EP#30-How Oasis Magazine Champions Palm Springs Small Businesses

A glossy print magazine in 1,500+ Palm Springs hotel rooms. A half-hour TV pilot with a full crew. A bright pink Rolls-Royce named Mr. Pink turning heads on the street. That’s not a gimmick, it’s a strategy.

We sit down with Matthew Mitchell and Wiley Snedeker, the founders behind Oasis Magazine and Victory Creative Agency, to unpack how they’re building modern local media in the Coachella Valley. Matthew shares the creative journey that runs through makeup, photography, production, and constant reinvention after industry-wide shocks. Wiley breaks down the unglamorous side that makes the glamour possible: accounting, CPA work, fractional CFO support, and the systems that keep a fast-moving brand from spinning out.

We get specific about what makes Oasis Magazine different: a BFF-style voice, a focus on celebrating small businesses (including LGBTQ+ owned, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses), and a refusal to treat everything like a “best of” contest. Then we dig into the big question for entrepreneurs and marketers: why go all-in on print in a TikTok world? Their answer centers on attention, tangibility, and meeting travelers at the exact moment they want to discover what to do next.

Finally, we talk Oasis Live, their magazine-format travel and lifestyle show, and the decision to raise production value to a Hollywood standard so the story can reach beyond a local audience. If you care about entrepreneurship, small business marketing, local advertising, and building real community through media, this conversation delivers a playbook.

Subscribe, share this with a local business owner, and leave a review with your favorite hidden gem in the valley.

Transcript

Cold Open

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Fresh bleeds, and dream dreams I'm sliding. Stocks up, dashboard digital. I'm gliding. Organic place. Salmon over key rock. Keep it authentic, everything you see raw.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Welcome back, everybody, to CV Hustle, the podcast where we talk to the best and brightest entrepreneurs here in the Coachella Valley. Today's special guests are operating one of the hottest and newest magazine brands here in the Coachella Valley, the Oasis magazine. Mr. Matthew Mitchell and Wiley Snydeker. Thanks for coming in, guys. Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_06 0:34

Yeah, good to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

I um so we have a mutual friend named JP. We love him to death. Uh, we call him the dot connector. He is. And he's the cutest little dot I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_06 0:46

A button.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

He's a button. He is a cutest little button. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_06 0:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

So tell me how you ended up meeting him because he led you to us, and now we're all gonna be friends.

SPEAKER_06 0:58

I think JP leads a lot of us to salvation, temptation, redemption, but certainly contacts. He does that. That's what he does so well. And I honestly don't remember who introduced me to him, but he called me in for a meeting to talk about what our project was. And he liked what the pitch was. He wanted to see the I had a proof of concept. He was excited about uh connecting people because our publication, Oasis Magazine, uh does what you guys do. We celebrate businesses. Right now it's focused on Palm Springs, but it will creep down the valley, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:35

And um, but that's I think because he saw that we do uh what I do, what he does, what you do, and that's connecting people and celebrating small businesses. Oh yeah. Um and for us, it's really important to champion LGBTQ plus women-owned businesses and minority-owned businesses, because I think that they're underrepresented and under-celebrated across the board. I it's easy to celebrate the big, beautiful, uh yeah, big, beautiful Thompsons and Parkers and the fancy businesses and like that. But I think a three-dollar taco place on Sunrise deserves some attention as well because uh they are uh via jurisdiction being in Palm Springs, they qualify to be part of the conversation. Right. And I shoot for a little magazine called Forbes. Yeah, and so I have billionaire friends who are their kids love to go get a street taco. Like, who doesn't? So I think it needs to be uh spot, there needs to be a spotlight and champion and and and those kind of things. So that's that's a bit of our mission. I probably jumped way ahead of you. But yeah, JP puts people like us together. Um so thank you, JP.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Okay, and so are you so you guys came to the valley when?

SPEAKER_03 2:43

I came here um right in the beginning of COVID. Um I bought a condo, I didn't move far from Riverside, but uh I wanted to be far enough away from my family where they couldn't just drop in, but close enough to when I needed them, yeah, they could be there. But no, I grew up coming to Palm Springs all the time, so it naturally made sense when I was looking to move to move out here. Um and then COVID hit, and then everything from there happened.

SPEAKER_06 3:11

But I came out here in 2014 and got an apartment because it was so inexpensive. I lived in LA, but I wanted to come out here and not be a photographer. I just wanted to come out here and be, and I was thinking about getting a condo and you know, exploring things, and then I rented an apartment and I wrote it off as a line item uh as as a location in my studio. It is, it is, it is, and so I could keep and I could just leave. I could leave LA whenever I wanted to come out here, be an apartment, take some time off, meet people, not be part of the industry. And the only way I could get out of an independent film screening or a launch or any of these things that were important to my friends is by not being in town. So it's like I was booked, but you know what I mean? Because if you play on people, you're off the list and stuff like that. I just I just had to get away to for me. So I fell in love with it.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Not to mention no traffic. I next to no traffic I cannot like he's got friends from college, right, that live in wherever, and then they they go like five miles and it's taken him like an hour to get. I'm like, fucking insane. I couldn't do that.

SPEAKER_06 4:16

We were at Olympic and Island and we tried to live in LA for a minute, and we leave there to go to Barry's boot camp, and it was 45 minutes to get there. Then you work out for an hour, and then you come back through town, you stop by Air One, and it's$125 for breakfast. Oh, and we haven't even worked yet, and now you're at four hours, it's a half a day, I haven't made any money. Yeah, and I'm like, With this when it was just me, it was a different story because I planned my whole day and go wherever I needed to go, and but yeah, it was it it just I realized I was giving up so much of my uh life getting someplace or getting back from someplace. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

But that's one of the things we do love about the Coachella Valley, correct? Is that you have you have a lot of culture here, you have a lot of cool things to do, but you don't have the big city lifestyle, right? And where you're constantly sitting in traffic and you know, there's a lot more lot more freedom in that sense.

SPEAKER_06 5:06

Yeah, uh I think the effort, the squeeze is worth the juice kind of situation. We can get across town in seven minutes, and I think that's certainly gives me more time to enjoy my life instead of gives me more time to doom scroll, which is really important to me. No, it gives me more time to to to just live and be and be creative and be part of a community. I'm from Portland, Oregon originally. Okay. So I lived in the Pearl, and um, that was a big, a big neighborhood. And you'd walk up to 21st on Sunday morning and get your coffee, and they'd say hi. They see you walking up, and they, you know, they knew what you wanted, and then I go get my bread at the bakery, and they're like, Oh yeah, we saved you a loaf. You're about half an hour late, and you know. And then you walk back and you see your friends who owned a restaurant here and whatever, and you made your way back. And I and I missed that when I got to LA. I moved to West Hollywood first, which was kind of a neighborhood, but from there I moved to several different places, and you just became you saw your friends and the people you worked with, and everyone else That's it. You had no idea.

Matthew’s Accidental Creative Career

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Oh, so okay, so I'm confused. So you said that you were you were a headhunter, and so what did you start going into first? Like was it it wasn't magazine, it was what?

