Sheila O

Q. Tell everyone who you are and what you do?

A. So, thanks for having me. My name is Sheila O. I am the host of

Afrozon's with Sheila O. Afrozon is the only nationally syndicated

Afrobeat show in the United States of America. It's also syndicated in some parts of Africa. It has a TV division called How Far with Sheila

O that adds it to over 44 African countries on primetime. And also,

I'm a booking agent. That's me all in a nutshell.

Q. Wow, congratulations. But tell us how you got started and what motivated you to get into TV and radio.

A. Okay, I was born in Lagos, Nigeria.

So that should be one big answer right there. Because when you're from Lagos, you're a natural-born hustler. It's like being from New

York. Born in Lagos, Nigeria. I grew up in England, went to school in England and University and everything else. That's where I spent most of my formative years.

While I was there, I joined the mobile awards organization, run by my big sister, Connie King. It's the music of black origin. It's an award show out there in England. I joined there as an intern and of course, worked my way up and became a part of the establishment. And then I realized there is a lot of A-list artists when going back to Africa for concerts and stuff like that, I was like this gap that needs to be breached. And we can only bridge this gap by introducing X to Africa. So, I started my company, Zone's PR. A PR firm, a booking firm and it was taking artists to Africa. And it became really successful. I give God the glory. Got my first shout-out on Forbes when I was much, much younger. And then I got married, moved to Chicago, and came to the United States. I'm like hold on a minute, though. Do they know what Afrobeat is doing in Europe? Afrobeat is popping. I realized A-list artists like Beyoncé she did an album The Gift dedicated to Afro beats, where she featured key Afrobeat artists as well, But then just to take us a little bit back in 2017, I was able to pitch the show to Power 92.3 Chicago, one of the biggest stations out here in Chicago, the station that found Chance the Rapper, and found Kanye real Major stations but they do their own thing. So, I thought they would see my vision. And they did. They took my show on and now four years later, we're still on Power. And now the show is nationally syndicated in more markets in the USA.

Q. Tell us a little bit about the journey. Tell us the challenges you’ve had?

A. Oh, my God. Every other female, the fact that I'm a female with two breasts and everything. Trust me I had my challenges. Being taken seriously, sometimes was a challenge. Being a woman, having to take time out to be a mother was a challenge. Men don't have to go through that. They don't have to give birth and stuff. So, they keep pushing their careers. Women, fortunately for us, we have the best of both worlds. We get time to be mothers and have our kids and of course, we have to heal. So, we take time from our careers. That's a big challenge. Trying to make sure you don't lose your footing in the industry and someone else doesn't come and take over. And then you're starting from scratch. You know we have to deal with that. Sexual advances. Most females have to deal with that too. You go into a studio, you are just trying to hear an artist track because you want to do the PR. You want the artist track but then you start to get advances. So, a lot of things are being faced when you're female. So, I think my challenges have just been the fact that I'm female, but it's also been my strength. It's also made me learn how to overcome situations. It's also made me more patient, and it's also given me a bigger vision. Because when you able to bring that check-in, bring that bag in, have your kids ready for kindergarten, do this, do that, multitask, and still have dinner ready, your brain is working 360 and so is your business mind. So, I've been able to balance it out. So yes, that's what I've been going through and am still going through. But my most recent challenge now isn't because I'm female. It's because I'm pushing a genre that is trying to break into the United States. And that's Afro beats. We picked up five Grammy Awards recently, you know, in different categories. So, we are growing, but unfortunately, not every PD, the program director is as advanced or as open-minded, as the guys we have here in Chicago planning to or used to know, the markets that actually have our show. So, I'm still out here pushing and preaching the gospel of Afro beats.

Q. Let me go back. So, for people who don't know what Afrobeat’s is, can you explain to us what

Afro beats are?

A. Afro beats is a sound of music that is the African sound. So, I think it's the first sound of music because of course, we are all Africans. That's the first continent, the biggest continent, and where we're all from. Afro beats was started in

West Africa in Nigeria, by King

Fela Kuti, who's also going toe to toe right now for the Hall of Fame with Tina Turner. I think Tina Turner just overtook him. She's number one. He's number two. So Fela started Afrobeat, with an S. So, of course, the other journals of music in Africa, like the high life, house music and all the other music that

Africa encompasses, but Afrobeat

was originated from West Africa. So, today's Afro beats, which is run by the likes of Wizkid, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, and other artists. Manifest, Stone Boy, just so many artists are Afro beats with an S. So basically, the new sound is coming out from the Motherland is also fused into piano, which is another sound of music that's coming from South Africa. It's on the Afro house. So, let me say this Afrobeat’s is a fusion of different beats and sounds coming out of the Motherland. That's what it is. That's the best way to explain it.

