Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Cedric Walker.
Founder of the UniverSoul Circus, shares his journey from producing gospel plays to creating a globally recognized, culturally rich circus experience. He discusses the inspiration behind the circus, the challenges he faced, the importance of representation, and the evolution of the show. The conversation emphasizes family entertainment, cultural authenticity, and global talent development.
🧭 Key Points 1. Origins and Vision
- Cedric began in gospel theater, producing plays that reflected real-life challenges in the Black community.
- Inspired by the power of theater to reflect culture, he envisioned a circus that celebrated African-American heritage and family unity.
2. Challenges and Breakthroughs
- Faced skepticism from both Black and white industry professionals.
- Overcame legal hurdles with Universal Studios by renaming the circus to UniverSoul Circus.
- Maintained his original vision despite pressure to conform.
3. Cultural Representation
- The circus was designed to be inclusive and multigenerational, with acts that resonate across age groups and backgrounds.
- Emphasized showcasing Black excellence in performance arts, from aerialists to unicyclists.
4. Global Talent and Training
- Talent is sourced globally from Ethiopia, Cuba, China, and the Caribbean.
- Performers undergo 4–5 years of training before appearing under the big top.
- Ethiopia is now a leading source of Black circus performers.
5. Evolution of the Show
- Transitioned away from animal acts due to changing laws and ethics.
- Integrated Afrobeats, hip-hop, and global dance styles to reflect evolving cultural trends.
- The show is described as a “family reunion under the big top.”
💬 Notable Quotes
“The idea was to create something where a father, mother, daughter, and grandson could all sit together and enjoy the show.”
“We wanted to uplift and celebrate the positive achievements and cultural contributions of African-Americans.”
“Everything you see under the big top is curated—it takes 4 to 5 years before an act hits our stage.”
“Ethiopia is leading the world in producing Black circus performers.”
“It’s like a family reunion under the big top.”
“We’re not going after any specific audience—we’re going after the world.”
“UniverSoul Circus starts on time. Don’t be late—you’ll miss something great.”
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST #AMI
Steve Harvey Morning Show Online: http://www.steveharveyfm.com/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi. I am Rushan McDonald, a host of weekly Money
Making Conversation Master Class show. The interviews and information that
this show provides are for everyone. It's time to stop
reading other people's success stories and start living your own.
If you want to be a guest on my show,
please visit our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click
to be a guest button Chris submit and information will
(00:22):
come directly to me. Now let's get this show started.
My guest is the founder of the Universe Soul Circus,
an African American man who had a vision of creating
a circus with a large percent of people of color performing.
Is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Please work with the Money
Making Conversation Masterclass. Mister Cedric Walker, how you doing? Sed
(00:43):
Hey Sean, how are you? And thank you a lot
this opportunity. You know you're traveling man, and I travel
like when I was ninety four, I wanted to be
a stand up comedian. I want to tell you said
I thought I was going to be the next Richard Pride.
I thought I would be next Aeddie Murphy. Now eighteen
ninety four, you had an idea about a circus. How
(01:07):
can that happen. Please help explain it to my audience,
because this sounds incredible to me. A vision will come
to you like that. Yes, So we were doing gospel plays.
We actually had a play. I was working on a
play called Wicked Ways and with Michael Matthews out of Detroit,
and Wicked Ways was about a lot of the challenges
(01:29):
that our community faces. It dealt with It dealt with
kids growing up in the inner city and getting into gangs.
It dealt with fathers raised and step signs as teenagers.
It dealt with professional wives and mechanic husbands. It just
dealt with a lot of the the challenges that our
(01:50):
community faces. And I saw kids in the theater. I
saw whole families, and it looked like I was in
Pittsburgh at the the theater, and it looked like I
saw a father, mother, granddaughter, grandchild. And I asked the
play right, I said, man, this is a gospel play.
I know it's clean. I asked Mike, and he said
(02:12):
it's because theater is the oldest form of entertainment and
went all the way back to be or not to be.
You could look on that stage on the Shakespearean plays
and see yourself and our community is getting a chance
to look at itself. Do these plays. So that triggered
(02:33):
the idea to create something that, because we were very out.
Entertainment was socially. It was comedy, It was R and B,
it was jazz, it was you know, hip hop, right,
it was dance. It was kind of a mixed bag
of everything. And I said, how do we I got
(02:54):
my team and I said, how do we create something
that touches everybody? So I went to the library and
every day eight I worked. I worked, made part of
my job reading about black entertainment from the turn of
the century. And what I found was, uh, we trained
(03:16):
animals in the vave billion days, black people trained horses
and dogs and and so I shared that with my
team and the idea was from that the circus germinade.
