Sheeraz - The Power of Influence

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What's going on, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. On today. Today's episode we have the one and only Shiraz. Thanks so much for coming on the show, man. So real quick to start it off. I know you've helped launch some careers of people that are just completely world class, one of them being Kim Kardashian.

Absolutely. But I'm the celebrities on it. First of all, to jump in your show, I worked with Kim and no one even knew her name.

Wow.

Let's start there. Yeah, that's cool. And I worked with her for about 15 years to the point that you have to move to planet Mars to not know who Kim Kardashian is.

Yeah, yeah. So we met at the Sohouse and I've been wanting to have you on the show for a while now. So I definitely appreciate you taking the time, but really to just get into it. Starting off on that statement, Kim Kardashian, working with her for 15 years. Bring us back. How did you get into this celebrity branding world? Because I would say you're one of the most connected individuals I know in the world and I want to definitely get into that. But where did this all start?

So let me tell you something. Nobody knows this story, by the way. So I was running a restaurant in London and I wanted to turn it into a 24 hour restaurant. At the time it was open, I think probably from 6am to like 4pm every day. And I told my mum, I'm going to be 24 hours. Just remember back then in London gas stations closed at 9pm 711 meant 7am till 11pm and there's me saying I want to do a 24 hour restaurant. And no one believed in my concept. I said, I'm going to do it. So I started opening my restaurant late at night and it wasn't working. It was quiet. It was, you know, it was almost like it was costing me money to stay open, right? And then one day a taxi driver came in and he asked me to make him whatever, tea or coffee. And then I said to the guy, I said, you know, where you going? What's, you know, why are you in such a hurry? Sit down and talk to me, man. I got nothing to do it. It's like three in the morning. And he said, no, I got to go, I got to listen to Caesar the geezer. I said, who's Caesar the geezer? He said, you don't know who he is? He's the biggest radio DJ shock jock in the uk. And I got to listen to him. So at that point, I've never been into media, but I realized, look at this guy. He's like, you know, so focused on listening to this guy called Caesar. And I said, well, who is he? He said, well, he's got 1 million listeners at night time in London. And I said to him, there's 1 million people awake. I need a meet Caesar. So literally, it was my mission to track down Caesar. And within about a couple weeks, I kept on calling the radio station. Finally I got through. I connected with him. I got so nervous. It was my first time ever on, on radio, whatever. And I basically started talking about my menu on on radio. And the guy said, you're actually open and so forth. So he ended up coming to my store the next day. And he promoted the fact he was coming and the place had lines outside. You know, just, just give you an idea. This is probably in 1995.

Okay.

Okay. So the radio was the microphone, it was the Instagram, it was the Snapchat back then. It had such a powerful influence. And then I realized the power of a microphone. I realized the power of media. There's me one day completely my business was absolutely dead, absolutely dead at all. So I, so I realized that, you know, like the night before I'm making no money, and then a few weeks later, no money. And then the one time this guy comes and announces it on his radio show that he's coming lines out the door. So for me, that was my opening that I need to be in the media business. I then moved out to Los Angeles with literally just a prayer, a few hundred bucks in my pocket. And I said that, you know, I want to. I want to get into media, and I want to learn what I did with Caesar of how he showed me the power of the microphone that can influence people. So my first job in America, I was selling cookies, a place called Mrs. Fields. And at that time, I was literally taking my concept of what I had in London and using it out in the US Started meeting people and so forth. But then I was planning, how am I going to do this TV show? So at the time, I was staying at a relative's house, and all they would be watching is Bollywood content. That's all they were watching, is Bollywood movies. And there's me sitting in LA watching Bollywood movies, and I'm saying, where's Hollywood? How come I don't see any American stars on this network? And the relative basically said to me, well, that's all we watch is Bollywood. I said, no. Literally, I remember I was on a. I think it was on a tourist visa at the time. And, you know, I said to myself, okay, I'm gonna change the world. I'm gonna do all these. And the bottom line was I said to him, I'm gonna be Hollywood's ambassador to Bollywood. It's gonna be me. I'm. Make it happen. And the guy looked at me, said, well, how are you gonna do it? I said, well, first of all, I'm gonna ring up that CEO of that TV channel, and I'm gonna cut a deal with this network. And literally the next day, picked up the telephone, wanted to get through to the CEO, found out who his name was, found out a little bit of background on him. Then I called the next day, asked to set up an appointment with him. He said, okay, you can meet me pretty much in five days. I went to New Jersey, met this guy, and I walked into a boardroom, and I basically said to the guy that I want to produce Hollywood content for your network, and I want you to give me the distribution. He said, have you done it before? No. Do you have any money? No. Can you get access to celebrities? No. I said, but if you give me that piece of paper that guarantees me distribution, I will find a way. Trust me. I'll bring you the biggest stars in the world. They all looked at me in a boardroom, all business guys, and like, where'd this guy come from? You know? I said, well, you give me that chance. Said, at the end of the day, you don't lose. I lose if I don't deliver. There's no show. Yeah, but I want that distribution. Literally, two hours later, signed contract guaranteeing me distribution to over half a billion people in the Indian world in 120 countries. And I had the contract, everything done, come back to la. I end up at a place called Sammy's Cameras right here. It's a very famous camera shop. And I wanted to buy some camera equipment. And the guy obviously saw me coming in thinking he's fresh off the boat, let me sell him any. Any device and everything like that, you know, and obviously I didn't have the money. And then there's one guy standing next to me and he said, oh, I'm an independent filmmaker, you know, why are you buying all this equipment? I said, I'm producing the show, connecting Bollywood to Hollywood, the whole thing. And he said, I want to work with you. I said, well, I have no money. He said, well, it doesn't matter. When you make money, you pay me, but I want to help you produce a show. Yeah, if you have distribution. So literally, I hired the guy on the spot. I fed him with cookies, by the way, because I was working, Mrs. Fields. And by the way, because I. I was working there. I was working on tips. I didn't even have a, you know, salary or anything. Whatever. I was hustling behind that bar, whatever tips. I would literally be giving him that money.

