Balancing Dual Passions: David Fallah's Journey from Sierra Leone to Being Sony PlayStation Project Manager by Day to Talent Management of Netflix "Top Boy" Actor by Night!

Imagine balancing a high-stakes career at Sony PlayStation with managing the rising stars of tomorrow. That's exactly what David Fallah does, and he joins us to share his remarkable journey. As a Technical Program Manager by day and a Talent Manager by night, David provides a fascinating look into both worlds. From delivering top-notch gaming experiences to nurturing talents like Araloyin Oshunremi from Netflix's "Top Boy," David's story is a testament to creativity, emotional intelligence, and the relentless pursuit of passion.

David takes us back to his early life in Sierra Leone, painting a vivid picture of the cultural values and discipline that shaped him. We hear about the harrowing experiences of the civil war, his family's brave escape to England, and the strong community spirit that welcomed them in Hackney. His reflections on his father's long career with P&O Ferries and the enduring virtues of hard work, respect, and honesty offer a profound perspective on resilience and determination.

We also dive into David's personal influences and treasured memories, from the legacy of Jamal Mason Blair to the inspiration drawn from his resilient immigrant mother. Whether it's lively debates at London's Speaker's Corner, scoring a goal in the FA Cup, or the joy of mentoring and teaching, David's storytelling immerses us in the significant landmarks and emotional events of his life. This episode celebrates the importance of cherishing every moment and the power of community, making it a must-listen for anyone navigating multiple passions and careers.

Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website.

• Show Website: https://www.thegoodlisteningtoshow.com
• You can email me about the Show: chris@secondcurve.uk
• Twitter thatchrisgrimes
• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-grimes-actor-broadcaster-facilitator-coach/
• FaceBook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/842056403204860

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)

Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Chris Grimes: 0:07

Welcome to another episode of the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, the storytelling show that features the Clearing, where all good questions come to get asked and all good stories come to be told, and where all my guests have two things in common they're all creative individuals and all with an interesting story to tell. There are some lovely storytelling metaphors a clearing, a tree, a juicy storytelling exercise called 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, some alchemy, some gold, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare and a cake. So it's all to play for. So, yes, welcome to the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin. And there we have it. Welcome to LinkedIn Live's special broadcast recording of Stories of Distinction and Genius, the Good Listening To Show. And I'm very, very happy and delighted to welcome David Faller to the Good Listening To Show. Welcome, david.

David Fallah: 1:10

Thank you for having me, Chris. Thank you very much.

Chris Grimes: 1:14

Happy Friday. How's morale? What's your story of the day?

David Fallah: 1:17

Yeah, happy Friday. It's the bank holiday weekend. I haven't got any plans, which is, I think, the excitement of it being a bank holiday always seems to bring more joy than the actual holiday itself. Nothing really happens.

Chris Grimes: 1:31

Yes, it's the thought Wonderful. So just a little bit of happy smoke and a bit of context at you. We met in the context of me delivering a storytelling and personal impact series of seminars through Second Curve storytelling and personal impact series of seminars through Second Curve. But I got more and more intrigued by the story of your very intriguing story in any case, but also you've got such an interesting side hustle and when you interpreted the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise as part of what we were doing as part of the programme, I thought, wow, this is of itself a story of distinction and genius. So I'm really really happy to have you here.

David Fallah: 2:05

Yeah, no, it's a pleasure. Actually, without going into too much detail with the initial course it was, I'll say a bit of it was therapy, I guess I think that was the best way I described it to God. I did tell, I told a few people about it and I always said, yeah, it was. It was therapeutic being able to to share your life experiences. It's very rare that you've had anyone ask I think the majority of us could attest to that not being asked about your life's journey. If you're not famous, no one's really going to ask about your story. So it was just therapy for me. So I'm happy to give my story again.

Chris Grimes: 2:40

So what's intriguing about you is that by day and you're a technical program manager at Sony I was really struck with your degree of emotional intelligence, but also your ability to be a mentor and build teams.

Chris Grimes: 2:54

And then it's the mentorship that then extra intrigued me, because apart from that your enigmatic side hustle and passion project you run a talent agency called rdm talent yeah itself, and I know that one of your key clients is our lawyer, um oshun remi, who is famous for, you know, the netflix and global banger that is top boy um. So, john, if people um do suddenly get intrigued by you and say, hey, david, what do you actually do, then what's your favorite way of answering or avoiding that question?

David Fallah: 3:27

yeah, it's always. Which way do I go? Do I go start off with the, the actual passion part, or the day-to-day nine-to-five? So I would say what pays the bills, or what I'm currently doing in terms of a nine-to-five, if you want to call it that. Um, it's a technical program manager within at Sony PlayStation. The best way to describe that would be. I would say you can look at it as somebody like a middleman working with engineers. So I work with a team of engineers and ideally I am the. I don't want to blow my own horn.

Chris Grimes: 3:57

I'm going to try to keep it as- no, please do blow your own horn that's the whole point.

David Fallah: 4:10

No, I'm, that's the whole point. No, no, try to keep it as modest as possible. But you could say that the key or the glue between the engineers and the business side of things. So if that's that, product management, stakeholders being able to get the engineers point of view across to the, to the stakeholders and then vice versa, and just making sure at the end of the day, that we're able to deliver a top quality product for our end users. So people that those that make the games, yeah then in total, overall, the people that play the game. So even myself I see myself as the, the overall, the final um customer or partner would be the people that play the game. So make sure that everyone has a pleasant experience um day to day. So just managing projects in that sense there. And then I said that's my nine to five, and then if you say my, you could say nine to nine or twelve to twelve yes would be a management.

David Fallah: 4:51

So, as you said before, uh, myself, uh, and a good mate of mine, childhood friend, rafael dooley, uh, we started a company called rdm talent. So it's a it's a managing a management service where ideally, we have our lawyer, who's our first client, which is again Raphael's younger brother, who's an actor in Top Boy he's our main client, and then, ideally, we're just looking at branching out and gathering and signing and working with different talents I wouldn't just say actors, just talent in general. So that could be from people on TikTok or Instagram, the influencers, it could be footballers, it could be actors, musicians and so on. So at the moment, we have I mean, I said our alone is acting, but we're delving into music as well. So it's just it's things that we've all been passionate about growing up Music, sports movies, film, gaming, movies, film, gaming and then it's like a 360, putting all of that into one package and staying connected to the passion.

Chris Grimes: 5:51

And it's a very diverse stable of people and it's a really interesting eclectic group of young people, it would seem, mostly as influencers, obviously.

David Fallah: 6:01

As you said, we've all grown up in the same area. You can say London there's different areas in London but I thought as if you're from London, you have a certain attitude or mentality, a way of living, so we all have that in common. So when we do work with a lot of our talent and we work with our base around London, ideally we are looking to branch out, but it's just having the same mentality as everyone People that are hungry. I think that's why we're working with people who are just hungry for success, people who are driven and then just being able to nurture that. I think that's the main passion from my side of things Making sure people are on the right path.

Chris Grimes: 6:39

And I know Hackney is a sort of energetic hub of it all. And when we met, you talked about gaming as a sort of energetic hub of it all, and when we met you talked about gaming. I know that football as a currency for you as a young man allowed you to actually cross lots of boundaries through the gift of football. I'm hoping you'll get into that as well.

