Speaker 1: Milik Books has how the knowledge you want. Molik Books
Speaker 1: has how the knowledge you Needled books. Yeah, they have
Speaker 1: all the works that the whole wild world want to read. Books.
Speaker 1: Malik's bookshew bringing a world together with books, culture and community. Hi,
Speaker 1: my name is Malik Mohammed. Your host a Malik's Bookshell.
Speaker 1: Welcome everybody. This is going to be an enlightening new episode.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited every week when I have to just
Speaker 1: sit down and think about what I want to present
Speaker 1: on this episode. It brings out the creativity and it
Speaker 1: allows me to reimagine, you know, myself and what my
Speaker 1: vision is. But one of the things that I know
Speaker 1: for certain that I want to make a significant part
Speaker 1: of this podcast is inspiration because we all need it.
Speaker 1: We all needed and so I did a piece called
Speaker 1: No More Excuses and it's not that long, but yet
Speaker 1: it has a lot of power to the punch I mean,
Speaker 1: and I think that it's inspirational. And today we need
Speaker 1: to move people in a way so that we can
Speaker 1: all be successful. And because we all come from you know,
Speaker 1: different backgrounds, live in different communities, but we also have
Speaker 1: different circumstances and we all have issues that we all
Speaker 1: have to deal with. So No More Excuses is a
Speaker 1: piece I done that I think it's inspirational and motivational,
Speaker 1: so that's gonna be featured on this episode. Also on
Speaker 1: his episode is an interview that I did with a
Speaker 1: young lady who wrote the book Life I Swear and
Speaker 1: her name is Chloe do S Louis Winso. So she
Speaker 1: wrote this beautiful book about black woman intimacy, healing and
Speaker 1: spiritual growth. So I had a chance to talk with
Speaker 1: her before we did an event at Malik Books hosting
Speaker 1: her UM back in December. So I had a chance
Speaker 1: to talk to her um and get her thoughts about
Speaker 1: her book, and I want to share that interview on
Speaker 1: this episode. Also, you never know who's in the hood,
Speaker 1: in the community, in the neighborhood, so Jimmy gen Lewis
Speaker 1: popped up at LA Books and I was able to
Speaker 1: get on the spot eight you a nice conversation with him.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna have that as part of this episode
Speaker 1: as well. And lastly, I am I'm doing. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do a book review and the book that I selected
Speaker 1: the discuss in the book review is The sixteen nineteen Project,
Speaker 1: a new origin story offering a profound, revealing vision of
Speaker 1: the American past and present a dramatic expansion of a
Speaker 1: groundbreaking work of journalism. So I'm gonna do a book
Speaker 1: review on the sixteen nineteen project, and so sit back
Speaker 1: enjoy the new episode. Key here is when the key
Speaker 1: here is when. The key here is when no more excuses.
Speaker 1: You can focus is on winning or you can focus
Speaker 1: on excuses. Excuses will not lead to success. Excuses would
Speaker 1: not help you win. What helped you win and be
Speaker 1: successful is focused on how to be great, how to overcome,
Speaker 1: how to be successful. Stop dwelling on the excuses, Stop
Speaker 1: dwelling on what keeps you down. You need to change
Speaker 1: your reality and you can only do that if you're
Speaker 1: focus on winning, Get up and win, no more excuses.
Speaker 1: This episode's featured interviews with Chloe Dose Louis Renzo, who
Speaker 1: wrote a book called Life I Swear, Intimate Stories from
Speaker 1: Black women on identity, healing and self trust. Chloe is
Speaker 1: a congrelease of American writer, mother, and advocate for women
Speaker 1: whose work is driven by disclosure on identity and healing.
Speaker 1: Chloe is the producer and hosts of a podcast called
Speaker 1: Life I Swear, same title as the book Chloe's book
Speaker 1: explores nuances and insights around intimate topics of identity, mental wellness,
Speaker 1: and healing. Told you the lens of women from Black DIESP.
