This Entrepreneur Turned $3 Tickets Into a Multimedia Entertainment Empire. Here's How She Did It. Ericka Nicole Malone started by selling discount theater tickets in college. Now, she's running award-winning productions and landing Hulu deals.

When 17-year-old Ericka Malone started charging $3 per ticket for her high school theater productions in Louisville, Kentucky, she didn't realize she was laying the foundation for a multimedia entertainment empire. What began as a creative way to finance her college education has evolved into Ericka Nicole Malone Entertainment, a production company whose recent film, Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story, earned 40 awards, including an NAACP Image Award, and landed a distribution deal with Hulu in 2023.

Today, Malone's portfolio spans film, television, music, and theater. She co-owns The MCR Group, a healthcare consulting firm, with her business partner Philip Robinson, which has helped fund her creative ventures. Her recent documentary The Bucket Wish is gaining festival attention, and her music career is flourishing—her latest single reached #13 on the Billboard charts. But the path from selling discount theater tickets to becoming a multi-hyphenate entrepreneur wasn't always smooth. Here are the key lessons she learned along the way.

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Trust your innate gifts

Despite growing up in sports-focused Kentucky, Malone's talent for storytelling emerged early. A pivotal high school teacher, Pat Allison, recognized her gift and insisted she take playwriting classes. "She was so adamant, she thought I had a gift," Malone recalls. "She's really the center of a lot of what I'm doing because she believed in me really early." This early validation taught Malone the importance of recognizing and nurturing one's natural talents, even when they don't align with the surrounding environment.

Related: Why Storytelling Is a Skill that Every Entrepreneur Should Practice

Turn necessity into opportunity

After forfeiting a full theater scholarship because she "didn't like Shakespeare," Malone had to get creative about paying for college. She approached her university's student activities director with an unprecedented proposal: she would produce plays and give the ticket proceeds directly to the school for her tuition. This entrepreneurial spirit turned a financial challenge into a business education, teaching her about marketing, leadership, and production management while managing casts of up to 60 people.

Build bridges across communities

Malone's college productions brought together diverse audiences and casts, crossing racial and cultural boundaries. This early experience proved invaluable in her later career, especially when working with rural hospitals across the country. "What brings us together is more than what sets us apart," she says. "All of my experiences have made me have a bigger vision and understand people of different backgrounds and how great people are when you just sit down and talk to them."

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Master the art of creative financing

Without traditional funding sources, Malone learned to build creative partnerships. She convinced radio stations to provide advertising in exchange for promotional considerations and negotiated with theaters for reduced rates. She collected small investments from local businesses – beauty salons, funeral homes, and other community establishments – gathering $500 and $1,000 at a time. "If people will believe in your vision," she explains, "you don't have to have any money, but you have to have a vision that is solid that people can get behind and rally around."

Embrace strategic partnerships

A pivotal moment came when Malone met Philip Robinson in 2009. What started as a phone call about radio advertising evolved into a powerful business partnership. Through their collaboration, Malone gained not only a business partner but also the financial backing to take her entertainment projects to the next level. As she quotes motivational speaker Les Brown: "You can only go so far in life, and you have to then link up with someone who can take you the rest of the way."

Back in that high school theater in Louisville, young Ericka Malone was doing more than selling $3 tickets—she was rehearsing for her future role as a multimedia entrepreneur.

Today, as she continues to expand her empire with new films, music, and creative projects, those early lessons in hustle, creativity, and community-building remain at the core of her success. "Don't ever question someone's validity in your life," she advises. "They're a necessary component to the next step. It's not just you—it's going to take other people."