Keshia Knight Pulliam- Actress, Philanthropist, and Entrepreneur discusses the new season of "Tyler Perry's House of Payne" on BET. She is a graduate of an HBCU, Spelman College, and she did it with honors with a BA in sociology and concentration in Film. She is an Emmy-nominated actress, runs the Kamp Kizzy Foundation, The Fearless Fund, co-founded with her business partner Arian Simone and sells culinary products on her Keshia's Kitchen website.
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It's the show that she has the secrets of success
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will know he's given me advice on many occasions. In
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Now it's time to hear from my man, Rashan McDonald
money Making Conversations. We welcome to money Making Conversation. I
am your host from Sean McDonald. Like I said in
every episode when I start my shows, it's time to
stop reading other people's success stories and start writing your own.
(02:10):
I always tell people you're here about gifts. You're here
by passion. I'll tell people to leave with your gifts
and don't let your age, your friends, family, or coworkers
stop you from planning or living your dreams. The interviews
I do on money making conversation for you, I bringing
my friends. There are some of the most celebrities, CEOs,
entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. My next case of Latino
TV for a long time. But she's a she's a
(02:31):
game changer, she's an industry decision maker, she's a celebrity.
She's all those things that you read about and more.
Her name is Keisha night Poem. She's a graduate of
an HBCU spell One College and she did it with
honors with a BA in sociology and concentration in film.
She's an Emmy nominated actress, runs the Camp Kidzie Foundation,
the Fearless fun she co founded with her business partner
(02:53):
Arian Simone, and sells culinary products on the Keysha Kitchen website,
which is we're gonna talk about that because you know,
I got Shawn's kitchen, but we were doing what guess
what we wouldn't be doing none of this interview is.
It wasn't about the acting, So we gotta get to watch.
She's really on the show as well. She's starting to
hit comedy series Tyler Perry's House of Pain, which is
back this season for US eight seasons Aaron Tuesday nights
(03:15):
on BT Please working for the first time to money
making conversations. I'm sharre not the last time, Keisha night Pollium.
How you doing, Keisha great? How are you really really
you know, just going through this whole bio. I want
to start with the HBC you experienced because I'm currently
working on a documentary called Black Excellence, and I definitely
we've already lined you. If you don't know it, we're
(03:37):
definitely gonna line you up for an interview because you
are Black Excellence, you know. And we saw in twenty
how HBC US just moved to the forefront of conversation
and it's like like White America just discovered HBC used
for the very first time. Now you're graduate, I believe
in two thousand one. You graduated from HBC with honors,
like I said earlier, and you're minded with sociology. Tell
us about your HBC you experience and why it's important.
(04:00):
Why is this import actually the major with sociology with
a concentration and film um And I mean I loved
going to an HBCU. It was definitely one of the
best decisions that I've ever made. And it's it's in
my family. I have two brothers who are more House graduates,
and then my middle brother he's an Auburn graduate, but
we still love him. Um. But it's it's definitely an
(04:23):
experience like no one, like no other. Sound grateful for sure. Well,
you know the thing about it is that the moodelible.
Uh you know about Hollywood. You've been in Hollywood. Hollywood
is dominated by HBCU graduates, not only just in front
of the camera, but behind the camera. When I look
at the talent like you and you major in sociology
and my minor is sociology. When I graduated from college,
(04:45):
my major was in wasn't uh isn't I should say?
You didn't walk away from a degree of mathematics. But
it changed my life, you know. African American studies and
sociologists opened my eyes and really let me see that
my whole life information has and counseled you know, you
you realize what you didn't know? How did the sociology
impact you and why did you choose that as a degree?
(05:07):
For man? Well, one thing I'll say, is not just
an entertainment that you find a lot of HBC YOU graduates.
We you know, we'd be remiss not to say that
our vice President of the United States of America. Come on,
come on. So what I know is, you know, the
cremes della creme um in a multitude of fields are
HBC you graduate um. But you know, getting back to sociology,
(05:30):
you know, I chose that because I've always even though
you know, I went to college and I didn't mylene,
my I didn't major in theater per se, but I
did have a concentration in mass common and communications. And
the reason I chose sociology is because my job as
a filmmaker, my job as a director, producer, and actor,
is to bring these stories to life. And the best
(05:52):
way to bring the stories of real people to life
is to understand the behind the scenes to the dynamics
of you know, human can do and how people think,
and how society you know, shapes that image not only
of what you see but also yourself. So um, that's
why I decided to do sociology. Actually, my thesis my
senior year was on images of African American women and
(06:15):
black platation film. So the film piece has always been
intertwined in everything that I do. Well, I love the
way you articulated that because it allows me to transition
over to your fearless fund. The fearless fun that you
found it with your partner was also an HBC. You
graduate from family. I know her very well and as
a family graduate as well, and another and another black woman.
