We were lucky to catch up with Antoinette Ransom recently and have shared our conversation below.

Antoinette, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

As a child, I always dreamed that I would be rich and famous. However, I grew up in an atmosphere where both of my parents struggled to make ends meet. I didn’t realize that we were destitute during most of my youth. In the Midwest, it’s hard to get connected to the entertainment industry, and unfortunately there are a lot of bad agencies taking advantage of hungry talent. However, I was able to take all the challenges from my childhood and create this alter ego that drove me to be creative. Joining any thespian club, getting involved in community theatre, taking dance classes when we could afford it, and that became my escape from the drama at home. In hindsight, if you were to ask me what it takes to be successful- I would say, “Embrace every challenge in your life and learn from it, because that’s what being successful really is. The perseverance and foresight it takes to not give up.”

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m originally from Kansas City, Missouri. I remained in KC until 2000 and decided to move to Los Angeles shortly after two friends of mine passed away the same week. My best friend, Randie Carver was a middleweight boxer that died in the ring at Harrah’s Casino. Then, two days later my former roommate was found hanging in her closet. I won’t mention her name to protect her family’s privacy. When that happened, I felt the push to get out of KC, and pursue my dreams. I really didn’t have anyone close to me at the time and felt connected to those two. I was lost, hurt, and most of all misguided. One day I woke up packed up all of my things and took a risk to pursue my dreams in Los Angeles. When I arrived in LA, I got right to work. I lived in a hotel for a month until I found a job and an apartment. I remember I was staying at some hotel off of Sunset where there were drug dealers and prostitutes walking up and down the strip at night. I know it sounds crazy but it’s true. To fast forward two years later, I got with an agency and started auditioning. I was in dance classes three days a week and acting classes four days a week. I went on a couple of tours as a hip-hop dancer, then got booked in a few national commercials (that helped pay my bills at the time). In 2004, there was an incident where I decided to focus less on dancing and more on fashion design and styling. I attended the Art Institute in Los Angeles (and we all know that story what happened to that school). However, I had to turn lemons into lemonade and do the best I could to find employment. I started interning for Mercede Benz/IMG and making my own clothing line out of my loft.

In 2007/2008 I had a ready to wear line that sold briefly in Fred Segal and Dillard’s. From that point, I didn’t have the investment to go bigger, so I continued to make custom made suits and gowns for celebs or any high-profile personalities that attended award shows or events. In 2009, the economy was suffering during the mortgage crisis. I went through all my savings, and moved from LA to San Diego where I was then hired as a Pitboss in a casino. The previous Station Casino experience I gained in KC, came in handy for this position I took at Valley View Casino in Southern California. When things started to improve, in 2010 I simultaneously started my own production company while working at the casino. It was called, “Exhibit Ambush”, and we create high profile creative events and partnered with national nonprofits. Our events were basically a playground for adults. My team and I did that strong until 2018, until I had to focus on what I should start doing for myself. My production company helped other artists shine and cost me a lot of money, but what legacy would I leave to my kids? After deep soul searching, I decided I wanted my own talk show or reality show, but I wasn’t sure how to get there.

I decided to meet with some talented producers that have worked with multiple networks, and the first piece of advice they gave me was, “start interviewing celebs on camera and see how comfortable you are”. You can’t just call up celebrities, so I had to use my industry connections to find a celebrity publicist that’s heavily connected. From that point on, I hired a celebrity publicist that started putting me on high profile red carpets to get that one-on-one experience of interviewing someone on the spot. To be honest, it’s not as easy as you think. Once those lights and cameras hit you, there goes everything you memorized. Luckily, for me I have a theatrical background and improvisation saved my life many times in interviews. Things were progressing so well, a production company decided to pick up my reality show concept and we started shooting in February 2020. Things were rolling until the pandemic hit in March 2020, and the world was quarantined.

Being quarantined was a hard time because Hollywood shut down, and I found myself unemployed with no income. Of course, as resilient as I am I had to make a hard pivot and figure out something remotely. I sat down one day and wrote down all of my industry contacts and had an epiphany at that moment. I realized that I understood the industry from not only from an artist’s perspective, but also as a producer and marketing perspective. There’s a lot of upcoming or rising talent that don’t have pr/marketing for their brand. In addition, most new talent are oblivious on how to get into the industry and the legitimate steps to take. To be honest, that was the a-ha moment for me. Transitioning into a celebrity publicist and creative director for rising talent. To push it one step further, I wanted to challenge myself during Covid, and see if I could get into producing both TV/Film projects. In 2022, I received my first executive producer credit for the Food Network’s, “Fuller Farmer” show season 7 – Memorable Meals project. That was just being in the right place and knowing the right people to make that happen. At that point, I was hooked. Currently, I’m making that shift from celebrity publicist to producer.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The main goal driving me through this journey is creating a platform or business my kids will continue to share after I’m gone. There will always be a need for guidance, resources, connections, and transparency when eager artists and performers are trying to break into the entertainment industry. Creating a foundation, developing an artist’s business plan, and providing resources is what I do best. Of course, everything is online and it’s all about the digital online presence. In the next year, I’m going to focus on utilizing AI (artificial intelligence) to help save costs on editing, copywriting, legal services, etc.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The biggest lesson I had to unlearn was I kept telling myself, “Antoinette, have a plan B if plan A doesn’twork”. Honestly, that’s a great concept, however as an artist it sets you up for failure. Because then create this subconscious belief that you’re already going to fail, so have plan b. So I always had several backup plans, where I was becoming a “jack of all trades” for lack of a better expression. If I could do it over, I think my biggest goal was to be an actress when I moved to LA. Honestly, I think if I would’ve just focused on that…my life would be different. But who knows, I do believe everything happens for a reason, and maybe I was meant to be more than just an actress. I’m not saying when you work on a project or production not to have multiple backup plans you should. I’m talking about that lie we all tell ourselves when we leave home and head to Hollywood putting that backup concept in our minds right away. Think about it, when lawyers go to law school do they have a backup plan? Or do they know and trust in their heart they will be a practicing lawyer? It’s all about trusting your instincts and not doubting yourself, and I doubted myself several times in the beginning of my journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aloveransom.com and www.ambushevents.com
• Instagram: antoinette_love_ransom
• Facebook: Antoinette Love Ransom
• Linkedin: Antoinette L. Ransom
• Twitter: @antoinettelove
• Youtube: @antoinetteloveransom2937
• Other: Tiktok : @antoinetteloveransom

Image Credits
Images taken by: Daniel Morales (we shot these specifically for your team so you won’t see them anywhere else) Location: Solana Beach Jacket: Prada Hat: Nordstrom Shirt: Michael Kors Jeans: Guess Makeup: ;myself