NAACP+ Inside The Industry

He wasn't trying to become famous. Juju Green was working in advertising, talking about movies to anyone who would listen. And one night, his TikTok about Tom Holland breaking character in Avengers: Endgame went viral. That was just the beginning.

In this episode of NAACP+ Inside the Industry, host Ariana Drummond sits down with film critic, creator, podcaster, and voice actor Juju Green — better known as Straw Hat Goofy — for one of the most fun, honest, and genuinely insightful conversations in the series about what it actually takes to build a career out of pure passion in the digital age.

Juju gets into: → his love for film starting in his childhood — and how that became the foundation of everything he’s built → How he decides which films are worth his time to watch and review → Conversations with Ryan Coogler and Steven Spielberg— and why their cosign is the credential he's most proud of → Landing a debut voice acting role in Ruby Gilman: Teenage Kraken → Why knowing what you're NOT is just as important as knowing what you ARE → Signing with CAA and the advice he gives every independent creator about building a team → The debate over creators vs. journalists on red carpets → How TikTok, iHeartMedia, and what he’s building is all part of a bigger plan → What keeps him going when the algorithm is not cooperating, and the numbers aren't there

This episode is for every creator who's been told that what you've been building isn't enough to be a real career.

️ Host: Ariana Drummond, NAACP Director of Talent & Media Relations

Guest: Juju Green (Straw Hat Goofy) — Film Critic, Content Creator, Podcaster, Voice Actor; iHeartMedia, CAA

New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.

Watch more Inside the Industry:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaaTUaaxeh-IBd36D0P3FzFcu17Ij2S4T

Listen on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/3iny4YTd9NfUBB51aWOpYr?si=8657ebed5b5049ed&nd=1&dlsi=316fca0df52b4a1e

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/naacp-inside-the-industry/id1894940807

Learn more about NAACP+: https://linktr.ee/NAACPPlus

#InsideTheIndustry #NAACPPlus #JujuGreen #StrawHatGoofy #FilmCritic #contentcreatortips #BlackCreators #TikTokFilm #ArianaDrummond #BlackCreatives #GetReelPodcast #iHeartMedia #CAA #BlackExcellence #MovieCritic

For over 25 years, there was no Black daytime soap opera on television. Sheila Ducksworth decided that was going to change. 

In this episode of NAACP+ Inside the Industry, host Ariana Drummond sits down with Sheila Ducksworth — president of the CBS Studios NAACP venture, executive producer of Beyond the Gates, and influential architect in Black television — for a conversation about what it actually took to bring the first Black-led daytime soap opera in over 25 years from a childhood dream to network television. Sheila gets into: 

→ How a conversation at her 5th college reunion changed the entire trajectory of her career — and led her to buy a one-way ticket to Los Angeles

→ What her father told her in the early 90s about work that she had never heard before and never forgot 

→ How she spent three and a half years getting Beyond the Gates greenlit before a single camera rolled 

→ The two-month sprint to build 27 sets from scratch — and how she snuck into country clubs in the DMV to get the look exactly right 

→ Why she called her key team members years before they had a green light and asked them to trust her 

→ What makes Beyond the Gates different from every other soap opera in the history of the genre 

→ The cotillion episode, the HBCU storyline, and why cultural specificity is central to the show's mission 

→ The Young and the Restless crossover that drew 1.8 million viewers — and what's coming next 

→ What an executive producer actually does — and why the successful ones know how to do everything

 → What she wants television historians to write about Beyond the Gates 100 years from now → Her message to the Black girl watching right now who thinks her dream might be too big 

This episode is for every creative who has been sitting on a dream for decades and wondering if it's finally time. 

️ Host: Ariana Drummond, NAACP Director of Talent & Media Relations 

Guest: Sheila Ducksworth — Executive Producer, Beyond the Gates; President, CBS Studios NAACP Venture; Soul Food, Will Packer Media

New episodes every other Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.

Watch more Inside the Industry:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaaTUaaxeh-IBd36D0P3FzFcu17Ij2S4T 

Listen on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/3iny4YTd9NfUBB51aWOpYr?si=8657ebed5b5049ed&nd=1&dlsi=316fca0df52b4a1e

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

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Before she was one of the most powerful showrunners in Black television, Nkechi Okoro Caroll was stabilizing banking systems at the Federal Reserve by day, and writing plays in New York by night.

In this episode of NAACP+ Inside the Industry, host Ariana Drummond sits down with Nkechi Okoro Carroll — the showrunner and creator behind All American, All American: Homecoming, and Found, and one of the few Black women in history to have three shows running simultaneously on one network — for one of the most candid conversations about what it actually takes to run a show, protect your creative vision, and build something that lasts.

Nkechi gets into:

→ How she went from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York  to her first day in a TV writers' room without ever working as an assistant

→ Why she spent her vacation days doing background work on sets just to learn how a camera crew operates

→ What her mentor Gina Prince-Bythewood told her before her first day in a writers' room that changed everything

→ How Black Women Who Brunch went from 12 writers in her living room to 270 members and a Hollywood Reporter photo shoot

→ The origin story of Found — the anger that sparked it, the risk of putting a Black woman's kidnapper in her basement in the pilot, and why she never looked back

→ Why the All American franchise exists — and how her sons inspired every frame of it

→ What it felt like to be blindsided by Found's cancellation — and how she's still processing it

→ The collaborative pitch that became All American's most groundbreaking moment — and why it didn't come from her

→ How her background in economics and corporate America made her a better showrunner

→ What motherhood taught her about patience, leadership and grace under pressure

→ The project she created because she never got to attend an HBCU — and why she still wears the Brinkston swag everywhere she goes

→ What she's developing next — including a project with Onyx inspired by Governor Wes Moore's story

This episode is for every creative who ever took the unconventional path and wondered if it would work out.

️ Host: Ariana Drummond, NAACP Director of Talent & Media Relations

Guest: Nkechi Okoro Carroll — Showrunner & Creator, All American, All American: Homecoming, Found; Rock My Soul Productions

New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.

Watch more Inside the Industry:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaaTUaaxeh-IBd36D0P3FzFcu17Ij2S4T 

Listen on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/3iny4YTd9NfUBB51aWOpYr?si=8657ebed5b5049ed&nd=1&dlsi=316fca0df52b4a1e

Listen on Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/naacp-inside-the-industry/id1894940807 

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He's been in front of the camera since he was five years old. Shamon Brown Jr. grew up on one of the most important Black shows on television. And now — at 21 — he's really getting started.

In this episode of NAACP+ Inside the Industry, host Ariana Drummond sits down with actor, recording artist, entrepreneur, and voice of Michelangelo, Shamon Brown Jr. — best known as Papa from Showtime's The Chi — for one of the most candid and genuinely inspiring conversations in the series so far.

Shamon gets into:

→ What it was like growing up on The Chi from age 12 to 21, and what those years took  and gave him

→ The audition story behind booking Papa — six callbacks, a year and a half of silence, and then one final read

→ What Papa's journey across eight seasons taught him about his own capabilities as a human being

→ How he became the first Black teenager to voice Michelangelo in the Ninja Turtles franchise

→ The Ninja Turtles sequel coming to theaters — and why he says it hits even harder than the first one

→ Why he launched Shamonsta LLC — and what he's building across music, clothing, and entertainment consulting

→ His approach to financial literacy: saving a percentage of every check, even after he turned 18, as if the Coogan account never ended

→ Why he's teaching young people in Chicago about set etiquette, contracts, taxes, and how to build a team

→ His music — Juke in the Club, Chicago Girls, and why this is the year he's taking it all the way seriously

→ Advice for parents of child actors, young creatives trying to break in, and aspiring musicians who don't know where to start

→ What he wants his legacy to say when it's all said and done

This episode is for every young creative who has ever wondered if it was possible to build something real from nothing — and for every parent who believes in a kid the world hasn't discovered yet.

️ Host: Ariana Drummond, NAACP Director of Talent & Media Relations

Guest: Shamon Brown Jr. — The Chi (Papa), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Michelangelo), Shamonsta LLC

New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.

Watch more Inside the Industry:

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Listen on Spotify:

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Listen on Apple Podcasts:

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#YoungBlackEntrepreneurs #BlackExcellence #ChildActor #MutantMayhem

Thirty-five years after New Jack City changed Hollywood, Mario Van Peebles is still at it — and this conversation proves exactly why.

