Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion Interviews "Sherri" Executive Producer, Jawn Murray!

Transcript

Rushion Interviews "Sherri" Executive Producer, Jawn Murray! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:00
Speaker 1: My guests as an old friend in the business. Uh, somebody,
0:03
Speaker 1: I'm very proud of. John Murray, executive producer of the
0:06
Speaker 1: of the new hit nationally syndicated Sherry. That's Day Tap Talk,
0:12
Speaker 1: hosted by the one and only Sherry Shepherd recognizable face.
0:16
Speaker 1: He has spent a majority of his career as a
0:17
Speaker 1: TV host, contributor, media personality, and as a journalist. Prior
0:21
Speaker 1: to joining Sherry, he was an executive producer Very Popular
0:24
Speaker 1: Series or TV one, where he produced and directed episodes
0:28
Speaker 1: of the docum series called Uncensored. He had a lot
0:31
Speaker 1: to talk about. I'm only going to the littlest credits
0:34
Speaker 1: in this particular opening, but we're gonna talk about a
0:36
Speaker 1: whole lot of credits once we start talking. Please work
0:38
Speaker 1: with the money making conversations, masterclass. John Murray. How are
0:41
Speaker 1: you doing, sir, I'm doing good. Shaw. Well, I like
0:45
Speaker 1: your things that you got set up there too. Man, Well,
0:47
Speaker 1: thank you very much. You know, uh, all these people
0:50
Speaker 1: have been on my show. I have not just snatched
0:52
Speaker 1: their pictures offline online, you know what I'm saying? And
0:56
Speaker 1: uh you know, you know Sherry's up there because you
0:59
Speaker 1: know I have a little to y'all build down. I'm
1:01
Speaker 1: not Sharry. You know I'm not Sharry, but I would
1:05
Speaker 1: tell you some man, let's let's let's let's let's take
1:07
Speaker 1: the elephant out of the room. Okay, because because this room,
1:11
Speaker 1: the elephant don't need to be in there taking up
1:13
Speaker 1: all this good spirit in here. Brother. I am proud
1:16
Speaker 1: of you. This interview is about you, but you know
1:19
Speaker 1: how I feel about Sary. I personally went up there
1:22
Speaker 1: man to hug both of y'all and shaking your hand
1:25
Speaker 1: and say, brother, congratulations, man, let's talk about your feelings
1:30
Speaker 1: and where you at right now, especially when the ratings
1:33
Speaker 1: came out announceeeing the success of the series so far,
1:37
Speaker 1: we're gonna continue to climb. When I say serious, I'm
1:39
Speaker 1: talking about the daytime talk called Sherry hosted by Sherry Shephard.
1:44
Speaker 1: Absolutely Rishan let me first, and I'm on say, we
1:47
Speaker 1: were so excited to have you here hanging out with us,
1:49
Speaker 1: and it meant a lot. Uh. You've had great success
1:53
Speaker 1: in this very genre, uh, with multiple people and multiple platforms,
1:58
Speaker 1: and so to have you here year really was validating
2:01
Speaker 1: for us, man, and and to not only get your
2:04
Speaker 1: feedback and to hear that you were enjoying yourself watching
2:08
Speaker 1: you like there were times where I catch you from
2:11
Speaker 1: stage on the side of the stage and you were
2:13
Speaker 1: laughing at the stories you were taking in the audience
2:16
Speaker 1: and just seeing you in real time have a good time,
2:19
Speaker 1: which is our mission for everybody that watches this show,
2:22
Speaker 1: that comes to this show. It meant a lot to
2:24
Speaker 1: us because you're one of those people like me, Rashaan,
2:26
Speaker 1: it takes a lot to make you laugh out laugh,
2:29
Speaker 1: So to see you laugh out loud, I knew we
2:31
Speaker 1: were achieving our goal. Well over tell you this. Uh,
2:34
Speaker 1: the the whole process of being an executive producer is
2:37
Speaker 1: that you know you're reaching a lot of people that
2:40
Speaker 1: you don't know and the audience you can't see. So
2:44
Speaker 1: to see a live reaction is always instant validation. Okay,
2:47
Speaker 1: he got it. Okay, this did work. This, this makes sense.
2:51
Speaker 1: But watching you check on the role of executive producer
2:54
Speaker 1: on a national series that's cleared it over the native
2:56
Speaker 1: percent of this country. That means you're talking the people
3:00
Speaker 1: in Utah, you're talking to people and for a mall,
3:03
Speaker 1: you're talking to people in the last you're talking to
3:04
Speaker 1: people in Texas. How do you as to show prepared
3:08
Speaker 1: at what point of view y'all coming other than Sherry.
3:10
Speaker 1: We know she's to start the show, but you gotta
3:13
Speaker 1: reach soccer malls, the Latino community, the African American community,
3:16
Speaker 1: the conservative community. Do y'all take all that in consideration
3:19
Speaker 1: when you're doing the segments. You know what we're sharing.
3:22
Speaker 1: One of the things that we just trying to be
3:24
Speaker 1: intentional about is giving people unapologetic Sherry. The beauty of
3:28
Speaker 1: Sherry is and I had to tell this to our
3:30
Speaker 1: team here, uh in a meeting one time. The Sherry
3:33
Speaker 1: was what we like to call white famous before she
3:36
Speaker 1: was black famous. Sherry was somebody who carved out a
3:39
Speaker 1: niche uh in the Hollywood community as the little funny
3:42
Speaker 1: black girl on all the big major white sitcoms. You know.
