S2 Episode 10

[deanna_nwosu]: on this episode i’m joined by reena friedman watts and reena has an interesting career journey she has been an experienced junkie throughout her work life listen into our conversation where we talked about working at a gary v event her time as a  producer on the jerry springer show and now evolving to owning her own media company today back and relax as i chat with reena friedman watts of the better call daddy podcast

[deanna_nwosu]: welcome back to experienced junkies uh today’s episode should be really fun i’ve got uh the lovely reena friedman watts with me today

[reena_friedman_watts]: yeah

[deanna_nwosu]: and i’m so glad to have her here reena thank you so much for joining the show

[reena_friedman_watts]: thank you so much for having me i’m excited to be here

[deanna_nwosu]: absolutely well before we kick off and dive too far into it tell the listeners a little bit about who you are and what you do

[reena_friedman_watts]: yeah so i got my start in the media industry about twenty years ago and that has really led to what i’m doing now i am the host of the better call daddy podcast and i have my own production company called megawatts productions where i help b to b businesses create shows of their own

[deanna_nwosu]: awesome awesome it’s you’re the first person that’s had a fray in the tv and the production space that we’ve had on the show so i’m excited because i feel like you’ve just got a really interesting career story um including working at the jerry springer show we were talking before i just listened to your episode of better called daddy where you interviewed jerry springer but when you go back to that point in your life when you were just starting out what was young reena  looking for in a career and what would she think of where you’re at now

[reena_friedman_watts]: yeah so i wanted to work in the entertainment industry since i was a young child i took dance lessons and modeling lessons and all kinds of extracurricular activities you know my family it was in their blood they wanted to work in the entertainment industry and so i was really praised for that and i you know what’s interesting though i didn’t so much love the stage like i like to perform for like small groups my family like people that i felt comfortable with i’d sing in the shower i i had a love for music like music is definitely in my soul but there are people that get lit up by the stage and i

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah absolutely

[reena_friedman_watts]: don’t and so i learned that pretty early on like i definitely get stage right and whereas i was really proud of myself for the times that i did get on stages like i went to a youth performing arts high school and the first time i didn’t even get in because i didn’t um sing an italian song and i didn’t know how to read music and i had to you know take formal music lessons and re audition and that oh my gosh staying with that program at that level for four years and being around people who were way more successful than me i felt like and better singers and better performers and had more confidence i feel like that really rubbed off on me

in a way and gave me the ability to pursue it more but i kind of went into the radio route because i felt like it was kind of like what we’re doing right now it was more one on one i didn’t see

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: the audience you know even though i had people calling in and even though i interacted with an audience i i didn’t feel the stage you know so

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah that’s interesting you you wanted to be in the entertainment but minus the stage aspect of it

[reena_friedman_watts]: yeah so i gravitated towards production and when i went out of college and interviewed at at a radio station in chicago at wn i saw that jerry springer was looking for interns and so i walked across to nbc tower i got a hold of the intern coordinator and i ended up starting there two weeks later and what was great about springer is that i got to work on the production side so i got to

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: hang out with the guests book the guests you know figure out what made a good story hear the other associate producers on the phone you know who is the loudest what were they saying to get people to come you know what were the greatest stories they were bringing and i just started really paying attention to that and emulating them and then i got promoted to be a producer within one season so that was amazing and it

[deanna_nwosu]: wow

[reena_friedman_watts]: was such a good training ground i mean we were putting out weekly shows and pitching executive stories and you were really under time constraints to get it all done in managing a budget and just all of what goes into putting together a good show so that was just so great

[deanna_nwosu]: it was interesting listening to that episode with you interviewing jerry and i like that he had an understanding of the things that you guys were doing behind the scenes even though he was removed for it being you know the the name on the marquis if you will but can you talk about what what it’s like trying to tell a story on a stage but all the work that goes on behind the scenes to one find it but then also craft it and make sure that that talent or you know the the guests each week are prepared to c kind of go on there and tell their story

[reena_friedman_watts]: that is such a great question and it is a lot of work and and the thing is too is that you can practice with them first of all they called the show it’s their it’s actually their story you know they’re essentially pitching you when they call you know remember one eight hundred nine six jerry like they would leave a message

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: on a phone number and you would call them back and you would say you know i got your message hey you know it’s reena from the jerry springer show tell me what’s going on and they would tell you their story but then what makes a good story is if the other people involved in the story want to come right so then

