Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion interviews Aaron Carolina, who beat a life-threatening disease to star in The Black Widow, The Cleaning Lady, 9-1-1, and Tyler Perry's Sistas.

Transcript

Rushion interviews Aaron Carolina, who beat a life-threatening disease to star in The Black Widow, The Cleaning Lady, 9-1-1, and Tyler Perry's Sistas. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
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  Speaker 1: your very best life, whatever that may be. It's time
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  Speaker 1: coworker stop you from planning or living your dreams. We
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: were discussing all this overcoming the arts and everything. My
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: guests on the show today are Aeron Carolina. He'd beat
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: life threatening disease to start Hollywood productions like The Black Widow,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: The Cleaning Lady, nine one one, and Tyler Perry's Sisters
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: and then my other guests, Robert Foster. It's time to
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: meet the creator of the Shopmakers League. Everybody knows March Madness.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Now what perfect time to interview this brother a virtual
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: basketball skills challenge platform. Let's get it all rolling with
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: money making conversation. My guests is Aaron Carolina, just like
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the state. He was born and raised in all it
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: in Texas, just like the state. From singing singing in
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: choirs as a child to performing on stages and being
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: part of the music group GZ Boys, overtaken by his
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: love to act, Being either on stage or the big
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: screen was always the end goal. So while attending a
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: college at UT Arlington, he decided to go full throttle
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: into his acting. After beating a life threatening disease. Not
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: long after that, he said his sights on moving to
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles to further his acting career and has just
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: done has done just that. Since moving, he has worked
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: on such projects as The Black Widow, The Cleaning Lady,
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  Speaker 1: nine one one, Tyler Perry Sisters, and more. Please work
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: with the money Making Conversations master class. Mister Aaron Carolina,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: how are you doing, my friend? I'm blessed. I'm blessed
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: about yourself. When you say you're blessed, you know I
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: within your bio is discussed life threatening disease. Are you
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: willing to talk about that? Of course? Of course that's
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: my testimony. Give us a background on that. All right.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: So when I was about a nineteen let's say before that,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: I was homeless for a couple of years. Finally started
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: to get back on my feet. I was about to
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: go to college seventeen, seventeen to nineteen was homeless. Well, yeah,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: about about sixteen to seventeen. I was homeless during high school.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Family complications, you know, we had a lot of stuff
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: going on. And then I started to get my feet,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: get my feet up under me. I was going to
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: play college basketball and the University of Texas at Arlington.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: I went through for a year, but I shouted my
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: risks and broke my farm, so I had to set
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: out my freshman year, came back. What's going on tour?
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I'm doing my own thing because after I was with
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: the group for a little bit and coming back from
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: on tour, you're sliding a lot of conversations. Now, don't
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: get you here now? Yeah, all right, yeah, you're about
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: to get into the interview. I'm just talking about the
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: life threatening disease now, okay, listen, my bad So yeah,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: the disease. UM. I gained sixty pounds and five days. Okay, okay,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: when you gained sixty pounds, let's get some heights on it.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: How tall are you and how how much did you
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: wait before you gain the sixty pounds? I was one
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: seventy five. I could never get any weight up six
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: two okay, one seventy five six two, end up being
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: two thirty five to forty. You did like a good
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: size linebacker for the NFL. That's what you went to. Yeah, overnight,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: over days, overnight, and it was like the nutty professor.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: It was crazy, but yeah, yeah, I gained sixty pounds
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: and five days. I was taking twenty five pills a day.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: UM in and out of the hospitals. UM went from
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: you say, playing basketball to not being able to do anything,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: completely complete halt to everything in my life. U. It
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: took a lot for me to sit back and realize,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: like you, instead of thinking why me, had to start
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: thinking why not me? So basically a period of time
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: where everything was a constant state of meditation, taking the
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: highest dose of steroids anybody could take, as far as
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I was being told, So I had to constantly train
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: my thought, my emotions not to go off on people
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: just kind of say all right, well, how am I
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: going to get out of the situation, if I'm ever
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: going to get out of this situation, and how can
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: I make the best of this situation? Now, let me
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: ask you, So, what was the disease nephrotic nephrotic syndrome.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: It's called minimal change disease. Minimal change disease. Now lose
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: a lot of go ahead, yeah, because because you're educated me. Now,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: because like, first of all, to gain weight that much
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: weight within the twenty four hour period, that had to
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: be scary. I know that. You know, in this world
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: of listeners who are listening, and myself personally, you know,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: I get on the scale every day, I get apart morning,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I go downstairs, pop on the scale and I see
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: two or three pounds adjustment. I got a problem. So
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: so you telling me that, So that had to be
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: an uncomfortable period physically for you. How did did you sleep?
