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Building a Career Vision with Intention with Keltie Knight, 3-Time Emmy Award-Winning TV Host and Creator of “Superfan”: Show Notes & Transcript

Post | Aug 08, 2023

Welcome back to Marketing Smarts! From brand-building and marketing veterans Anne Candido and April Martini (that’s us) comes a podcast committed to cutting through all the confusing marketing BS so you can actually understand how to take action and change your business today. We deep-dive into topics most would gloss-over, infusing real-world examples from our combined 35+ years of corporate and agency experience. We tell it how it is so whether you are just starting out or have been in business awhile, you have the Marketing Smarts to immediately impact your business.

In this episode, we’re talking building a career vision with intention with Keltie Knight. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and your other favorite podcast spots – follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re exercising your Marketing Smarts!

  • Episode Summary & Player
  • Show Notes
  • Marketing Smarts Summary
  • Transcript

Marketing Smarts: Building a Career Vision with Intention with Keltie Knight, 3-Time Emmy Award-Winning TV Host and Creator of Superfan

This week, we’re making the entire episode a Marketing Smarts Moment. We’re honored to welcome special guest Keltie Knight, the 3-Time Emmy Award-Winning TV Host and Creator of Superfan. Hear how to achieve your goals, keep trying and trying, develop your personal brand, and why women often focus on so much comparison. You’ll also hear the behind-the-scenes of Keltie’s new show Superfan, which airs Wednesday at 9pm on CBS, starting August 9th. This episode covers everything from producing TV shows to building your personal brand. Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:

  • How do you build a career vision with intention?
  • Who are Keltie’s mentors?
  • How has she gotten where she is in her career?
  • What is her personal brand vision?
  • How does she unwind?
  • What is her favorite life hack?
  • Where did she meet Ed Sheeran?
  • What’s the best piece of advice she’s ever received?

And as always, if you need help in building your Marketing Smarts, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at: ForthRight-People.com.

Check out the episode, show notes, and transcript below:

Show Notes

What is Marketing Smarts?

From brand-building and marketing veterans Anne Candido and April Martini comes a podcast committed to cutting through all the confusing marketing BS so you can actually understand how to take action and change your business today. They deep-dive into topics most would gloss-over, infusing real-world examples from their combined 35+ years of corporate and agency experience. They tell it how it is so whether you are just starting out or have been in business awhile, you have the Marketing Smarts to immediately impact your business.

How do I exercise my Marketing Smarts?

Thanks for listening to Marketing Smarts. Get in touch here to become a savvier marketer. 

Transcript

Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.

Anne Candido 0:02
This is Marketing Smarts – a podcast committed to helping you become a savvier marketing leader, no matter your level. In each episode, we will dive into a relevant topic or challenge that marketing leaders are currently facing. We will also give you practical tools and applications that will help you put what you learn into practice today. And if you missed anything, don’t worry, we put worksheets on our website that summarize the key points. Now, let’s get to it.

April Martini 0:29
Welcome to Marketing Smarts!

Anne Candido 0:31
I am Anne Candido.

April Martini 0:32
And I am April martini, and today we’re going to do something a little bit different. So typically, our final segment of our show for those of you that listen is always a Marketing Smarts Moment, which is an example of a company or a brand or a person that may or may not be using their Marketing Smarts. And when we have guests we know they are and so they get to take over the last few minutes of the show and talk about what they’re doing. So today we’re going to make the entire episode a Marketing Smarts Moment with our special guest today. And so without further ado, I would like to welcome Keltie Knight, 3-time Emmy award-winning television host and current chief correspondent for E! News. And also we will talk about a ton today creator of Superfan, which is a musical game show that features performances by various artists, alongside contestants that are vying in multiple rounds of trivia to prove they are that artist’s most devoted supporter. So welcome, Keltie. And please introduce yourself further.

Keltie Knight 1:29
Thank you so much for having me on the podcast. I’m honored that we’re breaking code. I’m a rule follower. So you know, this is gonna I’m sorry to break the rules. I’m sure you guys are too. But I I’m so excited. And it’s been really cool. Honestly, to hear you say all those things in a list, because most of the time I wake up just like having a little cry and feeling very overwhelmed by it all. And it’s nice. It’s nice to be like, Oh, you’re you’re know you’re growing. You’re doing it. You’re doing it. I’m like, okay, I can get through this.

April Martini 1:59
Well, we’re here to be therapists to today, I guess. So

Keltie Knight 2:01
there you Thank you. Like all good women. I appreciate that. I appreciate that so much.

