E7: Overcome Your Fear of Rejection with Shequeta L. Smith

[00:00:00] Shequeta Smith is a trailblazer. When she realized there had never been a black female on the cover of a comic book as a superhero, she decided to change that. In 2016, she quit a launch the multimedia company,

[00:00:14] Shiro Comics, and eventually held the first all female comic convention, Shiro Khan. Not to mention that for more than 15 years she's been writing and directing films and award-winning screenplays featuring powerful women. Now, she's branching out into the gaming industry with a new division of

[00:00:32] her company, Shiro Games. On the show, she shares why her ability to pivot is her superpower. Why she believes more people should consider crowdfunding to raise money for their businesses, and why she thinks getting into the gaming industry is a game changer. Let's get into the show.

[00:00:58] Today, another special guest on the show, and I am so impressed with her because one, she's an ameldominated industry, and she is a game changer. Literally, game changer. I love that little plan word. But I'm happy to welcome Shifuidus Smith.

[00:01:33] Thank you so much for being on the podcast today. Thank you for having me. Well, one of the things I want to say, we just heard your resume and all the great things that you're doing.

[00:01:41] And what I always like to start out the question with is what do you believe is the secret behind your success? Because I know you're still growing in stuff. Yeah, I'm so hurty, amazing

[00:01:52] beings today. And I have to ask that question. I think it's like my ability to pivot. So things change and I'm able to kind of like, okay, I'll let my feet this is what we're going to do now,

[00:02:03] whatever. So like a lot of things come up, a lot of things have happened that haven't been planned, and it's just like, okay, let's just go with the flow. So rolling with it is what's helped me.

[00:02:11] And why do you think that's so critical? Because I think a lot of people when they go into entrepreneur's ship or they're pursuing a dream, they have this vision. And they think it has to be just

[00:02:20] like this. Yes. And that often keeps people stuck because they can't see it in the other way. And so why was that such an impactful thing for you to pivot? I think it's because I come from

[00:02:31] a sales background. So like you could control anything there. You sort of cook a call over about six years. The model there was control what you could control because there's so many

[00:02:42] other things that you won't be able to control in this industry. So I came from to the international entrepreneurship with that mindset and so I think that's what helped me. It's to be able to like,

[00:02:50] okay, I can't control that but we can pivot over and do this right now or whatever. So it's kind of like taking it as it comes and being able to to adjust. That's huge. And I think like you said,

[00:03:00] being able to adjust. But how do you often know when it's time to pivot? Because I think a lot of times, you know, we are like I said, we're laser focused but you said, you're one of your secret

[00:03:11] is knowing when to pivot. So how do you know is it a gut feeling? Like what usually is the indication for you? It is totally a gut feeling. That's what's helped me so far. It's just being able to.

[00:03:23] It's not even just a gut feeling. It's like you have to believe you're gut. Oh, because that's the problem because for so long a lot of times I would like feel something or

[00:03:31] feel like, okay, I should have shouldn't do this but then I wouldn't believe it. So then it would happen eventually but it's just like, okay, I could have just was straight here said

[00:03:40] to go above and beyond and enroll a culture whatever. So it's just like trusting yourself and trusting your gut is something I think is a lot as hard for a lot of women to do because you're

[00:03:48] like doubting yourself anyway and it's all the sexism and stuff that makes you kind of like wonder like, okay, am I doing this right? I will never cut some in and they just come through

[00:03:56] and they just they dominate but with us it's kind of like we kind of doubt ourselves because of the way of fighting is set up. So trusting your gut is like really I think what pivot helps me pivot and

[00:04:06] move on some things or whatever it quickly. How did you learn to do that? Because that's a mindset, right? Learning the treasure gut was that because even as I heard you say that it sounds like

[00:04:16] there were times where you didn't initial it. Yes, you know, like where you got that feeling and you're like, oh, I don't know, should I do this? So was there a story or a moment that you recall

[00:04:26] or something that mindset should that shifted for you that said, I can trust this now? Probably in 2018. I wanted to go on this tour, this international tour, to take my books overseas.

[00:04:39] I wasn't sure how I was going to do that. I had someone that said they were going to invest in me. They pulled out at the last minute. So I was just like, how am I going to make this work? Because I

[00:04:47] wanted to go to Korea, who's New York and the DJ I wanted to go to Mexico and Africa South Africa. I was like, how can I afford to do this on my own or whatever? And so I did that person

[00:04:57] pulled out and then the next week I was like, am I going to do this or not? And then I talked to one of my friends and he was just like, you know, the only thing that sends our ways money,

[00:05:04] like that's it. Like anything else we can do. And so I took out a small loan and we went to Korea. And so it's been a weekend Korea, filming the documentary and going to Comic-Con and we

[00:05:14] shot like footage of me kind of the book series, Ravenshoe. It's based on my trip to Korea. I was inspired by it after I came back in Korea 20 years ago in a study of rot trips. And so yeah,

[00:05:25] we went to Korea and once we got to Korea and filmed and came back, it was like okay New York is next and it's on New York. They gave me a table at New York Comic-Con even though it was sold out.

[00:05:35] And so we took the cameras there and so then in an easier came up and then one of my cousins invested and helped me give tickets for my crew and for me to go there. And thankfully it was

[00:05:44] inexpensive but once I did that it was just like anything as possible. And that's what got me to believe in my gut because I trusted myself and my ability to do, to go to Korea and shoot a documentary

[00:05:56] and a foreign place that I had no permits for. No, but that's you! It feels crazy. So after doing that it was just like okay, you can do anything you put your mind to. And if you want to say their

[00:06:08] She-Rocan came up which was like my own comic convention I kind of just kind of fell into that because I knew it was gonna come. My answer I didn't even mention it's like oh,

[00:06:15] just probably done this year or kind of I'm like a couple years now every three years from now that didn't happen three years. We've not never looked up for months later. And so yeah so that was

[00:06:22] another thing of trusting my gut and I was telling one of my friends this, I feel like I kept trying to do things small and it's like oh, I'm just gonna do this little thing right here and God kept telling me

[00:06:32] no bigger. So I was like oh, I'm just gonna move this little move it up to right here and God was just like no bigger. And so I'm just like okay, because like what's your own comment? I was gonna do a

[00:06:42] comic convention inside of a comic book story that was how it started out. So I called them all. So when you see they do anything that we can kind of go sell some books at. So I called them and

[00:06:50] they were just like, you know, they have nothing going on for months, months but we like that idea. Now it's just like okay, they're like can you do it here? Now it's just like okay and so

[00:06:59] then I was like okay we'll have some tables in the middle of the mall and just like kind of a rummage-cell thing. They're like do you want to stage? It sounds like a stage what do you say

[00:07:05] to stage for? So I'm just like there was a small stage and they were like what do you want to do? I'm just like the big stage. What do you mean big stage for? And so by the time it's

[00:07:13] just four weeks, by the time we got to Shiro Khan we had a stage. I had women that came in spoke from black Panther and all of the places. These other like DC barbette man or whatever so it's like

[00:07:22] the composer. There were like hundreds and thousands of people there who we had like in the middle of the mall we took over the center's court of the mall and had all these female creator selling

[00:07:32] their comic books and their t-shirts and trinkets or whatever that they had. And yeah people came and they would dress up and cosplay and I'm just like how did I have a kind of like an

[00:07:41] cutcon? But that was one of those things where I was just like I'm trying to I'm like we just gonna have some tables and it ends up being a stage in a big production and that was God telling

[00:07:50] me I needed something bigger and so once that happened it's just like okay that's really as I just have to listen to where he's got him. He said listen to my good so that's kind of how

[00:07:58] that process happens for me. No I think in faith this is a big part of my life as well in terms of like guiding me and letting me know where to go but one of the things that you said that really

[00:08:06] stood out to me is that you invested in yourself. A lot of times you know I always say that you're your first investor and why should another company I always say this to people like why should

[00:08:19] another company invest thousands of dollars in you when many of us aren't really willing to take the risk and invest in ourselves. So why was it so important to you and how did you even get the courage to

[00:08:30] say you know what I'm gonna hit this this person back out or this you know group that was gonna sponsor what I really wanted to do you know what I'm gonna invest in myself I'm gonna take

[00:08:39] the risk. I'm a risk taker so that kind of I mean it was just like I had nothing to lose really it was just like okay I have a job I'm making money I can pay this loan back you know my

[00:08:50] I won't let have a check coming and I'll pay it back because like a credit card so it was like I think it was like 15 thousand dollars such a 15 thousand dollars to do a this trip and it's

[00:08:57] like once I record this and start documenting what I'm doing I have a documentary or a documentary series that I'll be able to sell later so I'm like I'm never going I'm always gonna bid on myself I'm

[00:09:06] not gonna lose my money I'm a winner that's kind of how I operate so it's like this is my losing game here so it's just like no matter what you do and in a couple of months I paid that loan off

[00:09:17] and now I have a documentary we're still shooting it actually um just to kind of show how I built the whole company as a whole so now we're in games so like once we finish the

[00:09:24] gaming thing or whatever then we'll probably release the documentary series but yeah it was just like I felt like this is a good idea I felt like I had to do this and so by the means necessary that's

[00:09:36] really what it was it was like this has to happen so I got that small loan and we were on the plane the next week was there any fear I mean girl you went out of the country I mean I know you said

[00:09:45] I mean I hear you like I'm a winner but in your mind you know you're a winner yeah this is okay you know but how did you get past the fear was there that fear and how did you get past it

[00:09:57] I don't think I gave myself time to have fear because everything happened so fast it was just like either sink or swim that's kind of that's what I learned at Coca Cola like we got there they

[00:10:05] trained us for like several weeks it was just like the biggest training that ever done for like sales reps and at the end of the training it was like we didn't really we just like the will sink or swim

[00:10:14] you got to go to go sail now and we were out in the state of the field like okay let me go find some customers so it was like I come up in that training so it was kind of like that mindset too

[00:10:24] like this is either sink or swim I was it happened so fast that I didn't have time to really doubt myself because it was like we were on a plane next week and then we had to find a dp that

[00:10:33] was going to come along with us and I wanted to find a dp that spoke the language at least some of the language I wanted to find a Korean dp which we did and he spoke something to the language

[00:10:41] which really helped us along the way even though like mostly like a lot of people like Korean speaking English anyway it's a really English friendly country but still it was like there were

[00:10:49] times where he could have been doing differently because in the airport we did not have a permit to shoot an airport and I was just like well we don't get some footage of me like going around the airport

[00:10:58] or whatever and so they didn't stop me they just kind of they like people were looking like who is that girl that came up following her and it was a Korean guy recording me so they just figured I was there

[00:11:06] you know I was supposed to be there because then you can you act like you're supposed to be there then people are really questioning you so we did that to get our footage and the cops came

[00:11:14] the airport police came over they wouldn't talk to me they talked to my dp because he's a man so they wouldn't talk to a woman so they talked to him now it was just like well we got all

[00:11:21] we needed at this point so we're good I love that I mean well girl you dropped a couple go to nuggets right there one when you said when you act like you're supposed to be there yeah

[00:11:31] even in life even in business when you act like you're supposed to be there people going questioning you know that was just that was a my drop right there and then I know you talked about

[00:11:40] that you were a risk taker have you always been a risk taker and was this something that you just you know as you were growing up you realize that in order to have big rewards you had to

[00:11:50] take big risks I don't know what I was growing I mean I've always been just like a little bit off the heat of center I'm never like following the crowd I'm a Gemini I'm kind of like in my own

[00:12:00] little world over here doing things so I was kind of been like that I think the biggest risk that I took was moving that Los Angeles like after I graduated college I used to enter on

[00:12:08] what deptium so it was the decision was are you going to go to New York and work with deptium or are you going to go to LA and pursue writing because I saw them fall in love with

[00:12:16] screenwriting and so I made a decision to move to LA and drove cross country and it was very quickly too it was like okay I want to go I come out here I came out here and visit

[00:12:25] some friends that were here and then it was like oh okay I want to move here whatever I don't have a job I don't have a place to stay so when people got new from back home from my mom lived

[00:12:33] down here she had a room so my mom was with me a room for this much and I was just like okay that seems affordable and so I think it like two weeks I was I was driving cross country so it was

[00:12:42] like really spurred the moment type of move to LA on the earth grow you are you thought that's a little bit of a person that's exactly the way I am even though I'm not doing that in real

[00:12:52] life I'm not jumping out of a plane but that's like that's the way I do things in a rhetorical way I love it because you know a lot of times many of us have these big dreams

[00:13:04] but we're afraid to go after and always say little risk often little reward yes you got to jump off the cliff yes you do have to take that opportunity to see because like what's the

[00:13:15] worst they can happen like you said even when you took the lonely out you're like well if it doesn't work out yes what I got a job okay this back yeah so I want to go back to where it first

[00:13:24] started for you because I love to go back to people's childhood dreams and figure out how you got to where you were where you are now so tell me as a child where you the kid who loved to

[00:13:35] re-comics like what was your childhood dream and how did you find that you were even interested in gaming and comics and film and all of that well I'm just an only child I'm even though I have

[00:13:46] like 11 cousins that are younger than me that we all grew up in the same area but I was only child so I was always saying the tindu I'm playing by myself and playing creating by myself I was

[00:13:54] always drawing something or writing a poem or like just playing games where there was board games or playing the tindu with my cousins so the gaming thing that was always there I mean like I

[00:14:05] I was in love with Japan I always thought Japan was going to be the place to change my life because I was back in the tindu I was just made it to Japan I was like wow this place is so cool

[00:14:13] they created all of this these games that are so fun like I saw Mario and Duck Hunt and like the mic Tyson game like the WWE whatever and so it's just like okay so I knew that

[00:14:23] but I was always a creative child so like we get together with my cousins I was the one directing the production of like okay you guys we were in the movie you guys kids so whatever so like

[00:14:32] still to the same my cousins are like no it was kids so whatever you were just like yeah we were shooting something so we were always shooting something I was always doing something creative

[00:14:42] but then when I was like 16 I came out to Los Angeles at Bismar Cousins at Leptere and when I left this is kind of how you know how other people see you when I left everybody back home

[00:14:54] like friends and family they all thought I was going to end up on soul training that's just kind of how they they they figured I was going to be something or somebody and so they were looking

[00:15:02] from me to be on soul training because they were like she's going to end up somewhere I didn't end up on soul training but I wanted to be a model that was my thing that was super model age like

[00:15:10] the 1980s and 90s or whatever we had super models like Tara and like Neil and me Campbell and that's what I wanted to be I was a tall skinny little girl I was one in short of being a model so I was

[00:15:19] five six I would have been five seven I would have been a model because I would have been that way how you wouldn't happen that way I was just like man I get here and I can't even be a model but

[00:15:29] I came out to visit my cousins when I was 16 I always knew I wanted to come back I didn't know exactly what I was going to be I didn't want to be an actress I think I wanted to be an actress

[00:15:37] but I knew LA was where I was going to something's going to happen from you here going to college and just kind of the college experience I had with the in-streading of deaf jam and being around

[00:15:45] celebrities and stuff it just kind of like it's right to me to do what I was going to eventually do. Wow so that is so interesting that your family at a young age like girl you go make a big

[00:15:56] time I mean you're going to be on soul training we don't know what it is and you're like you am going to go to LA I'm going to be a model and then you graduate from college or you're doing

[00:16:03] internships and you're at deaf jam record and you're like okay there's something here so how did you find your path after you know you did the internships at deaf jam your life should I go to

[00:16:15] New York and continue our should I go to LA and pursue the film how did you get there what was the critical step that you took that landed you where on this trajectory. I will say that

[00:16:26] I didn't have access to comics really and when I was growing up it only comment looked at that was there was our children around the clinic that was at the grocery store at food line so I

[00:16:34] would go there I was always by our she's around the comic side I was reading comics I just didn't have access to all of them so like that man I didn't wonder woman because I was like obsessed with

[00:16:42] her since I was a kid I certainly won't walk around my Wonder Woman like underwear and take top so that that got to me but like I think my freshman year of college I took an African American

[00:16:52] theater class as an elective and in the class we had to write a play so I decided to delve into my family history and write a play about my family it was like the thing where like the

[00:17:02] black skin dark skin thing where my my great grandmother her grandparents were dark skin and they lived in South Carolina and went to live with them and they were mistreating them because

[00:17:10] they were like skin so yeah so it was interesting so I wrote a play about it they performed it in class it was just a ruckus it was like it was comedy and it was crazy and so my let my

[00:17:19] English professor read it just to see how much she thought about it and I still have it over there she wrote on there this is really good she clearly you should really consider screenwriting

[00:17:27] no it's like they had a screenwriting I'm not just like struggling at all and just kept like oh I'm in the music I'm in I'm heading out tapes and stuff and deaf jam like the artists coming

[00:17:36] in town so that was like for three years of college and when I got to my senior year my roommate from my freshman year I rented her on campus one day and she was telling me like I really want to

[00:17:45] write television and I was just like oh I'll help you research that because I'm gonna research things and finding opportunities so I'll help you research that so once I was researching for her

[00:17:52] I was just like I wonder if I can write this screenplay I wouldn't like it write a television show and so I wrote like I was in the back of class I remember writing show for your love or something

[00:18:01] because that was a show that was on at the time and so after I graduated from college we'll know I went to Korea probably the next semester before I graduated and when I came back I

[00:18:10] know I wanted to be a writer and the story of Raven's slow is playing in my head it was just like so many things like came into play like for me like everything like lined up which is like okay

[00:18:19] I know I want to be a writer I want to be a storyteller because this is just too much the story of Korea is I went to Korea on the study of Rotterdam but it was also called a religious cult and I didn't

[00:18:28] know that until I got there so came back coming back with that story I knew I was a storyteller like I'm definitely gonna be a storyteller and for people who don't know tell us who Raven

[00:18:37] Joe is so I can make sure I may even be saying it wrong but I want to make sure we understand that for people who don't understand completely comics and all of that I want to kind of break

[00:18:45] that down but that's pretty amazing that you went out there and that kind of solidified it but kind of help us understand that a little bit more so Raven Joy is my five-part graphic novel series

[00:18:56] coming out as a trait paper back this year it's about a girl she's five years old she went this is a murder for parents and they center off the Korea as witness protection she's been 20 years in Korea she's adopted by Korean family who's her father's best friend she

[00:19:08] gets a clue and like her teddy bear that her dad left behind besides comes America to find the killer and she becomes a bounty hunter in the process it's she's kicking but she's with these

[00:19:17] two guys cashes in Dorian and DC and they kind of tell her solve the case now since we have the books that are done we're working on a prequel to kind of show her as a child growing up in

[00:19:27] Korea so it's called Young Grandma Master Choi and we're doing a kickstarter for it right now to be over by the time this air is probably but still I'll still have the books to sell at that point so

[00:19:36] we're working on the book I'll show you what she looks like this is Young Grandma Master Choi this is my Gemini tell us so cool so wait a minute this all happened from going to overseas

[00:19:47] you start writing the comic book series it was inspired by that trip I started I wrote a screen play so the second screen play I ever wrote was Raven Choi and I was just like this summer what if

[00:19:58] I came to Korea and I was adopted by Korean family because they were so nice to me like when I was going around to little shops I had like a rope made it was just like oh you're so cute you're so

[00:20:06] skinny you're so beautiful and there was just so sweet no just like okay what if I actually lived here because someone I'm had never been a black person before so I'm just like how alienating

[00:20:15] what's that be or just how like you're just like the only person that they see that has dark skin how would that be for someone so the story of Raven Soy came to me when I came back from Korea and then

[00:20:26] wrote it as a as a screen play I thought it would not make a comic book and so we started drawing back in 2002 we drew like an image of her just to kind of show what she would look like and then

[00:20:36] years went by it got me me reason highly with descriptive but never sold so in 2014 I was like let me start worked on this as a graphic novel I'm not been talking about this 2008 like I started working

[00:20:46] on in secret and we released the first book the first two books in 2016 so let's win a journey whoa girl so that I mean that is just a ride but how did you know that it was more than just the

[00:20:58] books because you went on to you know your she-ro comics and that is you know your business name so I can understand how you got the book idea and you're like okay I've got this but how did it just

[00:21:08] like explode would you see it was like everything in your life just explodes if somebody's gonna don't listen to me but how did they just explode into a business like a big-time business

[00:21:19] it was because there was a third a third of black women in comics like when I was going to release the book it was like okay well I'm not gonna release it under Raven Soy I'm a need a name of a

[00:21:29] of a publisher I'm gonna stop published this so I was writing um Slurq Kukkola my chair star was Beverly Hills and I was writing the Beverly Hills one day and she-ro just came and it's like

[00:21:38] she-ro this is this cool name for a comic book company it's also like that this never gonna be available and so I went to look at like go daddy for the domain and it was like she wrote

[00:21:47] comics was right there and I was just like wow nobody cares about women because they never even thought about having women in this comic book space it's crazy so I bought the domain

[00:21:56] and then it was just like guys like when we get a logo so we did a logo so it was all coming from like me having to have a publishing arm to release the books under I thought I needed to have that

[00:22:04] and so from that it's just exploded into something way bigger than I ever imagined like when I first watched the first two books in 2016 I never saw a comic convention I never saw having like

[00:22:17] doing games so there wasn't- I mean that was always back in my head of like maybe I'm gonna do something in that space but it was never like an action plan that we're gonna do comic films and

[00:22:25] games we're gonna do pre-calls we're gonna make movies we're gonna make games we're gonna make comic books and several that was never the jumpoff point when we started which is like let me

[00:22:34] see how this goes and so the thing my first comic convention was an October of that year Halloween there was Sandleys come a cause he's what it was called in Los Angeles and I'm at my table

[00:22:45] and I we said I've already done really well sales whatever and I had like a step and repeat because that's just I'm over the top so I had like a separate piece that says she wrote comics I had a pink

[00:22:54] carpet so people can come say pick it up my pink carpet it was marketing because the pictures they took my logo was in every Instagram post and they were posted about it so that was the

[00:23:02] goal but this little black girl walked past my table and her mom was holding her hands she didn't stop and they were walking past my pants and a little girl looked over and she was like

[00:23:11] zero and the way she said in the way she looked I was just like it was like chills it was like oh wow okay this is bigger than this is bigger than me anything I could have ever imagined because

[00:23:23] that reaction that's what little black girls should have in this space of common the home the world they should have that that that company that's for them that's doing things for them

[00:23:32] and they're like this and so from there it was just like all right it's all in this is there's uh there's a need for this there's a gap in the industry that that's not being filled and then

[00:23:41] let's see if I try to fill it so let me step on him here and do what I do. I need to go back to that little girl because sometimes you know you're thinking you're doing this because you love

[00:23:50] you know screenwriting you love writing you discover that but then to uncover that there's like bigger purpose to it. Yes what is that like that is what keeps me going that is what for any

[00:24:04] negative thing that comes to me about my company or about my books it's like this is a perfect this is bigger than you and me so nothing you say is going to determine nothing you say is going to

[00:24:18] downplay what I'm doing like this is a god thing like I'm supposed to be doing this this is what my life is it's dedicated to at this point so it makes it so you're kind of bullet proof because

[00:24:29] it's like when you're operating in your purpose and you're doing things in your purpose even like the rejections don't bother you as much as you know it's going to happen it's just like

[00:24:38] it's been it's already been written it's already sorry happening in the future it's just getting there that's good because a lot of people you know they think they hear your story and it does seem like

[00:24:47] whoa you exploded but like you said there is rejection sometime there is people naysayers tell me about that what was that like and did I know you said you almost felt like you were bullet proof but

[00:24:58] I think that's a good message for people to realize that even when you're on purpose and you're operating in purpose that you're still going to come up against resistance so I love to hear your

[00:25:10] sign I applied to probably over a million dollars in grant last year and didn't get but one I got one and the met grant is happening just coming week so it was it wasn't even happening in that year so

[00:25:22] it's like the grant is not happening until this week I'm one of the Goldman Sachs for the one million black women's black and business initiative even though I'm operating in my

[00:25:29] purpose even though I'm I got the books together we're working on a video game I have all this all this stuff that's happening I'm meeting with Hollywood or whatever there are still a million

[00:25:39] dollars in grant money that I didn't get and the rejections would be like some of some of the grants would be like do you want to you don't get feedback on what what's your application like sure

[00:25:47] I would love to know what we can do better here whatever I got my I am proof but even the rejections were like this is such a wonderful idea so I'm just like wait you rejected me

[00:25:57] but then you're going on an arms repair I've talked about how great this is so this is like confusing but it's just like okay maybe it's just not the time for that right now maybe I need to continue

[00:26:05] to boost rapid through this year and the next year is going to be the year where everything pops off even bigger or whatever so yes it's a it's a lot of a lot of rejection you go through but you

[00:26:14] have to be able to bounce back from it and that's why the purpose comes in because if I didn't have that I don't feel that all my being that this is my purpose and all the rejections I would

[00:26:23] be I would have been done I would have given up a long time ago but there's a there's a bigger a bigger theme at hand here there's a bigger thing that's coming so what do you use it?

[00:26:32] What's that bigger thing? What do you feel like that bigger thing is for me it's creating a character or creating something that's going to change the world and the world's perspective of black women especially there's a lot of things that are out there in session now because

[00:26:46] of social media a lot of there's like my problem with two be such about two be my issue with two be and the types of films that they put out that people are online like laughing about like

[00:26:56] oh this is so stupid this looks horrible it's just like yeah it's funny at whatever movies or whatever but those are the movies that go out to the world two be isn't other countries

[00:27:04] so when I go to Korea and they've watched the two be film that's all they see is us like killing each other all they see is us like twerking or whatever that impacts the world they mix an impact

[00:27:15] the best example I can give up is coming to America and how impactful that movie still is like 30 years later people still favor movies and people still quote that movie and Africa everywhere else

[00:27:26] they saw black people coming together as like I mean it was it was like a fart so it was to be a fart stop a movie but people still get seriously because it was like it showed us in a

[00:27:34] positive way it showed us as kings and queens it showed us as convain humble and him falling in love with a woman and so that's the media is very impactful so those two be movies that go out

[00:27:46] that you think oh no no when you go to Korea people actually look at you and they're probably afraid of you because they saw that film and I think that that's what all black people are like

[00:27:53] because they'll have black people there there's some sort of career where there aren't any black people so there's all they see for us like kind of like when we see their movies that's the

[00:28:01] rep our representation of what we feel that was happening in Asia so it's like when you see that that's what makes what I do important because I need to be the reflection of what I think the

[00:28:13] world should see black women as and for little black girls they need role model and I probably step into that role but there's so many other people that are not role models

[00:28:22] that they're looking up to because they have like many followers or whatever they have so it's just like I have to use this platform to fight against those things because I think that's what I'm here

[00:28:32] to do and I love that because you said you know first it starts out as the books Raven Troy then it leads into the business she wrote comics then next you know we have you doing she wrote

[00:28:42] con your own convention um comicon kind of thing and then what is next what do you see in terms of all the expansion of what this could be okay so now the company is built and I had this

[00:28:57] discussion one of the grants last year the guy was saying like oh well you seem like you're putting everything on your games and that's gonna be like the the big thing or whatever my cool yeah

[00:29:05] the games are gonna be big because gaming is huge gaming is the future like gaming's taking over film and television and every other entertainment like in these billions and billions of dollars and gaming reaches the whole world so it's not just an American thing it's everywhere so

[00:29:19] now that we're at the gaming part of we built a prototype for our new game now it's when I can go the world is open to me I can go get grants I can go get vitric apple as money to build

[00:29:29] she wrote games I'm looking right now for a tech co-founder for she wrote games because the tech most out of games is just I can I can get some things but am I gonna get all of that so I

[00:29:39] need someone that understands that world they kind of co-found this company with me but yeah now I have a complete multi media company where it's not on the level of Marvel but it's a smaller

[00:29:50] version of Marvel to where we're in our niche of a living of serving women especially my nor do women which are this money left on the table by the big studios because they don't

[00:29:59] really seem to care or think that women are valuable I do and so that's what the future is is to now build out the company now that I built so many IPs now that I have so many films

[00:30:09] that have won awards now that I have a game on on that's on the on through coming up or whatever it's like the companies as a whole right now so now I can move a little bit differently now I can

[00:30:19] go out and do good morning America and do the big media outlets or whatever because I have a complete company and if we get money from vitric apple it's not even more news or whatever black

[00:30:30] woman that has a get some million dollars to do games so it's just like when that's going to be something little girls can see and can aspire to do so it's like trailblazing is what my therapist

[00:30:38] calls it like you're out here trailblazing and so that's what's next is to continue to trailblaze now that we have everything kind of settled we have the IP built now we can go out

[00:30:46] and let them world know everybody this is what we got going on so like this week was need to immediately like send a media to Korean outlets to outlets in Ireland to outlets in the United States

[00:30:56] so just like everywhere this is what we have this what we was built so now I built something I'm able to go out with it and and build it on built more and bring on more people because eventually I want

[00:31:06] to bring in other women that write the books and other women that are creating comics and kind of acquiring things that they're doing as well and yeah just going around the schools and using

[00:31:15] the books as educational tools like Raven choice and English and Korean so people use it to kind of learn Korean if they're learning they can use the books as a tool so it's just like there's

[00:31:24] so many things that I this the world is my oyster really get this point wow I've gotten to this point bootstrapped to this point so we're now anything is possible everything is where it's supposed

[00:31:35] to be and just waiting on not really waiting but just like thinking of what's my next move is and I know when you talk about being kind of a smaller version of Marvel do you see yourself doing

[00:31:44] more movies as well I know you talk about moving into the gaming and you do have you like the documentary where you're documenting your journey you know through this process

[00:31:53] and stuff but do you also have a vision of that because I think we're seeing more of that with like the black characters and things like that like there's an audience for it is that another

[00:32:02] arm of your business that you really see yeah poppulting in the future yes that's I mean I came to California student write movies so that's my fundamentally I'm a trained screenwriter who also

[00:32:12] has a business sense so it's kind of like bringing those two worlds together so film that's the thing you build these IPs up and Raven choice built up to not just be a game but he basically be a film

[00:32:20] kind of like Tomb Raider Laura Croft come on how you see that where they is some multi media empire that they've built around that character so the same thing can happen for her and all

[00:32:29] other characters that I have I've created other feroes that I've created a mess of gold with young grandmaster Troy I'm not think that one is just like the most explosive one because it's

[00:32:37] like little black girl karate kit so it's like this little girl goes to Korea and learns hat keto and Taikwondo and all these different martial arts and she starts to take the

[00:32:46] competitive sports world by by by storm so it's like one of you ever seen a little black girl in competition and that's that's kicking butt and it's in another culture and it's overcoming

[00:32:56] her parents being killed so it's just like us they coming comes a lot of the white guys tell me that the story Ravens were a monster my Batman and I'm like Batman is the best selling

[00:33:04] comic book of all time so I'm just like I'm in good company and that's what I'm aiming for like we're coming for you which is coming for the whole world to get into this and so far after

[00:33:13] doing that trip or that tour that we did I think they're ready for it like in Indonesia the women were so supportive they were so happy to see a black woman doing it they were buying

[00:33:22] the books they were like telling me how proud they were of me and it was just like I was like in tears oh wow like I didn't expect it's like I knew I was coming to a different country but

[00:33:31] I didn't know that you know they knew our plight and we're able to kind of relate to us on net level because these are Muslim women so yeah that's really cool and you know what I think

[00:33:39] is really cool as well is the fact that you saw the gap yes you said okay there is a gap in the industry and I think that is oftentimes where we can find the next great opportunity is looking

[00:33:50] for the gaps yes you know when you're thinking about other women who might be maybe it's not gaming or even media but they're own trying to find their own purpose or place in the world what

[00:34:00] would you say about identifying gaps or looking for places where there's a missing component where you can make your mark well usually you can start out with what you like well she likes so

[00:34:10] for me it was just like I went so comment book shop I think after seeing the first Iron Man that's the Iron Man that was just like I knew where a wobble was going like I had my own vision

[00:34:19] and it's hard for people to see your vision it's hard to make them see your vision but what marvel I knew exactly where they were going I knew what they were trying to do I knew

[00:34:26] I knew it was going to get to wear black cancer or whatever I kind of saw that now just like okay so we're a black woman and minority women are going to be in that because they're just

[00:34:34] going to probably focus on men because most of the common books focus on men so just like well let me go do my research go go go see what's happening so I went to the comic book shop down the street

[00:34:43] and it was just like okay give me all the books you have a black woman on the cover or a black woman about black women and he was just like okay so he gave me like heroes for hired

[00:34:53] which had a missing night she's a part of a crew or whatever he gave me black Panther which I think like storm is in some of those books and they're just like okay well she's on the cover

[00:35:01] like what about star we star and stuff to black you know he's like they had nothing for me and so I was just like wow so there is a gap in here or whatever and this is like in 2008 2009

[00:35:12] and so it's just like okay there is there is a place for me to put this Raven Troy character out in the world or whatever and so how am I going to do that so several years later I wanted

[00:35:21] to do a couple films before I got to around to doing the comic book and so yeah it was just finding that there was a gap and something that I was interested in and something that I was

[00:35:29] passionate about which is black women and and Hollywood and black women in the media and so that's what would say to find the gap and something that you're interested in because that passion is what's

[00:35:39] gonna take you through all the hard times and all the rejections because girl I've been rejected so many times but I keep coming back it's like the Phoenix you keep rising whatever but that you

[00:35:49] have to have that energy of knowing your gut this is what you're supposed to be doing annoying your gut this is what you have to do it's some space you have to do so that's what keeps you going

[00:35:58] and keeps as it's it's very very difficult and in my world it's very as even more so because of the sexism and the racism and just being in the spaces where women aren't traditionally allowed or

[00:36:10] not like they're not used to being there which is comics celebrated and gaming right now a gaming is still very new the new part of my company and I'm just seeing where it's just like

[00:36:20] there are no black people over here and they're not especially no women and they're not interested and they also like obligated to bring women into the world of gaming they don't have been makes so much money and so much money internationally that they don't have to

[00:36:35] be diverse but I'm just like okay well we're gonna be diverse over here so I'm gonna come in and take all of the money that y'all leave you on a table by not being diverse and that's

[00:36:44] what my path is in here so it's just like the money y'all are leaving behind and I'm just done doing it by creating excellent games like not just a game or just a regular game it was

[00:36:51] let me excellent that's one thing I love Coca-Cola is if you have a really good product it sales no matter what so some of the sales reps and those people that work at Coca-Cola

[00:37:01] but we had a really great product and those people that have been drinking Coke since they were a little they had stories behind the Coca-Cola and it's like if you have that and you build that

[00:37:11] kind of product for your consumers then there's nowhere there's nowhere you can't go it's just this endless is boundless. Miss guys the limit well how do you get ideas you know do things just

[00:37:23] come to you because I know you talked about when you came up with your first character you know you had just come back from Asia and you're like oh what would happen if I was over there

[00:37:33] and I was raised by family what would my life be like so how do you find ideas does it just come to you usually just life like when I came back 2016 when I came back in the near future that was the

[00:37:43] last stop on the tour I did an interview with Simone Missick she was a split missing night and like look age and she has a show that's on right now like on own what she plays a judge

[00:37:54] low-acar Michael and I interviewed her for the documentary and I remember telling her at the interview like you remind me of Cam Greer and then like she was so re-goled and like the way she

[00:38:04] would answer the questions and stuff and so after that I was just like I think she's really cool whatever and so I was I asked my mom for DNA tests it was like right before Christmas and so she's

[00:38:13] bought me a DNA test she was quick with it and they came in a couple weeks and so I was still thinking about everything that just happened this year so I found it's a test maybe in January but then the

[00:38:22] test came in idea which is like what is this test like who what is someone comes out of the blue what if I'm like kind of some tribe like some kingdom and Africa or something like that and

[00:38:33] that's where like the story for taking a throne so I ended up coming up with a story I pitched it to this incubated at Run Howard and Brian Grager had and they wanted me to come in and write it so I went

[00:38:43] in a wrote this movie in eight weeks and that's how taking the throne came about it's like I interviewed Simone I took a DNA test and got this idea and then I kind of wrote it out as a

[00:38:53] a pitch and they were like they interviewed me and they were like okay once you be a part of this program and so this was like the serial con number one there was serial con number one that happened

[00:39:02] and the next day I get a call from Run Howard so it was just like run Howard's huge I mean yes he is called yes that is huge yes it was I was just like because I was on the phone with somebody else

[00:39:13] about serial con because serial con they messed up my colors on my step of repeats I was in the phone with them like yeah the colors were wrong all my money back like in the car level he was like

[00:39:21] hello so I'm like I click over this like run Howard I'm like wait what so yeah but it was like two ideas coming to me like from talking to people from going to the park from being in the shower

[00:39:34] or maybe I see something wrong I'm looking at reading something I'm like what does that say oh well that might make a good idea like I think it was like I was I was listening to the radio

[00:39:42] when they were saying something about bad moms or bad something and I was just like bad moms like that might be a good idea for a show or something like that so it's like the idea

[00:39:50] is just kind of coming me some of them are stronger words just like this has to get written now and some of them are just like I can do those later so they have like a sheet of just different ideas

[00:39:58] some of an idea person and so they they kind of come to me in any kind of way well before we get to some additional wisdom just from your journey I want to talk about what's the best way people can

[00:40:10] because I want to mean we're hearing what you're doing we want to be a support to you we want to let the community know or if you're a woman and you're watching this and we have this and meet

[00:40:18] out of your quita is doing the thing we need to put our support behind her and show where some love so what's the best way people can do that. Best way is to sheerocomics.com is my website so

[00:40:31] social media I'm at Sheerocomics so as Hero with an S on the front of course so Sheerocomics I'm everywhere I'm on Twitter I'm on TikTok from how I'm on Facebook or else I'm on LinkedIn

[00:40:42] so you can follow me on there but yeah just follow me and definitely support and buy the books because that's what helps push things along and it helps my numbers because when I go into these meetings

[00:40:52] are going to look for a venture capitalists or whatever no one wanted they want numbers it's like how many books are you selling it was like during the comment concert I was selling 800 books a

[00:41:00] year pretty much was really decent for India whatever but it's like now it's like I don't sell as many books because there's nothing really pushing it but now that I guess I would reach the point where

[00:41:10] we're at games now so I can kind of be on the media circuit now and kind of push things and think it more followers and all of that to kind of bring them along but that's what you can find

[00:41:19] me as Sheerocomics. No I think that's important like you said because the numbers the you know the movie people all of those are looking at the numbers so you know every follower every book sold all of that makes a significant difference you make feel like you're one person

[00:41:34] but you know I want the audience to know that one person if we have one person on top of one person on top of one person just the impact that can make so going into some of the wisdom from your journey

[00:41:44] what do you think were some of the biggest mistakes you made early on that you would change if you looking back looking back there was like I like to the experiential marketing sometimes who

[00:41:55] we first came out with a first book I was trying to see like instead of just going in the comment book shops I was like let me see if I can sell this until I care supply stores and other places

[00:42:03] of whatever kind of see if it will work there and so most part they didn't it was just like because people that like comics go to comment book shops so it was like I probably wouldn't have

[00:42:12] done that I mean I did it now so you know that I can tell everybody else like that's not really where it works at it may work in a way depending on the media strategy you have going on it but for me

[00:42:22] that wasn't successful where else probably is spinning my own money so well I mean you have to bootstrapped in a way but I think this is my first kickstart that I'm running right now I did it

[00:42:35] and I fund women I did I raise money on their platform back in 2021 because I got a grant from her wrist along before this I probably should have done a couple of kick starters because that's the

[00:42:45] way a lot of come but created are selling their books and that's where a big audience is that will support your books so I probably should have crowds this is a way of marketing as well so people

[00:42:54] get to know you do kickstarter yeah because it's crowdfunding and I want to make sure people understand that so if you don't understand what kickstarter is it's like a crowdfunding way where you put

[00:43:02] your idea out there and people are able to invest in your business so maybe the big top company didn't but you're saying looking back saying go crowdfunding route look at other options

[00:43:13] if you if you can if you have the support system like this this campaign right now that's going on like I met 6,049 dollars I believe right now the mystical was 5,000 I knew that I could

[00:43:24] raise 5,000 which is friends and family and most of them have just given me money they only want anything in rewards so what happens is like we got to 5,000 they kind of right now we're kind of stuck

[00:43:34] at 6,000 because people see it they're like oh she was only raised 5,000 so we're not going to get for anything more but my counterparts in what's happening for them on there is that they don't

[00:43:44] don't put a goal for 3,000 and end up like 30,000 dollars because their crowd is not just coming to support them to get the book made but they're actually buying the book so that's where I'm

[00:43:54] right now I'm just trying to explain to people that may not be necessarily be privy of kickstarter is that okay we're at our goal we over our goal at this point but I still need you to buy books these

[00:44:05] are pretty much me selling events copies of the book so after this call that's my next thing I'm going to do like a little trailer a little commercial they kind of show okay we made it to our goal

[00:44:13] this is what we need we get so books now because I need them have numbers when I go into the studios about this thing and it made it TV series I need to have numbers like okay we sell 20,000

[00:44:22] dollars or for books or whatever because like I said numbers matter yeah it's just like trying to to get that is what what you see the differences between me and like my male counterparts it's

[00:44:33] like their stuff kind of blows up because it's more men who are against read comics but I think their women at read comics to amend read my comics as well so it's just finding that audience is

[00:44:42] what I think it was it's like I could have done that a lot sooner by going on kickstarter a lot sooner so that was kind of a thing where I felt like okay you should have been on there should

[00:44:51] be there no I think that's a couple good go to nuggets from there is don't be afraid to look at alternate certain you know sources of income for your business like you said the kick starters

[00:45:00] the crowdfunding looking at that and then also what I like that you said is you experimented the maybe staying in that not staying in the experimental phase so long yeah I was like let me

[00:45:09] see if I could sell this in the beauty source with saying okay where is your audience really holding in and knowing your audience because once you know where your audience is then you would

[00:45:18] say oh they're not really there so let me go back to the comic you know comic book stores and see how I can infiltrate there and continue to raise awareness so I think that's really huge and asking

[00:45:28] for help asking for help that's good because that's the thing that we don't do often is ask for help and that's where I had to get out of that it's kind of doing everything on your own and kind

[00:45:38] of stressing yourself out doing stuff like ask for help when you need it so now I have a virtual assistant that does my research for me or I'll get interns that come in and they they help

[00:45:47] for whatever so ask for help when you need it because you can burn out yeah because I can imagine all this to grow all the stuff that you're doing and even just continuing to ideate and come up

[00:45:57] with an idea so you have to have the creative side of your brain but also the business side of your brain so all of that working together I can see how that can be a lot so one of the last

[00:46:06] questions I want to say to you is what is the biggest mindset shift that you think you've had to make throughout all of this I know you talked about pivoting but was it believing in yourself what

[00:46:18] was the biggest mindset shift that you think was the most impactful besides the pivot because I think the pivot is huge but is there any other mindset I think I'm going through that now

[00:46:28] some of my friends last time I've sent my sex message I'm like I'm at the so when I before I moved out here I told you it was like two roads in York LA which one are you gonna do

[00:46:38] so right now I'm at a point where I met with everybody in Hollywood I have a brand new script that's out that's going out or whatever and it's like I came in right movies so it's like okay

[00:46:49] either just script is going to sell I'm going to get on the TV series to write on a show right now or I'm going to take zero games and find the tech co-founder and go to venture capitalists

[00:47:00] but I know that if I go do zero games and get venture capitalists you have other people's money so you're running a company now so I won't have as much time to write movies so it's like okay

[00:47:08] where am I going next god and am I going to do games right now are I'm going to do spring right because the spring writing side of things it's like okay I can make money I can still bootstrap

[00:47:18] and get grants and kind of build my gaming company a little bit at a time but I'm not these throsss balls that I might be hoping to anyone where I'm having to run this company to get them

[00:47:27] their money back to be profitable I could still do it a little bit of time while I'm writing which I'm happy you're happy is when I'm writing but the gaming side of things has become

[00:47:35] to where it's like movies you're telling story so that the last of us is playing on HBO that's so huge right now if you go and look at the game the game looks like a movie

[00:47:44] and so there's storytelling that's happening there where I have stories I have to come in books that are going to become a game and that can look just like that so it's like either way it

[00:47:52] goes there's a bag of money so it's not a horrible place to be but it's still like okay where am I going now am I going to venture capitalists route are I'm going to Hollywood route so it's like the next

[00:48:03] month probably I'll figure that out because I have some big meetings with Hollywood folks in production companies about the script and about young grandma's joy but then I also I'm applying to cohorts

[00:48:13] that are investing in businesses and that are going to want you to make your business profitable and to move forward with the gaming side of things and the game like I say it's complicated to build

[00:48:23] a game it's it's finding the right team and all that so it's gonna take every bit of me to ensure that that's happening and that I'm I'm the boss I'm a CEO I'm a CEO but I'm really the CEO

[00:48:33] of you're like every day I'm just focused on the gaming or whatever so I'm at that mindset right now it's okay where am I going here and so in the next month it'll work itself out but it's

[00:48:45] that's where I'm in the mindset of like I have to figure out what my next move is in this business and with this company where am I taking this company? Well I know for sure no matter which way

[00:48:54] you go is going blow up which we your past it so I almost even as I'm listening to you I'm like you could go either direction and it will be amazing and I think that eventually all of it

[00:49:04] will come to play and I think you know I'm not saying that because I have like a crystal ball or anything but I just feel like everything that you have touched in the path that you're on

[00:49:13] that you're being led and even if you go here I feel like God's kind of like a GPS system I almost feel you go down you get a little kind of off-road you kind of re-rouching you back where you

[00:49:23] supposed to be anyway. Yeah sure that if that's what God does. Yes I always feel like you know it will all work itself out and so I'm excited to see where you're going to end up or how this

[00:49:35] is all going to unfold and my two last questions for you because I always ought to have one but when you started talking about meeting with Hollywood and doing that how did you start opening those doors

[00:49:44] or even get the courage to say I'm going to start walking you know going after these big contracts or finding the people because I think that's another thing on your journey is knowing who to contact

[00:49:55] where to go how do you even open the door even get the meeting so if there's any insight you can give to that I think that would be really helpful before I had the fourth or run-hawet program it was just

[00:50:05] me hustling and meeting people that's how I got myself an install magazine. I went to an event I met an editor and as this event it was really strange because it was beautycon and they just did a

[00:50:15] talk so the lady came downstairs I was telling her like yeah I want to get into the magazines what I'm doing she is my book whatever but there were these girls that were around me and they all had heard

[00:50:23] of she wrote comics so they were just like oh yeah we know about she wrote comics I'm sure that made it look even better I'm just like really okay so that was interesting but then the

[00:50:32] couple months later I did the run-hawet thing and that's where it was kind of like a big break because at that point I got management I had agents and agents that were chasing me at that point in time

[00:50:42] because I just described that I written and then I was getting meetings with I met was I mean Kevin Hart's company will Smith's company I mean everybody. The reswitest one's company was

[00:50:50] I met with so many people that year and then they continued I signed with the agents probably in 2020 right before the pandemic happened and then I got even more meeting so I was pitching

[00:50:59] on movies for like hotel and pitching on Lego movie or just all these movies or whatever I was pitching on and so that but while I was doing that I made sure that I was creating a relationship

[00:51:10] with the people at the company so I would get their information I would send them my raven toy books afterwards now I keep in touch with them so every time I release a book hey guys

[00:51:17] I have a new book coming out of whatever's like keep that relationship going and so now at this point like I let go of my managers last year because it wasn't working out it wasn't a fit and then my

[00:51:26] agents kind of laid less like last month which was like okay nothing's gonna stop here because I'm like they don't that they understood the whole CEO and being the game so because yeah we

[00:51:35] we appreciate the games and the comics or whatever but they never understood it they only understand Hollywood and screenwriting and stuff and I'm just like I need someone that gets all of that so

[00:51:43] just like okay so they laugh for whatever but I still have this this sheet of all the people that I met in Hollywood that I've kept in touch with and so I set up my own meaning so yesterday

[00:51:53] I met with this really big production company next month I'm meeting with the production company that did top-gun fabric I just met with another producer about hallmark movies that I write and so it's just like it's gonna happen with or without me having representation at this point

[00:52:06] but it's just like cultivating those relationships and making sure people know who you are they know me as a really good writer so that gives me respect coming through the door so they know

[00:52:14] that I'm not writing crap so they're requesting my script from me now rather than requesting from the agent or having to go through a third party I mess up my lawyer who kind of navigates

[00:52:24] and it's my point first but yeah at this point it's just like I've created these relationships with Hollywood and now I can utilize them without having a middle person there and I think it makes it

[00:52:33] more like intimate and makes it more like wow she's really you know doing it she's really entrepreneurial because that's what the ladies told me I said she's such an entrepreneur

[00:52:42] and so it's just like that's kind of how I've had to work it is just like the meetings that I did get through representation I made sure I got my own relationship with them so if things went

[00:52:52] south or if I decide to fire my agents down the road a couple months down the road then it didn't matter because I already have these relationships with universal studios and other production companies or whatever so right now I'm just like focus on this campaign and

[00:53:05] having meetings with them about young grandmaster joy and everything else that I have my arsenal and it's like I say like it's next month it's like either it's something's going to sell I'm

[00:53:14] going to be on a show right I'll super hero character or I'm going to be over here doing games and going to sit with calm valley they get the money that I need and I know that there's not

[00:53:23] many women that are doing what I'm doing I know I stand out as a black woman that's doing this I know that I'm creating excellent products and excellent IP I know I have everything that I need

[00:53:32] and so it's win win oh wow girl you inspire me I just have to say listening to you and your belief in yourself and your willingness to just keep putting yourself out there and not letting anything

[00:53:45] stop you is huge and so the last question I like to end with on my guess is I could probably talk you all day and just pick your brain because you're such a you're so inspiring and have such a

[00:53:55] wealth of information but I always ask people what is the best piece of advice that you've received on your journey before I moved here the one time I came out to visit I had you know I was

[00:54:07] I used to know letters to TV shows and Hollywood I went to write on so some of the parkers was going on and so I wrote them a letter about being on the show as a writer's assistant or something

[00:54:16] like that and the lady who was like the assistant to the show runner she wrote me back she's she loved that the way I packaged it out I'm just assuming everything's different so the paper was

[00:54:26] cut a certain way the way I typed a letter I put in like an envelope that you can see through it was just like my presentation was always going to be like over the top and so she was just

[00:54:34] like the paper everything about like who are you and so she like sent me a message and was like well yeah let me know if you're in LA and I can use your text to come on a show or whatever and so

[00:54:42] I was just like okay cool I'm in LA next week so that was an invitation for me oh like I'm like I'm not in the middle and I meet her I think her name was Sharon McGee and the best advice

[00:54:55] that she gave me was to not just write black stuff she was like don't just write black stuff right about everybody right everything that you can make it diverse and that was the best piece of advice

[00:55:05] because the first agent that I had was before I moved here and it was off of I wrote a pilot I wrote a spec script but the sample script of the Lazy McWire show and I think I wrote another

[00:55:15] one of the Drew Carrey show so I wrote a rest of the development so I was able to write across the board white black Korean whatever and that was that's been my superpower in the industry

[00:55:27] I'm able to like I say I'm able to pitch on movies the right like picture area pitch on movies the right like Lego or sci-fi movies or whatever whatever it comes along I'm able to do that because

[00:55:37] of that piece of advice and the same thing I was my company it's just like yeah I'm focused on minority women and especially black women but I mean it's really all women too like I think

[00:55:46] all women are like I say in the region like they were like happy that a black woman with a black story they supported me like the most so this is like I think other women want us to win as well

[00:55:58] so it's like my company it serves black women but it also serves all women so eventually I want in the region women tell their stories who she real comes because it's the serial universe

[00:56:07] that's the best advice I got was to not just focus on just black stories and to be able to write everybody's and that's what helped me yeah diversify that's huge just being willing to

[00:56:18] diversify being open to the pivot as you said yeah being willing to bet on yourself investing yourself and just watch and see how got a strategic and we'll open the doors at the right time

[00:56:30] with the right people to become and do the purpose that he's called you to do so this has been such a good oh my gosh I love this conversation she tweeted this has been so good for my soul and I

[00:56:40] know that it is going to bless so many people so thank you so much for sharing your journey with us thank you what was your biggest aha moment from today show for me it was the importance of

[00:56:49] believing bigger and how God kept telling she tweeted bigger every time her vision was too small it makes me question what eras in my life is God saying I have greater for you

[00:57:05] powerful if you were inspired by the women you hear on my podcast please share this with a friend it would mean a lot to me subscribe to the show so you don't miss any episodes and leave me a review

[00:57:16] your support will help more women find us to learn more about our guests visit she's big time now dot com thank you so much for listening