Speaker 1: You're listening to Math and Magic. A production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Radio is very instant, and so part of being on
Speaker 2: the radio is not being a celebrity. It's being one
Speaker 2: in the community and one of the community. And I'm
Speaker 2: always always trying to educate too. Every time I learn something,
Speaker 2: I want to bring it to people.
Speaker 1: Welcome to this recording of Mathemagic special episode. We're at
Speaker 1: the National Association of Broadcasters, the NAB Conference. We're being
Speaker 1: recorded live in Las Vegas. This is the industry's brightest
Speaker 1: gathering together to celebrate one hundred years of innovation in media,
Speaker 1: broadcasts and entertainment. And our guest here today, Angela Yee,
Speaker 1: is a big part of that momentum. Angela was the
Speaker 1: founding member of the wildly successful Breakfast Club Morning Show
Speaker 1: along with Charlemagne to God and DJMB that's heard on AMFM,
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, and has anchored on Power one
Speaker 1: oh five point one in New York City. It's also
Speaker 1: at the top of the charts on YouTube, and it's
Speaker 1: also one of the biggest podcasts globally. After more than
Speaker 1: a decade ride in that rocket, Angela has just gone
Speaker 1: solo with her own midday show Way Up with Angela Yee.
Speaker 1: She is also the longtime host of her podcast lip Service.
Speaker 1: She's an accomplished entrepreneur, innovative, philanthropist, and all around great
Speaker 1: human being. Brooklyn born, blessed with a great education Brooklyn Polyprep,
Speaker 1: Columbia High, Wesleyan College. She got her start in the
Speaker 1: music business before radio, and we got a lot to
Speaker 1: talk about.
Speaker 2: Angela welcome, Thank you, it's good to be here. Thanks
Speaker 2: everybody who's here.
Speaker 1: Before we get to the meat of it, I want
Speaker 1: to do a quick overview. I want to do you
Speaker 1: in sixty seconds, if you don't mind, you ready, Okay?
Speaker 1: Do you prefer cats or dogs?
Speaker 2: Cats, early riser or night owl early riser, East.
Speaker 1: Coast or West coast, East coast city or country city,
Speaker 1: eminem or Wu Tang clan.
Speaker 3: Oh, you can't do that. I have to say Wu Tang.
Speaker 1: Winter or summer, summer, salty or sweet sweet beach or
Speaker 1: mountains hip hoper rap hip hop, coffee or tea.
Speaker 2: Coffee call or text, text podcast or YouTube podcast.
Speaker 1: It's about to get harder. Favorite TV show, The Office,
Speaker 1: smartest person you know, Badman? Oh good? I love that.
Speaker 1: Favorite city.
Speaker 3: Favorite city is Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: Secret talent djang What did you want to be when
Speaker 1: you're growing up?
Speaker 3: Writer?
Speaker 1: Favorite radio personality when you were.
Speaker 3: Growing up Angie Martinez.
Speaker 1: Oh, I love that still share the airways with Yes,
Speaker 1: So let's dig in to you. We're at the NAB
Speaker 1: Radio is in the air here and when you think
Speaker 1: about our company, mission is to give everybody to America
Speaker 1: a friend anytime anywhere. We're licensed by the FCC to
Speaker 1: serve the communities, and indeed we're there in time of need, hurricanes, fires, pandemics,
Speaker 1: but we've also gone through some really tough social issues
Speaker 1: that we dealt with. Let's talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: your commitment to the community. I know you've been actively involved,
Speaker 1: have not only a big heart, but have a big platform.
Speaker 1: How do you see it and what are some of
Speaker 1: the examples of some of the things you've done well.
Speaker 2: I've made a commitment really early that if I can
Speaker 2: get paid to go out and do things, I also
Speaker 2: want to make sure that I'm doing things that give
Speaker 2: back to the community at the same time. And so
Speaker 2: I feel like, because I've been really fortunate to be
Speaker 2: in the position that I'm in, part of being successful
Speaker 2: and making money is making money to be able to
Speaker 2: help other people, and so that's always been something from
Speaker 2: early on, even when I didn't have much time, was
Speaker 2: always important to dedicate. And so when I go places,
Speaker 2: I always want to do everything, Like if I go
Speaker 2: to a children's hospital, I'm like, I want to come
Speaker 2: back and help. And so part of that for me
Speaker 2: is I know just showing up can mean a lot,
Speaker 2: and so I always tell people if you can't give money,
Speaker 2: you can do a post, you can give time, you
Speaker 2: can do all of those things. And that's something that
Speaker 2: I've always believed in. Education's been important to me. I
Speaker 2: work with the New York Public Library, and I do
Speaker 2: a book clubs with students in the public schools.
Speaker 3: All of those things really do mean a lot.
Speaker 2: I remember doing a town hall with these young girls
Speaker 2: and we were talking about the Me Too movement and
Speaker 2: they were just talking about all of the things that
Speaker 2: they've been through and everybody ended up crying.
Speaker 3: It was like one hundred and twenty of us.
Speaker 2: And so things like that, I feel like if I
Speaker 2: have the platform that I have and I can go
Speaker 2: and talk to people, and somebody can come up to
Speaker 2: me one day and be like, you know, I met
Speaker 2: you at this event, and it really made a difference
Speaker 2: That means more to me than anything.
