Episode 132: Talk w/ Marcus Strother ( President and Ceo of Mentor California)

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Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Uncle Dad Talks.

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I'm Uncle Dad and with me as always is ultimately the most handsomest, bestest looking,

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and honestly, the damndest, goodest mentor I could ever ask for.

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Even enough for just Mike.

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Well, if all my accolades could sound like they do coming from you,

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I would be, I don't know, I'd probably be a millionaire or something,

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I don't know. You would be a celebrity.

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Then I would be a celebrity, yes. Yes, that's what happens.

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It's been a while since we've done a regular intro. How are you?

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I'm doing great. We are, at this current time, we are at the beginning of spring,

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and my allergies are in full bloom, just like all of the trees outside of my house here now.

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Yes, yes. For those who don't know, Mike owns multiple houses.

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I have houses in different parts of the country. Yes.

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But I'm not a celebrity. He's not a celebrity. No, he's just a mentor.

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And we'll get to that in a second, won't we?

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I'm just Mike. You're just Mike, yep.

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Just Mike the mentor. I'm the mentor talk today. And the reason being,

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Mike, is because our guest is a...

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Well, how would you describe our guest?

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Well, I would describe him as a man.

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He's a president and CEO of a group called Mentor California.

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And so, you know, I'll get into the story of how I ran across him when we get

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on the show with him. But, you know, he's one of those people who's dedicated

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his life to public service in a way.

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And, you know, he's made a career out of it.

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And I can't, I don't know, and I'm sure we'll find out more about how many lives

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he's affected, you know, kind of giving himself up to that.

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Yeah, I think that's so important, right? Like how much you give to others for

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mentorship. It's a lot, right? It's a lot you have to give to do so.

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So, Mike, I have to ask, what are your top three mentors?

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Top three that are top three. Yeah.

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Wow. Top three mentors in my life that I've, that I've had? Whatever,

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however you want to take it.

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Um, well, I've had some, I've been fortunate to have a couple of mentors in my life.

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One of them is a guy we refer to and have had on the show is,

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uh, Steve Wyatt, who's, you know, big in the California comic book industry.

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And yeah, he came into my life. I've told this story,

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I think when you know my dad wasn't around and

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my mom was working or just

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not able to you know be there so i

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was fortunate to have to walk into his comic book store one day as a young teenager

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and yeah he just kind of took me under his wing another one is the guy we've

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had on this show multiple times age scott and what better mentor than than age

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right uh we need age back on the show it's been a a while.

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That's a tough cookie to get nowadays. He's the celebrity.

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Clearly. What about you? What are your top mentors?

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Do I really have to answer that? You know the answer to this, aren't we?

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There is. Well, number three, I'm very fortunate enough to say is my father.

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My father, even though he had an interesting start in my life,

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my father's done a really good job of being there and being a big supporter.

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He's one of our biggest fans of the show.

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Mike, you've met my dad a few times, and you know how much he reps us and how

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much he loves being a part of this. And yeah, I'm very thankful for that.

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And then number two is also somebody who's a part of the show, who's a guest host.

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And one of my dearest friends is the one and only Retro Gaming Nomad. So shout out to Nomad.

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You've hung out with us before, and you can tell, obviously,

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there's a lot of that fatherly feeling with him. And of course,

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Number one has to be my man, the one and only, Just Mike.

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Oh, I made the top three. I made it.

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Just Mike. And I'll tell you what, you were telling your story that you said

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that you saw Steve Wyatt and you walked him through a comic book store, right?

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Did he say to you, hey, kid, if you like superheroes?

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Something probably just as creepy, though. What does that say about us, Mike? Mike.

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We're willing to go where creepy men ask. I guess so.

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And I'm still waiting for my superhero book because I don't think it's ever

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happened. Oh, actually, I took it back and it did happen. I mean,

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a superhero book. You got it.

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Yeah, that's right, sir. Mike, before we kick off the show, I just have to quickly

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say something from one of our affiliates, Lionsgate.

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Lionsgate, once you check out their website, go to lionsgate.com to check out

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all the new films coming out. They got a lot of great great stuff coming.

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And because I brought this up, I do need the hint that next week's guest is

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actually going to be a pretty phenomenal pivotal guest that we've ever,

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we never had a guest like this before on the show.

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And Mike, you know, I guess I'm referring to, and I think our audience is in

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for a treat from landscape. What do you think?

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Based off of what you have told me, I think it's a, it's one of the most interesting

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stories we have, we'll probably have ever been able to talk about on this show with a guest.

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So I think the listeners are, for a treat.

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They are. Once again, another treat from A Moodle That Talks. Another treat indeed.

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So be sure to go to lionsgate.com to see their list of films currently out.

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Mike, we just came off the heels of a very good episode too.

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We had David Mandel on the show.

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What an experience. What an episode.

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But I just wanted to shout out, we've gained a lot of followers on our social

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media since that episode. More followers, I should say.

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Everybody who's new to our show, thank you you for coming thank you for joining

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us and mike tell them what i need to stick around why they need to stick around

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is because we are going to keep making more shows yes,

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he is correct and if you don't follow us on instagram we always could use more

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followers can we i mean isn't that what life's all about now is how many followers

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you have and aimed at the truth aimed at the truth it's one of the it's one

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of the top three Three things we all strive for is followers. Followers.

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Followers. Yes, be sure to get us a follow at Uncle Dad Talks.

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We have some big things coming down the pipeline.

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And Mike and I are working on something very special that we hope to launch

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April 1st. That is not a joke.

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And if it's not ready by then, it will be ready very soon. So,

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yes, without further ado, Mike and I will be right back after this break with

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our guest from Mentor, California.

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What's up? We are back. Mike, we are with our guest. Mike, I know you're very

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excited because I know mentorship is a very passionate thing for you.

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At least I hope so because you're my mentor and that would be a bummer.

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I'm not really into mentorship. But I know that you are. So,

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Mike, go ahead and introduce our guest to our audience.

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Yeah, I'm not really into mentors, but I'll be your mentor, I guess.

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Oh, yes. So this this this gentleman I did, I met out in Monterey,

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California, at an event where I was selling my my Bart Bridge hats.

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And he came up and was very nice and mentioned that he was part of a program

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called Mentor California and was looking to do a custom hat with us.

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So we eventually got that done. And super nice guy.

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And the more I looked him up and saw what he was doing, I was really just taken

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back by all of the good work that you're doing with the community.

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And so we have the executive director, president and CEO, forgive me if I'm

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leaving anything out there, of Mentor California, Mr. Marcus Strother.

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Marcus, how are you? Hey, what's happening? Hey, I'm amazing.

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I'm amazing. Good to be with you, Mike. You as well, Uncle Dave.

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This is a great opportunity.

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And as you stated, Mike, I'm really excited meeting you in Monterey.

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Seeing the hats, I had already been a fan of the hats. And then seeing you that

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day, and to your point, we had great conversation.

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And things just continue to build from there. So I'm excited to be here with you all.

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Yeah, yeah. You know, we get asked often to do custom hats and collaborations.

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And so, you know, we kind of have to pick and choose what we're going to give

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our time and resources to.

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And obviously, this is something that, like Uncle Dad was saying in the beginning,

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I feel is very important, especially in California.

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It's so easy to go either way when you're a young person here.

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There's so much opportunity and advantage

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to living here but there's also so much other stuff to get

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into that's not so productive i should say it

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you know and so having someone around to

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kind of show those those boundaries and paths is

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really important so anyways yes just very happy to work with you here and so

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so mentor california so just please tell us uh tell us uh a little bit How long

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has it been around and how you became where you are at with them?

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Please. Absolutely. Absolutely.

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So Mentor California, first and foremost, I'll say we are the affiliate of the

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National Partnership out of Boston, Massachusetts.

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So there are 23 affiliates across the country. Not only is there Mentor California,

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there's Mentor Washington, Mentor Maryland, D.C., Mentor Greater Milwaukee,

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and so on and so forth, Mentor Georgia.

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So we have a phenomenal group, family,

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as we like to say, of folks who are really trying to, in our words,

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our mission, increase the quality and quantity of mentoring across the country,

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but of course, for our affiliates like us, Mentor California here across the state.

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So we started, I started Mentor California four years ago. We are four years

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old, about to be into our fifth year.

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We're pretty excited about that. July 1, we'll make five years.

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And before doing that, I started with a little bit of history.

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So I spent 22 years in public education.

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I was a high school teacher for eight years, English teacher for eight years,

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was a high school administrator for nine years, and then went on to be a district

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director for five years. So 22 years in that space.

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In that time, my wife and I were consistently running our mentoring programs.

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We had one called Brother to Brother, which was specifically for young men.

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We had another one called Sister Circle for, of course, young women.

