FULL INTERVIEW: Sachia Vickery And Her Family Talk Their Journey Into Professional Tennis + More

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
What's up his way up at Angela Yee. I'm Angela Yee.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
And it is a Wealth Wednesday, so I'm here with
my partner Stacy Tisdale.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Happy Wealth Wednesday, everybody.

Speaker 4 (00:12):
And it's a very special one indeed, because it is
US Open week.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Yes, and up here it's a family affair.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Yeah, we have.

Speaker 4 (00:20):
We're so excited to have Sasha Vickery, who is an
amazing professional tennis player and who will be playing at
the US Open. Her mother Paula Liverpool, who helped her
on that journey, an amazing story, and her brother Dominique Mitchell,
who's also a former athlete but now a multi platinum
record hip hop producer and created an NFT.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
And an avatar.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
And you guys are just an amazing story of everything
it takes to really be a professional athlete and thrive
and all that you can do.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, yeah, let's start with you, mom, Paula Okay Liverpool,
because it all starts from you, right, And it is
a lot of sacrifice that you have to make when
it comes to raising your kids to be professional athletes
and then to be successful and to go on and
become a record producer multi platinum. So let's talk about
your history and because some people might feel like to

(01:12):
be in these sports you have to come from a
privileged background, especially in tennis.

Speaker 5 (01:18):
Absolutely positively not. I am from Guyana, South America. I
hears from a little village in called Kokwanie Park of
the Barbis River. I actually did not come to America
in your regular traditional way. I came on a boat.
At that time, you needed a visa. I didn't get

(01:39):
it at the time, and I was so eager to
come to the land of opportunity. So I took my
chances on a little boat across the Atlantic Ocean and
I got to the US.

Speaker 6 (01:49):
And when I got here, I.

Speaker 5 (01:52):
Know for a fac I wanted my children to have
a good life, a better life than you would have
in a third world country. So I put all my efforts,
all my sacrifices into them, and I'm humbled, proud and
happy to see how things have blossomed.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
How did that even get started?

Speaker 4 (02:11):
With you being able to afford to help slash a
play professional tennis.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
I know you had to. You were working twenty hours
a day at one point.

Speaker 7 (02:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:21):
Well, actually I worked two jobs. I worked in the
daytime at the online university, and I bartended. Basically, I
think it was all about creativity and to just do
the best you can. I utilize my flights and my
flight privileges because I worked for the airlines, and you know,
just whatever resources I can pull from, and then when

(02:42):
you show promise at an early age, you kind of
get a little bit of support. So basically that's how
it started.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Even the process of being a citizen. How was that,
because I know that can be you know, you came
over on a boat, like you said, you were just
eager to say I want to life.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
So what was that process like for you?

Speaker 5 (03:03):
It was difficult, but you know with everything else that
you went through whatever you had to go through, and
then I became a citizen of the US. That means
things much much easier because doors open. When you come
as an immigrant without documentation, to get jobs and things
like that becomes very challenging. So you go through whatever

(03:23):
process you can and then you get to where you
need to get to.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, I've heard people talk about their stories about not
being able to get a car, not being able to
go to school, and like you said, even looking for
work and for a job that pays even the minimum wage.
Sometimes people take advantage when they know you're not documented.

Speaker 5 (03:39):
Absolutely, you know, they take advantage you and they know
you don't have the correct documentation. But you know, we
sacrifice everything is possible.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
And for you, Sasha and Dominique, while all this was
going on when you were very young, right, Sometimes when
we're young, we don't realize what, you know, the difficulties
because we're so used to it. We grow up in
a situation where I know, for me, like I didn't
leave my neighborhood until I was older, and you don't
realize all the struggles that you went through until later
in life.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
So did any of this?

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Was this something that you knew or you didn't realize
till you look back and were life, Dan, We went
through a lot.

Speaker 6 (04:16):
Yeah, I think for me, I realized.