April Martini 2:07
All right. So with that, we’re gonna jump into building a career vision with intention with Keltie Knight. And for our regular listeners, again, just the caveat, you’re going to notice a different flow, but our goal is always the same to add value that inspires immediate action. All right, so Keltie first thing here, please elaborate on your experience and how it’s gotten to you to this point in your career. So we’ve talked about the title being visions, speak to the vision of the show, how it came to be, just give us an insight into your brain and your process.

Keltie Knight 2:38
Yeah, so such a great question. For me, I’m a big manifester. And I know that when someone says that enlist maker that they’re like bougie bougie. She’s like pray to the gods that should be successful in Hollywood. But with manifesting, I actually had over a decade ago, I was a kind of a newbie in the Hollywood interview space. And I was very clear on the things that I wanted to do so clear, in fact, that I got a chance to meet some agents at CAA one of the big agency agencies. And I was like, Why can’t just walk in and be like, Yeah, I’m here. I’m not really making any money, but like, you should definitely sign me when they have like Angelina Jolie, you know. So I made a poster board, a giant color coded poster board, and I walked into CEA like the loser that I am. And on that board was every unimaginable goal that I had for myself in Hollywood become a New York Times bestselling author, host national primetime television show, I have a huge endorsement deal with Target or Kohl’s, like all these different things. And I took a picture of it that day, I still have it. And at the time, I think the people in the room were looking at me like, What is wrong with her and why she like brain crafts to CAA. I really believe the idea of like, why the F not me, like someone is gonna get out there and sell a show. And I’m looking around and everyone’s smart and talented and beautiful. And that’s just like the bottom line in what we do. But like they’re not smarter, more talented. Well, they’re probably a little bit more beautiful, but like, they’re not smarter. You know what I mean? I got the brain. And so I just really from then on every year on December 31 head, looked at my year, figured out what I wanted to take on next. And for me, creating my own show and being a creator and owning a format around the world was something that was really important to me, and hosting a primetime shiny floor music show had been my dream for over a decade. So I didn’t get too caught up in the How am I going to make this happen and the day to day of like you need to do this and file this and go go go. I just made the giant goal and then every year I was able to sort of like get closer and closer. Always with that in my mind.

Anne Candido 5:07
Yeah, I think that’s awesome. Because there is, I mean, the establishing the vision already kind of creates the space, right? And so then the how becomes a little bit more tangible and actionable because it sounds like you just like kind of just did the next thing. The next thing is the next thing right. And so I’m very curious to hear like when she went in with your poster board and you that conversation, where did it go from there? Like what was the next thing that then you had to go do? Because obviously it didn’t, you didn’t snap your fingers. And it just all like emerged for you, right?

Keltie Knight 5:37
Yeah, so when I went there, I was already a baby baby reporter I was working for a show that was on television at the time called the insider and I was on the digital side called insider.com. And so I was creating like digital. And at the time, digital was like very Poopoo. It was like, basically like the farm team, like you weren’t good enough to be on TV, but they would like let you do some digital work. Now I feel like the world has flipped a lot. But at the time, so the next step was to build my reputation and my career by doing all the terrible jobs. So I was the person that was getting up my call time for almost four years was 4:15am in a makeup chair. I did live update hits across America, starting at five o’clock, I bought my own wardrobe from forever 21 I booked produced edited my own content, like I was a show up, it was bottom of the barrel absolute like just, I mean, it almost killed me to be honest, it was so difficult at times, because I would be up at 415 and I’d be doing all my daily digital shows and then I would be on the red carpets at night till like 10 or 11 o’clock at night so wasn’t sleeping wasn’t eating but like just doing a terrible job and that’s the terrible part is I think what breaks people the doing of the terrible job whether it’s an accompany or you’re in show business, it’s Can I last long enough doing the stuff that I absolutely freaking hate to get over the hill to where I start to reap the rewards because at this time, my salary sucked. I was still teaching dance on the weekends so that I could like pay my rent and even though I was like connected to this big TV show, but a lot of people they can’t hustle that hard part. So that was the next thing was building up, building up, persevering through the really shitty stuff. Then I started have a reputation where you know, I remember doing for this particular online show I did the first ever us interview with Ed Sheeran, Ed Sheeran was not famous. I got a cold blast email from the Atlantic Records published steeping, like we have this new artists he’s kind of become something in the UK is anyone looking to interview and everyone passed because he was no one. And I did the interview. And from then on, he was like, I want healthy, I want healthy I want healthy because I was so nice to him at the start of his career. And so it was building planting those seeds to where I became that person that watched the stars grow and grew with them in their career to the point where then 10 years later, when I was on Entertainment Tonight, I got you know, the exclusive backstage at the arena tour first look at the new album, like really crazy, crazy stuff. But that was those kinds of things are 10 years in the making. And I think that’s what people don’t understand is you have to build all that terrible stuff first.