3:45
Speaker 1: When Sherry first got on the View, Uh, they did,
3:49
Speaker 1: like in the research studies, because people outside of the
3:51
Speaker 1: industry don't know that all these shows do focus groups
3:53
Speaker 1: and research did these things that people like to talk
3:56
Speaker 1: about called cumulative scores, which quantify your impact to the audience.
4:01
Speaker 1: And when Sherry first got to the View, the black
4:03
Speaker 1: audience was like, who is she? And how does she
4:06
Speaker 1: get this job? And uh, you know, how does she
4:08
Speaker 1: deserve this opportunity? And by a year two or three,
4:13
Speaker 1: she had become one of the favorites with the black
4:15
Speaker 1: audience because they felt as though she spoke to their voice.
4:18
Speaker 1: So she was somebody who Middle America could relate to
4:21
Speaker 1: in life. She's somebody who felt safe to them because
4:24
Speaker 1: they had seen her own friends and everybody loves Raymond
4:28
Speaker 1: and all these big major franchise UH sitcoms. But then
4:32
Speaker 1: she was carving out a space for black audiences. So
4:34
Speaker 1: by the time she left the View after her seven
4:37
Speaker 1: plus years on the show, Sherry had created this impact
4:40
Speaker 1: that really was kind of universal. She started moving into
4:43
Speaker 1: spaces in which we talked about how Whoopie moves, or
4:46
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan moves, or maybe Will Smith before the Oscar slap,
4:50
Speaker 1: successful black talent that all of America just see as
4:54
Speaker 1: a talent. And yes, at some point, yes people do
4:57
Speaker 1: remind you love the color of your skin. But for
5:00
Speaker 1: the most part, sure became one of those people that
5:02
Speaker 1: became relatable to everybody. You know, you found something in
5:06
Speaker 1: her journey to connect to. So when we're preparing the
5:09
Speaker 1: content for the show, UH, we're looking at stories and
5:12
Speaker 1: ideas and guests. We really try to do the things
5:15
Speaker 1: that feel authentic to share it because one of the
5:17
Speaker 1: things that we've learned is that if Sherry is doing
5:20
Speaker 1: something that feels authentic to her, that's fun for her,
5:23
Speaker 1: that's organic for her, then the audience has that same
5:27
Speaker 1: reaction to it, you know. And so if it's not
5:30
Speaker 1: something that's natural for her, if she can't find the
5:33
Speaker 1: humanity in it, or the funny in it, or the
5:35
Speaker 1: flirting in it, then we'll stay away from it because
5:38
Speaker 1: if it doesn't connect with her, it's not going to
5:39
Speaker 1: connect with Militred in Montana. Absolutely, and I think that's important.
5:43
Speaker 1: The beauty of when you talk about her career, her relatability.
5:47
Speaker 1: I met Sherry when I was executive co executive producing
5:50
Speaker 1: the Jamie Foxx Show back on the w B and
5:53
Speaker 1: she was an actress we hired, and that's when she
5:55
Speaker 1: first came into my life. And and then as watch
5:59
Speaker 1: I've been and I've been at the like I said
6:01
Speaker 1: on the window sill, watching her career, and you're absolutely correct,
6:05
Speaker 1: being able to transition into white sitcoms, white television projects seamlessly,
6:10
Speaker 1: and that there was a testament to her crossover ability.
6:14
Speaker 1: And then like you said, the view only just solidified it.
6:17
Speaker 1: And then when she came out, she was back to
6:19
Speaker 1: doing those things when she was no longer part of you,
6:22
Speaker 1: doing those white sitcoms or those non traditional characters that
6:25
Speaker 1: you will not assume to be relatable to a black
6:27
Speaker 1: actress or black actor. Then I see in essence walking
6:31
Speaker 1: in the streets of essence, black women stopping there taking photos,
6:35
Speaker 1: taking selfie. So that type of crossover. And I and
6:39
Speaker 1: I was blessed every when I say blessed ladies and gentlemen.
6:42
Speaker 1: I arrived in New York when it was letting the
6:44
Speaker 1: audience in. And I'm gonna telling you he's He's right.
6:47
Speaker 1: I've been fortunate to launch a lot of TV shows,
6:49
Speaker 1: whether it's sitcoms, whether it's whether it's uh, whether it's
6:52
Speaker 1: a game shows, or whether it's a talk shows. The
6:55
Speaker 1: audience means everything. And how that audience comes in. We
6:59
Speaker 1: have a term we do a talk show world called
7:01
Speaker 1: car wash the words. And somebody comes in, they don't
7:04
Speaker 1: look up snuff. We're telling we might have a code
7:07
Speaker 1: in the back to put on them. Uh, you look
7:09
Speaker 1: pretty bad. We're gonna put you in the back row.
7:11
Speaker 1: You can't sit on the front row. That's car washing
7:13
Speaker 1: your audience. This audience that showed up that I saw
7:17
Speaker 1: looked like they were going to church, looked like they
7:20
Speaker 1: was ready for a fascist show, and they were the stars.
