Spoken Word Artist Laurent Che

Rodney Veal interviews Laurent Che, a spoken word artist and multihyphenate, who shares his inspiring journey from a young dancer to a spoken word poet and creative professional. Through personal stories of overcoming challenges, he discusses the power of perspective, creativity, and pursuing multiple passions while staying true to one's vision.

Learn more about Laurent Che on his website: www.laurentchespeaks.com

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Promo, Laurent Che, Ad, Rodney Veal

Laurent Che  00:00

You know, I think about this, this concept of a grappling hook. I've had this kind of grappling hook mentality. What I mean by that is like, if you see somebody who's a grappling hook, right, you're a fan of Batman or whatever, right off, and it grabs on to something, and it like hooks onto something, and then once it's locked in, it pulls you up. The way I've always thought about it is having that clarity and having that vision about your destination and where you want to go. That's the that's the grappling hook locking all you shot. The grappling hook locks on. Now I might be some branches on the way. It might be some birds flying. It might be some flags floating around, right? It might be some things along the way. You might know bump yourself along the way, but if you hold on that I wrap it's just gonna keep going.

Rodney Veal  00:52

Hello everyone. My name is Rodney Veal, and I'm the host of Rodney Veal's Inspired By and today on the podcast, we have someone that I just met recently, but I'm dying to get to know his backstory and how he became, who he has become, and my presence, I want to say that Lauren Shea is probably a multi hyphenate, and we're going to find that out. But he did such a spectacular job of introduction, of introducing Cincinnati through spoken word and visual imagery to the Americans for the Arts conference that I had to have him on. So without further ado, the multi hyphenate. Lauren Shea, welcome to the podcast.

Laurent Che  01:38

I appreciate it. Ronnie, I'm so glad to be here. Man,

Rodney Veal  01:41

oh, it's super cool. So, really, yeah, so, so for you know, as I was saying earlier, it was like, one of those moments where I was like, Who is this guy? I mean, I was at the conference, and that morning at the opening session, and it was, you knocked it out of the park, and I had this, I had dinner that evening with Donna Collins on the Ohio Arts Council, and before I could even sit down at the table, she said, You need to have Lauren on your podcast. I was like, okay, like, Great minds think alike. That's it.

Laurent Che  02:13

So we're wearing the same shirt. I know they can't, you know, see it for those that are listening, but oh yeah.

Rodney Veal  02:17

Like, the fact that we're like, 20 now, which is pretty cool. So I'm curious, like, so, so Lauren, no one's no one steps into the role of being a spoken word artist. How did this we have an origin story. Give me the origin story. How did this all begin? Because I'm really curious.

Laurent Che  02:38

So you know, you and I actually have something in common, because I did my homework on you as well, too. So dance was pretty much what got me into the arts. So I really started dancing when I was four. Started a hip hop dance crew in high school here in Cincinnati, and started up a dance crew at college as well. And so I was choreographing and dancing for way before I ever, kind of picked up a pen to start writing at least a little bit before. And I kind of wrote my first poem when I was about nine, so but that was my introduction into the space. Was dance, and my mom put Michael Jackson on the screen, and he was moon walking, and I was like, I gotta, I gotta be a part of that.

Rodney Veal  03:20

Is that how that works? I guess, truly how that works? Yeah.

Laurent Che  03:23

Works, yeah. And then I want to say, in fourth grade, you know, I was the only, or one of maybe one or two black students in my class. I went to a school here, a Montessori school, and we had to embody a historical figure for a class presentation. And, you know, being, if not, the only black student there, my mom was like, hey, well, you know, maybe you can do Langston Hughes, right. Who's that guy? Right? Actually, have a picture of Langston hanging behind me, because he was my first introduction into poetry, right, seeing a poet like me take on that art form. So that was my first, my first time, you know. So she gave me this, like corn pipe, and got me suspenders, and, you know, the whole fit. I mean, there was no facial hair happening at that time, obviously. And that was kind of my first introduction into poetry. And what that meant, wow.

Rodney Veal  04:16

So was the, what was the audience response? Because, I mean, you know, you're bringing in lengths, and you So, you you kind of went deep on African American culture. For those who in the room, it may not have been that deep into,

Laurent Che  04:26

oh, I mean, I want to say no one knew who I was, you know, you know, I'm sure they were like, okay, he's an old guy from hundreds of years ago. That's probably what they were thinking around 100 years ago, right? But I don't think anyone had a deep understanding. I was even learning about who he was, right, right, right. So, yeah, but yeah, that was, uh, I don't know if I got much a response. It was a long time ago. Yeah, it was good practice for me. I'll say that.

Rodney Veal  04:54

Well, it definitely launched you into it. I mean, the thing is, I love the fact that you like hear this dance back. Around. I mean, so, I mean, and you carried it through college. I mean, that's the whole thing. It's like, like, was that so that became, was there a space as, you know, as you know, I my background in dance, thinking about high school was, so there was like, you're still doing in high school. You're doing this thing. But you did you ever see it as being like the, you know, maybe I could turn this dance thing into a career. Or was that, that whole thing of like, well, that's nice, but you probably should go get a backup degree, because I was looking at you. I was looking at your bio, thinking, Yeah, this sounds very familiar.

Laurent Che  05:36

No, absolutely. Um, you know, I mean, it was just such a part of, you know, when I still dance, when I have a time I was doing, you know, workshops here in the city, you know, just so that was such a part of my identity. And poetry was kind of like I said it came in about five years later, after I discovered dance. So it was like this constant tug of war between the two. Yeah, of course, dance was the more prevalent life you asked anyone from age nine up until 17, it was strictly dance. Oh, what is

Rodney Veal  06:06

the dance? Right? They would have, they would have said that that's what, that's the path he's going down,

Laurent Che  06:10

pretty much. That's who he's going to be. And then even a little bit after that, just because, like I said, in college, I was no captain of this dance crew and performing all around campus. But in between that, I would be performing poetry on campus. I went to Kent State University, and that was like, where I was able to kind of find my voice as a dancer, but also as a performance artist as well.

Rodney Veal  06:29

Oh, wow. So, I mean, you know, for those who don't know Kent State I've been to, I've been to the campus again, yeah, and that is, that's a journey. I'm not gonna lie. It's not like Cincinnati. It's like, David, it's like, okay, well, that was a little bit of a, yeah, okay, you're kind of in there's not much out there. Ella, so, I mean, so this burnishing of the spoken word and this, this and dance and kind of developing it, and your style of poetry and your delivery. Do you think that? I mean, because I do. You think that the dancing help craft, this ability to embody the words, because you embodied what you were saying. It was so vibrant. And I was like, Oh, I'm like, that's why I said multi hyphenate. I was like, I know those guys. We're not even doing the research.

Laurent Che  07:20

So you're so perceptive there for sure, you know, I started choreographing when I was 16, yeah, you know, and at the time that I was started choreography, especially in the hip hop genre, it was becoming the trend, or the style, to not just dance to the beat and the cadence of the music, as you would see in like the you got served era, as much it was all about the beat in this era, like from the early 2009 to like 2014 the style of dance in the hip hop choreography community was about lyric interpretation. So if you're a choreographer, who's you know, worth his salt. You know, you're not figuring out ways to embody that lyric that the artist just said in the song, in addition to capturing the beat and

Rodney Veal  08:10

the rhythm, yeah, at the same time, what

Laurent Che  08:12

are you doing? You know what I mean? So that was kind of like this thing. So as a spoken word artist and a choreographer, I was spending more of my hours dancing at the time, right? So it was hard for when I'm know, working on my style of delivery as a poet, to not embody that to where now it literally poetry in motion to where, the same way I'm choreographing a song in the studio with my guys. Now, when I'm taking these lyrics that I've written that are coming from my heart. Now it's there's an even deeper connection for me on how I can bring them to life. So now, when I'm I'm writing them, I'm even thinking like, how would I convey that visually? How can I paint a vivid picture to further impart the message that I'm trying to get to the

Rodney Veal  08:57

audience? It is really a tree because I, because I always think about because a lot of people, especially in talking about rap and talking about hip hop, it is, it is the language. It is, it is, it's not just the rhythm. You have to listen to the language. It's storytelling. And I tell people all the time, do not I'm like, you can't box it in, like, this categorization of something. It's bigger than what your categories, categorizing it as. And so, you know, you you saying that, I'm hoping some people in the audience recognize that, yes, because you're, you're hearing some of these, you know, these lyrics that are, to me, it's basically poem to a beat, yeah, and so, so it's like, this motion, so, so I'm kind of curious, is like, where I mean, because a lot of people, like all you said, Kent State it's in the not to say it's the middle of nowhere, but it is definitely not. Yeah, you're an urban center, yeah. So was there an audience where you started to do the spoken word?

Laurent Che  10:00

So, you know, and I feel like some of my my friends that I went to Kent State would feel the same way, but like I felt like in certain spaces that I was at a HBCU, I'll be frank with you, Randy, right? And I'll say it like this, right? When I I want to say my first year experience program that they do, like your freshman year, they do the whole thing, look to your left. Look to your right. You know, I went to a special program called Academic stars that was specifically for minority students. And the first thing they said to you, before you know you're they're getting you sent to send you out into the world with the rest of the campus at large right being a PWI on paper. They're like, look to your left. Look to your right. You might not see this person around as much like you guys are going to be doing different things when I tell you that we our community was so concentrated, I really mainly only connected with my white friends in class, right? Like that was pretty much where I saw him everywhere else. Like, I mean, going, I'll give you an example. I was leaving. I did a marketing at Kent State, and I became really good friends with a friend of mine, white student that went there, and we're walking from class, maybe going to grab something to eat from the our class to the hub, the the Student Center, where we're going to grab food. I probably dapped up five guys, you know, maybe gave a hug to, like a few you know, friends of mine, you know, who were girls staffed up another guy, you know, cracked the inside joke with another all black the whole way through it. And her words to me were, you know everybody? And I was like, No, I just know

Rodney Veal  11:31

your people. You know people, right? You

Laurent Che  11:33

know what I mean. And that's literally. So when she's not with me, just imagine, right, like it just feels like that all the time, to where, wow, this curate, no, and then the staff, there were black professors, right? There were my advisor was black, right? So, like, and we're still, we still have a relationship to this day, she, she supports my spoken word career, right? So, like, I have my experience there was so black, but at the same time, I got the exposure to the white community to have practice being around both. But that was my experience, my audience. I mean, when we had an event where I was performing, you know, I would see the lines, right? I would see people coming out like, Hey, I heard you performing tonight. That's why I came, right? So, like the audience was there, and then it was almost like the the white folks on campus would discover and be like, Oh, I didn't know this was happening, because our audience was so large.

Rodney Veal  12:22

Wow, that's so super cool. So you got this validation, the support of like, this is the thing. I'm kind of curious. Why did you choose marketing? I mean, I mean, I know why I chose political science, but, yeah, what? Why marketing

Laurent Che  12:35

so professionally by day, right? So I've been in the advertising industry for 10 years, right? I graduated in 2015 with a degree in marketing from Kent State, and then I went to get my masters at Boston University in advertising with the focus in copywriting. So clearly, obviously, poetry, advertising, right? The writing element is the same, right? You're conveying a message to an audience. I fell in love with advertising when I was a kid, me and my mom would watch commercials. You know, she's been with Allstate for years. She's an attorney, and anytime all state commercial will come on, I'm rewriting the commercial. It should have said this. They should have done that. And then on top of that, she introduced me to Eddie Murphy's Boomerang 1992 when I was in high school. Oh, my God, right? Or maybe I was high and I was like, Wait, so you told me there's a black man in a nice suit, clean cut, right? You know, I like that. I'm vibing with that, and he's in a creative corporate space, right? Because I had a business mentality about my father was in business, right? So I've always seen, I would see him go into work in a suit, right? So, like, I had that appreciation and but at the same time, I'm an artist myself, so I'm like, Wait, you're telling me he's on a corporate setting. Halle Berry's there, and she's an artist, and he's giving her creative direction, and it's for a perfume commercial. And then they, then they make this video based off of his ideas. I gotta do that, you know? And that is kind of what started my trajectory. And then while I was doing spoken word on the side, during while getting my degree, I was kind of like developing this style that is infused into my my my work as a Senior copywriter, Creative Director and content producer,

Rodney Veal  14:18

that is such a that's such an interesting way to kind of support the creative process of being a spoken word, because that's not speaking to reason. Why I say that is because I was talking to Sierra Leone, I'm sure, you know, yeah, you know, she really the talk about somebody whose experiences

Laurent Che  14:39

using spaces for artists like myself, especially here in the Midwest. So she's incredible.

