It's Where I Am with Zandra Polard

Wesley Knight 0:00
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Zandra Polard 0:43
Good morning Las Vegas. It's Zandra Pollard. It's where I am, right here on 91.5 jazz and more. Today we have a special guest in studio is Daniel Isaiah Elias, better known as am, yes, ma'am. All right, I'm doing very well. Good, good. I'm so glad you are. You know your father was in studio. Oh, yeah, yeah, Dream dad the goat That's right. So we learned a lot about him. And if anyone wants to look back at that story, you can find it on any major podcast platform. Just search it's where I am with Zandra, and you'll find it so your dad found out that he was adopted and found his original people, his original family, the original job, yeah, so I'm looking at your story, and I find it interesting that you had to find your way too absolutely, yeah, one's Lost, absolutely, right? The daddy lost. The son is lost. So you changed your name. I did, yeah, yes, because we found out that your father's name was not his name, right? How did that affect you once you found out, hey, the person I thought my dad was is not who he is, and now you have to re Scott, Rediscover, or discover who

Daniel Isaiah Elias 2:32
this person is. Yeah, I mean, I was there actually the day that he received the letter from who we thought to be his mother. Okay, basically explaining the entire adoption and blah, blah, blah, and so I see that. I saw this in real time. I saw all of it in real time. I saw him go through the first taking in the note and being like, Yo, look at this. What is this? Just seeing the world stop for a second, and then him going through that process of, okay, just the journey of, okay, who am I? Where do I come from? Where do I go? And so seeing that whole process from start to finish, which happened in the span of like 90 days between us, you know, finding out we were adopted, he was adopted, and us finding our real family. But that process, for me was definitely a shock. I mean, it just, first of all, growing up as a black kid in America, identities a struggle, enough, and so then to come to your your own family and be like, Okay, this is how I you know, we always kind of knew we were a little bit different because we didn't look like anybody else in the family. But, you know, it's just it started to, it was just a new journey. It was like a complete 180 like, Okay, well, this is even though they're still our family. We love those people, and not to say those people like like that. But it was just really like a new a new beginning. And I think that there's something that kind of comes along with changing your name as well, like taking on that family name you find. Well, your

Zandra Polard 4:08
dad never changed his name. Now we don't call him by his given name, by his previous family we call him by the name we knew him as before he was adopted, when did you decide to change your name? I

Daniel Isaiah Elias 4:26
changed my name back in 2022 okay, yeah, 2021 late 2021 because

Zandra Polard 4:32
you met up with your new family, which I'm a part of the new family. Okay, the original family. So, Daniel, you decided to change your name in 2022 you found out about the adoption in what year, 2017 2017 Okay, so it took five years. Had to count all my fingers. Five years. Okay, long

Daniel Isaiah Elias 4:56
time. It seems like I don't know. I mean, I'll. Was there, I think, during that time. Because not only did I have my father, our family and then the new family, we discovered, I also have my own family on my mother's side. So it's been, you know, I have a huge family, it sounds like. So it was just a combination of going through things with them as well. I was a little removed from the situation like, I was here and there, I would meet everybody, but my dad was, like, all the way in, like, constantly meeting people, seeing people. So it took me kind of some time to really, like, kind of take it all in. And I think I was just more focused on, like, you know, I think I was 21 when we found out, so I was just trying to make some money. Like, changed my life when that had happens, I think it took me five years because it was more of something that God revealed to me. Wasn't really like a conscious like, I need to find myself, I sort of thing. It was just me kind of discovering a new self through following my faith in Christianity and understanding that, you know, our names can be tied to different blessings or, quote, unquote curses and things like that. Okay, well, this kind of makes sense when my life has been the way it's been for the past 21 years, 2223 24 years, because I was tied to things that I believe don't resonate with my faith. So when I really committed and changed my name, you know, things in my life essentially changed.

Zandra Polard 6:23
Well, maybe we ought to change money,

Daniel Isaiah Elias 6:29
million dollars, right?

Zandra Polard 6:31
So anyway, no, I'm blessed. I'm blessed. So you have this website, and this website focuses on mental health and wellness, which is a major reason why I'd like you on the show tell us about what you're doing. It's called feed the people.

