Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Full Episode: GRAMMY Award-winning Artist Kierra Sheard-Kelly, social justice podcast hosts Erika Alexander & Whitney Dow, Netflix Actor Anthony Alabi, and serial entrepreneur Sharene Wood

Transcript

Full Episode: GRAMMY Award-winning Artist Kierra Sheard-Kelly, social justice podcast hosts Erika Alexander & Whitney Dow, Netflix Actor Anthony Alabi, and serial entrepreneur Sharene Wood · 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 occasion didn't notice, I'm not broke.
0:17
Speaker 1: You know. He'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry
0:20
Speaker 1: decision makers. It's what he likes to do, It's what
0:23
Speaker 1: he likes to ship. Now it's time to hear from
0:25
Speaker 1: my man, Rashan McDonald money Making Conversations. Here we come.
0:30
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversation. I am your host, ra
0:32
Speaker 1: Sean McDonald, and it's time to stop reading other people's
0:35
Speaker 1: success stories and start writing you on. I always tell
0:38
Speaker 1: people leave with your gifts and don't let your age, friends, family,
0:40
Speaker 1: or coworkers stop you from planning or living your dream.
0:43
Speaker 1: My interviews that I do on Money Making Conversations provide
0:46
Speaker 1: the consumer and business owner access to celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs
0:51
Speaker 1: and industry decision makers. I got my next guests her book.
0:56
Speaker 1: It's what I say every time I start this show.
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Speaker 1: Don't let your aid, age, friends, family or co workers
1:02
Speaker 1: stop you from planning or living your dreams, no matter
1:04
Speaker 1: who you are, how you think, how they how you,
1:07
Speaker 1: how they think you should look. This is what a
1:09
Speaker 1: book all. My next kiss is I call a Kiky
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Speaker 1: care Or shared Kelly LA's to my interview that she
1:15
Speaker 1: wasn't killing but that's all right, that's how right. She's
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Speaker 1: Grammy winner, Stellar Award winning artist actress. She portrayed her
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Speaker 1: mother in the Lifetime biopic The Clark Sisters. First Ladies
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Speaker 1: of Gospel is his Lifetime's highest rated movies since sixteen.
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Speaker 1: And she's an entrepreneur. Her company Eleve and sixty a
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Speaker 1: very successful clothing line for four figured women, and now
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Speaker 1: Arthur Big, Bold and Beautiful owning the Woman God made
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Speaker 1: you two be. It is an inspirational memoir book for
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Speaker 1: your mind, body, spirit, and if you're an entrepreneur your business,
1:47
Speaker 1: please welcome the money making conversation. She's my friend, ki
1:50
Speaker 1: Ki care shared Kelly, how you doing, my friend? I
1:54
Speaker 1: am doing well? How are you well? I'm excited. You know,
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Speaker 1: I always get excited talking to you because you're an
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Speaker 1: inspiration to me. I have a twenty three year old daughter,
2:02
Speaker 1: and so whenever you come on the show, I look
2:04
Speaker 1: for you the people in her peer group, you know,
2:07
Speaker 1: because you're she looked up to you. She follows you.
2:11
Speaker 1: She she finds uh, your unblinding faith, your your ability
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Speaker 1: to achieve success. And I usually as an example a
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Speaker 1: lot of times. So whenever you come on the show,
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Speaker 1: I'm always excited and she gets excited. So her name
2:23
Speaker 1: is Christianity McDonald's. But thank you. Now let's talk about
2:28
Speaker 1: this book. Before we talk about book, let's talk about
2:30
Speaker 1: now that the movie been out. You know, because when
2:33
Speaker 1: I interviewed you, the movie came out. But now we've
2:36
Speaker 1: had a year of the movie being out. How has
2:39
Speaker 1: that transformed your life? The movie I'm talking about is
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Speaker 1: The Clark's Sisters First Ladies of Gospel. Well, it has
2:45
Speaker 1: changed my life in so many ways. One way is
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Speaker 1: when I go to the store now it seem like
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Speaker 1: more people know who I am and they're relating to
2:52
Speaker 1: me as Karen or calling me Karen. So it has
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Speaker 1: changed my life in that way. But it also stretched
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Speaker 1: me to be honest um trying to portray my mother
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Speaker 1: vocally and just as a person, because she's so gracious
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Speaker 1: and she's like a quiet storm who is not intimidated
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Speaker 1: by people. But it comes off as like an innocence
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Speaker 1: or like a it's just so soft. I had to
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Speaker 1: kind of pull back while working on that role. So
3:19
Speaker 1: it's changed my life as a woman. And I think
3:21
Speaker 1: it prepared me to not knowing then while I was
3:24
Speaker 1: actually doing the role as a single woman, that was
3:27
Speaker 1: preparing me to be a wife and a mother, just
3:29
Speaker 1: to see things differently. Um, So it really has changed
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Speaker 1: my life in so many ways. Of course it was
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Speaker 1: a resume builder, but it was me performing for my mother,
3:38
Speaker 1: and so it was really special for me. But it
3:40
Speaker 1: was special in a lot of ways because you know,
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Speaker 1: you reveal, you pull back to the curtain. In other words,
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Speaker 1: you know, they told a story about your grandmother, told
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Speaker 1: a story about your mom and her sister's experience in
3:50
Speaker 1: dealing with your grandmother, someone who was rather sensitive, and
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Speaker 1: which is great because it was a story about a
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Speaker 1: woman pushing her children to be the best that they
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Speaker 1: could beat. And I kind of got a way and
4:01
Speaker 1: fast forward. I look at the book Big, Bold, and Beautiful.
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Speaker 1: That book is about pushing you and your friends pushing
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Speaker 1: you and helping you and supporting you to be the
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Speaker 1: best key key you can be? Is that correct? Absolutely?
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Speaker 1: And I'm it's so important because you know, I'm a
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Speaker 1: woman to face. So I believe in the scripture when
4:20
Speaker 1: it says that iron sharping's iron. And I was just
4:22
Speaker 1: talking to my friend Tasha Covs Lenard and she brought
4:25
Speaker 1: out a great point. She said, Keith, when you say
4:28
Speaker 1: iron sharpens iron, it could be negative iron that's sharpening
4:31
Speaker 1: negative iron ore. It could be positive versus positive. And
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Speaker 1: so I think it's so important what I talked about
4:37
Speaker 1: it in the book self Care has everything to do
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Speaker 1: with your squad. You know, how they're pouring into you,
4:43
Speaker 1: how they're pushing you into destiny, how they're reminding you
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Speaker 1: of the promises of God. You have people around you
4:48
Speaker 1: who's always picking at you, and negative Nancy or negative
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Speaker 1: Joe or whoever you want to call it. It's like
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Speaker 1: it will drain you and will cause you to believe
4:56
Speaker 1: the complete opposite of what you've been dreaming. So I
4:59
Speaker 1: think it's so important to be very particular what who's
5:02
Speaker 1: in your space, because you can ask somebody that's against
5:05
Speaker 1: you and they can cover themselves up. It's like a
5:08
Speaker 1: what do they say, a wolve in sheep's clothing. So
5:10
Speaker 1: it's so important that we are selective in that area. Yes, well,
5:13
Speaker 1: you know it's important we talk about this. Come a
5:15
Speaker 1: slow everything down because I want everybody to understand the
5:18
Speaker 1: value of this book. And it's not a value that
5:23
Speaker 1: just a female gender can can take nuggets to weight.
5:26
Speaker 1: I'm a successful in person in this business. I'm a
5:29
Speaker 1: male And when I started reading the book, I went, okay,
5:34
Speaker 1: relatable because one of the chapters where you talk about
5:38
Speaker 1: I always have a phrase, you know, you can't save everyone.
5:40
Speaker 1: You know, you only have one life jacket. You gotta
5:42
Speaker 1: let them go. You talk about it in one of
5:44
Speaker 1: your chapters about that about people around you and not
5:47
Speaker 1: understanding that you know, you can't worry sometimes about other
5:50
Speaker 1: people's rent or the food on their table if they're
5:54
Speaker 1: not if they don't worry about it. And there's a
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Speaker 1: chapter about that, and it was really from a business
5:59
Speaker 1: and from my life perspective. I was floored at the
6:03
Speaker 1: relatability because I go, wow, this is how I think.
6:07
Speaker 1: And so when some people do memoirs and you're such
6:10
Speaker 1: a young person, I'm gonna remind you that you're a
6:12
Speaker 1: young person. And but you also say I've lived an
6:14
Speaker 1: adults life, you know, and so and we're gonna get
6:17
Speaker 1: into in the book because but let's talk about that
6:19
Speaker 1: the whole chapter where you wrote about people around you
6:22
Speaker 1: and then you're taking it personal how you should treat them.
6:25
Speaker 1: You over worry about them what they think about you,
6:28
Speaker 1: because it does as an entrepreneur, beyond a relationship can
6:32
Speaker 1: be damaging. Correct, absolutely. And one thing that I've learned,
6:36
Speaker 1: and I talked about it in the book, is that
6:38
Speaker 1: when dealing with people, you have to understand you're not
6:40
Speaker 1: just dealing with what you have on the surface, but
6:43
Speaker 1: you're also dealing with the culture that they've come from,
6:45
Speaker 1: the trauma that they've experienced. So you're not just responding
6:48
Speaker 1: in that moment to the comment they made. It's a
6:51
Speaker 1: lot of things that are behind that statement. You know,
6:54
Speaker 1: when we communicate with each other or sometimes and I
6:57
Speaker 1: know where in the culture now where everybody is living
7:00
Speaker 1: for the read ready to let somebody have it. I'm
7:02
Speaker 1: about to show this person lives sleep while they sleep.
7:04
Speaker 1: But I guess for me, the way I have been
7:06
Speaker 1: moving through life, what has changed my perspective is to
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Speaker 1: simply understand you're not just responding to the person, You're
7:13
Speaker 1: responding to their life. Circumstances that have molded them into
7:17
Speaker 1: who they are today. And some people do things and
7:19
Speaker 1: it's not everything should not be taken personally. So I
7:22
Speaker 1: absolutely agree with you. And if we don't have that understanding,
7:25
Speaker 1: and if we're always taking things personally, will always be
7:28
Speaker 1: responding to any and everything to where it will take
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Speaker 1: so much energy. It will shift our focus off of
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Speaker 1: what we really should be focused on onto that person
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Speaker 1: and just that scenario. And so I have had to
7:41
Speaker 1: learn that the picture is bigger than me. It's it's
7:43
Speaker 1: so far beyond one moment, like be a student at
7:47
Speaker 1: every opportunity you get. But even in the book I
7:50
Speaker 1: talk about, it's a chapter called making the most of
7:53
Speaker 1: every Opportunity, And I just had to learn that chapter four,
7:59
Speaker 1: that's what after where Shimika, you know, and y'all went
8:02
Speaker 1: to West Africa, you know, And because you'll read your
8:05
Speaker 1: book now, I read your book now. It is the
8:08
Speaker 1: beauty of this book. Okay, uh, we're talking to I'm
8:11
Speaker 1: talking to Keiki or kre She or Kelly. We're gonna
8:15
Speaker 1: talk about Jordan in a minute, you know, because she
8:17
Speaker 1: had to she had to figure out how to find him.
8:19
Speaker 1: And then she talks about that journey because sometimes you know,
8:23
Speaker 1: at one point in life. Let me get ahead of
8:25
Speaker 1: the story, because I want to go back a little
8:26
Speaker 1: bit about This is why I really loved the book,
8:29
Speaker 1: because you're You're beautiful, your your your faith. You come
8:34
Speaker 1: from a legacy family or gospel, and sometimes people can
8:40
Speaker 1: see a certain degree of perfection. And we talk about
8:42
Speaker 1: that a little bit in your book, you know, the
8:44
Speaker 1: the civil Spoon chapter and finding yourself. And in the
8:49
Speaker 1: process of that, when you talk about the bad relationship,
8:52
Speaker 1: I went, wow, you know, because people don't think you
8:54
Speaker 1: have a bad relationship. People don't think that you have
8:57
Speaker 1: bad days. And I felt to me and it's written
9:00
Speaker 1: early on in the book, because I thought that was
9:02
Speaker 1: important because any young reader, especially young women readers, I
9:07
Speaker 1: thought that was important that you allowed yourself to show
9:11
Speaker 1: us the side of you that we didn't see. We see.
9:13
Speaker 1: We see success, we see awards, we see a happy marriage,
9:17
Speaker 1: we see photo ops in essence and magazines and online.
9:21
Speaker 1: But that was important that you wrote the truth to
9:24
Speaker 1: a degree of showing people that I am just like you.
9:27
Speaker 1: I have bad days, I make mistakes in the men
9:31
Speaker 1: that I select. I am not perfect. Tell us about
9:33
Speaker 1: the importance of that. Well, first, it's important. At one
9:37
Speaker 1: scenario that I remember when I started to understand the
9:42
Speaker 1: significance in the process of healing is when I fell
9:45
Speaker 1: off of a bike. And I think I talked about
9:47
Speaker 1: this in the book, but I fell off of a
9:49
Speaker 1: bike and my mom, of course, she told me, you
9:52
Speaker 1: know what to do, go ahead and put on the
9:53
Speaker 1: band aid, but she noticed that I kept getting in
9:56
Speaker 1: the tub and taking showers with the same band aid,
9:58
Speaker 1: not cleaning it, and just the sore or the scalp
10:01
Speaker 1: began to get soggy, so it wasn't healing properly, so
10:05
Speaker 1: it was becoming something more than what it actually was
10:08
Speaker 1: in that moment. So speaking of transparency and letting these
10:11
Speaker 1: things out, it's a part of healing. You have to
10:13
Speaker 1: let oxygen into your wound so that they can heal properly.
10:17
Speaker 1: And that's what I'm doing through my life and through
10:19
Speaker 1: me speaking about it, through me talking about it, but
10:22
Speaker 1: not only that this form appealing which as a woman
10:24
Speaker 1: of faith, there's a scripture that says, confess your thoughts
10:28
Speaker 1: one to another that you may receive healing. Therapy did
10:31
Speaker 1: not come from culture. Therapy came from God. He says
10:34
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you people that you can talk to.
10:37
Speaker 1: But the latter part of that scripture says, the prayers
10:40
Speaker 1: of the righteous avail. If much, it's just all in
10:43
Speaker 1: who I talk to. If I'm talking to the right person,
10:45
Speaker 1: a righteous individual, I can trust that then they can
10:49
Speaker 1: carry my secrets, carry my issues, and then take them
10:52
Speaker 1: to God, because I need someone to take me to
10:54
Speaker 1: God or carry me to God when I can't get
10:56
Speaker 1: myself to them. And so that even speaks to the
10:58
Speaker 1: self squad pizza of it. But that's why I wanted
11:01
Speaker 1: to be transparent here, because I want you to know
11:05
Speaker 1: that I can relate. And I think the connectivity again,
11:08
Speaker 1: like we've mentioned, it's all in providing a solution for
11:11
Speaker 1: someone who may feel like they're alone. Very often will
11:15
Speaker 1: soak in it, will get into depression, will become anxious,
11:18
Speaker 1: and it's because we feel like we're alone. And so
11:21
Speaker 1: with this conversational approach and me hoping that the reader
11:24
Speaker 1: would be like, you know what, this is my girl,
11:26
Speaker 1: I can relate, I connect I'm hoping that they will
11:28
Speaker 1: become free from listening and reading to that so reading
11:32
Speaker 1: the book. So that was my whole intent transparency is
11:35
Speaker 1: healing me, but it's in return healing the reader as well. Well,
11:39
Speaker 1: you had attitude in this book to that dude. That
11:42
Speaker 1: dude he gonna call you unattractive and mess with your weight,
11:45
Speaker 1: and you could, Hey, maybe my bigness is just too
11:48
Speaker 1: enough for your smallness. I went, and you know what,
11:54
Speaker 1: it's so many of us who allowed people to speak
11:57
Speaker 1: to us and and sometimes it comes from play since
12:00
Speaker 1: we don't expect and so, and just to answer your
12:02
Speaker 1: question and there because I know I went a far
12:04
Speaker 1: left field, but I wanted to talk about it because
12:07
Speaker 1: I had to get it wrong for me to understand
12:09
Speaker 1: what was right. And that's what led me to my husband.
12:13
Speaker 1: Now this healthy relationship. Like before I was like, hey,
12:16
Speaker 1: I want to pray in my relationships, or I want
12:19
Speaker 1: you to call me a little bit more often, send
12:21
Speaker 1: me a text, check on me. In another relationship that
12:24
Speaker 1: was too much for them. But now that I'm with
12:27
Speaker 1: my husband, and just in the first dating steps of
12:30
Speaker 1: you know, with Jordan's, he showed me that I wasn't
12:33
Speaker 1: too much. It was just that I was asking someone
12:36
Speaker 1: who only had a pint um to pour into this
12:40
Speaker 1: gallon size of Now I'm with Jordan's he can give
12:43
Speaker 1: me a gallant, I can give him a gallant with
12:45
Speaker 1: filling each other up. And so that's why I wanted
12:48
Speaker 1: to tell young women that to the other problem was
12:51
Speaker 1: speaking of young people. My father told me the rude
12:53
Speaker 1: word of dating is data. Talk about money making conversations.
12:58
Speaker 1: We put up ourselves for discount, Louis Vitton, don't go
13:01
Speaker 1: on discount. Why do you think you need to put
13:04
Speaker 1: yourself up on discount? So make sure you understand that
13:08
Speaker 1: you don't have to play wife to someone that's only
13:11
Speaker 1: making themselves available as boyfriend. Play the game, and as
13:14
Speaker 1: Steve Harvey said, think act like a woman, but think
13:17
Speaker 1: like a man. And so that's where I had to
13:19
Speaker 1: play the game, and I had to learn Listen, I
13:22
Speaker 1: may not be your cup of tea, but I'm for
13:24
Speaker 1: show a hot, spicy coup of tea. It's some it's
13:28
Speaker 1: some ginger in there. Okay, I'm telling you, this is
13:32
Speaker 1: the book. This is the book. I'm like, I'm I
13:38
Speaker 1: am so excited. You know this, this whole book, The
13:41
Speaker 1: Big Bowl and Beautiful Owning the woman God made you
13:44
Speaker 1: to be. And that's just a sample size of what
13:48
Speaker 1: came out and just hit me in my face in
13:50
Speaker 1: a positive way, because this is we're in an interesting
13:54
Speaker 1: life because, like you said, when you was eighteen, in
13:57
Speaker 1: the period when you hit the record labels, the only
14:00
Speaker 1: to take pictures of your face and profiles. They didn't
14:02
Speaker 1: really want to take a picture of your full body.
14:05
Speaker 1: That was before you know, the curved dove came out
14:07
Speaker 1: with those curvy ads and the curvy full figure models
14:11
Speaker 1: were hitting the runways and all that. Talk about that
14:13
Speaker 1: period because I have a lot of parents listening to
14:16
Speaker 1: the show, and I may have some young adults, especially women,
14:20
Speaker 1: and this is about the section. I really want to
14:21
Speaker 1: focus on the women conversation because men in journal don't
14:24
Speaker 1: have the physical size issues that women have to deal with,
14:28
Speaker 1: because commercials tell you should look like this, commercial print
14:31
Speaker 1: asks tell you should wear this size and things like that.
14:34
Speaker 1: And then we're gonna get into you being launching that
14:37
Speaker 1: that that what someone would consider a negative experience into
14:40
Speaker 1: a successful business eleven sixty. But talk about when you
14:44
Speaker 1: was eighteen at the record label. Yeah, I'm so excited
14:47
Speaker 1: that you read but you don't. But I have to say, um,
14:53
Speaker 1: that was an interesting experience. And I think I mentioned
14:57
Speaker 1: before while we were talking sometimes lines you have this
15:01
Speaker 1: pushback from areas that you didn't expect it, and it
15:04
Speaker 1: can be from places that you trusted, hoping that it
15:07
Speaker 1: will be a place to that would build you up.
15:09
Speaker 1: But that's the moment where you figure out, oh you're
15:12
Speaker 1: there to tear me down. It was just you had
15:14
Speaker 1: to get in good with me. And so I definitely
15:17
Speaker 1: had that that experience where, um, you know, I just
15:20
Speaker 1: dealt with industry pressure and um, it's simple as I am.
15:25
Speaker 1: I often still have to tell people, you know, listen,
15:28
Speaker 1: I love God. I'm a simple girl. I don't want
15:30
Speaker 1: to always put on and I think this, uh, the
15:34
Speaker 1: new culture and even the listeners and the demo, they're
15:37
Speaker 1: learning that I don't got to do all of that,
15:41
Speaker 1: you know anymore. And if I don't, there is an
15:44
Speaker 1: audience that is waiting to hear from me. And of course,
15:47
Speaker 1: now I'm not saying don't change your position in heart,
15:50
Speaker 1: because I think it's so important that we remain students
15:53
Speaker 1: at heart, because that's what makes you timeless. But I think, uh,
15:58
Speaker 1: the other piece that young women should know it's to
16:00
Speaker 1: not compare yourselves. Uh. I think Theodore Roosevelt said before
16:05
Speaker 1: that comparison is the thief of joy. You'll find yourself
16:08
Speaker 1: trying to catch up with culture saying is the pretty
16:10
Speaker 1: thing to do or the thing to do and find
16:13
Speaker 1: that it's unobtainable for you because that was never for you,
16:16
Speaker 1: that wasn't assigned to you. And so speaking of the
16:19
Speaker 1: word big in this this book, uh, it was. It
16:22
Speaker 1: was an insecurity for me once upon a time. But
16:25
Speaker 1: I had to stop asking people what they thought about
16:27
Speaker 1: me in my life and I had to ask God,
16:29
Speaker 1: what do you think? Let me ask the inventor about
16:32
Speaker 1: his invention rather than going with people. That's just trying
16:35
Speaker 1: to figure out how do I stay in touch with you?
