*There’s a good chance that you’ve never heard of Steven Marcano, or his cutting-edge deals that have resonated with power on Wall Street and in Hollywood. However, since the early 1990s, Marcano has been an immensely successful dealmaker, executive producer, super entrepreneur, and has spread some of the wealth as a philanthropist.
Yet, the question is: Who is Steven Marcano?
“More than anything, I’m definitely not an executive producer; I don’t like the title,” Marcano told EUR’s Lee Bailey recently. “I’m definitely not a mogul, like someone just wrote about me in a really nice financial magazine…I don’t like that title either. I am someone who is trying to figure out how to be independent and do the things that I like, and be successful. And, I’ve been successful for quite some time. So when people ask who Steven Marcano is, I would say…I’m very entrepreneurial.”
Entrepreneurial, and you can still add executive producer to the mix, even if Marcano doesn’t like the title, per se. Add it, because Marcano is the creator and executive producer of “Knockout,” now gearing up for season three on Fuse TV.
“Knockout” is a thrilling, fast-moving, hard-hitting reality TV series that features past/present professional boxers in different weight classes. Since its inception in 2013, some of the greatest boxing stars have appeared on the show, including Roy Jones, Jr., Floyd Mayweather, Jr., “Sugar” Shane Mosley, John Scully, Nonito Donaire, Ruben Guerrero, and others.
“Knockout,” which begins filming its new season in October, has literally knocked out the ratings as it relates to beating other television shows – in and out of its timeslot. “Knockout” began on NUVO-TV, before moving to Fuse TV. Through savvy negotiations, “Knockout” can also be seen in China and Russia.
“Knockout’s ratings were up 900 percent this last season, which was great for NUVO -TV,” Marcano said. “It was also the No. 1 show on Fuse TV.”
The success of “Knockout” is not Marcano’s first foray in the entertainment industry. Over the past two decades, he has brokered multi-million dollar deals for boxing legend Mike Tyson with Vince McMahon’s Wrestlemania; Floyd Mayweather with Nrage Sports Management; Don King and Wealth TV, singer/actor Ray J; and has produced national music tours that featured recording artists such as Wyclef, Foxy Brown, Fabolous, and more.
Interestingly, much of the success Marcano has achieved in entertainment was predicated on the foundational success of the diaper industry. In the early 2000s, following an internet search that revealed there were no black or Latino-owned diaper companies, Marcano, a native New Yorker, started My Lil Star Baby Products in 2002. He is the first Black/Puerto Rican American to own and operate a diaper company in a $4.6 billion industry.
“I wanted to fill that niche, while providing a product to people who may not could afford baby diapers made by Kimberly-Clark or Proctor & Gamble,” Marcano recalled. “So when I first talked with some people about going into the diaper manufacturing business with me, no one was interested. I took my own money and went to China to make my first model of diapers, which turned out to be worse than toilet paper.”
Returning to the United States, Marcano met an investor with deep pockets, which led to the creation of quality diapers that were affordable to underserved communities. While the diaper business was doing real well, Marcano needed more visibility and advertising dollars to get My Lil Star Baby Products into the big box stores/major retail stores, and at the same time, gain more recognition for himself.
“To advertise my baby products it would be around $750,000 to a million bucks for media outlets such as CBS and others,” Marcano said. “I didn’t have that kind of money at the time. So I began to think how could I sell baby products on TV, and be recognized because nobody knew who I was.”
Marcano remembered a conversation he once had with iconic boxing promoter Don King.
“Yeah, you are invisible,” King said in typical King vibrato. “When you are invisible, nobody cares about you, because nobody knows you.”
After cutting a deal with King and Wealth TV, Marcano and his diaper company began to get more recognition due to another deal in 2012, when he secured financing for Mike Tyson’s promotion company. The deal led to Marcano creating “Knockout,” and as the old saying goes, the rest is history.
While, Marcano is certainly happy these days, he wants total ownership of his portfolio of projects.
“I don’t want to be a glorified middleman or glorified partner anymore,” said Marcano. “I want to be totally self-sufficient and independent…and well-funded. I want total ownership; that’s my goal.”
Follow Steven Maracano via Twitter: @mlsmylilstar
EUR Extra: Steven Marcano interview with The Hype Magazine:
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