The Black Sheep Network

They gave you the roadmap to success. You followed it. It worked. And something still felt off. You are not broken . You are a Black Sheep . The Black Sheep Network is for people who never fully fit inside the approved version of success. The ones told to tone it down, follow the script, stay in their lane. Hosted by Aleasha Bahr, creator of Black Sheep Sales, this podcast features real conversation

The Black Sheep Network is a business podcast hosted by blacksheepnetwork, with 18 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

blacksheepnetwork hosts The Black Sheep Network, a business show with 18 episodes published.

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  Episode #18

  Money Is a Frequency: How Staying Aligned Built a $100 Million Music Catalog Business with Kendall Newsome

  Aug 13, 202627 min

  There is a version of success that almost every industry rewards. Look the part. Protect your own interests. Follow the playbook. Do business the way it's always been done. Then there are the people who decide that if the rules are built on gatekeeping, they aren't worth following in the first place. In this episode of The Black Sheep Network, I sat down with Kendall Newsome, founder and CEO of NSU Global, the world's largest music catalog brokerage. He has structured and executed more than $100 million in transactions across a network of 165+ institutional buyers, representing artists, producers, and rights holders at the highest level. But Kendall didn't build his reputation by becoming another broker in a tailored suit. He built it by staying an artist - something he was successful at when he was only 12 years old. So, when a childhood friend suggested he start selling music catalogs, Kendall had no idea what that even meant. He was handed almost no roadmap and told to figure it out. Instead of trying to blend into an industry dominated by finance professionals, he leaned into the perspective no one else could offer: he knew exactly what it felt like to create the work people were buying. Listen in to discover why: He refused to trade authenticity for credibility, even when people told him his branding was "too much" for the industry. He intentionally charges a fraction of what many brokers charge because trust compounds faster than greed ever will. Doing the right thing meant making the uncomfortable phone call, telling an artist that the people meant to protect them might actually be standing in their way - is part of what has made him so wildly successful. He is a shining example of why Black Sheep are so successful. They don’t break the rules for attention - they break them because they no longer serve the people they're supposed to protect. Kendall proves that you don't build an extraordinary reputation by looking like everyone else in the room. You build it by standing firmly in your values long after everyone else has learned to compromise theirs. If you've ever felt pressure to become someone else in order to be taken seriously, this conversation is proof that the qualities people tell you to tone down may be the very reason you succeed. Connect with Kendall Newsome: Website: nsu.global Instagram: @bigkeezy Twitter/X: @iamdakidk YouTube: youtube.com/dakidk Key Timestamps [00:01:00] Intro to Kendall Newsome, founder and CEO of NSU Global [00:02:00] Starting his music journey at 12 years old [00:04:00] His mom padding out the basement shoe closet for his first studio [00:06:00] Dealing with doubt in a suburb with no breakthrough artists before him [00:07:00] Moving to Florida at 19, a torn ACL, and a new baby [00:08:00] The childhood friend who told him to start selling music catalogs [00:09:00] Getting thrown in with no direction and figuring it out himself [00:11:00] Refusing to trade his artist identity for a suit [00:12:00] The yacht and champagne video his mentor tried to talk him out of [00:14:00] Why some brokers take advantage of artists in bad financial spots [00:16:00] Why he charges a fraction of what other brokers charge, and why it works [00:17:00] 146 clients, 5 percent, and why fairness outperforms greed [00:19:00] The third customer: buyers, artists, and the managers in between [00:21:00] Calling an artist directly when a manager was blocking a deal [00:22:00] Staying rooted in his principles after 20 years in the business [00:23:00] Why some people lose themselves the moment they get power [00:25:00] "Money is a frequency": staying aligned instead of chasing

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  Episode #17

  Zero-to-$1M in a Year (With No Ads): Build a Black Sheep Business with Mark Stern

  Jul 30, 202628 min

  There is a version of success that looks flawless on paper: a Duke MBA, a career at Deloitte, and a résumé filled with leadership positions. Then there is the version no one sees: waking up at 3 a.m. convinced the life you've worked so hard to build is no longer the one you want. In this episode of The Black Sheep Network, I sit down with Mark Stern, founder and CEO of Custom Box Agency and host of Dash Talks Live, to talk about intuition, identity, and the courage to walk away from a path that looks perfect from the outside. Mark shares the story behind leaving corporate consulting with no backup plan, how an unexpected customer behavior completely reshaped his business, and why ignoring expert advice became one of the best decisions he ever made. We also dive into what he learned from the world of guru marketing, the difference between building a business that attracts attention versus one that earns trust, and why the best opportunities often appear where no one else is looking. If you've ever questioned whether you're on the right path, or wondered if your instincts are trying to tell you something your résumé never could, this conversation is for you. The Black Sheep Moments The childhood side hustle that hinted at Mark's entrepreneurial mindset. The 3 a.m. realization that changed the course of his career. Why he walked away from corporate consulting without a safety net. The unexpected discovery that led to an entirely different business. Choosing instinct over expert advice. Growing a seven-figure company through relationships instead of paid ads. Why retention will always outperform hype. Promotional products need to be so much more than swag to be effective Some of the best business decisions don't make sense until you stop trying to fit someone else's definition of success. Connect with Mark Stern: Custom Box Agency: customboxagency.com Find him on LinkedIn: Mark R. Stern (look for the guy who "looks like Ned Flanders" — glasses and a mustache) If this conversation made you think differently about sales, leadership, or the way people are wired to connect, take Aleasha Bahr's Sales Personality Assessment to discover your natural sales style and how to use it to your advantage: https://assessment.aleashabahr.com/salespersonality Leading a sales team? Sometimes the biggest obstacle isn't your process. It's having the right people in the wrong roles. Book a complimentary Sales Team Audit with Aleasha to uncover the gaps that may be costing you opportunities: https://calendly.com/aleasha/salesteam-levelup [00:03:00] The Furby arbitrage story: entrepreneurial instincts as a kid [00:04:00] The "natural progression" script Mark followed to the letter [00:05:00] 2012: $165K in debt, locked into a two-year contract, working 24/7 [00:07:00] The 3am wake-up: sweating, crying, and a premonition this job would kill him [00:09:00] Starting a virtual events business and hating the model he built [00:10:00] The mailed booklet that accidentally revealed the future of the business [00:15:00] Pain and shame selling vs. building real evangelists through retention [00:17:00] Two businesses, one identity crisis: "Are you the box guy or the virtual event guy?" [00:19:00] The pivot: going all-in on Custom Box Agency during COVID's "bloody red" market [00:21:00] Trusting his gut after a lifetime of "what does the data say?" [00:25:00] Standing out by doing the thing everyone tells you not to do [00:27:00] Where to find Mark and work with Custom Box Agency #BlackSheepNetwork #Entrepreneurship #TrustYourGut #CorporateToEntrepreneur #CustomBoxAgency #BusinessPivot #FounderStory #DeloitteAlum #StudentLoanDebt #WordOfMouthMarketing #CustomerExperience #BusinessGrowth #ScaleWithoutAds #RetentionOverAcquisition #BlackSheepPodcast #EntrepreneurMindset #GutInstinct #StartupJourney

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  Episode #16

  From the Bedroom to the Boardroom: How Relational Intelligence Changes Everything with Dr. Naketa Ren Thigpen

