IAM792- Founder Helps in Media Partnerships and Content Development

Chris Colbert is the CEO and Founder of DCP Entertainment, a media platform for underrepresented voices, including people of color, women, the LGBTQ+ community, and other overlooked communities. He began his career in audio production more than a decade ago as an intern and consultant for Sirius Satellite Radio (now SiriusXM Radio), where he helped create Jamie Foxx’s comedy & music channel, The Foxxhole. Having worked with names like Jamie Foxx, Touré, Joy-Ann Reid, Zak Levitt, Andrew Jenks, Joe Madison, ESSENCE, PEOPLE, Crooked Media, Sports Illustrated, and the United Negro College Fund, Chris specializes in media partnerships and content development.

• CEO Hack: Virtual assistance helps especially with tasks that take time
• CEO Nugget: Be flexible, ready, and coactive in your thinking
• CEO Defined: Providing Proactive leadership

Website: https://www.dcpofficial.com/

Twitter: @DCPofficial

Facebook: @DCPofficial

Full Interview:

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE

Transcription

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Please Note: Our team is using the AI CEO Hacks: Exemplary AI and Otter.ai to support our podcast transcription. While we know it's improving there may be some inaccuracies, we are updating and improving them. Please contact us if you notice any issues, you can also test out Exemplary AI here.

[00:00:02.20] – Intro 

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you’ve come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you’re in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

[00:00:29.80] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Chris Colbert of DCP Entertainment. Chris, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:39.60] – Chris Colbert

It's a pleasure being here.

[00:00:41.20] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Chris so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Chris is the CEO and founder of DCP Entertainment, a media platform for underrepresented voices, including people of color, women, the LGBTQ community, and other overlooked communities. He began his career in audio production more than a decade ago as an intern and consultant for Sirius satellite radio, now Sirius XM radio, where he helped create Jamie Foxx's comedy and music channels, the Foxhole. Having worked with names like Jamie Foxx, Toure, Joy-Ann Reid, Zach Levitt, Andrew Jinx, Joe Madison, Essence People, Crooked Media, Sports Illustrated, and the United Negro College Fund, Chris specializes in media partnerships and content development. Chris, you're doing so many phenomenal things. I'm super excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

[00:00:46.90] – Chris Colbert

I'm ready to go. Let's do it.

[00:00:48.20] – Gresham Harkless

So to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit here, a little bit more on how you got started. Could you take us through your CEO story? We'll let you get started with your business.

[00:01:43.90] – Chris Colbert

Yeah. So, as you had mentioned, I worked at Sirius Satellite Radio, now known as Sirius XM Radio. And I actually left there. I was there for eleven years and went to a podcast company for a year where I was the VP of their, programming division heading up audio documentaries. Between those two companies and just as I looked at the greater media landscape, I realized that there was a lack of opportunities being given, particularly to black people. And as I expanded that, you know, I saw people of color. I saw women, people in the LGBTQ plus community, people with disability, just these pockets of individuals that actually are no longer minorities if you really look at it.

And the lack of not only opportunities to be able to be host, but also the representation for those audiences to be able to find people who look like them, people who have similar experiences as them. And so looking at that, and, and, again, not just at the companies that I was at, I realized that just going between these different media companies to try to champion that kind of content, It can work, but I can do a much better job doing that out on my own with the relationships that I've cultivated at both of those places. And so just I made the decision that instead of trying to work for all these other companies and help them do it, why don't I take that myself and help build something that I can truly feel passionate about, feel proud about, and can do it the way that I wanna do it, again, in representing those communities and doing so in a responsible way.

[00:03:03.80] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. No. I definitely appreciate you doing it kind of, you know, the phrase I always kinda go back to a lot of times is creating a way, sometimes out of no way, so to speak, where you don't see that opportunity. You don't see the voices are being, kinda shown that opportunity as best as they could. So rather than saying, oh, somebody else should do it, you take on the entrepreneurial man. So you decide, hey. Let's build something. Let me do it myself and then start to leverage that experience and the partnerships as you mentioned as well.