Daniel Isaiah Elias 6:51
Genius only, yeah, genius only feed the people. That's our that's our slogan. Okay, sorry about that. Genius only, yeah. So go. That's a concept I actually came up with here while I was in Vegas. I was doing a studio session with a few friends, and we were just talking about, like, the standard of life that we that we want to live, that we're going to be on, and it's so just a high standard, like everything we want to do, everything we're doing, has to be at a level of excellence, and that's in health, wellness, that's in physical, mental, spiritual,

Zandra Polard 7:28
in your friend group, that's an important, absolutely,

Daniel Isaiah Elias 7:30
part of that, absolutely, absolutely, I mean, that's why it's feed the people, because it's not something that's just for me, it's, it's a movement, okay, and so, I mean, mental health and wellness really became a strong, strong point for me, because I grew up with a mentally a mother, so I've watched her fight those battles. And, I mean, like, not just be at home, you know, people say, Oh, I'm bipolar. I'm bipolar. Like, I've seen real episodes. I've seen the suicide episodes. I've seen, you know, the schizophrenia. I've seen it all in real time and so to it gave me, like, a very up close and personal relationship with NATO. And so on my end, I've always been very completely on the other side of the spectrum, like I'm gonna have to be in shape, I have to read, I have to be mentally fit, spiritually fit, like I have to have that just always kind of, maybe that's how I cooked, I don't know, but that's where that came from. Well, that's a good way to go. Yeah, absolutely. So

Zandra Polard 8:27
tell us more about the website, genius only, slogan feed the people established in 2020 and you sell products as well.

Daniel Isaiah Elias 8:38
We do. Yeah. So our main, our main product is obviously music and clothing, but because you are an artist, I am. I'm a music artist, I'm a music artist. That's what I do. That's my purpose. That's my my core, I think my we're almost talented at my strengths, but we do, we do have clothing. A lot of it is really European inspired,

Zandra Polard 8:59
which is, are that does that mean they're small sizes.

Daniel Isaiah Elias 9:03
Yeah, you know what? The only reason why they, they have those small sizes out there, is because their food is so much better. Okay, yeah, American food is, oh, my god, don't get me started. But, um, yeah, we have that as well. We have a few books rolling out. I wrote a book which I haven't really told anybody yet. So you're the first, first guest that I'm telling. We have a book, and that's kind of like, essentially, like the foundation for being able to, you know, live a life through adversity. You know, I say, always say, we're a brand build on adversity, and it gives you just, sort of like, practical guidelines and a story as well on, you know, eventually how to just prevail. We have that. We also have a few health products on the that I can't really give away just yet,

Zandra Polard 9:51
but, oh, like, so I can't say what I'm reading right here. I'm gonna leave that discernment up to y'all trust. Okay, so there's mushroom coffee. Okay? See? House, jail that sounds disgusting, but I'm sure it's good. Jail pills. Jail pills. They're pills. Okay? And then merchandise, you have clothing, like you said, European inspired journals and tea bags, and soon to come a book.

Daniel Isaiah Elias 10:18
Yes, ma'am. Okay,

Zandra Polard 10:22
so I like on your website, you've created a marketing plan like everything, pretty much you're doing is here, you put it all out there no fear to or hold back from things that you've dealt with in your life or things that you are planning to do moving forward in so it's very transparent. Yes. Great website. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. So how do you find the website?

Daniel Isaiah Elias 10:53
Genius only.co.co.co.

Zandra Polard 10:59
Okay, alrighty. The then. So what's going on now in terms of your music career, I know you just came back from London. You spent a couple of months in Europe,

Daniel Isaiah Elias 11:11
yeah, they were not a great time there. I did a show with DJ. AG, shot the DJ. AJ, he's an awesome DJ. Ag,

Zandra Polard 11:20
ag, he's huge. I don't know him, so you got to slow down. DJ, AG, shock.

Daniel Isaiah Elias 11:26
DJ. AG, oh. DJ, AG, yep, okay. He's huge on, he's huge on, like, social media, Tiktok, Instagram, stuff like that. Basically, what he does is he goes to, like, different parts of London, Brixton, so on and so forth, and he'll set up his DJ booth, and he'll have different artists, skeptics, central CEO or local artists, kind of come through and just do performances. And I was blessed enough to have that opportunity. So I came and did what I did, and had a great time. And so right now I'm just in the studio, like, I'm not really going anywhere. I'm just, you know, I think going out there and kind of getting away from my normal environment gave me time to really just reflect a lot and take on a new perspective and think about, okay, where I where I've been, where I am and where I'm going, you know? So I just went to the studio. Focus on some music. I got some cool

Zandra Polard 12:17
stuff. So I like, how important is journaling to you? I know it has to be super important. Oh,

Daniel Isaiah Elias 12:21
it's key. Yeah, it's very, very key. I journal every morning. Okay? And

Zandra Polard 12:26
then sometimes, are you ever inspired to, you know, journal at night? Um, typically not a night. Do you hold your thoughts until the morning?

Daniel Isaiah Elias 12:37
Um, no, I think that's where my my thoughts flow the most. Okay, because it's always quiet. I'm an early riser. I wake up like three o'clock in the morning, so the house is completely quiet, and I can kind of find myself going through nose. I'm always writing, because whether it's music, blah, blah, blah, but my intentional time to sit down and journal is definitely like that mortal time. Okay, night, I kind of leave to reading whatever, whatever's going on.

Zandra Polard 12:58
Now, you were telling me about what book are you reading right now, Dave,

Daniel Isaiah Elias 13:03
it's called can't hurt me by David Goggins. And who's David Goggins? David Goggins is a the best way to describe him. He's a former Navy SEAL, but he's also kind of grown beyond that spectrum and became like a worldwide sort of motivational speaker and a thought leader to say, to say. And essentially, he developed this mindset, the idea the title of the book is called, can't hurt me. And just about having a really strong mentality and digging deep when you feel like you have nothing left. You know he's somebody who's been through a lot of different things in life, but there was his abusive father and seeing his stepfather get killed, blah, blah, so on and so forth. And then being able to take those pains and those traumas, and instead of being defeated when she felt like he was for a little bit. He kind of picked up his bootstraps, threw himself into the Navy SEALs, one of the few black Navy SEALs to ever make it. And I think there's like six literally, or like bitterly, six at the time when he came in and for his division. And so it's just a story of overcoming adversity.

Zandra Polard 14:23
So on the website here, it says, inspiring fire in future generations at genius only we empower the culture through vocal and social leadership. Faith is at our very core. Not only do we push to open the hearts and minds of our followers, we strive to build and help create new perspectives, and what in the way people see themselves. So you mentor other people? Yeah. I

Daniel Isaiah Elias 14:52
mean, I think it's all mentorship when you're when you put yourself in a position of leadership which is not, which is not what I think. Any person should do. I think that's something for people to to decide who to follow, who to follow, okay, but when you essentially, our goal is to take on the social norms and expand those thoughts, because there are, let's be real, there's a lot of things in the society that are not so beneficial. And so our goal is to be a benefit to the people and the mentorship as much, as much as it can be individual, our goal is to inspire the world to speak to people. Yeah, because I'm

Zandra Polard 15:30
seeing here practicing self, social and political awareness, yeah. So you're saying, get into those social norms and expand our mind in ways that are different from how we grew up, right? Absolutely, or we're just too kind of lazy to change. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, absolutely. So what do you think about the political climate right now? I think the

Daniel Isaiah Elias 15:55
political climate, I really don't know. I think people need to be more aware. I think there's a lot of hoopla as far as people getting caught up in the drama and the things that are entertaining instead of the things that are actually a benefit. You know, we're coming into the AI generation, which has been happening for a long time. People think it's 50 years away. It's literally two years away from it, replacing a lot of, a lot of lives and jobs. Oh, yeah. And so, you know, I think people need to wake up and understand like it's not about, it's not about your feelings, you know what? I mean, it's about what's right and what's needed for our country to get ahead, for the people to get ahead. You know? So are

Zandra Polard 16:40
your pro AI, like, when you when you go to the grocery store, this is what pissed me off when I first realized AI, I was in the grocery store and they had the Self Check check out, and I was pissed. You mean, I got to check out my own grocery and I know that ages me, but come on, yeah, don't you know that's gonna get rid of jobs? Hello? Yeah, absolutely.

Daniel Isaiah Elias 17:07
But the

Zandra Polard 17:08
younger generation, it's convenient. It's fast, right?

Daniel Isaiah Elias 17:15
Yeah, I mean, there's a mix of good and bad. I'm not gonna say I'm anti AI. I think it's help. It's helpful in a lot of ways. But I think it's pushing us in the direction of having to use our brains again. You know, really? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I mean, it depends on what your goals are, but if you want to compete in the market like you have to sharpen up, because you're going to be in competition to these computers. As much as it does make things easier, it does create that sort of comfortability and ease and convenience, I don't know. I just think that you still have to learn how to navigate to learn how to navigate it. I mean, there's new technology developing where they're giving it an intellectual side so it can think for itself. And that's what's scary about it. That's what's scary about it. I think it's been coming for a long time, and people just kind of brush it to the side, like, Oh, we're gonna be good. We're gonna be good. And it's like, okay, well, we might want to start paying attention. Yeah.

Zandra Polard 18:16
Also, you get together with your group and you talk about these things. So how do you come up with the ideas like today we're talking about, I

Daniel Isaiah Elias 18:25
don't know. I mean, a lot of them. The thing about creative flow is, I think it's when you're able to channel or a certain frequency, it just kind of comes Okay, and other times you do have to work and kind of dig forward. That's what skill and practice is for. Yes. And so the idea is we typically just when they come, we build on them and we flush them out. And you tend to learn, the more that you dig, the more that you find. And then how do you get your followers? Then social media is most of our following. We also do, obviously, shows and just meeting people, networking going out.

Zandra Polard 19:00
Okay, so we're out here. Is there a brick and mortar that you there's a building that you guys meet

Daniel Isaiah Elias 19:07
at? No building just yet. We're all online right now. Okay, so

Zandra Polard 19:11
you do like the zooms, Zoom calls? Do they still call them? Zoom calls? The zooms?

Daniel Isaiah Elias 19:17
No, we don't. We don't know You mean, like it as far as our team,

Zandra Polard 19:19
yeah, your team. And then when you're meeting with other people, like, are you doing it visually or,

Daniel Isaiah Elias 19:24
yeah, we do. Most of our stuff is on zoom right now. Our team is in house, so we get, we have, like, a house team that's local, and I prefer it that way, because you can actually catch a vibe with people and understand what people think, and it's just the best way to communicate with people. But we do have teams. We do have team members in LA, Arizona as well, so we have to communicate that way by zoom, okay, or FaceTime, all

Zandra Polard 19:55
right. Well, tell us, give us an example of some of the things that you've been talking about lately that you can share. Hmm, with our listeners

Daniel Isaiah Elias 20:01
right now, the main goal has just been music, you know, I think that music is one of the few things that will remain sacred, not just music, but creative arts, because it comes from a place that's, you know, spirit, that comes from a place that's emotional, that an AI can only replicate and can never truly like, can never truly replace. And so our goal is to, and that's always been our staple, is to be able to reach people through creative arts.

Zandra Polard 20:39
So most of the people in your group, they're all creative. Most

Daniel Isaiah Elias 20:43
of them are creatives. You have some mixed media people that do film, photography, painting as well, but we're the goal is to take all of that and build it into entrepreneurship.

Zandra Polard 20:55
So I think we did a pretty good flow and got into a lot of things. We didn't put too much clarity with your dad in the beginning, because I didn't want to get stuck with his story, you know. But should we build on next? That was a great

Daniel Isaiah Elias 21:12
place to start. I like the person that's a good place to start, because I think in this next upcoming project of mine is very personal. And I talk about a lot of things that I haven't talked about, and just speak my truth. You know, I think it's really easy to get caught up in, you know, just making music that's not so personal, to say the least. Just kind of like, how do you make music that's not so personal? What is that? I don't know. I mean, it's just, it's kind of like being more in the moment, and like it comes in ebbs and flows. So for me, in this moment, this moment is really just about expressing my truth, and not just trying to make a song or just make music, especially in the rap industry, like it can be a lot of things can be very surface, and

Zandra Polard 21:58
I'm not a very surface person. So your genre is rap. Do

Daniel Isaiah Elias 22:01
you it's, it's alternative hip hop and R B,

Zandra Polard 22:04
okay, okay. So you're doing some singing.

Daniel Isaiah Elias 22:07
Yeah, I've been doing a little

Zandra Polard 22:10
bit I do. Okay, okay, okay. Well, towards the end, you're gonna have to give us a little sample. I don't know

Daniel Isaiah Elias 22:14
about the singing, but I will rap for sure. Okay, okay, I got you. Okay,

Zandra Polard 22:18
so you host and participate in health and wellness events, workshops or webinars. Have you done anything in the valley?

Daniel Isaiah Elias 22:26
No, not in the valley just yet. I'm still new to the valley. You've only been here a month, about a month and a half. Brand new. Yeah. Okay, brand new. We began doing a lot of that work down in Texas. I was in Dallas for two years, okay, Dallas, and then I moved to New York for four or five months. So that's mostly where we begin doing those kind of things.

Zandra Polard 22:46
Well, how does it feel to travel and still have some to be still grounded in a way like to be spiritually grounded, but you have to always kind of move maneuver,

Daniel Isaiah Elias 23:03
I don't know. I've always been like that. You know, I grew up in a home going between my mom and my dad, so I was always kind of a kid on the move, and I just wanted to adopt it.

Zandra Polard 23:14
So it takes a special person to be able to adapt and do these things right. Because some people, if you move them around, they can't, you know what? I mean, turn them around a couple times, they're lost. Yeah, absolutely,

Daniel Isaiah Elias 23:25
yeah. I don't know if I would say a special kind of person, but I think it takes definitely a bit of dying.

Zandra Polard 23:30
Well, we're all special. We're all,

Daniel Isaiah Elias 23:31
you can't deny that, especially our family. But I think it's just, you know, a little bit of dying itself as well. I mean, the goal is, the mission is not about my comfortability all the time. You just do what you got to do, trying to have fun along the way. So

Zandra Polard 23:48
what do you think about the generation under yours? What are they? The younger generation of you? Is it Gen Z? What is it you're a millennial. So I guess the Oh my grandbaby is an A Oh my gosh, yeah. But what do you think about these younger kids, like teenagers, grand teens, who are at they're just totally lost. They don't listen to their parents because they're influenced by their friends. That's a normal, you know, part of life, and we have the technology, and we don't see the drive, yeah, that's a big thing. I

Daniel Isaiah Elias 24:33
mean, I think it's you got to give these kids some grace, because they're doing they're dealing with something that none of us ever really had to deal with me in my generation. I'm a special I like to call this a bridge, because I grew up with the Internet. You guys kind of got it on the back end. And these kids are growing up with social media, so they're constantly comparing themselves to other people. Depression is at the highest rate it's ever been suicides. The highest rate has ever been. The identity is lacking because they're trying to be other people. They don't know who to listen to. The leadership is lost. It's you at the end of the day. They're kids. And so there's two sides of the coin. There's one, there's a lot of opportunity out there, but it's also up to my generation, generations before us, blah, blah, blah, to kind of set that standard and say, Okay, this is what it is. This is what they're going now, you guys taking it wrong with it. But social media is so huge, it's kind of hard to control everything that happens, what they see, what they do, who they're around, who they're talking to,

Zandra Polard 25:33
but it still seems like there's a lack of motivation. Yeah. I mean, is it just the ones I know my kids? Is it just mine? I don't think so.

Daniel Isaiah Elias 25:42
No, no, I think it's just that. I think it comes down to to lack of purpose, lack of purpose, and then also just the user technology that

Zandra Polard 25:50
makes sense. Yeah, I think that's really what it is, yeah, not knowing who you are, what you want to do, yet, that's a lot of added pressure. Yeah, yeah.

Daniel Isaiah Elias 25:58
I mean, we had a lot of time to sit with ourselves. I was still when I was a kid, I was drawing and playing basketball, so I had a lot of time to think about what I wanted to do. And by the time Instagram came around, I knew who I was. I was 1415, when I came out, and I liked to create at that time. So when it first came out, it was a photography platform, okay? And I was all about it, and it turned into what it is now. So it's just, it's just a different way of living. You know, these kids are also very, very smart, yeah, extremely smart kids. They just have that kind of paralysis analysis,

Zandra Polard 26:34
okay? I like the way you frame that, so I want to make sure that you give us some time to give us a sample of your music before we leave. Yeah,

Daniel Isaiah Elias 26:46
let me grow. We Living in the era where it's cool to be on demon time. I just think we need a little Jesus and the sweetest wine, but I'm praying he releases if I need a crime. Even I believe, as I grieving because they people die gave us COVID, and these people still believe in science. I am not a mind. I'm just reading them between the lines, I'm elevating and reading, reaching my peace of mind, picking up in pieces and weaving around and me with lies, Dave, but that's just how I do. More pie tea. If you want to be a fool, I'm letting God use me, but I never be a tool. This is soul food. Super dude jumping out the booth. I done told you all that tofu is old news and that fake beefs no proof. You a cold dude, but if I told the truth, would you expose me to the youth and toss me out this booth and try and COVID me. And truth is all about

Zandra Polard 27:25
control, control. All right, good job. Thank you so much for blessing us with that absolutely. Hey, the site is called

Daniel Isaiah Elias 27:35
genius only.co. That is G, E, N, I, U, S o, n, l, y.co, you know what? People always tell me, I should be on the radio. I kind of like this.

Zandra Polard 27:44
Yeah, you sound good. You can come back anytime. You know that we're related. It's okay.

Daniel Isaiah Elias 27:48
Yeah, I'm here for it. Yeah? All

Zandra Polard 27:50
right, yeah. Daniel Isaiah Elias, better known as AM, thank you for coming on the show. Hey, y'all you know I'm here every Saturday at 7:30am it's where I am. Can be found on all major podcast platforms. Just type in that search box. It's where I am with Zandra, thank you. We'll talk to you next week. Enjoy the day. Bye. You.