Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am Rashan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
stories and.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Start planning their own.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
their companies, and speak with dog profits who are making
a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hi, I am Rashaan McDonald, our
(00:36):
host this weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass 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 that's Money Making Conversations Masterclass, please visit
our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click this it be
(01:00):
a Guest button, Not to my guest. My guess is
an accomplished and experienced executive passions lie and incorporating diversity,
equity and inclusion as an integral component of business strategy.
She currently serves on the board of Directors of the
ant Siphas Family Fund Corporation, whose mission is to embrace, inspire,
(01:21):
and motivate young creatives to propel them into successful careers.
Please welcome to the Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Doctor Glennis Lee.
How are you doing, Doctor Lee?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I'm great, Thank you, Thank you so much for having
me today.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I got a chance to meet you.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I was a named Man of the Year at the
by the Stemalanta Women Program and I was.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
And you know, you get these honors and you don't.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Work for that.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
You work to change the community, change individuals, moving people
forward and forward. And I look at your background, that
is you, doctor Lee. Why are you so engaged in
community uplift?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
I just honestly believe in giving back. I think one
of the biggest lessons I've learned in my corporate career
that it's not just what you know and what you
can do, but it's who you know and who you
can network and how you learn from others. And so
that's just been one of my personal passions throughout my career.
(02:26):
How can I help others. I do a lot of
work in mentoring young people and mentoring and just supporting
through various foundations and most recently through the Antsifhast Family Fund,
which is as a musician, I grew up playing the
piano in church and singing and then got into the
field of technology, and all of these things are interrelated
(02:49):
and connect and help to build not only individuals, but
have a tremendous impact on our society and in our
industries and just in being successful in individuals. So it's
just something that's always been a part of me.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
And so when you talk about the reason I got
you on the show, because you're on the board of
directors of the Anne Seifa's Family Fund Corporation, give us
a little background in history under Anne Sifha's Family Fund Corporation,
which is based in Atlanta, Georgia, and serves the Greater
Gwyne Gwinett County.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yeset County students.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yes, yes, ninth to the twelfth grade.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Correct, yes, yes, you're high school age students. So the
organization was founded back in twenty twenty three. It was
founded by Miss Latavio Woodward, who was also one of
the stem Atlanta Whim honorees and her family, her husband
and her five children, and the organization was founded in
memory and in honor of her mother, An Cephas, for
(03:49):
whom the organization is named. Miss Cephus's journey, as many
in that generation, was her dreams and aspirations were interrupt
it just by life's challenges, and she found herself having
to stop her education at age sixteen. But she had
a tremendous passion for technology. She wanted to work with computers,
(04:12):
and she did not get that opportunity at that time,
but she never lost that passion and that understanding for
how important education and having an education was. And you
couple that with her watching her grandson, one of Miss
Woodward's children we know as Offset, who's an accomplished artist today,
(04:32):
watching his journey and the challenges and the opportunities that
he faced as he began to build his musical career.
And so the family got together and they thought, in
honoring her, they would establish an organization that brought together
the desire for education and making sure that creatives got educations,
(04:53):
but embracing those creatives, helping them embrace their passion, but
to do so in a way that help them really graduate,
first of all from high school, to train them and
help them build those skills, not only from a creative perspective,
but to build those supportive skills that they needed to
be successful in industry, whether they selected music as their
(05:16):
final goal or even in other industries. To build those
supportive skills, those soft skills as well as our skills,
and help them to establish sustainable creative careers.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Cool, and we're talking about the ant Sefhast Family Fund Corporation.
My degree is in mathematics, which is directly aligned with STEM,
and this is what we're talking about STEM. You know,
we're talking about AI. We're talking about the next level
of opportunities that are being made available where you start
seeing electric cars, you start seeing these commercials, people are
(05:47):
actually having conversations with their cell.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Phones and general conversations. You going to see.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You go in stores and you see robots making pies
and service. I made this restaurant our pastors and the
server was not a human being. My food was brought
out on the cart by a robot. And so that's
the part of this conversation that we're talking about. And
that's why I was excited about bringing you on the show,
(06:15):
because you are looking at from a visionary perspective. You're
not looking at what has happened, but what will happen.
