Marissa Nance: Founder & CEO of Native Communications

Episode Description:

Marissa Nance is an advertising veteran with more than 30 years of experience developing marketing campaigns for clients like Amazon, Pine-sol and Nike. She has made it her mission to create pathways for BIPOC communities to be heard and have a seat at the table. In 2019, she left Omnicom to launch the first and only minority and female certified media agency, Native Tongue Communications. In this episode, Fanshen and Marissa talk why Marissa decided to branch out on her own and form her own agency and her experience as a Black women in advertising.

TRANSCRIPT:

00:00:11:03 - 00:00:42:10

FANSHEN: Welcome back to Sista Brunch, the podcast all about black women and gender expansive people thriving in entertainment and media. We are now in our fourth season. You all are. Can't believe this. We encourage you to go back and listen to our previous guests on Apple or Spotify wherever you listen to your podcasts. And we also want you to find ways to uplift and encourage these incredible women and gender expansive people that we have had in these last three seasons, as well as this incredible fourth season.

00:00:42:19 - 00:01:12:28

FANSHEN: Also, if you've got questions about the entertainment and media industries, we want to hear your voice and we might actually play your voice on a future episode or on our social media. You can leave us a voicemail at 424-587-4870. And we can't wait to hear your questions and share them with our guests. We also want to share love for the listeners who leave us reviews. So this one is from Takeyum, who Says Yes. Love this.

00:01:13:00 - 00:01:48:16

FANSHEN: Can't wait to hear more episodes. Informative and entertaining. Everyone should listen to this. We can't agree with you more. Takeyum. And we appreciate that so much. We always say our podcast is by and about black women and gender expansive people in the industry. But it's for everybody because it matters for you to listen to these incredible women's stories. So thank you again for your reviews and for subscribing to the podcast and rating us and leaving us a great review. I'm your host, Fanshen Cox, and today's guest is the fabulous Marissa Nance.

00:01:48:25 - 00:02:20:13

FANSHEN: She's an advertising vet with over 30 years of experience, and she's made it her mission to create pathways for bipoc communities to be heard and to have a seat at the table. In 2019, she left Omnicom, where she ultimately became one of their first black female managing directors, and she left to launch the first and only minority and female certified media agency Native Tongue Communications. Built on the shoulders of her decades of success.

00:02:20:15 - 00:02:34:06

FANSHEN: Marissa and her team advocate for clients while she continues to protect, advise and champion countless women and people of color in the media marketing industry. Welcome, beautiful Marissa Nance.

00:02:34:22 - 00:02:54:03

MARISSA: Hi. Thank you for having me. This is just wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. You do so much. Your words mean so much. And the impact and intent behind what you do is felt. It's felt by so many. So I want to thank you all to start by saying thank you for me. Thank you for everyone. You are kicking butt and we appreciate you.

00:02:54:08 - 00:03:29:12

FANSHEN: Whoo you stop. We're so glad to have you. We are honored to have you on. And especially because you are in a part of the industry that we haven't talked a lot about on the podcast, which is kind of almost you could think of it on the back end. We talk a lot to screenwriters, we talk a lot to directors and producers and executives who are doing development. But you take these projects and you get them out into the world and then you connect with companies. So I can't wait for you to share all your knowledge and just inspire all of our listeners. 

00:03:29:14 - 00:03:46:04

FANSHEN: So what we usually ask our guests to do is go back as far as you want to from the beginning of how you eventually became this incredible woman with Native Tongue Communications running your own company. How did that happen?

00:03:46:24 - 00:04:07:25

MARISSA: Yeah, I tell folks my life has been a series of, fall downs, fall backs and in some instances a little bit of failures. I, I always and to a fault you know I represent Cleveland Ohio and HU!

00:04:09:08 - 00:04:10:03

FANSHEN: Go go!

00:04:10:05 - 00:04:42:02

MARISSA: Girl and a lot of folks may not realize that Howard was not my first choice but it is the beginning of all things almost for me. I mean even my my husband and I, I credit if you go back far enough to Howard University, but it was in a sense, a fallback for me. I was very clear. I wanted to go to NYU. I wanted to be a screenwriter and I wanted to go to NYU and I wanted to make films. And my father, may he rest in peace, said, I'm never sending you from Cleveland to New York by yourself.

