Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Colleen Witt, and today we have a
Speaker 1: very hot and bothered guest up in the building. Melissa
Speaker 1: Ford is in the building. Who hoo do who who?
Speaker 1: I'm excited wearing New York shout out to WEEZYWT have
Speaker 1: studios for having us and allowing us to, please Jesus
Speaker 1: not burn down the studio with our makeshift kitchen.
Speaker 2: I promise I will not burn down the studio.
Speaker 1: Yes, please, please don't.
Speaker 3: Very very cognizant of the fact that this is you know,
Speaker 3: and I told him, I said, if we burn it,
Speaker 3: we'll pay for it.
Speaker 1: And I was like, keep right, I pray we don't.
Speaker 1: What are you gonna have us eating today?
Speaker 3: Okay, So this is a dish that I call poor
Speaker 3: man sushi. And I remember when I sent you like
Speaker 3: the ingredients, you were like, what the fuck is this?
Speaker 1: What is this? I love though that you were fast
Speaker 1: with it. I was like, oh, her struggle was real, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. So. I've always been a jim rat.
Speaker 3: I've all always been into, you know, physical fitness. I
Speaker 3: started gymnastics when I was two years old. Shit, I
Speaker 3: was in baby like Jack Butler's Baby School for swimming
Speaker 3: when I was six months, Like, my parents like really
Speaker 3: just like threw me back in.
Speaker 1: You know, Oh okay, she was just swimming amniotic fluid.
Speaker 1: You know, she'll be fine. Wow. So that's really young. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean like there's a lot of baby school,
Speaker 3: you know, swimming schools for babies and stuff like that,
Speaker 3: and they.
Speaker 1: Just kind of like really take to water very quickly.
Speaker 3: So my parents just kind of like put me in
Speaker 3: that little situation.
Speaker 1: This is really like cooking. Hold on, yo. That is
Speaker 1: like I was thinking, you know, we got this shout
Speaker 1: outs to Walmar, but we we did buy this and
Speaker 1: it was like a fifteen dollars like a hot plate,
Speaker 1: and I was thinking, I wonder if this thing's really
Speaker 1: gonna work. This thing, this thing you can have this
Speaker 1: in like a college dorm or something like that's official.
Speaker 3: Yeah and so and so anyways, I was saying, how
Speaker 3: I'm in. I've always been into physical fitness. So I
Speaker 3: used to just kind of make this meal out of
Speaker 3: like you know, can tuna fried up with a little
Speaker 3: bit of spices and stuff like that, white rice and
Speaker 3: some you know, just kind of mixed vegetables and I
Speaker 3: just would get my carbs and my protein in in
Speaker 3: a really simple way. You know, food was fuel, you
Speaker 3: know when I was in my super duper gym rat days.
Speaker 3: Now you're lucky to I'm lucky if I see the
Speaker 3: inside of a gym like three to four times a week.
Speaker 3: When you hit your forties, ship really becomes very real
Speaker 3: as to how you have to.
Speaker 1: Stay stay on top of your.
Speaker 3: Fitness regime and your regimen and your your dietary regimen.
Speaker 1: Things have to change.
Speaker 3: Alcohol can't be you know, just binging and shit like
Speaker 3: that anymore, and you got to start lifting heavy.
Speaker 1: Cardio out the window.
Speaker 3: You can do a little bit of cardio, but mainly
Speaker 3: as women especially, you have to focus on lifting heavy.
Speaker 3: Why because we lose bone density as we get older, you.
Speaker 1: Know, before before before we get into scaring me away
Speaker 1: from growing older. You know, It's funny because I listened
Speaker 1: to Hot and Bothered and I don't want to detour,
Speaker 1: but I called I definitely called Dori and was like, yo,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know if I'm feeling like what's
Speaker 1: about to happen to me? I mean, I'm in the
Speaker 1: forty year land and listening to your show. It really
Speaker 1: did showcase like I have no idea. They definitely don't
Speaker 1: talk about this enough to women, because I was like, WHOA.
Speaker 1: I was also very scared because you're like, no, there
Speaker 1: was not about to get real real quick.
Speaker 3: There was a point in time like the medical industry
Speaker 3: has not been kind to women, you know. And don't
Speaker 3: even get me started on what the medical industry has
Speaker 3: done to black people and black women.
Speaker 2: Okay, they basically used to experiment on our.
Speaker 3: Bodies, but women in general, menopause was just not seen
Speaker 3: as anything that the medical industry felt like they needed
Speaker 3: to study. They didn't need to study our bodies because
Speaker 3: you know, we were basically given the message that after
Speaker 3: our child bearing years, we have zero value. That was
Speaker 3: That's literally the message that was given to us. And
Speaker 3: what boggles my mind is that this has the potential
Speaker 3: to be a multi billion dollar industry with all of
Speaker 3: the things that we need.
Speaker 1: I have in the last.
Speaker 3: Six years since I started perimenopause, I have seen more
Speaker 3: doctors and gone to hospitals and doctors offices more times
Speaker 3: than I have in my entire life. Tenfold. I was
Speaker 3: I've been I've been an.
Speaker 2: Extremely healthy person my whole life.
Speaker 3: You know, Thank God, I'm not somebody who suffered from
Speaker 3: indiby triosis, Pico's fibroids, all horrible things that some of
Speaker 3: my girlfriends and other women suffer from.
Speaker 1: But I had like wicked cramps, I've had.
Speaker 3: I've had a miscarriage, I've had I've had I've had
Speaker 3: stuff happen, you.
Speaker 1: Know, but relatively, I've been very, very healthy. Well, take
Speaker 1: me back to before we get into yeah, scaring our.
Speaker 1: If you guys want to hear more about menopause and
Speaker 1: ed and all that, you need to check out Hot
Speaker 1: and Bothered. But before we get into that, let's get
Speaker 1: back to get a closer look at Melissa Ford, because
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think we really got to know
Speaker 1: who you are, and I think just telling us, like,
Speaker 1: take us back to what exactly was going on during
Speaker 1: the making of this dish.
Speaker 3: Okay, so the making of this dish.
Speaker 1: Get it?
Speaker 3: Yeah, there we go, the making of this dish.
Speaker 1: I had just moved to New York.
Speaker 3: I was living in Stuyvesant Heights, this Bedstye, which is
Speaker 3: really funny because when I was fifteen years old, I
Speaker 3: had a premonition that I was going to live in Bedsty.
Speaker 3: And this is before I even knew that New York
Speaker 3: was even divided up into like five boroughs, which is
Speaker 3: like wild.
Speaker 1: Hold, I'm going to hold that off. But you're originally
Speaker 1: from Canada. I'm originally from Canada.
Speaker 3: So I had this premonition when I was fifteen that
Speaker 3: I was going to live in Bedsty and I was like,
Speaker 3: where the fuck is Bedsty? What is bedstide?
Speaker 1: I didn't even know. I didn't understand. But so when
Speaker 1: I ended up living.
Speaker 3: In Bedsty, like literally Bainbridge and Stuyvesant in the thick
Speaker 3: of it, I was like, oh, well, this was kind
Speaker 3: of like meant to be kind of thing. So here
Speaker 3: I am. I am an illegal alien from Canada. I
Speaker 3: have no permission from my country to leave. I have
Speaker 3: no permission from this country to stay here. I have
Speaker 3: no job, I have no nothing, And how are you.
Speaker 3: I'm twenty one years old. I've put school on hold
Speaker 3: in Canada. I was studying forensic psychology University because I
Speaker 3: wanted to be a profiler, working for the BSU or
Speaker 3: some other law enforcement agency that you know, did profiling
Speaker 3: and whatnot.
Speaker 2: So here I am in New York. I'm living in
Speaker 2: this apartment.
Speaker 3: How did I get an apartment with no credit, no
Speaker 3: money or no proof of income, no nothing.
Speaker 1: I was working in a club. The owner.
Speaker 3: The owner had a little bit of a crush on me,
Speaker 3: and that is putting it lightly.
Speaker 1: One day, he you.
Speaker 3: Know, calls me into his office and just you know,
Speaker 3: starts talking to me about, you know, what's your whole
Speaker 3: situation or whatever.
Speaker 2: I was living with a girlfriend at the time, and he.
Speaker 3: Basically said that he would get me a condo just
Speaker 3: as long as I let him come by and watch
Speaker 3: me masturbate every once in a while.
Speaker 1: That was the deal. How old was this dude? He
Speaker 1: was like fifty five? What did you say?
Speaker 2: I said, You've got to be fucking kidding me.
Speaker 3: There's no you like ew ew you don't get to
Speaker 3: see all you don't get to see this you.
Speaker 1: No, I was, I know, but it has you end
Speaker 1: up with apartment though. So it's so he was just like,
Speaker 1: so he hooks me with a.
Speaker 2: Realtor this a focus Okay, he was shady.
Speaker 1: So you actually said that, like, oh, hen I was
Speaker 1: the no, no, fuck no, and you would have had
Speaker 1: it rent free. I know. Did he have to be
Speaker 1: in the room when you did? This stuff.
Speaker 2: Do you know how many of my girlfriends asked the
Speaker 2: exact same questions.
Speaker 1: They were like, wait, bit what like? What was the
Speaker 1: parameters of this deal?
Speaker 3: It was a hard pass and I was like yes
Speaker 3: and they were like girl.
Speaker 1: But there wasn't like record. It was just like he
Speaker 1: had to there.
Speaker 3: This is two thousands to make sure if a good deal. Okay, listen,
Speaker 3: okay there baby, I don't know, but you know what,
Speaker 3: I'm Canadian.