David Fallah: 6:55

Yeah, we'll go into, as I say, football, football for me anyway, in general, I think near enough every, not every, but the majority of young boys growing up in in hackney or london, football was always that, that again, that that glue, the key that connects people together, and that could be from areas, different areas. It could be making friends from schools that you would never, you would never bump into, um, and even up until now. So at my age now, football's still the, the driving hub for loads of conversations. You go into a new working place and everyone has that awkward moment of what do I say to my colleagues or someone in a canteen or a coffee line, and it's always not always, but there's always that football or sports, sorry, yes, it's that sort of glue that connects people.

Chris Grimes: 7:42

I know Arsenal is your team and I stood. I thought of you. A week and a half ago I found myself standing behind tony adams in a. There it is, the arsenal, there it is. I'm hoping you're impressed. I was stood behind tony adams in a cafe in bristol called new cut coffee and I mentioned to the staff did you know, you've got an absolute superstar in your toilets at the moment? And they didn't really know what I was talking about. But I just was there with respect, as he walked past me. So how would you feel standing next to Tony Adams in a queue?

David Fallah: 8:18

He's a giant so I'll be looking up. I don't know, when you saw him was he like a tower of a man would you say Certainly was I mean'm I'm not exactly sure.

Chris Grimes: 8:28

I'm six one, but you're shrinking because of age. But and I found myself almost walking into somebody's back and looking up, and I'm intrigued by extra tall people at the moment because my daughter, who's 23, has just got a six foot four boyfriend and so in the house now there's quite a lot of big people and I'm used to being, you know, the biggest in the house, but I'm not anymore.

David Fallah: 8:47

I think it's always that with with, I think, with athletes, especially with athletes like Tony Adams or athletes who are, let's say, taller athletes you always you can feel their aura sort of thing, even athletes who aren't, who aren't tall, they just have something about them where it gets, even if you're not familiar with who they are, but you have that insight as to.

Chris Grimes: 9:06

Oh, I want, I want to ask you who you are, what you do, because, yes, something about you you always get there is a stereotype about leadership, about height, and of course there are brilliant leaders of all shapes and sizes, but it's a bit like if you're really tall, you're standing on your own soap box in any case, because you've got a different vista and the joke is you've got slightly different weather conditions and all sorts of stuff up there.

Chris Grimes: 9:29

Yes, so look, let's get you on the open road, because I'm just champing to get the story out of you. Yeah, so I'm going to curate you through. There's going to be a clearing, a tree, a lovely juicy storytelling exercise called five, four, three, two, one. There's going to be some alchemy, some gold, a couple of random squirrels, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare, a golden baton, woohoo, and a cake. So it's all to play for. So, david Faller, technical Programme Manager, bioday agent for RDM, talent, by the rest of the day, in what you're up to, what is a clearing for you? Where do you go to get clutter-free, inspirational and able to think, I would say?

David Fallah: 10:08

am I allowed to pick two things for a clearing?

David Fallah: 10:10

You can over-deliver, go on then, Clearing-wise for me to sort of clear my mind and think I have two. So number one would be the edge of the bathtub, which I don't know. This might sound, might sound weird, I don't know. I'm sure someone else listening can relate to this. But yeah, the edge of the edge of the bathtub. I'd like to go and just sit on the edge of the bathtub, close the door, um, and that's when I just I just think a lot of times I'll do that if I'm, but I've had a long day, a hectic day, I just need to unwind, um, think about my next move. Uh, again, it might be the echo.

Chris Grimes: 10:42

It might be the echo within the bathroom everyone's a great singer in the bathroom, aren't they? Obviously that's where everyone thinks that they absolutely got rock stars.

David Fallah: 10:49

Is there something therapeutic about that? Um, which is funny as well, because when I was young I used to watch. Uh, there was a tv show called rand's house, um, so it was. There was a randy mc. So if you heard of the, the rap group, randy mc, um, so there was reverend rand, so he was one of the. If you heard of the rap group Run DMC, so there was Reverend Run, so he was one of the brothers of part of the group. We had a show and at the end of every, every show, he would go to the bath, the bathroom, but he would actually jump into the bathtub, bubble bath and then get on his Blackberry and and summarize his day. So it might, it might, derive from that. But yeah, I just had to sit on the edge of the bathtub and just think about the day and think about things I need to do or things I haven't done and we're talking geographically bath your legs are away from the bath, which is piping hot.

Chris Grimes: 11:30

Maybe bubbles ready to go?

David Fallah: 11:31

yeah, yeah I'm not even. I'm not even running the tap. I'm not even running the tap. I've just I've just sat down legs on the floor, but I'm on the edge of the bathtub and just just thinking yeah, I love that.

Chris Grimes: 11:43

I mean, yeah, that's good anyway, but you promised me a second one as well. So what's the second one?

David Fallah: 11:48

second one for me, which might be a bit uh, I don't say stereotypical one, but it's just in the car. Uh. So when I'm driving places, when I'm driving home actually not places when I'm driving home and I've parked up, I might just sit in the car for about 15, 20 minutes without getting up. So so I would have got home, parked up and just sat there, turn off the engine, turn off the music and just sit there before I go home.

David Fallah: 12:11

So that's yeah, I'll say it's a battle between the two, the bathtub and the car.

Chris Grimes: 12:15

You're a lovely reflector in that case, because in both contexts you're reflecting stillness and there's not even the bathtub, not even the bubbles, and in the car the music's off. So I'm a bit torn now. I mean, we could try, and you know I'm going to arrive with a tree. You can either, comically, let me try and wedge a tree into your car which may disturb you, or we'll bring a tree into your bathtub. What do you reckon? Yeah, let's go bathtub.

Chris Grimes: 12:38

I like plants, love that, so I so, um, I'm going to arrive with the tree. It's a bit waiting for goddo-esque because of my acting background so deliberately existential. I'm going to shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out yeah how'd you like these apples?

Chris Grimes: 12:51

and then this is where you've been kind enough to have taken five minutes since we said and agreed you're going to do this to have thought about four things that have shaped you, three things that inspire you, two things that never fail to grab your attention, and that's the oh, oh squirrels moment borrowed from the film Up. And then a quirky or unusual fict about you that we couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us. So over to you, David, to interpret the shaking of your canopy. Yeah.

David Fallah: 13:14

So the four things that shake me. I've tried to keep it in order. So the first thing I would say is Sierra Leone, that Sierra Leone, that's where I'm born. So I always represent with my beads on. So yeah, I was born in Sierra Leone in 91 and came to England in 93, my memory I think 93, not 94, one of the two and the reason why I came to England, my mum, was there was a war in Sierra Leone, so there was a civil war.

David Fallah: 13:41

Those of you that might want a bit more information about the war, you can watch movies like Blood Diamonds starring Leonardo, or Beast of Nations, which is on Netflix, which is Idris Elba. Beast Nation is a good one that will give you a real I would say sort of like a sort of grimy idea of what times was like for Beast nation. So it was a time around the whole child soldier thing, which means you had kids that were as young as three, four um around involved in the war, that were drugged up by the army, um that had, uh, access to weapons, machetes, guns and so on. So that was that era um within a civil war. So, as a result, I had come to England with my mum just the two of us. My older sister had already moved to England the year before the war, so she was living with my auntie.

