Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Interview of the Week: Tressa Azarel Smallwood on quitting her job to follow her passion resulting in MegaMind Media

Transcript

Interview of the Week: Tressa Azarel Smallwood on quitting her job to follow her passion resulting in MegaMind Media · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Doordesh helps you make cash fast. All you need is
0:02
Speaker 1: your bike and a smartphone. The side of process is
0:05
Speaker 1: super quick and easy. Now you get to choose your
0:07
Speaker 1: own hours and be your own boss. And best of all,
0:10
Speaker 1: you get to keep a percent of your tips. Download
0:13
Speaker 1: the doordsh driver out today to get started. What girls
0:16
Speaker 1: in the forest, our imagination and our family bonds. The
0:21
Speaker 1: forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near
0:24
Speaker 1: you and discover the forest dot org. Brought to you
0:26
Speaker 1: by the United States Forest Service and the AD Council.
0:31
Speaker 1: On April four, Dr Martin Luther King was shot and
0:34
Speaker 1: killed in Memphis. A petty criminal named James Earl Ray
0:38
Speaker 1: was arrested. Case closed right. James Sylvy was upon for
0:44
Speaker 1: the official story. Some of the evidence, as far as
0:48
Speaker 1: I was concerned, did not match the circumstances. This is
0:52
Speaker 1: the MLK tapes. The first episodes are available now. Listen
0:56
Speaker 1: on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
0:59
Speaker 1: you get your podcast. Hi. Welcome to Money Making Conversation.
1:03
Speaker 1: I am your host with Sean McDonald. It's time to
1:06
Speaker 1: stop reading other people's success stores and start writing your own.
1:09
Speaker 1: I tell that the people every time you listen to
1:11
Speaker 1: show and watch this show because I always tell people
1:13
Speaker 1: they talk about the gifts, they talk about passion. I
1:15
Speaker 1: always tell you leave with your gifts and don't let
1:18
Speaker 1: your age, friends, family, or coworkers stop you from planning
1:20
Speaker 1: or living your dreams. My interviews I do on money
1:23
Speaker 1: Making Conversations is about giving you access to celebrity ceo,
1:27
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and industry decision maker. My next guest is Tressa
1:31
Speaker 1: as a Real small Wood. She's an award winning book
1:33
Speaker 1: publisher and movie producer. Trussed is the CEO of Life
1:36
Speaker 1: Changing Books l c B and co founder Megamind Media LLC.
1:41
Speaker 1: In two thousand three of The Right in her first novel,
1:43
Speaker 1: her very first novel, Tressa Wow resign from her teaching
1:47
Speaker 1: tenure in the Maryland Schools District for fulfilling her dream
1:50
Speaker 1: of becoming an entrepreneur. Since then, l c B had
1:54
Speaker 1: published over a hundred and sixty two titles and print indigitally,
1:57
Speaker 1: becoming one of the leading independent publishing striving in the
2:01
Speaker 1: literary industry today. Since lunch of Megamind Media, Tressa has
2:05
Speaker 1: produced several award winning movies which have been adapted to
2:09
Speaker 1: UH to film and tell TV shares for networks such
2:12
Speaker 1: as Viacom, BT Networks, TV one, b t Her Urban
2:16
Speaker 1: Movie Channel, and more. With such a large varior content,
2:19
Speaker 1: Tresler has positioned Megamind Media to become one of the
2:22
Speaker 1: fastest growing film production company from book to film adaptations
2:26
Speaker 1: in America. Please working the money making conversations. I'm gonna
2:29
Speaker 1: calling my good friend because you know, I saw a
2:30
Speaker 1: movie last year. She didn't know I saw a mo
2:32
Speaker 1: all in. You know what I'm saying with a little
2:34
Speaker 1: mama at least Neil Tressor as a real small wold
2:38
Speaker 1: just ma'am that I know about you. I know about
2:41
Speaker 1: you before you knew about me. Oh that's so dope.
2:46
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me. As I shared earlier,
2:49
Speaker 1: there's no better place to be on a Monday, money
2:53
Speaker 1: making Monday, talking about money making conversations with you. Thank
2:56
Speaker 1: you so much. I appreciate you. Know when I it
2:59
Speaker 1: was really interesting because uh my staff, when they always
3:02
Speaker 1: bring names up to me about people who will be
3:03
Speaker 1: interesting guests because what they're trying to do. I try
3:06
Speaker 1: to get the guests to tell their story, their journey
3:08
Speaker 1: because we all want to be a version of you.
3:11
Speaker 1: I always tell people, don't be Rashan mc. Don't be
3:13
Speaker 1: a version of yourself, a better version of me, because
3:16
Speaker 1: you because you gotta learn from your mistakes and you
3:18
Speaker 1: gotta understand why you're successful. Trying to implement, trying to
3:22
Speaker 1: trying to duplicate me a version of me can't work.
3:27
Speaker 1: So in your intro, it says, after your first novel, okay, okay,
3:33
Speaker 1: now I answer this question. Was it a hit selling novel?
3:36
Speaker 1: Just hey, Rahan, I got it out there. I decided
3:39
Speaker 1: to exit. Yeah, so you know what it was. It
3:42
Speaker 1: was an unexpected hit um. I was actually teaching a
3:49
Speaker 1: year prior to that, never had any thoughts about writing
3:53
Speaker 1: a novel or going into the book publishing industry. But
3:56
Speaker 1: obviously that was my faith. Because I was pregnant in
3:59
Speaker 1: three unsen I was on recess duty, having all of
4:03
Speaker 1: these issues with pregnancy and ended up going to the
4:05
Speaker 1: doctor thinking that something was wrong. Something was wrong, but
4:09
Speaker 1: it wasn't detrimental. They said, hey, right now, you gotta
4:13
Speaker 1: go on bad rest at this very moment for the
4:15
Speaker 1: next six months until you deliver. So that was life
4:18
Speaker 1: changing for me. I went on bad rest at that
4:21
Speaker 1: very moment and one of my family members came over
4:24
Speaker 1: and I kept saying, what am I gonna do? Six months,
4:27
Speaker 1: I got this little bell here ringing it so my
4:29
Speaker 1: husband could bring me some food. I was like, this
4:31
Speaker 1: is not gonna work. I'm I'm too ambitious for this,
4:34
Speaker 1: and she said, you should write a book. That was
4:36
Speaker 1: the start. I literally started listening to some stories um,
4:40
Speaker 1: of some things that were happening at her job, and
4:43
Speaker 1: that was the inspiration to pend my very first novel,
4:46
Speaker 1: A Life to Remember. UM. By the time that my
4:49
Speaker 1: daughter was born, her name is Bailey. She's nineteen years
4:53
Speaker 1: old now, so that tells you how long ago that was, UM.
