Overcoming Hurdles with Jonathan Azu

This week host Louis Carr speaks with Jonathan Azu, Founder and CEO of Culture Collective. They discuss following your dreams, live music, teaching and much more. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'm Nois Car and welcome to the Blueprint Connect podcast.
This podcast is an extension of the Blueprint Men's Summit,
where we have consistently given men a prescription for broth,
not just for themselves, but also for their families and
their communities. During these episodes, we will educate and motivate

(00:23):
our listeners about entrepreneurship, careers, finances, health and wellness, and
even relationship. And today we have as our special guest
my good friend from my all Mamta Drake University, Jonathan
as a founder and CEO of Culture Collected. Welcome Jonathan,

(00:49):
thank you for having me. I appreciate it and it's
good to be here. It's great to be here, and
it's great to be here with you. How you've been doing? Man?
I saw you online? They have the day uh at
the Alma Mata Drake University back in De Moines, Iowa.
How did that feel? Coming from l A or Costa

(01:10):
Rica or New York or wherever you're coming from. The
morning is a special place. It really is. And as
you know, I you know, I served on the board
there and I always tell people that if it wasn't
for this, this small school in the middle of America.
I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today. Uh, my

(01:32):
career in music didn't start after college. I started when
I was in college there. And I was like enough
to go back this past week with a client with
Michelle Williams, who spoke with a coalition of black students,
and it was a full circle moment for me. I
mean it was it was everything to be able to
walk around the campus where it all started with somebody
that you've been working with for so long, and then
she was there to share her story around mental health

(01:53):
and her journey and she's changing lives while while there.
It's just I still feel it right here in my heart.
It was really great, great, great, It looked like it was.
It was a good time and a very meaningful opportunity.
It was cold. It was cold. Is a different kind
of goal or was it just called from you because

(02:16):
you you were coming from a war place. I don't know,
it's it's you know, I got up in the morning
to catch my flight, you know that seven am flight
about ten degrees out. It was cold. Yeah, that's so.
So Jonathan tell the audience about culture collective and and
and what you do there and what is your purpose

(02:39):
and in the music industry, Yeah, the core of the
company is we're a talent management company. As managers, we
like to say we put no pun intended the blueprint
together for an artist's career and then we execute against it.
And we also have a label, a record label division
where we we distribute music on behalf of some of
the artists that we and there's not all of them.

(03:01):
And then we just developed a third division this past
year where we're working on some brand solutions with a
few different companies and sort of we're playing our agency marketing, uh,
putting our agency marketing hat on. But the umbrella of
it all is a story of of of an executive
myself who spent almost twenty years in the business building

(03:25):
other people's companies and building a career on the shoulders
of other executives that do not look like me but
saw something in me, and finding myself in a place
where I felt like I had accomplished a lot of
the things that I set out to do professionally. Um,
some personal things happened in my life. I lost my father,

(03:45):
I had my second son, and you start to really
think about what what do you want the back I
joke in the golf terms the back nine of your
life to look like, how do you want how do
you want to roll it out? And what kind of
impact do you to have? And I began to notice
that when I was going to meetings and being pulled

(04:06):
into you know, you know, various fundraising events, that I
had a seat at the table. I was sitting with
some of the biggest names, uh from an executive perspective
in music, but consistently I was the only person of
color sitting at these tables. And I felt like I
had figured I'd kind of figured the remix cube out

(04:26):
of how to navigate this industry, and I shouldn't just
one retain those secrets internally and not share them. That's
one aspect that I want to have in this back
nine of life. And then the other was do I
want to be an example of a person of color
that's figured it out doing it for somebody else, or

(04:47):
do I want to be an example of somebody that's
figured it out that could have honestly just continue to
go down that path and you know, had an impact.
Or do I want to do my own thing and
and and show people that you can do it on
your own can, on your own company, you can you
can really build something special and be of color. And
I decided to do that. That's when I decided to

