Singer Starry Venus, Author Marcy B & Entrepreneur, TV Host Karisa Smith.

Starry is a Producer, Vocalist,filmmaker & Multi-instrumentalist artist/composer.
Marcy Bialeschki is an award winning author and entrepreneur who has made a significant impact in the romance suspense genre. Karisa Smith - Producer and TV Host at Dining Divas TV/ Destination Divas TV, Founder at Phylo Beauty.

Movie Reviews and More is broadcast live Tuesdays at 5PM PT on K4HD Radio - Hollywood Talk Radio (www.k4hd.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Movie Reviews and More TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

Movie Reviews and More Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This program is designed to provide general information with regards
to the subject matters covered. This information is given with
the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station
are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial, legal, counseling,
professional service, or any advice. You should seek the services

(00:23):
of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Hey, there, it's Brian Sebastian. Movie reviews and more. And
if it's Tuesday. First of all, we got to always
give to the arts, celebrate those at and they're entrepreneurs, authors, singers, museums, hotels.
A lot of businesses are struggling out there for the
big time, which is kind of what I've been doing,
communicating with a lot of them, Which is why I'm
a little bit exhausted, because it's exhausting to hearing a

(01:26):
lot of my friends losing their jobs. The good thing
about it is that we can always do something about
it and support them, support small business. We're in the
holiday seasons now and they need and so we're broadcasting
live on Talk for TV and Talk for Media, K
for HD radio, streaming on over one hundred outlets around
the world right now, and I actually am excited about
the showcas story has been waiting for a long time. First,

(01:48):
and she's been waiting for long time. Marcie, I think
has been waiting since you know. She yes, she's been
waiting a long time too, now that I think about it,
going back to the old email. The good thing about it,
Tara wasn't on last week, Terry wasn't on last week,
was an on last But they're all back this week.
So that's the exciting thing about this, and keeping our
live streak going one hundred and seventy eight live shows

(02:10):
in a row. I'm freezing to death. I think it's
twenty three to you know, it's like the same thing
in Florida. I think New York's got the thing that
California doesn't have it, which is still home states, like
ninety degrees there. How do I know, because I was
talking to my friends, you know, like it's too hot.
I'm like, bring some of the hot to me. Black
guys don't like cold weather. You like warm weather. So

(02:33):
the good thing about this, hey, it's always about supporting
those singers, those authors, those entrepreneurs, and you know, the
good thing about everybody's backgrounds is you guys have done
a lot of amazing things, and that's the great thing
to talk about a lot of this which is good too.
So you know what, Marcy, I got to start with you.
And the reason for this is because you were You've
written a couple more books, and you've been on before.

(02:55):
Story hasn't been on a personal it has to have
been on before. But I'm glad that through here, I
really am. So let's talk about this. You're an award
winning author, You're that entrepreneur. I'm in your cold ass state,
freezing welcome. I mean, you should see. This is what
I was like outside when I was dealing with that.

(03:16):
You know, yeah, but I'm glad to be here at
my friend Diane's house. But you know, a congratulations on
you books. And it was good to see you back
at the Oscars. And I can't even remember it now.
My brain is frozen. If you were at the enemy.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
That's where I meant, no, no, I didn't get to
go back this year.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Well, the good thing about it, you were there in
spirit because we was I was still talking about you,
so that was a good thing. At least. Let's talk
about that and then because you know, yeah, we can
hear you. Fine, you're good. Uh, maybe I'm not talking loud.
Everything went out, But did you know what? Like I said,
word about your find Nothing is surprising me. Nothing. Nothing.

(03:55):
When I'm bundled like like this, you know it's going
to be a strange good show. So even Howard looks
like he's like sleeping to death. He looks like he's like,
are you how can you hear us? He looks like
he's like, oh see, we're gonna have this is gonna

(04:19):
be a show. If Howard's coming and walking willie wonky
like that, I know what it's gonna be. Right, He's
king you this before you know what.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
I've been partying watching my face.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
In that time. I've been out with the chickens and
the roosters in the front.

Speaker 5 (04:38):
New dance video out, Brian, He's got out, all.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Right, Marcy, hold this because if Howard sound is wicky
wonky and whatever, we have to go to him first,
because we never know if he's got good sound.

Speaker 4 (04:51):
Howard talk to us, yes, sir, you know we.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Got him all. Tell everybody who you are first before
we lose your ahead.

Speaker 6 (04:58):
I'm Howard Wiggins and wanted the top thirty five leading
and cheer designers in the world listened and Andrew martin
volume three. I've got a lot going on. I'm working
with Paul Smith. We're doing some things. You check my
Facebook page out you'll see that. Thank you, Carol. And
like I said, I went to a birthday party and

(05:19):
went dancing on Wednesday night. No, I'm going dancing tomorrow night.
I got to keep up on my own schedule. I'm
going back down to Atlanta this week. I got so
much going on I can't even keep up with I
have to ask my wife, what are we doing today.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
That's a good thing. You look stylish. Take a look
over his background, all right, so you know, for everybody
who doesn't know how it is an icon, and it's
always good to see what woman he's gonna be in
and with his art. Let's talk about some of your
art while we got signed on.

Speaker 4 (05:48):
You go ahead, okay.

Speaker 6 (05:50):
Right behind me up the top is an ivory piece
from the turn of the century Victorian. I'm in my
oriental room. I'm sitting in a jade chair. You see
right over my shoulder. It's completely jay. This base right
here used to belong to the last Emperor of China.

Speaker 4 (06:07):
I have a pair of them.

