Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. We have someone with
us who can speak not only to the power of
(00:20):
our dollars, but to the power our votes have as well. Today,
I am so pleased to introduce to you Antoine see Right.
He is the founder and CEO of Blueprint Strategy, LLC,
a public relations, advertising and political consulting firm based in
South Carolina. Throughout the course of his career, Antoine has
been influential in campaigns that have involved governatorial elections, congressional seats,
(00:45):
and even presidential elections. His name has been tied to
Hillary Clinton in the U S. House of Representatives Majority
Whip James Clyburne. Money Moves, Let's welcome Antoine sea Right
to the show High End One. Hey, Danie, thank you
for having me. I'm so honored to be with you today.
I'm honored and a little bit intimidated. You have been
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moving in some really powerful circles, so I'm excited for
you to impart some of your story and knowledge. Um,
you have quite an impressive resume. Well, I appreciate that look.
Uh you know, for people who have not met me,
I grew up in a rural town in South Carolina.
By name was Swanta. During my childhood, we had one
(01:27):
blanket light and one grocery store. It's never been swansored
to that grocery store and two people couldnot fit down
the same aisle at the same time. That's how you were.
But it was a journey for me. I am the
grandson of sharecroppers, uh from rule South Carolina. As most
of you know, that is one generation removed from slavery.
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I reminded all over the world when I traveled when
I speak. Although my mother and father did not go
to anybody's college, they were better than my grandparents because
of Bell College. I'm a first all was graduate and
only a second generation high school graduate. And so I
know how close we are to where we once were
when I think about coming this country, and so I'm
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so proud. I was fortunate enough to go to college
and graduate and get an n b A. And then
when I left college, I went to work for a
public relations, advertising and political consulting firm based in South
Carolina by the new Sunrise Communications. It was founded in
the nineteen six is one of the oldest African American pr,
advertising and political consultant firms in the country, and my
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from there. But you know, my my journey to politics
started when I was very young, gam uh. You know,
growing up in Rule, South Carolina, grandparents taught us you're
either going to be at the table or on the menu.
You will decide. So when I learned quickly there'll be
people at decision making tables all across this world making
decisions about my life, my family, and my community, I
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just decided, you know what, I not only want to
be in the room, I wanted to be at the table.
So in fifth grade, fifth grade, I ran for the
vice president of my student council and I actually won
at a speech impediment. I got up the game, my speech,
I studied, but I got through it and I won.
And as a result of my way, I pushed her.
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We get five and ten extra minutes recess on Fridays.
We didn't we were able to get we were able
to uh get a program implemented where we can bring
snacks into the classroom on Fridays. Things are advocated for,
and so that pushed me. By the time I got
to college, I knew I had to get engaged and
had to get involved in my life. Took off. I
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was fortunate enough and blessed to be a Clinton's historic
run in two thousand and eight, and that opened up doors.
And so Tanya, when I worked at Sunrise, I worked
there for three years. The CEO left that position, he
made me president and CEO he became majority shareholder. I
read her for six more years and then five five
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six years ago. Now start to my own and the
world has been my friend ever since, and God has
been on my side. I'm a commentator for CBS News
and I write Formation, Buddfeat News, b Et the Hill,
and some others, and so I am blessed and highly
favored by God. That is a beautiful journey, all the
way from a small town in South Carolina to having
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a real and true and truly impactful seat at the
table um in some of our large political circles ant one.
That's incredible. So now you talk about now you're on CBS,
you're a political contributor, How did that come about? Because
now you're really in the media spotlight. You know, I
think that when you do a good work, people will
reward you with for your good work, and whether that's
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giving you opportunities, or whether that's asking you to come
talk about the things that you do well and the
things you've learned, things you haven't done well, or whether
it's simply just sitting around and people calling you for
advice of how they can make their quality of life
better or their journey better or there for fashion better.
