Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Full Episode: Hollywood Super Producer Will Packer, the face of ESPN Stephen A. Smith, Thomas Miles aka Nephew Tommy of the Steve Harvey Morning Show & the Food Network's Gesine Prado

Transcript

Full Episode: Hollywood Super Producer Will Packer, the face of ESPN Stephen A. Smith, Thomas Miles aka Nephew Tommy of the Steve Harvey Morning Show & the Food Network's Gesine Prado · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: advice to many occasions. In the case you didn't notice,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I'm not broke, you know he'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. It's what he likes to do,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: it's what he likes to share. Now it's time to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: hear from my man, Rashan McDonald money making Conversations. Here
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: we come. Welcome to Money Making Conversation. I am your
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: host with Sean McDonald. It's just like I said every week,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: it's time to stop reading other people's success stories and
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: start writing your own. If you have a gift, I
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: always tell you to leave with your gift and don't
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: let your age, friends, family, or co workers stop you
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: from planning or living your dream. My interviews are doing
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: money making conversations or with CEO, celebrities, entrepreneurs, and what
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I like to call industry decision makers. My next kiss
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: is a celebrity. He's truly an interesting decision maker. His
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: name is Will Packer. Will Packers an HPCU graduate of
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Family and holds a Bachelor of Science degree and electrical engineering.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: His company, Will Packer Production has produced films that have
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  Speaker 1: earned more than one billion dollars at the box office,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: and ten of those films have opened at number one,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: including Girls, Trip, Night School. Uh goodness, man, my movies.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: You think like a bad thing, like a bad to
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: ride long ride Long? Whoa obsessed? Breaking in st up
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: to y'all? Come on now he's on the children talking
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: about hbcuth changing your career, narrative, self promotion, and the
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: many projects he is currently producing and have on his
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: production schedule. Please working to money making conversation my man,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Will Packer, Hey, what's happening? My friends? Well, I thank
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: you man. You know our journey man has been an
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: interesting one and uh you know for as your career
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: and just send you open up. But one thing I've
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: always noticed about you, Will, you can kind of change
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the narrative as a producer. You've always been out front
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  Speaker 1: promoting what you do along with some of your projects,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: and it's really changing narrati because now everybody does it
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  Speaker 1: properly and I don't see nothing wrong because you really
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: understood social media from a producing standpoint as an individual
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  Speaker 1: early on. What drove that? You know, it's interest, ey Shane,
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  Speaker 1: you hit it on the head. Uh. Film and television
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  Speaker 1: has always been a director's meeting, and there's nothing wrong
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  Speaker 1: with that at all. But those typically were the only
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: names that you knew, the stars, of course, and then
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: the directors. Well, when I came in as a producer,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I knew how important it was to connect with an ardience.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: And I'll be honest with you to Sean, that really
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: started with my journey at FAMU because I made my
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: first film project, which was Chocolate City, while I was
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: still an undergraduate at FAMU, I was a junior. We
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: shot Chocolate City. This a little bitty movie. We didn't know,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: you know, what it was gonna do. We didn't really
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: know what we were doing, to be honest with you,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: but we had a lot of dry a lot of passion,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: a lot of hustle, and in for that film to
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: be successful, I had to go out to my audience,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: my core audience, which at that time was my family
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: peers that those are the only people that cared about
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: that movie. At that time. We tried to send into
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Hollywood and they sent it back, and try the big
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Friday and Sears, and they sent it back. They try
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: to send it the big actors. They didn't even have
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the courtesy to sent it back to John. They but
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: that's part of the journey. That's what it takes. And
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: I realized I needed to go out and explained to
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: that audience why they should care about this film. And
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: that really started something that I still do to this day,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: which is going out and trying to touch people with
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: every project that I had, trying to connect with people.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Back in the days after Chocolate City, which was that
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: first movie we shot at Family You, we made a
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: movie called Ta. And with Ta, we literally drove all
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: around the country. We drove city to city to city.
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  Speaker 1: We rented a Ford Excursion, which which was a bad plan.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: I realized, I was sean because it takes so much gas.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: It was a big gas. We don't have any money,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: so we spent almost all our promotion money trying to
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: fill up that big old truck. But that's what it took.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: And we went to each city and we would tell
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: people literally hand out flying We go to the mall,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: we go to the church, and we go to the club,
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  Speaker 1: wherever people were, and we'd say, please go see our movies,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Please go see our movie. Well, a version of that
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: is what we do and I still do to this day.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Now we've got social media. You talk about this on
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: your show with Sean. You've got to use the tools
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: that you have access to. You've got to use the
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: resources that are available to you. And so with the
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: advent of the social media and the digital landscape expanding
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: the way that it has, I knew that I didn't
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: needed to use that aspect of my promotion, my grassroots
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: hustle to connect with people, and so that's exactly what
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: we did with some of those big movies that you named.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: But it really started right there on the campus and family,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: going and knocking on doors and trying to get people
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  Speaker 1: to to care about the movie, think them to understand
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  Speaker 1: it wasn't just something that was gonna be released, you know,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: on their campus and maybe they go, maybe they don't.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: I was going around telling people you have to go
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: see this movie, and a version of that is what
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: I still do to this day, do it very well now.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: But your electrical engineer, that was your degree plan. Okay, now, okay,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: it's really interesting because I always tell people, like, you know,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: I wanted to be a stand up I got my
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: degree in mathematics, my mind and sociology. Just because I
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: wanted to go in that direction didn't mean I needed
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: to change my degree plan. And I think it's really impressive,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: and I know you get the reaction I get. What
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: I tell people by degree is in mathematic When you
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: tell people your electrical engineer, they always go huh. And
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: then but they said, but they said in a good
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: way because they're stunned because they know how difficult it
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: is to achieve, because you was an undergraduate as well,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: and they have to re plan. So let's talk about
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: that now. You know, I left my job. I left,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: I graduated math, I went to work for IBM, so
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: everything was normal, and then I went and pursue my
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: career as a stand up comic. You left college with
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: your electrical engineer honors graduate and pursued a Hollywood career.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: What do people think that I was crazy? They do
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: the same thing they thought about you. You know that
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: when you left a good, stable, corporate gig to chase
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: your dream and your passion, They said, what are you doing?
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: You know Hollywood? You know we didn't know where Hollywood was.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: We didn't have a lot of uh, Hollywood connections. We
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: didn't have, you know, big money and resources and all that.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: So people thought it was fanciful. They thought that I
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: was just chasing a dream that was unlikely to ever
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: be realized. But one thing about about dreamers, and you
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: notice Rashane, is that your dream is your dream. Nobody
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: else has it. Don't give anybody else power over your dream.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Nobody owns it but you. And until you say that
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the dream is over, until you say that the dream
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: is dead, until you say that the dream is deferred,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: it's not because as long as you still believe in it,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: it's still got a possibility of happening. And so um.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: I yes, graduated magnicum laude with a degree in electrical engineering.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: And I got into engineering because I was strong in
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: math and science when I was coming up in high
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: school and got a scholarship to attend FAM you in engineering.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: So that's kind of helped to shape that path because
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: I wanted to go. At the time that I first
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: went into college, I didn't know that I was gonna
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: be a filmmaker. I thought I was just going to
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: be an entrepreneur. That was I knew that was my passion,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: and I wanted to go to an Ivy League school,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: but they weren't offering me a single dime and you
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: was offering me a big old scholarship to be in
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: their engineering program. So my parents said, guess where you're going.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: I said, I guess it won't be the IVY. They said,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: you damn right, and so they sent me the family.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: The decision was made for me, and it was the
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: best decision ever. And I took that a ran with
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: it much like you did. Right. I had that solid foundation.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: A lot of people, um, I think underestimate the value
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: of having that solid degree that you had that I have,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Like you know, if if nothing else, I did have
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: that to fall back on, and it forced me to
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: work hard. You work hard to get a degree in math.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: I were hard to get a degree and electric engineer,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: especially graduating mad nicomblaude. But that work also helped to
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: hone and shape my work ethic and the way that
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: I approached projects even today. So I always tell people,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: even if you're not in a field, in a position
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: that ultimately you want to be in for the rest
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: of your life, it's still you, your name is still
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: all the people are watching you that you don't even
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: know always give a hundred ten percent. Well that's key,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: that's key, and that I guess that transitions to people
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: don't know you, but they still believe in your brain.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: That that kind of like our relationship. I was Steve Harvey.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Now I was on Steve Harvard Morning Show and this
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: movie Stumped the Yard came out and I and Steve
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Harvey and I we we would act well, I for
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: made allow us to talk to all the black people
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: in America wherefrom we felt, you know, we're talking to
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: all the black people with number one more than shore
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: in the country. And I told Steve as to Steve,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: let's make this movie. Let's really put some effort. Nobody
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: made a media by, Nobody made the media by. But
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: I said, we gotta start supporting because Steve has the
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: ability and he had such a loyal and passionate fan base.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: I said, let's drive this movie. Let's let's push this
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: movie and make it number one. And I didn't even
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: know you just felt that black projects at that time,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: especially your movie, and it was about fraternity these it
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: was about hbcuth school was hit it hit all of
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: the uh, the points that I wanted to support, and
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: it became number one, and unknowingly that was a really
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: a strong lynch point pen to launching your brand. Correct. Well, listen,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: it's it's what you saw was potential in a young
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: black filmmaker that you didn't know. You saw a project
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: that had the right themes and the right elements that
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: needed to be out there, right, and you supported. You
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: used your platform that you were associated with at that
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: time to help elevate it. That's what we can all
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: do every day, the projects that you see a lot
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: of people sit back and talk about stuff, right, you know,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: all we should it should be more movies like this,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: more content like this, more more politicians like this. But
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: you have the power. Are you putting your brand your money?
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: And I don't mean you have to be Rushy McDonald
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: or even wild Pack the right. You can just be
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: somebody at home. You're voting with your dollars and voting
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: with your clicks. You're voting with you at the balance box,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: literally voting. But people don't utilize their power enough. So
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: you use your platform, which helped to elevate what we
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: were trying to do and if it weren't for people
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: like yourself and others that came in and said, we're
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: gonna go and support this movie. Right, this is the type.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: So these are the types of stories that we want
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: to see on the big screen. There's no way we
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: would have been number one movie in the country for
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: two weeks in a row. As a matter of fact,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: that was because people came out and supported that movie.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: And so I try to make sure that people realize
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: you still have that power today. You don't have to
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: be some big celebrity figure. You got a network. Whoever
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: you are, You've got people that you talk to. I
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: don't care if it's that the Nelson Line, barbershop, online, Twitter,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: whatever it is. You're talking to people. You're connecting with people.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: How are you you seen during network? How are you
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: using your own personal plat Well, you know that you
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: have a highlight ability, and that's really important. I remember
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: that when Steve Harvey blew up, act like a lady,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: think like a man, and uh I remember Oprah came
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: to us about a book opportunity of uh screen gims
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: came to the opportunity. We all said no. And then
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: this black dude who had never met my knife name
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Will Packer called me, said hey man, let's talk. Let's talk,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: and flew down to Dallas, would be a Steve and
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: drove around and convinced us, man that that's a skill.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Will you know that's that's a skill, because I say, no, easy,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: real easy. And but you have learned to be able
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: to disseminate the positive and why this will work and
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: even because you know we will, how much? Just chill everybody, Steve,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: and I've envisioned this to be a white cast, and
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: you said no, Rachean. I got this guy named Kevin Hard,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: and I really didn't know Kevin Hard like you knew
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Kevin Hart. You know you should sure this guy. He's
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the next, next one. He's the next, I said, I said, Steve,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: He's gonna Steve, Steve being Steve. Harp I said he
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: wants Kevin Hard to start it. I said, he's Steve's okay,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Kevin Hard? Huh? I said, yeah, he said he's the one,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: and so we trusted you and the rest is history.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: How do you see talent like that? And because that's
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: what's happening to all your movies, all your problem. You're
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: not number one by accident. You have a skill to
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: be able to see talent and cast it along with
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: great storylines. Talk to us about that. Well. I appreciate you.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you saying average tie, but I also want
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: to give give some love back to you because if
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: you don't take that call, right, you had a lot
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: of people that were calling you, trying to get into
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: your universe, trying to get on there with you and
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Steve and being you guys world. But you took the
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: call and you gave me an opportunity, and I really
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: do appreciate that. Brother. I want to I want to
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: say that, you know, in front of everybody, because if
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: you don't have that opportunity, if I don't have somebody
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: like you that that takes that call, uh, it makes
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: it so much harder for me to get to that
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: next level. And that's basically what I'm doing when it
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: comes to talent like like Kevin hard or or or
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Address Elbow, Tippty Hatters, some people I'm very proud to
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: have have worked with on some of their early projects
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: that kind of launched them into into superstardom. They've got
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: the talent, right, It's not that that you know, um
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: I've had anything to do with Kevin's talent, even amazing
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: comedian and actors saying with Tiffany same with interest in
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: their own rights and other people that I've worked with.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: But I did have a platform, right, I had the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: movie that at that time was a foundation for them
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: to be a launching path for their careers. I'm very
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: proud of them. But I gotta be able to take
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: the call right like you took the call. And I
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: also do have to be able to ascertain who I
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: think has got talent that is I'm gonna call it
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: big screen worthy for the purposes of this conversation, Right, everybody,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: there's some great talent out there that work really well
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: on say Instagram or or on TikTok, and everybody is
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: not set up to be the star of a big
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: television show or a big movie. You do have to
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: and this is something that I've pooned over the years.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: You do have to be able to ascertain whether or
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: not talent has something that is transferable, because all talent
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: is not. But Kevin, for instance, would think like a man,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: he definitely had a transferable skill set. And you aren't
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: the only one that was saying, you know, Who's Kevin
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Hart was the big deal? All the Hollywood was saying,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: trust me, like there was you know, there were not
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: a lot of people knocking down Kevin Thor because he
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: had some products that had come out before that that
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: had failed, right, they were not successful. So people felt like,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: we know Kevin Hart, and we know what the ceiling
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: of his talent is and it's not very high. Whereas
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I felt like that's not true. He was having a
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: moment at that time. People were really connecting with him,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: and I felt like if he just had the right platform,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: he could take it to the next level. So that
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: mirror is the story that you told about how you
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: know when you and Steve allow me to come down
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: to Dallas and pitch movie, it's the same thing. We
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: need an opportunity, You need somebody to give you a
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: chance to listen to you and to see your town.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: You know, It's funny. I talked to people all the
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: time about perception, about perception. I tell everybody, if Vice
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: President Kamala Harris didn't tell anybody what schools she went through,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: they would immediately say Ivy League. They would, I meanly
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: say Ivy League. And so if Will Packard didn't hype
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the fact he graduated from FAM. You they would probably
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: say in USC film School U c l A. They
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: would immediately throw you in the because that's what you
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: supposed to be coming from, according to the industry, according
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: to perception. But you're an HBCU grad. Tell us, Wow,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: the difference that made in your life and how you
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: caring at that mantra, Let everybody know the quality of
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: education and opportunity that is being presented to African Americans
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: or people of color a those schools and they're changing
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: the landscape of America. Yeah, education at the highest levels.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: And that's the thing that um sometimes people even black people,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: uh don't realized and give hbc US enough credit for it.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Is education at the highest level. More importantly though, because
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: you can get a great education at a lot of
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: different places. What you don't get is the sense of
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: community that creates a Kamala Harris, that creates a Will Packer,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: that creates an Oprah Winfrey, that creates a Spike Lee,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: that creates so many folks that have come out of
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: these h b c us and going on to greatness.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: There's a sense of community, there's a feeling of you
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: are good enough, you are important enough, and a a
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: pressure that is in the best way to push you
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: to get to the next level. See, I was somebody
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: that had taken advantage of the fact that I was
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: very often the only black kid in the honors classes
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: and the ap classes um at my high school because
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I I grew up in St. Pete, Florida, and my
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: high school was only tempercent black, and so often times
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I was the only kid in the honors class. I
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: got a lot of attention, right, And I've had a
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: lot of the white kids and white teachers and administrators,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: frankly who underestimated me. And I was savvy enough as
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: srategic enough to take advantage of that. When when I
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: went to fail, they weren't impressed. They were like, we
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: all came from honest class, right, we all know how
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: to talk to talk like you know how to talk,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: will pack. We're not impressed by you. You gotta do more,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: you gotta do something else to make yourself stand out.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: And it really honed the skills that I use today
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: being pitching a movie or selling a project or like
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: you talked about the likability factor, trying to get people
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: to support what it is that I'm doing. I learned
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: all of that at family. So I'm a big proponent
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: of FAMI you and and HBCUs in general. And the
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: thing I think people don't realize is that they're not monolithic,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: and they are truly a pipeline. So many of our professionals,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: I don't care if you're talking about entertainment industry, um,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: the stock market, doctors, teachers, pharmacists, so many of them
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: come from HBCUs. The pipeline is unquestionable, unquestioned and unmatched.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Right it really is? It really is? Now. You know
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: you've revery lately on TV become a relationship man. You
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: know you've been our match man cokein Now you know,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Peter ring on it and got my boy and nephew
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Tommy hosting Ready to Love on own. Now how you
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: how you become? How you get it to the relationship game?
