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Speaker 1: States Force Service and the AD Council. Absolutely welcome to
Speaker 1: money making conversations. I am that guy Roshan McDonald. Each
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations talk show is about entrepreneurship and entertainment.
Speaker 1: I provide the consumer and business owner access to interviews
Speaker 1: with celebrities, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and industry decision makers. It is
Speaker 1: important to understand that everybody travels a different path to success.
Speaker 1: That is because your brand is different. The challenges you
Speaker 1: face in your life will be different. So stop reading
Speaker 1: other people's success stories and start writing your own. Now,
Speaker 1: when I say that you can't be motivated by their success,
Speaker 1: it's that's the way of life, because their stories can
Speaker 1: offer direction and help you reach your goals. Make sure
Speaker 1: you plan your goals and stay committed to your own
Speaker 1: personal effort. That is what I'm pushing here on Money
Speaker 1: Making Conversations. The Money Making Conversation interviews provide relatable information
Speaker 1: to listener about career and financial planning, entrepreneurship, motivation, leadership,
Speaker 1: overcoming the arts, and how to live a balanced life.
Speaker 1: Thank you again for joining us today. My next guest
Speaker 1: is on the phone. She is an actress. You have
Speaker 1: seen her in the following movies. I'm leaving out a few,
Speaker 1: but I just want to mention these movies. House Party,
Speaker 1: skin deep think weill sister acting baby Boy. She's a
Speaker 1: TV producer, life coach, fitness guru. I need that conversation, Philan.
Speaker 1: She's an HBCU grad with a psychology and chemistry degree
Speaker 1: from Spellman College right in Atlanta, Georgia. She is currently
Speaker 1: appearing on the UMC series Stuck with You Please work
Speaker 1: on the money making Conversation A J. Johnson, Hi, how
Speaker 1: are you? Thank you for having me? Well? Thank you all. Well,
Speaker 1: I knew that bringing you on the show, you were
Speaker 1: gonna come with the energy you know you can't have.
Speaker 1: You can't be a fitness glue and be laid back.
Speaker 1: You know that that wouldn't work. Well, well, I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what you mean. Some people are some people have
Speaker 1: a very way back approach to fitness. I think I'm
Speaker 1: just fueled with a passionate jest, reached from my better self,
Speaker 1: and every day is another opportunity to do that. So
Speaker 1: I'm listen. I'm excited. My eyes pop open, and you
Speaker 1: get me. First thing in the morning, you get me
Speaker 1: fresh good, No, no afternoon energy, no late afternoon energy.
Speaker 1: The day is beating you up. I'm getting your earl.
Speaker 1: That's that's great. Agents and let's just go back about you.
Speaker 1: Like I mentioned in your credits about being an HBCU
Speaker 1: grand and I'm always promoting HBCUs on my I do
Speaker 1: a big event in Wilmington Della called HBCU Week, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do a lot of more things and and
Speaker 1: twenty one and bold because I feel the brand of
Speaker 1: HBCUs are just just not recognized for the contributions that
Speaker 1: they make, incorporate. They get recognized for the athletics and
Speaker 1: they get recognized for the marching bands. Tell Us, tell us,
Speaker 1: the impact of Spellman had on you, has has had
Speaker 1: on your crederiness having on your life? Oh Man, listen,
Speaker 1: and you know we've just celebrated our hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: nights UH anniversary. Founders Day was this past weekend, and I,
Speaker 1: you know, I I the interview with them as part
Speaker 1: of our virtual celebration, and I even it's funny you
Speaker 1: asked me that because the first thing I said was,
Speaker 1: you know, Spellman actually became the most valuable for me
Speaker 1: once I left, because I had no you know, I
Speaker 1: had no idea that what I was embarking on was
Speaker 1: not only an amazing education, but it was a global
Speaker 1: lifelong network. Um oh yeah, yeah. I mean I've been
Speaker 1: blessed to travel the world and I have been no
Speaker 1: place where there's not been somebody affiliated, an alumni, something
Speaker 1: wanting to go a future student with Spellman. And it's
Speaker 1: a built in sisterhood. It's a sorority on its own,
Speaker 1: so you know, and it's never it's never ending. You know,
Speaker 1: We've got all the alumni from from all those years ago.