SPEAKER_06 6:12

Oh, out of college, uh-huh, I thought I was gonna go into advertising.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Ah, okay.

SPEAKER_06 6:18

Back up. I I sophomore year of college, I went to Paris for a study abroad. I wound up getting a job in a showroom, and I fell in love. I had a mad crush on our in-house makeup artist, and he spoke English, and so I just I would hang out with him, he was my only friend. So I would carry the kit and clean the brushes and help. And one day during a shoot, some mayhem happened, and he's like, Okay, these three girls aren't heroes, they're not on camera, but we need to change, they're changing to from red to orange. So can you change your lips to orange? So yeah, so I I did what I did. He came to check it out, and he's like, Oh, great job. I'm like, Well, I've been watching you. And he says, I he was double booked on something, goes, Do you want to go handle this job for me tomorrow? It's an American and it's with us um a photographer from Spain, Manuel Ometuro. And I said, sure. And I went and put powder in someone and put on concealer, and the next thing you know, I was a makeup artist.

unknown 7:14

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 7:14

By accident. And then I came back, finished school, thought I was gonna go to advertising, and I just kept on picking up more makeup gigs, more makeup gigs, and then I started a relationship with a photographer, and I ran a talent agency and scouted, and it just kind of all became the norm.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Oh, so I didn't know you were a makeup artist.

SPEAKER_06 7:34

Well, I started my first business at 22.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Can you do something with this?

SPEAKER_06 7:39

What why would I improve on perfection?

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Oh, Annie's a salesman.

SPEAKER_06 7:44

I love it.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Yeah, very good. Very good.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

That's awesome. Okay. And then so then what happened after that? You said I'm tired of these.

SPEAKER_06 7:53

I will never move to LA. So I decided to go to New York for a minute. I came right back and wound up moving to LA. Uh, got picked up by a makeup agency and you know, picked up a camera. I picked up a camera in Portland, Oregon, pissed off everybody there, and moved to LA basically. Yeah. Um, started doing headshots and makeup and testing for all the agencies. And I got a rep and it's celebrity makeup. And the next thing you know, I'm shooting, I'm shooting for some magazines and um at the time TV Guide. That's how long ago it was.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

And um Oh my god, I love it.

Reinventing After Major Setbacks

SPEAKER_06 8:27

And I got a rep and just things started, and then um the tower 9-11 hit, and so things kind of stopped. That was the first abrupt stop in my career, and then you build it up again, and then 2000, and I had an agency at this time and a production company. I uh and then 2008 hit and it stopped everything. Oh, I remember that all I'm doing is getting older. So I build it up again, and then COVID hit, and I'm like, but I'm not done. I'm not done with my game. So I came out here um thinking that two perforbs, I've been on Oprah, I've done all these wonderful things, and everyone's gonna say, Look, we have such a great talented photographer here, we're gonna hire you. Nope, didn't that didn't happen. So, but that's okay. That's what was meant to. All those closed doors meant I had to open my own. Okay, I had to knock down a wall. And and that's what I did. So in having Victory Creative Agency, is what I have here. We have Victory Creative Agency. Uh, it has three tentholes. One is uh a media production company, so we do your beautiful photos and your beautiful photos, so you guys can do your media that looks like a national brand.

SPEAKER_04 9:36

Right.

SPEAKER_06 9:36

Because these I have national global brands that I work with, so I know what we're I've taught for lifetime and Oprah and this is you know your brothers and so many pictures and all this stuff. So I've learned from other people what what a national cover looks like for you guys to look like an approachable authority, like what Mark and Kelly would do.

SPEAKER_04 9:54

Oh okay.

SPEAKER_06 9:54

So and there's a reason why those photos, that's why we like the lighting thing.

SPEAKER_04 9:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:58

I would there's a reason because the center you are to the target, the more people believe in you automatically from visual. Because you've you've seen stuff, you're like, oh, that's a cute bag. Oh yeah, it's$45. Oh my gosh, that's amazing. That's gorgeous.$2,800. I have great taste. And it's no, the fact is they put that one in a box with lights all around it, and you know, uh glow. Yeah, and that's what we advertise. Yeah, so and the other tent pole is the magazine, uh, Oasis magazine, which celebrates small business or local businesses here uh in Palm Springs. Uh, and then we are working on a uh magazine format half an hour show. So like this, but on camera, it's scripted only because it has to hit these marks. Um, mod girl DJ Kelly McQueen. I don't know if you know she's okay. Um dear dear friend, we love her. She's my co-host, and we just shot the pilot for that. So I'll send the sizzle over for you guys to take a look at. Awesome. But that's also to celebrate businesses up and down the Coachella Valley.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

As as they should. There's so many businesses that we looked into, and it's like one person I wanted to have on, I swear, they own a date farm.

SPEAKER_04 11:06

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

And it's like that's what, yeah, and that's what our valley's known for. They get shipped all over the world. And um, we were just talking with a client of mine last night. He said he was saying it was his grandmother worked for date shields garden for 42 years or some shit. Yeah, shields.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

And I'm like, oh my god. Yeah, when you go deeper out into the valley, those date farms are massive. And like you said, they're international. They're should be all the way. And what's the seeds? The morongo seeds. Is it morongo? Yeah, the moringa. Moringa seeds. Moringa seeds are one of the most nutritious, um, dense seed that you can eat that they said if we it could solve world hunger. And they're the fastest growing tree in the world as well.

SPEAKER_06 11:47

And they're prevalent out here. And they grow them out here deep in the we have one in our yard as an experiment. I we we don't eat from it, but that's okay. Um not yet. We'll see how the things go nationally, or you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

Well, let me know when I can come over some bake for some bacon wrapped dates.

SPEAKER_06 12:03

Bacon wrap, we don't grow dates, nor do we have a hog farm.

SPEAKER_05 12:07

But I love the I love your connection.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

We'll make it happen, but just so you know It may not be from our backyard.

SPEAKER_06 12:13

It won't be from our backyard.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

Okay, but maybe we can eat them in the backyard.

Wiley’s CPA Path And China Years

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Yeah. Um, Wiley, you um are kind of in the same profession I am. We're we're number geeks outside of outside of you running this magazine and this agency. Um, kind of tell us how you kind of got into that.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

And yeah, um, my dad was a small business owner, he was um a flooring contractor. So um grew up um small business, and I always heard him talking about finances and everything. So when it was my turn to go to college, I was like, okay, I'll pursue business, but I didn't want just a general business degree because I was like, I I wanted to come out with the specific skills. So naturally I fell into accounting and it just naturally clicked. Um and from there, when I graduated college, I got my first accounting job with um Caterpillar. Um, did not like it. I was in a cubicle in the attic, and I said, I'm done with this, and ended up moving to China for two years to teach to teach English. He speaks Mandarin, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 13:13

Really? Okay, who doesn't, right? Who doesn't?

SPEAKER_03 13:16

So um, yeah, so I was in uh I was not in a big city, I was in a small village on the border of Vietnam. So I did um two years where I was the only American. Um and so naturally I learned conversational Chinese and made friends. And um after about two years, I decided it was time to come back home. So I came back home, picked up uh accounting again, and now that I got my travels in, I could be more stay at a desk job.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

But um, and then through that I ended up getting a job with DAP Health and um Oh, I know that we did all their tile, yeah, you did, yeah, I mean I didn't do it, but I mean we sold it to them. What a great organization here in the Valley.