But it was all having something for every generation of
our family, something where father, mother, daughter, granddaughter and grandson
(03:41):
could all sit on the same bent and enjoy each other,
enjoying the shop. So that's that's what started that, you know,
you know, when I went because I know Michael, Michael
Matthews is a great guy, and uh, my many days
of being under Steve Harror morning. So we promoted a
lot of his plays. We probably bopped here at a
couple of times in a good way. And so when
(04:01):
I talk about the circus, you know you did all
this research, but it was the naysayers out there right,
c man, My invest is all in probably both both
black and white. I had fun bunny guys, and they
all just said, may you are cranky, let well not
(04:22):
go circus. Wow. You know that was just nobody believed.
So I I you know, I did. I felt it.
I don't know where and what, but the d the course.
But it was challenging because we get stereotype, you know,
we get stereotype on technology, we get stereotype of the
(04:45):
type of entertainment of movies that we want to see.
And also that means the world can stereotype of. So
I commend you in pushing back and say, look, I
feel that within my gun and my research, this could work.
And so the name, I'm sure you have research when
you did the name as well? Correct Universal? Yeah, yeah,
the original name was Universal. I was back and forth
(05:07):
with my team Universal. I wanted you Soul from the beginning.
So when we got to l A Universal Studios sent
us a cease and desist on universal big top circuits.
So we were We asked them back, well, we want
to use universal soul, which was my original idea to use,
(05:32):
and they said absolutely yeah. Well and said you look
around at the staff going told you, now you gotta
be out here looking bad because you real to follow
my original idea, we wouldn't even be it. Now. This
is the good part of it, you know, because we
jumped a little bit. We had the idea, we got
the name, but you were traveling. How did you you
(05:55):
had the nay sayers about the whole concept centric and
well how did you get to acts originally? How did
you start putting a circus together? Well, we we you know,
when I wanted to do circus, and part of my
research was that's you know, circus entrepreneurs travel the world
(06:16):
and I couldn't wait to travel the work it would have.
It was going to be a great experience. But that's
what it took to do circus. But I do want
to say that we started in nineteen ninety four in Atlanta,
and initially it was an effort to the initial concept
and envision for it was to uplift and celebrate the
(06:37):
positive achievements and cultural contributions of African Americans through a
family attraction. And so that was that was the you know,
the empetus for what people are seeing and that still
remains in the show. What you saw, it's that feeling
that they get once they come under that big time.
(06:59):
It's that soul that we put in it that that
didn't chase us. But yeah, I went around the world
and it was challenging to look for talent. But I
saw it now. I said, you know our audience, you know,
we can't just give them playing food now, gotta have
that spice that I can't I got it, bring it real.
(07:21):
I can't people, you know, black people. I can't have
a clothes line for a high wire or matic you know.
So uh So, no, I went around the world and
and just looked for and and and it was amazing
how many black performance circus performers were doing phenomenal things
(07:45):
that were out there. A lot of manure uh in
right here in America. The King Charles True playing basketball
on unicycles, just stuff that came out of the hood
came out and basketball on un recycles was the only thing.
We were the only ones that did so you had
(08:06):
so many originals. There was a girl named Pamela, Uh,
Pamela Hernandez. Pamela was an African American from la but
she was one of the most respected ralists. She would
she was on Ranglin Brothers, but she'd be in those arenas,
but thirty forty feet in the air doing trick. No
(08:28):
that under her, her and her partner. And when when
when I started listing the name the acts that I
wanted to bring the rest and they were black and
the rest of the industry, the whites, the Europeans, anybody
in the industry knew and respected these black artists to
(08:49):
the hides and right, Pamela's gonna be there. I'm gonna
be there. King Charles is gonna be there. I'm gonna
beat it. Wow. So it was amazing the the quality
of black entertainment even back then in Circus, Sots. We
know it's really important as we tell this story, and
thank you for allowing me to ask these questions, because
(09:11):
I think the origin story or universe soal is as
important as what's happening now. Because in my life, I
first was introduced to your circus in two thousand and five.
I was managing Steve Harvey, and we was on WBLS
in New York City and that circus when I went
into the first time, I didn't know what to think.
You know, I went in there with curiosity, but I
(09:35):
walked away inspired because it was a circus by us
for us. So talk about the transition and the vision
of the circus over the years. So you know, just
like Michael Jordan's said, you have to keep your eye
on where the ball is going, not where the ball is.
We try to and entertainment is a form, is an
(09:58):
art form that well society forward. So we try to
inspire that new direction and wherever it takes sou So
it's kind of organic. It's just a platform for young
people to express new ideas through through their their their artistry. So,
(10:19):
I mean, we've kind of it was challenging with you know,
to even think about or dare to venture into the
show without the animals. But we realized how the laws
were changing, you know, the people were changing, and we
no longer could carry the animals from state to states.
(10:40):
Some states could, some states wouldn't. But but but what
we what we found out is that our cultural artistry
out who we are and how much fun we can have,
and that that the family unit where you are. We're
all grandmother again, grandmother, father doing that son, all enjoying
(11:05):
each other, enjoying the show. We laid into that, how
do we be authentically us in a performance that is
for everybody at the same time and shares our culture.
So a lot of the Afro Beach music, a lot
of the music you've heard in the show is kind
of new ending music. A lot of the new dance
(11:26):
styles that American hip hop has inspired around the world,
whether they inspired it in China or Africa, it came
from our streets, came from America, and it inspired the world.
And so we we've incorporated a lot of that inspiration.
But just that non stop energy that that is Germane
(11:50):
to our culture and our celebration is sort of like
a family reunion under the big top. So we just
leaned into our story and we continue to do that
as it involves. Let's feakre of Cedric Walker, the founder
of a universal circus, an inspirational voice in our community,
because you have a vision. We're not going after any
(12:14):
specific honory right rue after the world awesome and thank
you for.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Saying that please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back
with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the
Money Making Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Now let's talk about these acts. The bottom line is
the acts. Now, this Chinese trap piece act that you
got the dazz with. My daughter. You know, she's a
I'm gonna be honest with you, she's one of those
people who came in there with doubts Cedric because she's
a Circus are late. You know, she peak circus are late.
(12:57):
She said, are you sure? I said, hey, hey, these
are my people. Now, my boy Saidrick, they go take
care of it. When she left my brother, she is
a one hundred percent universal fan. Okay, so know that.
But that trapeze act that put on it, she said,
that's better than anything she's ever saw anywhere, and she's
(13:17):
seen by fifteen of those shows. So talk about that
trap that the Chinese trapeze act. Right, So we have
to we have to, I guess the grace and blessings
of living scouts around the world, young scouts that are
always looking for what's new in different countries, and our
(13:39):
scout found this troop in a in their school performing
and hadn't been out of the country yet, but had
one gold in every competition in China. And there's no
fifteen sixteen people flying through the air and no trapeze
act in the world. So I said, I have to
(14:00):
have that act. And so when the price tag uh
with the price yeah uh, the guy said it revised
that he's crazy, and and we bought as we wanted,
because that's what circus is all about. It's just bringing
unbelievable stuff to the audience. Well, you know, the difference
(14:21):
that really amazed me was a distance between them swinging it.
I was stunned by that distance. I was like, wow,
I've never seen this athleticism area or in levicism like this.
So so again this is one thing. Another thing that
dazzled me, and a lot of things dazzled me. By
(14:42):
the way, Cedric the the was the I think the
couple that was on the roller skates, oh yeah from
Cuba as the al Cabana Knights roller stating thing. Cedria
that right there, the g fource of them spinning, I
was I was taking about I was taking it back there.
What is the training like when you get a couple
(15:04):
like that because it's danger evolved, right. So everything you
see under the big ToIP, we curated it. It's it's
been four or five years before it even hits our stage,
and it could have been in school, in their schools.
We worked with schools all over the world. We work
(15:25):
with schools in Ethiopia and Cuba and South America, we
work with schools in China, and we identify what we
want and depends on what level of of of training
they have achieved and what countries they come from, we
bring we send. We send trainers to Ethiopia, we send
(15:49):
trainers to West Africa, we send trainers uh to South America,
or we bring the performers here, send them to training
centers here. It's sort of they get out of what
you would consider maybe high school or entry level, and
then we take them to that doctorate level in terms
(16:12):
of really putting the icing on the cake in terms
of performance. So that skating act came from two schools.
There was a dance school and Cuba where a sort
of young lady and acrobatic school and they were combined
(16:35):
and they spent a few years training in Cuba. Then
we brought them here in Salty to Las Vegas to
elevate their training. Then we got them under the Big
Top and created a theme, the whole Cuban theme around them.
So whatever you see, I mean we spent a good
five years of investment at about forty to fifty grand
(17:01):
a year just training these accidents. You see our idea
for our artists work, and some of them we don't
have to train like the Caribbean, right, the whole culture
is you know all about To me, that's one of
the greatest acts on our show, that their culture is
designed to Uh. They you look at their faces in
(17:24):
this smiling and they're the happy as they performed and
they're going under fire four or five rows and you know,
I mean you know the culture in terms of the costuming,
the characters. Uh, there's still well everything means something, nothing
is by chance, nothing is just for flamboyancy on your eyes.
(17:49):
It all traces back to that culture in some meaningful way.
So everything is deep rooted that that you saw. Well,
you know the amazing thing, Like I said, I was
just want to share everybody my thoughts, my adventure. Go
there and see if the show is over two hours long,
this is not a thirty minute show an hour, show
(18:10):
hour that it starts on time. Let me tell you
all this Universe Soul Circus starts on time. Okay, because
of the fact that a lot of people don't believe
that because they come in late. Okay, its circus is
professionally running, not saying it wasn't. But people need understand
you can miss out on some great entertainment if you
(18:31):
don't arrive on time because Universe Sol Soul Circus starts
all time. Now, let's talk about the acts from Ethiopia,
because I noticed it. I'm looking at you, I'm exam
I'm a little producer to centric and there's a lot
of acts from Ethiopius. Tell us about that. So Etho,
ok yes, the leading world. They're leading the world and
(18:51):
producing and providing black circus or swampers wow over Europe,
all over. We had the we have We're very proud
that we got into Ethiopia and the maybe nineties ninety six,
ninety seven, ninety eight and started working with those circus
(19:13):
schools and we were the first to bring an Ethiopian
act out of Ethiopia to a circus touring in America.
They had I think that they had schools that were
set up in Ethiopia mainly to train kids. It was
a program that were and developed that was developed by
(19:33):
some European circuit well European circus right entrepreneurs, and the
idea was to help the government keep the kids off
the street. So they were training them circus arts and
it was cool. It was a good idea, but the
(19:53):
performers showed such great enthusiasm and capacity until so when
I went there, I was totally blown away at the
quality of some and the shows were all about messages
and they had full circuits shows that were you know,
teaching kids about age or teaching kids about you know, working,
(20:18):
They taught they had a lot of the but we
were one of one of the first, and we've since
invested a lot of money in training in Ethiopia because
the kids show so much promise. Uh so we're very
proud of the work that they've done. We sponsor a
(20:39):
big festival there, or one of the sponsors of the
festival they have. But there's some great We have a
duo aerial act that I've never seen and then thirty
years I've seen just about everything, but that duo, those
two girls up in the air. You saw them. They
(21:00):
they move at a speed that no other dual aerial
act will move at. I think even dare to move
that fast, changing all those positions thirty feet off the
ground with no no net, no net, no net. And
you know, I won't describe in detail, but please go.
(21:21):
What he's saying is are just selling the significance of
what they're doing because it's impressive and they were doing
some things. I'll tell you said, I was going, is
she about to do that? Really? Okay? Now these sisters
are they were they twins?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
No?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
No, they work together. They come out of the school.
We have in the performance. We have the hoop diving act,
we have the girls in aerial act, and we have
the the three acts the Tea Board and those are
the three best strongest schools in Ethiopia. We have their
(21:57):
top acts. So those are the three of the top
acts from the strongest trainers and producers in Ethiopia. And
we were graced with that and blessed because we were
one of the early pondeers in helping them with training
and programming. Wow, beautiful as we go. Like I said,
there's nineteen eighty four, you had the vision. What's on
(22:20):
the horizon. I mean, our culture is so rich and
it deserves so much and we've got it. There's a
lot we have to do. I think, you know, family
and it just didn't formally attraction industry. I shows that
we have yet to challenge. I mean there's a Bourbon
(22:41):
Street while we have the street. I mean, there's just
so much that's that's what. It has to be authentic
and it has to be created authentically. But I have
a lot of ideas. I have ideas that should look
live way past me, and I have a lot of challenges.
Just at the tip of the iceberg with my friend
(23:04):
that the fact you allowed me to take time and
your business schedule because you running the circus. Okay, I'm
just running a little small business with animals and chafe
side and all kinds of human beings run around here.
Try to understand what life is. You're the entertaining business,
that's where you started. You had the old run of animals,
the whole big top theme. You you did the gospel places,
(23:25):
which I'm very familiar with. But the bottom line said
you just wanted to do family entertainment. Correct. Yeah, No,
I thought it was the need for it, you know,
And I saw it and we needed this. We need
something that uplifts our families and joins us together. It
joins the generations. It ties the young when of four
(23:49):
year oldest watching their parents sing soul karaoke to al
Green and the grandparents watching and doing the latest stint.
Then with the fresh the clouds in the ring, it
just nies generations to that. It really did, because it
was some little girl. There was a song that they
those rappers they started playing. It was like thirty girl
(24:11):
and little girls are probably Invidy in the fifth grade
was singing. I went, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
What they're doing, but boy, it is really in enjoyable
to watch the connection because they just took off and
did the little dance and hit every word and it
was just fantastic.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
But thank you for fighting me down there to see history,
my brother, because you're making history man. It was diversity,
the safety, the professionalism walking in that door. Man. It
was just a clean environment, safe environment. And again, ladies
and gentlemen, Universe Soul Circus starts on time. This has
(24:46):
been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass posted by
me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests on the show.
Today and thank you. I was listening to the audience now.
If you want to listen to any episode I want
to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymaking Conversations
dot com. Our social media handle is Moneymaking Conversation. Join
us next week and remember to always leave with your gifts.
(25:08):
Keep winning.
Hi. I am Rushan McDonald, a host of weekly Money
Making Conversation Master Class show. The interviews and information that
this show provides are for everyone. It's time to stop
reading other people's success stories and start living your own.
If you want to be a guest on my show,
please visit our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click
to be a guest button Chris submit and information will
(00:22):
come directly to me. Now let's get this show started.
My guest is the founder of the Universe Soul Circus,
an African American man who had a vision of creating
a circus with a large percent of people of color performing.
Is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Please work with the Money
Making Conversation Masterclass. Mister Cedric Walker, how you doing? Sed
(00:43):
Hey Sean, how are you? And thank you a lot
this opportunity. You know you're traveling man, and I travel
like when I was ninety four, I wanted to be
a stand up comedian. I want to tell you said
I thought I was going to be the next Richard Pride.
I thought I would be next Aeddie Murphy. Now eighteen
ninety four, you had an idea about a circus. How
(01:07):
can that happen. Please help explain it to my audience,
because this sounds incredible to me. A vision will come
to you like that. Yes, So we were doing gospel plays.
We actually had a play. I was working on a
play called Wicked Ways and with Michael Matthews out of Detroit,
and Wicked Ways was about a lot of the challenges
(01:29):
that our community faces. It dealt with It dealt with
kids growing up in the inner city and getting into gangs.
It dealt with fathers raised and step signs as teenagers.
It dealt with professional wives and mechanic husbands. It just
dealt with a lot of the the challenges that our
(01:50):
community faces. And I saw kids in the theater. I
saw whole families, and it looked like I was in
Pittsburgh at the the theater, and it looked like I
saw a father, mother, granddaughter, grandchild. And I asked the
play right, I said, man, this is a gospel play.
I know it's clean. I asked Mike, and he said
(02:12):
it's because theater is the oldest form of entertainment and
went all the way back to be or not to be.
You could look on that stage on the Shakespearean plays
and see yourself and our community is getting a chance
to look at itself. Do these plays. So that triggered
(02:33):
the idea to create something that, because we were very out.
Entertainment was socially. It was comedy, It was R and B,
it was jazz, it was you know, hip hop, right,
it was dance. It was kind of a mixed bag
of everything. And I said, how do we I got
(02:54):
my team and I said, how do we create something
that touches everybody? So I went to the library and
every day eight I worked. I worked, made part of
my job reading about black entertainment from the turn of
the century. And what I found was, uh, we trained
(03:16):
animals in the vave billion days, black people trained horses
and dogs and and so I shared that with my
team and the idea was from that the circus germinade.
But it was all having something for every generation of
our family, something where father, mother, daughter, granddaughter and grandson
(03:41):
could all sit on the same bent and enjoy each other,
enjoying the shop. So that's that's what started that, you know,
you know, when I went because I know Michael, Michael
Matthews is a great guy, and uh, my many days
of being under Steve Harror morning. So we promoted a
lot of his plays. We probably bopped here at a
couple of times in a good way. And so when
(04:01):
I talk about the circus, you know you did all
this research, but it was the naysayers out there right,
c man, My invest is all in probably both both
black and white. I had fun bunny guys, and they
all just said, may you are cranky, let well not
(04:22):
go circus. Wow. You know that was just nobody believed.
So I I you know, I did. I felt it.
I don't know where and what, but the d the course.
But it was challenging because we get stereotype, you know,
we get stereotype on technology, we get stereotype of the
(04:45):
type of entertainment of movies that we want to see.
