Rushion McDonald: Renaissance Man

3815 Media, Inc. was founded by Rushion McDonald, a multi-EMMY and NAACP Image Award-winning TV producer. McDonald is well known in the industry for his success as the Executive Producer for the ESPN+ hit show “Stephen A’s World,” hosted by Stephen A. Smith, whom he also manages.

Rushion McDonald, has achieved a lot of success in his lifetime, but he never forgot where he came from. 3815 Media, Inc. got its name from his childhood home address that starts with 3815 in Houston, Texas. The memory of this two-bedroom, one bath shotgun house is a daily reminder to McDonald that if you “lead with your gifts” you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, and that’s what he does every day.

McDonald grew up in a loving family, with six sisters and two brothers. His father was a truck driver with a third-grade education and his mother was a homemaker with a high school diploma. When asked about his parent’s vision for his life, McDonald replied, “my mother saw greatness in me, but my father just wanted me to get a job”.

In high school, McDonald did not know what his gifts were. Rushion did not see college as an option. He just wanted to graduate from high school and become a forklift driver.

Ms. Nelson, McDonald’s math teacher, would have no part in this small dream for such a brilliant mathematician, so she filled out a University of Houston college application and insisted Rushion attend. A push that led McDonald to a degree in Mathematics and a minor in Sociology.

McDonald was a natural leader and gifted with the ability to multi-task quickly. This trait has served him well as an entrepreneur with many verticals. From the early years of taking pictures and selling blow pops to the other high school students, to charging for homemade pizzas from his college dorm room for survival money, McDonald was not a survivor at all, but a self-made man laying the foundation for his illustrious entrepreneurial career.

“I can remember as far back as elementary school, all my teachers tried to separate me from the other students. They felt that I was destined to be great. No being silly here. But I did not want the responsibility of being unique. I just wanted to fit in and be a part of the crowd, but no teacher allowed that to happen. I tried to step back, but they pushed me forward. I tried to take an easy class, they called my mother and she changed it based on their recommendations. Now, I always expect more from people because my entire life people expected and got more from me. When people whine, I become deaf. When people cry, I give them a tissue. When you go home early, I stay up late. Greatness is not rewarded but earned. I had to admit that I was talented and the success in my life was not tied to luck. You WIN based on effort, not being at the right place at the right time.”

Comedy became one of his passions, which eventually led him to a successful stand-up comedy career. In the beginning, McDonald worked by day as an intern for IBM selling copiers and typewriters, and at night he performed at the Comedy Workshop a comedy club in Houston. McDonald won the title of “Funniest Person in America” three times and eventually lost to an unknown comedian, Ellen DeGeneres. As fate would have it, Steve Harvey, opened a show for McDonald and they became fast friends. Steve gave Rushion his first sitcom writing job on ABC in 1994 on his sitcom “Me and the Boys.”. In 2000, Rushion left his successful sitcom writing career, WB’s “The Parenthood,” ABC’s “Arsenio Hall Show,” WB’s “Sister Sister,” WB’s “The Jamie Foxx Show” and UPN’s “The Parkers,” to manage and build Steve Harvey’s career for sixteen years. McDonald was instrumental in building Harvey’s #1 syndicated radio network, three #1 New York Times Best Selling Books, #1 syndicated game show “Family Feud”, two #1 movies, “Think Like A Man” and “Think Like A Man Too,” and the Steve Harvey Talk Show.

In 2017, McDonald was inspired to create a radio talk show, “Money Making Conversations Master Class”, where he could educate and motivate “every day” people and entrepreneurs to be successful. “Money Making Conversations Master Class”, is a one-hour master class which airs live on WCLK, 91.9 FM on Tuesdays 6 PM – 7 PM on the campus of Clark Atlanta University, in Atlanta GA. On the show, McDonald promotes the successes of small businesses and interviews successful celebrities, entrepreneurs, and influencers as well as takes live calls from inquisitive listeners. Money Making Conversations is now the number one weekend talk radio show on Black radio. Money Making Conversations Master Class also streams on HBCUGO and is syndicated on 71 radio stations, and Sirius XM 141 and 142. Twenty of these stations are located on HBCU campuses. Downloads are available on all podcast platforms.

Today, Rushion McDonald is a powerful advocate of HBCUs for education, a fearless motivator for entrepreneurship and leading the charge in corporate and military job recruitment.

“I set goals for myself every day and push myself and the people around me to grow and to win. Always Keep winning and Lead with your gifts!”