The Person Who Believed In Me with David Begnaud

Bozoma Saint John was 12 when her family landed in Colorado Springs, where her classmates already had a picture of Africa: the child on the UNICEF magnet, flies and a distended belly, worth a penny a day. Her father held two PhDs. Her mother was a fashion designer. Nobody in that house took an American name. Bozoma was strong in math and science and Latin and was going to be a doctor — decided at 12, though she says she couldn't tell you where her parents' plan ended and her own wanting began. Then an eleventh-grade English teacher named Martha Wood assigned a creative writing exercise: describe yourself somewhere else, in the third person. Bozoma wrote it, and Mrs. Wood held the pages up and read them aloud — in a room of native speakers, some of whom had mocked her accent. The room went quiet. It was the first time anyone suggested she could be something other than what had been planned. She starts crying about it thirty seconds into this conversation. Two more people did that for her later. Spike Lee, whose phones she was answering at 23 when she gave him notes on the Bamboozled script — bad notes, she says now — and he slammed his door, and came out to say: you made some good notes, you can stay. And Ari Emanuel, the first boss who ever really saw her, who told her she wasn't Bose at Apple or Bose at Uber. She was just Bose. Did she have an agent? She also talks with David Begnaud about her husband, Peter. They were separated, after the death of their daughter Eve and the blame they'd started looking for in each other, when his cancer turned terminal. He asked her to set the divorce aside, then proposed again — sixty pounds lighter, in a jacket that no longer fit, with a Hostess cupcake instead of a wedding cake. She says yes is still the best one she's ever given.

Before Gary Vaynerchuk became a digital media mogul, CEO of a 2,000-person marketing empire, and one of the loudest voices on the internet, he was a three-year-old Soviet refugee living in a studio apartment in Queens with eight family members in rotation. In this deeply personal and unguarded conversation, the entrepreneur behind VaynerMedia sits down with David Begnaud to share the story of the woman who believed in him when no one else could, and how that belief came wrapped in unconditional warmth and a refusal to let bad grades touch his self-esteem. Gary opens up about escaping the Soviet Union at three years old, a place he describes as being like North Korea today, where his parents had to give up everything just to leave and his mother hid a piece of jewelry in his stockings like a cocaine mule. He talks about arriving in America with a couple hundred bucks, living in Edison, New Jersey, and watching his father Sasha work as a stock boy in a liquor store before building Shopper's Discount Liquors from $3 million to $60 million. He shares what it was like to be the lemonade stand kid at seven, the baseball card dealer at 14 who could outsell grown men, and the high school student who got grounded every single report card yet somehow never let it hurt his self-esteem because his mother Tamara celebrated kindness over achievement. Gary also shares why the knitted Jets jersey his mom made him when he couldn't afford a real one will hang in the stadium when he buys the New York Jets. Alongside it, a plaque will say from a boy that couldn't afford a jersey to buying the whole damn team. Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com Chapters ☀️ ABOUT THIS PODCAST: The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question. David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning. Host: David Begnaud Guest: Gary Vaynerchuk Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse, Justin McGoldrick Booker: Sully Bloch Director of Photography: Foster Parks Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative) Social: Kylee Anderson, Maxim Trofimenko, Gracie Pekrul Theme Music: Slipstream Post-Production: Longwave Digital & David & Luana Co. CONNECT WITH US: The Person Who Believed In Me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast

Before Brian Grazer became one of Hollywood's most powerful producers — 43 Academy Award nominations, 320 Emmy nominations, more than $15 billion at the box office — he was a dyslexic kid in the San Fernando Valley getting straight F's, thought of as the boy who couldn't read. Then his grandmother, Sonja Schwartz, told him he was a genius with a gift for gab, and that not knowing an answer didn't make him dumb. It just made him more interested. In this unguarded conversation, the producer behind A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Splash, 8 Mile, Friday Night Lights, 24, and Empire sits down with David Begnaud to talk about the woman who believed in him first. He describes turning an empty office at Warner Brothers into his own enterprise, cold-calling the twenty biggest filmmakers in the business with a single promise — he'd never ask them for anything — and getting stopped at the door by Lew Wasserman, who handed him a pencil and a legal pad and told him to come back with something of value. He started writing Splash that year. He also talks about the father who shook off his hand as a child and the father he chose to become instead; about his son Riley, whose Instagram bio reads I am nice and I am caring, and how watching kids hide Riley's lunch became A Beautiful Mind; about standing up too early at the Oscars, and the astronaut who reached across two rows to tell him he'd never made it to the moon either. Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com Chapters ☀️ 00:00:00 Intro: The Grandmother Who Said You're a Genius 00:02:01 Straight F's and Deep Shame: The Dyslexic Kid Who Couldn't Read 00:06:28 The Loveless Father: When Dad Shook Off His Touch 00:10:22 Curiosity Conversations: 40 Years of Meeting the Masters 00:18:18 The Warner Brothers Con: Building an Empire from a Law Clerk Job 00:21:42 Grandma Takes Him to the Bosses: Meeting Power at Hollywood Park 00:26:59 The Liar Story: When a Mentor Called Out the Truth Problem 00:37:41 Incorrect: The Coach Who Cut Him and Crushed His Soul 00:54:37 The Teacher Who Hit Him with a Board 00:47:33 The Oscar Moment: Loser, and Jim Lovell's Grip 00:50:39 Deep Throat and Don Rickles: What Grandma Taught Him About Vegas 01:04:50 Riley's Bio: I Am Nice and I Am Caring 01:10:13 What He'd Say to Grandma Sonia: How Much I Love Her ABOUT THIS PODCAST: The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question. David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning. Host: David Begnaud Guest: Brian Grazer Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse, Justin...

Before Margaret Cho became a legendary comedian, Emmy-nominated actor, and one of the most influential voices in stand-up comedy, she was a 15-year-old kid who had just been expelled from one of San Francisco's most prestigious high schools for truancy and bad grades, with parents who had essentially given up on her. Then James Jackson, an English teacher with a Southern drawl, a speech impediment, and a vintage motorcycle, started writing notes in the margins of her essays that changed everything: A+, so great, brilliant, funny. In this deeply personal and unguarded conversation, the trailblazing comedian sits down with David Begnaud to share the story of the man who believed in her when she was just trying to blend into the walls. Margaret opens up about meeting Mr. Jackson at the School of the Arts in San Francisco, a teacher who rode a motorcycle, wore a leather jacket with cigarettes in the sleeve, and spoke like a Southern Barbara Walters. She talks about the composition book he gave her at the beginning of the year, how his handwritten encouragement in the margins reignited the excellent student she had forgotten she was, and why his gentle belief felt so tender it was almost poetic. She shares what it was like to watch him get bullied by jocks in the classroom for being gay, how that made her feel as a closeted teenager herself, and the day she and her best friend Jerry walked out of school forever after those same jocks mocked Mr. Jackson's murder. She reflects on learning decades later that Mr. Jackson had been killed by a homeless teenager he had taken in, and how court documents revealed allegations that Mr. Jackson had sexually abused the boy who killed him. There's also a raw reflection on trauma, survival, and what it means to separate the art from the artist. Margaret talks about being sexually abused by multiple people as a young girl in the 1970s and 80s, a time when young girl sexuality was disturbingly normalized, and how her parents denied it happened and still refuse to talk about it today. She opens up about being raped in high school, headlining the first primetime ABC sitcom starring an Asian American woman in 1994, and being told by network executives that she was too fat to play herself. She shares what it felt like to lose 30 pounds in two weeks on fen-fen, urinate blood in her trailer from kidney failure, and be told not to gain the weight back even after her hair fell out. She reflects on spending a year and nine months in treatment for addiction, learning to wear sobriety like a loose garment, and why comedy is a coping mechanism that gives you hope by making you take an unexpected breath. As complicated as the story is as we present it, Margaret reflects on what she would want to say to Mr. Jackson, why his encouragement led her to encourage younger comedians the same way, and why she's really happy now after arranging her life in the right way. Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com Chapters ☀️ ABOUT THIS PODCAST: The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question. David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning. Host: David Begnaud Guest: Margaret Cho Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse Booker: Sully Bloch Director of Photography: Foster Parks Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative) Social: Maxim Trofimenko, Kylee Anderson, Gracie Pekrul Theme Music: Slipstream Post-Production: Longwave Digital & David & Luana Co. CONNECT WITH US: The Person Who Believed In Me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast Photo Credits: Margaret Cho, Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts Yearbook

