E333: Lecrae, Kim Coles, Will Campbell, Ron Gillyard & Michelle Buteau

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
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 giving me
advice to many occasions and occasion didn't notice I'm not broke.
You know. He'll be interview with 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

(00:25):
from my man, Rashan McDonald. Money Making Conversations. Here we come. Yes,
Welcome to Money Making Conversation. I am your host, Rashan McDonald.
Each money Making Conversation is about entrepreneurship and entertainment. I
recognize that we all have different definitions of success. For
some it's ascizable paychecks. Mine is helping people wake up
and inspiring them to accomplish their goals and live their

(00:47):
very best life. These are my passions. That's what I'm
trying to do for everybody who listening to my show,
some people catching on video, majority listening on via podcast.
I want you to stop tripping over small challenges and
preparator rise above the bigger ops circles that life will
present to you, and it's very important to understand it's
all about you. Focus on you will yourself to success.

(01:08):
That's the story of my next guest, Lacre. He is
recognized as the first artist to have an album hit
the charts at number one for both Billboard two hundred
and the Gospel Charts simultaneously. His ninth album and accompanying
documentary that's going to be associated with the album, Restoration,
features artists across all genres, including my Man John Legend,

(01:28):
my Man, Kurt Franklin, and y k O Cyrus. His
work is fueled by building bridges, changing narratives, empowering their disenfranchised,
and restoring the dignity of those on the margins. In
this new book, which I read this morning, I am restored.
How I lost my religion but found my faith. He
shares how he found the courage to stop ignoring his
trauma and instead to begin working through it step by step.

(01:52):
Please welcome the money making conversations my man Lokraiz and
say about you. Look at far I brought your online up. Yeah,
you know the beauty of you, Like I tell you,
the first time I got to see you perform whats
uh in Houston that was doing the Super Bowl weekend

(02:13):
and and even even though I didn't know you, I
knew there was a gifted person speaking there singing at
that time. But at the time also you will dealing
with a lot of trauma in your life, and but
you're able to mask that and not allow it to
affect your abilities as an author, performing artists. Talk to
those different steps. And then we're gonna go through the

(02:35):
book that uh wonderful book, I won't wonderfully honest book
and I think a necessary read that I'm recommend to
all my all, my putting it in my mailing list
that goes out to fans on Wednesday, which is tomorrow,
ninety thousand people. You know, I got over a million
social media follows, so you'll see me posting it there.
Because when you when people release information to the general

(02:57):
population because you are celebrity. We talk about it in
your book being a celebrity, and sometimes being a celebrity
allows you to be a victim of your success because
people can to dissect a celebrity or an important person
versus an everyday person kind of like skates through And
you know, your book tells that story, but talk about
you know, performing even though you're dealing with a lot

(03:19):
of emotional drama. Yeah. You know, sometimes I think you
you wear that face that you just put on, those
lenses that allow you to just keep going and pushing
through without dealing with the problems and the trauma. And
you allow uh successes to define you instead of, um,

(03:40):
you know, you being successful out of a healthy and
whole version of yourself. You're allowing the successes to convince
you that you are healthy and whole. And I think
that's that's a very different thing. And so for me,
it was it was a matter of becoming a healthy,
whole individual and dealing with some historical traumas and um

(04:02):
and recognizing that, uh, you know, I was a slave
to uh what other people wanted of me and not
being who I was created to be and uh and
that that that meant all? Did you say that? Now?
With your book titled you Know I Am Restored How
I Lost my religion but found my faith, I gotta
ask you what is the difference between religion and faith?

(04:25):
That's a great question. Um, you know, I think, uh
a lot of us are tied to religion and religion
is essentially performing to be accepted. Religion is performing trying
to do all the right things so that God will
accept you or maybe that other people will accept you.
And and faith or relationship is more about saying, I

(04:47):
know I've been accepted, so let me function out of
that acceptance. Let me do the right things because I've
been accepted. And so I always say it like this.
If I come home to my wife and I knock
on the door and I handed some flowers and say, EGO,
I'm supposed to do this, that's religion, and I'm probably
gonna squeak on the couch that uh but but but

(05:08):
but faith or relationship is me coming home and say, man,
I've been thinking about you all day and you just
you're so wonderful and I appreciate you so much. I
just brought you these flowers because you're amazing. And I
don't I have faith. You know, I don't know what's
gonna happen, but probably something is gonna happen because of
that reality. And that's that's really interesting you to say that,

(05:28):
because people, you know, people will question your faith before
they question your religion. They were, and you know, it's
really interesting that that happens like that. And that's why
I asked that question between religion and faith, because people
will they will challenge your faith. They'll challenge you because
your faith can be tied to so many things. You know,
where you live, how you walk, how you talk, or

(05:49):
how much money you make, how much what your expectations
for yourself, for your family, that can be that word
faith has such an expansive term to it, but it's
also tied to religion and it allows you to its
over when I'm reading a book which is, like I said,
a third read about From your Childhood to Adulthood, and Uh,
it really amazed me because if the talk of being

(06:11):
a healthy person, which is really key in the day,
and I think that plays in every chapter in the
book as you talk about being a man and being
a young man and being a young boy, meeting your
father and and he picking you up and you're thinking
that's a great moment of life and then gets what
he basically kicked you to the curve, which was one
of those unhealthy moments in your life when you're trying

(06:32):
to live a life as a healthy person. Correct, Yeah, absolutely,
And I mean that's that's that's A huge part of
it is is, uh, you know, not having those those models.
You know, you can only be what you've seen, you
can only become what you've bailed and so not having
those models becomes a traumatic thing for for a lot

(06:53):
of us. And and uh, and so I'm just that's
really interesting when I talk to you. The first time
I talked to you, like could say, it was like
I knew you, but we were developing a relationship. Now
the second time around, I'm much more comfortable on how
HARD speak to you. And it's really based on reading
this book. And because we all have dark sides. You know,

(07:14):
when I say dark sides, secrets we don't reveal. We
lived through life with it, but we won't tell even
our closest loved ones. You know, I have them, and
you're sharing a lot of them in this book. And
you know, and and I have been fortunate to to
have been a popular stand up comedian and you and
in your book you're talking about you know, when you're

(07:35):
when you're in a church, you knows you kind of
know who your audience is. And I remember when I
was in the comedy club, I kind of know who
my audience is. But when I got booked in a
nightclub or booked in a private party, I really didn't
know who I was performing too, and it always put
additional stress in my mind on how to relate to
these people are if they will relate to me? And

(07:58):
you know when you talk about your spirits opening up
for Kevin Hard at the you know, at these at
the Mercedes being super Dome and you're looking at the audience,
who you know, we're here for Kevin Harll okay, and
but you're going out there not knowing How does that?
How does that work in your mind when you when
you're in that environment, you know you know they're here

(08:18):
for the because he's filled up, He filled up the dome. Okay,
You're blessed to be an opening act for him, and
because it allows you to grow your brand? How does
that trigger in your mind from a performing standpoint, who
you are you trying to relate to everybody? You're trying
to just get them to understand the CRAE experience. Yeah,

(08:39):
you know what it is is a lot of it
is like you said, understanding how to read the room
is understanding what people are there for and um and
and finding some common ground and and being able to
connect to people in a real way. And I think
authenticity is is where you can always win. You know,
people craveing longer for authenticity. But it's a hard thing

(09:01):
for us to do because we're so worried about what
everybody thinks. But how how authentic and connecting what it
has been for me to just come out and say,
I know, y'all at for me. I know you'll want
to see gem hard. You know, that's that's immediately gonna
endear people to me, immediately, gonna make them say, okay,
keeping it real and now all I hear what this

(09:22):
guy has to say. And so I think that's that's it.
It's a big piece of life, you know, because of
the fact that you know, eleven years old, you walk
on stage and you bust out with a wrap and
everybody now not gives you value. And and in my
book and your book, you know, and I'm end of
your look craze here this book I am restored, How

(09:43):
to How I Lost my religion but found my faith.
Each chapter is about value and that's the part of healthiness.
But in order to achieve value, if I'm reading this wrong,
you have to admit and go public with what's bothering
you inside? With that draw that alma, you know, that
chaos as you talk about, and when did you really

(10:05):
start realizing that because black the Black community is really
interesting community. Were we are in denial community, were in
denial about COVID and aint, when the denial about our
eating habits, when denial about gay gay community, we're denied.
We we're just an in denial community. And it holds

(10:26):
us back a lot. And so and it also it's
in deniable when it comes to mental and social stress,
you know, not admitting that we we have issues that
should be somebody should be talking to us about, and
that that that false ability to move forward, not emitting
that we are a flawed community, and uh holds us back.

(10:48):
And so that in it turn, in turn, will did
some some setbacks for you because you couldn't figure out
what was wrong with you. You're you're you're you're hitting
the hammer on a nail. Uh. A big piece of
our struggle, um is what what what what someone called

(11:08):
post traumatic slave syndrome right and and and post traumatic
slave syndrome is we have adopted and adapted these views
that were instilled in our ancestors that we are. We're
almost like um uh cattle, and we can just be
driven and and pushed and pushed and pushed until no end.

(11:30):
And the problem is we're not addressing our traumas, we're
not addressing our pains, we're not addressing our fears. We're
treating ourselves like animals. You know, I say sometimes, you know,
you can be a speedboat or you can be a
raft or a sailboat. And a speedboat is the thing
that can plow through you know, and just I'm just

(11:50):
gonna make it all the way, especially going around the gas,
and then you're gonna be out in the middle of
the ocean just floating. And and nobody wants to be
a raft where you don't have any sense of direction.
And so the reality is we have to become sailboat.
And the sailboat takes us acknowledging the way the wind
is blowing so you can adjust your sales. It takes
a little bit of work, it takes some thought, it

(12:10):
takes some time, and not just plowing through stuff. And
I think that's a part of our problem. Um. We
want to catch up, you know, in society, we've been
held back so long and we're trying to catch up,
so we won't acknowledge our emotions or the problems, and
the pain is just too much to acknowledge, so we're
live in denial instead of becoming healthy and whole um,

(12:31):
which is you know, if you want to be successful
in life, it's gonna first start with with being healthy
and whole. Everything else is in addition to that if
you want to you know, every million dollars you make
is has way more value if you're healthy and the
whole person. But if you are an emotional and mental
and spiritual disaster, a million dollars is not going to
make you any better. You're listening to money making conversations

(12:54):
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to money making Conversations UM your host Sean McDonald. I

(14:00):
always help people. My my goals in life are tied
to my experience, because not my not my money. Because
if I never go in the deal, I mean to
be honest with the crew, I'm never going to deal
trying to figure out how much money I'm gonna make.
It's about the relationships. He's about to what do I
get out of it for my brand, for my career.
Because I always know that I'm gonna make money. That's
just that's just an idea. My wife would go, I

(14:22):
don't know why you ever worry about money, because you're
gonna make it. You're gonna figure out how to make it.
And That's just been a skill set I've had since
I was seventeen, eighteen years old, and I've carried it
through because I'm just a guy who sits around just
thinking about how to make money, and and and and
when I when I look at your your brand, you know,
you know your entrepreneur, you're an activist, you know you.

