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morning good evening good night good afternoon don't give me copyright flag though no no no you
can cut this out i sounded like a zombie just yeah in order to grow you gotta have like some
kind of goals what's up what's up what's up good morning good evening good afternoon whatever time
you're listening in wherever you're listening from we are happy to be back from a two or three
month hiatus we got season six planned out listen this thing just got big it grew up and uh you know
now we have contacts that we have to line up and stories that we need to tell. So super excited to
hear about this. We have a very interesting guest today. We have Cuba. He's representing a couple
of things, but namely Salud 24-7. We call it a media network. You think of it as TV. It is
backed by Telemundo, but it's your own independent health series across social media, across the
internet tv itself as well man congratulations thank you man i appreciate you appreciate we
have if you want to introduce yourself beth that's awesome so much thanks so much so we were in
contact kind of about getting something at the time of recording this you guys launched next week
so this is this is coming this isn't something come fall or october no no now you have the model
built out in florida now yeah so uh long story short salud 24 7 or you know health 24 7
uh we're a health related um media company that focuses on um uh sorry yeah i can't oh sorry my
bad what the heck once i hear myself i want to i want to start spitting you know start spinning
no uh we're uh you know we're a health related media company um that's focused on
um, providing medical information to the Hispanic community. So, uh, we have podcasts, we have a TV
show, um, and then we have our social media and yeah, right now we've been testing it out in
Orlando. Um, and, uh, but we're really excited to bring it here. This is my hometown. I'm born and
raised, you know, Lehigh Valley, you know, I'm a South side boy of Bethlehem and, uh, I'm just
really excited to get this where it was originally designed for, you know, and that was, and that was
out here. And so we're lucky enough to get it distributed on WFMZ, you know, besides Telemundo
in Orlando. And we also are pushing to Puerto Rico. So we're going to be on WIPR. They already
launched some of our episodes, some of our special episodes. And once I saw that it was ready,
You know, I called the amazing PA team that I have here, you know, Beth, my, my, my, one of my business partners, Mike, Mike Walsh, and the amazing co-founder, Dr. William Felix, you know, to get all of this together out here.
All right. I'm going to ask you about Dr. Phoenix in a second, but I'm curious. That's a huge undertaking. Why? What made you want to do this specifically for the Latin community and around health?
Yeah. You know, that's a, that's a great question. So, um, you know, the community I noticed, um, well, first of all, I think it's important to know my, my background a little bit, uh, to answer that question.
so, um, I, I have a background in, uh, music production. Um, uh, I'm a video director,
right. And obviously I produce TV shows, but I did production for 15, 20 years. Um, and
during around 2019, a lot of the team that I did, um, production with, we decided to create our own
company. And obviously, you know, what happened the year after that it was COVID. And when COVID
hit, I noticed that a lot of the information that I was getting in English really wasn't
translating well in Spanish or even worse. Some of my family members weren't getting the
information at all or misinformation. And so, you know, it just really hit me like, you know,
the importance of maybe the first project I work on should be for my community. And that's when,
you know, that was the birth of Salud 24-7. So it took us a while to get it, you know,
to get it going after, after testing it and, and things like that. But that's the huge why it's,
it was just, cause it's not out there. It's not out there. And, but it wasn't, it wasn't really
a business tactic, you know, it was more so I have these skills, right. The skillset and I have
the resources. We should really do something for, for my community, you know, for the Hispanic side
in my community. And, and that's, that was the birth of Salud 24-7 and the actual reason of
why we're doing it. That's a huge driving factor. So it's going to be huge, man. I can't wait.
I appreciate that, man. Yeah. I'm nervous, but. Huge launch party next week. But before we get
to that, tell me about the doctor and the team that you have, what kind of information expertise
you're spreading? Yeah. You know, Dr. William Felix, amazing, amazing individual. I mean,
he just has a passion for community and getting information to the Hispanic community. Um, he,
he has, he has a background in, um, emergency, he was an emergency room doctor, but he's also does,
um, sports medicine. So he just has a vast knowledge of, of multiple, um, things. So he
was like the perfect fit for us because the conversations we have are with, you know,
all sorts of doctors, right. On all kinds of topics. So with Dr. Felix, his passion, his drive
really helped push this project, especially when, if we hit a crossroads or we run into, um, a huge
problem, you know, he's, he's just the driving factor of, of why it's easy to keep going. Um,
but yeah, he, um, and, and soon, you know, he's going to be doing interviews and he can speak
about himself better than I can. But I can, all I have is I'm just extremely grateful that he has
decided to do this with me and do this with our team and really trust us. And I'm just so excited
for our community to hear, to hear the things that he has to say and really know that he knows what
he's talking about. You know, this guy's been, been a doctor for a long time, but he, he has
what i call the telemundo factor right like he has that tv presence as well so we got lucky with
that as well yeah dr felix um so we were doing some tests out here in the lehigh valley first
so we did try to bring the we did try to produce the show out here first um and we just ran into
some crossroads i just felt like we can get more more spanish content um in florida so um because
that's where we were launching our production company at the time and so i had the resources
out there to to get more content more spanish content um just because everyone speaks spanish
in florida for sure and so as we were making the move out there um reaching out to different people
um the producer at the time rogelio he was out there you know um looking for people who would
want to be on the show and dr felix you know raised his hand and and got back to us and after
just a couple of meetings with him, you know, it was kind of like, this is the guy, not just to do
an interview with, but the guy that, you know, I should really speak with to see if he's willing
to, to push this product with us. Sure. You got great production. You've got the expertise. Now
it's just really about distribution. And it's interesting in 2025, so soon after Corona,
how you have to focus, you know, I was reading your bullet points and I thought, wow, they're
hitting every medium, you know, it's not just, uh, on TV. I think that might be limiting in 2025.
