Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion Interviews Celebrity Chef Natasha B about how she uses her love for cooking to build confidence and end child hunger!

Transcript

Rushion Interviews Celebrity Chef Natasha B about how she uses her love for cooking to build confidence and end child hunger! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. I am your host
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: with Sean McDonald. I recognize that we all have different
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: definitions of success. For you, it may be the size
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: of your paycheck. Mine is inspiring people to accomplish their
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: goals and live their very best life. It's time to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: stop reading other people's success stories and start writing your own.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: People always talk about their purpose or gifts. If you
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: have a gift, lead with your gift. If you don't
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: let and don't remember this, don't let your friends, family,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: or coworkers stuff you from planning or living your dream,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: lead with your gift. My next guest is the underground
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Seafood Chief Natasha billups are Natasha a little my little Superman,
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  Speaker 1: my little MegaMan fail when I said her name, that's
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  Speaker 1: how hot, mama. She's a beautiful, beautiful Chief Natasha beat.
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  Speaker 1: You've heard about her Fried her keen, Fried fried king
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  Speaker 1: legs and fried lobster tails and Jack Daniels real by
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  Speaker 1: where she is on the show to talk about them
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  Speaker 1: and how all started when she was just selling plates
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  Speaker 1: to get ahead, get her attention. Chef Natasha b as
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  Speaker 1: an award winning celebrities chef, a single mom the three
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  Speaker 1: children starting eight years and younger. She experienced some big
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  Speaker 1: changes in her life divorce, moving back in with her parents.
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  Speaker 1: I did that in college. I know about that experience,
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  Speaker 1: getting kicked out of nursing school, learning to well, I love.
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  Speaker 1: This is gonna be a great story. Listen to how
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  Speaker 1: she took her experiences and her passion and turned them
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  Speaker 1: into a business. She also stairs was coming up in
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  Speaker 1: a pipeline for expiring chefs and how and what she
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  Speaker 1: does to help them out. Please welcome to Money Making
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Conversations master Class. The One and Only Chef Natasha B
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  Speaker 1: How you doing, Tasha? Say Tasha saying Natasha say Natasha,
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  Speaker 1: Yes that's perfect, Okay, cool because you know quickly, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I you know, because you seem so so relaxed. You
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  Speaker 1: seem like a you know, because perception when you hear
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  Speaker 1: the words chef, you have to come at birth people
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  Speaker 1: with a certain angle or you know, kind of be
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more stiff. But you seem like you're
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  Speaker 1: really down the earth. For a natural person who listens
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  Speaker 1: to good music, know how to dance and have a
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  Speaker 1: good time. Am I seeing the right person off? Just? Uh?
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  Speaker 1: If I missed the boat by a hundred BOMs. You
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  Speaker 1: know you have me like, I can't dance I have
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  Speaker 1: two left feet. Wow. Wow, now let's talk about Okay, now,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: why can't you dance the times too? Because you know
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  Speaker 1: what I'm saying is that because in the kitchen is
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  Speaker 1: a rhythm to kitch cooking. You know that you're getting
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  Speaker 1: a rhythm, you know? Uh, Like I don't listen to
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  Speaker 1: when I cook. I cannot listen to music. I tried
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  Speaker 1: to listen to sports and and destroyed so many meals.
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  Speaker 1: I realized, Okay, you have to be focused when you're
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: in the kitchen. So what is your tone of your
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  Speaker 1: kitchen when you're in there? Or do you listen to anything?
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  Speaker 1: Or you just focus on the meal at hand? You
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  Speaker 1: don't like people talking to you? What is the role
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  Speaker 1: that you play as a chef when you're preparing meals? Oh?
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  Speaker 1: I definitely want to hear music. I definitely want to
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  Speaker 1: hear music. Um so I will did, especially if my
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  Speaker 1: clients are dancing, I'll catch their vibe and you know,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going with the slow. But I definitely want music.
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  Speaker 1: It helps me just just good music, though, it helps
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  Speaker 1: me saying in a place of love and stay happy.
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  Speaker 1: So all of that transfers to the food, right. And
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  Speaker 1: so when you when you talk about music, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and because the music is emotion and the food and
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  Speaker 1: everybody know, food emose emotion. Good foods, you know, makes
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  Speaker 1: you smile, make you talk, make you make you just
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  Speaker 1: want to share good stories. And some people say good
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  Speaker 1: food make them go to sleep if they eat too
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  Speaker 1: much of it. What type of music do you do?
