#29 - Living That Rebel Life with Ronnie Jr.

Awaken The Rebel

Today’s show is with my homie Ronnie Jr. I met him when we were both hosting at Afterbuzz TV, and we stayed in touch ever since. He gets the rebel life, the creative life, thinking outside the box, and thinking for yourself in a way that is truly unique. Ronnie has a long notable career in radio and broadcasting and discusses the polarizing uprising of social media and the hustle hard mentality. He’s an independent thinker who is watching and learning from the inside churn of the media industry. Today’s show brings his valuable experience and advice on career, social media and figuring out this millennial life we all live in.

In this episode you will hear:

-How Ronnie Jr. started out with his idealistic 21-year old self in radio, and how he wanted it all

- How he ended up being Rick Dees right hand man on the street in broadcasting

-About his hustle to get more and chasing happiness…and how he learned to balance it out with truly being happy and finding contentment.

-Why Ronnie stays grounded in himself verses following any pretenses or trying to be likable and relevant.

- How coaching is helpful to process emotions because of how are forced to be closed off inside in our workplace and our society.

-How Ronnie hustled and moved so fast that he gained weight and internalized the stress of not being able to authentically figure out who he is.

-Shereen and Ronnie discuss the positives and negatives of social media and debate whether it is here to stay

-Hear how the industry of content media has changed with social media and how you are not rewarded for being shy on social media when talking about yourself.

-About Ronnie Jr’s recommendations for a digital detox.

-About how career goals shift as we get older and what Ronnie Jr. has to say about choosing projects that have more inherent happiness and authenticity to who you are verses the high career value gigs.

-About Positivity Psychology and how research show that choosing something that makes you happy over the things you ought to choose will actually make you more successful.

Quotes:

“What does your heart want? What does your soul want?” - Shereen Thor

“Because every time I talk to people about this, they think you're just making excuses for the fact that you haven't quote unquote reached your goals. I'm like, first of all, I'm okay with my goals. Second. I'll go work in a bank tomorrow if you need me. I don't like fame, do you? Are we chasing fame? Fame isn't even at a premium anymore.” - Ronnie Jr.

“You know, I messed up, I didn't deal with my weight, I didn't deal with my sexuality in my 20s, I dealt with just wanting to be on the air - super desperate to do it, I was willing to do anything to make that happen.” - Ronnie Jr.

“I'm Egyptian. Nobody knows if I'm black or white. So, I can play any card. I can sound like a valley girl or a black girl. And, it's not politically incorrect either way. So, you know I'm just having a good time here.” - Shereen Thor

“I think that I grew up pretty whitewashed. You know what I mean? So, it's not odd to me to be married to a white man. But it is interesting for the kids to be half Egyptian and a half white because I do have this fear that they're not going to be in touch with their culture. Like it's just going to wash away like it never existed.” - Shereen Thor

“I love this quote, she [Mati] goes, ‘people want to know what you are. So they know how to treat you.’” - Ronnie Jr.

“I really don't know if it's beneficial for me to check my boxes. Because, if I said, Mexican American, if I said gay, I feel like they would literally think I’m a different human being. And then, I get down and out - Oh My God, am I not doing my community justice? But it's like, No, no, you're your own version.” - Ronnie Jr.

“I think what you should do is, take these social media platforms…these are like bonuses, so let's not live by them, let's use them and enjoy them, but let's not live by them.” - Ronnie Jr.

“This was such an interesting podcast. I feel like we went on all kinds of different subjects. It was very dynamic. This was wonderfully entertaining and fulfilling for me. I hope it was also wonderfully filling entertaining for the listeners.” - Shereen Thor

Resources:

Book resource from show: “Digital Minimalism” by Cal Newport

www.randomlyronniejr.com - find Ronnie Jr. online

www.awakentherebel.com (take the quiz – What Kind of Rebel are You?)