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And then we started a leadership initiative, Leaders Empowered to Achieve Anything

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Possible, where we really just brought all youth together and really tried to

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give them what was needed to be great leaders, to get mentors,

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and really understand how the global affects the local.

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So some of that work would take us to the Dominican Republic,

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where we've been a part of building three schools.

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We recently went to Peru and started a medical clinic there.

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And every time we go, we brought over 100 young people with us to those spaces

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to be able to do that work.

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And we're hoping to get into Belize very soon to continue doing that.

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So mentoring has been a huge part of what we do.

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My wife is a high school wellness counselor, so she is in the education space as well.

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And as I was getting into my 22nd year,

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maybe a little bit before that, Mike and Uncle Dad, I started thinking about

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how can I step away from public education and come back and still do good work,

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but not necessarily have the tying of my hands,

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should I say, by the public school system. them.

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So that is where Mentor California came into play. The national office wanted

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to start an affiliate here.

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I had done some work with the national office. So conversations began in terms

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of what this could look like and how we can make it make sense.

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On 2019, we did a feasibility study across the state to see,

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does it make sense for us to be here?

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Because what we are is really a TA provider.

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It is our biggest body of work in terms of making sure we give professional

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development element to mentoring organizations, whether they are faith-based,

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community-based, school-based.

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We want to make sure people understand that mentoring is not something you just

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show up and do. It is a skill.

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We want to be able to teach folks how to build relationships with young people.

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We want to be able to teach folks what does it mean to actually put together

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a group mentoring program or a one-to-one mentoring program.

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So we do that, and it allows us to be able to to really connect with a number of programs.

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So we support currently right now, 307 mentoring programs across the state of California.

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And it just is an absolutely amazing body of work for us. I have an amazing staff.

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And outside of our training, we do mentor recruitment.

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We also do great partnerships. So we can talk a little bit about some of the things that we've done.

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Mike already mentioned the Sacramento Kings, and we are partnered with the NBA in its entirety.

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So So we get to work with multiple teams, but it has been absolutely phenomenal.

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So I'll stop there because I've said a lot and I'm sure there's other questions.

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Yeah. I mean, that's, that's, that's quite the, the, the explanation.

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And, um, what, so, so you, you pretty much in 22 years is a lot,

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a lot, you know, a lot of time of your life.

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I'm sure there was less gray in that beard when you first started.

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So, so what, what caused you to dedicate, you know, your life to public service

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and community, you know, and helping the community any like that.

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Like where along the line did you find that as that was your path?

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Yeah. My eighth grade English teacher, Mr. James Hudson, phenomenal gentleman

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who really became probably the person I would say was my first mentor before

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I even really knew kind of the uncle dad's point earlier.

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Like I didn't know that he was my mentor. I didn't see him in that way.

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I kind of just seen him as my eighth grade teacher, but he continued to pour

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into my life into my life in different ways.

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So he followed us to our ninth grade year. So we got the blessing of having him twice.

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And then even as a senior in high school, music is a big passion of mine.

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I have my degree in music and theater education.

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And really, he was the one who introduced me to my HBCU, University of Arkansas at Ive Love.

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He brought me to a show where the choir there was singing and performing in

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Illinois, where I'm originally from.

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And he introduced me to the choir director and the choir director said,

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you know, sing something.

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And from there, you know, I got a scholarship to go to UAPB.

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And then coming back home and just continuing because I knew from meeting Mr.

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Hudson that if music didn't end up panning out the way that I wanted it to be,

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you know, I was in a singing group.

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We thought we would be the next Boyz II Men, didn't happen for us.

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But I always knew that education was the way that I wanted to go go outside

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of that. And that was all because of Mr. Hudson.

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He really showed me because he not only was our eighth grade English teacher,

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he led the Black History Program in our town.

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He was very well respected. And I really just, I wanted to be that person.

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I wanted to be someone who was making our community better and really giving back.

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So, you know, shout out to Kankakee, Illinois, where I'm originally from, just south of Chicago.

248
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I love my hometown. Just a kid from Kankakee is something that many of us will say.

249
00:16:53,190 --> 00:16:57,150
Alright, okay. So that's... I want to know, let me ask you this,

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is there anywhere that we could hear recordings of this early, of this group? route?

251
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That usually is the question. If I sent it to you, you would find it. There's no YouTube.

252
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You could find stuff. So I did do music with many other artists that I could

253
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send you that is on YouTube.

254
00:17:16,290 --> 00:17:21,670
Really great folks from Randy Malone and Howie T and some really great artists

255
00:17:21,670 --> 00:17:23,710
who have done really three feasts out of Chicago.

256
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So there's some things I could send you in terms of my writing skills.

257
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But me, vocally, we'd have to go do karaoke or something. Let's do it.

258
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I also had a period in my life where when I was younger, I thought I was going to be the next Eminem.

259
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And so there are recordings that you can hear of me that are out there.

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I'll share them with you and we can compare our potential.

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You know, one of the things you mentioned, it was an eighth grade teacher that kind of got me.

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It was your first mentor type. and one of the things I saw on the vision for

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Mentor California is that you're looking,

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you're doing things to help grow and develop these young people into productive

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and engaged adults which which I think is a lot different for most teachers

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in school that they're they're just looking to get the the youth to or the kids

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to pass class because you know like that's how schools make money is by you know,

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getting kids to graduate and move on.

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So, you know, obviously we all get certain teachers that care a little more.

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It sounds like you had one.

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I had one in 11th grade.

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I had a teacher that kind of stepped up in that way.

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But that is, I think, overall, in general, it's a missing piece in the education system is that part.

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It's not just, hey, we got to get these kids to pass.

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Let's do whatever it takes to get them to pass. Like, how do we prepare them

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to be successful successful adults, you know?

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Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's why we have one of our initiatives is called

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Relationship-Centered Schools.

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And that is our way to pour into schools because that is where we have everyday mentors, right?

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Like those teachers and even outside of teachers, right?

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Counselors and administrators and cafeteria staff.

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All of these folks are there pointing to young people on an everyday basis.

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But what we need folks to understand in the education space is that young people,

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if you see them as just someone who can perform for you, right?

285
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Like, can you pass this test? Can you pass this exam?

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Can you walk on the right side of the hallway? Can you be quiet in certain areas?

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If you look at them as just someone who can perform, you're going to miss out

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on all the beauty that is them as a whole person.

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So we try to get people to understand that love is the way that we can really

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move this in the direction that we need it to go.

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And, you know, I heard something yesterday and I can't remember actually who

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said it, but it was a gentleman on ESPN and he said, you know,

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there are folks, actually, I think it might have been Good Morning America,

294
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but anyway, he said there are folks who care and then there are folks who care less.

295
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You know, we're really trying to get people who actually want to care about

296
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young people and lead with love first.

297
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So we lift up Life Data Matters. We lift up love.

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We just released a state of mentoring report, which is entitled California Love,

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right? Now, some of that is old to Tupac and Dre, of course.

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All of the little chapters in the book have actual California songs that are the titles for it.

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But we really want people to understand, you know, based on what Bell Hooks

302
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talked about in many of either her talks or books or articles,

303
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was really how do we think about love when we're working with young people and

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recognizing that they are human beings first?

305
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First and if we can get them to be great human beings they'll

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understand why they need to pass or why they need to do

307
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well in school or why they may need to go into a career or college or whatever

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happens for them past k-12 so i think that's the way we're trying to move mike

309
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uh so when you talk about the the mentor uh program is that something that anybody

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can be involved in or is that just something i select for you like you have

311
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to prove your worth to become a mentor.

312
00:21:12,473 --> 00:21:18,033
No, that's a great question. So it really is something that we want to push

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people to be a part of if it's something that you really feel like touches your life, right?

314
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Like we don't want you to step into this space of working with young people isn't your thing.

315
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Don't step into the space like it's okay. I go do the other stuff that you do

316
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and be great at that. But it is a way, we do have a way for folks,

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should I say, to get involved. We have what's called our mentoring connector.

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They can go to our website and they can just click to become a mentor.

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And when they click that, they're going to get a drop down menu that is going

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to share tons of different opportunities and ways that they can find different

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programs within 25 miles where they live.

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So they can reach out to whether it's a Big Brothers, Big Sisters,

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all the way down to some very small programs like Aging Up here in Sacramento,

324
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who works specifically with foster youth.

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So there are many different ways, but we love and really want to push people

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to want to be in the mentoring space.

327
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But only if that is what touches you. There's six million babies in the state

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of California. We got a lot of recruitment that we're trying to do to try to

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make sure that at least one caring adult is reaching out and making sure our

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babies have what they need.

331
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But, yeah, you know, there's there's no real requirement other than loving young

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people and wanting to see them be great.

