January 7, 2025 • 43 mins
Text Beyond the Threshold w/ your thoughts or questions!
In this episode of Beyond the Threshold, Host Sidney Evans welcomes writer, Executive Podcast Producer, Media Personality, and creator of Podcast Creator Academy, Jazmine Henley-Brown.
A few of her accolades include working for SiriusXM and Sony Music Entertainment, creating and executive producing award-nominated podcasts like New Rory & MAL, and Reality with The King.
She also created & executive produced 90 Day: The Last Resort Sessions for TLC/Warner Bros and in 2017, she founded the Milwaukee Podcast Festival to showcase local audio talent in her hometown.
In this episode they discuss:
- How her aspirations as a radio personality lead to a career in podcasting.
- The definition of an executive producer and the responsibilities involved.
- Leveraging existing skills and tips on pitching to production companies.
- Exploring podcasting roles beyond hosting and producing.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The first thing with getting into the podcast
industry is really understandingwhat roles are available to you
.
I know for a lot of indies theythink you can only be a host or
maybe a producer, but theydon't know that you can be a
researcher, you can dodistribution like.
There's so many other rolesthat you can take on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Tune in as we give flowers to black men and women
making waves in the audioindustry.
I'm your host, sydney evans,and this is beyond the threshold
.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcometo Beyond the Threshold.
(00:45):
I'm your host, sidney Evans, anaward-winning audio editor,
mixer and producer.
For those of you who don't know, on this show I interview Black
men and women working in theaudio industry, highlighting the
lessons and experiences ittakes to achieve success in the
field, and, as always, we gotanother great interview or
episode in store and we're goingto keep the thing of having a
(01:09):
previous guest to lead toanother guest.
I was introduced to today'sguest, or made aware of today's
guest, by Melissa D Montz.
I reached out to her and shewas willing to hop right on and
join me, so we're going to hearher story, her experience and
her lessons from working in theindustry.
(01:30):
To give a little bit of abackground on her, she's a
writer, executive podcastproducer, media personality and
sit down comedian.
She's worked for Sirius XM andSony Music Entertainment,
creating an executive, producingaward-nominated podcast such as
New Warrior Mall and Realitywith the King, and most recently
(01:50):
created and executive produced90 Day, the Last Resort Sessions
for TLC Warner Brothers.
In 2017, she founded theMilwaukee Podcast Festival to
showcase local audio talent inher hometown.
Without further ado, I wouldlike to introduce Jasmine
Henley-Brown.
Welcome to the show Jazz.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Thank you so much, sidney, good to be here.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Thank you.
So a quick question Do you dopodcasts a lot?
I'm just curious.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Oh, so I guess I don't want to say quite often,
but I guess a good bit.
That's why I put like the mediapersonality.
Added that to like my biobecause one of the shows that I
co-created was reality with theking and I appear on there
pretty often as a guest to talkabout like reality tv and then
obviously doing things like thiswhen people want to discuss the
(02:39):
industry.
I used to be a correspondent ona radio show to just talk about
like pop culture and likepolitics.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So yeah, pretty familiar with it with the guest
spot okay, cool, uh, so swiss,swiss army knife, so to speak,
jack of all trades.
I'm, um, obviously I'm in frontof the mic now, but I'm usually
behind the scenes.
So this has been a interestingtransition and I guess the
biggest thing has been, uh,getting used to the sound of
your own voice, getting overthat hurdle.
(03:07):
I think I'm, I think I'm therenow.
I don't record it a good amountof episodes, but I I delayed
editing actually because of thatreason, because it was just so
cringy to me.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So it used to.
It used to bother me a lot too,actually when I was younger.
So you hear my voice now, right, it sounds like a mature
woman's voice, but I've had thissame voice since I was in, like
elementary school and so likemy voice is considered deep,
like imagine a child callingyour house and like their voice
sounds like mine.
So I actually used to get madefun of for my voice when I was
(03:38):
younger and like people wouldsay I sounded like a boy and
like all of this, and so I wasreally insecure about my voice
for a really long time too.
And then once I started to hearit, like early you know, my
early years in the podcastindustry I started because I had
started my own podcast.
So I'm with you.
Like the first few times Iheard my own voice I was like I
hate it.
But then people started tocompliment me and be like oh my
(04:00):
gosh, I love your voice, likeit's so great, and so now I'm
really confident in it.
But said all that to say I feelyou on getting used to hearing
your own voice.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well, yeah, you're, you're in the right space, cause
that's the.
You do have, like a full, liketone, just a rich tone of your
voice.
So in this space, um, it'sappreciated.
So we're not going to talkabout those who don't appreciate
it anymore.
Um so yeah, I know you justkind of jumped into it a little
bit, but could you just sharemore about your background and
(04:29):
kind of like, what was yourinspiration for taking this
career path?
And, yeah, kind of yourexperience, what you got there?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah, so my like intro into audio period was
through radio.
Like I grew up listening to theradio, I wanted to work in
radio.
So, way back in the day, dayday, during my intern days, I
interned at the Breakfast Cluband I thought I wanted to be
like a radio personality andthrough the internships I was a
(04:58):
production intern.
Through that internship, though, I was like, oh, I actually
like the behind the scenesaspect of this, like producing
the show, and so I startedproducing radio.
I was like, oh, I actually likethe behind the scenes aspect of
this, like producing the show,and so I started producing radio
.
I left New York, I moved toAtlanta, I started working at a
digital radio station, and thatwas really cool.
Then I ended up leaving Atlantathe first time, because I've
lived there twice, but that wasthe first time I left Atlanta.
(05:18):
And it was like right aroundthe time when Serial, the true
crime podcast Serial, was likereally, really popular and I was
listening to that all the time,all the time, and I just got
inspired to do my own podcast.
It was not a true crime podcast, but it was called the 20
something series and it was justall about like the last couple
of years in my 20s and how weirdit was, and I had friends come
(05:40):
on and we would just talk aboutlike different experiences in
our 20s.
But through that podcast andthen working in media period, a
lot of people from my hometownof Milwaukee would hit me up and
say, hey, like I know you havea podcast, I know you worked in
radio, I have a podcast, can youlisten to it?
And so I was listening torandom people's podcasts from
(06:02):
Milwaukee and I was like, oh,it's some like talent there,
right, and like Milwaukee is nota city that people think of
when they think about creativesand also Black creatives, they
do not think of Milwaukee as acity, and so I wanted a way to
showcase that, and so this waslike the end of 2016.
So early 2017, I came up withthe idea for the Milwaukee
(06:24):
Podcast Festival, which was aone day live event where we
showcased like six or sevenlocal podcasts, and then we had
a headlining podcast which wasthe Brilliant Idiots, which is
hosted by Charlamagne Tha Godand Andrew Schultz.
And, like I mentioned, I usedto intern at the, the Breakfast
Club, and so Charlamagne and Ihad kept a professional
(06:46):
relationship over the years.
The Breakfast Club wassyndicated in Milwaukee.
So I knew, even if people inMilwaukee didn't quite know what
a podcast was, they knew whoCharlamagne was and they would
come to see something thatCharlamagne was in.
And so, yeah, I startedplanning that in the earlier
parts of 2017 and then Octoberof 2017, we did the Milwaukee
Podcast Festival.
It was amazing.
(07:07):
Everybody liked it.
We did a lot of things wrong init, but we did.
You know enough right that theevent actually happened and so,
yeah, after that, that kind ofcatapulted me into like the
world of podcasting in a big wayand I was consulting and just
helping independent creatorswith their shows.
And then 2020 happened.
I ended up working as a partnermanager for Sirius XM and I was
(07:33):
quickly promoted to anexecutive producer.
They had this podcast labelcalled More Sauce, which was
their cultural vertical, andMore Sauce was a podcast label
to showcase shows for, like,black, millennial and Gen Z
audiences.
So I was the executive producerover More Sauce.
That's where I started workingwith Rory and Mar.
Rory and Mar were actually myfirst really big podcast
(07:55):
acquisition in that role, so Iwas executive producing their
show.
There were some other showsthat I inherited, which is how I
met Melissa Because one of theshows that I inherited which is
how I met Melissa because one ofthe shows that I inherited was
Tamar Braxton, underConstruction, and Melissa was
the I'm sorry, not Tamar, Iinherited Tamar but the salon
with Lala Milan, who's a digitalinfluencer.
(08:15):
Melissa was producing.
She's one of the producers forthat show, and so, because I
became the EP of that label, Ithen started working with
Melissa on that show.
One of the other shows on thelabel is For Real with Portia
Williams, and then, yeah, intothat role, like I said, acquired
New Royal Mall, co-createdReality with the King, with
(08:36):
Carlos King, also oversaw Loversand Friends with Shan Blue Dram
and really just reimagined theMore Sauce brand as really like
a cultural brand for black andbrown podcasts.
Unfortunately, though, just dueto, I think, you know, some
internal things within thecompany, you know More Sauce it
got a lot of support in thebeginning, but I think toward
(08:57):
the end I was kind of lookingfor more support with it and I
wasn't.
I wasn't really getting it, andso I was offered a role at Sony
to be an executive producer ofentertainment podcast, and I
took it, and so I went over toSony All right, let me jump in
real quick.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Ok, before you, before you get to your
experience at Sony, becauseyou've been, you've been
throwing around the wordexecutive producer and EP a lot
and in our world we understandwhat that means or not,
depending on, like you know, theproducer, executive producer,
like I'm very aware that a lotof people may not really know
(09:35):
exactly what that entails.
So before you dive further intoyour executive producing
experience, just kind of breakdown what exactly an executive
producer does that's so great.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's actually a really good place to stop,
because I did.
I was like, am I talking toomuch?
Because I feel like I was justgoing on and on, but yeah,
that's a great place to stop.
So you're right, the uh, titleof executive producer is really
vast and it could mean so manydifferent things even within the
same company.
Um, the way that I've been anexecutive producer is largely in
like creative oversight, showdevelopment, people management,
(10:12):
being like a cross-functionalteam leader, so working a lot
with other teams withincompanies like sales, pr,
marketing, advertising, all ofthat.
And so I would say it's think ofa project manager really, and
how they kind of just have tokeep every project, they have to
oversee multiple projects, theyhave to oversee the teams on
(10:34):
each project, they have tooversee timelines, they have to
oversee resources and budgets.
I essentially do all of thatwith the added benefit of the
creative development.
So I get to, I've created showsand launched them.
I've been able to source a lotof talent and book a lot of
talent.
I always was in like pitchmeetings, leading pitch meetings
(10:54):
or setting up pitch meetingsfor myself.
So that's what I did as anexecutive producer, but I know
other executive producers whoare very technical in their
production, so they are the onesthat are getting in and are
cutting cutting tape and, likeyou know, pro Tools.
That's their best friend.
Right For me, I was able tooversee the team who was doing
all of the technical production,so that is the way that I was
(11:15):
an executive producer.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
OK, thank you for that explanation.
You also you hit on somethingthat I haven't really talked
about on the podcast.
You talked about peoplemanagement and, based off a lot
of the shows that you havementioned, these people have
kind of you know, they're kindof known as far as the name you
know.
You got you know, charlamagne,andrew Schultz.
Obviously you work with them inthe festival, but you said
(11:39):
Tamar Braxton, a couple of otherpeople who you know have made a
name for themselves outside ofpodcasting and kind of made
their way over to podcast land.
So just kind of talk about yourexperience, like with working
with people who are kind of havea name or you know, within
everything working with peoplewho you know they podcast, and
(12:00):
maybe their introduction to theworld to working with people who
you know podcast is somethingthat they crossed over from you
know, whether it's acting ormusic or whatever.
Not more so your experience.
But what is your approach?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
I would say so well, I'll clarify something.
When I said people management,I meant, like, managing a staff.
That's what I meant by peoplemanagement.
But, yes, talent management iswhat you're referring to and
that's also a huge part of myjob and the approach there
really.
I mean, you know, I think I'min a unique spot.
(12:34):
I've been working in theentertainment industry for over
10 years now.
I've worked around, you know,celebrities or like people with
the name for themselves for awhile.
So my approach is really tojust approach them like they're
regular people.
Like I don't get starstruck atthis point in my career.
I approach everybody,especially if I'm approaching
them to be talent on a show thatI'm going to be overseeing, I
(12:59):
just approach them as creatives,from a creative to a creative
and, yeah, obviously, a lot ofrespect.
I think people in the industry,particularly when you're
working with a high level talent, they appreciate when people
approach them as if they are,you know, essentially on the
same level.
Because that's really, you know, what you would be if you're an
(13:20):
executive producer of the show.
You are the boss of the show,like you run the show, so, um,
it's always important to likeestablish those, um, those roles
right away.
And, yeah, the approach isalways to just act.
Like you know, creative tocreative.
We are all humans at the end ofthe day.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I appreciate they gotta keep keep it professional,
um.
But yeah, I just wanted, I justwanted to touch on that piece
about executive uh, beingexecutive producer and and all
the you know roles andresponsibilities and entails and
your experience with that.
But I know you were about todive a little bit deeper into
your time with Sony and beyond,so you can continue down that
(13:59):
path and then we'll go fromthere.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
You know, the Sony story is pretty short.
I started there in January andthen by September they laid off
their entire production team,and this was September of last
year.
So I mean I worked on a fewshows.
The coolest show that I workedon at Sony was 90 Day Fiance the
Last Resort Sessions, which wasa partnership between Sony and
(14:23):
TLC Warner Brothers for TLC'slike most popular show, 90 Day
Fiance.
So that was a really coolproject to work on as an EP
because they actually sent outan RFP.
They wanted people to pitch,they wanted multiple companies
to pitch ideas for a 90 DayFiance podcast, and the idea
that I pitched is the idea thatwon.
And so it was really cool towork with such a huge legacy
(14:46):
television company and also beable to, you know, bring some
revenue into the company by wayof getting them the deal to work
on or to produce that podcast.
And so, yeah, that's kind oflike where things left off with
me in terms of like corporatepodcasting.
Like I said, they laid off theentire production team back in
September of last year.
So it's been about a year and Iam working on.
(15:09):
I have some stuff like in theoven.
It's just not ready to come outyet, but, um, I am going to be
happy to be, you know, makingsome announcements on my next
move very, very soon.
So that's you know, my careerin a nutshell okay, that's cool,
um.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
The last thing you touched on that that stood out
to me was the the pitches part.
Um, obviously you know you'veworked in corporate, uh, podcast
production environments, um,but there is a huge market out
there, people who do stuffindependently and kind of pitch,
and you know to get theirpodcast made or get resources to
(15:45):
support the ideas that theyhave.
So, for those who may beinterested and you know whether
it's going the corporate routeor maybe pitching their own show
, because, because they have agreat idea, I guess what would
you have learned as far as theprocess of doing pitches and
like what's the most effectiveroute?
Or you know tips or tactics totry to, yeah, in fact, get that
(16:08):
support from having people pickup your pitches?
Speaker 1 (16:12):
I think for independent podcast creators
trying to pitch to like eitherpodcast production companies or
just going straight to likelarge corporate podcast
companies, you need to have aproof of concept.
At least I've been pitchedideas where it's just, you know,
like a creative deck with likea wishlist of guests, and while
(16:35):
decks are great to have, youneed to have some type of tape
that accompanies that pitch,because the podcast market is
very competitive and you know,if I'm keeping it a hundred
large podcast companies if younotice some of the deals that
they've been doing lately, thatthey've been announcing lately,
those are with, like you know,the top one or 2% of people in
(16:58):
podcasts, right, so that'speople who already have
established podcast brands orpeople who just have established
presence.
And so if you are anindependent podcast creator and
you don't have a large audiencethat's coming with you, you are
not like super notable in termsof being like high level talent.
(17:19):
I think the best thing is tojust start producing your show
on your own and starting tocreate your own audience and
then, once you grow youraudience, leverage that audience
to try to get a podcasting deal.
That's the most realisticadvice that I can give.
I don't want to tell people, youknow, come up with a deck,
shoot a pilot episode and then,you know, send it to Sony and
(17:41):
they're going to take a look atit, because they're not at this
point.
But if you come with them andyou say, hey, I have this show
and I have, you know, 50,000downloads every month for the
last three months, I'm notsaying that's a guaranteed deal,
but I think that's a lotstronger coming in and they are
more willing to take a look atit.
On the flip side of that, thosesmaller podcast production
(18:05):
companies are looking to breaktalent.
So, instead of trying to gostraight for the Spotify's and
the Sirius XM's and the Sony's,look for podcast production
companies or independent podcastnetworks who have a slate of
other shows that don't havethese massive audiences yet,
because they are more likely totake on new shows, to help
(18:26):
develop them and then to helpyou grow your audience in that
way.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Okay, so, yeah, so that, so that that that's
definitely helpful advice.
What advice and what skillsetsshould they focus on for people
just trying to get roles inpodcasting in general, Like you
do?
You're an executive producer.
I work.
You know, I edit and produce.
You know, as engineers, there'sa lot of things in between as
people who write for podcasts.
As far as just like getting inthe door, because, in creating
(18:52):
this platform, not only did Iwanna create a platform that
supports people who already areworking in the industry, for
those who may be interested inworking in the industry, this is
something that I wish was youknow, out there in the world and
available.
When I started, you know Icould have avoided a lot of the
things that I went through,which I learned a lot from, but
(19:13):
you know, as the saying goes, asmart person learns from their
mistakes, a wise person learnsfrom other people's mistakes.
So I guess what would be theapproach, the mindset, and what
were some of the skills that youthink are most valuable for
those wanting to break into theindustry?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
This a lot of the questions you're asking.
I told you I have some stufflike baking in the works.
A lot of your questionsactually relate to what I have
coming up, but still very happyto answer them.
I think the first thing withgetting into the podcast
industry is really understandingwhat roles are available to you
.
I know for a lot of indies theythink you can only be a host or
(19:49):
maybe a producer, but theydon't know like you can be a
researcher.
You can do podcast marketing,you can do sales, you can do
distribution, like there's somany other.
You could be an engineer, right, an editor.
There's so many different rolesthat you can take on in this
industry.
(20:10):
So the most important part isto determine what skills you
already have.
So if you know you're reallygood with research maybe you've
done a lot of academic researchor something else you know you
can be a podcast researcher andso I think, just making sure you
are highlighting your skillsetas a researcher, you can go out
(20:30):
and look for jobs that involveresearch.
There is literally a rolecalled, you know, podcast
researcher.
For me, I just have like a lotof like natural leadership
qualities, natural creativequalities.
I'm very entrepreneurial, asevident by the podcast festival.
Right, like founding a podcastfestival is like I'm still
(20:54):
getting opportunities based onthe fact that I was able to
found this festival, becausethat tells people again, I have
an entrepreneur spirit, I'm aself-starter, I'm very proactive
, I know a lot about operations,I'm able to project manage
right.
So I think really, if I'm justmaking a long story less long
the biggest skill that Ileverage is the project
(21:17):
management piece.
I know how to oversee multiplethings, multiple teams, and also
be a natural leader, and sothose are some of the skills
that I make sure to highlight.
And so if you're a person likethat, then you know production
is probably a really good placefor you because you can
eventually become an executiveproducer and oversee people.
(21:38):
But there's so many other roleswithin the industry outside of
just hosting.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
That's a good point you make, because so far the
people that are, most of thepeople that I interviewed, or
all of them have been more onthe production side.
But, like you said, there arepeople who do research, there
are there is sales, there ismarketing, um, so there might
not be and, to be honest, youcan kind of be more valuable in
those roles because you can kindof apply that to a whole, a
whole lot of I guess they callthem verticals, so it don't have
(22:04):
to be podcasting, it could be,I don't know, but you can work
in a lot of different industriesand definitely transferable and
, and you know, like you know,working in this industry like
it's cool, it's, you know it'sentertainment for the most part,
but there are a lot of things.
(22:27):
There are ups and downs andwaves of, you know, in the times
where it may be a little moredifficult, which is kind of like
the time that we're in now, inorder to be able to, you know,
consistently find work, and ifyou have those other skills, you
can kind of just, you know,float and do other things when
you know a certain field may bedrying, drying up and and
(22:49):
whatnot.
But I think that kind of takesme into my next point because,
like, like I mentioned, for me,you know, I would start off as
an editor and then I, you knowmy last role as an associate
producer.
Obviously I'm producing thispodcast and and coming coming
from, uh, behind the scenes, but, um, I feel like this may be
(23:09):
true for a lot of otherindustries.
Like, just having the skill of ain a particular field right now
is really kind of not enough.
One that really really comes tomind is, like you know, artists
and music producers, likethey're, they're becoming whole
brands and maybe, like 10 yearsago, like, and especially in the
(23:30):
era you know that I grew up inin the 90s and 2000s, like a lot
of the times you never saw theproducer.
You know, it was just so solelyfocused on the artist, which
has kind of flip flop nowbecause, or they're kind of on
the same level, because theyhave to produce content, to
build their own brands and justtry to, you know, with the, you
know, with music going digitalit's, you know it's not as much
(23:51):
money from you know, recordsales and all that type of stuff
.
And I know that you are, like,obviously you executive produce,
you really good at projectmanagement, but you also
mentioned that in your bio thatyou are a sit down producer.
I saw that you do, like you know, social media commentary, so
you do other things as well.
(24:11):
Was that kind of a thing thatjust happened, um, organically,
like based on your interest, orwas it kind of more of a
calculated play to like, okay, Igotta do something else?
I have to, you know, get infront of the camera.
I have to let people know, likeall the talents that I have and
interest that I have in orderto just kind of, you know, make
me more valuable in a sense topossibly attract other
(24:36):
opportunities.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, I mean the sit down comedian thing.
I just put that in my bio aslike a funny thing, Like it's
actually an inside joke betweenme and my sister, because my
sister is like you're so funny,not stand up comedian funny, but
like you, so a sit-downcomedian is just a joke there.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
I actually did think it was a joke, but I looked it
up and it really is a thingthough.
So I was like, oh, I don't knowif she's.
And my initial reaction I waslike, oh, this is funny.
But then I looked down, then Ilooked it up and I was like, oh,
she might be serious, so let meapproach it in a serious way.
But you know, I mean obviouslythis is our first time meeting,
(25:13):
so I didn't know the tone ofthat.
So I feel like it's easier totake it serious and pull it back
than to come in, like you know,taking it as a joke.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
You're like no, no, I'm dead serious.
So, yeah, disclaimer yeah, no,yeah, no, it's, it's totally
supposed to be a joke, like whenpeople read my bio, I actually
want them to just laugh at thatpart, because it's like I'm I
don't build myself as a comedianat all, um, but anyway, yeah.
So, but in a lot of mycommentary, right like, the
media personality bit of my biois like a real thing for me and
that's like always a thing thatpeople say is like oh, I want
you to talk on this becauseyou're funny or you're
(25:48):
insightful and stuff.
That just kind of happenedorganically, like me being a
media personality.
Like I said when I got intoaudio, I wanted to be a radio
personality, and so I think itwas just always something that I
had in the in my arsenal.
As another skill, I, you know, Ilove to talk.
What's the new word?
(26:09):
They're calling A yapper.
I'm a yapper, but yeah, so I,you know, I love to talk about
various things and I'm like aperson who knows a little bit
about everything, and so that'scome in handy and so, yeah, I'm
just leveraging those skillsbecause, like you mentioned, it
is a hard time, regardless ofwhat your title is, to work in
(26:29):
audio.
Just, you know, the medialandscape period is all over the
place and it's been really hardfor me to pivot if I'm being
transparent outside of audio.
And so, yeah, I have toleverage the other skills that I
have those leadership skills,those you know, on-air skills
and the writing skills that Ihave.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Okay, can you touch on your writing experience,
because we kind of I don't know,we kind of that kind of got
lost in the sauce, like, how didyou?
How did how, did you startwriting?
Is it something that you were,I don't know you, as a kid you
were like a creative writer or Idon't know, and then kind of
evolved into something more, uh,career focused or what did you
begin doing it as a result ofhaving to, you know, take on
(27:13):
tasks, doing a process of, like,building your career?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
yeah, I've actually been a writer like just since I
was a kid and you said itexactly I just used to write
stories.
I mean, I've always had areally active imagination and,
yeah, I would write stories.
I mean I've always had a reallyactive imagination and, yeah, I
will write stories and tellstories when I was younger.
So writing has actually like Ithink writing is probably the
most natural ability that I have.
Like I just naturallyunderstand grammar and words,
(27:40):
you know what I mean Like it'sit's like it's it's a thing that
I just naturally know how to do.
And so, yeah, it's always beena part of everything.
I mean even outside ofentertainment, like I've worked
in real estate too, becauseentertainment is fickle and when
I'm not making money in theindustry, I'm still needing to
make money, right.
So I worked in real estate.
Writing comes into play thereas a producer, comes into play
(28:04):
there as a producer.
It comes into play a lotbecause I'm having to, you know,
write pitches and write showdescriptions and episode
descriptions and come up withtitles for things.
So writing has always beensomething that's been a huge
part of my career.
And, yeah, I've written forpublications, like I used to.
I wrote for Vibe Magazine.
(28:25):
Way back in the day day day Iwrote some meditations for this
app called Shine, which is nowowned by Headspace.
I believe I wrote originalmeditations for that.
I also voiced the meditations.
Also I wrote some episodes fora scripted podcast called
District Queen, which was reallyfun because that was my first
time like actually writing um,like screenplays.
(28:46):
So I wrote, yeah, some episodesfor um, yeah, district Queen.
And then I wrote a short filmcalled Black Girl Training um
with my friend Santana, who I'mnow working on another TV
project with.
But I wrote a short film withher and um the producer's name
is but that was my first timewriting a short film and that
(29:07):
short film ended up winning likea local award in Milwaukee.
And then that short film isactually they're working on
developing that into a TV series.
I'm not the writer for the TVseries, but to see that a short
film that I wrote is, you know,getting that much interest that
it might become a T a TV seriesis huge.
So, yeah, writing is, you know,like it's a huge part of of my
(29:28):
career yeah, that's a, that's auh man.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
I, because I appreciate people who are
writers creatively in general, Ijust want to give you your
flowers for, you know, being agreat writer, because I think
that I don't know, it's just oneof those skills that if you can
write well, you can, you canmake a living for yourself,
whether it was a thousand yearsago or whether it was, whether
it's a thousand years from now.
(29:53):
Um, like that's the foundationof media.
Like you know, it starts on apiece of paper with something
that someone wrote and you know,for me, enjoying like more of
the production and technicalside of things.
Um, when you mentioned thatwriting comes the most natural
to you because you know, you payattention to, you know words
(30:13):
and pronunciation and thingslike that, that doesn't
necessarily mean that someone isa good creative writer and
writing for story consumption,because I'm good to those two
things that you mentioned, butI'm not good at creative writing
.
I can write, but it's going tobe it's like very cut and dry,
it's not.
You know, I'm still trying towork on, you know, writing in a
(30:34):
way and I struggle with thislike doing my social media posts
.
Thank God for the power ofediting because, by the time,
y'all have seen it.
I have edited a lot because itwas very like cut and dry and
didn't have no flavorpersonality.
Now I gotta try to sit andfigure out how I'm going to in
fact make it that to where itjust easily digestible, um so do
you do?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
you read a lot of books.
I do read a lot um likenon-fiction or fiction no, I'm
more of, I do more, uh,non-fiction.
See, like that's actually athing that I point out, I have
been reading.
That's one of the reasons I'mable to be a good creative
writer, because I read a lot offiction books.
(31:15):
Like from the time that I waslittle, I was reading fiction
books.
My mom was an avid reader, soshe would give me books that she
read, so I was reading like alot of mature fiction content.
But I think that's a, you know,that's probably a reason why I
am able to write creativelyversus technically right, and
it's only because my imaginationhas been, um, you know, just
(31:37):
broadened by reading fictionbooks.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
So I would say, if you want to become a better
creative writer, read some, readsome fictional stories yeah, I
mean I obviously as a kid, likethat's, all we read is like
fiction, like biographies andall that type of stuff is not
appealing to a kid.
But as I become older, becauseI'm so curious and I want to
know why and how everythinghappened, I got more into
reading nonfiction.
(31:59):
But I'm glad you mentioned thatbecause my girlfriend, all she
reads is fiction and all I readis nonfiction and she's
definitely more creative than me.
So I don't know why they made acorrelation.
So I need to get back into that.
Anyway, so before you mentionedthat, with your social
(32:20):
commentary, that you have a lotof interest, so I think this
will be a perfect segue intogetting toward the end of our
conversation, the last portion,which is I'm going to ask you
some questions about and learn alittle bit about your taste and
your favorites.
So we're just going to jumpinto it.
So, first one and most of theseare audio related Well, they're
(32:41):
all audio related.
So what's your favorite, yourfavorite album of all time?
Because I've had some debates,some previous guests about, but
the difference between best andfavorite, let's just go with
favorite.
So because nobody, you can't,nobody can argue what your
favorite is.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
So so these are not not any not any shade to you.
These are the hardest and myleast favorite types of
questions to answer because,like, just like who I am as a
person, as a creative, I'm amulti-hyphenate.
I have many different skillsand talents.
I have so many different tastes, right?
(33:16):
So it's like if you ask me whatmy favorite like pop album is,
I could tell you that.
You ask me what my favoritehip-hop album is, I can tell you
that.
But, like, if I have to justthink of my favorite album of
all time, that's so hard let'smake this contextual, since this
is this podcast is specific toblack people.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
So what's your favorite album made by a black
artist?
Because since you have multipledifferent tastes and I know
that can go across genres andthey may not have helped at all,
I'm so glad you said thatbecause I was gonna.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
I was gonna like list , uh, christina aguilera's like
genie in a bottle album as likeone of my, one of my favorites,
but you know, by a black artist.
Um, miss girl is not black, soum, hmm, gosh, that's, that's
still hard.
Lauryn Hill Um the miseducation.
I think that is a lot ofpeople's favorite.
(34:11):
It was just, it was so good.
Um, nicki Minaj's pink Fridayalbum like her, her debut album,
that's one of my favorite hiphop albums of all time.
Um, yeah.
Moment, moment for life is oneof my favorite songs.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
It's so good, right?
Speaker 1 (34:28):
yeah, that's a very, very, very good song.
It is, it is.
So, yeah, pink friday, um, themiseducation of lauren hill.
I feel like I'm forgetting,like some huge ones, that I'm
gonna regret.
Oh never, say never.
By brandy uh, one of myfavorite albums ever, um, and
then the blueprint by jay-z.
That's another one of myfavorites that I can.
(34:48):
I'm naming albums that like, ifyou start them, track one I can
listen to without skipping asong.
Oh, drake's, uh, nothing wasthe same.
I'm gonna stop right there okaybut those are some of my
favorites, I mean.
But the list is really long andI know there's some that I'm
missing.
I just my phone is right here.
I was gonna look at my Spotify,but I know we don't have that
much time.
But yeah, those are some of thealbums that come to mind off
(35:11):
the top of my head.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yeah, those those are all the ones you mentioned are
pretty high up on my list aswell.
So so this next question may beeven more difficult than the
last, but and it's basically anextension but favorite music
producer I guess rodney jerkins,for sure.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Um, brian cox, brian michael cox, right b cox, um, I
don't, I don't think I outsideof I mean timberland, I love
timberland, I think he's reallygood.
Oh yeah, if we're getting intothat, right, timberland, just
Blaze for sure.
Swiss Beats, those are like Imean, I know those are the most
(35:54):
like popular names.
So I mean I'm not like super,I'm sure there's like songs and
albums that I love and like Iprobably just don't know who was
producing what, but Like Iprobably just don't know who was
producing what, but like thoseare some of the people the names
that come to mind that haveproduced like some of my
favorite songs, for sure.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Next is favorite film score or soundtrack.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Love Jones, waiting to Excel.
I'm also going to add the Loveand Basketball soundtrack.
I liked that one too.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
So Love and Basketball, love Jones and
Waiting to excel three reallygood uh movie soundtracks okay,
um, favorite tv theme song, andthis is my first time saying
this, but you cannot say firstprince, because everybody says
that, so you got to give mesomething else favorite tv theme
song oh jamie, the jamie foxxshow jamie foxx show yeah, for
(36:43):
sure, I like that one a lot okay, that's, that's um what's yours
?
It's really short, so I was.
I was surprised by that.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
It's like it's usually the longer ones kind of
get more love, um so it's theone that comes to my mind first
when I think of like theme songsthat I, that I love, and it's
his is the first that comes tomind.
But there, there are others,but he's just the first one.
What's yours?
Speaker 2 (37:06):
that's crazy, because that was the first one that
came to mind, but I because Idon't, that's just the most
memorable, because it's reallylike like tv theme songy.
Um yeah, but I don't because ofI'm trying to think of some
other ones and nothing else iscoming to mind, so I'm gonna
just go with family matters,because that was the first one
that popped in my mind I like afull house, full house is one
(37:28):
that's whatever happened to yeah, yeah the paper boy.
Yeah, I like full house and theyhad, like I think they had some
crossover.
I think urkel was in a coupleepisodes of full house, so that
might have had the it might itcould have been composed by the
same person.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Because their songs sound similar right.
Yeah, those are very similar,but yeah, okay, good Times is
like memorable, oh the.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Jeffersons, the Jeffersons.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Okay, I'm going to go with the Jeffersons.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Favorite Moving on up .
We're moving on up.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
That's real catchy, okay, yes, yes, yes, I'm trying
to think.
You know my memory.
My memory is just not as sharpas it used to be.
So, these questions you'reasking me, I feel like I'm gonna
get off and I'm gonna remembersome things that I should have
said, and I hate that.
Um, but yeah, I'm gonna lock myanswers in.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Okay, that's cool.
Well, yeah, I think that bringsus to the end.
Thank you for sharing all thedetails of your story and
experiences.
We really got in there.
You got really philosophicalabout these questions at the end
too, so I appreciate it that Ienjoy talking about stuff like
that.
Yeah, but before we wrap up up,I mean you mentioned you're
(38:46):
working on some things that butyou you can't really share.
But can you at least share likepeople can find you on social
media, um, how they connect withyou, um online linkedin and
things of that nature.
Yeah, they just kind of want tosupport what you're doing, or
uh, yeah, or connect, yeah for,or, you know, connect.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Yeah for sure.
So one of the projects that Ican talk about is called Camp
Inner Child and it is going tobe a unscripted TV series that
follows a group of burned outmillennial women to camp for a
week in an effort to like, watchthem reconnect with their inner
child.
And right now we're justbuilding the community for Camp
Inner Child.
(39:24):
So any women who aremillennials who are listening to
this and you want just buildingthe community for Camp
Interchild so any women who aremillennials who are listening to
this and you want to join thecommunity just go to
campinterchildcom and you canjoin or sign up for our
newsletter and then that wayyou'll stay up to date.
We do like virtual events.
We're about to do our firstin-person event.
We're doing a bonfire inNovember in Milwaukee and then
we will hopefully start shootingthe actual TV series at some
(39:47):
point next year.
We're just in the funding phasefor that.
So that is one project that Ican't talk about, and I got some
other stuff coming.
So, yes, follow me on socialmedia to be able to hear the
announcements for the otherthings that I'm working on.
I'm on LinkedIn as JasmineHenley Brown, and that's Jasmine
with a Z, soJ-A-Z-M-I-N-E-H-E-N-L-E-Y-brown,
(40:08):
like the color, and then on allother social media platforms
it's just at J Henley Brown.
So it's atJ-H-E-N-L-E-Y-B-R-O-W-N.
And yeah, that's how you canfind me.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
All right.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
I appreciate it.
Oh, and I remembered anotherpoint that I skipped that when I
lost my train of thought um,have you ever considered doing
voiceover?
Uh, yeah, I would love to breakinto that industry.
Like I told you, I uh, when Iwrote those meditations, I did
the voice.
I voiced them too, and that wasreally fun.
I just I don't know how to findvoiceover opportunities.
I don't have an agent right now, so I don't know how to do it.
But yeah, I would love to dothat at some point in my life.
Do you?
Do you know?
Do you know ashley hops?
That name sounds familiar.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
We might be connected on linkedin you might, but she,
um, she was actually the she'sgoing to be the first uh episode
that I've released for thewhole podcast.
Um, but she, recently, I thinkshe, I think she did like a
incubator or one of them wordsto get into vo and she's I she's
been posting about her gettinginto it as well.
So if you actually do want to,um, consider breaking into the
(41:17):
field.
I'm sure she can connect.
You can connect you with, likeagents and agencies and all that
type of stuff.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
So yeah, I would love that.
Do you think?
You think I got a shot?
Speaker 2 (41:26):
I think I think you, yeah, I think I think you're a
natural.
Obviously it's just tricks ofthe trade and and little things
that you got to pick up on, butfor sure you know.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
As for raw talent, I I think you got the gift um that
means a lot coming from aproducer, because you know your
expertise is in sound.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
So I'm gonna take that one to the bank oh, yeah,
yeah I would love I would lovemixing your voice, like it would
just uh, it would be beautifulman, we got to work on something
yeah, we do um, but yeah, I, Ithink that's a wrap um, like I
said, appreciate you coming onum thank you so much for having
(42:03):
me on.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
I think you know your concept here is really amazing.
I can't wait to personally hearfrom other professionals in
this industry on the show.
So thank you again for havingme on.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Yeah, welcome.
Like I said, thank you forjoining me, for everyone
listening.
I'll catch you on the nextepisode.
Thank you for joining us ontoday's episode.
Please don't forget tosubscribe to the show and leave
us a review.
If you'd like to work with meor connect, please go to
soundbysitcom and schedule acall there.
(42:36):
You can also check out the fulllist of productions I've worked
on.
If you'd like to connect onsocial media, my handle is
soundbysitcom on Twitter andInstagram and I'm Sidney Evans
on LinkedIn.
On social media, my handle issoundbossedcom on Twitter and
Instagram and I'm Sidney Evanson LinkedIn.
Don't forget to follow Beyondthe Threshold on Instagram as
well.
I'll catch you on the nextepisode.
The first thing with getting into the podcast
industry is really understandingwhat roles are available to you
.
I know for a lot of indies theythink you can only be a host or
maybe a producer, but theydon't know that you can be a
researcher, you can dodistribution like.
There's so many other rolesthat you can take on.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Tune in as we give flowers to black men and women
making waves in the audioindustry.
I'm your host, sydney evans,and this is beyond the threshold
.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcometo Beyond the Threshold.
(00:45):
I'm your host, sidney Evans, anaward-winning audio editor,
mixer and producer.
For those of you who don't know, on this show I interview Black
men and women working in theaudio industry, highlighting the
lessons and experiences ittakes to achieve success in the
field, and, as always, we gotanother great interview or
episode in store and we're goingto keep the thing of having a
(01:09):
previous guest to lead toanother guest.
I was introduced to today'sguest, or made aware of today's
guest, by Melissa D Montz.
I reached out to her and shewas willing to hop right on and
join me, so we're going to hearher story, her experience and
her lessons from working in theindustry.
(01:30):
To give a little bit of abackground on her, she's a
writer, executive podcastproducer, media personality and
sit down comedian.
She's worked for Sirius XM andSony Music Entertainment,
creating an executive, producingaward-nominated podcast such as
New Warrior Mall and Realitywith the King, and most recently
(01:50):
created and executive produced90 Day, the Last Resort Sessions
for TLC Warner Brothers.
In 2017, she founded theMilwaukee Podcast Festival to
showcase local audio talent inher hometown.
Without further ado, I wouldlike to introduce Jasmine
Henley-Brown.
Welcome to the show Jazz.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Thank you so much, sidney, good to be here.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Thank you.
So a quick question Do you dopodcasts a lot?
I'm just curious.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Oh, so I guess I don't want to say quite often,
but I guess a good bit.
That's why I put like the mediapersonality.
Added that to like my biobecause one of the shows that I
co-created was reality with theking and I appear on there
pretty often as a guest to talkabout like reality tv and then
obviously doing things like thiswhen people want to discuss the
(02:39):
industry.
I used to be a correspondent ona radio show to just talk about
like pop culture and likepolitics.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So yeah, pretty familiar with it with the guest
spot okay, cool, uh, so swiss,swiss army knife, so to speak,
jack of all trades.
I'm, um, obviously I'm in frontof the mic now, but I'm usually
behind the scenes.
So this has been a interestingtransition and I guess the
biggest thing has been, uh,getting used to the sound of
your own voice, getting overthat hurdle.
(03:07):
I think I'm, I think I'm therenow.
I don't record it a good amountof episodes, but I I delayed
editing actually because of thatreason, because it was just so
cringy to me.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So it used to.
It used to bother me a lot too,actually when I was younger.
So you hear my voice now, right, it sounds like a mature
woman's voice, but I've had thissame voice since I was in, like
elementary school and so likemy voice is considered deep,
like imagine a child callingyour house and like their voice
sounds like mine.
So I actually used to get madefun of for my voice when I was
(03:38):
younger and like people wouldsay I sounded like a boy and
like all of this, and so I wasreally insecure about my voice
for a really long time too.
And then once I started to hearit, like early you know, my
early years in the podcastindustry I started because I had
started my own podcast.
So I'm with you.
Like the first few times Iheard my own voice I was like I
hate it.
But then people started tocompliment me and be like oh my
(04:00):
gosh, I love your voice, likeit's so great, and so now I'm
really confident in it.
But said all that to say I feelyou on getting used to hearing
your own voice.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well, yeah, you're, you're in the right space, cause
that's the.
You do have, like a full, liketone, just a rich tone of your
voice.
So in this space, um, it'sappreciated.
So we're not going to talkabout those who don't appreciate
it anymore.
Um so yeah, I know you justkind of jumped into it a little
bit, but could you just sharemore about your background and
(04:29):
kind of like, what was yourinspiration for taking this
career path?
And, yeah, kind of yourexperience, what you got there?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah, so my like intro into audio period was
through radio.
Like I grew up listening to theradio, I wanted to work in
radio.
So, way back in the day, dayday, during my intern days, I
interned at the Breakfast Cluband I thought I wanted to be
like a radio personality andthrough the internships I was a
(04:58):
production intern.
Through that internship, though, I was like, oh, I actually
like the behind the scenesaspect of this, like producing
the show, and so I startedproducing radio.
I was like, oh, I actually likethe behind the scenes aspect of
this, like producing the show,and so I started producing radio
.
I left New York, I moved toAtlanta, I started working at a
digital radio station, and thatwas really cool.
Then I ended up leaving Atlantathe first time, because I've
lived there twice, but that wasthe first time I left Atlanta.
(05:18):
And it was like right aroundthe time when Serial, the true
crime podcast Serial, was likereally, really popular and I was
listening to that all the time,all the time, and I just got
inspired to do my own podcast.
It was not a true crime podcast, but it was called the 20
something series and it was justall about like the last couple
of years in my 20s and how weirdit was, and I had friends come
(05:40):
on and we would just talk aboutlike different experiences in
our 20s.
But through that podcast andthen working in media period, a
lot of people from my hometownof Milwaukee would hit me up and
say, hey, like I know you havea podcast, I know you worked in
radio, I have a podcast, can youlisten to it?
And so I was listening torandom people's podcasts from
(06:02):
Milwaukee and I was like, oh,it's some like talent there,
right, and like Milwaukee is nota city that people think of
when they think about creativesand also Black creatives, they
do not think of Milwaukee as acity, and so I wanted a way to
showcase that, and so this waslike the end of 2016.
So early 2017, I came up withthe idea for the Milwaukee
(06:24):
Podcast Festival, which was aone day live event where we
showcased like six or sevenlocal podcasts, and then we had
a headlining podcast which wasthe Brilliant Idiots, which is
hosted by Charlamagne Tha Godand Andrew Schultz.
And, like I mentioned, I usedto intern at the, the Breakfast
Club, and so Charlamagne and Ihad kept a professional
(06:46):
relationship over the years.
The Breakfast Club wassyndicated in Milwaukee.
So I knew, even if people inMilwaukee didn't quite know what
a podcast was, they knew whoCharlamagne was and they would
come to see something thatCharlamagne was in.
And so, yeah, I startedplanning that in the earlier
parts of 2017 and then Octoberof 2017, we did the Milwaukee
Podcast Festival.
It was amazing.
(07:07):
Everybody liked it.
We did a lot of things wrong init, but we did.
You know enough right that theevent actually happened and so,
yeah, after that, that kind ofcatapulted me into like the
world of podcasting in a big wayand I was consulting and just
helping independent creatorswith their shows.
And then 2020 happened.
I ended up working as a partnermanager for Sirius XM and I was
(07:33):
quickly promoted to anexecutive producer.
They had this podcast labelcalled More Sauce, which was
their cultural vertical, andMore Sauce was a podcast label
to showcase shows for, like,black, millennial and Gen Z
audiences.
So I was the executive producerover More Sauce.
That's where I started workingwith Rory and Mar.
Rory and Mar were actually myfirst really big podcast
(07:55):
acquisition in that role, so Iwas executive producing their
show.
There were some other showsthat I inherited, which is how I
met Melissa Because one of theshows that I inherited which is
how I met Melissa because one ofthe shows that I inherited was
Tamar Braxton, underConstruction, and Melissa was
the I'm sorry, not Tamar, Iinherited Tamar but the salon
with Lala Milan, who's a digitalinfluencer.
(08:15):
Melissa was producing.
She's one of the producers forthat show, and so, because I
became the EP of that label, Ithen started working with
Melissa on that show.
One of the other shows on thelabel is For Real with Portia
Williams, and then, yeah, intothat role, like I said, acquired
New Royal Mall, co-createdReality with the King, with
(08:36):
Carlos King, also oversaw Loversand Friends with Shan Blue Dram
and really just reimagined theMore Sauce brand as really like
a cultural brand for black andbrown podcasts.
Unfortunately, though, just dueto, I think, you know, some
internal things within thecompany, you know More Sauce it
got a lot of support in thebeginning, but I think toward
(08:57):
the end I was kind of lookingfor more support with it and I
wasn't.
I wasn't really getting it, andso I was offered a role at Sony
to be an executive producer ofentertainment podcast, and I
took it, and so I went over toSony All right, let me jump in
real quick.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Ok, before you, before you get to your
experience at Sony, becauseyou've been, you've been
throwing around the wordexecutive producer and EP a lot
and in our world we understandwhat that means or not,
depending on, like you know, theproducer, executive producer,
like I'm very aware that a lotof people may not really know
(09:35):
exactly what that entails.
So before you dive further intoyour executive producing
experience, just kind of breakdown what exactly an executive
producer does that's so great.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's actually a really good place to stop,
because I did.
I was like, am I talking toomuch?
Because I feel like I was justgoing on and on, but yeah,
that's a great place to stop.
So you're right, the uh, titleof executive producer is really
vast and it could mean so manydifferent things even within the
same company.
Um, the way that I've been anexecutive producer is largely in
like creative oversight, showdevelopment, people management,
(10:12):
being like a cross-functionalteam leader, so working a lot
with other teams withincompanies like sales, pr,
marketing, advertising, all ofthat.
And so I would say it's think ofa project manager really, and
how they kind of just have tokeep every project, they have to
oversee multiple projects, theyhave to oversee the teams on
(10:34):
each project, they have tooversee timelines, they have to
oversee resources and budgets.
I essentially do all of thatwith the added benefit of the
creative development.
So I get to, I've created showsand launched them.
I've been able to source a lotof talent and book a lot of
talent.
I always was in like pitchmeetings, leading pitch meetings
(10:54):
or setting up pitch meetingsfor myself.
So that's what I did as anexecutive producer, but I know
other executive producers whoare very technical in their
production, so they are the onesthat are getting in and are
cutting cutting tape and, likeyou know, pro Tools.
That's their best friend.
Right For me, I was able tooversee the team who was doing
all of the technical production,so that is the way that I was
(11:15):
an executive producer.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
OK, thank you for that explanation.
You also you hit on somethingthat I haven't really talked
about on the podcast.
You talked about peoplemanagement and, based off a lot
of the shows that you havementioned, these people have
kind of you know, they're kindof known as far as the name you
know.
You got you know, charlamagne,andrew Schultz.
Obviously you work with them inthe festival, but you said
(11:39):
Tamar Braxton, a couple of otherpeople who you know have made a
name for themselves outside ofpodcasting and kind of made
their way over to podcast land.
So just kind of talk about yourexperience, like with working
with people who are kind of havea name or you know, within
everything working with peoplewho you know they podcast, and
(12:00):
maybe their introduction to theworld to working with people who
you know podcast is somethingthat they crossed over from you
know, whether it's acting ormusic or whatever.
Not more so your experience.
But what is your approach?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
I would say so well, I'll clarify something.
When I said people management,I meant, like, managing a staff.
That's what I meant by peoplemanagement.
But, yes, talent management iswhat you're referring to and
that's also a huge part of myjob and the approach there
really.
I mean, you know, I think I'min a unique spot.
(12:34):
I've been working in theentertainment industry for over
10 years now.
I've worked around, you know,celebrities or like people with
the name for themselves for awhile.
So my approach is really tojust approach them like they're
regular people.
Like I don't get starstruck atthis point in my career.
I approach everybody,especially if I'm approaching
them to be talent on a show thatI'm going to be overseeing, I
(12:59):
just approach them as creatives,from a creative to a creative
and, yeah, obviously, a lot ofrespect.
I think people in the industry,particularly when you're
working with a high level talent, they appreciate when people
approach them as if they are,you know, essentially on the
same level.
Because that's really, you know, what you would be if you're an
(13:20):
executive producer of the show.
You are the boss of the show,like you run the show, so, um,
it's always important to likeestablish those, um, those roles
right away.
And, yeah, the approach isalways to just act.
Like you know, creative tocreative.
We are all humans at the end ofthe day.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I appreciate they gotta keep keep it professional,
um.
But yeah, I just wanted, I justwanted to touch on that piece
about executive uh, beingexecutive producer and and all
the you know roles andresponsibilities and entails and
your experience with that.
But I know you were about todive a little bit deeper into
your time with Sony and beyond,so you can continue down that
(13:59):
path and then we'll go fromthere.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
You know, the Sony story is pretty short.
I started there in January andthen by September they laid off
their entire production team,and this was September of last
year.
So I mean I worked on a fewshows.
The coolest show that I workedon at Sony was 90 Day Fiance the
Last Resort Sessions, which wasa partnership between Sony and
(14:23):
TLC Warner Brothers for TLC'slike most popular show, 90 Day
Fiance.
So that was a really coolproject to work on as an EP
because they actually sent outan RFP.
They wanted people to pitch,they wanted multiple companies
to pitch ideas for a 90 DayFiance podcast, and the idea
that I pitched is the idea thatwon.
And so it was really cool towork with such a huge legacy
(14:46):
television company and also beable to, you know, bring some
revenue into the company by wayof getting them the deal to work
on or to produce that podcast.
And so, yeah, that's kind oflike where things left off with
me in terms of like corporatepodcasting.
Like I said, they laid off theentire production team back in
September of last year.
So it's been about a year and Iam working on.
(15:09):
I have some stuff like in theoven.
It's just not ready to come outyet, but, um, I am going to be
happy to be, you know, makingsome announcements on my next
move very, very soon.
So that's you know, my careerin a nutshell okay, that's cool,
um.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
The last thing you touched on that that stood out
to me was the the pitches part.
Um, obviously you know you'veworked in corporate, uh, podcast
production environments, um,but there is a huge market out
there, people who do stuffindependently and kind of pitch,
and you know to get theirpodcast made or get resources to
(15:45):
support the ideas that theyhave.
So, for those who may beinterested and you know whether
it's going the corporate routeor maybe pitching their own show
, because, because they have agreat idea, I guess what would
you have learned as far as theprocess of doing pitches and
like what's the most effectiveroute?
Or you know tips or tactics totry to, yeah, in fact, get that
(16:08):
support from having people pickup your pitches?
Speaker 1 (16:12):
I think for independent podcast creators
trying to pitch to like eitherpodcast production companies or
just going straight to likelarge corporate podcast
companies, you need to have aproof of concept.
At least I've been pitchedideas where it's just, you know,
like a creative deck with likea wishlist of guests, and while
(16:35):
decks are great to have, youneed to have some type of tape
that accompanies that pitch,because the podcast market is
very competitive and you know,if I'm keeping it a hundred
large podcast companies if younotice some of the deals that
they've been doing lately, thatthey've been announcing lately,
those are with, like you know,the top one or 2% of people in
(16:58):
podcasts, right, so that'speople who already have
established podcast brands orpeople who just have established
presence.
And so if you are anindependent podcast creator and
you don't have a large audiencethat's coming with you, you are
not like super notable in termsof being like high level talent.
(17:19):
I think the best thing is tojust start producing your show
on your own and starting tocreate your own audience and
then, once you grow youraudience, leverage that audience
to try to get a podcasting deal.
That's the most realisticadvice that I can give.
I don't want to tell people, youknow, come up with a deck,
shoot a pilot episode and then,you know, send it to Sony and
(17:41):
they're going to take a look atit, because they're not at this
point.
But if you come with them andyou say, hey, I have this show
and I have, you know, 50,000downloads every month for the
last three months, I'm notsaying that's a guaranteed deal,
but I think that's a lotstronger coming in and they are
more willing to take a look atit.
On the flip side of that, thosesmaller podcast production
(18:05):
companies are looking to breaktalent.
So, instead of trying to gostraight for the Spotify's and
the Sirius XM's and the Sony's,look for podcast production
companies or independent podcastnetworks who have a slate of
other shows that don't havethese massive audiences yet,
because they are more likely totake on new shows, to help
(18:26):
develop them and then to helpyou grow your audience in that
way.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Okay, so, yeah, so that, so that that that's
definitely helpful advice.
What advice and what skillsetsshould they focus on for people
just trying to get roles inpodcasting in general, Like you
do?
You're an executive producer.
I work.
You know, I edit and produce.
You know, as engineers, there'sa lot of things in between as
people who write for podcasts.
As far as just like getting inthe door, because, in creating
(18:52):
this platform, not only did Iwanna create a platform that
supports people who already areworking in the industry, for
those who may be interested inworking in the industry, this is
something that I wish was youknow, out there in the world and
available.
When I started, you know Icould have avoided a lot of the
things that I went through,which I learned a lot from, but
(19:13):
you know, as the saying goes, asmart person learns from their
mistakes, a wise person learnsfrom other people's mistakes.
So I guess what would be theapproach, the mindset, and what
were some of the skills that youthink are most valuable for
those wanting to break into theindustry?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
This a lot of the questions you're asking.
I told you I have some stufflike baking in the works.
A lot of your questionsactually relate to what I have
coming up, but still very happyto answer them.
I think the first thing withgetting into the podcast
industry is really understandingwhat roles are available to you
.
I know for a lot of indies theythink you can only be a host or
(19:49):
maybe a producer, but theydon't know like you can be a
researcher.
You can do podcast marketing,you can do sales, you can do
distribution, like there's somany other.
You could be an engineer, right, an editor.
There's so many different rolesthat you can take on in this
industry.
(20:10):
So the most important part isto determine what skills you
already have.
So if you know you're reallygood with research maybe you've
done a lot of academic researchor something else you know you
can be a podcast researcher andso I think, just making sure you
are highlighting your skillsetas a researcher, you can go out
(20:30):
and look for jobs that involveresearch.
There is literally a rolecalled, you know, podcast
researcher.
For me, I just have like a lotof like natural leadership
qualities, natural creativequalities.
I'm very entrepreneurial, asevident by the podcast festival.
Right, like founding a podcastfestival is like I'm still
(20:54):
getting opportunities based onthe fact that I was able to
found this festival, becausethat tells people again, I have
an entrepreneur spirit, I'm aself-starter, I'm very proactive
, I know a lot about operations,I'm able to project manage
right.
So I think really, if I'm justmaking a long story less long
the biggest skill that Ileverage is the project
(21:17):
management piece.
I know how to oversee multiplethings, multiple teams, and also
be a natural leader, and sothose are some of the skills
that I make sure to highlight.
And so if you're a person likethat, then you know production
is probably a really good placefor you because you can
eventually become an executiveproducer and oversee people.
(21:38):
But there's so many other roleswithin the industry outside of
just hosting.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
That's a good point you make, because so far the
people that are, most of thepeople that I interviewed, or
all of them have been more onthe production side.
But, like you said, there arepeople who do research, there
are there is sales, there ismarketing, um, so there might
not be and, to be honest, youcan kind of be more valuable in
those roles because you can kindof apply that to a whole, a
whole lot of I guess they callthem verticals, so it don't have
(22:04):
to be podcasting, it could be,I don't know, but you can work
in a lot of different industriesand definitely transferable and
, and you know, like you know,working in this industry like
it's cool, it's, you know it'sentertainment for the most part,
but there are a lot of things.
(22:27):
There are ups and downs andwaves of, you know, in the times
where it may be a little moredifficult, which is kind of like
the time that we're in now, inorder to be able to, you know,
consistently find work, and ifyou have those other skills, you
can kind of just, you know,float and do other things when
you know a certain field may bedrying, drying up and and
(22:49):
whatnot.
But I think that kind of takesme into my next point because,
like, like I mentioned, for me,you know, I would start off as
an editor and then I, you knowmy last role as an associate
producer.
Obviously I'm producing thispodcast and and coming coming
from, uh, behind the scenes, but, um, I feel like this may be
(23:09):
true for a lot of otherindustries.
Like, just having the skill of ain a particular field right now
is really kind of not enough.
One that really really comes tomind is, like you know, artists
and music producers, likethey're, they're becoming whole
brands and maybe, like 10 yearsago, like, and especially in the
(23:30):
era you know that I grew up inin the 90s and 2000s, like a lot
of the times you never saw theproducer.
You know, it was just so solelyfocused on the artist, which
has kind of flip flop nowbecause, or they're kind of on
the same level, because theyhave to produce content, to
build their own brands and justtry to, you know, with the, you
know, with music going digitalit's, you know it's not as much
(23:51):
money from you know, recordsales and all that type of stuff
.
And I know that you are, like,obviously you executive produce,
you really good at projectmanagement, but you also
mentioned that in your bio thatyou are a sit down producer.
I saw that you do, like you know, social media commentary, so
you do other things as well.
(24:11):
Was that kind of a thing thatjust happened, um, organically,
like based on your interest, orwas it kind of more of a
calculated play to like, okay, Igotta do something else?
I have to, you know, get infront of the camera.
I have to let people know, likeall the talents that I have and
interest that I have in orderto just kind of, you know, make
me more valuable in a sense topossibly attract other
(24:36):
opportunities.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, I mean the sit down comedian thing.
I just put that in my bio aslike a funny thing, Like it's
actually an inside joke betweenme and my sister, because my
sister is like you're so funny,not stand up comedian funny, but
like you, so a sit-downcomedian is just a joke there.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
I actually did think it was a joke, but I looked it
up and it really is a thingthough.
So I was like, oh, I don't knowif she's.
And my initial reaction I waslike, oh, this is funny.
But then I looked down, then Ilooked it up and I was like, oh,
she might be serious, so let meapproach it in a serious way.
But you know, I mean obviouslythis is our first time meeting,
(25:13):
so I didn't know the tone ofthat.
So I feel like it's easier totake it serious and pull it back
than to come in, like you know,taking it as a joke.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
You're like no, no, I'm dead serious.
So, yeah, disclaimer yeah, no,yeah, no, it's, it's totally
supposed to be a joke, like whenpeople read my bio, I actually
want them to just laugh at thatpart, because it's like I'm I
don't build myself as a comedianat all, um, but anyway, yeah.
So, but in a lot of mycommentary, right like, the
media personality bit of my biois like a real thing for me and
that's like always a thing thatpeople say is like oh, I want
you to talk on this becauseyou're funny or you're
(25:48):
insightful and stuff.
That just kind of happenedorganically, like me being a
media personality.
Like I said when I got intoaudio, I wanted to be a radio
personality, and so I think itwas just always something that I
had in the in my arsenal.
As another skill, I, you know, Ilove to talk.
What's the new word?
(26:09):
They're calling A yapper.
I'm a yapper, but yeah, so I,you know, I love to talk about
various things and I'm like aperson who knows a little bit
about everything, and so that'scome in handy and so, yeah, I'm
just leveraging those skillsbecause, like you mentioned, it
is a hard time, regardless ofwhat your title is, to work in
(26:29):
audio.
Just, you know, the medialandscape period is all over the
place and it's been really hardfor me to pivot if I'm being
transparent outside of audio.
And so, yeah, I have toleverage the other skills that I
have those leadership skills,those you know, on-air skills
and the writing skills that Ihave.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Okay, can you touch on your writing experience,
because we kind of I don't know,we kind of that kind of got
lost in the sauce, like, how didyou?
How did how, did you startwriting?
Is it something that you were,I don't know you, as a kid you
were like a creative writer or Idon't know, and then kind of
evolved into something more, uh,career focused or what did you
begin doing it as a result ofhaving to, you know, take on
(27:13):
tasks, doing a process of, like,building your career?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
yeah, I've actually been a writer like just since I
was a kid and you said itexactly I just used to write
stories.
I mean, I've always had areally active imagination and,
yeah, I would write stories.
I mean I've always had a reallyactive imagination and, yeah, I
will write stories and tellstories when I was younger.
So writing has actually like Ithink writing is probably the
most natural ability that I have.
Like I just naturallyunderstand grammar and words,
(27:40):
you know what I mean Like it'sit's like it's it's a thing that
I just naturally know how to do.
And so, yeah, it's always beena part of everything.
I mean even outside ofentertainment, like I've worked
in real estate too, becauseentertainment is fickle and when
I'm not making money in theindustry, I'm still needing to
make money, right.
So I worked in real estate.
Writing comes into play thereas a producer, comes into play
(28:04):
there as a producer.
It comes into play a lotbecause I'm having to, you know,
write pitches and write showdescriptions and episode
descriptions and come up withtitles for things.
So writing has always beensomething that's been a huge
part of my career.
And, yeah, I've written forpublications, like I used to.
I wrote for Vibe Magazine.
(28:25):
Way back in the day day day Iwrote some meditations for this
app called Shine, which is nowowned by Headspace.
I believe I wrote originalmeditations for that.
I also voiced the meditations.
Also I wrote some episodes fora scripted podcast called
District Queen, which was reallyfun because that was my first
time like actually writing um,like screenplays.
(28:46):
So I wrote, yeah, some episodesfor um, yeah, district Queen.
And then I wrote a short filmcalled Black Girl Training um
with my friend Santana, who I'mnow working on another TV
project with.
But I wrote a short film withher and um the producer's name
is but that was my first timewriting a short film and that
(29:07):
short film ended up winning likea local award in Milwaukee.
And then that short film isactually they're working on
developing that into a TV series.
I'm not the writer for the TVseries, but to see that a short
film that I wrote is, you know,getting that much interest that
it might become a T a TV seriesis huge.
So, yeah, writing is, you know,like it's a huge part of of my
(29:28):
career yeah, that's a, that's auh man.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
I, because I appreciate people who are
writers creatively in general, Ijust want to give you your
flowers for, you know, being agreat writer, because I think
that I don't know, it's just oneof those skills that if you can
write well, you can, you canmake a living for yourself,
whether it was a thousand yearsago or whether it was, whether
it's a thousand years from now.
(29:53):
Um, like that's the foundationof media.
Like you know, it starts on apiece of paper with something
that someone wrote and you know,for me, enjoying like more of
the production and technicalside of things.
Um, when you mentioned thatwriting comes the most natural
to you because you know, you payattention to, you know words
(30:13):
and pronunciation and thingslike that, that doesn't
necessarily mean that someone isa good creative writer and
writing for story consumption,because I'm good to those two
things that you mentioned, butI'm not good at creative writing
.
I can write, but it's going tobe it's like very cut and dry,
it's not.
You know, I'm still trying towork on, you know, writing in a
(30:34):
way and I struggle with thislike doing my social media posts
.
Thank God for the power ofediting because, by the time,
y'all have seen it.
I have edited a lot because itwas very like cut and dry and
didn't have no flavorpersonality.
Now I gotta try to sit andfigure out how I'm going to in
fact make it that to where itjust easily digestible, um so do
you do?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
you read a lot of books.
I do read a lot um likenon-fiction or fiction no, I'm
more of, I do more, uh,non-fiction.
See, like that's actually athing that I point out, I have
been reading.
That's one of the reasons I'mable to be a good creative
writer, because I read a lot offiction books.
(31:15):
Like from the time that I waslittle, I was reading fiction
books.
My mom was an avid reader, soshe would give me books that she
read, so I was reading like alot of mature fiction content.
But I think that's a, you know,that's probably a reason why I
am able to write creativelyversus technically right, and
it's only because my imaginationhas been, um, you know, just
(31:37):
broadened by reading fictionbooks.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
So I would say, if you want to become a better
creative writer, read some, readsome fictional stories yeah, I
mean I obviously as a kid, likethat's, all we read is like
fiction, like biographies andall that type of stuff is not
appealing to a kid.
But as I become older, becauseI'm so curious and I want to
know why and how everythinghappened, I got more into
reading nonfiction.
(31:59):
But I'm glad you mentioned thatbecause my girlfriend, all she
reads is fiction and all I readis nonfiction and she's
definitely more creative than me.
So I don't know why they made acorrelation.
So I need to get back into that.
Anyway, so before you mentionedthat, with your social
(32:20):
commentary, that you have a lotof interest, so I think this
will be a perfect segue intogetting toward the end of our
conversation, the last portion,which is I'm going to ask you
some questions about and learn alittle bit about your taste and
your favorites.
So we're just going to jumpinto it.
So, first one and most of theseare audio related Well, they're
(32:41):
all audio related.
So what's your favorite, yourfavorite album of all time?
Because I've had some debates,some previous guests about, but
the difference between best andfavorite, let's just go with
favorite.
So because nobody, you can't,nobody can argue what your
favorite is.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
So so these are not not any not any shade to you.
These are the hardest and myleast favorite types of
questions to answer because,like, just like who I am as a
person, as a creative, I'm amulti-hyphenate.
I have many different skillsand talents.
I have so many different tastes, right?
(33:16):
So it's like if you ask me whatmy favorite like pop album is,
I could tell you that.
You ask me what my favoritehip-hop album is, I can tell you
that.
But, like, if I have to justthink of my favorite album of
all time, that's so hard let'smake this contextual, since this
is this podcast is specific toblack people.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
So what's your favorite album made by a black
artist?
Because since you have multipledifferent tastes and I know
that can go across genres andthey may not have helped at all,
I'm so glad you said thatbecause I was gonna.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
I was gonna like list , uh, christina aguilera's like
genie in a bottle album as likeone of my, one of my favorites,
but you know, by a black artist.
Um, miss girl is not black, soum, hmm, gosh, that's, that's
still hard.
Lauryn Hill Um the miseducation.
I think that is a lot ofpeople's favorite.
(34:11):
It was just, it was so good.
Um, nicki Minaj's pink Fridayalbum like her, her debut album,
that's one of my favorite hiphop albums of all time.
Um, yeah.
Moment, moment for life is oneof my favorite songs.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
It's so good, right?
Speaker 1 (34:28):
yeah, that's a very, very, very good song.
It is, it is.
So, yeah, pink friday, um, themiseducation of lauren hill.
I feel like I'm forgetting,like some huge ones, that I'm
gonna regret.
Oh never, say never.
By brandy uh, one of myfavorite albums ever, um, and
then the blueprint by jay-z.
That's another one of myfavorites that I can.
(34:48):
I'm naming albums that like, ifyou start them, track one I can
listen to without skipping asong.
Oh, drake's, uh, nothing wasthe same.
I'm gonna stop right there okaybut those are some of my
favorites, I mean.
But the list is really long andI know there's some that I'm
missing.
I just my phone is right here.
I was gonna look at my Spotify,but I know we don't have that
much time.
But yeah, those are some of thealbums that come to mind off
(35:11):
the top of my head.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yeah, those those are all the ones you mentioned are
pretty high up on my list aswell.
So so this next question may beeven more difficult than the
last, but and it's basically anextension but favorite music
producer I guess rodney jerkins,for sure.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Um, brian cox, brian michael cox, right b cox, um, I
don't, I don't think I outsideof I mean timberland, I love
timberland, I think he's reallygood.
Oh yeah, if we're getting intothat, right, timberland, just
Blaze for sure.
Swiss Beats, those are like Imean, I know those are the most
(35:54):
like popular names.
So I mean I'm not like super,I'm sure there's like songs and
albums that I love and like Iprobably just don't know who was
producing what, but Like Iprobably just don't know who was
producing what, but like thoseare some of the people the names
that come to mind that haveproduced like some of my
favorite songs, for sure.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Next is favorite film score or soundtrack.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Love Jones, waiting to Excel.
I'm also going to add the Loveand Basketball soundtrack.
I liked that one too.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
So Love and Basketball, love Jones and
Waiting to excel three reallygood uh movie soundtracks okay,
um, favorite tv theme song, andthis is my first time saying
this, but you cannot say firstprince, because everybody says
that, so you got to give mesomething else favorite tv theme
song oh jamie, the jamie foxxshow jamie foxx show yeah, for
(36:43):
sure, I like that one a lot okay, that's, that's um what's yours
?
It's really short, so I was.
I was surprised by that.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
It's like it's usually the longer ones kind of
get more love, um so it's theone that comes to my mind first
when I think of like theme songsthat I, that I love, and it's
his is the first that comes tomind.
But there, there are others,but he's just the first one.
What's yours?
Speaker 2 (37:06):
that's crazy, because that was the first one that
came to mind, but I because Idon't, that's just the most
memorable, because it's reallylike like tv theme songy.
Um yeah, but I don't because ofI'm trying to think of some
other ones and nothing else iscoming to mind, so I'm gonna
just go with family matters,because that was the first one
that popped in my mind I like afull house, full house is one
(37:28):
that's whatever happened to yeah, yeah the paper boy.
Yeah, I like full house and theyhad, like I think they had some
crossover.
I think urkel was in a coupleepisodes of full house, so that
might have had the it might itcould have been composed by the
same person.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Because their songs sound similar right.
Yeah, those are very similar,but yeah, okay, good Times is
like memorable, oh the.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Jeffersons, the Jeffersons.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Okay, I'm going to go with the Jeffersons.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Favorite Moving on up .
We're moving on up.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
That's real catchy, okay, yes, yes, yes, I'm trying
to think.
You know my memory.
My memory is just not as sharpas it used to be.
So, these questions you'reasking me, I feel like I'm gonna
get off and I'm gonna remembersome things that I should have
said, and I hate that.
Um, but yeah, I'm gonna lock myanswers in.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Okay, that's cool.
Well, yeah, I think that bringsus to the end.
Thank you for sharing all thedetails of your story and
experiences.
We really got in there.
You got really philosophicalabout these questions at the end
too, so I appreciate it that Ienjoy talking about stuff like
that.
Yeah, but before we wrap up up,I mean you mentioned you're
(38:46):
working on some things that butyou you can't really share.
But can you at least share likepeople can find you on social
media, um, how they connect withyou, um online linkedin and
things of that nature.
Yeah, they just kind of want tosupport what you're doing, or
uh, yeah, or connect, yeah for,or, you know, connect.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Yeah for sure.
So one of the projects that Ican talk about is called Camp
Inner Child and it is going tobe a unscripted TV series that
follows a group of burned outmillennial women to camp for a
week in an effort to like, watchthem reconnect with their inner
child.
And right now we're justbuilding the community for Camp
Inner Child.
(39:24):
So any women who aremillennials who are listening to
this and you want just buildingthe community for Camp
Interchild so any women who aremillennials who are listening to
this and you want to join thecommunity just go to
campinterchildcom and you canjoin or sign up for our
newsletter and then that wayyou'll stay up to date.
We do like virtual events.
We're about to do our firstin-person event.
We're doing a bonfire inNovember in Milwaukee and then
we will hopefully start shootingthe actual TV series at some
(39:47):
point next year.
We're just in the funding phasefor that.
So that is one project that Ican't talk about, and I got some
other stuff coming.
So, yes, follow me on socialmedia to be able to hear the
announcements for the otherthings that I'm working on.
I'm on LinkedIn as JasmineHenley Brown, and that's Jasmine
with a Z, soJ-A-Z-M-I-N-E-H-E-N-L-E-Y-brown,
(40:08):
like the color, and then on allother social media platforms
it's just at J Henley Brown.
So it's atJ-H-E-N-L-E-Y-B-R-O-W-N.
And yeah, that's how you canfind me.
Speaker 2 (40:19):
All right.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
I appreciate it.
Oh, and I remembered anotherpoint that I skipped that when I
lost my train of thought um,have you ever considered doing
voiceover?
Uh, yeah, I would love to breakinto that industry.
Like I told you, I uh, when Iwrote those meditations, I did
the voice.
I voiced them too, and that wasreally fun.
I just I don't know how to findvoiceover opportunities.
I don't have an agent right now, so I don't know how to do it.
But yeah, I would love to dothat at some point in my life.
Do you?
Do you know?
Do you know ashley hops?
That name sounds familiar.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
We might be connected on linkedin you might, but she,
um, she was actually the she'sgoing to be the first uh episode
that I've released for thewhole podcast.
Um, but she, recently, I thinkshe, I think she did like a
incubator or one of them wordsto get into vo and she's I she's
been posting about her gettinginto it as well.
So if you actually do want to,um, consider breaking into the
(41:17):
field.
I'm sure she can connect.
You can connect you with, likeagents and agencies and all that
type of stuff.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
So yeah, I would love that.
Do you think?
You think I got a shot?
Speaker 2 (41:26):
I think I think you, yeah, I think I think you're a
natural.
Obviously it's just tricks ofthe trade and and little things
that you got to pick up on, butfor sure you know.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
As for raw talent, I I think you got the gift um that
means a lot coming from aproducer, because you know your
expertise is in sound.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
So I'm gonna take that one to the bank oh, yeah,
yeah I would love I would lovemixing your voice, like it would
just uh, it would be beautifulman, we got to work on something
yeah, we do um, but yeah, I, Ithink that's a wrap um, like I
said, appreciate you coming onum thank you so much for having
(42:03):
me on.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
I think you know your concept here is really amazing.
I can't wait to personally hearfrom other professionals in
this industry on the show.
So thank you again for havingme on.
Speaker 2 (42:13):
Yeah, welcome.
Like I said, thank you forjoining me, for everyone
listening.
I'll catch you on the nextepisode.
Thank you for joining us ontoday's episode.
Please don't forget tosubscribe to the show and leave
us a review.
If you'd like to work with meor connect, please go to
soundbysitcom and schedule acall there.
(42:36):
You can also check out the fulllist of productions I've worked
on.
If you'd like to connect onsocial media, my handle is
soundbysitcom on Twitter andInstagram and I'm Sidney Evans
on LinkedIn.
On social media, my handle issoundbossedcom on Twitter and
Instagram and I'm Sidney Evanson LinkedIn.
Don't forget to follow Beyondthe Threshold on Instagram as
well.
I'll catch you on the nextepisode.
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