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Speaker 1: It's the show that she has the secrets of success
Speaker 1: experience firsthand by marketing and Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I
Speaker 1: will know he's giving me advice to many occasions. Indication
Speaker 1: didn't notice I'm not broke. You know he'll be interviewing
Speaker 1: celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. It's what he
Speaker 1: likes to do, it's what he likes to share. Now
Speaker 1: it's time to hear from my man, Rashan McDonald money
Speaker 1: Making Conversations Here we come. Welcome to Money Making Conversation time.
Speaker 1: Your host, ra Sean McDonald. It's time to stop reading
Speaker 1: other people's success story. You hear me say that every week,
Speaker 1: and I always tell people to write their own story,
Speaker 1: tell your brand and always keeping people leave with their
Speaker 1: gifts because you're the word gifts or your passion, and
Speaker 1: I ways people don't let your age, friends, family or
Speaker 1: co workers stop you from planning of living your dreams.
Speaker 1: My interviews that I do on Money Making Conversations really
Speaker 1: are for you as celebrity friends of my CEOs, entrepreneurs
Speaker 1: and what I like to call industry decision makers. My
Speaker 1: guest today, it's a smile on my face. David and
Speaker 1: Tamla Man. They're the stars of Tyler Pere's Assisted Living
Speaker 1: on b ET. Let me give you some background. A man,
Speaker 1: David Man, he's an INN double a CP Image Award
Speaker 1: winning Actor Outstanding Actor in comedy series Meet the Brown
Speaker 1: because you know him as Mr Brown and then let's
Speaker 1: get the big dumb run over for the lady. Tambler
Speaker 1: Man is a Grammy Award winning b e T Award winner,
Speaker 1: bill Board Music Award winner in double A CP Image
Speaker 1: Aboard Women Gospel Music Stellar Award winner g m A
Speaker 1: double win, an actress, songwriter, producer, and businesswoman who all
Speaker 1: time but boy tied to do this interview. David and
Speaker 1: Tamler Man on the show to talk about the new
Speaker 1: season of Tyler Pears Assistant Living coming back on BT
Speaker 1: because you can't keep it all because it's number one,
Speaker 1: that's why, number one with eighteen and four to night,
Speaker 1: number one with phone Television twenty one, and it's already
Speaker 1: been renewed. Ain't that nice? Ain't that nice? Please? Brocome money?
Speaker 1: Conversation David and Tamla Man, WHOA come on, y'all, Hello,
Speaker 1: I love it, you know you love I think I
Speaker 1: think I want you to do my my you legit
Speaker 1: at my funeral? Well making introductions like that. I'll tell
Speaker 1: you something. First of all, y'all know you'a have a
Speaker 1: favorite couple, oh you know favorite obviously your favorite couple
Speaker 1: from Tyler Para Tou because you know, you guys became
Speaker 1: legends in the stage play world. And then he was
Speaker 1: able to to turn in at you your own tour
Speaker 1: because right before the COVID hit, you guys were touring
Speaker 1: as a family. Is it gonna come back? H in one?
Speaker 1: That was just gonna be moving two when y'all go
Speaker 1: back on the road, take the family back on the
Speaker 1: road as a tour. You know, we we we're just
Speaker 1: trying to juggle and get back to normal. First before
Speaker 1: we you know, we're releasing new music for Tabla and
Speaker 1: uh right now we're just trying to maneuver and just
Speaker 1: figure out this old, new new way of normal. And
Speaker 1: then we only look, I'm ready to go back out.
Speaker 1: I just want everybody else to be ready too. Well.
Speaker 1: You know that's very true, because you know I would
Speaker 1: tell everybody I'm fully vaccinated. I always tell I try
Speaker 1: to promote the factor. We have to get vaccinated. We
Speaker 1: have to get out there to get you know, and
Speaker 1: promote the factor. And no, there's no agenda, and guess what,
Speaker 1: nothing's perfect out there. I'm not saying if you get vaccinated,
Speaker 1: you might not have some ill effects. But I would
Speaker 1: tell you this, and you know I both know. Once
Speaker 1: I got vaccinated, it changed my whole perspective. I wasn't
Speaker 1: paranor it anymore. I felt safer. I felt I could
Speaker 1: get on with my life. What would your what would
Speaker 1: you eat? Your feedback when you got vaccinated work for us?
Speaker 1: I mean some, you know, some parts like even when
Speaker 1: I say so my kids, it was like, no, we're
Speaker 1: not doing I was like, but we're doing it, because
Speaker 1: like when I go see my mother in law, she
Speaker 1: had some issues. I have a sister that has some issues.
Speaker 1: You know, it's just people that's around me that have issues,
Speaker 1: and I'm not just looking at for me, I'm looking
Speaker 1: at for them as well, and even as you know,
Speaker 1: for the family. So we're just not even, like you say,
Speaker 1: encouraging people to just you know, do do what's right
Speaker 1: for you, do what's right for you. But we we
Speaker 1: felt like it was right, and like you said, you know,
Speaker 1: it just made us less paranoia. We're around a lot
Speaker 1: of people, we traveled, and so I wanted to get
Speaker 1: back to that and and it not just be like
Speaker 1: oh my god, you know you know who I wanted
Speaker 1: to do, they have it right. It gave us a
Speaker 1: you know, it just made us feel a little safer.
Speaker 1: And I'm the words because I'm I'm such a hugger.
Speaker 1: I was scared. He was like, if you're somebody could
Speaker 1: have a phone blown COVID because she wanted to hook
Speaker 1: you didn't know, but it was just I was just
Speaker 1: so used to it. So I'm just we were at
Speaker 1: a funeral, supposed to be social distancing. She doesn't grab
Speaker 1: the mic and hit the mike with a lift, you know,
Speaker 1: people coming up to her. No, No, we're not supposed
Speaker 1: to be absolutely you know. And then I'm talking to
Speaker 1: David chamlin Man and uh, you know, any any story
Speaker 1: that they tell us as an honest story, and it's
Speaker 1: a story about life. And the thing about it is
Speaker 1: before we was talking the last time I've seen it,
Speaker 1: and David, you started talking about how music and I'll
Speaker 1: just tell you all. Tamla man Sell a historic and
Speaker 1: personal industry record, the first gospel lead artists and Billboard
Speaker 1: Gospel history, three consecutive number ones from an album. This
Speaker 1: is who we're talking about. And so I always want
Speaker 1: to bring out that diversity because I'm also gonna talk
Speaker 1: about your business, your entrepreneurship you leisure line and all
Speaker 1: that stuff and your various campaigns, and they also want
Speaker 1: to talk about the producer side that you do. David.
Speaker 1: What I like to always bring up when I bring
Speaker 1: talent like you on money making conversation. People see only
Speaker 1: one side of you. They see the entertainment side, they
Speaker 1: see the comedic side, but you're there are layers to
Speaker 1: the man's family. Tamela tell us about that, well, like,
Speaker 1: like you said, we're started with with me. For me,
Speaker 1: it started with music, then we started into the acting thing.
Speaker 1: And now you know, David, he pushed me. He pushed
Speaker 1: me into really big standing out being an artist, which
Speaker 1: I'm really grateful for because he's helped me, with God's help,
Speaker 1: He's helped me become the actress and the artist that
Speaker 1: I am today. And then even to go into the
Speaker 1: clothing line temping them and collection which is at at
Speaker 1: leisure Wear, you know, so forth, like like I have
Speaker 1: something on today, but I'm just really excited about all
Speaker 1: the different things that we that we do have our
Speaker 1: hands in because we've learned that you can't put all
Speaker 1: your eggs in one basket. That means it's like you're
Speaker 1: concentrating just on one thing, but sometimes you have more
Speaker 1: than just one gift. And it's just like him with
Speaker 1: he is the mastermind of all of our little things
Speaker 1: that we have going on, and I really appreciate him
Speaker 1: pushing us even as a family. I'm a big even
Speaker 1: in ownership. I like ownership. I like to own my masters.
Speaker 1: I like the home, you know. I just I'm a
Speaker 1: big believer in own it. And you know that way
Speaker 1: you can create the narrative for yourself and you don't
Speaker 1: have to have somebody else to kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: navigate how you want to do it. So that that's
Speaker 1: just how I operate the business is just like let's
Speaker 1: just get in there. Because with her, I told him,
Speaker 1: you have a following. People see you snatched, They want
Speaker 1: to know how you snatched. They want to know how
Speaker 1: you look, where you get that stuff from. So she
Speaker 1: just started creating and designing her own stuff, and I
Speaker 1: was like, don't worry, I'll get somebody. We can start
Speaker 1: distributing it. And that's the way it was with the music.
Speaker 1: I'll find this distribution, will you know, we'll produce it
Speaker 1: ourselves and make it do so I have new music
Speaker 1: coming June for a new single help Me. The new
Speaker 1: album is don't drop in all this look I'll be
Speaker 1: back you know, we'll be back drop. And so I'm
Speaker 1: in it. But I'm really excited about it because I
Speaker 1: have you know, just looking at you know, yourself, and
Speaker 1: and David and and really putting my hands to work
Speaker 1: this album. I put my hands to work more than
Speaker 1: I ever have with any of the other ones. Maybe
Speaker 1: because we did have the pandemic, we had more time.
Speaker 1: I was writing more, just even putting the help and
Speaker 1: we put the artwork together, just creating the ideas for videos.
Speaker 1: But we just want to encourage our people that we
Speaker 1: can make it happen if we if we support each other,
Speaker 1: we can make it happen for each other. You know.
Speaker 1: An interesting thing about it is that you're you're a
Speaker 1: beautiful couple and and the Longevity book. When I had
Speaker 1: you guys on the show talking about that, and when
Speaker 1: when because that means that it's possible, because you know,
Speaker 1: we always hear the fifth percent of the marriage and
Speaker 1: the divorce. What is the most when I'm talking to
Speaker 1: David and Tamila Man, what advice do you give the
Speaker 1: people who struggling because you know, you have a strong faith.
Speaker 1: We all know faith is tied to that. What advice
Speaker 1: do you give when those moments of doubt come into
Speaker 1: a relationship. I always tell, like I tell my staff
Speaker 1: and tell tell everybody, there's a there's a little picture
Speaker 1: and there's a big picture. I'm looking at the big
Speaker 1: picture of it all. What what is to come? And
Speaker 1: you know, for us, even as a couple in the industry,
Speaker 1: like you were saying with divorce, we genuinely enjoy each
Speaker 1: other's company. People ask us, what's the key, what's the secret?
Speaker 1: I like this woman right here, and we've managed we
Speaker 1: we just celebrated thirty three years in April, and it's
Speaker 1: because we genuinely enjoy each other's company. In this pandemic,
Speaker 1: you know, people were locked in the house seven with
Speaker 1: each other. So either you you discovered I really love
Speaker 1: you or you discovered I don't like you at all? Yes, yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: yes yes. For us, we discovered I like you even more.
Speaker 1: I mean it had to, you know, because people were
Speaker 1: leaving here. So I just never want to take him
Speaker 1: for granted. And you know the things that he do
Speaker 1: for me and help me with, you know, and I
Speaker 1: just want to become more of a friend or wife,
Speaker 1: whatever areas that he needs. I just want to be there,
Speaker 1: and I just don't want it to be one sided
Speaker 1: that you're helping me accomplish everything that I want to accomplish.
Speaker 1: I want to help you accomplish some of those things too.
Speaker 1: So it's like we try to put each other before
Speaker 1: each other. You know, it's not not looking at it
Speaker 1: through just a one vision, uh one. I just focused
Speaker 1: on myself that I but it's on both of us
Speaker 1: that we were making things happen for each other. We'll
Speaker 1: know an interesting thing. That's why I'm so happy to
Speaker 1: see you guys again, because you know David, he called
Speaker 1: me all the time, or I called him, Sure, I
Speaker 1: got this new record, look at this video? Can you
Speaker 1: help me drop it? You know, because he's a natural
Speaker 1: business person. Pandemic shut down a lot of that because
Speaker 1: we all were confused. The world stopped. We didn't know
Speaker 1: when it was gonna start back up. And now that
Speaker 1: it's starting back up, and I see the success in
Speaker 1: that tunity. Now you lead your where you know you
Speaker 1: you are a RP representative. All those things were coming
Speaker 1: your way. You're looking on the other's hand, David, you're
Speaker 1: like a manager, proud husband, proud papa. I told you so,
Speaker 1: I told you can do a guy when you look
Speaker 1: at that. That's why, that's why I read those credits
Speaker 1: like I read them. I read David and the joke y,
Speaker 1: I just read all of hers because he's responsible for
Speaker 1: that three years. He really is. Because people even ask
Speaker 1: him Rochelle. It's like like, because well, I know that you.
Speaker 1: I mean, people asking me the crazy questions like well,
Speaker 1: you you're making all the money. No, I'm really not
Speaker 1: making all money, y'all really just don't know, like you said.
Speaker 1: He is the mastermind behind it all. So it's like
Speaker 1: we're doing this together, and you know, it's like we're
Speaker 1: both in the forth. And even in that, I'm so
Speaker 1: secure and who I am. None of that even bothers
Speaker 1: me when I tell you at all, because I'm so
Speaker 1: at fifty five, I'm so cool and who I am.
