THE ED MYLETT SHOW - The Branding Genius Behind the Biggest Names in Sports & Entertainment w/ Constance Schwartz-Morini
Episode Date: February 11, 2025What separates the good from the legendary? In this conversation, I sit down with my longtime friend and one of the most influential forces in sports, entertainment, and culture—Constance Schwartz-M...orini. She’s the mastermind behind some of the biggest names in the game—Michael Strahan, Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Coach Prime, Erin Andrews, and the Bella Twins. And today, she’s pulling back the curtain on what it really takes to build a brand, create opportunities, and dominate multiple industries. Constance is a visionary. She doesn’t just manage talent—she sees limitless potential in people before they even see it in themselves. She’s the reason Michael Strahan went from NFL legend to media powerhouse. She encouraged Coach Prime to step into the head coaching role when no one else believed he could. And she’s built SMAC Entertainment into more than a talent management company—it’s a business incubator that helps people win big. In this episode, she shares the mindset, strategy, and work ethic required to turn ideas into reality. If you’ve ever doubted your ability to build something great—this episode will change that. Constance talks about her journey from being an assistant at the NFL to becoming a power player in multiple industries. She reveals how she negotiates deals at the highest level, the brutal truth about building a business, and why the best brands aren’t built on hype—they’re built on authenticity. You’ll also hear the untold stories behind the brands you know—how Erin Andrews turned a simple frustration into a multimillion-dollar apparel company, how Taylor Swift wearing her jacket changed everything, and why the best entrepreneurs never stop evolving. Key Takeaways:Why certainty is the key to influence—and how to use it to win. This one’s packed with insights that will change the way you think about business, branding, and success. Don’t just listen—apply it. Max out! 🔥 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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This is The Admirements Show.
All right, welcome back to the show everybody. So today, you are going to hear from
one of the most influential human beings on spinning
earth right now. She would never admit to it but she is. She's influencing
entertainment, sports, culture and she's behind the scenes type person for the
most part. So she's probably the most influential person many of you don't
know yet because she likes it that way and so just think about people like
Prime Deon Sanders,
think about Michael Strahan,
think about Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa,
it's kind of a collective group.
Myself, by the way.
This show doesn't exist without her either,
the way that it exists today.
She is the CEO and founding partner of Smack Entertainment.
It's a talent management agency, but it's way more than that.
It's a business incubator.
She's got an Emmy nominated production company and just about anybody who's got
any heat on planet earth today, somehow behind the scenes.
This lady is touching their lives and their brand and their businesses.
So Constance Schwartz, Marini, welcome to the show.
Finally.
Thank you, Ed. And thank you for that great introduction.
I'm sitting here like probably read as a beat because you know me very well.
And so when I got the text from you about coming on, I literally like
if I could do a backflip, I would have done it.
But I mentally did one and called Mike Marini right away.
My husband was like, guess whose podcast I'm going on.
So thank you. Seriously, thank you.
Well, I want to start out by saying that I don't I'm going to get emotional. I don't
do this on the show very often at all. But I just really want to thank you for being
such a believer in me. And, you know, most people don't know this, but a lot of the good
things you've seen happen in my life are because of this woman right here, and especially my
business life. And so I'm grateful for you in my life. So thank you so much.
I'm grateful for you. And you're giving me way too much credit
because you were a force when we met. And we might have just
maybe redirected you a little bit. But that's about it.
Yeah, that ain't true. But thank you. Okay, so you guys, I
just want you to know she started at the NFL. And then
she's built this company, her business partner is Michael
Strahan in smack. SMAC is the name of their agency and or their company rather,
and they've touched everything, $100,000 pyramid, Fox Sports,
most of the people on there, you name it, but different apparel brands, etc.
So we're going to go all over the place today.
Let me ask you a question first, Con.
When you guys founded SMAC, did you know it would turn into all of these other things?
Because you came out of the NFL, right?
Like I met you, I met the after you where you were already balling, but you and Michael founded this together.
What did you intend it to be?
And then what does it become?
I love when people act like this was exactly, you know, executed my vision.
I had no idea.
I just knew that there was nothing like this business. And it was almost,
I was forced into it because I got fired. And when I went to interview at other companies,
they were putting me in a box. They said, okay, you're a talent manager, you're a sports person,
you can do endorsements, you're a non-scripted producer. I was like, you guys don't get it.
I just want to take the last 20 years of my career, and I'm going to build this.
And I started it from the kitchen table, had no idea what it would become, started out more
management and talent, sports and small. I mean, it was Michael, Coach Prime, who was, you know,
Dion Sanders just, you know, recently, we're not recently, almost retired four years, three years
at that point. My old boss from the NFL was at the
NHL and brought us on to help him on some entertainment pieces of business as they were
expanding. And that was it, you know, so here we are 14, 15 years later. And wow, that's all I can
say. But everything that you've seen from that point till now, it came from just knowing that
there's a piece of business here that could be bigger and better
and extended same thing that we do with the people, right? It's
like you keep the main thing, the main thing is coach prime
says, use your main platform to build around it. And that's what
we're still doing. I feel like we're just getting started.
Well, let's take coach prime first, let's just pick one. Okay,
so first off, you guys right now is Coach Prime season
three on Amazon streaming.
I watched the whole season in a day.
It's that good.
It was I was sick one day.
I watched all the episodes.
It's outstanding, but something's happened with Coach Prime
the last four or five years.
He was he's the greatest cornerback of all time.
One of the greatest football players of all time, but then
like this brand went bananas, right?
You're the behind the scenes on that.
She's also on the show.
She's in the cover of Sports Illustrated with them.
You guys like I first thing I got to cover.
I'm like there's con she's right on the cover,
but what happened like obviously this is move more
if the world's become sort of brand oriented.
Everything's brand now, right?
So did you guys consciously take Coach Prime and go,
okay, we're gonna do this.
You're gonna post on social or did,
or is this all sort of organic what's taking place?
Let's just start with like him.
It was organic, but with direction.
Like you, he's one of the smartest people in my life.
It's remarkable.
And I knew when he did your pod last year,
you guys were going to hit it off.
And I'm so glad you did.