  Jul 16, 202629 min

  There is a version of leadership that looks impressive from the outside and disconnected on the inside - actually that’s the majority of leaders. It looks like a calendar packed with meetings. No room to think. No room to breathe. No room to notice what your body has been trying to tell you for months. And it has a limit. In this episode of The Black Sheep Network, I sit down with Dr. Naketa Ren Thigpen, one of the leading voices in relational wellness, leadership, and human connection. We explore the difference between vulnerability and relational intelligence, and why one without the other often leaves trust unfinished, potential unfulfilled and satisfaction out of reach. We talk about what Dr. Thigpen calls "presence distortion": those moments when you're physically in the room but not truly available to the people in front of you. The cost is bigger than most leaders realize. Creativity suffers. Trust erodes. Relationships become transactional instead of transformational. We also unpack why psychological safety is more than saying the right words. It requires the capacity to receive what another person is sharing, stay present with it, and respond in a way that makes connection possible. One of my favorite parts of this conversation is our discussion about embodiment. Not as self-care. Not as a wellness trend. It should be as regular of a habit as hygiene. The same way your body needs care, your nervous system does too. Because stress, overwhelm, unresolved experiences, and old conditioning don't disappear just because you ignore them. They show up in your decisions, your relationships, your leadership, and your calendar. And that calendar might be the most honest reflection of your priorities you'll ever see. If your values say one thing and your schedule says another, it’s crucial to pay attention to that information. This conversation is ultimately about alignment. Between what you believe, how you lead, how you love, and how you move through the world. Key Points We Cover: The difference between relationship intelligence and relational intelligence, and why both matter What "presence distortion" is and how it undermines trust even when leaders believe they're being vulnerable Why Brené Brown's work on vulnerability is an important starting point, not the complete conversation How psychological safety is created through capacity and presence, not scripts and good intentions What your calendar reveals about the gap between your stated values and your lived reality This isn't just a conversation about leadership. It's a conversation about how you relate to your team, your family, your partner, your work, and yourself. Because the quality of your life is often determined by the quality of the relationships you build and the relationship you maintain with your own body. If everything looks great on the outside and feels empty on the inside, this episode is for you. Press play and pay attention to what resonates. There is a good chance it is trying to teach you something. ABOUT THE GUEST Dr. Naketa Ren Thigpen is the world's foremost balance and relationship advisor and CEO of ThigPro Balance and Relationship Management Institute. Her licensed Joy Map method uncovers the hidden leadership strain that standard performance metrics miss: the quiet toll of decision fatigue, fracturing trust, and the slow burn of misalignment between who you say you are and how you actually show up. A licensed clinical social worker and trauma specialist with nearly 30 years of experience, Dr. Naketa built her life's work from the inside out. She broke cycles, asked the questions her family did not want answered, and turned that courage into a framework that now serves global companies and a select private advisory, the BARR Coterie. She has been named among 100 Women to Watch in 2026 and honored by the NAACP as one of Philadelphia's 104 most influential Black women. Find her and everything she is building at Substack under ThikProQuo or search "Balancing Your Brilliance" to find her. [00:03:30] Relational intelligence vs. relationship intelligence: what is the actual difference? [00:05:30] Trusting your inner brilliance when you don't know if something is personal or not [00:07:30] Presence distortion: being in the room but not actually there [00:10:00] "Just be a human" and what that unlocks for team performance and creativity [00:11:30] From the bedroom to the boardroom: how you show up in one place is how you show up everywhere [00:13:00] Your calendar is telling on you: what a misaligned schedule actually reveals [00:14:00] Bookend rituals and why your morning sets the tone for everything else [00:15:30] Bubble breathing, lemon water, and two minutes that can shift your entire nervous system [00:17:00] Body awareness, embodiment, and why so many people are disconnected from both [00:18:30] Big T and little T trauma and why healing has to happen in the body [00:20:00] Embodiment as hygiene: not a crash-out strategy but a prevention practice [00:21:30] Dr. Naketa's origin story: growing up in dysfunction and choosing to break the pattern [00:25:00] The real results of this work: integrity, honest communication, aligned boundaries, and more [00:27:30] Expansive boundaries: how they make space instead of keeping people out #BlackSheepNetwork #RelationalIntelligence #LeadershipDevelopment #BoundaryWork #EmbodimentPractice #PsychologicalSafety #TraumaHealing #GenerationalPatterns #WorkLifeBalance #MindfulLeadership #IntimacyAndInnovation #NervousSystemRegulation #AuthenticLeadership #BalanceAndWellness #BlackSheepPodcast #WomenInLeadership

