May 20, 2025 ⢠45 mins
On this episode of Butternomics, our host, Brandon Butler, sits down with music executive turned mental health advocate Shanti Das to talk about her journey from hit records to healing. Shanti helped shape the sound of Atlanta, working with Outkast, Usher, TLC, and more, before stepping away from the industry to start something even more personal. She opens up about what pushed her to the edge, how therapy changed everything, and why she built #SilenceTheShame to help others do the same. This is a conversation about legacy, loss, and finding purpose on the other side of pain.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So I was doing an interview with Ryan Cameron. We
were talking about mental health and I said, yeah, Ryan, like,
I don't know what the big deal is, Like when
you have a physical health issue, you go to the doctor.
Why are we so embarrassed? I said, we should see
the silence of shame. And it just rolled off of
our tongue in an interview, and I thought that's the
marketing in me. I'm like, good a minute, that's kind
of catchy. And so then I got the trademark and
(00:23):
made it a hashtag when people were really using hashtags,
and it started as a movement and turned into a nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Everybody's welcome to butteron No, I'm your host. Brandon Butler
found her CEO of butter atl and today got a
special special guest in the studio. She's like, man, look
she's already busy. This is this is mental health awareas month.
She's all over the place. I know you've seen on TV,
seen on the Breakfast Club, you.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
See it everywhere. The one and only Miss Shanti Da Shanci.
How you doing this?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Heay, I can't believe I'm finally here.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I'm so happy that you finally here.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I am so proud of you, and it's an honor
to be on your show.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
It's not a have you on my show?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Okay, Like you know, it's always it's always nice when
the legend knows who you are.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Oh please, oh no, come on, come on all right,
tl you're legendary as well.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
No, Seane, let me tell you something. Okay, this we
finna do this, We're finna do. So what I've been
doing is I've been I've been putting people in chat
cheap et and having them write their bio.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
So I'm gonna read you what chat cheapt says. Your
bio is about you.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
You're in serious and you tell me if it's on
this is really I'm about to read your bio.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
All I said was who is Shanty Does? Because there's
only one sh Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Shanty Does is a well known figure in Atlanta, recognized
work in both the music industry and mental health advocacy.
Her career began in the music industry in the early
nineteen nineties, working with major labels like The Face Records,
Columbia Records, and Universal Motown. During this time, she played
a significant role in promoting artists such as outcasts Usher, TLC,
and eric Abad doing more. Her contributions under accolades, including
(01:58):
being named Music Execscative of the Year by Impact Magazine
in nineteen ninety eight. In two thousand and nine, after
nearly two decades in the music industry, Shanti shifted her
focus to mental health advocacy and she found it Silence
to Shame, a non profit organization aimed at eliminating the
stigma around mental health, particularly in communities of color. The
organization offers educational programs, community conversations, and resources to promote
(02:21):
mental health awareness. In recognition of her efforts, May fifth
was designated as National Silence the Shame Day in twenty eighteen.
Shanti's work has been a knowledged with several honors, including
her being named Top Change Maker by The Big Issue
in twenty nineteen and receiving the twenty twenty Multicultural War
from National Alliance on Mental Illness. She continues to lead
(02:42):
initiatives that bridge the gap between culture and mental health,
emphasizing the importance of open conversations and support. I'm just saying, Oh,
that's what chat Gibt says about you.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
You've been out here doing the work. Congratulations doing your work.
You're doing the work on he congratulations, gradulation, thank you
means a lot.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
How on track was that now because it's talking about
that stuff lot from music to now everything they're doing
in mintal health.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
It was a pretty factual. That's there.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Look, look, let me ask you now again. You've got
like a really unique career path. You know, when you
think about how you start in the music industry, like
what do you think really shaped that approach? You know
for you early on, like how did you get and started?
But also how that kind of shape your approach to
get in the music business.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
So for music, you know, I'm in Atlanta native as
well and grew up in Southwest Atlantawa school baby paid
for its elementary Southwest Middle Benjamin Mays High School, And
so I started like shadowing a family friend at V
one O three. His name is Ray Boy. He was
a program director at the time, and my sisters, one
(03:46):
of her close friends is married to him. And I
was like, Hey, I want to go to the radio station.
I want to go to do one to three and
hang out. I was like in the ninth or tenth grade,
and so he let me come up. And you know,
back in the day in radio it wasn't automated, so
they literally had karts. The music was in right, they
looked like eight track tapes. And so he let me
like organize the karts and do little stuff like that
(04:08):
around there, and he also let me go to a
concert with him and I got backstage for the very
first time. It was luth Evandros and Anita Baker Okay,
which was a really popular and little controversial tour at
the time. But it was just so exciting for me,
and I was like, I want to do what they do.
Like I saw people actually working with the artists, and
(04:29):
I was like, that seems really cool. So I started,
you know, just learning more about the business. And then
when I went to college, I went to Syracuse University.
I majored in television, radio and film. So I really
thought I wanted to be a radio announcer or do
something in radio. But I started interning the summer of
my sophomore year at Capitol Records and working for a
guy named Keith Fry. He was vice president of Urban
(04:51):
Promotions at the time, so you know, he was, you know,
making sure all the records got played across all the
urban stations across the country. So he would have me
put together like little promotional campaigns that I literally facts
out to the staff. But I was putting together like
little promo flyers for like Hammer, BBCC one, and you know,
all the artists that we had at the time on
Capitol Records. So that was really dope. And I did
(05:13):
that for two years and then he asked me, you know,
he started consulting Full of Face Records. He was like,
LA read a babyface. They need a promotions director. Hi,
I know what those titles meant. He was like, do
you think you want an interview for the job? And
I was like, uh, yeah, interview. So I got hired
three or four months after graduating. First record I ever
worked was Player's.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Ball Legendary Players Ball by our Casts.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
I mean you could not script it any better. And
then I also hit the road that fall with Tony Braxton.
She was opening up for Frankie, Beverly and May, so
I had to set up all her meet and greets
for conscious winners from radio.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
What do you remember most about that time? Especially?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I mean again, you got to start with outcasts here
in Atlanta, Like, what do you remember most about Big
and Dre when you kind of started with Players Ball,
because I remember when I got my first Player's Ball single.
I got it, I got the single, it was on cassette,
I got Blockbuster Music.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
That Navy, that blue cassette.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Blue cassette, and you know, that was my first introduction
that what became my favorite group of all time.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
You talked to Maurice Garland. He says they're a duo.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
But again, like, I remember, I remember how when they
were everything.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So what do you remember most about that time? First?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I remember they were just a little bad boys. They
were kids, you know, and they used to get on
my nerves. And I say that in the most lovely way,
but uh, you know, and meeting you know, Organized Noise,
Rego Ran and Pat, I was like, who are these guys?
You know? They were just lively and creative. And we
had this album coming out on the Face Records, and
it was the Christmas Album, and so most of all
(06:39):
of our artists had songs on the Christmas Album. And
I just remember like the DJs and people kind of
gravitating towards Players Ball and so they were like, this
is the one that's kind of getting the most buzz
in Atlanta, and so La was like, you know, We're once.
He obviously talked to everybody and they decided to make
that the single, and it was just full. They were
full of energy, you know, ready to work. They were eager.
(07:01):
I do remember that they were very hungry and eager.
But like I literally used to go on promo tours
with them and they would get on my nerves. They
would come banging on my door in the middle of
the not I'm like, go to bed. We got to
wake up early and go to radio tomorrow. Like they
were kids. Yeah, and I was young as well, but
I was like kind of the big sister in the group.
(07:21):
But I have fun memories of just kind of working
with them from day one.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
And now look at that rock and rock and Roll
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Are you kidding me? I literally screamed when I found out.
I was so excited. But and I look at that
like the holy Grail of music. Right, It didn't get
any bigger than that in music because they've already they
already had Album of the Year, which not a lot
of hip hop artists get right, They got that in
what like two thousand and four, and so for them
to be you know, newly or about to be inducted
(07:52):
rather into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's
just it's kind of surreal for me. I'm so proud
of them. I'm not surprised. And it was the first
around of voting, which that, from what I've learned, is
like a really big deal as well. I'm just so proud.
I'm like a proud auntie, proud big sister. It's a
big deal for not only Atlanta but for hip hop
(08:13):
in general. Well.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Absolutely, I was talking some folks, you know, on the team,
and I got some good relationships with the Outcast team
and Shout the Big and Dre and they were telling
me like they were like shot, they didn't even make
it in on her first round, and I was like, well,
Outcast is gonna make it end.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And I'm gonna tell you, when I saw that Tribe
made it in it was just last year. I was like, Okay, yeah,
they have definitely paid the way, and you know, I
got obviously a lot of love for Tribe and the
guys talk about how you know, Tribe were big influences
for them even when they started, and so yeah, it's
really special.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
What about your time with TLC, Like I know that
was I know that had.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
To be special, absolutely, and so a lot of people
don't know that, actually Chile went to my high school. Okay,
so I met Chile when she first came to our school,
either in the ninth or the tenth grade. And then
I met Tea Boz, you know, once I started working
at the label, and they already were TLC when I
got to the label, because the first album was already
out on the TLC tip I had that. I think
(09:11):
I remember going to the video shoot for What About
Your Friends? So, you know, I had to kind of
ease into it because you know, when you already got
your team and things are going, they're like, okay, who
is this new girl? You know, So it was a
little bit of that, and La was like, look, you're
my person, You're my promo person. Let's we go figure
this out. I'm just gonna kind of throw you out
there and let you work with a lot of different people.
(09:32):
And so I remember on the second album, Crazy Sexy Cool,
La told me, you know, you got to really get
out there and work this record on the road. And
so that was the first tour that I ever got
to ride on a tour bus with the girls, and
of course became really close to all of them doing
the crazy, sexy cool days, doing the promotions, and then
eventually doing the marketing on the fan Mail album. So
(09:55):
it was it was a dream come true. You know.