Distribution. Yeah, man. I like, I like the way you laid that out. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I wish it
was that, that simple when we, when we were coming up with the plan, you, you, you, that really makes
it nice and clear of the distribution. Yeah. And marketing, right. Distribution and marketing has,
has been the biggest factor. I mean, we're a small company, right? We're a, we're a, a small
business. And even though we can make the product look big, right. We're still a small business,
right. So it's really important that, that, um, amazing people like yourself allow us the
opportunity to talk about it. Amazing people like WFMZ allow us to air the product. Right. And,
but the product was always designed for, for online because, um, the assumption is that
salud 24 7 just refers to you have access to this information 24 7 right everyone says that
and it's true it's like a we have like a play on words right so i i have a hip-hop background you
know uh latin music background so a lot of the stuff that my team and i do there are there are
play on words you know but the real reason it's called salud 24 7 and honestly this isn't written
anywhere and and maybe i should i should provide this on online or something but it's we want to
make sure it's information that you can use throughout your whole day right so it's like
whether it's stuff about sleeping right a brand new episode that we're doing is literally about
going to the bathroom stuff that we don't talk about we don't want to talk about but it's so
funny like as i was recording the episode with the special guest and our host i noticed all the
camera people like listening in like oh i got that issue like you never heard of it yeah you know and
and people don't know to check the color of their urine in this heat because it's you know like i
offered the water i'm actually going to drink some of mine you know uh that's that's excellent
it's funny not to cut you off but we're very similar you know i'm a one-man production team
might put together this and you have to have some big why if you don't have if it's okay there's
money in health there's money in mental health or there's money in going viral you know then
uh you chase it for the wrong reasons you burn out quick it's those times that you have to say
okay we almost have this you know i'm sure a week away so i'm gonna write notes here yeah no problem
you're not gonna throw me off um it's just interesting how similar we are where i feel
that, okay, I have the product and maybe, you know, if I was going for sponsors, the numbers
aren't there to chase that. I'd have to go for the viral moments, but people's, you can't do
something for years, care about it, put your heart and soul and people don't want to get behind it.
It's just like, wait, so all we have to do is distribute this, you know? So congratulations
to you, man. Thank you. But something that you're, that you stated there really hit home for me.
purpose has been the word this year for me purpose and so when you say your why and why we're doing
it it's just like what is my purpose you know and this whole year it's it's like been smacking me in
the face and and I realized that when you do what you love right when you stop to do what you love
even though the world's against you that you know there's gonna be a lot of obstacles in your way
when you do what you love you'll start to notice that doors will open right and you'll start to
notice that other people have the same with the same purpose or their same feelings right will
align with you um perfect example um how we met dr william felix coming out here to the lehigh
valley we're like well how how are we going to get funding when we're just starting right how
how do you get sponsors but we found valley health partners they were just amazing and they have the
same vision, you know, um, as we do, um, shout out to the amazing CEO, Veronica Gonzalez, you know,
for really believing in this, um, and allowing us to, to bring this to the Lehigh Valley without
their support. I don't think we would have been able to do that. Yeah. And, and so anyways,
when you said the why I was just like, oh man, that, that just hits me because purpose has been
a huge word um for me this whole year now i get it and you're you're targeted it's people come up
with i think the biggest thing you know i know everybody says niche down and now in 2025 it's
like if you don't have a podcast about crocheting specifically with lime green thread like right
the niches are getting so small but you have a clear idea of who you want to hit it's i think
people make that mistake of going the shotgun approach. They say, I'm just going to get on a
podcast and talk about anything. Right. You know, I didn't know what this show would be three years
out, but it's something that I said, I want to explore success, learn from failure. You know
what I mean? I want to get the, it's, it's kind of becoming more of in the middle of like success
is a journey. You know, we can have this interview again in five years and now everything's crazy and
you're attracting because what happens is now other doctors say wow this is the best platform
for that you know yeah you know um and not even and it's funny when you see people grind and push
and pour their hearts out you can end up on an oprah level and that's not even what you were
shooting for right it just becomes bigger than you can handle you know like uh you saw my son
helping with some of the setup yeah he's actually teaching uh he's teaching he has a job teaching
podcasting in a summer camp right now wow maybe he can teach us a few things so i'm asking him
is that just something that you came up with i said is it something that you just happen to be
into because of me and he's like that's definitely because it's something i came up with like this is
what i learned and stuff he knows the mics and everything so i wanted to kind of tie that into
your hip-hop background uh we'll just so off mic i want to take a step back off mic beth and i are
on the phone and we're doing a three-way and we're talking about um you know who we know and
i mentioned that i do hip-hop and i thought it'd be fitting to shout out redneck fly and his hip-hop
shout out to everybody doing that but we realized we had some mutual connections in music absolutely
and uh this podcast was something i said okay at least i don't have to go through the learning
curve with the audio we can we can you know i can make the the logo we can put something together
but it's a way to take, like you said, those gifts, those talents. So I'm sitting here,
I'm listening to you and I'm like, I'm not going to interrupt him, but man, like, I feel like you
could be interviewing me. It's funny. So what are the next steps? Do you just want to focus on
launch? What do you consider a success? Like, are you guys looking at metrics?
