July 29, 2022 • 25 mins
In this special series we are highlighting some of the entrepreneurs in our Greenwood community.
Today we are shining the spotlight on Tamala Lewis, the Senior Director of Community Affairs for The Anschutz Entertainment Group's Dignity Health Sports Park, the home of LA Galaxy, a former recording artist on Columbia/Sony Records, professional dancer, clothing designer, and wife of 4X Olympic Track and Field Medalist Steve Lewis.
She shares her story about entrepreneurship and how she got started working with AEG company.
Host IG:@itstanyatime
Guest IG: @tamalal
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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. Hey money Movers, I'm
your host, Tanya sam and welcome back to Money Moves,
(00:22):
the daily podcast determined to give you the keys to
the kingdom of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Today's guest
is the senior director of Community Affairs for a E. G.
S Dignity Health Sports Park, the home of the l
A Galaxy, a former recording artist on Columbia Sony Records,
professional dancer, clothing designer, wife of a four time Olympic
(00:44):
track and field medalist Steve Lewis, and of course a
mother of two daughters. Money Movers, Please welcome to the podcast,
Tamila Lewis. Hi, Tamola, how are you. I'm fine, Thank
you for having me. Glad to be here, Glad to
be heard and seen in these ways. Oh, I love that.
Glad to be heard and seeing. You know, we all
need a place to be heard and seen. So I
(01:04):
love that. Man reading all of your hats that you wear,
I almost lost my breath. That's a whole lot. So
congratulations and I love. You know, this is sort of
a series where we're having all sorts of different um
business people, corporate people wearing multiple hats, being social entrepreneurs,
all these different things. And I think, you know, your
(01:25):
role is really interesting. You know, you're an integral part
of the l A galaxy, and you've had a lot
of careers in your background. So I want you to
introduce yourself, um, sort of to our audience and share
a little bit more of your super interesting story. So
I grew up in the entertainment industry and came into
the sports and entertainment industry a little bit differently than
(01:45):
your average person. UM. My dad was a concert promoter
and managed Slave Ohio players. He actually was one of
promoters for the Cool Jazz Festival, which is currently Cincinnati
Music Festival. So I grew up around this, my brother
and I for many years. UM. And so I literally
graduated from college. I when I graduated, my dad, you know,
I told my dad, you know, by the way, I'm
(02:07):
moving to Los Angeles and I have just been offered
to come and sign with the recording group um On
for Columbia Records. And at that time, my um best
friend and my good friend talking to me in the
moving Here was Rosie Perez who actually was became our
manager of the singing group UM and so I literally
(02:28):
went into this industry. We recorded a whole album. We
were on Sony R. A and R person was Randy
Jackson um As formerly from back in the day American Idol,
but he was also A and R for Via Sony
for many years. And so from that moment we actually
started recording in Atlanta with Dallas Austin and some other
(02:51):
folks that we literally a whole year went right when
we were about ready to do album stuff and releases
and photos, there was something that went down or we
were then not on the label anymore. I'll just keep
that to leave that there anymore. And then I what
(03:13):
my dad told me when we signed that contract. He
made it clear to me, you have a degree, so
you have a plan. Bat. Oh yeah, I have a degree,
so you have a plan. B. I love. He He
was like, you know, I need you to understand that
this industry is very tough. So what I did was
that I took my experience in the music industry and
(03:35):
I just flipped it and I went right into doing
the celebrity events. I started doing events for a different artists.
I started doing events for radio stations and I just
literally flipped it which ultimately started doing events and it
ultimately left led me here to the incredible A G.
And this is what I love because you know, and
(03:56):
this is why I like sharing stories like this. You
had a background, you went to school, you had this
background even you know, coming from your father's experience, So
you had a superpower that you flipped into making a
career out of. And oftentimes I think people beat themselves
up and they're trying to find, you know, their passion
and it has to be something incredible, and it was
right there in front of you. Yes, and you've been
(04:18):
able to parlay that into business, into the corporate world
as well, exactly. And growing up, I will say that
a big part of my mom and dad, um part
of their lives was that we were blessed as a
black family to have the things that we had back then.
And my parents made sure that we understood that you're
(04:40):
blessed and everybody is not living the way that you're living.
So I thank you to understand it. We have to
give back. We got it, you know. He made that
us have a balanced life, and that was truly important
for them to make sure that we understood that where
we were was not the warm and then you gotta
(05:02):
stay in and you have to give back and you
have to be you know, brought into that world. So
he took us in different parts of the city and
took us if so we understood, okay, you're blessed, but
you also got to turn around and give back. So literally,
when I started doing events, that was a big part
of what I did. If I did events, it had
(05:23):
to have some type of charity component to it, and
that my biggest thing was that that was part of
my growth. That was a part of my joy of
being able to turn around and go I finished this event,
but I also did my part to make a difference,
and that was a big part of me going into
(05:43):
what I do. So let's talk about how you transitioned.
