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Speaker 1: to Money Making Conversations. It's to show that she has

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Speaker 1: You know. He'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry

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Speaker 1: Welcome to money Making Conversation. I'm your host. Ras Sean

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Speaker 1: McDonald say this every week. It's time to stop reading

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Speaker 1: other people's success stories to start writing your own. And

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Speaker 1: if you have a gift for a passion, I always

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Speaker 1: tell people to lead with your gifts and don't let

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Speaker 1: your age, friends, family, or coworkers from planning or living

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Speaker 1: your dreams. My interviews include celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs, and people

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Speaker 1: I like to call decision makers. My next guest is

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Speaker 1: Christina Million. She's a budding as they say, budding multi

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Speaker 1: media talent and enterprises and music, fashion, food. You know.

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Speaker 1: She just opened the ben A Box and restaurant in

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Speaker 1: April in Los Angeles, Studio City. I'm very familiar with

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles. She's a star in television and film. She

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Speaker 1: was recently seeing the two other film projects on Netflix,

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Speaker 1: the hit romantic comedy movie Falling in Love and the

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Speaker 1: musical drama series Soundtrack. In the new movie Results to Love,

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Speaker 1: Christina Million plays an inspiring and singer Erica on the

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Speaker 1: journey to find herself in Paradise. The movie is produces

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Speaker 1: fifteen tag fifteen time Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter

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Speaker 1: Alicia Keys. Christina and I have worked many times together

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Speaker 1: on sitcoms like The w B Sister Sister Steve Harvey

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Speaker 1: Show and Christina the first leading role in two thousand

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Speaker 1: three with Steve Harvey. Love cost the thing. I was there,

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Speaker 1: I saw, So let's catch up as we discussed a

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Speaker 1: new Netflix film, Result to Low and discuss an enterprising

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Speaker 1: career because he's mostly fascinated, please work with the money

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Speaker 1: making conversation for the very first time, Christina MILLI young,

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Speaker 1: how you doing that was the best intro. I was

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Speaker 1: having a good time listening. My goodness. Well, first of all,

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Speaker 1: I'm awesome. How are you. I'm doing great? Uh, first

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Speaker 1: of all, you look fantastic. And when my wife and

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Speaker 1: I we saw the movie last night, we get that

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Speaker 1: out the box straight off, you know, because uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: romantic comedies and they really to me jumped off during

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Speaker 1: the pandemic because we was sitting at home and gotta

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Speaker 1: gotta had a lot of good time. But you seem

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Speaker 1: to have found a niche. But when you find these

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Speaker 1: niches in romantic comedies, you always had some beautiful location.

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Speaker 1: And I think your last one is in New Zealand, right, Yes,

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Speaker 1: my last one was New Zealand. This time, this time around,

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Speaker 1: I was this beautiful island called Mauritius and it's a

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Speaker 1: it's the south of Africa. It's an island south of Africa,

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Speaker 1: and it's one of the most gorgeous, most beautiful places

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Speaker 1: I've ever been to. Its paradise, well, it came across

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Speaker 1: its paradise and it really it really impacted what I

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Speaker 1: felt was your brand. At the very top of the movie,

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to give away the movie because but

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Speaker 1: where your career took that backslide was so funny and

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Speaker 1: but what I what I've learned and watching your growth

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Speaker 1: as an actress, you know, it's been that. Um, you know,

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Speaker 1: you have to do do things in here. You had

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Speaker 1: to show your skill as a singer, and you did

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Speaker 1: an amazing job. And then you have to show different

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Speaker 1: levels as an actress. You had to show, uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: a sensitive side, and you have to show a side

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Speaker 1: of I can do better. I believe I can do better.

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Speaker 1: I want to do better. And then when you had

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Speaker 1: to make a turn or make decision about yourself emotionally,

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Speaker 1: I think where a lot of people getting these relationships.

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Speaker 1: I've been into these relationships myself, Christina where I want

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Speaker 1: to move on, but I can't move on, and and

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Speaker 1: let's talk to us about that character. And you get

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Speaker 1: in this grip realizing these levels that you have to

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Speaker 1: deal with. In the Netflix movie Results of Love, yes, absolutely,

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Speaker 1: I mean there's definitely the different conflicts that she personally

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Speaker 1: has to deal with. Um, It's one of the main

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Speaker 1: things is like a lot of this is all rooted

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Speaker 1: and it comes from the heart. And I feel like, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, with my character Erica, you know, one of

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Speaker 1: the basis is of her characters that she loves music.

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Speaker 1: She has this passion for music, and it's been her

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Speaker 1: first love since she was a child. She's willing to

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Speaker 1: sacrifice anything, including her love life, to pursue this music

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Speaker 1: career with the hopes that it would be successful. I understand.

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Speaker 1: I've been in her shoes before, and I still understand

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Speaker 1: to this day. Um, you know, and it's and it

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Speaker 1: really takes like the right person honestly to actually alter

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Speaker 1: the direction or how that how that plan and how

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Speaker 1: that idea actually um plays out. Um one thing like

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Speaker 1: obviously see I get to sing in the movie. I

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Speaker 1: love that. But I felt like she was a real

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Speaker 1: person and a real person in a situation that is

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Speaker 1: so awkward and so unusual. Not unusual. I feel like

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Speaker 1: these days we have so many coincidences that happened in

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Speaker 1: our lives. One because we have social media, we have computers.

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Speaker 1: I feel like the six degrees of separation have now

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Speaker 1: become two degrees of separation these days. So it is

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Speaker 1: possible that you can bump into a whole x from

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Speaker 1: like twenty years ago that was you know, back then

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Speaker 1: you thought was the love of your life all the

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Speaker 1: way in some island or just someplace else and you're

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Speaker 1: just like, have this this striking feeling of something different

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Speaker 1: of the motion that you might not even expect. Things

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Speaker 1: like that do happen these days. So UM, I love

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Speaker 1: that she was a real girl who's face with the conflict. Um.

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Speaker 1: And she doesn't she doesn't out the gate say like

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna face this conflict that I'm gonna go for

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Speaker 1: it and I'm gonna change this. Like she just actually

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Speaker 1: uses her optimism and a little bit of hope to

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Speaker 1: say like, all right, well, I gotta do something different

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Speaker 1: than I gotta I gotta change something in my life

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Speaker 1: so I can make it better. Um, so you know,

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Speaker 1: or maybe just like don't have to think about it.

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Speaker 1: And then she's been run up with probably the hardest

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Speaker 1: thing that you know, she has, that that she that

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Speaker 1: she hasn't dealt with yet. So UM, I love all

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Speaker 1: the conflict and I love that, you know, she's able

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Speaker 1: to overcome through the storyline, um, as well as the

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Speaker 1: other characters in the in the movie as well. Well

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Speaker 1: you know, and there are some other fun characters in

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Speaker 1: this in this movie because it is a comedy, let's

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Speaker 1: put it in forefront. And I want to drive back

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Speaker 1: to when I first met you own sister sister, and

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Speaker 1: you know Steve Harvey. I was managing Steve Harvey at

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Speaker 1: the time, and and when we did you know, Love

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Speaker 1: Don't Cost the thing was, uh, you know, you had

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Speaker 1: a lot of questions, you know, because he was really entering.

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Speaker 1: He was very young, and you still look fantastic now.

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Speaker 1: You look fantastic now. We still look very young, by

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Speaker 1: the way, and so and so thank you and making

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Speaker 1: that growth as an actress, because that's what we're talking

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Speaker 1: about now, because I saw such a natural looking individual

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Speaker 1: on my screen watching you. When what what point that

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Speaker 1: it became okay, I can do this, you know, because

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Speaker 1: you want to do it. That's when when you were

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Speaker 1: doing the sitcom you wanted to do it. At what

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Speaker 1: point you say I can do this, and then what

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Speaker 1: point you say I can make it as a career.

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Speaker 1: And that's what shows so fantastic on the Netflix movie

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Speaker 1: Ready Result to Love Well. I think when I knew

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Speaker 1: I could do this is when the opportunity started to

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Speaker 1: become more relevant for actresses and for women like myself,

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Speaker 1: especially when most roles and movies were like leading male roles.

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Speaker 1: Um when the opportunity came for Love Don't Cost the Thing.

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Speaker 1: That was my first lead role I ever had the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to even have or to become a part of.

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Speaker 1: It was my first offer for a film I never

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Speaker 1: it didn't even have to audition for it, which was

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Speaker 1: a shock for me. I never experienced an offer on

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Speaker 1: a movie or green lighting a movie as well for

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Speaker 1: a network like Warner Brothers. Prior to that, I mean,

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Speaker 1: my career was based off of just hustling so hard

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Speaker 1: and working and auditioning just to be girl number one

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Speaker 1: or girl number two and sister sister or uh you

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Speaker 1: know that, you know, girl number four in the Steve

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Speaker 1: Harvey Show. You know. But I knew at some point this,

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Speaker 1: some way, you know, I was gonna make it. I

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Speaker 1: just had to work really hard because us as the people, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, the opportunities were few and far apart, but

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Speaker 1: I knew it was possible and I believed in myself.

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Speaker 1: So um then when I really knew I could do

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Speaker 1: this and that I could be a lead actress, was

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Speaker 1: loved across the thing. When they gave me that opportunity

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Speaker 1: without even questioning that was like I was really in

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Speaker 1: shock and awe with the fact that they gave me

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Speaker 1: this type of opportunity and the fact that Warner Brothers said, yes,

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Speaker 1: we were greenlighting this film based off of her persona

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Speaker 1: and who she is and off of the script. No audition,

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Speaker 1: no this, no that. But we know she's got a

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Speaker 1: good history, she she's got a good reputation. We know

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Speaker 1: she got followers as far as like a fan base

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Speaker 1: and uh and you know, put put it together with

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Speaker 1: a great director, then you know she'll be all good.

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Speaker 1: And so when I did that movie and I worked

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Speaker 1: together with Nick Cannon, and that movie came out and

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Speaker 1: people saw the movie and they felt how natural my

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Speaker 1: my acting was for my character and Paris Morgan, and

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Speaker 1: I actually got to see it on film. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's one of those things you get nervous, you do it,

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Speaker 1: and then you're like, when I see this, what am

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Speaker 1: I going to think? And I was really proud of

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Speaker 1: my work when I saw it for the first time,

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Speaker 1: Like I really had a real whole acting role. It

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Speaker 1: was cool, it was more than just two lines. So

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Speaker 1: it went from that to the whole movie. Well, the

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Speaker 1: beauty of this conversation that I'm having with Christina is

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Speaker 1: about a career. A career there is a that is

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Speaker 1: an amazing journey because I've been able to watch it.

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Speaker 1: We've all been able to watch and then and we

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Speaker 1: all know the ups and downs, like you know, your

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Speaker 1: singing career, you like like in the movie you lost

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Speaker 1: your deal? Yes, just like in the movie is in

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Speaker 1: the movie. Of course the movie was hysterical. How that

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Speaker 1: that that singing opportunity went away? But in the in

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Speaker 1: the process of playing the inspiring singer, you really got

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Speaker 1: to sing in this movie? Oh yeah, I did? I did?

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Speaker 1: I did? You know? With Alicia Keys being a producer,

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Speaker 1: you know, implementing you know, those elements of music, There's

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Speaker 1: like six different songs I sing in the movie. Um was.

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Speaker 1: It was something that was exciting for me because I

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Speaker 1: got to get in the studio again, and um I

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Speaker 1: had to show what Erica like has been you know,

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Speaker 1: working her butt off for and what what what she

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Speaker 1: what she does for a living. And so I was

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Speaker 1: really happy to play her character and play her role

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Speaker 1: because technically I was fulfilling this void of like I

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Speaker 1: miss being in the studio and I missing not music

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Speaker 1: and people hearing my songs. So now I get to

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Speaker 1: marry the two my acting and my singing together in

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Speaker 1: this movie, and of course you add some parts of

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Speaker 1: romance and some comedy and it just all feels good.

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Speaker 1: So uh yeah, that made me happy. I have to

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Speaker 1: sing in this. Well, you know the fun part about

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Speaker 1: the movie results to law. It's this on Netflix to

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Speaker 1: be on Netflix this morning, and it stars a Christine Million,

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Speaker 1: very talented singer, entrepreneur, actress, who are who you know?

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Speaker 1: Singing and then this is this is a little physical

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Speaker 1: comedy in this as well, okay, and then also just

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Speaker 1: traditional comedy, and it's also a romantic theme and it's

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Speaker 1: kind of the two romantic things that are happening. I'm

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Speaker 1: not giving the way of the movie, but there too.

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Speaker 1: But she plays it all the way to the threw

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Speaker 1: me off because I didn't know where she was gonna go.

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Speaker 1: I would just let you know that was some good

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Speaker 1: acting because I didn't know she saw my wife and

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Speaker 1: I saw because we saw what she supposed that when.

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Speaker 1: But she was playing us with a good actor. So

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Speaker 1: so when you get these parallel emotions that you have

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Speaker 1: to play out, then you have to be this really

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Speaker 1: good singer. And I'm gonna just tell everybody because she

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Speaker 1: does the singing so well. It wasn't a denial of

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Speaker 1: her ability that she was in the location and she

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Speaker 1: was just like down on her luck and she shouldn't

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Speaker 1: be there because she was so good at what she

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Speaker 1: did when she song in the movie. So talk about

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Speaker 1: that physical comedy, talk about that parallel emotions, emotional, the

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Speaker 1: run that you have in there, and dealing with pulling

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Speaker 1: all this together for a great movie that you're doing

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Speaker 1: on Netflix. Uh, you know, I say, overall, I think

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Speaker 1: it's you know, I love to entertain the people, the physically,

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Speaker 1: the physical element of comedy. I love watching others do

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Speaker 1: the physical element of comedy. A lot of male actors

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Speaker 1: do that. A lot of classic UM like uh Saturday

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Speaker 1: Night Live actresses do that from like the early beginnings

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Speaker 1: to like you know, there's there's there's typical rom com

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Speaker 1: and you could just play it safe and you could

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Speaker 1: just tell a story or you could have fun doing it.

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Speaker 1: And I love to laugh my butt off. I want

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Speaker 1: to cry, laugh, laughter, tears. I want to cry sometimes.

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Speaker 1: I want to experience it all and if um if

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Speaker 1: it's sometimes the means going out of the box and

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Speaker 1: not being afraid to like alter who you are in

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Speaker 1: your own persona UM I think it's important as an

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Speaker 1: actor to do that. Um you wanna you want to

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Speaker 1: bring the highs and the lows? Um being on? Uh yeah,

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Speaker 1: absolutely so. The physical element of comedy I really enjoy doing.

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Speaker 1: And I learned a lot of that even from my

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Speaker 1: last director, Roger trumble On Falling in Love, because he

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Speaker 1: was a really fun director and he really like he

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Speaker 1: showed me. He showed me a couple of moments by

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Speaker 1: other great comedians to like implement into my last movie.

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Speaker 1: He was like, check this out, and he's like, do

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Speaker 1: your own thing to it, but this should inspire you.

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Speaker 1: And since then I've just been just unafraid and fearless

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Speaker 1: about just being out of my shell and having fun.

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Speaker 1: And if they like, if they do, if they don't,

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Speaker 1: then cut it out, cut it out and I'll do

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Speaker 1: something else. It's fun. But at least I tried. That's

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Speaker 1: what That was the thing I wanted to do. Um

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Speaker 1: And then, um, what was the other questions? Caring dual

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Speaker 1: emotions throughout the movie, they're kind of like, who you're

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Speaker 1: boy here? Because I thought you missed the right person.

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Speaker 1: In fact, it was one moment my wife's screaming at

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Speaker 1: the TV when you thought you was about to do

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Speaker 1: something with your ex fiance. She said, no, so really

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Speaker 1: did a great job. So talk about that whole run there,

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Speaker 1: because that's I'm telling something, talking about and just trying

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Speaker 1: to throw some shine on you because it's a good interview.

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Speaker 1: I'll just let you know, Wow, girl, you got it.

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Speaker 1: And it's a blessing to see from two thousand and

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Speaker 1: three and just to sit down in my home and

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Speaker 1: see you on the screen again leading a movie. You

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Speaker 1: all the start of this movie, and that cares a

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Speaker 1: lot of weight. And to see you carry these lines

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Speaker 1: and bring credibility to it and then throw a mislead

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Speaker 1: on your boy is a testament to where you are

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Speaker 1: in your life. That's that's what I wanted to find out.

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Speaker 1: How were you able to do that? I want? I

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Speaker 1: love that it's unpredictable, and I think that's important because

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Speaker 1: we can watch a lot of romany comedies and know

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Speaker 1: exactly I watched them sometimes and I'm like, I know

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Speaker 1: it's gonna happen, This's gonna happen, and that's gonna happen next,

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Speaker 1: blah blah blah. This is a story. Maybe because I've

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Speaker 1: done him so many times with me because I've watched

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Speaker 1: him so many times. But I like the the factor

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Speaker 1: of being unpredictable. And in this case, you know you've

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Speaker 1: got two brothers, you've also got another woman. There's a

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Speaker 1: like a quadruple kind of love triangle that's happening here. Wait,

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Speaker 1: not a quiete quadruple. It's not even a triangle. I

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Speaker 1: love quadruple. It DA know, something like that that's happening

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Speaker 1: between four people that that sounds really kind of crazy,

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Speaker 1: but most important between her and the two guys. That

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Speaker 1: she's like, she can either go backwards or she can

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Speaker 1: move forward, but she's still at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: needs closure, and I think it's important that she's trying

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Speaker 1: to figure out what that closure is. Um. Of course

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Speaker 1: hope hoping not to break a happy home. But maybe

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Speaker 1: her happy home is with her ex fiance. We don't know, um,

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Speaker 1: but it's it's that's where she needs to explore and

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Speaker 1: to find out. And sometimes we don't have those answers.

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Speaker 1: We have to figure it out ourselves. So you just

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Speaker 1: always hope that if you don't break too many hearts

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Speaker 1: in the process, and you I'm proud that you was

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Speaker 1: able to. Like I said, we'd see these movies, you

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Speaker 1: track them out. You know what's gonna happen. But again,

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Speaker 1: the overall cast was fantastic, good looking people by the way,

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Speaker 1: you know, except Walls and and so let's talk about

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Speaker 1: this shift gears a little bit because it is money

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Speaker 1: making conversations. And you know, you are an entrepreneur. And

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Speaker 1: the pandemic came out last year. It's still going on

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Speaker 1: right now. I shouldn't say it came out because we're

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Speaker 1: still dealing with the issues now of COVID nineteen. And

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Speaker 1: you open a restaurant this year Benja Box, now Benja's

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Speaker 1: if you don't know what Benja's. I'm from Houston, Texas,

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Speaker 1: so very familiar with the Benya's. And then your business

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Speaker 1: partner has Louisiana roots. So talk about going into the

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Speaker 1: restaurant business and why did you go in business with

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Speaker 1: this particular partner. Give was some history. Um, So, my

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Speaker 1: best friend and I we used to live together, were roommates,

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Speaker 1: and she and I both have just very entrepreneurial kind

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Speaker 1: of attitude. And just like we love something, we're very

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Speaker 1: passionate about it. We did we we study it, we

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Speaker 1: know the details of it, We strategize everything before we

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Speaker 1: actually pursue it and um, and then after that, it's

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Speaker 1: about the pursuit of making it succeed. So we watched

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Speaker 1: each other pursue our own little businesses and things throughout

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Speaker 1: the years. And when we were roommating, we said, you know, Sunday,

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Speaker 1: we gotta do something together. We need to create a

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Speaker 1: business the two women. This is. It's gonna be based

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Speaker 1: on where we live. We live in Studio City, California.

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Speaker 1: We know friends here, people we we have to do something,

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Speaker 1: but we know our friends will become a part of

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Speaker 1: and help us to help it grow. So we were like,

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Speaker 1: let's do bakery, Let's do this, let's do that. And

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Speaker 1: one day she had a foundation in Louisiana where we

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Speaker 1: would rebuild homes from Hurricane Katrina, and we were out there.

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Speaker 1: We would go get Bignet's and it was us with

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Speaker 1: all our girlfriends and we're eating bignets, were going back

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Speaker 1: from more beignets, and then we're like, hold on, we

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Speaker 1: need to bring Benyar's to l A. What are we doing.

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Speaker 1: We're tripping And so we started to really not only

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Speaker 1: because we love beignets, we started to figure out what

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Speaker 1: the business of it, what you know what the price,

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Speaker 1: you know what it costs this that. You know what

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Speaker 1: what it costs to actually start up the business. How

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Speaker 1: much you would make in the end, how much you

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00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:22,800
Speaker 1: know all the money that goes out. What what helped?

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Speaker 1: Do we want to be a brand or do we

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Speaker 1: just want to be one you know, one location. You know.

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Speaker 1: The idea is to overall become a a large brand.

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Speaker 1: We want to be um, we want to be posted everywhere,

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Speaker 1: to be honest with you, And we started it over

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Speaker 1: two years ago. Um. We started with you know, we

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Speaker 1: got our trademark done, we figured out our recipe. We

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Speaker 1: launched in l s U Stadium. We had just a

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Speaker 1: big old friar uh, you know, big old pop the

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Speaker 1: oil in it and the you know the gas, you know,

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Speaker 1: the little gas thing on the side, and my friends

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Speaker 1: family was serving it. Two people there and then we

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Speaker 1: decided to do a food truck. So we did a

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Speaker 1: food truck to about a year and a half ago,

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Speaker 1: two years ago, and since then now we've opened the

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Speaker 1: store in the Studio City. We have a Kiosk in Glenn.

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Speaker 1: We have another truck that's also in Louisiana. And that's

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Speaker 1: all happened in two years. So we feel very fortunate.

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Speaker 1: Um sooner or later we'll be franchising. But right now

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00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:23,240
Speaker 1: we're really just making sure quality control, that we have

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Speaker 1: the best um, you know, quality, and that we're giving

399
00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,080
Speaker 1: our very best before we actually uh franchise out now

400
00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:33,640
Speaker 1: now you're just doing big or you're doing sandwiches, you're

401
00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:37,280
Speaker 1: doing other pastries. We stick to one thing that we're

402
00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:42,400
Speaker 1: good at. Its powdered Benya's powdered sugar. Benyon like coffee.

403
00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:44,840
Speaker 1: And sometimes it's best to stick to one thing and

404
00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:47,720
Speaker 1: be great at it rather than uh than you know,

405
00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:50,719
Speaker 1: having your hands and everything. Well that I love that.

406
00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:53,359
Speaker 1: I love the whole concept. But the fact that you

407
00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:55,440
Speaker 1: like you said, you did like you said a budget,

408
00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:59,480
Speaker 1: you got your trademark, you did quality control, and so

409
00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:03,280
Speaker 1: that's the business side of you. Is that virtually going

410
00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,679
Speaker 1: to become a dominant side of your career or the

411
00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:07,959
Speaker 1: love of music, the love of acting, and you just

412
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Speaker 1: balancing it out of course being a family your mall, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know all that. That's a huge balance for you

414
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Speaker 1: all across the board. So where do we stand now

415
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Speaker 1: moving forward? In from from going forward, it's pretty much

416
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:26,680
Speaker 1: gonna stay about the same, I need to me, it's

417
00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,280
Speaker 1: an equal balance. I think my career also helps, um

418
00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,760
Speaker 1: helps highlight my entrepreneurial side as well as it goes

419
00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:36,800
Speaker 1: the other way around. UM, So it's more about like

420
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:39,879
Speaker 1: what else is going to happen from that, you know,

421
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,000
Speaker 1: even on the film and the entertainment side. I mean,

422
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Speaker 1: who knows, I might direct more, I might produce more

423
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:47,880
Speaker 1: and not might. I know that's the plan and that's

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00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,640
Speaker 1: what I will do eventually. But right now my focus

425
00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:54,480
Speaker 1: is my to entertain and also do to really grow

426
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:59,359
Speaker 1: this brand, and um, it's going very well, and I think, uh,

427
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:02,200
Speaker 1: I know, I don't know myself to stop doing one

428
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:04,520
Speaker 1: thing over the other for sure, especially when it comes

429
00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:06,440
Speaker 1: to entertainment. I think I'll always be doing it for

430
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Speaker 1: my whole life. With Steve Harvey to result to love

431
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432
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Speaker 1: good way. As a positive statement, I appreciate you coming

433
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Speaker 1: on Money Making Conversation, Christina will y'all, of course, thanks

434
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Speaker 1: for having me appreciated to appreciate. We will be right

435
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Speaker 1: back with more money Making Conversations with your host Roshan McDonald.