Q. Where do you see yourself in the next couple of years?

A. Doing great things, not giving up, keep pushing the boundaries. A lot of things we do here at Afrozons have been the first of its kind. And sometimes it's really hard when you're the first because there's really no one else that you're trying to look up to, or emulate or whatever. You don't even know the limits to what you can do.

Sometimes you're the one who's the servant who's actually laying the foundation. Other people come and step on you, and then they go to the next level, which is also a good thing. Because obviously, when you're the founder of something your name goes down in history as the person that actually pushed a certain path or certain music or certain career. So, I see myself as Sheila

O growing. I see myself having more markets to play Afrobeat’s nationally syndicated markets in the US. I see my TV show that's doing so well in Africa, always number one on Twitter. I see that transitioning nicely and coming into the US because that's sure where I go one on one with musical geniuses, entrepreneurs, forward thinkers, and the powers that be. I just get him to spill the tea. And people who love Afrobeats or love Afro Caribbean music get to listen to these two styles they like, and they know what makes them tick. And how they got to where they are today. So, my platform creates that inside view. And I also see my platform more of a tool to help bridge the gap between African Americans and Africans. I see my name being written down somewhere in history as one of the servants that actually played a role in music.

“Never give up. The grass always gets greener on the other side. ”

Q. How do you pick your categories and make it into the top charts?

On your show, you said you do it by categories, and then you have the top charts. How do you pick those to be number one, number two, how do you bring them?

A. It also stems back to what I said about being the first. There's never been an Afrobeats chart in the

US. So, we were the first to create an Afrobeats chart in the US in partnership with Mixcloud. Mixcloud is well known, they're UK-based.

They’re like the US SoundCloud.

So, what we do here on the

Afrozon show is we try to be very accurate. They say men lie; women lie but figures don't lie. So, we try to play around with numbers. So, we depend strongly on Nielsen's, you know, the Nielson's figures, the

BDS scans. How many spins, the songs gain on the radio. Then we look into your Spotify, we look into your social media, not the social media of IG but the music side.

I'm talking about iTunes, Spotify, numbers like that. So, we look at all that and we use that to curate a chart, and whoever is the highest on that chart that's how we rank it 1 to 10. And then we put that out there as a way to also expose the music and expose the talent. And

of course, honor the talent as well to let them know that man, you're doing good man, your song came out like the Wizkid track that came out with Drake. He was playlisted everywhere. We were the first of course to play it because it's Afro beats. But then, I guess the affiliation with Drake made iHeart and some other stations, Radio One, actually put the spins on it. So, we will go out there and count all those spins. It's very easy for us to get it from Nelson's or the BDS spins. And then that's how we put it together. It's not really about favoritism for us, unfortunately, because we have some parts of the Afrobeats world. They say things like, well, we're never on the chart, you have the same names, unfortunately, these are the numbers. So these are the ones breaking the US interest and use the word the US interest where you hear their songs in clubs, you hear their songs on the radio, and they are songs that the US market is exposed to. So, they get on the chart.

Q. What has been one of your memorable accomplishments you've had?

A. One of them is the one I'm actually dealing with right now. First, I'll say having the show here in the US has been a big accomplishment for me because I don't want to measure accomplishment with success. I want to measure it with challenges. When you're doing something that has never been done before. That's an accomplishment. So being the first to have this syndicated show is a big deal for us here. That's one and then secondly, also playing a part in the yield return with Ghana. Ghana was offering

African Americans citizenship for the yield return, being a part of that movement was a good achievement for us. And now we're doing something really big with the United Emirates with Dubai. We get to fly away over 100 people for free to Dubai for six nights with a lot of other celebrity friends of mine in attendance. So, all this is just because we have a platform most clients or countries feel that we have direct access to African Americans and Africans in the diaspora. So yes, these are big

achievements we're very proud of. And we're working really hard towards it.

Q. Are there any upcoming events or anything that you will want to share with us that you have going on?

A. Of course, I just mentioned, the

Dubai event. You're going to have more on that once people follow our platforms, Afrozon's platform, or my personal platform, Sheila O zons. There's going to be a lot of information and how best to get those free tickets to go to Dubai, and also how to get discounted package deals. Dubai's on most people's bucket lists, right. So, then people think, oh, it's such a luxurious place, it's not affordable.

