Let's Talk with Leaha & Rhonda

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Hi, my name is Leah Crawford. And I'm Rhonda Nolan. And you're listening to the Let's Talk with Leah and Rhonda show. For all the beautiful entrepreneurs out there, this is for you. Good morning Las Vegas. Leah, how are you doing on this Saturday morning? I am absolutely amazing.

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That's great.

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Hopefully I'll get on the Peloton next week. Yes, you will.

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I have a Peloton update next week.

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I understand.

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I understand.

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I'm ready. I think I'm ready.

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I'm almost ready. All right. You know, because we've still been looking at each other. Like, we're still engaging. So, you know, we're still engaging. I think I'm ready to get on it and take that challenge again.

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That's wonderful.

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That's wonderful. OK, so Thursday night was fabulous. Friday night was fabulous.

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What's going on with that HBCU

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alumni weekend? Well the Bison in Vegas HBCU alumni weekend today we are having a pool party at Harrah's Hotel and Casino. So it's okay if you bring your winter body? It's okay to bring your winter body to the pool. It's okay. Get in that pool and do some laps and get a little exercise in. And it's a good time. It is a good time. It's a good time because you have the Cabanas out there. So it's a bunch of stuff going on and good time to meet and greet some people that you don't know because there's people here from all over the country. All over the country and more importantly we have DJ CEO on the ones and twos. So the Harrah's pool is going to be lit today. We will be there from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. So yeah, yeah, we're gonna be hot but cool now how about tonight oh tonight oh we're going to dinner at Martha Stewart's the Bedford by Martha Stewart in the Paris Hotel nice and then we have our all-white party at the foundation room in Mandalay Bay oh yeah okay all white yeah I might have to put on some all-white you got two all-white things coming I do okay so you're just in all the white. All white. I'm glad I got a closet full of white. There you go. Closet full of white. And then tomorrow, what you doing tomorrow? Sunday, oh we will be at Top Golf on Sunday morning, chilling and watching all the sports and recouping, you know, from the weekend. We'll be at the Terrace Mediterranean on the rooftop with our bourbon and cigar party. So yeah, the... Now who's hosting that? Oh, we do have a special host. His name is Mr. Darryl Mickens. Yes, okay. And he actually hosts Tapping Ash. He does, he does. So for all you cigar smokers, this is going to be a real cool hangout. That rooftop is so sexy and so fabulous. So you know, you'd like to join us, you know, we look forward to seeing you. Okay, so what else you got going on next week? And then after that, the 100 Black Men of Las Vegas is having their all-white annual scholarship fundraiser on Wednesday, June 14 at Caesars Palace Hotel at the Apollo Pool. And so that's going to be great because it kicks off the 100 Black Men of America's National Conference. So we will have men from all over the country in town having a good time. It's going to rain down black men. Raining black men. It's going to rain Black Men. All right. And also we have the Las Vegas Insta Alumni Council of the United Nickel College Fund. They're doing their annual fundraiser, their Jazz Brunch, this Sunday, June 11th at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino. For more information, please contact Peggy Selma at 702-277-2448. Again, 702-277-2448. Okay, so that's all the events that we have this weekend. So if you don't have anything to do, we just laid out a bunch of stuff for you to do. You can go to the Paris Hotel, go to the pool party, you can go to the event that night, the white, no that's not the white party. You can come to the pool party at the Harris Hotel.

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Harris Hotel, I'm sorry, Harris.

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I said it wrong. And then you can come to dinner at the Bedford with Martha Stewart. Then you can meet us at the Foundation Room Saturday night. See I got it mixed up because last time it was all at the Paris.

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That's why.

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Right.

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That was last year. She moved.

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We moved.

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She moved.

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Okay.

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We shaking and moving. All right, you know, so we'll be at the Foundation Room Saturday night and then on Sunday morning, we will be at Topgolf and then Sunday afternoon. We'll be at the Terrace Mediterranean rooftop and I will be at the Jazz brunch and then we will all be at the 100 Black Men's event on Wednesday on Wednesday. That's right. And are all white. And are all white. So today we have a special guest here though, you know, every time we every week we bring something special just exposure for the city. So, Mr. Michael Elliott, he's here today. He is no stranger to Las Vegas native born and raised.

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Mr. Elliott, welcome to the Let's Talk with Leah and Rhonda show.

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Thanks Leah and Rhonda.

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I appreciate you inviting me to the show. I'm having a great time so far listening to everything that's happening today. I mean, and I've been up for four hours, so I'm up.