Speaker 1: But then every year, we know Spellman takes in at
Speaker 1: least another past of five dynamic women. So the sisterhood
Speaker 1: continues to grow. And you know, when you when you
Speaker 1: get to Spellman freshman year literally freshman week, um in
Speaker 1: the freshman welcome, the the advisors and the staff say,
Speaker 1: you know, choosing Spellman is choosing to change the world.
Speaker 1: And so for me that has been a life mantra,
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of what can I do to
Speaker 1: make a difference and and and that's that's my whole passion,
Speaker 1: it's part of my self purpose and so that comes
Speaker 1: from Spellman. Unfortunately lost my mom my, my literally the
Speaker 1: first two months of my freshman year, and so Spellman
Speaker 1: also raised me. You know, I was there the early
Speaker 1: the early part of my adulthood. So the morals and
Speaker 1: values of Spellman again, the sisterhood, the appreciation and um
Speaker 1: and uh and value of education and what it can
Speaker 1: do for you in society. I mean all of it.
Speaker 1: I can't speak enough. And that continues to go. It's
Speaker 1: not just like I went to Spellman and I'm I'm
Speaker 1: an alumni. I mean I talked about Spellman all the time.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I may be doing a motivational speech,
Speaker 1: or working for a corporation, or on a movie set,
Speaker 1: or gone to Africa or Philanthony, you know, every walk,
Speaker 1: every lane of my life, I constantly speak about and
Speaker 1: have a conversation about the amazingness that Spellman is. Well.
Speaker 1: I love that the tone. That's that's the key because
Speaker 1: whenever I go through our interview, I've been fortunate on
Speaker 1: this show, the interview over five hundred people since I
Speaker 1: launched the show, and I know, and I always go
Speaker 1: through the resumes of the bios and when I see
Speaker 1: the HPCU, I pull it out because that's a nugget.
Speaker 1: I gotta let me pull that nugget out. And so
Speaker 1: so because people, because a lot of schools take credit
Speaker 1: for your success because they're all the amgatans sum that
Speaker 1: you may have went to a white institution or traditional institution,
Speaker 1: that's not HU because Hollywood is dominantd I know. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm based in Hollywood. I've been in Hollywood's is ninety two.
Speaker 1: I know the amount of executives, amount of writers, the
Speaker 1: amount of producers, the amount of actors and actresses that
Speaker 1: have really dominating the landscape, just like you and the
Speaker 1: entertainment arena, and that goes over into music or your
Speaker 1: wrap or your music producer. It's really amazing what hbc
Speaker 1: s are doing. And I always like to point that
Speaker 1: out and let people know that that inspired and how
Speaker 1: how just you just you I just like I just
Speaker 1: turned on the waterfalls and you started talking. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm glad to I'm glad you mentioned all those different
Speaker 1: avenues because I think not just Spellman or more House
Speaker 1: or the a U Center, but any one of the HBCU.
Speaker 1: What I think happens is because all of them are
Speaker 1: such an intimate environment. UM, I think you get another
Speaker 1: level of attention and guidance then you would at any
Speaker 1: other institutional university or even an I D League. You know,
Speaker 1: I absolutely right and got accepted to Princeton, Yale, Harvard.
Speaker 1: But I just you know, I was drawn to the
Speaker 1: intimacy and the level of special that Spellman was showing
Speaker 1: me they were and wanted to help me be You
Speaker 1: can't beat that, you know, you can't beat that awesome.
Speaker 1: I'm talking to A J. Johnson TV producers, film star
Speaker 1: life coach, fitness guru. Uh, let's talk about that fitness
Speaker 1: guru because uh, a couple of years ago, you know,
Speaker 1: a couple of years I had Morris chest out on
Speaker 1: the show and the book of the show, and uh,
Speaker 1: and he had a fitness book out and weight lost
Speaker 1: book out, and I, you know me, I try to
Speaker 1: invest into my guests if they give a book, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna read your book. Agent when if you ever have
Speaker 1: a book come out? He sent it Rushan McDonald. Rushan
Speaker 1: will read your book before he interviews you. None of
Speaker 1: that what is about? None of that vague question stuff.
Speaker 1: So nine pounds, he said, it was the ten pounds
Speaker 1: and ten days. I lost seven days. I lost nine
Speaker 1: pounds and in seven days and and so I, um,
Speaker 1: excuse me, ten days, excuse me, I apologize. Ten days
Speaker 1: I lost nine pounds and I have lost sixteen pounds
Speaker 1: total since then, and it has changed my life and
Speaker 1: it's changed my clothes. You know, my waistline thirty three
Speaker 1: and a half. I can brag about that now, especially
Speaker 1: when I talk to my friends. I'm bragging. I'm bragg
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not not a j I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: not you. Now we're gonna get to you in these
Speaker 1: abs in a minute. Now, I'm not you. But your
Speaker 1: boy can say he's thirty three and a half wasteline.
Speaker 1: So how important you know? Because we see you what
Speaker 1: the what the pandemic and how it's impacting my you know,
Speaker 1: the African American community and I die it so you
Speaker 1: know I died comes up again? How we're impacted about
Speaker 1: when when crisis and personally a medical crisis come out.
Speaker 1: How what is your role as of being a fitness
Speaker 1: gruel when it comes not only just to to everybody
Speaker 1: in general, but also for the African American community. I
Speaker 1: you know, I believe that the reason why I was
Speaker 1: given the business because I didn't pursue a business that
Speaker 1: I didn't pursue creating the AJ Zone as a business entity.
Speaker 1: At first, I believe I was called to to share
Speaker 1: my knowledge. You know when I first came into the
Speaker 1: game as an actress, um A, a degree from an
Speaker 1: HBCU wasn't part of the qualification, but who I was
Speaker 1: as a result of my degrees and my science interest
Speaker 1: was a big part of me. And so when I
Speaker 1: spoke to going to sleep as I pursued acting, I said,
Speaker 1: you know, I've got to do something. There's no reason
Speaker 1: why I have all this knowledge. I'm now living what
Speaker 1: I've learned. It's caused a major difference in my life,
Speaker 1: my like you said, my appearance, my life, my energy,
Speaker 1: my attitude. I've got to you know, I've got to
Speaker 1: share what I know. And so you know, again, after
Speaker 1: losing parents to one of the big diseases, I feel
Speaker 1: like it's it's it's my purpose, passion and calling to
Speaker 1: share information to save other people. You know, my dad said, literally,
Speaker 1: my dad said before he passed, like you you've got
Speaker 1: to share what you know. He's like, you know, you
Speaker 1: may not be able to save me, but there's so
Speaker 1: many people who will benefit from what you know and
Speaker 1: who you are, and no that you're an example of
Speaker 1: living in if not many we have, you have to
Speaker 1: continue to be an example. And unfortunately I lost him,
Speaker 1: but after I did Baby Boy in two thousand two,
Speaker 1: but his words stuck with me and so for me,
Speaker 1: you know, it needs everything. And even now you know
Speaker 1: the fact that we are we are a quarantine because
Speaker 1: of this COVID nineteen and as an African American culture
Speaker 1: and African culture, you know, I'm very involved. We're going
Speaker 1: to talk about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this whole high
Speaker 1: blood pressure, diabetes, um asthma, obesity, you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: not anything new. You know, a lot of people are
Speaker 1: receiving the high numbers um of African Americans suffering and
Speaker 1: dying because of our health risks. As this is some
Speaker 1: type of new thing. It's not. This was inevitable because
Speaker 1: we have not yet taken seriously our health perspective. And
Speaker 1: that's not a fingerpoint. That just means that I have
Speaker 1: more work to do, you understand. That's why I hear
Speaker 1: those are those those news articles coming out. It's almost
Speaker 1: like false hype to me because because the reality is,
Speaker 1: we have not changed our diet. We're not making an
Speaker 1: effort we all over obeast. You know, cholestero you could
Speaker 1: throw cholesterol in there too, along with the hybby the
Speaker 1: diabetes the poor eat fried foods, greasy foods. You know,
Speaker 1: just just just just so. When I see that pop
Speaker 1: on the screen, it's like, Okay, if you just took
Speaker 1: away this pandemic, we still will be dying on so great.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you said that, because
Speaker 1: I want to be able to say that, and I
Speaker 1: want to shout out from every mountaintop I get, take
Speaker 1: away the pandemic. The pandemic just got added on to
Speaker 1: letting us know and re renewing our understanding of the
Speaker 1: position we're in. Like you said, take it away, we
Speaker 1: still are at a higher risk of illness and death
Speaker 1: because of all of those pre existing health conditions that,
Speaker 1: mind you, a lot of them can be reversed. Yes,
Speaker 1: doctors have told many people I consult um thirty minutes
Speaker 1: for third be dollars available at the aj dot com
Speaker 1: in our store. So I do consultations across the globe
Speaker 1: all day, every day, and all I'm hearing is, well,
Speaker 1: the doctor told me to walk a little bit more
Speaker 1: every day, and I may not need this half a
Speaker 1: pill I'm taking. Or the doctor told me to decrease
Speaker 1: my processed food, or the doctor told me to drink
Speaker 1: more water, and I probably don't even need medication. And
Speaker 1: I can't tell you, embarrassingly how many people don't even
Speaker 1: listen to those little changes. Scary. I did Pastor John
Speaker 1: Gray on Book of John Gray, a show on own,
Speaker 1: and he was in the hospital two weeks later. He
Speaker 1: didn't even need insulin for his diabetes. And all I
Speaker 1: did was changes food. All I did was pumps of
Speaker 1: raw fruits and vegetables through protein shake smoothie. I've changed
Speaker 1: a lot of his nutritional lifestyle and in two weeks,
Speaker 1: not only was he out of the hospital, but he
Speaker 1: was off of insulinth. It's doable, and people need to believe.
Speaker 1: People need to believe you can survive these diseases. You
Speaker 1: can put put get get less medication for high blood press.
Speaker 1: Sure you can lower your A one see if you're diabetic,
Speaker 1: it is possible. And if we're going to change our
Speaker 1: statistics across the world, we have to change how we live. Awesome.
Speaker 1: You are incredible. That is why the show back Good morning.
Speaker 1: Like I tell you, you came with the energy a
Speaker 1: j zone dot com. She's preaching from a j zone
Speaker 1: dot com. We'll be back with more. We're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about Ghana, I gotta talk about two V show on
Speaker 1: U mc more would incredibly fit, the incredibly passionate, the
Speaker 1: incredibly amazing A J. Johnson. It's finally here, the season
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Speaker 1: notes for meetings, interviews, or lectures. With auto dot ai,
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Speaker 1: E R dot Ai. Hi. Just Roshan McDonald and you
Speaker 1: are listening to money making conversations. My guest today is
Speaker 1: A J. Johnson UM. This talented UH they're passionate. She's
Speaker 1: a TV producer, she's a life coach. You go to
Speaker 1: a j zone dot com and you can get consultation,
Speaker 1: thirty mini consultations, fitness, gurule, philanthropists, and uh. We talked
Speaker 1: very heavily about her HBCU background with Spellman College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 1: But she can I get away from what she's been
Speaker 1: known and has brought us international and national and domestic recognition.
Speaker 1: About your abilities acting A J. Johnson, how you know,
Speaker 1: how did you get into acting? You know, because your
Speaker 1: degree is psychology and chemistry. Well, I've always been first
Speaker 1: of all, that was a long part, well because because
Speaker 1: there's so many different directions that I was trying to
Speaker 1: figure out which word I was going to go in,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know we're all the time things.
Speaker 1: I mean we were in general. I would tell you
Speaker 1: the whole big but but you know the quick, the
Speaker 1: quick version of it, if that Um, I've always been
Speaker 1: passionate about performing in the arts. I mean, I grew
Speaker 1: up performing a refa Franklin songs at our our Eastern dinners,
Speaker 1: you know, Thanksgiving, and so that led to my parents
Speaker 1: putting me in UM performing classes dancing, acting, modeling, and
Speaker 1: I loved it. And even though I grew up in
Speaker 1: an academic household. You know, my parents went to HBC.
Speaker 1: My dad was Howard my moment to Cheney. You know,
Speaker 1: our brothers went to went to higher education institutions. I
Speaker 1: knew that that was the first thing I knew I
Speaker 1: was never gonna be able to just go into a
Speaker 1: career of the arts. And I'm so glad my parents
Speaker 1: didn't allow it because again because of my experience of Spellman,
Speaker 1: the confidence it opened me. Um, you know that the
Speaker 1: other dynamic of my life, I wouldn't have the level
Speaker 1: of a healthy living business like the AJ Zone had
Speaker 1: I not gone to school. Um. Just but not not
Speaker 1: because of passion, but just because it gives me the
Speaker 1: credibility that a lot of other people in healthy living
Speaker 1: and fitness do not have. And so I just believe
Speaker 1: that acting was something I thought I was going to try.
Speaker 1: Even my dad said, go to l A, get it
Speaker 1: out of your system, go dance in some music videos,
Speaker 1: go do shifting, and get your butt back to med school.
Speaker 1: And literally in the first yeah, in the first thirty
Speaker 1: days of landing in Hollywood, I started working. I was
Speaker 1: doing bit roles guest starring Jamie foxx um Fresh Prince.
Speaker 1: At the time, I ran into Team and Ivy Way,
Speaker 1: and that run and landed me the choreography jobs for
Speaker 1: a Living Color as a fly girl, I mean, and
Speaker 1: then of course that landed me the role and even
Speaker 1: being considered for a house party. So you know, it
Speaker 1: was something that I was exploring of. You know, don't
Speaker 1: be afraid chucks, all your options, fuel your passions. It's
Speaker 1: just something that happened to hit and I loved it.
Speaker 1: So it's really a story. I mean, the bottom line
Speaker 1: is for for anyone listening, I feel like the real
Speaker 1: true story is don't touch yourself out of what you love,
Speaker 1: even if it's a completely different lane than what you
Speaker 1: feel like you've been prepared for. I was supposed to
Speaker 1: go to med school. I studied at an amazing four
Speaker 1: year institution to go to as pre may, but I
Speaker 1: had another passion and here we are, Yes, you are
Speaker 1: what My degree is in mathematics. I work for IBM
Speaker 1: before decide of the pursue a career as a stand
Speaker 1: up comedian, and so I I totally agree because sometimes
Speaker 1: you can always tell people you know, people will point
Speaker 1: you in the right direction. But that doesn't mean you
Speaker 1: have to live that point, live that direction. They're pointing
Speaker 1: you have to wake up one day and say, what
Speaker 1: is it making me happy? What is motivating me to
Speaker 1: get out of bed? The reason you enthusia this morning
Speaker 1: and talking so strong because you you like your life.
Speaker 1: You're doing what you want to do in your life.
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't do a lot of people
Speaker 1: don't do that. And let me just add this, if
Speaker 1: you think about it, you know, being an entertainment or
Speaker 1: even just loving that degree of entertainment, but also being
Speaker 1: armed with my degrees and my passion for science, it
Speaker 1: helps me create a whole different perfect for me if
Speaker 1: I can say that um perfect for me brand of
Speaker 1: healthy living. You know, I could be a typical doctor
Speaker 1: in a white lab coat or a researcher. But you know,
Speaker 1: I decided that there was a way that I wanted
Speaker 1: to and possibly could do this this medicine thing. And
Speaker 1: so my lane is just different than the way somebody
Speaker 1: else does. But but interestingly enough, I still have friends
Speaker 1: that are at CDC. I have friends that are at
Speaker 1: the World Health Organization. You know, I still have friends
Speaker 1: in the scientists. So when something like this happens, like
Speaker 1: this pandemic. I have friends to go to to get
Speaker 1: the information. I'm not just sitting around watching tele me
Speaker 1: right right, like me, like me, let's get on to
Speaker 1: and even sharing that information. It's like, you know, I've
Speaker 1: been put into this stion that I think is amazing, right, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And I respected and I appreciate the Irban Movie Channel
Speaker 1: the show Stuck with You, the relationship show. First of all,
Speaker 1: the title is stuck with You. I love you know
Speaker 1: because it has you know, you know, it's because we've
Speaker 1: said that it could like lead you to believe that
Speaker 1: it's just the best I'm gonna do. Uh, do you
Speaker 1: have any other options? You're stuck. I'm stuck with you.
Speaker 1: So that title first of all attracted me to it.
Speaker 1: What attracted you to the series? And we'll getting into
Speaker 1: the characters and debated, but first of all, it's all
Speaker 1: about you. A. J. Johnson. You know, nobody else, you know,
Speaker 1: it's all about you. Stuck with You, Urban Movie Channel,
Speaker 1: It's all about you MC channel. Well I was. I
Speaker 1: was attracted to the same thing, honestly, and you know,
Speaker 1: going a little bit deeper into what the story is,
Speaker 1: it's exactly that, like what happens behind the scene and
Speaker 1: these high profile celebrity relationships that may not be based
Speaker 1: in foundation and love, honor and cherished to death thy
Speaker 1: part And so it may be a career move, it
Speaker 1: may be what's holding the bank account together? And if so,
Speaker 1: what are the choices that have to be made in
Speaker 1: living that lifestyle? And so Stuff with You kind of
Speaker 1: does a nice romantic comedy perspective and view intimately into
Speaker 1: a few relationships that are in that position. You know,
Speaker 1: does it work? How does it work? As you continue
Speaker 1: in a relationship that seems to be on the outside
Speaker 1: so avazing and hashtag relationship goals as we say on
Speaker 1: social media, but when it's really not that on the inside,
Speaker 1: what is that about? So their characters name is Stephanie, right, Yes,
Speaker 1: I love Stephanie. I love playing Stephanie Stefanie. Stephanie is
Speaker 1: the best friend of Candice, who the lead access who's
Speaker 1: in the relationships to best friends, as well as the
Speaker 1: publicist for UM and it's the Protammy Townsend does an
Speaker 1: amazing job with Candice, and uh, all the actors are amazing.
Speaker 1: But Stephanie is the publicist and best friend of the
Speaker 1: lead couple. Um, so that that wasn't a stretch, you know, publicist,
Speaker 1: you know you wouldn't that that was a world you
Speaker 1: live in on a daily basis, Marketing and Brandon, so
Speaker 1: they really didn't have to think too much about being
Speaker 1: a publicist. Well that's true, but because I've never actually
Speaker 1: played one on FELM, I actually had a great time
Speaker 1: using my marketing sense, the business savvy, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: and even just you know, I have a great publicist,
Speaker 1: you know, um Matris Armstrong of pr work and you know,
Speaker 1: she's amazing, And so I patterned Stephanie after a lot
Speaker 1: of of Catrisas no nonsense. She spokes it out, here's
Speaker 1: what we're gonna do. I mean, katrisas forever telling me
Speaker 1: when I don't want to do something, she purpose saying no,
Speaker 1: let me tell you why we're gonna do it. And
Speaker 1: I took that from there and poured that kind of
Speaker 1: attitude and energy and expertise in the Stephanie and we
Speaker 1: had a blast which I which plays out in the
Speaker 1: show on the loan basis. Now, when you when you
Speaker 1: do a show like this, it's called I way tell
Speaker 1: I always talking about living a balance life. On this
Speaker 1: show because I feel that you can focus on your
Speaker 1: career because right now we're talking about we talked about
Speaker 1: the fitness, we talked about we're talking about the acting,
Speaker 1: but the philanthropy side of you, which is so strong,
Speaker 1: and it's called return to Ghana. Tell us about your
Speaker 1: involvement there. Tell us about the importance of your participation
Speaker 1: and what is the purpose. You know, I got to
Speaker 1: tell you that I'm really excited about adding philanthropists onto
Speaker 1: my resume. And it's coming pretty late in my life.
Speaker 1: But it's not like I've never done scharitable work. I
Speaker 1: always have been involved and have been a service Um
Speaker 1: Spellman Preachers that I'm a member of Dulti Statement Data,
Speaker 1: so already incorporated. Come on, this cute dog talking to you.
Speaker 1: Come on, my goodness. I mean, you know the life
Speaker 1: of servants. Sliding that information in j you can slide
Speaker 1: the information. I'm a member of Depths. Yeah you know.
Speaker 1: I mean then you know more than anything. You know,
Speaker 1: that's a lifelong session community. So so when I went
Speaker 1: to Ghanna, I went to Ghana just because at first
Speaker 1: I had never been to the continent. Um Full Circle
Speaker 1: Festival a group of of Hollywood personality that were Ghani
Speaker 1: and American were going and so I said, listen, you know,
Speaker 1: the best way for me to explore Africa is with
Speaker 1: people I know, you know, on the level of travel
Speaker 1: that I love, and let me see what happens. I
Speaker 1: had no idea that Ghanna was gonna embrace me, and
Speaker 1: I would embrace Ghanna like it had like it happened
Speaker 1: in two thousand nineteen. It was the year of Return.
Speaker 1: And when I realized that returning to Africa in the
Speaker 1: Year of Return had to mean something special, I started
Speaker 1: praying and asking God what was the job he would
Speaker 1: have me do? Because I already lived on a on
Speaker 1: a space of nothing's random, nothing's coincidence. And so I
Speaker 1: started working with the Bord of Tourism. I started connecting
Speaker 1: and doing projects with the President's office. And now excuse me,
Speaker 1: now I'm connected to and I'm doing projects with the U.
Speaker 1: S Embassy and Ghana. A matter of fact, I was
Speaker 1: on my way to Ghana when this quarantine hit. I
Speaker 1: can't wait for my work to be to be rescheduled.
Speaker 1: I'm sitting here staring at my Ghana suitcases right now.
Speaker 1: I never okay, p a Ghana A Ghana. I got
Speaker 1: two big old suitcases staring at me right now in
Speaker 1: my living world, but I refused to unpack. I was
Speaker 1: literally days away from my trip, and I know that
Speaker 1: when this pandemic quarantine is over, I'm getting on a
Speaker 1: plane that I'm out of here. But you know, I
Speaker 1: I also just shot a pf A for Ghana because
Speaker 1: they're they're doing an amazing job with this whole pandemic um.
Speaker 1: But you know, but there's still a serve wall country
Speaker 1: and they need help from their brothers and sisters, you know,
Speaker 1: across the world. But I love you know. I've got
Speaker 1: a project that I created call I and my Sister's Keeper,
Speaker 1: where I'm connecting successful women with some of the African
Speaker 1: female teenagers to be you know, um mentors, mentors, mentor
Speaker 1: is very important. Isn't that a lot of people just
Speaker 1: understands that. But it's so important, and I hear it
Speaker 1: so strong because I'm I'm gonna just stop you all this.
Speaker 1: You know, you said, Hey, Richard, I'm really I got
Speaker 1: into being a philanthropy late in life. But your voice,
Speaker 1: and I know about your background, okay, you have in
Speaker 1: the mentoring to me is another form of being a philanthropist,
Speaker 1: you know, helping people, reaching back, you know, health wise.
Speaker 1: See it, don't let that title stop you from being
Speaker 1: the brand and the machine you've been all your life,
Speaker 1: a motivator, a life changer, giving people advice on how
Speaker 1: to live the right life, the best life, the better life.
Speaker 1: And so Ghana has just embraced you with a bigger
Speaker 1: country now. So but you've been You don't just walk
Speaker 1: into being doing what you're doing in Ghana. That has
Speaker 1: been inceded into you by your parents and then Spellman
Speaker 1: nurtured it. And when you walked out into the real world,
Speaker 1: all you didn't allow you didn't lose balance, and you
Speaker 1: maintain that balance and so gone it's kind of like
Speaker 1: a part of the legacy that you've always been building on.
Speaker 1: That's all I got to say about that. I don't,
Speaker 1: I can't, I can't I bring you. One of the
Speaker 1: reasons I brought you on the show was because you
Speaker 1: do live a three sixty life, and because you live
Speaker 1: with three secrets and you've always lived a three sixty life.
Speaker 1: It's important people to understand how and how you've been
Speaker 1: impacting the them domestically and now the world well that
Speaker 1: you know and I'm like I said, I feel like
Speaker 1: it's all on purpose, you know, even so so so okay,
Speaker 1: so now we add Banna and a whole another continent
Speaker 1: and country. You know. Even the past holiday I went
Speaker 1: to Ivory Coast. I was I planned to see Senegal
Speaker 1: before this year's over. So I'm expanding my existence on
Speaker 1: the continent and learning more and more what and what
Speaker 1: help I can be. But I just think that it's
Speaker 1: also awesome speaking of three sixty now entrepreneurially, I'm acting
Speaker 1: again with you stept before. But but the way that
Speaker 1: I want to do it, you know, now it's no
Speaker 1: longer the thing. It's a thing in my life and
Speaker 1: that and that's what I wanted, not even knowing to
Speaker 1: call it that. I wanted it to be less stressful.
Speaker 1: I wanted it to be more fun. Um, Holly, would's
Speaker 1: filled with a lot of pressures. People don't People see
Speaker 1: the light camera action to finished products, products, and they
Speaker 1: don't realize what we go through to even land the job,
Speaker 1: do the job, you know, hopefully still you know, not
Speaker 1: get edited out of the job. I mean, it's a
Speaker 1: lot of stress and pressures. But now it's turned into
Speaker 1: fund for me as a travel world, doing everything else
Speaker 1: I'm doing. So I like what you said. I've never
Speaker 1: said that way before, like a three sixty life that
Speaker 1: I'm gonna doing that from you and give you credit
Speaker 1: for the title. Please please bleed this about what you're
Speaker 1: accomplishing in life, what you have accomplished in life. You know,
Speaker 1: always tell people look back into your team, look back
Speaker 1: in your early twenties, that life that was being shaped
Speaker 1: for you. There. It's the life that you will live
Speaker 1: and make money with in your for these fifties and sixties.
Speaker 1: And that's what you're doing. So we we get so
Speaker 1: focused on the immediacy that the president, the current what's
Speaker 1: happening was was putting that check in your bank account.
Speaker 1: But life, it's about how you feel when you wake up.
Speaker 1: Your energy is a blessing for my show. It's a
Speaker 1: blessing for my listeners, you know. And I just wanted
Speaker 1: to share that information on the show. The aj A
Speaker 1: J Zone dot com please go there, you know, on
Speaker 1: the UMC channel, which is which she's starting and stuck
Speaker 1: with you as a J. Let me just let me
Speaker 1: just shape that out. You know, we have the A
Speaker 1: J Zone, which is fitness. We got the acting which
Speaker 1: is just stuck with you on the UMC channel, and
Speaker 1: then we have the philanthropy side of returning to Ghana.
Speaker 1: That's what I call the three sixty. My friend. I
Speaker 1: love it and listen. Everybody can follow at the A
Speaker 1: zone on Twitter and Instagram. I'm also starting one of
Speaker 1: one of my phoans with the efforts that's called um
Speaker 1: the Bridge to Better Or if you're interested in going
Speaker 1: to Ghana and working with me and some of these projects,
Speaker 1: let's go. I trying to take you know, I was,
Speaker 1: I was We're gonna do that in March, but now
Speaker 1: that God has kind of delayed us, We're still going
Speaker 1: to take a trip this year. So follow along. Oh,
Speaker 1: my friend, thank you for taking the time to come
Speaker 1: on Money Making Conversation. No, you are a friend and
Speaker 1: you can always have fine strong support in the platform
Speaker 1: and want to making conversation And of course Rushan McDonald,
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on the show. Thank you. Let's
Speaker 1: continue to change the world, brother, we will. If you
Speaker 1: want to hear more Money Making Conversation interviews, go to
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversation dot com. I'm Rushan McDonald. I'm your host.
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