Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Adriyan Rae, Nyambi Nyambi, Mychel “Snoop” Dillard & Herman Dolce

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Adriyan Rae, Nyambi Nyambi, Mychel “Snoop” Dillard & Herman Dolce · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: My next guest is on the phone. I always enjoyed
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Speaker 1: talking to this person because she is a serial entrepreneur.
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Speaker 1: She builds it, she goes on. She builds it, she
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Speaker 1: goes on. But next guest is a former financial advisor
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Speaker 1: and realtor. Today she's known as a serial entre new
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Speaker 1: and well known for her nightlife ventures through her Dillard
3:03
Speaker 1: Hospitality Group. A serial entrepreneurs a person who comes up
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Speaker 1: with an idea gets the company started and then goes
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Speaker 1: on to a new venture by gaining real world experience
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Speaker 1: on how to start, operate, and manage profitable businesses. In
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Speaker 1: my guests, continues to expand her brand by offering business
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Speaker 1: consulting for those who are serious about their entrepreneurial endeavors.
3:25
Speaker 1: Please welcome back to money making Conversation my friend Snoop Dillard. Hey, hey, hey,
3:31
Speaker 1: thanks for having man. First of all, First of all,
3:34
Speaker 1: first of all, Snoop the two what's your website? And
3:37
Speaker 1: I printed it out for my show, the Snoop of
3:40
Speaker 1: of the tour of Snoop birthday celebration for the month April.
3:44
Speaker 1: Did any of that happen? None of it? None of it?
3:50
Speaker 1: I mean you had it going on April, thir April
3:53
Speaker 1: second April. You you're about it, ain't Hey? Yeah, I'm
3:57
Speaker 1: pretty now for having a really big birthday. So well,
4:00
Speaker 1: I know, next try to do something at every one
4:02
Speaker 1: of my spots. Absolutely, it's I must be aware than
4:06
Speaker 1: a month of April coming up. If I don't get
4:08
Speaker 1: an invite for Snoop, I'm tracking you down, girl, I'm
4:10
Speaker 1: tracking congratulate happy birthday. The month of April is your month,
4:14
Speaker 1: don't we won't let this pandemic keep you down, girl,
4:17
Speaker 1: And we're about to roll over to May happy birthday.
4:19
Speaker 1: Life is treating you well. Thank you so much. I
4:23
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Now let's talk about you and your business.
4:25
Speaker 1: You know, we know we're in the people business. Uh
4:28
Speaker 1: we are people come in and uh we know what
4:30
Speaker 1: the pandemic is happening. And first of all, when how
4:35
Speaker 1: did there are steps to this whole madness that's happening
4:38
Speaker 1: right here? Because madness is affecting people, uh, lives, as
4:42
Speaker 1: people are dying, there's testing. The product to keep your
4:45
Speaker 1: safety's not available on store shelves. But you're in the
4:49
Speaker 1: people hospitality business, which means that people come to your
4:52
Speaker 1: places of business. Let's talk about the fruits initial business
4:56
Speaker 1: shock that you had to undergo when the when they said, hey,
4:59
Speaker 1: you can't be open. Let's talk about that. Um. So,
5:03
Speaker 1: of course, as a business owner, it was definitely very shocking.
5:07
Speaker 1: I think just as meet number one, I watched the
5:10
Speaker 1: news and I tried to stay in for himed a lot,
5:12
Speaker 1: so I didn't just start. You know, You've got a
5:13
Speaker 1: lot of people that kind of just started watching the news,
5:17
Speaker 1: you know, with this whole pandemic. So I initially started
5:21
Speaker 1: hearing about the coronavirus and specifically this COVID nineteen strand
5:26
Speaker 1: back in December when it really kind of started hitting China.
5:30
Speaker 1: And so employee of mine had actually had a trip
5:33
Speaker 1: planning to China in January and she got really sick
5:37
Speaker 1: and we felt like she had the coronavirus, you know,
5:40
Speaker 1: and so when she got back, you know, I didn't
5:43
Speaker 1: let her come back to work, you know, for a
5:45
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, and you know, things of that nature.
5:47
Speaker 1: And so it's something that kind of was always on
5:50
Speaker 1: my radar. And um I kind of saw this coming,
5:54
Speaker 1: you know, once our cases you know ended up, you know,
5:58
Speaker 1: going up and and all of that. So about a
6:01
Speaker 1: week before they made us close, um I had told
6:05
Speaker 1: my business partner two days I was like, you know,
6:07
Speaker 1: I have a feeling they're going to close our businesses
6:09
Speaker 1: because we were actually just about to renovate our patio
6:13
Speaker 1: and switch out our POS systems, two things that are
6:17
Speaker 1: you know, an investment, you know, And so I had
6:20
Speaker 1: actually told him, hey, let's kind of hold off on
6:22
Speaker 1: this stuff because I have a feeling we're gonna have
6:24
Speaker 1: to close the businesses. And he was just like, what,
6:27
Speaker 1: you know, you think it's gonna get death serious? And
6:29
Speaker 1: I was just like, yeah, that's basically what's happening. And
6:33
Speaker 1: so uh, it was maybe about a couple of weeks
6:35
Speaker 1: later that you know, the mayor because of course the
6:39
Speaker 1: governor he didn't really act quickly, but you know, the
6:42
Speaker 1: mayor had given the sanction to you know, go ahead
6:47
Speaker 1: and close you know, the restaurants and so UM. I
6:51
Speaker 1: was definitely you know, very shocked and surprise. Um. And
6:57
Speaker 1: you know, I was even more shocked that they were
7:00
Speaker 1: gonna be giving us us, you know, or at least
7:02
Speaker 1: trying to give us some type of funds you know,
7:04
Speaker 1: which I hadn't received. But it's just very interesting because
7:07
Speaker 1: you know, it's a business owner. You know, you work hard. Um,
7:10
Speaker 1: your business is like your baby, and you know, for
7:15
Speaker 1: things to happen and for you to not be able
7:18
Speaker 1: to operate to no part of your own just kind
7:21
Speaker 1: of leads you in a very challenging possesition, It really does,
7:25
Speaker 1: you know. And I wanted you were talking about the
7:27
Speaker 1: Peril Protection program that was for small business is to
7:32
Speaker 1: be able to get allocated funds that will be uh
7:35
Speaker 1: that actually could be a wash at least seventy five
7:37
Speaker 1: percent of the funds. If you apply those two, paying
7:40
Speaker 1: your employees, paying your rent, and keep you health benefits,
7:43
Speaker 1: then you don't have to pay that back. I have
7:46
Speaker 1: also applied for that snoop. Nobody has responded yet either,
7:50
Speaker 1: so hopefully the second round we can benefit from that.
7:53
Speaker 1: But I think the thing, the thing that bothers me
7:56
Speaker 1: the most about this whole situation is that as a
7:59
Speaker 1: busy his owner, you know, four point four million people
8:03
Speaker 1: have applied for unemployment and we're just trying to figure
8:06
Speaker 1: this out together. The thing that has frustrated me the
8:08
Speaker 1: most is that nobody is giving us a plan on
8:11
Speaker 1: what to do. They've told us to stay home, which
8:14
Speaker 1: I understand and I value that because the crisis not over.
8:18
Speaker 1: But we do have to start functioning again. And so
8:21
Speaker 1: when you started making a decision to reopen your businesses
8:24
Speaker 1: to make them, especially when the governor said, hey, there
8:27
Speaker 1: is you. You could open up salons, tattoo massage falls
8:32
Speaker 1: and gems and bowling analyst one Friday and then the
8:35
Speaker 1: Monday Monday after that you can go into restaurants and
8:37
Speaker 1: theaters and things like that. He did not say that
8:40
Speaker 1: you had to open. He said you can open. He
8:43
Speaker 1: didn't say you had to open. Let's get that cleared
8:45
Speaker 1: up right now. How and how I look like? Look
8:47
Speaker 1: at it is? You know, he just gave business owners
8:49
Speaker 1: and option. You know, if you're at the point that
8:52
Speaker 1: you know your business may get shut down, you know
8:54
Speaker 1: what I mean, or or whatever or whatever the case
8:57
Speaker 1: may be. You know, he just gave people an option,
9:00
Speaker 1: you know, to go ahead and open. You know, if
9:02
Speaker 1: you still don't feel comfortable and you want to stay
9:04
Speaker 1: at home and social distance and things of that nature,
9:08
Speaker 1: you're still able to do so. Um and so for me,
9:11
Speaker 1: I made the decision to go ahead and open up
9:14
Speaker 1: two out of the four of my businesses. So I've
9:17
Speaker 1: got Crave restaurant out of the five sorry, um so
9:22
Speaker 1: Crave restaurant a little five points. I opened that business,
9:25
Speaker 1: might open the dining for that once a day. A
9:28
Speaker 1: lot of the other things on our street open, including
9:31
Speaker 1: another restaurant that's over here. So okay, let's let's let's
9:35
Speaker 1: start with crazy. Let's because I really want to slow
9:37
Speaker 1: this down, because this is a this is an important
9:40
Speaker 1: interview about your business, about your brand, about how this
9:43
Speaker 1: country is going to be moving forward. Because the format
9:45
Speaker 1: you're using right now is what people are gonna be
9:47
Speaker 1: using in California. They're gonna be using in terms because
9:50
Speaker 1: we're all are going to open back up, and you
9:52
Speaker 1: should only open up when you're ready, and you put
9:55
Speaker 1: your employees in an environment they're comfortable to work in,
9:59
Speaker 1: and they're customers, and your customers that you want to
10:02
Speaker 1: come into your place of business feel comfortable that they
10:05
Speaker 1: would be dining healthy and leave healthy, and so so
10:09
Speaker 1: crave you you you got with the team, what was
10:12
Speaker 1: the plan of action that you put in place? UM?
10:16
Speaker 1: So one thing, you know, we have infrared thermometers on site,
10:19
Speaker 1: so UM, any staff that is coming into work, they
10:22
Speaker 1: have to have their fever taken. UM. We're cognizant of
10:25
Speaker 1: any you know, if they're displaying any symptoms or if
10:29
Speaker 1: they do have a fever, of course we aren't letting
10:31
Speaker 1: those individuals work. UM, and in that case, they would
10:36
Speaker 1: have to go get tested and come back with a
10:38
Speaker 1: negative coronavirus tests in order to work. UM, all staff
10:43
Speaker 1: members will be wearing masks. Our cooks of course already
10:47
Speaker 1: wear gloves as well, but now as all staff members
10:52
Speaker 1: will be wearing masks, all cooks you know have been
10:54
Speaker 1: wearing masks in the past. Um, we are only letting
10:58
Speaker 1: a certain number of people into like for a restaurant
11:02
Speaker 1: like Crave. Um as far as like the size of it,
11:05
Speaker 1: we've only got maybe about square feet. UM. So we've
11:09
Speaker 1: limited the number of people that can come into the
11:11
Speaker 1: restaurants to thirty maxims. Okay, UM, So that's another another
11:16
Speaker 1: thing that we're doing. UM. And then we're thinking about
11:19
Speaker 1: which I haven't done this yet, but I know when
11:21
Speaker 1: I opened the ask of our locations, I'm probably going
11:23
Speaker 1: to have the hostess is going to have an infrared
11:26
Speaker 1: thermometer and actually be uh checking each customer. Than you
11:31
Speaker 1: should do that. You should do that forever. You should
11:34
Speaker 1: do that, and now you should do that because I'm
11:36
Speaker 1: recommending that too, because you know, I put the girls
11:39
Speaker 1: talked to a lot of small businesses on the regular
11:41
Speaker 1: basis on my show and just from from the beauty
11:43
Speaker 1: and barbersholong to the restaurants and and this is a
11:46
Speaker 1: plan of action you have to put in place. And
11:49
Speaker 1: checking the customers when they come in there's a smart
11:51
Speaker 1: move because if they got a temperature, you know, they
11:54
Speaker 1: should they should be turned around, turned away. They shouldn't
11:57
Speaker 1: be in your place of business. But more importantly having
11:59
Speaker 1: that plane, I think it's really cool. So that's what
12:02
Speaker 1: you did it, Crave, So what was the next place
12:04
Speaker 1: of business that you opened up? UM? So the remedies
12:08
Speaker 1: A lot Sweets is open, so those are basically just
12:11
Speaker 1: so what I'm responsible for is kind of the common
12:13
Speaker 1: ground areas pretty much that that business sweet owners they
12:17
Speaker 1: rent from me and so they may have their own
12:20
Speaker 1: sweets in their own businesses top right. But we did
12:23
Speaker 1: strongly encourage that all of the sweet owners were masks
12:26
Speaker 1: that they have have their clients wear masks. UM and
12:31
Speaker 1: that UM So now nobody I normally have a receptionist
12:33
Speaker 1: on site, nobody will be allowed to go to her desk.
12:37
Speaker 1: She'll just be buzzing people in it. Then they have
12:39
Speaker 1: to go straight to the sweet that they're going to. Um.
12:42
Speaker 1: She also has the infrared thermometer, so everyone that comes
12:44
Speaker 1: into the building their temperature will be checked as well.
12:48
Speaker 1: UM and we aren't doing any wedding area, so they
12:53
Speaker 1: literally the customers have to come in and go straight
12:56
Speaker 1: to the sweet that they're going to be service that
12:59
Speaker 1: we really thank you for sharing these stories with me,
13:02
Speaker 1: these business stories with me because this format is important.
13:07
Speaker 1: Now you are in business with a celebrity. And when
13:11
Speaker 1: when which opens themselves up for criticism, they're always say people.
13:17
Speaker 1: You know, you can see a building, but if you
13:19
Speaker 1: don't see a name a person, now he's a person
13:21
Speaker 1: attached that building in a restaurant. How what has been
13:25
Speaker 1: the reaction of and even thinking about opening up his business?
13:29
Speaker 1: What has been the reaction to change? Yeah, So our
13:33
Speaker 1: own our own three businesses with two chains, um, two
13:37
Speaker 1: of which are of our locations, which are pretty popular
13:40
Speaker 1: here in the city of Atlanta. Another business that we
13:43
Speaker 1: have members only allows and restaurants, and that one is
13:46
Speaker 1: more of allowing. So we didn't even consider opening that
13:48
Speaker 1: one when the governor gave us the option to do so. However,
13:52
Speaker 1: our of our location employees over a hundred people that
13:55
Speaker 1: are absolutely struggling. You know, even though we've been able
13:58
Speaker 1: to do carry out, we've only ourselves have been now
14:02
Speaker 1: by no um. You know, even though we've been able
14:07
Speaker 1: to do carry out, you know, we're just rotating you know,
14:10
Speaker 1: a few staff members, um and so you know a
14:14
Speaker 1: lot of the staff you know, has been struggling it.
14:16
Speaker 1: So anyway, you know, when the governor said that we
14:18
Speaker 1: could open um. We initially wanted to go ahead and
14:22
Speaker 1: do so, and so well, you know, I hear all
14:24
Speaker 1: the complaints and I tell people this. Okay, we and
14:29
Speaker 1: you we're on the same page. Snoop, we're on the
14:32
Speaker 1: same page. Okay, from the standpoint of opening your business
14:36
Speaker 1: under the right guidelines of as much having safe operating
14:40
Speaker 1: principles for not only your employees but your customers. Okay.
14:45
Speaker 1: When the when the face mask first came out, they
14:47
Speaker 1: were telling us not to wear face masks. He said,
14:49
Speaker 1: don't wear now, fast man, don't wear face masks. And
14:51
Speaker 1: three weeks later wear a face mask. And I they're
14:54
Speaker 1: telling us, hey, when is it safe to open. I
14:57
Speaker 1: don't know when it's going to be safe to open
15:00
Speaker 1: because of the fact that nobody has found the vaccine,
15:04
Speaker 1: and they've already told us this summer that you will
15:07
Speaker 1: still be social distancing. So we have to figure out
15:10
Speaker 1: the plans new on how to operate our businesses, how
15:15
Speaker 1: to social distance ourselves. And then when the people start
15:18
Speaker 1: open to the first thing they're gonna say is it's Spike.
15:20
Speaker 1: I told you. I told you. So they start open
15:22
Speaker 1: the business, I'll tell you something it's gonna spike anyway.
15:27
Speaker 1: As soon as we start really living a normal life,
15:30
Speaker 1: it's going to spike. But when we start living a
15:33
Speaker 1: normal life, Snoop, it's when we can figure out how
15:36
Speaker 1: to contain this, how we can how we can live correctly.
