Speaker 1: Piece of the planet, Charlemagne the God here, and you
Speaker 1: don't want to miss Hello Somebody with Senator Nina Turner
Speaker 1: on The Black Effect podcast Network. I love Hello Somebody
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Speaker 1: Girls in the Forest, our imagination and our family bonds.
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Speaker 1: The Black Effect presents features honest conversations and exclusive interviews,
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Speaker 1: listen to The Black Effect Presented podcast on I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast Welcome to
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she has the
Speaker 1: secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and Brandon expert
Speaker 1: Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me advice on
Speaker 1: many occasions. In occasion didn't notice I'm not broke. You
Speaker 1: know He'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision makers.
Speaker 1: It's what he likes to do, it's what he likes
Speaker 1: to share. Now it's time to hear from my man,
Speaker 1: Rashan McDonald money making conversations. Here we go work with
Speaker 1: money making conversation at me. A host from Sean McDonald
Speaker 1: was time to stop reading other people's success stories. I
Speaker 1: said that all the time every episode, and start writing
Speaker 1: your own. You have to understand it's about you. It's
Speaker 1: about your efforts, about your planning. And people always talk
Speaker 1: about the gifts and purpose. I always tell people, if
Speaker 1: you have a gift, lead with it and don't let
Speaker 1: your age, friends, family, or cowork stop you from planning
Speaker 1: or living your dreams. On my show, interview celebrity CEOs,
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and people I like to call industry decision makers.
Speaker 1: My next guest is a graduate of an HBCU Howard University,
Speaker 1: Leonard Robinson. He's an actor, writer, stand up comedian and
Speaker 1: has a degree and management information system. Boy, you can
Speaker 1: be employed anywhere in this world with a degree like that.
Speaker 1: This year, Leondard is currently appearing on the fifth and
Speaker 1: final season of HBC et HBOS Insecure, where he's required
Speaker 1: his very popular character. The Emmy winning HBO comedy Says
Speaker 1: Insecure airs every Sunday night, ten pm Eastern Standard time,
Speaker 1: nine pm Central. We'll be talking about Leardar's career pursuing acting, writing,
Speaker 1: and stand up. Lendar's a company member of the ground
Speaker 1: Links famed sketch comedy and improv troupe, and also as
Speaker 1: a cast member on MPTVS from My Board Nick Cannon's
Speaker 1: Wild and Up. Please welcome to money Making Conversation from
Speaker 1: Howard Universe to Hollywood. Leonard Robinson, how are you doing, sir?
Speaker 1: How you doing? Brother? I'm gonna meet you. Well, you're Connecticut,
Speaker 1: and then that's where that's where the all started, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Originally I'm from Danbury, Connecticut. Spent a little time in Tokyo,
Speaker 1: and uh went to Howard and really kind of found
Speaker 1: myself and found my place and purpose over at Howard University,
Speaker 1: and and then moved to New York, came to Los
Speaker 1: Angeles and and now I'm here. Well, you know, literally,
Speaker 1: I gotta slowly done. He just ran through your whole life. Man,
Speaker 1: your life is really interesting. You got judo in your background,
Speaker 1: you got rastling in your background. You didn't want to
Speaker 1: get into that whole aspect until you got to college.
Speaker 1: So slow that, you know, because that's what this show
Speaker 1: is all about, because your your your resume proves to
Speaker 1: be that people who expect certain people to do certain
Speaker 1: things when they are hit in that direction, and you
Speaker 1: altered that direction. Why did you alter the direction? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, growing up in a small town like Danbury, Uh,
Speaker 1: there wasn't a lot of outlets for people who want
Speaker 1: to act and be creative in that space. And also
Speaker 1: I had parents, you know where where that that was
Speaker 1: unfamiliar to them. So it's hard to encourage your children
Speaker 1: to do something you're unfamiliar with. And so I dabbled
Speaker 1: in it as much as I could in UM in Danbury.
Speaker 1: But I actually got into you know, very active in sports,
Speaker 1: very active and wrestling in judo and and for a time,
Speaker 1: you know, that was that was my focus. Uh. But
Speaker 1: when I went to Howard, uh you know, wrestled for
Speaker 1: a very brief time at Howard UM. When I got
Speaker 1: to Howard, also you know, majored in business, so you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's years and years of not necessarily pursuing my
Speaker 1: passion and what I wanted to do. However, I think
Speaker 1: all those things I did in between, or or the
Speaker 1: reason why I'm able to keep doing what I do now,
Speaker 1: or reason why they you know, that makes me successful.
Speaker 1: You know, the discipline and and focused I learned training
Speaker 1: for wrestling and judo, it's the same kind of discipline
Speaker 1: and focus that I bring into acting and entertainment. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, some night, everybody who wrestled could that, you know,
Speaker 1: just like everybody wrapped and sing. So you just talented,
Speaker 1: my brother, let's go. We can throw that focus in there, Leonard.
Speaker 1: But you got talent. Okay, let's go appreciate, let's go.
Speaker 1: Let's go. And I like to separate people and give
Speaker 1: him credit because a lot of people want to just
Speaker 1: slide that well, you know he's focused. You know, well
Speaker 1: he can run for a touchdown. No, Now, that guy
Speaker 1: who ran for that touchdown, that's his skill, that's his
Speaker 1: that's his blessing, that's that's what enables him to be great.
Speaker 1: And then in reading your your resume and your bio,
Speaker 1: you know, like My degree was in mathematics, My minder
Speaker 1: was in sociology. And I went to work for IBM,
Speaker 1: and everybody thought I was gonna, you know, live a life.
Speaker 1: I thought I was gonna live a life and as
Speaker 1: a career as an IBM executive. And but then I
Speaker 1: realized that wasn't me. It was realized that you know,
Speaker 1: it was it was, it was. It wasn't creative enough
Speaker 1: for me. I think that was my turning point. I
Speaker 1: realized that I was going to be boxed in one
Speaker 1: day and I was not going to be happy with
Speaker 1: my life. Was what did you? Was that a similar
Speaker 1: tone with you? Oh? I mean my father worked for
Speaker 1: IBM over twenty three years, and uh, you know, that's
Speaker 1: why we spent a little time in Tokyo. Was transferred
Speaker 1: into transferred Tokyo for three and a half years. So
Speaker 1: it was it's in my it was in my blood,
Speaker 1: just to you know, be familiar with computers and business.
Speaker 1: So you know, My undergrad was in Management Information Systems UM.
Speaker 1: I ended up programming and doing systems administration work out
Speaker 1: of college for a little bit. And the story I
Speaker 1: always tell is I switched to a small boutique consulting firm,
Speaker 1: and I was doing a lot of back end programming,
Speaker 1: you know, making websites basically is the short of it.
Speaker 1: You know, all the all the engine that runs a
Speaker 1: website that you don't see, and working long, long hours.
Speaker 1: You know, an average was fourteen hours a day. And
Speaker 1: it was one day when our project had stopped and
Speaker 1: we're waiting for another project and I had we had
Speaker 1: nothing to do for weeks, and I was literally banging
Speaker 1: my head on the desk saying, what am I doing here?
Speaker 1: This is not or I'm supposed to be? What do
Speaker 1: I need to do? And about the fourth bang, I
Speaker 1: just popped up. I was like, I can quit. And
Speaker 1: it's such a simple thing. But you know, for a
Speaker 1: lot of people, you get put on a program, you
Speaker 1: get on a put in on a path, and you think, well,
Speaker 1: this is what I'm supposed to do. You know I was.
Speaker 1: I went to Howard University, I studied business, you know,
Speaker 1: I pledge to MAGA Side five became the bost list
Speaker 1: of our chapter. I served uh Undergraduate Supreme Council. Like
Speaker 1: I was very Everything I was doing was related to business.
Speaker 1: It was it was about you know, organization and leadership,
Speaker 1: and you know it It's something I had an aptitude for,
Speaker 1: but I didn't have a passion for so even even
Speaker 1: throughout all that, I was always you know, in addition
Speaker 1: to you know, the funny guy, you know, cracking jokes
Speaker 1: in the office, or I would take acting classes. Uh
Speaker 1: and you know, after work, I'd go take an acting class,
Speaker 1: and that's where I felt more alive, That's where I
Speaker 1: felt more in line. But I had already invested so
Speaker 1: much time into doing something else. I didn't think that
Speaker 1: there was an alternative until I can make that choice
Speaker 1: and say, no, I'm gonna make this choice today, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna you know, I'd rather put in eighteen fourteen
Speaker 1: hours for myself and figure this out, then put in
Speaker 1: another fourteen eighteen hours for some other company, you know,
Speaker 1: to make them successful. You know, it's really interesting because
Speaker 1: when I was reading your bio, because a lot of
Speaker 1: your qualities with similar to eyes. I remember when I
Speaker 1: was a freshman in college, I looked at managing information
Speaker 1: system as an option. You know, It's a degree option
Speaker 1: that eventually just wound up in mathematic I went through
Speaker 1: civil engineering and the chemical engineer, and then I wind
Speaker 1: up in mathematics and minded out of sociology. But you
Speaker 1: know when you're doing these things, man, that's an African American.
