Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Mikel Welch Full Interview

Transcript

Mikel Welch Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: heart or text I Heeart to five hundred, five hundred.
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Speaker 1: My next guest is an accomplished interior designer, self made
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Speaker 1: businessman who has worked his way out of the Detroit suburbs,
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Speaker 1: suburbs and through the design industry. Wow Wow, Wow Wow,
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Speaker 1: who has worked his way out of the Detroit suburbs
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Speaker 1: and through the design industry to the top where he
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Speaker 1: owns his own interior design firm. In addition to designing
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Speaker 1: celebrity green rooms for names like First Lady Michelle Obama,
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Speaker 1: Oprah Winfrey, John Rivers, halle Berry, and Tyler Perry Steve
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Speaker 1: Harvey and becoming their in house design expert, he is
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Speaker 1: a new designer on TLCS Trading Spaces please work on
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Speaker 1: the money making conversations, my man, Michael Welch, Thank you,
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Speaker 1: Mr Donald, thank you for having me. Michael. Well, ye
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Speaker 1: right now, ye, right now. I'm home in New York
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Speaker 1: City for the first time. I'm like never home, so
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Speaker 1: this is the first. Okay, And what in part of
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Speaker 1: New York has five boroughs? What part of New York
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Speaker 1: City are you call it home? Um? I live in
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Speaker 1: Queens now. I used to live in Harlem, but now
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Speaker 1: I've recently located to Queens and I'm loving it because
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Speaker 1: I'm close to the airport so I can jump on
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Speaker 1: the flight at a moment's notice. Airport meaning the Gloria,
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Speaker 1: which is l G. I'm in between both, so I'm
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Speaker 1: ten minutes away from the Guardia and JFK, so it's perfect. Well.
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Speaker 1: JFK one of my favorite airports because it's like a mall.
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Speaker 1: If you ever go there, yeah, you don't have a
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Speaker 1: close and you just want to shop, just goes JFK's shop.
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Speaker 1: This is the incredible, beautiful Actually it's like a hidden
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Speaker 1: gym on mall, you know, because you're going to you go, Okay,
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Speaker 1: I've gotten everything out of day, you know. The top
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Speaker 1: makeup stories clothing stories. You know, I'm much shopper, so
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Speaker 1: you know good food, Well, that's that's definitely the place
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Speaker 1: to go. They will they will hit you up for
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Speaker 1: for all of your dollars before you took on that
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Speaker 1: flight here. So, so, Michael, you're my relationship officially started
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Speaker 1: on the Steve Harvey Show. Correct. Yeah? Yeah? And Steve
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Speaker 1: Harvey showed the talk show that we launched in Chicago
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Speaker 1: roughly six years ago. Uh, and we were interviewing talent,
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Speaker 1: and this young man came into my office. You want
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Speaker 1: to tell them the story, Michael, Well, okay, I'll tell
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Speaker 1: the story. Yes, I came to your office, um, and
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Speaker 1: Steve Harvey was looking for a dressing room design, and
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Speaker 1: I think that the main issue was he didn't like
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Speaker 1: the color that was put in his office. And you
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Speaker 1: asked me if I would design his office. But you
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Speaker 1: remember me being on ht TV Design story and designing
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Speaker 1: a room that I painted green and they sent me
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Speaker 1: home on that show, and you asked me to design
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Speaker 1: Steve Harvey's office. But the one caveat was I could
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Speaker 1: not use the color green. And I will never forget
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Speaker 1: that of my life. But that job was so game
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Speaker 1: change me. You know for you allow me the opportunity
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Speaker 1: to design Steve Harvey's office on my first day of work.
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Speaker 1: Um that that I mean, it was kind of like
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Speaker 1: the catalyst that got things going with my career. But
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Speaker 1: here's the fun part about our relationship. He made a
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Speaker 1: mistake on this design show. Did I picked up on that?
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Speaker 1: He got to And I just only say that is
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Speaker 1: that you know, when you do these shows, you never
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Speaker 1: know who watches them, you never know what you know.
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Speaker 1: And the way he handled my conversation about that mistake
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Speaker 1: was very professional. He didn't go into a defensive mode.