[00:03:27.80] – Chris Colbert

Absolutely. And I'm very fortunate. Because of my experience at Sirius, I was connected with some of those names that you mentioned, like Jamie Foxes, like, Joe Madison, like, the United Negro College Fund. Like, I got the opportunity to expand my network when I was working for somebody else. And then when I left Sirius, I had these networks reaching out to me to say, hey. I heard you left Sirius. Now we can really work together. And so that actually gave me that additional push to say, alright. I actually have the resources to put this together, not only just from the host perspective but the same thing from the producer side. I met so many talented individuals behind the camera, behind the microphone that, you know, we were able to bring to our company, and there's still more out there, that I'd love to be able to champion as well. But we have now people that can create the content, can host the content, and, you know, they were looking for opportunities in a company like mine. And so that gave that additional push to say, you have everything

[00:04:19.89] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. It's definitely kind of that great reminder that sometimes when you take that, that chance or go down the path that you may not necessarily know you get that reassurance that hey, this is because so many people are also cheering you on as far as doing it. So I love that. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper here a little bit more on what we are sharing Can you tell us take us through DCP entertainment exactly what you're doing and how you support the clients you work with?

[00:04:40.30] – Chris Colbert

Sure. Yeah. We focus and, you know, a lot of our content right now is very black focused or or, programs that are hosted by black people, primarily because running urban talk and comedy for SiriusXM Radio, which is the PC way of saying I ran black and Latino focused programming in the talk space. Because of that network, we do a lot of content, that is black driven. So we have shows like Toure Show that's all about black excellence. We're talking with people like Spike Lee, Diddy, Tiffany Haddish, Neil deGrasse Tyson, people in all these different areas to show that we're not a monolith as black people, but to show the ability for us to, you know, make it in any kind of, career field, any kind of endeavor.

So we have a show like that, but we also have shows like Democracy ish where we have, Daniel Moody, who's a regular on MSNBC, paired also with Toure, where they talk about politics from the black, you know, very progressive perspective. But then you have civil rights activists like Mark Thompson, Reverend Mark Thompson, who used to also be a host at SiriusXM, talking about social issues and, you know, especially amongst this time that we're currently seeing with uprisings around the country. You know, what do we need to be doing? What do we need to be, demanding? You know, really from an educational side and understanding our history and how we got here and how we are continuing to try to make changes.

But then even beyond just that, you know, that black focus space, we also have shows like Pick Last and Gym Class that are all about, you know, representing the disabled community and not just saying, hey. Look at me. I'm disabled. Woe is me. It's that I just happen to be disabled, and I'm a great host, and I'm gonna talk to people about overcoming adversity. I think the representation in that kind of show is great, and that's a show where we do, as a company, podcast and video content. That's a show that has a very, video-forward, kind of program because, you know, now you can see these individuals who may have a prosthetic or may have some other kind of, an ailment that you can't necessarily hear or see, you know, if you're listening to it on a podcast.

But in the video, you can feel that representation a lot more. And then we have shows like Inner Space that are about mental health, you know, talking to different celebrities or people in business or everyday individuals about how prevalent, mental health issues are within within our lives, but also how should we be maintaining our mental and emotional well-being on a regular basis. So our business model in terms of how we do these shows is that we partner with, influencers, you know, people who are out there doing the work, or we partner with brands, again, brands that are doing the work, to help them to reach the communities that they're trying to reach, and doing so with letting them understand how to cater their message on the podcast audio-only platform and then also how to do so in the video platform if we think that that's a mechanism to reach people.

So, you know, basically, what we do is we allow, host, allow brands to truly speak to these audiences that they wanna reach without this corporate filter. We're not yes. We're a profit business. We wanna do advertising and things like that, but but we're never gonna put advertising on shows that's gonna then hinder that show from being able to say what they wanna say and do what they wanna do. We're not catering our message to the advertisers. We're catering our message to the audience.

[00:07:42.10] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. You're doing it for the people. And I think so many times we forget that, and businesses sometimes forget that when you actually create something, you're creating it for the people. And when sometimes the advertiser or the advertiser check comes in, it changes the entire direction of the show. So I love that, obviously, you're creating and it sounds like in a lot of different ways, step away from that monolithic experience that you mentioned as well too, whether that be black or disabled or whatever, kind of group that might be where so many times we see or experience one aspect of that through media, and we think that that that's all there is. But in reality, you're creating and have a platform by which you're creating a more, holistic or varied experience that I think is, great for everybody.

[00:08:21.89] – Chris Colbert

Absolutely. And making sure that people who are listening feel like their voices are being reflected in the content. I think that's important, especially in this new age of advertisers if we say x, y, and z. No. The advertisers should be happy to be a part of something that is so outspoken. And so let them cater themselves to you and not the other way around.

[00:08:47.39] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. It's a very strong, reminder to to kind of be who you are, be true to you, or be authentic to who you are, whether that be your business or your personal life. And then the people that should be around you or the brands that should be around you will be attracted to you, not the other way around as you said. So definitely appreciate that. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, and this could be for you personally your business, or a combination of both. But what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:09:14.20] – Chris Colbert

I think part of it is the, you know, no corporate filter that I mentioned. But I think tied into that is that we very much work in partnership with the people that we work with. I've worked at other media companies where you may say that you're partnering, but at the end of the day, you're making you know, the major company, the company who's doing the producing of content is making all the decisions. You know, I really like to work with our host to say, can we be doing something better to market you, to book talent for you? It's not just, hey. We're just doing what we're doing, and you just have to deal with it. It's, no.

Do you have other resources that can make us better? And part of that is because we're still a young company, and so we still are molding ourselves. But I would like to think that as we get bigger, as we become a major company, we'll continue to have that DNA of truly working with the people that we're hosting with because they know their audience best. They know their potential audience best. And so who better to tell you how to reach those audiences and how to speak their language than the people who already have that audience's attention?

[00:10:10.50] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. So I wanted to, switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:10:19.70] – Chris Colbert

Lately, it's been the virtual assistant. I'm not sure if this has been brought up a few times on your show, but the virtual assistant has been really helpful, especially for more of the minute tasks, tasks that aren't very difficult but just take time. So, you know, I think any business, regardless of what field you're in, you know, you're looking at analytics on a regular basis. And that those analytics for us come from so many different sources. They come from YouTube. They come from these podcast-hosting platforms.

They come from our website, and, you know, Google. So we have our virtual assistant go through and aggregate all that information, put it into a format that's easily digestible for me, for our team, for our host, our partners. So that's something that's been a great hack for me that before, I was spending, you know, four plus hours a week just trying to aggregate all that information together, and put it into the kind of format that is easily readable for everybody. And now, you know, I just pay someone, you know, an additional, you know, twenty-something dollars, a week to to handle that for me. And so for me, I think that's been the biggest, hack business-wise, at the moment.

[00:11:20.10] – Gresham Harkless

Love that. And so now I wanna ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

[00:11:31.39] – Chris Colbert

Yeah. And I think you kinda touched on it a little while ago, but I think the biggest is being, being flexible. You know, things are not always gonna go according to plan. You should have your plan a, your plan b, your plan c, and sometimes all those plans get blown up at the same time. So understand that you're sometimes gonna have to pivot, and, you know, try, you know, try not to get just so down in that moment. Just try to always be proactive in your thinking in terms of, okay, what is next? Obviously, you wanna figure out how to avoid having the same situation happen again, but your immediate thought needs to be, how do I how do I, how do I move on to the next thing? How do I either improve on what just happened? And then you can go back and try to put those fail-safes in place. But just always be ready that your plans could blow up at any given moment regardless of, you know, what aspect of your business, that you're looking at.

[00:12:19.50] – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. So, now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different CEOs on this show. So, Chris, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:12:27.60] – Chris Colbert

Yeah. And I've heard some of the ones from your past guests, and I think they're definitely spot on. I think leadership comes up a lot. And I guess I'll fine-tune that definition a little bit more to say I think that being a CEO is proactive leadership. I know I just reused that word a little while ago as well, but I very much believe in it. I don't think you should be reactionary. If you're a CEO, you should be looking big picture. Every decision you make, even in those moments where there's an emergency and you have to get a quick fix, you should be thinking about, okay. What are the short-term ramifications of this? But, also, what are the long-term ramifications of dealing with this? So, you know, the same thing goes with any contract you're signing.

You're looking at the fine print and anticipating things going wrong or anticipating the person you're going into business with to try to finagle things to work better in their favor. Even if you trust them, you need to be thinking proactively, okay? What if this happens? What recourse do I have? What safety net do I need to put in place? And so, yeah, being a proactive thinker and thinking bird's eye view, which also then again means that you should be delegating certain tasks so you have the ability, have the time to think from that bird's eye view, I think that's really important and also is something that will influence the culture of your business.

When you're thinking proactively and thinking two, three, four, five steps ahead, that then permeates with the rest of your team. And so they are then doing the same thing, and you just become better as a company when you're thinking, okay. Where are things going? As opposed to reacting to where are things now and and trying to catch up to everybody. Because by the time you catch up, you know, they've already moved on. So you're better to try to lead than to try to follow and be reactionary.

[00:13:54.79] – Gresham Harkless

Truly appreciate that, appreciate that definition, Chris, and I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional. You can let our readers and listeners know. And, of course, how best they can get a hold of you, find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

[00:14:09.10] – Chris Colbert

Yeah. So I think, the only other thing I would add so I think this has been a great conversation. The only other thing I would add is that I think there are a lot of, new entrepreneurs that are listening to this show. And I think the biggest thing is, you know, don't get discouraged in the day-to-day, things that may feel like failures. You know, I like to tell people that, I don't believe I've ever failed in anything because, you know, those are moments to be able to then pivot and to try to improve on something. It's only in failure when you really give up. And so I don't see failures. I see opportunities. And so I'd like to kind of impart that on fellow entrepreneurs, people who are looking to aspire to start a business that you're gonna go through tough times. But, you know, always remind yourself that, you know, you've probably been through some traumatic experiences in your life, and you're still here.

And so to always draw back and, kinda like we were just talking about before, look at that big picture view of your own life to say, this is just a quick moment within the greater, landscape of of what I'm trying to accomplish. And, you know, don't get too bogged down on some of the things that don't necessarily go the way that you want them to. Yeah. Yeah. And as for us, for DCP, the for for for myself, if you wanna kinda follow what we're doing, our company DCP Entertainment is on all social media platforms, at DCP official. And you can go to DCP official dot com to check out our website, check out all of our shows. I'm not as interested in social media. I just tend to, you know, post pictures of, throwback, moments in radio and, you know, some of my baby pictures and stuff. But if you are so inclined, I'm on Instagram, Chris Colbert Report. But, yeah, I'd push you to DCP official. They're they're a lot more fun to follow.

[00:15:44.29] – Gresham Harkless

Alright. That definitely sounds good. We will have those links and information in the show notes just so that everybody can follow up with you as well. But, I definitely appreciate that reminder. Again, kinda speaking to that mentality that we need to have in business. And I think once we understand sometimes, to some degree, it's kinda like a video game. If we understand that we didn't fail, we get to start again and we get to start again with that data or that information on how to be better, it starts to change our approach and our mentality towards those roadblocks or those things that pop up, and we start to become stronger as a result of going through those experiences, phenomenal rest of the day. A phenomenal rest of the day.

[00:16:22.39] – Outro 

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at IAMCEO.CO. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it’s a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. Grab CEO gear a www.CEOgear.co This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

[/restrict]