Speaker 1: Carola. She's a queen of talking. He was son. She's
Speaker 1: only yes, actually got the snoop on on the on side.
Speaker 1: No one can do within clid my Carala Carolina, no
Speaker 1: one can do win quiet Caroline Carola. Hey, y'all, welcome
Speaker 1: to Hyper Caroline Hobby. I am your host, Caroline Hobby.
Speaker 1: I know music, I know people, and I know the
Speaker 1: questions do you want to ask? So let's get hyper
Speaker 1: heads up. These are adults having adult conversations, so there
Speaker 1: could be adult content. You guys, I am pumped, beyond
Speaker 1: pumped for this episode. It is my girl, Amara Hall.
Speaker 1: This woman is one of the most enlightened, wise, thoughtful, spiritual,
Speaker 1: yet cool and badass edgy. She absolutely is in touch
Speaker 1: with her soul, her calling, her spirit, all of that,
Speaker 1: and she's also just the most enjoyable, incredible person to
Speaker 1: be around. Has so much wisdom. She's a spoken word artist.
Speaker 1: She actually is making her debut with Me at My
Speaker 1: I'm having a podcast launch party on May seventeenth, So
Speaker 1: the week after this episode airs, Amara is going to
Speaker 1: be doing a spoken word concert at Aurora downtown Nashville.
Speaker 1: So if you guys are in Nashville, make sure you
Speaker 1: come because she's going to be gracing us with her
Speaker 1: talent and she is just the bomb dot com. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited for you guys to hear what she has
Speaker 1: to say. So here is a Mara Hall. I'm here
Speaker 1: with the incredible Amara Hall. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Otherwise known as a mix between my Angelou Oprah and
Speaker 1: then a lot of other women in your life. But
Speaker 1: you like go side by side. That's a lot. First,
Speaker 1: I know you have, but I literally, ever since I've
Speaker 1: known you, you have wisdom, like wisdom, like soul wisdom.
Speaker 1: I don't know where it comes from. It's from like
Speaker 1: lifetimes passed down to you or something totally totally. I
Speaker 1: actually feel that way a lot, and I think it's
Speaker 1: just from the women I've met in my life. Man,
Speaker 1: They've just they've been incredibly strong, they've been incredibly driven,
Speaker 1: they've been you know, they've done a lot of things
Speaker 1: on their own. They've been mothers and fathers at times,
Speaker 1: and they've you know, traveled from across the world to
Speaker 1: raise babies and um, yeah, they've been awesome. Tell me
Speaker 1: about the women in your life. Tell me about your upbringing. Well,
Speaker 1: West Baltimore born and raised don't want to playground. Um,
Speaker 1: I did enjoy the playground, but I was born. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, I love the monkey bars. I was a
Speaker 1: kickballer once the guys figured out that, like, if they
Speaker 1: had me on their team, we'd probably win because you
Speaker 1: had to pick girls. But then they were like the
Speaker 1: girls that you didn't really want on your team anyway. Um.
Speaker 1: I grew up in West Baltimore. Um, I mean, I
Speaker 1: guess I had a pretty normal childhood mom dad. Um
Speaker 1: had a mommy and a daddy. Not to say there's
Speaker 1: anything wrong with having two mommies or two daddies. Um,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I don't know. I I'm trying to think,
Speaker 1: like what to even say about my childhood. Tell me
Speaker 1: about your mom and your grandmother, because I know they
Speaker 1: profoundly impacted you. So Norma Jean, who's my mother? She
Speaker 1: there's whimpering throughout this interview. It's maybe the dog she
Speaker 1: has back Arthur Ridday. She's got Boo Boo's got some
Speaker 1: issues right now, and we're just but you know what,
Speaker 1: We're gonna just let her s out. She needs to say, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: she needs to speak up. If you hear a little cry,
Speaker 1: no one's dying. She's actually just she just doesn't know
Speaker 1: what's going on. She's on a lot of payments because
Speaker 1: her poor back has major arthritis. I know. Sorry, baby, Okay,
Speaker 1: we love you about Norma. So Norma Jean. Uh, let's
Speaker 1: see we So my parents split up. I was in
Speaker 1: eighth grade and we were moving into a new house.
Speaker 1: So is my mother, my brother, my sister, and myself.
Speaker 1: Did you know your parents were having troubles or was
Speaker 1: it like kind of dropped on you? It was I
Speaker 1: didn't really know. I mean, I guess there's always that
Speaker 1: sense of you know, you have a sense like, oh,
Speaker 1: my parents are fighting and this doesn't feel good. But
Speaker 1: I didn't know, Oh my gosh, they're divorcing and we're
Speaker 1: going to move. Is that pretty heavy? When that happened,
Speaker 1: it was heavy, But I've always been I'm the middle child,
Speaker 1: so I'm the peacemaker and I'm the you know, make
Speaker 1: everybody off and lighten the mood and let's think about
Speaker 1: what's going right, not about what's going wrong, um in
Speaker 1: my family. So I feel like I this happened, and
Speaker 1: I was upset and I was distraught, and I was
Speaker 1: also I just decided, you know what, you gotta keep
Speaker 1: things moving. So we in eighth grade and have that
Speaker 1: wisdom is kind of it's kind of crazy, like who think,
Speaker 1: um me, yeah, I it's it's interesting talking about it
Speaker 1: because when it's happening, you're not really you know, that's
Speaker 1: that's just kind of how I operate. So I didn't
Speaker 1: think it was strange. Um, And then you know, four
Speaker 1: years later when you're dealing with it, when you're eighteen,
Speaker 1: you're like, oh my gosh, why do I have this
Speaker 1: weird perspective of guys? And why do I just want
Speaker 1: people to love me? You know, when you're like trying
Speaker 1: to figure out where all these emotions are coming from
Speaker 1: that you've stuffed, they always come out. So I was
Speaker 1: a stuffer, but I understood that I've got a stuff
Speaker 1: it right now because I have this incredible opportunity ahead
Speaker 1: of me. I was going into this awesome private school,
Speaker 1: um that I didn't want to go to because I
Speaker 1: didn't want to wear a uniform because I was a
Speaker 1: public school girl, and public school girls don't really mess
Speaker 1: with private school girls. Not to say there's anything wrong
Speaker 1: with that, because I became one. So I I go
Speaker 1: to this school, I get this scholarship to play basketball. Um,
Speaker 1: and or I'm sorry it was a leadership scholarship, but
Speaker 1: it was a scholarship to play basketball. And I just
Speaker 1: dove in, you know, I just I used every opportunity
Speaker 1: I had to not think about what wasn't going wrong,
Speaker 1: you know. At home, it was just like, okay, you've
Speaker 1: got a choice here. You can sit here in the
Speaker 1: mess and just talk about the mess. Because you know,
Speaker 1: my mother was very vocal. She was very you know,
Speaker 1: vocal about what was happening to her and how she felt.
Speaker 1: It was totally and that's my dad. And so it's like, well, jeez,
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't know all this was going on,
Speaker 1: but um it totally like my mother is this picture
Speaker 1: of of grace and of mercy, like her story is.
Speaker 1: So it's so wonderful to know my mother from eighth
Speaker 1: grade to now, you know what I mean. And you
Speaker 1: I've seen her evolved too, and you come into this
Speaker 1: place where, oh my gosh, Norma Jean was Norma Jean
Speaker 1: before she had me, you know, and before she met
Speaker 1: my father William, you know. And so just to think
Speaker 1: about her doing the best she can with what the
Speaker 1: knowledge she had, says what did she say do the
Speaker 1: best you can and tell you know better until you
Speaker 1: know better, and when you know better, do better and
Speaker 1: yeah yeah family, Yeah, wow, okay, cool. So you're always
Speaker 1: making these I mean, I love it. I love my Angelo.
Speaker 1: I definitely don't put myself on the same echelon, but
Speaker 1: I love you. You don't yet because you don't see
Speaker 1: what I see yet. But I feel so blessed to
Speaker 1: have known you before you become this thing that everyone's
Speaker 1: going to know because you're so rare. There's something about
Speaker 1: you that is so rare and so divinely inspired. Thanks
Speaker 1: girl that I know, as long as you keep taking
Speaker 1: the steps that you have been, your life will impact
Speaker 1: in such a big way exactly how it's supposed to
Speaker 1: thank you, And I would be shocked if it was
Speaker 1: was not on the same level with Oprah and my
Speaker 1: Angela and Alicia Keys. I received that. I just like
Speaker 1: to say, I received that. I'm reading this book right
Speaker 1: now and it's talking about, like, you know how when
Speaker 1: people it's talking about letting go of self deprecating humor
Speaker 1: and when people give you compliments, say thank you. You know,
Speaker 1: I feel like we have a lot of trouble accepting compliments,
Speaker 1: So thank you. Thanks back to Normine. Okay, so right,
Speaker 1: what I'm in high school, Norman Jean is totally like
Speaker 1: rocking my world. Not to mention Eugenia, who's my grandmother?
Speaker 1: Who she you know, third parent? Picking me up from school,
Speaker 1: taking me to this practice, taking me to that practice. Um,
Speaker 1: Grandma's house was like after school camp for me and
Speaker 1: my cousins and my brother and my sister. She um
Speaker 1: picked all of us up and we would go to
Speaker 1: our house and when our parents were done with school,
Speaker 1: they pick us, I mean done with work, they'd pick
Speaker 1: us up. And it was the best because you walk
Speaker 1: into grandma's house and it's like, Okay, you're either going
Speaker 1: to watch the Sound of Music, which was like the
Speaker 1: only VHS she had, or you know, we're gonna like
Speaker 1: play cards, or like we were just always doing stuff together. Um.
Speaker 1: And so I feel like they just both instilled this
Speaker 1: this need for community, you know, this need to like
Speaker 1: be there for my brothers and sisters. Um, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna say brothers and sisters instead of cousins. But I mean,
Speaker 1: like all of us were just this big group of
Speaker 1: close knit people, and especially when I got into high school,
Speaker 1: I started to realize that there are a lot of
Speaker 1: families that don't like their family. Yeah, that was like
Speaker 1: so feign to me. I was like, wait, what, I
Speaker 1: don't want to hang out with them? Yeah? Right, And
Speaker 1: like I can understand that with your parents because we
Speaker 1: all go through that. I went through that not wanting
Speaker 1: to hang out with my mom, And now right now
Speaker 1: I'm like wishing for the day when we live in
Speaker 1: the same city again and I can just like go
Speaker 1: and curl up. And you know, hey, mom, going on, Um,
Speaker 1: what do you think the biggest pieces of wisdom that
Speaker 1: your mom and your grandmother in particular instilled in you, Like,
Speaker 1: because you have so much confidence and you're so wise.
Speaker 1: My mother was a praying mother period end of story.
Speaker 1: And my father it's a praying father. Every night before
Speaker 1: I went to bed, I heard you are the head
Speaker 1: and not the tail. You are above only and not beneath.
Speaker 1: You are the daughter of a king. I heard that
Speaker 1: every single night before I went to sleep. And I
Speaker 1: had a mother who I knew was praying for me.
Speaker 1: Every morning I'd wake up and she'd be praying over
Speaker 1: me before she yeah, I know, seriously, before she went
Speaker 1: to work, prayer to check the church box. Check like
Speaker 1: like even now, I'll wake up if I'm at home
Speaker 1: for Christmas. When i wake up before my mom goes
Speaker 1: out to do whatever, She's got her hand like on
Speaker 1: my foot at the end of the bed and it's
Speaker 1: like praying over me and then she goes and yeah,
Speaker 1: so yeah, but that's just it instilled a real faith
Speaker 1: in you. Yeah, yeah, like definitely a faith in yourself,
Speaker 1: you know, and knowing that you have a light inside
Speaker 1: of you that cannot be distinguished based on I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: cannot be extinguished what's that word put out? Thank you
Speaker 1: by circumstances and you knew that it cannot it doesn't matter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you knew you were divinely made from a young age,
Speaker 1: and you had this connection to your own faith from
Speaker 1: a young age, absolutely, and you believed it and walked it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Most people don't have that strong connection. I feel like
Speaker 1: a lot don't. Yeah. I mean, and I'm still I'm still,
Speaker 1: you know, trying and trying to figure out what that is,
Speaker 1: and you know all of it. I think it's a
Speaker 1: it's a day by day decision. And I was very,
Speaker 1: very blessed just to have parents that understood that you
Speaker 1: speak truth over your children, You speak what you want
Speaker 1: for them, you can actually speak over their lives. And
Speaker 1: I grew up watching that. And then my grandmother, I'll
Speaker 1: never forget it. It was her eighty five birthday because
Speaker 1: we threw a surprise party and you know, all the
Speaker 1: kids we did this like little We did a little
Speaker 1: skit because that's what we did, and we just i
Speaker 1: mean growing up, it was like our parents must be
Speaker 1: so sick of us. We just put on plays, we
Speaker 1: put on shows, we put on variety, comedy hours, whatever.
Speaker 1: And we had just finished with Grandma and she was,
Speaker 1: you know, we were like speech, speech, speech, and she goes,
Speaker 1: a life lived for others is the only life worth living.
Speaker 1: And you all are a testament to that. And I mean, oh, never, ever, ever, ever,
Speaker 1: ever forget that, especially in such a selfish world that
Speaker 1: we live in. I mean, I feel like, especially our culture,
Speaker 1: you know, it's very self driven to have influences who
Speaker 1: are saying live for others and who you respect preaching
Speaker 1: that like that is something that's very good advice. And woe.
Speaker 1: So when did you discover your gift of words? Because
Speaker 1: to me, you are the only person I've ever met
Speaker 1: who does spoken word and it flows out of you
Speaker 1: like just a river running. And you've been doing it
Speaker 1: since high school. You're in competition, like you and I
Speaker 1: want you to read some of it here. But where
Speaker 1: when did you start realizing you had this gift? And
Speaker 1: when did you start taking the leap of faith to
Speaker 1: pursue it? I recall a day. Um. Okay, So I
Speaker 1: grew up always having a very musical side of the family,
Speaker 1: which my father's side. His baby sister is a jazz singer,
Speaker 1: phenomenal aunt Julie. What's up girl? Um? And then her
Speaker 1: husband was had a studio in his basement and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna call him de Low. That's what we call him
Speaker 1: on the streets. Uncle Rob and uh. Uncle Rob was
Speaker 1: really the first person to allow me to sit in
Speaker 1: this safe place with him and create no judgment zone. Um.
Speaker 1: You know I always had this, you know, I always
Speaker 1: had this thing where I you know, I was that kid.
Speaker 1: I love beating on the desks. I loved, you know,
Speaker 1: dropping a beat. I loved trying to understand, like I
Speaker 1: love the music that moved me really moved me, you know,
Speaker 1: and I love listening to it over and over again.