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: You know, did you did you go to sleep waking
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: up and did you start feeling this additional way where
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: you've bloated it. What was going on in your mind
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: when this was happening, or did you talk to friends?
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: What was going on? I didn't sleep. I was in
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the I was in the midst of going on tour.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: So I was coming back from Oklahoma. Yeah, with the
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: jazz Boys. I no longer were doing my own thing, um,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: working with a manager. I'm just going to clubs and stuff,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: trying to do my own thing, trying to pursue my
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: own career. I didn't have time to think um eating
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: for years. I never gained any weight. I can work
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: out as much as possible, never gained anything. If I
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: was feeling exhausted, I figured I was probably tired. It
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: was okay, I'll just push through it. I'm an athlete.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: I'm used to that, so I didn't feel any difference
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: until I was It was around my birthday and my
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: homews were like, let's go to the club, man, let's
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: go dance. I'm like, all right, that cool. I went
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: to the club and I could barely. I couldn't bend
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: my knees. That flew it on my knees. I was like,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: look in the world, I get home at night, I
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: take off and I have admea like my my clothes,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: there's indentions around my legs. I can leave an imprint
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: and it would stay there for like five minutes, and
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  Speaker 1: it was it was just I didn't notice it until
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  Speaker 1: everything just kind of hit me all in my face,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: like it just Alkanda came to me. At the same time,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: when you're looking at that mirror, you're looking at mirror
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  Speaker 1: that tells the true story. You know, you can get everything,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: you can blow everything below my chest, everything was below
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: my waist. It wasn't in my face yet, not until
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: about a couple of weeks. But yeah, that mirror will
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: definitely start showing. Now with this being said, now I'm
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: now I gotta get it a little personal because you
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: were you were self imployed, I'm assuming, So how did
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: the insurance situation work itself out to lead to you
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: being able to get to recovery. I didn't have insurance
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: at the time I was. I didn't have anything I
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: was basically I didn't have any insurance I was at
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: the time I was young. It was like maybe nineteen twenty.
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  Speaker 1: Also in my mother's insurance right, but she was being
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: wrongfully terminated from her job, so she didn't even have
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: She didn't have a job, so I didn't have insurance.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe a month after I found out, I got sick,
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  Speaker 1: and then from for like a two three year gap.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: It was sitting in front of um social like, sitting
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: in front of like for a government funding programs for
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: insurance for two years, sitting in offices for days at
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: a time, trying to get approved, trying to get certain
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: bills taken off my record. See if I can go
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: here for that. I was kicked out of the hospital
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: so many times. It was a lot. I didn't even
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: I didn't have anything at that time. Wow. Wow, I'm
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: speaking to Aeron Aaron Carolina. He's based out above. That's
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: what he's born from, Olton, Texas. Now, yes, sir, singing
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: and uh acting and uh. It went from a life
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: threatening disease to start in such incredible projects like the
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Black Widow Cleaning Lady nine one one Tyler Perry's sisters. Now,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: when you when you at this point your life, because
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: I spent thirty days in the hospital and so I know,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: you know, I got I checked out three times and
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: I had a normal theax my long collapse and every
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: time I checked out, it's like my LNG collapsed again.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: So I know the frustration of not seeking and I
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: did have medical insurance, so I understand the frustration of
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: what's wrong with you. And because at that young age,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: like you said, you was like twenty one, you know
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: you you you feel invincible, you know, because people know
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: as a youth, you know, you get a cold, you know,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: you might not even take medicine at quick, you go out.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: I remember, I remember myself. I used to play basketball,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: so if I got a cold, I would go out
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: there and play basketball and kind of sweat it out.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I sweat sweated out, and after I come around, I'm good,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: I'm good. Yeah, and so and so. So I'm assuming
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: that that that's similar. Like you, you know, you self yourself,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you self medicate yourself. And at this point all that
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: philosophy that you've used in the past is not working,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: and so fear has to start creeping into your brain
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: at this point. As still why me And as a
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: matter of fact, what you're saying is definitely true going
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: into it, But I grew up kind of sickly at
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: as was really bad. I grew up really sickly, and
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: after a while. Once I started really getting into basketball allergies,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: everything just kind of went away. So for years I
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: did not get sick. If I did get sick during
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the basketball game, I'm playing it through. Next day, i
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: might be sick as a dog. I might have to
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: miss school for like a day, but other than that,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: I'm playing through anything if I can. I didn't want
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: to take medication at this point. I didn't there was
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: nothing I could literally do. It hit me so hard
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: and so fast that I can do anything, and I
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: was so in shock that I had thought, like, yo,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I may not even be here because the doctors told
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: me I might have AIDS cancer HIV. It took three
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: weeks put them to figure out what was wrong with me.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: And in the midst of things around what was wrong
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: with me, when I was in the hospital for I
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: think a week out of time, at staff infection in
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: one leg, uh, and then I end up getting staff
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: infection in both my legs, so I couldn't walk for
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: a month because I had at staff infection right in
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: my knee cap. So I was in the state of
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: shock for a long time, and I was like, yo,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I didn't know what what to do? What could I
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: do so. Yeah, it was a lot of state of
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: It was definitely a state of fear. And it was
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: basically at that point I had to realize that it's
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: not in my hands. This is in God's hands whatever
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: his will be done. Now we're dreamers, and I understand that.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: You know, if I would tell people, you know, you're
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: gonna find God now somewhere along line. You know God,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: it's gonna take over and and you know whether it's Ah.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: And there's always happens at that moment where you can't
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: control anymore. You know, when you when you can't control situations,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: somehow you put them hands together, Somehow you get on
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: your knees and find God. Because guess what, he's the
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: only person's listening to that. Because anybody else that's walking
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: in that room trying to tell you what's wrong with you,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: any relative to tell you I got you, but they
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: ain't listening. You gotta go somewhere else to find somebody
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: who listening to what you got to say. And and
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: they becomes self motivation. Now, all your dreams, being a singer,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: being an actor, being all this stuff, Where were you
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: at mentally, man? Where were you at from a were
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: you thinking about through the things when you because you're
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: still were young now young now, but you and there's
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: impossible that the opportunities that you thought you were going
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: to achieve singing, you look good. I've seen your head shot.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: You look good. I've seen you on TV. You look
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: good now, Aaron, You're a good looking dude, six foot two,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy three. But oh wanna suiting look
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: good on you? Suiting look good on you? But ain't
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: none of that working for you? Right now? You six dude, bloated,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: ended out of hospitals. They tell you gotta every everything.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Everything they said was wrong with you just made you
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: more nervous. HIV cancer all loads are like ain't none
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: of those are like? I can get over that in
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: a minute. Type now, if that's your problem, when did
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: they find out? When did they identify the problem? And
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: where are you at right now with that disease? Um?
