Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion Interviews the CEO of The Metro Sports & Entertainment Group (Metro Esports), Shaon Berry; he discusses diversity in Esports and how to enter the gaming industry!

Transcript

Rushion Interviews the CEO of The Metro Sports & Entertainment Group (Metro Esports), Shaon Berry; he discusses diversity in Esports and how to enter the gaming industry! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: My guests is Sean Berry. He is defiled and CEO
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: of the Metro Sports and Entertainment Group Metro e Sports.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: The sports industry at this point annually is exceeding three
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: billion dollars. The Metro Metro Sports and Entertainment Group, which
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: we like to call Metro e Sports, is a technology
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: based based in Philadelphia, education media and custom e sports
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: event management company committed to attracting, engaging, entertaining, and educating
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: a broad and diverse group of expiring gaming and technology enthusiasts.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Sean has specialized in creating high profile and high value
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: nationally televised custom sports event applied to content. Because you
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: know now she's all the streamings out there, everybody won't content?
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Please work with the money making conversation master class, the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: one and only out of Philadelphia. He's a happy man
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: this weekend. We'll find out next weekend. Sean Berry, how
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: are you doing, sir? Good morning? How do you know?
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: You know when you see the Philadelphia we're talking about
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: only one philip Offer team right there. The Eagles were
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: talking about the seventies sixers. We talk about the Phillies.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Will talk about one fill it upfer team right now
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: as the Eagles feeling good in Philly right now, huh Man,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Philly special bro Philly got hard Philly. It's a whole
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: vibe to it. Well, Well, the great thing about it,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: I've interviewed a lot of Uh I said, when you
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: say diverged, when I say diverse, I'm talking about from
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: the financial I'm talking abou African American people of color,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: people from the entertainment spectrum, people from the novel e
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: sports section. Now I'm speaking to you. I have a
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: daughter who just graduated from University Houston, Magnacole Laudi gaming
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: designs media marketing because she wants to go in this field. Now,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: is there a place for a young female to make
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: her mark in the gaming industry? Man? Absolutely? I mean
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: you know, first of all, as a whole, it's an
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: industry that, um, it makes a ton of money. You know,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: three billion dollars. Like you said, it's growing. I don't.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: I think it grew something close to through the pandemic. Um.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: You of all, people play games, um, but we as
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: a people, I'm talking about people of color over index
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: as consumers. And so when you think about an industry
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: making that much money, um, they've got to be responsible
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: in finding ways and opportunities for the people that are
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: giving them the money to participate in the industry. And
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: so you know, females of color, males of color, UM,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: but women in specific have so many opportunities now that
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: weren't afforded and need to do more. And now with
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: that being saying, how did you get into the business.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: You know I always be Philly based. Well it's it's crazy.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: So I'm from Philadelphia, so I was. I come from
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: the traditional sports world. I don't come from E sports
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: or gaming and none of that. I played college football
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: at University of Pittsburgh, wasn't good enough to play in
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: the league. UM. Spent years in corporate America, and I
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: started a sports event and media company UM. And what
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I was doing was I was essentially traveling the country,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: identifying the top young athletes in every major market and
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: creating showcase events. That platform grew I think three years.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I ended up being title sponsored by the United States
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Marine Corps and I created a Bowl game that ran
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: on ESPN for I don't know six years. UM. So
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: if you can think back Todd Gurley, Jared Golf, the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Forest Buckaneer, a lot of the pros and stars you
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: see shining in the NFL today where part of my
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: scouting network of uh, you know, trying of traveling the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: country and then you know, creating this all American game
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: on ESPN. Uh And I made the conversion from traditional sports,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: if you would, to E sports. When somebody called me
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: and said, hey, listen, are you still doing the sports events?