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Speaker 1: It's finally here, the season of celebration, and no matter

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Speaker 1: dot Com. Adoption of teams from foster Care is a

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459
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Speaker 1: Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families,

460
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Speaker 1: and the ad Council. And we're live here outside the

461
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Speaker 1: Perez family home, just waiting for them. And there they go,

462
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:02,320
Speaker 1: almost done time. This morning. Mom is coming off the

463
00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:05,200
Speaker 1: front door, strong with a double arm kid carry. Looks

464
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:09,080
Speaker 1: like Dad has the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh,

465
00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:13,800
Speaker 1: but the diaper bag wasn't closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere.

466
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,240
Speaker 1: But Mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle

467
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:21,440
Speaker 1: for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter, who looks

468
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:24,119
Speaker 1: to be about nine or ten, has secured herself in

469
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Speaker 1: the booster seat. Dad SIPs the bag clothes and they're off,

470
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:31,040
Speaker 1: But looks like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is

471
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:35,200
Speaker 1: still on the roof of the car. And there it goes. Oh,

472
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,640
Speaker 1: that's a shame. That mug was a fan favorite. Don't

473
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474
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Speaker 1: making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right

475
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477
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478
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Speaker 1: to you by Mizza and the Ad Council. You are

479
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:59,560
Speaker 1: now tuned into the money making conversations. Minute of Inspiration

480
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:01,960
Speaker 1: with Sean McDonald. This is what I sat down with

481
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,239
Speaker 1: the co host up to today's show, Craig Melvin. In

482
00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,680
Speaker 1: his new book, he talks about the difficulties of growing

483
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,080
Speaker 1: up with his father and how the father figures in

484
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:12,800
Speaker 1: his life have shaped his understanding of his role as

485
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,320
Speaker 1: the proud dad he is today. Here's what he had

486
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 1: to say. I think that you can be shaped by

487
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,879
Speaker 1: negative examples, uh, just as much as you can be

488
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:23,879
Speaker 1: shaped by positive examples. In fact, I think in some

489
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 1: instance it's maybe even more so. So. You know, growing up,

490
00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:31,000
Speaker 1: I didn't know the kind of man that I wanted

491
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:34,040
Speaker 1: to be. I didn't certainly know the kind of problem

492
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:35,760
Speaker 1: that I wanted to be. But up until a few

493
00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 1: years ago, I knew I didn't want to be anything

494
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 1: of anything like my dad. Yes, um and and and

495
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,320
Speaker 1: and that was what was motivated me personally and professionally,

496
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:48,199
Speaker 1: probably to a certain extent now that I'm talking about it.

497
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:50,000
Speaker 1: If you want to listen to this full interview with

498
00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:54,240
Speaker 1: Craig Melbourne, it's available on Money Making Conversations dot com.

499
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Money Making Conversations with your host Rashan McDonald.

500
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,439
Speaker 1: My next guy is Todd Delaney. He is a Grammy

501
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:06,240
Speaker 1: nominator Stella Award. When he recording artists, songwriter, producer, and

502
00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,120
Speaker 1: worship leader and former baseball player that is really key

503
00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:11,720
Speaker 1: in his interview. He was focused on pursuing a baseball

504
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:13,919
Speaker 1: career and at the age of eighteen, he was drafted

505
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:17,240
Speaker 1: by the New York Mets. While pursuing baseball, he realized

506
00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:19,760
Speaker 1: there was a higher calling upon his life, and to

507
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,600
Speaker 1: the surprise of many, he left the sports world behind

508
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:25,800
Speaker 1: to pursue a career as a gospel recording artist. Todd

509
00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:28,399
Speaker 1: Delaney has delivered some of the biggest worship anthems of

510
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,199
Speaker 1: the past decade, with number one singles You're Doing It,

511
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:36,119
Speaker 1: You're Doing It All Again, Your Great Name psaw eighteen,

512
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 1: number one gospel albums such as Your Great Name and

513
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:42,320
Speaker 1: The Worship's Heart. He's revered as one of the influences

514
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,199
Speaker 1: of the next generation of gospel music. Please work with

515
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:49,240
Speaker 1: the money making conversation, Todd Delaney, Hey doing, sir, oh man,

516
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,560
Speaker 1: I'm doing a wonderful man. Thanks for having me. First

517
00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:53,440
Speaker 1: of all, I had a lot to say about you,

518
00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:56,080
Speaker 1: you know, your success. You know you're out there there

519
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,679
Speaker 1: running around that diamond as they call the baseball field.

520
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:02,040
Speaker 1: You got that camp looking like a young King Griffith Jr.

521
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 1: Because I have to believe that was your dream at first, right, absolutely, man,

522
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:11,360
Speaker 1: I mean, the thing was the goal was to get

523
00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 1: to a bunch of millions of dollars. Man, that was

524
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,000
Speaker 1: that was the goal. When I was a kid growing

525
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:17,399
Speaker 1: up in the hood, I said, if I could just

526
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,320
Speaker 1: get to the bag, um, that's all that matters. But

527
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:22,560
Speaker 1: I realized that I had a little bit more to

528
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:24,960
Speaker 1: offer than just going after the bag, and I think

529
00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:26,800
Speaker 1: I wanted to take that route so I can try

530
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:29,359
Speaker 1: to impact the world in a more positive way than

531
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:31,919
Speaker 1: you just come into a stadium and watching me play. Well,

532
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:35,240
Speaker 1: you know, it's really when you make these decisions, especially

533
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:37,639
Speaker 1: at a young age. You know I was, you know,

534
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,000
Speaker 1: because you really determine your future. I always tell people

535
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,360
Speaker 1: the decisions you make between eighteen and twenty four are

536
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:46,479
Speaker 1: really the career decisions that how are you gonna make

537
00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:49,520
Speaker 1: your money when you and sixty and so you made

538
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,480
Speaker 1: a decision that because obviously to be drafted by the

539
00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:56,119
Speaker 1: match there's a considerable scouting that goes into that, and

540
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 1: they don't just draft people just for fun. They drafted

541
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:01,960
Speaker 1: they feel it could nurture their talents and build upon that.

542
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:05,280
Speaker 1: Talk about the experience of being drafted at that point,

543
00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:07,040
Speaker 1: and then we're gonna go through the whole process of

544
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:09,680
Speaker 1: maturing to the point that you made a decision that

545
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:13,720
Speaker 1: that wasn't the direction for you. Yeah, so so bro.

546
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:16,840
Speaker 1: The biggest thing about the whole draft process is that

547
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:19,439
Speaker 1: you gotta think about everybody in your family that puts

548
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,840
Speaker 1: so much into you your development. Like my mom and

549
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,880
Speaker 1: dad spent so much money on me playing and traveling

550
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:29,920
Speaker 1: in the world, So for them, this was the biggest

551
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 1: thing that could possibly ever happen, and for me too,

552
00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:33,680
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, like when I start seeing the

553
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: scouts were coming to the game and they were talking

554
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,200
Speaker 1: to my parents, they would pull my parents to the

555
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:40,160
Speaker 1: side and say, man, we think your son can play

556
00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,360
Speaker 1: at the next level. My parents would in turn take

557
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:45,960
Speaker 1: me home and tell me we talked to the Pittsburgh

558
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:48,280
Speaker 1: Pirates today. We talked to the Cubs today. We talked

559
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:51,080
Speaker 1: and so at that point I I was, hey, I'm

560
00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,200
Speaker 1: all in. I said, okay, I mean I can go

561
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:55,480
Speaker 1: get the bag. No more school. You mean, what like,

562
00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,680
Speaker 1: what what does my future look like? And so um

563
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:01,280
Speaker 1: at that point when they started talking like that, my

564
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,479
Speaker 1: mind started changing because I started seeing my future in

565
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:08,000
Speaker 1: a different way. Um. And then, UM, I never imagined

566
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:11,320
Speaker 1: stepping away to do nothing else, especially singing gospel music

567
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,640
Speaker 1: at that because in gospel music, that's not really a lucrative,

568
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:17,720
Speaker 1: lucrative business. That's that's more of a you know, commitment

569
00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,720
Speaker 1: as far as your your faith in what you believe

570
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,200
Speaker 1: and how you're motivating move people. Now the whole process. Now,

571
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:25,800
Speaker 1: what position did you play? I want to make sure

572
00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:30,600
Speaker 1: that everybody hears the Jose tu V all the great

573
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,760
Speaker 1: second base was out there, Ryan Seinberg, all that that

574
00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 1: throwing that devil play, you know, make that spinning. So

575
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:39,160
Speaker 1: I stopped throwing it down. So what was your best?

576
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,440
Speaker 1: You know? I never man, Look I did first of all,

577
00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:44,160
Speaker 1: I did my research on your too, So you know,

578
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 1: in terms of amations. You're just telling me so let

579
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:50,320
Speaker 1: the general public know about your skills. And because because

580
00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:54,200
Speaker 1: when people make these decisions like my my degrees in mathematics,

581
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:57,160
Speaker 1: you know, when you work for IBM. And then it

582
00:29:57,280 --> 00:29:59,680
Speaker 1: came point in my life IBM within the journey I

583
00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:01,520
Speaker 1: wanted and I wanted to be a stand up comic,

584
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 1: you know. And I know when I was making that decision, Todd,

585
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 1: it was difficult for me because I knew, just like

586
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 1: you said, a lot of people have invested energy and

587
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:17,720
Speaker 1: was excited and working. I come from the inner city

588
00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 1: and and being at way, I've worked for a fortune

589
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:25,360
Speaker 1: five company IBM, and and so that that's what that's

590
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:26,880
Speaker 1: what you said. Next day step for that was just

591
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,080
Speaker 1: to getting married, has with kids. That's that's the true

592
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:31,040
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And so when when I

593
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:33,880
Speaker 1: made that decision, and I always tell people, I made

594
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:36,200
Speaker 1: it a year in advance, when I you know, and

595
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 1: I when I when I was sitting at home and

596
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:40,760
Speaker 1: I was in tears because I knew it was such

597
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:44,440
Speaker 1: a difficult decision for me because I know the decisions

598
00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:49,160
Speaker 1: that I make also impacts others, and so I know

599
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:51,160
Speaker 1: it wasn't an easy decision. That's why I wanted to

600
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 1: bring my experience into your experience. So you know that

601
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,560
Speaker 1: I share a point of view and the emotion. And

602
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,280
Speaker 1: I wasn't tried. I wasn't thinking about millions of dollars. Oh.

603
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:03,680
Speaker 1: I saw Eddie Murphy out there. I saw Richard Pryor

604
00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:07,400
Speaker 1: out there. I saw all those guys out there, but

605
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:10,240
Speaker 1: I didn't I just saw an opportunity to say, this

606
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:12,560
Speaker 1: is what I wanted to do. But you know, the

607
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:16,040
Speaker 1: beauty of it is that there's no game plan. As

608
00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:20,360
Speaker 1: in baseball, there's a game plan. You start here, you

609
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:22,600
Speaker 1: go to this next level, you get to this next level,

610
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:25,840
Speaker 1: you make the major leagues. But to be a gospel artists,

611
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:31,160
Speaker 1: there's no plan. So talk about that. So you know,

612
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:33,120
Speaker 1: the crazy thing is, I think I went in blind,

613
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:35,640
Speaker 1: like I would. I didn't know what the future held.

614
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:37,680
Speaker 1: I didn't you know, I wasn't smart enough. I don't

615
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:41,040
Speaker 1: think to really have gather all of my thoughts. I

616
00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 1: just knew I was following my heart. Because if I

617
00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:46,440
Speaker 1: could do it all over again, now that I actually

618
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:49,320
Speaker 1: have a greater insight into business and everything, I don't

619
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 1: think I would have jumped the way I did, and

620
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,320
Speaker 1: I'm kind of, you know, I'm grateful that I wouldn't just,

621
00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:58,280
Speaker 1: you know, I guess smart, because I would have held

622
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:00,440
Speaker 1: on to what I knew was sure and was sure

623
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:02,080
Speaker 1: at that time, was that you could make a lot

624
00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 1: of money playing baseball. And so that transition for me, Um,

625
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,840
Speaker 1: I jumped blind because I was so excited about the

626
00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 1: fact that I could make impact sharing this new faith,

627
00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:16,280
Speaker 1: this new thing that I had because I didn't, you know,

628
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:19,040
Speaker 1: I didn't grow up churchy. I grew up straight like

629
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,160
Speaker 1: let's get it, let's get out to the clubs, let's

630
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:22,960
Speaker 1: fight a little bit, let's do all of that. I

631
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:25,200
Speaker 1: grew up like that. So when I came into this

632
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,640
Speaker 1: knowledge of the Bible and the relationship with God, that

633
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:30,720
Speaker 1: was really the thing that kind of grabbed me because

634
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 1: I said, Dad, there's a whole another way I can think,

635
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,400
Speaker 1: live and do my life. And that was the thing

636
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:38,320
Speaker 1: that kind of made me make the transition that my

637
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:40,680
Speaker 1: parents they were Bible people too, when they were like,

638
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:42,800
Speaker 1: hold on, hold on this, this might not be God

639
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:44,920
Speaker 1: like what you you you need to go back and

640
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:47,560
Speaker 1: play baseball that that you know, keep doing what you're doing.

641
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 1: And I said, no, Ma, I didn't found something that

642
00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,240
Speaker 1: that I believe. It's just the world. And thankfully I

643
00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:56,160
Speaker 1: held to my gods. Well, you know, it's really interesting

644
00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:57,880
Speaker 1: that that's what I said in the beginning. I always

645
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,400
Speaker 1: leave with your gifts. Don't at your age free family

646
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 1: and co workers stop you from planning or living your dream.

647
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:05,640
Speaker 1: And that's where you were at that point. How old

648
00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 1: we get that, Todd? And he was at twenty three?

649
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:13,960
Speaker 1: And like I said, uh, I made the decision based

650
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,960
Speaker 1: twenty three to twenty three and I left. I left IBM,

651
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,280
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna tell you some man. Uh I had

652
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,000
Speaker 1: an idea of what I knew. First of all, I

653
00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:26,560
Speaker 1: had the talent. You know that you had the talent,

654
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:29,360
Speaker 1: so we we couldn't walk away from that. So when

655
00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:32,720
Speaker 1: people when you start making that decision, Todd, nobody could say, well,

656
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:36,479
Speaker 1: you know he's about to jump out Kitty's Kitty kit

657
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:41,000
Speaker 1: he see, can't he? Benfolle right, Well, nobody question of that.

658
00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:47,760
Speaker 1: But they were so directional about what you should be doing.

659
00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:50,960
Speaker 1: Who had the biggest pushback on that? What was it?

660
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:54,440
Speaker 1: Your friends? With your family? Because I know Mom, Tason Man,

661
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:58,160
Speaker 1: I told my friends, they go, really you're leaving? I

662
00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:01,760
Speaker 1: VM to tell Joe, and then they went and then

663
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:03,200
Speaker 1: they went there. This is when they went on me,

664
00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:05,480
Speaker 1: how you gonna make money? And I'm gonna tell you

665
00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:09,000
Speaker 1: this right here, Tom, I could not tell them how

666
00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:11,000
Speaker 1: I was gonna make money. And I had a house.

667
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:13,160
Speaker 1: I just bought a house. Like you said, maybe said

668
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:16,200
Speaker 1: jump out there with bad decisions. If I didn't do

669
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:17,759
Speaker 1: it all again, I probably was the state that I

670
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:21,680
Speaker 1: be because I just bought a house. I bought a call,

671
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:24,040
Speaker 1: and I said me, I gotta get out of this.

672
00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:26,440
Speaker 1: So it wasn't it was more on faith. It was

673
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,040
Speaker 1: more I had a plan, but the plan wasn't met.

674
00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:32,560
Speaker 1: I believe in me. So let's talk about that process,

675
00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:34,560
Speaker 1: because I really want to slow people down because a

676
00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:38,600
Speaker 1: lot of people listening to the show, they're sitting around debating.

677
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:41,399
Speaker 1: They leaving their their husbands stopped them, and they letting

678
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:44,560
Speaker 1: the relationship stop them. Someone even letting their kids stop them,

679
00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:47,759
Speaker 1: and so, but you can only stop yourself and you

680
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:51,080
Speaker 1: can only start yourself. Talk to us, sir, that's right. Yeah,

681
00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:53,600
Speaker 1: it was my My old man gave me the most pushback.

682
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:57,359
Speaker 1: My father, my father, because I mean he was so

683
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:01,680
Speaker 1: we were so close to they thought it was the

684
00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:04,520
Speaker 1: greatest thing that I could ever do. And and um,

685
00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,399
Speaker 1: the craziest thing about how much we put so much

686
00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:11,480
Speaker 1: emphasis on, you know, sports in America, Like if you

687
00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:12,920
Speaker 1: make it to the top of the sports, they think

688
00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:16,440
Speaker 1: that's the greatest thing. But for me, impact, impact was

689
00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:18,319
Speaker 1: the was the greatest thing. I said, Man, how can

690
00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:20,799
Speaker 1: I impact the world? Now? Now now that I'm in

691
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:23,799
Speaker 1: this thing all the way over here, Um, I'm in

692
00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:26,480
Speaker 1: my mind, I'm thinking I'll make more money on this

693
00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:29,120
Speaker 1: side than I ever could have imagined. Because I never

694
00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:30,560
Speaker 1: did it for the money, you know what I'm saying.

695
00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:32,799
Speaker 1: I did it because I knew that I wanted to

696
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:34,840
Speaker 1: be an impact or of of the world in a

697
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:38,320
Speaker 1: positive direction. And so, um, you know, I mean I

698
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:41,200
Speaker 1: say that just to say the people that are watching it,

699
00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:43,359
Speaker 1: don't ever chase the dollar, you know what I'm saying.

700
00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:45,760
Speaker 1: It's not that it's not the dollar, chase the impact.

701
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,160
Speaker 1: How can you make an impact on other people's lives

702
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,360
Speaker 1: and the money will chase you. And so I'm in

703
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,440
Speaker 1: a really, really, really beautiful place right now. But but

704
00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:55,480
Speaker 1: to to kind of backtrack a little bit, my old man,

705
00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:57,440
Speaker 1: because my old man knew that he could put the

706
00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:00,560
Speaker 1: fear of God on me for a long time. That

707
00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:02,080
Speaker 1: was the big thing that he told me. Man, you're

708
00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:03,759
Speaker 1: pretty much gonna get your tail back there. That was

709
00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:05,640
Speaker 1: the first time that I really, I think I stood

710
00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:07,960
Speaker 1: up to my father and was like, hey, I know,

711
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:11,760
Speaker 1: I know you can probably steal with me, but I'm

712
00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:14,200
Speaker 1: not gonna do this. I'm going my own direction. He

713
00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:17,319
Speaker 1: eventually backed off and really gave me his support. But

714
00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:19,960
Speaker 1: I had here a guy for a little while. Well,

715
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,160
Speaker 1: you know, it really is uh you know, because he

716
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:25,600
Speaker 1: saw he was you living his dream and I cannot

717
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:28,279
Speaker 1: fault him for that. He was caught up, and I

718
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:30,440
Speaker 1: guess that's the proper term. He was caught up. He

719
00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:34,080
Speaker 1: was caught up my boy, because he can explain that

720
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:36,279
Speaker 1: to his other boys. You know what I'm saying, My

721
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:39,640
Speaker 1: boy to New York and my boy all star, my

722
00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:42,319
Speaker 1: boy hit a home run, my boss stole a base,

723
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,239
Speaker 1: My boy singing gospel. That's a different care that's a

724
00:36:45,239 --> 00:36:48,799
Speaker 1: different car to stream conversation. That's difficult stream conversation time.

725
00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:51,600
Speaker 1: So I know where he's coming from, Okay. But the

726
00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:53,920
Speaker 1: beauty of it is that what I'm trying to tell

727
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 1: everybody in this interview of doing with Just and Brollier

728
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:59,320
Speaker 1: gramming down today this della war when it recording artist, songwriter,

729
00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:02,239
Speaker 1: producer worshiple because you leave me worship right here on

730
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 1: my show right now, because the worship is tied to inspiration,

731
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,879
Speaker 1: and inspiration is tied to overcome. And what I feel

732
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,040
Speaker 1: is doubt. And you said something very important, and people

733
00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:13,600
Speaker 1: always ask me. I would tell people I don't chase money.

734
00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:18,520
Speaker 1: I chase opportunity. I chance relationships. I changed because if

735
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,000
Speaker 1: I have the right relationship, I'm gonna get paid. But

736
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:24,200
Speaker 1: if you go into a situation, and let's clear this up, team,

737
00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:26,319
Speaker 1: when we talk like this, in order to start up,

738
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:29,600
Speaker 1: if your entrepreneur, if you out there, you better have

739
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,560
Speaker 1: a budget. You better. I understand how we're talking about

740
00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:36,520
Speaker 1: individuals who walk away from a job and have a

741
00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:38,719
Speaker 1: God given talent. And that's what I had at a

742
00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:40,840
Speaker 1: guard given to heal as a stand up comedian. You

743
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:43,920
Speaker 1: had a guard given talent as a gospel singer, arranger

744
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:48,120
Speaker 1: of music leader. And that's a different conversation. You don't

745
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:51,080
Speaker 1: have a budget tied to that, you know what I'm saying.

746
00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:53,319
Speaker 1: You don't have a budget tied to that. Now, if

747
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:55,720
Speaker 1: you try to open up your next dunkin, doone us

748
00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:58,680
Speaker 1: or next uh I t store. You better have a

749
00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:01,040
Speaker 1: budget and a plan and hope have some money in

750
00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:03,279
Speaker 1: the bank. But I always tell people I can stand

751
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:06,640
Speaker 1: on the corner, Todd and tell jokes and make money. Okay,

752
00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:09,200
Speaker 1: just like you. If you really, if you got ugly

753
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:12,919
Speaker 1: out there, brother, you can hit the car to start

754
00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:15,399
Speaker 1: praising the law and it's gonna be all good, am

755
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:19,480
Speaker 1: I Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, we did a couple of

756
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:21,759
Speaker 1: dollars on the corner. Man, Come on, come on, and

757
00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:24,319
Speaker 1: now now now we now were turned in the corner. Man.

758
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:28,319
Speaker 1: You you you made the commitment. I'm getting out of here,

759
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:30,880
Speaker 1: but there's still no plan in place. How do you

760
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:34,439
Speaker 1: start sowing the seeds of the opportunity to pursue your dream,

761
00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:38,520
Speaker 1: your dream after leaving baseball? So after leaving baseball, I

762
00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:41,120
Speaker 1: think the greatest connection that I made was with a

763
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:46,640
Speaker 1: guy Grammy Award winners names Pastor Smoky northorl that's my boy.

764
00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:50,560
Speaker 1: I did thirteen. I produced thirteen Celebration of Gospel BT,

765
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:56,040
Speaker 1: So I know snarky, all right, yeah, smoking He took

766
00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:58,520
Speaker 1: me under his wing man, and that was the relationship

767
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:02,000
Speaker 1: that kind of gave me a real visual of the

768
00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:06,080
Speaker 1: fact that, man, I see a guy that Swaggy, got

769
00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:09,040
Speaker 1: a family, got kids, he's singing in the gospel. I

770
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:12,080
Speaker 1: can relate. And I said, I would like to live

771
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:15,160
Speaker 1: a life like his, one that is dedicated to his faith.

772
00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:18,120
Speaker 1: But it still looks cool. He made it look good,

773
00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:21,480
Speaker 1: you know, sit on the piano, sing the song, and

774
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:23,359
Speaker 1: I said, I can do this, like I could really

775
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:25,319
Speaker 1: do it. And he taught me the business, taught me

776
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:28,120
Speaker 1: the game, taught me, taught me how to study the Bible,

777
00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:30,479
Speaker 1: taught me how to write songs on the level where

778
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:33,080
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, I was listening to somebody. It was

779
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:36,200
Speaker 1: almost equivalent to talking to a Major League baseball player

780
00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:37,960
Speaker 1: that was an All Star. Hey, this is how you

781
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:40,120
Speaker 1: put in work to get to where you want to be.