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: They identified it after a month of me finding um
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: after me, after a month of me coming in with symptoms,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: they were able to identify what it was. Because it's
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: predominantly white disease. Black men don't get this, and you
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: could tell that they don't because they were confused for
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: a long time. So I'm laughing though, Okay, now God, okay,
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: white adolescent mills don't get it like like I got
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: it at nineteen. They were like, this is something that
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: usually young young white men get your nineteen and you
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: got this. And I looked at my mom was like, well,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: I thought it was all black. I'm somewhere. Hell, okay,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: now you tell me that I got white in me somewhere. Yeah,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: I get it at this time. And it took them
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: out about a month into it. That's when they say
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: this right. And at that point I was, yeah, I
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: love I didn't. I put my hands together and I
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: started praying. I always had a close relationship with God,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: and I try to control the things that I can
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: let go to things that I can't. At this point,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: I can't do nothing as far as like my dreams
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: and aspirations all on hold. I think, well, what else
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: can I do? I know I could still sing, but
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: how else will I be able to navigate this? You know?
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: On my current situation, I think it was just trying
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: to get myself together then at least get my feet
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: up under me, and starting to appreciate the things that
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: I did have, because it was probably a moment where
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: I wasn't appreciating the things that I did have. And
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: I think after a while, God slowly, slowly but surely
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: started to give me a little bit more to are like,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: a little bit more like, Okay, you've appreciated everything that
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: I've given you so far at the bare minimum. Now
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: here's a little bit more. Staying consistent and humble in
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: my situations, thinking people, thinking God every day, here's a
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: little bit more. And now to end up out of
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Texas in La doing what I love for a living.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: I don't have another job to interview Aaron. He's gonna
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: he gonna just self interview himself. You know what I'm
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: saying my back. All I asked his brother was to
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: tell me, is he cure? Tell me? Is it all
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: now here in La? Now here in La? Oh? You
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: like this on the set? Man, director, tell you go
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: standing over there? Next thing? You know you're standing to
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: the last. Oh you like that, man, because you're gonna
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: get fired. I'm about to fire you off my show. Yeah,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: he's gonna be like that. I know your Texas born
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: because I know you listening raised good. Yeah, I just
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: I just get to talking about I get to talk
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: about what God is taking me to where I am,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: and I kind of get it. I get excited talking about, well,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: well now I'm messing with you. We're gonna be right back,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: We're gonna go to the break, We're gonna come right back, Aaron.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: And guess what. I wanted to really take my time
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: to talk about that, because see, I've been where you've been.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: I've been in the hospital, man, and I didn't know
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: why I was in there. I was just watching a
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: basketball game and my lung collapsed and I went to
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: the hospital just thinking it to be overnight. Next thing
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: you know, thirty days later, I'm still in the hospital.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: And that I would I was one of the top
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: touring comedians at the time. I've done television shows. Everybody
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: told me I was the next next, and next thing
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: you know, I was in hospital, paralyzed from the standpoint
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: of not physically, but paralyzed because my career couldn't move forward,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: because I couldn't get out of hospital. So I wanted
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: to people understand that you still in those darkest moments,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: you don't stop dreaming, you don't stop giving up, but boy,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: it does redirect your priorities, and when we come back,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about that career. Like you said earlier,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: he got a he got a relationship with God because
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: because well, here, good here, a good old choir boar.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: I said that in there in the intro choir board.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Choir board to singing the nightclubs. You know, that's how
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: they thought. That's how they start. That's singing for the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: next thing. You know, they're singing for the women. That's
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: how they died. You're right back with more money Making
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Conversations Master Class. When a man straight out of Texas
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Aaron Carolina, please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: with more money Making Conversations master Class. Let me tell
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: you about the money Making Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: will always talk about their purpose or gifts. If you
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: have a gift, lead with your gifts and don't let
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: your friends, family, or co workers stop you from planning
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: or living your dreams. The interviews and information on his
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: show are for everybody. Don't let change scare you. He's
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: here to educate you because it's time to put your
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: dreams into action. This show Money Making Conversations Masterclass interviews CEOs,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: small business owners, influencers and celebrities. They share financial and
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: career success tips what through Sean McDonald which you can
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: only hear in The Money Making Conversations Masterclass show. Welcome
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: back to the Money Making Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rishan McDonald.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Money Making Conversations Masterclass again. My guest
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: is Aaron Carolina. I brought him on because we have
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: a lot of actors out there, we have a lot
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: of singers out there, we got a lot of entertainers
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: out there. But it's the story that he has had
