Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Richelieu Dennis, Drew Bledsoe, Melissa Harville-Lebron & Lyneir Richardson

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Richelieu Dennis, Drew Bledsoe, Melissa Harville-Lebron & Lyneir Richardson · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: be interview with celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision makers.
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Speaker 1: Rashan McDonald money Making Conversations. Here we come, She said
1:39
Speaker 1: the world traveler Rashan mcdonald' cause I've been all over
1:41
Speaker 1: this country this week. Welcome to Money Making Conversations. I'm
1:45
Speaker 1: your host, Rashan McDonald. Let me tell you about money
1:48
Speaker 1: Making Conversations. Each Money Making Conversations show is about entrepreneurship
1:52
Speaker 1: and entertainment. I provide the consumer and business owner access
1:56
Speaker 1: to celebrities, CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. They in
2:01
Speaker 1: turn deliver information about career planning motivation. Financial literacy and
2:06
Speaker 1: how they lead a balanced life. Appearing on the show
2:10
Speaker 1: today is Which Dennis founder of Shade Marshter, founder and
2:14
Speaker 1: chairman of Essence Ventures, which includes Essence Magazine and the
2:18
Speaker 1: Incredible Essence Festival. Lanier Richardson, executive director of the Center
2:23
Speaker 1: for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development at Rutgers Business School,
2:29
Speaker 1: Drew Blesso, retired NFL quarterback and owner a Bled Soul
2:33
Speaker 1: Family Winery. And Melissa Harville Lebron, the first African American
2:38
Speaker 1: female NASCAR team owner. That's a lot, but that's what
2:42
Speaker 1: we do. That's what we do on Moneymaking Conversations. My
2:46
Speaker 1: first guest is the professional practice instructor and executive director
2:51
Speaker 1: of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development at
2:55
Speaker 1: Rutgers Business School in Newark, New Jersey. Please work with
2:59
Speaker 1: the Money Making Conversations, Lanier Richardson, Good morning, So as
3:06
Speaker 1: I have a lot to say, don't you do have
3:09
Speaker 1: a lot. I am elated to have the opportunity to
3:13
Speaker 1: talk to you this morning. I appreciate that because what
3:16
Speaker 1: you do is what I'm promoting, what I'm trying to
3:19
Speaker 1: get people to understand the value of entrepreneurship. So off
3:22
Speaker 1: the jump, what is an urban entrepreneur and why are
3:26
Speaker 1: they're important? When when you look at the John of Communications,
3:28
Speaker 1: you're trying to put out there as an instructor at
3:31
Speaker 1: ed Rutgers Business School, what is an urban entrepreneur? So
3:36
Speaker 1: every day I wake up and think about how to
3:38
Speaker 1: make communities better. So when we think about urban entrepreneurship,
3:42
Speaker 1: we think about it that's both place and race actually
3:46
Speaker 1: and being unapologetic about it. So our focus is helping
3:51
Speaker 1: people understand and see value in places where people overlook
3:58
Speaker 1: and you know, cultivate the entrepreneurial thinking, fostering economic development projects,
4:05
Speaker 1: really making the connection between entrepreneurship and the important role
4:09
Speaker 1: that entrepreneurs play in revitalizing communities. And so, you know,
4:14
Speaker 1: we started our center now ten years ago and the
4:17
Speaker 1: focus initially was around what was happening in Newark, New Jersey,
4:22
Speaker 1: around the Rutgers campus in Newark, New Jersey. We you know,
4:26
Speaker 1: creating more entrepreneurs, helping entrepreneurs own property. I spent a
4:30
Speaker 1: lot of time of late focusing on the impact that
4:33
Speaker 1: these entrepreneurs make in terms of hiring people, paying taxes,
4:38
Speaker 1: you know, really being a champion from entrepreneurs because people
4:41
Speaker 1: often overlook them. So we need more people thinking about
4:45
Speaker 1: how to start businesses and grow businesses and own property
4:49
Speaker 1: and employed people and contribute to the Little League team,
4:53
Speaker 1: you know, and be role models. Center for Urban Entrepreneurship
4:59
Speaker 1: and ECONO, I'm development ce U E E D. What
5:03
Speaker 1: exactly is that? So it is I'm happy to just
5:08
Speaker 1: it's the first center of its kind in the nation
5:11
Speaker 1: to really integrate scholarship, academic scholarship with private industry and
5:17
Speaker 1: government and nonprofit sectors with the sole purpose of stimulating
5:22
Speaker 1: economic growth and community revitalization and densely populated areas. So
5:27
Speaker 1: our for our goal is supporting entrepreneurs who want to
5:31
Speaker 1: start businesses and urban environments and try to grow business
5:34
Speaker 1: and urban environments and have some impact on how cities
5:38
Speaker 1: will grow. We spend a lot of time, you know,
5:42
Speaker 1: it's you know, working with aspiring entrepreneurs or small businesses
5:46
Speaker 1: and doing all kinds of programs to help them grow,
5:49
Speaker 1: getting them counsel at the business school. You know, we
5:52
Speaker 1: run a lot of capacity building programs. The goal really
5:56
Speaker 1: is to help business owners grow. Now you're sitting you
6:00
Speaker 1: send the words small business, you send the word entrepreneurship.
6:03
Speaker 1: Now you say the word scholar. So what is difference
6:05
Speaker 1: between you and SCORE and the s B A No,
6:09
Speaker 1: I'm glad you so. Uh. Our Business School is really
6:15
Speaker 1: anchor as an anchor institution in newor and many of
6:17
Speaker 1: the larger universities around the country see themselves and more
6:20
Speaker 1: people are starting to talk about them as anchor institutions.
6:24
Speaker 1: So my goal is to open the door of the
6:27
Speaker 1: anchor institution to help entrepreneurs grow. And it really is
6:32
Speaker 1: then we so if a government official wants to announce
6:35
Speaker 1: a new program, I invite them into the university. If
6:39
Speaker 1: if SCORE wants to consult with and with some entrepreneurs,
6:43
Speaker 1: I can help give them some space in the university
6:45
Speaker 1: to be able to do that a room. So we're
6:48
Speaker 1: sort of Switzerland in some respects to with a clear
6:51
Speaker 1: mission of just helping people grow. And we've worked with
6:55
Speaker 1: all types of entrepreneurs, the folks who are just starting
6:58
Speaker 1: out two companies that are you know, really you know,
7:02
Speaker 1: trying to grow. You know, we had Richie Lou Dennis
7:04
Speaker 1: at our campus about you know, two weeks ago. So
7:08
Speaker 1: we go from you know, the mom and pop startup,
7:10
Speaker 1: who's who's open operating the restaurant down the street or
7:14
Speaker 1: the print shop or the PR firm to you know,
7:17
Speaker 1: some of the billionaire now entrepreneurs are aspiring or close
7:21
Speaker 1: to being billionaire entrepreneurs. Uh that we all know and
7:25
Speaker 1: respect and we try to connect them. That's the whole thing.
7:28
Speaker 1: I just want to break it down a little bit
7:30
Speaker 1: because when you hear the entrepreneur, you hear the word
7:32
Speaker 1: small business, it's almost like a a like a cloud. Okay, okay,
7:37
Speaker 1: cannot because everybody really worked on the cycle that they
7:40
Speaker 1: just want a normal job. They want to come where
7:42
Speaker 1: and when you try, how do you start? You know,
7:45
Speaker 1: they're dreamers. There are people who dream with no plan,
7:48
Speaker 1: which mostly why most businesses failed. They just want to
7:51
Speaker 1: start something without a business plan. What is the first thing?
7:56
Speaker 1: Is the business plan the key to getting the business
7:59
Speaker 1: launched correctly. So you know, it's interesting. I joke now
8:03
Speaker 1: that entrepreneur is now the cool word. So by walking
8:08
Speaker 1: you know, I heard it go. You know, say he's
8:10
Speaker 1: you know, walked into the bar and said I'm an entrepreneur.