Speaker 1: You know, you're just trying to get out. You're trying
Speaker 1: to just build. You're trying to fit in. You're trying
Speaker 1: to fit in the white community as well, because you're
Speaker 1: trying to get that nice house, that nice car, and
Speaker 1: this is the way we've been told you can get there.
Speaker 1: And so when you are altering that, like you said
Speaker 1: early in the interview, a lot of people don't understand
Speaker 1: Leonard that, Okay, you know what a stand up comedy
Speaker 1: does to make money. They understand what the engineer does,
Speaker 1: they understand what a bank teller does. But with all
Speaker 1: what I told my family and friends I was gonna
Speaker 1: leave to pursue a career as a stand up comedian,
Speaker 1: I couldn't even tell him how it's gonna make money, Okay,
Speaker 1: but I do. That's what I wanted to do. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. You know what I'm talking about learning?
Speaker 1: You know, you just know that's what you wanna do.
Speaker 1: You're gonna throw you have a plan of action, you
Speaker 1: have a passion that you're driven to. But then again,
Speaker 1: you know we're talking about insecure. But you've been on
Speaker 1: n C I S, n C I S, you know,
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, You've been on Young Shelton. So your resume
Speaker 1: is not just tied to the interview that I'm bringing
Speaker 1: you on the shore about that. Success allows you to
Speaker 1: go back to your family. Your friends really understood why
Speaker 1: you made that decision. How did that how did it
Speaker 1: look at you now? Well, it's it's it's funny because
Speaker 1: for years, my mother would always say something like, well,
Speaker 1: you know when time's when times got hard, and I
Speaker 1: would tell her, like, you know, it's a little rough
Speaker 1: out here right now. You would always say, you know,
Speaker 1: you can go back to grad school, and I was like,
Speaker 1: for what like and it would just be years and
Speaker 1: years of that. And but now you know people you know,
Speaker 1: I think jay Z said something like, when you first
Speaker 1: come in the game, they try to play you, then
Speaker 1: you drop a couple of hits. Look out that wait
Speaker 1: you to you Right, That's kind of where it is
Speaker 1: right now. Like now it's you know, there's no way
Speaker 1: I can go get a job and anybody's corporation doing
Speaker 1: I T work. I've been out the business. I've been
Speaker 1: out that business too long. I have no idea, what
Speaker 1: how they do things? Um, you know today it's it's
Speaker 1: something that I would, you know, maybe have a thirty
Speaker 1: minute conversation with somebody about me like oh that's interesting, cool,
Speaker 1: and then go about and go about my business. Um.
Speaker 1: So yeah. I mean when you when you make when
Speaker 1: you do things that seem impossible or try to do
Speaker 1: things that seem impossible to people, the first instinct, I
Speaker 1: think is to call them crazy. And that's what I experienced.
Speaker 1: You know, when I quit my job and I laughed,
Speaker 1: a lot of people called me crazy. Well, a lot
Speaker 1: of people have thought you crazy when your players to
Speaker 1: make Us out Fire. You know a lot of people
Speaker 1: thought I was crazy. You know, they were going, why
Speaker 1: why why? What was the ration there behind that? But
Speaker 1: I would tell you this, it changed my life. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get to be just on this conversation. I
Speaker 1: was just flowing through college with no direction, uh Leonard
Speaker 1: and and and I just I saw a goal I
Speaker 1: saw I needed to go. I needed a platform where
Speaker 1: I could um start start moving my life forward. And
Speaker 1: when I played Still make Us out of Fire and
Speaker 1: moved my life forward and then got me into the community,
Speaker 1: and it changed my whole perspective and the values I
Speaker 1: have by pleasure in fratern That's why I always recommend
Speaker 1: people whatever for turns you played or whatever soarder you played,
Speaker 1: it can be a blessing if you understand why you
Speaker 1: did it, why did you pledge fraternity and that paternity
Speaker 1: of charts was or make us out fire? Well, I
Speaker 1: I come from a long line of Black Greeks. You know.
Speaker 1: My great grandmother, Um Jesse Halfcock, founded a chapter in
Speaker 1: in in Daton, Ohio. She's a building named after her
Speaker 1: at University of Dayton. So there's a long history a
Speaker 1: Ks on that side of the family. My father was
Speaker 1: a Kappa, my my uncle is is an omega from
Speaker 1: Fisk and Um that was just kind of not really
Speaker 1: a question for me, to be honest. As a kid,
Speaker 1: I saw always saw my uncle's brand on his arm,
Speaker 1: and I just I was just like, yeah, I want
Speaker 1: to get one of those. I don't even know what
Speaker 1: it was. So your dad didn't have the diamond, he
Speaker 1: didn't have the diamond? Yeah, I mean yeah, I had
Speaker 1: my dad been branded, I might have been a cap
Speaker 1: I don't know now, But you were something you weren't right.
Speaker 1: But look, there was something about about the Omega's that
Speaker 1: you know, my first week on campus, I went to
Speaker 1: a I went to an Omega party at Alpha Chapter
Speaker 1: and at our at the frat house, and I stayed
Speaker 1: all night. I partied like I was one of the brothers,
Speaker 1: and I said, I don't know what the as is,
Speaker 1: but I need to be part of this. And then,
Speaker 1: as you know, you do more research and you get
Speaker 1: more into it, You're like, oh, well this is way
Speaker 1: more in line with you know, what I think my
Speaker 1: values are, what I think my principles are, and so
Speaker 1: I'm gonna strive to that. And and some of my
Speaker 1: best friends you know still to this day, you know,
Speaker 1: are from that era of my line brothers and and
Speaker 1: other friend brothers and and just aside on you know,
Speaker 1: my path into entertainment. You know, I credit one of
Speaker 1: my chapter brothers, Buddy Lewis UM eighty four Alpha Chapter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well you know Buddy. Then Buddy, Buddy, when I was
Speaker 1: in the undergrad um kind of set me up and
Speaker 1: gave me my game plan because I came out to
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, UH to visit this conclave and stayed with
Speaker 1: him for a day and he took me around and
Speaker 1: showed me how you know, what his life was like
Speaker 1: as a stand up And when I went back to Howard,
Speaker 1: I still had about a year and a half left.
Speaker 1: But I knew I wanted to be an actor and
Speaker 1: he's though he was the only person I knew and
Speaker 1: that was in the entertainment business US and he gave
Speaker 1: me basically the foundation um that I needed to to
Speaker 1: create my own blueprint on how to proceed. And without
Speaker 1: his mentorship early on, UM, I don't you know, I
Speaker 1: probably still I probably would be an actor today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but they are definitely no body uh my l A
Speaker 1: day times the l A times is. I remember I
Speaker 1: first met him when he was doing warm up on
Speaker 1: the Steve Harvey sitcom. Um that was on the w B.
Speaker 1: That when I first met buddy and we became friends
Speaker 1: w flowan fraternity brothers. That's the most amazing part of
Speaker 1: that relationship. We will be right back with more money
Speaker 1: making conversation with Rashan McDonald. It's finally here the season
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Speaker 1: grows in the forest trees, Sure no one else grows
Speaker 1: in the forest. Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and
Speaker 1: our family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from
Speaker 1: this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other.
Speaker 1: The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest
Speaker 1: near you and start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot
Speaker 1: Org Brought to you by the United States Forest Service
Speaker 1: and the ad Council what grows in the forest trees.
Speaker 1: Sure you know what else grows in the forest. Our imagination,
Speaker 1: our sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too,
Speaker 1: because when we disconnect from this and connect with this,
Speaker 1: we reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than
Speaker 1: you think. Find a forest near you and start exploring.
Speaker 1: I discover the forest dot Org. Brought to you by
Speaker 1: the United States Forest Service and the AD Council. Now
Speaker 1: let's return to money making conversation with Rashan McDonald. Now,
Speaker 1: let's return to money making conversation with Rashan McDonald's. When
Speaker 1: I think about what you're doing, you know, I thought
Speaker 1: about when I was looking at your resume, not just
Speaker 1: so stand up comedian. Then I realized I did death
Speaker 1: Comedy Jam. I didn't Dame Chappelle. Every spears. Of course,
Speaker 1: it was hosted by Martin Lawrence, and there were there
Speaker 1: were when I when we went on stage, and when
Speaker 1: I went on stage, I didn't have any restrictions in
Speaker 1: my my mind set, you know. And I see how
Speaker 1: stand up has been shaped by a culture, and some
Speaker 1: of its right. Some of we should be much more
Speaker 1: sensitive about how we what we say in the ramifications
Speaker 1: of how people perceive it because people can take what
Speaker 1: you say and shape it to their own personal narrative.
Speaker 1: How as as as a as a as a working
Speaker 1: and acting stand up comedian, how has that affected you
Speaker 1: as far as stand up or maybe maybe not it
Speaker 1: has affected you as a stand up? Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it really hasn't affected me that much because most of
Speaker 1: my comedy is is very personal. It's it's really just
Speaker 1: I'm really just talking about me and things that affected me.
Speaker 1: I think that I think that oftentimes we can stand
Speaker 1: ups want to step into somebody else's conversation, right because
Speaker 1: we see something that's funny or we see an angle.
Speaker 1: But you know, you don't need to pick up every
Speaker 1: every fight, every conversation. You know, you can just let's
Speaker 1: let somebody else carry that, right. That's That's all I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say about that. You know, I don't well, you know,
Speaker 1: I want to get into uh, you know, being a
Speaker 1: comedy police or whatever. But just just know that sometimes
Speaker 1: you can talk about some topics in some areas that
Speaker 1: affect other people deeply and it's not your fight. Well,
Speaker 1: you know something, I'm not don't even guiding you into
Speaker 1: this conversation. Learning about being a comedy police. It is
Speaker 1: about certain things of having a certain amount of freedom
Speaker 1: that I had in ninty two that today I would
Speaker 1: have to think about that joke, that is that joke worth?
Speaker 1: It is that joke worthy the consequences that might come
Speaker 1: out of it, you know, and uh, and and and
Speaker 1: so now you know, we see it's impacting various comics
Speaker 1: over the last five to ten years who have been
Speaker 1: who have done jokes in that nature that affected their
Speaker 1: careers as well as how people perceive them as a
Speaker 1: talent moving forward. And my whole thing, it didn't affect
Speaker 1: me because, like you, I was always talking about lifestyle,
Speaker 1: my journey, my personal I never went into social areas
Speaker 1: of concern and nature is like that. But it is
Speaker 1: different though, But doing stand up comedy is different today.
Speaker 1: Would you would you? Would you agree? Well, outside of
Speaker 1: just stand up, I mean, the world is different right now.
Speaker 1: You know, people are becoming more educated and and more
Speaker 1: informed on a lot more issues than they had to
Speaker 1: be in the past, and with that requires a certain
Speaker 1: amount of growth on your part as the artist and
Speaker 1: new creative. Two. Understand where the world is right now,
Speaker 1: the temperature of the world, and decide are you gonna
Speaker 1: grow with it or are you gonna draw a line
Speaker 1: in the sand and say I want to stay right
Speaker 1: here and keep saying these things? You know, you see
Speaker 1: it politically? Uh, you know the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: the whole America first, bring back, bring back the good
Speaker 1: old days? What it's like. Well when you say things
Speaker 1: like that, well good for who? But you know, um,
Speaker 1: because because because the words that you're using don't sound
Speaker 1: like it's gonna be good for me. Yes, yes, yes, uh.
Speaker 1: You know. The the interesting thing about this whole world
Speaker 1: we live in is that you know the opportunity to
Speaker 1: come into your life that make a game changing role
Speaker 1: play in your life. And I'm gonna say Insecure, Leonard,
Speaker 1: your your appearance and because you did Wild and Out
Speaker 1: and I want to talk about that with Nick Cannon
Speaker 1: and Nick Cannad's a very good friend of mine as well.
Speaker 1: But but Insecure is a is a groundbreaking series. You
Speaker 1: know it airs on HBO. I saw that. I saw
Speaker 1: the new season that aired, uh last night and let
Speaker 1: just say last night, the first of the fifth and
Speaker 1: final season. How did you get cast on that? And
Speaker 1: how did the opportunity to come you away? As far
Speaker 1: as an audition well, I was really fortunate in that respect.
Speaker 1: And then I started auditioning way back in the you know,
Speaker 1: at the pilot level, and I auditioned uh and tested
Speaker 1: for the pilot and then that didn't work out, and
Speaker 1: then they brought me back in for another role when
Speaker 1: the when the show got picked up, and that didn't
Speaker 1: work out, and it brought me back in for about
Speaker 1: two or three more roles after that before I landed
Speaker 1: the Royal Torre and Jackson. So I really credit his
Speaker 1: is IRAEI apprentice um for just having the determination, I
Speaker 1: want to say, on their part, to to work me
Speaker 1: into the show some kind of way. You know, often
Speaker 1: as actors we always say like, you know, don't worry
Speaker 1: about trying to book the job, try to work the
Speaker 1: you know, book the room so that they know who
Speaker 1: you are and they'll find something for you, or you know,
Speaker 1: just do your best. But I think in short, it's
Speaker 1: you know what, it's for you, It's for you, and
Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about anything else other than that. Well,
Speaker 1: you know what, you know, what makes that show work
Speaker 1: for me is that and I think that's why you know,
Speaker 1: the kip bringing you back, you know, and they said, well,
Speaker 1: well he doesn't fit this character. We'd be like like
Speaker 1: shoving mentor a role that really doesn't blend because the
Speaker 1: characters makes sense on that show. You know, when you
Speaker 1: look at that person, that that person should be that person,
Speaker 1: you know, And so your character was the same way
Speaker 1: as a character that made sense for that whole thing.
Speaker 1: And so when you got the opportunity to get on
Speaker 1: the set and started seeing people react to your character,
Speaker 1: what was the biggest thing that you felt excited about
Speaker 1: and being, um, you know, featured on Insecure and then
Speaker 1: being recognized as a talent that's also built in the
Speaker 1: cash of Insecure. Yeah, I mean I came on season
Speaker 1: three and uh, you know, waiting for the reaction and uh,
Speaker 1: I'm just going you know the way the way I
Speaker 1: feel about it. You know, these roles, whatever you take on,
Speaker 1: try to do your best, just to play it to
Speaker 1: the to the best of your ability. And then the
Speaker 1: audience reaction is whatever. People can feel any kind of
Speaker 1: way about whatever the character is. As long as you
Speaker 1: feel something, I'm I'm happy. So I don't mind if
Speaker 1: it's polarizing for some people, but it just you know,
Speaker 1: as long as I'm part of the conversation, I'm glad,
Speaker 1: But outside of that, I'm just you know, and I've
Speaker 1: said this many many times, I'm just blessed and feel
Speaker 1: fortunate to be included in this world and this universe
Speaker 1: because this show is so game changing and impactful for
Speaker 1: so many different reasons, um, largely off the screen, um.
Speaker 1: And it's just to be a part of that thing,
Speaker 1: that movement if I feel blessed like they they've They've
Speaker 1: launched the careers of so many different people behind the camera,
Speaker 1: and that's just gonna further. You know, they planted these
Speaker 1: seeds all all across the industry right now and just
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna take a little bit more time, but
Speaker 1: a lot of them are already started to grow and read.
Speaker 1: But you know, five ten years, fifteen years from now,
Speaker 1: when you see all these executives and producers and directors
Speaker 1: and they talk about how they got their start, a
Speaker 1: lot of them it's going to come back to Insecure, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And that's a beautiful thing. You know that they that
Speaker 1: when they had a show, they didn't just didn't keep
Speaker 1: it to themselves. They opened the door for as many
Speaker 1: people as they hood, and and not only let them
Speaker 1: in but gave them the room to learn and gave
Speaker 1: them the opportunity to thrive. You know, it really interesting
Speaker 1: and and just to bring it back to Nick Cannon,
Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of parallels between that and
Speaker 1: what he does. He's been doing so well. You know,
Speaker 1: I was going to go to a couple of things
Speaker 1: that I can't do that you do very well. That's
Speaker 1: improv and act. I can't act. I am very I
Speaker 1: was amazingly funny on stage. You know, I noticed near
Speaker 1: bio you you're writer. I was a sitcom right, very
Speaker 1: successful a sitcom writer. But the whole aspect of improving,
Speaker 1: which Steve Harvey, who managed, was a brilliant improv person
Speaker 1: and what what just separates the improvisational side Leonard Robinson
Speaker 1: from the acting side. Um, you know they're closely related.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, the the improv aspect of it.
Speaker 1: I do a lot of improv shows at the Groundlings
Speaker 1: Theater and in Los Angeles, and did a lot of
Speaker 1: improv before that. Um, you know, it's just on the fly.
Speaker 1: You know, we're trying, we're trying to make these scenes happen,
Speaker 1: you know, based off of suggestion. Yes, and uh, and
Speaker 1: hope it all works out. So it's a little bit
Speaker 1: more like you know, acting on the edge of a cliff,
Speaker 1: I want to say, then just being on a on
Speaker 1: a set with the script. Yeah, I admire that. And
Speaker 1: then he was on the early years of Wild and Out,
Speaker 1: you know, which is the ultimate, which also is a
Speaker 1: groundbreaking gere as well. And you know, so you have
Speaker 1: to feel blessed about your life, you know, Wild and Out,
Speaker 1: I feel it's the way we have to says the
Speaker 1: longest running black and proversational show in television history. I
Speaker 1: think we can say that. And then the groundbreaking HBO
Speaker 1: series Insecure, uh, telling the life of to African American
Speaker 1: female as they interact between life social dynamics, which is
Speaker 1: groundbreaking as well. So you've you've had a fortunate career
Speaker 1: so far. And with that being said the whole how
Speaker 1: did it being in the early years of the of
Speaker 1: the of Wild and Out to what has become now?
Speaker 1: Talk about that transition and watching that brain grew out
Speaker 1: because you're part of two huge brands in your resume. Yeah, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was really blessed. Uh. You know, it's like that
Speaker 1: you've seen the Internet me, I'm sure, like you know,
Speaker 1: how it started versus how it's going. You know. Uh,
Speaker 1: for me, it's like Wild and I was like how
Speaker 1: it started insecure is now how it's going. And I,
Speaker 1: you know, I have a lot of love and respect
Speaker 1: you know, for Nicking and that show and everybody involved
Speaker 1: in it, because that was for the most part, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was my biggest job that really kind of put
Speaker 1: me in in Hollywood when I hadn't been in the
Speaker 1: l a maybe but six months when I got cast
Speaker 1: on that show. And you know, before that, excuse me,
Speaker 1: before that, I was just focused on honing my craft.
Speaker 1: I was just staying in acting classes, taking a lot
Speaker 1: of improv classes and performing and and doing as much
Speaker 1: stand up as I could. And I wasn't even really
Speaker 1: aggressively trying to get on television. I was just kind
Speaker 1: of building up my skills because when I when an
Speaker 1: opportunity came around, I wanted to be ready for it.
Speaker 1: And that opportunity came around. So being part of the
Speaker 1: original cast the first four seasons of Wild and I
Speaker 1: was a was a real big experience and in a
Speaker 1: big lesson for me. What interesting thing about it is
Speaker 1: that one thing we do share in common is the
Speaker 1: writing aspect. You know, you were be part of the
Speaker 1: CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy showcase and you were in the
Speaker 1: first writer's room. Why writing you know why that why?
Speaker 1: That's that goes back to that logic. I think that's
Speaker 1: in your life, that focused is in your life that
Speaker 1: be ably to understand too. Pless two is four? Is that? What?
Speaker 1: What that would excites you about the writing aspect of
Speaker 1: sitcom writing and especially the comedic side of it. You
Speaker 1: know what's funny is again? And it probably all leads
Speaker 1: back to Buddy Lewis again because when I went when
Speaker 1: I met him in Los Angeles, he was writing. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: he was also doing stand up, but he was also writing.
Speaker 1: And I had a little seed in my in my
Speaker 1: brain and and then somebody else said something about writing
Speaker 1: and being an actor, like you're gonna have to write,
Speaker 1: learn how to write if you really want to show
Speaker 1: people what you can do. And then it's it's one
Speaker 1: of those things where if you try to follow up
Speaker 1: on if the universe, you know, if you see or
Speaker 1: hear things three times from three different places, you know
Speaker 1: the universe is trying to tell you to tap into that.
Speaker 1: And so for me, the writing is is a way
Speaker 1: to make sure that I always have an option on
Speaker 1: bringing my voice and point of view to the world.
Speaker 1: Without that, I'm reliant on somebody else to try and
Speaker 1: create something for me. So I do a great bill.
Speaker 1: I do a great deal of acting. I do a
Speaker 1: great deal of work. That's largely mostly what I do
Speaker 1: in between. I'm writing. In between, I'm i'm, i'm, I'm
Speaker 1: writing and preparing for the next thing. Um, I'm just
Speaker 1: fortunate that I keep getting interrupted by a bunch of
Speaker 1: acting jobs, so the world have to wait a little
Speaker 1: bit longer to see a little all Right, Liza, don't
Speaker 1: used the word interrupted. That's a that's a blessing, that
Speaker 1: that's a that's a that's you want them, you want
Speaker 1: them off the bookies. We don't calling we call them bookies.
Speaker 1: You know. You know that's that old famous c You know,
Speaker 1: you sit around the house and then one day you
Speaker 1: get that phone call, you get three dates as a
Speaker 1: stand up on the same day. You go, hey, what
Speaker 1: were these Why couldn't they be separated week by week
Speaker 1: by week, a month by but by but exactly. But
Speaker 1: you know, man, I'm happy you came on my show
Speaker 1: man because I wanted to hear your story and and
Speaker 1: and I considered some things that you've done a younger
Speaker 1: version of me, and you're doing great and your graduate
Speaker 1: of Howard the players to make a side fire just
Speaker 1: a value system that comes with plays in the fraternity
Speaker 1: of the Sororiti. It's what I push and in fact
Speaker 1: you're starting on the final seat of insecure, keep winning man.
Speaker 1: I would always be a fan of yours, man, if
Speaker 1: you want me to promote, I'm based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 1: So no, you got a frap brother. I know Buddy Lewis.
Speaker 1: If you call Buddy Luis right now, he said nothing
Speaker 1: but positive things about our relationship. So when you come
Speaker 1: through you through Atlanta, Georgia, make sure you stop in
Speaker 1: come by my office and we'll break bread together. Okay,
Speaker 1: no problem. I appreciate it now and I will follow
Speaker 1: up on that. Oh no, I know you will. I
Speaker 1: got I know you will and it guess what I
Speaker 1: aim to please my young friend brother. Okay, I appreciate you. Okay, cool.
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation, Lenda Robinson.
Speaker 1: Thanks for your time. I appreciate if you want to
Speaker 1: hear any of my interviews or see anybody by interviews,
Speaker 1: please go to money Making Conversation dot com. Ra Sean McDonald,
Speaker 1: I am your host. We will be right back with
Speaker 1: more money Making Conversation with Rashan McDonald. And we're live
Speaker 1: here outside the Perez family home, just waiting for the
Speaker 1: And there they go, almost on time. This morning. Mom
Speaker 1: is coming off the front door strong with a double
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Speaker 1: just nailed the perfect car seat buckle for the toddler.
Speaker 1: And now the eldest daughter, who looks to be about
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Speaker 1: Dedad SIPs the bad clothes and they're off. But looks
Speaker 1: like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is still on
Speaker 1: the roof of the car and there it goes. Ah,
Speaker 1: that's a shame that mug was a fan favorite. Don't
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Speaker 1: You are now tuned into the Money Making Conversations Minute
Speaker 1: of Inspiration with Rashan McDonald. All right, on Rashan McDonald
Speaker 1: from Money Making Conversations with your daily Minute of Inspiration.
Speaker 1: TV and film actor, writer director Alan Maldonado was my
Speaker 1: guest on the show that we're talking about his booming career,
Speaker 1: being an entrepreneur and finding the balance. God has given
Speaker 1: me everything I wanted, and it's one of those things
Speaker 1: where it's like, Okay, this is what you been asking
Speaker 1: for for years, Now go do something with it. Um. So,
Speaker 1: just a balance between rests and relaxation has been the
Speaker 1: biggest challenge and the biggest thing that I know is important.
Speaker 1: I burned myself out. I'm not gonna lie, you know,
Speaker 1: So after the quarantine, I really made in my business
Speaker 1: to make sure I have a proper balance between working
Speaker 1: and working extremely hard as I do, and then finding
Speaker 1: time to get those breaks. If you want to listen
Speaker 1: to this poor interview with Alan maulton novel, it's available
Speaker 1: on money Making Conversation dot com. Now let's return to
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversation with Rashan McDonald. My next guest is
Speaker 1: Calvin truittt true. It is a barber to the stars.
Speaker 1: You're hitman and interior designer, creative director and a host
Speaker 1: of a very popular open mic for expiring and established
Speaker 1: artists in Hollywood, Hollywoo. Kevin's clients have included I'm talking
Speaker 1: from the hair standpoint because I can't talk back in
Speaker 1: the day. I used to have a barber like Calvin,
Speaker 1: you know, but I've lost a lot of hair, so
Speaker 1: I just talked to my barb all the time now Commons.
Speaker 1: One of the clients Cigarette Leonard, Wayne Brady, David or Yellowaw,
Speaker 1: Kirk Franklin, the Golden State War, who Golden State War,
Speaker 1: Amber Riley from Glelee from Glee, Dwayne Brown at Officer
Speaker 1: Tackles Seattle, Big Old boyd Sitting in That Chair, and
Speaker 1: comedian Caring Hart to its first Friday's monthly open mic night.
Speaker 1: Artists have included Jordan's Sparks, common Alvonna, Kenny Lattimore, Gary Brower,
Speaker 1: d One and El Gibbards and m Girl Yvonne Orgy
Speaker 1: from Insecure. Kevin fell in love with country music and
Speaker 1: I'm telling that's the whole thing in California now. One
Speaker 1: thing I will understand that California here talking about country
Speaker 1: western music. I'm from hut In, Texas. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about that now. In college doing his long drive
Speaker 1: to visit his family. As a strong spiritual leader in
Speaker 1: his community, he aims to use this unique sound and
Speaker 1: approach to hell and empower others because he's an entrepreneur too.
Speaker 1: As he shares his own life struggles and transitions. He's
Speaker 1: got a reason to sing, y'all, and he's on money
Speaker 1: making Conversation to tell us about it. Please working the
Speaker 1: money making conversation, My man, Calvin Truett, how are you doing, sir?
Speaker 1: And I'm doing wonderful man. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: having me and to the audience of money making Conversations,
Speaker 1: that's great to people. Well, first of all, you know
Speaker 1: Calvin and entrepreneur to my understand, couldn't hair my little backstory,
Speaker 1: my love my younger brother. He spent time in the military.
Speaker 1: He lives in Watchington. The DC has four barber and
Speaker 1: beauty s laws in the DC area. So and when
Speaker 1: COVID hit man, whoa you know, brother, you know I
Speaker 1: like to do with pray for him, you know, And
Speaker 1: then he had to set up all these separations curtiness
Speaker 1: and plastics in this business and had the way to
Speaker 1: get permission because because that type of business was hit
Speaker 1: the hardest, because you had such a close relationship with
Speaker 1: your clients. Tell us about you in the beauty and
Speaker 1: barber business. Tell us about that transition that hit your
Speaker 1: business so hard. When I say transition, we're talking about
Speaker 1: COVID and ainteen pandemic. Tell us about this. Walk us
Speaker 1: back to that a few few months back. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: at that at that point of time, I was in
Speaker 1: the in the management and ownership position in my company. So, UM,
Speaker 1: I had it. I had it made in terms of
Speaker 1: what most barber entrepreneurs want, which is that the shops
Speaker 1: are running themselves because barbers are thriving, the clients are happy. UM.
Speaker 1: And when pandemic hit, I was told we have to
Speaker 1: shut down indefinitely and that UM we had to stay
Speaker 1: six ft apart. As you know, it's impossible to cut
Speaker 1: someone's hair from six ft away. And what that did.
Speaker 1: It put me in a unique position because UM, my
Speaker 1: finances was affected. My passive income. I was used to
Speaker 1: going to the shops and picking up the booth rent
Speaker 1: and um, you know, it presented a moral challenge for me.
Speaker 1: Do I still charge people bootfrint for a booth that
Speaker 1: they cannot use? And in my case, the answer was no.
Speaker 1: I didn't feel like it was right, um And it
Speaker 1: cost me a lot of money. It cost me to
Speaker 1: shut down a few locations. It cost me to reconsider
Speaker 1: how I showed up in the industry at all, because um,
Speaker 1: I felt their pain. I was. I stood behind a
Speaker 1: chair for nineteen years myself, and to um to have
Speaker 1: to pay for a chair that you can't use due
Speaker 1: to pandemic and to be charged forward to me, it
Speaker 1: just was, like I said, morally, uh, not right to
Speaker 1: collect from something that I knew couldn't be used. So
Speaker 1: after a few months of that, like I'm collecting zero,
Speaker 1: but the landlords at the properties, they still needed to
Speaker 1: collect everything. And so it affected my pockets, uh. And
Speaker 1: it affected me mentally too because what I once was,
Speaker 1: um I wasn't that anymore, you know. And yeah, so
Speaker 1: it was a difficult challenge and you know, I definitely
Speaker 1: salute your brother who and many others in this industry
Speaker 1: that had to make those quick adjustments to continue to
Speaker 1: serve the public. And then it kept changing, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So this week it was capacity, next
Speaker 1: week it was um. You have to have up all
Speaker 1: these partitions and and separating devices and cleaning protocol that
Speaker 1: the owners had to spend money on, you know, and
Speaker 1: that money just didn't appear. You know, a lot of
Speaker 1: people had to make sacrifices, um to get those things
Speaker 1: done in hopes of keeping their business running. And then
Speaker 1: the business the laws are changed again and make those
Speaker 1: five percent capacity to no indoor activity in shops around
Speaker 1: the nation, We're putting chairs on the on the outside
Speaker 1: of their premises. But the barbershop culture I come from,
Speaker 1: and people don't pay you to cut their hair outside.
Speaker 1: You know, they pay for the comfort, they pay for
Speaker 1: the camaraderie, they pay for the air conditioning. Even the
Speaker 1: barbers like I can charge them money to cut outside.
Speaker 1: They're not even using electricity. So it was a very
Speaker 1: difficult transition, but but we made it. You know, absolutely,
Speaker 1: I'm talking to the celebrity barber to the stars, uh
Speaker 1: entrepreneur media host. You know. You know the interesting thing
Speaker 1: about being a barber, because you know, I've lived in life.
Speaker 1: I can still remember my first hair cut when my
Speaker 1: my dad said me down, got the ivory leave. That's
Speaker 1: what I got because all my hair off, you know
Speaker 1: a little but you can just see a little hair left.
Speaker 1: That was my first first hair cut. To you guy,
Speaker 1: that got my little part right there. I would looking
Speaker 1: good guy out that chair. Come on, you can tell
Speaker 1: me nothing. Can't we have my little part? I want
Speaker 1: that part probably all the way through middle school if
Speaker 1: I realized I was tired of that part in my half.
Speaker 1: But but you know that, but really being a barber
Speaker 1: in general, because now you went to management that had
Speaker 1: to be uh, that's a good for your career, but
Speaker 1: you still lost some of that camaraderie, that spotlight, that interaction.
Speaker 1: Talk about that transition because you know you can you
Speaker 1: can rise and success, but you can lose something socially
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah. Absolutely. And so there's a scripture that
Speaker 1: comes to mind. Um, Like my faith practice has been Christian,
Speaker 1: and so I read the Bible and Jesus talks about
Speaker 1: these parables and one of them is in the vineyard
Speaker 1: right where the person who plants the vineyard doesn't actually
Speaker 1: work the vineyard, you know what I mean? You plant
Speaker 1: and you leave space for others to come in and
Speaker 1: and and work, work, and receive the benefits of the vineyard.
Speaker 1: And so when I really understood that, it became the
Speaker 1: primary difference between being a business owner and being self employed.
Speaker 1: Being self employed meant that I worked in the venue,
Speaker 1: I owned it, and I worked in. Being a business
Speaker 1: owner meant that I planet the vineyard and I empower
Speaker 1: others to work until the soil of that ground. So
Speaker 1: what it meant for me was another It meant the
Speaker 1: level up for my UM, for my business pursuit. But
Speaker 1: it did cost me social capital. It costs relationships, It
Speaker 1: costs you know, your client, you've been cutting for ten years.
Speaker 1: Now it is calling on you and you are not available,
Speaker 1: um to do that part of what you do anymore,
Speaker 1: you know, And so it does cast you person. For me,
Speaker 1: there were friendships that were built over the of the
Speaker 1: barber shair, you know. And so when I transitioned to
Speaker 1: no longer standing behind the chair, UM, sometimes if the
Speaker 1: friendship was injured. UM. And now I'm at a point
Speaker 1: where so I still cut hair on the side and
Speaker 1: still serving um the clients, and and now I'm doing
Speaker 1: music and I'm having to face that kind of intersection
Speaker 1: where it's like, hey, we love you. We especially love
Speaker 1: you cutting our hair, you know. And and it's it's
Speaker 1: hard sometimes. It takes a lot of bravery on my
Speaker 1: part and a lot of acceptance to just say I
Speaker 1: am choosing to live the life I want to live. Um,
Speaker 1: that's uh. I can important to you, It's important to you.
Speaker 1: It's important to me that everybody needed to some calvi
Speaker 1: and I I you know, I would tell you some
Speaker 1: the only time I cult have, man, I was pleasing
Speaker 1: to make us out fire. And I'm telling man, the
Speaker 1: big brother came to me, Man said cut my hair,
Speaker 1: you know, brother. I'm telling man, my hand was shaking
Speaker 1: so hard. Because you know that edge line that that's
Speaker 1: the key to a great barber. Man, that edge line,
Speaker 1: you know, that separates you, and that's that's where you
Speaker 1: that's where the game changes. I think when you start
Speaker 1: talking about good barbers and great barbers, is that how
Speaker 1: you add that create those edge line what really makes
Speaker 1: a great barber. I guess I should ask you that
Speaker 1: careful because you you get a reputation and then people go, man,
Speaker 1: he cuts because you there is a difference. Now. But
Speaker 1: I'm gonna step back and just tell you about my
Speaker 1: bad experience didn't go well because I was I was
Speaker 1: pledging and I was trying to cut a big brother
Speaker 1: who really did can't think about me? So I never
Speaker 1: was gonna win in the haircut business, and I shouldn't
Speaker 1: have been trying to cut it there anyway when they
Speaker 1: asked me to. But you are a great barber. What
Speaker 1: makes a great barber? And what makes it? What? What? What? What?
Speaker 1: There like three or two or three things that can
Speaker 1: really set you apart in that barber's chair. Okay, So, UM,
Speaker 1: for me, what makes a great barber is consistency. Can't
Speaker 1: you do what I like every single time I come
Speaker 1: to see you? Right? Uh? When each client feels that
Speaker 1: and you consistent, I think that's what makes a great barber. Um,
Speaker 1: A good barber is going to have the ability to
Speaker 1: execute a haircut and yo, they're good, but great. It's
Speaker 1: like you know, every single time I come to see
Speaker 1: Kelvin and in my case, each a line, it's consistently
Speaker 1: the same quality. Um. Some tips that I feel like
Speaker 1: set me apart is speed. Right. I've worked in like
Speaker 1: you mentioned earlier, with high profile clients and some of
Speaker 1: the biggest moments of their careers. So oftentimes I have
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes to do what I do best. I don't
Speaker 1: have the luxury of the forty five minutes. So to
Speaker 1: deliver my product consistently in a short amount of time,
Speaker 1: I've really developed my speed to where do have an interaction.
Speaker 1: We do have um a high quality grooming experience, and
Speaker 1: we also only have this short amount of time. Also,
Speaker 1: what sets me apart for the rest is, hey, at
Speaker 1: twenty minutes, man, we got an opportunity to do something
Speaker 1: really impactful for me. It's been speed UM or others
Speaker 1: is how you um may enhance a client's look. I
Speaker 1: don't know who's cutting Jalen Rose here, but let me
Speaker 1: tell you it was a clear difference on TV. Every
Speaker 1: day I watched ESP it was a clear difference when
Speaker 1: the barber changed because they enhanced his look. Um incredibly
Speaker 1: that it that it bought mortgage lines powerful, powerful and
Speaker 1: and and it's a different power than I felt before
Speaker 1: changing of the of the guards. You know. And there's
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of barber's I respect across
Speaker 1: the country that are doing that and bringing their unique
Speaker 1: abilities into the barber in industry to make it one
Speaker 1: that's appreciated in value. Oh you know, the thing about it. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, I was the stand up comedian, so I
Speaker 1: was traveling all over this country. You know, Pisonburg, I
Speaker 1: got my head cutting, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New York, Florida, Georgia, Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: All barbers are not created equal. I'm just telling you
Speaker 1: all that right now. They're not create equal. Some of
Speaker 1: them talk too much, some of them don't know how
Speaker 1: to give you an edge. Some of them don't you
Speaker 1: don't know the different type of hairstyles and all that stuff. Now,
Speaker 1: the one thing I don't like it's a barber that
Speaker 1: talks too much. I just want to get in that chair,
Speaker 1: kill get my hair cut. I don't mind a little chatter,
Speaker 1: little chatter, but just just gonna keep And when I
Speaker 1: said talking to other people, people sitting in the chair
Speaker 1: not showing me personal attention. That really is important when
Speaker 1: you sit in that chair, because I know we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about other things. But because you are celebrity barber,
Speaker 1: you know there are certain rules to be in a
Speaker 1: great barber, and one of them is focused on the client.
Speaker 1: Focus on the client, yes, sir, and and and and
Speaker 1: pretty much understanding what their unique needs are. So you're
Speaker 1: a kid you're like, hey, speed is a poper already
Speaker 1: for me? My clients, Um that uh that that's not
Speaker 1: the case where they do want the connection. This is
Speaker 1: there one time, the one that that where they don't
Speaker 1: have a camera in their face. This the one time
Speaker 1: that they get to connect with somebody and sit still
Speaker 1: without doing what it is that they do. So it's
Speaker 1: important for me to not just come in and and
Speaker 1: just get through the cut, but to get them that
Speaker 1: personal connection, that brotherhood. If you, um, I'll bring up
Speaker 1: my my I call him my brother, my friend comment. Um,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of times, man, we break bread as
Speaker 1: friends over their haircut. So and then there's also times
Speaker 1: where it's like, hey, we gotta get this cut done
Speaker 1: and get out of here or get him ready for
Speaker 1: a stage. Um. So for me, my job is to
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Speaker 1: what his highest needs are that day. Wouldn't make sense
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Speaker 1: and give him a quick cut, or if he needs
Speaker 1: a quick cut, for me to come in and tell
Speaker 1: him about all this stuff that I could wait for
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Speaker 1: that consistent experience while giving a client what they need.
Speaker 1: But you're right that talking too much stuff? Um, you know,
Speaker 1: shut because you stand up comedian for real? I have
Speaker 1: I have some stand up comedians that I've encountered that
Speaker 1: cut hair and be like, no one signed up for
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Speaker 1: States Force Service and the Council. Now let's turn. Let's
Speaker 1: slide on over to the music man, you know, because
Speaker 1: you I love the fact that was the entrepreneurial side
Speaker 1: of you. But then let's go slide to the entertainment side,
Speaker 1: because we also want to talk about the spiritual side
Speaker 1: of you, because that all connects because of faith drives
Speaker 1: you and also can keep you focused. But the country
Speaker 1: music side of you, because whenever I hear country music
Speaker 1: you know, I always hear about I'm from Houston, Texas,
Speaker 1: so I'm always to Texas, you know, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia
Speaker 1: type country western person. But that's not how you fell
Speaker 1: in love with country western. You were on the West
Speaker 1: coast fell in love with country western. Talk about how
Speaker 1: that connection came about and how is it driving your
Speaker 1: success as an entertainer in one sir, Uh, that's a
Speaker 1: great question, loaded one as well. UM. I would drive
Speaker 1: from l A to Sacramento, which is probably about a
Speaker 1: six hour drive. Um, during my early years of college.
Speaker 1: I was the first person in my family to attend
Speaker 1: a four year university and move away from home and
Speaker 1: do that, but my roots came from home. Um. I
Speaker 1: would drive home to see my parents. I would drive
Speaker 1: home to hang with my friends to recharge because I
Speaker 1: was in a whole new city, and those drives got
Speaker 1: longer and longer. So I would, you know, go through
Speaker 1: the radio station. And I found myself consistently on the
Speaker 1: country radio stations through these little kind of central California towns,
Speaker 1: and they had some really good country stuff, and I
Speaker 1: found myself singing the songs. But I you know, like
Speaker 1: you said, I'm from the West Coast, So I try
Speaker 1: to when I'm singing in the shower, I sing it
Speaker 1: with a little swag on that. You know I sing it.
Speaker 1: You know I would it beat this a little bit
Speaker 1: more clear. And but the stories really impacted my life.
Speaker 1: I said, I want to have that type of impact
Speaker 1: because I was not that I wanted to be if
Speaker 1: I did anything in music, I wanted to be a rapper. Right,
Speaker 1: A lot of people singing the shower. Not when I
Speaker 1: was a kid, I used to wrap in the shower.
Speaker 1: I used to do out battles in Sacramento and lunch.
Speaker 1: I'm like, uh, you know, I was a punch line rapper.
Speaker 1: So um, if it can captivate a person like me, um,
Speaker 1: with that music palette, with these stories, when I had
Speaker 1: this deep passion in my heart to do music through
Speaker 1: my life's circumstances, you know, Um, I went to a
Speaker 1: genre that had impacted me most. I've heard plenty of
Speaker 1: great rap albums, so many RB is my jam I can,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't my life experience. So I wasn't connecting
Speaker 1: to the music I loved the most. I was drawn
Speaker 1: to the stuff that impacted me the most, and that
Speaker 1: was in the country genre. You know. So I'm doing it,
Speaker 1: um now, I'm doing it in a way that I
Speaker 1: wish I could have heard it, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: You know, just you say this because I remember because
Speaker 1: Steve Harving I was doing radio and the beat is
Speaker 1: two point three back in two thousand, that's when we
Speaker 1: came on the air there and at the same time,
Speaker 1: that's when Nearly popped out, you know, yeah, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: And so I was I always felt he was a
Speaker 1: country artist, you know, even but they just with him
Speaker 1: and wrapped and believe me, he made a lot of
Speaker 1: money as a wrapper. Now he slid back to where
Speaker 1: I think his true roots are country country music, and
Speaker 1: he's bringing a lot of people in that lane. And
Speaker 1: then uh nasaks, you know, he he's doing his thing
Speaker 1: and uh and but when when you when you look
Speaker 1: at what you're trying to do as a as a
Speaker 1: potential artist, you know, does what Nellie does has done
Speaker 1: and what you see in the transition to the acceptance
Speaker 1: of African American talent in the genre of country Western,
Speaker 1: is it just the right time for you to step
Speaker 1: out there and do your music? Do you if when
Speaker 1: you can feel comfortable, that's gonna be accepted not by
Speaker 1: just the black community of the young community, but the
Speaker 1: country and western country music community. I should say yeah
Speaker 1: for sure. And I'm so glad you brought up Nellie Man.
Speaker 1: I want to work with Nellie Um. I look forward
Speaker 1: to collaborating with him. But he was one of the
Speaker 1: people that really made it cool to um to just
Speaker 1: embrace what you like. That's the country country grammar album.
Speaker 1: The way he's saying with everything, and when what he's
Speaker 1: doing now he's bringing other artists came Brown, came, come on,
Speaker 1: kay killing right now man, and then Mickey Guiden, Um,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Willie Jones Jr. These are
Speaker 1: all black people, black faces that's doing the music in
Speaker 1: a way that's right for them. And so it opened
Speaker 1: up the door for me to be just a little
Speaker 1: bit more bold about it and just say, hey, you know, um,
Speaker 1: I want to sing my song, you know, I wanna.
Speaker 1: I wanna do that. But I think Nellie is a
Speaker 1: gatekeeper for black country artists in general who want to
Speaker 1: do mainstream music in a in a in a way
Speaker 1: that's not traditionally done by black artists. So Man, a
Speaker 1: hundred percent yes, I salute Nellie Um and you know, y'all,
Speaker 1: y'all look out for when me and Nellie put this
Speaker 1: record together. It's I'm all good with you. Like I said,
Speaker 1: you know, my whole thing is that I just don't
Speaker 1: want to just be wanted too. I want to be
Speaker 1: a lot you know what I'm saying, because always, you know,
Speaker 1: I go all the way back to Charlie Pride, when
Speaker 1: the Charlie was the only black man and count of music,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And like I said, when
Speaker 1: Nelly came out, you know, of course he's record labels.
Speaker 1: They're just put you where they feel your sound fits,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, So they put it on
Speaker 1: a rapper. Nell It should have been cut your way
Speaker 1: back in two thousand one. Okay, his old country country
Speaker 1: grammar album should have been dropped as a country a
Speaker 1: country music and is changing too, you know, But I
Speaker 1: think you're right. I think I think you're right because
Speaker 1: in today's industry, that Country Grab Him album probably would
Speaker 1: have would win the Album of the Year everysolutely. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Guess what then he becomes even international star, he's not
Speaker 1: labeled as a black artist, and guess what he's starting
Speaker 1: to get that now because he's headlining tours with with
Speaker 1: other artists. I think with the Alps it was at Florida,
Speaker 1: Alabama line what's the boards that they did that single?
Speaker 1: What they blew up? But it's really a great sound
Speaker 1: when I look at what you're trying to do. But
Speaker 1: what's the ultimate goal? Man? You know, you're still in
Speaker 1: the entrepreneur management business of these successful barbershops in California.
Speaker 1: Now you've got this open mic, you know, so now
Speaker 1: you're not only uh you know. I think that that's
Speaker 1: why I was saying that you kind of missed that
Speaker 1: experience of being a barber in a barbershop and that
Speaker 1: gets filled with your open mic because you really get
Speaker 1: to talk, gets to exchange your conversation and also participate
Speaker 1: in the social environment where you're entertaining people. Tell us
Speaker 1: about that open mic that's in Los Angeles and where
Speaker 1: is it located? Yes, so it's called My First Fridays
Speaker 1: and it's in Lake Bibola, California. It started actually started
Speaker 1: um in the barbershop in the flagship location of the
Speaker 1: barbershop where we will move the chairs out the way. Um.
Speaker 1: I was playing base for church at the times. We
Speaker 1: had all my equipment in there, and me and my band.
Speaker 1: We get in there and artists will come, they jam
Speaker 1: out with us, and that thing developed. So First Fridays
Speaker 1: has been going on for now. It'll be twenty one
Speaker 1: years in September. You know that we've been we've been
Speaker 1: doing that effort um but that social capital, that church.
Speaker 1: I missed you then because I was in the l
Speaker 1: A Man twenty one years. I was in l A
Speaker 1: two thous and was in l A five. How I
Speaker 1: miss you, Calvin two thousand fold man, We was right
Speaker 1: here in the valley. Man was right here in the
Speaker 1: valley when he started. Man And uh, I don't know, Man,
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, sorry I miss you. I heard you
Speaker 1: on the radio. I still hear you on the radio, absolutely, Man,
Speaker 1: Steve would dominating. Man, I don't know how I missed
Speaker 1: you may dominating and uh. And it was it was
Speaker 1: shifting black culture. I remember one of my primary goals
Speaker 1: was to get a Hoodie award, you know. But but
Speaker 1: because I was looking towards um, towards black men, towards
Speaker 1: black male leadership, was doing it, recognizing the unsung heroes,
Speaker 1: and so that's what I felt like. I feel pride
Speaker 1: to cut people's hair and to send them into the
Speaker 1: world on their platforms with with with my work. You know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they got all this content, I all this need for content.
Speaker 1: Not Calvin out there. Why don't we see this on
Speaker 1: a special on HBO Max or Amazon Prime special this
Speaker 1: first Friday these Yeah, let's let's produce it, you know. Um,
Speaker 1: there has been a few opportunities over the years to
Speaker 1: do it. Um. One was was was bigger than than
Speaker 1: most and uh it just the business didn't work out.
Speaker 1: But then I think it was year before last Damon
Speaker 1: Dash did a show called The Next Big Thing and
Speaker 1: he came to l A. They shot at my place
Speaker 1: where First Fridays takes place. They utilized platform Um, so
Speaker 1: that was on on bt UM. Jonathan mc reynolds and
Speaker 1: Molly Music Music, both of my boys. Yeah, so the
Speaker 1: Molly and Johnny Tour, we were one of their virtual
Speaker 1: locations that were shot where we shoot First Fridays at
Speaker 1: and Molly was one of the artists who would come
Speaker 1: and just sing it First Fridays, so he bringing, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, everybody kind of comes back. Um. A lot
Speaker 1: of us here in the l A. We call that
Speaker 1: the home Court. So we want at home advantage. We
Speaker 1: produced content from there, Kenny Lottimore during pandemic major um
Speaker 1: who was uh artists as well, you know, charting songs,
Speaker 1: film content there. Uh Last Christmas or Christmas before last,
Speaker 1: Holly Berry came through the doors uh and it was
Speaker 1: just like all of the work that we've done, UM
Speaker 1: over these last twenty years have just been incredible. And
Speaker 1: now I'm expanding that work in a new way to
Speaker 1: where I'm not just behind the production, but I'm also
Speaker 1: behind the microphone sharing my stories of healing and um,
Speaker 1: you know, and of triumph to to to everywhere. The
Speaker 1: reason I do music is the same reason I cut heir,
Speaker 1: you know, UM, I really want to touch the people
Speaker 1: that change the world. And I know my music brings
Speaker 1: healing to little black boys who don't feel like they're enough.
Speaker 1: The rush that Well, what I like about you, man,
Speaker 1: is that you know they have multiple levels of into income,
Speaker 1: multiple levels of entertainment. I always tell people, when you
Speaker 1: focus on one dream, you should have many layers in
Speaker 1: that dream. And I like that and that's why I
Speaker 1: do want to make a conversation so people can tell
Speaker 1: their stories. Because people can just see you as the
Speaker 1: host of first Fridays. No, no, No, he's more than that.
Speaker 1: They can just hear your whole conversation about doing country
Speaker 1: musing and you're one of your first love No, he's
Speaker 1: more than that. They can hear your story about you
Speaker 1: just being an entrepreneur. You know where you got these
Speaker 1: barber chains and you once was a barber and you
Speaker 1: started your first Fridays there twenty one years ago. When
Speaker 1: you look at all these things, how do you compartmentalize
Speaker 1: being able to be successful in all these different lanes
Speaker 1: plus your spirit and the ability to motivate people to
Speaker 1: be successful through who you are Calvin. Yeah, I try to.
Speaker 1: I try to consolidate it all to UH to service.
Speaker 1: You know. I think my greatest UH calling is has
Speaker 1: been to serve my fellow man in in in this life.
Speaker 1: You know, since I was a little boy, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: I used to I started my haircut business when I
Speaker 1: was like ten years old. I used to cut lines.
Speaker 1: I used to cut people's grass, and I couldn't hear
Speaker 1: my slogans if you can grow it, I can cut it.
Speaker 1: You know. It's just something that felt felt good to
Speaker 1: me to be able to UH, to do something that
Speaker 1: that people were either that they were willing to pay
Speaker 1: me for, you know. And the the storylines of the
Speaker 1: guys I looked up to in my neighborhood, they were
Speaker 1: they were getting killed, they were going to jail. And
Speaker 1: I had this this skill to to cut stuff and
Speaker 1: make it look good, you know. So in essence, it
Speaker 1: kind of put my life on a different path. And
Speaker 1: and I keep sitting here in that same message, that
Speaker 1: reverb playing in my life, even through my music, through
Speaker 1: my ministry, through my service to the public. Um so
Speaker 1: I kind of consolidated all to one thing, is that hey,
Speaker 1: and my serving and my serving humanity and the best
Speaker 1: way that I can and you know, basically as God
Speaker 1: pleased with what I'm doing. And it does change from times.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it changed by the day I got somebody's here
Speaker 1: right after this interview, you know, and then I got
Speaker 1: to jump on another call to promote the upcoming release
Speaker 1: of my of my music and all of that, man,
Speaker 1: I believe is in service to my highest purpose, which
Speaker 1: is to you know, to to help my fellow man,
Speaker 1: and to see that help and love and camaraderie that
Speaker 1: come when we when we just show up authentically and
Speaker 1: take up a lot of space. So I'm gonna be big,
Speaker 1: you know, and I want to leave big impact along
Speaker 1: the way. Well, as we close, let's talk about the
Speaker 1: release of your music. Tell us where we can find it,
Speaker 1: tell us the uh, the whole are you shooting videos
Speaker 1: each which one it releases, how you're doing it? So
Speaker 1: we can wrap it up on a high note about
Speaker 1: your brand, say, I love that the whole concept of
Speaker 1: what you're trying to do. But it also is key
Speaker 1: that you know you keep doing first Fridays. You know,
Speaker 1: you keep cutting hair, you know, all of just I
Speaker 1: always tell people I remember Ourtober nine one. I always
Speaker 1: that they mean something to me because I asked God.
Speaker 1: I said, allow me to take advantage of all my talents,
Speaker 1: and I will give you one, sir. You know seriously,
Speaker 1: I said, I will not sleep on it. I will
Speaker 1: not if you if you tell me the write, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give. Right. You tell me to manage somebody, give
Speaker 1: a pent that wherever you put me, I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: a hundred percent. And a lot of people do. They
Speaker 1: always say, man, you just love what you do because
Speaker 1: he gave me an opportunity to do it. And I
Speaker 1: told him if he gave me an opportunity to do it.
Speaker 1: I would give and so keep giving one. As we closed,
Speaker 1: let's talk about that music that you give to your sir.
Speaker 1: So the upcoming release of my song Opposite, it's happening
Speaker 1: on December four, UM, which is uh you know by
Speaker 1: six days from now. UM. It's a significant moment for me.
Speaker 1: It's also my fortieth birthday, and I'm devoted for for
Speaker 1: uh in my forties, man to to show up in
Speaker 1: the world authentically. UM. I struggled with a lot of things,
Speaker 1: and my song opposite is just like you UM is
Speaker 1: where I got before God, and I asked God to
Speaker 1: change me and to give me strength to do the
Speaker 1: opposite of a destructive path that I was going to
Speaker 1: take my cell phone at the you know, on the
Speaker 1: heels of adversity. UM. You know, I've been and I
Speaker 1: almost voted, but God gave me strength to do the opposite.
Speaker 1: I want people to know that. So December four on
Speaker 1: all platforms. It is a music video as well as
Speaker 1: a high quality, polished master copy of the recording UM
Speaker 1: you Know vocally performed by me co wrote the song
Speaker 1: with Grammy nominated Huh, a singer and artist. My brother,
Speaker 1: Mr Eric Bellinger. So we're putting all the momentum that
Speaker 1: we had around this. I'm going home to my hometown
Speaker 1: and Sacramento to do the release concerts, so you'll see
Speaker 1: all over my social media um as well as other platforms.
Speaker 1: But December four, it's called Opposite Kelvin Trud, available on
Speaker 1: all platforms, off streaming platforms Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify. If
Speaker 1: they play music there, you'll be able to find me there.
Speaker 1: And so I'm really happy to share this message with
Speaker 1: you guys. Kelvin Trud. When I did his opening credit,
Speaker 1: I said he's a barber to the stars. He's an
Speaker 1: interior designer, career director, hosts of a popular open mic
Speaker 1: for expiring and established stars stars called First Friday. What
Speaker 1: I forgot to say? Rising star in the music business, Calvin,
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on Money make Conversation. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for having me. God bless you. Guys. Hey,
Speaker 1: I gotta come out for one of those First Friday
Speaker 1: or two because I come out to l A like
Speaker 1: three times every quarter, so I gotta make sure I
Speaker 1: come in on the Thursday so I could be there
Speaker 1: on the Friday. Okay Friday, and when you close it.
Speaker 1: I want you to close it. I used to close
Speaker 1: out my mornings on the Steve Harvey Morner Show when
Speaker 1: you say, man, if you could trust God, you could
Speaker 1: believe that to take that too bad? There you go, brother,
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. You. I'm gonna call you a stage.
Speaker 1: I would do that for you. All right, all right,
Speaker 1: everybody understand this is my man, Calvin Truth. He's a beast.
Speaker 1: He's a young man changing lives being an entrepreneur. On
Speaker 1: money Making Conversation. If you want to listen to the
Speaker 1: interview I see this interview on money Making Conversation, please
Speaker 1: go to money Making Conversation dot com. I'm with Sean McDonald.
Speaker 1: I am the host. You've been listening to money Making
Speaker 1: Conversations with Rashaan McDonald. Please join us next week and
Speaker 1: always remember leading with your gifts. Money Making Conversations is
Speaker 1: a presentation of thirty and fifteen Media Incorporated. You are
Speaker 1: now tuned into the money Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration
Speaker 1: with Rushan McDonald. Hi with Sean McDonald for money Making
Speaker 1: Conversation with your daily minute of Inspiration this week. I
Speaker 1: said that would call us king the super reality TV
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Speaker 1: answer is the main thing that I did that a
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Speaker 1: I said, because you're telling you this is what you're
Speaker 1: going through. Are you comfortable sharing that on camera? My
Speaker 1: job is to follow the real. If the entire town
Speaker 1: knows about this infidelity and you're on TV pretending you're
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Speaker 1: want to listen to this full interview with carl Us
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