Speaker 1: How do you think you around the music business too,
Speaker 1: which will come to in a minute. How do you
Speaker 1: think radio is different from all the other media and
Speaker 1: all the other forms of entertainment as it relates to
Speaker 1: serving the communities.
Speaker 2: Radio is very instant, and so part of being on
Speaker 2: the radio is not being a celebrity. It's being one
Speaker 2: in the community and one of the community. And so
Speaker 2: I've never looked at myself as a celebrity. I look
Speaker 2: at it more like, I'm just like you guys. I'm
Speaker 2: talking about the same things that you're talking about. I'm
Speaker 2: affected the same ways that you're affected, And so I
Speaker 2: just try to make sure and I'm always always trying
Speaker 2: to educate too. Every time I learn something, I want
Speaker 2: to bring it to people. So if I'm talking about
Speaker 2: like taxes are due, you know, We've done a couple
Speaker 2: of different episodes where we talk about taxes. I have
Speaker 2: a segment called Wealth Wednesdays. Part of why I did
Speaker 2: that was because growing up, I didn't get the financial
Speaker 2: education that I have now. It took me a long
Speaker 2: time to get there, and the earlier you learn those things,
Speaker 2: the better that you'll be. And so if there's anything
Speaker 2: tangible that I can give, like providing resources on the radio,
Speaker 2: that is the perfect platform to do that.
Speaker 3: I feel like radio is your friend.
Speaker 2: It's not like a movie or a TV show that's fictional.
Speaker 2: It's real life, and so I enjoy that aspect of it.
Speaker 1: You've made a huge impact on culture. And before we
Speaker 1: get into some of those specifics, I gave you sort
Speaker 1: of the trick question the beginning about rap and hip hop.
Speaker 1: Can you define for the audience here, what's the difference
Speaker 1: between rap and hip hop?
Speaker 2: Well, rap is really just the music aspect of it.
Speaker 2: Hip hop is the whole culture that comes with it.
Speaker 2: And so I feel like there's a lot of people
Speaker 2: that can enjoy rap music, but they may not be
Speaker 2: a part of the hip hop culture. Hip hop is
Speaker 2: all encompassing, and so I look at it as rap
Speaker 2: is just like a form of the music, but rap
Speaker 2: is a part of hip hop.
Speaker 1: And so, looking back on the last ten years, talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about what you've seen the impact of
Speaker 1: the hip hop culture on fashion, language, movies, music, books, TV,
Speaker 1: the whole Americana.
Speaker 3: I think when it comes to the youth, hip hop.
Speaker 2: Rap music is the most impactful music that people can
Speaker 2: feel like they relate to because that's where it comes from.
Speaker 2: It comes from being in the community, it comes from
Speaker 2: real life struggles. That's why it's so important that people
Speaker 2: are like did you write your own lyrics? Or being
Speaker 2: able to relate to music more than in any other genre.
Speaker 2: Right when it comes to rap and hip hop, it's like,
Speaker 2: this is real life situations. And sometimes people can say
Speaker 2: that things are disturbing or it's not good for the community,
Speaker 2: but it's more of a reflection of what's happening. And
Speaker 2: so to me, when people say that, it's like, okay, well,
Speaker 2: then that just means to me that there are things
Speaker 2: that have to change, you know, And it's unfortunate that
Speaker 2: sometimes we listen to the music and we're like, this
Speaker 2: is you know, something that we could look at it
Speaker 2: is it's harmful to the youth, but it's also a
Speaker 2: reflection of that, and so to me that's kind of
Speaker 2: like a cry for let's figure out what can we
Speaker 2: do to make things better. And by the way, I
Speaker 2: also want to say, hip hop is not just one thing,
Speaker 2: one dimensional. We have such a wide variety of representation.
Speaker 2: When it comes to hip hop. So I also don't
Speaker 2: like when people act like hip hop is harmful because
Speaker 2: we also have hip hop that's very uplifting and it's
Speaker 2: just multi dimensional. So there's the struggle, but then there's
Speaker 2: also the successes. There's also the educational aspect of it,
Speaker 2: and so I just want to make sure that we
Speaker 2: embrace all of those things. But because I feel like
Speaker 2: there's such a microscope on it as it being real,
Speaker 2: that's why people really judge it more than anything else.
Speaker 1: So let's jump a little bit to you. You interned
Speaker 1: at MTV. In college, you worked at a management company
Speaker 1: for Wu Tang Clan. That's why I give you the question,
Speaker 1: just a question I'm sure people listening of how on
Speaker 1: earth did you get such a cool job right out
Speaker 1: of college and such a cool internship.
Speaker 2: Well, I went to Wesleyan University, and part of what
Speaker 2: I learned in college was internships are so important. And
Speaker 2: another thing that I learned was when I interned, we
Speaker 2: had a career resource center. And so the first internship
Speaker 2: I had was at a label called tvt rec Right
Speaker 2: and they also licensed like all the TV tunes, the
Speaker 2: cartoon music that you hear, and so When I did
Speaker 2: that internship, it was in the legal department. I did
Speaker 2: not care about the legal department at all, but I
Speaker 2: knew that in order for me to get my foot
Speaker 2: in the door, that was just a way for me
Speaker 2: to get in. And so one thing I learned was
Speaker 2: just get your foot in the door. And so I
Speaker 2: started doing these internships. I had an internship with MTV
Speaker 2: and the person I interned for he was the music manager,
Speaker 2: so he would present the videos that they would then
Speaker 2: have to decide what was gonna air. So everybody wanted
Speaker 2: to get in with him, you know. I remember going
Speaker 2: to Puffy's studio back then when he was playing like
Speaker 2: big these videos for him, and they gave a champagne
Speaker 2: and I was just interning, and I was like, this
Speaker 2: is amazing, like the fact that everybody is kissing this
Speaker 2: guy's ass trying to get their music on their music
Speaker 2: videos played on MTV. And so for me, internships in
Speaker 2: college were really important. Back then, we didn't get paid.