(05:07):
watch to watch Culture Collective. So I'd like to see
that big make that decision though, to walk away from
that check and then say, hey, I'm gonna roll the dice.
I mean, that's not a decision. Just wake up. You
didn't get angry. You made a very strategic decision. Tell
tell our audience about that process, because there may be

(05:30):
a lot of people out there who are in corporate
America working for big companies who's had this on the
back of their mind. Also, Yeah, it was. It wasn't easy,
and I'll take you through a few of the different
hurdles that I had to go over to get there. Um,
you know, initially it's to me. I've always been a

(05:52):
person and this is at Drink University. I put on
some some so now that I look back at it,
some really big concerts. When I was there and when
I was in the moment of it, I didn't I
didn't know it, but it was something that was burning
inside me that I want to put these shows on
and I want to figure it out. I'm gonna find
the money, I'm gonna find the venue. I'm gonna, you know,
liaison with the university. And if I don't do these things,

(06:14):
I lose sleep. I can't sleep, I can't get it
off my mind. I'm not a I'm not a performer,
but it's the closest thing I can I can think
about being in performed when they have a song in
their head and I gotta get it out. It's two
in the morning. I gotta get it out otherwise it
will drive me nuts. It's the same thing with me
about business, some aspects of business. So this was burning

(06:35):
in my head for a very long time, and I
felt like I really needed to do it. And the
first hurdle was was listening to that inner voice and
not ignoring it. The second hurdle, honestly, was talking with
mentors like you and and we've sat many times. Will
probably get into the story of how we know each

(06:55):
other later, but I've known you for very long. I've
admired you for longer than i've known you known you
for and you reach out to the Lewis Cars of
the world. Um, there's other people in my life, Chris
van Noy and Cliff Chenfeld and some others that really
help advise me on what I should do. So that

(07:16):
was that was another hurdle, but it was then pushing
me over that next hurdle and then um, you know
that your ducks in a row. You started going working
through some of the stuff in the back end. You
look for help. You don't do it all on your own,
you know, I I you know I mentioned Chris van Noy.
He's somebody that I've worked with for years and previous
iterations with companies business development, doing consulting, writing business plans

(07:39):
for companies I've worked for. I brought him in to
work on a business plan for me. I have another
close friend, Marcus Hollinger, who works with lucre who you've
had on your your podcast I think before, and Lucrez
has an amazing business called Reach Records look Craze a
former client. I've been always extremely impressed with everything that
Reached does in their approach, and of course Lokra is

(08:02):
amazing and Marcus is the marketing genius behind a lot
of a lot of that. So I brought him on
board to do the branding and positioning of the company.
So I started really pulling people into my sandbox that
I've impressed with or inspired by in my life to
help come over, come up with what what it was
gonna look and feel like and when our positioning was
going to be like um. Then then there was you know,

(08:25):
talking to my my my clients that I was working
with at the time and sharing my vision and sharing
it in a way where I wanted them to understand
and really feel what I was getting ready to do,
and I wanted them to come with me as my
Jerry Reguire moment, if you will. I wanted them to
come with me, but I didn't didn't say you have

(08:45):
to because if you don't, this is happening anyway. So
that's the other part, its commitment, one percent of its execution.
I was committed to doing it. And then the last
two parts was you know, it's not just me. I
have a beautiful wife and I have two wonderful children.
My kids are babies, are four and eight, but I

(09:06):
had them in mind. But my wife is my partner,
and I had to have the conversation with her is
like you know, are you are? You know? Because I'm
not in a position where it's just me. So there
is some great risk here. I do have mouths to
feed and people to take care of uh. And she
was in full support, as she always is. And then
the last one was me sitting at thirty thousand feet

(09:30):
with the window open of the plane and a parachute
in my hand and looking at the ground and looking
at the pilot and looking at the ground, and when's
the right time to jump? When is the right time
to to to take take that leap of faith? And
I realized that there is no perfect time. You just
got at that point. You gotta go. You gotta go,

(09:53):
and I went, And it was honestly the best decision
I've ever made in my life. The response that I
received from from my college, eggs, from the entertainment industry
as a whole has been phenomenal. Um And some people
question why I did it. Some people misconstrued the reasons
why I did it. I even had one executive mentioned

(10:16):
that you know the top, you know the top the
top artists and billboard of a color. So it makes
sense for you to own your own company because you
have more of a shot of working with artists of color.
And so it's it's definitely way over the head as
not you know again, I like to say what we're
doing for music reasons bigger than music. But it's been
very beneficial. But that's the top line. That was the

(10:38):
process of of going through But it all started with
the heart, what you feel inside of you. All the
other hurdles you can't get to you unless it's right here.
We'll be right back with more of my interview after
this quick break. So so so, Jonathan. Honest who are

(11:07):
some of your clients right now? We work long, long
time clients of Emily King, who is an amazing R
and B artist. She has been nominated for two back
to back Grammys Um. She was nominated last year for
Beck's R Best R and B Song, which she longed
was she did lose to Beyonce, so if there's anyone

(11:27):
to lose to, you want to lose to Beyonce and
uh and in the year before that she was nominated
for Best R and B Um Performance. And we work
with Michelle Williams, who was a friend of yours and
a long time client and honestly a very close friend
of of of of my family. She's she's she's you know,

(11:48):
she's been a part of my last almost ten years.
Of my life professionally and personally and formerly of Destiny's
Child arguably the biggest girl group in the world. UM.
But her calling as of recent is sharing her journey
of mental health and specifically mental health in the black community. UM.

(12:13):
And I've been next to her on this journey personally
and professionally as she's developed as a public speaker. And
what I've seen her do, what I just saw her
do at Drake was jaw dropping. When I say she's
changing lives, she's literally changing lives and in some cases
saving lives. It's it's a it's a very real thing

(12:33):
what she's sharing and what she's cheering back from the
community that she's reaching out to. So, you know, we
do very little in music, we do a lot in
in you know, public speaking. Um. She also does acting
and you know, brand endorsements and all sorts of other stuff.
But you know, it's it's fascinating to watch her back,

(12:53):
not alive, to say, you know what, Yes, I've toward
the world and you know, uh, those those girls for
my sisters, and and there may be more for them
down the road, but for right now, it's about impacting
people around mental health. To her sharing your journey with them.
Uh Corey Henry phenomenal instrumentalist R and B artist, and

(13:18):
he was a part of a jazz collective, decided to
go out on his own, brought me in to help
architect the road map for him. And I'm excited to
say in the last few years he's um, he's become
a phenomenal producer and co writer, and then he also
has put out his own albums and just this year
he's nominated for four Grammys uh too as a co

(13:42):
producer and writer on Kanye West as Donda album and
one on co writing and co production with Eric Bellinger.
And then he's nominated himself in that same category with
Eric Bellinger for for Best Progressive R and B Album
for his album Something to Say, which which we are
the record label for and we're the management force. We
put the music out which has been amazing. And then

(14:04):
UM and then just to build on that, Luke James,
who's also a close friend of yours, and Who's Who's
I think it's been featured on a podcast and and
and previously we are also the record label and management
company for him, and we put out an album a
couple of years ago with him to to Feel Loved,
which was nominated for Best R and B Album. So

(14:25):
we've been really, really, really blast. We also work with
Lucy Park and Leon Thomas. UM a brand new R
and B artist that's making ways right now, Genevieve. She
has a song called baby Powder that's had about forty
million streams on Spotify. Very excited for her. UM. So
we get you know, we got a lot of really
great artists that we work with and we're excited to

(14:47):
continue to build their careers and make an impact. But again,
I go back to that mission, the mission of the company,
And in the last year, we've also launched a variety
of different initiatives around and you know, hiring other represented minorities.
We've gotten involved with with the Coalition of Festivals that
we helped co develop to help impact the way in

