Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Karon Joseph Riley. The co-star of BET+ "The Black Hamptons" will soon be releasing his first book, “Keep Pedaling The Things I Learned on My Bike.” Karon Joseph Riley was born a star; at least, that is what his mother often told him while growing up in Detroit, Michigan. Karon wanted to be an actor as early as the first grade when he played Puss in Boots in a stage play. Soon after his theatre debut, his athletic talents also emerged. Being the crowd pleaser, he entertained everybody with his athletic prowess. He graduated from the University of Minnesota and remains the All-Time Sack leader and All-American football player. His performance on the gridiron stage led him to become a 4th Round Draft pick of the Chicago Bears. He played seven years between the NFL, CFL, and AFL. After his career ran, he set his sights on Hollywood as he always promised.
Through sports and lessons from his mother, Karon was taught that hard work is the only way to make the blueprints that God downloaded into his work. Working off of his faith, he took acting classes in his off-seasons in Los Angeles. Once he officially retired, he dropped the football body and replaced it with the body of a leading man. As a testament to his work, ethnic booked his first speaking role in Russ Parr’s classic romantic comedy “35 and Ticking,” starring Kevin Hart and Meagan Goode. After that he booked steady roles on multiple networks on shows like “Single Ladies,” and “Necessary Roughness”. Now a solid network talent, Karon set himself up for a huge year run with a role in Will Packer’s feature film “Little” starring Issa Ray and Regina Hall. After that box office exposure, Karon booked two series regular roles on two hit shows. One was “Ambitions,” with Brian J. White and Robin Givens, and the other was “Saints and Sinners,” with Clifton Powell and Vanessa Bell Calloway, respectively. He is currently starring in the NAACP-nominated series The Black Hamptons on BET.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you're about to make a change in your life
and you feel uncomfortable, that's the best feeling you can
have because for the first time in your life, you'll
make a new decision that's going to be best for
you and not what somebody told you to do. And
that's when all bets are off. Welcome to Money Making
Conversation Masterclass. I'm your host, Rashan McDonald. Our theme is
(00:22):
there's no perfect time to start following your dreams. I
recognize that we all have different definitions of success. For
you and maybe decide to your HM, it's time to
stop reading other people's success stories to start living your
own keep winning.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Him.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Rashan McDonald our host the weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass
show the information in interviews that this show provides really
it's for everyone. That means you it's time to stop
reading other people's success stories and start living your own.
My guests is starting in the NAACP nominated series The
Black Hamptons and you can find it on be T.
(01:00):
Please welcome with the Money Making Conversations Masterclass because we
have a lot to talk about. Karan Joseph Ridley, how
you doing, sir?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
He's a love King. How you doing. I'm doing great well.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
You know, first of all, you have a naturally euth
lifting smile. You know who'd you get it from? Who's
taking credit for that? Mam and Dad?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I got to give all credit to my mother. She
she's with the ancestors now, man, and I'd be remiss
if I don't give her and arrested my ancestors all
the credit for everything I'm doing now in this time.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
You know, when I when I, when I've encountered our relationship,
you know, first of all, is always visual.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
You know, it's cream.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
You know you was an athlete, you know, and I've
been a sports fan and so. But when you talk
about who you really are, something that we can relate
to is that I have sickle cell trade. And I
want to start our conversation with there because of the
fact that we know the sickle cell disease, which is
also an extended form of the trade, you know, paralyzes
(01:58):
a lot of people, in particular African Americans in the
United States. Tell us about your sickle cell background.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
H speaking up, we just mentioned my mother. She is
the one who birthed me and the one who gave
me the trade. As well, but I made a promise
with my mother and she she passed away from sickle
cell maybe ten twelve years ago now, but she lived
to be sixty five with the trade with the actual
sickle self Fallacymian disease, which you and I both know
(02:26):
is a miracle in itself. They told her in college
when she was doing her finals, when she went to
get her physical exam, they said, Angela, you should probably
not even worry about having no kids, worry about anything
other than that. Just stayed president for your day, because
you probably won't make it to twenty five. And my
mother used to tell me that story all the time,
And I said, Mama, what did you do when she's
(02:47):
in the doctor told you that? She said, I ain't
pay that, I didn't fay that white man no mind.
I went and did my I ain't took my finals,
And you and your two other brothers are sitting here
and this testamentult that he didn't know what he was
talking about. And that's just who we are. Baby. Don't
let nobody tell you who you are. You tell the
world who you are and show them.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
And at that motivation, when you're hearing it from your mom,
hearing it from as you grow older and educate yourself.
By cicle cell, you gained a lot more respect. I'm
sure what she had to deal with.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Oh yeah, well I live with it every day. Man.
You didn't know every day you lived with the thought
of the other shoe dropping. Right, Because I've seen my
mother go through crisis. I've seen a great moment in
our life turn into a nightmare seemingly out of nowhere
because of a crisis from sickle cell. So I spent
(03:37):
my whole childhood in my early adult life basically holding
my breath, just waiting for that phone call that you know,
my mom had a severe crisis and she's no longer
with us. But fortunately, like I said, she made it
to sixty five. And one of the promises I made
her was if I can stop this disease, I'll stop it.
And I believe this disease could be stopped with just
(03:59):
educational Shane. We have to learn how to educate ourselves
on our self. Our self. Knowledge of self is really
what we can cure every disease of our culture. In
my opinion, starting with cycle cell. Right, if every woman
I dated before I met my wife, up until my wife,
I asked. The first question I asked was what's your
cicle cel status? And some sisters was taking it back
(04:21):
by because they really didn't understand what I was asking.
But most sisters actually liew which was a testament to
those sisters and their families communication styles, and it includos
to them as well, because as you know, I'm a
celebrity spokesman for the Cycle Self Foundation here in Georgia
and every year I go out to the camp, I
talk to the children, I deal with the parents, the adults,
and I've had conversations with some of them. I'm like,
(04:44):
did you guys know that you both had the trade
before you appropriated? Some said no, most said no, but
there were some who went into it overstanding that they
both had the trade and it was the thing of
whatsn't happening to Some are people in this country as well.