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Speaker 1: He didn't go I'm sorry. It was just he just
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Speaker 1: felt that that worked at that moment. But it was
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Speaker 1: where he positioned the television in the room cost him
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Speaker 1: that the show. And I told him that I can
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Speaker 1: see why you had the TV behind the sofa. Yes,
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Speaker 1: I remember that. I have never done that ever. I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
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Speaker 1: the room looked nice, but the TV was behind the sofa.
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Speaker 1: Macam yeah, yees, yes, TV was the sofa and it
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Speaker 1: was the wrong thing of green and it didn't work out.
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Speaker 1: So yeah, we see the problem. You're not a TV watcher,
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Speaker 1: see me Roushan, Yeah, I watched TV. There's no way
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Speaker 1: I'm looking at go and turn my head look at
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Speaker 1: the TV behind before design purposes. It was bad. Now,
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Speaker 1: Oh yes, some ideas for TV, but it wasn't watching
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Speaker 1: and so I owned it. Yeah, and he owed the
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Speaker 1: older We laughed about it. We talked about it. I said,
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Speaker 1: and I thought, I think that he felt that when
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Speaker 1: I was talking, he wasn't gonna get the opportunity. But again,
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Speaker 1: he was talented. I was familiar with his career because
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Speaker 1: it always shocks people that I watched so much television
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Speaker 1: that I watched. I'm able to watch so much television,
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Speaker 1: and because I know that's my job. You know, if
6:13
Speaker 1: I could write it off of my taxes, I would.
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Speaker 1: What do you do for a living? I watch TV,
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Speaker 1: A whole lot of TV. What you watching that night? TV?
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Speaker 1: I watched TV on the plane. I watch TV when
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Speaker 1: I landed. If I could watch TV while I was driving,
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Speaker 1: I watched TV. I was driving. I just need to
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Speaker 1: drive when somebody's driving me, I'm watching TV because that's
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Speaker 1: my business and so my business. I'd say that to
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Speaker 1: say that if you're in something, you have to get one.
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Speaker 1: Because I was giving one dred I saw this talented
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Speaker 1: a young man, and he and gave him an opportunity
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Speaker 1: and guess what, he has not looked back. Yo, No,
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Speaker 1: I haven't. I really I haven't stopped. You know. I
6:52
Speaker 1: felt like that was such a huge platform. Um. And
6:55
Speaker 1: what most people don't know is, you know, not only
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Speaker 1: that I design that office, I worked on the show
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Speaker 1: every day, so I had the benefit of seeing you
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Speaker 1: every day. So I would, you know, kind of come
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Speaker 1: to your office at least three or four times a
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Speaker 1: week just to you know, ask your your professional opinion
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Speaker 1: on how I should, you know, kind of guide my
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Speaker 1: my career path. And so that was something that was
7:18
Speaker 1: so invaluable that you know, I I thank you for because, um,
7:22
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't have the opportunity, but for
7:24
Speaker 1: you to be so busy and to sit there and
7:26
Speaker 1: listen to me three times a week, you know, I
7:28
Speaker 1: appreciated it. So I just listened, and like you said,
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Speaker 1: I took it and I ran and I'm still running.
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Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think the run never stopped. That's
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Speaker 1: what I'm learning. Well, you're define and I think that
7:38
Speaker 1: everybody used to understand that. One of the things I
7:39
Speaker 1: always told you, even though you were doing the show.
7:42
Speaker 1: I said, uh, do more, Yeah, don't don't do more,
7:46
Speaker 1: do more. Take take this moment. Uh. And then he
7:49
Speaker 1: started appearing on the TV show and there was something
7:52
Speaker 1: and then we started working on your his look. What's
7:54
Speaker 1: your look? What's your look? Ye? I think, well, dude,
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Speaker 1: that's look bad. We're waiting o TV who. We used
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Speaker 1: to talk like that. Correct. Oh yeah, you would tell me,
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Speaker 1: you know, you need to stop wearing a little type
8:06
Speaker 1: vest and you get something else fits you a little
8:12
Speaker 1: bit better if you're gonna present yourself on television. So
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Speaker 1: I mean we had very very honest. I mean, you
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Speaker 1: are not a sugarcoat. So good conversations were extremely they
8:22
Speaker 1: were real, they were real, but I listened. You know.