But through us, we're able to put together packages in partnership with the United Emirates, the tourism department of Dubai, to make it affordable. Because the way they see it in Dubai as well, we go to Mexico, we go to the Caribbean, but we don't come out to Dubai, we don't even come out to Africa. Do you know what I mean? I'm talking about African Americans. So, the whole idea is creating an opportunity for people to know. When you know something you take advantage, right. So, I'm really looking forward to that promotion. It kicks start in October this year and it's going to be crazy. And of course, I always look forward to our festival that we do. It's owned by flight time Music Festival, but we are the agents for that festival. We get to take a lot of artists for four days to Africa. On the last trip we took Megan the Stallion. She was so emotional while she was out there, loved every minute of it. We took Boyz II Men, Mase, the list is endless. Trey Songz, Chris Brown, you just name it. So, I look forward to that festival as well. Because we also give away free trips to Africa while the festival is running in the Motherland.

Q. Who are your top five Afro beats artists?

A. Wow, you're trying to put me in trouble. Okay, let me see the best way to answer this now, right.

Alright, I'm going to use the chart.

Because that way people know that

I'm using numbers. No favoritism.

It's really like those really pushing it hard. So Burna Boy is number one.

Obviously he won the Grammys this year. We're very proud of him.

After Burner Boy, I'm going to say... this is in no particular order.

Okay, I'm just going to list the names. Okay. Ranking just five. I got Wizkid of course, in my mind he's done a lot of great things.

The Queen Tiwa Savage. I Tiwa savage on My Mind. Stone Boy

from Ghana. They are doing great things. There's a song out right now with Vic Mensa. How many have I listed now? Are we almost there? Top rappers like Manifest. He's a very strong rapper from Ghana. And then I think another one will be, let me go to another country. Let me go to Tanzania. Let me go to Diamond Platinum. So yes, I tried. So yes, but I love them all.

Q. So, can you share that with us the four types of wealth and what you mean by it?

A. Okay, financial wealth, obviously, that's the money we earn. We get a paycheck for what we do, no matter how big or small. Time, whew. Sometimes people don't understand that giving people time is money. And it's also wealth, and also you have to protect your time.

It's an energy you need to protect.

Because I read somewhere, and

I love that thing where it says

I wish I could actually invoice people for wasting my time. You can't invoice before wasting your time. Time is money. Time is, is precious. So that's a form of wealth. So, when people give you their time, please acknowledge it. Social relationships, like look at me and you now we are having this beautiful meeting because we have a mutual friend. And now I'm going to be honored to be a part of your magazine. Well done. Kudos, kudos, well done. Because I love to embrace new ideas and new concepts and the world is big enough for so many authors like yourself to come in and journalists and actually introduce people like me to the world. So social relationships and all that. That is wealth that is money. I can get into a club because I'm hanging out with Ish. Or I'm going to get out with Joe. Or I'm hanging out with Megan or I'm just chilling with Da baby. Forget who I am. I'm in the crew. You're going to let me in, so social wealth. Physical. You got to work out, man. You got to invest in your body. You don't need to do the cosmetics. But you could just work out, go to the gym. Physical wealth is just how people see you, and that can determine how long you live on Earth unless you have an untimely death, accident, or whatever. But you can also control what you put in your body. That is why they say health is wealth. In fact, that's the biggest wealth, isn't it?

Q. What advice can you give to other leaders and entrepreneurs?

A. Never give up. The grass always gets greener on the other side.

Cut back on social media. People sometimes be phony on social media. Nobody ever shows you their problems. They just show you the good stuff. Here

I am in a Maserati. Yeah, I'm chilling. I'm doing this, I'm doing that. But they're not going to tell you how many nights they've cried themselves to sleep and what they're going through. So be appreciative of your own achievements, no matter how little it is. Just give God the glory for that, because you're actually doing better than somebody else. I don't know who but somebody else.

So sometimes we're so hard on ourselves and we don't appreciate things. Also give yourself time and patience, because sometimes you're so in a hurry. They say only fools rush in so don't be a fool.

Your time will come. And when that time comes, no one can take that away from you. And pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, and pray. Without

God, without Jesus, without Allah, whatever your religion is, without the higher being, which is God.

There's really nothing for you. So, put him first in everything you do, and everything else will fall in line.

Q. Tell everybody where they can follow you?

A. Okay, guys, so check me out. It's

Sheila O. It's @sheilaozons and that's sheilazons. And of course, the parent company's Afrozon. It's

Afro. Afrozon. So, check us out on all social media platforms. Check us out on YouTube as well on

Afrozons radio. And we here, we here bridging the gap and pushing the gospel of Afrobeat’s where Afro beats meets hip hop.