16:37
Speaker 1: But I have those chapters in the book, and one
16:40
Speaker 1: chapter chapter eight, and says stop comparing you. I'm gonna
16:44
Speaker 1: mad at you. You stole my thought because I'm about
16:46
Speaker 1: to say that chapter eight. I'm about to say, stop
16:48
Speaker 1: comparing yourself. It's chapter eight. You're making me mad. Now
16:51
Speaker 1: I gotta let you know I love this book, girl,
16:54
Speaker 1: I love the book. That's chapter eight. You just recited
16:58
Speaker 1: chapter eight, yes said, And I was gonna throw out
17:01
Speaker 1: that chapter, um, chapter fourteen to where I say stop
17:06
Speaker 1: looking at the other woman because you've got the Jews.
17:09
Speaker 1: The courte I love out of chapter eight is no
17:12
Speaker 1: one had the power to be me. Yeah, that's and
17:16
Speaker 1: that's the quote I wrote down out of chapter eight.
17:19
Speaker 1: That's why I still with me because you know, you know,
17:22
Speaker 1: I'm having a great conversation and with you, and I
17:24
Speaker 1: just want to just let you know that it resonated
17:27
Speaker 1: with me because in the end, you know, writing a book.
17:32
Speaker 1: You know, I've been fortunate to be around individuals who
17:34
Speaker 1: have written a successful book. And as you start to write,
17:37
Speaker 1: you have a story, but then you start taking layers
17:39
Speaker 1: off and you go, wow, I forgot about that. I
17:42
Speaker 1: forgot about that. And then I know in writing this book,
17:46
Speaker 1: layers are starting to get peel back. And it's also
17:50
Speaker 1: is a relief, Like like you said, to be able
17:52
Speaker 1: to tell your story was a blessing for the reader,
17:55
Speaker 1: but also a blessing from you for you because of
17:58
Speaker 1: the fact that you would able to get these layers
18:00
Speaker 1: out of realize how much you've grown as a person,
18:03
Speaker 1: because at one point in your life you just want
18:05
Speaker 1: to get married. You just felt that was a need
18:07
Speaker 1: to get married. And I want to bring that up
18:10
Speaker 1: because sometimes a man in this case because you're a woman,
18:14
Speaker 1: a man would walk into your life, that doesn't mean
18:16
Speaker 1: that's the man. And and and that's what this book
18:19
Speaker 1: talks about because the man that she eventually got with,
18:23
Speaker 1: who had that gallon of water because she needed a
18:26
Speaker 1: gallon of water, she had known him all her life.
18:31
Speaker 1: He had been walking around all his and he didn't
18:33
Speaker 1: even know it either. So it wasn't on her. It
18:36
Speaker 1: wasn't just on her not seeing that that that they
18:38
Speaker 1: both were walking into church or walking through life half field,
18:42
Speaker 1: they had eventually slowed down and realized we've been looking
18:46
Speaker 1: at the wrong opportunity when the opportunity was sitting right
18:50
Speaker 1: across the aisle in this case church. Talk about that.
18:53
Speaker 1: Come on, I know, preaching a little bit for your
18:55
Speaker 1: MISSI Ki Kick. You know what I'm saying. You are
19:00
Speaker 1: driving jails and I'm loving it. Um I can only
19:04
Speaker 1: agree with you. I think to a part of that
19:07
Speaker 1: evolution for me was me having the time of being single.
19:12
Speaker 1: So there's also a chapter in the book where I
19:14
Speaker 1: talk about being successfully single because you have to find
19:18
Speaker 1: yourself because, like you said, every person that comes in
19:22
Speaker 1: your life that ain't always the one. And I think
19:25
Speaker 1: it goes back a point to the again to the
19:28
Speaker 1: point that Dad mentioned, which was date the person, collect
19:32
Speaker 1: the information so you can draw the conclusion or the
19:36
Speaker 1: final result. So I definitely agree. I think you said
19:39
Speaker 1: it all. But again my husband showed me that no,
19:43
Speaker 1: you're not complicated. It's just you were asking the wrong
19:46
Speaker 1: person to love on you and they weren't equipped to
19:49
Speaker 1: give you what you needed. And so I definitely agree
19:52
Speaker 1: with that all. And I think too, if we're not
19:55
Speaker 1: careful because we are in the wrong place, will begin settling.
19:59
Speaker 1: We'll I've been asking for this, I've been praying for this,
20:02
Speaker 1: and we'll look at everybody else's like like I said once,
20:06
Speaker 1: U fun a time, what was Sierra's prayer with Russell
20:09
Speaker 1: Um And so I understand what that's like. But we
20:12
Speaker 1: also have to get to a place where I'm not
20:14
Speaker 1: settling for anything outside of what I asked for. Like, no,
20:19
Speaker 1: that it's out there. If God put it in you
20:22
Speaker 1: uh to ask for it in prayer, if you have
20:24
Speaker 1: the audacity to think of it, then it's obtainable. It's
20:27
Speaker 1: just make sure you're available and open to love. But
20:30
Speaker 1: I was so closed off and wanting one thing to
20:34
Speaker 1: work that I completely had shut off every you know,
20:37
Speaker 1: all of the great possibilities. So I agree with well,
20:40
Speaker 1: you know, by the way successfully singles chapter twelve, Okay,
20:45
Speaker 1: chapter just laid down. No, we just breaking down the
20:48
Speaker 1: chapters as you go along, because now I want to
20:51
Speaker 1: go back before we wrap up. I wanted to talk
20:52
Speaker 1: about the entrepreneurship because that's a part of this that
20:56
Speaker 1: really blew this book up for me because it is
21:00
Speaker 1: written from a woman's perspective, but it also layers out
21:04
Speaker 1: how you took a negative you know, uh and turning
21:08
Speaker 1: into a business. But along the way you had to
21:11
Speaker 1: uh you know, because because it was a link that
21:15
Speaker 1: I think Lukisha sent to you, the Lukisha sent to
21:18
Speaker 1: you that that enabled you to get into Macy's. And
21:22
Speaker 1: so that's why you say you are the ball. That's
21:25
Speaker 1: the that's the God is the ball, ball, God is
21:26
Speaker 1: your agent. That's that chapter. God is that a chapter?
21:30
Speaker 1: And I tell it? Okay, I um, you know, I
21:38
Speaker 1: for the reason I'm excited because you know, I've interviewed
21:41
Speaker 1: you and we we've we've we've we've because we like
21:45
Speaker 1: our tone. But to really see how beautiful you are
21:49
Speaker 1: and how how you you you're giving us a blessing
21:52
Speaker 1: in this book to be able to change lives. That's
21:55
Speaker 1: because that's what I think, like a man, Uh did
21:58
Speaker 1: for a lot of women. It just opened their eyes.
22:00
Speaker 1: And this book can do so much for so many
22:03
Speaker 1: young women, women who are trying to start businesses, women
22:07
Speaker 1: who are frustrating relationship, women who are doubting themselves physically, mentally, emotionally,
22:13
Speaker 1: but more importantly, the fastest growing business of franchise, of
22:18
Speaker 1: of of of the business world, or women and especially
22:21
Speaker 1: women of color. And to write a book where I
22:24
Speaker 1: think lends so many value lessons of how to because
22:28
Speaker 1: I've talked about Courtney and Courtney that's your ride or die.
22:32
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. When Ball was being stupid,
22:34
Speaker 1: you called Courtney and she didn't say nothing negative about you.
22:37
Speaker 1: She didn't throw it back in your face. She said, hey,
22:39
Speaker 1: come with me, girl, let's go over here. Let's keep
22:41
Speaker 1: supporting you. And so, but these are the people that
22:44
Speaker 1: we talk about. You lay out, you said, Richard, you
22:46
Speaker 1: gotta have the people, because you know, it was funny
22:48
Speaker 1: when you were talking about Courtney. I was thinking about
22:50
Speaker 1: my ride to die? Dude, who is that person? So
22:53
Speaker 1: you made me sit back and go, okay, Mr Successful,
22:56
Speaker 1: who is your courtney? Because you gotta have a coordiney.
22:59
Speaker 1: You gotta have somebody to call when you down, because
23:01
Speaker 1: you go have down days, you have doubtful days. Who
23:04
Speaker 1: was that person? But more importantly, that led you to
23:07
Speaker 1: become an entrepreneur And that's where you had, you know,
23:10
Speaker 1: your your other girls, stepping in, your travel, made with
23:13
Speaker 1: all over the world, career, everything for your business, and
23:17
Speaker 1: was sitting right there with you at Macy's launching your
23:20
Speaker 1: didn't know what you were really doing, but you did it.
23:22
Speaker 1: That's the faith. But there was also having somebody support
23:26
Speaker 1: your dream. Talk about that. It's so important. And I've
23:29
Speaker 1: been in a space where I've had people around that
23:33
Speaker 1: were there, you know, just by work and happenstance, but
23:37
Speaker 1: they weren't really in my corner. They didn't understand my
23:39
Speaker 1: vision um and it's like, you know, okay, how do
23:42
Speaker 1: we collaborate together? How are we? You know, life partners
23:45
Speaker 1: is not just in the marriage and has everything to
23:48
Speaker 1: to do with your purpose. When you make decisions in
23:51
Speaker 1: your work or in your career, it shouldn't feel like work.
23:54
Speaker 1: It should feel like fun, like I'm just I'm just
23:57
Speaker 1: living on purpose. This is just what I'm called to do.
24:00
Speaker 1: You and I think that when you're prayerful and asking
24:03
Speaker 1: God Lord, give me this sense of dissernment so I
24:06
Speaker 1: can know who is assigned to me and who's supposed
24:09
Speaker 1: to walk this journey for me or with me, Because
24:12
Speaker 1: there are expiration dates on some relationships and connections that
24:15
Speaker 1: we have. But if we don't respect them, then we'll
24:18
Speaker 1: get exasperated, we can become sick. It's like if we
24:21
Speaker 1: drink some milk that has an expiration date on it,
24:24
Speaker 1: eventually it will make us sick. Our bodies won't respond
24:27
Speaker 1: well to it. And so it's the same thing with people.
24:30
Speaker 1: So you said it again from reading the book, but
24:33
Speaker 1: it's so important to make sure that tribe and I
24:36
Speaker 1: talk about it again twice. So it was squad goes
24:39
Speaker 1: and then there was another chapter called finding your tribe.
24:42
Speaker 1: When you're going out into the earth, you it's not
24:44
Speaker 1: you can't fight everything. You need somebody to have your back.
24:48
Speaker 1: And so those names that you called, they're simply women
24:51
Speaker 1: who I have said. It's family. And you know what,
24:54
Speaker 1: if you allow me as a woman of faith, I'm
24:55
Speaker 1: always giving scripture. But there's a scripture that says, um,
24:59
Speaker 1: I will give you a friend that is closer than
25:01
Speaker 1: the brother. That wasn't Jesus that they were talking about.
25:05
Speaker 1: They were talking about human beings, and so I think
25:08
Speaker 1: we should understand that covenant relationships are ordained by Heaven
25:13
Speaker 1: and God loves us through people. But it's just a
25:16
Speaker 1: matter of who are the people were saying yes to.
25:19
Speaker 1: Because the adversary the appoint the opponent that he also
25:23
Speaker 1: uses people. So make sure you say yes to the
25:26
Speaker 1: right people. Wow, you know, um nothink that I expected
25:31
Speaker 1: this from you. Uh. And the don't apologize. Uh, It's
25:36
Speaker 1: been an inspirational but the the whole prospect, though, would
25:41
Speaker 1: you say, is faith? When you was at Macy's with Shamika,
25:45
Speaker 1: your girl, you're you're rider die career, you know, Dubai.
25:49
Speaker 1: I'm just we're just calling out some countries that y'all
25:51
Speaker 1: went to, you know, in West Africa. You know. Just
25:53
Speaker 1: let you know, you boy read the book, you know,
25:55
Speaker 1: just this cause you thought I was stumbling. You know,
25:58
Speaker 1: I'm not reading nothing. I'm not reading nothing. I'm I'm
26:00
Speaker 1: just I'm just coming from you know, God's memory. That's all.
26:03
Speaker 1: That's all I'm doing. Called god'send right here, Thank you
26:07
Speaker 1: so much. I think it was it was a It
26:10
Speaker 1: was a faith piece for sure, because um it, I
26:15
Speaker 1: looked at it as spam when my cousin Kesha sent
26:17
Speaker 1: it to me, I was like, girl, you know how
26:20
Speaker 1: they send those chain text messages and they say signed
26:23
Speaker 1: up for this, and I'm like, I'm not signing up
26:24
Speaker 1: for this, Like it was just like whatever. So I
26:27
Speaker 1: really wasn't expecting every opportunity, even this book opportunity, if
26:31
Speaker 1: you allow me to use that as a reference point.
26:33
Speaker 1: The opportunity was in an email account that I just
26:37
Speaker 1: had put aside for spam. But something told me, and
26:42
Speaker 1: you know again, excuse me. I'm a church girl. So
26:44
Speaker 1: you know how the scene the season saying, they say, girl,
26:47
Speaker 1: that wasn't something that was the whole a goals. But
26:49
Speaker 1: something told me to go and check the email and
26:53
Speaker 1: here I am bumping into a book opportunity. And so
26:57
Speaker 1: I definitely think it was divine. But I think and
27:00
Speaker 1: I believe, that God uses people to hand you what
27:05
Speaker 1: belongs to you, that he gives you those moments. And
27:08
Speaker 1: that's why I said it in that chapter, Um, God
27:11
Speaker 1: as my agent, because sometimes you know, pr management they do.
27:15
Speaker 1: I mean believe me when I say they put in
27:18
Speaker 1: the hard work and it has everything to do with
27:20
Speaker 1: where we're going and where we are. But sometimes God
27:23
Speaker 1: does things so that only he can get the glory.
27:26
Speaker 1: And so I will say, you know, God took me there,
27:30
Speaker 1: but there was some other moments where I had to
27:32
Speaker 1: work for it. So even in the word it says
27:34
Speaker 1: you gotta put action to your faith so you can
27:37
Speaker 1: believe a thing. But what you're gonna do when you
27:39
Speaker 1: get there? So a lot of us are like, oh,
27:41
Speaker 1: I want this, I want that, I want this, I
27:43
Speaker 1: want that, But are you ready for it? Is your
27:45
Speaker 1: character gonna keep you there? Is your work ethic gonna
27:48
Speaker 1: keep you there. So I definitely think it is two
27:51
Speaker 1: things that are colliding together, and it is my faith
27:54
Speaker 1: and my action. I'm just I've been loving it. You know.
27:59
Speaker 1: I rarely I have interviews whereas a motivational This motivational
28:02
Speaker 1: interview right here, you're just dropping these nuggers. I was
28:05
Speaker 1: just sitting back on do your thing. You're do your thing?
28:07
Speaker 1: What do I pass to play? What do I pass
28:09
Speaker 1: to play? Because you are dropping scriptures, you're dropping the truth.
28:12
Speaker 1: But more importantly, you've written an amazing book, big, bold
28:16
Speaker 1: and beautiful, Owning the woman God made. I love this
28:19
Speaker 1: part owning the woman God made you to be. That's
28:23
Speaker 1: it's not about your mistakes that you made in the past.
28:26
Speaker 1: It's not about what people think of you now, it's
28:28
Speaker 1: who what do you think of yourself? And that's what
28:30
Speaker 1: this journey is about in this book. Because if every
28:33
Speaker 1: woman who reads this book, I'll just tell you the
28:36
Speaker 1: woman because I'm talking. I grew up with six sisters.
28:38
Speaker 1: I have only one child. She's female. My daughter love
28:41
Speaker 1: her to death, and and I love what you've done
28:44
Speaker 1: because you're given her an opportunity to read an inspirational,
28:47
Speaker 1: motivational I would say, uh, book you know of entrepreneurship
28:53
Speaker 1: and based on your memoir, and you was on enough,
28:56
Speaker 1: honest enough to tell us share some of your stories.
28:59
Speaker 1: And all stories aren't good stories, but if you told
29:02
Speaker 1: for the right reason, they are blessing. And I considered
29:05
Speaker 1: this book of blessing. Thank you, Thank you so much,
29:08
Speaker 1: and I appreciate you supporting me in both in both fields.
29:12
Speaker 1: And with the music we talked and now with the
29:15
Speaker 1: book we're talking. Forgetting three three, the movie, the music,
29:19
Speaker 1: the moving forward for the clothing line Elevel sixty, the music,
29:23
Speaker 1: you know, the movie and not this amazing book. I'm
29:26
Speaker 1: dropping it in my news letter, I'm dropping in on
29:28
Speaker 1: my social media again. Thank you for coming on my show,
29:32
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations. Uh, it's gonna premiere uh nationally uh
29:38
Speaker 1: TV and May and so I'm I'm just I'm I'm
29:42
Speaker 1: we're gonna drop this early now because I want to
29:43
Speaker 1: drop it down the time of your book. But I'm
29:45
Speaker 1: gonna also re air this in May. So if you
29:48
Speaker 1: get a little uplifting your book sale, your boy Rishan
29:51
Speaker 1: McDonald to care you, Okay, miss miss Kelly ms Kelly
29:54
Speaker 1: ms Kelly, Mr Mr and the wife the wife of
29:58
Speaker 1: Jordan's the wife of Jordan. That's how do I have
30:00
Speaker 1: a joke? Thank you for coming on the show. I
30:04
Speaker 1: really thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations. Okay, yes,
30:08
Speaker 1: thank you. Have a wonderful day. It's finally here, the
30:11
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Speaker 1: Administration for Children and Families and the Council Hi. I
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Speaker 1: am ra Sean McDonald hosting Money Making Conversation dot com.
32:08
Speaker 1: The Cafe Morca Swag Award is a celebration of black
32:11
Speaker 1: men making a difference in our community by empowering others
32:14
Speaker 1: to reach their life goals. They can be civic leaders,
32:16
Speaker 1: people in business, activists, celebrities, and everyday dance. The Cafe
32:20
Speaker 1: Morcha Swag Award Honora this week is Kevin blood So
32:24
Speaker 1: Don't limit your Dreams. Kevin is a two time who
32:26
Speaker 1: The Awards winner for Best Bobeque in Los Angeles. Blessed
32:29
Speaker 1: So has become a top television personality and food star.
32:33
Speaker 1: He has grown his business from the streets of Compton,
32:35
Speaker 1: California into an international empire, from Libra in Hollywood to
32:39
Speaker 1: Crown Casino and Mail Burne Australia. I don't give to
32:44
Speaker 1: be blessed. I'm blessed, so I give. It's not no
32:46
Speaker 1: secret recipe that this, you know, it has to come
32:49
Speaker 1: from your heart. It's more of the good things that
32:52
Speaker 1: outweighed the bad things, and God has put me in
32:55
Speaker 1: position to help like that. The Cafe Morka Swag Award
32:58
Speaker 1: represents men who have strain, whose wisdom is assertive, and
33:01
Speaker 1: who is genuine in their spirit. We will be right
33:04
Speaker 1: back with more money Making Conversations with your host, Rashan McDonald.
33:15
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Money Making Conversations with your host Rashan McDonald.
33:21
Speaker 1: My next two guests, they're following their celebrity. Definitely entrepreneurs,
33:25
Speaker 1: but they're also decision makers because they changed our views.
33:29
Speaker 1: The next guest Erica Alexander and Whitney Dow. They've teamed
33:32
Speaker 1: up for a new podcast that explores the full picture
33:35
Speaker 1: of reparations with arguments both for and against restitution for
33:39
Speaker 1: Black American descendants of enslaved people. Let's as the stage
33:43
Speaker 1: for our conversation that's been discussed reparations. Eric Alexander is
33:46
Speaker 1: beloved for iconic acting roses, living single get out series
33:50
Speaker 1: like Black Lightning, She Wears Me the Hats. Now known
33:53
Speaker 1: as an actress, but in the trail blazing activist, entrepreneur, creator, producer,
33:57
Speaker 1: and director. Basically she's an all around boss. Whitney Dow
34:01
Speaker 1: He's in the winning filmmaker and educator. He's been producing
34:04
Speaker 1: and directing films focused on race and identity for almost
34:07
Speaker 1: two decades and as partner of a Two Tone Productions.
34:10
Speaker 1: Directing credits include one, I'm very familiar with Two Towns
34:13
Speaker 1: of Jasper, I sit where I want the legacy of
34:16
Speaker 1: Brown versus Board of Education, Unfinished Country, and when the
34:20
Speaker 1: Drama is beating. His producer credits include Freedom, Summer Banished,
34:24
Speaker 1: How White you drove Blacks out of town in America?