Yeah, because you got to see what I get to see every day. So when we first started working together, we reconnected, because I
helped Snoop Dogg start the Snoop Youth Football League. Dion had the Truth League, which was his youth league in Dallas. Every
year at the Super Bowl, their teams would meet up and play in the Snooper bowl. And so when you are going to call from Dion and he said, Hey, who handles
snoops marketing, who handles snoops, this, this, and this?
And I said, well, I oversee the whole operation.
Like there's a team of us, but you know, I'm in the middle of it.
What's up?
And he said, I need to pivot and I need a new team on my marketing side.
Can you suggest someone?
I was like, well, me.
And he was like, okay.
And that's literally how we started working together. So when we first started working together, he didn't have a lot of brand
partnerships. Like he was not when he was playing. And then there was a day he was on CBS, Sunday
football. And then he pivoted to the NFL network. And that was it. So when we started working
together, I had to help sort of recraft and rebuild his brand,
which nobody has been better than himself.
And that's one of the beautiful things about not just him, but the smack clients is they
know that we're in it for the right reasons.
Because I said, I don't care if you're not going to make a dollar on this first big commercial
we do, if it's the right creative and the right brand, we're going for it. And that's what started our journey together. So at that point, like I said, he was on the network,
Zendephal network, Thursday Night Football, many opportunities started coming his way, but they
weren't going to be in Dallas. He would not leave Dallas because he was coached all of his kids.
That was the most important thing to him was staying local. He could leave
on Sundays or Thursdays, but it had to be there for football, basketball, baseball,
etc. So right when should door was graduating high school and figuring out where he would
be going to college, coach called me and he said, this is one of his famous things. I'm
baking an idea, but it hasn't been ready for me to take it out of the oven for you. I was
like, all right, what do we got? And I popped into see me up in L.A.
And he said, I reached out to my old ad, I mean, to the ad at my old school.
And I want to go help them recruit. And I just didn't think twice about it.
I said, why would you go help somebody recruit? You should go for it and be a college head coach.
And he looked at me and I said, I know it's not the norm. I get it. You don't go from
youth to high school, right into college. But you it's not the norm. I get it. You don't go from youth to high school right into college,
but you're far from the norm.
And if anybody can do it, it's you.
And that was how that all started.
So wait a minute.
You are actually the person that encouraged him to coach instead of just recruit.
Are you being serious?
Oh, my gosh, can't that's crazy.
I know.
We let's talk about branding for a second.
I want to stay on that topic. You guys, we could go.
This could be with Constance, like a nine hour episode,
but I want it to be relevant for all of you.
When you hear like Aaron Andrews, the Bellas, Snoop, Coach Prime, Michael
Strahan, it would be easy for you to think, well,
they're sort of already at this level.
But then you could actually take me and Khan
did this with me as well.
And so let's talk about branding first of all, because I don't know if you remember
this or not, but something really profound you said to me when we met and it was many
years ago and I've tried to stay true to this since so I don't care if you have eight followers
right now everybody.
Just listen to this.
I meet another person, a great friend of ours named Kristen Prouty introduced us
who was sort of believed in me and I met Con and she was a little bit skeptical of
me, I think, because she had seen my content, Ferraris and jets and all this stuff.
And so we're about halfway through our lunch.
And you went, oh, I like you and you're nothing like your brand.
And you're going to cut this crap out.
Quit posting your jet in your car.
You're really a good guy.
You really care about people.
But the point that I'm making was my brand took off when my brand was really me.
In other words, I didn't have to create anything.
What I now that I met coach prime coach prime is his brand right
Michael is this just super kind guy who you think he's your best friend with
everybody that he meets so if you were to give someone advice on their brand
they're not coach prime they're not some famous rapper right now would that be
your advice like start posting things that are just true organic to you or is
there some flavor in there you gotta mix in as well
to get any traction?
I wasn't skeptical of you.
Okay.
I knew how great you were and how smart you were,
but it just was, like you said, the Jets and the Ferraris,
you just expect this, you know, different person
than who you are and all the messaging
and the help that you provide people.
So where I'm always coming from is this place. Just because you do have five million followers,
that doesn't mean you're connecting to your audience and to your people.
I have a lot of followers, but I guess what's the word like the insights or the clicks
or just the interactions I have with the people that do follow go far because I am who I am
and I don't apologize for it. And I think that's where a lot of young people today are
so caught up in putting out there what they think they need to because they see the world
of plastic surgery or they see, you know, people spending more money on their cars than
their homes, like things that are really should be your basic necessities. Who really cares, right? Like it's truly not the messaging.
It's truly what you're working on or giving back. It's the same thing that I tell so many
of my friends who are freaking out about what college their kids going to. I went to SUNY
Espego, right? I did okay. Like I have no issues what college someone goes to.
And I even have no issues hiring somebody
that doesn't go to college.
As long as they have right work ethic,
if they're giving back to society or to their community,
that's way more important to me.
And that's what I mean by a brand.
And like you nailed it.
Coach Prime though is known for creating
the prime time brand in college, in his dorm room,
but he's still two different brands almost.
And he lives both of them.
When he's not working, when that camera's not on
or the whistle's not on, he's sitting at Country Prime
in the flats of Texas somewhere on his boat fishing.
That's really who he is, but when he has to be on, he's on.
So just going back to what we're saying about your brand,
really in order for it to work, it has to be who you are,
not who you think you are in a sense.
That's the disconnect so many people with it,
I think have a problem with it.
And once you can find that, it just goes, like it really goes.
It's the same thing when people say, you know, I'm so unhappy with myself,
when how do you expect people to be happy with you? Or how do
you expect someone to have confidence in you if you don't
have the confidence in yourself? And yes, this is a lot of
self work and help and things of that nature. But this is what's
worked for me and for our clients and continues to go
down that path. Just shoot it straight.
No one knows what to do with you when you tell the truth these days.
It's the craziest thing.
It is and that's one of your strengths too, which in a minute you guys were going to do is
I'm going to make Constance not be humble and tell you what her sort of superpowers are.
But I also.
So hey guys, I want to jump in here for a second and talk about change and growth.