15:41
Speaker 1: But your business has to open to change. Should not
15:45
Speaker 1: be hit with any backlash because he's trying to run
15:48
Speaker 1: a business in a new world, a new social society
15:53
Speaker 1: that prevents us from acting normal, walking, normal, high fiving, hugging,
15:58
Speaker 1: dapping is seen strangers people you love like you used
16:04
Speaker 1: to do, and because of that, we have to look
16:07
Speaker 1: everything different. I'm back with more, super I'm so head
16:09
Speaker 1: glad you're on the shore. I couldn't wait because I
16:11
Speaker 1: wanted to just let you know I support you and
16:13
Speaker 1: I will do whatever my brand can to extend information
16:17
Speaker 1: about your business is being open. But we're gonna be
16:19
Speaker 1: back with more because you're you're You're a winner. You
16:21
Speaker 1: you you know, I love to love to love you
16:23
Speaker 1: to death and I'm supporting you. Were right back with more,
16:27
Speaker 1: Snoop Dillett. How this with Sean McDonald. You're listening to
16:31
Speaker 1: money making conversations. I'm not not making this show. This
16:34
Speaker 1: interview about campaign. It's about just staying facts in the
16:38
Speaker 1: new world that we live in. It's a pandemic world
16:40
Speaker 1: that we live in, and we're all trying to figure
16:42
Speaker 1: this out together. This crisis is not over, so we're
16:45
Speaker 1: trying to figure out how we can move forward, how
16:47
Speaker 1: we can do business, how we can go shopping without
16:50
Speaker 1: being nervous. When we go shopping, we can find tilet
16:53
Speaker 1: paper on the shelves, we can find hand sanitizer on
16:56
Speaker 1: the shelves, when we can find paper towels on the
17:00
Speaker 1: rubber gloves on the shelves. That's what I'm trying to
17:02
Speaker 1: get in this new world now. Businesses have to exist
17:06
Speaker 1: because people are employed. Four point four million people on
17:08
Speaker 1: it for apply for unemployment. That is not sustainable. I'm
17:12
Speaker 1: still waiting on my my payroll Protection Program protection check
17:17
Speaker 1: that hadn't arrived yet may not arrive. So I still
17:19
Speaker 1: have to do business. I still have to maintained my employees.
17:22
Speaker 1: We do Zoom meetings on the daily basis because my
17:25
Speaker 1: guests Snoop Dealer is in the hospitality business. That means
17:29
Speaker 1: that her business is designed to interact with people. People
17:33
Speaker 1: have to come to her. She provides a service, They
17:36
Speaker 1: enjoy their service, they tell their friends, they tell other
17:39
Speaker 1: potential customers, and her business flourishes. Since a pandamic hit,
17:43
Speaker 1: she has had to shutter all of her doors because
17:46
Speaker 1: of that reason. It is affected a lot of people working,
17:49
Speaker 1: people who are making a lot of effective payroll payments,
17:55
Speaker 1: of payments, slayer creditors, rent, mortgage, car notes, food, which
18:00
Speaker 1: this economy needs to get back rolling on. I am
18:03
Speaker 1: not an advocate of how Governor Kemp does business. I'm
18:07
Speaker 1: just an advocate of individuals who are trying to function
18:11
Speaker 1: again in this new pandemic world snoop, the floor is yours.
18:16
Speaker 1: You know you're you're you're a business person. You didn't
18:18
Speaker 1: see this coming. I didn't see it coming. How are
18:20
Speaker 1: you looking forward? And when people are people are still
18:23
Speaker 1: coming to you for advice because you are success you
18:26
Speaker 1: know you you know you are a leader or visionary.
18:30
Speaker 1: How are you dealing with other people are seeking advice
18:32
Speaker 1: from you during these pandemic times? Um? Hey, just trying
18:37
Speaker 1: to be you know a strong sense of support you
18:39
Speaker 1: know for other business owners, especially those that are afraid
18:43
Speaker 1: to open up their businesses because of that lass. You
18:45
Speaker 1: have some businesses that if they continue to stay closed.
18:48
Speaker 1: They may not it may not even be a possibility
18:51
Speaker 1: for them to open up again at all. Um. So
18:55
Speaker 1: you know, just kind of you know, being a support
18:57
Speaker 1: for those people, helping talk about you know, the numbers
18:59
Speaker 1: and how how much sales are down, you know, and
19:02
Speaker 1: things of that nature. I think people just a lot
19:04
Speaker 1: of times kind of look at business owners has privileged people,
19:07
Speaker 1: you know, who get it made, you know, just because
19:09
Speaker 1: you have a business or too, um, and that's not
19:12
Speaker 1: the truth. You know what I'm saying. Businesses have um,
19:15
Speaker 1: a lot of finances and a lot of bills and
19:17
Speaker 1: things of that nature you know behind them. Uh So
19:21
Speaker 1: another thing that I've just been kind of doing is
19:23
Speaker 1: I've also recorded some courses that I've been released in
19:27
Speaker 1: every week. So um, I've got my website is who
19:30
Speaker 1: is snoop dot com? But people can go to courses
19:33
Speaker 1: that's who is snoop dot Com And I've it's done
19:36
Speaker 1: different courses. Or you know, how to open up a business,
19:38
Speaker 1: you know, how to fund your business, how to save
19:41
Speaker 1: and invest, how to invest into the market, because that's
19:44
Speaker 1: a big thing right now. You know, this is a
19:45
Speaker 1: man made recession. So with the market being down, it
19:49
Speaker 1: is absolutely gonna go up. And you know, there are
19:52
Speaker 1: lots of businesses that do good business who stock is
19:55
Speaker 1: down just because of what's going on, and so there's
19:58
Speaker 1: a lot of opportunity there, you know, for individuals to
20:02
Speaker 1: be able to make money, um in the stock market.
20:04
Speaker 1: So I've been doing various classes and things of that nature,
20:07
Speaker 1: just keeping people, um up up to date on what's
20:10
Speaker 1: going on on. UM. I've also you know, I've got
20:12
Speaker 1: my YouTube channel which is people can subscribe to that
20:16
Speaker 1: at who is Snoop and so I released videos every
20:20
Speaker 1: week there. I've done some just talking about the different
20:24
Speaker 1: financial opportunities that are available out there, such as the
20:26
Speaker 1: PPP law and the economic Injury disaster, uh loan and
20:31
Speaker 1: grant and things of that nature. So, uh, just trying
20:34
Speaker 1: to spec insistent and continue to do what I do
20:37
Speaker 1: and keep people informed. Well, you know, so you said
20:41
Speaker 1: a lot right there, you that you're pretty busy, You're
20:45
Speaker 1: pretty by Yeah. Each each week we've been like also
20:50
Speaker 1: two changs and myself has been feeding somebody. So like
20:52
Speaker 1: today we spread the homeless. Last week you know, we
20:55
Speaker 1: felt we said, um, some of the essential workers at
20:58
Speaker 1: Southern reach your medical set. So uh just still you know,
21:02
Speaker 1: trying to do what we do well. You know, it's
21:04
Speaker 1: important that all the well you know from Jump when
21:07
Speaker 1: I first brought you on the show, and it was
21:08
Speaker 1: about you know, fear, doubt and failure among the many
21:11
Speaker 1: reasons businesses failed and people quit. But you believe overcoming
21:16
Speaker 1: obstacles in life is the best tool for success. That's
21:18
Speaker 1: why you were talking about It's Snoop who is snoop
21:21
Speaker 1: dot com? Which highlights the recent achievements of you while
21:24
Speaker 1: documenting your journey with the world and the success around you.
21:27
Speaker 1: You know, we all go back to when you graduated
21:30
Speaker 1: from Vanderbilt because you graduated when you were sixteen. Correct,
21:34
Speaker 1: I grad when he was sixteen. As you graduating, you
21:39
Speaker 1: use twenty and so so you've always been ahead of
21:42
Speaker 1: the curve academically and professionally. And so how did you
21:47
Speaker 1: advice to people who are trying to find themselves, especially
21:51
Speaker 1: they at home? Now there's a lot of doubt, there's
21:53
Speaker 1: a lot of uncertainty. What advice we get people are
21:56
Speaker 1: young people, male or female? Uh, how to how to
22:00
Speaker 1: deal with these these crisis situations right now? As new Um,
22:04
Speaker 1: I would just tell people, you know, stay grounded, you know,
22:07
Speaker 1: stay prayed up. Um, try not to and there's a
22:12
Speaker 1: lot of you know, just following um you know, just
22:16
Speaker 1: what what it is that other people are doing. You know,
22:19
Speaker 1: have your own mind, you know, be a leader, to
22:21
Speaker 1: be smart. Um. I think one of the things that
22:23
Speaker 1: you commented on it is so true. You know, there's
22:25
Speaker 1: just so much different information that's out there. It contradicts itself.
22:30
Speaker 1: Because this is a new virus, you know. So one
22:33
Speaker 1: of the things that I was really focused on doing
22:35
Speaker 1: is just kind of working on some things that I
22:38
Speaker 1: normally don't have time to do, you know, because life
22:41
Speaker 1: is generally moving so fast. You know, clean your closets out,
22:44
Speaker 1: clean your phones out, you know, little gardening projects and
22:47
Speaker 1: things of that nature, you know at the house. You know. So, Um,
22:51
Speaker 1: I think it's a good time to just kind of,
22:53
Speaker 1: you know, focus on getting some things to accomplish. Uh
22:57
Speaker 1: and as well as you know, make sure that you
22:59
Speaker 1: you get your information for yourself. You know, you have
23:02
Speaker 1: a lot of people who don't even turn on the news,
23:04
Speaker 1: you know, most of their information is coming from just
23:08
Speaker 1: social media. That is so true. That is so true
23:12
Speaker 1: because if any times, any time, right now, you should
23:17
Speaker 1: be hunkering down and getting the actual facts. So I
23:21
Speaker 1: mean I even watch Fox News now I want everything.
23:23
Speaker 1: I want all the information. Now, I'm not trying to
23:27
Speaker 1: be You're not gonna sell me over on CNN, or
23:29
Speaker 1: you're not gonna sell me over here on ABC. On challenges,
23:32
Speaker 1: I like, I go through less hope, I go through
23:34
Speaker 1: all less to hope. I go through all of them
23:36
Speaker 1: so I can make a decision that is right for
23:39
Speaker 1: me and right for my family and right for the
23:41
Speaker 1: people who I impact with are my employees. So I
23:44
Speaker 1: would tell you this. So whatever restaurant you have, let
23:48
Speaker 1: me know, get banners to me. I have any thousand
23:51
Speaker 1: UH fan club members. You know my social media is strong,
23:54
Speaker 1: you know, Snoop, I'll put you out there in a
23:56
Speaker 1: positive manner. And this is not a this is just
23:59
Speaker 1: a business conversation. I'm supporting somebody I respect, somebody who
24:03
Speaker 1: has been an angel for entrepreneurs in this city and
24:06
Speaker 1: it around the country all your life. And I will
24:08
Speaker 1: not shy away from supporting you right now. Thank you
24:13
Speaker 1: so much. I appreciate it and I needed well. You know,
24:16
Speaker 1: I I know, like I said, when when when? When?
24:18
Speaker 1: When it was set up by you know you? You
24:20
Speaker 1: make me feel good every time I talked to you.
24:23
Speaker 1: I know we never met, but I love you to
24:25
Speaker 1: death and I just love your personality. I love what
24:28
Speaker 1: you stand for more important, your visionary and also you
24:31
Speaker 1: have a passion to help people who don't have what
24:34
Speaker 1: you have, and that's important because that's where I stand.
24:37
Speaker 1: I've been doing that, so it's an eighteen years old.
24:39
Speaker 1: I've always given what I didn't have to somebody because
24:42
Speaker 1: guess what I had it. And if you can't share
24:44
Speaker 1: your success, you can't share the blessings that God give you,
24:47
Speaker 1: then you're gonna fail anyway. And so I just wanted
24:49
Speaker 1: to bring you on the show. Get those banners to me, Snoop.
24:52
Speaker 1: You know gona be mad if you don't get it
24:53
Speaker 1: to me now, because I'm telling you. I'm telling you
24:56
Speaker 1: because it's only we're gonna win. You're gonna win by
24:59
Speaker 1: people sharing your success, by people stepping in line with what
25:01
Speaker 1: what you're saying. Hey, she's doing the right thing because
25:04
Speaker 1: we got to get this country moving. Thank you for
25:06
Speaker 1: being a leader and and and hearing what the governor
25:09
Speaker 1: was saying. He's not telling you you gotta open. You
25:12
Speaker 1: should open when you're prepared to open, because when you're
25:15
Speaker 1: prepared to open, you can comfortably last long because nobody
25:18
Speaker 1: wants your place of business become a pandemic hotspot. Nobody
25:22
Speaker 1: won't start. Nobody wants to thank you for calling on
25:25
Speaker 1: my show, my friend. Okay, alright, thank you, got got do.
25:31
Speaker 1: It's finally here the season of celebration, and no matter
25:35
Speaker 1: how you celebrate with family and friends, whether you're preparing
25:38
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27:29
Speaker 1: Nexts is a first generation Nigerian American who has transitioned
27:33
Speaker 1: from being the sarcastic waiter on the Mike and Molly
27:36
Speaker 1: sitcom to starting as an investigator in CBA and the
27:40
Speaker 1: CBS All Access series The Good Fight. He's a farmer, athlete,
27:44
Speaker 1: you know, athlete, college basketball player, Bucknell University. You know
27:47
Speaker 1: we say Bucknew, you gotta go deep Buckneil University, who
27:51
Speaker 1: received there's Masters of Fine Arts from the Graduate Argeting
27:54
Speaker 1: Graduate Acting program at New York University. My guests is
27:57
Speaker 1: a busy actor. We already know that. He's a I'm
28:00
Speaker 1: a book aficionado. You may not know that. And he's
28:02
Speaker 1: an avid gamer. You may may not have known that either.
28:05
Speaker 1: That's what we're gonna find out about all these interesting
28:07
Speaker 1: side side deals that he's doing in his life. Please
28:10
Speaker 1: work in the money making conversation, my man. Niambi, Niambi,
28:14
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you for having me. How you Oklahoma?
28:17
Speaker 1: That's where you're from? Oklahoma? Yeah, yeah, I was going
28:20
Speaker 1: on the campus at the University of Oklahoma. So I'm
28:22
Speaker 1: I'm Sooner born Sooner, breandham when I died Sooner That okay, Now,
28:26
Speaker 1: you know that's that's kind of that's almost corner that
28:28
Speaker 1: na it's almost corner that that's the University of Oklahoma.
28:33
Speaker 1: I didn't make it up. I don't, I know, I know,
28:36
Speaker 1: I know. So so being the point in Oklahoma. No,
28:39
Speaker 1: Trey Young, isn't he for Trey Young? Smoklahoma? Right? Yeah,
28:42
Speaker 1: some Oklhoma Okay one of our oloom grades. Now as
28:46
Speaker 1: an athlete, okay, athlete, Now you're an actor. You know
28:50
Speaker 1: that the academics played the way Buck Nilsson wasn't an
28:53
Speaker 1: easy school to get academic training in so so as
28:56
Speaker 1: an athlete. So let's talk about that. Was was was
29:00
Speaker 1: the possibility of being an actor on the horizon or
29:03
Speaker 1: just playing basketball on the horizon the amb when you
29:08
Speaker 1: said that one more time, was I was being an
29:10
Speaker 1: actor in the amby was being an actor? Was the
29:13
Speaker 1: gold or just being an actor? The goal? You know? Um,
29:20
Speaker 1: the goal for me, you know had always been um
29:23
Speaker 1: basketball and and and and taking it to you know,
29:28
Speaker 1: you know, taking it as far as possible, like and
29:30
Speaker 1: you know, the dream of course is to play in
29:32
Speaker 1: the NBA. Uh you know, but looking my father is
29:34
Speaker 1: like you can put all your ads one basket. Something different.
29:39
Speaker 1: You have to you have to find what what what
29:41
Speaker 1: is the thing that you are that you can fall
29:44
Speaker 1: back on, and so I'm like, wow, I want to
29:47
Speaker 1: fall back on basketball. Um. But while doing that, Um,
29:52
Speaker 1: you know, I did have other adventures that I was into,
29:54
Speaker 1: you know, as far as the artwork. But I had
29:56
Speaker 1: an uncle. I have an uncle who was a painter
29:59
Speaker 1: who you know, was struggling from you know, from from
30:04
Speaker 1: you know, commissions, commission you know, very successful, but that's
30:07
Speaker 1: how he was was operating. And then, um, I was
30:11
Speaker 1: thinking about, you know, what if I want to you know,
30:14
Speaker 1: sit at a desk and and you know, being in advertising,
30:18
Speaker 1: and I knew that that's something I didn't want to do. Now.
30:22
Speaker 1: In the meantime, I've always been active, but acting for fun,
30:26
Speaker 1: like I was, you know, doing it as far back
30:28
Speaker 1: as when I first did my first play Cosinco de
30:30
Speaker 1: Mayo at fifth grade. I had always been some sort
30:35
Speaker 1: of drum. Yeah, I had a love for it, but
30:37
Speaker 1: I didn't know that that's I didn't know that I
30:40
Speaker 1: was an actor. I didn't call myself that. It was
30:42
Speaker 1: just something I did as a hobby to have fun.