Continue the conversation, doctor Lee.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Yes, absolutely, we find that this is the digital age
and technology is disrupting every aspect of our lives. I remember,
and I'm up dating myself, but when I went to college,
debit cards were just being introduced, and now people really
carry cash. Not only did they not carry cash, they're
(06:46):
using their phones to pay for things. So we see
where technology is really disrupting and taking over every aspect
of our society. And it's the same within the music industry.
Musicians can use AI to help with their songwriting process,
to expedite it, to provide more opportunities, more insights, more perspectives.
(07:10):
We use project management tools and you'll find this in
our programs where we actually go back we use We
introduce our students to Trello to help manage their projects.
So they're managing the creative process, their production processes, their
marketing processes, all using technologies. They use chat, GPT, they
(07:31):
use mid Journey, we're using Adobe. We're using all of
these emerging tools to teach them how to apply them
in their creative journeys. And I think that's so important
when we think about technology and our youth, we think
of just social media, but that's only one small portion
of what technology is and what technology can be used for.
(07:53):
So we want to make sure that they're exposed to
these tools so that they can go into a production
studio so that they can apply these in order to
produce their music and to help refine and expand and
grow in their creative side as well as as well
as embracing and cultivating the natural talent that they have.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Okay, cool, now, it's great to hear this because of
the fact that as a minority, as I am and
as you are, you know, we all all the last
to the table because no one wants to give us
the information and then all of a sudden, when they
provide us with the information, is like a handout, like
you know, you really don't deserve it. Here's something and
you get half of the information. That is why I
(08:34):
feel that diversity equit inclusion, which is about diversify and
sharing opportunities, has been beat up because it's been changed
in the way it's being presented.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
It makes a handout and it's never been a handout.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
It's just cutting up the pie because you still got
to qualify, you still got to pull out the PaperWorks.
If you're not qualified, you don't get to participate. But
politically it has been politicized. And so how do you
avoid a program like this The an Cephuss Family Fund Corporation,
which is the Dynamics of Educating ninth through twelfth, a
(09:12):
pilot program that runs simultaneously with the school period, from
becoming politicized The lead, You.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Know, that's an excellent and excellent question. I think that
no one can dispute the fact that technology is disrupting
our society, and therefore, in order to succeed in society,
you have to understand technology, and especially technology and how
(09:42):
it's used in whatever industry you plan to pursue. So
what we aim to do is we're going to give
our kids what they need and as well as make
sure that they also follow through with those fundamental aspects.
We're not saying you don't have to go to high school.
You have to go to school. We want you to
go to school. This is an important piece of your
(10:05):
of your training, and of your development. So we are
really looking to help incorporate those things and as a
as an organization, we're providing what they may not get
in a mainstream environment. Many of our schools don't have
these types of programs, but there are many of our
high schools that do. I know Atlanta Public Schools they
(10:26):
have a full blown music production studio in one of
their high schools. So, but again, all of our students
may not get the opportunity to participate in those programs
because they have to have the grades. Yes, it's all
about inclusion. It's all about providing them that opportunity, but
we also have to make sure that our youth understand
(10:49):
the importance of those opportunities.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Before we go any further ins interview, how do they
get in touch with you? How is their website?