34:27
Speaker 1: Please welcome, I've set the tone. He's the general. Please
34:29
Speaker 1: work in the money making conversation to host the reparations
34:32
Speaker 1: the big payback Erica Alexander and Whitney down, thank you,
34:38
Speaker 1: that's that's We're glad to be here, and congratulations on
34:41
Speaker 1: everything you're doing in all the success and also highlighting
34:45
Speaker 1: our work and others like us. We appreciate it. Well.
34:49
Speaker 1: First of all, thank you for coming on the show.
34:51
Speaker 1: And I wanted such as tone of who we're talking
34:53
Speaker 1: about because in the past and Whitney's on his own
34:55
Speaker 1: video as well as audio what as well because the
34:57
Speaker 1: show plays back on television as well as on podcast,
35:01
Speaker 1: and the reason I wanted to bring you on the
35:02
Speaker 1: show because I'm about Whitney's age and through life. I've
35:05
Speaker 1: heard this reparation tone being thrown out there, and usually
35:09
Speaker 1: it's some person who looks kind of dishoveled on the
35:13
Speaker 1: street in New York City holding a cardboard signed is crooked,
35:16
Speaker 1: but somehow he's fouled the marker and he says you
35:19
Speaker 1: owe me, and he's misspelled reparations. Now I'm looking at
35:23
Speaker 1: a highly gifted actress, a highly talented producer and creator
35:28
Speaker 1: and Whitney And Okay, this is not what I grew
35:31
Speaker 1: up on. This is not my mom's TV. Okay, you
35:36
Speaker 1: know that is so funny. Yeah, you know what I
35:39
Speaker 1: was going to say with me that we were going
35:40
Speaker 1: to go out to talk to people, and I'm just
35:42
Speaker 1: gonna say, we'll put the reparations on the cardboard and
35:46
Speaker 1: they'll come to us. You're exactly right. That is something
35:50
Speaker 1: that's been in it's sort of a marginalized community. And
35:53
Speaker 1: Whitney can speak to that very well because he's been
35:55
Speaker 1: working inside of race and talking about these things for
35:58
Speaker 1: a while. Go ahead, you know it's it's really incredible.
36:02
Speaker 1: I think we're you know, Eric, we're talking about this
36:03
Speaker 1: earlier today, about this moment that we're in that where
36:07
Speaker 1: you know, the last year we're listening to the major
36:10
Speaker 1: the major presidential camp candidates talking about reparations on the
36:14
Speaker 1: debate stage without fear, but actually because they knew it
36:17
Speaker 1: was something that Americans wanted to hear about. Thank you
36:19
Speaker 1: for bringing up my age. You Sean appreciate that. You
36:21
Speaker 1: know that Eric is the littly younger than we are.
36:25
Speaker 1: No know a lot you can tell just by looking
36:29
Speaker 1: at the screen. So the but but to think about
36:34
Speaker 1: when I was coming up on, when you were coming up, um,
36:37
Speaker 1: this wasn't even remotely a conversation that we thought could
36:41
Speaker 1: be have And now we're in this moment when it
36:44
Speaker 1: feels look, I don't have a crystal ball, I don't
36:47
Speaker 1: open possible, but it feels real. Hr forty feels like
36:51
Speaker 1: it has the possibility of finally passing and there can
36:54
Speaker 1: be an actual discussion about reparations in this country. Reparations
36:58
Speaker 1: What does that mean? When you from a black perspective?
37:01
Speaker 1: And ma ask both of your questions. I'm gonna ask
37:03
Speaker 1: you first, Erica, from a black perspective, what does reparations mean?
37:06
Speaker 1: Because it seems because there's a lot of people could
37:08
Speaker 1: stand in life for that, starting with the American Indians,
37:11
Speaker 1: also more recently the Japanese during the World War Two
37:15
Speaker 1: when they were putting in in camps or the fear
37:18
Speaker 1: that they will cause some type of injury or inside
37:21
Speaker 1: spies in America. So, but blacks war enslaver, they were
37:25
Speaker 1: brought over here against their will. And so now we're
37:28
Speaker 1: only talking about, you know, descendants of enslaved people. So
37:32
Speaker 1: now you're not including all black people. So how did
37:35
Speaker 1: that decision come about? Nothing? Clue? Why why am I
37:38
Speaker 1: not getting my check? Now? You know, I'm just saying, well,
37:41
Speaker 1: you know, reparations is actually we have risive He actually
37:45
Speaker 1: read um uh, the definition of reparations on the episode two.
37:51
Speaker 1: Compensation that's what it is for war damages paid by
37:54
Speaker 1: a defeated state. That's a very sort of that's what
37:58
Speaker 1: it is in addiction area. UM. But if you've made
38:02
Speaker 1: something wrong, you're making amends for that wrong. And that's
38:06
Speaker 1: what reparations is. Pay money are some sort of something
38:12
Speaker 1: that helps those that you have wrong. That's reparations. Why
38:15
Speaker 1: aren't you getting them? Um, It's because Black people weren't
38:19
Speaker 1: in a position to advocate for themselves after slavery. UM.
38:23
Speaker 1: There was a brief period during reconstruction where they disgusted
38:28
Speaker 1: and everybody knows about forty eight years of the Mule
38:30
Speaker 1: and about you know, uh Sherman's Bill that they asked
38:34
Speaker 1: him to put forward. UM. But then what happened is
38:38
Speaker 1: that racism settled back in Jim Crow. All these things happened,
38:42
Speaker 1: reconstruction stopped, and that's why you didn't get it. And
38:45
Speaker 1: then by the time the Civil rights at Civil Rights
38:48
Speaker 1: UM period comes up, people are starting to talk about, um, uh,
38:52
Speaker 1: the rights that we have or don't have. Then, Uh,
38:55
Speaker 1: it wasn't the time maybe to bring that up when
38:58
Speaker 1: you're trying to just survive. But people did bring it
39:01
Speaker 1: up during the Civil Rights UM period, and they brought
39:04
Speaker 1: it up all during it. And we'll talk about the
39:06
Speaker 1: types of people Calli House and others. Um Whitney loves
39:11
Speaker 1: that story of Calli House and Queen Mother more people
39:14
Speaker 1: like that who kept trying to get reparations, pensions and
39:16
Speaker 1: other ways to um to help blacks, but we didn't
39:19
Speaker 1: have any power. More importantly, the people in power did
39:22
Speaker 1: not care and or want to do it because they
39:25
Speaker 1: saw as us still as being subhuman and we'd have
39:29
Speaker 1: to just make out on our own. So now that
39:31
Speaker 1: we have power, we're trying to say, don't ask why
39:34
Speaker 1: we didn't get it. Thin asked why, Now that we
39:38
Speaker 1: have power, how can we get it to help the
39:41
Speaker 1: descendants of American slaves? Now, okay, cool, Now that's always
39:46
Speaker 1: coming from you, and that's expected. You're a woman of color,
39:49
Speaker 1: a person of color. You, you were that angry generation. You,
39:52
Speaker 1: You've you've been disenfranchised, you know what I'm saying, Like
39:55
Speaker 1: you said, But now now, white guy, right now, we're
40:00
Speaker 1: what's your problem? What's what's your what's your problem? By
40:02
Speaker 1: talking with this black young lady over here about reparations? Okay,
40:05
Speaker 1: you really hurt not calls sir? Okay, could you be quiet.
40:08
Speaker 1: I know you've made a lot of movies that have
40:10
Speaker 1: really been equal when allance for injustice, uh and keeping
40:16
Speaker 1: it writing parallel to the course of righteousness or black
40:19
Speaker 1: and brown people. But why you Whitney getting involved with Erica? Well,
40:24
Speaker 1: you know it's funny, you know, with all the work
40:26
Speaker 1: that I've done, and I've never had a couple of
40:28
Speaker 1: sort of moments in those lives where I always kind
40:31
Speaker 1: of felt I think, like a lot of white people,
40:33
Speaker 1: I think that you know, race and racism or the
40:38
Speaker 1: structures of the racist structures of our country. I was
40:41
Speaker 1: kind of like throught of throught of outside myself, something
40:44
Speaker 1: that someone who I believed that I wanted to. I
40:48
Speaker 1: believe in social justice, I believe in the quality I
40:50
Speaker 1: had to work on these things. And the moment the
40:53
Speaker 1: big switch for me, as you know, that's all embedded
40:55
Speaker 1: in me and I need to be working for all
40:58
Speaker 1: the roads that I was following down led back to myself,
41:02
Speaker 1: is that I needed to take action. I needed to
41:05
Speaker 1: recognize my part in the paradigm and say I could
41:08
Speaker 1: shift it so that I really believe that this is
41:11
Speaker 1: gonna sound weird in the context of this show, but
41:14
Speaker 1: but white people are suffering from the fact that this
41:17
Speaker 1: injury has never been repaired. And I really feel that
41:20
Speaker 1: we cannot be full citizens of this country and in
41:23
Speaker 1: some ways even fully moral humans until we make restitution
41:28
Speaker 1: if we try and repair the damage of slavery. And
41:32
Speaker 1: I think that part of that is not even whether
41:35
Speaker 1: we can do it effectively, but we have to make
41:39
Speaker 1: the attempt. We have we have to make the attempt.
41:41
Speaker 1: And you know what you're talking about earlier about what
41:43
Speaker 1: it is, and one of the things that's you know,
41:45
Speaker 1: I I often joke with Erica about that. I'm what
41:48
Speaker 1: I'm relieved about is that, you know, when you talked
41:51
Speaker 1: earlier about who gets it and who doesn't get it.
41:54
Speaker 1: Being a white person, I know I don't have standing
41:56
Speaker 1: to make that decision, even weigh in with an opinion
41:59
Speaker 1: on that. I have the easy job. I just have
42:01
Speaker 1: to advocate for it. Now you guys have to figure
42:04
Speaker 1: out how it gets done and gets absolutely I agree,
42:08
Speaker 1: you know, I look at this. I remember when Steve
42:10
Speaker 1: Harry and I was doing live radio in Los Angeles,
42:13
Speaker 1: so Nat point three to beat. Every time, this guy
42:15
Speaker 1: would come by and he had this little book and
42:18
Speaker 1: it was a dirty book. So he was doing pictures
42:21
Speaker 1: of the pages were bent, and he would he would
42:23
Speaker 1: make his claim to me because he wanted to get
42:25
Speaker 1: on the morning show. He always you gotta let me
42:27
Speaker 1: speak to that. I gotta tell the truth. I gotta
42:29
Speaker 1: let people know and every every ices. Sir, I can't
42:33
Speaker 1: work facts. What are you backing this up on? What
42:35
Speaker 1: facts are you basing your claim for reparation? Because he
42:38
Speaker 1: definitely did not look like you, Erica, And he definitely
42:41
Speaker 1: did not look like you Witney Okay, nor did he
42:43
Speaker 1: have the credits or the background would allow me to actually,
42:47
Speaker 1: at least you guys can talk because you have one
42:50
Speaker 1: one up, You have the credits, allowed to have a
42:52
Speaker 1: real legitimate voice. So I want to hear your side
42:56
Speaker 1: of the story, which is a blessing because if you
42:58
Speaker 1: don't have that, then you can shoot to the side
43:01
Speaker 1: like I did him all those years he kept coming
43:03
Speaker 1: to me trying to get on the Steve Harvey Morning Show.
43:07
Speaker 1: Now you're on my show, money Making Conversation, popular platform.
43:11
Speaker 1: Now is that being a blessing for you, Erica, to
43:13
Speaker 1: be able to come on show, to do national articles,
43:17
Speaker 1: to have a podcast, to finally get this story out.
43:21
Speaker 1: It has been a blessing. It's also a burden anybody
43:24
Speaker 1: that's in this type of work, you get exhausted by it.
43:26
Speaker 1: Talking about these issues is difficult because it brings up
43:30
Speaker 1: all sorts of conversations in your life or you know,
43:33
Speaker 1: challenges or disappointments you might have had and sort of
43:37
Speaker 1: thinking why. But it is a blessing because it's part
43:40
Speaker 1: of what gets Somebody passed me the beton a long
43:43
Speaker 1: time ago, people like Harriet Tubman. If she can go
43:45
Speaker 1: through those swamps and go back and forth and back
43:48
Speaker 1: and forth, I can do this. I can do a podcast,
43:52
Speaker 1: I can do whatever I need to do in order
43:54
Speaker 1: to help people move forward. And and so it's it's
43:57
Speaker 1: it's um. It is a blessing. It's also blessing to
44:00
Speaker 1: be on the show like yours to be discussing this,
44:03
Speaker 1: because that means that it is um, not only the zeitgeist,
44:07
Speaker 1: but it's it's happening among people who can help make
44:10
Speaker 1: the difference and bring it forward and then push it
44:12
Speaker 1: beyond um any one platform. And that's important because people
44:16
Speaker 1: have been trying to have this conversation for a long time.
44:19
Speaker 1: We're not the first, we won't be the last. You
44:20
Speaker 1: have Frederick Douglas, you have two boys, Garby, All these
44:23
Speaker 1: people again. James Foreman. We actually talk about him on
44:26
Speaker 1: our show and how he interrupted these church service at
44:30
Speaker 1: Riverside and he demanded five hundred million dollars in reparations
44:34
Speaker 1: because he said that the um the churches were complicit
44:38
Speaker 1: in slavery and oppression and he wanted to hold them accountable.
44:42
Speaker 1: And um, you have groups like in Cobra and John
44:46
Speaker 1: Kanyers in Congress and what he's doing there. And of
44:49
Speaker 1: course Sheila Jacksonline now with HR forty and all the women,
44:52
Speaker 1: Robin Ruth Simmons, we cannot forget her, and we'll talk
44:55
Speaker 1: more about her what she's done in Evanston, Illinois by
44:58
Speaker 1: passing the first reparations bill in history. We are following
45:01
Speaker 1: her with the documentary that we are both making Whitney
45:04
Speaker 1: and I and UM, that's why we're having it. The
45:07
Speaker 1: fact that we're here is proof of life. You know,
45:10
Speaker 1: it isn't when this course of course is directed to you,
45:13
Speaker 1: because you hear the word council culture, and the word
45:16
Speaker 1: council culture, you know, kind of started with the removal
45:19
Speaker 1: of the Confederate statues. And and I I attest that
45:23
Speaker 1: my minors and sociology, my degree in mathematics, and when
45:26
Speaker 1: I took sociology, it really allowed me to understand what
45:29
Speaker 1: I didn't know about my black history. I didn't really
45:31
Speaker 1: know the values that I brought to the table, because
45:34
Speaker 1: if you go to a typical, uh, public school or
45:37
Speaker 1: even private school, this is what happens to black people.
45:39
Speaker 1: This is a black history that's told to us. We
45:42
Speaker 1: came over to America, we were enslaved, we were freed, Okay.
45:46
Speaker 1: Then suddenly it skips all the way to brown versus
45:49
Speaker 1: the Board of Education. Then it goes to the civil
45:52
Speaker 1: rights marches, then it goes to I have a dream speech,
45:55
Speaker 1: then it goes to goes to UH to mart Luther
45:59
Speaker 1: King's fascination, and it kind of stops. This is those
46:02
Speaker 1: are accomplishments that you kind of read in history. And
46:07
Speaker 1: so when you say council culture, Blacks have always had
46:11
Speaker 1: a council culture when it comes to being educated in
46:14
Speaker 1: the education, being fair to the masses. And so when
46:17
Speaker 1: I get not anger, I just get annoyed that you
46:20
Speaker 1: use the people use the word cancel culture, and unfortunately
46:23
Speaker 1: it's coming from a majority of the white community that
46:26
Speaker 1: that we're canceled culture. Can you expound on that because
46:29
Speaker 1: I think that's what makes a perfect parent for you
46:31
Speaker 1: guys on this podcast, because I can have this diverse
46:34
Speaker 1: conversation with both of you guys. Well, I think that,
46:37
Speaker 1: you know, it's interesting, I think that white people also
46:39
Speaker 1: have a cancel culture in the history as well. It's
46:41
Speaker 1: it's different. We've canceled out all we we work really
46:43
Speaker 1: hard to cancel that all the bad things, the things
46:45
Speaker 1: that that don't line up with how this sort of
46:47
Speaker 1: this idea of American exceptionalism and how we sort of
46:51
Speaker 1: see always sort of been told told ourselves as white
46:54
Speaker 1: people that were sort of this you know, white Americans
46:57
Speaker 1: are you know, we're inherently good people that this thing.
47:00
Speaker 1: And I think that the parts that were left out
47:02
Speaker 1: of are the you know, the idea of of this
47:05
Speaker 1: idea of bootstrap against sort of the loan cowboy against
47:09
Speaker 1: the you know, writing out on the range with the
47:12
Speaker 1: lone cowboys. Now that piece of the stories left out
47:15
Speaker 1: is that before him wrote an army that slaughtered the
47:19
Speaker 1: native of the America, so he could act out that
47:21
Speaker 1: independent act on his on his own. So I think
47:24
Speaker 1: that we're that the idea is like, I think you're
47:26
Speaker 1: exactly right. There's what we're trying to do is take
47:30
Speaker 1: those pieces that are missing and add them the story.
47:32
Speaker 1: And I just want to get back to something you
47:33
Speaker 1: said about Eric and been doing together. I think so
47:35
Speaker 1: much of the time these stories are told separately, the
47:39
Speaker 1: stories of Black America. There's Black History Month or there's
47:43
Speaker 1: this words and you know, I hate Black History Month.
47:46
Speaker 1: It should be History Month because your story and my
47:49
Speaker 1: story are the same story. They're they're inherently intertwined. By
47:52
Speaker 1: taking them apart and trying to say they're different, we
47:55
Speaker 1: you you inherently diminished them. And to understand either one,
47:59
Speaker 1: you have to understand them both as how they're rolling together.
48:02
Speaker 1: You know, when I when I listened to your talk,
48:04
Speaker 1: and I'm from Houston, Texas born a native of Texas, Okay,
48:08
Speaker 1: and project that you were involved and called Two Towns
48:11
Speaker 1: of Jasper, and it was very emotional for me because
48:14
Speaker 1: it involves the black man being brutalized, murdered and humiliated
48:20
Speaker 1: by the way he was killed, being drugg behind the truck.
48:23
Speaker 1: You was involved in that, and it had a major
48:25
Speaker 1: impact in your life and probably led you down the
48:29
Speaker 1: path that you're going in right now. Talk about coming
48:31
Speaker 1: into that project and well, it was important to do
48:34
Speaker 1: a project like that that had nothing to do with you,
48:36
Speaker 1: nothing to do with your wasn't a relative of yours,
48:40
Speaker 1: but you felt a need to do a project. It
48:41
Speaker 1: was called two Towns of Jasper. Well that so I said,
48:44
Speaker 1: that was a major stepping off point and looked at this.
48:47
Speaker 1: This is called money making conversations. And I'm making confession
48:51
Speaker 1: on here when I went down to do that. So
48:54
Speaker 1: I was I wanted to make a film. And I
48:58
Speaker 1: literally saw the press off the Billy Rowells, the sheriff
49:01
Speaker 1: of Jasper Textas, and he had that big ten gallon
49:03
Speaker 1: hat and he had like a car two tone car
49:06
Speaker 1: hard jacket and the highwaysted like wranglers. I was like,
49:10
Speaker 1: that guy is a movie star. I want to go
49:12
Speaker 1: down there. So I go down there, and it was
49:15
Speaker 1: and the other things. So he said that that, oh yeah,
49:18
Speaker 1: we're having we're having, uh, we're having there's a big
49:20
Speaker 1: clan rally here in support of the white community. And
49:23
Speaker 1: I was like got into my head. I was like,
49:24
Speaker 1: wait a minute, this black man was just dragged to
49:27
Speaker 1: death in Texas and the clans coming to rally and
49:30
Speaker 1: support of white community. So I flew down there and
49:34
Speaker 1: the New Black Panther Party was offered. They're having these
49:36
Speaker 1: counter demonstrations, and um, what happened is that I had
49:41
Speaker 1: actually gone down there because I thought, oh, if I
49:43
Speaker 1: want to make I want to make money advertising, I
49:45
Speaker 1: need to uh make a movie. That was gonna given
49:48
Speaker 1: I take it in. But what happened, and I think
49:50
Speaker 1: we we're talking a little bit this about this before
49:53
Speaker 1: the show started. I went down. I drove down tough
49:55
Speaker 1: Peak Road where they dragged James word body. They changed
49:58
Speaker 1: into a truck to be white Man, and we're driving
50:01
Speaker 1: down and they had saved spray painted circles where they
50:05
Speaker 1: had found all his different body parts on it. And
50:08
Speaker 1: we're driving and it went on and it went on
50:11
Speaker 1: and it went on and it went on for a mile.
50:13
Speaker 1: After mile three miles, we get to the small black
50:16
Speaker 1: church at the end you could see the imprint of
50:19
Speaker 1: his body where they lay because he he had been
50:22
Speaker 1: so he had been so you know, braided by the road.
50:26
Speaker 1: And that moment in that space like shook me so
50:31
Speaker 1: profoundly to my core. I really just it was like
50:35
Speaker 1: one of those moments where my my, my world just
50:37
Speaker 1: opened up and I and I just felt at that moment.