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: you need to talk to the other players involved so if it’s a married couple you got to talk to the husband the wife and then you gotta get the mistress and so you gotta get the husband to get the misters on the phone right and all of the people involved in the story have to be able to communicate well you know and they have to be

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: passionate about wanting to tell their story and that’s really hard to get because

[deanna_nwosu]: mmm hmm

[reena_friedman_watts]: a lot of times one person doesn’t want to tell the story a lot of times the wife right

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah exactly

[reena_friedman_watts]: and that was the bread and butter of the show and so what makes a good story and and they can be really good at telling it to you over the phone but again like me right when there’s a room full of hundreds of people yelling and chanting and screaming at you and the lights and the cameras sometimes people freeze sometimes people get nervous before they go out there so you know you are role playing with them for hours before they go out there

[deanna_nwosu]: wow

[reena_friedman_watts]: yeah saying you know this is what she’s gonna say to you you know

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah so not scripted but very very

[reena_friedman_watts]: no well the thing is if there’s a secret you weren’t gonna tell him who it was right

[deanna_nwosu]: gotcha yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: but what’s going on in your marriage like why do you think you’re coming here you know it’s never good news so tell me tell me what your relationship has really looked like what’s going wrong what have you sacrificed for this man right and so you get them thinking about all of the things that they could say

[deanna_nwosu]: now i’m just thinking about all the conversations you had during you know the span of your time with that show not just screening stories deciding okay these people were going to bring on the show prepping them before they go on for their live with their episode tell me a little bit about how that experience of all these stories you’re hearing about people’s personal lives really intimate details like how has that affected your interpersonal relationships and maybe like your communication with your friends and family from just you know all the stories you’ve heard all you know throughout that experience

[reena_friedman_watts]: not only that experience but now in my podcast i’ve interviewed over you know two hundred people

[deanna_nwosu]: right

[reena_friedman_watts]: and um it definitely widens your perspective i mean working on that show alone and then i went on to work on other reality shows too yeah i was just talking to somebody about this last night but like when you were around people who are just complete open books and are willing to take their clothes off and essentially tell you everything about themselves

[deanna_nwosu]: alright

[reena_friedman_watts]: that is contagious i mean not a hundred percent but the more you are around people who can do that you then become more able to do that

[deanna_nwosu]: hm

[reena_friedman_watts]: it’s it’s

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah being more open and more transparent

[reena_friedman_watts]: oh yeah yeah you’re

[deanna_nwosu]: makes sense

[reena_friedman_watts]: only here once and why did you experience these things if no one’s supposed to learn from them

[deanna_nwosu]: amen sister that’s what we’re for experienced junkies it’s like hey we’re going out and we’re going to events we’re traveling we’re having these you know we’re hosting shows on t v but what are we taking away from it what is the life lesson out of it so i totally agree with you you are preaching to the choir with that one

[reena_friedman_watts]: it also

[deanna_nwosu]: now

[reena_friedman_watts]: though i will say you know after i worked on that show for multiple years it was like okay like i can do this format right but can i work on other shows can i work on other um more redeeming quality shows like i it was starting to wear on me it was starting to bleed into my life i was starting to be like oh my god do people have normal relationships is this

[deanna_nwosu]: right

[reena_friedman_watts]: everyone

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: right and you know i got that job straight out of college i was twenty one years old like it was a good paycheck it was the opportunity to work in a big city it

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: was exciting it sounded cool right but then i was like oh my gosh like this can’t be it right so i moved out to l a andi had to start all the way over i mean i didn’t know anyone and so i took a job working as an executive assistant to three very seasoned producers they had a special effects animation company in burbank and it was a family run business and it was so cool because one was like a producer one was a director one was an animator and they worked on things like teenagemeeting ninja turtles team america

[deanna_nwosu]: ra

[reena_friedman_watts]: i got to see them work on pilots i got to see them work on large scale productions and all of what went into that like location scouting and accounts payable and receivable and payroll for two hundred people and you know crewing up a staff of two hundred i mean so much goes into production that i

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: didn’t know about and from there i was then able to go back into the field and get some of those more creative roles like field interviewer and associate producer and assistant editor and post production supervisor and kind of learn like what i liked and what i didn’t like and i feel like

[deanna_nwosu]: here

[reena_friedman_watts]: that’s a really big part of maturing and growing as an entrepreneur and as a business owner and as a person

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah yeah life is not linear right so when you’re taking that journey sometimes you’ve got to take a step back before you can take another step forward and you’ve got to take a detour but you might still get to the same destination so make sure that you’re enjoying the ride you know bumps and all it’s not always gonna be completely smooth

[reena_friedman_watts]: oh my gosh that is so so true and before i moved to l a actually in between springer and jumping across the country i took a sales role job literally two floors up from springer in the same building an nbc tower like there was

[deanna_nwosu]: wow

[reena_friedman_watts]: i think there was like a restaurant or bar or something like in n b c and like you know after work people would go there and have a

[deanna_nwosu]: it

[reena_friedman_watts]: drink and be social and i met some other guy and he worked like a couple floors up and he was like hey we’re hiring sales people’s like if i can talk to people and doing what i just did on springer like i should be able to sell sporting if i

[deanna_nwosu]: right

[reena_friedman_watts]: packages right like

[deanna_nwosu]: if i can

[reena_friedman_watts]: no

[deanna_nwosu]: tell if i can sell you to spell all of your intimate personal life details i can

sell your refrigerator right

[reena_friedman_watts]: but no it was not exciting not fun it was very transactional it was a numbers game it was a good old boys club and i did not like it so much so that like i literally went out for a smoke break one day and never came back like

[deanna_nwosu]: oh wow

[reena_friedman_watts]: literally left my stuff on the table they were like are you coming back i’m like no keep it i was like i’m out of here

[deanna_nwosu]: you you were you were ahead of the the great walk out the great resignation you were ahead of your time with that

[reena_friedman_watts]: yeah but you know what i was young and free andi didn’t really think that i wasn’t going to be successful like at that point i  literally left with no backup plan i was like

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: because i think that the first opportunity came so easily and with a bit of luck that i just

[deanna_nwosu]: hm

[reena_friedman_watts]: was like i can find something else great

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: and i think honestly like there’s so much pressure in life to like constantly jump from one success to the next and i think it’s important like you were saying to sometimes take a step back and like really think about like what are you good at what do you enjoy doing like what do you want to spend your time doing and i’m i’m doing

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: that even now as an entrepreneur

[deanna_nwosu]: i feel even more so as an entrepreneur because you have the freedom to build your life but that freedom can also be very paralyzing because you’re the one making

all the decisions so when you’re going after clients and when you are creating new

products or services it’s your you know ip your intellectual property that’s going to determine you know the map of your business and so yeah it’s great cause it’s free you can do whatever you want but then it’s then it’s like okay well what do i want and it’s a lot of introspection and and a lot of personal development

[reena_friedman_watts]: oh so so much and you know like there’s been services too that like you know i’ve gotten paid for five six seven eight times and they’re like okay well obviously this is something that people want right but then you’re like  is this something that like i wanna continue doing because i

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: feel like the reason that they keep paying me to do this is because this is something that a lot of people need help with but like it’s very

[deanna_nwosu]: hm

[reena_friedman_watts]: time consuming i’m not charging enough for it and

[deanna_nwosu]: you’re right

[reena_friedman_watts]: putting my name on these people right so then you’re

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: like you’re like maybe i shouldn’t do this anymore like time to pivot again i have pivoted so many times

[deanna_nwosu]: hey

[reena_friedman_watts]: like you can figure out ways to make money that’s not hard to do i mean honestly i could come up i i’ve made money in so many interesting different ways like

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: people come to you with different things that they need help with and boom you’re in service that’s a service yep i provide that

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah it it happens really quickly

[reena_friedman_watts]: yeah but like my very first foray into entrepreneurship was in the event space i was working for a financial firm and i was putting on these luncheon learns they were essentially like you know upscale steak dinners and then you bring in a speaker and they

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: talk to you about a high price life insurance item ticket um and i was really good at it because i love marketing and i love putting together events and i was able to get between fifty and seventy people to show up but i didn’t really believe in the product to be honest i didn’t

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: and so here was a cpa that said that he wanted to work with me and not who i was working for and that we could put on these events together and that he would share his clients with me and that you know i should get licensed myself and that we could do it where i didn’t have to be held down to a nine to five and

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah 

[reena_friedman_watts]: i decided to try that but again even though it was like me putting together the event i was going to swim with the sharks and this industry that i didn’t love so

this girl that i had hired to help me put together one of these financial events when she found out i went on my own she was like you want to work on a gary v event she was like i need help with sponsors and i had never done that before

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: but she had a list of potential sponsors that she thought would be good and she already had some sponsors that had signed on so i just led with that i reached out to the other brands and i was like x y and z have already signed up and you know

[deanna_nwosu]: he

[reena_friedman_watts]: we don’t have somebody in your space you could be the first airline you could be the first shoe brand you could be the first and i it’s like

[deanna_nwosu]: ray

[reena_friedman_watts]: once you already have other sponsors on board and once you’ve already proven that you can get two thousand five hundred people in a room for a past event like there are things to lead with so that’s what i led with i was like look she’s put together an event with him before she’s gotten this number of people in the room before she’s got

[deanna_nwosu]: exactly

[reena_friedman_watts]: these clients you know these sponsors already on board you know your brand goes right along with their brand and you know if you say it with excitement and you really believe in what you’re promoting you would be surprised how other people come on board for that and i got a couple sponsors to say yes and i raised the money and i found my way to toronto and i got to see how someone else put together a much bigger event than i had done and i loved it and then i was like okay

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: these are the kind of events i wanna work on

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah so you yeah like the like i mentioned before you have a really interesting career journey because it’s been up down around turn left turn right now go down the rabbit hole come back out of the rabbit hole so you go from you know kind of tv production and you do a little stint in sales and then you end up in events so kind of give the listeners a little uh understanding about your entry into the event industry like what was your first impression either whether with those luncheon learns or when you’re working on that first event for gary v

[reena_friedman_watts]: oh my gosh well also alongside the financial events i took a job for about a year and a half at a telecom company and they were the ones that started the lunch and

learn thing so i had done an even smaller scale than the fifty to seventy five where i got like fifteen to twenty to come

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: and the way that i did it there was we reached out to existing relationships you know like people that they were already doing business with and they wanted me to reach out to heads of customer experience they wanted chicago based companies they wanted chief financial officers so what i did was i went on linkedin i typed in these people’s titles and the companies at you know that they wanted to attend and i made friends with people of those titles at those companies and just said hey do you ever go to lunch and learn events like i know group on does them i attend them you know we’re looking it’s a free event we are

[deanna_nwosu]: hm

[reena_friedman_watts]: just looking to talk about these subject matters is this something that you would be interested in on a lunch time you know and so i befriended the people in the titles at the companies that they wanted to

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: attend and then i was like whoa you can just type in a title befriend somebody on linkedin tell them you’re planning an event and they’ll come like that was you know like a relegation is that the word yeah

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah networking is a lot simpler than people make it right

[reena_friedman_watts]: but the thing is with the financial events it was way more involved than that like

[deanna_nwosu]: gotcha

[reena_friedman_watts]: we were i was having to email people cold call people marketed on linkedin and saying hey we’re doing this create beautiful graphics um a lot of financial advisors when they’re putting ogether these little get togethers they’ll spend thousands on direct mail i think that’s really outdated and dinosaurish and it goes right in the trash and if iwere to receive one of those i would throw in the trash but

 yeah social media and the fear of missing out and making these events look like they’re happening and not only are they talking about financial services but it’s also networking that was a good angle

[deanna_nwosu]: mhm

[reena_friedman_watts]: so it was kind of like hey come have a nice meal come network and learn about financial services that worked better

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah absolutely

[reena_friedman_watts]: with the gary v thing he’s such a well known person and he’s written books and he draws a certain type of crowd and it was just it was more like entertainment factor so whereas yes you’re going to hear all these amazing speakers and and people go for that they’re going because they love him they’re going for the networking they’re going for the speakers they’re going for the entertainment so there were so much more that brought people to that

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah can you talk a little bit about: i i have a love hate with the gary v brand not necessarily him but a lot of the bro culture that comes along with his like audience if you will but tell us a little bit about what it’s like to you know be in the you know the environment of  his audience and the experiences you know creating an experience for a gary v audience versus you know the luncheon learn of the other events you create what’s kind of like the key to that culture or you know the on site feel

[reena_friedman_watts]: i mean to be honest the on site feel was like that he was a celebrity i mean he

[deanna_nwosu]: oh wow

[reena_friedman_watts]: like had people guarding him the whole time and even after all of the speakers and like the main event part like there was like a whole  v i p section where like if you paid extra you got to meet him you got to sign book you got to like talk to him for ten seconds you know and

[deanna_nwosu]: he

[reena_friedman_watts]: there was a line around the corner and yeah like that was very like blocked off  there was security like that it’s such a different feel you know um it

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: was a controlled environment um  you know and sponsors got to eat lunch with him you know there were different levels of interaction with him

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: and different levels of how you could experience the event

[deanna_nwosu]: so it’s interesting that you know you’ve had such a a background in entertainment especially you know for tv but then also you’ve got the event production side can you talk a little bit about what it’s like creating an experience for the screen  you know with the tv shows that you produces versus creating an in person you know touch feel see all the different uh sensory aspects you know in in in person experience talk about the difference between the production side for you

[reena_friedman_watts]: yeah so when i was in reality tv i mean things have changed a lot in the last you now twenty years but when i was in oh my god when i first started i mean i was still using a beeper you know what i mean like to be page

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah that that’s true

[reena_friedman_watts]: about the guests but like when i just i really remember when i first started working in reality tv that they overshot everything i mean  they were shooting these reality stars around the clock to be able to cut together  a one hour segments i mean

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: multiple cameras in every room these people are being followed everywhere to the point where you almost have to forget the cameras are there because you’re being filmed around the clock

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: to get what they need to happen in real life like you know they might have had one story line in mind when they casted the person but like in order to create drama

[reena_friedman_watts]: for the screen like you are having to follow that person around a lot

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: for for real life to happen and for real magic to happen in order to make entertainment happen on the

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: screen right so when i was working in reality t v it was a lot of that like just a lot of camera crew a lot of coverage and a lot of editing i think that it has become easier to create content now with technology and with all of the tools that we have i mean when i was working we were also still shooting to tape and

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: disks and the editing process was so much longer now my god with all of these apps  and you know tools that we have at are dispensable like um networks are competing now with youtube creators networks

[deanna_nwosu]: exactly

[reena_friedman_watts]: are competing with community builders like what you and i are doing

[deanna_nwosu]: mm

[reena_friedman_watts]: you know if you can build a community you are in direct competition with people  that are getting paid at network level

[deanna_nwosu]: exactly

[reena_friedman_watts]: um now as far as events in real life like what makes them great i think that people go to events in real life for different reasons i think that some people go because they love the speaker

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: that will honestly like me and my husband just went to a jordan peterson event we drove all the way to milwaukee because my husband loves that guy’s message and that

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: guy’s style and afterwards yes you know like about one hundred vip has got to have an intimate q amp a with him and a back and forth and sit closer to him and actually feel him off the stage which i prefer i feel like when you’re on stage  you a different persona than when it’s an intimate q and a with a hundred people  like

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: i like i feel like my sweet spot is like the fifty to one hundred percentage event like i feel like you can still almost talk to everybody in the room

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah the intimacy is a different level for sure

[reena_friedman_watts]: yes and when you get two thousand five hundred there is an excitement in the room and there is a boom and it’s kind of like i mean i’ve gone to a tony robin’s event and everybody’s ho ho together and jumping and there’s an energy to that which i love

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: right but also at that scale it’s got to be streamlined

[deanna_nwosu]: uh

[reena_friedman_watts]: and and there has to be a big crew to like make sure that things flow in a certain way because

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: if not it can be chaotic

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah it can be a lot of hurting cats it can

[reena_friedman_watts]: hm

[deanna_nwosu]: be a circus

[reena_friedman_watts]: yes yes i think

[deanna_nwosu]: so yeah you gotta have a really big team and

[reena_friedman_watts]: yes

[deanna_nwosu]: everyone’s got have really well defined roles and

[reena_friedman_watts]: yes

[deanna_nwosu]: a really stringent process you’re absolutely right

[reena_friedman_watts]: those those are the differences i would say but again with with these bigger events i think that people go for different intentions i mean i know even at tony robbins there are people like me that i got to go because i was a high performer at work and my boss paid for me to go and so i

[deanna_nwosu]: mm hm 

[reena_friedman_watts]: personally went

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: for personal development reasons like

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: that was my intention but i think that there are people that go to those kinds of events to network with the platinum club like they go to meet people that they can  do business with i think that

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: that is definitely a motivator for i would say a chunk of the audience but then there were people that i met that were executives that paid for themselves to go because they wanted to learn who taught tony robbins they wanted to learn from the best speakers and yes you know they want to do some networking but i don’t think the level of networking that some people go to try to sell their products and services it’s a mix it’s really a mix

[deanna_nwosu]: so with this whole journey in your career of you know creating uh person experiences creating you know tv experiences that people you know watch in their own home what  have you learned about yourself in terms of uh what makes you tick and what you value from all these different opportunities you’ve had over over time

[reena_friedman_watts]: i mean i can tell you now too cause i’m helping put other people’s shows together in the podcasting world and i care so much about the quality of what i put my name on that is something that i have learned about myself

[deanna_nwosu]: eight

[reena_friedman_watts]: and so  yeah if i am going to be you know supervising a podcast i do such research on the people that are being interviewed

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: right like what other shows have they been on how do they introduce themselves how can i ask a question a little bit differently that’s going to get them to talk about what they always talk about in a different way

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: you’ve and and even in the interviews that i do with people i might listen to four to six hours i mean this is crazy of you know either them being interviewed or them interviewing somebody else so i know what they like to talk about right

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah absolutely

[reena_friedman_watts]: and how they talk about it the words that they use matter

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: yeah

[deanna_nwosu]: you’re definitely a student of your craft and i appreciate that so much and you

know a newbie podcaster a relatively new me or you know in my sophomore season that’s you’re right like it’s it’s more work than you think just even for the interviewing piece learning about the guests picking questions to ask really what story do you want to tell so i appreciate that you know you’ve talked about how much you pour into it because if your name is on it you want to kind of stand behind that quality seal if you will

[reena_friedman_watts]: even with people that come to me and ask me for help getting them on podcasts i give them pro tips along the way and now i’ve even thought about adding another service onto that like if you want me to get you on podcasts i almost feel like they need an hour of coaching with me

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: before i pitch them to podcast because like if i introduce you in a very personalized way and then you’re just like here’s my cy link that is a bad reflection on me

[deanna_nwosu]: right

[reena_friedman_watts]: right like can i get you on podcast yes i have a lot of relationships with

podcasters right but if i introduce you to somebody that i think you’d be great for and i write you a very personalized introduction and then you don’t like feed off of that in a yes n type of manner

[deanna_nwosu]: exactly

[reena_friedman_watts]: that  is you dropping the ball

[deanna_nwosu]: a hundred percent

[reena_friedman_watts]: so if it happens once i try to give them a little pro tip and say hey like after i make you an introduction you might want to say x y and z like i’m gonna check out your show that

[deanna_nwosu]: right

[reena_friedman_watts]: was so great that reena thought i’d be a fit for your show i’m so excited to connect with you before we connect i’m gonna research you too and write you a review and then after you’re on their show what makes podcast hosts the happiest thanking them writing them a review sharing an episode right like that makes you a relationship versus a transaction

[deanna_nwosu]: exactly exactly like coming to the table how can i be of service

[reena_friedman_watts]: yes

[deanna_nwosu]: um is is always going to get you a lot further than what can i get from this

[reena_friedman_watts]: versus somebody that connects with you and they’re like how can i get on your show

[deanna_nwosu]: absolutely well reena i have loved having you on this has been a great conversation but before we log off i ask every guest this question and i’m curious if you had to pick one song to convey either like your career journey or the conversation we’ve had today what would that song be and why

[reena_friedman_watts]: yes i love that question and i have never been asked that question on any other show and

[deanna_nwosu]: awesome

[reena_friedman_watts]: i love beyonce every time i am like pumping myself up for an interview or a show or like something i’m a

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: little bit fearful of that i’m getting ready to do i either think of run the world girls who run the world girls i love that

[deanna_nwosu]: it’s a good one it’s a good anthem

[reena_friedman_watts]: or like where a single a is or even though i’m not single but i

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: just yes like i love that girl power and i feel like i really think that women

need to support each other more

[deanna_nwosu]: absolutely

[reena_friedman_watts]: you know it is harder as a woman to rise to the top it just is it still is

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: andi try to bring my daughter to some of these interviews that i’m hosting locally and i bring her to events where there’s powerful women speaking and yes i’m a proud mom pore i’m a proud woman and

[deanna_nwosu]: yeah

[reena_friedman_watts]: i feel that in my bones when i have winds

[deanna_nwosu]: i love the the theme there of you know women lifting women and and also like the next generation cause i have two daughters as well so i do look forward to as they’re getting older bringing them along for the journey and you know seeing women doing big things so i

appreciate that note as well but before we log off reena tell everyone where they can find you on on the inter webs

[reena_friedman_watts]: yes so you can find me at better call daddy dot com you can email me areena better call daddy com and i am a linkedin aholic that’s really my favorite channel so reena freeman watts on linkedin

[deanna_nwosu]: awesome awesome well thank you so much for joining today and have a great rest of your day reena 

[reena_friedman_watts]: thank you who around the world girls

[deanna_nwosu]: girls alright thanks