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The Grind, hosted by business entrepreneur Eric James, is a talk show about local business professionals, entrepreneurs, politicians & people of interest, that chose to bet on themselves & embraced the daily hustle that we call the Grind.
#TheGrind, channels the stories behind successful individuals by exploring their ideology of what it takes to manifest a successful business in an ever changing economic, pollical and social media environment.
Eric James 0:00
This is a KUNV Studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 90-1.5 Jazz and more, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Good morning and welcome to the Grind. I'm your host extraordinaire, mr. Eric James. What is the grind? Simply put, the grind is a half-hour conversation that speaks to local business entrepreneurs and explores their take on where our local economy is heading, and asks them to tell us their own story of the sacrifices and work ethic that it takes to have a successful business. What's up? I feel like Martin Lawrence today, you know some old school heads. These young people probably don't even know who that is. What's up? What's up this morning? Welcome to hashtag the grind. This is our teen. What? What are they? What kind of? What generation are they? Gen Z X Y W H K L generation takeover today. So I'm just here to introduce my two of my youngest, and I'm gonna get out the way. I'm gonna let them do their thistle, do their thing. They got some great guests for you today. They about to blow this thing up, and hashtag the grind. Y'all do your thing. Pops is out of the way.
Jordan Foster-James 1:15
Good morning. My name is Jordan James, and this is my co-host.
Xavier James 1:20
I'm Xavier James.
Jordan Foster-James 1:21
Okay, today our show is sponsored by two businesses. First,
Xavier James 1:26
starting off with JX PetSwag, which is me and Jordan's sibling-owned accessories brand for pets,
Jordan Foster-James 1:33
and our second is ScholarshipsUnlock.com, which is a scholarship strategy program. Today we have three of our best friends who are all truly destined for greatness. Here's our first one. Would you please introduce yourself?
Ja'liyah 1:46
Good morning. My name is Jalea. I'm known as Jalea the actress and Baby Jay on YouTube.
Jordan Foster-James 1:51
All right, second.
Laseth 1:53
Good morning, everybody. My name is Lisette Bryant. I am a young, inspiring, inspiring football player who wants to play football in college and wants to be an NFL player.
Jordan Foster-James 2:02
And last but not least,
Sriya 2:04
hi, my name is Sria Wendt. I'm a rising freshman in college, and I'm going to study chemistry and political science.
Jordan Foster-James 2:10
Awesome. Okay, we'll start with our first guest, Miss Jalea. Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself and what inspired you to start content?
Ja'liyah 2:19
So my name is Shalia. I'm from Texas. I started my first business when I was 12 years old with my sister. I was in the film industry when I was younger, and we decided to move to California to produce that. I've been in a couple films. I'll be in three movies later on this year, and I'm a content creator on all platforms.
Jordan Foster-James 2:41
Well, that is amazing. We can tell you're truly dedicated. What has been your biggest struggle in this industry?
Ja'liyah 2:49
My biggest struggle is was with the actor strike. It was a very difficult time. It still pretty much is, where actors like aren't getting a lot of jobs. It's hard to find jobs because they're going to priority actors first, or business is very slow. I also have been diagnosed with Crohn's disease as I was starting to beginning in the industry, and that hospitalized me for five months.
Jordan Foster-James 3:12
Okay, so I've been with you for about the last two years, and I've watched you battle Crohn's, which is one of the hardest diseases a person, and much less a teen should have to go through. How has this really affected your life and your content creating, and how you continue to push through?
Ja'liyah 3:28
It's really affected my life because Crohn's disease is a very difficult disease. It's kind of random. It put my life on pause. I wasn't able to do anything. I had to relearn how to walk. I wasn't in school. I was in school, but there was a lot of problems with that. A lot of mental problems, physical problems. It's very challenging with my age. There's just a lot.
Jordan Foster-James 3:53
Okay, who has been your biggest inspiration throughout this entire process?
Ja'liyah 3:59
My parents. My parents have supported me in everything. It's definitely an investment to do what I do and to be able to move across the country and to be able to, you know.