50:41
Speaker 1: If I can make something that slightly communicates what I'm
50:46
Speaker 1: feeling here and the horror that I'm feeling, and also
50:50
Speaker 1: the recognition I'm feeling of being in a white American
50:54
Speaker 1: standing in that spot, I will have created something with value.
50:57
Speaker 1: And that was the beginning of the journey. Eric Freak
51:01
Speaker 1: American your projects and absolutely, you know when you walk
51:05
Speaker 1: in the room, you know somebody's gonna let you know. Now,
51:07
Speaker 1: that's the beauty of being a person of color. You know,
51:11
Speaker 1: we can't run from you know we're gonna we can't
51:13
Speaker 1: run from our skin tone. We walk in the room.
51:15
Speaker 1: I don't care if we have several degrees. I don't
51:17
Speaker 1: give a billionaires as a black rich person. That's a
51:20
Speaker 1: smart black person that just walked in the room. Now
51:24
Speaker 1: you're doing a podcast by Reparations. Now, how did this
51:27
Speaker 1: come together that you united and felt that Varce could
51:30
Speaker 1: be better served by partner with Whitney. How did you
51:34
Speaker 1: guys come together? Um? We came together because joy Read
51:38
Speaker 1: introduced us. Actually, joy Read knew that we were both
51:42
Speaker 1: interested in doing something with a reparations uh you know
51:46
Speaker 1: something project. And um, he of course has his uh
51:52
Speaker 1: life and his credits and all the work that he's done.
51:55
Speaker 1: And I had just recently UM produced with color Fim Media,
52:00
Speaker 1: and my partner been Aren that John Lewis could trouble
52:03
Speaker 1: documentary and Um she said, you guys should get together,
52:08
Speaker 1: and that's how it happened. We got together in the calfway,
52:11
Speaker 1: we started cafe. We started talking about um our work.
52:16
Speaker 1: He sort of explained to me some of his hesitation
52:19
Speaker 1: or the things that he would be um most concerned
52:22
Speaker 1: about going forward. I didn't have those concerns because I've
52:26
Speaker 1: been working and collaborating with so many different people my
52:29
Speaker 1: entire life that I've had to be flexible and sort
52:32
Speaker 1: of you know, be a chameleon, those types of things.
52:34
Speaker 1: But I totally got He wanted to make sure that
52:37
Speaker 1: we would be a good fit, and I did too.
52:40
Speaker 1: I didn't want this to fail because we we felt
52:43
Speaker 1: to meet in what our goals were, and we were aligned.
52:46
Speaker 1: We have similar missions in life. We have um really
52:51
Speaker 1: interesting sense of humor, and we could laugh things off
52:54
Speaker 1: and move forward, but we also were very serious about
52:57
Speaker 1: the work. So that's how what happened. We decided to
52:59
Speaker 1: do with and we got going on it. Then the
53:02
Speaker 1: pandemic hit and um. By that time, he had been
53:06
Speaker 1: asked whether we wanted to do a podcast about it,
53:09
Speaker 1: and um, and those things sort of halted. And I
53:11
Speaker 1: had already gone on the Breakfast Club to talk about
53:15
Speaker 1: the Reparations documentary, and Charlemagne the God asked me, yo, queen.
53:19
Speaker 1: He gave me a call, what's going on with that?
53:21
Speaker 1: Are you doing a podcast? Because he had just gotten
53:23
Speaker 1: a deal to do his podcast network, The Black Effect,
53:26
Speaker 1: and I said, well, you know it's available, you're interested,
53:29
Speaker 1: and he goes yes, And next thing, you know, here
53:32
Speaker 1: we are. Because of his resources and the power that
53:34
Speaker 1: he had in that space. UM, we were making this
53:37
Speaker 1: podcast and we called it the Big Payback. This is
53:41
Speaker 1: a great story. Now within that story, he said, there
53:46
Speaker 1: was some reservations. What were your reservations with you? I'd
53:50
Speaker 1: listen to that. So, you know, Joy called and said, yo,
53:58
Speaker 1: you gotta name Erica or and her partner Ben And
54:01
Speaker 1: I said, okay, And you know, look, I'll just be
54:03
Speaker 1: really honest here in the show. I'll say, look, you
54:05
Speaker 1: know some movie star actors, some beautiful movie star actress.
54:10
Speaker 1: I need. I need that in my life, I said,
54:13
Speaker 1: you know, I said so when she came down and
54:15
Speaker 1: I said, Erica, you know, I don't know if it's
54:17
Speaker 1: gonna work. You know, you're this big star. I'm just
54:19
Speaker 1: the stilmmaker of the thing. And I said, don't you know,
54:22
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is gonna be a good fit.
54:24
Speaker 1: She just looked at me and she said, with me,
54:27
Speaker 1: you think that I survived in Hollywood for thirty years,
54:32
Speaker 1: I've knowing how to handle white guys like you. And
54:35
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, that's something I can work with.
54:37
Speaker 1: That was like no bull there. There was just like
54:40
Speaker 1: straight up and that was sort of the beginning of
54:42
Speaker 1: this journey. I love it. And that's that's true that
54:45
Speaker 1: she has been a blessing. I'm just talking about Erica
54:48
Speaker 1: as a person because I've been in Hollywood is n
54:50
Speaker 1: eighty two while doing sitcom, so I've been blessed to
54:53
Speaker 1: watch her career evolved and grow and diverse roles that
54:57
Speaker 1: she's taken upon herself. Now's interesting to about my life.
55:00
Speaker 1: It's when you bring up names that I know, like
55:02
Speaker 1: Sheila Jackson Lee. You know she's out of Houston bear
55:05
Speaker 1: for me with her work, and it's hr forty Bill
55:07
Speaker 1: in Congress. What is the end game for you? Guys
55:11
Speaker 1: with this reparation is the big payback? Are you guys
55:14
Speaker 1: gonna go to Congress one day and sit down and
55:16
Speaker 1: and talk to Congress and tell them why your podcast
55:18
Speaker 1: is relevant and why then they're gonna look at you,
55:20
Speaker 1: Mr white guy? Why is he I got that movie
55:23
Speaker 1: style over here because she's liberal Hollywood? Why is that
55:26
Speaker 1: white guy sitting with her? So? How are you guys?
55:29
Speaker 1: What's the in game? Erica? What's going on? Go ahead
55:33
Speaker 1: with me? Is that one? Yeah? Look I got I
55:38
Speaker 1: got the hate nail to prove it. People ask me that,
55:40
Speaker 1: you know, my people ask me the same thing sometimes,
55:43
Speaker 1: and you always joke. I said, I'm here to say
55:44
Speaker 1: white people. So, you know, and I think that that
55:48
Speaker 1: one of the things is that, I mean, we're working
55:51
Speaker 1: on two tracks because we're actually been in better in
55:52
Speaker 1: Sheila Jackson Lean's office for a you know, I think
55:55
Speaker 1: almost two years now tracking HR forty and uh and
55:59
Speaker 1: filming that that whole process. But look, the endgame is
56:04
Speaker 1: to help get HR forty pass, to bring that and
56:08
Speaker 1: the thing that so and you know this, you know
56:10
Speaker 1: this well, Jana that the HR forty is just a
56:12
Speaker 1: bill to talk about it. It's not a bill that's
56:16
Speaker 1: promising anything. It's a bill to establish commission to talk
56:20
Speaker 1: about the possibility of retires and make recommendations. And so
56:25
Speaker 1: that seems to me just like the bare minimum. The
56:29
Speaker 1: bare minimum that we should be doing is Americans. And
56:32
Speaker 1: one of the things that I often talk about is
56:34
Speaker 1: we both believe that this division, this division that was
56:38
Speaker 1: that was called original sin of slavery, is at the root.
56:42
Speaker 1: It's sort of like you know, it's at the root
56:44
Speaker 1: of so many of our problems that are dividing us.
56:47
Speaker 1: And when you talk about how we sort of see
56:49
Speaker 1: ourselves and the way you're talking about storytelling earlier, I
56:52
Speaker 1: think that one of the big things that we have
56:54
Speaker 1: to get over is white people have to real White
56:56
Speaker 1: Americans have to reimagine their story in this effect of America.
57:02
Speaker 1: And I think the HR forty and had a conversation
57:05
Speaker 1: we can address those things had on can be the
57:08
Speaker 1: beginning for that. I want to change just a little
57:10
Speaker 1: bit subject about it because you brought up your special
57:13
Speaker 1: Erica that you I shouldn't say special the do community
57:15
Speaker 1: did with John Lewis good trouble. I saw it and
57:20
Speaker 1: I was disappointed in myself that I didn't know the man.
57:23
Speaker 1: I didn't know his story. I didn't know, you know,
57:26
Speaker 1: because the last two years we've been able to see
57:28
Speaker 1: a playoffs, especially when he was announced he had cancer
57:31
Speaker 1: and through through this pandemic, and then of course he died.
57:34
Speaker 1: But what was your biggest takeaway from Because I didn't know.
57:37
Speaker 1: I really didn't know. He was like our modern day
57:39
Speaker 1: version of Dr Martin Luther King. He was living in
57:42
Speaker 1: breathing version of Dr Martin Luther King. And we didn't really,
57:45
Speaker 1: I think um appreciate that, especially in black America, definitely
57:50
Speaker 1: in a white America. And so why do you think
57:52
Speaker 1: he was so because he was so humble, first of all,
57:55
Speaker 1: but he really didn't didn't climb out. He never ran
57:58
Speaker 1: for sinity, he never tried to run for an offer
58:00
Speaker 1: of vice president, would never recommend it that or never
58:03
Speaker 1: try to run for presidency. Talk about that special and God,
58:07
Speaker 1: I just wanted to bring that out of just just
58:09
Speaker 1: my whole thing, and bringing you guys on was to
58:11
Speaker 1: give you guys a voice to lay down the background
58:13
Speaker 1: that you guys have the right and the expertise and
58:16
Speaker 1: the cachet to talk about reparations on your podcast. In
58:19
Speaker 1: this discussion of the big payback, but just give us
58:21
Speaker 1: a little feedback on your role in your experience of
58:24
Speaker 1: just the final months and years of John Lewis. Uh.
58:30
Speaker 1: John Lewis is about destiny. Um. He is a wonderful
58:35
Speaker 1: example of the true American dream. And that whole good
58:40
Speaker 1: trouble thing, which is what you know is the name
58:43
Speaker 1: of the film and his moniker and his motto. It's
58:46
Speaker 1: basically just saying, if you see something that's not right,
58:51
Speaker 1: not fair, not just do something, say something, get into trouble,
58:55
Speaker 1: good trouble. It's asking us all to go beyond what's comfortable.
59:00
Speaker 1: He then, he's not asking us to stand on the
59:02
Speaker 1: bridge and get our brains beat out. He's not asking
59:05
Speaker 1: us to to do those types of things that you know,
59:08
Speaker 1: people in the struggle who might be more um trained
59:11
Speaker 1: in nonviolence and what and what he did. He's just saying,
59:15
Speaker 1: do more, you know, take it upon yourself to get
59:19
Speaker 1: yourself and and and and and reposition the argument, the conversation,
59:24
Speaker 1: and and and take it upon yourself to do it.
59:26
Speaker 1: He committed his life to a fight for civil rights
59:29
Speaker 1: and justice for all, justice for all, and he did it.
59:33
Speaker 1: We know how he did it without malice, with courage,
59:36
Speaker 1: just of his convictions, his abiding love of the beloved community.
59:40
Speaker 1: He talks a lot about that, the beloved community. UM,
59:43
Speaker 1: Martin Luther King talked a lot about that, certainly, the
59:46
Speaker 1: philosophy of nonviolence, UM peaceful protests. We see Black Lives
59:51
Speaker 1: Matter out there doing their things in the street. He
59:53
Speaker 1: was Black Lives Matters with Snick and what he did.
59:57
Speaker 1: And so I think that if you think about the
59:58
Speaker 1: boy from Troy, which was but Martin Luther King called him,
1:00:02
Speaker 1: he was sort of just stepped into his destiny and
1:00:05
Speaker 1: he did it in the most violent and one of
1:00:10
Speaker 1: the most violent racial storms in America after slavery, actually
1:00:14
Speaker 1: the most. And we think about George Floyd and all
1:00:16
Speaker 1: the things that are happening now, they were just getting
1:00:18
Speaker 1: assassinated and killed left and right. You didn't do that lightly.
1:00:22
Speaker 1: You knew what you were going on to do. But
1:00:24
Speaker 1: he was an American icon, and he became an American
1:00:26
Speaker 1: icon because he stood and he kept going forward and
1:00:28
Speaker 1: he got arrested and he didn't just do overnight. He
1:00:31
Speaker 1: was there often for several weeks before they could get
1:00:35
Speaker 1: him out, and he went back. You know, Jesse Jackson
1:00:38
Speaker 1: actually taught me a little bit about how brave John
1:00:41
Speaker 1: Lewis was. He said that Rosa Parks said that they
1:00:44
Speaker 1: said John Lewis did the hard time, like they were
1:00:48
Speaker 1: impressed with John Lewis. Um. So again, I think that
1:00:52
Speaker 1: the world didn't know about him because he stood next
1:00:54
Speaker 1: to a really bright star, Martin Luther King, and we
1:00:57
Speaker 1: were always talking about Margareth the King and all those
1:00:59
Speaker 1: big stars. Is Malcolm X those things. But now the
1:01:02
Speaker 1: cameras shifting boom, and we're starting to see that there
1:01:05
Speaker 1: were other people, and we're starting to see why he
1:01:08
Speaker 1: showed up on that bridge and talk about the murder
1:01:10
Speaker 1: that happened there or must these things happen with murders?
1:01:13
Speaker 1: Is something horribly tragic happens and he showed up to
1:01:17
Speaker 1: support the people in the town. But that's why why,
1:01:22
Speaker 1: because it's time has come and John Lewis deserves it.
1:01:24
Speaker 1: He got into good trouble. He's a freedom writer. He
1:01:27
Speaker 1: is that boy from Troy and telling that story was
1:01:29
Speaker 1: an honor and a privilege. But I didn't know how much.
1:01:32
Speaker 1: I didn't know until I got into it. And thank
1:01:35
Speaker 1: you John Porter for being the director to uh put
1:01:39
Speaker 1: her own credibility out there. And she had to build
1:01:41
Speaker 1: that credibility by um directing Bobby Kennedy for President Gideon's Army.
1:01:46
Speaker 1: She didn't just show up, and then they gave her
1:01:49
Speaker 1: the opportunity to do good trouble and again we partner
1:01:52
Speaker 1: to bring it forward. Brought that up was that you
1:01:54
Speaker 1: guys are doing good Trouble, and I wanted you to
1:01:57
Speaker 1: hear yourself talk and realize that this reparation is about
1:02:01
Speaker 1: extending yourself beyond the normal cause because both of you
1:02:05
Speaker 1: guys are taking risks because people can everybody's not acting
1:02:08
Speaker 1: positively out there, but you. But you, what you just
1:02:11
Speaker 1: said is why I wanted you to hear and I
1:02:13
Speaker 1: was so forwidded to hear that you guys are doing
1:02:16
Speaker 1: good trouble and that's a very good thing. And I
1:02:18
Speaker 1: wanted to bring you on the show and kind of
1:02:20
Speaker 1: put a little twist on the end and let you
1:02:22
Speaker 1: know that you've worked in the project as it led
1:02:25
Speaker 1: you this blessed course of development podcast to Charlemagne and
1:02:29
Speaker 1: Guard that's giving you a platform to talk about reparation
1:02:31
Speaker 1: is the big payback. Thank you for coming on my
1:02:34
Speaker 1: show and thank you for allowing me to uh to
1:02:36
Speaker 1: speak and to share your story with my viewers and
1:02:39
Speaker 1: my listeners. Eric Alexander movie star, And she said, movie Star,
1:02:46
Speaker 1: all the works that you've done and the work that
1:02:48
Speaker 1: you've done as executive producer and producing shows, and you
1:02:51
Speaker 1: know you've been in the trenches and you and also
1:02:53
Speaker 1: teaching us about money and all that other stuff. Thank you, brother,
1:02:56
Speaker 1: Thank you. I appreciate you for coming on money making conversation.
1:02:59
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Speaker 1: proud equal opportunity employer. What grows in the forest trees,
1:03:34
Speaker 1: sure no. What else grows in the forest, our imagination,
1:03:38
Speaker 1: our sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too.
1:03:41
Speaker 1: Because when we disconnect from this and connect with this,
1:03:48
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1:03:55
Speaker 1: I Discover the Forest dot org brought to you by
1:03:57
Speaker 1: the United States Forest Service and the Council. What grows
1:04:02
Speaker 1: in the forest trees? Sure you know what else grows
1:04:06
Speaker 1: in the forest. Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and
1:04:10
Speaker 1: our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from
1:04:13
Speaker 1: this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
1:04:20
Speaker 1: The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
1:04:23
Speaker 1: near you and start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot
1:04:26
Speaker 1: org Brought to you by the United States Forest Service
1:04:29
Speaker 1: and the ad Council. My next guest is Anthony A. Lobby.
1:04:33
Speaker 1: He's an actor, writer, and former NFL player from the
1:04:36
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins in Kansas City, Chief. That's one sport I
1:04:39
Speaker 1: could never play football. I'll just let you know right now.
1:04:41
Speaker 1: I can act like I can play basketball, but I
1:04:43
Speaker 1: can never play football. Anthony Coach stars in the third
1:04:47
Speaker 1: season of the Netflix sitcom called Family Reunion. He left
1:04:51
Speaker 1: the NFL in and moved to Los Angeles to pursue
1:04:53
Speaker 1: his true passion, which is acting. His acting credits include
1:04:56
Speaker 1: a lot recurring roles on Showtime Shameless, one of my
1:04:59
Speaker 1: favorite show Disney's Ravens Home, CBS in c i A, s,
1:05:03
Speaker 1: ABC's Modern Family, Foxes, The Mick, and the supporting role
1:05:07
Speaker 1: in Netflix feature film Peewee's Big Holiday, just to name
1:05:10
Speaker 1: a few. Just throwing out some credits so you can
1:05:11
Speaker 1: know who I'm telling the too. You know, I was like, alright, alright,
1:05:15
Speaker 1: Family Unions one of my favorite sitcoms on Netflix, and
1:05:17
Speaker 1: they boasting please walking the money making conversation. I know
1:05:20
Speaker 1: we're gonna be good friends because he's a good friends.
1:05:21
Speaker 1: One of the writers on the show, a co executive
1:05:23
Speaker 1: producers on the show who now moved on Anthony Hill.
1:05:26
Speaker 1: Please welcome this, Anthony, Anthony Abby. It's great. How you doing,
1:05:31
Speaker 1: my friend, I'm doing great, man, it's a good day.
1:05:33
Speaker 1: My mother in law is here. She you know, she
1:05:35
Speaker 1: got fully vaccinated and everything and to visit so it's
1:05:38
Speaker 1: a full house. Well, you know, it's it's the beauty
1:05:40
Speaker 1: of it. I've gotten fully vaccinated. So it's good to
1:05:42
Speaker 1: promote that, especially in the African American community, on the
1:05:45
Speaker 1: community of color, that we need to get vaccinated. And
1:05:48
Speaker 1: you know, it's really h I don't know if you've
1:05:49
Speaker 1: been vaccinated, Anthony, but it really brought a relief to me,
1:05:53
Speaker 1: you know, because I'm wearing a mask and I'm doing
1:05:56
Speaker 1: everything I'm supposed to and I'm not stopping. Even though
1:05:58
Speaker 1: I've been vaccinated. I've still to do the things with
1:06:00
Speaker 1: the mask and the hand sanitizer. But I just feel
1:06:04
Speaker 1: that now, you know, when a cough or sniffles, maybe
1:06:09
Speaker 1: it's polling, it's time. Maybe it's polling this time and
1:06:13
Speaker 1: not COVID. You know what I'm saying. What say people
1:06:19
Speaker 1: are still getting regular colds, right and so, but not not.
1:06:23
Speaker 1: But when COVID You're like, oh no, I don't know,
1:06:25
Speaker 1: I don't know, you don't know, you better not, you
1:06:28
Speaker 1: better not, and like hold on, absolutely so so so
1:06:31
Speaker 1: you left the NFL and sport. I could never play
1:06:33
Speaker 1: that totally want to have your respect. Let's talk about like,
1:06:36
Speaker 1: say you're Texas board like me, I'm from Houston, Texas,
1:06:39
Speaker 1: you're San Antonio. We know Texas football is king brother,
1:06:44
Speaker 1: so but it's the thing football and acting to individual
1:06:48
Speaker 1: things that don't even don't even live in the same
1:06:51
Speaker 1: class because one, you know, you and sitcoms done drama
1:06:54
Speaker 1: as well, and that is kind of like a you know,
1:06:57
Speaker 1: kind of a theatrical it's not nothing physical little body.