In this episode of NAACP+ Inside the Industry, host Ariana Drummond sits down with actor, director, writer, and producer Mario Van Peebles for one of the most wide-ranging, genuinely funny, and deeply important conversations in the series so far.

Mario gets into:

→ What it felt like to direct New Jack City for Warner Brothers at the same time his father, Melvin, made Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song the top-grossing independent hit of 1971 — twenty years apart, same game

→ The iconic turkey giveaway scene that almost didn't happen — and how a warehouse fire, rain, and some street hustle made it legendary

→ Why he cast Ice-T as the cop and Wesley Snipes as the gangster — and how he had to convince them both

→ How playing his own father in Baadasssss was  "psychotherapy on celluloid"

→ The two questions he asked Melvin in the Mojave Desert after graduating from Columbia — and the answers that shaped everything

→ What his father taught him about joy, bitterness, and why "pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional"

→ His philosophy on building a 40-year career: love what you do, work with people you love, say something you love

→ Why Black storytellers controlling their own imagery is the most urgent issue in entertainment right now

→ The Huxtables, Obama, and the direct line between what we see on screen and what we believe is possible

→ Directing Nemesis for Netflix, Power's Raising Kanan, and what keeps him coming back to the Power universe

→ Why AI will never replace what happened on Lenox Avenue the day everything went wrong

→ His advice to every aspiring filmmaker, actor, and creative watching right now

This is the episode for anyone who has ever wondered what it means to build a legacy — and fight to protect it at the same time.

️ Host: Ariana Drummond, NAACP Director of Talent & Media Relations

Guest: Mario Van Peebles — New Jack City, Posse, Panther, Baadasssss, Roots, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Nemesis

New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.

Watch more Inside the Industry:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaaTUaaxeh-IBd36D0P3FzFcu17Ij2S4T 

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3iny4YTd9NfUBB51aWOpYr?si=8657ebed5b5049ed&nd=1&dlsi=316fca0df52b4a1e

Listen on Apple Podcasts: 

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#InsideTheIndustry #NAACPPlus #MarioVanPeebles #NewJackCity #MelvinVanPeebles #BlackCinema #PowerRaisingKanan #Nemesis #BlackDirectors #ArianaDrummond #BlackStorytelling #BlackExcellence #HollywoodInsider #BlackCreatives

Before Beyoncé was Beyoncé. Before Jamie Foxx was Jamie Foxx.Before Halle Berry won her Oscar. Someone saw them first. That someone is Robi Reed — and in this episode of NAACP+ Inside the Industry, she finally steps into the spotlight.

Host Ariana Drummond sits down with Emmy Award-winning casting director and producer Robi Reed — one of two Black women in history to win an Emmy for casting, a Hampton University alumna, and the woman responsible for some of the most culturally defining films and television in Black Hollywood history.

Robi breaks down:

→ What a casting director actually does — from breakdown to callback to chemistry read

→ How she started calling herself a casting director at 15 before she ever became one, and why that mindset matters

→ The night she introduced Spike Lee to Ruth E. Carter and how that one moment changed everything

→ What it was like to cast School Daze, Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing, Love Jones, Set It Off, Soul Food, The Best Man, For Colored Girls, and all 125 episodes of In Living Color

→ Why casting is the first act of storytelling — and what happens when Black casting directors aren't in the room

→ The BET Experience Open Casting Call she created and why she built it

→ The biggest mistakes talented people make when they finally get in the room

→ Her audition advice: if it's not going right, just stop and start again — you don't need permission

→ What she would tell her younger self during every moment of self-doubt

→ Why you should never want to be the smartest person in the room

→ The Don King project that almost made her quit — and what stopped her

→ What she hopes never changes about the role of the casting director

This is the episode for every actor, every aspiring creative, and every person who has ever wondered who really decides who gets to be a star.

️ Host: Ariana Drummond, NAACP Director of Talent & Media Relations

Guest: Robi Reed — Emmy Award-winning Casting Director

New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.