Speaker 1: And I love you know, breaking songs down and understand,
Speaker 1: you know, like understanding where this person was at when
Speaker 1: they love reading liner notes, you know, I love knowing
Speaker 1: who the musicians were that played on it. I want
Speaker 1: to know. Yeah, I wanted to know it all. And
Speaker 1: I was sitting with Uncle Rob one day and he
Speaker 1: had you know, at this point he um, you know,
Speaker 1: he had my my cousin Natalie and my cousin Nicole,
Speaker 1: who let's see, Natalie's ten years younger than me. So, um,
Speaker 1: I can tell you it was two thousand seven, two
Speaker 1: thousand eight when I really started writing things for my
Speaker 1: future self to be encouraged. He does that. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: kind of do that stuff now, but I'm thirty four basically,
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, school, I was, well, let's see two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight, this would have been post college. So
Speaker 1: I mean i've been I've been writing at this time, okay,
Speaker 1: And you said, so I was in competitions in college.
Speaker 1: So that's when I started writing things and then started
Speaker 1: being okay with like, Okay, what is this spoken word
Speaker 1: kind of thing. It's very rhythmic, it's very um, It's
Speaker 1: got a lot of attitude, a lot of swag. There's
Speaker 1: there there's freedom in these words and how you say
Speaker 1: them can can just dispel all the doubts and any
Speaker 1: stresses you're carrying. You know, it can just poof be gone. Um,
Speaker 1: discover spoken on I you know a friend, Yeah, really
Speaker 1: really scary. Is the hardest thing I think you could do.
Speaker 1: I think a friend of mine just just asked if
Speaker 1: I if I'd be interested, and I was happened to
Speaker 1: be in a season of yeah. I'm not always in
Speaker 1: a season of yes, but I happened to be in
Speaker 1: a season of yeah. Okay, yeah, let's try it. Um.
Speaker 1: I've been writing previously before this, Um, I'd always been writing.
Speaker 1: I've always kept a journal. Oh my gosh, I have
Speaker 1: so many journals. It's readick. Um yeah, I just have
Speaker 1: journals and journals full of just words. Just sometimes it's
Speaker 1: a you're writing a feeling. Sometimes it's you know, a
Speaker 1: letter to yourself. Sometimes it's Um. I feel like my
Speaker 1: most inspired things have been a stream of what I
Speaker 1: call a stream of consciousness. And I feel like to
Speaker 1: try to put into words this feeling. Yeah, the moment
Speaker 1: though that I knew I had something special, I was
Speaker 1: Uncle Rob was in the studio and he was um
Speaker 1: hm gosh, I'm trying to think if I can remember
Speaker 1: that exact verse. He was, him and I were collaborating
Speaker 1: on an idea we had called see the Light, and
Speaker 1: so he's in there finishing it up, and I had
Speaker 1: stepped out of the studio and I just started writing.
Speaker 1: Had no idea, you know what I was writing. But
Speaker 1: this is something that I come back to regardless of
Speaker 1: where I am in my life, regardless of if I'm happy,
Speaker 1: regardless of if things are going right, things are going wrong. Um,
Speaker 1: I just I always come back to this, and I
Speaker 1: wrote it in two thousand and eight, and um, that's
Speaker 1: how I'm gonna I'm probably gonna open every show I
Speaker 1: ever do. And yeah, okay, totally kidding. Um, Honestly, I
Speaker 1: never really felt like I was worth it until he
Speaker 1: back in loud and told me I had a purpose
Speaker 1: my past, giving me doubt as lies creep to the surface,
Speaker 1: feeling so weighed down, can't show my face in churches.
Speaker 1: You're worthless, That's all I hear, becoming my deepest fear.
Speaker 1: So I'm hurting, starting to believe that no one really cares.
Speaker 1: But my question is, Lord, are you really there? I'll
Speaker 1: ask once more, Lord, universe source energy. Are you really there?
Speaker 1: Because if you are, can you reach out and meet
Speaker 1: me where I am here? I stand stripped, bruised, and
Speaker 1: my hope diminished. I'm hardheaded, still doing it my way,
Speaker 1: living and sending given into temptation because it's easier than
Speaker 1: repent and becoming cool and complacent, got the enemy grinning,
Speaker 1: rather keep fake and be averaged than asked for a
Speaker 1: new beginning than I heard him say, get your mind right, child.
Speaker 1: You were made in my image, and I've been anxiously
Speaker 1: awaiting to show you You've been forgiven. You've been forgiven,
Speaker 1: you know, all the bullshit, all the bullshit we carry,
Speaker 1: You've been forgiven. You know. Just leads me to another question,
Speaker 1: like so eloquently put it, you have known your faith
Speaker 1: for so long, and you have been in touch with
Speaker 1: it for so long, But it is so easy to
Speaker 1: want to go down the wrong roads or whatever. How
Speaker 1: have you navigated that coming? Have you ever gotten lost
Speaker 1: on the wrong path all the time? Check? How do you?
Speaker 1: How do you navigate those situations? Because you always come back?
Speaker 1: And I'm not like it's anything terrible, but you know
Speaker 1: we all have we get lost. Absolutely agree. I I
Speaker 1: was reading something tremendous that inspired me. Excuse me, and
Speaker 1: I wish I could remember the author right now, but um,
Speaker 1: it's a we are just living from moment to moment
Speaker 1: of belief. We are just living like you can only
Speaker 1: have enough faith for moment to moment, you know, like
Speaker 1: that that's all you can't have. You don't have enough
Speaker 1: faith for tomorrow and the next day and the next
Speaker 1: day because you have no idea what that day brings.
Speaker 1: You can only have We can only have faith from
Speaker 1: this moment to the next moment, So we have to
Speaker 1: live in the moment that yes, absolutely absolutely, I feel like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, yeah, it's excruciating. Well, I'm trying a
Speaker 1: new one right now called meditation, which I told you
Speaker 1: about before we got on them is I and that
Speaker 1: pretty much for me right now goes with three minutes
Speaker 1: of Okay, just check your breathing. Just relax. I wonder
Speaker 1: if I put the clothes from the washing machine into
Speaker 1: the dry or not. Shut up. Just relax. I wish
Speaker 1: diesel would stop scratching. It's a really distratched Just relax.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I need to get stamps. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like all the just like laundry. List of things
Speaker 1: goes in your mind crucial at that time, but it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter at all, but really at all. It's so
Speaker 1: you know, I feel like I do a variety of things.
Speaker 1: I meditate, I pray. My my biggest one though, um,
Speaker 1: it's just being around people who lift me up. That's
Speaker 1: the biggest thing that I know I can do for myself.
Speaker 1: I told you the other day I was I was
Speaker 1: having one of those days. I had a day. I
Speaker 1: woke up and I swear from the moment I opened
Speaker 1: my eyes, somehow I had already been decided this day is.
Speaker 1: You know, it's just not going to be a good day.
Speaker 1: You know, you wake up and you're just like, yep,
Speaker 1: let's just redo, you know, let's just let's start this
Speaker 1: one over. And I thought I need to be with
Speaker 1: some pure sunshine. And I texted Caroline and I was like,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? Can I join you? What is happening?
Speaker 1: I just need to be around someone I know that
Speaker 1: we'll speak truth over my life, you know, And so
Speaker 1: you're the one I go to and I need that
Speaker 1: well right back at you. So glad we can both
Speaker 1: you know, be that for each other. But that's man,
Speaker 1: that is my main thing because those days that you
Speaker 1: know and we have them, and it's good to be alone.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that sometimes you don't need to be alone,
Speaker 1: because you do. Sometimes you need to be in your
Speaker 1: thoughts spiraling. Absolutely absolutely put yourself around around someone else
Speaker 1: who's you know, whose energy you can absorb and just
Speaker 1: breathe with. You know, And um, I read things you
Speaker 1: know reading right now, I'm reading this book that's awesome.
