The Journey Told

With the ongoing 75th season of the NBA reduced to 72 games for each team due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there's this basketball inspiration who’s not in the league but has built a bigger following than most of the players. He’s worked with NBA stars, celebrities, NBA-related brands, and thousands of kids nationally and even worldwide.

Meet the multi-talented rapper, elite NBA skills trainer, and entrepreneur Johnny “Dribble2Much” Stephene who has over the years leveraged the power of social media to become one of the hottest individual brands in basketball. But it hasn’t been an easy journey for Johnny. Despite facing numerous challenges growing up, he was inspired by watching Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan on TV and he loved the way the game brought his family together. That grew into a lifelong passion for basketball and using it to inspire people to come together and view basketball as an art. He ended up getting a basketball scholarship for his four years of college which was very helpful to his family because they didn’t have to worry about his tuition.  

Dribble2Much later played professionally and unfortunately suffered an injury which prompted him to focus on his dribbling, and things basically went uphill from there. Since starting his Instagram account he's gained more than 1.4 Million followers and counting, worked out with All-Stars Kevin Durant and DeMar DeRozan, been considered by an NBA team for employment, organized clinics for kids worldwide, launched an apparel line called Handle Life (a double meaning for his ball-handle and recovery from a major injury) and signed a few endorsements deals with more possibly to come. Dribble2Much’s journey is nothing short of inspirational and he comes to share it with Shawn Zanotti on this fun-packed 33-minute episode. Don’t miss it!

Show Highlights:

• Making adjustments during Covid to continue helping kids at homework on their handles and stay engaged in the basketball community (01:59)

• The value of consuming his programs via video and his app (03:30)

• How watching Allan Iverson and Michael Jordan as a kid inspired him to become who he is today (04:25)

• Instagram magic: The jumpstart to his career that came from posting his training videos on Instagram (06:37)

• Learning from professional NBA players and sharing that knowledge with the kids he trains (09:54)

• Being on NBA 2K and consistently killing it in HipHop from a young age with his numerous talents (13:27)

• Going for best rapper and hooper alive: Sampling songs from the 10 song album he’s working on (16:52)

• Positive energy all the way: Why he chooses to rap about his basketball-affiliated work instead of his rough childhood (23:07)

• Encouraging young aspiring basketball players to visualize success and work towards it (26:46)

• The tons of motivation he got from working with Drake (29:18)

Tell and Tell Secrets:

To help you get the most insane handles ASAP, Dribble2Much shares the one way he does it himself; The Handlelife Heavy Ball. The ball had been the biggest secret behind his sharp and strong handles until he decided to share it with the world.

The ball is guaranteed to help you get the fastest results in ball handling efficiency, hand speed, and ball control. You can find the ball at Shop.HandleLife.com

Words of advice:

It doesn’t matter how tall you are, if you can dribble the basketball, you can make plays for your teammates.

Put the work first all the time.

If you’re an NBA player or young athlete, continue having that picture in your mind of where you wanna be at. That’s what saves you. 

If you wanna be great, you’re going to do the things to be great like discipline and continuous works out.

When you have a dream and you stop working at it, that’s when another person comes up, swoops your dream, and runs with it.

Connect with Johnny Dribble2Much:

Instagram - @dribble2much

Facebook - @dribble2much

Twitter - @dribble2much

Web - https://handlelife.com/

Follow Shawn at www.thejourneytold.com

Connect with Shawn on Social Media:

Instagram @publicistshawn

Facebook @shawnzanotti

Podcast Instagram @thejourneytoldshow

Facebook @thejourneytold

Twitter @thejourneytold

Have you ever felt like celebrities have some sort of secret advantage that allowed them to achieve a level of fame or fortune that the average person will never know? Maybe they were born into a privileged family, or they had some high level connections that paved the way for their success?

If you believe that, today’s story will flip the script and reveal a level of determination that would make the rest of us seem like underachievers.

Afida Turner is an international superstar - a singer, songwriter, actress and media personality. Born in France, due to tragic circumstances, she found herself living in an orphanage until she was 16 years old. When she left the orphanage, she learned early on that she could only rely on herself and she worked doing whatever she could to make a better life for herself.

Her writing became an outlet for her - her therapy - and it eventually caught the attention of others. Later, she was signed by Epic Sony Records and began releasing songs, gaining traction with an increasingly larger audience.

She continued to work hard producing music and that led to her eventually meeting Ike Turner, Jr and Ronnie Turner. Afida eventually married Ronnie Turner and she has continued to work in the industry and travel the world, living a life she loves.

Join Shawn Zanotti as she talks to Afida about how Covid has cramped her jet setting lifestyle and the biggest lessons she has learned on this journey.

Show Highlights:

● Afida says she can’t trust anyone. Instead she trusts herself.

● Learn how Afida became part of the legendary Turner family

● Staying in touch with family during Covid is hard, especially since Afida doesn’t

Facetime. She connects in person.

● Afida has strong opinions about the George Floyd incident. She shares how she

wishes she could have changed something.

● Find out what having Tina Turner as a Mother in Law is really like.

● When you come from nothing it changes how you view success because you

don’t have anything to lose.

● Political ambitions - Afida was briefly a candidate for President of France. Learn

why she dropped out and what her future plans are.

● Tina, the HBOMax documentary and what Afida thinks about it.

● Afida thinks Ike Turner was brilliant. Find out why he was so special.

● Tina Turner is like the female James Brown.

Tell and Tell Secrets:

Afida is a foodie. She loves to cook - lamb chops, with mashed potatoes, real spaghetti with garlic bread, and couscous. She has a weakness for burgers and french fries. She really loves to eat, but she also knows she has to go to the gym and work out in order to stay in shape.

She knows that moderation is important for long term health. She’s a Capricorn. She loves good food and red wine.

Afida’s Morning Routine:

Wake at 4am

Office 4-7 am

6am prayers and plays with her dog Then she goes to the gym

Then she cooks lunch

Later in the day she will cook dinner

Words of advice:

Never listen to anyone. Be who you are and walk your own path. Do what you want to do and do not listen to the naysayers.

Self love - ignore the haters and live your best life.

You shouldn’t worry about what people say, just use the gifts God gave you and trust him and love others.

Connect with Afida:

Instagram Facebook Website

Follow Shawn at www.thejourneytold.com. Connect with Shawn on Social Media:

Instagram @publicistshawn

Facebook @shawnzanotti

Podcast Instagram @thejourneytoldshow Facebook @thejourneytold

Twitter @thejourneytold

Hello there, this is The Journey Told, the weekly podcast that will focus on athletes, entertainers, and entrepreneurs and the pivot in life in which they have experienced.

Three days a week, your host, Shawn Zanotti, will be having a conversation with top leaders such as athletes, entertainers, entrepreneurs, influencers, power players, and hosts of others. Each episode is geared towards life in its full form and dedicated to helping you uncover the secrets needed to push you to the next level of success in your life.

Consider this show as the ultimate guide to leveraging a powerful story, listening to your inner voice, owning your story, and building a network of influencers in your professional circle in which you are able to add value to those around you. It's self-care for your soul...

We will be shooting both video and audio for the show out of our studio in Los Angeles. We are also able to do virtual interviews for guests which are unable to come to the studio.

For exclusive content head to our website https://thejourneytold.com/

And for more of The Journey Told head to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJxp-C1PnJXO5hfIams_Bgw for behind the scenes of the show and to interact with Shawn every day.