Speaker 2: I know now interns like get paid and there's certain
Speaker 2: things that they can't and won't do. But I was
Speaker 2: like picking up dry cleaning. I was doing everything that
Speaker 2: I had to do as an intern. And I think
Speaker 2: it gave me like a really strong work ethic. And
Speaker 2: so when I graduated from college, I had an opportunity
Speaker 2: to work at either Columbia Records, but I was actually
Speaker 2: going to visit Wu Tang. It was the same day
Speaker 2: that they were doing summer jam and I didn't even
Speaker 2: realize it, and they were like, come with us a
Speaker 2: summer jam. And the guy who I interned for was like,
Speaker 2: you know, we've been trying to find you. We wanted
Speaker 2: to hire you. This is when people didn't have cell
Speaker 2: phones and you know, didn't have social media, and so
Speaker 2: I was like, okay, cool, and I turned down everything
Speaker 2: else because I felt like this was a better opportunity.
Speaker 2: My best friend was interning at Epic at Sony in
Speaker 2: the A and R department, and she was like, Angela,
Speaker 2: take that job for Wu Tang.
Speaker 3: They'll let you do a lot more.
Speaker 2: Because I'm interning here and they're so threatened by me
Speaker 2: wanting to take their job that they're not letting me
Speaker 2: do anything. So go someplace where you can actually do
Speaker 2: things and get you know, get work done.
Speaker 3: And that's why I took that job.
Speaker 1: Speaking of learning things, there's a story that you went
Speaker 1: on the road as a manager, and you turned out
Speaker 1: to be a roaring success because you were good with money.
Speaker 1: Can you talk a little bit about that, because there's
Speaker 1: a lesson in there somewhere.
Speaker 2: So I ended up going on the road with Jizza
Speaker 2: from Wu Tang. He had to go to Europe at
Speaker 2: the last minute, his manager couldn't go it with some
Speaker 2: passport issues, and so I had to get my passport
Speaker 2: same day to be able to go. And so I
Speaker 2: went on the road, and I literally when we came back,
Speaker 2: had like a whole ledger down to the penny of
Speaker 2: what everybody got paid and what money we had left.
Speaker 2: And he had never gotten that before, and I just thought,
Speaker 2: that's how I have to do things. And so he
Speaker 2: was so impressed by the fact that he got all
Speaker 2: his money that he was supposed to get. Everybody was
Speaker 2: paid what they were supposed to get paid, and everything
Speaker 2: was correct to the penny that after that I just
Speaker 2: was his manager.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's pretty good. What's a lesson in this? But
Speaker 1: both getting your jobs out of college and turning into
Speaker 1: a manager, what's a lesson that you think is applicable
Speaker 1: to other people in business?
Speaker 2: I think that at the foundation of things that hard
Speaker 2: work is the fundamental thing. I feel like a lot
Speaker 2: of times people see other people who are successful and
Speaker 2: they think it just happens, or they think it's just relationships.
Speaker 2: You can get your foot in the door, but then
Speaker 2: what happens after that? And so for me, I've always
Speaker 2: been like the first person in the office the last
Speaker 2: person to leave.
Speaker 3: That's what I was doing.
Speaker 2: And also, honesty is important, and I don't feel like
Speaker 2: a lot of people are honest. I feel like money
Speaker 2: can get people to act very different when that gets involved.
Speaker 2: And then a lot of times people don't watch their
Speaker 2: own business the way that they should.
Speaker 3: I'll say that.
Speaker 2: And I've worked for a lot of artists who may
Speaker 2: not even know what's going on when it comes to
Speaker 2: legal things, when it comes to their accounting, and so
Speaker 2: they're always surprised when you can be really transparent, but
Speaker 2: people appreciate that it's rare.
Speaker 1: So before we talk about your jump to radio, let's
Speaker 1: go back in time to your childhood. You're a fellow Capricorn.
Speaker 1: You grew up in the eighties and nineties, mostly Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: some New Jersey. Paint the picture of those times in
Speaker 1: your life and your family.
Speaker 2: When I was young, and I actually grew up listening
Speaker 2: to the radio a lot. Z one hundred was my
Speaker 2: station and the Z Morning Zoo. That's what I used
Speaker 2: to listen to. And I feel like at that time,
Speaker 2: hip hop didn't have its own station, Like we would
Speaker 2: have a certain period of time that it would air
Speaker 2: and we had you know, video music box. And it's
Speaker 2: great to see like Ralph McDaniel's doing his documentary because
Speaker 2: there were certain times that we could see it and
Speaker 2: hear it, and we didn't have streaming, so if you
Speaker 2: wanted to hear something, you had to literally record it
Speaker 2: with a cassette. And so I would do that, Like
Speaker 2: there were certain times that certain radio shows would come
Speaker 2: on and I would make sure that I recorded it
Speaker 2: because you don't know when you would hear it again
Speaker 2: if you didn't have a chance to do that. And
Speaker 2: so that's how I grew up. Just in Brooklyn. I'm
Speaker 2: from Flap Bush. It's a very Caribbean community, so we
Speaker 2: grew up with a lot of soca and a lot
Speaker 2: of dancehall and reggae music and a lot of the
Speaker 2: block party. Those were always like my biggest highlights growing
Speaker 2: up when we had the Black Party and so all
Speaker 2: of those things, and I just remember I went to
Speaker 2: private school. I went to Poly Prep, and that was
Speaker 2: after going to a program that was for underprivileged youth
Speaker 2: who were quote unquote gifted, and so I had to
Speaker 2: test to get into this program, and that's how I
Speaker 2: ended up going to private.