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: And I know what the head BA was talking about,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: and they met me getting a bunch of xboxes and
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: PlayStations and bringing them to my sporting events. Well, I
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: I love the fact that so I had asked you something,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: you didn't say the word no. You you you you
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: gather the information and found out the value of that request.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Talk about that moment, because a lot of people would say, no,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: that's not my area of expertise. Why didn't you just
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: okay that you're knocking on the wrong door. Statement that
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: is that may be the best question I've ever had,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: because it may be the most meaningful. When I got
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: the call and I told you I didn't I literally responded,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: know what the sports is because of the volume. Now,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: the call that I got was from the president of
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: a U Sports. If you're familiar with a U Sports,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: hey you basketball, AU baseball, football. They've got an alumni
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: network of two or three million people. So when the
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: president of an organization of three million people called you
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: and asked you if you do something, my first thought was,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: do your due diligence. Make sure before you say no
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: that you know what you're saying no to. UH. And
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: so I started to research and try to understand the industry.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: And you know, I think anybody, particularly an investment community
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: that's looked, you know e sports, is this jugger not
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: market right. So there's all this rapid growth, it's worth
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: three billion dollars now. But what a lot of people
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: don't realize, and the thing that motivated me kind of
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: internally is the African Americans and Latinos make up of
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: the video game consumer. One of every urban household has
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: either an Xbox or a PlayStation. And then I found that,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: um he researched to a study and found that African
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: American teams spend more hours gaming per week, almost nine
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: hours a week than any other ethnicity by over an hour.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: And so what that said to me was there's an
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: opportunity if you can organically and authentically reach our folks
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: and share with them the benefits of this industry. There's
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: a real opportunity here. Well, here's just just education. Could
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: I hear things like Fortnite? Uh here with Travis gott
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: get involved. I hear that he goes on there and
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: makes you know, four or five million dollars selling skins.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Uh that like these are just digital skins that you
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: can't take them with you. They just think that you
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: buy online and the people are purchasing. Break down why
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: celebrities are going to it like a Travis CAUs he's
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: just on the one name them pulling out and and
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: how are celebrities making money? And when I'm talking about
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: the word skins, what are we talking about? So I
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: can educate my audience and also educate me more. Yeah,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, so let's go back right. So, anytime you
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: look at a video game and you look at a
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: character in the video game, what they're wearing, you know,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: what their attires or what they look like as a skin,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: and you can change that. You know. So if I'm
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: playing a game and you know my you know, Timberland
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: puts in X amount of dollars, I can make sure
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: that my character is wearing Timberland boots or a Gucci sweatsuit,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: you know, right, And so so you buy that, you
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: buy that exactly, and you get to change the look
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: of the character and you control kind of what that
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: character looks like. It it appears like UM. But to
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: your question about making money, you know, it's a very
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: interesting UM dynamic if you think about it from a
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: traditional sports perspective. If if you rushan own a stadium, right,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: and let's say that you own the Link in Philadelphia,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: I think it holds fifty six people, right, you can
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: charge sixty people a hundred dollars a ticket, right, and
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: that's how you make your money. But when you own
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: a digital stadium, you can host sixty million people and
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: charge them a hundred dollars a ticket. And so when
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: you think about the money, it is the expansion into
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: the digital atmosphere right into to web three, into into
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: a universe of folks where I can reach somebody in
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  Speaker 1: Africa and Asia and South America and American they can
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: be a part of my consumer audience. Right, And so
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the opportunity UM comes in, you know, event participation, UH competition,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: and then brand representation We'll be right back with more
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: money Making Conversations master Class with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: return to money Making Conversations master Class with Rashan McDonald of.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Speaking of Sean Barry, he's defied the CEO of the
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Metro Sports and Entertainment group he's based out of Philadelphia,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Metro E Sports. When I when I your personal color,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: and we all know this industry the white the white humor,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: like you say, we over index, but the white consumer
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: has the voice. How does a person of color being
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: you become a player a voice in this industry. Well,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: we're trying to working on it, right, So I am.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: I am diligently working on it because I know something.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: And what I know is that the value of an
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: authentic integration of culture is worth a heck of a
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: lot of money. Because I understand that you know, and
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: you've heard I'm sure of the three X effect. Right,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: anything that you add our culture too, it becomes instantly
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: worth three times more. So when I looked at this
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: industry and I said, hey, listen, I know there's a
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: lack of diversity. I know that less than two of
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: all the leadership in the industry, whether it's vps or UH,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: professional gamers or game developers are people of color. UM
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: and I know that we over index as consumers. There
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: is a should be if there's not invested interest in
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: the investment of our participation and our integration brands UM
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: and by strategic partners UH and by companies who benefit
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: from our over indexing if you would, well, you know
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: the thing is like I said, you go Joe Boby Shop.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: You've got brothers in there, you know, just costing plane.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: You always talk about athletes. Athletes actually play these games.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: So so now when you talk about your brand, you
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: know Metro E Sports, are you do use brand ambassadors?