Speaker 1: They could come up and say all of that, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, good, that's great. Yeah, because we both share
Speaker 1: the same last name, and the bank account, all the
Speaker 1: numbers on the bank accounts, it has both about the names,
Speaker 1: so it doesn't matter to me. Well that then, and
Speaker 1: that and I know it doesn't. But what I wanted
Speaker 1: to say in that and just emphasize is the roles
Speaker 1: that we play in the marriage or the roles that
Speaker 1: were playing a relationship. And what happens is that's what
Speaker 1: destroyers are married and get confused. You know, you know
Speaker 1: what success? What role did you play? And I'm saying
Speaker 1: is that he plays a very subtle role publicly and
Speaker 1: that's the beauty of who he is. That's what I
Speaker 1: love David Man. You know, he is so brilliant as
Speaker 1: a comedian, as an actor. And then you sit in
Speaker 1: a room with and you go, do you know who
Speaker 1: you are? What you're talking about? Roshan you you one
Speaker 1: of the funniest guys. I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: Jimmy quiet off And when I was talking to you, guys,
Speaker 1: we shout we regular, We just regular people. And y'all know,
Speaker 1: y'all not I look I mean, because you know what
Speaker 1: I just I don't look at that celebrity thing, you know,
Speaker 1: because I feel like we're all special with all stars
Speaker 1: in guy's eye. I mean, I thank God for the
Speaker 1: platform that the Lord is helped us, you know, get
Speaker 1: And I haven't want to say that but I'm just
Speaker 1: really grateful for the opportunity to help somebody else, encourage
Speaker 1: somebody else. That's what it's all about when it comes
Speaker 1: to my music. You know, even with the clothing line,
Speaker 1: it's for the full figure women because sometimes in so
Speaker 1: many areas, I feel like we get left out where
Speaker 1: our stuff is not as cute as stuff with a
Speaker 1: smaller woman. Not knocking them, but we won't cute stuff too.
Speaker 1: So that's why I did that. Every day. Thick girls
Speaker 1: need love too, So it's like we just want to
Speaker 1: you know, I just having a serious conversation. He's gonna
Speaker 1: just dive in with ged to. They need fashion, they
Speaker 1: need they need a okay, it's not about just wearing
Speaker 1: t shirts and tights. No, No, they need fashion. They
Speaker 1: need some savagies, you know. And it's just really it's
Speaker 1: really a blessing to be a blessing to somebody else
Speaker 1: where you let other people know that things can happen
Speaker 1: for you too. Well, here's the thing, nobody, because you
Speaker 1: know I met you sucking and man, you came in
Speaker 1: my life second, the first he came into my life first,
Speaker 1: you know, because I will tell everybody publicly like I
Speaker 1: think I know everything, but I don't know everything. I
Speaker 1: think I know who are famous, then I don't know
Speaker 1: who famous. The first time I met Mr Man was
Speaker 1: that when um Bisial tv J held his gospel celebration
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, and uh, you know, me and Steve we're
Speaker 1: walking around like we started. You know, we're walking around here,
Speaker 1: har I'm next year. I'm getting all this shadow. You
Speaker 1: know I'm gonna start because I'm in this shadow, right.
Speaker 1: And then this dude came around the corner with these
Speaker 1: ugly pants on they were too tight, and walked on
Speaker 1: ain't in the place, exploded and like, Steve, who is that? Dude?
Speaker 1: I think that Mr Brown? Who is Mr? Brown? Me?
Speaker 1: You are a phenomenon, You are an underground phenomenon, David Man.
Speaker 1: Now I'm telling what Steve said. At first, my kids
Speaker 1: are back there and they said Steve said, who is
Speaker 1: they saying? Well, I'm with David Man, who is the
Speaker 1: mad Man? Then I went on saye and it was
Speaker 1: like that and Steve was like, oh, okay, you do Steve, Steve,
Speaker 1: throw me some shade. Dude. Well we are Meetcho, Meetcho.
Speaker 1: Because I didn't know who you're watching. Hold you with
Speaker 1: get pants on? He took over. I mean, twenty thousand
Speaker 1: people were following him. If he had a pipe, he
Speaker 1: couldn't lay them right down the street because they were
Speaker 1: fans of you. I don't care about Steve Harvey, showtime
Speaker 1: at the Apollo def Comedy jam Me and the Boys.
Speaker 1: You my brother built a Star Power fan base underground
Speaker 1: before TV, before radio. Tell us about that journey. Come on,
Speaker 1: David Man, you know what I mean. I've been doing
Speaker 1: this character for twenty years and never could have imagined
Speaker 1: that playing this character could could make my dreams, her dreams,
Speaker 1: some of our kids, grandkids could make I mean some
Speaker 1: of our dreams come true. Never could have imagined we
Speaker 1: were just doing it. We had to be on the
Speaker 1: road to earn an honest living. Kept us from doing it.
Speaker 1: Legal stuff, but it was it. Never could have imagined
Speaker 1: that it would grow to this, to where doing another
Speaker 1: television show assist a living and still be relevant after
Speaker 1: twenty years. That's in this industry. You know that that
Speaker 1: just doesn't happen. And I don't take it for granted.
Speaker 1: I just know that it's really a blessing. It really is. Now.
Speaker 1: The characters that you guys play really were born out
Speaker 1: of a play for Tyler's Perry's play correct. You know Coore,
Speaker 1: you played his daughter in the TV series Assisted Living.
Speaker 1: You got my board? Watch out there now. J Anthony
Speaker 1: Brown on I've been jail Jenni Brothers eight six, A
Speaker 1: little history of me when I when I left my
Speaker 1: job at IBM to go to stand up comedy. He
Speaker 1: was the first black comedian I met on the role.
Speaker 1: He was headlining, and it was in Mobile, Alabama where
Speaker 1: we met. And back then they wouldn't put in two
Speaker 1: black comedians on the show at the same time. It's
Speaker 1: just the white headline of counsel at the last minute,
Speaker 1: and they brought Jens Brown in as an emergency. That's
Speaker 1: how I met him, and he's and he's been in
Speaker 1: my life every since. So I know you gotta get
Speaker 1: a special talent. J Coles about two days ago, Man,
Speaker 1: this song. I didn't know you were singing like this.
Speaker 1: He was listening to a song from the Love album
Speaker 1: ups and Downs. Because I didn't play it by five times,
Speaker 1: he text men, comes up, I'm loving this song. I'm
Speaker 1: loving this song. I was like, I'm just doing what
Speaker 1: I think. He's a very nice man. He's a very
Speaker 1: night he's funny, but he's a very nice guy. Very
Speaker 1: nice guy. Well, just like you guys, don't trying for nothing.
Speaker 1: But there ain't no time just right now. You if
Speaker 1: you're waiting for your food, you better go in and
Speaker 1: eat because it's gonna get cold. Wait, no, j Anthon Brown,
Speaker 1: but when you come in, he gonna light up the room. Though,
Speaker 1: when you come in is when I tell you that
Speaker 1: the energy that he brings to the show. Sometimes we're like, Jay,
Speaker 1: did you just say what I thank you saying? And
Speaker 1: then you know, I'm always telling him, Okay, okay, come
Speaker 1: on with cousin James, come on. I'm like, okay, remember
Speaker 1: we got kids just watching too, Okay, I will do it.
Speaker 1: And then Papa the energy that he brings to this show. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, it's a joy working with. And I
Speaker 1: can't say that about everybody. You know, we know And
Speaker 1: here's the thing about it, because I'm talking to David
Speaker 1: and Tamler man Uh started new Tyler Perry's Assisted Living
Speaker 1: series as aeron BT every Tuesday and nine thirty follows
Speaker 1: the House of Pain at nine o'clock and it's it's
Speaker 1: a Tyler Perry block. Every Tuesday, on being I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna be real now, you know, Tyler Perry taking over everything,
Speaker 1: Tyler Perry gonna be Tyler Perry gonna be on the
Speaker 1: moon pretty soon. You want to just look up them,
Speaker 1: just see t p TV probably right there. But you
Speaker 1: know when I when I look at the success of
Speaker 1: the Man's because you're a brand. Now, Now what is
Speaker 1: the responsibility of being a brand? Because both of you
Speaker 1: guys are out there and then you take a management
Speaker 1: producer role oftentimes David, and you take a talent but
Speaker 1: you're still an entrepreneur, businesswoman. There's a lot of things
Speaker 1: going in there. Thirty three years of marriage and I'll
Speaker 1: celebrate my thirty three year of marriage and December, So
Speaker 1: thank you very much, thank you very much. So that's
Speaker 1: what we're always gonna have that little link together because
Speaker 1: I old there was a moment in my life, especially entertainment.
Speaker 1: When you're traveling, you're traveling, and entertainment is a fickle
Speaker 1: business because there's no consistency. You can't sometimes buy a house,
Speaker 1: you can't buy clothes, you can't die anything because you
Speaker 1: know that check you got is gonna be there next week.
Speaker 1: So over I talk about overcoming that uncertainty to maintain
Speaker 1: this longevity, and then we're gonna talk more about the
Speaker 1: serious in detail assisted living. You know, been in this industry,
Speaker 1: we've been in this industry for twenty five years, and
Speaker 1: like you said, we got a lot of friends that said,
Speaker 1: you know what, and a lot of talented brothers that
Speaker 1: have said, you know what, y'all going to do that
Speaker 1: the uncertainty is too much for me. What we decided
Speaker 1: to do is just jump out there full just in faith.
Speaker 1: I mean, and I think we start ninety ninety three
Speaker 1: or something like that, I don't know, somewhere back and
Speaker 1: then we would decide just getting into the game. And
Speaker 1: it was like scary because sometimes it's up, sometimes it's day,
Speaker 1: and we just decided, Lord, we're going full time in it.
Speaker 1: And we haven't looked back, you know, as we were
Speaker 1: talking about with the characters and the music and all
Speaker 1: of that, we just made sure as entrepreneurs that it
Speaker 1: hadn't been we haven't been one trick ponies. And that's
Speaker 1: what I think helped us to survive in this pandemic
Speaker 1: is because yeah, we're not only just depended on the
Speaker 1: road and you were doing you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: we have a clothing line, we have you know, music
Speaker 1: and television and you know, stuff like that to kind
Speaker 1: of help sustain through all of this. You know, it's
Speaker 1: really interesting because that's that multiple levels of income that
Speaker 1: we talked about. A lot of people don't do that.
Speaker 1: They can see that lane of success. And guess what.
Speaker 1: Pandemic talks us a lot about pivoty, about looking at
Speaker 1: the mailbox money, what are you doing besides your primary
Speaker 1: income or the other income? And that's the platform that
Speaker 1: you guys are, both of you guys have created and
Speaker 1: it has sustained itself through these these dark times. And
Speaker 1: and but but but I have to be I to
Speaker 1: say that before we go, is that we're just about
Speaker 1: Tyler Perry. And it's a good thing is that you
Speaker 1: guys have had a lot of success with him. Can
Speaker 1: you can you put in maybe a minute or less
Speaker 1: than a minute, or talk as long as you want
Speaker 1: about the greatness of Tyler Perry, his influence in this
Speaker 1: industry when a lot of people questioned it, and his
Speaker 1: impact on your lives and the people he entertains today. Well,
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff that people that people don't see
Speaker 1: is the giving that he does outside of you know,
Speaker 1: you hear about some of the stuff that he do
Speaker 1: in the public eye, but there's a lot more going
Speaker 1: on behind the scenes that he's doing helping other people. Uh,
Speaker 1: he just choose not to let it be known. Uh.
Speaker 1: He asked me a question. We were on the road
Speaker 1: and he asked me the question, So, what would it
Speaker 1: take for you to retire? And uh, I gave him
Speaker 1: a number. Was like okay. He said, no, you gotta
Speaker 1: dream higher, you gotta dream much higher. And I thought
Speaker 1: about it. I was like, you're right, Okay, you're right.
Speaker 1: And it just made even seeing the studio and seeing
Speaker 1: the other stuff that he's done and that he's doing,
Speaker 1: it just made you dare to dream bigger, dare to go,
Speaker 1: you know, like put in the work. You see him
Speaker 1: because when I tell you do work, people don't believe
Speaker 1: how much this he worked. By the time he finishes
Speaker 1: a series, he's exhausted. And I've seen it because he
Speaker 1: puts his mind, body, everything into doing this. And that's
Speaker 1: that's stuff that I've seen through the years. And it's
Speaker 1: just like, Okay, if that's how he's doing it, if
Speaker 1: that's how he's become a Mogol building, I said, Okay,
Speaker 1: I see it. So it just made me start, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm anna build my And I called him the other
Speaker 1: day and I say, man, I'm a little afraid on something.
Speaker 1: I got an opportunity, but I'm afraid what you waiting now?
Speaker 1: Just don't do it, man, And I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: So I pulled the trigger on it just I called
Speaker 1: him and just asked him his advice on it, and
Speaker 1: he said, I can't tell you all the choice worthy
Speaker 1: like he's gonna do it to stop being scary. That's
Speaker 1: just where is tambla well for me? I mean, to
Speaker 1: see him, you know, we started in nineteen nine and nine.
Speaker 1: To see him from then to now, I'm very if
Speaker 1: I can say, as a sister friend, I'm very proud
Speaker 1: of him and even how he's grown, even with dealing
Speaker 1: with the people. I mean, it's like, you know, him
Speaker 1: finding himself and and like you just like yess the
Speaker 1: years grow. I've just seen him grow and I'm just
Speaker 1: really really proud of him and everything that he's accomplished.
Speaker 1: Look ain't no jealous bone in our body. They're very
Speaker 1: happy and pushing him on, and I'm praying for him
Speaker 1: all the time and I'm just really I'm really, really
Speaker 1: really proud of him. I really am. I just that's
Speaker 1: the biggest I'm just happy for him. I'm so happy
Speaker 1: for him. Well, I'm happy for David and Tamila Man
Speaker 1: thirty three years of marriage. I'm gonna make my thirty
Speaker 1: three year in December. The stars of Tyler Perry's Assistant
Speaker 1: Living with My Boy j Anthon and Brown Again is
Speaker 1: the number one new script to Syria for African Americans
Speaker 1: eighteen to four the N four. You can catch it
Speaker 1: every Tuesday now at thirty Eastern Pacific eight thirties Central.