You know, oftentimes people follow their passions when they're young.
They're in singing, their entertainment, and then something compelled you
to want to help other people and move into this
corporate world. How were you able to make that transition?
You know, how were you even able to sort of
make the jump to create the resume to start interviewing
(06:06):
to get your foot in the door. Um. And here's
the thing. You're also working in a very exciting place.
You're working for like major leagues. So I guess I
shouldn't call major league soccer but professional soccer. Um, how
did you get your foot in the door? You know,
it's it's one of those things where I have to say, honestly,
(06:26):
it's the hustle. It is the hustle of being able
to recreate yourself and keep it moving. You have to
be able to understand the world that you're my my
grandmother and they say the saying that you know, God
gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.
You gotta listen, ye, you have to listen, and you
(06:48):
have to know your surroundings and you have to pay
attention for you to continue to move forward. And that
was a big part when I came to l A.
I didn't have any family here, so is all about
I'm not going home and I'm going to make sure
this happens. Whatever needs to happen needs to happen now.
So I never I never rest, you know, I could
(07:12):
rest later. It was it was NonStop. I started, you know,
not only did I do events. I was one of
the one of the few females that was doing club
promotions because I knew frown from my dad. So I
would joind up with a lot of folks here in
l A and we would do club promotion. So it
was jumping from one thing to another, but making sure
(07:33):
that I was meeting people and that I was and
then I took all of those those friends that I
made on the music side, and then I brought them,
you know, every time. My first event that I had
here with a e G. Was that when I started,
I said, I want to give back to music education,
because that's right. So my very first idea that I
(07:55):
brought to the table was to do a battle of
the high school marching band, so they're in show style. Yeah,
it was never it was in Los Angeles. We never
had a lot of the HBCUs coming here on a
regular basis to recruit these kids. So I said, you
know what, Let's do an event. Let's do a Southern
(08:17):
show style. Let's bring out all of the HBCU band directors.
Let's invite them all to judge. And then I also decided,
let's invite the Rose Bowl Parade Committee for this event
because there was very little of us at that time,
marching on New Year's Day, and so at that time
(08:38):
I opened it up and literally had invited all them.
I had a competition that went across the United States.
The first competition brought in schools from Atlanta, from Chicago,
from you know, from Washington, d C. And then we
had all these l A schools And part of the
deal was that the band directors would come in a
whole week early actually go and recruit kids at these
(09:02):
Los Angeles schools that they normally never saw. And then
there was and so it was always eight bands. There
was always a halftime show. So I would call on
all of these artists that I knew and all of
these celebrities that I knew, and the first, you know,
miss she lay, I love you Dearly Stephan here, Earth
Wind and Fire came out. They were here. Um, you
(09:25):
know Rodney Jerkins. You know, the list goes on of
how many celebrities, um, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson folk
at the event and brought everybody to the floor and
stood on it and you know, and did his his
famous you know speeches that he always does, and came out.
(09:48):
I called Miss a Phoenish akord you know, rest in
peace to her and asked her, told her what I
was doing. And she at this time was not in
l A. And she said, I'm there, you tell me
where be there. She came out, she spoke. All of
these people stepped up to the plate and did this
for me. And I will never ever forget that and
(10:12):
what I love about like this. That's so you know,
you had a network here that you were reaching out to,
you were connecting with people. But it also goes both ways.
I know that when those people called you, you would
be like, what do you need? What do you need?
But also what's fascinating about this? And as you look
into it, what you were bringing to l A was
(10:33):
inherently part of your culture and superpower, you know, the bands, this,
you were sharing it with the world and people want
to see this. So you know nowadays um creators and
you know urban the urban culture, people want to see it.
And so this is another way that people can take
again what we know, what's in our blood, what's in
our genes, and bring it to the world. There's an
economy here, there's a business here, there's a culture here,
(10:57):
and it is why we always have to have the sea.
