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October 27, 2020 123 mins
Rushion welcomes Jonathan McReynolds- GRAMMY-nominated & Stellar Award-winning Gospel Artist, Songwriter, Producer, and CEO, Life Room Label; Rev. Dr. Al Sharpton- Renowned Civil Rights Leader, Founder and President, National Action Network and Author, "Rise Up: Confronting a Country at the Crossroads"; Chef Ron Duprat- Food & Beverage Director/Executive Chef at The Amarillo Country Club, seen on Bravo T.V.'s "Top Chef"; Dina Marto & Courtney D. Rhodes- Co-Founders, C & D The Agency
 
My next guest Jonathan McReynolds is a GRAMMY-nominated and Stellar Award-winning artist, songwriter, and producer. He is also the founder and CEO of the record label Life Room Label. Jonathan has served as a judge on the last two seasons of BET's hit competition show, "Sunday Best," which wrapped its 10th season this summer and performs on the 51st Annual GMA Dove Awards, which will air on October 30th on TBN. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Jonathan McReynolds.
 
My next guest Rev. Dr. Al Sharpton is an Internationally Renowned Civil Rights Leader, Founder, and President of the National Action Network. National Action Network is one of the leading civil rights organizations in the Nation with 106 chapters nationwide. Rev. Al Sharpton hosts a daily radio show "Keepin' it Real w/ Rev. Al Sharpton," and a national cable news television show titled "Politics Nation." He does a combined 17 hours of television and radio media every week. In his new book RISE UP: Confronting a Country at the Crossroads, the Reverend Al Sharpton draws on his decades of a unique experience as a civil rights leader, a politician, and a television and radio host to encourage voters to stand up for what they believe and enact change in their country. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations, Reverend Al Sharpton.
 
My next guest is Chef Ron Duprat. In 2019 he was named Industry Chef of the Year. Currently, he is the Food and Beverage Director, Executive Chef at AMARILLO Golf and Country Club in Amarillo, Texas. He first gained recognition when he competed in Bravo T.V.'s "Top Chef." With his magnetic personality and fun demeanor, there was no keeping him off T.V. Then he went on Spike TV's Bar Rescue, Iron Chef America, and Beat Bobby Flay on the Food network. He always amazes judges with his is exotic foods that combine the rich Caribbean and French flavors. Ron has also been featured on The View, The Today Show, BET, Access Hollywood, Essence Magazine, Huffington Post, and Oprah magazine. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Chef Ron Duprat.
 
My next guests are Dina Marto and Courtney Rhodes. They co-Founded in 2020, C & D The Agency. It is an all women-led management agency that provides Marketing, Branding, Public & Media Relations services, and Project, Talent, and Operations Management specializing in Business and Entertainment. Their mission is to empower, mentor, and lead businesswomen to collaborate and increase minority women's opportunity. Dina Marto is a seasoned entrepreneur, having shattered gender and ethnic glass ceilings during her nearly 20 years as a music executive and small business owner. Dina is on the management team for superstar Tip "T.I." Harris and helped launch his popular podcast, which became #1 on Apple Podcasts. Courtney R. Rhodes is a branding and marketing expert. For 20+ years, she has worked with multi-million-dollar businesses to get their marketing messages seen, heard, and experienced across television, radio, magazines, and e-commerce, digital and social media platforms. She's placed over 100 million dollars in advertising dollars across television, radio, digital, social, and outdoor media. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Dina Marto and Courtney Rhodes.
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's to 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 occasion 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 share. Now it's time to hear from

(00:25):
my man, Rashan McDonald Money Making Conversations Here we come.
Thank you, stephen A. Smith. This is Rashan McDonald and
I am the host of Money Making Conversation dot com.
I recognize that we all have different definitions of success.
For some insuscizable paycheck, mine is helping people wake up
and inspiring them to accomplish their goals and live their
very best life. Leave with your gifts and don't let

(00:47):
your age, friends, family, or co workers stop you from
planning and living your dreams. I want you to stop
tripping over small challenges and prepare to rise above the
bigger obstacles that life will present to you. My Money
Making Conversation and dot com guest this week all gospel
artist Jonathan McReynolds, civil rights leader Reverend Al Shopton, chef
Ron Dupratt, and Seeing D Agency founders Dina Matto and

(01:10):
Courtney Roose. Tune into Money Making Conversation dot Com right
now and listen to free advice that can change your life.
My next guest, Jonathan McReynolds is a Grammy nominated and
Stellar Award winning artist, songwriter, and producer. He is also
the founder and CEO of the record label Life Room Label.
Jonathan has served as a judge on the last two

(01:33):
seasons the BT's hit competition show Sunday's Best, which wrapped
his tenth season. This summer, is performing on the and
he's also performing on the fifty one annual g M
A Dove Awards, which were air on octobert on tv N.
Please welcome to Money Making Conversation, my man, Jonathan McReynolds.

(01:53):
How are you doing pretty good? Hey? Jonathan? For Steve Harry. Now,
for many years, man, we did celebration of gospel and BT,
and we saw the evolution of gospel music. Uh. I
like to believe you know that, Uh that became and
I don't want to use this wrong. You know how

(02:14):
the star power of gospel music grew and grew? And
am I saying that in correctly? Because I felt that
with social media, you guys became uh, venue acts, arena acts,
and where you were initially was just regulated to church
church venues and so and it was all it was

(02:36):
amazing watching that because of the fact that you know,
people will come in and and direct carpets and all that,
and it was it was how is your role in
watching that growth? What changes have you seen? What do
you think has been the music, the style of music,
or social media that has led to that tremendous growth

(02:58):
in the brand of gospel music that we're here today. Well, now,
I think it starts off with just the music man.
When you have you know, the Kirk Franklins of the
world that you know, they have released music that you
know might have started in the church and might have
been you know, meant for you know, gospel music listeners,
but they crossed over and became you know, big songs

(03:21):
just you know not Yeah, Marvin Stad never would have
made it. Ela Adams over to my heart. I need
you now, I'm smoking North all of that stuff, But
to make me cry job, Come on, man, don't don't
do it like that. This early an interview, this interview
never would have made. Man, never would have made. Yeah,

(03:44):
all those songs, Uh, they really just created a bigger
platform for our generation. Uh So now we're not even
just looking at Okay, you know what Sunday Service? Can
we sing it? No, we are. We're thinking of, Hey,
you know, we can go into these big venues, theater,
you can do club tours. It doesn't matter where we are.
We bring the same thing. We're gonna bring the same atmosphere,

(04:06):
the same music. It doesn't matter where we are. But
when we go to these different places, Uh, it allows
people whether they were in church every Sunday or visit
just on Easter and Mother's Day, or they haven't been
to church in teen years, they all come to hear
the music. And so it's just been really an amazing
time to live in and do gospel because, yeah, the

(04:27):
platform and what we can do with this music is
absolutely bigger. And I had the credit you know those
incredible artists that I just mentioned, and Mary, Mary and
many more. Uh that really just you know, changed the
game for us. You know it really all those names
very familiar with it. I know that I'm from Houston,
Texas and Kirk Franklin is from from Dallas for Worth area.

(04:49):
And I remember when his first hit Talk came out,
which he celebrated anniversary on recently. Um then that changed,
you know. I remember I was doing a comedy concert
Steve's headlined. We sold out the music hall, and the
Anthony Brown was on this show, and I played that
song right before we started our comedy show, why are
we singing? Why are we sing and uh, and it

(05:10):
was just a breakthrough song. And you know, Mary and Mary,
you know, uh change Shackles on your Feet was a
dance floor hit, you know. And then Kurt Franklin came
back with Stump that was a dance floor hit. And
so all this music. You know, we're in a club
drinking and foraging, but we're out there dancing and I
like to believe, soaking in the word but also dancing

(05:35):
to the world. And that's that to me, was really
a strong transition, because you know, nothing negative. But you know,
up to that point, gospel music wasn't perceived as a
social music. It was perceived as church music. And when
they started, when I do give a lot of credit
to Kirk because he transitioned and made it a crossover hit,

(05:58):
a phenomenal hit, not just a baby hit, phenomenal hit,
and God's Property was out there doing things and touring on,
doing plays and all those good things. So, but when
I look at your talents today, Jonathan, because social media
plays a big role in who you are, tell us
how you use it, because it creates a lane of
independence for you that ten years ago was not available. Yeah,

(06:21):
I think that's the big ship that we're seeing. Even
though labels are still important and are still relevant, and
you know, we're blessed, you know that labels have much
bigger pocics than we normally would have, especially we're starting off. Uh,
you know, social media still gives us that opportunity to
reach directly to you know, the crowd, directly to fans,
directly to people, directly directly to other believers and even

(06:45):
pastors and everything. They can see what we're doing, what
we're releasing, what we're working on, even if they haven't
seen the official promotion you know from the label, that
they haven't heard the official radio single yet, they can
still see kind of firsthand what we are and what
we're working on, and so I think social media definitely

(07:06):
allows us to do more. You know, even back in
you know Kirk Franklin, you know when he was changing
the game. You know, it was pretty simple. Then it
was kind of we're not simple, but it's kind of straightforward.
You know, you re Lisa record. Uh, you know, it
gets on the radio whatever. You know, hopefully it hits
and gets the number one on the radio chart and

(07:27):
then maybe we'll do some gigs around it. But now,
I mean, there's so much more we can do. We
got you know, we can uh we can do tours,
we can do contests, we can do uh hashtags and
just have you know, trendy things. I was actually nominated
for a Grammy for a song that wasn't even a single,
but because it had such a viral uh nature to it.

(07:50):
And I mean people all the way from you know,
pop Stars and Disney and you know, Escape and all
these other people they were singing this song, sing in
this run and it was it became so viral that
it actually had impact on the Grammy, even more so
than the radio single that went number one. And so

(08:10):
it's just a different day where you have there's there's
less rules. Uh. And the whole point is just to
make something that really speaks to the people, speaks to
the culture, and you'll win. Now you're doing your latest singing,
moving on featuring Molly Music. I I that's my man,
That's that's my man. Right now. How did you guys
get together on this single? Hey man? Honestly, we've known

(08:33):
each other for a very long time. I've had to
remind him that a long time ago, I used to
sing with the group uh five guys. It was like
it was like, uh wait, wait, wait singing with a
group WI, what were y'all doing? That just sounds like, right,
that's not like new edition right there, that's a new
addition for gospel. Close. It was close. We had some

(08:58):
of the same moves sometimes go but we were singing.
We were singing gospel and he actually was doing a
concert and we were we were h we were like
opening for him at his concert. He actually pointed me
out during his cell He pointed me out and he
prayed for me, like in front of everybody. And you know,
I think from then on, um guy was obviously speaking

(09:21):
to him and letting them know that he's gonna do
something special with me even outside that group. And sure
enough ten years later, Man, we're working together. I mean
that's my friends throughout and we decided it's about time
that we actually did something together. And uh, moving on
is our baby, man. So I'm just really proud of it. Bro. Yeah,
I'm gonna dropped that. Because I had him on the show,

(09:42):
man fell in love with to do Man, and I
like to believe that he impacted me and I impacted him.
That's why I found it money making conversations, to be
able to talk to the behind the scenes concepts of
why people are great and then share those values on
my show and hopefully inspired people to see that they
can do it too. And so when I look at you,
you know, you know you you gospel now you you've

(10:03):
been on TV. How has the impact of being a
judge because I've been on Sunday's Best because that's a
tricky roller plan because you have to be constructive but
not what they say, um damaging the people and they're
getting them to the next level. How had you did

(10:23):
one season? What did what did you do? Did you
make any changes to your style of second season? Jonathan? Nah?
You know? Now I would say that this second season, Uh,
they showed a lot more of our deliberation and so
people really got a little more mad than normal than
the first time. But yeah, I think that it's I've

(10:45):
actually enjoyed it, you know it kind of I always
love special things that that kind of bring you outside
of just the normal, you know, recording and performing. So
I really enjoyed it. Man, Honestly, you know, you just
have to at the end of the day. Uh, let
it out, y'all, at the end of the day, at
the end of the day, you know, and that you can.