Speaker 1: David and tam od Man thank you for coming on
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Man once again, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for the push of the encouragement that you give us.
Speaker 1: We love you man and everything. I just pray, guys,
Speaker 1: blessing over you and your family and your business that
Speaker 1: you just flourished even the more. I just need a
Speaker 1: link from you on your leisure wear. Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: need a link on your music and you're gonna come
Speaker 1: back in August. Okay, this, I love you. We will
Speaker 1: be right back with more Money Making Conversations with your
Speaker 1: host or Sean McDonald. It's finally here, the season of celebration,
Speaker 1: And no matter how you celebrate with family and friends,
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Speaker 1: dot Com. What grows in the forest trees, sure no
Speaker 1: one else grows in the forest. Our imagination, our sense
Speaker 1: of wonder, and our family bonds grow too, because when
Speaker 1: we disconnect from this and connect With this, we reconnect
Speaker 1: with each other. The forest is closer than you think.
Speaker 1: Find a forest near you and start exploring. I Discover
Speaker 1: the Forest dot org brought to you by the United
Speaker 1: States Forest Service and the AD Council. Look for your
Speaker 1: children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest.
Speaker 1: It's a storybook world for them. You look and see
Speaker 1: a tree. They see the wrinkled face of a wizard
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Speaker 1: Find a forest near you and start exploring. I Discover
Speaker 1: the Forest dot org brought to you by the United
Speaker 1: States Forest Service and the AD Council. Hi I am
Speaker 1: ra Sean McDonald hosting Money Making Conversation dot com. The
Speaker 1: Cafe Moca Swag Award is a celebration of black men
Speaker 1: making a difference in our community by empowering others to
Speaker 1: reach their life goes. They can be civic leaders, people
Speaker 1: in business, activists, celebrities, and everyday days. The Cafe Moca
Speaker 1: Swag Award honor read this weekend Cherish for his gift
Speaker 1: is uplifting others. His greatest passion is heaving enriched the
Speaker 1: lives of at rich young people in communities throughout the
Speaker 1: metropolitan Detroit area. Terris is often seen speaking and motivating
Speaker 1: young people in the Detroit area schools with a simple
Speaker 1: mission to alleviate the non academic barriers and education, helping
Speaker 1: these young people, loving them pass their pay, loving them
Speaker 1: pass the mistake. Because these kids have been on earth
Speaker 1: two hundred months, they don't know enough for Sean, they're
Speaker 1: trying to survive. I ain't just know that we walked
Speaker 1: to the school building, that this is a place of
Speaker 1: love and empathy, and you've done your job. They cat
Speaker 1: came up A square award represents men who have strength,
Speaker 1: whose wisdom is assert and who is genuine in their spirit.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to money making Conversations with your host Rashan
Speaker 1: McDonald My next case of Latino TV for a long time,
Speaker 1: but she says she's a game changer. Her name is
Speaker 1: Keisha Knight Poem. She's a graduate of an HBCU Spell
Speaker 1: one College and she did it with honors with a
Speaker 1: BA in Sociology and concentration. And him she's an Emmy
Speaker 1: nominated actress runs the Camp Kissey Foundation, the Fearless fun
Speaker 1: she co founded with her business partner Arian Simone, and
Speaker 1: sells culinary products on the Keisha Kitchen website, which is
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about that because you know, I've got
Speaker 1: Rashaun's kitchen. But we were doing what guess what we
Speaker 1: wouldn't be doing none of this interview is it wasn't
Speaker 1: about the acting, So we gotta get to watch She's
Speaker 1: really on the show as well. She started to hit
Speaker 1: comedy series Tyler Perry's House of Pain, which is back
Speaker 1: this season for US eight seasons. Aaron Tuesday nights on BT.
Speaker 1: Please working for the first time to money making conversations,
Speaker 1: I'm sure not the last time, Keisha night. Poeeum, how
Speaker 1: you doing, Keisha great? How are you really really? You know,
Speaker 1: just going through this whole bio. I want to start
Speaker 1: with the HBCU experienced because I'm currently working on a
Speaker 1: documentary called Black Excellence, and I definitely we've already lined you.
Speaker 1: If you don't know it, we're definitely gonna line you
Speaker 1: up for an interview because you are Black Excellence, you know,
Speaker 1: and we saw how HBCUs just moved to the forefront
Speaker 1: of conversation. And it's like like White America just discovered
Speaker 1: HBC used for the very first time. Now you're graduate.
Speaker 1: I believe in two thousand one you graduated from hbc
Speaker 1: You with honors, like I said earlier, and your mind
Speaker 1: it with sociology. Tell us about your HBCU experience and
Speaker 1: why is it important? Why is this important? Actually the
Speaker 1: major with sociology with a concentration and film. Um, And
Speaker 1: I mean I loved going to an HBCU. It was
Speaker 1: definitely one of the best decisions that I've ever made.
Speaker 1: And it's it's in my family. I had two brothers
Speaker 1: who are more House graduates, and then my middle brother
Speaker 1: he's an Auburn graduate, but we still love him. Um.
Speaker 1: But it's it's definitely an experience like no one, like
Speaker 1: no other. Sound grateful for sure. Well, you know the
Speaker 1: thing about it is that demodable. Uh you know about Hollywood,
Speaker 1: You've you've been in Hollywood. Hollywood is dominated by HBC
Speaker 1: You graduates not only just in front of the camera
Speaker 1: but behind the camera. When I look at the talent
Speaker 1: like you and you major the sociology. My minor is sociology.
Speaker 1: When I graduated from college by age was wasn't uh
Speaker 1: isn't I should say, you didn't walk away from a
Speaker 1: degree of mathematics, but it changed my life. You know,
Speaker 1: African American studies and sociologists opened my eyes and really
Speaker 1: let me see that my whole life information has been canceled.
Speaker 1: You know, you you realize what you didn't know? How
Speaker 1: did the sociology impact you? And why did you choose
Speaker 1: that as a degree? For man, Well, one thing I'll say,
Speaker 1: is not just an entertainment that you find a lot
Speaker 1: of HBC you graduates. You know, we'd be remiss not
Speaker 1: to say that our vice president of the United States
Speaker 1: of America. Come on, come on now. So what I
Speaker 1: know is, you know, the cremes della creme um in
Speaker 1: a multitude of fields are abc um. But you know,
Speaker 1: getting back to sociology, you know, I chose that because
Speaker 1: I've always even though you know, I went to college
Speaker 1: and I didn't I didn't major in theater per se,
Speaker 1: but I did have a concentration in mass common and communications.
Speaker 1: And the reason I chose sociology is because my job
Speaker 1: a filmmaker, my job as a director, producer and actor
Speaker 1: is to bring these stories to life. And the best
Speaker 1: way to bring the stories of real people to life
Speaker 1: is to understand the behind the scenes to the dynamics
Speaker 1: of you know, human condition and how people think and
Speaker 1: how society you know, shapes that image not only of
Speaker 1: what you see but also yourself. So, um, that's why
Speaker 1: I decided to do sociology. Actually, my thesis my senior
Speaker 1: year was on images of African American women and black
Speaker 1: flotation film. So the film piece has always been intertwined
Speaker 1: in everything that I do. Well. I love the way
Speaker 1: you articulated that because it allows me to transition over
Speaker 1: to your fearless fund, the fearless fun that you found
Speaker 1: it with your partner was also an HBC. You graduate
Speaker 1: from Family. I know her very well and as a
Speaker 1: family graduate as well, and another and another black woman.
Speaker 1: I am a person absolutely when we when we talk
Speaker 1: about women, and we know that the fastest growing entrepreneurship
Speaker 1: is black females. Uh in the business, why is it
Speaker 1: important support African American women in the in the small
Speaker 1: business arena? You know the bottom line? And it's so
Speaker 1: funny because people are like, why support black women? Um,
Speaker 1: Because at the end of the day, when you're looking
Speaker 1: at venture capital when you're looking at, you know, investing
Speaker 1: in businesses, it's it's a business. And if the reality
Speaker 1: is yes, we are the fastest growing and the least funded,
Speaker 1: but from a financial standpoint, we are doing some amazing
Speaker 1: things and are amazing investment if all you're looking at
Speaker 1: is green and not the color of your skin. Um.
Speaker 1: And the biggest thing is we wanted to, you know,
Speaker 1: move the needle in a meaningful way when we looked
Speaker 1: at the landscape and recognizing that a venture capital UM
Speaker 1: funds and in money is less than a percent point
Speaker 1: zero zero zero six percent goes to women of color
Speaker 1: businesses in Twente. That's crazy. So you know, well, we
Speaker 1: knew we had to do in order to change those dynamics.
Speaker 1: We had to be we had to be players in
Speaker 1: this game. And it shows that we made the right
Speaker 1: move because Fearless Fund started out as a five million
Speaker 1: dollar fund and has grown to a twenty plus million
Speaker 1: dollar fund um And I'm just really excited. We have
Speaker 1: some amazing businesses in our pipeline and that we already
Speaker 1: invested in. And you know, what I know is that
Speaker 1: it is not a founding issue, it is a funding issue. Wow.
Speaker 1: You know, when I when I look at you talking
Speaker 1: when you're talking about funding, because I want to break
Speaker 1: it down a little bit so like a common sense.
Speaker 1: It's just more like when we see on TV Shark
Speaker 1: Tank when you say funding and you know people come in,
Speaker 1: you buy a percentage of their business. Is that how
Speaker 1: you fund it? Absolutely? It's it's you know that every
Speaker 1: deal is structured very differently. However, it is, you know,
Speaker 1: an investment um in exchange for an equity state in
Speaker 1: the company. And you know, one of the things that
Speaker 1: businesses need is to infuse capital in order to you know,
Speaker 1: scale and grow their business quickly. And a lot of us,
Speaker 1: as black women, don't have access to that capital. And
Speaker 1: also a lot of us in our community just have
Speaker 1: no clue about the space, no clue about you know,
Speaker 1: when you're building a business, you know what is even
Speaker 1: scaling me? You know, what are the docs that I
Speaker 1: need to have in place to even be venture venture
Speaker 1: or even investment um just to to even garner those investments.
Speaker 1: We don't have access to that information. So what we've
Speaker 1: also learned during this process of the Fearless Fund is
Speaker 1: that a lot of it is also just the information
Speaker 1: sharing and infusing in our community because it just doesn't
Speaker 1: exist and and we have to be the ones to
Speaker 1: pay it forward, not just with the financial piece, which
Speaker 1: is very important, but also the education piece. Well, the
Speaker 1: education is really the key. You know, what you know
Speaker 1: and what you're gain from information is how much you
Speaker 1: can make and how you can create your status in society.
Speaker 1: When I look at what you're doing with is fun.
Speaker 1: It Also it starts as an idea, and I really
Speaker 1: applaud you because you're going into uncharted territories. I can
Speaker 1: say that because I've been in this business long enough
Speaker 1: to know. And also, when you just said the amount
Speaker 1: of percentages that would already apply to African American women
Speaker 1: as entrepreneur, opportunities from a from a funding standpoint were
Speaker 1: ridiculously low. So when you when you broke this idea, Okay,
Speaker 1: well you're sitting around with your friends. Who did you
Speaker 1: go to? Did you put together a business play? And
Speaker 1: what did you do? Honestly, that's really how it happened.
Speaker 1: You know, it was about how do we become you know,
Speaker 1: a part of the solution. And if you want funding
Speaker 1: to go to black women, you need to fund them.
Speaker 1: And if we fund them, that means we need to
Speaker 1: be on the other side at the table. And and
Speaker 1: that's really it was as simple as that. It was
Speaker 1: as simple as we know that these businesses are viable,
Speaker 1: that they're thriving, that they need capital, and if if
Speaker 1: everyone else isn't going to do it and believe in them,
Speaker 1: that we have to be the ones to do it.
Speaker 1: And it's crazy that, you know, when we did, when
Speaker 1: we started the Fearless Fun we didn't realize we were
Speaker 1: the first. We didn't realize we were the only at
Speaker 1: the time women of color who were specifically investing in
Speaker 1: women of color businesses. We did it because we saw
Speaker 1: a gap in the marketplace and we saw something we
Speaker 1: recognized we need to be a solution to a problem.
Speaker 1: So once we did that, you know, Forbes and all
Speaker 1: of these other different magazines and article and articles, and
Speaker 1: you know, people are reaching out to us to hear
Speaker 1: more about our story. And the reality is is that
Speaker 1: it just really fell an alignment from a social justice
Speaker 1: perspective with everything that was going on in the world,
Speaker 1: you know, with um, with everything going on with a pandemic.
Speaker 1: There was also a big social and justice upheaval with
Speaker 1: the Black Lives Matter movement and and all of these
Speaker 1: different things where there were so many major companies that
Speaker 1: were making financial um declarations of how they would support
Speaker 1: and where they would invest. And I'm grateful that they
Speaker 1: did so because then they have to, you know, put
Speaker 1: their money where their math was and they created a
Speaker 1: space for us to get you know, millions invested from PayPal,
Speaker 1: from Bank of America, from Costco, you know, to all
Speaker 1: of these major companies who now have to back up
Speaker 1: the financial promise that has been made to our community.
Speaker 1: Oh standing, this is I was just enjoying this conversation,
Speaker 1: just watching you articulate these values that so many people
Speaker 1: need to hear. Now that my final question in regards
Speaker 1: to the fears Fund this is money making conversations. Okay,
Speaker 1: how can they reach out to be a participant of
Speaker 1: feel out of applications? How does that process work? Well,
Speaker 1: you can go to Fearless dot fund um. That's our
Speaker 1: website and all of the information is right there on
Speaker 1: the website. You know, we are investing in precede seed
Speaker 1: and Series A businesses um and all of the requirements
Speaker 1: are right there on the sun. Congratulations. Well, let's go
Speaker 1: into my favorite part of the conversations. Food, food, food, food.
Speaker 1: I have a show called Richard's Kitchen of an award
Speaker 1: winning baker, and uh, whenever I have the guest who
Speaker 1: comes on, who has spices, uh, food samplings, Uh, the
Speaker 1: devices for that the culinary world. What got you into
Speaker 1: the culinary world? You know? I love food. I love cooking, um,
Speaker 1: and my whole family does. Actually. So I come from
Speaker 1: a long line of from my mom to my dad,
Speaker 1: my brothers, we all love food, we love cooking. And
Speaker 1: the reality is, specifically I can speak to our home
Speaker 1: being a black home, the heart of the home is
Speaker 1: always the kitchen. That's where you gather. That's where you know,
Speaker 1: you talk about your day, where you download, where you
Speaker 1: have the most lively you know, conversations, debate, whatever you
Speaker 1: want to call um and it all centers around that
Speaker 1: whole Sunday dinner feel. And that's how it was and
Speaker 1: is in in my family. Um. So with God and
Speaker 1: my love to cook, I was like, you know, this
Speaker 1: is a lane that I don't again see anyone else
Speaker 1: who looks like me, and so I decided to to
Speaker 1: to do cacious kitchen. Um. It was just simply you know,
Speaker 1: so many of my friends, like they always joked for
Speaker 1: like oh, she's like, I'm like the black Mark Steward,
Speaker 1: Like even I was the one people are coming over,
Speaker 1: you know, cooking up dinners for all my friends. Um.
Speaker 1: But I realized that, you know, in this age of
Speaker 1: Uber and all of these if uber Eats or you know,
Speaker 1: just all of these fast delivery services, people fully cook anymore.
Speaker 1: Like all they have to do is order it and
Speaker 1: it shows up at their house. So that kind of
Speaker 1: the joy of it had been gone. And I know
Speaker 1: a lot of the joy of it is not knowing
Speaker 1: what to do, like how do I what do I
Speaker 1: put on? What? How does it work? So that's how
Speaker 1: I know made it really really simple. I have a
Speaker 1: poultry and meat and all purpose season, um. And the
Speaker 1: reality is they work good on those categories of things,
Speaker 1: but they also are amazing and vegetables and potatoes and
Speaker 1: and you name it so fish. Um. So that's really
Speaker 1: just how it came about. Well, you know the thing
Speaker 1: about it, Like I said, potatoes, I love. I can't
Speaker 1: get enough of baked potatoes. I love vegetables, and so
Speaker 1: just having that so this multipurpose season and all purpose
Speaker 1: season for that is a blessing. And also have a
Speaker 1: deal with while all Alaskan sound where they So I
Speaker 1: when you it fish, I leaned forward. That's what I
Speaker 1: gotta use your Now do you now if I go
Speaker 1: online right now, can I buy it? Or how does
Speaker 1: it working right now? But you're definitely have our word
Speaker 1: running a sale. Um. We have our poultry as well
Speaker 1: as our all purpose on kishus Kitchen dot com. Right
Speaker 1: now our meat, I'm sorry, on our purpose our poultry
Speaker 1: is sold out. However, we are coming back soon covid. Um.
Speaker 1: We will be fully stopped shortly, and we're also adding
Speaker 1: a new spice called in Spice. It's my first m
Speaker 1: delve into kind of the sweet world. Everything else is savory.
Speaker 1: But they will be up shortly, will be fully stopped.
Speaker 1: But you know, covid has hit the supply chain I
Speaker 1: think for everyone's business. Oh absolutely, Now let's go back
Speaker 1: to sugar and spice now. Because my I'm a award
Speaker 1: winning baker. So now you you kind of kind of
Speaker 1: glossed over a little bit, you said you getting into
Speaker 1: that sweet chain to talk about that a little bit more.
Speaker 1: Because I do I do baking. Uh, because my my
Speaker 1: on my show Reshaunge Kitchen always open with a baking
Speaker 1: element in my baker, she is based in New York.
Speaker 1: And then my cook he's based in Alabama. And I'm
Speaker 1: based in my office kitchen in Atlanta, Georgia. So I
Speaker 1: zoomed to the kitchens in different locations. So if you
Speaker 1: got some sweetness going on there, I love to put
Speaker 1: it in her kitchen and make it happen there. So
Speaker 1: let's talk about that. Oh well, it really came down
Speaker 1: to like one of my one of my family's, UM
Speaker 1: favorite things that I make, UM is my peach cobb
Speaker 1: one of my candy. There you go. What I did
Speaker 1: was I created a spice that you can use for
Speaker 1: those things. But coincidentally, as I was creating it, I
Speaker 1: realized and testing on it on different things. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this taste good on French toes, this taste goed on popcorn. Um.
Speaker 1: There's so many different but you can just have a
Speaker 1: big sweet potato and just sprinkle it on. UM. It's
Speaker 1: just the perfect combination of you know, your favorite your cinnamon,
Speaker 1: your nutmeg, your your your sugar. UM that goes on
Speaker 1: those sorts of well, you know, nutmeg is my favorite
Speaker 1: spice that you put you're coming in kitchen. Used to
Speaker 1: me on nutmeg, you and the desserts on with me
Speaker 1: now I don't want to. I know we talked about
Speaker 1: a lot of the things. I brought you to the
Speaker 1: show to talk about Tyler's Paris House of Pain, the
Speaker 1: eight season, which I'm which I'm excited about. A big
Speaker 1: fan of Tyler, of course, and a big fan of
Speaker 1: a lot of people you have on the show. Talk
Speaker 1: about your experience and just working with this cast who,
Speaker 1: in some way I can say, their their foods like
Speaker 1: crazy people just out of control over the family. That's
Speaker 1: what family looks like. I genuinely love working with this cast.
Speaker 1: I love each and every one of them. We have
Speaker 1: been doing this for a really long time, and it's
Speaker 1: a joy. It's a joy to be able to be
Speaker 1: in people's home every week, of people to be able
Speaker 1: to come to sit with us, to laugh, to enjoy
Speaker 1: our journey and just have that moment to just kind
Speaker 1: of escape everything that may be going on in the
Speaker 1: world outside and just have some fun with us. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're we're an interesting bunch, but it's what family is.
Speaker 1: But you won't let you won't let Van dress you,
Speaker 1: you know, because Cassie can't dress him, and so you
Speaker 1: have to remain You have to maintain your style. You
Speaker 1: have to maintain you who you are and when you
Speaker 1: when you do these different levels of comedy, and this
Speaker 1: is a much more of over the top. Sometimes I
Speaker 1: could say, because yeah it is, it's very own, you know,
Speaker 1: brand of comedy it is, but it's you. You can't
Speaker 1: say is you can't watch it? Not lack. I did
Speaker 1: not say that that. I want that. My girl cast
Speaker 1: to David's who I've been doing for twenty five years.
Speaker 1: She's also some Cassie. I love me some of the
Speaker 1: man like when I tell you, um, it's it's awesome.
Speaker 1: Like we worked really hard. We do. We have a
Speaker 1: schedule like no other when we're shooting. However, what makes
Speaker 1: it amazing is the people who we spend it with,
Speaker 1: not just the cast, but the crew. You know, a
Speaker 1: lot of us from some of the cameramen have been
Speaker 1: you know, the people that we worked with for the
Speaker 1: past decade, you know before when we were doing House
Speaker 1: of Pain, before we took a little bit of a hiatus.
Speaker 1: So I'm just I'm grateful of that I get to
Speaker 1: go to work and do what I do and do
Speaker 1: it with a group of people that I love. Well,
Speaker 1: they're the importance part is that you know, also say Cassie,
Speaker 1: she's also an HBCU graduates, well, Cassie Davis as well,
Speaker 1: So you surrounded with all that HBC you love. But
Speaker 1: the show comes on every Tuesday on b ET and
Speaker 1: the popularity of working the show. I'm assuming you take
Speaker 1: this during the COVID UH restrictions and the COVID shutdown.
Speaker 1: Was it taped doing that process? It was tape more
Speaker 1: recently in one Well, we I actually fulfilmed to a
Speaker 1: couple of projects during COVID lockdown. One was a Lifetime
Speaker 1: movie in Vancouver, and then we also did do the
Speaker 1: House of Pain, and with that it was you know,
Speaker 1: interesting because they were quarantined and um, you know, we
Speaker 1: had to do what was necessary to be safe and
Speaker 1: and we were able to do that. Well, let me
Speaker 1: just tell you if you know what think like we
Speaker 1: said earlier, she said, Sean, whatever you're saying. By Tyler
Speaker 1: Perri's House of Pay, We're funny. It's the number one
Speaker 1: comedy series on cable for African American's age eighteen four four.
Speaker 1: Basically all black people, all black people laughing at this
Speaker 1: show and loving this show. But I would be remiss
Speaker 1: if I don't talk about your your foundation. I wanted
Speaker 1: to get that in before we Camp Kissi Foundation tell
Speaker 1: us about that. Why is important that you are rallying
Speaker 1: behind that and the purpose? Well, the Camp Kissi Foundation
Speaker 1: is truly my baby. Um. I'm sorry if you hear,
Speaker 1: because you know, doing these things at home can be interesting.
Speaker 1: Don has decided to like do a whole I don't
Speaker 1: know what's happening in the house, but um, you know,
Speaker 1: the Camp Kissie Foundation is absolutely my heart. I started
Speaker 1: it over a decade ago, and it's all about empowerment
Speaker 1: and self esteem for you. We do UM programming throughout
Speaker 1: the year, but our signature program is UM. It's a
Speaker 1: free camp for girls eleven to sixteen in the same time.
Speaker 1: I just I just I love it. And what I
Speaker 1: know is you don't know the dream and if you
Speaker 1: don't know what exists. So a big portion of it
Speaker 1: is a very holistic approach to empowerment and self esteem,
Speaker 1: and a lot of it is also about exposure. And
Speaker 1: you know, I'm really excited this year we're not going
Speaker 1: to do in person last year. We had to do
Speaker 1: it virtually this year as well, But next year for
Speaker 1: twenty two, we will be back in person and we
Speaker 1: can't wait. Well, it's important that you say that when
Speaker 1: I one of the main reasons I wanted to bring
Speaker 1: you on the shows to tell your story. Your story
Speaker 1: is an amazing story from the HBCU grad with honors
Speaker 1: being an entrepreneur, being a I want to say, a
Speaker 1: mentor or leader in the fearless fun and also with
Speaker 1: your foundation. In closing, any advice you want to give
Speaker 1: to any of my entrepreneurs, any tips of success that
Speaker 1: you'd like to share with him. Um, you know, I
Speaker 1: feel like, follow your passion and the money will come.
Speaker 1: So many people chase the money, and you have to
Speaker 1: be dedicated and passionate about what you do and recognize
Speaker 1: that we all have different purposes and everyone's not going
Speaker 1: to see you know your divine um purpose in this lifetime.
Speaker 1: But you gotta remember it wasn't a conference call. It
Speaker 1: was given to you. So just to keep pushing it's
Speaker 1: it's it's hard out there because so many people are like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to work to anybody else, I want
Speaker 1: to work myself. Understand, when you're an entrepreneur, you definitely
Speaker 1: work harder than a nine. But the differences you're sewing
Speaker 1: into your dreams, um and I say, just go for it.
Speaker 1: It only takes one Yes. Hello, She's one of the
Speaker 1: stars of Tyler Perry's House of Paine, is returning for
Speaker 1: the eighth season and the month of Maybe t and
Speaker 1: BT her Every episode can be seen every Tuesday n
Speaker 1: p m. Eastern West a PM Central Kesha Night poll them.
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on money making Conversations. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much. Time to take this submarine back up. But
Speaker 1: it's tax season up there. Captain. You know all that
Speaker 1: stressing over taxes isn't necessary with Tax Act? How did
Speaker 1: you get April here to remind you that with Tax
Speaker 1: Act you're guaranteed your maximum refund while filing for less's
Speaker 1: being submerged for another month, May Captain to your stations
Speaker 1: were headed home? Yes, I should probably close that window.
Speaker 1: I opened what's kidding which to Tax Act today and
Speaker 1: start for free restriction supply prices. That finling subject to
Speaker 1: change the tax ac cot comfreguarantee details. Adoption of teams
Speaker 1: from foster Care is a topic not enough people know about,
Speaker 1: and we're here to change that. I'm April Denuity, host
Speaker 1: of the new podcast Navigating Adoption presented by adopt Us Kids.
Speaker 1: Each episode brings you compelling, real life adoption stories told
Speaker 1: by the families that lived them, with commentary from experts.
Speaker 1: Visit adopt us Kids dot org, slash podcast, or subscribe
Speaker 1: to Navigating Adoption presented by adopt Us Kids, brought to
Speaker 1: you by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Speaker 1: Administration for Children and Families, and the ACT Council. Hi everyone,
Speaker 1: i'l Roker here as a guy with his own catchphrase.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that Smokey's only said only you can prevent wildfires,
Speaker 1: but I'm filling in because there's a lot more to report,
Speaker 1: like when they're parched or windy conditions out there. You've
Speaker 1: got to be extra careful with things like burning yard waist.