(06:37):
I am a person absolutely when we when we talk
about women and we know that the fastest growing entrepreneurship
is black females, UH in the business, why is it
important support African American women in the in this small
business arena? You know the bottom line? And it's so
funny because people are like, why support black women? UM,
(07:00):
Because at the end of the day, when you're looking
at venture capital, when you're looking at you know, investing
in businesses, it's it's a business. And if the reality
is yes, we are the fastest growing and the least funded,
but from a financial standpoint, we are doing some amazing
things and are amazing investment if all you're looking at
(07:21):
is green and not the color of your skin. UM.
And the biggest thing is we wanted to, you know,
move the needle in a meaningful way when we looked
at the landscape and recognizing that adventure capital UM funds
and in money is less than a percent point zero
zero zero six percent goes to women of color businesses
(07:41):
in twenty one. That's crazy. So you know what we
knew we had to do in order to change those dynamics.
We had to be we had to be players in
this game. And it shows that we made the right
move because Fearless Funds started out as a five million
dollar fund and has grown to a twenty five plus
million dollar fund um And I'm just really excited. We
(08:03):
have some amazing businesses in our pipeline and that we
already invested in. And you know what I know is
that it is not a founding issue. It is a
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You know when I when I look at you talking
when you're talking about funding, because I want to break
(10:14):
it down a little bit so like a common sense.
It's this more like we see on TV Shark Tank
when you say funding and you know people come in,
you buy our percentage of their business. Is that how
you funded? Really, it's it's you know that every deal
is structured very differently. However, it is, you know, an
investment um in exchange for an equity state in the company.
(10:36):
And you know, one of the things that businesses need
is to infuse capital in order to you know, scale
and grow their business quickly. And a lot of us,
as black women, don't have access to that capital. And
also a lot of us in our community just have
no clue about the space, no clue about you know,
when you're building the business, you know what is even
(10:56):
scaling me? You know, what are the docks that I
need to have and play us to even be venture
venture or even investment um just to even garner those investments.
We don't have access to that information. So what we've
also learned during this process of the Fearless Fund is
that a lot of it is also just the information
(11:18):
sharing and infusing in our community because it just doesn't
exist and and we have to be the ones to
pay it forward, not just with the financial piece, which
is very important, but also the education piece. Well, the
education is really the key. You know, what you know
and what you gain from information is how much you
can make and how you can create your status in society.
(11:38):
When I look at what you're doing with this fun
it also it starts as an idea, and I really
applaud you because you're going into uncharted territories. I can
say that because I've been in this business low enough
to know. And also when you just said the amount
of percentages that would already apply to African American women
as entrepreneur opportunities from a from a funding standpoint was
(11:58):
ridiculously low. So when you when you broke this idea, Okay, well,
you're sitting around with your friends and who did you
go to? Did you put together a business player? What
did you do. Honestly, that's really how it happened. You know,
it was about how do we become, you know, a
part of the solution. And if you want funding to
go to black women, you need to fund them. And
(12:18):
if we fund them, that means we need to be
on the other side at the table. And and that's
really it was as simple as that. It was as
simple as we know that these businesses are viable, that
they're thriving, that they need capital, and if if everyone
else isn't going to do it and believe in them,
that we have to be the ones to do it.
And it's crazy that, you know when we did, when
(12:39):
we started The Fearless fun we didn't realize that we
were the first. We didn't realize we were the only
at the time women of color who were specifically investing
in women of color businesses. We did it because we
saw a gap in the marketplace and we saw something
we recognized we need to be a solution to a problem.
So once we did that, you know, Forbes and all
of these other different magazines and article and articles, and
(12:59):
you know, people are reaching out to us to hear
more about our story. And the reality is is that
it just really fell an alignment from a social justice
perspective with everything that was going on in the world,
you know, with UM, with everything going on with a pandemic.
There was also a big social and justice upheaval with
(13:19):
the Black Lives Matter movement and all of these different
things where there were so many major companies that were
making financial um declarations of how they would support and
where they would invest. And I'm grateful that they did
so because then they have to, you know, put their
money where their mouth was, and they created a space
for us to get you know, millions invested from PayPal,
(13:41):
from Bank of America, from Costco, you know, to all
of these major companies who now have to back up
the financial promise that has been made to our community.
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is I was just enjoying this conversation, just watching you
articulate these values that so many people would need to hear.
Now that my final question in regards to the Fears Fund,
this is money making conversations. Okay, how can they reach
out to be a participant of feel out of applications?
How does that process work? Well, you can go to
(16:12):
Fearless dot fund um. That's our website and all of
the information is right there on the website. You know,
we are investing in pre seed seed in series and businesses. Um,
and all of the requirements are right there on the
sun we congratulations. Well, let's go onto my favorite part
of the conversations, food, food, food food. I have a
show called Richard's Kitchen of an award winning baker and uh,
(16:34):
whenever I have the guest who comes on, who has spices, uh,
food samplings? Uh, the devices for that the culinary world.
What got you into the culinary world? I love food.
I love cooking, um, and my whole family does. Actually,
so I come from a long line of from my
mom to my dad, my brothers, we all love food,
(16:56):
we love cooking. And the reality is, specifically I can
speak to our being a black home. The heart of
the home is always the kitchen. That's where you gather.
That's where you know, you talk about your day, where
you download, where you have the most lively you know, conversations,
debate whatever you want, a column, and it all centers
around that whole Sunday dinner field. And that's how it
(17:17):
was and is in in my family. UM. So with
that and my love to cook, I was like, you know,
this is a lane that I don't again see anyone
else who looks like me. And so I decided to
to to do cacious kitchen. Um. It was just simply,
you know, so many of my friends, like they always
joked for like, oh, she's like I'm like the black
(17:38):
heart Steward, Like even I was the one people were
coming over, you know, cooking up dinners for all my friends. Um.
But I realized that, you know, in this age of
Uber and all of these diff uber eats or you know,
just all of these fast delivery services, people fully cook anymore.
All they have to do is order it and it
shows up at their house. So that kind of the
(18:00):
joy of it had been gone. And I know a
lot of the joy of it is not knowing what
to do, like how do I what do I put on? What?
How does it work? So that's how I, you know,
made it really really simple. I have a poultry and
meat and all purpose season um. And the reality is
they work good on those categories of things, but they
also are amazing and vegetables and potatoes and and you
name it so fish. Um. So that's really just how
(18:23):
it came about. Well, you know the thing about it,
Like I said, potatoes, I love. I can't get enough
of baked potatoes. I love vegetables, and so just having that,
So this multipurpose season and all purpose season for that
is a blessing. And also have a deal with while
all Alaskan sound where they? So I when you said fish,
I leaned forward. That's what I gotta use you. Now?
(18:45):
Do you now if I go online right now, can
I buy it? Or how does it working? Right now?
You're definitely have our word running a sale. Um, we
have our poultry as well as our all purpose on
Keisha's Kitchen dot com. Right now, our meat, I'm sorry,
on our purpose our poultry is sold out. However, we
are are coming back soon. Um. We will be fully
(19:08):
stopped shortly. And we're also adding a new spice called
in Spice. It's my first m delve into kind of
the sweet world. Everything else is savory. But they will
be up shortly, will be fully stopped. But you know,
Covid has hit the supply chain I think for everyone's business.
Oh absolutely, Now let's go back to sugar and spice now.
Because my I'm a award winning baker. So now you
(19:31):
you kind of kind of glossed over a little bit
you said, you get into that sweet chain to talk
about that a little bit more, because I do. I
do baking. Uh, because my my on my show, Reshaun's Kitchen,
I always open with a baking element. And my baker,
she is based in New York. And then my cook
he's based in Alabama, and I'm based in my office
kitchen in Atlanta, Georgia. So I zoomed to the kitchens
(19:53):
and deferent locations. So if you got some sweetness going
on there, I love to put it in her kitchen
and make it happen there. So let's talk about that.
Oh well, it really came down to like one of
my one of my family's um favorite things that I make,
UM is my peach cobb one of my candy an
there you go. What I did was I created a
spice that you can use for those things. But coincidentally,
(20:14):
as I was creating it, I realized and testing on
it on different things, I was like, Oh, this taste
good on French toes, this taste goed on popcorn. Um,
There's so many different but you can just have a
big sweet potato and just sprinkle it on. UM. It's
just the perfect combination of you know your favorite, your cinnamon,
your nutmeg, your your your sugar, um that goes on
(20:35):
those sorts of well, you know, nutmeg is my favorite
spice that you put nut You're coming and kitchen you
smell on nutmeg, you and the desserts on with me now,
I don't want to. I know we talked about a
lot of the things. I brought you to the show
to talk about Tyler's Paris House of Pain, the eight season,
which I'm which I'm excited about. A big fan of Tyler,
of course, and a big tan fan of a lot
of people you have on the show. Talk about your
(20:57):
experience and just working with this cast who, in some
way I can say, their their foods like crazy people.
There's out of control over the time. It's family. That's
what family looks like. I genuinely love working with this cast.
I love each and every one of them. We have
been doing this for a really long time, and it's
a joy. It's a joy to be able to be
(21:18):
in people's home every week, of people to be able
to come to sit with us, to laugh, to enjoy
our journey and just have that moment to just kind
of escape everything that may be going on. In the
world outside and just have some fun with us. So yeah,
we're we're an interesting bunch, but it's what family is.
But you won't let you won't let Van dress you,
(21:39):
you know, because Cassie can't dress him, and so you
have to remain you. You have to maintain your style.
You have to maintain you who you are and when
you when you do these different levels of comedy and
this is a multi more of over the top. Sometimes
I could say, because I yea it is, it's very
own you know brand comedy it is, but it's you.
(22:00):
You can't say is you can't watch it? Not lack.
I did not say that that I want that My
girl Castaid Davis, who I've been knowing for twenty five years.
She's also some Cassie. I love me some of them.
And like when I tell you, um, it's it's awesome.
Like we worked really hard. We do. We have a
schedule like no other when we're shooting. However, what makes
(22:20):
it amazing is the people who we spend it with,
not just the cast, but the crew. You know, a
lot of us from some of the cameramen have been
you know, the people that we worked with for the
past decade, you know, before when we were doing House
of Pain, before we took a little bit of a hiatus.
So I'm just I'm grateful that I get to go
to work and do what I do and do it
(22:42):
with a group of people that I love. Well, They're
importance part is that, you know also Cassie, she's also
an HBCU graduates well Cassie Davis as well, So you
surrounded with all that HBC you love. But the show
comes on every Tuesday on BT, and that the popularity
of working the show. I'm showing you take this during
the COVID UH restrictions and the COVID shutdown wasn't taped
(23:04):
doing that process. It was taped more recently in twenty one. Well,
we actually fulfilmed to a couple of projects during COVID lockdown.
One was a Lifetime movie in Vancouver, and then we
also did do the House of Pain. And with that
it was you know, interesting because we were quarantined and um,
you know, we had to do what was necessary to
(23:25):
be safe and and we were able to do that. Well,
let me just tell you if you know what thinks.
Like we said earlier, she said, Sean, whatever you're saying
by Tyler Parris's House of Pain, We're funny. It's the
number one community series on Cable for African Americans age eighteen,
four and four. Basically all black people in all black
people laughing at this show and loving this show. But
I would be remiss if I don't talk about your
(23:48):
your foundation. I wanted to get that in before we
Camp Kissi Foundation tell us about that. Why is important
that you are rallying behind that and the purpose? Well,
the camp Kissi Foundation is truly my baby. Um. I'm
sorry if you hear, because you know, doing these things
at home can be interesting, but Don has decided to
like do a whole I don't know what's happening in that,
(24:08):
but um, you know, the Campissie Foundation is absolutely my heart.
I started it over a decade ago and it's all
about empowerment and self esteem for youth. We do UM
programming throughout the year, but our signature program is um
is a free camp for girls eleven to sixteen in
the same time. I just I just I love it.
(24:29):
And what I know is you don't know the dream
and if you don't know what exists, so a big
portion of it is a very holistic approach to empowerment
and self esteem, and a lot of it is also
about exposure. And you know, I'm really excited this year
we're not going to do in person last year we
had to do it virtually this year as well. But
next year for twenty two, we will be back in
(24:52):
person and you can't wait. Well, it's important that you
say that when I but one of the main reasons
I wanted to bring you on the shows to tell
your story, your stories and the amazing story from the
HBC you grab what honors being an entrepreneur, being a
I want to say, a mentor or leader in the
fearless fun and also with your foundation. In closing, any
(25:12):
advice you want to give them to any of my entrepreneurs,
any tips of success that you'd like to share with him. Um,
you know, I feel like, follow your passion and the
money will come. So many people chase the money and
you have to be dedicated and passionate about what you
do and recognize that we all have different purposes and
everyone's not going to see you know your divine um
(25:35):
purpose in this lifetime. But you gotta remember it wasn't
a conference call. It was given to you, so just
keep pushing. It's it's it's hard out there because so
many people are like I don't want to work to
anybody else. I want to work myself. But understand, when
you're an entrepreneur, you definitely work harder than a nine.
But the differences you're sewing into your dreams um and
(25:57):
I say, just go for it. It only takes one love.
She's one of the stars of Tyler Perry's House of Pain,
is returning for the eighth season in the month of
Maybe t and BT her. Every episode can be seen
every Tuesday n p m. Eastern with a p M.
Central Keesha Night poem. Thank you for coming on Money
Making Conversations. Thank you cool. If you want to see
(26:18):
any episodes of Money Making Conversations are here, please go
to money Making Conversation dot com. I'm ra Sean McDonald.
I am your host. In this season of Giving Coals
has gifts for all your loved ones. For those who
like to keep it cozy, find fleeces, sweaters, loungeware, blankets
and throws, or support minority owned or founded brands by
(26:39):
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the spirit of Giving. Coals Cares is donating eight million
dollars to local nonprofits nationwide. Give with all your heart
this season with great gifts from Coals or coals dot com.
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In the time before a d n T fiber Internet shame, shame, shame.
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with a t n T fiber limited availability intelect areus
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restrictions apply. Hi, I'm Saracustack. I'm the NBA analyst for
they S Network, and I'm hosting a new podcast called
NBA Flashback. NBA Flashback takes you back to the best
moments in NBA history through exclusive archival audio from the
(00:44):
NBA vault, and each week we'll have new interviews with
the legends who were actually on the court. Check out
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chicken sit draft draft? Really? Giraffe? Giraffe, You're not gonna
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in the right Seat for their agent's eyes. Get It
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(01:26):
Right Seat brought to you by the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration and the AD Council. Welcome to Money Making Conversations.
It's the show that she has the secrets of success
experience firsthand by marketing and Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I
will know he's given me advice on many occasions. In
occasion didn't notice I'm not broke. You know. He'll be
(01:48):
interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. It's what
he likes to do. It's what he likes to share.
Now it's time to hear from my man, Rashan McDonald
money Making Conversations. We welcome to money Making Conversation. I
am your host from Sean McDonald. Like I said in
every episode when I start my shows, it's time to
stop reading other people's success stories and start writing your own.
(02:10):
I always tell people you're here about gifts. You're here
by passion. I'll tell people to leave with your gifts
and don't let your age, your friends, family, or coworkers
stop you from planning or living your dreams. The interviews
I do on money making conversation for you, I bringing
my friends. There are some of the most celebrities, CEOs,
entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. My next case of Latino
TV for a long time. But she's a she's a
(02:31):
game changer, she's an industry decision maker, she's a celebrity.
She's all those things that you read about and more.
Her name is Keisha night Poem. She's a graduate of
an HBCU spell One College and she did it with
honors with a BA in sociology and concentration in film.
She's an Emmy nominated actress, runs the Camp Kidzie Foundation,
the Fearless fun she co founded with her business partner
(02:53):
Arian Simone, and sells culinary products on the Keysha Kitchen website,
which is we're gonna talk about that because you know,
I got Shawn's kitchen, but we were doing what guess
what we wouldn't be doing none of this interview is.
It wasn't about the acting, So we gotta get to watch.
She's really on the show as well. She's starting to
hit comedy series Tyler Perry's House of Pain, which is
back this season for US eight seasons Aaron Tuesday nights
(03:15):
on BT Please working for the first time to money
making conversations. I'm sharre not the last time, Keisha night Pollium.
How you doing, Keisha great? How are you really really
you know, just going through this whole bio. I want
to start with the HBC you experienced because I'm currently
working on a documentary called Black Excellence, and I definitely
we've already lined you. If you don't know it, we're
(03:37):
definitely gonna line you up for an interview because you
are Black Excellence, you know. And we saw in twenty
how HBC US just moved to the forefront of conversation
and it's like like White America just discovered HBC used
for the very first time. Now you're graduate, I believe
in two thousand one. You graduated from HBC with honors,
like I said earlier, and you're minded with sociology. Tell
us about your HBC you experience and why it's important.
(04:00):
Why is this import actually the major with sociology with
a concentration and film um And I mean I loved
going to an HBCU. It was definitely one of the
best decisions that I've ever made. And it's it's in
my family. I have two brothers who are more House graduates,
and then my middle brother he's an Auburn graduate, but
we still love him. Um. But it's it's definitely an
(04:23):
experience like no one, like no other. Sound grateful for sure. Well,
you know the thing about it is that the moodelible.
Uh you know about Hollywood. You've been in Hollywood. Hollywood
is dominated by HBCU graduates, not only just in front
of the camera, but behind the camera. When I look
at the talent like you and you major in sociology
and my minor is sociology. When I graduated from college,
(04:45):
my major was in wasn't uh isn't I should say?
You didn't walk away from a degree of mathematics. But
it changed my life, you know. African American studies and
sociologists opened my eyes and really let me see that
my whole life information has and counseled you know, you
you realize what you didn't know? How did the sociology
impact you and why did you choose that as a degree?
(05:07):
For man? Well, one thing I'll say, is not just
an entertainment that you find a lot of HBC YOU graduates.
We you know, we'd be remiss not to say that
our vice President of the United States of America. Come on,
come on. So what I know is, you know, the
cremes della creme um in a multitude of fields are
HBC you graduate um. But you know, getting back to sociology,
(05:30):
you know, I chose that because I've always even though
you know, I went to college and I didn't mylene,
my I didn't major in theater per se, but I
did have a concentration in mass common and communications. And
the reason I chose sociology is because my job as
a filmmaker, my job as a director, producer, and actor,
is to bring these stories to life. And the best
(05:52):
way to bring the stories of real people to life
is to understand the behind the scenes to the dynamics
of you know, human can do and how people think,
and how society you know, shapes that image not only
of what you see but also yourself. So um, that's
why I decided to do sociology. Actually, my thesis my
senior year was on images of African American women and
(06:15):
black platation film. So the film piece has always been
intertwined in everything that I do. Well, I love the
way you articulated that because it allows me to transition
over to your fearless fund. The fearless fun that you
found it with your partner was also an HBC. You
graduate from family. I know her very well and as
a family graduate as well, and another and another black woman.
(06:37):
I am a person absolutely when we when we talk
about women and we know that the fastest growing entrepreneurship
is black females, UH in the business, why is it
important support African American women in the in this small
business arena? You know the bottom line? And it's so
funny because people are like, why support black women? UM,
(07:00):
Because at the end of the day, when you're looking
at venture capital, when you're looking at you know, investing
in businesses, it's it's a business. And if the reality
is yes, we are the fastest growing and the least funded,
but from a financial standpoint, we are doing some amazing
things and are amazing investment if all you're looking at
(07:21):
is green and not the color of your skin. UM.
And the biggest thing is we wanted to, you know,
move the needle in a meaningful way when we looked
at the landscape and recognizing that adventure capital UM funds
and in money is less than a percent point zero
zero zero six percent goes to women of color businesses
(07:41):
in twenty one. That's crazy. So you know what we
knew we had to do in order to change those dynamics.
We had to be we had to be players in
this game. And it shows that we made the right
move because Fearless Funds started out as a five million
dollar fund and has grown to a twenty five plus
million dollar fund um And I'm just really excited. We
(08:03):
have some amazing businesses in our pipeline and that we
already invested in. And you know what I know is
that it is not a founding issue. It is a
funding issue. It's finally here the season of celebration, and
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(09:09):
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You know when I when I look at you talking
when you're talking about funding, because I want to break
(10:14):
it down a little bit so like a common sense.
It's this more like we see on TV Shark Tank
when you say funding and you know people come in,
you buy our percentage of their business. Is that how
you funded? Really, it's it's you know that every deal
is structured very differently. However, it is, you know, an
investment um in exchange for an equity state in the company.
(10:36):
And you know, one of the things that businesses need
is to infuse capital in order to you know, scale
and grow their business quickly. And a lot of us,
as black women, don't have access to that capital. And
also a lot of us in our community just have
no clue about the space, no clue about you know,
when you're building the business, you know what is even
(10:56):
scaling me? You know, what are the docks that I
need to have and play us to even be venture
venture or even investment um just to even garner those investments.
We don't have access to that information. So what we've
also learned during this process of the Fearless Fund is
that a lot of it is also just the information
(11:18):
sharing and infusing in our community because it just doesn't
exist and and we have to be the ones to
pay it forward, not just with the financial piece, which
is very important, but also the education piece. Well, the
education is really the key. You know, what you know
and what you gain from information is how much you
can make and how you can create your status in society.
(11:38):
When I look at what you're doing with this fun
it also it starts as an idea, and I really
applaud you because you're going into uncharted territories. I can
say that because I've been in this business low enough
to know. And also when you just said the amount
of percentages that would already apply to African American women
as entrepreneur opportunities from a from a funding standpoint was
(11:58):
ridiculously low. So when you when you broke this idea, Okay, well,
you're sitting around with your friends and who did you
go to? Did you put together a business player? What
did you do. Honestly, that's really how it happened. You know,
it was about how do we become, you know, a
part of the solution. And if you want funding to
go to black women, you need to fund them. And
(12:18):
if we fund them, that means we need to be
on the other side at the table. And and that's
really it was as simple as that. It was as
simple as we know that these businesses are viable, that
they're thriving, that they need capital, and if if everyone
else isn't going to do it and believe in them,
that we have to be the ones to do it.
And it's crazy that, you know when we did, when
(12:39):
we started The Fearless fun we didn't realize that we
were the first. We didn't realize we were the only
at the time women of color who were specifically investing
in women of color businesses. We did it because we
saw a gap in the marketplace and we saw something
we recognized we need to be a solution to a problem.
So once we did that, you know, Forbes and all
of these other different magazines and article and articles, and
(12:59):
you know, people are reaching out to us to hear
more about our story. And the reality is is that
it just really fell an alignment from a social justice
perspective with everything that was going on in the world,
you know, with UM, with everything going on with a pandemic.
There was also a big social and justice upheaval with
(13:19):
the Black Lives Matter movement and all of these different
things where there were so many major companies that were
making financial um declarations of how they would support and
where they would invest. And I'm grateful that they did
so because then they have to, you know, put their
money where their mouth was, and they created a space
for us to get you know, millions invested from PayPal,
(13:41):
from Bank of America, from Costco, you know, to all
of these major companies who now have to back up
the financial promise that has been made to our community.
If dog people made dog food, it wouldn't be sold
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here as a guy with his own catchphrase. I appreciate
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(14:46):
learn more about wildfire prevention, brought to you by the U. S.
Forest Service, your state Forrester, and the ad Council. And
we're live here outside the Perez family home, just waiting
for the and there they go, almost on time to
this morning. Mom is coming out the front door strong
with a double arm kid carry. Looks like dad has
the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh, but
(15:08):
the diaper bag wasn't closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere,
but Mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle
for the toddler, and now the eldest daughter, who looks
to be about nine or ten, has secured herself in
the booster seat. Dad SIPs the bad clothes and they're off,
but looks like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is
(15:30):
still on the roof of the car and there it goes. Oh,
that's a shame that mug was a fan favorite. Don't
sweat the small stuff. Just nailed the big stuff, like
making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right
seat for their agent's eyes. Learn more n h t
s a dot gov slash the Right Seat visits n
h s A dot gov slash the Right Seat brought
(15:51):
to you by Mitza and the ad Council. Oh this
is I was just enjoying this conversation, just watching you
articulate these values that so many people would need to hear.
Now that my final question in regards to the Fears Fund,
this is money making conversations. Okay, how can they reach
out to be a participant of feel out of applications?