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Are you using social media? How are you maintaining your
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: footprint to stay in front of competition? Yeah, so you know,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: what we're trying to do first is be different than
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: everybody else, right, and so the way that we do
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: that is we have brick and water locations. So I
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: partnered with Horizon, my partner with Logitech. I partnered with Microsoft,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: and we build in the communities, right and so UM
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: we are building when the process right now the thirty
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: thou square foot facility in Washington, d C. We are
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: building on campus at Lincoln University as we speak, their
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: first gaming lab and content creation studio. We have rebuilds
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: going on simultaneously in the Philadelphia area. And what that
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: allows me to do is to engage a market from
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: a local and regional perspective relative to live events, tournaments, leagues. UM.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: But the other thing that I'm able to do, or
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: we're able to do uniquely, is to service school systems. UM.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: So we've partnered with the school district here where UM.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: If you like playing the games, we can teach you
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: how to make them. You know, are we have an
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: accredited STEM program UH. And so one of the things
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: that I try to always make sure that we do
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: is to attach the benefit to the participation. Right. So
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: if you like the game, if you like playing the game,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: we can teach you how to make it. UH. If
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: you want to get certified and graphic design or coding
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: or programming, UM, you know, we have an opportunity to
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: teach you that and equip you with those skills. And Richan,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you know this. When you look at the
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: tech industry. One of the things that's happening right now
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: unlike any other time in our history, is they don't
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: require college degrees in order to gain game fully employed.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: And so when you think about what that means for
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: our um people, right and our can these across the country.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: If you can take a young person that can't afford
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: the college to go to college and give them the
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: skills or heard the skills that are necessary to compete
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: and make a great living in an industry that they
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: already enjoy, I think that's worth its weight in gold. Well.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: You know it's that different, you know, because you know
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: a number high school Alwold had they loved tech class.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: You go in there teach how to big teach how
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: to do carpentry, and teach how to do auto mechanics.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: This is just an advanced version of I always tell
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: people life doesn't really the message of life doesn't change.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: It's just the technology changes. And so you're telling me
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: right now, Rashane. You know there's always that message to
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: go to college, get a degree, and there's always that
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: core students that you've always said, you know, you want
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: to be a mechanic, we can help you. I want
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: to learn how to cooking with so and all of
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: those classes that they had in high school, but they
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: never replicated the level of income that individuals can make
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: with these new jobs that you don't that you can
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: educate yourself on the graphic designs, the programming, the the
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: the gaming that you couldn't get into today. So when
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: you start recruiting, who's coming to you? Is there a
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: certain age group? Is like teams coming to you, young
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: adults coming to you. Who's coming to you? Well? We
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: we we engage literally from eight to eight and I
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: mean that. Um, So you know, we get students, We
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: get aspiring professional gamers. We get brands that are saying, hey, listen,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: we want to engage the community that you're engaging. Um.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: You know, we get school systems that say, hey, listen,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: we can't afford a computer science department. Come to one
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: of your facilities and drop our kids off for an hour,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: work with your instructors, and then bring them back. We
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: get pro players that said we need to practice. We
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: need a place for our team to practice, or leagues
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: that say we need to host a pro event. Can
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: you guys host us? So it's a it's a multitude
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: of ways. But something you said, I think that was
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: so important. You know, my inspiration in this was believe
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: it or not? Bob Johnson right. So, when you think
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: about when he started black entertainment television, I remember reading
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: one of his clues UM and it was talking about
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: he was talking about TV in general as a medium
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: of entertainment. He was saying, listen, TV is great. TV
