# Dawnn Lewis: "A Different World" star discusses career in animation, music, and philanthropy.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 11 Dec 2024, 30 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/1144a768-3d5b-47da-a481-b23e01657ba3/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Dawnn Lewis. For decades, my guest has used her celebrity platform for mentoring, lecturing, giving concerts, and donating her time and talents to causes across America and abroad on behalf of Organizations such as UNICEF, UNCF, Congressional Black Caucus Against HIV AIDS, and American Heart Assoc. She is amazing. In addition to acting, she does voice work on Star Trek Lower Decks, and she currently lends her voice to recurring characters on The Simpsons and Futurama. Dr. Dawnn Lewis is the proud daughter of Guyanese parents and is a force of talent and compassion who seamlessly navigates the realms of entertainment and philanthropy with grace. As President and CEO of Morning Jewel Inc., a prominent multi-platform production company spanning film, television, animation, music, and experiential events, she has solidified her position as a leader in the industry. Brooklyn-born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Flatbush, Dr. Lewis is the visionary founder and CEO of A New Day Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting underprivileged youth and grassroots nonprofits. Her charitable efforts span the globe, providing educational resources and participating in community projects in Guyana, India, and other locales. She earned an Honorary Doctorate in the Humanities for over four decades of community and philanthropic service. Dr. Lewis’s contributions to the entertainment industry are equally impressive. As a Trumpet Award and Grammy Award-winning singer, she has left an indelible mark on the music world, earning multiple NAACP Image Awards, BMI Awards, and ASCAP Awards for her songwriting prowess. Her music has been used in several other Film and TV soundtracks for Disney, ABC, NBC, HBO, and WIGS Films. Her talents extend beyond music, with a diverse portfolio of work as a film, television, and stage actor, series TV creator/producer, and esteemed inductee into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame. She returned to Broadway in the original cast (2019-2022) of the exhilarating TINA: THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL (12 TONY Nominations), co-starring as ZELMA BULLOCK, Ms. Turner’s mother. Dr. Lewis can be seen in a variety of projects, including “Young Rock” alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and the NETFLIX animated series “Karma’s World,” created by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges. Her versatility continued to shine in her role of “Captain Carol Freeman” in “Star Trek: Lower Decks” even as she prepared for the release of her holiday film “Black Jack Christmas” on BET+, half of which was filmed in Jamaica. She has lent her voice to iconic characters in beloved franchises like “The Simpsons,” “Curious George,” and Disney/Pixar’s Academy Award-winning films “Inside Out” and “Monsters University.” Dr. Lewis is dedicated to advocacy and leadership in the entertainment industry, holding positions on various boards, including the National Center for Civil and Human Rights and the SAG-AFTRA National Board of Directors, and serving as a Trustee for the SAG Pension Plan and chairing the SAG-AFTRA Singers Committee. Dr. Dawnn Lewis’s remarkable journey is marked by a relentless pursuit of excellence in both her craft and her commitment to uplifting others. Her impact resonates not only on stage and screen but also in the countless lives she has touched through her philanthropic endeavors. Company Description * The A New Day Foundation is a non-profit…

## Transcript

[0:05] Speaker 1: Welcome to the show.
[0:06] Speaker 2: I'm Rashaan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
[0:10] Speaker 2: where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
[0:13] Speaker 2: stories and.
[0:14] Speaker 1: Start planning their own.
[0:16] Speaker 2: Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
[0:19] Speaker 2: talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
[0:22] Speaker 2: their companies, and speak with dog profits who are making
[0:25] Speaker 2: a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
[0:28] Speaker 2: listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
[0:31] Speaker 2: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hi, I'm Rashaan McDonald. I host
[0:36] Speaker 2: this Money Making Conversation Master Class show. The interviews and
[0:39] Speaker 2: information that this show provides off for everyone. It's time
[0:42] Speaker 2: to stop reading other people's success stories and start living
[0:45] Speaker 2: your own. For decades, my guest has used her a
[0:48] Speaker 2: celebrity platform for mentoring, lecturing, giving concerts, and donating her
[0:52] Speaker 2: time and talents to causes across America and abroad on
[0:56] Speaker 2: behalf of organizations such as UNISEF, UNCF Congressional Like Harkers
[1:00] Speaker 2: Against HIV AIDS and American Heart Association.
[1:04] Speaker 1: She is amazing, she really is.
[1:06] Speaker 2: In addition to her acting, she lends her voice work
[1:09] Speaker 2: on such shows as Star Trek Lord Dex, and she
[1:11] Speaker 2: currently lends her voice to reoccurring characters on the Simpsons
[1:16] Speaker 2: and Futurama. Please welcome the Money Making Conversations Masterclass, the
[1:20] Speaker 2: iconic and very very funny Don.
[1:23] Speaker 1: Lewis how you doing?
[1:23] Speaker 3: Don?
[1:25] Speaker 1: What should I say? Tina Turner Mama's last.
[1:32] Speaker 2: Time we talk, you know, Broadway, Tina Turner Mama doing
[1:35] Speaker 2: your thing and you say you're having a great time,
[1:36] Speaker 2: but you know your your your whole career.
[1:38] Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on the show.
[1:39] Speaker 4: First of all, my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
[1:41] Speaker 2: Now you know you do I go back with you.
[1:45] Speaker 2: We're not talking about television. We first kind of met.
[1:47] Speaker 2: I was manager Steve Harvey. You came into the radio
[1:49] Speaker 2: studio and he was doing music. You was singing. So
[1:52] Speaker 2: you had all these different lay layers in your life,
[1:55] Speaker 2: you know, actress, singer, voice over work, acting, philanthropists. Let's
[2:02] Speaker 2: start talking about dicing up these different levels. Okay, what
[2:06] Speaker 2: came first, acting or singing?
[2:09] Speaker 3: Between the two of those, singing came first, but between
[2:13] Speaker 3: singing and acting was dancing. I started singing it for
[2:17] Speaker 3: dancing at seven, acting at eleven, and I've been doing
[2:20] Speaker 3: all three professionally since I was about ten years old.
[2:24] Speaker 2: So okay, so we got so you gave me the
[2:26] Speaker 2: trivector right there, you go, CA, I didn't even say dancing.
[2:29] Speaker 2: They're dancing, acting, singing, okay, So what jumped ot first?
[2:33] Speaker 1: You know, I say, you know, there's always a talent
[2:35] Speaker 1: that leads the way.
[2:36] Speaker 2: And then everybody started recognizing these other skill sets.
[2:39] Speaker 4: It would be singing, okay.
[2:41] Speaker 3: So I really thought I was going to be a
[2:42] Speaker 3: recording artist. I was lead singer in a band by
[2:44] Speaker 3: the time I was fourteen. I was a songwriter, so
[2:48] Speaker 3: my music was getting recorded by other artists.
[2:50] Speaker 4: I was a session singer, singing background.
[2:53] Speaker 3: Vocals for different artists people everyone from Patrice Russian to
[2:58] Speaker 3: Vanessams not not at fourteen, and that was after I
[3:02] Speaker 3: graduated from college.
[3:03] Speaker 4: But before then, I was recording.
[3:05] Speaker 3: I had my own single out, I was charting on Billboards.
[3:09] Speaker 4: I was doing shows off and on Broadway.
[3:11] Speaker 3: I had done a couple of TV pilots, but none
[3:14] Speaker 3: of them had gotten picked up. One of them had
[3:17] Speaker 3: a release as a special holiday special. It was called
[3:20] Speaker 3: Crummy Movie Show.
[3:21] Speaker 1: While I was in college.
[3:23] Speaker 3: And the movie was so bad you would turn channels
[3:25] Speaker 3: to see the commercials and we were the quote unquote
[3:27] Speaker 3: commercials sketches. So when I graduated college, I went back
[3:31] Speaker 3: to doing theater off and on Broadway.
[3:33] Speaker 4: Then the last Broadway tour I did.
[3:36] Speaker 3: And I want to give a shout out because today
[3:38] Speaker 3: was the star's birthday who recently passed, Hinton Battle, three
[3:41] Speaker 3: time Tony Award winner, Amazing performer, and that was the
[3:45] Speaker 3: Tap Dance Kid with Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers.
[3:48] Speaker 3: There you go, hint In Battle, Ben Harney, the original
[3:51] Speaker 3: Curtis from Dreamgirls, Monica Page and Hint and Doulat Hill,
[3:55] Speaker 3: who was our ten year.
[3:56] Speaker 4: Old boy at the time.
[3:58] Speaker 3: It was now into an amazing This is so at
[4:01] Speaker 3: the time I was doing that. And then Hinton invited
[4:03] Speaker 3: me to sing with him on his first solo album
[4:05] Speaker 3: that was produced by Quincy Jones.
[4:07] Speaker 4: Okay, so I'm doing that. We finished that.
[4:09] Speaker 1: All these great names just dancing around.
[4:12] Speaker 3: That has been my journey, blessing. I am so blessed
[4:15] Speaker 3: to have been in the company of these amazingly talented
[4:18] Speaker 3: people that always encouraged me to do better and be better.
[4:21] Speaker 4: And I was always the youngster in the group because
[4:23] Speaker 4: I was sixteen when I started college. So all of
[4:26] Speaker 4: this is happening before, I mean six, when I started college.
[4:29] Speaker 4: I left New York.
[4:30] Speaker 3: I went to the High School of Music and Art
[4:32] Speaker 3: of Fame Fame, graduated and they danced and sing.
[4:35] Speaker 4: And doing all of it.
[4:36] Speaker 3: And went down to the U and actually started my
[4:39] Speaker 3: own degree program. I was singing opera, playing cello, acting
[4:43] Speaker 3: and dancing. Okay, so the musical theater degree program that
[4:46] Speaker 3: now flourishes at the U. I'm the founder and first graduate.
[4:50] Speaker 2: You know, when I hear a person like you, I
[4:52] Speaker 2: remember a couple of times in Hollywood somebody slowed out.
[4:56] Speaker 1: You're doing too much, you know.
[4:57] Speaker 2: I remember my first agent, he said, you know, we
[5:00] Speaker 2: got to keep you on the train tracks because you
[5:02] Speaker 2: keep getting off the train tracks. You keep going to
[5:04] Speaker 2: do this and that. Did you feel that people were
[5:08] Speaker 2: boxing you in or people told you you were doing
[5:11] Speaker 2: too many things because you were talented at so many
[5:14] Speaker 2: different things.
[5:14] Speaker 3: You know, when I was coming up, I was always
[5:17] Speaker 3: taught you had to be a triple threat in order
[5:20] Speaker 3: to work in the industry and to survive in the industry,
[5:22] Speaker 3: multiple incoming, multiple strings, whether and even if it was
[5:26] Speaker 3: just one doing musical theater.
[5:28] Speaker 4: When you look back at old movies.
[5:30] Speaker 3: Almost every major actor you can name sang, dance and act,
[5:33] Speaker 3: everyone from Judy Garland to Frank Sinatra to Bing Crosby,
[5:37] Speaker 3: Bob Hole. Everybody was doing everything. So that was what
[5:41] Speaker 3: I was always taught. The journey was supposed to be,
[5:43] Speaker 3: but I actually didn't start getting pigeonholed until I did
[5:47] Speaker 3: a different world. So I moved from live performing into
[5:51] Speaker 3: doing now this what would.
[5:52] Speaker 1: Become that became most art.
[5:54] Speaker 3: I was just gonna say, but you talk about when
[5:56] Speaker 3: do people start telling you you're doing too much or
[5:58] Speaker 3: your skill set is too and try to put you
[6:01] Speaker 3: in a box. That was when it started, because I
[6:03] Speaker 3: went from being able and open to be this multifaceted
[6:09] Speaker 3: person to now I'm doing a TV series, which ended
[6:12] Speaker 3: up being one of the most successful television.
[6:15] Speaker 4: Series then and now.
[6:17] Speaker 3: But now you're, oh, well, now you're just an actress,
[6:20] Speaker 3: or you're a comedic actress, or you're a sitcom actress.
[6:24] Speaker 3: And then I went from being the youngest to play
[6:26] Speaker 3: in the Oldest Person when I was actually younger than
[6:29] Speaker 3: a lot of people around me. I was just taller
[6:31] Speaker 3: than everybody playing the older person.
[6:33] Speaker 4: Huh about five seven, but I look long. I look
[6:36] Speaker 4: taller because.
[6:37] Speaker 3: I have long legs, and well, you know everybody, so
[6:41] Speaker 3: you know. But that's when people started saying and when
[6:45] Speaker 3: I when I got cast to do a different world.
[6:49] Speaker 3: The musical director from The Cosby Show also knew me
[6:51] Speaker 3: as as the singer, songwriter musician that I that I
[6:54] Speaker 3: that I am, and he invited me to write the
[6:56] Speaker 3: theme song for the show. So that's how I ended
[6:59] Speaker 3: up writing the theme song and being cast in the
[7:02] Speaker 3: show because I wasn't in a box yet, so I
[7:05] Speaker 3: was able to bring both those gifts and blessings to
[7:08] Speaker 3: one show and they had no idea they had hired
[7:10] Speaker 3: the same person.
[7:11] Speaker 2: Here's the funny part about it that I shouldn't say funny,
[7:13] Speaker 2: you know, because you know, I met you when I
[7:17] Speaker 2: knew you as an actress, and I remember when you
[7:19] Speaker 2: came into the studio. We're talking about the studio chief Howard,
[7:22] Speaker 2: and I was doing the radio show in LA and
[7:24] Speaker 2: you was promoting your music and I just looked at
[7:26] Speaker 2: you as an actress.
[7:27] Speaker 1: I go, oh, she's trying to sing that.
[7:29] Speaker 4: She's trying to sing that. That's one folk and that's
[7:31] Speaker 4: what people do.
[7:33] Speaker 1: You know.
[7:33] Speaker 4: I am grateful for the blessing of how people came
[7:36] Speaker 4: to know me. But it was just just.
[7:38] Speaker 3: One small sorry, but it's okay. You wouldn't be the first.
[7:43] Speaker 3: So there were some people who only know me as
[7:45] Speaker 3: a singer and a musician who are wondering, how come
[7:47] Speaker 3: you don't sing more? You know, But that's how the
[7:50] Speaker 3: journey has gone. So now I still do concerts, I
[7:54] Speaker 3: still compose. I got the honor. I received the honor
[7:57] Speaker 3: of being inducted into the Women's Songwriter Hall of Fame
[8:01] Speaker 3: alongside people like Valerie Simpson, Bunny Hull, Mary Carpenter Chapin.
[8:06] Speaker 4: I mean, it was just an honor.
[8:09] Speaker 3: You know.
[8:10] Speaker 2: You know, it's really interesting because you know you have that.
[8:14] Speaker 2: You know, there's so many blessings that come your way,
[8:17] Speaker 2: and sometimes in the world a lot of your success
[8:20] Speaker 2: you're not seen as a writer, as a voice person
[8:24] Speaker 2: in animation, and then people can go what you been
[8:28] Speaker 2: doing lately?
[8:32] Speaker 4: I haven't stopped so gratefully, you know what.
[8:36] Speaker 3: It may not have been in front of the camera,
[8:39] Speaker 3: but it's in so many facets around that allow me
[8:42] Speaker 3: to keep being creative. To your point, animation, that's been
[8:45] Speaker 3: a beautiful blessing.
[8:46] Speaker 4: I've been doing it for more than thirty years animation.
[8:49] Speaker 2: Okay, now I can't do voices. Yeah, I'm barely doing
[8:53] Speaker 2: this show. Okay, how you know?
[8:57] Speaker 1: You know, can you imitate people or how do you
[9:00] Speaker 1: get into that force? Then? How did you start? How
[9:02] Speaker 1: did you I.
[9:02] Speaker 3: Don't necessarily imitate people, although I have been hired to
[9:06] Speaker 3: do what's called looping additional voices for a particular actor
[9:11] Speaker 3: that I can sound similar to that can't come back
[9:14] Speaker 3: in to.
[9:15] Speaker 4: Do their own pickups.
[9:16] Speaker 3: So they bring me in to do like little additional
[9:19] Speaker 3: lines to cover certain actors that I can sound like.
[9:26] Speaker 1: Money Lewis.
[9:28] Speaker 4: It's all possible and I can't share me check amen.
[9:32] Speaker 3: But no. It started when Susanda pass of Motown fame
[9:36] Speaker 3: and discovering the Jackson's and all of that. She was
[9:39] Speaker 3: interested in managing me years ago, and that was before
[9:42] Speaker 3: she got big into producing.
[9:44] Speaker 1: So she got asked me because she was in my
[9:45] Speaker 1: life on sister's sister. That's why she came into my life.
[9:49] Speaker 3: She's a brilliant, brilliant and resourceful woman.
[9:53] Speaker 4: So she asked me.
[9:54] Speaker 3: She got the opportunity to executive produce this new animated
[9:58] Speaker 3: series around.
[9:59] Speaker 4: Kid and Play.
[10:00] Speaker 3: Okay, so she asked me if big Kid and play
[10:02] Speaker 3: the the Kidden play Chris and Chris so and asked
[10:05] Speaker 3: if I would come and do a voice So I
[10:07] Speaker 3: came and said, all right, well, I've done jingles, I've
[10:09] Speaker 3: done all kinds of success session work, so this will
[10:12] Speaker 3: be my first time doing a TV series.
[10:15] Speaker 4: So I just came and imitated my niece who was
[10:18] Speaker 4: a child and talk like this all the time.
[10:19] Speaker 3: I was like, a kid, come on, let's go in
[10:21] Speaker 3: and do this routine and it's gonna be fun.
[10:23] Speaker 4: All right, come on five, six, seven eight.
[10:26] Speaker 3: And that was my first gig and there aren't very
[10:29] Speaker 3: many people of color in the animation world, particularly at
[10:32] Speaker 3: that time, so the.
[10:33] Speaker 4: Director was like, who are you? How come I never
[10:35] Speaker 4: met you before?
[10:37] Speaker 3: And then my name just started getting passed around from
[10:40] Speaker 3: gig to gig, director to director, shows like you know,
[10:43] Speaker 3: Spider Man, Hulk, she Hulk, all of It, Batman and Robin.
[10:50] Speaker 4: I've been doing voiceovers ever since.
[10:52] Speaker 2: So, okay, this is so funny because that's just one voice,
[10:55] Speaker 2: so you just can't come in there and do the
[10:57] Speaker 2: same voice for everything. So how does the castine sessions
[11:02] Speaker 2: work when you're doing are your or your audition I'm
[11:06] Speaker 2: sure your audition for this every now and then, yeh okay, excuse.
[11:09] Speaker 1: Me, excuse your sister.
[11:12] Speaker 2: Money, I said money, Okay, done, money Lewis Okay, Now.
[11:17] Speaker 1: Will you do audition?
[11:19] Speaker 2: Well, how does that prep work when you're just dealing
[11:21] Speaker 2: with a voice?
[11:22] Speaker 3: With it, when it's just a voice, You get an outline,
[11:25] Speaker 3: You get what they call a breakdown of what the
[11:28] Speaker 3: character is supposed to be. Is it a seventy year
[11:30] Speaker 3: old Is it a seventy year old one woman? Is
[11:32] Speaker 3: it a seven year old boy? Are you East African?
[11:36] Speaker 3: Are you British?
[11:37] Speaker 1: Okay?
[11:37] Speaker 3: Are you a Caribbean? Are you a monster? Are you
[11:41] Speaker 3: an alien? Are you a witch or a warlock?
[11:44] Speaker 4: No?
[11:44] Speaker 3: Seriously, So they give you the written outline, and every
[11:47] Speaker 3: now and then they have a visual idea of what
[11:49] Speaker 3: the character is going to look like, so you may
[11:51] Speaker 3: see an illustration. So when you combine all of that,
[11:54] Speaker 3: you sit in your spirit and come up with something
[11:58] Speaker 3: that you think would sound come out of this person's mouth.
[12:01] Speaker 3: And then you collaborate with the director and you say, well,
[12:04] Speaker 3: what about this voice to go?
[12:05] Speaker 4: No, try a little higher pitch.
[12:07] Speaker 3: Make them sound younger, make make them sound older, make
[12:10] Speaker 3: them sound broken down, and that's how you put the
[12:12] Speaker 3: elements together.
[12:13] Speaker 1: Right, Okay?
[12:14] Speaker 2: Figuring of Don Lewis, you know of Different World fame.
[12:17] Speaker 2: You know, I've told her myself that when she came
[12:20] Speaker 2: and I met her the first time Steve Harve and
[12:22] Speaker 2: I was on radio, I said, why is this actress
[12:25] Speaker 2: trying to be a singer? And I've discovered she was
[12:27] Speaker 2: a triple threat. Pride to being discovered on different world
[12:30] Speaker 2: and different World kind of boxed you in, like people
[12:33] Speaker 2: will say, that's all you can do, right and then
[12:35] Speaker 2: but you launched an animated career. You're a songwriter in
[12:40] Speaker 2: the Hall of fame. Now where's the book or do
[12:43] Speaker 2: you have you done a book on Don Money Lewis?
[12:45] Speaker 4: You know what, I have been tempted to write a book,
[12:48] Speaker 4: and I start, what.
[12:49] Speaker 1: Would the inspiration be behind the.
[12:51] Speaker 4: Tempt the attempt?
[12:54] Speaker 1: Yeah, if you said writing a book.
[12:56] Speaker 3: But it would be the unlikely nie of somebody who
[13:01] Speaker 3: was committed to having a journey, right, you know, because
[13:04] Speaker 3: where I'm from, in Bedsty, you are not encouraged to
[13:07] Speaker 3: think big and to have big dreams and to dare
[13:11] Speaker 3: to think beyond your neighborhood.
[13:13] Speaker 4: And I came up in the pub public school system,
[13:16] Speaker 4: so there.
[13:16] Speaker 3: Weren't any special charters or scholarships or you know, inordinate
[13:21] Speaker 3: amounts of money being funded into me, like when I
[13:24] Speaker 3: wrote the theme song for a Different World. Like I said,
[13:27] Speaker 3: I was sixteen when I left home, so all I
[13:29] Speaker 3: was armed with was what I was taught in my house,
[13:33] Speaker 3: was what my mom instilled in me.
[13:34] Speaker 4: And you know, truth be told.
[13:36] Speaker 3: As a teenager coming up, all it did was irritate me,
[13:40] Speaker 3: and that was one of the reasons why I needed
[13:41] Speaker 3: to get out of the house. But now you're out
[13:43] Speaker 3: of the house and you find yourself doing the exact
[13:46] Speaker 3: things that your mom taught you to do and responding
[13:49] Speaker 3: the way your mom taught you to respond, which is
[13:52] Speaker 3: and all of a sudden, you go, Okay, I guess
[13:54] Speaker 3: she wasn't as.
[13:55] Speaker 4: Foolish after all, and gets it kind of made sense.
[13:58] Speaker 3: But that was the big of me recognizing the power
[14:03] Speaker 3: of positive input into me and into my life.
[14:08] Speaker 4: Please don't go anywhere.
[14:10] Speaker 5: We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
[14:20] Speaker 5: Welcome back to the Money Making Conversations Masterclass hosted by
[14:23] Speaker 5: Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass continues online at Moneymakingconversations
[14:30] Speaker 5: dot com and follow Money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook,
[14:34] Speaker 5: Twitter and Instagram.
[14:36] Speaker 1: Your character, yes, you know why did people gravitate to it?
[14:41] Speaker 2: Because I gravitated to your character on Different World.
[14:47] Speaker 1: Why do you think people really were enamored?
[14:51] Speaker 2: I want want to use the word you enamored because
[14:54] Speaker 2: with your character, because it was a Let me not
[14:57] Speaker 2: give it away any hints and then I'll respond after.
[15:00] Speaker 3: Okay, Well, I think people embrace the show that they
[15:02] Speaker 3: weighed that they did because of the different facets of
[15:06] Speaker 3: life and humanity that each of us represented. There was
[15:10] Speaker 3: the bugy person, the geeky person, the seasoned citizen, and
[15:14] Speaker 3: mister Gaines who didn't have a degree but was there
[15:17] Speaker 3: to speak positivity and wisdom into each of the students.
[15:20] Speaker 3: My character was someone who had decided she wasn't done yet.
[15:25] Speaker 3: And where some people may chip it in, you know,
[15:27] Speaker 3: cash in their chips and say, well, look, I'm such
[15:30] Speaker 3: an age, this is all there is for me and
[15:33] Speaker 3: keep it moving as best as they can. But Jalisa decided,
[15:37] Speaker 3: you know what, No, there's more I want to do
[15:39] Speaker 3: and I'm going to get the tools I need in
[15:41] Speaker 3: order to do it. And if it means going back
[15:44] Speaker 3: to school. That's what I'm going to do because I,
[15:46] Speaker 3: which is one of the things we say in our foundation,
[15:48] Speaker 3: the New Day Foundation, is I am my best investment.
[15:53] Speaker 3: And that's what Lisa Jalisa chose. So I think a
[15:56] Speaker 3: lot of people see that in themselves or want to
[15:59] Speaker 3: see that in themselves. And besides that, it wasn't common
[16:04] Speaker 3: to see a brown skin sis sister very comfortable in
[16:08] Speaker 3: her own skin on television on a weekly basis. And
[16:11] Speaker 3: then we got blessed by adding Charnelle Brown to the
[16:15] Speaker 3: cast that was even.
[16:16] Speaker 4: Darker skin than I was.
[16:17] Speaker 3: So all of those people who weren't accustomed because I
[16:20] Speaker 3: know I wasn't everyone I used to see, whether it
[16:22] Speaker 3: was commercials or television, was you know, fair skin, really thin,
[16:26] Speaker 3: you know, all those things which are beautiful in itself.
[16:29] Speaker 3: But I was there to reflect a group of women
[16:34] Speaker 3: in particular, and for men who like brown sisters, you know,
[16:39] Speaker 3: to say, okay, we got some of this too, So
[16:41] Speaker 3: we had some.
[16:42] Speaker 4: Of everything on our show.
[16:43] Speaker 3: So I am so grateful that, you know, people, as
[16:47] Speaker 3: you said, were enever with me and my character as no.
[16:52] Speaker 4: As they are today.
[16:53] Speaker 3: And people are still black, don't crack. We been just
[16:58] Speaker 3: a teen ny.
[17:03] Speaker 1: You're not breaking. You may not even even bended.
[17:06] Speaker 2: Okay, you know because okay, your skin tone, that that
[17:11] Speaker 2: that attracted me to you.
[17:13] Speaker 1: Your maturity, come on.
[17:16] Speaker 4: Come on, and maturity.
[17:21] Speaker 2: It was something different, you know on the show. And
[17:26] Speaker 2: also your presence because when you came in the room,
[17:30] Speaker 2: it was you know, you had all these other characters
[17:32] Speaker 2: seemed like out of control because it was teenager mentality
[17:36] Speaker 2: and you had a maturity about you that really resonated
[17:39] Speaker 2: I felt, and uh, it was needed in the show,
[17:42] Speaker 2: and they did a good job of.
[17:44] Speaker 1: Producing that your character.
[17:46] Speaker 2: So I feel that's why I resonated for Rashawn McDonald,
[17:50] Speaker 2: and I think it resonated to a lot of people.
[17:52] Speaker 1: Plus it was a hot mama, okay, and we as
[17:55] Speaker 1: young people, needed a hot mama looking at the TV.
[18:00] Speaker 2: If I could just date her, if I can just
[18:02] Speaker 2: fight her, nobody care about your need.
[18:04] Speaker 1: Friends tell you, boy, hit you in the back of
[18:06] Speaker 1: the head, boy, shut up. She didn't even recognize you.
[18:09] Speaker 2: And so, but that's one of the things, the qualities
[18:11] Speaker 2: that you brought to the table, and.
[18:12] Speaker 1: It lives today.
[18:14] Speaker 2: But the blessing of the conversation is that you know,
[18:17] Speaker 2: animation has started thirty years ago, but now you're still
[18:21] Speaker 2: in the heart of the Futurama, The Simpsons, you know. Uh,
[18:25] Speaker 2: and now Star Trek, lawd Decks tell.
[18:27] Speaker 1: Us about that.
[18:28] Speaker 3: Well, that journey continued, like you said, and gratefully. Now,
[18:32] Speaker 3: in addition to the ones you mentioned, I'm on to
[18:34] Speaker 3: over a dozen TV series now, House Housebroken.
[18:38] Speaker 4: Craig of the of the Creek.
[18:41] Speaker 3: Fairly Odd Parents, Apple and Onion, Fairly Odd Parents, Karma's World,
[18:47] Speaker 3: Ludacris this series, Karma's World, and I play you know, yeah, Heartstone, Trolls,
[18:56] Speaker 3: I mean, all of it, Mortal Kombat, you know, and
[18:59] Speaker 3: then some Yeah, I know, I know. It's it's fantastic
[19:03] Speaker 3: because I get to voice and bring to life characters
[19:06] Speaker 3: that you wouldn't hire me visually to play. You wouldn't
[19:09] Speaker 3: hire me to play a seven year old boy or
[19:12] Speaker 3: a ninety year old grandmother.
[19:13] Speaker 1: Let me hear that seven year old boy boy?
[19:15] Speaker 4: Oh no you no, you no, oh my, this is
[19:19] Speaker 4: second cool man.
[19:20] Speaker 3: It is so fly.
[19:22] Speaker 4: Yeah. So anyway, so doing doing things like that.
[19:26] Speaker 3: Uh.
[19:26] Speaker 4: And when I got Star Trek, I.
[19:28] Speaker 1: Would never be bored with you. No, I would never
[19:32] Speaker 1: never show leave me alone.
[19:35] Speaker 3: Of different languages and all kinds of different accents.
[19:38] Speaker 4: You know, I would never tell you shut up and
[19:40] Speaker 4: leave me alone, say what you're wearing today? Kind of sexty.
[19:46] Speaker 4: My god, we get bored.
[19:50] Speaker 2: You're talking, you know, And so the the Lord Deck,
[19:54] Speaker 2: you know, you pling Carol Freeman, right, was Carol just
[19:57] Speaker 2: very important to put the captain in front of that.
[20:00] Speaker 4: It shows leadership.
[20:01] Speaker 3: And in the world of Star Trek in the franchise,
[20:05] Speaker 3: it's me and Avery Brooks, yes as black captains, him
[20:09] Speaker 3: as male, him as me as the female black captain
[20:13] Speaker 3: in this legacy of excellence and diversity. And I've been
[20:18] Speaker 3: a fan of the show since the very first series
[20:21] Speaker 3: came on with Captain Kirk and Spock and Sulu and
[20:25] Speaker 3: all of those people. And to see Michelle Nichols on
[20:28] Speaker 3: camera as a child was made me hopeful that there
[20:32] Speaker 3: was hope for me because she was brown skinned and
[20:35] Speaker 3: she was excellent.
[20:36] Speaker 4: And she was she was fiery, she could hold her
[20:39] Speaker 4: own with anybody.
[20:41] Speaker 3: So she was my hero, especially in the sixties where
[20:44] Speaker 3: when you were watching the news, all you saw was
[20:46] Speaker 3: people of color being beaten, holes, chased by dogs, marching, picketing.
[20:51] Speaker 1: It was the the.
[20:56] Speaker 3: Just position of where diversity stood in Gene Roddenberry's world
[21:02] Speaker 3: as opposed to the real world really made me hopeful
[21:06] Speaker 3: that we can do this. We can respect everyone's excellence,
[21:11] Speaker 3: we can deal with each other with integrity and with
[21:15] Speaker 3: inclusion and get it done and it'll be all right.
[21:18] Speaker 4: It really will.
[21:19] Speaker 3: So now, all these years later, for Michelle to become
[21:22] Speaker 3: one of my dearest friends and mentors and get to
[21:25] Speaker 3: meet some of these people that I grew up idolizing,
[21:28] Speaker 3: and I did not know that what I was auditioning
[21:31] Speaker 3: for was Star.
[21:32] Speaker 4: Trek because they changed the name.
[21:34] Speaker 3: We had to sign NDA's And when they finally hired
[21:38] Speaker 3: all of us and we get to the table read
[21:39] Speaker 3: and turn our scripts.
[21:40] Speaker 4: Over, we all were like, whoa stop, what really Star
[21:44] Speaker 4: Trek for real?
[21:45] Speaker 3: And myself, Tawny Newsome the star of the show, Jack Quaid,
[21:50] Speaker 3: Eugene Cordero, Noel, Well, thank you, Fred Tatters. It's the
[21:56] Speaker 3: last season on Paramount Plus. That's what we like to say,
[22:00] Speaker 3: because our see there you go, but our hope and
[22:03] Speaker 3: our desires that we will get picked up somewhere else
[22:05] Speaker 3: because the people who watch our show absolutely love it,
[22:09] Speaker 3: and some people never watch Star Trek before.
[22:14] Speaker 4: I do.
[22:15] Speaker 3: I do, and I get to meet and engage with
[22:17] Speaker 3: so many of the people that watch our show. It's
[22:20] Speaker 3: insane the love that we get for our show and
[22:23] Speaker 3: the people that say, if you've ever I'm not gonna
[22:25] Speaker 3: give away too much. But on our show, myself and
[22:29] Speaker 3: the star Tawny Newsome. Her character's name is Beckett, Beckett Mariner,
[22:33] Speaker 3: and she and I do not get along. It's like
[22:36] Speaker 3: any of the teenage mother and daughter kind of relationship.
[22:39] Speaker 3: But as the seasons go on, you watch changes and growth,
[22:43] Speaker 3: not in just our relationship but throughout the entire crew.
[22:47] Speaker 4: So no, I'm a different kind of captain.
[22:49] Speaker 2: You know, it's so fun. I was watching The Boys. Yes, okay,
[22:52] Speaker 2: so I'm sitting up there watching the Boys.
[22:54] Speaker 4: And there I am.
[22:57] Speaker 2: I like, first of all, you know, first of all,
[23:07] Speaker 2: you know, I'm going like you know that, you know,
[23:11] Speaker 2: you know, And then then you go through your credits,
[23:13] Speaker 2: you read it, you go to the cat it's it's
[23:17] Speaker 2: you know, it's fascinating to be a fan of someone
[23:22] Speaker 2: and then you see them in the show that you
[23:24] Speaker 2: don't expect to see them the show.
[23:25] Speaker 1: Not saying you can't do.
[23:26] Speaker 2: That show, but when you was in it in that
[23:29] Speaker 2: role that was playing and it was like that that.
[23:32] Speaker 2: I'm just telling you, that's what you do to people.
[23:35] Speaker 2: You have a fan base that gets excited and roots
[23:38] Speaker 2: for you, loves to see you. And the fact that
[23:43] Speaker 2: being on my show allows people to understand a tremendous career.
[23:48] Speaker 2: It's what a force you are and so many different levels.
[23:52] Speaker 1: As you started when you was a kid. You still
[23:54] Speaker 1: are a.
[23:56] Speaker 2: Quadruple threat now, you know, and to be able to
[24:00] Speaker 2: I always talk about people with careers, you know, because
[24:03] Speaker 2: you always can jump out in different world, different world?
[24:06] Speaker 1: Was your launching pad to right to the world right
[24:10] Speaker 1: fast forward? Twenty years, thirty years?
[24:12] Speaker 2: What have you done? What has what's sustainable? And that's
[24:15] Speaker 2: what I call a career. And you have a career,
[24:17] Speaker 2: and you know what I'm talking about because you can
[24:20] Speaker 2: you can jump out there and it just stops.
[24:23] Speaker 1: Right and you've been able to keep moving forward. Tell
[24:26] Speaker 1: us about that journey.
[24:27] Speaker 3: You know what, again, You've got to basically quiet than
[24:32] Speaker 3: they sayers by just showing up and doing the work
[24:35] Speaker 3: and being able to work with people and to bring
[24:40] Speaker 3: excellence to it.
[24:41] Speaker 4: And I do my best to always do my best.
[24:43] Speaker 3: So whether it's nine to one one, Gray's Anatomy, Veronica
[24:48] Speaker 3: Mars any day Now you know any of those shows,
[24:52] Speaker 3: recording with any of those people that I started to
[24:54] Speaker 3: mention before, whether it's you know, Patrice Russian, Everett Harp,
[24:59] Speaker 3: you know, the list just goes on and on.
[25:01] Speaker 4: Grover Washington Junior.
[25:02] Speaker 3: I wrote and recorded for him and Nancy Wilson, as
[25:06] Speaker 3: well as doing my own and independent CD.
[25:09] Speaker 4: All of it is just grace to God that he.
[25:12] Speaker 3: Keeps opening doors and giving me what I need to
[25:15] Speaker 3: walk through them successfully. And then having people like you
[25:18] Speaker 3: who will jump up with a high pitched voice and say,
[25:21] Speaker 3: oh my God, that's right, that's her, and make room
[25:24] Speaker 3: for everything that I do because only more is coming.
[25:28] Speaker 2: Now we're gonna talk about a New Day Foundation. I
[25:30] Speaker 2: made a donation, Yes you will, many years ago. Okay,
[25:33] Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure that money spent well, long time, long time, So.
[25:36] Speaker 1: That means that she's back.
[25:38] Speaker 2: If she's back, that means donation time out of Rushan
[25:41] Speaker 2: say Donald, which is no problem.
[25:43] Speaker 1: Tell everybody about a New Day Foundation.
[25:44] Speaker 3: A New Day Foundation is basically the ongoing work that
[25:47] Speaker 3: I've been doing for almost fifteen for almost fifty years
[25:52] Speaker 3: since I graduated from elementary school. It has been important
[25:55] Speaker 3: to me to go back and give back cause, like
[25:57] Speaker 3: I said, my teachers poured into me when I was
[26:00] Speaker 3: young to help me find a brighter path for myself
[26:04] Speaker 3: and my talent. So that's always been important to me.
[26:07] Speaker 3: About eight nine years ago, I wanted to do national programs,
[26:11] Speaker 3: and up until then I had been doing all of
[26:13] Speaker 3: this on my own. So in order to get corporate support,
[26:17] Speaker 3: public support, I had to form a nonprofit. So that
[26:20] Speaker 3: is a New Day Foundation, which is a play on
[26:22] Speaker 3: my name Dawn, a New Day where we want to
[26:26] Speaker 3: be a new day of opportunity, so that where you
[26:28] Speaker 3: were yesterday is not where you have to end up today.
[26:31] Speaker 4: Nor be tomorrow.
[26:32] Speaker 3: So we do programmatic services for teens, teen boys, mentors,
[26:36] Speaker 3: teen girls, sisters.
[26:38] Speaker 4: Hangout, and we do an annual conference called.
[26:40] Speaker 3: Focused and fit FT which stands for Financially and technolo Knowlogy.
[26:44] Speaker 4: Informed for a different World.
[26:46] Speaker 3: And at that conference we give out scholarships anywhere from
[26:50] Speaker 3: six to twelve of two thousand dollars each in a
[26:52] Speaker 3: new laptop. That is for high school juniors and seniors
[26:55] Speaker 3: and their parents and college freshmen and sophomores. That four
[26:58] Speaker 3: year demographic now we sponsor two year round school programs,
[27:05] Speaker 3: one called HBCU Hero, so for your HBCU audience that
[27:09] Speaker 3: is listening. We have monthly workshops where any HBCU student
[27:13] Speaker 3: can join in virtually with tools for entrepreneurship, career planning,
[27:18] Speaker 3: economic wisdom, and marketing skills. And then we have programs
[27:23] Speaker 3: in two middle schools and two high schools in Long
[27:26] Speaker 3: Beach and we partner with an organization called Inspiration fifty
[27:29] Speaker 3: two to do that year round program. So in everything
[27:33] Speaker 3: we do, which is why your support is really so crucial,
[27:37] Speaker 3: all jokes side, it's because everything we do we do
[27:39] Speaker 3: free of charge. So all of our fundraising is to
[27:43] Speaker 3: buy the workshop materials, to hire buses if we need
[27:46] Speaker 3: to transport kids anywhere to any of these events, meals,
[27:50] Speaker 3: workshop materials, admission costs, all of it.
[27:55] Speaker 4: That's what it is.
[27:55] Speaker 1: It is for what's the website so people interested in.
[27:58] Speaker 3: Donating, The website is www dot a New Day Foundation
[28:04] Speaker 3: dot net. Www dot a New Day Foundation dot net
[28:09] Speaker 3: and if you have any questions, just email us info.
[28:18] Speaker 4: At a New Day Foundation.
[28:20] Speaker 3: Dot net and all of that information comes directly to us.
[28:24] Speaker 3: So we all of our programs we can take it,
[28:26] Speaker 3: as you mentioned before, anywhere across the country, and we've
[28:29] Speaker 3: supported programs and done programs as far away as Raunchi,
[28:33] Speaker 3: India and Guyana, South America, which is where my family
[28:38] Speaker 3: is from, and New York, Chicago, Florida, Dallas, l A.
[28:42] Speaker 3: You name it. We have been there and are happy
[28:45] Speaker 3: to come back and create programs anywhere we are able.
[28:49] Speaker 2: Wow, I want to thank you for coming on Machell
[28:52] Speaker 2: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. We'll be making a contribution again
[28:57] Speaker 2: and I'm gona tell you them when you say this
[29:00] Speaker 2: will come back. She tracked me down get my check
[29:02] Speaker 2: that get my check which I did give my gift
[29:05] Speaker 2: to check to it and it was kind of got
[29:06] Speaker 2: lost to the mail or something like that. But again
[29:08] Speaker 2: I I it's a blessing to actually sit down and
[29:11] Speaker 2: talk to you in person. And you're special, but you
[29:15] Speaker 2: know that you don't survive in this industry and then
[29:18] Speaker 2: have the relationship where people will call you for work
[29:21] Speaker 2: instead of auditioning for work as a reputation. And that's
[29:25] Speaker 2: something that people need to understand. This business and anything
[29:28] Speaker 2: in life is built on relationships and also relationships that
[29:32] Speaker 2: allow you to grow as a person and you've grown
[29:35] Speaker 2: tremendously before our eyes and.
[29:37] Speaker 1: She's a stop iconic. I did like iconic and she's
[29:41] Speaker 1: team to turn to Mama. Thank you, my.
[29:45] Speaker 4: Pleasure, my pleasure, Thank you so much.
[29:48] Speaker 2: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
[29:51] Speaker 2: posted by me Rashawn McDonald. Thank you to our guests
[29:54] Speaker 2: on the show today and thank you. I'll listening to
[29:57] Speaker 2: audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
[29:59] Speaker 2: I want to be a guest on the show, visit
[30:02] Speaker 2: Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is Moneymaking Conversation.
[30:07] Speaker 2: Join us next week and remember to always leave with
[30:09] Speaker 2: your gifts.
[30:10] Speaker 1: Keep winning.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.