Jordan Foster-James 4:13
Okay, so we've worked. You've included me in your videos, and it's a it's a pretty fun business, and I can see how it's very social. So I'm sure you have a lot of joy out of that.
Ja'liyah 4:24
Yes, of course, I enjoy what I'm doing because it's just stuff you would do on a regular basis. You're just recording. I brought a lot of my friends with me to do these things, and we just have fun doing what we love.
Jordan Foster-James 4:35
That's awesome. And what is your biggest goal as you continue to grow because you've grown pretty fast.
Ja'liyah 4:42
My biggest goal is to branch off and make a brand for myself. I want to start a production company and I want to get more into the film industry and be able to write and produce my own movies.
Jordan Foster-James 4:53
Thank you so much. We'll come back to you a little bit later. We'll move on to our second guest, Xavier. All
Xavier James 5:00
right, Laseth Bryant. I've known you for a little over a year now. I met you through track, but I also know that you play basketball and football. But I heard that you plan to do football in your future, but you didn't do football freshman year. So, what made you decide to give football a shot?
Laseth 5:18
I mean, I've always been a basketball player. I always loved basketball when I was younger, and when I got older, coaches told me to get into football, and I really didn't want to. But as soon as I tried it out, it was something about always going out there and hitting somebody that always made it fun for me.
Xavier James 5:33
Hitting somebody.
Laseth 5:35
All
Xavier James 5:36
right. Looking back, what would you tell your freshman self about football?
Laseth 5:40
I would tell him put put his all into it because you never know what could happen and you could always get injured and there's just a lot of things that goes into
Xavier James 5:50
it. Have you ever gotten injured during football?
Laseth 5:53
Yes, I had a concussion. I had two concussions. One was in October and I had to sit out about two weeks for it, and it was probably one of the hardest times of my life. I say. When
Xavier James 6:06
did you realize football might become your future?
Laseth 6:08
Whenever, whenever I first started playing, honestly, I mean, I wasn't always the greatest, but I know nobody can outwork me, and I just work very hard to get to where I am right now.
Xavier James 6:19
What motivates you to keep going, especially when no one's watching.
Laseth 6:23
I say it's my mom. Seeing her work through work through what she had to work through at a young age, and she just I didn't have a father, so seeing her do it all by herself, I just want to repay her.
Xavier James 6:36
In one year from now, where would you see yourself?
Laseth 6:39
I would be going to college. I feel like I want to be starting as a freshman, so I'm gonna put in the work together. The
Xavier James 6:48
question is, what college will you be attending?
Laseth 6:51
I'll be going to UNLV next year. All
Xavier James 6:54
right. If football didn't work out, however, what sport would you be playing?
Laseth 6:58
Honestly, I feel like I play golf. I'm a great golfer. I average about 20 on all my swings, so pretty terrible. But golf is fun, so that's just something I see myself doing.
Xavier James 7:11
All right, let's move on to our next guest.
Jordan Foster-James 7:14
Okay, this our final guest is her name is Sria Wendt, as she told you earlier. I've known her since I was about two. So basically, my sister. Do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sriya 7:30
Sure. Like I said, I'm going to the University of Virginia. My plan is to double major in chemistry and political science, with maybe a minor in musical theater, because those three have kind of been my interest since I was very young. Triple threat. Okay, so what was your motivation to achieve as many accomplishments academically as you did? I think my motivation has oftentimes it stemmed from people telling me that I can't do it or just telling me no. That's what often convinces me to sort of prove them wrong and show that no, you can do all these things when you want to and when you really try to.
Jordan Foster-James 8:03
Awesome. Okay, so then who is your inspiration to keep going? I mean, I know it's me, but you can like tell the people. Well, sure. I
Sriya 8:10
mean, you come first, of course, but I'd also say maybe my parents, who have they've always encouraged me to go farther, to be the best that I can, even when things get difficult or when I kind of don't want to keep going, they've been the ones who kind of convince me that this is important, that I that I should keep pursuing what I want to.