Speaker 1: It's called You Are a Badass, and it's specifically about
Speaker 1: stopping doubt, just nipping it in the butt because it's
Speaker 1: kind of scary. You recently took a very large leap
Speaker 1: of faith and yes, some people would say you'd be crazy.
Speaker 1: You're away from a great paying jaw. Yes, to literally
Speaker 1: pursue your artistry full for us. I want to talk
Speaker 1: about that. That to me, when you walk in faith
Speaker 1: that's strongly, that is like you're you're showing up for God.
Speaker 1: You're saying, Okay, God, you put this calling on my heart.
Speaker 1: I feel it and now I'm going to dive into
Speaker 1: the abyss and just go for it. And that is
Speaker 1: like the most terrifying thing ever because you don't know
Speaker 1: what in the freaking world is going to happen, and
Speaker 1: you're trusting, then you always go to the worst thing
Speaker 1: you like. Mm hmm, no, Anklena, work ain't gonna happen.
Speaker 1: I'm a blow up, you know. Somehow something just astronomically
Speaker 1: wrong is going to happen, right, and you feel like
Speaker 1: you could have potentially ruined your life and now you'll
Speaker 1: be broke and living in your car. So tell me
Speaker 1: about the leave of faith that you just did, because
Speaker 1: obviously you have always been doing spoken work. It's always
Speaker 1: been who you are. You've been speaking truth. You are
Speaker 1: a truth speaker and you're also a healer. Thank you,
Speaker 1: and I feel like that comes from your words. Thank you.
Speaker 1: So tell me about what's happening now. Okay, life and career. So,
Speaker 1: as you know, this was two months ago. Now I
Speaker 1: quit my job. So it was a good job. It
Speaker 1: was a good job. So the past four years I've
Speaker 1: been in the music industry as um on the business
Speaker 1: end I have. That's where we met, you know, we
Speaker 1: met at Hit Shop Records, and I've been a everything
Speaker 1: from a president's assistant to a office manager, to a
Speaker 1: promo coordinator, to a artist manager to a you know,
Speaker 1: wrangler of people and things and coffee and whatever the
Speaker 1: f needs to get done, get it done kind of person.
Speaker 1: And that's what we do. That's what we do, bo
Speaker 1: bo get or done. Um. Yeah, And I feel like
Speaker 1: I've been learning this get or done mentality, you know.
Speaker 1: And you don't have to see the whole staircase to
Speaker 1: take one step, you know. And if someone it taught
Speaker 1: me so much in just figuring it out. What did
Speaker 1: you learn from all those experiences because you knew that
Speaker 1: wasn't your soul's calling, but it was kind of crucial
Speaker 1: to go to school in learning the entertainment industry. Absolutely absolutely,
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what what I thought about it as
Speaker 1: I was like, you know what, this is my grad school.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of my friends went to grad school.
Speaker 1: A lot of them have PhD s, a lot of
Speaker 1: them are in medical school. This was my grad school.
Speaker 1: This was my show up every day and get it done,
Speaker 1: and show up every day and serve others. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: have unworserving yourself. Really you have been. You have been
Speaker 1: helping other people accomplish their dreams in learning along the
Speaker 1: way and totally and learning a lot and learning, Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, I've had some really really really really awesome teachers,
Speaker 1: and this last leap of faith came from UM. I
Speaker 1: was actually a Southeast regional and I was working records,
Speaker 1: and every day, wake up, and you put your best
Speaker 1: foot forward, and no matter how many times you here know,
Speaker 1: you keep asking the question, And no matter how many
Speaker 1: times you here know you show up at their doorsteps
Speaker 1: training camp, and no matter how many times you hear no,
Speaker 1: you keep asking the question and you do it with
Speaker 1: polite persistence. You know that was a skill set right there. Yeah, totally,
Speaker 1: because you can't. It's like, you know, most people when
Speaker 1: they get another like okay, runaway, never come back, hide
Speaker 1: and corner cave and like just die. Totally. Well, it
Speaker 1: taught me a lot because I'm not I don't know
Speaker 1: if you know this, but I'm not like a pushy person.
Speaker 1: I'm not like you know, okay, great, I'll come back tomorrow.
Speaker 1: You know that record I'm talking about? So that record John,
Speaker 1: did I mention your hair looks phenomenal? Today? I have
Speaker 1: a record that I brought it here. It is how
Speaker 1: are you with me? And I'll be like, hey, I know, okay, great,
Speaker 1: I'll come back tomorrow. See you later. I love you too,
Speaker 1: by because talk about being rejected on a daily basis
Speaker 1: being a regional at a record label, well, you know
Speaker 1: laws about that. I did it for six months and
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't I couldn't last much longer.
Speaker 1: It was the same thing, amazing learning opportunity. It taught
Speaker 1: me how to navigate all different types of powerful personalities
Speaker 1: because the record industry it there are opinionated, powerful people
Speaker 1: who ain't budgeting in their thoughts, and you have to
Speaker 1: navigate them because you have to be polite. It teaches you.
Speaker 1: Then you kind of just become that and it's a
Speaker 1: way better way of communicating. Yeah, and I learned a
Speaker 1: lot just about having asked for what you want? You do,
Speaker 1: don't you gotta ask for it? You can't do this
Speaker 1: whole like shy sheepist thing. How did you learn how
Speaker 1: to ask for what we want? What was the moment
Speaker 1: when you realize that? H? Well, I mean, I guess
Speaker 1: I've learned it in different ways throughout my entire life. Um,
Speaker 1: but specifically as it relates to the music industry. UM,
Speaker 1: I learned that if you don't show people who you are,
Speaker 1: they will tell you who you're supposed to be, and
Speaker 1: so you have to says an aha moment. Okay, can
Speaker 1: you say that again? What did I say? You don't
Speaker 1: show people who you are. If you don't show people
Speaker 1: who you are, they will tell you who you're supposed
Speaker 1: to be. And so I just knew that. Okay. All
Speaker 1: I want to be as a tiebreaker and I know
Speaker 1: that well, when someone is sitting there and they're thinking
Speaker 1: about adding a record, I want them to have to
Speaker 1: think about me and my artist, and I want them
Speaker 1: to want to do it because they want to support
Speaker 1: me and my artist, you know. And I want to
Speaker 1: be someone who when people think of me, they think,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm gonna add her record because you
Speaker 1: know what, she's just been really kind to me, or
Speaker 1: you know she I used to just send random notes
Speaker 1: all the time, just because we're all just people, you know,
Speaker 1: we're all just freaking people trying to figure out our lives,
Speaker 1: trying to figure out relationships and trying to figure you're out,
Speaker 1: you know, how to do ship the right way, and
Speaker 1: like doing none of us. You have all these people involved,
Speaker 1: and you analyze yourself so much you think people hate you,
Speaker 1: and it's just awful. You can just really go down
Speaker 1: a rabbit hole. I know, I know you want to
Speaker 1: be like, but then you've got to be authentic. So
Speaker 1: how do you straddle that line of being liked and authentic?
Speaker 1: M Because I feel like that is something I've sometimes
Speaker 1: struggled with. Yeah, that's a really good question. I'm also
Speaker 1: still learning that one. I feel like what I thought
Speaker 1: of first when you said that was I've always wanted
Speaker 1: to be the friend I want to have, you know,
Speaker 1: like I want to I want people to want to
Speaker 1: pick up the phone and call me because they just
Speaker 1: need to hear a smiling face, or they just need
Speaker 1: to hear a word, or maybe they need to hear
Speaker 1: nothing at all. You know, I'm really good at just
Speaker 1: being with people when they need someone to just be
Speaker 1: with them and shut the funk up. You are, you know,
Speaker 1: you intentionally choose the way your delivery towards people, Like
Speaker 1: do you ever want to be like you're a stupid idiot,
Speaker 1: You're so dumb? But then you're like, Okay, it's okay,
Speaker 1: we're all human, we all make can here you come
Speaker 1: with your wife? Do you ever filter it? Do you?
Speaker 1: Or is it just how it comes out of you?
Speaker 1: That's a good question. I'm sure m hmm, it comes
Speaker 1: out of you like that. I think it just comes
Speaker 1: out of me like that. I mean, I'm sure there
Speaker 1: are times where I'm like this bitch, but you great
Speaker 1: for people? Yeah, where did that come from? It's important
Speaker 1: to extend grace to people. Um, a life lesson I learned. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, in between that fourteen and eighteen period. Um,
Speaker 1: you know where you're you're freaking out because you're, um,
Speaker 1: your father is not in your household anymore. And this
Speaker 1: vision you know of this man and this protector is
Speaker 1: not the same vision that you once had, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's changing, and it's scary, and it's you know,
Speaker 1: all these things are happening to me. And and you
Speaker 1: walk around and you realize you're carrying unforgiveness and you
Speaker 1: realize you've got all these things in your backpack that
Speaker 1: how the fund did they get there? Because I didn't
Speaker 1: pack them in there. You know, you let other people
Speaker 1: put shame and guilt and all that other shit that
Speaker 1: we carry around because other people projected this and that
Speaker 1: on us. And I'll never forget it. I was in
Speaker 1: Ecuador and I wrote him a letter, and in that letter,
Speaker 1: I swear I released everything I'm saying now, you know,
Speaker 1: I just I just released it, and I decided that
Speaker 1: I'm responsible for my feelings. I'm responsible for how I
Speaker 1: impact the world, you know, and because someone else did
Speaker 1: this or that doesn't have any bearing on how I
Speaker 1: treat other people, you know. And you say that too.
Speaker 1: You don't pick up other people's do you say that?
Speaker 1: You don't you hear people's problems, You don't pick up
Speaker 1: their trash. You said something, Yeah, well you you you
Speaker 1: can't put other people's baggage and garbage in your backpack
Speaker 1: and carried around for him. It's not yours, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not yours to carry. Yeah, so you learned that forgetting.
Speaker 1: I feel like, yeah, totally for him, and you released it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you have to speak it, don't have to speak it.
Speaker 1: And I mean, I still go back and forth, you know.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a little I'm a I'm a little girl.
Speaker 1: You know. It's like, oh, well you didn't call me
Speaker 1: on at twelve oh one on my birthday, you know,
Speaker 1: or whatever. I want to get upset up. I still,
Speaker 1: you know, have moments where I'm just in my feelings
Speaker 1: and but for the most part, I think that going
Speaker 1: through that period of my life really taught me to rely.
Speaker 1: Like and then my dad dropped this piece of information
Speaker 1: on me. He's like, you know what, Tomora, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: just a steward, you know. I mean, yes, i'm your
Speaker 1: father and I'll always be there, but I'm just a steward.
Speaker 1: You know. I'm not supposed to be the one to
Speaker 1: show you all these great wonders because you really have
Speaker 1: to find them out for yourself. You know. It's kind
Speaker 1: of freeing, scary, like pitting your stomach at the same
Speaker 1: totally because I know, so that kind of set you
Speaker 1: on your path to like, okay, like you realize your
Speaker 1: dad was a flawed human, just like all of us are,
Speaker 1: and you realize that all these people that you looked
Speaker 1: up to they don't know any better than you do. Really,
Speaker 1: so in that point of your age, you rely to yourself. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean what I would call in inner light, what
Speaker 1: I call my gut, what I would call God, what
Speaker 1: I would call you know, light supreme ultra violet rays
Speaker 1: and beams and stuff, you know, like all like your
Speaker 1: your core, you know, your wherever you gather that that
Speaker 1: energy from that is like refreshing, you know, and it's
Speaker 1: you don't have to be anything to be in its presence.
Speaker 1: You just are you know what I mean, Um what
Speaker 1: I would call that light? Yeah, it's a inner peace. Absolutely, absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's it's why people people strive for,
Speaker 1: you know, joy and not happiness, because happiness, you know,
Speaker 1: can change day to day, but joy that doesn't change. Okay,
Speaker 1: So you're in this job, You're working records, you're talking
Speaker 1: to radio p ds. You actually are part of the
Speaker 1: promotion stuff that gets say number one song. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: love this, I love this, crushing it at your job.
Speaker 1: Just like doing this job, you're actually like killing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah I was. I'm going to go right ahead to
Speaker 1: honored to be a part of their team because I
Speaker 1: have never met I was supposed to see that I
Speaker 1: was supposed to see that rise. I was supposed to
Speaker 1: see that magic. Because what Chris and Preston do when
Speaker 1: they bring people into a room, Chris and Preston are
Speaker 1: low cash. You are the only person in that room.
Speaker 1: They understand that this is a business of relationships, and
Speaker 1: they understand that if you bring people into your world
Speaker 1: and make them feel a part of something, that when
Speaker 1: that that time comes, they'll they'll lift you up, you know,
Speaker 1: they'll lift you up to that number one spot. And
Speaker 1: they value those relationships. They value them. And we saw that,
Speaker 1: you know, and I got to be a part of
Speaker 1: UM a gold record with I Love This Life and
Speaker 1: a number one with I Know Somebody, and I UM,
Speaker 1: I was just really blessed to have someone who believed
Speaker 1: in me enough to say here's the Southeast, why don't
Speaker 1: you go scurry along and take it. You know, I've
Speaker 1: never done this before, I UM. But that that means
Speaker 1: like you now are in charge of all the radio
Speaker 1: stations in the Southeast getting them to add low cash
Speaker 1: is singles. So it's like fly on girls. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And these are you know, these are these are guys
Speaker 1: that people people love and and loved to support. When
Speaker 1: that when that roller coaster, I say, it was like
Speaker 1: you know, chicken towards chucking, towards the upswing. Um, but
Speaker 1: it was it was an uphill battle, you know, and
Speaker 1: it was a battle. And I feel like it just
Speaker 1: taught me exactly she knows she's like girl, it was
Speaker 1: a battle. WHOA, Yes, it was, um, but it also
Speaker 1: you know, it makes those those moments so sweet and February,
Speaker 1: you know, when you're sitting there and you're toasting them
Speaker 1: and they're all sitting on stage talking about this wonderful
Speaker 1: moment in their lives. You know, they haven't. They have
Speaker 1: a number one record, you know, and no one will ever,
Speaker 1: ever ever take that away from them. And they I
Speaker 1: mean they should be. They should be proud, beyond beyond
Speaker 1: belief of themselves because they never ever even talking about
Speaker 1: never given up. There's never given up. And then there's
Speaker 1: like low cash, never given up. They never gave up,
Speaker 1: can't stop stop the whole time, and they absolutely your
Speaker 1: big break and then you quit, yep, talking about that. Well,
Speaker 1: um good segue. M hmm. Well, to be honest, um,
Speaker 1: the number one if I know somebody, I know somebody
Speaker 1: uh coincided with It was like that rise of that
Speaker 1: song coincided with the decline of my grandmother's health. And
Speaker 1: my grandmother turned on October and I flew into see her.