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Because I want people to start, we're doing their research,
start in this process of writing down the right contact information,
because that's what happens as well. It's so many great
programs of our programs out there, but nobody knows how
to participate because guess what, they don't have the right
contact information. How does one if they're listening to this interview,
how does one participate or get their child involved?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
They can go directly to the ANCIPHAST website. It's an
a n n ceph us ff dot org.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Cool. Now that's great.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Now, what are the goals for twenty twenty five with
the foundation and the kids nine through twelve, ninth through
twelfth grade.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
So we ran a pilot program last school year where
we service nine students in Gwinnett High School in the
Gwenette County High School System, and we've refined the program
a bit so students can go on right now register
and even for the remainder of the remaining months of
the school year, we provide them with the exposure, with
(12:02):
the instruction to participate in the program. So let me
step back and explain our flagship program. It's called the
three R nine in program. It stands for three roles
in nine months. So typically we expose our students to
the creative side songwriting, composing, recording, then the business side,
(12:26):
the marketing, the management, the operations, and then the technology
side how insect the intersection of music and technology, so
they get they get an opportunity to experience all of
the aspects. So if you're an artist, and yes you're creative,
you're going to focus on your craft, but you need
to know all of the pieces behind the scenes that
(12:47):
help you to become that artist, that help you in
a performance. One of our students last year got an
opportunity to attend the Drake Concert and to see the
set production that has to go on, how that has
to online, the music. So this program exposes our students
to all of that. So it's not that we're teaching
them their craft. They are incredibly talented, incredibly talented youth.
(13:13):
We had one student that actually played nine different instruments
and wrote songs. So you have these children that have
this natural talent that we want to cultivate, that we
want to expose. So this program gives them an opportunity
to have hands on experience doing that. So we have
virtual classes, we introduce them to experts in the industry,
(13:34):
they are able to ask questions, they were able to learn,
and then we have these networking opportunities that they have.
But we also visit studios so they can get some
of that hands on experience and then they are able
to collaborate not only with their peers that may have
different skill sets, they can showcase their skills with one another.
They are able to showcase at the end of the
(13:55):
school year those skills and just getting them an opportunity
unity to build their technology skills, to refine to accelerate
and just and to just improve how they can deliver
their talent.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
We'll be right back with more money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Welcome back to the Money Making Conversations Masterclass, hosted by
Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass continues online at Moneymakingconversations
dot com and follow money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook,
(14:37):
Twitter and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I'm talking to doctor Glennis Lee.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
She is on the board of the Ann Sifas Family
Fund Corporation. We mentioned Offset earlier, you know, just letting
everybody know it's not about meeting Offset. She said three things.
There are three things you have to do. Not meet
him and get the linograph for herself. You know you
might you might not show up to graduation. So just
know this is a nine month program, so you got
(15:04):
a period of time. You have to accomplish some tasks
before you even meet him. There's no guarantee. The guarantee
is this is a STEM based organization. There's about creative,
technology and business those three levels. Now, being my background,
you know I want in the stand up comic I
managed a superstar talent like Steve Harvey, currently manages Steven
(15:25):
A Smith Sherry Shepard.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Talk show host. So I know I met a lot
of Beyonce.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
I introduced her on stage back in Houston a law
Whence she was a member of the Destiny's Child alow
with Kelly Rowland Michelle Weavers. So I can speak of
a lot of famous people that I've been involved with.
But in the process, that's the creative side I'm introducing you.
You've seen them do stand up, You've seen them sing,
You've seen these people act, you see them on TV.
(15:53):
But it's the business side that creates the longevity of it.
Having the right lawyer, making sure that your music is copyrting,
making sure that you're not playing using music that needs
to be licensed, and they come back and say you
owe it? Is this amount of money that's the business now?
Because you know in this business, doctor Lee, is that
(16:14):
so many of these kids probably showed up with tapes.
You know, I got my mill, They ready to go.
They just want you to here's my tape. Where can
I get it played? Can I get it in the radio?
Speaker 1 (16:24):
And all that stuff?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
How do you slow down those individuals but still keep
them focused on doing it right.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
It's funny you asked that question, But I think a
lot of the incentive is the money that they can
make and understanding, understanding that. If you don't understand these things,
you sign away your rights to your own creative license.