30:45
Speaker 1: And and it wasn't until I got when I saw
30:48
Speaker 1: the writing on the wall with basketball. But at the
30:51
Speaker 1: same time, I found myself on the stage, um, going
30:56
Speaker 1: further than I normally would ever go with with the
30:59
Speaker 1: work and touching on something that where we call in
31:03
Speaker 1: the business of a then catching the bug and that
31:07
Speaker 1: just completely it showed. It showed me the next eighty years,
31:13
Speaker 1: you know, just being in that moment on that stage,
31:16
Speaker 1: to where I quick quickly realized that the dream of
31:20
Speaker 1: all dreams was to be an actor. That's that's that's amazing,
31:23
Speaker 1: you know, understanding that because you said you started at
31:26
Speaker 1: a very early age. You know, I, I know, my
31:28
Speaker 1: degree is in mathematics, and I went to work for IBM,
31:31
Speaker 1: and I was just doing stand up comedy, you know,
31:33
Speaker 1: and people ask me that you always wanted to be
31:34
Speaker 1: a stand up you know, I was just a funny guy.
31:37
Speaker 1: Maybe didn't even realize I was a funny guy, but
31:39
Speaker 1: it led me to these opportunities. The reason I bring
31:42
Speaker 1: that up about you being an athlete and then now
31:44
Speaker 1: you're being a famous actor and a working actor, is
31:47
Speaker 1: that you know, we are we are settling a path
31:50
Speaker 1: in life. You know, our parents can point you in
31:52
Speaker 1: the direction and say this is how you should live
31:54
Speaker 1: your life. And then but you have to figure out
31:56
Speaker 1: how to live your life in a happy life that
31:59
Speaker 1: is comfortable to you. And that's what you're doing right now,
32:01
Speaker 1: even though you had the physical traits and the physical
32:04
Speaker 1: ability to be a superior athlete, because they're just not
32:06
Speaker 1: passing out scholarships, you know, they're not passing them out.
32:10
Speaker 1: So if somebody looked at you on a regular basis
32:12
Speaker 1: saying we can invest and he can help our team
32:15
Speaker 1: and so but as you went to college, how would
32:19
Speaker 1: you how were your what was your friends saying he
32:21
Speaker 1: was an athlete, he was acting? Why was that whole
32:23
Speaker 1: process started developing college? But for me, you know, uh,
32:29
Speaker 1: college is a great place to find out who you are.
32:32
Speaker 1: Like it's a time to like sit back and be like, Okay,
32:36
Speaker 1: what do I want to do? What do I want
32:38
Speaker 1: to do with the rest of my life now? Um,
32:41
Speaker 1: you don't have to find the answer while in college,
32:43
Speaker 1: but you can explore all the answers while you're in college.
32:46
Speaker 1: And for me, you know, I started off as a
32:49
Speaker 1: computer science major, um, but then I found myself uh,
32:54
Speaker 1: like up until five in the morning trying to figure
32:57
Speaker 1: out how to make a clock digitally move one second. Um.
33:00
Speaker 1: Then and then an hour later I had to go
33:02
Speaker 1: to practice, I was like, when I ain't go work. Um.
33:05
Speaker 1: And then uh after that, I was like, well, I'm
33:08
Speaker 1: into art, so let me, you know, be an art
33:11
Speaker 1: an art major. But then they had art history right
33:14
Speaker 1: after lunch and I kept every time, you know, they
33:19
Speaker 1: turned off the lights and go right to sleep, and
33:20
Speaker 1: I was like, uh, yeah, I guess I can't major
33:23
Speaker 1: an art right now because because I just can't get
33:25
Speaker 1: past our history. UM. And then I was a going
33:30
Speaker 1: to be a theater major, but theater happened at the
33:33
Speaker 1: same time as basketball games as far as the other place,
33:36
Speaker 1: so I couldn't do I couldn't do both. So then
33:39
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, how about I just do
33:43
Speaker 1: business and so um ended up being a business major
33:47
Speaker 1: bucknell um. But then I was still like, I don't
33:51
Speaker 1: know what I would do with this degree in terms
33:53
Speaker 1: of what makes me happy and um. And ultimately when
34:00
Speaker 1: up happening, I found myself, you know, auditioning for play
34:04
Speaker 1: and getting cast in its senior year and uh, you know,
34:08
Speaker 1: because I was injured. And then my coach I told
34:10
Speaker 1: him I got cast in this play as you like it,
34:13
Speaker 1: and then he laughed at me and say, get the
34:14
Speaker 1: practice you're not doing that. So I was like, Okay,
34:17
Speaker 1: all right, but there's something here. There's something about this
34:21
Speaker 1: that I don't know what it is, but there's something
34:23
Speaker 1: here that I need to further explore. And then doing
34:27
Speaker 1: the uh, the eulogy for the Marty Children by Monatha
34:31
Speaker 1: King Um for this um this gallah that was being
34:35
Speaker 1: put up about now my senior year, when I did
34:38
Speaker 1: that speech for for an audience, that's when I felt
34:43
Speaker 1: completely me, completely where I was supposed to be, um,
34:49
Speaker 1: more so than I had ever felt even even when
34:52
Speaker 1: I was, you know, playing at the top of my
34:55
Speaker 1: game basketball wise. UM like that that that same freedom
35:00
Speaker 1: that I felt on the basketball court when I'm like
35:02
Speaker 1: completely letting go and at my best, you know, um
35:06
Speaker 1: not thinking, that's how I felt on the stage, that
35:10
Speaker 1: level of freedom. And so it's amazing. Yeah, and I
35:13
Speaker 1: think basketball actually prepared me for that being an athlete,
35:16
Speaker 1: you know, it's just you know, uh, the you know,
35:20
Speaker 1: the practices would be like rehearsal, Yeah, the discipline, all
35:26
Speaker 1: of that, man Like the things that you that go
35:28
Speaker 1: into becoming you know, the best athletes you can become. Uh,
35:34
Speaker 1: those those same things apply to to um uh not
35:38
Speaker 1: only acting, but to any sort of discipline that you're
35:41
Speaker 1: you're you're working on the the very foundation of those
35:46
Speaker 1: different things that we work on. UH require that work.
35:51
Speaker 1: That's really interesting that you bring it in, because it
35:53
Speaker 1: really is you know, whether you repeatedly practicing your free
35:56
Speaker 1: throw where you were really practicing jump shots and pretty
36:00
Speaker 1: of the plactice drible try to get bit that that
36:03
Speaker 1: level of discipline, that's what we're talking about right now,
36:06
Speaker 1: when you're when we're talking about success of being consistently
36:08
Speaker 1: successful or trying to rise to a level that you
36:11
Speaker 1: can be successful. I wanted to ask this question because
36:14
Speaker 1: I do get athletes on my calls a lot, and
36:17
Speaker 1: and and you're an individual who got a college scholarship,
36:20
Speaker 1: so you had aspirations. I believe to be an NBA player.
36:24
Speaker 1: We all want to be Michael Jordan, we all want
36:25
Speaker 1: to be Kobe Bryant, we all want to be Charles Barkley.
36:27
Speaker 1: We always want to be If you got the boat
36:29
Speaker 1: to be a shock, what did at what point in
36:32
Speaker 1: your athletic career you realize, you know some I'm not
36:36
Speaker 1: gonna be at that level or did you ever realize
36:38
Speaker 1: that and you said I was just gonna go in
36:39
Speaker 1: this direction to or something I feel I can I
36:41
Speaker 1: can excel in and for me, um, you know, I
36:47
Speaker 1: always wanted to be magic young. You know that that
36:50
Speaker 1: was my my my my favorite player of all times. UM.
36:54
Speaker 1: And I just assumed that I would going to be
36:57
Speaker 1: six eight Um. When I stopped at six feeds, I
37:02
Speaker 1: think my body was like, you know what's good good
37:04
Speaker 1: at six feets you don't need that. You don't need
37:06
Speaker 1: to go any first just to see UM, but I
37:09
Speaker 1: won't be bad six see um. So UM, all right,
37:13
Speaker 1: six ft we're trying to work with this. Um. But
37:16
Speaker 1: then you know, uh, sophomore year in college, UM, you
37:22
Speaker 1: know it was actually a turning point for me because
37:24
Speaker 1: I actually wanted to transfer. I wanted to actually go
37:27
Speaker 1: someplace else, and because the you know, as far as
37:29
Speaker 1: silent play and relationship to coach just wasn't you know,
37:32
Speaker 1: I wasn't there and I wanted to. I wanted, I
37:35
Speaker 1: wanted to go somewhere else, but I could you know,
37:38
Speaker 1: I can maximize my skill set. And uh, and what
37:42
Speaker 1: was said to me then when I had spoken to
37:46
Speaker 1: the coach, UM actually put me in a place that
37:50
Speaker 1: made me and this is truth be told honestly, UM,
37:55
Speaker 1: made me fall out of love for playing organized basketball,
38:00
Speaker 1: because yeah, I mean, I love the game and I've
38:02
Speaker 1: always loved game that will never leave me. But there's
38:04
Speaker 1: something about organized basketball, organized sports that all of a
38:07
Speaker 1: sudden became, um it's no longer became the sort of
38:14
Speaker 1: a fun a passion for you. Thanks, yeah, the passion,
38:19
Speaker 1: yeah exactly, so um so yeah. So so that's when
38:24
Speaker 1: it started for me, because i mean, look, I'm you know,
38:27
Speaker 1: I'm working these basketball camps, were working Georgetown University of
38:29
Speaker 1: Basketball camp, playing with those guys afterwards, work in the
38:33
Speaker 1: University of Maryland basketball camp, playing with those guys afterwards.
38:36
Speaker 1: If you think about it back then, that's when Steve
38:37
Speaker 1: Blake was there, when uh, when Juan Dixon was there,
38:42
Speaker 1: a lot of profit to come back and ball Tony
38:44
Speaker 1: Massenburg with ball and and I'm balling with them, holding
38:48
Speaker 1: my own and then these guys are like, man, can't
38:50
Speaker 1: wait to see what you do about now, you know,
38:52
Speaker 1: can't you know, can't wait, can't wait. And then I
38:55
Speaker 1: get to school and then somehow something would happen that
38:59
Speaker 1: just you know, that didn't flow right because it wasn't
39:04
Speaker 1: it was no longer you know, working out it just
39:08
Speaker 1: maybe be like, you know what, I've got to look
39:11
Speaker 1: at this and and really and really see is this
39:15
Speaker 1: where I'm supposed to be. This is what I'm supposed
39:17
Speaker 1: to be doing, you know. And the thing is is
39:20
Speaker 1: that it Basketball is what what makes me happy in
39:24
Speaker 1: terms of it being my happy place. But I can
39:27
Speaker 1: play basketball and anywhere anytime I want to, you know,
39:31
Speaker 1: Um at six, oh you know what I mean, Leaven
39:37
Speaker 1: at five, I could so. Um, that's right, he's the man.
39:42
Speaker 1: He's been on the show. He's an athlete. And I
39:44
Speaker 1: always I love bringing people who are who on paper
39:48
Speaker 1: you see how they've made a transition in it in
39:50
Speaker 1: their lives, you know, because you could be so successful
39:52
Speaker 1: in one direction, and sometimes you can hold onto that
39:55
Speaker 1: that direction for too long because you're afraid to make change.
39:58
Speaker 1: And when you're an athlete, you you can be driven
40:00
Speaker 1: by the physicality of That's what defines you. And that's
40:04
Speaker 1: why I love and that's why I wanted to bring
40:05
Speaker 1: you on the show. Neonb now me because you are,
40:08
Speaker 1: you know, you all that athlete. You are defined by
40:11
Speaker 1: the possibilities of what you could do as a physical person.
40:13
Speaker 1: Like you said, you were competing against the Steve Blake's
40:16
Speaker 1: and the Wale Dick and these are very familiar names
40:18
Speaker 1: for me. Okay from that whole Uh you know Maryland,
40:22
Speaker 1: Maryland George time era or the back then when when
40:24
Speaker 1: they when they were just just winning on the regular.
40:26
Speaker 1: Maryland is still having it, has a really successful program
40:29
Speaker 1: and Patrick human trying to bring back the Georgetown program.
40:32
Speaker 1: But more importantly, you understood that God gave you more
40:35
Speaker 1: than one talent. You understood that you you had multiple
40:38
Speaker 1: layers of opportunity. You just had to figure out how
40:41
Speaker 1: to use those and acting came along. Let's talk about
40:45
Speaker 1: that transition to becoming a working actor. How did that
40:49
Speaker 1: all come about? You know, because you said you were
40:50
Speaker 1: passionate about it. We could have a lot of passion,
40:53
Speaker 1: you know that, but you gotta have the brakes, and
40:55
Speaker 1: when you get the brakes, you gotta take advantage of it.
40:57
Speaker 1: Talk to us about that. Well, here's the thing. So
41:01
Speaker 1: for me, they when I made when I made the
41:05
Speaker 1: decision to be an um, it was made because I
41:09
Speaker 1: i or imaginatively I should say, um, but I could
41:13
Speaker 1: see myself doing it when I'm nineties, and I could
41:17
Speaker 1: see that every decision I made in terms of going
41:20
Speaker 1: to you know, Sell LaBlast going to the public theater
41:25
Speaker 1: Shakespeare Lab to study for summer um, you know, going
41:29
Speaker 1: to do regional theater, going back to school, going back
41:32
Speaker 1: to n y U to get my masters, to bin acting.
41:35
Speaker 1: All of that sum like a blip on that long
41:39
Speaker 1: scale of of my career that would last through the
41:43
Speaker 1: age of nineties. See. So by any of those decisions
41:47
Speaker 1: I was making, I knew that I you know, I
41:49
Speaker 1: have time. I have time. I have time. I have
41:52
Speaker 1: time to be the best that I can be to
41:55
Speaker 1: to figure this out to you know, I took you know,
41:58
Speaker 1: to do background where on all my children to do um,
42:03
Speaker 1: you know, background on on on um you know, law
42:07
Speaker 1: and order, just so I can see what it like
42:09
Speaker 1: to be on a set, you know, So like I
42:12
Speaker 1: could take the time to do things like that, to
42:14
Speaker 1: to study my craft and see other people doing it,
42:17
Speaker 1: to get us close to other people that do it,
42:20
Speaker 1: um you know, and you know, watch them, observed them,
42:23
Speaker 1: and then be able to say for myself, Okay, that's great,
42:26
Speaker 1: I know what that is. UM. I know that. Uh.
42:29
Speaker 1: And this has been fun. Every experience that I I've
42:32
Speaker 1: I've undertaken. I try to have the most fun with it,
42:35
Speaker 1: and I think the you know, any undertaking that you
42:37
Speaker 1: take on, uh, joy has to be a part of it.
42:40
Speaker 1: And so even when I was a background actor, was
42:43
Speaker 1: like joy you know, it was was a big part
42:46
Speaker 1: of it. But I said to myself, now that I've
42:49
Speaker 1: done that, I know that this was a great experience.
42:52
Speaker 1: This isn't me, and so then I would move on
42:54
Speaker 1: to the next thing. Um, you know, because I knew
42:57
Speaker 1: exactly the sort of projects I want. I wanted to
43:01
Speaker 1: be a part of the type of actor that I
43:03
Speaker 1: that I know that I am, and if I'm not
43:06
Speaker 1: that yet, I was going to do the things that
43:09
Speaker 1: I needed to do to um to bring myself there. Um.
43:15
Speaker 1: So um, yeah, it's really it was. It was really
43:18
Speaker 1: a journey of just trying to figure out, you know,
43:21
Speaker 1: who who am I? And then who am I in
43:24
Speaker 1: this business? But who told you you was funny? Though? Yeah?
43:29
Speaker 1: Who told you was funny? Though? Okay, this is a comedian,
43:32
Speaker 1: this is a professional comedian talking to you funny, you
43:36
Speaker 1: know what's funny? So like I always knew that I
43:39
Speaker 1: was funny when um, because when I was in when
43:42
Speaker 1: I was in like high school, college, I was the
43:46
Speaker 1: dude I was the quiet dude, but like at the
43:49
Speaker 1: same time somebody would say something I've heard and whispered
43:53
Speaker 1: my friend and say something funny and then he burst
43:55
Speaker 1: out laughing, and everybody'd be like, well, well, what was happening.