Speaker 1: Her career in communication has advanced diverse and inclusive storytelling
Speaker 1: and organizations addressing education, property, and mental health. I'm pleased
Speaker 1: to have this interview with you today. Welcome Chloe, and
Speaker 1: let's get right into your timely book life. I swear
Speaker 1: book um is a part memoir. So I have my
Speaker 1: own if you've looked through it a little bit, I
Speaker 1: have my own essays woven into it as well, um,
Speaker 1: and so it makes it a part memoir. Um. But
Speaker 1: I also have invited twenty five other black women to
Speaker 1: share their stories. All those stories are very diverse, UM,
Speaker 1: but I think I was able to kind of organize
Speaker 1: them in a thoughtful way that into themes where each
Speaker 1: of our topics kind of overleapt with each other around identity,
Speaker 1: healing and self trust. Um. It started off, the intent
Speaker 1: of the book really was for my myself to do
Speaker 1: some processing of my own stories, um. And so in
Speaker 1: that in that way, it's been very um therapeutic for
Speaker 1: me to kind of pour into my own stories. And
Speaker 1: I think it's important also, UM, look at multiple stories
Speaker 1: under one umbrella, because it allows us to see how
Speaker 1: complicated and diverse and textured we are. Um, I have
Speaker 1: women who represent many corners of the Black diaspra and
Speaker 1: um and yeah, it's it's been beautiful. That's just the
Speaker 1: conversations that have come out of many of these Yah, beautiful,
Speaker 1: thank you. Yeah. I love the pictures, uh, filled with
Speaker 1: so you know, beauty and emotion and passion in the pictures.
Speaker 1: They are tasty. Then you know, I have a creative mind,
Speaker 1: and I didn't want it to just be just a
Speaker 1: regular book that you flipped through, but one that you
Speaker 1: really take your time with. So I think it a
Speaker 1: coomplished that. Yeah, where did the idea come from? Just myself?
Speaker 1: I think I love photography of them a photographer before,
Speaker 1: and so I wanted it to be I love layouts,
Speaker 1: shot the pictures. I didn't shoot the pictures, but I
Speaker 1: definitely designed the inside pages. M yeah, and definitely some
Speaker 1: of the photo shoots. Yeah. So so what you had,
Speaker 1: you had the podcast, you was doing the interviews, and
Speaker 1: then you got the idea because you have the podcast
Speaker 1: life I swear right, And then it kind of parlayed
Speaker 1: into a book. The book actually parlayed into a podcast. Okay,
Speaker 1: the other way, right, Um isn't what most people assume.
Speaker 1: But um, the book par laid into a podcast, which
Speaker 1: is them. Um. I was just in conversation with a
Speaker 1: lot of the women for the book, and then I
Speaker 1: started to really want to capture the stories in commerce
Speaker 1: like conversations that could be accessible to other people. Um,
Speaker 1: And so I thought to do the podcast after I
Speaker 1: got to do the book, though the podcast obviously came
Speaker 1: into the world before the book. I say, I say right,
Speaker 1: because imagine it took you quite some time to put
Speaker 1: together all of these essays and collaborate with so many
Speaker 1: other women to bring it into what you first you
Speaker 1: pitch how um it's Harper columns. You pitched them for
Speaker 1: the idea. You just had what I outline at one time,
Speaker 1: or you had the whole manuscript outline. I had a
Speaker 1: proposal that had, um, some of my own essays and
Speaker 1: maybe maybe maybe I had one of my own essays
Speaker 1: and two essays from other women. But it didn't It
Speaker 1: wasn't a fart sell. They really loved it immediately, So UM,
Speaker 1: you know, they were my first and only kind a
Speaker 1: station I had with the publisher. Oh that's great, that's great,
Speaker 1: But a lot of people don't share that kind of
Speaker 1: story now they shopping from publisher to publisher exactly. It
Speaker 1: was just time for this, and then I also published.
Speaker 1: I also pitched it to them right in March, you know,
Speaker 1: and that was right after George Floyd and I book.
Speaker 1: That timing wasn't um on accident, you know right right?
Speaker 1: Is everything elevate more black voices at that time? Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: it's Facebook. A month prior, maybe they would have said, no,
Speaker 1: I don't know what timing is everything. I know that
Speaker 1: the timing you know, for us was on point. Um.
Speaker 1: We we benefited from the social justice movement. It took place.