Jordan Foster-James 8:27
Well, you've definitely been my inspiration, just like watching you work all those nights and just sitting there as you overcome all the struggles with these hard classes that you take. And I would say overall, you're pretty smart, as you earn over a million dollars in scholarships. So, how would you say you did that?
Sriya 8:47
I would say that putting in a lot of hard work can often-that's what often comes out to make people look like they're smart. And so that's what I've done basically my whole life is just working hard on things, not giving up, even when I really, really, really want to give up, that's what sort of gives gives off that appearance that it's like effortless or that I'm you know smart. So I think that's also where I got those scholarships. You know, just applying, I applied for a lot of scholarships that I did not get. I didn't get most of the scholarships that I applied for actually. But you know, you just keep going, you keep applying, and you get the things that you need. Awesome. Okay, we're gonna go back to our first guest. This is a question for all three of you, but we'll just go in order. What would you like
Jordan Foster-James 9:30
to tell anybody who like might want to follow in the steps that you're taking? So, Jalea,
Ja'liyah 9:36
I would say don't wait too long to do those things. If you have a passion, go for it. It doesn't matter like what point of life you're in. Just go for it and do what you love.
Jordan Foster-James 9:45
Okay, Seth.
Laseth 9:49
I feel like if you put in the work, I feel like if you just if you just outwork everybody, then it'll come. It'll come to you, and as much hard work as you put in, the game is gonna give it back to. So I feel like that's a something that the young people should know.
Jordan Foster-James 10:03
And then Sria,
Sriya 10:04
I would say to make sure that you you can take criticism from people and take advice, but don't let them always discourage you or tell you that you can't do it. Because if you put in the work, a lot of times you can. So don't always let someone telling you no mean that you have to stop.
Xavier James 10:19
Now we can get a little personal, starting with starting with Jalea. What's your biggest failure? Um,
Ja'liyah 10:30
I would say my biggest failure. Um, I don't really have a failure.
Jordan Foster-James 10:34
Okay. Well, then I guess do you have a biggest pushback or something that withdrew you.
Ja'liyah 10:41
I feel like my biggest pushback would just be battling Crohn's disease because, like I said, it's random. You never know. Sometimes I've had incidents where I would have an episode on set and I would just shut down. I have had times where I had have to go to the hospital after set. It's definitely a big pushback and a very difficult obstacle to get over.
Jordan Foster-James 11:05
Okay, what's that?
Laseth 11:07
I wouldn't really say it's my biggest failure, but I really do regret not starting earlier. I just feel like there's a lot of people who started earlier who are who are smarter than me, who have done it longer than me, and who know a lot more than I don't know. Surya,
Sriya 11:26
mine also isn't really a failure, but it's definitely like a regret. Is not listening to like authority figures who know what they're talking about and who are trying to help me. Especially for me, it was in school. You know, I didn't listen to my teachers when they said I needed to participate, and so my grades went down because you know people know what they're talking about, and you should listen to them sometimes.
Jordan Foster-James 11:48
Sometimes, okay, okay. I have a question for you, Julia. I would say, what are the benefits? Like, do you get to travel? How many new people do you get to meet. There's some big content creators out there. Like, how's that been for you?
Ja'liyah 12:04
I definitely get to travel a lot with my work. I get to see places I've never seen in my life. I've worked with a lot of big influencers: Nova Star, the Jasper Boys, Lonnie Love. These are people I grew up watching. I also travel a lot with acting and getting put in rooms that, you know.
Jordan Foster-James 12:25
Okay,
Xavier James 12:27
Jalea, I saw on my Instagram feed. I saw you were at VidCon like last week, and I was like, "Wow, that's someone I know. That's crazy.
Jordan Foster-James 12:36
Was it a fun experience?
Ja'liyah 12:38
Yeah, VidCon was pretty cool. I got to network with a lot of influencers and actors, and build more connections in the industry I'm already in. We got taught a lot of lessons. We got put in seminars, and we got a lot of meet and greets with people we also grew up watching, like Sniper Wolf, the Geometry Guy, a lot of fun people.
Jordan Foster-James 12:59
Awesome. Okay, Liseth, you're pretty good at football too, I suppose. With how many offers do you have, or did you have?
Laseth 13:08
I had around 18. So
Jordan Foster-James 13:13
okay, 18. Wow. So do you get to like? What are your benefits? We know you were on another interview earlier this week. How would you say like this football and the skill that you have has benefited you so far?
Laseth 13:28
I feel like it's a great chance to go to college, get get a degree or two, depends on how you want to take it. And there's great job opportunities, great internships that you could get from it, and it's a great chance to get out there and explore stuff that you haven't done before.
Jordan Foster-James 13:48
Us, okay, Sria, you mentioned that you did a little bit of acting and singing. Do you have any like corporations you've worked with or schools that you've attended lessons? You know,
Sriya 13:59
yeah, I worked with a theater company called Positively Arts for a couple years until I like aged out of the program, and that was just a really amazing experience. I was really glad to work with them. They're they're they're a nonprofit, and it was really nice to see you know how they help people find their voice in theater.
Jordan Foster-James 14:17
When you were balancing like all your extracurriculars with school was that difficult?
Sriya 14:22
It was sometimes. It got especially difficult when there were certain things that I cared about more than other things, even if they weren't necessarily as important. I had some extracurriculars that I cared about way more than I did my classes, and that didn't always turn out well because you know you I had I had to find a balance, which was sometimes difficult, but I ended up sort of making a schedule for myself. My parents helped a lot with that as well, and that's sort of what allowed me to be able to do all those things.
Jordan Foster-James 14:51
After Positively Arts, did you bring your acting and theater interests into school, like with the theater program?
Sriya 14:58
I did. I participated in the theater program. At my high school, I we did some cabaret performances, and I also did a couple shows there.
Xavier James 15:06
Laseth, is there anything that you learned about yourself during the recruiting process or the committing process?
Laseth 15:14
Yes, I feel like I learned that I I had to think way more about just what school I want to go to. Like I, I feel like there's more than just the the school with the name of it. I feel like there's more of a relationships that you make with your coaches, your teammates, and the staff. And I feel like also how they coach you is something I really learn.
Xavier James 15:39
Is there any coach that made a lasting impact on you in your whole football career?
Laseth 15:45
Honestly, I'll probably say this coach, my coach, my coach now, Coach Campbell. He's a great, a great person, great, great husband. He has two sons. He always brings them around us. I feel like he's a great father. He's teaching us how to be great young men. All right.
Jordan Foster-James 16:04
Practices. It's Vegas, so of course it's hot. But like you guys still push through. Do you have any like special brotherships or friendships that you created through football?
Laseth 16:16
Of course. I mean, a lot of those guys. A lot of those guys I talk to outside of practice, and they're great people. We always like to go outside and play with each other. And
Jordan Foster-James 16:31
okay, connections are important. Do you think that's going to definitely help you like further through the NFL when you get there, or through colleges? Because connections are definitely how people grow in this world.
Laseth 16:43
Yeah, and at some point the game is going to end, and you're going to have to do something else outside of football. And I feel like some of these connections you make now could push over further on later in the life.
Jordan Foster-James 16:54
Yes, outside of football, do you have any like career paths you have interests in right now?
Laseth 17:00
Uh, well, again, like I said the game is gonna end at some point and when that does happen I want to be I want to be a data analyst I feel like I'm pretty good with numbers pretty good with math so
Jordan Foster-James 17:09
so you're a nerd okay that's good athlete smart awesome that'll definitely get you far okay you miss Jalea what do you think the connections that you've built have definitely impacted you, or like helped you get further and go?
Ja'liyah 17:30
I feel like I have a lot of good people on my head, a lot of good mentors to be able to where I'm go. A lot of people has helped me with motivation, or just kind of helped me through my way in the industry. Like having a two good fathers, they have helped me a lot, and my mother as well. I have a great support system in that. Okay,
Xavier James 17:54
who's has who has inspired you in the industry to get where you are?
Ja'liyah 18:00
Definitely Marcy Martin. I would say I grew up watching to watching her, and I look up to her a lot. She has built such a community and impact on me, and she started off so young, and she has accomplished so many big things. And I want to achieve as much as that.
Jordan Foster-James 18:19
Do you have any other interests, like academically or career-wise, that you might do with content creating or after you're possibly done with content?
Ja'liyah 18:30
Career-wise, I definitely want to go into real estate. I've always been interested in that. I come from a family of realtors. I would also be taking over my mother's company. She does credit and she helps you build credit and find that so I will take over the family business on that.
Jordan Foster-James 18:46
Okay, and you've mentioned you've been in a couple shows. What are those shows?
Ja'liyah 18:50
I have been in, I have been in Charlie Charlie Two. It's a horror film, and then I will be on three to be movies later on this year.
Jordan Foster-James 19:00
What is it like to be on set?
Ja'liyah 19:01
It's very fun to be on set. You know, these are people that you're going to be working with for the next few weeks, months. So you build a lot of bond with everybody you work with. I would say it's fun because it's like it's just normal stuff, and you get to pretend and unlock different characters of your life and find out who you are.
Jordan Foster-James 19:20
So this has really just become like your home in a sense, to where you're comfortable. Is what I'm getting.
Ja'liyah 19:25
Yeah, it's definitely a second home.
Jordan Foster-James 19:26
Okay. We first created this or started the idea of this about a year ago, if I'm correct, or maybe two, and it's been quite a big process of trying to figure out marketing and creating the building the website and. and we've gained a lot some followers on our Instagram, and we're just figuring out how hard it is to be entrepreneurs.
Xavier James 19:53
You can find our website at jxpetswag.com. Jxpetswag.com.
Jordan Foster-James 20:00
Okay, and then to further go into our second, we just know that scholarshipsfontwalk.com it's a SAT and ACT prep also able to help you find scholarships for kids because we understand that can be kind of difficult going through high school. I'm sure Surya, you said that you have a lot of scholarships, so I guess was finding them and applying for them difficult or hard in a way. It
Ja'liyah 20:26
was pretty difficult. I think that I imagine that having something like scholarships unlocked would have been very useful because you know there's a lot of different platforms out there and it's hard to know what to trust. So I think a platform like that would have been very useful for me.
Jordan Foster-James 20:39
Okay, with scholarships, I understand you once told me that you had to like go to a breakfast. How do you like apply? Not like apply, but like accept them or know that you achieve them by going in these, or is that like more of an award? A
Ja'liyah 20:57
lot of them will just kind of send you an email and tell you there were a couple that I didn't even know I got them until I just went into the portal one day and it said congratulations. Some will be like that. Some a couple also gave me a phone call. The one I have for the University of Virginia, I actually got a phone call while I was in the middle of a school competition, and then the the breakfasts afterwards, like the one I went to was sort of just an honoree breakfast where one of them they gave me like one of those big you know plastic checks that you can't actually cash. It's that kind of thing, just like to celebrate, you know. Okay. And some scholarships require essays. Were you able to reuse essays, or you had to rewrite an essay every time? Most of them could be reused. There's a lot of prompts that are almost exactly the same or have similar questions. So a lot of the ones I applied for were, for example, the STEM ones that I did for science. A lot of them were, you know, what's your experience with science, or what do you want to do in science. So I can use the same essay for all of those. A lot of them were also about leadership, so you can use the same essay of you know name a time you've ever been a leader, and that's pretty applicable to a lot of them. So it's not always as much work as it seems like. So, well, you definitely make it look easy sometimes, or keep it undercover. I understand that you went to D.C. I remember it was about couple months for school. How was that program for you? Because you got to leave home and kind of live on your own-ish. Yes, that was an amazing experience. I'm really glad that I ended up doing that. It was a semester school in D.C. where we learn about global leadership and politics, and I think I learned a lot of things even beyond academically. That's what I was talking about about having to you know listen to your teachers that's where it happened where I didn't listen and that's what ended up dropping my grades and I also learned a lot of things socially being with a lot of people that were older than me and living with them so it was a really interesting experience and I definitely recommend it to people
Jordan Foster-James 22:57
so I know you were living with people but you were also away from home do you think that prepares you when you're about to go to college now? Definitely further far away from home.
Ja'liyah 23:06
I think it definitely did. It sort of helped me realize that like I can, I can do it because I was very nervous when I first went. I didn't know if I'd be able to live away from home, but now that I've done it for a couple months, I know that I can, and I know that I'll be able to figure it out just like I did when I was there.
Jordan Foster-James 23:22
Okay. Do you think the transition from high school to college and still moving away states is going to be hard, or have you guys already started that?
Ja'liyah 23:32
I think it'll be difficult. I think it'll be hard on my parents because they'll just miss me so, so, so, so much. But yeah, I think it'll be a big transition, definitely, just with packing and moving and everything. Someone's gonna have to feed my snake, which I'm sure they're very excited about. But yeah, there's a lot of things that are gonna be changing. Yes, that snake.
Xavier James 23:55
I remember the snake.
Jordan Foster-James 23:56
Yeah, he's bigger now. He's bigger. Oh, that's wonderful! Yeah, yeah, she has a. It's like a corn snake thing. Yeah, yeah, corn snake. I remember one time we put that snake in the bathtub and got in trouble because we scared like my mother so bad, and so that yeah, it was awesome. But
Xavier James 24:16
we'll miss you, Saria. Yeah,
Jordan Foster-James 24:18
we'll miss you. We'll miss you
Ja'liyah 24:19
guys too. But I'll come back and visit someday. You better. I'm
Jordan Foster-James 24:21
gonna drag you back. Okay. So why did you choose that college? As we know, you had other colleges to choose from, and you had the scholarships. Like, what really pulled you to Virginia?
Ja'liyah 24:33
I did. Well, I mean, a big part of it was the scholarship, but also when I visited there, I just felt a sort of a stronger connection there, and I really felt like I could be at home there. And I will admit another reason is because I was running out of time and deciding last minute. So that's also a big reason why. But I think I'll really enjoy it. I'm excited.
Jordan Foster-James 24:54
So we have about one more question for the other two guests, Lisette. We know you. Since you committed to UNOV, why did you commit? Because you had other offers. So, what really drew you to UNOV?
Laseth 25:06
It's the really the coaching staff and the area it's in. It's a gray area. I mean, it's some people would say it's closer to home because I'm from Florida, but I'm not. I don't really claim Vegas, but it's here. So, yeah. the The coaching staff is great. I have a great relationship with all the coaches, and I feel like I chose the college because they can push me to where I want to be, and they have all coached at the highest level, so they know what it's like to be there.
Jordan Foster-James 25:37
Awesome. And then our last question, mr. Leah. Okay, do you are you gonna also continue your schooling while you do content creating, or like include it, or do you plan to just further that career as you've already accomplished so much and profited from it?
Ja'liyah 25:56
Yes, the plan is to go to either USC or NYU to college and to further invest in my education, a lot of great people have came out of that school, and I plan to be another one of those success stories.
Jordan Foster-James 26:09
Well, we got our mother in the back; she was lit up with joy after you said USC. So I'm sure you claim that these are all our best friends, guys, and they're truly an inspiration to us. I
Eric James 26:23
just want to say thank you to my kids for coming in today. They know that it's a little harder than they thought it was to be on the mic and on the radio, and but they did a fantastic job. And I want to tell them how much I love them and appreciate them. How much time do we have back there? Because I, all right, hashtag the grind. We're out of here. Love y'all. Have a great day. Thanks for listening to the grind. Again, my name is Eric James. We hope that today's show was two parts entertaining with a dash of education. Feel free to reach out to me at my office at 702-836-0953 And remember to always stay on your grind.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai