WEBVTT - The Tamika Foster Raymond Episode 0:00:01.320 --> 0:00:05.040 Get up, getto boys. It's back and reoaded all in 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:08.360 your mind. Yeah, not deep throating. This is for the streets, 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:12.640 the reel, the railroaded, the distant franchise, the truth, the scapegoating, 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.000 and they ain't knowing we speak the truth, so they 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.000 ain't quoted because we wrote it. The North South East 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:21.120 coat is the gv MY for keeping your head bobbing. 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:24.040 It ain't no stopping and wants to be trying to 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:27.160 head by then the system is so corrupt they throw 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:29.560 the rock out their heads and then blame it on us. 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:33.800 Don't get it twisted on code and me and danceing 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:47.480 for no buttament biscuits. It's Willie d y'all, scarfaces and recovery. Collectively, 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:50.400 we are the ghetto boys, reloaded with another episode of 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:53.960 information and instructions to help you navigate through this wild, crazy, 0:00:54.000 --> 0:01:00.560 beautiful world. In the studio, I guess the great then conquerable. 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:05.720 Tamika Foster Raymond, thank you for having me. How are 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:10.640 you hey? I'm trying to be expended issue you are 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:17.280 or a quite interesting person? Uh, you got your hands full. 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:19.920 Every time I look up, You've got something else going on, 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.200 and it's not just anything it's big stuff you've got 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:29.840 going on. Um, I noticed, uh that you have a 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.440 somewhat of a connection with a good friend of mine, 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:37.080 Houston's own, Eric Carr. How did you? And Eric caught me? 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:43.000 Eric was actually, um gonna be my father in law 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:48.240 for a while. Yeah, he was dating my ex husband's mom. 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.440 It's a funny way that we met. He's now my 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.480 ex husband. At the time, he looked, yeah, yeah, so 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:59.320 Eric is a m Really he was a really great supporter. Um. 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:01.160 He just always kind of had my back. I think 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:06.240 we you know, real recognized as real, and he kind 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:08.240 of saw my spirit and you know, and I saw 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:10.320 his I thought he was very cool, so funny. He's 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.360 a hilarious any funny. So I took to him. He's 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:16.840 his big brother. He's definitely a big brother. He always 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:20.720 looked out right right right. You grew up in Oakland. 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:24.400 I love Oakland. I love the people. It's something about 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:26.720 the people in Oakland. It's a certain sense of pride 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.800 that comes with that. You know that that whole Bay 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:36.880 area really you know, too short, it's a cool real 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:42.120 super cool dude. You know, uh e forty did you 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:45.120 know those guys personally? Well, let me tell you, too Short, 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.320 we used to write the same bus to school. I 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:49.839 mean he went to a different school, but it would 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.040 stopped at his stop and he would be on the 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.160 back of the bus and when people would come on, 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:56.760 he's the guy that would join on everybody. Everybody on 0:02:56.840 --> 0:02:59.639 the bus. He had jokes, you know, he'd rap a bottom, 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.079 he free style talk about him. Yeah, he would talk 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:04.720 about girls on the bus city bus to school. Bus 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:07.239 city bus. We used to be on the bust seven. 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:10.000 We get fifty seven and I used to take it 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:12.000 nice to remember, don't when he be on there talking 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.840 loud or rapping. I would just hide because I said, 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:17.880 don't get on me. I was skinny, you talk about me. 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.520 So yeah, if too Short is definitely that's my buddy. 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.520 We're cool. Still, Yeah, that's that's kind of odd to 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:27.040 me to think of Short like that, because Short is 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:30.079 kind of reserved duty. Anytime you see him out, he's reserved. 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:34.600 But he's a rapper that talks mad shit right right right? 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:38.280 Did you know mac jac mcdrey. I did not know him. 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:39.880 I didn't know. I feel like I feel like he 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:42.440 must have been younger. Yeah, I didn't know. I know 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:45.560 of him, but I don't know. Yeah, he's Valeto though 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:49.960 I think I think he's from Yeah, he's not open Yeah, okay, 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:55.480 right right. I'm Oakland through and through town business, town, business, period. 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.720 And Oakland has a history of rod It's like like activists, 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:05.640 that's you know, very very strong activists, and which brings 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:08.960 me to something that I that's really dear to my heart, philanthropy, 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:12.040 you know, and that's something that you're involved with heavily. 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:20.080 You are a co founder of Oakland Oakland Natives Gives Yes, 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:24.159 Oakland Natives Gives back. Um, my partners and I thought 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.360 it was a huge problem. Truancy is a big problem 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:31.400 in the city of Oakland. Um, the graduation rates and 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:35.279 you know, keeping butts in in there in classrooms instead 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:38.120 of on the street, big, big important thing for us. 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:40.960 And um every year we do like giveaways. We give 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:45.160 away thousands, I mean like ten thousand backpacks and school supplies, 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:49.760 bus passes, choose everything, everything to get them prepared for 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:53.359 the first week, first days of school, no excuses. And 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:55.800 how long have you been doing that? This is our 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:59.800 fourteenth year. Four year. Yeah, we we've missed a year 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.000 of the giveaway because of the pandemic but um, Oakland 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:07.240 Natives is an important cause. Usually this is something that 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:08.719 I would do towards the end of the show, but 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:10.400 I want to do that right now. How do people 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:17.600 get involved with your foundation, especially people that want to contribute, Actually, 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:21.080 that would be great. Um Oakland Natives is um, like 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.520 I says, if I one C three based out of 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:25.920 Oakland and they just can go to Oakland Natives Gifts 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:29.480 back and they can definitely make donations that way, right, 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:35.279 So tell me to Maka, how was it growing up 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:40.520 in Oakland? Who is to make a growing up? And 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:42.839 and how do you dream? How do you aspire to 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.960 become who you are today? What? What? What put you 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.719 on that path? You know? I always liken myself to 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:55.440 a concrete rose, and that means that the environment around me, 0:05:55.520 --> 0:06:00.400 while it wasn't ideal, Um, I saw more for myself always. 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:05.919 I had my father's family. Um they were I guess 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:09.560 I would say they were very classy. They are very classy. Um. 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.279 I have a aunt who's almost ninety eight who got 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:14.240 me into fashion at an early age. She owned a 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:18.919 boutique near the lake, and UM I worked in her boutique. UM, 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.360 my mother's side, they're classy as well, but they were 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:25.159 more southern. You know, that's your your grassroots, your you know, 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:29.160 your your your Baptist background and all that stuff. That's 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.960 where that comes from my mother's side. Um, so I 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.560 had I think I was very grounded, um just from 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:39.479 a goud perspective that was first and then just kind 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:42.400 of refined part. I think came more from my I'd say, 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.599 from my father's side. And that's where my fashion background 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:52.000 comes from. Right now, you attended the Fashion Institute of 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:59.240 Design and Merchandise. You're not just a stylist. You are 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:03.120 a technician, Like this is what you do for real. 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:05.360 You know, like there's a lot of people that are 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.080 stylis and they're like, man, I got styled, you know, uh, 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.080 oh con dress, you let me dress you what? But 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.960 they don't really have the And I'm not saying it's 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:17.560 a requirement, right, but to actually go to school for it, 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:21.400 to study it, you know, it puts you on a 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:23.720 different kind of level in my opinion. You know, like 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.520 it's it's kind of like somebody that go to that 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:31.880 that learns music, uh naturally versus someone who actually goes 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:37.480 to school and studies the art of music, right, it's 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.720 a little different, and you know, today, God is hard. 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:44.280 I don't like to call myself a stylist anymore because 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:46.920 it's it's a term that has been just kind of 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.760 they've kind of used it and kind of ruined it. Yeah, 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.200 so everybody, you know, everybody that worked in the mall 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:56.320 for three days will come out like I'm a stylist. 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.120 Just like it's a little harder than that. You have 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.000 to kind of get into the psychology of the artists, 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:04.760 you know who, who are their demographic who are they 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:06.800 trying to you know, what are they trying to portray? 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:08.600 You know, what don't they like? You know, there's a 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.480 lot of questions I asked. Before I shop for a 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.280 person or before I design something for a person, I 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:16.920 look at their body language, because you don't want clothes 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.880 on a person that's wearing them. You want a person 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:21.680 to wear the clothes and you don't want to close 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:25.280 the overpower their personality. Yeah, there's more to it than 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:27.560 just buying clothes and look good. And I noticed that's 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:32.920 what everyone's doing. Okay, okay, okay. Uh client list very impressive. 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:41.559 Petdal Libel nas jay Z, Lauren Hill, who you eventually married, 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.200 How did that come to be? How do you how 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:46.680 do you go from styling for somebody, dressing somebody to 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:52.880 actually forging a romantic relationship because you know, as a stylist, 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:57.280 you're a bit of a psychologist, you kind of because 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.280 you're getting into the heads of your client and your 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:03.200 Sometimes they talk to you about stuff that's going on 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:05.160 in their life. You know, you become a friend. You 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:07.800 really my clients, most of them will tell you, I'm 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:12.920 very opinionated. Um, I'm pretty wise, I'd say I think. 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:16.800 They'd say um, and they would run. They bounced different 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:18.679 things off of me that's going on in their life 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:21.840 or in their business. They talked to me about it. Um. 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.040 So in addition to styling, they start to talk to me, 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:27.760 you know, and say, you know, I'm going through this, 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:29.760 or like you know, in our case, we talked about 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.880 our friendship, you know, just different people were dating, or 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.280 my marriage when I was married at the time. So yeah, 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:41.160 we became friends best friends, right, and then at one 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:45.840 point it moves from a working relationship to a intimate 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:50.440 and intimate relations romantic, well romantic and then at some 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.280 point intimate. But that ain't that that goes what I say. 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:57.360 We got to talk about all. But but at what point, 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:02.480 who says, hey, I want more? Who does that? First? 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:07.640 You know, I was, I was UM in a shaky 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.199 marital situation. I was about to break up my husband 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.000 and I was talking to him about it, and he 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.480 was like, you gotta get counseling. He was encouraging me 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:19.839 not to break up. And once it was really finally over, 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:22.040 he was like, if you're serious and you really and 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.280 you're not living with him anymore, and you're gonna go 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.080 on about your way, we're gonna go out. And actually, 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:29.520 like really, you know, I thought he was a little 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:32.520 young and he had, you know, obviously some growing to do. 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:36.640 He was a little annoying as a client at times, UM, 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:37.959 and I took him up on you know, I took 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:40.160 him up on offer, and we went out. We went 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:43.560 on a vacation and then it just turned into first 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.520 date was a vacation kind of Look, our first real 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:49.480 date was a vacation. I mean we traveled. I mean 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:51.679 obviously we were on tour and stuff, so we were 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:54.240 together a little bit more than vacation. But our first official, 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.439 like we're gonna try to do this kind of date 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:00.760 was a vacation, went to ask him, So, let's back 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:04.719 up a little bit, how do you enter into the 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:08.040 fashion world like and start I know you went to 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:10.840 school and everything, but how do you transition and start 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:16.640 getting paid to stop? Um? I was on I was young, 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:18.880 I was living in l A. And I was kind 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:20.480 of on the club scene, just kind of hanging out, 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:23.240 you know, doing a normal Saturday night, Friday night parties 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.960 at the Palladium and wherever, and um, you know you 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:28.719 always see the same group of guys and girls when 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:30.480 you go out. And there was a guy named Todd 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:35.280 Russo he Um, I was working for Michael Bivins. And 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:39.040 when you when you say palladium, which l L because 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:45.320 you know we have a palladium in Houston, wasn't you know? 