Did the table yes? So that that is why I
you know, I'm gonna tell you when I presented this
idea at the table, when I wanted to do this,
and I applaud v H one saved the music because
at that time they deal with high schools. It was
only middle schools. And I got on a phone call
(11:19):
with my dear Jennifer Lynch and talked to her and said, Hey,
this is what I'm trying to do, and they said,
we're there. So they stepped up to Plate and New
York knowing I was in l A, never dealing with
high school only dealing with middle schools at that time,
and they came and supported and ten thousand dollars went
to the band new uniforms. And then I had this
(11:41):
crazy idea of calling Disneyland and saying, can they all
marched in the Main Street parade? Like I don't know
how this is gonna fly. But Disneyland stepped up every
single year and they marched down Main Street and they
got to spend the entire day at is any Land
everyone and it was like tears was rounding out these
(12:05):
kids eyes. I remember calling the d um, calling d
c Frank Blue School and letting them know they made it,
and tears in the background and the crying and the
screaming because a lot of these kids have never flown,
never been to California, never seen the ocean. On this
it was life changing and that is those are the
(12:26):
type of experiences that I tried you and I tell
you when I brought it to the table, everybody at
first was kind of like a battle of bands. Hamma,
I'm like, trust me on this. I'm gonna tell you something. Dan,
you the first join this. We brought in twenty two
thousand people into the stadium for this event. Once thousand people,
(12:48):
we had blocked off half of the stands because we
thought we weren't going to feel the arena. We had
to take the scram off to open up seats. When
people started coming in, it was crazy and tears were
running down my eyes because of course, you know, it
happened and every year for eight years straight, we did
(13:10):
this with every kind of celebrity coming out, everybody supporting
the event, and I'm just you know, I'm I'm just
in all that this event lad to other events. So
not only do we do Galaxy here, we do concerts,
we do boxing, We do everything here at the venue
(13:30):
UM because our other venue, of course is Crypto dot
Com Arena Staple Center. And then we have venues all
over the world with a e G. And then we
have our festivals. We are we create, we've created produced
Coachella and Stagecoach and everything. So the the company is
a great company to be a part of and so
(13:52):
and they're really really big on culture and that allowed
me to make that transition a lot easier because people allowed.
That's why I always tell young people want to speak,
to bring your ideas to the table. Bring your ideas
to the table, because I mean there's a currency in this.
And you know, as you like leading community affairs and
(14:15):
being able to have the power to actually involve the
community represent the community there, there's there's something really special
about that. And I know you've been really um intentional
about being able to reach community members. Um, how hands
are how hands on are you with these projects? And
what what's coming up next? You know, we've gone through
(14:37):
a pandemic, We've we've seen vaccine drives. Um, how do
you choose like where to spread the resources in the organization? Yeah,
you know with sports and entertainment. We were the first
ones to shut down. I remember on May we had
a thirty thousand person event or thirty thousand people that
(15:00):
day and Monday we gotta call on Sunday, Monday the
industry shut down time, and I remember that we had
we were shut down. We did not come back in
the offices until last year in June. UM we started coming.
But in between that time the stadium was shut down.
(15:21):
We didn't have any kind of events coming in, but
we kept those parking lots going. We literally had We
did twenty thousand COVID vaccines. We did over fifteen thousand
food delivered food giveaways in the parking lot. We had
a partner with Mattel and we did a toy giveaway
where they would pull people will pull up pop your
trunk and we would put It was like we kept
(15:46):
everything going because we knew people were in need and
if it was heartbreaking there were people crying lines UM.
It was hard because but it kept us. It was
it was therapy for all the staff and myself to
be able to keep going and give them back UM
because it was just it was heartbreaking to see people
(16:09):
who have never been in food lines in their life
here are affected everybody. It affected everybody, and for me
a lot of all of pretty much all of my events.
I have to create them, I have to produce them,
I have to get sponsorship for them, I have to
pretty much do everything from getting to end um and
(16:32):
even with I do an event called Women in Entertainment Luncheon,
which is easy to be here in Los Angeles, which
I created the event nine years ago before me too,
before all of that, but it was something that I
knew we needed as women to be able to network
and be in each other's spaces and to talk about
our challenges and what we needed to move forward. And
(16:54):
it became an unbelievable events seats feeling like five weeks,
I mean, the need for this, you know, it's so
much need for it. And it's like I wrote the
event out over Christmas break. I presented it to the
r g r g M and she said, let's do it.
Let's do it, and so and it's been a hit
(17:14):
every year. And then I decided in December. I decided
usually happen in June, and in this past December, I said,
I'm gonna make it happen, so let's push it out
to try to do it in person. I pushed it
out from June to December two of and we made
it happen and it was a packed house and I
(17:35):
was able at that. Every year at that event, I
always give back to people who have changed the world
in some type of way or the community. And this
year was the first year that I actually presented awards
to two men, and two men of color got it.
So it went to d Nice for keeping us dance
(18:00):
that Ya. He d came through big time. I used
to dance for d so he came through big time.
And actually then the award also went to um John Pratt,
who was the chairman and CEO of UH Sony Music Publishing.
So John came through for all of his work and
he's going to get women executives of color into Sony Music.