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Speaker 1: The thing I had to learn really cool with you is,
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Speaker 1: you know, the delivery might not come out the way
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Speaker 1: people would expect it, but it's candid and it's truthful,
8:33
Speaker 1: and so you have to respect that no matter what.
8:37
Speaker 1: So did you hurt my fillings a couple of times? Yeah,
8:39
Speaker 1: but I had to tuck about in and you don't
8:41
Speaker 1: keep it going. It wasn't anything personal, you know, you
8:44
Speaker 1: didn't have to say anything at all. So I always
8:46
Speaker 1: respected the fact that you took the time to even
8:50
Speaker 1: tell me you know what you thought. Well, my whole
8:52
Speaker 1: thing about bringing you on the show is just showing
8:54
Speaker 1: the testament of somebody who has a dream. He came
8:58
Speaker 1: from this platform and you sometimes we don't even know
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Speaker 1: how we can get to the next step because they
9:05
Speaker 1: what Michael did is what Michael can do. Okay, what
9:08
Speaker 1: Rashaan did is what Rashwan can do. So but I'd
9:11
Speaker 1: like for them to tell their stories so you can
9:13
Speaker 1: see that the bottom line is that criticism that you
9:17
Speaker 1: accept it. You know, you don't take it personal because
9:21
Speaker 1: somebody got to tell you what you're doing wrong in
9:22
Speaker 1: order for you to do it right. And you can't
9:25
Speaker 1: be a know it all, and then you gotta take risks.
9:28
Speaker 1: And so because in the fact that they as a
9:30
Speaker 1: can stand up comedian, every joke I said on stage
9:33
Speaker 1: was not funny, Okay, just until the audience stopped laughing,
9:36
Speaker 1: I realized, I need to move that that joke out
9:38
Speaker 1: of the mind. I like it, but it's not working
9:40
Speaker 1: out there for the general public. And so that's what
9:43
Speaker 1: you do. And you always have people out there making
9:45
Speaker 1: decisions for you that you have to accept what people
9:48
Speaker 1: fail the most is that they don't want to be criticized.
9:51
Speaker 1: They don't want to they don't want to take advice
9:53
Speaker 1: from anybody. They don't they feel they know at all.
9:56
Speaker 1: That person right there cannot send them out office three
9:59
Speaker 1: times a week like he did, because if you know
10:02
Speaker 1: it all, please keep walking by my door, because my
10:06
Speaker 1: experience will have no value to you at all. Now,
10:09
Speaker 1: one of the things I wanted to bring up the
10:11
Speaker 1: fact that, you know, you're just talking about your your
10:14
Speaker 1: struggles to get there. How you know you slept on
10:16
Speaker 1: friend sofas for a number of years. What was that
10:19
Speaker 1: feeling like at that point in the camp? Um? You
10:21
Speaker 1: know what, when you're going through it. I don't really,
10:25
Speaker 1: at least for me. I never saw it as a struggle.
10:29
Speaker 1: To me, it was what I needed to do in
10:32
Speaker 1: order to further my career. So the fact that I
10:35
Speaker 1: was sleeping on a friend sofa was great for me
10:37
Speaker 1: because that allowed me to save money so that I
10:40
Speaker 1: could continue my career. Like what a lot of people
10:42
Speaker 1: don't know is every episode that I was allowed on
10:45
Speaker 1: that Sea Party show, you know, I would save my
10:48
Speaker 1: money sleeping on sofa so that I could pay for
10:50
Speaker 1: a publicist and so my publicist was at that time
10:55
Speaker 1: two thousand dollars a month, and I didn't have the
10:58
Speaker 1: money to pay for that, you know, with the pain
11:01
Speaker 1: for rent, so I had to sleep on friends socas
11:03
Speaker 1: in order to keep that pr going. So what they
11:06
Speaker 1: did for me would have allowed me to keep my
11:09
Speaker 1: brand growing. So I never thought of it as like me.