4:56
Speaker 1: And so I published that book after all of the
4:59
Speaker 1: naysay has kept saying, don't publish it on your own. Uh, don't.
5:03
Speaker 1: Self publishing is not the way to go. I didn't listen.
5:06
Speaker 1: I said, I'm gonna learn to do it myself, and
5:09
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it well. And I did that. UM.
5:11
Speaker 1: I published the book in my first two months. I
5:15
Speaker 1: was able to make forty dollars and sold five thousand
5:18
Speaker 1: copies independently self publishing, and so it was a huge success.
5:24
Speaker 1: I never went back to work and I started building
5:27
Speaker 1: my book, my book Empire from their life changing books.
5:30
Speaker 1: Now it is yours, your book empire, tied strictly to
5:33
Speaker 1: your talent, or you're bringing outside writers, or you out
5:36
Speaker 1: there nurturing other talents under your megamond uh So definitely
5:41
Speaker 1: I started nurturing other talent um instantly. You know, when
5:45
Speaker 1: you're when you're good at something, other people like you
5:47
Speaker 1: said they want to emulate that, they want to duplicate it.
5:50
Speaker 1: And so because of my teaching um spirit, I said,
5:54
Speaker 1: let me teach others to do what I do UM.
5:57
Speaker 1: And so by two thousand and five, which was you know,
6:00
Speaker 1: four years after that happened for me, I'd already had
6:03
Speaker 1: about thirty authors under my label Life Changing Books, and
6:08
Speaker 1: although they were writing books, I was still writing myself. Um.
6:11
Speaker 1: To date, I've written seven books myself, and all of
6:15
Speaker 1: the others are written by outside authors who came to
6:18
Speaker 1: me and wanted to be a part of my team.
6:21
Speaker 1: And your team consisted. Because now we're just talking about
6:24
Speaker 1: you only on only interview in you, Okay, when I
6:26
Speaker 1: hear a six two books digitally and the heart back
6:29
Speaker 1: or paperback all me you you're telling me you're one
6:34
Speaker 1: woman operation. Well, well, let me say this obviously As
6:38
Speaker 1: you grow, you're able to bring in people who do
6:40
Speaker 1: things better than you. So, for example, I'm not a
6:43
Speaker 1: book editor, I go and hire editors to edit the books.
6:47
Speaker 1: I'm not, you know, a big marketing firm, but I
6:49
Speaker 1: know how to go and hire the marketing firm to
6:52
Speaker 1: make that happen. So, you know, it's been really really
6:55
Speaker 1: successful for me, which has really put me in position
6:59
Speaker 1: because of all the content that I owned. It put
7:02
Speaker 1: me in position to transition into the movie industry with
7:05
Speaker 1: a company that I created inteen called Mega My Media. Okay, cool,
7:10
Speaker 1: I love this story. We're talking about a person who
7:14
Speaker 1: I have to say that, Okay, you became a writer now,
7:16
Speaker 1: but you were it was an educator, you know, high
7:19
Speaker 1: school level, elementary school level. So what made this transition
7:24
Speaker 1: other than the fact that he was in bed for
7:25
Speaker 1: six months? You know, bid rescued your daughter, who's an
7:28
Speaker 1: eighteen years of age right now, What really clicked in
7:31
Speaker 1: your head to say this is a possibility. Well, I
7:35
Speaker 1: feel like I've always had the entrepreneurial spirit in me. Um.
7:39
Speaker 1: Growing up, I watched my grandfather literally have six and
7:43
Speaker 1: seven different jobs, and I didn't understand it back then.
7:46
Speaker 1: We just kept saying, well, what is he doing now?
7:48
Speaker 1: Why is he going here? What is this all about?
7:50
Speaker 1: And he taught me as I was growing up, So
7:52
Speaker 1: it was just something that was just in me that
7:55
Speaker 1: by the time I graduated from college, I knew, Okay,
7:58
Speaker 1: my family said I need a college degree, but let
8:00
Speaker 1: me tell you this. I know that I want to
8:02
Speaker 1: be an entrepreneur. I just didn't know what type of entrepreneur,
8:06
Speaker 1: what industry it was at the moment. And then once
8:09
Speaker 1: I started teaching, I fell in love with helping others.
8:13
Speaker 1: That was big for me. Uh And so I do
8:16
Speaker 1: believe that outside of being on bad rest and given
8:19
Speaker 1: that opportunity, I would have gone into entrepreneurship at some
8:23
Speaker 1: point anyway, just because it was always in me. But
8:25
Speaker 1: that was the moment where I said, this is it.
8:28
Speaker 1: This book is successful. It's all about writing and creating content,
8:33
Speaker 1: which is my thing. I love it. I can create
8:36
Speaker 1: for days. And so that was my moment and I
8:39
Speaker 1: just took advantage of it. And I think a lot
8:41
Speaker 1: of times people get their opportunities but they don't execute
8:45
Speaker 1: on it. They say I want to do something, but
8:46
Speaker 1: they don't push forward. And that was something that I
8:50
Speaker 1: was all I was really waiting for that moment to
8:52
Speaker 1: figure out what it was. What was my passion, what
8:55
Speaker 1: was my gift? I want to that you know, I
9:00
Speaker 1: look at my life and a lot of people you
9:02
Speaker 1: do a lot of things. Well, first of all, I
9:04
Speaker 1: do what I enjoyed doing. Let's gonna be you know
9:07
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I remember when you were finding your
9:09
Speaker 1: dreams Steve Harvey, and I was in l A two
9:12
Speaker 1: thousand on the local radio station named two point three
9:15
Speaker 1: to B. They're finding our dream started making decisions in
9:18
Speaker 1: our life that some people because a lot of people
9:20
Speaker 1: was wondering why was he doing local radio when you
9:23
Speaker 1: know Bernie was doing the movie, Sid was having those
9:26
Speaker 1: Super Bowl commercials. And so you have to define your
9:28
Speaker 1: path and stick with your path and then see if
9:31
Speaker 1: you have if you have a plan, and so I
9:33
Speaker 1: have to believe that when you made the decision to
9:37
Speaker 1: walk away, I know, four your thousand dollars and two
9:39
Speaker 1: months is a lot. That's that's nice. You know you
9:41
Speaker 1: started adding that up over years period. You know you've
9:44
Speaker 1: elevated the tax bracket. But still that had to be
9:47
Speaker 1: a plan. What was the plan tied to you leaving
9:51
Speaker 1: your your your educational background because you wanted to be
9:54
Speaker 1: a school teaching with the school to build school teacher.