1:07:00
Speaker 1: You know, you're you're still animated and you're you're animated
1:07:03
Speaker 1: actor too. But but but you know what I'm saying
1:07:05
Speaker 1: is it's not the physical contact. And I'm not raking
1:07:09
Speaker 1: up hitting three in a pound men every more, absolutely
1:07:11
Speaker 1: absolutely and so so. But but that but that gave
1:07:14
Speaker 1: you an opportunity to go to college. It gave you
1:07:16
Speaker 1: an opportunity to And where did you go to college? At?
1:07:19
Speaker 1: TC TCU hold and froll down up in the Dallas
1:07:22
Speaker 1: for We're Ferry, Okay, so I know exactly where you had. Okay,
1:07:26
Speaker 1: So so you go to the NFL, and that's that's
1:07:28
Speaker 1: kind of like your dream or was it your dreams
1:07:31
Speaker 1: still acting when you went to the NFL. It's it's
1:07:33
Speaker 1: a crazy thing because people always always talk about the
1:07:36
Speaker 1: transition and they and they asked, you know, how did
1:07:38
Speaker 1: you pivot? And you know what made you want to
1:07:40
Speaker 1: go into acting? And the truth is acting was it
1:07:43
Speaker 1: for me the entire time. Football is the thing that
1:07:45
Speaker 1: kind of swept me up and took over and I
1:07:48
Speaker 1: had to put my wanting of acting on hold. So
1:07:52
Speaker 1: you know, I'd like to tell the joke that when
1:07:54
Speaker 1: you're six six three sixty and you come out of
1:07:56
Speaker 1: the wound that way you play football in Texas like
1:07:58
Speaker 1: that's just what you do. Um, I'm gonna just d
1:08:01
Speaker 1: you to make you six six. It must be a
1:08:03
Speaker 1: lot of tall people on that class man. You don't
1:08:06
Speaker 1: look six six on that show. I'm sorry, thank you,
1:08:09
Speaker 1: you know what. I appreciate that. That is the best
1:08:11
Speaker 1: compliment I've gotten, because that's the thing is as an
1:08:13
Speaker 1: actor coming in when you're tall like that, a lot
1:08:16
Speaker 1: of times you don't get cast because they're just like
1:08:18
Speaker 1: I can't frame you, or we don't know how to
1:08:20
Speaker 1: have to do it. But luckily, I mean like Familiar
1:08:22
Speaker 1: Union first of all, is first class all the way through.
1:08:24
Speaker 1: So our camera guys are dps. They know exactly how
1:08:28
Speaker 1: to kind of angle it and make it look to
1:08:30
Speaker 1: where I kind of look normal and I don't look
1:08:31
Speaker 1: like Gandalf. Right. You know, I'm sorry, I want you
1:08:36
Speaker 1: to continue. But when you said six sixth, I had
1:08:38
Speaker 1: to take a step back. O, he's six six, because
1:08:40
Speaker 1: I don't know what six six looks like. Somebody six
1:08:42
Speaker 1: six to go you six six. But the show, and
1:08:46
Speaker 1: especially especially look the little kids, you know, they don't
1:08:49
Speaker 1: look like they died by your ankles. You know what
1:08:51
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Well, I mean they got tall to you know,
1:08:55
Speaker 1: Isaiah and Cameron, both of the boys, they got really tall.
1:08:58
Speaker 1: So well that's a good thing for you. Okay, A
1:09:00
Speaker 1: there for you, But continue your journey. Continue during your transition.
1:09:03
Speaker 1: You didn't really I can. Football was just the guard
1:09:06
Speaker 1: gifted talent that you had, but you're blessing passion. There
1:09:09
Speaker 1: was something I was born in the physicality, so it
1:09:11
Speaker 1: was it was a nice thing to have um and
1:09:14
Speaker 1: and yeah, I got into it. I got into football
1:09:16
Speaker 1: and it kind of took over. So at a young age,
1:09:18
Speaker 1: I kind of made this decision that football was gonna
1:09:20
Speaker 1: be what took care of me. And eventually I wanted
1:09:24
Speaker 1: to get to that point where I could just do
1:09:26
Speaker 1: whatever I wanted because I didn't have to play football,
1:09:29
Speaker 1: and I think that's that was the most important thing.
1:09:31
Speaker 1: So I kind of made that decision that like eight
1:09:32
Speaker 1: years old, and it worked out. Don't ask me to
1:09:35
Speaker 1: do it twice. I don't know if it can happen,
1:09:37
Speaker 1: but it worked out this time. But okay, again, we
1:09:39
Speaker 1: talked a little bit about your size. You know you're
1:09:41
Speaker 1: coming in and do you know you don't want to
1:09:42
Speaker 1: be the bouncer. You don't want to be the heavy,
1:09:45
Speaker 1: the thug, and that's what people look at a black
1:09:48
Speaker 1: man who's six six athletically built. So how did you
1:09:52
Speaker 1: start breaking that that stereotype? So yeah, naturally, like you said,
1:09:58
Speaker 1: you come here, you you know, off the boat, per se,
1:10:00
Speaker 1: you you come here, and they immediately you're a bouncer,
1:10:03
Speaker 1: you're thug, you're heavy, you're detective, if you're lucky, a cop,
1:10:08
Speaker 1: you know anything that that's big in intimidating. I mean,
1:10:11
Speaker 1: the amount of times that I had to say, let
1:10:12
Speaker 1: me see your license kind of ridiculous. But I think
1:10:17
Speaker 1: the most important thing was having a team around me
1:10:20
Speaker 1: that saw the vision that I did, because I came
1:10:22
Speaker 1: here and I said, I'm different, I hit different, I'm
1:10:25
Speaker 1: a big guy, but I have emotional range, I'm able
1:10:28
Speaker 1: to be vulnerable, I'm able to kind of go places
1:10:32
Speaker 1: that guys typically my size don't really go emotionally and enacting.
1:10:37
Speaker 1: And so I think my my reps saw that, and
1:10:39
Speaker 1: so he immediately started to kind of brand the other
1:10:41
Speaker 1: way and kind of like push into those roles that
1:10:45
Speaker 1: aren't normally for me. So there was a lot of
1:10:47
Speaker 1: rooms that I sat in where it was like me
1:10:49
Speaker 1: and like fifteen other Jewish dudes, and They're like, you're
1:10:51
Speaker 1: here for the same role, and I'm like, yeah, the
1:10:52
Speaker 1: same role. And then eventually, you know, we get those roles,
1:10:56
Speaker 1: and then casting directors would start to see us differently,
1:10:58
Speaker 1: and you know, it's working out. You know, we're not
1:11:01
Speaker 1: getting those typical kind of roles that you would see
1:11:04
Speaker 1: for for a guy that looks like well, you know,
1:11:06
Speaker 1: it's really interesting because my background, you know, this sitcom
1:11:10
Speaker 1: writing and so you know, I did a parent who
1:11:13
Speaker 1: with WB actually started with Steve Harvest first sitcom on ABC,
1:11:16
Speaker 1: Me and the Boys, and then went over to Senior Hall,
1:11:19
Speaker 1: ABC sitcom. And then I ran into your co star,
1:11:22
Speaker 1: one of your co stars on Family with You and you,
1:11:24
Speaker 1: the very talented Tiamor you know, with her sister tomorrow
1:11:27
Speaker 1: Maori on Sister Sister. So how I always be working
1:11:31
Speaker 1: with that talent young lady, you know, I mean, she's
1:11:34
Speaker 1: the thing is from day one. Uh. T and I
1:11:37
Speaker 1: kind of just got each other because we're both goofy
1:11:39
Speaker 1: and so I think we're having the same kind of
1:11:41
Speaker 1: branded comedy. Uh we kind of. I think we have
1:11:45
Speaker 1: like one conversation about how we want to kind of
1:11:47
Speaker 1: approach things, and then after that we've never really had
1:11:51
Speaker 1: to talk about it. I think we just you know,
1:11:52
Speaker 1: she throws the ball up, I catch it, vice versa,
1:11:55
Speaker 1: and we're just our chemistry works and it works off
1:11:58
Speaker 1: camera too. I think, you know, we talk least two
1:12:00
Speaker 1: to three times a week, um, constantly in contact and
1:12:03
Speaker 1: we just get each other. And I think that's kind
1:12:05
Speaker 1: of what makes it easy when we're on camera, because
1:12:09
Speaker 1: if I happen to improvise something that's just that, I
1:12:12
Speaker 1: think it's funny. She knows me well enough and she
1:12:14
Speaker 1: just plays along and it usually works out of Golden
1:12:16
Speaker 1: and the same thing with her. She throws things out
1:12:18
Speaker 1: all the time, and it just it makes her fun
1:12:21
Speaker 1: working by it. So I look forward to going to
1:12:22
Speaker 1: work everything. It really, it really is interesting. That's right
1:12:26
Speaker 1: there with you. It really is interested in watching the
1:12:28
Speaker 1: show because y'all are silly, y'all selling that's a compliment,
1:12:32
Speaker 1: y'all selling and being in front of a live audience. Um,
1:12:37
Speaker 1: And because they announced when you watch the Netflix sitcom
1:12:40
Speaker 1: that is take in front of a live audience. So
1:12:42
Speaker 1: those laughing that you hear and I can their faith.
1:12:45
Speaker 1: They're real, which I love about the show. But man,
1:12:48
Speaker 1: y'all break that fourth wall. Y'all just laugh, man, you know,
1:12:52
Speaker 1: and that Loretta divide that food when I'm saying that's
1:12:56
Speaker 1: it's her fault. She Man, she just keeps delivering home runs, man,
1:13:01
Speaker 1: And you can see you tell those two. It's kind
1:13:08
Speaker 1: of insane because Meg, what Meg does. This is what
1:13:10
Speaker 1: happens is we run that, we run, we run the
1:13:13
Speaker 1: scene the way it's supposed to be run, right, And
1:13:15
Speaker 1: then here comes Meg and I can see her just
1:13:18
Speaker 1: across the screen and she runs a little rette and
1:13:21
Speaker 1: she whispered something in her ear, and we're all just like,
1:13:23
Speaker 1: what's going on? So then she runs back the action
1:13:27
Speaker 1: and Loretta delivers it a completely different line that still
1:13:30
Speaker 1: works with our with our dialogue one, but a completely
1:13:33
Speaker 1: different line that we had never heard. So it's that
1:13:35
Speaker 1: they want our true reactions. So half the time we're
1:13:38
Speaker 1: trying to laugh, and we're trying, we're trying not to laugh,
1:13:41
Speaker 1: but it's funny. And so Meg loves those moments because
1:13:44
Speaker 1: they are real and they're more grounded. So I enjoy
1:13:48
Speaker 1: them because they make me laugh, but I just I
1:13:50
Speaker 1: try not to break but it happens. We break. Just
1:13:53
Speaker 1: stop trying you break, you break break all the time. Yeah,
1:13:56
Speaker 1: I can't. I'm finally called to the third season. You
1:14:01
Speaker 1: gotta catches three seasons of this and you should go
1:14:03
Speaker 1: back to the very first season if you're listening to
1:14:06
Speaker 1: this interview for the first time. And the third season, Uh,
1:14:09
Speaker 1: they do a moment with you at the kitchen table
1:14:12
Speaker 1: when you because you're really struggling with your manhood, your
1:14:15
Speaker 1: your your your ability to take care of your family.
1:14:18
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you, man, when you slid that plate
1:14:21
Speaker 1: off that table, man, I started laughing so hard. Man
1:14:23
Speaker 1: when I saw you when you do when you slive,
1:14:26
Speaker 1: I was just gonna leave like that. I'm not gonna
1:14:27
Speaker 1: get it in more detailed, Anthony, but when you slive
1:14:29
Speaker 1: that play off the table, man, he's silly, He's silly.
1:14:33
Speaker 1: I went full Denzel on that one. I was like,
1:14:38
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it, and so so you know,
1:14:41
Speaker 1: because I we're gonna I want to I wanna you know,
1:14:43
Speaker 1: I also want to talk about you as well as
1:14:46
Speaker 1: the sitcom, and I just want to touch the sitcom
1:14:48
Speaker 1: a little bit. But I wanted to go back into
1:14:50
Speaker 1: your just your your acting resume and also your writer,
1:14:53
Speaker 1: because that's more than you than just uh in front
1:14:56
Speaker 1: of the screen. That there's there's the ability to go
1:14:59
Speaker 1: behind the screen. So tell us who Anthony A Lobby
1:15:03
Speaker 1: really is with the future. Because you said athletically, peoples
1:15:06
Speaker 1: stereotyped you, okay, said you were a football player, an athlete,
1:15:10
Speaker 1: and then you said, no, that's not me. Now you
1:15:11
Speaker 1: went to Hollywood, they stereotyped you. Hey man, get all
1:15:14
Speaker 1: the cop roll get the thug rolls, get all the
1:15:16
Speaker 1: get all the anything you need to fear, throw fear
1:15:19
Speaker 1: in somebody we want you. And you said that's not me.
1:15:23
Speaker 1: Now you you rise in the very successful sitcom very
1:15:27
Speaker 1: higherious trends. If you not noticed, if you follow Netflix,
1:15:30
Speaker 1: it does trend. I think it reachially. I think it
1:15:33
Speaker 1: was number six recently and the top ten. And that
1:15:35
Speaker 1: needs that. And the way that works on Netflix is
1:15:38
Speaker 1: the goal is for everybody to watch every one in
1:15:40
Speaker 1: your episodes. And that's Netflix. If if you don't watch
1:15:43
Speaker 1: every episode, they're gonna cancel. I'm just sorry. That's our
1:15:45
Speaker 1: Netflix operation. That's the truth. He knows I'm telling the truth.
1:15:49
Speaker 1: And but the beauty of it is that you're airing
1:15:51
Speaker 1: in a hundred and ninety countries that allows you to
1:15:55
Speaker 1: send a different message about African Americans people of color.
1:15:59
Speaker 1: How that but because you know, you've been in business
1:16:01
Speaker 1: long enough. How how this industry before streaming would say, hey,
1:16:05
Speaker 1: this is a black siccom. We're gonna keep you over here.
1:16:07
Speaker 1: Nobody wants to watch you in Europe, box in this
1:16:09
Speaker 1: little room that nobody knows about. Just box you in
1:16:11
Speaker 1: a moment. It was just terrible. And so let's let's
1:16:14
Speaker 1: talk about that. The ability to be expand your brand
1:16:18
Speaker 1: as a writer and for your directings on your plate
1:16:21
Speaker 1: and what you want to do besides what you're doing
1:16:23
Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, I mean you you touched on people
1:16:26
Speaker 1: always kind of just trying to pigeonhole you. I think
1:16:29
Speaker 1: the easiest thing that people always want to do is
1:16:31
Speaker 1: they want to put you in a category or in
1:16:33
Speaker 1: a box and say this is what you are, so
1:16:35
Speaker 1: that way they know what's coming. And I'm kind of
1:16:38
Speaker 1: annoyingly ambitious in that way where I am constantly trying
1:16:42
Speaker 1: to push and I think that comes from sports. It's
1:16:44
Speaker 1: the it's this thing of never being comfortable. Um, just
1:16:47
Speaker 1: because I believe that every day you either get better,
1:16:49
Speaker 1: you get worse. You never say the same. So if
1:16:51
Speaker 1: you're not fighting to get better, than clearly you're getting worse. Um.
1:16:56
Speaker 1: For me, you know, producing and writing is something that
1:16:59
Speaker 1: I want to do, and that's something that eventually I
1:17:02
Speaker 1: really really want to get to. I think it's it's
1:17:04
Speaker 1: important to kind of storytell and I think it's important
1:17:07
Speaker 1: to create these worlds that I want to see and
1:17:10
Speaker 1: in worlds that I kind of want to live in
1:17:11
Speaker 1: and being that probably won't get casted as or wouldn't
1:17:15
Speaker 1: be kind of put in, but I can put myself
1:17:17
Speaker 1: in those situations and right around that. And I think
1:17:20
Speaker 1: when I do that and still make it work to
1:17:21
Speaker 1: where people reading go, this is great, but this is
1:17:23
Speaker 1: interesting and it's not just kind of a piece for me,
1:17:25
Speaker 1: you know. Um, I think I think that's the important thing.
1:17:29
Speaker 1: So that's why my writing partner and I we've written
1:17:32
Speaker 1: a library of shows and and uh, you know our
1:17:35
Speaker 1: pitching and doing stuff now and I think now that
1:17:37
Speaker 1: the third part has come out, that's where why we're
1:17:40
Speaker 1: kind of pushing more of the shows that we've written,
1:17:44
Speaker 1: the movies that we've written, and getting really into producing.
1:17:46
Speaker 1: People want to get into directing I'm not. I think
1:17:49
Speaker 1: that's a lot of work, but we'll see how it goes.
1:17:51
Speaker 1: But I'm definitely going to end up creating and writing
1:17:57
Speaker 1: and doing those things later down the road, you know,
1:17:59
Speaker 1: And was stay in your lane. I don't want to direct,
1:18:02
Speaker 1: you know. I'm just I've directed some things. I've directed
1:18:05
Speaker 1: some commercials, but you know, but there's more improvisational directing,
1:18:08
Speaker 1: you know. I'm not going to get into the whole
1:18:10
Speaker 1: process of with the character of the arts and some
1:18:13
Speaker 1: of the oh the sketches you gotta get come over now,
1:18:16
Speaker 1: I'm not the person to put in the room, Anthony.
1:18:18
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying about that whole process, but
1:18:21
Speaker 1: the whole process of like you, you appeared in some
1:18:24
Speaker 1: of my favorite uh series like Shameless that that's not
1:18:28
Speaker 1: an expensive wardrouable Shameless, by the way, you know, you
1:18:31
Speaker 1: just can just you could just show up on just
1:18:33
Speaker 1: your regular looks like everybody looks terrible, everybody looks like
1:18:37
Speaker 1: a step above homeless, okay, just having that they didn't
1:18:41
Speaker 1: have to throw dirt on me, right right right, you know.
1:18:44
Speaker 1: And then uh and then a good friend of Raven's
1:18:47
Speaker 1: Home that was on Disney A classic when you walk
1:18:50
Speaker 1: into a show like n c I S. Wood that
1:18:52
Speaker 1: family has been there for fifty sixty years, you know
1:18:55
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So you look at Shameless ten years,
1:18:59
Speaker 1: ten eleven years. It's so talk about going into those
1:19:02
Speaker 1: or those particularly type of productions that I mentioned sptically
1:19:05
Speaker 1: Shameless as well as n C I S and then
1:19:08
Speaker 1: trying to build that same momentum, that same type of
1:19:11
Speaker 1: professional behavior which is laid by Meg the Loach, which
1:19:15
Speaker 1: is the decutive producer and creator of Family Reunion. Talk
1:19:19
Speaker 1: about that, yeah, and you know, I think it all.
1:19:22
Speaker 1: I like to stem a lot of things back sports,
1:19:24
Speaker 1: just because it's the first thing that I related to
1:19:27
Speaker 1: growing up. So it's the same thing when you are
1:19:31
Speaker 1: you know, I was an offensive linement. So when you're
1:19:33
Speaker 1: like the sixth man, right, and you have the starting
1:19:35
Speaker 1: five and you have that six guy, and somebody goes
1:19:37
Speaker 1: down or somebody gets hurt or you know they're playing
1:19:40
Speaker 1: bad or whatever, and they pull that guy and you
1:19:42
Speaker 1: go in. The goal is to maintain the standard, is
1:19:46
Speaker 1: to not be the weak link. It's too you don't
1:19:48
Speaker 1: necessarily have to outshine anyone, but you got to make
1:19:51
Speaker 1: sure you keep the boat going and don't let it sink.
1:19:53
Speaker 1: And I think that's the same kind of concept when
1:19:55
Speaker 1: you're going into a show that has been on for
1:19:57
Speaker 1: a decade, decade and a half, um like an n
1:20:01
Speaker 1: C I, it's like a shameless these people, this is
1:20:03
Speaker 1: a well oiled machine. Everybody knows what they're doing every day,
1:20:06
Speaker 1: every minute of the day, and so when you come in,
1:20:09
Speaker 1: it's not to disrupt that, but it's too kind of
1:20:11
Speaker 1: almost like a double dutch thing where you're waiting for
1:20:13
Speaker 1: your turn. You're waiting for your turn, you pop in,
1:20:15
Speaker 1: you do your thing, and you pop out. And I
1:20:17
Speaker 1: think that's the That was the kind of the message
1:20:21
Speaker 1: that I told myself going into all these things, and
1:20:23
Speaker 1: it worked out that it ended up being a really
1:20:25
Speaker 1: good role and shining in those in those uh in
1:20:28
Speaker 1: those series. But at the same time, it's maintaining the
1:20:31
Speaker 1: standard that they've already set over those years. Okay, would
1:20:35
Speaker 1: that being said, Now, you're in the third season of
1:20:38
Speaker 1: Family Union with Arizon Netflix. So you saw how do
1:20:41
Speaker 1: you went in the first time? Next you say, when
1:20:43
Speaker 1: you saw when you walk to Netflix the serious Family Union,
1:20:46
Speaker 1: you said, this is golden. But each year, you know,
1:20:49
Speaker 1: there's a conference zone because just the reality of Hollywood
1:20:52
Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen. You know, you get a gig and
1:20:55
Speaker 1: that can get that doesn't mean it's gonna land. So
1:20:56
Speaker 1: you know, just suddenly get an acting gig and just
1:20:58
Speaker 1: go buy a new car or a new house. Right
1:21:01
Speaker 1: there as a certain level of uncertainty. So that first
1:21:04
Speaker 1: season you didn't know if they're gonna get picked up.
