Senegalese musician, entrepreneur and statesman Youssou N’Dour loves nothing more than to quote his deceased compatriot, the caliph general Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Sy: ‘It’s good to resemble one’s father, but it’s better to resemble one’s era.’
The Senegalese singer is known for his extraordinary vocal range and for introducing international audiences to mbalax—a Senegalese popular music style that blends Wolof traditional instrumental and vocal forms primarily with Cuban and other Latin American popular genres.

According to Forbes, Youssou N'Dour is the richest African musician in the world in 2022, with a net worth of $145 million. His enormous net worth arose from the use of his distinct voice and the popularization of the well-known Senegalese style of music known as Mbalax. On October 1, 1959, he was born in Dakar, Senegal. He served as Senegal’s Minister of Tourism from April 2012 to September 2013. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine maintained that N’Dour is “perhaps the most famous singer alive” in Senegal and much of Africa.

"Africa has no cultural frontiers. It mixes genres effortlessly. That's the future for me." Youssou N'Dour

Show Guest: Youssou N'Dour
Show Host and Creator: Patrick A. Howell
Executive Producer and co-host: Tori Reid
Executive Producer: Amobe Mvegue
Executive Producer: Patrick Abanda
Show writer: Patrick A. Howell
Voice Over Artist: Maleiva
Production: WAN and Afrobiz
Pre-production: We Edit Productions
Post Productions: We Edit Productions
GDD Intro and Outro: Youssou N'Dour, Miss, Joko (2020)
Song, Introduction: Youssou N'Dour, Dem, Leaving, wommat (1994)
Song, Outro: Youssou N'Dour, Burima, Joko (2020)

Special thank you to: World African Network
photo of Youssou N'Dour: Youri Lenquette

Getting Deals Done is a show about doing business, changing power, changing systems and making the world a better place one deal at a time. Host, veteran banker and entrepreneur Patrick A. Howell, speaks with leading and successful innovators, mavericks and captains of industry about making big things happen in the world.

It is said that excellence is a habit rather than a destination. Also, that you are what you do consistently. If that is true, then Ruth Carter who just won her second academy award for Best Costume Design for the film "Wakanda, Forever", is the epitome of excellence. She won the first award in 2018 with Wakanda's predecessor, "Black Panther". She was also nominated for Spike Lee's Malcolm X in 1993 and Steven Speilberg's "Amistad" in 1998. To hear Ruth tell it, however? She is as humble, passionate and focused as an intern looking for her big break. Sure, she's comfortable. But she's leaning in and her focus is poignant. And perhaps, that's where her true magic lays - her consistency and effervescence. Ruth Carter is the first black woman in American history to win the Oscar on her sartorial splendor, the basis of technically astute work, timeless art and the storytelling legacy of her ancestors. Yes, she looks at costume design as storytelling and takes her griot cues from sheroes including Nikki Giovanni, Lorraine Hansberry and Sonia Sanchez.

"My favorite part about costume designing is the artistry of the job...
I begin with understanding the intentions of the story."
Ruth Carter

Guest: Ruth Carter

Host: Patrick A. Howell

Creator and Producer: Patrick A. Howell

Executive Producer: Tori Reid

Writer: Patrick A. Howell

Post Production: WeEdit Podcasts

Post Production Assistant: Alana Coleman

Intern School Affiliation: Norfolk State University

Premier Advertising Sponsor: Vivreau Water Systems

Advertising Sponsor: Hilton Sacramento Arden West

Ad Voiceover Artist: Ginger Levert

Special Thank You - Sterfon Demings

More Information on Ruth Carter:

Getting Deals Done is a show about doing business, changing power, changing systems and making the world a better place one deal at a time. Host, veteran banker and entrepreneur Patrick A. Howell, speaks with leading and successful innovators, mavericks and captains of industry about making big things happen in the world.

Bob Unnold has led several startups, including two in Stamford: Axxun, which created a platform for software developers to compress the amount of time needed to delivery applications; and I3 Mobile, which created a subscription-based service delivering news to mobile phones. I3 Mobile held an $82 million initial public offering of stock in 2000.

His newest endeavor is Atendit which sells wireless tags that, when linked to an accompanying Apple IOS app, allow users to get reminders on specific things at set times and days when walking by a sensor. Memory scientists have a name — the event horizon model — for the tendency of people forgetting things as they move through the house and out the door. The starter package is selling on Amazon for $30 and an Android version is in the works.

Bob Unnold has over the decades developed the pitch perfect acumen of an entrepreneur.

“In colleges today, there are majors in entrepreneurship. I don’t really personally believe that you can teach entrepreneurship. It’s something that’s in a person. It’s an aggressive approach in a person and you don’t know if you’re an entrepreneur until it’s Wednesday, and you’ve got a $30,000 payroll on Friday with no money in the bank; then you have to figure out how to actually get that money and how to do it- otherwise you’re going to have a lot of unhappy employees.”

Guest: Bob Unnold
Affiliate Company: Did You Remember To, LLC
Host: Patrick A. Howell
Creator and Producer: Patrick A. Howell
Executive Producer: Alan Stone
Executive Producer: Bob Unnold
Producer: Tori Reid
Writer: Patrick A. Howell
Audio Recording: Emerging Media Partners
Post Production: We Edit Productions
Vodcast Post Production: Emerging Media Partners
Premier Advertising Sponsor: Vivreau Water Systems
Advertising Sponsor: Hilton Sacramento Arden West
Ad Voiceover Artist: Ginger Levert
Marketing Partner and Sponsor: Wall Street Research
Location Sponsor: Ash Cigar Lounge in Los Angeles, CA

Getting Deals Done is a show about doing business, changing power, changing systems and making the world a better place one deal at a time. Host, veteran banker and entrepreneur Patrick A. Howell, speaks with leading and successful innovators, mavericks and captains of industry about making big things happen in the world.