9:56
Speaker 1: You were. You were teaching and changing and shaping young minds.
9:59
Speaker 1: But at one point you say, it's about me and
10:02
Speaker 1: what I want to do too, and how I can
10:04
Speaker 1: change mind this way too as well. Correct? Correct? Correct.
10:09
Speaker 1: I think the defining moment for me came with um,
10:14
Speaker 1: my husband saying yes, let's do it, because you know,
10:19
Speaker 1: everybody around me said no, wait a minute, you just
10:21
Speaker 1: went to school to get a masses and education just finish.
10:25
Speaker 1: Why are you now leaving this industry and why are
10:27
Speaker 1: you taking this chance? Um? I remember family member saying
10:30
Speaker 1: you got summers off, and I said, and I'm gonna
10:33
Speaker 1: have the rest of my life off in a manner,
10:35
Speaker 1: I'm gonna really go and do this. But my husband
10:37
Speaker 1: was the one who said, I got you, let's do it. Um.
10:41
Speaker 1: He did ask me about my strategy. You know, how
10:44
Speaker 1: are you gonna do this? Are you personally gonna be
10:46
Speaker 1: the one writing the books constantly? And I said no,
10:49
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do complicate my success. I'm gonna build a
10:53
Speaker 1: publishing house just the same way you see other big
10:56
Speaker 1: publishers out here have been doing and it's gonna be
10:59
Speaker 1: a learning process. So I would say in my very
11:02
Speaker 1: first two years, I made so many mistakes, just you know,
11:07
Speaker 1: just a lot of my takes, but I learned from them,
11:10
Speaker 1: and I started gaining mentors, and I said, I want
11:13
Speaker 1: to find the people who are shaping these bigger companies,
11:16
Speaker 1: bigger publishing houses, that let them show me what to do.
11:20
Speaker 1: And by the time I got a couple of contracts
11:22
Speaker 1: with like Borders Books back then and Walden Books, those
11:25
Speaker 1: were big entities that were interested in helping um female
11:30
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs at the time. Uh And by the time I
11:33
Speaker 1: got those contracts and being able to walk into those
11:35
Speaker 1: bookstores and seeing my name on the books on the
11:37
Speaker 1: in the in the front window and on the shelves,
11:40
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, I got this now. And so
11:42
Speaker 1: I knew at that point that the strategy work. But
11:45
Speaker 1: but my husband was the key to that with saying,
11:47
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna support you in this. I'm trying
11:50
Speaker 1: to tredsfer as a real small wood the creative life
11:53
Speaker 1: changing books as well as megamind Media. And when I,
11:58
Speaker 1: when I, when I, when I listened to you, you know,
12:00
Speaker 1: there's always uh I wouldn't say the word disconnect because
12:03
Speaker 1: it's almost here, like how you know, you know, how
12:07
Speaker 1: does this happen? Because you know you have Amazon out there,
12:09
Speaker 1: you have borders, they got they got marketing machines. You know,
12:13
Speaker 1: they got advertising dollars. You know they you know you
12:16
Speaker 1: you you can say their name. You know, Megamond doesn't
12:18
Speaker 1: pop into your mind unless you think of someone some
12:21
Speaker 1: animated movie or something like some superhero or something villain
12:24
Speaker 1: or something like that. That's when you think of Megamond.
12:27
Speaker 1: But how did you believe in yourself so much and said,
12:29
Speaker 1: you know something, I I can do this to other people,
12:33
Speaker 1: not only myself, but I can do like kelpt me
12:36
Speaker 1: slide into that lane understanding because of the fact that
12:40
Speaker 1: at the beginning of my show, I always tell people
12:42
Speaker 1: to lead with their gifts and don't let your age
12:44
Speaker 1: friends and family and co workers and that's what you
12:48
Speaker 1: what's happened in your life? Co workers and friends and
12:51
Speaker 1: families say, but you you you you you put your
12:54
Speaker 1: school for this. I would school to beth my degree
12:57
Speaker 1: in mathematis and sociology. Okay, wow, oh I love it. Okay,
13:01
Speaker 1: so you you you're talking to the right person when
13:03
Speaker 1: just saying that degree is something I love. I brag
13:06
Speaker 1: about it. I put it on my wall. I tell people,
13:09
Speaker 1: probably I have a degree of mathematic but that doesn't
13:12
Speaker 1: define who I am or who that can be. Now
13:15
Speaker 1: you're doing the same thing. You went against the grain.
13:18
Speaker 1: Because even though you're not Simon and Suite Schuster, even
13:21
Speaker 1: though you're not Amazon, even though you're not Harper College,
13:25
Speaker 1: what made you believe the Trensian as a real small
13:29
Speaker 1: wood could do this? Yeah? Well, one, faith plays a
13:35
Speaker 1: big part of my life. Um, I am always uh
13:38
Speaker 1: in prayer. Obviously, we know that you have to do
13:41
Speaker 1: more than just pray. You gotta actually do some work, right. Yeah,
13:46
Speaker 1: that's that's really big for me. And so you know,
13:49
Speaker 1: I feel like if you map out a strategy, if
13:51
Speaker 1: you really believe in yourself enough and so people love
13:54
Speaker 1: to say I believe in myself, but do you really
13:57
Speaker 1: believe in yourself when things when things start failing, when
14:01
Speaker 1: you are not succeeding, do you give up or do
14:04
Speaker 1: you hang in there? Again? I really always take it
14:08
Speaker 1: back to my childhood. I've watched my grandfather failed, but
14:12
Speaker 1: I watched him still get up and go to the
14:14
Speaker 1: event or to the gig or whatever was happening. Um,
14:17
Speaker 1: and we did a lot of you know, talking about
14:20
Speaker 1: how did we turn this around, how do we stay
14:22
Speaker 1: in the game, how do we make it work? So
14:24
Speaker 1: I think from me learning that at an early age
14:28
Speaker 1: and then growing up myself and and saying, hey, I
14:31
Speaker 1: want to do this. You know, walking away from your
14:34
Speaker 1: job doesn't mean you get the opportunity to go back
14:37
Speaker 1: to it. It doesn't mean you get the opportunity to backtrack.
