August 20, 2025 • 36 mins
The latest Building Black Business podcast episode features Honey German in conversation with Cedric Walker, founder of UniverSoul Circus. In Partnership with @DriveToyota
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another episode of Building Black Business. Today, we're
sitting down with what I want to say is like
the epitome of the builder of a black business. We're
sitting down with Cedric Walker, who is the founder of
the Universal Circus.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good, good afternoon, and welcome me.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome, Welcome. I'm so excited to talk to you today.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yes, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
This is a story that needs to be told because
you know, we all know of the Universal Circus, but
we don't know the man behind it.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yes, yes, yes, no. We started thirty two years ago
in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
And you're ten years old when you started this, cerviuce.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I love you.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Free tickets, free tickets, season tickets, thirty two years ago,
yes Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yes you and who. So we had a team of
people that I was doing gospel plays at the time,
and I was in a theater one night, Benado Theater
in Pittsburgh and we had a they called Wicked Ways,
and I saw a whole family like grandmother, father, grandfather,
daughter's son, and grand child and it was like generations
(01:10):
and a gospel play at night leaving the theater and
I asked the playwright, I said, okay, well, this is
clean entertainment, I get it. But the whole family with
teenagers at a gospel play. Wicked Ways was about how
teenagers get caught up in the drug culture and lose
their lives. Stepfather's raising step sons, mechanic husbands and professional wives.
(01:37):
But a lot of social issues that faced at the community.
And the playwright told me, he said, you know, theatre
is the oldest form of live entertainment, and what makes
theater so powerful is that one can see themselves on
stage and the light bulb. You know. At that point,
(01:58):
I said, you know, we need you know, urban culture,
the dance, the music, the fashion, the gospel of spirituality.
There was no family attraction that represented that culture and
and so we set off to create. The original idea
was a variety show. How do we bring dance, you know, theater, jazz, blues,
(02:23):
hip hop, something for the whole family together. So that
evolved into a circus when we went to the library
and we were studying black entertainment from the turn of
the century.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
When you say we who were you with? Who is ideal? Okay? Okay?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So this is so I had a young lady h
and I had a young lady Angelo Barrow, and she
went on to write more plays and a casual cow
our first ring master, and a gentleman named Joseph meet
them and we Joseph was in marketing, so this was
(03:04):
kind of my team that that that they really knew
people and they really understood how to write a play
that would touch people, how to market to people. So
it was my people team, but that's who we is.
So we we found out that during Vaudeville days, the
black trainers trained dogs and horses for shows, and that
(03:28):
the circus kind of I did just hit at that point.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
It was like a light bulb went on.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I jumped. I literally I was sitting in a chair
like this and I think I I hit the ceiling.
It was just so much fun and it was it
was actually here in New York out. So I went
home and I got every piece of information that I
could that that he involved blacks and circus, and I
(03:59):
put it in and over. I did literally what. I
put it over my bed, so I went to sleep
looking at circus, put it on my walls, put it everywhere.
Because it was such a challenging idea that I had
to live it. And I was walking I was in
New York doing doing a play. Good Man is hard
(04:20):
to find at that time, and I walked into a festival,
urban festival, I think around one twenty fifth or somewhere,
and there was a booth and it was called of
Africans and Circus Rings, and I knew, you know, there's
a thing that says, if if you take one step,
(04:40):
providence will take ten. That was the beginning of those
ten steps.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
What are the odds that you would, you know, just
find yourself face to face with something that even says
those words.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yes. And it was a circus. Uh. He was a
circus historian and don't ask me for the names, no way.
It was out of Philadelphia and he collected and he
was he collected information on all circuses, but he was
African American and he was particularly he was informative about
(05:13):
blacks and circus. So I went, I froze and I said, sir,
I know you're going to think this is crazy, but
I want to do a circus that features all black performers.
And can I take some pictures of your booth? And
he said sure, sure, and it was and I brought
(05:35):
a panoramic camera at that time, and went, came in
and I snapped everything and put all the pictures of
like I photograph all of this I did. I couldn't
even imagine.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
God works in mysterious ways powerfully. He wanted you there
at that particular moment, because out of all things in
all booths that you could have seen that one yep.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
And here we yeah, here we are there two years later.
You know. So when we started putting it together, we
we wanted to reflect the positive movement of our culture.
I remember particularly saying, okay, because I've been in the
music business all my life, and we saw jazz and
(06:22):
we saw drums and that was our culture from a
you know, from music or from my from that perspective
at that time. And I said, We're so much more
than that, and our culture is so so much richer
and it has so much dimension. So we actually put
(06:43):
on a board so many things. We we looked at gospel,
we looked at part of which is a part of
our culture, the spirituality. Sports. We had the unicycle troop
to play basketball on wheels. We want after them U
the first time on TV. So we looked at some
(07:06):
of the first shows that went on TV, and you know,
we kind of ended up with you know, the Jeffersons
and moving on up to the top and all of
those different shows, and we played the music from those sitcoms,
and then we went to Motown, we got to Jackson
five music. But we were we were trying to hit
(07:28):
those those cultural contributive or contribution points where our culture
has contributed to society, to global and made a global impact.
And I think, you know it's it really we wanted
people to go there, and we wanted them to feel
(07:49):
a sense of pride. And it didn't matter who they were,
what color they were, there's certainly a sense of enthusiasm
and pride and cultural arts and how they're delivered and
what they mean. So that was that was the origin
of the idea.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
How did you execute? Like take me back to the
moment when Universal Circuits first opened, Like what was that
day and where was that day?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
It was Atlanta, Georgia, November eleventh.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
I think eleven eleven, that's a.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Good number it was, And we the first show went off.
We lost a lot of money, So that's I mean,
we spent three hundred thousand I had saved, and I
think I raised another two or three hundred we lost
nine hundred, so it was like, you know, we were
(08:48):
in that. But but what what I what I walked
away with? There was a ninety year old lady, well
I'm assumed, and she was between ninety or someone said
she was ninety, but she was very senior and she
(09:09):
where's the owner? Where's the owner? And I thought, what
have I done wrong? I mean it was the first show.
And so she says, son, you know, you show me
something that I've never thought I would see in my life.
She said, if I died now I could say I've
seen it all. And she was African American. It it
(09:33):
just made the What help what kept me going was
the kids, their faces, the enthusiasm, the way it uplifted
people to see yourselves and doing things that you never
thought because before Universe Soul, there was a few people
(09:54):
in circus in America. A lot of the performance I
brought here were from Europe because there were a lot
of black performers performing circus arts in Europe but not
too many in America, and so it was new to
see and they were doing. The black circus performers were
(10:15):
no joke. I mean they were serious. We had a
group of girls two girls and they will perform high
up sixty feet in the air with no net during
acrobatic stunts I mean on single trapees, and I mean
it was just incredible. Uh some It was a group
(10:36):
called Satin, and I remember when I signed them, a
lot of the other performers, the white performers, were like,
if Satin's going to be there, we want to be there.
And this was a black act in that time period.
So we had a lot of quality performance back then.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
And your first performers did you had to travel to
find them?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I did. I went when I heard when I thought
about doing circus, what I had read about circus, you
know entrepreneurs was they went around the world and found talent.
So I went around the world and found talent. I've
done everywhere. I've been in South America and in the back,
(11:23):
in the mountains, in the big cities, in the small towns.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
How do you find these people?
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Who do you call? I just go. I remember some
of the early signers. I was traveling through South Africa
and I was in I was what country was in
Cape Town? And I went from I was looking if
there was a school in Cape Town, so they you know,
(11:50):
I'm looking for talent. And they said, man, it's a
it's a boy. It's a boy and his father in Johannesburg.
And uh, but we don't where they live. We don't.
I can't go with you.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
You're on your own.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
You're on your own into that part of Johannesburg. So
I went there, and I remember sitting in a coffee
shop because they said, well, they only perform every three
or four days. They kind of calme when they want
and they draw a big crowd, make enough money.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
And entrepreneurs, you know, that's that's how they Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Uh, So I sat and drank coffee for three days
waiting for them, just I would go there in the morning.
Well they didn't show up today. I'll be back tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Entrepreneur, are you listening to this? This man said he
went to South Africa to a place where no one
else would accompany him, and he sat for three days
at the same coffee shop hoping these people that he
wanted to recruit would show up. Yes, that's dedication. If
you're listening today and you know you're a black business
(12:54):
owner or you're someone who wants to open up a
black business, I want you to understand all the gems
that are being dropped, right, We've just been talking for minutes.
Day three they show up? Or what day did they
show up?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
They showed up on day three?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Okay, And did you think about leaving at any point,
like they're not going to come?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
No, that wasn't no. I'm not a no. It's going
My confass points north. I just I'm going north. I'm
not going south. I'm not backing up. I you know,
I'm that passion. I mean, some things you just know
(13:31):
when you know, and there's there's no guidelines. It's just
that you know. I came a long way for it.
Now I'm going to see them. I came all the
way across the world, and I want to see.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
This and tell me what happened. Listen, I'm invested in
this story. I want to know what happened on day
three when they showed up.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
The gentleman that the choreographer, or the one that the
father turned out to be a choreographer that we still
use today to create contortion acts. It works. The girl,
I didn't show you the yes, I did the contortion
and the control. He actually still works with me today.
But he created our first act and it was a
(14:14):
boy and a girl that did a sort of a
hand balanced contortion act and he put it together in
three days and they came to America and knocked the
audience off their feet. So he, I mean, and he
today has choreographed He's African and he's able to choreograph
(14:40):
contortion based on the African culture. So it's different. So
there's there's Asian contortion and there's Latino contortion, and they're
all different structures and different expressions. And his is African
and I don't know how to explain that, but I
I can tell you that it's a feel and it's
(15:03):
a way that that he does it. That is is
you can feel it him and it'll reflect the culture.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
That trip to Johannesburg was worth it.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yes, yes, how is the coffee? It was? It was?
I was every all day, every day. I don't want anymore.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Where have you found the most amount of talent? Like
where in the world?
Speaker 2 (15:30):
So I can tell you a little bit about circus
and regardless of what in different parts of the world.
That my observation, it's not so South America has your
dad devils. You'll find your trapees, your high wires that
you're gonna find that those type of acts. Asia has
(15:54):
your contortion, well, you're pretty contortion light. A lot of
the vendors come from the different Asian countries Europe, the
different parts of Europe have you know, you've in like
(16:14):
Bulgaria or places like that, you find your your your
a lot of your acrobats that fly through the air
and land on each other's shoulders out We call it
teeta board in the circus world. But you find a
lot of UH acrobats that are precision acrobats in those countries.
(16:38):
The same thing goes like in different parts of Africa.
In Ethiopia, the people are small, so I get a
lot of contortion in Ethia. In Ethiopia, in South Africa
you get more of a European UH precision acrobat. In
UH West Africa, which is really strong for dance, you
(17:02):
get you get a lot of your dare devil acts,
your you know, we create trappees there. So you know,
circus comes from different parts of the world, and there's
not one part. Well, Ethiopia, I might add, in terms
of circus artists of African descent is leading the world
(17:27):
and we're very proud to have started working with them
probably around two thousand ninety nine or two thousand they start,
watched them grow from from circus schools that really were
developed to keep kids off the street and give them
(17:47):
something to do. To a global empire. They provide talent
for circus lay, universal soul wring, My brothers, all the
circuses in Europe, China, you if you, they are the
leading producers and it's a global business and I'm proud
(18:08):
to have been associated with them. We would send trainers
to Ethiopia and we invested in a first Ethiopian circus festivals.
