Interview with Daniel Cho

Nick: Alright I’m here with Daniel Cho. He’s kind enough to sit down and get interviewed for becoming bold. So let’s start off the interview with one fun fact about you.

Daniel: Everybody likes the fact that I have a twin sister. She’s born four minutes before me. She is technically older and in our culture whoever is older gets a lot of benefits and perks. So it’s kind of a cool thing but the bane of my existence is growing up to.

Nick: Are you closer to her now?

Daniel: Yeah very close. I actually planned and coordinated my sister's wedding.

Nick: Very cool. When was that?

Daniel: It was this past august probably 16 months ago or something like that.

Nick: Very cool. So tell the people a little bit about what you do?

Daniel: Let’s see. What I do is I run a music and arts theme scene. With music we provide marketing promotions, PR, creative production, content in general, in the entire effort of building the brand equity of talent. Mostly musicians and recording artists but we do have some actors in the hold as well. We have this kind of link with Showtime's Dexter and we also have Justin Chan who is on the Twilight movie series and so it’s pretty interesting to say the least.

Nick: Very cool. How’d you get your start? Is there a story about it?

Daniel: I didn’t know I was going to be in marketing or PR or anything like or doing what I was doing or even when I was in college actually. I thought I was going to become a lawyer. Go to law school be a lawyer and then I had these dreams of becoming this district attorney for Los Angeles and then slowly transition that to be a politician and then changing the world one step at a time. It kind of changed when I was probably a couple of years out of college. I went to this place called Rock the Boat where I was the new media manager. That’s where I kind of got a lot of insight into the human industry because Rock works hand in hand and uses the entertainment or the music industry as a conduit to speak to youth and engage them in youth politics or to go to anywhere to help out. So I got both sides politics and entertainment and once I ended the company I just didn’t know what to do. I knew I didn’t want to go to politics anymore because I think I was just extremely burned out and after that I want to stick more to interactive marketing with a focus on entertainment and things like that. I just kept going from that.

Nick: Very cool. Knowing any business that you entered there’s barriers and did you find that there was barriers for you?

Daniel: You know what was interesting was I found barriers into going into the political realm a little bit more than the entertainment or the marketing realm. I guess I was lucky because I came in with different background than a traditional person every single time. I first got my start, real big start when I was at the white house for Bill Clinton and then after that it gives you a lot of credibility in the political circles. So that definitely helped me get at Rock the Boat. After that I had a lot of extensive background in youth politics or just youth culture and how young people think, what they listen to, what they watch, what they eat and I combined that with the growing world of interactive. Back in 2003, 2004 that’s when MySpace just was developed and people were still using Friendster. A lot of people really didn’t adopt the internet as a very, a perfusive influence on their lives like it is today.

Nick: Not like an everyday activity.

Daniel: Yeah. Even mobile phones I don’t think even there were QWERTY pads on phones. It was just all 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, word keyboards. It was pretty bad. so we made dealing with kind of I saw the future of where I could go and I was extremely intrigued by the dynamic potential of interactive technology whether it was mobile phones or the internet and also just me being a fan of that and followed any technologies that existed in Europe, Asia or Korea which is probably three or four years ahead of us to this day in terms of everything pretty much but I kept following that and then once I had that background it was pretty simple for me to get into a job. A friends company called ???. I was doing interactive strategy. They were appreciative or really like the fact that I had that background with youth politics and also account servicing and a lot of basic people. So they brought me on to do a lot of different things and once I had that traditional advertising, marketing background as well the business savvy to it. It was pretty simple for me to get a job. My last gig before my agency this company called get new records with Interscope Company and I was a media manager over there and I managed about 42 different artists. Nelly Furtado, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Common, Lifehouse, Macy Gray and it was extremely interesting. It was a massive learning curve because there was just a lot to do but it’s also a process where I do educate a lot of people as well. I found and discovered that I was actually the only one there with a traditional background in marketing or advertising. Most people have come within the industry somehow PAs or production people.

Nick: They’d been in it a while.

Daniel: Yeah but then they only know the music. They don’t know the other aspects and...

Nick: Which makes you valuable.

Daniel: Yeah. So it made be distinguished. it definitely distinguished me from anybody else that I brought something to the table that no one else have and that I think was the most significant factor in me attaining my position there. Barriers wise I think that I was just very fortunate because I knew, when I was young like first starting out I would need to do things differently. I always need to find a niche that had the potential to grow but not a lot of people knew about and I just concentrate my efforts there every single time.

Nick: It sounds like you knew several times and I am saying that successful people, they have information not only in one deep information but also broad information about a lot of topics and that’s what makes you I call it T shaped and dangerous. So it’s interesting to see that that’s been something that’s been going on in your life as well.

Daniel: Yeah definitely. I don’t think it was like a secret Machiavellian strategy in my mind that I was born to have to do these things but it was just one of those things I just desired and started out all the time.

Nick: Totally. Respectable. If you would describe someone as bold what would you say that to be.

Daniel: Someone with confidence that moves upon their inclinations but also has hesitations, there’s a logic. Logic should always precede their actions. I always tell people act logically not passionately. It’s good to be passionate about something but you have to be logical first before actually doing something else because there’s only different ways to execute the same thing in the end. I think being bold is just being pro active and knowing what you want and just going up and pursuing that as you possibly can. I mean a lot of people take that advice or take that statement to say oh I want to be this so I’m going to do everything right now today. That’s passionate about being logical.

Nick: Great. You have to build up. So if someone describes you as bold, what would they be describing? Your ideas? Your thoughts? Your personality? Your looks? The whole package?

Daniel: I’m not sure. I don’t think anybody, my mom calls be bold but it’s in a bad manner because being bold in Korean, my culture it’s kind of like being disrespectful to elders. So when she says that stuff it means that I’m not, it’s different I guess. I am speaking my mind I do pursue what I want to pursue regardless of what other people tell me and I mean for her it’s like she thinks that I’m being pompous or bombastic but really I don’t think I am because I’m just believing and speaking for what I believe in whether it’s a simple transaction at the grocery store. I’m serious like I want a couple of cokes not I want Pepsi. This is why coca cola is better.

Nick: So you stand up for what you believe in. so it’s really your ideas.

Daniel: So I would have to know that again speaking logically rather than passionately. They are ready for battles especially with my mom.

Nick: Logically instead of passionately. Very interesting. So in theory I say that most people have a secret sauce what would you say yours is? Is there an underlying thread throughout your life?

Daniel: I would say it’s actually this fervent desire to just be as social as possible. I was such a shy kid when I was young even all the way up even probably until high school my ninth grade year. It was very difficult for me to like to talk to people naturally but it was so easy for my twin sister and my mom and my dad. they were always very socially adept people and here I am I was socially inept and I just didn’t how to talk to people about what was a social moray to follow and things like that. So I think it was a lot of just observing how other people reacted to other people and I kind of like that and that and that. So I started finding myself merging different styles together in with my own and just being confident to start talking to people and building relationships and now I thrive off of just having a lot of relationships with people. I don’t think it’s like me finding wealth in those relationships. Some people will just basically say the relationship is commodity; I’m going to sell that relationship and then what they offer. For me I actually seek out these relationship because I actually learn personally something from it.

Nick: That’s an amazing trait to have to realize that you may not be the best at something. You can pick something up if ever.

Daniel: Yeah. I mean like for example I just met this 12 year old kid like at this wedding the other week and he was just all by himself and I was just like oh hey what’s up and we started talking. A 12 year old kid does not normally have much knowledge to offer at the world and things like that but his perspective was really good to see again. it made me realize how jaded sometimes I become and how innocently he views life and one thing he did was really cool was he approached things very simplistically and I stopped doing that or I do that once in a while and I should do that a lot more. I mean there’s a simple thing like there was a riddle and actually I just approach it so simplistically and he got. That was like wow interesting. The question was if you flip a coin ten times in the air and it lands heads every single time. Is that magic or could it be possible that the coin is both heads on both sides. He’s like it has heads on both sides and most people would think no. they probably did something here and then they switched out and then they did this.

Nick: It’s interesting when you take a few steps back and realize that sometimes were diving too far into details. You’ve got to take broad strokes like a little kid does.

