Heroes in Business - Darcy Donavan, TV & Film Actress "Anchorman, "Parks & Rec", "Modern Family", Executive Producer, #CryptoQueen stardawgs.com

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

Check out Darcy Donavan, a Film & TV Actress as seen in "Anchorman, "Parks & Rec", "Modern Family", Producer, Recording Artist, Founder of Star Dawgs, Co-owner of Income Island, #CryptoQueen, model, social media influencer, philanthropist, and entrepreneur, as David Cogan of Eliances interviews her at the Eliances Heroes Show. stardawgs.com

Welcome back to alliances heroes. We're heroes in business aligned. To be part of our super community and find out more about alliances visit www.alliances.com. That's right we're back. Now you remember where to go to listen to those past interviews. The only place where entrepreneurs align that's ELIANCS.com and click on radio. I appreciate the continued feedback we had on when I had on the president of the CEO of the National Academy Television Arts and Sciences. They're the ones that put on the Emmy Awards.

And again, you can continue to provide that feedback because we love it, we love it, we love it, and we love hearing from you. I'm super excited today. Guess what? We have with us Darcy Donovan. She is the actress that in Anchorman, Parks and Rec, Modern Family, and a ton of other shows.

She is also too, if that wasn't enough, the crypto queen and CMO of the cryptocurrency, Ecoin Finance. You could reach her at stardogs.com. That's S-T-A-R-D-A-W-G-S.com. She could say it a lot better than I can. Darcy, welcome to the show. First, pronounce Stardogs again.

It's just Stardogs. It's just Stardogs. But you know, some people, you know, like when I was spelling it to you, so people don't think it's D-O-G-S, it's D-A-W, you know. Well, it's a, you know, we're different, we're unique, so it needs a unique name. I love it.

Darcy, first let's talk about as an actress, I mean, you've been in a ton of different, ton of places and stuff with that. Like, I mean, Anchorman, Parks and Rec, Modern Family, I mean, the list just goes on and on. Like, if there was one that stands out that was most fun for you, which one was that? You know, that's hard to do.

Cause people ask me, you know, like I do have a music career and I do have, you know, my acting of course, but, and I get a lot of, so what can you choose? I mean, I can't, like, I will say Anchorman was a member, one of my most memorable roles. I did have a really great time with, you know, Paul Rudd, Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate.

I mean, they were all a joy, but especially the brilliant director, Adam McKay. But I mean, I really enjoyed, you know, working with Chris Pratt, you know, on Parks and Rec. I enjoyed I worked with Nathan Fillian on Modern Family. I had a blast. That's really hard to say. It's so hard. It's like, which kid do you like the best, David? Which of your children do you love?

You know what I mean? It's just one of those things where I just that's a hard Which kid do you like the best, David? Which of your children do you like? You know what I mean? It's just one of those things where I just, that's a hard to narrow it down. Cause you know, now I can tell you the bad ones that I've been on, but there's been a couple independent films that I've done. And I'm like, I'd rather, you know,

go get like a root canal than, you know, be on the set with some of the, you know, dealing with how it's going. But I will say Parks and Rec was amazing, Modern Family, Anchorman, you know, Zon Tuck. I mean, just, I just did a movie on Amazon with Paul Johansson of Mad Men and One Tree Hill and Secret Agent. And I got to tell you, it was, it was a great, I had a great time. So the industry that you're in though is that industry is so competitive right? I mean so competitive in that. What do you feel are maybe some of the secrets that you could share of the role of getting those roles? I always tell people, I mean,

you really have to have tenacity. Tenacity is where it's at. The bottom line is that you've got to sit here and you've got to have a tenacious spirit, but you've also, you have to be able to take rejection. And I had a grandmother who was full-blooded German, very critical, very almost obnoxiously straightforward. It's like, ah, dasi.

I don't like that. That perfume, what the heck, dasi. It's terrible. So she was very blunt with everything that she did. So I feel like because I dealt with it as a child and dealing with all that critiques and stuff, it's like people say, it just rolls off me. I don't, you really have to have a thick skin

and that's the main thing I tell people. So excellent. So we have a question that came in from one of our listeners and that and they want to know what your secret beauty tips are. Oh gosh. Well, I will say this secret beauty tips. I mean, my one guy because I have one and I don't know but I guess I'll tell you. Come on, you gotta show that one. I will tell, I'm gonna tell that I have not ever told anybody this David, so you're special, okay, because I'm saying this on your show. I every night, I mean I know people are like Jennifer Lopez said olive oil blah blah blah. No, the thing is there is people don't realize olive oil is huge.

I mean, Cleopatra back in the day, I mean, that's what she used. You know, olive oil, but with apple cider vinegar. So, yep. Yes. I know, look at your face. Does it work for males? Yeah, actually too. If males put it on like the top of their head, it will, you know, they do it every day, it'll make hair growth too.

So yeah, it's, I mean, look it up, apple cider vinegar, you know, you mix it together and I'm telling you, it's incredible, you know, and you put it on at night because you do smell like salad dressing. So if my dog, if my dogs come licking me and stuff, I don't know why. Yeah. But yeah. Hey, and it's great for your dogs. Another tip here, olive oil is great for your pets.

Like I take a spoonful, put it on my dog, all of my dogs. I've got six dogs, so they lap it up and their coats are so shiny and it helps with their intestines. So it's like a win-win. So I'm all into the all-natural holistic stuff. That's something I really wanted to study was to be like a holistic doctor but you know I've got all these businesses that didn't have time to do it. Tell us Darcy, what are we going to find when we go to Stardogs? Again, that's S-T-A-R-D-A-W-G-S.com because we have Darcy Donovan with us,

actress and anchorman, parts and rec, modern family, crypto queen, CMO of the cryptocurrency, Ecoin Finance. Make sure you go to stardogs.com because you're listening, watching me, David Cogan, host of the Alliance's Hero Show. Well, if you go to Stardogs, basically it'll tell you the journey

of how the NFT project came about. It was actually, you know, my dog Max, it's like a labor of love for him. Basically, it's one of those things, it was inspired by my dog Max, he is like my guiding star star and the project's really cutting through like the red tape. It makes like, takes people years, like years.

There's people that I've known, I mean, that are A-list stars. They didn't get a break till 20 years later. Some people don't ever even make it in the industry at all. It's basically your golden ticket to Hollywood. And I'm basically giving people opportunity that I never had. So I've been developing 3D full body hyper-realistic

NFT star dogs, which they're all dogs, different types of dogs. But it's tied to film production, television shows that I'm going to be doing, movies that I have in pre-production right now. So I've taken everything that all the people that I know from the entertainment industry, my database of film, film director, filming directors, executives, producers,

directors, A-list actors, crew, you know, the whole shebang. And you know, basically using all my connections, you know, for the film and television industry, you know, to move the NFT line to make it huge, you know. So I'm very excited. I'm very excited. So the Stardogs holders, they're gonna get all these perks and benefits that most people will never have access to within the entertainment industry.

They never will. So it's basically the holder's chance to get involved on so many levels. And we only have 10,277 NFTs available and that's it. So. Wow. So. Wow. So again, make sure you go to stardogs.com, S-T-A-R-D-A-W-G-S.com.

Darcy, what was the passion to get involved in the, first in the industry of being an actress? Like. Oh, in the, well, I mean, everybody always kept telling me, you know, you're a big ham. It started out as a kid, you know. Then when I was a kid, they had a sign up.

They wanted people to audition. Children, they were looking for that. Some of my friends were doing it. So my mom, I gave it to her. And I said, hey, they had this up at the school. They're looking for kids for this commercial. Well, I beat out hundreds of kids. I went in there, did my lines, and they're like, hey, we want her for the commercial. Well, like I beat out like hundreds of kids. I went in there, did my lines,

and they're like, hey, we want, you know, we want her for the commercial. And so it was just like, I was excited. But then when I got on set, you know, the guy that played my brother, he was like 18 years old, you know, and I was like, nine, eight or nine. And he kept messing up his lines. And then like, after like so many takes, I'm just like, God, I've rumorized his lines, his lines and my lines. So I was like, I don't know. This is not very fun. But I was doing music a lot.

So from there, I was doing commercials and stuff. And I was singing at hospitals for the elderly and doing little routines. I, you know, was in choir. So I was doing a lot of church stuff. They would have you, you know, go up in front of the church and do solos and stuff like that. So I was doing all that, like starting at age eight. And so it's just kind of, I think it's like it's in your blood or not, you know, because like my sister's like, I can't do what you do. She's like, yeah, that's, she's more behind the scenes and you know, I'm more in front.

So it's, I think it's just, you're either born with it or you're not, you know, but ask me to draw something, David. I can't even draw a stick man correctly. So that's the one thing I can't do. So. And then again, and then making the shift and being into the business end and with this whole thing regarding cryptocurrency and that. I mean, that's multifaceted. I mean, multi-talented.

Well, thank you. I really appreciate you. Well, I mean, the thing is, is that, you know, I had an entrepreneurial spirit at a young age. I was charging family members and stuff to come see me and my cousin. I'd be like, okay, give us a quarter, a dollar. And then it just kind of progressed. I made my own flyers, did babysitting. I was in beauty pageants. I had my parents divorced when I was two years old.

So I had a single mom working two jobs. So I wanted to be in beauty pageants like my other friends, but they had rich parents, they had everything. And I had to literally put on like go to each business and say, hey, please, will you sponsor me? So I started a modeling agency at 18. Right when I got out of high school, I started, you know, a modeling agency.

I ended up selling it. And it was, you know, it just kind of bamboozled from there. I got into real estate. I started investing things into things and made money. And the big thing is, is I tell everybody, you should never stop learning. I'm a big believer in reading books, business books, making yourself better, learning from other people.

If you're the smartest person in the room, then there's a problem. Well, not a problem, it can be good, but you always wanna go, okay, who else can I learn from? So, you know, I've been with some of the been around some of the biggest people in tech. I've been around people, you know, in business, real estate moguls, you name it. I mean, and it's just some of the best advice I got was from an older A-list actor giving me advice of he's like, you know, the acting and stuff and the music, that's great.

He says, but really business is what it's all about. He's like, you know, you, I mean, people don't realize Bob Hope, I mean, he's huge. He was so huge back in his time. And he made all his money really on real estate. And, you know, people think he, you know, all the stuff that he's done, I mean, and he's done, I mean, just, I mean, a colossal amount of acting and film and television

and made a ton of money, but he made more money in real estate. So it's like business is where it's at. And that's where the NFTs, that's where I see, we're pioneering the space right now in crypto and in web three. And this is an amazing time for people to get in because it's like the start of the internet, David, I mean, 1992, look at where the internet was. I mean, think if right now you invested like in the beginning of the internet,

I mean, you'd be a multi multi probably a trillionaire by now. I would have bought all the single word domain names that absolutely absolutely and see that's the thing is is people I mean people don't realize how things are evolving with web 3 it's you know and I mean you got to look at history and look at where it's gone but it's like okay if we'll go back we'll dial it back, 1992, internet. People are like, oh, this is horrible. It's going to change civilization.

It's going to be a terrible thing. And then they're like, Y2K, the world's ending. I mean, I remember my neighbor was literally getting bottles and bottles of waters and filling up their garage because they're like, the world's going to end because there was so much you know hoopla about that because of the internet and now I mean look at the internet look we're right now this could have never been this could have never happened and and people are doing uh interviews they're doing like you know and there are people

will be in Japan and then in the United States doing a meeting. So it's incredible. And two, me being co-owner of a Metaverse, with one of its kind, we're pioneering that space as well. I mean, we just negotiated some deals recently that I'm very excited about. It's like, whew, it's really exciting what's coming down the pipeline.

And not only that too, if that wasn't enough, you also raise awareness and supported hundreds of charities. And let's talk about Darcy's daily dose of inspiration that you're an author of. All right. Here it is right here. Look at this big book.

My, one of my friends, you know, she was like, she goes, when you do something, you don't do it half-assed, do you? And I said, no, ma'am. But it's a daily dose of inspiration. I will say this, you know, if you go to my website, if you Google me, everything that I do, I do it on inspiration, motivation, humor. That's what my big thing is. But I've had quite a few fans that needed my help.

I've saved people from suicide. And people were like, please write a book, please do the book. So I did the book. And this is a dedication actually to my fans because they were like, please write a book, please do the book. So I did the book. And this is a dedication actually to my fans because they were like, please Darcy, put these inspirational messages in a book. And I could have gone half ass on, I'll tell you. My manager got mad at me because I was like,

he goes, we need to condense it down and make it much smaller. And I'm like, no, I can't do that. He was like, do you know how much that's gonna cost? That's like, I don't care. I wanna make a really great book, you know? But it's a table. What's your favorite daily dose? I know it's probably a challenge.

A daily dose, there's a different one every day. You know what, actually, David, let's see, today is what? Today is? Today is the 18th, right? Yeah. So let's let's let's find the daily dose. Make sure you interview Darcy Donovan. Okay, here you go. That's the daily dose right there folks. Your time is precious. So says we must use time as a tool, not as a couch. So what it is is it'll tell you, basically give you

some inspiration. And then it'll give you a Darcy's daily. It says start managing your time today. Look at a clock and write down what you think you should be doing for the next 10 hours. If this is what you will actually do, or you just tell yourself that. If you make a plan for your time, stick to it.

So each day it has a motivation, something it gives you, hey, I'm your coach, I'm your coach D, this is what you should do. So. Absolutely amazing, amazing. I need to ask you this too, is because you are going back on the web three and all that, what do you see the future of all of this being,

all this tech stuff that you're involved with and the NFTs, like, what do you see the future of all of this being all this tech stuff that you're involved with and the NFTs? Like, what do you I mean, because it's evolving so fast, what is the your crystal ball say? Oh, gosh, well, web three crypto and metaverse, it's evolving daily, it's evolving like every single day. So it's just kind of amazing to see how far we've come. It's I don't like to be a forecast because I'm not I'm not a financial like you know, I have to say that. But we're seeing crypto and NFTs being integrated in every aspect of our daily lives. I mean, Starbucks uses NFTs, you know, hey, you know, if you want to buy Starbucks, you know, I

would say but eight to 10 years, majority of people will be involved. It's no different than credit cards. Credit cards weren't around forever. Folks, I mean, people think, oh, but you know, think about the cell phone. The cell phone wasn't around. And now look at it. I mean, you know, I mean, it went from the people to there's people will go what is a pager? There's pager. Then there was, you know, this

big thing like, you know, it was like what a dollar, $2 a minute. And then the cell phone, you know, now it's like, I even forecasted that it's going to become a mini computer that you're going to, you know, it's going to be a phone and a computer. And sure enough, that's what they did. So or that's what evolved. And I mean, even with, you know, I have guys in here that work for me, and they have to have the latest tech. It's almost like every, you got to think every year, another phone comes out another laptop. So, you know, it's only, it's common sense really. People need to think it's common sense that we're gonna be basically evolving to digital, that everything's gonna be digital. But the great thing is, you've got a blockchain, it's not hackable like it is with a bank.

So there's a lot of great pluses that you get dealing with this, but I'm just really excited about how it's evolving. Well, we've got time for one more question and you talked a little bit about your childhood and stuff. What are some secrets that you see out there that others can do as a child that want to grow up, make their mark in the world like you have in so many different industries, right?

How does someone even just do it within one? Well, you know, my first lesson in business and in everything is to be prepared, you know, and stick to one, you know, listen, I mean, I did stick to one thing. And, you know, in commercials, I knew, you know, kids didn't know their lines. You know, you know, so that, you know, doing pages music performances, I learned that, you know, you don't get a second chance, you got to be prepared for everything. So, you know, if you want to get into, I mean, if you want to be a dentist, then you study everything about a dentist, being a dentist, if you want to get into, I mean, if you want to be a dentist, then you study everything about a dentist, being a dentist. If you want to be a doctor, then study everything. I mean, sales, salespeople, read business books.

It's just, if you're going to do something, you need to do it and focus on it and say, okay, how can I make myself better? And every year, keep evolving. You should never be stagnant. That's the one thing, keep going and have faith in yourself. Well said, we'll be prepared.

Well, you're certainly Darcy, you are prepared. I hope I'm prepared. You've made an impact on film and TV screens. You've been in everything from parks and rec secret agents, phones, six feet under called entourage. My name is Earl. You've been with some of the top stars and you know what? That's a hero making that possible.

Working within web at three crypto NFTs. And that's just all from this morning. My gosh, that's a hero making that possible, working within Web at three crypto NFTs. And that's just all from this morning. My gosh, that's a hero. Darcy Donovan, actress, anchorman, parks, wreck, modern family, crypto queen, and CMO of the cryptocurrency Ecoin Finance. Make sure that you go to stardogs.com. This has been David Kogan with the Ede Alliances Hero Show.