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.480 I asked, was better? But go ahead? You know, got 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:51.319 l A l A palladium. Um. So we would go 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:53.760 out to the clubs in l A and be able 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:55.559 to that's when stuff was open late, and go to 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:59.920 Larry Parker's hanging out on Beverly Drive. Larry Parkers was 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.880 spot and so anyway he would say, man, I love 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:06.440 your style, like just my regular party style like this 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.600 was Todd. So Todd worked for Michael Bivns, which he 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:12.560 had a label called bif ten Records, in a group 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.800 called Subways seven oh two. He hired me to style them, 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.080 and so he said, we have a video coming up, 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:21.800 a new new group, and I want you to put 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.600 your whole style on these girls. And I was like, 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.679 how do I do that? How does one going about that? 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.280 So I, um, I just went shopping and I met 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.120 I met with the girls. They drove from Vegas. They 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.560 were called seven o two. They came to l A 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:37.760 and I met with them. And I didn't know the 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:40.640 first thing about styling per se, but I knew how 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.840 to dress someone like myself. And I met with the 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:46.120 girls and they had me. They flew me to New 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:48.400 York and I just thought, you guys are gonna pay 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:50.640 me to do something I would do for free. And 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:52.640 I always say when you, when I speak to children 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:54.880 and young people, I say, always choose a career you 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.120 do for free, and then you never work a day 0:12:57.120 --> 0:13:00.440 in your life. So um, they flew me to New York. 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.080 That was my first time in New York. And I 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.520 did a video called This Little Game We Play that 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.679 was Subway in seven o two. His first video and um. 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:12.280 I ended up doing their clothing in their makeup because 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:13.960 they had a makeup artist and the girls came in. 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.120 It was like, we hate our makeup. Oh this is horrible. 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.080 Was their first video, and it was my first video, 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:21.199 and I was like, don't worry, don't cry. I got 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:23.160 you and I fixed their little makeup and they were 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.760 happy and we shot the video and it came out 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:28.440 and word of mouth. It was word of mouth through motown. 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.720 I started doing like Eric read em c Brains. I 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:33.800 styled a lot of their artists, and then it went 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.240 over to Warner Brothers and I started doing something for 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:38.800 the people and Eric Bonet and all those new artists 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.600 back then, and just word of mouth. It was like 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:44.200 a snowball effect. Then I took me over the m 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:47.439 c A. Then Little Silas hired me to do Jesse Powell, 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.440 and then I started doing Patti LaBelle and then my 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:52.679 clients just went up and up and up, and then 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.640 Lauren Hill, you know, and it went on and it 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:57.959 was a snowball. I started working with everybody shock a 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.240 con and at what point you get to to to 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:06.320 where you say, I'm not even oppressed with this anymore, 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.040 you know. I can style anybody, you know, because in 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.640 the beginning, I'm sure like you, all of these people 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:15.240 that you normally see on television, you know, you're right 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:17.679 there having conversations with them, and you're shopping for them, 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:21.120 you're talking to them, you're you're styling them, and you know, 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:27.360 you you know, you're right there, you know, on their level. 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:32.640 And at some point, you know, you become to Meka Foster, 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:40.160 you become your everybody's looking at Tamika right at what 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:42.880 point did you ever get to that point where you saying, 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:47.400 you know, hey, uh, I need to you know, push 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:49.960 my brand more now, you know, because it's you know, 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:55.160 I mean, it's still a struggle. Um. Now, I'm very 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:58.400 personal in an intimate setting or like a dinner with 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.840 my friends, but I never wanted to be in front 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.960 of the camera. Um, this is a nervous even now, 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.520 Like I'm I'm a little nervous, like like I'm just 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:09.800 nervous in front of the camera. I don't think this 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:11.520 is really where I'm supposed to be in front of 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:16.320 the camera. But um, I always said I need to 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:19.080 do my own clothing line. I felt like I was, 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:23.480 um kind of wasting so many designs you know, people say, hey, 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:25.640 design me a look for my video or or like 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.160 you know, and Lauren and the Fuji's, Hey do our 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.040 tour designed the looks for that. And I would make 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.080 all these nice outfits for an award show, and I 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.120 was like, God, I could have produced, mass produced these 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.160 and made a million of these and made millions of dollars. 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:41.680 But that's I never thought pushed myself as far as 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:43.640 being in front of the scene. I always wanted to 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.080 be behind the scenes. But you have your own line now. 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:51.360 I have Eli Kish and I have Eli Kish is 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.200 my son that passed away. His name is Kyle Ishmael, 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:57.400 so Eli Kish is a play on his name, on 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:00.160 the words and the letters of his name and some 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:02.920 loungewere when we all got stuck in the house during 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:05.360 the pandemic, I said, I need to make clothes at 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:07.680 are transitional, Like you can just be at home doing 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.560 zoom calls and then if someone wants to go to 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:12.400 dinner or you need to run and go get some 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:15.440 toilet paper during the shortage, you have on a cute 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:17.360 dress or something you can just kind of run out. 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.760 So I made a lady's um kind of Loungewere Um 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:25.520 collection and then UM I have UM Cult de Jore, 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:29.520 which are these military inspired jackets, their vintage and they're 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:33.040 all adorned with patches and everything, and so um I 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.720 kind of have two small boutique lines that I'm I'm 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:39.480 happy doing that. How do you want to take that? 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:41.800 You know, I don't really wish to be in boutiques 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:45.080 or like major department stores. I kind of like it 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:49.240 being um a small line. I like. I like exclusivity, 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.760 so I like things that are not easy to obtain. 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:54.160 I don't want to see every girl walking down the 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:57.240 street and what I have, so um Eli Kish I 0:16:57.280 --> 0:16:59.080 like for it to be small, but I'd like for 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:11.280 it to grow, go into more collections, more seasons. Yeah, 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:16.720 you have this uh animation series that was also named 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:22.840 after Kyle. You're determined to keep his name alive, aren't you. Yeah, 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:26.160 You're you're determined. You know, it's it's beautiful to see 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:30.880 that type of love coming from a mother, you know. Um, 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:34.879 you know it's one thing too to have that his 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:37.160 memories to yourself, and you said, no, I'm gonna share 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:39.679 with the world. You know, I'm gonna make sure that 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:44.600 the world no who this boy was, you know, like 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:48.119 he was special. And I saw an interview where you 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:52.520 he was talking about him, and I think it was 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:56.560 on the on Tamras show Tamra Hall, and you said 0:17:56.600 --> 0:18:01.719 that he had fulfilled this kind track. So to speak 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:08.800 with the world, can you explaind on that. I believe 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:13.840 that from the time we're born, from a time we're born, 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.359 God already hasn't written what's going to happen in our lives. 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:21.959 I think you know, from the time I came from 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.040 my mother's womb, I was gonna eventually do all the 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:26.800 things I did. I was gonna work in fashion, I 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.320 was gonna love style. I was gonna be probably the 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:32.720 spirit animal of my aunt Sadie, which I think I am. 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:37.280 She's ve um. And God knows what I'm gonna die. 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:40.840 He already knows. I don't know. We don't know. So 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.879 I feel that our lives are predestined. And I think 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:47.600 because I believe that, I believe that about everybody. The 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.920 same goals. From my son Kyle his time, he had 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:55.080 eleven years on this planet, um and something you know, 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:59.080 of course, I vacillate with my ideas about that. UM. 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.879 Sometimes I say, if just this hadn't happened differently, This 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.639 hadn't happened differently, he'd still be here. But my faith 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.440 tells me no. Had he been with me, we could 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:12.720 have been at home, but ceiling could have fallen in. 