A Star is Born: Meet Award Winner Jeremy Cousar

What happens when faith meets talent, purpose, and bold action?

In this episode of Ask Dr. Sujay, Jeremy Cousar shares his powerful journey from stepping into New York with nothing but belief… to performing on world-class stages like the Apollo.

This conversation dives into faith, identity, trusting the process, and having the courage to go all in on your calling—even when nothing is guaranteed.

If you’ve ever questioned your path or felt called to something bigger, this episode will inspire you to stop holding back and step fully into who you’re meant to be.

Learn more, explore Soul Care resources, and connect with Dr. Sujay at DrSujayGlobal.com

Submit questions and topics at AskDrSujay.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Do you ever wonder how faith fits into leadership or how to lead with both power and purpose? If you're looking for wisdom that bridges culture, confidence, and calling, then this podcast is for you. Here's Global Diplomat, Business Strategist, and Women's Empowerment icon, your host, Ambassador Susan Johnson Cook.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Hello there and welcome to Ask Dr. Sujay. I am so excited, elated, ignited, delighted to introduce to some and present to others Jeremy Cassar. Jeremy has been on the world-class stage Apollo Theater. He's won a couple of times at Amateur Night, but he is an artist par excellence, a new emerging voices. You know that I'm always concentrating on soul and soul care and soul work. Well, his music is care to my soul. And I want to introduce him to you as we have this interview and want you to check out his music and hear him and just celebrate him. But this is Ask Dr. Sujay. Stay tuned. Hi there, and welcome to Ask Dr. Sujay. Yes, the podcast is popping all over the world. We are so excited, ignited, and delighted to have you. But as we begin, let me just give a shout out to our production team, Visual Butterfly, Sherry Joseph, for all the work they're doing. And on my other team, Maria and Coach Wendy and all those who make this show possible. Thank you so much. But I want to thank you for joining us today. Now, you know I'm a mother. I'm one of the old G's in the building. We're in a new building, and I'm one of the older G's. I've got two sons, 30 and 33 years old. So I'm trying to learn how to mother and not smother. But I am so excited about this new generation, the ideas, the things that they bring to the table. And so today we have someone from that generation, Jeremy Coussard. Welcome. Hey Dr. Singh, how you doing? Fine, thank you. So I already bonded with you because you're from Charlotte, North Carolina. And I spent all my summers in Monroe on Concord where they were suburbs. Now they're like middle suburbs of it. Where NASCAR racing is.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yes, uh, where NASCAR is, um, as well as like Charlotte itself is like an old banking city. Yes. Um, it's growing a lot. A lot.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

By leaps and bounds.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

But you're claiming the thing, you came to New York in July of 2020. And during the midst of COVID.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Yes, the height of it all.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Height of it all. Yes, ma'am.$3,000 in your savings account.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

And two suitcases.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

And said, I'm going to take New York on. Well, yeah. And you have. So now a two-time amateur night winner at the Apollo Theater. Yes, ma'am. You sang at the Metgale up.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Oh, come on now. You know, that's not easy to do. And where else have you signed?

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Oh, but then Harlem Week, uh, for three years in a row, I was a uh headliner for at the main stage. Yes. Um, I've sung around New York City in general. Um, I also do casino shows out in Atlantic City. I love that. I performed at uh MGM National Harbor right outside of BC. Yeah, I love that place. So, what's your genre of music? For myself, I mainly sing pop and RB. Okay. Um, but as an artist, I don't want to limit myself to just anything. Exactly. Um so as a songwriter, I want to dive into a lot of things, um, whether it's theater, um, country, gospel, alternative, anything that I can get my hands on, if it sounds good or however I can contribute myself into the project, that's what I'm down for.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

I love it. So, what is your stage name?

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Uh, just my first and last name, Jeremy Coussart.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

Jeremy Coussart. I love that. It has a strength to it. Now, I want to tell you this little story. When I was 16, I was in Miss Black Teenage America. Okay. And I got to sing on the Apollo stage at Amateur Night. Really? My prayer was that the hook wouldn't come and pull me off. Right. It's scary. No, it's very scary. So I made it to it. My big brother was in the front row, and I guess he kind of threatened folks to not vote. But it's okay. But you won Amateur Night twice.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. It was uh such a surreal experience, and it's crazy. I don't think you it really hits you that it's such a legendary stage until you're actually there. Um, because as a kid, I used to watch, you know, late night TV, like when my grandmother or like my parents were asleep, and Showtime with the Apollo would come on. Yeah. So I used to have dreams of like being on that stage and getting that opportunity to do so really was a full circle moment for me.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

That's amazing. That's amazing. So I was a little kid in day camp and in church world here. So around the age of eight, we started going to the Apollo, and there would be lines around the bike. That's where we met James Brown and all the stars of that era. Yeah, but there would be lines, and there was a steakhouse right next to the Apollo Theater. So we would stand in line, somebody would come get their steak, they'd come back and get their place in line. Yeah. But it was just a fascinating place. It still is one of the cultural capitals of the world.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

For sure, for sure. And it also, I one thing I also appreciate is how the uh Harlem community and also Brady, New York, also just comes out and represents to the fullest. To the fullest. It's no flag to see, yeah. Yeah. Truly, truly.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

So you're 28, you've spent now five years in New York City. What would you say to the aspiring artists? I mean, you hit it. What did it take? What was your formula?

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Um, I mean, there's not really a rule book when it comes to like making it. And also the term making it is is very subjective. Exactly. What does that mean? Um, I guess one thing I will say is like, if I could tell my younger self anything, it would definitely be to trust the process. Um at times it's kind of hard. Life can life. As you get older, you get hit with the realities of like adulting, um, insurance, all right. Paying bills, yeah, that you are not accustomed to, but you find your flow with it. And not only that, you're not the only one that's going through it alone. So once you find your tribe, which is one of the things I'm very, very thankful for, I can say that there are a group of people that are close friends, um, basically family to me. I think it's God that has helped me through it all. And we've struggled together, they've seen the ups, the downs, the in the tweens, all the things. So um, I wouldn't do it over. I think everything happens for a reason. And like I said, I've I've trusted the process, and mainly importantly, I've kept God first. That's important. So faith is important.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

That's important. So my 30-year-old is living, we have a beach house, and so he's living in it for the first time in the winter. And so he calls every other day, kind of like, Well, what do I do with the toilet? But he's finding out that he said today, you know what? I wouldn't exchange this experience for anything. Yeah. Because I'm learning how to run a house, I'm learning how to manage some things in life. So, what would you say to mothers who feel like we have to do everything, we have to jump in? Because I purposely don't do it. So you used the word earlier that intention is your word.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Yes. Um, I turned 28 on November 28th of last year. So my word of the year, every year I kind of always like reflect on what happened, what didn't happen, what went well, what didn't go as planned. Um, and my word of the year is intention. And by that, everyone says like it's kind of like my golden year, which means that everything starts to fall into place. Um, and I don't know if we're waiting for like the world to open up and for God to give me a sign or whatever, but um, even with January, I'm in a period of waiting.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

And I'm realizing that like with that, it could still be intentional in the midst of stillness. Yes. You know? Yes. Um, if I would say anything to mothers, I would definitely say, at least for my mom, she definitely made sure that I had the fundamentals in me in terms of making sure that I treat people the way I'm gonna be treated. Always showing up to a room as my full self, you know, never dimming my life to make someone else feel comfortable. Um, but in addition to that, I would have challenged the average human out there to also, you know, go for it. Just try to jump. And if you fall flat on your face, at least you learned. I have this model where I think I would rather try something and know that it didn't work out for me than to not try something and wonder what if.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Exactly. You know, it's a certain point in life and to what if I could have. Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

You can't always go through life worried about shoulda, coulda, woulda. You have to accept things for what they are. And how I look at it, there's a book that I'm currently reading called The Artist's Way. It's by Julia Cameron. Okay. Um, really, really great for any artist out there that's trying to find their way. Um, she talks about how you know you can't pray to catch the bus if you don't run after the bus. Yeah. You know, because you'll never know if that was your bus. So essentially what it is is kind of like rejection is God's protection.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Yeah. I also say sometimes rejection is a redirection.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Yes, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

Yeah, sometimes that just wasn't for you, and what you start finding the lane you're supposed to be in.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

And that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Yeah, and it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

And I think that's another thing too. People just have to learn to just simply let go of what isn't, yes, and be open to receiving what is. I love that. I love that 100%.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

So faith, family, the fundamentals you talked about with your mother. That's true. So showing up as your full self, not dimming your light so someone else might shine.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

That's powerful. It is. And I don't think I realized that as a kid, right? You know, um, because as a kid, the innocence of art is very much present. Yeah. And I think as you get older, you start to understand the business side of things. And mechanically, it starts to hit a little bit different. You know, as a kid, I was like, oh, I'm just gonna go sing, and then after that, I can play my game or I can go get ice cream. Now it's like I have this, that, and the third, and then I also have an audition that I have to send in for a high performance in the midst of life, life, and you know, but so how does AI affect auditions and things like that? You know, that is uh one thing that is very interesting um in the artistic world. I think that AI can be used for good, but I don't think that people are using it for good. Um they're trying to substitute to just make it look like that's a lot of um a lot of people are, and it's I think it's a huge, like I don't want to say like a virus, but it's a huge hit to the community. And I think in the long run, people are saying that right now because to them it's just so fun and it's technology. And I knew that things like that were gonna come as we move forward in life, however, come, however, coming into it at the age that I am now, it's very interesting seeing how things are now shifting across the board. Across the board, at a rapid rate. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

But you guys grew up with tech, we're trying to keep up, yeah, and at the same time make sure that we remain in with integrity and morality so that we're not misusing it. But trying to keep up, COVID was a big change for us, specifically for the boomers. I'm a boomer because many just didn't even know how to get on Zoom or didn't have an iPhone. Gotcha. And so you had churches trying to do phone. Figure it out, trying to figure it out, and some actually closed. But you prepared for this life. You talk about managing and auditioning, but you also did your deal with this. You went to school, yes. So you went to a high school and a junior high phone before we know.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Before I've been going to an art school since kindergarten, actually. Wow. Yeah. And ever since I was a kid, I told my parents that I wanted to be an entertainer. And you know, my mom and my dad saw a gift that was there, and they were like, all right, well, this is what you want to do. We're gonna support you all the way.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

And where did you finish college?

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Uh University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Wow. Yes, we're so proud of you. I wish we could go on forever because there's so much. But you are a proud example of what we want for your generation and for those who were passing the baton on to because we're not running very many races anymore. So I'm passing batons as often as I can. But I'm taking classes in this building, this wonderful community that we're in, and just trying to keep myself whole and holy and hope. But we want to thank you for sharing this time with us. And I just really wish you were gonna keep us posted. How can people find you?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

All my social media is Jeremy Coussar, J-E-R-Y, C-O-U-S-A-R.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

I love it. That's beautiful. And this is askdrsuj.com. You can write to me if you need to get your questions answered. You want to know more, just send me a note. And but we want you to listen to this wherever podcasts are being played, but particularly on Apple, give us a review. And when we go to YouTube, like and share, and whatever you do with YouTube, make sure that you subscribe as well. So this is Ask Dr. Sujay. Thank you so much for spending time with us again. You have a great day. Soulfully, Sujay. You've been listening to Ask Dr. Sujay. And if you haven't been able to get all your questions answered, just write me at askdrsujay.com. AskdrSujay.com. And if you're interested in soul care cards, which is a new development we have to soothe your soul, you can write to me at drsujayglobal.com and you can find them on my merch app. And we are just excited about what's happening in soul care, soul living, soul rhythms. And you have been discussing and hearing from Jeremy Cassar, who brings some rhythms for the soul. Thank you for sharing with us, and I hope you have a wonderful day. Stay tuned on Apple or Spotify or whatever your platform is, but like us, share us, and most of all, visit us. Okay, see you real soon. This is Ask Dr. Suj.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

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