So I mean, we're very proud of the work we
do with the Ethiopians.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
But and I feel so proud of you because imagine
all the lives you have helped change.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
When we started circus, it wasn't many circuses that we
I can tell you a story. There weren't many circuses
that presented a lot of people of African descent. I
remember going to I think I went to Mexico and
(18:50):
I wanted to bring some Cuban circus performers to Mexico
and they were darker skin and I told the Mexican
circus I said, look, I'll pay for them to learn
circus arts and to work. They were skilled, but I'll
pay to, you know, for them to get the exposure
and you get to act free. And the guy said,
(19:13):
we just don't know about darker skinned people in circus.
So it was it was I went, you know, we
went through. Well, I took some clowns to to Ukraine
and to learn from a circus school. There are some
African clowns and they were yes, yes, yes, when I
(19:35):
was presenting the when I was talking to the school.
But when I got to the hotel for the school,
they said, well, and I bought, you know, I brought
the kids there and they were like no, and so
they we had to learn in a separate school. So
there were challenges that existed in the world.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
When you're building a black business, there are going to
be a different set of challenges you know that you're
going to have to face. But you push through.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
With these because you have to keep a positive perspective
and you have to keep your focus on where you're
going and what you envision and not the setbacks or
the things that happen along the way. You have to
respect them and acknowledge them. But the picture that you
(20:25):
see in your head is the picture that will be.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
High on the prize, eye on the price forever. And
you know, we're talking about the world and currently rhythm
of the world. That's the tour that we're seeing right now.
Talk to me.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
So as the Mother World comes from the idea that
we're at that point where urban culture meets and perpetuates
global culture with music and with swagger fashion, and it's
you know, we've got a group of performers that travel
(21:06):
and live together for nine months out of a year,
and it turns into a family and it's you know,
it's a family backstage, and it's a family in the audience,
and so it's kind of you know, it creates a
(21:29):
sense of so our circus you'll find Russian performers with
we have a group of Russian performers, Asian, African and
South American. We have skaters that are combining urban skating
from our skating ranks to circus skating from the Hispanic culture.
So we're combining cultures and people and it's sort of
(21:54):
a patchwork of what the world is. It's more than diversity,
it's it's beyond diverse. It's people from where there's a
sense of family that connects us, and no matter where
you come from and what culture, Circus in its natural
state perpetuates that because Circus is made up of people
(22:18):
from all over the world. At our show, there's a
freedom to to do that. Just that urban culture period
and everybody wanting to be a part of it that
allows that to it allows it to come together. So
the rhythm of the world was born from that that
(22:41):
I did it. We're all cousins, we're all connected, and
you know, it's kind of where the way we came
up with that.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
When we're under the Big Top, we're just all we're
from media.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
So it's a it's a connection. So you said when
we're under the Big Top, and that's important. The the
universal if anybody has ever been at one point you
are watching the show and the next point you may
be in the ring with At one point the performers
(23:13):
are in the ring and the next point they may
be in the audience with right next to you. So
it's that connection that we we we try to foster
soul and entertainer is fed from the reception that they
receive from the audience, and the audience is fed from
(23:35):
the quality of the performance. So there's a connection that
that involves that that that that involves the audience and
the performer. We take that into the next step and
actually take our performance to the audience and bring the
audience to us. So it's a different kind of shell.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I've experienced it several times and it just it's like
you escape outside world. You're in your own little world.
When you're at the Universal Circus, it's like all of
a sudden, you're looking to the left and you know
there's people dancing next to you. They might pull you
down into the It's just an experience. I feel like everyone,
like families, adults, couples, like you should experience it just
feels good.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Yeah, So the the idea that live entertainment leads and
what makes entertainment it's hard, so it's always what's new, right,
So we take a serious responsibility for leading leading the public.
(24:42):
So you we if you come there, we want you
not just to see great entertainment, but we want you
to feel it. We want you to leave there feeling something.
And that's the important thing. It's a saying that it's
not what you say to a person, but it's how
you make them feel.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Is that maya Angelou, I feel like it might be.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, so I'm that's what we strive for. We strive
to take you to a new place, to take you
to an exciting place, to take you to an uplifting place,
to make you experience the one that in the awe
of the world, and.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
You're doing an amazing job at it. You know, It's
like when you go to the Universal Circus, it just
feels like you entered a totally different, you know world.
You're picking the perfect performers, these kids, the faces of
these kids. I feel like that's my favorite part is
just watching the kids all around me, like they're just
in awe experience. You know that those are you know,
(25:47):
core memories that they're building that they'll never forget.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Yeah, I cried one of the lady. All the Lady
was one of the experiences that drove me, what she said,
But what the other thing that really drove me is
watching the kids experience the kid's joy and their excitement
(26:11):
and the energy that kids that the kids in the
audience are feeling, and even watching the parents watch their kids.
It's it touched me. I think I went and hit
I went and hit somewhere one day on it was
a ten thirty morning show and it was full and
(26:33):
the kids were just screaming at the top of their
voice and everything and anything. But it felt so wrong
and I did it broke me down. I had to
just I cried. I didn't just tear up. I just
got emotional about it.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
You've created this, you were bringing this joy and you
know into these families, into these children like you.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Well, I like to think that God did it and
that I'm a vessel. Well I know that God did it,
and I'm a vessel and a team of us because
the passion in each one of the performers like like
so there were rock and roll bands that wanted to
(27:19):
work Soul Train right there. There's always that desire to
experience our culture from different people. And so the people
in the world that we have been able to get together,
they come to this circus with a passion. They don't
come like it's a job. So what they give the
audience is that they given they and they talk about it.
(27:44):
It says no other circus in the world where the
audience gives you that feeling like that, and they you know,
I've had performers cry. You know, we had a Russian
act that came and they had a very good act
and they had their music and their dance was was
(28:05):
real Scottish, it was they and it was square dance.
And we've we fought them like we got to change
the music and the costumes. We gotta change. You can't
do square dance for this audience. And we we didn't
change it. And they got out there that first night
and the kids were doing their dances. You know, that's
(28:27):
that diversity in that culture and the kids pick up
on it and and that's that sharing point. They were
sharing their culture with our audience. And the guy came out,
went in the dressing room and he cried, you know,
the producer of that act.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
They're accepted. It was like it happened.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
He was accepted and it was a whole new audience
that he wasn't used to and he they they feel
something and so it's it's a different show.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
When does the show open?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
So we open on the six at Roy Wilkins Park,
and we're inviting all of New York. We're working really
hard to play the different burrows. But so far we're
going to start. Queens has accepted it and we're working
together with them from the sixth to the twenty eighth September. Yep.
(29:21):
And we're going to focus on New York. I mean
we want to invite all the barrels. We're we're looking
at New York as a city, one village, one voice.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
In Long Island, you right next to Queens, don't play.
Let's bring all of Long Island out to Queens. Also,
come on Brooklyn, Brooklyn to everybody.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Come on.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
So when dow tickets.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Go on sale, So tickets are on sale right now, right, So.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
If you're listening to this episode, ticketmaster dot com, buy
your tickets.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Yep. Get your tickets at ticketmaster go dot com. Or
you can go to Universal Circus dot com and get
your tickets as well.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Families, let's get this together. And you know we pre
plan everything a month out, so you know, buy your
tickets now. Make this a family event. You can make
this a date night. I love me a date night,
and why not the circus. You can make this with
your friends whoever it is. You know, the Circus is
for everyone. It's not just for the kids.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
No, we get a lot of date night. We get
a lot of people that I've had girls and the kids,
but I'm coming back with my girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
For real man girls night. Come on, girls, let's go
to the Universal Ercus and you know, have us a
good time. We get that, but I want to take
a moment to stop down and you know, thank you
for everything you do giving back to the community. You know,
it's not just about selling tickets and it being a business.
I know that you have you know, allowed foster children
and you know, children that are not as privileged to
(30:50):
have parents maybe to buy them a ticket to the
circus to experience a circus, and that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
The biggest one we did was in Queens and I'm
really excited about replicating it where we had. Well, we've
done a lot of things. We've done scholarships, and we've
given money and done fundraisers for kid groups or organizations
that work with youth. But the biggest, the most for me,
(31:21):
homelessness is a very serious challenge for me personally to
watch or look at. So we created this show where
I was somewhere. I was in Philadelphia getting the way it,
rented a car at the train station and got lost
and I ended up in this calder sack in Philly
(31:42):
where all these big trucks were and all these families
were sitting on the curb and they were going in
the trucks getting food and bags and clothes, and it
just it just got to me inside that I had
kind of rolled into a scenario of homeless families and
(32:05):
their kids were waiting while they went on the trucks
and got clothes, and it was so many people. It
was like a industrial point with people. So we did
a show. We do a show in every market free
and we invite We don't call it the homeless show.
(32:26):
We call it the open house. And we opened our
house to the to the to the community that may
or may not get to see the show, but we
want them to come with their families. I never forgot
my mother taking me to circuit. You never forget your parents.
It's not like loading a bunch of kids and having
(32:47):
a kiddie show, but that your parent, that parent experiencing,
And a lot of people don't realize what it means
to a child when you and your child are there
and you're experiencing this event to other. So we created this.
We work with queens with the Department of Human Services,
(33:09):
and we ended up getting a full house and it
was all it was very diverse, people from all different
cultures and we did this free show, but one of
the requirements is that the parents had to bring the kids.
They couldn't just load up on the bus. And we
gave away free toys like the lights. We wanted them
to We wanted the kids to experience everything that a
(33:32):
kid with money would experience. We had volunteers to come
in and do hot dogs. But that I still am
feeling it now. It still fills me up to wash
the joy on those kids' faces and they were standing
up and waving their lights, and you know, the parents,
(33:53):
the volunteers were happy serving the kids and giving them
the toys. It just was a moment that those moments
are very important.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
You know, it's as a community. We're all there together
to create a memory. And you know, for that one moment,
the parent and the child can escape the reality of
the hardship that they're experiencing. You're granting them that and
you know that night, instead of maybe being upset about
everything that's happening, they can actually take a moment and
(34:26):
discuss the joy they felt that day.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Joy is from God's amen. I mean, you get in
a space and the parent and the children can enjoy that.
And you know, I also like the idea that Circus
brings brings a family together. So we play we do
things in the show for adults, and we do things
(34:51):
for children and their kids. On the ten thirty morning
show full of kids, we can play a Temptations song
and they sing every word right of getting ready, because
here we come right from the sixties. But five year
old nose every word from their parents. But parents watching
(35:11):
kids with with refresh the clowns or hip hop, and
they go out to the audience and they just turn
the tent crazy with hip hop. And the parents don't
know the songs, but they know their kid is cleaning
entertainment and their kid is enjoying themselves matters. And then
we have the soul karaoke where we might have al
(35:33):
green song. It looks that's somebody's uncles singing our green song, right,
and the kids enjoy the parents. I mean, it's the
soul train line. The kids dance. It's something for everybody,
and it brings generations together.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
And God will continue to bless you because what you're
doing out here is God's.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Work pretty much. You know, I'm excited and I know
that that's where it can. I'm from, and I thank you.
We have a spiritual ending that I'll never take out
of the show better or not, no, because I know
where my blessings come from.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
There you go. Now, if you're listening to this episode,
you know I want you to know ticketmaster dot com
Universal Circus Circus.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
That's right the sixth through the twenty eighth of September
at Roy Welkins Park.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Here you go. You heard it from the man himself,
Cedric Walker, the founder of the Universal Circus. Yes, thank
you so much. That was another amazing episode of building
black business. I feel like this is going to be
one of our top episodes because wow, you built a
black business, a successful black business. But anyway, I could
go on forever. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
I'll see you at the circus.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Thank you, honey. I'm on popcorn all right?
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Bye bye.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
You gotta have a finel k oh. Yes,
Welcome to another episode of Building Black Business. Today, we're
sitting down with what I want to say is like
the epitome of the builder of a black business. We're
sitting down with Cedric Walker, who is the founder of
the Universal Circus.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good, good afternoon, and welcome me.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome, Welcome. I'm so excited to talk to you today.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yes, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
This is a story that needs to be told because
you know, we all know of the Universal Circus, but
we don't know the man behind it.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yes, yes, yes, no. We started thirty two years ago
in Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
And you're ten years old when you started this, cerviuce.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I love you.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Free tickets, free tickets, season tickets, thirty two years ago,
yes Atlanta.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yes you and who. So we had a team of
people that I was doing gospel plays at the time,
and I was in a theater one night, Benado Theater
in Pittsburgh and we had a they called Wicked Ways,
and I saw a whole family like grandmother, father, grandfather,
daughter's son, and grand child and it was like generations
(01:10):
and a gospel play at night leaving the theater and
I asked the playwright, I said, okay, well, this is
clean entertainment, I get it. But the whole family with
teenagers at a gospel play. Wicked Ways was about how
teenagers get caught up in the drug culture and lose
their lives. Stepfather's raising step sons, mechanic husbands and professional wives.
(01:37):
But a lot of social issues that faced at the community.
And the playwright told me, he said, you know, theatre
is the oldest form of live entertainment, and what makes
theater so powerful is that one can see themselves on
stage and the light bulb. You know. At that point,
(01:58):
I said, you know, we need you know, urban culture,
the dance, the music, the fashion, the gospel of spirituality.
There was no family attraction that represented that culture and
and so we set off to create. The original idea
was a variety show. How do we bring dance, you know, theater, jazz, blues,
(02:23):
hip hop, something for the whole family together. So that
evolved into a circus when we went to the library
and we were studying black entertainment from the turn of
the century.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
When you say we who were you with? Who is ideal? Okay? Okay?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So this is so I had a young lady h
and I had a young lady Angelo Barrow, and she
went on to write more plays and a casual cow
our first ring master, and a gentleman named Joseph meet
them and we Joseph was in marketing, so this was
(03:04):
kind of my team that that that they really knew
people and they really understood how to write a play
that would touch people, how to market to people. So
it was my people team, but that's who we is.
So we we found out that during Vaudeville days, the
black trainers trained dogs and horses for shows, and that
(03:28):
the circus kind of I did just hit at that point.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
It was like a light bulb went on.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
I jumped. I literally I was sitting in a chair
like this and I think I I hit the ceiling.
It was just so much fun and it was it
was actually here in New York out. So I went
home and I got every piece of information that I
could that that he involved blacks and circus, and I
(03:59):
put it in and over. I did literally what. I
put it over my bed, so I went to sleep
looking at circus, put it on my walls, put it everywhere.
Because it was such a challenging idea that I had
to live it. And I was walking I was in
New York doing doing a play. Good Man is hard
(04:20):
to find at that time, and I walked into a festival,
urban festival, I think around one twenty fifth or somewhere,
and there was a booth and it was called of
Africans and Circus Rings, and I knew, you know, there's
a thing that says, if if you take one step,
(04:40):
providence will take ten. That was the beginning of those
ten steps.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
What are the odds that you would, you know, just
find yourself face to face with something that even says
those words.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yes. And it was a circus. Uh. He was a
circus historian and don't ask me for the names, no way.
It was out of Philadelphia and he collected and he
was he collected information on all circuses, but he was
African American and he was particularly he was informative about
(05:13):
blacks and circus. So I went, I froze and I said, sir,
I know you're going to think this is crazy, but
I want to do a circus that features all black performers.
And can I take some pictures of your booth? And
he said sure, sure, and it was and I brought
(05:35):
a panoramic camera at that time, and went, came in
and I snapped everything and put all the pictures of
like I photograph all of this I did. I couldn't
even imagine.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
God works in mysterious ways powerfully. He wanted you there
at that particular moment, because out of all things in
all booths that you could have seen that one yep.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
And here we yeah, here we are there two years later.
You know. So when we started putting it together, we
we wanted to reflect the positive movement of our culture.
I remember particularly saying, okay, because I've been in the
music business all my life, and we saw jazz and
(06:22):
we saw drums and that was our culture from a
you know, from music or from my from that perspective
at that time. And I said, We're so much more
than that, and our culture is so so much richer
and it has so much dimension. So we actually put
(06:43):
on a board so many things. We we looked at gospel,
we looked at part of which is a part of
our culture, the spirituality. Sports. We had the unicycle troop
to play basketball on wheels. We want after them U
the first time on TV. So we looked at some
(07:06):
of the first shows that went on TV, and you know,
we kind of ended up with you know, the Jeffersons
and moving on up to the top and all of
those different shows, and we played the music from those sitcoms,
and then we went to Motown, we got to Jackson
five music. But we were we were trying to hit
(07:28):
those those cultural contributive or contribution points where our culture
has contributed to society, to global and made a global impact.
And I think, you know it's it really we wanted
people to go there, and we wanted them to feel
(07:49):
a sense of pride. And it didn't matter who they were,
what color they were, there's certainly a sense of enthusiasm
and pride and cultural arts and how they're delivered and
what they mean. So that was that was the origin
of the idea.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
How did you execute? Like take me back to the
moment when Universal Circuits first opened, Like what was that
day and where was that day?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
It was Atlanta, Georgia, November eleventh.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
I think eleven eleven, that's a.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Good number it was, And we the first show went off.
We lost a lot of money, So that's I mean,
we spent three hundred thousand I had saved, and I
think I raised another two or three hundred we lost
nine hundred, so it was like, you know, we were
(08:48):
in that. But but what what I what I walked
away with? There was a ninety year old lady, well
I'm assumed, and she was between ninety or someone said
she was ninety, but she was very senior and she
(09:09):
where's the owner? Where's the owner? And I thought, what
have I done wrong? I mean it was the first show.
And so she says, son, you know, you show me
something that I've never thought I would see in my life.
She said, if I died now I could say I've
seen it all. And she was African American. It it
(09:33):
just made the What help what kept me going was
the kids, their faces, the enthusiasm, the way it uplifted
people to see yourselves and doing things that you never
thought because before Universe Soul, there was a few people
(09:54):
in circus in America. A lot of the performance I
brought here were from Europe because there were a lot
of black performers performing circus arts in Europe but not
too many in America, and so it was new to
see and they were doing. The black circus performers were
(10:15):
no joke. I mean they were serious. We had a
group of girls two girls and they will perform high
up sixty feet in the air with no net during
acrobatic stunts I mean on single trapees, and I mean
it was just incredible. Uh some It was a group
(10:36):
called Satin, and I remember when I signed them, a
lot of the other performers, the white performers, were like,
if Satin's going to be there, we want to be there.
And this was a black act in that time period.
So we had a lot of quality performance back then.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
And your first performers did you had to travel to
find them?
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I did. I went when I heard when I thought
about doing circus, what I had read about circus, you
know entrepreneurs was they went around the world and found talent.
So I went around the world and found talent. I've
done everywhere. I've been in South America and in the back,
(11:23):
in the mountains, in the big cities, in the small towns.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
How do you find these people?
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Who do you call? I just go. I remember some
of the early signers. I was traveling through South Africa
and I was in I was what country was in
Cape Town? And I went from I was looking if
there was a school in Cape Town, so they you know,
(11:50):
I'm looking for talent. And they said, man, it's a
it's a boy. It's a boy and his father in Johannesburg.
And uh, but we don't where they live. We don't.
I can't go with you.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
You're on your own.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
You're on your own into that part of Johannesburg. So
I went there, and I remember sitting in a coffee
shop because they said, well, they only perform every three
or four days. They kind of calme when they want
and they draw a big crowd, make enough money.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
And entrepreneurs, you know, that's that's how they Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Uh, So I sat and drank coffee for three days
waiting for them, just I would go there in the morning.
Well they didn't show up today. I'll be back tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Entrepreneur, are you listening to this? This man said he
went to South Africa to a place where no one
else would accompany him, and he sat for three days
at the same coffee shop hoping these people that he
wanted to recruit would show up. Yes, that's dedication. If
you're listening today and you know you're a black business
(12:54):
owner or you're someone who wants to open up a
black business, I want you to understand all the gems
that are being dropped, right, We've just been talking for minutes.
Day three they show up? Or what day did they
show up?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
They showed up on day three?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Okay, And did you think about leaving at any point,
like they're not going to come?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
No, that wasn't no. I'm not a no. It's going
My confass points north. I just I'm going north. I'm
not going south. I'm not backing up. I you know,
I'm that passion. I mean, some things you just know
(13:31):
when you know, and there's there's no guidelines. It's just
that you know. I came a long way for it.
Now I'm going to see them. I came all the
way across the world, and I want to see.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
This and tell me what happened. Listen, I'm invested in
this story. I want to know what happened on day
three when they showed up.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
The gentleman that the choreographer, or the one that the
father turned out to be a choreographer that we still
use today to create contortion acts. It works. The girl,
I didn't show you the yes, I did the contortion
and the control. He actually still works with me today.
But he created our first act and it was a
(14:14):
boy and a girl that did a sort of a
hand balanced contortion act and he put it together in
three days and they came to America and knocked the
audience off their feet. So he, I mean, and he
today has choreographed He's African and he's able to choreograph
(14:40):
contortion based on the African culture. So it's different. So
there's there's Asian contortion and there's Latino contortion, and they're
all different structures and different expressions. And his is African
and I don't know how to explain that, but I
I can tell you that it's a feel and it's
(15:03):
a way that that he does it. That is is
you can feel it him and it'll reflect the culture.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
That trip to Johannesburg was worth it.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yes, yes, how is the coffee? It was? It was?
I was every all day, every day. I don't want anymore.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Where have you found the most amount of talent? Like
where in the world?
Speaker 2 (15:30):
So I can tell you a little bit about circus
and regardless of what in different parts of the world.
That my observation, it's not so South America has your
dad devils. You'll find your trapees, your high wires that
you're gonna find that those type of acts. Asia has
(15:54):
your contortion, well, you're pretty contortion light. A lot of
the vendors come from the different Asian countries Europe, the
different parts of Europe have you know, you've in like
(16:14):
Bulgaria or places like that, you find your your your
a lot of your acrobats that fly through the air
and land on each other's shoulders out We call it
teeta board in the circus world. But you find a
lot of UH acrobats that are precision acrobats in those countries.
(16:38):
The same thing goes like in different parts of Africa.
In Ethiopia, the people are small, so I get a
lot of contortion in Ethia. In Ethiopia, in South Africa
you get more of a European UH precision acrobat. In
UH West Africa, which is really strong for dance, you
(17:02):
get you get a lot of your dare devil acts,
your you know, we create trappees there. So you know,
circus comes from different parts of the world, and there's
not one part. Well, Ethiopia, I might add, in terms
of circus artists of African descent is leading the world
(17:27):
and we're very proud to have started working with them
probably around two thousand ninety nine or two thousand they start,
watched them grow from from circus schools that really were
developed to keep kids off the street and give them
(17:47):
something to do. To a global empire. They provide talent
for circus lay, universal soul wring, My brothers, all the
circuses in Europe, China, you if you, they are the
leading producers and it's a global business and I'm proud
(18:08):
to have been associated with them. We would send trainers
to Ethiopia and we invested in a first Ethiopian circus festivals.
So I mean, we're very proud of the work we
do with the Ethiopians.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
But and I feel so proud of you because imagine
all the lives you have helped change.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
When we started circus, it wasn't many circuses that we
I can tell you a story. There weren't many circuses
that presented a lot of people of African descent. I
remember going to I think I went to Mexico and
(18:50):
I wanted to bring some Cuban circus performers to Mexico
and they were darker skin and I told the Mexican
circus I said, look, I'll pay for them to learn
circus arts and to work. They were skilled, but I'll
pay to, you know, for them to get the exposure
and you get to act free. And the guy said,
(19:13):
we just don't know about darker skinned people in circus.
So it was it was I went, you know, we
went through. Well, I took some clowns to to Ukraine
and to learn from a circus school. There are some
African clowns and they were yes, yes, yes, when I
(19:35):
was presenting the when I was talking to the school.
But when I got to the hotel for the school,
they said, well, and I bought, you know, I brought
the kids there and they were like no, and so
they we had to learn in a separate school. So
there were challenges that existed in the world.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
When you're building a black business, there are going to
be a different set of challenges you know that you're
going to have to face. But you push through.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
With these because you have to keep a positive perspective
and you have to keep your focus on where you're
going and what you envision and not the setbacks or
the things that happen along the way. You have to
respect them and acknowledge them. But the picture that you
(20:25):
see in your head is the picture that will be.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
High on the prize, eye on the price forever. And
you know, we're talking about the world and currently rhythm
of the world. That's the tour that we're seeing right now.
Talk to me.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
So as the Mother World comes from the idea that
we're at that point where urban culture meets and perpetuates
global culture with music and with swagger fashion, and it's
you know, we've got a group of performers that travel
(21:06):
and live together for nine months out of a year,
and it turns into a family and it's you know,
it's a family backstage, and it's a family in the audience,
and so it's kind of you know, it creates a
(21:29):
sense of so our circus you'll find Russian performers with
we have a group of Russian performers, Asian, African and
South American. We have skaters that are combining urban skating
from our skating ranks to circus skating from the Hispanic culture.
So we're combining cultures and people and it's sort of
(21:54):
a patchwork of what the world is. It's more than diversity,
it's it's beyond diverse. It's people from where there's a
sense of family that connects us, and no matter where
you come from and what culture, Circus in its natural
state perpetuates that because Circus is made up of people
(22:18):
from all over the world. At our show, there's a
freedom to to do that. Just that urban culture period
and everybody wanting to be a part of it that
allows that to it allows it to come together. So
the rhythm of the world was born from that that
(22:41):
I did it. We're all cousins, we're all connected, and
you know, it's kind of where the way we came
up with that.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
When we're under the Big Top, we're just all we're
from media.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
So it's a it's a connection. So you said when
we're under the Big Top, and that's important. The the
universal if anybody has ever been at one point you
are watching the show and the next point you may
be in the ring with At one point the performers
(23:13):
are in the ring and the next point they may
be in the audience with right next to you. So
it's that connection that we we we try to foster
soul and entertainer is fed from the reception that they
receive from the audience, and the audience is fed from
(23:35):
the quality of the performance. So there's a connection that
that involves that that that that involves the audience and
the performer. We take that into the next step and
actually take our performance to the audience and bring the
audience to us. So it's a different kind of shell.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I've experienced it several times and it just it's like
you escape outside world. You're in your own little world.
When you're at the Universal Circus, it's like all of
a sudden, you're looking to the left and you know
there's people dancing next to you. They might pull you
down into the It's just an experience. I feel like everyone,
like families, adults, couples, like you should experience it just
feels good.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Yeah, So the the idea that live entertainment leads and
what makes entertainment it's hard, so it's always what's new, right,
So we take a serious responsibility for leading leading the public.
(24:42):
So you we if you come there, we want you
not just to see great entertainment, but we want you
to feel it. We want you to leave there feeling something.
And that's the important thing. It's a saying that it's
not what you say to a person, but it's how
you make them feel.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Is that maya Angelou, I feel like it might be.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, so I'm that's what we strive for. We strive
to take you to a new place, to take you
to an exciting place, to take you to an uplifting place,
to make you experience the one that in the awe
of the world, and.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
You're doing an amazing job at it. You know, It's
like when you go to the Universal Circus, it just
feels like you entered a totally different, you know world.
You're picking the perfect performers, these kids, the faces of
these kids. I feel like that's my favorite part is
just watching the kids all around me, like they're just
in awe experience. You know that those are you know,
(25:47):
core memories that they're building that they'll never forget.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Yeah, I cried one of the lady. All the Lady
was one of the experiences that drove me, what she said,
But what the other thing that really drove me is
watching the kids experience the kid's joy and their excitement
(26:11):
and the energy that kids that the kids in the
audience are feeling, and even watching the parents watch their kids.
It's it touched me. I think I went and hit
I went and hit somewhere one day on it was
a ten thirty morning show and it was full and
(26:33):
the kids were just screaming at the top of their
voice and everything and anything. But it felt so wrong
and I did it broke me down. I had to
just I cried. I didn't just tear up. I just
got emotional about it.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
You've created this, you were bringing this joy and you
know into these families, into these children like you.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Well, I like to think that God did it and
that I'm a vessel. Well I know that God did it,
and I'm a vessel and a team of us because
the passion in each one of the performers like like
so there were rock and roll bands that wanted to
(27:19):
work Soul Train right there. There's always that desire to
experience our culture from different people. And so the people
in the world that we have been able to get together,
they come to this circus with a passion. They don't
come like it's a job. So what they give the
audience is that they given they and they talk about it.
(27:44):
It says no other circus in the world where the
audience gives you that feeling like that, and they you know,
I've had performers cry. You know, we had a Russian
act that came and they had a very good act
and they had their music and their dance was was
(28:05):
real Scottish, it was they and it was square dance.
And we've we fought them like we got to change
the music and the costumes. We gotta change. You can't
do square dance for this audience. And we we didn't
change it. And they got out there that first night
and the kids were doing their dances. You know, that's
(28:27):
that diversity in that culture and the kids pick up
on it and and that's that sharing point. They were
sharing their culture with our audience. And the guy came out,
went in the dressing room and he cried, you know,
the producer of that act.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
They're accepted. It was like it happened.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
He was accepted and it was a whole new audience
that he wasn't used to and he they they feel
something and so it's it's a different show.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
When does the show open?
Speaker 2 (29:00):
So we open on the six at Roy Wilkins Park,
and we're inviting all of New York. We're working really
hard to play the different burrows. But so far we're
going to start. Queens has accepted it and we're working
together with them from the sixth to the twenty eighth September. Yep.
(29:21):
And we're going to focus on New York. I mean
we want to invite all the barrels. We're we're looking
at New York as a city, one village, one voice.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
In Long Island, you right next to Queens, don't play.
Let's bring all of Long Island out to Queens. Also,
come on Brooklyn, Brooklyn to everybody.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Come on.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
So when dow tickets.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Go on sale, So tickets are on sale right now, right, So.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
If you're listening to this episode, ticketmaster dot com, buy
your tickets.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Yep. Get your tickets at ticketmaster go dot com. Or
you can go to Universal Circus dot com and get
your tickets as well.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Families, let's get this together. And you know we pre
plan everything a month out, so you know, buy your
tickets now. Make this a family event. You can make
this a date night. I love me a date night,
and why not the circus. You can make this with
your friends whoever it is. You know, the Circus is
for everyone. It's not just for the kids.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
No, we get a lot of date night. We get
a lot of people that I've had girls and the kids,
but I'm coming back with my girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
For real man girls night. Come on, girls, let's go
to the Universal Ercus and you know, have us a
good time. We get that, but I want to take
a moment to stop down and you know, thank you
for everything you do giving back to the community. You know,
it's not just about selling tickets and it being a business.
I know that you have you know, allowed foster children
and you know, children that are not as privileged to
(30:50):
have parents maybe to buy them a ticket to the
circus to experience a circus, and that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
The biggest one we did was in Queens and I'm
really excited about replicating it where we had. Well, we've
done a lot of things. We've done scholarships, and we've
given money and done fundraisers for kid groups or organizations
that work with youth. But the biggest, the most for me,
(31:21):
homelessness is a very serious challenge for me personally to
watch or look at. So we created this show where
I was somewhere. I was in Philadelphia getting the way it,
rented a car at the train station and got lost
and I ended up in this calder sack in Philly
(31:42):
where all these big trucks were and all these families
were sitting on the curb and they were going in
the trucks getting food and bags and clothes, and it
just it just got to me inside that I had
kind of rolled into a scenario of homeless families and
(32:05):
their kids were waiting while they went on the trucks
and got clothes, and it was so many people. It
was like a industrial point with people. So we did
a show. We do a show in every market free
and we invite We don't call it the homeless show.
(32:26):
We call it the open house. And we opened our
house to the to the to the community that may
or may not get to see the show, but we
want them to come with their families. I never forgot
my mother taking me to circuit. You never forget your parents.
It's not like loading a bunch of kids and having
(32:47):
a kiddie show, but that your parent, that parent experiencing,
And a lot of people don't realize what it means
to a child when you and your child are there
and you're experiencing this event to other. So we created this.
We work with queens with the Department of Human Services,
(33:09):
and we ended up getting a full house and it
was all it was very diverse, people from all different
cultures and we did this free show, but one of
the requirements is that the parents had to bring the kids.
They couldn't just load up on the bus. And we
gave away free toys like the lights. We wanted them
to We wanted the kids to experience everything that a
(33:32):
kid with money would experience. We had volunteers to come
in and do hot dogs. But that I still am
feeling it now. It still fills me up to wash
the joy on those kids' faces and they were standing
up and waving their lights, and you know, the parents,
(33:53):
the volunteers were happy serving the kids and giving them
the toys. It just was a moment that those moments
are very important.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
You know, it's as a community. We're all there together
to create a memory. And you know, for that one moment,
the parent and the child can escape the reality of
the hardship that they're experiencing. You're granting them that and
you know that night, instead of maybe being upset about
everything that's happening, they can actually take a moment and
(34:26):
discuss the joy they felt that day.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Joy is from God's amen. I mean, you get in
a space and the parent and the children can enjoy that.
And you know, I also like the idea that Circus
brings brings a family together. So we play we do
things in the show for adults, and we do things
(34:51):
for children and their kids. On the ten thirty morning
show full of kids, we can play a Temptations song
and they sing every word right of getting ready, because
here we come right from the sixties. But five year
old nose every word from their parents. But parents watching
(35:11):
kids with with refresh the clowns or hip hop, and
they go out to the audience and they just turn
the tent crazy with hip hop. And the parents don't
know the songs, but they know their kid is cleaning
entertainment and their kid is enjoying themselves matters. And then
we have the soul karaoke where we might have al
(35:33):
green song. It looks that's somebody's uncles singing our green song, right,
and the kids enjoy the parents. I mean, it's the
soul train line. The kids dance. It's something for everybody,
and it brings generations together.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
And God will continue to bless you because what you're
doing out here is God's.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Work pretty much. You know, I'm excited and I know
that that's where it can. I'm from, and I thank you.
We have a spiritual ending that I'll never take out
of the show better or not, no, because I know
where my blessings come from.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
There you go. Now, if you're listening to this episode,
you know I want you to know ticketmaster dot com
Universal Circus Circus.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
That's right the sixth through the twenty eighth of September
at Roy Welkins Park.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Here you go. You heard it from the man himself,
Cedric Walker, the founder of the Universal Circus. Yes, thank
you so much. That was another amazing episode of building
black business. I feel like this is going to be
one of our top episodes because wow, you built a
black business, a successful black business. But anyway, I could
go on forever. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
I'll see you at the circus.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Thank you, honey. I'm on popcorn all right?
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Bye bye.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
You gotta have a finel k oh. Yes,
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