Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Richard Lawson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Richard, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
When I was six years old, my mother divorced my father, and she took me and my sister, and she started a new life. In order for us to survive, she had to work two jobs. She was a nurse. And she he wasn’t a nurse with anything after her name, she wasn’t an RN or an LVN, she was more of a practical nurse. She dealt with simple stuff like handling bed pans, making sure people were comfortable, changing the sheets, things like that. She worked from 11am to 7pm, and from 8pm to 4am, and she really had no common days off. She did that for 16 years.
From working every day, she would save her money and she would buy this house, pay into that house until it had enough equity, then she would buy another house. And then the third house. And then she started taking care of emotionally challenged people that would live in these houses, at one point taking care of 16 people that were dealing with different levels of challenges. She worked hard, and that was certainly an example for me in terms of work ethic and come hell or high water, hook or crook, she would get up, she would shut up, and she would show up.
I took those lessons and applied them to various things in my life. I became the president of my elementary school, and later became captain of the football team and the track team. When I went into the Army during Vietnam, I became a platoon leader. I always wound up in positions of responsibility so I always had to show up and be an example ever since I was a young man.
When I got into show business when I got out of the service in 1969, I understood that the business itself was kind of bleak when it came to opportunities for actors who happened to be black other than stereotypical roles, and I realized that I had really a path for myself. I had to create my own destiny. And when you create your own destiny, it’s on you for it to sink or swim based upon your own sense of work ethic, and your vision, and your purpose. I understood early on that I could not depend on anything other than myself in order for me to get the results that I wanted.
In order for me to do that, I had to find a way to bounce back because the business was filled with no’s. And when someone says no to me, it gets me excited and it motivates me to go forward, it motivates me to finish the race, it motivates me to win. And that has been true throughout my life, whether I was playing golf, surviving the challenges of the business, finding ways of creating income, or working on set. No matter how hard it got, I found a sense of resilience to pull myself back up. To solve the problem, to get around it, to make it go right. And I continue to do that.
Along the way, I collected some mentors that also showed me the power of my own self determination, Milton Katselas and Sonny Jim Gaines (and my mother of course). They were powerful people because I saw the resilience that they had, I saw that they kept bouncing back. Nothing could keep them from their purpose, their goals, their destination, the things they wanted to achieve. If they could see it clearly, they could do it.
Another experience that has greatly influenced my resilience was that I had the fortune of being able to go to Africa, to Ghana, and I went to the slave dungeons, and I saw the way that the enslaved Africans were treated and what it took for them to be able to taken from their country and chained down like cattle next to each other on floors of a boat as they crossed the water, and the kind of strength that it took in order to be able to survive that journey, only to become servants to people who they didn’t know and didn’t care about them, and they were able to survive that. When I came back from Ghana, I was really an empowered, changed individual, because I knew that at the end of the day, it’s all on me to create what it is that I see for myself.
My great grandfather, Alcide Wilturner, was an enslaved man, and he had the wherewithal to buy himself out of slavery. He saved his money and bought himself out of slavery. And then he went back and bought his brothers and sisters out of slavery. The kind of resilience that that took. And I was able to see how my mother picked that up from my grandparents, who got up every day at the crack of dawn and retired shortly after the dust to repeat the same cycle again.
And what it took in order to be able to survive in Louisiana on a day-to-day basis. That all emboldened me and strengthened me as a human being. And thus, the whole concept of survival lives around my philosophy of Process, Pivot, and Proceed™, which means that nothing that happens to me is going to cause me to get mired and stuck in the quicksand of what I cannot control. I need to process it, see it for what it is, pivot, decide which way of going and then proceed. And therefore, nothing can stop you, nothing can control you, nothing can take power over your self-determination.
My resilience comes from my legacy, comes from my African heritage, which I found out I’m 30% Nigerian and 20% Ghanaian, so I realized when I was standing in that dungeon that I was standing on my own DNA, and that empowered me to know that nothing can stop me. I have to have the determination and the vision of what it is I want and I see, and then I have to have the gumption to go after it. I am that resilient lion. There is no stopping me.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Sometimes people ask me what do you do? With very little hesitation I say that I’m a Dreamweaver. My entire career has been helping people to achieve their dreams. I created this technology called the Declaration of Independence (DoIN’™), the purpose of which is for people to be able to take a look at what their dream really is. I ask them to be extra extravagant in thinking about what it is they want to do, what they see for themselves, who they wanna work with, what kind of life do they wanna have, what kind of effect do they have on the world? It never ceases to amaze me that most people have never actually written down what their dream is. They sometimes look at it as somewhat esoteric, something wishful or gossamer in nature. Rarely do they look at it as a viable source of fulfillment. Something that is possible. Something that is real. The ability to take a look at something that you originate in your mind, your psyche and your imagination, and then you set out to make those thoughts, ideas and concepts true for you. That’s where I come in. I want to help people realize that if they can see it, they can do it. I want to help them realize that their dreams are an invention. Someone might say, I thought you were an acting teacher. My answer is: on the surface I have an acting school, but underneath the hood I have an empowerment academy. I empower people to achieve their dreams. If someone is sitting in that chair and has a clear vision of the kind of career that they want and they can paint that picture, I can help them with that. I can help them to create the path to that, as long as they also put in the work.
In 2023 at the Cannes Film Festival, I had a screening of a film that I produced and directed called “Black Terror”, which screened at 4pm on a Saturday. Two of my students, who originated their films in my class, had each of their films screened in separate screenings in Cannes at 4pm on that same Saturday. It was an incredible moment of proof of concept for me.
It’s incredibly satisfying when I have people reach out to me after having studied with me 25 years ago and they tell me how much I’ve affected their lives. How much my words still ring their ears. There is nothing more satisfying than to know that you’ve left an indelible effect on someone’s dream end their life
Today, at the age of 77, I am enjoying incredible upsurge in energy, creativity, projects and possibilities. I’m juggling so many things while at the same time riding the wave of having a number of successful projects out in the world. I’m in the number one movie on Amazon called “Divorce in the Black”. I’m currently on “The Black Hamptons” and “The Ms. Pat Show on BET+ plus and I have two upcoming projects that haven’t yet been released, a 16 episode Netflix series called “Beauty in Black” and a movie called”Aftershock: The Nicole Bell story”. I’m currently writing a memoir, two acting books and an empowerment book. I have a series in development and a feature film that my production company has written that is currently in pre-production. Life is good.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think the main driving force for my life and career is that I’m very clear about what my purpose is. Mark Twain said: “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” On my birthday in 1969, I had a revelation that I was put on this earth to do the very thing that I’m doing. And from that day to this one, I have been on vacation. I’m so fortunate to be able to do the very thing that I love, so I never get tired. Every single day from that day to this one, I’ve had a reason to get up in the morning. I look forward to what I have to do and who I get to do it with. I’m clear about why I’m doing it. First, for my own fulfillment which stems from me being immersed in the love of my life, and secondly, because it lands on others in a positive way. In some ways, I want to be a tuning fork for positive and nourishing things for the universe. I want to find the good and praise it. I want to do my best and forget the rest. I want to never let my expectations get higher than my gratitude. I’m not trying to be a “goody two shoes” or anything like that, I just want to make a difference.
The other thing that drives me is the desire to be of service. I learned a long time ago that I can’t keep it unless I give it away, so I take great joy in sharing my knowledge and supporting other people to their greatness.
The last thing that I think is ultimately important is to be able to celebrate your wins. Especially the little ones. The ones that can slip by without notice. One of the definitions of “celebration” is “a ceremony of respect.” All wins deserve to be honored because these celebrations will keep you moving forward with joy because it acknowledges the effort.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
The past 12 months have been a tsunami of sorts. It’s been a challenging and tumultuous time. I’ve had to process, pivot and proceed with just about everything in my life personally and artistically. This time has proven to me that I am capable of handling anything. We started off talking about resilience. That has been tested beyond. I have withstood the wars and I am out the other side proceeding towards my goals and my dreams. I’m a better man for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.richardlawson.net
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/mrrichardlawson
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialrichardlawson
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RichardLawsonStudios
Image Credits
Drea Nicole Photography (Headshots/Lifestyle)
Jayne Marin (Class photos)
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