Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Colleen Witt, and today we have very
Speaker 1: special guests. Former UCLA quarterback and Name, Image and Likeness
Speaker 1: Athlete of the Year Chase Griffin is in the building.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Thank you. This is a very unique You're a very
Speaker 1: unique guest, So I'm very honored to have you here.
Speaker 1: We don't get a lot of athletes, okay, and we
Speaker 1: definitely don't get a lot of athletes with a resume
Speaker 1: like yours.
Speaker 2: I appreciate that. Now I'm glad to be here cooking
Speaker 2: some good food.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, So before we get into your whole story
Speaker 1: of who you are, can you tell me what you're
Speaker 1: gonna have me eating today?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 3: So today we're gonna make some spaghetti and turkey meatboats.
Speaker 3: I was talking with my mother when I was figuring
Speaker 3: out what I wanted to cook, and she was like,
Speaker 3: left spaghetti your whole life, And she sent me a
Speaker 3: picture where it was a school assignment, probably like the
Speaker 3: first or second grade, and I was talking about how
Speaker 3: much I love spaghetti and meatballs.
Speaker 1: Do you still wasn't most like the last time you
Speaker 1: ate this dish?
Speaker 2: Probably last week.
Speaker 1: That's hilarious. So you really now when you sent the
Speaker 1: dish over, you were talking about making the meatballs from scratch.
Speaker 1: And of course, guys, I didn't even want to be
Speaker 1: a hater. I just was a hater only because I
Speaker 1: was just like, I didn't know if you could handle
Speaker 1: that much cooking and talking. But I really wanted to
Speaker 1: learn from you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean either way, I did.
Speaker 1: The store boughs, so it'll be good, really because I
Speaker 1: wanted to hear your story. All right, go ahead, and
Speaker 1: you can start whipping up these turkey meatballs. And is
Speaker 1: there a reason why it's turkey by.
Speaker 3: The way, Yeah, I didn't really grow up eating pork,
Speaker 3: but beef meatballs are good too, just just but turkey
Speaker 3: was always sort of to go to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and I did learn and I didn't look
Speaker 1: at this back. But what I've noticed with a lot
Speaker 1: of groceries now because I don't eat pork or beef really,
Speaker 1: is that they be having a lot of hidden ingredients
Speaker 1: in the fine print. It'll say like turkey meatballs, but
Speaker 1: then it'll be like put some pork meat in the
Speaker 1: very very tiny pit to tiny print, you know. So
Speaker 1: I didn't check our bag. But hopefully we're good. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's all good.
Speaker 2: It's not the end of the world.
Speaker 1: And then so go ahead, take me back to I
Speaker 1: want to say, five year old youth.
Speaker 3: Okay, Yeah, I was living in Texas. I was born
Speaker 3: actually at UCLA Santa Monica Hospital, So going back to UCLA.
Speaker 2: Was like a homecoming for me.
Speaker 3: My parents didn't want me growing up in La so
Speaker 3: I had moved to Austin really round Rock when I
Speaker 3: was four. At that time, I just started playing violin
Speaker 3: and I just started playing soccer, which is still probably
Speaker 3: my favorite sport to watch nowadays.
Speaker 1: Soccer. Yeah, but you ended up playing.
Speaker 3: Football, definitely the other football. But I think I always
Speaker 3: had a lot of energy as a kid, even in soccer.
Speaker 3: Was really aggressive and I liked, you know, that aggressive,
Speaker 3: violent nature of football.
Speaker 2: And that's one thing about me.
Speaker 3: Even though I wasn't always the biggest player, I could
Speaker 3: always take a hit and football has opened a lot
Speaker 3: of doors from me. I'm always grateful for you. You
Speaker 3: have siblings, Yes, I'm the oldest of three. So yeah,
Speaker 3: so at the time when it was when I was five,
Speaker 3: it was just my sister and I.
Speaker 2: She's two years younger than me.
Speaker 3: She's a senior at Stanford right now, shoutout road, super
Speaker 3: proud of her. Yeah, he's only eleven, so he's got
Speaker 3: all the upside in the world and now he got
Speaker 3: two extra helpers and my sister and.
Speaker 1: I like how you positioned that. But as a young
Speaker 1: and that's that's your your siblings. Did you watch the
Speaker 1: Waynes interview? Yeah, your older siblings have a huge impact.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's always sort of informed how I've
Speaker 3: seen my trajectory, like, not only how does it affect me,
Speaker 3: and you know, God will in my future family, but
Speaker 3: how does it affect.
Speaker 2: The immediate younger siblings.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we're gonna keep the pasta up.
Speaker 1: Big big shoes whatever. You don't do that one put
Speaker 1: plastic on the stove.
Speaker 2: Don't do that.
Speaker 1: So the meat balls, I read the package for you,
Speaker 1: just a case. They said, just put water in the
Speaker 1: in the bottom of the pot. I put a bottle
Speaker 1: of water over there, and I don't know. I guess
Speaker 1: they turned brown. I haven't made these. I'm trusting you
Speaker 1: defeat us today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, that'd be good.
Speaker 3: They just got it as long as they could.
Speaker 1: Ye, Like they're pre cooked.
Speaker 2: You're just eating you just gotta heal man.
Speaker 1: So you go back to the violin, because where does
Speaker 1: this enter in the scene where you're playing about can
Speaker 1: you currently play the violin?
Speaker 2: I still can. I'm a little rusty.
Speaker 3: I can't play the way I could when I was
Speaker 3: growing up, and that's because I was playing every day,
Speaker 3: like as a as a child, I was practicing all
Speaker 3: the time. And then in middle school I played, you know,
Speaker 3: in the Strings Project, which was University of Texas talent
Speaker 3: development program, and then my chamber orchestra at my middle school,
Speaker 3: I'd say it was one of the best chamber of
Speaker 3: orchestras in all the public.
Speaker 2: Schools in Austin. So but I've always loved music, you know.
Speaker 3: I was even going back last night listening to some
Speaker 3: of the stuff I was listening to when I was
Speaker 3: like five, six, seven, eight years old.
Speaker 2: Like I remember there's a song called hell Yeah by
Speaker 2: Jay Z and Dead Press that I.
Speaker 1: Really loved, and you could play that on the violin.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, but I could still wrap it word for word.
Speaker 3: But I've just always had a love for music, yeah.
Speaker 2: Even more than sport. That music is the thing that
Speaker 2: I love.
Speaker 3: And now I produce music, so you know, in my
Speaker 3: spare time, whenever I'm not working on finance or not
Speaker 3: not you know, working in media. That's that's where I
Speaker 3: enjoy spending my time. It's both you know, productive, and
Speaker 3: it's good for the mental it's a creative space.
Speaker 1: When you were younger, did you know that you want
Speaker 1: Was there a particular field of interest that you felt
Speaker 1: like you were going to lean towards when you got older.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wanted to go to the NFL.
Speaker 3: I think the main thing was I was raising a
Speaker 3: household of love and household where like potential was potential
Speaker 3: was celebrated, so I never really felt like I wasn't
Speaker 3: I didn't have the ability to be excellent and anything
Speaker 3: that I put my mind to. My passion was sports,
Speaker 3: and I liked violin.
Speaker 2: I prefer music production, so I would.
Speaker 3: Say my main passion was sports, but the school always
Speaker 3: came first.
Speaker 2: That was always the thing.
Speaker 3: I wanted to make sure, even if I didn't get
Speaker 3: the offer I wanted coming out of high school or
Speaker 3: anything like that, I'd be able to get.
Speaker 2: Into any school and walk on.
Speaker 3: Thankfully, I was a good enough player where that didn't
Speaker 3: have to be the case.
Speaker 1: But you were a straight a student in school.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, no debating that.
Speaker 1: So take me back to your parents. What kind of
Speaker 1: home environment you know, get so UCLA and a Stanford.
Speaker 2: Kid, definitely, Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean I was blessed to have both my parents
Speaker 3: very present in my life.
Speaker 2: And I never doubted that I was I was well.
Speaker 3: I never doubted that if I put my mind towards
Speaker 3: something I couldn't grow in that. You know, we grew
Speaker 3: up middle class in Texas, and you know, I will
Speaker 3: say like I think I had more privilege than some
Speaker 3: of my friends, especially at my high school, and that's
Speaker 3: always stuck with me because I understand what platform and
Speaker 3: with the things you're blessed with, it's a blessing to
Speaker 3: be a blessing to others. So whether it was you know,
Speaker 3: giving rides or just spending time now, it's really about
Speaker 3: sharing perspective with my friends. I've been blessed with a
Speaker 3: wealth of knowledge through experience, I think for a twenty
Speaker 3: four year old, and wherever I can help provide either
Speaker 3: opportunity or guidance, you know that that's always big to
Speaker 3: me to be able to do that.
Speaker 1: Were your parents strict on who you could be friends with,
Speaker 1: I think it was.
Speaker 3: More so, I think they trusted my discernment. I think
Speaker 3: when raised the way that I was raised, you just
Speaker 3: learned to go where your love, your godho where you
Speaker 3: feel you know, at home.
Speaker 2: And for me, I.
Speaker 3: Think something good about me is I do see the
Speaker 3: good and everyone like I'm a Christian.
Speaker 2: First, and so I.
Speaker 1: Just a regular word.
Speaker 3: Well, I just I can't look at anyone and not
Speaker 3: see them as you know, a brother or sister, you know.
Speaker 3: So as far as staying away from certain things, definitely,
Speaker 3: But as far as staying away from people, like avoiding people,
Speaker 3: I've never felt in me to do that, you know.
Speaker 3: And I understand, like you know, depending on your self
Speaker 3: confidence or depending on your ability to stay strong in
Speaker 3: that you have to behave a different way. But for me,
Speaker 3: you know, I always feel pretty secure and committed to
Speaker 3: remaining myself no matter the environment.
Speaker 1: Okay, what did your parents do for work?
Speaker 3: So my father he's a consultant, you know, he's worked
Speaker 3: in the media space, he's been an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2: And then my mother is a teacher.
Speaker 3: She actually she teaches first grade at the at the school.
Speaker 2: Where my brother goes. Yeah, yeah, it was funny. No,
Speaker 2: he loves it. He loves.
Speaker 1: Your brother is gonna be strong.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm really so excited for him.
Speaker 1: You said he's eleven, Yeah, his fifth grade. That's a
Speaker 1: big age gap. Your parents were like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not even sure what they thought process was
Speaker 3: on that, but that's a.
Speaker 1: Big age gap. You were like a full teenager. Were
Speaker 1: you excited when you're you're gonna have a little baby baby?
Speaker 2: Think? I was in shock. I had to sit down. Well,
Speaker 2: you know, like for the longest it was just my sister.
Speaker 3: And I, and you know that that's sort of the identity,
Speaker 3: like it's me and Rose, Me and Rose, me and Rose.
Speaker 3: But you know, I had always prayed for a brother.
Speaker 3: Funny enough, but you know, it's on God's time and
Speaker 3: not mine.
Speaker 2: That stream.
Speaker 1: If that's a lot of order, you could scoop it out,
Speaker 1: maybe I don't know, Yeah, yeah it should be. Okay,
Speaker 1: this is the This is what happens when you have
Speaker 1: a set win no sink. You gotta kind of make
Speaker 1: it do what it do as.
Speaker 2: Well as a plastic doubl I don't think so right.
Speaker 1: You're doing good. So I had a feeling that there
Speaker 1: was an entrepreneur in there, because the whole mindset of
Speaker 1: I could do anything. I said my mind too. Sounds
Speaker 1: like complete typical delusional entrepreneur. That's how you have to be.
Speaker 3: I remember I was looking at a at an interview.
Speaker 3: It was it buster Rhyme's like, it's not lousional if
Speaker 3: it happens.
Speaker 2: But that's very true.
Speaker 1: You know, they're you know what you The world sees
Speaker 1: you as delusional until it happens, but you I think
Speaker 1: every entrepreneur has to be. The signature ingredient of being
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur is you just have to be the biggest
Speaker 1: dreamer and you you really do have. You have to
Speaker 1: look past your environment. Right, you're creating a world that
Speaker 1: no one has seen before.
Speaker 3: I mean the part of part of creativity, and the
Speaker 3: most beautiful part of it.
Speaker 2: Is it's two sided.
Speaker 3: Like there's really nothing original, there's nothing new under the
Speaker 3: sign but at the same time, there's always going to
Speaker 3: be innovation. That's what makes people people that we where
Speaker 3: we come from a creator, so we have the ability
Speaker 3: to create.
Speaker 2: It's part of the reason why I love music so much.
Speaker 1: You don't speak like a twenty four year old. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I just don't. I know that sounds good. I don't
Speaker 1: know if people tell you that, but you just seem
Speaker 1: well beyond your years. Your parents could teach your parents
Speaker 1: in class.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, they're they're the best parents in the world,
Speaker 3: you know, I think, I think, I mean, we'll.
Speaker 2: See how each one of us turns out. But i'd say.
Speaker 3: To today today, right now, they're just looking good today,
Speaker 3: they're they're excellent. And you know, I'll always be grateful
Speaker 3: for the household, always raising.
Speaker 1: Yeah, to the point where your mom could say a
Speaker 1: five year old picture of that's that's pretty impressive. Your
Speaker 1: parents are still in Texas.
Speaker 3: Yes, they're still there there. They'll probably raised my brother there.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure.
Speaker 2: I mean, my sister she's moving down.
Speaker 3: She's about to graduate and so she's moving down to
Speaker 3: Los Angeles and we'll see. We'll see if my parents
Speaker 3: make a migration out here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because now two of their kids are out here right.
Speaker 3: Exactly exactly, so we'll see. And you know, they've lived
Speaker 3: here before. You know, both my sister and I were
Speaker 3: both born here.
Speaker 1: Do you think the chance is high because they like
Speaker 1: to be by.
Speaker 2: You guys, I think so.
Speaker 3: But I definitely think for raising gage, you know, my
Speaker 3: little brother, I definitely think you know, it would make.
Speaker 2: Sense to stay in Texas. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they know how to raise a child in Texas.
Speaker 3: There's there's some different elements out here.
Speaker 1: I feel like Las. Yeah, I feel like Texas is
Speaker 1: definitely better homely family.
Speaker 3: I'm always grateful that I came from where I came from,
Speaker 3: that I was raised. You know, it's a little bit country,
Speaker 3: you know, but it's quiet, and you know, I really
Speaker 3: you were talking about not getting in in the wrong
Speaker 3: crowd and all that. There's enough space for where you
Speaker 3: can really choose, you know, who you spend time around.
Speaker 3: Sometimes in cities you sort of get, you know, mixed
Speaker 3: up into it and.
Speaker 2: It's harder to avoid certain realities.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, now that I kind of got a good
Speaker 1: idea that you grew up in a very good environment.
Speaker 1: I love hearing that. Yeah, let's get into you decide
Speaker 1: that you from a young young and that you want
Speaker 1: to get into the NFL. So you start pursuing this path.
Speaker 1: I'm guessing the parents like yours. They were like, heck, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be in the NFL.
Speaker 3: If we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it big
Speaker 3: as that's sort of regardless of what it is, and
Speaker 3: you know that that really applies to every part of
Speaker 3: my life, and it's why I think I'm not like
Speaker 3: extremely attached to, you know, any one thing. It's more
Speaker 3: about just continuing to be my best self in whatever
Speaker 3: it is.
Speaker 1: The opportunity is, so you graduate high school, the first
Speaker 1: school you get into, you choose UCLA.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so my first offer was actually Yale, and the
Speaker 3: way I got that offer was crazy. I was at
Speaker 3: a camp called QB Collective and it was put on
Speaker 3: by a guy named Richmond Flowers, and he's one of
Speaker 3: the best agents when it comes to NFL coaches, and
Speaker 3: so all of the coaches at the camp were NFL
Speaker 3: coaches at the time.
Speaker 2: There was a I think he was an analyst or.
Speaker 3: Maybe a past game coordinator, but his name was Mike McDaniel.
Speaker 2: Mike McDaniel went.
Speaker 3: To Yale, saw me there and felt like I was
Speaker 3: one of the best quarterbacks at the camp. They all
Speaker 3: had assumed based off my performance, I had a whole
Speaker 3: bunch offers. This was coming after my sophomore year. I'd
Speaker 3: thrown for three thousand yards. I was one of the
Speaker 3: best sophomores in Texas and they assumed I had a
Speaker 3: bunch officers.
Speaker 2: They like, where do you have offers from? I said,
Speaker 2: I have zero offers.
Speaker 3: Now I was I was probably five six, five seven
Speaker 3: at the time, not ideal for a quarterback.
Speaker 2: But regardless exactly exactly, they didn't care. They tenth grade.
Speaker 1: They were asking where your offers were.
Speaker 3: Well, football, you know their kids would offer seventh eighth
Speaker 3: grade and it's probably getting earlier and earlier as training
Speaker 3: gets better.
Speaker 1: But we were in a camp. So did your parents
Speaker 1: pay for the camp or how did that work?
Speaker 2: Yeah? So we were, we were invited. I forgot how
Speaker 2: we got connected.
Speaker 3: My father has always been so good as far as
Speaker 3: you know, going back to if we're.
Speaker 2: Going to do something, we're gonna do it the right way.
Speaker 2: So yeah, me too.
Speaker 3: I'm big fans, but when it comes to how you
Speaker 3: how you do things, you have to seek out expertise.
Speaker 3: And you know, he had he had heard about this camp.
Speaker 3: He had seen this camp, and so you know, we
Speaker 3: have we had reached out, got connected with Richmond, and
Speaker 3: then Richmond did some research on me and it was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: come out. Well anyways, McDaniel, who's now head coach of
Speaker 3: the Miami Dolphins, he's a Yale alum and he called
Speaker 3: up the head coach at Yale and said, I want
Speaker 3: you to pull up this guy's film. Pulled up the
Speaker 3: film offered me that day.
Speaker 2: So that was how I got my first offer. And
Speaker 2: then after that, oh, we returned beyond Billboard.
Speaker 3: Now it's always been I think a dream of my
Speaker 3: father to have one of us go to Harvard, yeah school.
Speaker 3: So when Yale was the first offer, you know, he
Speaker 3: was ecstatic, but I'm sure, yeah, exactly what's up Harvor?
Speaker 2: And you know, down down the line.
Speaker 3: Harvard definitely became a viable option. I was actually going
Speaker 3: to go the week that I committed the U c
Speaker 3: l A. I think I went to u c l
Speaker 3: A on a Tuesday. I was supposed to go to
Speaker 3: Harvard on Friday. And if Harvard would have offered me
Speaker 3: that Friday, I might have committed, but UCLA got to
Speaker 3: me first, and I committed on spot.
Speaker 1: What did your dad say when he found out on
Speaker 1: Friday that Harvard?
Speaker 3: I mean, I think I think part of good parenting
Speaker 3: is you have to you have to realize, now, if
Speaker 3: it was Harvard and then some other university that that
Speaker 3: wasn't you know, prestigious or something like that. I think
Speaker 3: he would have stepped in and been like, hey, let's
Speaker 3: think about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, but you.
Speaker 3: Know U c l A when it comes to its
Speaker 3: black history, as far as Jackie is running, Curtsey, Jackie Robinson,
Speaker 3: Ralph Bunch, Like, there's just so many folks who've changed the.
Speaker 2: World, who've come through there and been athletes.
Speaker 3: And then you know, on the school side, number one
Speaker 3: rank public institution in the country, it's in Los Angeles,
Speaker 3: it's beautiful, weather is always good, and there's just so
Speaker 3: many factors to where I think, yeah.
Speaker 1: Boston would have been a little chili.
Speaker 2: Permafrost for six months.
Speaker 1: Your parents are so proud. I'm sorry. We don't have
Speaker 1: to do a you know what. You could play this
Speaker 1: for them, you know what I'm saying. You can say,
Speaker 1: go listen to the episode. They're gonna be very they'll
Speaker 1: probably cry a little bit.
Speaker 3: I'm always very appreciative man. You know, like my father,
Speaker 3: he's always dream big for his family. I think, you know,
Speaker 3: whether he acknowledges or not, I really respect him for
Speaker 3: the transformation he's done. And it's all about building upon
Speaker 3: others work. Like my my Gigi, my my father's mother
Speaker 3: did a lot of work to make sure that her
Speaker 3: two kids, you know, went to college and went on
Speaker 3: to be successful.
Speaker 1: Did he come from a two parent household?
Speaker 2: No he did not.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: So he's done a lot of work to you know,
Speaker 3: progress his family and God willing, I'm able to do
Speaker 3: the same thing when it's my time, you know, I
Speaker 3: think right now it's about building my foundation. My sister
Speaker 3: is going to start living. We'll live together starting in June,
Speaker 3: since we'll both be working.
Speaker 1: I was going to I was going to ask you that.
Speaker 1: I was like, are you guys going to end up roommating?
Speaker 3: Yep, we are, So I couldn't, you know, choose a
Speaker 3: better roommate. We shared a bathroom growing up, so we
Speaker 3: know how to do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But I always wanted to live with my siblings
Speaker 1: when I got older, and it never happened though, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we never roommate it all right, So you choose UCLA.
Speaker 1: Now let's let's get into the gritty gritties, and I
Speaker 1: yell is in effect?
Speaker 2: Yeah in twenty one? So what year did you go?
Speaker 2: I got to UCLA in twenty nineteen, okay, okay.
Speaker 3: And that process, that recruitment process was really you know,
Speaker 3: there were a lot of ups and downs, and it
Speaker 3: sort of taught me how to, you know, just trust
Speaker 3: in my faith and continue producing.
Speaker 1: Well, can we talk about the ups and downs?
Speaker 2: And definitely? Definitely.
Speaker 3: So you know, I got the early Ivy League offers
Speaker 3: and then after that, you know, UCLA.
Speaker 2: Was really my first Power five offer. Power five.
Speaker 3: You know, at the time, there was the PAC twelve,
Speaker 3: so it was the big five conferences?
Speaker 1: Can it down for yeah, the women?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well just for the folks that yeah.