8:12
Speaker 1: Or you know some people say if you don't have
8:14
Speaker 1: a job, now you just say I'm an entrepreneur. Right,
8:16
Speaker 1: So I may used entrepreneurs. It's the cool word now,
8:24
Speaker 1: But for me, it's about, you know, having a is
8:28
Speaker 1: solving a problem that can generate a profit. And so
8:32
Speaker 1: I am very specific about this now. They're all types
8:35
Speaker 1: of social entrepreneur. One of my colleagues and the co
8:38
Speaker 1: director of my center, which spends a lot of time
8:40
Speaker 1: on focusing on social entrepreneur and I called myself an
8:44
Speaker 1: social entrepreneur sometimes as well. But really the focus of
8:48
Speaker 1: entrepreneurship is solving a problem. I initially want to see
8:51
Speaker 1: what's the what's the problem you solved, what's the need
8:54
Speaker 1: that you're going to fulfill? And can you do it
8:56
Speaker 1: in a way that can generate profit? Because if you
8:58
Speaker 1: can't generate a process it you won't you know, you
9:01
Speaker 1: won't survive long not long, and it's not repeatable and
9:04
Speaker 1: you can't scale it and you can't raise capital again
9:06
Speaker 1: it against it. So you gotta figure out how either
9:09
Speaker 1: to generate a whole lot of revenue, you know, like
9:12
Speaker 1: all our Amazon or you know, as quickly as possible.
9:16
Speaker 1: I always tell, especially entrepreneurs a color that we got
9:19
Speaker 1: to figure out how to how to make you know,
9:21
Speaker 1: make a profit. I had a good friend who opened
9:24
Speaker 1: a restaurant recently and I'm very, very uh happy about
9:28
Speaker 1: encouraging him, being sort of a champion for his restaurant.
9:31
Speaker 1: But every day that I talked to him, if I
9:34
Speaker 1: send him a text, I say, be profitable. I hope
9:36
Speaker 1: you're being profitable. Great food, but be profitable. A lot
9:40
Speaker 1: of people coming in, great Facebook and Instagram. Be profitable.
9:45
Speaker 1: I knew exactly what you talk about. I had a
9:47
Speaker 1: comedic glove like that I worked that was lines around
9:50
Speaker 1: the corner. But boy, the profitability was really break even.
9:55
Speaker 1: And that's a really frustrated world. It exists because you go,
9:58
Speaker 1: if I'm packed and I'm not getting money, what am
10:00
Speaker 1: I doing wrong? And I was doing a lot of
10:02
Speaker 1: things wrong. Man, I can't agree with you more so
10:05
Speaker 1: I have. I started my career as a lawyer. My
10:07
Speaker 1: parents were have been entrepreneurs for forty years. I started
10:11
Speaker 1: my career as a lawyer, and I've worked for a
10:14
Speaker 1: few years as a lawyer, and I saved about seventy
10:16
Speaker 1: thousand dollars and I started my own business, and I
10:19
Speaker 1: realized that I was building, I was developing. The real
10:22
Speaker 1: estate in the urban neighbor has always been my passion to,
10:25
Speaker 1: you know, do work in the communities, that you know,
10:27
Speaker 1: I grew up there. And what I remember one day
10:30
Speaker 1: is I had this project that at the beginning it
10:32
Speaker 1: looked like I would generate about four hundred thousand dollars
10:35
Speaker 1: of profit. But at the end it took me about
10:38
Speaker 1: three years to make that in a whole lot of hours.
10:41
Speaker 1: And I remember one day towards the end of the project,
10:43
Speaker 1: I was maybe a Saturday afternoon. I was at my
10:47
Speaker 1: desk and I did the math and I said, Man,
10:49
Speaker 1: you know what, I probably made eight dollars an hour, right,
10:52
Speaker 1: So I'm like, wow, I got to figure out a
10:55
Speaker 1: way to get in high margin, high profitable industries so
10:59
Speaker 1: that I can survive and grow and have the lifestyle
11:02
Speaker 1: that I wanted. Now you lead the Center for Urban
11:05
Speaker 1: Entrepreneurship and Economic Development. It's called the c U E
11:09
Speaker 1: e D at Rutgers University, which is in New Jersey.
11:13
Speaker 1: Now they're going on ten years. Is this any place else?
11:17
Speaker 1: So you know, look, we're excited. Um, we are just
11:20
Speaker 1: starting to do some work in Memphis. I do work
11:23
Speaker 1: in Chicago. I've done working in Milwaukee. Can't any place
11:28
Speaker 1: where there's a community that's looking for how can the
11:35
Speaker 1: university opening doors and support entrepreneurs and and have measurable results. Again,
11:41
Speaker 1: over any percent of our entrepreneurs are people of color,
11:45
Speaker 1: are still in business. Right. You know, there's a national
11:48
Speaker 1: rate that's of small businesses fail. After five years, we
11:51
Speaker 1: had rates that are any percent of these businesses are
11:54
Speaker 1: still surviving, the generating more than a million dollars of
11:58
Speaker 1: revenue to increase profits. You know, they're hiring people and
12:02
Speaker 1: doing deals together. So, you know, our go our first
12:06
Speaker 1: ten years is focused specifically on Newark and New Jersey,
12:10
Speaker 1: but we're hoping that the next ten years of our work,
12:12
Speaker 1: we might partner with another university, maybe an h b
12:15
Speaker 1: c U or another big keen university to you know,
12:19
Speaker 1: expand both our curriculum and our philosophy about how to
12:23
Speaker 1: work with and grow entrepreneurs of color and entrepreneurs in
12:27
Speaker 1: the inner city area that can help it revitalize. Well,
12:32
Speaker 1: you're hitting all the right right buttons with me eighteen
12:34
Speaker 1: and thirty four the Entrepreneurship Generation HBCU schools. You know,
12:38
Speaker 1: I'm considered, uh the mentor for the generation, the voice
12:43
Speaker 1: of that generation because of the fact that I'm reaching
12:45
Speaker 1: out and then I provide a resume that says I'm
12:48
Speaker 1: the real deal. And with that said, I want to
12:53
Speaker 1: I want to let you know the doors open, you know,
12:55
Speaker 1: and that's why I invited you on the show. I
12:57
Speaker 1: heard about the program through Kate Lucas told me about it.
12:59
Speaker 1: I am Melia and my staff jump on and say,
13:02
Speaker 1: we got to bring this guy on because you're paralleling
13:05
Speaker 1: exactly what I want to say. So it has it
13:09
Speaker 1: has to be told to the hbc U campus. That's
13:11
Speaker 1: what I'm so happy that I'm on hbc U x
13:13
Speaker 1: and channel one forty two now, so I'm directly communicating
13:16
Speaker 1: them that my show run twice a week on hbc
13:19
Speaker 1: U account, channel one forty two on x M. Serious.
13:22
Speaker 1: So so know that when you're talking to me, the
13:24
Speaker 1: word is being put out there. So please tell anybody
13:27
Speaker 1: how they can get in touch with you at the
13:29
Speaker 1: website so we can lock this down. And just thought
13:32
Speaker 1: that parade of information absolutely. So the easiest way to
13:35
Speaker 1: get in touch. My email is just linear l y
13:39
Speaker 1: n e I R at gmail dot com. L y
13:42
Speaker 1: n e I R at gmail dot com. I'm at
13:45
Speaker 1: the Rutgers Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development. If
13:49
Speaker 1: just google Rutgers and c U E E d and
13:53
Speaker 1: you'll see all of our programs. I ain't get a
13:55
Speaker 1: chance to mention we have programs for entrepreneurs who are
13:58
Speaker 1: creatives and technolog the entrepreneurs and filmmakers so use Entrepreneurship program.
14:04
Speaker 1: So please, I would love to tell anyone of your
14:07
Speaker 1: listeners more and be helpful. Can Well, that's the key,
14:11
Speaker 1: because of the fact that it is an expansive program,
14:14
Speaker 1: and the word entrepreneurship is such a layer term, and
14:18
Speaker 1: because of the fact that people use it in such
14:19
Speaker 1: a cavalier and bounces between small business and entrepreneurship, and
14:24
Speaker 1: it really is a lifestyle. It's a lifestyle if you choose,
14:27
Speaker 1: and because of technology, it's providing you with such immediate
14:30
Speaker 1: information and the fact that you're doing it ten years
14:34
Speaker 1: and now you start to carry it out to different campuses.
14:36
Speaker 1: Please let me know so I can help promote you
14:38
Speaker 1: and market what you're doing through my social media platforms
14:42
Speaker 1: and my fan club platform which is over three hundred
14:44
Speaker 1: thousand people. Linna, I want to thank you for being
14:46
Speaker 1: on my show. My friend, Hey, I really appreciate the opportunity.
14:50
Speaker 1: I hope to get invited back. You will be your
14:53
Speaker 1: entrepreneurship can come on cut. Thank you, We'll be right
15:00
Speaker 1: back with more from Marsha McDonald and money Making Conversations
15:03
Speaker 1: don't touch that dot. Money Making Conversations continues online at www.