7:25
Speaker 1: How did she make that switch? We know what the
7:28
Speaker 1: Wendy Williams Show, but to come on the air and
7:31
Speaker 1: the audience already line up that fits her brand? How
7:34
Speaker 1: did she pull that off? John? Well, you know, the
7:37
Speaker 1: people are just responding to her, you know. It is
7:39
Speaker 1: the thing. You know, people know that we inherited production
7:43
Speaker 1: team from the Windy Williams Show and den Mark Mercury. Uh.
7:47
Speaker 1: And but everything that has been done to prepare for
7:50
Speaker 1: the Sherry Show, Uh, it has been very different from that.
7:54
Speaker 1: You know. Uh. There's some people who works for this
7:56
Speaker 1: syndication company for thirteen years, but we've really been able
8:00
Speaker 1: to condition people to adopt the language of This is
8:03
Speaker 1: day one on a brand new franchise. So this is
8:06
Speaker 1: a year fourteen of a franchise that Denmark has been producing.
8:10
Speaker 1: This is season one on a brand new show that's
8:14
Speaker 1: literally all about Sherry. So the audience looks very different
8:17
Speaker 1: from the audience that used to come to the previous show.
8:21
Speaker 1: The makeup of the demographics that we have. And you know,
8:24
Speaker 1: even with our television regions, you know, our show is
8:27
Speaker 1: syndicated in something like point five percent of the country, uh,
8:32
Speaker 1: which is a far more expensive audience than you know,
8:35
Speaker 1: There's been lots of stories in the press that we
8:37
Speaker 1: inherited time slots from Wendy Williams. But the truth of
8:40
Speaker 1: the matter is we expanded on mattil time slots, and
8:45
Speaker 1: because when Williams show was only in about sixty nine
8:47
Speaker 1: percent of the country, Uh, and so we've added an
8:50
Speaker 1: additional thirty plus percent to our audience. And so, uh,
8:55
Speaker 1: the timing and the appetite for sure, was just right.
8:58
Speaker 1: And we lean into all things Sharry and making sure
9:02
Speaker 1: that this environment is a true reflection of her. You know,
9:06
Speaker 1: the through line is joy, the through line is laughing.
9:09
Speaker 1: The through line is friendship, you know, and and the
9:11
Speaker 1: friendship part is so important, which is why on our
9:14
Speaker 1: premier episode, one of her friends was one of our
9:16
Speaker 1: first guests, Candy Burris. You know, another friend of both
9:20
Speaker 1: of ours, single trainise of American Idol fame, recorded our
9:24
Speaker 1: theme song talk show legend, you know, and friend to
9:27
Speaker 1: us both. Rolando Watts is the voiceover announcer for our
9:31
Speaker 1: show every day and so leaning to these elements that
9:35
Speaker 1: are our real life for Saunas has really helped with
9:39
Speaker 1: an organic connection to the audience and that's been imperative
9:42
Speaker 1: for our success. Sure, we'll be right back with more
9:45
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return
9:51
Speaker 1: to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. You know,
9:56
Speaker 1: social media can be a curse and can be a blessing,
10:00
Speaker 1: and then you can read certain things in social media
10:02
Speaker 1: just make you smile. Your post that you did on
10:06
Speaker 1: LinkedIn with Rulanda Watts was one of those posts that
10:09
Speaker 1: made me smile. It also let us know that life
10:13
Speaker 1: is about a journey and you never know how you
10:16
Speaker 1: will reconnect with a person. And is that person humble?
10:19
Speaker 1: Is that person ready to accept where you're at where
10:22
Speaker 1: they were versus where they were met when y'all met
10:25
Speaker 1: the first time around. Tell everybody about the Rolanda Watching
10:29
Speaker 1: relationship and the post that is one of my favorite posts.
10:32
Speaker 1: I'm just tell you, John, what I saw that I
10:34
Speaker 1: shared it, I liked it and because I love Orlonda
10:37
Speaker 1: Watsontre and I totally respect who you are and watch
10:40
Speaker 1: your journey from Tom Jonas now. But that was a
10:43
Speaker 1: post that meant something to me absolutely, Richard. You know,
10:47
Speaker 1: when I was a student in college, well first before
10:50
Speaker 1: they mean, when I was a student in high school,
10:52
Speaker 1: we took a class trip to New York City and
10:53
Speaker 1: we sat in the audience of the Rolonda Watcher and
10:56
Speaker 1: I'll never get LaToya Jackson was the guest, and and
11:01
Speaker 1: you know, and so then by the time I got
11:03
Speaker 1: to college, I uh, I was a last key kid
11:06
Speaker 1: with Sean so So talk shows where my babysitters. I
11:09
Speaker 1: get home after school, I let myself into the house
11:12
Speaker 1: and Ricky Lake and Rolanda and Montell Williams, those are
11:15
Speaker 1: my babysitters. So I remember hearing of Ricky Lake story
11:18
Speaker 1: and how she was discovered fresh out of college and
11:22
Speaker 1: she was the youngest talk show host in the in
11:23
Speaker 1: the in the business. And I thought that was gonna
11:25
Speaker 1: be my trajectory. I thought, I went down to Norfolk
11:27
Speaker 1: State shout out to anybody that went to hbc U,
11:30
Speaker 1: and I thought I was gonna go to this historically
11:32
Speaker 1: blite college somebody who was gonna realize how gifted I
11:34
Speaker 1: was and give me a talk show, and so in
11:36
Speaker 1: an effort to do that, I uh went on the
11:40
Speaker 1: Rolanda show at the time with the young lady I
11:42
Speaker 1: was dating and professor my love for her because I
11:45
Speaker 1: thought going on Rolanda show uh and and being on there,
11:49
Speaker 1: she was gonna be like, Oh, he's the one, we
11:52
Speaker 1: gotta give him a talk show next. It didn't happen,
11:55
Speaker 1: um and so uh. But once I once I left
11:58