Speaker 1: Don't pandemic ourselves. Um, you know, we became you know, nationwide,
Speaker 1: we started shipping international as well. It's domestic. So we
Speaker 1: found our way on the Open Book, listed in all
Speaker 1: kinds of different people's lists, and the people, you know,
Speaker 1: they just um responded in a unifying way that it's
Speaker 1: been a while since I've seen such a thing. And
Speaker 1: you know, you know, support local business, support small business,
Speaker 1: you know, support black owned and all of these things
Speaker 1: just kind of all wrapped around that whole social justice movement,
Speaker 1: and so timing is everything. So it's no accident. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it was it was it was destiny. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: it was meant life. I swear. How did you come
Speaker 1: up with that title? Um? It's kind of just one
Speaker 1: of those things that you know, we're saying that people
Speaker 1: say that, that women saying when they're together, life girl,
Speaker 1: I swear, And it's like that, like, man, I mean
Speaker 1: all this journey, I'm tired, exhausted by the journey. It's
Speaker 1: just all encompassing of um, of your reflections around life. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I see that. Okay, Okay, there was a connection. I
Speaker 1: wasn't sure, you know, but there is. Yeah. It's been
Speaker 1: a good journey and I'm excited. The Leak Books is
Speaker 1: my last in person event for the years, so I
Speaker 1: feel like really able to acale after this event has
Speaker 1: been Uh your book came out in November and so
Speaker 1: it's almost two months now. Yeah wow wow? And uh,
Speaker 1: what's all the cities you toured so far? Besides that
Speaker 1: Lady with Populations club, I was also in Oakland, Denver, Atlanta,
Speaker 1: New York, in d C. Oh, that's outstanding. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: interesting because I wasn't sure if I should do a
Speaker 1: book in person book tour, but because of but of
Speaker 1: in person was needed at the time. Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: this has been a great overview and now I have
Speaker 1: a completely different and refreshing view of the book. It's
Speaker 1: one thing, yeah, you know, reading it and browsing, throwing,
Speaker 1: it's another one. I get a chance to talk to
Speaker 1: the author of Life I swear Chloe, so you know,
Speaker 1: you definitely gave me more insight to your book. And um,
Speaker 1: and we're looking forward to a robust, exciting and energetic
Speaker 1: event coming up. I'm excited to meet you in person
Speaker 1: and so um Chinese gonna do the moderation and um,
Speaker 1: this is just you know, we're looking forward to hosting
Speaker 1: you at Malik Books. And ain't always when you get
Speaker 1: Jimmy Geane Lewis and Malik Books. So you know, you know,
Speaker 1: I got Malik's Bookshelf podcast, so you know what, I
Speaker 1: got to get on to say a few a few things.
Speaker 1: I heartreadio royn c Krest production. I was doing book
Speaker 1: reviews for and for about a year and he spend
Speaker 1: office getting your own podcast or ron c Kress hooked
Speaker 1: me up with a podcast called Melik's Bookshelf Now and
Speaker 1: you stepped into the community, and I love to talk
Speaker 1: about the community. It's called Malik Bookshelf building the world
Speaker 1: through books, culture and community. You're in the community now.
Speaker 1: We don't get all this all the time. So you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, we have to keep the we have to
Speaker 1: keep the identity going. And the only ways to keep
Speaker 1: you know, to keep selling the true story of who
Speaker 1: we are that I's gonna be forgotten, forgotten. We can't
Speaker 1: let it before we let it go. Yeah, we have
Speaker 1: to fight. Yes, yes, yes, Any projects you like, did
Speaker 1: you can share that you're working on right now? Yeah.
Speaker 1: A few things that are going to come out sometime
Speaker 1: this year. I have a couple of movies with boost
Speaker 1: Willis that will come out one fourth of July called
Speaker 1: Fourth Night, and then the other one is Devil's Night,
Speaker 1: which would be for for Halloween, for Halloween, two separate movies. Yeah, Fortnight,
Speaker 1: Fourth fourth Night for now not the Game, not the
Speaker 1: Game now. And then another movie is Assassin Club, which
Speaker 1: is like an action flick that I did in in
Speaker 1: Italy this year. So you know, you're gonna have enough
Speaker 1: things going on for me this this year. We're looking
Speaker 1: forward to it. Yeah, absolutely looking forward to for an
Speaker 1: African from festival because you know this is me for me,
Speaker 1: you know, yes, yeah. Do you have you published in
Speaker 1: I'm not well, not yet, not any plans soon come. Yeah.
Speaker 1: A couple of things, especially in regards of Haiti. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: imagine about a couple of things I'm working is that
Speaker 1: there is something that's Haiti personal to you. Okay, you
Speaker 1: know I did a movie about sin Belt, you know,
Speaker 1: which is right, one of the greatest heroes that that
Speaker 1: not just Haiti has, but the water has had. So yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know a lot of people don't know about him.
Speaker 1: When the companies wouldn't have done had in the first
Speaker 1: Black Republic to fight and win the independence four against
Speaker 1: Napoleon Bonaparte, don't talk about that. They don't talk about
Speaker 1: that because of Haiti, you know that, And that sent
Speaker 1: a ripple effect all do Europe and all do America,
Speaker 1: South America and America exactly, and that's why Louisiana musa Yes, right,
Speaker 1: the wist Louisiana would have still been French by now,
Speaker 1: and it goes on because of the Haitian revolution. Absolutely
Speaker 1: so yeah, absolutely, all right, Well, thank you brother for sharing.
Speaker 1: Appreciate it. Yeah, I'll catch you soon. Thank you, care
Speaker 1: you too. My book review for this episode is the
Speaker 1: sixteen nineteen project The New Origin Story by Nicole Hannah Jones.
Speaker 1: Now we're coming into Black History Month, and that is
Speaker 1: something that's celebrated every year in America and throughout the Caribbean.
