Elijah Rashaed LIVE

Join host Rodney Veal for a special live episode of the "Inspired By" podcast at Ed Dixon's Gallery, featuring acclaimed curator and collector Elijah Rashaed. In this insightful conversation, Rodney and Elijah explore the personal journeys that shape a love for art, discuss the importance of Black representation and honesty in the art world, and bust myths about collecting. Elijah shares lessons learned from early influences, his transition from artist to curator, and the value of Midwest talent. Together, they offer practical advice for aspiring collectors and highlight the power of mentorship, community, and simplicity in making art accessible to all.

Learn more about Elijah online: https://naacpdayton.org/team-member/elijah-rashead/

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Rodney Veal, Elijah Rashaed

Rodney Veal  00:00

Hello everyone. Welcome to Rodney Veal's Inspired By podcast, we are coming to you live from Ed Dixon's Gal- gallery. There I am stumbling on words before I even start, but it's all good. It's all we're Ed Dixon's Gallery, and we're super excited. Core four, thank you for helping present us as we reach out into the community. This is always our favorite thing to do is to have these conversations in front of people. We normally do these inside or remotely inside of our studio, but any chance and opportunity that we get to have a conversation in public, we choose to do so and so, without further ado, we're going to go into a really great conversation with someone who I'm super excited to kind of share space with, especially in regards to talking about art, black art curating, and this whole having your entire purpose kind of tied to this, this question of preserving, collecting and inspiring folks around black art. And without a further ado, we're gonna have a conversation with Elijah Rashad.

Elijah Rashaed  01:03

Hey everybody.

Rodney Veal  01:06

All right, you gotta you know me. For me, it's always about context, because we don't all come out of the womb excited about art, because it's not how, that's not how, that's how it works. But I'm very curious about what inspired you early on, was it an early on response to art and art making? When did you first kind of realize art was going to be a part of your life and experience?

Elijah Rashaed  01:32

Well, you know, just like anyone else, you tend to follow those that are around you. My father, he had those things that were in his house. And my mother had things that were in the house that allowed one to navigate toward some of it. You guys might remember some of it. You might not. But who remember the African spoon and fork that would be on the wall, but that was made carved, and nobody here to seem like they were the same. Those things or who I know, you know, maybe you know, I'm telling my age, but who've ever seen the paintings that were so beautiful, but they were velvet, you

Rodney Veal  02:23

I think we've all seen, we've we've all seen those, you know.

Elijah Rashaed  02:26

So you know, everyone has, you know, say, a beginning, but some of those pieces began to be what transformed me to I believe you know what I am right now. And you know, my father, he had a print. He wasn't a very wealthy man, but he had a print of Charles White he had a Charles White print. Okay, I would just often look at it. And was different. It had a man with a sea shell that was over the top of his head. And it's like, wow, you know, why did he do that? And which only allowed you to go and see someone else's art, and then you end up reading about it. So, so it

Rodney Veal  03:14

just kind of starts it. And the fact that you started off with Charles White, I'm just gonna go right there. I'm jealous. Well, in that regard,

Elijah Rashaed  03:22

with the wooden spoon, when the

Rodney Veal  03:23

spoons, we started with the wood spoons. But Charles White, I mean, in my for those who don't know, Charles White as a, as an art, artist supreme on the, on the, on the west coast of this country. I jokingly refer to him as the Bing Davis of the West Coast. I mean, I just, I feel as though there were these African American artists who were in their communities, but in their state, they were just recognized for just truly being artistic geniuses. And the fact that he had prints that were inside people's homes, that just speaks volumes to this kind of network of art. And so, what was the, what was the so you're seeing this, but are you seeing this as a living? I mean, that does be very clear. I mean, we, you know, we as black people, there's a tendency for we love what we love, but then it's like someone's going to have to pay the bills something else. So what did you just go straight into art making or what? And are curating and collecting? What? What? What was the pathway?

