Issue #131 - Digital Cover

Published on November 27th, 2021 | by Dr. Jerry Doby

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Who Is Abbie Knights?

Dedicated to building her platforms to pay it forward and help children in need, Abbie Knights is a passionate bilingual radio personality and host, hoping to capture her audience with an endearing, honest approach to reality in today’s world, by spreading kindness, love and positivity through conversation and laughter.

From the outside looking in, who is Abbie Knights?

In short, most would say… she is very driven, compassionate, intuitive, assertive, down to earth, incredibly loyal, she always places family first, like most hispanic women she has a bit of sassy/spicy “edge”, she’s incredibly outspoken but most of all at her core, she’s completely dedicated to philanthropy and passionate about helping children and people in need. As they say…where there’s a will there’s a way! One thing about Abbie, is that she embodies perseverance to the max, if there isn’t a path, she’ll find a way to create a bridge to get there.

What was the defining moment that brought you to the entertainment industry?

As a little girl, I remember sitting in the living room of my grandma’s house in Spain and watching concerts repeatedly and studying the performances from start to finish. I was always fascinated with entertaining people. When I was 13 years old, MTV came to Key West for their Summer in the Keys segment. As a kid, the dream was to be a singer one day, so I used to put a change of clothes in my locker, change after school and walk 3 miles to their shooting location every day. I became pretty well acquainted with Carson Daly, KK Holiday, Quddus and the crew, as I would spend endless hours sitting in the audience, taking it all in, to the point I was covered in blisters from excessive sun exposure. My thought process at the time was to see what it was really like behind the scenes, “in real life”, to see if I still liked it as much as I did watching it on TV, because everything always looked so “cooI” and “glamorous”. I always knew I wanted to be in entertainment, just wasn’t sure where I’d fit in. After that summer, I fell completely in love and never looked back.

You’ve got quite the resume as a behind the scenes person for high profile films and television series, what made you want to step out as a media personality as well?

I’ve spent the last 20 years in and around entertainment, as I grew into my young adult years, I’d always shared an interest in directing. Photography has been a huge passion of mine since I was a teenger, so directing seemed like the natural evolution over time. I joined IATSE in 2016 and began working in set lighting, any great director knows how significant and profoundly beneficial, proper understanding of lighting is when creating the “perfect shot”. I was committed to my growth on that side of the industry, I wanted to be knowledgeable but above all, I really wanted to be respected by my peers and superiors. I loved my job, had the pleasure of working for some wonderful people! A work acquaintance I had at that time, Vareck Gober Sr. put in a great word for me to have an opportunity to work on Avengers and thanks to Cricket, I landed an opportunity that taught me endless knowledge, specialized skills (they taught me how to become very efficient driving and operating condors)… a job that was only supposed to last 2 weeks, resulted in 2.5 years, 2 major movie credits on a film that broke historical records with a 1.2 billion dollar budget and the experience of a lifetime. What most people don’t know is that, coming from my earlier years working as an aspiring singer/artist, I was recording radio commercials for Ford. After one of my commercial sessions at iHeart radio, I was approached with the initiative of wanting to add me as a personality on one of their top (latin) morning shows here in Atlanta. That opportunity wasn’t realized, however, flash forward to 5 years later into the beginning of the pandemic, a longtime friend of mine offered me the opportunity of hosting my own morning show, 5 days a week on a top 40 FM station in California. Approximately 8 months into our 5 hour morning show being on-air we gained 1,000,000 monthly listeners. Looking back on my journey there’s been a lot of highs and lows, uncertainty, self doubt, endless growth and many twists/turns that most would say made absolutely no sense, but all of it brought me to this point… I wouldn’t change a thing.

What has been the highlight of your entertainment industry career?

My main goal in life has always been to inspire others or to simply add something good/positive to their day, if each day I’m able to make just one person smile…mission accomplished. For those that know me personally, they know that my biggest dream since I was a little girl was to be really famous one day, just so that I could walk into St. Jude’s and be able to help spend time uplifting the kids and make a real difference with people in need. Last year, a young teen reached out and told me that listening to my morning show helped him find light in his days, that even though he didn’t know me personally he felt like he had a space where he finally fit in. In his message, he expressed that he was being severely bullied to the point where he began hating himself, was afraid to go to school or attend any school oriented functions. On my show, I did a segment about bullying where I shared my personal experience with it and how I’d been jumped by 5 people (3 of which were senior boys that played basketball on the team my sister’s dad coached), to the point the medics thought half of my face had been completely shattered. I struggled for many years to find a space to fit in, I hated myself throughout a large portion of my childhood, because I couldn’t understand why people were so cruel towards me, that was just one moment, the bullying for me lasted from elementary to highschool. I turned to music and found my strength, thanks to my amazing Mom and loving family. He said, that sharing my story saved his life because that particular morning when that segment aired… he told me he had planned on comitting suicide that day. That was a major pivotal point in my life and my journey, I felt like I finally found my purpose. I will forever thank him for his bravery and taking the time to share his story with me.