We've been waiting for some guy in the sky to
fix everything. That's not the case. We have to save ourselves.
(05:06):
And they also understand now at the time that yeah,
you made a decision and this is the consequence of
your decision. And I've been very proactive in not making
that decision and putting that on my children and also
doing my part to stop this disease.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
You know, I like I said, my wife, she has
sickle cell trade. I had cicklecel trade. Well it was
beautiful daughter. Of course, there's a twenty five percent chance
that that child that we have now who does not
have sickle cell could have had sickle cell. Now when
you go through the whole part like a good friend mine,
I'm gonna call him a good friend. Ryan Clark, he
has sickle cell trade and he talks about a lot
of stories where high elevation gave him issues. I believe
(05:44):
he the story to remove his spleen or something like
that because of.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Playing played in Denver. I played in Denfer as well.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
So talk about a lot of people think when they
just have sickle cell trade, they're good, but it still
is some medical issues can arise from that. Being that
you are a high profile athlete. Talk about their steps
or did you even worry about that or did you
did your local trainers were they aware of you having
sickle cell trade?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well that's the that's the that's the the double edged
sworder to catch all of this disease and shining it's
a black it's considered a black disease, so it's not
a lot of people who's going to hear about how
to help it or fix it. So I was really
literally on my own as far as understanding and disease
and educating myself on it. I'm thankful that we grew
up in Detroit, Michigan, up north, where the medical industry
(06:35):
was on top of it, versus the south, where my
mother moved on to the South. It took us forever
to find a doctor who could help treat her her condition.
And some of the things that we were doing up north,
we were we were doing blood is change, we were
doing some cutting in stuff, and my mom was living
in Detroit, And when we got to Georgia, we had
to bring those those those procedures to Georgia. And now
(06:55):
they've implemented those procedures and a lot of the things
they do for sickle sell patents here g org Is
based on what they deal with my mother because they
didn't really understand what she was doing, but now they
understood it. And for us, as an athlete, I kind
of innately knew, like from research, I knew I had
to stay hydrated, so I started drinking a gallon of
water every day since I was sixteen seventeen, right, and
(07:17):
I had stopped. I stayed hydrated and as you know,
high altitude. So when I fly, I wear compression pants,
I wear all of the things to help alleviate any
of the symptoms that can happen, like blood clotting or
anything like that. That's one of the byproducts of having
the single sell trade. And also I think that cost
me some of my draft status as well because of
(07:38):
my staff in college. I should have been a first
round pick based on my numbers in college, because there's
been no defensive end to come out of college in
the last twenty years. With my numbers, it wasn't the.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Top ten pig right based So did you graduate from
University of Minnesota? Correct? And I sat time cycle Leader's still.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Deal to the day.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Now with that being said, well, first of all, I
educate me what a compression pant impression cans.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I'm glad you don't know about them, but it's I
called them. I called them old old folks hands because
you really wear them to actually keep the circulation in
your body moving a little faster and increases the circulation
in your legs and your joints. So that was one
of the things that I picked up. And I got
COVID a couple of years ago, and the byproduct of
COVID with my single cell trade background caused me to
(08:23):
have blood clots and I ended up basically almost costing
my life. Man, to be honest with y'all, spent three
days in the hospital. It was. It was a scary situation.
But thank god, I stay in great shape and I
was able to fight through that and get on the
other side of it. But from henceforth, the doctor's like
wear compression pants when you fly over two hours. Always
keep yourself hydrated, as you already know, and stay stay
(08:45):
in shape and keep yourself in tip top shape like
you've been doing that.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Karar. You were a professional athlete in the field of
football for forly seven years now. That's a lot of
physical punishment. But also you hear the word concussion pop
up a lot. I remember when I was growing up.
You know, they give a guy salt underneath his no whatever,
they push it back out on the field. Now you
were in a position of seeing this transition. What exactly
(09:10):
is a concussion? And did you ever have one?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I had one that was documented. I'm pretty sure. I
had a couple of others that we didn't document because
I was actually at the tail end of the NFL
when it was real football and we still did two
of day practices and when yes, they would get you
the smelling salt and push you right back onto the field.
I played in that I played in the last the
last few years of that era before football became flag football.
(09:35):
What is nothing as now. I committed them on trying
to make the game a lot safer because it's just
not a safe game at all, man. And concussion is
basically trauma to your brain. Man, when your brain moves
and hits the inside of your skull. This is what
a concussion is. And be honest with you, football is
probably one of those sports that if it's still around
in twenty years, I'll be surprised.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
There's certain rating records every time they pop on TV.
So it's gonna be hard to push the number one
television show off of television. Physil Linear gonna be hard,
and that is going to be the streaming. As they
say that they follow the Bucks. It kind of reminds
me of those own Gladiators, you know, So I see
this is just kind of like the world that we
live in now. Reality is is that professional football, which
(10:19):
is the NFL. Is that gladiator moment that we saw
in the Roman Coliseum. You participated in that being an athlete,
the high profile athlete. Because a lot of people, you know,
they they dreamed for what you participated in. What were
the high and what would the low of that level
of participating in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I tell people all the time, playing in the NFL
was my best and my most favorite part time job.
It literally was a dream that was realized. And shortly
after realizing the dream, I realized that it was a nightmare.
And I'll say that because my first passion has always
been an act into entertain and be a personality the
(11:02):
way I've been blessed to have one right and sports
came into my life second. So football was my second sport.
Basketball was my true love. Now, how I depict the
two is I'll play basketball for free. I'll never play
football of Greek Also, you know you love something or not,
So for me, it was it was it was a
(11:24):
It was a it was a great experience, great lessons
I got the I got the rough elbows and talk
to a lot of successful men that have the same
mindset and I still have a great brotherhood from that.
From that time in my life, and also learned a
lot of valuable lessons in business and just learning how
those billionaires and those people who are on those teams
operate their teams and operate the and operate the game.
(11:45):
You know, I always knew that my career was not
gonna be as long as some other guys, just based
on my outside interest. When I went to the top
find they asked me straight up, like, what's your plans
for after football? And in hindsight, if I answer the
question different, I might not have got a red mark
on my report. But my remark was, when I finished
playing football, I'm going to go to to Hollywood and
(12:07):
take it over. And I looked at me like, oh,
so you do have plans and I'm like absolutely, saying so.
He was like, so, so you want to be an
actor when you retired from football. I said, no, I'm
going to be an actor when I retire from football.
I don't do once, I do what I do. Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
You know that sometimes when you show confidence people, it
makes people nervous. But the thing about it, when I
when I look at you, Karan you know, good looking guy,
Why I'm not Why don't see you on the NFL network?
You know, talking to chopping it up with that?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
What's up with that?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Now?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
You know? Because you're smart, you're able to bruh, you're articulate.
Come on that Why I don't see your NFL network?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
You Know what's funny is when I retired and I
was transitioning to acting, I had been doing sports shows
while I was actively playing to get myself comfortable in
front of the camera, right, So my natural thought was
I'm gonna do sports radio, spamming sports TV and act.
That was the plan after I realized the politics that
was involved in sports television. And it doesn't matter how
(13:08):
good you looked or how well you spoke, or how
intelligent you were, if you were in a Hall of Famer,
you weren't getting the shot. And the realistic of it
is my NFL career was a footnote in my life,
Like what I'm doing now is gonna be ten times
bigger than anything I did on the football field, and
I'm thankful for that. Again, you have to love this game.
I don't even watch football anymore with Sean, So for
(13:30):
me to sit here and watch eight hours of football
every day and then talk about it. It's not just
now of my interest, man, I'm too self absorbed for that.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
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 MacDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(14:00):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Now you're a catchphrase, keep peddling?
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Where did that telling, baby it comes from? I'm an
ADDD cyclist. I started riding shortly after I retired from
the NFL, and it was the first sports sensed football
that challenged me on a spiritual, physical level. On that level,
and I found that I still needed that in my
life to continue being who I was, but I just
(14:28):
couldn't keep playing football, so cyclic replaced that, and at
the same time, it gave me a whole another gift.
It gave me a gift to basically active meditation. I
would always call it. I would go out on these
twenty miles, thirty miles, forty fifty one hundred mile rides,
and I would undoubtedly come back if I had a problem.
(14:49):
When I left, I didn't have the when I got
back if I had if I had a if I
was dealing with something I needed to figure out at work,
in the house, in my family, just in life in general. Man,
the world. Being out in nature and on my bike
a place that's been a place of freedom and enjoy
for me ever since I was four years old and
(15:10):
I first started pedaling a bike. It brings so much
clarity to my spirit. And one day I was riding
Man and my legs was tired. I didn't know if
I was gonna make it home. I was. I was like, man,
I might have to call Terry come pick me up.
And a voice said to me, keep paling, keep pedaling,
And I started seeing a bigger view of that, and
(15:31):
that voice was And the time I was doing this ride,
I was at a point in my career as an
actor that was a little down. I was a little
I was a little discouraged, and it all started to
make sense. And it's like, Yo, you can get home.
You may not get there as fast because you're tired
right now, but if you just keep pedaling, you would
(15:53):
get there.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I smiled, when I talked to you, because it's somewhere
along the line, and I just loved the fact that
you know, this is instilled by your mom, I'm sure,
and also watching her overcome the drama that was caused
by her sickle cell and the very many crisis that confidence,
you seem so confident. Does that scare people? Does that
(16:16):
make people not worry about that you could make a
mistake and not understand it being this confident?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Oh what another thing on a valuable lesson my mother
taught me, And I think this would be who anybody
who's listening, don't worry about what somebody else is thinking
about you. It's any of business, and it doesn't matter
how they perceive you. How most people are gonna perceive you,
or they're gonna perceive you from their lenses, so they're
not confident. My confidence might scare the hell out of them,
and that's okay. I don't. I don't. It doesn't bother
(16:44):
me at all. It just means you probably won't be
able to hang around me long because again, if you're
afraid and what I'm in my life is too bright
for you, then I will suggest you go find you
so a dimmer light that you get hanged around because
I'm not the one. I'm never gonna shrink, I'm never
gonna change, and I'm a Rashan. Here's the kicker. I
don't want anybody around me to do that either, right,
(17:05):
anybody who's in my life or in my circle, I
need you to be as right as you can be.
I need you to be your full power because I'm
coming with my full power. So let's let's put all
our powers together and make something amazing happen.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Right, you know, which I want to hundred percent agree with.
And I like the fact that you're telling that to
the people who are listening or watching, because a lot
of people, you know, and black people in general, as
you know, we're total to be humble or don't don't
don't be egutistical, don't it all, don't be too postful.
Well with social media and the world we live in today,
I would go back to the Muhammad. I a lit there.
(17:38):
Muhammad A lead totally everybody how graded was? And that
has been a Monika Prime Time told everybody how graded was?
I call those two guys the early stages of the
branding experts. But then I tell everybody where you think
of commercial is a commercial is bragging about the best chicken,
best car, the best computer. So you have to realize
(17:58):
that the industry it's based on bragget we have to
recept the responsibility in order for us to get ahead
of each other. We have to tell people what we
bring to the table. And that's what you do better
than it. Guess I brought on the show so far
because of the fact that I see a bigger picture,
not saying what you have now it isn't big, but
(18:18):
there's a bigger picture for.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
You, sir. Absolutely, I shay I received that one hundred
percent of shine. And also and one people to understand this,
what you say out of your mouth has as power
and that's and that's what the example of Muhammad Ali
showed me and what Dion showed me was if you
speak it, then it's probably going to be really because
once you put im in front of anything, the universe
(18:43):
moves and that in that way, I literally can tell
you the moment when my acting career took the next
level up is when I was able to tell people
when they met me. But this is when I was
still hustling and happened to you know, manage restaurants and
do all the different things. Before my acting career and
my acting could take, you know, take care of my
family without anything, I had to do a bunch of
other jobs, which is the journey. And I would tell
(19:06):
people all the time, Man, I'm a general manager, I'm
an actor. I'm missed. But I always would reface it
with what I was doing in a moment. And the
day I stopped saying any other thing than I'm an actor,
I'm a producer, I'm a direct I'm everything I am,
That's when everything just started franking up again for me.