Speaker 2: Okay, So he said, okay, so hyper independent.
Speaker 1: I'm going to do this on my own. So he was,
Speaker 1: what were you doing in this club?
Speaker 3: It was bartender? Okay, So this is how I ended
Speaker 3: up being able to make money.
Speaker 1: This nigga kid got me too basically like back then
Speaker 1: he would have been he would have been ye know
Speaker 1: me too.
Speaker 3: Was so interesting. Okay, but anyways, we're jumping ahead. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 3: so I'm gonna cook up the vegetables. In just a
Speaker 3: second of vegetables.
Speaker 1: So guys, just for our listeners, she just heated up
Speaker 1: the tuna in a pan and seasoned it. Yes, I
Speaker 1: want to okay.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to put this back in once I
Speaker 3: get the rice and the and the vegetables going a little.
Speaker 3: I would have I would have used different vegetables than
Speaker 3: these ones, because these are a little chunky and cruciferous.
Speaker 1: So we got to know you were probably using like
Speaker 1: peas and carrits. Yes, exactly, I know, you know what
Speaker 1: I don't know. And for all the listeners, they know
Speaker 1: I absolutely hate peace. I was like, oh, hell no,
Speaker 1: she's gonna want these peas, not giving her peace.
Speaker 2: It's okay, it's okay, we'll handle this broccoli.
Speaker 1: So this guy is, oh, this guy, you tell him no.
Speaker 1: I tell him no.
Speaker 3: So he is like, he's so he hooks me up
Speaker 3: with his realtor another shady motherfucker. Right, So he brings
Speaker 3: me to he shows me this apartment because I tell
Speaker 3: him what my price.
Speaker 2: My hole, what do you call that? What my range is?
Speaker 2: It was six hundred to eight hundred dollars a month.
Speaker 1: That's yeah, back then, back then.
Speaker 2: It's just wild to think about back then.
Speaker 3: So he shows me this apartment at it was at
Speaker 3: like Classen and Washington, if I'm not mistaken, if that
Speaker 3: was what it was, and Classen and Washington.
Speaker 1: Did not look the way that it looks now. It's
Speaker 1: very gentrified.
Speaker 3: Now, okay, there's a lot of white people with strollers
Speaker 3: and shit, that is not the way that it looked
Speaker 3: back then. And I'm so like, I'm just still so
Speaker 3: naive that I'm just kind of looking around the place
Speaker 3: and I'm looking outside.
Speaker 1: The windows and I'm like, yeah, I don't think that
Speaker 1: this is the place. Yo. There's fucking gangs around.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not the Melissa like older me wants to say, girl, no.
Speaker 1: So I take it. I take it. You took the
Speaker 1: place I did not. So he says to me. I
Speaker 1: was like, do you have anything else you can show me.
Speaker 3: He's like, well, I'm showing this apartment later on tonight,
Speaker 3: and he was just like it's out of your price
Speaker 3: range and you're probably not going to get it, but
Speaker 3: you can come see it.
Speaker 1: Anyways. I was like the fuck you know? So I
Speaker 1: was like okay, fine, and.
Speaker 3: He was like, oh, by the way, the landlord is
Speaker 3: a woman, so make sure you cover up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, cover up. And I was like fuck you talking
Speaker 1: to so Okay.
Speaker 3: So anyways, it's not like I had like my boobs
Speaker 3: out or anything like that. And it was winter, so
Speaker 3: I got to the apartment early and it was a
Speaker 3: brown Stone and I I had on a black turtleneck
Speaker 3: and a cowboy hat and jeans.
Speaker 1: I don't know what.
Speaker 3: I really loved this cowboy hat though I don't know
Speaker 3: what it was. I was obsessed with this cowboy hat,
Speaker 3: and somehow I made it.
Speaker 1: I think. I feel like it made me seem really innocent.
Speaker 1: And so she opens up the door. This woman, her name.
Speaker 3: Was Deborah, and the second she opened up the door,
Speaker 3: I felt like this, it's gonna sound weird, but like
Speaker 3: my spirit immediately took to her.
Speaker 1: It was just something about her. It was just she
Speaker 1: just was just warmth, you know.
Speaker 3: And so she invited me inside and we sat down
Speaker 3: and we talked for about ten minutes, and it was
Speaker 3: a great conversation, to the point where I forgot why
Speaker 3: where I was and what I was doing there.
Speaker 2: And she said, well, young lady, do you want to
Speaker 2: go see the apartment?
Speaker 1: I said, oh, yeah, let's go see.
Speaker 3: And so she brought me upstairs to the second floor.
Speaker 3: And the minute that I walked into that apartment, I
Speaker 3: knew I was home. I just knew I was home.
Speaker 1: And could you afford it them? No? It was nine
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five dollars a month.
Speaker 3: It was a junior it was a one and a
Speaker 3: half bed, so it was like a one bedroom, one
Speaker 3: bath with like.
Speaker 1: A smaller bedroom. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I was like, I can't afford this shit, but
Speaker 3: I'm going to figure this the fuck out, Okay.
Speaker 1: And so I saw the apartment. I said, I will
Speaker 1: be in touch and whatever.
Speaker 3: And then for the next two weeks I just kind
Speaker 3: of like wrung my hands hoping that this realtor was
Speaker 3: pleading my case and he wasn't. He was probably saying,
Speaker 3: she is the worst candidate for this apartment, so don't
Speaker 3: give it to her. Yeah, And so I decided to
Speaker 3: look her up.
Speaker 1: Remember phone books, Ah, yeah, I remember the white pages,
Speaker 1: the white page. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I looked her up and I found her and
Speaker 3: I called her and I said, I said, hi, I saw.
Speaker 1: You a couple of weeks ago. I came to look
Speaker 1: at the apartment, et cetera.
Speaker 3: She was like, oh I remember, She was like, I
Speaker 3: haven't made a decision yet, and I said, I just
Speaker 3: really want you to know that I felt like that
Speaker 3: is supposed to meet my apartment.
Speaker 1: It felt safe.
Speaker 3: I I just pleaded my case.
Speaker 2: Whatever it was that I said to her.
Speaker 3: You know, I was just like my mother and I
Speaker 3: we rented to, you know, people before. I've seen my
Speaker 3: mom go through hell with tenants who stopped paying. I
Speaker 3: would never do that to somebody. Just give me one year,
Speaker 3: Just try me out for one year.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I was like, I promise you're going to get your
Speaker 3: rent in cash a week in advance at minimum Jesus.
Speaker 3: And she was just like, when's your birthday? I was like, uh,
Speaker 3: November seventh, and she was like, i'll call you back.
Speaker 3: And she really looked up my chart because she was
Speaker 3: like totally into like astrology andrology and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: She called me up and she was like, the apartments
Speaker 3: yours come with security in first first month's rent.
Speaker 1: And I was like, I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 3: I had no furniture, I had nothing except just two suitcakes.
Speaker 1: How did you get the money together? Well?
Speaker 3: I was bartending at this so at this time, I
Speaker 3: it was all I had. Now started to bartend at Justin's,
Speaker 3: which was Ditty's restaurant, and well, actually no, I got
Speaker 3: I started bartending and cocktail waitressing, and then they fired
Speaker 3: me because they were like, the last thing Puffy needs
Speaker 3: right now is in the legal alien that looks like
Speaker 3: you working in his establishment because he's this was around
Speaker 3: the club New York situation happening, and.
Speaker 1: I was like, okay.
Speaker 3: So the manager, John Vasquez, he was like, I've got
Speaker 3: something set up for you. So he got me set
Speaker 3: up in a totally different club. It was called Nicks.
Speaker 3: It was on East thirty second between Fifth and Madison,
Speaker 3: And anybody who was like, you know, going to clubs
Speaker 3: during the Black Diamond and the Pisa Brothers' days, they
Speaker 3: know exactly what I'm talking about. So at the same
Speaker 3: time that I started, you know, working in this club,
Speaker 3: this massive party promotion team called Black Diamond had started
Speaker 3: doing parties and so I started making more money than
Speaker 3: I've ever seen before in my entire life. And I
Speaker 3: was a bartender back in Toronto, just from bartending, and
Speaker 3: so when I was able to you know, when she
Speaker 3: get when she told me that I had this apartment,
Speaker 3: I was able to pay for it because I had like, nah,
Speaker 3: I had made like a bunch of money and like
Speaker 3: you know, tips and stuff like that, and yeah, so yeah,
Speaker 3: that was that was That was how that happened. And
Speaker 3: I ended up living in her apartment for the next
Speaker 3: two and a half years. After the first year, she
Speaker 3: didn't even make me sign another lease.
Speaker 1: I was like, perfect tenant. I loved her. I just
Speaker 1: I just loved her.
Speaker 3: She came and saw me like we would like have
Speaker 3: tea in the kitchen, and one day, like two months
Speaker 3: into like me being there, she was like, Melissa, do
Speaker 3: you know why I rented the apartment to you? I
Speaker 3: was like, because I was incredibly persuasive, and.
Speaker 1: She was like no.
Speaker 3: She was like, I looked up your chart, your numbers
Speaker 3: and whatever, and she was just like, it said that
Speaker 3: you were extremely dependable and that your words bond. Whatever
Speaker 3: you say you're going to do, you're going to do it,
Speaker 3: and I would have no problems with you. I was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: that's that's me. I'm pretty pragmatic and dependable and stuff
Speaker 3: like that. And she was like, but it also said
Speaker 3: something else. And I was like, and it said it
Speaker 3: says you're going to be famous, but not for the
Speaker 3: reason that you think.
Speaker 2: And I didn't really know what to kind of like
Speaker 2: make of that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I still don't know what to make of that,
Speaker 3: you know, So but that was that was what she said.
Speaker 3: And it ended up being like a really incredible like experience. Yeah,
Speaker 3: my first apartment. Now keep in mind.
Speaker 1: Did you ever ask her what her birthday was or
Speaker 1: ever try to look up?
Speaker 3: Well the no, because that wasn't my thing, you know,
Speaker 3: Like and I feel like she was a Gemini because
Speaker 3: I get the gifts for her birthday.
Speaker 2: But I'm trying not to like fucking have this lying.
Speaker 1: It's like, why is it so hard? Yeah? I should
Speaker 1: have heated up for you. Did you guys have mic
Speaker 1: wave here? It's fine, It's fine, she's gonna have to.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna break it up in the bag for her, Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: because those little rice things are savage. Can you can
Speaker 1: just put the chunks in here? Okay, put the chunks
Speaker 1: in here? So I think, all right that way. So,
Speaker 1: after you know, you got settled into New York, what
Speaker 1: was that next big power play that like changes the
Speaker 1: trajectory of your life? Sort of say I would.
Speaker 3: So I'm still doing music videos at this time, Like
Speaker 3: before i'd moved to the States and I was still
Speaker 3: living in Canada. I had done big Pimpin' share she
Speaker 3: Laghos Thong song remix shake It Fast, like I'd already
Speaker 3: done those videos, but I hadn't.
Speaker 1: Done this is before twenty one. This is this is.
Speaker 3: Basically the year before. Oh no, actually it's like the
Speaker 3: same year. It's the year two thousand.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, And what are your parents saying like during
Speaker 1: all this, because you're still really.
Speaker 2: My dad has passed away.
Speaker 3: He passed away when I was fifteen years old, almost sixteen,
Speaker 3: So it was just me.
Speaker 1: And my mom.
Speaker 3: And honestly, the last couple of months of me living at.
Speaker 1: Home was not okay.
Speaker 2: Me and my mom were at each other's throats.
Speaker 1: So when I decided to.
Speaker 3: Move to the New York I literally went downstairs to
Speaker 3: the living room and said to my mother, I'm moving
Speaker 3: to New York tomorrow. Can you drive me to the
Speaker 3: airport ESUS? And she just looked at me and she said,
Speaker 3: what time is your flight? She didn't ask where am
Speaker 3: I going? Where am I going? I'm gonna live with?
Speaker 3: How am I going to make money? You're illegal, you're
Speaker 3: not American. She didn't ask a question, nothing, yes, And
Speaker 3: I was like I had to ask her when we
Speaker 3: were like, you know, we stopped at a diner on
Speaker 3: the way to you know, like just waiting for my
Speaker 3: flight and stuff like that, and I had to ask her.
Speaker 1: I was like, do you even love me?
Speaker 3: And she says, of course I love you, Melissa, but
Speaker 3: you're driving yourself crazy and me in the process.
Speaker 1: You got to go, what were you doing that made
Speaker 1: her think that? At the time, do you know, can
Speaker 1: you look? Yes?
Speaker 3: I know exactly what was happening my life. I had
Speaker 3: there was an intersection that my life had arrived at.
Speaker 3: And whereas I had always imagined that I would live
Speaker 3: in Toronto my entire life, I never ever thought that
Speaker 3: I would leave. I imagined that, you know, I was going
Speaker 3: to pay my way through university and I was going
Speaker 3: to start working in law enforcement as a profiler, like
Speaker 3: I was just going to be a regular ass person.
Speaker 3: But then I started doing music videos and my popularity
Speaker 3: started to increase dramatically.
Speaker 1: And how did you land your first music video?
Speaker 3: Director X, who was known as Little X back in
Speaker 3: the day he was he was just kind of looking
Speaker 3: for the girl for a music video, and after doing
Speaker 3: a casting of almost every hot girl in the city,
Speaker 3: his friends arrived at what about Melissa? And he was like,
Speaker 3: who's Melissa? And let me see her right now. And
Speaker 3: so he saw my picture he said, call her right now,
Speaker 3: that's the girl. And that was basically how it happened.
Speaker 3: So I became like amuse of his. His profile started
Speaker 3: to grow, he started to get more responsibilities, like, you know,
Speaker 3: more more jobs. I should say, this is looking more
Speaker 3: like like a broke Man's poor fried rice. Okay, well
Speaker 3: we could, doesn't it doesn't, that's why. But that's why
Speaker 3: it's the broke man too. She because it's rice and tuna.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, but doesn't it look like Chinese? Now
Speaker 1: kind of does a little bit? You told me I
Speaker 1: come up with a name. No, no, I like it.
Speaker 1: I like it, but for all our listeners, I mean,
Speaker 1: this looks pretty pretty fancy.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, listen, I almost said, let's make
Speaker 3: some biscuits, you know, biscuits with like cranberries in it,
Speaker 3: with the cunch trusting sweet taste of cranberries.
Speaker 1: It looks good. I mean, I'm trump I'm doing. I
Speaker 1: haven't made this. It's so long, but I can't wait
Speaker 1: to see you eat and see if it like brings
Speaker 1: you all the way back, like wow, it might.
Speaker 3: But so the intersectionality of like of like the two
Speaker 3: versions of Melissa was I started doing these music videos
Speaker 3: and even though I just really had my head on straight,
Speaker 3: like okay, it's just another source of revenue temporarily right now,
Speaker 3: and it's it's fun.
Speaker 1: Is it a lot of revenue for your age at
Speaker 1: that time? Yeah, And it's American money.
Speaker 3: So the you know the difference in American money versus
Speaker 3: like that, what is that called, like Shane shank you jesus.
Speaker 3: I mean, I can talk about ubiquitous melancholy this day,
Speaker 3: but it was.
Speaker 1: You said some words out there and I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm similess.
Speaker 3: Shit, I'm like, wait, you know that thing when the
Speaker 3: money is worth more than another person.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So anyways, sometimes I will have like a brain fart.
Speaker 2: I just blame everything on Perry menopause these days.
Speaker 3: Just oh, I don't remember. I forgot when this got
Speaker 3: my head. It's Perry menopause. So I uh, that's why
Speaker 3: the money was so good because the exchange rate was
Speaker 3: like crazy, like American dollar to Canadian dollar was so
Speaker 3: high that it was almost like double.
Speaker 1: And you got you were going to going to college
Speaker 1: while the video. So your mom, well she like seriously
Speaker 1: sent my freaking out a little bit.
Speaker 3: No, my mom did not. My mom did not force
Speaker 3: me to do anything ever. Ever, ever, like if I
Speaker 3: wanted to quit something, all right, quit she didn't give
Speaker 3: a shit, Like I shouldn't say that my mom didn't
Speaker 3: give a ship. My mom ended up being a single
Speaker 3: mother when my father died, and she had an enormous
Speaker 3: amount of debt and she was in perimenopause.
Speaker 1: She had so much shit on her plate. The on
Speaker 1: what did she She.
Speaker 3: Was also dealing with a sixteen year old county daughter,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, So, like I could be honest,
Speaker 3: like teenage girls are probably hell on.
Speaker 1: Earth to deal with, if you don't mind me asking, Like,
Speaker 1: what happened to your father? Like he was he just
Speaker 1: he was older than my mom.
Speaker 3: There was a twenty one year age difference between the two,
Speaker 3: so you know when he died, he was like sixty
Speaker 3: one sixty two, which now very very yeah young, but
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, men don't really take care of themselves.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I'm just saying, was like a surprise.
Speaker 3: No, he had been, he'd been, he had had illnesses
Speaker 3: over the course of the last five years.
Speaker 1: His death was still a shock to me. I was
Speaker 1: not ready for that.
Speaker 3: But I mean because I was fifteen year old girl,
Speaker 3: and to me, that was like my superhero.
Speaker 1: Nothing was ever going to really happen to him.
Speaker 3: It was you know, he was always going to get
Speaker 3: past whatever his current ailment was.
Speaker 2: And no, that's not what ended up happening.
Speaker 1: And your dad is black or white? My dad's black, O,
Speaker 1: your mom's white. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3: So by the time, so this whole intersectionality thing. When
Speaker 3: I'm doing music videos and the popularity is gaining, then
Speaker 3: a pivotal thing happens.
Speaker 2: When I do the Thong song remix video.
Speaker 3: I'm on. Cisco asks me to go on tour and
Speaker 3: I was like, okay, I could come for like a
Speaker 3: couple of weeks. He was like, no, if you come here,
Speaker 3: coming for the whole thing, it's a few months and
Speaker 3: in Sync is the headliner. And I'm not really understanding
Speaker 3: what he's talking about because.
Speaker 1: I'm not a dancer.
Speaker 3: If anybody sees my music videos, I'm not fucking dancing, Okay,
Speaker 3: Like the New York Times wrote an article on me,
Speaker 3: like how to succeed in music videos without actually dancing?
Speaker 3: What the fuck you know? I was like, I'm here
Speaker 3: to give good face. I give good body presence.
Speaker 1: That's me.
Speaker 3: So I'm the girlfriend, I'm the wife. I'm that, but
Speaker 3: don't don't give me any choreography.
Speaker 1: But he was gonna pay you to do this. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: this was a gig. Gig.
Speaker 3: This was like, this was not be my girl. It
Speaker 3: was like, no, you're coming to work.
Speaker 1: So I took it. He was like, don't worry.
Speaker 2: It's not hard choreography. It's very gimmicky.
Speaker 3: He was like, I want to lead girls, four lead
Speaker 3: four backup dancers, and you're gonna be called the six pack.
Speaker 1: And I was like whatever. So I called up my jobs.
Speaker 1: School was on.
Speaker 3: Break or like on summer break, and I was just like, uh,
Speaker 3: I called it my job. So I was like, would
Speaker 3: you hold a position for me because I'm just gonna
Speaker 3: I'll be right back tour with like you know, in Sync,
Speaker 3: the biggest the entire world right now, and Cisco and oh,
Speaker 3: Pink is the you know, the starting act and this
Speaker 3: is Pink was the.
Speaker 1: Starting act and before it was you know this pink.
Speaker 3: Well yeah, it was like when she was doing R
Speaker 3: and B and she was like it was a bullshit, that.
Speaker 1: Was not her jam. Yeah we see why now yeah.
Speaker 3: And so so I go on tour and I just
Speaker 3: saw and experienced so much that when I got back
Speaker 3: to Toronto, the rose colored lenses were off and this
Speaker 3: shit looked like a dusty ass po dunk town.
Speaker 2: I was like, I got to get the fuck out
Speaker 2: of here. I can't live here.
Speaker 1: I just have seen the world. I just saw so much.
Speaker 3: I just I become a different version of myself. And
Speaker 3: I didn't anticipate that happening. There's no way that you
Speaker 3: could know that that's going to happen. Yeah, And so
Speaker 3: when I got back home, I was so unhappy because
Speaker 3: I just I'd already seen It's like I got.
Speaker 1: Bitten, yeah, you know, by you bit the apple. Yeah
Speaker 1: that was what it got, bit by a bug or
Speaker 1: whatever it is. It's something. Yeah. I just was like
Speaker 1: I couldn't go backwards. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I was like, if I don't pursue this now
Speaker 3: at my young age, I'll always want under what if?
Speaker 1: And when you say pursue this, what was that pursuit?
Speaker 1: I didn't even know what the pursuit was. Just just
Speaker 1: just need to get out just.
Speaker 3: The attention, the attention that I had started to you
Speaker 3: know that and and the and the requests, like you know,
Speaker 3: it's it went from just ex hiring me for gigs
Speaker 3: to Hype Williams and you know all the other video
Speaker 3: directors requesting.
Speaker 1: And are you managing yourself or is there managers starting
Speaker 1: to get.
Speaker 3: Managing this ship? There's no management. I'm a video girl,
Speaker 3: like there's this is not a career.
Speaker 1: But you're getting a lot of calls at this point,
Speaker 1: So do you start figuring out or is anybody reaching
Speaker 1: out to say, hey, maybe we can manage.
Speaker 3: No, because nobody really looked at video modeling as an
Speaker 3: actual career.
Speaker 1: Like the only person.
Speaker 3: That I could act, that I could say looked at
Speaker 3: this as like a viable career option that can lead
Speaker 3: to other things is this woman named LASHAWNA Stanley who
Speaker 3: had a company called Ethnicity Models based out in Miami.
Speaker 3: And I don't meet her for another maybe year or
Speaker 3: two after I've gotten to the States. But she became
Speaker 3: very pivotal in me being able to get my first
Speaker 3: visa and then my second visa to now where I'm
Speaker 3: legitimately allowed to live and work in the US. And
Speaker 3: so I don't even meet her for the first like
Speaker 3: year and a half two years of me being there.
Speaker 3: So I'm like Bobbin and weaven customs.
Speaker 1: I can't go home.
Speaker 3: If anybody from home wants to see me, you got
Speaker 3: to come see me. Because the minute I try and
Speaker 3: get on a plane and go through customs, they're going
Speaker 3: to be like, where's your I'm going to get thrown
Speaker 3: into secondary.
Speaker 2: I risk being banned from the US for.
Speaker 1: Years, maybe forever finds. It was a little perilous. Now,
Speaker 1: what was your mom? Singer and all of us, She.
Speaker 3: Wasn't saying anything because she was trying to pay the
Speaker 3: mortgage and keep food on the table. So she just
Speaker 3: her mentality was very much like Melissa's gonna do whatever
Speaker 3: Melissa's going to do. Like that's just it, Like there's
Speaker 3: nothing that you can say or do to try to sway.
Speaker 1: Her either way.
Speaker 3: You strong minded of ext scorpio, extraordinarily strong.
Speaker 1: And my mom is Eastern European.
Speaker 3: She's you know, Norwegian and Russian, and you know, if
Speaker 3: you know anything about this type of people, they're very
Speaker 3: stoic and they're not the most like you know, she
Speaker 3: was not the most loquacious person.
Speaker 2: She was big words, okay, she was quiet as fuck.
Speaker 1: Okay. You know, she had her little tiny circle of friends.
Speaker 3: She had a little atter hobbies like book club and
Speaker 3: aqua fit, you know, stuff like that. She volunteered like
Speaker 3: animal shelter, She had a book like library card.
Speaker 1: But my mom was a very simple woman.
Speaker 3: So like the things that I was doing were so
Speaker 3: out of the realm of her conceptualizing what.
Speaker 1: It meant that she was like, oh, okay.
Speaker 3: So like when I started appearing on the covers of
Speaker 3: magazines at her job, like the store, her job.
Speaker 1: And there's like.
Speaker 3: And there's like young male employees who are like, yo,
Speaker 3: that's Melissa Ford's mom.
Speaker 1: She would just be like she was so funny. Was
Speaker 1: she embarrassed? Was she proud? No, she was an embarrassed
Speaker 1: at all. She was proud. She was proud.
Speaker 3: She was not so proud, but she was also very.
Speaker 1: She was just she was always just so just. It's
Speaker 1: not like she beamed with pride, okay, but I literally
Speaker 1: I level headed about it, extraordinarily level and head like.
Speaker 3: She didn't come in with issues like, you know, copies
Speaker 3: of issues of the latest magazine I was on.
Speaker 1: Okay, all my friends want like autography. Never did that ship,
Speaker 1: you know. So but you knew she was proud and
Speaker 1: it seems like she did a good job when not,
Speaker 1: I guess, Taylor, what are you like stiphening your just
Speaker 1: kind of letting you. But it's weird though, because you
Speaker 1: did say that, like there was a point where you
Speaker 1: questioned whether she loved you from not being so on.
Speaker 3: You Yeah, because I mean, you know gen xers will
Speaker 3: understand we had to parent ourselves. We're the generation that
Speaker 3: our parents put a key around our next, like put
Speaker 3: a string and a key around our next And they
Speaker 3: were like, this is how you go home on public transportation.
Speaker 1: I'm eight years old, you.
Speaker 3: Know what I'm saying, But like this was this was
Speaker 3: what it was like. And when you get home, don't
Speaker 3: burn down the fucking house. Make yourself something to eat.
Speaker 3: So you're learning how to cook at seven and eight
Speaker 3: and nine years old, and you're learning what areas of
Speaker 3: the house you stay the fuck away from, what friends
Speaker 3: are allowed to come over for versus who's not to you.
Speaker 2: You understand how to answer the door, and some like.
Speaker 3: We had to really really learn how to parent ourselves
Speaker 3: and look out for ourselves.
Speaker 1: They had to put fucking commercials saying it's ten o'clock,
Speaker 1: do you know where your children are? Remember? I remember that?
Speaker 3: So so this was like it's so my mom was
Speaker 3: just you know, she was part of like you know
Speaker 3: that that female workforce that where it was like, you know,
Speaker 3: both parents are out working. There was My father literally
Speaker 3: said to me one day where I was like.
Speaker 1: Where are you going?
Speaker 3: He was like, I'm going out, like to work, I
Speaker 3: guess or whatever. I was like, who's gonna look after me?
Speaker 1: The dogs will look after you? Gets this is why
Speaker 1: we got them. He sounds like a Jamaican he's baising,
Speaker 1: he was, you know, but he was just like, the
Speaker 1: animals will take care of Yeah, you hear them Mark,
Speaker 1: you know, to look you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: But no, he wasn't West Indian to the point where
Speaker 3: we kept our dogs outside. They were inside dogs. Everybody
Speaker 3: was inside. So that's another thing that my parents did.
Speaker 3: They never really said no to any animal that I
Speaker 3: wanted because they knew and probably had a significant amount
Speaker 3: of guilt knowing that, you know, you're leaving your child
Speaker 3: home to spend.
Speaker 1: For herself and your only child.
Speaker 3: And I'm an only well I have I have stepbrothers
Speaker 3: and sisters, like half brothers and sisters, but I was
Speaker 3: raised like an only child.
Speaker 1: I was the only child in the house. Okay, yeah, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: so you know this this was basically how I grew up.
Speaker 3: So it's just I don't think that after a while
Speaker 3: my mom felt like she even had the position to
Speaker 3: try to parent.
Speaker 1: Me, which is really that makes sense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would have loved to have been able because
Speaker 3: my mom's passed, and I would have loved to have
Speaker 3: been able to have these kinds of conversations with my
Speaker 3: mom about about this, like feelings that she had during
Speaker 3: this stage of our lives. And also, Yo, how the
Speaker 3: fuck was menopause for you, lady, because.
Speaker 1: Well it seems like on your show you said that
Speaker 1: she mentioned it to you in passing passing, Yes, in.
Speaker 3: Passing, like it was just like, oh, by the way
Speaker 3: I turned, I started menopause at forty two and I
Speaker 3: was forty one, so it's probably gonna happen for you
Speaker 3: around the same time.
Speaker 2: What the fuck does that mean? What does that mean?
Speaker 1: Yeah? And did you She didn't, So I didn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't ask that.