SPEAKER_03 13:55

Yeah, healthcare.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Very cool.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

Oh no, yeah. So I I worked with them for about two years, and then um during that time I met Matthew out here. Um, and he encouraged me. He's like, Why don't you start your own side business doing accounting? Why are you making someone else money?

SPEAKER_06 14:10

Is what I said. That's my that's my rule. I'm like, why are you making someone else money? Why aren't you? Give it a try. See if you can do it. Now the ability to manage and take art and commerce and make it happen. I'm very lucky. I've had good partners business-wise, and now I have a a a great life partner who also helps me in business. So as you guys are a team, it's having that accumulation of those factors that for me I feel like I can be creative and I don't need to worry about that. Those numbers.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

So yes, he can, yeah, he can be the creative genius behind and you could be robbing them blind, right?

SPEAKER_06 14:48

Yes, I didn't quite hear, I didn't quite hear you. What how did you describe me just now?

SPEAKER_03 14:51

Uh a creative genius. Wow, okay, yes, but that requires someone who's logistics and finance, yeah. But it it it balances us out because he doesn't have to be bogged down with insurance and taxes and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_06 15:06

Bank accounts and credit cards, right?

SPEAKER_03 15:08

He can he can create so so after um uh so Matt, I was able to get my first five clients right away. And then it's funny, I said I'll never become a CPA and I'll never be self-employed. And next thing you know, I got my CPA license and uh now I'm self-employed, and I have my own boutique uh CPA firm in Palm Springs. Okay, and um and fractional CFO. In fractional CFO. So I've had um I work with chiropractors, aestheticians. Um, quite interesting. One of my largest clients at one time was a cannabis grow company. Oh yeah, 40,000 square feet of plants, and we would produce um about yeah, about 40,000 plants a quarter we would we would go through. So I'd be the fractional CFO to make sure all that business was running smoothly. You would come home smelling of weed, the car, you're getting the contact all of it. It was like and and and the just being around that many plants, the oils are in the air. Yeah, and so my car smelled like weed, my computer bags. So I had a a set of clothes specifically for that.

SPEAKER_06 16:12

Um taking off the zoo, yes, because I thought we're gonna get pulled over for anything, they're gonna be like, okay, but no, no, we just paranoid, huh? He does the books, like that's sounds so nerdy.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Yeah, it does. And um, but yeah, and so then naturally with with the magazine and with Oasis and Victory Creative, um, I can oversee those financials and see make sure that we're um he solves problems. That's what he does. He solved problems, you know.

Creative Vision Versus Money Reality

SPEAKER_00 16:40

We have a lot in common because when he when we first started out my business, he was doing payroll for somebody else, right? God, because that would that would have been a huge thing to hinder me going, I don't know how to do payroll, I don't know how to do taxes, I don't know, and that would have been a like a block for me, right? And then you know, Prince Charming came in over here and was like, could totally handle everything. So I was like, great.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

I think we're similar in the fact that you're the logical numbers guy, and that's me. And then we have a crazy creative over here that has all these great ideas, and we and we gotta and we gotta we gotta sometimes reel them in, right? And be like actually costs money and this is the expense. I get it.

SPEAKER_03 17:21

Uh he's the dreamer, and I'm grounded a little more in reality, and so but it gets me, and he's my dream crusher.

SPEAKER_04 17:29

Yeah, that you call me the dream crusher, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:32

So, but it we we need each other because he needs to get me out of my black and white, what is safe and what is competitive. You're the risk taker, right? You're the risk taker.

SPEAKER_06 17:41

Risk manage, everything is risked. And what's the greatest risk? I'm like, oh my gosh, you're there's there can't we enjoy it for a second?

SPEAKER_03 17:47

All right, isn't it just and I'm calculating and I'm strategizing, yeah. And but that's um But it's pretty.

SPEAKER_06 17:53

We should buy it because it's pretty and I'm alive right now. Like I and right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

See, that's where we gotta travel. My fucking legs still work. You know, right?

SPEAKER_03 18:03

That's what we're trying to figure out. Trying to figure out where to go next because it's been how to coordinate that and and what's in the budget, and maybe you can what's that word you use here?

SPEAKER_06 18:12

My budget. Yeah, they do they rent cars, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Maybe you can help me spend my airline miles the right way.

SPEAKER_06 18:19

It that's a whole thing. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Dude, I know. I have clients that are like, just build that into my cost, and then yeah, and then he's like flying first class and all that. I'm like, wait a minute, welcome when I look at first class like$21,000. You're making it oh damn right, I am.

SPEAKER_06 18:34

There's a whole like uh on TikTok, there's a whole there's a whole series of people who this is what they do. I'm not that nerdy, but I don't care.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

I love TikTok because you have ADHD and so do I. And so it's just so to be a question. Do you have ADHD? I mean, because I felt very hey, no, but come on. I know I love it, it's a superpower.

SPEAKER_03 18:58

We always say that totally, totally, yeah. Well, that's what gets you guys to think so creatively and so um quickly and quickly because you're you're not winning. I get hyper, but you know, being in finance, I get hyper focused and I become how I am amazed. I I can tune out the world and be looking at numbers and and everything just fades away. Um I'm like a glitter gun. Look at this, yeah. Look, it's like a one-man parade my understanding, and I can just look at him and just say, okay, I'm going back to my my numbers.

SPEAKER_06 19:31

Some Western oil we can slide down the hallway. Isn't this the best day ever?

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Is that why you can ignore me?

SPEAKER_02 19:36

Yeah, I have to tune them out sometimes and get it, get it done, you know. But you know, I've earned my nickname the Dream Crusher for Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

I'm like this is me. Do do do do do do Bobby. But it's true, it's balanced.

SPEAKER_06 19:49

But someone it has to be totally balanced.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Can you imagine two of you guys? Or that's what he always says. Can you imagine two of you guys kill each other?

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Kill each other. No, no way. The house will be burnt down in two weeks. Yeah, nothing would get.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

We'd start a whole bunch of these projects.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Half projects that not finished.

SPEAKER_06 20:05

I think for the longest time I had I'm highly competitive when it comes to my craft.

SPEAKER_04 20:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:12

So that's what gets me to because I have friends who are ADHD and they have failure to launch. They buy all the equipment, they get, they get all the plans, they listen to all the YouTube, whatever, and then nothing happens. Yeah. Because I'm competitive, I tell people what I'm doing. I wrote people in, and then pride alone, I have to get it done. And I have to do better than what a market does or expects, you know, or what my corner of the market does. And then it's like, then I then I feel empowered in that. But that's the only thing, then I get it done.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

So well, yeah, because a lot of people say, Don't tell anybody your plans, blah, blah, blah. For me, if I say it, I have to do it just like you. Because and I and I want to do it. So that's also kind of a little push for me, too. Like, my word is my word. Yeah. If I say I'm gonna do something, it's it's there.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

And you have to put it out in the universe. That's true. That and that, that Matthew is very verbal, and I'm not.