And also that means the world can stereotype of. So
I commend you in pushing back and say, look, I
feel that within my gun and my research, this could work.
And so the name, I'm sure you have research when
you did the name as well? Correct Universal? Yeah, yeah,
the original name was Universal. I was back and forth
(05:07):
with my team Universal. I wanted you Soul from the beginning.
So when we got to l A Universal Studios sent
us a cease and desist on universal big top circuits.
So we were We asked them back, well, we want
to use universal soul, which was my original idea to use,
(05:32):
and they said absolutely yeah. Well and said you look
around at the staff going told you, now you gotta
be out here looking bad because you real to follow
my original idea, we wouldn't even be it. Now. This
is the good part of it, you know, because we
jumped a little bit. We had the idea, we got
the name, but you were traveling. How did you you
(05:55):
had the nay sayers about the whole concept centric and
well how did you get to acts originally? How did
you start putting a circus together? Well, we we you know,
when I wanted to do circus, and part of my
research was that's you know, circus entrepreneurs travel the world
(06:16):
and I couldn't wait to travel the work it would have.
It was going to be a great experience. But that's
what it took to do circus. But I do want
to say that we started in nineteen ninety four in Atlanta,
and initially it was an effort to the initial concept
and envision for it was to uplift and celebrate the
(06:37):
positive achievements and cultural contributions of African Americans through a
family attraction. And so that was that was the you know,
the empetus for what people are seeing and that still
remains in the show. What you saw, it's that feeling
that they get once they come under that big time.
(06:59):
It's that soul that we put in it that that
didn't chase us. But yeah, I went around the world
and it was challenging to look for talent. But I
saw it now. I said, you know our audience, you know,
we can't just give them playing food now, gotta have
that spice that I can't I got it, bring it real.
(07:21):
I can't people, you know, black people. I can't have
a clothes line for a high wire or matic you know.
So uh So, no, I went around the world and
and just looked for and and and it was amazing
how many black performance circus performers were doing phenomenal things
(07:45):
that were out there. A lot of manure uh in
right here in America. The King Charles True playing basketball
on unicycles, just stuff that came out of the hood
came out and basketball on un recycles was the only thing.
We were the only ones that did so you had
(08:06):
so many originals. There was a girl named Pamela, Uh,
Pamela Hernandez. Pamela was an African American from la but
she was one of the most respected ralists. She would
she was on Ranglin Brothers, but she'd be in those arenas,
but thirty forty feet in the air doing trick. No
(08:28):
that under her, her and her partner. And when when
when I started listing the name the acts that I
wanted to bring the rest and they were black and
the rest of the industry, the whites, the Europeans, anybody
in the industry knew and respected these black artists to
(08:49):
the hides and right, Pamela's gonna be there. I'm gonna
be there. King Charles is gonna be there. I'm gonna
beat it. Wow. So it was amazing the the quality
of black entertainment even back then in Circus, Sots. We
know it's really important as we tell this story, and
thank you for allowing me to ask these questions, because
(09:11):
I think the origin story or universe soal is as
important as what's happening now. Because in my life, I
first was introduced to your circus in two thousand and five.
I was managing Steve Harvey, and we was on WBLS
in New York City and that circus when I went
into the first time, I didn't know what to think.
You know, I went in there with curiosity, but I
(09:35):
walked away inspired because it was a circus by us
for us. So talk about the transition and the vision
of the circus over the years. So you know, just
like Michael Jordan's said, you have to keep your eye
on where the ball is going, not where the ball is.
We try to and entertainment is a form, is an
(09:58):
art form that well society forward. So we try to
inspire that new direction and wherever it takes sou So
it's kind of organic. It's just a platform for young
people to express new ideas through through their their their artistry. So,
(10:19):
I mean, we've kind of it was challenging with you know,
to even think about or dare to venture into the
show without the animals. But we realized how the laws
were changing, you know, the people were changing, and we
no longer could carry the animals from state to states.
(10:40):
Some states could, some states wouldn't. But but but what
we what we found out is that our cultural artistry
out who we are and how much fun we can have,
and that that the family unit where you are. We're
all grandmother again, grandmother, father doing that son, all enjoying
(11:05):
each other, enjoying the show. We laid into that, how
do we be authentically us in a performance that is
for everybody at the same time and shares our culture.
So a lot of the Afro Beach music, a lot
of the music you've heard in the show is kind
of new ending music. A lot of the new dance
(11:26):
styles that American hip hop has inspired around the world,
whether they inspired it in China or Africa, it came
from our streets, came from America, and it inspired the world.
And so we we've incorporated a lot of that inspiration.
But just that non stop energy that that is Germane
(11:50):
to our culture and our celebration is sort of like
a family reunion under the big top. So we just
leaned into our story and we continue to do that
as it involves. Let's feakre of Cedric Walker, the founder
of a universal circus, an inspirational voice in our community,
because you have a vision. We're not going after any
(12:14):
specific honory right rue after the world awesome and thank
you for.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Saying that please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back
with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the
Money Making Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Now let's talk about these acts. The bottom line is
the acts. Now, this Chinese trap piece act that you
got the dazz with. My daughter. You know, she's a
I'm gonna be honest with you, she's one of those
people who came in there with doubts Cedric because she's
a Circus are late. You know, she peak circus are late.
(12:57):
She said, are you sure? I said, hey, hey, these
are my people. Now, my boy Saidrick, they go take
care of it. When she left my brother, she is
a one hundred percent universal fan. Okay, so know that.
But that trapeze act that put on it, she said,
that's better than anything she's ever saw anywhere, and she's
(13:17):
seen by fifteen of those shows. So talk about that
trap that the Chinese trapeze act. Right, So we have
to we have to, I guess the grace and blessings
of living scouts around the world, young scouts that are
always looking for what's new in different countries, and our
(13:39):
scout found this troop in a in their school performing
and hadn't been out of the country yet, but had
one gold in every competition in China. And there's no
fifteen sixteen people flying through the air and no trapeze
act in the world. So I said, I have to
(14:00):
have that act. And so when the price tag uh
with the price yeah uh, the guy said it revised
that he's crazy, and and we bought as we wanted,
because that's what circus is all about. It's just bringing
unbelievable stuff to the audience. Well, you know, the difference
(14:21):
that really amazed me was a distance between them swinging it.
I was stunned by that distance. I was like, wow,
I've never seen this athleticism area or in levicism like this.
So so again this is one thing. Another thing that
dazzled me, and a lot of things dazzled me. By
(14:42):
the way, Cedric the the was the I think the
couple that was on the roller skates, oh yeah from
Cuba as the al Cabana Knights roller stating thing. Cedria
that right there, the g fource of them spinning, I
was I was taking about I was taking it back there.
What is the training like when you get a couple
(15:04):
like that because it's danger evolved, right. So everything you
see under the big ToIP, we curated it. It's it's
been four or five years before it even hits our stage,
and it could have been in school, in their schools.
We worked with schools all over the world. We work
(15:25):
with schools in Ethiopia and Cuba and South America, we
work with schools in China, and we identify what we
want and depends on what level of of of training
they have achieved and what countries they come from, we
bring we send. We send trainers to Ethiopia, we send
(15:49):
trainers to West Africa, we send trainers uh to South America,
or we bring the performers here, send them to training
centers here. It's sort of they get out of what
you would consider maybe high school or entry level, and
then we take them to that doctorate level in terms
(16:12):
of really putting the icing on the cake in terms
of performance. So that skating act came from two schools.
There was a dance school and Cuba where a sort
of young lady and acrobatic school and they were combined
(16:35):
and they spent a few years training in Cuba. Then
we brought them here in Salty to Las Vegas to
elevate their training. Then we got them under the Big
Top and created a theme, the whole Cuban theme around them.
So whatever you see, I mean we spent a good
five years of investment at about forty to fifty grand
(17:01):
a year just training these accidents. You see our idea
for our artists work, and some of them we don't
have to train like the Caribbean, right, the whole culture
is you know all about To me, that's one of
the greatest acts on our show, that their culture is
designed to Uh. They you look at their faces in
(17:24):
this smiling and they're the happy as they performed and
they're going under fire four or five rows and you know,
I mean you know the culture in terms of the costuming,
the characters. Uh, there's still well everything means something, nothing
is by chance, nothing is just for flamboyancy on your eyes.
(17:49):
It all traces back to that culture in some meaningful way.
So everything is deep rooted that that you saw. Well,
you know the amazing thing, Like I said, I was
just want to share everybody my thoughts, my adventure. Go
there and see if the show is over two hours long,
this is not a thirty minute show an hour, show
(18:10):
hour that it starts on time. Let me tell you
all this Universe Soul Circus starts on time. Okay, because
of the fact that a lot of people don't believe
that because they come in late. Okay, its circus is
professionally running, not saying it wasn't. But people need understand
you can miss out on some great entertainment if you
(18:31):
don't arrive on time because Universe Sol Soul Circus starts
all time. Now, let's talk about the acts from Ethiopia,
because I noticed it. I'm looking at you, I'm exam
I'm a little producer to centric and there's a lot
of acts from Ethiopius. Tell us about that. So Etho,
ok yes, the leading world. They're leading the world and
(18:51):
producing and providing black circus or swampers wow over Europe,
all over. We had the we have We're very proud
that we got into Ethiopia and the maybe nineties ninety six,
ninety seven, ninety eight and started working with those circus
(19:13):
schools and we were the first to bring an Ethiopian
act out of Ethiopia to a circus touring in America.
They had I think that they had schools that were
set up in Ethiopia mainly to train kids. It was
a program that were and developed that was developed by
(19:33):
some European circuit well European circus right entrepreneurs, and the
idea was to help the government keep the kids off
the street. So they were training them circus arts and
it was cool. It was a good idea, but the
(19:53):
performers showed such great enthusiasm and capacity until so when
I went there, I was totally blown away at the
quality of some and the shows were all about messages
and they had full circuits shows that were you know,
teaching kids about age or teaching kids about you know, working,
(20:18):
They taught they had a lot of the but we
were one of one of the first, and we've since
invested a lot of money in training in Ethiopia because
the kids show so much promise. Uh so we're very
proud of the work that they've done. We sponsor a
(20:39):
big festival there, or one of the sponsors of the
festival they have. But there's some great We have a
duo aerial act that I've never seen and then thirty
years I've seen just about everything, but that duo, those
two girls up in the air. You saw them. They
(21:00):
they move at a speed that no other dual aerial
act will move at. I think even dare to move
that fast, changing all those positions thirty feet off the
ground with no no net, no net, no net. And
you know, I won't describe in detail, but please go.
(21:21):
What he's saying is are just selling the significance of
what they're doing because it's impressive and they were doing
some things. I'll tell you said, I was going, is
she about to do that? Really? Okay? Now these sisters
are they were they twins?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
No?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
No, they work together. They come out of the school.
We have in the performance. We have the hoop diving act,
we have the girls in aerial act, and we have
the the three acts the Tea Board and those are
the three best strongest schools in Ethiopia. We have their
(21:57):
top acts. So those are the three of the top
acts from the strongest trainers and producers in Ethiopia. And
we were graced with that and blessed because we were
one of the early pondeers in helping them with training
and programming. Wow, beautiful as we go. Like I said,
there's nineteen eighty four, you had the vision. What's on
(22:20):
the horizon. I mean, our culture is so rich and
it deserves so much and we've got it. There's a
lot we have to do. I think, you know, family
and it just didn't formally attraction industry. I shows that
we have yet to challenge. I mean there's a Bourbon
(22:41):
Street while we have the street. I mean, there's just
so much that's that's what. It has to be authentic
and it has to be created authentically. But I have
a lot of ideas. I have ideas that should look
live way past me, and I have a lot of challenges.
Just at the tip of the iceberg with my friend
(23:04):
that the fact you allowed me to take time and
your business schedule because you running the circus. Okay, I'm
just running a little small business with animals and chafe
side and all kinds of human beings run around here.
Try to understand what life is. You're the entertaining business,
that's where you started. You had the old run of animals,
the whole big top theme. You you did the gospel places,
(23:25):
which I'm very familiar with. But the bottom line said
you just wanted to do family entertainment. Correct. Yeah, No,
I thought it was the need for it, you know,
And I saw it and we needed this. We need
something that uplifts our families and joins us together. It
joins the generations. It ties the young when of four
(23:49):
year oldest watching their parents sing soul karaoke to al
Green and the grandparents watching and doing the latest stint.
Then with the fresh the clouds in the ring, it
just nies generations to that. It really did, because it
was some little girl. There was a song that they
those rappers they started playing. It was like thirty girl
(24:11):
and little girls are probably Invidy in the fifth grade
was singing. I went, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
What they're doing, but boy, it is really in enjoyable
to watch the connection because they just took off and
did the little dance and hit every word and it
was just fantastic.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
But thank you for fighting me down there to see history,
my brother, because you're making history man. It was diversity,
the safety, the professionalism walking in that door. Man. It
was just a clean environment, safe environment. And again, ladies
and gentlemen, Universe Soul Circus starts on time. This has
(24:46):
been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass posted by
me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests on the show.
Today and thank you. I was listening to the audience now.
If you want to listen to any episode I want
to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymaking Conversations
dot com. Our social media handle is Moneymaking Conversation. Join
us next week and remember to always leave with your gifts.
(25:08):
Keep winning.
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