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: I know, thinking like a man, but that was just
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: a movie there, But now you've become a relationship thing.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: The Black Relationship King on TV. Talk to us about that?
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Will I like how that sound? But I take that.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I'll wear that. I wear that crowd. Uh, you know,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I think it was an opportunity man, opportunity that honestly
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: really did start with Things Like a Man. Thing Like
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: a Man was the first relationship movie that I did
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: that really was big. And Uh. It started with the
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: conversation frankly with Oprah. I have a relationship with own
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: and with Discovery, who is the parent company that that
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: owns owned along with Oprah and I sat Uh. I
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: went to to Oprah's house, promising man and talk to
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: her about what I thought was missing. That's what she
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: asked me, where are the opportunities on my network? What
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: is missing? And I said, one of the first things
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: I said, I pitched a uple shows, but one of
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: the first ones was I said, you know, where are
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: the grown African American dating show? I said, It's one
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: thing if you've got people that are dating in their twenties,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: but you don't really know what you want when in
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: your twenties, you know, you're just figuring out, you're learning,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and you know, all of us have been through relationships
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: in our twenties and if it lasted, god bless you, right,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: but a lot of us we don't figure it out
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: until we get to our thirties and forties. And so
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: I said, let's do something that it's for your audience,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: which owns audience is grown funks, right, it is primarily
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: you know, forty plus African Americans. I said, they dating,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: they're trying to figure it out that coming out of
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: out of relationship, that coming out marriages, some of them
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: got kids. What does that look like? And so yeah,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: I got your guy in Nephew, Tommy and Um, we
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: actually have the number one show on Friday nights and
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: I'm so proud of It's called Rady Love Man, and
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: it's it's doing big things for us. When the beauty
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: of it is that I remember just transitioning um to
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: another great black film director and produces, Tyler Perry. And
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Tyler Perry was talking about, Uh, you know he'll call
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: people when he cast him a lot of time when
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: they get casting in this project, he'll call him and
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: and and you know a lot of them don't think
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: it's a prank phone call. Not really. I was talking
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: to interview and Nephew telling me he said, when you
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: called him about Ready to Love, he thought he was
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: being prank because he's the king up ranks. So so
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: when does it get now when you make the phone call?
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Where because I know you make the call and tell people,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: and it's a blessing to tell people they've been cast
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: in different projects. When you started noticing the turn, because
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: at first you're just doing your job and just happy.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: But you're Will Packer, you are a brand. You are
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: in some ways, let's be honest, a career maker, because
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: you can put people in leaving roads, your boxer, box office,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: a star. So that phone call that you make, now
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: it's a little bit different. Now the talent isn't it's different.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: You're right, and I appreciated saying every shot it is.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: It feels good to be in a position to get
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: people opportunities because you're talking about folks that have worked very,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: very hard to get in the position that they're in
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: to be noticed by someone like Will Packer, who has
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: a platform, who has a show, who has a movie, right,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: and so you've worked hard to get yourself in that position.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: When you do get that call, it's amazing. It's nothing
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: like it. It's a true validation not only of the
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: work you put in, but of your talent, because I
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: can't hire everybody that works hard. A lot of people
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: work hard, but you gotta work hard. You gotta have
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: the talent. You gotta have them both and be focused
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: and be persistent, because you can be talented and working
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: hard and still not get a call from a Will Packer,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Tyler Perry, anybody. It's very possible, right, But if you
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: are focused and persistent, you keep working, and if you've
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: got that talent, you just keep getting better and better
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: and better. I think I am a big believer that
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the opportunity will present itself and then it's on you
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: to take advantage when you have that moment. Don't let
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: that moment pass you by. And see that sometimes too, Rashan,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: I see people that, um, they're not ready when the
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: opportunity presents itself, right, Maybe not mature enough, maybe not
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: focused enough. Um. And that's unfortunately because you don't know
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: how many of those shots you're gonna get. When you
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: get that shot I'm taking, I'm taking you go for you,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: run with it and never let it go. That's what
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: somebody like a Kevin Hard or Tivity has done. You know,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: I really appreciate that. But also the reason I love
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: talking to you because you know, we we can laugh
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: at each other and tease each other. Tell you somethingbody
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: will see will will will you know, he threw he
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: threw out a conversation during this interview like it was
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: no big deal. Well, you know, Oprah asked me, what
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: do you think what's missing on my network? Oprah asked me, Now,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: you know, well, when do you get to the point
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: in your life that Oprah asked anybody and ask you
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: And you're like, where I think? Oprah? You know, can
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: you give me a glass of wine? And you got
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: that was a little bit of a name that has
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: a big name, that's a perion there black woman, Okay,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: who is defined blackness for us all the last twenty
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: years of our life. But you're sitting right there now,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: we'll well, we see so many elegant African Americans in
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: the entertainment business that are getting deals, that are getting
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: that being being recognized for the black culture is now
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: being viable. And it's not on the streaming networks but
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: the film and network television that has to make you
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: feel good. Will question now because in fact makes me
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: feel good to be a part of it. Right, Um,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: I am now looking at another generation coming up behind me.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: This everything runs in cycles and the film industry is
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: no different. And so when I was coming up, I
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: was able to look at people like Spike Lee, like
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: the Huddling Brothers, like the Huge Brothers. These were filmmakers
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: that John Singleton god bessed soul. These are people that
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: were making movies when I was trying to get in
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Robert Towns, and I would look at them and say bad,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: I'm just trying to do what they're doing. Right, I
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: got my shot, and I've been very blessed and very
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: fortunate to have a lot of success within that industry.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Now when I look at this new prop of filmmakers
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: that's coming up, I see this cycle. I see this
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: new wave and it's so man, it is so um.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: It's really validating, Mi Sean. I'll be honest with you
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: because it feels like, Okay, the work that I put in,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: laid the pen, laid the foundation and and put in
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: the groundwork so that this next generation can come in
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and I hope surpass everything you know that I've ever done.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I got ten number ones. I hope someday that's somebody
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: with twenty number ones at the box office. Box office
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: a little bit different now, you know the way that
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: they do. You know, everything is on streaming, so we'll
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: see that that record might stand for a while. But
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: the point is that there are a lot, a lot
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: of new African American filmmakers that have a chance to
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: tell their stories. And I'm hopeful that my success because
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: this industry all my success. Right, somebody has a big movie,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: makes a bunch of money, Hollywood wants the next. Who
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: else can do what they do? You know, give us
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: the next you know Ryan Kubin, right, give us the
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: next Shaka King, you know Judice in the Black Masside,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Give us the next whoever it is. Well, I'm hopeful
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: that Will Packer made some of the folks in the
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: industry say, we need another World pack We need to
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: work with some more Black produce because they can be
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: successful the way that Will Packer was. And that, honestly,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: that's legacy, and that's really what you're doing for Honestly,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, that's what I'm most
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: proud of my life. Well, I've always been most proud
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: of the fact that you understood value because you understood
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Rashaan number one. I remember when we were after we
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: did think like a man. We were talking on the
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: phone and you go here for Sean uh put a
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: little extra juice. So on this one, you know, because
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: y'all hype it up. It's a little bit more because
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: I want to be number one. You knew as far
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: as your brand, by hanging on to that mantro or
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: releasing number ones, it would pay off down the line.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: And it's like I said, ten, that is nothing. Well,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell yourself never been done before. Okay, white
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: or black, never been done before. And so but you
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: always have a vision about that. Now that leads to
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: these upcoming projects that you have coming out ed Universal
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: and then you're also developed a Doug Williams bio pick
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: talk about the upcoming projects in the podcast that you
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: have rolling out again the will pack of brand. You
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: know what, First of all, I got amazing team and
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Amy Rashan, and I want everybody listening to this to
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: know that, like, at the end of the day, you're
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: only as strong as your team, right It's it's my
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: name is at the top of the of the company
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: letterhead and all of that. But at the end of
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: the day, I got good people around me. And so
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: as you're looking to build yourself up and and do
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: what we've talked about in this interview, make sure you've
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: got to write people around you. Uh, and we're busy, man,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: we are busy. We we announced an a podcast deal
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: with My Heart as you know, um, one of the
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: the major, the biggest in terms of podcasting, but one
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: of the major audio services that are out there. So
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: we're doing podcast We've got one dropping this summer. It's
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: a narrative podcast. So it literally is us getting a
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: chance to develop stuff which may turn out to be
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: a movie or a television show later, but it's starting
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: off in the podcast format. Um, I'm going to shoot
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: with in Yourselvil, who we talked about, uh this summer,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: I've got a movie called Beast that I'm excited about.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: It is in Yourselvi's he's uh he's trapped in the
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: jungle with a man eating lighting, a man eating lying,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: chasing him and his family. Now, so that's excuse me,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: fun escapeists fair. Um, so that's good. And then we've
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: got um a television show called Bigger which is airing
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: on BT Plus right now. Uh So if you don't
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: have BT Plus, check it out go stream at. Tyler
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Perry has uh all his content on BT Plus. This
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: show is called Bigger is fun sexy comedy has grown
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: now it's definitely grown a little bit edgy. Uh you
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: you were like Gira shot it's it's good. Uh. Then
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: of course you talked about rady love on Friday Nights.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: I got another relationship show called Put a Ring On
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: It about couples that have been dating for a very
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: long time but have never gotten married, and they do
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: the social experiment where they see what would happen if
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: you allow your significant other to date someone else for
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: thirty days? What happens and at the end of those
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: dirty days does it make your relationship stronger? Does it
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: tear it apart? So that's called put a Ring on It?