Speaker 3: Alone because I was recovering from a traumatic brain injury
Speaker 3: at the time, so you know, forgive me my brain's bleeding.
Speaker 3: Didn't really have like a whole load of questions to say, okay, hey,
Speaker 3: to help me, what's this? Had navigation of this whole
Speaker 3: what is this?
Speaker 1: What is menopause? What the fuck is that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it seemed like nobody knew because nobody wanted to
Speaker 3: talk about it.
Speaker 1: Again, we go back to the medical.
Speaker 3: Industry and how much it ignores women after a certain age,
Speaker 3: and just.
Speaker 1: I started seeing that, like halle Berry started coming out.
Speaker 1: I saw social media clips and she was like, no
Speaker 1: one's talking to women about these things they misdiagnosed, And
Speaker 1: I was like, whoa, I'm going to tell you what's happening.
Speaker 1: You want to know what's happening.
Speaker 3: Gen X Again, we're fed up with having to have
Speaker 3: figured everything out.
Speaker 1: So wait, hold on one second here.
Speaker 3: You wanted us to raise ourselves like we were like,
Speaker 3: you know, feral animals or something like that. You put
Speaker 3: a key around our next, you put us on public transportation.
Speaker 3: You tell us to get home safely without being kidnapped
Speaker 3: and shit like that. Cook, but don't burn the fucking
Speaker 3: house down. Like we're like the forgotten generation that had
Speaker 3: to like literally fend for ourselves every single We're the
Speaker 3: Encyclopedia Britannica generation.
Speaker 1: So there was no Google.
Speaker 3: If you wanted to figure something out, shout out that
Speaker 3: you had to find the volume.
Speaker 1: But do you think that also is what is the
Speaker 1: seed that makes you great. Oh yeah, it makes it
Speaker 1: makes you hella. It gives you that perseverance. Right, It's
Speaker 1: like a gift and curse.
Speaker 3: Any anytime people think they got me backed into a
Speaker 3: fucking corner.
Speaker 1: Anytime people think that.
Speaker 3: They got me that they can count me out, you
Speaker 3: got me fucked up my level of tenacity and resilience.
Speaker 1: Y'all don't know.
Speaker 3: You don't know what I have had, what I have
Speaker 3: had to do to survive. Everybody thinks, oh, there's a
Speaker 3: pretty privileged element to your life, and no, I've had
Speaker 3: to claw my way through my entire fucking life. Yes,
Speaker 3: pretty privilege has basically, you know, has been a factor
Speaker 3: in some.
Speaker 1: Ways, but not everything. But I was gonna say, now,
Speaker 1: your rise to the sex success, your rise to success
Speaker 1: is definitely wasn't straight. I would imagine being in this
Speaker 1: business for as long as you have, it had to
Speaker 1: have been a roller coaster, right, like a up and down.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about some of the lows.
Speaker 3: The lows were that, you know, because you talk about management,
Speaker 3: the lows were that.
Speaker 2: Nobody seemed to know what the fuck to do with me,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, Like.
Speaker 3: It just nobody seemed to know what to do with me,
Speaker 3: and I was listen, I was fucking winging it. I
Speaker 3: went from being a music video model to appearing on
Speaker 3: in magazines's features and then you know, the covers of
Speaker 3: magazines and calendars and stuff like that. But I'm literally
Speaker 3: free floating through life. I don't know what the fuck
Speaker 3: I'm doing. I'm just I'm just landing.
Speaker 1: You're just feeling calls and taking.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's literally it. I'm just I'm hoping that I'm
Speaker 3: making the right decision. But I don't know. I have
Speaker 3: no sense of mentorship, I have no management. I have
Speaker 3: known nothing.
Speaker 1: And then how are the men in the industry, like
Speaker 1: behind the scenes where you did you have to be
Speaker 1: like tomboy mixed with sexy, Like how did you have
Speaker 1: to manage that whole? No?
Speaker 3: And what's interesting about that question is, you know, when
Speaker 3: I did Angie Martine's show IRL with Angie Martinez, we
Speaker 3: talked about the different ways in which we had to approach,
Speaker 3: you know, our careers, and she did what you just described, like,
Speaker 3: you know, she had that you know, covered up and
Speaker 3: had to you know, how to kind of like you know,
Speaker 3: really kind of portray like that.
Speaker 1: Tomboy slash b I t H. Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know, just there's there's different ways in which women
Speaker 3: had to survive in this business.
Speaker 1: And with me, you know, I kind of was. I
Speaker 1: was very My image was very sensual.
Speaker 3: You know, some might say hyper sexual, but I won't
Speaker 3: agree with that. I was very you know, Pam Anderson,
Speaker 3: Marilyn Monroe. Yeah, that was the pin up girl, you know,
Speaker 3: and I was very clear on that. But the ways
Speaker 3: that I protected myself was I insulated my when it
Speaker 3: came to the videos. I insulated myself with the higher ups,
Speaker 3: so director, producers, agents and whatnot. I didn't, you know,
Speaker 3: hang out with the artists. I didn't cross boundaries and
Speaker 3: I did not do blurred lines at all.
Speaker 1: So like once they called cut, if an artist was
Speaker 1: like flirting with you, You're like all right by like
Speaker 1: kind of how Janet Jackson like cut the number after
Speaker 1: the poetic justice yes type shoot you were like yeah, great.
Speaker 3: Deuces Like I'm not I'm not I'm not okay, I'm cool,
Speaker 3: I'm not that cool.
Speaker 1: I'm not that cool.
Speaker 3: Where I'm going to I don't want the blurred lines
Speaker 3: because that's not why I I'm here. I'm here for
Speaker 3: an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm here for.
Speaker 3: So that was the That was one of the ways
Speaker 3: that like I kind of protected myself and another way
Speaker 3: that I would kind of protect myself.
Speaker 1: I'm real big into like nonverbal.
Speaker 3: Communication, so you know, I guess people would expect me
Speaker 3: to just be that like that, that super vixen all
Speaker 3: the time, And I wasn't that super vixen all the
Speaker 3: time on my own time.
Speaker 2: Regularly, I'm very jeans.
Speaker 1: And T shirt.
Speaker 3: I'm very I'm walking around my house in like a sweatsuit,
Speaker 3: you know, sweatpants and a T shirt.
Speaker 1: Like I'm not.
Speaker 3: I'm not overtly sexual all the time. That shit would
Speaker 3: be exhausting.
Speaker 1: But how did the Cisco deal come about if you
Speaker 1: were keeping those lines like hell a strict like that.
Speaker 3: Well, because I was the lead in the Glory, Valles
Speaker 3: and I were the two leads, so my I was
Speaker 3: the first half of the video and that video, that
Speaker 3: part of the video was shot in Druid Hill Park
Speaker 3: in Baltimore, and so it was just us. There really
Speaker 3: was no other so it was just us. So we
Speaker 3: had to spend a lot of time together. So even
Speaker 3: when they yelled cut. We were like mounted on this
Speaker 3: motorcycle and this dolly that was on a truck, so
Speaker 3: we couldn't go anywhere. We were literally fixed into that
Speaker 3: shit and we'd be there for hours and hours and
Speaker 3: hours and hours. And so this was over the course
Speaker 3: of like two days or something like that, and then
Speaker 3: it went to we flew to la and that's where
Speaker 3: the rest of the video takes place. And so by
Speaker 3: that time we just kind of like developed like a
Speaker 3: cool report and Cisco was very respectful, like he wasn't like,
Speaker 3: you know, just trying to He just wasn't that guy, yeah,
Speaker 3: to try and like to try you. He just wasn't
Speaker 3: that guy. He just was very friendly and very nice
Speaker 3: and that was it. And so you asked me. He
Speaker 3: was like looked at me and Gloria, he was like,
Speaker 3: I want you to to be the leads in my
Speaker 3: on on tour with me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that was what he did it right there.
Speaker 1: He was like try to he talked to.
Speaker 3: He talked to us at different times, but basically he
Speaker 3: asked me when we were still in Baltimore, Like he
Speaker 3: made that decision really quickly because he knew tour was happening.
Speaker 3: Very very fast. It was like within the next two weeks.
Speaker 3: So he had to make a decision, and he was
Speaker 3: making decisions and he I don't know if he got
Speaker 3: the idea for the six pack right then and there,
Speaker 3: or if he'd been formulating the idea and he was like, oh,
Speaker 3: she's the one, and then up she's the one, and
Speaker 3: then filled out the back with the other four girls.
Speaker 1: I've crossed pass with him like a way back. He
Speaker 1: seems very legit. Yeah, he seemed very He's look at this,
Speaker 1: we're gonna try this, poor mance sushi. I think it
Speaker 1: looks like Chinese. It does kind of look like it.
Speaker 1: It looks really good.
Speaker 2: It looks it does look a little bit like Chinese.
Speaker 3: But yeah, this was this was in a pinch or
Speaker 3: I didn't really have a whole lot of, you know, money.
Speaker 1: So when the there also switched this up with like
Speaker 1: Han Salmon as well, Oh yeah, I feel like we
Speaker 1: had Can Salmon on the show before, and it like
Speaker 1: stuck up.
Speaker 2: Our whole set.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, you're giving me all this And
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's because you're watching your figures
Speaker 1: and I was trying to like even it out. Look
Speaker 1: this looks good. Guys, can the camera see this? I
Speaker 1: don't know see that? Can you see that? I don't
Speaker 1: know if they can see it. They can, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go ahead and try this. Here we go into the
Speaker 1: I feel like you could stay okay. I was scared
Speaker 1: about the sarachi and not that bad. It's no strong
Speaker 1: you do season she does season her food really well.
