Flatbush, Brooklyn native Angela Yee has curated a career that is certain to leave many of her fans feeling inspired. In REVOLT’s most recent episode of “The Blackprint,” host Detavio Samuels sat down with Yee for an engaging conversation about her fortuitous career moves that propelled her into an awe-inspiring entrepreneurial journey. Just like LIFEWTR, the partner for this episode, she believes there is more to one’s life than what they are known for.
Yee stated, “‘More to Life’ for me is, ‘This is where we are now, but I am still way up. I am way up from where I started, but I am still on the way up to where I’m going to go.’ I don’t want to be stuck or stagnant. [Because] there is more to life, right?!” With LIFEWTR, “More to Life” isn’t a command or catchphrase; it’s a mantra.
Check out these six insightful gems that the host of iHeartRadio’s “Way Up with Angela Yee” dropped about how she became a masterful builder of relationships, carving a path to being a successful media personality, entrepreneur and philanthropist. For the maximum “Blackprint” effect, you can check out the full episode right here!
1. Using Culture Shock to Your Advantage
During Yee’s early childhood education, she attended schools in the borough of Brooklyn where her peers looked like her. However, from seventh to ninth grade, Yee was transferred to Poly Prep Country Day School and encountered a student population that didn’t reflect the neighborhood where she previously received her education. It was at Poly Prep where she learned how to adapt to different social environments.
In those early years, Yee found solace in exposing herself to activities that provided her with depth beyond the classroom. She noted, “At Poly, I ended up playing a lot of sports. I played basketball, I ran track, I played field hockey. I did a lot of things that I wouldn’t have done if I didn’t go to school there because sports was such a huge part of what we were doing. That was the positive side of it. I did get exposed to a lot of different things and learned how to cope in different situations.”
2. Being Open to Potential Shifts in Career Goals
Upon graduating from Wesleyan University with a degree in English, Yee decided she would begin to make her way as a novelist. She secured a fleeting 9-to-5 and would spend her nights focusing on her goal of writing books. The conditions of that job were less than favorable and Yee lasted all of three days; it was clear to her that she wanted something more fulfilling.
However, during her time as an undergrad at Wesleyan, the young pupil happened to land an internship with the notorious Wu-Tang Clan’s management company, working directly for RZA’s brother Divine. It was on a random visit to their offices in Staten Island one day where she was met with the news that they had been looking for her to offer her a job as an assistant to the CEO.
3. The Power of Observation
While working for Wu-Tang Clan, Yee was able to forge relationships with several of the group’s members and eventually became GZA’s manager. The media maven’s working relationship with the Genius of Rap provided her several nuggets of wisdom that would help mold her burgeoning career beyond the everyday politics of business.
When asked who her favorite member of the group is, Yee offered, “The GZA. He used to always tell me to listen more than I talk. I don’t know how that worked out now, but…(laughs). He did give me that as a piece of advice when I’m going into rooms, and meeting people, and doing things for the first time, and it has been valuable in certain situations for me… and just how to carry myself. I appreciate things like that.”
4. What Wisdom Did the Wu-Tang Clan Experience Provide?
As the assistant to the CEO of Wu-Tang Management, Angela Yee was afforded maximum exposure to the iconic group’s brand portfolio, doing everything from answering calls to writing out and depositing checks on behalf of the company. In regard to her biggest takeaway from that working relationship, she offered advice that could easily be applied to life beyond the cubicle. “Spread around your businesses. For them, they had their hands in so many different spaces that there was [always] money coming in. So that’s a multiple streams of income type of thing. If one relationship collapsed, they had 20 other ones lined up. For me, [the takeaway is] not putting all of your eggs in one basket,” Yee noted.
5. Know When to Bet on Yourself and When to Call It a Wrap
The businesswoman has been fortunate enough to have built relationships that helped her score a number of high-profile jobs; Yee’s resumé wasn’t the only calling card to her successes. At one stage of her career journey, the media personality interned at a major music-based TV network and was nudged by a respected colleague to leave the familiar surroundings of the Wu-Tang conglomerate. Their nudging led to her becoming the general manager of an imprint record label at the age of 24.
Just shy of a full year’s time, she determined the GM role wasn’t the right fit. Yee understood that there was more to life’s journey than a high-status job. “That was one of those jobs that everyday, I would wake up and be like, ‘I don’t want to do this,’” the famed host admitted.
6. Making Yourself a Resource by Donating Your Time and Expertise to Meaningful Causes
When asked about her various ventures outside of media, Yee excitedly touched on her current roles as a board member for several nonprofit organizations and her most recent 30-unit real estate deal (her biggest to date) that she shares in partnership with two other women – media maven Jasmine Brand and the founder of The Ladies of Hope Ministries, Topeka Sam. This development will be impactful in many ways for the city of Detroit, but most importantly, it will dedicate 10 of the living spaces to women who were formerly incarcerated.
At the show’s closing, Samuels asked Yee what “More to Life” meant to her and she dipped into her bag of quotes, leaving viewers with an inspiring set of words from Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman ever elected to the United States Congress. “We must reject not only the stereotypes that others hold of us, but also the stereotypes that we hold of ourselves,” the New Yorker stated. It’s as clear as a refreshing bottle of LIFEWTR that Angela Yee figured out that finding “More to Life” is less about what others think of you and more about what you think and know about yourself.