(18:23):
So they came through. The house was packed, and so
now everyone said do it again in December, so it's
coming back December two of this year. UM. So it's
just been amazing to see your events that come on
paper that then grow up, that they come to life
and they they actually touched people. And that's the biggest
(18:46):
thing is that you can do events, but if they're
not touching or making a difference or touching people in
a way. It's like, what's the purpose, what's the purpose?
What's the purpose? Yeah, I want to ask you. You know,
you have a long list of achievements community boards in particular.
You know you were constantly giving back and serving. You
(19:08):
know you really, um embody a life of servitude. I
want to talk about the importance of being on these
boards and how people get on them. Yeah. So I'm
on ten and don't I mean, I'm on ten um
and it you know a lot of them. It's it
(19:29):
spurs from just getting involved in just one. You know,
once you get involved in one board. Um and you
because because not only are you on these boards, you're
on the boards and the committees. So there's committees are
ties at this board. Um So I always say, if
you get involved and you get on these boards, and
(19:51):
you get on the committee, then you it then becomes
word of mouth and then call start coming in. It's like,
we would love for you to serve on this board.
You would love for you so. And I you know,
I probably should have said a while back, Okay, that's enough,
but I kept going And now I and and and
even through COVID, these boards they were in real need,
(20:13):
so they stopped even during COVID. So why was on
calls on a regular basis with all of them? But
I really say that and do your research because a
lot of them, there are a lot of them that
that pretty much come to you and invite you. But
there's also a lot of them that invite you, and
then it has to go out to the community and
the community that um um. All I will say is
(20:39):
that the best thing to do is get involved, do
your research on some some company or some organization. I
sit on a lot of chambers here for the city.
I also sit on like boys and Girls clubs and
the y m c a S and you know all
of the women in philanthropy and a lot of those.
And then we have a university here cal State Deminius
(20:59):
hill Um that actually we sit on the property right
connected and their families. So I sit on a lot
of boards at the university. So it's kind of like
you get involved in one, you do your research, You
then find out what is the strategy of this board,
and then you just work it and literally it's word
of mouth. Honestly, it's once somebody sees you and they
(21:23):
see you representing and they see you doing well, then
they're gonna ask for you. You know, can you can
you take? Can you do this? And you know, I
find you know, first of all, like I'm a big
fan of volunteerism. I'm a big fan of showing up
for your community. And you know, it's one of those
things where I think oftentimes people talk themselves out of it.
They just don't have time. They're busy grinding, they're busy
(21:44):
trying to grow their own businesses. But one hundred percent,
the reward that you get back from serving on these
boards is tenfold what you put in because number one,
your network expands, um you're able to understand different corporate infrastructures.
So I really I really encourage people. You know, it's
not just about having a line on your resume. It's
(22:07):
the giveback that you will receive is so much more,
so much more. Absolutely, I absolutely agree that it is.
It is you know, the people that you meet, like
you said, the networking that you get out of it,
and just the growth your growth. It's important and I think,
you know, yeah, we all are busy, Yes, how I
(22:28):
got ten and do my daily job I don't know,
but just like all we make it happen. It happened.
You know, I'm a mom. I you know, not only
do I have those, I still got school and after
school and student parent conferences and everything else that goes
along with it. But we make it happen. And I
think if you, if you make an effort and try
(22:50):
to volunteer, approach you, you will be surprised at how
you make it. You know, make it to those different
meetings and you know those in those events and send
things to that sort. Tom, this was great, this was
you wear so many hats and thank you so much
for all that you do for your community. UM, and
just sharing your story with us before you leave. Can
(23:11):
you make sure you tell our audience, UM where they
can find you and follow you on social media? Yes, UM,
you can find me on I g um. I'm under
Tamila Cheese and tom A m A l A and
then a letter l UM is my I g um
And then I do have Facebook, but it's been up forever,
(23:31):
but so A g G is probably the best to
reach me. With many hats that I wear, Yes, are
on there as much as I should be, but um,
but yeah, there that is where you can follow me
for sure. Well, what a joy it has been to
have you so Money Movers. Please make sure that you
follow her on all her social media handles, and thank
(23:53):
you so much for your time today. Thank you so
much for your commitment to community and just sharing your
story with us. We appreciate you so much. Well, thank
you for having me. It's been truly an honor, and
I'm just happy to be here and everybody I know.
We're seeing so much going on to the world, and
it's majority of it is not good, but I just
(24:13):
say stay strong. Many prayers and blessings out to everyone.
Thank you so much. I'm not beautiful, uplifting note of joy,
Money Movers. That's all the time we have for today,
but make sure to follow Tamala on all of her
social media handles, and make sure to tune in Monday
to Friday and subscribe to the Money Moves podcast powered
by Greenwood, so that you two can have the keys
to financial freedom you so rightly deserve. Thank you so
(24:38):
much for tuning in Money Moves audience. If you want
more or a recap of this episode, please go to
the Bank Greenwood dot com and check out the Money
Moves podcast blog. Money Moves is an I heart Radio
podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc.
