 reason was because I recognize very early, because spoken word 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.920 does not have a perceived value, I want to make 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:37.840 a living off of this art. I don't want to 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:40.720 be The trajectory for a poet is basically a spoken 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:43.000 word poet is you go you do the clubs and cafes. 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:45.360 Then you start doing colleges, and then that's kind of it. 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:47.599 Maybe you go teach, maybe you start you know, you 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:50.760 write books, or you just go get a job and 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.520 you do poetry as a hobby, right, it becomes secondary. 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:55.760 And I said, I want to content I love this 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:58.800 art for him. I want to continue to expand what 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:01.440 that trajectory can be for me as a spoken word 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:07.440 artist by kicking open new doors. And so in doing that, 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:09.760 that became the challenge, right is how how do I 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.280 extend that trajectory beyond just the clubs and the cafes 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:15.680 and the colleges. And that's why it was it was 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:18.079 imperative for me to look at what other doors I 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:20.080 can be kicking open, like the Grammys. You know what 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.960 if artists have not one Grammys, if artists, if artists 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:26.320 are dismissed from business stages, if artists are dismissed from media, 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:28.400 how can I kick open those doors to show them 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:32.440 the poets have value there? And to create that perceived 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:34.760 value took me saying I don't want to worry about 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.200 the likes and the follow because that will result if 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:40.440 I get a million hits on a video, that will 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:44.480 result I promise you in fifty gig offers for one 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.560 hundred dollars each. You see what I'm saying. And I 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:49.200 was like, I can't make a living off of that 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:51.120 see what I want to So I shift it in said, 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:53.760 I want to I want to increase the perceived value. 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:56.280 I want to increase the paycheck I want to build, 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.240 which is what I did, build a seven figure company 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.560 off of spoken word. So that now when when someone 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:04.520 comes to me and says, all right, we want to 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:06.680 book a spoken word artist, they're not looking at me 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:09.760 going and surely he'll do it for exposure because that's 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:11.880 all they're worth. You know what I mean that? Now, 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:15.240 Oh wait a minute, check this dude's resumes. He's proven 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.920 the concept, So we need to we need to honor 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:20.320 the value that he's created. And now it's like, now 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:22.440 let's go get the million hit videos, let's go viral, 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:24.480 let's do all of that so that we can actually 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:28.200 create paying jobs and careers off of this. And so 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:33.640 you still have a piece of your teaching acumen because 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:39.880 you are now helping other artists, right, other speakers, other 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:45.400 people connect and kind of master that stage. Talk to 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:51.160 us about that. Yeah, different different classroom, right, Still still 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.440 still an educator. Um, So I appreciate my principle for 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.400 seeing that in me, because now it's just a different stage. 0:15:57.880 --> 0:15:59.920 And you know, I credit the classrooms, So you're going 0:15:59.960 --> 0:16:02.720 to appreciate the classroom as an incredible training ground to 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:06.120 become a public speaker. You have an audience every day 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:08.120 that you have to impress that is not impressed with 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:11.240 what you did yesterday. They're not impressed by what you 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:16.040 did an hour ago, like like engage me right now 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:23.040 with starting fresh right. And so yeah, I've I've moved 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:27.360 now into helping people to become better communicators because I 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:32.280 really wanted to expand the impact, you know, like the 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:34.320 I could. There's an impact that I can make through 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:37.840 my voice alone and reaching hundreds of thousands and millions 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:41.200 of folks on live and digital stages, But the greater 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.080 impact is in showing other people how to be more 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:47.560 impactful on their communities, how to be more inspiring. And 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:52.280 so I'm involved a lot now in an inspiration training really, 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.360 I mean, you can call it speaker training. But my 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:57.880 message to the world right now is, look, I don't 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.160 I don't care what business that you are in, you 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.440 are also in the inspiration business. And and this pandemic, 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:07.760 this crisis is proving that because people have got Yes, 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.560 you have to get people the information that they need. Right, 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.760 people need to know how does the remote working technology work? 