(14:42):
Of course we know your talent from you working on
this documentary with your new your ninth album. All these
different layers started where though, you know, because like you said,
you know, you know you all, you know because your
father was in your life, your your mom. You put
you in a situation with what with a man who
who physically abused you from a standpoint, struck you, and

(15:04):
which which intimidated you and didn't put that with that
decision make you know whether he could come back into
the house on you, okay? And what was you supposed
to say no? You know? And so so where where
along the way did you start shaping the desire to
be this be la craze m M. You know what

(15:28):
I think, um, the journey of all that pain and trauma,
UM that the place where I found the most health
was being was expressing myself, you know, expressing myself through
initially poetry and then it turned into music and and
that that's a even if you go to therapy now,

(15:48):
they'll tell you that's one of the biggest things you
need to do. You need to start writing things down
because something happens with your mind, if your brain chemistry.
Once you start writing out the things that that that
your experience and it's journal and or a diary, it
is very helpful for you. And so that that's where
I learned the healthy technique. The problem for me was
some of the darkest corners of my world. You know,

(16:11):
I was not ready to deal with. I was not
ready to to wrestle with in the process, and so
it took a mental collapse for me. It took me,
took my mind and my body having to shut down.
You know they some people call a CEO syndrome where
the stresses of life just overwhelm you all at one
one time, and the body keeps the score. So your

(16:32):
mind may say, well, what happened to me attend was
was you know, a million years ago, but your body
is saying it might as well have been yesterday. So
you're just piling up stuff, all the trauma from your childhood,
and now you're in your adulthood and maybe you have
kids and that's adding more stuff. And now you're working
on deals and you're working on career. All this stuff
is piling, piling up, and if you're not addressing it,

(16:53):
eventually it's gonna catch up to you. And so you
you have to be able to decompress and address uh,
those those particular issues in order to to find It's
really important that people understand that you have to find yourself.
And despite all my success La Craze, I didn't really
find myself till I was in my forties. You know,
people will tell me I was showing you successful, But

(17:14):
I was successful because I accomplished things here. But when
I say that I was successful because I accomplished things,
that doesn't necessarily meant that I was accomplishing things that
made me happy. And that's why I always speak to
people is that you know a lot of people there
they'll stopped there in their career because guess what, they're
not happy making money that way, and so guess what,

(17:36):
it'll eventually catch up with you. That's why companies file bankruptcy.
That's why companies closed because the vision of the vision,
they're a person, visionary person who was tied to it
just stopped thinking because that didn't make them happy. And
so this book, when I talk, when I listened to you,
it is a journey in finding your happiness, because if

(17:57):
you don't find that happiness, there's not a fifty year
old krez sixty year old Kreze that we have today.
Am I correct when I say that? Absolutely? Absolutely, yeah,
you won't you I won't. It's not gonna. It's not gonna.
You're never gonna ride there, and and and that's you
know case. And point is that I think a lot

(18:18):
of times you don't even know the things that will
ultimately bring you happiness or bring you joy because you
haven't done enough work to know who you are. And
so you're looking at what everyone else has, thinking that well,
if I get what they get, then i'll be happy,
then I'll be healthy, instead of understanding who you are,

(18:39):
and you're wiring and and and realize that no, this
is what's gonna bring you that. And I had to
go through that exact same process in me, thinking that
if I could just be as famous as this person
or as renowned as this person, And truthfully, that's not
the way that God created me. You know, I'm I'm
an entrepreneur by nature. You know, I like performing and

(19:00):
I like art. But end of the day, I found
a lot more purpose when I'm building things and I'm
architecting things, and I'm giving other people opportunities. And so
when I'm using all my energy on creating opportunities for myself,
I'm not as I'm not as happy. But when I'm
creating opportunities for other people, you know, then I find

(19:20):
more I find a more fulfilling. I want to do
good in society, but I also want to do well financially.
So you can do you do it well. You can't
do good but doing, but you have to be happy
doing it though for long term. And that's what I'm
talking about in his interview. I don't want everybody to
hear this is that you know, you go out there
and make a lot of money. I would tell people

(19:42):
life should not be tied to the lottery effect, you know,
just waiting on that money, waiting on that moment, you
build a career in your and you and you people
around you that can support you. I know I've survived
this career because I've had a couple of key people
in my life that whenever I doubted myself the craze,
they told me be Rashwan, be with Shaw. They should
be You. Don't care what they're saying. Do be you now?

(20:06):
Be you has helped out a lot of people. Here
be you trust you? And because because success man and
in reading this book and reading about the chaos, reading
about the trauma. We talk about the molestation, the we
can talk about the physical abuse. Let's talk about the
life abusive as a successful people can go through if

(20:29):
you don't have the right people around you and you
don't admit that you need help, right, yes, Oh my goodness.
You know what It's funny if if you The problem
for a lot of us is that there is freedom
in confession, but there's always gonna be suffering and suppression

(20:52):
and and and denial will always lead to death. If
you're talking about a life threatening disease, right you, you
cannot deny that you have it, it's gonna be detrimental
for you, you know, And acknowledging is always painful, but

(21:12):
denial is always deadly. And that's what I want people
to understand. Acknowledging is gonna be painful, but denial is deadly.
When you can acknowledge that you have these issues in
your life, then it is hurtful. It is painful, it
is hard to to plow through, but to deny it,
it's deadly for you. And so you'll never be who
you were created to be. You'll never walk in the

(21:35):
fullness that you were created to walk in if you
keep denying you know the issues that are going on
in your world, and I think a lot of us
just don't realize that. Um, you know, my story is
is like you said, there's there's all the major traumas
that you can experience. You know, I've gone through them,
and so you know, I don't care what you've experienced

(21:57):
in life. I don't care if it's death, division, UH, discrimination, divorce, debt,
um all those things can be restored if you can
acknowledge the pain that they have brought you and then
move forward. You know, when reading your book, UH, interviewing
the Craze just in case people may have just tuned in,
you know, his book I'm were discussing I Am Restored,

(22:20):
how I lost my religion but found my faith, a
couple of courtions. I want to bring back up now
the book, the album. Want to flip to the album
right quick, because you're doing a documentary tied to the album. Okay?
Is that is that? Is that going to be a documentary?
We'll see you on like a Netflix or an Amazon.
It's just something that's available that you're putting out that
so we can go to your your website, you know,

(22:42):
I mean your YouTube challenge to see Yeah, so you
can check this out. It's the video series is uh
is on YouTube now and and there'll be a longer
form documentary that will come out down the line. But
but this this web series, you can see me addressing
the chaos in my world. You know, I meet my

(23:03):
father for the very first time on this on this
video series, and so people are able to see you
know that you're trying to run a successful business, you're
trying to raise a family, you're trying to be a leader,
and you have to deal with meeting your father for
the first time and many people would run from that
reality and say I got way too much for my
plate to be dealing with that. But I knew that

(23:24):
there was a piece of me that would not be
whole until I had that meeting. I didn't have any expectations.
I wasn't saying, now me and him are gonna be
best of friends and we're gonna make up for lost time.
But I knew that I had questions that I wanted
to ask, and maybe I wouldn't get the answers I wanted,
but I knew I didn't want to go to my
grave without asking some of those some of those questions.

(23:45):
And that's, uh, hey man, you know, I'm Roushan McDonald.
I've done a lot of great things in my life.
But if you put together a documentary, let's talk if
you if you don't have anybody else talking to you,
because because I I I draw talking to you, and
you have a voice that um that shapes this world,

(24:05):
not just the community, this world, and uh you articulate,
you're smart and look good and plus more important that
you have a story to tell that is tied to trauma,
It's tied to honesty, and it's tied to faith. Okay,
let's feel really okay. And uh and and and it's
important that you know I've learned when I when I

(24:26):
talk to people that have a unique point of points
of views, that I have to let them know what
I think. And it's something that you know. Your YouTube
channel is great. In fact, I'm I'm I'm gonna look
at the interview that you have when you first met
your day and I probably put in our newsletter to
let people see another side of you, honest side of you,
because in Hollywood, it's really interesting that you know, we're

(24:47):
we're put under and that's just the celebrities or athletes
were put on the microscope based on what you know,
but not the life that we live. When I say
that is that you know, it's we have made up
on when we hit camera, we we speak a certain way.
A lot of times when we hit the camera, we
perform a certain way. When we walk off that stage
and get out of that arena, then that's a different life.

(25:09):
And sometimes were held accountable to what they saw on
TV or what they saw in the movie or what
they saw on the performance. How do you deal with that?
Lokraiz mm hmm. Man, you know honestly, you've got to uh.
A lot of it is discernment. A lot of it
is is recognizing and realizing that some relationships you walk into, uh,

(25:36):
you know, relationally, and some people walk into transactionally, you know,
and you've got to be able to decide which is
which because a lot of the relationships in the entertainment
space are transactional that they may seem like their relational
people may come at you and say, hey, let's let's
hang out, let's be friends, but it's gonna take some
time for you to understand who your real friends are

(25:56):
and not to not to allow people who say, you know,
this is what they think about you, and and not
tell a lot of those voices to dictate who you
really are. So I look like being a professional athlete
is everyone's gonna say something from the sideline, But you
got to realize who your teammates are and who are
the people who want the best for you. Those are
the voices that you that you have to listen to.

