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Speaker 1: Calling all my sweeties to the forefront. I'm your host, Christo,

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Speaker 1: and this is to keep it positive. Sweetish show we

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Speaker 1: welcome to keep it positive, Sweetie, a place where we

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Speaker 1: he'll grow and learn together. Today's guest is a strategist, advocate,

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Speaker 1: and movement builder Joe Taika Edie. Joe Taica is someone

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Speaker 1: many people know for her impact, but today's conversation goes deeper,

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Speaker 1: from navigating grief and personal healing to finding power and

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Speaker 1: heavy moments. This is a chance to hear how she

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Speaker 1: moves forward through challenge, leadership and purpose.

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Speaker 2: Kip Stanley, please give.

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Speaker 1: A very warm welcome to my sister Joe Taika Edie.

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Speaker 3: Hi, how are you? I feel good. I'm happy to

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Speaker 3: be well.

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Speaker 2: You look good. You came in here radiating.

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Speaker 4: No, I think we got a memo like I got

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Speaker 4: the memo for the brown and the Creams day.

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Speaker 3: Do it just feels good? Is twenty twenty six? They

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Speaker 3: say to what the year of the horse?

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Speaker 2: The year the horse. That's what I'm hearing. Let's go.

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Speaker 2: We are not playing.

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Speaker 3: Five?

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Speaker 2: Was we made it? Though?

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Speaker 3: We made it?

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Speaker 2: It was very Yeah, it was tumultuous what we made it?

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Speaker 2: We made it? Yes, we did, so Jataka, I met

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Speaker 2: you first.

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Speaker 1: I believe it was Essence Festival that was the first

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Speaker 1: time we actually met. Treill had come on and I'm

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Speaker 1: talking about saying your praises.

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Speaker 2: He's like, you gotta meet just like you got to

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Speaker 2: meet her.

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Speaker 1: And we got to finally meet and at Essence Festival

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Speaker 1: at his all white, Black Excellence Brunch, and from there

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Speaker 1: already your name preceded itself.

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Speaker 2: So I knew who you were, but I had never

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Speaker 2: gotten to meet you. And it was just you.

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Speaker 1: Everything that we hear about Joe takea Edie, you are that.

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Speaker 1: And then you bless us in Washington, d C. For

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Speaker 1: our kIPS Live show, poured into us like no other.

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Speaker 1: And I just want to say thank you just for

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Speaker 1: being you but also coming into our world and sharing

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Speaker 1: a piece of you with us.

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Speaker 3: Seriously, well, thank you.

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Speaker 4: And I love Treill he is you know, Treill is

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Speaker 4: my South Carolina. Yes, brother, so and just do an

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Speaker 4: amazing things like I think about the Black Excellence Brunch,

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Speaker 4: what it's done for the culture, and then really to

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Speaker 4: be here with you like so, I'm grateful to.

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Speaker 3: Be here with you.

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Speaker 4: Love love, love your journey and you know the DC

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Speaker 4: like you know, like the DC.

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Speaker 2: The DC Hustle, baby, because that's what it is, It's

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Speaker 2: DC Hustle.

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Speaker 4: But to just see just the space and just the

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Speaker 4: beauty of what you bring the impact.

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Speaker 3: So I'm just glad to be here.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate that. Thank you.

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Speaker 1: So I want to know, before the titles, before the

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Speaker 1: world knew who you were, take us back to who

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Speaker 1: you were before you knew advocacy was your.

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Speaker 2: Calling on that journey, Cause I know it's been a journey.

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Speaker 3: It's been a journey.

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Speaker 4: So interestingly, you know, I'm from rural South Carolina. So

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Speaker 4: I'm from a town with population fourteen hundred people.

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Speaker 2: Wait, that's less than me. I thought I was from

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Speaker 2: a small town.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, are you si Johnsonville, South Carolina. Wow, I think

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Speaker 4: it's forteen ninety one something like that, Like it changes

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Speaker 4: beside the side. But I'm from a little small town.

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Speaker 4: I grew up on a dirt road. My family still

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Speaker 4: lives on that dirt road. And I think, really, what

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Speaker 4: like who I always was the kid growing up? My

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Speaker 4: mom would tell me stories about being me, being the

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Speaker 4: kid that would talk to anybody in the grocery store.

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Speaker 4: And I used to say, I want to be Annoyer.

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Speaker 4: I couldn't even say lawyer. I want to be Annoyer.

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Speaker 4: And really, I think probably watching Claire Huxtable was a

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Speaker 4: big influence for me, growing up like she, and so

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Speaker 4: that gave me this idea I want to be a lawyer.

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Speaker 4: I always wanted to help people, but I always wanted

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Speaker 4: to talk to people. So I was that kid that

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Speaker 4: got talks too much, shocks too much. But I also

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Speaker 4: was the advocate for other kids in school. So always

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Speaker 4: growing up in like you know, a small rural town,

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Speaker 4: I was that kid that was very talkative.

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Speaker 3: And I was also that kid.

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Speaker 4: That your grandmama made you get your Eastern speech together. Interestingly,

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Speaker 4: I got my confidence for speaking and being in front

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Speaker 4: of people doing Eastern speeches in church, and so I

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Speaker 4: would get an extra long.

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Speaker 3: Each Easter speech.

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Speaker 4: And I never forget my grandma, and I was good

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Speaker 4: at like memorizing, So I would wait till the last.

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Speaker 3: Minute, and my grandma would be like I.

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Speaker 4: Think her and her sister would compete, like which grandchild

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Speaker 4: was going to do the best, Like my cousin Tarror

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Speaker 4: would sing, and.

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Speaker 3: It was like you got to get up there and

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Speaker 3: do a good job. So I would go through my

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Speaker 3: Eastern speech. I would memorize it, but.

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Speaker 4: I would get up and it was like I would perform.

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Speaker 4: And so as I grew up, people would wait, I

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Speaker 4: would get to do my Eastern speech.

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Speaker 3: Last they know, you got to do something your Eastern speech.

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Speaker 4: But it gave me confidence, and it gave me a

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Speaker 4: sense of like I could just get up here and speak.

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Speaker 4: And I just remember, you know, older black women, right,

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Speaker 4: like the Miss Bernie Ruths, the Miss Annie Lu's, you know,

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Speaker 4: the Miss Louvinias that's sitting there. Go ahead, baby, go ahead, baby,

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Speaker 4: do it baby, And that just did something for me. So, like,

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Speaker 4: you know, fast forward twenty something years later, when I'm

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Speaker 4: speaking at the un I'm nervous, but I had that

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Speaker 4: confidence to be there because I revert back to what

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Speaker 4: that felt like. And so that was like the kid

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Speaker 4: growing up. But I was also that kid in student government.

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Speaker 4: I grew up in the church, a very strong faith, spiritual,

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Speaker 4: just tradition for me, like I grew Yeah, I grew

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Speaker 4: up in the church, I know, like for me, like

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Speaker 4: I'm nothing without God. And so that all together made

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Speaker 4: me this kid that just believed that I wanted to

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Speaker 4: create something better in the world.

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Speaker 3: And really.

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Speaker 4: What did it for me was what I was probably

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Speaker 4: around eight or nine, the local plant in my town

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Speaker 4: when the workers went on strike and Reverend Jesse Jackson, Wow,

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Speaker 4: came to Johnsonville.

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Speaker 3: South Carolina.

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Speaker 2: That's huge.

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Speaker 3: Yes, can you imagine fourteen hundred people.

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Speaker 4: I'll never forget He marched from Welman Industries to the

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Speaker 4: high school football field and I remember seeing Reverend Jesse Jackson.

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Speaker 4: I'll never forget it. I was standing on the other

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Speaker 4: side of the fence and I was like.

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Speaker 3: Oh my God, like, this is this is it, this

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Speaker 3: is what I want to do. And I was so inspired.

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Speaker 4: From that moment on, I wanted to be an advocate

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Speaker 4: and I would fight little fights in through the government,

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Speaker 4: like I was in middle school, Like the mirrors in

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Speaker 4: the bathroom were plastic and I was like, we need

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Speaker 4: real mirrors. I'm going to fight for the bathroom. But

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Speaker 4: that was kind of the start.

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Speaker 1: That is amazing, and I love hearing stories like that

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Speaker 1: because a lot of times when you are born into

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Speaker 1: a small country town, we don't have a lot of

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Speaker 1: the outlets that most kids in the city have. So

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Speaker 1: to be able to have a Jesse Jackson come to

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Speaker 1: your town, you know, to show you this is what

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Speaker 1: real advocacy looks like and what standing up for the

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Speaker 1: right thing looks like.

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Speaker 2: I'm sure that was very pivotal.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was something.

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Speaker 4: You know what's interesting you think about like what we

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Speaker 4: had when we didn't have I mean, like this is like

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Speaker 4: you know, we had the big satellite dishes because we

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Speaker 4: didn't have like we only had like three channels.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 4: We barely had NBC because it was really in Charleston,

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Speaker 4: which is like two hours away, so that I guess

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Speaker 4: we didn't get signals. So you had like, you know,

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Speaker 4: channel thirteen, Channel fifteen. Who's watching this, I know there's

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Speaker 4: some you know, I know y'all all here from South Carolina.

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Speaker 4: Y'all y'all from like where I'm from, Florence County, you know.

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Speaker 4: Then the channel thirteen to Channel fifteen, and then Fox

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Speaker 4: came like a couple of years later. Wow, but we

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Speaker 4: had like three channels and then like you were lucky

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Speaker 4: to you know, get a satellite and like and then

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Speaker 4: so we didn't have you know, like the Star of

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Speaker 4: the town I'm well known for, like you know, coming

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Speaker 4: out of Johnsonville. Because it's interesting because any time I've

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Speaker 4: ever done an interview or any magazine ever like writes

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Speaker 4: about me, I'm very very like conscious and I'm very

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Speaker 4: like deliberate about them printing that I am from Johnsonville,

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Speaker 4: South Carolina, because to me, I'm like, I'm so proud

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Speaker 4: of like being from the small town. And I think

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Speaker 4: it's important, like you say, like we people that come

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Speaker 4: from small towns, we I grew up in like a

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Speaker 4: place where in the school system, you know, guidance counselors

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Speaker 4: didn't lead you to believe that you can do any

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Speaker 4: and everything like in these small towns across the country,

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Speaker 4: like they don't tell particularly us, you know, And so

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Speaker 4: it's important, I think for people to see that you can't,

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Speaker 4: especially if you're like that kid, that young girl that's

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Speaker 4: on a dirt road, that's you know, living in any

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Speaker 4: small towns.

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Speaker 3: You're not in a big city.

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Speaker 4: You don't have access to some of the programs and

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Speaker 4: some of the activities, and you don't have that to

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Speaker 4: see that like, yes, you can't come from a small town.

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Speaker 4: You could go anywhere, you could travel, you can be

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Speaker 4: anything that you want.

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Speaker 3: And I just think it's really important for me to

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Speaker 3: be a representation of that.

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Speaker 1: When you are an outstanding representation of that. You said

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Speaker 1: before that advocacy isn't a career choice, it's a responsibility.

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Speaker 2: When did that.

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Speaker 1: Responsibility show itself to you in a way that you

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Speaker 1: couldn't ignore it anymore?

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Speaker 4: I think it probably was in my high school days.

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Speaker 4: For me, I became very interested in learning about the

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Speaker 4: death penalty. So also, Johnsonville, South Carolina, is also home

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Speaker 4: to this very infamous multiple murderer, Donald pee Wee Gaskin.

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Speaker 4: So my small town had this man who had submitted

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Speaker 4: a lot of murders and was on death row. When

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Speaker 4: I was in seventh grade. He had come up for execution,

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Speaker 4: and I'll never forget my seventh grade teacher asked us

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Speaker 4: to argue in class our position. Now, this was the

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Speaker 4: girl who did the power Easter speeches. So I was

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Speaker 4: ready and I was like, Donald pee Wee gascon should

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Speaker 4: be executed.

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Speaker 3: You know. I was at I was like, I went

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Speaker 3: to debate. I'm I'm on the winning side.