(15:09):
which music festivals are are are hiring and programming UM
to make sure that diversify diversities kept in mind in
those in those scenarios. So we continue to make it,
you know, do great business, but make an impact. So
as the country opens back up, how difficult or easy

(15:30):
is it trying to get your artists back out and
engaged and you just mentioned festivals and really engaged with
the public again. Is that challenge or is it just
like we've just been waiting on it. We're waiting on it.
Were definitely we're ready to go. I mean the last
few months I've been having these conversations with with agencies

(15:51):
that represent our artists and going through the grid, the
Excel spreadsheet of all the opportunities and dates and offers,
and and it's been great to to talk agents again.
There are partners, we speak with agents more than anyone,
uh in that artist sandbox, and it's been great to
connect with them again. And and it's but it's but
it's been easy domestically, it's been hard. Internationally. We're still

(16:14):
trying to figure out international. We've got some opportunities in
Asia as well as Australia coming up, and we're just
trying to figure out to think about scenarios. In business,
you have to plan for multiple scenarios, and right now
we're planning for artists goes over, does their tour, crushes,

(16:34):
it comes home, everyone's happy. What if one member gets sick?
What happens? How does that play out? Does the band
have to stay? You know, as artis has to stay
in the country and so for how long? Who pays
for that? We have to think through all those things.
It's a little different than you know. It's a little
different than uh, you know, Aaron Rodgers. Uh gets get sick,

(17:01):
you just put the backup quarterback in. You still play
on Sunday. It's it's different in our world. We have
to be very, very cautious and create a bubble. I
lose Corey Henry, I lose Emily King. I can't I
can't put another Corey Henry Emily King out there. So
we have to be we have to really think about
how we protect one protecting our artist into thinking through

(17:22):
how do we how do we play? How do things
work out if someone was to God forbid, get gets sick. So, Jonathan,
what advice would you give to uh people who look
like us and want to get into an industry that
you and I clearly you know it's not the most
diverse industry of all industries out there? Uh? In two,

(17:47):
what advice would you give to those people who are
coming out of school and say, I want to be
like Jonathan? Is it? Honestly, I would say the biggest
advice one is fall your hard follow your dreams. Don't
let anybody tell you can't do it. I still look
for the no in my career. Sometimes I'll if I'm

(18:08):
trying to sign an artist to a record label, or
um I'm trying to get a festival to be interested in,
or anything in my business, sometimes I'll call the person
or reach out to the person. I know he's going
to tell me no, just to get me going right,
just to get me garth. That's that Michael Jordan's Kobe
Bryant bomba mentality. I'll look for that. And that's that

(18:35):
inner inner burn, that desire, that drive, and you have
to you have to keep that same energy throughout your career.
And don't think that you figured it out just because
you've you have successes. You want to keep that desire
and burn. And the second thing, and I mentioned this before,
is build your board. Companies have boards. Viacom has a board,

(19:00):
PepsiCo has a board, Walmart has a board. You should
have a board. You should start to put your board together,
and it can change over time. The board boards change
over time as companies develop and grow. I'm proud to
say that you're on my board right over the last
you know, I think can't even how long we've known
each other for, but you know, for a long time,

(19:22):
even on the board, you've been on my board, and
you can't be bashful about asking asking somebody to be
on your board. I don't think every put it to
you that way. But the minute we've connected, Which for
those of you that don't know, Lewis graduated from Drake University, UM,

(19:44):
I knew of Louis Car while I was a student
at Drake. I graduated from Drake and happened that happened stands.
I'm working at CBS Radio on the floor the Viacom
building in Times Square, and we share an office with
the BT sales team. Now, of course, being a person
of color, there's not that many people of color on

(20:05):
the CBS side, a ton of folks of color on
the I took the opportunity because we shared a kitchen.
I took an opportunity to build relationships with people as
a BT because we shared a kitchen. And I learned
that that sales team reported into Lewis Car and I
was like, wow, all right, here we go. I saw