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Wide awake, right?

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Wide awake.

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So you're on that Rhonda thing, see Rhonda get up early in the morning and go walk around.

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You got to be with the East Coast time.

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Okay. Yeah, so.

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Okay, I hear you. Okay, I got it. Because I'm an early riser as well. Right on. I get it. So tell me about, because I know it's the V-E-G and we all, we didn't got it wrong four times saying it. Yes we have. So it's like Vegas, the vague. Absolutely. The vague. The vague. And I love the symbol. I like the way you say that. The vague. I'm writing beautiful. There you go, right? There's your voice. There's my voice. There's

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your voice. Look, we're connecting, we're connecting in here, boy.

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We're going to make it happen.

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So where did this idea come from now?

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I'm a native of Las Vegas. OK. Born and raised here. Born in during the time where it became rough in the United States for young black men, period. You know, and then in the neighborhood I grew up in, it wasn't really easy. Getting to the point of playing basketball and football, being a top athlete, meeting different types of people, all ethnic, just everybody, from playing sports. So you know you have to get along with people. But my neighborhood was like extremely rough and I would hear about just different cities New York and Atlanta and people always had the other cities always had you know well we going to the ATL you know what I mean so I was like man we the BK

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Brooklyn is the BK, Brooklyn is the BK, so we going to H town, we going to H-Town, right? Or Chi. We're going to the sugar Chi.

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D-Town.

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Yeah. So Vegas had been this place that didn't have an identity in our urban language, you know, in our movement, you know what I mean? And when I just said I wanted this to be the Vague, it was like, do it. And a couple of people called me, you know, I don't even think that's an acronym for Vegas, Mike. But, you know, I said, well, look, we're going to do it anyway. Right, right, right. Because it is what I say it is.

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Hey, you want to know what it is, what he said it is. I like that. I'm all for it. You can make your own table. This is what I'm doing.

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I'm making my own table. Come eat here. And I started doing it six years ago. I ran into Vivica Fox. And she grabbed a shirt, and she endorsed it, and popped it in Go get this shirt and it's gonna be the latest and the greatest and I mean that was like I Recorded her doing that and when I would go out and try to sell my brand People would look at me and be like then I was showing the video and they would be like, oh, yeah That's my girl. Let me get it. You know what I mean? It was that simple so when you got somebody to market what you're doing and get the brand ambassador it makes it so much easier and people caught on to it and then even the folks in Vegas started like you know I want a part of that I want to be a part of that and it just continued and I'm we in the six years now and I opened up the fabulous gift store for all of you people that are coming in town you want some Las Vegas merchandise you want to get some some of the vague and you know and be able to go back to Vegas, I mean go back to your hometown and take a piece of Vegas with you. That's what it's all about is the unity, the peace, the love and you know it's just not all about being stylish. Even though you will be stylish and comfortable but also when people see you in that they'll know that you are somebody that has a good heart. Somebody that generally cares and you don't have to worry about you know, you know how people look at you crazy when you walk up to them and you pass and bomb Well, everybody that's wearing this is gonna be smiling and then I'm speaking to you and offering assistance You know, so the Vegas is more than just a brand more than just a brand. It's a way of life. It's a culture

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It's a culture for the Vegas locals. Absolutely and for the Vegas visitors Well, the thing about it is so that gets so whatever happens in Vegas doesn't stays in Vegas No, you can take a little bit of it home with you. That's right. This is your memorabilia.

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This is your urban memorabilia.

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That's right I like it. So where is the store located?

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The store is located at 5115 Dean Martin. And it's building 4, suite 401.

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So is it on Dean Martin, is it before the Allegiant Stadium or after?

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It's one street before the Allegiant Stadium. Okay, oh that's perfect. Absolutely. So

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are you open game time? Do you plan to be open game time? Absolutely. Okay. I plan on being out

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there with the food, the t-shirts, the drinks, and the relaxation of coming over there and hanging out. You know, tailgating. I'm offering all of that good activity during the game time. I love

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it. Nice. I love it. I love it. So, so background, so you, so this is what you're doing now, but you also have a youth program We talked about playing chess. Yes, and that's huge. Yes, that's huge. So are you a good chess player?