For more podcast on I heart Radio, visit at the
(25:00):
i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts from.
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. Hey money Movers, I'm
your host, Tanya sam and welcome back to Money Moves,
(00:22):
the daily podcast determined to give you the keys to
the kingdom of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Today's guest
is the senior director of Community Affairs for a E. G.
S Dignity Health Sports Park, the home of the l
A Galaxy, a former recording artist on Columbia Sony Records,
professional dancer, clothing designer, wife of a four time Olympic
(00:44):
track and field medalist Steve Lewis, and of course a
mother of two daughters. Money Movers, Please welcome to the podcast,
Tamila Lewis. Hi, Tamola, how are you. I'm fine, Thank
you for having me. Glad to be here, Glad to
be heard and seen in these ways. Oh, I love that.
Glad to be heard and seeing. You know, we all
need a place to be heard and seen. So I
(01:04):
love that. Man reading all of your hats that you wear,
I almost lost my breath. That's a whole lot. So
congratulations and I love. You know, this is sort of
a series where we're having all sorts of different um
business people, corporate people wearing multiple hats, being social entrepreneurs,
all these different things. And I think, you know, your
(01:25):
role is really interesting. You know, you're an integral part
of the l A galaxy, and you've had a lot
of careers in your background. So I want you to
introduce yourself, um, sort of to our audience and share
a little bit more of your super interesting story. So
I grew up in the entertainment industry and came into
the sports and entertainment industry a little bit differently than
(01:45):
your average person. UM. My dad was a concert promoter
and managed Slave Ohio players. He actually was one of
promoters for the Cool Jazz Festival, which is currently Cincinnati
Music Festival. So I grew up around this, my brother
and I for many years. UM. And so I literally
graduated from college. I when I graduated, my dad, you know,
I told my dad, you know, by the way, I'm
(02:07):
moving to Los Angeles and I have just been offered
to come and sign with the recording group um On
for Columbia Records. And at that time, my um best
friend and my good friend talking to me in the
moving Here was Rosie Perez who actually was became our
manager of the singing group UM and so I literally
(02:28):
went into this industry. We recorded a whole album. We
were on Sony R. A and R person was Randy
Jackson um As formerly from back in the day American Idol,
but he was also A and R for Via Sony
for many years. And so from that moment we actually
started recording in Atlanta with Dallas Austin and some other
(02:51):
folks that we literally a whole year went right when
we were about ready to do album stuff and releases
and photos, there was something that went down or we
were then not on the label anymore. I'll just keep
that to leave that there anymore. And then I what
(03:13):
my dad told me when we signed that contract. He
made it clear to me, you have a degree, so
you have a plan. Bat. Oh yeah, I have a degree,
so you have a plan. B. I love. He He
was like, you know, I need you to understand that
this industry is very tough. So what I did was
that I took my experience in the music industry and
(03:35):
I just flipped it and I went right into doing
the celebrity events. I started doing events for a different artists.
I started doing events for radio stations and I just
literally flipped it which ultimately started doing events and it
ultimately left led me here to the incredible A G.
And this is what I love because you know, and
(03:56):
this is why I like sharing stories like this. You
had a background, you went to school, you had this
background even you know, coming from your father's experience, So
you had a superpower that you flipped into making a
career out of. And oftentimes I think people beat themselves
up and they're trying to find, you know, their passion
and it has to be something incredible, and it was
right there in front of you. Yes, and you've been
(04:18):
able to parlay that into business, into the corporate world
as well, exactly. And growing up, I will say that
a big part of my mom and dad, um part
of their lives was that we were blessed as a
black family to have the things that we had back then.
And my parents made sure that we understood that you're
(04:40):
blessed and everybody is not living the way that you're living.
So I thank you to understand it. We have to
give back. We got it, you know. He made that
us have a balanced life, and that was truly important
for them to make sure that we understood that where
we were was not the warm and then you gotta
(05:02):
stay in and you have to give back and you
have to be you know, brought into that world. So
he took us in different parts of the city and
took us if so we understood, okay, you're blessed, but
you also got to turn around and give back. So literally,
when I started doing events, that was a big part
of what I did. If I did events, it had
(05:23):
to have some type of charity component to it, and
that my biggest thing was that that was part of
my growth. That was a part of my joy of
being able to turn around and go I finished this event,
but I also did my part to make a difference,
and that was a big part of me going into
(05:43):
what I do. So let's talk about how you transitioned.
You know, oftentimes people follow their passions when they're young.
