Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome to your favorite podcast, Cheeky's and Chill.
Speaker 1: I'm Cheeky's. I hope that you know that by now,
Speaker 1: but if this is your first time listening into the podcast, welcome.
Speaker 1: We love new listeners, so thank you so much. And
Speaker 1: I hope you're feeling good, and I hope you're having
Speaker 1: a great day today. And I'm feeling good. Actually, I'm
Speaker 1: having a very very good day, and I'm very excited
Speaker 1: because what I have to share about is something that's
Speaker 1: very dear to me, something very new and different, and
Speaker 1: it has to do with a new book. And it's
Speaker 1: called The Girl who Sings to Bees and it happens
Speaker 1: to be my first children's book. Guys, it's my fourth book,
Speaker 1: but it's my first children's book, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about it because I think some people are like, uh,
Speaker 1: why maybe, But those that know me know that I'm
Speaker 1: very good with children. Kids always are very drawn to me.
Speaker 1: Maybe because I'm an older sister and a lot of
Speaker 1: people grew up watching me on our reality shows and
Speaker 1: me being like a second mother and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I am really good with the children,
Speaker 1: and this idea came to me like eight years ago,
Speaker 1: and it's something that God put in my heart. And
Speaker 1: I didn't feel ready then, I guess, and now I
Speaker 1: feel ready. I don't know if it has to do
Speaker 1: with my age or where I am in my life,
Speaker 1: but it just all happened, I feel at the very
Speaker 1: right time. So I am excited to share this with
Speaker 1: you guys, and share what it's about and why I
Speaker 1: wrote it. So, like I said, it is called The
Speaker 1: Girl who Sings to Bees, and I love bees. If
Speaker 1: you didn't know that already, well now you know. But
Speaker 1: I love bees and I have boss by Nation, and
Speaker 1: I love the story of a bee, and you know,
Speaker 1: and I've talked about it plenty of times, and I
Speaker 1: just knew eight years ago, about eight years ago when
Speaker 1: I thought about this, Actually no, I'm lying, more like
Speaker 1: seven six years ago. I knew that I want it
Speaker 1: to be about bullying. It was either going to be
Speaker 1: about bullying my children's book, or it was going to
Speaker 1: be about Have you guys ever read that story The
Speaker 1: Little Engine That Could? I read that book when I
Speaker 1: was a little girls, one of my favorite books, and
Speaker 1: you know, the little engine said, and the little train said,
Speaker 1: I can, I can, I can I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1: So I kind of had that idea of you know,
Speaker 1: I was struggling in my life and so many people
Speaker 1: thought I wouldn't make it, or I couldn't make it,
Speaker 1: or I shouldn't or whatever it is. And I had
Speaker 1: a lot of adversity. So that's kind of how it started.
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, I'm going to show myself that I can.
Speaker 1: And I wanted to, you know, write a children's book
Speaker 1: so that children can know the power that they have
Speaker 1: within themselves. And with that also came the bullying, and
Speaker 1: I felt like with social media and stuff, that became
Speaker 1: more prominent to me where I'm like, okay, this is
Speaker 1: this is a real issue that we're living because I
Speaker 1: dealt with bullying my whole life when there was no
Speaker 1: social media, and then social media came, and then it
Speaker 1: was even more so, and I started noticing that it
Speaker 1: wasn't just me. There are you know, internet trolls, mean
Speaker 1: people that just want to talk mess and I felt like,
Speaker 1: this is a real issue and it starts with our children.
Speaker 1: Something that I'm passionate about is something that I've experienced,
Speaker 1: something that I see other people experience, and we have
Speaker 1: to nip it in the bud. And that's why I
Speaker 1: decided to write this book because it starts in schools,
Speaker 1: it starts with the kids. It obviously starts at home.
Speaker 1: Parents need to speak to their children about it, about
Speaker 1: not being mean or you know, bullying other children and stuff.
Speaker 1: In my mind, I'm like, if I were to write
Speaker 1: a book and go to the schools and read the
Speaker 1: book to the kids, then maybe I'll just plant a
Speaker 1: little seed. And that's where the passion came from. And
Speaker 1: I did think, I'm like, should I wait until I
Speaker 1: have kids to write a children's book? Is it going
Speaker 1: to make sense? And I'm like, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: going to try it and if it happens, and it's
Speaker 1: meant to be, and that's it. And it happened, you know.
Speaker 1: I pitched it to my book agent and she pitched
Speaker 1: it to publishers and they were happy and excited about it,
Speaker 1: and I said, okay, cool. It's crazy because it takes
Speaker 1: a while to get all this going, you know. So
Speaker 1: I've been working on this for about almost three years
Speaker 1: now and it's barely going to come out now in July.
Speaker 1: And I'm really excited because that's what it's about it's
Speaker 1: fiction but real at the same time, and let me
Speaker 1: read it. I'm going to read a little like summary.
Speaker 1: I guess for you guys of what the book is
Speaker 1: going to be about. So it says Janee and her
Speaker 1: mom always sang together to help the flowers in a
Speaker 1: Wilita's garden grow, but now her mom is gone and
Speaker 1: Janey's song is stuck somewhere deep inside. Bullies at school
Speaker 1: don't help. Every day, Janey watches one particular beat in
Speaker 1: a Wilita's garden, working harder than the others, focused and unafraid.
Speaker 1: The tiny bee doesn't give up. Janey begins to feel
Speaker 1: inspired by the hard working beat as the season's change,
Speaker 1: until one afternoon, media escapes her lips and Jane's song
Speaker 1: once again fills the air in the garden, and when
Speaker 1: the music begins, her mom's song sing through her heart,
Speaker 1: giving Janee the strength to overcome her fears and sing
Speaker 1: loudly and proudly to the bees and beyond. So you
Speaker 1: kind of get what the book is about. I was
Speaker 1: very close to my grandma. She helped raise me, so
Speaker 1: I felt the need to include her because my grandma,
Speaker 1: as I was growing up, was very important to me.
Speaker 1: I always said like she was kind of like my
Speaker 1: first mom because my mom was so young and my
Speaker 1: grandma had to take care of me while mom went
Speaker 1: to school and worked. So I had a very close
Speaker 1: relationship with my grandma. And although my grandma didn't have
Speaker 1: a garden, it was more like in the kitchen. But
Speaker 1: I wanted to kind of bring in the bees because
Speaker 1: I love bees and I love their story, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to kind of show how my boss bees inspire
Speaker 1: me to become my best self, even though there are
Speaker 1: mean people that come and try to distance and disturb
Speaker 1: your peace and bully you and say that you can't.
Speaker 1: But the bees inspired me and so which is why
Speaker 1: I put it in the book, because a bee inspired me.
Speaker 1: And yes, my mom is in heaven, so I felt
Speaker 1: the need to, you know, talk about that and how
Speaker 1: although my mom hasn't been here physically for twelve years,
Speaker 1: she has definitely especially on stage. In the beginning of
Speaker 1: my career, I was so afraid. I was so scared.
Speaker 1: I didn't believe in myself, especially because there were so
Speaker 1: many people saying so many mean things about me. But
Speaker 1: then I would close my eyes and I'm like Mom,
Speaker 1: I know that I'm here, I'm meant to be here,
Speaker 1: help me. And for so long, I felt like it
Speaker 1: wasn't even me on stage in the beginning of my career,
Speaker 1: it was my mom, like would move me. And I
Speaker 1: know that sounds so crazy, but I felt that, and
Speaker 1: I felt like the only way I'm going to get
Speaker 1: through this is with my mom's strength from heaven. We
Speaker 1: will have a Spanish version as well, so there's English
Speaker 1: and Spanish, and the illustrations are beautiful, guys, and I'm
Speaker 1: really looking forward to this. I'm looking forward to you know,
Speaker 1: if you heard the first episode of this fourth season,
Speaker 1: you'll kind of know where I'm at. And if you
Speaker 1: haven't heard it, go listen to it. But I just
Speaker 1: feel like this is just the tone of what to
Speaker 1: this year twenty twenty five feels like for me. And
Speaker 1: I'm not necessarily planning a tour for music right now
Speaker 1: or recording an album right now, but I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm going to fill that void in a way with
Speaker 1: going on tour to different schools and reading the book
Speaker 1: to kids, and when it comes out, the children will
Speaker 1: be out of school, but I'm hoping I can start
Speaker 1: that tour in September when they start school again August September.
Speaker 1: But I'm really excited. I'm excited to go to these
Speaker 1: schools and speak to these kids and tell them everything
Speaker 1: that I went through and how I didn't even believe
Speaker 1: in myself, oh for so long, because yes, there were
Speaker 1: so many naysayers and toxic voices that I call them around,
Speaker 1: But I believed in myself, and there was that little
Speaker 1: voice that for a long time was my mom, but
Speaker 1: then it became my own voice. And that's what you
Speaker 1: guys will be able to see in the book. And
Speaker 1: there's a lot of little hidden messages and little hidden
Speaker 1: gems in the book why I chose certain flowers, and
Speaker 1: I'll get deeper into that once the book is launched,
Speaker 1: but it all is there for a reason. You'll see
Speaker 1: pictures or the illustration has a picture of my grandma,
Speaker 1: and my grandma does have short hair, and my mom.
Speaker 1: But the thing that I didn't add was my mom's mole.
Speaker 1: You know, she had like that mole next to her eye,
Speaker 1: and I didn't add it. You know, I did that
Speaker 1: purposely because I wanted to be my mom, But then
Speaker 1: I don't. But it is my story. And then it's not,
Speaker 1: you know, because I just I wanted to make it
Speaker 1: soft and for children. And actually someone asked me the
Speaker 1: other day, will this be the only children's book that
Speaker 1: I publish? And I don't think so. I have other ideas.
Speaker 1: I'd love to come out with a different children's book
Speaker 1: about Pancho. This is exclusive here, Okay, only the Cheese
Speaker 1: and Chill podcast listeners will know about this. But Pancho
Speaker 1: is very dear to me, and Pancho my dog, by
Speaker 1: the way, and Pancho came into my life when I
Speaker 1: was very depressed and he came and I feel like
Speaker 1: saved my life and he is exactly what I needed
Speaker 1: in that time and now, and I think there's so
Speaker 1: much healing through through pets, and so I want to
Speaker 1: write a children's book about my punch Eito and hopefully
Speaker 1: to inspire other people. And it's going to be him.
Speaker 1: He's going to be talking about what it is to
Speaker 1: be my son and what he feels when I feel
Speaker 1: sad and stuff like that, because he's there for me.
Speaker 1: So I think there's something here, guys. And definitely with
Speaker 1: the soft era that I've mentioned, Like I said in
Speaker 1: the first episode, I feel like this is the perfect
Speaker 1: project for me this year, and it's kind of like
Speaker 1: setting the tone for everything that I want, which is
Speaker 1: hopefully becoming a mother this year as well. And I
Speaker 1: feel like it's all just falling into place and it's happening,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, at the perfect time, and I can't wait.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait for you guys to read it. And
Speaker 1: even like, when you guys see the cover of the book,
Speaker 1: you'll see that the little girl's wearing those little bolita's
Speaker 1: a little hair ties with the little balls. That's all
Speaker 1: I wore when I was little. My mom put tons
Speaker 1: and tons of them in my hair. So there's little
Speaker 1: things that it is cheeky's, but it's not cheeky's and
Speaker 1: it's my story. So so you guys, once you read it,
Speaker 1: you'll see and maybe I can read just a little
Speaker 1: bit one page for you guys, because there was one
Speaker 1: when I was looking at it right now that stood
Speaker 1: out to me. There's also even pictures of my mom
Speaker 1: and I as well, like real pictures, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: you guys have seen on the internet if you guys
Speaker 1: follow me on social media. I also wrote an author's
Speaker 1: note there, you know, a note to my readers, from
Speaker 1: the bottom of my heart. I'm going to read one
Speaker 1: little part for you guys. Like my mother, I will
Speaker 1: sing in this garden and like the flowers, maybe one
Speaker 1: day I can bloom too. And that's really what I felt,
Speaker 1: guys when I started singing. It's like, this is something
Speaker 1: that I want to do and I want to try.
Speaker 1: And I was very scared because people would compare me
Speaker 1: to my mom and say that I couldn't and all
Speaker 1: this stuff. And I even felt at times that I couldn't.
Speaker 1: But there was something deeper, something bigger, that was telling
Speaker 1: me this is what I was meant to do. And
Speaker 1: I'm glad that I listened to that because I kept thinking.