333
00:22:30,173 --> 00:22:32,833
That's really beautiful. You know, one of the things you said earlier,

334
00:22:32,973 --> 00:22:38,473
Marcus, was was something along the lines of being able to to know how to relate

335
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or connect, you know, reach, you know.

336
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And so I feel, for me,

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I find it hard sometimes to really know how to talk to the youth just because

338
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it feels like it's such a different space than when I was a teenager and throughout the 90s.

339
00:22:56,253 --> 00:23:04,073
And yeah, how do you figure out how to connect to the youth these days?

340
00:23:04,693 --> 00:23:07,573
Yeah, that's a great question. So you listen to young people,

341
00:23:07,673 --> 00:23:09,293
right? Right. Like you get them in space.

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00:23:09,913 --> 00:23:14,733
We lift up youth voice all the time, but sometimes it's not really centered

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00:23:14,733 --> 00:23:19,073
in a way that means that we really are going to give credence and give weight

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to what it is that they say.

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So it's about finding space for young people to tell you, you know,

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I say this to adults all the time. I say, I'll push it out this way.

347
00:23:26,913 --> 00:23:31,193
Can we be humble enough to get out of the way and allow young people to tell us what we need to do?

348
00:23:31,553 --> 00:23:35,093
Right. So if we can do that, if we can listen to young people,

349
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we have what's called our youth design labs.

350
00:23:36,973 --> 00:23:40,893
Well, we'll just bring young people into spaces and let them talk to us and

351
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tell us what they need, you know, and then try to figure out what are the resources

352
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that we have to be able to find those things and get them excited about those things.

353
00:23:49,513 --> 00:23:53,353
You know, the young people seen, they seen the hat that you designed for us,

354
00:23:53,353 --> 00:23:56,653
Mike, when we were working with the Golden State Warriors and working with McClinus

355
00:23:56,653 --> 00:23:58,893
High School, they seen the hat and they were like.

356
00:23:59,582 --> 00:24:02,602
Strother, how do we get one of those hats? And right away, I said,

357
00:24:02,702 --> 00:24:07,182
ah, let's figure that out. Went to the Warriors and said, hey, young people want a hat.

358
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What do we need to do? They're like, we got it. We'll take care of making sure

359
00:24:10,382 --> 00:24:14,282
all young people in the program that we're working with have a hat.

360
00:24:14,722 --> 00:24:18,462
So it's then showing up, right? That was a small thing. That's not going to

361
00:24:18,462 --> 00:24:22,222
necessarily change the trajectory of their life, but it is an adult hearing

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00:24:22,222 --> 00:24:26,042
them and saying, all right, you want a hat? Let's figure out how to get you a hat.

363
00:24:26,302 --> 00:24:29,142
So it's how do you sit down with young people allow them to

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tell you what it is that they need and then actually moving forward

365
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with it you know and trying to be culturally relevant and

366
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listening you know to the things that are happening in

367
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the streets the things that are happening around the country and what's really

368
00:24:41,202 --> 00:24:46,162
affecting how to move so again it's young people will tell us what they'll tell

369
00:24:46,162 --> 00:24:49,122
you what they need and they'll tell you how to move and and how you can show

370
00:24:49,122 --> 00:24:52,762
up for them in the best way someone who's new to this world uh you use the term

371
00:24:52,762 --> 00:24:55,662
young people a lot rather than children or you know,

372
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whatever you would use. Is that intentional?

373
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And what is the intention behind it? Yeah, no, it's great. It is very intentional

374
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because sometimes those words can make...

375
00:25:06,874 --> 00:25:11,554
Our young people feel a little bit maybe not respected in different ways.

376
00:25:11,634 --> 00:25:16,234
When you call them kids or you call them children, that comes with a different type of weight, right?

377
00:25:17,174 --> 00:25:20,474
My wife and I say all the time that we've never been married.

378
00:25:20,554 --> 00:25:24,294
We've really just been great partners because marriage comes with a certain weight.

379
00:25:24,434 --> 00:25:27,874
As the husband, you're supposed to do X, Y, and Z.

380
00:25:28,154 --> 00:25:31,294
As the wife, you're supposed to do X, Y, and Z. And that's not the case for

381
00:25:31,294 --> 00:25:33,214
us. Like my wife will change the toilet.

382
00:25:33,374 --> 00:25:37,234
I'll write somebody a song. Right. Like totally different things.

383
00:25:37,294 --> 00:25:41,254
Like I'll write curriculum while she's fixing something outside.

384
00:25:41,574 --> 00:25:47,094
So we try to live in a space where we give young people respect in many different

385
00:25:47,094 --> 00:25:51,014
ways. Now, you may also hear me refer to them as babies sometimes.

386
00:25:51,334 --> 00:25:56,634
And when we speak to that, that often in many ways, when Trayvon Martin was

387
00:25:56,634 --> 00:26:01,074
killed, one of the things that people from God was that at the end of the day,

388
00:26:01,134 --> 00:26:02,034
that was somebody's baby.

389
00:26:02,394 --> 00:26:06,054
Right. Right. I was just walking down the street, minding their own business

390
00:26:06,054 --> 00:26:10,534
and murdered because the person we all know, I don't want to give weight to

391
00:26:10,534 --> 00:26:15,314
their name, but decided that they were a threat, that he was a threat. Right.

392
00:26:15,654 --> 00:26:19,194
And we also want people to recognize, though, that at the end of the day,

393
00:26:19,294 --> 00:26:22,974
you know, really until 25 years old, their brain is still developing and they're

394
00:26:22,974 --> 00:26:27,214
still trying to figure out, you know, who they are and what it is that they can be.

395
00:26:27,214 --> 00:26:29,994
So we in many ways and i say we because

396
00:26:29,994 --> 00:26:32,774
there's a number of us that it really took this song was

397
00:26:32,774 --> 00:26:35,914
we wanted people to also recognize though don't forget that these these are

398
00:26:35,914 --> 00:26:39,474
somebody's babies these are this is somebody's child uh this is someone's son

399
00:26:39,474 --> 00:26:44,074
daughter this is this is someone's young person and what that means to them

400
00:26:44,074 --> 00:26:47,814
so we try to be intentional with the conversation and just make your words matter

401
00:26:47,814 --> 00:26:51,954
right like words matter in many different ways and we just want.

402
00:26:53,034 --> 00:26:55,934
Yeah, like, we just want to be really intentional with that.

403
00:26:56,074 --> 00:26:58,914
You know, I tell people when they say, like, hey, man, I'm trying to kill two

404
00:26:58,914 --> 00:27:01,494
birds with one stone. I'm like, why are we killing animals?

405
00:27:01,654 --> 00:27:05,174
Like, the birds didn't do nothing to you. Like, there's got to be a better way to say it.

406
00:27:06,046 --> 00:27:09,266
Yeah, I think that, I mean, that's something we're starting to figure out more

407
00:27:09,266 --> 00:27:12,886
and more, right, is where a lot of these weird sayings that we just nonchalantly

408
00:27:12,886 --> 00:27:16,146
throw out there, actually like where the roots of those come from.

409
00:27:16,226 --> 00:27:21,146
And yes, words do, they hold a lot of weight in hell and not just in what you

410
00:27:21,146 --> 00:27:22,246
say, but how you say it, right?

411
00:27:22,966 --> 00:27:28,066
That's right. I don't know. I know, excuse me, I know if I was talked to by,

412
00:27:28,146 --> 00:27:32,726
you know, say I'm looking for my way and I'm talked to by an older gentleman

413
00:27:32,726 --> 00:27:35,726
who calls me, hey kid, look, this is how you do it.

414
00:27:36,046 --> 00:27:39,006
As opposed to, hey, young man, this is how you do it.

415
00:27:39,106 --> 00:27:44,186
I'm going to hear it way differently if I hear that I'm a young man. So that's right.

416
00:27:45,126 --> 00:27:50,926
You know, one of the an interesting stat I saw on the website is that one in

417
00:27:50,926 --> 00:27:52,726
three young people in the U.S.

418
00:27:52,746 --> 00:27:55,266
Reaches the age of 19 without having a mentor.

419
00:27:56,206 --> 00:28:00,586
And I was fortunate. You know, I just give a little story here.

420
00:28:01,046 --> 00:28:03,126
I was fortunate when I was about 14.