00:04:42:14 - 00:05:15:29

MARISSA: You can't do that. And I was a very spoiled daddy's girl. And I said, Well, of course he's going to let me do what I want to do. And he didn't. It came time to apply and apply. And I kept waiting and waiting. And he he wasn't going to pay for the application. He wasn't going to do it. He wasn't going to support it. He was adamant and resolute in that fact. And the last available school that I had to apply to was Howard. They had the latest application date. And so I applied, you know, and nothing against Howard, it just it was on the list.

00:05:17:17 - 00:05:36:24

MARISSA: And I could apply. And so the irony there is I'm not going to tell my age, but it is something. And when I was at Howard, DC was known the moniker was the murder capital of the world. So he wouldn't let me go to New York. I ended up in Washington, D.C. Chocolate City, which at the time I mean, it.

00:05:37:03 - 00:05:38:05

FANSHEN: It was it.

00:05:38:07 - 00:06:20:06

MARISSA: Was a significant time in Washington, D.C. history. And and it changed the trajectory of my life in so many ways. The the job I got in New York City after leaving Howard, I had the intention of taking a fellowship in writing. So I wanted to become a filmmaker. I wanted to write movies, and I won a spot in a fellowship that was going to happen in Los Angeles. And about four months before graduation, five months, I got this letter and a letter, literally typewritten letter there's my age again, that said, We we regret to inform you the fellowship had to be disbanded because the mentors were stealing the mentees ideas

00:06:21:11 - 00:06:21:26

FANSHEN: Oh no.

00:06:21:28 - 00:06:57:27

from the writers of color and, you know, not a lot has changed. And so I again, I was backed into this corner. I didn't know what I was going to do. And so I called my father again. I told Daddy's girl, he said, Well, this is great. This is a sign that you should move back to Cleveland and work at State Farm with me. And I love State Farm. They have been an on again off again client and a resource for me and my family for decades and decades and decades. But I didn't want to do that. And so he said, I will give you enough money for one month and you can go to New York and try to find a job, because that's what I could- 

00:06:57:29 - 00:07:13:08

MARISSA: You can't go to L.A. So like, I'm not sending you to L.A., you can go to New York. So first you can't go to New York. But I went to D.C. Now I can go to New York. And I had enough for 30 days and I took the Peter Pan bus. And at the end of those 30 days, I had five job offers.

00:07:13:11 - 00:07:14:20

FANSHEN: Yes.

00:07:15:03 - 00:07:40:15

MARISSA: And the last woman who gave me a job offer, went to lunch with someone, a woman who I credit all the time at her name, Judy Magnus Long, That was her name. And she said to Judy, I just I'm going to offer this young woman from Howard a job. She reminds me of you. And Judy said, I remember her. She was in the AD Club. You can't offer a job. I'm going to give her a job.

00:07:41:16 - 00:07:42:24

FANSHEN: You had a bidding war.

00:07:43:06 - 00:08:20:27

MARISSA: And Judy called me on the phone right on the wall and said come down here. And I went down on a Thursday and I started work that Monday. And that was at an AD agency, and that's how I ended up in advertising. And then through a lot of, as I said, kind of missteps and failures as I went through, I kept changing the course of my career there. So I was at the same holding company for 30 years, but I had 4 to 5 different incarnations of who I was and what I was to myself and them. And I think that's important growth.

00:08:21:11 - 00:08:51:29

MARISSA: So it sounds to some people you look at my resume, stagnant, right. I left, 30 years in one holding company, but I had four different titles and four very distinct jobs. And each of them I kind of created myself. Not kind of, I did. And so at the end they came to me and they said, We think you should have your own agency. You've been an intrapreneur here at Omnicom. You've created so many different and new revenue streams and opportunities for us.

00:08:52:08 - 00:08:57:02

MARISSA: Why don't we do those together? And I had going back to Howard, I had that

00:08:58:21 - 00:09:29:09

MARISSA: I have this in my brain. I think they implant a chip while you sleep when you go to Howard University and it lets you think you're this brave, right? You've got this level of braveness and maybe stupidity I don't know maybe its the balance of the two. And I said, okay. I mean, 30 years I've been working for someone, now I'll be an entrepreneur. And that's how in 2019 I launched Native Tongue Communications is the first and only that I know of both minority and female certified media agency.

00:09:30:01 - 00:09:34:06

MARISSA: And that's really, I hope, in less than 3 minutes how I ended up here.

00:09:34:16 - 00:10:10:27

FANSHEN: That's amazing. I didn't know that you started off being a screenwriter. I love that. And I think that it drives home the point that we make often, which is like, if you're a storyteller, there are many ways that you can be involved in the industry and in entertainment and media, and it doesn't have to look like the traditional things that we all know immediately. That strength comes through if you're a gaffer and you know, but because you're a storyteller, you're constantly thinking about how do we tell this story better? And I can't think of anyone who does that more than you.

00:10:10:29 - 00:10:28:23

FANSHEN: Just even conversations we've had where you're like, I'll tell you something I'm dealing with, and you're like, Fanshen, look at it this way. And you tell it to me as a story. And so you that that piece, do you ever still think about screenwriting or think about getting back to that?

00:10:29:04 - 00:11:06:03

MARISSA: I do. It's funny you say that. It makes me smile. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy because I tell my team every single day, whenever you put pen to paper or use your mouth to articulate words, you're doing such an a narrative and put a beginning, a middle and end to it. If it's a text, if it's a tweet, if it's an email, if it's a word doc, if it's a PowerPoint, everything has a narrative, a beginning and middle and end. And when you think about even life, but certainly how you communicate in those terms, I find personally for me.

00:11:07:20 - 00:11:44:15

MARISSA: I get further along, people understand you put it in a way that once upon a time, oh, then there was a big bad wolf and they lived happily ever after. And we're almost conditioned as humans to think in that way, to think in those one, two or three steps. And so from text, to tweet, to email, to document, to PowerPoint, I don't care what you're saying, however boring you think it is, if you create that sure narrative around it, people will be engaged because they want to follow that red thread all the way through to do they live happily ever after or not? Or not? What's the ending? And so one, thank you for that.

00:11:44:17 - 00:12:14:26

MARISSA: It makes me feel fuzzy. I, one of the reasons I took the job at BBDO at the time and then became OMD at Omnicom. The president of BBDO at the time was a man named Phil Dusenberry. And he had not too long before that, won an Oscar for "The Natural". And so I thought, well, if he can get to where I want to go and be the president of an AD agency, there's got to be something here. And I remember remember we talked about that balance of bravado or stupidity.

00:12:14:28 - 00:12:36:12

MARISSA: I don't know. It's like two weeks in here comes, you know, young Marissa. I was went up to the top floor to his the woman who managed his world, who I still know. She's wonderful. And I said, Hey, I'd like to talk to Phil. And she literally was like, am I being punked, who are you?

00:12:38:16 - 00:12:45:25

MARISSA: Don't you know? I'm Marissa Nance. I just started five floors down. You don't know who I am?

00:12:45:27 - 00:13:02:25

MARISSA: and she was, I think, tickled by it. I think she was so, you know, who did that? She was so tickled by it. She said, okay, I'll get time on his calendar. And it took a couple of weeks, but I got on his calendar and I sat with mister and it was and it continued to be every time I got called into his office  

00:13:04:11 - 00:13:19:24

MARISSA: a thrill. To a certain extent, you know, everybody's who they are. And I'm sure he was not a perfect human being. But it was really interesting to me because he was clear that and that's where I started to think about narratives. He began thinking about narratives in 30 second increments.

00:13:20:15 - 00:13:32:17

FANSHEN: Wow. There you go. Which, my goodness. Let's talk about how youthful that is today with the tic tocs and the reels like that 30 seconds is everything. And tweets, like you said. Wow. 

00:13:33:02 - 00:14:01:21

MARISSA: And he said that to me in 1991. He said I began thinking about storytelling and narratives in 30 second increments. And that's hard as hell. And if you can do that and then it became 15 seconds, right? You have commercials, ad units that are 10 and 30 and 15 seconds. So if you can do that, writing a movie, Easy, easy. Now, I don't necessarily agree with that, but, you know, easy, easy.

00:14:01:23 - 00:14:44:13

FANSHEN: It's the seedling for sure. It's the seedling. I'm just so I have to point out, we've learned already we've gotten some amazing gems. Gem number one, go to an HBCU. Let's just be real because clear what that's done for you and so many of other of our guests and so many black women, gender expansive people working in the industry have gone to HBCU, and we see it more and more. Obviously, we've got a vice president, right? So we see that the fact that y'all come out of there without a whole lot of imposter syndrome, some of y'all are like, What is that? Right? Because so it's this empowering way for you to feel like you coming out with agency, something that a lot of us black folks don't.

00:14:44:17 - 00:15:11:24

FANSHEN: I mean, if you go to a PWI, you don't get it, all right? You get mostly like you don't belong or you hear because of your you know, because you just got here because of your identity lesson. Incredible, important lesson number two is narrative. Everything is narrative. Everything is a story. And then lesson number three, challenge yourself to tell that story in 30 seconds and 15 seconds and then you good, you golden. Marissa.

00:15:13:03 - 00:15:25:03

MARISSA: I've been tic tokking and Instagramming and twittering, you know, since 1991 when he said I began, I had to learn how to do this in 30 seconds or less.

00:15:25:18 - 00:15:26:03

FANSHEN: What a gift. 

00:15:26:06 - 00:15:30:04

MARISSA: So that's where the foundation of of where I came from.

00:15:34:04 - 00:16:13:08

FANSHEN: This is Sista Brunch, the podcast by and about black women and gender expansive people thriving in entertainment and media. Stay tuned for more of this conversation with our guest, the advertising vet Marissa Nance. Also, do us a favor. Why don't you go ahead. Right. You're going to have a little musical break here and head over to Instagram. Follow us there @Sista Brunchpodcast or click that five star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and most importantly, share this podcast with the black women and other women non-binary people in your colleagues in your life who want to hear from the incredible guests that we bring you each week.

00:16:19:13 - 00:16:24:00

FANSHEN: Welcome back. And we can't wait to get back into this conversation with Marissa Nance,

00:16:27:13 - 00:16:45:27

FANSHEN: what I hope to do as much for me as for our listeners is to understand what a day in the life looks like for you at work. What do you when you get up and obviously you've got a team? We should just share that Ms. Nance came on with with an entourage and we love that.

00:16:46:12 - 00:16:47:29

FANSHEN: We're like, she's a badass. 

00:16:48:01 - 00:16:49:13

FANSHEN: She's got an entourage.

00:16:51:04 - 00:17:04:00

FANSHEN: But what does a day in the life look like for you and then any of your staff that's working with you, especially younger folks who are listening, what might they do to enter into, you know what? What you do in the industry?

00:17:04:14 - 00:17:43:22

MARISSA: I am certainly. It's funny you say that. So your entourage, our agency, we refer to ourselves, is very scrappy. We are small, scrappy and scalable. The three assets we are small, scrappy and scalable. We're about 15 to 20 strong on any given day. And depending on the work we have and the revenue we have coming in, I'll be frank. And so anyone you talk to has a purpose. And so that's twofold. When we talk purpose at Native Tongue, we talk purpose in terms of what do you do and what can you offer, but also what can we give back to you to fill your purpose needs? Right.

00:17:43:24 - 00:18:21:24

MARISSA: So you want to work for a purpose and thus you want to have a purpose for your work. And that's what we try to instill in everyone who's on the team. You want to work for a purpose, but there should be a purpose to your work. So when you come in, if you say, I want to contribute so that what people of color and communities of color see here and how people think of them is right and spot on and authentic and articulate. And here's how I can do that. And that's that's definitely how you build a place not just at Native Tongue, but to me, a reasonable place anywhere in marketing and advertising.

00:18:21:26 - 00:18:29:10

MARISSA: If you approach it that way, I think you'll be extraordinarily successful having a purpose to your work and work toward a purpose.

00:18:30:29 - 00:18:56:29

MARISSA: I would say for me, and I think this is everyone we have just come out of, and it's certainly for our lifetime and in many lifetimes, the one true global impact. No one on the planet that I know of in school with me was not touched by what just happened with this pandemic. It was a global event, truly global event. World Cup felt like a global event. The pandemic was.

00:18:59:18 - 00:19:30:01

MARISSA: So how how do you navigate a day has become a bit of a trick question right. There used to be prior to that, I would say you could say, Well, I wake up and then I do this and then I do that, and then eventually I go to bed. I am someone who unapologetically is working hard, not just to maintain this business for myself, but for those who work for and with me. And again, those communities we service.

00:19:30:12 - 00:20:00:26

MARISSA: Our clients know our clients are not our first and foremost objective. It's the communities we join with them to reach that are first and foremost objective. And I don't want to fail them then I don't want to fail the paying clients, and I certainly don't want to fail the team. So for me and many folks will say that's not self-care or healthy. My life has become a different clock. 24 hours for me is very different than 24 hours for someone else. And that's fine. It has to be what it needs to be, when it needs to be that.

00:20:01:10 - 00:20:35:15

MARISSA: So I often times find myself looking at that pie and figuring out how to divide it and win. There are few things I hold true for myself. I do try to stay somewhat healthy. Fanshen, you and I were just talking before we started about my 100 year old grandmother, and I just left her and and her spirit and her purpose helps drive her and she tries to eat and stay and live healthy. She was visiting me over the summer, swimming in the pool, getting her laps in at 100.

00:20:35:17 - 00:20:47:09

MARISSA: So it's about finding time for me. I get on the treadmill, I try to get my steps in. That's important for me and that helps me decloud. A lot of us are very cloudy now

00:20:48:28 - 00:21:31:21

MARISSA: and and finding time to commit to at least something with someone I think I can give some benefit to. And selfishly, they can get back to me. Like this is important for me on a daily basis. And it may not be as grand as this wonderful and beautiful podcast. It may be a quick call with my best friend in New York or a text exchange with someone I haven't connected with in a while. But there's a mutual benefit that fills both of our cups, and I think that's an important part of my day. And then the work, it's not as sexy or glamorous, but I spend a lot of time sitting in front of this laptop doing PowerPoints and doing research and paying bills, enjoying the things that need to get done so that tomorrow is another day.

00:21:31:23 - 00:21:35:10

MARISSA: So that's a lot of what my day entails.

00:21:35:28 - 00:22:10:01

FANSHEN: Okay, I know you are a busy woman, so I want to I'm going to add a couple more questions in and let you go. But so we like to share either salary that you're comfortable with the kind of income that one can make at entry level, you know, kind of after a few years and to where you are. And it can be obviously ballparks and also, most importantly, what are some tips on negotiating the rates, the salary? Because, of course, as you said, we don't get funded.

00:22:10:03 - 00:22:15:06

FANSHEN: So what can we do to at least make sure we're being paid? What is fair for us? 

00:22:15:22 - 00:22:30:23

MARISSA: So the the impetus and launch of my agency, the back story of the agency, what I will add to it is that in the end we actually ended up launching.

00:22:32:09 - 00:23:04:23

MARISSA: Very unilaterally. Autonomously. We did not launch in partnership. We launched in partnership, but not in financial partnership with a holding company. And so we've been from day one, I'm very proud to say cash positive. But for someone who's an entrepreneur, I went from earning what I earned as a SVP, whatever title it would have been at a holding company to now CEO. But it's much less because I have to make an investment in my brand.

00:23:05:01 - 00:23:31:04

MARISSA: This agency is representative of who I am and my brand. And so I may not get a new pair of shoes, but I can bring in the right consultant or contractor who will make the agency smarter and better, which makes our clients smarter and better, which makes our communities smarter and better. And that's worthwhile to me. So I'll be very transparent and will say, No, I'm not earning a lot yet, but who knows? You know, tomorrow.

00:23:32:22 - 00:24:09:04

FANSHEN: I know. You said, who knows? I know, because of who you are. I know who you are. And your purpose. Everything you've expressed, the amount of time and energy you've put into community, the skills that you have, the relationships that you have. And most importantly, as you've said, your purpose. Your purpose. Right. And and you're showing that through the projects you're taking on through what you're doing with your agency. Is that so, so we know. You can say you don't know. I'm going to say, we know you going to be bringing in the big bucks.

00:24:09:06 - 00:24:43:12

MARISSA: Well, I know someone will hear this podcast who is in a position of authority in the ability to leverage budgets. And I think that's the part two of your question. When you are working for someone or you have your own entity and you are looking to bring in clients, one thing I have learned is dependent on the space you work in is dependent on how you can evaluate what will get and what is sad. What I found is I happen to work and have made a commitment to working for communities of color, and that's the purpose and service that I bring.

00:24:43:21 - 00:25:15:17

MARISSA: And that's not always most funded, best funded, first funded. When it comes to corporations, they will say it is, especially after the few years we have gone through. They will engage an agency like mine to do or even to do pre-work or to give good thoughts or to have, you know, feeler conversations. And then they will say, and here's a dollar and please be thankful for this dollar, or we don't even have a dollar for you.

00:25:15:26 - 00:25:34:22

MARISSA: Thanks, but no thanks. So I have not been good. You know, not everyone's perfect, so I will know the fault of mine, which is I have not been great or good in navigating those waters. And my commitment to myself and my team in 2023 is to get better.

00:25:36:20 - 00:26:07:27

MARISSA: And what that means and how we address it, because there has to be a way for us to have an equity stake and a seat at the table without feeling guilty, without feeling remorse, without feeling like we should take the crumbs and not a full plate so that we don't feel like, Well, we'll wait until you've eaten. We'll wait until you've cleared the table. And now whatever's left, these crumbs. Let me sweep those into my hand. And I will graciously and gladfully - that's what I'll feed on. And so that's got to change.

00:26:07:29 - 00:26:39:13

MARISSA: It's got to change for me. And I know it can change because we at Native Tongue, we have clients that believe and we have clients that see us as equitable partners, and they show that in how we are engaged and frankly how we are funded. And so every single day and I don't want someone to walk away and say who are their clients because they're obviously terrible people. I guess what I'm trying to say is the clients we currently work with are the people you want to work with, are the people who have the right mindset.

00:26:39:21 - 00:27:17:13

MARISSA: And I feel so blessed and appreciative every day to work with them. And I want to find more of those clients. It's the clients we haven't worked with who've done things like, We'd love to get your mindset, we'd love to get your ideas now, goodbye. So I guess there's a reason for it. There's a reason why we work with the Peanuts and the Amazons and the Clorox's and the California utilities of the world and so many more, because they're just fantastic in terms of knowing and wanting and having a purpose behind how they reach these communities and who they work with, which is us.

00:27:21:19 - 00:27:33:00

FANSHEN: Hey,it's Fanshen Cox and you're listening to Sista Brunch. We'll be right back. And while you're just on this break, go ahead and head to our website, SistaBrunch.com and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

00:27:44:15 - 00:27:52:12

MARISSA: This is Marissa Nance and you are listening to Sista Brunch. It's the podcast all about black women thriving in media and entertainment.

00:27:55:27 - 00:28:07:09

FANSHEN: Okay, two more questions. Can you talk about what you might be able to do with a film or television project, like, you know, branding or. Yeah. Can you can you talk about that?

00:28:07:18 - 00:28:38:27

MARISSA: Monetizing intellectual property is one of the hardest concepts to wrap your hands around, I have found. But once you get the hang of it, it's actually, I won't say easy, but a relatable and exciting to me way to earn a living. So when I was at Omnicom and when I spent my 30 years, I focused myself in what they call branded entertainment.

00:28:39:14 - 00:28:54:21

MARISSA: And I will again, unabashedly. That's my new thing for 2023, I will say. And I've been told I probably in the top there are maybe six people in the world who do branded entertainment or data content better than I do, period.

00:28:55:09 - 00:28:56:20

FANSHEN: But are they black women?

00:28:57:12 - 00:28:58:11

MARISSA: No, no, no.

00:28:59:22 - 00:29:15:02

FANSHEN: So you do. You. And let's be real. Since black women do everything better than everybody else except maybe indigenous women, you know? Right. Then you actually do do it better than they do because you have that on top of.

00:29:15:05 - 00:29:45:24

MARISSA: On top, right. I'm fighting that fight. Yes, I'm. I'm doing it all while climbing the hill. While climbing the hill. But there maybe are. And so being able to take a step back and objectively figure out how to monetize your work, your baby is not easy. Once you figure it out and you can find those avenues and figure out that narrative. Right, in itself. Again, I think it can be exciting and it could be lucrative. So a few things.

00:29:45:26 - 00:30:20:08

MARISSA: First of all, it is your baby. No one wants to look in a baby carriage and say, boy, that's an only child. I mean, you just you know, once that boy, your child is ugly. What did you do that with? That is just don't ever procreate again. My God. Horrible. Horrible. Is an abomination against nature. No one wants to hear that. And so the content and the creative that we make, the ideas we come up with many times there are children, there are babies. And for someone to say, I don't see it, I don't get it, I'm not aligned with it, I don't think it's good, it hurts.

00:30:20:19 - 00:30:54:12

MARISSA: And we we react a certain way and that's very human. In order to at least in the world I live in. Monetize it and find ways to connect with corporations and clients so that they will fund it. I think you do have to take a step back and become very rational in your child. Maybe you need braces. Maybe I shouldn't put bows in your hair. Maybe, you know, there are moments when you just take that step back and you say, this may not be it, and that's what you need to do.

 00:30:54:14 - 00:31:38:00

MARISSA: So be very rational in what you create and why approach it from one of two ways. This is my story. This is what I feel strongly about. This is what I'm passionate about. And then in the back end, here are the things that authentically and organically support it. I just feel like I want to create, but I don't know what I want to create, how I could create. That's how and I work in this a lot. A lot of reality content comes about, right? And so that's when you kind of do the reverse, which is I feel like the airline industry is lacking or the travel industry is lacking in reality TV, right? We've got a few shows, but not a lot.

00:31:38:10 - 00:32:01:21

MARISSA: How can I create something that will support the airline industry, that will support the travel industry and the hotel industry? I'm going to come up with this really cool idea that I know supports those three entities within this industry. Well, now I can pitch it to them and they almost can't say no. It's an automatic yes, because I've created this for them with them. 

00:32:01:23 - 00:32:03:28

FANSHEN: Tailor made for all.

00:32:04:00 - 00:32:15:05

MARISSA: So there's two ways you can do both, I hope enhance and support and engage your creative spirit. One is your true purpose, right? And then having.

00:32:15:09 - 00:32:19:18

FANSHEN: To got to put some bows and some braces to make it look cute and attractive.

00:32:21:02 - 00:32:34:26

MARISSA: Right? And then the reverse of it is what's their purpose and how can I meet them? So always, I guess, meeting in the middle for both. Those are two ways that I would tell people want to get into it. You will make money if you do those things. Someone will give you a dollar.

00:32:35:28 - 00:33:07:14

FANSHEN: Let's talk about the gems you just dropped. Oh, my goodness. I feel like you. We're going to make some online courses with you and we're going to do a whole thing. Our last question for now, and we will have you back on because we're just scratching the surface. You are sitting down to a Sista Brunch with young Marissa. What are you eating and what is she eating? What are you drinking and what is she drinking? And what do you tell her?

00:33:08:23 - 00:33:39:22

MARISSA: Well, she is. We're eating the egg. You know what? Here's the thing. She. Because she could afford maybe the extra twenty pounds she doesn't have. She's not carrying what I'm carrying. So if she is having probably a French toast and a pancake, along with whatever else. Where I have eliminated the French toast and the pancake. But I can't give up the cheesy eggs and, you know, some salmon patty, because that's just delicious. That's my favorite breakfast. Cheesy eggs and salmon patties. That's the way to go.

00:33:41:03 - 00:34:13:16

MARISSA: I just would not have the biscuit or the pancake or the french toast with it. And then in terms of cocktailing, she would have had straight champagne or mimosa. I have evolved and I will have straight champagne or mimosa happily or gladly, but I will not turn away a Bloody Mary. I have developed a taste where I can have Bloody Marys. I don't know if that's me maturing or getting older, but I'll have a good, tasty Bloody Mary. And what I would say to her is please.

00:34:14:16 - 00:34:30:05

MARISSA: Three things. One. Shut your mouth. Listen more. Two focus and be realistic in your ability. You can't do everything. Stop trying. And three, find joy.

00:34:31:06 - 00:35:07:22

FANSHEN: Thank you so much, Marissa. Thank you for sharing your wisdom. All your gems. I feel like this episode is going to launch some lives for women and some thoughts around what they can do and what they can be. You are an incredible model for that. We thank you. Thank you. Thank you for coming on Sista Brunch. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to Sista Brunch, the podcast that brings you the stories of black women breaking barriers, bringing joy and running things in the entertainment and media industries.

00:35:08:07 - 00:35:38:24

FANSHEN: This is our fourth season of Sista Brunch. You can read the transcript of this show and all of our previous shows and also listen to our previous episodes @SistaBrunch.com. We so appreciate your support by subscribing to the podcast. Leaving us a great review. Sharing the podcast with others. You can follow us and interact with us also on Instagram or @SistaBrunchPodcast. And we truly are grateful we run because of you. We do this for you.

00:35:39:08 - 00:36:12:08

FANSHEN: So also don't forget to leave us a voicemail. Send us a question and we will share those questions with our guests and answer them on the air or at the very least, on our social media. You can call 4245874870. Sista Brunch is brought to you by TruJuLo Productions. Our senior producer is Sonata Lee Narcisse. Our co-producer is Brittany Turner. Our executive producers are Christabe Nsiah-Buadi and Anya Adams. Our associate producers are Farida Abdul-Wahab and Mimi Slater.

00:36:12:27 - 00:36:23:23

FANSHEN: We acknowledge that the land we record our podcast on is the original land of the Tongva and the Chumash people. That's our show for this week, and we will catch you next time on Sista Brunch.