April Martini 8:29
Yeah, I think that, well, one, just the fortitude that you have to build, right? Because one of the things we talk about all the time at forthright people is the same thing you do, which is you got to learn how to do the job. And sometimes that is grunt work and stuff that nobody really wants to do. But guess what, we’ve all had bosses and people in our lives or people in your world, I’m sure that you see. And you’re like, Yeah, but they kind of don’t come across authentically or in our world. It’s like, they don’t actually really know how to do the job that they profess to know. And so those building blocks are so important. And then the other piece of what you said, which is, you can’t do it on your own. And so investing in building the proper relationships, we coach all the time to our clients, because I think there’s this misnomer that I have to do it all on my own. And if I don’t, then I haven’t really proven myself when really it’s the contrary, which is you have to build the relationships and surround yourself with the right people like you did with Ed Sheeran. It’s like, well, now he remembers me forever, because I took a chance when nobody else did. And so achieving our goal goals is surrounding ourselves with those people. So I’d love to hear more about that side of things. You know, in addition to every December 31 I did x, you know, revisit things. Who are the people that you kind of look to that you’re like they took a chance or I took the time to build the relationship and then it became Yes, so

Keltie Knight 9:55
I would say my first real mentor was a television host named Kevin Frazier at Entertainment Tonight. At the time, he was the host of the show. And he is older than me. But like, he was always really like someone that was really in tune with the digital space. And whereas at the time, most people were like, it’s never going to happen. Nothing on social media will ever be bigger than television that like nothing like digital Youtube, LIKE it could never compete were television. And he was like, What are you doing? What are you hearing? What Snapchat? Like he was always really interested in that. And I think we had this really amazing relationship because I would teach him about, you know, what the young kids were doing. And at the time, and he he really was like, I remember one day he I was on set. I was a correspondent at that time. And I wore like this pattern dress and it was at the time when like that bando company had started making like really fun hair clips. And I had like a sparkly gold hair clip. And he turned to me says, If you ever want to be taken seriously in this business, you will remove that hair clip. I was like, now I wear whatever I want. But at the time, like you know, you kind of have to morph into the thing that people are comfortable with. You can’t be too weird into wild ride away. So he was an amazing mentor for me. And then actually my partner on superfan is a woman named Jody Roth, who was a longtime television veteran. Her position for the last 20 years was being the SVP of specials at CBS. And she would hire me she was such a champion for me. She saw me on Entertainment Tonight in the insider and she wouldn’t hire me to host some of their Grammy specials and Thanksgiving Day parades and specials like that. And she really, I mean, this is a network as a Gayle King on it like I you like you’re not like hey, I need Kelty night. You know what I mean? So the fact that she took a chance on me was so huge, but she was like, You’re just there’s something about you, you’re special. And I could have gone into those events because they’re really high stress events, being sort of a diva and not talking everyone and like getting my dress on going to the red carpet doing my thing and leaving. But instead I like really tried to meet everyone. And Jodie was one of those people and we formed a really beautiful friendship. So much so that when I left entertainments night, she had just been laid off during a massive layoff at CBS. We turned to each other. And we had already started kind of working on this show superfan or at the time it was called something else. And I turned to her I was like, It’s go time, let’s make production company. Let’s do this. And so, like you said, knowing the right people, you can’t always plan what that next step is, I thought I would be you know, at that show for the next 40 years. Like I had no idea. But having enough things in your pocket enough ideas, and then having the relationships to be like, You’re smarter than me, I want you in my corner. Here’s what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna partner up, we’re gonna take this back to CBS and Solex is a perfect show for them. And that’s exactly what we did. There was some luck involved, obviously. But what I want to say before that is I’m making it sound so incredibly easy. And I just want to let everyone know that in between those things. The Ed Sheeran interview and selling a show to CBS, I have pitched hundreds of ideas and not gotten past the first pitch, I have auditioned to host television shows and not been chosen, I have been told no 99.9% of the time. And a lot of ideas that I thought were great ideas were like, This is a terrible idea. So lucky. This one the stars came together. But again, that resilience to keep going. I love