Building A Magazine Takes A Village

SPEAKER_02 21:05

We talked about it. We are we are two separate, two separate people. I mean, you you're the money guy, you're the creative. Whose idea was the magazine? Who do you think? I'm guessing I put my money on you, right?

SPEAKER_06 21:17

I I named it, I had I saw the whole thing. But that's what I do as an art director. I see it. I get the idea. Bink.

SPEAKER_04 21:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 21:27

And it look sun comes out, birds fly across, there's an idea. And whether there's a picnic, a parade, a concert, I see the whole thing. I see what the stage is gonna look like, I see who's performing, I see how the camera zooms in and they pull someone up from the crowd, and there's gonna be someone with a rainbow flag on there, and there's gonna be people dressed like this, and it's just I have it all in my mind.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

You have it all planned out.

SPEAKER_06 21:51

Yeah, and then I just start dropping the pieces in. The first issue I did basically, I won't say basically myself, but like I wrote a lot of it. I took 95% of the photos, and I did the other AI that I could if I couldn't find a photo, I would just not people, but like uh a biplane. I and the BMW raceway, I just engineered those. But um yeah, and then everyone helped me put pieces together and fact check and do all the minutiae, the granular stuff. But as far as I saw what it looked like. Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:22

I know I know what our and and if we we do have an assistant that helps us with a lot of this. So we love you, Wendy. We we can get the project 75% there, and then it gets passed along to Matthew to really give it that creative element, that personal touch, um, really make it the voice of Oasis. Um, but it does to create a magazine like this, it takes a whole village.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

Oh, I can't even imagine.

SPEAKER_04 22:50

Oh, it's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

We have our um design director, we have our fashion editor, our beauty editor, managing editor, managing editor.

SPEAKER_06 22:58

When this last time we had contributing writers, and that was you know food and beverage editors.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

Wow, it takes a full team and a lot of people to coordinate, and um and that's where we all create whatever piece we're responsible for, and then it goes to Matthew and he gives it the final review and the frosting and the powdered sugar. Yes, he he makes the cake may taste delicious, but he's gonna make it look beautiful. He's gonna turn it from store-bought cake to uh wedding cake.

SPEAKER_06 23:29

Right. That's also I we have a great design director who I've known 30 years. I I think he gave 30 some years. He gave me my first job in LA as a photographer at a gay rag, and he had me shoot a fashion editorial and um sang my praises and then sent me on my way, and I, you know, it was all like, oh, wow, look how we I can't believe it's so easy to be a photographer here in LA. Um, you know, it's one of those things. Uh and then I had a magazine or was hired to be the creative director of a magazine in LA, LA Fashion Magazine, and I brought him on because he's so, so talented. And then when I had this project, he was the first person I called in. So Randy Dunbar. And he's worked at um Movie Line and GQ and Mademoiselle.

SPEAKER_03 24:11

Condonance.

SPEAKER_06 24:11

Condonas, he was started in New York and then in LA and at Movie Line and oh, just everywhere. Talented, talented. So he breathes life into this, and he's part of what I see and I trust people that I know can can do things, and I'm like, you you do this, you all frost, you make the little rosette things or do whatever. Like I know that's what you do. So I love to give right, I love to give free range for people to do their best and breathe life into it and make make the work better because it's collaborative.

SPEAKER_03 24:43

And we we have such a team, our the team helping us build this, they're all experts in their field. Once again, the beauty about being in the valley is because COVID moved everyone. This valley has such a rich pool of talent. Yes, everyone, they're either retired or they just got a displaced during COVID, or they just wanted a a different life. An easier life. So they come here, but they're not done yet. And they they want to be a part of the community, and they may not necessarily want to build their own business, but they want to be a part of something bigger themselves and give back with their skills. And that's our managing editor, Jason Ball, was the lead producer for KTLA. He ran the newsroom at K KTLA for like 15 or 20 years, some yeah, a while.

SPEAKER_06 25:27

A lifetime. A while, but but we didn't, when we met him, we were like, Hey, do you want to be a part of this whole thing? He's like, Yes. He wrote a story. I'm like, Do you want to? I would love for you to be our managing editor. And it's not it's not a lot, some babysitting making sure someone does it. And then I didn't search him, I just knew I liked him. And the universe works very funny for me. Like, I'm like, you know what I need? I need someone that owns an elephant. And the next thing you know, yeah, oh, can I can you hand me those peanuts? Sure you're here. You is that your pet elephant? Wow, who'd have thought?

SPEAKER_02 25:57

Yeah, and literally this universe puts it into action right into my life.

SPEAKER_06 26:01

So then I learned more about him, and he is familiar with producing shows and lifestyles uh um lifestyle magazine shows like I we just created, and I said, Will you be my director? Will you be an EP and help me? And it's this is in his wheelhouse, and he's masterful at it. And he was just literally the sh the the wave brought him to my shore and dropped him there, and it's been our our our food and um our food and beverage editors. I yeah, was seated next to them at a at a at a little dinner party, and I just literally that day I said, you know, we need some I need to reach out to someone who knows food and beverage and knows people here. What do you guys do? Well I'm a soumigner, my wife's a w writer, and I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_03 26:42

This is crazy. And that's just like our food and um beverage editor, um, Amy, she was um a raw vegan chef for four years. Yeah, and um, but she helps write articles like The Cut, which is about where some of the great uh pieces of meat you can eat around town.

SPEAKER_06 27:02

Yeah, and that's in our magazine. In our magazine, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:06

So um so yeah, so once again, and then her her husband is a still manye who helps with the wine.

SPEAKER_06 27:12

So they love wine, is it is a fluent language, but it it's not just people who are aficionados of this, it's people who celebrate it. And that's it feels different. It feels different to celebrate tile and marbles and like because that's what you do, you celebrate it. Yep, and having your own business and doing payroll, you celebrate it in your way. He celebrates being a CPA. Like that's that's the kind of energy I I try and foster and I look for and I just naturally I kind of go, Oh, I I recognize that energy, I like it. Stand by me. And then it just happens to be beneficial instead of being in many years 30 years in LA where it is, what do you do for a living? What part of town do you live in? You know, those kind of things to see if people can help you. Right. Um, which has never concerned me because I kind of trust my log universe.

The Oasis Voice And Reader Experience

SPEAKER_02 27:58

So the people that don't know or maybe haven't seen, checked out your magazine. What um can they expect? What's kind of the idea behind it? What are what do you what is your your focus in putting in there?

SPEAKER_06 28:08

It's written in BFF voice. It's uh it's a little tongue-in-cheek, it's a little silly. Thank God. Uh it it's not it's not a lecture, it's not a uh it's when you travel someplace that you've never been, you literally ask a screen a stranger, hey, do you guys live here? Yeah. Do you know a good Italian place? Right? So that's that's what this is. I don't just do a block of food. Palm Springs food. Uh it is separated by the cut, which was the steakhouses, or there's the what was the burger one?

SPEAKER_03 28:42

Um the burgers wild ride.

SPEAKER_06 28:44

Burgers Wild Ride. So it's a little history of where burgers came from and then all the burgers in town. And then we had let's talk about it, which is about right. So that's how I want to digest information. So that's how I put it out there. No fun intended.

SPEAKER_03 28:58

And we're not rate, we don't rate anything the best of, or really because you can't, it's it is about what type of experience do you want? Do you want a small little taco shop where you're getting street tacos that feel very authentic? Or do you want elevated Mexican um style twist with some type of Asian? Techila or a quite display. Or or yeah, or Asian fusion that takes these elements.

SPEAKER_06 29:20

Um is it the vibe? Is it the service? Is it the food? Is it the price?

SPEAKER_00 29:25

You're making me hungry.

SPEAKER_06 29:26

Yeah. Well, you know, that's exactly that's what we like to do. Yeah, it ain't working already.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

The best way we like to describe it, it's um best friend energy. If your BFF is in town telling you this is how you do palm springs and this is how you do it right, and these are the different experiences you can have. One is not better than the other. They're just if you like quiet, you might want to go to these restaurants. If you want lively and entertaining, then you're probably gonna want to go to these restaurants.

SPEAKER_06 29:51

Um, yeah, because it's subjective. What you like, what you like about it. And then we are in over 1,500 rooms. It's right out the gate.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Nice.

SPEAKER_06 30:00

It's a free publication, it's available at a select few locations. Um, Melvin's or Ingleside, uh Destination PSP, Soto Voce, uh SoCal Sunset. Anybody else? Uh the Thompson and the Thompson, oh, course, and the Thompson Hotel. So it's in every room there, and it's a quarterly magazine, so it has a 90-day shelf life. And um so hopefully we're gonna establish the importance of having an audience, an intentional audience here. You go to a nice hotel. And even though you may share a bathroom at where you live, it's your house. So you know while someone's using the bathroom that you can go do this. While you're at a hotel, you're just sitting there waiting for the other person to get ready. So instead of scrolling, we give you a pretty handwritten love letter from a BFF that lives here that's telling you you might want to think about this place.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 30:49

And so that's we want to reset what how they think of advertising here and to include people in the conversation and to make the best experience for locals or for guests uh to tell you a little bit about uh something you may not know or something you may not have thought of, and you're like, Oh, my dad, you could be a vegan, but you're like, My dad's coming into town, he loves steaks. Well, there it is. Now we know.

SPEAKER_03 31:13

So and um I forgot what I thought to say. Some ingenious um it'll come back to that.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Okay, well, d let me ask you this. Since you were saying you can you can thumb through it, uh, do you also have it on sc where you can scroll?

SPEAKER_06 31:27

Yes, we have it on.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Well, you kind of have to, right? Yeah, you kinda have to.

Why Print Still Wins On Vacation

SPEAKER_06 31:31

I I can tell you the handful of times I've ever looked at Vogue or Vanityfair, whatever.com. Sure. I think it's necessary because you just have to. It adds to your metrics. Sure. I don't think it's really a valid point, but it's part of the game, right? Right? You know, that's it. You have to be digital, yeah. You want to have a fancy house, you have you have a a wine fridge, you have a you, you know, yeah, all the all these things means that you are if you have a Michelin star restaurant, that means you have a pastry chef, you have a soulman, you have all these things that make you so yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:08

Yeah, and people ask us why did we go print in a digital era with TikTok and Instagram? And it's because we one, we're trying to target a younger demographic, but this younger demographic wants something real. We are on our phones all day. Too much and and we want like why are millennials and Gen Zs into plants because it's something real, it's something not digital. So we're moving, we really are like why is in the 90s a really big culture hit right now with TV shows and fashion and everything? Because once again, it was a time before social media. So we are seeing this pendulum uh swing to want to something real. And when you're on vacation, you want to break your normal habits, and therefore you have a print media right there for you that's tangible, that's tangible, and we use one of the highest print qualities. Oh, I love it. Beautiful it smells like an old school textbook because it is printed on a Heidelberg press.

SPEAKER_06 33:10

And where would that print place be? That's dub printing literally across the street from our studio.

SPEAKER_03 33:15

And um false energy, man. False energy, local synergy.

SPEAKER_06 33:19

And they they are they have been amazing support, especially with our first three generations here in the valley, and that's part of our business model is to make sure that we support local first. That's that's not just our catchphrase, it's like everywhere that we can.

Growing Carefully Beyond Palm Springs

SPEAKER_00 33:34

You know, so I have a silly question. So um silly question number two. Okay, number two. So you're you're talking about how you're in Palm Springs right now, okay, and you're gonna be moving out because I was thinking, like, how much of Palm Springs can you cover? Like eventually you're gonna run out of burger places and you're gonna run out of right steak places and things like that. So that's why you're gonna expand your horizons, right?

SPEAKER_06 33:59

Well, I we don't have the infrastructure nor the well, the manpower, the infrastructure. Right now, people didn't know us six months ago. So to create the first one, and then they go, Oh, well, that's really pretty. What a great job. Did it take you 10 years to do this? Is this just a one-hit? Are you gonna stick around? Yeah so then you then you serve it up again, and they're like, oh, wait a minute, that's even better. That's bigger, that's better. There's more, and we we work with uh the Wilhelmina model agency in LA. Oh, nice. They provide our models. So we have a reach outside of this market to to deliver visually people, you know, we we have a concept for what we want. Um, but we we have to bite off what we can and establish ourselves here. And next we're reaching out to El Paseo to include them in the fashion editorials and you know, present that Ollie branch to, you know, and then we for me, I just want to grow naturally and I'm I'm not here to try and take over the world. I want I want to help who I can, how I can, and um, okay, maybe I want to take over the world.

SPEAKER_03 35:00

World dominance.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

Madonna is like, I love Madonna. My brother's 10 years older than I am, right? And so I grew up watching her, and I'll always remember Dick Clark said to her, What do you want to do with your life? And she said, I want to rule the world. And I was hooked on her ever since. And I was like, Oh my god. So when you said it, I I can relate.

SPEAKER_06 35:22

It really is yeah, because I've said this before, world domination. Uh uh, but um my world, I'm not looking to uh go into politics. I have no interest in being on city council or ever being mayor. I I I do not volley for getting a star and a walk. It just that's not I want to do what I do, and that's this is my reward. Being able to take photos and help people and be part of a community, to me, that's that that's everything. That's everything. I'd like to be able to make a living at it. You know, I want this, yeah, one day. Yeah, but I'm okay investing in this because I'm investing myself. And let's just say this runs its course, it becomes illegal in America to own a magazine privately. Okay, well, there's nothing I can do about that.

SPEAKER_05 36:04

Right.

SPEAKER_06 36:04

Um, but from there, I'll go on to whatever the next thing is, and maybe it's the television show, and maybe I I want to do a short film this year. So I will continue to create until my last breath. That's just what I do. And if I can help people and champion a message or a meaning or shine a spotlight wherever I can, yeah, that's it. Being taking headshots in LA, I was never like I wasn't a I wasn't an ER doctor, I wasn't a cardiologist, I wasn't even a therapist. But there was someone who gave up everything they had to move to LA by themselves to take a chance on being an actor. So I wanted to make sure they had a beautiful photo so they could go for their dream.