Yeah.

To keep him going, but to feed my show. Ended up, started creating content I'll never forget. I went to the Hollywood sign and I'm filming at the Hollywood sign. And, and. And all I keep saying is, hi, this is Shiraz from Tinseltown, live from Hollywood. Going to be bringing you the biggest stars from Hollywood to Bollywood. Boom. Name of the show was called Tinseltown. So I kept on doing that, and then he was like, shiraz, man. That's what we have. I mean, any stars, you know, you. I. I need celebrities. In the meantime, the guys from New Jersey are saying, how's it going? What stars you got coming up this week? And then all I have is me at the Hollywood sign saying, I have a show coming, Right?

You don't know anyone in Hollywood? Zero.

Nothing. Nothing @ all. So what happens was I go back again, and then I see this guy walking his dog, and he comes up to me and said, what are you doing? You know, you're like, you know, almost praying at the Hollywood sign. You know, you're. You're doing this whole TV stuff at the Hollywood sign. What the hell is going on? And I said, look, you know, I have this TV show and I've just, you know, produced it and I've got distribution. I was very open to the guy, you know, and I said, but I don't know, money, you know, But I pulled off the impossible. I know I'm gonna have half a billion eyeballs on this piece of content if I get it right. And he said, but you don't have access to Hollywood. I said, but I'm gonna find a way. He said, you know what's interesting? So he took my details down. He said, can you send me the contract? Send him the contract. He said, let me introduce it to a friend of mine. The next day I go to his office. He then looks for everything, sees it's completely legit. He drives me to his friend's office. I walk into a huge office, sit down. Didn't even introduce myself to the guy. I said, listen, I have no money, okay? I don't know what the hell is going on in this office, but I have a TV show. This is what I need. And I'm sure at one point in your career someone opened a door. So if you can be that guy that opens that door, then let's make money together. And the guy reached out to his hand, he said to me, hi, Shiraz, my name is Roland Perkins, the co founder of caa. I was literally sitting in the heart. Yeah, the biggest talent agency in the world. I mean, they represent everybody. And literally in a week later, there I was on my first event I covered was Robert De Niro. No, Eddie Murphy, Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro, Britney Spear. Literally back to back. I was in junkish. Just back to back. Yeah, because I had a distribution of content. Then of course, the, the boys in India were like dying. They were like, what the hell's going on here? You know, this, this guy actually pulled it off, you know, so I built that company and then that gave me my footprint into the us and then Fortune magazine heard about what I was doing. They followed me for four days and then they done a four page spread with me, Google and Bill Gates. It was a whole massive thing. And I was sent a story was mine how basically coming from London and taking over the Bollywood market, that's insane. Got massive awards for the show. I ended up really building two cultures together. India, us. It was a lot bigger than just my show. And then I started helping Bollywood actors coming into LA and vice versa. And then I built such a strong brand in the Indian market, but outside of the Bollywood market, no one knew my name. So I Was with my business partner. And I said to him, you know, over the time, I said, you know, how the hell are we gonna, you know, cross over and go to the mainstream? So one day, I was sitting on a local cafe here in West Hollywood, and Britney Spears walks in, and 20 paparazzi follow Britney Spears. And I'm sitting there. Never seen this before. Okay. I was used to just doing my TV show, right? And these guys were relentless. Cars on the streets, engines on, blocking the entire main road, but they're chasing to get a shot of Britney Spears. The next day, I get a phone call from my mom and says, I saw you on cnn. I said, me on cnn? What was I doing cnn? She said, oh, I saw you having coffee with a celebrity. I was actually in the coffee shop having coffee. She walked in to get her own coffee, but my mum thought I was having coffee with Britney Spears and her sitting in London. Yeah. And I said to my mom, I said, no, no, no, no. I said, I was just having a meeting, whatever. So that's when I realized I need to control these cameras. If I control these cameras, I control the world media. And literally overnight, my. Me and my partner, we founded a company called Hollywood tv. And I went back to the same cafe and I asked all the guys, who do you work for? And all of the guys said, I work for tmz. I said, okay, that's great. How do you work? They said, we freelance. I said, well, now you work for me because I'm going to pay more. And I basically took those camera guys and then started supplying TMZ content with their people.