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: And that was a yeah, man, that that was. That
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: was open his face when I pissed that one too,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: exactly just he said, Oh, you're trying to get people
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: in trouble. Uh. So were busy, busy, got a lot
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: of stuff happening, and you've got Now you've got Dunk Williams.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: God tell us about Doun Williams. Do day Williams man,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: absolutely listen. We talked about hbc U, we talked about
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: overcoming adversity. He is the epitome, the troop personification of that.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Doug Williams first black quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Super Bowl m v P UM a personal hero of mine.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: We're actually doing his story, Rashan, thank you for bringing
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: that up. We're doing his story as a big screen biopic, Um,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: and he deserves the big screen telling. He is the
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: precursor to Russell, with Wilson and Patrick Mahomes and Cam
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: Newton and Lamar Jackson and Colin Kaepernick. He was the
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: first one to go out and succeed at the highest
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: levels through all the adversity. Because you know how it is.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: He had a lot of folks that were rooting against
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: him and said, you can't do it as a black quarterback.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: You're not smart enough, you don't have what it takes,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: you don't have the leadership. But he did and he
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: went out and won, and so we're gonna tell his
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: story and give him the big screen treatment. I'm very
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: excited about that. Well, well, well, thank you for taking
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: the time and come on money making conversations. Man, your
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: special brother. Appreciate you, and you know coming to me,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: I'm always going to promote what you gotta say, even
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: when I know you and I don't know connector I
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: appreciate you, my friend, all love, brother, thank you. We
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: will be right back with more money making conversations with
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: your hosts Rashaan McDonald. It's finally here, the season of celebration.
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• 32:01
  Speaker 1: The issues of diversity and inclusion in the workplace remain
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  Speaker 1: at the forefront of national conversation. The COVID nineteen pandemic
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  Speaker 1: is exposed and heightened glaring inequalities around the world. Carla
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Grant Pickens is the IBM Chief Diversity Officer. Carla tell
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  Speaker 1: me a little bit more about what it means to
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  Speaker 1: We really have opened up people to be able to
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  Speaker 1: and a successful interview process that will yield a higher two.
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  Speaker 1: We are deploying learning to all of our managers and
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  Speaker 1: more information, just go to IBM dot com, front slash
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: b equal Hi I am ras Sean McDonald hosts a
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  Speaker 1: money Making Conversation dot com. The Cafe Mocha Swag Award
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  Speaker 1: our community by empowering others to reach their life goals.
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  Speaker 1: They go through the year program and once they finished,
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  Speaker 1: have strength, whose wisdom is assertive, and who genuine in
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: their spirit. Welcome back to money Making Conversations with your host,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Rashwan McDonald. My next guest is Stephen A. Smith. He
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: is the recognized face of ESPN Sports because on ESPN
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: he hosts First Take and Sports Center's NBA Show hosted
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: by Stephen A. Smith. He is a proud graduate of
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: an HBCU, future book author, runs his own production company,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: and the executive producer of the hit ESPN Plus show
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: stephen A's World. Please working the money making conversation, my man,
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: stephen A Smith. How you doing? Stephen? What's going on? Man?
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: How you doing? I want to get this out the
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: the way real early stevement. You know, everybody know I'm
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: based in Atlanta, Georgia. You know you travel between New
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: York and Los Angeles. And I look at my phone
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: and I get a text and I see this guy,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: you know, crouching behind this car, you know, and he
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: looks like he's a uh police officer. Ser he looks
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: like he's acting on the soul proper. And I said,
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: that's my man print. What's what's going on in Stephen?
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: They what do they have you doing on TV? Now? Man? No?
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, I got a recurring role on the soap
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: opera General Hospital. My character's name is Brick. I'm a
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: surveillance expert for the mob headed by Sonny Corinthos Uh
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: In real life, his name is Maurice Bernard's character in
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: General Hospital Sonny corenthos Um. His his henchman is right here.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: Man is Jason Morgan. And essentially I worked for and
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: with a really really pretty much with those guys. And uh,
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: I was a surbillance expert for the mob. But this
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: particular scene, UM, I had to help out the henchman,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: Jason Morgan, so we had to break him out of prison,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: and uh I was the driver. But also obviously I
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: was an enforce of myself as you saw, because I
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: had to shoot somebody and kill somebody, you know, in
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: order to get him out of their safety. Sound that's
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: how you know, we we play around because just watching
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: you act, you know, is fun to me. But you
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: really take your acting. You don't believe you really have
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: the talent to act, but we all know you have
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: the talent. While you so humbul about your acting. Well,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: because I've never it's you know, I've got such profound
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: respect for the thesbians, the guys and the girls out
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: there that you know, the ladies out there that have
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: done such a phenomenal job taking this profession seriously, studying it,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: uh from a very young age, going to school for it,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: learning the tricks of the trains per se. Me. I've
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: never done any of that. I'm a guy that's a
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: sports announcer. I'm a sports commentator and broadcaster. I'm a journalist.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: I've been a newspaper journalist and you know, before transitioning
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: the radio and television for the past twenty eight years.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: And so because I've never put the work into the profession. Essentially,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: what I do is go about the business of making
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: sure that I'm gonna arize my lines to the best
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: of my ability, so I'm not a hindrance or an
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: impediment to the success of the show. Uh in that regard.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Outside of that, I just followed their lead. I listened
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: to what Maurice Bernard and and Steve Burton, who plays
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: those characters that I mentioned earlier. I listened to what
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: they tell me to do, how they tell me to
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: do it, along with executive producer Frank Balance team. They
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: all think I can act. They all think that I've
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: done an incredible job. But I give all praise to
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: them because of how much they've helped me and how
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: much they've embraced me being a part of the show.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: And that's where the humility comes in, because they could
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: have made it difficult if they wanted to. They never
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: ever ever did it, not for one second. They invited
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: me on the show, they asked me to do it,
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: and they've been incredibly supportive. And I think that, you know,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: being a part of it has really really helped me
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: appreciate you, you know, actings and actresses even more. It's
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: allowed me to take that very significantly more seriously, and
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: now I am interested in learning more and doing it
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: because it's something to be said about being able to
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: play a character and that character is allowed to do
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: whatever they write for the character to do, and it's
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: not held against you. You know, you could be you
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: could be a killer, you could be a criminal, you
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: could be Gandhi for crying and allowed. Whatever the role
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: calls for. It's acting. And if you do it, and
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: you do it well, the public tends to appreciate the
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: role that you're playing and then they leave you alone
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: on a personal level. And that's a beautiful thing. Well,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: it's the funny thing about you is that you're You're
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: so talented, but you also are I don't want to
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: admit certain skill sets because I feel you're really funny, okay,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: and the opportunities to come you away. You're funny on
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: your show you I guess we can use the word sarcastic,
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: which leads you to being funny. Can you Stephen A.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: Smith host Saturday Night Live? I think I can host
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: Saturday Night Live one night, But I think I would
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: need the help of Pete david Ston and Chris red
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: And and all of those guys. I would definitely need
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: the assistance. The only thing I ever worry about is
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: the opening monologue. In terms of just playing the role
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: or whatever for a show or whatever the case may be.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: I know I can do that. Um, I have aspirations
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: to host late night television someday because I don't you know,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: since our senior Hall has departed, I think there's been
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: a gap on network television that hasn't been fulfilled, and
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: I'm confident that I could be able to do that,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: But I would still need writers to help me with
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: the opening monologue because I want to be as funny
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: as I possibly can be, and my confident that I
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: can do these things shut But I compare myself to
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: the elite of the elite, the creme dela creme, because
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: I'm not trying to be average or just good at
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: anything that I choose to do as a profession. If
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do it, my goal is to ultimately
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: assent to a point where I'm considered one of, if
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: not the best, at what I do. I strive for
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: excellence constantly and to meet anything short of it, I'm
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: just another guy doing the job, and I never want
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: to be just another guy doing the job. So that's
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: always my goal to be elite at whatever it is
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: that I choose to involve myself within whatever I choose
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: to do, and that's where it comes from, and that's
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: that's just my mindset all the time. So why are
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: you so competitive? Because that sounds like a competitive mindset.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: What drives that is is the ability of wanting to
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: be number one, or the fact growing up or in
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: college you didn't feel you got the right of credit
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: for your accomplishment. What drives that competitive comes from it all.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: I got left back in the fourth grade because at
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: the first grade reading level, I was called the dummy,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: and I was you know, I had guidance counsels and
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: others laughing at the notion of me ultimately going on
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: to get a college education. Um. All my life, I've
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: been doubted. I've been marginalized and minimized to some degree, um,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: at least in the initial process. And I don't recall
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: a time ever where I've walked into a situation and
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: the assumption was I was going to be great. I've
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: always had to prove myself. So I combined that with
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: the reality that we live in a capitalistic society. To
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: the victors go the spoils. Uh. If you want something,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: if you want something bad, you're gonna have to go
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: get it. Really is it going to be handed to you?
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: Almost never? If you're a black man and understanding that
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: reality and knowing those obstacles that I'm going to face. Ultimately,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: somebody has children, no matter what profession it is, no
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: matter what your job description is, no matter what your
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: job title is. Ultimately something someone is chosen, and if
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: you're chosen, it's usually at the expense of somebody else,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: and if somebody else has chosen, it's usually at the
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: expense of you. So thereby that reality alone brings into
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: the equation competition. That's what competition is. And because that's
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: the situation, I embrace it. I accept it because I
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: know it's a reality that's never going to escape me
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: in my lifetime with the world that we're living in.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: So since I embrace it, embrace competitive furvor. Understand that
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: you're competing with other people. Understand that you're not the
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: only one who wants what you want. Every but everybody
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: can't get it. So put your best foot forward. And
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: if you have to put your best foot forward in
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: order to get what you want, that means you have
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: to maximize your potential um and that means you have
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: to notice what your potential is and what it isn't.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: So there's so many different steps that come with it.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: I understand it. I recognize it. I accepted um, and
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: more importantly, I embrace it. I like the competition because
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: if I do get the things that I want, it
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: means I'm one of, if not the very best at
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: what I do. And I will not apologize for liking
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: to be the best. Well the Well, that's true, I
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: know that for a fact. But you went to an
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: HBCU and our hbc use um, what would you say
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: the reputation is of an HBCU and then what did
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: you get out of going to an HBCU. Well, I
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: think people outside of the world of HBCUs view it
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: as black colleges, and they stopped right there. It's a
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: place for black people to go to get their education
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: because they probably want qualified to get into a predominantly
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: white institution. I think that's the thought process of those
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: outside of HBCUs. For those who have attended HBCUs, we
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: know it's far more than that. Obviously, you have professors
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: that are incredibly capable, You have administrative officials and are
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: like who are incredibly capable, from the chancellor on down,
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: and so you have that going on, and then the
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: student body itself. It's just a different environment. Because you're
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: surrounded by people who look like you, who share your
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: cultural identity, obviously a lot of your experiences that you
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: may have ended growing up and beyond, and so as
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: a result, you have a support system. You don't feel
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: like you're, you know, a dot in the ocean of
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: folks that don't look like you and don't share any
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: kind of identity with you. You feel like you're a
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: part of a brotherhood, of the sisterhood, of a family.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: You have professors who don't just care about grades, they
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: care about your well being. They invest in you because
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: you're one of them, and it's in their best interest
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: to see you as sin and to see you succeed.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: Uh to to like that maybe you didn't even imagine,
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: and so because you walk into that, this actually add impression.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it could be even a bit harder than you imagine,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: because the interest in you elevates not just from a
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: professional on an academic level, but to a personal level.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: They place a personal invested interest in you because they
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: consider you an extension of them and therefore a reflection
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: of them. And if you if you don't succeed, you're
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: not only letting yourself down, you're letting those professions down,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: you're letting down the institution that repres that you represent,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: and you're letting down HBCU folk everywhere because you're contributing
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: to a stigma or a level of skepticism that people
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: outside of HBCUs may have that is completely inaccurate. But
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: you've attached the level of legitimacy to their skepticism and
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: their cynicism. And so when you recognize that challenge, you've
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: got to embrace, uh, the reality that you're supposed to
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: want to debunk those those skeptics, those cynics at every time.
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: You want to show them that, indeed, this is what
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: you can do. And so for me, I remember when
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: I was working for the New York Daily News. Before
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: I worked for the New York Daily News, it was
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: because I got offered an internship with the met Pro
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: Internship program, and that was a collaboration between New York
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: News Day and Los Angeles Times Daily newspapers where they
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: were taking interns from all over the country and employing
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: them throughout their various papers throughout the country. And there
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: was twenty four candidates, I'm sorry, it was twenty four
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: people that was chosen, but over three thousand candidates. I
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: was one of the twenty four. And you had people
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: that went to your Columbia, University of Columbia, Missouri UM,
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: you know, Columbia, New York Ivy League schools, usc U,
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: c l A, Northwestern, various other journalism programs, and they
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: had incredible grades. What I had was two hundred and
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: fifty published clips before I even graduated, because I had
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: interned at the Winston Sailing Journal, to Greensburg News a Record,
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: the Atlanta Journal Constitution, back at the at the Winster
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: Seiling Journal. Plus I had written for the newspaper before
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: I ever graduated. Because I understood that coming from an
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: HBCU what I was going up against, I understood that
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: I had to do a little extra and I had
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: to be a little bit different in order to put
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: my foot forward into really stand out, to make sure
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: I wasn't just a name on a resume. You knew
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: exactly who the hell I was, and that's what I
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: went about the business accomplishing. Of accomplishing, I did it
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: and I beat out those people, and it was really
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: an indication of what was to come because I realized
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: throughout my career I would have to face similar challenges
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: and I would have to overcome similar similar obstacles in
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: order to get to where I wanted to be. And
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: that's what I did. Well. That statement allows me to
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: transition to I like to call it the book, the memoir.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: Why is that important to get your stories on paper?
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: And then you've been approached by a major publishing company
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: and giving an opportunity to tell your story? Why is
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: your story important? And how would it help people when
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: they read about your story? Because the people who are
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: closest to me, the people who love me, uh, the
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: people who have known me for a very long time,
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: my family, my friends, people like you, um y'all insistent
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: on that I was actually reluctant and hesitant to write
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: my own book for a very very long time. I
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: literally said, although I had a national television show that's
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: been number one in the morning for nine years in
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: counting UM, I literally and I was I've been an
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: NBA analyst, and obviously my success at the ESPN speaks
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: for self. I literally was saying, why would anybody want
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: to read a book for me? And so many people
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: came forward like, what the hell are you talking about?