Elijah Rashaed  04:23

Well, let's, let's, let's step it back a little bit, because one of the things you know, I didn't get a chance to articulate is one of the major draws were really a sitcom that came on TV, good times.

Rodney Veal  04:42

Remember good times? Oh yes, yeah,

Elijah Rashaed  04:46

you know. So you know, that is kind of what made me appreciate Charles White, because I first saw Ernie Barnes, which I didn't know at the time. I thought I was saying jj's work. It just like everybody else probably thought out there in TV land, you know, with a bowl of cereal in one hand and, you know, jet magazine and the other and the TV in front of, you know, this, you know, this was, you know, kind of the thing that just, not just for me, but for a lot of people, you know, this was, you know, the beginnings of what I became, and taking in those early Ernie Barnes images, or JJs, the different ones and the black Jesus, even though Ernie Barnes did not create that black Jesus piece, but a lot of work came through JJ, and that was when I began to start really appreciating it from a black perspective.

Rodney Veal  05:47

Oh, that's wild, because that really speaks to this conversation with this conversation we'll head towards, in this question of representation. And so you got this spark. You're seeing it, it's collecting. So now, what's the next? What's next after that? Where did that?

Elijah Rashaed  06:03

It's simple. I started trying to emulate what I was seeing. So anybody remember the hotter than July album, Stevie Wonder?

Rodney Veal  06:14

Yes, I do a man of a certain

Elijah Rashaed  06:17

Well, if I describe it to you, it was Stevie Wonder. He hit. He was on the album, all these braids with the bees, yeah. So that's called hotter than July. All right. That album, I tried to draw Stevie Wonder, just as I saw in pencil. So of course, you know, in the very beginning, that was the art, that was some of the artwork that I would do, right? People I seen and different things. And, yeah, I know you started off there. Only later did I realize that even though it was good, it was good what I was doing, I had a better appreciate for putting it together, because there was so many that was so much better at doing it than I was,

Rodney Veal  07:08

but you have to, but it develops your eye. It develops your it did your eye for seeing art and other and those who create and so were you an artist? All during your childhood

Elijah Rashaed  07:23

for a great, a great, for as long as I can remember, it was one, it was one of my favorite classes, you know, art, and then Jim, that's

Rodney Veal  07:35

something you and Bing share, finding that out there's something you and Bing share. I mean, so it's like that, you know, there's loves and we, you know, the thing is, and that's another and that's another, that's another part of this conversation about black art, and being in the realm of art and being black is this question of, can it lead? What does it lead to? How does it what's the next step? So, you know, you're, you know what it means to try to recreate what you observe and see. And now you're, you know, but you're also seeing that there are other people who do it exceptionally well,

Elijah Rashaed  08:11

yes, so that was a letdown,

Rodney Veal  08:15

okay, okay, that was a letdown. Okay, that's another way.

Elijah Rashaed  08:18

Yeah, sometimes people could do something so well till it really, really let you know how, for lack of better words, unwell, you do it so it you know so and those who do not do art Well, we take up other trades. We become, you know, curators. We become gallery owners. Because there are, you know, there's so many facets. Some of us hang, you know, saying art, some of us get, you know, we still a part of it, and that, I think a lot of people underestimate how important it is. Trust me, there's a guy running around here right now who could not do art, and he is over museums. He's a director. You know, there's many of them. As a matter of fact, it's almost all of them.