How does that process work? Well, you can go to
(16:12):
Fearless dot fund um. That's our website and all of
the information is right there on the website. You know,
we are investing in pre seed seed in series and businesses. Um,
and all of the requirements are right there on the
sun we congratulations. Well, let's go onto my favorite part
of the conversations, food, food, food food. I have a
show called Richard's Kitchen of an award winning baker and uh,
(16:34):
whenever I have the guest who comes on, who has spices, uh,
food samplings? Uh, the devices for that the culinary world.
What got you into the culinary world? I love food.
I love cooking, um, and my whole family does. Actually,
so I come from a long line of from my
mom to my dad, my brothers, we all love food,
(16:56):
we love cooking. And the reality is, specifically I can
speak to our being a black home. The heart of
the home is always the kitchen. That's where you gather.
That's where you know, you talk about your day, where
you download, where you have the most lively you know, conversations,
debate whatever you want, a column, and it all centers
around that whole Sunday dinner field. And that's how it
(17:17):
was and is in in my family. UM. So with
that and my love to cook, I was like, you know,
this is a lane that I don't again see anyone
else who looks like me. And so I decided to
to to do cacious kitchen. Um. It was just simply,
you know, so many of my friends, like they always
joked for like, oh, she's like I'm like the black
(17:38):
heart Steward, Like even I was the one people were
coming over, you know, cooking up dinners for all my friends. Um.
But I realized that, you know, in this age of
Uber and all of these diff uber eats or you know,
just all of these fast delivery services, people fully cook anymore.
All they have to do is order it and it
shows up at their house. So that kind of the
(18:00):
joy of it had been gone. And I know a
lot of the joy of it is not knowing what
to do, like how do I what do I put on? What?
How does it work? So that's how I, you know,
made it really really simple. I have a poultry and
meat and all purpose season um. And the reality is
they work good on those categories of things, but they
also are amazing and vegetables and potatoes and and you
name it so fish. Um. So that's really just how
(18:23):
it came about. Well, you know the thing about it,
Like I said, potatoes, I love. I can't get enough
of baked potatoes. I love vegetables, and so just having that,
So this multipurpose season and all purpose season for that
is a blessing. And also have a deal with while
all Alaskan sound where they? So I when you said fish,
I leaned forward. That's what I gotta use you. Now?
(18:45):
Do you now if I go online right now, can
I buy it? Or how does it working? Right now?
You're definitely have our word running a sale. Um, we
have our poultry as well as our all purpose on
Keisha's Kitchen dot com. Right now, our meat, I'm sorry,
on our purpose our poultry is sold out. However, we
are are coming back soon. Um. We will be fully
(19:08):
stopped shortly. And we're also adding a new spice called
in Spice. It's my first m delve into kind of
the sweet world. Everything else is savory. But they will
be up shortly, will be fully stopped. But you know,
Covid has hit the supply chain I think for everyone's business.
Oh absolutely, Now let's go back to sugar and spice now.
Because my I'm a award winning baker. So now you
(19:31):
you kind of kind of glossed over a little bit
you said, you get into that sweet chain to talk
about that a little bit more, because I do. I
do baking. Uh, because my my on my show, Reshaun's Kitchen,
I always open with a baking element. And my baker,
she is based in New York. And then my cook
he's based in Alabama, and I'm based in my office
kitchen in Atlanta, Georgia. So I zoomed to the kitchens
(19:53):
and deferent locations. So if you got some sweetness going
on there, I love to put it in her kitchen
and make it happen there. So let's talk about that.
Oh well, it really came down to like one of
my one of my family's um favorite things that I make,
UM is my peach cobb one of my candy an
there you go. What I did was I created a
spice that you can use for those things. But coincidentally,
(20:14):
as I was creating it, I realized and testing on
it on different things, I was like, Oh, this taste
good on French toes, this taste goed on popcorn. Um,
There's so many different but you can just have a
big sweet potato and just sprinkle it on. UM. It's
just the perfect combination of you know your favorite, your cinnamon,
your nutmeg, your your your sugar, um that goes on
(20:35):
those sorts of well, you know, nutmeg is my favorite
spice that you put nut You're coming and kitchen you
smell on nutmeg, you and the desserts on with me now,
I don't want to. I know we talked about a
lot of the things. I brought you to the show
to talk about Tyler's Paris House of Pain, the eight season,
which I'm which I'm excited about. A big fan of Tyler,
of course, and a big tan fan of a lot
of people you have on the show. Talk about your
(20:57):
experience and just working with this cast who, in some
way I can say, their their foods like crazy people.
There's out of control over the time. It's family. That's
what family looks like. I genuinely love working with this cast.
I love each and every one of them. We have
been doing this for a really long time, and it's
a joy. It's a joy to be able to be
(21:18):
in people's home every week, of people to be able
to come to sit with us, to laugh, to enjoy
our journey and just have that moment to just kind
of escape everything that may be going on. In the
world outside and just have some fun with us. So yeah,
we're we're an interesting bunch, but it's what family is.
But you won't let you won't let Van dress you,
(21:39):
you know, because Cassie can't dress him, and so you
have to remain you. You have to maintain your style.
