E254: Creative Visionary Laurieann Gibson; real estate broker Ryan Serhant; Food Blogger Brittany Pickens; ‘Tazmanian Devil’ Executive producer Benny Boom & Director Solomon Onita Jr.

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
has the secrets of success experience firsthand by Marketing and
Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
advice to many occasions in ocasion didn't notice, I'm not broke.
You know. He'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry
decision makers. It's what he likes to do, it's what
he likes to ship. Now it's time to hear from

(00:25):
my man, Rashan McDonald money making Conversations. Here we come.
Welcome to Money Making Conversation. I am your host from
Sean McDonald. It's time to stop reading other people's success
stories and really start writing their own. Now you can
be motivated by their success because their stories could offer
direction and help you reach your goals through your planning
and your committed effort. My interview is like the one
you will hear today, will provide you, as a consumer

(00:48):
and a business owner, access to the celebrities. She's one
of those. She's a CEO, she's an entrepreneur, and most importantly,
she's an industry decision maker. My next guest is Laurie
and Gibson. She's an Emmy nominating creative visionary, choreographer, director, producer,
and entrepreneur. Her new book is Dance Your Dance. Eight
Steps to leash your passion and live your dreams. The

(01:09):
book was packed with personal antidotes and messages of empowerment.
Dance Your Dance highlights Gibson's evolution from a young dancer
training in New York City to a well respected, in
demand industry leader with an eye for cultivating music artists
from the ground up. The book unveils the ultimate blueprint
to achieving your dreams, a blueprint she's implemented to develop

(01:30):
some of the world's greatest superstars, including Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj,
Katie Perry, and the Jonas Brothers, among others. Please walking
the Money Making Conversation for the very second time. She's
a good friend of mine to have on this show
and I'm happy to promote her new book. Laurie Anne Gibson,
how are you doing? Ms Gibson, Hi, You're fantastic. Thank

(01:50):
you for having well. First of all, you know, welcome
to my new studio. I want them to happen because
last time we did to be a podcast and we
didn't get to see each other, but you know, life
is changing a good way, and a lot of success
that you've had in despite the COVID nineteen, How did
they det affect your life or the COVID nineteen the pandemic,
and how did that impact you in and pro motivated

(02:11):
you for well? The interesting thing is I was told
when it was first happening that creatives would excel, and
I kept hearing this and I kept saying to myself,
I think, I think, I think that's right. You know,
when everything shuts down, when people's idea of what it
takes to make it shifts, that's when we do excel.

(02:32):
And I have the opportunity to really dig into the
book and understand the purpose in the book. So I
was able to take more time to really flush out
my methodology that I used in helping big superstars becoming
their very best, and I was able to inspire it
in eight steps to unleash your passion and live your dream.

(02:54):
So for me, COVID was a blessing. There was an
opportunity to shift and shift and be prepared for what's
ahead of us, and a part of that is shifting
the narrative and creating inspiration and actual transformation and how
people dance their dance and no one else's well, you know,
I definitely want to I want to walk you through

(03:17):
you telling your story. Right. I read the book, enjoyed
the book. I read a lot of motivational book, a
lot of books, said uh, but each book and fascinating.
Read your book because you have to share personal personal angles,
and sometimes you're not happy to share those angles, like
your relationship we had with the the Greek restaurant owner
as a young girl. You you know, you share it

(03:37):
and laid on you realize you's the food. But that's
part of the process. It didn't destroy you. And and
one of the big things that you say, life is
a dance, and I bring that moment up that was
emotionally dark for you. But life is a dance. Explain
why you say life is a dance in your book.
Life is a dance because it's about different rhythms, it's

(03:59):
about different steps that you have to take. And again,
I believe greatness is in the process. It's not overnight,
it's not an insta it's in the process of becoming,
of shedding and receiving and building. So for me. It
was dark, but I was faced with the opportunity to
overcome insecurities. I talked about step four staying in there yet,

(04:26):
so that means to me when I faced the adversity,
when I faced the feeling of being in a position
where I was vulnerable in the relationship with the restaurant owner,
he did approach me in a sexual manner, and I
was uncomfortable that I wasn't ready to receive it. It
didn't align itself with the feeling of my dream, and

(04:48):
I talked about that being a flag, something that redirects
you to what will help cultivate your dance and create
the confidence that you need to sustain what it is
you have to endure in order to live the dream.
Um So it was difficult. When I did the audio

(05:08):
book and I heard myself speaking the experience, I was like,
Oh my god, we're gonna find out things about me,
and for a moment I was like, did I write
this and is this really coming out? Very quickly, I
understood that my passion to connect directly with entrepreneurs and

(05:29):
visionaries as a result of what I went through. It
gave me revelation to write the steps in order for
them to not only be inspirational, but effective that you
could go back to a step when you were faced
with the challenge that would take you out of your dance,
out of your rhythm, and ultimately making it longer for

(05:51):
you to achieve that goal. So it was worth it
in the end because I was able to write a
book that would be effective for visionaries. Of the thing
about it is that it's effective in a lot of
ways because you have to be honest with these books.
I always I hate reading books to tell you how
to be wealthy, but they don't have money in the bank,
you know what I'm saying. And so you can't tell

(06:12):
somebody how to be successful if you can't tell them
how you came out of a dark moment or you
came down from the basis of the mountain to climb
that mountain. And that's what your book is. But throughout
the book, you know, you talk about your dad was Electrician.
You've born in Canada Ja Jamaican immigrants. You know your
mom worked at Zeros, but that wasn't her passion, you know.
And the thing I like about it is that like

(06:34):
your mom's passion was to be a fashion design and
her mom said, no, that just an impossibility. And then
Mr Christopher and dance school, you talk about those dream
killers when and and like you you might hear. Always
tell people you know that leave with your gifts. Don't
let your friends, family members, or your age stop you
from living your dreams or planning your life. I say

(06:55):
that all the time. And that's basically the mantra for
your book. And I love it because of the fact
that a dream killer tried to stop you as a
young dancer because you didn't fit the structure or the
physical structure of a ballerina. Talk about dream killers because
we encountered them, and guess what, they are clothed in
so many different disguises, as loved ones, as children, as

(07:17):
as religious leaders. That's what this book. I got excited
when I started reading that part of because I said,
she gets it, and she's telling the truth exactly. And
I'm very humbled by the fact that you do get it,
because that's very special to me, because that is the goal,
that is the intention, and I think too many people

(07:40):
are afraid to talk about the process, and they're afraid
to let you know that there will be a fight.
There are dream killers, and there is a fight, and
through the fight, once you persevere and you hang onto
the feeling of your dream, it will produce what you
need to endure the time that you need to become

(08:04):
the dream. So a lot of people don't talk about
the dream Killers because there is a lack of conversation
about the fight and about the process. Here's a book
that is unafraid to talk to you while you're in

(08:25):
the process, to celebrate you while you're in the process,
to inspire you to dance your dance and not someone else's,
and that the fight will be there. But it's the
fact that I had to get back up, that I
had to bob and we've dodge and turn, and through
dancing my dance, it created a confidence, a clarity, a

(08:48):
level of perseverance, and a level of clarity that would
enable me to stand strong now at the best and
biggest time of my career. And I think some people
like to just talk about the glossiness. They're afraid to say.
I was curled up in a ball after I got,
you know, in a big fight with Boffy I'm making

(09:09):
the band. I was curled up in the ball after
I left my pop star at the biggest moment in
her career. But it's those moments where I had to
hang on to the feeling of the dream and define
myself by staying in my yes. And so if you're
at the position and the business doesn't look like it's
about to prosper, but you have this feeling of the dream,

(09:30):
then you have to take the opportunity to stay in
your yes and hang onto that dream and go through
the pain, get back up, choose to fight, choose to
train again, choose to take another route. But refused to
give up, refuse to give up. I want the narratives

(09:51):
to change. Refused to give up. Well, Lorien, how do
I do that? I'm facing eviction. Face it. Once you
face it and you acknowledge that your dream is bigger
than the eviction, that the feeling of the dream is
bigger than the eviction. Notice, then you will find a
way out because you've chosen your dance over somebody else's dance,

(10:16):
and so the dream killers are there to force you
to dance your dance. Get it from the visionary perspective.
Why am I facing this? Why did the door close?
It closed? Because that is not in alignment with the
feeling of my dream. That door ultimately wasn't going to

(10:39):
create the greatness in me or produce the greatness in me. Wow.
You know the thing about greatness is a word that's
used a lot now because of the pandemic, the word pivot.
And when you'll read this book, you the queen of pivoting.
You know you are. When you got on that bus
with your teen thousand plus dollars and thirteen thousand was

(11:03):
going to your tuition at an a Lee, you know,
and the rest was going to you don't know where.
That was your pivoting moment because there was no destiny.
But when you got there, you you balanced to pivoty.
That's what I'm saying is that, you know, I laugh
at my life because I a lot of terms that
I just naturally did it did in my life. They
are common terms, not branding. Pivoting. You were you know,

(11:25):
uh dream book boards and stuff that people put on
that's you. But you did it naturally. Talker walk us
through those steps, you know, even till the discovering the
world of hip hop, that was a pivot moment for
you. You You didn't come to New York to be a
hipop dancer and so so talk about the power of
pivoty naturally before it became a term that people use

(11:48):
like it's something that was discovered overnight. They just well,
pivoty you when you did it? In this book tells
you how you did it. There weren't at the time
when you were pivoting, they were not. You were doing
it by yourself as a young lady in New York City.
I lived in New York City in eighty nine. I
was there in a D eight. I lived And when
you talk about the railroad apartment, I lived in the

(12:09):
apartment where guess what I looked at the window. The
garbage truck stopped every night, woke me up at three am.
I got right below my window got killed. I can
go shower with ten other people because guess whether there
was a giant shower. So I know exactly the struggle
when you talk about pivoty, you have to do some
things that guess what, dude, you tell the story because
goof what God has allowed you with your faith to

(12:31):
be able to tell this story. But let's talk about
pivoty when it was not something you could read in
the book, that you had to go just on your faith,
your belief in your dreams. Oh my god, that's so
beautiful what you just said, because basically you said it
for me, and I'm so grateful that you have felt

(12:53):
the purpose of the book Evening is a dance moved.
It is changing the direction and headed into a better flow.
I start out in the book talking about step one,
dare to dream. And I used the word dare because
when you're producing something that hasn't been done before, you
won't see it in the world. You won't see the

(13:17):
reflection because you are the very thing that you're looking for.
It's in you. So there isn't dare. There isn't a
risk to dream. But I talked about it early so
we can get it out the way, and so you
can establish a confidence in the passion and in the dream,
so that you can hang onto that feeling when a

(13:39):
pivot hits you. So when I went to New York
and I thought I was studying at alban Elly, and
all of a sudden I went to a hip hop
audition and I began to feel something more and there
was a pivot. But yet I was like, how can
I do hip hop? When I was studying technical dancer,
I thought I was supposed to be at alban Elly.
But in trusting the feeling of the dream, I realized

(14:02):
that I had to pivot because it wasn't just about
dancing his great works. It was about being inspired by
Alvan Elly, J Famis and Katherine Dunham. It was the
fact that when I first saw Ailie, I saw a
man who spoke about tribulation and oppression through dance. I

(14:23):
realized that his work as a visionary was what was
speaking to my purpose, to my soul. It was moving
me towards me understanding how to create movement and artists
that would speak to the circumstance. So the pivot was necessary.
And so the fact that we're even talking about the

(14:45):
pivot from a real place like it's gonna feel uncomfortable.
There will be a moment where you're out there and
you have no confirmation that the pivot is right. But
what you do know is where you were didn't feel
like all you could be, which is why you have
to hang onto the feeling of the dream, because it's

(15:07):
in the pivot that there will be a moment where
you're sustaining evidence of that dream and you're becoming it.
And so to be able to pick up a book
that will give you strength during your pivot or while
you're pivoting. Is key because God gives each enevy, one

(15:27):
of us a different dreams so that we can help
each other to further empower each other, so that we
could live our perfect dreams are individual dreams. So I
think the pivot is not something that's just to be
taken lightly. Oh it's easy. Go ahead and pivot and
don't feel nervous. Go have it and pivot and don't

(15:48):
feel sick in your stomach when you're walking away from
your nine to five to open your own business. No,
understand that those are all flags that are directing you
directly into the dream. And it is scary. You do
have to dare to dream, but you already established that
in step one. So continue to dance because the next

(16:11):
step will present itself. You'll get confident in the idea
that pivoting needs to write the evidence of what you
will become, and it will get easier to dance those pivots. Then,
the thing about it is interesting about your book. I
I I turned Mr Christopher. Every time a dream killer
came in your life, it was Mr Christopher. You know

(16:32):
what I'm saying so too, So be patient with me.
Like the Mr Christopher started way in your life and
you ignored him, and I called the restaurant owner. He's
a Mr Christopher, Okay, the person who who basically parted
you and you missed out on that opportunity in the
Malcolm X movie, that was a Mr Christopher. How do

(16:52):
we recognize the Mr Christopher's in our world because your
book talks about them. We call him dream killers. There
are individuals, these dream killers, and they are people that
sometimes you don't recognize them, but they came into your life.
You didn't let them win. They call emotionals. They were
never physical setbacks because you have your health. They were

(17:13):
emotional moments. Say, but you learn from you talk about
how you learned. But the thing I like consistently about
your book, hard work was never something you ran away
from you. You admitted your thoughts, you admitted your errors,
and you were responsible towards correcting them in another situation.

(17:35):
And just talk about that because I think that's important
because a lot of people, when they make mistakes, Your
book discusses how to overcome or not let that mistake win,
because it's a mistake that we all can make talk
about that. Yeah, I call them mishaps. You know, you
follow out the dance, you follow out the eight cap,
but as a result of the falling, something in you

(17:58):
gets louder. The voice of the dream, the feeling of
the dream. Now you're able to hear it because you're
in a misstep. So now you're like, Okay, I'm acknowledging
it as a misstep because I don't feel good making
that decision. I didn't feel good being late. I didn't
feel like what was inside of me was aligning itself

(18:20):
with what Mr Christopher said. He said I couldn't be
a ballerina. My feet were too flat, my back was arched.
He literally said that I wouldn't be a great dancer.
But my dream told me different. The feeling inside of
me told me different, and I hung on to that feeling,

(18:41):
and as a result of me being obedient to that feeling,
I wasn't afraid of the work that I needed to
develop that level of ability. I talked about training to
sustain getting as much information as you need to be
able to persevere through a dream killer. It's the raining,
it's the work you put into becoming that sustains you.

(19:04):
When someone doesn't see what it is you're meant to
become because you're the one of the ones. You're a prototype.
So how how was Mr Christopher supposed me? He never
saw a young black girl with that much belief, power
and authority when she danced. He was in a very

(19:26):
ignorant phase of his dance. So I tell those people too,
that our dream killers to get out of their period
of oppression and rejection to the greatness and others, because
they're ruining their own greatness in themselves. But the most
important thing as a visionary is to understand that you

(19:47):
must do the work, you must train get as much
knowledge to sustain the dream killers, because what you carry
maybe something original. You may be a prototype, and in
most cases, everyone's dream is unique to themselves, and we
are all prototypes. We have something you neique to offer,

(20:09):
and in understanding that philosophy and that methodology, you will
be less inclined to design yourself by what someone else
does and begin to embrace the conversation that I'm a prototype.
I gotta dance my dance because what I have to
do hasn't been done the way I'm going to do
it right, right, you know? That you know this this

(20:30):
is no time wherever, time limit here. But I want
to ask you one more question. It's a couple of
things I wish I saw that I had sat a
picture of you and you go with black old cowboy
boots because I'm a Texas boy. So I fell in
love when you went out and thought you had to
help a pair of black cowboy boots. And when you
went for that audition and heavy d and did in
how you change and walk down hip hop se There's

(20:52):
a lot of things that I love about this book.
And the thing I love about this book the most
is that see, fear stops a lot of people. I
always tell people they don't want to change jobs or
they don't want to end relationships. You know, fear could
have stopped you with Lady God God, they keeping nags
to call you, got with Michael Michael Jackson, you was
working with Brandy. These are not these are not trivial

(21:13):
names that are thrown around in the book. They're just
examples to let you let people know that that you
had to make decisions and you couldn't be afraid when
you was making these decisions. And before I wrapped this interview,
I like to if you can just explain to people, yes,
you are afraid, your fear was in you, but faith
got you through that. But talk about that whole process

(21:35):
because a lot of people are stuck at jobs right
now that you quit their relationships they could walk away
from They're living in conditions that they can do better,
like you said, but they refused to figure out a plan.
This book is about a plan and they if they
follow this plan. They realized that this book might have
a lot of famous names in it. Just remove the
famous names and write their names, and the people that

(21:58):
are blocking them are helping them there in this book.
That's why I love this book, miss Gibson, and I
want to thank you for writing it. But before I leave,
if you can expound on overcoming fear when great opportunities
are presenting themselves but you don't know the expectations of
what could happen. You're so awesome. I really am grateful

(22:18):
for you and your guidance and helping me express the
power of this book. So thank you so much for
dancing your dance, but most importantly for being your great self,
because it is blowing me away how much you're helping
people to understand the power of this book. So I'm
so humbled by that. Thank you. I believe and I

(22:41):
know that I wrote this book for the very reason
that if I can speak to your dream, I can
speak to your circumstance. So I know that fear did
not live in me. It lived around me, but faith
lived in me. Once you dare to dream, then the
possibilities of the beautiful power of that dream is about faith,

(23:03):
and faith is in the dream. So very early I
realized that faith was something that was around me, that
was something that was being projected towards me, and that
if I gave it life, if I said yes to it,
then that would actually become something I had to then

(23:25):
experience versus staying in my yes, which is an important
step four. It's a hard step to work because you
have to stay in something that you cannot see. You
have to stay in something that is deeply rooted in
the passion that you feel when you think about your dream,

(23:51):
and in doing so, you choose your dream over the fear.
And now you're saying to life, unfold according to God's plan, Unfold,
according to the plan of my dream, my purpose, and
my destiny unfold according to my dance unfold according to

(24:13):
who I am, And again you choose the dream over
the fear, and suddenly what starts to rise in you
is confirmation and the faith gets you to the next step.
Suddenly the phone rings, You pick up the phone, and

(24:35):
it reflects you staying in your yes and not the
fear of losing, but the faith of winning. So it
is about working the steps. It's not about expecting something
to happen magically overnight. No, it's about understanding when you're
facing it and you refuse to choose it, it's to come.

(25:01):
When when when I had to pay that bill and
I didn't have a job and my grand was due,
I was like, okay, God, where am I? When I
was going to the foreign officer, she was like, you
have to go home. I was in that bathroom on
my knees, like you gave me this dream. I'm gonna
need you to help me understand what I'm gonna have
to say when I go downstairs and they want me
to produce this paper that I don't have. And as

(25:23):
soon as I went downstairs to test me on this
foot path, I got your foot. Okay. I was the
very woman that he expected me to produce a paper
that I did not have, a paper that would send
me home. Got fired. Yes, yes, and they were like, look,

(25:50):
miss Wanton is not here. I need you to go
back to your class. And what did that do? It
brought me time to do what I needed to do
to stay in my dreams. So I talk about these
situations to support another dreamer at that particular junction where
they need evidence of the yes, evidence of someone staying

(26:11):
in there. Yes, not just the celebrating materialistically being bold,
being like braggadocious about what you have. This is not
what this book is about. This is about the coming
which you are. And at certain times I have to
talk about what I don't have and what I didn't have,
so that you can understand the power of staying in

(26:34):
your yes, the power of your dream. So I'm so grateful,
but it is really important, especially now that I speak
to fear being around you, not in you, so that
you can understand how to stay in your yes, which
completely produces the faith and the confidence and the perseverance
you need to get to what you already are. Geez,

(26:58):
Laurie and Gibson dance your dance. She shares numerous inspirational
stories and antidotes, including coming up with dancing with Jenni Loaf,
Jennifer Lopez, first time meeting Lady Gaga, working with the
late Michael Jackson, the early days of bringing Nicki Minaje
Barbie World to life. A long time collaboration is p
Diddy and You're fantastic. I want to thank you for
taking the time again. I'm supporting this book, Laurie Gibson.

(27:20):
Dance your dance. Thanks for coming on. Money Making Conversation.
You're amazing, you look amazing and one will be awesome
for you because you're blessing us with this book. Thank you.
We will be right back with more money making conversations
with your host Rashwan McDonald. It's finally here, the season
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of Money Making Conversation. The Cafe Moka Swag Award is
a celebration of black men who will make it a
difference in our community by empowering others to reach their
life goals. From civic leaders, businessmen, activists, celebrities and everyday days.
The Cafe Moca Swag Award one of this week is

(29:50):
Van Jones. He currently hosts The Van Jones Show on CNN.
Van Jones is president of the Dream Courts and it
is among activist features in the Netflix document Thirte directed
by Aba Dournay, about the US justice system and factors
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(30:12):
underscored to me even need to work on criminal justice
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(30:32):
a few allies then to be able to win sometimes
it just shows you the power of the people. The
Cafe Morpas Swag Award represents men who have strength, whose
wisdom is assertive, and who is genuine in their spirit.
Welcome back to Money Making Conversations with your host, Rashaan McDonald.
My nixt guest is Ryan Sir Hand. He's a coach

(30:53):
star Bravo's hit show Million Dollars Listing New York and
the author of the national bestseller Sell It Like Sir Hand.
Ryan May just nine thousand dollars. He talked about it
in this book The first Year in the business twelve years.
Lady averages the billion dollars in sales every year, making
him one of the most successful real estate brokers in
the world. His social media platforms gets the combined average

(31:13):
of three million eyeballs. His real estate company, which launched
in and is the most followed real estate brand in
the world. He was discussing this new book b m E.
Big Money Energy, How to Rule It, Work, Dominated life
and make millions. People who possess b EMMY, which is
big money Energy, get that way because they are committed

(31:34):
to making their vision for themselves and reality, and their
vision is big b I G. Please working to money
Making conversation. He is b m E himself, Ryan, Sir Hud,
How you doing, sir? Pretty good? Let's talk about this
book man. You know, Uh, In some ways I felt
it was like a refresher course for me, which is

(31:55):
really good because sometimes we could get how to be successful,
we could get the journeys and a book like this.
If you don't know, you learned. If you do know,
it really forces the path that you've taken is the
right path? Correct? Correct? You know? I came to New
York City, uh in two thousand six after I graduated school,

(32:18):
and the one thing I always wanted to do was theater.
I wasn't good at too much else. I wasn't good
at school. I wasn't good at sports. My parents really
really pushed me to do both of those things, take
as many different courses as it could, uh, play every
single sport imaginable. But the only thing that I was

(32:38):
kind of okay at was theater. And so I've always
believed that I rather regret the things I did and
the things I never tried. And so I moved to
New York City and gave myself two years. You know,
I've been working odd jobs in the summers and after
school since I was like seven years old. Um. And

(32:58):
so I had a little and the money saved up,
and that was my New York City money, um. And
it lasted me a couple of years. And at that
point I ran out of money in the summer of
two thousand eight, and it was get a job or
move home. Uh. And when I decided to become a
real estate agent, I realized I had no competence as

(33:19):
a real estate agent. Who who Who's going to buy
or rent an apartment from me? I'm not from here.
I was born in Houston, Texas. I grew up a
little bit in Long Island outside Boston. You know, I
bounced around eight times before fourth grade. Um, uh. You know,
I had very, very very low self esteem. Um. And
when you come to a city like New York, you know,

(33:41):
New York is run by New Yorkers, and I definitely
was not a New Yorker. I wasn't I didn't go
to the schools here and I grew up here. Um.
But I saw all these people walking around on the
streets and events who carried themselves with a certain level
of confidence that just proved that they were successful. You know,
the type of person that would walk into a room
and everyone would gravitate towards them. You know, they had

(34:04):
this big magnetic energy and I wanted that. Um uh.
And that's really what this book is. Big Money Energy
is all about how to become the person you want
to become. If you're the type of person who looks
at other people's success and says, why not me? That
was me? That was me? And I used to say

(34:25):
the same thing, and then I figured out how to
get there, and so I put it all into the book. Well,
you know, the thing about the book is that this
is what I really liked. I like the book in
a lot of different ways. Like I've told you, I
love chapter five when you talk about dominating the look
of dominant look. It's important, don't trivia lize to look
and we're gonna talk about we first sale was tied
to the look and how you know, how you used

(34:46):
as a manifestation to who you are to day brand
selling you look great? Look at you, you look beautiful.
I cannot read chapter five and not come on an
interview any other way but that this, this had to be.
This is my dominated look. Now I'm gon dominator to
day interviewing you into my dominating style. Now, I love it.
The reason I liked your book was that a lot
of books I read they talk about entrepreneurship, they talk

(35:08):
about small business owner. You're talking about everyday people, how
they can rule it work, how they can rule in
a regular forty all week job. How also they can
turn around by just changing their attitude, by changing their look,
which in turn means they can dominate in life and
make millions. But so many people look at that forty
all week job and treat that that's all they can be,
and not looking at the nuances of what they can

(35:30):
change in their life to be successful. That's why this
book is really a must read book for just everyday
people as well as entrepreneurs. Correct, yeah, no, it's it's
not just for entrepreneurs. Um. And entrepreneurs are people who
don't have forty error a week jobs. They don't have
jobs at all. You know. I I am an entrepreneur,
but I am unemployed. You know, I make money if

(35:53):
I sell a house. That's it. You know, there's no
no one pays me hourly. I don't. I don't have
a monthly retainer. I don't have salaries. Are better fits
for everyone. If I sell a house, I get a
small percentage of that house sale and that's it. Um.
If you have a job that is paying you by
the hour, or you have a salary, you're one step
above any entrepreneur. To be an entrepreneur, you have to

(36:15):
be a little bit crazy because you're basically cutting out
the net. That's the only way I know how to live.
I need to have my back up against a wall
an order for for me to really really fight and
to get as much I want to add a life
as possible. But if you are working that forty hour week, UM,
just know that any of your superior's positions are possible

(36:36):
for you too, you know. And that's what having big
money energy is really really all about is having that
big confident energy to start being the role before you
are the role. Okay, start assuming that position before someone
even has to give it to you. I think so
many people sit and wait and say, well, I'm not
going to do that. I'm not going to know. That's
not my job. That's not my job. That's not my job.

(36:58):
That's if you're the type of person who says that
it's not my job, then then you're not going to
go anywhere anyway. Like I still to this day. If
I got to, I'll go paint and apartments. I'll paint
all our place in microwave. Because nothing is above me.
My job is to get the job done, regardless of
who's doing it. Now. Ideally other people do it, but

(37:19):
if they don't, I'm going to do it. Um So
you can look at the people that are above you
at work, either the better sales people or your manager
or the boss, and know that it's possible for you
to be in that position. You just have to want it,
and then you have to work for it, and then
you have to work into it. We know. The thing
about it is that a lot of people are in
your business the real estate business. But I've never seen

(37:42):
the social media favor that you get in social media
because they're all my guests. I always look at the
social media at the traction follow their feeds. Why do
you think that your followers are so engaged with your brain?
Is because your youth, because of your your tone, your style,
You're confident, you care, you got a swagger about let's
go and right, let's go in bed. You have a
swagger about you and there's a fun swagger. Is that

(38:04):
tied to the fact that you wanted to be an
actor and you and U just like play act in
the world at the success and that's why bame works
for you big money and talk about that. Why why
are you so popularly in social media? Oh man, Well,
I think that's for one. People like real estate. They
like looking at beautiful houses, they like seeing inside wealthy

(38:25):
people's homes, So people follow me for the real estate.
I think to one of the reasons million are listing
works so well as a show is because it is
such a crazy career. Like the fact that you could
live in New York City and sell these insane homes
and deal with these crazy people. That's a that's a

(38:46):
wild job. And so there's like this voyeuristic thing about
following me. You know, what is my life like? My
life is not normal whatsoever, between the filming, the books,
the showing the apartments to houses, the flying around, all
the craziness um. And so I think people like that.
They like being able to take a step back and

(39:08):
and seeing what what what our lifestyles are like. And
I think that I also try to have fun with things.
I don't take myself too seriously. I don't care how
much I sell. Life is way too short. Well that's
what I love about you, you know, because you you
don't take yourself serious, but you're you're shark. You know
that you know how to close. And uh, let's talk

(39:29):
about that whole start, because I want to give away
the book. But this book is kind of like a
journey from you know, becoming a novice who didn't understand
its value and understood and then just a gift from
God fell into your lap and you adjusted to it
and you rose to the occasion. And you kind of
mentioned that earlier. A lot of people who who tend

(39:49):
to say I will do that, or is that's not
my cup of tea or nobody, Nobody put that as
my work schedule or my opportunity. That is what you
didn't do. And that's what this book is telling people.
When the opportunity comes to you, don't push it this side,
challenge yourself. This book is a challenge yourself book. And
I am I reading it correctly, Oh yes, thousand percent.

(40:12):
The book is not for people that are going to
read it and then go back to life the same
way they were they were doing it yesterday, right. The
book is for anybody that wants to do better, get
to a place tomorrow that they otherwise wouldn't be today. Right.
The whole idea is, how do you become the person
you're gonna be in ten years tomorrow? How do you

(40:36):
start becoming future you? I think about Ryan all the time.
That's the person who motivates me. That's the person I
look up to is myself, because look at what happened.
We can't control anything, right, we can't predict anything in
life is so so so delicate. I want to make

(40:59):
sure that whatever I do today, it's going to make
my life in nine years awesome, So that that guy
is so successful that he can buy a time machine
go back in time and pat me on the back
today and I'll be like, what's going on? Oh wow,
that's me in the future, so much older now, Like
that's what I want, right, more than anything, you want

(41:20):
to be future year, right, you want that knowledge. But
also when I'm reading your book, here's this's This's the
cool thing about reading your book is that I like
to believe I'm a successful person. Okay, and because of
that success, then I've learned some tricks of the trade.
And to see it written out somebody who follows that
same path, because you're a successful person and a very

(41:41):
successful person by the way, it follows those paths. What
made you say, you know some I'm gonna I'm gonna
reveal this path to millions who could potentially buy this book.
What made you say I want to reveal I want
to help people. Is that part of your DNA? Yeah,
I didn't. I didn't think it was um. But over

(42:02):
the past couple of years it has become that. You know,
we were we were quarantined, like all of us. I
was in New Hampshire in the woods in the snow,
talking to our our course members. We do a big
online sales course. Talking to my team members, all the
people that work with me UM and talking to fans
and people all over the world, and everyone was so scared.

(42:24):
People were nervous. No one had any idea what the
answers were. We were all in limbo um and people
were being fired and people are being furloughed, and so
many people were connecting their self worth to their income
or lack thereof, to their level of income. And I
remember thinking that way until I stopped thinking that way,

(42:45):
and so I just started writing. You know, with my
first book that kind of happened to say went, and
so I just started writing. And out of those experiences
and those conversations and those talks came big money energy
And how many different ways can there be that I
get back? To get back with money, I get back
with time. I am only successful because New York allows
me to be successful. I'm only successful because I've been

(43:09):
super fortunate. It's super lucky, and I completely understand that.
And so what I know is also another way that
I can get back. It's like, okay, let me put
what I know about how to be successful. Let me
put in a book so people can copy it. Like,
go ahead, just do exactly what I did. Top me
worked for me. It could possibly work for you too.
But if it doesn't, take take the best and leave

(43:32):
the rest right. And you did that, let's talk about
starting the business in which is the pandemic. A lot
of people ran to the wolves, a lot of people
felt sorry for themselves, a lot of people were afraid
to come out of their homes. I know. That's why
I say I love your book because I bought a
building during the pandemic. I'm bet on myself. And like

(43:52):
I said, your book. You know, I don't want to
act like I'm just saying things to make you feel good,
but your book really alliance with a lot of my
easton I bet on myself, And you talk about betting
on yourself, trusting your instincts. And I bought up building
and I had a plan and it has been a
plan that has led me to a tremendous amount of
momentum and led to this new studio that I built

(44:12):
out for myself because I have a plan. And so
talk about betting on yourself, because this book starts out
when you was only making nine thousand dollars a year,
and you start betting yourself, you start taking risks, you
start ignoring what other people said you should do and
did the things you felt you wanted to do, and
someone them surprised you. Yeah, yes, yeah, My whole life

(44:36):
has been a bunch of a bunch of surprises. Um,
good surprises, Ryan good surprises. Okay, yes, good surprises. It's
one of the most important things about finding success, especially
when you don't think that success is for you, because

(44:56):
you think success is reserved for everybody else good looking,
that educated, the well connected, etcetera. Right, understand that that's
all You just have to become an opportunist. You cannot
wait for opportunity. You can't wait for the future. You
need to make the future now. You need to start
creating situations that will create opportunities. You need to start

(45:20):
riding the waves of all your little individual successes and
shouting them from the mountaintops. Remember that people who are
successful only work with other successful people because there's there's
too much risk in working with anyone else. So the
reason I work now with billionaires, helping them buy and

(45:40):
sell property all over the world is because they know
that I've helped other billionaires. They don't even talk to
anyone else now. They just call me because they know
all right, he's been able to figure it out. Other
people have used him. That that's good enough for me, Ryan,
I need there's any dat you know. And so it's
it's that level of just sort of betting on my

(46:01):
own abilities, um and being able to play the game.
Like you already have the money in your pocket, right,
like you already you already want any time you go
into a meeting, any time you go into work, you
already want. You already won the day, right, you've already
been paid. What else can you do? What's gonna separate
you from everybody else? But you know the thing about

