1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,800 Speaker 1: Ba Fam, we have another how to throw back for you, 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:06,640 Speaker 1: of course we do all month. We're looking back at 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:10,799 Speaker 1: some of our favorite episodes from days past, for memorable 4 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: guests to unforgettable moments. There's still so much to learn 5 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: from the. 6 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 2: Be A Vault. Take a listen, will you all right? 7 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:26,760 Speaker 3: Hey, hey, ba Fam, It's Mandy. I'm back with another 8 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:34,160 Speaker 3: very special guest with Brown Ambition. Today we have the amazing, incredible, intelligent, 9 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 3: charismatic snowboarding podcasting writing, TED Talking queen Jody An Beury. 10 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 3: Jody Anne is as I just said, I don't even 11 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 3: there's not enough hyphens for Jody Ann. But where I 12 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 3: discover Jody Anne was through her incredible TED talk, which 13 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 3: you can check out. We'll put a link in the 14 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 3: show notes called the myth of bringing your full authentic 15 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 3: self to work. And through her work, Jodyanne says she 16 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 3: is on a mission to disrupt business as usual to 17 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 3: achieve social change, and she's doing that in a couple 18 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 3: of different ways, and especially in the way that she's 19 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 3: approached her career. So we're going to talk to Jodyan 20 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,400 Speaker 3: about the TED talk about the myth of Black women 21 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:20,840 Speaker 3: bringing their full authentic self to work also her podcast. 22 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,320 Speaker 3: She has an amazing podcast called Black Cancer, which we're 23 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 3: going to talk about where she explores the lives of 24 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 3: people of color through their cancer journeys. I cannot wait 25 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 3: to get into this conversation. So, without further ado, Hello Jodyann. 26 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 3: Thanks for joining VA. 27 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, thank you so much for having me. 28 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:40,119 Speaker 2: That was the best introduction ever. 29 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 3: Oh you're welcome. 30 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:43,760 Speaker 2: I want women and you know what. 31 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,119 Speaker 3: I used to do it off air on my own, 32 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 3: but then I was like, I know it's uncomfortable to 33 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 3: hear your own bio, but I also want here listen 34 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 3: to your bio, you know, listen to what you have done. 35 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 3: So for those in the BA fam who may not 36 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 3: be aware of your work, where did you get your 37 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 3: start in your career and how did you end up 38 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 3: on that Ted Talk stage? Walk me through it? 39 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 2: So in nineteen eighty six. 40 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:10,640 Speaker 3: Now, when two people love each other, unnots exactly exactly. 41 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 2: There are two ways to think about this, Right, Normally 42 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,799 Speaker 2: I would say, oh, I'm a classic millennial and that 43 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 2: I'm like on my sixth or seventh career at this point, right, 44 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 2: And then the other side of the coin is what 45 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 2: happens to your career path when you graduate college with 46 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 2: this promise of if you go to a fancy school, 47 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,519 Speaker 2: you get a fancy job and live a fancy life. 48 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 2: In two thousand and eight, in the Great Recession, you 49 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 2: know what happens to your career path when you're just 50 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 2: trying to make do? And then what also happens to 51 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 2: your career path when you're a black woman in predominantly 52 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:51,799 Speaker 2: white spaces trying to carve out space for how you 53 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 2: work right, your authenticity, your values, your ambitions. And so 54 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 2: I think on that second half of it, between the 55 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 2: recession and what is it like to navigate work as 56 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:07,640 Speaker 2: a black woman. Yeah, you'll see people changing jobs every 57 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 2: couple of years or changing industries every couple of years. 58 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 2: And so I think that this path of the topic 59 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 2: of my TED talk authenticity, that I've kind of always 60 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 2: been on that path in some shape or form, trying 61 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,640 Speaker 2: to understand who I am in these spaces, who I 62 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 2: am as a person who's born in Jamaica but moved 63 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 2: to the US within my first year of life, navigating 64 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 2: those two cultures within blackness, Navigating what it's like to 65 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 2: try to succeed and understand yourself in the context of 66 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 2: predominantly white institutions and predominantly white workspaces. I've always been 67 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 2: trying to understand what is truly my authentic core and 68 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 2: what have I had to adapt as part of who 69 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 2: I am in the process of code switching for know 70 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 2: now twenty plus years of my life, right, And so 71 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 2: I think I've always kind of been building through my 72 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 2: own experiences personally, my professional path, and just my scholarship 73 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 2: of kind of authenticity in these types of contentious environments 74 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 2: or environments that have high stakes, because who you are 75 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 2: in your authenticity with your friendships isn't tied to your 76 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 2: livelihood or your health insurance. Yeah, so there's a lot 77 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 2: of risk in that space. So I think I've always 78 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:40,160 Speaker 2: been building content wise. But as far as the TED stage, 79 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 2: and I know you talked about the podcast and to 80 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,240 Speaker 2: make that linkage here, four years ago around this time 81 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 2: I had my surgery. I'm sure we'll get more into that, 82 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:53,159 Speaker 2: But as a part of going through that process of 83 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 2: the prediagnosis depression that I was experiencing, the post diagnosis 84 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 2: depression I was experience and saying, just like, how traumatic 85 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 2: that health crisis was when you're in a situation when 86 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,719 Speaker 2: you have to really grapple with your own mortality. There 87 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,360 Speaker 2: was a period of time that I couldn't see myself 88 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:16,680 Speaker 2: in the future, Like I really just like, all right, 89 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 2: let's just make it through the end of today, maybe 90 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:21,920 Speaker 2: we make it tomorrow. But I really could not see 91 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 2: or imagine my life beyond like the immediate crisis that 92 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 2: I was in. And so the moment that I had 93 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 2: the thought that oh, I'm going to apply for tedex 94 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 2: Seattle became the moment where I'm like, wait, are you 95 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:46,280 Speaker 2: seeing yourself in the future? Yeah, do you see a vision? 96 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 2: Do you see a path for? You know? Your life? 97 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:54,600 Speaker 2: What you can contribute? And I think, most critically what 98 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 2: I want to leave behind? What do I have to 99 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:04,919 Speaker 2: say that can outlast me and kind of reach way 100 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 2: beyond I could in my little corner of the world. 101 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:10,120 Speaker 2: And so that's kind of how I got to the 102 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 2: TED stage. Like both content wise, life experience wise, but 103 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:19,279 Speaker 2: also what makes you take that leap was this desire 104 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:25,120 Speaker 2: to leave something behind. It's interesting because you think about 105 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 2: leaving things behind, but I don't think I really fully 106 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,880 Speaker 2: grappled with or thought of what being on the TED 107 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 2: stage would create a head for me. 108 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 3: You know what do you mean by that the opportunities 109 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:41,280 Speaker 3: that came with it, the spotlight, the exposure. 