(26:18):
And so that's that's one of the biggest things that
I had to learn early on, is that you know,
all those voices are not voices that I need to
listen and read the book. Look crazy, um, when you
brought up Calvinism. Okay, now you know, uh, A very
few people know Calvinism. You know. I am early in

(26:38):
my college career, I took a European history and I
learned about the Roman Catholicism and how and how Calvinism
was born out. They were just tired. It was tired,
and so so I just smiled when I got to
that part of your book. I go, wow, I've read
a lot of books in my life. This is probably

(26:58):
the first book I read since college that articulated Calvinism.
And it was important in your development. And so tell
everybody about that, because that's why I said, Man, you know,
when I read that, I said, I gotta have a
bigger part. Well, you're not gonna I'm based in Atlanta.
I just bought it. I just bought it for my

(27:18):
office in Atlanta. I'm headquartered here and uh, fourth quarters
gonna be amazing. And it was just so many things
in that book that needs to be You need to
be talking to other people with it based on it.
You understand that I'm saying this is a this is
a series to me, and that you should be hunsting
that you should be translating that's that's black, that's white,

(27:43):
that's that's feel with different different layers as minority community,
because like you, like you, I had success as a
stand up comedian in the white community before Death Comedy
Jam came out there. And then when I proceeded to
be koind of go over to death commity and looked
at me like I didn't belong. Hey, uh, you can't
make black people. Okay, don't do that. And I had

(28:03):
to prove myself the same thing with my business world.
I graduated with a math degree and I worked in
and went to work for ib AM. I to achieve
for one with deemed the ultimate passage into the white
corporate world. I was working for Big Blue. You know,
that's all you want, you know, So that wasn't enough
for me. I said, I wanted to be an entertainer.
I wanted to be a stand up comedian. And so

(28:24):
there's so many layers that talking to you and reading
this book allows me to understand that you have a
unique point of view that really this book is cool.
For man, it's some other stories we gotta tell, brother,
you and I gotta tell together. I like that, I
like that you. You you use somebody what we say,

(28:45):
has range, you know what I mean. A lot of
a lot of folks, you know, they can walk in
a lot of different worlds. That that shows that they
have some range. They've been exposed to a lot of
different places. So I find that interesting that that that
that you even know some of those those things, that
just shows your range. So I love it. I might
have to just try to pull up on your build
if I was just you know, man, you know the

(29:06):
fact that you wrote a fantastic book. But but I
don't want to remiss tell everybody about Calvinism before we
leave this show, because I tell you something I tell
that changed my life man in college. But i'd about
that man, Lutheranism and Calvinism and gold over to England.
Oh brother, come on that. Yeah. So so a lot

(29:27):
of times, you know, essentially, you you look at the
Roman Catholic Church and and you saw, like, uh, there
was a lot of rules that were added to Bible,
you know what I mean, A lot of a lot
of a lot of amendments were made and it became
seen as gospel truth. And all of this stuff is

(29:47):
happening in Europe. Meanwhile, the Bible is an Eastern you
know faith. You know that was Christianity was in Africa
long before whatever in Europe. But but but then you
get you know, John Calvin and Martin Luther and these
individuals who you know are railing against the Catholic Church
and UH and and they kind of create what we

(30:09):
call Protestantism UH today, which is taken root in America,
which is you know, pretty much what American Christianity is.
A lot of it is built off of of that perspective,
which is very European in nature. And so it though,
and I say it's about everything, you know, there's always
some truth mixed in with the lives. And that's how

(30:33):
people get fooled, is because there's always some truth mixed
in with the lives. And so there's lots of great
UH points and things that I think people can appreciate,
but you also have to remember that there's a lot
of cultural nuances that really don't fit who we are
and are not really applicable to the Bible. And so
I think people have to realize that when they when

(30:54):
they approach it and just realized how much the European
culture um has been transposed over to us more so
than actual guy's words that when I read that, that
opened my eyes. Man, That's why college changed my life.
I always tell people go to college, college because high
school they deny you son information. You see what Donald

(31:16):
Trump trying to do right now. You know, don't live
from don't want to don't want the truth to be
read because it acknowledges that when you're trying to take
down these Confederate statutes, there's a reason not to glorify
when you realize these folks were attempting and so we
called black lives matters thugs. You know that that you
gain knowledge, information, information by being allowed to openly learned.

(31:41):
That's what college did for me. And when I took
that course, man, it's like wow, really And and I
want to close with this interesting story that you had
when you was in Egypt and the God wasn't meaning
from a religious perspective, was from a historical perspective, and
she was talking about the worst Pharah and then you
and then you went from a religious perspective, you go,

(32:03):
what you're talking about? And so what because of the
fact that we are so guided by religion that we
can allow facts to be misinterpreted and that I'm chancing
to me. You have a great book, you great by

(32:25):
I think you just this dude read my book. I
have to be respectful and understanding that you didn't. You
know you did this for a reason, and your career
has allowed me to believe that you're trying to change
lives and really, in reading this book allowed me to
see a personal side of you, and then a side

(32:48):
of you that says, Okay, I gotta do better, I
gotta do better. I wake up with that whole attitude
I gotta do better, and I gotta do better. Not
for myself because I feel that I I do this
podcast as because I'm trying to make other people do
better or hear better, or learn better or get some
facts about it. This interview I'm doing with you is
an open interview about people hearing about somebody who's telling

(33:12):
them go by this book because it enabled Rushan McDonald's
see some things about Lacre that enables me to understand
that I can do better. I can be honest about myself.
If I feel there's a dark side of me, tell
somebody it's all right, it's all good. That's your book, man,
that I appreciate you Lakreze, I really do, man. And
like I said, this is my second time interview, and
you and I the first time. It's a good interview.

(33:34):
But this is an interview from a from a sole
perspective that our journeys are are definitely gonna be uh
even bigger in the future, man, because you're special, lucre
And I think you may got the ninth album dropping,
you know, dropped in August. You got October thirteenth. The
book comes out um on YouTube right now as a series.

(33:56):
But you and I, You and I got to my backyard.
I got a little lake. Man. We go fishing. That's
where I go. That's where I go to the crazy
life is bad for me. I have to go down
there and wash that water. That water at water at
water calms me, man, because and and and and and
my property. It drops down just enough. Well I can't
see any cars, No, I can't see anything. And it

(34:19):
just allowed me to look at that water man, and uh,
catch your fish and throw it right back and give
it back to God. Man. That's what I do. Brother, Man,
I love your brother. Thank you for taking the time. Man.
I hope this was a nice journey talking about a
part of your life that was very personal but more
important to book. I am restored How I lost my
religion but found my faith on Sale October. Thank you brother.

(34:44):
We'll be right back with more from Macha McDonald. The
money making conversations don't touch that down. Oregon donations save
lives and some Oregans can even be donated by a
living donor. August just National Minority Donor Awareness Months. So
let's check in with Dr Denay Simpson, Assistant for Fessor
of Surgery at Northwestern Medicine. Tell us about the African
American Transplant Access Program. So this is my baby. This

(35:07):
is a program that I have dreamt about creating since
I became interested in transplant as a trainee, and it's
a program designed to address the significant disparities that are
African American patients space. The program is designed to educate
patients about transplant, let them know what transplant can provide

(35:29):
to them, and to help them access the resources that
they find so scarce and so challenging to access in
order to get them on the transplant tact and back
to you know, some type of meaningful life. For more information,
visit n M dot org, Slash Radio Welcome back to
Money Making Conversations. I'm your host, Sean McDonald. My next

(35:52):
guest is Phenomenal. She's a reinventor, renaissance woman. Kim Cole's
is renowed TV veteran comedian, host motivational Speak Care and
It's currently back on TV making us laugh and Wednesday
Night's appearing on the sitcom in the Cut on Bounce TV,
joining us Wow long running seven and you guess what
Mark Curry on there there with her or Mark curis

(36:13):
on that Shore sees herself now as as a male
and a female food have joined in the Cut. She
also continues in power this is what I you know
in the cut, that's my boy Bill Levers. But I'm
telling you this is money making conversation. This is why
I brought her on the show with you guys. She
is the Mastermind Community. Masterminds a monthly business and life

(36:34):
coaching group membership that gives high quality training with support,
fund and accountability on building an expert brand, writing books,
goal setting, self care and more. Phenomenal, please work with
the Money Making Conversations, Kim cos well shot, I'm happy
to be with you right now. You're kind of people.

(36:55):
Well good for you know, I appreciate the compliment because
when I see what you're doing with your brain. First
of all, you know, following on LinkedIn, following on social
media and on LinkedIn. You know you look beautiful. You
look beautiful. Okay, you know that? What what? What? What
you want to talk about? It's about branding and presenting

(37:15):
yourself in a successful look and upbeat look because of
the fact that you're a motivator and in this business
you have to look a certain way, to talk a
certain way. Let's talk about the your brand and what
you're presenting out there in the entrereneural space. Let's talk
about that first. Well, yeah, you know, right now, I've
been talking a lot about uh, pivot on purpose, how

(37:39):
to pivot on purpose. And as we're recording this, as
you know, we're in the midst of this, uh, you
know a lot of upheaval, you know, with a pandemic
and racial unrest and all the civil unrest and everything
that is fair and unfair happening in the world. And
more than ever, we need to pivot on purpose. And
the way you do that is, you know, look at

(38:02):
your gifts and talents and uh and and look for
ways to express them given the current situation, so you
look for opportunities. It's a brand new perspective and so
my brand and I'm so proud of it. You know,
back in the day, we weren't thinking, you know, back

(38:22):
when you know you and I were doing what we
were doing, you're building ourselves in the comedy world. We
weren't thinking, oh, this is our brand, but knowing that
every step that you take is all um uh, every
step that you take, and as you are aware of
your gifts and talents, it's all a part of your brand.
It's all a part of the building of who you are,

(38:43):
the message that you've come here to to give. And
this is whether you're This is not even for people
who are in show business, not even for people who
are entrepreneurs. All of us now are are requested and
required to pull on our gifts, so to to to
I should said, um rely on our gifts in a
new way. And so I figured out a while ago

(39:05):
Rashan that just being a sitcom actress, while that is awesome,
it's not gonna is not enough. Just the stand up comedian,
while it's awesome, and there are people for whom that's
what they do, and they do well. I knew that
I had other aspects of my gifting that needed to
come forth. Therefore, the Kim Calls brand has the stand

(39:29):
up comedy, the sitcom actress, the author, and the entrepreneur
who teaches entrepreneurs how to find their gifts. And so
this is about expansions. This is also about at this
time when everything has slowed down and has stopped from
some people's perspectives, and it has. It has not slowed

(39:51):
down for me nor for anyone that I that I
want to um have any coach or have any influence over.
Now is the time to be pivoting on purpose and
be thinking of new way to use your gifts. It's
actually an opportunity and I am equal to the challenge
because if you are well, you know, I really love

(40:15):
your tone and you know, it almost feels like when
I'm talking to you, it's like I'm looking at I'm talking,
I'm listening to a professor, a professor, and uh, I'm
doing you know. I mean, you know, I interview a
lot of people, okay and so, and you're one of
my favorite people. I tell you that, and you're like, really, yes,
you are that you are because of the fact that

(40:37):
because of the fact that I always marvel at UH,
the ability to UH to be committed because what you're
doing is a bigger commitment than being an actress a comedian,
because people are responding to your brand from and say
you can change my life. Nobody's as a telling the
joke is to comman. Nobody said I change their life

(40:58):
telling the joke or write in the script. But what
you're doing with Community the Mastermind, you're changing lives. And
so that's then it comes to the responsibility of being
able to be there when people need an understand and
coaching them that the downtime is not a flaw. That's
part of the process, that downtime. Nobody's up forever. You know,

(41:20):
you have to be ready for that down moment so
you can go back up. And that's for the planning process.
And that's why you have a monthly subscription. Correct I do,
and I love you. Know. I thought I was real
cute when I came up with the name community. So
it's k I am you and I t wine mastermind
dot com. And what it really is about is creating

(41:42):
a community of like minded individuals in which my business partner,
and I coached them through building their business self care.
Like you know, we just did a class last week
on I noticed that most of the ladies just that
I'm overworked, I got too much of my plate. I
don't what to do next, and so we did a
masterclass on self care. Now, self care doesn't just mean

(42:05):
getting you a facial and getting you we've kite and
get your nails done. It really means rest. It means
setting boundaries. It means saying no where saying yes would
deplete you further. It means filling your cup so that
you can serve others. And so I am passionate about

(42:25):
helping people to find that find those resources. We give
them the resources to uplevel their lives so that my
ladies are more busy now than they were before the
pandemic hit because they realized, I've got a vision, I've
got to keep going, and I'm building an empire for
myself that will last longer than than than me. This

(42:51):
is about building legacy, and we know that our people
more than ever need to be having this legacy conversation.
And so I get to do that and it makes
me so happy. And I didn't know this was my
gift until I was in a down spiral, a downtime,
you know. Two thousand and eight, which was tough for everybody,
was when I figured out, oh wait a minute, I've

(43:13):
better figure out some other things to do and not
be reliant on a studio head saying yes, she's the
one or ocean to lose some weight or be or
you know, could she just could you just read the
lines as we wrote them. I'm like, Okay, I can
do that in this space. But in this space over here,
I can create a community, uh and and create change.

