Interviews

Published on March 13th, 2022 | by Crystal Willis

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Black Entrepreneur Power Couple Overcome Cancer and Launch Production Studio in Atlanta

Charlene and Kalief Legend, owners of, The Plug ATL are the epitome of. resilience and black excellence. After 16 years of marriage, 5 beautiful children, these two decided to expand their partnership into a family-owned digital production studio that has taken Atlanta by storm. Charlene’s background as a celebrity makeup artist allowed them to land high-profile clients a lot earlier than most businesses would. They’ve served everybody from Grammy award-winning artist and Real Housewives of Atlanta, Kandi Burruss to popular Instagram influencer, Ari The Don.

Their success didn’t come easy, as this pair have had their share of major life challenges. After Kalief overcame a battle with cancer, he and Charlene decided that building a legacy for their family would take priority. The Black power couple took a major leap and opened the doors to The Plug ATL in the middle of the Covid19 pandemic. Over the Christmas holidays they were robbed for over $100,000 in equipment which caused their business to come to a halt briefly. The level of resilience and resolve Kalief and Charlene Legend have is inspirational, and they’re bouncing back beautifully.

We asked a few questions to dig deeper into their path to success, and get them to drop gems on maintaining balance in their marriage:

Kalief, you’re a proud cancer survivor. What’s something you learned about yourself through that experience that is helping you resiliently recover from the recent theft of your location?

Surviving cancer is a feat within itself. How you come out on the other side is what is most important. Making sure your mental health is intact. With surviving any tragedies there is always a quiet fear that is lingering in the back of your mind. Questioning if the threat is completely gone. Or will it return. But for me reminding myself of what my cause in life is, it allowed me to stay focused on what’s ahead and what is to come.

Charlene, tell us about your experience working as a Celebrity Makeup Artist and what truly inspired you guys to create The Plug ATL?

I started out in Orlando as a Program Coordinator and Event Producer. I’ve worked in Commercial Production here in Atlanta as a Makeup Artist for almost 10 years! I know and understand the commercial look and aesthetic like I know my name! I have the eye! I am detail oriented and strive for mastery in every project I tackle.  I understand how all the details of a look or project need to come together to make a project successful and makeup gave me that edge!

My years on set, and work on hundreds of productions got me thinking, If digital media is the future and everyone has to compete on the same platform regardless of the size of the brand. Why can’t the average person have access to the thousands of qualified professionals who create and produce content for Fortune 500 companies daily. This is an unnecessary barrier and lack of quality branding and messaging aids in disparities and equitable access to entrepreneurial success.  The Plug ATL was birthed from our desire to help brands and creators develop their own commercial look and quality content. My 10 years in the industry gave me the network connections necessary to be able to bring those intricate pieces of a production together. We wanted to house all of the  creativity in one place, so Black Creators and Entrepreneurs could access the industry quality in a one stop shop/ top of the line, state of the art facility. We help brands produce digital content.

When you think of “building a legacy” for your family, what motivations come to mind that you want people to know?

When we made the discussion to give our family the last name of Legend we understood that it would not be an easy undertaking. We understand that nothing in life is easy and anything that is easy isn’t good and doesn’t last. We wake up everyday understanding that we have a greater purpose to serve humanity because we believe it is what God has commissioned us to do.

How is your business The Plug ATL working to close the wage gap for Black content creators?

We understand that making content is a new arena for minority communities. So it is our sole purpose to inform and advocate for anyone of color moving into the content creation space.

What is one challenge you’ve faced in your marriage that you want other Black parents to learn from?

One challenge that we have faced and still constantly face in our marriage is the art of balance. Balance is all about finding the middle ground; you can’t sway too much in one direction or the other. We are both ambitious and over the years we’ve learned that to really be happy we have to find an adequate balance between work, home, parenting, friendships and marriage. We’ve had to learn that we can’t tackle everything at the propensity that we want to. We have also learned that as long as we are honest and operate in truth we can get through anything together. Human nature tends to be rather selfish at its core and In a dating environment where people have the option to choose whether to leave or stay in a relationship.

We believe that in order for any relationship to really work, it needs a foundation of friendship and a kind of love that requires both sacrifices and choices from both parties. These sacrifices and choices are made daily and without question. Unless questions are necessary to bring you into a discussion that promotes clarity, encouragement, purpose, and harmony. We believe that a part of love is the ability to be a fool as well as being made a fool of. Not that being fooled is the intended outcome of any relationship. But like everything in life it’s a gamble. You win some, you lose some. But the goal should be to stay in the game with the same player you start the game with. So you can leave the table with more than what you brought to it. As cliches as it sounds, leveraging your personal experiences and sharing your thoughts, fears, joys, pains, struggles, and happiness with someone for life is something we all will attempt at some point. But only few will be winners and reap a greater reward. That being to arrive at the end of life with someone you took a chance on at the start of life. All in the hopes of balancing two worlds in order to achieve what we deem is happiness for us. Which we believe is the safest choice!


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About the Author

Crystal Willis is an Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker, Entertainment Publicist and CEO of The Omni Firm. She is also a Transformational Life Coach and Founder of The Crysalis. Her personal story has been seen by millions of people on media outlets like Marie Claire Magazine, PBS, Blaze TV, Daily Signal and more.


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