782
00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:42,240
Speaker 1: This is how you write songs that will be nominated

783
00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:45,319
Speaker 1: for Grammars. And he gave me the blueprint, and um,

784
00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:48,680
Speaker 1: that was when the corner began to turn then, because

785
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:50,960
Speaker 1: I started to see I said, hey, if he can

786
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:52,719
Speaker 1: do it, then I can do it. And he would

787
00:39:52,719 --> 00:39:54,640
Speaker 1: tell me things like, bro, you're gonna be You're gonna

788
00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:56,560
Speaker 1: go farther than me, and I used to be like, dude,

789
00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:59,239
Speaker 1: you're you're a beast. How am I gonna go farther

790
00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:01,400
Speaker 1: than you? Man? He was like, no, He's like, it

791
00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:04,479
Speaker 1: only makes sense to go farther to me because I'm

792
00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 1: actually teaching you the game before I ever knew it

793
00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:09,600
Speaker 1: and so um and he's sure enough, he's still my

794
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:11,360
Speaker 1: mentor to this day and that. But that was the

795
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:13,520
Speaker 1: that was the pivotal move in my life. Well, you

796
00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:16,560
Speaker 1: know when Steve Harvey, because Steve was a hosting that

797
00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:20,080
Speaker 1: I was producing, uh and writing their monologues and everything

798
00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:23,480
Speaker 1: for celebration the gospel for thirteen years we did it

799
00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:28,319
Speaker 1: and uh, that allowed me to you know, entry way

800
00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:33,000
Speaker 1: into a lot of incredible people like Smokey Um Uh,

801
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:36,239
Speaker 1: like Kurt Franklin, that's my boy at him just just

802
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:38,799
Speaker 1: you know, just to go down to the duds, go

803
00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:42,480
Speaker 1: down Mary and marry everybody. Yeah, And that process I

804
00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,719
Speaker 1: learned that there was a shift in the gospel, you know,

805
00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:48,480
Speaker 1: especially with Steve Harvey hosting. That was comedian who did

806
00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:51,759
Speaker 1: death comedy jam. You know, because gospel has always been

807
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:56,640
Speaker 1: sometimes too churchy, you know, you can't it's not Gospel

808
00:40:56,719 --> 00:41:00,879
Speaker 1: could sometimes be uninviting, even though even though it's God.

809
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:03,960
Speaker 1: So it could be like you you you come talk

810
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:05,560
Speaker 1: to God the way I want you to come talk

811
00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:09,080
Speaker 1: to God. Now, if you don't talk to God the way, ah,

812
00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:10,680
Speaker 1: we don't want to hear you. We an't hear it.

813
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:17,879
Speaker 1: And when I'm saying that time, yes, yes, right, talk

814
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:21,560
Speaker 1: to us about that minute because you got you got

815
00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:24,920
Speaker 1: that swag, I'm telling some man I look at it

816
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:28,880
Speaker 1: bringing smile. I talked to Molly Music. That's my boy Green,

817
00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,400
Speaker 1: that's my boy. So so I'm not I'm not a

818
00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:34,839
Speaker 1: person who's who's who's just stepping into a interview with

819
00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:37,560
Speaker 1: you because you're popular and you're successful now and you're

820
00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:39,480
Speaker 1: now you're in the family, not you know, you're the

821
00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:41,279
Speaker 1: money may come, says family because all of them come

822
00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:43,359
Speaker 1: on my show. And when we come on the show,

823
00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:46,719
Speaker 1: we talked like this because it's about your inspiration, it's

824
00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:50,560
Speaker 1: your journey, and more importantly, sometimes people will restrict your

825
00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:53,239
Speaker 1: journey even though you're trying to accomplish the same goal.

826
00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:57,520
Speaker 1: And then that's where I run into trouble when when

827
00:41:57,520 --> 00:41:59,760
Speaker 1: we come into gospel, because we're all trying to uplive,

828
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:01,920
Speaker 1: we all trying to make people feel good. But some

829
00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:04,239
Speaker 1: people want you to do it a certain way. How

830
00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:07,840
Speaker 1: has that motivate you? And how has that disappointed you? Attacks?

831
00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:10,640
Speaker 1: Oh man, look you lead me. You lead me to

832
00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:12,400
Speaker 1: a place where I'm probably gonna say too much, but

833
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:17,239
Speaker 1: I I don't care, because, um I heard I heard

834
00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:19,960
Speaker 1: it say it like this your cat and told me

835
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:23,040
Speaker 1: one time, he said the goal is to break into

836
00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:26,880
Speaker 1: the gospel music industry and then to break out. And

837
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:29,839
Speaker 1: I couldn't understand it, you know what I mean, because

838
00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:31,200
Speaker 1: I said, well, why would you want to break out?

839
00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:33,200
Speaker 1: You know? He said no, he said, he says, because

840
00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:35,560
Speaker 1: when you break in, people will try to keep you

841
00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:37,640
Speaker 1: bound on the end. They'll try to make you do

842
00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:40,319
Speaker 1: everything like they want you to do it, and then

843
00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:43,399
Speaker 1: have to break out of that and become your own

844
00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:46,040
Speaker 1: man and god man. And I'm at that place right now.

845
00:42:46,080 --> 00:42:49,839
Speaker 1: Like I've enjoyed what I've been able to accomplish here,

846
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:52,880
Speaker 1: but I don't want to be owned by anybody. I

847
00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:56,120
Speaker 1: don't want to, I don't wanna. I don't want to

848
00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:59,640
Speaker 1: do or be dictated to do anything by anybody's systems

849
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:02,279
Speaker 1: or standards. Man, I'm trying to make my own mark

850
00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:05,200
Speaker 1: in this world. Um, I'm trying to create my own

851
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:08,319
Speaker 1: system in this world so that um, nobody can put

852
00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:10,759
Speaker 1: a cap on how much money I can make, how

853
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:14,640
Speaker 1: many souls I can win, what kind of music I produced, Like,

854
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:16,879
Speaker 1: that's what That's just. I've always been like that. I've

855
00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:19,279
Speaker 1: always been a little bit of a rebel um. Even

856
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:21,520
Speaker 1: when when people were saying, man, you're stupid for walking

857
00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:24,399
Speaker 1: away from baseball, I didn't care. I knew I could

858
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:26,120
Speaker 1: do it because I knew what was on the inside

859
00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:28,720
Speaker 1: of me. And so you're talking my language like this,

860
00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:31,960
Speaker 1: This right here is probably what's on the forefront of

861
00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:34,720
Speaker 1: my mind every day when I wake up in the morning.

862
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:37,879
Speaker 1: It's like, how do I create a system that will

863
00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:41,120
Speaker 1: allow me to dominate? Aside from what everybody else is

864
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:42,759
Speaker 1: telling me that it is the norm and that I

865
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:46,520
Speaker 1: have to do in order for me to dominate in

866
00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:48,319
Speaker 1: this world. I just don't believe it. I don't believe

867
00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:50,000
Speaker 1: it's anything that I have to do. I believe I

868
00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:51,840
Speaker 1: can do it however I want to. I can create

869
00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:54,399
Speaker 1: my own recipe. And so that's what we're doing right now.

870
00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:58,160
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk. When we're sitting up there talking and

871
00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:00,400
Speaker 1: I see the full name, because you need to be

872
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:02,799
Speaker 1: recognized for your success. There's a lot of times out there,

873
00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:06,040
Speaker 1: but on one tid de lane and and when you

874
00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:08,440
Speaker 1: when you you know, you're a grinder. I can tell

875
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:10,360
Speaker 1: you right the ground. And sometimes grinders are like me,

876
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:13,320
Speaker 1: you don't you move, you move on to the next project.

877
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:17,040
Speaker 1: And sometimes you gotta be reminded how special you are.

878
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:21,279
Speaker 1: And your number one gospel album, your great name, you

879
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:25,360
Speaker 1: know when you know when this started moving, when it

880
00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:30,480
Speaker 1: started impact and we just started streaming sales and views,

881
00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:34,279
Speaker 1: and tell me about that, man, tell meybody, tell me,

882
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:36,319
Speaker 1: tell me about that. First of all you, and then

883
00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:40,960
Speaker 1: the family and then you the big smile man. So

884
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:45,799
Speaker 1: so that that that whole moment in time, that momentum

885
00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:48,279
Speaker 1: that took off right there with your Great name. Um,

886
00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:50,480
Speaker 1: it was global for one. So it was like we

887
00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:53,319
Speaker 1: we spent a lot of time in the Motherland, time

888
00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:57,560
Speaker 1: in South South America, we spent time. I went to India,

889
00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:01,279
Speaker 1: so it was it was just always going. But the

890
00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:04,040
Speaker 1: greatest thing about it was to see the way people

891
00:45:04,040 --> 00:45:06,279
Speaker 1: were influenced by you, man like, and I'm talking about

892
00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:08,520
Speaker 1: on another side of the world. It's one thing man

893
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:12,480
Speaker 1: to to to talk like talk English, to people and

894
00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:14,880
Speaker 1: see your own people being impacted by your music. But

895
00:45:14,920 --> 00:45:16,560
Speaker 1: to go to another side of the world where people

896
00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:18,960
Speaker 1: who hardly even speak the same language you and they say,

897
00:45:19,320 --> 00:45:22,320
Speaker 1: we listen to your music, we watch your videos on YouTube,

898
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:25,319
Speaker 1: we're encouraged by you. That thing will leave tears in

899
00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:27,800
Speaker 1: your like. So my wife and I in the band,

900
00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:31,520
Speaker 1: we traveled the world and now your great name moment.

901
00:45:32,239 --> 00:45:35,680
Speaker 1: We were just touring the world and crying, bro like

902
00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:39,520
Speaker 1: we were. We couldn't believe that the world was singing

903
00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:41,880
Speaker 1: these songs and that the world was impacted like we

904
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:45,319
Speaker 1: did a concert in Uganda, Seventy five thousand people showed

905
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:47,319
Speaker 1: up three nights in a row. Like I was like,

906
00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:50,480
Speaker 1: I'm like at this point, like God, what else are

907
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:52,879
Speaker 1: you gonna show me? Like, because I'm just a little

908
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:54,359
Speaker 1: all I could think was I was just a young

909
00:45:54,400 --> 00:45:57,000
Speaker 1: guy from the West side of Chicago. I didn't know

910
00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:59,480
Speaker 1: I didn't even know people over there on the other

911
00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:04,439
Speaker 1: side of the world or even listening. So that's the turn.

912
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:07,520
Speaker 1: The concert out there and the lightening up flashlights and

913
00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:09,320
Speaker 1: stuff like that. All those people, I think, can't you

914
00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:12,799
Speaker 1: see the back of the road, You can't even see

915
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:15,719
Speaker 1: the numb and That's that's the beauty of you. Now

916
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:19,120
Speaker 1: know the new album Anthems and Glory, you know, to

917
00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:22,920
Speaker 1: jamb out this body music. You know, you're leading listeners

918
00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:26,960
Speaker 1: literally back to the scriptures for hope, conference, answers, instructure,

919
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:29,400
Speaker 1: because I need instructures and I need hope, and I

920
00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:32,680
Speaker 1: need I need prayer. I need all those things. Sometimes

921
00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:34,920
Speaker 1: I may be a denial about it, I'm gonna tell

922
00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:37,480
Speaker 1: you right now, but that doesn't mean I don't need it.

923
00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:40,000
Speaker 1: So how do you how do you make sure that

924
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:44,200
Speaker 1: those layers and seven tracks on this album? Yeah? Why

925
00:46:44,239 --> 00:46:46,520
Speaker 1: did you do it? And why is it impacting a

926
00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:51,360
Speaker 1: person like me? Man I? I okay, Well, I remember

927
00:46:51,440 --> 00:46:53,640
Speaker 1: this thing. There was there was something done a few

928
00:46:53,719 --> 00:46:55,759
Speaker 1: years back by all the celebrities, a lot of them,

929
00:46:56,160 --> 00:46:59,600
Speaker 1: um called the Bible Stories. They did a CD where

930
00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:02,560
Speaker 1: they were all using their voices and they were, you know,

931
00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:05,160
Speaker 1: replaying the Bible. And at that moment I kind of

932
00:47:05,160 --> 00:47:08,920
Speaker 1: got the idea then that there's one book in the

933
00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:11,480
Speaker 1: Bible that will never stop selling to the people, and

934
00:47:11,520 --> 00:47:14,640
Speaker 1: that's the Bible. The Bible is always probably the number

935
00:47:14,680 --> 00:47:19,040
Speaker 1: one selling book every year. And so um, I figured,

936
00:47:19,040 --> 00:47:21,320
Speaker 1: I said, you can't go wrong when you give people

937
00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:23,560
Speaker 1: the Bible, the word of God, and then it kind

938
00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:25,160
Speaker 1: of takes you out of the way because there's so

939
00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:28,520
Speaker 1: much disagreement about what the scriptures say this that another.

940
00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:30,680
Speaker 1: I know that I can take my own emotion and

941
00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:33,280
Speaker 1: opinion out of the way when I just give people

942
00:47:33,320 --> 00:47:36,160
Speaker 1: the words, sing them the word and so they can

943
00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:38,760
Speaker 1: turn to it. Rather it's like, hey, you know what, um,

944
00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:41,840
Speaker 1: He's taken kind of his own influence out of the

945
00:47:41,920 --> 00:47:44,439
Speaker 1: music and he's given us just straight Bible for people

946
00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:46,920
Speaker 1: that don't like to read too much. I got you faded.

947
00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:48,680
Speaker 1: We we put it in music so you could just

948
00:47:48,680 --> 00:47:51,520
Speaker 1: turn it on and let it hit your spirit. Now.

949
00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:54,480
Speaker 1: You know, the thing about it is that one thing

950
00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:57,160
Speaker 1: I was typical ever since I was eighteen years old,

951
00:47:57,160 --> 00:47:59,720
Speaker 1: I've always been uplifting. When I look back at my life,

952
00:47:59,840 --> 00:48:02,080
Speaker 1: look that I've been the same guy when I was

953
00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:04,760
Speaker 1: a t you know, I remember students who were struggling

954
00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:07,800
Speaker 1: in college. I I found out why they were struggling

955
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:09,600
Speaker 1: and trying to help them move forward. You know, you can,

956
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:12,359
Speaker 1: but then you can only help people so much. But again,

957
00:48:12,480 --> 00:48:15,400
Speaker 1: there you are there to uplift the same thing with you,

958
00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:18,640
Speaker 1: you know, you're not only delivering great music and great

959
00:48:18,640 --> 00:48:22,200
Speaker 1: content with your albums and your your success story, but

960
00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:25,000
Speaker 1: also you're having to emerge in the artists and trying

961
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:27,120
Speaker 1: to get their songs out there, get their songs produced

962
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:29,719
Speaker 1: with your production company. Talk to us about that and

963
00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:32,440
Speaker 1: why is that important to you? Man, we're saying this,

964
00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:35,520
Speaker 1: this probably the best idea that God ever ever gave

965
00:48:35,600 --> 00:48:39,560
Speaker 1: me before. Man M a subscription based production company. I

966
00:48:39,600 --> 00:48:43,239
Speaker 1: know the production Sometimes people pay UM or they try to.

967
00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:47,480
Speaker 1: They pay so much money to record UM albums, you know,

968
00:48:47,600 --> 00:48:49,359
Speaker 1: not like you could get up to in gospel mus

969
00:48:49,400 --> 00:48:52,680
Speaker 1: You can get up to fifty to a hundred thousand

970
00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:55,799
Speaker 1: dollars depending on how what kind of budget you're working with. UM.

971
00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:58,160
Speaker 1: So what my team and I we came up with

972
00:48:58,160 --> 00:49:00,560
Speaker 1: was a subscription model where people just hey, a flat

973
00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:04,040
Speaker 1: for your fifteen hundred dollars a month to up to

974
00:49:04,120 --> 00:49:07,040
Speaker 1: four songs and production, and then they walk away owning

975
00:49:07,040 --> 00:49:11,000
Speaker 1: the masters. And so UM we we have seen I

976
00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:12,759
Speaker 1: mean what what I thought was gonna be like a

977
00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:16,680
Speaker 1: little small company launch um we we right away started

978
00:49:16,719 --> 00:49:21,319
Speaker 1: with over five hundred subscribers that UM that immediately said hey,

979
00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:25,319
Speaker 1: we want help producing our music and so um, now

980
00:49:25,440 --> 00:49:27,920
Speaker 1: we got producers all over the world to sit at

981
00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:29,439
Speaker 1: home and wait for us to give them the green

982
00:49:29,560 --> 00:49:33,160
Speaker 1: light to start producing on a ton of projects. And

983
00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:35,160
Speaker 1: like I said, it just gives people a chance to

984
00:49:35,239 --> 00:49:38,000
Speaker 1: kind of even the playing field, because sometimes, like you say,

985
00:49:38,080 --> 00:49:40,920
Speaker 1: whether it's gospel music or any music in the entertainment industry,

986
00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:42,920
Speaker 1: it kind of can feel like a fraternity that people

987
00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:45,560
Speaker 1: cannot get into. And so I wanted to open the

988
00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:48,000
Speaker 1: door for everybody so they can try to get in.

989
00:49:48,040 --> 00:49:50,600
Speaker 1: At least you'll have a chance to have some product. Well,

990
00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:53,680
Speaker 1: you know, his new album is Anthems and Glory seventeen

991
00:49:53,719 --> 00:49:56,480
Speaker 1: songs is live. I love live. I love it. It's

992
00:49:56,480 --> 00:49:58,440
Speaker 1: not because you know it live. You play with a

993
00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:02,160
Speaker 1: song a little bit more, okay, you know. So you know,

994
00:50:02,200 --> 00:50:05,240
Speaker 1: my all time grade and live album was Franky Beverly

995
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:07,640
Speaker 1: Amazed in New Orleans. So come on that and uh

996
00:50:07,719 --> 00:50:11,120
Speaker 1: and and uh Marvin Gate Live in London my all

997
00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:14,239
Speaker 1: time favorite. Come on old school, old school, But I

998
00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:18,840
Speaker 1: got some new school y'all a something songs. Baby, he

999
00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:21,560
Speaker 1: got my girl Tabler man on that, my boy smoking

1000
00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:25,279
Speaker 1: Doorville here sheer, oh man. These people have been on

1001
00:50:25,320 --> 00:50:27,640
Speaker 1: my show they've talked to me, I've hugged him that

1002
00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:29,840
Speaker 1: I've been blessed by them. More important, I'm being blessed

1003
00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:32,480
Speaker 1: by you with this great interview. Man, you you're your friend,

1004
00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:35,560
Speaker 1: young brother. In fact, you're you're a little brother. Welcome

1005
00:50:35,600 --> 00:50:39,080
Speaker 1: to my world. Okay, yes, indeed, thank you, my brother.

1006
00:50:39,320 --> 00:50:40,960
Speaker 1: And we're gonna keep promoting you. Man. Put you on

1007
00:50:41,160 --> 00:50:43,400
Speaker 1: social media and my newsletter and do what I do

1008
00:50:43,480 --> 00:50:46,600
Speaker 1: my part, do my part time. I'm gonna do my part. Okay, man,

1009
00:50:46,800 --> 00:50:48,680
Speaker 1: thank you so much. Cool. I want to thank you

1010
00:50:48,719 --> 00:50:51,680
Speaker 1: for coming on Money Making Conversations. Okay, got it. We

1011
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:54,799
Speaker 1: will be right back with more money Making Conversations with

1012
00:50:54,840 --> 00:50:58,359
Speaker 1: your host, ras Sean McDonald. Look to your children's eyes

1013
00:50:58,600 --> 00:51:01,560
Speaker 1: to see the true magic of a forest. It's a

1014
00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:04,760
Speaker 1: storybook world for them. You look and see a tree.

1015
00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:08,080
Speaker 1: They see the wrinkled face of a wizard with arms

1016
00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:11,920
Speaker 1: outstretched to the sky. They see treasure in pebbles, They

1017
00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:14,960
Speaker 1: see a windy path that could lead to adventure, and

1018
00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:19,280
Speaker 1: they see you. They're fearless guide through this fascinating world.

1019
00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:22,480
Speaker 1: Find a forest near you and start exploring and discover

1020
00:51:22,560 --> 00:51:24,840
Speaker 1: the forest dot Org brought to you by the United

1021
00:51:24,840 --> 00:51:28,600
Speaker 1: States Forest Service and the AD Council. What grows in

1022
00:51:28,640 --> 00:51:32,560
Speaker 1: the forest trees? Sure, No. What else grows in the forest,

1023
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:36,720
Speaker 1: Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and our family bonds

1024
00:51:36,760 --> 00:51:42,280
Speaker 1: grow too, because when we disconnect from this and connect

1025
00:51:42,320 --> 00:51:46,960
Speaker 1: with this, we reconnect with each other. The forest is

1026
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:50,000
Speaker 1: closer than you think. Find a forest near you and

1027
00:51:50,080 --> 00:51:53,360
Speaker 1: start exploring. I discover the forest dot org brought to

1028
00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:56,480
Speaker 1: you by the United States Forest Service and the AD Council.

1029
00:51:57,680 --> 00:52:00,319
Speaker 1: If I could be you and you could be for

1030
00:52:00,440 --> 00:52:02,799
Speaker 1: just one hour, if you could find a way to

1031
00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:07,040
Speaker 1: get inside each other's mind, walk a mile in my shoes,

1032
00:52:07,320 --> 00:52:12,439
Speaker 1: wacome mile in my shoes shoes. We've all felt left out,

1033
00:52:12,800 --> 00:52:15,600
Speaker 1: and for some that feeling lasts more than a moment.

1034
00:52:16,160 --> 00:52:19,399
Speaker 1: We can change that. Learn how it belonging begins with us.

1035
00:52:19,440 --> 00:52:23,360
Speaker 1: Dot org brought to you by the ACT Council. Welcome

1036
00:52:23,360 --> 00:52:30,760
Speaker 1: out in machines. You are now tuned into the money

1037
00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:35,200
Speaker 1: making conversations. Minute of Inspiration with Rushan McDonald. I sat

1038
00:52:35,239 --> 00:52:38,680
Speaker 1: down with former NFL player turned entrepreneur Herm and more.

1039
00:52:39,080 --> 00:52:41,680
Speaker 1: He's changing the game with his hair, beard, and skincare

1040
00:52:41,719 --> 00:52:46,120
Speaker 1: company that provides high quality, all natural products designed specifically

1041
00:52:46,320 --> 00:52:48,719
Speaker 1: for black young and adult man. He makes it his

1042
00:52:48,880 --> 00:52:51,160
Speaker 1: fission to help black men look and feel their best

1043
00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:54,520
Speaker 1: because he believes when you look good, you feel good,

1044
00:52:54,719 --> 00:52:56,839
Speaker 1: so you do good. Here's what he had to say.

1045
00:52:56,920 --> 00:52:58,799
Speaker 1: Grooming is something that I think we all need to

1046
00:52:58,800 --> 00:53:02,640
Speaker 1: pay attention to, especially when you're looking at trying to

1047
00:53:02,680 --> 00:53:06,840
Speaker 1: make sure you present yourself as your best. And we

1048
00:53:06,840 --> 00:53:10,200
Speaker 1: we know that when you you feel good and you

1049
00:53:10,239 --> 00:53:12,359
Speaker 1: look good, you do good. I mean that's just that's

1050
00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:14,839
Speaker 1: just a fact. And I think if we provide those

1051
00:53:14,880 --> 00:53:18,080
Speaker 1: products and we're not just products, but high quality products

1052
00:53:18,120 --> 00:53:20,719
Speaker 1: and affordable price, that allows us to be able to

1053
00:53:20,760 --> 00:53:22,520
Speaker 1: make an impact there. If you want to listen to

1054
00:53:22,560 --> 00:53:25,560
Speaker 1: this full interview with Herman Moore, it's available on money

1055
00:53:25,600 --> 00:53:30,080
Speaker 1: Making Conversations dot com. Welcome back to Money Making Conversations

1056
00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:33,720
Speaker 1: with your host, Rashwan McDonald. My next guest is Tyra

1057
00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:37,040
Speaker 1: my Rex. She is a Brooklyn native. I love Brooklyn,

1058
00:53:37,280 --> 00:53:40,919
Speaker 1: New York for five years Manhattan, so I never lived

1059
00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:43,520
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn, but I know Bob Brooklyn. She's a Brooklyn

1060
00:53:43,640 --> 00:53:47,000
Speaker 1: Navy who's a design director of Design and Merchandizing and

1061
00:53:47,080 --> 00:53:50,560
Speaker 1: Development and OVO and an entrepreneur craft in her own

1062
00:53:50,640 --> 00:53:53,040
Speaker 1: lane as the only dollar of hip hop legend jam

1063
00:53:53,120 --> 00:53:57,279
Speaker 1: Master jo Run DMC. She quickly understood her aptitudes and

1064
00:53:57,320 --> 00:53:59,920
Speaker 1: the impact that she created within this world. A lot

1065
00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:01,480
Speaker 1: of people will do that. That's why I wanted Gonna

1066
00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:04,280
Speaker 1: on the show to talk about that. Amongst her many endeavors,

1067
00:54:04,520 --> 00:54:09,080
Speaker 1: Tyer was working alongside Tiana Wallace, daughter of rapper Biggie Smalls,

1068
00:54:09,080 --> 00:54:12,200
Speaker 1: to create Juicy Pizza. Now you got me at the

1069
00:54:12,200 --> 00:54:14,560
Speaker 1: pizza park, right. Juicy just made me want to last

1070
00:54:14,560 --> 00:54:17,600
Speaker 1: stand in line. The eight is cameate as a Camara,

1071
00:54:17,800 --> 00:54:20,680
Speaker 1: the biggest smallst to bring back the embodiment of Brooklyn

1072
00:54:20,719 --> 00:54:22,160
Speaker 1: to l A. Do you know what I'm saying, y'all.