14:41
Speaker 1: At this point, once I made that commitment to go
14:44
Speaker 1: for it, I was in it. Even when even the
14:46
Speaker 1: years that weren't as great, I was in it. Even
14:49
Speaker 1: when the rejection came. I was in it, and I
14:52
Speaker 1: took and I stayed in it. Even when I started
14:54
Speaker 1: making my media. My first movie almost took me all
14:57
Speaker 1: the way out. I was like, Lord, why why did
14:59
Speaker 1: I get into this business? What is going on here?
15:02
Speaker 1: But I knew I wasn't going to quit. I knew
15:04
Speaker 1: I was going to keep going. Um. It's it's something
15:07
Speaker 1: where you have to tell yourself, I got this despite
15:11
Speaker 1: the setbacks, despite the challenges. But you also have to
15:14
Speaker 1: be real with yourself and know that those things are
15:17
Speaker 1: going to happen. I think people try to fool themselves saying, oh,
15:21
Speaker 1: you know on social media, this person is doing this
15:23
Speaker 1: and this. You know you'll see me on the red
15:26
Speaker 1: carpet all the time, But you you have no idea
15:29
Speaker 1: what I went through to get there, you know. So
15:32
Speaker 1: I just I think people need to understand. Don't just
15:36
Speaker 1: say you believe in yourself. You really gotta believe in
15:39
Speaker 1: yourself enough to push through it all. It's finally here,
15:43
Speaker 1: the season of celebration, and no matter how you celebrate
15:46
Speaker 1: with family and friends, whether you're preparing for Rey Smuggos
15:50
Speaker 1: or Karamu lighting the Manura, are going to midnight mass,
15:54
Speaker 1: Coals has just what you need to make those traditions special.
15:57
Speaker 1: Plus you'll find gifts for all your love to ones.
16:00
Speaker 1: Send warm wishes with cozy fleeces, sweaters, loungeware, blankets and throws.
16:05
Speaker 1: Support minority owned or founded brands by giving gifts from
16:09
Speaker 1: Human Nation and Shame moisture, or treat them to everyone's
16:12
Speaker 1: favorite activewear from top brands like Nike, Adidas, and under Armour.
16:17
Speaker 1: And in the spirit of giving, Coals Cares is donating
16:20
Speaker 1: eight million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide committed to the
16:24
Speaker 1: health and well being of our communities. No matter how
16:27
Speaker 1: you celebrate, when you shop at Coals, you're right where
16:30
Speaker 1: you belong. So this season, give with all your heart
16:34
Speaker 1: with great gifts from Coals or Coals dot com. Adoption
16:38
Speaker 1: of teams from foster care is a topic not enough
16:40
Speaker 1: people know about, and we're here to change that. I'm
16:43
Speaker 1: April Dinuity, host of the new podcast Navigating Adoption, presented
16:46
Speaker 1: by adopt us Kids. Each episode brings you compelling, real
16:50
Speaker 1: life adoption stories told by the families that lived them,
16:53
Speaker 1: with commentary from experts. Visit adopt us Kids dot org,
16:57
Speaker 1: slash podcast, or subscribe to Navigating Adoption presented by adopt
17:01
Speaker 1: us Kids, brought to you by the U. S Department
17:03
Speaker 1: of Health, that Human Services Administration for Children and Families,
17:06
Speaker 1: and the Council. What grows in the forest trees, Sure
17:11
Speaker 1: you know what else grows in the forest, Our imagination,
17:14
Speaker 1: a sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too,
17:18
Speaker 1: because when we disconnect from this and connect with this,
17:24
Speaker 1: we reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than
17:28
Speaker 1: you think. Find a forest near you and start exploring.
17:31
Speaker 1: I Discover the Forest dot Org, brought to you by
17:34
Speaker 1: the United States Forest Service and the AD Council a trust. Um,
17:38
Speaker 1: you know it's really great when I'm listening to your motivation.
17:41
Speaker 1: And you know, like I said in when I saw
17:44
Speaker 1: your movie All In that you executive produced and your
17:47
Speaker 1: wrote starting an Elast Neil as well as Little Mama
17:50
Speaker 1: the Rapper, Um, I was first of all, you gotta
17:54
Speaker 1: have talent on the screen to really make the words
17:57
Speaker 1: and the and the plot have any substance. Okay, you
18:01
Speaker 1: know you can, you can have all You have a
18:02
Speaker 1: great book. If it's not directed correctly or written correctly,
18:06
Speaker 1: then the translation is nothing. And Little Mama, if you
18:08
Speaker 1: don't know about her skill set, please join the club.
18:11
Speaker 1: She's very talented. Of course, at least Neil is. You know,
18:15
Speaker 1: her role is played her mama in the movie, and
18:17
Speaker 1: the Little Mama had three kids, you just dragging around
18:20
Speaker 1: all over the town and trying to just find her
18:23
Speaker 1: place in life. Or your movies female centric or female
18:28
Speaker 1: focused movies? Yeah, yes, absolutely most of them are uh
18:33
Speaker 1: female focus. But also what's very unique about the movie
18:37
Speaker 1: that you're speaking of All In. You know, as an
18:40
Speaker 1: African American screenwriter, you have the ability to change the
18:44
Speaker 1: narrative right, so at Megamond, any movie that you see
18:48
Speaker 1: from me, it is going to show African Americans in
18:52
Speaker 1: a good light bottom line. So in the movie All In,
18:55
Speaker 1: Little Mama didn't start off in a good light, right
18:58
Speaker 1: she begin but by the time you got to the end,
19:02
Speaker 1: what was happening. She was an entrepreneur, She opened up
19:05
Speaker 1: her shop and all was well. Right. So that was
19:09
Speaker 1: me I had. I had the the the decision making
19:12
Speaker 1: opportunity as to how I was going to end that film.