Speaker 1: It was founded by Carl G. Woodson, who was an
Speaker 1: educator and a very intelligent human being who created and
Speaker 1: came up with Black History Week. We called it the
Speaker 1: Negro History. We we don't go by that no more.
Speaker 1: So it turned into the Black History Week, now the
Speaker 1: Black History Month, and it's something that's celebrated every year
Speaker 1: in America to celebrate our culture and our contributions to
Speaker 1: not just America but throughout the world world. And so
Speaker 1: black history is just not a American thing, but it's
Speaker 1: a world history. And black history just just just didn't
Speaker 1: start with slavery, and many of us got hooked on
Speaker 1: that falsehood it is, that's just it. It's a falsehood.
Speaker 1: Black history did not start with slavery. Black history started
Speaker 1: with world history. The oldest bones they found in the
Speaker 1: world in Africa was a black female. They call her
Speaker 1: Eve and and she's going back what for mallion years.
Speaker 1: So black people contributions are shown and seen and study
Speaker 1: and taught all over the world, significant achievements, enormous achievements,
Speaker 1: great achievements. But a lot of black people were not
Speaker 1: aware of this because of the origin of the American
Speaker 1: sin and that slavery. But black people didn't start with slavery.
Speaker 1: But this book that I want to discuss in this
Speaker 1: book review, the sixteenth nineteenth Project, is just not a
Speaker 1: book that focuses on slavery, because it talks about the past,
Speaker 1: but it also talks about the present, and it talks
Speaker 1: about the elevation and achievements and the just the overwhelming
Speaker 1: success that black people have had despite slavery, despite oppression,
Speaker 1: despite discrimination, despite racism. We have achieved the normous success
Speaker 1: in America that has been part of the greatness of America.
Speaker 1: And so this book is a book that talks about
Speaker 1: not just slavery, but it talks about so much more.
Speaker 1: Now on the code the creator of this book, but
Speaker 1: she also has so many other representations in this book,
Speaker 1: people who are enormous incredible writers, poets and journalists and
Speaker 1: so forth. You can find the words on race by
Speaker 1: Dorothy Robinson. This book, Khalil Jabril Mohammed wrote on the sugar,
Speaker 1: on sugar, the history of that, Michelle Alexander on fear
Speaker 1: you know, Matthew Desmond on capitalism, Jamila Bowie on politics,
Speaker 1: Martha Joe's old citizenship, Carol Anderson on self defense. It's
Speaker 1: a lot more. I mean, the book addressed inheritance, medicine, church, music, healthcare, traffic, progress,
Speaker 1: all of that is discussed their poems in this book.
Speaker 1: This book is inspirational and it's a hot topics in
Speaker 1: a number one New York Times bestseller. And on top
Speaker 1: of that, it's been a lot of controversy over this
Speaker 1: because a lot of people don't want to talk about
Speaker 1: the origin of America's sin. It's not like racism stopped
Speaker 1: just because we were black people were free. It's not.
Speaker 1: It's not the discrimination oppression stopped just because of emancipation.
Speaker 1: And so this is a hard subject, but it's a
Speaker 1: subject matter that has to be addressed because we need
Speaker 1: to be on the same page and stop, you know,
Speaker 1: tiptoeing on what is the elephant in the room. We
Speaker 1: have issues that divide us, and this book is a
Speaker 1: conversational piece that helped bridge that got and to celebrate
Speaker 1: the glory and achievements of black people. And so I'm
Speaker 1: loving this book. The New Origin, the sixteen nineteen project
Speaker 1: reaches into every part of contemporary marcan society, from politics
Speaker 1: to music, to diet to traffic, the citizenship, the capitalism,
Speaker 1: the religion, and our democracy itself. Nicole is a Pulicer
Speaker 1: Prize winner. She's a journalist who wrote for the New
Speaker 1: Yard Times magazine. She's one of a tremendous amount awards.
Speaker 1: So I think that ain't We're going into Black Issue month,
Speaker 1: you know, And I think that this book is a
Speaker 1: great conversation piece to, you know, to celebrate the part
Speaker 1: what is part of American history. We can't change the history.
Speaker 1: We can only accept the reality of the history and
Speaker 1: learn from the history. And this book is a good
Speaker 1: book to look at and have that conversation and talk
Speaker 1: about the elephant in that room and then learn about
Speaker 1: great achievements that have come about since slavery that we
Speaker 1: should celebrate as being part of America. So that's my
Speaker 1: book review for the day. Thanks for listening to Melik's
Speaker 1: Bookshelf Where topics on the Shelf our books, culture and community.
Speaker 1: Be sure to subscribe and leave me a review. Check
Speaker 1: out my Instagram at Melik Books. See you next time.