A Rockford native who has her own television network is recruiting hometown performing artists to be a part of the magic.
Shanika Mason is the owner of Makin’ Magic Productions Network. This network is available for download on Roku, Firestick and will soon be available on Apple TV. Although her first name is Shanika, she wants the world to call her Neek.
“So, I love it because my grandmother gave it to me,” she said. “So that's why I like to go by it.”
The reality of owning a television network sprouted from Mason’s adoration for writing. She said she remembers falling in love with the craft at 9 years old.
“But my mom actually told me I've been writing since I was like 2 or 3 years old,” she explained. “She said I would take a pen and pencil and just write on things and scribble on things.”
Mason said she only has brothers and one day she found herself daydreaming about having sisters. So, she wrote about it. This is when she realized that storytelling was her portal into another world.
“Like what I'm reading in these books, I'm like, ‘hey, I can do this. This is actually what I do when I get upset.” Mason expressed. “Instead of like, lashing out, I'll go, and I'll just write.”
Mason attended Auburn High School. She said her teachers encouraged her to keep pushing the pen, but she stopped in her senior year after she became pregnant with her first child. She did small projects for others but didn’t have much time to write for herself. That was in the mid-90s.
In 2006, Mason moved to Georgia with her first husband and four children. She said the magic began when two of her cousins encouraged her to focus on her talent. Mason said she was a little doubtful, but she talked herself into doing it.
“‘Get yourself out there, let them know that you are you know, this writer that you've always said you wanted to be” she said to herself. “Who cares that it's been this many years and you know, get out there?’ And I did.”
Mason started mingling with a lot of different people in her new city. This motivated her to finish her novel called “Sincere’s Ways.” Once the book was finished Mason found herself in a dilemma. She said publishing companies were asking for a ridiculous amount of money.
"I'm from Rockford baby we know how to do some of everything,” she said. “And so, I looked into it, and I was like, ‘I want to start my own small publishing company.’”
She created DivaBoss Publishing Inc. Her book was released in 2013. She sold over 50,000. This urban novel gave Mason recognition in her new town.
“So, once I had that, I started making my way in the scenes, in Atlanta because now I am a writer. I have this book. I have this small publishing company. Okay, this girl from little Rockford.”
She met former Housewives of Atlanta reality star Phaedra Parks who became her attorney.
“And she had asked me, ‘What exactly did I need for her as an entertainment attorney. And I told her, ‘I just need you to help me get my foot in the door somewhere,” Mason explained.
She said Parks did just that. Mason found herself on the sets of the Housewives franchise, VHI Love and Hip-Hop and other projects.
“So, I thought, OK, I'm in the door. I'm in the scene doing this stuff with VH1 and Bravo and all that,” she added. “I'm a writer, I got creations, let me play them to them. I did.”
Mason cultivated her skills and not only as a writer. She also learned how to direct and produce, and even started managing other creatives.
She said the networks loved her ideas and one of her projects was picked up.
“But the minute something happened and didn't go their way they snatched it,” she said. “So, then that hurt me and all the people we had involved. So, I was like, ‘I got let down, they got laid down.’ I'm like, ‘Oh man.’”
A second opportunity came. She even started filming for a movie that was inspired by her book. Then life threw a curve ball.
Her 15-month-old god daughter died. She said the child was more like her own. The tragedy slowed Mason down and she needed time to heal.
Then one of her friends in the entertainment business suggested she do something extraordinary like start her own network. She remembered his words.
“You can make sure the things that you're writing and creating and filming is going on television itself, and you know, it's going, and you don't have to worry about no one's snatching your dream away from you,” she recalled.
With her new husband on board, Mason took the plunge. She started the Makin’ Magic Network two years ago.
But soon after the network launched, Mason was struck with another blow.
In January of 2019, she woke up one morning and couldn’t breathe. Her husband rushed her to the hospital where doctors told her she was about to die. She said the only thing she could think to do was to ask them to call her mother.
“And so, when they called, they let her know that I had several blood clots that were in my lungs,” she said. “And they didn't even know how I was still standing or even walking or talking. Because most people in that state, they come in here on the stretcher and they have to put them on a machine.”
She said the near-death experience affirmed that she had a greater purpose on this earth.
Mason said Parks was instrumental in her journey, but said she knew once she rubbed elbows with the right people, she could handle the rest. She mentioned that her resilience comes from her mother and grandmother. She also gives credit to another Rockford native, Kimberla Lawson Roby.
“I love her. And she's like an inspiration of mine. And she just doesn't know, I want to be up there with her one day accepting awards and doing the great things that she's done. She's amazing. And she is one of the people I looked up to from Rockford.”
Mason said as Roby was for her, she wants to be an inspiration to others. She is reminding people that there is always purpose in their pain and is encouraging everyone to stay the course.
“Because look [at] how many things didn't go right for me. And if I gave up, I wouldn't even have what I have now today,” she said.
Mason said she’s working on original projects for her network, and she wants to start off by showcasing the talent in Rockford.
“And I just want to get people in my hometown to actually grow with me in Makin’ Magic because this is something that I did,” she said. “And my hometown is basically what made me.”
So, Mason is coming back home to start the audition process for a short film in the city. She is also doing a reality show called “Born to Stand Out.” The auditions take place on Jan. 22. Then from there, the magic continues.
- Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.