And you know, by the way, it's no secret how people get ahead in life or how they grow and also taking a look at the future if you want to
Change your future you got to change the things you're doing if you continue to do the same things
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But if you get into a new environment where you're learning new things and you're around other people that are growth oriented
You're much more likely to do that yourself. And that's why I love growth day. Write this down for a second. growthday.com forward slash ed.
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Greenlight.com slash ed. You know, what she's really good at doing too is like finding like a
vertical attached to what you already do that you can also monetize.
It's something she's really good at doing so I'll give you an example
and then I want you to talk about both these things because also it
just shows you branding and how ballistic brands are now.
So let's go to Aaron Andrews for a second, which is another person
that Khan represents and helps.
And Aaron, you and you decide I want you to tell me why you did this.
You created like an apparel line for Aaron as I understand it.
Okay, and I want you to talk about why you did that like why her why would that be the right product for?
I think a lot of people listening to you.
Like I don't even know what my niche would be as an entrepreneur.
So Aaron Andrews, if you don't know everybody, is a tremendously successful woman in the
sports broadcast space, primarily.
So that's not every day that someone then goes, I have a clothing line.
All right, like, how's that correlated?
And then tell them the Taylor Swift story, so that everybody kind of understands the
real power of a brand
and how ballistic, because it's not who you know anymore in business, it's who knows you.
Well, I like that.
I'm going to have to use that.
This all started at Super Bowl in San Francisco, which I believe was seven years ago.
Erin was doing something for the NFL with some fashion.
The clothes they had wanted her to wear, she had to get a stylist and she usediz them a little bit. Because back then it was really trinket and pinket
or bedazzles or big logos, which there's a huge market for. But there's also a huge market
for sports fans like Erin and I, whose husband was playing for the Los Angeles Kings at the
time, two times Stanley Cup winner. She couldn't find anything to wear that she was comfortable
in. So one night at dinner, Erin with Jose Diaz
and Carrel Chen from our team,
we're literally just talking about women's licensed apparel
and how there was wait space for it.
And they came up with this idea and said,
we need to go for it because you want to be able to
show your team spirit and wear your colors,
but not have to be advertising it.
So we said, What is the
audience? What's the demo for people like us? Like, what is it that we can go buy? And
it was very, very limited. And that's how it sparked. And that was on a Friday or Saturday.
And Monday, Aaron called me, she's like, Okay, who are we calling? I said, Aaron, the Super
Bowl is yesterday. Now they go to a trade show preparing for the next year. And then
we need to give people a week off,
like, let's get our act together.
We'll come up with our plan and then we'll go for it.
And that's where the name came from,
which is Wear by Aaron Andrews,
because everywhere, anywhere,
like that was what it was all about.
And we do have items for everybody,
some of the big logos and some things that are a little flashier.
But for the most part,
it's clothes that you can wear to the office,
that you can wear to the bar,
you can wear working out
and still feel really good about yourself
and have a nice fashion flair.
And we're six years into this
and talk about the perfect storm of things going wrong,
we launched and the pandemic happens.
So what shuts down?
Retail.
So we take a hit, but here we are, you know, still going strong, and then tying it
back to the Taylor Swift phenomenon. Aaron, and I, you
know, obviously send the line out to all of our friends and,
you know, influencers and just true sports fans, you know,
whether it's their publicists or managers, or in some instances
to the talent directly. So Aaron, who's a huge Swifty, even before all this,
I have to clarify, sent Taylor a box.
And sure enough, when Taylor went to her first Chiefs game,
she was wearing our jacket.
And we freaked out.
Like if there was the decibels of screams
that were going on, because we were all over the country
and we didn't know Taylor was going to wear it to that game.
One of our execs was on a plane that they thought
she was having a medical emergency
because she was screaming so loud.
So we have this group text like,
she wore her jacket, she wore her jacket.
It's amazing the Taylor effect, it really is.
And then we were lucky enough for her to wear some jewelry.
We have a partnership with Thumb Bubble Bar.
And then Super Bowl was obviously the holy ground. She wore
a jacket there again. So and it just kept going because it's not just about the chiefs gear. It
was like, Oh, this is my team. I want to get the jacket that she had on. And then just from that,
look who else has launched lines. I mean, you know, Kristin's got a line now with her. And it's just so great because we feel so honored and lucky
that we were one of the first to do it in this sense
for a fashion forward audience.
And it's just, it's a light bulb went off.
Wow, women are sports fans.
Really?
They are.
What if someone like Taylor Swift,
I'm just curious, I don't know.
Someone like Taylor Swift wears your jacket,
let's just say. What happens?
You sell out.
Literally.
Literally, sold out. We had to get our manufacturer had to get going so quickly to try to restock
because it was early in the season. And you know, when you manufacture overseas, you're
a year out. So now we had to just get the blanks and do everything domestically. It
was wild.
You know, there's so many things about you
that kind of blow my mind,
but I want everyone to step back.
Cause it's, you know,
sometimes you just have to start a business
and then let the doors open as they go everybody.
So if you're sitting there going,
I don't even know exactly what I'm going to do,
or you're in one stage of your business.
Conscience was mainly, as I get it,
in the media part, like NFL stuff, right? Did you know
anything about apparel at that time when you Michael start smack where you an apparel person
because it was that part of the NFL that you dealt with. So is that part of why you kind of knew you
could build a lane into that business with because Michael has his line. Is that why you went that
direction? Did you have to learn that business? A lot has his line. Is that why you went that direction?
Did you have to learn that business?
A lot of it I learn as I go, but I started at the NFL as an assistant.
So I wanted to be very clear for people that are listening to your parkas.
I was not an executive.
I was out of college and started and back in the 90s, you were a secretary,
which there's nothing wrong with.
But I was, you know, knew I wanted to just go, go, go.
And I was in corporate sponsorship
first, and then went to events and live events. But on any slow time or weekend, I would go
volunteer and just go to the other departments and just learn from them, just beg for knowledge and
for, you know, just anything so I could fully wrap my arms around what the whole business is.
So when people say, Oh, you must have gotten a master's. I'm like, Nope. The NFL was my master's.
I was there for 10 seasons. That's 10 seasons. Learned so much, pivoted, moved to Hollywood.