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: What was wrong with you? Everybody needs to hear at
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: your story. Everybody needs to hear what you endured, what
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: you have to experience, what you had to go through
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: to get to this place that you're here now, what
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: you succeeded, has been some unprecedented stuff to once to
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: be let go by ESPN just a decade ago into return,
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: and to be their number one guy at the network,
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: the face of the network just ten years removed from
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: them letting you go and saying goodbye. This is some
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: unprecedented stuff for you to get left back because you
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: couldn't read, you could accomprehend what you were reading as
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: a fourth grader with a first grade reading level, and
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: to excel in the field of journalism and broadcasting. That's
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: some unprecedented stuff. To be the figure that you are,
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: where you walk into arenas and you're more popular than
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: most of the athletes. This is unbelievable. You've got a
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: story to tell, and it took a lot of convincing
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: over the years. But I do think at this particular juncture,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: this particular moment in time, now is the time. Now
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: is the time to just sit back and to tell
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: the world who I am, what I've endured, what where
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: I've come from and how I got here. You know,
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: when people look at me and I used to say,
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: I'm angry and I take myself too seriously, I was like,
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: first of all, they don't know me because I know
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: how to laugh and smile and tell jokes just like
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: the best of them. But in the same breath, you know,
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: what would you feel like if you were conquering one
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: obstacle after another and you were called an affirmative action
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: higher that the only reason why you got this job
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: is because you're black. That if you're a white guy,
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: you know what, it wouldn't have happened for you like that.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: You know, it's just that we're living in a different
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: age and stuff like that, where people are catering and
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: capitulating the African Americans and stuff like that. This is
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: what I've been told, this is what has been written
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: to me, death threats that have come my way, and
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: stuff like that. I've gone through a lot because I've
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: succeeded because people didn't want me to be in a
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: position that I'm in. And a lot of times, what
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, it's not that people have a problem with
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying. They have a problem that my black
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: behind is in the position that I'm in two say
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: it and to disseminate and have a reach that spans
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: tens of millions of people. They have a problem with that.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: And so when you face those challenges on a day
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: to day basis and you are just flummix and inundated
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: with people coming your way. And it's not just the
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: people support you, is cynics and skeptics who want to
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: hate on you. The list goes on and on and
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: you're still standing. But you're not an athlete, You're not
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: a rap artist. You know, you're not an actor and actress. No,
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: this is what this is what you're doing. You did
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: it as a journalist. Um, there's a story to be
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: told there. I finally was convinced that there's a story
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: to be told there. Compassionate more than ever before about
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: telling that story and I'm looking forward to doing it.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: Stephen Age World, That's what we're talking about right now.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: ESPN Plus the number one new show ratings are on
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: fire right now. And it's about you. Is that pressure
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: because it's about you? Or it is the fun of
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: that It is about you and your vision it on
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: a daily basis, talk about steven eighths world, it's both. Uh,
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: it's it's definitely fun because I don't run from the
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: responsibility of controlling my own destiny. A matter of fact,
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: the challenge for me is to have to lean on
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: others to control my destiny. Uh, to to make sure
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: that what I produce is top notch and it's a
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: quality it's a quality programming and what have you. To
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: be the executive producer, to be the production company. Co
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: producing in a concert with ESPN is an incredibly, incredibly
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: big deal because I think it's gonna open doors for myself,
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: for you as my partner, as my business manager. Uh,
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: you know, for my family, Uh that I never never
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: would a dream could have been open. So in that regard,
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: it's definitely fun. It's about me and I got that part.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: But it's an immense amount of pressure, there's no question
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: about it. But if pressure phases you, then I'm in
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: the wrong business. Um is what I live for. I
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: I don't I don't have a problem. I'm not scared
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: to fail, scared if I didn't do all it took
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: to succeed. I'm scared if I took shortcuts. I'm scared
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: of of not making sure that I prepare myself for
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: the opportunities that are going to come my way. But
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: I believe that if I'm at my best with anything
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: that I'm doing, no one can stop me, no one
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: in and in a meritocracy environment. Um if an environment
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: based on merit, if you want to get political, and
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: there's the figurative proverbial glass ceiling that's hovering over me,
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: where I can't see where the darts and arrows are
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: coming from, and people are back during and and and
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: and cheating and being shady in their mission to keep
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: me down or to precipitate my demise, that would be different.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: But in terms of the merit where you show me
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: what the obstacles are, you give me a fair opportunity
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: to excel. I believe that my a game is just
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: as good, if not better, than anybody on this planet.
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: And that's how I approached things when I'm in front
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: of that camera. You know, I believe I'm the Michael
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: Jordan's of television. I truly do. And I'm talking about
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: you know, sports television. To be exact, I believe I'm
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: the Michael Jordan of television. And I'll show you how
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: literal I am with it. I just spoke to Michael
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: Jordan yesterday and I told him yesterday I'm the Michael
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: Jordan's of television, of sports television. I really feel that way,
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: and I think I'm better per se. It's just I
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: feel I can't be stopped cool. Uh, So what did
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: Michael Jordans say when you said, you know, Michael Jordan?
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: You started laughing, You started laughing. He said, You're crazy
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: or you Chris. But he was on the golf course.
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: He said, had to go. But you know he I
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: knew he had to go. But that that's the kind
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: of conversations Um, that you know, you know I've had,
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: because you know, I don't think you know I when
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: I give speeches. Rather I tell people this all the time,
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: I'm brilliant, because I know I'm not. I steal from
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: people who are brilliant. I learned from them, and I
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: learned successful habits. I learned what to eradicate and dismiss
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: and then I move forward. That's what and so for me, Um,
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: that's where it's at. That's where I'm coming from. And uh,
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: you know, that's the approach that I have with everything
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: that I do. I'm gonna ask two qutions of I
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: ask you is the same subject matters about being able
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: to dominate and become a force in social media, that's one.
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: And then the popularity of Baby stephen A. Yeah, those
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: two things tend to intertwine, but they've they've taken you
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: to another level on the social media side and then
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: on the Baby stephen A side. Talk about those two brands. Well,
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: for me, uh, baby baby stephen A, I take I
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: give all the credit to the folks and social media
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: because about a year or so ago, you know, they
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: attached the baby face me to my face and it
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: was kind of funny, you know, it was hilarious actually,
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: and I said, you know what, that's something that I
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: want to do so periodically on social media. UM, I
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: do that out there. Um. And folks loved it. And
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: because they loved it, you know, once I started to
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: my show, I said, you know what it has to be.
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: You know, it has to be on the show like
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: an alter ego of mind or whatever. Because Baby stephen
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: A is arguing with stephen A all the time. You know,
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: he challenges me even though he's a baby, you know.
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: Indicative of today's generation of youth where they come at
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: you and they think they know everything. Breath smelling like
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: simulac wet behind it is. They don't know a damn
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: thing yet because they're too young, but they think they
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: know everything, just like I thought I knew everything when
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: I was younger. You know, all of those kind of things,
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: And so I just incorporate some of those things into
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: it and it's just taken off. And it's really really
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: funny the way they digitize everything. It makes it look
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: like the baby face and all of that stuff. So
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: that's great, um, But in terms of everything else, like
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: I said, you know, I'm from Holly queens Man, New
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: York City, the end. I went to an HBCU wins
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: the Salem State. I grew up in the streets in
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: New York City. I have four older sisters. I got
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: thirteen niems I'm sorry, fifteen nieces and nephews. You know,
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: the greatest mom in the world guard rested Solo passed
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: away in seventeen and you know my dad had passed away,
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: you know, sixteen months later. Stuff like that. There's a
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: lot of family stories that I could tell. A lot
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: of us can do that where I can imitate my mother.
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: I can imitate my sisters or I peel a lot
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: of ideas from my personal experiences growing up, not just
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: in terms of voices, diction, cadence, how people talk to you,
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: how they deliver certain things, stuff like that, um, in
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: terms of speaking to you. All of those things contribute
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: to characters that I try to bring and incorporate on
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: my show because I think those I think there's a
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: lot of fun memories and stuff like that. Like, for example,
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: I got one of my boys literally literally Rashanda is
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: the absolute truth. One of my boys literally was sucking
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: his thumb until he was forty two years old. I
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: mean I didn't even bring him to the screen yet.
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, he was one of those and he was
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: like Steve Yo, Steve Yo, you tripping. It was stuff
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: like that, and so you know, I'm like, just imagine
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: if somebody like that was on TV, people would be crying.
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: Levin he had grown, man, but he he just stopped
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: sucking his thumb a decade ago. Literally a decade ago.
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: He was sucking his dumb through college. He never stopped.
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: And it's just I like, they have no idea. You
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: know the kind of guys that I grew up with,
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: the kind of people that I've been around, the personalities.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: So it's always it's always easy for me to peel
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: compelling stories, and you've been around me, they'll just pop
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: into my head on me is something, and I'll tell
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: a story of what I experienced and what I endured,
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: and all of those experiences contribute to me put it
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: forth a product on the screen that everybody can see
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: that I think will make people laugh and a little
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: bit of levity to the situation. Uh, and just let
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: people know I'm trying to make them laugh, trying to
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: make them have a good time and enjoy watching me.
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: Even though I do have a serious personality, I do
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: like to laugh. I do like to have fun. I
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: do like to make other people smile when I can.
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: And so that's just the kind of things that I
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: try to bring to my show. The ultimate goal late
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: night Talk and seeing you do interviews on Stephen Age
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: World and seeing I've seen you know, first of all,
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: you're talented at it, let's get that out of the way.
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: But seeing the people that you don't know and going
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: into genres that you're not familiar with and then familiarizing
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: yourself with their their work and interviewing them and then
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: seeing people come back on your show, what pride do
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: you take? And watching that growth of your show and
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: seeing these major stars come on your show, which is
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: on the ESPN Plus flat platform, which is sports are driven,
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: but they're ignoring that. Coming to talk to stephen A Smith,
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: I'm proud of but I'm even killed. And the reason
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: why I'm even killed, Like you know, they're sometimes you,
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: My sisters and others would be like, man, you should
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: be a far more excited. I mean, my god, the
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: numbers that you're bringing in, uh to ESPN Plus. Now,
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: what you've contributed to subscriptions, what you know, what you're
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: doing on linear television with First Take and sports and
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: sports and it was stephen A and blah blah blah
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: blah blah. What people don't realize is that, you know,
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: I peel it from what Denzel Washington once told me.
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: You know, I asked him what was the best film
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: he ever made? His answer was the next one. He said.
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: The work that I do, he said, is the work
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: that I do, the finished product and all the accolades
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: and adulation and celebration and everything else that comes with
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: it is for all of you all to do. He said,
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: this is my profession, and so what I do is
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: I'm about the business of doing the best work I
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: can possibly do. That's where he's at. For me, where
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: that elevates to another level is that he's a supreme
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: movie star. I'm in television. I'm not doing a show
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: twice a month, once a week. I'm doing it every day.
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: So I don't have the in my mind. I don't
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: have the luxury of sitting back and just enjoying you
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: know what, everybody else is celebrating. Wow, it's a great show.
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: It's this that all that says to me is I
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: gotta give it to them tomorrow too. I gotta give
• 59:34
  Speaker 1: it to them Friday, and then I gotta give it
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: to them next week Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. In
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: the week after that and the week after that and
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: the week after that. I focused on the task at
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: hand because I'm the one that has to perform. You know,
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: I could sit up there. Rashan McDonald is a brilliant
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: business manager, Incredible with ideas, very focused, you know, meticulous
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: with scheduling and the light. There's so many things it
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: that you handle that makes my life easier my assistant,
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: Smatra Hawkins does a sensational job of that as well
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: as well as as you well know, my sister is
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: like my sister, Calmen is like my Ace, even though
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: Linda and all In and Abigail were close to you know,
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: but I have I have all of these people around
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: me along with my boys that I grew up with,
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: my boys from college. I got an incredible inner circle.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: Not to mention the people that I know in the
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: world of supports that I've learned to cultivate relationships with
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: and they become dear friends of mine and loved ones.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: I'm surrounded by a lot of people, and it's a great,
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: great thing to see. But in the end, I'm the
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: one that has to step in front of that camera
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: and that microphone and do the job. And I can't
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: let everybody else down and myself down by being caught
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: up and what I've done that I forget what I
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: have to do. And I think that that's the reason
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: that my bosses support me so much, because they have
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: to think that way too. ESPN is the world wide leader.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: They they're they're the behemoth. They can't walk around saying
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: we're the behemans we're the world wide leader, so we
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: don't have to do anything. They have to come to
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: work every day striving to live up to a standard
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: that they've set, and the people that they in trust
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: has to have the same mentality as well. And so
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: what I try to do is to make sure that
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: I'm I prove that I'm trustworthy when they pay me
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: this latest contract and we agree to it. That contract
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: is through June of five. They have They essentially said,
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: we trust that what you gave us to earn this
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: contract here, you're going to continue to give us for
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: years to come. And it's my job to make sure
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: I don't let them down by making them out to
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: be liars. That's the approach that I have. That's how
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: I focus UM and that's how I go about doing
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: my job all the time. Stephen A, thank you for
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: coming on money making conversation. I appreciate Thank you. Bro.
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: If I could be you and you could be me
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: for just one hour, if you could find a way
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: to get inside each other's mind, walk a mile in
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: my shoes, wacome mile in my shoes, walcome shoes. We've
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: all felt left out, and for some that feeling lasts
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: more than a moment. We can change that. Learn how
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: it belonging begins with us dot org. Brought to you
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: by the ACT Council. Welcome mile in machines. What grows
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: in the forest trees? Sure you know what else grows
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: in the forest. Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: near you and start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot org.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: the AD Council. Hi everyone, i'l Rooker here as a
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: guy with his own catchphrase. I appreciate that Smokey's only
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: said only you can prevent wildfires, But I'm filling in
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: because there's a lot more to report, like when they're parched,
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: their windy conditions out there. You gotta be extra careful
• 1:03:17
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  Speaker 1: start anywhere, even in your neck of the woods. Go
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: to Smokey Bear dot com to learn more about wildfire prevention.
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: Brought to you by the U. S. Forest Service, your
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: State Forrester, and the AD Council. Right next, because I've
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: known for a very long time, nephew Tommy A K.
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: Thomas Miles. I made him when he was Thomas Biles.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: So that's how fall back we go. His career includes radio, television, film, Prank,
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: Phone Call, Soul Dot, Comedy Dates, and he is hosting
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: owns relationship show Ready for Love by the incredible super
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: super producer Will Paca. Nephew Tommy co hosted nationally syndicated
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: Thief Harford Morning Show, and his new food line include
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: Grits two flavors, Hardened Soul and Spicy Love. The website
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: right now, I said so that so it's called just
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: good Grits. But next month he's dropping the whole new
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: product line with it, and so you'll be able to buy,
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: probably be able to buy when this episode airs. Please
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: work with the money making conversation. A K. Thomas Miles,
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: Nephew Tommy. I was gonna do it that way, man.
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: Good to be here without how you doing? Man, Really good, man,
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: really good. I was excited. Man. You know, they sent
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: me your bio and they send a list of questions
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: and everything. But you know, I zee in a few times.
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about Ready for a little, but I
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: see it in right on them grits, brother, the grits
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: and those grits. You know what shot. I had no idea.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: I um hardening up with this guy in Houston, who's
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: who's Who's been cooking for years and I wanted am
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: I needed an extra turkey for Thanksgiving and never met
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: this guy before in my life. I bought a turkey
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: from it, and when I was leaving, he said, hey,
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: do you like grits? I was like, yeah, I love
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: gritz He said, when take this season and put it
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: in your grits next time your wife cuts grits for
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: you said all right, and I never got around to it.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: The guy calls me back and says, hey, did you
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: did you try the grid season? IF like, nah, I'm
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: done it yet, and and then I don't know. A
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: week later, I told my wife, hey, let's try these
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: grids thru Sean. When I tried those grids and oh
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: my god, you got something. And you know, he and
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: I went back and forth collaborating on changing the seasoning
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: and changing this and that, and we finally got what
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: we want. So um that heart and Soul is the
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: original and that that that uh, that that that spicy
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: one is the next one behind, and then I gotta go.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: You know, you know there's always a grits debate, right
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: right right, you want sugar in your grids, that's always debate.
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: So so I'm coming up with Swede and Sassy so
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: we can have a sleep. Okay, Okay, So we got
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: the whole world of grits coming, man. So next month,
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: be on the lookout. I'm gonna be calling you. But
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna want to be on here again so I
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: can talk about these grids. Well, first of all, you know,
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: I'm like gonna turn your weight. We're talking about grits
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: because both of us from Houston, Texas, so we Southern boys,
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: and so because grit's man. You know, when you get
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: the real black people, the black people in the you
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: know that grit stuff, that grit talk, because you know,
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: we forgot the bacon and grease, the bacon grease. They
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: go over grits to man, because grits has so much love.
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: To remember, Steve Thieve arves the love when I cook
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: grits because you know I can cook grit So when
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: I saw grits as part of your you know, your
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: entreprenturit newership. You know, you can get a lot of
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: all you do T shirts, you do the prank phone calls,
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: you do a lot of great things. But but to
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: go into this venture called Just Good Grits. That's grit
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: was a z dot com. You can go check it
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: out right now, Just Good Grits Z instead of the
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: S dot com. You can see right now. It has
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: hard and soul and spicy love. Because when I saw
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: your image on the box, I just I just started smiling, Thomas,
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: I really did. Man, Thank you, man, thank you. And
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: you know what you got me thinking. When my mama
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: used to cook grits. She would cook the grits and
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: then you would mix the eggs in there with you. Hey, hey, Thomas,
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: is the right if you know? You know, it's so
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: many once you start doing. That's why I told you
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: I'm dropping my TV show called Rashaan's Kitchen in Atlanta
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: two million homes gonna be a Comcast Tune E five
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: A T and t U Verse channel six May six.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: That's when it drops. I want to be able to,
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: you know, cook your grids on there because I do breakfast.
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: You know, I love soft eggs. I do eggs over
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: each I do the bacon, I do toads, I do biscuits.
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: I have my boat ridding. This guy done this calm brand.
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: So I really want to just like so you have
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: to be on them. As soon as I get my
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: order from you, I'm gonna put it online ticks of
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: pictures because people just love the fact that I cook.
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: They always I get a lot of engagement. So I'm
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: just excited. But I just love the fact that I
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: saw that picture you and on the box. And I'm
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: gonna tell you some time, I'm not even laughing in
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: like a bad way. It's just like it's a prideful
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: thing because that's a that's that's possible. Man. You can
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: be in Krogers, you can be in public, you can
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: be in all these ordinationwy just on the dream tell
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: us about that. You know what, rich Man, You know,
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: I learned this from you. I learned this from Steve Harvey.
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: It's about connections. It's about you know, capitalizing on it
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: when you know that they're bare, when you know the
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: opportunity is there. Um, you know, I live in Houston, Texas,
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: so you know I have put my ear to the
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: street on what does it take to get a product
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: in an in an h g B in a Kroger,
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: you know, and we don't see many black products on
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: the shelf. So I did the groundwork and found out
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: what it taken. Like is that it, you know? And
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: I'm saying they say, you know, if you get about
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: fifty sixty dollars in sales online, you are now eligible
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: and available to possibly be in h g B. So
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: my thing is what I got a million plus people
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: following me on on every social media outlet you can
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: think of. Surely I can sell for sending them some grants,
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: you know. So I'm just doing the map, saying it
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: if it all makes sense, and um, and I'm connected
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: with people who are in the heads up of of
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: h g B, so it's right there. If I don't
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: do it, it makes no sense. Man, Well it then
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: don't make any sense. But more importantly, it makes sense
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: that you talking about relationships. H g B is like
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: that's a power broker, you know, the day top quality
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: of the line. We talked about everybody's shops there in
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: h g B and then you get into these Krogers.
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: But I'm just tell you, man, I was just so
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: happy and it just maybe smile just seeing your face
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: on a box of grids. Man, And I mean and
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: I and I you know, because as a black person man,
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: we grow up and and and and you know, either
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: the anti mamas and uncle bins and all that stuff.
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: And I know who you are. You're graduate of Texas
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: n them. You know what I'm saying you you you
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: know you're you're a businessman. So you're kind of like
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 1: breaking the model of what has been portrayed of black people.
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: And you've been breaking the marrow a long time, all
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: the way back to Texas. And then talk about that. Now,
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: have to slow you down because sometimes we just be
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: doing stuff timy and we don't realize what we're doing.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: But but it's it was a much more prideful thing,
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: more than the fact that I knew you. But I
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: was more pride when I saw that that that when
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: I went to the website Just Good Grits and I
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: saw that dot com, I went, wow, it's my board man.
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: Look at him on that box, Man, and I knew
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: who you were, I knew what you represented as a man.
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: But then just talk about that, you know what, rash
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: It's been a journey man, um, I mean you you
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: were there at the beginning. You put me on stage
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: the first time I ever got on stage and doing
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: stand up, and uh, it's just been a journey. So
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: you know, at some point in my life, I feel like,
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: you know, there's a there's a book coming, you know,
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: a funny thing happened on the way to Hollywood, you know,
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: And it's just the journey of every stop that I've made.
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: I had no idea I was gonna be doing stand up.
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: I had no idea I was going to be doing radio.
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, I was a theater major, thinking that, you know,
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: like all theater major. Okay, I'm going I'm on my
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: way to Broadway. Now, let me go to New York
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: and that's where I will be getting my career. That's
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: what you think. But you have no idea what your
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: journey is gonna be, and you have to be really
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: open about where your steps are going and and sometimes
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: the journey you sometimes you need every stop along that
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: journey to get where you are to be able to
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: look back and say, you know what, I respect where
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: I've been. I respect the whole journey God has sent
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: me through, and and now here i am I'm a
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: lot more mature, a lot less crazy than I used to,
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: you know, so so uh, you know, you you just
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: you grow up and and you learn and you you
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: you become a little bit more um clear about what
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: you need to be in the in the journey that
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: you're on and how to keep going for it and
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: and not uh not thinking that you can't do something.
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: So when I saw something like the Grids, I'm like,
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: you know what I can do this. Let me, let me,
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: let me put my resources together, because I have too
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: many resources not not to make it. You know, they
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: say it's six degrees of separation. I think I'm I
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: think I'm two or three phone calls from anybody, So
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: it can be done. So I just I just don't
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: tell myself that it can't happen. I'm always pressing forward
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: on we can do this if we want to do so.
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: You know, the beauty of you, man is that you know,
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: it's that you know when you're under umbrella of Steve
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: Harvey's brand, you know, the Steve Berman the show, but
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: the prank phone calls has enabled you to separate yourself
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: as a true individual, true gifted talent, which has led
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: to other things, other acting things. We're gonna get to
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: Ready for Love. But I want to just dissect that
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: whole prank phone called brand that you built. You know,
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: there's this popular on YouTube, you know, de generates income.
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: You know. Let me say this though. Here's what Here's
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: what the listeners don't know is what I first started
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: doing these prank phone called the One and Only, Rushan
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: McDonald said, I won't fire every week, like what, I
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: won't five every week? And you know what, I used
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: to think that was just bananas. I used to say,
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: he has lost his mind if you think I can
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: do this that many times a week. But what that
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: did for me, you got me to over three hundred
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: prank calls laying in the cut. I now have that many.
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: And and what it is, Rashan, is you know, it's
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: a little difficult now for me to to do the
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: pranks sometimes because everybody is called on and they know
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: Nephew Timmy's boys. But back then, when I was first starting,
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: they didn't know that. So I was able to build
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: this whole archive at that time. And now I look
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: back and say, oh my god, Rushan McDonald, if he
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have made me going there, go into the studio
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: cut these uh these prank calls. I would not have
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: had this type of library at all. And I say,
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: thank you, brother, thank you for cracking that whip on me,
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: putting it on me. So going there and do do
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: what you wanted me to do. I thought I thought
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: you lost your mind. But now I look back and say,
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: oh my god. And Rushan now you know, like we're
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: talking about resources. Before you know, I went to um
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: yolland Adams ask her, you know, how do I get
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: my stuff? Like like you got your your your CDs
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: in Walmart? How do I do that? Your Lina Adams
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: made one phone call and the next thing I know,
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: I was in Walmart and my first check and and
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: one month out of Walmart was about sixty some thousand
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: dollars And I was blown away. And and here I
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: am sitting on all these pranks. Go you made me
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: going there and through these pranks. And I look back
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: to Dave ru shan Man and you know, every month
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: YouTube sends me a check for my prank phone call.
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: So brother, thank you so much, thank you, thank you,
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: thank you. I'm grateful, thank you for the couple of me.
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: But you know, it all comes back to talent. I
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: always tell people, you know, a lot of people you know,
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: I'm would push you, you know that, But I pushed
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: people who are I feel but one thing, you work hard.
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: Never take that away from you. And then the fact
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: that you're you're gifted, and and and all the way
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: back to your sister sister days. You know, I was
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: casting your sister sisters. You know what I'm saying as
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: to share, that's to share. That's the police officer, you know.
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: You know, but some people understandments about when you talk
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: about six degree relationships and all that holding onto it,
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: you know, doing some things that you're uncomfortable with When
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: I say that, sometimes you do things you're not paid for.
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: That's the uncomfortable part. When does this When does this
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: endgame go to? But the problem is that when people
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: look at your brand, they don't understand that it's a
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: lot of work. They unders there's a lot of fun.
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: You're getting up every day. You have to be topical.
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: You have to be ready. You're talking, we're working one
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: of the biggest stars in the world. You never know
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: what comes out of his head or direction. He gonna
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: go on sometime and you gotta be ready for that.
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: And so that whole process that led you to be
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: able to go into different acting scenarios. But that that
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: prank phone call. Man, I remember when I asked you,
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: I knew we would own this something. And you've done
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: some claxic brother, You've done celebrity and frank phone calls you.
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: But the beauty of it is that man, you just
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: you were able to manipulate you remember when they remember
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: what one time they was when they when you couldn't
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: do prank phone call, you had to get permission, ridden permission,
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: and they tried to shut you down. Figure that out.
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: You're not worry about I got this, I got this,
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: and just you know, but you you didn't allow this.
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: You know, you you constantly move the needle or maintain
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: your brand. And so I take the cadus of the
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: thank you and all that, but I also get back
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: the hard work. When they were when legally it was
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: in the position to shut down your prank phone call,
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: you pushed through that and you move hard, move forward,
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: and then that leads you to your comedy days. And
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: so I'm just letting everybody know that nephew Tommy is
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: a brand y'all. Thomas Miles the individual. But nephew Tommy
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: is a brand. Talk about that nephew Tommy brands. Uh wow,
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: you know what and and and and you already know
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: that they're really both two different people shot and you
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: know that two different people, but that brand. I had
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: no idea that it was gonna soar to this um
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: to put me on on the platform that I'm on. Um,
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: you guys gave me an opportunity on the radio and
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: we you know, you took a shot at me and
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: and and it worked. The character itself that that whole personna,
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: it worked, and it just started building. And the next thing,
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: you know, you know, the whole name Thomas Miles had
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: just completely gotten washed away. And it was Hey, I
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: am this guy, nephew Timmy and and and you know,
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: you just start building on it. What can I do
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: with it? I don't want to just sit on it
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: and not not capitalized on on this opportunity I'm working for,
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: you know, um so so this is one of the
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: biggest guys in the in the business. So I have
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: to figure out how to make this work. Even though
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: I'm underneath his umbrella. How do I still step out
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: and shine a little bit and and make something my
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: own and I think this, um, you know, the pranks
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: underneath a few time me going out and doing stand up. Uh,
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: you and I did it. We did a tour together
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: where you know, I was able to really showcase the
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: characters that that all trapped inside my head and and
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 1: and being able to display that. But I think it
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: all goes back to we want to see this guy,
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: nephew tim me that we here on the radio. We
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: want to see what he has from a stand up perspective.
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: So when they came to see me, they had no
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: idea what they were gonna get, and and to you know,
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: to to set up a show the way I did,
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: coming out first giving them fifty five minutes off the top,
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: and then in between each comedian to give them different
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: characters of of of of me. Um, I think it
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: was different. I think it was something that was very
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 1: unexpected and that that even strengthened that nephew Timmey brands. So, um,
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: you know, as we now move forward, it's like, Okay,
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: what else can I do? Right? I don't I don't
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: want to stop, you know, I want to I want
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: to keep reaching for everything I can reach for. So
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: I'm reaching for grits. Now, let's see what I do
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: with the greats, and we just keep going on and on. Man, Well,
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: I say a few time in the comedy club Las Vegas, Okay,
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: Atlantic City, Okay. So I'll just say, you know, I
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: think that I don't I don't think small. I think
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: big when I see the opportunity, because you got the
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: marketing tool, you got the social media, and so these
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: things are really special. And when you start building out
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: the relationship, you have to realize that, you know, Tamaran
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: Hall with you going on there with your grits and
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: all that the good stuff. But more importantly, the part
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: of the side of that I always loved by Thomas
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: is that he gave. He always give back. He always
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: gave back. And when we were doing the military tour,
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: which you know, which was a great run for you,
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: when you was going over to entertaining the troops and
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: that that was a gear back that caught you, you know,
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: and you didn't see it comment, but boy, you dove in.
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: It was something that you was proud to be a
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: part of. Talk about that. Uh you know what, very schiman.
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: I went over there uh with with not knowing what
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: to expect. Uh, did two of those USO tours. Actually,
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: um my my first one was I was with Robert Ory.
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: I was with Jordan's Sparks, who one American idol young
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: lady named Minka Kelly and actress. So they had quite
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: a few other talents there and and but I was
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: the guy that had to be that person that hopes
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: that you know, I call it the black Bob hope yes, yes, yes,
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: go over and performing for the troops. And I was
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: just blown away by what I saw, just just you know,
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: the front line, the people that represent the country. I
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: couldn't believe how they put their lives on the line.
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: And um, we were we were visiting hospitals and we
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: were in one guy's particular room and he had just
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: come out of surgery and um, he said, um, when
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: he woke up, we were we were all standing around
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: his bed. I mean, he has just woken up from
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: surgery and his his his both his legs have been
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: blown completely on. He's just coming out and he says,
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: you know, I would love to take pictures with you guys,
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: but I gotta go. I gotta get back to my
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: men that they're waiting for me. And he doesn't even
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: realize what has happened to him. And man, we're standing
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: there around and with tears running down our face. And
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: and when we left, you know, we're heading back to
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: the States. That's one of the chief officers. You know
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: what happens to these people when they get back home.
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: And he said, well, you know, you know, you know,
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: America takes care of we take care of our soldiers.
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: I say, how long does that take? He said, well,
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: sometimes it takes a minute, because you know, you gotta
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: go through all of the procedures and so what. And
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: I was like wow. So I came back and created
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: miles of giving, uh and miles of giving as well.
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: We give to you right now, regardless of your circumstances.
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: We give to you right then and there so so
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: um if if if you know, fifteen hundred dollars, two
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: thousand dollars, you're shine. You'll be surprised what that means
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: in a right now situation. And for somebody that's waiting
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: on the government, that might be three or four months,
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: six months a year before they start getting uh taken
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: care of. So miles of giving we are about right now,
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: and we've been giving back to one of the veterans
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: since Um, I don't know, two thousand twelve. I believe
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: two thousand trail. Yeah, that's why, Like I said, you know,
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: you know that's a good created out of the brand
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: of Nephew Tommy. You know that nephew Tommy, that brother,
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: that machine at business, you know. And I envisioned a
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: warehouse just Nephew Timmy logo on it, like a hundred
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: people working in the making T shirts or mixing grid.
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: You know, I think, you know, doing charity engagements and
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: all that stuff, because that's the vision. Man, Because you
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: you know, we all sit back, Thomas, because we're both
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: from Houston, and you know your you know, your father
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: was an amazing man who I always you know, always loved.
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: The fact about your father was that you actually live
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: in your father's life. You know, he didn't get a chance.
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: You know, he became a blue collar worker and he
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: didn't get a chance to pursue the entertainment career. Does
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: that ever cross your mind, man, that you know, you
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: you was a track star, but then you were so
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: far away from what he was, what his dream was.
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: But now you live in his dream. That really is
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: an emotional moment, man, When I think about it. You
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: know what, Man, I had no idea. You know, I
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: was getting ready to Um, you know, I did all that.
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 1: I did track all through high school and uh, and
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: I also did drama all through high school, and I
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: chose the drama scholarship. And I actually thought that I
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: disappointed him, that I disappointed him by not you didn't
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: running track, you didn't. And man, I'm getting ready to uh,
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: getting ready to pull out of the driveway him. My
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: mother bought me a brand new little Toyota pick up truck,
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: and I'm getting ready to go off to college and
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: the whole better. The truck is loaded and and that's
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: when he's standing there saying, um, you know you you
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: you you got my dream. I was like, what what
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: do you What are you talking about? Because he's crying
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, what do you what's going on? He said,
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: you got my dream? I said, I said, no, I'm not.
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: I'm not running track, Pops. You know I'm I'm I'm
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 1: gonna pursue this theater thing. He said, yeah, you got
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: my dream. I said, what are you talking about? And
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: that's when he tells me that he was a theater
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: major at Texas Southern university and he had to drop
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: out of school because you had to help his mother
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: and his father helped raise his siblings because my dad
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: was the oldest. And he said, you got my dream,
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: so it's up to you to do something with what
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: you're gonna do with my dream. So, um, I hope,
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: I'm I hope I'm making him. Hey, brother, looking at Thomas,
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: first of all, you made him proud. You know what
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 1: I'm saying. Uh, I know what you did before he
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: passed away, and I know what you're doing now. That's
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: why I you know, when I before we got on
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: the cost at Thomas, I want to slow this down,
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: I said, because I know him so well. Sometimes I
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: missed these moments in conversation because you just blow pass him.
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: You think that, hey, let's not talk about that. But
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: I knew that. You know, one of my greater just
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: forem was I didn't get to meet your dad. You
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: know I told you that. I said, Man, I'm so mad, bro,
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: I'm so mad because because you know, you know, because
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: the stories, you know, the Cheela jacksonally got up there man,
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: and to tell the stories. Man, I just didn't do everybody.
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: Letn't do halfybody legends. Yes, that's just the beauty. So
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: so that's why I really love the fact that now
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: they're ready for love. You know, came back to Houston. Thomas,
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: came back to Youuthton, Tom. That's what I'm saying, Man,
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: your dad, your family, your mom, bought a house for her,
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: all these things. Man, to bring your your gifts because
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: a lot of people doubt. You know, I know when
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: I quit IBM and show people I want to do
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: stand up comedy. Yeah okay, really next day to Murphy
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: right right right, So a lot of people question that
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: process because it's not a nine to five jobs. They
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: don't understand. But Brother, to bring Ready for Love. Let's
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: tell us about Let's tell everybody what Ready for Love
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: is and then we will talk about bringing it back
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: to Houston. Let me tell you this, okay, but those
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: that don't know Ready to Love is a is a
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: dating show. And uh it's not your typical dating show.
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: You know, your typical dating show. People are in their twenties,
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: life is just getting started. This is different. These people
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: in their thirties, forties, summer in their fifties. People have
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: been married, gotting, divorced. You even have people who are
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 1: mostly career driven, having taken time to find a relationship,
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: and they come on ready to love. So we start
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: out with twenties singles, ten men and ten women and
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 1: it's a it's a process of elimination, the powerships back
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: and forth from them and to the women. Women eliminate men,
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: men eliminate women. And it's a ten week journey and
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 1: at the end of that ten weeks we wind up
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: with six people, six people, three couples who have hopefully
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: found love. That is that's the prize. There is no
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: million dollars, no trip around the world. Love is the prize.
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: That's what you win. I am your host, I'm your
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: your cupid, your love coach, whatever you wanna call it,
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: and I navigate and gut these people on this journey
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: of finding love, and it is. It is very exciting
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: because people are tuning in every Friday night on the
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: own network to um you know, people are trying to
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: pair it up. You know who do I think is
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: gonna make it to the end And I think it's
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: gonna connect with who? And it's just a great grown
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: and sexy show. People are loving it. We're not We're
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: not on their fighting, We're not throwing drinks and thank you.
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: We're having a good time and ready to love is
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: now uh here we are in Houston again, um and
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: it's beautiful that we are. We're showing off our city.
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: People get to see what Houston is all about, some
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 1: of the night areas, some of the great locations and
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: monumental places in Houston that people don't know about. So,
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: you know, I think sometimes when people think Texas, they
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 1: think we got a horse sitting outside the house. That's
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: not the case. This is a fourth long You may
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: ty leg hunt make the turkey leg hut. So we
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: definitely put the turkey leg hut on it. But sure
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 1: so in all those stuff in those type of places,
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: you know, even the breakfast club. You know people those
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 1: black owned business that we wanted to make sure we
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: we gave them the spotlight and we did that. So
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: I'm excited about this season. Man. Well, you know the
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: thing about it is that you got the call from
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: our board, Will Pack you know who you know we
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: we we watched him grow to you know what I'm
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: saying that Steve and I was blessed to have a
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: relationship on the think like a man want would you
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 1: appear and Thinking Like a Man movie, and he also
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: did Thinking Like a Man too, and that we all
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: know that was the lunch for Kevin Hart's career. Now
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: was those two movies. So him making that phone call
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: to you, he had already known about the cash in
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: previous movie. How was the what was the thought process
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: of him telling you want to host? Because your stand up?
• 1:28:04
  Speaker 1: You know, so a lot of things run through your mind.
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: Am I gonna be funny? What can I do? And so?
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: But you had to be almost like a straight shooter
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: in this situation and also take these relationships serious. Talk
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: about that. How you have to process that, you know
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: what we're something First, the first was the phone call.
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: Because the phone call, I thought I was being prank
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 1: only somebody got me, you know. But but we'll hit
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: me up and said, hey man, I I got something
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: for you. And you know, you know how Hollywood is returning.
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 1: People always say hey, I'm gonna have something for you. You
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: You know, I have my people call your people. Okay, No,
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: We'll called directly and said I got something for you.
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: And I was like okay, and uh I was overwhelmed. Man.
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: You know, I get teary eyed. I was all emotional.
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: But I was grateful that he called me. He said, man,
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: you and your wife, uh have been together for a
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: long time. This is for you. So I had to
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: digest this as how do who I take this in?
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: Do I take this in as as a comedian because
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: like you're saying, I can't. We're not on their cracking
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: jokes when people are really seriously trying to find a relationship.
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: So I had to find a balance between the two
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 1: and and really, Rishan, if you if you think about it,
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: I kind of blended Thomas Miles and nephew tim Me together.
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: You know, you get a little bit of a little
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: bit of a ballots, so both of the boys get
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: to play, you know, so you know, everybody knows Thomas
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: Miles is pretty serious, but if you time me, you
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: know he uh he likes to have fun. So a
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 1: little blend. And then of course, um just just just
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 1: you know, a guy that's been married for a long time,
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: even my parents who were married up until the day
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: my father left here, I have nothing but that to
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: go off of, which is a great mold to look at.
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: So you know, I'm not I'm not a I'm not
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: a person that has a textbook for this I don't
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: have a formula. All I can do is try to
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: share with these people that are trying to I love
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: what I've gone through and what I've seen my folks
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: go through and give them honest, true advice and that's
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 1: what they like about it. Well, you know, I wanted
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: to close the show in this whole scenario ready to love,
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: because you know, I built this character a few times
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: with you, and you was able to grow at this
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: amazing persona that is today. But along the way, it
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: was a young lady that we that that loved you.
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 1: You know, had children with you, had a couple of
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: a couple of I mean a couple of TV shows.
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: You know, but you know you have to go through
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: a point where you know, you you were a single
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: guy on the radio, you know, saying she had to
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: stand by that ignorance you I'm saying, well we share that,
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: I'll be single baby, Okay, okay, And now you know
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: you're back in Houston. She made an appearance on the
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: show just talk about her man having that that that soldier,
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: that female soldier by your side all these years on
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: you know what you're saying, she's she's she's a ride
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: of die man. Um. You know when we first started out,
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: I didn't have no money and nothing. You know, she
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: was the one with with the good job and and
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: um you know engineer out of Texas, D and M.
• 1:31:06
  Speaker 1: So she was holding us together. Man. And UM, you know,
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: I just you know, I I wanted to make sure
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: I stepped up for someone that had so much confidence
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: in me and my career that had hadn't even started yet,
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: but just just just told me that I could do it. Um.