11:12
Speaker 1: I didn't think of as I thought it was a sacrifice. Honestly,
11:15
Speaker 1: I never thought about me sleeping on that sofa because
11:18
Speaker 1: that wasn't what it was about. I knew that this
11:20
Speaker 1: was temporary, and so for me sleeping on that sofa,
11:24
Speaker 1: if I had to do it all over again, I
11:25
Speaker 1: would do it the same. You know. Sleep on that
11:27
Speaker 1: sofa allowed me to save money so that I could
11:30
Speaker 1: focus on my brains, my good and he would show me.
11:34
Speaker 1: He coming there every week or every other week was sean,
11:37
Speaker 1: he said, Mr mcdonal', Mr mcdonalk, look at what I'm
11:38
Speaker 1: gonna magazine, mcgon magazine. Boy, that looks cool. He's the
11:43
Speaker 1: new design or TLC's trading space. And we'll be back
11:46
Speaker 1: with more. Just telling this story. I want you to
11:48
Speaker 1: hear his story to let you know that you could
11:50
Speaker 1: be a story that I would one day interview on
11:52
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversation. We'll be right back for more. You're back,
11:57
Speaker 1: I'm back. Actually I never left. How about that? And
12:01
Speaker 1: they host of money Making Conversation. This is Rashan McDonald.
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Speaker 1: I'm talking to uh one the new new designers on
12:07
Speaker 1: TLC's Trading Spaces. Please welcome back to money Making Conversations.
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Speaker 1: Michale Welch. Thank you. I'm doing great. Thank you again
12:15
Speaker 1: for having me. Now you're in Queens. Any good eating
12:18
Speaker 1: spots up there? You know I'm a foodie dude, Any
12:20
Speaker 1: good eating spots up there before we start talking about
12:22
Speaker 1: this new show that you yes, absolutely, you know. The
12:25
Speaker 1: thing about Queens is there so many mom and pop restaurants,
12:28
Speaker 1: so if you are into authentic like Indian food, this
12:33
Speaker 1: is the best place to eat um. And so I
12:37
Speaker 1: eat very well. As a matter of fact, I have
12:40
Speaker 1: gotten to the point now where I just order everything
12:42
Speaker 1: online and I have the strength spent straight to my house.
12:44
Speaker 1: But Queens is just known for their Indian food, so
12:47
Speaker 1: I very very well. Well good, it's good to know.
12:50
Speaker 1: Now let's tell me seventh season Design start. He was
12:53
Speaker 1: on Design Star. That's why I that's why I saw
12:55
Speaker 1: your design start. Okay, cool, Now you moving to another
12:59
Speaker 1: show that's been on t you for a long time,
13:01
Speaker 1: Trading Spaces. How first of all, how the adopt unity
13:05
Speaker 1: to come to you? And then how do you start
13:08
Speaker 1: making your your impression on the show? Okay? So I
13:13
Speaker 1: actually this is a funny thing. How how life works.