15:14
Speaker 1: Dot money Making Conversations dot com and follow money Making
15:17
Speaker 1: Conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Ladies and gentlemen, it's
15:21
Speaker 1: time you stop thinking about your dreams and put some
15:24
Speaker 1: plans into action. As hosts of money Making Conversations, Rashan
15:28
Speaker 1: McDonald is uniquely positioned to provide a step by step,
15:31
Speaker 1: easy to understand blueprint that drives listeners to realize their
15:34
Speaker 1: dreams and aspirations. Until you do the business plan or
15:38
Speaker 1: incorporate or actually create that product or start selling products,
15:42
Speaker 1: the universe doesn't have to deal with money Making Conversations
15:45
Speaker 1: is an innovative platform that delivers financial literacy to help
15:48
Speaker 1: everyone with their brand success. Good to have a money
15:51
Speaker 1: making conversation with somebody that makes money. Let me tell
15:55
Speaker 1: you about the host of money Making Conversations, Rashaan McDonald.
15:59
Speaker 1: He's a social medi be a influencer. Of his seven
16:02
Speaker 1: hundred thousand plus social media followers are female. He's a
16:05
Speaker 1: two time Emmy Award winner, three time n double A
16:08
Speaker 1: c p Image Award winner, sitcom writer, stand up comic,
16:11
Speaker 1: former IBM executive, and has a degree in mathematics. More importantly,
16:16
Speaker 1: Rashan McDonald will use his business and celebrity relationships. Rashan McDonald.
16:20
Speaker 1: If you're listening to Money Making Conversation, it's time for
16:23
Speaker 1: our next guest. She is the CEO of W. M.
16:26
Speaker 1: Stone Enterprises and the first African American woman licensed to
16:30
Speaker 1: solely own a developmental and multicultural NASCAR team. Please welcome
16:35
Speaker 1: to Money Making Conversation. Melissa Harville Lebron, Good morning, Good morning.
16:41
Speaker 1: You're talking about you're nervous, but listen, how you doing that?
16:44
Speaker 1: Miss nervous? I am fine. I have no We're becoming
16:52
Speaker 1: end up here in New York. One yea, I know it.
16:54
Speaker 1: It's like the fourth major snowstorm. Correct now this is
16:58
Speaker 1: number five one off. I was there last week, so
17:05
Speaker 1: I'm glad I missed it. Now I want to I
17:06
Speaker 1: want to bring up a quote right now. He says
17:08
Speaker 1: that right now, you have the NASCAR. You have a
17:11
Speaker 1: NASCAR team, which is a Wheeland All American Series that
17:14
Speaker 1: runs in the Wheeland All American Series Series Division one.
17:17
Speaker 1: I read your goal is to impact all forms of
17:20
Speaker 1: motorsports worldwide, right now, your NASCAR, that's a big one.
17:25
Speaker 1: Why do you want to do that? That is true?
17:29
Speaker 1: That is true, but we've we've advanced since then. We
17:32
Speaker 1: also are on camping LOLd Truck Series or in the
17:34
Speaker 1: nationals now. Okay, see nobody updating my my information. So
17:40
Speaker 1: all I know is that you're in NASCAR. Now you're
17:42
Speaker 1: in the truck Series. So I'm just because this is
17:45
Speaker 1: the very expensive sport that you're a doing, Melissa. So
17:47
Speaker 1: now you started in NASCAR, what made you want to
17:50
Speaker 1: go into the truck series? Going into the Truck Series
17:54
Speaker 1: is it's like, um, the beginning stages the National Um,
17:59
Speaker 1: it's um, you know, that's where you start to stretch
18:03
Speaker 1: your legs and really start to feel the impact of
18:05
Speaker 1: how expensive the sport is, but also how lucrative the
18:08
Speaker 1: sport is as well. UM. You know, we can only
18:12
Speaker 1: elevate from there, which is going into the Exfinity Series
18:15
Speaker 1: and then up to you know, the grand echelon of
18:19
Speaker 1: UM Monster Energy Series. I'm sorry, right, you know, it's
18:24
Speaker 1: been a bit amazing because I because when I when
18:26
Speaker 1: I went you got booked to the show, I immediately
18:29
Speaker 1: just started doing my homework because you know all because
18:32
Speaker 1: there's so many levels of NASCAR. You know, the Dal
18:35
Speaker 1: l arn Hard and the Jimmy Johns that's NASCAR Cup
18:38
Speaker 1: and uh and so now you're in the Division one series.
18:42
Speaker 1: Like you said, you know, learning the process, getting everything right,
18:45
Speaker 1: but still very very expensive. I want to break everybody.
18:48
Speaker 1: And if you so, you if you elevate your game
18:51
Speaker 1: so much, I'm gonna just talk about the NASCAR team
18:53
Speaker 1: that I was aware of that you started with. Let
18:55
Speaker 1: me see if it's changed. Okay, you start your original
18:58
Speaker 1: NASCAR racing team is the first ever to consist of
19:01
Speaker 1: two brothers from two different ethnicities and minority classes, healing
19:05
Speaker 1: from Northeast and under the age of one. Correct is correct? Well,
19:11
Speaker 1: now there's there. Yeah, you're a little behind in time.
19:18
Speaker 1: I've never been behind the time. I'm gonna whoever I'm
19:22
Speaker 1: whoever book, I'm gonna get on them. Now. Now your
19:25
Speaker 1: your your crew team. You have an active duty marine
19:28
Speaker 1: who's a pit crew has active and disabled veterans. The
19:34
Speaker 1: great thing about that was that when I say about
19:37
Speaker 1: the disabilities, and you know, you really want to give
19:40
Speaker 1: everybody a shot of getting recognized that they can do
19:45
Speaker 1: the job. Too, and that's important to your brand, correct,
19:49
Speaker 1: very much so and uh and then you have you
19:54
Speaker 1: have a you have a first experience and celebrated driver,
19:56
Speaker 1: like I said, with a disability. You're currently developing two
19:59
Speaker 1: female drivers for the developmental series. Okay, why is that important?
20:04
Speaker 1: Female drivers? I know Danna Kapatrick. Well, you know there,
20:10
Speaker 1: you don't see any female drivers in that so we
20:12
Speaker 1: had anaka. Um, you know, I shouldn't say any. You
20:15
Speaker 1: see very few, but you do not see any women
20:19
Speaker 1: of color behind me. And I'm in a very unique
20:24
Speaker 1: position where I'm able to nurture and develop the careers
20:29
Speaker 1: of young women who want to race this as much
20:31
Speaker 1: as everybody else, but they don't know how to get started.
20:35
Speaker 1: So I have been, oh my god, overwhelmed with so
20:38
Speaker 1: many phone calls and you know, just you know, I've
20:42
Speaker 1: always dreamed of racing how it gets started? Um, you know,
20:46
Speaker 1: people thought I was crazy and then I see you
20:48
Speaker 1: and you affirm my beliefs that you know I can
20:51
Speaker 1: do it as well. So we are looking to develop
20:54
Speaker 1: new talent and bring new talent to to the track.
20:58
Speaker 1: And you know, if I'm the second on the segway,
21:00
Speaker 1: you know, God put me on this path for a reason.
21:03
Speaker 1: You know. The interesting thing about it, you know, when
21:06
Speaker 1: they make a mistake, that's a crash. So you know
21:10
Speaker 1: that's that's a that's a difficult part of bringing people
21:13
Speaker 1: along and making because it's about expenses, about skill set.
21:17
Speaker 1: How do you recruit, how do you look at new talent?
21:21
Speaker 1: How does that work in your world? Um? We we're
21:24
Speaker 1: meticulous and in who we align ourselves with. UM. I've
21:28
Speaker 1: had a couple of suggestions, UM, right, should say, recommendations
21:33
Speaker 1: from NASCAR, UM that would you know make our team well?
21:37
Speaker 1: Round it. They were very talented drivers that did not
21:41
Speaker 1: have the opportunity. More so, I believe it was because
21:44
Speaker 1: they didn't truly know how to market them. And as
21:47
Speaker 1: you can see, they're they're having some marketing issues now, UM,
21:53
Speaker 1: trying to relate to our culture. UM. You know, it's
21:56
Speaker 1: just it's it's unfortunate for them, but is wonderful for
22:00
Speaker 1: us because we can communicate to our demographics and you know,
22:06
Speaker 1: I'll show them into the sport easily. UM, because you know,
22:11
Speaker 1: we are a true reflection of our communities that we represent.