110 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, there are a lot of good things that come 111 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:47,920 Speaker 2: with that. I will say taking that TED stage during 112 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 2: the pandemic it was in twenty twenty has radically transformed 113 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 2: the trajectory of my life, just objectively, but also as 114 00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:59,840 Speaker 2: I was trying to grapple with like who I was 115 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:03,800 Speaker 2: with this, like planning for my life, Like why it 116 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:05,840 Speaker 2: was so critical for me to even start having the 117 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 2: thought of TED. Once you reach and I'm sure you've 118 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 2: experienced this but I don't want to project, but you 119 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 2: get this public sense of who you are. You know, 120 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 2: who you are on social media, who you are on 121 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:21,600 Speaker 2: the TED stage, what people think about you kind of 122 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 2: through these mediated platforms, and then who you actually are. 123 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 3: Let's talk about your health scare, not even a health scare, 124 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 3: your traumatic health event you were at, what happened? How 125 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 3: old were you? Because I mean, this is I can't 126 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 3: even fathom being you were probably in your mid twenties. 127 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 2: No, thirty two when I got that. 128 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:46,760 Speaker 3: Thirty two, early thirty Okay, So tell us, yeah, so 129 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 3: so talk about this, this this experience, and how did 130 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 3: that sort of change your outlook on your career and everything. 131 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think I've been struggling with different health ailments, 132 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 2: very benign like, ah, my elbow hurts, you know, like 133 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 2: my wrisk, like very very tiny, tiny things for about 134 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 2: three years. And so that took me in and out 135 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 2: of different doctors' offices doing MRIs and X rays and 136 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 2: trying braces and exercises and creams, and the work of 137 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:26,520 Speaker 2: that is mentally exhausting, physically exhausting, and it's expensive. The 138 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 2: first MRI that I had cost four hundred dollars and 139 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,200 Speaker 2: I have eld insurance. Okay, so it's like it was 140 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 2: just it was a lot, and I was getting very 141 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 2: tired of that, especially in a lot of these in 142 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:43,880 Speaker 2: and out of new doctors' offices, being met with racism 143 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 2: and different bias, which shows up as I mean, are 144 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,679 Speaker 2: you really in a lot of pain? I had one 145 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 2: doctor tell me that a lot of what I was 146 00:08:56,160 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 2: experiencing was a result of having having a sedentary lifestyle, 147 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 2: and I'm like, well, how do you know that, because 148 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:07,439 Speaker 2: I snowboard, I surf, I run, I lift weights. I 149 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 2: was on a competitive dragon boating team. So he's looking 150 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 2: at me like, oh, why didn't you tell me, well, 151 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 2: why did you assume looking at me? I don't know 152 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:18,480 Speaker 2: if it was colored my skin shape, with my body 153 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 2: that you assumed that I was sitting at home watch 154 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 2: TV all day, which is also fine for people who 155 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 2: do that, not trying to judge on people's lifestyles, right, 156 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:31,679 Speaker 2: And so just kind of deal with like the back 157 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:35,760 Speaker 2: and forth of that and the it was just draining. 158 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:40,320 Speaker 2: I cannot describe like the level of pain, but you're 159 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,080 Speaker 2: just like it's whatever you push through, you go to work. 160 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,320 Speaker 2: I still did all my physical activities and I was 161 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 2: hurting the whole time, which is a whole other thing 162 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 2: of why do we normalize being in pain like that? 163 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 2: Wasn't okay. At some point I was describing all of 164 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 2: this to my sister and she just interrupted me and 165 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 2: she's like, Joe, so you were not Serena Williams. And 166 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:04,959 Speaker 2: I'm like, first of all, you don't have to come 167 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:07,440 Speaker 2: for me like that. I know that I know that 168 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:09,960 Speaker 2: I'm not Serena Williams, Like what is your point here? 169 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:13,280 Speaker 2: But the point she was making was that I'm just 170 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 2: a regular active person. You know, Serena Williams is an 171 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 2: elite athlete, right, being a regular active person should not 172 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 2: create the amount of ailments that I was having, right, 173 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:27,560 Speaker 2: that the fact that I was in pain was not 174 00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:31,200 Speaker 2: normal or should be warranted for the types of activities 175 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,079 Speaker 2: that I was doing, because again it's not like I'm 176 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:37,319 Speaker 2: I'm doing a lot, but I'm not an elite level competitive, 177 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:40,400 Speaker 2: greatest in the world athlete, and so that kind of 178 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:45,240 Speaker 2: snapped to me that this is actually not okay, and 179 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:49,080 Speaker 2: so I kind of grited down, barried it. I gave 180 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 2: myself four months to do every single test that they 181 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:58,079 Speaker 2: could do, unrelenting, right, that I would just give myself 182 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 2: that amount to really do the investigat work, which is 183 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,880 Speaker 2: itself a massive privilege to be able to take the 184 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 2: time off, to be able to have the health insurance 185 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 2: or the finances to cover that, or or even the 186 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 2: mental capacity to invest in your health in your in 187 00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 2: yourself that way. And so I was like, I have 188 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:19,800 Speaker 2: all these things lined up for me. I'm just going 189 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,079 Speaker 2: to commit for the next couple of months to figure 190 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 2: it out. Literally, the next test that I did, which 191 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 2: was an MRI, my cervical spine, found a massive tumor 192 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,000 Speaker 2: inside of my spinal cord. So the way it was 193 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 2: explained to me was if I did nothing, I would 194 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:43,080 Speaker 2: be completely paralyzed from the neck down in a year. 195 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:46,040 Speaker 2: So I should have surgery and should have it within 196 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:48,400 Speaker 2: the week, which I pushed back because I was already 197 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:51,520 Speaker 2: scheduled to go snowboarding in Europe. So I was like, yeah, 198 00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:53,079 Speaker 2: I'm going to Europe first and then i'll. 199 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:53,720 Speaker 1: Be back after that. 200 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 2: Wait. 201 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 3: Wait, you were snowboarding, sir fing, all this stuff and 202 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:06,520 Speaker 3: you had a massive spinal tumor massive. Doing nothing would 203 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:10,400 Speaker 3: have made you paralyzed. And you said, uh huh, I 204 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 3: hear you. But the flight is booked and the hotels 205 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:19,360 Speaker 3: were really fundable. So BRB, you didn't tell your mom, 206 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:20,480 Speaker 3: did you? 207 00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 1: No? 208 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:22,599 Speaker 2: Are you kidding? My mom never would have let me. 209 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:24,960 Speaker 3: I was gonna say, Mama never knew that you were 210 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,040 Speaker 3: getting on that flight with a smile tour. 211 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:30,679 Speaker 2: No, that was not information we were sharing the public. 