Angela Yee joined Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings of Revolt’s “Earn Your Leisure” podcast show to discuss her career in radio, entrepreneurship and how she negotiated her salary.
Early in the interview, the radio personality explained that one of the biggest lessons she learned is to simply “ask” for what you want.
Everyone Should Negotiate Salary
However, Yee was inspired by another article about Black women not negotiating their salaries “the way that we should.” It fueled her to go back and ask for what she’s worth.
“I definitely, after I read that article, was like ‘I’m going to to go back in there and advocate for myself and ask for more money,’ ” said Yee. “So they give me a raise, I got $75,000 and they gave me a $10,000 bonus.”
Bilal then brought up Yee’s co-hosts Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy. He said he read a book by Charlamange, where he revealed that he did sign the contract for his gig at “The Breakfast Club” without reading it.
Reflecting on her deal with iHeartRadio, Yee said, “My deal wasn’t bad,” considering she had her own morning show on Sirius network.
The serial entrepreneur admitted she was the “last person” to sign her contract after Charlamange and Dj Envy. “So they sent me my contract and from what I understand they were waiting all day by the fax machine for me to send over my signed contract,” she said. “But I wanted to make sure I was comfortable with it. I had my lawyer look at it.” She added, “I sent over things I wanted to change.”
Yee, whose net worth is an estimated $7 million, reportedly earns $3 million from her “The Breakfast Club” gig.
How to Deal With Contracts
Yee can handle small two-page contracts for bookings. But her advice when it comes to employment is to always have a lawyer look at your contract before you sign it — which many consider standard protocol.
Her first contract for the morning show was for two years with a third-year option. A weekend syndicated show was included in her second contract, which she received while on vacation in Turks and Caicos.
“iHeart was trying to get me to sign a new contract while I was there because it would it include the weekend syndicated show. But they wanted me to sign a contract that would be for another [three] years with no raise or nothing.”
The 46-year-old said she was told that if she didn’t sign it, “the deal would go away.” Rejecting that particular contract, she told producers to “find somebody else to replace me. I don’t want to do that.” Instead, the company added an addendum to her new contract.
After three years, “The Breakfast Club” became a nationally syndicated radio show. Yee also revealed that her latest contract for the morning show expired in December 2021. She’s been working on extensions while she and production work out a new deal.
“The purpose of negotiation is to settle for the best terms both parties are willing to agree to,” according to jobs platform Indeed. During negotiations, it’s important to identify your top priorities at work as well as your needs and wants. You also want to stress the value you will bring to a company.
How Yee is Building Her Empire
As a Black woman and CEO, Yee has worked hard to build up her financial portfolio with various streams of income outside of radio.
She co-owns the juice shop Drink Fresh Juice and a coffee shop called Coffee Uplifts People, both of which are co-owned by Tony Forte. Yee also owns Private Label hair extensions company, and several properties between New York, Detroit and other surrounding cities.
Of the first property she purchased, she said, “My first house was in Brooklyn and that was a two-family house and I did that intentionally. I was like ‘God forbid I get fired from my job.’ I wanted other income coming in.” She decided to rent the home as a way to “help me pay the mortgage. So that was very international for me to buy my first property that would be bringing in some income.”
In the near future, she hopes to open franchises of her own businesses.
She said, “For the coffee shop I own, the goal is to make it into a franchise. I would love to help my employees open their own franchises. Being a Black-owned business is not a competition. I visit other Black-owned coffee shops and juice bars, take photos and share them on social media. There’s space for all of us to be successful.”