Speaker 1: school and started working for in the business, and you know,
12:00
Speaker 1: my first act was that of an entertainment news writer
12:03
Speaker 1: and one of the first interviews I actually did was
12:05
Speaker 1: with roland the Watts. I went to l A h
12:08
Speaker 1: to the Soul Trade Awards as a guest of Coca
12:11
Speaker 1: Cola at the time, and went to this restaurant with
12:14
Speaker 1: my mentor, the legendary media personality Tanya Hart and her husband,
12:17
Speaker 1: and Rolanda came and stopped by the restaurant to say
12:19
Speaker 1: hello to me, to meet me in person. And so
12:22
Speaker 1: she as someone who I was a fan of, who
12:25
Speaker 1: I aspired to have a morsel of the success that
12:28
Speaker 1: she had in the business, and then someone at one
12:30
Speaker 1: point that I ultimately became friends with. And so when
12:34
Speaker 1: we were mapping out uh and shaping what we wanted
12:39
Speaker 1: to Shay Show to be. We were talking about voices
12:41
Speaker 1: and voiceover. There were several people we were looking at,
12:43
Speaker 1: and Sherry looked at me one day and said, I've
12:45
Speaker 1: always loved the uniqueness and the richness of Rolanda's voice,
12:49
Speaker 1: and that's what I want to hear right before I
12:50
Speaker 1: walked through the door. And so to not only have
12:53
Speaker 1: roland to be the voice of our show, but to
12:55
Speaker 1: have her come and sit in the audience on our
12:58
Speaker 1: premier episode really was a full circle moment for me
13:02
Speaker 1: because I went from sitting in the audience of her
13:04
Speaker 1: talk show as a high school kid to her being
13:06
Speaker 1: in the show that I'm executive producing alongside Sherry Shepherd,
13:10
Speaker 1: And it really was a true full circle moment. Now
13:13
Speaker 1: we say the worries that coutive producing. We're gonna talk
13:16
Speaker 1: about that in a minute. But sometimes I see your face.
13:19
Speaker 1: You're a handsome face on TV comments. So so when
13:23
Speaker 1: you say Roshan. When I graduated from Norfolk, I went
13:26
Speaker 1: up to Rolanda, I'll try to be a talk show host.
13:30
Speaker 1: I'm not saying you talk to your host, but you
13:32
Speaker 1: make an appearances on the successful talk to your job
13:35
Speaker 1: talk about that from your creative standpoint, How did that
13:39
Speaker 1: come about? Because it's very effective. Thank you, Rachelle. You listen,
13:43
Speaker 1: I grew up wanting to be like the Black Regions
13:45
Speaker 1: film and Black Tom bergeron. I love guys like our
13:48
Speaker 1: Cineo and and this opportunity has almost made me like
13:52
Speaker 1: the Black Guilman. And anybody who watched Regis and Kathy
13:55
Speaker 1: Lee or Ryan and Kelly you know that they have
13:57
Speaker 1: an executive producer who sometimes appears on camera. Or if
14:00
Speaker 1: you of a generation older than me, clearly you remember
14:04
Speaker 1: maybe like Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon, you know. And
14:07
Speaker 1: so yes, I've been wrangled into the on camera executive
14:11
Speaker 1: producer role and it's great. You know. Again, one of
14:15
Speaker 1: the things that really work, particularly in the daytime space
14:18
Speaker 1: for Sean and you know this is that authentic chemistry works,
14:22
Speaker 1: you know, and the fact that Sherry and I have
14:24
Speaker 1: a real life relationship in addition to our working relationship,
14:28
Speaker 1: it resonates with people on camera. And so she was
14:31
Speaker 1: just telling me the conversation the other day that one
14:33
Speaker 1: of the things that she loves to hear about is
14:34
Speaker 1: people just love to hear us have our moments on camera.
14:38
Speaker 1: You know, and that we are able to thread our
14:42
Speaker 1: real life experiences into some of these wonky and funny
14:46
Speaker 1: and hilarious stories. You know, sometimes I'm teasing her as
14:49
Speaker 1: we're talking about something that may have to do with
14:51
Speaker 1: divorce because you know, I didn't want her to marry
14:53
Speaker 1: that that second knuckle here, or or sometimes because Sherry
14:58
Speaker 1: is like a real life I love Lucy. She for
15:00
Speaker 1: gets a FACTORID or something and a story or something
15:02
Speaker 1: that she's talking about, and because I'm like this top
15:05
Speaker 1: culture enthusiasts, I'm able to shoot in the blaks and
15:08
Speaker 1: and help her continue the journey. So man, it's it's
15:10
Speaker 1: it's really a beautiful thing. It's a magical thing. But
15:12
Speaker 1: more than anything, this is an authentic presentation of how
15:16
Speaker 1: we are in real life. Well, you know, I was
15:18
Speaker 1: fortunate to be an executive producer of a successful daytime
15:21
Speaker 1: talk and I'm a black man, and uh, I'm always
15:25
Speaker 1: happy to hear our black sisters being executive producers these shows,
15:29
Speaker 1: these news programs, but rarely do we see black men
15:33
Speaker 1: being in this capacity because there's daytime talk, and daytime
15:36
Speaker 1: talk supposed to be focused on women, so we generally
15:39
Speaker 1: not looked upon of having the proper voice, especially because
15:42
Speaker 1: we're African American, that will relate to the white soccer
15:45
Speaker 1: mom who's fifty one years old in the Midwest, you
15:48
Speaker 1: being our turn. Banks was on the show, and I
15:50
Speaker 1: was actually up there when she was taking that particular
15:52
Speaker 1: episode talking about black men executive ducing, and that really
15:56
Speaker 1: meant something to deal it? Did it? Did? Rashaan? Let
16:00
Speaker 1: me tell you, um that that was really special because
16:03
Speaker 1: I've never met really Tyra Banks before. Um. I think
16:05
Speaker 1: I saw her in passing sometime. We've never had a moment.
16:08
Speaker 1: And so before our show, both Sherry and I individually
16:11
Speaker 1: go up and we greet our guests and we welcome them, uh,
16:14
Speaker 1: you know, to our home. And it really sets the
16:16
Speaker 1: tone for people's experience at the show, um, because you know,
16:19
Speaker 1: they feel safe, they know that they're coming to a
16:21
Speaker 1: place that there's no gotcha moments and we're not ambushing anybody,
16:25
Speaker 1: like come and have a good time with us. And
16:27
Speaker 1: so I went up to me to greet Tyra Banks,
16:30
Speaker 1: and you know, one of our producers here at Sherry
16:32
Speaker 1: used to be her personal assistant and Tyra Banks had
16:35
Speaker 1: shot her talk show in the very same studio that
16:37
Speaker 1: we're in right now. And so this producer, who has
16:40
Speaker 1: his own office now, used to work inside of the
16:44
Speaker 1: dressing room where Sherry's dressing room is. And so Tyra's
16:47
Speaker 1: I'm telling Tyra, did you do you know your former
16:49
Speaker 1: producer Joe Colo Sante is uh, your former assistant, Joe
16:53
Speaker 1: was a producer here. She had no idea, so she
16:55
Speaker 1: had me go get Joe so she could see him.
16:57
Speaker 1: And and so by the time they had had their
17:00
Speaker 1: a minute, we got down and take these the segments
17:02
Speaker 1: for the show. After Tyra's second segment, she asked me
17:05
Speaker 1: because she gave me a hug, and I said absolutely,
17:08
Speaker 1: And she says, I just have to tell you seeing
17:10
Speaker 1: you here inspires me. She says, because when I was
17:13
Speaker 1: doing this, there weren't blackmail executive producers. And she said,
17:17
Speaker 1: my manager at the time, as a black man. He
17:19
Speaker 1: got the executive producer credit, but he wasn't actually doing
17:22
Speaker 1: the work. They tell me, you're actually doing the work.
17:25
Speaker 1: And I want to say to you, keep doing it
17:27
Speaker 1: because I'm inspired at seeing you here. Man. It touched
17:30
Speaker 1: me because the truth of the matter is, there have
17:32
Speaker 1: not been a lot of us for Shan. You know,
17:34
Speaker 1: you worked in the space. You know, Twitch became an
17:37
Speaker 1: executive producer at Ellen and that's a good brother there.
17:40
Speaker 1: He reached out to me and and was so supportive
17:43
Speaker 1: when I was going through my journey. Um, and you know,
17:46
Speaker 1: and they've been one or two others in the space,
17:48
Speaker 1: but they're few and far between. And you know, not
17:51
Speaker 1: only had did what Tyres had to be meant a lot,
17:53
Speaker 1: but um Heather Gray, who was the executive producer in
17:56
Speaker 1: the showrun at the Talk, who passed this summer uh past,
17:59
Speaker 1: three days before we were supposed to meet in person,
18:01
Speaker 1: because over the last year she and I had become
18:03
Speaker 1: fast friends. At once this opportunity presented itself. She was
18:07
Speaker 1: one of the people who was there with me at
18:09
Speaker 1: every turn, encouraging me, coaching me, giving me insight on
18:14
Speaker 1: my journey. I also got to acknowledge the great Bill Getty,
18:18
Speaker 1: who helped create the View with Barbara Walters. He was
18:21
Speaker 1: so wonderful to me while I was going through my
18:23
Speaker 1: negotiations and taking this pivot with Sherry to make sure
18:26
Speaker 1: I was empowered with information and tools and knowledge that
18:30
Speaker 1: I needed to be effective in this space. And when
18:32
Speaker 1: we're all stepping into a new area, you know, we
18:36
Speaker 1: all need community. You know. Sometimes people like to hold
18:39
Speaker 1: stuff close to the invest and we'd like to move
18:41
Speaker 1: in secrecy. And it's great to be discreet about the
18:44
Speaker 1: things you have going on, but sometimes you have to
18:46
Speaker 1: lean into the excellence that other people have and let
18:49
Speaker 1: them give you a perspective that's going to sharpen your iron.