(43:35):
Do you know what I'm saying? And that's why that's
why I love talking to you, because of the fact
that your success pattern as a as an entertainer okay,
that's a that's an entertainer, okay. And you you absolutely
tell them the truth. Sometimes we we we don't know
what our gifts are because of the fact they were
so focused on what people telling us. This is where

(43:56):
you make your money, this is direct that's the door
you're supposed to open. Going that door, do what they
tell you to do, come out, and your live a
successful life. But that doesn't mean that that's the long
term success. And because in the end, the Kim I
talked to now. I'm not saying I didn't like the
Kim I knew before, but the Kim I talked to now,
it's such a worldly voice, such a voice of confidence,

(44:19):
such a voice of this is what I want to
do for myself. I can still do that other Stuffle
show and do it outstandingly, but it's my option now.
That is what I like about what I'm talking to,
and that's what I try to tell people on the show.
And when I see what you're doing, I gotta promote it.
And I'm mad because you did this this session, you
and you, and you just mentioned it on my show.

(44:40):
We just did a retreat and didn't even contact me,
and I keep telling your little skinny behind. I put
you on my social media. I got almost a million follows,
I got a name eight thousand, and it's got on
the car. I tell you, I'm gonna put you into
my newsletter this Wednesday. I ain't even asking the show
you love because you're brilliant, But guess what I gotta
hear about the stuff when you come on my show.
Should I be upset to not be upset with me?

(45:04):
Because we are going to collaborate because I want to
invite you to be a featured speaker in something else
I'm doing. I have something. I did this in May
and you're gonna love this. It was called the Captivating
Conversation Summit, and at the time it was called how
to Thrive with Certainty in Uncertain Times. It was such

(45:26):
a success that I decided to do I call it
cap CON Captivating Conversations to this time. It's about being
perfectly positioned to prosper. And you're hearing it right now,
everybody that's listening. I'm inviting Rashan McDonald to come and
be a featured speaker in the cap CON to All

(45:47):
details will be coming soon, so just hold on for
you accepted the accept because you don't want because because
because the fact of the matter is that you it's
a clear understanding that the COVID nineteen is not going
to go away. We're gonna go back to you know,
live events. There will be much mass wearing to be

(46:08):
a dominant participant in that process and I'm okay with that.
But the world but people have a clear understanding that
it's okay to do virtual events, to virtual retreats and
all these things and guess what you have to be
at the forefront of that to be able to take
advantage of it. What made you understand that there was
a business opportunity in the at this level? Kim? Well,

(46:31):
when when you know, it's so funny. It was a
domino effect. When so I've been making most of my
way through speaking, right, so when i'm you know, I'm
not on the show, and we'll talk about in the
cut in just a moment. But we filmed all that
in January. It was done. I had a full schedule
of speaking events, your women's empowerment events, entrepreneurial events, just

(46:56):
and it was a domino effect that one after the
other after the other after the other got they got canceled.
And I was like, oh my goodness, So you know
this is now March and April and May were canceled,
and in May, June, July and all just got canceled.
This it just kept going and some of these events
are like, we're not going to even try until I

(47:16):
was like, well, if my main source of connecting to
people other than online, uh, meaning like you know, doing
my own things online, is why don't I just create
a big thing online? And so captivating conversations provided me
an opportunity to do a five day summit with thirty speakers,
some of them you know from you know. I called

(47:38):
them my busin besties, my Hollywood besties, and my real besties,
and they each came on and talked about their their
perspective on how to thrive. At this time, I had
a meditation coach. I had you know, various business um
um folks teaching people how to take their business online.
It was like, wait a minute, I can headline my

(47:58):
own events all from my living room, and so why
not do that again? So yes, we'll be live again together.
I'm miss hugging folks. My team gets mad at me
because I look, people think clear to hug, you come
home in for hugs. What do you mean? You know
that that's that's that's uh, that's and and that's really

(48:21):
interesting you say that because you know, with this whole
COVID it just really changed the way we emotionally treat
each other, you know, basically, you know, it's it's a disconnect,
and you know, and I kind of I kind of
wonder how that's going to affect this generation of young
people and children because COVID nineteen is not gonna go away.
It's not gonna go away, and so I don't think

(48:42):
it's gonna go away. And I hate these I mean,
I know we have to wear a mask, but I
don't like that you can't see I'm smiling at you.
And is that that's exactly the truth, that's exactly true,
is that you don't understand. And and sometimes I see
people I try to smile that go they don't see
me smiling, dummy, they you know, they don't. I want
to acknowledge people that I feel good about them being

(49:03):
around me in the grocery store and things of that nature,
because it really does take your your temperament down a
notch knowing that you can't you can't let everybody know
what's going on in your life. So it's really, it
really is amazing that your value to me, your value
to me is what you're doing on this side of

(49:24):
the table. And the beauty of it is that you
know this is only going to get bigger for you.
And so what is the future. What is the future
of Kim Colds but also tom Unity, you know customary, Well,
so I've got the community mastermind. Like I said, that's
a monthly membership. Then I've got I just enrolled a

(49:45):
group of ladies and something I call speak and get clients.
So we know that this is called the money making show, right,
So it think people how to use their stories in
order to connect with stential customers and clients and sell
their products and goods and services. Nothing better than listen.

(50:06):
We can't smile with each other because of these dag
on nests. But when I share with you my story
of the challenges I've come through and why I created
this fill in the blank, this book, this course, this
product that now will solve your solution, the best way
for me to share it is through my story. So
I teach that. So there's that, and then there is

(50:26):
everything else that goes along with it. You know, the
products that that come out of the ideas. You know,
the T shirts if you think that there won't be
a T shirt for the for the captivating conversations, perfectly
posing the proper then all those things, and then the
and and more coaching, more and more coaching. And I

(50:47):
do all this while sitting in you know, like I'm
not a person right now that's creating my own creative projects.
In terms of Hollywood, like, I don't have a sitcom
idea that I'm trying to pitch right now. I have
a movie idea that I'm trying to pitch right now.
I'm letting keeping myself afloat and keeping myself out there

(51:08):
with this aspect of my gift while I audition and
do these other things. So I'm sure that one day
there will be a sitcom from me or you know something.
But waiting and not waiting for them has provided me
the opportunity to create my own. So there there might
be a new YouTube show coming. Oh I love that.
I'm gonna ask you about that. Come on, now, let's
talk about that. They gotta come, gotta come. It's time

(51:31):
for a podcast, which has to come. It has to go.
And I would, and I'm gonna tell you something, I
would do it. You know, podcasts are cool, but I
would do it through YouTube first. If I would do
it both, you know, if you can, you know, take
the audio, drop it on your YouTube and build those subscribers. Okay,
because of the fact that you you you you, I'm
just telling you got it, Kim, you got it. I

(51:53):
you know, I hear, I see it. It's it's it's
a it's a structure in your boars. You put one
sentence and one word after the next, no stumbling. You
you got the tone, you got the conversation. You've got
the ability to motivate, and you are very nice in
your approach. In other words, you know, it's like it's
like you're putting the hand on my back and saying

(52:14):
you can do it, and I'm gonna show you how,
which means that it's much more, much more empowering, because
you're not gonna leave me at the door and close
it behind me. Right. Well, and you're right, and I
think that we have enough people who are um, you know,
wanting to be sort of on top. Is the one
that's in control of everything. I'm saying, let's all grow together,

(52:38):
let's all build together. What do you bring to the table.
What do you bring to the table, What do you
bring to the table? Great, let's get together and and
inspire and motivate more. And and the thing is that
when we touch each other in that way, it reverberates,
that becomes, you know, the drop in the pond. So
the more we collaborate, the more we create experiences for

(53:01):
other people. With your platform, you have, you know, people
can listen and learn and and experience. And it's not
just you sitting in your ivory tower going I am Rashan,
and I can create. You're saying, I can create, and
then I can teach. I can create, and then I
can share and you can and I can spark it
in YouTube. And we need that more than ever. Right

(53:23):
now we can't. We've got to get out of our
silos um and I know that this pandemic, you know,
made us go indoors. We have to find new ways
to be with each other. And and this is, you know,
is just some of the ways to do it. You're
listening to money making conversations with Rashan McDonald. We'll be
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I'm your host, Sean McDonald. Imagine this. This is a

(54:51):
side note about you know, because uh, the things we're
talking about are not time sensitive their reality, you know,
the pandemic and watching how the my overtly affects the
African American community, the the you know, Black Lives Matter movement. Uh,
seeing white people be more upset than we are, which

(55:11):
is really you know, they ain't pulling you all out
of the car, you know that, right, right? But thank you,
thank you, thank you. I appreciate you. Love that. And
then you see and then you see the need for
a vaccine and uh, you know where where is your
comfort zone right now? You know, because you're a leader,

(55:32):
you're you're motivating us. But it also takes its toll
because you can't show week this, you can't show frail
the attack, you can't show that that hey, I'm this
is affecting me too, because you have to always to
be pro positive, pro planner, plow thinker. How's it affecting you? Well,
you know, that's interesting. It's finding that fine line between

(55:56):
allowing yourself to be vulnerable and other people to see
to be vulnerable. Um actually makes you even more human,
right and it makes you I think it helps people
to relate to you. I know that what I'm doing
right now for my self care is I am I
I can't go out, so I stay within. And what

(56:17):
I mean by that is, I'm doing a lot of
spiritual work at this time. I'm a lot of I'm
doing a lot of work where I fill my cup
so much so that when I do, when I am
in a position to help or coach or be that
I am as full as I can be even given
this ugly, this ugly experience, and there will be times

