Felicia “The Poetess” Morris is using the heart of the Crenshaw District as a foundation to her multimedia company Morris Media Studios.
“I’m in awe everyday when I come into my studios,” said Morris. “Just thinking about my journey. I had to do crowdfunding and loans from friends and family to get to where I am now. I was so serious about my vision that I paid rent on this studio for about a year before I could even afford buying a mic.”
It’s not often that you see an African American woman in the heart of Crenshaw owning a media company at the capacity in which she is. “I think it was my destiny to be here,” said Morris.
Her internet media facility is located in Leimert Park and hosts a green room, live radio studio and creative office space for those interested in creating web content.
“We give people an opportunity to host their own Internet shows and podcasts; while doing it live,” she said.
Radio broadcast is nothing new for Morris. She has 27 years of experience as a syndicated radio host. She has hosted on 92.3 The Beat, Lee Bailey’s Hip Hop Countdown & Report, Jamie Foxx’s The Foxxhole on Sirius XM and her own shows “The Agenda” and “Real Talk”.
She knows not a lot of people last long in this field. “There are people who started in the business with me who aren’t doing radio anymore. They ventured off into doing something else. I couldn’t do that. I knew I had to live my dream,” she said.
Morris has been in the forefront of new media for the African American community for a while now and being an entrepreneur is something she has to get use to.
“Being an entrepreneur is not easy. You have to learn a lot of sacrifice, especially your time,” Morris said. “You really have to take it one step at a time.”
Morris stated that it was a scary step to take when she decided to leave what was familiar to her and create her own lane. But, she knew it was worthwhile and would help cultivate her as a businessperson and community advocate. “Through my own journey, I learned that I had to ask myself what is my bigger vision? There is always a bigger goal we have set for ourselves and we have to learn how to execute that goal,” she said.
As of now, there are eight shows that use the facility to broadcast, which includes Morris’ adult comedy show on Fridays. Her biggest hope is to open up her facility to young boys and girls who have a growing interest in the multimedia career.
“The bigger vision is to have a broadcast academy for younger youth. Youth advocacy is my thing. I want the youth to see that they can be the best in broadcast,” she said. “It’s time to give our community a voice and an outlet to do so. We need information and people don’t believe it but Black people love talk radio.”
From her successful career and passion for advocacy, Morris hopes that everyone learns from her personal journey. “[I want] people to know to live your dreams and make sure you follow whatever your passion is. Once you recognize that make money doing what you love,” she said.
To learn more information about Morris Media Studios visit www.morrismediastudios.com.