I worked to work for a company called The Firm, which that's where I ended up learning talent
management. But while we were there, Jeff Qantas and his team acquired Pony, which was a dormant brand,
which we brought back to life.
And we're using the clients of the firm and just everything going on in pop culture.
TRL was so big back then, 106 and Park, and you just dress people and go on.
And so I just learned so much there.
And then when we launched the Stray Hand suit collection, that was just taking an opportunity
that was in front of us and putting it on the rocket ship.
And what I mean by that is when he got the Regis job working with Kelly Ripa, you have
now, for Fox, his suits were all taken care of, you know, it's one day a week, half the
year, but now he's on a daily talk show.
So that's five suits a week. That's a lot of suits and you didn't have a big clothing budget. So I just started
calling all my friends and somebody was like, Can you get me ties? And another person said,
Hey, give these guys at peerless a call. They manufacture some of the most beautiful suits.
They love sports. I'm sure you know, you guys can get a good deal with them. And that's
how that literally started was they were helping us out making Michael some suits
and they had a relationship at JCPenney
and they called us, said, hey, you know,
we're thinking about going to JCPenney's
and launching a new men's line.
And we think Michael's perfect with, you know,
the role that he has now and the access and just, you know,
being on TV six days a week,
sometimes seven with a hundred thousand dollar pyramid.
And we just said, let's go.
So a lot of learning as I go still.
I'm really good at what I know, Ed.
I'm better knowing what I don't know
and asking smarter people what to do.
That's such a basic lesson that if more and more people
would just subscribe to that, it's okay to say,
I don't know, let me ask somebody who does.
And that's, I'd say probably one of my superpowers.
I'm glad you just said that,
because I want to ask you what,
if I know you won't tell me, so let's say I asked Michael.
So Michael Strahan is her partner in SMAC,
because I want you to brag,
and the only way I can think that gets you to do it,
the truth is to pretend someone else is saying it for you.
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Like it's now culture.
She's got, you know, prime season three out right now.
She's got these brands.
She's touching people that are in really every industry in the world.
My industry, myself, the Bella twins, the sisters,
I mean, we could go on and on and by the way, and it's not thousands of people.
She's very strategic too, with who she works with,
but almost all of them make waves in what they do. Right.
And obviously Michael's career
I mean, it's just it's unreal from football to sports to talk shows to game shows
like to apparel to entrepreneurship to now smack like
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What if I ask Michael, other than the two of you are so close, and I think he ministered your
wedding and you're super close, but if I said Michael, what is Constance's real talent and
superpower?
What would he tell me about you?
I don't see limitations in people.
That would probably be it.
Because when the Regis opportunity came up, it wasn't,
it started out he was filling in. Actually, it really started when he won the Super Bowl
and Eli had to go to Disney. And so Eli couldn't go be the guest. So Michael went on with Regis
and Kelly and had a great time. Fast forward a couple years later, get the call, hey, Regis
is on vacation. Would Michael want to fill in?
I'm like, absolutely, you're going to go fill in.
And while he was out there on set, I'm in his dressing room,
and when he came back in, I just looked at him,
I said, this is what you're going to do.
And he's like, what are you talking about?
I said, you're going to be a talk show host.
He's like, I'm not, didn't, you know, prepare for this.
I'm not this, this and this. I was like, I don't care.
This is what you're going to do.
So that's probably what everybody would say.
From Aaron to Dion to Tony Gonzalez,
if I see it, then I know they can do it,
which makes them think that they can also do it.
I get motivated by Dion, right?
Like, he's one of the great, like you,
like one of the greatest motivators,
just are always thirsting for their daily messages
and anything like that.
But the trust that he has in what my vision is for him, his greatest motivation, just are always thirsting for their daily messages and anything like that.
But the trust that he has in what my vision is for him,
I never take for granted or take it lightly.
And I would say that's the way it is for all the clients
because I don't see the limitations,
and I also don't soft sell anything.
Um, you know, if Tony has an audition for a movie,
I'm not telling him, you've got this, this and this. I just tell him, don't F it up. And he's like, I got it. I got it. But that's what your other reps
or family members are for. You know, when anyone comes into the smack family, they're told if you
don't want Constance's opinion, don't ask for it. Like I just, it's just the way I don't know,
where I was raised or just never have, I was like, I don't know, the way I was raised or just never have,
I was like, I don't have anything to lose,
but I have everything to gain.
What I see in you, by the way,
what you said about the limitations,
I bet is absolutely true.
It's cousin, in terms of your gift,
kind of like a cousin talent.
I think that it's your level of certainty
once you believe something.
The most, in every exchange with everybody, the more certain person
almost always influences the less certain person, right?
Like if you're more certain than I am, you're eventually probably going to persuade me.
And I think once you believe in something or someone your ability to
generate enough certainty within yourself con in that person or the idea
overwhelms the obstacles.
That's what I see in you. Do you agree with that? in yourself con in that person or the idea overwhelms the obstacles.
That's what I see in you.
Do you agree with that? By the way, once you your certainty level like telling Michael in the
dresser, no, this is what you're going to do.
Like just complete certainty, right?
And he's like, I don't know you were more certain than him that he could
be doing that thus it ends up happening.
Now.
He's the one who did the work and the reps and was great on camera, but
it behind the scenes.
It's the certainty level
that you have in people or an idea.
That's what I think is at least one of your 50 superpowers.
That's a good description.
I'm going to use that one too.
It's a million percent true about you.
How do you know you're not going to work with someone?
There's a couple of things. We can't want it more than they want it. And you can usually tell when you're not going to work with someone? Ooh, there's a couple of things.
We can't want it more than they want it.
And you can usually tell when you're in a meeting with somebody, if, if they're
sort of looking to you, I don't want to say get them there, cause that's what
we're here for, but we can't want their success more than they want their
success and you, you can usually pick up on that.
And the other thing, honestly, is I'm in my back nine.
Life's too short to work with assholes.
So if somebody comes in, just say,
they've got that sort of edge, not a good edge,
you know, like just the a-hole edge.
I'm like, I'm good.
And I tell the next generation,
if you guys want to go after this one, go for it,
but I'm tapping out.
So, let's do it.
You will.
Help me walk into a room?
