Charlamagne tha God has built a prolific career as a radio host, television host, and mental health advocate. He has co-hosted the nationally syndicated radio show “The Breakfast Club” since 2010, and he and his fellow hosts were inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2020 for their work on the show.
Although he has worked in other places, the radio personality emphasized that “voice is still king” when chatting with him. DiversityCynthia Littleton too Diversity During the Experience & Culture Summit: The IRL Advantage presented by OUTFRONT, she also shared how she creates events and shapes her content to support and meet people where they are.
In 2019, Charlamagne founded the Mental Wealth Alliance, a nonprofit organization that hosted an event on World Mental Health Day on October 10 to provide a space for people to receive free information from mental health professionals.
Charlamagne, who wrote about his anxiety struggles in his 2018 book “Shook One: Anxiety Playing Tricks on Me,” emphasized the importance of access to mental health services, especially for the Black and brown communities the organization intends to serve. “This is a free event because I think these types of resources and this type of information should be free.”
The event is broadcast live on YouTube, usually on “The Breakfast Club” channel, which has more than 6.1 million followers. However, while considering the repercussion of the incident, Charlamagne brings it back to reality. “It’s funny how we talk about IRL like it’s a culture, like we don’t all live real lives every day,” she said.
Charlamagne is also the founder of the Black Effect Podcast Network, which hosts an annual festival of live podcast recordings in Atlanta. His biggest takeaway from the event, which was held for the fourth time in April, was seeing people participate.
“We really need to get back to creating a sense of community around all of these things that we do,” Charlamagne said. He described the way people interact with phones and social media as “verbally abusive relationships.” He said the platforms are helpful, but “you have to constantly weed your garden.”
With the rise of the creator boom that has seen success this year for former YouTubers Curry Barker (“Obsession”) and Kane Parsons (“Backrooms”), Charlamagne has talked about his ability to leverage a platform. “I guarantee you there’s a creator online right now that none of us in this room know about. They’re probably only getting 100 views per video, but they’re doing something great,” he said. “Don’t wait until you get to 10 million followers or 10 million views to get that person’s attention.”
Charlamagne said the connection he made through terrestrial radio forms the basis of his work: “Every morning, I know that I am a person’s habit.” “The Breakfast Club” has hosted interviews with modern political figures such as Kamala Harris, Zohran Mamdani and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Regarding the midterm elections this November, Charlamagne said: “I think a lot of people are going to come into the voting booth thinking about high gas prices, thinking about food prices, realizing they’ve been lied to.”