Yeah.

Wow. Then I did it to ET and everyone. And listen, I'm friends with Harvey, very close, but at the time, you know, I literally locked down those cameras. And I'll Never forget, in 2007, literally, I was the only company in the entire world that was distributing the content of Britney Spears. When the entire world wanted Britney Spears, you couldn't get it without going through me. So when all of that content was building and the time I was working with Patrick, Paris Hilton. And when I was working with Paris, Paris assistant was Kim Kardashian. So there was a whole story going on there where we were working. And then when Paris and Kim split up.

And you met Kim when she was.

Oh, yeah. She was a stylist, actually.

Wow.

She was a stylist for Paris Hilton. Because I was working very closely in 2005 with Paris. When I got into the breaking news, stuff was more 2006, 2007 with the Britney Spears heyday. And then when Paris and Kim broke up, I had a meeting with Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian. And what year is this?

Just for reference?

Is that like 06? Yeah, I think end of 05 or 6. And Hollywood 2 was. Yeah, yeah. End of 2005, that kind of era. And basically we cut a deal, the three of us. And I started working with Kim from then, strategically, literally telling her the blueprint of what to do to be on the news every single day, how to reinvent yourself on a consistent basis. And because I was supplying content to the worldwide media, I can tell you one thing. The amount of no's that I heard from people almost screaming at me, do not send us footage of Kim Kardashian. Do not do it.

Okay?

Because I had Britney, I had all the biggest stars in the world, right? And they're like, what are you pushing this? A reality star? I said, trust me, she's going to be the next big thing. This girl is going to be massive. And. And I'll never forget I almost got my contract threatened by cbs.

Wow.

They said to me, if you give us. It was for Entertainment Tonight. If you give us Kim Kardashian once more, you know, you could lose your contract. Wow. And I told them, I said, this girl is going to pop. You've got to. You've got to do it.

What did you see in her in that moment?

I got to that in the beginning. And she's. She's a go getter. You know, she's. She's relentless. You know, she's a. She's a beast.

Yeah.

I've never met someone who is like a lion, like myself. You know, when you want to go after a goal, you do whatever it takes. And I can tell you one thing about Kim Kardashian. You know, everyone, I don't care what they say, she's the most loyal person, hasn't compromised, okay? Hasn't sold herself. Trust me, I've been in. I've been in meetings, I've seen it all. The girl has integrity, okay? And she has a goal. She's hungry, and she's a good. Go get her. But what she needed the media. So I saw those qualities. And every time I would say, okay, go ahead, do this, you know, show up at a nail Salon at 3pm on Bedford Drive. Why Shiraz? Go there. She would show up. You know, celebrities are sitting in that nail salon, and I've got 25 cameras outside that nail salon. So she walks and gets ambushed into paparazzi Boom. Who's this girl coming out of here? Do it again at restaurants. Do it again at airports. I literally put my entire machine behind Kim Kardashian. And literally, I'll never forget, there was a point where the global media, it was almost like they were gonna blacklist me because I kept on pushing Kardashian's name down their throat. And it got to the point that literally, I had to blackmail them all. I said, okay. And at the time, I remember I was shooting Lindsay Lohan, and Lindsay was going through some personal issues, and she was the biggest one story in the world. And I basically. I'll never forget, I told all the media outlets that if you want Lindsay Lohan, you want this golden footage that you guys are begging for, it's very simple. You got to show love to Kim Kardashian. Wow. In exchange.

