No Surface Level.
ABOUT SHERMAIN
Shermain Melton is a truth teller. He is also Black, accomplished, gay, and Christian. He thought God had played a trick on him by giving him a big heart to love people while subjecting him to rejection from the church for living his truth of being gay. He has lost friends and business for owning who he is.
Shermain rose from a childhood of poverty, gunshots, and drug dealers to become a self-made and debt-free millionaire. He carries survivor guilt because not all his friends made it out alive. At twenty, he became the General Manager of an underperforming Pizza Hut restaurant and led his team of forty to generate over $1 Million in revenue. While his peers were learning business theory, he was running a real business.
He walked away from a lucrative technology career as a Senior Engineer at American Express because he realized the most important network that needed fixing was the connection between leaders and their authentic selves.
I believe that we are experiencing a loneliness epidemic that is killing accomplished Black men. I'm on an important and impossible mission to end it. I'm here to help you play bigger. I'm for the man who is ready to become someone who moves through the world with unshakeable self-belief, magnetic presence, and the freedom of being fully himself.
WHY I’M THE RIGHT GUEST FOR YOUR SHOW
I don't do surface-level conversations.
I tell the truth and hold nothing back.
I go where most guests won't.
I'll say what accomplished Black leaders have been thinking but haven't heard anyone say out loud.
Your audience won't forget this conversation.
Accomplished Black leaders are operating below what they know they're capable of. I'm the coach they call when they're ready to close that gap.
EPISODE IDEAS
From Poverty to Debt-Free Millionaire: The Mindset That Changed Everything.
You Can't Belong Anywhere Until You Belong to Yourself.
The 24-Year Lie: The Moment I Decided to Live as Myself.
Silence Is Expensive: What Speaking Your Truth Unlocks.
The Loneliness No One Names: What's Really Happening Inside Accomplished Black Men.
QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK ME
My Story
🔹 You've said you once felt God played a trick on you by making you Black, Christian, and Gay. When did you first claim that as your power?
🔹 You walked into a pastor's office and said, "I'm gay, and I want to be a leader here." He said no. You walked out feeling proud. Why was that moment a victory?
🔹 You were in third grade, walking home with your twin in a white neighborhood. A white woman pushed her stroller to the other side of the street to avoid you, then crossed back after she passed. When did you first realize the world saw you differently?
🔹 Your father had a restraining order and couldn't come inside. He asked for blankets to sleep in his car. You asked if you could sleep out there with him. On his deathbed, he brought up that night. What did that moment teach you about love?
🔹 Your father was dying, and you chose to go to work instead of staying at the hospital. You were in a meeting when you got the text: "Dad is dead." Why did you choose to run toward being useful instead of sitting with your feelings?
🔹 In third grade, your father made you walk back into the store, look the cashier in the eye, and say, "I stole this. I'm a thief. I'll never do it again." What did your father teach you about integrity that still guides you today?
🔹 You left an organization because you didn’t feel valued, said yes to a front line role with a new organization, took a 40% pay cut and chose to build something bigger. On day one, you stood outside your car and made yourself a promise. What was it, and why did it work?
🔹 What was the moment you decided to live fully as yourself?
🔹 You say, "You can't belong to any table until you belong to yourself." What did you have to claim to get there?
🔹 You worked two full-time jobs, eighty hours a week, for three years to become debt-free. What kept you going when everything in you wanted to stop?
My Work
🔹 You've coached over 16,000 hours. In that time, what's the one thing accomplished Black leaders say they need and the one thing they actually show up needing?
🔹 You coach leaders to create Moments of Courageous Action. What does it look like in the room when someone actually takes one?
🔹 You say loneliness is an inside game. What does that mean for a leader who is surrounded by people, respected in every room, and still feels completely alone?
🔹 You talk about the difference between fitting in and belonging. Why do so many accomplished leaders spend their entire careers chasing the wrong one?
🔹 You've built a framework that moves leaders from hiding to full capability. What's the biggest lie accomplished leaders tell themselves that keeps them from making that move?
WHAT YOUR LISTENERS WALK AWAY WITH
Language for what they've been feeling but couldn't name.
A framework for leading at their full capability.
The courage to choose themselves when it matters most.