I was just watching something with
I think it was on another podcast.
President Obama was on and.
He was he made a comment.
I just want your feedback.
I think a lot of people listen to me like,
what's it like to be in rooms that Khan is in?
So if she's got to get, you know, she's trying to get a game show sold or she's doing something
with the Emmys or whatever, Fox Sports or Apparel Line or negotiating a deal with Amazon
or a deal for me with Sirius XM or whatever the heck it is, right?
So you're in there with some high level players.
And so Obama said in this interview, he's like, you know, I used to think when you'd
walk in a room with these people, like they're're gonna be like brilliant and all of them are amazing
and intimidating he's like you know I don't know if you saw that clip he's
like man not so much what's it like for you when you walk into these rooms and
you're gonna go take everybody that someday wants to be in these rooms
what's it really like to be in those rooms with those people is it more
intimidating are they more brilliant than you would think?
Is it a mixed bag? Is it meh?
Like Obama said, like, what would you say?
It's a mixed bag.
And, look, I have the same insecurities that your listeners do.
You know, it's like that imposter syndrome,
or fake it till you make it.
But when I'm negotiating for somebody else, I'm unstoppable.
If I'm negotiating for myself, I'll get walked all over. But if it's when I'm negotiating for somebody else, I'm unstoppable. If I'm negotiating for myself, I'll get walked all over.
But if it's when I'm negotiating for a client, even a friend or a family member, I will take
you down to get what I need to get for the person I'm negotiating on behalf of.
But right before I go into those rooms, usually I have to run and pee because I'm like, oh
my gosh, I got to like just clear my head, clear my head.
If I'm driving somewhere, I like to listen to Lose Yourself
by Eminem, that's sort of like my, you know,
that beat and the whole thing gets my confidence up.
And then once I'm in there, it's, you know,
out of the gate who you're up against.
I can tell if somebody is misogynistic,
which yes, it still exists today.
Um, I can tell if they've done their research.
And the one thing that I have learned, which I wish I learned at a younger age, is God gave us two eyes, two ears, and one mouth.
Listen and look. It's okay not to have to be the first one to speak. It's okay to take
it all in. And that's really what changed for me probably in my 40s was realizing I
don't have anything to prove.
I need to listen to what they have to say
to get my negotiating tactics together.
And that's how I'll like read the room and then go for it.
There's some rooms that I'm in awe.
I will say I've been fortunate enough
to be around Jeff Bezos and truly not only is he brilliant,
one of the nicest people I've been lucky enough
to be around, you know, Michael Strahan went up in his rocket.
And so we got to, you know, there and it's just some of the most basic principles when
you hear coming from him, you're just like, Oh my gosh, like, wow.
And, you know, same with there's certain athletes that just, yes, they're amazing on field,
but they're just as amazing off field.
I've been lucky enough to go to the White House
and that was, you know,
and I went with a girlfriend under Clinton's presidency,
which was really cool.
But once you're there and you do realize
Obama's, President Obama's right, like it's true.
Like there are gonna be certain rooms
that there are people smarter than you and some that you know you're smarter than them. And I just like to like it's true. Like there are gonna be certain rooms that there are people smarter than you
and some that you know you're smarter than them
and I just like to take it all in.
And I always learn from a situation.
Like I would say it's not a failure if you can learn from it.
Like I went to work in the music industry
for a little under a year.
I knew the first to second day wasn't for me.
But if I didn't take that job,
I wouldn't have understood and learned the music business, which then takes me to the firm where I ended up being Snoop Dogg's manager.
So for me in the time, I didn't love it. But then I learned so much in that short period
that I was able to apply it to future space. So that's helped me even like I said, getting
fired like I was always the teacher's pet and this happening. I mean, it took me to
my knees and I couldn't believe it. But at the same time, if that didn't happen, I was always the teacher's pet, and this happening, I mean, it took me to my knees and I couldn't believe it.
But at the same time, if that didn't happen,
I wouldn't have had, you know, basically, not even confidence,
but I wouldn't have had to start my own company.
Gosh, I'm just thinking about everybody you work with
and how diverse the group is too.
Like...
What... This is gonna be the kill...
This is the all-time question.
What does Michael Strahan... What this is going to be the kill. This is the all time question.
What does Michael Strahan?
Snoop.
Wiz. Coach Prime,
Aaron Andrews and the Bellas, let's just take that collection of some of them.
What do they have in common?
Like, what's the through line?
Because they're all immensely successful at what they have in common? Like what's the through line? Because they're all immensely successful
at what they do, right?
Like now that's the hardest question
in the history of podcasts to answer.
But if anybody's qualified to answer it,
and by the way, and you,
what's the through line on this group
that might surprise us that they all actually have in common?
Multi-hyphenate.
And what that means is they're great at the main thing.
You know, Aaron for broadcasting.
Nikki and Bree were wrestlers.
You know, Michael had this great on field.
Dion great on field.
But everything that they learned,
they can now take that to go after what's next for them.
And it's the word I use is a multi-hyphenate.
Because there are some people that are one-dimensional,
and they're fantastic at it,
whether they're winning an Oscar or a Nobel Peace Prize,
and they're very content in that sort of one vertical,
but everyone that you named were not satisfied
in being the best in that one vertical.
They wanted to keep going.
And that goes back to what I said earlier,
which is I can't want it more than them.
And these people are never satisfied.
And I'm never satisfied.
This is something we're all trying to get better at.
We never stop and celebrate the win.
We get the win and we're like, okay, what's next?
What's next?
A guy named Coach Ray Forsett.
He's part of Coach Prime's team.
Like, right up there with, you know, the role I play,
he's more on field.
And we've been together doing this
for years and years and years.
He worked with coach back from Truth and high school.
And when we were in New York, after Travis won the Heisman,
Travis Hunter won the Heisman,
and we were at this awesome party
we threw at the Long Club.
We flew in coaches and his teammates and boosters,
donors, and everyone's there.