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:17.320 And what's the expected schedule when I have to feed 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:19.120 my kid in the middle of the day, and how 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.119 do I manage you know, how do I manage unemployment 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:25.960 or or paycheck protection, loans or like all the information 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:29.560 is incredibly important right now that the minute that that 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:34.800 does settles, people need to be inspired to continue pushing 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:37.360 through this. People need to be inspired to say, now 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:39.920 that I know how to have the information to teach 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.520 me how to work remotely. Now I need to be 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:45.640 inspired to work remotely, to do know what I mean, 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.199 to not have happy hours start at ten am, to 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:52.040 not to not like to stay focused on my job, 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:54.840 to stay loyal to my to this organization, to you know, 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:58.040 whatever it is. And so that's that's what the message 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:00.680 that we're sending folks right now. And that comes not 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.400 only from yes, partner with me because I can help 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.399 create an inspirational voice for your organization, but it's also 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:09.879 let me teach you how to be inspiring because you 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:12.439 have to be inspiring right now. You have to be 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:14.720 the one that's closing in the distance. That isolation and 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:18.200 social distancing is creative and there are very specific techniques 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:20.520 in ways that you can learn to be a more 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:24.560 dynamic and powerful communicator, to be a more inspiring communicator 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.760 and leader. And my Stage might speaker training program, it's 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:29.920 like stage fright to stage might. You know I call 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:33.040 a rock star secrets for public speakers because it's basically saying, 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.239 no matter where your voice is, no matter who your 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:38.159 audience is, you have a stage. I don't care if 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.080 you're a senior executive leader or a dentist, or you're 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:44.879 a lawyer or a teacher or a manager. You have 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:47.919 a stage. You have somebody that is under your influence, 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:51.080 and that person deserves to be inspired by you, no 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:54.000 matter how mundane you think your job or your work is. 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:56.720 That is a power that you hold alone, and I 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:59.040 can help bring that power out of you. It's so 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.679 interesting because I never thought, in all honesty that you 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:06.359 could teach inspiration. I know that you can teach people 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.520 how to be better speakers and how to connect, but 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.520 inspiration is honestly something that I thought you you were 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:16.000 either born with or you weren't right, Like, you know, 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:20.280 is somebody walking in your door who pretty much and 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.720 I will age myself, but who sounds like faris Bueller's 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:28.639 teacher who is completely flattened, monotone, Their their job is 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.240 boring as Hellum, but they're like, I need you to 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:36.000 help me. How do you turn that kind of person 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:40.760 into into you into or into into the best version 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:43.760 of them? I should say yeah, absolutely, And I think 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.520 that's the critical distinction is that you know, it isn't 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.720 safe of training, right. Um, it's saying I used to 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:52.600 when I when I first created the stage my speaker 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.359 training system. Um, I had so much resistance internally because 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:57.840 I was like, I don't want to be a speaker trainer. 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.600 There's tons of them out there, there's plenty of whatever. 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:05.400 But I realized that I had built a successful speaking 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.280 career and never having been trained as a speaker, I 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:11.760 had been trained as an artist, and seeing the stage, 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:15.840 even business stages, through an artist and a performance lens 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.000 is what made me stand out in a business environment. 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:21.680 And I was like, well, that's teachable, right. So every 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:23.720 time someone kept saying, well, how do you do that? 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:25.480 And that was the you know, that's that's a lot 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:27.560 of times. The pivotal moment that we have in terms 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:31.359 of evolving and expanding our service to the world is 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:34.399 that we used to you know, especially artists, entrepreneurs, you know, 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:36.919 go getters. We live in our own magic, you know. 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.159 We this is my genius, this is my magic, It's 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:41.359 my gift. And that's what I kept saying every time 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:44.200 somebody asked the question. But it's that pivotal question, someone 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:47.360 asking you how do you do that? Enough times and 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:50.879 finally eventually you realize I need to have an answer 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:54.520 for that, like I'm not serving the world in as 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:58.800 profound and prolific of a way as I could be 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:01.800 if I could answer the question how do I do that? 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:04.040 And I never knew how I did that? So I 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.080 began to dissect and codify how I did that, and 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:09.199 I begin to realize that, yes, some of it is 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:12.120 my magic, but that there's also mastery. There's a point 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:14.919 in which the magic ends and the mastery begins. And 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:17.359 when you understand that, then you go, these are the 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:19.840 teachable components of what it is that I do. So 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:22.040 let me begin to share that part so that I 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:24.520 can not only not teach someone my magic, but I 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.560 can bring out their magic in these teachable ways. So 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:31.080 that was really the pivot point for me, and I 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:37.280 realized that inspiration, Yes, it is a speaker training system. 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:40.720 But you know when I tell people that they're people 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.680 who are battling nervousness, and I tell them, I want 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:46.000 you to go on stage and I want you to 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:47.720