E541: Lewis T. Powell, Chef Edouardo Jordan, Janaye Ingram & Sheila Coates

Appearing on this episode of Money Making Conversations is Lewis T. Powell - Actor, Writer, Director, Producer and Filmmaker; Chef Edouardo Jordan - 2x James Beard Award-winner, Owner and Executive Chef at “Salare,” “JuneBaby,” and “Lucinda Grain Bar”; Janaye Ingram - Director of National Partnerships for Airbnb, Advocate, Lead Organizer for the “Women’s March” in Washington D.C., Motivator and Entrepreneur; and Sheila Coates - Owner of BYOB, Be Your Own Brand. Each Money Making Conversations show hosted by Rushion McDonald is about entrepreneurship and entertainment. We provide the consumer and business owner access to Celebrities, CEOs, Entrepreneurs and Industry Decision Makers. They in turn deliver information about career planning, motivation, financial literacy and how they lead a balanced life.Don’t miss Money Making Conversations with host Rushion McDonald anytime through our iHeartRadio Podcast, which can be found under the Business/Finance Section, Fridays at 10AM ET on SiriusXM Channel 141: H.U.R. Voices and Fridays at 7PM ET on SiriusXM Channel 142: HBCU. We want to keep you Winning with your Career and your Life! #AskMMCThe Money Making Conversations radio talk show shares the “Secrets To Success” experienced firsthand by marketing and branding expert Rushion McDonald. Mr. McDonald is a brand guru and has been a marketer for major national and global brands like State Farm, Ford and Home Depot. He has worked with Kevin Hart, Stephen A. Smith, Jamie Foxx and most notably, Steve Harvey and will provide access to women and multicultural markets to expand the reach of your brand. The show features one-on-one career advice to callers, contributions from corporate leaders, successful entrepreneurs, celebrity interviews regarding their business ventures, social media branding, financial planning and information to empower small businesses to a path of success!“The Kind of Talk that Inspires Change.”https://www.facebook.com/MoneyMakingConversations/https://www.iheart.com/podcast/53-Money-Making-Conversations-28341098/https://open.spotify.com/show/3ABAQdTXqAnhGwxrsjFa5yhttps://www.rushionmcdonald.com/https://www.facebook.com/rushionmcdonald/https://twitter.com/RushionMcDonaldhttps://www.instagram.com/rushionmcdonald/https://www.linkedin.com/in/rushionmcdonaldhttps://am920theanswer.com/radioshow/7908
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
advice on many occasions. In incase you 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

(00:25):
hear from my man, Rashan McDonald. Money Making Conversations. Absolutely,
it's a Monday, could be Joos, it could be Wednesday,
depends on when you're hearing my podcast and hearing my
radio show and syndication. I'm here delivering information. I'm your
host with Sean McDonald. You're listening to Money Making Conversation.
Each Money Making Conversation radio talk show podcast is about

(00:45):
entrepreneurship and entertainment. I provide the consumer and business owner
access to celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. My
goal is to share advice that I've been given to me,
advice that I've given the people over the years. A
lot of people have big dreams. They don't have plans
associated with those dreams. My shows to try to break that,

(01:06):
uh down that wall to say you cannot achieve a
dream a dream while achieving a plan, and the plan
has to be written. It can not be hoped upon,
it cannot be it can be preyed upon. But the prayer,
that prayer has to turn into work. A lot of
people will tend to put a lot of weight on
that prayer. Let's say they jump out there, leap of faith.

(01:27):
I've heard those statements before, the right place, right time.
You know, it was my moment. Okay, where is it
written down? Though? You gotta write that all. I gotta
write all those moments down. Oh, he guess what. It's
not gonna happen the way you wanted to happen. Believe me,
because of the fact that I've been in that chair
where I've just been hoping that I call it a
lot of experience. You just sit around and just be

(01:49):
hoping that it's gonna happen. I planned a lot of
it's my time, it's my it's my journey, it's my moment.
It's what they're no guarantees. My guests in turn, deliver
information about career planning, motivation, financial literacy, and how they
leave their balanced life. My next guest ranged as a
young man. First of all, we're gonna go back to
l A days. But then I was at uh very

(02:12):
good friend of mine, Holly Robinson, Pete and the husband.
Now you do a artistic event. They've been a charity
racer in regards to her father. Uh, and I would
attend it. Uh. Finally I finally showed up. I give
money all the time. I finally showed up. And Uh,
Hollywood A shocked that I showed up this ship actually
with she hollo my name during the event, and I said, yes,

(02:34):
she was actually stunned that I was there. But when
you go out in public, you tend to meet people
haven't seen a long time and also realized the impact
that you made and just basic conversation. Just I guess
you could say mentoring, and that's what I try to
do when I meet individuals. My next guest is a
celebrated celebrity Master Barber Award winning actor, director, producer, and screenwriter.

(02:56):
Please welcome to Money Making Conversation. Louis T. Powe. Hey, Hey,
how's everybody doing out there? My man Rushian. At first,
I want to say Sean, you know, thank you for
all that you do the philanthropy, philanthropy work. You know,
you've really been a pillar in the community man, just
stepping out there with graciousness and abundance man and sharing
that wealth with everybody. Man. And that's just such a

(03:18):
blessing to have people like you circumventing. Uh. Like I said,
for the culture, and I want to say thank you.
You've been a star supporter of Holly Robinson Pete Foundation. Man. Uh.
I've seen you give on numerous occasions, Man, from your heart,
and it's just a beautiful thing to see. Well, you know,
the thing about it is that there's no reason that's
to why I give. There's the there's the fact that

(03:39):
I have took you and then um I've lived. I
realized that I affect too many different people. I've started
foundations for other friends of mind and HLP them pushing
into the right direction. One of my big things and
doing right now is for HBCUs your graduate of HBCU
Howard University, Howard University, where I'm trying to become a
media force along with Stephen A. Smith if to bring

(04:00):
brand awareness to UH. It really kind of annoys me
the treatment of hbc uses because it's always feel like
the the words struggle it's tied to an HBCU schools
always look like, you know, we ask it for a
financial handout from the government and uh, and it tends
to really muddy down the great institutions that HBCUs are.