Yeah.

I literally was baiting Lindsay Lohan footage to get Kim Kardashian footage on tv, on cnn, on the biggest places in the world. And then, obviously, me and Kim became very close, and then her brand was getting bigger. And then I told her, I said, listen, I said, if you really want to make an international step, let me. Let me take it to the Middle East. I've got all the kids. Remember, my TV show is very big in India and the Middle East.

You do a lot in Dubai as well.

Lots of stuff. So I took her to Dubai, and that's when Kim realized really, her fame is global. You know, that on that trip, because she didn't really do any international trips at that time.

And I've seen a lot of the videos as well. On your Instagram, you'll show these segments of Kim walking into a mall in Dubai with tens and thousands of people. Can you go into that more? So, like, how does that happen?

That's what I do. You know, whether it's a Logan Paul or whether it's a Zendaya, whether it's Lele Pons. Listen, I've worked with every one of them, you know, and we. We know how to create hype. You know, we know how to promote. You know, we don't. We. But when. If we're gonna do anything, it's an event. It's something that everyone. We touch every human emotion that you've got to be around this. So when we're promoting a brand or we're pushing something, we do not use any traditional methods to let people know. I'm very against traditional marketing. I do disruptive marketing that makes sure if we're coming to your city, the Entire city is going to know we've just arrived. You know, that's what we do.

If someone nowadays 2019, wants to, let's say someone, let's say, has no brand, wants to get into media, maybe they have some social media buzz. How do they become mainstream?

So first of all, what's your niche? Number one question I'm gonna ask you, what's your X factor? What do you bring it to the table? What can you do that everyone else is not doing? How can you do it better than others? Right. Why should people trust you more than somebody else? So once I figured out what their lane is, then I would give them a blueprint and a strategy on saying, okay, what are your real actual goals you wanna do with this? I look at the outcome just because today the person wants to be an influencer or a makeup blogger or whatever. And I'll give you a classic example. Huda Beauty, you know, she's one of my clients. I've known her for over 10, 12 years. And she started off with a dingy little blog on her phone. Okay. In her bedroom, making no money. Okay. And today she's a billionaire. But she knew her outcome. She knew that, yes, I'm going to be doing this blog, but I'm going to become one of the biggest beauty moguls in the world. Sitting in a bedroom with an iPhone, filming a blog. So you got to know where you want to go.

Yeah.

So I would, I would literally sit down with them and dissect. Almost think about how you look at ways, Google Maps, your start destination, your end destination. Let's figure out where you want to go. And then I'll give them a detailed roadmap of what they have to do, what strategies they have to do, how to get to the agents, how to get to the managers, how to find out where the work is, which. Where to be seen at the events, who are the people that you need to surround yourself on a consistent basis that you're gonna get that breakthrough. And I've got that network to make it happen.

So if you're talking to young people and you're saying, cause, for example, you moved to Hollywood, you didn't have any connections, you didn't have any relationships. And I talk about a lot, the value of networking and how it's led me from sitting in my bedroom interviewing my friend on Skype to then yesterday sitting with Larry King and now yourself and these massively influential people. And I value that. So if you're talking, if you, if you were to give advice to Young people on networking, what would be step one?

Okay, Step one is gonna be. You have to be relentless. You could have balls of steel, number one. Yeah, I don't. You don't. You never want to hear the word no. Okay. Number two, who you trying to network with? If you're an actor, then you want to be around producers, directors, writers, casting directors, so we narrow down where those people are going to be. Number three, what's your elevator pitch? What you got? So imagine if you are an actor and all of a sudden you're going to a hotel. You're at the Four Seasons. You get it in. Into an elevator, and there's two people in the elevator and it's going to the 14th floor, and Michael Bay is in the elevator, just you and him. What are you going to say to him to get his attention? It's the one time that you're going to get in front of someone. You need to have all your ducks in a row. So before you start networking, understand what you're selling. Understand why do they need you so bad? It doesn't matter if they're big, doesn't matter if they're huge. Everyone needs something. Everyone needs some kind of gap in the market. So I would highly advise is having a plan of what you want to do in your life. Number two, who are the people that you want to surround yourself with? Make a list of those names and do whatever it takes in your power and network that. Who are these people? Get in their proximity, build a rapport, give them a plan, and you'll close a deal.