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: is already doing good. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I'm just trying to add a little flavor to it.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: That literally is exactly what I'm trying to do. The
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: sports is a billion dollar industry with or without me.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: But I can tell you this much. I can tell
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: you that when you add some flavor to something, and
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: by flavor I mean us, it only gets better, It
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: only gets amplified, It only gets more exciting, and it
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: only gets more entertaining. You know that it still becomes,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: like I said, um, a sport that is out there.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: You know, you see television ESPN especially tries to engage
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: some type of digital format. You see the three D
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes technology. You know, when you start looking
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: at it today, it's at the forefront. That's where STEM
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: comes into place so strong in your conversation with young
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: African Americans, do you do a lot of seminars or
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: speaking engagements to youth or young adults about this them
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: revelation and also hired applies to what you're doing in
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: the sports. Well, I tell you what we we we
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: we do that to adults more um that we have
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: with young people because they're the ones that need to understand,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: you know, our parents that gaming is a waste of time.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: You know, my kid is I can't get them off
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: the xpacts, I can't get them off the PlayStation. Yeah
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: that's cool. You you know, you want to have balance
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: and everything you do. But what you want to do
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and I would challenge you, what do you think is
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: going to be more exciting to a kid to say
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: to him, hey, listen, we have the STEM class we
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: want to send you to, or if you Italian, say
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: to them or her, hey you want to go make
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: a video game. It's the same thing you're doing exactly
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: the same thing. It's the same skills, it's the same tools.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: It's about meeting them where they are and engaging them
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: in a way that's that's palpable and exciting and fun.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: And that's what we try to do, whether we're working
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: with school systems, you know, or leadership to infuse this
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: type of you know, kind of educational model, lean into
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: what they already loved and engage them from there. That's
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: really really the kid and speaking the shot Berries the
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: CEO and founder of Metro Sports and Entertainment Group, former
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: football player in the University of Pittsburgh, Cornell Universe, Cornell
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: School of Management. Uh. When I when I say those titles,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: when it's all about I bring that up to let
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: people know that sometimes you can't skip steps. Okay, well,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: you know, going to Cornell, get that additional academic training
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: and management, going to university's uh Pittsburgh. Being a football player,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: that lad, you gave you a certain degree of discipline, correct,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: So how does that play out into what you're doing
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: every day managing your staff. Let's start with the University
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: of Pittsburgh, that football mentality, showing up for practice, you know,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: being respectful, uh, consistency when they owned snap counts and blocks. Yeah,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: whichan you know, my answer is not gonna be what
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: you think it is, but it very much showed up.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: And I'll tell you how when I went to the
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Unversity of Pittsburgh. Now, I come from a family of
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: ball players, Okay, I were six different professional athletes my family.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Much like many folks in the African American community. In
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: my mind, sports was the only way I thought I
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: was going to the league, probably since I was six
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: years old, and it didn't dawn on me even through
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: college that I wasn't good enough to go, and so
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: I didn't have a plan B. So when you asked
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: me how it shows up when I look at the sports,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: I think about all the young people who were either
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: like me, just not physically blessed enough, or who may
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: have been misled because mom or dad always wanted you
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: to be a pro or wanted to see you go
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: pro or be an athlete. And the way it showed
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: up was, no, this is the plan big. I already
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: know that um young kids like to play video games.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: But what I want to do is for those young
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: people that that you know, if you're five nine pounds,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: maybe the NFL or the NBA ain't for you, but
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: that doesn't mean you couldn't be very successful here. And
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: so the way that it shows up for me is
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: it's it's it's the humility of understanding that God has
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: given people different talents and for different things, and here's
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: an avenue in a way to express those talents and
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: and and and leverage, you know, the best version of yourself.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return to Money Making Conversations