Speaker 6 (06:10):
I'm an art collector and I always have been and
always will be. So I don't change much. I always add,
but I don't throw it over. I don't believe in
starting over unless you have to do so. I'd go
for a more unique look that's different from everybody else.
If you go on my Facebook page, every time you
see me in the black and gold jacket, I'm talking

(06:32):
to zign. So if you can't sleep at night, go
to the Facebook page and read that, and you'll understand
about design, which most people if you read it, you
will see.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
And the good thing about that is like when he
says he you know he's not. He doesn't sleep a lot.
Neither he or I sleep a lot. We might get
three and a half four hours, four and a half
if four lucky. So he is up changing and doing
all kinds of things. And good for Howard, he deserves
all this stuff. I'm happy for a lot of you
women are out there celebrating, including my friend Terry. We
don't always agree on things, but when we do, we

(07:02):
celebrate each other, don't we tell and where you're coming from,
go ahead.

Speaker 7 (07:08):
I am Terry Raam here in southern California. I've been
a co host for Brian's twenty fourteen. I do most
of the red carpet celebrity interviews at events for Brian.
I'm also a fitness fanatic junkie. I've competed in several
fitness competitions. One Muscle Beach that was at first show

(07:30):
I did in twenty fourteen at you know, in my
forties and I blewed away got first place. I'm Miss
Fitness La. Several MPC shows.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
You know.

Speaker 8 (07:41):
So I've done several shows. I kind of retired from.

Speaker 7 (07:44):
Doing shows, but I think I'm going to give it
another go now that I'm done moving. And I just
dealt with some stuff with that elderly mom who had dementias.
The last two years has been dealing with that, but
now sadly passed away, you know, a year ago, and
I think I'm ready to like start competing again, and

(08:04):
you know, it's a new chapter in my life.

Speaker 8 (08:06):
It has moved.

Speaker 7 (08:07):
If reb has moved, you know how how picking up
a whole house and moving to a new house.

Speaker 8 (08:13):
So I'm fine done with that.

Speaker 7 (08:19):
That's taking about three weeks, but I'm glad to be
here with everybody and finding out more about all our
guests today.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
All right, Carol, go for it.

Speaker 5 (08:28):
I I'm Carol Register. I'm so excited to be here
with you guys.

Speaker 9 (08:32):
I take female leaders from six to seven figures and
an exclusive private program, and if you're interested in finding
more finding out more about the qualification process, just talk
to me. I also have a beautique hotel down in
southern Chile where I run retreats.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
They're amazing.

Speaker 9 (08:56):
And I also have a free book club and a
podcast US called Unleash and Unstoppable. So again, I'm super
glad to be here with you power House women and
Howard and Howard.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yes, we have to clap for Howard. Yes.

Speaker 9 (09:14):
And Brian, Yeah, we're gonna We've done it throughout these
men who love women right in a good way. And
you know, Brian, I think it's really important to mention
dream Weaver Arts, talk about give Back Tuesday, talk about
better vision for children, preventing childhood blindness, and you know

(09:36):
all the amazing platforms we're streaming on hundreds around the world.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Right now, Hey, Rebel, I want to take a look
at Terry. For some reason, Terry looks really attracted tonight. Now,
this this means a lot, and the reason for that
is because she's gone through a lot of things that
I mean and Carol, we talk about this all the time.
There's something about Terry that's starting to shine. Not feel it, No, No,

(10:02):
she may not see it, she may not feel it.
But a lot of times we can't always see what
we may be going through. But she does. And that's
why I wanted to think it. Look, she does she
you know, I applaud you see, I'm applauding my sister. Chris.
I'm applauding my sister because we argue like cats and dogs.
We don't done anything, but we still talk to each

(10:23):
other every day, and you know, seventeen minutes later, you
know we'll be back together. It's like I feel like
I'm marriage, which I will never ever be bad. I
feel like that's the thing ever ever. So all right, Marcie,
I gotta change this up. I gotta go to story
and I'll tell you why. I feel like I want
to hear something singing, singing because your voice is spectacular.

(10:45):
I love your voice and I just love what you've done.
And you've been waiting a long time to come on
the show. So I applaud you. I love your background.
Tell us about how you started, because you do a
lot of great things I do.

Speaker 10 (10:57):
I do a lot of different things, and they're all
like one thing to me, like so it's hard to
focus even on one thing.

Speaker 8 (11:04):
I can't do that.

Speaker 10 (11:05):
And really I come from kind of like, you know,
a little I've always been a musician, but I really
went into the spiritual world for a while and wasn't
really in the industry I was, and then I got
out and then I kind of came back and then I.

Speaker 8 (11:17):
Went deep in.

Speaker 10 (11:18):
I like gave up everything, walked away from everything. It
did a lot of things that ultimately brought me back
to you know what. I actually I have to say,
I have to do this music, I have to do
these things, this film work, because it was like, you know,
renewing a conviction that just went outside, like I don't
really care what happens in the world.

Speaker 5 (11:39):
I just have to do this work so that you know,
I can live.

Speaker 10 (11:43):
And it's just interesting to go to a really extreme
spiritual space and come back with that conviction for creation.
So that's really where I'm coming from right now.

Speaker 9 (11:53):
Okay, Yeah, I want to mention I love the instruments
you play. And you did video series I know called Starborn, Right, Yes,
that was a story talk about that?

Speaker 5 (12:07):
What was that about?

Speaker 10 (12:08):
Okay, So that's an interesting thing because it's a ninety
second film and I wasn't even intending to really do that,
but that's just how it happened. And it's a film
called Starbarn that a filmed here in Sedona, Arizona, where
I live, which very much kind of mimics my own
personal convictions and experience, and it's about a woman who just,
you know, you don't know what kind of abuse maybe

(12:29):
she's been through, where she's you know, whatever, but the
opening scene takes you right to the wounds and the injuries,
and in ninety seconds you watch her transformation and you
know her being kind of reflected back through people who
see her and recognize her as an angel who's kind
of been there for them in their deep moments of like, hey,
I want to give up. And so it's really like

(12:50):
a story of you know, circular reflection and that type
of thing through this the eyes of this woman who
has to find herself.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah, you know, I was talking to a composer today
tomorrow Springer. Her dad was Philip Springer, and we're going
to talk about this trailer called Santa Baby. Everybody's heard
the song Santa Baby, but it's one of these things
where Starry I was actually thinking about you because composers,
you know, it's the very interesting and what they what

(13:17):
they write, what they see, what they feel, especially when
it comes to films and things like that, because without
that good editing, without that sound, without that good director
and that music, you have nothing. When I think of
John Williams, I think of Jaws E. T. Who is
he worked with seventeen times Steven Spielberg and he's in
his late and you know, early almost mid nineties right now,

(13:40):
and he's not doing that well, but he wants to
score one more film for Steven. So I think of
these things, and my haf goes off, especially to women composers,
because you don't get enough credit for what you guys do.
And I wanted to make sure that that that that's important.
And I think, you know, we'll probably show this clip
right now.

Speaker 5 (13:58):
She's working with Kizzo, Grammy Award winning producer.

Speaker 11 (14:02):
Oh wow, Santa Baby, hurry down.

Speaker 12 (14:14):
When people find out that my dad is the composer
of Santa.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Baby, Santa Baby, Just Slip.

Speaker 12 (14:20):
There is always the question has your dad written anything else?
His career included legendary artists of the Golden Era. By
age twenty three, Dad started his professional career as a
staff composer at the Real Building, where songwriters and publishers
worked every day in nine to five fashion, churning out

(14:41):
songs of the era known as.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
Tinpan ally and here he is one of the really
beautiful men of songwriting.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
His name is Phil Springer.

Speaker 13 (14:51):
Ho ro consensuan Alway.

Speaker 12 (14:55):
In the next phase of his career, he scored several films.

Speaker 14 (15:04):
A lot of surprising things are happening now that are
in my nineties. I was amazed that my first real
fame worldwide came not as a songwriter, but as a pianist.

Speaker 5 (15:22):
Here i am sixty three years later.

Speaker 15 (15:26):
All my colleagues are God, all the great songwriters are God,
and I'm sort of a living relic of that Golden
age of.

Speaker 4 (15:38):
American song.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
Well, sorry, you know, I wanted to play that because
I was talking to Tomorrow today Springer and I saw
her at Dances with Films and it was such a
wonderful film I had to talk to it and said, hey,
Bridey want to interview. I'm like, yea, because I didn'
get a chance back in June. And she was so
happy that some you know, people have taken an interest
in her. Dad again woman, first time directing about her

(16:09):
iconic and then so earth a Kit he wrote this
for earth to kid you know, Grissa, I'm sure and
Howard do you remember he wrote that for her specifically,
and a lot of these stories have never been told.
And again first time female director. Film was only thirty
nine minutes, but it's wonderful. And his best friend was
Tony Bennett and he's ninety nine years old and they
both lost their house in the Palisad fires. I found

(16:31):
that out to it. So it's one of those things
I said, you know what I'm going to talk about
because it's an excellent film, and I got to give
them a quote later and we're going to follow the
success of this because stuff like this needs to be seen.
And the fact that your Sadona, congratulations one of the
best spiritual spots in the world for a lot of
people that they not know that, right, Yeah.

Speaker 10 (16:48):
I mean there's people here all the time, like seeking
but it's it's not an easy place to live. I
will say, it's like, you know, you get grinded down
to the bone here spiritually, no matter who you are.
But it's really you know, we've got people here all
the time and their focus is, you know, how can
I up level? How can I expand my world? And
it's pretty fascinating that Codona is the pretty much one

(17:11):
of the main epicenters for that.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
And I think.

Speaker 10 (17:14):
That's why I like, you know what the film you
know you're just talking about too, Like these stories are
so so important because really it matters a lot to
step forward and just do do these types of things
that are so real and to remember the people who
are you know, paved the way to creatively as entertainer.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
Well, my hat goes off to everything that you do,
and congratulations with that. And I want to you know,
I'm going to put you on the spot like I
always do with singers. You're going to sing something for
us later. I'm just letting you know ahead of time. Yeah,
you get a chance to think about it, but usually
I don't even give them a chance and all of
a sudden you just got to do it. But I'm
giving you a chance, because Carrissa, we'll going to you.
And the reason why I want to go to you

(17:54):
because You've got a lot of fantastic stuff coming out
of Florida. And I kept talking to Carol, and I
kept talking to Justine and Susan Everbray, who has become
one of our good friends because of Carol, the other
dining divas and all the things like that. You have
so much stuff to do. I don't even know where
to start. You do all the stuff that you're doing well.

Speaker 9 (18:15):
I don't know if you know this, but even though
I'm in Florida, I am an honorary dining Diva California,
along with Kim and Chris.

Speaker 8 (18:26):
As you should be.

Speaker 9 (18:27):
As you should be, yes, so with all of them.
So I'm so glad you're here.