Speaker 1: School Prep for Prep.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Prep for Prep.
Speaker 2: And it's a great program, you know, because it's free
Speaker 2: and they really give you the resources so that when
Speaker 2: you go to a private school or get ready for college,
Speaker 2: you learn things in advance. And it was really instrumental
Speaker 2: for me because I also got to meet a lot
Speaker 2: of kids from outside of Brooklyn. I was very in
Speaker 2: my neighborhood, and so I feel like that was really
Speaker 2: instrumental in opening up my eyes to a lot of
Speaker 2: other things. And then going to private school was different
Speaker 2: for me. That's when I started really playing sports.
Speaker 3: You know. I learned a lot just.
Speaker 2: From even going to Polyprep, having smaller classes and the
Speaker 2: impact that that had. I wanted to be a teacher
Speaker 2: at one point after that experience. I did this whole
Speaker 2: urban education semester in Washington Heights when I was in college,
Speaker 2: but just because because I understood how much great teachers
Speaker 2: can impact your future because I've had great ones and
Speaker 2: I've also had terrible ones, and so I've always understood
Speaker 2: the importance of that too. But that was going from
Speaker 2: public school to private school and learning those things, having
Speaker 2: the smaller classes, having more attention.
Speaker 1: So you have I think anyone who knows you would
Speaker 1: say you have enormous self confidence. You have a lot
Speaker 1: of healthy ambition. Where did that come from in your childhood?
Speaker 2: I don't think that I always had a lot of
Speaker 2: self confidence, you know what. I think I took the
Speaker 2: biggest risk in my life when I was always at
Speaker 2: my lowest, and that's something that I can appreciate that
Speaker 2: I did. It would be like the worst time for me,
Speaker 2: and I'd be like, I have nothing more to lose,
Speaker 2: and I feel like that's the time that you're supposed
Speaker 2: to take those risks, right when you feel like, well,
Speaker 2: it can't get any worse. And that taught me the
Speaker 2: worst thing that can happen is that something doesn't work.
Speaker 2: You know, it doesn't work the way that you intended,
Speaker 2: and I would hate to not try. And so for me,
Speaker 2: I've always like put my all on the line. I
Speaker 2: have things that go wrong every single day all the time,
Speaker 2: and somebody was just telling me if the things always
Speaker 2: went right, then life would not be interesting. So my
Speaker 2: life has been extremely interesting with all the things that
Speaker 2: haven't happened the way that they should. Even this last week, like,
Speaker 2: I've had all kinds of things that sometimes it's hard
Speaker 2: for me when it's not in my control, when you
Speaker 2: have to rely on other people to make deals happen
Speaker 2: and make things happen, and they don't hold up their end,
Speaker 2: and then now you're left like what am I going
Speaker 2: to do? But I've also learned from that is it's
Speaker 2: kind of like betting is not to put everything on
Speaker 2: the line always right, only put out what you can
Speaker 2: afford to lose. And so that's something that I always
Speaker 2: live by too. If this is something that will devastate me,
Speaker 2: then I just can't do it. But if I feel
Speaker 2: like I can afford to, if this doesn't happen, make
Speaker 2: this be a learning lesson. I look at it as
Speaker 2: like an investment into my education. We paid a lot
Speaker 2: to go to school, so it's okay if I lose.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's an investment.
Speaker 1: Moral Mathem magic for this quick break. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: math and magic. Let's hear more from my conversation with Angela. Ye,
Speaker 1: it's time to make the jump to radio. You're in
Speaker 1: the Radio Hall of Fame. You've won numerous awards along
Speaker 1: the way in your radio career. Tell us the story.
Speaker 1: How did you make the jump? From you it sounded
Speaker 1: like things were going really well in the music business
Speaker 1: and suddenly you jumped to radio.
Speaker 2: I actually came from marketing, and I think marketing is
Speaker 2: a great tool, you know, to be able to do
Speaker 2: anything in life, to be able to market yourself. So
Speaker 2: I was doing marketing. I worked for Eminem's clothing line,
Speaker 2: and you know, we all got laid off from that,
Speaker 2: and so I took a little time. I had worked
Speaker 2: my whole life up until then, I was, you know,
Speaker 2: my whole life. I was twenty eight, but you know,
Speaker 2: I had never had a break, like from when I
Speaker 2: first was in college. Up until then, I've always had
Speaker 2: a job. So I said, let me take a few
Speaker 2: months just to like sit back, get this unemployment that
Speaker 2: I've been putting money toward, and figure out what I
Speaker 2: want to do next. And I actually went on hot
Speaker 2: jobs on Yahoo and I saw a job opening as
Speaker 2: serious and I was like, this sounds interesting. It was
Speaker 2: in the marketing department, and I called up Eminem's manager,
Speaker 2: Paul Rosenberg, and I said, Paul, you know, I really
Speaker 2: want to try to see if you can just get
Speaker 2: me an interview in the marketing department.