18:52
Speaker 1: And I was grateful to have a community of people
18:54
Speaker 1: that rose up for me because folks knew it was
18:56
Speaker 1: important for me to be on this journey with Sherry,
18:59
Speaker 1: and it was important for me to make a substantial
19:01
Speaker 1: impact doing this work. Which is really important for you
19:04
Speaker 1: for me to hear come out from your voice because
19:06
Speaker 1: in the sense that you know you're doing things, Sherry
19:09
Speaker 1: is your corner store. John talking to John Murray exact,
19:12
Speaker 1: one of the exactive producers of the the show that
19:14
Speaker 1: their hit series. You know, because when you see these ratings,
19:17
Speaker 1: you you don't know, John, You know, all you do
19:19
Speaker 1: is just work hard, work hard, work hard. You don't
19:21
Speaker 1: know what American's gonna say. You know, you had Jennifer
19:24
Speaker 1: Hudson popping out there. You know, you know you're doing
19:27
Speaker 1: You don't know if people is perceiving you or in
19:30
Speaker 1: the animosity and they negative takeover for Wendy. Y'all, y'all
19:34
Speaker 1: been doing this good spirit and stuff. But you know
19:37
Speaker 1: you're doing uncensored. You're about to do a moderating the uh,
19:41
Speaker 1: your moderator for the Lewis Cards the Blueprint Men Summit
19:45
Speaker 1: in Chicago coming up this month. When you're doing these
19:47
Speaker 1: things outside, how are people reacted to you? Mr Murray? Well,
19:53
Speaker 1: you know what, Sean, one of the blessings that I
19:55
Speaker 1: had before going on the journey with Sherry was that, uh,
19:58
Speaker 1: I was like a road m c man. I was
20:00
Speaker 1: always on the weekend hosting events, holding the microphone on
20:05
Speaker 1: a plane in the hotel, and I really loved it.
20:07
Speaker 1: It was you know, it was the thing that was
20:09
Speaker 1: my constant in between the inconsistency of the TV world. UM,
20:14
Speaker 1: what I'm grateful about is a lot of that is
20:17
Speaker 1: being enhanced now that that I'm on this journey with sharing,
20:19
Speaker 1: because because I'm one of a few people who are
20:23
Speaker 1: thriving in the space where black men haven't had great success,
20:27
Speaker 1: you know, we are few and far between. Um, people
20:30
Speaker 1: want to want to hear about that, they want to
20:32
Speaker 1: learn about that, and UM, you know, and I'm open
20:36
Speaker 1: to sharing and encouraging and inspiring. So it's great to
20:39
Speaker 1: be able to move back in some of the same
20:42
Speaker 1: space as I've already had success in with this, with
20:45
Speaker 1: this new victory under my belt, you know, I'm excited
20:48
Speaker 1: to go to Chicago and do this UH the summit
20:50
Speaker 1: with Lewis Carr, because the truth of the matter is,
20:53
Speaker 1: there are not a lot of spaces where uh safe
20:56
Speaker 1: places where black man can find refuge and community with
21:00
Speaker 1: each other. Like if you didn't pledge one of the
21:03
Speaker 1: HBCU Greek letter fraternities, Um, you don't necessarily unless you
21:08
Speaker 1: grew up in a house full of brothers. There are
21:10
Speaker 1: always places that once you reach a certain level of
21:13
Speaker 1: success or you're thriving in a particular area professionally, that
21:18
Speaker 1: that you can find safety and refuge with each other,
21:21
Speaker 1: you know. And so I'm grateful to be going to
21:23
Speaker 1: a place that it was a summit built just around
21:27
Speaker 1: this men finding black men finding success in their respective
21:33
Speaker 1: genres coming together for an informative, empowering and informational two
21:39
Speaker 1: day summit. I mean, I'm grateful that both Lewis and
21:42
Speaker 1: the Cole Pittman who works with him on it. I
21:44
Speaker 1: thought enough of me to invite me long before the
21:47
Speaker 1: show premiered, to come in and play a part in this.
21:50
Speaker 1: And so I'm in a place, uh Shaun, and you
21:54
Speaker 1: know this journey because you've done it yourself. That not
21:56
Speaker 1: only am I helping to shape great content for the
22:01
Speaker 1: masses to have, but one of the things that most
22:03
Speaker 1: excites me is that there are some other people who
22:06
Speaker 1: have been working in this business, great talent who've been
22:08
Speaker 1: on the sidelines, experts in various fields, underdog, unsung talent
22:14
Speaker 1: that we've been able to put in the game, that
22:16
Speaker 1: we've been able to give opportunity to, that we've been
22:18
Speaker 1: able to give a platform to shine. And that's one
22:21
Speaker 1: of the things that means more than me than anything,
22:23
Speaker 1: taking a chance on people who can maximize this opportunity
22:27
Speaker 1: and use it to do some other great things. You know,
22:30
Speaker 1: Sherry always talks about chef Melbourne Wilson, who if you've
22:33
Speaker 1: ever come to New York City, everybody goes up to
22:35
Speaker 1: Melbourne and Harlem um. But but Melbourne has become a
22:38
Speaker 1: dynamic TV chef. She's had such great success her philanthropic work.
22:43
Speaker 1: But we had her join us a few times when
22:46
Speaker 1: Sherry was guest hosting for Wendy Williams and not that
22:49
Speaker 1: that opportunity contributed to her next blessing. But shortly thereafter
22:54
Speaker 1: she got called in to guest hosts with Ryan Seacrest
22:58
Speaker 1: on Live with Kelly and Ryan. What is the number
23:00
Speaker 1: one show and all of the daytime? Nobody else does?
