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Most people I meet have a story/voice that compels me - sometimes for a few minutes - sometimes for a lifetime. I'm drawn to the little/big voices who wish to speak - wish to be heard - wish to matter. These stories help me understand myself and my place in the world. Maybe they will light your path and keep you company on your journey as well.
- Mark.
Let's let's calm down. Let's let's go on there with an open mind because a pair of lips can say anything. But I said, man, what if he offered me this? And I wrote down a number.
Speaker 2:Hi, everybody. This is Mark Gadell with Little Big Voices from Austin, Texas. This week, we've got a really special guest, Corey Hopkins. He's a filmmaker, musician, and digital media mentor who discovered his true calling at the African American Youth Harvest Foundation in Austin. Corey is gonna take us on his journey from his days at Amazon to his current role at the foundation and how he used his music to keep him going through the tough times.
Speaker 2:He gets real about the ups and downs that ultimately led him to his passion, empowering young people. So get ready for a seriously uplifting chat about believing in yourself, using your creativity for good, and the life changing power of mentorship. Hang tight. This guy's got it. Welcome, Corey Hopkins.
Speaker 2:I met you at the African American Youth Harvest Foundation, which is a neat place.
Speaker 1:Yes,
Speaker 2:sir. Neat place.
Speaker 1:I was
Speaker 2:over there doing a video shoot. Mhmm. And met Corey there, and we got to talking and figured out we had a lot in common.
Speaker 1:He was in his zone though, y'all. Y'all should have seen him. He had his camera. He's like, Hey, yeah, I want you to just be in the background playing the games. I was like, All right, cool, man.
Speaker 1:You got it, man. Look. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But y'all were over there and then met Mr. Mike, man what a powerful guy. Perfect. With a heart of gold and humility.
Speaker 1:Hard to
Speaker 2:find that in one person. Man. Talk to me about Mike a little bit for a second and his wife and then we'll get back to you.
Speaker 1:Of course, of course. So mister Michael Alton, First off, shout out to him. My older brother Terrence Hopkins, he had first originally went to this foundation because my mother-in-law, rest her soul, she had passed away of breast cancer but she was working at the foundation and she created this organization or she created this girl's group called Queens to Be which my wife is her daughter and so she found Mr. Michael Lawton and she would always rave about Oh man I gotta tell you about my boss and she was from The Bahamas right so she had this accent she was like Oh man I got the best boss in the world and he knows this and you got to meet them, Corey. You gotta meet them.
Speaker 1:I was like, Okay, cool. And at this time, I didn't care nothing about organizations. I didn't care nothing about kids as far as helping them. I was just mainly focused on my music and getting money. And that's me being honest.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. So when I kept hearing about him, then she was like, hey. She was like, Corey, you need to go over there. I was like, yeah. I don't really do stuff like that, but maybe Terrence I said, Terrence, he does stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So Terrence, he went down there and met mister Michael Lofton. Fast forward, he decided he wanted to work there. And mind you, we were working at Amazon with my older brother. We were operational managers, making good money, making good money. And I was like, Terrence left Amazon to go work at the foundation.
Speaker 1:I'm like, man, why is he and then here come Terrence. Man, Corey. Man, you gotta meet mister Michael Lauthn. I'm like, man, why is everybody telling me about man, I'm telling Corey, man, down to earth, man, this is this is a person you wanna come see. I was like, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, when I get Tommy, you know, I'll do it. I wasn't, like, really me being honest. Was just like, okay. Cool.
Speaker 1:Everything happened for a reason. I'll meet him when it's time. Fast forward. I met him for the first time on a baseball game, we were talking and I saw him for who he was and that made me respect him. We was talking for about at least twenty-thirty minutes and I didn't know him, he didn't know me but I finally was seeing what Mama Lorraine was talking about and my older brother Terrence was talking about, I said man he has a real heart, he's real.
Speaker 1:And so I was like hey man, we'll get together one of these days and at this same time I have so many phones going off because I was working at Amazon, so everybody's calling because I I was dispatching and all this stuff which means when a person would finish their route they call me, hey look, hey Corey, I finished, do I need to do anything else? I can either send them to go help out somebody or say, no, hey, go ahead and bring it in, you're good. Anyway, I was at the job for about three and a half years, I was like, man, that's not what I'm supposed to be doing, man. I need to do something else. But I was like, man, what else I'm a do?
Speaker 1:So I was like, man, you know what? I need to get back into video, man. Let me get back into video recording. But I was always I was doing music as well, but I was like, let me get into video recording. So after three years, I told my brother, hey, look.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's time for me to kinda depart. And he was like and it was already that time because I suffered a heat stroke there. Right? Suffered a heat stroke, and I'm still trying to work.
Speaker 1:My brother was like, hey, Corey. Look, man. This and I'm like, Alright cool, I'm out of here. So I left, leap of faith. I didn't know how it was gonna turn out, but I was like, Man, you know what?
Speaker 1:Let me go try to find a job. Because let me tell you this, my older brother Charles, he said this because first I was like, man, you know what? Let me do something different while I'm not suffering the heat and suffering any more heat stroke. So I said, man, let me find something that I love doing or that will make me some money. What I end up doing was I said, man, I'm gonna become a CPA, like my older brother.
Speaker 1:He has a tax company and everything. And I was like told my brother, yeah, ma, I'm about to, you know, I'm gonna become a CPA. He was like, Corey. He's like, hey, man. Look.
Speaker 1:I get it. I know I know you wanna do this for money, but, hey. Look, man. He said, man, you'll get bored, man. He said, what happened to your video stuff?
Speaker 1:I thought you were doing that. I said, man, there really really wasn't no money into it, man. I've been doing this for fifteen years, man. I I've been doing free stuff for everybody. Nobody wants to contribute.
Speaker 1:Like, I've been waiting for somebody to see something in me to invest. And he was like, Corey, you need to get back to your passion. Like, that's gonna like, you will do something that you love, but it'll never feel like works. I was like, alright. I heard mister Michael Laughton was doing a big back to school festival for all the community.
Speaker 1:So I told my wife, I said, babe, alright, look, this is the goal. This is what we're do. We're gonna go to African American Youth Harvest Foundation Festival and I'm gonna try to get a client with Mr. Mike. I said, alright, cool.
Speaker 1:So hey, look, I need everybody. I need you to get your homegirl and I need us all to dress in black and white. Right? And I need y'all to follow me wherever I go. Because how you present yourself is how others perceive you.
Speaker 1:Right? So she's like alright man I got you. So we all we go up there
Speaker 2:Looking good.
Speaker 1:Man we go up there looking like we running, we're looking like we got money and we're looking like we're professional, but we had no ducks, we had no money but we go up there and I get on the scene and I'm how you present yourself is how others perceive you so I'm just acting like I'm this guy hey how you doing hey yes sir hey my name is Corey Hopkins the CEO of LaVey Ransman TV hey I want to get a quick interview from you. You and your organization. Now what's the name of your organization? Okay. Perfect.
Speaker 1:Hey. Look. When I say 3210, hey. When I start coming on, I want y'all to start clapping, and we're gonna go right into it. Alright?
Speaker 1:In three two alright. Hey. Hey. Welcome back to LaVey Ranch with TV, your host for the night, mister Corey H. And I'm here with a young lady by the name of and I'm just doing this.
Speaker 1:I'm doing this to every booth there. Little did I know mister Michael Laughton is looking. I don't see him looking. I'm just I'm going to each booth, and I finally see him. I'm like, hey, mister can I get an interview?
Speaker 1:I asked him one question, and we were there for forty five minutes. Mhmm. And so I was like, man, hold up. I said, man, hold up. You talking for a long time.
Speaker 1:I said, hold up. Okay. Cool. And I'm looking at my wife and she's like, hey. We gotta cut it.
Speaker 1:I'm like, but I don't wanna cut it off to be rude. I'm like, man, forty five minutes. Oh, that's gonna be a lot of editing. But then after that, I said, hey. Look.
Speaker 1:I'm a have your video done within, you know, two to three weeks, but I got it done in three days. Fast forward. I get a call, mister Michael Laughlin, as soon as I sent it. I said, me and my wife, we're looking. She said, oh my gosh, baby.
Speaker 1:Come here. And I'm like, my goodness. So I answered the phone. Hello? Real calm, cool, collected.
Speaker 1:He's like, hey, how you doing, sir? Hey, this is Michael Lautner. How you doing? I said, hey. How you doing?
Speaker 1:And my wife's like, oh my god. I'm like, yes, How you doing? He's like, yeah. Yeah. Hey.
Speaker 1:I really enjoyed the video hey I was trying to see if you had time maybe next week if we can have a meet and my wife was like oh my god I was like yeah let me let me check my calendar man you know I got time man and so I'm acting I'm playing around yeah I'm looking like I'm free on that day. You said 09:00? Yes, I'll do that, my wife. Oh my god. I said, alright.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. We get out the phone. I'm amped up, baby. This could be it. What if this is it, baby?
Speaker 1:This could be it, man. Oh my god. She's like, baby, signed a car. And I'm just like, alright. Alright.
Speaker 1:Wait. Wait. Hold it. Wait. Let's let's calm down.
Speaker 1:Let's let's go in there with an open mind because a pair of lips can say anything. But I said, man, what if he offered me this? And I wrote down a number. And I was like, man, know what? Alright.
Speaker 1:Let me let me stop let me stop thinking about the money. Let me let go me in here. Let me see what he gonna say, and we'll go from there. We get there, and he we're talking. We're interviewing for about an hour and a half.
Speaker 1:He was like, alright. Well, hey. Ultimately, hey. This is what we wanna do for you. And I stood up.
Speaker 1:I said, this is
Speaker 2:wrote down a number or something?
Speaker 1:Wrote down a number in front of me.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And I stood up. I said, man, this was the exact number that I wrote before I came here. And he said, hey, man. We want you here, man. I I literally was in awe because I could not believe that what I wrote down at home really came in the past right in front of my very eyes that moment and still to this day I get emotional thinking about it because fifteen years all I wanted somebody to do was believe and see something in me, man.