They were fun. Oh my god, they were franksters. They
were always like pranking somebody or throwing water balloons in
the hotel. I mean it was they were a lot
of fun as well. And then being able to work
with Usher was a dream as well. I literally remember
when we signed him, when he was like, I don't know,
(10:17):
fourteen or fifteen years old. I did a lot with
Usher in the early days, like a lot of promo runs,
a lot of like you know, performing at these holes
in the wall clubs. A lot of times it was
AJ who was his shout out to AJ who was
his road manager at the time, and myself and a
couple other people, and we would just like hit all
of these markets, you know, Southeast regional tours and even
(10:40):
national stuff. And so being able to be a part
of his career was definitely something that I think is
a highlight of my lifetime in my career because obviously
what he's been able to do now and he's clearly
at the top of his game and still climbing. But
one thing I know about Usher is like Usher was
always determined. He knew exactly what he wanted even with
(11:01):
like flyers or promo items or anything. He wanted to
be involved in everything because he had a clear vision
of who he wanted to be as an artist. And
I respect that about him. And he's one of the
hardest working people I think I've ever worked with. So
you're talking to Usher, toc Tony Burk, I mean I
was like, okay, God, Like you literally allowed me to
(11:22):
work with some of the biggest artists in the world,
and sometimes I still have to pinch myself, but it
was an honor to be a part of their projects.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I've heard people say the term having to work a
record many times, And what's interesting is because you talked
about how you kind of fell into the role and
didn't necessarily there wasn't necessarily a playbook for you. Just like,
how do you define working a record? Like what did
that actually.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Mean for me? I would say in nineteen ninety three,
working a record literally meant trying to touch as many
people as you could, whether it was through hand to
hand distribution of passing out those Blue Players ball cassettes.
You know. We would literally get in traffic on seventy
five eighty five doing Freaknik and dis distribute everything and
(12:02):
pass it out going to clubs. You know, I was.
It was different. It wasn't a lot of women working
in rap promotions and street promotions at the time. So
I started my title. Even though it's promotion director, A
lot of what I did was work in street promotions.
So I would have to go into the Gentlemen's Club
on a Monday, find the DJ, make sure they would
plan our records, buying a drink if they needed it,
(12:23):
smooth the you know the radio promotions. I mean the
music directors and program directors at radio stations and our
parent company, our sister company. Rather it was Arista Records,
so we had regional promotions reps in each market. We
also had s three team reps, so I was that
kind of liaison between Arista and La Face. But what
(12:44):
I did too is I went and created a lot
of my own relationships and so we know how radio
promotions works. But the relationship was big for me because
even outside of what Arista was doing, I was able
to get records played just because I was cool with
the DJ so I was cool with the mds and pds,
which didn't always happen. You know, there's a lot of
(13:05):
controversy back in the day with getting records played. But
I tried to be grounded and I tried to just
build solid relationships. I mean, like the Lake Pink House,
who was out of Chicago, who was one of the first,
you know, folks to play outcasts in Chicago, or establishing
a great rapport with Sway and Tech from the Bay Area,
Greg Street. I knew Greg Street when Greg was at
(13:25):
KKDA in Dallas, and he was one of the first supporters.
And of course, you know, you had the DJ Jellies,
the Ryan Cameron's and those folks in the Atlanta area,
even when Shaka was working at Hot ninety seven and
Chris Love of Love before he became ludicrous, you know,
so I would literally go and sit in on their show.
So I was working twenty four to seven, but of like,
(13:46):
it wasn't a you know, eight eight hour work days
for me. It was like on like twenty our workdays
and going to the office calling everybody, mailing out product,
making promo shirts. I remember also, I think one of
the things that I would like to think that kind
of helped put me on the map, especially with DJ's
and radio people, was the cookout that I threw for
(14:07):
outcasts in nineteen ninety four. It was a Southern playlistic
cookout and people still talk about that cookout to this day.
And it was before people were renting mansions. You know.
We got this mansion in Decatur and we literally had
people park at a church and we bust them over
to the mansion. And when we had a staging set
(14:30):
up outside and before these people blew up, you know,
on the same stage, we had Biggie Usher outcasts, Craig
mac I want to say, I think Buster ROMs was here.
It was nuts, MTV was there, BT Raps City came
to cover it. We're talking nineteen ninety four, like before
(14:50):
Atlanta really blew up before everybody was here, and so
it was really something. And it was myself and my
intern at the time, who happened to be Jaha Johnson,
who went on to become a big label executive as
well as manager in the entertainment industry, and we kind
of made it happen. And again that was another pinch
me moment and it was just something really special, and
(15:13):
I think, you know, I wanted to do something different
for outcasts instead of just throwing a party at the
club like everybody else did. I was like, let's do
something different, and so it was the Southern Playlistic Cookout,
which look that.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
That lineup is crazy, Like that lineup even right now.
If that lineup was to happen, that would be like
the biggest.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
And so to go back to your question, to bring
it full circle, you know, promotions for me was trying
to do things that were unique and really thinking out
of the box. Right to me, promotions, marketing, it all
goes hand in hand, and so I was always just
trying to make sure that I was consistent with the DJs,
with the program directors, and that I was always keeping
them in the loop, getting them tickets to concerts and
(15:54):
making them feel like they were a part of a
family with us.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
We had a boy legendary Jerry Clark in here recently.
Shout out Jerry Klutk and he mentioned he said a
name that like really he said, yeah, shanty shoestring dos
And I got to ask you, what is shoe string?
Speaker 3 (16:20):
What's a shoestring?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Nickname come from so okay, that's funny. So those that
know me in the industry, I'll go back to college.
So I used to have a hip hop show on
Saturday nights, and I also did like overnights at the
college radio station. And so when I was working at
home in Atlanta during the summers, I was going to
(16:42):
all these events and I was like, I need a
handle or a nickname or something right. And so I
wore a lot of sneakers. I still do. I wore
a lot of sneakers back in the day. And so
a friend of mine just was like, I gave her
the name T shirt. She never it never really stuck
with her, but she gave me Shoestring, okay, And so
I started having people call me Shoestring. And so when
I was working at the college radio station at SYRACUSEZ
(17:04):
eighty nine, I did Shoestring's hip Hop tip.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
So that was kind of like my version of you know,
so many things that happen now when you have you know,
these segments right on podcasts or some of the different shows.
So I did that in like nineteen ninety two. And
then when I started working at La Face, I was like,
I'm working with all these dudes and all these guys,
and so I wore a lot of baggy clothes and
stuff back then anyway, and so I was like, yeah,
(17:27):
just call me Shoestring. And it stuck. Every DJ like
Greg Street, all those guys Ryan, they only call me
Shoestring now, even it's a true story, like God rested dead.
When the night that Biggie got shot, I was at
that party in LA and I talked to Big like
maybe fifteen twenty thirty minutes before he left out, and
(17:49):
when I saw him, he was like, shoe String, what up?
Like That's what everybody called me, And so it was
like kind of a badger honor for me, just you know,
having a nickname. And I felt like, even though I
wasn't an artist, I wanted to be cool, and so
it stuck and it worked. So those that still call
me Shustering, I know that they were like back back
(18:09):
there in the early days.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Which in the in the trenches, as they say, that's right.
The one thing I love to ask you too, is,
you know, being a woman in the industry, who are
some other women that you know deserve credit or don't
get the credit they deserve for where not just Atlanta is,
but just hip hop music and journal is right now.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I think that's a great question. One of my dear friends,
Timbisa m Shaka, is someone that I always looked up to,
and she's worked for Beet for years now writing copy.
But before that, Tibisa is from Oakland or the Bay Area,
and she used to be the rap editor at Gavin
Okay and she helped us, you know, do so much
(18:48):
in terms of putting outcasts and organized noise and goodie
mob and all those guys on showcases and everything during
Gavin and so she was a huge I think asked
it just to the hip hop community because she placed
so many of these new artists, independent artists on stages
they wouldn't normally get to be a part of. And
(19:08):
so I definitely want to shout her out and give
her her props and credit. My former boss, Sylvia Rohone,
she's been a boss for years, starting out in radio promotions.
Now she's I think her title might be Chairman of
Epic Records, but she's been in the industry consistently, probably
like forty plus years now, right, and definitely opened up
(19:29):
doors and paid the way for so many people. Someone
to me that has really made a name for themselves
I would say probably over the last you know, fifteen years,
is Tracy Adams at Epic Records as well. And I
knew Tracy through her sister, Tasha Fox Adams, who worked
with me at Universal Motown. But Tracy's one of the
(19:50):
best radio people I think in the game. And she's
worked a lot of obviously hip hop records and artists.
Oh gosh, who else? That's a great question. I wrote
a called The Hip Hop Professional and it was about
my career as a young woman climbing the ladder of
success in the entertainment industry, and I dedicated a chapter.
I mean, you could go Mona Scott Young. I think
(20:11):
Mona's one of the best managers in the business. I
could go on and on. It's so many women. I
say all that to say, there's a chapter that I
dedicate to a lot of women in music and entertainment
that have paved the way and it's doing so many
great things. And then just of course, like artists like
Queen Latifa mc light, you know, being able to open
up doors for the folks like Nicki Minaj and Dochi
(20:33):
and all those other folks I look up to so
many of my sister that actually were, you know, on
the creative side and the artistic side as well in
hip hop. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
I had a chance to meet Queen Latifa late last
year at the ad Color Awards. She got like the
Icon Award, and that was the first time I had
a chance to meet her. But yeah, her just her aura,
just even walking into the room, it was like, Oh,
that's why you're the Queen's.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
And a lot of people don't know that. Back in
the early nineties, she and her partner shar Kim managed
Outcast for a brief stemp Okay, and that's where I
met Blue Williams, who was working for Flavor Unit, who
then went on to become Outcast main manager.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
So yeah, oh well let's see, I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, that's amazing. Now, look, you're doing all this stuff
in the music business. You know again, you're working with
some of the biggest acts out there. You know, when
did you decide it was time to kind of start
to shift gears and get away from the music business
and start focusing more mental health and mental health advocacy.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
So I think life happened. I get asked this question
all the time. If I had had the tools maybe
to manage through some of my stress and emotions, would
I still be working in music. Look, I'll be lying
if I said there aren't times that I, you know,
miss working in the entertainment industry. But it was around
two thousand and nine and I was just dealing with
(21:48):
a lot of mental stressors and physical health stressors. My
mom was developing Alzheimer's. I had an uncle who helped
to raise me because my dad died when I was
a baby. My uncle had developed cancer. I was living
in New York City at the time, and I felt
like I was away from the family, wasn't able to
support the family. And then just things were kind of
stressful in the business for me and at my job.