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The people say I'm the best okay, I just I just like to play I love to play And I didn't read any books or study like that I just figure it out. I've entered a couple of tournaments and I've came close to winning major tournaments. The last tournament was at Bally's. I lost one game in the tournament and you have to win seven games. So I won six games and had to draw one of the games so I didn't win the tournament. But here in Vegas I've been playing for so long and everybody that plays chess in the chess world they knows me. They know who I am and you know they call all the time and want to play and I'm just cutting my chest down to we have a chess night On one night now, okay, and not every night not every night every night every night I'm gonna just do one night. I got a little more business to take care of with the vague and You know see it grow and watch it generate what needs to generate But the chess program also do the youth advocate program with out my own That's a youth program with troubled teenagers. That's got the ankle bracelets on that's been out shooting at people and things like that So my job is to show them that chess is life and kind of give them a direction So that they can learn how to be in society without being so frustrated with some of the things that going in their life

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Now where you you show them how to figure it out. Mm-hmm, because it's a thinking game It's a thinking game and it's a patience game space. You have to have patience. That's right. I have patience and it's got to be strategic. Where are you doing on my own? 711 Morgan Avenue. 711 Morgan Avenue. So that's on the west side? Yes. The historic, so let's be clear, it's the historic west side. Not the west side of Las Vegas, which is some, no, it's the historic west side. But where I do the the chest advocate at the Chest Advocate Center, which is off of Valley View, I believe it's like 3375 South Valley View. 3375 South Valley View. So how would someone, I have a child that is troubled and I want to get I want to get them help. So how would someone contact you to even start the process or how do you

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find the children that you're helping? Well, is it referral? The way, when we first started, I went door to door and knocked on people's doors and let them, I told them, I said, you know, let me take your kid for a couple of hours. These people didn't know me from Adam, but they trusted me. So I had 11 kids in my van and we would go off the property and I had a little chess office about 500 square feet.

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But you were in Marble Man?

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No, this was before Marble Man. And I would go over there and I would spend $500 a month out of my pocket. And I would take the kids over there every week. And this lasted for about two years. They gave me the Marble Manor room over there. I wound up going over there and leaving the spot that I was at. But I was teaching kids and I had like maybe the highest is maybe 19 kids. At the lowest, maybe seven. And they would come over every weekend and you had a few people come out that would give a hundred dollars or bring some oranges or apples that would come out and help feed the kids and things like that. I had this white guy that would come out and help me and he was a really prejudiced dude but he learned to be diverse in dealing with African American people. And that was through the program and through me. He changed his whole ways of who he was.

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Just by giving back and seeing that they are children.

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He understood.

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And they had a different set of challenges. Yes.

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And he would take his Social Security money and he would buy these kids donuts and chicken and things like that. And I want to give a special shout out to Soulful Young who they told us anytime we come there that these kids eat for free. That is very nice. That was so supportive you know because on the weekends you know it's tough eating you know 11 kids that's

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not yours. Right yeah. And also trying to you know. Especially when you're doing the grassroots program. Doing the grassroots program. And you're paying I mean you're taking care of your stuff and then you also have these children that you know you don't want them

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to see you sweat but you want them to eat. Absolutely. Because they got to think. So now we do it through the chess advocate center. Okay. And Imam Fatim which is over at the Masjid al-Sabur which is at 711 Morgan. They normally come through him for the students that we get. Okay. And it became a program. It became a program when it was just me out there just hustling the kids and trying to teach them a better way, then it became a program.

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Nice, nice. So, again, you got the VEG, you got that going on, and you really want to start promoting it and really getting it out there. You've been around six years.

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Yes, everybody in Vegas, I mean, whether you visit in Vegas or whether you stay in Vegas.

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You need to have at least one shirt.

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You need to at least have two shirts.

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At least two shirts.

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At least two shirts.

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You need it because you might want to wear one the following week.

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Right, the following week. All right, so are you now are you manufacturing them here locally or are you?

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I'm actually manufacturing them here locally. When I first when I first started the new brand I was dealing with Pakistan. So now I found somebody here you know just through the travels and now it's local. Got it, got it. How do you feel about it though? I feel fantastic. I really want people to have the great understanding, this vibrant city that we live in, and taking on all the challenges that we took on, just growing from me being here and not seeing so much stuff that is built up now, that a native guy has the name and the brand for the city. You know, so that makes me feel good because people look at you different and they treat you different and you become someone that people look up to. And it's almost like when you have all this energy that's positive coming your way, it's all success. And no matter what happens in the end, at the end of the day, you have a successful day. Nice, nice so the vague we got it now the vague. Repping the West Coast you know I know some people back in Philly but you know yeah we repping the West Coast. Repping the West Coast no worries you know I'm Philly she's Detroit it's okay we both went to Howard DC so we understand moving around the country but it's exciting to have you on you being the native and you also understanding that this city is grown it's your half big time city is grown city is grown and and with the growth comes opportunity so introducing them to Vegas being popular coming up here in Las Vegas oh you were popular coming up yeah okay I want to remain and keep continue that as I get older I don't want to fade away and until I'm gone. I want to keep it popping and also be able to give back like I do and in order to give back I have to just continue to keep getting this good spirit and support and that works. So you are listening to the

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Let's Talk with Leah and Rhonda show I am Leah Crawford. I am Rhonda Nolan and we are so happy to be here with you today with our wonderful guest. I love his idea I want to come by and see his his his shirts and all the other goodies he has in his store. You know, so I can rock one.