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:14.600 If it was his time to go, I think he 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.640 was gonna go. So when I say he filled a contract, 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.160 I hate. I hate that it happened at age eleven. 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:22.280 I hate it. I cried. I cried on the plane 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:25.879 on the way here, listening to a song Beyonce. I 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:29.720 was here. I listened to that song and I'll break down. Um, 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:33.120 but I believe that to be true. So that has 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:37.200 given me comfort that he's made an impact. But I 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:39.199 just feel that there was things he wanted to do. 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:42.040 He said it very distinctly to me. I want to 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.240 be an actor. I want to be on Nickelodeon. I 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:46.520 want to be on Disney. I want to be on TV. Mom. 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:50.440 He said that to me before he passed. So it's 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:56.399 my honor, it's my duty to see it come to fruition. Um. 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:58.560 I think that he wanted he wanted an animal, he 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:01.200 wanted to be in animation. You wanted to be on cartoons, 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:02.920 or you wanted to be on a television show. So 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:07.800 I'm going to create one, right, right, our lives are predestined, 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:13.119 our fate has already been decided. Well, we're gonna be 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:17.919 what we're gonna do. It's already in God's hands. Your words, 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:21.000 that's exactly right. I heard that. I was like, this 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:24.280 woman is something else. Man. I like her. I like 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:28.200 your spirit. You got a good spirit. Thank you. That's good. 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:29.879 That's good. And at you. But if I had a 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:31.840 mama like that, I ain't gonna ain't gonna do that. 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:34.480 I do don't do that, an don't do it. But 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:36.720 but you know, it took time for me to learn 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:40.200 to be this person. Yeah, that's that's something else to 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:43.800 see that, see that type of Twenty years ago, I 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:46.239 would have not said this. I would have been mad 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:50.720 at the world. Um. When I started writing, I was mad. 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:55.119 I was so angry. Um. I started writing my book 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:57.399 of Somewhat as a diary, just kind of journaling with 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:00.600 how I was feeling about different stuff and the space 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:03.199 I was in when I started writing it. Oh, I 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:05.439 was mad at the world. I was blaming everybody in 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:07.280 the book. My words were just mad and it was 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:09.960 ship and damn and I was cursing, and I was 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:14.240 amiss and I put it down. And and also being 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:17.679 from Oakland, you know we lived by a kind of 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:20.920 a street code, right, So street code until you shot 0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:25.840 somebody before you started writing. I had the potential. I 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:28.720 definitely had it in me to do so, No, I 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:34.840 did not, right, that's my boy, Swayze is my homie. 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:40.840 But um, no, street code is we don't tell. I 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:43.399 don't care what happens around us, what we see. We 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:47.520 keep our mouths closed. So it's kind of a really 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:50.679 dumb and backwards mentality because you victims just don't. They 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:52.439 just stay victims. They don't get to talk about it. 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:56.280 They don't tell. So I wrote things down and I 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:57.879 was like, nope, nope, no, we're not gonna do that. 0:21:57.920 --> 0:22:00.719 So I stopped writing. And then when my unpassed two 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:05.080 years later, after my divorce and everything, I started writing again, 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:07.320 just my feelings about what happened to him and just 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:09.880 mad at God. So the book originally was called Mad 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:12.560 at God. That's how mad it was. Now it's a 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:15.359 chapter in my book. We got a chapter when I 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:20.000 realized I wasn't mad enough for a whole book. I 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:22.560 wasn't mad. How can you write twenty chapter mad at God, 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:26.760 mess around, lightning strikes, like you give me that thing? 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:30.040 Mad God is still good all the time. So no, 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:33.480 So um, I do have a chapter called mad at God, 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:36.040 and I think a lot of people will relate to 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:38.760 it because we've all been mad at him about different 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:40.760 things that happened in our lives, and we asked God 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:44.320