And I had to remind myself of that after I
actually played Mohama Ali in the movie. It recalibrated my
(19:29):
spirit and reminded me of what we are all here
to do. We name ourselves ra Sean in the world
has to believe it. At some point. Every successful person
from the Rock to Will Smith to people you worked
with in your past, they've all told the world who
they were, and then they consistently put into work over
(19:51):
time in a consistent manner to where what they were
saying who they were, their works lined well who they
said they were. In Eventually the world agreed.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations master Class, hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
We shit around and we debate our success or our
potential to be successful because people tell you you can't
do that, that's not your life. Because I remember when
I left IBM and told people I want to be
a stand up comedian. Everybody, you're not gonna be Eddie Murphy.
Well you, thank you, Richard Brye. You know so people
always want to, whether they are intentional or not, will
(20:35):
tell you what you can't do. And so you in
a business. You are in a business. First of all,
nobody told you or your univer of Minnesota okay, oh,
NFL or whatever you you had a lot of whatever
is in your life, do you like like put little
notches or mentally little notes set whatever I told you,
(20:57):
I told you, I told you, because I see ye,
I'll see Oscar, I'll say, told it, what the hell
in your life?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah? New York Times bestseller. I bought that All That's coming,
All that's coming, rescas, all That's coming, because I've seen
it as well. And give you A quick story of
that is when I was in the sixth grade, I
started prancticing my autograph and I would finish my work
in school and I would just sit there and I
(21:25):
would work on my autograph. One day, one of my
teachers said, well, Carin, what are you doing. I said,
I'm working on autograph. She said, why, baby, she said,
I said, because people are gonna want it, and I
need to be prepared for when they wanted. I'm able
to do it property. And I would do that every day,
every day. And I remember I got to high school.
My first girlfriend in high school, ninth grade, I never forget.
(21:45):
She was like, Karen, ain't nobody gonna want your autograph?
And I said, and I said, okay. The first time
somebody asked me for all the graph you known one
calling first, I'm calling you. Fast forward fast forward the
four years my first me year in college, I started
playing football. I started as a truth freshman and I
came out of my first time playing my first game
(22:06):
walking out the tunnel. We lost the game, but it
was people I didn't wanted to talk to us and
get autographed. So this little kid said, mister Riley, can
I have your autograph. And I looked at him and
I said, you talking to me? And he said yeah,
can you sign this? I said, yes I can, but
first I have to call somebody. Do you know. I
(22:28):
got on my cell phone right there all that girl
up and she said, Karai, what you out? I said,
I'm just letting you know. Right now then I'm about
to sign my first autograph of probably millions. So I
just wanted to let you know because I told y'all
was going to call you. And she said, Karain, you
make me so sick, and I said, yeah, you just
keep taking notes. Click we doog.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
The beauty of this conversation that I'm having with you
is that album. Now, I can tell you Steve Harvey
did that too. Steve Harvey, if you sat down with
here to tell you he was always practiced in his autograph.
Always people always asking why you're doing that? Why you
doing that? Again? The results is in the uh in
the present day, existed on his brand. Now when I
(23:09):
see you on TV, you know, I see this smooth brother,
you know this intense brother, and shit, you know I'm
gonna tell you something man. You type brother man, when
I was running the nightclub, you made me mad because
I knew you as soon as you're behind walked in
the club, find the particular room I lost.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Okay, well that's baby, you still have sixty. I had
it going on. I can't give you more than I
can't get your fifty. I can't do my something like that.
It's all yeah, Glinds, have more, baby, I take my
little forty and keep telling you know the.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Black Hamptains, you know on b et. Yeah, what led
to before we talk about that, Let's talk about the
journey to get to that, because there have been many steps, relationships, recommendations.
You know, we all like to go in the room
and think we got it, but he will help you
get there. And like I said, Russ Paul was one
of the initial people who invested his vision in you.
(24:06):
Let's start there.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Absolutely, man, I love that question and shine dope question
because you said it all in the question. Man's it's
consistency over time, working on my craft consistently all the time,
studying with different actor coaches over the years, constantly believing
in the journey. And Russ Parr was one of the
first people, like you said, who gave me my first
(24:29):
shot on as a film as a movie and I
actually got to play with Kevin Hard and Mayan Good
and those kind of folks, and I held my own
in the scene with those two people, and you see
where those where those two people are in the world.
So immediately I got confirmation in my very early stage
in my journey that I was amongst my peers. Right.
(24:51):
Was I on the same level at that time? Absolutely not.
But I tell people all the time, levels happened over
a time, and young actors come up to me, now, Kuran, Man,
I want to get in the act and how can
I do it? And I always say, just start. You
have to start, and as you start, stay consistent over
(25:12):
time and success will happen. My pastor always says it says,
doesn't happen overnight, but one night success happens. So the relationships,
the consistency work, and all that culminated to the Blackhamptons
where it is now today. That that started with a
phone call from what actually started with a conversation with
(25:33):
the one of the main producers of the show, Trade
Trey Uh Uh Trade Try Tray of tried besting with
nd Brown and Carl Weber and those guys. So Trey
and a were sitting at a BT dinner and we
were just sitting there chopping it up like you and
I will be doing. And a two years later he
calls me and was like, yo, Kuran, I got the
perfect role for you. And I'm like, okay, what's what?
What's the d And he broke broke the series down,
(25:55):
told me what it was about. You know, black wealth,
black people thrive, the black people doing everything other than drugs,
building and killing each other. I was. I was in.
I was. I was in from the from the first,
from the first sentence when he said that, and and again,
if I didn't have that relationship with Trey, I can't
say that I would be there. And if Rusty didn't
(26:16):
give me that shot on thirty five and ticket, I
can't say I would have kept going away. I did.
I don't. All these things had to line up the
way they lined up. And I'm thankful and I never
I never do anything thinking it was all me.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Great, I tell you, mister Kara Joseph Riley, I want
thank you for taking the time of coming on Money
Making Conversations Masterclass, not the first time, not the last time,
little brother in my life, Brother Terry, that's how it
works out with me. That's why she connected on that.
Terry being Terry Vaughn folent director now uh still a
great actress. Claimed the fame was Steve Harvey, w B serious,
(26:55):
sickom serious, But again, this show is about you and
the energy that you brought to this Oh really only
makes my listeners and viewers a lot better. Thank you
for coming on Mone to make a conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Thank you for having me brother, love you, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
For joining us for this edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Money Making Conversations Masterclass with rough Shan McDonald is produced
by thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. More information about thirty
eight to fifteen Media Inc. Is available at thirty eight
fifteen media dot com. And always remember to lead with
your gifts
If you're about to make a change in your life
and you feel uncomfortable, that's the best feeling you can
have because for the first time in your life, you'll
make a new decision that's going to be best for
you and not what somebody told you to do. And
that's when all bets are off. Welcome to Money Making
Conversation Masterclass. I'm your host, Rashan McDonald. Our theme is
(00:22):
there's no perfect time to start following your dreams. I
recognize that we all have different definitions of success. For
you and maybe decide to your HM, it's time to
stop reading other people's success stories to start living your
own keep winning.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Him.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Rashan McDonald our host the weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass
show the information in interviews that this show provides really
it's for everyone. That means you it's time to stop
reading other people's success stories and start living your own.
My guests is starting in the NAACP nominated series The
Black Hamptons and you can find it on be T.
(01:00):
Please welcome with the Money Making Conversations Masterclass because we
have a lot to talk about. Karan Joseph Ridley, how
you doing, sir?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
He's a love King. How you doing. I'm doing great well.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
You know, first of all, you have a naturally euth
lifting smile. You know who'd you get it from? Who's
taking credit for that? Mam and Dad?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I got to give all credit to my mother. She
she's with the ancestors now, man, and I'd be remiss
if I don't give her and arrested my ancestors all
the credit for everything I'm doing now in this time.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
You know, when I when I, when I've encountered our relationship,
you know, first of all, is always visual.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
You know, it's cream.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
You know you was an athlete, you know, and I've
been a sports fan and so. But when you talk
about who you really are, something that we can relate
to is that I have sickle cell trade. And I
want to start our conversation with there because of the
fact that we know the sickle cell disease, which is
also an extended form of the trade, you know, paralyzes
(01:58):
a lot of people, in particular African Americans in the
United States. Tell us about your sickle cell background.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
H speaking up, we just mentioned my mother. She is
the one who birthed me and the one who gave
me the trade. As well, but I made a promise
with my mother and she she passed away from sickle
cell maybe ten twelve years ago now, but she lived
to be sixty five with the trade with the actual
sickle self Fallacymian disease, which you and I both know
(02:26):
is a miracle in itself. They told her in college
when she was doing her finals, when she went to
get her physical exam, they said, Angela, you should probably
not even worry about having no kids, worry about anything
other than that. Just stayed president for your day, because
you probably won't make it to twenty five. And my
mother used to tell me that story all the time,
And I said, Mama, what did you do when she's
(02:47):
in the doctor told you that? She said, I ain't
pay that, I didn't fay that white man no mind.
I went and did my I ain't took my finals,
And you and your two other brothers are sitting here
and this testamentult that he didn't know what he was
talking about. And that's just who we are. Baby. Don't
let nobody tell you who you are. You tell the
world who you are and show them.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
And at that motivation, when you're hearing it from your mom,
hearing it from as you grow older and educate yourself.
By cicle cell, you gained a lot more respect. I'm
sure what she had to deal with.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Oh yeah, well I live with it every day. Man.
You didn't know every day you lived with the thought
of the other shoe dropping. Right, Because I've seen my
mother go through crisis. I've seen a great moment in
our life turn into a nightmare seemingly out of nowhere
because of a crisis from sickle cell. So I spent
(03:37):
my whole childhood in my early adult life basically holding
my breath, just waiting for that phone call that you know,
my mom had a severe crisis and she's no longer
with us. But fortunately, like I said, she made it
to sixty five. And one of the promises I made
her was if I can stop this disease, I'll stop it.
And I believe this disease could be stopped with just
(03:59):
educational Shane. We have to learn how to educate ourselves
on our self. Our self. Knowledge of self is really
what we can cure every disease of our culture. In
my opinion, starting with cycle cell. Right, if every woman
I dated before I met my wife, up until my wife,
I asked. The first question I asked was what's your
cicle cel status? And some sisters was taking it back
(04:21):
by because they really didn't understand what I was asking.
But most sisters actually liew which was a testament to
those sisters and their families communication styles, and it includos
to them as well, because as you know, I'm a
celebrity spokesman for the Cycle Self Foundation here in Georgia
and every year I go out to the camp, I
talk to the children, I deal with the parents, the adults,
and I've had conversations with some of them. I'm like,
(04:44):
did you guys know that you both had the trade
before you appropriated? Some said no, most said no, but
there were some who went into it overstanding that they
both had the trade and it was the thing of
whatsn't happening to Some are people in this country as well.
We've been waiting for some guy in the sky to
fix everything. That's not the case. We have to save ourselves.
(05:06):
And they also understand now at the time that yeah,
you made a decision and this is the consequence of
your decision. And I've been very proactive in not making
that decision and putting that on my children and also
doing my part to stop this disease.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
You know, I like I said, my wife, she has
sickle cell trade. I had cicklecel trade. Well it was
beautiful daughter. Of course, there's a twenty five percent chance
that that child that we have now who does not
have sickle cell could have had sickle cell. Now when
you go through the whole part like a good friend mine,
I'm gonna call him a good friend. Ryan Clark, he
has sickle cell trade and he talks about a lot
of stories where high elevation gave him issues. I believe
(05:44):
he the story to remove his spleen or something like
that because of.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Playing played in Denver. I played in Denfer as well.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
So talk about a lot of people think when they
just have sickle cell trade, they're good, but it still
is some medical issues can arise from that. Being that
you are a high profile athlete. Talk about their steps
or did you even worry about that or did you
did your local trainers were they aware of you having
sickle cell trade?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well that's the that's the that's the the double edged
sworder to catch all of this disease and shining it's
a black it's considered a black disease, so it's not
a lot of people who's going to hear about how
to help it or fix it. So I was really
literally on my own as far as understanding and disease
and educating myself on it. I'm thankful that we grew
up in Detroit, Michigan, up north, where the medical industry
(06:35):
was on top of it, versus the south, where my
mother moved on to the South. It took us forever
to find a doctor who could help treat her her condition.
And some of the things that we were doing up north,
we were we were doing blood is change, we were
doing some cutting in stuff, and my mom was living
in Detroit, And when we got to Georgia, we had
to bring those those those procedures to Georgia. And now
(06:55):
they've implemented those procedures and a lot of the things
they do for sickle sell patents here g org Is
based on what they deal with my mother because they
didn't really understand what she was doing, but now they
understood it. And for us, as an athlete, I kind
of innately knew, like from research, I knew I had
to stay hydrated, so I started drinking a gallon of
water every day since I was sixteen seventeen, right, and
(07:17):
I had stopped. I stayed hydrated and as you know,
high altitude. So when I fly, I wear compression pants,
I wear all of the things to help alleviate any
of the symptoms that can happen, like blood clotting or
anything like that. That's one of the byproducts of having
the single sell trade. And also I think that cost
me some of my draft status as well because of
(07:38):
my staff in college. I should have been a first
round pick based on my numbers in college, because there's
been no defensive end to come out of college in
the last twenty years. With my numbers, it wasn't the.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Top ten pig right based So did you graduate from
University of Minnesota? Correct? And I sat time cycle Leader's still.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Deal to the day.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Now with that being said, well, first of all, I
educate me what a compression pant impression cans.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I'm glad you don't know about them, but it's I
called them. I called them old old folks hands because
you really wear them to actually keep the circulation in
your body moving a little faster and increases the circulation
in your legs and your joints. So that was one
of the things that I picked up. And I got
COVID a couple of years ago, and the byproduct of
COVID with my single cell trade background caused me to
(08:23):
have blood clots and I ended up basically almost costing
my life. Man, to be honest with y'all, spent three
days in the hospital. It was. It was a scary situation.
But thank god, I stay in great shape and I
was able to fight through that and get on the
other side of it. But from henceforth, the doctor's like
wear compression pants when you fly over two hours. Always
keep yourself hydrated, as you already know, and stay stay
(08:45):
in shape and keep yourself in tip top shape like
you've been doing that.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Karar. You were a professional athlete in the field of
football for forly seven years now. That's a lot of
physical punishment. But also you hear the word concussion pop
up a lot. I remember when I was growing up.
You know, they give a guy salt underneath his no whatever,
they push it back out on the field. Now you
were in a position of seeing this transition. What exactly
(09:10):
is a concussion? And did you ever have one?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I had one that was documented. I'm pretty sure. I
had a couple of others that we didn't document because
I was actually at the tail end of the NFL
when it was real football and we still did two
of day practices and when yes, they would get you
the smelling salt and push you right back onto the field.
I played in that I played in the last the
last few years of that era before football became flag football.
(09:35):
What is nothing as now. I committed them on trying
to make the game a lot safer because it's just
not a safe game at all, man. And concussion is
basically trauma to your brain. Man, when your brain moves
and hits the inside of your skull. This is what
a concussion is. And be honest with you, football is
probably one of those sports that if it's still around
in twenty years, I'll be surprised.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
There's certain rating records every time they pop on TV.
So it's gonna be hard to push the number one
television show off of television. Physil Linear gonna be hard,
and that is going to be the streaming. As they
say that they follow the Bucks. It kind of reminds
me of those own Gladiators, you know, So I see
this is just kind of like the world that we
live in now. Reality is is that professional football, which
(10:19):
is the NFL. Is that gladiator moment that we saw
in the Roman Coliseum. You participated in that being an athlete,
the high profile athlete. Because a lot of people, you know,
they they dreamed for what you participated in. What were
the high and what would the low of that level
of participating in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I tell people all the time, playing in the NFL
was my best and my most favorite part time job.
It literally was a dream that was realized. And shortly
after realizing the dream, I realized that it was a nightmare.
And I'll say that because my first passion has always
been an act into entertain and be a personality the
(11:02):
way I've been blessed to have one right and sports
came into my life second. So football was my second sport.
Basketball was my true love. Now, how I depict the
two is I'll play basketball for free. I'll never play
football of Greek Also, you know you love something or not,
So for me, it was it was it was a
(11:24):
It was a it was a great experience, great lessons
I got the I got the rough elbows and talk
to a lot of successful men that have the same
mindset and I still have a great brotherhood from that.
From that time in my life, and also learned a
lot of valuable lessons in business and just learning how
those billionaires and those people who are on those teams
operate their teams and operate the and operate the game.
(11:45):
You know, I always knew that my career was not
gonna be as long as some other guys, just based
on my outside interest. When I went to the top
find they asked me straight up, like, what's your plans
for after football? And in hindsight, if I answer the
question different, I might not have got a red mark
on my report. But my remark was, when I finished
playing football, I'm going to go to to Hollywood and
(12:07):
take it over. And I looked at me like, oh,
so you do have plans and I'm like absolutely, saying so.
He was like, so, so you want to be an
actor when you retired from football. I said, no, I'm
going to be an actor when I retire from football.
I don't do once, I do what I do. Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
You know that sometimes when you show confidence people, it
makes people nervous. But the thing about it, when I
when I look at you, Karan you know, good looking guy,
Why I'm not Why don't see you on the NFL network?
You know, talking to chopping it up with that?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
What's up with that?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Now?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
You know? Because you're smart, you're able to bruh, you're articulate.
Come on that Why I don't see your NFL network?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
You Know what's funny is when I retired and I
was transitioning to acting, I had been doing sports shows
while I was actively playing to get myself comfortable in
front of the camera, right, So my natural thought was
I'm gonna do sports radio, spamming sports TV and act.
That was the plan after I realized the politics that
was involved in sports television. And it doesn't matter how
(13:08):
good you looked or how well you spoke, or how
intelligent you were, if you were in a Hall of Famer,
you weren't getting the shot. And the realistic of it
is my NFL career was a footnote in my life,
Like what I'm doing now is gonna be ten times
bigger than anything I did on the football field, and
I'm thankful for that. Again, you have to love this game.
I don't even watch football anymore with Sean, So for
(13:30):
me to sit here and watch eight hours of football
every day and then talk about it. It's not just
now of my interest, man, I'm too self absorbed for that.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
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 MacDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(14:00):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Now you're a catchphrase, keep peddling?
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Where did that telling, baby it comes from? I'm an
ADDD cyclist. I started riding shortly after I retired from
the NFL, and it was the first sports sensed football
that challenged me on a spiritual, physical level. On that level,
and I found that I still needed that in my
life to continue being who I was, but I just
(14:28):
couldn't keep playing football, so cyclic replaced that, and at
the same time, it gave me a whole another gift.
It gave me a gift to basically active meditation. I
would always call it. I would go out on these
twenty miles, thirty miles, forty fifty one hundred mile rides,
and I would undoubtedly come back if I had a problem.
(14:49):
When I left, I didn't have the when I got
back if I had if I had a if I
was dealing with something I needed to figure out at work,
in the house, in my family, just in life in general. Man,
the world. Being out in nature and on my bike
a place that's been a place of freedom and enjoy
for me ever since I was four years old and
(15:10):
I first started pedaling a bike. It brings so much
clarity to my spirit. And one day I was riding
Man and my legs was tired. I didn't know if
I was gonna make it home. I was. I was like, man,
I might have to call Terry come pick me up.
And a voice said to me, keep paling, keep pedaling,
And I started seeing a bigger view of that, and
(15:31):
that voice was And the time I was doing this ride,
I was at a point in my career as an
actor that was a little down. I was a little
I was a little discouraged, and it all started to
make sense. And it's like, Yo, you can get home.
You may not get there as fast because you're tired
right now, but if you just keep pedaling, you would
(15:53):
get there.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I smiled, when I talked to you, because it's somewhere
along the line, and I just loved the fact that
you know, this is instilled by your mom, I'm sure,
and also watching her overcome the drama that was caused
by her sickle cell and the very many crisis that confidence,
you seem so confident. Does that scare people? Does that
(16:16):
make people not worry about that you could make a
mistake and not understand it being this confident?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Oh what another thing on a valuable lesson my mother
taught me, And I think this would be who anybody
who's listening, don't worry about what somebody else is thinking
about you. It's any of business, and it doesn't matter
how they perceive you. How most people are gonna perceive you,
or they're gonna perceive you from their lenses, so they're
not confident. My confidence might scare the hell out of them,
and that's okay. I don't. I don't. It doesn't bother
(16:44):
me at all. It just means you probably won't be
able to hang around me long because again, if you're
afraid and what I'm in my life is too bright
for you, then I will suggest you go find you
so a dimmer light that you get hanged around because
I'm not the one. I'm never gonna shrink, I'm never
gonna change, and I'm a Rashan. Here's the kicker. I
don't want anybody around me to do that either, right,
(17:05):
anybody who's in my life or in my circle, I
need you to be as right as you can be.
I need you to be your full power because I'm
coming with my full power. So let's let's put all
our powers together and make something amazing happen.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Right, you know, which I want to hundred percent agree with.
And I like the fact that you're telling that to
the people who are listening or watching, because a lot
of people, you know, and black people in general, as
you know, we're total to be humble or don't don't
don't be egutistical, don't it all, don't be too postful.
Well with social media and the world we live in today,
I would go back to the Muhammad. I a lit there.
(17:38):
Muhammad A lead totally everybody how graded was? And that
has been a Monika Prime Time told everybody how graded was?
I call those two guys the early stages of the
branding experts. But then I tell everybody where you think
of commercial is a commercial is bragging about the best chicken,
best car, the best computer. So you have to realize
(17:58):
that the industry it's based on bragget we have to
recept the responsibility in order for us to get ahead
of each other. We have to tell people what we
bring to the table. And that's what you do better
than it. Guess I brought on the show so far
because of the fact that I see a bigger picture,
not saying what you have now it isn't big, but
(18:18):
there's a bigger picture for.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
You, sir. Absolutely, I shay I received that one hundred
percent of shine. And also and one people to understand this,
what you say out of your mouth has as power
and that's and that's what the example of Muhammad Ali
showed me and what Dion showed me was if you
speak it, then it's probably going to be really because
once you put im in front of anything, the universe
(18:43):
moves and that in that way, I literally can tell
you the moment when my acting career took the next
level up is when I was able to tell people
when they met me. But this is when I was
still hustling and happened to you know, manage restaurants and
do all the different things. Before my acting career and
my acting could take, you know, take care of my
family without anything, I had to do a bunch of
other jobs, which is the journey. And I would tell
(19:06):
people all the time, Man, I'm a general manager, I'm
an actor. I'm missed. But I always would reface it
with what I was doing in a moment. And the
day I stopped saying any other thing than I'm an actor,
I'm a producer, I'm a direct I'm everything I am,
That's when everything just started franking up again for me.
And I had to remind myself of that after I
actually played Mohama Ali in the movie. It recalibrated my
(19:29):
spirit and reminded me of what we are all here
to do. We name ourselves ra Sean in the world
has to believe it. At some point. Every successful person
from the Rock to Will Smith to people you worked
with in your past, they've all told the world who
they were, and then they consistently put into work over
(19:51):
time in a consistent manner to where what they were
saying who they were, their works lined well who they
said they were. In Eventually the world agreed.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations master Class, hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
We shit around and we debate our success or our
potential to be successful because people tell you you can't
do that, that's not your life. Because I remember when
I left IBM and told people I want to be
a stand up comedian. Everybody, you're not gonna be Eddie Murphy.
Well you, thank you, Richard Brye. You know so people
always want to, whether they are intentional or not, will
(20:35):
tell you what you can't do. And so you in
a business. You are in a business. First of all,
nobody told you or your univer of Minnesota okay, oh,
NFL or whatever you you had a lot of whatever
is in your life, do you like like put little
notches or mentally little notes set whatever I told you,
(20:57):
I told you, I told you, because I see ye,
I'll see Oscar, I'll say, told it, what the hell
in your life?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah? New York Times bestseller. I bought that All That's coming,
All that's coming, rescas, all That's coming, because I've seen
it as well. And give you A quick story of
that is when I was in the sixth grade, I
started prancticing my autograph and I would finish my work
in school and I would just sit there and I
(21:25):
would work on my autograph. One day, one of my
teachers said, well, Carin, what are you doing. I said,
I'm working on autograph. She said, why, baby, she said,
I said, because people are gonna want it, and I
need to be prepared for when they wanted. I'm able
to do it property. And I would do that every day,
every day. And I remember I got to high school.
My first girlfriend in high school, ninth grade, I never forget.
(21:45):
She was like, Karen, ain't nobody gonna want your autograph?
And I said, and I said, okay. The first time
somebody asked me for all the graph you known one
calling first, I'm calling you. Fast forward fast forward the
four years my first me year in college, I started
playing football. I started as a truth freshman and I
came out of my first time playing my first game
(22:06):
walking out the tunnel. We lost the game, but it
was people I didn't wanted to talk to us and
get autographed. So this little kid said, mister Riley, can
I have your autograph. And I looked at him and
I said, you talking to me? And he said yeah,
can you sign this? I said, yes I can, but
first I have to call somebody. Do you know. I
(22:28):
got on my cell phone right there all that girl
up and she said, Karai, what you out? I said,
I'm just letting you know. Right now then I'm about
to sign my first autograph of probably millions. So I
just wanted to let you know because I told y'all
was going to call you. And she said, Karain, you
make me so sick, and I said, yeah, you just
keep taking notes. Click we doog.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
The beauty of this conversation that I'm having with you
is that album. Now, I can tell you Steve Harvey
did that too. Steve Harvey, if you sat down with
here to tell you he was always practiced in his autograph.
Always people always asking why you're doing that? Why you
doing that? Again? The results is in the uh in
the present day, existed on his brand. Now when I
(23:09):
see you on TV, you know, I see this smooth brother,
you know this intense brother, and shit, you know I'm
gonna tell you something man. You type brother man, when
I was running the nightclub, you made me mad because
I knew you as soon as you're behind walked in
the club, find the particular room I lost.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Okay, well that's baby, you still have sixty. I had
it going on. I can't give you more than I
can't get your fifty. I can't do my something like that.
It's all yeah, Glinds, have more, baby, I take my
little forty and keep telling you know the.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Black Hamptains, you know on b et. Yeah, what led
to before we talk about that, Let's talk about the
journey to get to that, because there have been many steps, relationships, recommendations.
You know, we all like to go in the room
and think we got it, but he will help you
get there. And like I said, Russ Paul was one
of the initial people who invested his vision in you.
(24:06):
Let's start there.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Absolutely, man, I love that question and shine dope question
because you said it all in the question. Man's it's
consistency over time, working on my craft consistently all the time,
studying with different actor coaches over the years, constantly believing
in the journey. And Russ Parr was one of the
first people, like you said, who gave me my first
(24:29):
shot on as a film as a movie and I
actually got to play with Kevin Hard and Mayan Good
and those kind of folks, and I held my own
in the scene with those two people, and you see
where those where those two people are in the world.
So immediately I got confirmation in my very early stage
in my journey that I was amongst my peers. Right.
(24:51):
Was I on the same level at that time? Absolutely not.
But I tell people all the time, levels happened over
a time, and young actors come up to me, now, Kuran, Man,
I want to get in the act and how can
I do it? And I always say, just start. You
have to start, and as you start, stay consistent over
(25:12):
time and success will happen. My pastor always says it says,
doesn't happen overnight, but one night success happens. So the relationships,
the consistency work, and all that culminated to the Blackhamptons
where it is now today. That that started with a
phone call from what actually started with a conversation with
(25:33):
the one of the main producers of the show, Trade
Trey Uh Uh Trade Try Tray of tried besting with
nd Brown and Carl Weber and those guys. So Trey
and a were sitting at a BT dinner and we
were just sitting there chopping it up like you and
I will be doing. And a two years later he
calls me and was like, yo, Kuran, I got the
perfect role for you. And I'm like, okay, what's what?
What's the d And he broke broke the series down,
(25:55):
told me what it was about. You know, black wealth,
black people thrive, the black people doing everything other than drugs,
building and killing each other. I was. I was in.
I was. I was in from the from the first,
from the first sentence when he said that, and and again,
if I didn't have that relationship with Trey, I can't
say that I would be there. And if Rusty didn't
(26:16):
give me that shot on thirty five and ticket, I
can't say I would have kept going away. I did.
I don't. All these things had to line up the
way they lined up. And I'm thankful and I never
I never do anything thinking it was all me.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Great, I tell you, mister Kara Joseph Riley, I want
thank you for taking the time of coming on Money
Making Conversations Masterclass, not the first time, not the last time,
little brother in my life, Brother Terry, that's how it
works out with me. That's why she connected on that.
Terry being Terry Vaughn folent director now uh still a
great actress. Claimed the fame was Steve Harvey, w B serious,
(26:55):
sickom serious, But again, this show is about you and
the energy that you brought to this Oh really only
makes my listeners and viewers a lot better. Thank you
for coming on Mone to make a conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Thank you for having me brother, love you, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
For joining us for this edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Money Making Conversations Masterclass with rough Shan McDonald is produced
by thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. More information about thirty
eight to fifteen Media Inc. Is available at thirty eight
fifteen media dot com. And always remember to lead with
your gifts
The Steve Harvey Morning Show News
Hosts And Creators
Steve Harvey
Shirley Strawberry
Thomas "Nephew Tommy" Miles
Carla Ferrell
Kier "Junior" Spates
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