Speaker 1: This was like, you know, this was the week that
Speaker 1: we were you know, we went six to one, so
Speaker 1: I think we were at six and you know, I
Speaker 1: just told him, I was like, guys, act so this
Speaker 1: was this is pushed, This is push week, okay, and
Speaker 1: you know told, I told my boss is like, guys,
Speaker 1: I I've got to be there. I've just got to
Speaker 1: be there. I don't know how long we have. I
Speaker 1: don't know if this is what this is, but I've
Speaker 1: got to be there. And they were just like, go,
Speaker 1: didn't even bat n. I UM, forever, forever grateful that
Speaker 1: I went, you know, because we have so many moments
Speaker 1: and our our grandparents lives and even our parents lives
Speaker 1: were you know, a little little things happen here and there,
Speaker 1: and we can't be there for everything. But um, I've
Speaker 1: always felt that was one of my love languages, was
Speaker 1: quality time. So I fly in. It's grandma's birthday. We
Speaker 1: celebrate her birthday in the hospital, Like for real, think
Speaker 1: about I can't even think about all the things she's seen.
Speaker 1: She must think we are looking crazy. She's like, uh,
Speaker 1: I grew up during the Great Depression and now there's
Speaker 1: a phone that I can talk to my granddaughter on
Speaker 1: and see her, you know. Anyway, So I UM. I
Speaker 1: ended up staying in Baltimore for about a week, and
Speaker 1: I'm glad I did because I would, you know, i'd
Speaker 1: I'd work for a few hours and then I'd go
Speaker 1: and just hang out with her, and we got to
Speaker 1: the end of the week and I go back home
Speaker 1: and two days later she passes. And I remember being
Speaker 1: on a conference call um before I found out. I
Speaker 1: remember we had a conference call. It was Monday, and
Speaker 1: I said, you know, they were all asking, and Gator goes,
Speaker 1: you know, so for all the people who've who have
Speaker 1: just now gotten there, you know, first number one, how
Speaker 1: does it feel? And I remember sitting in that for
Speaker 1: a second and being like, you know, it feels good.
Speaker 1: It feels great. You know, everyone's saying congratulations, and everyone's like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, like high five, high fives from all around,
Speaker 1: you know, Radio is actually calling me, you know, and
Speaker 1: that it feels great. But it didn't feel how I
Speaker 1: thought it would feel. How did you think it would feel?
Speaker 1: Butterflies and rainbows and stickers and glitter and oh my gosh, yep,
Speaker 1: just rooms of puppies, just rooms of puppies. Every hour,
Speaker 1: new sets of puppies just coming on it, just fresh puppies,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. And it didn't feel like that. And
Speaker 1: I had to face a very real truth within myself,
Speaker 1: which was, what are you doing this for? Who? Are
Speaker 1: you doing this? Who are you doing this for? I
Speaker 1: think I was doing it for a combination of people
Speaker 1: within my building, um music mentors who had put me
Speaker 1: in a position where I was in this position, you know,
Speaker 1: and people that had just instilled so much belief in
Speaker 1: me that I could do it, that I thought I
Speaker 1: could do it, and I did it. I did it.
Speaker 1: It felt good. It probably was validating. It was. It
Speaker 1: was very validating. So that was probably a necessary thing
Speaker 1: you needed to feel to validate that you actually have
Speaker 1: this ability to make something started from the bottom and
Speaker 1: go to the top in a real business world. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was hard, and afterwards, quite frankly, I needed a
Speaker 1: fucking vacation. I was like, whoa lord, And then it
Speaker 1: was like, okay, let's do it again. And I was
Speaker 1: just like, you're like I had one in me. That
Speaker 1: was it dropped the mic. Oh I'll catch y'all. I'll
Speaker 1: watch you guys on the charts. You literally didn't think
Speaker 1: you had another one in you. Well, like, I don't
Speaker 1: know what I was thinking, honest lamar, like, what, You're
Speaker 1: gonna get a number one and then they're going to
Speaker 1: send you to Cancoon for a week and then you know,
Speaker 1: but I just I just realized that I I feel
Speaker 1: like I felt things too deeply. You know, when people
Speaker 1: didn't call me back, I would be like, fuck, why
Speaker 1: do they call me back? Like I'm a nice person
Speaker 1: to talk to, and my nice person to talk maybe
Speaker 1: I suck? People tell me I'm cool. No, you're not
Speaker 1: that cool. You know what I mean? Do I know
Speaker 1: what you mean? I have lived in that real tapes.
Speaker 1: I think all artists mentality people and just oh's analyzing
Speaker 1: and and I felt my true self, which is I'm
Speaker 1: a I'm a feeling person. You know, I'm an artist
Speaker 1: and I'm sense it if about my ship. As Ericabaidou said,
Speaker 1: so why are you trying to put this square peg
Speaker 1: into a round hole? And you wrote like a spoken
Speaker 1: word song about this? Okay, what's that one called? Um? Well,
Speaker 1: I've got to call it inner. Oh it's I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's called interlude? Right now? Can you give us a
Speaker 1: little bit of that? Um? But it starts um? Wake up,
Speaker 1: get dressed, go to work nine to five until it hurts. Well,
Speaker 1: that really don't work for me. Wake up, get happy,
Speaker 1: do your job. Nine to five is all a blur
Speaker 1: that really don't work for me. It's time to let
Speaker 1: my passion do the talking. Nine to five. Stop fucking
Speaker 1: with my creativity. Because while I'm ever so grateful, I
Speaker 1: always wanted to be able to put food on the table,
Speaker 1: support my family and those of y'all who've been with me.
Speaker 1: But deep beside, it's killing me. My soul cries, It
Speaker 1: is killing me. It's killing me. Yeah, m m m
Speaker 1: mmm mm hmmm mm hmm. But my soul cries every
Speaker 1: time that nine five takes over. Seems so summer days over.
Speaker 1: Want to go back to tempy tall on Daddy's shoulders
Speaker 1: those days. See, I never knew what I had to
Speaker 1: do to be the better me. See music betters me,
Speaker 1: makes me a better person, makes it all come together
Speaker 1: and feel worth it. Yes, you were worthy and the
Speaker 1: journey's worth it. Just keep working. Eyes on your purpose,
Speaker 1: listen to yourself, keep your eyes on your purpose. Mm
Speaker 1: hmm yeah yeah, did that? I feel like I should
Speaker 1: call it eyes on your Purpose. That's more like I
Speaker 1: like eyes on your purpose. Did that come to you
Speaker 1: in that season? Was screaming just came? Well? You and
Speaker 1: I had had a dream board session. We had one
Speaker 1: of the most spiritual experiences probably. Actually, it was the
Speaker 1: most spiritual experience I've had, was that moment with you. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I needed to I needed to dream. Oh man, I
Speaker 1: just I was in this moment of It was December four,
Speaker 1: it was my mother's birthday. I'll never forget it was
Speaker 1: your mom's birthday. It was my mom's birthday. I know, right.
Speaker 1: You had just come home from something and you're like
Speaker 1: and you just texted me out of the blue and
Speaker 1: you're just like, hey, you won't have a sleepover. And
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, you're not to sleepover in so long.
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, let's go have a sleepover. And I
Speaker 1: was already thinking like, okay, we can dream board. This
Speaker 1: will be great because I was needing some help articulating
Speaker 1: what this calling, what this purpose is because I felt it,
Speaker 1: and it's so it can be so frustrating when you
Speaker 1: feel it and you you know that it's coming and
Speaker 1: you know it will be revealed to you, but it's
Speaker 1: never fast enough. It's never fast enough, and every day
Speaker 1: you wake up and you're like, it's this thing. It's
Speaker 1: just burning, and it's this thing. It makes your heart beat,
Speaker 1: it makes you know, what makes you just it makes
Speaker 1: you sweat and feel amazing and I couldn't articulate it,
Speaker 1: and I was like, okay, and you texted me, as
Speaker 1: you know, we often flow with each other when we
Speaker 1: just need some sort of something, you know, from one another,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I get over here and I've got my
Speaker 1: notebook check you know, I've got I was like, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know what I was thinking we were going
Speaker 1: to do, but what happened I never could have imagined,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like I was literally thinking, Okay,
Speaker 1: We're gonna like cut out scrap books and I'm gonna like,
Speaker 1: you know, put things like summer and you know, bikinis
Speaker 1: and like, you know, I want to be on an
Speaker 1: island somewhere. And I don't know what I thought it
Speaker 1: would be, but it was. It really was magical because
Speaker 1: you just started asking me the questions I needed to
Speaker 1: ask myself, and I finally had the time to think
Speaker 1: about them. You know. We started that session at like
Speaker 1: nine at nine, and we went to like four in
Speaker 1: the morning, and then it was like, Okay, go to sleep. Okay,
Speaker 1: we have to go to sleep. Okay, we have to
Speaker 1: go to sleep. Yeah, it was crazy, because it was crazy.
Speaker 1: I think you hadn't realized how your spoken word get
Speaker 1: is actually your career. You've been doing it as you
Speaker 1: knew you loved it, but like you hadn't quite gone
Speaker 1: all in totally totally. And I started, you know, Caroline
Speaker 1: was like asking me questions, you know, when you're like, well,
Speaker 1: what what is you know? What what are you really
Speaker 1: good at? You know, it was something really dumb, you know,
Speaker 1: it was really straightforward and done, like well what are
Speaker 1: you really good at? And I was just like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, spucking word? And you were like you was
Speaker 1: spoken word that ship, And I was like what? And
Speaker 1: you could always like spoken words just in life, like
Speaker 1: you almost speak in spoken words just in real life.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Then you say, oh, I just have notebooks
Speaker 1: and notebooks and notebooks have spoken word, and I just
Speaker 1: have recordings all the notes on my phone and recorded
Speaker 1: basically a full album already. You're just kind of doing
Speaker 1: it on the side. But you have these amazing master
Speaker 1: piece songs that are like spoken word, and you have
Speaker 1: some collaps with some singers and some beats like this creation,
Speaker 1: and it's just like, oh yeah, I just have all
Speaker 1: this just sitting here, Like who just has all that
Speaker 1: just sitting there and spoken word. You know, that is
Speaker 1: not like a common thing. I know when when we
Speaker 1: when we discovered it, it was kind of like, gosh,
Speaker 1: you're this is like you just can't see it. What
Speaker 1: happened was, yeah, that's just you know, yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: even know what to call that. What did you feel
Speaker 1: after that moment that, like, how did you feel? Because
Speaker 1: like that moment, I feel like you decided to pursue
Speaker 1: it for I felt an insane amount of just purpose.
Speaker 1: You know. There's I feel like there's always that feeling
Speaker 1: in the morning of I want to wake up and
Speaker 1: I want to be jolted out of bed. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: so excited to do what I was made to do,
Speaker 1: you know. And it was for the first time, it
Speaker 1: was a really ease. It was a release of all
Speaker 1: the stress I had been carrying thinking that. And this
Speaker 1: is something that Tyler helps me with all the time.
Speaker 1: That's my boyfriend. He always says, you have the right
Speaker 1: to change your mind. And I've been holding on to,
Speaker 1: you know, all these expectations of who I felt I
Speaker 1: was supposed to be in the professional world, you know,
Speaker 1: and and I mean a lot of my artists don't
Speaker 1: even really know that I've had this stuff on side
Speaker 1: because I understand the importance of what I was doing
Speaker 1: was to be there, you know, and it wasn't really
Speaker 1: to shine a light on whatever this is that was happening.
Speaker 1: Because I needed this to happen inside of me, and
Speaker 1: I needed to come to it by myself, you know,
Speaker 1: I really needed to. And even if you're you know,
Speaker 1: even if your path is this, we get so frustrated
Speaker 1: that it's not like this, like even if it's like this,
Speaker 1: like holy moley, I mean, I feel like the knowledge
Speaker 1: that I've accrued in the last five years being in
Speaker 1: this town is it's invaluable and it's exactly what I
Speaker 1: needed to propel me. Before you were ready to launch.
Speaker 1: You needed to go to school, Yeah, absolutely, school of
Speaker 1: hard knocks. Go ahead, Okay, Yeah, you're gonna be. You're
Speaker 1: gonna be. You're gonna be like my puff daddy, Like
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have you come on the track and just
Speaker 1: be like uh huh huh yeah, because I have swaged
Speaker 1: like daddy. Yes, Okay, we're exactly the same. Like I'm
Speaker 1: so cool. He is I could never even try. He's
Speaker 1: so bad. Yeah, so tell me what's happening next? Okay,
Speaker 1: so we have a debut together. This podcast is actually
Speaker 1: going through here. We made a agreement that night, wrote
Speaker 1: we made an agreement that night that you were going
Speaker 1: to have a big Nashville showcase because you've been doing
Speaker 1: this and you've been pursuing it kind of quietly and
Speaker 1: like doing stuff. But like we made an agreement that
Speaker 1: we were going on your birthday, we were going to
Speaker 1: have a show. Well, you were going to the show,
Speaker 1: but like obviously I was in this with you because
Speaker 1: we were like grabbing this thing together and my podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm having a podcast like little launch party on May
Speaker 1: seventeenth and guests who the featured performers, who am Hall
Speaker 1: It's so cool And it was like they when I
Speaker 1: got the party and the launch thing together. Randomly, I
Speaker 1: even tried to change it to May tenth because I
Speaker 1: didn't think I was I didn't want to skip a
Speaker 1: week with podcasting. My schedule wasn't lining up. But she
Speaker 1: was a woman in charge of everything, was like, no,
Speaker 1: we really need to be on seventeenth. I was like okay,
Speaker 1: and then everything fell into line. This interview you and
Speaker 1: I phone into line, you performing phone to line and
Speaker 1: then I looked at the date and it was May
Speaker 1: freaking seventeen. Cannot believe that that's not God, just like
Speaker 1: drop the mic. If that is not God, then I
Speaker 1: don't know what is it gives. I cannot think about
Speaker 1: it too hard because it's just it's just magic, you know.
Speaker 1: I feel like when most of the time, when things
Speaker 1: are happening as they're supposed to happen, it just feels
Speaker 1: it feels like breathing, you know, it just feels natural,
Speaker 1: and it feels like magic happens in pretty magical moments.
Speaker 1: I want people to feel that because you have to
Speaker 1: have faith, and you have to be brave, and you
Speaker 1: have to quit your job after you just got like
Speaker 1: basically two back to back number one and you're crushing
Speaker 1: in at your very well high paid, respectful job. You
Speaker 1: have been going to quit with no with no freaking
Speaker 1: pair shoot and yep, and no more bi weekly payments
Speaker 1: and yep, oh my gosh. If But but it seems
Speaker 1: so crazy because this whole time I was so caught
Speaker 1: up on like, how are you going to say no
Speaker 1: to this? You know what I mean? How are you
Speaker 1: going to walk away from bi weekly payments? And when
Speaker 1: I think about that measured up to what I really
Speaker 1: want to do, you know, and how I want to
Speaker 1: impact the world. It's just fluff, you know, it's just
Speaker 1: would not let we got one? Why would you not
Speaker 1: let your soul sing? Let your freak flag fly? Let
Speaker 1: it fly? And another thing, this is another tyler ism. Gosh,
Speaker 1: he is always saying that the teacher is the teacher
Speaker 1: because they've failed the most times, so they know they've
Speaker 1: they've tried it hot, you have it on your board.