421
00:28:03,686 --> 00:28:06,486
My dad was checked out doing whatever he was

422
00:28:06,486 --> 00:28:09,926
doing which wasn't really taking care of much of me and I

423
00:28:09,926 --> 00:28:13,166
mean my mom was was working so she wasn't really around

424
00:28:13,166 --> 00:28:15,826
much and I was starting to get into

425
00:28:15,826 --> 00:28:18,906
some trouble just running around out in the streets and

426
00:28:18,906 --> 00:28:21,806
walking to a comic book store and there

427
00:28:21,806 --> 00:28:24,866
was a guy I mentioned his name earlier in the show on

428
00:28:24,866 --> 00:28:27,686
our intro his name Steve Wyatt who just said hey the

429
00:28:27,686 --> 00:28:30,246
door's open come on in and you know

430
00:28:30,246 --> 00:28:33,146
I think he could see and he had a son of his zone a couple years younger than

431
00:28:33,146 --> 00:28:35,966
me but he could see that I needed some

432
00:28:35,966 --> 00:28:38,786
help I needed some some guidance and he just kind of took me

433
00:28:38,786 --> 00:28:41,846
in and I started working for comics which eventually led me

434
00:28:41,846 --> 00:28:45,186
to drawing comics which eventually led me to you

435
00:28:45,186 --> 00:28:48,026
know doing design and artwork and now you know that's how

436
00:28:48,026 --> 00:28:51,806
you have the hat that we collaborated on but it

437
00:28:51,806 --> 00:28:54,866
just it meant so much you know and I've and I've

438
00:28:54,866 --> 00:28:58,306
you know now he's still like he's like family to me and

439
00:28:58,306 --> 00:29:01,106
you know he's not the only person that stepped up you know uh

440
00:29:01,106 --> 00:29:04,306
you know my mom remarried that man helped

441
00:29:04,306 --> 00:29:07,066
me a lot and other you know other artists and stuff but

442
00:29:07,066 --> 00:29:13,806
that one person changed my life you know and and he saw something and and stepped

443
00:29:13,806 --> 00:29:18,706
up on his own and didn't have to and it's just so i just want to iterate with

444
00:29:18,706 --> 00:29:24,086
you or reiterate with you how important it is for for men to step up when they

445
00:29:24,086 --> 00:29:25,846
when they have have the ability to, right?

446
00:29:26,346 --> 00:29:30,966
Because not everyone has the ability to, but if you do, how important it is.

447
00:29:31,793 --> 00:29:35,013
Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, just to hear you say that,

448
00:29:35,013 --> 00:29:38,873
that one person, right, it was just one person who stepped in and there were others.

449
00:29:39,153 --> 00:29:43,573
Right. But it was that one, you know, that really said, hey, I see this in you.

450
00:29:43,853 --> 00:29:47,653
Let's do something with it. Let's manifest it in whatever it is that you want

451
00:29:47,653 --> 00:29:51,893
it to be. You know, and it's amazing to think about, you know,

452
00:29:51,893 --> 00:29:57,513
what's the meant to all of the things that you have done. Right.

453
00:29:57,613 --> 00:30:01,413
But but in connection to how I know you and thinking about Barbridge,

454
00:30:01,673 --> 00:30:06,253
you know, my one of the most beautiful things that happens is I wear that hat

455
00:30:06,253 --> 00:30:10,893
on a daily basis. If not the beanie, I'm wearing the Men for California hat.

456
00:30:11,353 --> 00:30:16,273
And I have been, I was most recently down in San Diego and with the Aspen Institute.

457
00:30:16,813 --> 00:30:19,933
And I can't tell you how many people walked up and seen me and was like,

458
00:30:20,113 --> 00:30:21,993
is that one of those hats?

459
00:30:22,453 --> 00:30:26,793
The patch hat? You know, like just watching them make the connection.

460
00:30:27,193 --> 00:30:30,213
And it's just beautiful, right? Right. It just speaks to, you know,

461
00:30:30,213 --> 00:30:33,853
what Steve had done for you to get you to a place to not only,

462
00:30:33,913 --> 00:30:37,293
like I said, what it has, but many other things around your artwork.

463
00:30:37,493 --> 00:30:42,153
And people don't recognize how important it is to try to just find one.

464
00:30:42,373 --> 00:30:45,433
Right. And if we can expand it into more, of course, that's great.

465
00:30:45,533 --> 00:30:49,613
But just that one person that says, man, I got you. Come on,

466
00:30:49,633 --> 00:30:52,193
let's figure it out. I wish I could say the same about my mentor, Mike.

467
00:30:52,353 --> 00:30:55,133
But let me tell you how Mike introduced himself into my life.

468
00:30:56,713 --> 00:30:59,573
Okay i was 16 years old i

469
00:30:59,573 --> 00:31:02,533
was at a comic book convention hanging out just walking around

470
00:31:02,533 --> 00:31:05,393
and i'm looking through i guess at this point we determined it

471
00:31:05,393 --> 00:31:08,493
was steve wyatt's comics right and i'm looking through steve wyatt's comics

472
00:31:08,493 --> 00:31:11,413
and i hear this guy and he goes hey hey

473
00:31:11,413 --> 00:31:14,413
kid hey kid hey kid do you

474
00:31:14,413 --> 00:31:18,373
like superheroes and i go sure yeah

475
00:31:18,373 --> 00:31:21,153
i do like superheroes and so he brings me over and

476
00:31:21,153 --> 00:31:23,993
he introduced me to his character now mike i'll let you explain the character real

477
00:31:23,993 --> 00:31:30,393
fast well well to be fair i didn't marcus i don't remember me saying hey kid

478
00:31:30,393 --> 00:31:35,633
but that's what this guy swears up and down i said where is i swear to you i'm

479
00:31:35,633 --> 00:31:40,513
gonna forget that that's not even stuff i would say but uh okay so let's just

480
00:31:40,513 --> 00:31:43,193
say i said hey kid do you like superheroes,

481
00:31:43,833 --> 00:31:46,753
if steve would sell he would go to conventions and set

482
00:31:46,753 --> 00:31:49,673
up a huge booth selling golden and silver age comic

483
00:31:49,673 --> 00:31:53,253
books you know the boxes and boxes of comics and

484
00:31:53,253 --> 00:31:55,993
he would give sometimes give me like two feet of space on the

485
00:31:55,993 --> 00:31:59,053
table to sell my self-published comics which at

486
00:31:59,053 --> 00:32:04,893
the time was called i'll just say the the paraphrase named captain a and he

487
00:32:04,893 --> 00:32:10,033
was like a character kind of based on myself with a guy with a paper bag on

488
00:32:10,033 --> 00:32:16,533
his head who was also a rapper but he would say say the things that you kind

489
00:32:16,533 --> 00:32:18,333
of wanted to say to people,

490
00:32:18,413 --> 00:32:21,873
but you couldn't say because then you'd be in a hole.

491
00:32:22,153 --> 00:32:25,393
So that's how I lured him in.

492
00:32:26,239 --> 00:32:31,279
And somehow he thought that was worth following me around to the next thing. I don't know. It worked.

493
00:32:32,039 --> 00:32:35,539
Right. Let me explain. I don't know if I've actually have explained this before

494
00:32:35,539 --> 00:32:40,019
on the show, but what I think happened was this, was that kind of when you were

495
00:32:40,019 --> 00:32:42,299
saying, that's why I asked you about when you brought up the conversation,

496
00:32:42,299 --> 00:32:45,659
the intention behind using the word youth or young people.

497
00:32:46,179 --> 00:32:51,059
And when I, even though I was a 16 year old, I might've actually been 17, but whatever.

498
00:32:51,059 --> 00:32:53,999
Ever mike always spoke to me and looked

499
00:32:53,999 --> 00:33:00,119
at me as somebody who was a peer maybe he didn't do that intentionally and to

500
00:33:00,119 --> 00:33:04,959
me it felt like as if somebody who digs the things that i dig you know because

501
00:33:04,959 --> 00:33:07,879
at that time comics they were popular but they weren't as what they were now

502
00:33:07,879 --> 00:33:11,319
right and having somebody,

503
00:33:11,879 --> 00:33:16,299
who a little bit older kind of cool edgy you know look at me and talk to me

504
00:33:16,299 --> 00:33:19,699
like that i think it meant more to me than I realized, and then every time I

505
00:33:19,699 --> 00:33:22,459
saw him at every show, because I would go to these conventions,

506
00:33:22,659 --> 00:33:25,519
all of them, and every time I would go, he would still treat me as if

507
00:33:25,939 --> 00:33:29,599
I was just as important the first time as I was the second time.

508
00:33:29,659 --> 00:33:31,959
I don't know if I ever showed the chair that story. But yeah.

509
00:33:33,499 --> 00:33:38,799
That's beautiful flowers. One of the things that we always say is give folks

510
00:33:38,799 --> 00:33:41,499
flowers while they can enjoy them and receive them.

511
00:33:41,779 --> 00:33:44,939
And this is the first time Mike's hearing that. It's beautiful.

512
00:33:45,299 --> 00:33:49,559
I appreciate you letting me be at Art of that experience of sharing that story,

513
00:33:49,639 --> 00:33:51,879
because that's just absolutely phenomenal.