212 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:32,760 Speaker 1: Oh my god. 213 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,800 Speaker 2: So this was going through my head because he told 214 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 2: me that the surgery itself carried the same risks, right, 215 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 2: that the surgery itself could paralyze me if. 216 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:47,160 Speaker 3: Something with you when you were getting this news. 217 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 2: No, So like, okay, if that's what I'm facing, if 218 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 2: I'm facing potential complete paralysis from the neck down this week. 219 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 2: I'm going to Europe right because it could be the 220 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:08,559 Speaker 2: last time I was ever able to travel independently or 221 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:12,280 Speaker 2: to snowboard and to like have that experience. I didn't 222 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:15,199 Speaker 2: know what was ahead of me, and so I start bargaining. 223 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 2: I'm like, can I push it back a month? And 224 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,319 Speaker 2: he's like, you have a ticking time bomb in your neck. 225 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 2: I cannot make you better than you are from when 226 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 2: you go into surgery, and so you could be compromising. 227 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 2: You know the best thing that you have going for 228 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 2: you right now, which is the fact that you're healthy 229 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,200 Speaker 2: right like you have a lot of mobility. He actually 230 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:39,200 Speaker 2: said to me that when he saw my scans, he 231 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 2: didn't he didn't expect someone who could walk to come 232 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:46,080 Speaker 2: into his office, like that's that's where we were. And 233 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 2: so after the deliberation, I was like, I have to 234 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:51,840 Speaker 2: go to Europe, like I have to do this trip 235 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 2: like this to be my last opportunity for anything like this, 236 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 2: And so kind of went through that whole process, had 237 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 2: the surgery, had a lot of rehab to. 238 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:05,680 Speaker 3: Go to Europe. Had an amazing trip. 239 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:10,680 Speaker 2: I hope it was phenomenal. The best snowboarding on my life. 240 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:14,720 Speaker 3: The powder was fresh. I don't know snowboarding technology, but 241 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:17,640 Speaker 3: I mean terminology. But there was snow and you boarded it. 242 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 2: Okay, there was snow and I boarded it. It was 243 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:22,720 Speaker 2: it was it was great. I mean I cried for 244 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 2: a lot of it, just trying to like really take 245 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 2: it in. Yeah, I didn't know. I didn't know. I 246 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:33,880 Speaker 2: didn't know if I could die. You know, surgeries are serious, right, 247 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:36,280 Speaker 2: I didn't know if I would be paralyzed. I didn't 248 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 2: know anything. You know, my family and I my sister's 249 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:45,200 Speaker 2: in military. They planned that if I ended up severely 250 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 2: like paralyzed, that she would adopt me as her child 251 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 2: so I can get health insurance through the military and 252 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:54,720 Speaker 2: I wouldn't have to bankrupt my entire family for the 253 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 2: rest of my life, you know. Like so there were 254 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 2: a lot of what if head and I just needed 255 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,400 Speaker 2: to focus on there. Now I'm going to Europe. I'm 256 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 2: going to have surgeram. We'll see what happens after that. 257 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 2: When I came back to work from that, And one 258 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,200 Speaker 2: thing you know, at the intersections with work here that 259 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:17,480 Speaker 2: I want to emphasize is that when you have a 260 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:20,200 Speaker 2: health crisis, or someone in your household or someone that 261 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:24,720 Speaker 2: you take care of has a major health crisis. You 262 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 2: have to decide what is likely an inevitability that you 263 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 2: have to tell somebody at work, and not all workplaces 264 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 2: know how to handle the real humanness that comes with 265 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:49,560 Speaker 2: when a health crisis is in play. Whatever meetings I had, 266 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 2: whatever deadlines I was working on, did not matter as 267 00:15:56,680 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 2: soon as I got that news. And thankfully, whereas working 268 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:02,800 Speaker 2: at the time, they're like, you do what you have 269 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:06,440 Speaker 2: to do, all the paperwork, all the PTO, all the 270 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:09,680 Speaker 2: disability whatever, we will handle that on the back end. 271 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:13,160 Speaker 2: I did not have to worry about anything when it 272 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:17,000 Speaker 2: came to my job. In fact, after surgery, I was 273 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 2: on disability leave for four months and they created a 274 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:26,440 Speaker 2: policy at my organization. This is a very small organization, nonprofit, 275 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 2: so I don't even know if those large companies do this, 276 00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 2: but they created a policy where you could donate your 277 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 2: PTO to someone else. And so in the creation of 278 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:42,960 Speaker 2: that policy, I was able to extend my leave an 279 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 2: additional month because I was still I mean, I couldn't 280 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:48,800 Speaker 2: even type after surgery, right, I had to relearn how 281 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:52,120 Speaker 2: to do everything that I could extend my leave and 282 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 2: still get my full paycheck. It's it was probably the 283 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 2: greatest gift to not have to worry about my livelihood, 284 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 2: how I was going to be paying for all these bills, 285 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:06,160 Speaker 2: what I would have to do work wise. They took 286 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 2: every single thing off my plane. Not everybody has that experience, 287 00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:13,679 Speaker 2: even when it's you who've been diagnosed with cancer or 288 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,919 Speaker 2: you have this. We're seeing this now with COVID, how 289 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 2: sensitive companies are with giving space for that or understanding 290 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 2: the role of caregivers. You know, my sister's job was 291 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:28,199 Speaker 2: very supportive of her because she was the one who 292 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:31,240 Speaker 2: was primarily caring for me after I got discharged, And 293 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:34,159 Speaker 2: so I just wanted to emphasize that because if we 294 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:37,240 Speaker 2: talk about this in authenticity language like this is genuinely 295 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:39,320 Speaker 2: what I was dealing with, what I was going through, 296 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,919 Speaker 2: and my work environment had the ability to hold that 297 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,440 Speaker 2: to support me as I was trying to, like fright 298 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:51,320 Speaker 2: for my life. Right. Not all places have that. It's 299 00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:53,359 Speaker 2: like are you going to be well or are you 300 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 2: going to work here? And we prefer that you work 301 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:59,760 Speaker 2: here regardless of what physical, mental or emotional damage that 302 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,840 Speaker 2: does to you. I think, you know, just to land 303 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 2: the plane here. But after going through that experience, it 304 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 2: became very clear to me that difference between like how 305 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:16,000 Speaker 2: different my experience could have been if I was working 306 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:20,159 Speaker 2: somewhere else, and so that division of what is me 307 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:23,760 Speaker 2: and what is this organization, what is the environment, what 308 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 2: is the individual, and what is the institution? Right, so 309 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:31,960 Speaker 2: that became super clear for me. But also, and I've 310 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 