(04:23):
Let's talk to us about that experience, because I'm on
a lot of the HBCU stations, UH schools carried by
show as well. It's serious actually one forty one at
one forty two, Yeah, I mean, you know to that point,
it is it is it's always like you said that,
people always try to associate struggle with HBCUs. Right, you
look at institutions like how it has been over I
mean been around for over a hundred years and and

(04:45):
as as well as other established black hbc us that
don't give it get as much credit, you know, I
mean struggling. I mean when you look at some of
the most prominent doctors and black lawyers and accountants and
physicis my mother's and Howard Graduate. You know, she came
out in the sixth seven and she's an accountant. And
when I look at her alumni being, you know, she's
a Delta sigma THEATA, and it's like I look at

(05:06):
a lot of her little events that they have, and
it's like all these professionals, uh, financially well off people
that have actually been sewing back into their communities in
various different states all over the United State. I mean,
excuse me, all over the United States. So when you
look at the struggle that people say that the HBCUs have,
I think that that's just the media putting out some
kind of propaganda, you know, in a way to kind

(05:28):
of shine the light off of excellence that we've always
been bringing. Now also, you you mentioned your your mom,
your dad. Now you're a master barber and your dad,
let's talk about that relationship. You know, you kind of
push you in that direction. Or it was just a
natural you know, tell my father I do with my father. Yeah,
it was, it was it was kind of like a

(05:49):
natural progression. You know in the Washington, d c. Area,
barber shops have been around since nineteen sixty five. You know, Um,
I have a younger brother. My younger brother, he has
like four beauty and barber shows in the DC Maryland areas,
and I know, our families probably know each other. So
it's like because it's like we had one off Upstra Street, uh,
Lamont Street and Georgia Avenue, Kennedy Street and Street Northeast.

(06:12):
So it's like when I started off in Barbara and
my father actually brought us. It's about seventeen barbers in
my family. Yeah, it's it's a it's a good it's
it's it's stretched in far, far and few between. Man.
But I started off in the shop signing shoes and Nichols,
Diames and corn sweeping guys backs off. Uh. You know,
I was a little kid when the guy would jump
off the chair and and if he didn't want to

(06:33):
tip me, man, I'll sweep you all the way till
you got out the door. I would embarrass you because
you know, to tip me. Man. It was it was cool,
it was cool, but it was it was a progression
where you know, I jumped off into that space. And
by the time I was about thirteen, I remember the
first headcut. I really kind of just gaffled and was
my cousin Glenn Johnson. Uh, my father came home and
he came out of the Uh, he came out of

(06:54):
this little room in the basement and it looked at
it and he was like, I didn't know you wanted
to grab the tools yet, I see you need some work.
I can't let moments. Yeah, well, you know, being you,
you know you talk about your dad being a barber.
That's that's that's that's the core being entrepreneur. You know,

(07:15):
he's taking the talent. Said, look, as long as I
got these sealss, I can make money somewhere. You know
that that really I remember when I left IBM and
as to pursue my career as a stand up comic,
I always felt that no matter what, unlike an actor
I had, that an actor has to wait on an
opportunity as a stand up As long as I can
tell jokes, I can get on stage and make me

(07:36):
some money. And it was it was really really empowered
me a lot in my career. If I would say
that I was an actor just waiting on the opportunity
to versus, Hey, you just let me on that stage,
let me stay, give me fifteen minutes, You're gonna write
me a check. And so that that really uh that
even though you into the entertainment because you have that
skill set, doesn't it give you a really uh an

(07:59):
unbridled about uh confidence that most of what you can
still exist. Yeah, because that's one of the reasons why
I created padlock Man as longer. On the entrepreneurial business side,
it was one of those things where, you know, I've
always worked as an independent you know, when I worked
in music, you know, I pushed the record to billboard
shots out of my living room. You know, it was
uh when I was at the space of when I

(08:19):
my barbering business, it was like, you know, I cut
numerous celebrities fifty cents outcast Dwyane Wade, uh and it
was like one of those things. I built my business accordingly,
so each one of them worked together, and I find
when I looked at padlock Man, it was it was
just another etching, that etching that space. You know. My
first two films I saw independently, and I was like,
you know what, well, I can't I create a pilot myself.

(08:42):
Why can't I go out and take this pilot chop it,
and why can't I figure out the distribution and financing
myself also to take that to the next level, which
in which in return can incorporate me as an actor
as a director and as a score, you know, for
for music. And then on top of that, it's like
I want to be in the lane to try to
create more opportunities not just for myself but people outside
of me. And when you start creating that ecosystem as

(09:04):
an entrepreneur, obviously you know that all of it pays
dividends man backwards and forward. So it really is amazing
when you talk about you know, I always tell people
and even in this conversation is when I'm talking to you,
and it's it's about understanding your opportunities. Now, how does
the social media, how does brand marketing play a role?

(09:25):
And how do you get the word out that also
you can give out your handles that. Yeah, brand marketing
plays a big part. I mean, you know, in this
day and time, we live in technology flows, you know.
I mean back when I first started, it was like
the bab Shop was the information super Highway. But now
we look at Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and you know,
and all these different avenues where we actually can't share

(09:45):
our gifts with the world. And I think it's one
of those things finding your audience, finding your niche, and
then building upon that niche of the people that actually
support you and starting the steam roll effect to turn
that over and over again to grow your audience more
because I feel like sometimes what I look at a
lot of times nowadays is people stretch themselves too thin
instead of saying, you know what if I can find
a core of one thousand people or five hundred people, man,

(10:08):
it will support me. You know, one would I'd rather
have a thousand people to support me a hundred percent
or what I had rather have a thousand people only
support me ten percent or five thousand people only support
me one percent. You know, I'd rather find that initial audience,
cater to them, keep building that steam roll effect to
build my brand, build my business. And as I move along,

(10:29):
I know one thing, relationships network opens up wider. And
then on top of that, like I said, people become
more fans and you have more advocates man to create
more substantial business. Yeah. Well, you know the thing about
it is when you look at the business that you're in,
you know, you know you mentioned celebrity names that you
does that help most most because you know you're in

(10:49):
an intimate relationship when you're cutting their hair and then
you're also or an actor also director, producer. How does
that How does that you know, how does that talk
to us about balance? Yeah? You know what, That's one
of the things I've always kind of pride of myself,
and because I feel like, like going back to the entrepreneur,
every business that you do, no matter what it is,

(11:10):
it's it's a reflection of you. So you know, I'll
give you a prime example. I went up to Cut
fifty one time for Bloomberg Business Week, right and I
walked in. I would always wear suits, come in with
a doctor brief, you know what I mean. So I
walked in, I would get there about thirty forty five
minutes earlier. A lot of times they thought I was
fifties manager. They're like, oh, what does this gool Mr

(11:30):
Powell done? Like I look, I'm I'm the barber. But
at the same time, that reflection when when I first
started off in the barbering business, I would always pdf
my my invoices to all of the companies because I
was like, you know what, if I ever get a
chance to run across them again, they were look and say, oh,
well this guy he's a director. To oh he's a
he's a writer, and he's an actor. But I remember
when he worked as a barber. That guy was so professional.