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Speaker 4: We had to write a paper on the opposing viewpoint

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Speaker 4: that you took in class. Oh wow, So I go

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Speaker 4: and I'm doing this research and I start to learn

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Speaker 4: about the death penalicgue. So I had learned about George Stinney,

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Speaker 4: who was fourteen years old, the youngest person ever executed

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Speaker 4: in the United States, who grew up in Clarenon County,

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Speaker 4: South Carolina, which is probably like forty five minutes from

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Speaker 4: where my little small town is. And I'm reading the

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Speaker 4: history that I started digging into firm and versus Georgia,

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Speaker 4: which was the landmark US Supreme Court case, and I

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Speaker 4: was like, whoa, the death peloty has been racist and

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Speaker 4: they were executing people who committed crimes. At the age of

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Speaker 4: sixteen and seventeen, I became very opposed to the death penloty.

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Speaker 4: So I started like a little student group in my

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Speaker 4: middle school.

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Speaker 3: And high school.

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Speaker 4: If you go back to my yearbook, interestingly, my friends

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Speaker 4: would write good luck trying to abolish the death penloty,

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Speaker 4: like that was like the thing that they would say

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Speaker 4: in my yearbook because I was so opposed. So but

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Speaker 4: that was for me, That's what I got. And then

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Speaker 4: I saw Reverend Jesse Jackson as a younger person. I

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Speaker 4: was on fire and it was like I want to

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Speaker 4: go I'm going to be a criminal defense lawyer and

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Speaker 4: I'm going to go work on death parlic cases.

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Speaker 3: And so I ended up. I ended up being a

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Speaker 3: part of of the.

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Speaker 4: Movement to a policy juvenile death penalty, like in two

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Speaker 4: thousand and five.

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Speaker 3: So for me, like that advocacy was like that thing

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Speaker 3: that I.

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Speaker 4: Couldn't unsee because I realized that we had been fed

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Speaker 4: this information about a criminal justice system when really when

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Speaker 4: you look at the history of the death penalty, why

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Speaker 4: the death penalty, Like we went from slave codes to

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Speaker 4: you know, the death penalty, and like who largely got

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Speaker 4: the death penalty largely black and brown men and women

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Speaker 4: in the United States. That the just the unfairness, the

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Speaker 4: bias of the system, and so that was just something

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Speaker 4: that was just a calling for men. So when I

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Speaker 4: was in I think I was in maybe the tenth grade,

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Speaker 4: my high school teacher recommended me to go to the National.

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Speaker 3: Youth Leadership form of Law and Constitution in DC.

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Speaker 4: And it cost three thousand dollars to go, and it

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Speaker 4: was three thousand dollars my mom and daddy didn't have.

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Speaker 4: And so the town of Josonville, all of the good

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Speaker 4: people of Johnsonville, many black women in my church, they

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Speaker 4: raised the money sold cake said Dinas to put me

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Speaker 4: on an airplane that many of them and some of

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Speaker 4: them have never even been on still today and sent

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Speaker 4: me to.

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Speaker 3: Washington, d C.

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Speaker 4: And there I met the executive director, Steve Hawkins of

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Speaker 4: the National Collage of Bosha Deathbeld.

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Speaker 3: I'm like sixty years old, and I.

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Speaker 4: Was like, I want to do I want to come

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Speaker 4: work and abolished the death penalty. And he offered me

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Speaker 4: an internship, like he said, when you finish high school.

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Speaker 3: And I begged my mom and dad to let me

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Speaker 3: go to d C.

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Speaker 4: And when I graduated high school, I would have stayed

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Speaker 4: with a distant cousin, my cousin mildyap in DC and

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Speaker 4: did an internship. And that literally was what put me

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Speaker 4: on the trajectory that has taken me to where I'm

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Speaker 4: at today.

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Speaker 1: My goodness, that is fascinating. And we share similar stories

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Speaker 1: in me going from Martin, Tennessee to d C. What

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Speaker 1: was that like going from a very small town. I'm

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Speaker 1: interested to hear your take on it to the city

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Speaker 1: known as Washington, d C.

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Speaker 2: Because I know for me it was a big jump

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Speaker 2: and I was like, whoa.

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Speaker 3: Yeah different, Yeah, So I went.

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Speaker 4: So it was a bit helpful because I went to

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Speaker 4: the University of South Carolina and so that When I

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Speaker 4: went to USC, it was you know, large campus.

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Speaker 3: I was very active at.

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Speaker 4: USC and then student government and student activism there. But

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Speaker 4: when I went to d C, it was so Colombia

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Speaker 4: was like kind of city, but that was big city

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Speaker 4: to me, but d C, it was like what is this?

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Speaker 4: And then I had never been around or in a

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Speaker 4: city with so many black folks that were like just.

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Speaker 3: Doing the thing.

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Speaker 4: And not that Johnsonville didn't have dynamic, amazing, excellent black folks,

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Speaker 4: but like just see black people running things, you know,

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Speaker 4: leading mayors all of that.

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Speaker 3: Like I never see that, honestly, Like I had never

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Speaker 3: even seen or.

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Speaker 4: Been around other uh just populations of the diaspora of

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Speaker 4: black people. So that was like my first time like

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Speaker 4: experiencing Ethiopian.

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Speaker 3: Food or like, and it's just like one of those.

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Speaker 4: Things because like Josphville, there is not an Ethiopian restaurant

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Speaker 4: in Josphviel. So like for the first time I'm eating

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Speaker 4: Ethiopian food or being open.

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Speaker 3: To other the other cultures is being in DC and.

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Speaker 4: So I and I love DC because I always saw

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Speaker 4: DC as a place where you could go create.

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Speaker 2: Change, and.

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Speaker 4: Like that's where it changes, I mean over time and

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Speaker 4: over the years of my career, I started to learn

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Speaker 4: that like, nah, like you could create change in other spaces.

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Speaker 4: But I used to think that like, if you go

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Speaker 4: to do change change work, you need to be doing

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Speaker 4: movement work. You need to be like in a nonprofit

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Speaker 4: or you need to be in the government.

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Speaker 3: That's the only way you could do change. And that's

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Speaker 3: evolved for me. But that was like my experience and

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Speaker 3: it was just like in DC.

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Speaker 4: To me, still DC is still my home. I spent

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Speaker 4: my time between DC and LA, but DC for me

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Speaker 4: still there is something even though like the heaviness of

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Speaker 4: a Trump administration in Washington, d C is very heavy

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Speaker 4: and like what's happening right now, particularly how black women

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Speaker 4: and black people are infected.

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Speaker 2: Let's talk about that.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's still something special to me about DC.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I don't know the exact number. And you

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Speaker 1: may be able to help me on this of black

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Speaker 1: women that lost their jobs last.

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Speaker 4: Year, three hundred thousand, three hundred grief and shout out

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Speaker 4: to Vlicia Butterfield. Yes, yes, we love for the global

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Speaker 4: state of women and the fun for black women to

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Speaker 4: have some relief. And so it's it's a hard time

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Speaker 4: and it's it's particularly painful, like when you know people,

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Speaker 4: yes and not just one person, but you.

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Speaker 3: Know multiple people who.

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Speaker 4: Have been out of work for over a year and

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Speaker 4: it's all because of a deliberate, aggressive, poignant attack on

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Speaker 4: black women, on black.

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Speaker 3: People, on.

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Speaker 4: Our livelihood, on our lives, on our education, on our culture.

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Speaker 4: And so in this moment, I just think that it's

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Speaker 4: a reality check for a lot of people, because I

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Speaker 4: think some people didn't take it as seriously and now

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Speaker 4: are realizing that this.

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Speaker 3: Is real.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is real.

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Speaker 1: I remember a friend of mine saying when everything the

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Speaker 1: pendum started swinging in our favor, he said, be careful,

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Speaker 1: he said, because just as it swings, it's going to

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Speaker 1: go back in the.

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Speaker 2: Other direction, very drastically.

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Speaker 1: And what could you give us as a community advice

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Speaker 1: on how to handle this as the pendulum is not

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Speaker 1: in our favor.

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Speaker 4: I think in this moment that would go back to

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Speaker 4: where we started this podcast prayer. It's being grounded and

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Speaker 4: recognizing that we are always going to be okay because

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Speaker 4: God has us, and I think that's where it starts.

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Speaker 4: It's just having a level of peace and understanding as

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Speaker 4: hard as hard as it is, and I just to

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Speaker 4: speak to my own self love that that there is

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Speaker 4: something greater.

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Speaker 3: That is holding us.

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Speaker 4: So I think that's the first place, and the second

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Speaker 4: is that we cannot as a people in this moment

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Speaker 4: be silent. It's not an option, and we have to

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Speaker 4: be united and together support each other and support our

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Speaker 4: own in this moment. And so I think that as

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Speaker 4: this pendulum, because it's not just people that had a

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Speaker 4: federal job, it's people who consult or law firms, or

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Speaker 4: or it's it's an attack on the entire culture and

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Speaker 4: the entire system. And I think that's the part that

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Speaker 4: is very real and is the part that's the most dangerous.

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Speaker 4: And so you see now attacks on UH studios and

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Speaker 4: so what does that mean about UH content as studios

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Speaker 4: and ensure that there's diversity not on the camera but

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Speaker 4: behind the camera and.

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Speaker 3: All all of the craftsmen, all of that.

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Speaker 4: So the attacks now on that, the attacks on universities

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Speaker 4: and funding. NIH just announced that they are no longer

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Speaker 4: going to have diversity, equity and inclusion grants, that they

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Speaker 4: don't need that anymore. Think about research and so the

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Speaker 4: greater impact, Think about all the jobs that are associated

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Speaker 4: with that. So I think sometimes when we think about

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Speaker 4: what has happened in terms of these massive, uh you know,

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Speaker 4: jobs that have disappeared, and we think, oh, it's just

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Speaker 4: someone that was working in a federal government an office

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Speaker 4: that maybe we didn't need them, right, you know, maybe

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Speaker 4: yeah we do need them. Yeah, But it's also you know,

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Speaker 4: all of the surrounding jobs and industries that are also

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Speaker 4: impact music, concerts, all those things, because there's not the

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Speaker 4: support for all of that. And I think it's just

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Speaker 4: a moment like for us to recognize that we are

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Speaker 4: not in normal times, and because we are not in

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Speaker 4: normal times, we cannot do our resistance can't look like

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Speaker 4: you know, business as usual, right.

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Speaker 2: That is so that's good. Thank you for sharing that.

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Speaker 1: You have been known for also movement building, and people

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Speaker 1: see the movements when it's visible, but they don't see

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Speaker 1: it when it's fragile and behind the scenes and in

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Speaker 1: its incubator phase. I wanted to ask you, can you

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Speaker 1: walk us through what it really takes to move a

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Speaker 1: movement in the way that you have from working with

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Speaker 1: Kamala Harris or even with the abolishing the juvenile death penalty,

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Speaker 1: What does it take to really build those movements from

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Speaker 1: the ground up?

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Speaker 4: I think the first thing is authentic relationships. Because when

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Speaker 4: I go back and I think about.

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Speaker 3: How we were able.

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Speaker 4: To abolish the juvenile death penalty in two thousand and five,

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Speaker 4: no one thought that that could happen, and it was.

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Speaker 3: A lot of hard work.

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Speaker 4: And I remember, you know, I mean, I was, like,

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Speaker 4: I think it was twenty five in that Supreme Court

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Speaker 4: case that I was the chief organizer for the National

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Speaker 4: Culture bot death Penalty on that case, and I remember

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Speaker 4: having to go to South Dakota, Wyoming, New Hampshire and

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Speaker 4: the work that we did in the United Nations to

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Speaker 4: really get that case into a place where the Supreme

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Speaker 4: Court would.

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Speaker 3: Vote, which is a five to four vote.

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Speaker 4: Justice Kennedy was the swing vote, a very pivotal vote.

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Speaker 4: But what it took was coalition and authentic relationships. And

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Speaker 4: it takes strategy, but I think sometimes people think that

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Speaker 4: the strategy leads, but really the authentic relationships first first,

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Speaker 4: and once you have that, then you can employ it

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Speaker 4: strategy with those authentic relationships that then can move the movement.

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Speaker 3: And I think also movement.

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Speaker 4: Is about collective, collective leadership, and it is about collective power.