(46:24):
it is there now hear what you're saying. And then
you talk about in the book because you play the game,
but you better have your facts together, you better do
your homework. I remember when you, Steve Harvey. I was
sitting down in the meeting in l A and we
met Janet. She's a billionaire, and we were talking about
some deals. And I've always had that gift of being
able to I guess b asked my way up to

(46:45):
a point, and guess what. She called me on it,
and she said, you're telling it, but I know what
you're doing. Stop it. Stop it. At that point on
when I realized and that's that's that moment you have
in your book that you discussed when you got called
on it, when you came in with those generic responses,
you thought you would get away, and he kept digging
into you, going he don't know, he don't know. Talk

(47:07):
about that moment because I don't want people. That's what
I don't want people take away from this book, big
money energy. That you can address a certain way and
you can win. That you can be as your way
with a personality and you can win. That is none
of Ryan's skills. This is a person who does his work.
He's willing to put forth the effort to accomplish the task.
He knows a look, if you're gonna if you're gonna

(47:29):
play with billionaires, don't walk up there like you're about
to cut their yard. That's what he's saying in this book.
And so I remember when when I was reading that
portion of your book about your encounter, it flashed back
to my encounter because all I'm saying, Ryan, is that
in your book, my man, you're hitting so many home
runs with relatable information that people like me and people

(47:50):
who aren't's successful like me. People wh aren't imploying in
for the all week job will take this information and
win with it. And that's all you're saying. Yes, a
thousand percent, everything takes work, but if you put the
work in, the work will take care of you. The
work will make you money, will make you more money,
will allow you to lead a better lifestyle. But you

(48:12):
cannot fake it. This isn't fake it till you make it.
This is why not me. This is being future you. Okay,
there's a very, very very big difference between the two.
Faking it till you make it is what you were
just talking about that I did that once. I sold
one apartment, one home one for just over two million dollars,

(48:34):
and I thought I was the man. I thought I
was the best. I just sold this apart all I do.
I did it with a Chinese investor, buying an apartment
for a baby that wasn't even born yet. I am
the man. And so I got a meeting with a
big developer who sows buildings all over the city. I
was like, wow, dude, I'm it's me. Okay, I just

(48:56):
sold that apartment. I'm gonna go meet with this developer.
Of course, I'm just gonna get this. And I went
in there prepared to crush it, and he started asking
me all these questions about the market, the history of
New York City, what I thought about this developer, that developer, this,
and I froze. I had no idea what he was
talking about. I just thought, you know, he wanted to

(49:17):
meet me, and that, like I was that I didn't
have to do any work. That I was just gonna
go in and use canna say, Ryan, we've got this building.
You know you're a star broker. You just sold that
apartment so that Chinese and pstor you know, what do
you think about our building? Would you like to sell it?
I can't believe that I was so naive, but that
was that was bullet money energy. That was a BS

(49:39):
money energy. Um uh. That that carried me into that meeting.
And when I left, the feedback I got from the
friend who connected us was he basically just said Ryan's
got a lot to learn. Nice kid, though, And that
that was that moment where I was like, Okay, you
know I just messed that up big time. I gotta

(50:03):
fix this going forward. It's all about what you know,
It's all about what you know, you do your homework,
your preparation. That's where the confidence comes from because then
you don't need the experience if you know more than
the next guy. And that's how you're better than the internet,
right for all of us that are selling against the
Internet all day long. Really interesting that that was a
that was a tough meeting for It was a tough meeting,

(50:24):
but that was a meaning that woke you up because
it was two things I took away from that meeting. One,
you didn't you do your homework, but to close your
first deal with Joan, who was pregnant at the time,
by you did your homework. You learned New York. You learned.
You learned that you did one of the great one
of the great moves that I tell people everyway. I say,
if you want to be a star, go make a

(50:46):
consistent appearance of the restaurant loading major d when you
come in there and say hello with Sean. How you
doing those techniques? Like I said, Man, this is one
of my favorite books. Man is gonna be on my
book share because all those things you're talking about un
natural you don't have to pay for. You don't have
to if you're like going out to eat, go to
the restaurant, the same restaurant all the time. Once you

(51:07):
just have a relationship, guess what, they give you the
best table. They'll welcome you in front of a line.
There's nothing to do with being a millionaire. And that's
all I'm saying about. This is everyday people rules. If
you just work in a regular job, you can become
a superstar. You can come to start big money energy
how to rule it, work dominated like and make millions.
That's all you're saying is that everyday people can win

(51:29):
with this book. Am I correct? You are one percent? Correct, sir?
With that being said, why is it so hard to
buy houses? Right there? Why is it? Why is the
real estate market flying off the chart? Why is it
everywhere I look every part of the country, people are
buying homes like they're running out of style. Right, you're
the expert coming, Yeah, because, Uh, in March of um,

(51:53):
the federal governments spent six trillion dollars on what was
effectively at pr campaign for buying new homes. Because there's
nothing like being locked inside your current crappy house to
convince you to go get a new one. And that's

(52:15):
exactly what happened. People, really, listen, this isn't a financial crisis.
Look at the stock market, like I mean, look at
look at bank accounts, look at interest rates. It's like
the greatest buying environments ever. Right. Yes, there was massis unemployment,
but as COVID restrictions lifted, everyone wanted to get back
to work. Right, there's a lot of unemployment because people
actually got fired from jobs they don't like. So they're

(52:38):
they're trying to wait to figure out what exactly they
want to do. A lot of them are getting the
real estate. To be honest, we've seen a lot of
people just joined up to our course. It's been totally crazy.
Um uh you know. And so everyone want to end
decided to buy new homes. And remember we still haven't
totally recovered from the great recession that started in two
thousand eight. Right, the world is we're still in that,

(53:01):
Like we're still trying to figure out how we're crawling
out of that. Like that was a massive collapse. Um
that is, this is a shock wave from and so
a lot of people still haven't upgraded their homes from
prior to two thousand and so now they're doing his
because now they're trapped, you know, and they don't want
to be trappedick again, if there's gonna be a second wave,
a third wave, who knows now its own problem? Uh?

(53:26):
Do they have to that that show is part of
your I guess you want to say brand now, Okay,
what does that for? Nine years? Right? It's part of
your brain? What what is the future do you? What
do you? You just go to uh? And and what
I say that part of your brain is that it
gives you a vehicle to promote who you are and
to validate who you are and also build your company.

(53:49):
And a lot of people, like you said in the
book of your Friend, our friend thought you were crazy
for trying not to be a reality star. Talk about
that friend now and also would be in a reality stuff.
All my friends thought I was crazy, My family thought
I was crazy. Everyone thought I was crazy. I remember

(54:11):
this was two thousand and ten. Reality TV in two
thousand and ten. It wasn't for building a business. It
was for Dog the Bounty Hunter. It was for the
real world American Idol survivor. You know, the Kardashians had
only just started. Like it was you know, it was
kind of you know like that you know, Real Housewives.
It's what Bravo was really known for. Some people are like, oh,

(54:32):
you're gonna go be a male real housewife slinging real estate.
Uh and so, and people said, listen, New York is
a really serious city. It's very serious. It suits like
no one's gonna take you seriously. But listen, I'd only
been in the business for a year. In a year
and a half, I guess, And so I just thought
the more people who knew what I saw, the better.

(54:53):
You know, there's almost eight billion people on this planet.
If I could do a TV show and let people
know I'm selling real estate, that maybe some bit will
call me. And for anyone that doesn't want to work
with me because they're super serious and I'm on a
TV show, Um, I don't want to work that person either.
There's way too many fish in the sea. I'll deal
with my Chinese investors all day long. I don't care

(55:13):
who you are. I'll buy and still real estate with anybody. Um.
Those friends now, I think are proud and I think
everyone's just surprised. It's like anything like a millionar Listening
was not supposed to work out, you know. It was
a spin off show of a franchise. Um uh, just
sort of that people just sort of took to, you know,

(55:33):
and here we are still doing it. It was season nine.
That is what I'm feeling right now. And one of
the studios shooting those interview scenes where we sit there
for the camera and they're like, WHOA really, thank you
that for like hours on Mondays and so I'm here
in between that. So season nine will be out in
the next couple of months, I think, right, your star man,
Just a second time I've gotten a chance the interview.

(55:55):
First time, I didn't have your book. This time I
made sure they got the book to me so I
could read it. Rullior read man, and I'm a fan.
And uh again I'm recommending this and putting into my newsletter,
putting on my social media. I got one point six million.
Eyeball was looking at me. I don't have three million,
but I got enough to believe in the brand of
Rushan McDonald, your brands of success, man. And from a
fellow Houstonian to another Houstonian living in my favorite city,

(56:19):
keep winning, my friend. All right, thank you man, thanks
so much for having me. Alright, thank you. Ryan Grant,
Cannion University, a Christian University is one of the largest
and fastest growing universities in the country, offering over two
hundred engaging programs online. GCU invests in high demand areas
such as nursing, teaching, and the sciences. Students engaged with

(56:40):
faculty who become partners in your success. G c use
online students received over one hundred million dollars in scholarships.
Visit GCU dot e d U slash my offer to
see the scholarships you qualified for. What grows in the
forest trees? Sure you know what else grows in the forest.
Our imagination, a sense of wonder, and our family bonds

(57:03):
grow too, because when we disconnect from this and connect
with this, we reconnect with each other. The forest is
closer than you think. Find a forest near you and
start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot org, brought to
you by the United States Forest Service and the ad Council.

(57:24):
Adoption of teams from foster care is a topic not
enough people know about, and we're here to change that.
I'm April Denuity, host of the new podcast Navigating Adoption,
presented by adopt us Kids. Each episode brings you compelling,
real life adoption stories told by the families that lived
them with commentary from experts. Visit adopt us Kids dot org,
slash podcast, or subscribe to Navigating Adoption, presented by adopt

(57:48):
Us Kids, brought to you by the U S Department
of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families
and the ad Council. I have two of the biggest
INDI decision makers on my show today. My next two
guests are Many Boom, well known director, and Solomon Onneita Jr.
Bennie Boone is one of the executive producers of Tasmanian Devil,
and Solomon Noneia Junior is the writer and director of

(58:09):
Tasmanian Devil. Here's a little history of my man, Benni Boom.
He's a member of Appli Phi Apple As it Is. Solomon,
he directed a much anticipated two pop cool bio pick out,
All Eyes on Me. He has dominated the television and
streaming platforms. Benny's directed episodes of n c I, s
l A, Black Lightning and All American The Quad and
Tales at bt Lee Daniels Empire on Fox Now. In

(58:33):
August twenty the Tasan Tasmanian Devil earned Solomon Onneita Jr.
The inaugural John Singleton Director Award for the Best First
Feature at the tw twenty American Black Film Festival. Tasmanian
Devil was streaming on all platforms, especially Amazon, iTunes and fandego.
Please welcome to My Man to money making Conversations Bennie
Boone and Solomon Oneita Junior. How you doing, fellas? Are

(58:56):
you doing? Man? I got a couple of apples on
the call right here. I think that's important to say
this because we're talking about the more by pledging and
and if they you know, I've seen a lot of
different versions. Uh, I know, I was fortunate. Uh I
should do sitcoms and I used to. I wrote an

(59:16):
episode with Sister Sister when it was on the air
and we did. Uh my man, Brian McKnight, he was
a starter in the sitcom and we and you know,
when you start talking about fraternitys and sororities, and if
you if you make anybody walking the straight line or
anybody to do something against their will, then no national
branch for turning to mess with you, because that's hazy.

(59:38):
That's you know, if you said walking the straight line,
if they bied out to you and they say yes, sir,
that is a form of hazing. I just want to
explain to people, well why they didn't use a f
I and you can't. That's hazing. And if you acknowledge
that use in a movie, then they can come and
can come back and bite them into some form of
a lawsuit because they can use that where you acknowledge
this portrayal in the movie here. So that's why even

(59:59):
though they members of A five, they can't use it
because guess what the images that they're portraying in this movie,
which are very realistic by the way. And I'm not
saying anything negative because guess what it happened to me
when I pledged to make a fire. In fact, it
was pretty much worse in certain situation. But you know
I have nothing negative about that, Benny and Solomon when

(01:00:20):
I talk about this, because I will tell you this
pledge it to makea sat fire. As you probably say,
pledge in A five, It changed my life, how about you, guys? Uh?
For me, a hundred percent changed my life. I pledged
spring one at Temple at University Piro. I was a
solo pledge, so it was a very very very difficult

(01:00:41):
or deal for me and UM, it definitely changed me
from a boy to a man. I was nineteen years
old and I had UH, I was a freshman, you
know a lot of those things you know that I
was grappling with as a young man. I was molded
and guided by by my bros, you know, the big
bros at the time, and so it really changed life,
guided me, matured me really quickly, and I appreciated every

(01:01:04):
single day. You know what I was, what I went
through when I was able to make it through. How
about you, Solomon? For me, I had a very similar
experience with with pledging Alpha fi offa. UM. What I
showed in the film is not necessarily my exact experience,
you know. I made it a fixtionalized version for entertainment purposes.

(01:01:25):
But the lessons and the values that these organizations UH
give young men is what I was trying to depict
through film. UM. And so the journey that my lead
character takes throughout Tasman and Devil, it's something similar that
I experienced, you know, gaining self confidence, gaining that brotherhood

(01:01:45):
factor that UH that you know, really propels you to
that next phase of your life, especially as a young man.
We know, it's interesting Benny, you said you played you
when you was a freshman. I was a senior when
I played So you know, they hit me hard. Why
you wat you long? Why you long? Oh dude, trying
to pledge all these young people. And but and I

(01:02:06):
say that because I was lost, man, And that's what
I see in this movie. Tasmanian Devil was a young
man who's loss, trying to find himself. He's from a
foreign he's from another country. His mom is back in
the country where he's coming from. His dad. I guess
it's a disconnect because his dad wasn't with him as
he grew up and became a man. And so he
comes over here, and the manhood he receives is really

(01:02:28):
from the relationship he creates with these young men in
the in the in the fraternity. He's trying to pledge,
and I am I reading it right, that's um, that's
exactly right. I think that the one thing for me
when I read the script. You know, Solomon Uh, Solomon's producer,
Trisia Woodard, got the script to me and and my
company and we're looking for um producers and financing and

(01:02:50):
stuff like that. And so when I read the script,
I was so familiar with the pledge process that that
wasn't the first thing that jumped out of me. The
first thing that really jumped out of me was the relationship,
the father's son relationship in the film, and I felt
like reading that script. You know, whenever you read a
piece of material, UM, you try to find the commonality
of the story that that you think everyone can relate to.

(01:03:12):
So everybody can relate to for pledging or hazing, or
the Black week life or black colleges, but everybody can
relate to their own relationship or dynamic with their mother
or father. And to me, that is the strength and
the foundation of this film, Um, that relationship that you know,
um where where where Diode comes to America thinking that

(01:03:35):
you know, he looked as his dad as a god,
you know, and he comes to America and he's falls
very short of that. You know, you're also talking about
in the film. He's a man of God, he's a
missionary and a pastor, and so we have that dynamic
of faith um in the film, which is also something
that uh, you know, I I'd like to talk about
in the film because I think it's an important factor

(01:03:56):
when when in this story, well you know, it was
important to me because you know, here's a guy he
left his family, right, he left his wife. His wife
had to raise a young man, and we all know
the dynamics of it importance the men in the boy's life,
and he wasn't there in those important formative years. And
basically he was the only reason he came to him.

(01:04:17):
I'm not gonna tell the story. It was. It was
it was kind of like happens that that he actually
was in the States to be with his father. But
his father explaining me, Solomon, what were you trying to
achieve in the in the in the ark of the
character with the father, because you're the writer and the director,
what were you achieving in that relationship? Because I hear
what Benny said, and I'm agreeing with what you're saying, Benny,

(01:04:39):
And because my father was a disconnect with me, you know,
even I loved him to death, you know, and uh,
but we were not that type father some relationship. Uh.
For me, when it came to the father of Tasmane
in Devil, Uh, it kind of mirrored my relationship with
my father. My my dad is also in the ministry

(01:05:01):
and often and often he would leave to Nigeria to
other countries on missionary trips to uh you know, because
he he works in um and like radio broadcast and
in order to kind of you know, spread the message
of Christ. And so I was looking at that when
I was when I was growing up, and I was thinking,

(01:05:21):
you know, he's leaving his family in order to push
the gospel, and so you know, his his attention is
being carried away from things that I thought he should have,
you know, been at home trying to nurture us as
we were coming up, but he was instead doing other things.
So for me, it's like that was the most interesting
part of of of the character for me, because I

(01:05:43):
thought the art there was he puts more value in
this out is in this external system of religion versus
his own family, and that's what I was trying to portray. Well,
you know, we're not being you know, you know, I
mentioned a different channel as she shows, you've done success
in the film industry and then you get a project
that comes to your production company, Tasmanian Devil. You know,

(01:06:07):
is it is it the character structure or is the
content of what the script brought to the table that
really excited you the most? Or we're just the favorite
meter ority of the background because you are remember I'm
aphro firephon. Well, it was a combination of things. I
think part of um, part of our responsibility as uh

(01:06:28):
in these fraternities is something that's important, and I think
over the years it has gotten lost on on all
of us, you know, not just alpha's, not just cues.
All of us we've we've sort of we've taken a
back seat to what we're supposed to be doing. And
what we're supposed to be doing is giving back to
the community. UM, we're supposed to reach back and bring
other people up. Regardless of what I mean, I would

(01:06:50):
have had this film come to me Solomon not been
an alpha and he was you know, a queue or
new I would have been involved in the same way
because that that wasn't the reason why I UM. What
I wanted to do was to be able to help
a young man who wanted to be or who is
a filmmaker tell his story and not be held back

(01:07:11):
by what happens when you make a studio movie. When
producers who've never made a movie before, or never directed
or never written have all these notes and ideas and
thoughts and all this stuff and it goes against what
you want to do creatively, right, So what I what
I wanted to do was help shepherd him in this
into this industry in a way where his full vision

(01:07:33):
can be achieved. The way he thought about the scenes,
the way he wrote the scenes, the way he directed
the scenes, or his vision. At the same time, because
of the experience I had, I wanted to give him
some notes and some ideas, But never was I in
a position where I said, Yo, you gotta take these
notes or it's gonna be whacked. No. I would offer
my ideas to him, some he took something he didn't,

(01:07:56):
and I respected the respect of them both the same way. Um,
Because the point of the matter is when you make
a film, you have to as the director and writer,
you have to live and die by that film. So
I was I just wanted him to make sure that
he was solid and stood solid on the ground and
the decisions that he made. And my whole goal was
to be here to support him. And I think it's

(01:08:17):
really important to Solomon that you did have someone who
had the fraternal experience, the pledge experience, because I would
tell you so Man really enjoyed the movie. I was.
I smiled because it brought back memories, you know, Zomba trying.
You know when it was past, you know, when it

(01:08:38):
was greed. It was like, you know I was going through,
if I was going through, see it through, I was
going it was like you can keep your heading all
about your losing theirs and blame it wing you. I'm
going who you know, it was like it was. It
was the reason I'm excited about it. I wanted to
highly recommend this movie is because you know it's a
collegiate journey, because you know that people on the outside

(01:08:59):
saw what we experience and then you have the people
who experienced it and can share that that that firm believed.
But this is why I feel it was important that
Benny was part of this, this this bootoo seen in
uh process because it didn't go over the top. Nothing
in this movie. I went, that's some crap, what are

(01:09:21):
you doing? And we were never do that, dude. It
stayed on the level plane field. It didn't go to
the extreme because you know where it can go. But
it was not nobody's jumping out of a plane, somebody
dumping out of a call, somebody robbing the store because
they're trying to get something. Everything that was asked in
this movie by the young man actually happened to me,

(01:09:41):
or I asked somebody to do it for me when
I became a big brother. That's important, Solomon, and I
believe it. What's your what's your thoughts on that? Uh? Yeah?
I just wanted to show almost like a standard view
of what hazen is. I mean a lot of people
have seen hazen from other black films like Stump the
Yard and Spike Lees movie, so we have a knowledge

(01:10:04):
of hazing already. I didn't want to get too deep into,
you know, what different organizations do, because that's not what
this is about. You know, I created it. I created
a film that's outside of m P a C. So
I just wanted to show a generic hazing process or
pledging process, to use that as a vehicle to to
show what it's like to to enter this organization and

(01:10:27):
then uh comparing, comparing, contrast that to the religious aspects
of it and to the you know him trying to
assimilate to American culture. Uh So that's why I kept
a very surface level. I just showed stuff that people
probably already know about hazing or pledging. Well, are you
doing someone? I don't want to. I don't sell yourself short. Um,

(01:10:48):
it's about an experience. And and you know as a person,
and you both you growth air players, you have any
players by myself, I played with three other brothers. I
players with a fifth one. But we're going to run.
And he jumped out of the car while I was
still moving. So we went down the flour So that's
how extreme pledging can beat, you know. And then ran
back to the door when he wasn't gonna get out
of his bed. I quit. I quit, I'm done. And

(01:11:10):
I know the first day, just sharing some experience. I
did get hit on the first day that were the board.
I got paddled, you know, because my my, my lyon
brothers knew. I didn't know them. We're just all pleasure.
At the same time we're playing cards. They said, look
look at me, serious now, however many points y'all lose by,
that's a man time, we're gonna hit him. They were

(01:11:33):
really okay. They just the points kept totally. And in
my mind, I'm going, are they seriously up a hundred
points here? Damn? You know what I'm saying. And and
then all real it was a hundred and eighty four
points they lost. Come on, Come On Down. And I
got hit a hundred and eighty four times on my
first day. And I'm not saying that's a badge of courage.

(01:11:54):
I'm just saying that that in that point of life,
you make decisions. And I think that that's what this
movie is about. It's a decision making movie. It's a
decision about relationships. It's a decision about his dad, this
decision to come over there, it's decision how people look
at you. When he finally stood up, the homeboard that
told him he know started calling him names, and he
stood up for him the first time because he found

(01:12:16):
he was soft, because he had a soft tone and
he wasn't aggressive. This is a really great movie, Solomon.
And it's not about the levels that you deliver. It's
the story that you're telling. Man. And Viney, I'm sure
you played a major role, and I'm and I'm not
trying to undersell it. I'm just selling it right. Man.
I enjoyed. I would watch it again because I watched

(01:12:36):
it this morning. Whenever I do interviews like this, I
don't want like to watch a movie three days or
four day. I like to watch it the day of.
So I got up at four o'clock this morning and
I watched the movie and it's entire to the one
hour and fifty nine minutes. I know. I watched it
and I enjoyed, and I went, wow, this is really
good because and the lead character is amazing. That plays

(01:12:56):
d He's amazing. Abraham. Yeah, you know one thing too.
I want to say, the culture of the cultural aspects
of this film are important. And you know when when
we made this movie, we didn't. You know, this was
pre pandemic, this was pre George Floyd and all these things.
And I think one interesting factor about it is that

(01:13:17):
um as as Africans in this diaspora of America, we
we are finally, I think now, have finally come together
as one unit where we can look at each other
as real brothers. And I mean, you know, um Russia.
You know, we were probably not that far in age,
and we grew up in a time where, you know,
if you was African or Haitian or Jamaican or something

(01:13:41):
like that, Southern Southern brothers and brother people that grew up.
I grew up in Philly, but my parents, my father's
from the South, you know, from Virginia, and my mother's
from Philly, but she's her parents are from Virginia, North Carolina,
so southern roots. And we always looked at Africans or
blacks coming from other places and a little weird, a
little weird way the way they sounded, the food they

(01:14:02):
ate and all these things. And so this is this
film showed. It showed a little bit of that, but
it showed the respect factor too. He was like, you're
from Africa, right, and he says, you got a four
point oh. And I think that right there showed a
lot because it changed that little scene changed the dynamic
of what African Americans think of Afrikaans, right. And I

(01:14:26):
think that's important given what we are all going through
uh in this country right now. And in terms of
you know, when when that policeman stopped you, he's not
asking you if your parents are from Nigeria or Houston
or or Charlotte or you know, or Southfield, Virginia, He's
they're looking at the black skin. And I think, now

(01:14:46):
we we uh at a point in in in this um,
you know, in this journey of of African people that
we all together now you know, we could look at
each other and respect each other. It takes a Lloyd
took a long time for that, but now we probably
you know, we can respect each other when we see
each other, you know. Not when I think about this
when at four, I remember that scene because they mentioned

(01:15:07):
that four point four point or great point that like
three times in the movie. When I took away from that,
Solomon and being a would always tell people when you
have value, when you create value, then there's a need
or want for you, you know, because people wants to
be a millionaire, but what's your value? Everybody wants to
be active? Can you act? And with more basketball? Can
you dribble? You know? Can you show up for practice

(01:15:29):
on time? And to me, that was a strong moment
for me, for for just young black people in general,
especially black men. If you create value, then there's a want.
You create want, then there's a desire to make you
part of I'll make you a whole part of something
that's bigger. And that's the whole thing about the tas
Medon and day of experiences that you know, being our

(01:15:49):
players to make as fire. You know, we had the
cute pearls and all that's all these different layers the
A K s and all that stuff. I remember the
scene when there was at the UC Center. We all
know Wednesday. I don't care what campus you on in America,
Wednesday noon, Brother, on the campus, that's where you got
to be on any camps black, h B, c U, White,

(01:16:11):
Wednesday noon, not Tusday, Thursday, but Wednesday New So I
had so many flashbacks in this movie, but it was
tied to the realism and the portrayal of the college experience,
because you really gave me the college experience, not only
from his point of view, for the other young men
who wanted to fit in. Because you can agree with this, Ben,
and you went to Temple. I went to the University

(01:16:32):
of Houston. So even though it was like we thought
it was a lot of black people on campus, it
was only liked of us, right, you know what you
thought it was. You thought we was like of the campus.
You know, do you realize it? Thirty five thousand white
people on this campus. We only and but but that's

(01:16:53):
the black experience. But also I remember I became vice
president's student body and that was because of the black
sperience allowed me to experience that. But truly, I'm talking
to you saw the black experience, just talking about what's
happened in and seeing what happened to Georgian Floyd, George Floyd,
and watching black men talk you know, used in word

(01:17:16):
like they're supposed to us in word on the streets,
you know, being comfortable in using that. What was your
whole ultimate goal besides being a personal story that you
can relate to use a fternity. Remember your dad was
in the ministry, did radio some form of entertainment. What
was the ultimate journey for the movie Tasmanian Devil, Um

(01:17:37):
with Tasmanian Devil, and also hopefully as I progressed in
my career, my goal is to show Black people ask
who we truly are. Um, there's a lot of like
most of the stuff that that depicts African American culture
and film is us having to overcome some type of
system or like racism or slavery. Something that is uh,

(01:17:59):
that's something that to fight against. But I just wanted
to us living our lives, like doing things that we do.
You know. That's that's that's my voice as a filmmaker.
That's that's my contribution. I want to make films for
black people that that that that's just us existing in
our everyday lives and showing the different things we can do,
not just having to overcome a white system or being

(01:18:19):
inferior to some other kind of race or something like that.
So with Tasmanian Devil, that's what I was going for
as I created, As I continue to make films, that's
what I'll continue to do. So I'm glad that you
saw that in Tasmanian Devil, because I hope to do
more of it. Hey, man, I believe me. I saw
that and more. I saw a talented young man, and
I'm so happy that, Benny, you're doing that. You know,

(01:18:41):
Basically I created money making conversation because so many people
would ask me to mentor it, you know, and I
just can't mentor everybody. So I kind of like use
these interviews I'm doing with you guys as a form
of mentory. People listened an interview, they grab your experience
being they grab your experience Solomon, and it becomes a
possibility those nuggage that you guys dropped doing end you
Now you talked about script to come your way. You

(01:19:03):
created a production company with a fellow fra trading brother,
Benny talk tell us about your production company. Well, we
have Groundwork Studios, and it's uh, we created myself and
Gerald Rawls, who's brother alpha brother from my chapter who
I pledged, and we you know, from day one, we
always um said that we we have you know, we
know that there's something greater that can be done in entertainment.

(01:19:26):
So while I was directing videos and having the opportunity
to do movies and television, I'm also uh opening myself
up to the next voices and the important It's interesting
to hear Solomon say that because it's it's funny. This
is the first time I'm actually hearing his mission statement
funny enough of what he of what he sees himself
as a filmmaker, which I think is great because you know,

(01:19:48):
when I was trying to come up and make you know,
from transition from music videos to film, the knock was
that we didn't want to do anything that was black
sub jack matter because it really wasn't popular then, right,
So we were trying to fit in, get in somewhere.
Um that didn't really happen for me. So the first

(01:20:08):
film I did was Next Day Air, which was the
first feature of Mike's Mike EPs and Wood Harris and
Ormary Hardwick, which is a very black, very very funny,
dark comedy. You know that that kind of dealt with
the drug subject matter, and it was very relatable to
my life growing up in West Philly in a way. Um.

(01:20:30):
And so that although you know, the film is funny
and people talk about it, you know, had I made
that film in this climate, it probably would have been
received more or better or bigger, you know, something like that,
had more interest in it. But it was just very
hard at that time to get people interested in black movies.
And I'm just so glad that I'm able to sit

(01:20:50):
here now, um, you know, some fifteen years later from
that movie almost and be able to help a young
filmmaker tell his story the way that he wants to
tell it to too, and give it to the world,
and and the other great thing. Um, and it's not great,
But something that's come out of COVID is that we
don't we don't have to be hampered by the idea

(01:21:13):
of um of what you call on theaters of theatrical release.
And so we can put this film out and give
it to the audience without having to go through the
trades and say, oh man, we only made you know,
three million the first weekend or two million the first
week those kind of things. That is which I'm really
happy about. We can actually actually service the audience with

(01:21:34):
a great movie and not be worried about, um, what
the perception is of it based on how many people
saw it the first weekend. Well, you know exactly what
it was. What I'm saying, we said all eyes on me.
It was considered a black movie. It was only basically
domestically released. It was limited released into foreign selected markets

(01:21:54):
maybe England, the Caribbean, maybe South Africa, or Africa in general.
Where this movie when it's released February nine, it's gonna
be on the entire it's worldwide release. That's that's what
I really love about streaming. I'm glad you brought that
up because our champions streaming, especially when it comes to
black products, because we're not limited to what somebody says
we should be seen by only these people really want

(01:22:17):
to see your movie. Now. People are everybody seeing your movies.
And that's important because it's premiering on Amazon, it's premiering
on that tune and these are international platform Fandango, Google
Play Off the Horizon. That is the beauty of why
I wanted to make sure I was a part of
this interview. You know, I'm gonna put it all my
social media, I'm gonna put it in my newsletter because

(01:22:37):
my man, you know, like Bennie said, you are our future.
And I'm not saying being and not ready to die.
I'm not saying that solid okay, but you are our future.
And it's important that we let you understand. Man. Look,
it's a whole different game out there because he's right.
You know, Next Day are funny boy. That ended, but
they were shooting up everybody that ended, you know, how

(01:22:58):
something the movie it's so, but it was, it was,
it was. It was funny Mike Ebs, that's my boy, Harvard, Harvard,
all these things, and so it's all about timing. But
guess what if that moving back there was released domestically,
if every movie is released right now, the options of
being able to say I don't like that deal, I'm
gonna take that deal over here because I want my

(01:23:19):
product to see be seen by everybody, China, uh, Russia, England, Germany,
all of Africa, Italy, you know, Brazil. That's what's gonna
happen to your project. That's why I like your project,
because you're telling the story to me that's very honest
and very relatable. And I just want to say congratulations

(01:23:40):
Mr Writer, Mr Director, and I'm glad you had an
EP like Mr Bennie Boone to show you the state
truth in your story because your story related was relatable
to me, even at my age. You made me smile.
That's great. Cool well by, I wanna thank you for
coming on the show, Solomon or Nita Jr. I'm sure
here you do in the future. Brother, you'll start on

(01:24:02):
the rise. Man, don't stop, man, I appreciate you are
coming on some money making conversations. Thank you, Rush. I
appreciate the sign. Man, Thank you so much. Hey man,
many you know. I know you're gonna have projects in
the future. I always know you can come to me. Okay,
thank you. I appreciate that. Man. All right there, appa
appa omega man. We all fraternity to brothers. Okay, Alrighty'll
stay strong. We will be right back with more money

(01:24:24):
making conversations with your host. Ras Sean McDonald. Hi, everyone,
Al Rooker here as a guy with his own catchphrase.
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difference in our community by empowering others to reach their
life goals, from civic leaders, businessmen, activists, celebrities and everyday dads.

(01:26:13):
The Cafe Moka Swagger Award winner this week is but
Cary Sellers, a more House graduate who made history in
two thousand six when, at the age of twenty two
years old, he became the youngest member of the South
Carolina State Legislature and the youngest African American elected official
in the nation. But Cary Sellers currently practices law and
it's a political commentator at CNN. His book, My Vanishing

(01:26:35):
Country coronicles critical flashpoints and our civil rights movement. I
had no idea that my book was gonna come out
during a time where black folks were dying in extremely
high rates due to the coronavirus or pandemic that we
would have had the deaths of Brianna Taylor, by the
deaths of amd Aubrey Um and now another death in Minnesota.
Book comes out in the words that I'm that I'm
putting on those pages and speaks to the issues of

(01:26:57):
race we have in this country, issues we've never truly
dealt with. The Cafe Maka Swag Award represents men who
have strength, whose wisdom is assertive, and who is genuine
in their spirit. Welcome back to money making Conversations with
your host, Rashan McDonald. My next guest is always trimmitted, committed.
She's a committed person. Brittany Nicholson pickings the Juice Girl.

(01:27:18):
The Juice cair definitions. When life gives you lemons, you
make lemonade or in this case, you get to juicing.
She's a food blogger and created eating Anonymous that allows
her to review restaurants, and she is a serial entrepreneur.
She started up and off now she's down in the South.
The Juice Girl business offered the variety of products and
energize you, boost your immune system, reduced risk of sickness,

(01:27:38):
and increase your fruit and vegetable intake. They all ingredient,
all natural ingredient, rich envitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Please welcome
to money making Conversation. Brittany Nicholson pickings. Yes, I loved
that intro. Well, you know I was struggling for some reason.
I'm gon struggling day. I don't know why, but I've
I've gotten through the intros. So make sure I have

(01:28:00):
a great interview with you. So I'm looking at this
fantastic I'll see some I'm assuming those are juices in
front of you. Four tax of juices. I'm asuming right there,
what type of juices are they? So, okay, let's just
go through it. Okay, consider the wanted all pack. Okay,
this one in all pack. I always suggest everybody to

(01:28:22):
take if they want to start um detoxing. That's the
first step on detoxing is the water off. Let's stop
right there. What's exactly a detoxic detoxing? Basically, it's just
gonna cleanse your body, take all the toxins out. So
a lot of times we use natural juices. It just
right away, like right if your body is not used

(01:28:42):
to eating, help, So it basically flushes your system out,
system out. Just I'm talking about shot mcdonaldad because sometimes
I feel a little bloated, Like after I came out
of Thanksgiving weekend, I felt a little bloated, detoxed. Okay, cool, okay, cool,
okay cool. Definitlybe the times. So let me just go
through what we have here. So this is the Green Goddess.

(01:29:04):
This has five fruits and vegetables. It has kale, kiwi, cucumber, lemon,
and pineapple. You know, it sounds a little nasty because
it has a lot in it, but it tastes very
very good. This is the Carrot Paradise. So the care
Paradise has pineapple, lemon, and carrots in it. It has
the beat berry. The beat berry is a little bit

(01:29:26):
hard to drink because it has ginger in it. It's
just it means you're a little harder to drink because
it has ginger. And what does gender? What does ginger
doing to make it harder to drink? Is it tangy
or is it u? Ginger is very strong, especially to
ginger that I use. But it has like I think
it's ninety two minerals, vitamins and minerals in it. Um

(01:29:47):
it's very very good for your immune system. I love gender.
So like this is like one of the ginger shops
that I I always that I suggest. It's called of
Boost Me Up. Basically has the honey, the lemon, and
it also has the ginger in awesome the wheat grass.
So the wheat grass has wheat grass and ginger. I've
been here about wheat grass, you know, for I remember

(01:30:09):
Steve Harvey used to always drink way back in two
thousands when everything wheat grass. Okay, I've tried the wheat grass.
Now what exactly does the wheat grass do for you?
Uh So, basically what a reat grass do for you
is it has a lot of vitamin and middles as well,
and it definitely helps boost your immune system. A lot

(01:30:31):
of things green cleans you out. Like immediately here is
the Kickstar. So this one is a little tangy. So
if you like citrus, which is oranges which has vitamin C,
really like this one. You would like this one. And
it has oranges, lemons and then also pineapple juice in

(01:30:53):
it fresh pineapple, um fresh. I use a lot of
fresh pineapple, you know people. So one thing about my
business is I customize your juices. So I want pineapple,
I won't put pineapple if you do not want If
you want more ginger, just say in the notes I
want more ginger. You just let me know and I'll
make it how you are. Okay. So if I wanted
just so, you show me four juices. If I wanted

(01:31:16):
juice number one and juice number four of what you
presented to us, I can just order those. Yes, so
everything you can order one of one M minimum order
for delivery. So I out here in Atlanta, I have
a delivery service. Okay. I make sure I come to
your door and I drop off your juices. UM. Minimum
to juices per order. Most likely a lot of people.

(01:31:38):
Usually these are my top sellers. Artists and the Care
Paradise are my top sellers. Um. A lot of people
think they're the top sellers. Why do you think there's
two of the top sellers, and remind people what they
have in them that makes them the top sellers. Um.
I think it's because they taste really good and there's
a lot of benefits. So this one has five roots

(01:31:58):
and vegetables, and then this one has three, but both
of these together. A lot of the time, if people
buy them as their detoxing, and they buy them in
the gallon. I sell them in the gallon as well.
Now there's one detox does that is that considered weight
loss when you detox. So also with detoxing is weight loss.

(01:32:18):
So you can lose a few inches to your stomach. Okay,
I can always do with that. I'll just let you
know that. So if I have to go through the process,
how much is each bottle? And if I bought more
than one bottle, are there any discounts? So there there
aren't any discounts. Some times I do like I'll add
it like I should drink shot time. So each juice

(01:32:42):
cost twelve dollars, and when I sell the gallon, the
gallon is seventy dollars. So the gallon is like a
huge gallon of juice. And it's usually you can you
can detox for about a week or two with the GAG.
The shelf life is three to five days. So you
wouldn't want to get a you wouldn't want to like
to get like fifteen bolls. You want to bottom like

(01:33:03):
on a weekly or two week basis right by. So
what I'm gonna start within the new year is I'm
going to do a membership program where everyone can because
they can't described and every week they will get a
delivery of juicing. Wow, that's pretty hot. That's pretty hardy.
So let's let's talk about Let's go back down. We
know you got the product. How did all this get started?
I'm talking to the Brittany. You know, she's the founder.

(01:33:25):
She is the juice girl. She has a fantastic poster
of her in the background. She has these roses in
front of her. She has four fantastic popular juice drinks
in front of her. The first two that she talked about.
It just reminded of her popular ones in the Atlanta area.
That's where you based. You can deliver that. Okay? What
is each bottle? The cost of each bottle? The cost

(01:33:46):
of these fallows swall dollars? Okay, cool? Okay cool. So
I if Rushane McDonald said, hey, I finued this interview,
I said, look, I want to order two bottles. I
can get them delivered to my office today. Yes, you
can get them to that. Well, you'll be hearing from
me after this call. Perfect. I mean then I also
have on my website. I don't want to forget those.

(01:34:07):
I have two other drinks pineapple ginger. And then I
also have a it's called a sunrise, was it? Why
don't I forget it? A Paradise Sunrise basically has pineapples
and strawberry. I use that more so as a refreshing drink.
So you can add alcohol if you want to to

(01:34:29):
that one, because a lot of people lying fresh juice,
they go healthy and drunk. Healthy drunkness. That's what you
picture right there. Brittany on peaches, So I also had peach.
It was it was delicious. So like for certain events
where they want my juices, I usually add Georgia peach

(01:34:51):
basically had fresh peaches hair, and then it had peach rock.
And then you did an Apple crisp and it had
fresh apples pineapple in apple's rock. So I do go
for like a special of it. Okay, cool. Now I
want to come back to the question. I kind of
like stumbled over it and was asking how did all
this get started? You know, well, you're working a full

(01:35:11):
time job and you quit your four time job talking
about what you're doing in part time developments while you're
working four times Because I want to tell people, don't
quit your four time job. Do you have an option
that the job you're going through the opportunity to go
into it's real. So talking about hot just let's go
through the history of how Juice Girl got started. Okay,
So when Juice Carl got started. UM, so background story.

(01:35:33):
In February, my mother passed away. I'm sorry to hear
that my mother passed away. And I was working a
full time job as executive assistant for a CEO of
a global manufacturing company. Looking in corporate. I've been working
in corporate for about fifteen years, and I all of
a sudden decided what am I here in New York for, Like,

(01:35:56):
I need to start a new life. I want to move.
So I decided to move to Atlanta. I feel like
there's a lot of opportunities out here in Atlanta and
it's more progressive for you know us and um and
I love to see I just love to see so
many black entrepreneurs and like, let's let's just go and

(01:36:19):
only child. I don't have any kids, so I said,
let's go. So I moved to Atlanta in July and
I started the Juice Girl literally in July or more
towards August, and I was just like, okay, let's go.
So I've already did always did the food blogging for
the longest on my charge for food blocks. On my blog,

(01:36:42):
it's called Eating Underscore Anonymous, and basically I travel around
different cities and give you a real reactions for reviews
to different restaurants and what's good in their on their
menu and stuff like that. So then I just said, hey,
we're in during a pandemic. One thing, I realized a
lot of restaurants were closed. The only thing that I
really see that was open were juice places. I was

(01:37:04):
just like, this is something we need to boost our
immune system. Is mainly boosting your immune system with a
lot of fruit and vegetable intake. All my juices have
all fruits, all vegetables, no water added. A lot of
businesses put water in their juices and they're not a natural.
A lot of business don't you put sea moss and
their juices. All my juices have sea moss. That's why

(01:37:26):
the prices at twelve dollars. So I just I just
started it and I just decided let's go with it.
And it's actually been going and I'm excited. They're just
starting your kitchen. You start in a lab. How did
this just start in my kitchen. I started actually in

(01:37:48):
this kitchen. Actually I started in this kitchen and then
now I just brand a space in a shared kitchen
to make all my juices. Okay, so you make your juices,
are you you've not gotten to a distributor yet or
the trash. The next step within the new year is
UM I have a manufacturing working on my UM ingredients

(01:38:09):
to perfect my juices. Because what the next step is.
I wanted to be in Hopefoods, So I'm going to
change the label and everything like that and hopefully within
January Febora and hopefully. Let's just so not that's about
that's about marketing in Brandon, getting up your volume of
sales and things like that. But it's something you're saying.
It's very important. We all know when the COVID right now,

(01:38:29):
COVID nineteen and it a virtually affects overtly affects the
African American community of people of color. And you you
decided to launch Okay, what made you? I know your
fact you, Sery Shane. I saw juice places open up
there and it's good for your immune system. But that's
a degree of fear. That's a degree of unknown. What
made you the step path, the fear and the unknown.

(01:38:54):
I'm fearless. One of those people is like, let's just
let's just go and I know what's you know? So
a lot of the times, a lot of one thing,
I've realized a lot of people aren't. You don't know
about juicing. They don't know the benefits. They don't know
about sea moss, they don't know about ginger, they don't
know about health. You know, it's important, not even just

(01:39:14):
boosting your immune system is important to start eating right.
Once we get a certain age, we have to change
our eating habits. We really have to eat differently. These
you won't even think. This green juice right here can
make clean out your system, get rid of the toxins,
and just make you feel a lot better. So if
you drink this juice, you take a vitamin daily vitamin

(01:39:38):
they has mass in it. You should you should be okay.
You know, the COVID thing is very very serious. It's
it's not it's not even a game. Um. Getting a
cold or getting the flu is serious, very serious as well,
because then it changed, it goes into pneumonia. It's just
like all these different steps we need to you know,

(01:39:58):
chop out. You know, we avoid, we need to void.
So it's really important to really just really realize, Hey,
this this is real. We need to boostar immune systems.
We need to either if taking sea moss every day
if you don't want to juice. So another thing is there.
In the new year, I'm going to have like a
twenty dollar subscription. Every week, I'm gonna come out with

(01:40:21):
a new juice, the new ingredient. I'm gonna show everybody
how to juice because a lot of people are like,
they don't think it's a necessity. They don't think it's important.
So they're like, oh, I have a juice at home.
I could juice. Yeah, I juice. A lot of people go, oh, yeah,
I juice. I choose, but then they try my juice
and they're like, wait, this is good. I'm like, but
what did you put in it? I'm like, hey, hold on.

(01:40:43):
In the year, I'm going to have a system where
you guys can subscribe and I can show you how
to juice. I'm gonna give you the tools of juicing.
Because you're not giving away any secrets, Like McDonald didn't
give away these secret songs. You know, so you know
it's this is good, this is different because I have
a juicer. Look at it, it's brand new. Your boy

(01:41:04):
has never juiced. Okay, in theory, that's why I told you.
We we finished his interview, I will be calling you
because I I like to, because I immediately when ran
through my mind was I need to I need to
free the toxins in my body. You know, I felt bloated.
I actually picked up five pounds over the over the
thanks to even holidays, and so I didn't know what
to do and so but I also knew that I

(01:41:25):
wanted to flush my system basically what I'm doing with
the toxin. And so again, tell everybody again because I
want people. Every year, a lot of people hear stuff.
In the beginning, they want to, then they forget. They
subscribe each one of the four juices that you have
on display in your store online. Okay, so everything is
based off online. Um. So basically, here is the Cara Paradise.

(01:41:48):
So the care Paradise has carrots, clemming in pineapple. Here
is the Green Goddess. The Green Goddess has kal kiwi, cucumber,
lemon and pineapple. That's a little bitter than the first
one right from a thing the good. They're both good
because kale and q comba okay, sale is very bitter,

(01:42:09):
but the pineapple over a pineapple and the lemon just
cover it over. You're not even gonna know that. Okay,
And those first two you just mentioned are your most
popular brands. Most popular, um, A lot of people bodies
in the gallon for de tap so the de tacting
so basically they can drink the green for breakfast, the

(01:42:29):
orange the carrot for for lunch, and they have like
a light sound, have an oatmeal for breakfast. You know,
it's just certain things, you know. I even started eating
veggie burgers. I don't eat I eat less meat. I
love steak though, but I love start eating more like
vegetarian plant based pace. But I love the steak, so

(01:42:51):
you know, you gotta cut it down. Like I love
Coca Cola, I don't anymore. I use it as I
consider it as actual. So when I stay for Christmas,
I'm having a Coca Polar just to look in ask
and you know, not too much, but I love the
taste of it tastes with steak. But now we have
the beat berries has freshly pressed beef and it has ginger.

(01:43:16):
And then it also has blueberries and strawberries. You can't
take the brulberries and strawberries more so on the beatberry,
we just taste strong ginger. This is the only drink
that has well. This drink and the ginger pineapple have
ginger in it. And I'm gonna tell you a funny
story right after this. So then also we have the Kickstart.
The Kickstart has it's more the citrus dividing and seed.

(01:43:39):
It has the oranges, the lemon, and the pineapple. So
and then the weak Crash that sounds like my favorite
right there with the oranges, the lemons and the pineapple.
That sounds like my favorite right there, Brittany. It's very
very tangy because this this freshly pressed oranges is so
like like it wakes me up. So I always tell

(01:44:02):
everybody drink this in the morning as a morning bra.
I think I would want that one for sure, for
sure that that was because I love oranges, I love pineapples,
and I know lemon that's acidic, Like I said that
that's acidic right there. That would knock down that sweetness
in there. But that's uh, you got three out of four,
I'm I'm all over, I got I gotta punch. I

(01:44:24):
want to buy a button of this is considered the
one and all past. So this is a three to
four day detox. So I always tell everybody the first
two days of us trying to detox a body and
tell them I want you to drink a juice and
a shot all. So basically, once you do your purchase,
I give you guys, I send you guys a message

(01:44:45):
telling you exactly what I want you. So, so you
gotta send me not only a juice but also a shot. Yes,
well you did. Now you got some extra stuff coming
on the side here. So I get a juice in
the shop per day with this want wanted all pack,
you get too shots and you get four juices. Okay, cool?
So this shop talking very serious here because I want

(01:45:07):
to get our to day is Monday, okay, so I
have I'll be able to do a Tuesday win is
the Thursday Friday of this week? Correct, So on Tuesday,
I get my package today. Okay, what would I do
when I wake up in the morning. So when you
wake in the morning, the first juice I want you
to drink is the green Okay, I want you to
do a green juice, and I want you to do

(01:45:29):
the boost Me up shot because I want us to
get your body ready for what's next. So then the
second day, I always say the care of Paradise and
the weak Grass shot, right okay. Then the third day
I always say, in the morning, I want you to
drink the Beats. You cannot drink the Beats. You would
drink the Bet for breakfast or the Beat for lunch.

(01:45:52):
I do not want you to drink the Beats at
night because it will keep you up, okay, but I
can still eat normal food. You can still eat normal food.
That ginger is very strong. So every so after you're
doing that, the fourth day, I want you to drink
the Kickstar. Right in between of all the drinking the juice.
In the morning, I want you to drink water. I

(01:46:14):
prefer essentia water because it's alkaline. You don't have to
have essentia per se, but I want you to drink
alkaline water because alkaline helps flesh your body. So so
this normal bottom water wouldn't do it. I like alkaline
is the piece diff Your pa is different. I'm trust
me your pea and cleaning out your kidneys is so

(01:46:37):
much different when you start drinking alkaline water. The only
water I drink is either core or essential. Now I
drink a lot of water period. I love drinking water,
you know. That's a big thing with me, drinking water.
And so when I'm looking at this plan you have
in place, you know, you got a product. How did
you get to the point that you can mix all
these together though? And realize that you you know, you know,

(01:47:01):
you know. I got to ask these questions, you know,
because you know, just a regular person walking around and
all of a sudden you got an idea and you're
mixing juices and you got a product line. How did
the product line get started? Did you experiment idea? Okay,
I was an idea, and then I took myself to
the farmer's market. I said, okay, let's buy a bunch

(01:47:24):
of fruits. What goes with what? So at first, when
I first it was so funny. It was the construction
workers outside of my building. He see me all these
bottles and he said, what are you doing? I said,
I'm the juice girl. Mind you, I didn't even start
the juice girl. I didn't even start it, but I
knew once I said it. He said, oh yeah, well
when did you juice? When are you ready? I said, Monday,
mind you. I didn't have any idea on what was

(01:47:45):
going with what, but I had a plan. So on Monday.
So on Sunday I got all these fruits. I started
mixing all these fruits. I had all these jugs with
different fruits in them. So then I'm like, okay, let's
put this with this. Put up one cup. I have
muddering cups and everything. I'm measuring everything. I'm just trying
to figure out what goes with what. So the first

(01:48:06):
round I put ginger in everything. Obviously, by the way
you said that, that wasn't a good move. That wasn't
a good move. So then I realized, wait a minute,
hold on, we cannot put ginger in everything because it
burns like it's burning like it's just it's it's automatically
making you go to bathroom. So this is not gonna work. Um,
So now I started again. I said, okay, round two,

(01:48:29):
let's try it again. So then I just started mixing
with So for me, pineapple is like my natural sugar,
so that we'll just take take away the taste for
the care and the green and make it taste much better.
They mean, it's just something that needs to be basically everything. Okay,
because like this boost me up. Shot, if you have

(01:48:50):
a cold, this ginger lemon and honey is going to
knock that cold out. You're not You're no longer going
to have a cold. So like two or three days
of this to three days of a ginger pineapple juice,
you're gonna be okay, you know. I mean it's all natural.
You have to really start going into the more of
the natural route instead it's depending on medicine, you know, absolutely,

(01:49:12):
Now you have to I want to transition a little
bit because I know before a wrapper for any of
you are we missed. We talked about you being a
blogger food blogger, and we talked about that. We all
know you're serial entrepreneur out there making juices in your kitchen.
Now you also have a uh all purpose seasonal. Rob,
tell us about that and how that got started? How
did I bring it? Hold on, I gotta gonna get it.

(01:49:37):
I love it. I love it. Okay, Now she's got
an all purpose to see, Rob, there's really popular. And
now she didn't know I was gonna bring it up
obviously now because I'm a I'm a big cook guy,
and so I love rubes. I love seasonal. When you
p your water all pat, I'll make sure I'll playing
a pre person. Let's talk about this all season in row.

(01:49:58):
How did they get started? Oh my god. So I'm
a foodie. I love to eat um. I always like
seasoning on my food. I like who that has it
taste to it. I like to see the seasoning. So
that's why I like steak because like during the quarantine
on Sundays, I always used to have steak on the

(01:50:19):
groom like it was like my thing, are you are
your medium or what type of level of steak person
are you? I like it, Christie, so just do me
me and well you know you're you're a well done person.
I like it burn like burn. Some people get mad
at you. You go in the steakhoumes, they get mad
at you. They always mad at me when I go

(01:50:41):
to steakhouse. My lamb chops because I like the bird.
But I just like the seasoning. I like I like
when there's burn and it tastes fresh women on there.
So my of purpose seasoning rug basically had a little
bit of everything. So every I sold almost eighty bottles

(01:51:02):
already of this. It sells for twenty dollars um. It
literally has fresh cilantro garlic. The list goes on and
on everything that's in here. I think it's about twenty
three ingredients that are in here. Um. I basically came
up with this because I said, Hey, I have a
food blog. I love to eat. I love steak, I

(01:51:24):
love fish, I love lamb chop, birch steak, birch steak. Okay,
every time I'm like, excuse me to make sure burn
like that. I work at Burger King, and the people
will come through there, they go, okay, run it through that.

(01:51:45):
They've patty through the through a little grillo. No, run
it through again. They asked me to run it through
four times. They wanted burn, they wanted like crispy, I
mean charred, and then she because I just get people
a background on steaks. Now you go to a steak place,
they really want you to do rare are are a medium.

(01:52:09):
Once you start going past medium, they start frowning on you.
When you start using the word well done. They go,
while you come here, while you come you just use
just cooking all the juices and the flavor out of
the meat. So what she says she wants well or
done a charge. They look, they go back in the kitchen,
go got another one out there? Why she here? Because

(01:52:30):
it just drives all the juices. And I'm not saying
nothing wrong with what she does, because you buy, you
buy your you have your flavor, you're paying for you
get what you want. But that's what they want to steakhouse.
They want you to have a rare selection or a
medium selection. Once you get past that, they started telling
you in the sense that you're you're you're drying the
steak out. You you're losing all the juices out of it,

(01:52:51):
and your meat is gonna be dark. And once you
get to a dark meat, then you have nothing but
just tough meat. And so but you love that every time.
I hear it every time. But I just say cool.
Before we get on, let's wrap it up, juice girl.
We're talking about talking to Brittany about her wonderful success
and starting to the kitchen. She moved from up North.

(01:53:12):
Now she's in the Atlanta tearing it up. If you're
in the Atlanta area, she can deliver this. If you're
buy at least two bottles, bottles of twelve, nine and
nine each, right, and we discussed twelve each and then
she says a little shot. If you buy the four pack,
you get two shots, allow you to She has a
system in place that you can win with. I myself,
ra Sean McDonald will be investing in her four pack

(01:53:33):
so I can get by two shots. She's gonna throw
in a little free ball com from her battle of Rub,
so I'm winning twice. She had to go off camera
to get the rub to come back on fourteen kitchen
start that big, so she got back real quick. Thank
you coming on the show. You have a website, Tell
us about your website and your social media. So my
website on social media is ww dot the Juice Girl

(01:53:56):
Dot Store. Thank you, I appreciate you. If we'ren hear,
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Rushion McDonald

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