(20:28):
it as an opportunity to get in front of you.
But the one thing, the one hurl that I had
to get through what over was You had to be
willing to to to connect with me, and we had
that common denominator of being drink university grads. You were
in town, We sat down, we had a top wine

(20:49):
conversation that getting to know you. And you've been on
my board since and I appreciate that. And so everyone,
you need to develop your own board to help develop
your career to the two pieces of advice Inner Inner
burned in his desire fall that heart, that drive, don't
allow a no to deter you, allow a no to

(21:09):
drive you, and then put your team together. We'll be
right back with more of my interview after this quick break. So, Jonathan,
you are also at John Professor at the prestigious usc

(21:35):
UH University in California. How did that happen and what
are you teaching? Well, I always saw myself um getting
into academics, and I think a lot has to do
with my upbringing. I like to joke down the white
sheep of the family. I'm actually the only person of

(21:55):
my siblings that does not have a masters. In some
cases they have to. My twin is a surgeon, all right,
So you know, growing up sometimes it was. It was,
you know, John's doing his own different thing, and my
father would always who's who is an academic um surgeon

(22:18):
his own story is is something that communicates to what
I just was talking about. Before he was brought to
the United States by missionaries. He was adopted by missionaries
to come here for a better life and education and
became a surgeon. Uh not not easy. Was it was
one of the first blacks to graduate from St. Louis

(22:39):
University Medical School. And he always really wanted me to
go to business school. And I toyed around with it
a bit. I think you and I probably even talked
about it a little bit, yes, right, just kind of
going back and forth. And he really really wanted me
to go to business school. And you write new letters
sometimes in when I was working in New York about uh,

(23:01):
you know, following my dreams, but just keeping in mind
that you've got Columbia and you've got n YU there
and really great business schools, and I just for me
just wasn't the right time. And I still may do it.
Just still it's one of the things that burns inside
of me sometimes, is do I go and get a master's?
So in a way, teaching at usc IS is a

(23:22):
little bit of a nod to him, and I know
he's up and having looking down kind of probably smiling
and shaking his head and saying, man, I can't believe
this guy to become an adject professor at usc But
they had reached out to me a little over a
year ago and they had a vacancy in their music
department and the short in school of Music. They were

(23:42):
looking for someone to come in and teach. Management were
in the throes of the pandemic at the time. I
was was currently at that time living in Costa Rica.
Uh you know that little window post riots, pre insurrection,
when you were kind of like, I don't know if
I want to if I want to be here anymore.
What we learned, my family and I left. We went
to Costa Rica, which is where my wife is from.

(24:04):
We we initially went for a month and then ended
up staying for multiple reasons. We stayed and my family
is actually still there. They're coming back in a few months.
I've I've come back to Los Angeles since UM and
they were okay with me doing it online because everything
was online. So I said, let's give this a try.
I'm pretty good at zoom at this point, right, I
can do zoom, I can run mission control and all.

(24:26):
It ended up being the hardest thing of the class
was me not I even ended the class early a
couple of times accidentally trying to get the share screen off.
It was a hot mess, but it was very rewarding,
very rewarding. I'm gracious. They asked me to come back
this semester a year later. So I started teaching about
four weeks ago, but this time on campus. Have sixty students,

(24:50):
and I teach all aspects of the music industry because
as managers, we touch everything publishing, touring, UH, distribution, marketing, PR,
we touch on everything all with the lens of them manager,
and I've it's I know they're getting a lot out
of me, but I'm getting so much out of them
because I'm getting a perspective of what it is to
be between the ages of let's say, eighteen nineteen to

(25:11):
twenty two, in their perspective not only on music, with
their perspective on the world, and it's helping to form
how we think about how we work with our artists.
So I'm getting just as much out of them as
they may be getting out of me. Wow, congratulations on
that and I'm sure students love you. It's great. What's next,
What's what? What's next? What's next? Rebuilding the business, putting

(25:36):
the bricks back together, um, continuing to follow our mission
of what we're doing as a company and impact on
the culture, doing great, doing great business, having you know,
business acumen. You know, I I told some of the
other day, one of my one of my colleagues, one
of my young colleagues, that your reputation and this just
goes for us as individuals in us as a business,

(26:00):
enters the room before you do. And it's the only
thing that you will carry from job to job or
from deal to deal, partnership to partnership. And that's the
one thing we always have to remember as the foundation
of how we conduct ourselves as individuals and representing culture collective.
So that's our north star, that's what we we We

(26:21):
we use to pay the payment that we're walking down
and we'll continue to do that and continue to to
build our business and work with great artists. I'm excited
to to get involved in more partnerships. UM. You know,
we think big and I think that what we do
as a company, we can impact and help more artists,
we can impact and help more companies, and there could

(26:42):
be more strategic relationships out there as well. Um as
we continue down this this this journey of of building
culture collective. So so Jonathan, you help people develop their
own blueprint. This this podcast is called the Blueprint connect
So before we let you go, what should every person

(27:06):
that's trying to create this successful journey for themselves have
a part of their blueprint? What are the sort of
the fundamentals, the essentials to building a successful blueprint? Vision? Vision?
That blueprint, that roadmap has a start in the end

(27:28):
of drafting it, and you have to have the vision
and it can twist in turn. That's okay. You know,
I just moved into a new house. Um if I
looked at the blueprint of this house when they when
they when they were putting the plants together, most likely
it looks very different than how it ended finished. And

(27:49):
that's okay. You have to be flexible. But you have
to have a roadmap. You have to have a vision.
You have to know what you're working towards. Where are
the goal lines, where the milestones. If you don't have
those things, you won't you won't get there. M remind
me Lewis on your office on the wall, on the window,
what does it say? Growth? Growth? Right? Says growth? And

(28:14):
if you don't have that blueprint, you won't grow because
you don't know what you're what what what what growth
looks like? You don't know what the success metrics look like.
So to me is having that vision, laying it out
and executing against it so you can recognize growth. So so, Jonathan,
I've got to ask you this and challenge you on this.

(28:35):
Which comes first the design? Oh? Vision? M hmm. Desire.
The reason why I say desire is because as is
a young person, you you haven't lived enough life to
necessarily have the vision because you haven't seen enough things,

(28:56):
talk to enough people. But that desire, the desires something
that you can see, uh, at a young age. You
can see it in people and you look. You know
there's I'm around a lot of children now in my
life and you'll see a three or four year old
who's just coming into lighte. But you look at and say,

(29:17):
you know what, I don't know what it is that
kids got hard, kids got desired. Definitely doesn't have a
vision because they're too young to have a vision. But
I'm telling you watch out world. So Johnathan, you you
just stepped into my space now, so this is gonna
go on a little bit, all right. So if you
don't have vision, how can you find someone to get

(29:43):
someone to help you create that vision? Because I was
one of those people people will debate with me on this.
I don't think I had vision, all right, I say,
I ran into vision makers? How can people get that vision? Who?
You know? I'm not one of those people who believe
you can't be what you can't see. I just didn't

(30:05):
see much and I read in the people who saw
something in me before I saw it in myself. How
does someone fine or be attractive to those types of
people who can be vision maker? Yeah? And I think
that we just to just to build on what you
just said, and I'm just thinking through it myself. I've
mentioned the small child who has heart and desire but

(30:25):
doesn't have vision yet because they haven't experienced things. I
was an example of that, so are you. And then
you go through this second phase later in life, more
professionally as a young adult, where people see something in
you that you don't see in yourself, and then theyre
but they want to invest time, resources, and potentially money
into helping to grow what you don't necessarily see. And

(30:48):
then you go through this later part, which is I
think where I've been at over the last five years,
where you you you you start to believe a little
bit that all right, I do have a vision, Right
I do? I you know, uh, what people have been saying,
and now that I look back, what people did for
me means that I have a vision and maybe I

(31:11):
just haven't articulated it yet. I haven't really crystallized what
it is yet, but it's there um and and you know,
it doesn't necessarily mean that, well, you have a vision,
you need to go start your own company. Doesn't mean
that you have a vision you you've got to go
become the CEO of a company. Uh. It can mean

(31:32):
that you have a vision and you you want to
you want to help somebody else realize their vision. I
did that for many years, mentioned it it earlier, and
I was very very successful at helping other owners of
their companies realize their vision. I just chose I wanted
to do it on my own, and that's when I
was creating that vision. It goes back to what I

(31:53):
talked about before I started pulling people in my board
and looking at resources, you know, I mission Marcus holland
Or and Chris Van. I looked at resources that can
help me mold my vision, help me build my roadmap,
my blueprint, because blueprints of vision. But you're not drafting
it on your own. You've got a team of people.
They're helping you to draft, to draft your your your blueprint.

(32:13):
And I think that that would be how I would
address somebody that says, all right, well I don't know
if I have vision, how do I do it? It's
it's inside of you. What are the things that are
going to help you unlock it? Things and people? Well, Jonathan,
a final question the people who have vision but it's
just not happening, beast enough talk to those people as

(32:38):
we close this session now patients for a long time
later in life. It's for me, I've gotten more comfortable
with that that I'm running my own race at the
pace that I need to. And it doesn't mean that
you don't push yourself, increase your stride, work on your breath.
You know, I'm talking with one of the as Collegiate

(33:00):
Tract athletes to to run at Drake University so he
you know this, um, but you gotta run your race
and not not be necessarily worried about the person in
the lanes to the right or left you of You
run your race. Um. There's many ways to get over

(33:21):
from from the valley of Los Angeles into Hollywood. There's
many different arteries over that hill, and you migrate with
your pack. I've been in this business for almost twenty years.
I know people that have been have been in this
business for twenty years as well, and we're sitting on
the other side of the hill looking at each other
and being like wow, CEO of CEO, founder, board member,

(33:47):
all this really interesting stuff that that successful um metrics.
How did we get here? We all took a different
path over that hill, and some got their first, some
got their second, some backtracked to get there. But but
we all we all arrived at our own pace. So

(34:09):
that patience is in letting the play developed us a
sports term right, letting, you know, as a football term,
gotta let your receivers run their routes right. You throw
the ball too early, you can throw it to nobody.
You throw it too late, make it intercepted. To let
them run their routes right and look for the right timing.

(34:30):
But you gotta let him run the routes, you know.
So patience is a part of it, but you still
want to have that internal desire and burn and drive.
I honestly, I honestly, honestly, honestly, always feel that I'm
about five years behind where I should be in life.
It's been this constant thing since I was a young
executive where I say to myself, you know, yeah, I've

(34:52):
found a culture collective. It's amazing and working with these
amazing artists, the board trust you at Drake University. I'm
an agent professor at USC And then I would say
to myself, Man, I mean, why did it take me
so long to get here? So it's still there and
I still recognize it, but I'm more comfortable that I'm
running my own race and versus it being a thing
that frustrates me and I misconstrue as failure. Thank you

(35:19):
closings out on running your own race. I appreciate that.
How can people get in touch with you? Uh, I'm
on on social platforms Jonathan Azoo linked in, Instagram, um,
and you can reach out to me on those platforms.
And I honestly a lot of people will reach out
to me and I'll answer questions and send video messages

(35:42):
back if people have uh things that they want to
know about me or or be inspired. And I'm outside,
I'm back. I'm running around the country. I'm doing events.
I'll be at concerts and festivals. Come up, say hello.
All right, Jonathan, thank you so much for being on
the Blueprint Connected podcast. And as we meet, keep your

(36:04):
mask on. You're around a lot of people. Jonathan sat
mask on. Yes, sir, all right, thank you, thank you,