Rodney Veal  14:44

Yeah, she's absolutely and her journey is like this and I and it says the almost everyone I'm talking to in the kind of the realm of writing and spoken word, it's not the actual thing, it's all the other things that came into your life, huh? That opened up the door to to the to the words Yeah, to the language, to the stories, because you told a story like you painted when I when you made me want to move to Cincinnati. I mean, okay, I was like, well, I could move. Like, come on, let me get back

Laurent Che  15:18

up the house. I won't. I won't tell date nowhere. Don't

Rodney Veal  15:21

tell date, because, you know they'll get they'll get upset. So, I mean, so I mean this, you see, you've done all this cool stuff at get Kent State. Now you're back in Cincinnati. Did you was it what your goal was, to come back to Scentsy? Did you work in Scentsy once you, once you graduated from Kent State?

Laurent Che  15:39

So I graduated, like I said, in 2015 I came back home, was trying to land my first role in the copywriting industry. Right? Wasn't having much luck. But also, too, you know, I realized I had done the wrong major for the type of career I wanted to do, right in my mind, oh, marketing, that's the creative side of business. No, I'm taking stats. I'm taking microeconomics. You know, it was helpful. But like, I felt like I was in business, right? So, like, and that's not who I am, although I have a business mentality, that's not who I was. So it became, like, the dynamic of, I'm performing, you know, I'm dancing, I'm doing spoken word, and, like, I'm just trying to keep my grades up so my parents don't have anything to say about everything I'm going on here my experience, right? And I remember every time I would get on stage, you know, to perform, uh, poetry, I'm thinking, like, Man, I wish there was a career I could do where I could basically, like, create, but like, you know, make a good living from it and build a career. But, like, still, you know, craft these messages that would have a compelling impact on people's lives the way I do on stage. And my last year at Kent, I took an advertising elective, so my job got I've already seen Eddie Murphy. I've already been watching the commercial. I haven't so now I'm forming the idea, right? You know, I have a, I have this, the book I recently just wrote. I talk about how addresses how people have a hard time finding their calling. And I'm a big believer that believer that our childhood leaves breadcrumbs for our

Rodney Veal  17:05

calling, right? Wow, that's a good image. Me.

Laurent Che  17:09

That was my experience. It just kind of tracing when I when it got to the stage of like, moving into manhood, of like, well, what do I want to do? I literally backtracked when I was a kid of writing. You know, when we had to do handwriting assignments elementary class, I didn't just write, you know, about going to the store to get milk, I'm writing about a samurai with the magical sword, right? Like, everything is always, you know, I'm

Rodney Veal  17:32

elevated. And it went beyond just the assignment, Oh,

Laurent Che  17:36

yeah. Like, if I liked the girl, I had to write her a poem, right? Like, that was the I had to pass her a poem that that told, told her everything about her that I appreciated, right? Like, going back to that, and then again, like I said, watching commercials, breaking down, the commercials, music videos, right? I told you how to appreciation for Michael Jackson. You know, every artist, especially as a dancer, I'm watching the music videos like YouTube is filled. I'm like, How can you listen to a song. I remember when I first met my wife, I'm like, Wait, so you don't go and watch the music videos immediately. She's like, I've never even seen I was like, what? How do you coming together? And when I took that advertising class my senior year as an elective, I was like, That's it. That's it. So I was like, I gotta go get my masters, because I don't have a portfolio, right? I've been doing all this time, doing micro economics and stats. So I created a pretty much a sample portfolio of things that I had never actually done, but what I would do if I were a copywriter and submitted that and I got into Boston University. So I went out to Boston, went out there for 18 months, got my masters at Boston University and graduated in 2018 and then got my first job at Foot Locker as a copywriter.

Rodney Veal  18:50

Wow, that's crazy, yeah. So, I mean, that's not what you still do now, you know, you know,

Laurent Che  18:57

I'm still ready. Yeah, I'm still I'm a senior copywriter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been in the the tech space for the last two years.

Rodney Veal  19:06

Okay, so you, so you, so you pursued this career. So I'm kind of curious about your bat. You done, you done your masters in, you know, 18 months, which, you know, but I don't know, for a lot of folks, that's a I think my my master's degree program for dance was three years, yeah, yeah. That was a great, really appreciated what it did for me, but that was three years of back and forth to Columbus, for sure, at Ohio State. And so you're, you're senior, like you're in it, you're copywriting, you've gotten all that done. How did you How did you land in the place where people in Cincinnati knew of you as a spoken word artist? Yeah? Because you know, making breaking into the art scene is a getting into business is one thing, but getting into the art scene is another, yeah. So how did that happen? What was that first. What was the opportunities that led to

Laurent Che  20:01

that? Yeah, so I spent a year out in effort locker. I was out in Wisconsin writing for their, their website. HQ, so great experience, you know, great team out there. Got the right for, you know, champs, you know, champ sports, Nike, Reebok, right? So that was great, you know, I really enjoyed that and then, but, you know, my now wife was here back home in Cincinnati, so we're dating at the time, and came back home and proposed immediately. And you know, so I was able to land my first job here in Cincinnati at Xavier as a senior creative content producer. And so I was at Xavier for three years, and when I was getting ready to make my transition. They were aware that I did poetry, and then I know that I did spoken word, and they're like, hey, you know, we're doing this National Poetry Month coming up. Can you do like a poem about Xavier that we can we'll just use it for the offspring talent too. Can we do something for that, to put out to our socials and out to web and our on our YouTube and things like that, just to embody what it's, what it stands for. And I had actually pitched the concept. It never got picked up from my interview to get the role, like three years prior. It was this concept about how x equals you, right? You know, treating the obviously X and Xavier is a huge thing, right? I was like, what as a variable, right? And made, made X be a variable of all the things that a student could be, whether you're the kid playing hacking sack, where you whether you're the jock, whether you're the cheerleader or you're the theater kid, x equals whoever you are. And that, it got me the job, but we never picked it up to actually utilize. And when it proposed that I do this, this, I'll call it an anthem, right? Because that's what I call them now, do this anthem for Xavier. I was like, hey, what about that concept? And they were like, cool. Let's do it. So I wrote that, and, no, we recorded it, performed it, put it out. And I was, oh, man, I really enjoyed that, right? That was really cool. And it was a way of doing poetry that wasn't live, but that allowed, allowed it to continue outside of me. And I was like, I really enjoyed that. And I had a friend at Crossroads church here in Cincinnati who was doing something as well, too. And they're like, Hey, can you come and do some spoken word for this thing? Like, we want to kind of package, you know, this message that we're doing, it was related to Juneteenth as well. And I was like, yeah, like, it was connected to the Mercy Me film, or not the Mercy Me, the Mercy Just Mercy film that Michael B Jordan and Jamie Foxx had just done, they were focusing the Equal Justice Justice Initiative. And I was they were like, Hey, can you come and do it? Was, like a seven minute piece that they asked me to do was a real and I was like, Yeah, let's do it. No good friend of mine there. And then that kind of laid the groundwork for, like, kind of building that momentum. And then that led into another opportunity. I had a friend of mine here in Cincinnati who we actually knew each other from. We were kids, me, me, him and his brother all kind of came up going to the same church, and he's working for the mayor's office now. Shout out to David chimaero, great guy. He's a comedy, comedian and filmmaker Addison Snell here, and he's like, Hey, I'm working at the mayor's office. I'm doing some work that I'm, you know, we're getting ready for the State of the City address, and no, I want to do something a little bit different this year. Can you come in and bring some of your, some of your work for that? And I had just done a video for a non profit organization for Vernon Jackson gifted it's a non profit here in Cincinnati, the guy's blowing up, you know, just on a Jennifer Hudson show about a year ago for the work that he's doing giving these free haircuts for special needs kids. And I people come out to my performances when I was performing a nostalgia downtown. And I was like, Hey, man, I would love to do an anthem for your nonprofit. And he was like, Hey, man, we'll do it. We'll do it. And, you know, Hollywood talk, right? So I followed up with him and just sent him the demo of what I would do. And he was like, Alright, when can we shoot? Alright, so, and then when I had done that, maybe like in July of that year, and then David had reached out later on. He's like, Hey, man, like, we want to do something for the mayor's office, and they do unspoken word poetry. We've been wanting to work together for a while. Let's make it happen. And I sent that over to him. I could do something like this. What do you think? He's Oh, that's cool. That's cool. I got my own vision. Let's try and bring it together. And that's how I ended up doing basically a brand anthem for the mayor State of the City address. That was the video that introduced him to come out for a speech, and that rolled into film Cincinnati, noticing that and saying, Hey, we're getting ready to do a bid for Sundance. Can we have you come in to do something similar for that, but cater to basically our pitch to Sundance to have them come to Cincinnati, that goes out, does very well, gets us to the third and final round. We beat out, what, five of the cities, or I guess, three other cities, because we made it to the top three. And, you know, apparently we got a standing ovation from from the board, right? You know, some folks got emotional. Home, and that was a win for us, right? So this is kind of building up that momentum. Meanwhile, I'm still, you know, I'm having churches from, you know, Minnesota, you know, fly me out for to do the same thing for their Easter programs, right? It's kind of building up momentum in different spaces, you know, I'm doing the workshops at universities, and, you know, taking on different clientele. Was able to do a brand anthem for the reds here in Cincinnati for their HBCU tribute day, right? So it's kind of just all connected and kind of picking up steam. And I also spent a year performing, kind of doing, hosting a spoken word, not a nostalgia, very popular black owned, woman owned venue here in Cincinnati, doing their poetry night. So I was performing live once a month down. Wow. So you're

Rodney Veal  25:40

getting your, you're getting your chops in, and that's, and that's, the thing is that that's probably where you know Sierra from. It's that that circuit, and I'm learning that that is, that's a well attended circuit. Spoken Word is a big deal in our in southwest Ohio. I mean, it's not, it's not like two people in the audience. It's like, it's a packed audience. Oh, yeah, I do think people understand that. Like it's like, oh, you need to not fall asleep on the spoken word scene in southwest Ohio,

Laurent Che  26:09

absolutely. And that's why she's so amazing, man. When she I connected with her in 2016 when she did last post standing here in Cincinnati at the Aronoff center, and I signed up and was one of the poets in that, in that competition, and so that's how she and I first connected. Oh yeah,

Rodney Veal  26:25

yeah. So, so you're, I mean, it just, I nostalgia. That's just something for our audience. I'm like, if you need, you need to go like, you need to go to the nostalgia. You need to go like, don't ever like, I said, Don't fall asleep on spoken word. So it's like, it was like, and that's all that relationship with your friend, who's is he still in the city of Mayor's office?

Laurent Che  26:47

You know, I don't think he's still with the mayor's office. And I think he's no his trajectory, right? He might. I think he he's from Zimbabwe initially. I know he's doing some things out there in Zimbabwe as well, too. I mean, he's probably going to end up, you know, west coast somewhere. I haven't touched base with them in a little bit. His brother is still here, local. His brother did sound on the video. Talented musician. Wow. It was a beautiful video. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they did amazing, amazing work, great location, you know. And he had some outsourced, some friends as well, who contributed, who don't work for the mayor's office, but had a good relationship with Him. Super talented guys, man. And they really, they really brought that together amazingly.

Rodney Veal  27:24

And what was really good, what's really cool is, like, you know, you talked to and you also talked about it earlier in our conversation. You're right. You wrote a book, and it was, it's an inspirational book. I was like, okay, all right, what do you have time to work yeah? I mean, that's what I meant by the multi hyphenate. Now it's like, okay, dance on top of it, yeah? So that's not gonna be about writing a book. What got you to go in that lane?

Laurent Che  27:52

Oh, man. So I've been, you know, I've been, know, coming up on 10 plus years. I started doing spoken word when I was 1817, right? Seriously, to a degree. So that's coming up on 15 years, and the entire time, right? I would have people, oh, where can I find this? Where can I I was, oh, you know, I'll be performing here. I'll be performing there. And I would always write in a way that was made to be consumed via spoken word, right? Delivered to you from my mouth to your heart to your ears, right? And for a long time, I felt like that's how it had to be. I didn't, never saw myself as a poet in the way of like I write poems and let people read them, because for me, so much of the connective storytelling piece was me conveying it to the way kind of come to do that. And, you know, I guess living more life, right? You know, no trials, tribulations, going through things, right? And I was like, man, like, I really felt inspired to harness the fact of that I've been able to speak into people's lives on stage, cross screens. And I wanted to harvest that into a written format to where I could continue to speak into people's lives without them ever to hear me speak. And, you know, I'm a big person that's very passionate about perspective, the power of perspective, and how that's the effect that's had on my life, and how that's made me who I am, and has allowed me to get on the path to become who I want to be. You know, I was the kid, right? I was, I was held back in the fourth grade. You know, had to work with, you know, educational specialist, right? You know, navigated some different challenges with running home telling my mom that I think I'm, you know, I'm slow, I'm dumb. No kids gonna want to work with me. Teachers don't say it, but they give you that look like, Ah, right? So, like there was this, there's this lack of confidence, right? Especially when I had to change schools and start back in the same grade. And I remember that there was this choice of how I could see it right. And I remember when I got to that new school coming from the school that I was at, great institution just wasn't my learning style. It was more abstract, more free form, and apparently I knew. Structure. And, you know, they gave me a planner. There were desks, there were uniforms. And, you know, I remember getting, you know, it sounds crazy to say, but like my first A like my first good grade, right? And I was like, wow, so you're telling me that I could apply myself. And, you know, learn about this concept of discipline and organization and preparation, and I could change the whole trajectory. So I have friends who were in my wedding, right? That was when I was nine years old. I was held back friends before my wedding who don't even know that version of me prior, right? I was the kid, you know, the same school that I was telling you about where I did that presentation would like to use? Yeah, I remember I had to do a presentation on a Native American we all did, right? We're studying Native Americans, historical figures, and we had three months do a project I can't remember, and because of how I saw myself at the time, I remember waiting until the night of because I'm like, there's no point. I don't have what it's I don't have enough to offer. There's no point. I'll just come in. I went to, you know, Britannica, or whatever it was called, printed off a picture of the guy that I had put the date he was born, the day he died, and just came in with the picture. Mind you, we had three months. We were supposed to do a whole board, write an essay, you know. You know,

Rodney Veal  31:20

they expected this, this, hey,

Laurent Che  31:22

oh my goodness, I literally glued stick some pictures on a great I remember green construction paper. My else did the assignment, right, right, but it's my turn. I'm like, Alright, yeah, this is Tecumseh. He was born this year and died this year. And you know, he was Native American and there, when I tell you the look on their and then the look on the teacher's face, but I was comfortable with that, because I genuinely felt that was the best I could do, because I never had access to tapping into what was there. I didn't, hadn't discovered, you know, my gift for writing in English yet, and things like that. So when I go to this new school, that had like 84 kids, you know, Saint Paul Lutheran, you know, it's no longer around. And I get introduced to this new style of learning, and I'm now able to tap into, oh, okay, I got my first a, oh, I'm on, Oh, I'm getting stickers. I'll be single. Oh, wow. Like, Okay, what else? What else can I do? Hmm, what else can I do? So my perspective forever shifted. So now, as I'm getting older, I'm running into different challenges. You know, I'm still not the best test taker. I went to senex High School here in Cincinnati, and it's a difficult school to get into. And I remember, I went through their preparatory program, companion scholars, and it's basically like a program, mainly for minority students to come and have them come in and see if they work. At first, I wanted to spend my summers. My mom thought it was a great idea, right? So I was like, Man, I'm not trying to get rid of schools all boys there. Why do I gotta spend my summer like this? So I go through the program and I get a 95 average come out valedictorian. They recommend me to come to Saint x, but I bombed the exam. Wow. So I think of that analogy, what is it that trying to an elephant trying to climb the tree with the monkeys, right? Like I wasn't a good test taker, but they're like, how did you get a 95 average in the program, and we made you valedictorian. We got all these recommendations from the teacher, but you failed the exam. Fortunately, they had a program specifically for students like me. It was called the mod just program, which means the more in Latin. And you could basically come in on your summers again and take a program similar to companion scholars to prove if you could again do the curriculum. And I same thing, 95 average. Okay, cool, we got it. You're just a bad taste that could come in. So I go to say next. And you know, I gained the tutelage there. I gained the sharpening. I mean, they have a way of not just feeling education, but like the principles of what how a man should think, quite frankly, right to make you a better person and a better human. And, you know, I just kind of took that and all these experiences I'm having really helped shape the power of perspective, which is why I think I ended up writing a book about it.

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Promo  34:56

you're enjoying this conversation, the art show also hosted by Rodney viel. So is available to stream anytime from anywhere on YouTube or the PBS app.

Rodney Veal  35:04

We share that in common, beyond wearing the same color shirt, I would love to say test taking. That was the first thing I asked the question when I went for my master's degree. Please tell me I don't have a ticket test, because I would have, I would have bombed it. I will. I literally would have bombed the test. Yeah, for sure, it was not gonna, I mean, and so I think that there's something about that, because I think especially with education, that we don't realize that there's not a one size fits all methodology. And I think that's to the detriment of especially young black men and people of color. It's like, no, no, no, no, no. And I was not just, I don't think it's just native to us. I think it's universal. I think there's a sense of you cannot. It's like, I mean, come on. I was thinking, oh my god, like when you gave, when you gave that presentation, that's a, this is a fully formed man. I mean, this is and his element. So what? And I love how you say about this perspective of like, what would have most people would have said, Oh, he, he bombed on a test, moving on. But they kept seeing like, you know, you kept showing up and being present with this ability to do more. Did you and like that a confidence to say, You know what? No, there's some, there's he is here, but I just don't know how to get

Laurent Che  36:24

there. Yeah, no, absolutely. And I think I was very blessed and fortunate to have also seen that in other capacities. You know, my father's an immigrant, you know, my mother is a child of alcoholics, right? You know, grew up in not the best situation, right? And I grew up hearing stories of her journey, right? My mother's about to celebrate 35 years as an attorney, as a black attorney, you know, like I said, her parents were alcoholics, her father had a third grade education. And I remember she told me a story about how at 13 years old, she's on the phone, negotiating the rent with the landlord, right? Wow, I'm thinking about what I was doing at 13. I'm not even know what rent is, right, you know. And you know, she's seen her parents get arrested in front of her, right? So she's seen some things, right? Walking over needles to get to their apartment, but when she got to their apartment, it was kept clean, right? Her our parents were alcoholics, but they were also need freeze, right? So there was this, there was this dynamic. And she knew she wanted to be a lawyer at seven. And, wow, she saw Perry Mesa the first time. Boom. That was that, you know, my father came to this country, but he talks about having had $50 in his pockets, you know, he used to be a smoker. Back then. He would eat cigarettes for dinner. Had no money, you know, but went on to be, you know, an entrepreneur, you know, become very successful in that capacity as well, too. So I learned about this concept of grit, and I have a poem about grit in the book about how it can really, you know, how, basically, like God gave us grit, is the name of the title, and it's talking about how, you know, basically, that's something that's given to us to navigate the the trials and the tribulations, right? Like, basically, there's a line where I say that life is not a free trial, but it does guarantee trials and tribulations, right? And, you know, that's something that I found to be true. I've seen it from those that came before me. I've seen it in my own life, and I really just developed this appreciation for what perspective can do lots like So you're telling me, if I can change the way that I think, I can never be the I can never be the same, right, like I be I could, I could literally elevate myself and evolve myself in a way that could transform my life in ways that I think about. And each one of these poems, and there's a collection of 3030, poems. Each one is its own body of work in its own right, with its own intentional message, tackling a different component about how perspective can have a transformation in your life.

Rodney Veal  38:56

Wow, that's when, that's the thing. It's like, you know the I love how you said it about the trials and tribulations, because we all have them. Yeah, I think sometimes. But it doesn't necessarily have to be the thing that blocks you or literally stops you dead in your tracks and you can't get started again. Because I think a lot of people think of trials and tribulations as Planet killers, for lack of a better term. It's like, you know, Okay, we're done. It is never gonna happen. But in a row, no, no, no, no, look around it, yeah, look up over it like, you know. And so they, you know, not seen it like, and I love the social but in perspective, yeah? And it's like every like, and I feel like, and I've talked to some folks in this podcast and with the art show, our ship, and, you know, the broadcast, for like, a decade. This was, I tell people, always affectionately, not on the bingo card of life. This was not the intention. I was very happy to stay in the lane of an educator. But opportunity presents itself, and it sounds like when opportunities presented themselves, you never looked at them as like, oh, I can't do that. It did you just, I mean, that takes a, you know, you just went, Okay. I mean, I just seems, but that seems to be the story from ever like, I mean, I've talked to people from all these different walks of life, they just saw the opportunities is so much greater than the than the obstacles of doing it. Somehow, it's almost like they skipped all the stuff in between because, you know, there's always stuff in between to get you get to performance. And we don't talk about, there's a lot, there's, there's a lot how you saw, I

Laurent Che  40:30

think that's just how I've kind of seen life, you know, I think about this, this concept of a grappling hook, right? And a lot of people, I wasn't grappling at it, but that's kind of been in my mind for like, the last few years. I haven't done anything with that. I didn't put in the book, but I've always felt like I've had this kind of grappling hook mentality. And what I mean by that is, like, if you see somebody who's a grappling hook, right, if you're a fan of Batman or whatever, right off and it grabs onto something, right? If you're like, on the ground, you can shoot it up and it, like, hooks onto something, and then once it's locked in, it pulls you up right? So the way I've always thought about it is having that clarity and having that vision about your destination and where you want to go. That's the that's the grappling hook locking on you shot. The grappling hood locks on. Now I might be some branches on the way. It might be some birds flying by. It might be some flags floating around, right? It might be some things along the way. You might, know, bump yourself along the way, but if you hold on to that grapple, it's just going to keep going, right? It's nothing's going to it's just going to keep going. So if you, if you hit that release button and it just pulls you up, pulls you up, pulls you up, you're going to get up to where it latched on to, which was the vision where you saw yourself going. And and that, to me, has kind of been, you know, my mentality, and I think that's why anyone you've had on this show who's been fortunate enough to talk to you, I think that's why they usually end up where they do, because they realize, yeah, I'm going to get some bumps along the way, but if I can hold steady on the vision, I think that's where a lot of people fall off, like, I mean, think about, if you're wearing a blindfold, you know, you're trying to get even just across the room, you might bump over a chair, you know, you you're not going to know where you're going, right? But if you can, if you can decide clearly where you want to go in advance. I mean, think about, have you ever been behind a car at night and you can cloud you're not from your life. I'm up the street from from home. I just want to get home. No, make a sandwich, relax. And this person's trying to find, I don't know, like, a friend's house, and they're like, they're like, slowing down and keeping the brake lights. It's like, what are they? Why are they keep slowing down? Why are they? What is, Oh, you don't, you're you don't know where you're going. You don't know where you're going, right, right? Yeah, know where I live. I live around the corner, two blocks up. All I gotta do is I can get home and not even think about it, right? But right. You don't know where you're going, and it's dark out, you're looking for the address

Rodney Veal  42:50

assistant. It was like, is this? Is this GPS, right? I mean, you're constantly double doubting, double checking, triple checking. Slowing down, you know? Yeah,

Laurent Che  43:00

stop, and now here's the thing, though, because of that, they could even cause an accident. They can cause pile up, right? Because they haven't actually, like, not knowing where you're going, right is to a degree, right? In that case, it's a little bit dangerous. Like, man, okay, now I'm backed up because I don't know where I'm going. I got all these ideas. I got all these ambition now I'm frustrated, right? I see that pile up. It's frustration like, Well, I was supposed to have been at my destination two hours ago, but because I'm I don't actually know where I'm going. I never got the address. I just got in the car. Now I'm frustrated because I'm not getting anywhere right, and I'm frustrated because I'm having cars are ramming into me, and this, that and the third, and I think that that's why clarity and vision. You know, I talk about vision in the book as well, too. It's one of my favorite pieces. You know, I think that's why that's so important for anyone to actually get anywhere that they're trying to

Rodney Veal  43:49

go, oh man, yeah, these words of wisdom just, it's lived. It's like it's, it's embodied. I mean, you invite, I love, I love that grappling hook in this and the driving analogy, because that is, that's so real, that is an absolute real thing. And a lot of people don't recognize it, that someone stopping and starting could be the people in your own life. It's nothing. They're not strangers. They're sometimes it's like, wow, I'm with I'm with some folks who are stopping and starting. I need to not be with some folks who stop and start. It's a different you know. So this is, it's, there's a and that's a whole thing. I mean, I, I find that to be something that is not always talked about. Yeah, that that. But I noticed some of these conversations, especially this conversation with you, like that everybody's walking around with what you're saying, and when I'm and I'm Dean, I'm talking to, like, choreographers, filmmakers, costume designers, poets, Broadway producer. I mean, it's, I mean, it's the spectrum at a certain point, mosaic artist. I've like, an artist who works in metal. I was like, what we all it's just this notion of you. They, they have a perspective. They understand that perspective that you cannot you gotta know where you're going. Yeah, it's not about it's and you're going to pick up the things along the way and encounter the things, but you know where you're going. They all knew where they were going. Yeah, no, yeah, right. And so now that you're like, you know where you're here. You're at this moment. I mean, the fact that you're the the executive director of the Ohio Arts Council has to stop dinner to talk about you, and her face lit up. I mean, that was a thing that's when you make people light up. You make them say that like, that's the energy one space, yeah. I mean, what's, what's next for you, as far as, like, you know, do you want to continue to, kind of keep growing this out to so where it becomes something I'm kind of curious about that. Yeah,

Laurent Che  45:56

absolutely, you know. So I probably a couple year, within the last year. So I kind of decided to create a mantle under, like you said, the hyphen that all the hyphens could fit under, right, at least the ones that I'm leaning into most consistently. So I, you know, kind of craft the mantle. Lauren Chase speaks, right? And that's kind of been, if you had a chance to go my website and things like that. And I felt like that embodied, you know, a lot of what I'm doing not just in the spoken word component, right? Because, obviously spoken word performance, but then there's the inspirational speaking component, right? You know, I do. I am very passionate about inspiring people in a way that I was fortunate to be inspired. Because, you know, I run into, I run into people all the time. They're like, Oh man, if you were just aware of the potential you have. Oh, you could, you could have a major impact in your own life that you're not even seeing right now. So I kind of developed this passion having been in a position before where it's like I was fortunate to tap into something that for so long I wasn't able to see. Now I just want that for everybody, right? So for me, when I have a chance to perform, when I have a chance to give an inspirational talk, or when I have a chance to write a book, I wanted to leave an impact in somebody's life that, like I said, leads to transformation in a way that they didn't even think was possible. And that's what's coming out. You know, from what you're saying when you know see me perform, is that that passion and that that empathy from having been in the positions of my life where I'm like, Man, I wish somebody would have saw that in me, and I'm glad certain people did right and now I feel like I almost have to pay it forward. And no, You never know what anybody's going through. And everybody you know always needs some inspiration and some some uplifting and you know, I think I want to put that in my work, so that it becomes universal, so that anytime somebody picks on my book, you know, I would love for it to get to the point where it's translated in different languages. Hopefully it still makes sense. But like, I would love for it to be universal to where it's like, oh my gosh, like he's talking to me. You know, there's a, there's a piece in the poem called imposter right, where it's talking about imposter syndrome. I know CEOs and C suite professionals that have shared, you know, transparently like to navigate imposter syndrome, right? And you're talking to somebody who you know, on paper, basically crafted this new identity that I'm walking in. But what? What people don't realize I'm still that same kid, right? I'm still that same guy. I'm still that same chubby kid who was held back buck teeth, you know what I mean, who's crush said no thank you. And whose teacher said poor thing. Who you know group project, you know classmates you know were, you know, rolling their eyes when they got when he got assigned to work with them, right? I'm still that guy by my right. So, like, what that grounded, in a way to where gratitude is what I kind of inherently lead with, right? So now it's like, oh, anytime something comes along, I'm grateful in a way to where, okay, well now I, like I said, I have to, have to pay that forward, right? And there's a piece about grateful called insightful illumination, because it creates a different way of seeing things. I talk about it as mood lighting for your mind, right? How you can see certain things a certain way when you have gratitude. And gratitude for me has been transformational in my life. And, you know, down from, you know, how I navigated as a husband. You know, have a have a son who will be one next month, right as a as a father, you know, as an uncle, right as a brother, as a friend, you know. And so these insights a lot of people don't realize, that I hope they have by now, is that I'm talking to myself and a lot of these pieces, you know, you know, we're not just dealing with perspective in the way of how to achieve success and overcome setbacks. There's, there's components of emotional intelligence, you know, because perspective can be applied to literally anything. You know, there's a piece in there called miseries, Nemesis, right? Where I'm basically talking about, you know, we've all come across miserable people, right? People, you know, like Man, why? Why are they being. So mean to me, why I haven't done anything to you? What is it? Why? Oh, and so for me, instead of becoming furious, I was like, Okay, what if I became curious instead of, right? Oh, okay, alright, cool. So you're, what if you were? And there's a line in the poem, what if you were, are you? Are you emotionally bleeding internally, and I can't even see the wound, right? So you're out here, you're acting a certain way toward me, but you're, you're, you're, you're in pain, right? And if we saw people like that, it would, it would shift our perspective to where now, my wife talks about like, how I don't know during traffic, I don't really get, you know, somebody cuts me off, or, you know, whatever. You know, somebody doesn't let me over when they have plenty enough time. They decide to turn into a NASCAR racer and speed up when they could have let me over. So I don't miss my exit, right? I don't get as worked up about that, because I'm like, Oh, man. Like, yeah, he must be going through it. That must be tough. Man. Like, you know, I haven't done anything to you like, you know, if you were, if you if you weren't feeling a certain amount of misery. But that's why I entitled The piece misery is nemesis, because empathy, right, which I kind of labeled as the nemesis of misery, that allows you to only have a different reaction to the misery to avoid them from getting company, right? But it allows you to actually counteract. And I kind of frame empathy as to cure to misery or an antidote. And these are perspectives in relationally that I've gained, right? So a lot of people here have looked like iron insights, right? Okay, cool. Let me pick this up, and it's going to be no insights on how I can go out here and conquer the world, and this, that and the third, and, yeah, there's some of that in there, right? But also wanted to be a book for perspective in the sense of how you can relate to people, how you can become a better spouse, a better friend, how you can become better to yourself, you know, and how you could honestly be a better coworker, a better boss, you know? And I feel like iron insights. The reason I titled it a lot of people where is iron insights. And I realized I was like, Man, the way we see the world is like, perspective is a way of fortifying our minds, right? Like, if I get knocked down, you know that that's going to hurt, but if I have the right perspective, I'm protected from the blow, right? Oh, okay, I can. So now iron is like, there's i, and even if you look at the the cover of the book, and I'm sure with you'll see that I kind of have, you know, this kind of like Android, kind of metal like figure around the head. But then the eyes kind of have this kind of iron metal like structure to them. Because if you can see with iron insights, your vision is protected, and that actually affects how you're able to move and how you're able to conduct yourself. So that's iron insights, on top of the fact that I just thought it kind of rolled off the tongue kind of

Rodney Veal  52:54

sound cool. It's all connected. It's all in its thing. So Lauren, what would be you've covered a lot of things, and this has been fantastic. Is there one thing that you could share, especially for parents? Because I think a lot of people don't know, for parents of potential multi hyphenates, what would be your advice to them?

Laurent Che  53:14

Oh, man, uh, give them room. I'd say give them. Give them room, but give them a spot, right? I think about the first thing that comes to mind when you said that it's like a gym that's doing a backflip or learning to do a backflip, and what's the coach doing? They're not, you know, cool, let me flip you like they're like, Okay, all right, my hand is here so that you don't fall on your neck as you're trying to figure out how to make it all the way around. You can't really see where your feet are going when you're in the air trying to flip right. You have to build the muscle memory. So I'm going to spot you while you're in rotation, while you're in transition, and I'm going to be there for you to provide that support. I was very fortunate, you know, my my like. So my father is a traditional African man, right? So when he had a son who was an artist, she's like, What? What

Rodney Veal  54:04

is, yeah, okay, yeah,

Laurent Che  54:05

move on, right? So I remember for a year my the first book where, you know, performance my dad came to was in 2015 my driving performance, like, four years, right? And I found out years later, because my mom didn't want to let me know she's on the phone with him, he's calling her, like, what is he doing out there with this dancing and this poetry stuff? Like, it was cute when he would dance as a kid at all the African parties and everything like that. And what's this poetry thing? Like, like, he's supposed to be focused on focusing on school. And the reason my dad didn't say anything to me is because I maintain over a 3.0 he not. He couldn't say anything to me legally.

Rodney Veal  54:41

Legally, they were delivered on the school Park,

Laurent Che  54:43

right? I delivered, right? I was like, Cool. Like, there's nothing you could say to me, right? But he's like, he just couldn't understand, right? Because my dad, and when you're coming from, you know, a different country, you're one dimensional. You talk about multi hyphen, you have to what's the goal? Go to school, get a degree.

Rodney Veal  55:00

Me and get a job. You know

Laurent Che  55:02

what? I mean? That's, that's the goal, right? He was an accountant by trade. Like, everything I'm doing is accounting or business focus, like, so in his mind, I was trying to make it out in Hollywood, right, which I was open to, right? The things, know, like, hey, whatever. And I'm not going to deny a certain path, you know, I've done some acting, some extra background stuff here and there. But that wasn't my goal, right? I was expressing myself and kind of figuring out, you know, where I've landed, right? I call myself an architect of brand anthems right now in the brand storytelling, right? That's kind of my niche that I've crafted, outside of my career as a senior copywriter and creative director. But, like, it took some time to cultivate that. And he, you know, he came to me, he apologized. He was like, Hey, man, look, I'm sorry. I couldn't see it. No, I couldn't see it, right? When I, when I tell him about the things that I'm not, he's the one passing everything. Oh, look at my son's video. Look at this book. Look at this like he's the He's the number one. Because when he came out 10 years ago to that event, he was like, Oh, this is okay. Wait. And then when my professor came, are you his dad? Oh, let me tell you that I've been working with them this then the third so there was this realization and Epiphany of like, Oh, man. But to his credit, he at least gave me the space because he he didn't know what to say, because he didn't understand it. He's like, Okay, well, he's doing our in school. He's still getting his education. I can't say anything, you know, he's, it's

Rodney Veal  56:25

not like he's doing God, awful things because that, because that's, you know, there's, you know, yes, oh my god, I love that.

Laurent Che  56:34

But keep that spot. Keep that spot,

Rodney Veal  56:35

keep keep his face for him. So I'm so glad we made, I'm we made this space at the time to have this conversation, because this inspired me. I'm like, Oh yeah, I'm smiling. I'm just like, Okay,

Laurent Che  56:46

you're doing guys work, man, you know, listen to a lot of your interviews, and, you know, inspired by is a real thing. You're inspiring the world, man, so I, I know I had to be a part of it when you, when you reached out. So I'm honored that you felt I could, I could be a good addition to something amazing that you built.

Rodney Veal  57:03

Absolutely I sense it. I felt it. I was your dad and that audience go, I get it, I get it, I still get it. So thank you for being on The show, man,

Laurent Che  57:14

absolutely my pleasure.