Speaker 16 (18:33):
Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here
in Carolina. Remember the first time we met was at
our three day premiere party back and I don't know
it's running together Mary March April. But yeah, no, I
have my hands in a lot of things, and you say,
how do I.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Do it all?

Speaker 8 (18:48):
I do it all very carefully. I do my best.

Speaker 16 (18:52):
But I'm you know, I'm a serial entrepreneur, and I've
just been really blessed to to be raised in an
entrepreneur family to lead over three hundred CEOs of my
career to scale their businesses. So I've been around entrepreneurship

(19:12):
all my life. Filo Beauty this is my latest venture,
Bilo Beauty, and for those of you who are not watching,
that is Phylo beauty and it comes from the Greek
word inclusion or tribe, because I really wanted my products
to be able to include all people, skin types, even
religious aspects. So some of our products are kosher and

(19:35):
halal certified, but so Filo Beauty, it is cosmetic and
skincare to nourish and penetrate your skin and repair your
skin barrier. So we infuse nutraceuticals, exosomes, stem cells into
our products, all of the good things and very natural products.
And I started Filo Beauty actually back in twenty nineteen.

(19:56):
I put it to sleep to finish kind of getting
my children out of the house. There was a single
mother for a very very long time. Their father was
killed in a car accident when they were four and seven,
so I pretty much raised them by myself, and it
was that time to say Okay, we got to pause
on business stuff because my daughter started high school at twelve,
college at fourteen. So I am Uber and you know

(20:19):
everything else Uber eats, and so I just really couldn't
focus on it right then. And once my children left
to go to college, I moved down to Florida, South Florida.

Speaker 8 (20:29):
That's where I'm at now.

Speaker 16 (20:30):
And so then I decided and I got involved with
the Dining Empire. And when I say the Dining Empire,
so I actually invest in companies as well.

Speaker 8 (20:40):
So I'm an investor.

Speaker 16 (20:41):
And I chose to invest in Dining Empire, which houses
our two TV shows, Diningdivas dot Com Destination Divas, and
also our Diva Network which is called the Diva Network.

Speaker 8 (20:53):
And by the way, just congratulations to us.

Speaker 16 (20:56):
We are now streaming live on Apple Goal in Amazon
As of the tenth we are uploading to Cineverse, the
largest streaming platform in the world, So please go check
us out. Our season one is up there and more
to come. But so I in I delve into Dining
Empire production and media. Knew nothing about it, but it

(21:17):
seemed fun and I said, let's give it a go.
And it was a lot more work than I'd ever
thought of in my entire life, but it was a
lot of fun. And so being on TV and being
in full, you know, makeup all the time, I had
to start taking better care of my skin and makeup.

Speaker 8 (21:34):
So I decided to control the narrative and I.

Speaker 16 (21:36):
Brought Filo Beat back to life actually here in twenty
twenty five with my business partner. So we are tugging
along on that just launched in February of twenty five.

Speaker 8 (21:49):
And with that, we're it's going very very well.

Speaker 16 (21:51):
We're actually getting ready to carroll you can appreciate this
span into the hotel amenity space. So we've been approached
by some brands to take a look at our formulations
and our products. And I'm also in real estate, so
I'm now going from selling commercial real estate to buying
commercial real estate, so dabbling in the hotel space as well.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
And do you have a life?

Speaker 16 (22:17):
Actually, what's so real about this is I have a
lot of time on my hands.

Speaker 8 (22:21):
I do all of these things.

Speaker 16 (22:23):
I have a lot of time on my hands. I
am single, I am an empty nester, and I'm like.

Speaker 8 (22:28):
What do I do? Like, what do I do?

Speaker 16 (22:30):
Let's go help somebody or let's go create something or
you know, how can I mentor another business? And I
love that you opened up with, you know, helping our
small businesses because that's you know, that's where I thrive.
And I've done that all my life and I really
love it. And I'm actually on another TV show called
The Real Entrepreneur where we take ten businesses that we qualify,

(22:51):
we put them through a series of challenges and whoever wins,
they get twenty five thousand dollars seed money or they
walk away with five thousand dollars cash. But that allows
me to kind of give back and help mentor some
of these businesses that really want to thrive, and so
I have a lot of fun with it. I'm all
about entrepreneurship, business, giving back and help.

Speaker 5 (23:11):
You're applying the Pereto principle.

Speaker 9 (23:13):
You're making twenty percent of your activities produce eighty percent
of your results, right. But you know, I want to
ask you, I think I saw something about hospitality space
in Costa Rica.

Speaker 8 (23:28):
Is that Yes?

Speaker 16 (23:29):
Yes, I had my first dabble in hospitality with a
bed and breakfast that I built out in Costa Rica.
I had actually just graduated from grad school with my
executive Master's in International Business and Global Strategy. I wanted
an international opportunity, but my position was only a temporary

(23:50):
position that they created for me to actually move to
DC because I wasn't going to comment unless I had
equal or better responsibilities. And they gave me a lot
more three states instead of one territory. But so that
was ending, and I wanted the opportunity and it wasn't
presenting itself. So I said, I'm going to create it,
and I moved to Costa Rica and moved my.

Speaker 8 (24:10):
Children to Costa Rica.

Speaker 16 (24:12):
I bought a corporation, opened up a bed and breakfast,
tore it down to the studs, and rebuilt it to
very high end.

Speaker 8 (24:20):
And it was hard.

Speaker 16 (24:23):
Trying to one being a woman, two trying to run
a construction crew in Costa Rica, where it's a very
macho and male driven society there. So and then I
had to learn Spanish in three months because my crew
did not speak English and I did not speak Spanish.
So there was a lot of hopping around. Looks like

(24:46):
I was playing charades, like hey, there's a monkey like
and it smells what.

Speaker 8 (24:51):
Do I call this? Drawing on the walls and things
like that.

Speaker 16 (24:54):
So yeah, and I read that for about five years
back and forth, sold it during COVID, and I said,
you know what, if I ever do again, I will
not start in the hardest place ever to do it.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
You know what, Carol, she's the black version of you.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
It's true.

Speaker 8 (25:09):
It's true.

Speaker 9 (25:10):
We have parallel lives. Yeah, it's kind of amazing. So
I love this interesting.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
So, Marcie, when it gets to Deception and Consequence and
all the new books that you have, now where are
you because you are that number one selling best author,
And you know what, that's a good thing. Because as
I was skimming through the new titles that you had
and freezing the death in your state, I thought it
was I think I called it either yesterday or today.

(25:38):
I'm like, how far am I from you? You know?
And I'm like, it's freezing here? What's wrong with you guys?

Speaker 3 (25:43):
Yeah, Well, people don't understand how how big Illinois is
when you go north to south, like like, you know,
I'm I'm in the middle of the state. I'm three
hours from the tip of the you know, im three
hours from Chicago and three hours from the bottom of
the state.

Speaker 13 (25:58):
So it's it's a big state. And it's cold.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah, let me tell you. Yeah, Hey, let's talk about
your writing. And you know, where are you now since March?
What's happened?

Speaker 3 (26:10):
Oh gosh, so a lot has happened. I'm just gonna
hit the highlights. Okay, Basically, I have a new series out,
but it's a standalone series. So what we're calling it
the map Dot series. And they are standalone novels where uh,
the only common element is that they take place in

(26:30):
a little map dot town five six hundred people. Uh,
usually a little town where you would think nothing.

Speaker 5 (26:38):
Really, we lost her part.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
So I've had a lot of fun with it because
I grew up in a map dot town, you know,
I grew up in a little a little Illinois town
of a thousand people. And so I have Where No
One Will Look, which is doing very well right now.

Speaker 11 (26:57):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
And I have that just came out in July, Serial Obsession,
and it is set in Elden, Missouri, down by Lake
of the Ozarks. And and and I got to tell
you this since seeing you in February, Brian, it seems
like February is my month for big events. Because I
got invited to be a feature author on the Love

(27:22):
Lit cruise.

Speaker 13 (27:23):
Now get this.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
Yeah, so one hundred and fifty bookish crazy reader people
on a cruise with twenty influencers, the best influencers in
the bookish world, and thirty authors and we're going to
sail to Grand Turks and Viminy and back. So it's

(27:51):
the same week that I saw you at Oscars week
this year. Yeah, five pace. It's like, Oh my gosh,
that's that's my week. That's that's my week.

Speaker 13 (28:00):
Thank you. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:02):
And I want to say this too, because there's been
a lot of talk here about about women and empowerment
and and and I have to tell you that all
of my books and I didn't really plan this, but
it seems to be.

Speaker 13 (28:13):
My publisher pointed it out to me. Marcy, you're doing this,
and I'm like, oh wow.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
All of my books have women who either start out
very ordinary and something extraor something traumatic happens, and they
rise to the occasion. They empower themselves and in their
romantic adventures. In my romance books, they don't need the men, okay,
but they want them. And that's a big difference. Okay,

(28:42):
so so so uh and then uh, but but the
other thing is too maybe maybe and I've kind of
gotten on this path.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
We lost you at path? What else? Well you got
to say, Marcy.

Speaker 9 (28:59):
Well, she went from the Vengeance series, which was more
tied together, to this, you know, standalone map series.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
Really yeah, yeah, yeah. So so the women in the
last two stories that I've written, they lost their way,
you know, like they they lost a sense of their self,
and something happens and they get back to themselves and
they become a better version of themselves. They become better

(29:30):
people on their own accord, not not really.

Speaker 13 (29:34):
From the help of anyone else.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
And and I don't know, I I just somehow got
into that trope of writing. Uh and I my my
female characters. And I don't know if I can say
this on the badass they really are. They're really they're
really real but exceptional women. And I think possible you

(29:55):
can be real and exceptional. And that's what I love
that that badass. Yes, absolutely, I go for I lost everybody.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
Hey, you know we're we're in a row. But in
the holidays on stuff like that. So this is the
time to actually buy those books, all right, So where
can we get your books?

Speaker 13 (30:15):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (30:15):
So I am everywhere all the big onlines, Amazon, Walmart,
dot com, Barnes Anddoble dot com and then my website
is just mercyb dot net now, so very simple.

Speaker 13 (30:27):
So if you buy them from me, I signed them,
it's a big perk.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
But the other thing, too, is my big My big
thing for twenty twenty six is uh, drum World.

Speaker 13 (30:41):
Because I've been waiting on this, I'm going audio.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
And I haven't.

Speaker 13 (30:45):
I've not been able to go audio because it's so expensive.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
But I'm biting the bullet and I've I've kind of
gotten to the level where i can do that now,
so I'm really excited about it.

Speaker 6 (30:56):
Sorry, was that different classes, the different voices in the character?

Speaker 13 (31:02):
No, let me tell you this.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
I interviewed people, I did all these things, I I whatever,
and I had like everybody telling me, no, Marcy, you're
doing a better job.

Speaker 13 (31:12):
Than any of those people, to just do it yourself.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
That's great. Yeah, well.