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Speaker 4: And when I think about the work around when with

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Speaker 4: Black Women. That has really been the power behind when

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Speaker 4: with Black Women is the collective nature of when with

437
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Speaker 4: Black Women, because the notion for when with Black women

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Speaker 4: is that we all have power. That you don't need

439
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Speaker 4: institutional power, you don't need positional power to have power.

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Speaker 3: No matter who you are, where you sit, you have

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Speaker 3: some type of.

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Speaker 4: Power that can be a contribution to the collective place

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Speaker 4: that we are moving together as a key, So if

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Speaker 4: you can just think of us as we're all on

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Speaker 4: this journey together. We're all on like the big the

446
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:09,840
Speaker 4: big highway together. We're in our individual cars, but but

447
00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:13,359
Speaker 4: we're moving. As long as we're moving in the same direction,

448
00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:18,400
Speaker 4: we're moving forward. Not everybody's gonna drive the same color car,

449
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:19,879
Speaker 4: have the same car.

450
00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:22,159
Speaker 3: We're not all going to drive at the same speed.

451
00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,960
Speaker 4: But if we're moving in the same direction with the

452
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:29,639
Speaker 4: goal of getting to the destination, that's how we can

453
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:31,360
Speaker 4: have I think strong positives.

454
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:33,160
Speaker 2: I love it. I love that.

455
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 1: Now we talked about your holy yes and your sacred no.

456
00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:40,000
Speaker 1: When do you know when it's time to say yes

457
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:41,520
Speaker 1: to something? I'm sure you get a lot of calls

458
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,280
Speaker 1: like are things to take on? When do you know

459
00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 1: what to say yes to and what to say no to,

460
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:49,480
Speaker 1: and how do you discern like what projects.

461
00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:49,600
Speaker 2: You'll take on?

462
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:51,679
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the notion of the.

463
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:57,480
Speaker 4: Sacred Noe holy Yes, you know Oprah Winfree and AA

464
00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:58,600
Speaker 4: van Zance Poecast.

465
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:04,000
Speaker 2: We were just I love it, I love it.

466
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:08,199
Speaker 4: But we were talking about and I heard that and

467
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:11,119
Speaker 4: it was just so profound to me because I've struggled

468
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:13,040
Speaker 4: with being able to say no. I'm one of those

469
00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:16,359
Speaker 4: people that my whole life it was always hard to

470
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:19,520
Speaker 4: say no because I've always wanted to be accommodating.

471
00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:25,640
Speaker 3: And I think this last year for me, it's been oo.

472
00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:38,160
Speaker 4: Yeah. Interestingly, it's like it's been the roughest, hardest year

473
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:42,399
Speaker 4: of my life. And it's interesting because I think most

474
00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:47,560
Speaker 4: people have seen or saw all the awards, all of

475
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:51,480
Speaker 4: the things, the image award, this, that, this to that.

476
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:55,200
Speaker 3: But I have been on.

477
00:24:55,160 --> 00:25:00,719
Speaker 4: A grief journey and it was so hard to be

478
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:07,080
Speaker 4: in deep grief, to deal with a multitude of challenges,

479
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:14,720
Speaker 4: but also be thrust it into this light where people

480
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:18,919
Speaker 4: are expecting you to smile, and inside.

481
00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:20,040
Speaker 2: You're really just crumbling.

482
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:25,600
Speaker 4: You're crumbling on the inside. And you know, my mother,

483
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:27,679
Speaker 4: like the loss of my mother and the way my

484
00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:30,760
Speaker 4: mother died.

485
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:31,760
Speaker 3: It was so sudden.

486
00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:35,920
Speaker 4: It was like an unknown condition that never was could

487
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:40,320
Speaker 4: be diagnosed. And she was fine in July and died

488
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:44,360
Speaker 4: December the fourth. And while the election was going on,

489
00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,400
Speaker 4: I was Most people didn't realize that I was spending

490
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 4: most of my time in the medical My mother was

491
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:55,400
Speaker 4: in medical ICU on a ventilator for two months, and

492
00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:57,160
Speaker 4: when she ultimately.

493
00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,480
Speaker 3: Passed, it was very hard.

494
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:05,199
Speaker 4: So it's like, my mother dies December the fourth, we

495
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 4: lost the election in November, this administration comes in in January,

496
00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,680
Speaker 4: the country starts to move in this direction, and so.

497
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,240
Speaker 3: You're where it's just heavy.

498
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:21,160
Speaker 4: And I realized last year that I had to learn.

499
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:26,160
Speaker 3: How to say no more and yes to myself.

500
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:29,040
Speaker 4: And so that's when I think, for really the first

501
00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:33,200
Speaker 4: time forever in my life, I was forced to slow

502
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:36,720
Speaker 4: down because I just there were days I just couldn't.

503
00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:38,280
Speaker 3: I just couldn't.

504
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:42,960
Speaker 4: And I'm still learning how to say no. But it

505
00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 4: it has been a work in progress. But you know,

506
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:51,800
Speaker 4: life sometimes and God will God will sit you down, tell.

507
00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:52,880
Speaker 2: Me about it. He'll sit you down.

508
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:55,000
Speaker 3: Sometimes He'll sit you down.

509
00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:59,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of people don't take the they don't

510
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,480
Speaker 1: understand that also like as you're being thrust into like

511
00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,439
Speaker 1: life still happens, and so many people don't know what

512
00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:08,399
Speaker 1: we're dealing with behind the scenes, and the way you

513
00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 1: push through.

514
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 2: Would have never known.

515
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:11,720
Speaker 1: And I didn't know that until you shared it on

516
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,600
Speaker 1: the live show, and I was just like, wow, Like

517
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:16,600
Speaker 1: the fact that you can that's a lot. I know

518
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:19,000
Speaker 1: what you put into the election, you know, and then

519
00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:21,040
Speaker 1: to go through that loss, and then to turn around

520
00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:23,040
Speaker 1: and lose your mother, I know that was hard.

521
00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,520
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, And it's one of those things where I

522
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:27,160
Speaker 4: was just thinking. I was like, man, I was thinking

523
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:28,800
Speaker 4: about people. I'm grateful for it.

524
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 3: I was thinking about I thought it was the craziest

525
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:32,600
Speaker 3: thing to think about.

526
00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 4: And I was like, the dynamic dope women that have

527
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,080
Speaker 4: done my makeup before I have gone on.

528
00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:43,200
Speaker 3: To get anything right or speech or an.

529
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:46,320
Speaker 4: Award or whatever, and because They've had to redo my

530
00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:52,240
Speaker 4: makeup so many times because I'm literally crying, yeah before

531
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:53,520
Speaker 4: I have to walk out there.

532
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,160
Speaker 3: I missed my mom so much.

533
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 2: She's not here for these things. Yeah, And so it's been.

534
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:08,199
Speaker 3: It's like I know her spirit is here, but you

535
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,359
Speaker 3: miss her. And so like you go through life and

536
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:17,400
Speaker 3: this person who has poured everything into you to make

537
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 3: you who you.

538
00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:25,160
Speaker 4: Are, and finally you're there, You're there, or you're somewhat there,

539
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:36,360
Speaker 4: and she's not physically there, and it's yeah, it's.

540
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:41,720
Speaker 3: It's it's it has an impact.

541
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:45,520
Speaker 2: Yeah.

542
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 4: So yeah, So it's been really a journey and I've

543
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:55,840
Speaker 4: learned so much.

544
00:28:55,720 --> 00:29:02,360
Speaker 3: About grief and how grief will you just have to

545
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 3: just go through it. It will hit you at.

546
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:08,480
Speaker 4: Any moment you're in the grocery store and I would

547
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,960
Speaker 4: see Welch's grape juice because when my mom was getting sick,

548
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:16,720
Speaker 4: she liked welsh Is grape juice, and I just it

549
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:20,360
Speaker 4: would just impact me because I just think about, you know,

550
00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 4: my mother, if I can say her name, Leonora Abraham Edie,

551
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:32,120
Speaker 4: my best friend, my biggest supporter.

552
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 3: My mom and my dad both.

553
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:39,160
Speaker 4: But my mom was this person, that gentle kind soul,

554
00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:43,960
Speaker 4: and she taught me everything. She was always there, my

555
00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:48,440
Speaker 4: person I talk to every day, and you know, we

556
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 4: it was so harsh. I learned also, like when my

557
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:55,920
Speaker 4: mom her through her sickness, the horror of the healthcare

558
00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:59,200
Speaker 4: system because my mom, you know, it was a July

559
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:05,240
Speaker 4: my mother was fine, laughing, talking, and then all of

560
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 4: a sudden, she was like feeling a little off, and

561
00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:12,480
Speaker 4: she goes to the doctor and the doctor tells her,

562
00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:17,240
Speaker 4: you know, that she has anxiety and depression. And I'm like,

563
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:21,040
Speaker 4: this seems a little off, you know, but maybe, and

564
00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:22,640
Speaker 4: so they prescribe her medicine.

565
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,160
Speaker 3: I'm like something my spirit kept saying, something is not right.

566
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:27,959
Speaker 4: That all of a sudden, my mother started having like

567
00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:33,160
Speaker 4: the onset of like advanced dementia, and everything I read,

568
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:36,520
Speaker 4: every doctor friend that I spoke to is like, dementia

569
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:37,560
Speaker 4: does an onset like this.

570
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:39,040
Speaker 3: It doesn't. It's not this fast.

571
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:44,520
Speaker 4: And so by August my mom was could barely talk,

572
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 4: could not I'll never forget. There was this moment when

573
00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:50,400
Speaker 4: I and I would fly back home and I'm trying

574
00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 4: to go see a neurologist and they're like, oh, it's

575
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,520
Speaker 4: pseudo pseudo.

576
00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:57,000
Speaker 3: Dementia, Like what is pseudo dementia?

577
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:00,920
Speaker 4: You know, what's you know, it's not really real. It'll

578
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:05,240
Speaker 4: reverse and so and I'm like, something's not right. And

579
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:09,400
Speaker 4: I never forget. I went home and I was in

580
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,280
Speaker 4: my room and I'm on emails.

581
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,600
Speaker 3: And the crazy part is life is lifing.

582
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:17,160
Speaker 4: But the world is still moving. So in the midst

583
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:19,560
Speaker 4: of this election, like I'm taking calls and it's on

584
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:22,440
Speaker 4: a strategy and I'm sitting there and my mom walks

585
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:26,479
Speaker 4: in my room door. She has on Sunday clothes, and

586
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:29,360
Speaker 4: I go and it's why were you doing? It's a Thursday,

587
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:32,120
Speaker 4: and she was like, I'm going to church. We're going

588
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:34,880
Speaker 4: to church. And she's out of her mind, but just

589
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:39,320
Speaker 4: as childlike and sweet and innocent, dressed to the nines.

590
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 4: And I remember I just looked at her and I said, Mama,

591
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:47,200
Speaker 4: I said, but it's Thursday. And she looked at me

592
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 4: and it was as if like she felt like she

593
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:54,240
Speaker 4: felt like, oh no, and she said it's Thursday. And

594
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,040
Speaker 4: I said yeah, I said, come sit beside me. And

595
00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:59,600
Speaker 4: I remember I said, it was this moment where I

596
00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,720
Speaker 4: just said, but we can pretend like it's Sunday, you know.

597
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,160
Speaker 4: And that was that moment where I realized, like, and

598
00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:08,600
Speaker 4: I had thought still at that moment, like my mom

599
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,120
Speaker 4: was just gonna have be in the state and I'm

600
00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:14,280
Speaker 4: gonna be able to And at that moment, it was like, oh,

601
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 4: I can figure this out. We could live with this,

602
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:18,800
Speaker 4: we could we could get the best doctors, the best treatment.

603
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:24,120
Speaker 4: When we fast forward to September and my mother has

604
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:26,400
Speaker 4: to go to the emergency room. They run a scan.

605
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:31,200
Speaker 4: My mother has a four centimeter mass on her brain.

606
00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:34,080
Speaker 2: What, yes, and that's what was causing.

607
00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,760
Speaker 3: That was what was causing. And then from there.

608
00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:40,720
Speaker 1: But nobody was like we should do that. They didn't

609
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:42,000
Speaker 1: think let's run a scan.

