As Gerald Washington stepped into the highlight for his digital relaunch on July 30, he didn’t simply have a good time one other birthday—he marked a robust return after 5 years of silence, transformation, and technique. The Emmy-winning producer-turned-CEO and founding father of Momentum Capital Investments has constructed a multimillion-dollar empire whereas quietly recalibrating his private life, enterprise mannequin, and definition of legacy.
“I’ve at all times been profitable,” Washington tells me throughout our sit-down. “However this time, I’m centered on the work—not the issues.”
Previous to founding Momentum, Washington carved out a reputation for himself as an leisure government, however Washington is obvious that this digital relaunch isn’t about nostalgia or name-dropping. Although his credit embody Movie star Household Feud, The Steve Harvey Present, and a number of Emmy wins, he’s not desirous about standing behind a star model. “Momentum has nothing to do with Steve Harvey,” he says. “I don’t have anybody to face behind now. I need to be the individual in entrance so my daughter has somebody to face behind.”
At 45, Washington speaks with the readability of somebody who’s been by means of it—loss, evolution, and the form of inner recalibration that remedy, fatherhood, and reflection demand. He describes the final 5 years as a cocoon part, a essential darkish interval the place he stripped away ego and armor to emerge absolutely aligned with goal.
“I needed to be keen to submit,” he says. “To remedy. To not having all of the solutions. To being susceptible. After I lastly noticed myself clearly, I didn’t like what I noticed. However I used to be dedicated to changing into any person totally different internally.”
That emotional renovation in the end formed his management type—and allowed him to construct an organization tradition rooted in readability, honesty, and mutual respect. “Now, I negotiate with margin,” he says. “I need the folks I do enterprise with to win, too. I didn’t care about that earlier than.”
Beneath the Momentum Capital Investments umbrella, Washington has been quietly rising a various enterprise portfolio that features operations, workforce growth, expertise administration, nonprofit mentorship, and a budding media division. However the crown jewel of his holdings is Clear & Shield International Options, the industrial cleansing firm he launched in 2020 on the top of the pandemic.
“I had by no means even been within the cleansing trade,” Washington admits. “However the world shut down. We would have liked to eat. I figured it out, or we wouldn’t survive.”
Immediately, Clear & Shield operates in 17 states with plans to develop to 45 over the following 18 months. And whereas the dimensions is spectacular, the deeper affect lies in Washington’s dedication to rising different Black and brown entrepreneurs by means of the mannequin.
“We took somebody from $900 a month to $250,000 a 12 months,” he shares. “As a result of she trusted the system, did the work, and we constructed her up.”
One of the crucial distinct parts of Washington’s technique is his intentionality round funding. He doesn’t chase traits. He solely operates or acquires companies in industries he loves—or is so good at, he can’t afford to not. Momentum’s core ventures embody leisure, service-based enterprise operations, cleansing, eating places, and actual property. And sure, he’s producing once more.
Via Momentum Administration and Dreamer’s Institute, Washington is growing unique content material, managing expertise, and constructing media platforms to inform the tales of underrepresented voices—lots of them girls and single moms working inside his firms.
“There are mothers cleansing 5 to seven banks so their youngsters can go to non-public college,” he says. “They matter. Their tales matter. That’s the legacy I need to amplify.”
That perspective shift, from high-powered producer to intentional legacy builder, sits on the coronary heart of Washington’s renaissance. His journey isn’t nearly enterprise; it’s about possession of his story, therapeutic, and affect.
“I need folks to see that even when issues crumble, in case you do the work, you possibly can come again,” he says. “I need to be the five-year instance for somebody who’s nonetheless in 12 months one.”
As Washington reintroduces himself throughout platforms this month, what stands out isn’t the dimensions of his success; it’s the intention behind it. This subsequent chapter isn’t about returning to who he was. It’s about honoring who he’s now.
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