Speaker 1: After all, wildfires can start anywhere, even in your neck
Speaker 1: of the woods. Go to Smokey Bear dot com to
Speaker 1: learn more about wildfire prevention. Brought to you by the U. S.
Speaker 1: Forest Service, you're State Forrester and the ad Council. My
Speaker 1: next guest is a long time frame. My next guest
Speaker 1: is Cassie Davis Patton Casses starring on Tyler Parris Haus
Speaker 1: of Pain playing Ella Pain, which returns on BT for
Speaker 1: his eight season. Tyler Perris Huss of Pain is the
Speaker 1: number one comedy series for African America's eighteen to forty
Speaker 1: nine five fifty four in the calendar year twenty and
Speaker 1: you can say the calendar year twenty one too, because
Speaker 1: it's already been picked up for another season. Cassie Davis
Speaker 1: Pattern has worked extensively over the years with Tyler Peril
Speaker 1: on his stage plays, TV shows, and movie he She
Speaker 1: made a lot of money with media. Just Mdea is
Speaker 1: really her middle name. She also attended spellm In College
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, Georgia, and major in music. Her big acting
Speaker 1: break was her role in Spike Le's film School Days,
Speaker 1: Please Welcome. When I knew it back in the day,
Speaker 1: she was just Caffe David. Now you know she had
Speaker 1: a man naturally. Now she Cassie Davis Patton. So from
Speaker 1: Tyler Parris Haussa Pain, my good friend, Cassie Davis Patton.
Speaker 1: How you doing better? Introduced me do a good jobs
Speaker 1: doing a good job for sure. No, you did what
Speaker 1: you normally do. Thank you you think you know you
Speaker 1: you still got it. I appreciate it. You know the
Speaker 1: amazing thing that you wanted one, Uh you will we
Speaker 1: started calling now you said on one. It took me
Speaker 1: all of one baby one and one. Attorney Anderson. Come on, y'all,
Speaker 1: you guys were the You guys were a mad team
Speaker 1: of brilliant black men that knew what y'all wanted to
Speaker 1: do and did it. Steve you won home, Attorney Anderson, Um,
Speaker 1: James Boomerang. You guys were an awesome team, and y'all
Speaker 1: taught me so much. I was. I was at the
Speaker 1: house and um, you guys were in the field and
Speaker 1: you are working. Your ethics were good, and um you
Speaker 1: were suited all the time. Uh. You guys would come
Speaker 1: back to the house and you guys would discuss strategies
Speaker 1: and I would eavesdrop, and UM I learned and took notes,
Speaker 1: and UM I do owe a lot of my success
Speaker 1: to the wisdom that you guys and pardoned in me
Speaker 1: when you didn't even know I was listening, and you
Speaker 1: didn't even know I care. But UM, I just appreciated
Speaker 1: everything that you guys came back home and discussed and
Speaker 1: made happen. You know, it wasn't just like you were
Speaker 1: blowing smoke signals. You there was actually fire, and there
Speaker 1: was a product that you guys um put together and
Speaker 1: that was me and the boys, and that was it
Speaker 1: was just so much that you are all dead and
Speaker 1: you know, you guys were the Kings of comedy before
Speaker 1: the Kings of Comedy came out. Absolutely absolutely no Cassim
Speaker 1: talking to Cassie David. She's star. Tyler Perris hals the pain.
Speaker 1: That's one of the things. She's a star because she
Speaker 1: really is a breeding talent. And then she just talked
Speaker 1: about our history. The person she brought up one and
Speaker 1: one that's one hole, just a little little walk down
Speaker 1: history lane. He was Steve's manager before I became his manager,
Speaker 1: and he was all our best friend and we lost
Speaker 1: him to Soakodosius, the same illness that took Bernie Mack.
Speaker 1: Which is ironic that two people in Steve Harvey's life
Speaker 1: that he was close to the lost to the same
Speaker 1: heart element and uh and and that that allowed me
Speaker 1: to come into his life. And Ricky Anderson was the attorney.
Speaker 1: He's still out the attorney in our lives today after
Speaker 1: all these years of African American attorney. That's what she
Speaker 1: was talking about black men who was breaking ground with
Speaker 1: breaking ground because the rules were different back in nineteen
Speaker 1: two five. That's exactly right and exactly the right. And
Speaker 1: there was there was a hustle that you guys came
Speaker 1: out with and was just like everybody get somebody. That's
Speaker 1: that's what we saying in high school. Everybody gets somebody,
Speaker 1: don't let them shoot. And that is what you all did.
Speaker 1: You all Steve was in charge of this, one was
Speaker 1: in charge of this. Attorney Amerson handled this, and Rashan
Speaker 1: you really uh gathernized a whole lot of things you
Speaker 1: were caring to to be briefcase, you know, thank you
Speaker 1: for that compliment, Cassie. But then the thing about our relationship,
Speaker 1: you know, is that I always saw a talented person
Speaker 1: and but you were not doing anything with your career
Speaker 1: at the time when I came into your life. But
Speaker 1: I was why, uh you know what, I got my
Speaker 1: feelings hurt. I was up for a part on Hanging
Speaker 1: with Mr Cooper, and I thought I was gonna be
Speaker 1: on that show, and I was doing storyboards, I was,
Speaker 1: you know, going into meetings with the executives and I
Speaker 1: I learned that I did not get the part when
Speaker 1: the show aired, and it hurt my feelings so bad.
Speaker 1: I just didn't understand the rejection of the business. I
Speaker 1: thought they really like what they saw and I thought
Speaker 1: they meant what they said, and um, it became just
Speaker 1: one lie after another. That's one of Chip Fields songs
Speaker 1: and uh and uh. So I just thought that it
Speaker 1: would probably be best for me to pull out and
Speaker 1: not pursue this career because you know, I could have
Speaker 1: had anger issues and I did not want to, you know,
Speaker 1: take my anger out on someone. So I just stopped
Speaker 1: and started working with young people at Wendy School. Um
Speaker 1: and um, and I just I just fell in love
Speaker 1: with you know, what the art really could do for
Speaker 1: the lives of those young people. And then Mr Perry,
Speaker 1: oh my god, he saw me doing a favor for
Speaker 1: someone and asked me to come and be a part
Speaker 1: of his empire. And I was like, I don't have
Speaker 1: no time but that y'all say one thing, y'all do
Speaker 1: another thing, So just leave me alone because I really
Speaker 1: don't want to have to catch the case. Don't lie.
Speaker 1: If you're gonna do it, do it. And if you're not,
Speaker 1: then thought and I must say that man has kept
Speaker 1: his word. You guys kept your word. But I just
Speaker 1: got my feelings hurt. I was so bruised by being rejected,
Speaker 1: and I just didn't understand the rejection part of the pursuit.
Speaker 1: And you know, you know, just important people here that
Speaker 1: Cassie Davis, because Cassie David's Pattons. I'm gonna talk a
Speaker 1: different periods. That was Cassie David's back then. And because
Speaker 1: Hollywood is about rejection and a lot of people aren't
Speaker 1: ready for that. They think that they can ride with
Speaker 1: the best look. They want some awards locally, and they
Speaker 1: get there and they'll walk you through that door and
Speaker 1: they'll say come back five fifteen times and then say
Speaker 1: so someone on your cage didn't say sorry. No, they
Speaker 1: didn't even say sorry. I didn't even I was at
Speaker 1: home waiting. I had already gone and picked out a
Speaker 1: home in um To Luca Lake in Los Angeles. I
Speaker 1: was just like, oh, yes, when they sent me my money,
Speaker 1: I can buy this house. I was with a realtor
Speaker 1: and I was at home one evening and I saw
Speaker 1: the advertisement come up, or the advertisement and you guys
Speaker 1: called it back, but then it was an advertisement and
Speaker 1: it was um that brilliant actress Nel Carter and I
Speaker 1: couldn't be mad. You know, if you're gonna lose, why
Speaker 1: not lose to her? But you know, but I it
Speaker 1: just hurt me so bad. Um, I just said, I
Speaker 1: think I'd better just sit out and just wait. And
Speaker 1: that's what I did. And then what was proven is
Speaker 1: if it's meant to be for you, then it's going
Speaker 1: to be. And it has been a great ride for me,
Speaker 1: even the hurt. Um. You know, I can really appreciate
Speaker 1: all of this choy because I do understand what the
Speaker 1: hurt can feel like. So we know, it's really really
Speaker 1: funny you say that. It really funny you say that
Speaker 1: casting because you know, Steve Harvey has always say because
Speaker 1: I didn't know you were that talented whenever, you know,
Speaker 1: I just knew you were very nice. She was always punctual,
Speaker 1: he was always a beat and and then teach it.
Speaker 1: You know she's talented, right, I go, what do you
Speaker 1: mean you said? That girl right there can sing? I go, Cassie, Cassie, Gazie.
Speaker 1: She never showed me that you were just you had
Speaker 1: just like just just just connected. You didn't even all
Speaker 1: the talent that God gave you. You just like shoved
Speaker 1: it in a box. And say I'm done. How did
Speaker 1: you get out of that box? How did you get
Speaker 1: out of that moment to say you know something, it's
Speaker 1: time Before Tyler Perry said hey, I want to bring
Speaker 1: you on board. What brought you out of that cocoon? God?
Speaker 1: You know, when I realized that the talent was not mine,
Speaker 1: too bary, and was not mine to shove in a box,
Speaker 1: and that um, it was his to showcase to his people,
Speaker 1: and it was something that he would use me to
Speaker 1: do and free some people and bring some joy to
Speaker 1: some people and and help some people. So the many
Speaker 1: stories that I now hear um about how the messages
Speaker 1: from House of Pain has helped somebody's family or somebody's
Speaker 1: grandmother or you know. I have a friend in Holly
Speaker 1: Springs right now. She watches all of Tyler Parris, Tyler
Speaker 1: Parris movies and then the sitcoms, and um, it just
Speaker 1: blesses her that I'm a part of it. But it
Speaker 1: was it was God that that made me do it.
Speaker 1: But the vehicle really, really really was Chip Fields. And
Speaker 1: when I met Chip Fields and she wanted me to
Speaker 1: be in a play, it was like, are you gonna
Speaker 1: do what you say you can do? And she did.
Speaker 1: And after that I just began to trust her. And
Speaker 1: then I came into Wonder Love and I met you guys,
Speaker 1: said um, and I just said, you know what, there
Speaker 1: are some good people here. So rejection is a part
Speaker 1: of it. But I just did not know. I didn't
Speaker 1: like being rejected. Who the who likes caring jeck and
Speaker 1: so I did not understand it. And I, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: in my innocence, I made plans for some money that
Speaker 1: I did not have. So that has taught me a lesson.
Speaker 1: Did you can't spend what you don't have and um,
Speaker 1: and there's always research that we need to do, and
Speaker 1: I did not do by research. I was just taking
Speaker 1: people at their faith value and um, and I still
Speaker 1: do it, but I I have to listen for those
Speaker 1: keywords that that I could have known that I was
Speaker 1: not being chosen for that part. But I just did
Speaker 1: not understand the lingo and I did not do my research.
Speaker 1: No problem. I did not have wise counsel, but we
Speaker 1: did not. I didn't have any counsel really at all.
Speaker 1: And so um, but now I have wise counsel. That's right,
Speaker 1: that's right. Here here's the beauty because because cashier just
Speaker 1: throw our names, like she wondered with Karen Robinson, like
Speaker 1: when you Karen Robinson was was the principal on Steve
Speaker 1: Harvey sitcom, and of course she's wanted to do the
Speaker 1: Game and many other great series. She feels is Kim
Speaker 1: Field's mother. One of the emotions explaining absolutely, all these
Speaker 1: landmarks now, don't worry, I got your back. That's the legends,
Speaker 1: all of them. Absolutely, Steve, are you kidding? I mean
Speaker 1: you guys went the hair. I saw you. I saw
Speaker 1: you guys stumbling. I saw you. Not know anything with
Speaker 1: Steve care He'll tell you. He came to house and
Speaker 1: we were just I was like, he got a job.
Speaker 1: He can't even read, tell you. I was just like
Speaker 1: what I was like, and he was was like he
Speaker 1: was reading his script. He was saying, Steve sits down.
Speaker 1: I was doing at saying, he's reading the direction this listen.
Speaker 1: Now he's reading directions and everything and giving directions, reading
Speaker 1: directions and giving directions, telling people what you do, directions.
Speaker 1: He is a direction. He is one to follow. You know.
Speaker 1: When I when I look at the beauty of you,
Speaker 1: you know, and I want to go back to your
Speaker 1: Spellman days because I really always when I read a
Speaker 1: graduate of Spellman, I gotta HBCU in general, I've got
Speaker 1: to be able to hear that. Let that story be
Speaker 1: from announced on my show, talk about Spellman while you went,
Speaker 1: and the experience and the greatness you've achieved by being
Speaker 1: a graduate of Spellman. Oh my god, Rashaan. I heard
Speaker 1: about Spellman College in nineteen eighty three, and there was
Speaker 1: a young lady, Patricia Johnson, who was the recruiter for
Speaker 1: Spellman College and her dad and lives right below by
Speaker 1: my dad's house in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Reverend Graham, And
Speaker 1: he called his daughter. He said, Hey, look, there's a
Speaker 1: girl over here that I want to come to Spellman
Speaker 1: her dad and I'm not gonna have a whole lot
Speaker 1: of money, so just find her some money and uh
Speaker 1: to come over here. And I need you all to
Speaker 1: recruit her and talk to her daddy. And she did.
Speaker 1: She came, and um, she spoke with my dad and
Speaker 1: assured him that I would matriculate and I would be okay,
Speaker 1: and I would be safe and and and it happened,
Speaker 1: and my dad took me down to Spelling College in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four, and I graduated in two thousand nine.
Speaker 1: I was a senior for twenty one years. I got
Speaker 1: down to Atlanta and lost my mind. I got into
Speaker 1: the city with all these lights and got over there
Speaker 1: in that a youth center on Fairs ste and the
Speaker 1: party became real. And then I fell in love with
Speaker 1: the theater company Your Monday Productions in the city, and
Speaker 1: I began to work with them. Now I didn't really
Speaker 1: care about being a music major anymore. I didn't really
Speaker 1: care about singing um classical music. I thought I was
Speaker 1: going to be a gospel singer. And when I got
Speaker 1: to Spellman, they wanted us to do um, a classical
Speaker 1: format and the method for really learning and studying music.
Speaker 1: And when I got there, I was just like, what,
Speaker 1: I don't want to sing an Aria. I want to
Speaker 1: sing to God be the Glory and my tribute, you know,
Speaker 1: my dad come home. They want to hear English. I
Speaker 1: don't want to be singing old Italian and so just country.
Speaker 1: I didn't really know, and uh, and so I got mad.
Speaker 1: I had one hour to graduate and I left. Chip
Speaker 1: Fields came through and she was going out in a
Speaker 1: play with Zinky Winings and and um, and so I
Speaker 1: got in that play in nine and and I left
Speaker 1: Atlanta with that one hour to graduate. I called my
Speaker 1: dad and them three days before graduation to tell them
Speaker 1: that I would not be graduating, and the um they
Speaker 1: were just undone. My dad was like, you're living in
Speaker 1: a bubble. Now you're going out to chase a dream
Speaker 1: and you never do you know, actors come a dime
Speaker 1: a dozen. You're never gonna be on a show. Nobody
Speaker 1: knows you'll get out of here. You're not gonna And
Speaker 1: the more he said you're not, the more I said,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna show you. I'm gonna prove it to you.
Speaker 1: I know that this is what I need to do.
Speaker 1: I want to do it. They won't let me sing
Speaker 1: for God, and you know our model and Spelman was
Speaker 1: our whole school for Christ. I was like our whole
Speaker 1: school for Christ. And you won't let me do a
Speaker 1: gospel song on my senior recitalment. We'll forget it. I
Speaker 1: don't want to degree, and I was. I got out
Speaker 1: to California. I went out to to visit Hip for
Speaker 1: two weeks. I left fourteen years later. And in that
Speaker 1: fourteen years, you know, I summing up to be too
Speaker 1: years to seven years you know, like so it was
Speaker 1: the first seven years I was learning one thing, the
Speaker 1: second seven years I learned another thing. And um and
Speaker 1: and it was it was completion twice for me. UM.
Speaker 1: Seven is usually the number of completion. So I had
Speaker 1: to run my course twice to get out of l A.
Speaker 1: And when I left, I came back to Atlanta doing
Speaker 1: House of Pain with Mr Perry and UM, and I
Speaker 1: went back to Spellman College and I marched and walked. Uh.
Speaker 1: I got that degree in two thousand and eight December,
Speaker 1: and I marched in two thousand nine. And I am
Speaker 1: a proud Spellman moment and um. And it was not
Speaker 1: just what I learned on the inside of the gates
Speaker 1: that made me the woman that I am today, But
Speaker 1: it was what they taught me on the inside that
Speaker 1: I applied on the outside of the gates, UM that
Speaker 1: made me an even more proud moment and um. And
Speaker 1: it was those fourteen years of labor out there in
Speaker 1: l A that prepares me for today. You know. When UM,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't even like doing interviews because it
Speaker 1: just seems like, UM, it's so much you want me
Speaker 1: to cram into twenty minutes. When um, you know, we're
Speaker 1: talking about ninety one two twenty one? Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: In the pandemic. It's so many jewels and elements to
Speaker 1: get life and to describing it and to telling you
Speaker 1: how important everything is. Money is important, faith is important, Uh,
Speaker 1: Rejection is important, health is important, Wisdom is important. Uh,
Speaker 1: and wisdom is the principal thing. Um, so at all
Speaker 1: I get. You need to get wisdom, you need to
Speaker 1: get an understanding, but wisdom is the principal thing. You
Speaker 1: know it just um, you know when you when you
Speaker 1: get mature, and you know, I left spellming college, I
Speaker 1: hadn't walked on I didn't walked degree. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: All that money, my folks sacrifice, I had to do
Speaker 1: it and I did and and it just feels so
Speaker 1: good to accomplish. You know, when I was in l
Speaker 1: A and I was saying, I'm a spelling to night,
Speaker 1: but well I had a graduated yet, but I am
Speaker 1: a spell to night. I did. I have want how
Speaker 1: to graduate? You know, there's nothing really to brag about
Speaker 1: until you can say I did it. I went back,
Speaker 1: I got my degree, and I am a spell to night.
Speaker 1: And it's not just spelling from college because you know,
Speaker 1: I'm more of a bearcat at Russ College in a
Speaker 1: hollyo Springs, Mississiffici that I am a jaguar at spell
Speaker 1: In College. I know more about growing up on Russ
Speaker 1: College's campus than I do of how growing up on
Speaker 1: Spellinger's campus. But you know, I had those institutions and
Speaker 1: of higher education, and I just believed in doing better
Speaker 1: and doing more and being exposed to more. And you know,
Speaker 1: now making away for my siblings or my my my
Speaker 1: nieces and nephews to have you know, their dreams come
Speaker 1: to the tuition, you know. So now I'm passing the
Speaker 1: torch if you will, well, you look fantastic. And Cassie Davis,
Speaker 1: we're talking to Cassie Davis Patton, thank you. Co star
Speaker 1: Tyler Perris. House of Pain is the number one show
Speaker 1: on African American homes in is gonna come back this month.
Speaker 1: It's the eighth season of the show. Let's talk about fame.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about fame and you, Cassie, because I know
Speaker 1: you humble, you know, you know, you know not you
Speaker 1: not want to want to get recognized in the grocery store.
Speaker 1: You ah, you, I mean, you can't on the Steve
Speaker 1: Harvey Morning Show. He played nephew Tommy's Mama and girl
Speaker 1: and say that I'm not gonna say that. It's just
Speaker 1: they're still doing that. That was a secret. And you
Speaker 1: guys that maybe all my money. Okay, I called Steve
Speaker 1: are one of the richest man's and the men in
Speaker 1: the world. We're gonna pay you all your money. Now,
Speaker 1: would you being famous Tyler Paris House of Fame because
Speaker 1: you're famous in Medea movies? How did you deal with fame?
Speaker 1: How did you deal with that? Well? You know what,
Speaker 1: um Rishan, I really don't know. I really don't know
Speaker 1: if I deal with it. You know, I just like people,
Speaker 1: and so when I meet them out anywhere and they
Speaker 1: are talking about Ella, or they're talking about Bam, or
Speaker 1: they're talking about Tyler Pear, I welcome what they have
Speaker 1: to say. You know. I feel like what they have
Speaker 1: seen um is in their house. It becomes very personable
Speaker 1: to them and the messages I think hit home with
Speaker 1: their lives. And so some people are very nice when
Speaker 1: they approach you, and then there are some people who
Speaker 1: who tripped and then you know you have to say, hey, wait, pen,
Speaker 1: that's a character, don't slate. Now, I don't don't don't
Speaker 1: don't do that. Don't you know I'm not always on TV.
Speaker 1: I'm not always active that always script. Don't get slapped.
Speaker 1: But you know, but it is so wonderful to experience
Speaker 1: these things because these people are so wonderful right now,
Speaker 1: you know, when when you meant so, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know that I'm handling it properly. We know
Speaker 1: there's two types of fame for you because you you know,
Speaker 1: you you blew up in his plays, Tyler Perrish plays
Speaker 1: and then the TV show and then the movies which
Speaker 1: became international, which also put you on the big screen,
Speaker 1: the Medea movies. That what you feel is mostly impactful
Speaker 1: in your career, the plays, the MDEA movies, or the
Speaker 1: TV show impactful. I would probably have to say, um,
Speaker 1: the movies, Um well, I probably would have to say
Speaker 1: the TV show. Um. The thing I enjoy the most.
Speaker 1: I would have to say is the play or the plays,
Speaker 1: you know, just to get that instant gratification and to
Speaker 1: be their lives in a in a building with Shawn
Speaker 1: and I. I always describe it like I'm in a
Speaker 1: building with ten thousand people and they don't know each other,
Speaker 1: but they're all laughing at the same time, they're all
Speaker 1: crying at the same time. And then I'm sitting next
Speaker 1: to a mastermind, Tyler Perry as my dear, and he
Speaker 1: just orchestrates direct. If there's something on the stage that
Speaker 1: goes wrong, he can handle it. If there is a
Speaker 1: fight in the crowd, he can handle it. If there's
Speaker 1: a heckler in the crowd, he can handle that. You know.
Speaker 1: If he said and we need to finish us, you know,
Speaker 1: the show early, he can handle that, you know. So
Speaker 1: just to be sitting on stage with a mastermind, and
Speaker 1: it's just really ah been the treat of my whole career.
Speaker 1: So I love all the mediums. I love plays, I
Speaker 1: love TV, I love movies, UM and I think the
Speaker 1: best thing for me is his work ethics and um.
Speaker 1: And he means business when he shows up. So if
Speaker 1: you have your script, uh ten days before or five
Speaker 1: days before, or if he calls you the night before
Speaker 1: it says, hey, look, I thought about something that I'd
Speaker 1: like to put you in, just be ready. And so
Speaker 1: that's what I really appreciate about the about the three
Speaker 1: entities that I worked in. Let's talk about TV for
Speaker 1: a wrap up here, because I want to make sure
Speaker 1: I've been hyping it, been promoting the eighth season. What
Speaker 1: can we respect on this season of Tyler Perry's House
Speaker 1: of Pain is on every Tuesday, n PM Central. He's
Speaker 1: come an a p m. Central, NPM Eastern West Coast. Yes, um, Rishan,
Speaker 1: you should expect more of the same, and then you
Speaker 1: can expect um uh. I just think that because House
Speaker 1: of Pain depicts life and art depicts life, it's going
Speaker 1: to it's going to speak to those who are in
Speaker 1: broken relationships, is gonna speak to those young people who
Speaker 1: are feeling themselves. It's going to speak to older people
Speaker 1: who are feelings, you know. So it's going to it's
Speaker 1: going to reach the gathert you know. Are we love
Speaker 1: the fact that we have and that generation to generation
Speaker 1: from two to two hundred are watching the show, you know,
Speaker 1: the age ranges, and we actually have families sitting down
Speaker 1: watching the show together. So I think you're going to
Speaker 1: be amazed with uh um some of the storylines and
Speaker 1: the message is that we will bring to the forefront
Speaker 1: on this run on this season and again it ties in,
Speaker 1: it ties the seventh season into the ninth season, so
Speaker 1: I'm excited about it. Well, my dear, thank you for
Speaker 1: coming on Money. As a family, on and off set,
Speaker 1: we love each other, so I hope that you will
Speaker 1: experience the love that we have for each other just individually. Well,
Speaker 1: that's no doubt. That's no doubt because of the fact
Speaker 1: that I had Kesha Nights Pullman on the show. Same
Speaker 1: same also in Spelling Night graduing it graduate and so
Speaker 1: you know, y'all take it over there. We're gonna do
Speaker 1: a big story on that, by the way, so be ready.
Speaker 1: I want to just thank you for coming on Money
Speaker 1: and Conversation. I really do, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: having me. I was so excited all week about I'm
Speaker 1: gonna see what Sean? Oh my god, well we're Sean.
Speaker 1: Can we talk off set? I mean, you know, don't
Speaker 1: you want to help me do something? I would call
Speaker 1: you tomorrow? Is that fine? What you I'll call you tomorrow. Yes,
Speaker 1: I will call you tomorrow and we'll connect. And my
Speaker 1: numbers still say I love you. You look beautiful and
Speaker 1: it was a great view thanks to you and your team.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys, everybody. We will be right back with
Speaker 1: more money making conversations with your host Rashan McDonald. Hi,
Speaker 1: I am Rashan McDonald, hosts of Money Making Conversation dot com.
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Speaker 1: A Discover the Forest dot org brought to you by
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Speaker 1: to money making Conversations with your host, Rashaan McDonald. My
Speaker 1: next guest is truly an industry decision makers. Dr Steve Perry.
Speaker 1: Dr Parry is a national leader in the education revolution,
Speaker 1: a change agent who is tireless in his fight for
Speaker 1: providing equal and competitive opportunities for children who otherwise will
Speaker 1: not have a voice. His mission is to provide high
Speaker 1: quality education with college bound opportunities for children in poverty.
Speaker 1: In twenty Dr Steve Perry opened his fifth school campus
Speaker 1: in Bronx, New York, and all students are admitted to
Speaker 1: the schools by random lottery in order to ensure equal
Speaker 1: access to all students, regardless of socio economic status academic history.