13:17
Speaker 1: I have an agent, and my agent gets me a
13:19
Speaker 1: call and he says, hey, you know, um well you
13:23
Speaker 1: gotta call from Trading Spaces and they'd like to speak
13:26
Speaker 1: to you. And I'm thinking, okay, you know the time
13:28
Speaker 1: for another audition. Well, we get on the phone. Twenty
13:32
Speaker 1: minutes later, they're asking me, you know what my availability
13:36
Speaker 1: is next week? And I'm like, okay, like you know,
13:41
Speaker 1: here's my availability, but when is the audition? And so
13:44
Speaker 1: they said, well we went online. And it goes back
13:48
Speaker 1: to what you're saying when you never know people who
13:50
Speaker 1: who's watching television. They said, we've watched all of your
13:52
Speaker 1: Steve Harvey episodes that you have online. We've already seen
13:56
Speaker 1: your work. We know what you can do, and we
13:59
Speaker 1: want you to started on the show next week. So
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Speaker 1: I didn't even audition for that show. Um, my audition
14:06
Speaker 1: was putting in all that hard work all those years
14:08
Speaker 1: before sleeping on that sofa, hiring the publicist and having
14:12
Speaker 1: all of those uh you know television episode so I
14:15
Speaker 1: didn't have to even audition. Um. So that just blew
14:20
Speaker 1: my mind. And on top of that, one of the
14:23
Speaker 1: producers saw me on which we didn't talk about The
14:26
Speaker 1: Real Housewives of Atlanta. You know, you got me in
14:29
Speaker 1: contact with stray Whipfield and they saw that makeover and
14:34
Speaker 1: they just asked me to start that week, um of
14:37
Speaker 1: the following week. So um, it was one of those
14:40
Speaker 1: things where you know, they came in and they told
14:41
Speaker 1: me that they want to see some really dramatic and
14:44
Speaker 1: theatrical design. So for me on Trading Spaces, it's about
14:48
Speaker 1: taking my design aesthetic and pairing it with my television
14:53
Speaker 1: background where I used to make set because they know
14:57
Speaker 1: that I can build things that are really I can
15:00
Speaker 1: at you and so on the show, I'm just trying to,
15:03
Speaker 1: you know, bring my point of view where I can
15:05
Speaker 1: show people, you know, how to make a big impact
15:08
Speaker 1: on a little bit of money because they only give
15:10
Speaker 1: us two thousand dollars in two days, so it's not
15:12
Speaker 1: a lot of time. Um. So I'm excited about this opportunity.
15:16
Speaker 1: You know, I've been watching this show since I was
15:18
Speaker 1: in college, so it was a surreal feeling. Why why
15:22
Speaker 1: are shows like that so popular? Feeling? I only shows
15:26
Speaker 1: like training Spaces are so popular because it empowers you
15:30
Speaker 1: to think that not even to think, but to show
15:33
Speaker 1: you how you can make over a space without a
15:37
Speaker 1: lot of money. You can do it in a weekend.
15:39
Speaker 1: You know, most people are working Monday through Friday, and
15:41
Speaker 1: they're only off time is on the weekend. So they
15:43
Speaker 1: need something that is quick, easy and attainable to do.
15:47
Speaker 1: And so I think people get inspired by those shows
15:49
Speaker 1: because it's like, hey, I have two thousand dollars and
15:52
Speaker 1: I can knock it out in two days, so let
15:54
Speaker 1: me try it. But it's interesting thing about Kale and
15:58
Speaker 1: Handish conversation about even the videos we even talked about that,
16:02
Speaker 1: I would say, please put those videos on your website.
16:05
Speaker 1: Please put them on your website, because you have to
16:07
Speaker 1: always prepare. You just never know, but you do the
16:10
Speaker 1: work for the opportunity. When the opportunity to present itself,
16:14
Speaker 1: then you can achieve the goal. And that's all I've
16:17
Speaker 1: preach to anybody who listens to me, And that's all
16:19
Speaker 1: I ever told him, and and guess what, Yes, I
16:22
Speaker 1: am straightforward. Yes, I haven't gonna be factual because guess what,
16:25
Speaker 1: you have a time limit to be successful entertainment. Entertainment
16:28
Speaker 1: is age driven. You know that. That's one of the
16:31
Speaker 1: things about entertainment. When you're young, they love you. If
16:34
Speaker 1: you have not gained any resume and experience while you're young,
16:37
Speaker 1: when you get older, they have no use for you.
16:40
Speaker 1: And so I was just asking and say, hey, man,
16:42
Speaker 1: you're not gonna get rich on this TV show. Use
16:45
Speaker 1: the bread of Steve Harvey for future opportunities. And that's
16:48
Speaker 1: what he did. He just listened to everybody. That's all.
16:52
Speaker 1: He made personal sacrifices that I was not aware of.
16:55
Speaker 1: All I know is he will come in my office
16:57
Speaker 1: and tell me, Mr McDonald, I'm in this magazine this month,
17:00
Speaker 1: Mrs McDonald, look at this magazine, Ms McDonald, Can I
17:03
Speaker 1: you can I use the pictures that I did on
17:07
Speaker 1: Steve Harvey in this magazine. I say yes because I
17:09
Speaker 1: was in because abusing co created the show. I could
17:12
Speaker 1: sign off on stuff, because I'm not gonna limit a
17:14
Speaker 1: person's opportunity because I got an attitude, or just because
17:17
Speaker 1: I could if I'm gonna give advice, I'm gonna give motivation.