(11:06):
As I was talking to Jesse Collins, who is the producer, Yeah,
he was just like, man, gospel fans are the hardest
fans ever. I mean you you would think that these
people couldn't sing if you look at Twitter, you know
what I'm saying. And they are great, you know, They're
just not everybody's favorite. And so at the end of
the day, we no matter how hard the judges are,

(11:29):
regular people they probably can't sing, are still gonna be
even harder. And so I think, uh, they all are.
A lot of the contestants, you know, I can still
talk to They still ding me from time to time.
They still fill me in still ask me for advice
and help on certain things. So I think, you know,
it's all love. They understand you know that you know
we have to be critical, but we just wanted to

(11:49):
make them better. And over the time you see how
they become not just singers because church is full of singers,
but as you were talking about, because the industry that
general has ended so much because of people like Kirk
and Marvin and Mary and yourself and yourself more. You're
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your host because you know I cannot do now, you know,

(13:17):
play down what you do, okay, because if you're play
an important role because of the fact that you are
your decision maker, you're defining people's careers and and also
people's voices. And then when it comes to gospel in music,
the problem that church people because I was I've done
children with Steve Harman, now we did. We did a
tour with Kurt Franklin, and I went out there and

(13:38):
they were telling me you need a you need to
market on church radio station. I go that's where the
church people at and I wasn't selling no tickets. I was.
I was on all the church of quote unquote church
radio stations. When I went back to R and B stations, Jonathan,
I started selling tickets. So that lets me know that
you can't define that audience. You can't sometimes you can't

(13:58):
even locate that audience because they all have values that
that that that can can can mislead you into saying
this is where they're at. And so when you're dealing
with church songs, you know, just because they can't sing,
people feel their church music. You know, that might be
tied to a happy moment or a dark moment in
their life, or somebody wasn't sick. And so so when

(14:21):
they hear somebody singing it and in their mind when
they heard it, that's what we're gonna stay with them forever.
And so that's why they're so hard when it comes
to church music, because church music is different. I can,
I can hear a different version of a Marvin Gay song,
and I'm cool with it. Boy, Yeah, come on now,
but don't but don't mess up my church songs. Come on,

(14:42):
come on, come on, come on, come on now, come on.
And that's that's I mean, that's a good point. Absolutely
and that's why that's why when I look at you, man,
I mean I'll be checking you out, man, because you know,
my boy Curt and everybody and Justice's doing the production
over that BT. I've always been a big fan of
what they're doing for the gospel lane because of the
fact that you know, we all know that these type

(15:03):
of shows aren't always the best both watch shows, but
they need it, man. They're necessary because they feel a
vore and they also allow us to share in a
I call it good food eating good food. You always
want to do a good food for your soul and
that's what good church gospel shows are. And so with
you being a judge, has it helped your brand from
a social standpoint or from a marketing standpoint? You're walking

(15:27):
in the airports, people recognizing you're going to seventy eleven,
people say, my man, j Jay, how does it help
your overall? Oh? Yeah, I mean it's great because you know, honestly,
because of the way my music is, and honestly, you
you're saying that, you know, back in the day of
back when you guys are touring with Kurt, you know,
you would see that the church folks and people that

(15:48):
want to come to the concerts. Sometimes they're listening to
the RMB stations even even it's even more spread out
now you you kind of knew, you don't you can't
even track black people now, you know, select the church
all over the place, you know what I'm saying. So
so you know bringing you know, when you when you
get to do the type of music that I do.

(16:09):
And I've been actually touring clubs and venues. I haven't
toured a church in a very long time, you know,
as far as um, you know, just going from from
church to church. So the thing is we have to
we get to find people in different places. But Beach
Sunday Best that was still kind of a hub for
a different generation, like maybe an older generations, people that

(16:31):
you know, before everything got all chaotic, you know, before
before we started spreading out, and and you know, our generation,
we we barely went to church growing up, you know
what I'm saying. But the generation that really did, um,
you know, they're still watching Sunday Best and those of
the people, uh, they'll they'll they'll they'll call me young
Buck in the middle of you know, the airport, young Buck,

(16:51):
because that's what Kirk calls me. So I know that
I know that bore they got it from you know
they watching I love Kirk Franklin. He could do no
wrong with me. Man, that brother and is so special
to me. And you know I the thirteen years we
did uh celebrating the gospel. That brand that Steve's Harvey
is so deep in the black community. So I know

(17:13):
how loyal black people are. And so you're getting a base,
Jonathan that is loyal for you, will follow you to
your grave and pray for you when you're sick, and
celebrate you your success. And that's what you really want
when you're talking about your brand and building your brand.
And then from an educational standpoint, you have a master's
and what now what's your master's in? Yeah, and and

(17:37):
and so you're professor at Columbia College. Tell me how
are you marrying all these different lanes and and and
still be a good looking guy? You know, because in
the end, you're still a good looking guy. Okay, there's
gonna be real. Now you're gonn looking at guy. Now,
a lot of things going on in your life. Now,
you know, how are you juggling all these balls up
in there? It's definitely is definitely tough, so but I

(18:01):
love it as I grow stronger, Yes, sir, because I
mean it's crazy. Man. I love all those lanes, man,
I love I love the different looks, you know. I
love being ah Ad junk Professor Colombia. That's one actually,
that's probably one of the favorite parts of my life.
I took off of this U semesters of our Caul tour,
but uh, you know that's really um my, one of

(18:22):
my favorite things to do is teaching. As a matter
of fact, I've had to choose between singing and teaching.
Unless the Lord told me something different, I probably would
choose teaching. So it's just really, uh, you know, one
of my favorite parts. And you know all of that, man,
it keeps me, you know, uh, it keeps you. You
know the Bible and Ecclesiastic that says invest in seven

(18:43):
ventures even eight because you don't know what disaster will
come upon the lad Basically you don't know which one
of these things are gonna succeed, you know what I'm saying,
So don't don't put all your eggs in one basking.
So I really appreciate, you know, just kind of diversifying,
not just with money, but just with my enjoying in
life and my fulfillment that it doesn't always have to

(19:03):
all come from music and singing. There's something that comes
from teaching. There's something that comes from my nonprofit, which
is The Live Nation, which is really even more teaching,
just about wisdom and more spiritual things. Uh. Those are
the things that really keep me fulfilled. Um, and you
know diversifies my life. Well, you know, first of all,
you know recently gave out of thirty thou dollars in scholarships.

(19:26):
We're gonna go there. But there's nonprofit. Let's tell everybody
what he does. He speaks it and he does it
at the same time. But you have an upcoming performance
coming up in the fifty first annual Dove Awards. Tell
us about that. It's October on TBN. Another big branding
moment for you. When when I talk about money man conversation,
it's about branding. It's about marketing. It's about doing the
things to keep your platform moving forward. You have great

(19:49):
relationships with a man music you got you know, Kurt Franklin,
you know you You're you're you're teaching in college, you're
touring in clubs. You have two back to back season
on Sunday bed Ass and now you have the double Awards.
That really it's what you what you're trying to do.
You're trying to be like model for success. Does that

(20:09):
sounds good when you've listed like that? Thank you? Well?
I remember, I'll just repeating when I know about you,
and I brought you on the show because you got
it going on. When I started saying, and that's what
I wanted people understand is that sometimes people are pigeonholed you. Oh,
you can't do this. You're only supposed to do this.
And I say to anybody, if you're there are twenty
four hours in a day, learn to take advantage of

(20:29):
each hour. That's what I tell people. So now, if
you're struggling saying I'm not a morning person, there are
people out there who get up in the morning and
do things while are you sleeping. And that's the type
of person I see you as your person is saying
God has given me the ability to wake myself up, breathe,
and move forward physically with no restraints. You know, I'm
not I'm gonna say. I'm gonna saying I'm not I'm

(20:51):
not always a morning person, but I'm definitely. I'll stay
up all night until it's done. Person too. So, well,
you know what you gotta if you put, if you
push it more thing before you get up, you gotta
get some sleep to get back up. Yeah, So I
ain't gonna get mad at you're doing. So. So tell
us about the TV and experience that you're gonna do
with the Dove Awards October thirties. Yeah, man, I'm excited

(21:15):
about it. Man. You know, Jim A has always supported me,
and my music gets kind of a platform that uh
you know, has tried best to kind of diversify the
Christian music experience. I mean, we got some stuff over
in gospel, but you know that CCM, there's that worship music. Uh,
that's hip hop. You know, there's blue grass. You know

(21:38):
what I'm saying. There's a whole bunch that that falls
under Jesus music. And so they do they do what
they can to kind of show and platform all those
different things. And so I'm honored man that they that
they brought me on the show. Uh. It's proven to
be a real good um meeting ground for a lot
of different cultures, especially in these crazy times, uh times

(21:59):
of protest us and you know, just kind of racial
tension and all the other stuff. It's been a really
good platform to kind of talk about things, uh from
a like minded space, you know, saying well brings us
together at the very least is Jesus, you know. So
we have been able to have real good conversations and
then yeah, I'm gonna sing and it's gonna be really dope.

(22:21):
I like the way that they're position. The whole thing's
really just tell the story of of of racial tension
and unity, but how the church to do something about it.
I tell you, I just had Lacrex on the show.
We talked about them about Travis Green has been on
the show. Marlin Music. We just talked about he's doing
the song the single with you that's moving on there's
out now. And now Jonathan back Reynolds, I'm gonna thank

(22:45):
you for coming on the show. Man Grammy nominator, stell
a war winning all this songwriter, producer, you know, all around. Uh.
He had twenty four hours a day and I'll tell
you this, young man, he may not be a morning person,
but when you go to sleep, he tired. Just let
you know he ted. I've definitely keep tiring. Hey, John,
thank for coming on the show. Back, I thank for
coming on Show'll be had a good time. Man. I

(23:06):
know the first time we've interviewed you on the show.
I always know these doors are open man when people
come on the show. Man. I put your brand out there, brother,
with social media, newsletters, all kinds of things, because your
brand needs to be recognized as a true success story.
My friend. Okay, thank you man, I can tell you
really good. Brother, Thank you so much. Man talked. Appreciate you.
We talked soon, my friend. All right, if we need

(23:28):
more money making conversation interviews, please go to money Making
Conversation dot com. I'm ras Sean McDonald. I'm your host, Coop.
We'll be right back with more from Marsa McDonald and
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(24:35):
dot org. Slash Radio Rishan McDonald to host of money
making conversations. The Cafe Marca Swag Award is a celebration
of black men who are making a difference in our
community by empowering others to reach their life goals. From
civic leaders, businessman, activists, celebrities and everyday days. The Cafe
Marca Swag Award one of this week years. Kurt Franklin.
Since making his debut in the early nineties, Kurf Franklin

(24:57):
has established himself as a trailblazer i con and contemporary music.
He first burst onto the world stage with the song
While We Sing Forever, changing the look and sound of
gospel music. That was really the foundation of my career.
It just opened up doors for me to work with
so many incredible people. It kind of starts with with
a major s giveing with God, you know, just kind

(25:17):
of be at the piano and just right, you know,
and and I'll just write it. Spent a lot of
time just asking God to give me something significant to say,
something that can be transformative. Marca Swag Award represents man
who helped strength, whose wisdom is assertive, and who are
genuine in their spirit. Welcome back to money making Conversations.
I'm your host Sean McDonald My next guest. Reverendew Shopton

(25:40):
there is an internationally renowned civil rights leader, founder and
president of the National Action National Action Network. National Action
Network is one of the leading civil rights organizations in
the nation, with one hundred and six chapters nationwide. Reverndee
Shopton hosts a daily radio show, Keeping It Real with
Revernee Shopping and the national cable television show a title
Politics Nation. He does it combined seventeen hours of television

(26:03):
and radio media every week. And this new book, Rise Up,
which we're talking about on the show, Confronting a Country
at the Crossroads. The Reverendew Shopton draws on his decades
of unique experience as a civil rights leader, a politician,
and a radio and television the radio host to encourage
voters to stand up for what they believe and then
act change in their country. Please working the money making conversation,

(26:25):
Reverend Al Shopton, how you doing, my friend? Before before
we got on the air, I was read. I read
the book the last couple of I try to read
quote a book as close to my interview so everything
stays fresh. Rep Now Shopton, I started yesterday. I wrapped
it up. I got up at four o'clock this morning,
wrapped it up this morning. Uh. The book was so
compelling because it felt like because the things you were

(26:47):
talking about were just like in the news almost yesterday,
and here I am out reading the book today. So
when did you wrap? When did you stop writing the
book and turn it over to the publisher to make
it such a elevant book? Well, what happened is Uh,
in early spring I started writing, and I said that

(27:09):
I wanted to write a book because I felt that
the country was at the crossroads. Uh, in many of
the things that we have dealt with for the last
half a century as a country. To fight around black
lives and and our civil rights, for African Americans to
fight around gen d quality, for women to fight around

(27:31):
lgbt Q rights, to fight around healthcare. And it was
a stock contrast between the way the past administration of
Barack Obama, all the way back to the days of
Dr King when I was just a kid, was going
one way and now the way this president administration has
gone in those areas. And then the pandemic hits. So

(27:56):
I said in the publishing, wait a minute, let me
put the pandemic again, not knowing it would last as
long as it did, because as you know, in early
March when it started really hitting, we thought it would
be over by eastern East to turn into the fourth
of July. So I kept adding and keV adding and
updating until uh, George Floyd happened, and I really had

(28:19):
to delay it because I ended up in the middle
of all of that. And then I finally said, right
before we did the big march on Washington August that
that was it. I was gonna have to close it
because it looks like things we're not gonna calm down.
So I rode all the way to late August. You know,
when I look at things and you know, I've known
your long time. You know my relationship with Steve Harman.

(28:40):
I still have a positive relationship with Steve uh and
trying to define who my what my voice is, and
listening to your voice and I see what it really is.
And because I want to call out some information about
the Black Lives Matter movement, which is about police accountability reform.
But now I guess in four what you matched on
shot four black men on subway. This is about you

(29:01):
discussed this in your book. He was ultimately cleared of
attempted murder and served less than a year in jail
for illegal firearms. That's what they're charging for today. But
now I guess it's still living in New York City. Okay.
Then you had the Howard Beach incident in the eighteen
eighty six but you're discussing your book when Michael Griffin
was struck and killed by Passion motor after being chased
by white mall. Then in eighteen eighty nine the Vincent

(29:23):
Hurst into, then another white mall, and sixteen year old
Yustep Hawkins was shot and killed Sean Bell fifty bullocks.
Now fast forward to in his back and Now fast
forward to Air Ghana in fourteen and George Floyd and
I say, I have to ask you about the Black
Lives mar the movement because you've been doing this for
a long time, and people kind of act like this

(29:45):
movement just started because it's been publicized so much in
the media. And sixty seventeen, you know, the Trump administration,
led by Rudy Giuliani, tried to call it a terrorist group,
an organizations. I made accusation that was that. Tell us
from yours a standpoint, what is the Black Lives Matter movement?
I think it is a movement that is really calling

(30:07):
on accountability of police. I don't think it's even an
anti police movement as an anti bad police movement. And
I think it has been effective and it has grown. Uh.
You know, when Trayvon Martin was killed uh in UH
two thousand and twelve in Sanford, Florida. UH, and ironically

(30:33):
President Trump is kicking off his you know, coming out
of COVID UH with his first rally in Sanford, Florida,
and UH in the same exact location. UH when that happened,
they wouldn't even arrest George Zimmerman, who shot and killed
Treyvon and his parents, and attorney Ben Crump, who has

(30:53):
worked with uh ME, a national action network for in
other cases, came to me. I had not even heard
of Treyvon, and Attorney Crump said, that's why we came
to you. Trayvon had already been funeralized and buried for
about two weeks. They said, we want you to help
make this a national issue. So I got on it

(31:15):
and I said, well, let's have a rally right there
in Sanford, and uh we called some of our people
chapters around FLATDA, but then we also called our national
radio people. One of the people that are called and
people the listeners need to know, was you, uh got
Steven there? Yeah, I mean, let let's let's not act

(31:36):
like a lot of these cases. You didn't get the
first call, and you said, Steve, we better get on this.
And then you started with your own media platform. You
were my link because you know, Steve is all over
the place as you were. But you would call me
right back. She said, reever wouldn't call me if it
wasn't important. And uh we beat the drums and we
put ten thousand people in in uh Sanford, and it

(32:00):
happened to be when I was getting ready to get
on the plane hit the Orlando that day. Because I
threw the Orlando. The drive to Standford, I got to work,
my mother died, who had been sick, and I went
anyway because I felt my mother would have wanted me
to do that, and I did, and we got enough
people to where they felt the pressure. They arrested Zimmerman

(32:21):
as he went on a few months later went on
to trial. As you know, he was acquitted. That night,
three young ladies sat out and wrote the hashtag black
Lives Matter, and uh it blew up and became a theme,
and it went through a lot of the protests around
Trayvon all the way into aer Ghana and Michael Brown

(32:45):
in uh in Ferguson, Missouri, and then it kind of
lull for a minute, and then it picked back up
when we started shot in a rash of other cases.
So to say that they are terrorist, you know, these
were three brilliant sisters that captured a phrase, that captured

(33:07):
exactly how we all felt that we didn't matter. You
can shoot a kid with a make believe security guard,
he wasn't even that and quit him. We matter, and
it wasn't saying others didn't matter. It was saying that
you act like we don't matter, and we're affirming that
we do. You get in life which you affirm yourself

(33:28):
to be. And I think that that movement grew. They
formed some Black Lives Matter organizations, They worked along in
many cases with other groups, in some cases they didn't.
The three sisters work very closely with us in National
Action networking other groups. And there's always been like that,
as you know. And back in the days when you

(33:51):
and our kids and they you had din a CP,
you had Dr King, you had uh Care, but then
you also had Malcolm X and you also had the
students sitting in that king and sitting on a lunch
cattle ride of bus. So I think a lot of
the media are lazy and don't deal with the fact
that we're not looking at anything different. There are different

(34:13):
ways that people express their outrage, but all of us
are trying to fight for change. Black Lives Matter is
not terrorists, They're trying to stop the terrorism. When police
can shoot a man in his back running away from them,
as the case in Kenosha uh and and when the
police can shoot a man at Wendy's, that is intoxicated. Uh,

(34:38):
and and and he's running away. That's terrorism. So how
do they call that terrorism? And and and not and
call those that are peacefully protested, many of them white,
saying black lives matter? How does that become terrorists? We
speaking of that? Because that's that's the part that really
changed for me, was the white participation in the protests

(34:59):
becau as the fact that you know, we all know
there was a scheme out there to making a black
violent crime situation. Don't trust black people. We're gonna tear
up your neighborhoods and create white fear. But in this
particular movement, after the George Floyd, white people were watching,
and not just a few white people were watching. I
watched TV and I just see white people just walked

(35:22):
up my screen on television, then a black person, then
more white people did a black person. What do you
why do you feel that has been a tremendous upswell
and white people being angry, being annoyed, being upset because
we know it's white people important, We know it's white
people in Seattle. There's not black people up there, there's
white people. That's right, that's right. Well, let me say this,
I think what happened was because the George Floyd video

(35:47):
came out during the pandemic. Everyone was shut down and
couldn't go out. There was no distraction. As she turned
on the TV. People were watching the news, trying to
get the update on the pandemic, when will this break?
When can I go out? When can I go to work?
And then watching the news. They had no distractions because
you couldn't watch the ball game because there was no

(36:10):
ball games. There's no baseball, no basketball, anything. And I
think this is the first time that the whole country
was locked into having to watch this video over and
over again on the news, and a lot of whites
just said this is outrageous and exploded. So many of
the whites that didn't see the video tape on Ari
Gando when he died from a trokehold from a New

(36:32):
York City policeman, they saw what happened to uh George Floyd.
And then when they when you emphasize to them that
this man the policeman had his knee on his neck
eight minutes and forty one seconds, they would saying, wait
a minute, that's just beyond the pale, which is why
when I did the eulogy, in Minneapolis, or for George

(36:54):
Floyd's family. I asked everybody to stand up, and people
all over that were watching, even all over the country,
people stood up. I got all kinds of tweets fans.
I really didn't get it till you told me to
stand up, because after three minutes I was tired. How
do you have that kind of vigor and rage to

(37:14):
hold your knee on somebody's neck that's pulsating and begging
for their life unless you have a whole lot of
venom in you. And I think it was the graphic
of eight minutes and forty one second and the fact
that everybody saw it that ignited a lot of whites.
I went to marches where they were more whites than
blacks right there in Minneathles, and I think that that's

(37:36):
what happened, and I think that's a good thing. So
they can't pigeonhole it. There's just angry blacks. It's angry
Americans saying that we have to do something about bad cops,
and good cops are to be wanting to see something
bad about bad cops because it makes them look bad.
It really does. I'm talking to renew shopping in his
new book Rise Up, Confronting the Country at the Crossroads. Remember,

(37:58):
now I'm just read your book, and it's a reader.
I'm gonna just call out some really great line liners
and moments in the book that that I want you
to respond to. One of my favorite lines in the
book is if if Don Ki was born white, he
will be Trump. Yeah. God, kids, who you and I
know is a great promoter. That's where he is. He

(38:19):
doesn't profess to be a political leader, consensus leader. He promotes.
He sells his promotion. That's who don Ket is. Don
Don Donald Trump is the same. He's a promoter. The
man Uh does not have a political ideology, does not
have a real philosophy. His thing is he promotes what works,

(38:43):
and racism worked for him. Birthism is how he started
his political career, saying the president of the United States
was not really one of us. And when he saw
that work, he therefore leading and used that. And they's
been using racial language and and and racial leadings ever since.

(39:03):
And I told him and our least UH meeting that
because he's saying, why are you calling me a racist?
Because if you're comfortable with racism, you've got to have
racism in you because there's things that you and I
would just not be comfortable. And I don't care how
much he was working for us, And that's where I
made that assercition. He's a promoter. He's not a thinker,

(39:27):
he's not a doer. He's a promoter and he uses
whatever works. We'll be right back with more from Machia
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dot Com. Code money. A deductible may apply. Welcome back
to money making conversations. I'm your host, Sean McDonald. You
know it's really absolutely the truth, all right, right, I learned.
You know, like I said, I was called off first
of all, called off guard, whining one. I voted against him,
but I still was called off guard win one. And
then when you look at his game plan, he is
a like you said in your book, he's a he's

(40:54):
a uh. He's a guy of theorists about comparcity conspiracy theorists. You.
He sits around when that when I read last week
where he fought he he he tweeted forty times forty
times period. My god, who does that? You do social media?
Not do social media? Can we cast on social media?

(41:16):
It's tiring. I'm just telling about it's tiring to post.
It's time to come up with ideas to say in
social media to do it for forty times right now,
that's really really ridiculous and and and it can gessue
if he supposed to me the head of the free world,
how do you even have time to do that forty times?
But that's who he is, that's where his focus is,

(41:37):
that's where his priority is, is to promote and to
use the social media to do it. And he uses
television to do it. And as he said, I was
surprised when he won, but the way he was able
to manipulate the media. He was rolling over in the
bed calling TV shows and they put him on the
air and he got times of free media likes. Now

(41:59):
like he's doing what excuse now? Right now you don't
even have to come in the studio, They don't have
to set up the zoom. He just talks and they
let him go. And that's a promoter, but it's dangerous
for the future of the country. You have to ask
yourself when I say he has no philosophy, and and
you reiterated that your shows about how people can really

(42:20):
be entrepreneurs or make their ends meet whatever level they
want in terms of money, what is his economic policy.
I do not know a black businessman in New York
that ever got a major contract from the Trump organization.
So when he says the blacks, uh, he worked with me,
the only record we have is him as a businessman.

(42:42):
I don't know a big black firm or small one.
They could say I was able to expand my business
and you're a major contract through Donald Trump. It takes
effort to be in New York, as you know, and
do business and never do business with blacks or Latinos.
It takes effortence, effort because we wanted were there's too

(43:02):
many of us. First of all, especially when you go
to the boroughs. It's if we just populate. And I've
always said that the five Boroughs and each one of
the five boroughs have more black people than most major
cities in the United States. So trying to avard the
black person and then when you include the Latinos, it's
ridiculous when you say you can't do business. It was
just like you know, the CEO of Wells Fargo, so

(43:22):
he can't five qualify black people to work for him.
When people can make these statements, they make these statements
because guess what, they don't want to associate themselves or
accept the fact that we compete. And when I look
at you and I've been blessed to you know no, no, uh,
Jesse Jackson, I know you for long time being associated
with Steve. We've sat down a very intimate situation and

(43:42):
trying to motivate black people with information. And that's what
you've all been about me, with information. That's why I've
always returned your phone calls so quickly, because I say,
he called him and he needs something, and they need something.
I gotta be there to assist. Now I had to
start of interview. I talked about the movements that you've
been involved with most no to be since four the movements,
the marches, the marches, the marches, the marches are such

(44:04):
a dominant arch right now and what we're doing, they're
going on right now. They just don't report them anymore.
People are still marching in this country. There's is marches.
This is not reporting, but people still marching because of
the fact that that Donald Trump was making it a
political issue. But now he realized it doesn't work. Guess
what He's backed off, like they're not happening anymore, you know,
but not saying anything about those same guys who went

(44:27):
up to the in Michigan, who tried to kidnap and
possibly kill the governor with the same idiots in March
who he said, liberate Michigan. He sauld liberate Michigan. He
helped to put some or some gangs on the fire.
And these guys, that's calling them terry. Why isn't he

(44:49):
calling them out? And these guys, can you imagine if
some black guys talked about kidnapping or governor or any
Latinos or some or Muslims, he would have been going bananas.
He just spent out every National Guard he could. But
these are white. He says nothing to say, hasn't announced it.

(45:11):
And they literally were talking about studying a civil war
and it's absolutely and some of them really didn't care
about him, you know, they were just anti governor and
that's why government. So that's why it's really crazy when
you realize that the people you're trying to motivate are
really anti you and the anti government and really are
terrorists just like you said, they're domestic terrorists. And he's

(45:33):
not even acknowledging that, and nor is Mike Pitts either,
And that's the information I just try to deliver on
my show. It's an entrepreneur show. But guess what what
they're doing in the White House affects us. What they're
doing in the right affect us as Black people with
the covideen because we're overtly affected by the the the
way we eat, ugh, our lifestyles, all that by finances
are being affected by COVID ainteen and the financial packages

(45:56):
that they failed to approve. When you look at all
this happening and you've not been around a long time
for him, now, what is your fear take on this?
What is our future? And how important is November thirty
for everybody to get out and vote. Our future is
in our hands. We have the numbers if we come
out and vote in these various states. UH to turn

(46:19):
this around, and not for Joe Biden, but for us.
We can't afford to lose the affordable care and we
can't afford to lose the voting rights which in many
states they have changed the voting laws, and we need
the Voting Rights Act to be empowered more with the
John Lewis Voting Rights Bill that has passed the House

(46:42):
of Representatives but has not even been been put in
front of the Senate because McConnell will not put it up.
But if the majority of the Senate changes the Democrat,
it won't be up to McConnell, be up to the
new majority leader would probably be Chuck Schumer. We got
not afford for them to turn back affirmative action that's

(47:03):
going in front of the Supreme Court. Uh So, these
all of these issues say that we have got to
stand up and take our features and magic is not
gonna bring us a reverse and liberation. We've got to
do the work. God is not gonna come and do it.
God has given us the strength to do it, and

(47:23):
we've got to vote that our forefathers who had faith
in God for it to get us. We need to
use it in a mass way. And as you said,
it is related to entrepreneurship and business. But God called
me one day on the show, my radio show and said, well, revenue,
I ain't in the politics. I want to go in business.

(47:44):
I said, but you can't go in business without dealing
with the political reality. Where you want to set up
your store is a zoning board decides whether it can
be a business there commercial or whether it's residential. That's political.
Or the regulations you don't have to follower is decided
by regulators. That's political. Everything you do, how you bank,

(48:05):
what the interest rate, all of that is political. So
you can't run from it in the name of I'm
in business. I'm not in politics. To be in business
is to have to engage and who makes the political decisions.
That's why you should at least vote to make sure
you have the people in there that's sensitive to your
issues and your interests. It's that's what a powerful statement.

(48:26):
And that's why y'all tell people you can't have a
closed minded approach to it doesn't bother me, it's not
affecting me. It's not in my neighborhood. That's them and
them look like you. You can't talk like that because
eventually I always tell people they pulled George Florid out
of the Mercedes being okay, that's what I tell people.
All remember the car he got pulled out of. It
wasn't a jealope, he wasn't on the side of the

(48:46):
street looking homeless. They pulled him out of Mercedes Ben
and State. And so that means that economic structure means
nothing to people who devalue you because of your color
or you as a human being. But when I was
reading the book, or you know, your book rides up
um what compelled you write the book because there's so
many layers that talks about you know, four years old,
when you started your James Brown experience and what he

(49:08):
taught you, and and and the one of my favorite
lines in there is like in my life, I run
with dreamers and schemers. Martina King, Jr. Nelson, Mandela and
John Lewis are dreamers. Roger Stone, Don King and Donald
Trump are schemers. And then I added this line, good
our runs bad only if you stay the course. That's
your line. I just put it together because that is

(49:30):
absolutely the truth what we're talking about right now with
this election. Good out runs bad if we stay the
course and vote because too many schemers win. We're letting
too many schemers win revenue. That's right, and we let
them win because we don't do our best. We don't
stay committed and dedicated and discipline. But if you stay

(49:51):
the course, no matter what, there is going to be
a win. There is always light at the end of
the tunnel. If you don't give up the way to
the tunnel, and you just gotta keep going. And one
of the great things I wanted to bring out in
the book was that you brought out in the book
because of the fact that, well, did you write the
book or you have a ghost writer? How did you?
How I wrote? Fantastic? Fantastic Mike Eric Dyson. Now he

(50:16):
puts some pay he putsn't working that, uh that forward.
Now he puts the word forward. And because of the
fact that he told me some things, he got me
excited about the book Michael Eric, and I went, wow,
this is powerful stuff. When I went into the book,
I went, wow, this is really in things I didn't
know about you. And one of the things that was
compelling to me was the fact that the gold medal
you wear around your neck is not jewelry. Tell everybody

(50:38):
about it being know the Lord what I did the
match that you mentioned in Howard Beach and six, where
we were watching about three black young men were attacked
for being in the Howard Beach section in Queens, New York,
which was mob dominated at that time. Uh, And we

(50:58):
kept watching. We ended up with getting and three of
those young men indicted for manslaughter. Jose Williams, who was
one of Dr King's chief lieutenants h years before, came
to New York and he would give people the Martin
Luther King madallion he had made to try to unite
them that you have worked in the spirit of Dr King,

(51:19):
who he worked with for so long. And he came
to the rally and hung out around my neck, and
it made me feel like if I was in the streets,
it made you feel like a made man. He was
one of the main elders of the movement that I
had looked up to all my life, uniting me with
this matinlu King mcday and I think I slept with

(51:40):
him for three days. So I would wear it all
the time because I was so honored by and the
press with all him and in the day and even
some blacks w did he wear in jury for it
wasn't jury. It was an award from uh from Jove Williams. Now, yeah,
I wore track suits, but I was a young guy.
That was what we war in those days. Curtis blow

(52:04):
all of them. With my contemporaries, I grew up Spike Lee,
Russell Sinners. All of us was Brooklyn and Queen the
same age group. We grew up together, and I dressed
my age. I wasn't you know Jesse was thirteen, fourteen
years older than me, and and John Lewis, and they
were a generation ahead of me. I dressed like my
generation and uh so people made caricatures out of it,

(52:26):
but I was just being me And I talked about
that in the book Yourself, be aufended. You don't have
to try and and and cramp your style or readjust
your style, be you, because if you understand yourself value
and have real self awareness, you can make it work.
And you are making it work. And in closing, uh, Reverenair.

(52:46):
How can one be an activist? You know, how can
one use the media? And because that's important right now
because you've been doing it so long, you you know,
you've written a book on motivation, seeing us, seeing it through,
you know, getting through the through, from the positive and
from the negative to the positive. Talk about how can
I won't be an activist? One can be an activist

(53:08):
by first determining what it is you want to get done.
It doesn't have to be a huge march. It doesn't
have to be uh something everybody talks about. It could
be I want to do something in my neighborhood. I
want to do something in my church, something in my business,
or some in my workplace. Set a goal and then
be determined to get that done and in your local

(53:31):
or even bigger than that. Use the media to tell
your story. Don't have the media be your goal. Have
the media be your means to a goal. Watching doesn't
solve a problem. Watching exposes a problem. But if somebody
doesn't know how to expose the problem, you'll never forced
those in power to deal with it. As long as

(53:52):
they can operate in the dark, they will continue to
do whatever they want to do. But as soon as
you put the light on something, everyone has to just
because everyone's looking at what's being done. Wow, Rise Up.
Confronting the Country at the cars Row is a new
book out by Reverendew Shopton. Revernew thank you for coming
on the show. I'll tell them, tell them to come
and send me some flyers. I got over a million

(54:13):
social media followers. I got a fan club, over ninety
thousand fan club members. I want to send your flyers
out with a links with the sellers. Book is a
great book, as you know, I've read it. I'm enjoying
I'm gonna share with my friends and tell them when
I say share and share the link to Bye. I
don't just share books, I said. We try to sell
books here. We try to get number one on the
best sellers and stuff like this. If we try to

(54:35):
but just the way, well, I will offend it to you.
And uh, let me tell you something. There's only about
twenty twenty five people in the world who's opinion of
matters to me, and Rishawn, you are definitely on that list.
I appreciate it much. Respect man, and you all respect.
Thank you, my friend. Bye bye, all right, take you.
If you want to hear more money making conversations, please

(54:56):
go to money Making Conversation dot com. I'm with Sean McDonald.
I'm your host. My next guest on Chef Rond Pratt.
In twining that team, he was named Industry Chef of
the Year. Currently, he is the Food and bevers Director
Executive Chef at Amarillo Golfing Country Club and Amarillo, Texas.
I'm a Texas boy born and raised in Houston, Texas.
He gave the first game recognition when he competed in

(55:18):
Bravo TV's Top Chef with his magnetic personality and farm demeanor.
There was no keeping him off TV. Then he went
on Spike TV's Bar Rescue, Iron Chef America be Bobby
Flay on the Food Network. He always amazed his judges
with his exotic foods that combined rich, Caribbean and French flavors.
Ron has also been featured on the View to Today's Show,

(55:38):
BT Access, Hollywood Essence Magazine, Huffington Post, and Oprah Magazine,
just to name a few. Please welcome to Money Making
Conversation for the very first time, my man, Chef Ron Dupratt.
Thank you, thank You're excited to be with your guys. Well,
when we're on TV, you excite me because I'm a
food I'm a foodie. Ron. So when I said a

(56:00):
man who can deliver the plate, you are the king
to me, you are the king. Yes, sir, I can't
wait to cook with you. Well, let's let's talk about
you in general. You know, I'm I'm I'm born and
raised in Houston, Texas, and uh my my initial background.
When I for became the person I am, right, I
left IBM and became a touring stand up comic and

(56:22):
so I performed in Amarillo several times in fact, I've
done some New Year's each show back in the day,
so I'm very familiar with the the lifestyle, the culture
of Amarillo, Texas, and you know, Texas a hot state
when it comes to heat. How did you miss, Bobby Q.
That's what I want to know. Now, How did you
you know I'm a barbecue king? Now? How did I

(56:43):
didn't see anything out there said barbecue? Not saying that's
an insult to you. I'm just saying, talk about your
origines and how you got to become the chef that
you are today. Well, as you know, I have no limits.
Bobbecue is nothing my specialties, but I make some of
the best barbecue anyone ever make. I can't take anyone

(57:05):
down in barbecue. Not my specialty. As you know, my
specialty is French and an Awkwa Caribbean. But I'm in Texas.
As you know, in Texas is whether you do it
or you can't do it. Now, you're gonna come on,
rob It, come on, because you know you know that's
what I'm excited every time I see you. I'm like

(57:27):
gonna apologize. Keep talking rong because you're talking about food. Now,
you were talking a little smack there so I had
to dive in. But keep talking because I love talking.
Listen to your TV and watch you. Yeah, so you know,
barbecue it's not my specialties, but I do some badass
brobecure and I can't take anyone anywhere any place. As

(57:48):
you know. Netflix, we tried to me. They want me
to do it, Bobby cue Shure, and I said, no,
you're gonna pay me, I'm not gonna do it. So
that's why I didn't do it, because I guess that no,
I have some to your scale. Now, how did you
get now into the whole cooking genre? You know, because
of the fact that which is something you as a

(58:09):
child that you was excited about when you when in
the kitchen, you just had the natural skills. Did you
go to school? Give us your background? Run Well, my background,
I was borne raised in Haiti, uh, you know, and
Haiti at the time growing up, mel wasn't allowed in
the kitchen. There's a couple of things for you doing
kitchen is where there you're super poor or you're gay

(58:33):
and uh. And I wasn't media of them. So the
objective was to find a happy medium. So when I
get to this state, I started working on a Little Italy.
I worked with uh gentleman by the name of Philip
Maran and his wife Anna Moran, and I said that
I'm moving on to work with Chef Randall eight Cots,

(58:56):
Chef Adam Savage bobs up As from Benchmark International. That's
one of these people who have ship up my career.
And I said that I went to school in France.
If run the court the cuisine because I want to
be I want to be better than anyone out in
this planet. I want to make as much money as anyone.

(59:17):
And I don't want people to look at me for
as Ronda Pratt. I want everyone to look at me
as a shof So that's why part of my career,
as you know, I have worked from the most prestigious
splits in the world. That was the executive chef at
montalkr Club, the exact chef Tower Cambay, the exactly chef

(59:37):
Rich Carlton, the executive chef h Bridgewater Country Club, the
executive chefs Go Harbor Country Club, and now executive chef
the Murder Country Club. Okay now, and I love it.
I love it. See you know what I like about you?
You put your resume out there Okay, you know, you know,
it's like it's like, you know, it's like we're drawing
down in the middle of the street in the old

(59:59):
western town. You know, we're staring each other back. You know,
you pull out of you pull out a plate, I
pull out of plate. You pull out a plate, I
pull out of plate. I can assure you I'm gonna
run out of plates talking to you, right, Okay, I'm
just let you know. Well, you know, so many is
a good experience talking to you. You have been, I've been,
I have. I am your number one saying I love
what you do. I haven't follow you, and I think

(01:00:22):
you're g mean. I think I can say some of
the things like this because of what you do. I
think you open so many dogs for me. And I'm
just happy to talk to you to connect it to you. Well,
we're gonna continuous relationship offline because of the fact that
you know, it's amazing how you look at people. And
I've watched you on TV and I just love your
energy and your direction and what you're doing with your

(01:00:43):
career and your honesty and that and didn't know that
I had that type of effect in your life. And
it's such a positive manner, and that's my life. My
life is about uplift. It's just I've been eighteen. I've
always for some reason, my DNA has always been how
can I make somebody else life better? Because in the end,
they're going to make my life better. And so that's
why I do money making conversations, not theory much. Thank

(01:01:04):
you for what you're saying about me, because that means
it is somebody's getting it, you know, and I get
it from a lot of people, and it makes me
feel good because it's free. I'm I convinced the talented
person like you to come on my shoulder tell their
story because that story that you have can resonate success
for somebody else. Uh now, now let's talk about just

(01:01:26):
talk about you in general with this this cooking style
of yours now, because I wanted people understand, Okay, you
came from Haiti and I love Caribbean food. You jerk pork,
I tell you o festivals, I'm telling you me. See,
some people, some people do it right, some people do
it wrong. And you know what I'm talking about. Some

(01:01:48):
people commercialize it and so so because that's why it's
kind of hard to find some good jerk pork stayside
and and and they want to get the j chicken
they want to get. But jerk pork is my man.
That's me right out roun. I love me some jerk
pork now, So tell me what exactly is cribbing style? Cookie?

(01:02:08):
Tell us about that? Well, I, you know, there's different
part of the Caribbean. We take us our day to
explain to my day Caribbean. As you know where I'm from.
We were first Espaniola. After that we've been French. After

(01:02:28):
that we became Americans. So first we were slaved from Africa.
So we take the African cuisine and we mix it
with Spanish and we create our own flair. So now
you have African, you have Spanish, and you have French.
So this is so different. Confused, uh, coronate background uh

(01:02:53):
And it's there. Um, it's there. That's why I call
it for Caribbean. As an African American, Chelf I would
bring the spice. I always bring the marinade this evening.
And that's what makes us different than anything. That's important.
Now let's talk about the French accent that you bring

(01:03:15):
to your food. Explain to us that about that as
you know, um, there have been an involvement about food.
You know, the topic your French cuisine, butter, it's sovere liquid,
natigens it, stuff like that. But you know, working with
any country club with everyone is very contiguous of the health.

(01:03:39):
So we have to take the body out of it.
Well if we take the body out of it, so
we have to bring a Caribbean flavor, which is the marinade,
the spice, herbs, the garlic, the charlotte, the times there
was made, the green onion, this scratch, bonnet pepper. So
even we don't use that much butter, but we take

(01:03:59):
that marrion, the flavor to bring the French Caribbean acts that.
This is how I for this difference. As you know,
there's so many chefs. Everybody thinks we are the best self,
you know, but we all do. I think. Then let
me assue this because because because you're you're one of
these top of the food chain chefs. Because if you're recognized,

(01:04:21):
you've been on TV, if you see the wards Incredible
industry awards. Now okay, how if somebody is listening trying
to not not make it to where you're getting, but
trying to get into the business what are some of
the early steps that a person can do. Discipline, discipline, discipline,

(01:04:44):
discipline and befu's a discipline discipline, focus, discipline focused, say
true to yourself, keep learning and follow your cross because
that's the only way. As you know, everyone think they're
gonna be on Network or Bravo cap Chef or Iron
Chef America on and then they forget about the step

(01:05:06):
to learn how to become a great shaft. Right. You
can be on TV making a fool of yourself, but
a certain time you have to both to cook. You
cannot uh complaining, always looking for here, and you have
to be better than anyone else. So this is one
of the first African American chef graduate from CIA nine seven.

(01:05:31):
His name is Jessicon Evans. When I was watching his
some of his early career, he went to look for
a job and the white men told him, Jeff, I
will hire you. It's one thing I wanted to tell you.
You have to do two time more than what these
men can do for me to hide. So I always

(01:05:52):
look at that I don't have to do more, I
don't have to work harder than everyone else, but I'm
enjoyed doing it. But that's the only thing I know
to do. To be the best. You gotta push every day.
You gotta practice, as you know, if you know how
much Michael Jordan's practice, how much Kobe Bryant practice, if
you look at Tom Brady, how much the practice you

(01:06:13):
talked about practice tri to better and stay true to
yourself and then have disciplines. It's all about discipline. Doesn't
matter how good you are. But if you don't have discipline,
your fast. You know when I thank you that and
you're absolutely true. You know. I look at people, they
look at my life and I get up at four
o'clock in the morning, and some people go, who that's

(01:06:34):
too early for me? Okay, I don't know what career
you're playing, but there there there has to be a
set time that you have to get up every day
to be successful. You can't get up at five one day,
and six one day and seven one day, or get
up when the clock allows you up with no along clock.
You have to have a set pattern. That's what you're
talking about focus, and that's when you're talking about hard
work correct room. Yes, sir, yes, sir, I mean were

(01:06:58):
harder every day because nobody cares if you don't work hard. Yeah,
you can be an executive chef and people don't know
when you're gonna come to work or don't know if
you're gonna set the menu the day before, are gonna
sample the mixture. Everybody's on point. There's a certain in leadership.
Let's talk about that too, because you being an African
American man and the mail and uh in this position

(01:07:20):
in America and then I'm not saying anything negative, but
there your position is a rare position and you have
to show leadership and diversity and also being able to
accept any type of criticism. Talk about your role as
an executive chef at dominant white institutions so far in
your life, talk about how you navigate that those those

(01:07:43):
those those those those lanes to be successful and stay
at the top of the food chain. So to speak. Well, again,
I want to talk about discipline. You know, when I
have the first opportunity, when chef FRIENDO Cox give me
an opportunity, or Adam salvage u U vibs out for Telly,

(01:08:05):
when I do games were dinner. I don't think because
I'm better than any chefs, but it's my discipline and
some of the places I work and be able to
manage plenty, to mandal for the beverage, be able to
have naturally responsible, be able to cover anything is not
better than any white shafts. And they all know that.

(01:08:26):
And then to me, I told him, I'm chefs first
and I'm African American second. I mean, some people get
offended when I say that. I said, well, ef, I
was interview for a job. There's probably so many people
who better than me, who could get it. But because
I believe in myself, I have a traft circuit working

(01:08:47):
at the Mantua Club to be in Hawaii, and the
list goes on, and I think that gives me an
opportunity to be different than everyone else, you know, And
that's really important because of the fact that when I
look at the town of the person like you and
a lot of people, because you make it look so easy,
first of all wrong that that's that's a scary part
of it. When looking at the scaled person like Michael

(01:09:08):
Jordan makes a dunk look easy. But you know God
gave him extra hops, extra hops, and the same thing
because you mentioned you mentioned some incredible people. So when
you when you get on these shows like the Bravo
TV Top Show. First of all, tell me how did
you get on the show. Well, uh, in two thousand

(01:09:29):
and eight, I did it dinner. I did sold out
dinner at James build Foundation in New York. It was
something they've never seen. I'm this kid from Haiti who
tried to do apple Caribbean cuisine when no one taught
I was speaking another language. I wasn't speaking another language,
but I was writing my heart and soul. I was
put it in a plate. It call about this season

(01:09:51):
and tell about the marinades are but despite and if
this is who I am, sometimes I wish I was.
Someone asked, but I'm not. I'm just trying the prize.
So after that, they were looking for some of the
best chefs in America. As you know, yes, so you
know I want that to be in records. Our season
Top Chefts beat the Amazing Race first time in eighteen years.

(01:10:14):
This is how good this season is. The season was,
as you know, competing with the voltage your brothers. We lie, Uh,
Michael Votago, Brad Vtao, extra actor actor from from from
from from Atlanta, mckenoberia from friends and everyone asked, I

(01:10:35):
think this is that was an opportunity for a life time,
something I would cherish for the rest of my life.
As you know, I didn't know much about the show.
When they called me. I told the guy, now, I'm
not interested. I'm a batter chef. I haven't thinking for myself.
I'm not interested about being the show, so you know,
and I did what I had to do. And I
think we have opened so many dolls for me. I

(01:10:57):
think what you would change your mind? Okay, you want interested? Okay,
because you know you're bad boy. You you've got food
anything anybody get on the show and people start judging you,
what change your mind? What's the opportunity to or expose
your brand or your talents to a bigger audience would
change your mind? What what changed? Mama? I always love

(01:11:17):
to push the envelope, and uh I pushed it every
day and something gonna work, something not gonna work. And
I learned from my mistake. I say, let's give it try.
If you work, you work. If it doesn't work, life
will go down. Now will still the baddest shoft, But
I think the on top cheft wasn't opposite of a
lifetime something I would cherish all the rest of my

(01:11:38):
life to become calling them back for there, for the
State Department to carry the fraumatic backform, to travel the world,
to go in Italy with john't carry to talk about
American food. I don't think if I wasn't a top
cheft I was able to do that. Wow. Wow, you're
listening to money making conversations with Rashan McDonald. We'll be
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A deductible may apply. Welcome back to money making conversations.
I'm your host, Rushan McDonald. So when you when you
look at different these things, it's about marketing. It's about

(01:13:07):
I'm just shifting the whole thing. You're talented person, but
you're saying that Roushan, this TV gave me more doors
that opened for me because I did this. So if
one hesitant hesitates about the opportunity because they feel uncomfortable
or they feel that it's not right from them, sometimes
it's best served to go and pursue that opportunity because

(01:13:28):
like you said, it opened doors for you. Yes, yes,
you know. Life is not about the opportunities. Pursue the
opportunity to do better. I think, uh, give me a voice.
I mean it's you know, it's the opportunity I have
to be able to be a head light keynote speaker

(01:13:50):
out of vang Or to have the brain called me.
I would love you to be in the basket for
this company. I don't think I will ever have doctor
about people. I wasn't on the top Shop. That's awesome.
Now now this personality here that that just kind of
like feels the screen. Uh what what what the resident?
What did that? What did that? What did that? Fun
that that dynamic, that brilliant smile? Where did that come from? This?

(01:14:13):
Because that's really what what sails me because when you
when you put a plate down and you smile wrong,
I wish I was standing next year because I knocked
you out the way. Start eating because that's what you do.
Like I said, you put it down to be eating.
So what did that? What did that whole personality come from?
You have to believe every day as a last day

(01:14:35):
because tomorrow is not guaranteed. As you know what's going
on right now in America. We have to cherish each
other because nobody's gonna hinder anything. And you have to
do it with this smile. That's how I shall Yeah,
I'm talking to chef Rond Pratt. In twin and eight teen,
he was named Industry Chef of the Year. If its
name sounds familiar, it should be. Currently, he's the food

(01:14:56):
and Beverage Director executive chef at Emoridal Golfing Country Club
and Amarillo, Texas. He first game recognition when we saw
him on Bravo's Top Chef and it's been opening doors
every ever since. Now, you mentioned something about what's going
on in the country right now, and what's going on
in the country right now is COVID ninteen, and COVID
ninteen is overtly affecting people of color, African Americans. What

(01:15:18):
is your what is your take on this and what
role are you trying to play the hip US out
run well. I think there's more than COVID nineteen hopkining
right now in America. We can disagree on that, we
can agree to disagree. I think the COVID nineteen is
one of the things happening, Like if you look at

(01:15:39):
all the racial tension, the Black lives matter, I think
this is bigger problem. Understand, two hundred people died from
COVID nineteen, but there's more people's suffer, suffer by polite
in justice, so many things. I think it's more than
COVID nineteen happened right now, I think, um, it is

(01:16:03):
time for everyone what it is me you to talk about,
love to talk about. Let's get together, let's break red
and for the COVID nine team, let's follow the CDC guideline.
Let's watch our hands and let's wear and let's be respectful. Now.
I'm not going to disagree with you, Ron, okay, because

(01:16:24):
I am at the forefront of trying to create remedies,
trying to create solutions, trying to understand that there are
CDC guidelines that must be followed because I have to
protect you and you have to protect me. We're family,
you know, we're you know, we're all all in this together.
And nobody's playing games out there, and they're unfortunate. People
are playing games with that now in your in your kitchen. Now,

(01:16:47):
when the pandemic hit and the country shut down, how
did that affect your business? How did that affect where
you work, at your working atmosphere? And how did you reopen?
Were you opening by became scientists by sorrow? Dr FAXI,
but make sure we clean, we clean, we clean, and

(01:17:08):
we clean again. We take temperature of all our employees.
We make sure the all distance things. Of course, we
have to spend more money to make less because now
we need more employees to do more and to serve
less people. As you know, most people want to do
take out. So I think it's that's a great scenario

(01:17:32):
where some people can afford to do it. Some people
may not effort to do as you know um with
the six speed table that cannot afford to pay the bills.
So we all have to go back to the drawing,
but to see how can we be become innovated to

(01:17:54):
make sure everyone is happy while we take care members,
I guess and make sure I imploy. Is a sect
and we are not doctors. We are shots, absolutely, but
you're affecting you know, my life, my life when I
come in there and somebody gets food, and building trust
that they can come to your place and eat and

(01:18:16):
and and and and take your food to go and
things like that. That's what we're talking about, right and
building trust in a meal now a meal that's not
made at home. And so so what obstacles you know,
we we we can't fix something over not because we
all know COVID nineteen it's not going anywhere. It's gonna
be there they're get a vaccine, but we're always be
taking the vaccine because it's a an incredible virus is

(01:18:38):
coming to our lives. That's overtly affecting people of color
and African Americans and people who are who are presisting conditions.
Ninety four percent of the people who've died from COVID
nineteen have had pre existing medical conditions. A lot of
people don't know that. And so when I when I
when I when, I rather off this information. Like you said, Rashan,
this is COVID nineteen maybe happening. But we've always had

(01:19:01):
heart disease. We've always had cancer, we've always had stroke,
we've always had high blood question, we've always had diabetes.
This is just magnifying it. So if I'm hearing you
correct Rong, in some such situations, we need to look
at the problems before COVID, a team came and fix
those problems. Two. Well, I agree with you. As you know,

(01:19:25):
I'm starting a movement called mind Food, Eating for my
beloved community. My foot is eating for my beloved community.
It's gonna be an action where me you, we all
sit down at the table and said what can we do?
We all we are not in the same financial bracket.

(01:19:45):
But what can we do for everyone can have access
to healthy food. Everyone can, but access to vegetables, to fruit,
to stuff. Right that, what can we do? Uh? This
is a conversation some people afraid to have, but I
am willing to have that conversation for anyone, whether they
wan't listening or now. Well, it was interesting because of

(01:20:06):
the COVID nineteen. For the first time, I had a
garden at my house. You know, I did the tomatoes,
I did peppers, I did okraw, I did a sage
and um um. And also I did uh how I
did hallalpeen your peppers? And I did uh cool peppers
as well, and so and so. I was amazed at

(01:20:30):
how easy it was. Wrong, and the return on my
investment was ridiculous. I can't I had tomatoes after tomatoes.
I must have. I had three tomato plans. I must
have gotten a hundred tomatoes. Offer that tomato plan, those
three tomato plans. That's correct, And it tastes different, and
it tastes different, Yes, sir, yes, sir. Well guess what

(01:20:54):
if you can use that to tell me to just
some other people, to I guarantee that one would be
a better place. Well, I'm gonna tell you this wrong.
I'm in your fan club right now, so you know,
off this call, I'm gonna give you my shaft all
that stuff so we can communicate. Plus, I want to
build a relationship with you and uh because of thinking

(01:21:16):
about it is that we're like minded and what we're
trying to do and what we're trying to accomplish in
our life. Plus I want to if you, I want
to post some of your videos on my on my
Facebook page so I can just tell it's my bar
right here, you know, checking my he's he's a bad
boy for Texas. He's just like me. He's just in
the pan He's in the pan Hamlet. He's in the
pan Amlets. That's high pan Hammlet. That's well yet And

(01:21:38):
I am a real Texas not it's hot over that
they don't name it after a little a little animal
for nothing that you knock your car off the road
if you hit it. Real is a bad back. And
so with that being said, what what's your goals? What
are your moving step? You know, because we're gonna talk,
we're gonna share our information. What's your goals in general?
For your brand run and what you're trying to do

(01:21:58):
for the people will try to do the people. Let's
re group, let's stop divided, let's love when order, Let's
be each other's brothers keeper. Let's see what we can
do to have uh it's better America. And then make
sure everyone. I don't care who you vote for, but

(01:22:21):
please vote, because your vote have it. I think we
have a price to play right now. I remember I
had a debate with some of my friends who are
telling me Harry did we will never vote for Harry.

(01:22:42):
And the list goes on the past few weeks, our courstomer,
the same friends. I said, Okay, you Ebert, some of
this conversation who was having in you see what happened
tonight is because of people like you. I still love you,
but we are with the decently. So I'm hoping if

(01:23:03):
we weren't getting vote. You vote for whoever you vote for,
but you're an American. Your vote can make it different.
Your vote came from you to rive. Wow, you know
some chef. I so appreciate what you just said, because, um,
it takes more than the one voice to make a change.

(01:23:25):
It takes a collective. It takes like minded. It takes
a clear understanding that you know, we got um what
we're gonna cross over twoion thousand people uh dying from
COVID nineteen. We have wildfires on the West coast, hurricanes
banging the the South, and you have civil unrest and
every major city in this country. And if your vote
has to count now and we have to step out

(01:23:47):
of that, I don't know or I step in and
know it don't. Yes, it does, and it only counts
if you make an effort. And that's what your whole
that's what this whole interview has been about. When I
look at listen to what you just said. It's about
being focused, working hard, and being determined to succeed against
all odds. And that's all you. That's your whole career,
that's your whole life right wrong, Yes, sir, And that's

(01:24:08):
the only thing I know. Wow, I want to thank
you for coming on my show because we're and you
are good buddies. Now we're friends, free friends. I can't wait.
We were gonna do it. We're gonna do it. Not
my wife, you know, she won't let me get on
the plane right now. She said, she know she's scared
about this COVID nineteen that said, baby, we gotta get

(01:24:29):
out there and live live our lives. And I got
my mask, got my parrel, I got, I got, I
got everything I need and so we will see each
other pretty soon because she can't keep me locked down.
One thing I know is that life is about taking chances.
And I'm not saying risky chances. I'm I just know
that COVID ninteen is a lifestyle that we have to
learn to live with as a new normal. We have

(01:24:51):
to be safe. We can't hug each other like we
used to. We can't high five like we used to,
we can't talking close quarters like we used to. But
we can't live a very s of all of our
stable lifestyle. But more importantly, to make this lifestyle work
for us in the future, like you said, Ron, we
have to vote. We have to thank you, thank you.

(01:25:12):
I want thank you for coming to my show. Ron. Uh,
just hang on right there and close out the show.
I want to get your phone number and you're from
you give you my cell number. Okay, Hi, this is
Roshan McDonald. I want to thank everybody for coming on
my show and also if you want to hear any
more money Making Conversation interviews, please go to money Making
Conversation dot com. I'm Rashan McDonald. I'm the host. We'll

(01:25:34):
be right back with more from Massa McDonald and Moneymaking
Conversations don't touch that down. Oregon donations save lives and
some organs can even be donated by a living donor.
August's National Minority Donor Awareness Months. So let's check in
with Dr Denay Simpson, Assistant Professor of Surgery at Northwestern Medicine,
tell us about the African American Transplant Access Program. So

(01:25:55):
this is my baby. This is a program that I
have dreamt about create eetings since I became interested in
transplant as a trainee, and it's a program designed to
address the significant disparities that are African American patients space.
The program is designed to educate patients about transplant, let

(01:26:17):
them know what transplant can provide to them, and to
help them access the resources that they find so scarce
and so challenging to access in order to get them
on the transplant path and back to you know, some
type of meaningful life. For more information, visit n M
dot org, Slash Radio. Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald, host of

(01:26:38):
Money Making Conversations dot com. The Cafe Moca Swag Award
is a celebration of black man who are making a
difference in our community by empowering others to reach their
life goes from civically. There's businessmen, activists, celebrities and everyday days.
The Kafe Moca Swag Award one of this week years.
Mark Lennon at The Mark was inspired by video features
Steve Harvey. He decided to follow his passion and started baking.

(01:27:01):
He took that passion and started his business, Brother Bakes.
Brother Bakes is an online bakery based out of Houston, Texas.
He specializes in cakes in the jar that can be
shipped all over the country. I just want to say
that people go for it. You know. I talked to
people all the time and they they're always talking about
how you did it. I just went for it. Everybody
has a dream. You're currently not doing your dream, so

(01:27:22):
why not give it a try. If it works out, great,
I mean if it doesn't, then you're still not living
your dream. But if it does happen and then it
changes your life. The Cafe Marchaswag Award represents men who
have strength, whose wisdom is assertive, and who is genuine
in their spirit. Welcome back to money making Conversations. I'm
your host, Sean McDonald. My next guest are Dina Marteau

(01:27:43):
That's Winning, Oh and Courtney Rhodes. They co founded in
That's this year, the Year of the pandemic ce Indeed.
The agency is at all women lead management agency that
provides marketing, branding, public and media relations services along with
project talent and operations. Man there's been specializing in business
and entertainment. The mission is to empower, which is important,

(01:28:05):
mentor and lead businesswomen to collaborate together and increase opportunity
for minority women's Dina is a seasoned entrepreneur, having shadowed
gender and ethnic glass ceilings during her nearly twenty years
as a music executive and small business owner. Dinus is
on Dinas on the management team for a Superstar My
Man t I and helped launched his popular podcast which

(01:28:26):
became number one on Apple Podcast. Courtney Roads, who I
know from Tampa, when Steve Harbory and I was down
there launching I Wanted Our affiliate Radio Stations is a
branding and marketing expert for twenty plus years. She has
worked with multimillion dollar businesses and getting their marketing message, scene, heard,
and experience across television, radio, magazines, e commerce, digital and

(01:28:47):
social media platform She's placed over one hundred million dollars
in advertising dollars across television, radio, digital, social and outdoor media.
Leadies and done with introducection like that, this is a
money making conversation. Please work with the money making conversations.
Dina Martau and Courtney Rose, Ladies, Hey, that was amazing. Well,

(01:29:13):
you know, first of all, thank you for coming on
the show. And you know, because of the fact that, uh,
I'm doing this show about going over like three years
and and uh I want to write you by the Star.
Bought a building in Atlanta here Peachtree. It's gonna I'm
building out a broadcast studio. So my next interview with
you guys hopefully being stupid studio, it's a COVID friendly studio.

(01:29:37):
And I bring that to your attention because you guys
are I'd like to say the word movers and shakers
and y'all, y'all, y'all venture and y'all y'all see can
I say they used the word visionary without being offensive. Okay, cool,
let's stop. Let's start with the top disionary in my
in my screen here, Ms Courtney. I met you in

(01:29:57):
Tampa a long time ago doing sales, so I can
verify when you say that you did sales, you did sales.
And you know when you when you go to these
affiliate markets, there's always an opportunity to be able to
sell your brand and people have to understand your brand.
And Steve Harvey was we will growing Brain, not the
brand that he is today, but you were a recognizable brand,

(01:30:18):
and I was like the guy who was like, you
talked to me, You talked to Steve to get the
business deals done. How do you look at a business
deal and a business opportunity? Um, So I kind of
just again look at everything as an opportunity and as
a person who can bring solutions to whatever marketing or

(01:30:38):
business challenge that whoever I'm sitting in front, you know,
whatever they have, you know, someone's gonna come to us
because there's a challenge, they need help to do something.
And so for me, I look at it as what
solution can I provide with the expertise that I have
the experiences or the connections or network that I have,
how just to be solutions oriented? Did my approach? You

(01:31:01):
know when I was listening to that, when I was
reading each one of your bios, and this is this
is kind of like you each are kind of like
a version of me, because you know you seriously, you know,
because I got turned to Dina because now she's dealing
with she deals with talent a lot. You know, I
didn't see that on your bio. You know you you
you're a person that, like I did a lot of
a lot large Cale's concert promotions. I'm always out there,

(01:31:22):
so cars on through media, so Hamburger through media. That's
kind of like you. And then on the on the
talent management side, high profile, high energize um know what
they want to do. Sometimes they don't do it right.
But you gotta be there to mediate and also have
to be very smart but very quiet. Sometimes. I also
have to know all the answers. Even Steve Harvey wants

(01:31:44):
told me said reach out. You think you know everything?
I said, yes, I do. So I could not tell
him I don't because what does what purposes that serve?
And so Dina, I have to look at you as
a person who knows everything because you did with talent. Well,
I think about it. If I don't know it, I
will definitely, I will definitely figure it out. That's the
key to that, because you you have to know what

(01:32:06):
you know, and you have to know what you don't know,
and you have to know how to figure it out
from there. That's important. And when you when you say that,
because we're talking about two successful females, okay, and and
let's just put it real. You know a lot of
times women are because they are attractive, and you are
two attractive women. Sometimes people hear you, but they just

(01:32:27):
see you. How do you overcome that? Obviously, gonna start
with you know, just wrapped you just responded, how do
you overcome that? That's a good point. Um, I would
say that you have to really stay consistent and persistent
with your work ethic. And I think once somebody realizes
that you're an asset to the team, that you bring

(01:32:48):
value and that you're smart and you should be around,
they look past the beauty and they start really wanting
wanting to work with you based on your skill set
and what you can bring to the table. So I
just the way I've done it in a male dominated industry.
Is just maintained my respect and earned my respect by
doing the work and doing it well and having to

(01:33:11):
do it a lot of times better than my male counterparts.
You do and that's but this is like I said, oh,
you know, cording to couldn't say this. You know, as
a minority sometimes as often said that, we said we
have to be two times or three times better than
the white person to get the respect and still get
a check. They're smaller than them. And that's kind of
frustrating because it's actually true. And so from a sales standpoint, coordinate,

(01:33:36):
you've had to deal with that. First of all, sales
are generally a male dominated lane. And then you down
in Tampa, which is the tip of Florida. So when
I met you, you were successful, you were vibrant. You
you have my attention, and because you knew what you
wanted to do. Maybe because I grew up with six sisters,
so I always had a respect for knowledge that came
out of women, came to that came from women when

(01:33:56):
they spoke to me. So what are some of the
mysteries all the walls that you have to climb as
a female, Because we're gonna get to the agency, because
that's important that I said, who you guys up before
we start talking about this agency, Courtney. So so I
think for me it's always been about making sure that
I am heard and and that I can bring value

(01:34:19):
to the table. Rather it was with clear channel, which
is what it was when we met, or through the
work that I do today. And to piggyback on what
Dina said, you just you have to always learn, especially
in the male dominated industry, to listen, listen, listen, because
I think just men and women naturally have a different

(01:34:40):
way of communicating. And not to be stereotypical, but men
are sometimes more aggressive, more comfortable in confrontational roles. And
for me, it was just about listening and always coming
back to the table with the solution with the result
kind of staying keeping my little balance self and you know,
conversations with the guys and agreeing and and just positioning.

(01:35:03):
You know a lot of times I would just listen
in the beginning, especially when I was in Tampa, I
was the only female and the management team, um, and
you know, meetings could get crazy and egos to get
in the way, and you listen, you you know, agree
where you agree, but then you circle back around and say, hey, guys,
have you thought about it like this? I think that's
amazing the way you want to do it. Maybe we

(01:35:24):
can add this, we can add that, and just kind
of be supportive at first, and that allows you to
get your voice heard, That allows you to get your
you know, your perspective out there. And then when you
consistently do that, then the guys again, it just you
just become a part of the team and they come
to you for that expertise because you're you're able to

(01:35:44):
actually bring I think a better balance of energy to
the table and kind of pull things down a little
bit and still, um, you can still be heard. Just
my approach has always kind of been a little different
in how I'm heart and when I was gonna say,
being honest with your clients as well is really important
because a lot of times, when you're dealing with some

(01:36:05):
high profile people, people are afraid to be honest with
them as as people on their team. And I think
that my clients would say that I'm always honest whether
you want to do it or not, and whether I
agree or not, I'm gonna give you my perspective and
still support you on that is. I think the key
to a lot of high profile people staying out of

(01:36:27):
trouble is by being honest, by being a person who
says I don't think that's a good idea, and because
the not saying it means that you should have said it.
And so when I look at when I listened to
a Coordinate and Dina, how did you guys get together
to form to see a d okay? I got I
know about your Brandina Coordinate. I'm aware of your brand

(01:36:48):
from past history. How did you two ladies, because you're
coming from different different landscapes, even though according to your
planning music from a standpoint at a radio station tied
to clear channel, which is heart media. And do you
know you know you came from record labels as well
and moved into talent management. So I feel a sense
of the cross But how did you guys come together? Well,

(01:37:12):
here's the thing. We have been friends for a long time,
and we've actually worked on projects in the past together
here and there. We've always talked about doing something together.
And when we had to sit down for a second
during this pandemic and and just had a moment to
look around and see what was going on, we felt
like it was the appropriate time because we had a

(01:37:33):
time to focus in and and know what was really needed.
I think the I think being united is needed more
than ever right now, especially with women, and so we
decided to just go for it. And the best part
about it is that Courtney is an expert in her
world with marketing and branding and pr and I'm an

(01:37:53):
expert in my world on the management side with talent
and project management and operations. So we're just come finding
forces and being more powerful. Together. We could easily be
successful continue to be successful on our own and our
individual journeys. But the most important thing here is that
we both believe that our greater purpose is to mentor
and lead the next generation of women leaders. And that's

(01:38:18):
important that you know, um when you say that, which
is very powerful. And you started your business doing the pandemic, okay,
launched it, and I basically I bought a building during
the pandemic, and and you know, and I say that
because in a way, first of all, it's very tragic

(01:38:39):
because it overtly affects people sixty five in the minority community.
And secondly, but from a business perspective, and I feel
it allowed me to catch up, you know, because a
lot of competition was shut down in the second quarter,
live events with advertisers pull all the media from in
the second quarter. The third quarters started trickling black. You
started getting virtual events, and then so talent started to

(01:39:01):
creep back out in some productions, especially entertainment, started to
go back out. So I commend you because I felt
that what you're doing is very smart, because that's what
I did. The first quarter. I was getting my brand together,
trying to define that second quarter, getting all my legal paperwork,
making sure I would launching site. I launched a whole
new platform in the in the third quarter. In fourth quarter,

(01:39:22):
I tell my team it's time to make money, and
we will make money because we've established that is that
Courtney a sense of what you guys are doing. The
plants in place. Pandemic hit. It didn't throw any fear
into your through sadness and through complications of how to
do business. But it didn't alter your dreams. No, it
didn't actually um speed it up, because it gave us

(01:39:42):
time to kind of reassess what we were doing. Um
of course, we were kind of all forced to quiet down,
kind of reflect on you know, personally from a career standpoint,
what's really important to me, Like, what's gonna drive me
how when we come on out on the other side
of this thing. What do I want to do? What
do What are the causes that I care about? What
are the kind of clients that I want want to

(01:40:03):
work with? Where messages that I want to get out
into the culture. And so, like DNA said, we've talked
about joining forces before, and we knew that we could
um complement each other's expertise but also scale the work
that we do because a lot of times, obviously DNA's
working on projects where it involves marketing and branding. I

(01:40:25):
work on projects sometimes where we're hiring out talents. So
we knew that just coming together would allow us again
to grow, but also do work that was more meaningful
and to come together to do something really important to
make sure that the narrative that the future is female
isn't just something that we say, but that we're actively

(01:40:46):
doing our part to make sure that we're supporting that
narrative and the work that that we're doing, and we're
bringing other very talented and the word you use was
innovative women along. So that was really important for us.
When I say that word, I say that word with respect.
I said that word with a lot of uh you know,
and and I don't. And I like to believe that

(01:41:07):
I'm one of those guys. I would tell that people
that are twenty four hours in the day learn to
use every hour. And when I say and, I said
as a compliment because I know how passionate I am,
and I know my resume when I say, you two
are kind of like a versions of me, and and
and because it's a testament to your ability to be
able to adjust to change, and you're not in your

(01:41:28):
fearless And you also understand that I know when I
walk in the room that I'm a black guy. I
know when I got I know, I know when you're
walking room your attractive ladies. That's something you have to
admit and sometimes you have to admit that people have
to be trained on what you bring to the table.
And with that being said, you've launched an all female

(01:41:49):
lead agency in Atlanta, Georgia. Dina, Why, Well, I'm it's
it's really the top that we're talking about money making conversations.
We're trying to level the playing field. We're trying to
close that gap for women to make the money that
they deserve to make. Two, especially for minority women to

(01:42:12):
have more opportunity, and really and really help women work
together and not be competitive against each other. I find
that a lot of times, especially in these male dominated industries,
we are pitted against each other and it's a lot
of competition. But I think we're stronger if we can
actually work together. So we want to be that example.
We kind of want to show shed the light on

(01:42:33):
that journey of getting women who are great at what
they do, who are very skillful, having us collaborate together
for excellence for our clients. And I think that that's
really the main reason we're we're doing this agency. Of
course we want to make money, but we want to
make money like how men are able to make money.
You're listening to money making conversations with ra Sean McDonald.

(01:42:56):
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making conversations. I'm your host, Sean mcdown. That's very true.

(01:44:02):
Um money is really in the beginning of my intro says,
you know, there's people have a version of what it's
a sizeable paycheck is some people is is a large check.
I'm driven by the fact that opportunity drives me, and
I think that's a sense of who I'm talking to him,
Dina and courting you opportunities because if you don't have
an opportunity, you can't get in the door to make

(01:44:23):
your play or make your statement, then the money is
gonna come because you're skilled at it. Now two words
that we here popular popularize all the time. It annoys
me so much. Marketing and branding, especially the word brand.
I just I can't stand that words not because people
just throw it out nowadays like they know exactly what.
Oh no, exactly branding expert, I can hear that one

(01:44:45):
more time. Oh my god, I'm a branding expert. So courting, Yeah,
they'll just show you an example, Okay. In two thousand,
when I started managing the I used to work for
IBM okay, so corporate. So from a corporate standpoint, I
knew where the brand was was IBM okay. So when

(01:45:06):
I looked at Steve, I looked at I said, I'm
gonna treat him just like a corporation. I'm giving the
same rules, the same standards, the same belief that the
corporation sets itself up for consider their brand, because I
will tell you. I would tell people, you know, corporations,
they they just shout out. They tell you they got
the best hamburger, they got the best car, They've got

(01:45:26):
the best cell phone and all these things. And that's
why I'm enjoying this interview because I'm like bouncing back
between versions of my brain left right, left, right, left right.
But branding expert, Courtney, what is that? What is a
branding expert? Please help me. I'm so sad and I
love this question because people use the words branding and

(01:45:49):
market marketing together like it's the same thing, and it's not.
So we all know that a brand is just the
way someone when I say with Sean, what comes to
people's mind? The energy, the images, the feeling, it's the
story that we share out into the world because of
the things we do right, And so we know in

(01:46:11):
a corporate world it's a nice logo and it's a position, right,
like your hamburgers are gonna be you know, mid tier
loads here, heights here, right. But for people and the
kind of work that we do, branding is about what's
the experience you're creating for people? What's the vibe that
you get when you interact with us? Our brand. It's

(01:46:33):
all about women's empowerment. It's all about being inclusive, it's
all about having fun. It's all about doing meaningful work
that's gonna make a real different and community of the
African American community and communities of color. It's about showing
a different narrative to women doing business together in one
It's about positivity, connection, collaboration, and it's about when people

(01:46:57):
interact with me and Dina specifically with our in and
seeing DV agency. We want people to walk away feeling empowered,
excited about moving towards again a more powerful, collaborative, inclusive
community of whatever you're doing. So for us, it's it's
women doing business and male dominated industries and making them

(01:47:19):
feel good, you know, good about themselves. So it's just
experience that we create with the colors we use, the
events that we curate, the messages that we said, and
it's about being consistent in those things. And those things
create the heartbeat of who you are as a company,
as a person, and then your marketing shares that messages
out into the world through different platforms and stories and

(01:47:41):
events and situations. See how smart she is. She's good, Um,
she's scary good I mean, you know what I mean?
You are you blessing? You are you blessing? Okay, I
remember that was my first take on you many years ago,

(01:48:03):
and to see where you've transformed or evolved too is amazing.
Now when when when I heard you talk Cordony, it
felt more like from a business standpoint, from you know,
from a from a uh like like you know, a
product standpoint. And then I turned to Dina and you
used the word branding expert when it comes to talent.

(01:48:26):
What does that mean, Dina? When it comes to talent, talent,
talent is a brand in itself, so any any any artist,
any any person that like yourself, you are at You
are talent and you are your own brands. So we
have to do the same thing. We have to maintain

(01:48:46):
the proper messaging what we want people to know and
feel about you, how we wanted to look overall, how
we wanted to feel. So it's pretty much the same
way as hamburgers, but it's a person which makes it,
I'm a little bit more complicated. Hamburger don't talk, Hamburger
don't talk right. Hamburgers don't mess up somethings. Sometimes when

(01:49:08):
they talk, they don't post on social media. They don't
do that, right. Hamburgers don't change their minds sometimes the
morning when you have a plan and then they decide,
their mood just shifts and they want to do something else.
That's you know, it's a little different. And hammer and
Hamburgers don't throw your strange looks either, that's right, Like
you're the crazy one in the room. Really and Hamburger

(01:49:30):
will not throw you under the bus when you know
what I mean. I love it. I love it. I've
talked to my two sisters I'm talking to you know.
We're behind the scenes. We we we are the ladies
that are always behind the scenes, the secret weapons that
a lot of times people don't even know exist. But
we are an integral part of the team that we're on. Cool.

(01:49:52):
Let's talk about Let's brag a little bit. Okay, I
mentioned a little bit about t I and some of
the accomplishment. Talk about some of your products, Dina, and
then court them from new you. Okay, okay. Well, my
history has been in the music business mainly. I started
a PR firm, an entertainment PR firm, when I was
nineteen in college and then I met l a read
when I was twenty one, and he handpicked and hired
me to work with him at Island def Jam. So

(01:50:14):
I was on his A and R team for six
years and I helped with Janet Jackson, L Cool, j
Nas Young, Jeez, Rick Ross, and and so many others
when jay Z was president, and then I left to
start my own artist development company and I built a
recording studio in midtown Atlanta called twelve Music and Studios.
I ran and operated that operated that facility, and I

(01:50:38):
nurtured and managed talent for seven years. Then t I
called me and wanted me back on his team because
we worked together previously when I was a lot younger
and he was putting out trap music, and I got
back on his team and I've been on his management
team helping out for the last three years. So I
also sold my studio about a year and a half ago,

(01:50:58):
just so I could do more focus on the new
things that I wanted to do and to kind of
pivot and the same thing that we're doing now with
pivoting with this agency, which is really a blessing, I'll say,
because we're at the point in our career as we
would get to kind of pick and choose who we
want to work with, and that's truly a blessing. We
don't we don't. We don't decide on working with clients

(01:51:18):
based on monetary things. We decide on on what their
vision is, what the messages, how is this going to
impact the community. That's really where we make our decisions. Awesome,
Courtney c R, the C and the D of the agency.
That's me. Your accomplishments, your your the things they brought

(01:51:39):
you into this world that you when you sit down,
you make a pitch. You got to tell people what
you're doing currently or what you've done in the past,
how does they work and what do you have to say? Um? So,
as far as my career accomplishments, I started my career
right out of grad school started working for UM Clear
Channel as an account manager for w POC, which is

(01:52:03):
one of is that what you wanted to do? Accord Um,
I wanted to be UM an anchorwoman initially until I
did an internship actually and then not changed my mind.
And so you had aspirations of being a talent in
one time at first? Yes, yeah, um, But anyway, so

(01:52:24):
I started as an account manager for w POC, which
is a top five still country station in the country
for clear Channel, and I was selling POC country, jazz
and gospel and digital. So it was I think it
was like two thousand and three where digital just started

(01:52:45):
to come up, and we were trying to figure it
out as a media company, what we're gonna sell, how
we're going to be able to show clients r O
E s and stuff like that. And so I did
that for a year and a half and pretty quickly
I was able to average a Jaguar deal for clear
Channel throughout like twenty markets and it was a multimillion

(01:53:07):
dollar deal and it kind of set my career up.
And honestly it was a fluke, but that's a whole
another story. It kind of set my career because I
ended up getting recruited into management that you gotta tell
us the fluke now, unlet's just say it was a
blessing from because the Nosings took over. When you say fluke,

(01:53:33):
it just like yeah, um. So at any rate, that
deal kind of set my career up, like I said,
And so when that happened, because I ended up having
to like go to corporate and present the deal to
Jaguar and so like you know there UM their VP
of Marketing and head of brands, consumer brands and all

(01:53:55):
that and close. The deal went really well, and so,
like I said, that led into me being recruited by
the executive management team. So I went to Tampa as
a sales manager for three radio stations, one being launching
The Beat, which was the first Urban actually to go
into Tampa, believe it or not, UM, w f l Z,

(01:54:18):
which is uh SHR station, and UH Mix, which is
like uh no Mix was the HR and w f
l Z is like a pop station. But anyway, so
I went there with three stations under my belt, stayed
in Tampa, learned the Ropes under my general sales manager.
They gave me The Beat as my station within like

(01:54:40):
three months, honestly, and I just had fun with it.
Like I just used my intuition quite frankly, to uh
make decisions UM as far as marketing was concerned, how
we were going to position Urban in a market like
Tampa that had never they had reggae tone but they
never had an FM hip hop station, And so that

(01:55:00):
went well. My boss in Tampa came to Atlanta as
the market manager for Clear Channel Atlanta UM and he
recruited me. They were launching a country which is the Bowl,
which is the number one country in the market. It
was the FM broadcast for Bradys Radio network and so UM,
once again, I had kind of gotten the role of

(01:55:24):
being of launching stations in new markets because of what
we had done, the flip that we had done with
the Beat in Tampa. So they brought me here to
launch a country little micro media in the South, and
that's what I actually had two country stations. There was
this little stick in Peachtree City called w d c L.
I'm not sure what that stick is now. So I

(01:55:45):
ran the two country stations and was in charge of
Brady's Radio network, which taught me a lot about just
you know, managing forty eight million dollar radio station, managing
a lot of people, managing responsibilities. From I was in
charge of the marketing department, the sales department, the promotions department, UM,

(01:56:07):
and then I served on executive committee for for Clear Channels.
So that kind of taught me the things that I
needed to learn to kind of step out into entrepreneurship
and UM. After doing that Clear Channel that fought by
being capital UM. There were eight general sales manager six

(01:56:28):
of them got laid off. Unfortunately I was not one
of them. I was super sad because they got this
huge severance check and unfortunately I was one of the
ones that stayed and had to make it work. And
so that taught me more about acquisitions and mergers, mergers
and how to make a profit and law statement work,
and long story short, I left there started working for myself.
Ford Morgricultural became my first client, and my entrepreneurship journey

(01:56:52):
started from there. Awesome OC towards National Women's Small Business Month.
I'm speaking to DNA and Courtney UH the agency, which
is what you c and d the agency. What you
started in UH in the city of Atlanta. Your first
project is it was is a voter education initiative aimed
at combining voter suppression and Georgia during the election. Can

(01:57:14):
you tell us how that how that came about and
also what are you doing when you say this is
your first project. When when somebody says the first project
out of the agency, what does that mean? Well, this
is our first campaign that we're doing to to launch
with the agency so people know what we are up
to and that we want to do meaningful things in

(01:57:35):
the community. I think it's really important right now to
exercise your right to vote. But a lot of times
people don't even understand their rights for voting, and so
we want to just educate and give and and funnel
all the information on into one place so people can
get it, whether it's early voting, UM, absentee ballot, or
whether you're going in person on the day of vote,

(01:57:57):
you know, election day. We want well to know, UM,
they're rights. We want them to know that if they
come across something that looks like voter suppression or it's
something that's blocking them from doing what they have the
right to do, they we want them to have that information.
And so we're just pulling all that information together and
sharing it through our network and through um just just

(01:58:20):
our really just our network and social media of course.
And UM, I voted already earlier, Okay, cool put it,
posted it on social media that I voted, And um,
it's a very important election November three for a lot
of reasons, but more importantly, they get there, get this
country back to a level of sanity that we all
feel we can walk out our front door and return safe,

(01:58:43):
because right now it gets ugly and ugly every day.
Uh and and closing, Courtney and Diana, First of all,
thank you for coming on the show. I this was
this wise. This is such a beautiful interview. You gots
are dominant personalities. I'm looking at two distinctively different positions
people that work incredibly well together. Your strengths they crossed,

(01:59:05):
but they don't cross. When I say, that means that
you both understand your lanes and it allows you to
be able to eloquently pitch like Courtney said, like she
did in This Wild Me, and then eloquently understand because
I've managed talent a lot of high profile talent, and
I know exactly you know when you start talking, I
laugh because every everything you said I've had to deal

(01:59:27):
with and still deal. When I jumped right back into
fire and I said I would go well, I love
Steve Harrd. I said I was done. I wasn't gonna
do this anymore, and I'm back in. They pulled me
back in reputation to pull me back here. But I
want to just say thank you. I want to be
in your guys life. You know, if you ever need
my services. I I do a lot of media. I
do rps. I love to include you guys in marketing, branding.

(01:59:50):
I'm gonna get my staff to reach out to you
guys and get a deck on you guys. So you
know I'm gonna be an agency record for something selves
for some fortune five hundred company from my multicultural perspective.
And I don't do pr and so so you know
I don't. So I can't do everything, but you can.
You can lie that you can do everything, but you
want to do it well. And I and I and

(02:00:11):
just being the two young ladies who are trying to mentor.
That was the key in this conversation that I was
so impressed about because I was since I was eighteen,
that's been my mantra. Uh no, don't leave anybody behind.
I don't know why I did it, it was just
part of my natural DNA and I from the very
start of this conversation that's all I heard you guys
talk about. And I want to be a part of

(02:00:32):
any way I can assist growing the CND the agency
in Atlanta, Georgia, because both of you guys are brilliant. Courtney,
I know your track worker. That wasn't That's what impressed
me way back then was the fact that you were
selling more than black radio and uh and Dana um
meeting you for the first time, I've heard about you.
When I there was a lot of people. A lot
of people said, dude, how you never met yea, she

(02:00:53):
said a lot of names. I know, okay, and we
were So we've crossed and we've talked and I've heard
about you and get you on my show, money making
conversations and blessing and uh, thank you, thank so happy
when you guys reached out, I was like, really, okay,
I'm down to do this. It's great. Thank you. And
you hit it on the and you hit it right
on the notes, like you have a way of knowing

(02:01:16):
how to pick up on you know, your your your
guest on the show, because I would say that you
summ that up pretty well. You did my heart well.
You know, I started this and I didn't know what
I was doing from the standpoint, you know, I would
just I didn't know why people were coming on the
show where they're coming on the show, because I should

(02:01:37):
manage Steve Harvey. They think I'm getting on the radio show,
the talk show. And I was trying to find my
voice and and so I just look at two fantastic
people that you know if you called me and you
know I don't charge. That's why I started this whole
platform here. But I do know how to make people famous.
I do know how to and you guys are famous. Okay,
you're famous. Commodities. Zoom has allowed me to have an

(02:01:59):
interview like this because if I try to do this
in January, but we'll never what what is he talking about?
But Zoomers allowed this format and to see how you
guys operate on this world. You should do it as
much as possible because you will shine in a lot
of great lanes of opportunity because both for you guys
are brilliant. Okay, thank you so much so much for

(02:02:21):
having are essential. The conversations you're having are really important.
People what's happening behind the scenes and not in front
of the TV screen. They need to know the intricacies
of business and how to make money. It's really important.
I appreciate you. I'm telling I stopped to get a
deck on you guys. Okay, and we bye. Great scene

(02:02:43):
both for y'all. Bye bye. If you want to hear
more money making conversation interviews, please go to money Making
Conversations but dot com. I'm with Sean McDonald, I'm your host. Wow,
that's pretty good. Huh.
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Host

Rushion McDonald

Rushion McDonald

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