Speaker 13 (31:20):
Great, yeah.

Speaker 16 (31:23):
Oh no, I was just saying. I was literally saying,
I need some new good books to read, and so
I'm excited.

Speaker 8 (31:33):
Yeah, me too.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
Yeah, and I think that I think that my my
books are I said, yes, they they do have the spicy,
steamy things in them, and they're not closed door, you
know all the time. But I also say that the
plot and the characterization far outweighs the sex. The sex

(31:55):
is there for the relationship. The sex is there for
the connection. It's not there just to be there, if
that makes any sense, you know. So I think that
the I think the plot and the action and that
all of that far out weighs the other, even though
that considered romance.

Speaker 9 (32:12):
I saw some comments Harry Marcy that you're you're really
well known for the way you weave in your subplots too.
You know that you the way you stretch out the
story and bring people along, the rhythm that you bring
people along.

Speaker 5 (32:30):
I think she may have frozen.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
Yeah, well until she comes back a sorry, this is
the time of the season where we need care voices.
Oh Marcy, Marcy finished your thought, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (32:45):
Yeah, no, it's just yes, I I feel like sometimes
that there's a little something extra that's needed, and my
mind goes in another direction. It's kind of like squirrel,
you know, and then I just go off on another tangent.

Speaker 13 (32:58):
But but it all, it all gets explained in the end.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
And Rebel says, congratulations on an audio. So that's a
good thing. Is if Rebel says that that means something.
It Sorry, we need singers, you know, we need we
need more songwriters. As I was talking to Tomorrow about
her dad, Philip, you know Springer, I was thinking about,
I'm not seeing enough women composers. Oh you, I mean,

(33:22):
I think I think you're in like a world by yourself.
Talk about how you want it to be composer because
you're also that vocalist too.

Speaker 10 (33:29):
Yeah, I mean I think for me, it just it's
like I just can't really have a boundary with anything
in that way. So I'm just it's like, I, you know,
I could be at the piano, but I'm hearing like
fifteen other instruments and all these things. And for a
while I was like, oh no, I just need to
limit it to some piano song and do it this way.
And then I finally realized, actually, no, I don't.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
I can't.

Speaker 10 (33:50):
I can't operate that way. When I started allow myself
to embrace that, then it's like, yeah, you know, I
think a lot of women, you know, and musicians, they
just kind of limit themselves because they think, well, I
just play this instrument, so maybe I stay to this.
But you know, it's just like opening up to it
and realizing what's possible even through music. You don't have
to play everything or know it all. You just trust

(34:12):
your instinct. And that's really, you know, kind of where
how I learned to operate, because otherwise I'm just not really.

Speaker 8 (34:18):
Happy, you know, you know, but you know sorry.

Speaker 5 (34:21):
I love the handpan, Yah, the synth. I mean, you
use some instruments that I really love and I think
they add a magical element to your songs.

Speaker 10 (34:35):
Yeah, especially the handpan. And it's interesting too because a
lot of people think the handpan is like an ancient instrument,
but interestingly enough, it like came out in like the seventies, know,
from like steel drums and like some guy in Germany
or whatever. So, but it's a really beautiful resonant instrument.
And when you play that and then you combine it
with these other things, that's kind of what led this inorganic,

(34:57):
kind of nonsensical almost landscape to some of the songs
that I created from that. It's such a great fluid instrument.
You know, it's beautiful the way it resonates.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, do you have a favorite song that you sing
when you're down that just you feel, you know, if
you're not in the recording studio or you're not writing it.
This is something that gets you up to gets you going.

Speaker 10 (35:18):
You know, it changes a lot because I love dance
music and I love to go out and dance. And
sometimes it's not so much like a song, is more
like the feeling I get when I'm immersed in a song,
and it's different things for different moods. So, you know,
I like sad songs like you know, Angel from Montgomery
or something really heartfelt that just takes you deep, no listen.

(35:39):
But I don't really have a favorite song because I
love so many of them and it's like there's no
way for me to say there could be one thing.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Yeah, hey, how can people reach out and buy your songs?
Because it's not like they can go to a record store,
you know, Tower video warehouse.

Speaker 10 (35:57):
You know, I will have some vinyl and some things
coming out that will be in this, but you know
the best thing to do is just go to you know,
either Instagram like Starvenus dot world, or go to the
go to my website to starvingus dot com and you
can just follow the links from there because it's you know,
it's on all the platforms, so you can play it
on Apple and all the it's right there.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
Hey, Howard, what have you been dancing too lately since
you've been out partying? As you would say, Well, the Blue.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
Blues Peddlers the Electric two Slide. I love that song.
It's it's a fun song.

Speaker 6 (36:31):
I see it almost like a wedding song that you know,
when they play it, all generations can get up and
dance to it. So we did a little video at
the Trooper Door this last week and it was on
the electric billboard here in Nashville advertising it. And it
was a lot of fun, a whole lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
So who were these beautiful blonde women that you wire with?

Speaker 4 (36:52):
Who were they just any blonde? It's around.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
We know the reason why I have to ask him
that because when he starts dancing, women just come and
talk to him and start dancing down. That's why he
could just be dancing dancing and they start yes. Yes.

Speaker 6 (37:10):
Actually, my friend Angela had a birthday party and I
went to it and she posted a video of me
dancing and I was listening to it.

Speaker 4 (37:17):
I didn't know that girl winked at Howard and I'm like.

Speaker 5 (37:24):
I know you and your wife talk and laugh about
this all the time.

Speaker 4 (37:29):
I've always danced all the time. She knows I come
home to her. It's just it's just the way I
get out and enjoy my life.

Speaker 6 (37:35):
And you know, you got to let your spouse do
what they like, and you do what you like, and
you do what you like together.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Yeah, all right, Hey, Howard, what's the inspiration for someone?
People listening on the audio? So I want a K
four HD video because a lot of times they you know,
there's a lot of people I know they're listening why
they're driving. What's the inspiration from Howard Wiggins today?

Speaker 4 (37:56):
What do you got as far as the song or
what the channel list?

Speaker 2 (38:00):
Just just inspiration you.

Speaker 9 (38:03):
Have?

Speaker 4 (38:06):
Well, I don't know.

Speaker 6 (38:07):
I listened to Pandora, and Pandora you can choose the
songs you like from any gender and then it plays
it all together. So I'm pretty across the board from
Susan Bowls to the blues peddlers.

Speaker 4 (38:20):
I listened today.

Speaker 6 (38:21):
A songwriter friend of mine had one that she did
on AI and the singer was awesome, and I called her,
I said, who said singer?

Speaker 4 (38:28):
He said it's a I. I said, that's AI. That
sounds better than anybody.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
I know, I gotta I gotta ask you this. Do
you have such a unique voice? How do you see
aar coming into your world in a different way?

Speaker 10 (38:45):
Well, okay, I have friends too who are composing on
AI and and they love it and it's it's awesome.
But I can't say I'm a fan of like AI.
I mean, who else is and does really sound like
you know some of the iconic singers we know, you
know whatever the Doors or or like you know Stoplet

(39:09):
or just people like So it's a great tool. And
it's kind of cool because interestingly, like my friends are,
they did the AI music like Howard you just said,
and it's amazing, awesome, But now they're learning it live.
They actually want to play it live and not do
the AI. So I think it's okay, But I'm I'm
kind of the mindset that I don't think you can

(39:29):
really replace like what we I like the great you know,
those those things that make music music. It's it's it's
I can tell the difference when it's a I personally
prefer something a little little gretier and more raw. I
think I think we need to maintain that authentic degree.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
Yeah, yeah, I do too, since the sense there's only
one of you doing what you're doing, except for Carol,
the white version of you. What is your inspiration for people?
Because you know, as Carol was dropped into that country,
you dropped into Costa Rica too. You had to learn
a language, you had to deal with that those different countries.

(40:11):
That's not easy, especially for a woman of color than
a woman in general. It's not easy.

Speaker 5 (40:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 16 (40:16):
Well, you know it's funny that you say that, because
as a woman of color, I felt like I fit
in more there. You know, they they thought I was
either Costa Rica, Nicaraguan, Panamanian, Argentina. They didn't know what
I was, so you know, they were just you know,
really guessing at that. But you know, my baseline is this,
with people, what are you doing with the people God

(40:38):
gave you? And I heard that from a friend, And
with people, you just treat them like people. I mean,
it's not that difficult. And you know, when you can
do that and you can respect them as a person,
just as a person, it doesn't matter what they have,
where they came from, or what they've done, but you
just treat them like a person, you'll be so surprised,

(40:59):
you know, what can happen. And as I was in
Costa Rica, a lot of my workers were from Nicaragua
and they were literally and I'm not being derogatory, but
their jobs were to dig ditches, and you know, I
needed people. So I had a project manager and he
helped me find some of these guys, and you know,
and they're just doing their They're coming to work and

(41:20):
they're leaving and they're just doing, you know, what they're doing.
And I'm like, hey, you, I'm like, my paint's not right,
Like what do you think? And he looked at me
and he was like me, and I'm like, yes, you
have him out, like speak up your painter.

Speaker 8 (41:30):
Like this doesn't look right. I don't like it. What's
your ideas?

Speaker 16 (41:34):
And he got really excited and he told me and
he's like, I can also do this, and I said, oh,
can you guys all do other things?

Speaker 8 (41:39):
And I said great.

Speaker 16 (41:40):
So now it's going to become a training situation, I said,
because i'm learning your learning and I said, we're all
going to mess up. But I said, please tell me
before it becomes too expensive of a mess up. But
I want you guys to be trained not just to
dig ditches, because this project is going to end, and
when this project ends, I.

Speaker 8 (41:57):
Want you to be able to get another job.

Speaker 16 (41:59):
And that was the only crew in the in my
providence actually the go out of Classic Prominence, where when
my my project ended, they all got jobs as a managers.
They came as ditchiers. And it's simply because I treated
them like people. I asked them their opinion, and I
knew they had expertise greater than mine. And I like

(42:20):
to surround myself with people who know different things than
I do, because then collectively we can become a whole.
So that's just my take on people.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
Back and where are we on the nationwide of dining divers?

Speaker 5 (42:33):
Now?

Speaker 2 (42:33):
What do you what are you women looking for right now?
Ask you for a friend.

Speaker 16 (42:38):
As far as well. Okay, so we just finished filming
in Nashville. We had a great time, like Saturday, finished
filming in Nashville, and so you know right now what
we're doing is we're working on a couple of more
episodes this year. We're probably going to do Las Vegas.
I know we want to do Africa, so any help there.
In Africa, We're going to have our Mastermind, which we

(43:00):
do every year. That's a part of our Diva network
where you know we'll bring in a guest host.

Speaker 8 (43:05):
Speaker this past year was Jeff Hoffman.