2: talked to a lot of people on the podcast who 311 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 2: go through this, but the capacity for bullshit is like 312 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 2: almost eliminated after you go through something like that. And 313 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 2: so my decision making after that was very clear. Right 314 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:52,680 Speaker 2: at a job that I loved, it was absolute nonsense 315 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,120 Speaker 2: to me, and I quit right. I wanted to kind 316 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 2: of create my life in this way. I'm not handwringing 317 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 2: and like I don't know what should you do? Should 318 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:03,480 Speaker 2: I do this? Maybe I could wait? No, wait for what? 319 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,119 Speaker 2: And so I still live my life that way with 320 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:09,480 Speaker 2: people who want to plan stuff for me, like months 321 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 2: in advance or you know, I've had people ask me like, oh, 322 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:15,480 Speaker 2: what are you working on or what goals do you have? 323 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:18,480 Speaker 2: And I tell them the same thing, like I don't 324 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 2: plan my life more than two weeks out right, Like 325 00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:25,200 Speaker 2: I just because you don't know. And I think that 326 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:29,199 Speaker 2: kind of trauma response also gives me a sense of 327 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:34,880 Speaker 2: urgency and a way where I don't negotiate with what 328 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,160 Speaker 2: keeps me healthy, what keeps me sane, and what keeps 329 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 2: me happy, Like that's non negotiable, and so I always 330 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:44,640 Speaker 2: try to take care of myself. 331 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:48,520 Speaker 3: Or clarity, I mean what I mean. It was trauma, 332 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:51,639 Speaker 3: but it was like the positive, the silver lining is 333 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:56,880 Speaker 3: that fast track to clarity, fast track to being unbothered, oh, 334 00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:01,159 Speaker 3: being focused and understanding what's import You know, when you 335 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,800 Speaker 3: say you get stripped down to like family, your health, 336 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:08,080 Speaker 3: you know what's in front of you. Nothing else matters. 337 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:14,040 Speaker 3: And I am I don't want every Obviously not everyone 338 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 3: needs a spinal tumor. I don't let it be a 339 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:20,639 Speaker 3: spinal tumor. The client that I was talking to this morning, 340 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 3: when I tell you, and it's so serendipitous that I'm 341 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:24,639 Speaker 3: sitting with you now because I think back to my 342 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:27,720 Speaker 3: I hate the word client makes it sound so transactional. 343 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:30,280 Speaker 3: But this woman who has been working with me for 344 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:32,119 Speaker 3: a couple of months now, and I looked at her 345 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 3: and I was like, you've realized I need you to 346 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:36,840 Speaker 3: act more like your your house is on fire right now, 347 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,240 Speaker 3: like you're having an emergency. We need to call nine 348 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:44,400 Speaker 3: one one, and their responses. Quit the responses. It's time 349 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,200 Speaker 3: for you to walk away and take six months off. 350 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 3: But and it was like she was waiting for something 351 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:55,199 Speaker 3: big enough, the catastrophe, the tumor on a scan, you 352 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,920 Speaker 3: know what I mean, And the fact that and it's 353 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,400 Speaker 3: really difficult kind of get people to a place where 354 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:04,400 Speaker 3: they can see their own health and their own well 355 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:08,600 Speaker 3: being as that emergency like it actually is in jeopardy. Wow, 356 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:11,159 Speaker 3: all right, ba fam, Let's take a quick break and 357 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,240 Speaker 3: we'll be right back with more of my illuminating conversation 358 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:20,880 Speaker 3: with Jody Ambury. This is brown ambition, All right, ba fam, 359 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,840 Speaker 3: we are back. Let's dive right back into my conversation 360 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:30,200 Speaker 3: with Jody Ambury. The surgery, the physical rehabilitation. How long 361 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 3: did all of that take? 362 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:32,040 Speaker 2: You said it was. 363 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:34,280 Speaker 3: Four months of recovery, five months. 364 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 2: Relearning of not working. So I was in hospital for 365 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:43,920 Speaker 2: about a month, and that like can you walk, can 366 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:47,360 Speaker 2: you write? Can you pick up a really small thing 367 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:49,600 Speaker 2: and put it to the other side of the table, 368 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 2: Like that process was so I don't want to say 369 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 2: humbling because it makes it sound like it was a 370 00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:00,840 Speaker 2: fun process. 371 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:04,720 Speaker 3: No humbling usually means it was hard as shit and 372 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 3: I thought you were big tough shit before, and now 373 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:08,000 Speaker 3: you need to pick up a pencil. 374 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:11,600 Speaker 2: And it's kind of like, you know, like it's kind 375 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,159 Speaker 2: of like that like inspiration porn that we do with 376 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:18,240 Speaker 2: people who have disabilities. So you can have someone who 377 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:22,480 Speaker 2: has a physical disability and they're just playing basketball and 378 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:26,040 Speaker 2: then all the comments will be like, now you have 379 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 2: no excuse to chase your dreams, And I'm like, here's 380 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:33,080 Speaker 2: a kid who's just like playing basketball. No one asked 381 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:37,919 Speaker 2: you to project like your shit onto that situation. And 382 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 2: so there's this sense of like when you go through 383 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:44,480 Speaker 2: something really difficult, that if you get on the quote 384 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:48,000 Speaker 2: unquote other side of it, that the process itself was 385 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 2: worth it. Right. I would strongly prefer to not have 386 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 2: had a spinal tumor or to be currently living with 387 00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:00,960 Speaker 2: a spinal cord injury and all the disability and challenges 388 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,200 Speaker 2: and chronic pain that come from that. Like, I would 389 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 2: absolutely rather not have gone through that. The experience when 390 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:12,280 Speaker 2: I was in hospital was traumatizing and very very isolating, 391 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:14,840 Speaker 2: And this is pre COVID, right, so I had people 392 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,719 Speaker 2: visiting me every day, but it's really challenging. And I 393 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 2: remember this one instance where they took me to the 394 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,200 Speaker 2: bottom of a staircase and she was like, all right, 395 00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 2: you know, for pta today, we're gonna walk up the stairs. 396 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,600 Speaker 2: And I was so irritated because I'm like, I'm that 397 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,959 Speaker 2: memorial Sloan kettering like this is like the creme day 398 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:40,919 Speaker 2: la Creme of cancer centers in the world, and what 399 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:45,720 Speaker 2: we're doing today is walking up these dingy back staircase 400 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 2: Like give me the bells and whistles, like I want 401 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,879 Speaker 2: cool equipment. So I'm all high and mighty off myself, 402 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,440 Speaker 2: like this is what we're doing, Like we're walking upstairs. 