Reggie Yates Reveals The Secret To Staying Driven & Reaching Your Potential | E90

Reggie Yates. He's a critically acclaimed filmmaker, a writer, a director, and an entrepreneur.

The first time I saw a machine gun was in my estate at, like, nine years old when the police were raiding a flat on my floor because there was all kinds of craziness there. And we were just playing on the balcony. As a teenager presenting kids TV with Air Force 1s and a Mecha Traxxas, it says something. I'm on the BBC, and I'm dressed like the boys that you cross the street from. Subsequently, you know, I've had kids come up to me, "Bro, I loved watching you because we dressed the same, we talked the same, and you were doing that." And when people say things like that to you, strangers, it's so powerful. Uh, for me, empowering others is a huge part of my drive right now, working with young, talented people. And I love that I have that relationship with people because I never had it growing up. There was always a distance between me and the person that was helping guide me. Shortening that distance, for me, in the lives of others, is what success feels like.

Reggie Yates. He's a critically acclaimed filmmaker, a writer, a director, and an entrepreneur. And over the last three decades, he's been on our screens. And through that time, the world has changed, the platforms have changed, and he has certainly changed. He's been involved in scandals, wild success, and unfortunate failure. Reggie's work as a filmmaker is extraordinarily diverse, and he's traveled across the world, meeting those that have oppressed and those that have been oppressed. And this conversation is the same, incredibly diverse. We'll touch on everything from love, relationship struggles, family, mental health, ambition, cancel culture, and everything in between. Thank you, Reggie. Thank you for your honesty, because I know that the people that are about to listen to this podcast are gonna take a tremendous amount of important value from it. So without further ado, I'm Steven Bartlett, and this is the Diary of a CEO. I hope nobody is listening, but if you are, then please keep this to yourself. Reggie, um, location, environment, family. Where do you come from?

Um, I am the child of African immigrants. Uh, both my parents were born in Ghana and came to London as children. Uh, I was born on Tottenham Court Road.

Ah.

So I'm London, London, London.

(laughs)

And, um, I, I was raised in Holloway. I moved to South East London when I was 14, and at 18 I moved out, and I've been a Londoner ever since. And I say that because I've lived all over, you know? London's quite a tribal city-

Mm-hmm.

... uh, between football and the club you support and the area that you're from and your connection to it. I've lived all over, and I call South London home now, even though I didn't start there and I didn't school there really.