Transcript of Amber Butaud | Merging Faith, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship

Welcome to Mic Unplug, where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves, and game-changing conversations. Buckle up. Here's Mic. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mic Unplug. And today's guest is a remarkable storyteller, producer, and entrepreneur who has used her gifts to inspire and uplift others through the world of film and media. From overcoming early stages of life to launching successful businesses, she has seamlessly combined creativity, faith, and entrepreneurship. Please join me in welcoming the visionary, the compassionate, and the talented, Mrs. Amber. Guto. Amber, how are you doing today, dear? Oh, thank you.

That was so kind. I love that.

I'm great. You are so kind. You are so kind. I was telling you offline, a huge fan of yours, huge follower. You have an amazing Instagram account. Your family is awesome. I love some of the behind-the-scene things. I love how Jesus is your best friend. Just everything that you do and that you talk about, truly a huge fan. So honored to have you here today.

Well, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thanks for taking the time to learn people's stories and share them. I really appreciate what you do.

Absolutely. You know, on McUnplug, we talk about your because, right? That thing that's deeper than your why, that's your real purpose, that's your mission. If we were to say for Amber today, and I know that your because changes over time, right? Sure. For Amber today, what's your because? What's that thing that keeps you going?

I say all the time that if you don't have something bigger than yourself to hold you into something, you'll sway always. For me, my because is because of my best friend. I say this in a non-religious a way, but genuinely in a best friend way. Jesus is my best friend. We talk often, and we share time together. That is the reason why and the because what I do is because of the time that I spend with him. I say, none of us have ever tried to sell our best friend because that would be weird. Try to say so, Dude, I got this best friend, and she's this, and she's that, and you try to sell them her. You want to buy her or something. Jesus is just my best friend that I don't try to convince anybody of. I just live life with him. Because of that, what his desires are, what he wants, and the things we've talked about are what I'm doing now, and just infuse that in everything I put my hand to on the daily. I love it.

We're going to get to now and the future in a moment. Okay. But I love to talk about life before this, because you've gone through challenges you've had to overcome. One of the things that I'm truly admirable about you is the fact that you don't give up. One of my mantras, one of my pillars is keep going because success is just on the other side. If you keep going, I promise, whatever is supposed to happen is going to happen. But talk to us about Amber and the challenges that you overcame, not to necessarily story Storytell that piece, but that gift that you have to keep going. Where did that come from?

Grit's one of those things that we all want, but we maybe don't want to have to go through what we have to go through to get grit. Somewhere along my crazy little life, when I was young, I just latched on to grit to persevere. Young in my life, my My dad was hit by a drunk driver and killed. And so very young, I learned that there isn't an option of quitting, that when pain and tragedy strikes, yeah, you're going to go through a lot, but you're going to keep going. Another day is going to come, and you have the option to make it what you want it to be. My grandmother, when I was little, who I was really close to, used to tell me, Nobody has time for a pity party. We're going to get out of that, and we're going to put our big girl panties on, and we're going to do this thing. That's right. Young, I just chose to look at tragedy in the face and say, Man, this sucks. But a better day can come, this too shall pass. If I keep pushing on, if I keep trying, you're so right, on the other side is a beautiful sunny day, is goodness, is success, if we just don't quit.

And so young, I was faced with a lot of really hard tragedy and obstacles. And I think when you go through something really hard and you make it, you survive, you realize, Oh, okay. It was just hard for a bit, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope. There is goodness on the other side if I don't quit. One of my favorite things to do is fly. And I've taken some lessons, and I have flown in different planes and stuff like that. But one of my favorite things is once you take off and you pierce those clouds and you get above the clouds, you start to realize you can see for forever. One. And then two, you fly a few minutes and then there's no more clouds and you're seeing the ground again. You may be in a stormy season. That's just really a façade. It's going to pass. You're just going to go a a little bit further and it's going to be bright and sunny and a whole other thing. Then you may fly for a little while longer and you're back in the clouds, you can't see it all.