Speaker 16 (43:08):
He's the founding member of Priceline and booking dot com
and invented the kiosks in the airport that you print
your ticket out of. But he taught us about you know,
scaling one hundred x in your business and this year
we're doing it in Roatan. And what we are looking
for there is people who want to come be surrounded
by like minded people, go have a great time and

(43:32):
you know, come on our mastermind. So what we do
need is when we get closer to that date, I
would love to come back on and speak a little
bit more about that. And then you know, we're always
looking to go great places. So if anybody is trying
to get their their legacy story out there about their business,
or they need marketing, or they have locations that they

(43:53):
just they want to market and get it out to
the global world, that's what we do. And so we'll
always partner with people and then we do the party
shows too. So if you ever run into those people,
you know, you're like, you should have your own TV
show that I really can't make this up. Those people
send them to me because that's actually what we do
with them. We can help them create their own TV shows.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
Good. What's your piece of advice and how do people
reach out to you?

Speaker 16 (44:15):
So my piece of advice is no dreams are ever
too small. If you can see it, if you can
imagine it, you can achieve it. I like to hang
around with people that have big, big visions because once
I see it, then I'm like, oh, it can be done.
Now I'm going to go try to do it too,
So you know, just show me the way. So my

(44:37):
personal email and I don't know why my my Instagram
and information is not down here.

Speaker 8 (44:41):
I guess my assistant may have forgot to send that
to you.

Speaker 16 (44:44):
But you can reach me on my personal email which
is CARRISA Usmith at gmail dot com.

Speaker 8 (44:50):
That's k A R I S A the letter you
Smith at gmail dot com.

Speaker 16 (44:55):
You can also contact me through my website at Bilo
Beauty which is pa y l o beauty dot com
and my beauty email is Carissa at bilobauty dot com.
And then I'll allow if you want me to, Brian,
I can send you my phone number.

Speaker 8 (45:10):
You can post it out there.

Speaker 16 (45:12):
And people are you know, free to call me as well.

Speaker 5 (45:15):
Oh, I know you love that, Bryan.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
Right to exactly. That's the whole thing. Hey, Marcie, before
we go to you, hey Storry. Piece of advice for songwriters,
singers and composers, what do you say to them these days?

Speaker 10 (45:32):
I just say, trust yourself one hundred percent. Don't doubt
that first thing that comes out it makes you feel
something in your heart. Never doubt that that lyric, that melody.
Don't let anyone take you away from that, because that's
what matters, and that's what's going to reach somebody else.
So trust that moment in your heart.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
I like that. Hey, Marcie, we got a couple of minutes.
We got like two minutes left. Hey, So you started
out as the first time author. You've only been doing
this for how long?

Speaker 5 (46:00):
Now?

Speaker 13 (46:01):
My first book?

Speaker 3 (46:02):
I started writing my first book in twenty twenty two
and it was published in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 13 (46:09):
So I've only been at this a few years. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:11):
Yeah, And so what's happened to you since? Best selling?

Speaker 4 (46:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Awards?

Speaker 3 (46:17):
I okay, so I am I won the I've won
some international awards. I am endorsed Hollywood endorsed by Patrika Darpou.
I am my Deception of Consequences has won every award
my publisher put it up for, which are four to

(46:38):
our international. So yeah, I'm very pleased with how things
are going.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
People want to know who your publisher is? Can you
talk to say who it is?

Speaker 13 (46:47):
Sure?

Speaker 3 (46:48):
It's a small publishing house in Indie, publishing company called
Words Matter Publishing. And the best thing that ever happened
to me because I self published and I was I was,
I was wallowing in that whole mare of people who
who can't get can't promote themselves. And my publisher I

(47:09):
had one meeting with her and she took on my
entire series and said, we're starting over and we're I'm
doing this for you and you're and you're gonna you're
gonna step up.

Speaker 13 (47:18):
And it's been a great it's been a great partnership.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
That's good, all right. Yeah, So it's a ward season.
You got about sixty seconds left. You've got to go
out and support. You got to buy these things because
you can't always go to Amazon, go to people's websites,
go to the stores, go to the bookstores, go to
the museums, go to the libraries and pick up a
book and read. For God says people aren't reading anymore.

(47:42):
It's like a lost artist's horrible. But guess what, Almost
every single successful movie came from a book, came from
someone who wrote it didn't. And if you want to
chime in, Carol has her book club every Friday that
she has whether she's there or not. And it's one
of those things we can do that. And I got
to thank everybody coming on with well exactly because you

(48:05):
guys inspired me tonight. And see those women who inspire me,
except for Howard. You know Howard because you know, you
know he does, because Howard's always happy and it's fun
seeing him. When I get a chance to see what
he's doing, I'm like, what's he doing now?

Speaker 17 (48:20):
So hey, Brian, I want to I would just want
to shout out really quickly my California sisters, along with Carissa,
Christine Kurran of course, and I want to mention Susan Irby.

Speaker 5 (48:33):
I want to mention Kim Pearson.

Speaker 9 (48:35):
I want to mention Karina Christmas as we call her
Justine doctor Natasha.

Speaker 5 (48:43):
Shout out to you guys, love you guys.

Speaker 2 (48:45):
See if it weren't for you woman, me and Howard,
we wouldn't be born. So I always say the good night, tonight,
I'm better than tomorrow. You see someone without a smile.
The world definitely need that. There's a lot of people
losing their jobs and we got to spread joy to them.
This is move Le reviews and more. I'm Brian Sebastian.
We will see you next week. Can support these people, follow,
subscribe and like them and by stories music.

Speaker 5 (49:08):
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
We will see you next season.