How did working behind the scenes prepare you to become an on-air personality?

Perspective is EVERYTHING and knowledge is KEY! I’ve always felt in order to be successful it’s important to be well rounded, when it comes to your understanding of what it takes to keep a well oiled machine running  both in front and back of house. Working behind the scenes gave me a great deal of perspective and understanding, along with some of my experience in the corporate world. It most definitely facilitated a better process and strategy and above all, deepened my appreciation for each person’s role/contribution to the “brand” and shows we’re building. Individually, yes, working behind the scenes enhanced my skills and ability to perform and acclimate to change quickly, specially when it comes to improvising in an entertaining/seamless form, it gave me dynamic range, patience and structure… the list really is endless when you break it down, but if I’m being completely honest, the work behind the scenes gifted me the greatest foundation, which is the appreciation of the people that help make all of this possible. Let’s be honest… it takes a village… I am my team, my success is our success.

Tell us about the shows you are producing now!

Right now, I have four shows in motion! My radio show “The Abbie Knights Show” with my beautiful co-hosts, Jenny Ruby who is an accomplished MUA in New York City (she’s worked for global fashion houses like Givenchy, Jeremy Scott, Michael Kors and Balmain to name a few and is a consistent presense during NYC Fashion Week),  Maria Clifton aka DJ Ria is a full blown powerhouse there isn’t much she can’t conquer, from previously playing in the WNBA, to being a fulltime model for brands like Nike, spinning at the most elite parties for brands like PUMA, REEBOK, NYFW and being the resident Dj at Barklay’s center for NY Liberty and my show mix DJ, Dj Cadence, who’s spun for artists like Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Cardi B, Usher, Da Baby, Lil Wayne, Neyo, Ashanti, T-Pain, Remy Ma, Missy Elliot and many others! Cadence’s resume and talent is frankly endless. “TAKS” is a positive format show, with a comedic flare, discussing today’s most current, with a heartfelt tone and up close and personal discussions with some of your favorite celebrities! “Late Nights With Abbie” is an emerging podcast, highlighting a wide variety of topics from, mental-health, wellness, racism, politics and religion, to sex, relationships, women empowerment, music, sports, giving back and others; in a fun, exciting, compelling and insightful format. Long story short, we’re diving into everything they say you’re not supposed to discuss! MIYA meaning “Mujeres Independientes y Amorosas” (Independent and loving Women), is an all-female latina hosted podcast show, all about women empowerment and having unfiltered discussions about topics we all think about but may not be as quick to openly speak on. My co-hosts on this show are model/actresses LornaLitz Baez and Ariel Yasmine. Last but certainly not least, Buena Onda meaning “Good Vibe” The Spanglizzz Show is pure comedy, hosted with the incredible actor/comedian Anthony “Big Citric” Campos, a lead actor and fan favorite from “The George Lopez Show” on TV Land. On this show we’re mixing things up, with pranks, hilarious videos and discussing popular latin social topics.

What do you hope to contribute to the entertainment space with your content?

I’m hoping to be able to help bridge the gap when it comes to representation of Spanish women in entertainment, without having to be placed in one box, just because I’m a woman of hispanic descent and ideally create diversity, representation, empowerment and acceptance in pop culture for people of all sexes, race, ethnicities and self-identification. In short, we’re just doing it for “the culture” and in the process hoping to inspire, uplift and in some small way create a lane where social acceptance and individuality is viewed as cool again.

Why do you do what you do?

In a world filled with so much chaos, there’s nothing better than knowing that you were the reason for one great moment in someone’s day! Life is hard enough as is… coming out of a pandemic, the unknown factors/effects of Covid are scary enough as is and have you seen the news lately? I know it may seem cliche, but I’m just hoping to be able to be a positive contribution in someone’s life, to create a space where they can be entertained and get away from the day to day chaos that life brings.

Where can we find the shows you are producing?

My radio show “TAKS” (pronounced “talks”) is on-air every Saturday morning 8:00am – 12:00n (EST) and can be heard on www.live89fm.com and www.hot365radio.com

The audio for all (3) podcasts can be found on iHeartRadio, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

You can also watch the shows on the following networks:

Late Nights With Abbie (LNWA) – SM1 Entertainment / Roku TV

MIYA – Video is available exclusively on www.ridetheweiv.com

Buena Onda – Thursday’s at 10:00pm (EST) – The Hype Magazine Network / Roku TV

Where can we find you online?

All Social Handles: @AbbieKnights

www.AbbieKnights.com

 

Featured Image: Abbie Knights Photo cred: Jordan Armstrong, Kimani Media group



About the Author

Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.


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