I just think there's just such a parallel in life in that. There's up and downs of life, and I choose to look on the brighter side to know that there's just on the other side of that storm is probably something really great.

I love it. Ladies and gentlemen, for those that are watching or listening, Amber is the greatest storyteller that I know. How you just told that story is what, again, I admire so many things about you, but just the captivating, and I just learned something about you.

Blind. Yeah. I love it so much. It's so peaceful up there. I don't know why I feel, and I guess I am a little closer to God, Ryan, if I'm up a little higher.

I thought you're about to say a little crazy.

Well, I could be that, too. Actually, I did hear that. Part of this journey with God, I was like, What? I don't know anything about this industry. I've never been in a studio a day in my life. He's wanting me to build this studio and do all these films and all this stuff. I'm like, I am nothing about that. He's like, Perfect. That's perfect. That means you got to lean on me and trust me the whole way through. I was like, Right, but I feel like I need to know something. He's like, No, just trust me. Just trust me. I really trusted him through the whole thing and each step of the way. That's a little bit like flying. You got to jump a little bit and then trust. But somebody once told me, If you never jump, you never soar. In order to fly, you've got to take that risk, and you've got to take the jump and trust that something is going to catch you along the way.

That's it. That's it. That's the perfect segue. Let's talk about For The One Studio. A little bit of how that became a thing and your passion for the things that you're doing with the studio now?

Well, my passion is for making the world a better place. My passion is helping others achieve what they believe they were put here to do or the message in which they have, just like we're doing here on this show. That's what I started off saying, I love what you do. I love that you take the time to learn about people and share people's stories to give them a voice in this world, because I think that is very important. Having a studio to tell those stories, whether it be through a book, a podcast, a radio show, a commercial, Instagram, social media, movies, whatever that version of communication is, I try to help sit with people and learn about them and say, This is maybe what is the best scenario for you. That's my passion in this, as far as if you've ever asked me if I've thought about being a producer or director. No, not so much. I work with a lot of those people, and I love that. When you sit with somebody that is really talented in one of those roles, you quickly realize you are so not that. That is what they were meant to do.

I'm sitting the more big picture, visionary business side of the industry and created a home for those to create from. I'm really passionate about that. When you come through the doors of For the One, I hope you feel like you're at home, not just a studio, but that you're at a home that loves you and wants to foster the God-given creativity that's been put in you to accomplish what you're put here to do.

I think I should have a Houston location for a Make & Plug podcast.

Let's go.

I like it. I think we should just broker this deal right now. Amber, one of the One of the things that I've heard you say many times, and when I heard you say this in one of the analogies, it clicked for me and I said, Amber is it. Amber is it. You talk about the Ripple Ripple effect, right? And how that becomes, I don't know if it's one of your pillars, but it's almost like your guiding star, right? For the viewers and listeners, let's talk about that a little bit. Amber's ripple effect, and why that's important.

The name of the studio is For The One Studio, and a lot of people ask me, Why did you name it that? Well, that was something that was between God and I, and this is how that came about. When I was looking to do this, I was looking at all the amount of work that it was going to take and everything to do it. I said to the Lord, That's so much work. He said, Would you do all of this for the one? I was like, Well, that seems like a lot. I was thinking maybe more for the masses we could do this. And he's like, Well, because I gave my life for the one you. And I was like, Well, when you say it like that, fine, we'll do it. It's always been about the one for me, the one person that needs to hear a message and the one person that needs to give a message. If you can focus on the one person that can cause a ripple that actually can change the world. But I think that we are so concerned about the millions or the masses and reaching that that we forget about the one because I am that one.

You are that one. The one person that took the time to hear your story or the one person that told you something that changed a trajectory of your life, you're so thankful for that one person that took the time to do that. And so we can focus on being present with the one person that's in front of us or the one thing that we're supposed to do, that truly causes a ripple because then now you can't give away what you don't have. If you give them something, they can now give that away. That's how the world gets changed. One person at a time, one small ripple. Just like if you... I don't know, I grew up in the country, so we used to skip rocks. It's the one little pebble that actually makes that ripple that becomes a massive wave on the shorelines, too. It's over time that that ripple has a massive impact. Maybe you see the impact, maybe you don't. But that's not up to us. It's just ours to start the ripple.

No, that's so amazing. I love that parallel. Again, when I heard you say that the first time or I heard the story of that the first time, I was so in awe. Then as I got to research you and follow you, I was like, Man, that connects with me so deep because one of my really good friends I say he's my best friend, but I sold him. So you said you can't sell your best friend. No. A guy named George B. Thomas, so shout out to George, has this concept called the Mathematics of One. It's just like your ripple effect. Make that one person feel like they are the most important person at that time, because you never know what people are going through. You never know what that one conversation is going to mean. I travel a lot, and I'm usually always in Mic Unplug brand People are like, Are you doing to promote? I'm like, No, because when I have my brand, I know I'm always going to be my best. I'm always going to be at my best when I'm in my brand, and that's honestly why I wear it. But I'll have people come up to me and talk and I always make sure that they feel like they're the most important thing.

If I'm sitting in an airport at a lounge or something and someone comes up to me, if I'm on my phone, I turn my phone down and I'm focused on them because I want them to know that they took time to come interact, so it was important. Again, you never know what someone's going through or a word that someone needs to hear. Conversely, you don't know what they might say that impacts you as well, too. The ripple effect goes both ways. You're not always the one skipping the rock. Sometimes you're at the other end of that ripple, and it's like, you need to receive what's coming in.

A hundred %. I am in such agreements. But that takes practice. It goes against our nature, especially now with all of our devices and all the things to put it down and be present where you are. For years, I counseled. That was a practice that I learned how to be present with somebody in that moment in their hardest time and just hear and listen to what they were saying and read between the lines and just give of your time like that to somebody. Just that Just that alone, how comforting that is to somebody and how it's so much more engaging and fulfilling to be present where you are. But I love what you said by putting your phone down. But that's a discipline that I think that we have just so gotten out of doing as much and something we have to go back to practicing. I'm trying to do the same thing, especially at dinners, dinners with your kids or dinners with your friends, that you are presently there You're right. I think when you're present, you're more alive, and I think you're more willing to share goodness that's within you in that time instead of being distracted.

No, wholeheartedly. For me, it's one of those things, again, being the person that I am, and my because is a promise that I made. So early, it was my mom, that was my wife and my children. The promise that I keep and up with for them. I would hate for someone to be going through something where they felt like they were not heard, and then they come to me, and I'm on my phone, and I'm doing the exact same thing that they're looking for that escape from. That's why I do it, because in my head, what I hear, in my ear, what I hear is, I need to be heard right now. If you're going through something where you're not heard, I don't want to be that last thing that was like, Oh, Mick doesn't even care about me. I never want that to be a thing. I give you kudos because- Thank you. You make me put things in practice. Sometimes I hear Amber's voice, Mick, be present. I'm like, Okay, got it.

That's good. I was at this event one time, and this man who's been very successful in his life gave me some really great advice. We were talking about how we donate to causes and what we give to and nod and things like that. He said to me, Amber, the things of this world are measurable. If you do good at your job, you get a raise. If you earn a certain amount of income, you buy a bigger house or you get cars. If you do good in a sport, you get an award, you win the game. All the things of this world are measurable, and we like that. We like measure. We want to measure. We have a desire in us to measure. But the things of the Lord are unmeasurable this side of heaven. But they are measured. They're just measured in heaven. Every day I wake up, I look at life and I say, Okay, I've got dual currency with my time and effort. And that is, I've got currency and time and effort measured Here. Then I have the unmeasurable kind on this side, but is being measured up there. Everything that I touch should have both of those.