That's a great phrase. Like, what do you consider success? Because I got into this more so
on the level of passion right like getting this information out to the community it's like i'll
be in business meetings and they're constantly like numbers and you know and i'm like i don't
know i just i just want my community to listen to it right and and i get it all comes down to
the numbers but i have noticed one thing i have tested stuff especially when i did music and i
focused on music social media sometimes tricks you a little bit right like you'll have a video
it'll have 10,000 views 20,000 views one of our episodes just our test episodes got 30,000 views
30 to 40,000 views but I noticed that by me doing this by by me speaking to the community
we get more loyal followers more loyal you know it's a much deeper connection it's a much deeper
connection. And so sometimes I'm like, I'm like, I get it. Numbers matter on a business level.
Right. But if I can have Maria, you know, and Maria's mom watching our show and being faithful
to our show, that means more to me than, than getting 3000 views. Right. And when you look at
the metrics, you know, it's like, did they, did they watch the whole episode that, you know,
you don't, you don't really know. Right. Oh yeah. But every time we do this and people see why
we're doing it and the importance of us doing it, I start to notice that the numbers, as far as,
um, loyal, um, loyal watchers, you know, tends to, to grow exponentially. So, um, to me, success
is like, Beth will hate me for this, right? Cause Beth is, is great. She keeps me in line
by the way, her and Mike keep me in line. Um, but to me, success is when, if I walk in, you know,
if i walk down the street and someone says salud 24 7 or or you hear our theme song because i
purposely uh produced that with my with my um production partner brian sanchez we purposely
produced it with the style of music that our people listen to shout out to brian sanchez
yeah yeah brian brian is my my brother years of working together um but if if that theme song
plays and people go, oh, that's Salud 24-7, right? If I say Salud 24-7 and they're like,
oh yeah, the podcast, the TV show, that to me, that's success. On a business side,
specific numbers mean success to me. So we do, we would like to get, you know,
five to 10,000 views per episode. And that would be a success for us.
Oh yeah. No, that's a super definitive number. I was cool with just, if people hear about it,
It's funny. That's why I came back off hiatus. I told you on the phone off mic, Ty Witt, I ran into him at Cedar Beach. And he's like, yeah, you know, I love the content you're putting out. With something personal like this, you have to do it for the love because one, somebody could look at two, 300 views.
you know, you're talking about 20, 30,000 with something personal. If 300 people would be in a
room and listen to a story and actually connect, or if I go and I say, um, it was funny. I posted
this publicly to people said, did you get your inspiration from diary of a CEO? I said, I guess
I need to watch this diary. I did this in a complete bubble. You know, I, um, I just not,
not a bubble. I mean, I was, I'm a conduit of everything all throughout my twenties. I took in,
you know, thinking grow rich, like all sorts of positive content. And I'm like, I connect with
this stuff. My podcast taste is a little different. You know, I like pop culture. I'm glad there's
people doing that. Yeah. That's too tiring for me. Yeah. I like to really get in pick. And then
I measure success by the people that are reaching out. You know, it's like, um, like when they say,
uh in marketing we like to say if we're talking with the owner the company might not be big enough
you know when you have a team behind you and especially like you said that presence yeah
you know you guys everything was punctual from setting everything to confirming you know and
it's like okay if i can walk to the park and somebody tells me they saw this and ty doesn't
even know i have you on i didn't even tell him he's gonna drop next week is a huge uh not to
well ty is a huge part of the history of um how i really got into into music right so um i was a
south side boy i was just making different kinds of music so what i love about what you were saying
is i i remember being in rooms where people would be like oh this has like a whatever whatever vibe
a timberland vibe or this has a whatever whatever and it's like i was one of the few that made music
based on what i was feeling based on the community around me based on the the music i was i was
hearing from my cousins who would come from puerto rico i mean i was eight nine years old when i
first started mixing hip hop with reggaeton now it's like it's normal for sure but um there was
a point of my life I got out of um I was like a senior in college and that's when I met Ty I met
Jamal and I met a lot of them but Ty was like yo you're dope man like I'll help write the songs
for you like you're a dope producer and so we started working on a project called Diamonds
in the Rough back in the day um and after that I actually had more faith in what I was doing
because of ty you know and i realized what my skill set was as well um and there was a lot of
other people in in the journey as well i don't i want to say that other people weren't involved
no yeah you can't shout out ty without drew but watch this hang on i'm gonna look right in this
camera ty you see what you did you created a media monster you put out music you trend-setting
genres and you got me to drop a season six so air horn centered i'm not gonna i'm not gonna
push these buttons i didn't even get that far in post yeah for sure fix it in post but i wanted to
shout out uh cliff diaz i'm gonna put you on to los domineros he's another one he um you know his
why is he played dominoes with his grandmother and he feels that the sport isn't represented
well enough not well enough everybody plays dominoes but it's almost like if i say you know
we're gonna play spades yeah do you think of the same place as if we're gonna play you know poker
for you know i don't know if if there are spades games for 1.7 million dollars i don't know maybe
there could be there's a niche for everything but it's like he's like look now i'm gonna go
against the stigma i'm gonna make dominoes poplar like i'm gonna get influence to play this he's
telling me all this a year year and a half ago he hired me to do the logo oh and he's like you
know i can't bring on a whole team but let me start with just getting these pieces putting
them together and now a year and a half later he's going to be streaming he did it once he's
gonna be streaming august bought his all his own equipment didn't know how to use it taught him
this stuff when i bring him up because i'm gonna tie it back when i played your music he said i
remember that i remember that era of hip-hop reggaeton so you were a conduit of music you