(56:39):
when I wring my head in my hands too and
just go like, what is going on? I don't know
what the answers are. There's so much out there that
is um confusing, and uh, I can be very depressing,
but it's it's upon me to keep my spirits up
so I can then keep the spirits of others. And

(56:59):
what I do is, I don't you know, I'm not
a person that's going to fall on the bed hooping
and holland crying and let people see it. Just I'll
let you know I did that. I let you know
I dried k tears and got it together. And this
is what I did to get myself together. And if
you want to fall in the bed hooping holland, I
don't know that I'm going to instagram that live, but
I will tell you that I just finished crying. I

(57:22):
got myself together and here's what I did. And so
it's finding that balance for yourself, finding that harmony. And
remember early on I put up a post that you know,
there were lots of people talking about being strong and
I'm a warrior and all that and then I put
up this post that said, if you need to cry, cry,
if you need to be quiet, be quiet. If you

(57:42):
need to pull the covers over your head for a minute,
it's perfectly understandable. And then get the tools that you
need to keep you going. Find the perspective, find the joy,
joyful moments in there, because they are there. There are
opportunities right now for us to connect in new ways

(58:04):
that that are required. And I believe Rashaan with all
my heart that the light must win over the dark,
you know, human right, that's what I'm talking about. I
can't even talk about. I can't talk, but I can't
talk like that. I felt like, you know, I felt
like I was in uh you know, like one of
the saw us well, you know, the hot rocks on

(58:26):
my back, and then you know, ain't nobody touching me.
I'm just hearing your voice, feel the heat felt. But
we couldn't last. We wouldn't. You know. When people say
it's the end of the end of everything, is we
know it? I'm like, yeah, the end of some stuff,

(58:48):
but we've lasted this long. There's no way that we
can't come through this. That's the way. Absolutely. I don't
believe you know, yeah, I truly believe and trust that
you understand what we're talking about. And then let's let
Billy is gonna be mad. I've talked like twenty three
minutes with you and we haven't even mentioned in the cut,
So I hope he doesn't hear this podcast now in

(59:09):
the cut. That's My Boy on Bounce TV every Wednesday
a p m. Eastern Standard Time. I interview Mark Curry.
He's new to the show currently. This is the seventh season.
You kind of mentioned it earlier, taped in in December
January time frame. Pre covid you on the show, what
your restaurant are, tell us about your character, and tell

(59:30):
us about this upcoming sea. Well, so first of all,
let me just say what an honor it is to
be working with this brother who said keep cold, just
come on in to work on Monday. You ain't got
the audition, you know, you know, the knowing that I
built up enough of a reputation, uh and and quality

(59:50):
of work that somebody could just say, you don't have
the audition, just I'll see you on the third or
whatever the date was. So that's number one. To be
on a set that is such a thing emily oriented set.
You know, he's got Bentley who knows what he's doing
because he's been doing this for, you know, for a while.
And he has a symboled the team of people who

(01:00:10):
just it just works, It just works. And so yes,
I am the current owner of Mabel's Tables. Uh, and um,
you know, I'm playing a character unlike I've ever played before.
And and to have him say to you on the
first day of work, just do what you do, I'm like, really, yeah,
you get the words on the page. Who didn't play.

(01:00:31):
I'm here to support you and if it doesn't work,
we'll say, try it again. And so that freedom was
such a joy that to have all crazy uh, and
to play with Mark Curry in this way, who is
the good things about Mark Curry is that he keeps
you on your toes, so you never know what he's
gonna do, and so that sharpens my tool, that sharpest mind.

(01:00:54):
It's like, oh, he's a great person to play with
in that way because you just you just gotta be
ready for him to come with it. You gotta be
able to throw the ball back in his court. So
it was such a joy, you know. Dorian Wilson who
is also another one who um he serves as such
a wonderful um foundation and he's also someone that loves

(01:01:15):
when you play let you play with him in that way.
So it was a joy to do and we did
it and it was done, and it's so much fun
that in the midst of all this craziness, now it
launches where we can provide joy and right when people
need it most right and so uh, it's it's just

(01:01:36):
it's just wonderful. Not Mabel's Tables. Now we have a
menu there are is it? Is it a restaurant that's
kind of like struggling on you you're turning customers away.
What is Mayble's table and which he's saving over there?
Is it? Is it a soulful restaurategy? What is Mabel's Tables? Well,

(01:01:58):
what's interesting? And I have to pay omar to uh
to our lovely Lord Hayes girl, everybody, Dorian Wilson. That
from the Parker Kid Lost and he's from the Parker's
Colinas spirit. That's from Bernie Maxhell. Laura Hey, it just
like I walk in there bo I started kissing at everybody, right,

(01:02:19):
So Laura Hayes has at this point left Mabel's table,
and if I had to send word to her to say, Laura,
I hope you all right, right right, I love you
some Lord Hayes. So it's her restaurant, and I don't
know what what story because you know, I don't know
what story they tell that she's no longer running it.
But now there's a woman named Trish. I'm Trish and
and so we served soul food but done very exotic,

(01:02:43):
you know, lama legs, you know, uh, goat of lips.
Uh see, you just sold food. People don't put enough
food on the plate, but it's put the words are
longer than the food that you give me. Okay, yes, yeah,
you know, wonderful ext you know it's somebody you know,

(01:03:06):
you know, perhaps a piece of wildlife, you know, didn't
quite make it out back. We take them and put
them on a plate, so you know the beauty of
you know, this is if we're talking to Kim cos
she's starring in the series seventh season of In the Cut,
created by my Man Bentley Evans of Mark Lawrence Creativity
Fame and Jamie Fox. That's why I made him. I

(01:03:28):
was co executive producer on Jamie Fox Show when he
was running in and creating it with Jamie Fox at
the time, and in the cut eras every Wednesday on
Bounce TV at a PM Eastern Standard time. But more importantly,
you know you're still entertaining us from from a comedic
actress standpoint, but community mastermind dot com really is the
brand that to me is so needy to that now.

(01:03:52):
And like I said, uh, anytime I get a chance
to talk to you, I just gotta let you know
what a blessing that you are and what you're doing.
And so because we all have those moments, is it
is it worth? It? Is? It is? It is? It
is anybody acknowledging this and then the store And That's
what I'm just letting you know. I'm acknowledging that, and

(01:04:13):
I'm acknowledging it with pride. I'm acknowledging it with a
smile every time I see your photo come across my
timeline on LinkedIn, on social media posts. Because you are
proving that you can't control your destiny. You can still
do what you do, but at least you get a
clear understanding that I am happy and I'm changing lives

(01:04:38):
the way I want to change lives, and it has
nothing to do with a script or somebody saying cut exactly.
And that's there for me too, and that's I'm joyful about.
That was to call me. I'm gonna going over and
do this. I'm gonna go ahead, going over and do
this right quick. And speaking of this, don't forget what
we're gonna talk about captivating conversations from it too. Well,

(01:05:01):
we know I'm gonna say goodbye right now, but hold on,
I'm gonna get that number and so we can connect.
But I want to wrap this up again as Kim
Cole's Kim Unity Mastermind dot Com. Also in The Cut
every Wednesday on Bounce TV a p m. Eastern standard
of time. If you want to hear any episodes of
money Making Conversations, please go to money Making Conversation dot com.

(01:05:21):
I'm Rashan McDonald. I'm your host. You're listening to Money
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Welcome back to money making conversations. I'm your host Sean
McDonald on my show today. Have two guests. Someone introduced
him separately. One I've known for a long time in
the in the Steve Harvey Morning Show days. His name
is ron Gil Yard. He's a trusted marketing and media

(01:06:44):
executive who has advanced the initiative of companies and individuals
in the technology, marketing and music industries for over twenty
five years. He's a four thinking strategist. Guiliard has been
able to consistently drive revenue growth, market penetration, and create
developments for all his clients. Also on the show, first
time he's on the West coast. He already told me.

(01:07:05):
His name is Will Campbell. He's the co founder and
CEO a Quantasy LLC. Will's more than twenty five year
career can be most easily summarized by the quote, if
you want to come up with new answers, you have
to ask new questions. With his vision that he's co
founded and led the growth of the agency to what
now Mounster more than sixty people and one fully integrated

(01:07:26):
cultural marketing force. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations, Chief
Growth Officer of Quantasy and Associates, where he is also
a partner with co founder and CEO a Quantasy LLC,
Ron Gillyard and Will Campbell. Thank you, sir, I had
to get a lot of you got a lot of
talking about man. You know, what I'm saying. But when

(01:07:51):
you have something like when Off, I would just letting
them know about the show. Everybody. I was just setting
up what this show really about. And I hope they
took us a compliment. I felt that in the industry
that we that I try to reach the entrepreneurial space,
the information space. YouTube guys are to me, it's recognizable
talents like Kevin Hard type talents, like the high profile

(01:08:12):
celebrity talents. You've got some celebrities in your own right
as what you guys are doing in this particular brand
of business. And since you are the co founder and
the CEO of Quantasy LLC, Well, Cowbell, tell us what
that what that company does? Initially, Yeah, thanks for Sean. UM.
So we're creative services agency UM. I think the shortest

(01:08:32):
way to put it is we help businesses and brands
grow by Christian culture in the right direction UM. And
the services that we provide extended entertainment, technology, marketing, branding,
UM and how we bring culture into those worlds to
help grow businesses and brands. Right, So, now that's that's

(01:08:55):
the creative shot. Then then run you come in. I
see revenue growth tied to your name explain to me
and I listen to exactly what does that mean? UM,
that means finding opportunities to to grow the company from
a financial standpoint, from revenue standpoint, from a side standpoint,

(01:09:15):
and helping our partners. You know, the sign of a
good partner is someone who not only you know, who
pays you money. Yeah, you're an employee, if they just
pay you, but if you're able to show them ways
in which they can grow their business and elevate you know,
their business and grow their revenue, then that's the sign
of a good partnership. So with the clients that we

(01:09:38):
have and hope to have, UM, we've always tried to
not only you know, be there and be creative from
the marketing side, but we look at that business Will
and myself and and other members of the team, and
we try to find ways if they're not thinking about something,
to illuminate that for them. I used to always say,
sometimes you're so to ze running the store that you

(01:10:03):
you you spend no time growing the store or you know,
so just finding ways to to to increase profitability. Where
it's like to say, you know, you can't make the Hamburger,
clean up the store and drop the fries at the
same time, somebody got to be working a cash register
to you know, And that's really what this is all about.