Anne Candido 13:25
what you’re saying, because it’s just a really telegraphic, just exploit of all the wonderful things that can happen when you recognize a couple of the key things that I think are so incredibly potent one that it’s hard. I mean, I think a lot of times when we get stuck in this to where it’s like, why is it so hard? Why can’t we just like do something and just have it work. But then when you think about the kind of flywheel you’re trying to get going, maybe it can be a little flywheel, it could be a big flywheel and big flywheels are harder. And Alex Remos, he is one of my new faves. He he says this all the time, it’s like what did you expect it to be easy? Well, then this is what hard looks like. And I think that’s just like a really great depiction and way of just internalizing that, these things that we want to achieve. They’re, they’re hard, they’re because they’re big. And so you can go for the smaller easier stuff, or you can go for the big stuff, be better prepared for the journey, but along the way, embrace the journey, right? Like you embrace every single moment of that journey from the doing, like you said, the slipping like the hard stuff, but it was a learning process. And you took advantage of everything around you to kind of figure out who do I need to meet? How do I need to be and not getting too stuck in yourself about like, oh, I need to take my goal clip on my hair. You know what, I’m gonna go do that. I’m not gonna be like, Oh, you’re messing with my personal vibe and my personal brand and all this kind of stuff. It’s like, okay, I need to be the person and they need me to be so they can see me in this moment and that I am not being the person that stuck in actually my own way. And I think a lot of the times we tend to do that as we kind of get in our own way because of our expectations. into how the process is supposed to go, versus honoring the process. And really understanding how we need to be in that moment in order to fully internalize everything. So I love what you had to say about that. Because I think that’s really important for everybody to really understand and hear from somebody who’s actually I mean, you’re still in it, you’re still going through it. But you’ve had some tremendous successes. But it wasn’t again, like from a snap of your fingers.

Keltie Knight 15:23
I’m really into fashion. And obviously I work on E now when I have like a fashion story example of exactly what you just said. So for so many years, Nancy O’Dell was the host of Entertainment Tonight. And it was like, you wanted to just be a mini Nancy. So if Nancy was wearing like, you know, if your Nancy was wearing red, yellow, green DVF dresses to her knees, like that’s what you were doing. And I was in my 20s and early 30s. But I was trying to age up because I wanted people to take me really seriously. And so after the HAIR CLUB thing, like I really looked around, I was like, Okay, what is a TV host? And how can I be her, you know, and I really did that. And I was very, very strategic in what I was wearing and who I was and, and then as the years went by, and as I got more successful, I could lean into like, who my natural person is, but for super fan. For the show. It’s actually so crazy, because I was creator and executive producer and host. When it came time for the fashion on this show. I would be like, okay, host Keltie and I put on a crazy outfit. And then I turned to a turn to executive producer host Keltie, and I’d be like, what do we think? And then the creator and then I turned to creator Keltie, I’d be like we love it was really funny because I’m wearing on superfan all designer clothes like insane looks. The premiere episode with LL Cool J is this blue glare mini dress and it’s like it’s just sick. And then I ran them by Jody because she’s my partner and she’s the other executive producer, the other person I had to check it off and she was like, she also loved fashion. He was like, you’re kind of weird, but okay, but we knew we were taking a risk with the fashion. And so then when everyone saw the finished show and the executives I remember like I walked out for the pit bull episode of super fan I’m wearing an Alex Perry like vinyl dress that has vinyl matching boots like head to toe vinyl like a Kardashian. No television host is wearing head to toe vinyl, I tell you that right now. And I walked out of the room and like one of the network heads was there and he goes, Oh, I’m in trouble. But for super fans specifically, like all of those years of knowing, like you said, when to push the boundary or when to just suck it up and do the thing. Like super fan for me is my swan song like I will go down in a move layer dress, you can love me or hate me. I’ve been waiting my whole life for this show. And I’m going to wear what I want. I’ll wear the sparkly Bret, I didn’t wear sparkly jewelry, shoo, shoo. I’ve upgraded. But point being is like, this is my game now like this is I want it to show up as the most true. And if it bombs and people are like what is she wearing? I hate her guts, then that is you hate the most true version of me. And I’m okay with that. Because if this show does not become a hit, I’m definitely moving to an island in Puerto Rico. So I gotta get out, I can’t do it anymore. I’m just gonna

Anne Candido 18:15
have a backup plan.