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: to overcome that I thought was really important to hear
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: on this show because we have a lot of excuses
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: as a while we can't pursue our dreams, we have
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: a lot of This is why, you know, God adn't
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: give me the opportunity to be successful. You know, if
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: I work hard just like him, I look good just
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: like him. I dribbled just like him. I think probably
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: faster than him. But it all turns down to being
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: consistent and what's your plan of action? Now? What age
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: did you were you at the time when you decided
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: to move to Los Angeles. Oh, let's see I've been
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: here for five years. I was twenty eight, okay, twenty eight,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: so twenty eight you in Texas because I I left IBM.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: When I left IBM, I left IBM. I was twenty
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: eight years old when I left IBM. And I'm gonna
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: tell you I want to just share my story a
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: little bit in here too, because because when you start
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: making decisions airing like that, there are a lot of
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: people tell you use the word like man, you lost
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: your mind. Man, you need that good man, you know
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: you gonna be And then they start tying you to
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: successful people. You you think you're gonna be this there
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: like he just take They tied me to Eddie Murphy,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: they tied me Richard Pryde. They taught me that every
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: every successful black person out there. But they just told
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: me I wasn't going to be that person. Now did
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: they do the same thing to you? Oh definitely. You
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: ain't Jamie Fox. You don't leave out here and you
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: ain't what it would say Jamie Fox. Jamie Fox can
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: sing and act and he's from and he's from good
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: old Texas too. At it's like what you what you
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: what you've ben't been on? You really you're gonna go
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: out there. You know, it's a big pool, a small
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: fishing that you're dropping in the ocean. It was a
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: lot of naysayers. Um, but I mean things have changed
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: a lot. Oh oh oh, talk to me about about
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: to change over. When they start seeing you on TV,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: that's what happens. Oh, they start seeing you on TV
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: and they're calling you a man. Yeah, yeah, I'm so
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: proud of you. You've been out there, y'a. So, how
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: how can I get into this? You don't want to
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: do this. You don't want to get it. You don't,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: you don't. I don't know if people know what it
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: really takes. That's why you're on the show airing because
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: your story because a lot of people see things overnight,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: A lot of people see things you know, Wow, man,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: I could do that too. But it's not that you
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: can do it too. It's whether you're willing to do
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: it too. And that's the part of the connections, the relationships.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Getting the opportunity and then not thinking that one opportunity
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: it's going to be the opportunity going to launch you
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: to success. It's called a resume. So you moved out
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: to LA you're twenty eight years old, how did we
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: get all? Well, how did you get started in this
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: whole game? Because did you know anybody? Or you just
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: went out there cold? Basically I went out here cold.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: I don't have any representation out here. I still kept
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: tizing on people back in Texas and I had to
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: basically start from the ground up a networking all friends,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: all the relationships that out built in Texas. We had
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: a small community out there. I didn't add that out here.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: And it wasn't until over time where you know people,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: they started network and I started going in and mingling
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: with third people. It took about I just really have
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: to being here for like three or four years. That's
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: when things really start to hit nine. By thirty years old, right, yeah, Okay,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: still looking good because you still can play those you know,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: late teenager roles, but you still got that ten year
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: window of opportunities that you can go into. And I'm
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: just playing to everybody what happens is when you go
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: to Hollywood. You know you want to it's about the youth.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Hollywood is all about the youth, and so as you're younger,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: you can play more opportunities. But as you get older,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: they start character acting you, they start putting you when
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: you can be a police officer, you can be a teacher,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: you could be an executive, you could be working in
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: the office and stuff like that. But when you're young,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: you know you can do anything. You can be high school, college,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: you can be at parties, all those things. So it's
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: a lot more opportunities. So when you're thirty, you want
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: to make sure that you know you can you can
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: at least go ten years beneath your real age. And
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: that's where you're sitting there right there, so you're playing
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: a nice little range. You look good, stand in shape,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: So just setting to take even for my listener continue airing. Um, So, yeah,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: it took me about three or four years before I
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: was able to even to start getting roles. And after
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: obviously going here, everybody out here in la is in shape.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Everybody is there's gyms everywhere, there's everybody's eating healthy. So
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: that's another way to help keep looking youthful. When I
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: got out of here, so I still had those opportunities.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: But what they started doing, what they started character typing
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: me like, all right, you're going to play a cop,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: be military, right, you're playing detective everything, And I was
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: like yo, When did I become the guy right boring
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: to raise them the for worth I'm talking about, stop everything?