403 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:56,359 Speaker 2: And I stood at the bottom of the stairs and 404 00:23:56,359 --> 00:24:00,240 Speaker 2: I just kind of looked up. I started crying. Because 405 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:02,840 Speaker 2: it's interesting about a spinal cord injury is that there's 406 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 2: nothing physically wrong with my muscles, my legs, like my 407 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:10,760 Speaker 2: body functions. The problem is is that the brain cannot 408 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,879 Speaker 2: get the information to the rest of the body. And 409 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:20,520 Speaker 2: so when people use paralysis as a figurative sense of speech, 410 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:25,040 Speaker 2: I'm like, you have no idea what that experience is like. 411 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:29,359 Speaker 2: To be at the bottom of a staircase looking at it, 412 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:35,320 Speaker 2: wanting to walk up, but your body is not moving, 413 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:42,200 Speaker 2: and having to constantly send those signals over and over 414 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 2: and over again and hope that one of them gets 415 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:48,920 Speaker 2: through and your leg moves, which I think actually sounds 416 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:50,520 Speaker 2: like we're you're talking about with your client, where you're like, 417 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:54,480 Speaker 2: you keep sending these signals like girl, quit your job, right, 418 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:58,159 Speaker 2: like do something different, take some time off, and the 419 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:04,399 Speaker 2: signals are not getting through, and so you keep sending 420 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:06,680 Speaker 2: them and hoping that, like you can, you can take 421 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,719 Speaker 2: the step. So I think I understand why people use it, 422 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 2: you know, figuratively, but the actual work of kind of 423 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:20,439 Speaker 2: navigating through partial paralysis is I guess it's humbling. 424 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:25,600 Speaker 3: I'll never I can't even fathom. I can't even fathom 425 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,680 Speaker 3: what that. But thank you for thank you for even 426 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:30,760 Speaker 3: taking the time to try to express that for those 427 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 3: of us who haven't felt that way. Man, man, I just. 428 00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:38,119 Speaker 2: Wish that people wouldn't have to go through stuff like 429 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:42,760 Speaker 2: that to get that kick in the butt to just 430 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 2: create the life that you want to create. Life is 431 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 2: so fragile, and if you can't walk away, even from 432 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:55,880 Speaker 2: the pandemic, from that, like like I don't. I don't 433 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 2: want people to have to go through a crisis to 434 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:05,679 Speaker 2: start investing in themselves and to spend their intellectual energy, 435 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,480 Speaker 2: you know, as we talk about professional lives through something 436 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:12,439 Speaker 2: that really matters to you, but also is getting you 437 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 2: kind of what you want out of that realm of 438 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:16,880 Speaker 2: your life. And so I'm not saying that everyone has 439 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:20,440 Speaker 2: to do meaningful work. You can make widgets. If those 440 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:26,080 Speaker 2: widgets give you, you know, generational financial safety and that's 441 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:29,480 Speaker 2: important to you and that's your goal, then great, right, 442 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:33,280 Speaker 2: But are you destroying yourself regardless of what path you 443 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:37,240 Speaker 2: choose in that process? Like? Are you unhappy? And so 444 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:41,119 Speaker 2: I just want people to tap into, like what actually 445 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:47,240 Speaker 2: matters to you, what's actually important to you? How can 446 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:51,240 Speaker 2: you achieve your goals without eroding yourself? 447 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 3: I could not agree more. I think some people do 448 00:26:56,400 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 3: need the big seismic shock of an event. I'm with you. 449 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 3: I'm like, if the pandemic didn't do it, then what 450 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:07,360 Speaker 3: the heck will? I mean, but some people are really 451 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:10,080 Speaker 3: hard headed and not you know, they're gonna people will 452 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:12,040 Speaker 3: learn on their own time. But I do feel like 453 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,040 Speaker 3: younger generations, and I include ourselves in that. I'm a millennial, 454 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,800 Speaker 3: and I think that we don't want it. We understand 455 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:23,640 Speaker 3: the urgency of protecting happiness and well being. And what 456 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,280 Speaker 3: I feel like the shift that I'm seeing is we 457 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:30,679 Speaker 3: are collectively using our voices and even people like you 458 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:33,359 Speaker 3: going on stages and talking about the importance of us 459 00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:37,160 Speaker 3: telling that and holding employers accountable and companies and businesses 460 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:42,360 Speaker 3: accountable for breaking down their problems, breaking down their systems 461 00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:46,440 Speaker 3: and processes to better accommodate our new perspectives and our 462 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,760 Speaker 3: you know, what we value the most, which you know, 463 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:54,320 Speaker 3: which is love, family, wellness. You know, why is it 464 00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:57,000 Speaker 3: not okay for me as a mom, a black woman, 465 00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:01,240 Speaker 3: a mom, a working person. I I I even I'll 466 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:04,760 Speaker 3: put myself out there and say that I judged my 467 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,120 Speaker 3: own mom when she would tell me, I just want 468 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 3: to be a mom. I don't want to work. I 469 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 3: just want to be a mom. I had to work 470 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:12,440 Speaker 3: because I had four kids, and you know, was by myself. 471 00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:14,920 Speaker 3: And I'd be like, you just wanted to be a mom, 472 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:20,160 Speaker 3: But like that isn't which is the huge job. It's 473 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:23,800 Speaker 3: a huge job, and it's also but I felt for me, 474 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:26,200 Speaker 3: you know, I'm glad I got over this really quickly. 475 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:28,159 Speaker 3: But it was like I had this perception that like 476 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:32,040 Speaker 3: there was a glamorization of work and working and being 477 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:33,879 Speaker 3: a part of a you know, being a part of 478 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,399 Speaker 3: a company and doing the nine to five, and that 479 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 3: you know, the traditional image of the working woman through 480 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 3: the eighties. I think we were as eighties I'm an 481 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:43,320 Speaker 3: eighties baby, and you kind of see the women and 482 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 3: you have to like act like the man and be 483 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,920 Speaker 3: aggressive with your career, but at what cost. So we're 484 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,440 Speaker 3: almost like we're the next level of that. It's, yes, 485 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 3: we can have careers, but we can have it on 486 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,280 Speaker 3: our own terms, and we don't have to sacrifice our 487 00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:58,760 Speaker 3: financial well being to have a job. We shouldn't have 488 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 3: to sacrifice our face nancial well being to have work 489 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:05,040 Speaker 3: that is meaningful, that treats us well, takes care of 490 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 3: us and lets us clock out when we want to 491 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:09,480 Speaker 3: clock out and spend time with the kids and have 492 00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 3: time for ourselves and all that beauty. So, for you 493 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:17,080 Speaker 3: and I, the way that we got there was being 494 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 3: our own boss. And I want to talk to you 495 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,120 Speaker 3: about that transition for a lot of women, and it 496 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:25,040 Speaker 3: is you know, I'm so happy that they can find 497 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:28,880 Speaker 3: places in traditional you know, nine to five work where 498 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:32,000 Speaker 3: they are able to do that, feel safe, be well paid. 499 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:34,040 Speaker 3: It exists, y'all who are listening. It exists, I hope 500 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:38,120 Speaker 3: people sometimes it does. But in this particular chapter in 501 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:40,880 Speaker 3: your life, you are on your own. So how has 502 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 3: that been, that transition into independence, and how's it going? 503 00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 2: It's going great. I mean to put it in context, 504 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:56,120 Speaker 2: like if I didn't want to do anything revenue generating 505 00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:58,000 Speaker 2: for the rest of this calendar year, I do not 506 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:01,240 Speaker 2: have to do that. And I think that's what Ali 507 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:05,040 Speaker 2: Wong some extent of to what Ali Wang refers to 508 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,440 Speaker 2: as like fuck you money, where you're just like, I'm good, 509 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:11,800 Speaker 2: like I don't have to do anything. But I didn't 510 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:15,160 Speaker 2: expect this from myself at all. And I feel like 511 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:21,320 Speaker 2: I had a non traditional approach even to entrepreneurship. I've 512 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 2: tried the like forecasting and here are all my marketing 513 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,720 Speaker 2: strategies and this and that, but that is it's so 514 00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:33,560 Speaker 2: not me and so not what I had the energy for, 515 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:35,720 Speaker 2: where I'm just like, I just want to do what 516 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 2: I want to do, and so I call it. If 517 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:44,000 Speaker 2: someone steals this, I'll be so pissed. Maybe I'm not 518 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:45,200 Speaker 2: going to give it a name. Because it is a 519 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:49,959 Speaker 2: cool name. But the strategy is basically, the strategy is 520 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:54,480 Speaker 2: to work as authentically as I can and as publicly 521 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:57,040 Speaker 2: as I can. And so when I started in twenty twenty, 522 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:02,480 Speaker 2: I wanted to have conversations about microaggressions in the workplace, 523 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,440 Speaker 2: but again I wanted the audience to be us, and 524 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:07,640 Speaker 2: so it was like a workshop for women of color. 525 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,040 Speaker 2: We're going to talk about microaggressions, kind of what the 526 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,240 Speaker 2: experiences are. And I was just trying to figure out, 527 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 2: like what in that topic I actually cared about, and 528 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:21,600 Speaker 2: so I just started doing it. It wasn't perfect, right, 529 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:23,960 Speaker 2: It was probably a seventy percent, which is my rule, 530 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:28,120 Speaker 2: Like if it's seventy percent good, If it's seventy percent there, 531 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 2: it's enough, right, which itself I think also for black 532 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:35,920 Speaker 2: women is like wait, is it not perfect? Yeah? 533 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:38,000 Speaker 3: No, but I love that done is better than perfect 534 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 3: sometimes exactly. 535 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 2: And it was like, I'm going to learn publicly, which 536 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:44,960 Speaker 2: we don't often feel like we get a chance to do, 537 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:49,080 Speaker 2: and people create situations where we don't get a chance 538 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 2: to do that, right, So I was like, I'm going 539 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:55,040 Speaker 2: to learn publicly. This is a low stake situation. I'm 540 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:57,040 Speaker 2: just going to just put this stuff up on the internet. 541 00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:00,000 Speaker 2: I had no audience really before this, and just started 542 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:06,000 Speaker 2: doing them very regularly, and from that built this huge audience, 543 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:08,480 Speaker 2: like I would have three thousand people on the waiting list, 544 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:11,440 Speaker 2: and so kind of building off of that and kind 545 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:14,160 Speaker 2: of crafting like, Okay, what in this do I care about? 546 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:17,000 Speaker 2: What else do I care about? I started the Black 547 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:20,480 Speaker 2: Cancer podcast, which is not revenue generating at all, and 548 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:23,080 Speaker 2: important for me to kind of keep that as a 549 00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 2: passion project. And it just started kind of doing. What 550 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:30,240 Speaker 2: I didn't expect is that people who showed up in 551 00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 2: these places in my workshops, workplaces, right, I didn't plan this, 552 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 2: and so they're like, hey, can you do this for us? 553 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 2: And can you do that? And I'm like, wait what? 554 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:43,880 Speaker 2: And so in the beginning of that, I had no 555 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:48,280 Speaker 2: idea what to charge. I was just kind of I 556 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:51,720 Speaker 2: don't know, making things up, talking to people. I would 557 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:55,800 Speaker 2: never charge something. Now, somebody now what I accepted two 558 00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:58,160 Speaker 2: years ago, like. 559 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 3: As you shouldn't exactly as you shouldn't, price has gone up, 560 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:01,440 Speaker 3: and it's gone up, and. 561 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:04,240 Speaker 2: So yesterday's price is not today's price. 562 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 3: I'm telling you the period paragraph say less. 563 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:10,920 Speaker 2: And so that just really built up, and then some 564 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 2: writing opportunities came up, and the ted talk went out, 565 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:17,760 Speaker 2: and those two things really took off, which created the audience, 566 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 2: which generated the work, and which has led to other 567 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,040 Speaker 2: opportunities that will be public saying that I can't talk 568 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:27,560 Speaker 2: about yet. But I just allowed myself to really just 569 00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:31,240 Speaker 2: stay focused on the things that I cared about and 570 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:34,560 Speaker 2: the things I had energy for. Now, what that came 571 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 2: with is saying no to clients who would not pay 572 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:42,200 Speaker 2: me what I asked for, and this is when I 573 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,760 Speaker 2: was not even charging that much, Saying no to people 574 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:49,840 Speaker 2: that I felt bad vibes from, Like there's a CEO 575 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:52,960 Speaker 2: of a big company here in Seattle who made a 576 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 2: comment about my hair in a zoom meeting and I'm like, yeah, 577 00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:02,120 Speaker 2: this is not not the match, and no to thousands 578 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:06,400 Speaker 2: of dollars because I didn't like the interaction. And so 579 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,880 Speaker 2: I always try to center on what's given me energy, 580 00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:12,880 Speaker 2: what's taking away my energy, and as much as I 581 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:17,959 Speaker 2: can make decisions about what's given me energy. What's also 582 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,440 Speaker 2: critical to this too is that I never wanted to 583 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:24,600 Speaker 2: make decisions based on money, because if it was about 584 00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:27,360 Speaker 2: the money, then I could go work for somebody else. Right, 585 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:31,200 Speaker 2: The whole point of working for myself was to give 586 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:36,600 Speaker 2: myself the level of agency to structure my day the 587 00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:38,759 Speaker 2: way I wanted and to do the types of things 588 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:40,880 Speaker 2: that I could get excited about, and to work with 589 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:42,480 Speaker 2: the type of people that I want to work with. 590 00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:46,320 Speaker 2: And so I love saying no to people, and I've 591 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:49,279 Speaker 2: turned down a lot of people and that's been an 592 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:52,319 Speaker 2: important part of my process. So the last thing I'll 593 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:56,399 Speaker 2: say too, is that because I work in what I'll 594 00:34:56,400 --> 00:35:00,520 Speaker 2: call it such a self centering way, i have never 595 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:07,279 Speaker 2: pitched work to anybody. I've not done a proposal. I've 596 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,280 Speaker 2: not done like you know, the RFPs. I've not emailed 597 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:15,160 Speaker 2: people cold with a deck or anything. I work publicly 598 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:18,280 Speaker 2: and I make sure that my website is up today 599 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:20,879 Speaker 2: and people know how to find me, and so all 600 00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:27,160 Speaker 2: of my business is inbound. And I love that because 601 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:30,880 Speaker 2: it changes the power dynamic. I'm actually deciding whether I 602 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:33,760 Speaker 2: want to work with you instead of the other way around. 603 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,400 Speaker 2: And that level of power is a level that a 604 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:42,759 Speaker 2: power I've never experienced in my career before. And you know, 605 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:46,600 Speaker 2: spinal cord injury aside, I've never been as mentally or 606 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:51,320 Speaker 2: physically healthy than I've ever been, and that that's the point, 607 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:51,719 Speaker 2: you know. 608 00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:55,879 Speaker 3: So you can snowboard whenever the damn hell you want 609 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:59,759 Speaker 3: a snowboard every Wednesday. Every Wednesday, I. 610 00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 2: Live in Seattle, I snowboard at Steven's. For people who know, 611 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:06,359 Speaker 2: it's like an hour and a half away from here. 612 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,080 Speaker 2: I snowboard on Wednesdays so there are no crowds. I 613 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:15,759 Speaker 2: do not take business meetings before one pm, with rare 614 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,359 Speaker 2: exception like this podcast. I want to say, what time 615 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,960 Speaker 2: is it over there? I know, girl, when your team 616 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:24,399 Speaker 2: was like nine o'clock, I was like nine o'clock. I'm 617 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:29,440 Speaker 2: still doing yoga at nine. I have a three hour morning. 618 00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:31,759 Speaker 3: I'm walking in the park at nine. So I appreciate you, 619 00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:33,799 Speaker 3: thank you, thank you for the time. 620 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,919 Speaker 2: Yeah. So I have a three hour morning routine and 621 00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:41,640 Speaker 2: you know, most of my work day yesterday I ran 622 00:36:41,719 --> 00:36:45,840 Speaker 2: eleven miles right. So that's the type of lifestyle that 623 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:47,439 Speaker 2: I want. And to be able to have that type 624 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 2: of lifestyle and also be financially healthy is something that 625 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:56,279 Speaker 2: I did not think would be possible. It's a thing 626 00:36:56,320 --> 00:37:01,360 Speaker 2: that you hope for. But I mean, I'm very happy 627 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:02,160 Speaker 2: right now. 628 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:08,600 Speaker 3: For anyone who's listening. I'm just going to sum up 629 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:10,480 Speaker 3: a couple of things that I'm hearing. I'm hearing one, 630 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:13,480 Speaker 3: it is possible like you are. This is when we 631 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:20,640 Speaker 3: like we glamorize black women grinding and hustle culture and 632 00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:23,480 Speaker 3: all that. But we need more examples. And I'm so 633 00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 3: glad that you share yourself with us because we need 634 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:30,120 Speaker 3: more examples of this, more women doing whatever the hell 635 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:31,800 Speaker 3: they want to do and showing that, yeah, my bills 636 00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:33,319 Speaker 3: are paid and I'm doing what I want to do, 637 00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:36,680 Speaker 3: so now what And on top of that, what you 638 00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:39,160 Speaker 3: said that I work so hard. I have a group 639 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:42,600 Speaker 3: coaching program and one of my favorite things to talk 640 00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:45,080 Speaker 3: about is one of the scariest for the women that 641 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:48,719 Speaker 3: I work with, which is your brand. It is and 642 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:51,560 Speaker 3: it's using your voice and standing in your point of 643 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:56,360 Speaker 3: view and speaking and sharing and showing people what it 644 00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:59,239 Speaker 3: is that you're doing and not being afraid of that, 645 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:02,239 Speaker 3: you know, not being afraid of creating your own platform 646 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:04,799 Speaker 3: and sharing and how much power there is when you 647 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:08,160 Speaker 3: tell people. As soon as I started actually opening my 648 00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:12,640 Speaker 3: mouth a lot more and sharing my opinions, your audience 649 00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:15,719 Speaker 3: will find you, and those opportunities baybe when you said 650 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:19,240 Speaker 3: all those inbound requests. Yes, that can that will happen 651 00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:21,440 Speaker 3: in your career. You know, even if you're nine to five. 652 00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:24,040 Speaker 3: It'll be recruiters reaching out. It'll be hiring managers. You 653 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:26,640 Speaker 3: know if they if you don't open the front door 654 00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:29,480 Speaker 3: and you know, say come on in, how are they 655 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:31,440 Speaker 3: going to know that you're there? And I think that's 656 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:34,839 Speaker 3: such a I'm so happy and to hear that, to 657 00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:37,600 Speaker 3: hear you say that there was power in you being 658 00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:40,840 Speaker 3: more public, you know, with the work that you're doing 659 00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:44,640 Speaker 3: and not waiting around for the permission. Event Bright is 660 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:45,919 Speaker 3: free Bright. 661 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:48,760 Speaker 2: That's literally what I said. I said, event by is free. 662 00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:52,799 Speaker 2: I have a computer and I have Zoom, so let's 663 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:57,960 Speaker 2: make it happen. And just starting to build like super small, 664 00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:01,000 Speaker 2: Like I started this newsletter and the I had four 665 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:05,120 Speaker 2: people on the list, four and I knew all of 666 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:08,919 Speaker 2: them all right, and myself included yourself, Yeah, I got it. 667 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:13,000 Speaker 2: Myself included, right, So really three other people and I 668 00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:14,640 Speaker 2: just I'm just going to keep at it. I'm going 669 00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:17,840 Speaker 2: to keep at it. And now there's like over thirteen 670 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:21,319 Speaker 2: thousand people on this list, right, And so what was 671 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:26,880 Speaker 2: important for me is I set process goals. I do 672 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:30,200 Speaker 2: not set outcome goals. And the times where I have 673 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:34,080 Speaker 2: tried to set outcome goals is when I've stopped doing 674 00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:36,400 Speaker 2: the work. And so what I mean by that is this. 675 00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:40,920 Speaker 2: When I had the podcast, my goal was not how 676 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,440 Speaker 2: many listeners I would get, you know, what type of 677 00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:47,200 Speaker 2: outlets would talk about the podcast? Like, none of those 678 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:50,280 Speaker 2: things right, those are all kind of like outcome goals. 679 00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:53,840 Speaker 2: My one marcro of success for Black Cancer when I 680 00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:58,080 Speaker 2: started was if I said that the season starts on 681 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:02,160 Speaker 2: April first, did you start the on April first? If 682 00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:05,480 Speaker 2: I set the schedule that I would release an episode 683 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:09,120 Speaker 2: every single Monday, did I release an episode every single Monday? 684 00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:15,759 Speaker 2: That's it? And if that happened, that was successful. 685 00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:23,080 Speaker 3: Amen's sister consistency from one podcast to another, Brown Ambition. 686 00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:25,320 Speaker 3: The best thing Tip and I did from the jump 687 00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:27,799 Speaker 3: was and we will publish on at the time. It 688 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,759 Speaker 3: was Tuesday, and we met and we did our tape. 689 00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:33,400 Speaker 3: It was about scheduling the time and making it a 690 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:36,279 Speaker 3: consistent habit, and then your audience begins to trust you 691 00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:38,920 Speaker 3: and you show up for them and it may take 692 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:42,080 Speaker 3: you years and you know and all that, but as 693 00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:45,439 Speaker 3: a personal trainer, I feel like you probably understand better 694 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:48,320 Speaker 3: than anyone that a lot of people know the steps 695 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:52,280 Speaker 3: it takes, but they won't. It's it's the differentiating factor 696 00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:54,759 Speaker 3: between who actually takes those steps and who shows up. 697 00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:58,840 Speaker 3: Who shows up, and it's not convenient, very different. 698 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:02,040 Speaker 2: This is I learned this from personal training and also 699 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:06,160 Speaker 2: with my public health degree, right, and I will and 700 00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:08,160 Speaker 2: this is hard to say someone who speaks and writes. 