July 14, 2025 • 45 mins
TEDx Speaker Robin Nathaniel has a story of resilience, creativity, and reinvention. Beginning his career as a musician, Robin’s artistic roots laid a unique foundation for his journey. This experience in music, with its emphasis on connection and storytelling, naturally paved the way for his transition into the professional world of social media. Living by the motto "Connect. Create. Contribute," he aims to inspire a wave of positive transformation.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/inspiring-stories--2917948/support.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/inspiring-stories--2917948/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Thank you for listening to the picture of the radiant.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Rat.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
You readything to me? Oh well, well say, oh well.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Not a bad stop.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I just need.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Solidly smashion. Sol is a dead.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Events.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Hey, welcome back everybody. Our next guest of Robin Nathaniel.
He has he's a ten X speaker and has a
really cool story about resilience and creativity. And he's beginning
his career as a musician and his artistic roots are
(02:01):
laid in a unique foundation for his journey. This experience
in music, with its emphasis on connection and storytelling, naturally
paved the way for his transition into a professional world
of social media. In living by the motto connect, Create, contribute,
(02:27):
he aims to inspire a wave of positive transformation. So
why don't we see what Robin's message, his art, and
his work is truly about, and how we can connect
with him as he creates and contributes to our lives.
(03:22):
All right, Robin, welcome to the show. So thank you
former musician or still a musician?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
You never formed would say, I would say former, Michael,
but I keep you know, I get these like random
back phone calls from certain artists and friends that are
like I just had a friend call me like, hey,
I need to join this album.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
My i'my dust off the pin and write something for you.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So yeah, exactly right. Hey, I used to performance on
stage myself and it's like way way back in the day,
and then next thing I know, I found myself performance
on a different stage for God and that it's like
still playing the same notes, just for a different reason. Right.
(04:10):
So it's it's you never fully walk away from it,
but you're playing for different reasons, right. So yeah, yeah,
So you're also a ten X speaker.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
I am.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I am.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
I gave my TEDx talk in twenty twenty four. It
was a dream of mine and a goal of mine
to land on the ted X stage and and I
got to do that in twenty twenty four. So I'm
really excited about everything that's happened since then, and also
about helping people who want to land on this on
the stage as well.
Speaker 5 (04:42):
I try to help as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, so let's get to it one. What does what
does it mean to you? And how it has resilience
top your you keep moving forward because you've transitioned into
other things and beyond music and everything.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
I think in my journey resilience was a characteristic that
I really wasn't familiar with, to be honest, I had
gone through so much and it's almost like when you're
getting like you're in the rain and you don't have
an umbrella and it's like just beating on you.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
You get accustomed to it.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
You know you're gonna get wet, and when you get
to where where your destination is, then you're dry off then.
And that's kind of how it was moving through life
through my journey. I lost my mother in my senior
year of high school, so it was obviously as a
young man. That's a critical turning point for any young adult,
but for me and my mom, our story was so unique.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
That we were super tight.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Like I literally like slept in the bed with my
mom until I was fifteen, sixteen years old, Like I
loved her like that was the love of my life.
And that winter of nineteen ninety four, the winter before
she passed away, we had a huge argument Michael, in
a complete bangout I hate you, I'm walking away, I
(06:12):
never want to talk to you again, and we stopped speaking.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
So when she passed away the following April, we.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Had never reconciled and I carried that with me right
into adulthood, not understanding resilience or that I was like
pushing through. And then the tragedies kept mounting. In two thousand,
I lost my oldest brother, Christopher Nathaniel, God bless his soul.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
He was a young man. He was younger when he
passed away than I am right now. You know. He
was a young man.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Active, playing basketball, bunch of kids, living his best life.
Had a brain aneurysm and was in the hospital for
a couple of days and he never came back home.
And then fast forward my oldest brother, my next brother,
Kevin Nathaniel, passed away in two thous was in the
twenty four My Apologies twenty twenty one, and he passed
(07:04):
away of a heart condition. So, like all of these
things were mounting, and at one point, especially when Kevin
passed away, it gave me like this realization that life
was so precious, but also that I was blessed that
God kept me around and allowed me to be here,
(07:25):
not just for myself to be here for my family,
but my poor father who lost his ex wife and
two of his children the word like their unspeakable pains
and losing a child like I don't wish that on
my I wouldn't wish that on my worst of enemies,
you know. So for my father being here to support
him and seeing how he's operated in life now moving
(07:47):
into his eighties, he's in his later state, later age,
you know, that kind of clicked for me to understand
that resilience was a part of my story the whole while.
But while I was walking in this rainstorm with no umbrella,
I didn't realize that I had a raincoat on. And honestly,
I know that that raincoat was provided to me by
(08:08):
God and that that has given me a lot of
peace throughout my journey.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, wow, there.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
I had.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
That is one heck of a story, you know, And
there's gotta be a lot of prayer and everything. And
we don't usually go into God in this particular h podcast,
but hey, you know what it it is part of
part of a part of our series of podcasts. Right
(08:39):
did we actually have a faith podcast? So I'm just
gonna say, it's like, no, God was with you the
whole way. You at some point you you asked God
hold my hand, you know, at some point?
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Right?
Speaker 4 (08:55):
So yeah, and I think there was a part to
Michael for me in that that I rejected my faith
because I grew up in the church, right like my
God bless my step mom. She she took me to
church when I was in middle school and she had
just been married to my dad a couple of years.
She had me singing in the choir, She had me
(09:16):
going to like Bible studies, she had me going to
Bible Sunday school, and I would drag my feet kind
of like shrug my shoulders. But if it wasn't for
her giving me that foundation, I wouldn't, you know, be
where I am in life today.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
So for that, I'll always give her gratitude.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that that foundation. We all we all
need that, right, you know, otherwise it's like you really
do have literally had the rug pulled out from under
you and you just fall right. So so that's one
heck of an experience. And how has it guided your
(09:54):
your life? Now?
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (09:58):
You know, I always lead with being a family man,
like it's so important to me. And you know, the
funny thing is, you know, me and my wife we
actually worked at the same company before we started dating.
So we were at this company together and the role
that I had was like a leader in a nonprofit
organization with a focus on youth development. So my son
(10:21):
at the time, he must have been I want to say,
he must have been like five or six years old.
He was in a program, so like I'm engaging with him,
giving him some coaching or whatever. And she said the
moment that she knew that she was interested in me
is when she saw me interact with my child and
how I spoke to him, how I interacted with him,
(10:41):
and me and him literally just had a walk in
the park. He's got a big tournament coming up, so
he's like there's this whole like, you know, motivation piece,
doubts about himself, but also overconfidence and just trying to
keep that balance. And I'm just trying to teach him,
you know, son, don't get too hot, don't get too oh,
you know. When things go right, no need to overdo
(11:03):
it with the celebration, and if things go wrong, focus
on the next play. So for me, the resilience piece
and what I've been through, I believe it was me
being primed to be a father and a husband, and
I fall short daily.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
Michael, Like I make mistakes. I'm not you know, I'm
just I'm I'm in the mud with everyone else.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
However, my intention with correcting my shortcomings or learning from them,
i should say, and making sure that I applied the
lessons that I've kind of thrown into this, you know,
huge duffel bag of knowledge over the years. I try
to hand those over to my children daily. So that's
what my walk was today. Like I didn't want to
(11:45):
walk to exercise and go into ninety degree weather. I
wanted to spend a quick thirty forty minutes with my
son to just connect with him on a really intimate
level before he went into this big game that he.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Has, right, right, So yeah, that's it's important. Like we
can't be too big, and we should never feel too small.
You know. It's because you feel too small, you just
feel like you're not never going to get anywhere, you know.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah, And I think that sometimes for children. And that's
this is why I'm so grateful to be to be
his dad, right, Like I tell him, like, I'm I'm
honored to be your dad, you know what I mean,
I'm honored that I get to parent you.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
And no knock to my dad, right, no knock to him.
I'm not gonna do any shade. I talked about him
a little earlier. He did a great job. Grateful for him,
but he wasn't equipped with the knowledge education to like
raise a kid like We had a rough time my
probably kindergarten year right on up to fifth or sixth grades.
(12:49):
Sixth grade, we were living in rooms. We were renting
rooms in New York City. At times we lived in
basement apartments. If you if you know in New York City,
there's these really tall, big buildings, six twelve story buildings,
and on the bottom they're like people who are poor
who live there, and they live in rooms that don't
even have running water in the room. You have to
(13:11):
walk outside of this basement room to go to the bathroom.
There's not even a shower there. And I lived like
that and didn't realize that I was, you know, in poverty.
Didn't realize that we were poor. And again it's not
to me, it's not for me to knock my dad,
but to bring it back to resilience that for me
to endure that and understand at the time that that
(13:31):
was just my life. But now reflecting back to see
what my kids are like and the you know, they
live a privileged life in a lot of ways, you
know what I mean, And I want to make sure
that they never have to experience that kind of struggle. So,
although it was not an ideal upbringing, I believe every
(13:52):
moment of my experience contributed to the fabric of who
I am as a man.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Well yeah, I mean some of some of those moments,
no matter how how we should be grateful for all
of them, right.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
Yep, it's hard.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
It's hard when you're in it, right, And I think
that's what I've had to learn over the years. It's
just and even again, I always talk about imperfection because
I embrace my imperfection when I have those moments when
I'm like down, like oh, man, like I forgot to
fill up, I forgot to take the trash out. It's
like first world problems man, Like it's okay, you're gonna
(14:33):
you're gonna survive, Robin, Like you'll be okay.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah, yeah, you know, like, uh, I have I have
experienced like oh, I don't know where my next meal
is gonna come from. Right, So having done that, and
it's like oh, all right, well, you know, I need
(14:57):
to find a couple of extra dollars for some gas
of putting the car. You know what if I don't
take the car, I can still get there. There's transit,
There's there's a shoe leather express.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
I can still get this shoe leather you know what
I mean. It's like the important things are.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
We all have We both have our health, and it's
like and that's the that's the important things. It's like,
you know, not having enough gas to drive down the street,
Oh gee wow, I think I can survive that.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
And you have a.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Car right and right, it might it might not have
gas in it, but I got one.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
You know, if I got one right, it's like, yeah,
we could get into more more of the politics, because
there's all There was something I saw one time on
social media where it said that there's always somebody has
something less right.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
That's good, so careful for.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
What we do have. So you're you're you've taken all
the all these experiences and you're trying to build them
into what appears to be like a coaching process and
you're trying to help people live better. So let's talk
about that for a second.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
So, so the term coach, right, I'll start by saying
there was a part of my career where I really
embraced that idea concept and title, you know. And at
the time, I was actually coaching musicians on how to
grow on social media, to grow their brand and be
intentional to build an audience online. So I was doing
(16:45):
that for a while and it was a profitable business.
When my brother Kevin passed away, I realized that I
was pouring all of my energy into this thing that
wasn't bringing me joy anymore. It was actually becoming a
bit of a drag because I guess my audience, the musicians,
especially rappers and producers, they weren't the biggest spenders. And
(17:06):
I realized after my brother passed that I was like,
more than anything, I found myself just doing like sales
calls the whole time instead of actually serving and helping people.
So at that point I closed the faucet on the
idea of me being a coach. I said, like, I
don't want to do that anymore. I just want to
serve and I don't care how much money that thing made.
(17:31):
Right now, I need to look at my time, and
because my brother has two young daughters, you know, like
I want to make sure that right now, in this moment,
that I'm intentional about my time.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
So I did what I call a joy audit.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
There's another version of it out there called the Life
Audit by a woman, and i'm reading her book now.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
I can't think of her name.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
But my concept of the joy audit was just me
trying to audit my time to figure out where am
I pouring my joy?
Speaker 5 (17:57):
And something remarkable happened. Michael.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
I was while I was doing this exercise over the
course of a couple of days, I was trying to
find a way to simplify it because it had become
really a schedule. At five o'clock, you wake up. At
five fifteen, you brush your teeth. I five thirty, you
make a sandwich. It was just like it was pretty
much a block schedule. So I wanted to find a
way to make it simple. And as I was making
(18:21):
a sandwich one morning and getting ready for work, it
hit me and I said, I'm creating. I'm creating this sandwich.
I'm not making a sandwich. I'm actually having a form
of artistic expression by creating something right right, So create, right, connect,
and contribute is what I came up with, these three
(18:43):
pillars to really.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
Simplify my joy audit.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
So if I was doing something and it didn't check
one of those boxes, it was out. It was getting
cut out. If it was a person, place, or thing,
it was done. And that helped me to get where
I am now.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
Where not.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I'm not coaching now, I'm just serving mission driven organizations.
I'm serving nonprofit organizations. I'm serving for profits that have
missions and purpose. So my work is very much, Hey,
how can I help the people who are trying to
make an impact? And how can I amplify their reach
and and stretch their message across the world?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Right right? With a bunch of friends, we were we
were we're all talking and we were discussing our idea
of success, and we all came up with the one
thing that our idea of success is who did we
impact today? It wasn't about the dollars and cents, it
(19:48):
was who do we impact today?
Speaker 5 (19:50):
Mm hmm that's good.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
So, yeah, how is this making? Because because I knew that,
I thought that's a you were kind of getting at
with the the connect uh connect, contribute and create, wasn't it?
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Yes, sir?
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah, okay, I thought that's what you were getting at.
So it's so, how are you impacting people with with
what you're doing.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
Yep. So there's a lot of ways. I'll start by saying.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
That there's a book by Rick Warren. I think it's
called Find Your Purpose or something like that, and my
and my wife got it from me a couple of
years ago, and it helped me to kind of clarify,
you know, what I was doing and really like, I'm
doing the work of a higher power. So whatever people
(20:43):
believe in, if they're atheist, whatever it is, they might
believe in their family, you know, their their family code,
whatever it is that your purpose is. I realized that
my purpose wasn't so much Hey how can I like
teach people about social media?
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Hey? How can I make music?
Speaker 4 (20:58):
It was like, no, how can I be an instrument
for the highest power? Like can I operate in a
space where my service is defined by the work that I'm.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
Doing for a higher power?
Speaker 4 (21:10):
And with that, how I've been able to help people
is really through my ability to you know, help them
optimize their social media and that's my passion. That's where
I do my day work with local government, that's what
my agency is all about. And even for my personal
brand as well as my I have a Sports Network
(21:33):
that I that I do NBA content, even that that
was you know, created during this time of you know,
healing of my brother's passing. When I close the faucet
on my coaching business, I open up my my facet
of creativity. And that is another way that I serve
people through shared interest, creating community through shared interest. So
(21:57):
that's just a few ways that I believe I'm being
called to serve people. And the biggest one that I'm
really excited about.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
I've been putting.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Off volunteering at my local church and there was a
call about two years ago from our leader that hey,
we need guys for elementary school.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Guys.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
We need you because we don't have any guys there,
any adult males. They're being led by teenagers. They're being
led by women, which is fine, but for young men
sometimes it works better for kids to have a man
leading their group. So I put it off for two years, Michael,
I ignored it, and finally I just woke up one
(22:41):
morning and I was like, I gotta stop playing myself
because I have experience in youth development. I have a son,
and if they're kids that need me to show up
every Sunday morning to lead their Bible class.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Then so be it.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
And that's my latest contribution again, but this is for
me doing it as an active service, operating for high power.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
There you go, that's and that's really what it's all about, right, yeah, yep, so,
but sometimes sometimes it takes us a little while to
come around to Okay, yeah, I guess I gotta do this.
I guess I should listen to you're.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
In my head. That was total.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
I was like, God, I gotta do And honestly, again,
I was being selfish.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
I was being worldly.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
I was thinking about my time, my time, but really
is it my time? It's not my time, you know,
it's you know, I'm here operating for the future of
you know, all of God's children, but especially mine. So
what kind of example do I look like for my
(23:54):
son if I'm sitting here every Sunday going and coming
receiving but not get given. And he he knows that
they need volunteers and my son. I made my son
volunteer with me the first time. Michael, my my like
test run. I was like, you're coming with me to
see because I also want to just say, just plant
seeds early. You know, there's no telling how long I'm
gonna have the privilege of being here with him in
(24:17):
person to lead him and love him. But while I'm here,
I'm dropping seeds and breadcrumbs for him to just lead
him down his path.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Yeah, that's important. Important you say that, because everybody's got
to find their own path, right.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
Exactly, Everyone's got their own path.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah. So to only creativity part, what is it the
that that you personally are creating that keeps you fueled?
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Right back to that joy audit, I realized that I was,
you know, you know how they make these like stack sandwiches,
like big macs, or like triple deck of sandwiches.
Speaker 5 (25:09):
I realized that I.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Had like a quadruple deck of creativity, and inside of that,
there was no space for my marriage, There was no
space for my kids. It had gotten the creativity bucket
had overflown, like overgrown.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
It was too much, right, it was overflowing, it was
too much.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
So what I did recently was I trim back and
I created seasons for my creativity.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
So currently the things that I'm working on are two podcasts.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
One is called land the Talk, where I interview people
who are subject matter experts in their space. Also I
interview a bunch of speakers and then I do solo
episodes where I teach about social media marketing things like that.
So it's really designed for leaders and public speakers. That's
(26:02):
the audience that we're serving. But that project I'm doing
on a seasonal basis now when I was doing a
year round play. So now it'll restart in January and
then it'll end probably in about June. The second creative
project I'm working on I spoke about it earlier is
my fantasy basketball channel. It's called the Believe In Fantasy
(26:24):
Basketball Channel. It's a part of a podcast network called
the Believe Network. Really proud of that, been doing it
for five years. It was created when I was going
through that situation with my brother, and the show is
dedicated to him. I sometimes feel Michael like he's with
me when we're cracking jokes and laughing on the podcast.
I feel like he's sitting right here next to me,
because he was a bit of a comedian and it
(26:46):
warms my heart that we can still keep that going.
Before he passed away, while on his deathbed, we were
planning his launch.
Speaker 5 (26:54):
Of his gaming channel. He was going to do a
gaming channel and.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
He dreamed of being like a YouTuber and we were
like planning it, talking about it. I created a logo
for him and everything, and.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
While he was in the hospital me not know.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
I didn't know my brother was gonna die, but I
secretly went off and started this podcast about I want
to say, two weeks before he passed away. He never
got to hear about it, see it. So every time
I do it, it's for him, you know. So that's
my second creative.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Venture.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
And then the other part of it is just like
being a dad is a a creativity for me too,
Like sometimes just the thing, especially with my seven year old.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
I have a seven year old daughter. I haven't spoken
about her yet, but she is a pistol. She's like,
she's so fun.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
She does cheerleading, soccer, dance, she just got a music class, tennis,
so she's trying all of the things and just being
her dad, I have to be creative.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. It was something that that I
was I always like being creative with with with my kids.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
That was one of the highlights of the day. Doing
something that even though with something something silly is uh
uh telling reading a couple of lines out of the
book and then creating a whole new story about that
set of characters, you know. Yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
It's beautiful and you just got to pour into it
because especially you know, as you know, Michael, the time
goes by so fast, like they're they're in your arms
one day and they're off to college the next, you know.
And I think for my little girl, she's she's like me,
just way more outspoken than I ever was at that age.
(28:53):
But she will make up anything about like she would
make a game up with anything like a piece of paper,
like a cap, she'll like turn it into a village,
a castle. So that level of creativity I just try
to pour into her.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
But also I'm being inspired as well.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah there you go, there you go, right, Yeah, so
your your service to her is actually feeding some of
the things that you need yourself, right.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
So absolutely, And that's with my kids when we talk
about create, connect, and contribute. I'm getting to do all
three with them in a way, you know what I mean.
So it's like, depending on the day, you know, I
could be doing all three. So there's a lot of
overlap with those pillars.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Yeah. So all right, so how are you using this
whole process to connect with. If we talked a little
bit about your volunteering at the church and what other
ways are you connecting with people, because I mean these
are your pillars in you know, so so how else
(29:58):
are you connecting?
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Yup?
Speaker 4 (30:01):
So you know, I recently wrote a book called Social
Media Sync, a Framework for Intentional Human Connection in.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
The AI Era.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
My work, Michael over the last year has been deeply
rooted in human connection and what does that look like
specifically online? So a lot of my human connections I'm
trying to foster those in the digital space because this
limitless reach to impact people, and I think that sometimes
(30:32):
folks can't really wrap their head around it where we
were twenty thirty years ago to where we are today.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
We can literally like.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Have our commercial on television right now. Right If I
had like two hundred bucks and I was like, I
want my ad or my message to show up on
someone's TV in New Brunswick, New Jersey, I could do that.
So I think that a part of my mission when
it comes to connecting with folks is making sure that
(31:03):
we're prioritizing human connection where there is a way that
in this current climate of AI driven content, some would
say AI sludge right, that we have the opportunity to
refine our messages and lean into our humanity, and with
(31:26):
that we can build authentic and real connections. The person
that you met online might turn into a potential partner.
That person that you meet online might turn into a
potential client. Bigger than that, the person you meet online
might actually become a real life, in person friend or supporter.
So that's where I really try to focus in on
(31:49):
my connections right now because of the nature of my work.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Right right l there's a lot of talk about AI
of course and everything, and it's it's I've even heard
some some comments like AI is going to lead to
the to the surface of the Antichrist whatever. Okay, fine,
(32:16):
I don't think the AI in of itself as all
that can't It's up to the person, the human being
behind the AI that's that's going to do whatever it's
going to do. But what I have seen is on
social media that one of our global leaders is using
(32:42):
AI driven content to tell untruths or to to it's
a So how do you feel about using AI? What
what sort of limitations should we be looking to use
it in in our own messages so that we are
always delivering our true and authentic message.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
I love this question. This is a this is gonna
be a clip. This is so good, Michael. So, I
can't speak to our leaders, right, and I can't speak
to people who weaponize AI. Like any other digital tool,
this can be weaponized, right. So for years there's been
propaganda in cartoons written. You get scam texts every day.