April Martini 18:19
Well, in so much of what we talk about is branding. And then really specifically personal brand, which I think you just kind of highlighted. And so I would love for you to give some perspective on your personal brand and vision. And it sounds like it’s built over time, which is another thing we tell people like a brand is a living breathing thing, including your own brand. And so you have to cultivate it and curate it and have it show up like you just said in the right way at the right time. So talk to us a little bit about like the brand vision for the show and what you want the experience to be for people on the other side.

Keltie Knight 18:52
Oh, I love this question so much and I’m just having the time of my life nerding out with you about this kind of stuff. So for me, I believe there’s two kinds of I call them girls but women on the planet there’s like cool girls and hustle girls. And the cool girls are the ones that are like get invited to Paris Fashion Week and they have like personal photographers that follow them around for their Instagram platforms and like it’s just such a curated perfection that I will admit at times have tried to emulate because I was like well that’s what everybody’s doing. Everybody’s doing this look and like we’re doing millennial pink and we’re doing you know, and it was so inauthentic to me because I’m just that person like I love pens and I have a journal that I like write down you know like I’m just like a hustle girl and that’s what my April right there. Yeah, like my life is not beautiful and I don’t have only nude clothing. Like I don’t know what to tell everyone but like that’s just not me. And so it was this decision as I got closer to superfan launching and kind of like in the past few years of my career is I looked around and I was like, what do I really like? And then I went into my Instagram and my TikTok and our podcasts. And I really looked at the episodes and the content that people were really relating to not the prettiest, not the one that made me the coolest, but like, what did I post and then people were like, really reacting to it. And it really always was me discussing being a hustle girl, like me overcoming the like hard stuff in life, me keeping it real about what celebrities were really doing when they called the paparazzi in themselves and how that works. And so there was this air of like, I got to the point for my personal brand, where I felt like I am a pop culture girls, like best friend, I’m a pop culture girls fan girl. I’m not the cool one that we’re fangirling over. But I’m the leader of the fan girls, I’ve been a fan girl over all the celebrities, I’m going to send her all over the musicians and all the fashion. I can’t pull it off the way that I wish I could. But I’m going to be like the narrator for all of us. And so that really is like the lens that I view everything for and with superfan. Obviously, it’s a huge lens, because the entire show is about finding these Superfans that are they give their entire lives to just being fans of these people. One of our contestants for the glorious stuff on episode has a glorious stuff on room in their house, it’s just a temple, it’s a room, it’s every piece of merch, every villa, like every single thing, you know. So it’s really giving the fan girls that exist out there a place where they can be the winners because we don’t have musical talent, we’re not gonna be dancing, we’re not going to be on America’s Got Talent, like doing tricks with our dogs, like being a fan is a talent. And so that’s what super fan is all about. And it’s really cool. Because creating the show, I knew that we needed the show out in the world. But as the host, I’m exactly the same as I would be like talking to you right now, Nate, my co host is very cool. He’s like super chic. And I’m just like, it should not just like, I just am so authentic to who I am. And that I think that’s what like makes the show so special. And in addition to that I’m married to music manager. I’ve loved music my whole life. Ed Sheeran, like I said, was one of my first interviews. So to have a place where these huge musical artists can come and entertain families for an hour with their stories and their career and their photos and their behind the scenes things you’ve never heard before. And a giant performance. I mean, it’s just like, the most special hour of television. And it’s also like my favorite hour of television. So I’m not like creating an AI machine that like but that home I love to bake. My whole brand is like it all fits together. Does that make sense?

Anne Candido 22:52
Yeah, I think it does. It totally does. I mean, even even just watching the promo, I can see it in the way that you’re articulating it like it definitely is holding together. And I think that is so important. Because it comes down to the details, right? It comes down to making sure each one of those pieces fit together in a way that creates the the impression that you want people to have of it. But the authenticity piece is so super important. I think now because it TV is hard. I mean, especially reality shows are hard. And so part of that is really liking the personalities that are actually on the show. And that’s about cultivating that and making sure that it feels like you but also that it’s the way that you want people to actually see you as well, right. So it’s kind of hard to like match both of those. And it sounds like you’ve done a really good job and been really intentional about making sure that all those pieces line up in a way that it just all connects so that the brand itself. Maybe it goes beyond the show, potentially, right? It’s the show, but it may be a second show. And maybe it’s a spin off of the show. But it’s like not even just looking at the one piece that’s right now but looking at what the other pieces look like. Yeah.