(22:11):
And so I was riding uptown in a taxi one
day in New York City, going up to Harlem for
a meeting, and my whole right side went. I mean,
before this meeting started, we were just talking about and
means and different things. My whole right side, but it went.
I couldn't feel my fingers, my leg on the right side,
and my arm. So I went and got a bunch
of tests run and I had gotten diagnosed with what
(22:32):
was called cervical spinal stenosis, but it was all the
direct result of stress. Once I got my second opinion
from the doctor, and so I thought I needed back
surgery or spinal surgery. And I was just telling Sylvie
I didn't know if I could do this and that
at the same time, and I needed to be close
to the family. So I made a really tough decision.
I was executive vice president of marketing at the time,
(22:54):
making a lot of money, corner office, all of that,
and I just I stepped away. And my sister was,
you need to be home, closer to your support system.
You'll figure it out. And so I came back home
in twenty ten started doing a lot of community service work.
I started an event with my partner, Marlin Nichols called
at Alive on the Park that actually ran for ten years.
(23:16):
We had ten great years doing that live music showcase.
And then I started doing some consulting. So I was
still doing a little music like I started consulting like
like R and B soul artists like Johnny Gill, Vivian Green,
Kelly Price. I was still dabbling in music, but then
I don't know why. I just felt like my spirit
(23:36):
was guiding me more to nonprofit works, which I had
never done before. And I will say this, right before
I left Motown and moved back home, and I think
this was like God moving in my spirit. I had
read where the city of Detroit had lost funding for
the city and state for their city more it's a
little morbid, but I couldn't imagine somebody not being able
(23:59):
to bury their loved ones. So I raised like thirty
forty thousand dollars I think it was thirty thousand dollars,
and I buried thirty people on my own for the
city of Detroit right before I left. And I thought
because I had gotten people like Buster Rhon's Acon kid
Rocking others to donate, and I thought, okay, am, I
supposed to be doing something different with my life. So
that kind of started that trajectory. And then came back home,
(24:20):
started feeding the homeless and doing different events. And so
in twenty fourteen, an unfortunate experience, I ended up talking
to my best friend one day. Actually it was her
a horrific experience. She said it was the worst day
of her life. I was talking through it with her,
and I thought that we had kind of come to
(24:42):
a resolution of trying to find better doctors. But twelve
hours later, she shot herself. It was horrible. It was
one of my best friends from like middle school, and
so I kind of blamed myself trying to see what
the warning signs were that I missed. I didn't know
a lot about mental health at the time, although I
should have because my dad took a his own life
when I was seven months old, but we never dealt
with it as a family. We hid all of that
(25:04):
and buried those feelings. And so in twenty fifteen, you know,
I just kind of quietly went on a downward spiral,
even though I was still high functioning and I wasn't
showing that I was hurting, but I was hurting a
lot on the inside. And I almost took my own
life in September twenty fifteen, and I knew I needed help.
(25:25):
And once I got the help that I needed, I
knew I needed to talk about it. Even my family
was like, why are you telling everybody you wanted to
take your own life and telling your business again. I
can't explain it. It has to be a higher calling
and a higher power, and I just knew that, particularly
even in this industry, you know, somebody needed to speak up.
And this was before the pandemic. You see a lot
(25:46):
of artists and actors and athletes and everybody talking about it. Now,
I'm not saying I started, you know, a wave of that,
but I do think that me being able to open
it up had a profound effect on others right to
some extent. And then I started Silence to Shame as
kind of like a hashtag. And so I knew that
this would be my life's work. And the good news
(26:09):
is I still dabble back in entertainment, just in a
different way. And like, you know, shout out to Stephen Hill,
who used to be the president of BT. He and
d Nice were well. Steven used to work for Dick
Clark Productions and so in twenty twenty two he was
doing putting together a set for Dick Clark's New Year's
Rock and Eve with d Nice and they chose Silence
(26:31):
to Shame, and so like I was in the middle
of Times Square that's crazy, right, talking about Silence to
Shame watching the ball drop. And you know, our organization
has been awarded grants by the NFL Players Association, so
I get to interview NFL players around mental health. Or
Carrie Houston, like six or seven years ago, first talked
(26:52):
about her depression on our podcast, or like Jez talks
about silence to shame Killer Mike, and so it's humbling,
but I feel like it's so dope that, like I
was able to turn my pain into something purposeful, to
really be able to help our community and particularly underserved
communities as well. So it's been a while ride, but
I wouldn't change anything for the world.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Definitely sounds like I mean through again some terrible situations
and you know, I hate that you have to deal
with that. And we've all had moments. I know I've
dealt with, you know, a bouts of depression. I think
like most high performing people a lot of times, you know,
all kinds of people, but especially you know, when you're
out there and you're trying to like really push hard
to do certain things again, you get hard on yourself.
You just start thinking about stuff and people are like, oh, man,
(27:46):
can't be anything wrong with that person. It's got to
be you know, everything's good. But like I tell a
lot of my friends, especially my male friends, now I
tell almost every single male friend I have, it's like
bro getting the therapy hat, somebody to talk to, like,
you know, having grown up myself in the church and
all that stuff. Yeah, we don't talk about that stuff,
you know. And again, you think about just all the
things you deal with as a person, as an individual,
(28:06):
then you start bringing whatever your career path is.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
And then if you have a family history, yeah you
have a family history of it.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
But my dad was seven months old and my dad
took its own life. I don't know had we dealt
with it as a family unit back then, I don't
know that I would have walked away in two thousand
and nine. I'm not blaming it on that, but who knows.
And so I just want people to have healthier options,
healthier ways to cope, and that's what we do. It
sous to shame. We don't do direct services, so we
don't provide therapy. But even with the resources out there,
(28:35):
I find butter that not everybody is using them. Yes,
And so we educate and empower communities on the power
of healing and why you need these resources and how
you can access them because still a ton of socioeconomic
issues and lack of access to care for a lot
of vulnerable communities and populations.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Where the name South of Shane come from.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Funny. I was doing a radio interview see it all
least back to entertainment, That's what I feel like. God
has a sense of humor. Right. So I was doing
an interview with Ryan Cameron and when he was on
another station, not where he is now, but we were
talking about mental health and I said, yeah, Ryan, like,
I don't know what the big deal is, Like when
you have a physical health issue, you go to the doctor.
(29:16):
I said, why are we so embarrassed? I said, she's
a silence of shame. And it just rolled off of
my tongue in an interview, and I thought, that's the
marketing in me. I'm like, that's kind of catchy. And
so then I got the trademark and made it a
hashtag when people were really using hashtags, and it started
as a movement and turned into a nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
When you started getting to this different lane, especially outside
of the music business, and you had so much success,
was it hard for people to kind of see you
in this new lane now?
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Of course, Hey, you know, I'm sure they're re quiet
whispers and people like what is she doing? Like even now,
I still have people in my dms like can I
send you my music? I'm like, I couldn't tell you
now how to market your record? You know, what are
you doing? But yeah, I think a lot of people
were not sure and uncertain, and I handed you a book.
(30:04):
I wrote a short book called Silencing My Shame. And
even you know, my late sister who was my confidant
and teacher and spiritual guidance counselor and all of that combined.
When I was writing the manuscript, she was like, you
sure you want to do this? Like you want to
you know, put yourself out there like that, and I said, yeah,
I do. And it was again, it was divine intervention.
(30:26):
And so I think, now, obviously it's interesting because I
used to, you know, walk through the airport or i'd
be out in an event and they'll go, oh, the
face records or outcasts or usher. And now people will go,
are you a silence a shame lady? I'm like, yes, ma'am,
and I'm a targeting older lady was just like, I
(30:47):
just want to thank you for the work that you're doing,
and blah blah blah blah blah, or you know, two
years ago, I'm at the airport in Atlanta, six in
the morning, waiting on a flight, getting some breakfast, and
this lady was like, you're shinty dog silence a shame
said yes, ma'am, she said, my husband is here because
of you and your organization, and like we both like
crying in the morning at six o'clock. So I'm very
(31:08):
humbled and I think I have and my team is
doing such a great job with our programming and shout
out to the Silence of Shame staff, like, I am
definitely in this now, in this space, this wellness space,
if you will off for the long run, I want
to make sure I can see Silence to Shame grow exponentially.
(31:29):
I was just having a conversation with John Hopebrian and
my buddy Rodney Bullard, and Rodney works in the nonprofit
space now too, and obviously John is a successful businessman,
and I'm like, people don't always look at nonprofits as
a business, you know, but you know, we have payroll salaries,
you know, so we have to raise money, and so
(31:49):
I'm just hoping for that harvest to come in for
the organization because we're doing such great work but I'm
grateful to even be able to share about the work
that we do on platforms like but A No Mix,
and you know, just trying to encourage the community to
support you know, grassroots organizations that hopefully can become those
large nonprofits at some point because we are doing the work. No.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Absolutely, we see you out there doing the work all
the time and advocating for it. And again I think that, yeah,
you've definitely helped, I want to say, make it more mainstream,
but just giving people another avenue to kind of understand that, yeah,
this is something they need to think about. Your mental
health is important and their wellness is important, and you know,
you got to pay attention to those things because you know,
without your health, you don't have anything not I don't
think when you're young, you're running around, you think you're invincible,
(32:31):
right right, you'd be surprised that the kind of things
that you know could actually impact you. You think it
could be physical, it could definitely be mental as well.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Absolutely, And then given the way the world is going
right now, you know, you wake up, you look at
social media like, oh gosh, you know every day is
something different that could really stress you out and hinder
you from being able to go to work or you know,
be there for your kids and your spouse. And so
it's a lot that keeps us under a lot of
stress and pressure these days. And so that is another
(33:01):
reason why, right, that it's important that we take care
of ourselves, that we pour into ourselves if we need
to go to therapy. Find everybody might not need therapy,
but you need that self care, right, So we're constantly
just promoting that and reminding people that you know, before
you show up for anybody else, you got to show
up for yourself.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
What's been the most you know, surprising part of running
this as a business also because like you mentioned, you know,
you all are business, you all have employees. Like what's
been some surprising parts are just growing that part of.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
It out woof.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
And I've you know, I come from entertainment, right, so
I didn't go back and get my MBA, which I
kind of hindsight now I wish I had of, but
you know, and I have an executive director who runs
a lot of day to day and an operational director,
but just learning how that part of it works and
that you know, especially even on a nonprofit side, you
get certain grants that are specific to programmatic dollars, and
(33:54):
so if you don't raise the individual donations or get
the grants that are you know for operational purposes, that
you won't be able to meet your budget. You know,
just last year, I furlow up my salary for a
certain period of time because I wanted to make sure
that my staff wouldn't get let go. And so you know,
(34:14):
it was a sacrifice on my end because I don't
make what I used to make, but you know, I
took one for the team. And so just constantly going
out having to fundraise and you know, not being in
certain rooms, you know, it can be difficult at times.
But you know, the one thing we take pride in
at silence the shame is making sure that we cross
(34:35):
all our t's and dot all of our eyes. And
so trying to get our individual donor base up and
unrestricted dollars, you know, is it's key to a successful
organization because you have to make sure that you're using
all your dollars properly.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
How do you decide, like would brands and partnerships make
sense for the organization.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
That's a great question. So when we're looking at brand
partnerships of course. You know, sometimes we'll just go on
websites to see, like what are their focus areas, right,
Like it's mental health one of the pillars that a
specific corporate entity or organization is focused on, and we'll
go after them first, or looking at some of our
other partners in the mental health space and maybe looking
(35:16):
at their gala and seeing who their sponsors were, you know,
so we have to go and do the research and
then me I'm I've always been a people person and
relationship person just in my days of the entertainment industry.
So some of it is just going out and so
listening friends, talking to people at other organizations and say, hey,
do you have anybody that actually might want to not
only donate to the organization or sit on the board
(35:37):
of directors or be a part of our advisory team
and council, and so really just pulling in the community
and like minded folks to see who might be willing
to support what we're going through. Other times, you know,
you can look at certain companies who might have had
a high profile team member in their organization that you know,
took their own life and now they're kind of focused
(35:57):
on it. So it could be situational or could just
be going out and seeing who looks who feels like
mental health, you know, is a core component of you know,
the values within their organization.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
What is what do you see kind of sounds of
shame going. I mean again, this is a movement. I
think it extends beyond you know, the hip hop community
and black people.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
There's something that oh yeah, it really does. And so
we have a theme for this as you mentioned, it
was Mental Health Awareness Month. So our theme to your
point this month is one Heart, many voices. As you said,
it impacts everybody, right, So although our primary target demo
are vulnerable communities and underserved populations, we want this work
(36:40):
to be important for everybody. And so you know, we
have goals and dreams. You know, I love to see
a Silence of Shame Wellness center, you know, erected in
the City of Atlanta, Atlanta specific I want to see
I want a mural on the belt Line, so shout
out to everybody that works for the belt Line. And
so we were excited this year. We did a partnership
(37:02):
with Mayor Dickens in the City of Atlanta to do
a communications plan around nine eight eight, not a lot
of people know that nine at eight exists. It's a
free resource. You literally pick up your phone and down
nine eight eight, and if you're in a crisis, you
can be connected to a crisis counselor right there in
your state. So being able to do more globe nationally,
you know, with nine eight eight, and then being able
(37:23):
to grow and expand our silence to shame university program.
I have to again shout out our executive director, Juel
Gooding who put this program together, and Nick Farthing and
Nia Bullock on our team, you know they do the execution,
but really proud of it. It's a college leadership program.
We just had a graduation like a couple weeks ago
(37:45):
and graduated like twenty five students, some from Spelman, moor House, Clark, KSU,
West Georgia and other campuses. And so we're training the
next leaders right in our country around mental health and
well this and to be strong leaders in their community.
So now we have a toll of fifty three ambassadors
(38:06):
from STSU. So we've had the first two cohorts in Atlanta,
but I love to see the other colleges and universities
throughout the country, right so to be able to get
some significant funding to grow that program what will be wonderful.
And then I'm really proud of something else one of
our other team members helped to execute. So we have
a PSA around Black men's mental health and it's called
(38:28):
Healing the Spaces between Us and it's a lot about restoration.
There's a grandfather, a father, and a son and it's
such a powerful PSA. And I'm proud to say we're
nominated for a Southeast Emmy. Oh thank you. So the
Southeast Emmys are in June and so we'll see eating it.
But I feel like we've already won. So shout out
to Megan Sure, Joe Pingle and Oak Films who put
that together. So I'd love to continue to do more
(38:50):
stuff like that, maybe work on a documentary. But really
being able to have these Silence of Shame centers I
think at key places throughout the country would be wonderful.
And you know, maybe we could have therapy, you know,
basketball courts, you know, a wellness center on the side,
but would love to have some STS centers throughout the country.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
I envision something like that happen and I think it's
a very much needed thing, especially just when you think
about you know again, like we always hear like the
culture and the culture of this and the culture of that.
People have lots of definitions about culture, like compared to
how you were when you were at LA face workers
in the music industry, Like, how do you define culture now?
Speaker 1 (39:30):
That's a great question. How would I define culture now?
I would have to say, And it's not just one
particular thing. I just think it's and I want to
look at it from a positive perspective because I think
there's some good parts of culture and some bad parts
of culture. But being able to positively affect the people
(39:52):
around you with unique experiences and setting the example, setting
the trends, and I think that can come from people,
place or things. And so silence, for shame to me
is a big part of culture now and getting people
to think about how they think about themselves and how
they care for themselves. So being able to have that
(40:14):
positive effect and influence on people around you, people, places,
and things now.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Again, I see a legacy of mental health and just
all these amazing things you work in. If a young
founder or young musician came to you today and they
were trying to kind of trying to build a similar
movement just around just being culturally relevant and showing up
when these people needed.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Like, what advice would you give them?
Speaker 1 (40:36):
I would say, if you're a young musician and you're
trying to set an example, is to be your authentic
self and to be comfortable in the spaces that you're
already in, because oftentimes when we're trying to start businesses
or new things, we think we gotta go and you know,
meet all these people that we don't know and get
into all these spaces. Start right where you're at. Yeah,
(40:58):
and that's what I did. You know, I'm ten years
in of almost taking my own life. In September, it'll
be ten years. I'm looking at this like my year rebirth.
But we're eight years in on actually launching Stylish for Shame.
And I literally sat down and I was like, Okay,
I'm gonna call Big Boy, I'm gonna call Usher, I'm
gonna see if they'll repost and retweet. I'm gonna call
(41:18):
Candy Bursts. And you know, I made up May fifth
and made it national stylish for Shame Day. I know,
a single day Mayo. But I was like, in twenty seventeen,
I was like, let me see if other people that
I know, my friends and colleagues would just post yeah, well,
ninety million impressions later, and then the National Day Register said, okay,
you got it. You got your own day. So I
(41:39):
started right where I was. I use the relationships and
the resources that I had from my former life, and
it was my intern or not my intern, I'm sorry.
My mentee who is now doing his thing as a
TV producer and content producer free the vision and he
said to me, it's not two legacies. You got one legacy.
(42:01):
And I was trying to just separate it out and
he said, no, no, no, you still got your legacy
and music and now you have this, but it's your
one legacy. And so again, marrying the two and starting
where I was at right is really beneficial and using
the resources and people around you and then kind of
growing it out from there. No.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Absolutely, Well, Chohnsy, thank you so much for you know,
coming in and sharing your story and just being honest
and transparent.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
I think again a lot of times.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
People do need to see that you know, other people
have dealt with similar things, and you know, it's always
it's always helpful to kind of have a little bit
of a north start to understanding you're not alone in
these things. So we really appreciate you, know, you just
being honest and transparent in your journey, because I'm sure
it's helped tons and tons of people, some that you
know and some that you abolutely don't know. And you
know there's definitely people are here better for it because
(42:49):
of the work you've been doing. Before we get out
of here, how can people support you, how can people
support the movement?
Speaker 3 (42:53):
How can they get involved?
Speaker 1 (42:54):
Give them all the things, absolutely, And I just want
to again, I want to honor you and to say
I've watched you, I'm watching you with four or four
Day and Butter atl and the positive and impactful role
that you were having on culture specifically in Atlanta and beyond.
And I just want to congratulate you and I'm honored
to be on your show today. But if you want
(43:16):
to reach out to Silence to Shame, you can check
out our website at www dot Silence toshame dot com.
We have a lot of helpful information and resources there
and toolkits you can download. We also have a podcast.
Check out our Silence to Shame podcasts available on all
podcast platforms and follow us on Instagram or Facebook at
Silence to Shame. If you want to donate to us,
(43:37):
we are a five oh one C three nonprofit, so
your donation is fully tax deductible. You can text the
word silence s I L E N C E to
seven O seven O seven O. And I am an
author and a speaker, So if you want me to
come speak to your company, I'm excited. I'm speaking for
EA Sports next month, just did US bank, and so
I share my courageous conversation with a lot of companies
(43:59):
and universities. Check out my website. It's all things shanty
Doss on there, so you can learn a lot about
me and whatever else I do. It's shanty Doss dot
B I Z. And you can follow me on Instagram
at shanty dos for four because you know I got
to put that at L in there, so shanty dos.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
For four absolutely shanty Well.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Thank you so much for coming out and sharing your
journey and telling us more about silence and shame. Again,
thank you for all the work you're doing. Thank you
for all the work even in the music busines. Look,
a lot of us wouldn't know about some of these
amazing artists without you, but even bigger than that. We
appreciate everything you're doing now and can't wait to see
where this is going. Thank you for coming out. And
that's the podge all we out. You've been listening to
button Nomics and I'm your host, Brandon Butler. Got comments, feedback?
(44:41):
Want to be on the show. Send us an email
today at hello at butternomics dot com. Butter Nomics is
produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by k cy Pegram,
with marketing support from Queen and Nikki.
Speaker 3 (44:51):
Music provided by mister Hanky.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
If you haven't already, hit that subscribe button and never
miss an episode, and be sure to follow us on
all our social platforms at butter dot a t L.
Listen to about her Nomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts
So I was doing an interview with Ryan Cameron. We
were talking about mental health and I said, yeah, Ryan, like,
I don't know what the big deal is, Like when
you have a physical health issue, you go to the doctor.
Why are we so embarrassed? I said, we should see
the silence of shame. And it just rolled off of
our tongue in an interview, and I thought that's the
marketing in me. I'm like, good a minute, that's kind
of catchy. And so then I got the trademark and
(00:23):
made it a hashtag when people were really using hashtags,
and it started as a movement and turned into a nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Everybody's welcome to butteron No, I'm your host. Brandon Butler
found her CEO of butter atl and today got a
special special guest in the studio. She's like, man, look
she's already busy. This is this is mental health awareas month.
She's all over the place. I know you've seen on TV,
seen on the Breakfast Club, you.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
See it everywhere. The one and only Miss Shanti Da Shanci.
How you doing this?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Heay, I can't believe I'm finally here.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I'm so happy that you finally here.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I am so proud of you, and it's an honor
to be on your show.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
It's not a have you on my show?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Okay, Like you know, it's always it's always nice when
the legend knows who you are.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Oh please, oh no, come on, come on all right,
tl you're legendary as well.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
No, Seane, let me tell you something. Okay, this we
finna do this, We're finna do. So what I've been
doing is I've been I've been putting people in chat
cheap et and having them write their bio.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
So I'm gonna read you what chat cheapt says. Your
bio is about you.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
You're in serious and you tell me if it's on
this is really I'm about to read your bio.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
All I said was who is Shanty Does? Because there's
only one sh Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Shanty Does is a well known figure in Atlanta, recognized
work in both the music industry and mental health advocacy.
Her career began in the music industry in the early
nineteen nineties, working with major labels like The Face Records,
Columbia Records, and Universal Motown. During this time, she played
a significant role in promoting artists such as outcasts Usher, TLC,
and eric Abad doing more. Her contributions under accolades, including
(01:58):
being named Music Execscative of the Year by Impact Magazine
in nineteen ninety eight. In two thousand and nine, after
nearly two decades in the music industry, Shanti shifted her
focus to mental health advocacy and she found it Silence
to Shame, a non profit organization aimed at eliminating the
stigma around mental health, particularly in communities of color. The
organization offers educational programs, community conversations, and resources to promote
(02:21):
mental health awareness. In recognition of her efforts, May fifth
was designated as National Silence the Shame Day in twenty eighteen.
Shanti's work has been a knowledged with several honors, including
her being named Top Change Maker by The Big Issue
in twenty nineteen and receiving the twenty twenty Multicultural War
from National Alliance on Mental Illness. She continues to lead
(02:42):
initiatives that bridge the gap between culture and mental health,
emphasizing the importance of open conversations and support. I'm just saying, Oh,
that's what chat Gibt says about you.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
You've been out here doing the work. Congratulations doing your work.
You're doing the work on he congratulations, gradulation, thank you
means a lot.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
How on track was that now because it's talking about
that stuff lot from music to now everything they're doing
in mintal health.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
It was a pretty factual. That's there.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Look, look, let me ask you now again. You've got
like a really unique career path. You know, when you
think about how you start in the music industry, like
what do you think really shaped that approach? You know
for you early on, like how did you get and started?
But also how that kind of shape your approach to
get in the music business.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
So for music, you know, I'm in Atlanta native as
well and grew up in Southwest Atlantawa school baby paid
for its elementary Southwest Middle Benjamin Mays High School, And
so I started like shadowing a family friend at V
one O three. His name is Ray Boy. He was
a program director at the time, and my sisters, one
(03:46):
of her close friends is married to him. And I
was like, Hey, I want to go to the radio station.
I want to go to do one to three and
hang out. I was like in the ninth or tenth grade,
and so he let me come up. And you know,
back in the day in radio it wasn't automated, so
they literally had karts. The music was in right, they
looked like eight track tapes. And so he let me
like organize the karts and do little stuff like that
(04:08):
around there, and he also let me go to a
concert with him and I got backstage for the very
first time. It was luth Evandros and Anita Baker Okay,
which was a really popular and little controversial tour at
the time. But it was just so exciting for me,
and I was like, I want to do what they do.
Like I saw people actually working with the artists, and
(04:29):
I was like, that seems really cool. So I started,
you know, just learning more about the business. And then
when I went to college, I went to Syracuse University.
I majored in television, radio and film. So I really
thought I wanted to be a radio announcer or do
something in radio. But I started interning the summer of
my sophomore year at Capitol Records and working for a
guy named Keith Fry. He was vice president of Urban
(04:51):
Promotions at the time, so you know, he was, you know,
making sure all the records got played across all the
urban stations across the country. So he would have me
put together like little promotional campaigns that I literally facts
out to the staff. But I was putting together like
little promo flyers for like Hammer, BBCC one, and you know,
all the artists that we had at the time on
Capitol Records. So that was really dope. And I did
(05:13):
that for two years and then he asked me, you know,
he started consulting Full of Face Records. He was like,
LA read a babyface. They need a promotions director. Hi,
I know what those titles meant. He was like, do
you think you want an interview for the job? And
I was like, uh, yeah, interview. So I got hired
three or four months after graduating. First record I ever
worked was Player's.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Ball Legendary Players Ball by our Casts.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
I mean you could not script it any better. And
then I also hit the road that fall with Tony Braxton.
She was opening up for Frankie, Beverly and May, so
I had to set up all her meet and greets
for conscious winners from radio.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
What do you remember most about that time? Especially?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I mean again, you got to start with outcasts here
in Atlanta, Like, what do you remember most about Big
and Dre when you kind of started with Players Ball,
because I remember when I got my first Player's Ball single.
I got it, I got the single, it was on cassette,
I got Blockbuster Music.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
That Navy, that blue cassette.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Blue cassette, and you know, that was my first introduction
that what became my favorite group of all time.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
You talked to Maurice Garland. He says they're a duo.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
But again, like, I remember, I remember how when they
were everything.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So what do you remember most about that time? First?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I remember they were just a little bad boys. They
were kids, you know, and they used to get on
my nerves. And I say that in the most lovely way,
but uh, you know, and meeting you know, Organized Noise,
Rego Ran and Pat, I was like, who are these guys?
You know? They were just lively and creative. And we
had this album coming out on the Face Records, and
it was the Christmas Album, and so most of all
(06:39):
of our artists had songs on the Christmas Album. And
I just remember like the DJs and people kind of
gravitating towards Players Ball and so they were like, this
is the one that's kind of getting the most buzz
in Atlanta, and so La was like, you know, We're once.
He obviously talked to everybody and they decided to make
that the single, and it was just full. They were
full of energy, you know, ready to work. They were eager.
(07:01):
I do remember that they were very hungry and eager.
But like I literally used to go on promo tours
with them and they would get on my nerves. They
would come banging on my door in the middle of
the not I'm like, go to bed. We got to
wake up early and go to radio tomorrow. Like they
were kids. Yeah, and I was young as well, but
I was like kind of the big sister in the group.
(07:21):
But I have fun memories of just kind of working
with them from day one.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
And now look at that rock and rock and Roll
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Are you kidding me? I literally screamed when I found out.
I was so excited. But and I look at that
like the holy Grail of music. Right, It didn't get
any bigger than that in music because they've already they
already had Album of the Year, which not a lot
of hip hop artists get right, They got that in
what like two thousand and four, and so for them
to be you know, newly or about to be inducted
(07:52):
rather into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's
just it's kind of surreal for me. I'm so proud
of them. I'm not surprised. And it was the first
around of voting, which that, from what I've learned, is
like a really big deal as well. I'm just so proud.
I'm like a proud auntie, proud big sister. It's a
big deal for not only Atlanta but for hip hop
(08:13):
in general. Well.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Absolutely, I was talking some folks, you know, on the team,
and I got some good relationships with the Outcast team
and Shout the Big and Dre and they were telling
me like they were like shot, they didn't even make
it in on her first round, and I was like, well,
Outcast is gonna make it end.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And I'm gonna tell you, when I saw that Tribe
made it in it was just last year. I was like, Okay, yeah,
they have definitely paid the way, and you know, I
got obviously a lot of love for Tribe and the
guys talk about how you know, Tribe were big influences
for them even when they started, and so yeah, it's
really special.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
What about your time with TLC, Like I know that
was I know that had.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
To be special, absolutely, and so a lot of people
don't know that, actually Chile went to my high school. Okay,
so I met Chile when she first came to our school,
either in the ninth or the tenth grade. And then
I met Tea Boz, you know, once I started working
at the label, and they already were TLC when I
got to the label, because the first album was already
out on the TLC tip I had that. I think
(09:11):
I remember going to the video shoot for What About
Your Friends? So, you know, I had to kind of
ease into it because you know, when you already got
your team and things are going, they're like, okay, who
is this new girl? You know, So it was a
little bit of that, and La was like, look, you're
my person, You're my promo person. Let's we go figure
this out. I'm just gonna kind of throw you out
there and let you work with a lot of different people.
(09:32):
And so I remember on the second album, Crazy Sexy Cool,
La told me, you know, you got to really get
out there and work this record on the road. And
so that was the first tour that I ever got
to ride on a tour bus with the girls, and
of course became really close to all of them doing
the crazy, sexy cool days, doing the promotions, and then
eventually doing the marketing on the fan Mail album. So
(09:55):
it was it was a dream come true. You know.
They were fun. Oh my god, they were franksters. They
were always like pranking somebody or throwing water balloons in
the hotel. I mean it was they were a lot
of fun as well. And then being able to work
with Usher was a dream as well. I literally remember
when we signed him, when he was like, I don't know,
(10:17):
fourteen or fifteen years old. I did a lot with
Usher in the early days, like a lot of promo runs,
a lot of like you know, performing at these holes
in the wall clubs. A lot of times it was
AJ who was his shout out to AJ who was
his road manager at the time, and myself and a
couple other people, and we would just like hit all
of these markets, you know, Southeast regional tours and even
(10:40):
national stuff. And so being able to be a part
of his career was definitely something that I think is
a highlight of my lifetime in my career because obviously
what he's been able to do now and he's clearly
at the top of his game and still climbing. But
one thing I know about Usher is like Usher was
always determined. He knew exactly what he wanted even with
(11:01):
like flyers or promo items or anything. He wanted to
be involved in everything because he had a clear vision
of who he wanted to be as an artist. And
I respect that about him. And he's one of the
hardest working people I think I've ever worked with. So
you're talking to Usher, toc Tony Burk, I mean I
was like, okay, God, Like you literally allowed me to
(11:22):
work with some of the biggest artists in the world,
and sometimes I still have to pinch myself, but it
was an honor to be a part of their projects.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I've heard people say the term having to work a
record many times, And what's interesting is because you talked
about how you kind of fell into the role and
didn't necessarily there wasn't necessarily a playbook for you. Just like,
how do you define working a record? Like what did
that actually.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Mean for me? I would say in nineteen ninety three,
working a record literally meant trying to touch as many
people as you could, whether it was through hand to
hand distribution of passing out those Blue Players ball cassettes.
You know. We would literally get in traffic on seventy
five eighty five doing Freaknik and dis distribute everything and
(12:02):
pass it out going to clubs. You know, I was.
It was different. It wasn't a lot of women working
in rap promotions and street promotions at the time. So
I started my title. Even though it's promotion director, A
lot of what I did was work in street promotions.
So I would have to go into the Gentlemen's Club
on a Monday, find the DJ, make sure they would
plan our records, buying a drink if they needed it,
(12:23):
smooth the you know the radio promotions. I mean the
music directors and program directors at radio stations and our
parent company, our sister company. Rather it was Arista Records,
so we had regional promotions reps in each market. We
also had s three team reps, so I was that
kind of liaison between Arista and La Face. But what
(12:44):
I did too is I went and created a lot
of my own relationships and so we know how radio
promotions works. But the relationship was big for me because
even outside of what Arista was doing, I was able
to get records played just because I was cool with
the DJ so I was cool with the mds and pds,
which didn't always happen. You know, there's a lot of
(13:05):
controversy back in the day with getting records played. But
I tried to be grounded and I tried to just
build solid relationships. I mean, like the Lake Pink House,
who was out of Chicago, who was one of the first,
you know, folks to play outcasts in Chicago, or establishing
a great rapport with Sway and Tech from the Bay Area,
Greg Street. I knew Greg Street when Greg was at
(13:25):
KKDA in Dallas, and he was one of the first supporters.
And of course, you know, you had the DJ Jellies,
the Ryan Cameron's and those folks in the Atlanta area,
even when Shaka was working at Hot ninety seven and
Chris Love of Love before he became ludicrous, you know,
so I would literally go and sit in on their show.
So I was working twenty four to seven, but of like,
(13:46):
it wasn't a you know, eight eight hour work days
for me. It was like on like twenty our workdays
and going to the office calling everybody, mailing out product,
making promo shirts. I remember also, I think one of
the things that I would like to think that kind
of helped put me on the map, especially with DJ's
and radio people, was the cookout that I threw for
(14:07):
outcasts in nineteen ninety four. It was a Southern playlistic
cookout and people still talk about that cookout to this day.
And it was before people were renting mansions. You know.
We got this mansion in Decatur and we literally had
people park at a church and we bust them over
to the mansion. And when we had a staging set
(14:30):
up outside and before these people blew up, you know,
on the same stage, we had Biggie Usher outcasts, Craig
mac I want to say, I think Buster ROMs was here.
It was nuts, MTV was there, BT Raps City came
to cover it. We're talking nineteen ninety four, like before
(14:50):
Atlanta really blew up before everybody was here, and so
it was really something. And it was myself and my
intern at the time, who happened to be Jaha Johnson,
who went on to become a big label executive as
well as manager in the entertainment industry, and we kind
of made it happen. And again that was another pinch
me moment and it was just something really special, and
(15:13):
I think, you know, I wanted to do something different
for outcasts instead of just throwing a party at the
club like everybody else did. I was like, let's do
something different, and so it was the Southern Playlistic Cookout,
which look that.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
That lineup is crazy, Like that lineup even right now.
If that lineup was to happen, that would be like
the biggest.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
And so to go back to your question, to bring
it full circle, you know, promotions for me was trying
to do things that were unique and really thinking out
of the box. Right to me, promotions, marketing, it all
goes hand in hand, and so I was always just
trying to make sure that I was consistent with the DJs,
with the program directors, and that I was always keeping
them in the loop, getting them tickets to concerts and
(15:54):
making them feel like they were a part of a
family with us.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
We had a boy legendary Jerry Clark in here recently.
Shout out Jerry Klutk and he mentioned he said a
name that like really he said, yeah, shanty shoestring dos
And I got to ask you, what is shoe string?
Speaker 3 (16:20):
What's a shoestring?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Nickname come from so okay, that's funny. So those that
know me in the industry, I'll go back to college.
So I used to have a hip hop show on
Saturday nights, and I also did like overnights at the
college radio station. And so when I was working at
home in Atlanta during the summers, I was going to
(16:42):
all these events and I was like, I need a
handle or a nickname or something right. And so I
wore a lot of sneakers. I still do. I wore
a lot of sneakers back in the day. And so
a friend of mine just was like, I gave her
the name T shirt. She never it never really stuck
with her, but she gave me Shoestring, okay, And so
I started having people call me Shoestring. And so when
I was working at the college radio station at SYRACUSEZ
(17:04):
eighty nine, I did Shoestring's hip Hop tip.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
So that was kind of like my version of you know,
so many things that happen now when you have you know,
these segments right on podcasts or some of the different shows.
So I did that in like nineteen ninety two. And
then when I started working at La Face, I was like,
I'm working with all these dudes and all these guys,
and so I wore a lot of baggy clothes and
stuff back then anyway, and so I was like, yeah,
(17:27):
just call me Shoestring. And it stuck. Every DJ like
Greg Street, all those guys Ryan, they only call me
Shoestring now, even it's a true story, like God rested dead.
When the night that Biggie got shot, I was at
that party in LA and I talked to Big like
maybe fifteen twenty thirty minutes before he left out, and
(17:49):
when I saw him, he was like, shoe String, what up?
Like That's what everybody called me, And so it was
like kind of a badger honor for me, just you know,
having a nickname. And I felt like, even though I
wasn't an artist, I wanted to be cool, and so
it stuck and it worked. So those that still call
me Shustering, I know that they were like back back
(18:09):
there in the early days.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Which in the in the trenches, as they say, that's right.
The one thing I love to ask you too, is,
you know, being a woman in the industry, who are
some other women that you know deserve credit or don't
get the credit they deserve for where not just Atlanta is,
but just hip hop music and journal is right now.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I think that's a great question. One of my dear friends,
Timbisa m Shaka, is someone that I always looked up to,
and she's worked for Beet for years now writing copy.
But before that, Tibisa is from Oakland or the Bay Area,
and she used to be the rap editor at Gavin
Okay and she helped us, you know, do so much
(18:48):
in terms of putting outcasts and organized noise and goodie
mob and all those guys on showcases and everything during
Gavin and so she was a huge I think asked
it just to the hip hop community because she placed
so many of these new artists, independent artists on stages
they wouldn't normally get to be a part of. And
(19:08):
so I definitely want to shout her out and give
her her props and credit. My former boss, Sylvia Rohone,
she's been a boss for years, starting out in radio promotions.
Now she's I think her title might be Chairman of
Epic Records, but she's been in the industry consistently, probably
like forty plus years now, right, and definitely opened up
(19:29):
doors and paid the way for so many people. Someone
to me that has really made a name for themselves
I would say probably over the last you know, fifteen years,
is Tracy Adams at Epic Records as well. And I
knew Tracy through her sister, Tasha Fox Adams, who worked
with me at Universal Motown. But Tracy's one of the
(19:50):
best radio people I think in the game. And she's
worked a lot of obviously hip hop records and artists.
Oh gosh, who else? That's a great question. I wrote
a called The Hip Hop Professional and it was about
my career as a young woman climbing the ladder of
success in the entertainment industry, and I dedicated a chapter.
I mean, you could go Mona Scott Young. I think
(20:11):
Mona's one of the best managers in the business. I
could go on and on. It's so many women. I
say all that to say, there's a chapter that I
dedicate to a lot of women in music and entertainment
that have paved the way and it's doing so many
great things. And then just of course, like artists like
Queen Latifa mc light, you know, being able to open
up doors for the folks like Nicki Minaj and Dochi
(20:33):
and all those other folks I look up to so
many of my sister that actually were, you know, on
the creative side and the artistic side as well in
hip hop. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
I had a chance to meet Queen Latifa late last
year at the ad Color Awards. She got like the
Icon Award, and that was the first time I had
a chance to meet her. But yeah, her just her aura,
just even walking into the room, it was like, Oh,
that's why you're the Queen's.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
And a lot of people don't know that. Back in
the early nineties, she and her partner shar Kim managed
Outcast for a brief stemp Okay, and that's where I
met Blue Williams, who was working for Flavor Unit, who
then went on to become Outcast main manager.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
So yeah, oh well let's see, I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, that's amazing. Now, look, you're doing all this stuff
in the music business. You know again, you're working with
some of the biggest acts out there. You know, when
did you decide it was time to kind of start
to shift gears and get away from the music business
and start focusing more mental health and mental health advocacy.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
So I think life happened. I get asked this question
all the time. If I had had the tools maybe
to manage through some of my stress and emotions, would
I still be working in music. Look, I'll be lying
if I said there aren't times that I, you know,
miss working in the entertainment industry. But it was around
two thousand and nine and I was just dealing with
(21:48):
a lot of mental stressors and physical health stressors. My
mom was developing Alzheimer's. I had an uncle who helped
to raise me because my dad died when I was
a baby. My uncle had developed cancer. I was living
in New York City at the time, and I felt
like I was away from the family, wasn't able to
support the family. And then just things were kind of
stressful in the business for me and at my job.
