From Wu Tang to wheatgrass, a lifetime of hustle and hard lessons have paid off for “Breakfast Club” co-host Angela Yee. And now the popular syndicated morning-show celebrity and juice entrepreneur is lending her expertise to helping others turn their “side hustles” into fulfilling — and lucrative — careers.
“You’re so much happier when you’re doing something you love, even if it doesn’t pay off financially at first. I do feel like one of the biggest mistakes I made [early on] was putting money over happiness.”
Yee is also co-owner of Bed-Stuy’s Juices for Life and is teaming up with AMP ENERGY Organic for The Search for the “Ultimate Side Hustlers” nationwide contest. Yee and the AMP ENERGY team will go over submissions from participants throughout the nation for the best-laid-out hustle ideas” — those crazy projects you do on top of your 9-to-5 in order to either make ends meet or fulfill a career passion — and select the five best ideas. Think “Shark Tank” for hustlers, without the investment incentives.
The contest began this week and lasts until Sept. 16. The final five will then get the opportunity to show off their hustles at Powerhouse NYC 2018 pre event on Oct. 24 and Oct. 28’s main show, which will be headlined by Grammy-winning rapper Cardi B.
“When you want something bad enough, you need to put in the work and keep it going until you make it happen,” Yee says. “I’m excited to hear from people who are getting home from work and turning around to put the same amount of energy into their passion project.”
Breakfast Club host by day, juice bar entrepreneur by night
Long before she skyrocketed to national fame with “The Breakfast Club,” Yee was highly regarded — and quite happy — as a member of Wu Tang Management. She regrettably admits, though, that she took a larger salary at another record label at the expense of the job she loved.”
“[When I resigned] I told my boss I needed to speak with him,” Yee said. “Before I said anything, he says to me ‘Oh, I just wanted to say everyone loves you, we’ve been getting great compliments on you … thank you so much.’ And then I had to quit right after that. Talk about awkward. It was a bad decision.”
Yee’s bounced back, quite well, dishing hip-hop info in the morning and doling out green juices at her Brooklyn juice bar in the evening — she calls it her passion project. “It definitely feels like a five-to-nine job,” she says.
As a contest judge, Yee will pass her experience to the participants into helping turn a side project into a profitable career. A variety of skills are needed, according to Yee — commitment, prioritzing and especially networking. “Nobody can do it alone,” Yee says. “We should never think “This is me, by myself, on an island, trying to make a business work. You’ll drive yourself crazy.”
But there is one necessary investment, Yee stresses: yourself. “We’re scared sometimes to take a risk and go out and there and spend our own money to start a business, but we really have to do that,” she says. “We really have to gamble on ourselves because that’s when great things can happen.”