Daniel: Yeah definitely.

Nick: Like always look at life like a complete beginner like you will learn something from everyone. I feel like the second I know more than anyone else it’s the second I need to be humbled and often it does come there.

Daniel: And even if it’s not knowledge that they bring its some type of perspective by finding that they have or that they espouse that I want somehow should expose myself or add in to the mix.

Nick: Everyone has different life experiences. I can definitely go with that. So if you could spend a day with anyone in the world who would it be, dead or alive?

Daniel: It will be Bill Clinton. That guy is, I’m not a celebrity like a star struck guy when I was working for him. Every single time I saw him it was as if it was seeing a rock star for the first time every single time. I don’t know what it was completely about him but he exuded this brilliance to him. He just knew that that guy was just extremely smart. He was teeming with ideas and just charisma. He would only have to say like one sentence and like wow. He could have said something like how are you doing today? I love your suit and that moment I took that as if it was the most important thing that was said to me in my entire life. Well actually it made me start dressing better. I got to dress better all the time. It was interesting.

Nick: Yeah. It’s like leaders pull out the best that you didn’t even know you had within you and it sounds like that was one of those moments. He made you aspire to be more than you currently were.

Daniel: I mean that guy has accomplished so much and he continues to do so which is naturally impressive. That guy he continues to look forward and he just keeps it going.

Nick: It’s totally respectable. So were out here in Hollywood, what would you recommend to someone just getting started, anything?

Daniel: That wants to go to internet marketing or just marketing?

Nick: Make it out here in general out here in Hollywood whether that’s entertainment in general or internet marketing or...

Daniel: You’ve got to be social. I think being social is very, very important. I think that you can have the brain, you can have the knowhow, you can have the experience but if you do not have that social dynamic or that charisma they will not go the extra step to hire you or try to help you to be hired. I think it’s a lot of just trying to understand where you fit into the pieces of los Angeles because I know a lot of people are out here trying to make it big from like small towns and what not and it’s a little bit daunting for a lot of people but I think a lot of people do the wrong approach. They go overboard. They’re like clubbing every night in Hollywood. I’m not at teddy's every night. They’re rolling with promoters. That’s not the best way to become actor or producer or director and things like that. Social is important but moreover it’s like you have to allow that to, ultimately you have to allow the social aspect cater to your intelligence and your experience.

Nick: Right. Your specific background. Cool. I have to ask what’s it like working with big name actors or music people like common or what not.

Daniel: You know what they’re normal people. It’s kind of like working with any other person. You recognize that they have an immense wealth of talent and a lot of them will not know exactly how to creatively express that or articulate it. it’s a person’s job like my job to understand that they have this problem really I call it problem to them that you have to somehow develop and present a solution for that to happen because if someone is consistently creative like one of my artists Macy Gray, she's the most creative and most ambitious people I know. Well the problem is that she has 8000 things that she wants to do. You can’t execute and accomplish 8000 things. you have to prioritize and so a lot of it is trying to understand what is the most important and what will get as much to accomplish for her as possible that will make her feel that she’s being fulfilled on her own ambitions and aspirations. So for me I kind of understand it. Honestly I’ve had some really, really bad arguments really like baby, hold my hand kind of artist but those are kind of few and far between. Most of the artist I’ve worked with, they’re just amazing people like some people like Nelly Furtado, I don’t think that she knows that she’s such a huge world global star. She has this amazing innocence to her. She’s just like oh okay. I didn’t know I was popular. I was like yeah you’re only the number one most selling female recording artist of 2007 and you only sold every single recording over 84 days. Oh yeah I guess I it’s cool but then ultimately she’s like how’s your mom. It’s so strange because she doesn’t care about that stuff. She cares about the personal relationship with people. That’s what I believe. Our entire camp is like that. Her manager, her publicist, her producer, her studio mixer. I mean everybody is they have similar traits.

Nick: So she’s not in it for the money. She’s in it for if she had all the money in the world she would do the same thing.

Daniel: I don’t think at all any of them are in it for the money. I mean I think they just love what they do really love being in the position that they are and they love to be creative. I mean Nelly’s a great example. She refuses to use her brand to sell out. You’ll never see her brand attached to a product, a car, anything, fashion label. Nothing like that and so she just doesn’t want to because she doesn’t care about the money. She cares more about just being creative and having an outlet for her creativity to be shown.

Nick: That’s really cool man. It’s really awesome. So you’ve been in contact with a lot of really, really successful people and I’m sure you’re a networking type so you can keep in contact with them. So you think that really impacted your route?

Daniel: Definitely. Networking as trite as it sounds is the most important part of business. I mean especially in what I do. I don’t really called what I do business of consumers. it most business to business with slash of consumer in there but everything all the clients and all the artists, all the people I work with on a daily its people I work with in the past or to people that have recommended me. I’ve never gotten a single artist I work with through someone Googling my name or anything like that it's been basically through the manager I worked wit that said Daniel is the person that you need to work with for interactive like there’s no other person that I would recommend and so they send email or I get an email introduction. I mean that’s how it is and it grows consistently every single day.

Nick: Exponentially.

Daniel: Yeah its insane like you start, I only have three or four people in your group of friends that are somewhat connected and you find that every single one of your friends has four other friends and that happens then it becomes exponential growth and I think the big question is how you maintain those relationships because will burn themselves off trying to maintain them or some people might go overboard and they might be oh my god this guys an agent at C and A and I got to do what I can, create favor with them. They’re pretty sad. Anybody in the industry in Los Angeles especially is extremely savvy to friends. So you’ll know exactly when people are disingenuous.

Nick: With their underlying intentions.

Daniel: I appreciate the people that are approach me with just humility and just a sincerity to them. Look I just moved down here and this is what I really want to do. This is my experience. So I would really be grateful if you help me out with this. If they’re straightforward to me then I will help them. That’s how I am. I really can’t stand people that beat on the bush saying hey you want to come out to the club or something. I’m like not really or come out for a drink and then I’ll get them drinks and then all of a sudden they’re like I need a job.

Nick: So that doesn’t mean a lot right. Do you think that’s an underlying detail of successful people is their intentions are often pure more often than not?

Daniel: Yeah either that or it’ll get you some time. I mean you can’t go throughout life like disingenuous or spurious about what your true intentions are. It’s always going to catch up to you.

Nick: Definitely yeah. I’ve always said you can kind of fell how people are, what they’re thinking. If they’re not genuine with you, red flags will come out very often.

Daniel: Yeah it’s like every single time you’re watching those in the club you know that they’re not interested in you but they’re like hey baby. No bad. Disingenuous at its best.

Nick: Totally agree. So to close this out what one book would you recommend to someone that’s changed your life in your business. It could be market evaluated for print, it could anything.

Daniel: Definitely not. That book made me sad. It made me realize this is how people could be and possibly are or are and this is why I don’t want.

Nick: Right. So being in politics I’m sure you’ve run into it several times.

Daniel: Definitely don’t want to be close to that. There’s a bunch of books. I mean it ranges from Shop Girl by Steve Martin. That book as a whole not only the plot under the whole not only the plot or the process of framing that book. It has inspired me because Steve Martin is such an accomplished person. He’s a businessman. He’s an actor. He’s a director. He’s a screen writer. He’s a novelist. It seems like there’s nothing this guy can’t do and this is kind of what I aspire to be. Not only is that book or the process of the book inspiring but the narrative is inspiring too. it’s about a small town girl living in a lonely world that works SAKS Fifth as a shop girl as a glove counter girl and she goes through exactly what a lot of people will go through. I mean even me being born and raised in the city when I moved back from college I felt just like her. I didn’t have any close friends. you spotted people that were very successful money and you spotted people with all this different intentions and I can relate to a lot of what she went through in that book. I mean that’s just a recent book that I really started to read again and again but I’m sure a lot of people that you interview will say this. They’ll say that it’s a pain point. A pain point is really cool. It helps you understand, it’s not going to be the book that’s going to like change your business and it’s not a formula that you follow, it’s more of this philosophy that helps you understand how to do things a little differently. Maybe and I guess the third book, man I don’t have a third book. Maybe that’s it.

Nick: It’s okay.