(11:52):
He pdf this invoice. He was always on time, he
was intelligent, he was articulate. You know. The setting the
stage so I get ready to cross that threshold in
the future on any other than deva deva and entertainment,
especially within the celebrity space. Is you know what, let
me hear what this guy has to say. Let me
take his call. Why because I set the stage absolutely. Uh.

(12:13):
You know, as we wrapped this interview up. You know,
we all you're not close to leaving this earth. We
always have these journeys that we're trying to. Uh. What's
the future. What's the future? Mr Pow Let me tell
you the future for me is you all are going
to see Dynamite limited series on HBO from Padlockman. I'm

(12:36):
building a production company, an ecosystem for distribution. We're going
to create an ecosystem for UH to incubate talent from
animators to writers, directors, producers, all in the house. Uh.
And on top of that, it's like I just want
to build a blessing like my man Rashan here and
be able to give back to the people man to
deserve it. Man and just to be able to try

(12:56):
to create a synergy man of goodness, man and just
shared love, wealth, intelligence and health. Well, it was great
seeing you again live and studio. So notice you have
a home now you know you got my contact information
and so just keep us a post abreast of the steps.
Anything you're doing. This none related to the project. You know,
like fences, you might want to give us that cover

(13:17):
of boss Man. Put the posting on our social part
of your brand. It's part of being recognized for your excellence.
And again, thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation.
Oh man, Thank you again with Sean. It was a
pleasure being here and everybody out there. You can catch
me on my handles at Louis T. Powle that's on Instagram,
at Louis T. Poe Twitter and at Louis T. Poe

(13:38):
on Facebook. Appreciate you, Appreciate your teammates. We're coming right
back with more money Making Conversations. Hi, this is Rushan McDonald,
the host of Money Making Conversation. You say to yourself,
who calls Rushan Shell, please walk on the money Making Conversations.
La La Anthony, we met you know used always the

(14:00):
Sean can you give, always talk to you about everything,
everything and looking at you and Steve Harvey. You know
that motivated me too because I would see all the
amazing things you guys are doing it not just being
on the radio like at that time, and even now,
you know people want to put people in boxes. Please

(14:20):
welcome to Money Making Conversations. The incredible Nick Cannon. Do
you truly one of them our mentors and one of
the people that showed me that you can be multifasciative.
You know for a fact, now that you're about to
capture an audience, it's going to have a spending power
for at least another twenty years, three years. Like my happiness,
money doesn't make you happy, but happy makes your money.

(14:40):
Money Making Conversations continues online at www dot money Making
Conversations dot com. Hi. Ras Sean McDonald host The Money
Making Conversation. Hi again, this is Roshan McDonald. Just give
my voice tone. Get you right, because I got one
of my favorite guests on the on the show is
about to everybody know. I get a little extra excited

(15:02):
when I talked to people about food. So I gotta
calm down. I gotta calm down because each money Making
Conversation radio talk show or podcast is about entrepreneurship and entertainment.
I provide the consumer and business owner access to celebrities, CEOs, entrepreneurs,
and industries industry decision makers. They, in turn, my guests
deliver information about career planning, motivation, financial literacy, and how

(15:24):
they lead a balanced life, their motivation life. My guests
have really been been tuning into delivering these messages, this
message on the regular basis. I'm really excited about my
next guest. He's an owner executive chef as means food
of several very popular restaurants. He was born and raised
in St. Petersburg, Florida, and attended college at the University

(15:45):
of Florida. That means he's he's the Gator. He's he's
the Gator. Okay, all right, sec okay cool. After graduating
with a dual degree in business administration and sports management,
he decided to enroll in culinary school. Okay, now that's
a that's a switch. Now, please working. He's here to
tell his story and all the success he's had over

(16:08):
the years since he's graduated with that culinary degree. Please
welcome to Money Making Conversation. Ed warddo Jordan's thank you
for having me, my man? Oh pretty good? Where you
Where are you at right now? Where are you calling from?
Right now? I'm in Seattle, Washington. I'm home before I'm
headed to work, Seattle, Washington. Now, I've been to Seattle

(16:29):
a couple of times. As you do stand up comedy.
I went up there way back in the day, did
some jokes up there. I stopped in there when I
was going to Vancouver for a cruiminess. So but I'm
gonna tell you something. Let's let's talk a little bit
about you before we get to this. This, this menu,
that that that that really and I'm already told I'm
gonna just tell you this, ed WARDO. Um, I'm you're

(16:50):
gonna see me before the year out brother, that you're
gonna see I'm letting everybody know you're gonna find out
why why I'm gonna go up there with my wife's
she's already she's already signed off. She's gonna be coming
up there with you. Got to get to day. Do
you have a chef table at your restaurants and we
will make a table before you there. You go, okay, cool,

(17:10):
Then let's talk about the beginning because I talked about, uh,
we talked about the degrees and the business administration and
that still that still helps you out now because you're
you're you know, your your owner, your entrepreneur, so that
degree in the business administration does help you out. Then
you went into sports management. How did the whole culinary
part of your life start to rise to the top. Well,

(17:34):
you know, I honestly, I started with food at the
age of nine. Um. You know, food has always been
um an intimate part of like, uh, my experience growing up. Um.
You know, when I was nine years old, my mom
put me in the kitchen because she noticed that I
had an interest for food, because I was always asking
my grandmother questions. My grandmother a Southerner, She's originally from

(17:56):
kro Georgia, and you know, her specialty was cooking to
go lavish mills for the family and friends to come
over and hang out her at her house. Um, you know,
for family unions, after church, you know, all the holidays.
It was all about grandma. And so you know, I
took an interest into foods then and there, and I
guess that kind of you know, played a role in

(18:17):
my life later on, when I was decided on the
real direction that I wanted to go in on my
true passion. Um. So it was all about like that
that foundation with mom and grandmother of like hospitality and food,
Mom showing me around the kitchen, my mom giving me
my first cookbook as probably like the age of Pan
or eleven, I don't remember the exact time period. Um.
The question what the question that will pop out is

(18:40):
that you said, it's just nine. Why didn't you immediately
go into that direction? Why did you go to oh man? Um?
You know it was it was kind of like, you know,
the reality is, Um, you know, my mom and my
dad wanted me to go to college. Was the first
person in my family to go to college. And we're
talking about extended family too. Um. And so that mission

(19:04):
was to make sure that I, you know, get an education,
also get a degree that it's gonna send me in
the path that they thought and believe it's gonna be
great for me and you know, become a doctor, become
a lawyer, become a sports agent or something that dictated
high pain, well established job with benefits, etcetera. So, Um,

(19:25):
their mission was just point me in the right direction,
and cooking was definitely not the direction. They assumed that
I should be going in because it's gonna be real.
You know, you've got a lot of cooks out there,
but don't have a lot of chiefs of color out there.
Feller exactly. And even the reality is, you know, um
the quote in their world is a very hard world.
I mean, you're working, you know, thirteen fourteen hours a day, um,

(19:48):
not getting paid the highest wages and um, you know,
dollar for dollar hour per hour, you're definitely working way
more than most doctors and most lawyers for you know,
far less. So they saw, you know, me going to
college as a as a better direction for me, and
they definitely encouraged me, like, you know, follow my dreams
and everything, like cook enjoy it. You'll become a doctor,

(20:10):
and then one day you can own your own restaurant
while you're a doctor. Right kind of thing. Okay, Now,
so we're with Florida having a good time. That's big
football powerhouse, basketball powerhouse. So you so you then then
the cooking really is what you want to do. You
you've satisfied their expectation, their dreams. I always tell people,
you can't report degree, So I love it. I love

(20:31):
the fact my degree is a mathmatics. You can't. They
can't come in and go, you know something, that degree after,
we're gonna take that degree. After, we're gonna take you
the way from No, you can't do that. You can't
do it. Why don't that degree? He's that wall And
you say, I'm out. We're good. We're good. Okay, I
don't care what that college loan is. We're good, We're good.
And so so the beauty of what you at right
now is that I love this conversation because it talks

(20:52):
about defining your path. It talks about understanding that I
can I can accomplish many things, but all those are
things that I really want to do. And so cooking
is what you really wanted to do. And so I was,
here's the thing that we want to talk about, because
climbing the ladder to be a chef, humbleness, low pay,

(21:14):
long hours again, homeleness. You know, sometimes you're being bullied
because people have power over you and you have to
be able to navigate that. And then you're a person
of color, so there's a lot of roquestions. Then you stigmatize, Yeah,
you stigmatize, you know what what, especially if you want
to go outside of what they think you can do,
you know what I'm saying. So, so just talk about

(21:36):
that journey a little bit there. Yeah, I mean it
was a it was a it was a hard, very strenuous,
humbling journey. You know. I ended up going to culinary school, um,
after graduating from the University of Florida. So I was
a little bit older than most people in culinary school.
I think it was like five years old. UM, So
I'm looking like an elder year old. UM. But I

(21:59):
was stremely focused and and I realized, like in culinary
school that was a reality check, you know, it was
we probably had ten percent of people of color there,
and out of that ten percent, probably five percent graduated.
Of that five percent that graduated, two percent ended up
finding a decent job. And out of that two percent,

(22:20):
you got me the one percent that is still remaining
that I know of. Um. And so that was pretty
much my my journey in my path because as I
ended up going, you know, to get you know, distinguished
jobs that distinguished locations. I ended up becoming an intern
or apprenticeship at the French Laundry and Napple Valley, you know,
one of the most prestigious restaurants in the in the

(22:42):
in the world, I should say, but definitely in this country. Um.
You know that was that was that was the stepping
stone to my career. But at that at the same time,
I realized that, you know, I was again of that organization.
You know, it wasn't many people of color there. And
as I progressed in my career, you know, I had
to humble myself more because I was in the fine

(23:03):
dining world. And as you move up in that ladder
of cuisine, the style of cuisine, you know, the level
of restaurants, you'll realize that that present is trinkles down
more and more with people of color, women, minorities of etcetera. Um.
And the reality check was that, you know, it was

(23:23):
a white chef's world for me, absolutely running them. And
that's a that's an honest statement to talk about, you know,
not not because you know, because of the fact that
the reality is is we don't know what goes on
behind closed doors, and that's what can't you go You
see food being brought out and even then people complaining
and sometimes that's when a lot of for some reason

(23:45):
chefs always come to my table. You know, I guess
because I just love food. They go, you like your
real good go. Yeah, it's fine, that's fine, and I
will send food back now if I don't like it,
I said, hey, dude, I'm sorry, it's just not working
for me to do that work for me to pay
for Absolutely give them absolutely. Now let's talk about because
I wanted to get that part of the story out,

(24:05):
that part of the journey out, because we want to
talk about the uniqueness of your success story. And it didn't.
It continues to grow. Explain everybody. The James Beard Award,
oh man, So you know, think about the Emmies and
the oscars UM and the James Beard is just as
equal for the culinary world UM as those prestigious awards. UM.

(24:28):
It's it's the foundation one started, you know, to recognize
the culinary arts world, chefs and restaurant tours, um industry
movements and shakers by distinguishing them with once a year
honoring the best of the best. And you know, I'm
I can say I'm fairly blessed with the fact. Come on,

(24:49):
I talked to him. Tell us what you got man
to with two distinguished awards in one year, which is
unheard of. You know, for one for one minority. To
Um achieved that award in one year, it's it's a
feat on his own. But to to achieve two recognitions

(25:10):
for Best Chef um Northwest and Best New Restaurant in
the Country James for um Um June Baby, it's you
know that it which is mind blowing. It was out
of the universe. It was unheard of, you know, the
first time that ever has happened. You know, I have
a lot of I have a lot of first in
my in my in my career, and I and I
strived and pride myself on being first. I was the

(25:32):
first black chef ever to grate the cover of Food
and Wine magazine at Best New Chef two thousand and sixteen.
You know that that's that's pretty huge. You think about
at least some of the culinary um dignitaries that have
have walked walked around here. You got you know, you
got Marcus Samuson Clark. You know, you've got some very
distinguished black chefs that have done great things that have

(25:56):
not ever made it to that cover of that magazine.
And that's now, that was a big honor, and that
was a big, big piece in the start of of
people recognizing and and and realizing the talent that I have.
I printed out this menu. I came in here and
let you know I love what you do. Keep doing
what you're doing. You will see me this year. Uh,

(26:18):
Samantha will reach out to you. Gonna it's gonna be
on the weekend. I'm gonna come up there. We're gonna
have a good time. We're gonna laugh, man, and uh,
I'm gonna eat and we're gonna tell stories. And I'm
gonna support your bread and congratulations for packing a glass
ceiling and uh, and I'm gonna keep supporting you man,
And You've got something going on that special and you
are very special. Thank you for doing my show, money

(26:38):
Making Conversations. Hi, this is Rushan McDonald, the host of
Money Making Conversations. You say to yourself who calls Rushan Shell,
please walcome to Money Making Conversations, La La Anthony. We
met you know us always can you give? Always talk

(26:58):
to you about every face everything and looking at you
and Steve Harvey. You know that motivated me too because
I would see all the amazing things you guys are doing.
It not just being on the radio time like at
that time and even now. You know people want to
put people in boxes. Please welcome to money Making Conversations.
The incredible Nick Cannon. You truly one of them our

(27:19):
mentors and one of the people that showed me that
you can be multi fascinated. You know for a fact,
now that you're about to capture an audience, it's going
to have a spending power for at least another twenty years,
three years. Like my happiness and money doesn't make you happy,
for happy makes your money. Money Making Conversations continues online
at www Dot money Making Conversations dot com. Money Making

(27:47):
Conversations continues online at www Dot money Making Conversations dot
com and follow money Making Conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The next guest uh has landed her on her work. Wow,

(28:11):
you know she is the first time her own Money
Making Conversations. Her work has landed her on many lists,
including being named one of the seventeen Glamour Magazine Women
of the Year, the hashtag Woke one hundred by s
S Magazine, and Christian is one of the female faces
of the New Civil Rights Movement by Black Entertainment Television
b ET. In addition to appearances and features and media

(28:34):
outlets including NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, Vogue, New York Magazine, Forbes, ESPN,
TV one, The Huffington Post, News one, and degreeo dot com,
among others. Please welcome the money Making Conversations. The director
of National Partnerships for air BnB, Jena Ingram, Hi, how

(28:56):
are you? Did I get out of that? Did I
say a lot about you that you did? You did?
And sometimes I still when I hear that, I'm like, really,
I did that? Okay, you know you really you know,
I have a general tendency just uh. I felt when
I was reading your bio that you're a grinder in
other words, you know, you just you accomplished task. You're

(29:17):
not a person that sits back and look at your
your past efforts because you're always moving forward. In general,
because of that, you tend to not realize the greatness
on the path that you are. The journey that you
create is pretty impressive. My friend, Well, thank you, And
I think you're right about that. It is keeping my
nose down to the grindstone and just continuing to push

(29:39):
forward and um finding new ways to be impactful. So
hearing you know, being reminded of the path that that
I've created is always um, it's always inspiring, even for myself,
and just you know, says a lot about the journey. Um,
when you're committed to something and committed to doing good.

(30:02):
You know, it's really interesting when I when I hear
your brs because I hear a humble first, I hear
a humble person that I'm communicating with, and it's almost
um when I hear that humbleness, and almost doesn't surprise
you that that. You know, we all always go back
to college, and I was just I was just in college, Okay.
I was trying to get an education, trying to get

(30:23):
sometimes trying to get to the next party, trying to
get past that grade, just trying to get there. And
then I looked twenty years thirty years later, I go, wow,
that's that's a lot. That's a lot going on in
your life for Sean. What what stands out the most
in your career so far? Because it's not stopping, I
know that. Yeah, I mean there are so many things

(30:48):
and moments. Um, I think if I had to stay
you know, my work right now is is really impressive
and not to diminish it, but I do think the
high point for me and something that I'm still really
really proud of is planning the Women's March UM. And

(31:12):
that for me was something that I never I didn't
go into it envisioning that I would be making history
UM or envisioning that the turnout would be what it was.
I kind of went in because I was passionate about
creating space for people UM to raise their grievances and

(31:35):
and that was, you know, I was. I was committed
to the cause of justice and ensuring that you know,
again UM, all of the people who were saying that
they were going to come, We're going to come to Washington,
DC and have UM have an opportunity to have their
collective voices heard. And it was something where if I

(31:58):
would have known what I was doing when when I
was asked, like, will you come out with this, I
probably would have said no because I would have been afraid. UM.
I would have been afraid that I was going to SAIL.
I would have been afraid of all of the many
things that could have gone wrong. Logistics overwhelming. It is.

(32:18):
It is overwhelming, and I don't think people really understand
the complexities that are involved UM. And maybe they do,
because you know, I had Prior to that march, I
had planned the fiftieth anniversary the March on Washington, and
I was younger. Um, I was a newer face in DC.

(32:38):
I mean, people knew me, but you know, I had
worked for Reverend Sharpton, and people just saw me as
someone who works for Reverend Sharpton and never understood maybe
the skills and talents that I had. UM. And so
I remember planning the fiftieth anniversary of the March on
Washington and some of the seniors and an elder saying

(32:59):
to me, you know, listen, baby girl, hand me this
march because I don't know that you you know, it's
a lot, and it's it's probably too much for you
to handle. And and I said no. I mean, you know,
I was clear that first of all, Reverend Sharks that
had entrusted me with with planning that march and leading

(33:20):
that effort um, and you know, I didn't want to
disappoint him. So I said, no, we got it, um.
And it made a lot of people sort of stand
up and look at me and say, oh, okay, she
does she can do this, um, but never once and
planning that fiftieth anniversary of the march on Washington. Did

(33:40):
anyone ever say to me do you have a permit? Like,
do you know what you're doing? Outside of the elder
saying you know, this is a lot and you probably
need some help. Um. Whereas with the march, the Women's March,
us having a permit became you know, it became front
page news of like the Women's Marches happening, but they

(34:03):
don't even have a permit, um, and and folks don't
understand like what the permitting processes. I had done it
a lot, and so for me it was like, Okay,
I know this process, and I know what we're gonna
have to go through, and I know what it takes
to get a permit. But it became sort of a spectacle,
and I think um overcoming all of the naysayers, people

(34:25):
who said the Women's March is not going to happen
because they don't have a permit. The Women's March, you know,
is it's gonna it's gonna flop. It's you know, people
won't show up. All of the things that the naysayers
were saying. That does come across you know, the you know,
the whole you know, I go all the way back
to the million man march. You know, you know that

(34:46):
that was the ultimate nay sayer that uh that why
would they come and what was the general purpose? And
so but it is, you know, all you do, you
you you you put the tools in place. That's that's
what you did. And then and then they came. Let's
let's walk through the process of you know, because you know,
you kind of get away about it, the buses that

(35:09):
are coming, the hotels that are being booked up, the
airlines that are going to have a difficulty coming in
and being you know, you start getting a little signs
you know that, Okay, something's happening here. And so when
did that tingle really run up your back on? My god,
it's happening. It's really really happening. I mean, I think

(35:29):
it sort of happened along the way. So when when
we planned the Women's March collectively, um, you know, there
were there were a lot of moving pieces and um,
but I really owned the piece that was what people
showed up and experienced specifically in DC, and then with

(35:50):
touchpoints and connections with all of them marches across the
country and so like you know, helping folks with logistics
and different parts of the country, but it happened. We
started planning two months before the march happened, and in
those two months you also had four holidays. You had Thanksgiving, Christmas,

(36:12):
New Year's Eve, and King Day, um, and so a
lot of people were taking off enjoying vacations. And to
be honest, I actually, you know, I did take a
vacation even in the midst of all of the march's
planning UM, and that was because of the experience that
I had had doing it. But yeah, but a lot

(36:35):
of it was, you know, a lot of it was ongoing.
So when I signed on, it was like, Okay, a
hundred thousand people are going to show up to this march.
And that was really through a Facebook post. So facebook post,
I mean it's kind of like, yeah, you say you're
gonna come, but are you really going to come? And
then as we started to get bus numbers and as
we started to get you know, flight numbers, I think

(36:58):
it really really didn't hit me until maybe the week
of the march. Quite frankly, let's talk about your your
national partnership. Let's go, because I don't want to get
off the phone without explaining exactly you went into detail
different organization. Is it. Are you in a position where
people reach out to you or are you reach out
to them to create these partnerships? How exactly does that

(37:21):
work for air B and B. Generally it is people
reaching out to us. I mean, but I think that
there are opportunities where we I will reach out to
you know, an organization or UM a leader and say
we want to engage you for a specific thing. But
generally it is lots of organizations reaching out to me

(37:45):
and to us as a company and wanting to work
with us. And I think we are a brand that
is I would say there are a lot of people
who know about um UM. Generally people are interested because
it's you know, it's a younger brand. The company was
founded in two thousand and eight, so we're just barely

(38:07):
eleven years old. But um our name has become sort
of a noun um in terms of like when you're
sharing your your house, it's like, oh, I'm gonna Airbnb.
You know, I'm staying at an Airbnb, And even if
it's not legitimately an Airbnb. I think that we we
have become sort of the Kleenex, if you will, the

(38:28):
Kleenex version of home Sharing and and and that's a
phenomenal thing, UM to have a company so young that
that that's able to become part of the lexicon that is,
you know, synonymous with with home sharing. So UM, it's
it's really amazing to have that, And I think it

(38:49):
creates an appetite for people to say, we want to
work with you, we want to find out more about
what you're doing. And and then at the same time,
I think that there are things that people don't necessarily
under to stand about our business UM and and so
for example, we have UH experiences, which you mentioned, are
the local activities that people can do, and I think

(39:11):
that that's a newer product that people are still just
learning about or just figuring out. UM. I speak often
at conferences and different events, and was just at one
UM this past weekend in New Orleans and home sharing.
I think a lot of people know, but then I say,
you know, how many of you have ever heard of
Airbnb experiences and the hands are are significantly fewer UM

(39:36):
and so yeah, I think it's there's an opportunity there.
And so in that instance, I might say we need
to do more with you know, ex community or with
X leader to ensure that people are knowing about Airbnb
experiences because you know, quite frankly, you don't have to
travel to do them. If you want to host one,

(39:57):
you don't need a home to host one in. So
if you're in a city where there are short term
rental regulations but you still want to flex your entrepreneurial muscle,
there's a way for you to do that through Airbnb
experiences and it doesn't cost you anything. It gives you
an audience of millions of people that your your product

(40:18):
is showing up in front of um and it's a
it's an easy way again to start a business if
you've had an idea about a business, or to really
profile your business. And it's like it's like free marketing.
You know, it's free marketing to people who are traveling
to your city or people who live in your city
who want to see and do something different than what

(40:40):
they're normally doing. They're they're not trying to go to
the churches or to that home on a weekend. It's
prof ums Ingram, I want to thank you for coming
on my show. You're amazing now, I know in the
end here that's part of the conversation. I'd love to
bring you back on the show to get you more
detailed because at the first of the year, all right,
I always always the first of you, always to get

(41:00):
people ways that they can start motivating and planning and
seeing new opportunities. And that whole the airbnb experiences. I
think it's something that's not being spoken of a lot
because it's all about home sharing. That's that's that's true.
That's where you cut your teeth. The brain is cut
your teeth on that. But I know that from through
social media, through planning, that whole process is you're talking

(41:23):
about is the next way of great success with airbnb
and the fact that you can come in and market
and take advantage of an audience out there and expand
your brand. We need to talk more about that. Will
you come back. I would love to come back. It's
been enjoy talking to you and you've been fantastic and
I love talking to you because you took time to

(41:44):
pick the Rashaan McDonald your busy, busy, busy busy schedule. Hi,
this is Rushan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversation.
You say to yourself who alls with Sean Shell, please
walcome to money Making Conversations La La Anthony we met

(42:05):
you know used always can you give always talk to
you about everything, everything and looking at you and Steve Harvey.
You know that motivated me too because I would see
all the amazing things you guys are doing it not
just being on the radiome like at that time and
even now, you know people want to put people in boxes.

(42:26):
Please welcome to Money Making Conversations. The incredible Nick Cannon.
You truly one of them our mentors and one of
the people that showed me that you can be MOSTI fascinative.
You know for a fact, now that you're about to
capture the audience, it's going to have a spending power
for least another twenty years, three years. Like my happiness
and money doesn't make you happy, but happy makes your money.

(42:47):
Money Making Conversations continues online at www dot money Making
Conversations dot com. Hi did Sean McDonald you're listening to Uh?
I want to making conversations money man? Don't say to
my show? Yo show podcast indicated nationwide. You know wickens
uh hbc U campus is serious exam Spotify. I brought

(43:11):
you on. I you know, I had to make sure
that i'd elevated my game to the next level. And Uh,
let me introduce this young friend. She's actually been in
my she's actually been in Chicago for part Uh beat
me up because I didn't make anything for you. Hungry

(43:32):
What you gonna make for me? Oh my god, that's
what you were making all the pos and you didn't
make me. I couldn't even get a taste. You have
somebody come over to your house and they won't even
let you taste. To set over there and watch me
make all those pods? That was crazy? Are you still absolutely?
That's what I'm going to Kelly Clarkson, I'd be doing
it for her show today. Are you serious? Can I come? No? Man,

(43:54):
my next, I'm gonna you talked too much. My Next.
Is a graduate of the Goldman Sachs ten thousand K
Small Business Program for Entrepreneurs and an awardee of the
Entrepreneurship Entrepreneur of the Year by the Living Legends Foundations,
which I was happily there to see and that was
deeply moved and emotionally happy for her. A company B

(44:16):
y O B Be Your Own Brand, Be Your Own
Brand is a branding company that brands, projects, products, and
people with a three step process that Sheila developed while
being a marketing executive in the music business, and so
I met her. I never met her interesting when we're
talking about relationship because people always knew about it in

(44:37):
the music business, and then it was after which we
developed our relationship absolutely and she's very good at it.
B y O B isn't this tenth year and she
owns the trademark for B y O B. Which is
important to know is be your own brand. Please welcome
to the money making conversation. A good friend, enjoy her, afar,
admire her, and I very appreciated. Is appreciative that she's

(45:01):
in the studio today. Please welcome Sheila Coates. Who this is?
This being recorded? Because I need all of that friend,
he admires long time, all of those adjectives I've never
heard you say before. I'm impressed. But because I'm in
the studio, well, no, because you are special and you
you know your an individual and you called a niche

(45:22):
a clear understanding of what Brandon is all about. I
wanted before we get started because I was going through
a resume and in Missouri City, Texas, where I'm from Houston, Texas,
I'm very familiar with Missouri City, Texas. Now you did
the branding of the city of the city Missouri City,
so explain to everyone. And I want to start there
because that's because Missouri City, Texas is like a suburb

(45:46):
of Houston. Is a very influent, affluent community, very diverse community.
Diverse community is south of Houston. And when I read that,
I went, wow, that's really really cool. The talk to
the process of how you can approach to this is
a city. It's just a major city here, and I
mean a booming city. And how does that how to

(46:09):
breakdown the steps of a branding um, showing leadership and
being able to get the word out exactly well, you know,
everything I think is about relationships. So I met the
city manager coming in doing a leadership conference for him
through a good friend of mine named Anita cas Stile
and Anthony. After I did the leadership conference, had so
many of his key people like his fire chief and

(46:32):
his assistant manager and that person who ran his police
department say, you know, this is something new we've never
heard just before. We need to have her come back.
They were in the process of trying to distinguish themselves
from what is this sugar Land, So sugar Land gets
a lot more notoriety, but they wanted to find out
how people would know about them. And so my three

(46:56):
step process for branding their leadership team still is applicable
for branding a city. And so I said, well, what
are you known for? And more importantly, what do you
want to be known for? And then on top of that,
what can you deliver? And they couldn't answer those questions,
Like everybody has a mission statement, right, you go into
these cities and and they tell you we want to
be the place where you live and grow. And but

(47:17):
at the end of the day, when I come to
your city, what do you want me to know? It's
not about the logo, it's not about a tagline. It's
about the experience that I'm going to get when I
go into Missouri City. And that's when they realized they
didn't have that. And we're talking to move Missouri City, Texas,
which is a suburb right outside of Houston, Texas. It's
important because I grew up near Missouri City. It was
kind of like a city that, uh, you know, football power,

(47:41):
and and it kind of like went from just just
a regular little small community to an actual city, and
then they got pushed all the way to the to
the fifty nine side of the freeway. It grew. It
kind of like it started growing and just blossoming. And
you're right, sugar Land but has always been Imperial Sugar
always had that brand relationship and people knew exactly what

(48:03):
it was. But miss City still was like, Okay, yeah,
we're just here, and they called themselves most city. You know. Um,
they had some bad reputation problems for a little bit,
but they're really a friendly city. And so when we
decided to take on the branding, I did this whole
concept with them that I do with people, but I
put it for the city and I had them tell

(48:24):
me what is it that they can deliver? And I
had all of their key uh stakeholders involved. I had
a lot of their employees involved, and I got back
a lot of feedback and they realized that there were
three things that they were known for. The key was, though,
do you appreciate those three things? Because you always think
I should be like Houston, or I should be more
like sugar Land. But if I'm a person coming to

(48:46):
the city, there are some things that I want to
know about this city that I know I can get
and it was amazing because then I tested it. After
they told me what the three attributes were, I went
around the city to see and I'm not joking. This
was probably one of the friendliest cities I've ever been at.
So they told me they wanted to be known for
their friendliness, for their ability to go above and beyond,
and for their ability to be a diverse family community. Right.

(49:11):
So when they said these things, I said, with then
you gotta be this. This is a true story. I
got a ticket in Missouri City going thirty five and
a thirty miles. Look are you serious? You guys pulled
me over. I got pulled over. I went through the
process of paying for the ticket instead of calling the
police chief, which I was thinking about doing since I
had met him, because I wanted to see how they
operated in every little area of you know, the city.

(49:34):
So I go to this place to pay for the ticket.
This lady couldn't be nicer. When I came in the door,
she said, good morning, how are you? How can I
help you? And I'm thinking, okay, this is definitely not
l a right, right, I come in. She I was
in the wrong, usual right, So she says to me,
you're in the wrong place. Um, but hold on a minute.

(49:54):
Let me make a call for you and I'll find
out exactly where you need to go. She calls, She
calls the lady. She gives me the address she took.
I was like, okay, maybe she knows I'm checking the
background at this place. So sweet. I go to the
next place. Before I could get in, HI, how are you.
I was told to ask for hold on, let me
go get it for you. They were friendly, They went

(50:15):
above and beyond. This is what they told me that
they wanted. These ladies didn't know that I was the
branding person, and I was checking to see if the
information that they had shared with me was really what
they did. It was dead on. So I do this
whole thing. I go around a couple of places. I
go to some stores. I go I'm I'm checking because
I said, if you tell me this is who you are,
I should feel this from the people that are working

(50:37):
in your city. Long story short, I did that for
like maybe a week or so. I pull all of
the key stakeholders back together and I give them the
names and the places of the people who I had
interacted with. You guys are this city. The thing was
the city manager says to me, Oh, is that anything great?
I mean, like I said, now, if I'm a person

(50:58):
who's putting my family here, I don't want a family
friendly environment. So friendliness is important to me. If I'm
telling somebody that I have a diverse community and I'm
a business who was looking for diversity, this is the
place I need to be. Once they realize that these
are your attributes, let's start talking about them. That you
can't just YEA. So now in their community relations when

(51:19):
they do events, they you know, if you do a
city event, promote that it's going to be a friendly
event because you guys are going to be friendly. It's
going to be saying and diverse. They got it. So
now businesses can come there and realize I can come
here and it's gonna be safe. I can come here
and move my employees because it's going to be friendly.
It's a family environment. It was so much fun to

(51:43):
get them to see who they were, but more importantly
to get them to see you really are that. So
that's what I do when I do cities. I'm about
to brand them Volunteers of America, which is a huge organization. Yes,
but they're nonprofit. There's thousands of nonprofits. Why am I
gonna give you? That's what I'm helping them down distinguished.
What do you do that another nonprofit doesn't do? And

(52:06):
what's uniquely you? So that's what branding is all about,
is giving you that identity. Just like you know a
Nike or anyone else. Everything is a brand. It's the
experience and the perception that you want people to have
when they encounter you. Yeah, it really has changed the game.
I would tell people with the Muhammad Ali era, you know,
people can just promote, they can talk, they can screen,

(52:27):
they can shout immediately because of social media. Where that
that that brandy has left the corporations back in the
day who advertise or radio and TV and commercials and
digital and things like that. Because of social media. Now
you're part of the you're part of the cure as
part of the problem. Yeah, but I love the fact
that you use Muhammad Ali. I use him a lot
because I say I am And it's not just me,

(52:48):
but it's scientifically proven that the words I am. Whatever
you follow that with, you become, whether you're a Christian,
scientific whatever, you become what you believe, so I am.
It's are important. Mohammed Ali was the first to say,
I am what the greatest, greatest? He told you that
from day one, I am the greatest. I'm the greatest looking,
I'm the greatest fighter, I'm the greatest dresser. When he died,

(53:11):
what did they call him the greatest of all time? See,
that's the power of understanding I am in your brand,
you become what you believe. And that's why I say
the young kids, you tell yourself, you know, I am
badest songs or whatever. You know, you become that, you
start to embody that and then you have to act
like that. When Mohammed Ali said that, it wasn't about

(53:34):
even branding himself as much as he was making a point.
But in all of the time that he said that,
they ended up calling him that. And that's the power
of knowing that I am right, yeah, telling yourself great.
Thank you for coming on my show, money making conversation.
You you know I could talk to you all day. Well,
in fact, you know we gotta you can take me
to lunch. Well, I gotta catch the airport. I gotta

(53:55):
go to the airport because I got to l a
because you know, I'm busy like that. But more importantly,
we have to do this every quarter. It's part of
the brand, is part of the process that I want
to I'm in a good place in my life now
where I can be able to say this is what
I want to be able to communicate to my listeners
and to my fan base on the regular bation and
your Star and hopefully to help them. That's really my goal.

(54:19):
People to understand you help me, help me, and I
think that's I feel that's important part of because you
can you constantly educate me every time I communicate with you,
and I always feel I feel that that's the key
to my success. I'm willing to take on new information
and you gotta keep winning and you gotta keep being sheep.
Thank you. That's Money Main Conversation everybody. We'll be back
next week, follow us and making conversations on social. I've

(54:43):
got all the social website dot com. Findu who's on
Money Making Conversation dot com Again, Rushan McDonald, have a
great year, great life. I will always be there thinking
about you. Hi. This is rus Sean McDonald, the host
of Money Making Conversations. You say to yourself, who calls

(55:03):
Rushan Shell. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations. La La Anthony.
We met you know used always can you give, always
talk to you about everything, everything and looking at you
and Steve Harvey. You know that motivated me too because
I would see all the amazing things you guys are doing.
It not just being on the radio time like at

(55:26):
that time, and even now you know people want to
put people in boxes. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations.
The incredible Nick Cannon. You truly one of them our
mentors and one of the people that showed me that
you can be MOSTI fascinated. You know for a fact,
now that you're about to capture an audience, it's going
to have a spending power for Lesta another twenty years,
three years. Like my happiness and money doesn't make you happy,

(55:49):
but happy makes your money. Money Making Conversations continues online
at www dot money Making Conversations dot com. Ladies and gentlemen,
it's time you stop thinking about your dreams and put
some plans into action.