23:04
Speaker 1: I mean outside of the View, but they are the
23:06
Speaker 1: number one show in syndication, which the View as a
23:08
Speaker 1: network TV show. But for Melba as a black woman
23:12
Speaker 1: to be able to go and have that opportunity after
23:14
Speaker 1: coming and and and helping cooking up a little bit
23:16
Speaker 1: of matter with us, that's what we want to do. Man.
23:18
Speaker 1: We wanna, we wanna help shine a light on people
23:21
Speaker 1: who need brighter lights shine on them. For sure, we'll
23:24
Speaker 1: be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass with
23:27
Speaker 1: Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return to Money Making Conversations master
23:34
Speaker 1: Class with Rashan McDonald. I've always enjoyed your personnel. I've
23:37
Speaker 1: always enjoyed it. Your mind. You're smart, very very smart,
23:41
Speaker 1: very informed, and never and your person I was always engaging.
23:45
Speaker 1: I never felt like you know a lot of people
23:47
Speaker 1: are can feel they cover our men who are successful
23:50
Speaker 1: and feel challenged or feeling secure. You never shine that
23:53
Speaker 1: light of you like in other words, you got your
23:57
Speaker 1: place in the room. You're cool with it. Just let
24:00
Speaker 1: me do my thing. If it expands a little bit,
24:02
Speaker 1: don't get nervous. I'm just doing my thing. That it's
24:04
Speaker 1: canned competition, it's called competition. But then you come through
24:08
Speaker 1: this whole world. I've seen your journey for a long time.
24:10
Speaker 1: If you could point out one person that may have
24:13
Speaker 1: been instrumental in your entertainment arc, who would that be? Oh,
24:18
Speaker 1: you know, there's some there's actually some really good people
24:22
Speaker 1: that have helped me a lot. You know, I talked
24:23
Speaker 1: about meeting my mentor the living legend media personality, telling
24:27
Speaker 1: your heart. But I often celebrate how when I was
24:30
Speaker 1: a college kid, who so sean, I still look like
24:34
Speaker 1: a young man. But I'm in my forties, so like
24:37
Speaker 1: I'm kind of in that in between faith. So like, yes,
24:40
Speaker 1: I'm in. I'm in the streets and social media. You know,
24:44
Speaker 1: I'm popping, I'm learning the lingo all the twenties something.
24:48
Speaker 1: Your producers here keeping me hip and stuff. I may
24:52
Speaker 1: dive my hair every few weeks to make sure you grade.
24:54
Speaker 1: Don't come in that type of day but but I'm
24:57
Speaker 1: also up the generation that like UH, I remember life
25:01
Speaker 1: before social media was our everything, and before before al
25:04
Speaker 1: Gore's Internet was our everything, And so I remember what
25:08
Speaker 1: it was like to have to go to a convention
25:10
Speaker 1: and shake hands and take a deep breath before you
25:13
Speaker 1: had to network and introduce yourself to somebody. So I
25:16
Speaker 1: remember getting the number to the E network UH from
25:20
Speaker 1: a phone book. I called over to the network while
25:23
Speaker 1: I was a student at Norfolk State University, and I
25:25
Speaker 1: left a voicemail message for a producer that was producing
25:28
Speaker 1: the show that Tan Your Heart was doing on E
25:31
Speaker 1: at the time. And she called this young college student
25:33
Speaker 1: back and was like, the producer called me and gave
25:36
Speaker 1: me your number, and I just had to call and
25:37
Speaker 1: see who this ambitious young man was that reached out
25:40
Speaker 1: to me and said he was really inspired by my career.
25:43
Speaker 1: And Tanya sat on the phone with a perfect stranger
25:46
Speaker 1: and a dorm run down to North Virginia and talked
25:48
Speaker 1: to me for ninety minutes, and at the end of
25:51
Speaker 1: that call, she said to me, I can't wait to
25:53
Speaker 1: meet you in person. And if forever there's an opportunity
25:56
Speaker 1: where you're applying for a job, just put my company
25:59
Speaker 1: on your resident and say you're one of my East
26:01
Speaker 1: Coast contributors. And just having somebody take a chance on
26:06
Speaker 1: me like that Site Unseen really helped, you know what
26:09
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And then, Uh, there's a personality on Serious
26:13
Speaker 1: XM's heart and soul. Her name is Michelle Wright. I
26:15
Speaker 1: was an intern at a radio station in Washington, d C.
26:19
Speaker 1: And Michelle saw this ambitious, hungry intern and took me
26:23
Speaker 1: under her wing and had me start to help produce
26:26
Speaker 1: content for her midday show. And when I went back
26:29
Speaker 1: to college that fall, Michelle started paying me out of
26:32
Speaker 1: her pocket and sending me a stipend to help create
26:36
Speaker 1: this content for her for her midday show. So she
26:39
Speaker 1: was technically my first boss in the business because she's
26:42
Speaker 1: the first person ever paid me to do work in
26:43
Speaker 1: the entertainment industry. So both of those women are two
26:46
Speaker 1: women that have been very pivotal and very key in
26:48
Speaker 1: my success, and they've been so many other great people.