22:16
Speaker 1: You know, it's really interesting because I've been I'm a
22:18
Speaker 1: big fan of Nascar. I've been you know, Jeff Gordon,
22:21
Speaker 1: all time fan of Jeff Gordon, and I've been to
22:25
Speaker 1: I've been to the tracks, and I know there has
22:27
Speaker 1: been a pressing need because I'm based in Atlanta, so
22:30
Speaker 1: I know it's always gonna been a pressing need, a
22:32
Speaker 1: desire to get more African Americans, more minorities to attend
22:36
Speaker 1: these events, and and what what how do you help
22:41
Speaker 1: that out? How do you how do you communicate like
22:43
Speaker 1: this is a this is a great form. I'm an
22:45
Speaker 1: African American of my audience is predominantly African American, So
22:49
Speaker 1: people are hearing about your brand, and I want them
22:52
Speaker 1: to get excited. I want them to go to the
22:54
Speaker 1: sport going there other than just to see you. Why
22:58
Speaker 1: would individuals want to attend this for Oh my gosh,
23:02
Speaker 1: Nascar is the most physically exhilarating sport um ever. I
23:07
Speaker 1: tell people all the time, I said, if you don't,
23:09
Speaker 1: They're like, oh, it's just going and around and they
23:12
Speaker 1: have an occasional crash me every time those and that
23:17
Speaker 1: which goes by with that draft, I said, you feel it.
23:20
Speaker 1: It rattles you know, you know it's exciting. You know,
23:25
Speaker 1: you really are waiting there with bated breath, waiting for
23:28
Speaker 1: the next the next go around, to feel the war
23:31
Speaker 1: those engines, I said, you know, and everybody's there for
23:34
Speaker 1: the exact same purpose. It's unity, absolutely, it's really because
23:39
Speaker 1: you know, it's really interesting because if you just look
23:42
Speaker 1: and look at one spot and just watch those cars
23:44
Speaker 1: just come in front of your eyesight and leave your eyesight,
23:47
Speaker 1: it's really a blur. It's really a blur. It's like,
23:50
Speaker 1: you know, it's amazing. You know, you know, we drive
23:53
Speaker 1: around in the streets, you know, thirty five miles and
23:56
Speaker 1: now it might get up to seventy five miles. And
23:58
Speaker 1: now they have no clue to how fast these people
24:02
Speaker 1: are going. And they have to and they got other
24:04
Speaker 1: people right next to them, in front of them, right
24:07
Speaker 1: behind them. That's a skill set that is amazing to me. Right,
24:13
Speaker 1: that's right. You know, you're looking at you know, anywhere
24:15
Speaker 1: from a hundred and eighty five to two hundred miles
24:19
Speaker 1: per hour, and I mean it's about the the space
24:23
Speaker 1: of a hair. Sometimes they're right on top of each other,
24:27
Speaker 1: but it is, I mean, it's an amazing there's a
24:31
Speaker 1: funny thing about it. It's the funny because I'm doing
24:33
Speaker 1: my little research, you know about NASCAR. Now, NASCAR tires
24:37
Speaker 1: don't have treads on them, you know. But but but
24:41
Speaker 1: you know, in the streets they tell us we gotta
24:44
Speaker 1: have treads on our tires. And if they said that,
24:47
Speaker 1: we're not having treads causes the car to grip better.
24:52
Speaker 1: So I'm trying to figure out, okay, now, why I
24:55
Speaker 1: don't have my time to go ball. I gotta change
24:58
Speaker 1: them industry. Yes, that you want your times to be
25:08
Speaker 1: as gummy as possible. That's why you see them zigzag
25:11
Speaker 1: and they want those sizes up because they need to
25:13
Speaker 1: be able to grip. You know, there's the physics and
25:16
Speaker 1: the aero dynamics are going to keeping that that car,
25:19
Speaker 1: that race car at that rate of speed on the track,
25:22
Speaker 1: on the ground and it's not going airborne. Right now,
25:26
Speaker 1: here's the thing, okay now, because I think you know
25:27
Speaker 1: we we were getting in the groove now, Melissa, Okay,
25:31
Speaker 1: your first experience, your first sponsor the race was February
25:35
Speaker 1: walking through the whole process a little bit here and
25:39
Speaker 1: the listeners about you know, getting the team there. Where
25:42
Speaker 1: were you already emotionally and I exhausting? Was you at
25:46
Speaker 1: the end of the event. Okay, so we have been
25:51
Speaker 1: preparing for this for since the year before last, so
25:55
Speaker 1: it was really just amount of activation. It was sixteen
25:59
Speaker 1: days literally from the time I, you know, I met
26:04
Speaker 1: the team that would run my race for me, will
26:06
Speaker 1: run my race with me, to the time we got
26:09
Speaker 1: on the track. It was sixteen days. So we were
26:12
Speaker 1: prepared to no end. I told I was telling people,
26:16
Speaker 1: I said, I feel like I'm getting married again, where
26:18
Speaker 1: I didn't get a chance to enjoy the wedding. I
26:20
Speaker 1: was so glad you're the first one over and done with,
26:25
Speaker 1: because there was so much preparation and emotionally and physically
26:29
Speaker 1: taxing on you, you know, because people are watching and
26:33
Speaker 1: even though we didn't do a lot of press for it,
26:36
Speaker 1: but people that knew that we were coming, and even myself,
26:40
Speaker 1: I said, you know, I don't want to publicize it
26:43
Speaker 1: and then we have mistake. I said, so if we're
26:45
Speaker 1: gonna make any mistakes, you know, let's do it kind
26:47
Speaker 1: of you know, you know, without all the eyes on us,
26:50
Speaker 1: and you know, with troubleshoot troubleshoot and then go back
26:54
Speaker 1: to it and then really hit it and publicize it,
26:57
Speaker 1: you know. But it was a lot. It was from
26:59
Speaker 1: getting uniforms, getting the driver's seat done, getting a driver,
27:04
Speaker 1: the logistics of it all. It was a lot. It
27:07
Speaker 1: was a lot. When I tell you, I was exhausted, prey.
27:14
Speaker 1: All I could do was play. All I could do
27:16
Speaker 1: was pray. But let me ask you this, Melissa, how
27:20
Speaker 1: did you get involved? I gotta ask that question because
27:23
Speaker 1: you know, you know this Nascar. This is not NBA, NFL, Baseball,
27:29
Speaker 1: This is NASCAR, predominantly white's attended sport. How did you
27:33
Speaker 1: get excited about it? How did you get engaged overall
27:38
Speaker 1: or just for the race day, just just trying to
27:41
Speaker 1: get the NASCAR team just I want to I want
27:43
Speaker 1: to end. I want to I want to convent my money.
27:46
Speaker 1: My original background is in the music industry. I've always
27:50
Speaker 1: been um. I've always had some type of involvement, from
27:54
Speaker 1: being an intern to actually working for a music label.
27:58
Speaker 1: My job was a development I came to NASCAR through
28:03
Speaker 1: literally an artist development deal. I was back to work
28:06
Speaker 1: project for an aspiring driver. Was producing an anthem track
28:12
Speaker 1: for this inspiring driver. Unbeknownst to me, the driver was
28:16
Speaker 1: having some marketing issues with NASCAR and they needed some assistance.
28:22
Speaker 1: We developed a marketing plan that was presented to NASCAR
28:25
Speaker 1: at an executive board meeting. So you know that was
28:28
Speaker 1: straight to the top um and it really broke down
28:33
Speaker 1: the value of of having this driver. It broke down
28:39
Speaker 1: how to approach a demographic that NASCAR is is um
28:44
Speaker 1: not represented in at all, and also being able to
28:47
Speaker 1: sustain this new demographic. That's amazing. I want to thank you.
28:51
Speaker 1: Can you come back on my show? Just you're motivating.
28:54
Speaker 1: You know that already because your groundbreaker and you keep
28:57
Speaker 1: and when you get dig out of that snow, I
28:59
Speaker 1: want you to text me so we can talk off
29:01
Speaker 1: because you're brilliant, fantastic keeping with it. But listen, money
29:05
Speaker 1: making conversation. Loves you. Now. My next guest, I saw
29:09
Speaker 1: him last Thursday. I was in d C. He's being
29:13
Speaker 1: celebrated and you should celebrate this young man. I have
29:16
Speaker 1: on the phone right here because I'm telling you the
29:18
Speaker 1: reaction and the uplift and we're gonna talk about that
29:22
Speaker 1: to him. It's been amazing. He's the CEO and executive
29:25
Speaker 1: chairman of Sundal Brands, founder and chairman of Essence Ventures.