610
00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 4: Before they ran a scan in August and there was

611
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:48,680
Speaker 4: nothing there. What and so this is so this happened

612
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,600
Speaker 4: so fast. And then from September twenty fourth to December fourth,

613
00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:55,960
Speaker 4: we went through first being told my mother had a

614
00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:59,959
Speaker 4: rare infection. To know it's not an infection, she had

615
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:04,400
Speaker 4: a rare form of brain cancer. No, it's not brain cancer.

616
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,960
Speaker 4: To we don't know what this is. And so when

617
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,360
Speaker 4: my mother died, I literally had to fight the hospital

618
00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:13,520
Speaker 4: system because they tried to say that my mother died

619
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 4: from kidney filer. It was like, no, no, mother and

620
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:18,520
Speaker 4: die for kidney failure. Her kidney's failed because she's been

621
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:22,080
Speaker 4: on a ventilator. She's been in this hospital in a

622
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 4: coma for two months. But I learned that the hospital system.

623
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:29,280
Speaker 3: I just remember.

624
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:34,160
Speaker 4: Having to stay at the hospital because the rounds, like

625
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,360
Speaker 4: the way the rounds work, if you don't if you're

626
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:39,280
Speaker 4: not there when the doctor comes, you don't get to

627
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:40,280
Speaker 4: talk to the doctor.

628
00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:40,520
Speaker 2: For the day.

629
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:42,960
Speaker 4: So I would stay out at the hospital. I could

630
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:45,960
Speaker 4: never leave to fight. And then it's always like.

631
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:47,720
Speaker 3: But did you do this? Did you do this test?

632
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,920
Speaker 4: And what I learned is like I had all this privilege,

633
00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:52,520
Speaker 4: all this access.

634
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:54,920
Speaker 3: I could call friends that are all these.

635
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:59,080
Speaker 4: Expert doctors, all of this access, and I had the

636
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 4: ability and the economic ability to basically relocate myself to Charleton,

637
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 4: South Carolina, where she was. And I thought, if this

638
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 4: is this hard for me, what is it like for

639
00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:15,960
Speaker 4: people who don't have my access.

640
00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:18,480
Speaker 3: Who don't have just my abilities.

641
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:21,840
Speaker 4: And it just breaks my heart what people are dealing

642
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:24,920
Speaker 4: with on a day to day basis at a healthcare system,

643
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:29,000
Speaker 4: And now with the administration that we have, it's even worse.

644
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:33,400
Speaker 4: Hospitals are shutting down, you know, the one place or

645
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:36,680
Speaker 4: the one hospital that could actually serve And so it

646
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:40,440
Speaker 4: just really for me was a lesson. It was heartbreaking,

647
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:42,800
Speaker 4: but it also for me was more of a resolve

648
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,520
Speaker 4: to be a voice at an advocate, to tell the

649
00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:49,640
Speaker 4: story of my mother, yes about misdiagnosis, because black women

650
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:53,959
Speaker 4: our pain, whether or not it's our it's the fibroids

651
00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:58,319
Speaker 4: and our bodies, or it's you know, whatever it is

652
00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,360
Speaker 4: our pain, or when we go to doctors, it's not

653
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:02,919
Speaker 4: viewed this season.

654
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 3: It's it's like, oh, you just got this.

655
00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:09,080
Speaker 4: Like my mother was misdiagnosed, yeah, and just pushed aside,

656
00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:11,720
Speaker 4: and I still I still was fighting.

657
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:13,759
Speaker 3: We still couldn't save her.

658
00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:20,520
Speaker 4: And so imagine the countless other people who have to

659
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:23,279
Speaker 4: go through that and are losing loved ones because the

660
00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:27,520
Speaker 4: healthcare system is not listening, particularly the black people and

661
00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:28,400
Speaker 4: black women.

662
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:29,000
Speaker 2: Right.

663
00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:34,160
Speaker 1: Goodness, Yeah, that's I hear so many times where people

664
00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 1: are misdiagnosed and even sometimes like the medication given the

665
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:40,520
Speaker 1: wrong medication to begin with, and it's like that wasn't

666
00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:41,400
Speaker 1: even what they needed.

667
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:43,279
Speaker 2: My mother, she has worked in.

668
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:48,719
Speaker 1: The health care system since I can remember, and I

669
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:50,480
Speaker 1: could see the toll that it would take on her,

670
00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:52,800
Speaker 1: just as a person who had to see that every

671
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:53,879
Speaker 1: single day.

672
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:55,160
Speaker 2: And I can't.

673
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:59,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, I couldn't imagine, especially with our resources and reach,

674
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:05,840
Speaker 1: that what other people are going through. Yeah, thank you

675
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:06,600
Speaker 1: for sharing that.

676
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:11,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, by home, my story just can just move the needle.

677
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:13,000
Speaker 3: And that's for me.

678
00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 4: It's like it's hard to talk about but it's important

679
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,480
Speaker 4: because it's to shed a light. Absolutely, It's like we've

680
00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:22,280
Speaker 4: got to we've got to talk about how we're treated

681
00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:24,879
Speaker 4: we do in the hospital system. We've got to talk

682
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:28,319
Speaker 4: about just how it works and how it doesn't work

683
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:32,480
Speaker 4: for everyday people who are just struggling to just keep

684
00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:35,200
Speaker 4: their loved ones healthy and alive and in our lives.

685
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:36,960
Speaker 2: My goodness.

686
00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:43,440
Speaker 1: Last season on Sisters, we touched on the disparaging inconsistencies

687
00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:47,800
Speaker 1: of white women who have birth childhood birth, childhood birth deaths,

688
00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:51,600
Speaker 1: and then I mean child labor birth deaths, and then

689
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:55,319
Speaker 1: Black women who have children died during labor, and even

690
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:58,520
Speaker 1: women who died during labor, and the number three.

691
00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:06,200
Speaker 4: Times crazy to die giving birth, and the statistics for

692
00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:07,720
Speaker 4: black women against the world.

693
00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:09,560
Speaker 3: It's alarming, it is.

694
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:13,160
Speaker 4: It's alarming to hear the stories, the painful stories of

695
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:17,400
Speaker 4: black women, like just the recent stories of black women

696
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:21,360
Speaker 4: who had to give birth in a car or not

697
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:25,560
Speaker 4: sit in a hospital as a nurse is not paying

698
00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:30,279
Speaker 4: attention to her pain while she's in labor. That's very real,

699
00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:32,920
Speaker 4: it is, and we have to do something about it.

700
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:35,080
Speaker 4: We've got to talk about it and not just talk

701
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:39,680
Speaker 4: about it. There's powerful legislation in Congress, Black women in

702
00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:42,400
Speaker 4: Congress that are leading on this conversation.

703
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 3: Legislation you know that has been.

704
00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:49,960
Speaker 4: Championed by black women in Congress for us to talk

705
00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:52,240
Speaker 4: about this, And I think the more we talk about

706
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:57,000
Speaker 4: it and the more we take action on it, the

707
00:37:57,040 --> 00:38:00,480
Speaker 4: better we are as a people, and particularly the we

708
00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:01,440
Speaker 4: are as black women.

709
00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:01,919
Speaker 2: For sure.

710
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:02,320
Speaker 3: Yeah.

711
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:04,920
Speaker 1: Well, I know with you being behind it and putting

712
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:07,440
Speaker 1: your voice in front of it, I know that the

713
00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:10,239
Speaker 1: movement will go on and people will hear. And I

714
00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:12,520
Speaker 1: support you whole heartedly because I've seen it, even with

715
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: some friends of mine recently who have gone through that,

716
00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:19,000
Speaker 1: and even as a woman who hasn't had children, that

717
00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:21,440
Speaker 1: is one of the fears, you know, That's always been

718
00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:23,000
Speaker 1: a fear of mine is I don't know why, but

719
00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:24,680
Speaker 1: a fear of mine was always that I'm going to

720
00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,719
Speaker 1: die during child labor because of that, you know, So

721
00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:32,920
Speaker 1: to see it happening more than hitting closer to home. Yeah, however,

722
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:34,239
Speaker 1: I can support and be a voice.

723
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:36,520
Speaker 2: I will. Yeah, thank you for sharing that.

724
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,600
Speaker 1: You have been called and this is one of my

725
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:44,960
Speaker 1: favorite shows. You've been called the Olivia Pope of Silicon Valley.

726
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,080
Speaker 1: You are the fixed or the strategists and the power broker.

727
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:51,839
Speaker 1: When people started calling you that, did you feel like.

728
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:55,040
Speaker 2: Was it like okay, yeah, I'm that girl, or was

729
00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:56,600
Speaker 2: it pressure? Did you feel pride?

730
00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:58,719
Speaker 1: Or were you like, Okay, this is a bigger responsibility

731
00:38:58,719 --> 00:38:59,240
Speaker 1: than I thought.

732
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:01,560
Speaker 3: It was all of the I think what I think

733
00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:02,799
Speaker 3: about it, it was like all of the.

734
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:05,160
Speaker 4: Above, Like I think, I think it was like Forbes

735
00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:08,280
Speaker 4: of Fortune that had vote that it actually first started

736
00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:11,160
Speaker 4: on a podcast and they were like, she's Olivia popa

737
00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:14,040
Speaker 4: Silicon Valley And it's interesting how that cake because you know,

738
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:20,200
Speaker 4: we all was watching Scandal was the thing with those

739
00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:23,200
Speaker 4: Scandal parties. You know, everybody's like watching Scandal party, seeing

740
00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:26,000
Speaker 4: what love you writing about it? What you know, Roland Bart,

741
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:29,520
Speaker 4: what you got to say about it? So it was

742
00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:32,960
Speaker 4: so what It's interesting. When I went into tech, it

743
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:37,360
Speaker 4: was I was did the work of around the death penalty,

744
00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:41,560
Speaker 4: was excited about the abolition of juvenile death Polly, and

745
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 4: then I was like, Okay, I don't want to just

746
00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:45,200
Speaker 4: be the death penalic strategist.

747
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:46,719
Speaker 3: I want to just be a strategist.

748
00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:50,640
Speaker 4: So I went into doing progressive policy and advocacy work

749
00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:57,040
Speaker 4: that I did. Obama Obama campaign first campaign, and then

750
00:39:57,239 --> 00:40:01,239
Speaker 4: after that election, people are like, are you gonna go

751
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 4: in the White House? Everybody was going in the White House.

752
00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:08,239
Speaker 4: And I went to the NAACP. My friend who I

753
00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 4: met doing anti deacinity worked Ben Jealous and became the

754
00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:14,240
Speaker 4: presidency of the NAACP, and so I went into senior

755
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:16,759
Speaker 4: advisor and right hand and so I had been at

756
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:18,320
Speaker 4: the NAACP for seven years.

757
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:18,600
Speaker 2: Wow.

758
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:24,239
Speaker 4: And then I got a call from some investor friends

759
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 4: in Silicon Valley who said, we think you should come

760
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:30,239
Speaker 4: in the Silicon Valley. And I remember I was like

761
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,920
Speaker 4: my doing my movement work at the NAACP, and I

762
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:34,480
Speaker 4: was happy.

763
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:37,280
Speaker 3: I'm like I'm doing I'm great this Silica. I couldn't

764
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:37,759
Speaker 3: even say.

765
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,279
Speaker 4: I'll never forget my friend albut Sanders we went to

766
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:43,120
Speaker 4: when they first started talking to me about Silicon Valley

767
00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:44,480
Speaker 4: and they reached out and they were like, hey, we

768
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:45,279
Speaker 4: think you should come.

769
00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:47,400
Speaker 3: In this industry. And I was like, I don't know

770
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:48,160
Speaker 3: how to code.

771
00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:53,000
Speaker 4: So this is like twenty thirteen, so nobody's talking about

772
00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:57,560
Speaker 4: Silicon Valley or tech in DC. And I remember I

773
00:40:57,640 --> 00:40:59,000
Speaker 4: was like, I don't know how to code. There's a

774
00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:03,600
Speaker 4: bunch of white boys in hoodies' I'm not really a

775
00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:05,960
Speaker 4: hoodie girl, like this is not for me, like that,

776
00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:08,760
Speaker 4: I don't know anything about tech. So I really had

777
00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:14,040
Speaker 4: this imposter syndrome that I didn't belong in the industry.