Relationships, unmeasurable here. I mean, I guess if you go, I've got a black book so much, you could say that. But really, are those actually deep relationships? Are those just people you know? Time spent with somebody being present at the grocery store for an additional 30 minutes because the cashier lady had a hard time, maybe lost a family member or whatever, and you're there to listen and give of your time, and maybe some words of wisdom, of encouragement, because kindness is free, and you can just give that away if you got it. Doing that It isn't measured here. No one's giving you an award. Nobody's patting you on the back, but it is measured. It's measured in a currency that you will obtain forever, for eternity. If you can look at it that way, that you're storing up and that you have currency, just double currency, and that's what you choose to do with your time here and your time that you give forever. I think it's a better way to live and puts things in perspective.

That's so freaking awesome. So freaking awesome. I know you're a busy human being, right? How do you balance work and family and projects and being the CEO and clients and customers and all that. What are some of Amber's tips to balance?

I think if you go practical, I think it's like that big jar that you put the big rocks in first. You I got to say daily, what are my big rocks? What are the things that are most important to me? What trumps the chaos in my life? That's always going to happen. If you run your own business, or if you work and you are achieving and doing, you will always have chaos of the hustle. You go, What trumps that? My kids are one of those things that trumps that. If a kid calls in my book, we're going to take a pause for I, I'm going to answer. That is an important relationship to me. I put in the very important things to me, and I know that before I ever start my day. That's something I determine before I even start going, because if you don't determine it before you start going, life will determine what happens. That's how that works. There's something you got to say, Okay, so my health and fitness is important to me. That's another big rock because only as healthy and as good as I am mentally physically, and spiritually, when you bump into me, that's what you're going to get.

If I'm not doing right on that, so that's something I put in. I think it's really sitting down and assessing practically what are the things that are going to Trump the chaos in your life and say, Those are the important things to me. Those go to the top, even when bad happens. I was just in a horrible wreck the other day. Thank you, Jesus, that I wasn't hurt. But I'm devastated on the side of the road. I I'm just car total terrible. But the man who hit me was completely shaken up. I didn't know anything about him or nothing. I could have chose to just be like, it was his fault. I mean, well, the wheel of his car fell off and hit the front of my car, and it was really bad. I could have been super upset and just frustrated with it all, but I just went over to him and I was like, Hey, I'm so sorry that this happened, and I'm just glad neither one of church, and my car's name is the Holy spirit, so I feel like we were protected today. We'll give thanks to that. But we do have some responsibilities we have to do by changing information and all the things.

We did that, and he ended up being military. He was on his way to his first job out of the military and was completely shaken up. At that point, you have options to be kind and nice and say, You know what? This trumps what I actually feel like I Would it? Relationship and kindness and goodness trumps what I really feel like. I think those are things that you determine before you start your day. I choose goodness, I choose kindness, I choose family, I choose the things that are most important to me today over what could happen. I prayed over him and we spent time and chose to say, Hey, it's a car. We can work out the details over time. It's just things. But I think relationships are more important than things. I think that's something that I put at the top of my list, along with my business and my children and my relationship in my health and things like that. I think it's starting your day, knowing what is your big rock, what are the most important things that you're going to put in front of life that happened.

I'm literally the same way. I call it... I know I ask you the question about balance because that's how most people understand it, but I actually call it integration. Especially, you get it as a CEO. Ceos, we don't really have balance per se. I have 30 minutes to focus on this. Now I need to integrate something else in, and I'm going to go focus on that. For CEOs, a lot of it is this movement of focal points, and you're just integrating all of that into your day. I'm literally on the same page with you.

I think everybody looks at life a little differently. My grandmother used to tell me also when I was younger that maybe you should probably slow down and smell the roses sometimes. I do think it's important that you enjoy. But I turned to her, probably I was maybe 13, and I looked at her and I said, I think some people were created to pick the rose and smell it on the way. I'm like, There may be another pasture of more roses. We can't just take the one. We got to keep moving. We got to keep going. Enjoy it as we go, and that's that integrating, I think, way. As you go, you're always weaving that together. As you keep moving, as you keep persevering. We started off saying, what gave you that ability? What gave me that ability to keep persevering. It's that. It's that very thing. Just don't stop. Don't get stuck in something. Don't get stuck in the victories and don't get stuck in the failures. Just take all of it as an experience to keep moving forward and keep putting one foot in front of the other, and eventually you'll arrive. If you just wake up and do the next right thing.