listen to and you just say look this is how i'm going to express it yeah you know people don't
understand when you speak, you're speaking all your experience into something, you know? So
it's cool to tie that stuff back. Plus I feel, and you could correct me if I'm wrong, it kind
of keeps you hungry and doing it. Like you're itching that creative niche. So, I mean, this
will go crazy just because it's health. Everybody, literally the demand for everybody who needs
health is only limited by the people that don't want to change or do this. And if they don't want
to change because they don't know that's a different battle than they don't want to change
because they don't need to, or they, they want to die. You know, I mean, I'm, I'm learning a lot
on this journey. Right. And, uh, I have an amazing health coach, shout out to Tara health, um, who,
who also sponsor and, um, uh, Cecilia, you know, she, she meets with me every week and just the
conversations i have with her right it's like health isn't just you know oh do you have diabetes
now worry about health right preventative yeah preventative and and mental health you know and
like how am i even feeling this week i just never thought to ask those questions right and if i felt
some sort of way i made a song about it right if if something was really on my mind i i made a
a short video on it. Right. That was my way of expressing myself,
but I didn't realize the importance of it. Right.
And not everyone has, you know, the art to, to,
to escape. Right. And so you have to acknowledge how you're feeling and stuff.
I don't know, but even the foods I was eating, man,
she really opened my mind to a lot of things. And Dr. Felix constantly,
I'll talk to him about just things and he'll, you know,
I went through a pretty big, um, moment this year. I won't get too, too personal, but I asked
Dr. Felix first. Right. And man, he just put me so at ease and stuff. And I'm like, man, this
program is helping me. Like my goal was to help others and it's, and it's helping me. And so I
know the benefits of getting this information. Absolutely. And a lot of it is little simple
things. So I went through weight loss myself, but like adults don't change until they want to,
like that's one of the biggest thing i took shout out to mel robbins with their wildly popular let
them theory you know if you guys you know oh i'm a big fan yeah i'm a big fan of hers that's awesome
let them yeah oh definitely write that one down um people are getting let them tattoos it's like
it might be the new secret if you remember that book i read that book every year the secret the
secret i just loaned it out it's been sitting on my desk for years maybe 10 and i just said you
know what i think this person could use this i lent it out to someone uh and just the concept
of it they were like it was crazy but without getting too deep on let them one of the things
she goes is adults change when they want to so just because you feel great about health like
one of the worst things is when um i've seen people i'm lying it was ty whit he said not my
whole family eats like i do right you know and he showed his cupboards and stuff and he's like
it's the hardest choice when it's like okay i have tuna fish things over here so it's like getting
the whole health or making health seem cool because what people don't want to talk about is
it's lonely like being healthy and dieting and not going out and dipping this is it's a whole
mentality change so the mental health is tied to the food you know like if you eat i know for me
if i go crazy i love sandwiches i love bread i love anything white but then you tie it to like
anxiety you're like oh okay this is in the way that my body's breaking this down this is how i
have to do so you want everybody to feel those benefits of little links that you found out it's
like just don't just like intermittent fast i think the easiest thing no i don't want to say
it's easy it's not easy it's like the the quickest hack like stop eating after eight and literally
just break your fast that's why they call it breakfast yeah it's like when i would say that
people and i learned that on this journey by the way but even in even in spanish
you know it's it's break it's it's you're breaking a fast right and that like blows
people's minds when because their whole lives they said breakfast right yeah it's just said
a little it's just said a little different you know and the importance of that and
and um i don't want to speak i don't want to say the wrong thing right that's why i have dr felix
that's why we have producers oh for sure you know they they look at every you know all that
information but as far as what i've been learning everything in moderation right everything in
moderation don't don't don't force yourself not to eat the ice cream because then you're going to
eat a bucket down the road right having having a little you know but do you need a whole cup of
ice cream right um a little taste a little taste like it's funny um i was at wendy's the other day
you know don't i'm not promoting wendy's all right i'm not saying that's healthy i will actively go
against wendy yeah my son my son was very like you know he wanted to get the dc comic you know
whatever and get it and get a a burger um and he kept saying oh daddy like can we have some ice
cream together and you know i'm like looking at the menu and i just saw they had like this little
junior ice cream thing so i was able to enjoy this little junior frosty i didn't need a cup you know
that was enough you know portion moderation and portion control it's funny i had a buddy in our
20s when i went through two weight loss journeys i actually gained 60 pounds back and lost it back
i'm about 50 60 pounds lighter than i was congratulations three years ago so i i know
how it works and i know the decisions that i made that led me back to where i didn't want to be so
um but what was i gonna go on i i lost the first no no worries but i will say this to to make it
easier right you're right like people who are passionate about health right it's tough to get
other people to be passionate about health and that's why our program isn't isn't developed to
make you passionate about your health it's to make you aware right and so like our social media the
demographics are completely different from our podcast, our podcast, um, the podcast slash TV
show, those demographics are, are for, you know, 45 and up. Right. Because that's the age where
you're kind of like, all right, you know what, I should make some changes or I'm, I'm dealing with,
you know, I'm dealing with my mom, I'm dealing, you know, whatever. Sure. I want to educate my
parents. Exactly. And, um, that's why when we design this, it's just to bring awareness,
Right. So if you go on our social media, it's funny because we we have some content going now, even though we're going to fully bring out our new content, you know, by the end of the of the month.
But I'm getting people writing to me saying, this is me. This is what I'm going through. Right. Just because we had certain posts. Right.
And so it's just bringing awareness. It affects everyone. And yeah, there's people who really are passionate about it, but our product isn't for that.
It's just to make you aware of things.
See, what people do is they see somebody with an extremely crazy physique who like ate meat and power lifted, but then went vegan.
And they're like, that's all I got to do is go vegan.
I look like that.
It's like sometimes it has to look more accessible and attainable in order for people to jump on.
Like you said, portion control.
I like the idea of focusing on just fasting, little things that you could do and change.
Um, I'm going to shout out Andre Williams. Uh, he's got his fitness going on, um, his fitness
club, uh, AW fitness club, shout out. Um, I'll connect you with him at some point. Maybe we
could link him in, but you know, with, uh, with his history and his fame, he's creating something
where he, he said something that stuck with me and I'm working on it now. Just take one thing,
just find one thing bad that you eat, replace it with something good. Yeah. He said, um,
and sign up for a w fitness club, not giving you all this stuff.
But he said, it's like a sheet of paper. You lay down, you know,
when you're a kid, you could lay down dirty sheets of paper, but you get older,
you get healthier.
And I think it's good because it's easy for people to be like,
I'm just too far gone. Right. I can, like, I can't change. I can't do it.
That's the beauty of what we're doing. Right. It's not about weight loss.
It's not about like there,
we're going to have certain specialists that focus on all these different
aspects of health, right. And, and their specialties, but it's more about how do I feel
right now? Right. And what am I doing? Especially the reason why it was important for our Hispanic
community is there's so many things that we do that are part of our culture, right? It's like,
how do I feel and why do I feel this way? So do I feel, you know, do I feel bloated or do I feel,
you know just sick oh well i just had two plates of rice and beans and you know what i mean like
so what i love is from this journey and i'm hoping this will reach other people right like
i've learned to look at things and say how will i feel if i drink that or if i eat that compared to
oh i have to lose weight i can't have it because the sugar it's oh yeah that's that's the worst
Yeah. It's like, it's like when you go out, right. Not everybody has this, has this ability, but hopefully you do. Right. Where you, you know, you have two drinks, right. I, you know, and that third drink, you already know in your body. Oh, if I have that third drink, I'm going to not be functional. I'm not going to be functional. Right. I look at other things that way. Right. Like if I don't do my daily pushups, do I have the energy that I need to have that day?
um perfect example the ice cream the frosty thing that i was telling you about like i already knew
that if i had more than that portion i was gonna feel sick i was gonna feel horrible feel good for
a little bit then crash and your body starts withdrawing from sugar exactly another great
thing i'm sorry because this is so important right how do certain people make you feel
in your life and sometimes it could even be family members right it's like when i'm around them i
just feel negative i don't feel myself all of those things are important to know how do i feel
and why do i feel this way right and that's why what's that it's not about losing weight it's not
just about mental health it's about in general yeah how do you feel and why do you feel this way
and you'll notice the multiple things in your life that are causing that and that's all that's all
i'm trying to do is create awareness right just create awareness yeah that's awesome make it
accessible um i was gonna ask you something about your journey personally it may come back
i don't hold on to what i was gonna say when i'm podcasting no worries you'll give a little tip for
podcasters like these things dudes these things uh so that's great man i love that you uh as i'm
doing my research on you and i may pull it up the video so they know what i'm talking about but
seven years ago you were in the studio and you did your announcement that you were moving into
media and away from music. Um, I'm pretty sure it was seven or eight years ago, at least when
the video was uploaded. So to think, I mean, I think it takes a good five, like three to five
years to catch your stride at anything. Like if you could go back to that person sitting in the
studio, like, are you still as energized now? Is it more of like a slow coal burn instead of that
wicked, just lit a match fire or like, what would you say to yourself then?
Wow. I love that question. You know, I love that question. Um, because, uh, I love what you said
earlier, learn, learn from failure, you know? So music was my life, right? Uh, a lot of people,
it's funny cause a lot of people seemingly know me as the artist, you know, as cool by the artists
from a group that we had called the experience or dxp and um and that was my life for years
right and we had our songs on on clear channel radio we were blessed to perform on big stages
and you know a lot of times we didn't open up for anybody we were the headliners for people
that don't understand DXP's influence in this area I mean it was a local production that looked
just like Pitbull any of these guys like what became mainstream what people became some of the
largest you know even pop artists in the world sounded like this you guys had videos before
videos were like people understand you guys had videos before YouTube yeah it was really on the
beginning of of youtube uh youtube was around but let's be honest literally we we would post
on facebook more than youtube for sure so if you go on youtube you'll see you know just a couple
thousand views but it wasn't because people weren't listening to it if you go on our facebook
that's where you'll see the thousands of views you know we're we're on our facebook because
it was that moment of do we put it on youtube or do we put up because the world was was evolving
but yeah yeah that's funny that you yeah that you mentioned that yeah i don't love that it's so hard
to distribute everything i mean at the same time it's very easy but somebody i'll tell somebody i
have a podcast they'll pull out their player it'll be like geo savan shout out to my geo savan
listeners but they'll search for you and oh i can't find it i'm like no literally you could
google you can go to i will not lose podcast.com i made it that easy and there's 30 places you
could go because you're number 36 like you're not going to listen to it so it's like i wish you
could hide the the likes or the views because people will not watch it because they're like
oh you know like i had i had one thing we posted one to facebook one to youtube 500 a thousand
views in the first week over here i think like eight on youtube well that's gonna stop anybody
from watching if i could just hide it or link them back you go to post to facebook back then
it was just you post the YouTube link to Facebook. Yeah. And that was like the worst thing you could
do. And once we figured that out, you know, we just posted directly to Facebook. Um, but yeah,
that was a journey for us as well back then. But yeah, I mean, that, that was the life, man. I,
that's all I knew for years, you know, I was in theater and I did do, um, I did do other types
of performing, not just, um, not just music, but music was the, was the thing. And most people that
know me know me from the music and they didn't realize that I was producing the music videos
and directing some of the videos I didn't know that until right now that makes that makes a ton
of sense then yeah yeah so we were producing the the music and shout out to baby ranks um I mean
this guy is a legend in the game um in the in the latin world and he he believed in us too so he
would come to Pennsylvania from Puerto Rico or he would let me record some tracks in Puerto Rico
I mean, it was just a beautiful moment of my life, but, but, you know, I was getting older, right. I was getting older and, um, what, what was required, uh, to achieve what we considered success at the time was really difficult. All of us had families, right. And it was like, okay, we've, we've accomplished something great here.
You got to the, you got to the end of it.
Yeah. And I'm so grateful for everyone that supported and all the amazing people that came to our shows. I mean, we were just South side kids, you know what I mean? Making, making music and, and, and because we were a little bit different, it's like, we got a lot of support and I'm so grateful for that. And we were always supportive of the local artists as well.
sure it seems a little different now i don't want to talk down on the scene now but i don't know if
what you guys made could happen here in the valley or maybe there's some some people i think it could
i will i will tell you this it really wasn't that way when we started but we made it an initiative
like who's doing music out here and that was the beauty of me doing production so i can respect
other people's stuff and not have that ego of like oh I just want people to listen to me right
and because I was seeing that a lot um at that time so once we were able to be like look I do
production like sometimes I'm just listening to how dope your track is like oh man how'd you
man that that beat is crazy or the or or your your lyrics are nuts right because I was an audio
engineer you know that that's what was paying my my my bills so I think that helped a lot as well
And then there were other artists out here that we would link up with.
And then they started the trend as well as allowing other local artists to
perform with them. And so I don't want to say it was us that,
that caused it.
I want to be clear. It's not a, it's not a talent thing. I'm not putting,
people know I'm huge in the local scene and stuff like that. You know, I,
I weekly throw on grandpa said by sound off.
It's just one of my favorite songs of all time.
there's people still making music i'm not gonna shout them out but the landscape it's not just
the skill you guys had the drive you guys had the sound but it was something that was emerging
fusion music was really big there it was almost like you know life starts on planet earth because
everything's right nowadays with streaming i just i know people that put together technically better
videos obviously what you had 20 years ago and it's got 300 views and i'm like you know i'm
supporting this kid from the bay you know what i mean and i don't know if the landscape is set up
like i just don't know if i heard what you're saying like the the movement or whatever it is
and you know the the music scene has a stigma and not just that they announced a music awards did
you hear about that no no i mean at the time there was the lehigh valley music awards that's what
they're comparing it to and there's a team bringing it out shout out to them because the music scene
has been completely underrepresented i mean they're going with what the times are it's almost
as if the hip-hop the lehigh valley hip-hop awards two years ago oh i see it's almost as if that
didn't happen oh they're saying they literally said in the headline there is no music there has
been no music award show i'm like there was actually a like i'm gonna win i have the award
at home we're winners of it yeah yeah but no uh they're not doing uh i didn't see anything for
hip-hop being represented as one of the the music and you know um it's just it's weird people are
going to listen back i doubt any of my younger listeners are going to go back the people that
connect with this conversation are going to be the people who say wow you know we we connected
like we remember that you know you can't explain to the kids what it was and they're not going to
go back and look at it but it's amazing that you guys adapted to nowadays where you can put
yourself everywhere people are going to hear it share it find it you have the production and you
spent your whole life putting the pieces together to do this man i i never thought i would say this
out loud right my team knows this about me i'm always going to create something whether it's
songs whether it's another tv show um and i say tv show lightly right but it's like
or a film like like beth is you want to do a film working on films and and oh man i've
my team has had a film in mind this this film that we want to work on um for the the past five
years as well right so um i just realized i didn't answer your your question about five years ago
um what you would say to yourself it's cool finish on your thought and i'll bring it back
you know, and, and forgive me, I haven't, I haven't been on the mic or in front of a camera
for those seven years, you know? So, man, it's been, it's been a while. I guess it's like riding
a bike. Don't make me take a seven year hiatus. But I will say this, there has been more failures
in this five years than I've ever had before I retired. But, but what I have learned has inspired
me and has motivated me to fight for my purpose even more yeah man so the obstacles that this
show still faces and it's we get up every day and beth pushes me i you know um my team pushes me i
push my team like we're just constantly getting each because there's so many hurdles for sure but
when you're like, this is what I'm made for, this is what I'm designed for. Right. And I can
choose the easy way. Right. And I forgot who said this. It was a, it's a great quote because I say
it all the time. Sometimes it's easier for me to keep going than to quit. And it's really hard to
explain that unless you're a dream chaser, right? Unless you get it. I know exactly what you're
talking about. You know what? I give up today. I'm going to just, I'm not going to do this anymore.
and you literally have to fight harder to give up than to keep going it's like you tell i just told
uh somebody the other day who was publicly saying they were going to quit music and i'm like
i'm not going to say how many streams they had or it'll be a dead giveaway it's kind of like a
personal thing people will fact check and put it in the comments if they want to but
said sometimes something is bigger than you yeah you don't think i don't want to come off hey hiatus
yeah i don't think it's just fun like working on non-disclosure artwork that i can't show to the
world yeah it doesn't inspire anybody else to go and start doing stuff big shout out to vanessa
guevara she was one of the people who man uh mentioned me about diary of a ceo yeah and that
that girl she did my photos when we were de-experienced i know i think you were at her
open launch party i think there's a picture yeah i'd have to go back and check on facebook when i
do my research if i have time before tuesday i'll throw it up but i think you're in a picture i was
in a gray suit and something at her opening i feel like we were all there yeah because i remember
jamal was there yeah yeah i remember jamal was there and i said to her she doesn't realize how
much she inspires me because i said to her look you have a degree or i don't know if she had gone
back to school at that time but she had a job at b braun and it's just like listen i why are you
doing this she's like you're self-employed like don't you do this you know no and uh big shout
out to Vanessa Guevara not only did she bring me back with inspiring me with the whole diary of a
CEO I was up at like two in the morning when I watched that first episode I'm writing out the
seasons and stuff but she had a job at B Braun and she left to start her photography studio and
people thought she was crazy. I thought she was crazy. I'm like, I only do this because no one
hires me. Like, she's like, but you, you're self-employed. Like you could do this. Like
you're a part of the reason you and other people are, is why I want to do this. And from that
point on, I was like, okay, I can inspire people. I am a muse. Whether I do it through branding and
give them a logo to go and stand out, whether I interview them on a show and just take all the
care i mean we could have just we could do this on a cell phone with little road mics not even
the road ones the ones you get off timu yeah yeah there's a low barrier to entry to content creating
so you know um it's just it's interesting so there's so many people we could shout out i
didn't realize how much that we've i mean i'm sure we've met you told me that we met i don't
remember that uh hispanic chamber of commerce event you know what it is is uh you have the
same name oh you thought as another you thought i was tony when i saw your pictures and stuff i
was like oh no it's a whole different person i haven't i haven't met him but he's part of the
reason i um go with tony ortiz the designer i'm like all right i can't you know i gotta make i
will not lose bigger than tony ortiz the podcaster can i say something to you what's that this is i
don't i don't believe in coincidence so my team knows this about me all right nobody else i don't
believe in coincidence so let's see what you got nobody else knows this just my team that phrase
i say in our meetings when things are when things aren't working i'm like like i will not lose
right um it all started uh when i was in high school and my junior year i did a talent show
and i wasn't even named like not even top five right and i just you know obviously uh jay-z was
big at the time you know all those things so I just remember going that phrase just was embedded
in my head and I was like I will not lose you know what next year I'm gonna win the talent show I'm
not gonna get third say I'm gonna get first and I just put that in my head and I and I started
planning out exactly what the show should be for me to win and long story short I did the show the
next year and and forgive me I don't like talking about myself but I think it's important that
phrase right i did the show standing ovation i turned around and back then it wasn't easy to
audio edit or whatever so i used like karaoke machines or whatever and right at the end of my
show i put i will not lose and we took first place first place and like ever since that that's like
a definitive like i hear the beat drop right now that's another one of my once a week it's funny
when you get older you don't listen to new songs you just listen to the same songs in different
order every day but uh yeah no that was one of my inspirations was the jay-z i will not lose i
wanted to tie it in with hip-hop but i didn't want it to be a hip-hop podcast yeah because i mean
that that that's for everybody man for sure everybody and i had the name before i knew if
you go back to my first episode i'm here talking about well i could do this if that fails i'll just
play halo i'll just be a gaming channel but i need i will not lose it was available and
took me like a year and a half and i still battle back and forth with jay-z like if you search
i will not lose yeah i will not lose tony i will not lose podcast i got but but man i love it
i was like you know no coincidence like because you know this is our first promotion of salute
out here and i'm like out of all the places you know we have some interviews after this but
i will not lose is the first one i'm like man that's not a coincidence
i'm gonna get the clips together because that'll help bring awareness to the show but also awareness
to yourself um i want to let you close out of the mic i want to ask you a very specific question i
want to call back from a question earlier but i want to tell you and this is as if there was no
cameras or mics as if i'm saying it to myself yeah you need to talk about yourself
you're special you're special all right you have a gift you're meant to do this and if i don't know
for me, it's imposter syndrome. But if any of that stuff holds you back from being the light
you have to be because of like, you're probably like me, I want to be humble and stuff like that.
About six months ago, I was like, shit, I could be humble all I want. People don't do what I do.
People don't work like I work. So if that part inspires somebody else, if you guys are comparing
me to one of the top podcasts in the world, you're telling me that's the sort of guests I should
attract. And when I look at season six, I'm like, damn, I grew this. This is crazy. So don't forget
to talk to yourself. If you could go back and talk about yourself, if you could go back to
that video where you were in the studio and you said, listen, I'm leaving music. It's been a
great journey. I'm going to go off to do production. And that was seven, eight years ago. What would
you tell yourself? I would definitely tell myself, oof. So creatives are emotional, just so you guys
know we it's easy it's easy to to be strong in front of people and stuff but creatives are
emotional we just we just show it a different way so forgive me if i'm a little emotional
but i will tell myself that what made you who you were even in the music is what's going to make
the next chapter successful you don't have to be someone else you don't have to i didn't have to
even do that video i learned that in this these past seven years seven years yes that passion
that person the music i listened to the people that were in my life the the the adventures i
went on right the experiences i gained the the amazing people down the road who believe in me
all of that i learned before i stopped doing music and i just thought oh it's a whole different world
now that i'm behind the scenes and that's how you felt then that's how i felt then and this whole
journey now has taught me nah man like you need that same passion that same drive that that same
reason why you woke up and and wanted to make the song has to be the same reason you wake up
to produce a tv show to produce a film you know like making music for films right all of that
you have to have that same passion and drive and everything in your past you can't shut the door
you can't shut the door on it it's it leads to something and it creates it's the reason i am who
i am right and there's nothing wrong with that not at all man not at all but um but i have amazing
people on my corner that's the one thing that i will say um i've always had the uh i've always
been grateful because for some reason there have been amazing people with amazing talent that have
been on my team right so maybe i don't like talking about myself because because it's not just you
exactly and it's so hard to explain that to people i'm like yo your team is everything
like my creative director benny brian uh who who does the production with me um beth right now is
holding this down right sarah viteri shout out to la princesa she's really getting the stuff out
there and letting people know about this mike walsh you know like so uh the doctor dr felix
pixani one of the producers for of the show like everybody is so integral right like air horns
so it's hard for me to be like yo look at me but i will say that my skill set is to get the right
people in it together right that's always been my skill set yeah that's excellent so with that
being said yeah i'm here because of beth and beth knows the things that we need to be saying for
salute. Um, no, I'm just happy to be a part of this whole program with you because his passion
for this program is just crazy. And I, it needs to be said, it needs to be brought to the Lehigh
Valley. And I'm just so happy that you're bringing it here. And I'm so happy that you're having us
here to talk about it. This is our first time promoting the program and, um, hopefully it's
not our last and, you know, this is all about making connections. So connections with you,
you guys obviously have some sort of past you didn't even know about, um, connections to the
listeners right now, if they have any connections that would be beneficial for Salubian de Cuatro
Siete, whether it's someone who's, uh, you know, in the health care, you know, right now, or if
they'd have, uh, businesses that want to get involved in sponsorship and advertising, because
none of this happens if there's not money behind it. And that's the unfortunate part about this
all you could have the passion and you know the drive but we do need um sponsors and advertisers
to help us out so if there are any businesses out there that would be a fit for our niche um
reach out to me um i'm on social media i can give you some information i'm very open to talk to
anybody and if we can i do some stuff in healthcare like for my real job okay i'll talk we could talk
off mic for sure okay that's awesome um but where can we find where can we find you do you guys have
the website yeah yeah so so you know we're still prepping everything for this launch right just
like a a good film they're tweaking things until until the day it's released you know um but
salute-247.com salute-247.com there you'll find the different places right if you prefer it on
apple podcast if you prefer spotify or just youtube right uh facebook instagram it's all
there so i i would say go there because that'll be the best way for you to just choose where you
you know whatever your preference is as far as how you want to um take it in yeah that's that's
how you gotta this guy's so media trained he said we're just gonna read off the website
so to follow at this t is in tom o is in the design yeah like that's great well
cubits thank you so much man i appreciate you for sure thank you so much nice to see you for sure
best of luck with everything and to the top thank you thank you for listening to another episode of
i will not lose podcast to support the show visit i will not lose podcast.com you can subscribe to
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Thanks so much.