Speaker 3: So there was the PAC twelve Conference, the Big Ten Conference,
Speaker 3: the Big twelve Conference, the S, and the ACC. These
Speaker 3: were considered the Power five just because these schools had
Speaker 3: the most money, biggest media deals, and theoretically best players.
Speaker 3: So I didn't have any of these offers just because
Speaker 3: you know, I'm five to ten and as a quarterback,
Speaker 3: you know a lot of colleges won't even look at
Speaker 3: you if you know you're you're not a certain height,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 2: But you know, there there were definitely schools that were interested.
Speaker 3: They were just waiting on the first Power five. Now
Speaker 3: I didn't give them that chance. I'm like, well, if
Speaker 3: UCLA had had the confidence and conviction to offer me,
Speaker 3: then I'm not going to wait on some other school
Speaker 3: that was waiting on them to offer me. That's not
Speaker 3: how it works. Plus, Ucla just had so many other factors.
Speaker 3: I think academically, if I was going to pass on
Speaker 3: Harvard had to be either UCLA or Stanford.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of fine institutions out there.
Speaker 3: And maybe if NIL was around while I was coming out,
Speaker 3: you know, I was, I was the Gatoray Player of
Speaker 3: the Year of Texas my senior year. There might have
Speaker 3: been a school in Texas, or there might have been
Speaker 3: a school in the South that might have had a
Speaker 3: two or three million dollar an IL deal waiting for me,
Speaker 3: and that would have you know, that definitely would have
Speaker 3: factored into my decision. Yeah, but I think for the circumstances.
Speaker 3: Once once they offered I was, I was fine with going.
Speaker 3: But until then, like there was a lot of waiting.
Speaker 3: I the IVY leagues are amazing schools in the football
Speaker 3: they play is good. But I always knew I was
Speaker 3: playing against guys who were committed to Oklahoma or committed
Speaker 3: to Florida or committed at Ohiose State, and I was
Speaker 3: beating them, and I was I was out performing other
Speaker 3: quarterbacks with thirty forty offers, and I just knew that
Speaker 3: I should be playing out of school at this caliber
Speaker 3: when it comes to football, and that would provide me
Speaker 3: the best opportunity to go to the NFL.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you have well, before we even get into that,
Speaker 1: you keep mentioning the five to ten. Yeah, did that
Speaker 1: have any type of mental warfare in you point or
Speaker 1: put different points?
Speaker 3: So for me, I was blessed because I had school,
Speaker 3: So football was do or die.
Speaker 2: Like I knew if everything went to nothing, I would
Speaker 2: get into Harvard like I believe that in my mind,
Speaker 2: or get in anywhere. So football wasn't do or die.
Speaker 2: It was the thing I loved the most. There was
Speaker 2: a disappointment though.
Speaker 3: Going to camps where I would go and the coach
Speaker 3: would be like, man, you's so good, like we love
Speaker 3: your film.
Speaker 2: I'd be out there.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't miss it, throw the entire day like ever
Speaker 3: before or five stars there, you know, missing missing a few,
Speaker 3: thought I'm not missing. I would go in an entire
Speaker 3: month of camps without one in completion, and it just
Speaker 3: showed it's not always all on merit. Yeah, and it's
Speaker 3: important to learn that, you know. I think as a
Speaker 3: kid like it's important to do everything you can to
Speaker 3: have the best merit, but there's always other factors in play.
Speaker 2: And for me, I think realizing that early.
Speaker 3: And still not letting that stop me from reaching my goals.
Speaker 3: You know, it was a test of faith, you know
Speaker 3: at that you know at that age you don't have
Speaker 3: the perspective your dream is really all that power as
Speaker 3: you And for me, I felt like my dream kept
Speaker 3: on getting deferred.
Speaker 2: But part of trusting.
Speaker 3: God is gonna work out better than you even pictured
Speaker 3: it for yourself.
Speaker 1: But you were having the conversations about the height one
Speaker 1: hundred percent. I think that's totally relatable, but it's also inspiring.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no.
Speaker 3: And I would always look at quarterbacks in the NFL
Speaker 3: who were out performing guys who were six five there.
Speaker 3: I would look at Drew Brees, who's an Austin kid.
Speaker 3: You know, that's why Saints are still my team, and
Speaker 3: then Russell Wilson, like these are guys who are either
Speaker 3: six foot or shorter than six foot who are some
Speaker 3: of the best quarterbacks to ever play the position. I
Speaker 3: never knew what it was like to play at six too.
Speaker 3: I only knew what it was to dominate at five
Speaker 3: nine five. Uh, and so I never saw it as
Speaker 3: something that was hindering me.
Speaker 1: You do you think that that also made you play
Speaker 1: harder and better.
Speaker 3: I never played with the chip on my shoulder because
Speaker 3: of the height. I just honestly, you know, I feel
Speaker 3: like I'm a pretty genuine.
Speaker 2: Guy or a pretty well mannered guy.
Speaker 3: But it comes with like even as a little kid,
Speaker 3: like I enjoy beating other people, like I enjoy keeping,
Speaker 3: I enjoy keeping score, I enjoy winning, and you know,
Speaker 3: I approach every aspect of my life like I'm not
Speaker 3: measuring myself off other people. It's just like your competitive Yeah,
Speaker 3: like why can I not be the best at this?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I love that. So Okay, so you're at UCLA, you're
Speaker 1: killing it. But when I look at your bio, you
Speaker 1: have all these other goals. And the one thing I
Speaker 1: was talking to my producer with was, you know, for
Speaker 1: someone that's clearly looking like they're going to the NFL,
Speaker 1: it seems like, you know you're talking about getting your doctorate,
Speaker 1: you're working on your masters right now? Correct?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I actually I have two masters from UCLA,
Speaker 2: so I'm surprised at all. Yeah, I'm finished with school,
Speaker 2: you know, for now.
Speaker 1: You have two masters already. Yes, what are they say?
Speaker 3: The master's education? So I did that. It was a
Speaker 3: program that worked well with the football schedule. I got
Speaker 3: my undergraden two years, so I got my undergradden public Affairs,
Speaker 3: so I still had four years of eligibility, so I
Speaker 3: had to be in school. So I wanted to make
Speaker 3: sure I did Masters that. You know, I wasn't just
Speaker 3: sitting in class for football sake.
Speaker 1: Did all your schooling in.
Speaker 2: Six years, but all my undergraden too? Yeah, how I
Speaker 2: came in with some units okap tests and then I
Speaker 2: also real smart, bro.
Speaker 3: My sister is the really really smart one. That's why
Speaker 3: she got into Sandford straight up. But I know how
Speaker 3: to do school well.
Speaker 1: And you know how to cook well.
Speaker 2: I'm watching you and I appreciate. Yeah, you gotta steam, definitely,
Speaker 2: I see.
Speaker 1: I see.
Speaker 2: I like a seer and steam.
Speaker 1: You know, I should have had you make the meatballs
Speaker 1: from scratch. I did not think he was going to
Speaker 1: be this good in the kitchen.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's all good. I grew up with an amazing
Speaker 2: cook in the house with my mother. Whenever my father
Speaker 2: would makesteaks, they'd be good too. He put a bunch
Speaker 2: of seasons, a lot of a lot of Tony saturies.
Speaker 1: You ever watch all of the videos online and they're
Speaker 1: making the steaks and the only thing they seasoned it
Speaker 1: with is salt and pepper.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's more for health reasons. I understand,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: And definitely in our community there's there's certain medical certain
Speaker 3: medical predispositions that that we struggle with. So I do
Speaker 3: understand when people are vanilla with the seasoning did s.