Speaker 3: I can take it from there.
Speaker 2: So he set up an interview, but he also said
Speaker 2: to me, Angela, would you want to try to audition
Speaker 2: for the morning show. We're looking for someone, And so
Speaker 2: I ended up auditioning for three months and eventually getting
Speaker 2: the job after a great interview with Jay Z.
Speaker 1: One of your hallmarks on the air are the interviews
Speaker 1: you do on satellite radio, certainly on Power and on
Speaker 1: the Breakfast Club. What's the secret to doing a great
Speaker 1: interview research?
Speaker 2: I think being prepared is one of the biggest secrets.
Speaker 2: I've had people say, Oh, I like to go into
Speaker 2: an interview and just ask questions like I don't know anything,
Speaker 2: and I don't feel like as somebody who's in the
Speaker 2: position that I'm in, I should approach things that way.
Speaker 2: I like to do research because I feel like it
Speaker 2: respects the person who you're interviewing, and then it also
Speaker 2: makes for a better conversation because sometimes interviewees aren't the
Speaker 2: most talkative and maybe they're a little irritated. They've been
Speaker 2: answering the same questions NonStop. And when you do research,
Speaker 2: you can actually impress them with oh okay, I haven't
Speaker 2: had a chance to talk about this, or I would
Speaker 2: love to elaborate on this, And I think it's a
Speaker 2: respect thing. And so I feel like when I'm well
Speaker 2: researched and I do an interview, it always is way
Speaker 2: better and people appreciate it so much. And so that
Speaker 2: would be because there's been times early on when something
Speaker 2: might come up last minute and I'm doing an interview
Speaker 2: that I didn't anticipate, and I don't like doing that
Speaker 2: at all because I never feel prepared. It makes me
Speaker 2: feel flustered and sometimes a little silly and foolish.
Speaker 3: And so I would say, research.
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite interview?
Speaker 2: I would have to say, well, of course, jay Z,
Speaker 2: because that's what got me my first job and radio.
Speaker 2: When I walked out of there, they were like, you're
Speaker 2: hired because that interview was that good. But you know,
Speaker 2: I mean so many I guess we get to talk
Speaker 2: to so many iconic people all the time. Sometimes it's
Speaker 2: people you wouldn't expect, like I interviewed JB. Smooth Ones,
Speaker 2: and I really enjoy that. Obviously, I had like a
Speaker 2: August I've seeing an interview that a lot of people
Speaker 2: saw that was a big deal because that was the
Speaker 2: whole Will Smith, you know, Jada thing during the pandemic,
Speaker 2: Tiffany Hattish when she first was in Girls Trip.
Speaker 3: I enjoyed that interview.
Speaker 2: I just like people who are really open and honest,
Speaker 2: and even on my podcast that's a whole different type
Speaker 2: of interview, but I enjoy those also just because it's
Speaker 2: kind of off the beat in track and you never
Speaker 2: know what people feel like getting off their.
Speaker 1: Chests when you're speaking of getting it off your chest.
Speaker 1: You have a feature on your show now which is
Speaker 1: about people telling their secrets. Can you tell us a
Speaker 1: little bit about it's a great feature.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So this is really, like I think, has been a
Speaker 2: hallmark for us. It's called tell us a secret, and
Speaker 2: people call in anonymously and we don't judge. That's the
Speaker 2: main thing. We are like, it's no judgment, and they
Speaker 2: tell us a secret. And so people have called in
Speaker 2: to tell us all kinds of things. One guy has
Speaker 2: a secret family and the Dominican Republic, you know, we're
Speaker 2: not judging him, but we don't know if those are
Speaker 2: his kids because he never got a DNA test. There's
Speaker 2: somebody who stole a car in the nineties and he
Speaker 2: still feels.
Speaker 3: Bad about it to this day.
Speaker 2: And so it's a great feature just because you know,
Speaker 2: we sit there and we don't judge you. We let
Speaker 2: you say whatever it is that you have to say.
Speaker 2: We ask whatever questions, and then that person hopefully feels
Speaker 2: a little relieved afterward.
Speaker 1: So I want to jump a little bit to another
Speaker 1: side of you, a Julie the entrepreneur and business person,
Speaker 1: and also, by the way, a generist. We've already talked
Speaker 1: about the philanthropist. Tell us a little bit about some
Speaker 1: of the business as you're in Juices for Life and
Speaker 1: some of the other I know you're doing real estate
Speaker 1: and some of the other things.
Speaker 2: Well, my first ever brick and mortar business was Juices
Speaker 2: for Life, which is a juice bar in Brooklyn, which
Speaker 2: we're renovating to make a coffee shop. Clash because financially
Speaker 2: it's been a lot dealing with the cost of fruits
Speaker 2: and vegetables, so I've had to diversify what we offer
Speaker 2: in there. From that, I started a press juice business
Speaker 2: called Dring Fresh Juice, just because people would come in
Speaker 2: all the time and we're like, how can I get this?
Speaker 3: You know where I live. And so that's been doing well.
Speaker 2: And then I launched Coffee Uplift People, my own coffee company,
Speaker 2: which by the way, will be in targets starting in June.