Rodney Veal  09:18

That's a secret number. You letting the secrets out? No, but no, but it's a good secret, because there's there, is there? That is a question about the professionalism. Professionalism, yes, of the arts industry is that there are folks who are in charge that sometimes they put on professional front, but they're not necessarily lovers of art, passionate, devoted to the concept of what the art means and represents, but they're in charge, so I'm just

Elijah Rashaed  09:46

going, but that's not, that's not a bad thing, because also you need that as well. And because someone, unless they become evil,

Rodney Veal  09:58

everybody's trying to fight whatever. But yeah,

Elijah Rashaed  10:01

you got directors who gatekeep And they tell you who can and cannot be seen, and often they cannot even touch the people they're not willing to allow in. So you have to be careful and you know? And I want to make sure that we have an honest podcast, you know. And that's the only way I know I make a horrible politician. Just horrible politician. Well, yeah, say what's on my heart? And I say, you know, how I actually feel, as opposed to making people feel good all the time. Sometimes, I think, and I probably get it from my dad. Maybe it's not so good for people to feel good all the time, because if they feel bad about something that they do, you can make them feel better by doing something better the next time around.

Rodney Veal  10:54

That's only fair. I mean, it's honest. I mean there's, there's no there's we. I love how you say honesty and politics, because that's the reason why I did not follow the Poli Sci degree, because it was just hurt. Wasn't in it. It wasn't my truly was my heart was not in it. And so let's talk about the fact that you know you've got an eye, you know. And I know you have an eye. We you know, you you know I gotta, I just, you, just my spidey sense was tingling, and it's telling me that you have an eye because of your honesty. So therefore, let's talk about how to develop an eye for looking at art when there are gatekeepers, when there's this, a lot of times, people have a tendency to believe that they can't be in the conversation about art because they're not coming in with a pedigree. So talk to me about,

Elijah Rashaed  11:44

well, I think, how many people wear the old saying, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You know you got to hold true, be true to thyself, and if you true to yourself, you know, God blesses everyone differently, you know, and that's just an honest conversation that I think we should have more often, is to really take in God's gift, because I can't take no credit for the you know, overseas they call, they call me, believe it or not, the rolling eye,

Rodney Veal  12:29

okay, explain that the rolling eye,

Elijah Rashaed  12:32

because I've visited Africa so often, they say, I'm always rolling and I had and then they think I have such a great eye for Art. They start, they labeled me the rolling eye. And I told them, in America, that means, like,

Rodney Veal  12:49

a totally different meaning in American culture,

Elijah Rashaed  12:52

in American culture. And they said, in African, culture is different. You know, you know, you're always, you know, saying traveling, you have such an amazing they believe what. They have such an amazing eye.

Rodney Veal  13:04

Well, because you travel, you do you when you go traveling? Because I have a tendency to, I can't get to the thing that I'm trying to get to. Because as soon as I see art gallery or museum, I'm done. Like, I'm done. I'm like, Well, I gotta go. Got I'm like, Oh, I've been here for four hours, okay? Or, you know, you were at a conference, or any you're at a conference, you know. So, I mean, so when you're going to Africa, you're going, you're traveling. Are you you, are you just trying to take in all the culture? Or are you just, immediately, you start to see art and you just start to go straight to it?

Elijah Rashaed  13:38

Well, I got a bad habit of seeing art into everything I do, and everything everywhere I go, and every place you know, saying that I just sit down and look and I just see images. You know, it can be a blessing and again, a curse, as you know, because there's not a city I go to that I don't want to hit up the art museum first. Unfortunately, there's such a sad representation of African Americans at the art in the same museums, and I've dedicated a good part of my adult life, or the later years of my life now, to trying to expose art museums to great artist,

Rodney Veal  14:22

because that goes back to that kind of what you said about gatekeeping, gatekeepers have a tendency to be minding the gate and not looking at what's in the field.

Elijah Rashaed  14:32

Well, that's true, yeah, but what I try to do is I don't come at to the directors from feel sorry for me by the art, you know, I just, you know, put it out there say, Hey, this is great art, no matter who you are, no matter where you are, you know, we've already got them accepted in to this museum, that museum, this museum. Or, you know, why don't you do us both a favor, just put it in the museum. Let's see what it does. Don't worry about purchasing it. Just find a place for it. And let's let the people tell you what they feel about it. And I've gotten about 12 to 15 pieces set into museums all over the country, just doing that,

Rodney Veal  15:25

just by just take a chance. It's not even a chance. It's just take the opportunity.