I love that. I love that. So really, two more questions. Number one, now, looking back on, you've worked with all of these a list celebrities, world class people. I know we're talking about Kim Kardashian now. They're the biggest in the world. When you look at fame on that level, is there another step or is there a pinnacle in which you reach at that point?

No, there's never another step. You always have to keep reinventing yourself. Okay, if you. If it's. It's. Is. Does it. Does the iPhone just have iPhone six, brother, every six months, you got to reinvent. If you don't reinvent, you die. So you got to keep coming up with something different. You got to keep changing. The market's too noisy, you know, And I can tell you whether it's me working with Jennifer Lopez or with the Kim Kardashian, Logan Paul, or the Ace family, whoever I work with, you know, you got to keep reinventing. You've Got to keep changing. You know, I done an activation with Jennifer Lopez just maybe six, seven months ago in Qatar. Nobody had gone and done such a big activation in Qatar. It's one of the biggest stars in the world. And she's. I'm down.

Yeah.

She's so big. Did she need the money? No. Does she need the fame? No. But she wants to crack that market. She wants to create a legacy that I was the first person to come to Qatar, do an activation. And guess what's going to happen when the World cup comes and it's held in Qatar? You, you know, she's doing the performance.

Yeah.

So it's all a strategy, you know.

Got it. So, last question, to wrap it up. If you were to go back to that moment where you're walking in the boardroom having no relationships, no money, but you want to get those distribution rights, what do you tell your younger self or what do you tell young people? Looking back on your journey, what piece of advice would you tell yourself if you were to restart all over again?

Okay, first of all, you know, fair. Don't have fear. Zero fair. Okay. Your provider is God. Okay. There's nothing in the world, no human being, there's no powerful person more than a spiritual power. So have that belief, Number one. Number two, you cannot ever hear the word no. 99% of these people, they don't know. If you know in your soul and your gut, you're going to make it happen. You're going to have your roadmap. You've really got to have a detailed roadmap, like I said. Then you've got to have the power of networking. And then what's your X factor? What are you bringing to the table? And I can tell you one thing, what I'm about to launch, launching this in 2020. And this is all because I've been giving some advice and stuff on social media and it's literally driven me. Now I'm building and launching a platform, an interactive training course on literally how to become famous. I'm going to give you the tools of what it takes today for you, whether you're an influencer, whether you're an actor, whatever it is, how do you crack to the mainstream? And I'm launching that. And it's really needed because I can tell you, people come out here to Hollywood or for wherever business that you want to get into, they spend their entire life savings, they do everything and they land here and they have no idea what they're doing. Yeah. So, because I've been through it And I've experienced it and I was able to understand, especially Hollywood tv, that gave me the relationships with every media company in the world because they needed the content. Right. So you've got to find your niche, you know, but absolutely fearless. Go. No one's gonna. The only person that's gonna make you not make it in your career is yourself. If you know it's inside and you're going to make it happen, you will find a way. Have a detailed roadmap and know your outcome and make sure you're taking daily steps towards that outcome. And if you're not, then change it until you hit your mark.

That's amazing. Well, Shiraz, I just want to say thank you so much for coming on the show, man. For everyone that's listening, that maybe this is their first time hearing your story. Where's the best place for them to stay in touch and learn more about the platform that you have?

Website is shiraz.com S-H-E-E-R-A Z.com Instagram is the S H E E R A Z. Shiraz.

Perfect. And everyone listening, I'll make sure to link that down below so that you can learn more about Shiraz. And that being said, thank you again so much for coming on the show and make sure you subscribe. Talk to you guys soon.

Thank you. Monarch Legacy of Monsters An Apple Original Series the world is on fire. I decided to do something about it on November 17th. This place, it's not. Not ours. Believe me. The most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

Oh, my God.

Go, go, go. Monarch Legacy of monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV. Plus.