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  Speaker 1: You feel kind of like um equates to your brand
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  Speaker 1: of of the culinary works that you deliver, as far
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  Speaker 1: as desserts, as far as as far as meals, as
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  Speaker 1: far as andres that you delivered to the general public. Um.
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  Speaker 1: I most always listen to some gospel before okay, okay, okay.
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  Speaker 1: I usually always pray and it's a gospel song at
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  Speaker 1: some point before you uh the food, before the food
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  Speaker 1: gets to you. Well, you know, I think it's because
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  Speaker 1: you know, we're supposed to pray before we break bread anyway,
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  Speaker 1: So you know, I'm getting a double blessing with your meals.
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  Speaker 1: You you got the spirit, then you're going in the
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  Speaker 1: kitchen with your spirit, and then when you serve the meal,
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  Speaker 1: we pray again. We got double dose of the large
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  Speaker 1: blessing on top of this meal? Is that is that
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  Speaker 1: a particular reason why you've chosen this direction of because
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  Speaker 1: you seem like a person based on your resume, they
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  Speaker 1: could do a lot of things. Because you talked about
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  Speaker 1: nursing school, why did they eventually become Natasha? Why became food?
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  Speaker 1: The direction being in the kitchen? What what what clicked
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  Speaker 1: for you that makes you say, this is why I'm
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  Speaker 1: the most comfortable. This is where I feel my dreams
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  Speaker 1: should be built. Yeah. So, um, I had started two journeys.
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  Speaker 1: I had the journey of nursing school and it was
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  Speaker 1: something that I always wanted, you know, as a new
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  Speaker 1: single mom. The job security was just there. It's like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, get that nursing degree. And while I pursued
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  Speaker 1: nursing school, I also started cooking. And it's selling plates.
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  Speaker 1: And as you take a step, you know, God's gonna
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  Speaker 1: basically he's gonna order your steps. So as you take
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  Speaker 1: a step out in space, not knowing, hey, what's gonna click,
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  Speaker 1: nursing school died out. I kicked out of nursing school
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  Speaker 1: and I literally was like, okay, God, if cooking is
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  Speaker 1: what I'm supposed to do, then you're gonna open up
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  Speaker 1: this door for me, and it's gonna work. And literally,
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  Speaker 1: the moment that I got kicked out of nursing school,
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  Speaker 1: cooking just it was. Cooking was already building. But once
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  Speaker 1: nursing school was no longer an option, cooking took off.
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  Speaker 1: I begin traveling every single month. Um, this month, April
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  Speaker 1: is my first time that I'm like, hey, I'm gonna
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  Speaker 1: sit down in April. Guys, I'll see you back in May.
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  Speaker 1: I'll be traveling again in Bade. But as a traveling chef,
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  Speaker 1: UM April is right now is my first time I'm like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not traveling this month. No, no, because you you
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  Speaker 1: you used to work. Get you got kicked out of
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  Speaker 1: nursing school. I'm just reason from your bio. How do
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  Speaker 1: you get kicked out of nursing school? Natisha be Oh
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  Speaker 1: my goodness, Because nursing is about following directions. So you bake, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so you know when it comes to bacon, there's a
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  Speaker 1: certain time that you have to make sure wet together,
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  Speaker 1: make sure drive together. It's the same thing with nursing.
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  Speaker 1: You really have to follow directions. And for me, it's
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  Speaker 1: not about knowing the right thing, it's about the rules
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  Speaker 1: and you know, um, so I didn't call the rules
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  Speaker 1: on the first day. All the rules in the first day.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I'm like, hey, this is what you're supposed
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  Speaker 1: to do. I'm helping my patient. Well the nurse, my
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  Speaker 1: U my charge. Nurse, she's like, I need you to
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  Speaker 1: step out my patients laying in the bed like she
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  Speaker 1: was the best next I ever. But it's not about
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  Speaker 1: being the best in doing what you know it's the
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  Speaker 1: right thing. It's about following the rules. And also, I
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  Speaker 1: just feel like, you know, my steps are ordered kicked
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  Speaker 1: on the first day, right right right, right, right right right.
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  Speaker 1: But like I said, you know, my degrees in mathematics,
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  Speaker 1: gotta do real in mathematics, and I'm not doing anything
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  Speaker 1: related to mathematics other than counting money because I don't
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  Speaker 1: even do my own taxes. Okay, because I'm fearful of
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  Speaker 1: doing my taxes. That's how you know. That's my my
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  Speaker 1: My my numbers amount to my degree. Very smart, dude,
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  Speaker 1: got a degree. It's on the wall. I can brag
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  Speaker 1: about it. So when you said, nurse, it wasn't you,
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  Speaker 1: that's a good thing because you did get so down
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  Speaker 1: further far down the line. It frustrated you from seeing
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  Speaker 1: what you really were capable of what your destination should be.
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  Speaker 1: Why did you choose nursing? So, like you said earlier,
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  Speaker 1: nursing was just felt like it was a a place
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  Speaker 1: where you get a valued education, a secure job for
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  Speaker 1: you and your family. Was that the reason that did
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  Speaker 1: someone else tell you girl you should go there? And
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  Speaker 1: you were following their lead? Um, it's a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of both. You know. I tried nursing school back in
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  Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, and then I got married and
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  Speaker 1: moved away and that so it just burned down. And
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  Speaker 1: then the divorced it was like, hey, what are you
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  Speaker 1: gonna do now? It's like, remember you had the passion
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  Speaker 1: caring for people, you're so loving, you're so smart, Just
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  Speaker 1: go back to school. And it really helped me get
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  Speaker 1: back on track. So I don't just credit any of
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  Speaker 1: the time that I spent, you know, pursuing that degree,
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  Speaker 1: because it kind of helped me refocus and become disciplined again.
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  Speaker 1: And um, it gave me something to do after the divorce,
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  Speaker 1: you know, a purpose again, right, which which is really well, now,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: let's go to the others because you said rashand you know,
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  Speaker 1: I didn't want to follow the rules. Now are you
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  Speaker 1: a self taught chef? Did you go to culinary school?
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  Speaker 1: So I am a self taught chef. I have no
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  Speaker 1: official culinary training. I am just a footie foodie. We'll
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass with
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: with Rashan McDonald. Okay, see that, I'm self taught. But
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: you so you are a different level though. So you
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: are you're doing some things. I look at your I
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: look at your your your Instagram, I look at your pictures,
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  Speaker 1: a video, and I go, okay, she is this this
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  Speaker 1: is some natural gifts? What okay? Let me use me
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: as an example. Why are you so different from me
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: as a self taught person? Because you know, all your
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: all your final presentations looked so polished, so elegant, all user.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: This person just looks in a magazine or looks in
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: a book and you're able to replicate that. Look, how
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: are you able to do that? Natasha? Be um, I
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: want to call it like it's it's a little bit
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: of an obsession. So I um, I love presentation, you know.
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  Speaker 1: Going a little bit back to the nursing being a
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  Speaker 1: nurse and just going through that school and knowing when
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  Speaker 1: you look at food, like your brain and your body,
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  Speaker 1: it already figures out how it's gonna digestive. So you
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  Speaker 1: start eating your food before you start eating your food.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: So for me, as a way of like, Okay, if
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a chef, if I'm gonna sell my food,
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  Speaker 1: I want people to look at my food. I want
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  Speaker 1: to look at my food and and and want to
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  Speaker 1: eat it before I smell it or taste it or anything.
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  Speaker 1: So that really separate aids me. I know when I
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: first got started, a lot of chefs they were using
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  Speaker 1: like aluminum pants, and you think there's really there's no
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  Speaker 1: new food. So how do I separate myself from the
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  Speaker 1: next chef. It's like, okay, my presentation and my service.
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  Speaker 1: So I make sure whenever I present my food to
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  Speaker 1: you that it is in the best ways food to
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  Speaker 1: you outstanding, there's no doubt about it. That's why I
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  Speaker 1: asked you had you any formal training, because that's what
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  Speaker 1: it looks like and that's an ultimate compliment to your
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: natural skills. Now, but thank you. Now, the brand that
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: you go under is underground sea food. Now, yes, underground
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: always seems to me like you know, you you working undercover.