Speaker 2: So I'm excited to make those things happen, and I'm
Speaker 2: very hands on with it. So I literally will like
Speaker 2: go to restaurants. You know, we're in the Grill in Brooklyn,
Speaker 2: We're in Tatianas in Manhattan, Brooklyn chop House, Like, I
Speaker 2: will literally go to restaurants and ask to talk to
Speaker 2: the person. I'm very hands on with my business, and
Speaker 2: so one thing I did learn too was even just
Speaker 2: talking about my business, I like to know as much
Speaker 2: as possible and so that way people don't look at
Speaker 2: me it's just a face or somebody who's endorsing something.
Speaker 2: I'm super involved in all of it, and so I
Speaker 2: have a hair store in Detroit also, and I do
Speaker 2: real estate. I just got my first Airbnb property last
Speaker 2: year in upstate New York. I'm closing on a deal
Speaker 2: this week in Detroit. A thirty unit building in Midtown.
Speaker 2: That has been really difficult, but that's like my biggest
Speaker 2: project to date. And then I have a condo and
Speaker 2: Williamsburg two Brownstones in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: So how did you learn this? I mean this is
Speaker 1: you've gone through your history and nowhere in there did
Speaker 1: you say you had an MBA or you did business training.
Speaker 1: Where did this come from?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: My first house, I really bought a house because my
Speaker 2: best friend bought a house. Her name is Santi Gold
Speaker 2: and she's an artist. Also, we were roommates. We went
Speaker 2: to college together, we were roommates there, we were roommates
Speaker 2: after college, and when she was looking for a house
Speaker 2: in Brooklyn, I went with her and she was like,
Speaker 2: you know, come with me.
Speaker 3: To look at this house.
Speaker 2: And I learned a lot just from being with her
Speaker 2: and like going on these trips, and I was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: this is so exciting.
Speaker 3: My best friend's buying a house.
Speaker 2: I went to do that too, and so I started
Speaker 2: really actively like saving, taking on side jobs just so
Speaker 2: I could get enough money for the down payment. And
Speaker 2: so once I bought my first house and got that
Speaker 2: out of the way, I felt like, okay, it was
Speaker 2: a two family house.
Speaker 3: It was a very practical purchase.
Speaker 2: My realtor told me, when you buy a house, this
Speaker 2: is not your one and only dream house, this is
Speaker 2: your first house.
Speaker 3: You know, it's an investment.
Speaker 2: And that was something that really stuck with me, like
Speaker 2: to this day, is this a good investment? And that
Speaker 2: was the first house that I bought. And then after that,
Speaker 2: I bought a couple of properties in Detroit and flip
Speaker 2: those and then I use that money to go and
Speaker 2: buy another I bought a condo in Williamsburg.
Speaker 3: That was a great purchase.
Speaker 2: And then after that I was just like, Okay, I
Speaker 2: have money coming in from these other things that I've done,
Speaker 2: and I never like to have money sitting in the bank.
Speaker 3: I feel like it's not working.
Speaker 2: I've seen interviews where people are like, I still have
Speaker 2: you know, all this money that I don't touch that
Speaker 2: I get from these other streams of income, but with
Speaker 2: the way that interest is and you know, with the
Speaker 2: money that you're not making because you have money sitting
Speaker 2: in the bank. I learned really quickly that my money
Speaker 2: has to work. And so every time I set a
Speaker 2: goal for myself, and once I hit a certain goal,
Speaker 2: it's time to invest in something.
Speaker 1: Else, so yourself taught.
Speaker 3: Yes, Google, thank you too well.
Speaker 1: By the way, it's pretty impressive. I mean Google gets
Speaker 1: a lot of credit here. You also flip this around
Speaker 1: too in your Wealth Wednesdays when you do the free
Speaker 1: financial services and education for people, talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about it because you started that actually live in your
Speaker 1: juice bar too, right.
Speaker 2: Yes, So I met Stacy Tisdale and she worked for
Speaker 2: the Wall Street Journal. She was on the floor at
Speaker 2: the Nasdaq, and I learned a lot from her. And
Speaker 2: I always feel like empowerment comes from financial freedom too, right.
Speaker 2: That's something that is really important for our community.
Speaker 3: And so I told her.
Speaker 2: I was like, I would love for us to do
Speaker 2: something like on a consistent basis, And so we strategized
Speaker 2: and came up with Wealth Wednesdays. We started doing that
Speaker 2: in the Juice Bar, and at first we didn't make
Speaker 2: any it was just free. Like we had different people
Speaker 2: coming through. The small business services came through, they bought
Speaker 2: their RV people were able to sign up for services
Speaker 2: on the spot, they got to meet the commissioner ask
Speaker 2: whatever questions. And then from that, you know, we did
Speaker 2: certain things about like relationship, some money and credit scores
Speaker 2: and then we started monetizing it and we were able
Speaker 2: to bring in people who actually, you know, wanted to
Speaker 2: because we wanted to be able to offer free services.
Speaker 2: But it was also costing us to do that. And
Speaker 2: so the one thing that I like to do is
Speaker 2: give it to you for free, but make some of
Speaker 2: these corporations pay. And I think, you know, that is
Speaker 2: a really good trade off for them to get that.
Speaker 2: And so we've done a lot of things with different corporations.
Speaker 2: Google has come in a few times to talk about
Speaker 2: like Google AdWords and how to really support your business
Speaker 2: with Google and let you know how inexpensive it can be,
Speaker 2: but how to do it right. And I just want
Speaker 2: people to have, like I always say, tangible things that
Speaker 2: they can walk away with and understand and learn.
Speaker 1: So let's do some quick topics work life balance, What
Speaker 1: does it mean to you? How do you do it well?
Speaker 2: I work a lot, but I like to bring my
Speaker 2: friends with me sometimes, So say I'm going, you know,
Speaker 2: to do something like an appearance somewhere. If it's someplace fun,
Speaker 2: then I'm like, Okay, who wants to come with me?
Speaker 2: Let's make this a whole And then I also try
Speaker 2: to make sure that and I just said this. I
Speaker 2: know I'm launching this new show way up with Antilae,
Speaker 2: but I ay, I just told my producer, I said,
Speaker 2: I need just one day a week where I don't
Speaker 2: have like a packed schedule, and that way I can
Speaker 2: handle personal things that I need to do because it
Speaker 2: is really important for me to be there for my family,
Speaker 2: Like my cousin's getting married.
Speaker 3: I'm like, Okay, block this off.
Speaker 2: So a lot of it is just about scheduling and
Speaker 2: making sure that just like you schedule work, you have
Speaker 2: to schedule that.
Speaker 1: Time AI helpful or scary.
Speaker 2: Scary, but you know, I think that it's important to
Speaker 2: understand and to be involved because you also don't want
Speaker 2: to get left behind, right, And so it is something
Speaker 2: that is scary though. And I think a lot of
Speaker 2: times when things are new and different, they're scary and
Speaker 2: just from what we've been seeing, it's like, man, But
Speaker 2: at the same time, I'm like, I could probably get
Speaker 2: AI to come in and do my show.
Speaker 1: You gotta have a little more time off the post
Speaker 1: pandemic life. How do you think it's different.
Speaker 3: I think people's habits are different.
Speaker 2: You know, a lot more people are working from home
Speaker 2: or doing like a hybrid situation. I feel like we
Speaker 2: as employees have a lot more leeway as far as
Speaker 2: being able to negotiate things because you know, as a
Speaker 2: business owner myself, I know how hard it's been to
Speaker 2: find employees now. So a lot of times we're offering things,
Speaker 2: not just financial things, but quality of life things to
Speaker 2: make people feel like this is a community. I think
Speaker 2: that people are more interested in self care, a lot
Speaker 2: more interested in their own mental well being also, which
Speaker 2: I think is a positive thing.
Speaker 3: And people's habits are just changed, you know.
Speaker 2: So even with radio, a lot of people listen on
Speaker 2: the podcast, I feel like, and so it's great. Like
Speaker 2: I said, we talk about AI and people being scared,
Speaker 2: but the same thing with podcasting, people feel it's important.
Speaker 2: I think like even with iHeart, how iHeart has really
Speaker 2: embraced it early on, you know, because if not, you
Speaker 2: get left behind music.
Speaker 1: What's next.
Speaker 2: I think the way that we've been going is, you know,
Speaker 2: people have been putting out singles and projects, and it's
Speaker 2: not just like putting out an album.
Speaker 3: People people don't even say albums anymore.
Speaker 2: They'll be like I put out a project, and people
Speaker 2: are also really I think back to visuals. You know,
Speaker 2: that's important too, because right now it's so we're so
Speaker 2: inundated with things that we can possibly listen to and
Speaker 2: different regions and everything, and you know, the ability to
Speaker 2: not have to go and see somebody in person somewhere
Speaker 2: that experiences matter so much more so now it's like,
Speaker 2: how can I be more creative and make sure that
Speaker 2: I stand out from everything else that's happening, because there's
Speaker 2: a lot of noise that people have to separate themselves
Speaker 2: from so fundamentally like it has to be amazing, But
Speaker 2: then how do you support that? And what do you
Speaker 2: do for your fans to show them that? Okay, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm giving you X Y and Z. Also on top of.
Speaker 1: This last point here opportunities for young peopleeople and those
Speaker 1: who've been historically disenfranchised.
Speaker 2: What's the future I think with leveling the playing field
Speaker 2: and having access that's important. I think there's a lot
Speaker 2: of programs that are available to that people really have
Speaker 2: to make sure that they seek in order to be able.
Speaker 3: To have these opportunities.
Speaker 2: And I just feel like, if you can be really
Speaker 2: creative and consistent, okay, and also just respectful of your audience,
Speaker 2: that you can definitely have a future and blow up.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I feel like sometimes people who have been really privileged
Speaker 2: aren't taking advantage of the things that, you know, that's
Speaker 2: available to them because they don't have to struggle in
Speaker 2: that way. But with the kids nowadays, I mean, my god,
Speaker 2: children know way more than I do. I'm asking them
Speaker 2: for help on like how can you do this? And
Speaker 2: how can you do that? And so it's just a
Speaker 2: great opportunity. But if you're on your phone all day,
Speaker 2: or your kids are on their phone all day, and
Speaker 2: you see that they can be actually making money off
Speaker 2: of that. There's people getting paid to play video games,
Speaker 2: you know, to go on Twitch, to go on all
Speaker 2: these different platforms, and so instead of doing things that
Speaker 2: is a waste of time, figure out how you can
Speaker 2: actually monetize that. I think there's so many great apps
Speaker 2: when it comes to investing, when it comes to different things,
Speaker 2: and kids are on their phone, so we just have
Speaker 2: to make sure that we're marketing to them, you know,
Speaker 2: in that way, but also being really responsible.