1073
00:54:22,320 --> 00:54:24,879
Speaker 1: They're bringing the East Coast to the West coast. We're

1074
00:54:24,920 --> 00:54:27,600
Speaker 1: plans to get back to the local homeless community. Juicy

1075
00:54:27,680 --> 00:54:29,839
Speaker 1: pizzas the schedule to open your twenty twenty one We'll

1076
00:54:29,840 --> 00:54:33,399
Speaker 1: talking about that. Tyra Marrix is a serial entrepreneur, which

1077
00:54:33,440 --> 00:54:36,800
Speaker 1: means that she got her hand in her hand, our hand,

1078
00:54:37,120 --> 00:54:38,920
Speaker 1: and a lot of things. At the age of twenty one,

1079
00:54:39,239 --> 00:54:42,160
Speaker 1: she sought out her first venture of Wealth. It's called Wealth,

1080
00:54:42,200 --> 00:54:45,600
Speaker 1: a streetwear peril brand with a simple sentiment of being

1081
00:54:45,680 --> 00:54:49,480
Speaker 1: Happy originally on this flight New York Flight NYC. Of

1082
00:54:49,719 --> 00:54:53,040
Speaker 1: Flight New York City NYC is the logo that was

1083
00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:56,080
Speaker 1: on their flight in NYC. Soon to be international brand

1084
00:54:56,080 --> 00:54:58,560
Speaker 1: gain more than two point three million dollars in sales

1085
00:54:58,600 --> 00:55:01,239
Speaker 1: within the first three years of business. You know who

1086
00:55:01,280 --> 00:55:05,320
Speaker 1: you're talking to. Please welcome to money making conversations, Tyra

1087
00:55:05,600 --> 00:55:10,200
Speaker 1: my Rex how I well, you know, if people are

1088
00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:13,200
Speaker 1: listening to the show, they can't see this amazing view

1089
00:55:13,239 --> 00:55:16,279
Speaker 1: in your back because you're based in Los Angeles, California.

1090
00:55:16,520 --> 00:55:18,719
Speaker 1: You know, I know your New York City born, but

1091
00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:20,920
Speaker 1: you can't get that view. Can't get that view I'm

1092
00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:25,240
Speaker 1: watching behind you in New York City. No, no, you can't.

1093
00:55:26,040 --> 00:55:28,480
Speaker 1: So tell me about yourself. You you're you're still relatively

1094
00:55:28,520 --> 00:55:32,239
Speaker 1: young as an uh an entrepreneurship in the in the

1095
00:55:32,320 --> 00:55:36,120
Speaker 1: I guess the millennial space has really taken control. It's

1096
00:55:36,160 --> 00:55:40,120
Speaker 1: a technology that has allowed young people to dive into

1097
00:55:40,160 --> 00:55:43,960
Speaker 1: the entrepreneurial role so quickly. Or just a different desire,

1098
00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:46,000
Speaker 1: a different time that we live in right now with

1099
00:55:46,120 --> 00:55:50,520
Speaker 1: internet and video phones. And I grew up with the

1100
00:55:50,600 --> 00:55:52,319
Speaker 1: rotary with don telephone. It's the ear as I grew

1101
00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:55,200
Speaker 1: up with Tyra. I lived through the rotory without telephone.

1102
00:55:55,520 --> 00:55:57,680
Speaker 1: Then I would live through the text, then I lived

1103
00:55:57,680 --> 00:56:01,279
Speaker 1: through the giant cell phones, and now in the in

1104
00:56:01,320 --> 00:56:04,600
Speaker 1: the nanties, I got a little small motor role of telephone,

1105
00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:06,240
Speaker 1: which at the town when I purchased it with twelve

1106
00:56:06,640 --> 00:56:09,520
Speaker 1: dollars at the time. And then now we're living in

1107
00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:11,520
Speaker 1: an age where you know, you basically tap your phone

1108
00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:15,120
Speaker 1: and see somebody across the world and visually. So talk

1109
00:56:15,160 --> 00:56:17,880
Speaker 1: about how technology plays a role in your life and

1110
00:56:17,920 --> 00:56:21,520
Speaker 1: it's made you so motivated to win. I think that

1111
00:56:21,840 --> 00:56:25,000
Speaker 1: technology and the advancement of social media is definitely playing

1112
00:56:25,040 --> 00:56:28,319
Speaker 1: a huge role in um the amount of entrepreneurs we

1113
00:56:28,360 --> 00:56:30,759
Speaker 1: have today. I feel like the generation that I grew

1114
00:56:30,800 --> 00:56:35,839
Speaker 1: up in specifically, like we saw the crossover from you know,

1115
00:56:35,920 --> 00:56:37,759
Speaker 1: not being able to be on the house phone and

1116
00:56:37,880 --> 00:56:40,400
Speaker 1: the internet at the same time, from dial upe to

1117
00:56:40,440 --> 00:56:43,759
Speaker 1: wireless um from three G two four G two five

1118
00:56:43,840 --> 00:56:47,520
Speaker 1: g um and now you know, the technology is is

1119
00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:50,760
Speaker 1: getting even more advanced, and I feel like social media

1120
00:56:50,880 --> 00:56:54,160
Speaker 1: has a huge influence where you know, before when you

1121
00:56:54,200 --> 00:56:57,239
Speaker 1: had to set out a press release or anything like that,

1122
00:56:57,320 --> 00:56:59,640
Speaker 1: it was something that was a fact or you know,

1123
00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:02,040
Speaker 1: a jeul or anything like that. Now we can share

1124
00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:05,839
Speaker 1: information with just the touchable button and influence the masses. Um.

1125
00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:08,040
Speaker 1: You don't have to subscribe to magazines, you don't have

1126
00:57:08,120 --> 00:57:13,719
Speaker 1: to subscribe to anything that is a subscribtion, subscription cost um.

1127
00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:17,200
Speaker 1: So these gems and these tools that may not have

1128
00:57:17,320 --> 00:57:21,840
Speaker 1: been as relevant and resourceful um ten years ago or

1129
00:57:21,840 --> 00:57:24,520
Speaker 1: at the tip of our fingers, which is pretty much

1130
00:57:24,600 --> 00:57:28,360
Speaker 1: influencing the human mind and entirety. So I feel like

1131
00:57:28,400 --> 00:57:31,480
Speaker 1: it does play a huge role in the amount of

1132
00:57:33,000 --> 00:57:36,080
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs that we have today. And it's it's a beautiful thing.

1133
00:57:36,480 --> 00:57:40,240
Speaker 1: So basically, uh, and I have a clear understanding this.

1134
00:57:40,400 --> 00:57:43,200
Speaker 1: Sometimes I ask questions not because I don't know, it's

1135
00:57:43,240 --> 00:57:44,840
Speaker 1: because I want to make sure that people who are

1136
00:57:44,880 --> 00:57:47,760
Speaker 1: listening or watching have a clear understanding of your gifts,

1137
00:57:48,080 --> 00:57:51,280
Speaker 1: your ability to take advantage of was made available because

1138
00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:52,400
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't do that. A lot of

1139
00:57:52,440 --> 00:57:55,360
Speaker 1: people are still working on traditional ways of trying to

1140
00:57:55,440 --> 00:57:58,680
Speaker 1: purchase media on radio or trying to pull up a

1141
00:57:58,720 --> 00:58:02,400
Speaker 1: billboard or still end up size and barbershops and beauty saloons,

1142
00:58:02,440 --> 00:58:05,480
Speaker 1: which still work, by the way, but because of social media,

1143
00:58:05,520 --> 00:58:09,200
Speaker 1: it effects and creates engagement sometimes with thousands and sometimes

1144
00:58:09,200 --> 00:58:11,800
Speaker 1: with millions. When did you realize social media could be

1145
00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:15,320
Speaker 1: used for you effectively tyra and put together your dreams

1146
00:58:15,400 --> 00:58:18,920
Speaker 1: and also building your brand. So luckily for me, I

1147
00:58:18,960 --> 00:58:21,720
Speaker 1: was on Twitter before everybody was verified. Um, Like I

1148
00:58:21,800 --> 00:58:24,160
Speaker 1: was like on Twitter, like one of the first people. Well,

1149
00:58:24,160 --> 00:58:25,720
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say the first people were. Like I was

1150
00:58:26,880 --> 00:58:29,880
Speaker 1: on Twitter before the wave um. And then Instagram. I

1151
00:58:29,880 --> 00:58:32,640
Speaker 1: actually stumbled upon Instagram thinking was an app to just

1152
00:58:32,720 --> 00:58:36,560
Speaker 1: like edit pictures. Um. And that was before the algorithm.

1153
00:58:36,680 --> 00:58:39,560
Speaker 1: So Instagram used to the way my brand actually like

1154
00:58:39,680 --> 00:58:42,880
Speaker 1: got out there is Instagram. Now, if you masked follow

1155
00:58:42,960 --> 00:58:46,600
Speaker 1: people on Instagram, you would for sure get blocked. But um,

1156
00:58:46,640 --> 00:58:49,000
Speaker 1: when Instagram first started, we would just sit there all

1157
00:58:49,120 --> 00:58:51,840
Speaker 1: day and like follow a bunch of people. Um, and

1158
00:58:51,880 --> 00:58:55,480
Speaker 1: that just translated into sales um. And eventually Instagram, I

1159
00:58:55,520 --> 00:58:58,360
Speaker 1: think we were like maybe following like six hundred thousand

1160
00:58:58,400 --> 00:59:01,760
Speaker 1: people were like two hundred and people following back. But um.

1161
00:59:01,800 --> 00:59:05,439
Speaker 1: Instagram eventually shut that flight NYC page down, but it

1162
00:59:05,600 --> 00:59:10,400
Speaker 1: grew that audience that stuck with us, um and allowed

1163
00:59:10,480 --> 00:59:14,280
Speaker 1: us to just reach out to celebrities before you know,

1164
00:59:14,320 --> 00:59:17,160
Speaker 1: an algorithm happened or you know they could. They were

1165
00:59:17,200 --> 00:59:21,360
Speaker 1: getting paid to be brand ambassadors and just hone and

1166
00:59:21,400 --> 00:59:25,400
Speaker 1: create those relationships. Um. So like d ming a celebrity

1167
00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:29,440
Speaker 1: in two thousand and twelve was very accessible. It wasn't

1168
00:59:29,880 --> 00:59:31,320
Speaker 1: oh I don't want to talk to you, Oh here's

1169
00:59:31,360 --> 00:59:34,600
Speaker 1: my rates. It's you're doing those things, everybody is following you.

1170
00:59:34,600 --> 00:59:36,280
Speaker 1: You know, that's back when the popular page was a

1171
00:59:36,360 --> 00:59:38,200
Speaker 1: thing on Instagram. Now we have to explore before it's

1172
00:59:38,240 --> 00:59:40,120
Speaker 1: like the popular page. If you've got a certain amount

1173
00:59:40,120 --> 00:59:41,800
Speaker 1: of likes in a certain amount of time, you're on

1174
00:59:41,840 --> 00:59:45,640
Speaker 1: a popular page. So we understood that algorithm and um

1175
00:59:45,680 --> 00:59:48,920
Speaker 1: just like back during people who followers like celebrities and

1176
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:51,200
Speaker 1: learning your market, Like if we want to sell close

1177
00:59:51,240 --> 00:59:53,160
Speaker 1: that we're from Brooklyn, We're going to everybody who follows

1178
00:59:53,160 --> 00:59:56,560
Speaker 1: fab and follows everybody that they that are that's following

1179
00:59:56,600 --> 01:00:00,000
Speaker 1: Fab because we have that network. So it was pretty

1180
01:00:00,080 --> 01:00:05,560
Speaker 1: much just being young but understanding that this in tech

1181
01:00:05,920 --> 01:00:09,240
Speaker 1: is going to go to the next level and abusing

1182
01:00:10,120 --> 01:00:13,560
Speaker 1: what they had to offer before they knew the potential

1183
01:00:14,120 --> 01:00:18,400
Speaker 1: or had that that range to be able to be

1184
01:00:18,880 --> 01:00:20,680
Speaker 1: a platform that blocks you for this and blocks you

1185
01:00:20,720 --> 01:00:22,600
Speaker 1: for that. Because if Instagram came out the gate with that,

1186
01:00:22,880 --> 01:00:25,120
Speaker 1: nobody would have Instagram, it wouldn't be where it is today.

1187
01:00:25,240 --> 01:00:28,360
Speaker 1: So um, just taking advantage and learning, learning the market

1188
01:00:28,400 --> 01:00:31,560
Speaker 1: and how to use tools before you know, we can't

1189
01:00:31,640 --> 01:00:33,400
Speaker 1: use them anymore. Because I'm gonna tell you right off

1190
01:00:33,400 --> 01:00:35,640
Speaker 1: the bat, I know I was still managing Steve Harve

1191
01:00:35,680 --> 01:00:37,919
Speaker 1: at the time. We had like about a million fan

1192
01:00:38,040 --> 01:00:40,960
Speaker 1: club members, and I would I would look out TV

1193
01:00:41,080 --> 01:00:44,680
Speaker 1: and I see the little Twitter logo and next to

1194
01:00:44,760 --> 01:00:47,400
Speaker 1: the seeing an anchors or sports anchors, and I was like,

1195
01:00:48,040 --> 01:00:50,760
Speaker 1: and I was resistant to change. And that's why I like,

1196
01:00:51,480 --> 01:00:53,480
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk to you about it, because when

1197
01:00:53,520 --> 01:00:55,960
Speaker 1: you were resistant to change, other people in the process

1198
01:00:56,040 --> 01:00:58,280
Speaker 1: of participating and you're kind of like getting behind the line,

1199
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:00,960
Speaker 1: the lane is getting longer in front of you, and

1200
01:01:01,000 --> 01:01:04,320
Speaker 1: so and so I was resistant. Eventually came over, of course,

1201
01:01:04,600 --> 01:01:07,200
Speaker 1: but it probably about a year took me to realize

1202
01:01:07,240 --> 01:01:10,440
Speaker 1: that I should start investing my time and start growing

1203
01:01:10,440 --> 01:01:13,360
Speaker 1: and participating with social media and so so many people

1204
01:01:13,400 --> 01:01:17,560
Speaker 1: are resisted to change, and your business change is it's

1205
01:01:17,680 --> 01:01:20,880
Speaker 1: kind of like the norm. Why is that? And how

1206
01:01:20,880 --> 01:01:24,320
Speaker 1: did you stay ahead of the curve? Tyra I think

1207
01:01:24,320 --> 01:01:27,280
Speaker 1: that at first, I was pretty much reluctant to change. Um,

1208
01:01:27,320 --> 01:01:29,640
Speaker 1: I'm still a person that had had trouble with change.

1209
01:01:30,000 --> 01:01:34,080
Speaker 1: But the only thing in life that is constant is changed, um,

1210
01:01:34,120 --> 01:01:37,280
Speaker 1: and we have to constantly move and adapt to that change.

1211
01:01:37,600 --> 01:01:39,720
Speaker 1: If I would have been a person that's just like

1212
01:01:39,760 --> 01:01:42,480
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stay on Facebook and you know, not go

1213
01:01:42,560 --> 01:01:45,080
Speaker 1: over to Twitter in two thousand nine, I probably wouldn't

1214
01:01:45,120 --> 01:01:48,200
Speaker 1: have had that jump ahead of the curve um that

1215
01:01:48,320 --> 01:01:50,960
Speaker 1: I have today. And um, I think that a lot

1216
01:01:51,040 --> 01:01:54,880
Speaker 1: of that success can be credited to just you know,

1217
01:01:55,040 --> 01:01:57,920
Speaker 1: jumping onto things. Um. There was an app that you

1218
01:01:57,920 --> 01:01:59,760
Speaker 1: could go live. I think it was like you streaming

1219
01:01:59,840 --> 01:02:02,080
Speaker 1: something like that, where like celebrities will go live and

1220
01:02:02,120 --> 01:02:04,280
Speaker 1: engage with their fans and and stuff like that. And

1221
01:02:04,320 --> 01:02:06,760
Speaker 1: I was like on those apps, and you know, before

1222
01:02:06,840 --> 01:02:10,400
Speaker 1: Instagram had a live you know, so it was like

1223
01:02:10,720 --> 01:02:13,080
Speaker 1: before you could just tweet Twitter pictures out, you know,

1224
01:02:13,120 --> 01:02:14,960
Speaker 1: we had to store them and butt locker and stuff

1225
01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:18,760
Speaker 1: like that. Like I was always looking and anything that

1226
01:02:18,880 --> 01:02:22,000
Speaker 1: was being used by someone influenial, I'm like, okay, well

1227
01:02:22,040 --> 01:02:25,200
Speaker 1: let me make my account, you know, because you don't

1228
01:02:25,200 --> 01:02:29,720
Speaker 1: know what's gonna take off. Um, And if you get

1229
01:02:29,760 --> 01:02:32,000
Speaker 1: on it before it takes off. You know, you have

1230
01:02:32,160 --> 01:02:36,480
Speaker 1: that that inclination of you know where it's about to go,

1231
01:02:36,560 --> 01:02:39,000
Speaker 1: and you're able to gauge that actually just by following

1232
01:02:39,040 --> 01:02:43,160
Speaker 1: trends and um algorithms and and numbers and data and

1233
01:02:43,160 --> 01:02:45,800
Speaker 1: stuff like that. Well that's important because I want to

1234
01:02:45,800 --> 01:02:48,480
Speaker 1: talk to go back to OVO where you create designs

1235
01:02:48,560 --> 01:02:51,600
Speaker 1: and for all the stories located in North America, Canada, England,

1236
01:02:51,920 --> 01:02:54,840
Speaker 1: Japan to match each demographic. I wanna stop right there

1237
01:02:55,080 --> 01:02:57,720
Speaker 1: because right there, my mind about to explode because right

1238
01:02:57,760 --> 01:03:00,720
Speaker 1: there you said each demographic. So I'm looking at a

1239
01:03:00,840 --> 01:03:03,400
Speaker 1: very calm individual. You know, you don't feel like you're

1240
01:03:03,440 --> 01:03:05,640
Speaker 1: drawing as we talk. You know, you feel like, you know,

1241
01:03:05,680 --> 01:03:07,400
Speaker 1: I just slow it down, you know how to shift

1242
01:03:07,440 --> 01:03:09,880
Speaker 1: gives I let me repeat what I just said. She

1243
01:03:10,040 --> 01:03:15,440
Speaker 1: creates creates, creates designs for all stories located in North America, Canada,

1244
01:03:15,600 --> 01:03:19,160
Speaker 1: England and Japan to match eat demographic. And the head

1245
01:03:19,160 --> 01:03:23,080
Speaker 1: of two merchandise or artists like Drake Party next door Wow,

1246
01:03:23,880 --> 01:03:26,800
Speaker 1: talk to me. You know how this is about time management. Now,

1247
01:03:27,240 --> 01:03:29,440
Speaker 1: this is about the ability to be able to stop

1248
01:03:29,480 --> 01:03:32,600
Speaker 1: the clock, know where you're at, and also to show

1249
01:03:32,760 --> 01:03:36,280
Speaker 1: superior leadership, and also people have to trust your decisions

1250
01:03:36,320 --> 01:03:39,480
Speaker 1: that you make. Let's kind of like navigate slowly because

1251
01:03:39,480 --> 01:03:41,720
Speaker 1: I don't want to brush over this because I brought

1252
01:03:41,720 --> 01:03:43,840
Speaker 1: that up for a reason, because you're a superior talent

1253
01:03:44,400 --> 01:03:48,320
Speaker 1: and I'm a big personal bragging about my time management.

1254
01:03:48,760 --> 01:03:50,920
Speaker 1: But you kind of like putting me in a I

1255
01:03:50,920 --> 01:03:53,320
Speaker 1: should go back in my love corner and just just

1256
01:03:53,320 --> 01:03:55,560
Speaker 1: just curl up when I talk to you, how do

1257
01:03:55,640 --> 01:03:58,560
Speaker 1: you do it? How do you pull it off? Um?

1258
01:03:58,640 --> 01:04:01,040
Speaker 1: I would say my main thing that I had to

1259
01:04:01,080 --> 01:04:02,680
Speaker 1: learn to adapt to it is not being afraid to

1260
01:04:02,680 --> 01:04:06,040
Speaker 1: ask for help. Um. When I first started out, I

1261
01:04:06,120 --> 01:04:10,360
Speaker 1: was a person who thought that, you know, not having

1262
01:04:10,400 --> 01:04:13,200
Speaker 1: eight hours of sleep means you have eight figures or

1263
01:04:13,600 --> 01:04:16,840
Speaker 1: you know, just like the little cliche things that we

1264
01:04:16,920 --> 01:04:21,000
Speaker 1: take and we learned and adapt from watching different successful people. UM.

1265
01:04:21,000 --> 01:04:23,200
Speaker 1: And I was very stubborn in the in the thought

1266
01:04:23,240 --> 01:04:25,840
Speaker 1: process of thinking that no one will get it done

1267
01:04:25,880 --> 01:04:27,919
Speaker 1: the way I get it done. And sometimes I still

1268
01:04:27,920 --> 01:04:30,280
Speaker 1: think that. But it's okay to have a team, and

1269
01:04:30,280 --> 01:04:31,800
Speaker 1: it's okay to ask for help, and it's okay to

1270
01:04:31,880 --> 01:04:34,960
Speaker 1: admit your weaknesses and flaws, and it's okay to say, look,

1271
01:04:35,000 --> 01:04:36,960
Speaker 1: I need a break, can you cover for me? Um

1272
01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:39,120
Speaker 1: And the most important thing because when we think that

1273
01:04:39,160 --> 01:04:42,760
Speaker 1: we constantly have it, we're literally moving, moving, moving, moving,

1274
01:04:42,800 --> 01:04:44,640
Speaker 1: moving until we crashed into a brick wall. And when

1275
01:04:44,680 --> 01:04:46,840
Speaker 1: we crashed into that big ball, the recovery is harder

1276
01:04:46,840 --> 01:04:48,720
Speaker 1: than just stopping along the way and say hey, I

1277
01:04:48,760 --> 01:04:52,360
Speaker 1: need it come out. Wow. You know when I I

1278
01:04:52,400 --> 01:04:54,400
Speaker 1: think about when I look at my life, when I

1279
01:04:54,440 --> 01:04:56,920
Speaker 1: try to share all my interviews, is that not that

1280
01:04:57,080 --> 01:04:59,360
Speaker 1: my life is so important I've done so many different things,

1281
01:04:59,400 --> 01:05:02,040
Speaker 1: but also I I try to learn from an interview

1282
01:05:02,400 --> 01:05:04,880
Speaker 1: an interview like I always brag about how little sleep

1283
01:05:04,920 --> 01:05:08,840
Speaker 1: I get. And then and that's my badge of courage,

1284
01:05:08,960 --> 01:05:11,720
Speaker 1: my badge of or choice that I promote that you

1285
01:05:11,800 --> 01:05:14,720
Speaker 1: gotta work hard in order to achieve your dreams. You're

1286
01:05:14,720 --> 01:05:16,680
Speaker 1: also saying in your my interview what you used to

1287
01:05:16,720 --> 01:05:20,280
Speaker 1: reach out. That's true, but you should also apply to

1288
01:05:20,320 --> 01:05:24,120
Speaker 1: who you are because everybody's of course to success, it's

1289
01:05:24,160 --> 01:05:26,480
Speaker 1: not tied to how they did it, but how you

1290
01:05:26,480 --> 01:05:28,480
Speaker 1: can apply to your life so you can do it

1291
01:05:28,760 --> 01:05:32,000
Speaker 1: equally successful without burning yourself out. Because I don't see

1292
01:05:32,000 --> 01:05:33,919
Speaker 1: you as a person who's going to burn herself out?

1293
01:05:34,080 --> 01:05:39,600
Speaker 1: Why is that? Um? I feel like quite often we

1294
01:05:39,720 --> 01:05:42,920
Speaker 1: just get caught up in like this person is successful,

1295
01:05:42,960 --> 01:05:46,120
Speaker 1: so Opra successful, she's a millionaire, Let me mimic her lifestyle.