29:32
Speaker 1: Essence Ventures, which includes Essence Magazine and Essence Festival, please
29:38
Speaker 1: welcome to Money Making Conversations. Richie LEEU Dennis, good morning.
29:45
Speaker 1: How you doing that, sir? I am fantastic in yourself. Great.
29:49
Speaker 1: I know you now, I saw you last week and
29:53
Speaker 1: I just gotta say this. I was sitting in the
29:55
Speaker 1: audience audience that was dominant with females. It was being
30:00
Speaker 1: put on by Sheila Eldridge, and of course we also
30:03
Speaker 1: have being honored was Michell Ebanks, who's the president of
30:09
Speaker 1: Essence Magazine. When you come in a room like that,
30:13
Speaker 1: rich emotionally think, you know, people are so proud that
30:19
Speaker 1: a black person has repurchased Essence Magazine and Essence Festival.
30:26
Speaker 1: What responsibility that comes with that? Well, you know, the
30:31
Speaker 1: responsibilities that come with that are are are actually um
30:37
Speaker 1: challenges that I think we all live with day and
30:40
Speaker 1: day out. They just become more elevated, right. I think
30:44
Speaker 1: the biggest challenge is that we are we are in
30:49
Speaker 1: a battle for our culture, right in a in a
30:54
Speaker 1: battle to um own our narrative, in a battle to
30:59
Speaker 1: a stop miss um ourselves as as entrepreneurs and as
31:06
Speaker 1: business leaders, and inasmuch as anybody else uh can be
31:10
Speaker 1: considered a business leader. So you know, those those pressures,
31:15
Speaker 1: those challenges, those responsibilities. I think we all uh facing
31:19
Speaker 1: day and day out, UM, but they become elevated when, um,
31:24
Speaker 1: you know, when you do it on the national stage.
31:26
Speaker 1: And so now what we've got to do is make
31:29
Speaker 1: sure that we're delivering for our culture, delivering for our people,
31:34
Speaker 1: and providing a pathway so that our youth can see,
31:38
Speaker 1: can see how this journey to is theirs. It was interesting.
31:42
Speaker 1: What my biggest takeaway from you is that you willing
31:44
Speaker 1: to share your real community. Guy. It's about the community,
31:48
Speaker 1: is about family, is about paying it forward. What did that?
31:52
Speaker 1: What did that? What did those values come from? You know,
31:56
Speaker 1: I was raised by a single mother, UM, and she
32:01
Speaker 1: was raised by a single mother. And you know, I
32:04
Speaker 1: had the good fortune of watching my mother and my
32:08
Speaker 1: grandmother UM use the communities that we lived in to
32:14
Speaker 1: raise us, leverage the communities that we come from to
32:19
Speaker 1: ground us in culture, the groundest in ethics, the groundest
32:24
Speaker 1: in mission, and the groundess and purpose. And so that
32:27
Speaker 1: was ingrained with me from a very early age. And
32:31
Speaker 1: I was able to see how as a community, how
32:34
Speaker 1: investing in ourselves, in in in partnering with each other
32:38
Speaker 1: and giving each other opportunities, and I think most importantly
32:41
Speaker 1: in trusting each other. Um. She was able to do
32:45
Speaker 1: things with us, um that she would not have been
32:48
Speaker 1: able to do on our own. And UM, I'm sorry,
32:53
Speaker 1: go ahead now. It was really because it was it
32:55
Speaker 1: was really amazing in the room because when you said,
32:58
Speaker 1: you know you was raised by a single mom, it
33:00
Speaker 1: was like applause just broke out. Yes, you know, you
33:03
Speaker 1: know you you're you're delivering so many slices of life
33:07
Speaker 1: and so many levels of uplift for so many women
33:11
Speaker 1: that that's what it was like. I'm telling you a man,
33:14
Speaker 1: watching you command that room and watching people look at you,
33:20
Speaker 1: it's really you. You've got something special happening around you.
33:23
Speaker 1: I'm sure you're aware of that, correct, Yeah, Well, you
33:27
Speaker 1: know the thing is, it's not um you know now
33:32
Speaker 1: Fortunately UM many people get to get to experience it because,
33:38
Speaker 1: as I said, it's it's much more known, right what
33:42
Speaker 1: we're doing now, we've been doing the same thing for
33:46
Speaker 1: seven years, yeah right right where this guy comes from exactly.
33:57
Speaker 1: But but what we now have the good fortune of
34:00
Speaker 1: this is scale, right, and and and visibility and the
34:06
Speaker 1: a platform so that we can now that we can
34:09
Speaker 1: now share this from UM and an audience that is
34:12
Speaker 1: now UM engaged in and and and is acknowledging uh
34:19
Speaker 1: the journey that we're on. And so now our job
34:22
Speaker 1: is to is to bring more and more people into
34:26
Speaker 1: this journey and and to spread the message so that
34:29
Speaker 1: so that they too can can figure out what their
34:32
Speaker 1: role is because there's a role here for all of us,
34:34
Speaker 1: right and and and and not only is there a
34:37
Speaker 1: role for all of us, we all must play a role.
34:39
Speaker 1: You know, you're playing a role. I'm playing a role.
34:42
Speaker 1: We all must play a role. Because if we don't
34:44
Speaker 1: do that, then where we care as a community. If
34:47
Speaker 1: we play a role, and if we step up and
34:49
Speaker 1: and and and and shoulder the responsibilities for each other,
34:53
Speaker 1: then we now have an opportunity to go out and
34:56
Speaker 1: compete and to win and to use each other to
34:59
Speaker 1: create the ecosystem that will allow us to win. You know,
35:03
Speaker 1: right now we're all doing it independently. We you know,
35:07
Speaker 1: it's really time and is everything Because I get the
35:10
Speaker 1: weekly I get I'm on the essence UM mailer, I
35:14
Speaker 1: get the emails and updates and all that stuff. And
35:16
Speaker 1: when and when when you purchased it, it was like
35:21
Speaker 1: it had people it felt like the the email was
35:23
Speaker 1: dancing and celebrate, you know, like email was like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
35:29
Speaker 1: we're back, We're back, We're back, We're black, We're back.
35:33
Speaker 1: You know. It was like really it really was and
35:36
Speaker 1: in time and everything, did you come right on to
35:38
Speaker 1: that black path? Or run? You know what I'm saying.
35:41
Speaker 1: And I know that's a lot of you know, police
35:43
Speaker 1: issues that we have out the industry that we're trying
35:45
Speaker 1: to deal with. We were protesting, but to see to
35:48
Speaker 1: celebrate what you guys are doing, to see that we
35:50
Speaker 1: can achieve this level of success and positivity. Nor you
35:55
Speaker 1: have this strong digital presence with essence, Nor you got
35:58
Speaker 1: you know this one part six million I believe monthly
36:02
Speaker 1: subscribers to the magazine, that platform, the social media platform.
36:06
Speaker 1: You have arrived in a in a place that I'm
36:09
Speaker 1: sure kind of did it take you back? The reaction
36:12
Speaker 1: because everything that you know, what you were buying, but
36:15
Speaker 1: the emotional uplift to this, to this country and to
36:18
Speaker 1: the to the female populace was amazing. Man. I have
36:23
Speaker 1: to say that I didn't expect it when it When
36:25
Speaker 1: you made the deal, I was impressed. I was said,
36:28
Speaker 1: go for it. But the but the emotional reaction has
36:31
Speaker 1: been amazing. Sir. Yeah, I think I think you know,
36:35
Speaker 1: you're you can never you can never underestimate the power
36:42
Speaker 1: of freedom, right and the power of liberation. And that's
36:46
Speaker 1: what that's what we saw and that's what we experienced.