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. Well, you know, the best version
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: is always people believe in you. And also the fact
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: that people were questioning you, okay and doubt you, especially
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: like I said, nobody, especially when you had a certain
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: generation mark when you said playing on those video games
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: ball you can't make no money or good, you can't
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: make your money. You wasting your time because like I said,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: I've always had video games in my life, but I
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: didn't have that skill level. I couldn't do what I
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: couldn't do what y'all are doing out there, man with
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: both fingers and both thumbs and people flipping and especially
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: when you get into these combat, these combat video games.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: I don't really understand how y'all are doing all that stuff.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: And it's amazing to me because that's a gift that
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: everybody has. How do players money in the industry, because
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: that's what that's you know, you kind of like behind
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: the scenes, you put the event on, you set up
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: the event, you promote the event. But the stars are
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: these individuals in front of it? How in the African
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: American community, of the community of color, are the age
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: starting to get in front of the mix? Yeah, I mean, listen,
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: you know it is not unlike traditional sports. You have
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: got to practice and and the common denominator of exceptional
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: gamers pro gamers gamers that win tournaments, UM, gamers that
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: win you know, there's a handful of gamers that win
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: six seven figures, uh, you know a year and joined
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: teams that you know allow for an incredible amount of revenue.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: But the common denominator is the discipline of practice, UM
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: and how much work they put into the burnout age?
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Is that burnout age? Man? You know, there's definitely burnt
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: out um. You know that. But the age is range. Man,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: We'll see you know, kids that are escepsionally talented sixteen
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: and some of that are essionally talented thirty six. Right,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: So you know, I think everybody's got a level of tolerance.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: But but the thing that's so awesome about this industry
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: is there's so many different pathways. You don't have to
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: be just a gamer. You know, you mentioned your daughter
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: graphic design. You know, you can take somebody who has
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: no math science skill, somebody who has no ability to
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: play video games at a high level, somebody that has
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: no graphic design or art skill, and they have a
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: great personality and they can be a broadcast engineer, right right, right, So,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: and that's what I love about it is, Man, there's
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: five six, seven pass It doesn't have to be one.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: You can find out what works for you. Right And
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: my introduction, I said, you know you're committed to attracting, engaging, entertaining,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: and educating you know, individuals in the world of gaming
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: and technology, especially enthusiasts. What about the non enthusiast person.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: How you trying to reach that person, because that's that's
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: once they get then everybody coming over the hill, everybody
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: coming over the hire. So so we're doing a lot
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: of things that are really community focused and community based
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: and that is just aiding exposure and access. So we
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: partner with the Department of Health and Human Services working
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: on a project right now with the Philadelphia DA's office
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: to just try to find a time to host gaming
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: tournaments that happened to occur during peak crime times to
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: be trying to be dissuative, to try to provide access
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and and interest. We're working on a project with with
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Steve Harvey um and And and the young boys that
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: he works with the building a gaming lab um down
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: in Atlanta, being able to you know, to offer these
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: different pathways. We're working with Industrial Industrial Bank out of
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: d C, which is the oldest black bank UH in Washington,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: d C about providing, you know, tech based and academic
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: based opportunities to folks that are just completely unaware. Uh
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: and So it's it's really about awareness and access and
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: then you know you can kind of help, you know,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: point point the right direction. All I know is that
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: when I look at an individual like you, I um,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: I like you said, I have a degree in math
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: but minor sociology, went to work for IBM. Know I'm
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: that enthusiast, but I can't participate. But I respect and
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: understand there is an industry out there that it's blowing up,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: like it said, three billion plus and like you said
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: earlier in your interview Rose during the pandemic, it's not