They're in singing, their entertainment, and then something compelled you
to want to help other people and move into this
corporate world. How were you able to make that transition?
You know, how were you even able to sort of
make the jump to create the resume to start interviewing
(06:06):
to get your foot in the door. Um. And here's
the thing. You're also working in a very exciting place.
You're working for like major leagues. So I guess I
shouldn't call major league soccer but professional soccer. Um, how
did you get your foot in the door? You know,
it's it's one of those things where I have to say, honestly,
(06:26):
it's the hustle. It is the hustle of being able
to recreate yourself and keep it moving. You have to
be able to understand the world that you're my my
grandmother and they say the saying that you know, God
gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.
You gotta listen, ye, you have to listen, and you
(06:48):
have to know your surroundings and you have to pay
attention for you to continue to move forward. And that
was a big part when I came to l A.
I didn't have any family here, so is all about
I'm not going home and I'm going to make sure
this happens. Whatever needs to happen needs to happen now.
So I never I never rest, you know, I could
(07:12):
rest later. It was it was NonStop. I started, you know,
not only did I do events. I was one of
the one of the few females that was doing club
promotions because I knew frown from my dad. So I
would joind up with a lot of folks here in
l A and we would do club promotion. So it
was jumping from one thing to another, but making sure
(07:33):
that I was meeting people and that I was and
then I took all of those those friends that I
made on the music side, and then I brought them,
you know, every time. My first event that I had
here with a e G. Was that when I started,
I said, I want to give back to music education,
because that's right. So my very first idea that I
(07:55):
brought to the table was to do a battle of
the high school marching band, so they're in show style. Yeah,
it was never it was in Los Angeles. We never
had a lot of the HBCUs coming here on a
regular basis to recruit these kids. So I said, you
know what, Let's do an event. Let's do a Southern
(08:17):
show style. Let's bring out all of the HBCU band directors.
Let's invite them all to judge. And then I also decided,
let's invite the Rose Bowl Parade Committee for this event
because there was very little of us at that time,
marching on New Year's Day, and so at that time
(08:38):
I opened it up and literally had invited all them.
I had a competition that went across the United States.
The first competition brought in schools from Atlanta, from Chicago,
from you know, from Washington, d C. And then we
had all these l A schools And part of the
deal was that the band directors would come in a
whole week early actually go and recruit kids at these
(09:02):
Los Angeles schools that they normally never saw. And then
there was and so it was always eight bands. There
was always a halftime show. So I would call on
all of these artists that I knew and all of
these celebrities that I knew, and the first, you know,
miss she lay, I love you Dearly Stephan here, Earth
Wind and Fire came out. They were here. Um, you
(09:25):
know Rodney Jerkins. You know, the list goes on of
how many celebrities, um, including the Reverend Jesse Jackson folk
at the event and brought everybody to the floor and
stood on it and you know, and did his his
famous you know speeches that he always does, and came out.
(09:48):
I called Miss a Phoenish akord you know, rest in
peace to her and asked her, told her what I
was doing. And she at this time was not in
l A. And she said, I'm there, you tell me
where be there. She came out, she spoke. All of
these people stepped up to the plate and did this
for me. And I will never ever forget that and
(10:12):
what I love about like this. That's so you know,
you had a network here that you were reaching out to,
you were connecting with people. But it also goes both ways.
I know that when those people called you, you would
be like, what do you need? What do you need?
But also what's fascinating about this? And as you look
into it, what you were bringing to l A was
(10:33):
inherently part of your culture and superpower, you know, the bands, this,
you were sharing it with the world and people want
to see this. So you know nowadays um creators and
you know urban the urban culture, people want to see it.
And so this is another way that people can take
again what we know, what's in our blood, what's in
our genes, and bring it to the world. There's an
economy here, there's a business here, there's a culture here,
(10:57):
and it is why we always have to have the sea.