1296
01:05:46,440 --> 01:05:48,680
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of successful people, and you know

1297
01:05:48,720 --> 01:05:51,200
Speaker 1: Oprah's path is for Oprah, and it works for Oprah

1298
01:05:51,200 --> 01:05:54,040
Speaker 1: because that's the way that God ordered her steps. Um,

1299
01:05:54,080 --> 01:05:55,480
Speaker 1: it's not gonna work for you. So you have to

1300
01:05:55,480 --> 01:05:58,480
Speaker 1: pull different pieces of different people's story and figure out

1301
01:05:58,520 --> 01:06:01,080
Speaker 1: figure out what adapts. You don't change who you are,

1302
01:06:01,400 --> 01:06:04,280
Speaker 1: but become a better person. Don't like, I feel like

1303
01:06:04,320 --> 01:06:06,560
Speaker 1: life is too short to just like mimic other people

1304
01:06:06,640 --> 01:06:09,479
Speaker 1: and you know, become a robot. You know, you gotta

1305
01:06:09,520 --> 01:06:13,240
Speaker 1: figure out what works for you, um, because you know,

1306
01:06:13,280 --> 01:06:16,120
Speaker 1: we have one life and it's it's pretty short. UM,

1307
01:06:16,320 --> 01:06:18,600
Speaker 1: So you don't want to spend it. You know, you

1308
01:06:18,640 --> 01:06:21,200
Speaker 1: want to spend it making as a few mistakes as possible.

1309
01:06:21,240 --> 01:06:23,360
Speaker 1: Mistakes are inevitable, of course, but we want to make it.

1310
01:06:23,480 --> 01:06:26,439
Speaker 1: Spend it making as few mistakes as possible. So it's

1311
01:06:26,480 --> 01:06:28,400
Speaker 1: just like you know, figuring out what works for you

1312
01:06:28,520 --> 01:06:31,360
Speaker 1: quickly and always being able to know that that may

1313
01:06:31,360 --> 01:06:33,480
Speaker 1: not work in in a year from now. So you

1314
01:06:33,560 --> 01:06:35,840
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to figure out how you're gonna change

1315
01:06:35,920 --> 01:06:37,840
Speaker 1: and quickly. And if you need a break for even

1316
01:06:37,880 --> 01:06:40,160
Speaker 1: if it's six months to a year, don't be afraid

1317
01:06:40,200 --> 01:06:41,840
Speaker 1: to take that break, because what's for you is going

1318
01:06:41,880 --> 01:06:44,600
Speaker 1: to be for you. Well, that's that's really important. Now,

1319
01:06:44,600 --> 01:06:47,760
Speaker 1: when I mentioned earlier that she's a serial entrepreneur, doing

1320
01:06:47,760 --> 01:06:50,280
Speaker 1: the pandemic, doing the pandemic, now, she opened a gym

1321
01:06:50,320 --> 01:06:54,200
Speaker 1: called Method, uh Method Gym down and down, first black owned,

1322
01:06:54,240 --> 01:06:56,880
Speaker 1: by the way in downtown l A. Which is what

1323
01:06:57,000 --> 01:07:01,840
Speaker 1: you know. I'm going like, okay, really really, So first

1324
01:07:01,880 --> 01:07:04,720
Speaker 1: of all doing the pandemic, you're gonna open the business, Okay,

1325
01:07:04,760 --> 01:07:07,400
Speaker 1: let's talk about that decision. And then being the first

1326
01:07:07,400 --> 01:07:11,080
Speaker 1: black owned gym in downtown l A, which is which

1327
01:07:11,120 --> 01:07:13,440
Speaker 1: is revitalized, by the way. If you go down there,

1328
01:07:13,480 --> 01:07:16,160
Speaker 1: I remember we're back in with Steve already. Now I

1329
01:07:16,200 --> 01:07:21,280
Speaker 1: did a broadcast outside of Staples. It was like parking

1330
01:07:21,320 --> 01:07:23,520
Speaker 1: lots and cars. Now you go down there, l A live,

1331
01:07:23,560 --> 01:07:25,880
Speaker 1: it doesn't even look the same anymore. It's like crazy

1332
01:07:26,120 --> 01:07:28,880
Speaker 1: beautiful down there. So when when you talk about you

1333
01:07:29,920 --> 01:07:32,000
Speaker 1: a visionary, and I got to put the word vision

1334
01:07:32,000 --> 01:07:34,080
Speaker 1: they attached it to your name, Tyer because of the

1335
01:07:34,120 --> 01:07:37,480
Speaker 1: fact that you are making a decision not based on

1336
01:07:37,600 --> 01:07:40,520
Speaker 1: what the situation is currently about what it will be

1337
01:07:40,560 --> 01:07:43,680
Speaker 1: in the future. That's what visionaries are. So to open

1338
01:07:43,720 --> 01:07:45,760
Speaker 1: the gym, why you wanted to open the gym? And

1339
01:07:45,800 --> 01:07:49,160
Speaker 1: why did you choose downtown l a Um. So I

1340
01:07:49,240 --> 01:07:51,760
Speaker 1: kind of came in on the project when the location

1341
01:07:51,840 --> 01:07:54,800
Speaker 1: was already chosen, so I didn't really have too much

1342
01:07:55,000 --> 01:07:56,960
Speaker 1: saying that. But I thought downtown LA was a good

1343
01:07:57,000 --> 01:08:00,200
Speaker 1: area because it's pretty much where everyone who come to

1344
01:08:00,360 --> 01:08:03,920
Speaker 1: l a um they moved to, like Downtown LA and

1345
01:08:04,000 --> 01:08:07,400
Speaker 1: Koreatown all in that area. Um. I too when I

1346
01:08:07,400 --> 01:08:09,480
Speaker 1: first came to l a lived in that area, so

1347
01:08:09,520 --> 01:08:12,880
Speaker 1: I know, like john Town of is is coming up, um,

1348
01:08:12,960 --> 01:08:15,480
Speaker 1: you know, the buildings, the luxury buildings and things like that,

1349
01:08:15,520 --> 01:08:17,400
Speaker 1: And that's pretty much. If I had to pick an

1350
01:08:17,439 --> 01:08:20,800
Speaker 1: area to have that mix, that melting pot of you know,

1351
01:08:20,960 --> 01:08:23,439
Speaker 1: a market, it would be downtown l a So that's

1352
01:08:23,439 --> 01:08:26,680
Speaker 1: why the location. Once um you know they told me

1353
01:08:26,720 --> 01:08:28,439
Speaker 1: where it would be. I was like, yeah, absolutely, I

1354
01:08:28,479 --> 01:08:31,479
Speaker 1: think it's genius. Now what classifies what what what's the

1355
01:08:31,560 --> 01:08:34,000
Speaker 1: gym what's it, Like I said, is it waits, is

1356
01:08:34,040 --> 01:08:38,880
Speaker 1: it exercise classes? Is a cycling classes? What qualifies Method

1357
01:08:38,880 --> 01:08:41,840
Speaker 1: Gym as a gym and what attracts people to either

1358
01:08:41,920 --> 01:08:45,640
Speaker 1: membership or weekly pay as you go. What is the

1359
01:08:45,680 --> 01:08:49,479
Speaker 1: process of generating revenue and Method Gym. So at the

1360
01:08:49,520 --> 01:08:52,519
Speaker 1: Method we have this one class which is a class

1361
01:08:52,520 --> 01:08:54,960
Speaker 1: where you use a versus climber, which it's pretty much

1362
01:08:54,960 --> 01:08:57,599
Speaker 1: stimulates climbing a mountain. So this is also a machine

1363
01:08:57,640 --> 01:08:59,920
Speaker 1: that Lebron James uses for an hour a day at

1364
01:09:00,000 --> 01:09:04,040
Speaker 1: every day UM. And the met Con class pretty much

1365
01:09:04,080 --> 01:09:08,880
Speaker 1: is a mix of lifting weights, then uh cardio a

1366
01:09:08,960 --> 01:09:12,040
Speaker 1: bike and the versa climba which allows you to burn

1367
01:09:12,080 --> 01:09:15,679
Speaker 1: anywhere from six hundred nine hundred calories in a thirty

1368
01:09:15,720 --> 01:09:18,519
Speaker 1: minute interval while working all three metabotic systems at the

1369
01:09:18,520 --> 01:09:20,840
Speaker 1: body at the same time. So you're pretty much getting

1370
01:09:20,880 --> 01:09:24,680
Speaker 1: a very extensive workout in thirty minutes. So that's our

1371
01:09:24,760 --> 01:09:27,559
Speaker 1: like main thing that we're pushing and it gets people in.

1372
01:09:27,800 --> 01:09:29,559
Speaker 1: But then on the other side of that, we also

1373
01:09:29,600 --> 01:09:33,160
Speaker 1: have a boxing gym UM which you know people love boxing.

1374
01:09:33,479 --> 01:09:35,400
Speaker 1: And then on the outside we have an outside turf

1375
01:09:35,439 --> 01:09:37,280
Speaker 1: that allows you to link cables and stuff like that,

1376
01:09:37,320 --> 01:09:40,040
Speaker 1: so you can have circuits UM and then we have

1377
01:09:40,080 --> 01:09:44,160
Speaker 1: a recovery room and asana, so we pretty much cover

1378
01:09:44,320 --> 01:09:49,160
Speaker 1: all bases UM to be able to you know, apply

1379
01:09:49,400 --> 01:09:52,639
Speaker 1: to an appeal to anyone who wants it. So all

1380
01:09:52,680 --> 01:09:58,120
Speaker 1: of our classes ending CON. So we have met con, avcom,

1381
01:09:58,200 --> 01:10:01,000
Speaker 1: booty con like anything that you can think of, an

1382
01:10:01,080 --> 01:10:03,920
Speaker 1: ad class, a class just for your glue to a

1383
01:10:03,960 --> 01:10:06,200
Speaker 1: clap just for boxing. If you want to do a circuit,

1384
01:10:06,200 --> 01:10:08,280
Speaker 1: we have it. And then of course you know met Con.

1385
01:10:08,720 --> 01:10:12,040
Speaker 1: So it's pretty much you know, to find your niche

1386
01:10:12,040 --> 01:10:14,920
Speaker 1: and where you fit in. And then every Wednesday, for

1387
01:10:14,960 --> 01:10:17,160
Speaker 1: like females who may not be into working out but

1388
01:10:17,200 --> 01:10:19,080
Speaker 1: they want to be empowered and be around other females,

1389
01:10:19,120 --> 01:10:22,000
Speaker 1: we have a Woman Crush Wednesday work out UM where

1390
01:10:22,040 --> 01:10:24,800
Speaker 1: just females get together at ten thirty and come together

1391
01:10:24,840 --> 01:10:26,680
Speaker 1: and we throw a free workout for them to be

1392
01:10:26,760 --> 01:10:29,800
Speaker 1: able to feel confident in working out and make that

1393
01:10:29,920 --> 01:10:33,200
Speaker 1: leap of faith. Well, let's talk about my favorite part

1394
01:10:33,200 --> 01:10:37,160
Speaker 1: of this interview. We're gonna continue, but did you see pizza?

1395
01:10:37,840 --> 01:10:40,280
Speaker 1: Because I am a foodie. We might not know that

1396
01:10:40,400 --> 01:10:43,960
Speaker 1: about I am a foodie. So let's talk about the

1397
01:10:44,000 --> 01:10:47,000
Speaker 1: whole concept of doing the pizza, which is, you know,

1398
01:10:47,080 --> 01:10:49,000
Speaker 1: there's a difference because I've lived in New York, I've

1399
01:10:49,040 --> 01:10:52,000
Speaker 1: lived in Chicago, Los Angeles, I'm born to rage in Houston.

1400
01:10:52,040 --> 01:10:54,040
Speaker 1: I'm not based in the Lab, so I know there

1401
01:10:54,040 --> 01:10:56,040
Speaker 1: are different pizzas a different part of the country. I

1402
01:10:56,080 --> 01:10:58,800
Speaker 1: love the thin pepperoni pizza New York, I love the

1403
01:10:58,840 --> 01:11:01,840
Speaker 1: deep dish of Chicago, and l A gives you a

1404
01:11:01,880 --> 01:11:04,719
Speaker 1: mixture of both. And then Houston kind of like steals

1405
01:11:04,720 --> 01:11:06,720
Speaker 1: from everybody, but they throw a little text next on

1406
01:11:06,760 --> 01:11:08,600
Speaker 1: a lot of the pizza, so you can get a

1407
01:11:08,640 --> 01:11:11,679
Speaker 1: little bit of everything. They do a great great I think,

1408
01:11:11,800 --> 01:11:14,840
Speaker 1: then pizza I like to believe in the state of Texas,

1409
01:11:14,880 --> 01:11:18,400
Speaker 1: especially Houston. So what brand are we bringing to Juicy

1410
01:11:18,479 --> 01:11:22,000
Speaker 1: Pizza in Los Angeles and where do we start? Uh?

1411
01:11:22,040 --> 01:11:28,800
Speaker 1: With the menu? Absolutely so Juicy Pizza is basically a

1412
01:11:28,920 --> 01:11:33,200
Speaker 1: New York experience. So we are bringing straight New York

1413
01:11:33,200 --> 01:11:37,920
Speaker 1: pizza to l A. Um from everything including the water. Uh,

1414
01:11:38,000 --> 01:11:41,320
Speaker 1: so you know it's it's straight New York slices New

1415
01:11:41,400 --> 01:11:44,599
Speaker 1: York pies. And then to add a little twist, uh,

1416
01:11:44,640 --> 01:11:46,920
Speaker 1: you know, New York is like a melting pie. Um,

1417
01:11:47,120 --> 01:11:49,080
Speaker 1: so you can go here and you know you're gonna

1418
01:11:49,120 --> 01:11:51,240
Speaker 1: get great food. You're gonna get great Jamaican food, You're

1419
01:11:51,240 --> 01:11:54,120
Speaker 1: gonna get great Indian food, You're gonna get great Chinese food.

1420
01:11:54,479 --> 01:11:57,160
Speaker 1: So all of the favorite things that were my go

1421
01:11:57,360 --> 01:12:01,840
Speaker 1: to Um. You know growing up, we made toppings on

1422
01:12:02,360 --> 01:12:05,320
Speaker 1: the pizza. So you know, New York is known for

1423
01:12:05,800 --> 01:12:08,840
Speaker 1: Chinese food being great. So you know I love to

1424
01:12:08,880 --> 01:12:10,559
Speaker 1: be from broccoli going up. So we have a bee

1425
01:12:10,560 --> 01:12:14,320
Speaker 1: from broccoli pizza. Um, there's a fried lobster pizza. There's

1426
01:12:14,400 --> 01:12:16,920
Speaker 1: a oxtail pizza. And then you know you have your

1427
01:12:17,120 --> 01:12:19,680
Speaker 1: your your jerk chicken pizza, and then you have your

1428
01:12:19,720 --> 01:12:23,800
Speaker 1: standard you know, pepperoni and cheese potes as well. Girl,

1429
01:12:23,840 --> 01:12:30,880
Speaker 1: I'm just staring at you nowail pizza. Come on, jerk chickens,

1430
01:12:30,920 --> 01:12:35,560
Speaker 1: Come on now? Who thought of all this fantastic craziness?

1431
01:12:36,280 --> 01:12:38,600
Speaker 1: And does it come as small medium, a lodge and

1432
01:12:38,640 --> 01:12:42,720
Speaker 1: a twelve inch or on a supersize size pizza? What

1433
01:12:42,840 --> 01:12:45,840
Speaker 1: do we have in So we have the standard New

1434
01:12:45,920 --> 01:12:50,759
Speaker 1: York eighteen inch pizza. Um, that's we only sell one side.

1435
01:12:50,920 --> 01:12:54,519
Speaker 1: Just so you know, Mickey, keep the s op going

1436
01:12:54,760 --> 01:12:58,160
Speaker 1: and the standards because the amount of traffic that we're

1437
01:12:58,160 --> 01:13:02,160
Speaker 1: gonna have, we have to be able to keep quality

1438
01:13:02,200 --> 01:13:05,759
Speaker 1: control at the same time. So we're only offering twelve

1439
01:13:05,840 --> 01:13:09,000
Speaker 1: inch pive I mean sorry, eighteen inch fives as well

1440
01:13:09,040 --> 01:13:13,320
Speaker 1: as slices. Now, slices are a great So you do

1441
01:13:13,360 --> 01:13:16,000
Speaker 1: you won't You won't get into any strombolis and all

1442
01:13:16,000 --> 01:13:21,200
Speaker 1: that stuff. We have a side salad and New York

1443
01:13:21,200 --> 01:13:25,120
Speaker 1: there's a infamous Delhi sandwich called the chop Cheese, So

1444
01:13:25,439 --> 01:13:28,000
Speaker 1: we have chopped cheese, eggros and a side salad in

1445
01:13:28,000 --> 01:13:30,479
Speaker 1: addition to those eighteen inch fives. I'm talking to a

1446
01:13:30,560 --> 01:13:35,240
Speaker 1: Vision version. The Vision are a serial entrepreneur Tyra MYRICKX.

1447
01:13:35,560 --> 01:13:38,080
Speaker 1: You know, there's always a passion in everybody. I think

1448
01:13:38,120 --> 01:13:41,120
Speaker 1: when you when you see so many things done a

1449
01:13:41,120 --> 01:13:44,800
Speaker 1: certain way, it's always a desire to give back. And uh,

1450
01:13:44,880 --> 01:13:47,960
Speaker 1: that's part of your aguesst d Nah. I know you

1451
01:13:48,240 --> 01:13:51,080
Speaker 1: you you know you're tied to your your father's foundation.

1452
01:13:51,160 --> 01:13:53,880
Speaker 1: But talk about the whole process of giving back and

1453
01:13:54,000 --> 01:13:59,559
Speaker 1: what's the goal of giving back? I feel like just

1454
01:14:00,040 --> 01:14:03,400
Speaker 1: it should be our second nature, you know. Um, the

1455
01:14:03,439 --> 01:14:06,240
Speaker 1: goal of giving back there really isn't a goal. It's

1456
01:14:06,360 --> 01:14:09,960
Speaker 1: it's pretty much just my intuition to try and change

1457
01:14:09,960 --> 01:14:12,840
Speaker 1: and help as many people as I can. There's things

1458
01:14:12,840 --> 01:14:15,679
Speaker 1: that I do that I don't. I don't vocalize or

1459
01:14:15,920 --> 01:14:19,320
Speaker 1: or a acts for accolades um from. I just feel

1460
01:14:19,360 --> 01:14:23,360
Speaker 1: like when we are when we have so much, you know,

1461
01:14:23,439 --> 01:14:25,760
Speaker 1: put in a position where we have so many blessings,

1462
01:14:26,000 --> 01:14:28,799
Speaker 1: it means nothing if you don't share them with other people.

1463
01:14:29,200 --> 01:14:31,440
Speaker 1: You know, like you can be used as a catalyst

1464
01:14:31,439 --> 01:14:33,240
Speaker 1: to change, and you know, you may be put in

1465
01:14:33,240 --> 01:14:36,120
Speaker 1: this position just to change the lives of those around you,

1466
01:14:36,200 --> 01:14:37,960
Speaker 1: Like how many lives can you change? How many people

1467
01:14:37,960 --> 01:14:40,400
Speaker 1: can you touch? It's really not about the money, because

1468
01:14:40,439 --> 01:14:43,080
Speaker 1: the money can be made and be spent and be

1469
01:14:43,200 --> 01:14:45,360
Speaker 1: made and made over again. If you have somebody and

1470
01:14:45,400 --> 01:14:48,040
Speaker 1: you come across the life, it may be your your

1471
01:14:48,120 --> 01:14:50,760
Speaker 1: duty and your calling to just you know, change that

1472
01:14:50,840 --> 01:14:56,280
Speaker 1: life or or or be a piece of the change

1473
01:14:56,280 --> 01:14:59,120
Speaker 1: in that person's life. Um So I think that you know,

1474
01:14:59,240 --> 01:15:03,120
Speaker 1: just inspire, ring and helping and and moving through you know,

1475
01:15:03,200 --> 01:15:06,680
Speaker 1: my trials and tribulations, Like I didn't just get on

1476
01:15:06,720 --> 01:15:09,280
Speaker 1: this road and it's been smooth sailing. So even in

1477
01:15:09,320 --> 01:15:12,160
Speaker 1: the in the aspect of just sharing my story and

1478
01:15:12,200 --> 01:15:14,479
Speaker 1: helping other people not go or hit the same bumps

1479
01:15:14,520 --> 01:15:16,800
Speaker 1: in the road that I hit. Um. You know, that's

1480
01:15:16,840 --> 01:15:19,360
Speaker 1: all a part of giving back and and trying to

1481
01:15:19,880 --> 01:15:22,840
Speaker 1: you know, be a catalyst for change. You know, when

1482
01:15:22,840 --> 01:15:25,880
Speaker 1: I when I when I'm interviewing you, tire the interesting

1483
01:15:25,920 --> 01:15:28,040
Speaker 1: thing that pops up because there's so many young people

1484
01:15:28,120 --> 01:15:30,439
Speaker 1: who want to be you, especially when you hear the

1485
01:15:30,439 --> 01:15:34,800
Speaker 1: words celebrities, uh like Drake and party next door. You're

1486
01:15:34,840 --> 01:15:37,960
Speaker 1: doing the merchandise for them. Explain the process of that,

1487
01:15:38,000 --> 01:15:40,800
Speaker 1: because I know the merchandise and the people immediately just

1488
01:15:40,880 --> 01:15:45,160
Speaker 1: think T shirts. But that is a multibillion dollar business

1489
01:15:45,320 --> 01:15:49,599
Speaker 1: for artists, not just musical artists but athletes but also

1490
01:15:50,360 --> 01:15:53,439
Speaker 1: entertainers of so many different elks talk about being the

1491
01:15:53,560 --> 01:15:56,280
Speaker 1: head of merchandise for their tours and how exactly does

1492
01:15:56,360 --> 01:16:02,439
Speaker 1: that work? So um much you you know have to

1493
01:16:03,120 --> 01:16:05,840
Speaker 1: first in comes First is knowing the artists and knowing

1494
01:16:05,840 --> 01:16:10,080
Speaker 1: the market, the artist's market. Um, because I've bummed a

1495
01:16:10,080 --> 01:16:14,040
Speaker 1: lot of collections, you know, just going with my design background,

1496
01:16:14,040 --> 01:16:16,479
Speaker 1: like oh this is genius, and you know it doesn't

1497
01:16:16,520 --> 01:16:20,479
Speaker 1: really appeal to uh, the artist's markets. So just knowing

1498
01:16:20,760 --> 01:16:23,519
Speaker 1: your artists and knowing their market and what they like,

1499
01:16:23,680 --> 01:16:26,800
Speaker 1: and then change, you know, putting a little bit of

1500
01:16:27,000 --> 01:16:31,160
Speaker 1: you know, artistics, artistic background or just you know, things

1501
01:16:31,360 --> 01:16:33,839
Speaker 1: of that people would normally think of, just thinking outside

1502
01:16:33,880 --> 01:16:37,479
Speaker 1: the box and infusing it all together and creating a collection. UM.

1503
01:16:37,520 --> 01:16:42,440
Speaker 1: Tour merchandise is essentially, I would probably say the easiest

1504
01:16:43,400 --> 01:16:46,920
Speaker 1: because it's you don't change. So we can be on

1505
01:16:47,160 --> 01:16:50,240
Speaker 1: tour for three months, clip take a month's break, and

1506
01:16:50,280 --> 01:16:52,080
Speaker 1: go back on tour for three months and we're still

1507
01:16:52,080 --> 01:16:55,040
Speaker 1: selling the same merch UM. As far as like day

1508
01:16:55,080 --> 01:16:58,360
Speaker 1: to day operations with ov OH, every Friday or every

1509
01:16:58,400 --> 01:17:00,720
Speaker 1: other Friday, we're rolling out a new colle auction, and

1510
01:17:00,760 --> 01:17:02,600
Speaker 1: that new collection has got to be based off of

1511
01:17:02,640 --> 01:17:05,320
Speaker 1: the numbers of the last collection and what sold more

1512
01:17:05,360 --> 01:17:08,000
Speaker 1: and what regions sold more UM. And then you also

1513
01:17:08,040 --> 01:17:11,000
Speaker 1: have different regions where like you know, in the UK

1514
01:17:11,160 --> 01:17:15,160
Speaker 1: and Germany and things like that they actually like are

1515
01:17:15,240 --> 01:17:17,960
Speaker 1: still wearing the jeans with the rhyme stones on it.