43:57
Speaker 1: And then he could be like, oh, yeah, I just
43:59
Speaker 1: said something funny. Yeah, then it wasn't. It wasn't until
44:04
Speaker 1: later like acting all that whatever. Actually, I just you know,
44:10
Speaker 1: it came out of my shell and I was just like,
44:11
Speaker 1: you know, I just started being goofy and just like
44:14
Speaker 1: saying whatever I thought and and you know, try to
44:17
Speaker 1: make people laugh and and and bring joy to people,
44:20
Speaker 1: even if it was you know, even if it is uh,
44:24
Speaker 1: you know, I'm soon born in the red out and
44:26
Speaker 1: you know I'll sooner die whatever. So like, but like
44:30
Speaker 1: saying those things just to like, um, you know, make
44:34
Speaker 1: somebody smile, like it's it's well, you know, I'm gonna
44:40
Speaker 1: say this to you, you know, and yeah, you know
44:43
Speaker 1: about your your talents, because to make to be funny,
44:46
Speaker 1: it's very difficult to be fun. You know that to
44:50
Speaker 1: be dramatic, it's still a talent, but you're not forcing
44:54
Speaker 1: people to react. See when you when you're being fun
44:56
Speaker 1: you're forcing people to laugh or to smile. You could
45:00
Speaker 1: do a dramatic scene for a long period and people
45:02
Speaker 1: just can sit there and this internalizing emotionally and they
45:06
Speaker 1: might not react. He may not cry, they might not
45:08
Speaker 1: show any facial features. And so so when I look
45:12
Speaker 1: at your career and you're doing that, man, that's that's
45:15
Speaker 1: the compliment that I gotta throw to you. Very few
45:18
Speaker 1: people that have done that in Hollywood very well. Robin Williams,
45:22
Speaker 1: I think he did it fantastically. Kevin Hart, I think
45:26
Speaker 1: it's doing an amazing job of it. Jim Carrey has
45:29
Speaker 1: made those most monumental serious the comedic transitions on the
45:34
Speaker 1: on the on the big screen. And you're doing it too.
45:36
Speaker 1: Now with it with the good fight. Now. I don't
45:39
Speaker 1: want to steal any thunder from the show, but tell everybody,
45:43
Speaker 1: set up, everybody exactly what that show is. I got
45:45
Speaker 1: it right in front of me. I can tell him.
45:46
Speaker 1: But you know, I gotta start the show on here.
45:49
Speaker 1: You you got my boy Michael Boltman and there I
45:51
Speaker 1: love him to death. On my Michael Bolandry Orlando that
45:56
Speaker 1: name right there. Let you know you got some act
46:00
Speaker 1: think chops around you right there. You gotta bring it
46:02
Speaker 1: when Darry Orlando is in the scene, and then and
46:04
Speaker 1: she could sing and she could seem like the wind.
46:07
Speaker 1: That's Ardra McDonald. So those are just three names, like
46:11
Speaker 1: because the show is based on a white talent being
46:15
Speaker 1: introduced into a black world. So I've set it up
46:18
Speaker 1: explained everybody what goes on on The Good Fight, which
46:20
Speaker 1: is available on All Access CBS. Yeah, so like you know,
46:26
Speaker 1: they answer your question before that, you know, as far
46:28
Speaker 1: as like, uh, you know, comedy versus dramas, like the
46:31
Speaker 1: way I say the people, it's just you know, the
46:33
Speaker 1: difference is that it's just when you decided to say something,
46:36
Speaker 1: to say something. It's the timing, you know, it's literally timing, pitch,
46:40
Speaker 1: all of those things, you know, and and and and
46:43
Speaker 1: just surprising people. And I think when you surprise people,
46:46
Speaker 1: it's like tickling them and there there and they laugh,
46:48
Speaker 1: you know, and and I love doing that. I love
46:51
Speaker 1: finding that, you know, just trying to surprise someone with
46:54
Speaker 1: with with you know, a well timed joke, you know,
46:58
Speaker 1: and and and then there's some elements that with even
47:01
Speaker 1: with a Good Fight. But but you know, Good Fight,
47:03
Speaker 1: the Good Fight drama. Uh, we got like you said
47:06
Speaker 1: the amazing Delo Lindo, who is the the the head
47:11
Speaker 1: of this law firm, Um, Reddit Bosman at the time
47:14
Speaker 1: when you first started ready Bowsman Colstad and we have
47:17
Speaker 1: this um uh we have Christine Baranski, amazing actress as well.
47:22
Speaker 1: Beautiful she put the word beautiful, beautiful Christinauti. She's a beautiful,
47:28
Speaker 1: wonderful Christine Baranski who they spent off from The Good Wife. UM.
47:32
Speaker 1: As you know her character Diane Lockhart, and she was
47:36
Speaker 1: going to retire, but then besides to come back because
47:39
Speaker 1: you know, she gotta mix some money. Um. And the
47:42
Speaker 1: only people that would hire her we're we're Adrian Bozeman
47:46
Speaker 1: Dolor Lendo's character because they needed they needed a diversity
47:50
Speaker 1: higher So so yeah, and so then this is us
47:55
Speaker 1: now with with Christine, with Diane at our law firm.
48:00
Speaker 1: We're now at a traditionally um uh black law firm. Um.
48:07
Speaker 1: Watching the ins and outs of this company over the
48:10
Speaker 1: next seven seasons. So it's um, it's actually amazing. I
48:13
Speaker 1: mean the actors that come through, I mean we've had
48:16
Speaker 1: we had uh Luke Gotta Jr. H come through, which
48:20
Speaker 1: was great. Um. Who who is the head of the
48:24
Speaker 1: law firm? You know, so he came in then and
48:26
Speaker 1: did it. Did an episode when we have so many
48:29
Speaker 1: great guest stars that come through, like the rioting is incredible.
48:32
Speaker 1: We're always we're always talking about what's current and and
48:38
Speaker 1: and what's current and what's new. Something that went viral
48:41
Speaker 1: not too long ago was this video of Adrian Bozeman,
48:45
Speaker 1: which is del Roy Lindo. It's from season two where
48:48
Speaker 1: he's on a news outlet and they're talking about the
48:50
Speaker 1: N word and then he's like, you know what, go ahead,
48:53
Speaker 1: then say it. You know you want to say it,
48:56
Speaker 1: say and and like and and you know, and it
49:01
Speaker 1: went viral and people like, well, what is this? What
49:03
Speaker 1: is this? And it was like, no, that was from
49:05
Speaker 1: something two years ago that we shot on our shows.
49:07
Speaker 1: A good fight and we're but we're always current. We're
49:09
Speaker 1: always current, hitting me with new stuff, hitting me with
49:12
Speaker 1: the things that you that that people want to talk
49:14
Speaker 1: about and should It's one of those uh I call
49:17
Speaker 1: it a waterpooler shown. It's one of those shows where
49:20
Speaker 1: you know, you act your water cool or you're thinking
49:21
Speaker 1: about what you watched last night, and then somebody else
49:23
Speaker 1: comes up to the water cool and get their water
49:25
Speaker 1: and you look at them and say, hey, see what
49:26
Speaker 1: happened on The Good Fight last night. You're like, yeah,
49:30
Speaker 1: you know, it's crazy. What is your character? Whats your
49:33
Speaker 1: what is your investig on the show? Yeah? I played
49:36
Speaker 1: Jade the Persia, the the in house investigator at Reddy
49:40
Speaker 1: Reddick Boseman Cold Status and for those who are up
49:43
Speaker 1: to date, Reddy Reddy Boseman Lockhart and you know this
49:48
Speaker 1: cool dude somebody who just who who you know, gathers
49:52
Speaker 1: all the information and he may he may not give
49:54
Speaker 1: you what you wanted, but he'll always give you what
49:56
Speaker 1: you need. Uh, you know, very mysterious, uh of the
50:00
Speaker 1: um you know investigators, Uh, in terms of his methods.
50:04
Speaker 1: But but um, but but reliable. You're a dope like
50:09
Speaker 1: he's dope. Like you're just like he's dope. Like you
50:12
Speaker 1: gotta you gotta watch this the show to understand what
50:15
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. This in terms of not only my character,
50:17
Speaker 1: how dope that you know, Jade the Persia is, but
50:19
Speaker 1: then also they're just the world that these characters all
50:24
Speaker 1: live in. But not only that, the great acting. Like
50:27
Speaker 1: I said, you know, I don't want to gloss over
50:28
Speaker 1: the fact that you're talented actor or young up and
50:31
Speaker 1: coming when you compare yourself to a dari Row Lindo
50:33
Speaker 1: or or the resumes that Michael Boatman has putting out
50:36
Speaker 1: that put out there over the years, over the decades.
50:39
Speaker 1: You know, these guys are they're they're truly working actors
50:42
Speaker 1: in this business. And from an African American standpoint, you
50:45
Speaker 1: you look at them and realize that because it's difficult
50:47
Speaker 1: just just to do anything consistently, But from an African
50:49
Speaker 1: American standpoint, you can say, I work as an actor
50:52
Speaker 1: for a living. That's a testament to your talent and
50:55
Speaker 1: your testament to how you handle relationships, because relationships is
50:59
Speaker 1: very important in all business, but especially in Hollywood. The
51:02
Speaker 1: argent McDonald. But there's a little little NEGGETI of information
51:05
Speaker 1: I wanted to say about this about Christine Baranski's character,
51:09
Speaker 1: Like she was doing well, really really really well. She's
51:11
Speaker 1: about to walk out in the sunset. Her husband got
51:14
Speaker 1: caught up in a made off type scam and when
51:17
Speaker 1: he got call off for that madeoff type scam, he
51:19
Speaker 1: lost all her money and his money too, So she
51:23
Speaker 1: had to go find a job any would come close
51:26
Speaker 1: to kind of maintaining her job, which kind of like
51:29
Speaker 1: keeps her locked into this firm. They offered her a
51:31
Speaker 1: job when nobody else wanted to hire because she had
51:33
Speaker 1: a little attitude out there, people that untouchable. She was
51:37
Speaker 1: a queen bee and so when everybody seems saw the
51:39
Speaker 1: queen Bee get stung, they were like laughing, Oh yeah,
51:42
Speaker 1: you don't ask me for a job. I have nothing
51:44
Speaker 1: for you. Well, this African American law firm, law firm
51:47
Speaker 1: offered her job, but guess well it didn't. It's not
51:50
Speaker 1: sitting very well with all African Americans at the firm.
51:54
Speaker 1: That's the beauty of this show because of the fact
51:57
Speaker 1: that I love it because their classic shows on t
52:00
Speaker 1: V and you involved in one of the law or
52:02
Speaker 1: the series Homeland series. I have watched this show and
52:06
Speaker 1: and enjoyed the I'm gonna just tell you this, I'm
52:09
Speaker 1: a fan of yours from a standpoint of just watching
52:12
Speaker 1: you grow as a young man on the screen. I
52:14
Speaker 1: do believe, Niambie, you have a career. In twenty years
52:18
Speaker 1: from now, you'll be dere Rorlando, You'll be Michael Boltman.
52:22
Speaker 1: Because you're showing that you have a virtual palette. You
52:26
Speaker 1: can play serious, you can play dramatic, and that's how
52:29
Speaker 1: you last in this business. If you look at The
52:31
Speaker 1: Orlando's resume comedy drama. Look at Michael Boltman's resume, comedy drama.
52:37
Speaker 1: Look at niambie now resume comedy drama. Do not change,
52:41
Speaker 1: my friend. You're on a path for long term success.
52:44
Speaker 1: Keep winning and keep understanding that. I want to make
52:46
Speaker 1: a quick shift, right quick, because I want to talk
52:49
Speaker 1: about You've been a comic book aficionado. So I brought
52:52
Speaker 1: that up early. I don't want nobody to say, Man,
52:54
Speaker 1: he said he's gonna talk to me about those comic
52:55
Speaker 1: books and didn't say nothing. Tell us about that, and
52:58
Speaker 1: tell us about your gaming background. Yeah, okay, I'm actually
53:07
Speaker 1: in many ways playing catch up because you know, we
53:10
Speaker 1: moved around a lot when I was a kid, and
53:12
Speaker 1: so the stuff that I was into as a kid
53:14
Speaker 1: were comic strips and cartoons. But I never I never
53:19
Speaker 1: knew a comic book store existed. Not um. I was
53:22
Speaker 1: in grad school and one of my classmates was like, kay,
53:25
Speaker 1: I go to the comic bookstore every Wednesday. I do
53:27
Speaker 1: this for another Wednesday. Why Wednesday? And He's like, yes,
53:30
Speaker 1: the babe, that comics come out And I'm like wow,
53:33
Speaker 1: like that doesn't make sense. I was like, can I
53:34
Speaker 1: follow you do a comic book store? It's like yeah, yeah,
53:36
Speaker 1: So I follow him to Midtown Comics in New York,
53:39
Speaker 1: one of the largest comic stores in the country. And
53:42
Speaker 1: I walked in there, man, and it was like it
53:44
Speaker 1: was candy Land. I could not believe all of the
53:47
Speaker 1: comics that I had missed, and that was like in
53:51
Speaker 1: front of me, and that had to be. That was
53:54
Speaker 1: That was fifteen years ago, and I'm telling you from
53:57
Speaker 1: then on, it's just been devouring comics NonStop, and so
54:03
Speaker 1: like like comments are a huge part of who I am,
54:06
Speaker 1: a part of of what I do. Um you know,
54:10
Speaker 1: I use it. I use it in terms of in
54:13
Speaker 1: terms of like foundational work, even for my acting as
54:16
Speaker 1: far as you know, as because I'm a sketch artist,
54:18
Speaker 1: So as far as sketching, I'll sketch, like if I
54:21
Speaker 1: see a scene and I see a scene where I
54:23
Speaker 1: may not you know, like you know, uh so in
54:28
Speaker 1: terms of what something may look like or or have
54:30
Speaker 1: a relationship to that particular object or relationship with that person,
54:35
Speaker 1: I'll draw the person. I'll draw the object in relationship
54:41
Speaker 1: with that person because I'm actually looking at the details
54:43
Speaker 1: of that object or the details of that person. So
54:46
Speaker 1: it's like really dope. Um, you know in terms of
54:48
Speaker 1: how comics have inspired that. Um, you know for meat,
54:52
Speaker 1: for comic strips that inspired that, and now it's comic
54:54
Speaker 1: books that are doing that for me. Um. And then um,
54:58
Speaker 1: what else do you do as a game? Game? Gaming? Yeah,
55:02
Speaker 1: hug game like the thing is, you know, I used
55:04
Speaker 1: the game a lot of the kids and then again
55:06
Speaker 1: that brought me back into the fold. Was was Metal
55:09
Speaker 1: Gear back in two thousands, I want to say, two
55:11
Speaker 1: thousand two, two thousand three on the on the PS
55:17
Speaker 1: so I want to see the PS two things kids
55:19
Speaker 1: to maybe the PS one on p S one and
55:22
Speaker 1: and like like game like like you know anything and everything.
55:27
Speaker 1: You know, games like the you know, Class of Us,
55:29
Speaker 1: Shadows mortor you know, of course played the two K
55:32
Speaker 1: games NBA two K P for cup Head, I'm playing
55:36
Speaker 1: again on my Nintendo Switch, one of the hardest games
55:39
Speaker 1: you've ever play, my boy. You know, we're arguing whether
55:42
Speaker 1: or not cup Head. You know, the villains and cup
55:44
Speaker 1: Heads are as are as hard as Tyson from the
55:47
Speaker 1: from Mike Tysons punch Out. You know, that's something that
55:49
Speaker 1: we argue about you no daily so like um, you know,
55:53
Speaker 1: like gaming is a huge part of what I do
55:55
Speaker 1: in terms of just passing the time and just like
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57:44
Speaker 1: My next guest is the CEO and owner Abella Sloan Enterprises.
57:48
Speaker 1: His company not only helps you repair your personal credit,
57:52
Speaker 1: but also educates them on the topic. In addition, his
57:55
Speaker 1: company helps small to medium slash companies with funding via
57:59
Speaker 1: their credit their bear, their bit business credit. His company
58:02
Speaker 1: has been in operation for with thirteen years in the
58:04
Speaker 1: Philadelphia area. He has turned his passion of helping others
58:08
Speaker 1: into a thriving business. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation.
58:12
Speaker 1: Herman Doshi, Good morning, Good morning, Thank you for having
58:16
Speaker 1: me today. I appreciate you, my friend. Life is good
58:18
Speaker 1: for you. And I'm assuming you're in the Philadelphia area
58:22
Speaker 1: right now. Yes, I am. We all hunkered down right now,
58:25
Speaker 1: have good Well, I'm hunkered down in Atlanta. I would
58:28
Speaker 1: love that I got. I'm a Texas boy, so I
58:30
Speaker 1: was born to raise in Houston, so I want to
58:32
Speaker 1: get back to Texas. But you know, right now I
58:34
Speaker 1: got all the family Atlanta dealing with this pandemic and
58:37
Speaker 1: not allowing it to win. I want to read something
58:39
Speaker 1: that I took from your website about your mission statement
58:41
Speaker 1: before we start the interview. It's a good, really positive statement.