Elijah Rashaed  15:32

Take the opportunity. I'm not gonna even charge you. You're saying to put the piece in, just put the piece in, and let's just see what everyone else says, which is not easy to do with a direct because a lot of them, they won't even do that much.

Rodney Veal  15:51

So yeah, that's a that's an interesting I'm glad you said something that said that, because I think when we talk about the gatekeeping, we talk about representation and the fact that you've dedicated your your adult life to this proposition. Talk about what's what that entails, because I don't think people really understand once you make this decision with our it's you, you before you even got here. Explain what you were doing before you even got here.

Elijah Rashaed  16:21

So Well, I was working in, again, I was working in the art arena, which a lot of people don't realize it is art arena, and that is property development, real estate development, you know, I fell in love with art. So I needed to make money. Couldn't make money with art right away. So I fell in love with architecture, which is art within itself, you know.

Rodney Veal  16:54

So that's how that started. I started how it goes in

Elijah Rashaed  16:59

there. But you time is very simple,

Rodney Veal  17:03

but you were packing up art to send somewhere. But that's a talk about what it what a cute what someone who is doing this sort of curatorial process, if you're not a part of it, is like you're, you are part of the special committee within WcP. We'll talk about that, okay, but talk about what goes into curation, because a lot of people don't know what goes in. They think it's just, oh, I hang a pretty picture, but there's, it's far more than that.

Elijah Rashaed  17:28

Well, yeah, you know, what I try to do is not make things so complex that people lose interest in it. I try to break everything down to the simple nature of things. And I get that from my father. He says, You can explain how many miles Earth is from the sun, or you can just tell somebody is very far away, you know. And they get it either way, you know. But if once you start trying to explain how many gallons of gas it will take you to get there, and everything else it, you know, you sometimes lose the people. And I don't want to lose the people. You know, curation is as hard or as difficult as you want to be, or can be just as simple as you want to be, if you love what you do, it's always simple. You know, mathematicians, no matter how difficult the problem is, it's always simple to a mathematician, and that's kind of how curation is as well to someone who does it. You know, I made all kind of mistakes in the beginning. As a matter of fact, I probably made more mistakes at doing what I do than other people have ever even tried. You know, but guys, when I tell you that is the greatest part of what a person does, especially an artist and a curator is in the mistakes is where the value is,

Rodney Veal  19:07

Oh, I love that, because, well, and that's, that's one of the joys of being not in the curatorial side, because I'm on the media side, which we all know that but, but I'm in the art side, but I'm in the art side in multiple venues, but it's always with the I had a conversation with Kathy Wade and her brother about this, and she's a jazz musician, and her brother is a theater director in Detroit, and we just like, it's the process, like being in the space, figuring it out. It's like, well, how are we going to do this? How I'm going to lift you, get you down on the beat. Okay, then you got to do, you know, we're just in there. Dancers are talking it all through before you can get to the movement part. Because I was a dancer for a long time, that is the sweet spot. And so as I love the fact that you mentioned, it's learning from the mistakes. Have you encountered? Are folks who do it curatorially, who didn't learn from the mistakes, and you're observing it and going, Wow,

Elijah Rashaed  20:06

sure everyone else in here has as well. When you go somewhere and you see the paintings on the wall, and you're like, Wow, that was horrible. Because you know, even if you never say it out loud, you know, you you kind of see, you sense it, yeah, you sense it, or it's a feeling, you know, saying that you get fences if somebody didn't like you, sometimes they don't have to say to you, I don't

Rodney Veal  20:36

like you. You just get the vibe.

Elijah Rashaed  20:39

You know, same way if you go somewhere and you know, and you see all the stuff that's on the wall, and none of it resonate with you. So a lot of people get the vibe.