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Of course, of course.

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So again, give us the address for where you're located, which store is located.

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5115 Dean Martin, Building 4, Suite 401.

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Building 4 Suite. I'm glad I didn't say it because I had that all messed up.

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So if you're going down Dean Martin and you pass the stadium you went too far. Went too far

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okay so it's right before the stadium. Yes right before the stadium. Coming from Tropicana. Coming from Tropicana. Or Dropicana because you know Tropicana. I

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normally like to go down Valley View go down Alibaba then make a left on Dean

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Martin. See you didn't hit a whole bunch of streets right? Right he didn't went all. See that's how you know you're dealing with a native because they they know the backstreet side. Yeah. You know those of us that are not from here we have to take the freeway. Absolutely. We take the freeway we will

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exit off of Tropicana. And it'll be like jam-packed and you be sitting there frustrated and upset and pushing on your breaking your gas. Right. And I'm cruising

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down the back street. He's cruising down the back street. But it's good to see that you that you saw something and you wanted to do something just something positive. Yeah. How did self-care I know we didn't talk about this How do you take care of you because with the positive energy and it's so much stuff going on in the world

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How do you stay positive?

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One of the things that I do Just for meditation. I'm in the bathtub for maybe four hours Really and I just you know, that makes me happy You know what? I mean just to relax with no one and nothing coming at me just me and the water. Four hours? About four hours. And the water stays no more.

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So are you reading a book during that time or are you just sitting meditating? No, I'm working. Okay, so you have one of those things that go across the tub so you can work on your computer. Absolutely. Okay. So I got the laptop, the iPad, and both phones. How about a glass of wine? No. No wine? You don't drink? No. I will on occasions, but just like okay gotcha okay so you meditate do you okay so do you ever do like sound bells sound bars and all the other stuff are you just 50 jazz nice smooth jazz smooth jazz so you let the jazz music play that it's not everybody look here do not disturb ain't nobody gonna be that disturb me no way all righty then okay all right so the do not disturb yeah and you just let's sit down

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Okay, and then you know I get so much done and a lot of the times It could be any time of the day that I'll do it. It's just when I feel that I need to do it I do that. Okay, so you shut down. That's it

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What when how did you start because people sometimes have a hard time meditating? Did you have challenges at first when you first started meditating?

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If you're dealing with multiple amount of people on a daily basis, it's not going to be hard. You can't wait to be alone. You know, so it wasn't hard for me. It was it was it was quite simple. How long have you been doing that?

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Ten years, maybe. Nice. Yeah. So I would like to ask this question of my entrepreneurs. So you've been in business for 10 years. What was it like during COVID for you? Did you go to online or what? How did it work for you?

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What's so strange is during the COVID time, along with the Vague, I was running a store called Soulfully Scented, which is on the west side of town. And what's just so strange is when COVID came, changes when Kobe came things for me, they rose, you know, I mean, better. OK, better. I was I was outside every Monday doing a pull up, pop up the vague ringtone, pull up, pop up, and it became so popular that people would be. And you should do this every day, you know. And I was having steak, lobster and shrimp, 30 dollar plates, 40 dollar plates, and every Monday this thing was popping. We had the tents up with the chess out. And, oh man, I had the kids out from the club. They would come out and play. I had some older guys that I played with in the club. They came out and played, and it was beautiful.

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Wow, that's great.

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So that was during the COVID time. All of that was popping. Right, so he's popping during COVID.

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He's popping during COVID. But when it first happened, when we had the big shutdown.

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And everybody had to stay in house

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Play some Madden

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You played some you know When everybody just stayed in house, you know, we pretty much played chess deal. We you know, we I Activity didn't stop we continue to do what we do every day That's actually amazing to hear. It is amazing to hear. Yeah, that he, it wasn't, it didn't have that impact.

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That he was able to pivot to something else. The only impact that COVID had for me is that so many people was so afraid.