(22:11):
And so I was riding uptown in a taxi one
day in New York City, going up to Harlem for
a meeting, and my whole right side went. I mean,
before this meeting started, we were just talking about and
means and different things. My whole right side, but it went.
I couldn't feel my fingers, my leg on the right side,
and my arm. So I went and got a bunch
of tests run and I had gotten diagnosed with what
(22:32):
was called cervical spinal stenosis, but it was all the
direct result of stress. Once I got my second opinion
from the doctor, and so I thought I needed back
surgery or spinal surgery. And I was just telling Sylvie
I didn't know if I could do this and that
at the same time, and I needed to be close
to the family. So I made a really tough decision.
I was executive vice president of marketing at the time,
(22:54):
making a lot of money, corner office, all of that,
and I just I stepped away. And my sister was,
you need to be home, closer to your support system.
You'll figure it out. And so I came back home
in twenty ten started doing a lot of community service work.
I started an event with my partner, Marlin Nichols called
at Alive on the Park that actually ran for ten years.
(23:16):
We had ten great years doing that live music showcase.
And then I started doing some consulting. So I was
still doing a little music like I started consulting like
like R and B soul artists like Johnny Gill, Vivian Green,
Kelly Price. I was still dabbling in music, but then
I don't know why. I just felt like my spirit
(23:36):
was guiding me more to nonprofit works, which I had
never done before. And I will say this, right before
I left Motown and moved back home, and I think
this was like God moving in my spirit. I had
read where the city of Detroit had lost funding for
the city and state for their city more it's a
little morbid, but I couldn't imagine somebody not being able
(23:59):
to bury their loved ones. So I raised like thirty
forty thousand dollars I think it was thirty thousand dollars,
and I buried thirty people on my own for the
city of Detroit right before I left. And I thought
because I had gotten people like Buster Rhon's Acon kid
Rocking others to donate, and I thought, okay, am, I
supposed to be doing something different with my life. So
that kind of started that trajectory. And then came back home,
(24:20):
started feeding the homeless and doing different events. And so
in twenty fourteen, an unfortunate experience, I ended up talking
to my best friend one day. Actually it was her
a horrific experience. She said it was the worst day
of her life. I was talking through it with her,
and I thought that we had kind of come to
(24:42):
a resolution of trying to find better doctors. But twelve
hours later, she shot herself. It was horrible. It was
one of my best friends from like middle school, and
so I kind of blamed myself trying to see what
the warning signs were that I missed. I didn't know
a lot about mental health at the time, although I
should have because my dad took a his own life
when I was seven months old, but we never dealt
with it as a family. We hid all of that
(25:04):
and buried those feelings. And so in twenty fifteen, you know,
I just kind of quietly went on a downward spiral,
even though I was still high functioning and I wasn't
showing that I was hurting, but I was hurting a
lot on the inside. And I almost took my own
life in September twenty fifteen, and I knew I needed help.
(25:25):
And once I got the help that I needed, I
knew I needed to talk about it. Even my family
was like, why are you telling everybody you wanted to
take your own life and telling your business again. I
can't explain it. It has to be a higher calling
and a higher power, and I just knew that, particularly
even in this industry, you know, somebody needed to speak up.
And this was before the pandemic. You see a lot
(25:46):
of artists and actors and athletes and everybody talking about it. Now,
I'm not saying I started, you know, a wave of that,
but I do think that me being able to open
it up had a profound effect on others right to
some extent. And then I started Silence to Shame as
kind of like a hashtag. And so I knew that
this would be my life's work. And the good news
(26:09):
is I still dabble back in entertainment, just in a
different way. And like, you know, shout out to Stephen Hill,
who used to be the president of BT. He and
d Nice were well. Steven used to work for Dick
Clark Productions and so in twenty twenty two he was
doing putting together a set for Dick Clark's New Year's
Rock and Eve with d Nice and they chose Silence
(26:31):
to Shame, and so like I was in the middle
of Times Square that's crazy, right, talking about Silence to
Shame watching the ball drop. And you know, our organization
has been awarded grants by the NFL Players Association, so
I get to interview NFL players around mental health. Or
Carrie Houston, like six or seven years ago, first talked
(26:52):
about her depression on our podcast, or like Jez talks
about silence to shame Killer Mike, and so it's humbling,
but I feel like it's so dope that, like I
was able to turn my pain into something purposeful, to
really be able to help our community and particularly underserved
communities as well. So it's been a while ride, but
I wouldn't change anything for the world.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Definitely sounds like I mean through again some terrible situations
and you know, I hate that you have to deal
with that. And we've all had moments. I know I've
dealt with, you know, a bouts of depression. I think
like most high performing people a lot of times, you know,
all kinds of people, but especially you know, when you're
out there and you're trying to like really push hard
to do certain things again, you get hard on yourself.
You just start thinking about stuff and people are like, oh, man,
(27:46):
can't be anything wrong with that person. It's got to
be you know, everything's good. But like I tell a
lot of my friends, especially my male friends, now I
tell almost every single male friend I have, it's like
bro getting the therapy hat, somebody to talk to, like,
you know, having grown up myself in the church and
all that stuff. Yeah, we don't talk about that stuff,
you know. And again, you think about just all the
things you deal with as a person, as an individual,
(28:06):
then you start bringing whatever your career path is.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
And then if you have a family history, yeah you
have a family history of it.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
But my dad was seven months old and my dad
took its own life. I don't know had we dealt
with it as a family unit back then, I don't
know that I would have walked away in two thousand
and nine. I'm not blaming it on that, but who knows.
And so I just want people to have healthier options,
healthier ways to cope, and that's what we do. It
sous to shame. We don't do direct services, so we
don't provide therapy. But even with the resources out there,
(28:35):
I find butter that not everybody is using them. Yes,
And so we educate and empower communities on the power
of healing and why you need these resources and how
you can access them because still a ton of socioeconomic
issues and lack of access to care for a lot
of vulnerable communities and populations.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Where the name South of Shane come from.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Funny. I was doing a radio interview see it all
least back to entertainment, That's what I feel like. God
has a sense of humor. Right. So I was doing
an interview with Ryan Cameron and when he was on
another station, not where he is now, but we were
talking about mental health and I said, yeah, Ryan, like,
I don't know what the big deal is, Like when
you have a physical health issue, you go to the doctor.
(29:16):
I said, why are we so embarrassed? I said, she's
a silence of shame. And it just rolled off of
my tongue in an interview, and I thought, that's the
marketing in me. I'm like, that's kind of catchy. And
so then I got the trademark and made it a
hashtag when people were really using hashtags, and it started
as a movement and turned into a nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
When you started getting to this different lane, especially outside
of the music business, and you had so much success,
was it hard for people to kind of see you
in this new lane now?
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Of course, Hey, you know, I'm sure they're re quiet
whispers and people like what is she doing? Like even now,
I still have people in my dms like can I
send you my music? I'm like, I couldn't tell you
now how to market your record? You know, what are
you doing? But yeah, I think a lot of people
were not sure and uncertain, and I handed you a book.
(30:04):
I wrote a short book called Silencing My Shame. And
even you know, my late sister who was my confidant
and teacher and spiritual guidance counselor and all of that combined.
When I was writing the manuscript, she was like, you
sure you want to do this? Like you want to
you know, put yourself out there like that, and I said, yeah,
I do. And it was again, it was divine intervention.
(30:26):
And so I think, now, obviously it's interesting because I
used to, you know, walk through the airport or i'd
be out in an event and they'll go, oh, the
face records or outcasts or usher. And now people will go,
are you a silence a shame lady? I'm like, yes, ma'am,
and I'm a targeting older lady was just like, I
(30:47):
just want to thank you for the work that you're doing,
and blah blah blah blah blah, or you know, two
years ago, I'm at the airport in Atlanta, six in
the morning, waiting on a flight, getting some breakfast, and
this lady was like, you're shinty dog silence a shame
said yes, ma'am, she said, my husband is here because
of you and your organization, and like we both like
crying in the morning at six o'clock. So I'm very
(31:08):
humbled and I think I have and my team is
doing such a great job with our programming and shout
out to the Silence of Shame staff, like, I am
definitely in this now, in this space, this wellness space,
if you will off for the long run, I want
to make sure I can see Silence to Shame grow exponentially.
(31:29):
I was just having a conversation with John Hopebrian and
my buddy Rodney Bullard, and Rodney works in the nonprofit
space now too, and obviously John is a successful businessman,
and I'm like, people don't always look at nonprofits as
a business, you know, but you know, we have payroll salaries,
you know, so we have to raise money, and so
(31:49):
I'm just hoping for that harvest to come in for
the organization because we're doing such great work but I'm
grateful to even be able to share about the work
that we do on platforms like but A No Mix,
and you know, just trying to encourage the community to
support you know, grassroots organizations that hopefully can become those
large nonprofits at some point because we are doing the work. No.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Absolutely, we see you out there doing the work all
the time and advocating for it. And again I think that, yeah,
you've definitely helped, I want to say, make it more mainstream,
but just giving people another avenue to kind of understand that, yeah,
this is something they need to think about. Your mental
health is important and their wellness is important, and you know,
you got to pay attention to those things because you know,
without your health, you don't have anything not I don't
think when you're young, you're running around, you think you're invincible,
(32:31):
right right, you'd be surprised that the kind of things
that you know could actually impact you. You think it
could be physical, it could definitely be mental as well.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Absolutely, And then given the way the world is going
right now, you know, you wake up, you look at
social media like, oh gosh, you know every day is
something different that could really stress you out and hinder
you from being able to go to work or you know,
be there for your kids and your spouse. And so
it's a lot that keeps us under a lot of
stress and pressure these days. And so that is another
(33:01):
reason why, right, that it's important that we take care
of ourselves, that we pour into ourselves if we need
to go to therapy. Find everybody might not need therapy,
but you need that self care, right, So we're constantly
just promoting that and reminding people that you know, before
you show up for anybody else, you got to show
up for yourself.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
What's been the most you know, surprising part of running
this as a business also because like you mentioned, you know,
you all are business, you all have employees. Like what's
been some surprising parts are just growing that part of.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
It out woof.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
And I've you know, I come from entertainment, right, so
I didn't go back and get my MBA, which I
kind of hindsight now I wish I had of, but
you know, and I have an executive director who runs
a lot of day to day and an operational director,
but just learning how that part of it works and
that you know, especially even on a nonprofit side, you
get certain grants that are specific to programmatic dollars, and
(33:54):
so if you don't raise the individual donations or get
the grants that are you know for operational purposes, that
you won't be able to meet your budget. You know,
just last year, I furlow up my salary for a
certain period of time because I wanted to make sure
that my staff wouldn't get let go. And so you know,
(34:14):
it was a sacrifice on my end because I don't
make what I used to make, but you know, I
took one for the team. And so just constantly going
out having to fundraise and you know, not being in
certain rooms, you know, it can be difficult at times.