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: going anywhere because of the fact that people are working
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: remote and there's a world or you know, we just
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: used the word warriorism long time ago. I don't think
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: the word applies now because the warriorism meant that you
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: were just observing. Now we're talking about people actually physically
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: participating in worldwide events. Do you host any of these events? Yeah,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: we will be hosting collegiate events, you know, A partnered
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: with obviously were on campus at Lincoln University, but were
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: partnered with the c I Double A and some different
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: collegiate leagues to host kind of larger events. We're working
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: on some Eastern region events. Uh. You know, but you
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: have to remember, like for us, it's new in the
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: sense that you know, black people have not traditionally participated
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: in the sport, right, And I'm gonna keep it a
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: buck with you. We're not entirely welcome all the time, right,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: So sometimes we're riting into doors and sometimes we're kicking
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: them down. I'm fortunate, uh you know partners at Verizon,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: uh and Logitech and and Microsoft that that care about
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: the diversity of the participant um because without those folks
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: that the door would be double double locked and uh,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: you know, with a with a bar on the door.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: So we're you know, we're working to you know, to
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: continue to make strikes to integrate and and involve US
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: and across the multitude of levels. Well, again, I appreciate
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: you taking the time. It's all about the education for me,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: you know, because of the fact that I sit back
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: and realized that, you know, I was one of those
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: game enthusiasms. As I got over, I got away from it,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: but still from afar went wild. This is special. I
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: remember when I was in college, you know, Management information system.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: That's where the guy told me, if you want to
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: if you want to get a degree, get a degree
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: in m i s. Which is managing data. And you know,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: forty years later he was absolutely correct. That's all we're
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: doing now. Then, Sean is managing and data and and
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: and and and recompile, putting it back there in the
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: in the mainstream so they can participate and enjoy. But
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: more important, brother out of Philadelphia, sitting in the green
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: room doing this thing change in the world. Any part
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: thoughts on what you're trying to do at Metro E Sports. Yeah,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think at the end of the day,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: my hope is that you know, we're able to create
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: an ecosystem, right, I think one of the most difficult
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: things to find in the world, let alone the United States,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: is multicultural tech talent. That's talent pool, right, and so
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: what I'm hoping is that we can leverage kind of
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: the viral popularity of gaming and build our own talent pool.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Well congratulations, I'll be right there with you. So, So,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: if my daughter wants to be a part of this
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: engaging group that she said Richan, I got it, Dad,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: I got it, Dad. How does an individual like that
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: are you recruiting people? Are are you just saying that, hey,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: ra Sean is a platform out there, You find us
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: and then we'll get back to you. How does it
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: we're actively recruiting. Okay, if she wants to buy me
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: an Eagles Jersey certainly can help. I got that for you, brother,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: I go, I got that for you. They gonna get
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: an interview. I got that real talk. We are hiring
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: because we're growing, As I said, we We've got two
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: locations that we're growing with in d c um three
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: more locations here in Philadelphia. I'm working on a project
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: in Los Angeles and hopefully one internationally and Ghana. So, um,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: you know, I would encourage anyone that wants to to
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: to to join this industry. Um. You know, there's there's
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: a multitude of talents. As I told you, I didn't
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: have none of your background. Didn't have the math or
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: science or academic talent quite frankly to be in any
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: of it. Um. So you know your background. If there
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: is a love and an interest in kind of what
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the sport does or what it means, I'm sure we
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: can find a spot for you. I want to thank
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Sean Barry, the founder and CEO or Metro E Sports
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: and Entertainment. Like you just told you, you you know d
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: C Los Angeles, Ghana were importantly he's based in Philadelphia.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: We talked to it. I really appreciate you taking the
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: time to coming on Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Well, thank
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: you so much for a time we talked so pretty
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: hitch all right now