Before Tom Daley became one of the most decorated divers in British history with five Olympic medals and five Olympic Games under his belt, he was a terrified nine year old standing on the end of a diving board, crying his eyes out and refusing to jump into the pool. Then Andy Banks, the head coach at Plymouth Diving Club, walked in and said the words that almost ended everything before it started: Tom Daley will never be a diver for as long as he'll live. In this deeply personal and unguarded conversation, the Olympic champion sits down with David Begnaud to share the story of the coach who doubted him at first, then never stopped believing in him, and how that belief carried him through bullying, loss, and the darkest years of his life. Tom opens up about the moment Andy pulled him aside at 12 years old and asked if he wanted to go to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, laying out a roadmap for a kid who would become the youngest British diver to compete at an Olympic Games at just 14 years and 81 days old. He talks about coming back from Beijing and enduring brutal physical and emotional bullying at school, getting rugby tackled in the field and threatened to have his legs broken, all while trying to process what it meant to be an Olympian in eighth grade. He shares what it felt like to lose his father to a brain tumor at 17, just one year before the London 2012 Olympics, and how his dad never cared about results, only that Tom was 18th best in the whole country even if he came dead last. He reflects on meeting Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar winning screenwriter who flew to the UK to see him, only to be told by management that dating an LGBTQ activist would be bad for his image, and how falling in love felt like one more thing he loved that the world said was wrong. There's also a raw reflection on fear, identity, and what it means to thrive under pressure. Tom talks about hitting his head twice while diving, why Andy taught him that the day you stop being scared on the board is the day something goes wrong, and how knitting became the reason he was able to win Olympic gold at the Tokyo 2020 Games. He opens up about coming out at 19 through a YouTube video because he was tired of being misquoted and feeling ashamed, why he believes vulnerability is a practice and not a destination, and how becoming Papa to Robbie and Phoenix is the role he's most proud of beyond all his Olympic medals. He shares what it's like to retire at 30 and wake up every day wondering if he could do one more Olympics in LA 2028, why there's no such thing as good luck only good preparation, and why the greatest form of activism is just living your authentic life every single day. And he reflects on what his father, who recorded everything up until two days before he died, would want the world to know. Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com Chapters ☀️ ABOUT THIS PODCAST: The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question. David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning. Host: David Begnaud Guest: Tom Daley Executive Producer: Olivier Delfosse Associate Producer: Jonah Johnson Booker: Sully Bloch Director of Photography: Foster Parks Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative) Social Media: Maxim Trofimenko, Kylee Anderson, Gracie Pekrul Theme Music: Slipstream Post-Production: Longwave Digital, David & Luana Co. CONNECT WITH US: The Person Who Believed In Me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast

Before Harvey Mason Jr. became the CEO of the Recording Academy and a legendary music producer who worked with Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Michael Jackson, he was a college basketball player at the University of Arizona headed to the NBA. Then a torn ACL ended his career in one awkward landing, leaving him watching soap operas in a dorm room, depressed and driving around Tucson pitching jingles to Chinese buffets and brake shops. In this deeply personal and unguarded conversation, the Grammy executive sits down with David Begnaud to share the story of the man who believed in him when he was still figuring out who he was: Clive Davis, the legendary music mogul who put him in a room with Aretha Franklin and changed everything. Harvey opens up about the day he walked into Clive's bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel, nervous and blown away by the flowers and the speakers and the man who had signed his father as an artist decades earlier. He talks about playing I Like Them Girls for Clive, watching him close his eyes and nod his head, and getting the yes that gave him a confidence boost he didn't know he needed. He shares what it was like to produce Aretha's vocals, pushing her so hard she sent a furious letter to Clive saying Harvey wasn't the right producer, only to send him flowers the next day after hearing the recording and calling it one of her favorite vocals ever. He reflects on recording Whitney Houston for seven hours when she'd only promised him 15 minutes, convincing her to keep going by saying his only job was to make fans say that's the best Whitney Houston song I've ever heard. There's also a raw reflection on belief, identity, and what it means to be pushed. Harvey talks about his father, drummer Harvey Mason Sr., who believed so fiercely in him that it became both a gift and a weight, and how that shaped the way he raised his own kids. He opens up about playing for Coach Lute Olson at Arizona, feeling like Olson didn't believe in him for years, and only realizing decades later that the hardest coaching was actually the deepest belief. He shares what he learned from teammate Steve Kerr, who asked the team on a bus ride how can you be sleeping on the way to the game? and taught him there was another level to greatness. And he reflects on what it means to be the first Black CEO of the Recording Academy, why he's never content, and why the truth is when you're in the moment of somebody believing in you, sometimes it doesn't feel like belief at all. Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com Chapters ☀️ ABOUT THIS PODCAST: The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question. David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning. Host: David Begnaud Guest: Harvey Mason Jr. Executive Producer: Olivier Delfosse Associate Producer: Jonah Johnson Booker: Sully Bloch Director of Photography: Foster Parks Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative) Director of Social: Mariah Maull Theme Music: Slipstream Post-Production: Longwave Digital CONNECT WITH US: The Person Who Believed In Me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast

Before Sebastian Maniscalco became one of the highest paid comedians in the world — selling out five shows at Madison Square Garden and earning his own Sirius XM channel — he was a waiter at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, spending seven years serving nuts to celebrities while bombing at open mics. Then Mitzi Shore, the legendary owner of the Comedy Store, saw something in him that the rest of the industry had missed. In this deeply personal conversation, Sebastian sits down with David Begnaud to share the story of the woman who believed in him when he barely knew her, and how she gave him the one thing he needed most: a place to belong. Sebastian opens up about the moment Mitzi grabbed him after his audition and said the words that changed everything: Come back for 10 minutes next week. He talks about skipping straight to paid regular status, getting hot spots one week and 1:30 a.m. slots in front of four people the next, and how Mitzi manipulated lineups to build his thick skin without him realizing it. His relationship with her was never verbal — her love came through the stage time she gave him, and his came through never letting her down. There's also a raw reflection on family and work ethic. Sebastian's father Cecilion, a 79-year-old hairdresser, still cuts hair and refuses to retire because he believes stopping means dying. He rented Sebastian a lawnmower as a kid to teach him about business expenses — making him cut grass while allergic to it — and after a quadruple bypass, his first question from the hospital bed was when he could go back to work. Sebastian bought his parents cars last year, because the journey was never just his. He covers a lot of ground Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com Chapters ☀️ ABOUT THIS PODCAST: The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew. In each episode, David asks one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? David is also a CBS News contributor and host of Beg Knows America, airing every Monday morning. Host: David Begnaud Guest: Sebastian Maniscalco Executive Producer: Olivier Delfosse Associate Producer: Jonah Johnson Booker: Sully Bloch Director of Photography: Foster Parks Live Production: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative) Social: Mariah Maull, Maxim Trofimenko, Kylee Anderson Theme Music: Slipstream Post-Production: Longwave Digital Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast

Before Sharon Stone became one of Hollywood's most iconic stars, she was a kid from rural Pennsylvania getting sent to the principal's office for teaching her classmates cursive and multiplication. Then her father - a blue-collar machine shop worker with the touch of kings - walked in and said: Here's what's going to happen. It's not going to stop. She's going to keep right on doing it. Are we clear? In this unguarded conversation with David Begnaud, Sharon shares the story of the man who believed in her when the world told her to be less - and reflects on the life that followed. She opens up about the nine-day misdiagnosed brain hemorrhage she survived against 1% odds, the assault she didn't understand for a decade, the custody battle she lost to an ex-husband who ran the only newspaper in town, and why being a sex symbol meant the world assumed she was stupid instead of surviving. She talks about being the 13th choice for Basic Instinct, fighting through every makeup test to wipe off the bimbo overlay, and a mother who never once said I love you. And she shares what her father - who died exactly four months to the day after calling to say he had four months left - would want the world to know. Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com Chapters ☀️ ABOUT THIS PODCAST: The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question. David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning. Host: David Begnaud Guest: Sharon Stone Executive Producer: Olivier Delfosse Booker: Sully Bloch Director of Photography: Foster Parks Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative) Director of Social: Mariah Maull Theme Music: Slipstream Post-Production: Longwave Digital CONNECT WITH US: The Person Who Believed In Me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast

Before Arthur Brooks became a Harvard professor, bestselling author, and one of the world's most influential voices on happiness and human behavior, he was a 34 year old PhD student standing in front of a room full of Nobel Prize winners, delivering what he calls a catastrophic dissertation defense. Then James Q. Wilson, the most distinguished social scientist of the 20th century, walked up and said the words that changed everything: You know, you got something special here. If I can ever help you, just let me know. In this deeply personal and unguarded conversation, the renowned social scientist sits down with David Begnaud to share the story of the man who believed in him when no one else did. There's also a raw reflection on faith, struggle, and the complex problem of God. Arthur talks about the priest who rejected him, why he believes therapy isn't about solving problems but living with complexity, and why your marriage is not a problem to solve. He shares the one regret he carries every day, why he still asks if his father would be proud of him, and how losing his parents too soon led him to move his entire family to one place so he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. He opens up about the meaning crisis destroying young people today, why happiness is love and love is a choice, and why the greatest act of selfishness is refusing someone's generosity. Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com Chapters ☀️ ABOUT THIS PODCAST: The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question. David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning. Host: David Begnaud Guest: Arthur Brooks Executive Producers: Ellen Rocamora, Olivier Delfosse Associate Producer: Griffin Hamilton Booker: Sully Bloch Director of Photography: Foster Parks Director of Social: Mariah Maull Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative) Theme Music: Slipstream Post-Production: Longwave Digital CONNECT WITH US: The Person Who Believed In Me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast

Before Joel Kim Booster became an Emmy-nominated writer, actor, producer, stand-up comedian, and the star and creator of Fire Island, he was a 17 year old kid living in his car, kicked out by his adoptive parents for being gay, and convinced he was going to hell. Then Sarah Casey, a classmate he barely knew, turned around in choir and said the words that changed everything: If you ever need a place to stay, you can come and stay with me and my family. In this deeply personal and unguarded conversation, one of comedy's sharpest voices sits down with David Begnaud to share the story of the girl who became his chosen family when his own family walked away.e can give you is a place to belong when the world says you don't. And sometimes, that's all you need to become exactly who you were meant to be. Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com Chapters ☀️ ABOUT THIS PODCAST: The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question. David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning. Host: David Begnaud Guest: Joel Kim Booster Executive Producer: Olivier Delfosse Associate Producer: Jonah Johnson Booker: Sully Bloch Director of Photography: Foster Parks Director of Social: Mariah Maull Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative) Theme Music: Slipstream Post-Production: Longwave Digital CONNECT WITH US: The Person Who Believed In Me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast