You Control You is a podcast hosted by Mark ShaH Evans that delves deep into personal growth, relationships, and the power of self-discipline to help listeners take control of their lives.
“Something I ask people a lot is: ‘What do you want to do? You control you … so what are you trying to do with your life?’ And that phrase sort of just stuck. I decided to go forward with the podcast with that name,” Evans tells Madison365. “And 72 episodes later, ‘You Control You’ is still going strong. We’re getting close to that 100 mark, so that’s pretty cool.”
The You Control You podcast, hosted by Evans, explores topics like cultural differences, gender roles, building a life purpose, fatherhood, communication in relationships, marriage, and much more. Tune in and discover the strength within, Evans says, because you control you.
Evans, the owner of The Blast Muay Thai Kickboxing, is a retired amateur boxer and a Muay Thai fighter with over 20 years of experience in combat sports. With that type of background, he has been excited to invite on the You Control You podcast guests like Matt Brown, a former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the UFC’s welterweight division from 2008 until 2024, and Jacob “Stitch” Duran, a professional cutman who is legendary for his work in professional boxing and mixed martial arts.
“I’m a huge fan of Matt Brown, especially when he was fighting in the UFC. So, yeah, that was awesome when he agreed to do the show,” Evans says. “Same thing with Stich Duran. I’ve known about Stich Duran since I started boxing when I was 19. It was cool to have somebody so legendary on the podcast.”
Speaking of legendary, back in late October, Evans hosted former NBA star Craig Hodges (video below), where they not only discussed the X’s and O’s of professional basketball but also mental toughness and discipline in sports and activism and purpose beyond sports.
“It was amazing to talk to Craig Hodges. He played with Michael Jordan and won an NBA Championship. And I’m a diehard Bulls fan,” Evans says. “He is a great guy. He still spends a lot of time with the youth, and he had a lot to say about basketball, like where things are going, and the things he likes and things he doesn’t like. So it was really good to talk to him about that kind of stuff.”
Among his many You Control You guests are Michael Johnson, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County; Sabrina Madison, an alder of Madison’s 17th District, a community leader and founder of the Progress Center; and Tom Farley, the late comedian Chris Farley’s brother, who is a speaker and New York Times bestselling author, along with being a community outreach director for Recovery.com, a global platform that connects families and individuals to mental health and addiction treatment options.
“I’m a very diverse person – or at least I’d like to think I am – so I think it’s cool to go from Matt Brown in fighting to Michael Johnson, running a multi-million dollar non-profit, back to Stitch Duran to Craig Hodges and then Sabrina Madison,” Evans says. “I want listeners to be able to hear how similar all these people sound in some ways, even though their stories are completely different.”
What is Evans’s criteria for booking guests?
“A lot of times, I will interview anybody as long as it fits what I’m trying to help people with, either financially or business-wise or with life, in general,” he says. “Typically, successful people have run through some trials and tribulations in their lives. So it often helps to hear the flip side of the story.”
You Control You podcasts are produced by Corey Whitmore at Media 22, a top-tier recording and podcast studio for music production, mixing, and mastering. “He’s the pilot of what I’m doing,” Evans says. “I really trust his expertise.”
Evans says he has been getting better and better at making a podcast and honing his interview skills over his 70-some episodes.
“When I’m just by myself, I’ve been working on staying on topic,” Evans smiles. “But when I have guests and do interviews, and I’m interacting with people, that’s going just fine. I get a lot of people who chime in live, too, and that’s a lot of fun for me. It’s a chance to give them advice and help them with certain things right there on the spot. So that’s always fun.
“I’m a little blessed in this, because I used to do this in hip hop all the time .. just sitting down and interviewing artists,” adds Evan, who is also the founder and vice president of the Urban Community Arts Network. “So I love that aspect and I just like asking people questions and then listening to them and learn about them. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Who would be Evans’ dream interviewee?
“It would probably never happen just because he doesn’t do a lot of interviews. But [rapper] Jay-Z would be it for me,” Evans says.
“I’d love to interview [podcaster] Joe Rogan. I believe our minds work a lot like. He just wants to learn about people, and that’s me, too,” he adds. “I would love to interview author Jason Wilson, who also owns his own gym. His books have been pretty profound, and I really like the message that he’s preaching.”
Evans adds that he just wants to interview “anybody that understands that you need to overcome something and you just need to push through it.”
“Locally here in the Madison area, I would love to speak with Judy [Faulkner], who runs Epic [Systems]. I would love to have those conversations. I would love to speak to anybody who’s running a business or is passionate about something and who had to get through trials and tribulations. Those are the people that I really love to talk to,” Evans says. “The entire You Control You brand is about taking control of your life. Once we make that choice to take control of our lives, and we become very aware of who we are and what we’re doing, we can go very far in our lives and do incredible things.”
In the meantime, Evans, who regularly speaks to youth and young adults in Madison and the surrounding areas about making positive life choices, aims to continue to provide information and inspiration to You Control You listeners to take control of their lives. “I truly love doing motivational speaking. I love going out to places and speaking, whether it’s [in] universities or high schools. I have overcome a lot in my own life, and I want to let people know that they can do it, too.
“I have a lot of guests who literally overcome so many things in their lives, too. And that just allows listeners to see that, ‘Oh, man, there’s somebody else that’s going through it like me. This person had to overcome these trials and tribulations that I’m going through right now. I can do this!'”
If you have ideas for guests for You Control You, e-mail Shah Evans at [email protected]