514
00:33:52,159 --> 00:33:56,439
And I think, you know, that every time, right, like that's part of the training

515
00:33:56,439 --> 00:34:00,859
with my training is like helping folks recognize that every time should be the

516
00:34:00,859 --> 00:34:04,019
first time, like every time should feel like I'm here, I'm important.

517
00:34:04,199 --> 00:34:08,299
I remember a young person saying, like, if you got to put me in your calendar,

518
00:34:08,419 --> 00:34:10,219
then I'm probably not really that important.

519
00:34:10,872 --> 00:34:16,032
Like, if you got to schedule me in, right, because if I'm somebody that you're

520
00:34:16,032 --> 00:34:19,652
trying to help, like, move in the right direction and guide me in the right

521
00:34:19,652 --> 00:34:22,312
way, I might need you at nine o'clock at night.

522
00:34:22,492 --> 00:34:25,712
That doesn't mean that I'm going to always call you at nine o'clock at night,

523
00:34:25,792 --> 00:34:27,832
but I might need you at nine o'clock at night.

524
00:34:27,892 --> 00:34:31,992
And if I if I can't depend on you in that way, maybe you shouldn't be my mentor.

525
00:34:32,272 --> 00:34:37,572
So I love, you know, what you're saying just in terms of like you felt like

526
00:34:37,572 --> 00:34:40,252
every time, you know, you were important, you mattered.

527
00:34:40,972 --> 00:34:46,012
And one of my mentees, who now is a mentor to me in many ways,

528
00:34:46,152 --> 00:34:49,952
because he's a phenomenal writer and has done really, really great work.

529
00:34:50,232 --> 00:34:53,452
So anytime I write an article or anything, I have him look it over.

530
00:34:53,732 --> 00:34:57,092
But, you know, he said to me a long time ago, he said, if you're not mentoring

531
00:34:57,092 --> 00:35:00,532
someone with the idea that maybe eventually they could become a friend later

532
00:35:00,532 --> 00:35:05,992
in life or even closer, maybe you should rethink what it is that you're doing.

533
00:35:05,992 --> 00:35:09,372
Now, that doesn't mean that it will always end that way, but I do have young

534
00:35:09,372 --> 00:35:13,652
folks who, you know, now him being one of them, you know, he's a bonus son for

535
00:35:13,652 --> 00:35:19,032
us, but he is, we get to hang out, we get to talk, we get to share whiskey ideas.

536
00:35:19,092 --> 00:35:22,032
Like, he came to me when he was 13, 14 years old.

537
00:35:22,192 --> 00:35:24,952
Now we're saying, you know, man, did you try this new whiskey?

538
00:35:25,072 --> 00:35:29,772
Right? Like, it's huge and just special to be able to see that.

539
00:35:29,912 --> 00:35:33,832
So, Mike, you got some good flowers today. That was awesome.

540
00:35:34,512 --> 00:35:41,712
I did, yes. Yes, and Uncle Dad and I have also shared whiskey a time or two. Maybe too much at times.

541
00:35:45,112 --> 00:35:49,392
What's your favorite whiskey? What's your favorite whiskey? Off topic real quick,

542
00:35:49,492 --> 00:35:51,872
just curious. Mike, you go first.

543
00:35:52,912 --> 00:35:58,472
I don't, you know what? Any kind that doesn't make me gag right away. Okay.

544
00:36:00,252 --> 00:36:04,192
I wish I had a name to give you, but I, you know, I don't know.

545
00:36:05,192 --> 00:36:08,052
Jameson? I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding,

546
00:36:09,072 --> 00:36:12,812
I will actually tell you this and Mike, you were actually there funny enough,

547
00:36:12,932 --> 00:36:16,372
you were there when we first tried it recently, I went to go visit Mike and

548
00:36:16,372 --> 00:36:21,792
we did a whole thing on Asheville North Carolina and we went to this distillery,

549
00:36:22,672 --> 00:36:25,592
and you know what, it's going to kill me now Mike, do you remember the name of the distillery?

550
00:36:26,428 --> 00:36:27,668
You know I don't.

551
00:36:30,928 --> 00:36:34,108
How dare you do that to me on this show in front of Marcus?

552
00:36:35,708 --> 00:36:38,688
It's like, Ash, I can't remember what it's called. It sucks that I can't because

553
00:36:38,688 --> 00:36:41,988
that was probably the best whiskey I've ever had. It was really smooth.

554
00:36:42,428 --> 00:36:46,568
It was made in a small batch. And this is my second favorite whiskey, I'll tell you this, man.

555
00:36:46,768 --> 00:36:50,128
If you ever get the opportunity and you're in Joshua Tree because it's in California,

556
00:36:50,388 --> 00:36:52,048
go to Joshua's Distillery.

557
00:36:52,488 --> 00:36:57,028
Go check them out. It's a family-owned operation. they make like some of the

558
00:36:57,028 --> 00:37:01,728
best whiskeys I've ever had in my life definitely done so that's what I would,

559
00:37:01,828 --> 00:37:03,948
those are my two I would say love that.

560
00:37:06,868 --> 00:37:12,188
Uncle Nearest right now is what I'm enjoying that's a good one,

561
00:37:12,728 --> 00:37:17,888
I would love to get to their space in Tennessee it's supposed to be their distillery

562
00:37:17,888 --> 00:37:23,388
it's supposed to be I think it broke the record for like the world's longest bar,

563
00:37:24,048 --> 00:37:27,568
if i'm if i'm correct don't quote me on that the

564
00:37:27,568 --> 00:37:30,288
chain whistley do not work for uncle nearest so i don't i don't

565
00:37:30,288 --> 00:37:33,008
know for sure but i think so but i

566
00:37:33,008 --> 00:37:36,768
but i do enjoy uncle nearest absolutely and i would say my number two is whistle

567
00:37:36,768 --> 00:37:45,228
pig oh yeah oh yeah well yeah speaking of whiskey like let's just say hypothetically

568
00:37:45,228 --> 00:37:50,748
you're out drinking whiskey one night and then tomorrow you have a big mentor,

569
00:37:50,908 --> 00:37:54,408
I'm sure you wouldn't go excessively drinking whiskey the night before you have

570
00:37:54,408 --> 00:37:58,788
a leadership summit or anything because who would do that?

571
00:37:58,868 --> 00:38:03,208
But, you know, let's just say like, what if there are days where you've got

572
00:38:03,208 --> 00:38:08,088
to perform at this high level, you know, and you're not feeling in the best shape?

573
00:38:08,108 --> 00:38:13,168
Like, how do you, what do you do to power through and like find a silver lining

574
00:38:13,168 --> 00:38:15,988
in your cloud to perform? Yeah.

575
00:38:16,517 --> 00:38:21,497
Yeah, no, that's a great question. You know, we talk about self-care a lot and

576
00:38:21,497 --> 00:38:25,057
really, you know, what does that mean and how do we get ourselves right?

577
00:38:25,197 --> 00:38:31,577
And there are days where I have to go and speak and it may just not feel in the best space.

578
00:38:31,817 --> 00:38:35,957
And immediately, one, I'll find some place to go and sit and meditate,

579
00:38:36,117 --> 00:38:40,837
you know, where I can feel like I can put on Calm or I can put on Jay Shetty,

580
00:38:40,997 --> 00:38:44,077
something and listen and meditate and try to get into a better space.

581
00:38:44,077 --> 00:38:48,677
I may take a cold shower to help wake me up in a different way and just get

582
00:38:48,677 --> 00:38:50,517
my body a little bit more re-energized.

583
00:38:50,817 --> 00:38:54,857
And if I'm not in a place, you know, where I can find a way to go to a float,

584
00:38:54,977 --> 00:39:01,117
I don't know if you all are float fans, but I love to find a float spot somewhere.

585
00:39:01,257 --> 00:39:06,857
And if I can get in before I have to go and speak and be in space, I will do that.

586
00:39:06,957 --> 00:39:11,877
But typically I try to, you know, make sure the night before I'm good and in

587
00:39:11,877 --> 00:39:14,677
a great space and I can soak. That doesn't happen.

588
00:39:15,477 --> 00:39:17,157
I was seeing you wondering what

589
00:39:17,157 --> 00:39:21,497
a float spa is. Yeah, yeah. Like a deprivation float or whatever it is?

590
00:39:21,777 --> 00:39:24,177
Deprivation tanks. Yep, yep, yep. Exactly.

591
00:39:25,097 --> 00:39:27,937
Yeah, yeah. I've always been curious about those. That's the,

592
00:39:28,057 --> 00:39:30,777
you know, you don't feel any sensation, right? You're in the salt water.

593
00:39:31,417 --> 00:39:36,057
Yeah. Correct. So, yeah, tell me, can you just, what's that like for you? Yeah.

594
00:39:36,682 --> 00:39:39,642
Oh, man, it's the best nap you'll ever take. Right.