Did the table yes? So that that is why I
you know, I'm gonna tell you when I presented this
idea at the table, when I wanted to do this,
and I applaud v H one saved the music because
at that time they deal with high schools. It was
only middle schools. And I got on a phone call
(11:19):
with my dear Jennifer Lynch and talked to her and said, Hey,
this is what I'm trying to do, and they said,
we're there. So they stepped up to Plate and New
York knowing I was in l A, never dealing with
high school only dealing with middle schools at that time,
and they came and supported and ten thousand dollars went
to the band new uniforms. And then I had this
(11:41):
crazy idea of calling Disneyland and saying, can they all
marched in the Main Street parade? Like I don't know
how this is gonna fly. But Disneyland stepped up every
single year and they marched down Main Street and they
got to spend the entire day at is any Land
everyone and it was like tears was rounding out these
(12:05):
kids eyes. I remember calling the d um, calling d
c Frank Blue School and letting them know they made it,
and tears in the background and the crying and the
screaming because a lot of these kids have never flown,
never been to California, never seen the ocean. On this
it was life changing and that is those are the
(12:26):
type of experiences that I tried you and I tell
you when I brought it to the table, everybody at
first was kind of like a battle of bands. Hamma,
I'm like, trust me on this. I'm gonna tell you something. Dan,
you the first join this. We brought in twenty two
thousand people into the stadium for this event. Once thousand people,
(12:48):
we had blocked off half of the stands because we
thought we weren't going to feel the arena. We had
to take the scram off to open up seats. When
people started coming in, it was crazy and tears were
running down my eyes because of course, you know, it
happened and every year for eight years straight, we did
(13:10):
this with every kind of celebrity coming out, everybody supporting
the event, and I'm just you know, I'm I'm just
in all that this event lad to other events. So
not only do we do Galaxy here, we do concerts,
we do boxing, We do everything here at the venue
(13:30):
UM because our other venue, of course is Crypto dot
Com Arena Staple Center. And then we have venues all
over the world with a e G. And then we
have our festivals. We are we create, we've created produced
Coachella and Stagecoach and everything. So the the company is
a great company to be a part of and so
(13:52):
and they're really really big on culture and that allowed
me to make that transition a lot easier because people allowed.
That's why I always tell young people want to speak,
to bring your ideas to the table. Bring your ideas
to the table, because I mean there's a currency in this.
And you know, as you like leading community affairs and
(14:15):
being able to have the power to actually involve the
community represent the community there, there's there's something really special
about that. And I know you've been really um intentional
about being able to reach community members. Um, how hands
are how hands on are you with these projects? And
what what's coming up next? You know, we've gone through
(14:37):
a pandemic, We've we've seen vaccine drives. Um, how do
you choose like where to spread the resources in the organization? Yeah,
you know with sports and entertainment. We were the first
ones to shut down. I remember on May we had
a thirty thousand person event or thirty thousand people that
(15:00):
day and Monday we gotta call on Sunday, Monday the
industry shut down time, and I remember that we had
we were shut down. We did not come back in
the offices until last year in June. UM we started coming.
But in between that time the stadium was shut down.
(15:21):
We didn't have any kind of events coming in, but
we kept those parking lots going. We literally had We
did twenty thousand COVID vaccines. We did over fifteen thousand
food delivered food giveaways in the parking lot. We had
a partner with Mattel and we did a toy giveaway
where they would pull people will pull up pop your
trunk and we would put It was like we kept
(15:46):
everything going because we knew people were in need and
if it was heartbreaking there were people crying lines UM.
It was hard because but it kept us. It was
it was therapy for all the staff and myself to
be able to keep going and give them back UM
because it was just it was heartbreaking to see people
(16:09):
who have never been in food lines in their life
here are affected everybody. It affected everybody, and for me
a lot of all of pretty much all of my events.
I have to create them, I have to produce them,
I have to get sponsorship for them, I have to
pretty much do everything from getting to end um and
(16:32):
even with I do an event called Women in Entertainment Luncheon,
which is easy to be here in Los Angeles, which
I created the event nine years ago before me too,
before all of that, but it was something that I
knew we needed as women to be able to network
and be in each other's spaces and to talk about
our challenges and what we needed to move forward. And
(16:54):
it became an unbelievable events seats feeling like five weeks,
I mean, the need for this, you know, it's so
much need for it. And it's like I wrote the
event out over Christmas break. I presented it to the
r g r g M and she said, let's do it.
Let's do it, and so and it's been a hit
(17:14):
every year. And then I decided in December. I decided
usually happen in June, and in this past December, I said,
I'm gonna make it happen, so let's push it out
to try to do it in person. I pushed it
out from June to December two of and we made
it happen and it was a packed house and I
(17:35):
was able at that. Every year at that event, I
always give back to people who have changed the world
in some type of way or the community. And this
year was the first year that I actually presented awards
to two men, and two men of color got it.
So it went to d Nice for keeping us dance
(18:00):
that Ya. He d came through big time. I used
to dance for d so he came through big time.
And actually then the award also went to um John Pratt,
who was the chairman and CEO of UH Sony Music Publishing.
So John came through for all of his work and
he's going to get women executives of color into Sony Music.
(18:23):
So they came through. The house was packed, and so
now everyone said do it again in December, so it's
coming back December two of this year. UM. So it's
just been amazing to see your events that come on
paper that then grow up, that they come to life
and they they actually touched people. And that's the biggest
(18:46):
thing is that you can do events, but if they're
not touching or making a difference or touching people in
a way. It's like, what's the purpose, what's the purpose?