Speaker 8 (04:18):
I know my mom tried to you know, she tried
her best not to show it or not to you know,
tell me everything that was going on. But you know,
I obviously saw like she she struggled, she was working
a lot. She would always come home super super late,
even when I went to tournaments. She would just give
me money whenever she could, So I knew it wasn't.
It was completely different than any other any of the

(04:39):
other players that that I was playing with at the time.
You know, they had coaches, they had you know, their
parents travel with them. They always had hotels set up,
you know, everything arranged, and I went the complete opposite route.
And yeah, so it was something where I knew what
was going on. But then I also I knew I
had the potential to make something of myself, and I
put the work in since I was I was very

(05:00):
young to get to that level.

Speaker 4 (05:02):
And Dominique, you were an athlete too, And I remember
when I first heard about your guys story, like ten
years ago, you had images of your mother just sitting
in tears over piles of bills, and you tried to
do your part right by earning scholarships and work and
tell us about that.

Speaker 7 (05:17):
Yeah, so I mean being uh and you.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Lived with Lebron James's family at on point.

Speaker 7 (05:22):
Yeah, so that was later on in high school. But yeah,
being kind of the man in the house at a
young age, you see more so I would see my
mom struggling, excuse me, I would see her struggling and
you know, dealing with certain things, and it gives you
kind of a helpless feeling because you can't. Like at
the time, I'm you know, maybe six, seven, eight years old,

(05:42):
there's nothing I can do about it. So it's just
when I go out here and play soccer or play
these sports, I'm going to give it my all because
one day I want to fix the situation. So I
was like the earliest memory I have played sports, like,
my motivation is to fix the situation that we in Sasha.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
You have gone as high is seven, been ranked a
size seventy three in the world, and I know, breaking
through that top one hundred, that's when you can start
earning money.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
To tell us a little bit about.

Speaker 8 (06:09):
That, Yeah, up until that point, you know, obviously tennis
is way different than any other sports. It's not like
you know, football, basketball, where you're in a contract. You know,
you're on a team, you have, you know, all these
contracts to fall back on. Tennis is completely individual. So
you know, if you're not winning, if you're not doing extraordinary,
you're not going to make any money. So the hardest

(06:31):
part is getting from juniors to professional tennis because that's
what takes the most money and you need the most resources.
But once I excelled, you know, I was like number
two junior in the world, and then a few opportunities
came up. And then when I got to professional, I
wasn't making a lot of money, but I worked for
a lot of years until I was able. You know,
you said to be top hundred, then you start making

(06:52):
you know, a lot more money.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
So yeah, And I remember reading about things that you
went through during that time, and even being at a
met and they were making monkey noises at you and
having to deal with racism. So how was that for
you mentally because you did speak out about it.

Speaker 6 (07:07):
Yeah. Yeah, I no tennis historically, you know, it's a
very white sport.

Speaker 8 (07:11):
There's only other than Venus and Serena, which now Serena
is obviously not playing. There's only four or five of
us women on the tour. So I think, you know,
going through those type of things, you know, like racism,
that's something that you know, it hasn't been It hasn't
happened a lot for me, maybe when I was younger,
but as I was older, I started realizing, Okay, like

(07:32):
you know, these people in the crowds, like they're really hostile.
When I travel overseas, you know, i'd go through like
these like minor steps of racism kind of and.

Speaker 6 (07:41):
It's just something I never expected.

Speaker 8 (07:43):
But as the more you play on the tour and
the more years that you have under your belt, you
kind of learn to block it out.

Speaker 7 (07:48):
You know.

Speaker 8 (07:48):
I get a lot of hate and racist stuff online
along with many other athletes.

Speaker 6 (07:53):
But it's just something you learn to block out.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
And we shouldn't have to be having to block that out, right,
Like there should be some accountability for people. And as
her brother and her mom, what does that do for
you guys when you have to witness that, because sometimes
that's hard too.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
You see what she's going through and you see.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
These ignorant people that are attending matches and that are
online trolling.

Speaker 7 (08:13):
Well for me, you know, as her older brother, and
like I said, the man in the family, a man
at the house, there's nothing I can do about it
in a professional way. So you know, the best advice
is just keep doing what you're doing. If if you
weren't achieving and reaching these different levels, people would.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Never even to say, right, that's why they're mad.

Speaker 7 (08:29):
Yeah, this is like, don't go back and forth with
them online. That's not going to solve anything because at
the end of the day. It's usually somebody behind the
count with no profile picture that you know, this is
their way to deal with whatever they're dealing with in
real life.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Wow, I want to hear.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
It's amazing you're going to call people out.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
I'll be wanting to call you. I do that one
time somebody says something crazy to me. Do you know
I found this. I don't know why I had time
that day, but I called the person's job.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
I got him fired.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
At the screenshot. He was like, go back to your
country first. I'm from here, right.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
But anyway, I screenshotted it. I'm not gonna lie.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
I googled his name, found his Facebook page, found his job,
and then I sent it to his bus and I
was like, I'm gonna talk about this on the radio.
And I really did get insided. Wow, one time I
did that. I had it was the pandemic.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
I had times you got took out of here that
was used to get it.

Speaker 7 (09:23):
We start doing research.

Speaker 4 (09:24):
I start I used to get you a post that
you start calling people out.

Speaker 7 (09:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (09:29):
I think I went through a period.

Speaker 8 (09:30):
And you know, obviously as an athlete, you know when
you lose a tennis match, like as soon as you
get off the court like you're you don't want to
talk to about You've seen nobody, and then you open
your Instagram and it's like ten twenty of these men
and you're gonna have one day where you're like, oh,
you know, today's day. So yeah, so there's definitely been days.
I'll go back and forth. But then now at this one,
I'm like, it's just too much energy, and it's not.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
It's not he said you would get really mad.

Speaker 6 (09:54):
I got one of those tempers. I used to get it.

Speaker 5 (09:57):
It's extremely annoyed in the beginning, you know, start responding
to a couple of people, and after a while you
realize it's just you're just wasting.

Speaker 6 (10:07):
Your time and your energy.

Speaker 5 (10:08):
But it could be very hurtful and it could make
you very agitated at times because people don't take into
consideration when they say these things the effect that they
can have on somebody, because you don't know the person
mental state, you don't know their confidence level, so they
just do things and put it out there without even
stopping to think. Am I being kind? Am I being

(10:29):
you know, hateful? So but for me right now, I'm
used to it. But let me tell you in the beginning.
It used to make me so mad. I used to
want to fight somebody, right.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
And step finding.

Speaker 4 (10:38):
I grew up as a figure skater, only the only
black figure skater. The places I trained, I was the
only black person had amazing there's no place for things
like self esteem and self confidence to develop because I
was eleven when I left my parents and was dealing
with this by myself, and which made me think of
a girl I used to live with. One of my
roommates when I skated called me last week just out

(10:59):
of the blue, and she said, I always noticed how
people just treated you differently, and you do block it out, but.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
You internalize it on some level. But we got over
all that.

Speaker 4 (11:09):
Yeah, and you have earned about one point seven million
dollars in prize money, which sounds like a lot, but
it's not. It doesn't come regular in tennis. And you've
taken that and you've created you know, financial security for yourself.
How important is that And what are some of the
things you've done.

Speaker 8 (11:29):
Yeah, So another thing with tennis is you know people
will look and see that number and they're like, wow,
one point seven million. But also tennis is a sport
where every dollar you make goes back into your career.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
Your mom told me it's about one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars a year to play tennis, because that's easily
yea is.

Speaker 8 (11:46):
Yeah, yeah, that's like trying to save. That's like almost budgeting.
Like tennis is a very expensive sport. So obviously early
on I knew what was to come down the line.
And I always was really smart with my money or
any type of money I made. You know, I've always
I never needed to stay in like the fanciest hotels
or you know, these expensive tournament hotels that all the
other players stay in. Like, I was always very smart

(12:08):
from the time I was a teenager, and I knew
by the time I got to twenty two to twenty three,
I would have made enough money where I could get
a house, and I did. I got my first three bed,
three bath, like a beautiful condo. And then obviously, once
like I said, past COVID and all that, I was
able to sell it make a profit, got another place.
So yeah, even by doing that, like I actually learned

(12:30):
I'm actually really interested in doing real estate.

Speaker 6 (12:32):
It's like kind of a fun industry.

Speaker 8 (12:34):
So didn't I didn't expect that for sure, but tennis
is definitely it's not what it looks like on paper.
You spend so much money when it comes to training, treatment, recovery.
You know, I could go on and on, but it's
a very expensive sport.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
And you also dealt with anxiety during that time. You
think that was caused by playing tennis, so you feel
like you had that before you were playing.

Speaker 8 (12:56):
Yeah, So I feel like it was just a build
up of like many years, And I think what happened
was during COVID, you know, when you had so much
time to sit and like think about things, that's when
everything like kind of hit me more.

Speaker 6 (13:09):
But before that, like I was always on a schedule, like.

Speaker 8 (13:11):
You know, I'd be tournament to tournament and you know
I play, I travel thirty five weeks out of the year,
so you don't have time to really like sit and
process everything.

Speaker 6 (13:19):
You're always onto the next thing, you know, training or whatever.

Speaker 8 (13:22):
But I think during that COVID year, like it was
hard for me restarting just because you had time to
sit and think about like all the stress and the travel,
you know, the booking hotels, finances, like, because like I said,
everything is on your shoulders. Tennis is an individual sport, right,
so it's like you only have yourself. So I think
that just kind of hit me more during that time.

(13:43):
But yeah, it's something that I've managed. It's gotten a
lot better, but it's still going to be like a
pill battle for me.

Speaker 6 (13:49):
It's not something that just goes away.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
And Daminic, you said a few times that you're the
man of the house, the man of the family, all right,
and you were playing professional sports as well, I.

Speaker 7 (13:58):
Like collegiate football, collegia FOOTBA.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Okay, so did you think you were going to go
professional or is that what you wanted to do.

Speaker 7 (14:03):
Yeah, the goal is definitely to reach the highest level
of sports as professional, So yeah, that was the goal.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
Okay, but then you made a pivot, so let's talk
about that too, because you've been successful but at something else.

Speaker 7 (14:15):
Oh yeah, So what made me pivot was I blew
my knee out in the third game of the season. Yeah,
my senior season at that so my mom was at
the game, so when it happened, you know, you have
all of these different thoughts, and you know, you're training
from five years old, so I think I was twenty
four at the time, So all of that kind of
goes down and drained. Yeah, but at the time I

(14:35):
didn't have any time to feel sorry for myself or
even like because when it happened, I was getting carried
off the field and I looked at my mom and
I said, it's over. And then I mean she jumped
the fence and she was like, don't you ever she
was When I say she was on the field, she
was literally on the field, like at a twenty yard line.
So I'm getting carried over and I'm looking at her.
I'm like, it's over, and she's like, don't you ever

(14:56):
tell me it's effing over. So like with that, instantly
my min and switched and I got in the ambulance
and the first text I sent that was one of
my partners, and I said, look, football is over. I
need to win a Grammy, so let's get do it.
Literally just like that. So that was that was the pivot.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
For me, for anybody who wants to play football too,
any something like that can happen, right, It's a really
common thing, an injury that could actually end your career.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
So did you always have a backup plan?

Speaker 7 (15:22):
I never. I never thought of a backup plan, you know. Yeah,
And it's also like, I know, if I set a goal,
I'm going to get to it, So there's no need to,
you know, for a backup plan. To some people, that
may seem foolish, but I don't like to set If
this doesn't work, I'm going to do everything in my
power to make it work, you know what I'm saying.
So when that happened, it was like, Okay, what's the
next best thing I have, you know, other than helping

(15:43):
my sister. You know what she had going on is Okay,
I know how to make music a little bit, so
let's let's jump into this. Let's do this. And I
just applied the same work ethic and principles into that
and things kind of got rolling.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
From the prece And what was your first break when
it came to the music.

Speaker 7 (15:57):
I had a SWNG with Yo Gotti called Mitch that
was like the cool this moment of my life.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
That's a good one.

Speaker 7 (16:02):
My production name is Mitch Mula. So hearing that was
was doping. And I was on Juice World's first album,
so I was a part.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Of that huge Look at what you did with your fan,
with your kid.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
Now you have to be so proud of I'm so proud.

Speaker 6 (16:16):
I'm so humble.

Speaker 5 (16:18):
I remember when my son got injured that day. I
was there looking and even though they have a helmet
on you, I just knew that that was my son.
I could feel it in my spirit that that was
my son that got hit. I literally, there's no way
on earth I can jump a fence again like that.

Speaker 6 (16:36):
Adrenaline.

Speaker 5 (16:37):
And I heard the securities saying there's a lady running
on the field, and Dominique didn't even look at me
and say, oh, that's my mom, that's.

Speaker 7 (16:46):
I know who that is.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
We see where the athletics come from. The family.

Speaker 4 (16:52):
You had a moment of a mother moment where you
actually thought Sasha was going to have to stop playing
tennis like you.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
That's an amazing story. I'll share that.

Speaker 5 (17:02):
Oh that was Sasha was almost sixteen years old. She
went to a tournament when I said, I had no money,
no money. I remember the night when we were hosted
by a friend and we went out to dinner that night.
I couldn't even afford to eat, but I wouldn't let

(17:23):
her know that I couldn't afford to eat. So I
bought dinner for her and I said, She's like, Mom,
you know, I eat and I'm like, I'm full.

Speaker 6 (17:29):
I ate on the streets.

Speaker 5 (17:30):
So I called for some bread rolls and some hot
tea because I figured that tea would break the little
gas and the bread rolls would hould me over the
next day, I remember, I was gonna take her home,
and I called one of the players, one of the
ladies from the United States and it's association, and I said, listen,
I never complained. I don't ever discuss my personal business.

(17:53):
So I said to her, I said, Kathy, I got
to take Sasha home. We can't stay. And she's like,
why leave her? She can win the tournament. So I
left Sasha with the thirty dollars that I had and
they found accommodation for her, and Sasha ended up winning
that tournament. It was the Nationals in California.

Speaker 6 (18:12):
I believe it was San Diego.

Speaker 5 (18:14):
And winning that tournament got her a wild card into
the US Open main draw. Knowing that good when you
get into the main or of the US Open. I
think at the time you were guaranteed like thirty something
thousand dollars. When she won that tournament, I was crying
as if somebody died. I mean, it was like we've survived.
There was one of those times when I know that

(18:34):
if that was it, that was it. There was no
way she couldn't go forward.

Speaker 6 (18:39):
Fourty than this.

Speaker 5 (18:40):
But that was really really a waked moment in our lives.
So that's how Sasha survived. She won the Hard Coach Championship,
got a wild card into the US Open, and that
real started her career because now we had thirty grand
as opposed to thirty dollars.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah, and that's why I'm.

Speaker 6 (18:58):
Talking about the mental health too.

Speaker 8 (18:59):
That's when I actually have my first panic attack because
I knew, I knew everything that was going on.

Speaker 6 (19:04):
Like she said, like she didn't want to say it.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
But I knew, you feel it all.

Speaker 6 (19:07):
I felt it like if I didn't.

Speaker 8 (19:08):
Win that tournament and when that it would have, I
wouldn't have been able to kept playing.

Speaker 6 (19:11):
Like it was just getting too much.

Speaker 8 (19:12):
It was too much pressure and like my body was
starting to shut down. So that was like the first
moment of that.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
I would say, now, what about endorsement deals? What kind
of role did that play into because obviously when you
made it into the top one hundred, right and you're
finally making money, were their endorsement deals where people knocking
down the door like okay, how can we work with you.

Speaker 6 (19:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (19:33):
So with tennis, like professional tennis, it it's kind of
up and down, you know, because it all goes off results.
And by then, like I did start to have some sponsors.
You know, I had like a racket deal, I had
a clothing deal. But there's also a lot of people
that are at the same or similar level than you.
So you know, it's a really hard feel to kind
of get those contracts. But I was still getting, you know,

(19:55):
a little bit of help, but it wasn't anything that
was you know, like life changing. I still had to
go and make good results and win and make good
results for myself.

Speaker 6 (20:03):
But I did start to get a little bit of
help to get to that next level.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
All right, and that's good. So you said, now you're
passionate perhaps about real estate.

Speaker 8 (20:11):
Yeah, I don't want to start a clothing line, yeah,
real estate. And actually so I designed clothes for myself,
oh right, now, so the tennis clothes. Yeah, And so
the goal behind that was over the years, like I
could never really find clothes that fit women that have
like a more curvy type figure because you know, tennis
players traditionally are very you know, slim, Yeah, you know, fit,

(20:33):
And I was like, well, it would be cool if
I could kind of make stuff that suits like different
body types. And I started designing stuff for myself and
I've got a lot of positive feedback, so I think
that's something I want to start looking into in the future.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
That's great.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
I think that's part of why we loved Serena so
much too, you know, to see her fashion on a
you know, on a court, and then also the fact
that like she wasn't shaped like you know what we're
used to tennis players looking like and so and even
just as see her that was such a big deal
for us.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
Are you friends like with other tennis players? Do y'all
hang out or.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Watched her practice with Venus once?

Speaker 6 (21:06):
It was good? Yeah.

Speaker 8 (21:09):
So I have a good relationship with Venus and Serena.
They've kind of seen me grow up and I used
to train with their dad when I was younger.

Speaker 6 (21:17):
I hit with.

Speaker 8 (21:17):
Serena a few times back in Florida because we don't
live too far from each other, and I've learned a
ton from them just watching them train, how they interact,
like with their coaches, with their dad, and but then.

Speaker 6 (21:29):
Friends outside of them.

Speaker 8 (21:30):
You know, I have a couple, but tennis is you know,
it's hard, you know, we're all competing against each other.
So mainly, like my closer friends are outside of tennis,
but I have a few friends here.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
And there, and DEMI I want to hear this Lebron
story that Stacey brought up.

Speaker 7 (21:46):
It's funny. So, yeah, when I was in high school,
my dad was dating his mother and when I left
Florida to live with him, ultimately I was living with
her and you know my father, So I had a
close relationship with Lebron and know it was family. I
was seeing them every every other day, spending Christmas over there,
and yeah, so it's a lot to it. It's like,

(22:08):
you know, living with with this new family for four years,
it's it was it was different from where I came from,
you know, in a housing, coming up in a Caribbean setting,
moving to Ohio. Now it's everything is completely different. You know,
we used to having this and now it's like I'm
getting boxes and shoes delivered to me. You know, it
was I could talk about it for twenty minutes straight.

(22:29):
It was like it seems like a lifetime ago. But
it was interesting. I've seen so much. I was going
to the games all of the time. I almost dropped
out of school because I missed so many days. You know,
it was it was, It was a lot, but like
it was when I moved to Ohio, it was different
than living with my mom because you know, my mom
is shees on top of us making sure we did this.

(22:52):
So yeah, living with my dad, you know, the first,
the first maybe the first week I got up there, he
told me straight, I'm not your mom. You want something done,
you have to do it yourself. And I laughed like
ha haa not to laugh at him. But then I realized, like, oh,
my clothes basket, my dirty clothes is climbing up the wall,
like I got to I got to learn how to
wash my clothes. And then you know, even being responsible

(23:13):
and getting the school on time and figuring out how
to So it made me grow up really fast and
become really responsible at a young age. So I'm grateful
for it.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
Did you guys have a good co parenting relationship? Yes, okay, absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 5 (23:26):
But Dominique learned to do things for himself very quickly
because I think I kind of spoiled them that mentality.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
See your kids, especially with the boys. Let me tell
you something. I feel like my mom still does my
brother's laundry.

Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, you get this entrepreneurial.

Speaker 7 (23:47):
Yes, it's like that that discipline, you know, because when
he said you're going to do things for yourself, let
means go to bed on your own time, het the
school on your own time.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
So we see you missed a lot of days.

Speaker 7 (23:57):
Oh yeah, I missed so many days. But I had
a good relationship with the tennant lady, so it's like, ah,
so she hooked you up. When I came in, I
was like, yeah, you know, you know, you know what
was going on. So after a while, like that was
maybe like the first year. After a while, I realized, like, Okay,
if I come home at three o'clock in the morning,
I still have to get up at six. You know,
if we were out at the game and then went
to dinner with the players, I still have to get

(24:17):
up in the morning to handle my business. So after
like maybe six seven months, it just kicked in like okay,
it's on me to do these things. Wow.

Speaker 5 (24:25):
I remember Dominie told me one day Sasha forgot something
and I was running to go get it, and then
Dominique told me a story of bout when you forgot
something at home.

Speaker 7 (24:35):
Oh yeah, yeah, my dad wasn't playing like you're not
calling me to bring you nothing, Like you either have
it or you don't. So like, I'm extremely grateful for
the lessons that he taught me and everything I seen
and was able to be a part of while I was.

Speaker 3 (24:47):
Up there, Dominice totally shifting gears. You have NF.

Speaker 4 (24:51):
You've created an NFT. Yeah, that's raised over three million dollars.
You created a black rapper avatar.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
When is this NFT? And you're also dead partners like
Crypto dot com and.

Speaker 7 (25:03):
Correct all that.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
What is it?

Speaker 7 (25:06):
So it's the character's name is a little bitcoin. It's
an avatar rapper. And you know, with the NFT, it
wasn't something I created because NFTs was just booming market.
I created in twenty eighteen just as a concept. You know,
it would have been a gimmick if I released it there.
But with the emergency of the NFT space in twenty
twenty one, it gave me a place to sell these assets.

(25:29):
So I mean it was really just like a wild ride, honestly,
and we still dropping NFTs to this day. But you know,
the first couple of drops we had did over like
a million dollars wow, which was like you.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
Got it at the right time.

Speaker 7 (25:40):
Yeah, I tell you perfect time. And then we also
did a collaboration with death Row Records, but this is
before Snoop Dogg acquired them, but that was amazing. It's
like eight hundred thousand and two days. So I mean, really,
just owning the IP it taught me a lot because
I'm a producer, but I also understand business and it
put me in a different position to where I own
the Eye. It's a lot different, you know what I mean.

(26:02):
Like Steve Jobs didn't own I mean, he only created
an iPhone, but he owns Apple, so it's a lot
you could do with Apple. And I'm learning the different
things that I can do with this IP, like partnerships
for example. So partner with Crypto dot Com has been amazing.
They you know, supported everything we've done. And I actually
got comic books for all in the other rooms, so
I can know some of those as well.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
We lit.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
And I got to ask you also, Sasha, how are
you feeling now as you're getting ready for the US
Open and what's like your routine as you're preparing, uh.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
You know, to be in front of everybody. Yeah.

Speaker 8 (26:35):
So now kind of the days leading up, I try
to keep it light. You know, I've already trained and
I put the work in and I've done all that.
So I usually come to New York like a day early,
and you know, the first day, I just you know,
walk around, I hang out and enjoyed the city. And
then from tomorrow I start practicing training and then my
first match will be Tuesday.

Speaker 6 (26:54):
Okay, So I just keep it light and.

Speaker 8 (26:55):
You know, keep it fun because you know, once Monday
night kind of hits them. The stress, you know, kicks
in and the pressure and all that.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
So yeah, well it feels like you operate great under
pressure though.

Speaker 3 (27:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (27:07):
So far, Yeah, hopefully I have a good US open.

Speaker 4 (27:10):
One last thing I wanted your thoughts on. I think
in the last two years, it's seen student athletes able
to earn money on their name, image and likeness because
of that nil rule change. I went to a women's
basketball game and they're like, oh, those two girls have
one million dollar contracts.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
Those two girls have one million dollar contracts.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
As an athlete, now you're seeing all of these young
people being able to make money, what financial advice do
you have for them?

Speaker 6 (27:36):
And you?

Speaker 4 (27:37):
You and I know, Angela, you've done so much through
your brands, You've invested in other things and used them
as other wealth building tools.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
How important is that for people to think about?

Speaker 8 (27:47):
Yeah, I mean, I guess I could kind only speak
for myself, but me personally, I'm not really like a
materialistic type of person. So I think that helps a lot.
I think, you know, if you give a younger person
a lot of money, you know, at a young age,
then of course the first thing they want to do
is buy like a super flashy car and expensive you know,
all this expensive stuff. So I would just say try
to like stay humble and just really think about the necessities.

(28:10):
Like you know, having a house is like the first party,
then having a car second priority.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
So I think I'm going to be doing it forever.

Speaker 6 (28:17):
Yeah, You're not going to be doing it forever exactly.

Speaker 8 (28:19):
So at least while you're in your career, you have
to set yourself up for when you retire, and you
have to make sure you put money aside and not
just you know, blow it on going out clubbing and
all that stuff.

Speaker 6 (28:31):
It's fun at the time, but you'll definitely be.

Speaker 8 (28:33):
Thankful for it later. You know, we look back and
be like, wow, Okay, I didn't need to do all that.
I have all this security now. So I think just
to be smart and you know, don't follow the crowd,
and just.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
A lot of times you're like, why did I buy this?
Like what was I thinking? What was I doing?

Speaker 2 (28:46):
I do think setting financial goals to your point of
like buying a house, so you can feel secure and stable,
it helps you when you realize the sacrifices that you're
making of not buying things. So I might say, well,
right now, I'm not doing this fun thing, I'm not
taking this vacation, but I know I'm saving up because
I'm about to buy a house, right And so when
I set a goal for myself and it's like, I know,
when I reach X amount of dollars, that's when.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
I'm ready to make a move.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
It feels good to know that that's what that money
is going toward, and that's why I'm not doing more
frivolous things.

Speaker 6 (29:14):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 8 (29:15):
So I kind of always have that mindset, you know,
stay away from the materialistics.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
All right, Well, we see the off white.

Speaker 7 (29:22):
So yeah, oh you're asking me, okay, okay, well yeah,
as a former college athlete, I think it's amazing. You got,
these universities are making so much money off of these players,
and for them to not you know, it takes till
now for them to get paid off of it is insane.

(29:43):
You know. You got schools like Alabama that the coach
is getting over four million dollars a year to coach,
but he's coaching players. What are the players getting? Some
of these players don't They don't have any food eat
that night.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
But then you hear a story of their mothers are
working like crazy exactly.

Speaker 7 (29:57):
But then you have the public outrage when you hear
Jameis Winston or I think he stole crab legs or
something like that. It's like, why are y'all so mad?
He's not making any money. His jersey is selling here,
you know, may ills in jersey sales, but he's not
getting a penny of that. To me, it's just insane.
But I love it. I'm glad that it's happened. It
should have happened earlier, and hope it keeps going on.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
Excellent, all right, and you got you're writing a book.

Speaker 5 (30:20):
Is that absolutely my story coming across the Atlantic Ocean.

Speaker 6 (30:26):
I went back to Tourtola.

Speaker 5 (30:27):
That's where I crossed over from Tourtolla to Saint Thomas,
and I was looking at this ocean that I really
literally sat in a little boat that looked like a saucer.

Speaker 6 (30:37):
I wanted to kind of share that experience.

Speaker 5 (30:40):
So it's basically called a Remarkable Journey, the Story of
an Immigrant.

Speaker 6 (30:45):
I've been procrastinating with this book for years.

Speaker 7 (30:47):
My son is the main.

Speaker 5 (30:49):
One that's kind of poking me. But that's something that
I have to do. I think I owe the public
to tell them a little bit about my story because
I know a lot of immigrants could relate to what
I'm going to say. So that's something that a goal
and I'm setting. And I got a new passion. We
are making my own candles. Oh nice, elegant. It's called Paul.

(31:11):
It's elegant exotic candles. So that's what I've been doing lately.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
Okay, I love it. And I know someone who could
do the soundtrack.

Speaker 4 (31:17):
To an All right, and how can people find each
of you? I know you're at Sashavik.

Speaker 6 (31:25):
Yeah, at Sasavik, s A. C. H I A. My
name is spelled differently, but yeah, that's my Instagram.

Speaker 3 (31:30):
Excellent, and you're at Mitch Muller and my t C
H m U l A and.

Speaker 4 (31:34):
This one's really gonna shock you while she's at Paula
the Tennis Mom.

Speaker 1 (31:42):
All right, we'll be watching.

Speaker 4 (31:43):
Thank you, thank you, thank you guys very much, thank.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
You, thank you.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
It's about Wednesday.