Speaker 1: So a little advice. Somebody's listening today, They want to
Speaker 1: be you on the radio. Are you, as the business
Speaker 1: person entrepreneur, what advice would you give them.
Speaker 2: Well, first, don't want to be me, because I think
Speaker 2: it is important to know who you are and what
Speaker 2: makes you different from everybody else and really stand on that.
Speaker 2: And then it's all about hard work and being consistent
Speaker 2: and don't look at what other people are doing and
Speaker 2: think I want to do it. Just like that, you
Speaker 2: have to think, Okay, how can I create my own lane,
Speaker 2: and how can I also educate myself. I'm a big
Speaker 2: fan of like taking classes and things. Like we said,
Speaker 2: I'm doing a lot of real estate. Well, I'm getting
Speaker 2: my real estate license just because I wanted to take
Speaker 2: the courses to understand it better to make sure that
Speaker 2: I can be an expert at it. And that's why,
Speaker 2: like even where Robert Green's book Mastery, I always talk
Speaker 2: about that book, But anything that it is that you
Speaker 2: want to do, make sure that you're researching it. There's
Speaker 2: too much information out there for us to not educate
Speaker 2: ourselves to the highest level on something. You know, it's
Speaker 2: people dibble and dabbling things, But if you really care
Speaker 2: about something and you want to go really hard. I'm
Speaker 2: a big fan of making business plans every time I
Speaker 2: want to do something, even if I'm not using the
Speaker 2: business plan. I will sit down and write a whole
Speaker 2: business plan for myself so I can set clear goals
Speaker 2: and then always go back and revise those and refresh those.
Speaker 1: So, if you could give some advice to your eighteen
Speaker 1: year old self, what would.
Speaker 2: It be, should have bought some property earlier when it
Speaker 2: was really cheap, Because I've definitely had times in my
Speaker 2: life where I might have had like a little chunk
Speaker 2: of money and that could have bought a bit of
Speaker 2: down payment on something, especially back then. And so investing
Speaker 2: early at an earlier age, because you know, I didn't
Speaker 2: start my roth Ira until I was older, my four
Speaker 2: oh one k. All of those things she has to
Speaker 2: prepare for the future. The earlier you do it, the better.
Speaker 1: So we usually end every episode of Math and Magic
Speaker 1: with a shout out to the greats of the math
Speaker 1: side and the magic side of marketing and business. But
Speaker 1: because we're here today at the NAB conference, we're talking
Speaker 1: about radio. Give us your shout out for your mentors,
Speaker 1: heroes and role models and radio.
Speaker 2: Definitely Angie Martinez. You know I said that earlier, but
Speaker 2: I just remember listening to her on the radio, how
Speaker 2: personable she always was, how as a woman being in
Speaker 2: the field that she is in hip hop, there weren't
Speaker 2: a lot of us that were representing in that way.
Speaker 2: And then also her morals, right, she never was like
Speaker 2: a shock jock type of person and she never cared
Speaker 2: about like, Okay, I'm gonna have this moment and not
Speaker 2: care about another person. So that's something that I've always
Speaker 2: looked up to her for the way that she's conducted herself,
Speaker 2: conducted her And if you have had the longevity that
Speaker 2: she's had.
Speaker 1: That's fantastic. Well, Angela, you are an inspiration to many people.
Speaker 1: You do a fantastic job on the radio. You are
Speaker 1: affecting culture, driving culture, and as well you're a successful
Speaker 1: business person. Congratulations, thanks for sharing with us today.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Here's a few things I picked up from my conversation
Speaker 1: with Angela. One, get your foot in the door when
Speaker 1: you're just starting out, take any opportunity that's given to you.
Speaker 1: Angela considers college internships to be among her most valuable experiences.
Speaker 1: Don't underestimate those small jobs. They could be the biggest
Speaker 1: boost to your career. Two, do your research. These days,
Speaker 1: we have so many resources at our disposal. If you
Speaker 1: have an interest, they could become an exciting new venture
Speaker 1: or a meeting with someone new. Become an expert. First
Speaker 1: knowledge will put you one step closer to success and
Speaker 1: strengthen your connections. Three, create your own laying. If Angel
Speaker 1: is just a successful radio host, that would be enough,
Speaker 1: but she's positioned herself as a host, entrepreneur, and philanthropist
Speaker 1: to make a path that's wholly her own. You don't
Speaker 1: have to be one thing. Follow all your passions to
Speaker 1: achieve a career that's unique and satisfy. I'm Bob Pittman.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.
Speaker 4: That's it for today's episode. Thanks so much for listening
Speaker 4: to Math and Magic, a production of iHeartRadio. The show
Speaker 4: is hosted by Bob Pittman. Special thanks to Sidney Rosenbloom
Speaker 4: for booking and wrangling our wonderful talent, which is no
Speaker 4: small feat. Our editor Emily Meronoff, our engineers Jessica Crinchitch
Speaker 4: and Baheid Fraser, our executive producers Nikki Etoor and Ali Perry,
Speaker 4: and of course Gail Raoul, Eric Angel Noel, and everyone
Speaker 4: who helped bring this show to your ears.
Speaker 1: Next time,