SPEAKER_00 36:43

Oh, nice. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:44

To me, that was everything. And then, you know, turn around and someone says, Yeah, because it's happened. I've I've I've taken no credit for anyone's career at all, but I've been there at the beginning of some people that we all know their name, and we see them on film and television, and I love it when they say, Oh, you Matthew was here in the very beginning and he helped me, and you know, that he got me a job at a restaurant, and I've given people extra cell phones, and just because that's the kind of world I want to live in.

SPEAKER_04 37:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 37:11

I know it's a dreamer and it sounds a little woo-woo and a little, but it's just that's where I want to live. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:16

And so because we do have all these talented people helping us with this, who have been in the industry for 20 plus years, we're very intentional with trying to bring on interns. And we do partner with the College of the Desert.

SPEAKER_06 37:28

And um, when we were producing our pilot for our um upcoming TV show, um, we we brought in um three interns, um, a sound technician, um, and just PA assistants people learning to do sound, people learning to be a PA and to and to help out with all this because it's that chance that you get, right? Right.

SPEAKER_03 37:51

Yeah, and we had um we had someone who was not able to make it on the second day. And so we had to have our intern step up um and take on a role that she um like the makeup artist. Yeah, and she she stepped up and um she took ownership of the role and she did a fabulous job.

SPEAKER_06 38:08

And it built her But we had a camera person who wasn't available the beginning of the second day at the airport, and one of the interns stepped up and did camera, and you know, it's yeah, that's what you do.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

And they're all going to show yeah, they're all going to school for film and um television, and um, they get that first real real world hands-on experience. So once again, we're we're about and then I worked with one of them, Gabrielle, yesterday.

SPEAKER_06 38:34

She was on the shoot that I did. I did uh worked on a small uh uh college final um short film yesterday, last two days, and when the people that we worked with was with us there. So this com you know, this community, it becomes very small, yeah, and it's just it makes me happy, you know. Um, I was raised by my grandmother. She was 79 when she took me. She died when I was 17. So I've lived most of my life without a family. So and I think all shit goes down, it's still just you. So it's kind of made me very cautious in some ways and really cavalier in others. So I think the importance of a lot of this exercise and the exercise I had in LA um was to build a little community, a little tribe, a little family.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

And that's it. That's it. That's the best. I think that's that's just how the best.

SPEAKER_06 39:25

And uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

So you were talking about the Al Paseo thing. So me uh myself and a group of a small group of uh people put together this thing called Desert Design District. So you really should take a look. We have 166 members, but it's all about the design trades, whether you're a contractor, plumber, interior designer, that kind of thing. And we it's it's a really cool community you should probably get to use. And maybe I can even have you on a panel or something. That would be amazing.

SPEAKER_06 39:50

I would love to be a part of this and meet as many people. We will have a design issue.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_06 39:54

Yeah, so it's in time. That's that's why uh how we map out the magazine, and we don't really have our scheduling or the we are kind of flying by the seat of our pants. Um, the summer issue is the paradise issue. Before that, it was going to be the sole issue, but someone came out with a sole house. Yeah, so I didn't want to look like I copied or you know what I mean? I didn't want to confuse anybody, so like, okay, we need to pivot. That's what you do. I'll pivot every day. Pivot all the time. Oh, okay. And so what let's go to the paradise issues. Summers are cool again because we want to really emphasize that Las Vegas thrives during the summer. Yeah, like that's the time. Houston's Texas thrives during the Louisiana, New Orleans thrives during the summer. You know what I mean? So should we. So should we. So um claim it. So we we do these our quarterly issues, and then somewhere in the winter it's gonna be a design issue because we need to keep it all going and there to be new subjects. Food is food. We have the the film festival, we have Coachella, we have a lot of wash, rinse, repeat. So to add some elements in it to keep it going and keep the story a little fresh and a little different. That's that's part of our so like so.

How A Quarterly Issue Gets Made

SPEAKER_00 41:04

You're already starting on your summer, like how far in advance do you start for your quarterly? Um like last year.

SPEAKER_06 41:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:12

But seriously, I mean, I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 41:14

We should have started last week. We did the pilot instead. So tomorrow I have to hash out. So we've we shot we I wrote the pilot, put everything together, got a team from LA that I've worked with forever. It came out, they shot it. I go through and I do the selects or the time codes of the things that I like, rewrite the script, send it on to the editor, pay that bill, and then um I can put that to bed. And literally put that to bed on Thursday or Friday morning. And then I was filming in the afternoon both days, so or Friday and Saturday, and now back at it again. Yeah, doesn't sound like the donuts. Yeah, go ahead and don't see it.

SPEAKER_03 41:55

With the magazine, it's whenever we're creating an issue, we let's say 40 ideas are gonna make it to the actual magazine, but we come up with 60. So we already kind of have an idea what the next magazine is going to be.

SPEAKER_06 42:09

And we have stuff left over from the last issue that we didn't use.

SPEAKER_03 42:13

Because do you have to cut that? We we wanted to make sure our first one was uh 120, uh like 120 pages, and the second time we wanted to deliver even more, and we got to the 138. Um, but we that we had a cut back. We were at 160, 170, and we're like, we have to start removing stuff because you know it the more pages, the more expensive it is expensive it is, and you can always save it for next issue.

SPEAKER_00 42:39

Yeah, totally. So, like how many pages is it now?

SPEAKER_03 42:42

138 is our 142.

SPEAKER_06 42:45

So a hundred this this one which is the this is 142 pages. I just went a little over on our photo shoots, and so a single image turned into a double page, and so and because it's a fashion magazine, it's it's a local lifestyle magazine wrapped in the disguise of a fashion magazine because I like taking it. It's entertainment, it's the frosting. Uh, so I went over on my fashion. So I'm like, okay, let's cut back on a couple articles and we'll save them for next time.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

So did you go to El Paseo Fashion Show?

SPEAKER_06 43:16

Yep, we did uh I had a cold. Uh I was supposed to go uh the Monday for the El Paseo. I had to sit that one out. I sent Eric from our team and sent a camera. Uh and then we had Trina Turk the um Wednesday the night before my pilot, and I was still recovering from a cold. So we went. Oh we snuck out early just because energy-wise, just energy wise.

SPEAKER_03 43:36

We both were fighting with COVID.

SPEAKER_06 43:38

So that's a perfect example of we're here to support other media and especially the locals, you know. Um having a designer come from New York, wherever, you know, that that's amazing. It's amazing as far as like watching it, but being a representing a magazine and trying to support another publication here. I want to make sure that our focus is on El Pasale, which is Local and Trina Turk, which is local.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

So you do you have a media pass and you just get in and you you don't like you don't have to pay for a ticket?

SPEAKER_06 44:07

I have a library card that I use a Sharpie with, and it says Matthew has full access. Nice works none of the time. None of the time. No, I you write in, you write in you have credentials, you ask for credentials, and you write in, you're like, I'm this is local, this is what we'll do, and this is what we're asking for. And they were very gracious and they included us.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

And the reason I brought that up is you want to tell them about your media pass for the football show?