Every day, wake up and do the next right thing that's in front of you, and you'll end up in the right thing.

That's it. Totally, totally, totally agree. So recently, you've had a couple of really good projects, right? The Life of Me and Multiplies. So tell us a little bit about those two.

So The Life of Me was a feature film that I I did in Tennessee. I lived there for two months and shot and produced that there, and that was UpTV's first original feature. Great crew, cast, everybody. Then Multiplied is an episodic series that is super fun and so cool. It went to theaters in May. We made it into a feature just to go to theaters. Then now it's a five-part episodic series that you can get on for the One Studio app. You can go to the App Store, download app, watch all five episodes there. There's more content coming. Taking Ground is another episodic series that we just finished. I think it will hit- I didn't get a call for that one, Amber. Yeah. You forgot to call me? No, I think we were so close. You were so close for that one.

I didn't make the cut?

Yeah. How did you make the cut? Yeah. That was just shot and filmed, and so it's in post right now being edited. I think it's going to come out January. Then also we have The Delusion, which is It's a trilogy book series that we just did the audio drama on. It is in post-production, too, right now. It will also go to the app. Just super great, great projects that are coming out. Super talented people that I've absolutely loved working with. They have been so great and so fun. I think everybody's really going to enjoy them. Everybody's like, Does everything you touch have to be faith-based? I'm like, No, but it does have to make the world a better place. If you watch anything that we do from here, I hope that you leave with a perspective that makes you want to be better and do better in this world. That's the criteria that has to be met in order for us to be a part of it and all of the pieces that we have do that.

Love it. For the One is an app, right? Yes. I'm asking this question rhetorically, but I want the viewers and listeners to understand. Apple Android.

All of it.

I promise you this app is amazing. The content that's there, the stories that are there, just the setup, the professionalism of everything is amazing. I'm going to make sure that there's links to the app everywhere that I post this on, obviously, YouTube, Spotify, Apple, everywhere. But when I post on social, I'm going to make sure that it's there, too, because it's a beautiful app. It's wonderful. When I say beautiful, It's just your soul feels good. You go in there and it's like, Oh, I want to see this. I want to watch this, and sit your phone down or tablet down, and you're immersed. It's amazing.

Yeah. Washing multiplied right now. A lot of stuff is in post. A lot of stuff is coming out. So 2025, we just launched in '24. The end of '24, we just launched the app and the content of it and stuff. In '25, we have a lot of projects coming out and a lot of cool partnerships. We have a lot people that are wanting to put things on there. But when you watch Multiplied, your mind is just going to go, whoa. I mean, to see where this kid took cameras around the world, watching major events happen where millions of people show up, not for a raw concert, not for some famous person, but literally to hear about Jesus is incredible. To see his miracles, to see the things that he's doing, and to see that the revival is happening around the world, whoa. In America, I think we get so narrow-minded in a lot of ways, and it just opens your mind to a whole other world. I love that. I love that so much. I think you'll be really, really in favor.

It's going to be amazing. It's going to be amazing. All right, Amber, to wrap this up, we're going to go rapid fire. Are you ready? Let's go. All right. You're in Houston? Yes. Born and raised in Houston? Kind of.

Yeah, we're going to go to bed.

All right. Sports fan?

100%. Crazy competitive.

Oh, this is going to be fun. Houston, Titans or Texans?

Texans.

Really? Not even the old oilers, huh?

Oh, well, that wasn't offered.

Well, that's the Titans. Well, I mean- The Tennessee Titans or the Houston Oilers.

Or the Houston Oilers. Okay, I'm going to say I grew up the oilers, so I would say the oilers, but I've worked with a lot of Texan players now, so then it makes me want to say Texans.

Okay, we'll give you the Texans. All right. As a Texan, are you big in the Texas barbecue?