1516
01:17:18,040 --> 01:17:23,200
Speaker 1: So you gotta really know every market and how you

1517
01:17:23,240 --> 01:17:26,280
Speaker 1: know the best way to get an r o I UM,

1518
01:17:26,400 --> 01:17:28,639
Speaker 1: and not even just get R o I, but get

1519
01:17:28,840 --> 01:17:31,200
Speaker 1: R o I and make it influential. Make it cool.

1520
01:17:31,560 --> 01:17:33,559
Speaker 1: We don't want to just put out stuff because look

1521
01:17:33,640 --> 01:17:35,439
Speaker 1: this it is selling. It's just like, look this is

1522
01:17:35,439 --> 01:17:37,320
Speaker 1: the market. We can switch this that, we can change

1523
01:17:37,320 --> 01:17:39,920
Speaker 1: it and be that game changer. Um and and make

1524
01:17:39,960 --> 01:17:44,200
Speaker 1: this different. She's in the pech she's in the physical fitness,

1525
01:17:44,240 --> 01:17:49,880
Speaker 1: she's into clothing, she's into giving back. Uh, you know

1526
01:17:50,000 --> 01:17:53,759
Speaker 1: what have I missed anything? Giving back? Your into clothing,

1527
01:17:54,040 --> 01:17:59,280
Speaker 1: your the pizza, your the physical fitness. Whatever I missed? Um,

1528
01:17:59,360 --> 01:18:01,880
Speaker 1: I think that's totty much it. And you're cool and

1529
01:18:01,920 --> 01:18:03,840
Speaker 1: you're laid back, and you know how to manage your time.

1530
01:18:03,960 --> 01:18:05,920
Speaker 1: You want to lose your want you wanna go crazy

1531
01:18:06,120 --> 01:18:08,479
Speaker 1: trying to do all these things. The blessing of this

1532
01:18:08,680 --> 01:18:11,240
Speaker 1: interview is that, first of all, I always tell people

1533
01:18:11,240 --> 01:18:15,679
Speaker 1: that being young allows you to change things and allows

1534
01:18:15,720 --> 01:18:18,760
Speaker 1: you also recover from mistakes. And I'm not saying she's

1535
01:18:18,760 --> 01:18:20,960
Speaker 1: made mistakes, but what she's doing is she's living a

1536
01:18:21,040 --> 01:18:23,400
Speaker 1: life based on what she feels that she can do,

1537
01:18:23,479 --> 01:18:26,200
Speaker 1: based on her efforts, based on her She's not. You know,

1538
01:18:26,400 --> 01:18:29,479
Speaker 1: when when you look at people who's I'm sure you've

1539
01:18:29,520 --> 01:18:32,519
Speaker 1: heard this, Tyra girl, you doing too much? You need

1540
01:18:32,560 --> 01:18:34,960
Speaker 1: to sit out what do you say to people who

1541
01:18:35,080 --> 01:18:38,320
Speaker 1: tell you that, Um, I think that's crazy because my

1542
01:18:38,360 --> 01:18:40,080
Speaker 1: grandmother used to tell me that all the time. Like

1543
01:18:40,520 --> 01:18:43,040
Speaker 1: anytime I say I was getting into a new business mention,

1544
01:18:43,160 --> 01:18:47,000
Speaker 1: she's like not having it. Like my grandmother was pretty

1545
01:18:47,080 --> 01:18:50,799
Speaker 1: much that from that generation where and and it's understanding.

1546
01:18:50,800 --> 01:18:52,479
Speaker 1: But I have to tell my friends all that that's

1547
01:18:52,520 --> 01:18:53,960
Speaker 1: all the time when they say, you know, my mother

1548
01:18:54,000 --> 01:18:55,720
Speaker 1: is not supportive, this, this, that in the third and

1549
01:18:55,760 --> 01:18:57,479
Speaker 1: I'm like, you have to realize, we come from a

1550
01:18:57,479 --> 01:18:59,639
Speaker 1: generation that's not the same as their generation. And their

1551
01:18:59,680 --> 01:19:03,160
Speaker 1: generation it was you go to school, you become something,

1552
01:19:03,520 --> 01:19:06,559
Speaker 1: or you know, you take a city test and you

1553
01:19:06,920 --> 01:19:09,120
Speaker 1: make your salary and you know how you're gonna provide

1554
01:19:09,120 --> 01:19:13,479
Speaker 1: for your family. So it's very unheard of. UM. So

1555
01:19:13,720 --> 01:19:18,840
Speaker 1: I would just say because personally, like I had to

1556
01:19:18,880 --> 01:19:22,559
Speaker 1: hear it every day, um, growing up with my grandmother. UM,

1557
01:19:22,560 --> 01:19:24,479
Speaker 1: And I decided to make this venture. Like my mother,

1558
01:19:24,600 --> 01:19:27,000
Speaker 1: she was pretty supportive, just you know, do it. I'm

1559
01:19:27,000 --> 01:19:30,120
Speaker 1: gonna support you. I how can I help you? Know

1560
01:19:30,200 --> 01:19:33,200
Speaker 1: that entrepreneurial spirit I got from my parents, but my

1561
01:19:33,439 --> 01:19:36,759
Speaker 1: grandparents didn't quite understand it, and so I started paying

1562
01:19:36,760 --> 01:19:38,760
Speaker 1: their bills and it's like okay, you know, and then

1563
01:19:38,760 --> 01:19:40,880
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, my grandmother's bragging about me. You know,

1564
01:19:41,240 --> 01:19:43,519
Speaker 1: like you gotta prove yourself just like you would in

1565
01:19:43,600 --> 01:19:46,439
Speaker 1: any industry, um, anywhere you go. If you had a

1566
01:19:46,520 --> 01:19:48,559
Speaker 1: job in a hospital, if you want to work your

1567
01:19:48,600 --> 01:19:50,160
Speaker 1: way up in that hospital, whether it be from a

1568
01:19:50,240 --> 01:19:53,479
Speaker 1: nurse to like the head nurse, you have to prove yourself.

1569
01:19:53,640 --> 01:19:56,519
Speaker 1: And it's no different in the industry or the being

1570
01:19:56,560 --> 01:19:58,960
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur. You know, the more accolades you get on

1571
01:19:59,000 --> 01:20:00,800
Speaker 1: your belt, the more no is that you get the

1572
01:20:00,840 --> 01:20:04,360
Speaker 1: word that you're able to prove yourself and show yourself

1573
01:20:04,400 --> 01:20:07,479
Speaker 1: and and let people know that you know what you're

1574
01:20:07,479 --> 01:20:09,439
Speaker 1: doing and you know what you're talking about. People are

1575
01:20:09,439 --> 01:20:11,960
Speaker 1: gonna gravitate in a tract to like this person knows

1576
01:20:12,000 --> 01:20:15,880
Speaker 1: what they're doing. UM. So, don't ever, ever, ever get

1577
01:20:15,920 --> 01:20:19,120
Speaker 1: insecure caught up in somebody else's thoughts of you, because

1578
01:20:19,280 --> 01:20:22,240
Speaker 1: only you know your true potential. Well, it's really important

1579
01:20:22,240 --> 01:20:25,160
Speaker 1: that you said about your grandmother. I know my father

1580
01:20:25,240 --> 01:20:27,799
Speaker 1: when I quit my job to be a stand up comedian,

1581
01:20:28,400 --> 01:20:30,519
Speaker 1: in his mind, he couldn't even wrap his head around

1582
01:20:30,520 --> 01:20:33,759
Speaker 1: that because you know, he couldn't figure out hourly wage.

1583
01:20:33,840 --> 01:20:36,760
Speaker 1: He couldn't father or for the hour week, how you

1584
01:20:36,960 --> 01:20:39,240
Speaker 1: bore how you're gonna get paid. All I know is

1585
01:20:39,280 --> 01:20:41,599
Speaker 1: that that is what I wanted to do with my life.

1586
01:20:41,760 --> 01:20:44,200
Speaker 1: I put a plan in place to be successful, or

1587
01:20:44,200 --> 01:20:46,160
Speaker 1: at least I thought that was the right plan, and

1588
01:20:46,400 --> 01:20:50,160
Speaker 1: many years later, it's not something I've regretted. I'm on,

1589
01:20:50,320 --> 01:20:53,040
Speaker 1: I'm doing an interview with an incredibly talented young person

1590
01:20:53,080 --> 01:20:55,200
Speaker 1: like give you Tyra Merrits, and so I want to

1591
01:20:55,240 --> 01:20:57,080
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on money Making Conversation and sharing

1592
01:20:57,120 --> 01:20:59,560
Speaker 1: your story because you all uh as they say that

1593
01:20:59,720 --> 01:21:04,240
Speaker 1: this is politefully a beast, and that's a compliment. We

1594
01:21:04,320 --> 01:21:07,360
Speaker 1: will be right back with more money making conversations with

1595
01:21:07,439 --> 01:21:11,120
Speaker 1: your host, Rashwan McDonald. Hi, everyone, i'l roker here as

1596
01:21:11,160 --> 01:21:14,200
Speaker 1: a guy with his own catchphrase. I appreciate that Smokey's

1597
01:21:14,200 --> 01:21:18,080
Speaker 1: only said only you can prevent wildfires, but I'm filling

1598
01:21:18,120 --> 01:21:20,840
Speaker 1: in because there's a lot more to report, like when

1599
01:21:20,840 --> 01:21:24,000
Speaker 1: they're parched or windy conditions out there. You gotta be

1600
01:21:24,040 --> 01:21:27,679
Speaker 1: extra careful with things like burning yard waist. After all,

1601
01:21:27,800 --> 01:21:31,320
Speaker 1: wildfires can start anywhere, even in your neck of the woods.

1602
01:21:31,600 --> 01:21:34,200
Speaker 1: Go to Smokey Bear dot com to learn more about

1603
01:21:34,240 --> 01:21:37,120
Speaker 1: wildfire prevention. Brought to you by the U. S. Forest Service,

1604
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Speaker 1: your State Forrester, and the AD Council. Look to your

1605
01:21:40,200 --> 01:21:43,400
Speaker 1: children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest.

1606
01:21:43,800 --> 01:21:46,880
Speaker 1: It's a storybook world for them. You look and see

1607
01:21:46,880 --> 01:21:49,879
Speaker 1: a tree. They see the wrinkled face of a wizard

1608
01:21:50,040 --> 01:21:53,920
Speaker 1: with arms outstretched to the sky. They see treasure and pebbles.

1609
01:21:54,360 --> 01:21:57,080
Speaker 1: They see a windy path that could lead to adventure,

1610
01:21:57,439 --> 01:22:01,879
Speaker 1: and they see you. They're fearless. Guy, is this fascinating world?

1611
01:22:02,280 --> 01:22:05,080
Speaker 1: Find a forest near you and start exploring. I Discover

1612
01:22:05,160 --> 01:22:07,439
Speaker 1: the Forest dot Org brought to you by the United

1613
01:22:07,439 --> 01:22:11,200
Speaker 1: States Forest Service and the AD Council. What grows in

1614
01:22:11,240 --> 01:22:14,640
Speaker 1: the forest trees? Sure you know what else grows in

1615
01:22:14,640 --> 01:22:18,479
Speaker 1: the forest. Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and our

1616
01:22:18,520 --> 01:22:21,800
Speaker 1: family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from this

1617
01:22:24,280 --> 01:22:28,880
Speaker 1: and connect with this, we reconnect with each other. The

1618
01:22:29,000 --> 01:22:32,040
Speaker 1: forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near

1619
01:22:32,080 --> 01:22:35,280
Speaker 1: you and start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot org

1620
01:22:35,640 --> 01:22:38,200
Speaker 1: brought to you by the United States Forest Service and

1621
01:22:38,280 --> 01:22:43,160
Speaker 1: the AD Council. You are now tuned into the money

1622
01:22:43,160 --> 01:22:47,439
Speaker 1: making conversations minute of inspiration with Rashan McDonald's I sat

1623
01:22:47,439 --> 01:22:50,519
Speaker 1: down with my man Food Network star chef Gernard Well

1624
01:22:50,840 --> 01:22:53,360
Speaker 1: during the pandemic. He decided that it was time to

1625
01:22:53,400 --> 01:22:56,919
Speaker 1: make some better lifestyle charges and lost over sixty pounds.

1626
01:22:57,439 --> 01:22:59,639
Speaker 1: This journey has led him to launch his new vitamin

1627
01:22:59,680 --> 01:23:02,599
Speaker 1: mine could change his lives. Here's what he had to say.

1628
01:23:02,840 --> 01:23:06,719
Speaker 1: We came together to create Hope doc Neutra Sudicals. Hope

1629
01:23:06,760 --> 01:23:10,360
Speaker 1: doc Neutraceuticals is a vitamin and supplement line of the the

1630
01:23:10,479 --> 01:23:13,440
Speaker 1: company because we knew that it was not just important

1631
01:23:13,439 --> 01:23:16,479
Speaker 1: for us to have the right supplements and vitamins to

1632
01:23:16,520 --> 01:23:19,240
Speaker 1: put in our own body, but we wanted to share

1633
01:23:19,280 --> 01:23:22,439
Speaker 1: that with the world, so we partnered with the FDA

1634
01:23:22,560 --> 01:23:26,160
Speaker 1: approved company that creates some of the most amazing vitamins

1635
01:23:26,200 --> 01:23:30,280
Speaker 1: for us, and we have everything from from Tumerican ginger

1636
01:23:30,400 --> 01:23:33,400
Speaker 1: gummies all the way down to an amazing CDD line

1637
01:23:33,439 --> 01:23:35,200
Speaker 1: like the Body Butter. If you want to listen to

1638
01:23:35,240 --> 01:23:37,920
Speaker 1: the full interview with Chef jak Well, it's available on

1639
01:23:38,000 --> 01:23:41,880
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations dot com. Welcome back to Money Making

1640
01:23:41,920 --> 01:23:46,000
Speaker 1: Conversations with your host, Rashaan McDonald. My next guest, I

1641
01:23:46,040 --> 01:23:48,240
Speaker 1: would like to believe it's an industry decision maker. He

1642
01:23:48,280 --> 01:23:51,400
Speaker 1: makes change. His name is Ryan Morgan. While being a

1643
01:23:51,400 --> 01:23:53,880
Speaker 1: wrestled on that on the bank floor. And I've been

1644
01:23:53,920 --> 01:23:55,559
Speaker 1: to those banks in l A. L is one of

1645
01:23:55,560 --> 01:23:59,400
Speaker 1: the biggest bank. They call l A Bank, rob Capital Bank,

1646
01:23:59,479 --> 01:24:02,679
Speaker 1: robberty camp boats, Ryan promised himself while he was laying there.

1647
01:24:03,040 --> 01:24:05,240
Speaker 1: This was not the end of his story. When he

1648
01:24:05,280 --> 01:24:07,920
Speaker 1: got out of the prison and his mid twenties, Ryan

1649
01:24:07,960 --> 01:24:11,240
Speaker 1: had a plane. He attended Laney College in Oakland, then

1650
01:24:11,280 --> 01:24:13,760
Speaker 1: went on to play football at the prestigious University of

1651
01:24:13,760 --> 01:24:17,040
Speaker 1: San Diego under my man who is now the Michigan

1652
01:24:17,040 --> 01:24:22,520
Speaker 1: head coach, Jim Harballo, before receiving his NBA from Concordia University.

1653
01:24:22,840 --> 01:24:25,479
Speaker 1: Since then, Ryan has spent the last twelve years in

1654
01:24:25,479 --> 01:24:28,320
Speaker 1: the alcohol beverage industry while working for two of the

1655
01:24:28,439 --> 01:24:32,000
Speaker 1: largest suppliers on the globe, where is mostly recently for

1656
01:24:32,080 --> 01:24:35,840
Speaker 1: net sales. Himself, Ryan Morgan thirty four million dollars he

1657
01:24:35,920 --> 01:24:39,800
Speaker 1: invested at least temperacy his profits to the Watts community,

1658
01:24:39,840 --> 01:24:42,559
Speaker 1: to his nonprofit and partners. Please working with the money

1659
01:24:42,560 --> 01:24:45,320
Speaker 1: making conversations for the first time. We're definitely gonna reconnect

1660
01:24:45,320 --> 01:24:47,559
Speaker 1: when I go out in l a Ryan Morgan, how

1661
01:24:47,560 --> 01:24:52,000
Speaker 1: are you doing, Ryan, I'm fantastic man. Pleasure to be here, Sean,

1662
01:24:52,080 --> 01:24:54,040
Speaker 1: thank you for having me. Well. First of all, you know,

1663
01:24:54,560 --> 01:24:56,640
Speaker 1: there's always a journey, you know, I come from the

1664
01:24:56,680 --> 01:25:00,439
Speaker 1: inner City, and I always uh tell people that you know,

1665
01:25:01,120 --> 01:25:03,679
Speaker 1: mistakes are left and right decisions. You know, you go left,

1666
01:25:03,800 --> 01:25:06,160
Speaker 1: this is a decision, you go right. Nobody just can

1667
01:25:06,200 --> 01:25:08,040
Speaker 1: stand in the middle and just you live your life.

1668
01:25:08,040 --> 01:25:10,760
Speaker 1: You gotta make a decision. And sometimes a decision we

1669
01:25:10,800 --> 01:25:14,200
Speaker 1: make can come with consequences, good and bad, you know,

1670
01:25:14,880 --> 01:25:16,760
Speaker 1: And I know that. Uh. I look back in my

1671
01:25:16,800 --> 01:25:19,680
Speaker 1: college life and I did some silly things that if

1672
01:25:19,720 --> 01:25:22,760
Speaker 1: they're if they're the right people would have caught me out.

1673
01:25:22,800 --> 01:25:25,439
Speaker 1: Probably would ever had a different record. But the right

1674
01:25:25,479 --> 01:25:27,719
Speaker 1: people didn't catch me, and I was fortunate and blessed

1675
01:25:27,920 --> 01:25:30,880
Speaker 1: in your situation. You participated in the bank robbery which

1676
01:25:30,920 --> 01:25:33,439
Speaker 1: led to you being arrested. Tell us about that during it.

1677
01:25:33,479 --> 01:25:36,200
Speaker 1: Because so many of our African American youth getting these

1678
01:25:36,240 --> 01:25:39,320
Speaker 1: bad situations and unfortunately can't come out of it. They

1679
01:25:39,360 --> 01:25:41,840
Speaker 1: don't have mentors who help them get out of that

1680
01:25:41,960 --> 01:25:44,120
Speaker 1: or right them along the way. And that is part

1681
01:25:44,120 --> 01:25:46,240
Speaker 1: of your story. But let's go back to the beginning.

1682
01:25:46,720 --> 01:25:49,000
Speaker 1: Uh that led to that point where you were arrested

1683
01:25:49,200 --> 01:25:53,320
Speaker 1: for robbing the bank attempting to robbing a bank. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

1684
01:25:53,320 --> 01:25:55,320
Speaker 1: we're sean. I just want to say, like, to your point,

1685
01:25:55,880 --> 01:25:58,760
Speaker 1: there's a saying in the neighborhood that if you knew better,

1686
01:25:58,800 --> 01:26:01,040
Speaker 1: you would do better. Yes, and that speaks to us.

1687
01:26:01,040 --> 01:26:03,479
Speaker 1: I think a lot of talented black men and women,

1688
01:26:03,840 --> 01:26:07,280
Speaker 1: black and brown men and women coming from inner cities. Uh,

1689
01:26:07,320 --> 01:26:11,320
Speaker 1: just a lack of opportunity and lack of nohaw know how,

1690
01:26:11,800 --> 01:26:15,280
Speaker 1: a lack of the right channels for success. So you

1691
01:26:15,360 --> 01:26:17,439
Speaker 1: knew better, you would do better. So I think my

1692
01:26:17,479 --> 01:26:22,639
Speaker 1: story reflects that. Yes, this nineteen um, two weeks after

1693
01:26:22,680 --> 01:26:27,559
Speaker 1: my nineteenth birthday, Uh, in that summer, just one year

1694
01:26:27,560 --> 01:26:31,440
Speaker 1: out of high school, and kind of this uh inner city.

1695
01:26:31,720 --> 01:26:34,840
Speaker 1: Uh started out inner city, typical story, kind of one

1696
01:26:34,880 --> 01:26:39,800
Speaker 1: ft uh in the neighborhood. UM, one ft in sports. Uh.

1697
01:26:39,800 --> 01:26:42,240
Speaker 1: So by the time that I graduated high school, you know,

1698
01:26:42,280 --> 01:26:45,080
Speaker 1: I was knee deep and gang banging and selling drugs

1699
01:26:45,200 --> 01:26:48,920
Speaker 1: and whatever way to hustle to make money. And so

1700
01:26:48,960 --> 01:26:51,800
Speaker 1: I find myself, you know, two weeks before I turned

1701
01:26:51,840 --> 01:26:54,640
Speaker 1: nineteen on the floor of a bank we attempted to

1702
01:26:54,760 --> 01:26:57,880
Speaker 1: rob and right then and there, you know, with the

1703
01:26:57,880 --> 01:27:00,160
Speaker 1: guns to my head and the police, I just kind

1704
01:27:00,160 --> 01:27:03,200
Speaker 1: of solve. My life kind of flashed before my eyes.

1705
01:27:03,960 --> 01:27:07,040
Speaker 1: Um and it's had this kind of sick feeling like

1706
01:27:07,080 --> 01:27:09,559
Speaker 1: this can't be it. Like I knew it was more

1707
01:27:09,600 --> 01:27:12,200
Speaker 1: in me and I wanted more for myself. I knew,

1708
01:27:12,720 --> 01:27:14,920
Speaker 1: you know, my family wanted more for me. And so

1709
01:27:14,960 --> 01:27:18,200
Speaker 1: I promised myself that I was gonna make this story.

1710
01:27:18,240 --> 01:27:21,559
Speaker 1: I was gonna make this you know, limits turned into lemonade,

1711
01:27:21,560 --> 01:27:23,479
Speaker 1: and this wasn't gonna be the end of my legacy.