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: You know, it got to the point one once I
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: got on the radio with you guys and things started
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: to turn. You know, that's when I wanted to put
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: the shoe on the other foot where you know, my
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: wife don't have to work no more. And and I
• 1:31:37
  Speaker 1: love that. I love the fact that she carried the load.
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, think about Ruchad. Even the cars I had
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: and it was hers. They wasn't mine. I had nothing,
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 1: So so you know, you know, she she she took
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: care of me. We wrote it out and to be
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: able to to um turn around and give her the
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: world and then and for a TV show to come
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: back to my hometown. And then you put your queen
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: on that with you. Uh, you can't write that, you
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: just can't write it is. It's beautiful. She's on She's
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: appearing on four episodes this season. I love it and
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: she just shares her honest opinion. Man, So I think
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: it's good. Well, brother, I love you Thomas and uh,
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: I love Thomas. I love both of you, Thomas and
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: you to. But more in fact that I love the
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: fact you're really embracing the brand and you see the
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: business side of it. That's what money making conversation is
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: all about, man, And good luck. You owe me some
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: grits start putting on my TV show. But again, man,
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: hard and soul and spicy, love baby. You know I
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: can mention the sugar and sweetest and sweetish. I know
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: you're gonna say that. Now you're gonna sit that. I
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: don't you're gonna say that, But brother, I love you, man,
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: And thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations, Mack.
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having Matt take care. We will be
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: right back with more money making conversations with your host
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: or Sean McDonald. Adoption of teams from foster care is
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: a topic not enough people know about, and we're here
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: to change that. I'm April Denuity, host of the new podcast,
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 1: Navigating Adoption, presented by adopt Us Kids. Each episode brings
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 1: you compelling, real life adoption stories told by the families
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: that lived them, with commentary from experts. Visit adopt us
• 1:33:16
  Speaker 1: Kids dot org, slash podcast, or subscribe to Navigating Adoption
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: presented by adopt Us Kids, brought to you by the U.
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• 1:33:53
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• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: States Forest Service and the ad Council. What grows in
• 1:33:59
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• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: the forest. Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and our
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 1: family bonds grow too. Because when we disconnect from this
• 1:34:12
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• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: you and start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot org.
• 1:34:23
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• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: the AD Council. Hi I am Ra Sean McDonald hosts
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  Speaker 1: of Money Making Conversation dot com. The Cafe Marca Swag
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: Award is a celebration of Black men making a difference
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: in our community by empowering others to reach their life goals.
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 1: They can be civic leaders, people in business, activists, celebrities,
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: and everyday Dad's The Cafe marka Swag Award Honora this weekend.
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: Dr George Frasier Black Business Lives Matter. Dr George Frasier
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: the See You or Found a Frasier that he is
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: regarded as one of the foremost respected authorities of entrepreneurship
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: and building generational wealth and economic empowerment for the Black community.
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: Stop living, brothers and sisters above your means, which means
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 1: you're spending more than your urn. Stop believing even within
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 1: your means, which means you're spending everything you earn and
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: live below your means and invest the rest. So as
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 1: your income increases, your cost of living should either decrease
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: or stay the same. The Captain Markan Squared Award represents
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: men who have strength, whose wisdom is assertive, and who
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: is genuine in their spirit. Welcome back to money making
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: Conversations with your host Rashan McDonald. My next guest is
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: Jasina Product. I haven't had on like two and a
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: half years, so we got a lot to catch up with.
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: She's the host of the Food Networks hit series Baked
• 1:35:41
  Speaker 1: in Vermont. You can catch all the episodes of Baked
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 1: in Vermont streaming or Disney Plus. Justina as a pastry
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 1: shaf it can instruct a TV host successful author. She's
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: currently a judge on the Food Network show Best Baker
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: in America. You hear that, y'all. That means that if
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: you think you can bake, watch this show. You'll find
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: out you can't bake. And you need to just shut
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: your mouth now. When she is a film, when you
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 1: can find her back home and from off where she
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: hit right now, looking at that the fireplace right there
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: where she teaches students. I was supposed to be one
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: of those students going up there in the month of January.
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: She bootist and people out of the class and then
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: there's no storm hit now so so I old so
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: she she's up there doing her thing, and he's a
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: kitchen call Sugar Glide of Kitchen, and she frequently collaborates
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: with my wife's favorite Flower, you know, Keen author Flower.
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 1: She's on the show to talk about judging ten world
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: class bakers. They're battling out on the new season of
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: Food Networks Best Baker in America. Season four is airing
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: right now. Leaves working with the money making conversations again,
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 1: Justina proud of how you know, I'm you look fantastic, Justina,
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: you look beautiful. You really look amazing. Thank you. Um,
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: it's time. I think everybody's feeling good. But I see
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: the fireplace back there. Now, you're spring maybe a little
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: bit different than my spring. Right, that's because it's it's
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: it's humming behind you. It is genuinely cold today. But
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping, you know, it goes back and forth. It'll
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: get warmer, it'll get there cool. Now when when we
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 1: look at the first of all, I want to talk
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: about this, the school that you have that you teach.
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 1: Now you ever and I think you have to drive
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: a little bit outside of Burlington to get your location right, Yes, yes,
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: we're we're about We're kind of in the middle of
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: the state, so about an hour away from Burlington. Um,
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 1: we're actually really close to New Hampshire. It's weird where
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: we are, but we love it. Yeah, it's awesome. And
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: so what prompted you to do with school? What prompted
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: Judo the naz on TV so it's even more popular,
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: But it all starts with a dream. What prompted you
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: to follow through in your dream to create the school? Well,
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 1: I had had a pastry shop and I was working
• 1:37:55
  Speaker 1: from three am to seven pm every day and that
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: it was successful, but I like sleep too much and
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: we could never leave because it was small town Vermont.
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: It's really hard to get UM the same amount of
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: skill in baking to have someone there when I leave.
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: So UM we stopped that and I realized afterwards I
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 1: was asked to teach it King Arthur Flower some master
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: classes there and then I started teaching online for Crafty
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 1: and then at Stonewall Kitchen, and I loved doing that part.
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 1: I loved imparting my knowledge to people because I was
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: the kind of baker that I've had professional UM learning
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 1: and baking. But when I started out, I didn't. I
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: was a home baker. I taught myself and so I
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: knew how to talk to people who were trying to
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 1: figure things out at home. So if they read a
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: professional book, they couldn't quite understand what was going on
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: or what that mistakement. And so that was brought me
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: so much joy to kind of share the secrets that
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: I had learned from my mistakes. Well, you know, it's
• 1:39:09
  Speaker 1: really interesting. I'm about to launch I'm just bragging a
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: little bit here. Just you know, I'm about to launch
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: my own cooking baking show. It's called Russenge Kitchen. It's
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: gonna have been launching in the joy by two million
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: homeowners who are gonna get to watch me every Thursday.
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: And but I'm just I'm just a guy who figured
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 1: it out in the kitchen. You know, I've not been
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: trained And you said that too. When when don't you
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: get the confidence that you could really do this, because
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 1: there are a lot of naturally trained people in kitchens
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: around this country, but don't take it to the next level.
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 1: What pushed you to believe that you could take it
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: to the next level? Well, um, I when I when
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: I was asked to King Arthur Flower I thought, well,
• 1:39:47
  Speaker 1: I'm a professional baker now, uh, but I wasn't quite
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: sure that I had the skills to impart that knowledge.
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: But I thought it was worth trying, and they I
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 1: thought I done. That's a good job. That they kept
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 1: asking me back. And so the more I taught, the
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: more I was like, oh, not only do I enjoy this,
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 1: but I'm really good at this. And then my husband
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: actually was I was teaching at Stonewall Kitchen and Maine,
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: and my husband was picking me up and so he
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: walked in on the back of the class kind of
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 1: towards the end, and he said to me after class,
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: he goes, You're amazing at this. We need to be
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: doing this all the time. And that was the impetus
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: for opening the school. Um. I'm also I've also trained.
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: I feel like my whole life for this. And I
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: am one of those people that I believe that if
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 1: you're not learning, then you're not living. And so I
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: spend a lot of time, uh, kind of consulting with
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: kind of the masters of the craft, and um, honing
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: my skills all the time in chocolate work and sugar work,
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: in bread and in viennoassaie and lamination, Like, these are
• 1:40:59
  Speaker 1: the things that I'm an expert at net But I
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: always find joy in learning more about the things that
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 1: I think I know everything about. And then you learn
• 1:41:09
  Speaker 1: something new and you're like, ah, that so great. I
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: have a new I have a new little bit of
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: knowledge that I can work with. Well, you know, I
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: think that when you're hosting a show and you're in
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 1: your around world class bakers, that always there's a learning
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: curve too, because they're gonna do some things that have
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: techniques they kind of like like you go, wow, I
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 1: would have never done it that way. What was the
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: judge in this show? And it's already premiered on the
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 1: Food Network and there's ten of the best around the country.
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 1: What did you learn the most about yourself? And what
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 1: did you learn about watching people use other different making
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 1: techniques that you may not use or consider. Well, I
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: think they didn't use anything that I don't use. But
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 1: so what was really interesting is seeing very young people
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 1: uh use techniques that they were inspired by from their grandmother.
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: So in a pastry kitchen, we usually use a lot
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 1: of very high tech equipment we have. The skill level
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: is really high. Like in chocolate work, it's a lot
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 1: of science and and and it's it's almost like you're
• 1:42:06
  Speaker 1: a master builder. You have to know these really amazing things.
• 1:42:09
  Speaker 1: But it was so lovely to see such a young
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 1: person coming in and being the most inspired by her
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 1: grandmother's baking. And that made me so happy to see
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: her kind of create these really wonderful things that used
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: her really like high salute and pastry skills. But you
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: could just feel her grandma's love and everything that she did.
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: That's amazing. Not call the Hall is the host, you know,
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: and uh, and she one of my favorite people because
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: she's funny. And so when when Cala Hall is going
• 1:42:41
  Speaker 1: to host them? Because she's bigger than life, she's a
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: former model and so she's she's articulate, she she's she
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 1: is really authentic, I like to say, because when you
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: walk in the room, you're gonna get call of Hall.
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: But she's funny. What was it like working with her?
• 1:42:55
  Speaker 1: You work with it before, of course, but what was
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: it like working with this particular show? Because there's a
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: lot on the line because you have reputations, people competing
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 1: for ands, ten of them talk about that. Uh, Carla,
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 1: I met Carla years ago and you can't not fall
• 1:43:13
  Speaker 1: in love with her when you meet her, but you
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 1: also know that it's the same for everyone, that you're
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: not special because everyone loves her. She's just as great
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: with everyone around her. I think what is so special
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 1: about her, aside from the fact that she's so funny,
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: she's so smart, she's so beautiful, uh, and she's so
• 1:43:35
  Speaker 1: good at what she does, is that she makes everyone
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: feel as if they're special and they're talented, and it's
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 1: it's so great to be with someone who we both
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: share such a huge respect for the Bakers, um, for
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 1: others around us, and for the crew that's working to
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: make everything happen. Uh and so and know Jason, the
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: other judge as well. We both were very similar and
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 1: how we felt about making everybody happy around us and
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: letting them know that we respected everything that they were doing. Um.
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: But she's just I can't say enough wonderful things about
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: her because she is one of those truly extraordinary human beings.
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: She's like one in a million. And I would spend
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 1: a lot of time just telling her how amazing she
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 1: was because I was in awe of how she's so
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: great at hoosting and being funny and natural and giving
• 1:44:36
  Speaker 1: and and sometimes just a little you know, she knows
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 1: how to like go after people and it's not mean,
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 1: but she's messing with them and it's just she's just
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 1: got the best way about her. And then she's on
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: top of all of that, she's amazing chef. So it's
• 1:44:50
  Speaker 1: really not fair, but you can't. You love her so
• 1:44:53
  Speaker 1: much that you don't matter that she's better at you
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 1: and everything, so west of all, you are fantastic. Though
• 1:44:59
  Speaker 1: this is I'm interviewing you call I've interviewed on a
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 1: hard time, but we're talking about you. I just mentioned
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: referencing Caller because she is amazing if what she does,
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: but you're amazing at what you do because of the
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: fact you you make it seem so natural. That's gonna
• 1:45:11
  Speaker 1: be honest about this. And when you put into a
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 1: judging environment you kind of talked about it when you
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: was talking about Jason, because you know, you're judging people's talents.
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: They're putting in a pressure situation, they've got time restraints
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 1: put on it, and then they're giving a theme tied
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: to because each episode has a theme tied to it.
• 1:45:29
  Speaker 1: So when they invited you to come in, this's the
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 1: four seasons there right now on the Food Network. You know,
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 1: is the best Baker in America challenge in world class
• 1:45:37
  Speaker 1: bakers and you have their basically baking lives in your hands.
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 1: How do you address that? It's really hard because you,
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 1: first of all, of course, you have so much sympathy
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 1: for them. It's totally not fair that bakers have restrictions
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 1: on timing, because that's not what bakers do. You usually
• 1:45:58
  Speaker 1: have all the time in world to work, and they're
• 1:46:02
  Speaker 1: all incredibly talented. But what we did do is we
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: we had priorities of our own. So when you give
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: them a challenge, and this year we asked them to
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 1: make kind of really traditional American regional desserts. So the
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 1: challenge there was honoring that dessert, which is usually pretty homey,
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: it's not like a very fancy thing, uh, and so
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: keeping to the heart of that, but at the same
• 1:46:29
  Speaker 1: time putting their own professional and personal spin on it.