19:16
Speaker 1: And so I believe that the more content creators that
19:20
Speaker 1: we get out there who have that same mission, where like,
19:23
Speaker 1: how are we gonna look on screen? You know? And
19:26
Speaker 1: so I wrote another movie, UM that was based off
19:29
Speaker 1: of a book from Life Changing Books called The Available Wife. UM.
19:33
Speaker 1: This movie is actually airing on BT this month. But
19:37
Speaker 1: when you watch how these African American females look, you're
19:41
Speaker 1: gonna say to yourself, oh my goodness, like who did this?
19:45
Speaker 1: Who did this? The moment that you see them, they
19:48
Speaker 1: have nice, nice careers, entrepreneurs. Everywhere they look good, they are.
19:54
Speaker 1: Everything that they do is gonna put you on another level.
19:58
Speaker 1: So we don't have to always put ourselves in movies
20:01
Speaker 1: where we are the underdog. But that doesn't have to happen,
20:04
Speaker 1: but it starts with who has the pen, who's doing
20:07
Speaker 1: who's doing the writing, and who's making the decisions. Interesting
20:11
Speaker 1: thing about it because we all talk about budgets, okay,
20:13
Speaker 1: and that that's you know, who you know because you're
20:17
Speaker 1: getting some amazing talent and I know your budgets, aren't
20:19
Speaker 1: you know, we're not talking about Will Packer budgets. And
20:22
Speaker 1: some of these, even his movies are the most profitable
20:25
Speaker 1: movies in the in the in the Hollywood history is
20:28
Speaker 1: Will Packer movies. So when you when you start looking
20:32
Speaker 1: at new talent of veteran talent bringing them to your project,
20:35
Speaker 1: how do you have the casting? Yeah, so we typically
20:40
Speaker 1: connect with the agents that have either seen our product
20:45
Speaker 1: or know someone who knows us, right, because it's all
20:48
Speaker 1: always about who you know. In the very beginning, when
20:51
Speaker 1: I produced my very first movie, nobody knew who we were,
20:55
Speaker 1: so it was very difficult to get talent. But once
20:58
Speaker 1: they saw Secrets, UH centers wanted some of the movies
21:02
Speaker 1: that I did first, they then said, oh this is
21:05
Speaker 1: this is a great you know, a great company to
21:09
Speaker 1: go and work for. I know they're gonna be treated well,
21:11
Speaker 1: I know they're gonna look good on screen, and so
21:13
Speaker 1: from there has become very easy. So now, for example,
21:16
Speaker 1: I'm casting for a new movie as we speak. You know,
21:20
Speaker 1: when when we're being introduced to certain agents, we're just
21:23
Speaker 1: really send it over are real and saying, hey, here's
21:26
Speaker 1: a new movie that we're doing, here's the script, and
21:28
Speaker 1: and it's it's much easier now. Um, and our budgets,
21:32
Speaker 1: like you said, we don't have the mega budgets, but
21:35
Speaker 1: at our budget level, talent knows that, oh we're gonna
21:38
Speaker 1: be seen in a good light. And this is something
21:40
Speaker 1: I want to be a part of absolutely, because now
21:43
Speaker 1: when you can, would you consider your movies independent productions
21:47
Speaker 1: or how how how is that featured? Yeah, we're we're
21:51
Speaker 1: consentering independent filmmakers. Okay, Now that's that's the beauty of
21:55
Speaker 1: your industry. Because of the fact that now when I
21:58
Speaker 1: when I after reference all In, because that's the movie
22:01
Speaker 1: I saw that fell in love with your talent. I
22:03
Speaker 1: fell in love with the concept and it was a
22:05
Speaker 1: feel good story and it goes back to me. And
22:07
Speaker 1: that's why I relate to your a lot, because I
22:09
Speaker 1: wrote Sitcom's Sister Sister. You know Jamie Foxx the Parkers,
22:14
Speaker 1: and it was all about you know, heavy said women
22:17
Speaker 1: feeling good about themselves. That was the Parkers. Jamie Foxx
22:20
Speaker 1: was an entrepreneur, young man finding themselves. And when when
22:22
Speaker 1: I went to the series in the last two years,
22:24
Speaker 1: we took him out of the hotel and made him,
22:26
Speaker 1: made him a business, put him in a professional business world.
22:30
Speaker 1: And then sister sister. That was two twin teenagers coming
22:33
Speaker 1: of age because we took him from high school to college.
22:36
Speaker 1: And I always feel good about that, and that my
22:38
Speaker 1: whole brand. If you look at what we did with
22:39
Speaker 1: Steve Harvey, it was always about uplifting black people. Same
22:42
Speaker 1: thing I'm doing with stephen A. Smith. So it's about
22:44
Speaker 1: the positive image that you create that we are now
22:47
Speaker 1: getting now. You know, when you started way back in
22:50
Speaker 1: the early two thousands, you know, when nobody out there
22:53
Speaker 1: wanted black content. Nobody was looking for us. What do
22:55
Speaker 1: I want to feel us? You know? And then you
22:58
Speaker 1: battle with TV want you battle with Open Network, you
23:00
Speaker 1: bad little bat, just to try to get a little
23:03
Speaker 1: little meat with your stuff. How is the reaction been
23:06
Speaker 1: to your brand now that suddenly people want black content?
23:09
Speaker 1: We got the Netflix out there the Amazon, the Hulse
23:12
Speaker 1: on it, a new network coming out of this time
23:14
Speaker 1: to the oh Hulu relationship. What is happening with your brain? Girl?
23:18
Speaker 1: You gotta be feeling good about yourself. Your faith is
23:21
Speaker 1: paying off. Yeah, yeah, hard work pays off, I'm telling you.