And so that was my journey. There's no secret, sauce
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I didn't try out you those things. I started out
doing election night coverage at a local UM news station
in South Carolina. UM. They would call me on to
talk about politics, talk about community issues, community engagement, why
people need to be engaged and involved, and that I
think fertilized the ground for me to have a seat
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on the national UM scene. And I started out with
my journey with Fox News UH, spent significant time there,
went did a little stuff MSNBC, and then along came
CBS and my life changed. I tell you what, people
will respect you when you have an opinion backed up
work that you do on TV. A lot of people
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want to give their opinion and so forth, but a
lot of people have not put in the time to
be respected in the professional end to have people want
to call on them. Ye, and that takes time, and
you know people all announced like is this overnight? But
it's need, it's learned behavior, and you know that translates
through the screen. Tell us how important it is to
you to sort of be a conduit to this country
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and the people and educating people on the importance of
politics and having a seat at the table. You know,
I'm fifth generating me UM and so I learned very
early in my life and Sunday School that my people
pays due to the lack of knowledge and for us
UM vote issues have been suppressed, depressed, tangled in a mess.
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They've tried to suffocate us, They've tried to ignore us
and push us to the side. And so I say
to myself every single day, there's nowhere in here I'm
going to be in the same position that my parents
and grandparents were. It because I think we have an
obligation to keep getting better, keep pushing ourselves towards that
more perfect union that other people have been able to experience.
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And so it's so important to have people who understand
the life experiences that most of us are going to
be able to talk about it, and not just talk
about in such a way where you check the box team,
but to be able to relate it to people's everyday lives.
And that's why important for me to not only just
talk about the work, to keep doing the work so
I can keep talking about those shared experiences and things
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that we care about in our communities, things that people
do not look like us have ignored for a very
long time. That's right, And I feel like you got
it from a very young age, you know, running for
student council president at a in the fifth grade and
saying hey, I'm going to give you five extra minutes
of recess because that really connected with the group that
you were trying to connect with. So you know, if
you expand that to now and you're now being able
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to bring issues that are really important to our community
um through the screen and push them on platforms, I
haven't let me say this. You know, most people are
afraid of the political scene. They're afraid of politics because
they think it is some industry or some world that
speaks another language. So we have to have people in
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positions to be able to dissect the stuff, chop it
all up, make it pretty, and make it digestible so
that there's no fear of showing up to the polls.
So there's no question about who your elected officials are,
there's no confusion about what they can and cannot do.
And we can also hold these people accountable beyond election,
because it is important. That's one part. But we've got
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to learn to hold people accountable who come and ask
us for our vote once they get there, you know.
And I feel like this past you know, year and
a half, with the global pandemic, with all the social unrest,
with elections have really forced people to look in the
mirror and realize and recognize the power that each individual
has in politics and voting. And I hope, you know,
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people are beginning to understand that they need to pay
attention to this and be actively involved. It isn't something
that we should shy away from or be afraid from.
And so I really think that that's starting to change
now for most people, you know, they're understanding the power
of their vote, you know, and the election ballot from
the top to the bottom, you know. The both familiar
(09:07):
addits I learned from Jim Claver and my political father
and mentor is that you cannot govern if you do
not win. And I think if there's one thing Barack
Obama approved, if there's one thing Joe Biden and Kamala
Harris are proving, is that I'll vote as power and
it makes a difference, not demulism, check for fourteen D
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three hundred dollar tax credits, all the things that have
come as a result of Joe Biden presidency. If black people, uh,
if black people did not show to vote in Georgia,
we would not have a majority in the USA able
to get some things done. And so I think what
you see is the ties turning. I think you're starting
to see the country recalibrate. And that's why you see
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people do not look like us working over time trying
to suppress and suffocate our vote with legislation all across
the country, four the seven states to keep us away
from the post because they realized when we show up,
there's a shift in this country. And that's been throughout history.
That's why, throughout history, our vote has always been one
(10:10):
of those things that people suppressed. Yes, absolutely, Okay, So
let's go back to your company blueprint strategy. Tell us
a little bit about that. Blueprint is advertising and political
consultant firm based in South Carolina, but I've spent a
significant time in Washington, d C. And my represents corporations
(10:34):
from Fortune five corporations going down to a restaurant in
South Carolina my name of Chikiki's Chicken and Waffles. I
work with NFL athletes or any given occasion with their
community engagement work, camps, foundation work, and of course the
political element a devil and dabbling some governmental agencies and
(10:54):
the book of business I have I like to call
the hybrid book of Business. And so you know, I've
been fortunately learned my mental a bubility website. Uh told
me this when I first started in business, and he said,
and there's some people who were made to sign in
front of a check, and there's some who are made
back a check. It is always more powerful to sign
in front of a check because you've become an employer
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and employ instead of employee, and that mindset changes and
from where you came from. And I never forget, he said.
He said, it is your obligation and responsibility to create
opportunities for at being said. That does not mean that's
what everyone's been called to do, because because there's a
point in my life in where I was not in
(11:36):
a position to be an entrepreneur or an employ our
employ type. But there are there are people been called
to do that, and we have to celebrate those people
who have to push them. We have to patronize, and
we have to send out money there. But we all
sure for those who want to get that to that space,
they're prepared. They know how to manage their money. They
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understand at the block and tact in this business. They
understand that at times in which you will not get
paid like other people, and that's okay, but you gotta
keep fighting. Managing expectations and managing money is so important
in business. Absolutely, So where would you say your passions
lie in the political sphere or in the public relations
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advertising aspect of your work? I thank my passionalizing helping people.
Oh I love God. Yeah, yeah, I think I'm jumping
in that bucket head first. That says it. All right,
that's a beautiful things they tell you. We all can
make money. I can influence elections and politicians. But if
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that's all we do, and we go back home to
our homes, and I'll drive our cars and eat our
food and go to our restaurants and our brothers and
sisters who live across the street from us, and communities
we grew up in. If there's there's something or worse
than their parents and their grandparents, then we've all failed.
And so obligation and responsibility to send elevator back down
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when we get up to the next floortely so, you've
built a lot of very strong relationships with some particularly
powerful players in the politics scene, for example, Congressman Clyburne
being one of them. How did this relationship come about?
I think it's happens over time and again, I think
that so many times people think you have to pursue
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certain things, but when you do the work and you
focus perfect the work, your opportunities behind you. Thankfully, I've
never been the person to chase outter stuff, but I
want to chase after being good at what I did
and what I do, and that's that when I'm doing
that stuff, were eventually trying to find me. And that's
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been my secret sauce. There's no ingredient, there's no recipe.
I just knew I had to put my head down,
do the work, do things that other people were not
willing to do because they thought it was beneath them,
or wasn't it, And then the Jim Clevers of the world,
that the Clintons of the world, the Marsia Funds of
the world, say, all these opportunities will find you, and
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these people will recognize your work, and then they will
bring you into their last I love that, and it
truly feels like you were on the path that you
were destined to be on. And I really think that,
you know, God in the universe really helped to just
send you those signs and you are doing the work,
my friend. It is much appreciated. So I have to ask,
is there a potential for a political office run in
(14:28):
your own future? I run for the airport, everything but
the only running I'm doing these days. Fair enough, fair enough,
fair enough, Antoine, Thank you so much for taking the
time to speak with us today. We are grateful for
the work that you do, you know, every day, moving
the needle for you know, the families around us and
(14:49):
so many more. Thank you so much for tuning in today.
Thank you so much for tuning in Money Moves audience.
If you want more or a recap of this episode,
please go to Bank Greenwood dot Calm and check out
the Money Moves podcast blogs Stay tuned tomorrow and every
day this week from Very Special Money Versus Moves. Honestly,
(15:09):
pressure is a privilege to me, um Oh, I love
that pressure is a privilege. It is far from our expert.
Our vote is the strongest aline we have. We have
to exercise that and for those who can give money,
we should do that. Absolutely we should. In particularly we
should give the candidate and causes that matter to us
(15:30):
and a celebrity guest. You won't want to miss roll
Owens with my clothing line. I'm definitely into home decore fashion.
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