1:21:06
Speaker 1: You were just happy to get a check. I know that,
1:21:08
Speaker 1: I know. Okay, now the second season, now you know Thursdays,
1:21:12
Speaker 1: where are you ad mentally with the series and how's
1:21:15
Speaker 1: does overall staff and production? What changes have come about
1:21:18
Speaker 1: over the last three years. Well, naturally you're gonna have,
1:21:22
Speaker 1: you know, changes in staff, changing changes and crew. But
1:21:25
Speaker 1: I think the message overall is the same, and it's
1:21:27
Speaker 1: to tell authentic black stories, and it's to tell stories
1:21:31
Speaker 1: of real families and to give everybody a voice and
1:21:35
Speaker 1: a point of view. And I think that's what you
1:21:36
Speaker 1: see in Family Reunion that you don't see in a
1:21:38
Speaker 1: lot of kind of other other shows that are written
1:21:41
Speaker 1: kind of by white people about black people, filtered through
1:21:44
Speaker 1: their view of it. I think when you're have in
1:21:46
Speaker 1: all black writer's room, they're black people writing for black
1:21:49
Speaker 1: people about us. And I think when you have that,
1:21:52
Speaker 1: you get those little corners of the culture that aren't
1:21:55
Speaker 1: normally there with other kinds of sitcom. So the goal
1:21:58
Speaker 1: every single year is to to not shy away from
1:22:02
Speaker 1: any topics that come up, to not shy away from
1:22:04
Speaker 1: themes that other people wouldn't explore, like death or interpersonal
1:22:09
Speaker 1: relationships between a husband and wife, or you know, dad's
1:22:12
Speaker 1: dealing with their daughters, but in a real way, not
1:22:14
Speaker 1: in a sit commy way, like Jay ran Away, you
1:22:16
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Mos has, you know, problems dealing
1:22:19
Speaker 1: with his friend dying, or Mose and Coco having financial
1:22:22
Speaker 1: issues and having to really parent their kids instead of
1:22:24
Speaker 1: throwing money at any kind of problem, which is what
1:22:26
Speaker 1: they used to do. And I think when you do
1:22:28
Speaker 1: that and you don't shy away from those things, and
1:22:30
Speaker 1: you try and tell it as authentically as possible, and
1:22:33
Speaker 1: you bring in directors that hold you to a certain
1:22:35
Speaker 1: standard that keeps a show going, that's what maintains the
1:22:41
Speaker 1: the the overall kind of greatness of a show, which
1:22:43
Speaker 1: is which is why you have shows like n C
1:22:45
Speaker 1: I S and Shameless that continue to go and continue
1:22:47
Speaker 1: to grow because of the fact that they maintain that
1:22:50
Speaker 1: standard other show, and you're right. In Hollywood, you can
1:22:52
Speaker 1: get complacent. It's easy after season, you know, three or four,
1:22:56
Speaker 1: to just be like it's automatic. Now we're gonna get renewed.
1:22:58
Speaker 1: This is how it goes. And that's not how it goes.
1:22:59
Speaker 1: And that's when you a blindside with the cancelation stick
1:23:01
Speaker 1: and worried about your rent. Absolutely, and letna just tell
1:23:05
Speaker 1: you how significant that what he's talking about when he
1:23:07
Speaker 1: said all black writing staff for sitcom, just do your
1:23:10
Speaker 1: little history about my life. My first writing sitcom was
1:23:14
Speaker 1: Me and the Bars on ABC. The show runner was white.
1:23:17
Speaker 1: It was only two black writers. It was three black
1:23:19
Speaker 1: writers in that room. Okay. And then my second show,
1:23:22
Speaker 1: it was Parenthood, Robert Townsend show. He was an executive producer.
1:23:26
Speaker 1: But the two but the showrunners, they were white. Good
1:23:28
Speaker 1: people are only white people. I'm not saying nothing negative.
1:23:30
Speaker 1: I'm just saying but still not delivering a black point
1:23:33
Speaker 1: of view for a show, because they have to ask
1:23:35
Speaker 1: questions and sometimes they would take story arcs that was
1:23:38
Speaker 1: comfortable to them because they understood it. But we're not
1:23:41
Speaker 1: comfortable to the style and you start debating why are
1:23:43
Speaker 1: we doing this? And then and then we went over.
1:23:45
Speaker 1: I went over to Arsenio. He was struggling with his
1:23:48
Speaker 1: show runner who was white, and that showed eventually that
1:23:50
Speaker 1: counseled after one season. And then I went over to
1:23:53
Speaker 1: Um went over to Sister Sister, that show runner was white.
1:23:56
Speaker 1: But then that's when I met the incredible Felicia Henderson
1:23:59
Speaker 1: and really and she had a lot of influence on
1:24:02
Speaker 1: those storylines because she had a lot of influence on
1:24:04
Speaker 1: the show running. And then finally I wrapped up my
1:24:06
Speaker 1: sitcom career with the amazing Sara Finny Sara Fanny Johnson
1:24:11
Speaker 1: on The Parkers and she's a black showrunner who also
1:24:13
Speaker 1: created Moitia. And so each each layer tells a different
1:24:17
Speaker 1: story because there was different battles that you fight in
1:24:20
Speaker 1: the room. And if you have a mixed room that
1:24:22
Speaker 1: really doesn't understand the culture of what they're supposed to
1:24:24
Speaker 1: be writing about, it creates a sense of why are
1:24:27
Speaker 1: we doing this? In debating, where I like to believe
1:24:30
Speaker 1: that a room doing a black sitcom and the writers
1:24:33
Speaker 1: are black delivers a lot of real, honest script for
1:24:36
Speaker 1: you guys, and also allow you to question stuff without
1:24:38
Speaker 1: any kick back exactly. And I think that's when I
1:24:41
Speaker 1: talked to Anthony about this. Um. I think in that
1:24:44
Speaker 1: writer's room, the reason why we get such gold that
1:24:47
Speaker 1: comes out of that room is because there's no egos involved.
1:24:50
Speaker 1: Anyone can pitch any joke at any time, and if
1:24:53
Speaker 1: it's funny, it's funny. If it's not, then it's not.
1:24:55
Speaker 1: And if it's not funny and Anthony, you know, or
1:24:57
Speaker 1: Meg pitched it, it's just not funny. But if it's
1:25:00
Speaker 1: funny and the staff writer or a p A pitched it,
1:25:02
Speaker 1: it's funny and put it in. And I think when
1:25:04
Speaker 1: you do that and you take the ego out of
1:25:06
Speaker 1: it and you just want the best product possible, at
1:25:08
Speaker 1: the end of the day, you're gonna end up with
1:25:10
Speaker 1: a show that is a banger that every episode just
1:25:14
Speaker 1: makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes you jump, makes
1:25:16
Speaker 1: you dance. And when you have that, it's something special.
1:25:19
Speaker 1: And I think that's what we have. You do have
1:25:21
Speaker 1: something pleasure. I'll tell you something, Anthony, I haven't thought
1:25:24
Speaker 1: about writing on the sitcom Wow twenty years. Twenty years
1:25:29
Speaker 1: at least seriously, and and I miss it. After watching
1:25:35
Speaker 1: this show, this serious Family Reunion, I miss it, and
1:25:38
Speaker 1: it was like, Wow, I'm very serious. I was like, wow, man,
1:25:43
Speaker 1: you know, because I watched a lot of television. I
1:25:46
Speaker 1: watch a lot of sitcoms, and and you know, like said,
1:25:48
Speaker 1: I was in that little banner run where you know,
1:25:50
Speaker 1: all that sitcoms were buried on W B and c
1:25:53
Speaker 1: W and up N and all those things, and they
1:25:55
Speaker 1: were just using our shows to launch networks and things
1:25:58
Speaker 1: like that. And and just to see this show, man,
1:26:01
Speaker 1: and and nobody has not seen the show, please make
1:26:04
Speaker 1: it a part of your watch because of the fact
1:26:07
Speaker 1: that it just brought back fund memories about what this
1:26:10
Speaker 1: show is about. And the show is about you know,
1:26:12
Speaker 1: your your African American man was a successful football player
1:26:16
Speaker 1: and then had to from Seattle who had to move
1:26:18
Speaker 1: your family back down to the south, the great city
1:26:21
Speaker 1: of Atlanta in a great state of Georgia, and you
1:26:23
Speaker 1: and you're living with your mom and your dad played
1:26:25
Speaker 1: by my man the Shaft, the original Shaft is gonna
1:26:28
Speaker 1: be real richa round tree. And I'm gonna ask you
1:26:32
Speaker 1: about that and a minute and then then then you know,
1:26:33
Speaker 1: because we already talked about her. You know, Loretta Divine,
1:26:36
Speaker 1: the Amazing and Loretta Divine, and you know Timm are
1:26:39
Speaker 1: and and it it's it's you know, the thing about
1:26:42
Speaker 1: it is that when you're working around Anthon, when you're
1:26:44
Speaker 1: working around such legendary actors and actresses like a Loretta
1:26:49
Speaker 1: and a Larika Richard, how does that help you? Well?
1:26:54
Speaker 1: I think you you study how they work. You study,
1:26:57
Speaker 1: you know, just the work ethic and and even just
1:27:01
Speaker 1: what they bring to rehearsals, what they bring to run throughs,
1:27:05
Speaker 1: and then what they bring to shoot days. You know,
1:27:07
Speaker 1: Loretta really did the best thing she could for me,
1:27:10
Speaker 1: which is I think our first ever network run through.
1:27:14
Speaker 1: And I've done tons of run throughs it's something issue,
1:27:16
Speaker 1: but I've never done a run through his elite, and
1:27:18
Speaker 1: so I was a little nervous, you know, more than
1:27:21
Speaker 1: the normal uh this time. And I had this big
1:27:24
Speaker 1: sequence and can't even remember the episode or what it was,
1:27:26
Speaker 1: but I know I had a big kind of like
1:27:27
Speaker 1: comedic sequence that I was hoping would be funny because
1:27:30
Speaker 1: I was going to improb some stuff, but who knew.
1:27:33
Speaker 1: And I did it, and the network cracked up and
1:27:35
Speaker 1: they were laughing to the point we had to stop
1:27:36
Speaker 1: run through for a second because they were cracking up,
1:27:38
Speaker 1: and then kind of resumed. But I remember I went
1:27:40
Speaker 1: to the back of the kitchen afterward to exit, and
1:27:44
Speaker 1: Loretta was sitting there because that's what she was gonna
1:27:46
Speaker 1: enter from. And she looked up at me and she
1:27:47
Speaker 1: was just like this, do you just make it look
1:27:50
Speaker 1: so easy? And she was like you did. I love it?
1:27:52
Speaker 1: I love it. And then it made me feel very
1:27:54
Speaker 1: confident that someone of that stature recognized me and was like,
1:27:59
Speaker 1: good job. And from then on it's just been it's
1:28:02
Speaker 1: been a fun dancing and play every day with with
1:28:05
Speaker 1: her and with Richard. Well, you know they you know,
1:28:08
Speaker 1: you know, I love the series. Right The only the
1:28:11
Speaker 1: only thing that I was skeptical of this whole series
1:28:14
Speaker 1: was you trying to fix the Mercedes been I said,
1:28:19
Speaker 1: the exact same thing. That is, like, that is the
1:28:22
Speaker 1: most impossible thing. Pull me all at one, pull me
1:28:29
Speaker 1: a shamby or something. But for you to be under
1:28:32
Speaker 1: the hood, I say, he's truck holding some piece that
1:28:35
Speaker 1: I don't think, but long inside the engine area. It
1:28:38
Speaker 1: was like trying to fix an iPhone. It's ridiculous, it
1:28:43
Speaker 1: really is, but you know, and at first it was
1:28:45
Speaker 1: supposed to be I think it was supposed to be
1:28:47
Speaker 1: something else, But you know, Meg being Meg. She's like, no,
1:28:49
Speaker 1: let's get the Mercedes truck in here. I was like,
1:28:53
Speaker 1: that's a writer's you know what I'm saying, that's a
1:28:55
Speaker 1: writer's moment right there. But it didn't, it didn't hurt
1:28:57
Speaker 1: to show at all. I'm just that's just me and
1:28:59
Speaker 1: you talk having fun in this interview about you if
1:29:02
Speaker 1: they're trying to fix the Mercedes been and talk about that.
1:29:06
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna get into the episodes very well. You
1:29:08
Speaker 1: should watch that, watch all that pros. Like I said,
1:29:11
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the third season right now, but you
1:29:13
Speaker 1: need to go back to season one to really see
1:29:15
Speaker 1: the arc of the series. Watch these kids, these amazingly
1:29:20
Speaker 1: talented kids, Uh, grow as as young actors, young people.
1:29:26
Speaker 1: I'll talk about the kids who play your children on
1:29:29
Speaker 1: the show. You know, they're amazing. I think I was
1:29:33
Speaker 1: the last one kind of cast on this show because
1:29:35
Speaker 1: they were kind of looking for that role. They were
1:29:37
Speaker 1: looking for that actor for the longest and um, when
1:29:39
Speaker 1: I came on, the kids had already kind of been
1:29:42
Speaker 1: their week. They went through like an acting camp. Uh,
1:29:44
Speaker 1: and it showed. And Eric Deane seton. I mean he's
1:29:47
Speaker 1: just he's such a professional. Um, and it was such
1:29:50
Speaker 1: a gift for them because I think when as soon
1:29:52
Speaker 1: as we started kind of getting into filming, those kids
1:29:55
Speaker 1: were professional. They knew everything about what they needed to do.
1:29:59
Speaker 1: They knew where there members where, they knew about lighting,
1:30:01
Speaker 1: they knew where to stand, they knew how to pause
1:30:03
Speaker 1: for laughs, they knew all the technical kind of stuff
1:30:05
Speaker 1: that comes along with the sitcom because I mean, you know,
1:30:08
Speaker 1: the sitcoms are a little more technical, there's a lot
1:30:11
Speaker 1: more to them. As an actor, it's a little heavier
1:30:13
Speaker 1: on you because you have to worry about blocking someone's light,
1:30:16
Speaker 1: and you know where you're blocking and where you're standing,
1:30:18
Speaker 1: and you know making sure you're on turn to the
1:30:20
Speaker 1: right camera and different things. And those kids just picked
1:30:24
Speaker 1: it up and they just got it and they've gotten
1:30:27
Speaker 1: it ever since. And they and they're funny and they're
1:30:29
Speaker 1: just they improve their little stuff. They're so talented. They
1:30:31
Speaker 1: all sing and dance. And except for you, I noticed
1:30:34
Speaker 1: you're not singing there, sir. That's one talent. You don't
1:30:37
Speaker 1: possesses the singing skills. But here's the thing I'll give
1:30:41
Speaker 1: myself a little credit, is I can hold a tune.
1:30:43
Speaker 1: I'm not going to make an album, but you know,
1:30:46
Speaker 1: I can. I'll be your I'll be your background. Just
1:30:53
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it well. You know that
1:30:55
Speaker 1: the beauty of it is that you have a we
1:30:57
Speaker 1: have a wonderful career that you rest mate. You're working
1:31:01
Speaker 1: on the show that successful, and I like to believe
1:31:04
Speaker 1: that they will bring it back for another season. We
1:31:06
Speaker 1: never know how the guards play out there, but it's
1:31:09
Speaker 1: definitely uh as great value. Like I said, when I'm
1:31:11
Speaker 1: watching the third season, I'm going, I'm trying to and
1:31:14
Speaker 1: he's the thing. I'm trying to fit this writing in
1:31:16
Speaker 1: my schedule. I'm going, how can I get I can
1:31:21
Speaker 1: write well? I could do expect script. Maybe I can
1:31:23
Speaker 1: say Meg expect grip and then she goes, I don't
1:31:26
Speaker 1: want to write again. I can no way. But but
1:31:30
Speaker 1: just what you come on our show. You're gonna have
1:31:32
Speaker 1: a good time. That's the thing. I know. I know
1:31:35
Speaker 1: I am. And it takes in Atlanta, correct, you know, No, No,
1:31:39
Speaker 1: we're right here in Paramount Studios. Paramount Studios. Okay, just
1:31:41
Speaker 1: to say that where the family is based. Madea's houses
1:31:44
Speaker 1: in Columbus, Georgia. We go, we go to Atlanta, bunch,
1:31:47
Speaker 1: but it's in Columbus Georgia. It's a small town in Georgia.
1:31:50
Speaker 1: You know, I know what Columbus, right, just just go
1:31:52
Speaker 1: east like you're going to Burmanham. That's what it's like.
1:31:55
Speaker 1: I know exactly what Columbus, Georges is that, but I can't.
1:31:58
Speaker 1: I would not close this interview. I'm from Houston, Texas.
1:32:01
Speaker 1: You're San Antonio, Texas. I love Text Max. You know
1:32:07
Speaker 1: I will eat that for breakfast. I would eat it
1:32:09
Speaker 1: for lunch. I I just can't get enough of I
1:32:12
Speaker 1: just had to clothes and find out where was your
1:32:14
Speaker 1: heart when it comes to text Max, where's your heart?
1:32:17
Speaker 1: It was? It was so obsessed with Text Max that
1:32:20
Speaker 1: I had to leave Texas to stay my heart because
1:32:25
Speaker 1: if not, it would be clogged that I'd be I'd
1:32:28
Speaker 1: be on me on medication. Right now. I just eat.
1:32:31
Speaker 1: I eat. I eat flower cheese right all day. Thank you.
1:32:36
Speaker 1: When my brother, you look fantastic, and I'm glad you
1:32:39
Speaker 1: lost that offensive line work weight, swear why receiver that
1:32:44
Speaker 1: you want to play in this sitcom? Today you look fantastic, Anthony,
1:32:48
Speaker 1: And I'm glad I got the interview on my show
1:32:50
Speaker 1: man And just also just to spread the greatness of
1:32:52
Speaker 1: this sitcom Man that you guys are doing a great
1:32:55
Speaker 1: job setting a great message and brought back so many
1:32:58
Speaker 1: great memories man, about what I did. And I always
1:33:01
Speaker 1: feel blessed about it because a lot of people see
1:33:03
Speaker 1: a lot of my sitcomps now that I wrote on
1:33:05
Speaker 1: and produced on Netflix. Now you know, and it gets
1:33:08
Speaker 1: to people you wrote this, Yeah, that was me, that
1:33:10
Speaker 1: was me. That was me. So I'm kind of like
1:33:13
Speaker 1: getting some Netflix love, Anthony. But again, brother, thank you
1:33:16
Speaker 1: for coming on money making conversations. Thank you for having
1:33:18
Speaker 1: me man. I really appreciate it. This is a lot
1:33:20
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1:33:37
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1:33:58
Speaker 1: This morning, Mom is coming off the front door strong
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Speaker 1: with a double arm kid carry. Looks like dad has
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Speaker 1: the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh but
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1:34:24
Speaker 1: they're off. But looks like Mom doesn't realize her coffee
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Speaker 1: there it goes. Oh, that's a shame that mug was
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Speaker 1: Look for your children's eyes to see the true magic
1:34:54
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Speaker 1: look and see a tree, they see the rink of
1:35:00
Speaker 1: face of a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky.
1:35:04
Speaker 1: They see treasuring pebbles, they see a windy path that
1:35:07
Speaker 1: could lead to adventure, and they see you. They're fearless guide.
1:35:12
Speaker 1: This is fascinating world. Find a forest near you and
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Speaker 1: start exploring and discover the forest. Dot org brought to
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Speaker 1: you by the United States Forest Service and the Council
1:35:21
Speaker 1: Hi i am Ra. Sean McDonald hosts a money making
1:35:23
Speaker 1: conversation dot com. The Cafe Morcha Swag Award is a
1:35:26
Speaker 1: celebration of black men making a difference in our community
1:35:29
Speaker 1: by empowering others to reach their life goals. They can
1:35:32
Speaker 1: beecific leaders, people in business, activists, celebrities, and everyday dance.
1:35:36
Speaker 1: The Cafe Mocha Swag Award honor read this week is
1:35:39
Speaker 1: Randy Williams Your Dreams Can Be Different. Randy is the
1:35:42
Speaker 1: president of Talian Twine Accompany. Their designs and manufactures luxury
1:35:46
Speaker 1: watches and accessories. The company's name comes from an intersection
1:35:50
Speaker 1: formerly the center of a notorious crimer in the neighborhood
1:35:53
Speaker 1: in Virginia. In recent years, the neighborhood has been completely
1:35:56
Speaker 1: revitalized and those same families now have the opportunity to own.
1:36:00
Speaker 1: When you go from being a young man to an
1:36:02
Speaker 1: older man, you understand who you are more and you
1:36:05
Speaker 1: understand why you're doing what you're doing. You're not just
1:36:07
Speaker 1: doing something to make money. And I wanted Italians wanting
1:36:10
Speaker 1: to be a brand like that that had these principles
1:36:12
Speaker 1: and these values that were built into the brand. The
1:36:14
Speaker 1: Catheine marka Squag award represents men who have strength, whose
1:36:18
Speaker 1: wisdom is assertive, and who is genuine in their spirit.
1:36:22
Speaker 1: We will be right back with more money Making Conversations
1:36:25
Speaker 1: with your host, Rashan McDonald. Welcome back to Money Making
1:36:35
Speaker 1: Conversations with your host Rashaan McDonald. My next guest. She's
1:36:39
Speaker 1: an industry decision maker. She's a celebrities. She's an entrepreneur.
1:36:43
Speaker 1: She's Shrine Woulds. She's the president of CEO of the
1:36:46
Speaker 1: fashion and lifestyle businesses. She operates with her husband, creative director,
1:36:50
Speaker 1: Guy Would Senior. They create transferable wealth and legacy through
1:36:54
Speaker 1: their serial entrepreneurship. You're about to understand what I'm about
1:36:56
Speaker 1: to say. Sharene has been featured in various media outlets,
1:37:00
Speaker 1: Cafe mom dot com, CBS Posts dot Com, New York
1:37:03
Speaker 1: Daily News, Essence dot com, Good Morning America and MSNBC
1:37:07
Speaker 1: dot com, The New York Times and numerous other press outlets.
1:37:11
Speaker 1: She is the administrative leader and visionary for Families Growing
1:37:14
Speaker 1: Fashion and Lifestyle Empire. Please work with the money making
1:37:17
Speaker 1: conversations Sharene Wood. Hello, Hello, thank you, but a great introduction.
1:37:25
Speaker 1: Is so lovely to see you with Shawn. I'm so happy, well,
1:37:28
Speaker 1: thank you. You know we're coming out of COVID nati.
1:37:30
Speaker 1: You know, I'm happy to see all my friends to
1:37:32
Speaker 1: be able to come out of this. When you see
1:37:34
Speaker 1: a number like over a half million people uh dying
1:37:38
Speaker 1: from this uh, this pandemic, you really feel blessed when
1:37:41
Speaker 1: you talk to people you call your friends. I'm happy
1:37:45
Speaker 1: to be seen and happy to see you. Yes, you
1:37:47
Speaker 1: are so right. This year has been a lot a
1:37:51
Speaker 1: lot of personal reflection, a lot of business growth, a
1:37:54
Speaker 1: lot of strategy, a lot of sitting still, a lot
1:37:56
Speaker 1: of thinking about how to vibrate on higher levels. So
1:37:59
Speaker 1: this is in a transformatively year for everyone in every
1:38:02
Speaker 1: sense of the sense of the word. And you know,
1:38:04
Speaker 1: your business is fashion is closed, is tied to a
1:38:08
Speaker 1: lot of live events, and then you live in the
1:38:11
Speaker 1: state that basically shut down, They closed the Broadway, they
1:38:15
Speaker 1: closed movie theaters in New York City area, which of
1:38:18
Speaker 1: course affected Harlem as well. Talk about before we get
1:38:22
Speaker 1: into why we really have you show, you talked about
1:38:24
Speaker 1: this beverage that I have in front of me and
1:38:26
Speaker 1: this fantastic ward. I only have one bottle left that
1:38:29
Speaker 1: I have won't display all my desk right now. But
1:38:31
Speaker 1: the amazing part about making these transitions but also understanding
1:38:35
Speaker 1: that your dream is being shut down by something that
1:38:37
Speaker 1: you can't control, which was COVID nineteen wow. So I
1:38:43
Speaker 1: think for a lot of business owners, the routine of
1:38:46
Speaker 1: business just immediately stopping it was a shock one you
1:38:51
Speaker 1: you are always prepared for. You should have enough resources
1:38:55
Speaker 1: for yourself personally for a year, but no one had
1:38:58
Speaker 1: ever thought for your business. This was almost um an
1:39:01
Speaker 1: expense that you just didn't think that you would have
1:39:03
Speaker 1: to maintain a business for almost a year without the
1:39:06
Speaker 1: regular profit that you have um mid uh mid twenty.
1:39:12
Speaker 1: I would never have thought that both of my businesses
1:39:15
Speaker 1: and then I expanded during a pandemic, but both of
1:39:17
Speaker 1: my main businesses will be shut down for four months
1:39:21
Speaker 1: before you know, a lot of people we talk about
1:39:24
Speaker 1: a pivot before there was a pivot. There was a panic,
1:39:26
Speaker 1: What's going on. I'm concerned about the safety of my family,
1:39:30
Speaker 1: my UM community. I had started off dealing with my
1:39:34
Speaker 1: mom's recent stroke. UM so UM. I had already had
1:39:39
Speaker 1: a medical experience that had taken hold of my life,
1:39:41
Speaker 1: and I was ultimately half a caregiver from my mom,
1:39:45
Speaker 1: who was hopefully getting better and recovered from that. I
1:39:49
Speaker 1: was not prepared. UM. I literally had to sit down
1:39:52
Speaker 1: and restrategize so many different things. And I am so
1:39:55
Speaker 1: lucky that I was able to and had the forethought
1:39:59
Speaker 1: UM knowing that I was already changing my business, but
1:40:02
Speaker 1: Covid made me change it in ways that I didn't
1:40:04
Speaker 1: know that. I had to limited ability to have in
1:40:08
Speaker 1: person live events that was the main source of Harlem Habitactionally,
1:40:13
Speaker 1: we are very social family. We love social gatherings. Our
1:40:17
Speaker 1: liquor is built around creating these big, um fabulous events
1:40:21
Speaker 1: where you can enjoy our cocktails. So we ultimately had
1:40:24
Speaker 1: to redefine Covid. We had to build a robust e
1:40:29
Speaker 1: commerce platform. We had to build strategies that didn't involve
1:40:33
Speaker 1: going to meet and do everything virtual and my customers
1:40:38
Speaker 1: for you know, my celebrity customers ultimately had to sit
1:40:41
Speaker 1: down and some are still sitting down for more than
1:40:44
Speaker 1: a year because no live events. So we really had
1:40:47
Speaker 1: to reposition our personalize, our professionalize, our strategies into something
1:40:52
Speaker 1: that is not gonna be a back to normal. It's
1:40:55
Speaker 1: gonna be a new routine. And I think businesses that
1:40:58
Speaker 1: thrive are have to we strategize and reposition themselves in
1:41:02
Speaker 1: every sense of the word. And it's really amazing because
1:41:05
Speaker 1: when we're talking about well you you're used to big
1:41:07
Speaker 1: transitions and the unfortunately one that you can you can
1:41:10
Speaker 1: control those transitions. When you were from five thousand one
1:41:12
Speaker 1: flavors to the incredible store that you have in hall
1:41:15
Speaker 1: and called Hallom Habadashar. Now let's talk about that transition,
1:41:19
Speaker 1: and then we'll talking about how you always are. I
1:41:23
Speaker 1: like to believe ahead of the curve. That's where the
1:41:24
Speaker 1: visionary part of our love about you. You you sit around,
1:41:28
Speaker 1: you're not satisfied by your current success. You're always looking
1:41:32
Speaker 1: at lanes of future success. And then we're gonna get
1:41:34
Speaker 1: into the spirits in the water. But let's talk about
1:41:37
Speaker 1: that transition from five thousand one flavors, which is amazing
1:41:40
Speaker 1: successful in the hip hop community to Hallam habadash Tree, Well,
1:41:44
Speaker 1: one thing I like to tell any entrepreneur is that
1:41:47
Speaker 1: where I'm at is not where I started, and this
1:41:50
Speaker 1: it seems like a seamless plan of great strategy and
1:41:53
Speaker 1: ultimately being an entrepreneur as being ready and available for
1:41:56
Speaker 1: whatever opportunity comes. UM. I started five thousand and one
1:42:01
Speaker 1: Flavors with my business partner then boyfriend now and husband
1:42:05
Speaker 1: happily married to Mr Guy Wood, creative director of five
1:42:09
Speaker 1: thousand and one Flavors. It is a creative custom clothing
1:42:14
Speaker 1: company with designing manufacturer clothes for artists and entertainers to
1:42:18
Speaker 1: wear on album covers, tours, red carpets, live events, and
1:42:23
Speaker 1: we've ultimately been doing that for twenty nine years. Next year,
1:42:26
Speaker 1: in two we are celebrating our thirty If you're in business,
1:42:30
Speaker 1: started as a junior in Columbia University and just started
1:42:34
Speaker 1: working with any in every mainstream gospel, hip hop, R
1:42:39
Speaker 1: and B country rock artists that you can imagine, so
1:42:42
Speaker 1: you can think Dj Khaled, Daddy, Yankee, Lady Gaga, P Diddy,
1:42:48
Speaker 1: Mary J. Blige, any and everybody that you know and
1:42:51
Speaker 1: love and music. We've worked with UM athletes who work
1:42:54
Speaker 1: in Colin Kaepernick, Lebron James. So we have a long
1:42:58
Speaker 1: history that's still uh um you know, very vibrant. We
1:43:02
Speaker 1: decided about twenty years ago in twenty m to start
1:43:08
Speaker 1: Harlem Habit actually to address the increasing customers who are
1:43:13
Speaker 1: not celebrities but have their own red carpet moments. So
1:43:16
Speaker 1: we have a lot of uh customers who love to
1:43:18
Speaker 1: look great, who love statement pieces. So Harlem Habit actually
1:43:21
Speaker 1: was our attempt to create a retail experience for people
1:43:24
Speaker 1: to get that same celebrity treatment. But we knew that
1:43:27
Speaker 1: Harlem Habit actually always had to be lifestyle. Lifestyle is
1:43:30
Speaker 1: such a grand category because lifestyle is anything that you love, touching,
1:43:36
Speaker 1: feeling where on a on a daily basis during your lifestyle.
1:43:40
Speaker 1: So for us, it was an instant um recognition that
1:43:44
Speaker 1: we can go from clothing and to home beauty accessories,
1:43:49
Speaker 1: um you know, so anything on your lovely set will
1:43:51
Speaker 1: be considered lifestyle. You have clothes, you have furniture, you
1:43:54
Speaker 1: have electronics, and so ultimately, as long as the category
1:43:58
Speaker 1: that we were in um and categories and different products,
1:44:02
Speaker 1: as long as it had the same brand aesthetic that
1:44:05
Speaker 1: delivered quality and bespoke and customization that Harlem Haberdash we had.
1:44:09
Speaker 1: It was a no brainer for me. So when people
1:44:12
Speaker 1: say what's the what's the transition? To me, it's kind
1:44:15
Speaker 1: of seamless. As we work with our clients and they
1:44:18
Speaker 1: have on these fabulous outfits that we have on we're
1:44:21
Speaker 1: participating in very celebratory events now instead of wearing just
1:44:26
Speaker 1: out clods, that wearing our close in holding our spirit
1:44:29
Speaker 1: products and the same celebratory events. So it was very
1:44:32
Speaker 1: seamless for me. And when people think about it, they go, oh,
1:44:36
Speaker 1: same party, different products, same brand. So I totally thought
1:44:42
Speaker 1: um that it knew that lifestyle was where we wanted
1:44:44
Speaker 1: to go. Um. So, ultimately transforming from five thousand one
1:44:49
Speaker 1: to Harlem Haberdash me the Spirits h spoke Spirits was
1:44:53
Speaker 1: another brand expansion that was a no brainer for me.
1:44:57
Speaker 1: Now that before we get over to that, because you know,
1:44:59
Speaker 1: one know, I love talking to successful people because they
1:45:02
Speaker 1: make it seem seamless, okay, and we know and you
1:45:05
Speaker 1: know you're so articulated, and because you're talking almost thirty
1:45:09
Speaker 1: years when you talk, when you talk about next year,
1:45:11
Speaker 1: and I will definitely be at the shop in thirty years,
1:45:14
Speaker 1: I'll be knocking on the door because we should be
1:45:16
Speaker 1: all I'm already vaccinated, so I'm ready to travel now.
1:45:20
Speaker 1: Open absolutely, So you're more likely to be seeing me
1:45:24
Speaker 1: this year in fact up in the New York area
1:45:25
Speaker 1: because I'm doing a lot of things with Stephen A.
1:45:27
Speaker 1: Smith in that market. But more importantly, when I look
1:45:30
Speaker 1: at what you're doing, and I always like this whenever
1:45:32
Speaker 1: I interview you, I would like to slow you down
1:45:34
Speaker 1: because you're so smooth in your transitions, and what I
1:45:37
Speaker 1: try to deliver on the show is some type of
1:45:40
Speaker 1: information and you dropped nuggets because when you made that transition,
1:45:44
Speaker 1: was there any degree of hesitancy or people question you
1:45:49
Speaker 1: about making that transition because you said, like you said,
1:45:51
Speaker 1: same customers, you know, same customers, You're the same people,
1:45:55
Speaker 1: but there's always people who say why. So, you know,
1:46:00
Speaker 1: the the problem probably is understanding that in my mind
1:46:04
Speaker 1: is seamless. But it's two different industries, so it's not
1:46:08
Speaker 1: as seamless as it seems, because for me, it's just
1:46:12
Speaker 1: about introducing my brand to a different industry. The one
1:46:16
Speaker 1: thing that I know now that I didn't know them
1:46:18
Speaker 1: because a lot of times you're like, um, I'm fabulous,
1:46:22
Speaker 1: you know I can do it. I can do all things.
1:46:24
Speaker 1: Is that there's a different set of people that you
1:46:26
Speaker 1: have to manage, there's a different set of skills, there's
1:46:29
Speaker 1: a different set of contact that you have to have.
1:46:32
Speaker 1: So long as you know that you have a commitment
1:46:35
Speaker 1: to your brand and a product and that that is
1:46:37
Speaker 1: a process that you have to wade through, it's not
1:46:40
Speaker 1: a problem. The problem is knowing that one I'm trying
1:46:44
Speaker 1: to reach a new set of customers in a new category,
1:46:48
Speaker 1: but I'm telling the same story. I still have a
1:46:51
Speaker 1: commitment to my brand, and I know that anything that
1:46:53
Speaker 1: I want to associated with my brand, I wanted to
1:46:55
Speaker 1: be quality. I want to be consistent with the product.
1:46:59
Speaker 1: I want to have a certain brand position, already have
1:47:01
Speaker 1: a certain price. So I was always committed to the brand.
1:47:05
Speaker 1: But now when I go from a consulting UH Image Wardrobe,
1:47:09
Speaker 1: consulting a five thousand and one to a retail to
1:47:13
Speaker 1: a spirit those are all different industries and so what
1:47:16
Speaker 1: slowed me down and the bumps in the roads are
1:47:19
Speaker 1: learning that industry and learning the you know who's who,
1:47:21
Speaker 1: and learning the players and who is your strategic partners.
1:47:25
Speaker 1: Those are always hard to identifying any business in any industry.
1:47:29
Speaker 1: But as long as you're committed to delivering a certain
1:47:32
Speaker 1: product or service, it's just about navigating and finding out.
1:47:37
Speaker 1: The one thing I like about being in business is
1:47:39
Speaker 1: that if you are truly with like minded individuals, you
1:47:43
Speaker 1: really almost have to know who's in your network and
1:47:46
Speaker 1: who you can access. And so when we talk about
1:47:50
Speaker 1: spending time with like minded people, we're talking about people
1:47:53
Speaker 1: that can help scale our business, that can help you grow,
1:47:56
Speaker 1: that can point you to the right person. And so
1:47:59
Speaker 1: that's why it's important to surround yourself with black minded
1:48:02
Speaker 1: people that are vibrating on the same level that you are.
1:48:06
Speaker 1: That's a nugget right there, girl, pulling that out this
1:48:09
Speaker 1: interfere sharing it out there, because people don't understand. You know.
1:48:12
Speaker 1: I remember when I stopped managing Steve Harvey in two sixteen.
1:48:15
Speaker 1: You know, I was struggling to find my footing because
1:48:20
Speaker 1: I didn't have like minded people around me. I didn't
1:48:22
Speaker 1: have people who who respected me. I have people who
1:48:26
Speaker 1: looked at my resume with wow, but I didn't have
1:48:29
Speaker 1: that support system. And that's all you're talking about. You
1:48:31
Speaker 1: gotta have people that when you say, hey, I want
1:48:33
Speaker 1: this idea, they're not always trying to shoot it down.
1:48:35
Speaker 1: They trying to show you how you can be successful,
1:48:37
Speaker 1: or show you a different route so you can be successful.
1:48:40
Speaker 1: But it's all about being like minded. You don't know
1:48:43
Speaker 1: where you don't surround yourself with haters. That leads the
1:48:45
Speaker 1: frustration and also leads to leads to you going doubting yourself.
1:48:49
Speaker 1: And when you're being an entrepreneur, it's not like an
1:48:52
Speaker 1: eight to five. You know, eight to five basically, you
1:48:54
Speaker 1: go to the job, they're gonna tell you what you do,
1:48:56
Speaker 1: You go home, get your lunch break, and my complaint
1:48:58
Speaker 1: all day, You're still gonna get paid. When you're an entrepreneur,
1:49:01
Speaker 1: you can't complain all day about what you say is
1:49:03
Speaker 1: your drink. That really is a problem. Correct, You have
1:49:07
Speaker 1: to be so uh for we'd thinking problem solving and
1:49:13
Speaker 1: you really do have to tell the universe what you need.
1:49:17
Speaker 1: And when I mean tell a universe, that means that
1:49:19
Speaker 1: if you have a contact that has a certain network,
1:49:23
Speaker 1: you have to be very honest you know if this
1:49:25
Speaker 1: is what I need. And you'd be surprised with that
1:49:28
Speaker 1: openness and transparency will will will get you a lot
1:49:31
Speaker 1: of times we sit there with these ideas and we
1:49:33
Speaker 1: don't tell anyone, Oh, I need an account and I
1:49:35
Speaker 1: need a I need help, I need a resource. Like
1:49:39
Speaker 1: minded people are gonna point you in the right direction. Um.
1:49:42
Speaker 1: I had a great of experience when I'm part of
1:49:47
Speaker 1: a great organization called Support Your Girlfriends. I went to
1:49:51
Speaker 1: a wonderful retreat with some young ladies that I that
1:49:56
Speaker 1: I became friends with. But we had this great experience.
1:50:00
Speaker 1: What send across and Senda says something out of dinner
1:50:03
Speaker 1: and it and it blew my mind. She was like,
1:50:06
Speaker 1: everything you need is in the room. And that means
1:50:08
Speaker 1: that if you're in a great group of people surrounded
1:50:11
Speaker 1: by like minded that you guys are speaking each other's
1:50:15
Speaker 1: brand in names and rooms that you're not in. So
1:50:18
Speaker 1: when we come together, I Support your Girlfriends and then
1:50:21
Speaker 1: we go out in the world. It's about thirty of
1:50:23
Speaker 1: us and someone knows that I'm looking for a liquor distributor,
1:50:26
Speaker 1: or someone knows that I'm looking for a retail and
1:50:28
Speaker 1: they connect me. That is what you need need when
1:50:31
Speaker 1: you need like minded people in your circle, people that
1:50:34
Speaker 1: are looking for connections, people that are looking for opportunities
1:50:37
Speaker 1: for you when you're not in the room. And so
1:50:40
Speaker 1: I've really been blessing this last year to build some
1:50:42
Speaker 1: great strategic partnerships from work that I've done before, or
1:50:46
Speaker 1: networks that I've built, What people know that I need
1:50:49
Speaker 1: a certain task or connection. You know, it's really interesting, Uh,
1:50:54
Speaker 1: I tell people that, you know, I wish COVID on
1:50:56
Speaker 1: no one. It was. It was thrust upon us. But
1:50:59
Speaker 1: I didn't stopped thinking. You know, you know, I still
1:51:02
Speaker 1: paid my staff. I was in a position to do that.
1:51:04
Speaker 1: I would apply for that little p P P long
1:51:06
Speaker 1: and really angered me so much. Serena, Why why I
1:51:12
Speaker 1: wish I had stayed on the sideline? Said I couldn't
1:51:14
Speaker 1: get it because what they gave me. It was like, really,
1:51:17
Speaker 1: where are these people out here out there ripping on
1:51:20
Speaker 1: people and buying cars and homes and taking vacation. Why
1:51:23
Speaker 1: I'm not getting that check? What did they? I don't
1:51:27
Speaker 1: know what? You know? So when I but the beauty
1:51:31
Speaker 1: of when I was introducing you that I wanted to
1:51:33
Speaker 1: point out to people. It's just the range of media
1:51:36
Speaker 1: that you crossed. You know, you're not a black talent.
1:51:39
Speaker 1: You know, you're not a person that that fashion is
1:51:41
Speaker 1: only for urban you your fashion University's why I want
1:51:45
Speaker 1: to point out the New York Times when the point MSNBC.