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That's the only thing that was different for me is just seeing people just running here scared to death. You know, masked up and just afraid. I mean, and I know a lot of things happen, but I do believe in the spirit. And I really wasn't worried at all. Not one minute. I just live because when you leave, you're going to leave and that's going to be it.

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So interesting that pre-COVID you couldn't go into a bank with a mask on. Right. Now they require you to go into the bank with a mask on. That's right.

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Ain't that something?

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It's something. It's something.

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I'll tell you how they just change up so much. For whatever benefits them. They'll change it. I got to say this. Kareem Abdul Jabbar, college basketball player, number one dude, was dogging him out. They told him he couldn't dunk anymore. So they changed in all the college rules. Nobody in college could dunk. So they change stuff whenever they want to.

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You know, whatever is whatever is convenient. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because COVID was interesting and everybody had different different experiences. Oh, yeah. Some people pivoted. Some people didn't do so well. But it depends on but also your mindset on how you made it through. That's right. Mindset is everything. Well, Michael, I want to tell you it was thank you for accepting our invitation to come on the show. I really appreciate, you know, getting to know you and really understanding about what you do So, thank you. I truly appreciate it

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Yes

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It's very exciting. I'll be by to pick up my t-shirt. How about that? Right, right, what colors do you have?

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Well, I I prefer you to get black and silver because that's the Raider color, right? And that's what we doing here You know what I mean, but I can I can get you almost any color you would I like a pink and green one

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I'm sure she'd like a red and white one.

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Oh yeah, because of your...

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No, no, no.

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I like a pink and green, she'd like a red and white.

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Oh, you the red and white? Uh-huh, I'm the pink and green. So, we like the different colors. But we will also, so now we can get two, so we can get the silver and black. Right. But then we can also get the pink and green and the red and white.

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Absolutely. So, you know, after the show and everything, just send me the information and sizes and things like

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that and I'll make it happen. Fantastic! I like it! So we wear t-shirts. We're t-shirt girls. We wear t-shirts.

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So for everybody that's listening to this show Rhonda and Leah and Rhonda I was about to get them mixed up but Leah and Rhonda everybody listen to the Leah and Rhonda show make sure you follow their lead. Right, follow their lead.

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Come support.

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Absolutely.

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Because that's how we build our economy.

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That's right. By supporting each other.

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And this is a clothing brand. And entrepreneurs, we have to support one another. So other small businesses have to support other small businesses. So we can all stay alive.

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Stay alive.

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Man, listen, that's what we want to do is stay alive.

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That's right.

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So come on, Rhonda, run those events again because we've got a few more minutes. Okay, a couple more events for the Bison in Vegas HBCU Alumni Weekend that's not only for Bison, it's for everybody! So today we will be at Harrah's Pool from 10am to 5pm. Then we'll be at the Bedford by Martha Stewart in the Paris Hotel at 7pm. And then we will be at the Foundation Room in Mandalay Bay at 10 o'clock. That is an all-white party. When you show up and you're all-white, they will know you are with us and then the next day we'll be at Topgolf having some great good food good drinks and then we'll be at the Terrace Mediterranean rooftop for bourbon and cigars with our beautiful beautiful sponsor Uncle Nearest. Well you want to know what the interesting thing is I remember one of the bison saying that she was just gonna get a driver because she was coming to everything. I was like you run these events like we still 20. Like we not older people that we need to go home and take naps. You know you running them back to back. Five and seven and ten you know.

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And then up in the morning.

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And then up in the morning and do it again.

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Absolutely.

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But that's how Howard's homecoming is.

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That's how Howard's homecoming is.

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That's how our homecoming is.

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That's right.

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Back to back events. So listen. Don't take no nap at the light.

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Right.

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Today is going to be a big day and tomorrow is going to be a bigger day.

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What you say?

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You should have napped yesterday.

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Call Uber or Lyft. Call Uber or Lyft. And then tomorrow, again, we have the Las Vegas Inter Alumni Council of the United Negro College Fund. Their Jazz Brunch at Suncoast Hotel and Casino. So there are a lot of different things to do. For more information, you can contact Ms. Peggy Selma at 702-277-2448. So if you want to go out, there are a bunch of events out there for you to do this weekend. Until next week you are listening to the Let's Talk with Leah and Rhonda show. I am Leah Crawford. I am Rhonda Nolan and we are signing off. Have a fabulous rest of your weekend. Bye. Bye.

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Peace and blessings.

Transcribed with Cockatoo