Watch more Inside the Industry: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaaTUaaxeh-IBd36D0P3FzFcu17Ij2S4T

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3iny4YTd9NfUBB51aWOpYr?si=8657ebed5b5049ed&nd=1&dlsi=316fca0df52b4a1e

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/naacp-inside-the-industry/id1894940807 

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#InsideTheIndustry #NAACPPlus #RobiReed #CastingDirector #BlackHollywood #ArianaDrummond #BlackCreatives

Most people have watched the NAACP Image Awards for years without knowing his name. Tony McCuin is the director who makes it all happen — and in this episode, he finally steps out from behind the camera.

In this episode of NAACP+ Inside the Industry, host Ariana Drummond sits down with an award-winning live television director, Tony McCuin — the man behind the NAACP Image Awards, Password with Keke Palmer, Big Brother, the Super Bowl, BET's Celebration of Gospel, Soul Train Awards, and over 50 major productions — for one of the most behind-the-scenes conversations we've ever had.

Tony breaks down:

→ What a live TV director actually does during a telecast while the show is happening in real time

→ Why the NAACP Image Awards "just hit different" and how he shoots it almost entirely in the round

→ The night Whitney Houston walked out, and he couldn't take the camera off her — not for a single reaction shot

→ What it felt like to be the first Black man directing Password — TV history in real time

→ How Big Brother taught him to let the audience pick the shots they wanted to see

→ The Deon Cole and Leslie Jones moment that went viral — and how he set it up in advance

→ His philosophy on protecting your talent – no matter what

→ Why he treats every act like its own separate little show

→ How he went from South Central to public access cable to the Super Bowl without ever going to college

→ "Pray Rich" — his spiritual philosophy that has carried him through 40+ years in television

→ The team of angels around him that keeps him going

This is the episode for every aspiring director, camera operator, and behind-the-camera creative who has ever wondered what it really looks like to command a live set.

️ Host: Ariana Drummond, NAACP Director of Talent & Media Relations

Guest: Tony McCuin — NAACP Image Awards, Password, Big Brother, Super Bowl, BET Celebration of Gospel, Soul Train Awards

New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.

️ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3iny4YTd9NfUBB51aWOpYr?si=a5a8e1df47ba4084

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/naacp-inside-the-industry/id1894940807

Watch the full playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaaTUaaxeh-IBd36D0P3FzFcu17Ij2S4T&si=nge5yZhBmU8SIZ9D 

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Follow Tony McCuin: https://www.instagram.com/tonymccuin/

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#InsideTheIndustry #NAACPPlus #TonyMcCuin #LiveTV #NaacpImageAwards #BlackDirectors #BehindTheCamera #Password #BigBrother #WhitneyHouston #ArianaDrummond #BlackCreatives #TVDirector #EntertainmentIndustry #BlackExcellence

Algee Smith has never played it safe — and this conversation proves exactly why that's his superpower.

From sleeping on a friend's couch in North Hollywood, surviving on El Pollo Loco and 7-Eleven Slurpees, to booking the New Edition Story AND Detroit in the same month — Algee's journey is one of radical faith, relentless study, and a refusal to shrink. In this episode of NAACP+ Inside the Industry, host Ariana Drummond sits down with the actor, recording artist, and NAACP Image Award nominee to talk craft, ownership, representation, and what it really takes to build a career across two industries.

In this episode, we unpack:

→ How Algee chooses roles — and why the script always comes first

→ Working with Jamie Foxx on Netflix's Fight for 84 and what he learned watching Jamie set the tone on set with a boombox

→ The story behind his EP Love Lost — the breakup, the healing, and why men needed to hear it

→ Flying from Atlanta to Connecticut just to track down clearance for a sample on 'Spiraling.'

→ What it felt like to book New Edition and Detroit while broke and days away from flying home

→ How playing both a Black Panther and a cop forced him to wrestle with his own identity

→ His tribute to late co-star James Van Der Beek and the gems shared in an RV between scenes

→ The real difference between working on Black-led sets versus majority-white productions

→ Why ownership is legacy — and why he's never signing another deal without equity

→ Practical advice on contracts, AI, community building, and protecting your peace in Hollywood

Subscribe to NAACP+ Inside the Industry: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaaTUaaxeh-IBd36D0P3FzFcu17Ij2S4T

️ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3iny4YTd9NfUBB51aWOpYr?si=8657ebed5b5049ed&nd=1&dlsi=316fca0df52b4a1e Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/naacp-inside-the-industry/id1894940807

Follow Algee Smith: https://www.instagram.com/itsalgee/ https://youtube.com/@itsalgee?si=se6LrU3mfdh-2oxu

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What does it actually take to shape the careers of Hollywood's biggest stars — and survive the chaos behind the scenes? Veteran publicist Shannon Barr pulls back the curtain on 20+ years in entertainment PR, from her early days at ICM to managing crises at 3 am, losing client John Singleton, and what it really costs to get the press you deserve.

In this episode, Shannon covers:

→ How she got her start — and the friend named Caprice who changed everything

→ The toxic ICM boss she finally quit on (out loud, by accident)

→ Why braids cost her job opportunities and the racism she faced climbing Hollywood's ladder

→ What publicists actually do during a celebrity crisis (yes, the Will Smith slap comes up)

→ Why PR is a marathon, not a sprint — and what that means for your career

→ The real cost of hiring a publicist and why boutique pricing matters

→ Her 20-year relationship with Kenya Moore and why she fell in love with her instantly

→ The deeply emotional story of losing John Singleton and writing his final statement

→ How she represented Damson Idris, Isaiah John, and Malcolm Mays as emerging talent

→ What she wants her legacy to be as a star maker

️ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3iny4YTd9NfUBB51aWOpYr?si=8657ebed5b5049ed&nd=1&dlsi=316fca0df52b4a1e

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/naacp-inside-the-industry/id1894940807 

Watch the full playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaaTUaaxeh-IBd36D0P3FzFcu17Ij2S4T 

Learn more about NAACP+: https://linktr.ee/NAACPPlus

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Follow Shannon Barr: https://www.instagram.com/sbarr06/?hl=en

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What does it actually take to build a two-decade career in entertainment journalism — across NBC's Today Show, Hot 97, Essence, Access Hollywood, BET, and the Met Gala red carpet with Rihanna?

In this episode of NAACP+'s Inside the Industry, host ArianaDrummond sits down with her close friend and NAACP Image Awards-nominated journalist, podcaster, and host Gia Peppers for one of the most candid, funny, and genuinely inspiring conversations in the series so far.

Gia breaks down:

→ How she went from overnight shifts at CBS Radio News to   the Met Gala carpet — and what happened in between

→ What her dad's 23 years at NPR taught her about   storytelling before she ever stepped into a newsroom

→ How she co-created Black Girl Podcast before Black women   podcasting was even a thing — and what it feels like to have built a blueprint you don't always get credit for

→ What it was really like interviewing Rihanna, Kobe Bryant, and Vice President Kamala Harris

→ How to navigate microaggressions as a Black woman in media without losing your voice or your career

→ Why she did the New York to D.C. commute for four years straight while working at Hot 97, Essence, and hosting   for the Washington Wizards simultaneously

→ The pay equity conversation that changed how she thinks about negotiating forever

→ Why she's launching Creatives of Faith — and what it means to keep creatives on assignment from God

→ The state of Black media right now and what we all need to do about it

→ Why dragging the rooms you want to be in is her most unpopular industry opinion

Plus — her most honest reflection on legacy, what she still wants to build, and the moment at her friend's funeral that made her decide to go all the way in on her dreams.

This is the episode for every aspiring journalist, content creator, and Black woman trying to take up space in an industry that wasn't built for her.

Host: Ariana Drummond, NAACP Director of Talent & Media Relations 

Guest: Gia Peppers — Today Show, Hot 97, Essence, More Than   That with Gia Peppers, Healed Girl Era, Black Girl Podcast

New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one.

Watch more Inside the Industry: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaaTUaaxeh-IBd36D0P3FzFcu17Ij2S4T 

Listen on Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/3iny4YTd9NfUBB51aWOpYr?si=8657ebed5b5049ed&nd=1&dlsi=316fca0df52b4a1e 

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/naacp-inside-the-industry/id1894940807 

Follow NAACP+: https://linktr.ee/NAACPPlus