1712
01:27:23,960 --> 01:27:26,559
Speaker 1: But but in the part of making that decision, you know,

1713
01:27:26,760 --> 01:27:28,880
Speaker 1: your decision that you made on that being on the

1714
01:27:28,920 --> 01:27:34,759
Speaker 1: floor came with consequences so that you couldn't control, okay,

1715
01:27:35,000 --> 01:27:37,759
Speaker 1: and also at unknown because you're about to go into environment,

1716
01:27:37,760 --> 01:27:41,360
Speaker 1: it's pretty intimidating. So two things I gotta ask you,

1717
01:27:42,000 --> 01:27:44,280
Speaker 1: being that you were tied to sports, there was an

1718
01:27:44,320 --> 01:27:47,560
Speaker 1: avenue or positivity, but then the gang banking, because I

1719
01:27:47,600 --> 01:27:50,200
Speaker 1: want to underto the clear understanding, because I've never participating

1720
01:27:50,200 --> 01:27:53,680
Speaker 1: in the gang, what attracted you to the gang participation

1721
01:27:54,120 --> 01:27:56,880
Speaker 1: and what held you in that position, to be in

1722
01:27:56,960 --> 01:28:01,840
Speaker 1: a position where you were robbing a bank. Yeah. So um,

1723
01:28:01,920 --> 01:28:04,400
Speaker 1: and my story kind of weaves into why I'm in

1724
01:28:04,400 --> 01:28:08,840
Speaker 1: the Watch community now. It's it's a story of generational

1725
01:28:09,800 --> 01:28:13,160
Speaker 1: kind of cycling passing down. So, UM, I grew up

1726
01:28:13,160 --> 01:28:16,120
Speaker 1: in San Berdino, which is uh inner city, much like

1727
01:28:16,200 --> 01:28:18,960
Speaker 1: Watts or Oakland, a lot of projects, a lot of poverty,

1728
01:28:19,080 --> 01:28:21,519
Speaker 1: and therefore a lot of the gangs, and so my

1729
01:28:21,640 --> 01:28:24,559
Speaker 1: uncle's were involved in it, and you know, I'm looking

1730
01:28:24,640 --> 01:28:26,920
Speaker 1: up to them and it's just in that inner city

1731
01:28:27,040 --> 01:28:30,479
Speaker 1: environment back then. It's getting better now, but we still

1732
01:28:30,520 --> 01:28:32,519
Speaker 1: have work to do. A lot of the male role

1733
01:28:32,600 --> 01:28:36,360
Speaker 1: models where individuals involved in gangs or drugs or some

1734
01:28:36,400 --> 01:28:39,800
Speaker 1: type of criminal activity. And as a young boy, you're

1735
01:28:39,800 --> 01:28:42,040
Speaker 1: looking up and seeing that as an example of what

1736
01:28:42,200 --> 01:28:45,639
Speaker 1: manhood is. Is a mis education and so you're falling

1737
01:28:45,680 --> 01:28:49,240
Speaker 1: those steps and you have a work mentality thinking that Okay,

1738
01:28:49,320 --> 01:28:51,200
Speaker 1: to be a real man, I gotta do X, Y

1739
01:28:51,200 --> 01:28:55,280
Speaker 1: and Z following the example of these basically criminals. And

1740
01:28:55,439 --> 01:28:58,360
Speaker 1: so it's it's it was really easy to to get

1741
01:28:58,400 --> 01:29:02,120
Speaker 1: pulled into. Um. You you you feel like you're in

1742
01:29:02,120 --> 01:29:05,439
Speaker 1: the inner city and it's a it's a misconception, and

1743
01:29:05,680 --> 01:29:07,800
Speaker 1: this is what we're trying to expose, that bring truth

1744
01:29:07,840 --> 01:29:10,000
Speaker 1: in life. But you feel like you have limited options

1745
01:29:10,000 --> 01:29:12,599
Speaker 1: to where either to make money, I gotta play sports,

1746
01:29:12,640 --> 01:29:15,720
Speaker 1: but where I gotta do some illegal hustle because I

1747
01:29:15,760 --> 01:29:19,240
Speaker 1: don't have another realistic avenue for me to help get

1748
01:29:19,240 --> 01:29:22,160
Speaker 1: out of this poverty uh and its hardship in its

1749
01:29:22,240 --> 01:29:25,639
Speaker 1: inner city. And so I bit into that lie and

1750
01:29:25,640 --> 01:29:28,120
Speaker 1: and so that's why I had won foot in sports,

1751
01:29:28,680 --> 01:29:30,920
Speaker 1: which is was typical for a lot of males in

1752
01:29:31,120 --> 01:29:33,240
Speaker 1: the inner city. And then you got that pool. You're

1753
01:29:33,280 --> 01:29:35,920
Speaker 1: in your environment, you surrounded, and so I'm getting pulled

1754
01:29:35,920 --> 01:29:38,320
Speaker 1: by my environment to do that. And so that was

1755
01:29:38,360 --> 01:29:41,479
Speaker 1: that duality where I found myself, you know, on that

1756
01:29:41,600 --> 01:29:43,960
Speaker 1: on that bank floor. And it wasn't the first time,

1757
01:29:44,040 --> 01:29:46,439
Speaker 1: you know, we had done something you legal, So it

1758
01:29:46,520 --> 01:29:50,280
Speaker 1: was like a build up a beak and say, my life,

1759
01:29:50,640 --> 01:29:53,040
Speaker 1: I re reason, I'm not Ryan, you know, you know,

1760
01:29:53,040 --> 01:29:55,760
Speaker 1: I'm not putting you on front Street. Were just telling

1761
01:29:55,840 --> 01:29:58,320
Speaker 1: the story about that moment because like I said, we

1762
01:29:58,360 --> 01:30:00,840
Speaker 1: all have a journey to get to that that compromising

1763
01:30:00,920 --> 01:30:03,040
Speaker 1: moment where you understand that this is not the direction

1764
01:30:03,080 --> 01:30:05,519
Speaker 1: I can continue to live my life. But I also

1765
01:30:05,760 --> 01:30:07,840
Speaker 1: one of the people know that you can recover, you

1766
01:30:07,880 --> 01:30:10,839
Speaker 1: can't make change, because so many people when they make mistakes,

1767
01:30:10,960 --> 01:30:14,080
Speaker 1: they let their mistake overwhelmed them. They make that mistake

1768
01:30:14,360 --> 01:30:17,280
Speaker 1: prevent their dreams from happening because they feel that I

1769
01:30:17,360 --> 01:30:19,720
Speaker 1: can't recover. And one of the reason I wanted to

1770
01:30:19,760 --> 01:30:21,880
Speaker 1: bring Ryan on the show A show that he's one

1771
01:30:21,880 --> 01:30:25,040
Speaker 1: of the many examples of people who have been roadblocked,

1772
01:30:25,200 --> 01:30:28,640
Speaker 1: who have been positioned in a high state of negativity,

1773
01:30:28,720 --> 01:30:30,559
Speaker 1: but they were they were they were able to come

1774
01:30:30,600 --> 01:30:33,200
Speaker 1: out of it by setting a plan in place, because

1775
01:30:33,200 --> 01:30:35,400
Speaker 1: you just can't dream your way out of it. You

1776
01:30:35,400 --> 01:30:37,439
Speaker 1: have to have a plan. And that plan when you

1777
01:30:37,479 --> 01:30:40,479
Speaker 1: got into prison because you were in prison, how did

1778
01:30:40,520 --> 01:30:42,960
Speaker 1: that start leaning into the direction of getting back into

1779
01:30:43,040 --> 01:30:45,360
Speaker 1: athletics and how did you stay in shape? Because when

1780
01:30:45,360 --> 01:30:50,840
Speaker 1: you came out, you attended Laney College in Oakland. Yeah. Uh,

1781
01:30:51,080 --> 01:30:54,360
Speaker 1: for me, education was big and I believe that to

1782
01:30:54,439 --> 01:30:59,080
Speaker 1: this Death's part of our three pillars UM with AU equity, community, environment,

1783
01:30:59,080 --> 01:31:01,559
Speaker 1: and education. And that doesn't mean you have to get

1784
01:31:01,880 --> 01:31:05,640
Speaker 1: education from college. That's the route I went, but UM

1785
01:31:05,840 --> 01:31:09,240
Speaker 1: knowledge and education is going to help open up a

1786
01:31:09,280 --> 01:31:12,760
Speaker 1: lot of opportunities and avenues open up your mind and

1787
01:31:13,479 --> 01:31:16,040
Speaker 1: help you make better choices and help you understand why

1788
01:31:16,120 --> 01:31:20,920
Speaker 1: you where you're at and why. Uh So. Uh Fortunately,

1789
01:31:21,240 --> 01:31:23,280
Speaker 1: in the federal prison system that I was in, they

1790
01:31:23,400 --> 01:31:29,200
Speaker 1: offered college courses, uh continuing adult courses, adult education courses,

1791
01:31:29,200 --> 01:31:32,479
Speaker 1: So I took advantage. Um I wanted to. I've always

1792
01:31:32,520 --> 01:31:36,200
Speaker 1: been a curious mind, and uh it just I'm thankful

1793
01:31:36,240 --> 01:31:39,000
Speaker 1: that it kind of clicked early. Um when I was

1794
01:31:39,040 --> 01:31:41,439
Speaker 1: in prison that education was gonna help me turn my

1795
01:31:41,479 --> 01:31:44,719
Speaker 1: life around. So I took every college course, every adult

1796
01:31:44,760 --> 01:31:49,080
Speaker 1: continued education course available. They had, UH courses in finance,

1797
01:31:49,320 --> 01:31:52,760
Speaker 1: the Spanish, heating, denilation, air condition. I took whatever I

1798
01:31:52,800 --> 01:31:55,960
Speaker 1: can get my hands on. End up leaving federal prison

1799
01:31:56,040 --> 01:32:00,000
Speaker 1: with probably like nine college credits to actually applied towards

1800
01:32:00,040 --> 01:32:04,880
Speaker 1: my degree. Wow. Now, but the note the next conversation

1801
01:32:04,920 --> 01:32:08,040
Speaker 1: of transitioning because there was God gave you a natural

1802
01:32:08,040 --> 01:32:11,439
Speaker 1: talent that was sports, and I'd say natural talent because

1803
01:32:11,439 --> 01:32:13,479
Speaker 1: you was able to build on that which led to

1804
01:32:13,520 --> 01:32:16,719
Speaker 1: you playing college football at the University of San Diego.

1805
01:32:16,960 --> 01:32:18,360
Speaker 1: So I don't want to miss any steps of this

1806
01:32:18,439 --> 01:32:21,439
Speaker 1: conversation because we all know in a journey. It's never overnight.

1807
01:32:21,479 --> 01:32:23,800
Speaker 1: I always tell people, you go to Hollywood, you see

1808
01:32:23,800 --> 01:32:25,920
Speaker 1: a person on TV or see him in the movie,

1809
01:32:26,200 --> 01:32:28,439
Speaker 1: believing they just didn't walk in Hollywood and get cast.

1810
01:32:28,920 --> 01:32:30,439
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of rejection, there's a lot

1811
01:32:30,479 --> 01:32:33,160
Speaker 1: of frustration. Talk about that rejection. To talk about that

1812
01:32:33,200 --> 01:32:36,960
Speaker 1: frustration and talk about people holding your past against you

1813
01:32:37,360 --> 01:32:41,559
Speaker 1: and preventing you from living the positive future. Yeah, Uh,

1814
01:32:41,560 --> 01:32:44,680
Speaker 1: well I had when I was in prison. I went

1815
01:32:44,720 --> 01:32:47,519
Speaker 1: there right after high school, and I was a talented

1816
01:32:47,560 --> 01:32:50,760
Speaker 1: football player in high school. Uh, I could in a

1817
01:32:50,800 --> 01:32:53,519
Speaker 1: scholarship if I wouldn't have went the criminal route. But

1818
01:32:53,800 --> 01:32:56,439
Speaker 1: so I had these dreams about playing football while I

1819
01:32:56,479 --> 01:32:58,720
Speaker 1: was in prison all the time, like handy, and I

1820
01:32:58,760 --> 01:33:01,920
Speaker 1: knew if I didn't go out there and play after

1821
01:33:01,960 --> 01:33:04,280
Speaker 1: I got out at twenty five, that it was gonna

1822
01:33:04,479 --> 01:33:06,360
Speaker 1: bother me for the rest of my life. And it

1823
01:33:06,479 --> 01:33:10,960
Speaker 1: was tied into my educational journey. So um actually was

1824
01:33:11,000 --> 01:33:13,559
Speaker 1: going to junior college for about a year, uh doing

1825
01:33:13,720 --> 01:33:17,360
Speaker 1: uh fitness training and you know, had the physique. So

1826
01:33:17,680 --> 01:33:20,080
Speaker 1: I got recruited just walking on campus, you know, to

1827
01:33:20,120 --> 01:33:23,080
Speaker 1: my classes, and uh, thank god I did. So I

1828
01:33:23,120 --> 01:33:26,400
Speaker 1: played for for Laney College. Uh, coach being They just

1829
01:33:26,439 --> 01:33:30,680
Speaker 1: did a Netflix special on Laney College coach being. So

1830
01:33:30,840 --> 01:33:34,360
Speaker 1: it was the first year there and I caught the

1831
01:33:34,400 --> 01:33:37,439
Speaker 1: attention with coach Hardball and it was his second year

1832
01:33:37,560 --> 01:33:39,479
Speaker 1: University of San Diego, and it's one of the best

1833
01:33:39,479 --> 01:33:43,320
Speaker 1: decisions of my life. Thankfully. I was focused on my

1834
01:33:43,920 --> 01:33:47,280
Speaker 1: studies at a three point six six. It's a prestigious university,

1835
01:33:47,320 --> 01:33:50,080
Speaker 1: so you've gotta have great grades to get there. Uh,

1836
01:33:50,120 --> 01:33:52,760
Speaker 1: they accepted me, and um, I got my degree in

1837
01:33:53,120 --> 01:33:56,960
Speaker 1: marketing and it really just set my path straight. I

1838
01:33:56,960 --> 01:33:59,800
Speaker 1: mean the connections I made, um, you know, what I

1839
01:34:00,000 --> 01:34:04,120
Speaker 1: earned there and then um, just the opportunities that it

1840
01:34:04,240 --> 01:34:07,439
Speaker 1: opened up for me were incredible. You know, you was

1841
01:34:07,520 --> 01:34:10,040
Speaker 1: there with was quite a quarterback, Josh Johnson. Was you

1842
01:34:10,120 --> 01:34:13,440
Speaker 1: there when he was there? Yeah? Absolutely, Yeah, my boy, Yeah,

1843
01:34:13,560 --> 01:34:17,360
Speaker 1: we'st open absolutely Mahawn Cousin. Oh, you know. My whole

1844
01:34:17,360 --> 01:34:19,320
Speaker 1: thing is that when I look at the opportunities that

1845
01:34:19,400 --> 01:34:23,200
Speaker 1: that come me away, and I'm excited about you, the

1846
01:34:23,360 --> 01:34:26,240
Speaker 1: dreams and then the fact that I like you because

1847
01:34:26,240 --> 01:34:28,280
Speaker 1: you're good looking guy and and so you know, and

1848
01:34:28,920 --> 01:34:31,000
Speaker 1: to be a good looking guy, I'll take that. Oh yeah,

1849
01:34:31,000 --> 01:34:33,200
Speaker 1: you know, good looking, come down. You know, like you said,

1850
01:34:33,240 --> 01:34:35,360
Speaker 1: you walked through campus. They knew you was, they knew

1851
01:34:35,360 --> 01:34:37,519
Speaker 1: you were physically fit. I won't go campus. They said,

1852
01:34:37,720 --> 01:34:42,920
Speaker 1: what class, sir, what class? They ask you what it's

1853
01:34:42,960 --> 01:34:45,240
Speaker 1: interesting with? Shall you say that because you know your

1854
01:34:45,240 --> 01:34:47,840
Speaker 1: firstally saying yego, you might not notice. I mean it's

1855
01:34:47,960 --> 01:34:51,400
Speaker 1: it's it's not a diverse campus. Most of the black

1856
01:34:51,400 --> 01:34:54,400
Speaker 1: and brown people that go there are playing sports. You know,

1857
01:34:54,439 --> 01:34:57,920
Speaker 1: I'm just being real. So when I got there, you know,

1858
01:34:57,960 --> 01:35:03,840
Speaker 1: I'm yoked up big I was when I got to

1859
01:35:03,880 --> 01:35:07,120
Speaker 1: University of San Diego. So I was always looked at

1860
01:35:07,240 --> 01:35:10,360
Speaker 1: like this. There was a story and uh like you

1861
01:35:10,400 --> 01:35:12,920
Speaker 1: know about me and uh mystique. So I think the

1862
01:35:12,920 --> 01:35:14,920
Speaker 1: world got out like we got this guy on campus

1863
01:35:14,920 --> 01:35:17,240
Speaker 1: who did a bid in prison and you know from

1864
01:35:17,280 --> 01:35:19,360
Speaker 1: the hood. So I was kind of like they called

1865
01:35:19,360 --> 01:35:21,880
Speaker 1: me o G triple o G around campus kind of

1866
01:35:21,960 --> 01:35:25,080
Speaker 1: knew me before new then just you know, it was

1867
01:35:25,160 --> 01:35:26,680
Speaker 1: rare for somebody to be on that campus for my

1868
01:35:26,720 --> 01:35:30,439
Speaker 1: background for sure. That that's what we always talk about background, Ryan,

1869
01:35:30,479 --> 01:35:32,519
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about the future. Now you know,

1870
01:35:32,560 --> 01:35:37,040
Speaker 1: aqua equity, equity, you know water, you know, we know California,

1871
01:35:37,120 --> 01:35:39,720
Speaker 1: so you know it's a it's a heat wave going on.

1872
01:35:39,880 --> 01:35:41,640
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this first of all, when you

1873
01:35:41,680 --> 01:35:44,759
Speaker 1: when you see the heat wave, does that me revenue

1874
01:35:44,760 --> 01:35:47,639
Speaker 1: in your mind? You know people gonna be drinking water?

1875
01:35:47,800 --> 01:35:49,880
Speaker 1: How do you treat weather in your in your line

1876
01:35:49,880 --> 01:35:51,800
Speaker 1: of business? How do you treat weather in your life?

1877
01:35:51,840 --> 01:35:54,479
Speaker 1: I need a transition because I see heat wave, I

1878
01:35:54,479 --> 01:35:59,320
Speaker 1: think my air conditioning bills gonna be stot. I need

1879
01:35:59,360 --> 01:36:02,960
Speaker 1: to transition. But you're right, UH with the heat. So

1880
01:36:03,080 --> 01:36:05,840
Speaker 1: we have a unique route to market and kind of

1881
01:36:05,880 --> 01:36:09,320
Speaker 1: customer based U being a we launched our product in March,

1882
01:36:10,120 --> 01:36:12,439
Speaker 1: right at the height of the pandemic. We had to

1883
01:36:12,479 --> 01:36:14,840
Speaker 1: pivot on how we were going to get a route

1884
01:36:14,840 --> 01:36:18,640
Speaker 1: to market and our points distribution. UH, So we changed

1885
01:36:18,720 --> 01:36:24,360
Speaker 1: from going to traditional retail route to focus on corporate customers. UM.

1886
01:36:24,439 --> 01:36:27,840
Speaker 1: Just by you know, being in Watson and UH contributing

1887
01:36:28,120 --> 01:36:32,400
Speaker 1: to the community outreach programs. We UH caught the attentions

1888
01:36:32,800 --> 01:36:36,160
Speaker 1: in the word of mouth, got out to several producers

1889
01:36:36,520 --> 01:36:42,400
Speaker 1: UM directors UM in the Hollywood industry. Molina Matsukus being

1890
01:36:42,439 --> 01:36:45,240
Speaker 1: one of the first, and she's awesome. She got us

1891
01:36:45,280 --> 01:36:48,559
Speaker 1: into Warner Media Studios. UM, so we're official vendor and

1892
01:36:48,600 --> 01:36:55,560
Speaker 1: there great customer, but we're picking up corporate customers like Kaiser, Permanente, GM, Cadillac,

1893
01:36:56,240 --> 01:36:59,880
Speaker 1: and we're able to sell them larger quantities UM and

1894
01:37:01,240 --> 01:37:05,479
Speaker 1: have them as a longer, long term customer as opposed

1895
01:37:05,520 --> 01:37:09,400
Speaker 1: to a retail customer. They support our mission and TV

1896
01:37:09,560 --> 01:37:12,240
Speaker 1: outreach we do, so you won't see us in a

1897
01:37:12,280 --> 01:37:17,200
Speaker 1: traditional retail store as much. UM. We sell mostly UH

1898
01:37:17,320 --> 01:37:22,720
Speaker 1: online to to to our customers um A residential customers,

1899
01:37:22,760 --> 01:37:25,360
Speaker 1: but our main focuses are corporate customers because they got

1900
01:37:25,360 --> 01:37:28,640
Speaker 1: the money to help support these these projects in the

1901
01:37:28,680 --> 01:37:31,759
Speaker 1: mission that we have our core equity. You know, it's water,

1902
01:37:32,160 --> 01:37:35,120
Speaker 1: That's what you know. It always amazes me that you

1903
01:37:35,160 --> 01:37:36,960
Speaker 1: know you have all you going to store. You see

1904
01:37:37,000 --> 01:37:39,679
Speaker 1: all these different bottle brands of water. Were just talking

1905
01:37:39,680 --> 01:37:44,000
Speaker 1: about water in general. One what the French rates water

1906
01:37:44,640 --> 01:37:48,240
Speaker 1: from just tap water? Well, what educate us on their

1907
01:37:48,320 --> 01:37:53,000
Speaker 1: own water process for us? Right right? No, A great question.

1908
01:37:53,840 --> 01:37:56,439
Speaker 1: So it all depends on what your water source. Obviously,

1909
01:37:56,600 --> 01:37:59,360
Speaker 1: certain parts of the country you're gonna have better UH

1910
01:38:00,000 --> 01:38:02,360
Speaker 1: act to water sources, whether that's a spring on the

1911
01:38:02,400 --> 01:38:07,280
Speaker 1: ground water table, UM So what we have is too offerings.

1912
01:38:07,280 --> 01:38:09,160
Speaker 1: We have a pure mount of spring water out of

1913
01:38:09,240 --> 01:38:14,000
Speaker 1: Tiger Georgia. UM. They have some of the best smooth

1914
01:38:13,960 --> 01:38:16,439
Speaker 1: of taste of spring water California. A lot of people

1915
01:38:16,439 --> 01:38:20,000
Speaker 1: are apprehensive about spring water, so we were very careful

1916
01:38:20,280 --> 01:38:21,880
Speaker 1: and picking the right one. And then we have an

1917
01:38:21,920 --> 01:38:24,920
Speaker 1: electrolyte and enhanced water. What that means is the water

1918
01:38:25,320 --> 01:38:29,440
Speaker 1: is purified through reverse osmosis and then we add calcium,

1919
01:38:29,479 --> 01:38:34,080
Speaker 1: magnesium and potassium for the electrolytes to keep you hydrated

1920
01:38:34,439 --> 01:38:38,519
Speaker 1: UM or rehydrated faster. So those are two main offerings

1921
01:38:38,680 --> 01:38:41,960
Speaker 1: UM and I mean it's very simple. You know, rais

1922
01:38:42,320 --> 01:38:43,760
Speaker 1: up a great point. You know, you can get water

1923
01:38:43,800 --> 01:38:46,439
Speaker 1: from a tap. But so what we say is that

1924
01:38:46,439 --> 01:38:49,400
Speaker 1: we're not really selling water. We're selling the good works

1925
01:38:49,400 --> 01:38:52,280
Speaker 1: in the mission uh that we do and bringing people,

1926
01:38:52,280 --> 01:38:55,040
Speaker 1: bringing our customers in that can't physically be there to

1927
01:38:55,160 --> 01:38:57,639
Speaker 1: be a part of it. Well, that's important. I'm talking

1928
01:38:57,640 --> 01:39:01,240
Speaker 1: to you. Aqua Equity is his on of business, you know.

1929
01:39:01,280 --> 01:39:04,160
Speaker 1: But his company operates on three pillars, and we want

1930
01:39:04,200 --> 01:39:06,400
Speaker 1: to talk about those three pillars. One his community, one

1931
01:39:06,479 --> 01:39:09,960
Speaker 1: his environment, and want his education. Now, it's always important

1932
01:39:10,000 --> 01:39:12,880
Speaker 1: to have a direction and you're motivated by your past

1933
01:39:12,960 --> 01:39:15,040
Speaker 1: to have a brighter future. And I want to go

1934
01:39:15,280 --> 01:39:17,840
Speaker 1: immediately down to one we and to continue that conversation

1935
01:39:17,880 --> 01:39:20,720
Speaker 1: because I think education has changed my life. You know,

1936
01:39:20,760 --> 01:39:23,040
Speaker 1: if I didn't have an education, then I wouldn't have

1937
01:39:23,040 --> 01:39:25,320
Speaker 1: direction in life. So I always tell people if you

1938
01:39:25,400 --> 01:39:27,880
Speaker 1: just go to college, just go to college for the experience,

1939
01:39:27,920 --> 01:39:30,519
Speaker 1: because I like high school. You have options in college.

1940
01:39:30,560 --> 01:39:32,439
Speaker 1: You know, you don't have to take a course, it's

1941
01:39:32,560 --> 01:39:34,640
Speaker 1: just because that's part of the curriculum for you being

1942
01:39:34,680 --> 01:39:38,080
Speaker 1: a junior, senior, a freshman in college in high school.

1943
01:39:38,320 --> 01:39:42,280
Speaker 1: So college have impacted you educationally. Talk about that and

1944
01:39:42,280 --> 01:39:44,160
Speaker 1: then talk about why it is one of the pillars

1945
01:39:44,479 --> 01:39:49,599
Speaker 1: with your watch community core. Yeah, absolutely, thank you. So

1946
01:39:50,200 --> 01:39:52,680
Speaker 1: you know, college is one of the best experiences of

1947
01:39:52,720 --> 01:39:55,839
Speaker 1: my life, not only because of the knowledge and education,

1948
01:39:55,880 --> 01:39:58,799
Speaker 1: but the connections and two of my co founders UM

1949
01:39:58,840 --> 01:40:01,160
Speaker 1: I met in college. We played football together in for

1950
01:40:01,360 --> 01:40:04,559
Speaker 1: San Diego UM and part of that was that bonding

1951
01:40:04,600 --> 01:40:08,560
Speaker 1: experience creative in college. So yeah, I do recommend individuals

1952
01:40:08,560 --> 01:40:13,880
Speaker 1: to seek out of college UM that that's accessible and

1953
01:40:13,880 --> 01:40:15,719
Speaker 1: and you know that you don't have to go into

1954
01:40:15,800 --> 01:40:20,680
Speaker 1: debt for get that education, you have a great experience. UM.

1955
01:40:20,720 --> 01:40:25,719
Speaker 1: So you know our three pillars community, UM, Environment, education,

1956
01:40:26,000 --> 01:40:30,880
Speaker 1: Education pieces huge because UM, I realize how it can

1957
01:40:30,960 --> 01:40:32,360
Speaker 1: change your life in a lot of people in the

1958
01:40:32,400 --> 01:40:36,240
Speaker 1: inner city that we deal with, they still don't know UM.

1959
01:40:36,680 --> 01:40:39,839
Speaker 1: And so we want to open up opportunities which education

1960
01:40:39,920 --> 01:40:43,800
Speaker 1: can do UM and sparked the next generation of innovators

1961
01:40:43,800 --> 01:40:47,800
Speaker 1: and entrepreneurs coming out of the wast community. And you know,

1962
01:40:47,880 --> 01:40:50,720
Speaker 1: we have an entrepreneur training program to do that that

1963
01:40:50,800 --> 01:40:54,040
Speaker 1: we work with our nonprofit partner uh SO. It's actually

1964
01:40:54,080 --> 01:40:59,880
Speaker 1: great foundation. UM. They are connected to the l A

1965
01:41:00,000 --> 01:41:03,439
Speaker 1: City Mayor's office uh so grid Foundation that operate in

1966
01:41:04,000 --> 01:41:08,280
Speaker 1: thirty two locations. And then they have a a STEM

1967
01:41:08,320 --> 01:41:12,280
Speaker 1: lab in the Nickerson Garden Housing development, which is the

1968
01:41:12,400 --> 01:41:16,000
Speaker 1: largest housing development west of the Mississippi, largest in the state.

1969
01:41:16,479 --> 01:41:19,120
Speaker 1: And so at that STEM lab, we have an entrepreneur

1970
01:41:19,160 --> 01:41:24,200
Speaker 1: training program that is essentially a college course where you're

1971
01:41:24,200 --> 01:41:27,960
Speaker 1: gonna get the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. UM, you're gonna build

1972
01:41:27,960 --> 01:41:31,000
Speaker 1: out a pitch deck for your business idea. You're gonna

1973
01:41:31,000 --> 01:41:35,080
Speaker 1: get that practice of elevator pitching, pitching in front of

1974
01:41:35,080 --> 01:41:38,040
Speaker 1: a panel. And then we we have basically a grant

1975
01:41:38,080 --> 01:41:41,040
Speaker 1: award for the top three students to help them get

1976
01:41:41,080 --> 01:41:44,360
Speaker 1: started on their entrepreneur journey. Three thousand for first place,

1977
01:41:44,439 --> 01:41:47,280
Speaker 1: two thousand for second, and a thousand for for third place.

1978
01:41:47,800 --> 01:41:51,759
Speaker 1: We bring in guests entrepreneurs every class to to share

1979
01:41:52,400 --> 01:41:55,719
Speaker 1: their experience and their best practices so that our students

1980
01:41:55,760 --> 01:41:58,519
Speaker 1: can get different perspectives and they can take from each

1981
01:41:58,680 --> 01:42:02,519
Speaker 1: entrepreneur and weave that to their own business plan. In

1982
01:42:02,640 --> 01:42:06,720
Speaker 1: mundset Um, I actually just like I've seen that the

1983
01:42:06,720 --> 01:42:09,439
Speaker 1: the entrepreneur training program. It's in Watch. It's at the

1984
01:42:09,560 --> 01:42:13,400
Speaker 1: Nickerson Garden Stem Lab Saturdays only on Saturdays. I know

1985
01:42:13,439 --> 01:42:15,479
Speaker 1: you have Zoom and do you have Saturdays? Because I

1986
01:42:15,520 --> 01:42:17,960
Speaker 1: love the I love the you know, talk for you

1987
01:42:18,080 --> 01:42:19,760
Speaker 1: or be one of your mentors, or be one of

1988
01:42:19,800 --> 01:42:22,200
Speaker 1: the people you like to invite in and talk because

1989
01:42:22,640 --> 01:42:25,360
Speaker 1: that's part of my my mantra, as part of my gearback.

1990
01:42:25,479 --> 01:42:27,559
Speaker 1: You know, it's time. You know, God he has given

1991
01:42:27,600 --> 01:42:30,000
Speaker 1: me the ability to live a long life. I have

1992
01:42:30,080 --> 01:42:32,599
Speaker 1: to give back these gifts and share it with somebody,

1993
01:42:32,680 --> 01:42:34,880
Speaker 1: so you can you can puncil me in or ink

1994
01:42:35,000 --> 01:42:36,920
Speaker 1: me in as a richt holding your to it. And

1995
01:42:36,920 --> 01:42:40,400
Speaker 1: I'm saying, hold you to that for sure, okay, because

1996
01:42:40,400 --> 01:42:42,479
Speaker 1: I definitely want to do that, you know, because like

1997
01:42:42,520 --> 01:42:45,519
Speaker 1: I said, uh, I know that l A was important

1998
01:42:45,520 --> 01:42:47,760
Speaker 1: in my life. I lived there from nineteen ninety to

1999
01:42:47,800 --> 01:42:50,639
Speaker 1: two thousand five. I know the impact is Steve Harvey

2000
01:42:50,640 --> 01:42:53,559
Speaker 1: and I had on radio in the community. You know,

2001
01:42:53,600 --> 01:42:55,720
Speaker 1: when I hear when I see Nickers and gardens man

2002
01:42:55,840 --> 01:43:00,599
Speaker 1: brings back so many memories because those are legendary. Uh locations,

2003
01:43:00,640 --> 01:43:03,160
Speaker 1: how is the locations in this country? You know I'm

2004
01:43:03,160 --> 01:43:05,479
Speaker 1: talking about you, Nickinson Guard and you go wow, you know,

2005
01:43:05,760 --> 01:43:07,400
Speaker 1: but I have to ask this question here because of

2006
01:43:07,439 --> 01:43:09,840
Speaker 1: the fact that this is what happens when you stay

2007
01:43:09,880 --> 01:43:12,360
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood so too long. Now it's a core

2008
01:43:12,439 --> 01:43:14,680
Speaker 1: group of people that you gang bang with. You know,

2009
01:43:15,080 --> 01:43:17,400
Speaker 1: someone probably got arrested with you use on the floor

2010
01:43:17,520 --> 01:43:19,240
Speaker 1: that bank way back in the day when he was

2011
01:43:19,280 --> 01:43:22,920
Speaker 1: an eighteen years old. Any relationship Now do you know

2012
01:43:22,960 --> 01:43:26,240
Speaker 1: where they at or as like all lives that live

2013
01:43:26,320 --> 01:43:30,639
Speaker 1: that life, it's been cut short, you know. I mean, well,

2014
01:43:30,640 --> 01:43:33,280
Speaker 1: what you know one of was my family members. So

2015
01:43:33,600 --> 01:43:35,559
Speaker 1: he did time too. He got caught up later on

2016
01:43:36,080 --> 01:43:38,000
Speaker 1: in the state and did some time. And you know,

2017
01:43:38,080 --> 01:43:41,960
Speaker 1: he's out and successful in his own right, so he's

2018
01:43:42,000 --> 01:43:44,519
Speaker 1: got his own story to tell. But um, so yeah,

2019
01:43:44,640 --> 01:43:48,360
Speaker 1: we keep tabs. And then another one, uh went off

2020
01:43:48,880 --> 01:43:51,200
Speaker 1: later on into prison and stay prisoned for something else

2021
01:43:51,240 --> 01:43:53,080
Speaker 1: and got out and you know he's got a family

2022
01:43:53,160 --> 01:43:55,880
Speaker 1: and kids. So you know he's got a great life too.

2023
01:43:55,960 --> 01:43:59,720
Speaker 1: So there's some some kind of beauty um for those

2024
01:43:59,760 --> 01:44:02,639
Speaker 1: as right there. Yeah, because I do want to bring

2025
01:44:02,640 --> 01:44:06,360
Speaker 1: out I don't I said, I do want to bring

2026
01:44:06,439 --> 01:44:08,599
Speaker 1: that up because that's a journey and you share those

2027
01:44:08,680 --> 01:44:12,040
Speaker 1: journeys with individuals and just you know that what I'm

2028
01:44:12,080 --> 01:44:13,439
Speaker 1: just trying to get out of your story, right And

2029
01:44:13,520 --> 01:44:16,240
Speaker 1: of course you know the aqua equity is that your

2030
01:44:16,320 --> 01:44:18,720
Speaker 1: your story has told so many different ways by so

2031
01:44:18,760 --> 01:44:21,880
Speaker 1: many different people who don't look like you but share

2032
01:44:21,920 --> 01:44:25,320
Speaker 1: the same path. You know, I can tell my innerguty path.

2033
01:44:25,840 --> 01:44:28,599
Speaker 1: But again, when you when you hit negativity, there's some

2034
01:44:28,640 --> 01:44:30,720
Speaker 1: positivity to come out of it. Now. I want to

2035
01:44:30,800 --> 01:44:33,519
Speaker 1: explain to people that you know, we just was just

2036
01:44:33,800 --> 01:44:35,960
Speaker 1: we didn't have the mentors, we didn't have the tools,

2037
01:44:36,560 --> 01:44:39,080
Speaker 1: we didn't have the environment. But wow, if we'd have

2038
01:44:39,080 --> 01:44:43,000
Speaker 1: had that same opportunity that other people are being blessed

2039
01:44:43,000 --> 01:44:45,320
Speaker 1: with Guess who we could have been. You know, we

2040
01:44:45,360 --> 01:44:48,479
Speaker 1: could have been we could have been Barack Obama. You know,

2041
01:44:48,520 --> 01:44:51,200
Speaker 1: we could have been the Reginald lewis Is of the world.

2042
01:44:51,240 --> 01:44:52,880
Speaker 1: You know, we could have been all these great people

2043
01:44:52,920 --> 01:44:57,280
Speaker 1: and you are still great people, absolutely, And so that

2044
01:44:57,400 --> 01:44:59,719
Speaker 1: that's why it's important this interview. When I do interviews,

2045
01:44:59,720 --> 01:45:02,000
Speaker 1: when the visual like that, it's your inspiration to me

2046
01:45:02,520 --> 01:45:05,280
Speaker 1: because I know I know who I am, I know

2047
01:45:05,360 --> 01:45:07,679
Speaker 1: what I am capable of doing. I know I'm capable

2048
01:45:07,680 --> 01:45:10,360
Speaker 1: of doing. Because people stop me ryan they stop me

2049
01:45:10,360 --> 01:45:12,680
Speaker 1: to reach out. I don't do that. They were mad

2050
01:45:12,720 --> 01:45:14,679
Speaker 1: at me when I when I when I didn't follow

2051
01:45:14,720 --> 01:45:17,519
Speaker 1: the path of greatness that they saw in me, which

2052
01:45:17,600 --> 01:45:20,960
Speaker 1: is off the frustration frustrating because that path that they

2053
01:45:20,960 --> 01:45:23,400
Speaker 1: want you to travel, it's kind of hard. It's kind

2054
01:45:23,400 --> 01:45:27,719
Speaker 1: of hard, and it takes a little discipline. They're involved

2055
01:45:27,720 --> 01:45:29,320
Speaker 1: in that. And that's why I want to go back

2056
01:45:29,360 --> 01:45:32,720
Speaker 1: into the environment conversation, because the environment really is how

2057
01:45:32,760 --> 01:45:35,240
Speaker 1: you package your water, because that's a path you gotta

2058
01:45:35,280 --> 01:45:38,519
Speaker 1: follow rules, and a lot of times when you follow rules,

2059
01:45:38,520 --> 01:45:40,519
Speaker 1: it can lead to frustration, especially when you're trying to

2060
01:45:40,560 --> 01:45:43,240
Speaker 1: build your business. Model, and one of the second pillows

2061
01:45:43,320 --> 01:45:46,160
Speaker 1: in there, we talked about education is environment, and then

2062
01:45:46,160 --> 01:45:48,280
Speaker 1: we're gonna roll it up and talk about the community,

2063
01:45:48,479 --> 01:45:50,479
Speaker 1: how you're giving back. But I thought it was really

2064
01:45:50,520 --> 01:45:54,080
Speaker 1: important to tell your story, man, not only the journey,

2065
01:45:54,320 --> 01:45:57,519
Speaker 1: but what you're doing now and how through just structure

2066
01:45:57,840 --> 01:46:00,880
Speaker 1: thought process, you turn around not knowing your life but

2067
01:46:01,000 --> 01:46:06,280
Speaker 1: the community of Watch. Let's talk about environment. Yeah, I mean,

2068
01:46:06,840 --> 01:46:09,639
Speaker 1: so the environment piece. I talked about it two ways,

2069
01:46:09,760 --> 01:46:12,240
Speaker 1: you know. First with our packaging, UH, so you kind

2070
01:46:12,240 --> 01:46:16,559
Speaker 1: of see the bottle behind me, aluminum bottle UM. We

2071
01:46:16,880 --> 01:46:20,280
Speaker 1: especially in California, the single use plastic is a big issue,

2072
01:46:20,560 --> 01:46:23,519
Speaker 1: and so we didn't want to contribute to a problem.

2073
01:46:23,600 --> 01:46:26,720
Speaker 1: We we wanted to help alleviate the problem. And there's

2074
01:46:26,760 --> 01:46:31,760
Speaker 1: not a lot of bottle waters uh packaged in reusable aluminum,

2075
01:46:32,280 --> 01:46:36,040
Speaker 1: recyclable aluminum. So we went that way to kind of

2076
01:46:36,040 --> 01:46:40,920
Speaker 1: start a trend and and be first movers in this category.

2077
01:46:40,960 --> 01:46:43,040
Speaker 1: But we felt it was really important to us that

2078
01:46:43,080 --> 01:46:46,720
Speaker 1: our packaging being aligned with UH, you know, where our

2079
01:46:46,720 --> 01:46:49,080
Speaker 1: heart is is to take care of the community, the environment.

2080
01:46:49,720 --> 01:46:51,760
Speaker 1: So and then the other piece of the environment is

2081
01:46:52,360 --> 01:46:55,400
Speaker 1: um me showing up to the Watch environment to other

2082
01:46:55,479 --> 01:46:59,320
Speaker 1: communities in that environment. UM, and telling my story so

2083
01:46:59,400 --> 01:47:04,759
Speaker 1: that other kids or even adults that made mistake realize

2084
01:47:04,800 --> 01:47:08,160
Speaker 1: that it's not over. It doesn't matter what happened yesterday.

2085
01:47:08,240 --> 01:47:11,759
Speaker 1: Pick yourself up, be determined to to to keep grinding,

2086
01:47:11,840 --> 01:47:15,599
Speaker 1: to keep working towards your goals. Um, and you'll get there.

2087
01:47:15,680 --> 01:47:18,599
Speaker 1: People will help will help you. UM. But a lot

2088
01:47:18,680 --> 01:47:20,519
Speaker 1: of it is a mindset shift, and that's what we're

2089
01:47:20,560 --> 01:47:25,599
Speaker 1: trying to spark, is uh, that mindset shift and open

2090
01:47:25,720 --> 01:47:31,360
Speaker 1: up there kind of thought process. Uh. Two different opportunities

2091
01:47:31,400 --> 01:47:35,559
Speaker 1: instead of the traditional current environmental opportunities that are a

2092
01:47:35,560 --> 01:47:38,519
Speaker 1: cycled to prison or death. Right now, the last one

2093
01:47:38,560 --> 01:47:41,200
Speaker 1: is community, you know, because we know it's really how

2094
01:47:41,240 --> 01:47:43,719
Speaker 1: you've overcome a lot of things in life, dream dreams

2095
01:47:43,760 --> 01:47:46,280
Speaker 1: sometimes because the pandemic could have been a dream killer

2096
01:47:46,600 --> 01:47:49,759
Speaker 1: because you started this whole concept and march of a

2097
01:47:51,160 --> 01:47:55,479
Speaker 1: and then in cried. Several corporate customers such as Wanta Media,

2098
01:47:55,560 --> 01:47:59,160
Speaker 1: kinds of permanented General Motors Corporation, and these are like

2099
01:47:59,479 --> 01:48:03,120
Speaker 1: these are what we'd like to call Fortune five hundred companies. Okay,

2100
01:48:03,120 --> 01:48:06,040
Speaker 1: every time that logo appears on the website that you

2101
01:48:06,160 --> 01:48:09,679
Speaker 1: have it brings more credibility, but it's the bottom line

2102
01:48:09,840 --> 01:48:14,200
Speaker 1: is the community made you, it raised you. Now you're

2103
01:48:14,200 --> 01:48:18,400
Speaker 1: giving back to it. Talk to us. Yeah, I mean,

2104
01:48:18,520 --> 01:48:22,680
Speaker 1: I mean absolutely. And you know, I love Sanbordino. I

2105
01:48:22,720 --> 01:48:27,719
Speaker 1: love Watson and Oakland and Flint and these other black

2106
01:48:27,760 --> 01:48:29,680
Speaker 1: and brown cities industries that I I ain't even been there.

2107
01:48:29,720 --> 01:48:33,360
Speaker 1: And I can say that because there's so many parallels.

2108
01:48:33,400 --> 01:48:34,960
Speaker 1: When I was in federal prison, I got to be

2109
01:48:35,040 --> 01:48:38,000
Speaker 1: locked up around brothers, and you know, black and brown

2110
01:48:38,000 --> 01:48:41,240
Speaker 1: brothers were all over the country, and I realized that,

2111
01:48:41,640 --> 01:48:44,160
Speaker 1: you know, we pretty much going through the same struggle.

2112
01:48:45,000 --> 01:48:49,680
Speaker 1: Um and ghettos were designed right, So it's not a

2113
01:48:49,680 --> 01:48:51,720
Speaker 1: surprise now to learn that there's some of the same

2114
01:48:51,720 --> 01:48:54,040
Speaker 1: struggles going on in Watts that are in Oakland, that

2115
01:48:54,080 --> 01:48:56,120
Speaker 1: are in Cleveland, that are in Detroit, that are in Atlanta.

2116
01:48:56,600 --> 01:49:00,920
Speaker 1: So anyways, UM community. I love the resilience of the

2117
01:49:00,960 --> 01:49:05,960
Speaker 1: people in those communities. Um uh, their mindset, you know,

2118
01:49:06,360 --> 01:49:10,200
Speaker 1: how they find joy and happiness with you know, very

2119
01:49:10,280 --> 01:49:14,719
Speaker 1: very little resources compared to you know, what they're aware

2120
01:49:14,720 --> 01:49:17,960
Speaker 1: of around them. So I love that residence and that

2121
01:49:18,080 --> 01:49:20,640
Speaker 1: that fighting at people. So I'm there with them to

2122
01:49:20,840 --> 01:49:24,280
Speaker 1: encourage them to to help them and to to show

2123
01:49:24,320 --> 01:49:26,400
Speaker 1: them away. Um, there's other leaders in there. I need

2124
01:49:26,439 --> 01:49:27,920
Speaker 1: to give a shout out to. You know, I'm the

2125
01:49:27,960 --> 01:49:30,200
Speaker 1: one here on this interview, but people in the community.

2126
01:49:30,240 --> 01:49:33,640
Speaker 1: I've been there for ten twenty thirty years. Individuals like

2127
01:49:33,720 --> 01:49:38,120
Speaker 1: Donnie joe Bert, Brandon, Silen Bailey Sticks. Um, he just

2128
01:49:38,160 --> 01:49:39,800
Speaker 1: got the key to the city in l A. But

2129
01:49:39,840 --> 01:49:43,400
Speaker 1: they've been doing you know, major positive good works in

2130
01:49:43,439 --> 01:49:46,800
Speaker 1: the Watch community long before I got there. And me

2131
01:49:46,920 --> 01:49:49,599
Speaker 1: connecting in the opequity, my co founders, I got Brandon

2132
01:49:49,680 --> 01:49:53,320
Speaker 1: that speech, J T. Rogan, Crystal Jackson, I couldn't do

2133
01:49:53,320 --> 01:49:57,799
Speaker 1: it without a team. So us connecting with individuals like Donnie,

2134
01:49:57,840 --> 01:50:01,880
Speaker 1: joe Bert and Brandis Lying Bailey Sticks that are already

2135
01:50:02,000 --> 01:50:05,360
Speaker 1: UM in the community doing their works. It made it

2136
01:50:05,400 --> 01:50:10,479
Speaker 1: possible for us to basically be the fuel, you know,

2137
01:50:10,760 --> 01:50:15,360
Speaker 1: or the turbo to to to their engine. So that's

2138
01:50:15,360 --> 01:50:17,839
Speaker 1: a big part of the community is finding a team

2139
01:50:17,960 --> 01:50:20,200
Speaker 1: and people are like minded with the synergy to work

2140
01:50:20,240 --> 01:50:25,360
Speaker 1: together to solve problems. Well. ACA Equity says April twenty

2141
01:50:25,479 --> 01:50:29,920
Speaker 1: have donated with twenty dollars and cases of water, two

2142
01:50:30,000 --> 01:50:33,599
Speaker 1: food drives, and various nonprofits you're making the difference, Ryan Morgan,

2143
01:50:33,840 --> 01:50:36,559
Speaker 1: I gotta see you soon, man, And again I want

2144
01:50:36,560 --> 01:50:38,599
Speaker 1: to step up my part. I want to be there

2145
01:50:38,680 --> 01:50:41,439
Speaker 1: speaking to the students, but these young people, these young adults,

2146
01:50:41,439 --> 01:50:44,439
Speaker 1: to let them know that, hey man, I'm not special. Uh.

2147
01:50:44,479 --> 01:50:47,240
Speaker 1: What I did was I followed the rules of life,

2148
01:50:47,360 --> 01:50:49,519
Speaker 1: which means you have to work hard, playing hard, and

2149
01:50:49,560 --> 01:50:52,320
Speaker 1: have a dream based on the reality. And you live

2150
01:50:52,439 --> 01:50:55,360
Speaker 1: so many different dreams, sir, and and you've been so

2151
01:50:55,439 --> 01:50:58,040
Speaker 1: successful with so many different dreams that have come your way.

2152
01:50:58,439 --> 01:51:00,800
Speaker 1: I wish you continue to sex sex ass and I

2153
01:51:00,840 --> 01:51:03,479
Speaker 1: will be seeing you because I promise you when my

2154
01:51:03,560 --> 01:51:05,800
Speaker 1: man Stephen A. Smith come to l A, you will

2155
01:51:05,840 --> 01:51:09,439
Speaker 1: be meeting him. Okay, I wash. I look forward to

2156
01:51:09,479 --> 01:51:11,200
Speaker 1: me your person man, and have you out there with

2157
01:51:11,479 --> 01:51:14,760
Speaker 1: these good works. But come on, man, don't wear that

2158
01:51:14,800 --> 01:51:16,360
Speaker 1: suit though. I don't want to see you sweat that

2159
01:51:16,400 --> 01:51:19,920
Speaker 1: suit out. Don't worry about that. If it'll we just

2160
01:51:19,960 --> 01:51:22,040
Speaker 1: didn't suit there, okay, don't know, like I got that

2161
01:51:22,200 --> 01:51:29,439
Speaker 1: one suit sleeve. I appreciate your ry man, stay strong, man,

2162
01:51:29,760 --> 01:51:31,599
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Thank you for coming on money

2163
01:51:31,600 --> 01:51:35,439
Speaker 1: making conversations. Okay, if you want to see any of

2164
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Speaker 1: my interviews are here. In my interviews on money Making Conversations,

2165
01:51:38,120 --> 01:51:41,440
Speaker 1: please go to money Making Conversation dot com. I'm Rashan McDonald.

2166
01:51:41,479 --> 01:51:46,080
Speaker 1: I am your host. You are now tuned into the

2167
01:51:46,120 --> 01:51:50,439
Speaker 1: money Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration with Rashan McDonald. I

2168
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Speaker 1: sat down with my friend Ryan Lee, he's an entrepreneur

2169
01:51:53,760 --> 01:51:56,519
Speaker 1: and Arthur laying out the framework you need to change

2170
01:51:56,560 --> 01:52:00,360
Speaker 1: failure successfully, which means living in life what you are,

2171
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Speaker 1: pursuing your dreams, living in your purpose, and experiencing ultimate fulfillment.

2172
01:52:05,680 --> 01:52:08,080
Speaker 1: Here's what he had to say. I'm still going to

2173
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Speaker 1: do it because I don't have anything else and I'm

2174
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Speaker 1: chasing failure. And so what's the worst that can actually happen?

2175
01:52:17,240 --> 01:52:21,120
Speaker 1: A they don't respond at all, be they say no

2176
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Speaker 1: or see they say yes. Those are the options and

2177
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Speaker 1: you won't know which of those options you're gonna get

2178
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Speaker 1: if you do nothing right. And so I think so

2179
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Speaker 1: many people are afraid of the word no, but it's

2180
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Speaker 1: just a two letter word. If you want to listen

2181
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Speaker 1: to this. Full interview with Ryan Lee is available in

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