What's the purpose? Yeah, I want to ask you. You know,
you have a long list of achievements community boards in particular.
You know you were constantly giving back and serving. You
(19:08):
know you really, um embody a life of servitude. I
want to talk about the importance of being on these
boards and how people get on them. Yeah. So I'm
on ten and don't I mean, I'm on ten um
and it you know a lot of them. It's it
(19:29):
spurs from just getting involved in just one. You know,
once you get involved in one board. Um and you
because because not only are you on these boards, you're
on the boards and the committees. So there's committees are
ties at this board. Um So I always say, if
you get involved and you get on these boards, and
(19:51):
you get on the committee, then you it then becomes
word of mouth and then call start coming in. It's like,
we would love for you to serve on this board.
You would love for you so. And I you know,
I probably should have said a while back, Okay, that's enough,
but I kept going And now I and and and
even through COVID, these boards they were in real need,
(20:13):
so they stopped even during COVID. So why was on
calls on a regular basis with all of them? But
I really say that and do your research because a
lot of them, there are a lot of them that
that pretty much come to you and invite you. But
there's also a lot of them that invite you, and
then it has to go out to the community and
the community that um um. All I will say is
(20:39):
that the best thing to do is get involved, do
your research on some some company or some organization. I
sit on a lot of chambers here for the city.
I also sit on like boys and Girls clubs and
the y m c a S and you know all
of the women in philanthropy and a lot of those.
And then we have a university here cal State Deminius
(20:59):
hill Um that actually we sit on the property right
connected and their families. So I sit on a lot
of boards at the university. So it's kind of like
you get involved in one, you do your research, You
then find out what is the strategy of this board,
and then you just work it and literally it's word
of mouth. Honestly, it's once somebody sees you and they
(21:23):
see you representing and they see you doing well, then
they're gonna ask for you. You know, can you can
you take? Can you do this? And you know, I
find you know, first of all, like I'm a big
fan of volunteerism. I'm a big fan of showing up
for your community. And you know, it's one of those
things where I think oftentimes people talk themselves out of it.
They just don't have time. They're busy grinding, they're busy
(21:44):
trying to grow their own businesses. But one hundred percent,
the reward that you get back from serving on these
boards is tenfold what you put in because number one,
your network expands, um you're able to understand different corporate infrastructures.
So I really I really encourage people. You know, it's
not just about having a line on your resume. It's
(22:07):
the giveback that you will receive is so much more,
so much more. Absolutely, I absolutely agree that it is.
It is you know, the people that you meet, like
you said, the networking that you get out of it,
and just the growth your growth. It's important and I think,
you know, yeah, we all are busy, Yes, how I
(22:28):
got ten and do my daily job I don't know,
but just like all we make it happen. It happened.
You know, I'm a mom. I you know, not only
do I have those, I still got school and after
school and student parent conferences and everything else that goes
along with it. But we make it happen. And I
think if you, if you make an effort and try
(22:50):
to volunteer, approach you, you will be surprised at how
you make it. You know, make it to those different
meetings and you know those in those events and send
things to that sort. Tom, this was great, this was
you wear so many hats and thank you so much
for all that you do for your community. UM, and
just sharing your story with us before you leave. Can
(23:11):
you make sure you tell our audience, UM where they
can find you and follow you on social media? Yes, UM,
you can find me on I g um. I'm under
Tamila Cheese and tom A m A l A and
then a letter l UM is my I g um
And then I do have Facebook, but it's been up forever,
(23:31):
but so A g G is probably the best to
reach me. With many hats that I wear, Yes, are
on there as much as I should be, but um,
but yeah, there that is where you can follow me
for sure. Well, what a joy it has been to
have you so Money Movers. Please make sure that you
follow her on all her social media handles, and thank
(23:53):
you so much for your time today. Thank you so
much for your commitment to community and just sharing your
story with us. We appreciate you so much. Well, thank
you for having me. It's been truly an honor, and
I'm just happy to be here and everybody I know.
We're seeing so much going on to the world, and
it's majority of it is not good, but I just
(24:13):
say stay strong. Many prayers and blessings out to everyone.
Thank you so much. I'm not beautiful, uplifting note of joy,
Money Movers. That's all the time we have for today,
but make sure to follow Tamala on all of her
social media handles, and make sure to tune in Monday
to Friday and subscribe to the Money Moves podcast powered
by Greenwood, so that you two can have the keys
to financial freedom you so rightly deserve. Thank you so
(24:38):
much for tuning in Money Moves audience. If you want
more or a recap of this episode, please go to
the Bank Greenwood dot com and check out the Money
Moves podcast blog. Money Moves is an I heart Radio
podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc.
For more podcast on I heart Radio, visit at the
(25:00):
i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
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