58:44
Speaker 1: Our mission is to help our clients reach financial literacy
58:48
Speaker 1: through through credit education and repair. In addition, we teach
58:53
Speaker 1: and help entrepreneurs to obtain the capital and credit they
58:56
Speaker 1: need to fuel their dreams. Whether you are just it
59:00
Speaker 1: in your business are looking for millions in capital to expand,
59:04
Speaker 1: we have solutions that can help you fund your endeavor.
59:07
Speaker 1: That's your mission statement? Correct? What does that mean in
59:11
Speaker 1: the sense as far as because you went from so
59:13
Speaker 1: like you can go from the small businessman to the
59:15
Speaker 1: multimillion dollar business is trying to move forward in a
59:19
Speaker 1: stronger direction? How do you balance that that that that extreme?
59:24
Speaker 1: So when when what what I like to do is
59:27
Speaker 1: when I'm doing promotions or advertising social media, or when
59:31
Speaker 1: I'm speaking in front of a group of people, I
59:34
Speaker 1: like to present the end gold potential clients. So the
59:37
Speaker 1: goal is to be successful in your business. We here
59:40
Speaker 1: it's monetary or the amount of people that you're helping, right,
59:43
Speaker 1: and we're showing the you know, real estates or people
59:46
Speaker 1: that are in trucking, the open restaurants. Right, So we're showing,
59:49
Speaker 1: we're showing that future goal. Why I do that is
59:53
Speaker 1: because in order to get to that goal where I'm
59:55
Speaker 1: where I'm helping the small and medium businesses, we have
59:58
Speaker 1: to backtrack to how they got there. And how they
1:00:01
Speaker 1: got there was through financial literacy, which started with having
1:00:05
Speaker 1: a budget, saving your money, investing it wisely, and also
1:00:09
Speaker 1: primarily repairing your credit. Because that's how a lot of
1:00:13
Speaker 1: my beginning entrepreneurs started to get the capital to fund
1:00:16
Speaker 1: their dreams. It all started there. So that's why I
1:00:18
Speaker 1: really push it for our community and all communities to
1:00:21
Speaker 1: be really really literate and how the credit system works.
1:00:25
Speaker 1: You know, it's really interesting to me when you're talking
1:00:28
Speaker 1: about are we talking about business credit or just a
1:00:30
Speaker 1: personal credit? All you're just talking about okay, because because
1:00:34
Speaker 1: we all started we all start out with personal credit.
1:00:36
Speaker 1: Were all we all start out there. You know, it's
1:00:38
Speaker 1: it's always a joke, you know how you know, people
1:00:41
Speaker 1: use their kids to co sign for loans, just running
1:00:44
Speaker 1: joke within the you know, in the urban communities. And
1:00:47
Speaker 1: if you might own a you might own a car,
1:00:49
Speaker 1: didn't even know it, you know, because your mama, your dad,
1:00:51
Speaker 1: it's your name in it messed up your credit. So
1:00:54
Speaker 1: how just wanted for some reason I would tell you
1:00:57
Speaker 1: this herm And for some reason, when I was eighteen,
1:00:59
Speaker 1: I knew I had to have good credit. For some reason,
1:01:01
Speaker 1: I was very protective of my credit when and I
1:01:04
Speaker 1: got my first serious card and you know, I'm gonna
1:01:07
Speaker 1: call out some old credit card to Montgomery Ward, you know, man,
1:01:10
Speaker 1: I was happy, man J C. Penny And when I
1:01:13
Speaker 1: got there, a serious card. Back then, we got a
1:01:16
Speaker 1: serious card back there were just like getting a green
1:01:18
Speaker 1: American Express car that was like that was like the
1:01:21
Speaker 1: bomb to get a serious card. So how does how
1:01:24
Speaker 1: does one look at it today? How does one protect
1:01:27
Speaker 1: their credit? First of all, and how there's one I'm
1:01:28
Speaker 1: gonna ask you two questions. How do you want to
1:01:30
Speaker 1: protect their credit? Personal credit? We're gonna talk about that first,
1:01:33
Speaker 1: and then how does one build their personal credit? So
1:01:37
Speaker 1: let's start with building it first and then we'll talk
1:01:39
Speaker 1: about protection of it. So through building, um, the credit
1:01:43
Speaker 1: first again starts with you understanding it and being educated
1:01:47
Speaker 1: on it. So the older year credit is, the better
1:01:50
Speaker 1: it is and being educated on it. So I got
1:01:52
Speaker 1: my first credit card when I was seventeen years old.
1:01:55
Speaker 1: Thirty nine right now, so my credit is really really old.
1:01:58
Speaker 1: So start early educate your aldren and your youth on
1:02:01
Speaker 1: credit and how it's definitely going to help them, um
1:02:03
Speaker 1: later on in life because um, as your credit ages,
1:02:07
Speaker 1: you're gonna get credit limit increases. So like one of
1:02:09
Speaker 1: my oldest credit cards is like fifteen sixteen years old.
1:02:12
Speaker 1: It's an m X and it has like a dollar limit.
1:02:15
Speaker 1: Now that type of credit card on my credit report
1:02:18
Speaker 1: makes me look really really strong as opposed to someone
1:02:22
Speaker 1: who's thirty five and they just started working on their
1:02:25
Speaker 1: credit and they have like a secure card with a
1:02:27
Speaker 1: limit of five hundred dollars. We both could have a
1:02:30
Speaker 1: seven hundred credit score. But my profile looks better because
1:02:33
Speaker 1: it's thicker and it's an older card. And that's not
1:02:35
Speaker 1: the only one I have on there. I have a
1:02:37
Speaker 1: car note, you know, I have a mortgage. I have
1:02:39
Speaker 1: demonstrated to the banks that I have been responsible with
1:02:43
Speaker 1: money over X amount of time. So that's why I
1:02:45
Speaker 1: teach people to start building your credit young. The older
1:02:48
Speaker 1: it is, more stronger it gets. Now, UM, protecting your
1:02:53
Speaker 1: credit is a daily, monthly um responsibility. I tell people
1:02:59
Speaker 1: all the time, how UM like me. All my credit
1:03:04
Speaker 1: cards are on auto pay, right because life happens, you
1:03:08
Speaker 1: will forget. I agree with you, you know, because I
1:03:14
Speaker 1: feel I've resisted to that auto pay, you know, because
1:03:16
Speaker 1: I hate people taking money without me controlling that. That's
1:03:21
Speaker 1: the words. It's the words. But I don't care how
1:03:24
Speaker 1: small it is. It's still bothers me. But I was like, no,
1:03:26
Speaker 1: I want to log in and do it myself. But
1:03:29
Speaker 1: what I what I will say though is um from
1:03:32
Speaker 1: my This is a great tip for my new um
1:03:35
Speaker 1: my new people who are new to building credit and
1:03:37
Speaker 1: they had that habit that got them into um negative credit.
1:03:43
Speaker 1: So I want to start new positive habits. And then
1:03:46
Speaker 1: when you're responsible enough, Hey, you know I could log
1:03:48
Speaker 1: in every day, then do that. But I give that
1:03:50
Speaker 1: tip to you. Don't do it yourself, um right now,
1:03:53
Speaker 1: So I mean put it on auto pay. So with
1:03:57
Speaker 1: the auto pay, though, just put in the minimum them
1:04:00
Speaker 1: that's required. So say, for instance, you know that it
1:04:04
Speaker 1: is a thousand dollars, right, just the minimum payment of
1:04:07
Speaker 1: fifteen dollars a month, have them take it out, right.
1:04:10
Speaker 1: You don't need to pay it all off, just if
1:04:12
Speaker 1: you just pay the minimum. You've never been late, right,
1:04:16
Speaker 1: and as you pay down the debt and you throw
1:04:18
Speaker 1: chunks at the air, I'm just gonna put it at
1:04:19
Speaker 1: your two hundred other stimulus check came in. Let me
1:04:21
Speaker 1: put this extra thousand. That's great, and your credit score
1:04:24
Speaker 1: goes up the less debt, yurine. But as long as
1:04:26
Speaker 1: you paid it on time every single month, that's something
1:04:29
Speaker 1: that's the that's the most important thing on your credit
1:04:31
Speaker 1: is not being late. We'll gonna tell you something learned
1:04:34
Speaker 1: something right there at the minimum. Because I'm a resistant guy.
1:04:36
Speaker 1: You know, right now, I'm fortunate. And my credit score
1:04:39
Speaker 1: I checked before I got on the interview, which was
1:04:41
Speaker 1: eight hundred and thirty. That's my credit score, the most
1:04:44
Speaker 1: the highest you can get, eight hundred and fifty and
1:04:47
Speaker 1: so and so. But I also know that Rushan has
1:04:52
Speaker 1: missed like this year, I've missed a couple of payments
1:04:54
Speaker 1: because I've been resistant to my my because I have
1:04:58
Speaker 1: my Chase card and and I have my City Bank card,
1:05:01
Speaker 1: which you know, I can pay the minimum, like you said, okay,
1:05:05
Speaker 1: and so, and I missed him a couple of times
1:05:07
Speaker 1: where if I just did taking your advice and just reashing,
1:05:11
Speaker 1: just be the minimum, just put the minimum auto, I
1:05:14
Speaker 1: wouldn't even have missed. I don't know you can do that.
1:05:17
Speaker 1: I always felt that when you talk, when you put
1:05:19
Speaker 1: it on auto, you gotta pay the maximum of that month.
1:05:21
Speaker 1: And that's why I've been very resistant. Okay, cool, got you. No, No,
1:05:24
Speaker 1: not just the minimum. That's all you need to pay.
1:05:27
Speaker 1: So whether the debt is still there or not, thirty
1:05:29
Speaker 1: percent or credit score, the most important factors just paying
1:05:32
Speaker 1: it on time. So you know, when you cross the
1:05:34
Speaker 1: bench and you have that trunk to pay it down,
1:05:36
Speaker 1: and pay it down, but just don't be late. That's
1:05:38
Speaker 1: the beauty of h talking to an expert. That's what
1:05:41
Speaker 1: the harmord is. You're an expert. Let's look. I started
1:05:44
Speaker 1: to ask you some general questions, and we know that
1:05:47
Speaker 1: you've been and you've been in this business for thirteen years.
1:05:49
Speaker 1: You know that the name of your company is uh
1:05:52
Speaker 1: Bello Stone Enterprises. First of all, tell us, then tell
1:05:56
Speaker 1: us about that name, and then tell us about your business.
1:05:59
Speaker 1: So Bellaston Enterprises is um. You know, there's a difference
1:06:02
Speaker 1: between having a hobby and running a real business. So
1:06:06
Speaker 1: you know I've been dibbling in dality and credit credit
1:06:08
Speaker 1: for quite some time. Right, I had to put a
1:06:11
Speaker 1: pen in that story. So Bellaston is the name of
1:06:14
Speaker 1: my daughter, my first one, and um. When I was um,
1:06:18
Speaker 1: on my baby moon with my wife, we went to Italy. Right.
1:06:22
Speaker 1: I was still working at the time, had a full
1:06:24
Speaker 1: time job. Wonderful, amazing trip. We've gone for fourteen days,
1:06:28
Speaker 1: travels all over Italy and we were on a train
1:06:31
Speaker 1: to pizza, right, and I realized I was like, Wow,
1:06:35
Speaker 1: I wish I could do this whenever I want right,
1:06:38
Speaker 1: But what happened was I had to ask somebody permission
1:06:41
Speaker 1: to be gone for fourteen days, and it bothered me
1:06:43
Speaker 1: the entire trip. Got home, I spoke to my brother,
1:06:46
Speaker 1: he's also an entrepreneur, has his own business, nine Business Consultation,
1:06:50
Speaker 1: and he was like, listen, the only way you'll be
1:06:52
Speaker 1: freeze if you own your own or you'll always have
1:06:55
Speaker 1: to ask somebody permission. And I was like, well, what
1:06:57
Speaker 1: business am I gonna start. He's like, listen, you've been
1:06:59
Speaker 1: doing credit care for everybody for free because it was
1:07:02
Speaker 1: just something important. It really, I was doing it for free.
1:07:05
Speaker 1: It was a skill that I learned a while ago
1:07:07
Speaker 1: when my father's UM information got on my credit report
1:07:11
Speaker 1: and I had to write the letters to fight it,
1:07:13
Speaker 1: and he was like, you should charge people to do it.
1:07:16
Speaker 1: I was like, ah, like this is important. He's like, no,
1:07:18
Speaker 1: they're going to pay somebody, they might as well pay you.
1:07:22
Speaker 1: Thank you. I was like, I was like, you know what,
1:07:24
Speaker 1: You're absolutely right. So I got a couple of friends
1:07:26
Speaker 1: I did their credit reports for free, and then I
1:07:29
Speaker 1: started posting their results on social media, and then the
1:07:34
Speaker 1: business started growing and booming from there. And what else
1:07:37
Speaker 1: helped my business grow is that giving in people valuable
1:07:40
Speaker 1: information for free. It's super important because if you're giving
1:07:45
Speaker 1: me such valuable information for free, imagine if I pay you.
1:07:49
Speaker 1: So that's how I started building my business. You know,
1:07:52
Speaker 1: it's really interesting because we do that. We're afraid to
1:07:56
Speaker 1: charge people for services. Sometimes we're afraid to put a
1:08:00
Speaker 1: dollar amount because you're afraid to lose the relationship with
1:08:03
Speaker 1: if they say no. What if they start talking to you?
1:08:05
Speaker 1: But guess what if the only reason they're talking to
1:08:07
Speaker 1: you because you're providing the pre service, you might want
1:08:10
Speaker 1: to stop talking to them because they're using you. I'm
1:08:13
Speaker 1: really enjoying the conversation of talking to the CEO and
1:08:16
Speaker 1: on a Bella Sloan Enterprises. His company not only helps
1:08:19
Speaker 1: you repair your personal credit, but also educates you on
1:08:22
Speaker 1: the topic. His name is Hermann. Don't che We'll be
1:08:25
Speaker 1: right back in our next break. We're gonna have a
1:08:26
Speaker 1: lot of more questions. You know when right now in
1:08:28
Speaker 1: the middle of its COVID ninteen. You know every now
1:08:31
Speaker 1: is P P P. Is the government really gonna help
1:08:33
Speaker 1: us this time around? Because I know I missed out
1:08:35
Speaker 1: on that loan last time, so I'm not happy and
1:08:38
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not comfortable. I'm gonna get something this
1:08:40
Speaker 1: time around. Either. Be right back with more money making conversations. Hi,
1:08:47
Speaker 1: this Rashan McDonald and you're listening to money making conversation.
1:08:49
Speaker 1: Always having a good time on the show, always talking
1:08:51
Speaker 1: to individuals who come on the show to make a
1:08:53
Speaker 1: difference in your life. They have passion. They turn that
1:08:56
Speaker 1: passion into money. They turn that money into a career.
1:08:59
Speaker 1: They turned career into life, a future that they can
1:09:02
Speaker 1: control their own destination. I know there are a lot
1:09:05
Speaker 1: of people out there who are working for people. This
1:09:07
Speaker 1: is not a slam on you, but this is an
1:09:09
Speaker 1: opportunity to show you even if you're working a forty
1:09:12
Speaker 1: hour week job, you can be successful in that for
1:09:14
Speaker 1: the hour week job if you have the right techniques,
1:09:17
Speaker 1: the right understand it. But right now I'm talking to
1:09:19
Speaker 1: all entrepreneur who went for fourteen days on the trip
1:09:23
Speaker 1: and he was mad for four days. You have to
1:09:27
Speaker 1: ask for permission to be gold for fourteen days. You know,
1:09:31
Speaker 1: it's really great that something has to trigger that level
1:09:33
Speaker 1: of inspiration. You know something has to going off in
1:09:36
Speaker 1: your mind. You know something, Man, I can do better.
1:09:38
Speaker 1: I can be better. I can. I can. Uh, I'm
1:09:41
Speaker 1: not an a forty hour week guy. But it's also
1:09:44
Speaker 1: a fear that's tied to that. Isn't it a change?
1:09:48
Speaker 1: Talk about that they very much so, because you know
1:09:52
Speaker 1: there there is a safety net and if I do this,
1:09:56
Speaker 1: somebody's gonna give me this right that that work week.