23:25
Speaker 1: And so when I think about it, I'm so glad
23:27
Speaker 1: that you brought that up, because I always tell people
23:30
Speaker 1: it's a part of staying through it all, like saying
23:34
Speaker 1: the course. When when I first did Secrets in sixteen,
23:39
Speaker 1: we took it to a b FF, very first time
23:43
Speaker 1: doing any of this. I remember being in the movie
23:45
Speaker 1: theater for the screening and actually looking around going, wait
23:50
Speaker 1: a minute, this is real. This is really real. Now
23:52
Speaker 1: people are in here watching this movie. And so God
23:55
Speaker 1: bless me big time because right after the screening, I
23:59
Speaker 1: met one from BT and they said, hey, you need
24:03
Speaker 1: to meet such and such. They're gonna call you next week.
24:05
Speaker 1: And that happened. Um got a call from BC the
24:09
Speaker 1: very next week and said, hey, we want to license
24:11
Speaker 1: this movie. So staying the course, staying committed. I didn't
24:17
Speaker 1: I didn't even know that that was going to happen
24:19
Speaker 1: to me. I honestly was going there saying I'm gonna
24:22
Speaker 1: take a chance on myself. I'm gonna market this film
24:24
Speaker 1: like crazy. See who shows up at my screening, and
24:27
Speaker 1: if nothing happens, I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna figure
24:30
Speaker 1: it out. I'm gonna get it on somebody's network. But
24:32
Speaker 1: it happened very quickly, and from there the train has
24:36
Speaker 1: not stopped moving. Look at your children's eyes to see
24:40
Speaker 1: the true magic of a forest. It's a storybook world
24:43
Speaker 1: for them. You look and see a tree. They see
24:46
Speaker 1: the wrinkled face of a wizard with arms outstretched to
24:50
Speaker 1: the sky. They see treasuring pebbles, they see a windy
24:53
Speaker 1: path that could lead to adventure, and they see you.
24:57
Speaker 1: They're fearless. Guide. Is this fascinating? Help find a forest
25:01
Speaker 1: near you and start exploring a Discover the Forest dot
25:04
Speaker 1: org brought to you by the United States Forest Service
25:06
Speaker 1: and the ad Council. Hi everyone, Al Roker here as
25:10
Speaker 1: a guy with his own catchphrase. I appreciate that Smokey's
25:13
Speaker 1: only said only you can prevent wildfires, but I'm filling
25:16
Speaker 1: in because there's a lot more to report, like when
25:19
Speaker 1: they're parched or windy conditions out there, you gotta be
25:22
Speaker 1: extra careful with things like burning yard wage. After all,
25:26
Speaker 1: wildfires can start anywhere, even in your neck of the woods.
25:30
Speaker 1: Go to Smokey bear dot com to learn more about
25:33
Speaker 1: wildfire prevention brought to you by the U. S. Forest Service,
25:36
Speaker 1: your state Forrester and the ad Council. And we're live
25:39
Speaker 1: here outside the Perez family home, just waiting for the
25:43
Speaker 1: And there they go, almost on time. This morning. Mom
25:46
Speaker 1: is coming out the front door strong with a double
25:48
Speaker 1: arm kid carry. Looks like Dad has the bags. Daughter
25:51
Speaker 1: is bringing up the rear. Oh, but the diaper bag
25:55
Speaker 1: wasn't closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere. Oh, Mom has
26:00
Speaker 1: just nailed the perfect car seat buckle for the toddler.
26:04
Speaker 1: And now the eldest daughter, who looks to be about
26:06
Speaker 1: nine or ten, has secured herself in the booster seat.
26:09
Speaker 1: Dedad zips the bad clothes and they're off. But looks
26:13
Speaker 1: like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is still on
26:16
Speaker 1: the roof of the car. And there it goes. Oh,
26:20
Speaker 1: that's a shame that mud was a fan favorite. Don't
26:23
Speaker 1: sweat the small stuff. Just nailed the big stuff, like
26:25
Speaker 1: making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right seat.
26:28
Speaker 1: For their agent's eyes learn more. N h T s
26:30
Speaker 1: A dot gov slash the right Seat visits n h
26:32
Speaker 1: T s A dot gov slash the Right Seat brought
26:36
Speaker 1: to you by Nitza and the ad Council. Well has
26:39
Speaker 1: a good train. Now that now you have some project
26:42
Speaker 1: coming out on up on bat Her, tell us about
26:45
Speaker 1: the tell us about the the process of Megamind, of
26:50
Speaker 1: of taking these books and adapting them for film. You know,
26:53
Speaker 1: we all know you to brain Child. You know you
26:55
Speaker 1: are the Megamind. Talk to us about that dress him yes, yes,
27:00
Speaker 1: so so obviously with Megamond, our primary goal is to
27:04
Speaker 1: take the books that are in the book catalogs from
27:06
Speaker 1: life changing books and adapt those into the movies. So
27:10
Speaker 1: that's the primary goal. However, along the way, when people
27:13
Speaker 1: see that you can produce UM, that you're putting out
27:17
Speaker 1: good content, of course they're gonna tap into you to
27:19
Speaker 1: do projects with them as well. So the partnership with
27:22
Speaker 1: bet her Um with these health initiatives came with UM.
27:26
Speaker 1: One of the executives over there, Loisa bates Um, she
27:29
Speaker 1: was looking for someone to UM partner with them on
27:33
Speaker 1: the health initiatives. So they have a series called The
27:36
Speaker 1: Waiting Room, The Couch and now the Hotline. All of
27:40
Speaker 1: these series, UM are projects that highlight health issues or
27:46
Speaker 1: some type of of issue that African American women face.
27:50
Speaker 1: So for example, The Couch touches on mental health. UH,
27:53
Speaker 1: the Waiting Room touches on breast cancer awareness, and now
27:56
Speaker 1: the Hotline touches on domestic violence. And so this is
28:00
Speaker 1: a series that UM, you know obviously you know bt
28:04
Speaker 1: her feels really strongly about and I am actually the
28:07
Speaker 1: producer for for that series. And so we bring in
28:11
Speaker 1: celebrity directors. We've had Vivica Fox, Mona Scott, Young, Victoria
28:16
Speaker 1: Raoul and that's a bell callaway. Uh. The list goes on,
28:20
Speaker 1: but they basically come in, they take us an episode
28:25
Speaker 1: and they direct that episode. And the reason why we
28:28
Speaker 1: tapped into uh, celebrities to do this is because we
28:32
Speaker 1: know when they speak, people listen. So when you have
28:35
Speaker 1: a Shirlelee Ralph talking to you about why you should
28:39
Speaker 1: go and get a mamogram early uh and why she
28:42
Speaker 1: decided to direct a an episode about breast cancer awareness. UM.
28:47
Speaker 1: So these these short films episodes are very very powerful. UM.
28:52
Speaker 1: We have a set of them coming out in July
28:55
Speaker 1: for The Couch, which are the Mental Health UM series.
28:59
Speaker 1: The Vivica Ain't fox Uh movie that she directed was
29:02
Speaker 1: that shot d C area. Yes, we shoot all of
29:05
Speaker 1: our movies in DC. It was so funny because I
29:07
Speaker 1: woll just tell you a little funny story because one
29:10
Speaker 1: of the locations that she chose was a very good
29:12
Speaker 1: friend of mine. Did you guys use Laura Foods? It
29:15
Speaker 1: was her. So so we are so im on the phone,
29:19
Speaker 1: We're talking to Laura and then she walked the Foxes
29:23
Speaker 1: in my office directed. It is so funny that you're
29:26
Speaker 1: saying that because I knew exactly the project that you
29:29
Speaker 1: were talking about there was recently shot, by the way,
29:31
Speaker 1: it was shot this year. Yeah, and we actually shot
29:34
Speaker 1: two series at Laura's UM facility. We did one with
29:39
Speaker 1: Dandy Smith and Mona Scott Young her film was shot
29:43
Speaker 1: there as well. Um. And you know, obviously I know
29:46
Speaker 1: Laura just because she's amazing when it comes to money. Yes,
29:50
Speaker 1: and she talked about you to me before, Rashawn, but
29:54
Speaker 1: I actually did not make the connection. So now, well
29:56
Speaker 1: good because now you know because of the fact that
29:59
Speaker 1: the a it was so funny, I said, I gotta
30:01
Speaker 1: ask what the deificant shoot that in DC? Because it
30:05
Speaker 1: was recently done. But when I look at these projects
30:07
Speaker 1: and other people, you're evolving as a brand. You are
30:10
Speaker 1: a brand now. You know, you may have whout on faith,
30:13
Speaker 1: you may have you know God told you you need
30:15
Speaker 1: to send the bed for six months and get you
30:18
Speaker 1: a little ring bell, and you wrote a book, but
30:20
Speaker 1: you are a brand. What responsibility comes with you being
30:23
Speaker 1: a brand tresser as a real small wood Yeah? I
30:27
Speaker 1: think for me, um, the responsibility that I take is
30:32
Speaker 1: number one. I said before, I get to control the narrative, right,
30:36
Speaker 1: because we are we have a lot of eyeballs on
30:38
Speaker 1: us now. So even if I wanted to act crazy,
30:41
Speaker 1: I can't, right because there's too many people watching me. Um.
30:44
Speaker 1: I take the fact that although I don't teach in
30:47
Speaker 1: the classroom, I'm still an educator and there are a
30:50
Speaker 1: lot of young people watching me, following me, wanting to
30:53
Speaker 1: duplicate my success, and so I don't take that lightly. Um.
30:57
Speaker 1: So responsibility for me is that I watched what I do.
31:02
Speaker 1: I make sure that I am pulling other people up
31:05
Speaker 1: and showing them what to do. Um, And I am
31:07
Speaker 1: encouraging people all the time to go for it, but
31:11
Speaker 1: go for it with a plan, right. Right, and then
31:13
Speaker 1: then the plan is that you know it can that's
31:16
Speaker 1: be just faith. It has to have a plan tied
31:19
Speaker 1: to I always tell people you go out on faith,
31:21
Speaker 1: but somewhere along life you better have some reason or
31:24
Speaker 1: budget tied to that. That that that faith. And when
31:27
Speaker 1: I when I look at what you're doing, what you
31:29
Speaker 1: I gotta ask this question because we said, you know
31:31
Speaker 1: your your books are female centric, because people come to
31:34
Speaker 1: me all the time. You know, I can't get everybody
31:37
Speaker 1: at Simon Schuster or Harper College or some of the
31:40
Speaker 1: major labels out there. Do do you how do you
31:43
Speaker 1: how do you? I guess screen people who want to
31:46
Speaker 1: bring novels or memoirs to your to your your book
31:51
Speaker 1: label LCB. Yeah, we have a screening process, so pretty
31:55
Speaker 1: much we send all traffic to um trust the ozaail
31:59
Speaker 1: dot com and from there people who want to go
32:01
Speaker 1: to casting they can figure it out, you know, once
32:04
Speaker 1: they get to the site if they want to, you know,
32:06
Speaker 1: submit a project. It's an easy way for me to
32:09
Speaker 1: streamline everything all questions straight to that site. Because of course,
32:14
Speaker 1: if I'm doing radio interviews and all these different things,
32:17
Speaker 1: I can't always try to figure out how to help
32:19
Speaker 1: somebody answer each individual question. So we send everybody right
32:23
Speaker 1: there and they can get all the answers that they
32:26
Speaker 1: need in terms of um, you know, us looking at projects,
32:30
Speaker 1: whether it's a screenplay, it's a novel or whatever, it is,
32:32
Speaker 1: okay cool. So so if someone because I'm I'm gonna
32:35
Speaker 1: send up some people, you're wait now because I have
32:38
Speaker 1: no I'm just now i have no clue as to
32:42
Speaker 1: what to do because I'm not familiar with because Amazon
32:45
Speaker 1: takes a lot of your money. To my understand, you know,
32:47
Speaker 1: when you do self publishing, and so when you talk
32:49
Speaker 1: about self publiclashy, are you going through Amazon? How how
32:53
Speaker 1: does your self publishing system work for you? Yeah, we
32:56
Speaker 1: still utilize Amazon. It's obviously not the only outlet that
33:00
Speaker 1: we have, but you know, we use Baker and Taylor,
33:03
Speaker 1: we use Ingram. Amazon is just easy for everyone, you know,
33:09
Speaker 1: whether I think I'm always in this love hate relationship
33:11
Speaker 1: with Amazon, but at the end of the day, it's
33:14
Speaker 1: easy access. And because America loves Amazon, they go there
33:19
Speaker 1: for my films, they go there to buy my books.
33:23
Speaker 1: But ultimately we get a chance to disseminate the information
33:27
Speaker 1: when they come to trust at azarel dot Com. So
33:29
Speaker 1: it's just the easy I love it. First of all,
33:32
Speaker 1: let's not just say America, but the world loves Amazons
33:37
Speaker 1: to you. You know, they can be buying your books
33:40
Speaker 1: in Africa and the Caribbean and Spain, in Europe, in
33:44
Speaker 1: Russia because they're watching my movies over there. Toober Shot,
33:47
Speaker 1: I get d m s all the time. But that's
33:49
Speaker 1: what that That's what I'm saying is that you are
33:51
Speaker 1: brand now. And so you know, I know, I'm going
33:53
Speaker 1: to continuous conversation because you know, you're so enchanting and
33:57
Speaker 1: from the standpoint of you know, when I when I
34:01
Speaker 1: when I've come across people like you who are naturally talented,
34:04
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's always the next level when I'm
34:06
Speaker 1: trying to figure out, you know, what's the next level
34:09
Speaker 1: for you. That's why we have to talk more off
34:11
Speaker 1: the air because of the fact that I see gifts
34:13
Speaker 1: in you. I'm not saying you're satisfied, I'll never say that,
34:17
Speaker 1: but what are the next step? Because you you you know,
34:21
Speaker 1: you you know big dollar you should beat some big
34:24
Speaker 1: dollar projects. You know, you should be a PI you know,
34:27
Speaker 1: twenty five million dollar budgets. If they're throwing around the
34:29
Speaker 1: Netflix and all this stuff. You should be doing those things.
34:32
Speaker 1: And so I'm I'm claiming it, speaking into exist. I'm
34:37
Speaker 1: just trustful. I don't just talk like that's just because
34:39
Speaker 1: you know you look good. I'm talking about because you're good. Okay.
34:42
Speaker 1: So you know if you uglies think I talked a
34:45
Speaker 1: way because you're good, girl, you're good, all right. So
34:48
Speaker 1: so in the future, let's let's let's stay in touch.
34:50
Speaker 1: And I just want to share your story on money
34:52
Speaker 1: making conversation about how you made a decision as a
34:55
Speaker 1: elementary high school. You have a master's degree in education
34:59
Speaker 1: and you decide, you know, someone follow my dream and
35:01
Speaker 1: the Nate says, your friends, your family, your co workers
35:04
Speaker 1: told you, hey, care, are you crazy? Same people told
35:08
Speaker 1: me when I was leaving IBM be a standard comic.
35:10
Speaker 1: It said, you're not gonna be edin Murphy. I never
35:12
Speaker 1: told you I wanted to be Edie Murphy. I told
35:15
Speaker 1: you I want to be richer prior you're assuming something
35:17
Speaker 1: I never All I want to do is just be
35:19
Speaker 1: ras Sean McDonald and guess what, It's riped out for me,
35:21
Speaker 1: and it's working out for you. And that's what one
35:23
Speaker 1: of making conversations about then people hear these stories of
35:26
Speaker 1: success to let them know if you follow your faith
35:29
Speaker 1: with a plan and a budget, you can win too.
35:32
Speaker 1: But no, there's gonna be some low roads, the low roads.
35:36
Speaker 1: Go to let you know how to not fall back
35:38
Speaker 1: into the low roads. The high roads when they come.
35:41
Speaker 1: Let you know what it takes to stay at the
35:43
Speaker 1: high road because to your success. And and thank you
35:47
Speaker 1: for coming on Money Making Conversation, Trusting. Thank you so
35:49
Speaker 1: much for having me. I really really love this conversation.
35:52
Speaker 1: I'm glad you and I'm glad you was able to
35:55
Speaker 1: put two and two together with Laura Foods. Now you
35:57
Speaker 1: know talking to me about you. That's my girl. But
36:03
Speaker 1: again she swarts, he knows how the henling your money
36:06
Speaker 1: and she's a hard worker. Again, come back on my show.
36:08
Speaker 1: We need to promote something else and also just tell
36:10
Speaker 1: your story to my fans who will boast audio as
36:13
Speaker 1: well as video for money Making Conversations. Okay, awesome, Thank
36:17
Speaker 1: you so much. Have a great day. Okay, So if
36:19
Speaker 1: you want to hear or see any of my interviews
36:21
Speaker 1: all money Making Conversations, please go to money Making Conversation
36:24
Speaker 1: dot com. I'm Rashan McDonald. I am your host In
36:27
Speaker 1: this season of giving, Coals has gifts for all your
36:30
Speaker 1: loved ones. For those who like to keep it cozy,
36:32
Speaker 1: find fleeces, sweaters, loungeware, blankets and throws, or support minority
36:37
Speaker 1: owned or founded brands by giving gifts from Human Nation
36:40
Speaker 1: and Shame Moisture And in the spirit of giving, Coals
36:44
Speaker 1: Cares is donating eight million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide.
36:49
Speaker 1: Give with all your heart this season with great gifts
36:51
Speaker 1: from Coals or Coals dot Com. Give the time before
36:55
Speaker 1: a D and fiber Internet? Shine, Shine Shine, What did
37:00
Speaker 1: you do love or ran out of Internet and then
37:03
Speaker 1: making a shame walk? Now, it's just how I feel, shame,
37:08
Speaker 1: shame in the time after a D and T fiber Internet.
37:12
Speaker 1: Nice to have unlimited Internet data right right the dawn
37:15
Speaker 1: never better Internet era with a T n T fiber
37:19
Speaker 1: limited availability intelect aius check eligibility at a d D
37:21
Speaker 1: dot com slash get Fiber restrictions apply. As up man
37:26
Speaker 1: called Los Miller of the eighty five South Showing, do
37:29
Speaker 1: men favors? Make sure you check out the black market
37:32
Speaker 1: hostly by me only on the eighty five South Show.
37:35
Speaker 1: Fee Subscribe to the eighty five South show to hear
37:38
Speaker 1: and tune into the Black Market. Here amazing interviews with entrepreneurs, creatives,
37:43
Speaker 1: and thought leaders, people who are doing amazing things in
37:46
Speaker 1: the black community. Listen to The Black Market or I
37:49
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, app Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts.