# Follow Your Passion: Former USC track star, turned education attorney and now filmmaker, discusses new “Love the Skin You’re In”

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 25 Nov 2025, 32 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/5a511bbb-47f3-4a4a-8ea1-b3b0018afdd1/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 Sauda Johnson McNeal. • To highlight Sauda Johnson McNeal’s journey from a successful law career to filmmaking. • To discuss her new film “Love the Skin You’re In”, its themes, production process, and personal significance. • To inspire entrepreneurs and creatives to pursue their passions while balancing purpose and practicality. Key Takeaways • Career Transition & Dual Roles • Sauda started as an actor, realized the instability, and pursued law for financial security. • Maintains dual careers: education attorney and filmmaker, blending purpose (helping youth) and passion (storytelling). • Film Details • Title: Love the Skin You’re In. • Themes: Self-love, family healing, caretaking, and African-American experiences. • Cast includes Wendy Raquel Robinson, Marla Gibbs, and Oba Babatundé. • Release: Limited theatrical run (Dec 17–23 in North Hollywood), streaming planned for February 2026 (Black History Month). • Production Challenges • Unexpected permit issues caused shutdowns. • Tight 4-week shooting schedule due to budget constraints. • Importance of leveraging relationships and calling in favors for casting and resources. • Personal Connection • Story inspired by Sauda’s own struggles with self-worth during college. • Emphasizes therapy, faith, and support systems in overcoming self-doubt. • Entrepreneurial Insight • First project was self-financed; future plans include raising private equity for films. • Goal: Maintain creative control while expanding opportunities for others. • Impact & Audience Takeaway • Encourages self-acceptance and repairing family relationships. • Resonates with men on fatherhood and emotional presence. • Highlights the underappreciated role of caretakers. Notable Quotes • On purpose and passion: “My purpose is to help young people. My passion is this filmmaking business.” • On self-love: “Love the skin you’re in is about total self-acceptance regardless of where you are on your journey.” • On overcoming fear: “Film is unpredictable… I said, okay, the other fears—do it anyway.” • On family relationships: “We are not promised tomorrow… Fix these family relationships if they’re possible to be fixed.” • On entrepreneurial mindset: “I absolutely would like to use other people’s money… but keep creative control.” #SHMS #STRAW #BEST Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training…

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald's hosts weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
[0:04] Speaker 1: Show the interviews and information that this show provides off
[0:07] Speaker 1: for everyone. I'm talking about you. It's time to stop
[0:09] Speaker 1: reading other people's success stories and start living your own.
[0:12] Speaker 1: If you want to be a guest on my show,
[0:14] Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass, please visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot
[0:20] Speaker 1: com and click to be a guest button. If you're
[0:22] Speaker 1: a small business owner, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, influencer, or nonprofit
[0:28] Speaker 1: I want you on my show. Now, let's get started.
[0:31] Speaker 1: My guest transition from a successful law career that she's
[0:34] Speaker 1: still doing by the way, to develop and produce quality,
[0:36] Speaker 1: independent feature films that reflect different aspects of the African
[0:41] Speaker 1: American experience. They create films about Black women, by black
[0:45] Speaker 1: women that encourage us to share our self love journeys,
[0:48] Speaker 1: inspire each other to learn how to survive and thrive
[0:52] Speaker 1: through racism, sexism, agism, colorism. Please welcome to Money Making
[0:58] Speaker 1: Conversations masterclafe as lawyer, director, producer, writer Saouda Johnson McNeill.
[1:05] Speaker 1: How you doing, Sauta, I'm good?
[1:07] Speaker 2: How are you sore?
[1:09] Speaker 1: Where are you at right now as I'm talking.
[1:11] Speaker 2: To you, I am in Los Angeles.
[1:14] Speaker 1: Okay, cool, So I gave you a lot of titles there.
[1:18] Speaker 1: So what you want to start? Gonna stop on the
[1:19] Speaker 1: legal because we're going to get to that film in
[1:22] Speaker 1: a minute, which is why you're actually on the show.
[1:24] Speaker 1: But I am a person who worked for IBM. My
[1:27] Speaker 1: degree is in mathematics, so I understand that you can.
[1:31] Speaker 1: And I decided to be a stand up comic. That's
[1:33] Speaker 1: all I wanted to be when I got out of college,
[1:34] Speaker 1: and I pursued there and became a writer, producer, manager
[1:37] Speaker 1: of extraordinary talent. And I have a podcast that you're
[1:41] Speaker 1: being interviewed on. So with that being said, you are
[1:46] Speaker 1: a lawyer by trade? How this filmmaking? Where was that
[1:51] Speaker 1: in the process of high school college that allowed you
[1:57] Speaker 1: to be a lawyer? What you were doing both now.
[2:00] Speaker 2: To me so interestingly. I went to the University of
[2:03] Speaker 2: Southern California for acting for theater and came out to
[2:07] Speaker 2: Los Angeles from New York, pursued acting, got the tastes
[2:12] Speaker 2: of the real world, going out on auditions, and I said, hmmm,
[2:15] Speaker 2: I need to have a career where I can pay
[2:18] Speaker 2: the bills because I see that this is going to
[2:20] Speaker 2: be a lot of ed and flow. And I also
[2:24] Speaker 2: had someone who I was a mentor producer and she
[2:28] Speaker 2: was an attorney. So that inspired me to say, you
[2:30] Speaker 2: know what, one day I want to do that. I
[2:32] Speaker 2: want to practice law, pursue my acting, pursue my producing.
[2:36] Speaker 2: And so that was kind of the path I took.