36:50
Speaker 1: We saw. We saw women celebrating, um, their voices just
36:56
Speaker 1: being liberated, their platform being liberated. They're um uh, they're
37:03
Speaker 1: calling now um being front and center by them and
37:08
Speaker 1: for them, and so you know, yeah, it was it
37:11
Speaker 1: was really really exciting congratulation and I think, yeah, thank you,
37:15
Speaker 1: and I think, but I think what's important now is
37:18
Speaker 1: that we don't stop at the celebration there you go,
37:21
Speaker 1: you know, felt the celebration was just was just the
37:24
Speaker 1: ticket for admissions. And then I got there from you
37:28
Speaker 1: though you you're not a guy. You know, you're not
37:30
Speaker 1: a celebrator. You know, you're like, okay, let's okay, let's
37:33
Speaker 1: put down the champagne glasses. We got work to do,
37:35
Speaker 1: exactly a lot of work to do, because you vision
37:40
Speaker 1: a visionary. Before I go into front, I want to
37:42
Speaker 1: talk about a couple of days they really caught my
37:44
Speaker 1: eye by my ear when I was watching you speak
37:47
Speaker 1: in d C. It was a program called New Voices
37:50
Speaker 1: for Women of Entrepreneurship Opportunities for Women of Color. Can
37:53
Speaker 1: you expound on that. Yeah. So, one of the one
37:58
Speaker 1: of the things that we've UM found as we've been
38:01
Speaker 1: building UH the Sundial business has been and you know
38:06
Speaker 1: this as well as probably every single one of your listeners,
38:09
Speaker 1: the challenges that we have as entrepreneurs of color in
38:14
Speaker 1: raising capital and the disparity within which UM we have
38:20
Speaker 1: access to capital. And so as we've become more and
38:24
Speaker 1: more UM, as we've grown more and more and they
38:27
Speaker 1: become more and more successful, our model has been what
38:30
Speaker 1: we call community commerce, and that is reinvesting your profits
38:34
Speaker 1: where you make your profits. So we make our profits
38:38
Speaker 1: in in in in UH in black communities around the globe.
38:43
Speaker 1: And so what we do is we invest back in
38:46
Speaker 1: those communities, UH with with with with with the profits
38:51
Speaker 1: that we make, and so UM understanding the challenges of
38:55
Speaker 1: building a business, uh just being an entrepreneur, and understanding
39:00
Speaker 1: the challenges of being a black entrepreneurs, understanding the challenges
39:05
Speaker 1: that go beyond that for for for women of color
39:08
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs who have even less access to capital. UM, we
39:13
Speaker 1: decided that we would we would put a fund together,
39:18
Speaker 1: UM partners with the Unity here on this put a
39:21
Speaker 1: fund together. I'm a million dollars fund to invest in
39:24
Speaker 1: women of color entrepreneurs because we're never going to have
39:28
Speaker 1: the economic stability that we need in our communities when
39:32
Speaker 1: the women in our communities aren't economically independent now, and
39:35
Speaker 1: so we want to I'm sorry. And when I would
39:38
Speaker 1: say that the first thing that people gonna go this
39:40
Speaker 1: is gonna be a shock tank type participation, how does
39:43
Speaker 1: one and it maybe early in the stage of conversation here,
39:46
Speaker 1: how would one be able to become a participant? Yeah, so, um,
39:53
Speaker 1: it is early. UM. But what we're now doing is saying,
39:57
Speaker 1: go to the New Voice Fund, the New Voices Fund
40:02
Speaker 1: dot com and you can submit your information there. UM.
40:08
Speaker 1: We're gathering that information now. People are submitting their their
40:12
Speaker 1: their business plans there um uh there their pit stet
40:18
Speaker 1: and then those men get reviewed. Um. We have not
40:22
Speaker 1: officially um launched the launched yet, but it's good to
40:27
Speaker 1: to to get uh your information and ahead of time, um,
40:30
Speaker 1: and then we'll start evaluating those and reaching out um
40:34
Speaker 1: to those to those that have presented plans that are interesting.
40:39
Speaker 1: You know, our key focus is is your business um,
40:44
Speaker 1: going to be a profitable business, right um? And then
40:49
Speaker 1: so you start there, but also what is this contribution
40:52
Speaker 1: back to our communities? What is this contribution back to
40:55
Speaker 1: our society as it moving? How's the moving us forward? Right?
41:00
Speaker 1: Because it's not just about being able to create a
41:03
Speaker 1: business that enriches oneself, it's about being able to create
41:07
Speaker 1: a business and enriches our community. Sometimes you told me
41:11
Speaker 1: like he was talking to me personally and d S
41:13
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but you were talking about growing the community
41:18
Speaker 1: in Africa. You know the above their poverty line. You
41:22
Speaker 1: know what is the gold there? And and we all
41:25
Speaker 1: know that you have a poverty line living below that,
41:28
Speaker 1: that's my name living. So what is the mission there?
41:30
Speaker 1: And what is the plan that we talked about the voting?
41:34
Speaker 1: The new voices program here that you you're developing with
41:37
Speaker 1: a hundred million is at the early stages. But you
41:39
Speaker 1: can't go to the website and start feeling out your applications.
41:42
Speaker 1: What about this new this program that you're developing over there. Yeah.
41:48
Speaker 1: So so, as I said earlier, our business model is
41:52
Speaker 1: called community commerce right, and it's the philosophy that you
41:55
Speaker 1: invest your process where you make your profits, Sir, are
41:59
Speaker 1: are uh one of our you know, shape Better is
42:02
Speaker 1: a big, big part of our of our brand. It
42:05
Speaker 1: is the brand and uh it is it is harvested
42:10
Speaker 1: by by very very poor women in Africa. And so
42:14
Speaker 1: when we started this this this uh this business, UM,
42:19
Speaker 1: my grandmother was one of those women um uh that
42:23
Speaker 1: was harvesting local produce and turning them into the products.
42:28
Speaker 1: And so what we wanted to do is to move
42:30
Speaker 1: women like my grandmother up the value change so that
42:34
Speaker 1: they're not just gathering nuts and selling nuts for pennies, um,
42:38
Speaker 1: but that they're actually able to create products out of
42:41
Speaker 1: that that can sell out a higher dollar value which
42:45
Speaker 1: then help them rise above the um the poverty cycles
42:51
Speaker 1: that persist in those in those communities. And by the way, um,
42:55
Speaker 1: I always want to point out to people that even
42:58
Speaker 1: though we live in the wealthiest country on the planet,
43:03
Speaker 1: there are still there are still millions of young children
43:08
Speaker 1: in this country that go to bed hungry every night
43:11
Speaker 1: for the school hungry every day. Right, So, so poverty
43:15
Speaker 1: is not limited to UH to Africa alone. In our communities,
43:20
Speaker 1: we have poverty right here and so so that we're
43:24
Speaker 1: trying to solve those problems holistically with the new Voice
43:29
Speaker 1: is fund to create uh, generational wealth or women of
43:34
Speaker 1: color here, but then also with UM with our community
43:37
Speaker 1: commerce programs in Africa, to provide those women an opportunity
43:42
Speaker 1: to create value added products that we can then sell
43:46
Speaker 1: here and reinvest back into them so that they too
43:51
Speaker 1: can rise above poverty. So what we now have is
43:54
Speaker 1: about sixteen thousand women that are currently impacted by this
43:59
Speaker 1: by this effort, and we're looking to scale that to
44:01
Speaker 1: two hundred thousands of the next year. Yeah, congratulations, m
44:08
Speaker 1: thank you man, thank you. But you know, it's also
44:10
Speaker 1: congratulations to your listeners. They're the ones that buy our products.
44:13
Speaker 1: They're the ones that enable us to make these investments,
44:16
Speaker 1: and they're the ones that I think need to hold
44:19
Speaker 1: other companies accountable so that they're investing their profits back
44:23
Speaker 1: where they're making their profits right, and they're making their
44:26
Speaker 1: profits in our community. So UM. So that's that's that's
44:30
Speaker 1: what the community Commerce program is. And it's amazing thing
44:33
Speaker 1: about this rich is that you keep everything as a team.
44:37
Speaker 1: You know, uh, you know, I make a product, you
44:40
Speaker 1: buy the product, I reinvest. That's a team effort exactly.
44:44
Speaker 1: That's that's a three sixty plan and that's why you
44:46
Speaker 1: win exactly. You know you you got a three sixty
44:48
Speaker 1: plan with Ess magazine. You got a three sixty plan
44:51
Speaker 1: with Sens Festival or five dred thousand people attend that
44:54
Speaker 1: every year. You know you have a three sixty plan
44:57
Speaker 1: with Sundown brands. You keep giving back. Man one, thank
45:00
Speaker 1: you for coming on my show. Well, thank thank you
45:04
Speaker 1: for having and we have to stay in touch. Ch
45:06
Speaker 1: we gotta stay in touch, my man. Let's do it man.
