Roland Martin

I found that quiet place in my home that is my place of refuge. I don't care if you got kids or if you are married. You got to find that one place that is your everybody-off-limit place: unless this place is on fire, or you need to go to the emergency room, don't disturb me. You can go to this place and cleanse, meditate, let God speak to you.

I'm a fierce advocate for diversity. Always have been, always will be.

My audience expects cold, hard truth. They don't expect me to dance around it. They expect me to say it the way they think it. That's part of my brand. If I don't do that, then my audience goes, 'What's up? Is he sick or something? What's wrong with him?' The entity has a brand.

I think it's important for people to always understand what is the context is in what is being said, because that obviously determines what folks are talking about.

My life has never been defined as Roland Martin, CNN; Roland Martin, TVOne; or Roland Martin, 'Tom Joyner Morning Show.' I'm appreciative of all of those platforms, but I've done all different things. I'm still Roland Martin.

Even though we are a nation that's becoming a minority country, we still have this view where everything is seen through the prism of the dominant culture, which really means white.

Radio has always been a niche business. Cable television has always been a niche business. Magazines have always been a niche business.

Your life is not defined by the one place where you work.

When you build your own brand, people will still return your phone calls regardless of the call letters or where you actually work, because they now know you and they trust you in what you have to say and what you're doing. That, to me, is the most important aspect when it comes to building your brand.

Everybody can adore you because you're on television, but at the end of the day, when you're no longer on TV, who's still there? It's family.

When I was in meditation, God began to speak to me, and God said, 'Roland, I have enough preachers. I need people where you are in your positions. When you are on radio, when you are on television, you speak into more people in the five minutes than some preachers speak to in an entire year.'

There are some people that look at faith as a part of their life, and there are those like me that look at faith as the essence of their life. I look at all things through my faith.