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  Episode #14

  How Bumby Wool Made Slow Fashion Scalable Without Selling Out with Stephanie Gross

  Jun 11, 202631 min

  What if the thing everyone said would kill your business is actually what saved it? That is exactly what happened to Stephanie Gross, founder of Bumby Wool. She did not start with a business plan. She started because she could not find what she wanted, so she made it herself. From her basement. With two kids running around her feet. And a first employee she originally hired for free. That employee has now been with her for 16 years. In this episode of Black Sheep Network, we get into what it actually looks like to build a business that refuses to compromise, even when the entire industry is telling you that you are doing it wrong. Here is what you discover when listening: The dirty secret inside fast fashion that most brands are hoping you never Google. Why Steph has never once looked at what her competitors are doing and why that is a strategy, not an accident. The workforce model most corporations would laugh at right before losing half their team. What it took to navigate tariffs, family challenges, and 18 years of building without burning it all down. Why is she calling 2026 her launch era after nearly two decades of laying the foundation. The real reason the relentless pursuit of profit usually produces less of it. This is not just a feel-good story. It is a profitability and loyalty story. A proof-of-concept story for every founder who has been told that doing it with integrity means doing it slowly, quietly, and at a disadvantage. Steph is proof that when you build something right, it becomes nearly impossible to compete with. If you are tired of being told the only way to build is fast, cheap, and at the expense of everything you actually care about, this episode was made for you. Hit play. Then share it with the founder in your life who needs to hear that their way can work better than anything else. ABOUT THE GUEST Stephanie Gross is the founder and designer behind Bumby Wool, a Canadian-made custom clothing brand specializing in sustainable Merino wool garments for babies, kids, and adults. Born in New Zealand and raised with wool in her DNA, Steph has spent 18 years building a slow fashion company that makes one garment at a time, uses low-impact dyes, and employs a team whose longest-tenured member has been with her for 16 years. She is a passionate advocate for sustainable production, ethical team culture, and doing business in a way that does not require you to sell your soul to a supply chain. Bumby Wool has grown through word of mouth, a loyal community, and an obsessive commitment to quality that has made her virtually impossible to compete with. You can find her and Bumby Wool at bumbywool.com [03:30] "Eyes closed, head first, tail loose": Steph's philosophy on bold decisions [05:00] Becoming a mom and deciding to build a business she could run on her own terms [06:00] Why Bumby Wool is nearly impossible to compete with: made-to-order, low waste, loyal staff [07:30] The team that has stayed for 16 years and what that actually took to build [08:00] The ugly truth about fast fashion: the product that never even makes it to market [10:30] Why Steph has never looked at what her competitors are doing [12:00] How her first employee came to work for her for free and stayed for over a decade [14:00] Building a business where family comes first because that was the whole point [15:30] Why the relentless pursuit of profit usually produces less of it [17:30] The business case for integrity: lower turnover, higher trust, real results [18:30] What she saw at the Vegas trade show that confirmed she was doing it differently [20:00] Bootstrapping from thrifty leanness and why getting a loan felt scarier than doing it the hard way [22:00] Surviving COVID by using the pause to rebuild systems from scratch [24:00] Navigating tariffs, family challenges, and keeping everything she cared about intact [26:00] Why 2026 is her launch era after 18 years of building the foundation [27:00] Over 1,000 five-star reviews and a 2,500-person Facebook group that runs itself #BlackSheepNetwork #SlowFashion #SustainableFashion #BumbyWool #EthicalBusiness #WomenInBusiness #EntrepreneurMindset #SlowFashionMovement #SustainableClothing #MadeInCanada #FemaleFounder #EthicalFashion #BusinessPodcast #WoolClothing #SustainableKidsClothing #BlackSheep

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  Episode #13

  Independent Filmmaking, Motherhood, and Creative Conviction with Kristina Miller-Weston