45:10
Speaker 1: As host of Money Making Conversations, Rashan McDonald is uniquely
45:14
Speaker 1: positioned to provide a step by step, easy to understand
45:17
Speaker 1: blueprint that drives listeners to realize their dreams and aspirations.
45:21
Speaker 1: Until you do the business plan or incorporate or actually
45:24
Speaker 1: create that product or start selling products, the universe doesn't
45:28
Speaker 1: have to deal with Money Making Conversations is an innovative
45:31
Speaker 1: platform that delivers financial literacy to help everyone with their
45:34
Speaker 1: brand success. You're good to have a money making conversation
45:37
Speaker 1: with somebody that makes money. Let me tell you about
45:40
Speaker 1: the host of Money Making Conversations, Rashaan McDonald. He's a
45:44
Speaker 1: social media influencer. Of his seven hundred thousand plus social
45:48
Speaker 1: media followers are female. He's a two time Emmy Award winner,
45:52
Speaker 1: three time n Double a c P Image Award winner,
45:54
Speaker 1: sitcom writer, stand up comic, former IBM executive, and has
45:58
Speaker 1: a degree in mathematics. More importantly, Rashane McDonald will use
46:02
Speaker 1: his business and celebrity relationships to empower small businesses with
46:05
Speaker 1: information to succeed. Hi this Rashane McDonald. You're listening to
46:11
Speaker 1: money making conversation. He is on the phone. I know
46:15
Speaker 1: because we just cracked jokes together. My next guest had
46:18
Speaker 1: a had a fourteen year NFL career as a quarterback
46:21
Speaker 1: and a very good Pro Bowl quarterback by He was
46:24
Speaker 1: an one pick in the NFL draft and you know,
46:27
Speaker 1: number one. Since retirement, he is the founder Bledsoe Capital
46:31
Speaker 1: Group and co founder of Double Back Winery and Walla
46:34
Speaker 1: Walla Vala in the state of Washington. Please working the
46:37
Speaker 1: money making conversations, Drew bless So, Good morning, rash How
46:41
Speaker 1: are you man? Drew? You got that man? You got?
46:43
Speaker 1: That's that's that cold voice, Drew man' uh it's not
46:51
Speaker 1: really here. We got in really late last night from
46:54
Speaker 1: us bring break trip of the family. So I released,
46:57
Speaker 1: I got my coffee going, but I don't know. I
46:58
Speaker 1: kind of liked the morning voice. Know you're on the
47:01
Speaker 1: on the radio voice from you sometimes you Hey Jue.
47:07
Speaker 1: Before we get started, man, I would looking at your bayo.
47:10
Speaker 1: I know you're a big name, but I gotta give
47:12
Speaker 1: some props to your wife. Uh. You know she she
47:14
Speaker 1: plays a major role in the winery. Could you tell
47:17
Speaker 1: my listeners exactly the role she plays in the business. Yeah,
47:22
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's really enjoyable for us to be
47:24
Speaker 1: able to work together on this project. You know, when
47:26
Speaker 1: when I was playing football, it was all about me
47:29
Speaker 1: and Van and for us after I retire, we were
47:31
Speaker 1: able to do this together. She has a huge, huge
47:34
Speaker 1: impact on our business in multiple ways. She's she serves
47:37
Speaker 1: as a as a you know, a board member, helps
47:40
Speaker 1: us direct what we're doing, both from what we're making,
47:43
Speaker 1: how we're selling, you know, how we're gonna market uh
47:46
Speaker 1: and then the other thing she does that that's that's
47:48
Speaker 1: hugely important. She's got a great palette. So when we
47:51
Speaker 1: do our blending trials to figure out what's ultimately going
47:54
Speaker 1: to go into a bottle of line, she final she
47:57
Speaker 1: gets the final vote, um, and so far she's she's
48:00
Speaker 1: done a great job. So so that I don't want
48:03
Speaker 1: to slay everybody down because you know some you come
48:06
Speaker 1: from that audience, a beer drinkers. That's your fan base.
48:10
Speaker 1: And now you're in the wine business. Is that is
48:13
Speaker 1: that something that's part of your your history or something
48:17
Speaker 1: that you got into as you were playing football looking
48:19
Speaker 1: at the next step of your life. Can you give
48:21
Speaker 1: us a little background on why you are in the
48:23
Speaker 1: winery business? Yeah, yeah, you know, because you're right. So
48:27
Speaker 1: I grew up and I grew up in in wheat
48:29
Speaker 1: farming country and then I went to school at Washington
48:31
Speaker 1: State University. I mean, this is this beer drinking country
48:34
Speaker 1: and it's it's it's uh, you know, and the same
48:38
Speaker 1: thing you know with the with the fan base in
48:39
Speaker 1: the NFL. But uh, the thing that that happened when
48:42
Speaker 1: when when I got into the league and uh, is
48:45
Speaker 1: that I discovered that there were a lot of a
48:47
Speaker 1: lot of guys on my team, especially early on with
48:49
Speaker 1: the Patriots, that really wanted to try something different. And
48:52
Speaker 1: so we started drinking wine and talking about it and
48:55
Speaker 1: the and the thing that would surprise most people is
48:57
Speaker 1: the guys that that got into it the most with me,
49:00
Speaker 1: we're linebackers, you know, Teddy Bruce Ky and Ted Johnson
49:03
Speaker 1: and Mike Brable and and then my a couple of
49:06
Speaker 1: my lineman Bruce Armstrong, big wine guy, and love those guys. Man, well,
49:12
Speaker 1: Bruce Armstrong should be in the profitt Ball Hall of Fame.
49:15
Speaker 1: But that's another subject front at the time. Um, but
49:18
Speaker 1: you'd be kind of surprised that we would get together
49:20
Speaker 1: and I would tell those guys to bring over a
49:22
Speaker 1: fancy bottle of wine. I would bring something from my
49:24
Speaker 1: little hometown out here in Walla, Walla, and we would
49:27
Speaker 1: put them in paper bags and we would blind taste them,
49:29
Speaker 1: you know, just being complete you know, wine dorks and
49:32
Speaker 1: and uh and we would just be tough football player.
49:36
Speaker 1: Absolutely you would, yeah, you would. You did you know
49:39
Speaker 1: lat backers they move forward, they don't move back. And
49:42
Speaker 1: but then all of a sudden you got one of
49:44
Speaker 1: these big tough guys with his little pinky finger out
49:46
Speaker 1: swirling wine and a white pass it. But the cool
49:50
Speaker 1: thing when we did that, I would bring some wine
49:51
Speaker 1: from my hometown and we would put them in paper
49:53
Speaker 1: bags and we would win, you know, but I would
49:55
Speaker 1: bring these these wines that that nobody had ever heard of,
49:57
Speaker 1: and we would win the competition. Set I got my
50:00
Speaker 1: mind working and thinking maybe that would be that would
50:02
Speaker 1: be a potential career after I was done. Now that's
50:05
Speaker 1: you hanging out with the fellas. Now when did you
50:08
Speaker 1: move your wife into saying okay, I think we may
50:11
Speaker 1: have something was was shed to you know, because I'm
50:14
Speaker 1: marriage so I know the role that a wife can
50:17
Speaker 1: play because there's sometimes the light bulb wa go off
50:19
Speaker 1: faster with them than with me sometimes, you know. So,
50:23
Speaker 1: how how did she come into play? Because, like you said,
50:25
Speaker 1: when it comes to running the business, the board, the palette,
50:28
Speaker 1: how does she play a role in the next step? Well, uh,
50:32
Speaker 1: you know, the biggest, the biggest thing. And she and
50:35
Speaker 1: I both had this the same fear because we had
50:38
Speaker 1: seen people as they've made that transition out of professional
50:41
Speaker 1: sports and into the rest of their life. Um, there
50:44
Speaker 1: are a lot of guys that really struggled with that.