778
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:18,280
Speaker 4: In fact, I had already you know, worked on Roper Simmons,

779
00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:20,520
Speaker 4: which is a landmark Supreme Court case. I had lobbied

780
00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:23,640
Speaker 4: in the UN I had worked on voting voting rights

781
00:41:23,719 --> 00:41:26,360
Speaker 4: laws at the NAACP. So all of this stuff that

782
00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:29,640
Speaker 4: I had done, but I still didn't see a reflection

783
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:35,000
Speaker 4: of myself in the industry. And so I remembered when

784
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:37,800
Speaker 4: I first got the offer to go, and it was

785
00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:40,520
Speaker 4: also it was foreign, like no one. I think Sola

786
00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:44,759
Speaker 4: Dad O'Brien had did this special on CNN about Silicon

787
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:48,560
Speaker 4: Valley and that was probably maybe the first time I.

788
00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:51,400
Speaker 3: Think I could say I had been really exposed.

789
00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:52,799
Speaker 4: So when they first time, I was called it a

790
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:54,239
Speaker 4: silicone and I never forget.

791
00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:57,160
Speaker 3: I went into Tournam with my friend Albert Sanders.

792
00:41:56,840 --> 00:41:59,120
Speaker 4: And he was, you know, it's like you know, back

793
00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:01,719
Speaker 4: in DC River Coastes, OK.

794
00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:04,360
Speaker 3: But we thought we was doing something.

795
00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:06,360
Speaker 4: We go to lunch at coast, like I'm going to

796
00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:07,720
Speaker 4: a power lunch at Coast.

797
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:10,000
Speaker 3: I'll never forget Albert worked in the Senate.

798
00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:13,160
Speaker 4: So we're like, I'm like Albert, they're talking to me

799
00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:16,880
Speaker 4: about this going should I never get He leaned over

800
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:17,479
Speaker 4: our gooes.

801
00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:21,280
Speaker 3: It's sili Kan, not Silicone.

802
00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:23,439
Speaker 4: Okay, so you're gonna go there.

803
00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:25,359
Speaker 2: It's Silkan Valley.

804
00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:28,279
Speaker 3: And so I'll never I this moment.

805
00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:29,880
Speaker 4: So he tells you how much I really kind of

806
00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:35,200
Speaker 4: like knew about the industry. But I still felt like, Okay,

807
00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:37,680
Speaker 4: what is this thing. I don't really know about it.

808
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:39,680
Speaker 4: I don't think I can do it. And I remember

809
00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:43,000
Speaker 4: talking to my friends and mentors like Tanya Lombard and

810
00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:50,640
Speaker 4: Mignon Moore and then Frieda. K Poor Klein, who amazing investor,

811
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:53,680
Speaker 4: and I'll never forget she had this conversation. She was like,

812
00:42:53,719 --> 00:42:57,120
Speaker 4: you could do good and do well, because I also

813
00:42:57,200 --> 00:43:01,280
Speaker 4: had this notion of you can ow do good work

814
00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:05,840
Speaker 4: if you were doing nonprofit civil rights in the government,

815
00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:10,120
Speaker 4: that's the only like, that's that's true movement work. Yeah,

816
00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:13,399
Speaker 4: if I go to Silicon Valley, which is business, then

817
00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:16,040
Speaker 4: I'm selling out. And so I had had like that

818
00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:18,319
Speaker 4: notion like this is in my thirties, so I'm still

819
00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:22,560
Speaker 4: thinking like no, like if I go do this, I'm

820
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:28,080
Speaker 4: like leaving the movement, when actually I you know, the

821
00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:30,640
Speaker 4: work that I do impact where you to just take

822
00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:33,279
Speaker 4: that to a different industry. And so when I went

823
00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:36,239
Speaker 4: to Silicon Valley, I was I came from the NAACP,

824
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:38,759
Speaker 4: So I was never quiet about my advocacy.

825
00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:40,400
Speaker 3: I was never quiet.

826
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:43,480
Speaker 4: I was the first black employee in the company was

827
00:43:43,719 --> 00:43:46,640
Speaker 4: I mostly was in financial technology and fintech, and so

828
00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:48,640
Speaker 4: it was the first black employee. But I also came

829
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:51,200
Speaker 4: out of Washington. So I was this person that was

830
00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:54,400
Speaker 4: like different and unique in Silicon Valley. And so the

831
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:57,920
Speaker 4: reason I got that that nickname.

832
00:43:57,719 --> 00:43:59,680
Speaker 3: Was because I was political.

833
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:02,640
Speaker 4: And so they're like, you're like Olivia Pope, like you

834
00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:06,320
Speaker 4: could do strategy, but you also are very well connected.

835
00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:09,239
Speaker 4: And what I realized, it's like I just had different connections.

836
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:12,520
Speaker 4: And so that's how it came about. And I remember

837
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:16,359
Speaker 4: like CEOs and tech leaders often would want to talk

838
00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:18,320
Speaker 4: to me because they didn't understand Washington.

839
00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:20,960
Speaker 3: Yes, and so I would get invited to dinner.

840
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:25,239
Speaker 4: Lunches CEOs of big companies and they would say like

841
00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:28,720
Speaker 4: help me understand, investors, help me understand, or how should

842
00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:32,000
Speaker 4: we be thinking about these candidates, and so I'm just

843
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:36,200
Speaker 4: kind of and it was me just going and talking.

844
00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:38,280
Speaker 3: To people, and that's how I became.

845
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:43,319
Speaker 4: The quote Silica the Olivia Pope of Silica Valley.

846
00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:44,840
Speaker 3: They would have got printed.

847
00:44:44,520 --> 00:44:48,760
Speaker 2: And I was like, oh, it's a nice ring to it, okay.

848
00:44:48,239 --> 00:44:51,200
Speaker 4: You know, like but it's still then you also like

849
00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:55,480
Speaker 4: you're like, oh, like I all of that, you know,

850
00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:59,040
Speaker 4: so like it's it's still just like impostssive because it's like, okay,

851
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:01,640
Speaker 4: you know, Olivia Pope was like boom boom boom.

852
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:03,839
Speaker 3: But then when you think about it, like, you know,

853
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:04,319
Speaker 3: I know.

854
00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:07,400
Speaker 4: So many Olivia popes like, you know, like so many

855
00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:10,719
Speaker 4: dynamic like so many of my colleagues, our friends, you know,

856
00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:14,520
Speaker 4: from Angela Ryde to you know, I could just go

857
00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:17,320
Speaker 4: on and on with just like all of these dope,

858
00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:23,000
Speaker 4: dynamic women that are like Olivia Popes, like their strategists,

859
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:26,839
Speaker 4: they're connectors and the most important thing is you know,

860
00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:31,360
Speaker 4: they wear the white hat in terms of always focusing

861
00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:32,120
Speaker 4: on impact.

862
00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:33,640
Speaker 3: And so that was for me.

863
00:45:33,719 --> 00:45:36,480
Speaker 4: Being in tech, it was like not only was my

864
00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:39,160
Speaker 4: goal when I finally went in the Silicon Valley, because

865
00:45:39,200 --> 00:45:41,200
Speaker 4: I was reluctant. It took me eight months, Like I'll

866
00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:44,400
Speaker 4: never forget, I got to offer and I didn't want

867
00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:46,840
Speaker 4: to leave the NAACPA. I was like, I don't know

868
00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:49,360
Speaker 4: if I want to do this. And I remember I

869
00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:53,040
Speaker 4: went into the industry and my goal was not only

870
00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:55,839
Speaker 4: to help my company, but how can I make sure

871
00:45:55,960 --> 00:46:00,239
Speaker 4: other people understand how to come into this industry. And

872
00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:03,040
Speaker 4: that was the first time that I had learned about equity.

873
00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:06,719
Speaker 4: That I had learned about you know, all I just

874
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:10,799
Speaker 4: knew is to negotiate, you know, vacation and salary, not

875
00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:16,440
Speaker 4: to understand equity or to understand valuations of companies. So

876
00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:19,960
Speaker 4: I went from not being able to pronounce Silicon Valley

877
00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:23,840
Speaker 4: to being an investor, having an equity stake in multiple companies,

878
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:27,080
Speaker 4: having worked with a number of companies in Silicon Valley

879
00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:31,279
Speaker 4: advising companies in Silicon Valley still today and it's been

880
00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:35,040
Speaker 4: a blessing. And it was actually the scariest, one of

881
00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:37,920
Speaker 4: the scariest jumps that I ever made, but it was

882
00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:42,000
Speaker 4: the best jump absolutely that I made. And even when

883
00:46:42,040 --> 00:46:44,520
Speaker 4: I made the jump, I had a bump in there.

884
00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:48,440
Speaker 4: Like my first job, eight months in, I got laid off.

885
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:52,399
Speaker 4: What I got laid off because in Silicon Valley it's

886
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:56,120
Speaker 4: about fundraising and raising. You know, a company has to

887
00:46:56,200 --> 00:47:00,120
Speaker 4: raise to continue to continue. In the first company that

888
00:47:00,200 --> 00:47:03,799
Speaker 4: I went to, they had didn't raise the series C

889
00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:06,719
Speaker 4: that they thought they were and you know, last one

890
00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:09,520
Speaker 4: in first went out and I never forget the CEO

891
00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:12,680
Speaker 4: called and said, I'm so sorry, you know, cruited you

892
00:47:12,719 --> 00:47:13,640
Speaker 4: away from your job.

893
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:15,440
Speaker 2: So what y'all gonna do?

894
00:47:15,719 --> 00:47:17,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, And it was a blessing.

895
00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:22,399
Speaker 4: And I remember being so depressed after that because I

896
00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:26,080
Speaker 4: was like, I left my good job at the NAACP. Now, granted,

897
00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:27,759
Speaker 4: when I did go in to tech, it was a

898
00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:31,239
Speaker 4: whole different you know, it's you know it was it was,

899
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:34,920
Speaker 4: it was great, Yeah, And so I still felt it

900
00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:36,560
Speaker 4: was the first time I didn't have a job.

901
00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:38,919
Speaker 3: And I never forget my mom had came to visit

902
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:39,279
Speaker 3: in DC.

903
00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:41,560
Speaker 4: I didn't have the courage to tell my mom that

904
00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:43,680
Speaker 4: I had got a call the day before to tell

905
00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:45,480
Speaker 4: me that i'd have a job anymore, Like what am

906
00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:46,160
Speaker 4: I gonna do?

907
00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:50,560
Speaker 3: And I remember sitting in the dark in my house.

908
00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:56,640
Speaker 4: And this was early days, like Facebook video was brand new, wow,

909
00:47:56,920 --> 00:47:59,799
Speaker 4: and why Kenya Clinton had posted a Facebook video and

910
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:04,919
Speaker 4: It was Oprah Winfrey speaking at Stanford University, and it's

911
00:48:04,960 --> 00:48:09,640
Speaker 4: a very viral clip, but I remember seeing it and

912
00:48:09,719 --> 00:48:13,279
Speaker 4: it says, they go, is there anything else that you

913
00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:13,879
Speaker 4: want to say?

914
00:48:14,640 --> 00:48:17,719
Speaker 3: And Oprah goes, yes, they're no mistakes.

915
00:48:18,640 --> 00:48:24,279
Speaker 4: They're no mistakes, that marriage, that job that didn't work out.

916
00:48:24,520 --> 00:48:28,080
Speaker 4: Just to paraphase what she was saying, there are no mistakes.

917
00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:30,360
Speaker 4: It is simply the universe.

918
00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:33,759
Speaker 3: Moving you in the direction that you are divinely meant.

919
00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:35,520
Speaker 2: To journey.

920
00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:40,680
Speaker 3: Yes, and your job is to understand the lesson. And

921
00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:41,799
Speaker 3: that spoke to me.

922
00:48:41,960 --> 00:48:45,480
Speaker 4: I felt like Oprah was talking to me directly, and

923
00:48:45,520 --> 00:48:46,640
Speaker 4: I never get that night.

924
00:48:47,080 --> 00:48:48,760
Speaker 3: That night, I think I tweeted at Oprah.

925
00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:51,960
Speaker 4: I was like, Oprah, thank you for reminding me that,

926
00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:55,920
Speaker 4: you know black women, you are excellent. And it's something

927
00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:58,239
Speaker 4: like one day will meet and it was just like,

928
00:48:58,280 --> 00:49:00,960
Speaker 4: you know, I was one day meet you, but I

929
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:03,120
Speaker 4: was just it. But it took me out of because

930
00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:05,480
Speaker 4: I shifted my mind. You know.

931
00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:06,200
Speaker 3: I think it's.

932
00:49:06,040 --> 00:49:09,200
Speaker 4: About like the mind is so powerful and how we

933
00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:12,600
Speaker 4: condition our mind or how we think about our situation.

934
00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:15,120
Speaker 4: Like I was thinking about. I talk a lot to

935
00:49:15,560 --> 00:49:19,000
Speaker 4: younger people and I say, you are always going to

936
00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:23,440
Speaker 4: have rocks thrown in your path. And the question is

937
00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:26,520
Speaker 4: whether or not you see that rock as a you

938
00:49:26,560 --> 00:49:32,200
Speaker 4: see that as a blocking stone, Is it a boulder

939
00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:37,000
Speaker 4: or is it a stepping stone? But only you like

940
00:49:37,160 --> 00:49:41,359
Speaker 4: how you view it will determine your next move, and

941
00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:44,520
Speaker 4: your next move will determine like your journey. And so

942
00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:46,880
Speaker 4: you can sit there and that rock can be a

943
00:49:46,960 --> 00:49:49,520
Speaker 4: boulder and it could be a blocker for you, or

944
00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:51,239
Speaker 4: you could say, no, this is a stepping stone. I'm

945
00:49:51,239 --> 00:49:54,719
Speaker 4: going to learn. And so when I heard her say that,

946
00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:57,479
Speaker 4: I got out of my thumb. And then soon after

947
00:49:57,520 --> 00:49:59,719
Speaker 4: that I went to another company and that company had

948
00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:05,200
Speaker 4: explosive growth, and everything in life has led me to

949
00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:06,399
Speaker 4: where I'm at.

950
00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:08,720
Speaker 3: And probably if that hadn't happened.

951
00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:11,840
Speaker 4: I probably would maybe still be at that company, maybe

952
00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:14,640
Speaker 4: like maybe I've been an executive vice president or something happy,

953
00:50:14,760 --> 00:50:17,600
Speaker 4: you know, but I would not be where I am

954
00:50:18,239 --> 00:50:20,080
Speaker 4: if that had not happened.

955
00:50:20,880 --> 00:50:23,520
Speaker 3: And the power is in it for me.

956
00:50:23,719 --> 00:50:30,160
Speaker 4: That lesson is that sometimes God might what might feel

957
00:50:30,200 --> 00:50:35,319
Speaker 4: like a denial, He's actually preparing you for what He

958
00:50:35,600 --> 00:50:39,560
Speaker 4: has for you. And the most important thing is to

959
00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:43,480
Speaker 4: recognize that sometimes God is protecting you or he's closing

960
00:50:43,520 --> 00:50:46,000
Speaker 4: a door so that he can open another door, and

961
00:50:46,080 --> 00:50:48,680
Speaker 4: for you to understand that when that is happening, to

962
00:50:48,880 --> 00:50:51,759
Speaker 4: just have peace and to just have faith. And that's

963
00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:54,160
Speaker 4: a lesson that I'm still on today. But to just

964
00:50:54,239 --> 00:50:56,480
Speaker 4: have faith that God is opening this door and to

965
00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:59,279
Speaker 4: recognize and know that the door is there. Yes, that

966
00:50:59,719 --> 00:51:03,200
Speaker 4: you might not see it, but the door is there

967
00:51:03,719 --> 00:51:06,480
Speaker 4: and it's waiting for you. It's waiting for you. And

968
00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:11,160
Speaker 4: when God's perfect timing, when He's perfect timing.

969
00:51:11,280 --> 00:51:13,320
Speaker 2: Not yours exactly.

970
00:51:13,120 --> 00:51:15,640
Speaker 3: It will manifest for you. And so that was what

971
00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:16,360
Speaker 3: it was for me.

972
00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:20,479
Speaker 4: And so Silicon Valley, like I go back, I would

973
00:51:20,480 --> 00:51:21,879
Speaker 4: make the decision a hundred times.

974
00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:24,040
Speaker 3: I learned so much, I grew so much.

975
00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:31,360
Speaker 4: My mindset on understanding investing and generational wealth, all of

976
00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:35,799
Speaker 4: that shifted, and also the understanding that you can be

977
00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:38,200
Speaker 4: because you think about the tech industry, the explosive nature

978
00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:40,360
Speaker 4: of the tech industry, A lot of wealth is created

979
00:51:40,400 --> 00:51:44,080
Speaker 4: there and there's still a lot of work for us

980
00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:47,440
Speaker 4: as black and brown folks, and particularly black women and

981
00:51:47,440 --> 00:51:49,560
Speaker 4: black people that have a rightful.

982
00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:50,360
Speaker 3: Place in this industry.

983
00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:53,759
Speaker 4: Because I was in my own way when I was

984
00:51:53,760 --> 00:51:54,440
Speaker 4: being recruited.

985
00:51:54,480 --> 00:51:55,680
Speaker 3: I was in my own way. I had to get

986
00:51:55,680 --> 00:51:56,560
Speaker 3: out of my own way.

987
00:51:56,800 --> 00:52:01,640
Speaker 4: And then when I had that stumbling block that I

988
00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:05,240
Speaker 4: thought was a stumbling block but really was a stepping zone.

989
00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:07,160
Speaker 3: This industry has taught me so much.

990
00:52:07,160 --> 00:52:10,440
Speaker 4: And I'm proud of all of the people who came

991
00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:12,400
Speaker 4: to me and said, girl, I saw you go in

992
00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:15,040
Speaker 4: and tell me what you did. And I literally would

993
00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:17,239
Speaker 4: sit down with folks and say, Okay, this is how

994
00:52:17,239 --> 00:52:19,160
Speaker 4: you need to negotiate your package. Just what you need

995
00:52:19,200 --> 00:52:22,640
Speaker 4: to understand, because you know, as Megnyond Moore often tells us,

996
00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:24,640
Speaker 4: you got to lift as you climb, you know, the

997
00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:25,120
Speaker 4: whole notion.

998
00:52:25,320 --> 00:52:26,239
Speaker 3: Each one teach one.

999
00:52:26,320 --> 00:52:29,560
Speaker 4: So for me, once I learned, it's like, how can

1000
00:52:29,680 --> 00:52:31,359
Speaker 4: I like, you know, for me, it was like, I'm

1001
00:52:31,400 --> 00:52:34,440
Speaker 4: trying to be the you know, the underground railroad the

1002
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:37,360
Speaker 4: Silicon Valley. So a lot of people shifted out of

1003
00:52:37,440 --> 00:52:40,759
Speaker 4: government and DC in the tech and that's something that

1004
00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:43,800
Speaker 4: like I'm not like solely responsible for, but I feel

1005
00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:47,440
Speaker 4: very proud of so many people that came to me

1006
00:52:47,480 --> 00:52:50,200
Speaker 4: and said I've been inspired and I'm going into tech,

1007
00:52:50,239 --> 00:52:53,520
Speaker 4: and they've gone on to be at major companies, making

1008
00:52:53,560 --> 00:52:57,800
Speaker 4: major decisions creating major impact across a number of tech companies.

1009
00:52:57,840 --> 00:53:01,200
Speaker 2: That's incredible. Wow, you got me want to go in

1010
00:53:01,239 --> 00:53:01,680
Speaker 2: and take.

1011
00:53:01,760 --> 00:53:04,520
Speaker 1: Let's listen because I know, like, yeah, I don't understand

1012
00:53:04,520 --> 00:53:07,319
Speaker 1: that world at all, but definitely interested in learning more.

1013
00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:07,799
Speaker 4: For sure.

1014
00:53:08,040 --> 00:53:09,760
Speaker 3: It's something that particularly with AI.

1015
00:53:10,000 --> 00:53:13,000
Speaker 4: Now, yes, and I think there's all kinds of sizes

1016
00:53:13,040 --> 00:53:17,320
Speaker 4: to AI, but there's such power you think about. You

1017
00:53:17,400 --> 00:53:20,040
Speaker 4: think about like an Uber, right, and one of my

1018
00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:23,279
Speaker 4: closest friends, she was the seventieth.

1019
00:53:22,719 --> 00:53:23,720
Speaker 3: Employee at Uber.

1020
00:53:24,400 --> 00:53:26,600
Speaker 4: I think they had They were only in nineteen cities

1021
00:53:26,600 --> 00:53:34,080
Speaker 4: when she started, amazing brilliant investor Kimberly Marshall, and when

1022
00:53:34,080 --> 00:53:35,720
Speaker 4: she left, they were in four hundred cities.

1023
00:53:35,719 --> 00:53:38,120
Speaker 3: And you think about like that technology.

1024
00:53:38,160 --> 00:53:40,640
Speaker 4: But I think when you think if you look at

1025
00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:44,200
Speaker 4: our backgrounds, right, we often think, oh, I don't know

1026
00:53:44,239 --> 00:53:45,240
Speaker 4: about that world.

1027
00:53:45,320 --> 00:53:47,160
Speaker 3: I don't know how to code. It's technical.

1028
00:53:47,880 --> 00:53:52,160
Speaker 4: When you think about a company like an Uber or

1029
00:53:52,520 --> 00:53:57,760
Speaker 4: an Airbnb, Yes, they need marketers, they need lawyers, they

1030
00:53:57,840 --> 00:54:02,640
Speaker 4: need strategists, the government affairs, they need all of these

1031
00:54:02,760 --> 00:54:06,960
Speaker 4: skill set that are transferable from other industries that we have.

1032
00:54:07,440 --> 00:54:12,160
Speaker 4: And I think, you know, really demystifying tech and helping

1033
00:54:12,160 --> 00:54:14,799
Speaker 4: people understand not only the side of how you can

1034
00:54:15,120 --> 00:54:17,640
Speaker 4: work in tech, but also how you can invest into

1035
00:54:18,480 --> 00:54:25,360
Speaker 4: and how understanding deal flow, understanding how to support particularly

1036
00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:30,719
Speaker 4: black founders that have amazing tech companies but cannot get

1037
00:54:30,719 --> 00:54:34,160
Speaker 4: the funding because black women get less than zero point

1038
00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:38,640
Speaker 4: one percent of venture funding for their companies, and then

1039
00:54:38,840 --> 00:54:41,640
Speaker 4: black businesses black women, I think it's one to two

1040
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:44,399
Speaker 4: percent in small business loans. So there's a struggle there,

1041
00:54:44,400 --> 00:54:48,239
Speaker 4: but there's opportunities to invest, and I think that is

1042
00:54:48,520 --> 00:54:52,200
Speaker 4: an opportunity for us as a people to engage more

1043
00:54:52,200 --> 00:54:52,960
Speaker 4: in that industry.

1044
00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:53,640
Speaker 2: I love that.

1045
00:54:53,680 --> 00:54:57,839
Speaker 1: Speaking of black women founders, the one Million Black Women

1046
00:54:57,880 --> 00:55:02,040
Speaker 1: Initiative with Goldman says that was phenomena one billion dollars.

1047
00:55:02,160 --> 00:55:06,200
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, how like how did you pull that off? Then?

1048
00:55:06,320 --> 00:55:09,840
Speaker 3: So let me be very clear, Margaret A.

1049
00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:11,680
Speaker 4: Nandu because I'm gonna say a whole lot of people

1050
00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:13,560
Speaker 4: named it this podcast because I think that's what I

1051
00:55:13,600 --> 00:55:21,320
Speaker 4: believe in doing. Is Margaret Anandu amazing just investor leader,

1052
00:55:21,719 --> 00:55:23,160
Speaker 4: had been at Golden Sacks I think for.

1053
00:55:23,160 --> 00:55:26,080
Speaker 3: Like twenty years, and she came.

