Synopsis:

In this episode of Hollywood IQ, host Ri-Karlo Handy speaks with Daniel Rosenberg, a leader in the entertainment tech space and master networker. The pair share their secrets to networking and building business relationships that creates opportunities, without feeling forced. They explore a series of touch points that guide us on how to reach out and follow up, matching energy to set the tone of a relationship, and never treating networking in a transactional way. Daniel shares his secrets on how to stay humble, hungry, and thoughtful in his networking process. He shares the trick to shifting energy in a business relationship, and how to avoid the fatal mindset of not being worth someone else’s time.

Episode Highlights:

In the episode, host Ri-Karlo Handy and expert networker Daniel Rosenberg discuss:

• how to identify strategic opportunities through relationships
• how to create a successful touchpoint networking strategy
• the value of creating networking structures and 90-day goals
• the art of following up (without being annoying)
• why viewing people as investments and partners beats a transactional approach
• how to identify and execute your leverage when networking
• how staying genuinely curious about others can be your biggest asset
• why reaching out thoughtfully and kindly wins every time
• the benefit of leading with what you can offer, not what you need
• the right way to ask for the time of busy executives and higher-ups
• why code switching, or matching the vibe of others, can get you everywhere
• the value of offering congratulations to even the most successful people on the ladder
• the value of reaching out just one more time

Synopsis:

In Hollywood, those who work on stagecraft positions (including costuming, lighting, editing, and production roles) typically jump from gig to gig. With such intermittent jobs, there’s no consistent employer to provide benefits like health insurance, sick pay or retirement savings. That’s where unions come in: union membership gives below-the-line workers access to health benefits and retirement savings and positions that typically provide increased wages. For crews in Hollywood, membership is key.

In this episode, Hollywood IQ host Ri-Karlo Handy talks with DeJon Ellis Jr., a career key grip and IATSE Union leader who brings more than 25 years of expertise in each role to the conversation. The pair discuss how to rise the ranks in Hollywood as a grip, the benefits of union membership, how to become a union member and union leader, and the importance of diversity in union leadership. Whether you’re looking to work on TV or film sets or aim to produce studio-quality content on YouTube, this episode lays out how to take advantage of newly-formed training programs and time-honored union benefits on offer.

Episode Highlights:

Hollywood IQ podcast Host Ri-Karlo Handy and DeJon Ellis Jr discuss:

• benefits of union membership (including becoming “gang work” eligible — which isn’t at all like what it sounds).
• how union membership helped elevates careers
• navigating the path to union leadership
• the vintage (and exclusive) title of “best boy” for second-company grips
• new and emerging training programs available that are setting much-needed standards for skills training — and where to find them
• union history (including an eye-opening conversation on segregation within unions — it didn’t happen as long ago as you’d think)
• how the music video genre in the eighties and nineties helped the Black and other POC, and women producers and filmmakers to grow in Hollywood

Synopsis:

Don’t knock a job a the makeup counter — it’s what led to a decades-long career for hair stylist and makeup artist Keshia Smith, who has led hair and makeup departments for television and film productions, among other roles.

In episode #110 of the Hollywood IQ podcast, Host Ri-Karlo Handy talks with Keshia Smith, Artist Management x TCA founder and instructor for the Handy Foundation Glam Assistant Apprenticeship track, about what it takes to work as an on-set makeup artist and/or hairstylist in Hollywood. Having worked on TV and film productions including the unscripted series, “Harlem Globetrotters: Play it Forward,” Keshia brings three decades of beauty industry experience to the conversation. From leading hair and makeup teams in production to her secret to landing new clients, Kesha shares the ins and outs of creating a career in Hollywood glam.

Episode Highlights:

• Hollywood IQ podcast Host Ri-Karlo Handy and Keshia Smith discuss:
• From the Nars counter to doing makeup for Sandra Oh and Rose McGowen and becoming on-set hair and makeup department head
• the importance of being approachable and telling people what you’re up to outside of the context they see you in.
• why not taking every job can build a higher-rate offers
• how overdelivering on set leads to subsequent jobs
• the importance of solving problems before anyone tells you they have them
• why it matters to give credit where credit is due
• the importance for hairstylists and makeup artists to master their craft on different skin colors and hair textures
• why a good-energy project can be better than a higher paying one

TOMORROW NIGHT:
Join us for an unforgettable night!

NAACP, The Handy Foundation, and Netflix present:

Glam Squad Glow Up: HAIR WARS — a dynamic event celebrating fantasy hair as both cultural storytelling and futuristic art.

December 10, 2025

6:00pm–8:30pm

NAACP Screening Room

5757 Wilshire Blvd., M-101,

Los Angeles, CA 90036

You don’t want to miss this!

Click HERE to RSVP now.