1:10:00
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm not saying anybody's brain washed or
1:10:02
Speaker 1: you know what makes you happy is good for you,
1:10:04
Speaker 1: right then do that. Um. But what I realized was UM,
1:10:09
Speaker 1: when I started processing that trip and the permission of
1:10:12
Speaker 1: it all was that I was kept. They decided what
1:10:16
Speaker 1: my value was worth. I couldn't make more money if
1:10:19
Speaker 1: I wanted to write. But you know there are people
1:10:22
Speaker 1: out there that are actually doing it. Don't let me
1:10:24
Speaker 1: see that, because once I saw it and I was like, wait,
1:10:26
Speaker 1: this guy makes what I make in a month, or
1:10:28
Speaker 1: he makes when I move in a week, So it
1:10:30
Speaker 1: can be done. So now that I know it can
1:10:33
Speaker 1: be done, I'm going to figure out how it can
1:10:35
Speaker 1: be done. So I could, you know, leave a legacy,
1:10:38
Speaker 1: um for my children, so you know, um, everybody picks
1:10:41
Speaker 1: this credit. But learning how to build a brands, learning
1:10:44
Speaker 1: how to be give good customer service learning, how to
1:10:47
Speaker 1: be the best credit repair person I can be in
1:10:49
Speaker 1: show businesses, how to get funding is what elevated, um
1:10:53
Speaker 1: my business after that? Cool, now that's key right now. Okay,
1:10:56
Speaker 1: we talked about the personal credit. Okay, we all that's
1:10:59
Speaker 1: relatable to any because you have to go personally before
1:11:01
Speaker 1: you go to business. Now let's shift over to to
1:11:03
Speaker 1: the business side, because you know that was a part
1:11:05
Speaker 1: that confused me, you know, having to get it done
1:11:08
Speaker 1: in Bradstreet number, gott to establish all these difference, a
1:11:11
Speaker 1: lot of different techniques that you have to do, and
1:11:13
Speaker 1: you have to get people to you know, reference you,
1:11:16
Speaker 1: and they have to be tied to a certain amount
1:11:18
Speaker 1: of dons and active dons and Bradstreet number. So let's
1:11:22
Speaker 1: talk about that whole business. Credit and building out your
1:11:26
Speaker 1: business so you can bid on government opportunities or r
1:11:30
Speaker 1: fps and all that stuff, because it really is a
1:11:33
Speaker 1: lot of things that are happening out there. Whether you're
1:11:35
Speaker 1: established a bakery or establishing an I T firm or
1:11:39
Speaker 1: LLC or that's corporation. It really goes do you work
1:11:42
Speaker 1: with somebody s c P A firm or we're just
1:11:45
Speaker 1: talking about credit only here, So yes, um, Um, let
1:11:50
Speaker 1: me talk to you first about the business credit aspect
1:11:53
Speaker 1: of it, and then I want to go more so
1:11:55
Speaker 1: into the team aspect. The business credit is credit in
1:11:59
Speaker 1: your businesses name, not in your personal name. So that's
1:12:01
Speaker 1: one of the benefits for it. So you know how
1:12:03
Speaker 1: when you max out a credit card, it drops off,
1:12:05
Speaker 1: it drops your credit score. Because you have a business
1:12:07
Speaker 1: credit card and your your business owns that credit card,
1:12:10
Speaker 1: that debt doesn't show up on your credit report. So
1:12:13
Speaker 1: you can max it out for real estate deals or
1:12:15
Speaker 1: trucking or advertising, whatever you need to do to invest
1:12:18
Speaker 1: in your company to get a return, and it won't
1:12:20
Speaker 1: hurt you personally. That's the benefit with it. That's why
1:12:23
Speaker 1: I always preach it to my people, um, and to
1:12:25
Speaker 1: all communities where you know, get your LLC, get that documentation,
1:12:29
Speaker 1: get your done and brashreet number, and go get yourself
1:12:31
Speaker 1: some business credit cards. Um. Now, what was the other
1:12:34
Speaker 1: thing after that we were discussing, I wanted to touch face. Well,
1:12:37
Speaker 1: it was it was It was about It was It
1:12:38
Speaker 1: was about first of all, you answer the questions about
1:12:41
Speaker 1: the business, but also growing the business outside of the
1:12:43
Speaker 1: whole process of establishing yourself and getting the loans and
1:12:47
Speaker 1: getting the money and how does that okay? So after
1:12:51
Speaker 1: you get your initial business credit, like, I'll tell you
1:12:54
Speaker 1: how I did mine. I think I got like a
1:12:57
Speaker 1: one of my first business credit cards was like into
1:13:00
Speaker 1: two thousand dollars, right, because the limits and business credit
1:13:03
Speaker 1: are much much higher than personal credit. That's another reason
1:13:06
Speaker 1: to get it right. Um, it was zero percent interest
1:13:09
Speaker 1: for this card, and American Express gave me twenty months
1:13:13
Speaker 1: zero percent interest. So when I maxed out the card
1:13:15
Speaker 1: for a real estate deal, it cost me one hundred
1:13:18
Speaker 1: and eighty nine dollars a month zero percent interests. Right,
1:13:21
Speaker 1: So I was able to complete six real estate transactions
1:13:26
Speaker 1: in twenty months with that money. So I flipped that
1:13:28
Speaker 1: twenty thousand dollars six times before the interest rate hit
1:13:34
Speaker 1: that credit. Yeah, before it kicked in, but I already
1:13:37
Speaker 1: made my money. I paid them back their money. And
1:13:39
Speaker 1: guess what I did next when a zero percent ran out?
1:13:41
Speaker 1: I went out another business credit card now with Key Bank,
1:13:45
Speaker 1: and Key Bank gave me forty thousand dollars in business credit,
1:13:48
Speaker 1: zero percent interests. And I'm still working on that money
1:13:51
Speaker 1: right now, flipping in a whole bunch of times before
1:13:53
Speaker 1: that interest kicks in. So that's why I'm trying to
1:13:55
Speaker 1: you know, because I got my good credit right personally,
1:13:58
Speaker 1: I leveraged that to get isn't this credit? And now
1:14:01
Speaker 1: I'm using credit to make money and not to buy stuff.
1:14:04
Speaker 1: And that's and that's what really people need to understand
1:14:07
Speaker 1: about leveraging credit, not your personal money, you know, leveraging
1:14:12
Speaker 1: credit money you can go get and and then all
1:14:15
Speaker 1: of a sudden, when you need it, you can go
1:14:17
Speaker 1: get it. And that's really the key because a lot
1:14:19
Speaker 1: of people they wait till they wait till till it's
1:14:22
Speaker 1: too late, you know, the data is on them and
1:14:24
Speaker 1: look at the square in the ass, and then they
1:14:26
Speaker 1: can't go they can't go anywhere to fix that problem.
1:14:29
Speaker 1: And you're talking about Rashaun, go out there and get
1:14:31
Speaker 1: the credit line of credit and zero interest. When it's available,
1:14:34
Speaker 1: you can go get it. It's called a line of credit.
1:14:36
Speaker 1: And so that's what I've tried to do in my life.
1:14:38
Speaker 1: You know, this is almost like a really powerful refresher
1:14:41
Speaker 1: course for me because the fact that you know you
1:14:44
Speaker 1: you even I'm considering the expert though Herman, that doesn't
1:14:48
Speaker 1: mean I'm an expert, because you know, if you don't
1:14:50
Speaker 1: do stuff all the time and keep keeping you know,
1:14:53
Speaker 1: like like if you don't if you know Spanish, you
1:14:55
Speaker 1: don't space to say Spanish, you don't speak it all
1:14:57
Speaker 1: the time, you're gonna lose it. And the same thing
1:14:59
Speaker 1: with these muscle memory you're talking about. Rashan, I have
1:15:02
Speaker 1: a business opportunity where I was. I was passionate about it.
1:15:05
Speaker 1: Then my brother had to slap me upside of the
1:15:07
Speaker 1: here and say, boy, what don't you just start charging people?
1:15:09
Speaker 1: And then that then you go, you think, and then
1:15:11
Speaker 1: then then the crazy question comes out of your mouth.
1:15:13
Speaker 1: You think they'll pay me, And that's that's when you
1:15:19
Speaker 1: start saying, what is my value? And that's the number
1:15:22
Speaker 1: one problem that people have and going into business. They
1:15:26
Speaker 1: do not understand their value. And that's when you have
1:15:29
Speaker 1: to do the research. You have to look at competitors,
1:15:32
Speaker 1: what they're charging and what they're offering, and then you
1:15:35
Speaker 1: fall in line. You don't have to match them, but
1:15:37
Speaker 1: falling the high and the low, fall in the middle.
1:15:40
Speaker 1: So you can get started and have a justification and
1:15:43
Speaker 1: say hey, if you don't, if you if you think
1:15:45
Speaker 1: I'm high, go over there, go over there. You know,
1:15:48
Speaker 1: you know, my my reputation of what I've done for
1:15:51
Speaker 1: you justifies me charging you this I for work history
1:15:54
Speaker 1: and so so that's really important when I'm talking to
1:15:57
Speaker 1: you and development it. But also you're gonna talk about
1:16:00
Speaker 1: remember the CPA side, the team side of it. Remember
1:16:03
Speaker 1: that was the other question side I wanted to find
1:16:04
Speaker 1: out because we started on you said, let me talk
1:16:07
Speaker 1: about this part before we get to the team side, right,
1:16:12
Speaker 1: So definitely get yourself a tax um professional or c
1:16:18
Speaker 1: p A. I think that's another thing that our community
1:16:21
Speaker 1: is definitely lacking. Understanding taxes also UM and UM and
1:16:27
Speaker 1: how to not always pay taxes legally, because that's another thing.
1:16:31
Speaker 1: Like it's one thing to make money, but you have
1:16:33
Speaker 1: to do your best to keep money. So I do
1:16:35
Speaker 1: have a professional that does work on my taxes and
1:16:37
Speaker 1: we actually have a bi monthly. Every other month we
1:16:41
Speaker 1: have a meeting to see what the company has done.
1:16:44
Speaker 1: Let's pay some taxes early. UM, here's some strategy to
1:16:47
Speaker 1: help you differ in keeping more of your money and
1:16:49
Speaker 1: paying less taxes so that when April comes around in
1:16:53
Speaker 1: one I'm in good standing. You know, the government just
1:16:55
Speaker 1: want their money, pay them their money. But also what
1:16:59
Speaker 1: I from what I realized from my mentors that are
1:17:01
Speaker 1: in my life is that there's many tax um rules
1:17:04
Speaker 1: and regulations that the government has in place for entrepreneurs
1:17:08
Speaker 1: business owners um that you can that you can help
1:17:11
Speaker 1: keep a lot of your money. And if I could
1:17:12
Speaker 1: worry with just just a couple of them. So um,
1:17:16
Speaker 1: when I because I have that piece of paper that
1:17:18
Speaker 1: says I'm an LLC or business. So when I fly
1:17:22
Speaker 1: to Miami, I could have happened to me going to
1:17:24
Speaker 1: see my my aunt, right, but because I discussed business
1:17:27
Speaker 1: on that trip, I'm on the airplane and I give
1:17:29
Speaker 1: somebody my business card, I'm at the gas station, I
1:17:32
Speaker 1: talked about credit repair. Now I'm able to write off
1:17:35
Speaker 1: that plane ticket or that hotel because now it's a
1:17:38
Speaker 1: business trip. And there's a tactic that a lot of
1:17:41
Speaker 1: these fortunate five companies are using to keep a lot
1:17:44
Speaker 1: of the money that they earned. And we can do
1:17:46
Speaker 1: the same thing if we have that piece of paper
1:17:49
Speaker 1: which is an LLC and documentation and you are a
1:17:51
Speaker 1: real business. That's key, the real business terms. You know,
1:17:56
Speaker 1: you heard me kind of like jokingly complain about the
1:18:00
Speaker 1: you know, the pandemic that we are in. Really, when
1:18:03
Speaker 1: you're talking about trying to resolve or you can't just
1:18:06
Speaker 1: switch on the lights right now and fix the problem
1:18:08
Speaker 1: in this country because you know at four point four
1:18:11
Speaker 1: million people are applying for unemployment and you know the
1:18:15
Speaker 1: states are slowly reopening. We're talking about me a couple
1:18:17
Speaker 1: of years before we even see a complete turnaround of
1:18:22
Speaker 1: the results of this turnaround. What advice are you giving
1:18:24
Speaker 1: to your clients and what are you giving to any
1:18:27
Speaker 1: potential customer that will come to you right now who's
1:18:30
Speaker 1: seeking opportunities to fall in the potential loans because we
1:18:34
Speaker 1: know they're tighter now, restrictions are tight. What advice are
1:18:38
Speaker 1: you giving them right now? Herman, So the obvious one
1:18:42
Speaker 1: without havings to the labor of the point is when
1:18:44
Speaker 1: you put yourself in position. I always say that first,
1:18:46
Speaker 1: when you're in position with good credit, a lot of
1:18:49
Speaker 1: these resources are still accessible to you. So I have
1:18:52
Speaker 1: a lot of clients who I think their credit or
1:18:54
Speaker 1: they came to me with good credit. They're still getting capital.
1:18:57
Speaker 1: It may not be as much as it was before
1:18:59
Speaker 1: um this prerecession area that we're in, but they're still
1:19:02
Speaker 1: getting capital to make some moves. Number Two, I want
1:19:05
Speaker 1: to talk to your entrepreneurs of people who are trying
1:19:07
Speaker 1: to get into this game is to be able to
1:19:10
Speaker 1: shift and pay attention to what's going on around you
1:19:13
Speaker 1: to make your business successful. So here's an example of this. So, UM,
1:19:18
Speaker 1: it was probably three weeks ago. UM, I'm in my
1:19:21
Speaker 1: home office um slash man cave, and UM, I hear
1:19:25
Speaker 1: a lot of rockets upstairs. I go upstairs and my
1:19:27
Speaker 1: wife is working out in the living room. I've never
1:19:30
Speaker 1: done that before, and I'm like, why are you, why
1:19:32
Speaker 1: are you making all this noise? And then I look over.
1:19:36
Speaker 1: She has her laptop open. The camera's pointing to her,
1:19:38
Speaker 1: and she's connect she's connected it to the flat screen
1:19:41
Speaker 1: TV and it's a workout class. Somebody's doing a workout class.
1:19:44
Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, that's really interesting. So I tap
1:19:47
Speaker 1: on the screen and it's a zoom call and there
1:19:49
Speaker 1: are a hundred and sixty five people from all over
1:19:52
Speaker 1: the world on this phone call, on this zoom call,
1:19:55
Speaker 1: excuse me, working out together to Caribbean themes. So everybody
1:19:58
Speaker 1: got their flags out there, dancing and work out, and
1:20:01
Speaker 1: I was so intrigued by it. I sat down and
1:20:02
Speaker 1: I watched the whole thing, and then the lady you know,
1:20:06
Speaker 1: gave everybody opportunity to dance with their families and made
1:20:08
Speaker 1: it a real community um situation because we're all stuck
1:20:12
Speaker 1: home together. I actually emailed the lady after we've been done.
1:20:16
Speaker 1: I was like, well, what do you do? Because I
1:20:17
Speaker 1: was so intrigued. She's like, well, I I own a gym,
1:20:20
Speaker 1: and of course nobody can come to the gym. So
1:20:21
Speaker 1: she's like, I decided to, you know, do this cell
1:20:23
Speaker 1: phone call to keep everybody motivated. And I was like, listen,
1:20:26
Speaker 1: when the gym's open again, right to continue, bring your
1:20:30
Speaker 1: laptop to your class, continue the same situation, and charge
1:20:34
Speaker 1: five dollars for the link for the zoom link. I
1:20:36
Speaker 1: bet you people will still pay for it because while
1:20:38
Speaker 1: people were locked in, you figured out a way to
1:20:40
Speaker 1: bring people together. And she's, oh my god, that's a
1:20:42
Speaker 1: brilliant idea. I was like, there's two people on this call.
1:20:45
Speaker 1: Imagine what it's going to be like when you open again.
1:20:47
Speaker 1: So being able to be creative and shift your business
1:20:50
Speaker 1: UM to something new, especially online um, is a great
1:20:55
Speaker 1: strategy for entrepreneurs to still be able to make money.
1:20:57
Speaker 1: That's what that's all they're doing right now. You know,
1:21:01
Speaker 1: you know, they're sitting up there, somebody's training. They're charging
1:21:04
Speaker 1: amazing numbers, and it's really smart. It's like, you know,
1:21:07
Speaker 1: your visionary from that standpoint, you see an opportunity to
1:21:09
Speaker 1: make money and you can tap it to it. But
1:21:11
Speaker 1: you know what she's doing the same thing we talked
1:21:13
Speaker 1: about early afraid to charge. She's providing a service. Say
1:21:18
Speaker 1: say she got a hundred and sixty people and she
1:21:20
Speaker 1: said ten dollars. She might go down the fifties. She
1:21:23
Speaker 1: might go down the fifties, but that's fifty she didn't
1:21:25
Speaker 1: have before, and she would get back up to it.
1:21:28
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, And it's really going to share.
1:21:31
Speaker 1: Everybody's going to share the link. Absolutely, Yeah, but you're
1:21:35
Speaker 1: it's really interesting. I would you tell people, you know,
1:21:37
Speaker 1: you can let people come into your business for free
1:21:40
Speaker 1: and you can charge a dollar. They're coming with a
1:21:42
Speaker 1: different attitude. Yeah, if they want to know what they're
1:21:45
Speaker 1: spending their money on. And so if you're charging people
1:21:48
Speaker 1: for this workout, then guess what you're presented differently as well.