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: When did I become the guy that would be a cop?
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: But that's just what they saw me. That was the type,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: and I was playing a cop ry a military experience
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: that they would try to utilize a look like clean cut,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: cut off all the facial hair and just play clean cut.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: So that's what I was. That kind of got my
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: foot in the door and a lot of these roles,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Most of the roles that I've been booking as far
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: as that I've been pretty big, have been in just
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: like that uniform roles. But I was blessed to get
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: some where they started um allowing me to step outside
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: of that and be more more of a ladies man
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: and things of that nature. But it took a while.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: They tried to characterize, characterize me and put me in
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: a in a genre right away, that's what they do.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: What was the first role? Did you went? Yeah? Did
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: you got did when you when you went? Yeah? Out
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: here in la are just in general and la la
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: in la uh. The first role that I bookedly, I apologize,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: I apologize. Let's let's the first role in general, and
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: then we're gonna talk about the first opportunity in general
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: when you were yeah, I can do this. The first
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: role I booked was for a Marvel show called Gifted.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: I booked it in Texas and it was a security guard.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: I booked the role as a security guard and that
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: was the first and I was like, yeah, they wanted
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: me for multiple days. It was the first and the
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: executive as a director, everybody loved it. It was great. Um.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: That's when I realized, and you get them. You get
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: there on set, they know your name, you got your wardrobe,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: if you got your honeywagon on set up, They're like, yo,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: what do you want for breakfast? If you want lobster
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: that I'm like, what y'all got lobster in the morning?
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I said, what else do you have? What do you
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: want hanging on menu? It's whatever you want. That's like, oh,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: I can do this for a living. I can do
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: this for life. Um. And after that more roles came
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: out of here. The first role that kind of really
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: had me going, uh, what was it? Oh? No, none,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: maybe not out here? Uh Tyler Perry's role. Uh. Getting
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: a role for Tyler Perry was I was like I
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: can do this for I could do this long term.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: I saw what it took. I saw there the years
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: of preparation and working and going to classes and stuff
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: got me to a point where I can handle the pressure.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: And I was like, I like, I like this. I
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: want to keep doing this. The role you currently doing.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Those sisters are pre role. It was. It was Tyler Perrott.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: It was a role that I did for sisters. The
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: role I did for sisters. It was that role that
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: kind of got me like, yo, I can do this,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: I can do this long term. And that's what I
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: was that that was something else. I was kind of reaffirming, Uh,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: doing this job. You get so many knows. When you
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: get those yeses, it's like, Okay, I'm on the right track. Well,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: it's like it really is. Man. I tell people that
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: in life you get a lot of those. But in Hollywood,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: you walk in the room, you don't know why they're
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: what they're looking for. You know, they they you know.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: It's really the most um frustrating business, but it's the
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: most exciting business once you start getting success. And sometimes
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: when you start getting success, you don't really know why
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: they they they you're getting it until they start asking
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: for you by name, Then you understand that a certain
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: type of person recognizes you for your time. Now, being
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: a former athlete, that's competition. Now you're in this world
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: as an actor, that's competition. Do you are you able
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: to marry the two existence that really get a clear
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: understanding what you're capable of doing? Oh? Yeah, and what
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: I feel like what I'm capable of doing. The sky's
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: a limit. As an athlete, I'm competitive and I'm willing
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: to work hard no matter the circumstances, regardless of my condition,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: I'm going to work hard. And in this industry, there
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: is no quit It's not the sprint, it's it's a marathon.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: It's about those who are willing to endure for the longest.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: And if you have what it takes, you want to
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: work hard. You're coachable and you're in there and you're
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: in there for the long haul. People eventually see the
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: talent and skill that you have and then they will
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: start requesting you, but they give you bits and pieces.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Not everybody comes in here and just starts hitting home
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: runs right away. You know, you start taking you taking
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: victories as you get them. And being an athlete, I
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: am okay with doing what needs to be done in
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: order to get those opportunities later on. You know, it's
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: really interesting to appreciate you coming on money making covers
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: to his master class. I'm talking to Aaron Carolina. Uh.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: He's out of Arlington, Texas. Um started singing in choir
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: as a child, you know, ad del with asthma as
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: a youth, homeless, said roughly seventeen, and but that didn't
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: stop him with a life threatening disease that he didn't know.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Nobody knew, very little, UH insurance in his life to
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: be able to assist him. Um basically wouldn't didn't come
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: from the ideal family, so his support system wasn't there.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: But that didn't stop him from living his dreams that
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: he's currently living now. As we as we wrap up
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: this interview, Aaron, what would you what would you say
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: to people who are trying to get into this world
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: that you are still growing your brand in? What? What
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: what setbacks that you were able to overcome that you
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: went that somebody can find relatable, that can give them
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: a gem of information that they can help them bypass
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: what you did moving forward, start becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: take chances on yourself. Don't be afraid to fail and
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: actually ask yourself, is this something that you really want
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: to do? Anything that you've ever done throughout your whole life,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: any experience, any any kind, anything whatsoever. You can use
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: that in this career. But you have to be willing
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: to take the nose and if you find joy in
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: the craft itself, eventually you will reap the benefits of
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: those who are willing to endure. Now, the benefits of
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: life is that you're able to tell us your story.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: The benefits of life is that you know faith plays
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: a major role in your life. You know, especially we
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: all know that faith with people comes and goals, and
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: it usually comes when there's not there's discomfort in your
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: life that you can't control. I know I've been there,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: and I'm not saying I'm a church gore, but LAWD knows.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: I understand the value of motivation and self motivation is
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: tied to your faith as you as you as you.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: What's the future hold for mister Aaron Carolina Um currently
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: right now have an independent feature film that I'm working on.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: We're in a post right now. There's a couple of
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: series that I haven't the works right now. UM executive producing,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: U producing and writing. Um. There's a lot of work
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: in one in twenty twenty three a months are about
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: to be a father. So um, that's just a lot
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: going on. Looking about to do a father, be a father,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: be a father. Okay, you gotta slive that out there,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: you know what. I know Father's Day coming up. There
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: wasn't much heat on that father line. It was about
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: to be a father, you know. Yeah, I'm about to
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: be a father and there's something I'm excited about. You
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: should be looking forward to, you should be. Yeah, just
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: trying to stay busy, make sure that I'm able to
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: continue building a career for my family and you know,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: just to have something where I can, you know, just
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: continue doing what I love. But there's definitely a feature
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: film coming in the project, coming in the works. So
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: that's that's what I gotten and plenty of other stuff
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: that I'm working on. Congratulations. As we wrapped up this interview,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: tell everybody how we can reach out to your stay
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: in touch with you. You can reach me on Instagram
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: at Aaron Carolina Underscore. That's aa Ron Carolina, like the
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: State Underscore, UM Facebook, Aaron Carolina Twitter is also Aaron
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Carolina underscore as well. Appreciate you, my brother, appreciate you
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: coming on Money Making Conversations master Class. Appreciate you. Sharing
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: your story is a motivational story. Store Bright Uplift Store
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: Bright hey Man overcoming the arts. That's all this ship
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: was about. Talk to you soon and good luck. Aeron Carolina, Yes, sir,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: you two Golflex appreciate money Making Conversations. Masterclass continues online
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: at Moneymaking Conversations dot com and follow money Making Conversations
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Ladies and gentlemen, it's
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: time you stop reading other people's success stories and start
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: writing your own