David Fallah: 14:32

So yeah, I would say, the reason why I picked Sierra Leone as something that shaped me is just the fact that the household I was raised in, so the morals, the discipline, again, just the hard work, the, the ethics around, uh, being honest and just grafting to get your way through life is it's what's raised me, I would say, in african household, and it's something that I sort of try and live my, my life by, you could say in terms of just the day to day and being able to respect little things like just having respect for the, for elders and and so on. It's those are the virtues, or those are the, the real, uh, building blocks of the african house, what I would say.

Chris Grimes: 15:12

So and do you mind me asking, where was your father in amongst this mix?

David Fallah: 15:15

so my dad at the time was working for pno fairies um, which is big. I don't know if you heard of pno fairies, but he's based in rot, based in Rotterdam, Holland. So I was speaking to him the other day and he was talking about how he's worked for 45 years and I was thinking how that's mental 45 years. The thought of it just sounds crazy. But he's retired now, which is good.

Chris Grimes: 15:34

Well, all his career worked at P&O Ferries.

David Fallah: 15:36

P&O Ferries for his whole, which is a decent pension the good shit pension. I love that, yeah. So he was there for 45 years. So at the time when we had to come to england, um, he was still working at piano. He was working in before I was born. So he's working at piano ferries in holland, um, so then he would do six months. His contract was oh yeah, six months on, six months off. So you do six months and then come um to hannity to london for six months and then go off and back.

Chris Grimes: 16:03

So and what was his position within the ferry service, because I've got an image of him sort of captaining the good shit pension.

David Fallah: 16:09

I'm not even too sure you know which is bad. There's something I should know.

Chris Grimes: 16:14

It's your homework. You can go and ask him what did you do for 45 years?

David Fallah: 16:16

Yeah, what do people about me? I'm an adult, I'm intrigued, but yes, it was there, I would say moving, it was me A lot of the times. Obviously, growing up, you have vague memory of your childhood, so a lot of it was myself, my mum, and then my dad would come. It was always like a big thing when my dad came from work. You know, especially growing up as a boy and you have, if you have your father around, it's someone that you look up to. Um, so, yeah, that was always like a big thing when he came. You know so. But I'll say madrid at the time, growing up, it was always my mom that would install the, the, the building blocks, yes, of african household. Um, growing up, so yeah, so yeah, escape, escaping the war, you can say, I think, is it refugees? At the right time, would you say refugee? I think yeah, which is good. Um, uh, you give me a better life and then I went back for the first time.

David Fallah: 17:08

So I imagine I came. So I've arrived in england in 94 and I went back for the first time in 2017. So it's like the return, the return back to the, to the motherland, in 2017, which was amazing. Um, it's been able to see all the younger cousins and uncles and and aunties and whatnot, and my grandma, both grandmas, um what was your mum's connection to the uk and how?

Chris Grimes: 17:33

how she was able to choose to come and be.

David Fallah: 17:35

Yeah, so she was um, she was teaching in in sierra leone but I think because of the, I think sierra leone and england had some sort of of connection. I think england was helping out with the war and trying to defuse things, so they were offering people if they could come to England. I think you had to have someone at the time in England that you could.

Chris Grimes: 17:53

Like a Windrush equivalent.

David Fallah: 17:55

Yeah, something equivalent to that. So that was the connection, I think. Whenever I speak to my mum, she always says it was between America and England. Growing up, I was always upset at the fact that I could have been living in america, I don't know. But, um, things have turned out for the good, obviously. But yeah, it was always I could have been in america, I could have been in england, could have been a soccer player and if you're obviously still working for sonia.

Chris Grimes: 18:19

But I don't expect you to work the same place for 45 years, but you could obviously. I know that they have a big american base too.

David Fallah: 18:25

Yeah, yeah of course, yeah, massive in america, um, over the west coast. So if I felt, if I did want to move to america and live out my childhood dreams?

Chris Grimes: 18:36

so that's a great first shape. You sorry, I interrupted you. Is there anything else you want to tell me about sierra?

David Fallah: 18:40

um, oh, sierra lounge, I think that's yeah, I think that's.

David Fallah: 18:43

That's about it. I'll say, with Ceremonia, like I said, I went the first time in 2017. I was. I was there again in Easter, uh, which was two months ago I can't remember when Easter was now. I was there for 10 days and again, it was amazing. Just I did 10 days of nothing and I haven't had a holiday like that before. I'm always doing excursions or going out, so it's just 10 days of absolutely nothing. I've got to spend time with my mom, dad, my grandma's, um, and it's just good. My mom at the moment she's building a house in serrion, so just being being able to help support.

David Fallah: 19:14

See things you know, just just literally the the simple things in life is why I love going there just to appreciate, um, simple things, not thinking about money or stress, and back to your roots is really clear as well Exactly, yeah, where it all began, where it all began, yeah, so yeah, that's it, cereleon, first thing. Second thing I'll say that shaped me is Hackney. So you would have maybe caught wind from the start of our conversation of me saying I'm from Hackney or raised in Hackney. So just having the balance of two, sierra Leone and Hackney and the reason why I would pick Hackney as something that shaped me is a lot of times maybe not now, but definitely when I was younger, teenage, teenage years or young adult years whenever you heard the term or the word Hackney, there was always like a negative connotation, um, that was associated to Hackney, which, again, you can say rightly so. It was in terms of crime, crime rate wise, it was high.

David Fallah: 20:07

But for me, and maybe everyone, I think, if you used to meet anyone from Hackney, you would always see, you could always tell someone loves their borough or their area and you always get that with Hackney and that's just because growing up you didn't really feel the crime side of things or what the media would would paint Hackney as it was always like a community and where we lived, that people we play and the kids we playing outside, which normally you see too much now but kids will be playing outside from from daughter from morning until night.

David Fallah: 20:33

Um, parents wouldn't really worry at the time growing up and it was just, I would say, how he's just helped shape my, my thinking as well. So, again, the balance of cerion and hackney. But hackney was more of a. You could say street smart, street wise. You could say, uh, the lingo, the way I speak, the slang, the mannerisms, um, as well as just the ethic as well, which is something similar with cerulean and hackney, just growing up around people who are I always use the term hungry in terms of not literally hungry, but just a sense of to be successful.

Chris Grimes: 21:02

You mentioned that with the rdm talent, the idea that you're just representing people who are influencers and with hunger not literally hungry, but just a sense of to be successful.

David Fallah: 21:04

You mentioned that with the rdm talent the idea that you're just representing people who are influencers and with hunger yeah, yeah, people hunger and and again linking it back to rdm, which I can touch on later it's just we tend to come across so many, especially the gen z, the gen z um. Look, they have that in them, that that hunger to just be successful and not and not work for 45 years, for example. They just have that, this drive to to do things and chase their passion and just love seeing that in in the younger um, in younger generation. But yeah, in Hattie there was always the same everybody wanted to do something in media. It could have been music, sports, it could be gaming and so on. So just being around that hub in Hattie was amazing back then um going secondary primary school and growing up in there. So that's something that's definitely shaped me, I would say.

Chris Grimes: 21:50

And do you happen to know, and so this just occurred to me, is Idris Elba Hackney originally.

David Fallah: 21:55

Yeah, so he's more Bethnal Green. But yeah, so I think he has connections in Hackney, but I would say Bethnal Green so Five, ten minutes down the road, but yeah so, idris Elba. And, funny enough, idris Elba is also half Sierra Leonean, which is another full 360 bringing it back again. So, yeah, sorry.

Chris Grimes: 22:17

Jelling. We like this. This is good.

David Fallah: 22:20

So, yeah, definitely a hat knee for me. Second thing that's raised me or influenced me in life. And then the third thing, which again we touched about, was football, as we spoke about. So not to commonly go too much into the old football, we spoke about it before but it's just growing up in Hackney and football it was the I say a catalyst, the again the glue between different areas. So again, hackney split up in different. It's a small borough but it split up into different sections and growing up it was always a thing where you could say risky to go from different areas if you're not from the area. But football was always that force or that one object that could bring different areas together.

David Fallah: 23:04

So growing up I played a lot of football. I played for my district, I played for Hackney District, played for the borough which was London. When I was 12, I signed for Millwall, which was Spermins East, south East London. So football was a major driving force, a major part of my life. So I was always able to play against different schools or play with the older kids different. So I was always able to play against different schools or play with the older kids, different areas, different boroughs, and up until now. So we're 2024, I'm 32 now. Sorry, I've still got mates who I've met through football in 2003, 2002. And we still connect and we still meet up and so on, which is amazing, and I don't think that would have happened without football. I don't think I would have made and met so many influential people in my life, even away from football.

Chris Grimes: 23:53

I love the idea. The currency of football allows you to travel and traverse and, as you said, the glue that binds all the boroughs together was the beautiful game.

David Fallah: 24:02

It was definitely like I said. You used to have those events like teenage kicks when I was younger in Hackney and that would be like tournament style, so five a side, but there'll be teams from all over, from all different areas, and again, it was always that, that driving force, and if you was, if you was good at football, so if you was, if you were decent or good at football, it was even better in that sense where people would, would show you more love and and want to connect to you more through football. So that was, that's always been something, that's been, you could say, a language of mine and being able to connect with people. Up until now, like you said, arsenal, even though we didn't win the league, we were close again.

Chris Grimes: 24:37

I saw that match but yeah, football.

David Fallah: 24:42

And then I would say, the fourth thing that shaped me was a good friend of mine called Jamal Mason Blair, and I'm not sure when this is. I know it's live now, but I'm not sure when this comes out, if it does come out on a later day, but yesterday was the anniversary, ah gosh yeah which is weird enough because the day popped out of my, the day of my.

David Fallah: 25:03

I didn't think of me until yesterday and I was like, oh wow, I'm doing the with Chris, speaking to Chris tomorrow. But, yeah, jamal, so I had a friend called Jamal Mason Blair. So, similar to what I said before, we both played for Hackney District when we was in year six, so it was at 2003. We went to the same secondary school, we played for the same Sunday team, so, yeah, we grew up together and then, sadly, he passed away in an accident where he was stabbed in 2009. So, may 23rd 2009, like I said, a day ago, yesterday in fact, which was the anniversary. But, yeah, great friend of mine, and the reason why I would say that shaped me is just the fact that growing up with Jamal was always he was the someone that was always he, so he had sorry, uh, uh, do you say a statement? Or I don't know how. I'd call it something like you could say like a statement.

David Fallah: 25:54

I used to go through it a gold bias or a live by, and it was always small in stature, big in talent. So he was little, by the way, jamal was short, but that was always he's, that was his go-to motto. Yeah, I said well, sorry, that was his model small and big in talent, and he used to say that everywhere. Back in the day, we used to use msn, which is equivalent to, you could say, facebook status, and that was my sense.

David Fallah: 26:15

That was a smaller statue of big and talent and that always sticks with me in my mind and just the meaning behind that was just, no matter where you go in life, having that mentality that you might be the smallest person in the room physically, mentally, it could be, financially, anything and if you aren't the smallest, but if you're not the smallest person, still having that mentality of I'm going to treat everyone as if I am the smallest person. I'm not bigger than anyone, but at the same time, the big intent is you want people in a room to know that you can bring value to their lives and um and so on. So that was that model that he's had has always stayed with me. Um, but, as I said, he he had passed away in um in a knife knife accident in 2009, and that that shaped me in terms of just being able to cherish, cherish life a lot more um, spending time with family friends uh, the model that I said this morning, statue of big and talent and just someone.

David Fallah: 27:06

I was always positive and he was again, again. He was great at football. I used to go to so many areas and places with him just through football and I met so many people through him from football as well.

Chris Grimes: 27:17

So those are the, and you did also, you know, when we met before, you mentioned the fact that of its time it was such a sort of seismic event within hackney and anyone of a particular age between 28 and 35 remembers this night?

David Fallah: 27:32

yeah, 100, I'd say yeah, anyone from, yeah, 28, maybe that 26, even to to 35, maybe 40, like my oldest is at age 40 they would know about the incident. So, 2009, and it's because because he wasn't involved in any gang activity or or anything in the negative aspect it was. It was even more tragic because it was like, oh, wow, an innocent bystander or someone that was trying to help or diffuse, diffuse the situation. I'm sure people could go online or google and there'll be an article about the situation, but someone is trying to diffuse the situation, uh, and bring peace between two, two different boys. It was, was, was the, the, the faithful, casually, in between that. So again, even just the way he had, he had passed, was him trying to bring peace and help you know?

David Fallah: 28:17

So, um, like I said, anyone in Hackney that was around or or young enough to remember in 2009, if you say his name, um would mention it, if I need enough. When I used, enough, when I used to teach a couple years back and I taught in hackney and there was, uh, the era that jamal was from, and the kids I'm teaching, I'm teaching kids who are what, 12, 11, and they knew, they even knew about him. I think there's like a mural or painting in the era, but they knew um about him. So which was again um. It's amazing to just know that. He's memory, his life, lives on and, like I said, yesterday was the anniversary.

Chris Grimes: 28:50

Yes, so Jamal Vincent. This is who this was.

David Fallah: 28:53

Yeah, so Jamal Mason Blair, Sorry, jamal Mason why?

Chris Grimes: 28:57

did I say Vincent, did I make that up?

David Fallah: 28:59

Yeah, I'll say, yeah, those are definitely the four films and it's all linked in a sense to football, to Hackney Jamal and Mahatma Gandhi Jamal.

Chris Grimes: 29:06

And of all the instances of any inner city, when there's trouble, where there's crime or there's gang warfare. Why do you think he, of all people, is the one that people most remember?

David Fallah: 29:16

I think there's a few things. So I think definitely because, number one, you could say innocent, that cliche of an innocent bystander. You know that always relates to people, of people being there too soon for their time to be gone, and so on. That's definitely one thing. I think he always had a smile on his face, um, for a second. For another, like he was always happy and always in good spirits. He always had a football or bicycle by his side. I always wanted to to enjoy and and and have fun in life and I'll tell you it was very popular in a sense as well. So that.