You have to maintain you who you are and when
you when you do these different levels of comedy and
this is a multi more of over the top. Sometimes
I could say, because I yea it is, it's very
own you know brand comedy it is, but it's you.
(22:00):
You can't say is you can't watch it? Not lack.
I did not say that that I want that My
girl Castaid Davis, who I've been knowing for twenty five years.
She's also some Cassie. I love me some of them.
And like when I tell you, um, it's it's awesome.
Like we worked really hard. We do. We have a
schedule like no other when we're shooting. However, what makes
(22:20):
it amazing is the people who we spend it with,
not just the cast, but the crew. You know, a
lot of us from some of the cameramen have been
you know, the people that we worked with for the
past decade, you know, before when we were doing House
of Pain, before we took a little bit of a hiatus.
So I'm just I'm grateful that I get to go
to work and do what I do and do it
(22:42):
with a group of people that I love. Well, They're
importance part is that, you know also Cassie, she's also
an HBCU graduates well Cassie Davis as well, So you
surrounded with all that HBC you love. But the show
comes on every Tuesday on BT, and that the popularity
of working the show. I'm showing you take this during
the COVID UH restrictions and the COVID shutdown wasn't taped
(23:04):
doing that process. It was taped more recently in twenty one. Well,
we actually fulfilmed to a couple of projects during COVID lockdown.
One was a Lifetime movie in Vancouver, and then we
also did do the House of Pain. And with that
it was you know, interesting because we were quarantined and um,
you know, we had to do what was necessary to
(23:25):
be safe and and we were able to do that. Well,
let me just tell you if you know what thinks.
Like we said earlier, she said, Sean, whatever you're saying
by Tyler Parris's House of Pain, We're funny. It's the
number one community series on Cable for African Americans age eighteen,
four and four. Basically all black people in all black
people laughing at this show and loving this show. But
I would be remiss if I don't talk about your
(23:48):
your foundation. I wanted to get that in before we
Camp Kissi Foundation tell us about that. Why is important
that you are rallying behind that and the purpose? Well,
the camp Kissi Foundation is truly my baby. Um. I'm
sorry if you hear, because you know, doing these things
at home can be interesting, but Don has decided to
like do a whole I don't know what's happening in that,
(24:08):
but um, you know, the Campissie Foundation is absolutely my heart.
I started it over a decade ago and it's all
about empowerment and self esteem for youth. We do UM
programming throughout the year, but our signature program is um
is a free camp for girls eleven to sixteen in
the same time. I just I just I love it.
(24:29):
And what I know is you don't know the dream
and if you don't know what exists, so a big
portion of it is a very holistic approach to empowerment
and self esteem, and a lot of it is also
about exposure. And you know, I'm really excited this year
we're not going to do in person last year we
had to do it virtually this year as well. But
next year for twenty two, we will be back in
(24:52):
person and you can't wait. Well, it's important that you
say that when I but one of the main reasons
I wanted to bring you on the shows to tell
your story, your stories and the amazing story from the
HBC you grab what honors being an entrepreneur, being a
I want to say, a mentor or leader in the
fearless fun and also with your foundation. In closing, any
(25:12):
advice you want to give them to any of my entrepreneurs,
any tips of success that you'd like to share with him. Um,
you know, I feel like, follow your passion and the
money will come. So many people chase the money and
you have to be dedicated and passionate about what you
do and recognize that we all have different purposes and
everyone's not going to see you know your divine um
(25:35):
purpose in this lifetime. But you gotta remember it wasn't
a conference call. It was given to you, so just
keep pushing. It's it's it's hard out there because so
many people are like I don't want to work to
anybody else. I want to work myself. But understand, when
you're an entrepreneur, you definitely work harder than a nine.
But the differences you're sewing into your dreams um and
(25:57):
I say, just go for it. It only takes one love.
She's one of the stars of Tyler Perry's House of Pain,
is returning for the eighth season in the month of
Maybe t and BT her. Every episode can be seen
every Tuesday n p m. Eastern with a p M.
Central Keesha Night poem. Thank you for coming on Money
Making Conversations. Thank you cool. If you want to see
(26:18):
any episodes of Money Making Conversations are here, please go
to money Making Conversation dot com. I'm ra Sean McDonald.
I am your host. In this season of Giving Coals
has gifts for all your loved ones. For those who
like to keep it cozy, find fleeces, sweaters, loungeware, blankets
and throws, or support minority owned or founded brands by
(26:39):
giving gifts from Human Nation and Shame, moisture and in
the spirit of Giving. Coals Cares is donating eight million
dollars to local nonprofits nationwide. Give with all your heart
this season with great gifts from Coals or coals dot com.
Look for your children's eyes and you will discover the
true magic of a fullest. Find a forest near you
(27:02):
and start exploring it. Discover the Forest dot Org brought
to you by the United States Forest Service and the
AD Council. What girls in the forest, our imagination, and
our family bonds. The forest is closer than you think.
Find a forest near you and discover the Forest dot
Org brought to you by the United States Forest Service
(27:22):
and the AD Council.
Host
Rushion McDonald
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