50:46
Speaker 1: And when I when I looked at h at that
50:49
Speaker 1: it was it was scary. You know, I was in
50:51
Speaker 1: the middle of my career and you know, but you know,
50:53
Speaker 1: you're playing professional sports. I mean, it's it's the coolest
50:56
Speaker 1: thing you could ever possibly do. I loved every I
50:58
Speaker 1: loved every second of it. And go back and do
51:00
Speaker 1: it all over again. But one of the hard parts
51:03
Speaker 1: is that that that if you're really really fortunate, which
51:05
Speaker 1: I was, you get to play into your mid thirties
51:07
Speaker 1: and then they show you the door and and you
51:09
Speaker 1: you've got to figure out what to do with the
51:10
Speaker 1: rest of your life. You know, we're both both afraid
51:13
Speaker 1: of that. And she when I when I first of all,
51:15
Speaker 1: when I retired from football, she challenged me really hard
51:18
Speaker 1: as to whether I was ready to retire, when I
51:20
Speaker 1: was ready to not do that anymore. She pushed back
51:23
Speaker 1: on me really hard. But then once I did, um,
51:26
Speaker 1: you know, I think we both knew that that I
51:28
Speaker 1: was going to need to be um, you know, I
51:31
Speaker 1: was going to need to be productive. I was gonna
51:32
Speaker 1: need to have something that that was engaging to me,
51:35
Speaker 1: you know. And uh, and so she was entirely supportive
51:38
Speaker 1: of of of you know, this wine business, and plus
51:41
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's enjoyable and something that she was
51:43
Speaker 1: passionate about as well. So it worked out really well.
51:46
Speaker 1: And any the other part is that she she just
51:49
Speaker 1: she knew I was gonna be have to be out
51:50
Speaker 1: of the house where she was gonna kill me. But
51:53
Speaker 1: I was around too. If I was around too much.
51:55
Speaker 1: It was not gonna work very well. So um, but no,
51:58
Speaker 1: it was really a thing that we that we designed
52:01
Speaker 1: and built and grew together and now we have a
52:04
Speaker 1: lot of fun with it. Okay, great, Before we go
52:06
Speaker 1: in front, I wanna talk. I read this big old
52:08
Speaker 1: article on uh it was on ESPN dot com. It
52:11
Speaker 1: was talking about NBA players how they have an affection
52:15
Speaker 1: for wine, and it was really and and to hear
52:18
Speaker 1: you talk, so it's really I I like bringing that
52:21
Speaker 1: up because athletes in general have this certain vision of
52:24
Speaker 1: being tough, for being a guy that you know, you're
52:27
Speaker 1: the words man's man. And when you hear wine, you know,
52:30
Speaker 1: my wife is a big wine drinker. You know, I
52:32
Speaker 1: got you know, she she she, she looks at it
52:35
Speaker 1: from a certain different a different angle. And when I
52:38
Speaker 1: when you hear when I got excited about the whole
52:41
Speaker 1: prospect though you know you're talking about Lebron, James, Chris, Paul,
52:44
Speaker 1: all these are big time wine drinkers. When you don't know,
52:47
Speaker 1: if you're familiar with that story, does that when you
52:50
Speaker 1: hear stories like they get out, that doesn't help your
52:52
Speaker 1: your brand, doesn't help your industry. And how do you
52:55
Speaker 1: use that the like market. Can't you use that to
52:58
Speaker 1: market your your brand on and we encourage you know
53:03
Speaker 1: now you know one of the one of the reasons
53:04
Speaker 1: you know that that guys are are are going that
53:07
Speaker 1: direction because it's it's it's healthier, it's it's actually good
53:10
Speaker 1: for you. And there's some studies out there. I mean,
53:12
Speaker 1: there's a there's a recent study that that needs to
53:16
Speaker 1: be shared everywhere that if you drink more wine, you
53:18
Speaker 1: live longer. Um and uh so, uh so, so I
53:22
Speaker 1: need I need to catch up with my wife absolutely
53:25
Speaker 1: other you know, you don't want her, you don't want
53:28
Speaker 1: her to be lonely. So you've got to live as
53:31
Speaker 1: long as she does. That you're gonna drink a lot
53:32
Speaker 1: of wine, housing money that you gonna have some money.
53:35
Speaker 1: That's a sampoint And I am officially gonna start sampling
53:38
Speaker 1: with her from now there you go. I love it.
53:40
Speaker 1: I love it, but no, it's it's extremely helpful for
53:44
Speaker 1: our business. A matter of fact, lebron took took great
53:47
Speaker 1: care of me. At what a year and a half ago,
53:49
Speaker 1: during the playoffs there was the NFL. It was NBC
53:53
Speaker 1: did a little, uh a little blur about our winery
53:55
Speaker 1: and Lebron sent sent a tweet asking me for some
53:58
Speaker 1: wine and and that that that that certainly certainly helps
54:02
Speaker 1: him sales, so obviously set him off a couple of
54:04
Speaker 1: bottles to try. And but yeah, it's no definitely beneficial
54:08
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, it's just it's a it's an
54:11
Speaker 1: interesting beverage. It's different, you know, at least to me,
54:13
Speaker 1: it's different from uh from beer whiskey. It's just it's
54:16
Speaker 1: it's got a complexity and some interesting aspects to it,
54:21
Speaker 1: and it just really really elevates some meal when you
54:23
Speaker 1: sit down. I know, I know you in Washington, which
54:27
Speaker 1: is the northwest part of the country. Uh CJ. McCullen,
54:31
Speaker 1: Port Latreille Direct Blaze is a big wine drinker. And
54:34
Speaker 1: uh Damian Leonard there was in that same article. So
54:37
Speaker 1: just letting you know, Lebron will in Cleveland, So there's
54:40
Speaker 1: some boards right there in Oregon. You might want to
54:42
Speaker 1: drop a couple of bottle of wine because there's a
54:44
Speaker 1: big wine drink. Because I know, it's all about relationship.
54:47
Speaker 1: That social media is so powerful. You can take those
54:49
Speaker 1: screenshots and just share them and all that good stuff.
54:52
Speaker 1: So that's a that's a big move by Lebron because
54:54
Speaker 1: he is by far the most powerful athlete in the world,
54:58
Speaker 1: in the in the in the sport of football, on
55:00
Speaker 1: the sport of basketball, on the sport of baseball that
55:02
Speaker 1: America has to offer. So let's talk about your your
55:06
Speaker 1: your vineyars, my friend you and UH and you launched
55:09
Speaker 1: a double back and the state focused winder that produces
55:12
Speaker 1: world class UH cabinet from the Walla Walla Valley. So
55:16
Speaker 1: is it about the soil? Because I was doing my research,
55:20
Speaker 1: I was I was trying to get ready for you, Drew.
55:22
Speaker 1: I would try to get ready for you, man. Yeah, No,
55:24
Speaker 1: it's it. It's it's about two things. It's about your
55:26
Speaker 1: soil and about your weather and our climate we're in
55:29
Speaker 1: We're in a high desert climate. Um, and so what
55:32
Speaker 1: we get to these long hot summer days, we get
55:34
Speaker 1: really cool nights, and we've got this deep, poorest soil
55:37
Speaker 1: with you know, with rainfall it only happens in the
55:40
Speaker 1: winter and the summertime we can control it. And so
55:43
Speaker 1: you just have this confluence of events that allows us
55:47
Speaker 1: to grow some of the best wine groups in the
55:49
Speaker 1: entire world. I'm gonna tell you this. A McDonald name
55:52
Speaker 1: is gonna pop up on your wine club. I'm not
55:55
Speaker 1: gonna say her first name, but it's gonna pop up,
55:58
Speaker 1: gonna help McDonald. That will be wife, sir. And so
56:03
Speaker 1: so when you see that McDonald, you said, this is
56:05
Speaker 1: Rahan's wife. Here some wine because she loves it. I like,
56:10
Speaker 1: I said, uh this, I know she's gonna tease me
56:12
Speaker 1: about this interview because of the fact that I just
56:15
Speaker 1: tried to bring attention to people who are doing successful things.
56:18
Speaker 1: You're You're a great family man. I followed your career,
56:21
Speaker 1: been a big fan you. You know, uh, just just
56:24
Speaker 1: just seeing you make this transition and and and and
56:27
Speaker 1: building the business, building the brand, and a legacy for
56:30
Speaker 1: your kids is not tied to athletics. That's amazing, my friend. Well,
56:34
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. You know, I had great role models.
56:37
Speaker 1: None of us, you know, there's nobody out there that's
56:40
Speaker 1: successful to gets thrown there. And I had great role
56:42
Speaker 1: models and my parents and some great coaches and and uh.
56:44
Speaker 1: And then since I one of the things that I've
56:47
Speaker 1: encouraged other athletes to do that's been so amazingly helpful
56:51
Speaker 1: to me is that I've got a group of business
56:53
Speaker 1: mentors now and everything that I do in our business.
56:56
Speaker 1: I have, um, you know, eight or nine guys that
56:59
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