(01:10:25):
When when I try to interview people on these shows,
I try to get information about what money making conversation
really is all about. It's about these different layers that
we have out there. And so Will, why did you
why did you bring up individual like Ron into your company? What?
What what visionary needs did you have to have somebody
in your platform? Yeah, you know, it's interesting, man. When

(01:10:46):
when we first started this company, you know, we saw
these different worlds. Uh, there were people in the entertainment space, um,
and then on a whole different plane, there were people
in the tech space, UM. And then in a whole
different world there were people in the marketing space. And
they were all very sort of like disconnected units. But

(01:11:07):
I always saw it as one space. I always saw
how technology works with entertainment works with brand development as
one thing. And then as as Ron and I developed
our friendship first he instantly occurred to me and somebody
that just got that, and it's it's a way that
he had been working for years and years. He and

(01:11:30):
I started off on some entrepreneurial things doing some things together. Um,
And it came to the point where it was like, hey, man,
I would love for you to come over here and
help me grow this. We had a similar vision um
as well as with my other partner, and so it
really was just a clear understanding and he has so
much knowledge and insight into where we were trying to

(01:11:52):
take the business. It just made a lot of sense
for us. Okay, now he now he threw something out
in I gotta ask you what knowledge it insight did
you have? Ron? I just I'm just just being curious here.
You know, I'm listening to a visionary, solved person over there.
And I love you. You know, I've always loved your
personality because I don't care what was going bad, good,
You're always rong. You stayed right there, you stay centered.

(01:12:14):
So what what what qualities did you have that Ron?
That that really just just stepped the whole process that
made it a great partnership. UM. No better question for Will,
but I will. Sometimes sometimes you gotta talk about yourself. Okay,
other people talk about you, but sometimes you gotta talk

(01:12:35):
about this because a lot of people don't do that.
That's what social media is all about. Social media is
is the form I call it. We live in the Mohammad,
the Mamahali era, That's what I call people. Because you
gotta tell people the greatest now because he's he branded it,
but now people are doing it now. So I'm not
saying you gotta tell the people you the greatest. But
there are qualities that people see in people like you
that some people need to like understand that has value.

(01:12:58):
And I met you in the record game, you know,
when I was listening to the player music. We had
all these radio show, radio stations and things like that.
That's how I relationship. Now you're in a whole different platform,
and a lot of people don't know how to make
that transition. They feel like they're stuck. Yeah. So for me,

(01:13:18):
I've always had a week not me mentality. I have
always tried to analyze. I think my one of my
biggest faults is also one of my biggest biggest assets,
and I needed to down downsize the fault part of
that and and but recognize it. I was never comfortable

(01:13:44):
in the space that I was in. I was always
looking towards the next what's next. When I was an intern,
I was trying to imagine I came to work every
day dressed like I was the director of marketing or
director of A and R. When I was that, I
was came as if I was the vice president. And

(01:14:06):
I just came to work every day thinking like I'm
gonna run this particular job that I have. Is if
I'm the president of this organization. I'm not, but I
know that I want to be. So I was always
off in the future. Um, I think that you know
you said, I'm always calm. I think this is me angry,

(01:14:28):
this is me mana glad whatever. So I'm always senator,
I'm always watching. I learned at the early age that
you were gonna learn so much more by listening than talking.
So it was I think it's the reason guy gave
us two years in one mouth. The other thing is

(01:14:48):
I was in a business that, in the music business,
my job was to spot talent. But I didn't just
look for people that could singer dance. I also looked
for people that had had a different kind of talent
and executive talent. And I've worked, you know, with some
really really smart, legendary if you will people. And I

(01:15:11):
said when I got in the music business that when
they wrote the book about hip hop. When they wrote
the book about R and B music, Um, I at
least one of the sentence in that book, right, you know,
you know, if I get a chapter, so be it.
And but I became robbing to a lot of Batman's right.

(01:15:35):
And I worked alongside Andre Horrell. I worked alongside Sean
Combs or p Diddy or Puff Daddy or Puff or
Diddy or whicheveryone we're going with this week. So I
worked alongside Clive Davis, Jimmy Iveen, um, you know, Irving
aids Off, Simon Rinshaw, some of the best in the

(01:15:57):
business to do it and to be honest. When I
met Will, I always tell this funny story, which I'll
you know, it's long, so I'll breathe it. I realized Will,
because sell water to a drowning man, you could sell
saying to an era. And I was like, there's something
about this guy. And he had similar qualities to some

(01:16:20):
of those people that I named that I've worked with
in the music business. And so it was a no
brainer for me to try to be helpful. And I
had a perspective and I had this worldview, and you
get elevated to this in music, you get elevated to
this somewhat unreal perch of that you know everything when

(01:16:41):
you don't. But since I was on that perch, I
was gonna try to read and and consume as much
knowledge as possible. And I'm not a talkative guy normally,
but if I become comfortable with you, it's hard to
shut me up when I think I know something. Definitely, Uh,
you have to skip the gift of gap. We all
need to have that in order to be successful in

(01:17:03):
this business. I'm speaking to just reintroducing you guys to
my audience. Roun Guillyard and Will Campbell Quantity and Associates
Quantity LLC, which especially a fully integrated cultural and marketing force.
Um Ron is on the West East coast and Willows
on the West coast. Now, Will he said something, You
said that you can sell water to a drowning man. Okay,

(01:17:24):
So now the pandemic hit. Now, when the pandemic hit
in Marching, this country said we have to shut down.
All my staff became employed via zoom and so I
don't have sixty people, but I got enough that I
had to keep the checks rolling to greet some type
of synergy. And also trying to continue to make money,
a plan to make money. So with the skilled level,

(01:17:47):
did you have being able to sell water to to
the water to a drowning man? What did you do
when it and what was your perspective when the COVID
ainteen hit and the impacted your business practices? UM? I
mean it was you know, when it comes to I
think the idea of selling two people, it's about how

(01:18:09):
you can help. And now's the question we asked, how
can I help? Where can I help? UM? And and
helping people sells itself. UM. And you know, I don't
think people play enough value on what it means to
provide value to others. So what we did we really
looked at UM the people in our world and what

(01:18:33):
challenges they were facing, what new challenges they were facing
in light of the pandemic UM and where we could
come in and play a role. And so for each
of our different clients that were different issues that they
were suffering to look like, we also looked internally, but
as for instance, UM, knowing that we have in house

(01:18:56):
engineering and technology chops. UM, we look that event business
which had gotten decimated because you know, people couldn't produce events.
We had clients that had events scheduled that they had
to cancel. We have friends that are event producers, UM,
and so we delivered technology that we had already been

(01:19:18):
working on to create virtual events and UM. You know
people in the business. For instance, working closely with Rich
Dennis Essence, who's also a visionary, great guy, UM, their
Essence Festival, which as you know, is a massive, massive,
massive event people generally it was gonna be canceled. So

(01:19:43):
not only do do those six hundred thousand people within
the black community missed out on this huge opportunity, there's
a whole laundry list of clients and sponsors and all that.
So this would be a big revenue hit, right, So
bye bye. Partner with Rich and his team to deliver

(01:20:03):
the Essence Fest. Virtually, he's got a great group of
producers and staff on his side as well. By a
partner with him to deliver it, he was able to
help those clients to recover that revenue and still serve
his mission and his and his audience and his Essence
subscribers and so like I said that that sells itself, UM,

(01:20:27):
And so identifying those opportunities to help people is really
where it starts. We'll be right back with more from
Maga McDonald and money making conversations. Don't touch that doubt.
Oregan donations save lives, and some organs can even be
donated by a living donor. August is National Minority Donor
Awareness Months. So let's check in with Dr Denay Simpson,
Assistant Professor of surgery at Northwestern Medicine. Tell us about

(01:20:49):
the African American Transplant Access Program. So this is my baby.
This is a program that I have dreamt about creating
since I became interested in transplanted trainee and it's a
program designed to address the significant disparities that are African
American patients space. The program is designed to educate patients

(01:21:12):
about transplant, let them know what transplant can provide to them,
and to help them access the resources that they find
so scarce and so challenging to access in order to
get them on the transplant path and back to, you know,
some type of meaningful life. For more information, visit n
M dot org Slash Radioations. I'm your host, Sean McDonald.

(01:21:36):
You know, it's really interesting that you brought up to
essence because of the fact it is a massive live
event and massive live events or any live events. You know,
it affected individuals, tour and stand up comedians, singers, large tours,
movie theaters, anything that had mass attendance was affected by
the country shutdown, as well as still affected by the
COVID naeteen and the virus that may be encountered without

(01:22:00):
or SoC social distancing their masks. Now do you feel
that they're because of the pandemic that the virtual industry
When I say that virtual entertainment side has been even
more developed when I watched the MMIs last night and
just watching, uh, you know, I've been fortunate to participate
in some self produced virtual events myself. What do you

(01:22:22):
think the Essence Festival would always would consider doing a
virtual version of it because of the success that had
this year, or you think that the live way is
the only way that they're going to continue to do business.
And what a great question. And here and here's what
I say. I'm gonna go back to go forward. So,
as you know, in recent years, a lot of the

(01:22:44):
business skylind whether it's Coachella, whether it's Essence Festival, showing
about music, festivals, conferences, complex coun you name it and
from and these were huge revenue centers, right, sponsors for products,
sales for tickets, for all of those kinds of things.
But what you've seen recently over the last years is

(01:23:05):
how much these a lot event experiences were working to
become more digital anyway. Right, So you go to event,
now you're saying, uh, photo ops for Instagram and hashtags
to track this and to sell this, because creating an
epicenter of culture and activity that could then spawn a

(01:23:29):
global reach, right to create more engagement um from all
around the world. So I think that global perspective of
a live event is only going to continue. I think
during purely virtual events, I think there's some fatigue around that,
and so I think even though they have swelled, when

(01:23:50):
the actual physical events come back, it's going to enhance
the virtual eventage, right because now it's like, hey, you
can participate pay in this event um in addition to
the physical versus instead of right, it's not instead of
it's how it's how they work together. So now you

(01:24:10):
can have a coach olla, a conference kind of essence best,
but still have a global reach where people can kind
of participate and grow. So I think that physical events
will come back, and they'll come back with even greater
digital extensions and capacity going forward. And so with that
being said, Rod I was talking to the agency that

(01:24:33):
represents the Air Force and we were talking about virtual events,
and they were saying, is you know they've not seen
enough yet to quantify quantify the success or whether these
virtual events were because you know, in a live event,
you know, when somebody walks through the door, you can
that's a person. You can you can get their information,
get their background information, and they can be part of
the data growth and you can you can you can

(01:24:55):
justify uh that action. Now when you're getting into this
virtual world, which is a potential new revenue growth stream
for for you to be able to go out there
and talk to new partners or old partners, how does
this conversation I just had with Will and the conversation
I just had with this agency that represents the Air
Force come coming to play with you and what you're

(01:25:15):
when you're when you're trying to generate revenue growth. I
think the thing that I tell someone and I didn't
I'm not gonna take credit for this quote. Well, there's
two quotes that I try to tell try to slip
into every conversation that I have with someone about growth.
One of them is predicting rain doesn't count building the

(01:25:36):
arc does. There are a lot of people that could
tell you what's gonna happen and what they think is
gonna happen and all of this other stuff, and they
do nothing and then they're still not prepared when that
thing happens. Right um. The other one is the quickest
way to failure is always is saying but that's not

(01:25:57):
how we've always done it. And so I think to
paggyback on the question that you ask Will and and
and also to answer the question that you've just asked
me is and I'll tell this story. We started building
that virtual platform that Will spoke of before COVID nineteen.