Speaker 1: That's a black side. Mammm hmm. It's good. I have
Speaker 1: had this in so long. This is pretty damn good.
Speaker 1: Thank you. This is really good. I am kind of
Speaker 1: loving this. I gotta go back to making this ship.
Speaker 1: You know what. There are dishes on this show where
Speaker 1: it's so good that I go home and I made
Speaker 1: it for like a week.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, this is this is really good.
Speaker 1: You seasoned it well. SCRATCHI is hot, but well I
Speaker 1: don't really eat a lot of spice.
Speaker 3: Book either, do I. That's the white side of me.
Speaker 3: They can't really deal with spicy.
Speaker 1: These vegetables work, Yeah, they work. It works, it works.
Speaker 1: It did better than peace. Mm hmmm, it's good. I'm
Speaker 1: impressed with this dish. So let's talk about like the
Speaker 1: Because there was an air where video Vixen and all
Speaker 1: that stuff was in. Then all of a sudden people started
Speaker 1: hating on it, and then it started to phase out.
Speaker 1: Take me through what that journey was, because there was
Speaker 1: a period where you did like a reality show in between.
Speaker 3: No, the reality show didn't happen until like twenty thirteen.
Speaker 2: You know, long story short about the music videos.
Speaker 3: Really everything was just kind of like a casualty of piracy.
Speaker 3: You know, the the record industry was just kind of
Speaker 3: losing control of its product.
Speaker 1: Illegal downloading and shit like that.
Speaker 3: All the stuff that we take, Yeah, naps are all
Speaker 3: the shit that we take for granted right now, just
Speaker 3: in terms of streaming.
Speaker 1: And stuff like this.
Speaker 3: This was this was a this was a really big
Speaker 3: deal in record companies, you know, were hemorrhaging money. So
Speaker 3: whereas music videos the budgets used to be. I mean
Speaker 3: when I did Knock Yourself Out, that budget was like
Speaker 3: six hundred and fifty dollars. What Yeah, Thong song remix
Speaker 3: was like one point one. Big pimpin was one million.
Speaker 1: There spend a lot of money. Oh yeah that and
Speaker 1: they definitely don't spend that now, No, they don't not
Speaker 1: even close. That seems like outrageous now, but it was
Speaker 1: so normal back then I mean the whole thing, thank
Speaker 1: you eating like hella unprofessional look on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was three hundred and fifty thousand, but that
Speaker 3: was when it it had started to hit. But I
Speaker 3: mean it's usher and you know, Ludacris and loved John,
Speaker 3: So there was still a massive there was still a
Speaker 3: massive budget at the time.
Speaker 1: But and so, you know, when.
Speaker 3: Record companies had just you know, they they developed this
Speaker 3: formula for the way music videos looked. It was a
Speaker 3: lot of hot girls, It was a lot of pomp
Speaker 3: and circumstance, you know, fancy cars and just money and
Speaker 3: houses and pools and whatever else. So how do you
Speaker 3: create the same product with a minimum budget? So everything
Speaker 3: like quality control just kind of went out the fucking window.
Speaker 3: And so they stopped casting models like me came with
Speaker 3: an extraordinarily high price tag, and then they just started
Speaker 3: going into you know, strip clubs or or just casting
Speaker 3: girls who were just so I don't want to use
Speaker 3: the word thirsty, but it kind of applies. Just so
Speaker 3: they just really really wanted to do music videos.
Speaker 1: They do it for free. They didn't give a shit.
Speaker 3: Your quality control kind of goes out the window because
Speaker 3: a lot of girls feel like, oh, well, in order
Speaker 3: for me to get that burn, get that camera time,
Speaker 3: I gotta be like like I'd be like real salacious
Speaker 3: about it. And so you know, I was very like,
Speaker 3: I'm not wearing that. Don't fucking touch me. I'm not
Speaker 3: doing that, and I'm not doing it for that Lowa price.
Speaker 3: I'm sure at that point you even when you're still
Speaker 3: you're paying my price, I'm still not wearing that.
Speaker 1: I'm not doing that. Don't fucking touch me. Like that
Speaker 1: was me.
Speaker 3: They girls were like, you can stick your tongue down
Speaker 3: my throat.
Speaker 1: We just met whatever.
Speaker 3: They'd be wearing, the littlest, tiniest things, they'd be twirking,
Speaker 3: but just.
Speaker 1: It was so it.
Speaker 3: It's like every video almost became and then also uncut
Speaker 3: happened too.
Speaker 1: Being uncut sounds like that after hours, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but everybody was staying up for it.
Speaker 1: So it's just like so gone.
Speaker 3: We're the days of like, you know, video models being like.
Speaker 1: You know, the tasteful.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're being like an element of taste to it
Speaker 3: and then being casted actual models, and so people just
Speaker 3: weren't able to tell the difference.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like, yeah, do you feel like the
Speaker 1: female videos are like getting more raw than the guy videos.
Speaker 1: Like sometimes I'll see some of these girl videos, I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: the girls are doing the girls of this service at
Speaker 1: this point.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I mean I think that it's for a
Speaker 3: completely different reason because I mean, like they are the
Speaker 3: artists themselves, And to me, this is this generation has
Speaker 3: a has a different sense of agency over there and
Speaker 3: ownership over their body and their self sexuality. They unabashedly,
Speaker 3: unapologetically flaunt it without a sense of repercussion. They dare
Speaker 3: you to challenge them or to make them feel bad
Speaker 3: about it. Yeah, you know, they're like they they're just
Speaker 3: completely different than we were in a really good way.
Speaker 1: You like it, I mean just just autonomy. I like autonomy.
Speaker 3: This election and the war for control over women's bodies
Speaker 3: is that's the part of this, of this whole thing,
Speaker 3: this country. The overturning of Roe versus Wade. That literally
Speaker 3: makes me so fucking upset and so sad and is
Speaker 3: so triggering. So when I see women being unapologetically themselves
Speaker 3: and taking ownership of their sexuality, I can't do anything
Speaker 3: but applaud that. And I'm not the one who's here
Speaker 3: to judge them based on what they do. I don't
Speaker 3: like every single thing that they do. There's some things
Speaker 3: where I'm just like.
Speaker 1: Oh girl, what the fuck? You know?
Speaker 3: But hey, that's you, you and your decision and the
Speaker 3: fact that you made that decision for yourself.
Speaker 1: You know. Right, Let's talk about the pivot from where
Speaker 1: you were then to podcasting, because you've been in podcasting
Speaker 1: for over ten years now. Mm hmmm. So how did
Speaker 1: that pivot come into play? There's so much fucking in between,
Speaker 1: so much in between.
Speaker 3: You give me like the I'm going to give you
Speaker 3: the elevator, the elevator cliff notes. So when you asked, like,
Speaker 3: you know, what was like the hardships and stuff like that,
Speaker 3: and the main thing being that I had no management,
Speaker 3: I had no mentorship. I was basically flying by the
Speaker 3: seat of my fucking pants. But I did make some
Speaker 3: good decisions. I always knew that music videos and you know,
Speaker 3: just kind of like getting having my image out there
Speaker 3: and acquiring like an enormous fan base. I could leverage
Speaker 3: that popularity with with wherever I was going. And my
Speaker 3: next stop was to do television hosting, and so I
Speaker 3: started to solicit bet for several for any opportunity that
Speaker 3: they would give me to be on camera talent and.
Speaker 1: And you were making the calls I had. I you know,
Speaker 1: I just through connections.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like that, I developed a friendship with Big Tigger,
Speaker 3: and he was really instrumental in like introducing me to
Speaker 3: Stephen Hill, who was like, you know.
Speaker 1: The the VP at the time. I want to say
Speaker 1: a BT.
Speaker 3: And so Stephen was like he gave me opportunities to
Speaker 3: you know, basically prove my metal, like you know, let's
Speaker 3: see what you can do. And in two thousand and four,
Speaker 3: they hired me as on camera talent. I mean there
Speaker 3: was billboards and stuff like that, and you know, with
Speaker 3: my picture and Free and AJ and Tigger, it was
Speaker 3: like wow. And so I had to fucking find a
Speaker 3: lawyer to like, you know, kind of you know, negotiate
Speaker 3: my contract for me and stuff like that was a
Speaker 3: fucking terrible contract, but whatever, I didn't care. It was
Speaker 3: it was a way to like kind of legitimize myself
Speaker 3: and kind of get me away from the whole image
Speaker 3: of doing music videos. Even though I had no shame
Speaker 3: in my participation in it. It was starting to like
Speaker 3: get a little funky for the reasons that I described.
Speaker 1: And then when that book came out. Don't even get
Speaker 1: me started on that. So wait, well book some Quessions
Speaker 1: of a Video Mix. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3: So television television hosting opportunities opened up for me after
Speaker 3: I got hired with BT.
Speaker 1: You know, you just start meeting people.
Speaker 3: And they had a show called Mad Sports on there,
Speaker 3: and they were like, Melissa, We're gonna give you a
Speaker 3: microphone and you are going out there to interview athletes
Speaker 3: because they love you.
Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, cool.
Speaker 3: And that just kind of put me in the path
Speaker 3: of really.
Speaker 1: Big decision makers.
Speaker 3: And one of those decision makers was this man named
Speaker 3: Michael Mant and he was like, the EP of this
Speaker 3: show called Jim Rome is burning a bunch of shows
Speaker 3: on Pardon the interruption.
Speaker 2: These are very popular shows at the.
Speaker 1: Time on ESPN.
Speaker 3: And so one day we had like, you know, just
Speaker 3: like kind of an informal dinner and he was like, Mossa,
Speaker 3: what do you want to do? And I said, I
Speaker 3: want to host the sp nomination show. I knew, right,
Speaker 3: I knew exactly what I wanted. Okay, yes, And he
Speaker 3: was like, my sister is the EP of the SP's I.
Speaker 1: Think that that can happen. And I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god.
Speaker 3: And then they called me like, I don't know, like
Speaker 3: a few weeks later and they said, yeah, you got
Speaker 3: the gig. You're going to be hosting the Emmy nomination
Speaker 3: show for the two thousand and six Emmys with Stuart Scott.
Speaker 3: Rest in peace. One of the most incredible humans to
Speaker 3: ever walk this earth, Stuart Scott. I mean, I still
Speaker 3: I could start crying thinking about him right now. He
Speaker 3: was so generous and so caring, and.
Speaker 1: So he just was so dope. He knew how nervous
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 3: I'm in a totally different realm outside of anything I've
Speaker 3: ever done before, and I'm trying so hard to like
Speaker 3: be perfect. And he was like, you got this, you
Speaker 3: got this, melth you got this, and I got you.
Speaker 1: And I was like okay.
Speaker 3: And so that ended up becoming another opportunity to host
Speaker 3: the Red car the SB Red Carpet with him and
Speaker 3: a couple of other hosts. So it just turned into
Speaker 3: like a really incredible opportunity.
Speaker 1: But what goes up, what must come down, And.
Speaker 3: You know, I just was like kind of like riding
Speaker 3: on a high and then I left BT not voluntarily. Well,
Speaker 3: it was kind of like we're not gonna run into
Speaker 3: your contract. I was like, well, I don't want to
Speaker 3: fucking come back anyways.
Speaker 1: I don't know. It was okay, it was like a
Speaker 1: mutual breakup.
Speaker 3: It was yeah, but my ego was just stupid at
Speaker 3: that time. I wish I could go back and like
Speaker 3: slap the shit out of myself.
Speaker 1: I just I don't even know how to tell that story.
Speaker 1: I just were you feeling yourself like you mean, were
Speaker 1: you cocky or rude?
Speaker 3: Or I might have been a Sometimes I might have
Speaker 3: been a little difficult to work with, you know, but
Speaker 3: you know, women always get that label. You know, men
Speaker 3: never really get that label. But I might have been
Speaker 3: a little difficult to work with. But something happened in
Speaker 3: two thousand and five, Hurricane Katrina happened.
Speaker 1: And I was really really distraught.
Speaker 3: My boyfriend at the time was from Louisiana, and so
Speaker 3: I felt like an indirect connection and also just watching
Speaker 3: human suffering and also what looked like our governments very
Speaker 3: very slow response to said human suffering. I just felt
Speaker 3: like I had to do something, and so I ran
Speaker 3: into one of the VP's offices at the time. His
Speaker 3: name was Eugene. Eugene Caldwell, maybe possibly don't quote me
Speaker 3: on that.
Speaker 1: First name was definitely just heard mic close enough. I
Speaker 1: just want to make sure I get this whole thing, Okay.
Speaker 3: So his name was Eugene, and I went into his
Speaker 3: office and I pitched this idea of me doing coverage
Speaker 3: of Hurricane Katrina survivors. By this time, the vast majority
Speaker 3: of them were starting to get starting to get moved
Speaker 3: to the Reliant Center in Houston from the Superdome in Louisiana, which.
Speaker 2: You know, we all heard stories about how awful.
Speaker 1: It was there.
Speaker 3: And so my boyfriend, he had a lot of connections
Speaker 3: in Houston, and I was just like, I will fund this.
Speaker 3: If I have to just give me a crew, I'll
Speaker 3: house them. Just give me the opportunity to go to
Speaker 3: the Reliance Center and start to interview people. And I
Speaker 3: had this, I had just like this idea as to
Speaker 3: who I wanted to interview. We were interviewing people, you know,
Speaker 3: growing adults. But I was like, what about the kids?
Speaker 3: What about not just young children, what about teenagers? You know,
Speaker 3: so much of our audience on BET was teenagers watching this.
Speaker 3: As teenagers, our identity is usually kind of ensconced in.
Speaker 1: What we wear.
Speaker 3: You know, and the music that we listened to, and
Speaker 3: you know, like we're forming our identities, but these are
Speaker 3: the things that we use to kind of like determine
Speaker 3: who we are, you know. And I was like, nobody's
Speaker 3: talking to them. I was like, I want to go
Speaker 3: talk to them. That's our audience.
Speaker 1: What did they say to this pitch?
Speaker 3: So they loved it, and they sent me all the
Speaker 3: way upstairs to the EVP of news.
Speaker 2: Her name was Nina Henderson Moore. I can't believe I
Speaker 2: remember this shit. This is so long ago.
Speaker 3: And I just was so like bright eyed and bushy tailed.
Speaker 3: It's so enthusiastic, and I felt like this was the
Speaker 3: way for me to finally drop this kind of.
Speaker 1: This this.
Speaker 3: I don't know, I was just being rec Oh the
Speaker 3: video girl, I was like, no, I want to be
Speaker 3: recognized as somebody who has journalistic integrity and ethics who
Speaker 3: may not have gone to school for journalism, but I
Speaker 3: sure as fucking act like one, and I know how
Speaker 3: to ask questions and I know how to interview people.
Speaker 3: So I just wanted this opportunity. Not everybody who's out
Speaker 3: there with a microphone went to school for journalism, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 3: So she was all for it.
Speaker 1: She loved the idea. It's it looks like all systems
Speaker 1: are go.
Speaker 3: And then there was a meeting that took place with
Speaker 3: a very powerful consultant and this came up on the agenda.
Speaker 3: Melissa Ford going to host you know, like Reliance blah
Speaker 3: blah blah dah da dad, And he said, why the
Speaker 3: fuck are we sending a video girl out into the
Speaker 3: field to handle this shit? And he was so powerful
Speaker 3: that he just put the kebash on all of it.
Speaker 1: And they didn't tell me right away.
Speaker 3: I had to like literally beg them to tell me
Speaker 3: what had happened. Like everybody was so gung ho and
Speaker 3: so enthusiastic about this with me, and like, you know,
Speaker 3: I'd already like started talking to people that I wanted
Speaker 3: to be the crew, Like my producer from my show,
Speaker 3: which was BT Style at the time. I wanted her
Speaker 3: to come with me. I wanted I had the skeleton crew.
Speaker 3: And I was so fucking devastated. Very soon after this,
Speaker 3: I did an article for Well.
Speaker 1: I did the cover of.
Speaker 3: Double Excel's Eye Candy issue and I was the premiere issue,
Speaker 3: and then I did an article, you know, a written
Speaker 3: piece for it, and I'm trying to remember who it
Speaker 3: was that wrote it.
Speaker 2: I can't remember right now, but they were a really
Speaker 2: prolific writer.
Speaker 3: And I talked about this situation because I was still
Speaker 3: smarting from it.
Speaker 1: I was still so fucking angry. I was very hurt.
Speaker 3: I was really really hurt by'm a scorpio. So my
Speaker 3: fucking stinger was up and so you know.
Speaker 1: That's that shit. That is a hurtful ass thing. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I told the story and then I of one
Speaker 3: of the quotes was it was at that moment that
Speaker 3: I realized that the glass ceiling was a lot closer
Speaker 3: to my head than that originally thought. And then the
Speaker 3: magazine came out and I was in the airport at
Speaker 3: the time when I saw it, and I grabbed it
Speaker 3: off the stand.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm like carry with the bube, you know.
Speaker 3: And I ran to the gate and I'm reading and
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh shit. So I called up Stephen Hill
Speaker 3: and I said, I have to come in and talk
Speaker 3: to you.
Speaker 1: I didn't tell him why.
Speaker 3: I just wanted to be upfront that this article was
Speaker 3: out and I didn't want it to end up on
Speaker 3: your desk without me kind of putting it on the
Speaker 3: desk and me talking about this and giving me giving
Speaker 3: you the reasons why Jesus Yeah, well, you know, I
Speaker 3: think that that was one of the reasons that led
Speaker 3: to termination.
Speaker 1: It doesn't several months later. It doesn't sound too much
Speaker 1: like ego though. It sounds like, uh, you know, it
Speaker 1: doesn't sound too much like you know, like you had.
Speaker 1: It sounded like you were like, oh, well, maybe it
Speaker 1: was my ego, but it seems to me like it
Speaker 1: was more like, you know, it was if I'm passionate
Speaker 1: about your job and your purpose and you know, how
Speaker 1: does that make you feel? Because it also came up
Speaker 1: in your Unbothered episode. I hope we're not going over
Speaker 1: but but okay, but I I know on the podcast
Speaker 1: episode you had an opportunity to speak at Harvard and uh,
Speaker 1: and that that kind of came up, like only fans
Speaker 1: I think, came up. How does that make you feel?
Speaker 1: Do you have like a love hate relationship with this
Speaker 1: thing that kind of like helped you but now of
Speaker 1: the age now is starting to hurt you.
Speaker 3: I what do I say about that? You know, it's
Speaker 3: not something that I broadcast, but it's also not something
Speaker 3: that I'm ashamed of because you know, it allowed me
Speaker 3: to pay my bills during the pandemic. You know, my
Speaker 3: mom had passed away. I didn't know my ask for
Speaker 3: my Actually I hadn't even started it then.
Speaker 1: It was really like kind of it was really like
Speaker 1: it was.
Speaker 3: It was maybe about a year afterwards, and you know,
Speaker 3: it was just it was just it was just a
Speaker 3: way to like, you know, tap into the fan base
Speaker 3: that's always been there. And you know, like I said,
Speaker 3: I have no judgment for the way that other people
Speaker 3: live their lives and the things that they do on OnlyFans.
Speaker 3: I knew what I was doing. It was basically the
Speaker 3: same stuff that I was doing when I was doing
Speaker 3: the covers of magazine. Those magazines don't exist anymore. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, so I can still shoot the same way.
Speaker 3: I can do the implied nudity. I can do the
Speaker 3: lingerie and the bikinis and stuff like that. I can
Speaker 3: do that stuff, And to me, it's just it's kind
Speaker 3: of like it's just a part of the repertoire that
Speaker 3: I can go back to whenever I want to, because
Speaker 3: because it's available to me.
Speaker 1: But I'm saying for you personally, is it a love hate?
Speaker 1: Is there is there like a love hate for the judge.
Speaker 3: The judgment that I don't have for others is oftentimes,
Speaker 3: you know, placed on me, and that frustrates me sometimes.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you think that podcasting is helping you be
Speaker 1: able to share the whole? You like? Does it allow
Speaker 1: you the opportunity because listening to your show is very open. Guys,
Speaker 1: got to check it out. It was very open. It
Speaker 1: was very like a whole you very educational, Okay, because
Speaker 1: I didn't know any of the stuff you were talking
Speaker 1: about and it kind of scared me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's I mean, is it is scary until
Speaker 3: you learn, until you learn about your body and what
Speaker 3: it's going through and all the things that can help
Speaker 3: you manage the symptoms. I mean, when I started perimenopause,
Speaker 3: and we'll get back to that what you were originally
Speaker 3: asking when I started.
Speaker 1: Perimenopause versus where I am now.
Speaker 3: It is so much more manageable where I am now
Speaker 3: because I started what's called HRT hormone replacement therapy, and
Speaker 3: most doctors who have any kind of education on menopause
Speaker 3: will tell you that the earlier that you start hormone replacement.
Speaker 1: Therapy, the better off you will be.
Speaker 3: There's women that I know that are in their fifties
Speaker 3: that have never done it before, and like they have
Speaker 3: really severe symptoms and the synth.
Speaker 2: There's so many symptoms. Oh my god, it's like crazy.
Speaker 1: I see women talk about it like in offices, but
Speaker 1: the light usually show me off like you don't understand.
Speaker 1: Holy just you're not there yet, and I'm like, okay, whatever,
Speaker 1: just remember I'm forty guys.
Speaker 3: I mean well, the strangest symptoms are things like tonight's
Speaker 3: seeing things out of the corner of your eye that
Speaker 3: aren't really there, hives, you know, dry skin, losing your hair,
Speaker 3: brittle nails, ocular issues like you know, eyesight issues, Like,
Speaker 3: there's so many symptoms.
Speaker 1: Everyone's just like, oh, menopause, hot flashes. I've never had one.
Speaker 3: I had night sweats, which is different, but within the
Speaker 3: realm of the same thing. You know, it's basically your
Speaker 3: body's inability to regulate its temperature. This is just some
Speaker 3: of the stuff. Basically what menopause is. It is less
Speaker 3: a gynecological transitional phase in a woman's life and it's
Speaker 3: more cognitive. Seventy five to eighty percent of the symptoms
Speaker 3: that you will experience happen up here, and this is
Speaker 3: the thing that makes you feel like you're going fucking
Speaker 3: crazy because it is cognitive.
Speaker 1: You know, so.
Speaker 3: Sorry that it sounds scary, but there is definitely ways
Speaker 3: to make it easier and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: But like, you know, just kind.
Speaker 3: Of podcasting does allow me to reintroduce myself, but I
Speaker 3: feel like I'm constantly reintroducing myself, you know, like the
Speaker 3: conversation about music videos. It comes up in every single interview.
Speaker 1: That I do. And some people are like, isn't she
Speaker 1: tired of talking about it?
Speaker 3: I'm like, it depends on which angle we come at
Speaker 3: it from. But there are sometimes where I'm just like,
Speaker 3: can we focus just on this because I feel like,
Speaker 3: you know, be careful how you introduce yourself to the world,
Speaker 3: because it'll never let you forget it kind of thing. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I feel like that's that's my cross to bear, you know.
Speaker 1: And like I said, well, I think you're wearing it well,
Speaker 1: like you're you're even listening to hot and unbothered. It's
Speaker 1: it's like you're a very pro woman's cham. I think
Speaker 1: women need to ack knowledge that more than anything. And
Speaker 1: I think we know that, yeah from you. I think
Speaker 1: if anything is and I don't even know if men
Speaker 1: shade like that, but I feel like, more like even
Speaker 1: hearing that this consultant came in a room, I'm guessing
Speaker 1: he was a guy. Yes, maybe Yes, it seems like
Speaker 1: the guys are maybe hating because everything that you stand
Speaker 1: for seems to be pro woman and pro unity with
Speaker 1: women and owning ourselves and with.
Speaker 3: A real focus on health, wellness and mental health.
Speaker 1: That that's my lane.
Speaker 2: That is where I thrive.
Speaker 3: That is where I am a conduit, and I use
Speaker 3: my experiences and I use my storytelling abilities to make
Speaker 3: people see feel seen.
Speaker 1: And heard and represented. That's why I'm here. That feels
Speaker 1: like very purposeful for me.
Speaker 3: You know, So the hate will come from all directions,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. Like, you know, I've been
Speaker 3: accused of not being a girl's girl. I was like,
Speaker 3: what the fuck does that even mean? Like, look, yeah,
Speaker 3: there's gonna be females out here that don't like me,
Speaker 3: trust and believe, I can name quite a few that
Speaker 3: I don't fucking like either. But that doesn't mean that
Speaker 3: I don't care about women's issues. That doesn't mean that
Speaker 3: I don't want to educate women on you know, young
Speaker 3: women on what's coming down the pipeline, so they don't
Speaker 3: have to suffer like the fuck like I had to
Speaker 3: suffer and my girlfriends had to where we had to
Speaker 3: biohack our bodies to figure out what the's going on.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Well, what do you want
Speaker 1: your listeners to gain from hoh and unbothered?
Speaker 3: It's informative, it is compelling content. I'm going to have
Speaker 3: medical doctors and experts, but I'm also going to have
Speaker 3: I'm going to have story, like, you know, stories of
Speaker 3: just like just real people. Like one episode that I
Speaker 3: want to do is with my girlfriend Nicole. She's this beautiful,
Speaker 3: beautiful chocolate woman. She's just oh, she's just warmth, just
Speaker 3: the you know, just this smile, this treasure cat smile.
Speaker 3: And she's fifty two years old and she just had
Speaker 3: her third open heart surgery.
Speaker 1: But she's also a nurse.
Speaker 3: And when I was at the hospital visiting her, I
Speaker 3: had never seen anybody advocate for them selves the way
Speaker 3: she knew how because she she could read her own
Speaker 3: chart and say I'm not doing this, I'm not doing this.
Speaker 3: And what that taught me was how much malpractice actually
Speaker 3: happens in hospitals and scared the shit out of me.
Speaker 1: And so I want her to come on.
Speaker 3: This show to teach people how to advocate for themselves
Speaker 3: when it comes to dealing with doctors and understanding doctors
Speaker 3: are not God, even though some of them may think
Speaker 3: that that's what I want to do. I want to
Speaker 3: I want to, you know, create episodes that have stories
Speaker 3: that people feel kind of run parallel to their own
Speaker 3: lives and just you know, have this kind of sense
Speaker 3: of of I don't know, symbiosis.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I like that. I love the show.
Speaker 1: I'm going to continue listening to it and maybe you
Speaker 1: know email you now.
Speaker 3: That I have that's like, ready, I do not have
Speaker 3: a coke problem. I know, I keep scratching my note, but.
Speaker 1: It's like I swear to God, allergy.
Speaker 3: My allergy are kicking my fucking ass right now. And
Speaker 3: it's probably because I think it's.
Speaker 1: The Sirocha, but I don't want to know something. This
Speaker 1: was amazing. I just want to thank you so much
Speaker 1: for your time. I wanted you from a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, so it was great, Like it's just timing
Speaker 1: it finally finally worked out. Thank you so much, and
Speaker 1: this dish I know you said it's the broke man Sushi.
Speaker 1: Uh maybe the broke Man's Chinese, but I think it
Speaker 1: was absolutely terrific for all y'all out there. Easy quick
Speaker 1: dish under a couple of bucks, fulfilling and tasty. And
Speaker 1: I think, Melissa, you won't go home and hack this
Speaker 1: at least once this week? I might, I might.
Speaker 2: This is this is this is pretty fantastic. I forgot
Speaker 2: all about this dish, but great.
Speaker 1: Hat And thank you for being so transparent about your journey.
Speaker 2: Of course, of course, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, and you could check out Melissa Ford
Speaker 1: unbothered Hot and unbothered.
Speaker 3: And bothered hot, and this is just bothered hot and
Speaker 3: bothered with Melissa Ford on all your DSPs and on YouTube.
Speaker 3: So just go to my Instagram page and click the
Speaker 3: links and we'll bring it right there.
Speaker 1: And then I think if we DM you enough, you'll
Speaker 1: start selling those shirts.
Speaker 2: Oh no, it's happening. It's happening. I'm hot, You're bothered exactly.
Speaker 1: Peace out, y'all. For more eating while broke from iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: and The Black Effect, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,