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  Speaker 1: People don't know about you, like you just blaze in
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  Speaker 1: this reputation, but you underground and and once people find
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: out about you, they're just blown away. That's when I
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: hear the word underground. Now, obviously there's a term that
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: you put together underground and seafood. Tell us about the
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: brand underground seafood. Okay, um, you really just hit the
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  Speaker 1: nail on the head. When I got divorced, my confidence
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  Speaker 1: dropped it just did you know? I'm literally rebuilding myself
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  Speaker 1: and I know that with food. It's like even though
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: I'm still being shy and you're still embarrassed, and you're
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: still like I don't want people to really know about me,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: but you're like, I want you to eat this good
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: food though, So I wanted to stay underground. I wanted
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: to stay low key, fly under the radar. Hey guys,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: I have this food, you know, just you know, playing
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: small um, and that's how I got my name. And
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  Speaker 1: it didn't stay small at all. As soon as people
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: found out that I had fried king crab legs and
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  Speaker 1: fried lobster, you know, words spread fast. But it's spread
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: even that it kind of spread underground, because I would
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: still tell people it's like hey, they would ask me,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: can I share your menu? And I'll be like, okay,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: you can share here, but don't post see here. So
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: I try to stay low key. I try to stay
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: low key. Okay, now you try to stay low key?
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Now see that? See that that word try. You know,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: I think on on social media videos don't trying to
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: figure out how they word try and social media, they
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: don't go together. You posting videos, they go fire on
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: the Tosha be how are you trying to be low key?
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: You know it's a mental thing, mental thing, a mental thing. Huh.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at any videos going. I should wish my
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: video could go viral. So when you first, when you first,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm inspired by you first of all in
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: the Trisha because because I think that when I created
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: this platform, Money Made Conversations Masterclass, it was designed for
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: people to show that everybody's journey is different and it
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily have to be quote unquote the proceed path
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: and the perceived path is that you know, you go
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: to school and and then you get this job and
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: and then wail and there's no flaws to that path.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: To me, the everyday person path is a path filled
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: with flaws. And I always tell people your key is
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: not to make the same mistake at least twice. Don't
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: make it twice. Okay, you can make it one time.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Making it twice you boorderline, just don't give a hoop.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: But in your case, you know, you know. It all
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: started selling plates. Now, when I go to here in
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: the words selling plates, I go back to my church days,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: I go back to my fraternity days in college where
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: we're just selling plates to to to raise money, just
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: a little bit of money. And it wasn't a lot
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: of money, but because sometimes it was more work making
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: the plates than the money, you got out to play. Okay,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: so let's talk about how it all started to the
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: evolution where the month of April you ever take time
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: off for yourself and then back and made you back
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: in the ground, Mother's day back in the ground. So
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: let's talk about that early started because like you said,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: when you got your divorce, you lost all your confidence.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: You you you were insecure, you didn't have any direction.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: You're just reaching out, you reach You reached out to
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: nursing school that wasn't the direction, and so when did
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: that whole I'm a count on me. I don't depend
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: on me. I'm gonna go down being me. Um, So
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: just you know, just a little background. I during the divorce,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: I found that cooking was such a passion for me
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: and it brought me so much joy. So really, um,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: I started selling the place because I annoyed my whole family.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: They're like, you're cooking lobster again like a cravate game.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Can we get something else? So I had offered it
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: up on social media, Hey does anyone to want to
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: buy plates from me? And when they bought, I think
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: I sold ten plates and those ten people literally told
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: probably another set of okay, okay, nah, you sold templates
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: where I sold ten plates out of my parents home.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: So people drove up to your parents home and got
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: the food. Yes, yes, they came and got it. They
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: came and it was like a little little plastic plates
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: and you know you put a little a little moon
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: farll on top or plastic spoons, and I, um, you know,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of heavy handed with my portion sizes. So
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: they got yeah, and I did this red snapper, so
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: fry the fish pole with the onions, pepper celantra. I
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: have the special sauce that I use macint cheese which
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: is now smack and cheese, and some stur fried cabbage.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: And it was so good that they literally told all
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: of their friends, like at least ten. Everybody told another
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: set of ten people. And the next week they asked
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: me to do the same thing, and it just continued
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: to grow every single time, every single time, every single time. Um,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: someone go ahead, So who was ready to kick you
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: out of the house? First? Okay? You know you turn
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: their house into a into a stop and go okay,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: eat the go uh, get it, get it wild hot
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: go okay? People? Did you have a like our window
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: they can only come tending to or for the six
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: What were the rules did you put in place for
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: this food business? Did you set up at your at
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: your parents home? So it was something like, Hey, it