595
00:39:40,022 --> 00:39:45,602
In that 60 minutes, you feel like you slept for eight hours once you wake up.

596
00:39:45,682 --> 00:39:47,162
Some people don't always fall asleep.

597
00:39:47,342 --> 00:39:52,762
Let me say that. But for me, once I lay back and begin to float, I fall asleep.

598
00:39:52,842 --> 00:39:57,122
I'm out. I'm out until the music times and the light comes on.

599
00:39:57,302 --> 00:40:01,162
And it is it is the best nap you will ever take.

600
00:40:01,262 --> 00:40:06,802
First of all. oh yeah well i should start doing those before the show maybe what do you think.

601
00:40:08,442 --> 00:40:11,102
There you go yeah i saw yeah i

602
00:40:11,102 --> 00:40:14,742
saw on the mentor california website that self-care is

603
00:40:14,742 --> 00:40:17,982
mentioned a few times and you know self-care

604
00:40:17,982 --> 00:40:21,322
it doesn't always just mean like eating and sleeping

605
00:40:21,322 --> 00:40:23,962
the right amount right like there's other things you do

606
00:40:23,962 --> 00:40:27,182
that's right meditating i think is a huge huge way to

607
00:40:27,182 --> 00:40:30,662
help kind of reset your brain and you know

608
00:40:30,662 --> 00:40:33,382
and then just notice the things that come up especially when you're in

609
00:40:33,382 --> 00:40:36,262
those float tanks right like when you're not

610
00:40:36,262 --> 00:40:39,722
stimulated by something and you just sit there to be with your thoughts like

611
00:40:39,722 --> 00:40:44,222
what comes up and do you work through that or do you find that you avoid that

612
00:40:44,222 --> 00:40:50,182
and and so i think you know psycho psychologically there's the self care part

613
00:40:50,182 --> 00:40:56,022
of everything too and like what are you doing to take care of your mental space Absolutely.

614
00:40:56,502 --> 00:41:00,102
Absolutely. You know, taking a walk. I mean, if I could be done with the walk

615
00:41:00,102 --> 00:41:02,662
today, I'm going to get my beard cleaned up.

616
00:41:02,842 --> 00:41:05,442
For me, I love those homelands.

617
00:41:05,702 --> 00:41:09,642
It gives me an opportunity just to chill and lay back and be a little pampered.

618
00:41:09,962 --> 00:41:14,502
There's multiple different ways, as you said, Mike, to get a little self-care in there.

619
00:41:15,062 --> 00:41:19,662
Yeah, yeah. So you were originally from Illinois. What was the town?

620
00:41:20,602 --> 00:41:24,802
Kankakee. Kankakee. I need to make a Kinkakee hat for you,

621
00:41:25,582 --> 00:41:31,342
man I'd love it that would be amazing how did you find your way you're in Sacramento

622
00:41:31,342 --> 00:41:36,282
how did you find your way out here yeah great question so have you ever seen

623
00:41:36,282 --> 00:41:37,182
the movie Freedom Riders.

624
00:41:38,865 --> 00:41:41,885
I don't think so. Maybe, maybe not. That's your homework assignment.

625
00:41:42,045 --> 00:41:45,565
You got to watch the movie Freedom Riders. So Freedom Riders is about a teacher,

626
00:41:45,685 --> 00:41:49,945
Aaron Ruel, in Long Beach, California, who was working at a high school there.

627
00:41:49,985 --> 00:41:54,025
She's an English teacher and just had, you know, some of those young people

628
00:41:54,025 --> 00:41:57,865
that many teachers throw away and say, hey, they're not going to amount to anything.

629
00:41:58,445 --> 00:42:03,305
We'll put them here and hopefully we can get them through and call it a day.

630
00:42:03,305 --> 00:42:07,905
Well, Aaron seen and wanted more for them and really created an opportunity

631
00:42:07,905 --> 00:42:12,525
for those young people to thrive and become amazing adults who are doing amazing work in the house.

632
00:42:13,425 --> 00:42:17,805
Her story, actually, she was played by Hilary Swank in the movie,

633
00:42:17,865 --> 00:42:23,045
and her curriculum and methodology is something that folks can go and learn.

634
00:42:23,165 --> 00:42:25,945
So I went and actually learned from her. She's a mentor of mine,

635
00:42:26,105 --> 00:42:31,325
the Freedom Rider methodology, and have been training teachers now for 20 plus

636
00:42:31,325 --> 00:42:33,845
years. years, but I had been coming to California for years,

637
00:42:33,965 --> 00:42:35,765
training teachers in her methodology.

638
00:42:36,485 --> 00:42:40,405
While coming out here, some of the folks that are Freedom Riders teachers,

639
00:42:40,725 --> 00:42:45,365
especially here in Sacramento, there were some openings at a couple of different high schools.

640
00:42:45,545 --> 00:42:48,045
And they were like, Marcus, you should come to California and be a principal.

641
00:42:49,085 --> 00:42:52,125
My wife would come with me every now and again when we were doing trainings.

642
00:42:52,245 --> 00:42:54,685
And every time we got back on a plane to go back to Chicago,

643
00:42:54,905 --> 00:42:56,205
we were like, why? Why are we?

644
00:42:56,505 --> 00:43:00,205
It's freezing. What are we doing? We should just stay out here and Cali.

645
00:43:00,565 --> 00:43:02,965
And, you know, to make a long story

646
00:43:02,965 --> 00:43:07,185
a little bit shorter, all high schools recruited me within the district.

647
00:43:07,465 --> 00:43:12,445
In Sacramento, Sac City Unified School District, they had a job opening that I applied for.

648
00:43:12,805 --> 00:43:17,125
And thanks to an amazing person, her name is Dr. Stacey O.

649
00:43:17,745 --> 00:43:21,525
She found me to be someone that she wanted to hire to be on her team.

650
00:43:21,685 --> 00:43:25,685
And here we are. And my wife and I moved Moved out here, sight unseen.

651
00:43:25,865 --> 00:43:31,325
Other than me coming from my interview, we had a great now brother,

652
00:43:31,545 --> 00:43:37,885
Ken McPeters, who went and FaceTimed some homes for us to help us find a place to rent.

653
00:43:38,065 --> 00:43:43,925
And we did that first and came out here. And we have no intentions of ever leaving California.

654
00:43:44,165 --> 00:43:47,725
We love it. Or Sacramento. We love it here. This is home.

655
00:43:48,045 --> 00:43:51,405
And our three kids, we have three fantastic kids.

656
00:43:52,788 --> 00:43:58,028
Babies as we would say they'll always be my babies but our daughter is 23 and our boys are 19,

657
00:43:58,708 --> 00:44:01,588
and they're doing fantastic our daughter just graduated from

658
00:44:01,588 --> 00:44:06,368
arizona state our other son is in arizona state right now and our other one

659
00:44:06,368 --> 00:44:11,328
mike mike he was an artist and he wants to get into tattooing he's done a bunch

660
00:44:11,328 --> 00:44:17,648
of artwork for some tattoos i used to design shoes was doing when Gene Jack

661
00:44:17,648 --> 00:44:19,888
hits, and he's a fantastic artist.

662
00:44:21,248 --> 00:44:24,308
He's like, I'm not going to college. I'm trying to get this art thing in,

663
00:44:24,348 --> 00:44:28,428
this tattooing. I'm going to figure it out. And we was like, ooh, go make it happen.

664
00:44:28,628 --> 00:44:31,088
What can we do to help you? We love it.

665
00:44:32,388 --> 00:44:36,428
That's a great story, and congratulations on the recent graduate there.

666
00:44:37,008 --> 00:44:38,528
That must make you proud. Thank you.

667
00:44:40,768 --> 00:44:46,748
So let me ask you, are you a Chicago Bulls fan, or are you now an adopted Sacramento Kings fan?

668
00:44:47,548 --> 00:44:52,448
Listen, so we will forever be a Chicago Bulls, Bears, and Cubs fan.

669
00:44:52,788 --> 00:44:57,748
Forever. But if we, you know, the best way for me to say it,

670
00:44:57,768 --> 00:45:00,528
I say it all the time, is we have a 1A and a 1B.

671
00:45:00,788 --> 00:45:04,168
And that 1B would definitely be Sacramento Kings.

672
00:45:04,408 --> 00:45:08,228
They are not only a fantastic partner for Metro California, but,

673
00:45:08,268 --> 00:45:10,768
you know, they do amazing work here in community.

674
00:45:11,328 --> 00:45:14,108
Even when I was with the school district, district they did a lot of stuff to

675
00:45:14,108 --> 00:45:16,888
have support the work and trying to get young

676
00:45:16,888 --> 00:45:19,748
people involved and one of the things that we've been doing with them

677
00:45:19,748 --> 00:45:22,908
is really trying to teach young people how to be in the nba and never play on

678
00:45:22,908 --> 00:45:26,228
the court because we want them to know that there are so many different jobs

679
00:45:26,228 --> 00:45:30,148
and opportunities in the nba you don't have to be a basketball player to be

680
00:45:30,148 --> 00:45:35,488
in the nba so yeah love it love the sacramento kings uh they pulled out a win

681
00:45:35,488 --> 00:45:37,488
last night it shouldn't to go into overtime,

682
00:45:37,848 --> 00:45:40,408
but they pulled it out. They lit the beam.

683
00:45:41,168 --> 00:45:45,688
They lit the beam. Absolutely. I was there to watch it live.

684
00:45:46,028 --> 00:45:48,808
It was quite the thrilling... Yes.

685
00:45:49,688 --> 00:45:53,088
Do you live in Sacramento, Mike? I know you come here often, though.

686
00:45:53,668 --> 00:45:57,528
I don't know if you live here or you just come here often. I used to live here.

687
00:45:57,688 --> 00:46:00,748
I went to high school here and spent all of my 20s here.

688
00:46:01,228 --> 00:46:06,208
My folks still live out here. I have a bunch of friends that are still here.

689
00:46:06,688 --> 00:46:11,828
But I was here during the C-Web, Mike Bibby, Bobby Jackson days when they were

690
00:46:11,828 --> 00:46:18,848
really good and then had to sit through all of the horrible years after that.

691
00:46:19,048 --> 00:46:23,848
But I think it's so fun that you collaborate with them. Obviously, I'm a fan.

692
00:46:24,048 --> 00:46:29,568
And one of the guys that I saw you that you had worked with was Bobby Jackson, right?

693
00:46:29,648 --> 00:46:32,648
And he was one of my favorite six men of the year.

694
00:46:33,228 --> 00:46:38,508
So what's it like? How does that work? do you approach a player or do you just

695
00:46:38,508 --> 00:46:41,388
approach the organization and they offer you someone?

696
00:46:42,228 --> 00:46:48,108
How does the relationship happen? Yeah, the latter. So the Sacramento Canadiens, along with,

697
00:46:48,845 --> 00:46:53,125
All of the NBA teams, for the most part, have their community outreach team.

698
00:46:53,385 --> 00:46:59,205
And that's who we work with. So Marita Davis and Veron Clark and Justin Williams,

699
00:46:59,565 --> 00:47:01,745
they're all a part of that community resource team.

700
00:47:01,985 --> 00:47:05,205
And then we just collaborate and figure out, like, what are the things we're

701
00:47:05,205 --> 00:47:08,105
going to do? I want to lift up National Mentoring Month during January,

702
00:47:08,305 --> 00:47:09,625
but what can we do throughout the year?

703
00:47:09,865 --> 00:47:13,425
And they approach different coaches and players, which is how we got Bobby to

704
00:47:13,425 --> 00:47:17,005
get involved. I ended up doing a video for us to really, you know,

705
00:47:17,005 --> 00:47:21,045
help promote and push out not only the idea of who Mentor California is,

706
00:47:21,165 --> 00:47:23,005
but to really help recruit mentors.

707
00:47:23,365 --> 00:47:28,265
So the organization does a great job in terms of getting players involved,

708
00:47:28,625 --> 00:47:32,085
getting some higher execs involved and really helping us.

709
00:47:32,145 --> 00:47:35,605
You know, we even got an opportunity to do some work with 50 Cent because of

710
00:47:35,605 --> 00:47:36,905
the partnership they have with 50.

711
00:47:37,065 --> 00:47:40,485
So it's been really, really great. When you work with those different partnerships,

712
00:47:40,745 --> 00:47:44,345
is there ever like, does it ever feel like intimidating to you?

713
00:47:44,385 --> 00:47:46,885
Because like, you know, you're the mentor, but that's like, and many people,

714
00:47:46,925 --> 00:47:48,745
those are like the big time mentors, right?

715
00:47:48,825 --> 00:47:52,465
Like those are people who claim to be, you know, want to be so bad.

716
00:47:52,905 --> 00:47:55,885
Is that ever a challenge for you? Or do you feel like you're facilitating a

717
00:47:55,885 --> 00:47:58,145
bigger need? I always, a couple of different things.

718
00:47:58,225 --> 00:48:01,305
I always get nervous going into spaces, even if it's just young people.

719
00:48:01,505 --> 00:48:05,385
But there are folks that, to your point, Uncle Dad, that bring a different kind

720
00:48:05,385 --> 00:48:06,905
of weight and different kind of feel.

721
00:48:07,505 --> 00:48:12,365
So, you know, you always want to be, I guess the best way I would say it is

722
00:48:12,365 --> 00:48:15,505
you always want to be top notch when you step into those rooms and making sure

723
00:48:15,505 --> 00:48:19,565
that you're bringing your best self, because it can be intimidating, right? Right.

724
00:48:19,925 --> 00:48:23,605
You don't want I know the bigger picture to your point. Like,

725
00:48:23,645 --> 00:48:25,885
I want to make sure we're getting young people what they need.

726
00:48:25,985 --> 00:48:30,285
And before I can get them what they need, I have to be great at delivering the

727
00:48:30,285 --> 00:48:34,565
idea of what it is we're trying to do and why the second little kings,

728
00:48:34,905 --> 00:48:37,225
warriors, clippers, why they should be involved.

729
00:48:37,605 --> 00:48:41,965
So, yeah, I mean, you definitely walk into those spaces, always kind of getting

730
00:48:41,965 --> 00:48:43,045
that imposter syndrome.

731
00:48:43,265 --> 00:48:47,585
Do I belong here? You know, does this make sense? You know people will see it

732
00:48:47,585 --> 00:48:52,085
and Like oh Marcus you're working with X, Y, and Z And I'm like yeah but Trust

733
00:48:52,085 --> 00:48:55,325
me It still feels unreal sometimes,

734
00:48:55,865 --> 00:49:00,825
And you know it Definitely can you know when we met 50 You know and then you

735
00:49:00,825 --> 00:49:07,285
meet 50 and It's like cool regular Cat was down sharing All the information he could,

736
00:49:07,845 --> 00:49:12,985
Good dude so then you kind of Get a little bit of an ease About yourself for sure,

737
00:49:13,980 --> 00:49:18,660
Yeah. Well, also, let me ask you, how many signed jerseys do you have in your collection?

738
00:49:20,160 --> 00:49:27,500
Four or five. Four or five. Yeah. Yeah. I have one that my son has them all.

739
00:49:27,660 --> 00:49:30,800
I shouldn't even say me. I have one that's hanging up here in my office.

740
00:49:30,860 --> 00:49:36,560
But my son, he's been doing pretty well with getting this one jersey signed by multiple people.

741
00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:42,560
So he has De'Aaron on there. He has 50 50 signed the jersey for Keegan Murray.

742
00:49:43,680 --> 00:49:48,280
One other. So he's got a few folks on there. And then I have the pleasure,

743
00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:51,540
like I said, working with multiple people around the NBA.

744
00:49:51,700 --> 00:49:56,960
So he now has a couple of different jerseys from a couple. And I say he because

745
00:49:56,960 --> 00:49:58,920
he takes all the signed jerseys from me.

746
00:49:58,980 --> 00:50:02,560
He let me hang up the one in my office, but he takes everything else.

747
00:50:02,640 --> 00:50:05,900
But I will say I do have a signed Sacramento Kings basketball.

748
00:50:05,900 --> 00:50:11,420
Basketball, and the Warriors made me an honorary member of the 2022 championship

749
00:50:11,420 --> 00:50:13,260
team, and they gave me a ring.

750
00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:16,640
So I have a championship ring from 2022 as well.

751
00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:19,920
You are an NBA champion. We should

752
00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:23,240
have added that to the accolades at the beginning of the show. I know.

753
00:50:24,020 --> 00:50:29,200
Listen, listen, we did. I had a group. I was at an event, and they did like a human bingo.

754
00:50:29,600 --> 00:50:33,580
And on one of the things, they had, who in this space is an NBA champion?

755
00:50:33,580 --> 00:50:37,840
In it and poor but listen like all the day i'm looking around like who could

756
00:50:37,840 --> 00:50:41,740
they be and the person you know that was running the event of course knew it

757
00:50:41,740 --> 00:50:45,160
was me but i wasn't even thinking in it you like marcus you're an nba champion

758
00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:51,100
like you gotta own that yeah you're right i gotta own but yeah what what's your

759
00:50:51,100 --> 00:50:52,660
free throw percentage marcus.

760
00:50:55,440 --> 00:51:00,360
It definitely is an nba championship worthy i'll say that Yeah.

761
00:51:01,020 --> 00:51:04,620
Well, yeah, I saw you did something earlier. I think it was on Instagram.

762
00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:10,900
You did something at one of the games. Do you have any events with any of the NBA teams?

763
00:51:11,200 --> 00:51:14,180
I know we're reaching the end of the NBA season, but is there anything coming

764
00:51:14,180 --> 00:51:16,340
up with any of the teams that you work with?

765
00:51:17,050 --> 00:51:21,130
Yeah, so we are still finishing up our mentoring program with the Golden State Warriors.

766
00:51:21,450 --> 00:51:25,790
So we are supporting them at McClindon's High School. That's one Wednesday a month.

767
00:51:25,990 --> 00:51:30,250
So we still have three or four sessions left with them. It'll end in June.

768
00:51:30,350 --> 00:51:32,410
So we're pretty excited about that with the Warriors.

769
00:51:32,650 --> 00:51:37,090
The Clippers are sponsoring a huge event that we have May 4th.

770
00:51:37,090 --> 00:51:43,210
May 4th, down in the Inland Empire, we are hosting a Mentoring Girls of Color Restoration Retreat.

771
00:51:43,810 --> 00:51:47,330
So when we talk about that, thinking about how we can really give people in

772
00:51:47,330 --> 00:51:53,390
the self-care, we're inviting 30 women of color and 60 young women of color to be in space.

773
00:51:53,630 --> 00:51:57,330
I mean, we're going to have a napping center and we have hammock row and we're

774
00:51:57,330 --> 00:51:59,490
going to do meditation and dancing.

775
00:51:59,630 --> 00:52:02,690
So it's going to be a real great place for them. So the Clippers,

776
00:52:02,870 --> 00:52:05,510
Starbucks and Marshalls are all sponsoring that.

777
00:52:05,770 --> 00:52:12,290
And we just finished literally two weeks ago with the Sacramento Kings in partnership with UC Davis.

778
00:52:12,290 --> 00:52:16,410
Davis, where the business management team department, should I say,

779
00:52:16,490 --> 00:52:20,610
at UC Davis had their students mentoring Improve Your Tomorrow,

780
00:52:20,910 --> 00:52:26,130
which is an amazing organization here in Sacramento doing mentoring work with young men of color.

781
00:52:26,290 --> 00:52:29,930
So that is phenomenal. And that's all in partnership with Sacramento Kings,

782
00:52:30,130 --> 00:52:32,090
who hosted five different events.

783
00:52:32,150 --> 00:52:35,050
And actually, two of those events

784
00:52:35,050 --> 00:52:38,330
were actual games that the young people and the mentors got to go to.

785
00:52:38,410 --> 00:52:41,850
So we got phenomenal stuff. We're excited to keep it on.

786
00:52:42,290 --> 00:52:48,130
Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun, fun and also like very like these are things

787
00:52:48,130 --> 00:52:51,170
that young people want to do, right?

788
00:52:51,230 --> 00:52:55,170
Like you want to go to the game, you know, and so I think it's so great that

789
00:52:55,170 --> 00:53:01,250
all the organizations step up, you know, and absolutely make a difference. Yeah.

790
00:53:01,330 --> 00:53:04,930
So, okay. So you named off some things. I know there's also a,

791
00:53:04,950 --> 00:53:07,830
there's a lot, you know, there's the mentor month back in January.

792
00:53:07,850 --> 00:53:11,710
I know there was a summit that you were part of and there's all kinds of stuff that's going on.

793
00:53:11,850 --> 00:53:15,950
Where can, how and where do people find out and how to get involved?

794
00:53:17,059 --> 00:53:20,699
Yeah, I'll say three different places. One is, of course, our website,

795
00:53:20,959 --> 00:53:23,019
MentorCaliforniaYouth.org.

796
00:53:23,319 --> 00:53:26,859
You can find all of our information there. You can find a state of mentoring

797
00:53:26,859 --> 00:53:31,919
report to download, different ways to find or become a mentor and really just

798
00:53:31,919 --> 00:53:33,279
keep up with the work that we're doing.

799
00:53:33,379 --> 00:53:36,379
We're getting ready to launch a new part of the website with our Mentoring Girls

800
00:53:36,379 --> 00:53:41,199
of Color work, which is going to be phenomenal. And then, of course, Instagram or LinkedIn.

801
00:53:41,599 --> 00:53:45,499
Just look at Mentor California and you'll find us there.

802
00:53:45,599 --> 00:53:49,919
Or you can find me, Marcus L. Struller, on any of those platforms as well.

803
00:53:50,139 --> 00:53:52,859
All of our information will be there. Consistent.

804
00:53:54,379 --> 00:53:58,019
Consistently. And if you're interested, they can, yeah, and they can also go

805
00:53:58,019 --> 00:54:05,539
on the website and find out how they can get one of the official Bar Bridge Mentor California ads.

806
00:54:05,539 --> 00:54:08,259
Oh yes that's right yes they do

807
00:54:08,259 --> 00:54:12,219
exist if they're out there well marcus man

808
00:54:12,219 --> 00:54:15,099
thanks so much for coming on and taking some time this morning

809
00:54:15,099 --> 00:54:17,799
and telling us about this you know it

810
00:54:17,799 --> 00:54:22,939
i think i hope for our listeners out there that it you know it shows that there's

811
00:54:22,939 --> 00:54:27,639
you know there's ways that you know we can all step up and and maybe make the

812
00:54:27,639 --> 00:54:33,399
uh the next podcaster or the next next president and CEO of an organization

813
00:54:33,399 --> 00:54:36,819
just by stepping up and being a mentor to someone,

814
00:54:36,939 --> 00:54:40,939
you know, like absolutely just need more of that. Yeah.

815
00:54:41,119 --> 00:54:43,499
And also, you know,

816
00:54:44,066 --> 00:54:49,046
there's still time, Marcus, for you to become the next Boyz II Men band. You know.

817
00:54:50,406 --> 00:54:55,006
I don't know about me. All three of us, we'll just make our own band together.

818
00:54:55,346 --> 00:54:59,466
We got Trapper, Uncle Dad could be our dancer, our background dancer,

819
00:54:59,606 --> 00:55:03,426
and then I would say, yeah, we'll make it happen that way.

820
00:55:03,766 --> 00:55:06,146
He might be the engineer. I don't know about dancer.

821
00:55:07,346 --> 00:55:11,906
Okay. All right. That works. Thank you all for having me on. I appreciate it.

822
00:55:12,366 --> 00:55:17,466
Yeah, Marcus, and we will be in touch. And everybody, please go check out Mentor California.

823
00:55:18,046 --> 00:55:21,186
Uncle Dad, do you have any last words? Oh, wow.

824
00:55:21,346 --> 00:55:24,366
You know, I just, I'm going to throw this out there. We'll end it like this.

825
00:55:24,606 --> 00:55:26,306
What is your favorite 50 Cent song?

826
00:55:27,986 --> 00:55:31,686
Oh, yes. 21 Questions. 21 Questions. Easy.

827
00:55:32,306 --> 00:55:35,826
21 Questions. No question. I like that. That's one of my favorites,

828
00:55:35,886 --> 00:55:38,346
too. Mike, do you have a favorite 50 Cent song?

829
00:55:38,726 --> 00:55:43,346
I'm going to go deep in the crate. my favorite one was the first time i ever

830
00:55:43,346 --> 00:55:46,146
heard him which was rob the industry with the mad rapper,

831
00:55:47,586 --> 00:55:50,846
do you guys do you guys remember that one i i've

832
00:55:50,846 --> 00:55:56,006
only heard of it maybe once maybe i mean yeah this was when he was all east

833
00:55:56,006 --> 00:56:01,906
coast still and hadn't met dre and him yet and basically he's just he names

834
00:56:01,906 --> 00:56:06,866
almost every single rapper in the industry and talks about how he's gonna rob

835
00:56:06,866 --> 00:56:08,506
and clown them. And he's hilarious.

836
00:56:09,846 --> 00:56:13,526
So that was my... Now I got to go find that. I got to go find that.

837
00:56:14,126 --> 00:56:18,746
It's fun. Yeah. You're like, wow, this is the same guy that hangs upside down with his shirt off.

838
00:56:21,346 --> 00:56:25,666
That's right. Right. Thank you, everybody. We really appreciate it.

839
00:56:25,706 --> 00:56:29,006
Thank you, Marcus. Thank you, Jess Mike. And of course, thank you to the audience.

840
00:56:29,186 --> 00:56:32,326
And as always, we're not uncles. We're not dads. We're just someone you can

841
00:56:32,326 --> 00:56:34,546
talk to. And we'll see you all next week.

842
00:56:36,866 --> 00:56:36,986
Bye.

843
00:56:37,040 --> 00:56:54,042
Music.