17:21
Speaker 1: I got to present people with the keys to success.
17:24
Speaker 1: And that's all I was doing with Mr Wealth on
17:25
Speaker 1: the regular BASI. I'm gonna calling Mr Welch now because
17:27
Speaker 1: he on TV Change. You know, he making money now
17:31
Speaker 1: he and Queen's now now. The thing about it is
17:33
Speaker 1: that you've done other things like I remember you were
17:35
Speaker 1: doing the Pickler and Ben you know, with each other,
17:38
Speaker 1: the talk just talk about all these different things and
17:41
Speaker 1: you dealt with I know, people who are not famous.
17:44
Speaker 1: You've done big jobs in Chicago when you was doing
17:47
Speaker 1: simultaneously working for the Steve Harvey Show, and you asked
17:50
Speaker 1: me about that, I go, or if you don't get
17:52
Speaker 1: out of my face and learned that there's twenty four
17:54
Speaker 1: hours in the day and learn to use all those hours,
17:57
Speaker 1: please go do that work, because that's all that's what
17:59
Speaker 1: it is about. Correct. Yes, No, you know that was
18:02
Speaker 1: one of the craziest things, you know, like I was
18:04
Speaker 1: saying before. You know, I worked on the Steve Harvey Show,
18:09
Speaker 1: you know, as a set designer, and I don't know
18:11
Speaker 1: if most people know we're working on that show twelve
18:14
Speaker 1: hours a day, and I have designed clients who are
18:18
Speaker 1: calling me and they don't care that I'm working with
18:21
Speaker 1: Steve Harvey at the TV station. They want me there
18:25
Speaker 1: at their homes. And so I had to hire an assistant,
18:28
Speaker 1: and that's that was expensive, you know, hire a full
18:31
Speaker 1: time assistant to basically be that voice while I while
18:34
Speaker 1: I wasn't UM physically on the property. But what happened
18:38
Speaker 1: was that allowed me to continue to grow my brand.
18:41
Speaker 1: And you know, that was the first time I went
18:44
Speaker 1: from working on like little two thousand dollar budgets to
18:47
Speaker 1: half a million dollar budgets UM. And so it was
18:50
Speaker 1: just a life changing experience when I was on the
18:53
Speaker 1: show in Chicago. But I think what resonated with me
18:57
Speaker 1: the most was another conversation that you and I had
19:00
Speaker 1: at UM. And this is when I was very, very
19:03
Speaker 1: muney hungry, and I don't know if you remember, I
19:06
Speaker 1: came into your office and I said, I want to
19:09
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about writing a book.
19:12
Speaker 1: And you said, well, why do you want to write
19:13
Speaker 1: a book? I said, because I want to make money
19:15
Speaker 1: like everybody else. And you told me to leave your
19:18
Speaker 1: office and you said you need to leave because you
19:21
Speaker 1: don't get it. And you come back to me when
19:23
Speaker 1: you get it, and I was I was kind of
19:26
Speaker 1: shocked that, you know you you told me to leave
19:29
Speaker 1: the office. But it must have been about a year later.
19:33
Speaker 1: I was doing the Neighborhood Awards with you and the
19:36
Speaker 1: lady walked up to me and I had I had
19:38
Speaker 1: several women walking up saying, Hey, can you come redesign
19:41
Speaker 1: my house? Can you come to my house? And I'm like,
19:44
Speaker 1: I can't just come to your house. And I remember
19:47
Speaker 1: coming to you saying Mr McDonald, I have all these
19:49
Speaker 1: people asking if I could come to the house and
19:51
Speaker 1: I can't. But what I can do is put together
19:55
Speaker 1: a design seminar where I can travel to different cities
19:59
Speaker 1: and I can teach people or what they can do
20:01
Speaker 1: um in their respective city since I can't physically come
20:04
Speaker 1: to their house. And that's when you told me, you
20:06
Speaker 1: know what, you get it now, it's not about you,
20:10
Speaker 1: it's about you helping someone else. And so it was
20:14
Speaker 1: just like all of those tools. And I don't even
20:16
Speaker 1: know if you remember that conversation, but it was that
20:19
Speaker 1: that was a big thing for me because moving forward
20:22
Speaker 1: with every single thing that I do with my brand,
20:25
Speaker 1: if I have one thought about I just want to
20:27
Speaker 1: make the money. I stopped, and I always go back
20:29
Speaker 1: to that conversation that you told what you told me,
20:32
Speaker 1: you know, because about the money. It's never going to work. No,
20:36
Speaker 1: it's never gonna work. You know. I always tell people
20:39
Speaker 1: that there were many opportunities I passed on money for
20:43
Speaker 1: the opportunity. I remember when I was doing, um what
20:47
Speaker 1: I was doing. I went from Steve Harvey's first TV
20:49
Speaker 1: show on ABC, and I went to uh, Robert Townsend
20:52
Speaker 1: Show and uh and and I was always say writer
20:57
Speaker 1: and uh and so I wanted to chat aging title.
21:00
Speaker 1: I wanted to change in title. And I said, look,
21:03
Speaker 1: I had a bigger title on the previous show. Because
21:05
Speaker 1: I went over here to the w B, they knocked
21:08
Speaker 1: my title back down. I said, I just want the title.
21:11
Speaker 1: I don't want the money. They had never heard that before.
21:14
Speaker 1: I said, people don't know. People don't need to know
21:17
Speaker 1: that I'm not getting paid this extra amount of money.
21:19
Speaker 1: It's between it when you sign a release that you
21:21
Speaker 1: won't tell anybody. I said, yes, because it's about the brand.
21:25
Speaker 1: It's about people understanding that I am rising up, that
21:30
Speaker 1: I am making a difference. And once you people start
21:33
Speaker 1: coming to you and you change that tone that hey,
21:35
Speaker 1: I'm here to help you your career is taken off.
21:38
Speaker 1: Your whole approach. You know, our conversations changed, we were
21:42
Speaker 1: we went from just being a mentor of the men
21:45
Speaker 1: tee to like partners in the conversation. Next step, what
21:48
Speaker 1: you're gonna do? Why are you gonna do these things?
21:50
Speaker 1: And that's why the evolution of you from introducing you
21:54
Speaker 1: to contact the real, real, real Housewives of Atlanta, talking
21:58
Speaker 1: to your agents and I've talked to about in his life,
22:01
Speaker 1: you know, everybody who's representing him, because I believe in
22:05
Speaker 1: Michael Well and to see him advanced this part in
22:09
Speaker 1: his life and to see him um do the things
22:12
Speaker 1: that he's gonna do. What advice would you give to
22:14
Speaker 1: people who want to do what you want to do?
22:17
Speaker 1: I just want to be successful in life. But kail Um,
22:20
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing that I've learned in the
22:23
Speaker 1: past twelve years in design is to really focus on
22:29
Speaker 1: what it is that you want to do. You can't
22:32
Speaker 1: be a jack of all trades, but most importantly, narrowed
22:35
Speaker 1: down what you want to do and then find a
22:37
Speaker 1: mentor find someone who has already done it and who
22:41
Speaker 1: can show you the ropes because that for me has
22:44
Speaker 1: been the biggest help you know to be because everybody's
22:48
Speaker 1: not going to be in a room with you because
22:50
Speaker 1: and I recognize that, like, but you need to find
22:53
Speaker 1: people who know the way. And I always go back
22:56
Speaker 1: to another conversation that you and I had where it
22:59
Speaker 1: was about looking at your friends circle and if you're
23:04
Speaker 1: considered the strongest person in your circle, you might want
23:07
Speaker 1: to revamp that circle that you're in because you should
23:10
Speaker 1: always be learning from someone else and not just you know,
23:14
Speaker 1: everybody else taking from you. And so I would just say,
23:17
Speaker 1: you know, get a mentor and follow as hard as
23:22
Speaker 1: you can and then begin to make your own way.
23:24
Speaker 1: And for me, that is what has truly helped me
23:27
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