1:51:48
Speaker 1: Yes you've been on ny dot com, Yes you've been
1:51:50
Speaker 1: on Essence dot com, but you've also been in New
1:51:52
Speaker 1: York Daily News. You've also been in Huffington Post. When
1:51:55
Speaker 1: you get that range of media coming to you, how
1:51:58
Speaker 1: does that allow you to UM promote your business? First
1:52:03
Speaker 1: of all, and I also develop your point of view
1:52:05
Speaker 1: for for your for the brand that you're putting out there,
1:52:07
Speaker 1: which is fashion and now we're gonna go into water,
1:52:10
Speaker 1: and now we're going to go into spirits. So I
1:52:13
Speaker 1: have been blessed with a celebrity adjacent brand. UM. So
1:52:18
Speaker 1: the second that you can mention Beyonce, jay Z, Maria Harry,
1:52:24
Speaker 1: they want to talk to you. So I I am
1:52:26
Speaker 1: not um not knowing that that is such a blessing
1:52:29
Speaker 1: for me. So unfortunately I do have kind of a
1:52:31
Speaker 1: leg up in terms of press. But I also know
1:52:35
Speaker 1: it is a great opportunity for me, want to tell
1:52:37
Speaker 1: my story, for me to build a future, UM plan
1:52:41
Speaker 1: for me to seek strategic partners. So everything that I
1:52:45
Speaker 1: want I'll put in the I'll put in the universe.
1:52:47
Speaker 1: I'm looking for a strategic partner. I'm looking for national distribution.
1:52:50
Speaker 1: I'm looking to expand this and so when you speak it,
1:52:53
Speaker 1: it happens people read. A lot of times, people don't
1:52:56
Speaker 1: realize that social media, when you press in there are
1:52:59
Speaker 1: in users who look at that and know. So you're
1:53:01
Speaker 1: you're you're engaging in a conversation with the unknown when
1:53:05
Speaker 1: you do press. So I'm always thankful for the great press.
1:53:09
Speaker 1: I'm always looking for the next thing to talk about,
1:53:11
Speaker 1: because no one wants to only talk about what you're
1:53:13
Speaker 1: doing now, what you're doing in the future. Um. I
1:53:16
Speaker 1: love planning expansion. I love creating my own economy. So
1:53:20
Speaker 1: for me, entrepreneur is not just about talking about what
1:53:23
Speaker 1: you're doing, but what you're going to do. So the
1:53:26
Speaker 1: platform has allowed us to really think about brand expansion.
1:53:30
Speaker 1: We love to circle back to some of our favorite
1:53:33
Speaker 1: favorite press outlets and talk about what we're doing in
1:53:35
Speaker 1: the future. It becomes something that grows, evolves, and I
1:53:40
Speaker 1: think COVID made a lot of people, including me, literally
1:53:43
Speaker 1: sit still and think about everything. Your whole life, your strategy,
1:53:47
Speaker 1: what are you doing, how are you moving? Um? I
1:53:49
Speaker 1: felt like I was doing a lot of moving, but
1:53:52
Speaker 1: I wasn't progressing in some areas. So it allowed me
1:53:54
Speaker 1: to restrategize. And as much as it was a lot
1:53:57
Speaker 1: of strategy, unfortunately I had a lot of you know,
1:54:00
Speaker 1: death in my network and my family. Unfortunately I lost
1:54:03
Speaker 1: I lost my beloved grandmother, my oldest member of my family,
1:54:07
Speaker 1: and my beloved niece, the youngest member of my family.
1:54:10
Speaker 1: Um fortunately succumbed to a brain um tumor cancer. And
1:54:16
Speaker 1: so in between all of that tragedy, there was a
1:54:19
Speaker 1: lot of great success for a lot of businesses, and
1:54:21
Speaker 1: you you wouldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that my
1:54:24
Speaker 1: business grew while I was in the house, sitting right
1:54:27
Speaker 1: in front of my family wall. But it really just
1:54:30
Speaker 1: allowed me to strategize about what I wanted to do.
1:54:34
Speaker 1: When we talk about building a transferable business of legacy
1:54:38
Speaker 1: and wealth, that's really what I'm trying to do. I'm
1:54:39
Speaker 1: trying to make it better for my daughter who's twelve Sitney.
1:54:43
Speaker 1: I'm already made it better for my brother, who when
1:54:46
Speaker 1: I started with twelve, and so I see that becoming
1:54:49
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur and creating a platform that my family can
1:54:54
Speaker 1: benefit from, it's easy. It's easier to to build wealth,
1:54:58
Speaker 1: it's easier to grow your business is easier to do
1:55:01
Speaker 1: things when you have a connection. I had no connection
1:55:04
Speaker 1: to business, I had no network, I had no understanding.
1:55:07
Speaker 1: I didn't understand how they operate, how they were structured.
1:55:10
Speaker 1: And so generational wealth is not just about money. It's
1:55:14
Speaker 1: about information, knowledge, access and resources and creating those networks
1:55:19
Speaker 1: so that your kids can stand stand on something so
1:55:22
Speaker 1: that they're not starting from scratch. That's the goal for
1:55:25
Speaker 1: me as an entrepreneur, and I see it now after
1:55:28
Speaker 1: thirty years that it really it is working, and it
1:55:31
Speaker 1: is something that the next generation, in the future generations
1:55:35
Speaker 1: of my family will benefit from. Change your water, change
1:55:39
Speaker 1: your life. I'm holding this your water marvelous. Uh Why
1:55:43
Speaker 1: why water? We're gonna get to the beatboat. We're gonna
1:55:45
Speaker 1: get to the spirit a minute. But why Because it's
1:55:47
Speaker 1: a very competitive field out there. And then people some
1:55:50
Speaker 1: people look at water's water. You know, what's what's the
1:55:53
Speaker 1: different drinking water of water holes or water out of
1:55:56
Speaker 1: the store. Are you go to office depot, they got
1:55:58
Speaker 1: their water. You go to you go you get the water,
1:56:02
Speaker 1: going to your five gallons and get water out of
1:56:04
Speaker 1: there for forty cents a gallon. Oh, I have so
1:56:06
Speaker 1: many options. You have Coca Cola. Got there water, so
1:56:09
Speaker 1: many options at water. You come out and package of
1:56:11
Speaker 1: fantastic water I've tasted. I had to fight off the
1:56:14
Speaker 1: rest of my staff. I got one bottle left. I
1:56:16
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure it lasts for this interview. After
1:56:19
Speaker 1: this interview, I will be drinking. In fact, I'm gonna
1:56:23
Speaker 1: bust this over right now. Three Okay, cool, I'm gonna
1:56:26
Speaker 1: I'm gonna send you guys more So, we briefly got
1:56:29
Speaker 1: into our rand expansion and yes we did start to
1:56:33
Speaker 1: spoke spirits and uh now we are h spoke spirit
1:56:37
Speaker 1: and beverages. So I'm excited about that. Um so I'm
1:56:42
Speaker 1: excited about that. So we have a drum agin and
1:56:46
Speaker 1: let's talk about Let's talk about the water first, because
1:56:48
Speaker 1: it's it's fantastic, as you know, of course, the older
1:56:52
Speaker 1: less is. Uh, it just went down very good. It's
1:56:55
Speaker 1: something I would drink on a regular basis. But why
1:56:58
Speaker 1: did you decide to go? Because it says super entered
1:57:00
Speaker 1: and uh it's a Aclin water is uh pH is
1:57:04
Speaker 1: nap point five plus change your water, change your life.
1:57:07
Speaker 1: Well exactly that slogan, right, that means regards to this
1:57:10
Speaker 1: particular water that you call marvelous. So what actually happened
1:57:14
Speaker 1: is that we partnered with a family member who had
1:57:19
Speaker 1: Marvelous Waters. It's an alkaline water product. We partnered with him.
1:57:24
Speaker 1: He was already in the marketplace, but needed needed to
1:57:28
Speaker 1: scale up, needed to expand direct to consumer, needed to
1:57:31
Speaker 1: expand as national retailers. So Kenneth Marvin Barnes is a
1:57:35
Speaker 1: family member, so he already had Marvelous Border, so we
1:57:38
Speaker 1: brought him into our portfolio as h spoke Spirits and Beverages.
1:57:43
Speaker 1: We expanded some of his sales channels. But it's alkaline
1:57:46
Speaker 1: border and so for us, it was about having spirits
1:57:50
Speaker 1: and water, and it wasn't about creating it because it
1:57:54
Speaker 1: already created. It was about working with a family member
1:57:57
Speaker 1: of ours who was already in the industry and helping
1:57:59
Speaker 1: to expand this. So it's been a wonderful addition to
1:58:01
Speaker 1: our portfolio. We're excited to bring it to market. We're
1:58:05
Speaker 1: expanded to nashal Um to national distribution and nationwide retailers,
1:58:09
Speaker 1: so we're looking for retailers to expand. But yeah, I
1:58:13
Speaker 1: will absolutely say you and your staff more so please
1:58:17
Speaker 1: don't worry. It won't be the last that the Rashan
1:58:19
Speaker 1: McDonald's staff, get I'm gonna put it in. I'm gonna
1:58:22
Speaker 1: tell you just what we're gonna do. I'm gonna do
1:58:23
Speaker 1: you this, you know, because my show right now is uh,
1:58:27
Speaker 1: it's on YouTube and it's also on podcast. Will come
1:58:31
Speaker 1: May six, it will be broadcast the Atlantam market two
1:58:35
Speaker 1: million homes and in the fall will be syndicated. So
1:58:38
Speaker 1: I'm doing my shows that I tape starting in May six.
1:58:42
Speaker 1: I'm always complain about being warm in my studio, so
1:58:45
Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep if you don't mind. If I ain't
1:58:47
Speaker 1: got to sign a release, I'm gonna keep a bottle
1:58:50
Speaker 1: of Marvel's water on my desk, just like I have
1:58:54
Speaker 1: it right here, and I was sipping in between interviews.
1:58:56
Speaker 1: But I need me a little twig. So starting May six,
1:59:00
Speaker 1: a six, al right, So to day right, it's made
1:59:01
Speaker 1: six that I will be doing this starting next month.
1:59:05
Speaker 1: So you are the official water of the morning making
1:59:08
Speaker 1: conversation host about Rashan McDonald. How about that. I love it,
1:59:12
Speaker 1: Thank you, Rashan. I love you, and I'm gonna send
1:59:14
Speaker 1: you a bunch of your toff a bunch of the time.
1:59:17
Speaker 1: So I love it. But refreshing it's about you know,
1:59:20
Speaker 1: optimization for your health, it's about fleshing your body, it's
1:59:24
Speaker 1: about living your best life. And I'm all for that. Um.
1:59:27
Speaker 1: I love the product, which is why I brought it
1:59:30
Speaker 1: into our portfolio. I love, like I said, to create
1:59:34
Speaker 1: generational well, so bringing another member into our family, we
1:59:37
Speaker 1: learn the industry together. Spirits is very different from water.
1:59:42
Speaker 1: But who doesn't drink water? Everybody, So it's a more
1:59:45
Speaker 1: diverse customer base that we can reach. Everybody's into living
1:59:49
Speaker 1: their best life. So change your water, change your life
1:59:52
Speaker 1: is really about changing from other water products to an
1:59:55
Speaker 1: alkalon water product that's beneficial, that that you know, flushes
1:59:59
Speaker 1: your body of toxins that help you live your best life.
2:00:02
Speaker 1: And our black and brown communities we need every advantage
2:00:05
Speaker 1: we can in the health field to get rid of
2:00:07
Speaker 1: some of the healthcare disparities that we suffer from. And
2:00:10
Speaker 1: so it was a product that was a no brainer
2:00:12
Speaker 1: to us. Well, it takes fantastic and it's again the
2:00:15
Speaker 1: official water of money making. Conversation is Marvel started May
2:00:20
Speaker 1: six on our show starts broadcast on the a IP Network.
2:00:25
Speaker 1: It's fantastic, Like two billion homes in the North Georgian
2:00:28
Speaker 1: and Atlanta area. And there's four hundred thousand subscribers on
2:00:31
Speaker 1: their YouTube channels, so and any percent of their audience
2:00:34
Speaker 1: on their YouTube channel is international. So I love it.
2:00:38
Speaker 1: So we ship director consumer Marvelous waters dot com. We
2:00:43
Speaker 1: offer it in a six pack, twelve pack, and a
2:00:46
Speaker 1: twenty four packs, and so we are excited that we
2:00:48
Speaker 1: have a you know, a bunch of new customers throughout
2:00:51
Speaker 1: the country. Previously was not distributed directed consumers, so that's
2:00:54
Speaker 1: been a wonderful sales channel for us. We're super excited.
2:00:58
Speaker 1: So it's easier to ship water than spirits, so it's
2:01:00
Speaker 1: a great addition to our protfolio. Well doing covid UH
2:01:06
Speaker 1: spirits sales sword they said people was consuming alcohol at
2:01:11
Speaker 1: a very high rate. So I think you're launching a
2:01:15
Speaker 1: vodka line coming out of covid. I think it's perfect
2:01:19
Speaker 1: because people want to celebrate, people want a good drink.
2:01:22
Speaker 1: I lively remember many years ago at a very popular
2:01:25
Speaker 1: comic cloth, So I am very aware of alcohol consumption
2:01:29
Speaker 1: and the power of vodka is great. So why did
2:01:32
Speaker 1: you choose vodka? And tell us what is the future
2:01:34
Speaker 1: of what you're gonna do with this. So in eighteen
2:01:38
Speaker 1: UH Carlon Habita. Actually we expanded into HH Spoke Spirits.
2:01:42
Speaker 1: We have a rum Agennaa vodka. We've had that wonderful
2:01:46
Speaker 1: curated collection since eighteen COVID people were home uh quarantinings,
2:01:53
Speaker 1: you know, sheltering in place, and so sales of a
2:01:56
Speaker 1: lot of different industries were fantastic. It so essentially you
2:02:01
Speaker 1: went from brick and mortar to click and order, so
2:02:03
Speaker 1: anything that you can access from home, it was a go.
2:02:07
Speaker 1: And Spirits, especially Black Spirits, really took off, you know,
2:02:11
Speaker 1: after the June teenth of celebrations and recognition that we
2:02:16
Speaker 1: need to support each other. A lot of black companies
2:02:20
Speaker 1: had a great prosperity and growth and I'm thankful for that.
2:02:23
Speaker 1: I just wish that we would understand that black businesses
2:02:27
Speaker 1: and small businesses need support and need sales outside of
2:02:31
Speaker 1: a protest. We need to be part of your everyday
2:02:33
Speaker 1: buying pattern. And so that's sort of a highlighting black
2:02:37
Speaker 1: business and black business ownership. That's what really made our
2:02:41
Speaker 1: business really boom. Uh. The Spirits took off. We had
2:02:45
Speaker 1: a wonderful e commerce partner that came aboard, so then
2:02:47
Speaker 1: we could shipt direct to consumers throughout our HH bespoke
2:02:51
Speaker 1: spirit dot com website, so we opened up thirty eight
2:02:54
Speaker 1: more states during the pandemic, so there was growth. Even
2:02:57
Speaker 1: when they would stay at home, you know, or just
2:03:00
Speaker 1: be in place, we actually grew because we had access
2:03:02
Speaker 1: to more demographic around the country. So we were excited
2:03:05
Speaker 1: to partner with reserve Barum available at hhro spoke Spirence
2:03:10
Speaker 1: dot com. You can get our products straight delivered to
2:03:13
Speaker 1: your home. Wow. So again the visionary I've always enjoyed
2:03:18
Speaker 1: speaking to you. You've already locked out another deal here
2:03:22
Speaker 1: or just in the end of you that's how good
2:03:23
Speaker 1: you are. You know, appreciate it. Talking about this is
2:03:28
Speaker 1: about opening your mouth. It's about connecting. It's about telling
2:03:32
Speaker 1: someone what you need or one I I contact you said,
2:03:35
Speaker 1: I need a forum to talk about my product. You
2:03:38
Speaker 1: need customs, you need someone to come on your show.
2:03:41
Speaker 1: So it really is about having a strategy, and a
2:03:44
Speaker 1: strategy as simple as an act a request. And so
2:03:48
Speaker 1: when you're in business, these are the type of things
2:03:50
Speaker 1: that you have to do. I tell a lot of
2:03:52
Speaker 1: people that have a business like you're staying too small
2:03:55
Speaker 1: because you're not opening up yourself to the universe. If
2:03:58
Speaker 1: you need sales, you need to talk to people, um,
2:04:01
Speaker 1: and that that's all sometimes what you need to do
2:04:03
Speaker 1: as a plan. And I ask, and you'd be surprised
2:04:06
Speaker 1: sometimes people say yes when you ask them a question. Well,
2:04:09
Speaker 1: first of all, soon as Samanthew Commin said Ms Woods
2:04:12
Speaker 1: want to come back on your show, and said, fie
2:04:13
Speaker 1: what she wants to talk about? Because I know she's
2:04:15
Speaker 1: not gonna call me just to talk. And so when
2:04:17
Speaker 1: I heard about the water got shipped out and tasted.
2:04:20
Speaker 1: But more importantly, you know you can ask, but it
2:04:22
Speaker 1: tastes if you know, you know, it's it's hard to
2:04:25
Speaker 1: say the word taste the water because water not supposed
2:04:28
Speaker 1: to have a taste, but it's supposed to feel good.
2:04:30
Speaker 1: It's supposed to make you feel relaxed. All those things
2:04:34
Speaker 1: of what I felt when I dropped the water, and
2:04:36
Speaker 1: that's where it Immediately. I didn't even have a thought
2:04:38
Speaker 1: of saying I was gonna make this water part of
2:04:40
Speaker 1: my show and have it sit on my desk because
2:04:43
Speaker 1: my staff is no, I'm always complaining because they were laughing.
2:04:45
Speaker 1: But you're coming in with these four piece suits. You know,
2:04:48
Speaker 1: you know you're always hot. Because I was turn on
2:04:50
Speaker 1: this app turn on this as before we start recording
2:04:52
Speaker 1: and so but this allows me to comfortably enjoy myself.
2:04:56
Speaker 1: Also to promote a friend, because I've always consider your
2:04:58
Speaker 1: friend and you're a guy who love to deaf and
2:05:00
Speaker 1: can't wait to see you guys this summer. Definitely in
2:05:02
Speaker 1: the fall and visit your shop and everything. But again,
2:05:06
Speaker 1: get those banners up to me again. Starting May six,
2:05:09
Speaker 1: this will be there on my desk on every episode
2:05:12
Speaker 1: that airs every Thursday night at nine pm in the
2:05:15
Speaker 1: Atlanta market on a I B TV. There right now
2:05:18
Speaker 1: in over two million homes, So rich Woods. Again, it's
2:05:22
Speaker 1: about you being smart enough to open your mall. You're
2:05:25
Speaker 1: being smart enough to deliver a product that a customer wants.
2:05:29
Speaker 1: And I consider myself a customer not only in the
2:05:31
Speaker 1: water but in the b spoke. This vodka is fantastic
2:05:34
Speaker 1: as well. My staff. When I leave the building, leave
2:05:37
Speaker 1: this room, they're gonna be grabbing me. Now. Can we
2:05:39
Speaker 1: have it? Now? Can we have it? Like? Five? No? No,
2:05:42
Speaker 1: I have this. I'm telling what I have this. I'm
2:05:44
Speaker 1: gonna send you a picture. I have it in my
2:05:46
Speaker 1: trophy case with my Emmy's and my Image Award. That's
2:05:51
Speaker 1: how much I value my relationship with this is you
2:05:54
Speaker 1: said this to me. It is not being open is
2:05:57
Speaker 1: in that camera? Send your picture and show it to
2:05:59
Speaker 1: you that I'm tell and you troopers in my trophy
2:06:01
Speaker 1: case and it's a big one that had some of
2:06:03
Speaker 1: my top honors. And I considered you contacted me by
2:06:06
Speaker 1: launching a black on. It's a spirit like this should
2:06:10
Speaker 1: be recognized and helldo too. And they could go drinking
2:06:13
Speaker 1: on their own time, Okay, not in my cabinet, thank you, Roshawn.
2:06:16
Speaker 1: So I am gonna send the rum gin so they
2:06:20
Speaker 1: can sit side by side. And I'm gonna send your
2:06:23
Speaker 1: staff some because I know they're looking at you, like,
2:06:25
Speaker 1: come on, bro, they but just let you know when
2:06:29
Speaker 1: you send it, it's gonna be You're gonna be taking
2:06:31
Speaker 1: It's not gonna be touched. It's gonna be a Reshards
2:06:34
Speaker 1: award winning case. People he respected love and visionaries, and
2:06:38
Speaker 1: I consider you a visionary. Okay, I love that. Thank
2:06:41
Speaker 1: you so much, and thank you for all of your
2:06:43
Speaker 1: visionary work. I mean, it is sometimes hard for people
2:06:48
Speaker 1: to to change what they know, and I think being
2:06:50
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur is is literally going on a trip that
2:06:53
Speaker 1: you don't know where you're gonna wind up. And that's
2:06:56
Speaker 1: the hardest thing for people is having that faith. And
2:06:58
Speaker 1: so I think every per sinnature showcase on your show
2:07:02
Speaker 1: that tells people to think outside the box gives them
2:07:04
Speaker 1: one step closer to that freedom that we all as
2:07:07
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs feel. Thank you, we're talking soon. We want to
2:07:10
Speaker 1: hear more Money Making Conversation interviews. Please go to Money
2:07:12
Speaker 1: Making Conversation dot com or my YouTube chap. I'm with
2:07:15
Speaker 1: Sean McDonald. I am your host. Please remember always leave
2:07:21
Speaker 1: with your gifts and don't let your age, friends, family,
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