1:21:52
Speaker 1: But also they'll understand the value of what they're getting
1:21:55
Speaker 1: out of it, and they are shared more than saying that, Hey,
1:21:58
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just doing this thing over here. It's
1:22:00
Speaker 1: for free. People don't promote free as much as they
1:22:02
Speaker 1: promote something they get out of something they pay for.
1:22:05
Speaker 1: In this case, you're just understanding that that my listener
1:22:08
Speaker 1: should understand this. How can I get in touch with you, Herman?
1:22:12
Speaker 1: And also how can you give me a banner? I
1:22:14
Speaker 1: got a weekly newsletter goes out to ninety thousand people
1:22:16
Speaker 1: every Friday morning at nine am. Definitely love to promote
1:22:19
Speaker 1: your brand, promote your business because that's what money Making
1:22:21
Speaker 1: Conversations all about. But tell us how to reach out
1:22:23
Speaker 1: to you, so Um, you can reach out and call
1:22:26
Speaker 1: my office. We're open Monday through Friday nine am to
1:22:30
Speaker 1: seven pm Eastern Standard time. Our phone number is six
1:22:34
Speaker 1: O nine eight three two three five five two. That's
1:22:37
Speaker 1: six O nine A three two three five five two,
1:22:40
Speaker 1: and you can email me at info at Bella Sloan
1:22:44
Speaker 1: Enterprises dot com, BX info at b E L l
1:22:47
Speaker 1: A s l o A N Enterprises E N T
1:22:51
Speaker 1: E R E R I s C S dot com.
1:22:55
Speaker 1: My man, I want to thank you for coming on
1:22:57
Speaker 1: my show, Money Making Conversation. He's the CEO and all
1:23:00
Speaker 1: Um Bella Sloan enterprises. Definitely, Um, I want to hear
1:23:03
Speaker 1: from me in the future. Definitely get that banner to
1:23:05
Speaker 1: me so I can promote you on my social media
1:23:07
Speaker 1: as well as in my newsletter. Thank you, sir, Thank
1:23:11
Speaker 1: you so much for having you have a great If
1:23:13
Speaker 1: you want to hear more episodes of Money Making Conversations,
1:23:15
Speaker 1: go to Money Making Conversation dot com. I'm with Sean McDonald.
1:23:19
Speaker 1: I'm your host. Hi everyone, Al Roker here as a
1:23:22
Speaker 1: guy with his own catchphrase. I appreciate that Smokey's only
1:23:25
Speaker 1: said only you can prevent wildfires, but I'm filling in
1:23:29
Speaker 1: because there's a lot more to report, like when they're
1:23:32
Speaker 1: parched or windy conditions out there. You gotta be extra
1:23:35
Speaker 1: careful with things like burning yard waist. After all, wildfires
1:23:39
Speaker 1: can start anywhere, even in your neck of the woods.
1:23:42
Speaker 1: Go to Smokey Bear dot com to learn more about
1:23:45
Speaker 1: wildfire prevention, brought to you by the U. S. Forest Service,
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Speaker 1: your state Forrester, and the ad Council. And we're live
1:23:51
Speaker 1: here outside the Perez family home, just waiting for the
1:23:55
Speaker 1: and there they go almost on time. This morning, Mom
1:23:58
Speaker 1: is coming out the front doors wrong with a double
1:24:01
Speaker 1: arm kid carry looks like Dad has the bags. Daughter
1:24:04
Speaker 1: is bringing up the rear. Oh, but the diaper bag
1:24:07
Speaker 1: wasn't closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere. But Mom has
1:24:13
Speaker 1: just nailed the perfect car seat buckle for the toddler.
1:24:16
Speaker 1: And now the eldest daughter, who looks to be about
1:24:19
Speaker 1: nine or ten, has secured herself in the booster seat.
1:24:21
Speaker 1: Dad SIPs the bad clothes and they're off. But looks
1:24:26
Speaker 1: like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is still on
1:24:28
Speaker 1: the roof of the car and there it goes. Oh,
1:24:32
Speaker 1: that's a shame that mug was a fan favorite. Don't
1:24:35
Speaker 1: sweat the small stuff. Just nailed the big stuff, like
1:24:38
Speaker 1: making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right
1:24:40
Speaker 1: seat for their agent's eyes. Learn more n h t
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Speaker 1: s A dot gov slash The Right Seat visits h
1:24:45
Speaker 1: s A dot gov slash The Right Seat Brought to
1:24:48
Speaker 1: you by Mizza and the ad Council. What grows in
1:24:52
Speaker 1: the forest trees, Sure you know what else grows in
1:24:55
Speaker 1: the forest, our imagination, a sense of wonder and a family.
1:25:00
Speaker 1: Bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from this and
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Speaker 1: connect with this, we reconnect with each other. The forest
1:25:10
Speaker 1: is closer than you think, find a forest near you
1:25:13
Speaker 1: and start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot Org, brought
1:25:17
Speaker 1: to you by the United States Forest Service and the
1:25:19
Speaker 1: AD Council. My next guest was a former track star. Okay,
1:25:26
Speaker 1: it's really important to note she's an athlete because she's
1:25:29
Speaker 1: starting in a new episode new series that she's very athletic.
1:25:33
Speaker 1: Was discovered on a on YouTube as a singer. Not
1:25:36
Speaker 1: that here he was a former track star now, but
1:25:40
Speaker 1: was discovered on YouTube as a singer now. She's a
1:25:43
Speaker 1: model because she's very attractive, a rioting actress in Hollywood,
1:25:47
Speaker 1: because you know, somebody patched her in on the interview,
1:25:50
Speaker 1: she just called me director. Somebody patched her in. So
1:25:53
Speaker 1: she's big timing. You've seen her work on f on
1:25:57
Speaker 1: f X at Lata BT s American Soul, the movie
1:26:00
Speaker 1: super Fly, and Fox Music Scho Drama Star. She's on
1:26:03
Speaker 1: the show to talk about her career, huh, which I
1:26:06
Speaker 1: really love to talking about hashtag love and lightheart, Love
1:26:09
Speaker 1: and Lightheart and soul, scholarships, the ups and downs of Hollywood,
1:26:13
Speaker 1: and her new sci fi series which I am in
1:26:15
Speaker 1: love with, Vagrant Queen. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation.
1:26:19
Speaker 1: Adrian Ray Hello, Hello, Hi, thank you for having me.
1:26:24
Speaker 1: First of all, thank you for coming on the show, Adrian,
1:26:26
Speaker 1: I'm happy to be here. Now where are you based
1:26:29
Speaker 1: there right now? And based in Los Angeles? Okay? Cool? Now?
1:26:33
Speaker 1: Um the TV show, M I love it. Are your
1:26:39
Speaker 1: character Elita is? Uh? First of all, I don't want
1:26:43
Speaker 1: to drop the gun because you know, when you see
1:26:45
Speaker 1: something you tend to overtalk the show a lot. Just
1:26:48
Speaker 1: tell me about your character Elita. Well, Elita is a
1:26:55
Speaker 1: young queen. She was deemed queen at a very young age,
1:26:59
Speaker 1: queen and denied though right when you say that, No,
1:27:05
Speaker 1: she's Um. She's a young queen who at a young
1:27:09
Speaker 1: age her monarchy was overthrown, and because it was overthrown,
1:27:14
Speaker 1: she was you know, cast out, and she's been on
1:27:17
Speaker 1: the run for all these years of her life. And
1:27:20
Speaker 1: by the Republic's overthrowing her monarchy that she led to
1:27:24
Speaker 1: the death of her mother and her father. So, um,
1:27:28
Speaker 1: she has resentment towards you know, the monarchy and and
1:27:32
Speaker 1: the crown in general. Okay. So so that means that
1:27:36
Speaker 1: you are a reluctant queen. Yes, okay, cool? Not now
1:27:41
Speaker 1: you have two sidekicks on the show. You have I
1:27:45
Speaker 1: want to say she's uh. First of all, Isaac, he's
1:27:48
Speaker 1: a person who you um uh stole his ship and
1:27:52
Speaker 1: he shot you, okay, And then you have a May
1:27:57
Speaker 1: and a May character is interesting because we know she's gay,
1:28:01
Speaker 1: but then it always seems to be a moment that
1:28:05
Speaker 1: there may be something else between you and her, but
1:28:08
Speaker 1: somebody interrupts. It's kind of like a it does she
1:28:13
Speaker 1: like a maid? Is she trying to flirt with a maid?
1:28:16
Speaker 1: Because we know what made which way she rolls, but
1:28:19
Speaker 1: we don't know which way Elita rolls. And so the
1:28:22
Speaker 1: first five episodes got your board, meaning Rashan McDonald going
1:28:26
Speaker 1: over here, m M, is that potential romance between Elita
1:28:31
Speaker 1: and a maid? Can you give me that to dot
1:28:33
Speaker 1: dot dog? Or do I need to keep looking at
1:28:36
Speaker 1: the various episodes to find out. Well, as you continue
1:28:41
Speaker 1: to watch, it will become more clear. I mean, it's
1:28:44
Speaker 1: it's the view that we've given to that UM. In
1:28:47
Speaker 1: regards to the show, we literally gave it the seeing
1:28:49
Speaker 1: you as the character, so the audience see how this
1:28:52
Speaker 1: goes just like the characters do. UM. But I would
1:28:56
Speaker 1: safe to you the keys to look at Elita in
1:28:59
Speaker 1: a May when and they're not looking at each other,
1:29:01
Speaker 1: or they don't like want amazed looking away. Look at
1:29:04
Speaker 1: Alita and see I'll be looking. I'm looking at girl.
1:29:06
Speaker 1: I'm looking. I'm looking. Definitely a little a little a
1:29:11
Speaker 1: little sexual tension and things like that. Elina is a
1:29:15
Speaker 1: pan sexual. Um, so yeah, there's definitely some sexual tension
1:29:20
Speaker 1: in some googly hard eyes. And it's always that moment.
1:29:25
Speaker 1: Good writing, as they say, good writing because and you're
1:29:28
Speaker 1: a very good actress, by the way, I won't compliment you.
1:29:30
Speaker 1: You know, when you found out your mother was alive,
1:29:33
Speaker 1: you know, a tear dropped immediately and I went and
1:29:36
Speaker 1: you know it wasn't one of those you know, I'm
1:29:37
Speaker 1: gonna tell you some I'm a type of person when
1:29:39
Speaker 1: I cry. You know, I can't talk and cry at
1:29:41
Speaker 1: the same time. So you know, I do want to
1:29:45
Speaker 1: type crying and talking, okay, and so and so I'm
1:29:49
Speaker 1: looking at you just dropping these tears and still maintaining
1:29:52
Speaker 1: vocal control. How do you do that? Adrian Um actually
1:29:57
Speaker 1: worked with a vocal coach, and you know that's right,
1:30:04
Speaker 1: that's a skill you have to learn right, well, not necessarily,
1:30:07
Speaker 1: but it does help to have diaphragm control. Regardless of
1:30:11
Speaker 1: in your breast control. It's all control of the breathing.
1:30:13
Speaker 1: So you're saying I'm a loser. Mis right, that's right there,
1:30:15
Speaker 1: saying a loose. I can't because because I can't cry
1:30:18
Speaker 1: and maintain vocal control. You know, I have these these
1:30:22
Speaker 1: these heavy breathing. You just gotta you just gotta control
1:30:27
Speaker 1: that diaphram So tighten up the gut, tighten up the gud.
1:30:31
Speaker 1: But see, I have not. I was not a track star.
1:30:34
Speaker 1: I didn't have that, you know, because one thing about
1:30:37
Speaker 1: a track star. You have that diaphragm right there, that's
1:30:39
Speaker 1: six pack. When you turn that corner, the knees coming
1:30:42
Speaker 1: up near that chest, you're gonna be right now. So
1:30:45
Speaker 1: don't you do me on my own show. Now, this
1:30:49
Speaker 1: interview is going bad for me right now. She's already
1:30:52
Speaker 1: told me, am out the shape. I can't keep my breath.
1:30:57
Speaker 1: So let's talk about this series now. First of all,
1:31:01
Speaker 1: you know, um, when the when the opportunity came for
1:31:04
Speaker 1: me to interview you, you know, you know, we were
1:31:06
Speaker 1: in the meeting and I looked you up online and
1:31:09
Speaker 1: I just started. I knew her from Atlanta, and I
1:31:12
Speaker 1: knew from American soul and of course star. Now you
1:31:16
Speaker 1: are the star of this series, Vagrant Queen. That is
1:31:21
Speaker 1: an enormous responsibility. Talk walk us through the steps of
1:31:26
Speaker 1: auditioning and when you first was realized when it told
1:31:30
Speaker 1: you you was going to be the star to show
1:31:32
Speaker 1: and you've been cast as the lead. Talk us about that,
1:31:34
Speaker 1: because this is something I would let me tell you
1:31:37
Speaker 1: something before you answer the response. I just want to
1:31:39
Speaker 1: tell you something honestly, when I watch you, you're so talented. Secondly,
1:31:44
Speaker 1: I realized that there's a high level of innocence in you,
1:31:48
Speaker 1: that you're doing what you love and and and you're
1:31:51
Speaker 1: being blessed to deliver it in this show. And the
1:31:55
Speaker 1: fact that you're doing it at such a young age
1:31:57
Speaker 1: and uh on a show that's high profile, a high
1:32:01
Speaker 1: budget and a lot of sets. It's really wonderful. Now
1:32:05
Speaker 1: you can respond, thank you. Um. So, I got the
1:32:10
Speaker 1: audition from my manager and he sent over the sides.
1:32:14
Speaker 1: I immediately tried to get into the world of Vague
1:32:16
Speaker 1: and Queen. So I read the comic, I read the sides,
1:32:19
Speaker 1: and I read the pilot script, which really all of
1:32:21
Speaker 1: it health because the writer Jim Um She's she's amazing
1:32:26
Speaker 1: and amazingly talented, and she really did a great job
1:32:29
Speaker 1: but taking that comic book because it's an adaptation, to
1:32:32
Speaker 1: taking that comic book world and really turning it into
1:32:35
Speaker 1: a TV adaptation, and you could really find the two
1:32:39
Speaker 1: worlds to be the same when you go from the
1:32:42
Speaker 1: comic to the television series. So I really found, you know,
1:32:48
Speaker 1: the comics to be very helpful. So I went and
1:32:50
Speaker 1: built my character and instantly fell in love with her,
1:32:53
Speaker 1: instantly resonated with her words. I was off book as in,
1:32:56
Speaker 1: um my, the words that they gave me to audition
1:32:59
Speaker 1: with memorized very fast, and um from doing that, I
1:33:03
Speaker 1: did my audition. You know, I just went out there
1:33:06
Speaker 1: and I had funds, and I did what I thought.
1:33:09
Speaker 1: You know, it was funny and fun and you know
1:33:11
Speaker 1: what I wanted to do, what I wanted to bring
1:33:13
Speaker 1: to the character. And luckily and amazing who he well,
1:33:18
Speaker 1: the whole creative team. They really liked my audition. So
1:33:22
Speaker 1: they call me in for a callback with some tweaks,
1:33:24
Speaker 1: and I sped over another tape because at this point
1:33:27
Speaker 1: our show, Lenner was in South Africa and I located
1:33:30
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, so he did it be a self
1:33:34
Speaker 1: tape to self tapes. And then I get a phone
1:33:35
Speaker 1: call from my manager and he tells me, he says,
1:33:40
Speaker 1: can I speak to Alita? And I just started freaking out.
1:33:43
Speaker 1: I'm in rals. I gotta get out there. I gotta
1:33:45
Speaker 1: get out the store, like raph is the grocery store
1:33:47
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. But they're just be staying like Ralphs everywhere.
1:33:49
Speaker 1: Raps aren't everywhere. Ralphs is a big It's like Crowgers
1:33:52
Speaker 1: or Publics. It's based in Los Angeles. Five. I've really
1:33:55
Speaker 1: lost fifty. It's really big. Okay, continue, I'm um, I'm
1:34:02
Speaker 1: in the grocery store and I get out and I
1:34:05
Speaker 1: have to, you know, have my whole moment and then
1:34:08
Speaker 1: tell me that I book it, and you know that
1:34:10
Speaker 1: that was feeling was just amazing and and none of
1:34:12
Speaker 1: it actually hit me that I was the lead in
1:34:16
Speaker 1: a woman of color lead and a sci fi series
1:34:19
Speaker 1: l g pt Q plus representation. None of that really
1:34:22
Speaker 1: hit me in the moment. All of it was just
1:34:24
Speaker 1: like home, man, I booked a show, and that's just
1:34:29
Speaker 1: like where I was living in the moment. And as
1:34:31
Speaker 1: I got you know, to South Africa, as I got
1:34:33
Speaker 1: started getting into costume, it all started like unraveling and like,
1:34:37
Speaker 1: oh I am I am the actual lead. I am
1:34:40
Speaker 1: the leaguing queen. I am a woman of color leading
1:34:43
Speaker 1: a sci fi series. And you know, but as much
1:34:46
Speaker 1: as it could seem, you know, scary to someone, um,
1:34:50
Speaker 1: it wasn't. It wasn't terrifying or scary to me because
1:34:53
Speaker 1: I didn't see it as like something that could possibly
1:34:55
Speaker 1: turn negative at all. So because of the way I
1:34:58
Speaker 1: embraced it, it really a allowed me to, um just
1:35:03
Speaker 1: live in that space and embrace it and flourish within it.