But you know, the one thing we take pride in
at silence the shame is making sure that we cross
(34:35):
all our t's and dot all of our eyes. And
so trying to get our individual donor base up and
unrestricted dollars, you know, is it's key to a successful
organization because you have to make sure that you're using
all your dollars properly.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
How do you decide, like would brands and partnerships make
sense for the organization.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
That's a great question. So when we're looking at brand
partnerships of course. You know, sometimes we'll just go on
websites to see, like what are their focus areas, right,
Like it's mental health one of the pillars that a
specific corporate entity or organization is focused on, and we'll
go after them first, or looking at some of our
other partners in the mental health space and maybe looking
(35:16):
at their gala and seeing who their sponsors were, you know,
so we have to go and do the research and
then me I'm I've always been a people person and
relationship person just in my days of the entertainment industry.
So some of it is just going out and so
listening friends, talking to people at other organizations and say, hey,
do you have anybody that actually might want to not
only donate to the organization or sit on the board
(35:37):
of directors or be a part of our advisory team
and council, and so really just pulling in the community
and like minded folks to see who might be willing
to support what we're going through. Other times, you know,
you can look at certain companies who might have had
a high profile team member in their organization that you know,
took their own life and now they're kind of focused
(35:57):
on it. So it could be situational or could just
be going out and seeing who looks who feels like
mental health, you know, is a core component of you know,
the values within their organization.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
What is what do you see kind of sounds of
shame going. I mean again, this is a movement. I
think it extends beyond you know, the hip hop community
and black people.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
There's something that oh yeah, it really does. And so
we have a theme for this as you mentioned, it
was Mental Health Awareness Month. So our theme to your
point this month is one Heart, many voices. As you said,
it impacts everybody, right, So although our primary target demo
are vulnerable communities and underserved populations, we want this work
(36:40):
to be important for everybody. And so you know, we
have goals and dreams. You know, I love to see
a Silence of Shame Wellness center, you know, erected in
the City of Atlanta, Atlanta specific I want to see
I want a mural on the belt Line, so shout
out to everybody that works for the belt Line. And
so we were excited this year. We did a partnership
(37:02):
with Mayor Dickens in the City of Atlanta to do
a communications plan around nine eight eight, not a lot
of people know that nine at eight exists. It's a
free resource. You literally pick up your phone and down
nine eight eight, and if you're in a crisis, you
can be connected to a crisis counselor right there in
your state. So being able to do more globe nationally,
you know, with nine eight eight, and then being able
(37:23):
to grow and expand our silence to shame university program.
I have to again shout out our executive director, Juel
Gooding who put this program together, and Nick Farthing and
Nia Bullock on our team, you know they do the execution,
but really proud of it. It's a college leadership program.
We just had a graduation like a couple weeks ago
(37:45):
and graduated like twenty five students, some from Spelman, moor House, Clark, KSU,
West Georgia and other campuses. And so we're training the
next leaders right in our country around mental health and
well this and to be strong leaders in their community.
So now we have a toll of fifty three ambassadors
(38:06):
from STSU. So we've had the first two cohorts in Atlanta,
but I love to see the other colleges and universities
throughout the country, right so to be able to get
some significant funding to grow that program what will be wonderful.
And then I'm really proud of something else one of
our other team members helped to execute. So we have
a PSA around Black men's mental health and it's called
(38:28):
Healing the Spaces between Us and it's a lot about restoration.
There's a grandfather, a father, and a son and it's
such a powerful PSA. And I'm proud to say we're
nominated for a Southeast Emmy. Oh thank you. So the
Southeast Emmys are in June and so we'll see eating it.
But I feel like we've already won. So shout out
to Megan Sure, Joe Pingle and Oak Films who put
that together. So I'd love to continue to do more
(38:50):
stuff like that, maybe work on a documentary. But really
being able to have these Silence of Shame centers I
think at key places throughout the country would be wonderful.
And you know, maybe we could have therapy, you know,
basketball courts, you know, a wellness center on the side,
but would love to have some STS centers throughout the country.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
I envision something like that happen and I think it's
a very much needed thing, especially just when you think
about you know again, like we always hear like the
culture and the culture of this and the culture of that.
People have lots of definitions about culture, like compared to
how you were when you were at LA face workers
in the music industry, Like, how do you define culture now?
Speaker 1 (39:30):
That's a great question. How would I define culture now?
I would have to say, And it's not just one
particular thing. I just think it's and I want to
look at it from a positive perspective because I think
there's some good parts of culture and some bad parts
of culture. But being able to positively affect the people
(39:52):
around you with unique experiences and setting the example, setting
the trends, and I think that can come from people,
place or things. And so silence, for shame to me
is a big part of culture now and getting people
to think about how they think about themselves and how
they care for themselves. So being able to have that
(40:14):
positive effect and influence on people around you, people, places,
and things now.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Again, I see a legacy of mental health and just
all these amazing things you work in. If a young
founder or young musician came to you today and they
were trying to kind of trying to build a similar
movement just around just being culturally relevant and showing up
when these people needed.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Like, what advice would you give them?
Speaker 1 (40:36):
I would say, if you're a young musician and you're
trying to set an example, is to be your authentic
self and to be comfortable in the spaces that you're
already in, because oftentimes when we're trying to start businesses
or new things, we think we gotta go and you know,
meet all these people that we don't know and get
into all these spaces. Start right where you're at. Yeah,
(40:58):
and that's what I did. You know, I'm ten years
in of almost taking my own life. In September, it'll
be ten years. I'm looking at this like my year rebirth.
But we're eight years in on actually launching Stylish for Shame.
And I literally sat down and I was like, Okay,
I'm gonna call Big Boy, I'm gonna call Usher, I'm
gonna see if they'll repost and retweet. I'm gonna call
(41:18):
Candy Bursts. And you know, I made up May fifth
and made it national stylish for Shame Day. I know,
a single day Mayo. But I was like, in twenty seventeen,
I was like, let me see if other people that
I know, my friends and colleagues would just post yeah, well,
ninety million impressions later, and then the National Day Register said, okay,
you got it. You got your own day. So I
(41:39):
started right where I was. I use the relationships and
the resources that I had from my former life, and
it was my intern or not my intern, I'm sorry.
My mentee who is now doing his thing as a
TV producer and content producer free the vision and he
said to me, it's not two legacies. You got one legacy.
(42:01):
And I was trying to just separate it out and
he said, no, no, no, you still got your legacy
and music and now you have this, but it's your
one legacy. And so again, marrying the two and starting
where I was at right is really beneficial and using
the resources and people around you and then kind of
growing it out from there. No.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Absolutely, Well, Chohnsy, thank you so much for you know,
coming in and sharing your story and just being honest
and transparent.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
I think again a lot of times.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
People do need to see that you know, other people
have dealt with similar things, and you know, it's always
it's always helpful to kind of have a little bit
of a north start to understanding you're not alone in
these things. So we really appreciate you, know, you just
being honest and transparent in your journey, because I'm sure
it's helped tons and tons of people, some that you
know and some that you abolutely don't know. And you
know there's definitely people are here better for it because
(42:49):
of the work you've been doing. Before we get out
of here, how can people support you, how can people
support the movement?
Speaker 3 (42:53):
How can they get involved?
Speaker 1 (42:54):
Give them all the things, absolutely, And I just want
to again, I want to honor you and to say
I've watched you, I'm watching you with four or four
Day and Butter atl and the positive and impactful role
that you were having on culture specifically in Atlanta and beyond.
And I just want to congratulate you and I'm honored
to be on your show today. But if you want
(43:16):
to reach out to Silence to Shame, you can check
out our website at www dot Silence toshame dot com.
We have a lot of helpful information and resources there
and toolkits you can download. We also have a podcast.
Check out our Silence to Shame podcasts available on all
podcast platforms and follow us on Instagram or Facebook at
Silence to Shame. If you want to donate to us,
(43:37):
we are a five oh one C three nonprofit, so
your donation is fully tax deductible. You can text the
word silence s I L E N C E to
seven O seven O seven O. And I am an
author and a speaker, So if you want me to
come speak to your company, I'm excited. I'm speaking for
EA Sports next month, just did US bank, and so
I share my courageous conversation with a lot of companies
(43:59):
and universities. Check out my website. It's all things shanty
Doss on there, so you can learn a lot about
me and whatever else I do. It's shanty Doss dot
B I Z. And you can follow me on Instagram
at shanty dos for four because you know I got
to put that at L in there, so shanty dos.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
For four absolutely shanty Well.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Thank you so much for coming out and sharing your
journey and telling us more about silence and shame. Again,
thank you for all the work you're doing. Thank you
for all the work even in the music busines. Look,
a lot of us wouldn't know about some of these
amazing artists without you, but even bigger than that. We
appreciate everything you're doing now and can't wait to see
where this is going. Thank you for coming out. And
that's the podge all we out. You've been listening to
button Nomics and I'm your host, Brandon Butler. Got comments, feedback?
(44:41):
Want to be on the show. Send us an email
today at hello at butternomics dot com. Butter Nomics is
produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by k cy Pegram,
with marketing support from Queen and Nikki.
Speaker 3 (44:51):
Music provided by mister Hanky.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
If you haven't already, hit that subscribe button and never
miss an episode, and be sure to follow us on
all our social platforms at butter dot a t L.
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Host
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