Keltie Knight 24:04
Oh 100%. And let me tell you, I was so involved with the show the logo, like I mean, we have, of course, it’s a group effort. And there’s a large amount of people that were involved. But like the logo, the reason the font is the way it is, is because I wanted the font to look the way it is when you’re backstage with a musical artist and they have those road cases and they spray paint like AC/DC or, you know Dolly Parton on it, there’s a font that they use for that and also the road cases have this texture. So the logo of our show has that same texture because I wanted it to feel like that. I wanted there to be no bent edges because I felt like there was like it’s rock and roll and so we can’t have like a soft font. Everything needs to be like staccato and loud and the reasons I picked gold is because when I was a kid like there wasn’t even platinum records it was like you got a gold record and So gold is the color the show and the stage like the reason the stage looks a certain way is because I want have the lights that when you used to, when I used to go to shows on the Lower East Side of New York, there’s always like these crappy lights that like would be in the dressing rooms. And I wanted those like around the outside and the carpet in the winter circles carpet that Jody and I would literally put on our houses like the show is like us like that.

April Martini 25:18
Yeah, well, and I mean, as the one that does the more creative aspect of the brand and like the toy thing with the visual creative aspects, and, and does the word creative, and I’m more of the visual piece. But what you’re you’re talking about, I think is important and and mentioned the word authenticity. And that’s what I’m getting out of this interview overall, as well as what I expect to be the experience of the show when it comes out is that because you’re considering all of those details, but then how they work together, there’s a considered nature to it, that people can decide to love it or hate it, like you said, but I don’t think you’ll be able to argue that it’s inauthentic because it is those details that allow it to come to life with that intentionality that then people can feel and decide again to opt in or out. But I think that’s how you’re going to hit the audience that that is the right audience. And I think the other piece that’s really interesting is, you know, you said TV’s hard and Keltie, you said, you know, TV used to be the be all end all. And now we have all these other things. My feeling is this will stand out in a new and different way, because it’s not so sensationalized. And it’s not outrageous. And it’s not trying to compete at that level of, you know, what you said about being the cool factor? No, it’s not about the cool factor. But I think the people that you’re trying to attract whether it’s the contestant or the view, or even the artist, I have a feeling that are attracted to the show, they’re going to be there because of that, not because they want it to be shiny and fancy and outrageous and some of these other things. So I think those individual pieces ladder up to an experience that will be cohesive and something that people can articulate back, which I think is awesome.

Keltie Knight 27:02
Thank you so much. Yeah. And you know, what else about Superfan that really excites me is like, Earth is kind of terrible right now, like AI is taking our jobs, we’re in a recession, global warming, all of these things that are happening, and we’re all fighting with each other. And I do love the idea of there being something that’s just like a warm hug that can make you just feel really good. And when you watch these fans from across the country, some of them had never been to Los Angeles before, stand there and plead their case directly to the biggest stars in the world. Why? I’m your number one fan. I’m your number one fan. I put my quote in my eighth grade yearbook about you i I named my dog you you there’s a beautiful story of this girl. At the Shania episode. She was like you I grew up with you listening to my parents and then I went to college, got diagnosed a 24 with metastatic breast cancer and listened to your music through treatment. And then when she finished treatment got You go girl, like Let’s go girls, this Shania Twain song tattooed on her back and she’s telling the story to Shania Twain, and she is crying. And so we just like when you see that you can’t help but feel a little hopeful about humanity. And I don’t know about you, ladies. But like, I really need that right now. I need an hour where I can sit on television, I can sit in front of the TV and I can have my kids with me. If I have kids, I can have my parents with me. And we can all just like feel a little better about that. There’s good people out there. And that really is something special.

Anne Candido 28:43
And I think it humanizes the stars as well, right? The musicians as well. So you get a little bit of insight into who they are. As people, I always find that extremely fascinating. Because I think a lot of times we sit on the outside, we’re like those aren’t even real people. We don’t even know what world that they live in, right when we put them on the pedestal and, and that’s how we see them and we idolize them, but like kind of bringing them back down and making them more human and, and getting that exposure is a really special element too.

Keltie Knight 29:09
It’s wild. I mean, I take LL Cool J who’s our premiere episode on August 9, and LL is like, you know, his sunglass wearing if you watch it and says, like he’s like big muscles are kind of, you know, tough guy. And at one point, there was one kid who there’s a there’s a competition where you have to guess that’s the third round of play where you as the fans, you have to match with what you think the star would think it’s unbelievable. It’s trivia. So we’re asking things like fans, LL Cool J is on a flight and they are only playing rom coms made by his frequent collaborator Jennifer Lopez, because he has songs with Jennifer Lopez like they’re only playing J Lo rom coms and he really want to watch a movie but that’s all that’s available which rom com does he choose and we put up on the screen, the wedding planner Made in Manhattan, like, whatever. And so the fans have to write down and be like, I think he will pick and then they have to turn the thing in. They’re like, Okay, well, I think he’s gonna pick main Manhattan because he’s from New York, or I think he’s gonna pick like, there’s no way to know this. You just have to know his vibe. And this kid got every single one, right? Why every single thing not Google and LL, he was so cool. He was like, This is dope. This is dope, like being allowed. It took him to the third round of play, where he lost his cool and he was like this guy, this guy like he could not believe that somebody knew the innards of his brain thoughts. This well. And so that is very cool. When you see the star be like, Wait, like, I knew I was popular. But this is.

April Martini 30:50
And without any sort of like stalker creep factor, which I think is

Keltie Knight 30:54
no creep factor. No. And I mean, there were people with creep factors. We didn’t cast them for this show. Like they went, there was an a very intense long casting and psychological background check. But these these fans are just true, like lovers, fans, amazing people with great stories. And it is just so wonderful. And the thing is, is that the next thing that was really important to me is that I feel like as when you were talking about branding, I feel like the reason that TV is failing us in some ways at this moment, is because we’re so obsessed with like that instant interaction with Instagram and Facebook. And so you put something out there and then everyone can comment on it you like feel all the fuzzies. And so that’s why it’s really important for me for superfan that we’re doing an America votes. So we did film this a few months before Twitter sort of imploded. So but we are doing a Twitter vote and so I know everyone’s keeping their Twitter until at least September. We’re doing a Twitter vote. And so it’s not up to the star. It’s not up to the host. There’s no judging panel. It’s literally up to America. So you’re watching the show the whole hour, and you’re falling in love with this person or this person. And then when it comes to the end of the show, you’re hopping on Twitter, use the hashtag, you know, Superfan Keltie, Superfan and whatever it is to like, place your vote. And America’s really going to choose the superfan and I thought having TV that is also back like responsive. The way that social media and digital is, was a really interesting thing. I know they do it on American Idol and they do it on you know other things. But I really wanted to continue that because I think it adds a layer to television watching that a lot of shows don’t have.

April Martini 32:38
Yeah, I mean, as you were talking through that I get a sense of like wholesomeness that I haven’t seen in a really long time. And I feel like that adds that element of well, being inclusive of everybody that’s participating in the show, but in a way that gives people a break. I think a lot of what you said around everything going on in the world. And I think these one on one interactions, whether it’s one on one with the show, eye viewer watching or one on one, you know, the celebrity to the super fan, or even you with the people involved, is something that can bring people back to kind of, okay, there’s a ton of stuff swirling around us. And there’s AI and there’s digital, and there’s all these things that take me away from the humanity. But when I can be this close to it, in these moments, even if it’s for an hour, it reminds me what it is to be human, and then hopefully go put that back into the world in other ways, so that we can all be a little more sane, right and human.

Keltie Knight 33:35
And also, it just goes to show like, I know that that comparison, you know that that old? A Dodge Comparison is the thief of joy. And I feel like the way we’re forced to live our lives, especially as women, it’s like 25 comparisons an hour, like just coming at us like what don’t I have what don’t I have to wear? If I have more money? Why is everyone in France right now on vacation? And I’m here working like the you know, why does she look better than Why is my face like that? You know, and so there’s so much comparison. And I love the idea where you can just sit back and be like, Oh, no, it’s cool to be from Virginia. And just really love Kelsea Ballerini. Like, it’s cool that your entire world is like, I just want to go in my car, I want to go to work at this job that like it’s whatever pays the bills, and I want to put Kelsea Ballerini on my headphones and I wanted to do my data entry, and I want to go home at night, and I want to watch some shows. And then I want to save up and I want to go to a concert and buy some merch. Like, that’s enough. Like not everyone, like you’re saying the beginning. Like people can choose to have a big life or they can choose to have a small life. But both of those lives really matter. And they’re both okay. You don’t have to be in Hollywood, with Instagram famous for like your life to be important to you. And if you just want to be like, I love Gloria Stefon and I’m just gonna kind of follow her and get into what she’s into. That’s great. And congratulations to you, you know? Yeah, it’s all okay.

April Martini 34:59
All right Keltie, we’re getting toward the end here. But part of what we also like to do with guests is allow our listeners to get to know you more. Okay? So we have a before we let you really full on promote the show and tell us all about it a couple of what we like to say are quickfire questions. So okay, I’m ready. The first one is, what is your favorite life hack?

Keltie Knight 35:19
My favorite life hack is oh my god, I’m the happiest hacker? letting everyone know that I won’t answer the phone when they call and training them to only text me. Love it. Oh,

Anne Candido 35:32
that’s a great one. Yeah,

Keltie Knight 35:33
it’s small talk or not. I can’t small talk. I can’t small talk. Now time. I don’t have the energy.

April Martini 35:40
All right, a little bit of a different lens here. How do you unwind? Because you obviously have a lot going on right now.

Keltie Knight 35:45
Yes, I unwind. By walking my dog and not taking my phone with me. I unwind by I love to read my lady gang fans and stuff know this, but I’m a massive reader. I read probably for an hour to an hour and a half every night before you go to bed. I don’t have children. So you’re welcome me but I am such a book nerd. I’ve been book nerd my whole life. I like sometimes the clock will turn seven. And I’m like, I can’t wait to get into bed and read for a couple hours. Like I love

April Martini 36:13
to feed. Alright, and the last one, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Keltie Knight 36:17
Don’t wear that sparkly brat. I’m just kidding. Yeah, the best piece of advice I’ve ever received was from my longtime entertainment lawyer, who liked that team at CAA at the time took me on when I was making no money. And they had no reason to sign me but her name is Carolyn Conrad, I will name shout her. She’s a female entertainment Lauren, she’s so smart. And every time I kind of started, like, getting pulled into different directions, feeling a certain way about myself or seeing what others were doing that I wasn’t getting and getting frustrated by it. She makes me think the visual, she’s like you are like a horse. And you have to put your blinders on. And you have to literally just think, look at your goal and you’re facing towards that it doesn’t matter what’s happening over here on the right, it doesn’t matter what’s happening here over the left. Just keep your blinders on. And so I don’t spend a lot of time in my life looking at what the other TV host girls are doing, what they’re wearing, what they’re shopping, what’s getting picked up of theirs. I really and when I get into that place, I just try to sit back and remind myself put your blinders on and just face forward towards your stuff. And go towards your stuff and use that energy. Use your time use your brain power to get you there instead of to try to hold them back.

April Martini 37:31
That’s amazing advice. Love it. All right. Well, as we said at the end, we turn it over to our guests. So Keltie This has been so fun. And we’ve also enjoyed geeking out with you. Yeah, all things all topics today. I can’t even pick one. But bring us home you know promote the show talk about it. When is it on? Where can people see it? What do you want from fans, you just put it all out there?

Keltie Knight 37:55
Well, first of all, I love to talking to you ladies too. This was really nice. And I think that the branding aspect of life and business is so important and no one ever asks about or talks about, they just can kind of magically think lives become these like beautiful things and it is really like a lot of work. So I appreciate the work you do and the conversations you have as well. Superfan is the best musical series designed as a game show ever. We kick it off August 9 on CBS at 9pm right after Big Brother Go from Julie Chen to me. And it’s going to be every Wednesday for 6 weeks at 9pm on CBS which is channel 2 in most places easy to find. We have LL Cool J then we have Shania Twain, Gloria Estefan, Little Big Town – one of my favorite country groups – and we’re ending with Kelsea Ballerini who has had such a huge year in the country pop culture space and so we’re so excited you can follow on Instagram at superfans CBS for like all the info and for reminder o’clock and all of that. But what I really want is I want people to tune into the show on August 9. Watch LL Cool J even if you’re not like a Superfan of LL Cool J It’s not about that. You don’t have to be a fan of the artist. It’s still like great television. And to hop onto Twitter dust off your Twitter before you believe it forever. Vote before you just head to threads nonstop dust off your Twitter and just vote because I’m going to be there I’m going to be on my phone and I’m going to see everyone voting and if like 3 people vote I’ll be so sad like just please vote pick a person vote for them. I’ll see you there I’ll know it’s there. My real like dream would for like Superfan to trend on Twitter like that night that would mean like the world to me because I think that would mean that the idea of having like this engagement television actually worked and next season we’ll switch it over. Don’t worry guys not on Twitter forever. I get it. I get it.

April Martini 39:53
Alright, everybody. So you heard her. Help Keltie out please. And again, it’s been such a pleasure talking to you and with that, we will say go and exercise your Marketing Smarts! Still need help in growing your Marketing Smarts? Contact us through our website: ForthRight-People.com. We can help you become a savvier marketer through coaching or training you and your team or doing the work on your behalf. Please also help us grow the podcast by rating and reviewing on your player of choice and sharing with at least one person. Now, go show off your Marketing Smarts!