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 1: And so we had a way of judging them that
• 1:46:37
  Speaker 1: wasn't just based on the fact that they were all
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 1: incredibly talented. We were asking them to do something really specific,
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 1: and sometimes it was easier to judge when they kind
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: of ignored what the featured flavor was or what the
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 1: actual dessert was that we were asking them to riff
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 1: off of. But sometimes it was just incredibly hard because
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 1: you don't want to tell someone that they're better than
• 1:47:03
  Speaker 1: the other, and that's usually not the case. Usually it's
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: that day someone had a really bad day in the kitchen,
• 1:47:10
  Speaker 1: which thinks, well, you know, I've had my bad days.
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 1: I've thrown away stuff that. You know, every good idea
• 1:47:17
  Speaker 1: doesn't end up to be a good idea in the kitchen. Now,
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 1: let's talk about that premiere episode because it already is
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 1: air okay, and it was and it was, like you said,
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 1: it was regional. So they went to Kentucky. Now, I
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 1: was gonna ask you this question. Prior to the show,
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 1: did they tell you where they were going? And they
• 1:47:31
  Speaker 1: left you in suspense as well as a judge. Um,
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 1: we know generally what's going to what they're going to
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 1: be doing, We know generally, um, But everything is a
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: surprise when it comes to what people are making. You
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 1: have no idea what they'll come up with, which is
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 1: what is so exciting. And you get to know the
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 1: person through their choices that they make. Um and everyone,
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 1: every one of them brought a part of their history
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 1: to these things that they were making which made it
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: so special. Well, you know, each episode a baker Bus
• 1:48:04
  Speaker 1: creates something elegant and delicious. We know it's you know,
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 1: you know, it's like it's almost like you know, it's
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: like getting in the car. It looks good, but you
• 1:48:11
  Speaker 1: can't drive it. It's like if you make something are
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 1: pretty dessert, is it edible? Is there? You go? Whoa
• 1:48:15
  Speaker 1: are you spitting it out? And so that's the that's
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 1: the often times a challenge with that time restriction, So
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 1: is talent is tib restriction is the biggest challenge? Or
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 1: being told what they're gonna make right before they start
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 1: making it. What what do you think is the biggest challenge?
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 1: Time restrictions are definitely I think by far the biggest
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 1: challenge because a lot of times in the kitchen, when
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: something goes wrong, you are getting you have enough backup
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 1: time to start over again. But when you have a
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 1: clock that's sticking and saying you have to put this
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: in front of me as a dog, but it is
• 1:48:49
  Speaker 1: in front of me or you're out right, just that pressure.
• 1:48:53
  Speaker 1: Even so, it's the time, it's the pressure of the time.
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: It's the pressure of the cameras, of course, I mean
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: that's a huge that's not a small thing. Although they
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: all handled it incredibly well and they're all like super
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: charming and adorable. Um, yeah, the time has to be
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 1: the thing. I think. The other thing too, is that
• 1:49:12
  Speaker 1: sometimes when you think you've got a great idea in
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: your head and you haven't really executed it before, that
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 1: can be a big problem. And you know, and watching
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 1: the show, you know, and this apologize, I cut you
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 1: off because I had this thought about because I'm really
• 1:49:29
  Speaker 1: into this whole judging, because that's the part that scares me,
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 1: you know, because I've been invited to come on some
• 1:49:35
  Speaker 1: of these shows, and I go, sure, you're not that good.
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 1: You know you're gonna get out there, somebody gonna ask
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: you to make something. Your whole brain is gonna just
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 1: freeze up. So I as a as a whole lot
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 1: of admiration when I watched either whether they can cook
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: or I would never go on Iron Chef. You'll never
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 1: see your ball And this Muskia level is not even
• 1:49:53
  Speaker 1: close to that. That's something else, that's another dimension. They're
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 1: like aliens to me. When I look at this show.
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 1: There are challenges and that's and then also you can
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: get cut and then the least baker gets to go
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 1: up as a Master Challenge. That's what I loved about
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: this show is that it has layers in it, and
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 1: I think that would also excite you. It's not just
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: a straight here's your dessert and wail, but their their
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 1: their levels in it. They'll allow you to compete and
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: if you don't meet the requirements, you still can compete,
• 1:50:22
  Speaker 1: So you don't just right, That's exactly, and that's what
• 1:50:28
  Speaker 1: it was Actually so much fun in that way too,
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 1: and that you what Carla would always say, don't think
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 1: of this second challenge as kind of that you're being punished.
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: Think of it as a way to Wow's again. Um.
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 1: And the great thing too is that the people who
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 1: were safe, the bakers who were safe, we're watching and
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 1: cheering on the competitors who had to duke it out
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 1: to see who was going home. And I think in
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 1: that way you learn a lot about everyone and not
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: just the people who are baking. Right. And and what
• 1:51:02
  Speaker 1: I love about it too is that so many of
• 1:51:04
  Speaker 1: these shows are just so competitive. There's like there's just
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: an edge to it with it, let any heart all
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 1: of them became such good friends. They helped each other out,
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 1: they admired each other's skills, they learned from each other.
• 1:51:19
  Speaker 1: So everyone felt terribly when someone had to go home.
• 1:51:25
  Speaker 1: It wasn't just the Usually the judges are the ones
• 1:51:28
  Speaker 1: who were like, we feel terrible. Everyone was invested in
• 1:51:32
  Speaker 1: everyone else. And I think it makes it so special
• 1:51:36
  Speaker 1: and it makes the baking so much better. Well, you
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 1: know the thing about it, here's what I love about
• 1:51:40
  Speaker 1: it because I'm a Southern bar born in Houston, Texas,
• 1:51:43
  Speaker 1: you know, living in Atlanta, Georgia. So you know, when
• 1:51:46
  Speaker 1: you started talking about bacon pie, you talked talking about
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: any type of there's a peach cobbler, sweetpotato pie. That's
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 1: that's my roots. But the thing about it is that
• 1:51:54
  Speaker 1: you allowing yourself to go around the country, like when
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: you go down the Floorida's key lime pie, and then
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 1: you go to different part to the country. That had
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 1: to be fun. You know. They just see these different
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: regions which they rule. They do have signature desserts, they
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 1: totally do, and there's some there's some that some of
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 1: us had never heard of before, or we were we
• 1:52:13
  Speaker 1: heard of and we didn't realize that this was like
• 1:52:16
  Speaker 1: that State's dessert. Um. The other thing is that the
• 1:52:20
  Speaker 1: first last, the last episode, the first challenge was pie cake,
• 1:52:24
  Speaker 1: and which was that Derby may Day pie but but
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 1: baked into a cake. And if you think about it,
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 1: at that point we had all the contests, all the
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 1: contestants there, we hadn't eliminated anybody. That means we had
• 1:52:38
  Speaker 1: to taste ten pieces of pie cake. We all felt
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 1: so sick at the end of that day. It was crazy.
• 1:52:50
  Speaker 1: We were looking at you other we were like, at
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 1: this point, somebody has to go home because we can't
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 1: eat that. You know. That's that's that's the that's I
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: guess that's the the good part is being a judge.
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 1: The bad part sometimes it's the sampling because you really
• 1:53:04
  Speaker 1: have to sample it to give a good, accurate response,
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 1: because you don't really want to like take a little
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 1: bit and not really get the full flavor. I'm not
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 1: one of those people who's just like nibbling. First of all,
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 1: it's disrespectful, right. The other thing, you you really don't
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 1: get an idea of what it is a made and
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 1: you really should. You have to take more than one
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: bite because a lot of times there's a lot of
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 1: different elements in a really big like pie cake and
• 1:53:31
  Speaker 1: has the pie in the middle and cake everywhere else,
• 1:53:34
  Speaker 1: and then the frosting on the ant side. You want
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 1: to taste all of it. We all needed alka Seltzer
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 1: and a nap after that day, but we survived. We survived.
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 1: There are a lot worse jobs, because everybody's looking to
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: the television world is looking at you, because you know,
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 1: if it looks like you over sample somebody and then
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 1: you under sample somebody and it looks like his favoritism,
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 1: so you're right, you have to commit absolutely, and you
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 1: want to and you want to really give them every
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: benefit of trying their dessert. And but but they all,
• 1:54:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think that was an incredibly tough first
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 1: challenge because baking a pie in a cake is just
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 1: something that since they are such like elevated pastry chefs,
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 1: that is such a not elevated thing, and so some
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 1: of them were just frankly horrified that they But it's like,
• 1:54:27
  Speaker 1: that's the challenge you gotta drive well, you know, the
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: beauty of this whole scenarios ten of them. You're part
• 1:54:32
  Speaker 1: of it along with Jason. Carla Hall is the host
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 1: The Best Baker in America series right now is on
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 1: the Food Network. But I want to before I leave,
• 1:54:39
  Speaker 1: I got to talk about your class. You know, my
• 1:54:42
  Speaker 1: goal is to get back in the class when you
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: start registering for the class. I know COVID. You know
• 1:54:47
  Speaker 1: people are getting vaccinated, so you can probably start registering
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 1: for your class again. Correct, We aren't we We don't
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 1: quite know yet via the State of Vermont because it's
• 1:54:57
  Speaker 1: so small, are classes in its hands on? So like
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 1: restaurants are starting to uh open up again to allow
• 1:55:05
  Speaker 1: in person dying. But either way, we're thinking at the
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 1: end of late summer, early fall, uh so everything. So
• 1:55:13
  Speaker 1: I had there's no chance of saying, oh, we had
• 1:55:16
  Speaker 1: to shut down again. I just wanted to be smooth,
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 1: smooth books. And then we have some makeup classes too,
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 1: because we had to shut down the school and people
• 1:55:23
  Speaker 1: still were booked for classes. And so I want to
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 1: bring all those people in who missed their class because
• 1:55:30
  Speaker 1: of COVID, and I just I can't wait to see
• 1:55:32
  Speaker 1: them end up getting new ovens for the for those schools.
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 1: So what you know, what you know, it's really different.
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 1: People have to understand all oven can cook differently, heat
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 1: differently than a new oven, correct, getting getting well. I
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 1: also wanted to have It's a new technology and there's
• 1:55:47
  Speaker 1: really special events, and I'm like, I just want I
• 1:55:50
  Speaker 1: want the experience for all the students to be the
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 1: best that it can be. And this way I'll be
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 1: able to spend more time with students and less time
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 1: looking at the oven and going what's going on in there?
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 1: So now before we wrap, I just want to talk
• 1:56:02
  Speaker 1: about what makes that Because Baked in Vermont is such
• 1:56:05
  Speaker 1: a popular show and you're cooking class which start out
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 1: your husband inspired, you're looking at the back of the room,
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: you're not realizing you had all these gifted natural skills
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 1: and you go, that's my wife, she's amazing, And now
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 1: it's but well, what exactly goes on when someone attends
• 1:56:20
  Speaker 1: your cooking classes. Well, the great thing is that they're small,
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 1: so I get to pay attention to everyone a lot,
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 1: and they're not that long. There are three hours so
• 1:56:32
  Speaker 1: that you don't feel exhausted. Because if you take a
• 1:56:34
  Speaker 1: really long class where you're on your feet and you
• 1:56:37
  Speaker 1: have to like try out all these new skills with
• 1:56:40
  Speaker 1: equipment that's not yours, it can get very tiring. So
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 1: three hours is the perfect amount of time, and so
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: the class is usually just one thing that you want
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 1: to learn. So say it's high or it's a Claire's
• 1:56:55
  Speaker 1: or um, it's a summer cake. You know, we're just
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 1: gonna make one thing and you're gonna leave the class
• 1:57:03
  Speaker 1: with that thing that you made with your very own hands. Um.
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 1: And everyone gets a mixer, everyone gets to try the equipment,
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 1: and you get to learn the tools that you might
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 1: not have known about that really help in elevating desserts. Uh.
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 1: And after class is over, I tell everybody to go
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 1: to King Arthur Flower because their store is right around
• 1:57:26
  Speaker 1: the corner, right, but then they go drop a lot
• 1:57:28
  Speaker 1: of money on a bunch of equipment. Well, the amusing things.
• 1:57:33
  Speaker 1: She's a she's a pastry chef. She's a wonderful person.
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 1: She's an author you see on TV all the time.
• 1:57:38
  Speaker 1: She's a host of a very popular series. But more important,
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 1: you can see on Food Networks right now, best Baker
• 1:57:44
  Speaker 1: in America. She's judging this wonderful file that I just
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 1: love seeing. I'm so happy with. The last time I
• 1:57:49
  Speaker 1: talked to you was on Oh I have my podcast,
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 1: so I didn't get to see you. You you have
• 1:57:53
  Speaker 1: a radiant smile and you're amazing. Thank you for coming
• 1:57:55
  Speaker 1: on Money Making Conversation. Thank you for having me. You're great.
• 1:57:58
  Speaker 1: But you know I gotta come down. You know I'm
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 1: seriously because King Arthur. I'm telling you my what. We
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 1: went to Seattle for our anniversary and then they have
• 1:58:06
  Speaker 1: a key and Key arthors up there, and so guess
• 1:58:08
  Speaker 1: what I had to do. I had to go to
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 1: a cooking class, baking class and King Arthur. So I'm
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 1: just telling you, when we go up there, a fan
• 1:58:16
  Speaker 1: is coming with me. And when you say at the
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 1: end of the class, they're gonna go around the corner
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 1: and shop at King Arthur, That's what we're gonna do.
• 1:58:23
  Speaker 1: We're gonna go around the corner and shop at King
• 1:58:25
  Speaker 1: Arthur and bring an extra suitcase. I appreciate it. Thank
• 1:58:31
  Speaker 1: you for coming on Money Making Conversations. We'll talk to me.
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 1: Okay now, if you want to go to Money Making
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 1: Conversations right now and watch it, see it or hear it,
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: please go to money Making Conversation dot com all my
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