701 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:13,800 Speaker 2: I think there is an asterisk there. But foundationally, information 702 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:19,319 Speaker 2: is not enough to change your behavior. It's not information 703 00:41:19,719 --> 00:41:22,480 Speaker 2: is not enough to change your behavior, and so you 704 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:28,160 Speaker 2: can know anything, right mind you, I'm trying to lose 705 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:31,400 Speaker 2: all my post surgery weight right now. There's nothing to 706 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:34,640 Speaker 2: do with how I feel about how I look, and 707 00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:41,520 Speaker 2: all about trying to like feel good about like my 708 00:41:41,719 --> 00:41:47,440 Speaker 2: body in a like a very grounded way. So not 709 00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:50,200 Speaker 2: about aesthetics for the folks out there, like why trying 710 00:41:50,239 --> 00:41:52,160 Speaker 2: this weight? Girl? You look great? I know it look great, 711 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:54,839 Speaker 2: but this is what I'm working on, right, So I'm 712 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:57,520 Speaker 2: trying to lose all my post surgery weight. And the 713 00:41:57,560 --> 00:41:59,560 Speaker 2: thing that I kept going back to is like you 714 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:04,960 Speaker 2: have a agree in this. Yeah, you have done this 715 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:07,840 Speaker 2: for other people. You've done this for yourself, and you 716 00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:11,880 Speaker 2: have studied this. I have all the information that I 717 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:16,360 Speaker 2: need to meet my fitness goals, and I've been trying 718 00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:20,040 Speaker 2: to meet these fitness goals for four years. Right, and 719 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:25,960 Speaker 2: so what supports you in taking the action? Right? Hey, 720 00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:29,160 Speaker 2: you don't weigh the same that you did two years ago, 721 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:34,560 Speaker 2: So you need new clothes. Stop suffocating yourself with things 722 00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:38,839 Speaker 2: that do not fit, that make you feel uncomfortable. So 723 00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:42,759 Speaker 2: then you don't do the physical activity right, sign up 724 00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:45,760 Speaker 2: for the gym membership, go to the park. Here are 725 00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:50,320 Speaker 2: all the actual environmental things that supports me in making 726 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:53,920 Speaker 2: this happen. What accountability can I set up? And so 727 00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:59,960 Speaker 2: having the information is never enough. It's about what struck 728 00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:02,560 Speaker 2: you have in place. And we see this with our workplaces. 729 00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:05,719 Speaker 2: Most of our workplaces, if you look on our websites, 730 00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:08,840 Speaker 2: on the websites of where you work, knows that diversity 731 00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:12,600 Speaker 2: acting inclusion is important. They know that paying women the 732 00:43:12,640 --> 00:43:19,200 Speaker 2: same as men is important. They understand that diversity is key. 733 00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:23,799 Speaker 2: They have all the information, right, do they act on 734 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:28,600 Speaker 2: said information? Yeah? No, right, no, no, noep. 735 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:31,640 Speaker 3: They tell you to leave the call or leave the 736 00:43:31,719 --> 00:43:36,120 Speaker 3: room exactly get it? Oh yeah, that's important. What's for lunch? 737 00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:38,759 Speaker 2: Exactly exactly. I know you talked to her cheek about 738 00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:43,080 Speaker 2: imparksis syndrome, right, like all our workplaces talk about imparx 739 00:43:43,080 --> 00:43:46,840 Speaker 2: of syndrome and it's holding women back and blase blah cool. 740 00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:50,560 Speaker 2: But have you changed your work culture to not trigger 741 00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:54,160 Speaker 2: my impoxy syndrome? Are you still interrupting me, Bob every 742 00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:57,560 Speaker 2: time I have something to say? You know, are you 743 00:43:57,600 --> 00:44:00,000 Speaker 2: still asking me to take the notes when I'm actually 744 00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:04,040 Speaker 2: there to lead the meeting? So you say that you 745 00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:06,759 Speaker 2: know this thing, you say that you value this thing, 746 00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:10,200 Speaker 2: you say that this thing is important, But what's actually 747 00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:16,440 Speaker 2: happening infrastructurally to make those changes come to bear? And 748 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:19,280 Speaker 2: I think we could see that in entrepreneurship as well. 749 00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:23,279 Speaker 2: There's the things that you want to do and the 750 00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:26,080 Speaker 2: things that you do, So what are you doing? 751 00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:28,560 Speaker 3: I'm so glad that you pointed that out, and I 752 00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:31,239 Speaker 3: wish we had more time to talk more. From one 753 00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:34,880 Speaker 3: entrepreneur to another, I see you on so many levels, 754 00:44:34,920 --> 00:44:39,759 Speaker 3: and thank goodness that you're healthy and that you made 755 00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:42,680 Speaker 3: it through the other side of that. I'm so grateful 756 00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:47,279 Speaker 3: and I'm grateful to you for taking that experience and 757 00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:50,719 Speaker 3: not letting it, if anything, letting it turbo charge you 758 00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:54,000 Speaker 3: forward because your work is so important and I'm so 759 00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:57,600 Speaker 3: honored that you have shared your time and your voice 760 00:44:57,680 --> 00:45:02,160 Speaker 3: at this early, early Friday hour with our audience. I 761 00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:04,279 Speaker 3: know that they will feel seen in your work. So 762 00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:07,080 Speaker 3: if you guys want to learn more about Jodyanne, check 763 00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:09,240 Speaker 3: out her website. We'll have a link to the notes. 764 00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:11,920 Speaker 3: Check her out on ig Jodian, Where's is the website? 765 00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:14,520 Speaker 3: The best place for people to to find out more 766 00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:16,720 Speaker 3: about your work? That's Jodyanbeery dot com. 767 00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:23,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, Jodianbeury dot com and Jodyannbery on Instagram. Jodyanne underscore 768 00:45:23,239 --> 00:45:25,800 Speaker 2: be on Twitter, but I never do anything on Twitter, 769 00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:28,239 Speaker 2: so that won't be an exciting place for you. 770 00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:31,480 Speaker 3: James's are you doing any TikTok dances? 771 00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:31,759 Speaker 2: No? 772 00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:32,560 Speaker 1: No. 773 00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:35,359 Speaker 2: I asked my niece to teach me a TikTok dance 774 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:38,440 Speaker 2: and she looked at me and was like, Auntie, No, 775 00:45:40,239 --> 00:45:40,480 Speaker 2: you know. 776 00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:41,880 Speaker 3: What's great about to You don't have to learn how 777 00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:46,240 Speaker 3: to do dances, just be yourself. People they love authenticity. Authenticity. 778 00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:49,200 Speaker 2: Wow, I will say this. I heard this for like 779 00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:52,960 Speaker 2: to support entrepreneurs like pick two. Social media platforms and 780 00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:56,480 Speaker 2: like double down and so I'm on Instagram and LinkedIn 781 00:45:56,600 --> 00:45:59,160 Speaker 2: or my primary one, so y'all can find me there. 782 00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:00,440 Speaker 2: I love that. 783 00:46:00,560 --> 00:46:03,560 Speaker 3: Yes, just focus, just fine, just pick one and focus. 784 00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:05,600 Speaker 3: People are always like, it's so overwhelming. Well, don't let 785 00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:08,799 Speaker 3: it be, don't pick one and focus. Well, I can't 786 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:10,520 Speaker 3: wait to find out more. I feel like you've got 787 00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:13,160 Speaker 3: some exciting things. Whenever someone teases something that's gonna happen, 788 00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:15,520 Speaker 3: I'm like, is it Shondaland is it? You know? Are 789 00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:17,839 Speaker 3: you going to have a Netflix series? My head goes 790 00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:19,040 Speaker 3: to Shonda. I don't know why. 791 00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:26,000 Speaker 2: I just feel like and from your lips to the universe, Yeah, whatever, Netflix. 792 00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:29,279 Speaker 3: Listen If Shonda listen to BA, that would be I 793 00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:31,600 Speaker 3: know I'd made it then. Stacy Abrams was a good 794 00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:33,000 Speaker 3: way to start the year. Now I just got to 795 00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:38,320 Speaker 3: keep going. And you are an incredible just woman, person, 796 00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:41,120 Speaker 3: human being. Thank you so much, Jodian for joining Brown Ambition. 797 00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:44,560 Speaker 3: I cannot wait to see where you go next. My friend, 798 00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:46,000 Speaker 3: my new friend in my head. 799 00:46:46,120 --> 00:46:48,239 Speaker 2: Thank you. No, the friendship, the friendship is here. You 800 00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:49,080 Speaker 2: heard it here first