Speaker 1: Dr Steve Perry's mission is to provide historically disadvantaged students
Speaker 1: with the college and career readiness skills needed to become responsible,
Speaker 1: engage citizens for social justice and offering a rigorous college
Speaker 1: prof curriculum and the collective variety of athletic programs, project
Speaker 1: based learning, and multi prong faculty support. Please work with
Speaker 1: the money making conversation, dear friend by man, Dr Steve Perry,
Speaker 1: how are you doing, sir? Having in some of my life? Brother,
Speaker 1: really genuinely, I am, and forgive me. I am in Harlem,
Speaker 1: so you will hear the sounds of the city. I
Speaker 1: have no control over that. Well, the sounds of City,
Speaker 1: if you're New York. I always tell people like I think,
Speaker 1: basically seven million people living New York proper in Manhattan proper,
Speaker 1: and on a given day, seven to eight million will
Speaker 1: enter New York. So you can look at from Twitter
Speaker 1: to fifteen million people on that island. So when you
Speaker 1: say noise in New York, I say, okay, right, because
Speaker 1: I have to say that everybody is not as familiar
Speaker 1: with our home as as you are. So uh, you
Speaker 1: you know from your time here at the Apollo that
Speaker 1: this is allowed little place we know it. Start Steve Erry,
Speaker 1: It's really interesting that you know New York. I moved
Speaker 1: to New York like an eight first time I went
Speaker 1: up to New York and lived there, and it was
Speaker 1: in transition. Remember I couldn't catch a cab if I
Speaker 1: was in Lower New York to come to If you
Speaker 1: say you're going across the hundred fifth three, they wasn't
Speaker 1: gonna you might weren't even getting the cab because they
Speaker 1: weren't gonna take you. And then we went through this,
Speaker 1: you know, the Central Park Jarger, you know situation where
Speaker 1: the five being were convicted, and and then we then
Speaker 1: we transitioned into they'll pick you up and take you
Speaker 1: up there, and then you look at New York a
Speaker 1: hundred street and white people that two am are walking
Speaker 1: their dogs. And so this morning trip is tripping me out,
Speaker 1: like it's just really tripping me out. And so would
Speaker 1: you in there? Now? What is why is it important?
Speaker 1: Because we're talking at a different hall of now, not
Speaker 1: the hall of my new not the hall of you
Speaker 1: reading the newspaper. What hall of are you working in? Now?
Speaker 1: What's the environment of hall that you're tied to? Now?
Speaker 1: That's that's interesting, Um, I am Our school is currently
Speaker 1: located on a hundred and fourth and fifth Avenue, which,
Speaker 1: if you know anything about New York, is right across
Speaker 1: the street from Central Park. I mean I can see
Speaker 1: the botanical garden right outside my window. And um, excuse me.
Speaker 1: We are on what's called a museum mile, which is
Speaker 1: just what you just aptly named. Behind me is the
Speaker 1: African American Museum. Beneath me is Al Musel all the
Speaker 1: way down to the Museum of Natural History. So this
Speaker 1: area is a gorgeous area as areas go. Similarly, um,
Speaker 1: you are seeing a conversion of the Brownstones purchased by
Speaker 1: only we can't just be middle class. You got the
Speaker 1: upper middle class to wealthy folks, many of whom appear
Speaker 1: to be white. Um. And for them, Harlem is a
Speaker 1: place of a cultural experience. They come, many of them
Speaker 1: come to be immersed in what they believed to be
Speaker 1: the culture of Harlem. But there's still that group right
Speaker 1: over there in the Union housing projects, which is on
Speaker 1: the other block. So again, if you're not from New York,
Speaker 1: what I'm explaining to you would seem unconscionable that so
Speaker 1: much happens in in so few square feet. But in
Speaker 1: the two yards that this block is, on one side
Speaker 1: you have some of the wealthiest real estate arguably in America,
Speaker 1: and then just two yards on the other side, you
Speaker 1: have a couple of housing projects, um. And then then
Speaker 1: on the other side you have a new high rise.
Speaker 1: So butchers between these, uh are stuck between these two
Speaker 1: pretty expensive pieces of property, you have housing projects and
Speaker 1: rent controlled places. One of my colleagues lives in approximately
Speaker 1: I want to be polite et seven hundred square feet.
Speaker 1: It feels like five D seven hundred square feet efficiency
Speaker 1: and she pays twenty seven that's my right, that's right.
Speaker 1: So you're not scaring me with those numbers. See that
Speaker 1: was in the five hundred square feet. I was happy.
Speaker 1: I was happy. But but but so that's what it
Speaker 1: looks like. But what I worked with, I work with
Speaker 1: some of the poor kids in America. I worked with some, um,
Speaker 1: some of the most talented, beautiful, awesome, poor black black children,
Speaker 1: UM who wow around them? There is UH call it renaissance.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you call it a renaissance. We're
Speaker 1: not going backwards, um, but it is a a resetting
Speaker 1: on I don't know if you remember what the path
Speaker 1: mark used to be that place. Yeah, so the path
Speaker 1: mark used which is just which is just a block
Speaker 1: away from, um, the train station. That building was just
Speaker 1: torn down. They're about to build They're about to excuse me,
Speaker 1: a very very very nice uh set up there. However,
Speaker 1: on the ground level, it's like the Land of the Dead.
Speaker 1: Bunch of zombie people walking up and down looked, it's rough.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they're homeless, I don't. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: know what they do at night, so I can only
Speaker 1: see what they do during the day. Um. But people
Speaker 1: who most would consider or believed to be home lists
Speaker 1: are walking UM and stackering U just in the shadow
Speaker 1: of this. Well, you know, the thing about it is
Speaker 1: that to make people understand the relatability of what he's saying,
Speaker 1: is that because I lived in New York three times
Speaker 1: and we always threw me off, was that you can't
Speaker 1: walk from wealthy to poverty in a block. I mean
Speaker 1: you can walk on the same block. Is the same
Speaker 1: way whereas in if you're a traditional city, you drive
Speaker 1: to it, you drive, you drive to a housing project
Speaker 1: in New York City, you walk past it. You know,
Speaker 1: you you walk past the dorman who secured building, and
Speaker 1: you go to the next block, and you're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: where's my security. Where's my doorman to get me through
Speaker 1: this block? So there's a right there, that building right
Speaker 1: there as a security. I think that the condos in
Speaker 1: there and they have to start in the load ones
Speaker 1: millions like right there and right there, separated by two
Speaker 1: hundreds uh yards, is public housing that just separates. Just
Speaker 1: that's what it is. And so it is a tale
Speaker 1: of two nations that we're in. And what's interesting to
Speaker 1: me is how the midst obvious, well, how the systemic
Speaker 1: barriers of racism are so effective as to allow for
Speaker 1: the the coexistence of two vastly different groups of people,
Speaker 1: and they they never seem to understand one another. And
Speaker 1: my children don't often understand. I have explained it, like,
Speaker 1: do you know who we are? I mean they right here?
Speaker 1: Do you know people call this No, it's the museum
Speaker 1: mile like this is one of the wealthy, Like this
Speaker 1: stretch right here, it's like, well, like it doesn't again,
Speaker 1: I'll put it this way, so on the other side
Speaker 1: of the part, just for people to understand. Just over
Speaker 1: there it's Trump Tower. So I'm here, I can almost
Speaker 1: see it over there. So we're talking about the kind
Speaker 1: of wealth that's jaw dropping right there, and the kind
Speaker 1: of poverty that's equally jaw dropping. And here we are
Speaker 1: in the middle, attempting to carve a new door. Because,
Speaker 1: as you know, Carter G. Woodson said that if you
Speaker 1: send a man to the back door now and there
Speaker 1: is no back door, when he gets there, he will
Speaker 1: cut one for himself. M hm. So we're trying to
Speaker 1: teach our children to go through a different door, really,
Speaker 1: the children and the parents simultaneously. We've been doing this
Speaker 1: for a long time. Do you ever get what frustrates
Speaker 1: you about the process of what you're trying to do.
Speaker 1: What really I raced me uh and really tricked me out,
Speaker 1: is that how we'd be done by now. Honestly, I
Speaker 1: thought when I thought when charter school started to open
Speaker 1: and we were able to show that you could take
Speaker 1: the same black children, same Latin children in the same address,
Speaker 1: from the same families and put them in a different school,
Speaker 1: and those children would be able to read on grade level,
Speaker 1: right on grade level, do math on grade level, go
Speaker 1: to college at the rate of anywhere from ninety upon graduation. Again,
Speaker 1: I told you you're gonna hear us um it is.
Speaker 1: I figured this country, and for what it's worth, the
Speaker 1: president who got us started down that road was President
Speaker 1: Bush too, but the person who really kicked it into
Speaker 1: um full gear was President Obama. So I figured, as
Speaker 1: soon as we show that you can take children from
Speaker 1: wherever they come and help them ascend to the highest highs,
Speaker 1: that I mean both sides of our I figured, maybe
Speaker 1: the Republicans a trip because they're not as committed to
Speaker 1: black and brown people as the Democrats say they are,
Speaker 1: so maybe there'll be some rub there. But other than that,
Speaker 1: we should be cool because their freedom loving people, and
Speaker 1: they want the freedom of school tchice, That's what I thought.
Speaker 1: I could not be more wrong. The Democrats have been
Speaker 1: the most ardent opponents of the very escape route that
Speaker 1: we need to use to get out of the poverty
Speaker 1: that in many cases there policies have plunged us into. Sadly,
Speaker 1: the Republicans are so uh in apt around issues of
Speaker 1: class and race that anything that comes out of their
Speaker 1: mouths people think is racist, even when they're making headway
Speaker 1: and policies of school choice. So what frustrates me is
Speaker 1: that I find myself with these lion politicians all the time.
Speaker 1: I mean, they get on my nerves. I'm not even
Speaker 1: replying to you. Just some of them are people who
Speaker 1: I know, like friends, people in my house. It is,
Speaker 1: it is a peculiar paradox that I find myself And
Speaker 1: because I you know, I just didn't walk through and
Speaker 1: one of our schools here in Harlem and had to,
Speaker 1: you know, tighten up some kids by not being a
Speaker 1: uniform the way that's supposed to be doing that very
Speaker 1: micro thing. But then from there I have to have
Speaker 1: a macro conversation with the legislator about something that's just
Speaker 1: it's just foolish, man, I don't even it sickens me
Speaker 1: that we're still having these conversations. It is. And I
Speaker 1: might add where I really, really, really really really was
Speaker 1: wrong was I felt like I, as a black man
Speaker 1: committed to the black community, came to members of the
Speaker 1: black community and I'm being completely transparent because you're my guy.
Speaker 1: I felt like I would be able to get from
Speaker 1: black legislators, um, black wealthy people the kind of support
Speaker 1: that our children need. And let me be clear, They're
Speaker 1: not putting any money in my pocket. They're not increasing
Speaker 1: my salary. They don't make my house bigger at all. Actually,
Speaker 1: when they give money to us, when they create legislation
Speaker 1: that creates more opportunities for schools like ours to open,
Speaker 1: my salary does not move, you know, despite my wife's
Speaker 1: interest and son's interest in my salary moving. In fact,
Speaker 1: one of my sons, one of my sons, goes to
Speaker 1: school with a person who runs a large charter network
Speaker 1: and she makes a considerable amount more than I do.
Speaker 1: And he said, he said, see the all time, do
Speaker 1: you ever get frustrated by that? I don't. I didn't
Speaker 1: get into this that I got in because I feel
Speaker 1: so blessed to be a part of our children's lives.
Speaker 1: I can't believe that God wakes me up all the
Speaker 1: people othershan, I'm telling you, I can't and you know this,
Speaker 1: And this is what we talked about. When there's no
Speaker 1: cameras on, nobody watching, there's no bs anything, I can't
Speaker 1: believe that God wake this to uh get part of
Speaker 1: like I just like in this way, it's just the
Speaker 1: most awesome experience. So, I mean, do I enjoy earning
Speaker 1: a living? I do, But I want to make it clear.
Speaker 1: And and and if I made sixty billion dollars doing
Speaker 1: it because I helped kids, would that be a bad thing?
Speaker 1: I mean, be people who do great things. But that's
Speaker 1: not what happens. What actually happens is when they give money,
Speaker 1: when they create legislator shin, it presents opportunities for us
Speaker 1: to be able to serve more children. What that means
Speaker 1: is I can hire more people who can create more
Speaker 1: classrooms so that we can have more children. That's it,
Speaker 1: Dr Berry. When we talk about the five schools that
Speaker 1: you have, this is from my audience who's listening and
Speaker 1: who also are watching, And basically, what is the attendance
Speaker 1: size of the school, what is the age reign of
Speaker 1: the curriculum schedule, the new one that you have and
Speaker 1: the Bronx, how does that work because we know about
Speaker 1: the lottery system to get in? Are they all located
Speaker 1: in the New York Connecticut area where they located these
Speaker 1: five schools they are? Thank you so much for asking
Speaker 1: uh thoughtful question like that because most people don't. UM,
Speaker 1: so we have we have two sites in Connecticut and Bridgeport.
Speaker 1: What we actually three? So if one in Hartford, I'm
Speaker 1: not affiliated with that one anymore. I'll explain to you
Speaker 1: at a moment um. That was the first school. And
Speaker 1: then um, we have two sites in Bridgeport, Connecticut and
Speaker 1: they're about four hundred apiece. And then we have uh
Speaker 1: in Harlem, we have one that will be about eight hundred,
Speaker 1: and then we have one in the Bronx that will
Speaker 1: be about eight hundred. So the one we did in
Speaker 1: Hartford is what was around eight hundreds. So and then
Speaker 1: some of them are broken into multiple sites. So that's
Speaker 1: where the numbers are roughly three thousand. Look and so
Speaker 1: when you when you reach them, there's as three thousand
Speaker 1: students that because you you can the hard students, poverty
Speaker 1: driven students, So three thousand students that you're given a
Speaker 1: different way of life. They wouldn't have that different way
Speaker 1: of life academically if you didn't have a vision or
Speaker 1: feel blessed to get up. It's not about the money,
Speaker 1: It's about providing an opportunity and escape to a better life.
Speaker 1: Basically what you're doing with these students and their families too,
Speaker 1: because the kids ben afair, they they do the things
Speaker 1: they're supposed to, go to college, hopefully can pay it
Speaker 1: forward and go pick their family and move them forward
Speaker 1: as well. That's your dream, politicians. People who think they
Speaker 1: are undertones of greed tied to this, what do you
Speaker 1: what do you do want out of it? Those those
Speaker 1: frustrating lanes, But then you see the results, the students
Speaker 1: who have left your school. How does that make you feel? Again?
Speaker 1: So this weekend, great question great questions. So this weekend
Speaker 1: I went to two graduation parties, college graduation parties and
Speaker 1: they have have those parents one one graduation I went
Speaker 1: to UM, then way graduated from Cton Hall and UM
Speaker 1: to have the parents who are no longer together actually
Speaker 1: recently divorced, to have them each separately come over to
Speaker 1: me and thank me. I don't feel worthy. Um, it's
Speaker 1: what I honestly feel when Dad came over to me
Speaker 1: and he said, you know, she couldn't have done around
Speaker 1: you as a brother. Come on, I'm just a spectator.
Speaker 1: And it's like, no, you know school, and I appreciate it,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna I'm gonna thank you for the flowers
Speaker 1: that you're giving me while I'm still up here, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna appreciate that. But I current, come on, this
Speaker 1: is this. No person can do this. This is not
Speaker 1: what people can do. This is God so um. But
Speaker 1: what you know, Dr Perry, Dr Perry, I can stop
Speaker 1: you right there because I know it a long time,
Speaker 1: because you are and I've always criticized you for your humbleness.
Speaker 1: You know, you know you are a vessel. It is
Speaker 1: God's work. But you get up. I know your wife,
Speaker 1: I know your boys. They sacrifice. Okay, this at a time,
Speaker 1: you're going the road to speak to kids that you
Speaker 1: don't know. I've seen it. You go to camps hot
Speaker 1: in the summer talking to boys you don't know, trying
Speaker 1: to just give them a nugget of information that would
Speaker 1: change their life. And so I got the humble this.
Speaker 1: But they are right, You're that blessing. You're that, You're
Speaker 1: you're the kid. You're the kid who grew up become
Speaker 1: a man and said, no, somebody want to make a difference,
Speaker 1: and that difference has to be in other people. So
Speaker 1: what triggered that? That's what I need to know? What
Speaker 1: triggered that? I appreciate that I, as you know, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm wickedly competitive. I understand somebody has to lose. It
Speaker 1: just never has to be made. So um So for me,
Speaker 1: I want to be the when this thing is done,
Speaker 1: when when the box is mine and the dirt drums
Speaker 1: on top of it. I want to be the best
Speaker 1: who's ever done. I don't, I don't. I want to.
Speaker 1: That will be evidence that I took what a little
Speaker 1: bit that I came into the game with and and
Speaker 1: I flipped it. You know, I look at cats who
Speaker 1: who are comparably positioned in their industry, who do things
Speaker 1: differently different than I do, who earned you know, who
Speaker 1: do something different than I do, Because you mean, I
Speaker 1: see where they are and I think I want to
Speaker 1: be even them. Yes, but but the beating part is
Speaker 1: less about ego and more about service, meaning that when
Speaker 1: I win, we win. But one of the things I've
Speaker 1: always appreciated about you, Jean, is that you are committed
Speaker 1: to extending blessings to other people, to give and give
Speaker 1: opportunities to other cats and identify talented individuals and help
Speaker 1: them build whatever it is that they have and and
Speaker 1: have that turn into something meaningful. Um. When when you're
Speaker 1: that kind of person, you build a team of people
Speaker 1: who will always be there for you. And so to
Speaker 1: your point, um, my farewell wells comments to the first
Speaker 1: school that we were at, the school that we founded, Um,
Speaker 1: when I left, what I said, my sons attend my schools,
Speaker 1: and UM, what I said was thank you to them
Speaker 1: for all of the nights that you went to bed
Speaker 1: and I wasn't there, all the morning that you woke
Speaker 1: up and I wasn't there. And that my hope and
Speaker 1: prayer is that one day, when you feel like I'm
Speaker 1: the worst human being on earth, you would come across
Speaker 1: somebody who will take the time to say thank you
Speaker 1: for the time that you contributed to my life by
Speaker 1: allowing your father to help us to build the schools
Speaker 1: in our community. I mean, one of the things that
Speaker 1: tripped me, Iris Shaun, is I don't understand how people
Speaker 1: do when I don't how people do what I do
Speaker 1: could ever be seen as controversial. I don't know what's
Speaker 1: controversy sure about black people open up schools in the
Speaker 1: black community, except for the fact that it's black people
Speaker 1: open up schools in the black community, which means sensibly
Speaker 1: self determination. It means that whenout waiting for him, I'm
Speaker 1: not asking, but I'm not asking anybody permission. I don't
Speaker 1: ask who we're writing curriculum. IDEM say, do you think
Speaker 1: it's gonna offend people? As anybody not? That's not my problem,
Speaker 1: doesn't defend me, even you. They don't go send your
Speaker 1: child in my school. Well, you know. The beauty of
Speaker 1: you Dr Steve Perry one of the leading voices, uh,
Speaker 1: you know when he says that by his sons. I
Speaker 1: remember it was a run dad. Every year I watched
Speaker 1: them grow, you know, I watched them grow everything pop
Speaker 1: up annual sophomore year, you know, you know, and go
Speaker 1: to the camps and Steve Harvey and then go to
Speaker 1: the Dreams Academy. So at least twice a year watching
Speaker 1: brow up, you know. And the beauty of that is
Speaker 1: that respect. They understood their dad, They understood the small
Speaker 1: they knew the value of effort. They knew the value
Speaker 1: of making a difference. And when I look at you
Speaker 1: and I look at the progress that you made as
Speaker 1: a person I've honestly met, is that you know, we
Speaker 1: we the television route has been made available to you.
Speaker 1: You just did the Fix My Life episode series, uh
Speaker 1: last season? Where is that in your life? Is is
Speaker 1: being on television a new priority or what's going on
Speaker 1: in your life from a television perspective? Dr Stevens, You know,
Speaker 1: television for me is a vehicle to tell the story
Speaker 1: of the work that we're doing in the community, as
Speaker 1: you know, and what your viewers are getting access to
Speaker 1: is the kind of conversation that you and I have
Speaker 1: had two or three hundred times. It's the same conversation
Speaker 1: where you know, you've seen people present me with TV
Speaker 1: projects and I've never I don't turn them down. It's
Speaker 1: not my thing. But my focus is primarily on running
Speaker 1: the schools. I know that's crazy for some people who
Speaker 1: whose air is to be seen by people, but I
Speaker 1: know that there's another side to that, and there's a
Speaker 1: cost to that as well as you well know. And
Speaker 1: you can't undring that bell. Uh So I am so
Speaker 1: grateful to uh Ayana and Oprah for the opportunity and
Speaker 1: the opportunities. You also know this, you never know what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen with televisions. So the conversation is I'll put
Speaker 1: it this way, and you know you understand this as well.
Speaker 1: I'll be as specific as I can without getting myself
Speaker 1: jammed up. Um, there is fevered conversation between a number
Speaker 1: of entities as to what to do because there's there's
Speaker 1: been a there's been a long interest from our backs
Speaker 1: when we did, say my son of extending that work.
Speaker 1: There are people who are still very interested in that.
Speaker 1: Some of those people in the posistence of power at networks,
Speaker 1: some of them are at streaming services, and I think
Speaker 1: that they wanted to see how how the most recent
Speaker 1: you know, I don't want to see if I still
Speaker 1: got it, but they wanted to see it again in person,
Speaker 1: so they got to see that again. And UM, I
Speaker 1: think that I think that the open win Free Network,
Speaker 1: among others, I'm going to be really frank with you,
Speaker 1: I think that the OPRAH Win Free Network among others,
Speaker 1: UM saw the Universal University positive reaction to the work.
Speaker 1: I think that people were I think I'll just tell
Speaker 1: you what people said, the internet was a buzz with
Speaker 1: very very very high positive and you know how hard
Speaker 1: that is to achieve, you know, because we know where
Speaker 1: we're going. Everybody sees you serious. You are a fun guy.
Speaker 1: You know we're we're realist. You smile, you know, you're
Speaker 1: like you know, you know where the party is. So
Speaker 1: so I know that you you gotta keep in looping
Speaker 1: this because I'm telling you, man, I cannot let them
Speaker 1: not see the three the full three sixty of you.
Speaker 1: You know, yes your passion, Yes you're driven to change.
Speaker 1: But man, come on, now, can we see you smile
Speaker 1: on tv dtry? Can we see that? We see that?
Speaker 1: What you know when it's just you know what it
Speaker 1: is is it's hard to smile. What I'm trying to
Speaker 1: save the kids, and that's usually what you get to
Speaker 1: see me do. Um, But they don't get to see.
Speaker 1: They don't get to see uh us in Hot Texas
Speaker 1: just sitting back cooking meat and laughing for hours, literally
Speaker 1: trying not to get eaten by every on earth. Um.
Speaker 1: They don't see that because it's just not an opportunity.
Speaker 1: But listen to me when I say that. When I
Speaker 1: say that, the reason I'm dropping that into your conversation
Speaker 1: because that's you. Because see what happens, what happens with
Speaker 1: producers see things a certain way because that's their mind.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you you change lives on the different levels.
Speaker 1: You can smile and change a child's life. I've seen
Speaker 1: you do that on a regular basis. I've seen you
Speaker 1: at Disney, I've seen you at Camp. I've seen you
Speaker 1: an other speaking opportunities. We smiled, we walked in the room,
Speaker 1: We make a decision. I'm just telling you, if that
Speaker 1: television opportunity presents itself, please be you at all levels.
Speaker 1: And I appreciate you saying that one of the challenges.
Speaker 1: So again, let's just have a real conversation. So one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why the TV one thing didn't work
Speaker 1: out is because I couldn't do what I think they
Speaker 1: wanted me to do, which is to get up in
Speaker 1: boys chests and and dumn love. I don't talk the
Speaker 1: kids like that. I don't. I don't the kids like that.
Speaker 1: I'll talk to mine like that sometimes, but not everybody else's.
Speaker 1: And I can take liberties with mine because the mine,
Speaker 1: but I don't even take I'll try to avoid take
Speaker 1: them even with them, because nobody responds really well to that.
Speaker 1: I say all that to say, one of the challenges
Speaker 1: there is about capturing that part of the nuances of
Speaker 1: my personality. They wanted something I didn't have. Similarly when Fox,
Speaker 1: when I was doing the daytime piece with Fox, then
Speaker 1: they it's it's like the poles. They either want the
Speaker 1: the you know, like I'll bust your ass kind of
Speaker 1: uh Joe Clarkey guy. The other one they want is
Speaker 1: this goofy Wayne Brady character. And I'm not Dissa Wayne Brady,
Speaker 1: but you understand what I'm saying, Like it's just this
Speaker 1: goofy uh amorphous you know, you can tell these African
Speaker 1: American but you're not gonna hear anything about his cultural
Speaker 1: underpinnings as they relate to come through. They wanted me
Speaker 1: to be something that almost was Kelly Clarkson slash. Ellen asked,
Speaker 1: and sure, we can have those kinds of conversations, No
Speaker 1: doubt that's what you and I would do. We have
Speaker 1: those kinds of conversations. But I'm not silly. You understand
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like, I'm not a silly person. That's
Speaker 1: I'm just not, never have been, never will be um.
Speaker 1: There are different ways in which we can laugh and
Speaker 1: be relatable that are still respectful of who we are
Speaker 1: a man. You're not a silly. I don't anybody wants
Speaker 1: say rashan silly like that ridiculous. You know, if you laugh,
Speaker 1: you joke, anybody call you still. You are serious cat.
Speaker 1: It's been a lot of time in making people laugh
Speaker 1: for a living, but it's serious about your business absolutely.
Speaker 1: You know. The thing about it we're gonna wrap up
Speaker 1: here is that because I want to talk to some
Speaker 1: stuff offline as well about this, because you're right, that's
Speaker 1: my life. My life is about shaping people's opportunities. My
Speaker 1: life is about giving you some stuff that may not
Speaker 1: even benefit me. And when I look at you, you've
Speaker 1: always been a benefit not only to me, but the
Speaker 1: people around me and the people that I invited you
Speaker 1: into the world to make a change. Like to Steve Perry,
Speaker 1: your blessing brother. Your family is a blessing, and the
Speaker 1: fact you have five schools is going to be more.
Speaker 1: And when you leave this earth, you will be that
Speaker 1: game changer. You will be that competitive guy that said
Speaker 1: I made a difference, and then people will show up
Speaker 1: and show you as they line up and walk past
Speaker 1: that casket and tell you thank you, and cry and
Speaker 1: and remember that he made a difference in my life,
Speaker 1: my children's life, and my grandparents life and made create
Speaker 1: the nixt lefigacy of growth and the opportunity for kids
Speaker 1: who didn't have it. And just seeing you, man, I'm
Speaker 1: just telling your brother, you're special. You've always been special
Speaker 1: to me, man. And we don't talk enough. I will
Speaker 1: tell you that I will be ill, be remissing not
Speaker 1: saying that, and we need to start talking more. Let's
Speaker 1: do it. And Okay, it's gonna happen as soon as
Speaker 1: I hang up this this call. Here, my brother with you,
Speaker 1: this video show, we're gonna talk some more. There. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna thank you for coming on money making conversations. Okay, alright, pleasure.
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