(01:26:19):
We we started building it off an idea of what if, again,
asking different questions, right, um, what if I can experience?
What if I want to experience the live event? And
then we'll use essence as an example. There are things
that essence that you are missing out on when you

(01:26:43):
make certain decisions right about what you're going to do
and how you're going to spend your time. Yes, everyone
is in the stadium at night, but there are seminars
by day. There's you know, they take over the convention center,
you can go shopping, you could do all of these
other things, and all of these so you make choices
and you don't get to see other things. Virtual allows

(01:27:04):
you to get that rest you need for that Janet
Jackson concert tonight and still see that panel with Rashan
during the daytime. Right, And so from a revenue growth standpoint,
this person has spent money on the ticket, spent money
on a hotel, renting a car, or engaging in ubers

(01:27:28):
and transportation, building that local economy, building money for you know,
Essence Coffers. Where's the revenue? Where's the growth potential? I'm
gonna charge him to log in to see Rashawn's panel,
and he could still be in his hotel room. He
or she could still be in their hotel room preparing

(01:27:51):
for a concert that they're gonna see tonight. So there
was always I have a comic con analogy, I have
a complex kind analogy, have all of those other things.
So I think the other thing is the barrier of entry.
We all had to sign into Zoom. I clicked the button,
I clicked on the link. Someone in your organization let

(01:28:12):
me in, and we're here. But if you wanted to
gather more information, then I fill out something so that
same data that you're getting by might be physically buying
that ticket through ticket Master or whatever for that live event,
you can gather that gap data and a more accurate
version of that data digitally. And so all of that

(01:28:34):
helps with UM growth and thinking about UM how to
engage both in a physical and digital world. I love
before COVID nineteen, I think people thought it was one
or the other, and we've we always viewed it as
one Ambia, which is very smart when you when I
see companies like Disney when they do what they're doing

(01:28:57):
with the movie move On, which they yet to tell
anybody how much money they made so far, when they said, look,
we got eighty million subscribers and we're gonna charge thirty
dollars a ticket. If we can pull in ten percent
of that and still put this in the movies. There
that ten percent that we got, we get we control
one hurt percent. And the thing that you know, one
of the major reasons of just hearing numbers like that

(01:29:18):
and talking to a growth a spirit and talking to
a founder or a visionary can consider both of you
guys visionaries when I when I talk about the futures
that the technology aspect, and one thing is always angered
me guys, is that blacks has always been viewed as
less less capable of delivering the technically advanced are the

(01:29:38):
the technically perceived well organized platform? Do you what? What
do you have to fight against will when you talk
about your your business when people and not saying people
are doing this. Let me just get that cleared up.
I'm just talking about my experience and dealing with people
having a having a point of view that can be
limited based on what they perceived I can do as

(01:29:59):
an after that an American or as a company, how
do you walk through that next step and and present
your company is capable of doing everything you know? UM?
The short answer is sometimes you can show them better
than you can tell them. UM. And I think that
you have to UM put your faith in your team

(01:30:21):
and the work and do what you can UM. Now
that said, there are a lot of barriers to access
that we face, UM, limitations to resources that we face,
and so at the same token, I'm fully aware of that,
and I think just because maybe I've been able to

(01:30:42):
have some success doing X y Z doesn't guarantee that
the next person in my position is going to have
a fair shot, and so I don't just look at
it it's like, oh, well, hey, look we did it.
And even though that there's those that have done more
and have had greater success than us, I know that
there's always like various limitations and so UM. With that

(01:31:03):
in mind, we still spend a lot of our time
trying to break down those barriers with some of the
philothrophic work that we do, with some of the advocacy
work that we do. I serve on the Los Angeles
County UM Small Business Commission for that exact reason, to
find ways to advocate for resources and opportunities for small

(01:31:26):
businesses UM in in l A, which is largely UM minority.
So UM, for me personally, it's about continuing to trying
to partner with the right people gain access. For instance,
in this opportunity to be able to partner with you
will share knowledge and information to to an audience that's
come to trust what you're doing and what you have

(01:31:48):
to say UM, and then just continue to focus on
doing really good work UM so that people you know,
gain trust in what you're doing. We know that reason.
I bring that up because I've been fortunate to be
in this business, especially on the radio side, from two
thousand and listen watch agencies to go from black agencies

(01:32:08):
to the term multi cultural agencies, and then they started
giving up the money and the money seems to be
lesser for the on the black side of the agency
is trying to target that particular audience. And so now
in the middle of a pandemic, and we've seen a
tremendous surge. When I say surge, I'm talking about Black
Lives Matters. We've seen HBCU donations, We've seen companies announced

(01:32:31):
that they have money set aside for minority supplier development,
but not letting you know that minorities suppliers also include
white women. Okay, But and so when you're dealing with
all these things, do you feel there's an opportunity now
to really put your business into the forefront run or
will most of you guys can answer it one of
the time. I just want to get a sense of

(01:32:52):
looking at what we are the landscape now all we're
able to really jump out there now and participate. Um,
you know, I would say into a certain degree, yes, Um,
I think that what we've seen and just to sar
some positive light on it. I think the the global

(01:33:13):
awakening that you've seen has has a lot of people
done meenuinely reacting to the recent events and genuinely saying no,
we can't allow this to continue, and genuinely trying to
engage in conversations and looking to support black businesses and

(01:33:36):
trying to find out what they can do when we
see the rise of ally ship and I think that
there's a certain genuine nature of that UM And I
think there's a recognition of some of the some of
the some of the black milses getting our partentialies have
been doing great work for decades, you know, phenomenal work
for decades. So I do think that there's a little

(01:33:57):
bit of a broader opportunity that I think that we're
happy about. It's not enough, right. The playing field has
not been leveled, right. The system hasn't been dismantled yet.
But to answer your question, I do think that we're
seeing opportunities open up and some more focus. UM. But

(01:34:21):
but the work is nowhere. They're close to being finished.
It's not it's not. Before I Before I wrap up
the calle, they want to thank you guys for the time,
and you've given me to just talk about your brand,
talk about YouTube visionaries from a standpoint of what you
deal with now before the pandemic, while the pandemic and
post pandemic, because we have to always think that there
is a future, and if you don't plan for the future,

(01:34:43):
then then there's no opportunity to see success. Now, there's
an app called the True Voice and Mindfulness app for
women of color. Roy what exactly is that? Wow? True Voice,
so true voice. Um M. We looked out over the
landscape and I'm talking to two black men here talk

(01:35:07):
about we look over the landscape and so we have
we try to look through with through the lens of business,
but also through a cultural lens. And we noticed that
in the world of mindfulness and and as we deal
with we deal I hear people talk about wearing the
same we're all in the same storm. I mean, no,

(01:35:30):
we're all in the same boat. We're all in the
same boat. And no we're in the same storm. We're
definitely in different boats, right. And so when you look
at these apps and meditational apps and things like that,
that we're very general market and there weren't very specific two.

(01:35:54):
Um the cultural realities of women of color or people
of color, and again, predicting rain doesn't count building the
arc does. We decided that we wanted to play a miss,
that it would be great to introduce something that had

(01:36:16):
that hits some of the cultural beats of that. These
other mindfulness or um apps, these mindfulness apps were missing
out on the other part of it is you know,
see your other question earlier question. Once again, an industry
was was growing and being valued at hundreds of millions,

(01:36:38):
if not billions of dollars, and people of color to
the degree that they were being thought of, We're only
thought of as consumers. You weren't thought of as stakeholders
in these businesses. And we had seen that in so
many other industries before that. We decided that it be

(01:37:00):
good to introduce something like this as fathers of daughters,
as friends that have each other to lean on and
talk through other things. Someone who believes in counseling. Um
Will's mother, it's a clinical psychologists, grew up, you know,
spent her career in that business. It was something that

(01:37:21):
we saw the value in and the importance of, and
so it wasn't much like you know, to put it
in layman's terms, think of calm or headspace, but through
the lens, the cultural lens of minorities or women of color.
It's really uh, thank you for that, that great response.
I know that as a black man, and and seeing

(01:37:44):
like you said earlier, will the cultural rage worldwide about
what happened with the George Floyd. You know, I'm talking
to black men. You know the experience of work we
have to deal with when a policeman I don't I
don't comfortably. I don't feel comfortable when the policeman stops
me because I don't know why he's stopping me, and
it doesn't. And when he got pulled out of Mercedes

(01:38:06):
Being I told Steven name Smith, I said, the game
and change they pulled him out of that wouldn't have
beat up car they pulled him out of. They pulled
him out of Mercedes Bend, and so that that that
level of disrespect showed itself. But what also came out
of this was it was really interesting. And a lot
of my white friends called me that weekend and go,
I didn't know that was that was the question they said.
I didn't know. They said that you you actually have

(01:38:29):
to deal with this. I said yeah, and so being
able to almost lived my life through a lens of honesty.
Now I'm not saying I didn't because I'm Rushan McDonald.
I'm gonna tell you how I feel and what I fear.
But if people are looking at me with a sense
of understanding what I have to deal with, will help
us win and when I when I And that's why

(01:38:50):
I wanted to bring YouTube gentlemen on the show, because
you're in a world that you know, sometimes people don't
appreciate you and we'll say you can only do this,
And we talked about the American experience, but I know
for a fact you can. Guys can do any experience.
And so but sometimes you say, I'm gonna win here
to win here the financial pictures. So with that being said,

(01:39:10):
well are you what is the future of your company?
What is you? You? You? You broke Ron into this,
Ron is the growth right a partner. What is the
future of your company and your brand? Yeah? I think
that it's um to one is to get better at
making the pivot. I think that as we go forward,

(01:39:33):
you know, one of the single most important skills that
we can develop is the ability to pivot. And that's
how you play the long game, right, UM, because so
much information that is coming out of so fast things happen,
things change all the time, and so really honing the

(01:39:54):
skills that make us good at being able to pivot.
And I think when you lear that with what we
about earlier on even the reason that you that you're
doing the show in terms of helping people, and when
you layer that day and how can I help people?
Helping people sometimes means being philanthropic, sometimes it means providing
a service for a fee. In terms of developing a business, right,

(01:40:17):
So I think for us, it's focusing on those two things.
How do we continue to add value in markets in
UM with partners UM and how do we make sure
that we're always prepared to pivot? And you know, we
don't get too we don't fall in love too much
with any one idea or any one project that we

(01:40:40):
can't you know, take the blinders off. So I think
the future of the business is that being open minded,
being curious, being flexible UM and always leading with UM.
How do we help push culture in the right direction?
Awesome guys, UM, I do BI monthly. I do it
A ninety thousand fan club newsletter goes out twice a month. Um,

(01:41:05):
I love to put the true Voice app description banner
in there, if you don't mind. I have also have
a platform called HBCU Awards. I'd like to drop that
banner there because I'm about authenticity, about organically telling the
story and true voice. I downloaded it. I have a daughter,
she's twenty four years old. She's graduating from college, trying

(01:41:26):
to find her voice, and any platform that allows her
to feel comfortable and communicating and seeing people like her
and comfortably communicating those values. It's important to me and
I just wanted to offer that. Uh Ron will uh live.
I think she set up this interview. If you get
that banner to me, I appreciate dropping in there. And again,
thank you for coming on the show. Man. I appreciate

(01:41:49):
your time. I know you're busy, fellas. I know you're
busy fellas. Thank you for your time. Thank you for
your time, many, thank you, thank you for having us.
It's great to see you, to see you still being
great at what you're great at. So whatever you call
will be there. I appreciate it. Well man, welcome to
the family, brother welcome. Appreciate all right, y'all be safe man.

(01:42:10):
Thank you bye bye. If you want to hear more
money making Conversation interviews, please go to money Making Conversation
dot com. I'm Rashean McDonald. I'm your host. You're listening
to money Making Conversations with Rashan McDonald. We'll be right back.
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back to money making Conversations. I'm your host r Sean McDonald.
The next guest, she's she's laying you can't see, but
she's like very relaxed. Uh who is an eighteen year

(01:43:36):
veteran and stand up comedies that started doing standard back
in ninety two, Death Comedy Jam b G Comedy Views.
So she's talking to a I would like to say,
a guy who knows a little thing to do, but
look at I couldn't do it. Michelle, No strangers, Netflix subscribers,
the Netflix films Someone Great, Always Be My Being, Always

(01:43:57):
Be My Maybe, and Netflix series Or Do All Tales
of the City, and continued appearances, including the hosting the
Netflix reality competition series The Circle, which is renewed for
a second season. She's talented and she's beautiful, and she's
starting her new Netflix stand up comedy special. Michelle Buto.
Welcome to Otavia Beutopia. Dad are you are accounting. You

(01:44:21):
listed all the things like I gotta start bringing W
nine to W tense is interview. Well, you know when
you're busy and you're talented, like you just got renewed
your a BT plus show got renewed. Correct, Yes, now
I saw the special first. It was first of all,
you know what they do with Netflix? Uh, they sent

(01:44:41):
me an account. I put my patchword. It was on Saturday,
and I was in my bed and I started watching
and someone when people start making me laugh, I have
to sit up. I'll sit up. And you made me
sit up, and then you made me stand up Michelle
because I was laughing, and so so first of all,
let me let me lay it out. Everybody know about Michelle.

(01:45:03):
See when when you're really talented comic and she knows this,
you hit terms hit you. If you said to a
normal street person, they might be offended. They be offended
by but stuff like you silly, you're stupid, you're you crazy.
You ought to control your food. See if a statup comic,
who's a real standup comic. Here's those famous they know

(01:45:26):
they kicking, But you're funny, you ought to control You're crazy?
Thank you. I appreciate that. I really really do, and
honestly like, and you know this better than like anybody,
especially since you've been in the game for so long.
There's always this thing where people don't think women are funny.
It's just like okay, and it's sort of like what

(01:45:49):
I was growing up, and I was the only black
kid in um a few of the schools I went to.
My dad was like, you have to be the best
because you're gonna stand out whether you want it or not.
And so start stand up in two thousand one. For
the first five or six years, everywhere I went, I
was like the only female on a show, and it's
just like, you have to be the best. And so

(01:46:10):
I remember Will sylvinsa hilariousation American comedian in New York,
was like, you know, it doesn't matter what spot you
get on the show. A lot of people like the
third spot the force by everyone has their favorite to
go first. He's like, doesn't matter, take any spot and
make it hard for someone to follow you. So I
was like, bet, and those are the lessons that I
think we need as comedians or anybody. Like walking into

(01:46:34):
a room or like a zoom meeting, or like pitch
and stuff. It's like the question isn't how do I
become popular? How do I get more followers? How do
I make money? It's like, if you are talented, the
money will follow. Well, you know agree, because in this
business we can't get caught up in the slot in
the show. Well, first of all, if you can't handle

(01:46:55):
the slot, that slot when we your yeah, because everybody
in the stand a comedy game is gunning for the
funny person. And then you're an attractive woman, Michelle so
and I can say this a lot of times people
will be kind of condescending. Oh he's just getting because
she's cute, or she last because she's a woman. So

(01:47:16):
how did you overcome those negatives? Well that's the thing too,
write like I worked all the circuits. I worked, um,
you know, the clubs with like my wife and kids,
sitcom suit, I did the Chilling circuit, I did the
gay clubs, and everyone's just like it's a woman, or
well she's like what she gotta say about this experience?

(01:47:38):
Or she cute? How funny can she be? And that's
the thing that going by what my dad said, you know,
he also said, never worked for a thank you, So
I said, okay, I'm not gonna work for a thank you.
I'm just to leava you're welcome, and so all that
should decided. It doesn't matter how you look, it's it's
what is inside. And so I know that I have

(01:47:59):
a story in my heart that you won't enjoy, either
you're on board or or not. So yeah, I mean,
I just want to make it. I just want to
make it so hard. I just want to tickle people.
Like you know how you always focus on the one
person that's not laughing. I'm like, I'm here for that person,
you know what I mean. I don't focus on that idiot.
I really don't. You're not gonna bring down my vibe

(01:48:19):
because but you're right, you can understand the comment is
interesting because you can control the side of the room,
you can full the middle, and it's beautiful when you
control the entire room. Yes and so, And the goal
is really the control in any percent of the room,
because you're not gonna make everybody laugh. That's just life.
You don't know what's wrong with that person. They might
be having a bad day, robed car might not start.

(01:48:43):
They know when they go outside. Yeah, yea, you never know.
And that's really important listen to. That we all have
to know is that you never know what someone's going through.
I mean, you know what happened with Chadwick. I'm just
like you guys. We have to be nicer to each
other on the internet. Don't come for someone's looks. You
do not know what we are going through. So that's

(01:49:05):
what I really try to hopefully I did with the
Special two was yeah, it could be funny, Yeah I
got stories. Yeah I'm going through ship. But at the
end of the day, we have to be kind to
each other. Otherwise it's all for not well. I agree,
And she's saying Chadwick Boseman, that's who she's referencing, and
just in somebody's under a rock. Don't know who who
you're talking about, but a rock fell on their head. Okay,

(01:49:29):
now let's say let's talk about your standard special. There's
on Netflix, uh start September twenty night. UM. Why, First
of all, one of the Pikes, one of my all
time favorite people. She's one of the EPs on her
production company. Tell us about that. Yes, So Wanda owns
Push the Productions, UM, and she's partners with Paige Horowitz,

(01:49:49):
who was an amazing producer who did um last Comic
Standing all the years she did. Tiffany has his special
fortune Feamsters, and so they're just like a dynamic do
of just female empowerment who have been in the game
long enough to know how to set you up. Um well.
And you know, I've already been a fan, such a

(01:50:12):
fan of Wanda for so long because not only is
she funny, she's so smart, she's so intelligent, she's so thoughtful.
So those are the people I want to work with.
And I felt like I was in a really good company,
which is great because an hour you are leaving yourself
vulnerable to a lot of things and sometimes overwhelming, much
like buying your first car, getting married, people sometimes praying

(01:50:32):
your vulnerabilities, and just like, you should do this because
a lot of people do this. You should do that.
You should get this venue because this is what they do.
And it's like, no, man, these two women were like,
what do you want? What? How are we going to
showcase your personality? What is a night out for you?
And it's really nice working with people who understand you
and celebrate you, not tolerate you. And that's important that

(01:50:55):
you say that. I wanted to talk about the specially
a little bit more detailed because of your use your
ability to wait for the moment, await, to allow that
moment to build. You know, the value of your facial expressions,
the look, the cutting of the eye, that the sneaky grin,

(01:51:17):
you know, which makes you wonderful actress too. I can't act.
That's why that's a blessing, as a blessing about that
ability to wait for the moment. Man, I think that
just comes with time. You know, you don't know that.
You don't know you can do that until you've tested
and tried, test and try. You could do it in

(01:51:40):
front of your first gig for two thousand, you could
do it at that bar show for ten people. You know.
I think comedy especially, you know, we get stuck in
the script and it's just like if there's a side
of you that wants to color outside the box, trust it.
It's not gonna work the first time. But nobody plays
show pan the first time they played piano. You gotta

(01:52:02):
keep away and figure it out. So I feel like
that definitely comes with time. And also, you know, comedy,
being a woman in her forties, like all this stuff
is like I am tired of trying to fit in
someone else's world, Like, come to mind, this is my world, Utopia.
You want to celebrate great, you don't, There's something else
for you on Netflix. There's a lot of ship Go

(01:52:23):
watch the Traveler Show. Welcome to Potopia. I can I
can only follow that time. What you just say? Give
me a wrap up here, and I want to wrap
up on a hot note with you. Welcome to Patopia.
September twenty night, Netflix strowing the incredible Michelle. Michelle, I'm
gonna tell you when they when they told me that
you had a comedy special, I went, who When I said,

(01:52:46):
not a negative? I didn't know you did stand up? Yeah,
you know what I'm saying. So so I went, who
are you talking about? You know? First last first? So
with success can kind of like high what got you there? Yeah?

(01:53:07):
It's crazy and it's crazy. Also what people know you for?
What they don't? Right? Right? And so to see you
doing stand up and I won't give anybody any secret. Way,
please watch the opening, Please watch them. But I say, stupid, silly, goofy, goofy, goofy,

(01:53:27):
goofy and silly the same thing. So she double five,
double five, double five. But it's a great special, Michelle.
I want to just thank you, welcome to allowing me
to see you as a stand up being a guy.
You know, I've done def jam BT, I've done all
the comedy special I walked away, and I've had a
successful careers and producer, writer and manager. And to see
a fresh face like yours come on a comedy scene.

(01:53:50):
I've been fortunate to interview my man George Lopez when
his special air on Netflix. And is a great run
of new, fresh female talent, tasing yourself in this pandemic
year of one of them. Congratulations, thank you for Shanna.
Was so nice to meet you. I hope to see
you again. You a zoomer in person with a mask

(01:54:11):
who knows when you come down. Make sure you people
let me know. Okay, I got a big, more beautiful office.
Love to bring you by. We're talking live in my studio. Perfect.
Don't love it so much. Love you be strong, Thank
you brother. Bye,

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