SPEAKER_02 44:34

Yeah. I mean, yeah, we just applied for it and we had to get we got kicked off a sideline one time. We do a we do a local football podcast on top of this, like the high school. Okay. And we got kicked off the sideline one time for not having the pass, so we we had to contact uh.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

But he I mean it's cool because you he gets to get right on the sidelines with this pass.

SPEAKER_06 44:52

And so I think that's you you did you have you made a uh a pass for yourself for the lanyard? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got the lanyard.

SPEAKER_02 44:58

They sent it to us, but yeah, it was a learning experience.

SPEAKER_06 45:00

We created our own for the magazine. We have one for every one of our interns and our ambassadors and our team. So, of course, they have to get credentials and permission for being. We we worked with um Momentous PR and the art museum for the Bob Mackey event, and so everyone was on the list that was approved to be there, so we could do red carpet photos and do it uh red carpet interview. But we have Oasis lanyards and press just identified, right? And I have so many lanyards from other things from LA stuff, like you just put them all on, so you have like one of them is flavored. There's so many, and the people are going, is that Harry Potter? And is that what's the Hunger Games? So they're like, Oh, you must belong here, and that's but that's why I would see people do it in LA. I'm like, why are you wear all of them? They said, because they can't see a single one, yeah. That's and you don't always have time to go get your land, like all these things, and you know, you're you're a little trick of the trade right here.

Oasis Live And Hollywood-Level Production

SPEAKER_02 45:59

Yeah, so that's yeah. Uh, you guys mentioned a TV show. So what's the concept behind that? What are we what are we looking at in that thank you in that realm?

SPEAKER_06 46:08

Oasis Live is a half an hour magazine format show. So um, and we're pitching it to local network to local network. We have our eyeset on local NBC. I gotta connect for you. Yeah, I I met with Bob. Okay, you already talked about it. Uh, but thank you. I'll take it anyway. Yeah. Uh and we, my co-host Kelly McQuinn, and I go, what's the the show starts? Where did it start?

SPEAKER_03 46:34

Oh, um, was it the airport or Cosmopolitan?

SPEAKER_06 46:37

I think we start at the airport at PSC. At the airport. We visit Jake and he tells us about the airport. We give a little bit of history, and then we hear where the airport's going. We go from there. Oh, we bought a marketing vehicle, uh, 1982. Oh, Rolls Royce. All right, Rolls Royce, and we had it wrapped in fuchsia. His name is Mr. Pink. We park him on the street. You can't miss that, Mr. Pink. That's awesome. Oh, wow. But he's uh people take photos with him. A beautiful car. And when we bought him, because it's the weirdest thing of a pink Rolls-Royce, people wave at me like I'm in a parade. Just wave at you going down the street, and then they talk to me. And I, you know, and it's but it's the hey, tell me about it. And I'm like, why? Why? It's it's it's hysterical.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 47:21

Yeah, it's a little but yeah, that's a great marketing piece, though. Well, I didn't tell you about cheaper than a billboard.

SPEAKER_00 47:28

I gotta tell you about my car that I used to have. I had my Range Rover wrapped in white, pink, gray, and black camouflage.

SPEAKER_02 47:37

Yeah, it's quite a scene.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

And then I and then I didn't like the people knew who I was at all times. Yeah, everyone knows where you are. Yeah, and I'm like, okay, enough. That was fun. I got it out of my system, and that's that.

SPEAKER_06 47:48

But it also makes a name for yourself. Um being a pretty girl is different than being two gay guys that were in or knows already in downtown. But yeah, no, I get you want a little, you don't want everyone to know where you are at all times, especially if there's any secrets.

SPEAKER_03 48:04

Well, we'll be just we'll be driving any we'll be driving downtown and like Matthew, why is everyone staring at us? And then I take a moment and I'm looking like, oh, we're in the car.

SPEAKER_06 48:13

We're in the big car. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 48:17

And then I forget what car we're in.

SPEAKER_00 48:18

Does it say the oasis, or no?

SPEAKER_06 48:20

You're just we have decals on the back windows that go.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

Yeah, because it has to kind of like yeah, brand. You want to yeah, okay. Well, that was awesome. I love that idea.

SPEAKER_02 48:29

So the oasis live, where can we check that out though? We are working on the pilot right now. Okay, is it gonna be a YouTube? You think in the world?

SPEAKER_06 48:36

Of course, we'll be supported on uh, but I don't know what the terms are to have a local show where if we're buying a half hour segment and then have to sell the so I'm learning this as we go. Okay, we go from uh from the airport to uh clandestino. We have some food. I talk to the chef, we're in the kitchen. We go from there to to Casa Palma, play some pickleball, talk about the property, and show some beautiful photos, and then we go from there to the axe palm canyon. I love that. Yeah, and Brett is amazing, and we go there and we have a great time, then we wrap the show. Awesome. So that's that's what a half an hour is. We're figuring out how to produ I'm figuring out how to produce this, monetize it, make sure that there's enough um uh slack in the rope that we can continue this. Um that's that's it. But it's it's it's elevated, it's not just a a camera and a light thing. We we write it out the segment like you would a national, like a um a travel, a travel show, like it's a proper travel show.

SPEAKER_03 49:40

There's a crew of 15. So you have two houses, you got some production value 15. There's three cameramen. Um we have our gaffers, our sound, our director, our DP. So it's we're trying to elevate the market in saying that just because we're in a smaller market, there's no reason why we don't have um Hollywood quality production. Yeah, um, we have the talent, we have all the resources. It's now just not very good.

SPEAKER_06 50:06

But we yeah, and we I have the resources, and this is what I've done in other ways. I've written shows for other people. So I I'm lucky enough to know this. I think if we just wanted to reach the audience here, we can do what we've always done. You can have a camera, a single light, this kind of situation, or the desert brew does a great job, but we're wanting to do something different so we can reach past this audience. Yeah. So if it looks small, then the the the local audience, a small, a small area responds to it, but it looks like a national show, then other people want to see it, right? Because they go, Oh, this looks like a nice fancy show.

SPEAKER_00 50:46

And it's based in Palm Spring.

SPEAKER_02 50:47

And it's based in Palm Spring. You guys are thinking big then, uh big.

SPEAKER_06 50:50

I made her take over the world.

SPEAKER_03 50:53

For greatness, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 50:53

My grandma would say, if you're if you're uh if you're not prepared for greatness, you're not prepared at all. Well, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 51:00

So you gotta stay ready, man.

SPEAKER_03 51:02

Put yourself in the path of opportunity, you know, or lucky.

SPEAKER_06 51:05

But invest in yourself, like you guys invest in yourself and making this happen. And we're we're we're grateful for being here. Thank you for including us. But no, it takes some effort and you know, and follow through, and people are here on time and they do what they say they're gonna do, and there's a lot to that. So I I appreciate it and I see the effort and I I appreciate what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 51:22

Yeah, thank you guys. Can you help me monetize this show now? I I am I can. We uh we've all figured that out.

SPEAKER_03 51:29

This is what I do. I mean, this is what I do with media. That's right. He can he takes he's great at taking art, art, and commerce and and producing.

SPEAKER_06 51:36

Um oh yeah, no, I already have notes. I'm just naturally born with that's awesome. With my with oh, okay. Well, I see where maybe we could do a better here if they tightened up this and you know with everything.

SPEAKER_05 51:46

That's just what I do. He sees that's my nature. That's that's that's what it is. I can't leave well enough alone.

SPEAKER_03 51:52

I can't, and you always want to leave something better off than you because it's that energy that and I think that's the creative, uh, the creative force that there's always how can we make this better, how we can make it more beautiful, more enjoyable, and how do we leave this place a better experience than than we than we came?

SPEAKER_00 52:10

And no idea is too crazy. That's what you need.

SPEAKER_06 52:12

You need that, like you want an elephant, we'll get you an elephant. It'll cost a lot more money, yeah. But we'll get you that and make it happen. Right.

SPEAKER_02 52:20

We're kind of running up against time here, guys, but we always like to ask our entrepreneurs at the end, yeah, you know, for leave kind of a roadmap for the next generation coming up. So what would you tell those young kids coming in, maybe want to emulate what you've done or take the same path that you have.

SPEAKER_06 52:35

I'll let you go first because I'm gonna be worried.

SPEAKER_03 52:37

Um I think it really is, I think it's persistence and resilience. And that's what what I've learned that um anything that became great or it took many tries and I'm I can get very impatient and want to see the results now. Um, and that's the the financial side, the the efficacy of everything. But when you're creating and when you're exploring, you really have to give yourself that room to make mistakes and and try again and try again, and it may this idea may not pay off, but it's gonna prepare you for whatever the next idea is. Um so that's what I've learned is resilience, and then I've also learned there's another currency other than money, right? There's a social currency. And when you're working with small businesses, and if you ever want to be a part of the community, you really um need to take that time to realize that building relationships is another currency. Um helping someone is another currency, being a part of the conversation. Um that's one thing they don't teach you in school. They always teach you do this, get a job, and you'll get paid money. But when you're self-employed, when you're creating, you really have to learn that there's a whole nother currency that they cannot teach you, and you can only learn through doing it and through building relationships. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 54:01

Uh oh. Let's see, baby.

SPEAKER_06 54:03

I believe in finding your passion. But within that passion, there are many other things that go along with if you like the entertainment industry, I think it's kind of glamorous and people often fantasize about being in front of the camera. But you have to be able to deliver your lines comfortably and memorize them and all these things and check out from being self-conscious of how this looks. You have to be able to let that go, and a lot of people can't and they don't like so um so if the entertainment industry is what you want, figure out which one of the things that might be a sub-subject of it and see if you're good at it. Because I think really more than follow your passion is figure out what you're good at. And if you're organized, if you're a CPA, if you're an organized person, but you want to be part of the entertainment industry because it seems exciting, Rita, um, you become a line producer. So you're still part of this, but you don't have to be on camera, you don't have to do hair makeup. You want to be an artist, a photographer, a stylist, a makeup artist. Um I think it's much like you want to make a cake, you get a recipe, then you get the ingredients, and then you make a cake. You just do what you're taught, what the directions say, and then you do it, and you do it, and you do it, and you're like, I can experiment. And then you experiment.

SPEAKER_04 55:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 55:24

And then you give yourself, yeah, that you you go to fine arts school, they teach you to draw a sphere, a cone, um uh a cube, and the light moves across it, and you master that. And then you go to the museum and you copy a master. Why? Because the masters are masters. So once you can do that, then you can go be creative. But you have to learn those skills. So you want to be a photographer, figure out what you want to shoot. That's that's you want to make a cake and get the recipe, and that would be um, how do you shoot something? You know, uh what is it gonna take light or natural light or whatever? And then you get the ingredients. You're gonna take a model, you need a makeup artist, you need some clothes, you want it to look like uh uh a guest or Gucci campaign, and then you make it, you copy someone and you're like, ooh, I'm not very good at this. So you continue to try, or you go, I'm really good at this. Or you take photos and you you want to take sports photos, or you want to take um sports illustrated type action shots, or you want to take family photos, you figure out what that is, and then you get the recipe and the ingredients, and then you go for it, and you keep doing it until it becomes yeah, until you get it. Yeah, so very good. That's all I can ever tell anyone.

Where To Find Them And Closing

SPEAKER_02 56:36

Well, that's some great advice. Try my best. It's a lot of experience behind behind that, right? A lot, a lot of trouble. Um, where can our audience find you guys? Check out the magazine, check you guys out. What's the best place to reach out?

SPEAKER_03 56:47

What's your website? Um, the website is the oasismagazine.com. I was talking about Wiley Snedeker. Oh, mineker financials. For for accounting for my CPA, it's Snedeker Financial Solutions. Um Sneder Financial Solutions.com. It's my website. Okay. And then for the magazine is the oasismagazine.com. And um, and then our Instagram is Oasis Magazine PS.

SPEAKER_06 57:12

Yeah, underscore PS.

SPEAKER_03 57:13

Underscore P S.

SPEAKER_06 57:14

And then we have victorycreative.com, hyphen creative.

SPEAKER_03 57:17

Victory.com.

SPEAKER_06 57:19

And it's in our it's in our magazine. All uh everything most actually, yeah, in the newest issue, he has an ad in our issue, because you know, it's his magazine. Uh so all that's available in our and um and then hopefully soon we will have Oasis Live on local network. And I will do PA like so um promotions and advertising. I will do this like it's a Hollywood show because that's just how I'm wired and that's what I know. So we'll promote it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:46

And when you guys get it out there, we'll throw it out there too, whatever you guys got to promote.

SPEAKER_03 57:51

And then same thing, our YouTube channel is the Oasis magazine. Um, and that is where we have a lot of our interviews. So in the last issue, we try to make a lot more um video content, yeah. So that um, like we did woman in journalism with six women who are local news anchors or reporters, and we also did a write-up of them in the magazine, but then also on our YouTube, we have the full video um interviews as well. And then we post little 30-second clips of the interview on our social media as well. So we're really trying to hit multiple platforms. We're not on TikTok yet. Um, can't yet we we have to like set us another platform to manage which you gotta do with the lies.

SPEAKER_06 58:34

Yeah, I gotta trim my own butter and loom my own clothes. Yeah, this is a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 58:38

Never stops, man. Though that's like being homage, yeah. Well, we're excited. We think you guys are some rising stars in our community, and we're we're real appreciative that you came out and spoke to us. Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_00 58:47

Yeah, I think I can't wait to see the ride, and I love that you're bringing this Hollywood vibe to it. And you know, I'm I'm excited. You're gonna do just well. I mean, you're gonna be just fine, and I can't wait to see the growth from the thanks for coming in, guys.

SPEAKER_02 59:04

So if you guys found some value in that episode, you know the routine. Like, subscribe, and follow. And we'll see you next time on CV Hustle.

SPEAKER_01 59:13

Keep the circle tight like a missionless chef. Only bread I break now comes with respect. Still dragging on the marble floor, breakfast and bed. Girl, bring me some more. See the free of the middle, and the frames of my youth, visit frames on my face, see the vision clear, manifest the beast, no head up in the mirror. I ain't rushing nothing, not the road to the mud steady steady, echo metal head on the desk, got the roll of mobile