(33:31):
People are going to weaponize anything that's out there. AI
is just the biggest, biggest target right now because it's
new and also it's so powerful, right. So the difference
between doing a cartoon on AI versus hand drawing it
is that your output can be increased, like at a
high level, you could increase your output by one hundred
(33:52):
times using a.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
Tool like AI. So I'll start with that.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
How can we make sure that we maintain our authentic
I'll share a quick story. So recently from my fantasy
basketball channel, we started leveraging the use of AI influencers.
For folks who don't know, AI influencers are pretty much
computer generated people who are like the face of brands
(34:19):
and organizations where we have influencers on TikTok, for example,
who get paid to sell tooth pass and you know,
and and promote restaurants the same way. Now with the
you know, the rise of AI, we actually have the
technology to create digital versions of people, original people that
(34:40):
don't exist, or sometimes people that are inspired.
Speaker 5 (34:44):
They are also clones.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
I could clone myself if I wanted to, So we
have that technology now. So I am testing a bunch
of stuff for our new season, which starts up really soon.
Speaker 5 (34:54):
And one of them is this AI influencer. Her name
is Tanya.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
So Tanya is literally like on our channel saying things
like hey, like make sure you sign up, Hey, you
know which player do you like? And we got a
response from a person in the space who we really respect,
and she was like that, She asks, can't we do
(35:18):
something else?
Speaker 5 (35:19):
Like can't you promote in another way?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
And my you know response to her was we're testing
a lot of stuff right now and we'll see how.
Speaker 5 (35:28):
It goes and we'll go from there.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
And her angle was, I believe it's going to compromise
your authenticity, which is a valid point, right because my
brand is now being promoted by a computer. So my
response to her was, we'll see how the community, you know,
feels about it, But thank you for your input. Always
(35:52):
show gratitude for the input we did. We ask people
in our discoord server, which has a few thousand people,
what did they think think about Tanya? And everybody seems
to like her. They're like, oh my gosh, like she's
so funny, Like it's cool. I love that you're trying
new stuff. So we're always gonna have people that don't
like something, and you're always gonna have people that like something,
(36:14):
and you might have some people in the middle.
Speaker 5 (36:16):
Right, what I would say to you is, as.
Speaker 6 (36:19):
Long as you are rooted in your morals, your values,
as long as I don't have Tanya going out here
talking crazy, you know, disrespecting people, or you lying or
making stuff up telling them that they're gonna win five
million dollars when I know it's not true.
Speaker 5 (36:35):
As long as she's in line with my values and she's.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
An extension of me, it's I would equate it to
using a tool like email.
Speaker 5 (36:44):
When I write an email.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
I'm sending it and I just use the tool to
deliver my message. If we can shift our mindset around
it as opposed to like this thing that is gonna
hurt us, as opposed to this tool that can potentially
allow a new audience member or new person to receive
our content because that's their preferred method.
Speaker 5 (37:05):
Or medium, then it'll totally shift the game.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Yeah, yeah, I agree. Agree, we can't allow the AI
to eliminate our humanity, you know.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
Yeah, And when she talks the first video, I didn't
say Tanya was AI, but because that person reached out
to me, I was like, that's right. So in the
next video, Michael, Tanya's first line was, Oh, I'm sorry,
did I forget to introduce myself. My name is Tanya,
the official AI influencer for Believing Fantasy. You know, I
(37:40):
only have three changes of clothes, so don't judge me.
And I made some jokes. The same lady responded in
the comments, Oh, I like what you did here with
that one that made it pretty funny.
Speaker 5 (37:50):
This is not bad.
Speaker 4 (37:51):
So the point is is that it's okay to listen
to your audience to say, like you know what, let's
be more transparent so we can lean into our authenticity
so our true voice makes it through.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Right. I agree. I like that we in our own
business with editing and things like that, we use AI
to clean things up, you know, you know, make things
sound clearer, so or look clearer.
Speaker 4 (38:24):
So yeah, yep, And people have Alexa and you know
the different apps that they have that they're talking to
Siri on their phone. I think what for creative specifically
for writers, photographers, filmmakers, there's some of them feel threatened
(38:45):
by the tool, believing that the tool can somehow replace them.
And what I would challenge folks to do is ask yourself,
where do you value yourself? Like, I know, there is
no computer that can replace me. There's no computer that
can replace me. Like it might mimic me, it might try,
but I am a one of one and you are too, right.
(39:07):
So it's like with that, we have to really take
stock of our value before we consider that some tool
can replace the value that you bring to the table.
The key is learn the tool and leverage it to
just make you better.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yeah, yeah, you know that's exactly it. So okay, because
we're sharting around our time, It's like we get going
on things and then next thing you know, oh, the
clock's taken down. If you had the opportunity to use
your message to create a better world, what would that
(39:46):
world look like and how would your message do that?
Speaker 4 (39:52):
It's something that I tell my children all the time
it is to just lead with gratitude, lead with I
think in this world, especially like I'm a New York
City kid, I'm born to raise in New York, it
could be such a volatile environment. You know, people are
moving fast, You're not moving fast enough. Get out of
their way.
Speaker 5 (40:12):
Let me beat my horn.
Speaker 4 (40:13):
And it's like I think, like you know, in this
nation right now, a little kindness would go a long way.
So I think that's what I would want that world
to look like, a world where we all prioritized gratitude.
You can't say thank you enough, like it's okay to
say thank you.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
For the smallest things in the largest things. Kindness is
something that you can't overdose on, right.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
And also I think the last piece would just be respect,
respect for each other, especially for our our immediate family,
because I think sometimes in the you know, in life
and just the day to day, sometimes we lose sight
on that. I'm guilty of that. Where sometimes I might
talk crazy to my fifteen year old. He doesn't just
that he deserves the same respect that I would give
(41:02):
a police officer, you know what I mean. And when
I have an important message to relate to him, I
can package it in a way where it can be
respectful yet stern. So those are the things, respect, gratitude,
and kindness.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna grandstand for a second here on
this one because you you brought it up right, you know,
in our current political status and everything, because believe it
or not, what's happening in Washington, d c. Effects Ottawa, Ontario,
(41:35):
and you know, because we're neighbors. Our countries are neighbors, right,
So instead of bashing the the other side so often
that I think what we need to do is offer
the offer each side that kindness, you know, and things
(41:57):
will start to come around, you know.
Speaker 5 (42:00):
Yeah, I agree, I agree.
Speaker 4 (42:02):
I think that right now in this country, like there's
a bigger divide than I've ever seen. I've never seen
the country like this, and you know, I'm in my
mid for my late forties and I've never seen the
country the way it is.
Speaker 5 (42:18):
So I agree with you, Michael.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Yeah, all right, So best for use to get a
hold of you and work with you.
Speaker 4 (42:26):
Yes, So I like to leave with giving a gift.
So I have a gift for your audience if they
visit Landthtalk dot dot com.
Speaker 5 (42:36):
Land The Talk dot com.
Speaker 4 (42:38):
I'm giving away what we call our Social Media Sink
bundle includes two free ebooks about social media social media marketing,
as well as a.
Speaker 5 (42:47):
Preview to my book Social Media Sink.
Speaker 4 (42:50):
It will include the forward as well as the introduction
and the first chapter. And if you want to get
in contact with me, once you sign up at landotalk
dot com, if you respond to the first email you
get once on the list, I'll respond to it. I
answer all of my emails. Just reach out to me
if you have any questions or if you want to
connect further.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
All right, all right, thank you, Thank you Robin, and
thank you everybody for listening, and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 5 (43:16):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Thanks, help us.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
A reason to.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
Sit me up. Cattle Job Wall shows we Can't Drift
Wait so she got to.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
The show has been produced by Depictions Media. Please contact
us at Depictions dot media for more information.
Thank you for listening to the picture of the radiant.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Rat.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
You readything to me? Oh well, well say, oh well.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Not a bad stop.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I just need.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Solidly smashion. Sol is a dead.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Events.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Hey, welcome back everybody. Our next guest of Robin Nathaniel.
He has he's a ten X speaker and has a
really cool story about resilience and creativity. And he's beginning
his career as a musician and his artistic roots are
(02:01):
laid in a unique foundation for his journey. This experience
in music, with its emphasis on connection and storytelling, naturally
paved the way for his transition into a professional world
of social media. In living by the motto connect, Create, contribute,
(02:27):
he aims to inspire a wave of positive transformation. So
why don't we see what Robin's message, his art, and
his work is truly about, and how we can connect
with him as he creates and contributes to our lives.
(03:22):
All right, Robin, welcome to the show. So thank you
former musician or still a musician?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
You never formed would say, I would say former, Michael,
but I keep you know, I get these like random
back phone calls from certain artists and friends that are
like I just had a friend call me like, hey,
I need to join this album.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
My i'my dust off the pin and write something for you.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So yeah, exactly right. Hey, I used to performance on
stage myself and it's like way way back in the day,
and then next thing I know, I found myself performance
on a different stage for God and that it's like
still playing the same notes, just for a different reason. Right.
(04:10):
So it's it's you never fully walk away from it,
but you're playing for different reasons, right. So yeah, yeah,
So you're also a ten X speaker.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
I am.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I am.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
I gave my TEDx talk in twenty twenty four. It
was a dream of mine and a goal of mine
to land on the ted X stage and and I
got to do that in twenty twenty four. So I'm
really excited about everything that's happened since then, and also
about helping people who want to land on this on
the stage as well.
Speaker 5 (04:42):
I try to help as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, so let's get to it one. What does what
does it mean to you? And how it has resilience
top your you keep moving forward because you've transitioned into
other things and beyond music and everything.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
I think in my journey resilience was a characteristic that
I really wasn't familiar with, to be honest, I had
gone through so much and it's almost like when you're
getting like you're in the rain and you don't have
an umbrella and it's like just beating on you.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
You get accustomed to it.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
You know you're gonna get wet, and when you get
to where where your destination is, then you're dry off then.
And that's kind of how it was moving through life
through my journey. I lost my mother in my senior
year of high school, so it was obviously as a
young man. That's a critical turning point for any young adult,
but for me and my mom, our story was so unique.
Speaker 5 (05:46):
That we were super tight.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Like I literally like slept in the bed with my
mom until I was fifteen, sixteen years old, Like I
loved her like that was the love of my life.
And that winter of nineteen ninety four, the winter before
she passed away, we had a huge argument Michael, in
a complete bangout I hate you, I'm walking away, I
(06:12):
never want to talk to you again, and we stopped speaking.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
So when she passed away the following April, we.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Had never reconciled and I carried that with me right
into adulthood, not understanding resilience or that I was like
pushing through. And then the tragedies kept mounting. In two thousand,
I lost my oldest brother, Christopher Nathaniel, God bless his soul.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
He was a young man. He was younger when he
passed away than I am right now. You know. He
was a young man.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Active, playing basketball, bunch of kids, living his best life.
Had a brain aneurysm and was in the hospital for
a couple of days and he never came back home.
And then fast forward my oldest brother, my next brother,
Kevin Nathaniel, passed away in two thous was in the
twenty four My Apologies twenty twenty one, and he passed
(07:04):
away of a heart condition. So, like all of these
things were mounting, and at one point, especially when Kevin
passed away, it gave me like this realization that life
was so precious, but also that I was blessed that
God kept me around and allowed me to be here,
(07:25):
not just for myself to be here for my family,
but my poor father who lost his ex wife and
two of his children the word like their unspeakable pains
and losing a child like I don't wish that on
my I wouldn't wish that on my worst of enemies,
you know. So for my father being here to support
him and seeing how he's operated in life now moving
(07:47):
into his eighties, he's in his later state, later age,
you know, that kind of clicked for me to understand
that resilience was a part of my story the whole while.
But while I was walking in this rainstorm with no umbrella,
I didn't realize that I had a raincoat on. And honestly,
I know that that raincoat was provided to me by
(08:08):
God and that that has given me a lot of
peace throughout my journey.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, wow, there.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
I had.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
That is one heck of a story, you know, And
there's gotta be a lot of prayer and everything. And
we don't usually go into God in this particular h podcast,
but hey, you know what it it is part of
part of a part of our series of podcasts. Right
(08:39):
did we actually have a faith podcast? So I'm just
gonna say, it's like, no, God was with you the
whole way. You at some point you you asked God
hold my hand, you know, at some point?
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Right?
Speaker 4 (08:55):
So yeah, and I think there was a part to
Michael for me in that that I rejected my faith
because I grew up in the church, right like my
God bless my step mom. She she took me to
church when I was in middle school and she had
just been married to my dad a couple of years.
She had me singing in the choir, She had me
(09:16):
going to like Bible studies, she had me going to
Bible Sunday school, and I would drag my feet kind
of like shrug my shoulders. But if it wasn't for
her giving me that foundation, I wouldn't, you know, be
where I am in life today.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
So for that, I'll always give her gratitude.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that that foundation. We all we all
need that, right, you know, otherwise it's like you really
do have literally had the rug pulled out from under
you and you just fall right. So so that's one
heck of an experience. And how has it guided your
(09:54):
your life? Now?
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (09:58):
You know, I always lead with being a family man,
like it's so important to me. And you know, the
funny thing is, you know, me and my wife we
actually worked at the same company before we started dating.
So we were at this company together and the role
that I had was like a leader in a nonprofit
organization with a focus on youth development. So my son
(10:21):
at the time, he must have been I want to say,
he must have been like five or six years old.
He was in a program, so like I'm engaging with him,
giving him some coaching or whatever. And she said the
moment that she knew that she was interested in me
is when she saw me interact with my child and
how I spoke to him, how I interacted with him,
(10:41):
and me and him literally just had a walk in
the park. He's got a big tournament coming up, so
he's like there's this whole like, you know, motivation piece,
doubts about himself, but also overconfidence and just trying to
keep that balance. And I'm just trying to teach him,
you know, son, don't get too hot, don't get too oh,
you know. When things go right, no need to overdo
(11:03):
it with the celebration, and if things go wrong, focus
on the next play. So for me, the resilience piece
and what I've been through, I believe it was me
being primed to be a father and a husband, and
I fall short daily.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
Michael, Like I make mistakes. I'm not you know, I'm
just I'm I'm in the mud with everyone else.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
However, my intention with correcting my shortcomings or learning from them,
i should say, and making sure that I applied the
lessons that I've kind of thrown into this, you know,
huge duffel bag of knowledge over the years. I try
to hand those over to my children daily. So that's
what my walk was today. Like I didn't want to
(11:45):
walk to exercise and go into ninety degree weather. I
wanted to spend a quick thirty forty minutes with my
son to just connect with him on a really intimate
level before he went into this big game that he.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Has, right, right, So yeah, that's it's important. Like we
can't be too big, and we should never feel too small.
You know. It's because you feel too small, you just
feel like you're not never going to get anywhere, you know.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah, And I think that sometimes for children. And that's
this is why I'm so grateful to be to be
his dad, right, Like I tell him, like, I'm I'm
honored to be your dad, you know what I mean,
I'm honored that I get to parent you.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
And no knock to my dad, right, no knock to him.
I'm not gonna do any shade. I talked about him
a little earlier. He did a great job. Grateful for him,
but he wasn't equipped with the knowledge education to like
raise a kid like We had a rough time my
probably kindergarten year right on up to fifth or sixth grades.
(12:49):
Sixth grade, we were living in rooms. We were renting
rooms in New York City. At times we lived in
basement apartments. If you if you know in New York City,
there's these really tall, big buildings, six twelve story buildings,
and on the bottom they're like people who are poor
who live there, and they live in rooms that don't
even have running water in the room. You have to
(13:11):
walk outside of this basement room to go to the bathroom.
There's not even a shower there. And I lived like
that and didn't realize that I was, you know, in poverty.
Didn't realize that we were poor. And again it's not
to me, it's not for me to knock my dad,
but to bring it back to resilience that for me
to endure that and understand at the time that that
(13:31):
was just my life. But now reflecting back to see
what my kids are like and the you know, they
live a privileged life in a lot of ways, you
know what I mean, And I want to make sure
that they never have to experience that kind of struggle. So,
although it was not an ideal upbringing, I believe every
(13:52):
moment of my experience contributed to the fabric of who
I am as a man.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Well yeah, I mean some of some of those moments,
no matter how how we should be grateful for all
of them, right.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
Yep, it's hard.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
It's hard when you're in it, right, And I think
that's what I've had to learn over the years. It's
just and even again, I always talk about imperfection because
I embrace my imperfection when I have those moments when
I'm like down, like oh, man, like I forgot to
fill up, I forgot to take the trash out. It's
like first world problems man, Like it's okay, you're gonna
(14:33):
you're gonna survive, Robin, Like you'll be okay.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah, yeah, you know, like, uh, I have I have
experienced like oh, I don't know where my next meal
is gonna come from. Right, So having done that, and
it's like oh, all right, well, you know, I need
(14:57):
to find a couple of extra dollars for some gas
of putting the car. You know what if I don't
take the car, I can still get there. There's transit,
There's there's a shoe leather express.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
I can still get this shoe leather you know what
I mean. It's like the important things are.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
We all have We both have our health, and it's
like and that's the that's the important things. It's like,
you know, not having enough gas to drive down the street,
Oh gee wow, I think I can survive that.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
And you have a.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Car right and right, it might it might not have
gas in it, but I got one.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
You know, if I got one right, it's like, yeah,
we could get into more more of the politics, because
there's all There was something I saw one time on
social media where it said that there's always somebody has
something less right.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
That's good, so careful for.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
What we do have. So you're you're you've taken all
the all these experiences and you're trying to build them
into what appears to be like a coaching process and
you're trying to help people live better. So let's talk
about that for a second.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
So, so the term coach, right, I'll start by saying
there was a part of my career where I really
embraced that idea concept and title, you know. And at
the time, I was actually coaching musicians on how to
grow on social media, to grow their brand and be
intentional to build an audience online. So I was doing
(16:45):
that for a while and it was a profitable business.
When my brother Kevin passed away, I realized that I
was pouring all of my energy into this thing that
wasn't bringing me joy anymore. It was actually becoming a
bit of a drag because I guess my audience, the musicians,
especially rappers and producers, they weren't the biggest spenders. And
(17:06):
I realized after my brother passed that I was like,
more than anything, I found myself just doing like sales
calls the whole time instead of actually serving and helping people.
So at that point I closed the faucet on the
idea of me being a coach. I said, like, I
don't want to do that anymore. I just want to
serve and I don't care how much money that thing made.
(17:31):
Right now, I need to look at my time, and
because my brother has two young daughters, you know, like
I want to make sure that right now, in this moment,
that I'm intentional about my time.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
So I did what I call a joy audit.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
There's another version of it out there called the Life
Audit by a woman, and i'm reading her book now.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
I can't think of her name.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
But my concept of the joy audit was just me
trying to audit my time to figure out where am
I pouring my joy?
Speaker 5 (17:57):
And something remarkable happened. Michael.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
I was while I was doing this exercise over the
course of a couple of days, I was trying to
find a way to simplify it because it had become
really a schedule. At five o'clock, you wake up. At
five fifteen, you brush your teeth. I five thirty, you
make a sandwich. It was just like it was pretty
much a block schedule. So I wanted to find a
way to make it simple. And as I was making
(18:21):
a sandwich one morning and getting ready for work, it
hit me and I said, I'm creating. I'm creating this sandwich.
I'm not making a sandwich. I'm actually having a form
of artistic expression by creating something right right, So create, right, connect,
and contribute is what I came up with, these three
(18:43):
pillars to really.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
Simplify my joy audit.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
So if I was doing something and it didn't check
one of those boxes, it was out. It was getting
cut out. If it was a person, place, or thing,
it was done. And that helped me to get where
I am now.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
Where not.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I'm not coaching now, I'm just serving mission driven organizations.
I'm serving nonprofit organizations. I'm serving for profits that have
missions and purpose. So my work is very much, Hey,
how can I help the people who are trying to
make an impact? And how can I amplify their reach
and and stretch their message across the world?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Right right? With a bunch of friends, we were we
were we're all talking and we were discussing our idea
of success, and we all came up with the one
thing that our idea of success is who did we
impact today? It wasn't about the dollars and cents, it
(19:48):
was who do we impact today?
Speaker 5 (19:50):
Mm hmm that's good.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
So, yeah, how is this making? Because because I knew that,
I thought that's a you were kind of getting at
with the the connect uh connect, contribute and create, wasn't it?
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Yes, sir?
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah, okay, I thought that's what you were getting at.
So it's so, how are you impacting people with with
what you're doing.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
Yep. So there's a lot of ways. I'll start by saying.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
That there's a book by Rick Warren. I think it's
called Find Your Purpose or something like that, and my
and my wife got it from me a couple of
years ago, and it helped me to kind of clarify,
you know, what I was doing and really like, I'm
doing the work of a higher power. So whatever people
(20:43):
believe in, if they're atheist, whatever it is, they might
believe in their family, you know, their their family code,
whatever it is that your purpose is. I realized that
my purpose wasn't so much Hey how can I like
teach people about social media?
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Hey? How can I make music?
Speaker 4 (20:58):
It was like, no, how can I be an instrument
for the highest power? Like can I operate in a
space where my service is defined by the work that I'm.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
Doing for a higher power?
Speaker 4 (21:10):
And with that, how I've been able to help people
is really through my ability to you know, help them
optimize their social media and that's my passion. That's where
I do my day work with local government, that's what
my agency is all about. And even for my personal
brand as well as my I have a Sports Network
(21:33):
that I that I do NBA content, even that that
was you know, created during this time of you know,
healing of my brother's passing. When I close the faucet
on my coaching business, I open up my my facet
of creativity. And that is another way that I serve
people through shared interest, creating community through shared interest. So
(21:57):
that's just a few ways that I believe I'm being
called to serve people. And the biggest one that I'm
really excited about.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
I've been putting.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Off volunteering at my local church and there was a
call about two years ago from our leader that hey,
we need guys for elementary school.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Guys.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
We need you because we don't have any guys there,
any adult males. They're being led by teenagers. They're being
led by women, which is fine, but for young men
sometimes it works better for kids to have a man
leading their group. So I put it off for two years, Michael,
I ignored it, and finally I just woke up one
(22:41):
morning and I was like, I gotta stop playing myself
because I have experience in youth development. I have a son,
and if they're kids that need me to show up
every Sunday morning to lead their Bible class.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Then so be it.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
And that's my latest contribution again, but this is for
me doing it as an active service, operating for high power.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
There you go, that's and that's really what it's all about, right, yeah, yep, so,
but sometimes sometimes it takes us a little while to
come around to Okay, yeah, I guess I gotta do this.
I guess I should listen to you're.
Speaker 5 (23:25):
In my head. That was total.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
I was like, God, I gotta do And honestly, again,
I was being selfish.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
I was being worldly.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
I was thinking about my time, my time, but really
is it my time? It's not my time, you know,
it's you know, I'm here operating for the future of
you know, all of God's children, but especially mine. So
what kind of example do I look like for my
(23:54):
son if I'm sitting here every Sunday going and coming
receiving but not get given. And he he knows that
they need volunteers and my son. I made my son
volunteer with me the first time. Michael, my my like
test run. I was like, you're coming with me to
see because I also want to just say, just plant
seeds early. You know, there's no telling how long I'm
gonna have the privilege of being here with him in
(24:17):
person to lead him and love him. But while I'm here,
I'm dropping seeds and breadcrumbs for him to just lead
him down his path.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Yeah, that's important. Important you say that, because everybody's got
to find their own path, right.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
Exactly, Everyone's got their own path.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah. So to only creativity part, what is it the
that that you personally are creating that keeps you fueled?
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Right back to that joy audit, I realized that I was,
you know, you know how they make these like stack sandwiches,
like big macs, or like triple deck of sandwiches.
Speaker 5 (25:09):
I realized that I.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Had like a quadruple deck of creativity, and inside of that,
there was no space for my marriage, There was no
space for my kids. It had gotten the creativity bucket
had overflown, like overgrown.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
It was too much, right, it was overflowing, it was
too much.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
So what I did recently was I trim back and
I created seasons for my creativity.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
So currently the things that I'm working on are two podcasts.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
One is called land the Talk, where I interview people
who are subject matter experts in their space. Also I
interview a bunch of speakers and then I do solo
episodes where I teach about social media marketing things like that.
So it's really designed for leaders and public speakers. That's
(26:02):
the audience that we're serving. But that project I'm doing
on a seasonal basis now when I was doing a
year round play. So now it'll restart in January and
then it'll end probably in about June. The second creative
project I'm working on I spoke about it earlier is
my fantasy basketball channel. It's called the Believe In Fantasy
(26:24):
Basketball Channel. It's a part of a podcast network called
the Believe Network. Really proud of that, been doing it
for five years. It was created when I was going
through that situation with my brother, and the show is
dedicated to him. I sometimes feel Michael like he's with
me when we're cracking jokes and laughing on the podcast.
I feel like he's sitting right here next to me,
because he was a bit of a comedian and it
(26:46):
warms my heart that we can still keep that going.
Before he passed away, while on his deathbed, we were
planning his launch.
Speaker 5 (26:54):
Of his gaming channel. He was going to do a
gaming channel and.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
He dreamed of being like a YouTuber and we were
like planning it, talking about it. I created a logo
for him and everything, and.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
While he was in the hospital me not know.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
I didn't know my brother was gonna die, but I
secretly went off and started this podcast about I want
to say, two weeks before he passed away. He never
got to hear about it, see it. So every time
I do it, it's for him, you know. So that's
my second creative.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
Venture.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
And then the other part of it is just like
being a dad is a a creativity for me too,
Like sometimes just the thing, especially with my seven year old.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
I have a seven year old daughter. I haven't spoken
about her yet, but she is a pistol. She's like,
she's so fun.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
She does cheerleading, soccer, dance, she just got a music class, tennis,
so she's trying all of the things and just being
her dad, I have to be creative.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. It was something that that I
was I always like being creative with with with my kids.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
That was one of the highlights of the day. Doing
something that even though with something something silly is uh
uh telling reading a couple of lines out of the
book and then creating a whole new story about that
set of characters, you know. Yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
It's beautiful and you just got to pour into it
because especially you know, as you know, Michael, the time
goes by so fast, like they're they're in your arms
one day and they're off to college the next, you know.
And I think for my little girl, she's she's like me,
just way more outspoken than I ever was at that age.
(28:53):
But she will make up anything about like she would
make a game up with anything like a piece of paper,
like a cap, she'll like turn it into a village,
a castle. So that level of creativity I just try
to pour into her.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
But also I'm being inspired as well.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah there you go, there you go, right, Yeah, so
your your service to her is actually feeding some of
the things that you need yourself, right.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
So absolutely, And that's with my kids when we talk
about create, connect, and contribute. I'm getting to do all
three with them in a way, you know what I mean.
So it's like, depending on the day, you know, I
could be doing all three. So there's a lot of
overlap with those pillars.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Yeah. So all right, so how are you using this
whole process to connect with. If we talked a little
bit about your volunteering at the church and what other
ways are you connecting with people, because I mean these
are your pillars in you know, so so how else
(29:58):
are you connecting?
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Yup?
Speaker 4 (30:01):
So you know, I recently wrote a book called Social
Media Sync, a Framework for Intentional Human Connection in.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
The AI Era.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
My work, Michael over the last year has been deeply
rooted in human connection and what does that look like
specifically online? So a lot of my human connections I'm
trying to foster those in the digital space because this
limitless reach to impact people, and I think that sometimes
(30:32):
folks can't really wrap their head around it where we
were twenty thirty years ago to where we are today.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
We can literally like.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Have our commercial on television right now. Right If I
had like two hundred bucks and I was like, I
want my ad or my message to show up on
someone's TV in New Brunswick, New Jersey, I could do that.
So I think that a part of my mission when
it comes to connecting with folks is making sure that
(31:03):
we're prioritizing human connection where there is a way that
in this current climate of AI driven content, some would
say AI sludge right, that we have the opportunity to
refine our messages and lean into our humanity, and with
(31:26):
that we can build authentic and real connections. The person
that you met online might turn into a potential partner.
That person that you meet online might turn into a
potential client. Bigger than that, the person you meet online
might actually become a real life, in person friend or supporter.
So that's where I really try to focus in on
(31:49):
my connections right now because of the nature of my work.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Right right l there's a lot of talk about AI
of course and everything, and it's it's I've even heard
some some comments like AI is going to lead to
the to the surface of the Antichrist whatever. Okay, fine,
(32:16):
I don't think the AI in of itself as all
that can't It's up to the person, the human being
behind the AI that's that's going to do whatever it's
going to do. But what I have seen is on
social media that one of our global leaders is using
(32:42):
AI driven content to tell untruths or to to it's
a So how do you feel about using AI? What
what sort of limitations should we be looking to use
it in in our own messages so that we are
always delivering our true and authentic message.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
I love this question. This is a this is gonna
be a clip. This is so good, Michael. So, I
can't speak to our leaders, right, and I can't speak
to people who weaponize AI. Like any other digital tool,
this can be weaponized, right. So for years there's been
propaganda in cartoons written. You get scam texts every day.
(33:31):
People are going to weaponize anything that's out there. AI
is just the biggest, biggest target right now because it's
new and also it's so powerful, right. So the difference
between doing a cartoon on AI versus hand drawing it
is that your output can be increased, like at a
high level, you could increase your output by one hundred
(33:52):
times using a.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
Tool like AI. So I'll start with that.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
How can we make sure that we maintain our authentic
I'll share a quick story. So recently from my fantasy
basketball channel, we started leveraging the use of AI influencers.
For folks who don't know, AI influencers are pretty much
computer generated people who are like the face of brands
(34:19):
and organizations where we have influencers on TikTok, for example,
who get paid to sell tooth pass and you know,
and and promote restaurants the same way. Now with the
you know, the rise of AI, we actually have the
technology to create digital versions of people, original people that
(34:40):
don't exist, or sometimes people that are inspired.
Speaker 5 (34:44):
They are also clones.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
I could clone myself if I wanted to, So we
have that technology now. So I am testing a bunch
of stuff for our new season, which starts up really soon.
Speaker 5 (34:54):
And one of them is this AI influencer. Her name
is Tanya.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
So Tanya is literally like on our channel saying things
like hey, like make sure you sign up, Hey, you
know which player do you like? And we got a
response from a person in the space who we really respect,
and she was like that, She asks, can't we do
(35:18):
something else?
Speaker 5 (35:19):
Like can't you promote in another way?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
And my you know response to her was we're testing
a lot of stuff right now and we'll see how.
Speaker 5 (35:28):
It goes and we'll go from there.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
And her angle was, I believe it's going to compromise
your authenticity, which is a valid point, right because my
brand is now being promoted by a computer. So my
response to her was, we'll see how the community, you know,
feels about it, But thank you for your input. Always
(35:52):
show gratitude for the input we did. We ask people
in our discoord server, which has a few thousand people,
what did they think think about Tanya? And everybody seems
to like her. They're like, oh my gosh, like she's
so funny, Like it's cool. I love that you're trying
new stuff. So we're always gonna have people that don't
like something, and you're always gonna have people that like something,
(36:14):
and you might have some people in the middle.
Speaker 5 (36:16):
Right, what I would say to you is, as.
Speaker 6 (36:19):
Long as you are rooted in your morals, your values,
as long as I don't have Tanya going out here
talking crazy, you know, disrespecting people, or you lying or
making stuff up telling them that they're gonna win five
million dollars when I know it's not true.
Speaker 5 (36:35):
As long as she's in line with my values and she's.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
An extension of me, it's I would equate it to
using a tool like email.
Speaker 5 (36:44):
When I write an email.
Speaker 4 (36:45):
I'm sending it and I just use the tool to
deliver my message. If we can shift our mindset around
it as opposed to like this thing that is gonna
hurt us, as opposed to this tool that can potentially
allow a new audience member or new person to receive
our content because that's their preferred method.
Speaker 5 (37:05):
Or medium, then it'll totally shift the game.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Yeah, yeah, I agree. Agree, we can't allow the AI
to eliminate our humanity, you know.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
Yeah, And when she talks the first video, I didn't
say Tanya was AI, but because that person reached out
to me, I was like, that's right. So in the
next video, Michael, Tanya's first line was, Oh, I'm sorry,
did I forget to introduce myself. My name is Tanya,
the official AI influencer for Believing Fantasy. You know, I
(37:40):
only have three changes of clothes, so don't judge me.
And I made some jokes. The same lady responded in
the comments, Oh, I like what you did here with
that one that made it pretty funny.
Speaker 5 (37:50):
This is not bad.
Speaker 4 (37:51):
So the point is is that it's okay to listen
to your audience to say, like you know what, let's
be more transparent so we can lean into our authenticity
so our true voice makes it through.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Right. I agree. I like that we in our own
business with editing and things like that, we use AI
to clean things up, you know, you know, make things
sound clearer, so or look clearer.
Speaker 4 (38:24):
So yeah, yep, And people have Alexa and you know
the different apps that they have that they're talking to
Siri on their phone. I think what for creative specifically
for writers, photographers, filmmakers, there's some of them feel threatened
(38:45):
by the tool, believing that the tool can somehow replace them.
And what I would challenge folks to do is ask yourself,
where do you value yourself? Like, I know, there is
no computer that can replace me. There's no computer that
can replace me. Like it might mimic me, it might try,
but I am a one of one and you are too, right.
(39:07):
So it's like with that, we have to really take
stock of our value before we consider that some tool
can replace the value that you bring to the table.
The key is learn the tool and leverage it to
just make you better.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yeah, yeah, you know that's exactly it. So okay, because
we're sharting around our time, It's like we get going
on things and then next thing you know, oh, the
clock's taken down. If you had the opportunity to use
your message to create a better world, what would that
(39:46):
world look like and how would your message do that?
Speaker 4 (39:52):
It's something that I tell my children all the time
it is to just lead with gratitude, lead with I
think in this world, especially like I'm a New York
City kid, I'm born to raise in New York, it
could be such a volatile environment. You know, people are
moving fast, You're not moving fast enough. Get out of
their way.
Speaker 5 (40:12):
Let me beat my horn.
Speaker 4 (40:13):
And it's like I think, like you know, in this
nation right now, a little kindness would go a long way.
So I think that's what I would want that world
to look like, a world where we all prioritized gratitude.
You can't say thank you enough, like it's okay to
say thank you.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
For the smallest things in the largest things. Kindness is
something that you can't overdose on, right.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
And also I think the last piece would just be respect,
respect for each other, especially for our our immediate family,
because I think sometimes in the you know, in life
and just the day to day, sometimes we lose sight
on that. I'm guilty of that. Where sometimes I might
talk crazy to my fifteen year old. He doesn't just
that he deserves the same respect that I would give
(41:02):
a police officer, you know what I mean. And when
I have an important message to relate to him, I
can package it in a way where it can be
respectful yet stern. So those are the things, respect, gratitude,
and kindness.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna grandstand for a second here on
this one because you you brought it up right, you know,
in our current political status and everything, because believe it
or not, what's happening in Washington, d c. Effects Ottawa, Ontario,
(41:35):
and you know, because we're neighbors. Our countries are neighbors, right,
So instead of bashing the the other side so often
that I think what we need to do is offer
the offer each side that kindness, you know, and things
(41:57):
will start to come around, you know.
Speaker 5 (42:00):
Yeah, I agree, I agree.
Speaker 4 (42:02):
I think that right now in this country, like there's
a bigger divide than I've ever seen. I've never seen
the country like this, and you know, I'm in my
mid for my late forties and I've never seen the
country the way it is.
Speaker 5 (42:18):
So I agree with you, Michael.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Yeah, all right, So best for use to get a
hold of you and work with you.
Speaker 4 (42:26):
Yes, So I like to leave with giving a gift.
So I have a gift for your audience if they
visit Landthtalk dot dot com.
Speaker 5 (42:36):
Land The Talk dot com.
Speaker 4 (42:38):
I'm giving away what we call our Social Media Sink
bundle includes two free ebooks about social media social media marketing,
as well as a.
Speaker 5 (42:47):
Preview to my book Social Media Sink.
Speaker 4 (42:50):
It will include the forward as well as the introduction
and the first chapter. And if you want to get
in contact with me, once you sign up at landotalk
dot com, if you respond to the first email you
get once on the list, I'll respond to it. I
answer all of my emails. Just reach out to me
if you have any questions or if you want to
connect further.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
All right, all right, thank you, Thank you Robin, and
thank you everybody for listening, and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 5 (43:16):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Thanks, help us.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
A reason to.
Speaker 3 (44:10):
Sit me up. Cattle Job Wall shows we Can't Drift
Wait so she got to.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
The show has been produced by Depictions Media. Please contact
us at Depictions dot media for more information.
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!