1:35:06
Speaker 1: And I'm just super grateful and humble to be able
1:35:09
Speaker 1: to play such an impactful role and powerful role that
1:35:12
Speaker 1: has so much representation on so many different levels. You know,
1:35:16
Speaker 1: you we're living in the era of the Black Panther. Okay,
1:35:19
Speaker 1: well we know that. You know, when you're giving an opportunity,
1:35:22
Speaker 1: you have to shine because you know, we never know
1:35:25
Speaker 1: because everybody, you know, if a failure at that high
1:35:27
Speaker 1: profile level can deter other opportunities at their level. And
1:35:30
Speaker 1: so Black Panther delivered and over delivered and uh and
1:35:35
Speaker 1: also open doors. I'd like to believe for opportunities like this.
1:35:39
Speaker 1: And when I see what you're doing, you know, I
1:35:41
Speaker 1: saw the first episode, and it's like, if you're a
1:35:44
Speaker 1: fan of Guardian of the Galaxy, this is a tone
1:35:48
Speaker 1: the character type tone because she's an anti hero. She
1:35:53
Speaker 1: she she's a reluctant hero and uh. And as each
1:35:56
Speaker 1: episode goes along, she starts gathering her her band, in
1:36:00
Speaker 1: her group, her her teammates, her sidekicks, you know. And
1:36:03
Speaker 1: Isaac is a reluctant sidekick who is from Earth but
1:36:08
Speaker 1: watched serious who you can get his backstory. And then
1:36:10
Speaker 1: a Mayde she picked him up, she picked her picked
1:36:13
Speaker 1: her up. And a may is kind of like she's
1:36:15
Speaker 1: along for the ride. You know, she's been supposed to
1:36:17
Speaker 1: be a person that was supposed to be just dropped off.
1:36:19
Speaker 1: But hey, she she she sees some opportunities just to
1:36:22
Speaker 1: be creative. She's a she's a geek. She's a she's
1:36:26
Speaker 1: a guru in the in the mechanic room. She is
1:36:29
Speaker 1: the she is the Scotty Scotty. We need more power,
1:36:33
Speaker 1: we need more power of Star Trek corrects the glue
1:36:39
Speaker 1: that holds us together, for sure, but more importantly, you're
1:36:42
Speaker 1: the glue. The fifth episode, you know, each episode gets better.
1:36:46
Speaker 1: The fifth episode may be mad because it really you know,
1:36:50
Speaker 1: what's what's what's the villain's name? Last us? What's the villains?
1:36:54
Speaker 1: The villain's name Lazaro, Lazaro. You know he is an evil,
1:37:01
Speaker 1: evil guy. Now, i'mnna tell you something. This series is.
1:37:03
Speaker 1: You know, they beat up people. There's some blood in
1:37:05
Speaker 1: the series now, and there's some campiness which which should
1:37:10
Speaker 1: be called humor. And there is uh teamwork. There's a
1:37:14
Speaker 1: lot of backstabbing, there's a lot of lying, there's a
1:37:17
Speaker 1: lot of I thought you said this, I thought you
1:37:19
Speaker 1: was this is a lot of unforeseen directions for the characters,
1:37:24
Speaker 1: and you think you're going into the direction their lives
1:37:26
Speaker 1: that are lost, their lives that are lost, and the
1:37:29
Speaker 1: more lives that are lost, and then it windles it
1:37:31
Speaker 1: all down to where you're at right now. You're you're
1:37:36
Speaker 1: out the episodes five. I'm believing you're ready to save
1:37:40
Speaker 1: the galaxy. Correct. I can't speak on that. Oh my goodness,
1:37:46
Speaker 1: I sent you off, Adrian, and you're just gonna leave
1:37:49
Speaker 1: me hanging out there. I don't think I'm telling the series.
1:37:52
Speaker 1: I think i'm epsde five, not episode fine. I would
1:37:56
Speaker 1: think that's the attitude you're gonna have moving forward. Raising man,
1:38:00
Speaker 1: he got the orb that you you didn't have time
1:38:04
Speaker 1: to get the information on how to use it. And
1:38:06
Speaker 1: then I was saying he knew how to use it.
1:38:08
Speaker 1: Now he has ultimate power. I don't even know how
1:38:11
Speaker 1: you're gonna tackle him, because even though you are blood,
1:38:14
Speaker 1: you have the blood of the of the Kingdom, of
1:38:17
Speaker 1: the Queen or the king or whatever, you still on
1:38:20
Speaker 1: have the orb. He has it now. So now episode six,
1:38:24
Speaker 1: which I have to watch this Thursday night at eleven
1:38:26
Speaker 1: o'clock on Sci Fi Channel, I'm just I'm talking to
1:38:28
Speaker 1: Adrian Rage. She should starve frankon Queen A great, great series.
1:38:33
Speaker 1: Are people reacting to you like I'm reacting to you
1:38:39
Speaker 1: every different? Okay, okay, how am I reacting? You know?
1:38:45
Speaker 1: I don't want to be like a little a little fan.
1:38:47
Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm talking about, am I am? I? Okay? Cool?
1:38:51
Speaker 1: Thank you because you have a great series. Now, before
1:38:56
Speaker 1: we got to the great series already, nor Bio, you
1:39:00
Speaker 1: were discovered on YouTube as a singer. How does that happen? Uh?
1:39:06
Speaker 1: Divine intervention. I was supposed because I had like no
1:39:09
Speaker 1: YouTube subscribers or anything like that. I was just singing
1:39:13
Speaker 1: in my house, the house I poked it on Instagram.
1:39:18
Speaker 1: No one followed, and uh, they went to the YouTube
1:39:22
Speaker 1: and checked out the song, and then they actually worked
1:39:25
Speaker 1: at um they worked at Radar, which is a subdivision
1:39:29
Speaker 1: of Ethic Records, and they showed their boss and their
1:39:33
Speaker 1: bosses like Burger and let's let's have her sing for
1:39:35
Speaker 1: us and let's talk to her, and uh, yeah, we
1:39:38
Speaker 1: learned from there. But that's that's literally how I started
1:39:41
Speaker 1: getting into the entertainment industry. And from there, you know,
1:39:43
Speaker 1: I I being boss some sets and things like that.
1:39:46
Speaker 1: I found out about acting and because I was in Atlanta,
1:39:50
Speaker 1: you know, that's black Hollywood, and um, I remember being
1:39:54
Speaker 1: on a video set and doing acting like as like
1:39:58
Speaker 1: like lead acting, and they were you're pretty good at this,
1:40:00
Speaker 1: and I was like, I don't know what I'm join
1:40:02
Speaker 1: and they're like, you know, you should really try because
1:40:04
Speaker 1: you're in Atlanta and she's at least just you know,
1:40:07
Speaker 1: give it a try since you're here. So I was
1:40:09
Speaker 1: like okay. And then I found my mentor, Carl Payne,
1:40:13
Speaker 1: who yeah, and he took me under his wing and
1:40:18
Speaker 1: it's taught me so so so very much, and I
1:40:20
Speaker 1: forever grid of the Carl and uh he started me
1:40:23
Speaker 1: with you know, Standislavsky, Sella Adler and those those techniques.
1:40:26
Speaker 1: So the first thing Carl did with me was trained.
1:40:29
Speaker 1: I know often people when they turn and they say,
1:40:32
Speaker 1: I want to be an actor, and that's that's fine
1:40:33
Speaker 1: if that's your passion. That's a beautiful thing that you
1:40:35
Speaker 1: found that. But the first thing is not I needed.
1:40:39
Speaker 1: I need to get hit shots and find the find
1:40:41
Speaker 1: the agent and go book a role. The first thing
1:40:43
Speaker 1: you need to do is train because um as i
1:40:47
Speaker 1: uh as I read in a beautiful interview by Brittany
1:40:50
Speaker 1: who is one of the stars of Boomerang. She said,
1:40:54
Speaker 1: it is it is your talent. It's like an agent
1:40:59
Speaker 1: will get you in the room. Yeah, but your talent
1:41:01
Speaker 1: will keep you in the room. Your talent will get
1:41:04
Speaker 1: you booked. So that's that's the important thing that you
1:41:07
Speaker 1: really need to call today. Well, let's go back to
1:41:12
Speaker 1: the show now. I'm a bounce back and forth because
1:41:15
Speaker 1: at different points I went back. Now the sets, Now,
1:41:18
Speaker 1: this is what has impressed me about the show, because
1:41:20
Speaker 1: when you do a show like this, you know, one
1:41:21
Speaker 1: of the things that can destroy shows the sets, uh
1:41:26
Speaker 1: which was tied towards the acting. The the I guess
1:41:29
Speaker 1: the fight sequences, the special effects, and your show does
1:41:35
Speaker 1: a phenomenal job. Talk about the sets that that and
1:41:38
Speaker 1: where you guys are shooting the show, Well, the steps
1:41:42
Speaker 1: are absolutely phenomenal, like you said, and we shoot and
1:41:44
Speaker 1: kicked out South Africa, which offers just a huge variety
1:41:48
Speaker 1: of terrains to work with. I mean, from episode five
1:41:52
Speaker 1: you see the dunes in Atlantis and then all the
1:41:54
Speaker 1: way to the beautiful mountains that you see in episode
1:41:56
Speaker 1: three where I Gonna meet Clive, all of these are
1:41:59
Speaker 1: actual mountains and doings. They're not c g ied. I
1:42:02
Speaker 1: mean the most c g irc is like extra moons
1:42:05
Speaker 1: added into the sky. So um, you know, it looks
1:42:08
Speaker 1: of another galaxy, not yours. But we sure know, we
1:42:17
Speaker 1: for sure had a lot of fun filming in all
1:42:19
Speaker 1: these different places, and it was just beautiful that one
1:42:22
Speaker 1: place in the Motherland had so much to offer regarding
1:42:27
Speaker 1: not just the scenes and the sets, but also the talent.
1:42:31
Speaker 1: There's a lot of South African actors who are a
1:42:34
Speaker 1: part of our casting crew, a part of our cast. Yeah,
1:42:37
Speaker 1: and it was just it was just a beautiful, beautiful
1:42:40
Speaker 1: thing to experience. Well, you know, I'll be remiss if
1:42:44
Speaker 1: I don't talk about the makeup because the makeups phenomenal,
1:42:47
Speaker 1: The makeup design and all that is crafted very well.
1:42:50
Speaker 1: And that's why that's what excites me about to show
1:42:52
Speaker 1: our First I'm a sci fi person and you're watching
1:42:56
Speaker 1: sci fi, but but to support you as a lead
1:43:00
Speaker 1: on an incredibly well produced, crafted series is important because
1:43:04
Speaker 1: of the fact that you're good. You're really really good
1:43:07
Speaker 1: at what you do. Now, there's a lot of physical
1:43:10
Speaker 1: fight scenes, there's a lot of running, there's a lot
1:43:13
Speaker 1: of jumping. Talk to us about that training process. Well, luckily,
1:43:18
Speaker 1: like you said, stated, I've been an athlete all of
1:43:21
Speaker 1: my life. Um, I've been playing till hockey since I
1:43:23
Speaker 1: was five, running track, basketball, all these things. So I
1:43:27
Speaker 1: was able to have you know, that coordination, center of gravity,
1:43:30
Speaker 1: all of those things naturally within my being. But I
1:43:33
Speaker 1: had an amazing stunt like crew, and you know, they
1:43:38
Speaker 1: trained me. I had a personal trainer as well, who
1:43:40
Speaker 1: training with boxing and kinesthetic and dynamic training the kickboxing,
1:43:45
Speaker 1: and you know, as actors, it is our job to
1:43:47
Speaker 1: make sure that we stay in shape. But I didn't
1:43:49
Speaker 1: know I was going to get an action hero role.
1:43:52
Speaker 1: So you know, my my training had this shift from
1:43:54
Speaker 1: just going to the gym and doing cardio to actually
1:43:57
Speaker 1: like punching and kicking and working out and then different
1:44:00
Speaker 1: way and more athletic building a way. So, um, that's
1:44:03
Speaker 1: what my training consisted of. Uh we shot six days
1:44:06
Speaker 1: a week. I trained three the five times a week,
1:44:10
Speaker 1: and I had one day to myself every day. Very weak.
1:44:15
Speaker 1: Now with that being said, did you get any bruises
1:44:20
Speaker 1: or did you get thrown off on any of the uh?
1:44:23
Speaker 1: N of the acting? The physical scenes are because I'm watching,
1:44:26
Speaker 1: I'm trying to it's that her fighting is that? How
1:44:28
Speaker 1: making that kick? Is that making? How make that throw?
1:44:30
Speaker 1: Is she being thrown around? How did that work out
1:44:32
Speaker 1: for you? Physically? In all the action scenes? Um, I
1:44:37
Speaker 1: actually did of my stunts. Okay, come on, So I
1:44:45
Speaker 1: did nine percent of my stunts, and I did injure myself.
1:44:49
Speaker 1: You know, there's there's small little injuries like uh cuts
1:44:52
Speaker 1: or things like that that happened, But I've never I've
1:44:55
Speaker 1: never really like genuinely hurt myself like badly. Right, I did,
1:45:00
Speaker 1: you know, some bumps and bruises, but all of which
1:45:04
Speaker 1: I'm just I didn't even tell anybody about it because
1:45:06
Speaker 1: I wanted to continue to do. My stunt was just
1:45:10
Speaker 1: just just manned up from there. Hey, don't worry about
1:45:12
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. Yeah, I'm good. Well, well,
1:45:15
Speaker 1: I'll just let you know that this is I'm just
1:45:18
Speaker 1: having fun talking to you because you know, I'm talking
1:45:21
Speaker 1: to the start of the series and you're answering inside questions.
1:45:26
Speaker 1: Except you know what's going to happen after episode five.
1:45:29
Speaker 1: You know that's the only thing you see. You're not
1:45:32
Speaker 1: gonna which I'm cool. I respect that we're gonna get
1:45:34
Speaker 1: a relationship going here. You know, ventual on future interviews.
1:45:36
Speaker 1: You know you're gonna let me in a little bit
1:45:38
Speaker 1: more secrets. Let's talk about your scholarships. You know, the
1:45:42
Speaker 1: shift here because this is the side of you that
1:45:43
Speaker 1: I always like to talk with my especially people in entertainment.
1:45:47
Speaker 1: I call it a balance life, you know, being able
1:45:49
Speaker 1: to you know you're focused on your career, but what
1:45:52
Speaker 1: are you doing for the community? What? What? What? What?
1:45:54
Speaker 1: What keeps your mind active when you're not acting or entertaining.
1:45:59
Speaker 1: It's called the ashtag love and light heart and school scholarship.
1:46:03
Speaker 1: Tell us about that. Yeah, so this scholarship, I must say,
1:46:07
Speaker 1: is so so so close to my heart. Um. As
1:46:11
Speaker 1: I previously stated, I am a certified laboratory scientists and
1:46:15
Speaker 1: I went to school and studied position assistant studies as well,
1:46:18
Speaker 1: so I have degrees, and I know what it's like
1:46:20
Speaker 1: to be a first generation college student. I know what
1:46:23
Speaker 1: it's like to go to college and your parents are like,
1:46:26
Speaker 1: that's amazing. I don't. We don't know how we can
1:46:28
Speaker 1: pay for that, but that's amazing that you got in
1:46:31
Speaker 1: and you just try to figure out a way to
1:46:33
Speaker 1: make this work. I remember that anxiety that I had.
1:46:35
Speaker 1: I remember the stress that I had every semester in
1:46:38
Speaker 1: the midst of finals, because that's when it's a winding down,
1:46:41
Speaker 1: worrying about what if I'm going to have enough money
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Speaker 1: to live on campus, if I'm gonna have enough money
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Speaker 1: for books, cannot even pay my scholarship, my tubition will
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Speaker 1: be able to come back. That's just the fear. I
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Speaker 1: genuinely I didn't like it at all, And as someone
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Speaker 1: who has been blessed to be able to live in
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Speaker 1: my passion and have the financial stability to give back,
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