26:51
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, Rachelle, there were times when I was
26:53
Speaker 1: being I was being tested for a game show and
26:55
Speaker 1: I called you, and you really walked me through the
26:58
Speaker 1: nuances and the house and the how nots and you
27:02
Speaker 1: know what to do and what not to do. Is
27:03
Speaker 1: while I was on that journey and then you were
27:05
Speaker 1: talking earlier about like owning my space and and and
27:08
Speaker 1: not feeling competitive with other people. And I have to say,
27:12
Speaker 1: my big brother rolland Martin said something to me years
27:15
Speaker 1: ago that always stuck with me. He was like, came
27:17
Speaker 1: nobody out rolling Roller Martin, and he was like, you know,
27:21
Speaker 1: I'm gonna beat me, and I'm gonna beat me unapologetically.
27:24
Speaker 1: And the reason why I never did intimidated by any
27:26
Speaker 1: of my peers is I know, when I show up,
27:29
Speaker 1: whether it's John the personality, you know, the TV talent,
27:33
Speaker 1: the host, or whether it's John the producer, John the brains,
27:37
Speaker 1: John the strategist, John the visionary, the creative, I know
27:41
Speaker 1: that I bring my best self to all of those situations.
27:44
Speaker 1: And if for some reason people like what you do
27:47
Speaker 1: different than I do, that that's your blessing, that's not mine.
27:50
Speaker 1: So I've never been nervous or intimidated by it by
27:54
Speaker 1: being embody else's spaces because you came out John John Murray,
27:58
Speaker 1: you know. And so that was one of the gifts
28:00
Speaker 1: that Roland Martin got me, and it really helps shape
28:03
Speaker 1: my approaches because we can't slip into accidental competitiveness. We
28:07
Speaker 1: can't slip into these toxic behaviors of wanting or emulating
28:13
Speaker 1: or desiring what we see other people who have. But
28:16
Speaker 1: the other thing that I've learned through trial and there
28:18
Speaker 1: is prishan. I don't know the story behind your glory
28:21
Speaker 1: and so it looks good on the outside, but I
28:24
Speaker 1: might not want to go through the sleepless nights and
28:26
Speaker 1: the crying morments and and the bankruptcies are whatever other
28:30
Speaker 1: things you had to go through to become excellence that
28:34
Speaker 1: you are. I don't. I may not want to go
28:35
Speaker 1: through all that. So finding my own path and my
28:37
Speaker 1: own journey is the best path for me because the
28:41
Speaker 1: struggles and the obstacles that I've had to face to
28:43
Speaker 1: get to this point, I wouldn't want to share those
28:46
Speaker 1: with anybody else, And you don't want to share yours
28:48
Speaker 1: with me, you know, I tell you you can't out
28:51
Speaker 1: John John Mervin. You need to put that on the
28:55
Speaker 1: on the wall because that that fits you. You can't.
28:58
Speaker 1: That's beautiful. And I know Rolling Mark, so I know
29:00
Speaker 1: he's he is the truth. And I remember when he
29:03
Speaker 1: left the TV one when he show got counsel and
29:06
Speaker 1: he talked to me, Richard, what I'm gonna do? I said,
29:08
Speaker 1: once you just start doing your show on YouTube. He said, how,
29:11
Speaker 1: I said, what? You just take control of your narrative.
29:13
Speaker 1: Sometimes all you gotta do is self tells somebody something
29:16
Speaker 1: and they hear it and guess what. He's been controlling
29:19
Speaker 1: this narrative. And the only person can counsel rolling is rolling.
29:23
Speaker 1: That's the beauty of him living his life now, highly successful,
29:27
Speaker 1: thousands of subscribers, generating revenue, revenue for him personally. All
29:32
Speaker 1: he has to do is produce content. But my friend,
29:34
Speaker 1: and I call you my friend because coming up in
29:37
Speaker 1: New York and see him, you and Sherry you executive
29:40
Speaker 1: producing you all from your all phones aside talking to
29:42
Speaker 1: her on I love y'all, man, I love you as
29:45
Speaker 1: a as a young man who is doing something very
29:48
Speaker 1: inspirational in his business. It's your time, is your time
29:51
Speaker 1: and social media. Continue to speak, continue to carry that
29:55
Speaker 1: that trophy, that trophy of honesty, that trophy of being
29:59
Speaker 1: able to get it done because you can't. John, John, Mary,
30:03
Speaker 1: thank you for coming to Money Make conversation. I have
30:05
Speaker 1: to send this on my way out, though. If you
30:06
Speaker 1: really loved me. You send me one of those cakes
30:09
Speaker 1: you'll be baking now. I'm tired of seeing this good
30:12
Speaker 1: food and not tasting any oven. Okay, you know when
30:14
Speaker 1: I was up there, John, you said, Rochan, we're gonna
30:16
Speaker 1: bring you on the show, teach you back up being
30:18
Speaker 1: a cook. For if I got to book you to
30:20
Speaker 1: eat your cake, then that didn't translate. Well, if I
30:24
Speaker 1: got to book you to eat some of your good food,
30:27
Speaker 1: then we're gonna that's what we're gonna make. Absolutely my brother.
30:30
Speaker 1: I love your brother. We talked soon that tell Sherry High, Okay,
30:33
Speaker 1: I will. They're gonna come to want to make conversation masterclasses, John,
30:36
Speaker 1: because you get out John. John Murray, executive producer of
30:40
Speaker 1: Sherry