David Fallah: 29:48

So that's the reason why I've said anyone from Hackney would be able to recall, because, as I said previously about how football has been a catalyst to connect people from different areas, jamal would go to every single area, not just Hackney, I mean every area in Tottenham, north London, you'd see him in South East London, peckham and Brixton and so on. He would go to many areas Boreham Woods, as far as Boreham Woods. He went to college in Boreham Woods. He would go to different areas via football and he was good at football as well because we both played for our district team growing up. When he did the pass. It was a thing where it just brought people from different areas around london together. Um, so that's why I would say it's. It was a massive, monumental change, a shift in in a tide in hackney at the time.

Chris Grimes: 30:36

Yes, lovely so that's your four shape. It is now on to three things that inspire you, david.

David Fallah: 30:43

Yeah, um, okay inspire me three things. Number one i'll'm going to go with my mum, definitely. Yeah, I sound a bit like a mummy's boy there, but maybe I am actually. I'll go with my mum. As I said before, I came to England with my mum. I was raised. I was raised with my mum and dad, but the majority of the time it would have been my mum because my dad was working overseas. It would have been my mum, so dad was working overseas would have been my mom. Um, so yeah, just being able to see her come from, say I don't say struggle, but just come from a different country to england for anyone. I can't even fathom or begin to imagine what that would have been like. Coming to a new country, escaping a war, coming to a new country with maybe very little um in that sense there, financially, um, a new setup, um, being accustomed to a new weather um not having any of your friends, you know.

David Fallah: 31:34

So it's just I.

David Fallah: 31:35

It took me up, maybe until I want to say maybe, like 26, 27, that's when I actually was able to, to grasp the, the magnitude of the move.

David Fallah: 31:44

You know, yes, and, and the reason why I would say she's number one inspiration is the fact that she never made myself or my two I've got two sisters, older and younger, but she never made any of us, especially me, feel anything she was going through and for me, I think that's amazing.

David Fallah: 31:59

You know, just, she might have been, like I said, she was a university lecturer in, so that would have been a, you could say, prestige job or something that people would look in society as a, as a good job, and coming to england, the, the degree, wouldn't hold the same weight. So, like having a degree, I think even now, if you have a degree in other countries and you come to england, it might not be the same. So she's had to to travel from sierra leone to england, um, as a university, respectable job, you could say um, and then then come to England and that doesn't hold any weight. She can't, she can't utilize it, she can't monetize off it and she had to go through loads of different jobs, from cleaning toilets or working in big biscuit factory looking after elderly, just random jobs, you know, just to get by.

David Fallah: 32:45

And, like I said, she never made any of us feel if she was going I don't even know if she was going through frustration or if she was, if she was struggling mentally, I don't know but I never felt. It was always a happy, happy home, happy environment, um when I asked her things, I wouldn't get it immediately, but there would always be a way.

David Fallah: 33:04

And I'm again linking back to playstation. I remember when I asked for um, my first console, I had a friend, I think, with Lung. Again, lung met Lung when I was like four or five we're still still good mates to now and I remember Lung was he obviously inspired? But he, he, he tricked me. I'm gonna say the word trick, I was gonna say influence me, but no, I'm gonna say trick. He tricked me to buy a Dreamcast at the time. So I remember it was my birthday.

David Fallah: 33:27

My mom said what do you want for your birthday? I've gone to school at home to all my mates I wish I asked for for my birthday and long said, yeah, just get a dreamcast, forget playstation and save arts, get a dreamcast. My mom yeah, I want a dreamcast. She bought me the dreamcast. I had it for a couple months. I hated it when I wanted a playstation, but then you gotta think I've had dreamcast for two, three months. I wanted a PlayStation, but then you've got to think I've had Dreamcast for two, three months, I've got to now wait another what? Seven or eight months for my next birthday to get the PlayStation. And she somehow made it happen, not immediately, but before the next birthday. She made it happen. So there's a lot of things like that. I never at the time, I didn't appreciate it until I got older. How did she buy a dream? How did she buy a playstation and a dreamcast and then support the rest of the family? You know so little things like that.

Chris Grimes: 34:11

She also sounds like she has a great grace to her because of everything that she kept, protected you all, nurtured you all yeah 100% and loads of wisdom.

David Fallah: 34:20

So, like she was always, just always, giving us wisdom. That's wisdom in a sense of if you, if you went to her for advice like you could, you could always go to I could, I would always go to her with a question, thinking this is how the outcome of the conversation, and it would always go completely opposite. You know, like you might go to her, I'm gonna get in trouble or she might scream at me from this, but it'll always be the complete opposite. And yeah, which is little, there's little things like that. As I know I'm sort of going from different areas to areas, but yeah, I'll say that's why she's definitely number one inspiration. And then just being able to retire. So getting a job where she was managing the care homes in Hackney, working for the council and doing well in that, earning a good salary, and then being able to retire.

David Fallah: 35:05

She retired, I think, about five, five, six years ago and now she's gone back to sierra leone. So she lives in sierra leone now with my dad. They've built their house or they're still building the house now. Um, got a big house but like a seven, eight bedroom house. Um, she's just happier now. So I was just when I went to visit her in easter a couple months ago, just seeing her in her natural home environment, surrounded, you know, her mom's there, her cousins, her brothers and whatnot, their sisters, and just seeing her just again, just go coming to england in 93, yes, and then fast forward 2000, 2019. She's back where she, where she, where it all began, and we're all older man, but, yeah, so definitely journey wise, like I said, it's definitely inspirational.

Chris Grimes: 35:50

Um, so, yeah, I like that you're. You're a proud and self-professed mummy's boy, and that's lovely for all the right reasons yeah, yeah, I'll claim it.

David Fallah: 35:57

I'll claim it, I'll claim it.

David Fallah: 36:00

Second thing, that's inspired you second thing, uh, will be music, um, music in general. So I'll say I listen to all different genres. Ideally will be hip-hop, afro beats, um, and maybe r&b, um or soul type of music. So I'll say hip-hop, number one in terms of inspiration.

David Fallah: 36:20

Inspiration, and that's just because of, again, the lyric, lyricism within the music and being able to relate. So, my, I say my favorite artist I wouldn't say the best, he's not the best, but you, so many people will say but my favorite artist in terms of who I relate to, is the artist called jay call um, and the reason being, again, he's from america, but the reason being is he's able to articulate and and make music and make songs about what you say young black males go through, and even the fact that he's from america and I'm from, I'm from england, the similarities are are great in that sense there, um, so, yeah, so, music wise, they're just being able to, when I'm struggling to express myself or how I'm feeling, or what I'm thinking, and being able to put on an album or a mixtape or a song or a verse, uh, and then again that eureka moment, as I was just thinking, I was feeling that I've gone through that. I've gone through that, um, I just find that. I find that inspirational and whenever not just jay colbert, different artists, whenever I listen to to different artists, and just being able to express the emotions, if it can be the happy times, the sad times, and the vulnerability within the music, especially like the hip-hop music being able to be vulnerable, um, you could also say I could say, anyway, that's helped raise me, um, and seeing people that you I don't use the word idolize but seeing people that that inspire you, that are famous and they are, they're able to to be emotional or be able to be vulnerable, um, and it just sort of lets you know that it's not a sign of weakness and it's normal.

David Fallah: 37:50

So, yeah, I'll say definitely j cole, hip-hop, afro beats, r&b, soul, even the 80s music I love. I love 80s music as well, so I'll say music.

David Fallah: 37:59

Second year and then third inspiration and third inspiration for me will be traveling. Um, so, as I said before so recently, I've just been able to travel. For me will be travelling. So, as I said before so recently, just being able to travel. For me, the main thing about travelling is I was at a stage, I think when I was younger, where I liked the glamour of holidays like the Dubai's and American and whatnot. But I think I've gone past that where I just like to go to countries where I learn different cultures, food, language, just different sightseeing, the history within cultures, and number one for me of traveling is just seeing, especially I've seen that the younger children or younger generation, where they're happy with with the bare minimum. I think that whenever I go to or visit countries where I see that it's even more inspirational to come back, um be grateful for the things I do have, um makes me again hungrier to, to attain more and to and and to affect those around me who have less. Or I'd say, travelling, definitely. Number three.

Chris Grimes: 38:54

Are you a parent yourself? I haven't asked you. I'm not a parent, hopefully soon.

David Fallah: 38:59

Fingers crossed. I'm hoping she can't hear me right now. My phone is in the room, hopefully, 2025.

Chris Grimes: 39:09

We've just stumbled into a bit of a world exclusive, then. I love that. And now we're on to two things. This is where the random squirrels comes in, from the film up. Oh, squirrels, what never fails to grab your attention, irrespective of anything else that's going on in your, in your wonderful and interesting life.

David Fallah: 39:25

Um so, I would say there's two. There's two things would definitely be. Number one would be mythology. So mythology slash religion in that sense there, um, no matter what, where I am, if I hear it in conversation, if I see someone and I was on a plane the other day come back from amsterdam, and the person I sat next to on a plane had a book about the history of India and religion I couldn't help but stare at his book, as it was literally right next to him staring at his book, and he asked me if I was interested. And then it just spiraled into a conversation about religion and mythology. And because comparing Hinduism with Christianity and so on, so that always for me grabs me my attention, I would say mythology, being able to compare different religions. Again back to traveling, appreciating different countries and what they believe in and why they believe in it, um, and just seeing where it connects.

Chris Grimes: 40:17

Um, I'm a firm believer that everyone connects in some way and that could be there's a through line of the glue that binds and the fact that you're able to traverse lots of different philosophies, territories.

David Fallah: 40:33

Yeah, exactly, and that's when I grew. The attention that grabbed my attention was A-levels. I studied philosophy in A-levels and it was just always a debate in my philosophy class of different religions and myths. So, yeah, that's definitely one thing that grabbed my attention, my attention. And then the second thing would be, I'll say, debates.

David Fallah: 40:51

So in london there's an area called speaker's corner, hyde park, um, so I've been there a few times if, if I'm not there, I'd watch videos on youtube. I follow quite a bit the speakers there and, again, just I just love the, the whole idea of debating and being able to articulate your, your argument, your point of view, being able to convince a crowd as to why you might be right or might be wrong in that moment. I just find that fascinating and just I admire those that are able to debate in that sense. Again, speaker's Corner, for those that don't know, is an area in London where people go. Is that free speech, the element and practice of free speech on sundays? Um, and you get debates about race, religion, politics, absolutely anything. And yeah, I, just I find that I always grab with me when I see it have you ever taken to the soapbox yourself?

David Fallah: 41:42

at hide I don't think I'm there yet. I've got speaker's corner anyway. Amongst friends definitely, me and my friends debate about and you know I'm not even exaggerating every single day there's a debate in the group chat. Every single day there's a debate in the group chat, and that could be about football, it could be about your favourite rapper, it could be about music, religion. There's always a debate and what's your group chat called?

Chris Grimes: 42:07

I'm not trying to sort of impose on it.

David Fallah: 42:10

Fine, you might laugh. It's called Kefuffle.

Chris Grimes: 42:14

Today's Kefuffle.

David Fallah: 42:15

Yeah, we're called the Kefuffle group chat Again just.

Chris Grimes: 42:19

How big's the score on the Kefuffle group chat?

David Fallah: 42:21

I love that I think there's about 14 of us, 14. And we just can't escape it. There's always someone's going to miss their flight, someone's going to lose their wallet. There's this.

Chris Grimes: 42:32

All the trials and tribulations of humanity all going on in kerfuffle.

David Fallah: 42:36

Yeah, definitely. So yeah, I'll say, those are the two things Speaker's corner debating and then the mythology religion side of things.

Chris Grimes: 42:42

And I love the word kerfuffle. So thanks for that extra bonus, chaser as well. So now the one is a quirky or unusual fact about you, david Fallon. We couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us.

David Fallah: 42:52

Okay, I was going to say about the managing side of things, but that's fine, we still got it. So I would say a quirky fact is I played in the FA Cup and I scored a goal in the FA Cup. Yeah, which is.

Chris Grimes: 43:06

Oh, that's impressive.

David Fallah: 43:11

Yeah, yeah, I know um a goal in the fa cup, yeah, which is, oh, that's impressive. Yeah, um. So at the time, I was playing for a team called boston united, so, um, they were in conference north league, um, so I think that's the. Is it fifth or sixth division in english football? Yeah, uh, yeah, so boston united in lincoln, and I can't remember nice bad, I can't remember who we played against. It was years ago. So, yeah, I was always. I was doing a travel from Hackney to Lincoln three, four times a week, which was mental in itself that was.

David Fallah: 43:35

I just came back from Lincoln yesterday myself yeah, so I was doing that three, four times it wasn't football for me so, yeah, I was there. I was there for a season and then, yeah, so I think it was my first FA Cup game. I scored a goal in the FA Cup, which is always just something. Again, I know it might not mean a lot to people, but just watching the FA Cup on TV and then being able to play in it, and yeah and was it a scrappy goal or was it like a messy?

David Fallah: 44:04

sort of special. I think it was a tap-in. It counts, it counts. A goal is a goal. I'm going to tell my kids. I'm going to tell my kids In the back of the net Love that.

Chris Grimes: 44:14

Okay. So we've shaken your tree, we're still on the edge of your bathtub, which is your clearing, and now we're going to talk about alchemy and gold. So when you're at purpose and in flow, david, what are you absolutely?

David Fallah: 44:31

It would be some form of mentoring or teaching. So I've taught before. I used to teach PE, I used to do mentoring when I was 18, 19, mentoring kids who had different disabilities or behavioural problems. I did that. I did a bit of coaching as well, and then full circle back to the agent side of things, or managing talent.

David Fallah: 44:54

It all involves the same, the same quality, the same purpose, um, same mentality, or trying, or not even trying, but just being able to, to nurture, uh, the minds of it can be young, younger generation, it could be people my age, uh, people older, um just being able to see where people have passion, how I can help stir, alleviate the stresses they have and give advice on how they can better themselves, and vice versa.