Speaker 2: But speaking for myself, I definitely prepare. I mean I
Speaker 2: definitely I'm a seasoning prefer for a well seasoned meal.
Speaker 2: Now a little water.
Speaker 1: You're about to do the sauce, yeah, season the sauce.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna add the
Speaker 3: sauce in directly with the pasta.
Speaker 1: I know, just you know, are you a big sauce
Speaker 1: guy or like a little bit of sauce?
Speaker 2: I like sauce.
Speaker 1: I like sauce too. Sometimes I meet people They're like,
Speaker 1: why did you put so much sauce on it?
Speaker 3: I'm like, no, I don't understand why. You know, you
Speaker 3: can't you can't. Actually this this is what the Italians do.
Speaker 3: They add the actual pasta water back in with the pasta.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you're at UCLA. You're getting all these sponsorships
Speaker 1: are you? Are you pursuing them or they pursuing you?
Speaker 1: Can you walk me through that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: So actually I got my first sponsorship through LinkedIn. So
Speaker 3: any young professional, any young any young person, just make
Speaker 3: a LinkedIn. You never know what it will lead to.
Speaker 3: You might meet the person who gives you your first
Speaker 3: job on there. For me, I met the person who
Speaker 3: gave me my first endorsement, deal guy by the name
Speaker 3: of Rob Master, who at the time he was handling
Speaker 3: a lot of Unilever in Therefore Degrees Marketing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Unilever works closely.
Speaker 3: They managed a lot of a lot of companies on
Speaker 3: the advertisement side, but namely Degree and Degree had a
Speaker 3: campaign with staying the Up, winning awards for it called
Speaker 3: the Breaking Limits campaign, and in this we all told
Speaker 3: our story. For me, I told the story as far
Speaker 3: as you know, a lot of you know, quarterbacks my
Speaker 3: size being overlooked, but because of the caliber player I was,
Speaker 3: you know, we still were successful.
Speaker 2: You know, we were still able to get there.
Speaker 3: I think that really catapulted my early career just because
Speaker 3: it showcase you know, there were folks who maybe thought
Speaker 3: I wasn't going to get you know, all the big
Speaker 3: deals or anything. Well, my first deal was a big deal.
Speaker 3: My first deal is a big deal with a categorical leader.
Speaker 3: And then early on I also had Boots, Mobile and Shell,
Speaker 3: so I already had, you know, within my first three
Speaker 3: to five deals.
Speaker 2: I had three you know, marquee brands, and I.
Speaker 3: Was able to also earn enough from those deals to
Speaker 3: also you know, tie like as a Cristian like, I
Speaker 3: wanted to give ten percent of all of my money
Speaker 3: made and still want to continue that to organizations or to.
Speaker 2: Causes I care about.
Speaker 3: You know, at Huddle High School, a lot of my
Speaker 3: teammates and a lot of the community depended on the
Speaker 3: school to eat during the day, so they would either
Speaker 3: be on like free or reduced launch or breakfast. And
Speaker 3: I wouldn't have been able to reach my goals without
Speaker 3: you know, my teammates are without my best friends in
Speaker 3: my high school. And so once I had money, I
Speaker 3: wanted to make sure that I was giving towards a
Speaker 3: cause that helped with that. So, you know, in particular,
Speaker 3: my biggest partner to date has been the La Regional
Speaker 3: Food Bank Wow, and in particular their program where they
Speaker 3: provide meals on the weekends to LAUSD school children who
Speaker 3: depend on on freeline.
Speaker 1: They provide the school on the weekends.
Speaker 3: They provide meals that way, when they're not at school,
Speaker 3: they're also able to have sesseness.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I know LA has a lot of homeless kids.
Speaker 2: Definitely.
Speaker 3: I think, you know, in working you know, with the
Speaker 3: food bank and doing more research on how my foundation
Speaker 3: can help, I think you sort of see like hunger
Speaker 3: and children and homelessness and children are not things of
Speaker 3: the past or not things of you know. Obviously it
Speaker 3: happens in other countries, but it happens in America a
Speaker 3: lot more common than people think. And I grew up,
Speaker 3: you know, serving at our local serving center, and there
Speaker 3: we had a food bank, we had a food pantry,
Speaker 3: and I'm seeing, you know, folks where maybe it was
Speaker 3: a teammate's mother or a friend's you know mother and father,
Speaker 3: they're picking up food and I'm just like hey, And
Speaker 3: then I realized, oh, my goodness, like my friend is
Speaker 3: relying on the serving center to eat. And you know,
Speaker 3: a lot of the time when you come from household
Speaker 3: like mine, where you know, I was blessed to have a
Speaker 3: mother who enjoyed cooking every night. You sort of you
Speaker 3: don't realize that people, It's not a far away issue.
Speaker 3: Food and security is something that affects people that.
Speaker 2: You know right now and that you care about right now.
Speaker 1: Wow, when you got your first sponsorship deal and you
Speaker 1: started getting these sponsorship deals, how did you conduct? How
Speaker 1: did you negotiate? How did or how did who played
Speaker 1: a hand? Was it you?
Speaker 3: It was really just my father and I the whole way. Really,
Speaker 3: I was self repped, and I wanted to stay self
Speaker 3: repped just because I felt like nobody could tell my
Speaker 3: story like mine. And I also enjoyed the process. I enjoyed,
Speaker 3: you know, making first contact with the company. I enjoyed,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 1: Making the first contact or them reaching out.
Speaker 2: To their way. You did it in the way either way.
Speaker 3: Sometimes sometimes I would be at an event and I'd
Speaker 3: be speaking and a CMO would be there and chief
Speaker 3: marketing officer and they would be like, we really love
Speaker 3: your story, we really love how you're able to present
Speaker 3: a brand and present yourself.
Speaker 2: Let's find a way to work.
Speaker 3: And you know, as a creative, as someone who loves
Speaker 3: music and loves film.
Speaker 2: You know, I really enjoyed the creative process.
Speaker 3: So in all of my fifty plus brand deals, for
Speaker 3: the vast majority of them, I was creating the creative
Speaker 3: or I was working with their creative director to creative
Speaker 3: and then I was creating a shot list and the
Speaker 3: interests of time where you know, initially my first shoots
Speaker 3: took three four hours. It's like, no, if I spend
Speaker 3: two hours ahead of time working on shot list, the
Speaker 3: shoot turns into an hour match and it provides more
Speaker 3: you know, vision as far as for the final product.
Speaker 2: With my with my videographer editor of choice. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: I really found my way.
Speaker 1: Where did you get the media part of the background
Speaker 1: a game?
Speaker 2: My father he's worked in media, and then what does
Speaker 2: he do in media though on the production side.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I think I also I just have a
Speaker 3: I've always loved movies like.
Speaker 2: My town.
Speaker 3: Of course, we could go to downtown, but the nearest
Speaker 3: place that was sort of like my haven that I
Speaker 3: spent my time was the movie theater. So I would
Speaker 3: I would, you know, we'd have our games on Friday
Speaker 3: night and on Saturday, I'd love to go to the movies.
Speaker 3: Sometimes I would go with friends, but Honestly, I love
Speaker 3: going to the movies by myself.
Speaker 2: I just I just love the actual movies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no I sometimes I don't realize that. You know,
Speaker 2: a lot of people don't do that.
Speaker 3: But I've always enjoyed it, and I've all enjoyed movies,
Speaker 3: and so to be able to do productions and to
Speaker 3: you know, sort of world build in a way with
Speaker 3: primarily the brand's key performance indicators in mind, I think,
Speaker 3: you know, being able to create value out of art
Speaker 3: is one of the most beautiful and rewarding things.
Speaker 1: So you have a degree in education. Yeah, are we
Speaker 1: almost down to you sitting with me?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I know. Let's get him on the other mics. Nobody
Speaker 1: likes the live mics and production. Really, no one does.
Speaker 1: If you're an audio person, the live mics are like
Speaker 1: your enemy, and then these mics are your friends. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they'll complain on the other side real quick. But all right,
Speaker 1: sorry about that. Didn't mean to derail you.
Speaker 2: Oh no worry.
Speaker 1: So you you're doing all these deals with brands, and
Speaker 1: this is in twenty twenty one, This is like three
Speaker 1: years since twenty one, right, So this is becoming your
Speaker 1: actual revenue stream. Yes, yes, and you're now running a
Speaker 1: business of your own and your dad is watching his
Speaker 1: son go to school and like have enough business to
Speaker 1: even tie, Like, yeah, you're starting tie.
Speaker 3: It was great just because you know, I think definitely
Speaker 3: there's a perspective shift once you start making money.
Speaker 1: What do you say that perspective shift is.
Speaker 3: Well, I think there's a sort of confidence that comes
Speaker 3: from what I'm doing is creating value, not just for others,
Speaker 3: but also for me. And that's one of the best
Speaker 3: part about athletes being able to capture on the revenue
Speaker 3: they create. It's like we've been value creators forever. We
Speaker 3: just haven't been able to capture on the.
Speaker 2: Entire part of the value.
Speaker 3: Of course, we've been able to get to school, but
Speaker 3: you know, there's just so much more. Frankly, if you're
Speaker 3: helping someone make money, I think you should, you know,
Speaker 3: for taken in a share of that revenue.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot.
Speaker 3: We were barred from that, you know, for a long time.
Speaker 3: And when I first got to UCLA, that's how things were.
Speaker 3: Now in twenty twenty one one, aspect changed a bit
Speaker 3: name image and likeness, where we were able to do
Speaker 3: endorsements and things like that.
Speaker 2: But you know this coust that changed.
Speaker 3: There were a sleuve cases, so it was primarily on
Speaker 3: the legal side.
Speaker 2: One of the one of.
Speaker 3: The biggest heroes in the history of I think college
Speaker 3: athletic rights is Ed Obannon, a former Brewin Nate Smith
Speaker 3: Player of the Year, national champion. So shout out at Obannon.
Speaker 3: But he had sued the nc DOUBA for utilizing his name,
Speaker 3: image and likeness and the NCAA EA Sports basketball game
Speaker 3: and so that's why they had to stop producing that
Speaker 3: game because they weren't paying the athletes air affair share.
Speaker 2: Now they brought him that I'm older. He wasn't fresh
Speaker 2: out of college. It was a little bit later, but
Speaker 2: that was and he was ostracized for it, even by
Speaker 2: the Brewin community. I know.
Speaker 3: It was really a shame. Now we've taken steps to
Speaker 3: welcome by. I still don't think he's received the glory
Speaker 3: that he deserves for the stand he took.
Speaker 1: That's literally changed the trajectory forever and changed, don't feels being.
Speaker 3: Yeah, every every chance I get, I try to sing
Speaker 3: his phrases.
Speaker 2: You know, he's worked very hard. Have you ever met
Speaker 2: him or no?
Speaker 3: But you know there there there will be a day
Speaker 3: in time for that absolutely.
Speaker 1: So, so that was what the start of it, and
Speaker 1: then what happened after that.
Speaker 3: So after that, there were a slew of other cases,
Speaker 3: most namely Austin versus NCAA, which in twenty twenty twenty
Speaker 3: one called in to question the anti trust exemption that
Speaker 3: the NCAA has. The reason why the NCAA has been okay,
Speaker 3: the reason that NCAA has been able to act the
Speaker 3: way that it does is it's had anti trust exemption. So,
Speaker 3: you know, policies that aren't really in accordance with other
Speaker 3: aspects of the American economy, they're able to operate, you know,
Speaker 3: in their own sort of set of rules.
Speaker 2: That's how you have unpaid work.
Speaker 3: Basically, as far as the Austin versus NCAA case, it
Speaker 3: called in to question that anti trust and the NCAA
Speaker 3: saw the riding on the wall and so they started
Speaker 3: rolling back their restrictions. You know, in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 3: they rolled back their restriction on athletes capitalizing on and
Speaker 3: exercising their name, image and likeness rights and then now
Speaker 3: revenue share. Because of House versus Day, there was a
Speaker 3: settlement where around two and a half billion dollars will
Speaker 3: be paid to athletes from twenty twenty and on and
Speaker 3: then because of this settlement and because of this precedent,
Speaker 3: now athletes from revenue generating sports are going to be
Speaker 3: getting paid every single year.
Speaker 1: But is there any for any of the previous.
Speaker 3: So there's some back pay and I'll definitely capitalize on
Speaker 3: that chance.
Speaker 1: Do you Oh, you're gonna pray over it all?
Speaker 3: Got you got you do? You got a waitingness this morning?
Speaker 3: Giving us this food, please ud be nourishment to our
Speaker 3: bodies and thank you for giving us this opportunity to
Speaker 3: you know, spread your platform in your son Jesus name.
Speaker 1: Man, Amen, appreciate. I just saw King of Kings in
Speaker 1: the movie theater.
Speaker 2: Last How was it?
Speaker 1: It was good? I don't know, because like I read
Speaker 1: the Bible when I was like twenty nine. Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: raised Jewish. Jews don't really talk about Jesus.
Speaker 3: It's a different perspective, like how you put it.
Speaker 1: But you know, because I know it's so well now,
Speaker 1: it's interesting to see it play out. Have you just
Speaker 1: signed out before we Your food is great. By the way,
Speaker 1: there's a book series called Jean Edwards, A Tale of
Speaker 1: three Kings Prison and the Third telf. He does like
Speaker 1: this fictionized perspective of what like John the Baptist went
Speaker 1: through or King David went through.
Speaker 2: But it's like a David's second best story in a Bible.
Speaker 1: When I say, I promise you these books are like
Speaker 1: two three hour reads, but you will read them and
Speaker 1: you will be like it just I don't know. It
Speaker 1: gives you like a feeling of kind of like their
Speaker 1: emotional like what they were processing in their like feelings
Speaker 1: that I think the Bible does a really good job.
Speaker 1: But I think to like carry the weight of like
Speaker 1: being Jesus's cousin and knowing he's healing people and you
Speaker 1: you about to get your head chopped of, you know,
Speaker 1: like to kind of go through that that feeling in
Speaker 1: those motions or whatever. Anyways, watching the King David The
Speaker 1: Kings of King's movie, I did feel like it's interesting
Speaker 1: after like reading the Bible to see these different perspectives.
Speaker 1: But I did think about the Geen Edwards series a
Speaker 1: lot while I was watching the movie, like, damn, I
Speaker 1: would love to see them do a movie based on
Speaker 1: the Gene Edwards series.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean to me, the religious movies are hit
Speaker 3: or missed with me, but they're always fascinating.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I think part of the beauty of religion and faith
Speaker 3: is it is so personally like it is subjective as
Speaker 3: far as your walk with God.
Speaker 2: Can't I can't judge somebody else.
Speaker 1: No, no, but sitting here with you, I just got
Speaker 1: an idea. I was like, we should only do a
Speaker 1: Geen Edwards series. You should read the book, should read
Speaker 1: the books. I'll order them and amazon them to you
Speaker 1: or whatever. And and then since you're into media, you
Speaker 1: could be like, yo, I think we should do this
Speaker 1: project because there are so many like projects that are
Speaker 1: kind of like off. You look at the Chronicles of
Speaker 1: Narnia and all of those guys. You know, they do
Speaker 1: do these perspectives. But if you read the Gene Edwards books,
Speaker 1: to me, I just feel like it just captures like
Speaker 1: a whole different embodiment of like walk with them. Like damn,
Speaker 1: that is a difficult situation to be it, you know.
Speaker 3: That's why you know, the story of David to me
Speaker 3: is just just fascinating.
Speaker 2: Like the Bible is far from boring. It's got some
Speaker 2: of the you know, the messiest characters.
Speaker 1: Is the first time I read it I was like,
Speaker 1: there was like, what's in there? I said, incests, right, murder,
Speaker 1: It's a lot of crazy stuff.
Speaker 3: It's got the gambit as far as you know the
Speaker 3: darkest parts of humanity, but also you know the best
Speaker 3: parts of God.
Speaker 1: Yeah, your food is delicious. I said you could cook
Speaker 1: and I was watching you salt and I was like,
Speaker 1: we go see it came out good.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be seasoned. Absolutely. I grew up watching the
Speaker 2: best in my mother.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So from an outsider looking in, you would assume
Speaker 1: that based on everything you've said, you would you would
Speaker 1: be looking towards going into the NFL definitely. But then
Speaker 1: you read your resume and there's a pivot in there.
Speaker 1: So I want to know what's going on.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So now I work in finance.
Speaker 3: I work at a pension endowment fund called University California Investments.
Speaker 1: And Pension Endowments.
Speaker 3: So when you think about four one ks, it's not
Speaker 3: just magical black box that you're putting a piece of
Speaker 3: your paycheck into.
Speaker 1: It's literally what I think.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so there's somebody managing that account, and that's what
Speaker 3: a pension is. So we managed on behalf of University
Speaker 3: of California Office of the President.
Speaker 2: And also, you know all of our.
Speaker 3: Pensioners, which are primarily University of California employees.
Speaker 1: Does that mean you decide where that money is invested,
Speaker 1: like with stocks and bonds.
Speaker 3: Or precisely so they're interesting. You know our team with
Speaker 3: creating returns and protecting that wealth and then also providing
Speaker 3: you money to the schools whenever they needed.
Speaker 1: Now what made you get into that line of work?
Speaker 3: I met our chief investment officer a few years ago
Speaker 3: speaking out in event. I think he was a keynote
Speaker 3: that was one of the panels, and I was just like,
Speaker 3: what is University of California investments?
Speaker 2: I didn't even really know about it.
Speaker 3: I think I had some good business acumen. I've invested
Speaker 3: almost all the dollars I've made from NIO.
Speaker 1: Very serious. Yeah, you didn't buy like a bunch of
Speaker 1: Jordans with it.
Speaker 2: I mean, we're Jordan's school, so I got some ones. Yeah,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, thank god.
Speaker 1: But I meant like, you didn't blow any of it
Speaker 1: on anything.
Speaker 3: So when I got to school, I sort of set
Speaker 3: my spending habits I lived off of and you know,
Speaker 3: I hate asking anybody for money, so like, I just
Speaker 3: lived off of the money I was getting from the
Speaker 3: school off of my scholarship, our cost of living, and
Speaker 3: our rent was paid for all of that. So I
Speaker 3: just continued that, you know, all the way through my career,
Speaker 3: and I sort of looked at my NIO money a surplus.
Speaker 3: I'd give away, you know, a portion of it and
Speaker 3: then the rest I'm investing for the future.
Speaker 1: And did you invest with this firm or no?
Speaker 3: So I invested, you know, personally, just within you know,
Speaker 3: a regular brokerage account.
Speaker 1: So did you learn that early on.
Speaker 3: Stocks and all that, I'd say early on compared to
Speaker 3: most you know, I've been investing since I started making money.
Speaker 1: But that's you started making later.
Speaker 2: Yeah, probably probably. I wasn't investing as a kid. I
Speaker 2: didn't have money as a kid.
Speaker 1: Well where did you learn how to invest?
Speaker 2: Really from experiencing?
Speaker 3: Then my father he's you know, he's always had a
Speaker 3: broker's account, and then he was just telling me the
Speaker 3: money that are now, like I should invest it just
Speaker 3: because the multiple, the earlier you invest, that multiple just
Speaker 3: continues to ac crew. It's like having my own personal
Speaker 3: sort of retirement or down payment for a house.
Speaker 2: Or you know, rainy day fund.
Speaker 3: I really look at it as my primary savings account.
Speaker 1: Oh, I like that. So where did the pivot from
Speaker 1: the NFL. Well, your trajectories to say, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I want to do the NFL anymore.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So, you know, early on in my career at UCLA,
Speaker 3: I played more and I played really well, especially in
Speaker 3: the twenty twenty season.
Speaker 2: But over the course of my career, you.
Speaker 3: Know, depending on whether it be you know, injuries or
Speaker 3: you know, more pertinent just coaching decisions, I sort of
Speaker 3: saw like, if I wanted to play, I was going
Speaker 3: to have to transfer. If I wanted to play, you know,
Speaker 3: the amount of time I wanted to play, I was
Speaker 3: going to have the transfer.
Speaker 2: And that was something that was weighing on my mind.
Speaker 3: But I also saw you know, the upside on what
Speaker 3: I was doing on the media side, the upside and
Speaker 3: being LA on the sports media side, and then you know,
Speaker 3: started to build that relationship with University of California and
Speaker 3: felt like I was really building a professional home for myself.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: All that being said, I think if I was you know,
Speaker 3: chasing the dream one hundred percent, I probably would have transferred.
Speaker 3: But I'm not happy. I mean, I'm not you know,
Speaker 3: unhappy with how it turned out. Like, I'm very grateful
Speaker 3: I still have my health, my mind, my capability of thinking,
Speaker 3: and those are things you really can't take for granted
Speaker 3: when it comes to, you know, everything that football has
Speaker 3: done for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think as a as a mom and a woman,
Speaker 1: my fear would be if like my son went to football,
Speaker 1: because I did you ever watch the Netflix documentary It
Speaker 1: was like on I think football players and their money, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean.
Speaker 2: What my business?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think I think my mother probably
Speaker 3: was praying over me every single.
Speaker 1: Play, you know, so she did talk about it a
Speaker 1: little bit percent.
Speaker 3: And you know that that'll be a conversation for my mother,
Speaker 3: my father, and my little brother just because he's getting
Speaker 3: to the age where he'll probably start playing tackle football,
Speaker 3: you know, more regularly.
Speaker 1: Wow. Yeah, I feel like in the back of my
Speaker 1: mind as mom, that's that's a be like of all.
Speaker 2: Dreams one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: I mean, and like I know the amount of injuries.
Speaker 3: I know, the amount of like just being hurt, whether
Speaker 3: it be emostly like the spiritually drained and then especially
Speaker 3: physically like you just is a culture where you got
Speaker 3: to play through it. And I think that's a skill
Speaker 3: set one hundred percent. But I also think, you know,
Speaker 3: as a parent, you you may think twice as far
Speaker 3: as you know, pushing a child into that. I don't
Speaker 3: have kids, so I don't really know my perspective on that,
Speaker 3: but I know watching my brother out there play, I
Speaker 3: will definitely you know, be helping, you know, each play
Speaker 3: he just gets up the same way that he started
Speaker 3: that play, because that's.
Speaker 1: That's something that's when you're watching.
Speaker 2: Him, you know.
Speaker 3: For for myself, you know, I mean, yeah, it's like
Speaker 3: I've definitely have my bell rung. I've definitely been hit,
Speaker 3: and it's like next week you've not seen the same
Speaker 3: way out your left eye. But it's also myself, like
Speaker 3: I it's something that I love and something that I
Speaker 3: accept the risk doing it. But when it's somebody else
Speaker 3: that you love, you know, there's sort of a different
Speaker 3: aspect included.
Speaker 1: So what's the end goal?
Speaker 3: So if I were to say what I want to
Speaker 3: really do in generalized terms is build generational wealth early,
Speaker 3: I think like that there's a lot of work that's
Speaker 3: gone in for generations, generations to get me to where.
Speaker 2: I'm at now.
Speaker 3: And God has you know, done all the heavy lifting.
Speaker 3: I think it's really just about taking advantage of opportunities now,
Speaker 3: So continue to learn, continue to recognize my weakness and
Speaker 3: play to my strengths, and then you know, going to
Speaker 3: public service and philanthropy, whether it be you know, holding
Speaker 3: elected office one day. I just want to be able
Speaker 3: to affect change with a platform that I've been afforded.
Speaker 2: And you know, as I.
Speaker 3: A crew more and more wealth, I can be better
Speaker 3: in my scale as far as philanthropy, and then do
Speaker 3: all of that while maintaining my faith. If I do that,
Speaker 3: you know, I know, you know what, whatever sort of
Speaker 3: struggles or whatever is next for me, whether you know
Speaker 3: it be a future family or things like that, I'll
Speaker 3: be you know, well prepared for that.
Speaker 1: Are you super goal oriented at home?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 3: I think my parents set a lot of goals for
Speaker 3: their children, and I think every good parents should.
Speaker 2: For me.
Speaker 3: I'm not the biggest planner. I'm more, you know, evaluate
Speaker 3: what the opportunity is and just work the best at that.
Speaker 3: Something will come out of that. That's sort of where
Speaker 3: my trust in God comes, just because I feel like
Speaker 3: trying to say how things are going to be five
Speaker 3: years from now is Vain's vain.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you don't know as.
Speaker 1: A person, but what about like a year out a year?
Speaker 2: What I mean?
Speaker 3: I think setting goals is definitely good and I think
Speaker 3: for some For me, my goal is just each and
Speaker 3: every day, like what's on the calendar.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm going to be so good on this
Speaker 2: like that. That's sort of how my mindset is. And
Speaker 2: you know, I'll look down the calendar a little bit.
Speaker 3: But part of being really busy is you got to
Speaker 3: take it day by day because if you have four
Speaker 3: or five meetings, you know three of them are three
Speaker 3: completely different things. You have to be able to sort
Speaker 3: of disassociate and lock back in on certain things. You
Speaker 3: can't be thinking about what's happening down the line when
Speaker 3: when you're there, you'll be prepared for it.
Speaker 1: I find myself counting ours, Like if you're ever hanging
Speaker 1: out with me, go and you'll be like what are
Speaker 1: you doing? And I'll be like, I'm counting ours because
Speaker 1: I count. Yeah, I'm constantly counting, like how long does
Speaker 1: it take? To my girlfriends? We went to a birthday
Speaker 1: dinner and one of my friends was like, what is
Speaker 1: something that you've you know, you've done it. You'll be
Speaker 1: proud of. I was like, I have no idea. I'm
Speaker 1: stayingful for my friends. And they were like, yo, your
Speaker 1: time management is in back of oh, And I was
Speaker 1: like time management And then I started thinking to my
Speaker 1: dad was like, yo, nobody you call it four o
Speaker 1: two and you say where are you gonna be at
Speaker 1: four or three tomorrow? She'll know exactly where and how
Speaker 1: long it takes. And I didn't know. I've become like
Speaker 1: anly obsessed over how long.
Speaker 3: Down to Yeah, I think that's the coolest part about
Speaker 3: you know, sports, It's like you have to be regimented
Speaker 3: by nature. I've been you know, doing twelve for you know,
Speaker 3: fourteen hour work days between sports and school since I
Speaker 3: was you know, since I was like six or seven,
Speaker 3: you know, I would go to school, then I would
Speaker 3: train after them homework. It's like after by then, do
Speaker 3: you did a twelve hour work day in your.
Speaker 1: Seventh That was gonna be my next question is like,
Speaker 1: what's the day in the life of you right now?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: So for now, Like I always try to start my mornings,
Speaker 3: you know, started out immediately with prayer and then you know,
Speaker 3: some type of music. I love sending verses out to
Speaker 3: people so I always send it. There's a small group
Speaker 3: of people. I send it on one.
Speaker 1: Of those I get friends that do the DM.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not blowing up in boxes. It'll be just
Speaker 3: you know, one or two you know, quick verses. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean it's really whatever verse I was going to read,
Speaker 3: I'll just share with other people. And you know, there's
Speaker 3: some folks that really enjoy that. And then you know,
Speaker 3: after that, I try to get a workout in, you know,
Speaker 3: whether it be you know, running or lifting.
Speaker 1: And how long is that? Like an hour?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I keep it to thirty minutes, thirty minutes. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm passing like your I'm past.
Speaker 3: I'm past the two and a half hour you know,
Speaker 3: workout blocks of football. I'm not trying to impress anybody.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I start out with some cardios, then you know, do
Speaker 3: three or four core lifts, you know, and then you know,
Speaker 3: finished with some cardio and I'm in.
Speaker 2: And then you know, I'll tend to have like my.
Speaker 3: First meeting around like ten or eleven, and then you know,
Speaker 3: I'll do a few meetings and I take take an
Speaker 3: hour for lunch. Maybe you know, practice on you know,
Speaker 3: either do music or practice on a skill set and
Speaker 3: then you know, I have my afternoon meetings, which is
Speaker 3: normally like one or two, especially since we're on the
Speaker 3: West Coast, a lot of the meetings are in the
Speaker 3: morning because that's early afternoon for New York and abroad.
Speaker 2: Well, I like that.
Speaker 1: And then the weekends are off.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, honestly, for weekends, I spend a lot
Speaker 3: of time on music. That's sort of like my recharge time.
Speaker 3: Even during football, like when we were out of season,
Speaker 3: that would be when I'd go to the studio, like
Speaker 3: because studio sessions go from like yeah.
Speaker 1: And they never have windows. Yeah, never wonder you walk outside,
Speaker 1: you'd be like.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's like the casino. I don't want you to
Speaker 3: know this daytime.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for spending time with me
Speaker 1: today and feeding me. Truly an honor to sit with you.
Speaker 2: No, I really enjoyed it. I appreciate it.
Speaker 3: If food was good, I appreciate the appreciate the ingredients,
Speaker 3: camera coop was good, and went forward to watching the
Speaker 3: Send it to my family.
Speaker 1: You better the parents. Shout out to the parents.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: Really really thankful for all the work you did with Chase.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Thank you he's up, guys. Peace for more. Eating while
Speaker 1: broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.