  May 28, 202632 min

  Becoming a parent comes with a lot of complex questions. And depending on your answer you could be labeled a Black Sheep for life. On this episode of Black Sheep Network, I sat down with Kristina Miller Weston to talk about Just Wait, an upcoming feature film centered on one of the most emotionally charged and least honestly discussed questions women face: what if motherhood is not the life you actually want? The film follows a woman whose miscarriage forces her to confront an instinctive feeling of relief, sending her into a collision course with identity, marriage, expectation, and the pressure women feel to perform certainty around decisions that are often anything but simple. We talked about why stories like this still make studios uncomfortable, how female-centered films continue to face resistance in funding rooms, and why Kristina stopped waiting for permission to create the work she believed needed to exist. The current state of independent filmmaking, the collapse of the traditional studio pipeline, and what it now takes to get unconventional stories financed in an industry increasingly driven by familiarity and formulas needs to take a larger number of platforms and is a necessity to be voiced out. Here’s some of what we unpacked: The emotional premise behind Just Wait The funding challenges behind female-led films What the Black List feedback revealed about industry bias Why independent filmmakers are building outside the old system Kristina’s “little girl in the back row” philosophy This conversation ended up being just as much about conviction as it was about filmmaking. About what happens when you keep pushing forward with a story long after people tell you they “don’t know how to market it.” About creating work for the people who need to feel seen by it, not just the executives deciding whether it fits neatly into a category. Around how women’s experiences are still filtered through audiences and decision-makers who often struggle to recognize emotional complexity unless it arrives packaged in a way they already understand. If you’ve ever tried to build something that didn’t fit the usual mold, this will hit home. Listen for a conversation on storytelling, creative conviction, and what it takes to keep moving. ABOUT THE GUEST Kristina Miller Weston is a Los Angeles-based producer, actor, and founder of Kool Bnz Productions, a company dedicated to telling the stories the industry deems too risky, because she believes no risk outweighs giving hope. She performed on stages worldwide alongside Sally Struthers, Valerie Harper, and Dick Van Dyke, with screen credits including This Is Us and The L Word: Generation Q. Her award-winning shorts include To Say Goodbye Is to Die a Little, which earned 19 festival selections and 11 awards. She also produced and performed her own one-woman show and co-created the Broadway podcast My Favorite Flop. Her current focus is getting the feature film "Just Wait" made, with Diane Guerrero already attached to star. Find her at koolbnzproductions.com or on Instagram @koolbnz. [00:03:00] How Kristina went from actor to producer: her husband said "you can do that" and she listened [00:05:00] Why she focuses on championing female writers and what Cool Beans Productions stands for [00:06:00] On staying sane in an industry that keeps changing by creating instead of waiting [00:08:00] Choosing a life lived fully over one lived safely [00:09:00] The resistance she has faced as a female producer and the bias baked into the system [00:12:00] The premise of "Just Wait": a woman, a miscarriage, an honest reaction, and a retreat full of women all asking different versions of the same question [00:15:00] Why this is the movie Kristina wishes she had had when she became a mother [00:17:00] On trusting your gut when society has spent years training women not to [00:22:00] How independent films actually get made today (it is not what you think) [00:24:00] The "moving train" theory of filmmaking: if you are not a yes, you are not her person [00:25:00] The Black List submission, the male juror, and the audacity of critiquing real women's voices [00:27:00] Why female stories are not niche, they are the audience, and the data to prove it [00:29:00] Why this film is not just for women, and what it might open up for men too #BlackSheepNetwork #WomenInFilm #IndependentFilm #JustWaitFilm #KoolBnzProductions #KristinaMillerWeston #DianeGuerrero #FemaleProducers #TrustYourGut #StorytellingMatters #WomensStories #FilmProduction #FemaleStories #RepresentationMatters #IndieFilmmaker #WomenWhoCreate #AleashaBahr #BlackSheep #DoItAnyway #PodcastForWomen #BlackSheepPodcast #ArtThatMatters #FeatureFilm #WomensRights #BodyAutonomy #HollywoodDisruptor #PurposeDrivenFilm

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