So you're signing your name away, you're signing your ability
to have sustainable, recurring passive income because you don't understand
(16:58):
how royalties work in the end history. You don't understand
that if you sign and that line says you do
X y Z. You mentioned having a great lawyer, that
this line says I have this this recording company or
this agency now owns your music. That means that you
don't own it anymore. So how do you protect your
(17:20):
your your your intellectual property? Yes, you are your asset
and how do you protect that? And I think when
you when you really get them, when they really understand
that piece, they become more open to Yes, let me
understand how this business is operating. And you will hear
many say I just want to write the music. Well,
you also want to live. You also want to make
(17:42):
the money. You also want to have income. You don't
you want you don't want to have to file bankruptcy
three years after you get your first big contract. You
want to be able. You want to learn how to
live and how to manage that money, even from a
personal aspect, as you, as you, as you progress in
the industry, as you grow, and.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Doctor Lee, I want to share this story. I want
to share the story what you're about.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Why is important to have the business side straight. I
was interviewing Jermaine Dupree and it was right around the
whole COVID side when the world was shut down, and
that's when he realized the business side that he locked down.
We call it mailbox money. It means that he didn't
do anything. He didn't write a song, he didn't perform,
(18:26):
and checks were coming in because he did the business right.
That means songs were still being played, songs will still
being streaming, and he was getting paid for that. And
that's what they need to understand. And that's what you're
telling these jungk people.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yes, yes, if you do it.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Right, when you think the whole world is you retired,
you still get these checks.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
You can get these checks to you.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
You can actually pass these checks to your children if
you do it right business wise, correct.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Correct, correct, absolutely, and then that big hit becomes a
hit for the rest of your life. Even you know,
you know, I often you know, we often laugh about
Frankly Frankie Beverly amazed that they had that one or
two good albums and they.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Would before I let go come on, like they.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Never let go, They never let go down.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
So them boys is seventy seven girl nineteen seventy seven,
since that doesn't happen music and maybe millions of dollars,
you know, and these songs have been read song and
they owned the rights to them. Every time somebody play
that song, or somebody redoes that song or puts a
rap on the bites, the.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Covers, the beats, everything.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
We were talking that it's a legacy. That's what it's
really about.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
It because what we discovered was that, you know, especially
a lot of songs and artists who were just singers,
you know, from the sounds of music, the Philadelphia sound,
the Motown sounds, a lot of sounds out of Memphis.
They were just artists. And so when the songs were played,
even though their voce was on.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
It, they didn't get a check. They didn't get a check.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
They were just performing. They got paid and guess what
got paid for their services. But the longevity of being
able to own the rights to that music they didn't
get to participate in and that as a publisher. And
that is what we're talking about. We're talking about what
the ant Sipho's Family Fund Corporation does. They're engaging kids
ninth through twelfth grade with a program.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
This is the second year of the program. They're the
pilot program with nine young students. And these nine young
students are now aware of the creative process.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
That's what introduced them into the program, the ant Siphas's
Family Fund Corporation program. But what they realized and what
doctor Lee realizes that if we don't teach these kids
about business, then they will not be aware of all
their technology advantages that are out there, like you said,
Chad Ai using music, to using AI to write music,
(21:05):
to be created with lyrics and all these different things.
Because that's where we are headed. As we close this
interview out and now I want to thank you for
taking time to do this. Let's make sure people know
how to get in touch with you and the organization again,
the organization is and Cphless Family Find Corporation.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yes, you can go to our website. It's and cphis
FF dot org. It's spelled A n n ce p
h U s f F dot org. And of course
our call to action, we definitely need your support. We
are a nonprofit organization, so there is a big pink
(21:43):
donate button right there on the website, so please feel free.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Yes pink ka pink is it aka pink?
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Well, our founder is a Delta, so it's just sisterhood
it at this point.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Your father being the o't they got a pink button? Ache? Kids?
Speaker 3 (22:02):
See that's okay, We just that's that's all right because
she knows, she knows, freaking the buddy.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yes, you know that's beautiful because you know, like I said,
I just want to let you know that it was
the first time I heard of this program and that's
not a bad thing.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
It's that. But you need volunteers.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
You need people like me who are willing to come
in and speak, who have a resume that will get
these kids attention.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
They'll make sure they understand. But I guess I also
want to.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Know is the type of students that you are are
you that benefits of this type of program? Are they
at risk students? Are they students celebrated students? How do
these students find out about the program and who are
you targeting, doctor Lee.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Yes, we are really targeting those at risk creatives. Many times,
are you feel that if they want to pursue, particularly
your music career, and we often see this in the
sports arena too, that they let their academics slide. So
one of our first goals is to help contribute to
increasing our graduation rate in Gwinnett County among our young
(23:04):
among our at risk uths. So we want to help
motivate and inspire them to continue their high school education.
But in doing so in parallel and in conjunction with
also helping to refine and build and cultivate their creative aspirations.
So helping them see that it's it's not it's not
a zerosome game. It's not that you either do this
(23:27):
or do that. You do them together and if you
do it together well, you can propel your success even further.
So that's really that's really what we aim for. So
most of our students are average students, they're students that
have lost interest in school, So we really want to
help inspire them and motivate them to regain that understanding. Like, hey,
(23:49):
if you want to make money and if you want
to have money, you need to know your math.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
You know, you have to know math.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
So it kind of inspires them and gives them a
different perspective on how they view their high school education.
So that's who we're targeting now. We work directly with
our high school. So we go and we talk to counselors,
we talk to principles. Sometimes they identify students that say, hey,
this may be a great person for your program. But
we also communicated out to parents, We communicate it out
(24:19):
to the churches here in the great and then when
that county area. We want everyone to know about the program,
and to be honest, we haven't turned anyone away that
has expressed interest. We are willing as well as much
as our capacity allows us to to work with whomever
is interested because we are so committed to helping our
(24:40):
youth and helping our young creatives be successful and have
and establish sustainable creative careers.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Well, I'm gonna tell you that, doctor Lee, I'm a
fan of yours. Thank you for.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Coming over the show, you know, and spreading that denied
divine nine love.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
But like I told you earlier, I'm gonna make a man.
So I've been good, I'd have been good. And now
come on, now, come on, now you ski we a can't.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
We're gonna have a lot of thought in this life
AND's and this year is just the start of a
long term relationship. Anything I can bring to the table
Money Making Conversations master Class. We're using the tool of
my voice and your interview of being able to promote
what you are doing in the community, because as we
go into this upcoming administration, their number one goal is
(25:35):
to stop, as they say, government participation.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
And community oriented events.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
And what we're talking about what she's what they're doing
over the Ant Siphast Family Fund Corporation is a community
oriented event. What we're saying public to everybody is that
if they're gonna stop helping us, that we need to
start helping ourselvesselves. And that is the number one takeaway
that you're getting this interview, and doctor Lee, thank you
(26:02):
for taking the time to allow me to have fun
with you, but also are powerful information that you guys
are doing in the community. And I love the fact
that when you see when I grew up, rappers was
just rapping.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
They're just in the industry. Now you see rappers as
business people. You know clothing lines.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
You know you saw Snoop Dogg. He sponsored a bull
game this last year or this year. And then you
see some of the richest people, they are billionaires. So
now the conversation of these wanted to be an entertainer,
Now you want to be a business person, Now you
want to own property. I feel with telling a better
(26:43):
story than when I was growing.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Up because it was just music.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Now twenty years later, you see the results of these
young people that I hope that you are building in
this organization will be twenty years from that. Their names
will be on Bowl games, their names will be on buildings,
their names will be changing lives of the next generation.
And I know the importance of what you guys are
(27:08):
trying to do. And again I want to thank you
and commend you for your efforts.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Thank you so much, Thank you for having us, and
thank you for giving us this opportunity to talk about
our organization and what we're doing. So again, go to
our website. We will be thrilled to have your support
both financially and if you know of a student in
the Gwenett County area that would love to participate, we
would love to have them.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Then, thank you for coming on money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
You are wonderful.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Thank you, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you listening to audience now.
If you want to listen to any episode I want
to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com.
Our social media handle is money Making Conversation. Join us
next week and remember to all always leave with your gifts.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Keep winning. Mm hmmm.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
Mm hm hm