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: was maybe like a four hour window because we're starting small,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: so it's like a four hour window. Hey, between these
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: hours you can come get your plate and it's now. Look,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: if I do it now, everyone has an exact time.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: I don't do the window anymore because then everyone on time,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: and you know, um, I have you have an exact
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: time that you can pick up now, like you come
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: at one fifteen with maybe three other people who are
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: allowed to come at one fifteen, and you guys can
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: get a plate. We'll be right back with more Money
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return to
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. I've never heard
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: this story before, and this is so original to me,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: and such a story filled with blessing and also support
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: because you have to have support for that to happen.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: And so then then people come in and there's trust
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: there too, because you know, people come in your house.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: You know that looks looks kind of like okay, she
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: in a house? Okay, is it right? They coming out
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: there right, and then but they then they told other people,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: So I mean that they had to convince these people
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: you need to try this. And I know this sounds crazy.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: She's over there cooking out of mom's house, but it's
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: it's worth going over there. So at what point did
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: you realize you had something special in your talent? The
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Underground Seafood brand, the chef Natasha b at the time
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Natasha Billups was building. Um, I think when I started
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: when I Fried Came Crab. It was good. I told
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: my mom was like, that's it. I'm a millionaire. She's like, okay,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: you may fire hunt it out, like what are you
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: talking about? And I was like, this is it. It's
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: like I know only mad time hundred. But I'm like, Mom,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: I'm a billionaire. I'm a billionaire. And then I would
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: you know, I got to a month where the income
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: was a thousand, and it's like, Mom, I told you, look,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: I'm a millionaire. Like I got it. Don't know when
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna get it, but I got it. You get
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the tooth thousand and you like, I do you hear
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying? Like I would keep flipping this thing.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: I got something. Yeah. So the once it once I
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: did King Crab, you know that was it for me.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: But the King Crab wasn't what caused me to go viral.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Like I'm known in Maryland for doing fried King Crab legs.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: But I have this thing. Once I started doing private dinners,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: I'm always thinking about how I can make this dinner better.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: And I would do these fruit displays and I would
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: always look at it. This fruit display is beautiful. How
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: can I make this better. So I started doing watermelon
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: fruit displays and I would do them for free, just
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: over deliver every time I go on a client's home.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: And that's what actually caused me to go viral. Um
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: And I like to tell this story because it's like, hey,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: no one was asking me for a watermelon display when
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: I did it. My clients weren't paying for it. I
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: literally just figured out how to over deliver, and it's
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: what's caused me to go viral. It caused me to
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: get even more clients, so now I can charge for it. Now,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: there are two things we're hearing this conversation. First of all,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: when she says she was selling the plates, she kind
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: of over delivered on the food, which means that, you know,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: our black people they like getting extra. You know, if
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: you go to any restaurant, Black people will take a
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: dog get bag out of a restaurant. They I don't
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: care if it's fries, it's rise, that's a wind, that's
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: a win right there. So she knew that. So then
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: when she started on these caterings catering opportunities, she realized that,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna do these free watermelon decorations and
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: they wouldn't asking for. But it also made her brand
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: bigger and more thoughtful, and people saw extra value and
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: they supported her more so as a young entrepreneur. These
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: is just natural talent that you picked up on as
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: a marketer. Correct mm hm, yes, I'm always thinking about
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: you know, what does this look like? Now? You you
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: work for a lot of different preeple. So are you
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: working with comedians? Now? I'm a former comedian. So what
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: funny people have you worked with in this business that
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: have eaten your fantastic food and made you I guess,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: I guess once you can say the your celebrity chef,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: you really are, and because you're a celebrity chef, you're
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: able to start naming your ticket. You travel a lot.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: What's the next step in the type of guests that
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: you have? As far as I know, this beyond comedians,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: the entrepreneurs, their corporations, they're all types of people. But
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: what's the goal. But first, let me always just know
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: some of the working comedians you've been you've been uh,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: you know feeding lately eating. My favorite footy comedian is
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Timothy Shropshire in Charlotte, North Carolina. Um. He put me
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: in contact with Desi Banks, So I got to cook
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: for Desi Banks. Um. I always have followed d c
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Irvan on social media. I saw him when he was
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, and I'm telling him like, hey, get cheese
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: stakes from here, but when you ever, whenever you come
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: to Maryland, I have to cook for you. So it
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: just so happened kind of around this time last year
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: he was in Maryland and I reached out to him again.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: So I got to cook for DC Urban and Marlon
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: made so like as far as some of my favorite
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: comedians then and then I have my social media comedian
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: Um Kerr and Claiborne. I just cooked from him in
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Baltimore and he's hilarious, hilarious. So yeah, those are my favorite.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: You know, the beauty of what you do. I'm just
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: gonna ansk this question, and um, what about the food specialty?