Rodney Veal  20:53

I get it right off the bat. Okay, all right. I mean, so you spoke at the Dayton institute a couple of weeks ago. Yes, tell us what was the main thrust of that conversation. Because you're, you're talking to the public as well as doing the things that you do. And I find that very fascinating, because a lot of times that's a lot, I mean, but, but it's worth it. I'm sense. Talk about what it's like to, you know, especially like in this kind of a conversation, why it's important to have these conversations about black art by curating the whole nine yards.

Elijah Rashaed  21:32

Well, first of all, there's not a lot of African American curators out there, right? And there's even less of them doing it on a large scale, and probably even less of them than they actually really, really care. So you know, just like everything else, there's levels to everything you know that's that's out there, and everything that people do, in my opinion, and I just want to speak straight from the

Rodney Veal  22:02

heart, absolutely

Elijah Rashaed  22:06

when you have a gift, when God gives you a gift, God gives that gift to that person, and often no one else could really see what that gift is. Case in point, you have anybody here heard of a, you know, small time ball player named LeBron? You know, nobody could have possibly thought that that kid from Akron, Ohio would it be even in the conversation at being the very best in the world? Could you imagine him as a kid looking up to Michael Jordan, and at some point, just be it could be a real debate at who is actually the best in the world. You know, this probably not that big. Let me, let's start out by this person didn't get a chance to go to major college, or, you know, really wasn't considered one of the best. And, you know, just, you know, just, just kid, you know, saying he barely made it to the league. Anybody ever heard of Steph Curry before Steph became great, Steph was not great, or not considered great. Sometimes practice, do, make perfection, and I think you know, and what I do, and definitely what Sierra Leone does, you know. And that was such a beautiful listen. I had to look the other way, because it's just sounded so beautiful, you know, but I've heard her poems before. She's done it so often she can touch something within you. And with our curation, it's the same thing I go to touch something within a person, and I go every time, I try to give my very best, but I have really, really good, you know, saying mentors, you know, who I've studied under, who have really breathed life into me. Jerry Smith, over at Dayton artist, is one of them, you know, I hardly even knew half of what I knew. And you know, just talking with him and him, you know, saying just pouring into me. You know, it's. It helped me become, you know, saying better people like Dean Mitchell, you know, the artist, Dean Mitchell, you know, just poured into me. You know, you know, saying about art and the different, you know, mediums and and why you do this and that, you know, which may get it gives me an edge, because I'm able to see things totally different than other people. Thomas Blackshear, another artist, you know that him and I just really, you know, saying it's just good people, he's just really a great artist, right? So that's, I'm sorry. I mean to be No, no,

Rodney Veal  25:39

no, this is because this is important information, because you're saying names of artists, and that's the other that's the part of it. When we talk about black art, if you start hearing names, and this is a reason why we do this podcast, is like, if you hear names mentioned by our guests, I always tell people, check them out. Go, look it up. Go, you're won't be disappointed. You're going to go down the rabbit hole of discovery, because that's how it's supposed to work. And so when you are working with a Jerry Smith and these curators, and you're working with directors, you are introducing new items and new ideas and new people, and that is something to be championed, because what you do is is helping to change the fabric of what the gatekeeping has forced us into, right? And so do you go on a lot of artists studio visits when you when you're talking to the two people and these artists like Dean Mitchell, are you going into the studios

Elijah Rashaed  26:43

a lot? Well, artists, absolutely. Probably 75% to 80% of the art I've curated, I've actually went to talk directly to the artist, spent time with the artists, you know, and sometimes, you know, stayed overnight yet with artists. You know, it's just the love of art for both people and we just come together and just have real respect for one another.

Rodney Veal  27:22

I love that, I mean. And one of the things I find really fascinating is artists do open up their studio spaces. They want, they want to share their process. And that's, you know, it's because that's what you discover their humanity, and that is, you're less inclined to exclude their humanity if you are aware of their humanity. So let's keep talking about art. Because I'm like, you know, so you're because you start, you had me at Charles White once you said, Oh, you have a Charles White. So let's talk about, like, the notion of collecting art. Because, you know, you talked about architecture property, you're a collector. Yes. Let's talk about collecting and collecting the why it is important to make the effort and and dispel some of the dispel some of the myths about collecting, especially art that

Elijah Rashaed  28:23

let's start off with, you know, I can't afford to buy any of that stuff. Let's start there, because that kind of what my uncle said, I can't afford to buy any of that stuff. You know, you can find art for as cheap as 50 sometimes artwork is cheaper than buying a print out of the store. You know, once you start Be careful, you be careful what you ask for. Yeah, you know, you know, I liken it as a teenager experimenting, you know, Hey, man, let's go over here and you never smoked weed before. Oh, really, come here. Let me show you so you try, be careful what you try.

Rodney Veal  29:31

You just might first piece of art, right?

Elijah Rashaed  29:35

You just might fall in love with what you do, and art became my love. You know it's, it's second only to my wife, and I'm sure she feels as though it's my side chick, art as a side. I know, right? I need to coin that. It's yours, all right,

Rodney Veal  30:10

but, yeah, but that, would you talk about, like, $50 like, so we that thing about the art is everywhere it is at the price of the affordability factor is, is Is it because the gatekeepers in the way the art world has situated itself is the belief that, oh, it's beyond our reach? Or is it because people they that intimidation of it stops them from taking that, that that first hit?

Elijah Rashaed  30:39

Well, I think some of that, and also all of that, I don't think sometimes we as, let me rephrase that, often art museums are depicted as very staunch and very closed, and especially an African American household, you almost feel as if though you got to get dressed up in a tuxedo to just even go and walk through the museum, right? You know? And that's again, that's the spell another, this is about myth breaking mythical so, you know, that's, that's one part of it. You know, I just kind of want to go back two steps to just say, when you have something that you really, really is into. It's kind of, I like an art is, like, if you're a foodie, and you really, you know, just love to try different foods, be careful your cholesterol, you know, because you know there's, there's what they say, ying and yang to everything. So, you know, you can go to the far left or to the far right, and you'll find yourself when it is, it comes to art, you know that there's a huge range of things that you can fall in love with, dealing in art. And I find that once you fall in love, it's kind of it's very difficult to unLove what you fall in love with, especially if it actually soothes your soul, and art tends to soothe my soul. I can look at something Arkham. Art can make me laugh. It can also make me cry, you know, it's just the beauty of it. But to a foodie, it's the same thing, you know. It can make make a person, you know, smile, and now, so if the food is horrible, it can make a person cry.

Rodney Veal  33:05

Well, they had tears of joy because it was, you know, memorable both ways. And so we what's another myth about collecting that maybe people don't recognize or understand,

Elijah Rashaed  33:20

that you need all the money right then, right there in order to purchase it. And I'm on layaway plan. It was smart. Edward had this guy over this gallery here, you know people. You know often they don't know that. Hey, the galleries artists, they'll work with you. They want to see their work out there, so that, you know, just because the work costs, let's say, $10,000 if you really, really love it, sometimes you can put down as low as $1,000 and just kind of work the payments over and over, and pretty soon you'll look up and you'll own it, and believe it or not, that's sometimes the best investment that and not just monetarily, just for your heart. You know it's good for your heart. And I tell anyone, don't ever just go and buy because somebody else is buying it, buy what you actually truly love.

Rodney Veal  34:28

That is so true. And that's in one of the things that you know with that layaway plan, because it's real. That's a very real thing, I can testify because I'm on the layaway plan on a piece of art. Payments due tomorrow, and I will eventually have it by Christmas, because that to your point, what you've underlined is it's important enough to me to soothe my soul, to be surrounded by art, to to have it catches my eye, and I'm like, I can't let go. Of this idea of it, I need it needs to be there around me, and it may not even hang on the wall. It may be stacked up against the wall. But let's talk about what are some of the challenges when you love a piece of art, you've bought a $10,000 piece, and you probably have bought more than 110 $1,000 piece. I'm not going to pry into your business, but how do you store art? I mean, I got asked this question for myself, because how do you store it?

Elijah Rashaed  35:27

Well, there's companies that will store for you, you know, and just like anything else you know, there's insurance companies that will allow you to pretty much just put things away, you know? So that's typically how it's done in a controlled environment. And sometimes the best storage area is right on your wall, where you can see it often

Rodney Veal  35:58

stacked up against the wall. So one of the things we do we talked about before the podcast, and it just kind of this is for the audience, is to talk about this notion of not falling asleep on the Midwest in regards to art, let's talk about that.

Elijah Rashaed  36:14

That's a lot of very, very talented artists in the Midwest, right here, from Dayton, Ohio. James pate is one of those. James Pate, you know, when I first seen his work, I literally probably bought 20 different pieces from James Pate, because what he has and what goes into what he has. You can tell he paints with his heart. You know, he really does paint with his with his heart, and he's one of the artists that right here from Dayton, Ohio that I love. But there's many different Aaron Smith is another great artist, you know right being works three of her work. Dean Davis been doing the same series and never gets old. He's been doing the same series since 65 or earlier, and it never gets old. Is every piece is always just wonderful. Any any sales, everything he produces.

Rodney Veal  37:13

So, so it's, it's out there. That's real about the Midwest I was I say that a lot. I always tell people don't fall asleep on the southwest Ohio, because we carry the state of the

Elijah Rashaed  37:24

state well, you know, but just not even here, you got artists like Kevin walk Williams. He's in Atlanta. Now. He's from Chicago. He's the art, in my opinion. He's the artist, artist, he's the artist that the artist look up to. Okay, so, you know, you know, you have guys, you know, saying like that, that are really, really true to their craft. You know, Robert B Moore, who's out of Iowa, of all places, you know, you don't, you know, it's the Midwest, but you don't get many African American artists out of Iowa, you know. So, we're there, we're there, we're there. He's a great artist. You know, you have him all over the Midwest. You got to be willing to to look, you know, sometimes and often, you know, when you're in the business that win, which is the art business, you don't have to look very far. There a lot of times those artists or come up on your radar.

Rodney Veal  38:24

So how do we get people for the audience? How do what's a tip for them to get their radar attuned?

Elijah Rashaed  38:32

Find out what you love. Sometimes, that'll do it for you. For instance, if you know you like red convertibles. Guess what? You everywhere you look, you're going to see a red convertible where nobody else I seen the blue f1 50 pickup truck.

Rodney Veal  38:55

What was it? Where's this? Like it was on the other side of the pickup truck. It's plain as day, right? Exactly.

Elijah Rashaed  39:06

So, you know, that's kind of, you know how it is once you find out what you love, you know, you know you got to turn it over to the universe, because the universe will put whatever it is that you love directly in front of you.

Rodney Veal  39:20

Well, we thank you for taking the time out to have this great conversation. Thank you. It's been a lot of fun. Oh, it's, well, that's what we do with the inspired by, you know, we want this, this information, to be out there for people. So from for me, thank you.

Elijah Rashaed  39:36

We are welcome. And I hope you know that I shed some light on some things. I know some of the things seem glossed over, but I did not want to, you know, come here and make things feel or appear to be overly technical, you know, I kind of want to make it feel simple, because those are the things that make you want to do something. You know, it. The reason why, you know, the iPhones, iPhones might not necessarily be the best or greatest phone in the world, but it sure is a lot simpler than some of the other phones. Yeah, you know, so So simplicity. You know, saying sometimes just make it simple, sometimes the kiss method, keep it simple, sweetheart.

Rodney Veal  40:25

Love it, love it. So thank you.