Most definitely. Everybody that comes here, they're all like, Okay, where do you go to get barbecue?

Why is it so bad?

No, it's not.

I'm from the Carolinas. I had to throw that in there.

Yeah, you Barbecue sauce tastes weird.

It's barbecue sauce. It's not thick. I don't know.

It's not- I don't know what is in that.

No. All right. Then we got the food out of the way. We got sports out of the way. Your favorite college program?

Well, my son went to SMU, so we're big SMU. Now, my daughter's going to Ole Miss. That's not in Texas, though, so I don't know how I support that, but I am. I'm supportive. But She's a mess, and my son was at SMU. Okay. If you're going all time sports and stuff like that, you would have to pick depending on what sport you were talking about, the college that was best of it, right?

Well, yeah. I mean, because if you're talking... Well, I don't know, SMU football now, they had a good year. Yeah, they did. They had a good year. Back in my day in the '80s, the Pay for Play program at SMU was amazing. Shout out to Eric Dickerson, my favorite running back of all time.

All right.

I'm pretty- More rapid fire. The best thing that Amber cooks is?

That my kids love, and it's a really funny story. We're just not going to go to the whole story, but it is a barbecue pork tintoing. All right. My kids, we had foreign exchange students that lived with us, and they have no idea what anything is we cook, right? My kids told them without me at the table that I kicked chicken butt, and that's what they were eating. When I sat down at the table, they were like, This is amazing, chicken butt.

And I was like, What in the world are you talking about?

Anyways, everybody started rolling. Now it's called chicken butt at my house, but it's a barbecue pork tenderloom.

Interesting.

I know, right?

Kids. Interesting. Kids. All right. And so, Amber, for that person right now that needs that ripple effect, that person that's... I don't want to say they're stuck, but they just need a vote of confidence today. What's one or two two tips or one or two words that you have for that person?

I believe in you. Someone believes in you. They do. Most importantly, you got to believe in yourself. You're self-taught of what you tell yourself is everything. The things that you've heard from other people are not facts nor truth. What you believe about yourself and know about yourself, and you learn about yourself is truth. So talk to yourself Finally, learn good things about yourself. Put in good words into yourself. I would say you can't read enough positive books, you can't listen to enough positive music. You can't read the Bible enough, which is where I'm going to say you got to know truth, and the truth will set you free, free from all the things that hold you down. So get your head in the Bible into a good Bible-based book. That's changed my life. There's a book called the 4:8 Principle. It's based on Philippians 4:8, and it's the verse, Think on whatever is lovely, whatever is noble, whatever is true, whatever is good. Think on these such things. Take every thought captive. I think that is where it starts, and that's where you have to start is evaluate your thought life and believe in yourself and know that there is someone that does believe in you.

I like to think it's my best friend, Jesus.

Amen to that. All right, Amber. Where can people find and follow you? Okay.

Yeah, like all the social media. Every social media there is. I got a lot of young, great people around me that do that for me and tell me how to do that. But yeah, Instagram, YouTube, go a For the One Studio on all of the social media platforms, LinkedIn, and then also Amber Buto at all of them as well. You can find us websites, forthewonstudio. Com, TikTok even. What? Yes. What? I know.

You're doing like TikTok dances and everything?

I don't, but they tell me I should. But I mean, all the accounts we have, I have accounts on all of those. Then my personal Instagram is probably the one that I'm on maybe the most, if I'm going to say I'm on one the most. There you go. But yeah. You can find me in all the regular handles, which I'm sure we'll all be listed in these as well.

We're going to have them all. Everything's going to be in the show notes and descriptions. Amber, you're an amazing human. Thank you so much for just blessing us with your time today.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me on. I love what you do, and I can't thank you enough from everybody that listens and watches you.

I love it. For all the listeners and viewers, remember, your because is your superpower. Go unleash it. Thank you for tuning in to Mic Unplug. Keep pushing your limits, embracing your purpose, and chasing greatness. Until next time, stay Unstoppable.