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: You know? Like I said, I love hamburgers, I love
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: pizza's pizza and uh, and so anything that looks like
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: a piece of our chicken. I mean, okay, why seafood?
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Why why? Why? Why why did that becoming a food specialty? Seafood? Oh?
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Because I it's two things. Personally, I love seafood, so
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: really I could be a Pesteterian because I can eat fish,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: you know, shrimp, I can eat that every day of
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: the week. So that for me is a passion. And
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: then I also look around me to see just to
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: know the climate of what everybody else is doing. Everyone
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: is doing the hot honey wings and you know the
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Jamaicans they got the ox tails. The Africans they got
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: the food food and the peanuts food, you know. So
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: it's like, what can I do to stand out? That's
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: also a passion of mine. And seafood is definitely it
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: like one. I'm in Maryland, so Maylanders we love seafood.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: So if I can present amazing quality seafood and I
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: can hone in on that. And when you think about seafood,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: you think fran king crab legs, fried lobster, You're gonna
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: think of me, right. You know. The beauty of this
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: interview is that I see a person who, um, It's
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: about empowerment. It's about being able to look in the
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: mirror and see a lot of strength. At one point
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: you may have not seen that strength, but you see
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: it now and I'm sure you willing to share that strength,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: especially with women who may feel like you especially single
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: moms who may feel they don't understand where they can
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: go with their lives. Talk about that discovering that self
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: empowered with within yourself and how do you share it
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: outside of the world of cooking. Um. Just cooking became
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: a source of empowerment for me because it gave me
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: control over my life again, it increased my finances and
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: increase my self esteem. UM. And then I found that
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: people through my pain and what I've been through, people
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: begin to look at me as like a source of inspiration.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: And I never want you just to look at me
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: and think, oh, that was so great for Natasha. I'm
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: so glad I did that for Natasha. But like you,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: you know, my situation is, it's so common, it's so
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: common to so many people. So many people have gone
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: through what I've gone through. So I don't want you
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: to look at me and just think, oh, inspiration. But
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: I would love for you to take my story and
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: to be empowered as well. I would love to help
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: you as well. I have so many other chefs that
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: have culinary training, they've graduated, they already have working, um
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: successful catering businesses, and they've reached out to me and
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: asked me to be their mentor, and it's like, wow,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm looking at you like you have something
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: to teach me, and you went to school, you know,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: but they're still even with college training, they're still looking
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: for that empowerment and that mentorship. So UM, I'm at
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: really working on a menstorship program now that will be
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: available later this year, and we're gonna, you know, we're
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: gonna take other people and we're gonna empower them, especially
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: women and especially helping um children and teens if they
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: want to get into cooking, I want them to know
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: that like you can do this as well, you can
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: do this as well. Well, you're you're an inspiration. I'm
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: very happy I got the interview to today on Money
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Making Conversation Masterclass. You know, her brand is Underground Seafood.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Believe me, the word underground is just a just a
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: phrase now because she's not underground no moment. She's very
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: much above ground and she's out there doing anything on
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: social media. She's traveling in this country. And when you
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: get that that that conference together, please come back so
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: we can talk about that and we're we're focused on
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: that part of your life, which I think it's going
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: to become a major part of the blessing that you're
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: gonna be sharing with people. Right now, you're sharing your
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: blessings stroggl in that kitchen. But I think your your
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: next journey is gonna be outside, out of the kitchen,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: but using the strength that you gained through seafood and
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: the color of the world that you were not trained in.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: That God just gave you that talent to you and
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: you stuck with it in you. You took a person
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: who didn't believe there was a future that she could shape,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: but you're shaping it, my friend. So Natasha be Chef
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Natasha B. Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: and you're absolutely fantastic. If you're in a year or
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: see any money interviews on money Making Conversations, please go
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: to money Making Conversation dot com. I'm with Sean McDonald.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: I am your host.