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, no, I'm not my mom. I
Speaker 1: don't want to be like my mom, but I want
Speaker 1: to take those things that inspired me to become who
Speaker 1: I meant to be from my mom, and yeah, maybe
Speaker 1: one day I will bloom. And I feel like I
Speaker 1: have I can look back and say, wow, I made
Speaker 1: it through those rough times and if I could do it,
Speaker 1: so could you, you know. And that's what I really,
Speaker 1: really truly feel. I feel like everything that I've gone
Speaker 1: through in my life is so that I can share
Speaker 1: the knowledge and the things that I've learned and how
Speaker 1: I grew and you know, share those tools with you guys,
Speaker 1: with the people that listen to me, that read my books,
Speaker 1: that you know, listen to my music, that listen to
Speaker 1: my podcast, you know all these things. I feel like
Speaker 1: this is my mission and I always talk about it
Speaker 1: here on a podcast because I really truly believe it.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't always easy, and that's what this book
Speaker 1: is all about. This book is definitely intended for kids,
Speaker 1: but it helped me heal the little girl inside of me,
Speaker 1: you know, my inner child. And it's so crazy because
Speaker 1: last year when I went on this spiritual retreat and
Speaker 1: a twenty twenty four, I still hadn't gotten the yes
Speaker 1: from the publisher that we were going to do it.
Speaker 1: We were still in conversations and writing it and like
Speaker 1: the whole thing, and I remember, it's crazy. I remember
Speaker 1: when I was in my experience when I went to go,
Speaker 1: you know, do the shrooms, the mushrooms. I took the
Speaker 1: medicine because it's medicine. Guys. I saw a little girl
Speaker 1: that looks like the little girl in this book, and
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's just so crazy, Like I definitely
Speaker 1: am healing my inner child and helping her heal through
Speaker 1: things that we went through, but also it's helping me
Speaker 1: heal as a woman. I don't know if that makes sense,
Speaker 1: but it's just it's just part of the divine plan.
Speaker 1: And this is where I'm like, God, you are so good.
Speaker 1: You are showing up and showing off in my life
Speaker 1: because I couldn't even like plan this the way it happened.
Speaker 1: And even if I could, you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 1: I couldn't like it. It's all just happening. And I
Speaker 1: feel like once I went to that experience and I
Speaker 1: hugged the little Janet because I literally did. When I
Speaker 1: was there, I cried and I hugged myself. If you
Speaker 1: guys haven't hugged yourself like, you should try it, Like
Speaker 1: you just literally put your hands around your shoulders and
Speaker 1: just hug yourself and it feels so freaking good. And
Speaker 1: I learned that there at that retreat, and so many
Speaker 1: things have been flowing for me since then. So it's
Speaker 1: just it's I don't know, it's just it's a part
Speaker 1: of what I'm meant to do now and where I'm
Speaker 1: at in my life, and yes it is for children,
Speaker 1: but I know for sure adults can read it and
Speaker 1: feel inspired and feel like, you know what, I can
Speaker 1: do it. I'll be okay, you know, because I know,
Speaker 1: unfortunately there are children out there that maybe have lost
Speaker 1: their mother or their father, or maybe their mother left them,
Speaker 1: or you know, like and this is where you can
Speaker 1: just hold on to someone one and know that you
Speaker 1: are loved and that you can surpass anything in everything.
Speaker 1: So the publisher wanted it to just be in the
Speaker 1: English version because books sell more in English. But to
Speaker 1: me it was very important because all of the rest
Speaker 1: of my other books are both English and Spanish. We
Speaker 1: have versions in English and Spanish. I felt the need
Speaker 1: to definitely have it in Spanish. And it's doing very
Speaker 1: very well with pre order. So I'm so glad that we,
Speaker 1: you know, have the English and the Spanish version, because yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, if I would buy both. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: bilingual and I want to read it to my child,
Speaker 1: to my baby in English and in Spanish, so I
Speaker 1: fought for that. It was important for me to have
Speaker 1: it in Spanish as well, because my audience is bi lingual,
Speaker 1: and you know, a lot of them speak Spanish. So
Speaker 1: I don't know if I've ever told you guys here
Speaker 1: on the podcast. I'm sure I have because I talk
Speaker 1: about my boards and stuff. But back in two thousand
Speaker 1: and nine, I want to say, in nine, my mom
Speaker 1: was still alive. I was like really into vision boards
Speaker 1: and I put a picture of a book because I've
Speaker 1: always loved books. I love reading books. I just I
Speaker 1: love the way they smell. I'm the type that definitely
Speaker 1: prefers physical books versus having it all like on the
Speaker 1: phone and stuff. Anyways, So when I had this idea
Speaker 1: or this desire to write a book way back when
Speaker 1: I never knew what it was going to be about,
Speaker 1: I just knew I wanted a book. I wanted to
Speaker 1: be an author. And then everything happened in my life
Speaker 1: and there were things that I needed to clear up.
Speaker 1: And that's how you know, my first memoir was born,
Speaker 1: and was because I needed to clear some things up
Speaker 1: and talk about things and tell my truth. So that's
Speaker 1: why you know it was important to me, Yes, because
Speaker 1: I wanted to be an author to write about what
Speaker 1: was going on in my life and clear things up
Speaker 1: and then follow up with you know, Unstoppable. But before then,
Speaker 1: we had the Keto book, and you know, that's recipes
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. But the second memoir was because
Speaker 1: again things were being said that were untrue and I
Speaker 1: was going through divorce and I said, you know what,
Speaker 1: like I need to quietly and in my way heal
Speaker 1: my heart and explain what I'm going through in a memoir.
Speaker 1: So that's why I did Unstoppable. But this is completely
Speaker 1: one hundred percent different. Because when people were asking me,
Speaker 1: you know, in interviews, what do you have, what's coming next,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I'm writing a book. They thought, oh,
Speaker 1: it's going to be another memoir and I was like, no,
Speaker 1: it's completely different from what I've already done, and it
Speaker 1: is completely different. And I just I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't want to like explain myself anymore. I don't feel
Speaker 1: like I need to clear anything up. I don't even
Speaker 1: care what people think, Like, I don't know. I'm in
Speaker 1: such a different part of my life, and I don't
Speaker 1: regret writing the books that I already wrote. That's what
Speaker 1: I had to do in that season of my life,
Speaker 1: and I'm happy I did, and I closed that book
Speaker 1: and that chapter, those chapters in my life. So this
Speaker 1: is just like a new bie beginning for me, where
Speaker 1: it's it's just a different era in every way, like
Speaker 1: I want to go back to before I started singing,
Speaker 1: and you know, really tap into my mission in this world,
Speaker 1: and this is part of it. These are things that
Speaker 1: I've had in my heart for a long time, and
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm starting like this new life. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: I don't even know if I'm making sense right now,
Speaker 1: but I just it's definitely soft Girl era and this
Speaker 1: is the beginning, and this is the first step. This
Speaker 1: book is kind of like stepping into that fully, and
Speaker 1: it just feels really good. It feels so different. I'm
Speaker 1: excited to do, you know, the media tour and talk
Speaker 1: about it and explain all these things. And I'm glad
Speaker 1: that we're starting here on the podcast first, because yeah,
Speaker 1: this is something very special, very very special for me.
Speaker 1: It's not going to be the last one for sure.
Speaker 1: So be excited, guys. Put intended be excited for this
Speaker 1: book if you have children or not. I think it's
Speaker 1: just a good book to have and to read. Again,
Speaker 1: it is intended for children, but I think adults will
Speaker 1: enjoy it and resonate with it. And yeah, guys, I
Speaker 1: hope that you enjoyed this episode, Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: And I just wanted to kind of, you know, talk
Speaker 1: about why you know, a little bit deeper than I
Speaker 1: did on my social media when I announced it. So
Speaker 1: thank you guys again for listening. And yeah, you can
Speaker 1: pre order it now anywhere. Really, So thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much. And I yeah, I will see you here
Speaker 1: or you will hear me on the next episode of
Speaker 1: Cheeky's and Chill Guys. Let's get on show. This is
Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio and the Micudura podcast Network. Follow
Speaker 1: us on Instagram at Michael Dura Podcasts, then follow me Cheeky's,
Speaker 1: That's c chiqui S. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit
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