And we leave the Heisman Center when we get there. And Ray and I finally just grabbed each other and just had like, it was
like, no, it was like a scene out of a movie. No one else was in the room. It was just, you know,
Coach Ray and I just said, holy, you know, look what happened. Because we were Travis in high
school when, you know, he was going to come, you to come play for coach at Jackson State. He left
going to a power five because he believed in the vision that we all had for him, which was to be
able to play both sides of the ball. And even though you didn't think you were going to get
nationally televised games, and this is before NIL was a thing, but he believed in the vision that we all had for him.
And that was one of the few times that we all stopped
to just say, okay, let's take one minute
and just be in awe of what we've all created together.
And the other thing I'll go back to,
what do they all have in common?
They're teammates, they're team oriented.
Everybody at SMAC is team oriented, not just people that work here, but the clients.
Like if I called Erin and said, hey, would you do a post for Coach Prime season three?
She's like, yeah, just tell me what you need me to say.
If I call her, I mean, if Michael needs Deion to come on the show, Deion will come on Good
Morning America.
It just, just works. You know, and even...
If you think about Strahan, he's on Good Morning America on ABC,
and then he's on NFL on Fox.
And how we can get those guys to work together,
and it's been like this...
I don't know how long Michael's even been in the ABC field,
I know. I think it's 12 or 13, 14 years, something like that.
And the fact that Michael's covering the Superbowl this year,
ABC wants to use one of the interviews
from the Superbowl.
Everybody works together.
And I would say that probably starts at the top.
And that's how Michael and I always wanted it to be.
And if you look at Coach Prime,
now one of the greatest coaches of our generation,
if not more, like it's same principles
and same work ethic. It's about teammates and know, more like it's, it's same principles and same work ethic.
It's about, you know, teammates and helping each other out.
This is so good, by the way, this is not a conversation that many people can have
with someone like you, right?
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I want to talk about your motives.
I know what it's not, because I've dealt with you.
Actually, it makes me I don't know why I just I was weird.
It's got emotion.
I just think it's, I, it's not money with you.
It's not. And so I think most people become entrepreneurs for money.
And and I don't think it's okay, but it's a really hard motive to keep you going when there's a lack of it for so long, if that's your main jam. And for you, I just
know through different things we've done together. It's just not even in the top. It's not anywhere
near the top. I don't even, I don't even, I wouldn't even let you tell me it was because
I know it's not. So like, do you think that's an important quality,
that money's not first?
And then what is it for you?
Like, what do you love about this?
Like, what's your motivation?
Like what, or inspiration?
Like, why do you do this?
Because I know it ain't money.
I know it ain't money either.
I'd have that plane right next to you.
Someone once told me, I want to remember who it is,
because I love to give credit. If you do good work, the money
comes. And when you grow up not having money, it just we made
it right, like my mom figured it out. She was a single mom, she
owned a flower shop, my dad worked for the Transit
Authority. And then he was out of the picture for a while. So,
you know, we just figured it out.
And I didn't know what we didn't have
because my mom just never complained about it.
It was just, we figured it out.
And that's, I think, a big motivator for me
is I'm always going to figure it out.
And I'm not going to want to have to depend on somebody to do it.
And that's because how I was raised, good or bad.
And big motivator for me,
everybody that tells me I can't do something,
that's my, okay, watch me.
Like, because that's been my whole career.
And it is still to this day.
And not even just me personally,
or your client will never be able to do that.
Like when Michael was up for the research job,
they're never going to put a D lineman
that played in the NFL next to Kelly Ripa.
I'm like, okay, watch.
And just even with Good Morning America,
he sits next to Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos,
two of the most well-respected journalists,
and he won a Peabody from a story that he reported on.
So anytime people tell us we can't do something, and we're living that every day, not just
with Coach Prine, but with Travis, with Shador Sanders, with Shaila Sanders, like all, everybody.
Like whether you like Coach or don't like Coach, you have to respect what he's built
and the fact that he's turned two college programs around in the last four years and
we're sending a few kids to the NFL draft this year,
that's another great motivator for me.
Like when, I mean, there's always a cycle of just,
you know, the media, there's hatred that comes for him.
And I get calls from amazing friends in the business,
like, and I mean, very successful fans,
he's saying, do you need help?
Like the media is killing him.
I'm like, nope.
Like we've seen this before.
We're going to ignore it because it's going to turn
because I know he's going to win.
And they're like, how do you know?
I go, I don't know.
I just do.
Whether it's faith, blind faith, you know,
whatever you believe in, but this is going to turn around.
And I think it worked out.
It worked out really good.
She's an incredible, just because when people are on
that I know you guys, just because when people are on
that I know you guys, I want to also brag on them a little bit
if I know something to brag on them about.
The certainty thing I said earlier is true.
And she's just a massive advocate for other people.
And when you're that person, good things happen to you.
By the way, on Coach Prime, you're not speaking for him.
I'm just asking your opinion.
He has turned around two college football programs.
Do you think at some point in his life
he may turn around an NFL football program?
Or do you think that he would not?
Just your opinion.
My opinion is he's very happy where he is right now.
And I can't imagine him coaching
at the professional level
against his children.
So rather stay in college at Colorado to do that.
Gotcha, okay, fair enough.
I had to ask that, because if I don't ask you that,
I'm gonna get killed for not asking that question
in the interview.
I think one of your best things
is you're a connector of people. And you can bring a lot to the interview. You know, I think one of your best things is your connector
of people.
And you can bring a lot to the table, you know, people you
have value in life with what your ideas are you have value
in life with what your talents and skills are but you also
have value in life.
If you can connect people together, you have really good
relationships people and by the way, they're respect-based.
I remember the first time not name-dropping it just happened first time I mentioned Alex Rodriguez about you and he's like,
oh Khan.
Okay.
Yeah, dude.
She's a serious lady.
She's awesome.
But you do not want to mess with I just want to say this here because you're
meeting this very sweet nice person here today.
Everyone in the industry also knows this.
You better not cross one of Khan's clients because you're going to get the wrath of Khan if that ends up happening.
This is a tough woman as well.
But how have you, do you have an intentional way or is it just like your gift at building
relationships with people?
You said something earlier about sending the all the influencer friends, you know, packages.
Now obviously that's maybe they'll share it, maybe they'll wear it, but you are you're
real high touch
on relationships as well.
Is that an intentional thing and how do you do it?
I'm an only child and didn't come from a big family,
like any of my cousins were older than me,
so I just...
It's not like I realized this as I was doing it,
but I had, I still probably have like five different groups
of friends, but I could bring them all together.
And they all get a lot because they all have, you know,
just the same sort of commonality,
which is they're good, fun people that would take that 3 a.m. phone call.
And that's how it all kind of started,
which the networking or whatever it is.
And I also, my very first boss at the NFL,
a woman named Maureen Rosen, to this day, one of my closest friends,
but she was so instrumental in teaching me how to be a good business person. And so much of that
was networking. And to this day, I can pick up the phone and call somebody from 30 years ago and say,
hey, I know we haven't talked, but would you be interested in this? Or would you know that person?
And I get the same phone calls. I got a text today from somebody I worked with at the NFL in the mid 90s that they were inquiring about a potential client coming in. And I love that.
That's so important. And I always tell, whether it's the people I mentor or the team here,
don't burn a bridge. You can stand up for yourself, all the things, but don't burn a bridge.
And there's a few people that have burned bridges
with me, unfortunately, and those are phone calls
I won't take.
Like I can forgive, but I don't forget.
My mom on the other hand, sees the good in everybody,
loves everybody.
I did not get that gene from her.
Mom just had a big birthday.
Tell them that.
What was mom's birthday?
Just happened, right?
99.
99. 99.
Yeah. God bless her. We're going to Vegas for hundredth.
That's awesome. Mama's awesome. Okay, we only get a few more questions to ask you.
By the way, welcome everybody. You're inside the mind and the ideas of one of the most,
you know, influential people I know, but actually probably the most influential person that I know. So you mentioned earlier, the misogynistic thing. I just
want to ask you about that because a higher percentage of women listen to the
show now than men, although I'm grateful that there's millions of people that
listen and watch of, you know, both genders. But having said that, is there
any advice you would give to a woman in business or entrepreneur or
entrepreneur or just an executive in business
that is unique to women when they walk in a room or are doing a deal or trying to get
a meeting with somebody. Is there something I wouldn't know that you know that you would
share with them?
My first thing, and this isn't always a popular opinion, just because you don't get the meeting
doesn't mean you're not getting it because you're a woman.
You have to learn to separate that maybe I just wasn't good enough in the room or didn't
present a good enough document or whatever it is.
So you have to make sure you're going into it with an open mind and objectivity of yourself.
Because I'm the first to say that had nothing to do with it.
Someone just texted me something like, they're not calling me back because I'm a woman. I'm like, to do with it. Like, someone just texted me something like,
they're not calling me back because I'm a woman.
I'm like, no, you just aren't the right person for the job.
Like, that has nothing to do with it.
So that's tough, because that means you have to look in the mirror
and look inside and say, you know, was I the right person,
you know, to get this meeting?
Then it's take the emotion out of it.
How can I go into this room knowing that they are going to be
misogynistic, I'm going to pick up on it, but I can't let it impact my head or my game.
And I have to just look at this for what it is and then flip them. Just force them to know that
doesn't matter what gender the person is sitting across from you, I'm the best person to be in this
room right now.
And I'm human, don't get me wrong. I'll walk out of a room, just be so mad and all the things,
but at the same time, the one thing you can control
is your emotions and your destiny.
And I will just decide, you know what,
that might have been a great opportunity,
but I don't wanna be in business with that person.
Like we were taking some meetings
in the private equity world
and I'd be in a room and I could pick it up immediately
and I'd walk out and I'd say, not the right team.
And they'd like, we got it.
Like the first time they didn't,
like the guys that were representing us,
and then after that,
they were trying to look at it through my lens.
And they were like, you were right.
No worries, let's keep it going.
So that's a big thing.
And then there's so many of these magazines or, or awards that they say, you know,
the best female in this or this is, and I said, at some point,
we just have to be the best because there's no awards or
any of that. He's the best man in this field. Like, he's just
the best. So I know I can start my path to retirement when
people are just being identified as the best, not the best female.
So good. You guys hear the certainty thing now that I said it?
How there's this, she's got this real thing of certainty when she's, when she influences it's super deep.
Okay.
I'm running out of time and this sucks because by the way, we should do this like way more often because there really is like nine hours.
I have not even got to like 30 of the things I wanted to ask you.
Okay, good.
I'm glad to hear that.
It would be, it wouldn't be a full interview.
I didn't ask you about your partnership and relationship with Strahan, with Michael.
It is a really special dynamic and a lot of people have a difficult time with their business partner.
Right? Like when I coach entrepreneurs, usually not in the beginning, but usually middle or late stage businesses almost always.
It's like my partner is not as motivated as they used to be. They're not carrying their weight.
We can't agree on the direction or one of us wants to exit, one of us doesn't. And it seems at least my experience of being involved and then watching you over
the years that this has really been a very effective partnership.
I'm sure there's been stuff behind the scenes.
So why has this worked with you and Michael?
It seems like there's sort of one person in front, one's mainly behind the scenes.
Did you each know your lane and your role?
What is it about this relationship?
And then just describe your relationship overall
with Michael in your life.
It's always evolving.
And we're so lucky and we're so blessed because, yeah, of course,
do you have your little spats here and there,
but it's more of a brother-sister.
We were both raised with the same work ethics. You know, his dad would
say when, not if. My mom would say, go clean, but if you think it's yours. So different
verbiage, but same messaging to us. And both worked so hard, all of our families, you know,
all the things. And we met when I was working at the NFL.
So when I left the NFL, I made an assumption
that a lot of these guys that I couldn't help anymore,
I wouldn't be friends with.
And to his credit and Tony Gonzalez's credit,
those were real friends.
And so when Stray retired, he was calling me for advice.
And I just said, listen,
why wouldn't I just manage you at this point?
Like, I don't mind giving you advice,
but you don't have a talent manager.
I said, you have Snoop. He said, I'm not as big as Snoop.
I said, you're not today, but you're going to be.
And he was like, really? I'm like, yeah.
And that's how that started.
And then it was a year after that,
that he was always in the office, like, just trying to learn
or asked me to go to meetings. And I said, you know what?
Control your destiny.
Look at what Jay-Z did with Rock Nation or John Bon Jovi with his management company,
throw down and just become another partner here.
And he did it.
And this was before he had the Regis job.
So he was obviously on NFL on Fox, but we were in development or producing, you know,
we're trying to build and create things.
So it wasn't a defined lane per se,
because he would take meetings
that I couldn't be in, et cetera.
And as this all sort of evolved,
we just, it was almost unspoken.
Obviously he's the on-camera guy.
I'm not trying to be an on-camera person.
And so it was easy in that sense.
But when we have pitches for you know, for our scripted
or unscripted or, you know, documentaries, if he's on,
I'm not on.
Like it's rare if we're both on.
So he does, you know, do what he can do
from a timing perspective.
But we just truly want what's best for each other.
We really just believe in each other.
If I'm having a down day, he'll pick up on it and call us,
like, what's up, boss? And we may not agree in the beginning, but we always get to the same answer.
And sometimes I think he does that just to mess with me, just so I know he's paying attention.
I'm like, are you torturing me? Like, I have enough trouble. And even though Coach Prime's,
you know, not technically like a partner in this company, he's done more for us and for me personally, and putting me out front over the last few years.
I can't thank him enough.
Everyone says it's the smack family and it really is.
We're really lucky.
And if you believe in fate or a higher power or previous lives, I definitely have come
across these spirits somewhere else.
No, I believe that.
And it really is guys, because I've just
been around it enough myself.
It really is a family-feeling company.
And that's a great lesson for those of you that
are building an environment.
Because SMAC is a big company, but it's not, in the sense
that there's not a ton of people they manage,
but their influence is global and massive.
Yet you feel like you're dealing with a mother and father mother and father or brother and sister and Michael and Constance and then like cousins and sons and daughters work there.
And in some cases it literally is family. But I think you got to build that family environment in your business. You guys, I just I think that's one of the keys.
And then the two of you are just great friends. Know your culture. SMAC stands for sports media and culture
and we will not change the culture here.
If someone comes in and I can tell they're easily offended
or overly sensitive, we're not the right place.
And that's okay.
Like there's nothing wrong with that.
But in entertainment and sports, it's 24-7, year round.
And we don't have to, for just the slowness or whatever.
It's like, and there's nothing wrong with it.
It's just, you've got to have a certain, you know,
mentality to be in this field.
It's, but, but then as you just said that,
because that was my last question.
I want people to know the work part.
And so we've got a lot of thoughts and ideas and ideology
and philosophy today and some behind the scenes.
Then there's the work.
And man, everybody would love to be
Emmy nominated. Everybody would love to be able to drop the names you do or be in the rooms you're in.
Not everybody would work the hours. And so just for real stuff, like real entrepreneur talk for a second,
what does work look like for you? And I mean, be serious here, Con, like how many days a week, I mean, Dave's a month, hours a day, percentage of your life,
however you want to describe it,
would you say goes towards everything we're discussing today?
Oh, a thousand percent.
You know, and I'm sure with all the entrepreneurs
you've had on your show,
and you being one of the best that I know,
you've probably seen this poster or even invented it.
It shows an iceberg, right? And it shows that so there's the iceberg and then there's the ocean.
And everyone talks about, you know, success, everyone talks about this glacier, this iceberg that you see on top of the ocean. But an entrepreneur is everything that's below,
that's taken thousands or millions of years for this glacier to form. It's not overnight by any means.
So it is seven days a week.
And I do try to take vacations
and the team does their best to have me, you know,
not, you know, be on calls or this and this,
but when you own the business
and you're in the business of people,
you can't always turn it off.
So if I do get my downtime,
I'll check emails in the morning and at night, but I'll say let me not do my
calls, things like that. That's all I ever want is just a day
without a zoo. Like, I'm good. I can be on my emails all day. I
just don't want to be on these zooms all day because it's, it's
so much but again, I've always worked this hard even as an
assistant. And I love it, like I thrive on it.
And that's not for everybody, and that's okay,
but if you are going to own your own business,
it never closes.
And I didn't know I was an entrepreneur in my 20s.
I had no idea, just like I didn't know what Cal was, right?
Like, I mean, it wasn't the word in the 90s
that was thrown around the way it is today.
But if I identified the talent at SMAC,
and I don't mean the clients,
they each have an entrepreneurial spirit.
I can put somebody that's on the talent side
on the creative and development side for production.
I took someone that was on the talent side
and moved them over to licensing,
and they've soared, Correll Chandler,
overseeing the brands there.
And I said it earlier, I know what I'm good at,
but I better know what I'm not good at. And I brought a COO in April, three years ago, who
literally has changed how I operate the trajectory of this business, because I was just like, let's
go, let's go, let's go. We have business managers, but there was nobody doing the quarterly updates
and putting goals and just things that are so basic. But when you're the creative, you don't always have time to focus on that.
So I just keep trying to find the right talent to surround myself,
to keep building this business. So I can take a vacation.
It's you have to schedule her vacations. People ask me who Khan is.
Last time I saw Khan, we had dinner and I walked out and I won't say who it was,
but a very well known person knew who you were,
but couldn't quite remember. You couldn't figure it out.
I was in the parking lot getting my car.
And they said, who's that? Is it Schwartz?
I said, I said, wait, she, I, and they asked me about you.
They said jokingly, I said, there's no Illuminati,
but if there was an Illuminati,
she would be one of the founding members.
Can you, can you, can you, can you be one of the founding members. She'd be one of the organizers.
It's just a fact.
So I love you.
And this was like world class today, like world class conversations.
So, so good.
Thank you for being here, by the way.
I was so nervous.
All the people you have on here.
I was like, gosh, I hope I don't disappoint and embarrass myself for you.
Stop it. That was unbelievable. You guys, this is Constance Swartz-Marini, Smack
Entertainment, SMAC is who you guys can go check out but she really wants you to
go check out season three of Coach Prime on Amazon right now and I'm tell you
it's the best of the three seasons and all three have been incredible and she's
on it you're actually gonna see Constance on it. So it's worth tuning in just for that alone. Thanks, Con. Thanks, Dad. Appreciate you.
All right. God bless you, everybody. Max out. Share this episode.
This is the Ed Mylan Show.