Speaker 1: No fear, all faith, you know, Like we get so
Speaker 1: caught up in that initial like, well, a lot of
Speaker 1: people don't like it. What if I, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: and I'm not gonna you know what I mean, This
Speaker 1: podcast is a leap of faith. People are gonna hate it, right,
Speaker 1: look like an idiot. And it's like, if you don't
Speaker 1: get past that initial feeling of I can't breathe, you
Speaker 1: won't do anything. You won't do anything, You won't you
Speaker 1: have to be so prepared for people to laugh at
Speaker 1: you and everything to fall apart. But that also comes
Speaker 1: from knowing that you're following, you're calling and trusting in
Speaker 1: the higher force more than the external world that we
Speaker 1: live in. And that is what I call a leap
Speaker 1: of faith. What does that quote? Yeah, you got You
Speaker 1: haven't got to read this quote straight up said this.
Speaker 1: She's gonna say. I was on enough. It was a
Speaker 1: you're right, we were. We were flowing because I had
Speaker 1: just walked away from an incredible opportunity in the music industry,
Speaker 1: like signed a record deal and everything, and I walked
Speaker 1: away to pursue hosting and this podcast or like what
Speaker 1: what is it? I didn't even know what a podcast was. Oh,
Speaker 1: let me start my podcast and long away from major
Speaker 1: label record deal because that's smart, know whatever. But I
Speaker 1: knew it. Like how you felt you were dying in
Speaker 1: your job being a regional, I was dying in this
Speaker 1: record deal and I knew it wasn't my calling. So
Speaker 1: we had this quote. He said, I know that even
Speaker 1: though I didn't know where I was going, I knew
Speaker 1: the moment I was walking away from a great opportunity
Speaker 1: that there was a greater one in front of me.
Speaker 1: That's what I call a leap of faith. That's what
Speaker 1: you just did, girl, And the world will know your name,
Speaker 1: Amara Hall, because you will change the world for the
Speaker 1: greater good. And you have so much love. You have
Speaker 1: so much grace, you have so much you have. You
Speaker 1: have the ability to make people want to forgive themselves,
Speaker 1: to forgive other people, and then march on to be
Speaker 1: the better version of themselves. You have that ability. You
Speaker 1: are a healer. I've said it from the second I
Speaker 1: met you. You take people where they are. You don't
Speaker 1: get mad at them for their flaws and the terrible
Speaker 1: things they've done. You wrap them in your arms and
Speaker 1: you go, Okay, we're gonna we're gonna be great together.
Speaker 1: Makes want to cry because that's how much I believe
Speaker 1: in you and I know what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 1: And I said, mark my words, the first woman black
Speaker 1: president will probably be here within the next twenty years.
Speaker 1: I was saying, I pray sooner you will be at
Speaker 1: the inaugural address. I know we totally have that vision.
Speaker 1: You will. Hey, I accept that. I know you will,
Speaker 1: and I have to be your day. Can you imagine?
Speaker 1: I will imagine? I see it. I know. Oh my gosh, girl,
Speaker 1: they got a real better on these rolls. I mean,
Speaker 1: I just yeah, okay, let's do it. What's twenty years
Speaker 1: from now? Hopefully I'll be sooner. But I stay within twenty,
Speaker 1: that will happen, and by then you will be like
Speaker 1: deep into your career. You and Alicia Keys have done
Speaker 1: tons of class because you are twins. I feel like
Speaker 1: I can't even tell about Alicia Keys because I dream
Speaker 1: about her, like I literally think we're already friends. You
Speaker 1: are y'all cut from the same cloth. It's that weird.
Speaker 1: A soul knows when it meets someone it is supposed
Speaker 1: to be with. You know. She wrote a song called
Speaker 1: Superwoman and it goes because ah am superma, Yes I am,
Speaker 1: Yes you are, even when I'm a mess stupid on
Speaker 1: a vest within us so much as oh, yes I'm
Speaker 1: a super woma. And I was reading an interview and
Speaker 1: she said she wrote that song because she needed to
Speaker 1: hear that song. And that's what you do. That's how
Speaker 1: I feel, you know. Okay, so we're gonna wrap up.
Speaker 1: Leave your light. You're just a ball of inspiration, Like
Speaker 1: everything you say is inspiring. You are inspiration to me.
Speaker 1: You are just bright light. Thank you. So this is
Speaker 1: gonna be hard to ask you to just pick some
Speaker 1: piece of inspiration, but leave some inspiration of how you've
Speaker 1: been inspired or how you want to inspire people. Um M, hmm.
Speaker 1: I would say as someone who has a very creative side,
Speaker 1: and it is very conscious of the fact that I
Speaker 1: am surrounded by so many bright lights. You know, we
Speaker 1: are in such a super super saturated city of bright
Speaker 1: lights us. How awesome for us. I'm glad you said
Speaker 1: that instead of what I sometimes think, which is, oh gosh,
Speaker 1: I hope my light will shine just as bright as there's.
Speaker 1: You know, we get like we we start doubting yourself.
Speaker 1: You start doubting yourself. See all these other people shining
Speaker 1: so bright. I would I want to leave you with right,
Speaker 1: with no one intension of making it great, to all
Speaker 1: my creative people out there, do it for the love,
Speaker 1: you know, right, with no intention of making it great.
Speaker 1: You know, don't We go onto all these rooms with
Speaker 1: these people who have all these accolades, and they've done this,
Speaker 1: and they've done that, and they've taken it to this
Speaker 1: place and that place, and we forget we are but vessels.
Speaker 1: We are here. We are here to leave, to leave
Speaker 1: you know, our our voice, you know, and and our perspective,
Speaker 1: and no one else can do you like you do
Speaker 1: you nobody, And that should give you the greatest confidence
Speaker 1: to pursue what you know you're meant to do for
Speaker 1: sure really agrees. Okay, so take us out of one
Speaker 1: last spoken word, okay, taking you out m hm m
Speaker 1: hm m hm um. It's a couple of things that
Speaker 1: I'm sure of the hardest steps to take are the
Speaker 1: first ones, the ones that will break your heart if
Speaker 1: you don't try, you don't try or even go for it.
Speaker 1: So baby, go for it and don't wait for who
Speaker 1: they want you to be. Probably ain't that great, you know.
Speaker 1: The trials that you beat are the ones you face
Speaker 1: head on, sweaty palm saying, please Lord today, give me
Speaker 1: the courage, because it's gotta be today. I gotta make
Speaker 1: a change. There's gotta be a way for me to
Speaker 1: find a sense of freedom, hiding in the mundane, to
Speaker 1: keep believing that I'm doing the right thing. Peacema Hal
Speaker 1: y'all come see us at Aurora downtown Nashville on her
Speaker 1: birthday turning thirty May sevent it's going to be it's
Speaker 1: gonna be her Nashville Showcase, and it's gonna rock your
Speaker 1: face in your world. See all there care. I know
Speaker 1: you guys loved that episode. I loved it. It was
Speaker 1: one of my favorite episodes I've ever done. I love
Speaker 1: Mr our Hall. Next week, you guys, I have Lou
Speaker 1: Taylor joining me. Lou Taylor is the CEO of Trystar Entertainment.
Speaker 1: It's a business entertainment group and she is a badass batch.
Speaker 1: This woman gets it done with grace, with style, with heart,
Speaker 1: with faith. She does not take any shye from anyone,
Speaker 1: and she is just such an example of how to
Speaker 1: be a strong, powerful woman. I love her so much
Speaker 1: so next week join me for Lou Taylor