David Fallah: 45:20

So I'll say, yeah, definitely it's. It's a bit of a gumball, a part of mentoring, teaching, coaching, yes, and nurturing all in one, I'll say that's definitely my, my, my passion. And then again, with the work I do at sony, with, like I said, working with, with engineers and more stakeholders, and that's people that are older than me, people that are younger than me, it's the same just being able to bring people together and, um, being able to evaluate and see where, where the engineers or people, my colleagues, can improve um, and giving that feedback and just making sure everyone feels at peace and everyone feels that community side of things and team building and so on. So I see that's definitely a passion of mine.

Chris Grimes: 46:02

And with the RDM talent. How did that get going? Because you went from a sort of standing start to being obviously a mentor, to sort of protect the best interest. Because I don't doubt that since you've got going with Arloy and you must have had lots of other people circling and yeah yeah, so I said with the rdm talent.

David Fallah: 46:21

So, um, a good childhood friend of mine again, and rafael dooley, um, he's the older brother of arloian from top way. So I met raf in year, year seven, so I think I was like 12. And again, you can guess how we met. That was through football. So I met him when I was 12 through football and again, we just connected in terms of we both obviously love I'm a year older than him, by the way, but we love, we both love football and playing football.

David Fallah: 46:48

But just the mentality outside of things, where he would always challenge me and I would always challenge him in that sense of how we can do better and what we could do and and ask for advice. And even up until now we ask for advice, we share advice and anything in life, you know, relationship advice, it could be financial advice, um, and so on. So just being able to connect when we were we were 12 or 13 and then now we're 32, 31, yeah, um, so, yeah, he, he started. He started RDM um talent, his brother Arloin. So when Arloin got the top wear role, he always mentioned that he wanted to protect him from the industry and protect him from, you could say the vultures in the industry, or just the negative side and the distractions of the industry.

Chris Grimes: 47:30

When I said people were circling. No doubt yes.

David Fallah: 47:33

Yeah, exactly yeah. And he just to just make sure that he was there to protect, by the same time, lead um and stay his younger brother in the right direction. So I was always helping, but not officially. I was always just doing little bits here and there, and officially. And then, um, when he asked me if I wanted to get on board, like officially, it was a no-brainer. You know, it was just, I didn't even have to think about it or I didn't even look at it. I thought I was always doing this sort of thing.

Chris Grimes: 47:58

The sort of through line of the moral code which goes right to your childhood in Sierra Leone and now being part of the black community in Hackney and then really protecting the interests of you know who you're mentoring.

David Fallah: 48:20

Yeah, definitely. And like I said with Raph and with Raeloy even though they're both nigerian.

David Fallah: 48:22

I'm from sierra leone, but it's the same fundamentals in terms of the building blocks and, yeah, what the values um that you're, that you're raised in, and they, we have exactly the same values. You know, um coming from the same part of africa, um, so, yeah, just when he asked me, just made sense to get on board. Like I said, we had our lawyer in um as an actor and that's just helping. That's just help, sorry, open the doors to so many different opportunities, you know, being able to be in rooms that we never would have been in, meeting people, um again, from all works of life and different industries, um and then yeah, hopefully, like I said, we're building, we're growing um, so we will be and we will take over at some point, you know.

Chris Grimes: 49:00

And in researching you, I may have got this wrong, but is it 15 clients in your stable currently?

David Fallah: 49:05

Yeah, so a lot of it is clients, again, it's from influencers, youtubers, instagrammers. We just started working with a musician, afro beat artist again. Um, it was talking about the music side of things. So it's just different pockets and learning. I think the best thing about it is it's a journey.

David Fallah: 49:25

Myself and ref, we don't know everything, and that's the. I think that's the beauty of being able to, to embark in this journey. Uh, we have, like I said, we have a strong network, a strong community of people who are in the industry in music, in in football, in film, in media and it's a great thing. Again, come at most of the networks from london is everyone's always willing to, to give advice and help you out. So that's for me, that's that's the beauty of things just to being able to learn. And I didn't know how to do this. I didn't know how to write a contract. Now I do, you know, I've just been able to share that knowledge as well, so that's that's the beauty of things and just going a couple of paragraphs back uh, your trip to amsterdam, was that rg rdm related, or was that?

David Fallah: 50:06

no, no, no, that was for a birthday, a birthday party, so that was a it was a birthday party, but it was a bit like a wedding. It was suited and booted. It was black tie event. It was only two days. It was a quick in and out trip, just for mine. I completely forgot. Amsterdam's like a 40 minute plane. It's quicker to get to Amsterdam than it is for me to get from Hackney to Camden, which is mental, yes, actually.

Chris Grimes: 50:29

And now I'm going to award you with a cake, david Fowler, thank you so much. And this is where you get to put a cherry on the cake of the conversation that we've been having, and this is stuff like what's your favourite inspirational quote that's always given you sucker and pulled you towards your future.

David Fallah: 50:42

Quote-wise would be. I think my mum used to say this all the time. She said when you carry your own water, you'll remember, was the quote um meaning wise. For me it can mean anything. So if you want to look at the, the literal sense of of the quote, carrying your own water, um is again so a lot of countries in africa, uh, you have wells to get water and you will see loads of kids. When I went there recently, you see loads of kids, um, going to the well with buckets, putting a bucket in the water and carrying that, that water on their head and they might have to walk 10-15 minutes back home to give to, to deliver the water and carrying that water on their head and they might have to walk 10-15 minutes back home to give to, to deliver the water or give the water to their parents to use, to utilize it for whatever. And just again, carrying on what I'm remembering every drop again just the it is. It got so many meanings in that sense.

David Fallah: 51:28

But to paint a picture that way, um, for me it's like just cherishing every moment in life.

David Fallah: 51:33

You know, I have fortunately not had the opportunity to carry what I'm myself in my head, obviously, growing up in England and having more of a privileged quote, unquote privileged background, but then for me it just means being able to cherish everything I'm carrying on my shoulders, on my head, being able to cherish every moment for me to symbolise. That symbolises the weight of the world and the weight on your shoulders financial pressures, the mental, emotional pressures in life, the burdens, but then obviously the the positives and the good times in life. And carrying all of that, all of that in in one goal and be making sure that everything you experience and go through it creates the person you are today and the person you will be in the future. And and a reminder as well that nothing's easy in life. So being able to carry water and walk 10, 15 minutes, even walk in a minute, so you know, just being able to navigate through life, is not going to be easy. So I'll tell you that's my. It's an African proverb, I'm assuming, so that's my own.

Chris Grimes: 52:30

And I completely love the fact that it came from your mum, who's the source of all of your moral. She's the water source and what's the best piece of advice at david fallah you've ever been given?

David Fallah: 52:44

um, to buy a bitcoin I'm joking um. For me, I think the best advice I've been given is to spend spend more time with family and friends and and capture the moments in real time. I think, like I said, growing up, I felt like I lived more of a fast-paced life. When I was growing up I'm talking about primary school, secondary everything was happening. You blink and you're old, you blink and you're an adult. So, yeah, my advice to myself, as a advice, would always be just to cherish the smaller moments. You know the little birthday parties and McDonald's and the Happy Meals and being able to open a box of cereal with a toy and little things like that. You know cartoons that you watched as a child, being able to open an Argus catalog and just window shop little things like that.

David Fallah: 53:34

You know, I wish I would have cherished those moments a bit more. Um, maybe, absolutely I can't. Nothing I could have done, but having more pictures as a child, um, so yeah, that's. I tried to do that. Now. You know little moments when I'm with my partner or my sisters, my mom, dad, friends. Cherish those moments. Make sure we get the photos, the pictures the reflect on every every year, the kafuffle boys you want to call them. We have like an annual, we call it kerfuffle dinner. We have a dinner every year just around christmas time dinner, um, where we, we link up there's about 14 of us and we just review the year, which is something we started doing. I want to say maybe, maybe, like five years ago, five, six, seven years ago where we just reviewed a year, like all the, all the and downs, the funny parts of the year.

Chris Grimes: 54:17

And it's like sitting at a dinner table where you go around one at a time. Yeah, yeah, yeah A dinner table.

David Fallah: 54:21

yeah, yeah, a dinner table. And then we vote like the joker of the year, like the most ambitious of the year. It's a little thing, we have little different awards. So that's Again just cherishing the moment and reflecting on the year.

Chris Grimes: 54:33

What was your most recent prize for the kerfuffle squad?

David Fallah: 54:37

I didn't win anything last year. I didn't win anything in December. I don't think I won anything. Yeah, I didn't win anything. No, I didn't win anything.

Chris Grimes: 54:44

You'll get a prize. Being the constant, I'm sure I should get something.

David Fallah: 54:47

The moral compass and the constant yeah, I need to get something. This year I'm aiming that's another world, exclusive.

Chris Grimes: 54:52

It's time for your recognition moment in the sunshine, in the kerfuffle squad dinner. Okay, so you, you, brilliantly and of your own volition there, you strayed beautifully into the other question, which we don't need to do now, which is what's the best piece of what you'd give as notes to your younger self, which is the idea of being present. So now we're ramping up to shakespeare shortly, uh, to talk about legacy. Finally, but just before we get there, this is the pass the golden baton moment, please. So now you've experienced this from within, who do you think you'd most like to pass the golden baton along to, to keep the golden thread of the storytelling going?

David Fallah: 55:25

yeah, I think I would.

David Fallah: 55:26

I would love to give it to Arloian um, just the fact that for me, from my point of view, I would love to hear his his story on.

David Fallah: 55:34

He's still young in his career, but just to hear what he's gone through from a child up until he's still a child to me anyway but to go from a little child to a bigger child and how he's got there, um, and to see where the similarities are, like, say, we're, we're a big gap away. I'm, I think I'm 10, 11 years older than him, um, but like I said, I'd love to see and hear the similarities of coming from an African household and from Hackney as well, and see how we've navigated, if there's anything there we can see similarities from. So I would love to pass the baton to Errol Owen. I think I know now he's filming. Of course he's been busy filming, but definitely just trying to figure out a time where I can get him on it and I think it'd be great for him and a good exposure for him as well, just to be able to articulate himself and get used to those Hollywood red carpet interviews, you know.

Chris Grimes: 56:21

And you'll be there supporting him in the background. Thank you so much. That's a real privilege. Thank you so much. And now, inspired by Shakespeare and all the world's esteemed and all the better, women merely players. This is borrowed from the Seven, the seven ages of man speech.

David Fallah: 56:38

Now to finally, at david fowler, talk about legacy and how you'd most like to be remembered. Oh, shakespeare, um, I think for me it might be simple, it might be an easy one, but I would just like to be remembered as somebody that others could feel comfortable, um, and happy to be around you know, that's the main thing. I think I wouldn't want anything materialistic or be remembered for that sense. So just be. I was the person that I was, a. I was a person that you felt comfortable being yourself. You didn't have to change your accent or put up a front or you didn't have to show off. You could just be as you are, without no judgment. Be happy, be comfortable. If people could say they were, they thought, they thought that even tonight I've asked people and they say they felt that around me, I think that's a success for me.

Chris Grimes: 57:20

I'll be, I'll be a happy man lovely, just letting that hang there with a delicious bit of silence. Lovely. Where can we find out all about um rdm talent and anything else you'd like to point us to about david falla on the internet? Yes?

David Fallah: 57:36

I would say rdmtalentcom, um, or you can rdm talent on your instagram, um as well. So that's where you can find information on services we do or what we've done in the past. Um, definitely. And then my personal um. Instagram is um, al, so al underscore and then falla and falla with uh, f-a-l-l-a-h for the Instagram. You can find me there. If you want to connect or hear more or see how we can work together at any point, feel free. If you need any advice in terms of if you're in media, if you're in the industry music, football feel free to reach out and hit me up.

Chris Grimes: 58:19

Wonderful as this has been your moment in the sunshine, in the Good, Listening To show Stories of Distinction and Genius. Is there anything else you'd like to say, David?

David Fallah: 58:28

No, I just have to say again, chris, I spoke to you before when we initially first met. Just again, thank you for giving me the opportunity to, to express myself, um, and being able to reflect. I think the common theme of our conversation has been about reflection and this whole, this moment now, and even the first time, it was a great, I'll say, revelation in the sense of just being able to, to take a step back, have a look at yourself, you know, introspectively, and see where you come from, see where you're're going and then see where you can still improve. So I just want to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to do that. It's very rare, like I said, it's very rare If you're not somebody that's famous. It's rare to hear your life story and be able to tell something. It's been a pleasure in that sense. Appreciate that, thank you, appreciate that.

Chris Grimes: 59:13

Thank you, and it's been a pleasure and a privilege to listen to you too. Thank you very much for watching on linkedin. If you have been too sorry about the slight bit of oh at the beginning when I didn't know whether we were on or off in terms of recording, but that doesn't matter. We'll edit the program up differently in any way. But I've been chris grimes, that's been david falla, and check out the good listening to showcom website as well and get in touch if you'd like to have a conversation about guesting too. Thank you very much indeed. Good night.

Chris Grimes: 59:37

You've been listening to the Good Listening To Show here on UK Health Radio with me, chris Grimes. Oh, it's my son. If you've enjoyed the show, then please do tune in next week to listen to more stories from the Clearing. If you'd like to connect with me on LinkedIn, then please do so. There's also a dedicated Facebook group for the show too. You can contact me about the programme or, if you'd be interested in experiencing some personal impact coaching with me, care of my Level Up your Impact programme. That's chris at secondcurveuk. On Twitter and Instagram, it's at thatchrisgrimes. So until next time, from me, chris Grimes, from UK Health Radio, and from Stan, to your good health and goodbye, david Fallon. Thank you so much for saying yes and being here in the Good Listening To show. Could I get your immediate feedback on what that was like to be in the curated structure of this show?

David Fallah: 1:00:22

Yeah, it was good. Again, I've said it before, it's therapeutic. Like you're going through the timelines, so I'm speaking at the same time, I'm visioning everything that I'm saying at the same time and being able to relive certain moments, certain emotions, it's a great. It sounds so simple, but it's an amazing feeling being able to relive certain areas and landmarks and you can hear it as I'm speaking, as I might jump from this point because I'm just seeing different connections in my mind. So definitely an amazing experience.

Chris Grimes: 1:00:58

And you're a wonderful storyteller. Just to blow a bit of happy smoke right back at you, because I've been seeped in Sierra Leone, hackney or Tony Addo. It's just been a really lovely, lovely immersion into the story of you. So thank you very much, thank you, I appreciate it.