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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.
Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a Kun V studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Good morning
Eric James 0:15
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. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Yes, this is your host, Eric James, and you were listening to the grind. I have some special guests in the studio today. We had three guests, so I'm a little sad that my third guest is out sick for us, because I had a powerhouse lineup of three incredible ladies to introduce you to today for Women's History Month that's starting in March. So we're down to two, but these two ladies are going to knock it out the park. I have no doubt about that. They have big personalities and even bigger business, ackermans, and so they're going to hold it down for us today and make this the show that you're going to remember. Now. Keep in mind, this is only our second show, but we feel like we got a little handle on this thing, and we're going to keep this thing rolling and make sure that we, we we keep giving you quality information and quality entertainment. So keep in mind, as as the intro says, The grind is a show about business entrepreneurs, business owners, people in the industry, or people that are making a difference, politicians or just people with a business and mindset that are making a difference in this community. So I want to bring in people, talk to them about their story, you find out a little bit about the background, and also allow you to reach out to them if they have you have a question, or if you feel like they're giving you some good information, and maybe you want to follow up with them and really connect with them on a business level. There's nothing wrong with that, because, you know, we all got our own grind. We all have our own hustles, and we all want to find a way to keep ourselves moving forward in a crazy economic environment. So I'm going to introduce these two ladies, and then we're going to get into the a little bit of their background. I got some great questions that I want to answer to that answer them today, and we're going to make this happen. So first I'm going to start with Miss Lonnie Reed. Miss Reed, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Loni Reed 2:27
Yes, thank you, Eric. I was born and raised in Minnesota and moved all around the country, spent some time in Europe during my college years, landed in Arizona, where I sold real estate for 15 years and then relocated here to Las Vegas. Will be eight years this summer, my husband and I did, and at that point, didn't know the lay of the land, didn't know soul that lived here. So selling real estate, I wasn't sure, because I was lucky I could find my house not knowing where I was going. So I got into the title business and work at drugs Title Agency as a marketing rep. So my job consists of working with realtors and lenders and helping them grow and build their business.
Eric James 3:13
All right, so now I'm going to get into more questions. MS, Lonnie, because she has a special talent that most people don't know about well, if you know her, you know about her talent, but most people on the outside don't, and we're going to dive a little more into that. But I want to introduce my second guest next that way, she gets a chance to you, get a chance to get up some of her information, and then we're going to dive into some of both of their talents. Now our third surprise or special guest has just shown up. You know, young buck, he running a little late on that now, so we're gonna chastise him a little bit, because we keep it real here on the grind. But he has, he's an incredible young singer. He has a song out on social media, on the different platforms, and we're gonna give you just a little taste, a little sample of that here in a moment. But next I want to introduce Miss Lisa Shin Lee. Miss Lee, tell me a little something about you and your what's your grind?
Lisa Shin-Lee 4:07
My grind is currently real estate. I've been doing this for almost three years. We're from. I'm so nervous,
Eric James 4:15
all right, we're all family. Isn't about family fun and a little little little hustle. So don't be nervous. You know, just tell us about who you are. Transplanted
Lisa Shin-Lee 4:23
here from California. Sorry to talk over you. I do that sometimes. Came in three years ago, couldn't find a house. Lived in the Paris Hotel, pal station and the other casinos, all four or five casinos, we lived there for 60 days with a dog and with two dogs, and my husband looking for a house. We had solar house, brought the cash, ran over, tried to buy a house. Work with three Realtors on Zillow, and I hate them. Sorry, I can't I don't want to
Eric James 4:55
wait. You're a realtor. If you hate other realtors, I can't be mad at you. I.
Lisa Shin-Lee 4:59
It was, it was the hardest time because the first realtor didn't show up. She had us sitting in front of the car, in front of the house for an hour, and then told us, oh, I can't be there. And it was just awful. Second realtor, my husband, was not happy with her, because she pushed us too hard to buy first, before we even saw the house, we didn't know the area, nobody would tell us what area would work for us, and we ended up off of Cheyenne. And maybe, I don't know if you guys know that in a beautiful cul de sac, little house, smallest house I've ever been in in my life, 1100 square feet, and not my dream house, but our starter house. But mind you, for 20 someone years, like 22 years we were in California living in a 3600 square foot house. To go from that to 1100 square feet was hard. Oh, yeah. So yes, I'm from California. I lived there for 47 years, 18 years in the garment industry. And yes, I've sold Hello Kitty. I think people love Hello Kitty, and it sells itself. But little kids furniture is not my thing, because I don't have kids. I used to be in that cult. I'm not in that cult anymore, so I don't know.
Eric James 6:10
I have a question for you, because you said you were stuck in a hotel room with two dogs. Yes, but your bio says you have one dog and 11 cats. Wait a minute. I'm trying to understand this. You started off with two dogs, and I'm a dog person. I'm not a cat hater. I've had a few cats along the way, but I right now, have three dogs. But how do you go from two dogs to one dog? Did the cats kill off the 11 cats kill off the other dog? What happened? Literally,
Lisa Shin-Lee 6:39
she's she was 17 years old. I got my got my real estate license, brought it home, and then she literally had a heart attack in my arms and passed away. The day I got my license, I went to pick up my license, came home. It's like she waited for me, and then, yeah, crying and crying. So for a month I was I couldn't do anything, and everybody was telling me, you need to go out and grind. I can't do it. I need a little time off. Nobody understood the loss of a dog that I've had in my life. Funny story to that is, every time my husband has a dog, they name it Nikki. So we are Nikki number six, no Nicky number six passed away, and Oreo had just happened. Oreo came and rescued me, and she was the best cuddle bunny the cats. Happened because Oreo made friends. She made friends with a little kitten. Kitten brought Mom and Dad, that's three. And then one night, it became five, and then 11. Now I don't know how to, I don't know how to, you know, not feed the neighborhood cats.
Eric James 7:39
Okay, well, Nikki, number six sounds like a special, special, but way to kill the mood, Lisa got people over here swelling up in tears. Everybody's feeling bad about the about the the puppy, but 11 cast. That sounds like a lot of work in itself, but that that's a really cool or interesting fact, how many cats do you think total you'll be able to take care of? Because it sounds like this is a growing addiction or problem we got to work through. We might have to have a cat intervention. Next show, let
Lisa Shin-Lee 8:11
me tell you how we bought this house. Is I wrote a letter. It was a bidding war for the small house. The grandma that lived there had like, 10 cats. She had dementia, opened the door and let all her cats out. Now each cat had a special little heart with their name on it. So I've been looking for these cats the first year, because I promised I would feed these cats, laid out food for a year, and nothing happened. So I threw the food out, wrote a letter saying that I think we're done. One year of trying to feed your cats that are gone. It's done. But these cats happened last August. Everything happens in August, the little my dog, Oreo, found one kitten, brought, brought it to the door, fed her better, some salmon or chicken or something, and and then bought mom. And then dad and all their friends came and cat,
Eric James 8:56
what? What I think happened. The cat went on social media and said, Yo, we got a good setup going over here. This lady got, come on over, y'all. She invited the family, the cousins, the nephews, the nieces. They sent the word out, and the cat Internet, and they all showed up at your house. Oh,
Loni Reed 9:13
there might be more, Eric. She said where she's at.
Eric James 9:17
So we're going to switch up, because we do want to quickly do two things first, because I was Reminisce at the start of the show, I want to say Happy Valentine's Day to all the ladies and all the fellows too, because that Valentine's Day is not just a woman's holiday. So the ladies need to remember that take care of your man as well, and he'll take care of you. We, we brought some small presents for the ladies here today. Leah, my assistant, if you could just give the ladies a little bit of Valentine's Day love. Just let them know that they're appreciated and that we honor respect the women in our lives and in our community and in our business. Women and we want them to know that they are appreciated and valued in the community now. Miss Lonnie, yes, again, we talked about it, you are known for one specific thing, and anybody and everybody that knows you knows you for this one unique talent set. Now, again, I am remiss, because I went to a meeting with Miss Lonnie, and I figure I was going to get up and kill this, this little skill set. I figured, you know, I can say it, because it's my show. So you know who's going to tell me not to. I got a big butt. I got big but, and I cannot lie, you know, little mix a lot for all your old school folks, but I got a big butt. And I thought I was going to knock this out of the park. She can hula hoop with the best of them. She has a series of hula hoops. She just told us about some new hula hoops that she has. And I'm like, I didn't really know that there was that many versions of different types of hula hoops, but apparently there's a hula hoop designer group around there coming up with new hula hoops. But I cannot hula hoop, and I don't know what happened. I think I got a little bit of rhythm still left in these bones, but I start and I kept missing, and the hoop wasn't hooping like it's supposed to hoop and I only got a half a hoop or a quarter hoop, and it wasn't hooping, hooping, hula hooping. But Miss Lonnie can throw it down with the best of them. Don't let her. Let her fool you. She comes off mild mannered and professional, but when it comes to getting down on that hoop, she's all about it. Miss Lonnie, tell us a little bit. How did the hula hoop thing come into play and how to use it to marketing. Because, again, this is a business show that we're always going to get back to the business aspect of things, but we do want to have a little fun. Tell me about this hula hoop
Loni Reed 11:31
exactly, a little bit of fun. That's why I threw that in there. When I moved here, again, I did not know a soul. So as a marketing rep, how am I going to meet people and meet agents. So I had to be creative and think outside the box. So I spent a lot of time at the association here, but to get people to come up to me, I would wear, and I still do. I have jackets that light up with LED lights in them. I wear sparkly, glittery clothes. So right
Eric James 11:57
now, she is in a red a red sparkly I don't want to it's not bedazzled because, again, I'm a man, so I don't know the two exact terms, so I don't want to mess it up. But it's a red sparkly jacket. She has the white white shirt that's and it says firecracker in red on it, which fits her personality to a tee, and the firecracker sparkly boots that she keeps kicking our table with but she has dressed the part. So again,
Loni Reed 12:25
that's then to loosen up CE classes and get people involved and have some fun. I thought, You know what, let's hula hoop. And I used to Hulu when I was a little girl. So I bought some hula hoops. And the very first class that I had, there was a broker of a company here, and I pushed the tables away, and I said, let's get up in hula hoop. And it started from there, and it continues on. And if I go to classes and I don't bring my hula hoops, people want to know where they're at, but I always carry them in my car, in my truck,
Eric James 12:53
so you became known to have you gotten a nickname associated with it yet?
Loni Reed 12:58
No, no, I have not. That's a good point. I have not, but people expect that. And if I don't come in glittery clothes or clothes that have money pattern on it, the point was, this was for people to remember me, and it stood out. They they go, Oh, that's right. So now this year, I'm like, I've got new versions of hula hoops. They're waited for exercising. And so it's just, it's just to have some fun and be silly.
Eric James 13:21
Now, hula hoop queen, the hula hoop goddess. And when we got to come up with a good nickname, because if you're known for this own it, use it, market it. You're the marketing queen. You got put it out there, throw it on social media, because it is. And I had to admit, I when I first I went into the first meeting, I said, Okay, this unique idea, but it really works. It's like telling a joke when you want to break the tension with a group, and so people get into it. It allows them to relax, and they let themselves kind of get involved or get into it. And it really sets the tone for the meeting and makes it much more fun, and not just your normal business setting meeting. And you work with a lot of realtors, mortgage reps, lenders, and they're not always the most social people, because they work sometimes in an isolated basis or singular basis, as opposed to like an office setting. So I get it, and I was very impressed with how you go about things, and that's one of the reasons why I wanted you on the show, because some of your marketing techniques and the way you approach marketing is very unique. And again, I've got 25 years in the business. Again, I didn't really introduce myself again, like as if everybody knows me off of just one show. Again. My name is Eric James. I own a State Farm Insurance Agency the last 25 years. I have an entertainment company called Black Rose LLC, and I'm in the process right now. I'm negotiating to purchase a home inspection company. So I do multiple things myself in the industry. I'm a serial entrepreneur, so I am never one to think I'm arrogant enough not to learn from other individuals. And Lonnie, I love picking up little tips from you, or little nuances from you that you do that seem so natural, but I don't see other people do. It. So I want to give you credit for that. So before we forget our third guest, because he's sitting over here patiently, I want to introduce him, but then I'm gonna get back to my ladies and pick their brains, because I got some really good questions for them that I haven't had a chance to get to, sir, I want you to introduce yourself, Mr. Fate Kent. I have that right, correct? Yes, sir. And so I have had the chance to listen to your song. I've had the chance to listen to your your song online, your your your reps, or your people sent it to me, and it's a song to veterans. How did that and me being a veteran myself, so most people may not know that my father was in the Air Force as a firefighter, and I was an Army paramedic, and I see Miss Lonnie raising her hand because I have not forgotten that your son is also in the in the armed forces as well, and we're going to talk about him. He's a pilot, if I remember correctly, her and I've had several conversations so Miss Lee, Miss Lisa. I don't know if you have any connections that, but we all respect what our veterans do. Thank them. Thank them for their service. And so, Mr. Kent, how did this song come about, or how, what is your connection to the armed forces, and what's, what's the the tone behind this song that that you? I mean, it's fabulous online. And so we got to make sure we get it out to you, folks, thank you.
Fate Kent 16:21
Well, this song came about in the midst of I was a military brat. Was raised in England, and, you know, traveling a lot with my with my dad and stuff. But the thing about it, the song is actually the dead speaking to the living, reminding the living that everything you did was for your country. It was for America. Was for red, white and blue. It wasn't political reasons behind it. So it's actually the dead speaking to the living, reminding them that you did everything because you love deeply. Okay,
Eric James 16:51
well, so did you write the song? Yes, sir. Okay, how many? How long have you been in the music industry? I've
Fate Kent 16:59
been singing professionally since and writing my songwriters since I was like eight. I enjoy music. Music is a way that we can commit, we can communicate to the world. We can reach everybody. That's the language that everybody speaks. Now I don't
Eric James 17:13
want to put you on the spot, but since you're a performer, I'm going to ask you to give us a little sample, a little teaser, a little something to whet the appetite of our audience out there. And again, we're in a radio studio, so we're not in a sound studio, sound booth, but I've heard this young man's he's not a young man. I'm just an older man. But I've heard this young man's sound, and his tone and his pitch is phenomenal. So I wanted to give you guys just a little bit of taste of that. But keep in mind, being an entertainer is a grind among itself. I mean, you see the competitions on TV, the grind, the voice American Idol, it is hard to make it to a level where one you can you can afford to feed yourself or feed your family, let alone be successful or be a star. Then you've got to figure out how to stay in there and reinvent yourself constantly, because people's appetites change. People get bored so quickly with social media, everybody wants something new, something different, the next big thing. So just getting to the level where people know you and appreciate your music and what you do as a passion is one thing, but then trying to translate that into a career, or to become an idol, you know, in that sense. So what is your driving passion? And then I want you to give us a little sample of what you do, and maybe give something to the ladies for Valentine's Day, if you have it. If not, we want to hear your song to the veteran. I
Fate Kent 18:38
would say with me, everything is motivated. God keeps me in line. I just left the inspirational gospel label that I'd been with for about four and five, four to five years, and now I'm singing. I write everything, but I don't want to just get stuck in a box anymore. So as you're speaking about the ladies right now, I actually just wrote a song called flowers that's out on all the platforms right now. You can look that up that's giving all the women their flowers while they're still alive. I have another song for the ladies, also called women's world. So these songs, women's world should be out either today or tomorrow, something like this. We're waiting for them. What
Eric James 19:22
platforms? Where can we? Can we find this? Oh,
Fate Kent 19:24
you can go on YouTube, my Facebook, Instagram, all the all the platforms, CD, baby, all this stuff like that, Spotify. It's out there. So if I were to sing something right now, with the way the world is in a crazy place right now, I God first for me and everything I do, that's where my blessings come from. I would say something like I was born
by the river in a little tent. Oh, and just like the river I've been running. Day Ever since, it's been a long, a long time coming, but I know change has come
now, just in the heart of where we're at in everywhere in America right now, it's kind of crazy, but as long as we keep ourselves centered, everywhere has a storm, but there's always a calm in the middle of that storm, and as long as we remember to be that calm, we'll get through anything. That's what I believe. And music is that motivational force. It's the vehicle to help people get to that next level.
Eric James 20:39
Right now you're going to think I'm lying about this. Yes, sir. Sam Cook, that song is my favorite song of all time, and it's just random. We didn't discuss this, we didn't rehearse any of this. That is my all time favorite song, and it's an older song. Very few young folks have heard it because it hasn't, you know, passed down or been remade or remixed a lot into other things, but that is my favorite song of all time. So I appreciate you giving us a little bit of that. I don't know what CD Baby is, and so, you know, you need to tell us old heads, you know, where we can find certain things, but all the other platforms I'm going to make sure that, you know, we make sure folks reach out to you and make sure give you a little bit of love. So thank you for coming in today. That was great sample of what you do. So more of him on your social media platforms. Fate, Kent, his name, so I'm assuming, just like most folks, it's at fake Kent. All right, ladies, we're gonna get to these questions, because we were we have about 10 more minutes left the show. It goes by fast, and so I want to get to get to some of these questions now. Ms, Lisa, you are from South Korea. It's one of the countries I have not visited. I've done a lot of traveling, probably about 40 countries, but I have not been to South Korea. Tell me a little bit about your upbringing, because to transition from growing up overseas to moving to Southern California had to be an enormous emotional transition for you to Dave, moving, being living in Las Vegas and being a business owner or business woman has to been a journey that what could take up a half an hour show all of itself. But give me a little bit about some of your journey.
Lisa Shin-Lee 22:16
I'm going to be honest with you. I am a Asian woman that grew up in in actually, we weren't. We moved from Korea to Hawaii for a couple years, learned the worst way to speak English is to speak pidgin, which is everything is faster, slurring a southern drawl. So when I first learned how to speak English, coming from Korea, was, was, was the hardest transition of my life, because everything was foreign. It's a mixture of every Asian nationality put into English. And then when we moved to California, it was another situation, because we moved to the valley, the San Fernando Valley, where everybody was like, Oh my gosh, I'm a valley girl, and you get that twang into your into your body. So I went from Korea to Hawaii to learning pigeon to Southern California to the valley, and they made me hold off in English class for one year because I had to relearn my English. And then the southern thing was from a neighbor's influence. And so I'm trying to re learn how to talk. And it's been like this throughout my whole life. Sometimes I talk fast, sometimes I borrow an accent, and it's just a way to survive. It's a way to accommodate the people that you work with. And so yes, Korea, Hawaii, Southern California, went to fashion design school, where your parents always tell you, don't do anything stupid. Just go to a normal business school, be a nurse, teacher, something in the profession. I went against the grain, went to FIDM Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Got a mark, marketing and fashion design degree, and then from there, you know, my claim to fame was I made those T shirts that had Princess Jewel, um, Angel, hottie, all the glitter that just falls off to your table, those shirts that you cannot wash. Okay? Because I did that personally for myself, because I thought I was the biggest princess. So I did that. Spend money on royalties. Got paid really well, got was able to buy my own first car with the money that I made off these T
Eric James 24:23
shirts. But wait, wait, how does that translate into a real estate career? There's some moment that you said, I'm done with Hello Kitty. I want to bet on myself and become an entrepreneur and go into the real estate
Lisa Shin-Lee 24:36
grind. The Real Estate grind in California is probably the toughest market to be part of, and so I've always had my eye on it. I'm really good at reading contracts. I'm I'm that weird personality where I'm very emotional, but I love looking at contracts and finding the details and finding out different ways to look at a warranty. Why do I need that additional $10 a month warranty? 18 that you get a Best Buy, or Costco, or whenever you buy an appliance. So I'm really good at that. But at the same time, I had my mom buy a house every two years because she wanted to upgrade always better our life. There was no way for her to really make money unless we bought a house, lived in it for two years and bought another house. And we did that every single two years, every two years, for as long as I can remember, somehow, like 30 years. So basically, I read the contracts herself, not being able to read English, spoke, spoke well, and got along, but she wouldn't be able to read enough at McDonald's to order a happy meal. Okay, so us kids, there's three of us. We would always help our grandparents. We would read, we would do items like that. And that turned into Hey, some someday you're going to be a you should be a realtor. And someday I woke up and I was over 50. I had just turned 50, and when is that? Some day going to happen? So I threw myself into real estate, happy, and I came over, literally. We ate, gambled and slept. We had a baby schedule. We woke up around noon, went and got lunch, we gambled and made $100 came home and we slept. And that was our grind for the
Eric James 26:10
first now, what's the name of your company that you're with? The company that
Lisa Shin-Lee 26:15
I'm with is with Galindo group real estate. It is run by Josh Galindo. I've
Eric James 26:19
met him. Oh, you have awesome. So what? Where can people find you if they wanted to get a hold of you?
Lisa Shin-Lee 26:27
My website is called Lisa Shen Lee, because you'll never forget me. Now, Lisa Lee is a porn star. When I got married, I Googled Lisa Lee, and it came up as a porn star. She's a beautiful black lady, but she's
Eric James 26:40
but I want you to repeat, where can they get a hold of you, because you didn't give them a phone number or anything.
Lisa Shin-Lee 26:45
So find me at Lisa shinley. Where else can you find me? My phone number is 702-577-0747. Repeat that. 702-577-0747.
Eric James 27:00
All right, okay. So Miss Lonnie, so we don't leave you out too much here, because we're getting a little close on time. Tell me a little bit about St Cloud, Minnesota. Now I know that the mask local mascot is Blizzy tea, the Husky. I did my homework on you checked out because that's a small town, and you did something that I wish I had done when I was a young individual. You left a small town and explored the world. You said in your bio, it says that you traveled Europe and North Africa as an exchange student. At what age
Loni Reed 27:33
I was, 18 years old. 1819, yep. Now again.
Eric James 27:37
St Cloud. I know it's a middle, medium sized city. But where does a 18 year old girl just say, I'm gonna branch out and just go see the world at that age, I
Loni Reed 27:48
was always like the wild child, and still am in life. So I just decided the university I went to had a program in Europe, and so I went on that program and lived in Aalborg, Denmark, and then traveled around Europe, Northern Africa, wow, for six months, it was amazing. Amazing.
Eric James 28:05
Okay, so how do we get from St Cloud to Las Vegas and get into the title business? Short
Loni Reed 28:11
version, I when I went back to Minnesota after seeing the world, I said I got to see more. So I packed my little car and I moved down to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Didn't know where I was going to live, who, what I was going to do, stayed down there, met my husband at the time, and moved back to Ohio. From Ohio, went down to Arizona, and was there for 17 years before moving
Eric James 28:33
to Vegas. All right, so what company you with? Again, I'm with Driggs Title Agency, and how can people find you if they want more information, if you're buying a home, you got to have a title company, so go with the best and you get some hula hoop lessons along the
Loni Reed 28:47
way. Absolutely, my number is 623-533-2636,
Eric James 28:54
could you repeat that? Yes, 623-533-2636, now the time goes a by light faster than I'd like. Maybe one day we're gonna have to change the show to an hour show, but we're running out of time. Wes is over there giving me the evil eye because he wants to make sure we don't go over so I'm gonna just tell you my name again, again. Mom, your host, Eric James. You if you want to talk to me some more, reach out to me at my office at 702-836-0953 again, 702-836-0953 I want to thank my guests today again, wishing them happy Valentine's Day, and remind everybody out there, stay on your grind. Stay on your grind. Stay on your grind. Thank you. Thank you. 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. You.