[2:39] Speaker 2: I went to law school, became an attorney in New
[2:41] Speaker 2: York and California, fell in love with the law, but
[2:44] Speaker 2: didn't want to forget about my passion. So I have
[2:46] Speaker 2: what I say, purpose and passion. My purpose is to
[2:50] Speaker 2: help young people. I'm an education attorney, and my passion
[2:54] Speaker 2: is this filmmaking business.
[2:56] Speaker 1: Okay, Now, there are a lot of people out there
[2:58] Speaker 1: are afraid to do anything, afraid of change, afraid of
[3:02] Speaker 1: like the unexpected. Now you had logic in your life,
[3:05] Speaker 1: and I will tell you this. I can't act, by
[3:08] Speaker 1: the way. I'm very good as a stand up comedian,
[3:12] Speaker 1: but I wanted to be an actor, but I didn't
[3:14] Speaker 1: like the audition process. So stand up allowed me to
[3:18] Speaker 1: go on stage. I get paid for my talents, and
[3:21] Speaker 1: so I can control my career a lot better. So,
[3:24] Speaker 1: but your logic well, look, I'm an actor of going
[3:26] Speaker 1: ahead audition. When did the light bulb go in your
[3:29] Speaker 1: head when you say, look, I need an alternative plan
[3:31] Speaker 1: here besides just pursuing acting.
[3:35] Speaker 2: Well, after several auditions and several cars, yes, just several,
[3:41] Speaker 2: I would say, the first couple of years at aage, yes,
[3:45] Speaker 2: I just I started seeing that it wasn't strictly based
[3:48] Speaker 2: on talent that whether or not I would get selected
[3:51] Speaker 2: to do a project, and just a lot of the
[3:54] Speaker 2: politics that started learning about, Okay, are they really going
[3:58] Speaker 2: to actually ask me to be in this? Do I
[4:00] Speaker 2: know someone? Am I connected to someone? And I just
[4:03] Speaker 2: thought like I need to take dominion in my life.
[4:06] Speaker 2: And it just made more sense for me to go
[4:08] Speaker 2: to law school and make my own projects and put
[4:10] Speaker 2: myself in it and put other people who are very
[4:13] Speaker 2: qualified actors and actresses.
[4:16] Speaker 1: You know, it's really interesting you're saying that, because it
[4:19] Speaker 1: almost feels like you put your dream on hole. You
[4:22] Speaker 1: made a professional decision. I did put your dream on
[4:25] Speaker 1: hop and now you're able to control your dream because
[4:29] Speaker 1: guess what, the dream that you're living now you really
[4:33] Speaker 1: have control of it versus previously logic would let you
[4:38] Speaker 1: believe that rishard. I am not going to let somebody
[4:41] Speaker 1: push me around. I can wake up in the morning.
[4:44] Speaker 1: If I don't want to audition, I don't have to audition.
[4:47] Speaker 1: If I want to pursue write something, I can connect
[4:51] Speaker 1: the dots. I have legal I can look at my
[4:53] Speaker 1: own paperwork. I trust my own brain. So really, you're
[4:58] Speaker 1: like the perfect person right now in the end history.
[5:00] Speaker 1: Right because you have legal clear understanding, you can produce
[5:05] Speaker 1: in projects, and you can also start in the projects
[5:07] Speaker 1: that you're producing and writing correct.
[5:11] Speaker 2: Well, you know, I definitely won't say perfect. I have
[5:14] Speaker 2: a team who's supported me and helping me and teaching
[5:16] Speaker 2: me along the way.
[5:20] Speaker 1: This is ruseean and McDonald talking right. Okay, I can't
[5:24] Speaker 1: look at no legal paperwork. Okay, you put it. I
[5:27] Speaker 1: don't even do my taxes and I got a math degree. Okay,
[5:30] Speaker 1: So I'm just telling you who I am. So I'm
[5:31] Speaker 1: gonna throw out the word perfect because I know what
[5:33] Speaker 1: I have fears about doing looking at paperwork. It gets
[5:37] Speaker 1: past two pages, you're bought passing it to a lawyer. Okay,
[5:40] Speaker 1: So that means that you have that confidence to be
[5:43] Speaker 1: able to look at paperwork. That means that you have structure,
[5:46] Speaker 1: which means that you have discipline. Now you're going back
[5:50] Speaker 1: to doing what you want. When you write something, you
[5:52] Speaker 1: always felt you could act. This is your lifelong dream.
[5:55] Speaker 1: So now when you write something, let me ask this question,
[5:58] Speaker 1: do you appear in any of the projects that you
[6:00] Speaker 1: write and produced? Yes, I'm mad. Let me tell everybody
[6:09] Speaker 1: who we talked to my guest transition from a successful
[6:11] Speaker 1: law career that she's still involved in to develop and
[6:14] Speaker 1: produce quality independent feature film that reflect different aspects of
[6:19] Speaker 1: their African American experience black women projects made by black women.
[6:24] Speaker 1: Tell us about this project that you came on the
[6:26] Speaker 1: show to talk about.
[6:27] Speaker 2: So the film is Love the Skin You're In And
[6:31] Speaker 2: as you mentioned, I did write it. I am one
[6:34] Speaker 2: of the producers with Kimberlee Ogletree also and the executive producer.
[6:38] Speaker 2: So I financed the project and thanks to the offices
[6:42] Speaker 2: of Salwey Johnson PC for helping me with that. And
[6:49] Speaker 2: I decided, you know what, it's time for me to
[6:51] Speaker 2: star in this because this is really ultimately what I
[6:54] Speaker 2: set out to do. So I also started the movie
[6:57] Speaker 2: and it's really with Obo Opportunity and my self as
[7:00] Speaker 2: the father and I'm his daughter, this dysfunctional relationship. They
[7:04] Speaker 2: have not spoken in twenty years, and now they're forced
[7:08] Speaker 2: to be back together in a caretaking situation, and it's like,
[7:11] Speaker 2: how do we face our own kind of self healing
[7:15] Speaker 2: based on our past and what is that process to
[7:18] Speaker 2: get to the other side where there's at least some
[7:21] Speaker 2: type of healthy outcome. So it's it's a great movie.
[7:24] Speaker 1: Now who else is starting in the movie.
[7:26] Speaker 2: We have Wendy Roquel Robinson. We have v Legacy MS
[7:30] Speaker 2: Marvel gives.
[7:31] Speaker 1: Oh no, this is not our past. Wendy. Now that
[7:34] Speaker 1: for all of you. That's Ms Piggy from the Steve
[7:37] Speaker 1: Harvey sitcom on the WB. She's done way more things
[7:40] Speaker 1: after that, but that locked her in as a brand
[7:44] Speaker 1: that a lot of people know about. She's done tremendous projects.
[7:47] Speaker 1: She has an amazing foundation, caused the amazing Grace Conservatory
[7:51] Speaker 1: that she does in La. Now that's Wendy Roca Robinson.
[7:55] Speaker 1: Just to lock the talent. So I'm just letting you know, saouta.
[7:58] Speaker 1: She know we are very casual about her story, but
[8:03] Speaker 1: you just don't call Wendy and get her on a
[8:05] Speaker 1: project unless it's legitimate. Now, who else do you have?
[8:08] Speaker 1: And Oba. She hadn't even given out his credit opportunity.
[8:12] Speaker 2: Yes, Oba, first of all over led the movie. I
[8:17] Speaker 2: just worked off of his energy. He coached me every day.
[8:20] Speaker 2: I first, I love everyone, Wendy mss Marla gives a
[8:24] Speaker 2: legacy and let me tell you something, Miss Marla. She
[8:28] Speaker 2: her memory was so on point, and when someone thought
[8:30] Speaker 2: that she needed help, She's like, no, I'm pausing to
[8:33] Speaker 2: take my moments. I got this. We were like, so.
[8:37] Speaker 1: Sorry, your moment on the thought so but no.
[8:44] Speaker 2: She corrected, like, no, that's not what this is. Also
[8:48] Speaker 2: Kareem Grimes, who is an All American, and a few
[8:51] Speaker 2: other people Black Howard. So it was a really great casts.
[8:54] Speaker 1: An independent movie. How did you cast this? Because people
[9:00] Speaker 1: to hear this, because a lot of people dream about
[9:02] Speaker 1: the industry, dream about being involved, dream about I got
[9:06] Speaker 1: an idea. I'm a writer's script. So let's go through
[9:09] Speaker 1: the steps. Okay, you are a practicing attorney, you wrote
[9:15] Speaker 1: a script. Let's start there.
[9:18] Speaker 2: Well, you know when you asked me about my life
[9:20] Speaker 2: in terms of becoming an attorney and then going into
[9:23] Speaker 2: the film industry, it's really full circle. Because I had
[9:27] Speaker 2: a legal relationship with Leah Butler, Black, who was the
[9:31] Speaker 2: casting director and had worked with her previously as an attorney,
[9:35] Speaker 2: and she was one of my clients. I mean we're
[9:37] Speaker 2: talking over ten years ago. And so when it was
[9:40] Speaker 2: time for a project that I was doing, when it
[9:42] Speaker 2: was like who do you want to cast, I'm like,
[9:45] Speaker 2: let's call Leah. So what I did in this project,
[9:48] Speaker 2: I've helped a lot of people legally because I've been
[9:51] Speaker 2: in attorney for over twenty years. I called on some
[9:53] Speaker 2: of those favors, those relationships Ala Kappa Alphae and asaurs.
[9:57] Speaker 2: I called them, who can you help me to get?
[10:00] Speaker 2: Let me tell you something, Leah she casts that film.
[10:03] Speaker 2: She's like, we're gonna get this person, this person because
[10:06] Speaker 2: this film is about positive black family caregiving community and
[10:12] Speaker 2: people are going to want to do this. So that's
[10:14] Speaker 2: how the casting process started.
[10:17] Speaker 1: Cool. Now, the title love the Skin You're In. Let's
[10:21] Speaker 1: break that down. What exactly does that mean? And why
[10:24] Speaker 1: was it entitled that?
[10:27] Speaker 2: So it's really you know, it's kind of like that
[10:29] Speaker 2: double edge sword type of situation. People think it's about race,
[10:33] Speaker 2: but it actually starts about self acceptance and self love.
[10:37] Speaker 2: Right regardless of where you are on your journey. A
[10:40] Speaker 2: lot of women may say, oh, I want to lose
[10:42] Speaker 2: weight or I want to gain weight, or oh my
[10:44] Speaker 2: hair is short, it's long, but it's about right now,
[10:47] Speaker 2: in this moment, this is who you are. So you
[10:49] Speaker 2: need to love yourself because this is how you look.
[10:52] Speaker 2: This is who you are right in this moment. So
[10:54] Speaker 2: really loving the skin you're in is just about total
[10:56] Speaker 2: self acceptance, regardless of if you're not happy with your finances,
[11:01] Speaker 2: your appearances, the relationship. It's about you still have to
[11:05] Speaker 2: get through this day. Let's just be full acceptance and
[11:08] Speaker 2: love yourself. So that's number one. Then the other part
[11:11] Speaker 2: of it, of course, is because we're talking about African
[11:14] Speaker 2: Americans and what we have been through, what we're going
[11:17] Speaker 2: through right now, it's about loving our skin and regardless
[11:20] Speaker 2: of how other people treat us and what we've gone
[11:22] Speaker 2: through historically.
[11:24] Speaker 1: Now, is it written that way because of personal situations
[11:30] Speaker 1: that happened to you that you can tell us about
[11:32] Speaker 1: now that you're using it as inspiration in a movie.
[11:37] Speaker 2: Yes, So it is not completely autobiographical. It does bring
[11:42] Speaker 2: in other women's stories as well, but very much part
[11:44] Speaker 2: of my story. While I was in college, I had
[11:47] Speaker 2: a lot of self love issues and you know people
[11:52] Speaker 2: thought from the outside, and that's really what this is about.
[11:55] Speaker 2: Looking in you see this person, Oh, I'm at USC,
[11:58] Speaker 2: I'm on the track team major, I'm an AKA. This
[12:02] Speaker 2: person got it going on. But really a lot of
[12:04] Speaker 2: times you have no idea what's going on behind closed doors.
[12:07] Speaker 2: And during that time, you know, over twenty something years ago,
[12:11] Speaker 2: I really had a lot of self love issues, bad relationships,
[12:15] Speaker 2: didn't treat myself right, accepted a lot, didn't think I
[12:19] Speaker 2: was good looking, all of these different things, and now
[12:22] Speaker 2: I'm completely on the other side, have gone through therapy,
[12:25] Speaker 2: just having great friends, and I thought, what if I
[12:28] Speaker 2: write my story part of it so that there are
[12:31] Speaker 2: other people out there who know, like you could get
[12:34] Speaker 2: through this and there's ways to do it no matter
[12:37] Speaker 2: what the situation is, right, there's always a way if
[12:40] Speaker 2: we just for me, it was about God and therapy
[12:43] Speaker 2: and meditation.
[12:44] Speaker 1: Let's talk about that. Because you're an attractive woman, Okay,
[12:49] Speaker 1: I'm assuming that you ran track, you in shape, Okay,
[12:54] Speaker 1: you're articulate. I'm not trying to figure out where was
[12:57] Speaker 1: the self conscious moments. Because I had a daughter, you know,
[13:01] Speaker 1: she played tennis. She was like one of those prodigy
[13:05] Speaker 1: tennis players, you know, and all you always and you know,
[13:09] Speaker 1: she injured her knee, so she didn't she was on
[13:11] Speaker 1: the tour where she injured the knee. And now she's
[13:13] Speaker 1: worked for me, and I'm very happy cause I get
[13:15] Speaker 1: to say I love you to her every day and
[13:17] Speaker 1: hugger one of the great blessings of my relationship with her.
[13:21] Speaker 1: Now you had it all, and you still have it
[13:26] Speaker 1: all because you're still attractive, You're still aka, you know,
[13:30] Speaker 1: still got that attitude, y'all. Y'all, this is audio to
[13:33] Speaker 1: most of the people listening, but she is very animated,
[13:35] Speaker 1: by the way. And where was the self dowt? What
[13:39] Speaker 1: was pushing that negative thought process in your brain?
[13:44] Speaker 2: So you know, at that time, it was a couple
[13:46] Speaker 2: of things. One, I've always been in overachiever, so I
[13:50] Speaker 2: think I was very unrealistic at that time in terms
[13:53] Speaker 2: of the kind of goals that I set for myself.
[13:55] Speaker 2: And I had to be, you know here by then,
[13:58] Speaker 2: I went to prep school, and I'm like, by this age,
[14:01] Speaker 2: I have to be this big time actress and I
[14:03] Speaker 2: have to be this big time attorney, and I have
[14:06] Speaker 2: to be married. And then men weren't really you know,
[14:08] Speaker 2: you go through relationships and some work, some don't right,
[14:11] Speaker 2: So all of these things weren't happening according to my plan,
[14:15] Speaker 2: because as you continue to live, you found out as
[14:17] Speaker 2: a God's plan. And I think with those disappointments, I
[14:21] Speaker 2: just I didn't know, like I just really didn't know
[14:23] Speaker 2: that they were a little bit unreasonable and high expectations
[14:28] Speaker 2: that's in such a short time, And so I started
[14:30] Speaker 2: to really beat myself up. I was this person who
[14:34] Speaker 2: just oh, you haven't done it, your failure, you haven't
[14:36] Speaker 2: done this yet, you haven't done that yet. And it
[14:38] Speaker 2: was just a lot of negative self talk. And I
[14:41] Speaker 2: really the first step, after talking to my family and
[14:45] Speaker 2: just praying, was getting therapy. And this therapist was like, look,
[14:49] Speaker 2: you are thirty years old and you've already had your
[14:53] Speaker 2: own law firm in New York and ran track and
[14:55] Speaker 2: you've done all of this. It's okay that you haven't
[14:58] Speaker 2: accomplished everything on your list.
[14:59] Speaker 1: By please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with
[15:03] Speaker 1: more Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to Money Making
[15:12] Speaker 1: Conversations master Class hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Money Making
[15:15] Speaker 1: Conversations master Class continues online at money Making Conversations dot
[15:19] Speaker 1: Com and follow Money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, X
[15:24] Speaker 1: and Instagram. Everything we're talking about really is about the
[15:27] Speaker 1: movie Love the Skin You're In. She's the producer, she's
[15:30] Speaker 1: the writer, executive producer. We're going to talk about some
[15:33] Speaker 1: of the bigger challenges because when you write, personal projects
[15:36] Speaker 1: like this are the origin of it, and I can
[15:39] Speaker 1: relate to a lot of things. I remember as a
[15:41] Speaker 1: stand up comic I used to be. I used to
[15:44] Speaker 1: always worry about the next set. Was I going to
[15:47] Speaker 1: be as funny as I was the previous time I
[15:50] Speaker 1: was on stage, And that's always mess with me, and
[15:53] Speaker 1: people go, hey, may you funny? Won't you chill? Won't you?
[15:55] Speaker 2: Uh?
[15:55] Speaker 1: Maybe I may not be as funny as I was,
[15:58] Speaker 1: but previously, you know, would you stop? And you can
[16:00] Speaker 1: really start running the people who care about you away
[16:03] Speaker 1: because they see something in you that you are basically destroying,
[16:07] Speaker 1: are not accepting? Correct?
[16:10] Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, I mean it's you know, even when we
[16:13] Speaker 2: talk about the movie, but just also in my life,
[16:15] Speaker 2: it's really about surrounding yourself around with people who have
[16:19] Speaker 2: your back and are positive and are for you. But
[16:21] Speaker 2: at the same time, sometimes people are like if you
[16:24] Speaker 2: don't see your own worth and value, then maybe I
[16:27] Speaker 2: need to give you a mine. Right. So that's just
[16:30] Speaker 2: the truth, I think in any situation, but particularly in
[16:32] Speaker 2: this film, everybody was on my team. They were there
[16:36] Speaker 2: for me, telling me you can do this, because even
[16:39] Speaker 2: in this journey, even making this movie, there's been a
[16:43] Speaker 2: lot of doubts along the way.
[16:45] Speaker 1: Well, you know, well, when you're walking into a new lane,
[16:48] Speaker 1: and the movie making business is a new lane, you
[16:50] Speaker 1: you know, I don't care how confident you are as
[16:53] Speaker 1: a lawyer. I don't care about how confident you are
[16:55] Speaker 1: when you walking the room. Being an executive producer of
[16:58] Speaker 1: a film or televison project is very engaging and very
[17:05] Speaker 1: things coming that you don't see coming. Talk about some
[17:07] Speaker 1: of the challenges of making this movie Love the Skin
[17:10] Speaker 1: You're in, I'm in and I'm interviewing Saouda Johnson McNeil.
[17:15] Speaker 2: So you basically started off saying it's very difficult transitioning
[17:20] Speaker 2: and that is the truth. First of all, as everyone
[17:23] Speaker 2: knows film, it's unpredictable. You may think you have the
[17:25] Speaker 2: best project ever, goes out there and no one loves it,
[17:29] Speaker 2: it flops. That's just the reality. So there's like this
[17:32] Speaker 2: fear that already I kind of had, and I said, Okay,
[17:35] Speaker 2: feel the fear, do it anyway. So for me, it
[17:38] Speaker 2: was about the team. I started off with Kimberly Ogletree,
[17:40] Speaker 2: like I said, use the shield Alpha. She's this big
[17:44] Speaker 2: time producer and I asked her, Hey, will you come
[17:47] Speaker 2: on and help me? And that was one of the
[17:51] Speaker 2: main reasons I was able to even do all of this.
[17:54] Speaker 2: Her Ken Michael, the director, he was in Boomerang and Parenthood.
[18:00] Speaker 2: He's been in the industry for a long time. But
[18:02] Speaker 2: when you talk about unexpected, let's talk about getting shut
[18:06] Speaker 2: down when you're on set, when you've paid everybody, but
[18:10] Speaker 2: apparently the permit was with the county and not the city,
[18:15] Speaker 2: and on the block, one half of the block was
[18:18] Speaker 2: for the county. The other half of the block is
[18:20] Speaker 2: for the city. Who knew. So you just talk about
[18:23] Speaker 2: these unexpected situations where you are like, I just paid
[18:28] Speaker 2: for this whole day and you get shut down. So
[18:32] Speaker 2: that was one of the huge ones that I remember
[18:34] Speaker 2: being in tears and Ova was like, big girl, these
[18:38] Speaker 2: things happen, It's gonna be okay, We're gonna be back tomorrow.
[18:44] Speaker 1: Well, you know, first of all is you're dealing with embarrassment,
[18:47] Speaker 1: you know, because people quickly go, girl, all wasted my time,
[18:52] Speaker 1: she ran out of money. She'll know what you do.
[18:54] Speaker 1: I knew I should because I don't care what you do.
[18:56] Speaker 1: In this business. Everybody has a bright idea. Execution is
[19:00] Speaker 1: the problem with a bright idea. And then when you
[19:02] Speaker 1: promise people because we're out there for a check. Now,
[19:05] Speaker 1: I don'kay, how good this script is? How much I
[19:08] Speaker 1: like you soada? I want my money now? That part,
[19:12] Speaker 1: that's the issue that makes it happen because as an
[19:15] Speaker 1: executive producer, you're following the dream and the process. But
[19:19] Speaker 1: let's go through the steps of it. How long was
[19:21] Speaker 1: the production window for your project?
[19:24] Speaker 2: About four weeks?
[19:26] Speaker 1: You take for four weeks?
[19:28] Speaker 2: Yep. We did it from March through April, so it
[19:33] Speaker 2: was very quick.
[19:35] Speaker 1: Was that intentional?
[19:37] Speaker 2: Yes, because it was expensive to go any longer, so
[19:42] Speaker 2: we had to get it done and we were in
[19:45] Speaker 2: and out. It was long days and just you know,
[19:49] Speaker 2: people again, they were there for money, but they also
[19:52] Speaker 2: were behind the dreams, so they're like, Okay, we're gonna work,
[19:54] Speaker 2: We're gonna do this, and know we're getting paid. But
[19:56] Speaker 2: people were tired and we knew that if we had
[19:58] Speaker 2: a bigger budget, we could have had, you know, more
[20:01] Speaker 2: weeks and more time, but it just wasn't feasible.
[20:04] Speaker 1: So let me ask you this. So we're talking about
[20:06] Speaker 1: the movie. When is it coming out? And when can
[20:08] Speaker 1: we where can we see it? Let's get there, let's
[20:10] Speaker 1: get to the meat and potatoes to this interview.
[20:13] Speaker 2: I'm so happy you as it comes out December seventeenth
[20:16] Speaker 2: through the twenty third. It's a limited release in North
[20:18] Speaker 2: Hollywood at the No Hoo, Limbley No Host seven, and
[20:23] Speaker 2: then from there we have a distribution deal. So we
[20:25] Speaker 2: are looking for we're looking to be streaming in February.
[20:29] Speaker 1: February awesome, so it's a Black History month, Yes, sir,
[20:33] Speaker 1: that's a tie into that content is king? Is this
[20:37] Speaker 1: a one off for you? Sauda?
[20:40] Speaker 2: It is not a one off. We are already working
[20:43] Speaker 2: on our next project. I've already written two more. So
[20:47] Speaker 2: I am absolutely in this for the long haul.
[20:51] Speaker 1: So with that being said, because you know you did
[20:54] Speaker 1: this project and you have a distribution deal for for
[21:02] Speaker 1: February of twenty twenty six, what is your biggest takeaway?
[21:08] Speaker 1: Because I want people to hear this, because a lot
[21:09] Speaker 1: of people. We're based in Atlanta, so you know this
[21:12] Speaker 1: is a lot of productions go down the home of
[21:14] Speaker 1: Tyler Perry. So everybody wants to get in the movie.
[21:16] Speaker 1: Is that everybody wants to do, to produce their television,
[21:19] Speaker 1: everybody wants to act. But you had a basis for
[21:22] Speaker 1: your dream. You work, You developed a very successful company,
[21:27] Speaker 1: so you able to finance the things out of your
[21:29] Speaker 1: pocket to a certain degree. If wants to invest, I'm
[21:33] Speaker 1: sure she'll listen. Okay, she doesn't want to produce everything
[21:37] Speaker 1: out of her pocket. Okay, But with that being said,
[21:40] Speaker 1: what's the next steps in doing your projects? And what
[21:43] Speaker 1: is what do you consider a successful project from a
[21:46] Speaker 1: financial standpoint? Or is it all about building out the project,
[21:52] Speaker 1: producing the project, and then that's dream has been reached, distribution,
[21:58] Speaker 1: that's dream has been reached. Then we were about the
[22:00] Speaker 1: back end recoupment. Tell to me.
[22:03] Speaker 2: So for this first one, it was straight up about
[22:08] Speaker 2: getting it done and with top quality acting and top
[22:13] Speaker 2: quality production. When you see the film, Love the Skin
[22:15] Speaker 2: You're in, people'll be amazed with the caliber acting talent
[22:21] Speaker 2: I already told you, as well as just what it
[22:23] Speaker 2: looks like visually with our DP Crystal Kelly. So of
[22:27] Speaker 2: course I would love to recoup, but at the end
[22:29] Speaker 2: of the day, this was just about us working, right
[22:33] Speaker 2: because it was right after the strike, so a lot
[22:35] Speaker 2: of people were very happy to be working because that's
[22:37] Speaker 2: part of what I want to do as well, make
[22:39] Speaker 2: sure that we are working. So of course I would
[22:43] Speaker 2: love to recoup, but if that doesn't happen, then I know,
[22:46] Speaker 2: put in the door, great project and we're on our
[22:49] Speaker 2: way in the future. I absolutely would like to use
[22:52] Speaker 2: other people's money. One of the things I'm working on
[22:55] Speaker 2: is a private equity firm so that I can start
[22:57] Speaker 2: raising money to not only help with my projects, but
[23:00] Speaker 2: other people out there as well. So I'm always on
[23:02] Speaker 2: this entrepreneurial kind of business mindset on how we can
[23:05] Speaker 2: continue to help each other because a lot of people
[23:09] Speaker 2: do not right. So when I talk about next steps
[23:12] Speaker 2: in terms of that project, I absolutely would be open
[23:15] Speaker 2: to someone else coming in willing to partner and helping us,
[23:19] Speaker 2: but I still want to make sure that we are
[23:21] Speaker 2: able to keep creative control.
[23:24] Speaker 1: She is the executive producer and the star and writer
[23:28] Speaker 1: of Love the Skin You're In as a journey that's
[23:31] Speaker 1: very familiar with her life because she didn't love the
[23:33] Speaker 1: skin she was in. You know, everybody saw success, everybody
[23:37] Speaker 1: saw beauty, everybody saw I wish I was her. But
[23:40] Speaker 1: she didn't accept that. She questioned it, even to the
[23:43] Speaker 1: point her therapist was frustrated with her. She had a
[23:47] Speaker 1: law firm. We're thirty years old, law firm, acting beautiful form,
[23:51] Speaker 1: a track star graduate of the USC. She over there
[23:53] Speaker 1: sitting in I don't know what's wrong with me. I
[23:56] Speaker 1: just don't feel successful. That could be frustrating in the relationships.
[24:01] Speaker 1: And so I see Johnson McNeil, I'm assuming that you're married.
[24:06] Speaker 2: I married a new mom. My son is eight months See.
[24:09] Speaker 1: What I'm saying now, when did we get to that
[24:11] Speaker 1: point to accept the accept this? What I'm saying is
[24:16] Speaker 1: that I'm married. So that's that's a partnership, and we
[24:20] Speaker 1: accept the flaws, We accept everything. And how does his
[24:24] Speaker 1: support make you a better person today versus when you
[24:29] Speaker 1: were thirty struggling to find out who you are? So older?
[24:33] Speaker 2: His support made all the difference because I couldn't have
[24:36] Speaker 2: done this without him. We met later in life. You know,
[24:38] Speaker 2: we've been married six years now and we actually funny story,
[24:42] Speaker 2: we both went to USC at the same time, but
[24:44] Speaker 2: we didn't know each other. We met on match dot
[24:46] Speaker 2: com and the connection was that we were both at
[24:49] Speaker 2: USC at the same time. But anyway, he's one hundred
[24:52] Speaker 2: percent has my back. What do you want to do?
[24:55] Speaker 2: What do you want to do out here for you?
[24:57] Speaker 2: Get it done? Everything I was writing, I was bouncing
[25:01] Speaker 2: off him with a man like this. You know, is
[25:03] Speaker 2: this too? Is this balanced enough?
[25:05] Speaker 1: You know?
[25:05] Speaker 2: I'm just pulling him in. I mean when you just
[25:07] Speaker 2: talk about saying I got you, even if you have to.
[25:11] Speaker 2: I took a year off from practice in law just
[25:13] Speaker 2: to focus on the film. He held it down, so
[25:16] Speaker 2: for a little bit we were just for one year,
[25:18] Speaker 2: one income. He held it down, completely positive all the time.
[25:22] Speaker 2: Couldn't have done it without him. And now we have
[25:24] Speaker 2: this beautiful baby.
[25:26] Speaker 1: Wow. The movie is called Love the Skin You're In.
[25:30] Speaker 1: It's you said December. What's date?
[25:32] Speaker 2: In December seventeenth, North Hollywood, Limbley, NoHo seven.
[25:36] Speaker 1: Please come out and support is their website or landing.
[25:41] Speaker 2: Yes, Love the Skin you'reinfilm dot com is our landing
[25:47] Speaker 2: page in rhyan Ash LLC. Which is the name of
[25:50] Speaker 2: the production company which I named after my father, Ronald
[25:53] Speaker 2: Ashford Ryan ashllc dot com. We're all over social under
[25:57] Speaker 2: both of those Love the Skin You're In film and
[25:59] Speaker 2: Rhyan ash.
[26:01] Speaker 1: So when someone sits down, what's the takeaway? What are
[26:04] Speaker 1: you hoping this is? You know, you're making a movie
[26:07] Speaker 1: for black women by black women. I'm a man. What
[26:11] Speaker 1: would be my takeaway if I sat down and watched
[26:14] Speaker 1: your movie Love the Skin You're In.
[26:17] Speaker 2: Well, I think it really resonated with the men who
[26:19] Speaker 2: have seen it because a lot of them are fathers,
[26:23] Speaker 2: and they said that in their minds, they were always
[26:26] Speaker 2: doing what they were supposed to do, which they said
[26:29] Speaker 2: was about paying the bills or just making sure they're
[26:32] Speaker 2: schooed on the table, but that actual like being there
[26:35] Speaker 2: spending time. Some of that emotional disconnect for a lot
[26:39] Speaker 2: of the men that I've talked to was not there.
[26:42] Speaker 2: So that movie really hit home for some men, and
[26:45] Speaker 2: it actually made them go back and talk to their
[26:47] Speaker 2: children and say, you know what, I could have done this,
[26:50] Speaker 2: I could have done this differently. So for me, the
[26:52] Speaker 2: takeaway is, let's really just take a look at whatever
[26:56] Speaker 2: is happening in our lives and to see if there's
[26:58] Speaker 2: some work that we can do and make it better
[27:01] Speaker 2: fix these family relationships that they're possible to be fixed.
[27:04] Speaker 2: Have those conversations, because you know what, we are not
[27:07] Speaker 2: promised tomorrow. I love you. I love when you said
[27:09] Speaker 2: I love my daughter, and I can say that to her,
[27:12] Speaker 2: and you don't always have that opportunity, right, We don't
[27:15] Speaker 2: always have that opportunity because some of us don't have
[27:17] Speaker 2: our parents anymore. They don't they're not here. So let's
[27:21] Speaker 2: go ahead and let's have these relationships with our parents
[27:24] Speaker 2: while we still have them.
[27:26] Speaker 1: Absolutely, I SA would let's talk about this as we
[27:30] Speaker 1: wrap up this interview, which I think is really relatable.
[27:33] Speaker 1: I don't care skin color, raised gender. Is the care
[27:37] Speaker 1: taking aspect that I've interview so many people, and I
[27:41] Speaker 1: look back on my life, I'll go, where are these
[27:43] Speaker 1: old people coming from? You know, because it's suddenly like
[27:46] Speaker 1: an epidemic, you know, because the fact that we look
[27:49] Speaker 1: out now, it's like basically I felt when my parents
[27:54] Speaker 1: were coming along when I was growing up. You know,
[27:56] Speaker 1: they were working to retire. Now it looks like you're
[27:59] Speaker 1: working to take care of your parents that raised you.
[28:04] Speaker 1: And so from a caretaking standpoint, this movie will head
[28:08] Speaker 1: home with a lot of people because I feel they'll
[28:10] Speaker 1: personally dealing with this crisis that's happening to everybody's home
[28:16] Speaker 1: and they don't know what to do.
[28:17] Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean that it was very important for me
[28:21] Speaker 2: in writing this project to touch on a lot of
[28:24] Speaker 2: different things. So you'll see gentrification, you'll see self love
[28:28] Speaker 2: and healing, but caretaking. I think that it's such an
[28:33] Speaker 2: underappreciated job. Right. You have the sons and the daughters
[28:39] Speaker 2: who are stepping up to ensure that they are making
[28:42] Speaker 2: sure that their parents are good. But it's not an
[28:44] Speaker 2: easy job, right, We're talking about some people have to
[28:48] Speaker 2: end up putting their jobs and being able to help
[28:51] Speaker 2: their family or bringing their parents in into their established
[28:55] Speaker 2: you know, with their husbands or their wives and their children.
[28:57] Speaker 2: That can create a lot of drama. Really just about
[29:01] Speaker 2: seeing and appreciating the caretakers and what they have to
[29:05] Speaker 2: go through to ensure that they're taking care of their parents.
[29:09] Speaker 2: And their parents are grateful because you took care of me,
[29:12] Speaker 2: And sometimes they're not grateful, which you'll see in the movie.
[29:15] Speaker 2: There's a little that but you still have to push
[29:18] Speaker 2: through because but for them, you wouldn't be here.
[29:22] Speaker 1: Well, it's just going to be grateful because I had
[29:25] Speaker 1: to do the same thing with my mom. My father
[29:27] Speaker 1: died a lot earlier than my mom, but we went
[29:31] Speaker 1: through the whole caretaking to rebuild out part of our
[29:34] Speaker 1: house so she can feel comfortable. Didn't want to leave
[29:37] Speaker 1: the house, you know, wind up basically rebuilding the house
[29:40] Speaker 1: that she didn't want to move from. But that's what
[29:42] Speaker 1: she wanted, and I was happy. You know, it gave
[29:44] Speaker 1: her central air condition and something she never grew up
[29:47] Speaker 1: She grew up with a you know, the window unit
[29:49] Speaker 1: and things like that, and so so I understand that
[29:52] Speaker 1: when I when I heard about your project, and it
[29:56] Speaker 1: became very relatable to me, and sometimes, you know, it
[29:59] Speaker 1: brings me to a of reflection and could I have
[30:04] Speaker 1: done more? But also I guess when the big takeaway
[30:08] Speaker 1: is that if you can't do more, do more, because
[30:10] Speaker 1: all you will have if you don't is regret. That's
[30:14] Speaker 1: what we're talking about this movie. You know, your LLC
[30:18] Speaker 1: is named after your father. You know, you look back
[30:21] Speaker 1: on your life, you see a journey where you can't
[30:24] Speaker 1: turn it around. You can become the person you want
[30:28] Speaker 1: to be. You can fulfill your dreams, you can control
[30:31] Speaker 1: your destiny. Like I said earlier, so you're living the
[30:35] Speaker 1: perfect life. Even before I learned about your ape on child,
[30:39] Speaker 1: even before I learned about you met your husband on
[30:41] Speaker 1: match dot com and y'all went to USC and he
[30:43] Speaker 1: probably walk around going, who is that fine chicken? And
[30:45] Speaker 1: they speaking to me to look and say it all
[30:47] Speaker 1: the time. I'm sure you run the track. I'm pretty
[30:55] Speaker 1: sure he saw you. I'm pretty sure he saw you.
[30:58] Speaker 2: He did say I'm gonna do him.
[30:59] Speaker 1: But all I know, I'm a mane. You girls, come
[31:08] Speaker 1: on now, you notice them, You notice them, y'all in
[31:12] Speaker 1: such great shape, y'all interidated people. Okay, but life is good.
[31:16] Speaker 1: That was a thank you for coming on my show
[31:18] Speaker 1: and having a wonderful conversation. And I don't want this
[31:20] Speaker 1: relationship to be a one off because again, you're a
[31:24] Speaker 1: dreamer and you are a multitask or you understand multiple
[31:28] Speaker 1: multiple forms of income, but you understand the power relationships.
[31:31] Speaker 1: But more importantly, what I try to do on money
[31:33] Speaker 1: Making Conversations Master Fast is encourage people to continue to
[31:38] Speaker 1: move forward to relationships matter, dreams can be accomplished, but
[31:43] Speaker 1: more importantly, see it through. Kind of like when you
[31:46] Speaker 1: play it's a ka, you're doing the same thing.
[31:49] Speaker 2: You already know. It's all about the goal.
[31:56] Speaker 1: In this case, pinking green, pink and green lovely. Thank you,
[32:02] Speaker 1: my friend, for coming on Money Making Conversation Masterclass. I
[32:04] Speaker 1: appreciate you. This has been money Making Conversation Masterclass with me,
[32:09] Speaker 1: Rashaun McDonald. Thanks to our guest and our audience. Visit
[32:13] Speaker 1: Moneymakingconversation dot com to listen or registered to be a
[32:17] Speaker 1: guest on my show. Keep leading with your gifts, keep
[32:20] Speaker 1: winning

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