Speaker 1:He walked me towards the back and it was an empty room, empty room. And he said, hey, look. I was like, this this gonna be my studio? He was like, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:He said, hey. I want you to create your vision. Give me a list of what you need, and we're gonna get it for you. So I'm like, alright cool. I'm still looking around like, man.
Speaker 1:I said, hey, I wanna do everything. I wanna paint it. I wanna do everything because I wanna put my heart and soul into it. And so he's like, alright cool. Hey, look.
Speaker 1:He said, hey, well go get the paint, go get this, but create me a list of what you need. I sent him a long list. I walk in the next day everybody's telling me I'm still stuck in the back office and like hey did you check-in the office yet? Did you you know did you go check-in the front? Was like nah nah you know and I'm painting he was like hey.
Speaker 1:When you get a chance, go check. So I'm like, alright. Cool. Then mister Michael came back there. He said, hey.
Speaker 1:Did you did you check the office yet? I said, no, sir. He's like, hey, man. Just just go check-in there. I go in there, and I see all these boxes stacked up to the ceiling.
Speaker 1:I'm like, what is this? He He said, man, that's all the stuff you ordered. When I say that moment still to this day, that's how I knew it was real, man. I knew it was real, and I just started creating. And the influence that he's had on me, man, I I really thank him and missus Lane, Lofton for gonna let you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It seems like he's in the business of seeing people.
Speaker 1:Man, thank you for that. That was perfect.
Speaker 2:But he saw you and he proved it. He didn't just talk about it. He stacked up a bunch of stuff just said, I see you. Here it is.
Speaker 1:Dang. He told me this later on. He said, Man, you remind me of me.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's good.
Speaker 1:He said, man, when I was your age, man, he said, I did the same thing you did. Mhmm. He said, didn't know what I was doing, but I went out there and I did my presentation. He said, you remind me of me. And I was like, man.
Speaker 1:He said I reminded him him man, dang. So I am on the right track. I said alright cool and I just kept pushing. I told my wife before I even knew I was gonna go into the organization, I said baby you know what this year I'm a do 25 videos. And at that time I was only doing two to three videos a year.
Speaker 1:Two to three videos a year, but I was like, you know what? This year I'm a do 25. She was like, baby, that's a lot of videos. She's like how you gonna do it I said I don't know but I'm gonna find a way. Man I got to the foundation within one week I did 32 videos.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:I said baby baby look I already beat my goal she's what you talking about? Said remember I said 25 I did 32 She's like, well you did say it. I was like, what? Still up to this day I think I did about 200 and something episodes at the African American Youth Harvest Foundation.
Speaker 2:What is it when you speak like so far you said that a couple of different times, you speak, you like the number and then it happens. Happens. What is that? What is going on there in the world, in your heart, in the spiritual? What's going on there that you're syncing up with the truth?
Speaker 1:They say death and life are in the power of the tongue. My mama used to always say that. She said, What you speak and what you believe will come to pass. So and she used always say, So shall a man think of in his heart. So is so is he.
Speaker 1:And I kept saying, man, I'm gonna be a business owner. You know, I'm gonna be wealthy. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna be that. I wanna have my own show.
Speaker 1:I wanna do this. I wanna I wanna do what I love doing and not make it feel like work. And when it happened, I'm like, man, I'm really doing it. Still to this day, I have to sit back and just look. I'll I'll be in my office, and then I'll go in the studio and just look.
Speaker 1:I said, man, this really happened, man.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Dude, it's humbling. Ever since I went through what I went through, every day is a big day. Every day's a new day. Every day I can't believe I get to do this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's the gift of the rock bottom, I think, man. Woo, yeah. Not everybody gets to hit the rock bottom. Maybe it's different for everybody, but I I need it hard and I need it clear.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I got it hard and clear, and I was living a life where I wasn't being my true self.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, man, did it go crashing down. Where do you think you would be without your mom, your brothers Yeah. And Mr. Mike?
Speaker 1:Dead or in jail.
Speaker 2:Isn't that humbling to know that those people had that kind of influence and
Speaker 1:Dead or in jail.
Speaker 2:And how do you think that affects what you're doing with kids now?
Speaker 1:It inspired me for once that you can go through life living a certain way, and all it takes is for people to believe and surround you with the love and say, look hey. I see something more than what you see in yourself and you'll never see and sometimes you don't see your own flaws you just think I'm good what are you talking about? But when people start addressing it and if a lot of people are saying the same thing that what they see and you're like, it's not me. No. It's not.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. Man, that's why all my music a lot of my music compared to how I used to write two or three years ago have completely changed because of the journey and everything that has happened in front of my very eyes. And so it's just a lot more powerful. I'm like, man, I'm talking. I said, man, they don't even understand.
Speaker 1:Just like you say, the gift is in hitting rock bottom because it gives you so much wisdom and lets you see okay you already saw what happens if you go this route now let's see what happens when you go this route and it's just like a seesaw effect.
Speaker 2:Yeah. What I noticed is I couldn't take all the stuff with me to the new life. I had to let it go because I I was gonna I I had to let it go to be able to crawl out of that space.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'll let go of beliefs, let go of relationships, let go of material possessions, expectations, preferences. Had to let go of a lot of stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But then I could climb out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's why I don't know if I'd gotten there unless I had it hard. Man. I think I would have figured out a way to be sly and kind of keep going a certain way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You need to get by and there's nothing wrong with that, but it wasn't what I wanted ultimately.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So what are you doing at your work with kids in particular? Because you do some work with kids, is that with the foundation or is that outside So the
Speaker 1:this is with the foundation, we have a program called Crew 12 and it's just pretty much teaching the basics of the camera to the kids but also it I want to teach them more than the camera so what I do is teach them life lessons how to be professional, respect each other, work well together, hey let's build, utilize your creativity and then once we all work together and we all are using our creativity, right, let's see what we can build from here but I don't want you to be here if you don't want to be here because then it won't be passion. I want to help grow the passion that y'all have for this program because I want y'all to take this as a privilege and not just well I just wanna do this because my mom said, I tell parents and I ask the parents, hey, look, I really appreciate you, you know, enrolling the kid because you want them to stay out of trouble, But I definitely greatly have more appreciation for you putting your child in here because they have a passion for this. Because with that, we can grow and build to a whole another level.
Speaker 2:How old are these children?
Speaker 1:Age range from 10 to 18 if they're still in school.
Speaker 2:Is it like during the
Speaker 1:after school program? After school program, yes.
Speaker 2:And what kind of projects do they end up doing?
Speaker 1:So the first project that they did, we are focusing more skits on problem solving like bullying.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Let's say, I think Peer pressure. Peer pressure. All all the stuff that they really deal with. And this is where I have to stay out of even though I say, hey. Let's do this skit.
Speaker 1:It's like first I show them skits from online hey look this is a one skit that the kids have done at whatever school and they see it and then I say I want y'all to critique and tell me what y'all like about it or don't like No. That's not it don't even seem realistic. I don't like this part. But why he got this one? Okay.
Speaker 1:So y'all don't like it. So let me see what y'all gonna create. So everything that y'all just saw from there that y'all didn't like, don't do that when we create this and let's see what we can build.
Speaker 2:Do they write there the script?
Speaker 1:Write the whole script. They write everything. All we do, I show them an example. Uh-huh. Hey.
Speaker 1:Look. This is how I want it. Or look. This is how this was done. Hey.
Speaker 1:But when y'all doing something, I want y'all to all come together. I buy them pizza. Hey,
Speaker 2:look. Well, pizza fixes everything. Everything, right?
Speaker 1:And I let them be full of pizza, but then the foundation always provides food and stuff for them.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's nice.
Speaker 1:But I always do this to say, hey, anytime we're about to build a project, I'm a take care of the food and the beverages. And then I always select two winners that will win two $15 gift cards and that way they can invest either towards the camera or whatever and I teach them hey I don't give y'all nothing you earn it So how bad you want is how hard you work for us. I always say, alright. After I teach you a lesson, I might be talking about camera angles. Tell me five camera angles that we learned today.
Speaker 1:And then I say, alright. Everybody put their hand on the table, how are we gonna see? Alright, what'd you do? Alright, what? A cowboy shot, POV shot, long distance, like they all start naming them and I'm like, okay.
Speaker 1:I said, that's your final answer. And they get excited, and that's what I wanna always create, that creative, fun learning process. Mhmm. So when they come back, it's like, what are gonna learn today?
Speaker 2:If I was talking to one of them right now, they're sitting where you were sitting. Yeah. Think of one in particular. Okay. Maybe that you see really, you know, becoming.
Speaker 2:What would they say when I ask them about it? What would they say that they that they feel about themselves or about the other kids or about life? What would they tell me?
Speaker 1:So I have one in particular, matter of fact I have two, that I really have seen grown since they got there. I'm not gonna say his name, but it's a young man that he has, he'll have like little, you know, little temper tantrums at school and then I hear from their mom saying, hey, you know, he's been doing this and this and that and that. Can you talk to him? So I'll talk to him. And what I learned from mister Mike, if you see a kid that's troubling, if they keep on being in this issue, highlight Make sure they're involved.
Speaker 1:Make so you're giving them purpose. Like you're guiding them. So I think he would say he has found a whole different kind of lane where he can come and express himself without being angry. Mhmm. Express yourself out of creativity, and that keeps him out of trouble.
Speaker 1:Because for me, long time ago, when I was angry, I would go to my music and write. Mhmm. That kept me out of trouble. So I'll just write, write,
Speaker 2:do that or punch a wall or something. Right? I mean, you're you're a kid or or go pour something down your throat or whatever you're do.
Speaker 1:Right? Do something because even in your youth and teen, you're trying to learn how to manage your emotions. You don't know how to master them yet. Yeah. Like we still, even as adults, some of us, I'll even speak for me, I'm still learning how to master all of my emotions.
Speaker 2:Me too.
Speaker 1:Me too. And if you can get ahold of it at a young age, imagine how far you'll be when you get older.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Or channel it. You know? Like, I hear people talk about talking not negative about emotions, but like they're lesser, but I think channeling it into music, like music is so emotional. It's like a container for it.
Speaker 2:Like it can hold it. Affects. You know? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And like, given given myself, like, what's like, this studio is a channel for creativity. I woke up. I'm in a good mood. I'm I'm feeling good, so I act good. I mean, I'll start producing something, or I'll fix something, or I'll create a new camera thing in here.
Speaker 2:And it is emotional, and I struggle with that too, like controlling it sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know?
Speaker 1:Speaking of your studio, man, super creative, man. When you were walking me through everything, everything had a meaning and it was heartfelt from your dad's place. I forgot what you call this directly. What do you call this? This is
Speaker 2:after my dad, the Jerry Caudill podcast studio.
Speaker 1:Jerry Caudill. Yeah. And I see him quite often throughout the rooms. And I asked y'all I was like man you must really love your parents here like yeah yeah and the fact that you followed in his footsteps after seeing this picture right here and he was like it's inspiring and you can see it man from everything all the details all the cameras, the monitors, now this podcast, and I was just I was in awe because we talked about this moment coming to pass and now we're here.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Just like we was talking about previous you was like, hey, how does all the stuff that you talk about come to pass? I guess putting forth the action behind what we're saying.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. I had a sponsor in a 12 step program tell me one time, he said, don't listen too much what people say. Watch what they do. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:He says, you're walk into a lot of rooms and they're gonna be talking. But he said, find the people that are doing something and hang out with them. Facts. Isn't that good? Facts.
Speaker 2:He was hard on me, man. He was, oh, he was hard. Yeah. Yeah. I learned so much from him.
Speaker 2:I drove him crazy too, I think. But he was a sponsor, he's supposed to put up with it, know? But I wish I'd been a little easier on him. And that's what I want. I think I have a lot in common with you in so many ways, know, we talked about marriages that didn't go quite as planned, know?
Speaker 2:But look what it
Speaker 1:built, it made us
Speaker 2:fact, I honor The one way that I got, because I was pretty upset with her some things, one day I decided to write a gratitude journal for her. And I said, I'm just gonna write it, because I was in this men's group. They said, Maybe write a gratitude for what you're thankful for. And I started writing, and it filled up four pages.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you had a lot of built in.
Speaker 2:I had a lot of gratitude for her for everything that she had done, and I focused on that. And most of my resentment just dissipated forever. Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 1:That's where we get our freedom from and where we can break out of the chains that held us down because we were so like, now it's her fault. Yeah. And they said, that's what happened with me. I kept saying man she did me this, she was mad, she was this, and I was like hold on what would you do then? What all did you do to make her do that?
Speaker 1:She get like that by herself And when people used to say that to me, used to get so pissed off at them. Like, man, what are you talking about? I I know how to do then as you start growing Yeah. I had to realize, and I did exactly what you did, I had just turned it into a song. I had I had did all these songs negative about
Speaker 2:her. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:I was I'm this is back in the day, man. I'm calling it this. I'm calling it that. I'm man, I'm talking about doing the worst. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And then I remember when we were on talking terms, she was like, Hey, did I really do you that bad for you to go like this to me? Like you act like nothing we ever did was good, like what about the good things? What about the moments where we did this and that and that? And I was like, dang, you're right. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:So I was like, alright. Now mind you, we weren't together. She was doing the thing I was doing mine, and this was like years ago. I said, alright, man. Let me let me write a song for the moments I remember of her that were great.
Speaker 1:So I wrote a song called Worth It. And that song right there was still one of my most best masterpieces because I decided to do exactly what you just said. I said, man, let me let me not let me stop blaming her for everything. Let me own up to for the stuff I did too that made her do what she did and then I was free after that. Was able to let it go.
Speaker 1:Was able to let it go because I said okay well we we both messed up. I may have made you do that too because I I was a piece of work back then.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, takes two it takes two on both sides. Right? Yeah. Like, it it and I don't know.
Speaker 2:I think that relationships are a great way to learn who I am. Facts. You know? Yeah,
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Good and bad. Not good and bad, but just productive, unproductive, or negative, positive, or aspirational or disaster. You bump up against other people in an intimate relationship, I figure out I'm like this, I can't hide. This is how I am. I'm impatient, it's the way it is.
Speaker 2:Tell me a little bit about your music. So you're doing this work over at the council. African American Youth Harvest? Yeah, Youth Harvest. I like that name, Harvest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And but you also got your own show.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I do.
Speaker 2:And you got the music going. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about those projects.
Speaker 1:So the projects so I start off with my own show. So my wife and I, after we got married, 10/17/2021, my wife fell in love with weddings. So she was like, oh, I wish you can get married again and just redo everything. I'm like, baby, now I'm not spending $11 anymore. Now we coulda got But you got off easy too.
Speaker 1:I was like, man, we coulda got a house with this one, but then I was like, okay, I guess it's the moment, the And so she was like, man, well wouldn't it be awesome if we redid that? I love doing this, I can do this for forever. And I was like, baby, what if we start a company and we cater it towards couples getting married, but we also focus on weddings and we do this. She was like oh god, oh yeah yeah I would love doing that. I said alright alright so we sat down and said I'll tell you what let's do this every Saturday we come to the living room and we brainstorm from twelve to two p.
Speaker 1:M. She said okay I'm done so we had bought a board, we bought markers, we bought our little desk, we bought us I'm talking about we really put ourselves in this mode and I'll never forget every time 12:00 came after I cooked breakfast she cooked dinner so I was like alright here we go alright you ready cool and I said baby for real we gotta really be into it like I don't want to play around with it I really want us to really focus on how we're gonna get this done so I said alright and I would get the market and act like I'm the CEO alright so this is what we're we're right here right so this is what we're trying to get to so first we need a DBA then after the DBA we'll get an LLC From there though, what we're gonna get? What all do we need? So we started getting really in-depth with it. Okay.
Speaker 1:So what what we what what do we all need? So first we gotta first we gotta do an event. The event has to establish what we do and then we gotta get all these people. We're just brainstorming. And this happened for about two years and finally one day I said, alright.
Speaker 1:I called my oldest brother because he ran companies. I said, hey, hey bro, man, I wanna get an LLC. He's like, wanna you wanna get an LLC? Because I had a DBA for 713 Main Street. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:But I wanted to get one for LaVey arrangements. So he was like, alright. Well, hey. Because he's the CPA. He said, alright.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you what. Just give me $350 and or $300 and I'll go get an LLC because normally you pay like what did they say the Gone rate is normally? I believe like in the 6 hundreds or something like that. Yeah. But because you have to have a CBA that files it for you or whatever.
Speaker 1:So my brother filed it for me, and when we finally got our LLC, I said, baby, this is real. Now mind you my credit score was so low it was like in the 5 hundreds it was bad.
Speaker 2:Dude you're talking to the choir
Speaker 1:over here brother. It was bad, it was really bad and so I was like dang man so I was like how can we make this go all the way up? So we started was like, man, first I need a camera. I need to get another camera. So I was working at Amazon still, but every time on our weekends, we would go brainstorm what we need.
Speaker 1:I said, I need a good camera, get lens yada yada yada. Well, my brother thank god for my brother. And, man, when I say he's always been a blessing and an encourager, he said, I tell you what. After I lost my my uncle, he's one of my favorite uncles. And the sad thing about this one was before he passed, we had an argument.
Speaker 1:And he was saying, why don't we go down there and visit him? I was like, well uncle I said, we do come out. He said, nah. Y'all don't visit enough, man. I said, well uncle, when you come see us then?
Speaker 1:I said, you the uncle. Why you don't come see us then? Like, we always working, but we make time to come out. Why come you don't see us then since you trying to get mad at me? And then he was like, well, I mean, you got a point.
Speaker 1:I said, yeah. Don't you can't get mad at me for that. You gotta you the uncle. You supposed to come down and see us. And so my aunt Mary and my aunt was on there and she was like, Look Corey, all your uncle was just saying is that he wants y'all to spend more time with him.
Speaker 1:Because she was like, Tomorrow's not a problem to something within that nation. I was like, Okay, get that, but don't come at me like that. If you want me to come, just say that. And so that was the last conversation I had. Then three days later, hey, your uncle had passed away.
Speaker 1:Said, what are you talking about? I just got through talking to him. Now listen. Yeah, yeah, he passed away. And I said, said, how?
Speaker 1:Well, he had a surgery and it didn't go well. I said, he didn't tell me he had a surgery. And I think that was when he didn't know what was gonna happen, so he wanted everybody to come visit. And I did a video for him and I put my heart and soul into it and I recorded it for him and I was just like man this is shoot. But out of that my aunt Mary and my aunt and them was like, who did the video?
Speaker 1:Who who did that? Corey did that? Hey. Tell them somebody wants him to do a wedding. Said, wedding?
Speaker 1:And I'm just I'm thinking in my head, I'm like, I was just talking to Perry about this. And so I was like, I never did a wedding ever. Never. We just had one, but I never did one. So I was like
Speaker 2:You never photographed one?
Speaker 1:Never photographed, never videoed, you know, recorded any of it. I was just like man, you know, I want to do a company like that but I never did it. So when I did that and I shot that video from my iPhone so they were like, man, who did that? They were like, yeah, somebody wants to pay you to do a wedding. So my first time I was like, yeah, you know, I'll just charge 600.
Speaker 1:I'm like, man, that might be too high. No. It wasn't. So I was like and my wife at the time my wife, she was like, baby, 600? Man, people are charging at least 15 or this and this and that.
Speaker 1:I said, no. No. This is my first time. She's like, baby, you need to charge way more than that. You need to charge at least 15.
Speaker 1:I was like, baby, this is my first time. She's like, you're selling yourself short. Anyway, fast forward, I talked to the client. I told them my price. They were like, okay.
Speaker 1:Cool. Yeah. We'll book you. I was like, oh, dang. I said my first first client.
Speaker 1:So my oldest brother, he said this. I said, I don't have a camera. I don't have nothing. So he said, I'll tell you what, Corey. I'm a give you $2,000 to go buy your camera equipment, whatever you need.
Speaker 1:I said, for real CJ? He said, yeah, man. Yeah. Gave me 2,000, I bought me a camera, bought me a rolling thing, I bought all this extra stuff and man I did my first wedding and that was over 4 and a half, 5 years ago and now I'm more consistently doing weddings. I'm doing corporate events.
Speaker 1:I'm I'm at the foundation. I'm like, dang, man.
Speaker 2:Dude, life's good. Man. Isn't it crazy
Speaker 1:how Man. Good life
Speaker 2:Man, how did that first wedding go? Were you nervous?
Speaker 1:I was nervous, but I act like I knew it all. Yeah. I act like I was a guy.
Speaker 2:Like you were worth the money it paid you?
Speaker 1:Man, I came in there, I just started directing. Alright, cool. Hey, let me get everybody over here. Hey, look. We're gonna do it.
Speaker 1:I'm just improvising.
Speaker 2:I'm doing I was over at the over there, you were taking a picture in front of the that graphics background Yeah. Yeah. Of the four of them. I was impressed that you, like, got them moving, got them showing some emotion. I was like, I like this guy, man.
Speaker 2:He doesn't care. He's gonna get them moving.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:And they just went. They went there. When you said dance, they just started dancing. Like this guy's magical. He just has powers over people or something.
Speaker 2:That was good, I liked that. I learned something from you there, because you you take enough pictures and videos, sometimes, you know, it gets old every now and then. You just like, but you reminded me, like, keep that spark going. If you ain't got the spark, they're not gonna have it. And that was just a simple little picture.
Speaker 2:Man, that's
Speaker 1:I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:I that. Learned that because that's why I like being around other people. Some people shy away from hanging out with people that do what they do for some reason, but I'm like, I can learn so much from people just by hanging out with them. Facts, facts. And then does your wife, is she doing wedding planning and stuff?
Speaker 1:Yeah, my wife, well she does the balloon garlets, if they, I hope I'm saying that right, garlet or garnet? The ones with the balloons. Yeah, yeah. So she does that but she literally organizes our events for when we do stuff for Levet arrangements. So if the wedding people don't pay for a what do you call those?
Speaker 1:A wedding planner?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Then she doesn't do it. But what we do is she plans all of our events. You're part of it. Yeah. We had our first, very first Masquerade event July 21, I think it was twenty first, and everything we talked about in those previous years where we used to write on the board, it finally happened.
Speaker 1:I was like, baby, this is it. And we had some great names in there. We had people that were really doing stuff for the community. And I said this, I don't know how this came about, but we were doing so much events. And so when I when I do an event, I don't budge on my pricing.
Speaker 1:Right? So I I always tell everybody, hey. No. I'm sorry. You know, this is what it is.
Speaker 1:I can't give any discounts because I know when I'm a contribute. But a lot of them were nonprofit organizations. So then I was like I said, baby, sometimes I feel bad. He was like, but I I understand what you're saying, like but we can't we can't lower our price because we know our value. I was like, man.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. I said, oh, what if we do this? What if each year we give complimentary episode packages to 12 different nonprofits of what they do in the community and when they do that we highlight them, we get there, we get a minute clip of why they got selected on whatever we bring them to the event we highlight them get them a certificate and we make it about them and she's like okay okay I was like let's put a theme to it though. Everybody likes themes so how about we making a masquerade event. I used to one of my favorite movies is The Count of Monte Cristo.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because he literally he had favor and he had nothing. And a person was so jealous that they made sure he was banished. And I felt like that was so unfair of him. He had his girl, know, even though he didn't have much, you know, just got a raise and all this stuff, but his best friend so called backstabbed him and they would have killed him but they just imprisoned him but he started educating himself or he he got educated from mentors or that one mentor that was trapped and I was like man. But it was one part where he had a mascot it was an event where it was a masquerade event that he did and he had all these people come out and I was like I want to do that one day.
Speaker 1:I was like I'm gonna do that one day. And that was like seven years ago when I was like, one day I wanna do something like that. I don't know what I wanna do something like that. And once again it came to pass. Masquerade, business, I was like, oh babe, we really do do.
Speaker 1:We do. And so I think every time I mean what I say, my actions speak so loud that it's like, no, it's getting done.
Speaker 2:So Yeah. They're catching up. Man. Well, that's called integrity. Right?
Speaker 1:Yes, sir.
Speaker 2:You know, doing what you say and saying what you're gonna do, then doing it. That's just like the most basic form of self integrity.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir.
Speaker 2:Well, a couple things. One, I feel like we gotta get you back out in the world. Sir. You're doing so much good out there. Gotta get you get you going again.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir.
Speaker 2:I don't be wanna the guy that holds you up.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Speaker 2:But I wonder if we could close out. Are you ready to close out? I got a couple of questions for you yeah, to close yeah. If you're ready.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You can pass on these, I tell every guest, you can pass or do it. It's up to you. So couple things. One, feel like I'm talking to the Count of Monte Cristo. I like that.
Speaker 2:You know? Because you just described him. I hadn't seen that movie.
Speaker 1:Man, that is
Speaker 2:And you described him, I was like, That's what Corey's been talking about the whole time. Yeah, yeah. Man that had this and that, but he knew his value and he had a vision. I see you as a very visionary person. Man.
Speaker 2:You have visions.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir.
Speaker 2:Right? Yes, sir. But I thought it'd be cool because you had some, and he's talked about mentors at Count of Minecraft, and you got these people that have mentored you and lifted hand toward you, you know? So let's see if we can do this. It's a little bit of a game.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:In one sentence, how would you like to thank your mom?
Speaker 1:Love you so much, mama. Thank you for everything and for believing in me. If I never given up on your son, I love you.
Speaker 2:Your brothers.
Speaker 1:Man, thank y'all for the support. Thank y'all for the encouragement, and thank y'all for always seeing something that I knew was there, but just for that reassurance. Thank y'all.
Speaker 2:How about mister Mike?
Speaker 1:Man, mister Mike, man. The endless opportunities, the encouragement, the making sure that I don't fall short of what you see in me, which is a full potential of me becoming the best version, and that young man pushes me every day. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Thank you. What about your wife?
Speaker 1:Baby, you know I love you so much, and thank you for putting up with my past me and thank you for allowing my new me to emerge and to treat you and guide us better. Thank you.
Speaker 2:What about your exes?
Speaker 1:Thank y'all for showing me that it wasn't y'all. It was me. But thank y'all for at least thank you for putting me through certain stuff that I had to learn. And hey, look. I hope y'all forgive me for all the wrong that I've done.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. What about your uncle? What do you wanna tell him?
Speaker 1:Say, honk. I wish I woulda knew what you was talking about before you exited unexpectedly, man. Now because of you, I make sure I'm around family more. I visit more. I'm apart more.
Speaker 1:I I do everything that you started to do when you was there, from the entertainment to organizing it, to just trying to bring the family together, man. You you always did that. Mhmm. Man, I miss you, man. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Last one. What do you want what do you wanna tell all those kids?
Speaker 1:You can do anything you put your mind to. Just don't get distracted. There's gonna be a lot of stuff that these so called fake friends will try to convince you to do, but they won't do it. That's how you know they're not your friend. But if you stay focused, and I know you're gonna wanna have fun, but just limit your fun so you can learn.
Speaker 1:Because once you get once you get that professional good money and not the fast money, because the fast money is gonna come and go. But once you get stability and once you learn what you need to know, man, they say knowledge and power, you have to learn as much as you can and stay out of trouble. I got it.
Speaker 2:I got a bonus one for you.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir.
Speaker 2:What's what's the appreciation for yourself you wanna share to Corey?
Speaker 1:I thank you for letting go of substance that you know would have kept you from growing. I thank you for checking yourself when you know you had to be checked because it would have made you lose everything you ever worked hard for. Thank you for walking away.
Speaker 2:Corey, it's an honor to be talking to you today, man.
Speaker 1:Likewise, mister Marks. Likewise.
Speaker 2:I feel like we're gonna be doing some stuff together.
Speaker 1:I know. I mean, it's I'm speaking because you know when I speak it, I'm about to put the axe in.
Speaker 2:Y'all look out.
Speaker 1:Watch and we're gonna do some stuff.
Speaker 2:And then I've been thinking, man, all I really wanna do is do this a lot, like every day, every week, just be talking to people. And here you come in, you've been sick, you gotta get back to work and work late tonight. You got all this stuff going on. You've been to a funeral today. And then when I sat down and said, Put the headphones on, I just wanted you to kinda feel comfortable here, like what we would do someday.
Speaker 2:You go, Here, record, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so this has been exactly you you you you spoke it and it happened. My wishes happened. Man. So thank you.
Speaker 1:Man, I appreciate you, Mario. Look out, man. I appreciate you, man.
Speaker 2:Thank you, brother. That made my day, brother.
Speaker 1:I thought that was gonna be good. Oh, shoot, man.
Speaker 2:If you want to learn more about the awesome work Cory and the African American Youth Harvest Foundation are doing, head over to aayhf.org and be sure to give Corey a follow on Instagram at CoreyH3D. While you're at it, check out his event videography and planning biz, Love Arrangements at at love_arrangements50six. If this episode got you feeling inspired, do me a favor and share it with a friend or family member. And if you're digging the Little Big Voices vibe and wanna support our mission of creating connection through listening, come join the community at little big voices dot com slash join. Just a friendly heads up, the views expressed by our guests are their own and don't necessarily reflect those of the producers.
Speaker 2:For more details about this episode and lots of links to Corey and all that he's doing, please check out the show notes. And as always, your voice matters.