1054
00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:30,920
Speaker 4: Up with this idea inside of Goldman Sacks how to

1055
00:55:31,239 --> 00:55:36,520
Speaker 4: really take investment dollars and bring and pull a billion

1056
00:55:36,600 --> 00:55:41,600
Speaker 4: dollars for direct investment that has a direct impact that

1057
00:55:41,640 --> 00:55:44,839
Speaker 4: can be tied to impact to black women. And so

1058
00:55:44,920 --> 00:55:49,520
Speaker 4: she had and Goldman Sachs had already developed this program,

1059
00:55:49,640 --> 00:55:53,520
Speaker 4: and my work with that program was helping to launch

1060
00:55:53,560 --> 00:55:56,920
Speaker 4: it along with my good friend and partner Joshua Dubois

1061
00:55:57,040 --> 00:56:01,600
Speaker 4: and Michelle Dubois at Values Partnership. Our firms came together

1062
00:56:01,640 --> 00:56:04,880
Speaker 4: to help launch it. And what was important to to

1063
00:56:05,080 --> 00:56:09,840
Speaker 4: Margaret and to Goldman Sachs and the leaders there and

1064
00:56:09,960 --> 00:56:13,440
Speaker 4: still leaders that are still there, like uh, sister Sahi

1065
00:56:13,520 --> 00:56:17,600
Speaker 4: there was that this was something that was done with

1066
00:56:17,719 --> 00:56:19,080
Speaker 4: black women. Uh.

1067
00:56:19,120 --> 00:56:21,640
Speaker 3: And so we had.

1068
00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:28,560
Speaker 4: The the privilege to work with them to help guide

1069
00:56:28,600 --> 00:56:33,120
Speaker 4: the launch of that, to help guide how we had

1070
00:56:33,160 --> 00:56:35,959
Speaker 4: conversations with black women to help shape how that work

1071
00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:40,080
Speaker 4: was done. And I'm just so proud to have been

1072
00:56:40,160 --> 00:56:41,919
Speaker 4: a part of that. But Margaret, and I do would

1073
00:56:41,920 --> 00:56:45,319
Speaker 4: say her name over and over and over again, was

1074
00:56:45,360 --> 00:56:49,040
Speaker 4: the visionary and went to the CEO of Goldman and

1075
00:56:49,080 --> 00:56:52,440
Speaker 4: said let's do this. And David Solomon at the time

1076
00:56:52,640 --> 00:56:56,040
Speaker 4: was like, yes, wow. And I think that speaks to

1077
00:56:56,160 --> 00:56:59,960
Speaker 4: the power of black women who have back to Oprah

1078
00:57:00,080 --> 00:57:05,400
Speaker 4: and thence conversation, Yes, having that holy yes, you know,

1079
00:57:05,520 --> 00:57:08,200
Speaker 4: because Margaret had that holy yes, and she was she

1080
00:57:08,400 --> 00:57:12,120
Speaker 4: was determined and built something you know, quite incredible. And

1081
00:57:12,160 --> 00:57:15,399
Speaker 4: to be a part of, you know, helping launch that

1082
00:57:15,680 --> 00:57:20,520
Speaker 4: was something really like deeply powerful and impactful for me

1083
00:57:20,560 --> 00:57:23,200
Speaker 4: as a black woman. Yeah, to just be a part

1084
00:57:23,240 --> 00:57:27,320
Speaker 4: of something so significant of that magnitude.

1085
00:57:26,960 --> 00:57:28,040
Speaker 2: That's incredible.

1086
00:57:29,160 --> 00:57:32,360
Speaker 1: There's been other funds like the Fearless Fund that had

1087
00:57:32,400 --> 00:57:36,800
Speaker 1: initiatives for black women founders that received backlash. Did you

1088
00:57:36,800 --> 00:57:39,520
Speaker 1: guys hit any roadblocks or was it pretty smooth because

1089
00:57:39,520 --> 00:57:40,960
Speaker 1: she had been with Gold and Sacks for so many

1090
00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:41,800
Speaker 1: y Yes, it was.

1091
00:57:41,760 --> 00:57:46,400
Speaker 4: Pretty smooth because and it was before all of the attacks.

1092
00:57:47,440 --> 00:57:49,880
Speaker 4: But it was pretty smooth, and it was a great launch,

1093
00:57:49,920 --> 00:57:55,000
Speaker 4: and the program invested and you know, it's just amazing.

1094
00:57:55,040 --> 00:57:56,919
Speaker 4: And these were large A lot of these are large

1095
00:57:56,960 --> 00:58:00,000
Speaker 4: scale investments as well, so it was like large scale

1096
00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:03,360
Speaker 4: investments and projects that had direct impact that would impact

1097
00:58:03,360 --> 00:58:07,480
Speaker 4: black women across the board. But you know, I think again,

1098
00:58:07,720 --> 00:58:09,600
Speaker 4: like you know, when you look at when you see

1099
00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:12,040
Speaker 4: like in that moment, I think that was in twenty

1100
00:58:12,080 --> 00:58:13,040
Speaker 4: twenty twenty one.

1101
00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:14,240
Speaker 3: When I get the.

1102
00:58:14,280 --> 00:58:16,000
Speaker 4: Years like you know, the COVID years, it starts to

1103
00:58:16,040 --> 00:58:19,880
Speaker 4: get it starts mixing up. But then you fast forward

1104
00:58:20,240 --> 00:58:23,320
Speaker 4: now and you see the attacks on the Fearless Fund,

1105
00:58:23,360 --> 00:58:28,720
Speaker 4: you see the attacks on all of these funds that

1106
00:58:28,800 --> 00:58:31,040
Speaker 4: support black women, and you're just like, how are we

1107
00:58:31,120 --> 00:58:31,840
Speaker 4: going backwards?

1108
00:58:31,920 --> 00:58:34,640
Speaker 3: I mean, we know, like it's a it's a rhetorical question.

1109
00:58:35,040 --> 00:58:38,280
Speaker 4: We know why we're going and how we're going backwards.

1110
00:58:38,320 --> 00:58:40,440
Speaker 4: But you know, you just sort of like, you know,

1111
00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:42,840
Speaker 4: as Barvin Gay says, it makes you want to holler,

1112
00:58:42,960 --> 00:58:47,360
Speaker 4: you know, like we just we just keep getting pushed back.

1113
00:58:47,360 --> 00:58:51,480
Speaker 4: But the thing is black women we're resilient. Yes, as

1114
00:58:51,560 --> 00:58:53,280
Speaker 4: you know, back to that, you know, I just keep

1115
00:58:53,320 --> 00:58:55,960
Speaker 4: talking about like that that that podcast, you know, with

1116
00:58:56,080 --> 00:58:59,240
Speaker 4: how you have playing Oprah, but like getting to that

1117
00:58:59,240 --> 00:59:03,840
Speaker 4: that holy you know, like when we get that, I

1118
00:59:03,880 --> 00:59:05,800
Speaker 4: think that gives us a power.

1119
00:59:05,920 --> 00:59:08,360
Speaker 3: That's that's unstopped.

1120
00:59:08,040 --> 00:59:10,720
Speaker 2: Right for sure. I love that. Just take a thank

1121
00:59:10,760 --> 00:59:11,440
Speaker 2: you so much.

1122
00:59:11,960 --> 00:59:16,280
Speaker 1: I've totally enjoyed this conversation. Our theme of season ten

1123
00:59:16,440 --> 00:59:20,200
Speaker 1: is unapologetic. What does unapologetic mean to you?

1124
00:59:22,320 --> 00:59:25,560
Speaker 4: I think unapologetic in this season for me, it just

1125
00:59:25,720 --> 00:59:36,040
Speaker 4: meaning it just it means that just means that I

1126
00:59:36,080 --> 00:59:44,840
Speaker 4: can recognize that I'm going to be boldly my authentic

1127
00:59:45,880 --> 00:59:47,160
Speaker 4: self in my truth.

1128
00:59:47,320 --> 00:59:50,360
Speaker 1: Yes, oh my goodness, I literally have to play this.

1129
00:59:50,720 --> 00:59:52,760
Speaker 1: I did a video while I was doing makeup today

1130
00:59:53,360 --> 00:59:56,479
Speaker 1: talking about the word for this season, and I literally said,

1131
00:59:56,560 --> 00:59:59,600
Speaker 1: walking authentically in your truth.

1132
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:01,920
Speaker 3: It's an alignment.

1133
01:00:02,120 --> 01:00:04,360
Speaker 4: And I think because it's the thing that I like,

1134
01:00:04,520 --> 01:00:07,280
Speaker 4: I have like these mantras, and so one for me

1135
01:00:08,360 --> 01:00:11,880
Speaker 4: is when I get up, I say evolve or repeat.

1136
01:00:12,360 --> 01:00:14,880
Speaker 3: It's just take you get evolve or repeat. You got

1137
01:00:14,880 --> 01:00:15,360
Speaker 3: a choice.

1138
01:00:16,200 --> 01:00:22,360
Speaker 4: And every day we're not gonna all evolve. We're not,

1139
01:00:23,720 --> 01:00:28,680
Speaker 4: but some days to go repeat and that's okay, Yeah,

1140
01:00:28,720 --> 01:00:32,320
Speaker 4: give yourself grace. But my prayer is that I evolve

1141
01:00:32,480 --> 01:00:36,520
Speaker 4: more than I repeat. And that's like for me, like

1142
01:00:36,600 --> 01:00:39,600
Speaker 4: when I wake up and a part of that evolution

1143
01:00:39,960 --> 01:00:43,960
Speaker 4: and when we evolve, it's about how how how can

1144
01:00:44,160 --> 01:00:46,760
Speaker 4: like I'm like one of those people like I am

1145
01:00:46,800 --> 01:00:50,040
Speaker 4: going to always cheer for my sister and my brother

1146
01:00:50,120 --> 01:00:55,120
Speaker 4: that's walking ahead of me, behind me, beside me, uh

1147
01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:57,760
Speaker 4: and the person that I am going to look into

1148
01:00:57,800 --> 01:01:01,400
Speaker 4: the mirror every single day. It is about evolution is

1149
01:01:01,400 --> 01:01:03,600
Speaker 4: not about trying to be better than anybody else. It

1150
01:01:03,640 --> 01:01:07,040
Speaker 4: is about being a better version of myself that allows

1151
01:01:07,080 --> 01:01:13,760
Speaker 4: me to find and to tap into God's purpose on

1152
01:01:13,960 --> 01:01:17,120
Speaker 4: my life so that I can live that, but do

1153
01:01:17,200 --> 01:01:22,880
Speaker 4: that authentically in my truth being, my authentic self, being

1154
01:01:23,360 --> 01:01:27,520
Speaker 4: who I am, that little black girl Lenora Abraham Edie's

1155
01:01:27,600 --> 01:01:31,120
Speaker 4: daughter that grew up on that dirt road, that was nerdy,

1156
01:01:31,520 --> 01:01:35,760
Speaker 4: that God's talks too much, that wants to help people.

1157
01:01:36,640 --> 01:01:41,360
Speaker 4: But is just go be that girl and I can

1158
01:01:41,680 --> 01:01:43,840
Speaker 4: go all over the world, I can do all those things,

1159
01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:48,040
Speaker 4: but I am still that girl, and I think what

1160
01:01:48,200 --> 01:01:52,760
Speaker 4: I hold that and just tap into what I feel

1161
01:01:53,240 --> 01:01:56,320
Speaker 4: God has for me and God. I feel like God's

1162
01:01:56,320 --> 01:02:00,200
Speaker 4: calling on my life is just to do something and

1163
01:02:00,240 --> 01:02:05,880
Speaker 4: to push our people forward. Then to me, that is

1164
01:02:06,080 --> 01:02:07,400
Speaker 4: being unapologetic.

1165
01:02:08,400 --> 01:02:10,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, so good, so good.

1166
01:02:11,400 --> 01:02:15,320
Speaker 4: I have been very open about us talking about our

1167
01:02:15,440 --> 01:02:19,480
Speaker 4: lows equally is as much as our highs. Yes, because

1168
01:02:19,640 --> 01:02:22,480
Speaker 4: I think right now social media has us people on

1169
01:02:22,600 --> 01:02:27,280
Speaker 4: highlight reels and people lead it's people are led to

1170
01:02:27,320 --> 01:02:29,280
Speaker 4: believe that it's always good.

1171
01:02:29,320 --> 01:02:32,680
Speaker 3: It's not. It is not like and so I.

1172
01:02:32,640 --> 01:02:36,440
Speaker 4: Talk about the low moments equally as I talk about

1173
01:02:36,440 --> 01:02:39,960
Speaker 4: my high moments because I believe deeply that.

1174
01:02:41,960 --> 01:02:43,120
Speaker 3: Really, I think.

1175
01:02:44,120 --> 01:02:47,680
Speaker 4: And it's been true for me. More people have connected

1176
01:02:47,680 --> 01:02:48,680
Speaker 4: when I talked about my.

1177
01:02:48,680 --> 01:02:51,360
Speaker 2: Lowest moments, everybody's going through.

1178
01:02:51,240 --> 01:02:52,720
Speaker 3: Because other people going through it.

1179
01:02:53,200 --> 01:02:55,280
Speaker 4: And so when you talk about that, someone can say

1180
01:02:55,320 --> 01:02:59,440
Speaker 4: I'm not alone because most of the time somebody's sitting there,

1181
01:02:59,040 --> 01:03:01,919
Speaker 4: they're going through it, and they think that it's just them,

1182
01:03:02,440 --> 01:03:06,160
Speaker 4: and it's not. And I think it's important for all

1183
01:03:06,200 --> 01:03:09,360
Speaker 4: of us with platforms yes, to talk about it, to

1184
01:03:09,560 --> 01:03:12,320
Speaker 4: talk about the low moments equally as the high. To

1185
01:03:12,400 --> 01:03:16,720
Speaker 4: talk about how we have tests because without tests, we

1186
01:03:16,720 --> 01:03:19,640
Speaker 4: don't have a testimony, and to talk about the testimony

1187
01:03:19,680 --> 01:03:21,560
Speaker 4: and how we've come through, but.

1188
01:03:21,800 --> 01:03:23,840
Speaker 3: The fact that we had to go through.

1189
01:03:23,840 --> 01:03:26,960
Speaker 4: To get and also that I think sometimes people see,

1190
01:03:27,280 --> 01:03:30,040
Speaker 4: you know, they see the awards, they see the lights,

1191
01:03:30,080 --> 01:03:32,360
Speaker 4: they see the red carpets, they see all of that,

1192
01:03:33,280 --> 01:03:36,480
Speaker 4: but people don't see they don't see the tears, or

1193
01:03:36,520 --> 01:03:38,560
Speaker 4: they don't see the work, or they don't see the

1194
01:03:38,600 --> 01:03:40,360
Speaker 4: twenty years that got us there.

1195
01:03:40,120 --> 01:03:41,280
Speaker 3: Like it wasn't overnight.

1196
01:03:41,440 --> 01:03:45,240
Speaker 4: Yes, And I think social media, while it is a

1197
01:03:45,280 --> 01:03:49,880
Speaker 4: blessing in many ways, I believe that it's dangerous because

1198
01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:53,200
Speaker 4: it gets into people's psyche that people are often forced

1199
01:03:53,240 --> 01:04:00,320
Speaker 4: to compare themselves to edited videos, and there could pairing

1200
01:04:00,360 --> 01:04:04,600
Speaker 4: their everyday life to an edited highlight reel that someone

1201
01:04:05,320 --> 01:04:06,880
Speaker 4: created and cropped out there.

1202
01:04:06,840 --> 01:04:08,000
Speaker 3: And cropped out the low.

1203
01:04:08,280 --> 01:04:10,440
Speaker 4: And I think we got to talk about the lows

1204
01:04:11,080 --> 01:04:13,480
Speaker 4: so that people can understand that they're not walking these

1205
01:04:13,520 --> 01:04:14,200
Speaker 4: journeys along.

1206
01:04:14,360 --> 01:04:14,760
Speaker 2: That's it.

1207
01:04:15,160 --> 01:04:24,760
Speaker 1: I love that, So true, so true. Okay, So we

1208
01:04:24,880 --> 01:04:27,520
Speaker 1: have what is called positive outcomes, where our audience members

1209
01:04:27,560 --> 01:04:29,280
Speaker 1: write into us and ask us a question.

1210
01:04:29,880 --> 01:04:31,200
Speaker 2: This one says, Hello, Crystal.

1211
01:04:31,440 --> 01:04:33,160
Speaker 1: First off, I want to say that I love your

1212
01:04:33,160 --> 01:04:35,520
Speaker 1: podcast and the light it shines on mental health and

1213
01:04:35,560 --> 01:04:38,400
Speaker 1: finding faith. For the past twenty five years, I've been

1214
01:04:38,440 --> 01:04:43,720
Speaker 1: dealing with CPTSD, chronic post traumatic stress disorder and depression

1215
01:04:43,760 --> 01:04:48,320
Speaker 1: stemming from death and other adverse childhood experiences. I started

1216
01:04:48,320 --> 01:04:51,360
Speaker 1: therapy during COVID nineteen lockdown, hoping to put an end

1217
01:04:51,440 --> 01:04:53,680
Speaker 1: to thoughts of self harm and to feel better.

1218
01:04:54,320 --> 01:04:56,240
Speaker 2: Suggestions of medication.

1219
01:04:55,880 --> 01:04:59,880
Speaker 1: Have been made, but I am very apprehensive about introducing

1220
01:05:00,040 --> 01:05:03,200
Speaker 1: that into my system. My question to you is what

1221
01:05:03,360 --> 01:05:06,840
Speaker 1: is your thoughts on taking medication for mental health. I

1222
01:05:06,920 --> 01:05:09,720
Speaker 1: worry about the side effects and have been trying to

1223
01:05:09,760 --> 01:05:13,560
Speaker 1: look for more natural holistic alternatives. I've also started a

1224
01:05:13,640 --> 01:05:17,440
Speaker 1: slow return to faith traditional church and have received conflicting

1225
01:05:17,520 --> 01:05:18,880
Speaker 1: opinions on the subject.

1226
01:05:18,880 --> 01:05:19,120
Speaker 3: There.

1227
01:05:19,680 --> 01:05:21,840
Speaker 1: I don't know what to do on this one. Any

1228
01:05:21,880 --> 01:05:26,120
Speaker 1: advice would be greatly appreciated, Sierra am. First of all, Sierra,

1229
01:05:26,200 --> 01:05:28,680
Speaker 1: thank you so much for writing in Joe Take. I

1230
01:05:28,720 --> 01:05:30,400
Speaker 1: thought this would be a good one because you spoke

1231
01:05:30,440 --> 01:05:34,680
Speaker 1: about your mother and she was diagnosed with mental health

1232
01:05:34,760 --> 01:05:37,880
Speaker 1: disorder and they put her on meds and.

1233
01:05:37,760 --> 01:05:40,480
Speaker 2: That wasn't even what it was, it wasnosed.

1234
01:05:40,680 --> 01:05:42,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, so what advice would you give her because you

1235
01:05:43,040 --> 01:05:44,760
Speaker 1: have actually dealt with this firsthand.

1236
01:05:45,040 --> 01:05:51,960
Speaker 3: Yeah. First of all, Sierra, just saying to you my

1237
01:05:52,160 --> 01:05:53,880
Speaker 3: prayers and my thoughts, so with you.

1238
01:05:53,960 --> 01:05:57,880
Speaker 4: But also I heard the part of going to faith

1239
01:05:57,960 --> 01:06:01,320
Speaker 4: and getting conflicting a pinion. And the thing that I

1240
01:06:01,360 --> 01:06:07,120
Speaker 4: would say first is for me, when I'm most quiet,

1241
01:06:07,480 --> 01:06:10,439
Speaker 4: I hear God, and so you going to hear all

1242
01:06:10,520 --> 01:06:13,800
Speaker 4: kinds of opinions, but listen to that inner spirit, that

1243
01:06:13,920 --> 01:06:14,600
Speaker 4: inner voice.

1244
01:06:15,120 --> 01:06:17,320
Speaker 3: I believe that's God talking to us. So that's the

1245
01:06:17,360 --> 01:06:17,840
Speaker 3: first thing.

1246
01:06:18,440 --> 01:06:22,080
Speaker 4: But I believe that, you know, like my experience with

1247
01:06:22,160 --> 01:06:25,560
Speaker 4: my mom, I remember like it was like when my

1248
01:06:25,600 --> 01:06:27,880
Speaker 4: mom came and said when they said the doctor said

1249
01:06:27,880 --> 01:06:30,280
Speaker 4: what they said, I struggled with it because it was like,

1250
01:06:30,440 --> 01:06:33,240
Speaker 4: what is this, Like, you know, and my family has

1251
01:06:33,280 --> 01:06:37,800
Speaker 4: a history of mental health challenges. My great grandmother died

1252
01:06:37,840 --> 01:06:42,720
Speaker 4: in a mental health institution and so and you know,

1253
01:06:42,800 --> 01:06:45,400
Speaker 4: back then, it was like they don't know what's wrong

1254
01:06:45,440 --> 01:06:47,680
Speaker 4: with her. I think, you know, now think it was

1255
01:06:48,040 --> 01:06:50,760
Speaker 4: you know, postpartum and you know, complicated the post part

1256
01:06:50,800 --> 01:06:53,439
Speaker 4: of what was happening. But she was in and out

1257
01:06:53,920 --> 01:06:55,600
Speaker 4: and I don't know much about her, and that's been

1258
01:06:55,680 --> 01:06:57,680
Speaker 4: like this thing to try to learn about her. But

1259
01:06:58,240 --> 01:07:00,600
Speaker 4: when my mom, like you know, I was very I

1260
01:07:00,640 --> 01:07:04,440
Speaker 4: have friends, very close friends who have had parents that

1261
01:07:04,480 --> 01:07:07,280
Speaker 4: have been diagnosed with mental health disorders. And so when

1262
01:07:07,280 --> 01:07:09,560
Speaker 4: they said that, and they just so quick to do

1263
01:07:09,640 --> 01:07:13,880
Speaker 4: the meds, which was detrimental to my mom because it

1264
01:07:13,920 --> 01:07:17,040
Speaker 4: wasn't her diagnosis. My mother had a mass on her brain,

1265
01:07:17,600 --> 01:07:21,800
Speaker 4: not a mental health disorder. And so what I would

1266
01:07:21,800 --> 01:07:25,600
Speaker 4: say is that you know, really finding the health care provider.

1267
01:07:25,760 --> 01:07:30,080
Speaker 3: That you can trust that really will.

1268
01:07:31,280 --> 01:07:39,479
Speaker 4: Dive deep into a diagnosis, but also what will help most.

1269
01:07:39,600 --> 01:07:42,240
Speaker 4: And I'll also say that I recently started to look

1270
01:07:42,280 --> 01:07:49,880
Speaker 4: into more natural holistic started learning about psilocybin treatment and

1271
01:07:49,960 --> 01:07:57,880
Speaker 4: reading more about cilocybin which is the UH treatment, mushroom treatment,

1272
01:07:57,960 --> 01:08:02,160
Speaker 4: psychedelic mushroom treatment for healing. And I had a friend

1273
01:08:02,240 --> 01:08:07,360
Speaker 4: that share that they had experienced that and share that

1274
01:08:07,400 --> 01:08:11,480
Speaker 4: it was like four years of therapy as he was

1275
01:08:11,520 --> 01:08:15,520
Speaker 4: going through grief, very traumatic grief. So I would say

1276
01:08:15,520 --> 01:08:20,880
Speaker 4: being open to holistic, but really finding that therapist and

1277
01:08:20,920 --> 01:08:24,360
Speaker 4: that medical provider that you trust that will give you

1278
01:08:25,080 --> 01:08:31,360
Speaker 4: the right mix of of of remedy because sometimes like

1279
01:08:31,800 --> 01:08:34,479
Speaker 4: people think that you could just take appeal and just

1280
01:08:34,800 --> 01:08:38,559
Speaker 4: and this and and sometimes those medicines may make it worse.

1281
01:08:38,840 --> 01:08:40,639
Speaker 3: Or I'm not a doctor, so I never would.

1282
01:08:40,400 --> 01:08:43,719
Speaker 4: Give medical advice, but you know, seeing all the things

1283
01:08:43,760 --> 01:08:47,360
Speaker 4: that that you know, but I don't. I'm not a

1284
01:08:47,360 --> 01:08:50,599
Speaker 4: person that says don't take medicine, because I think if

1285
01:08:50,640 --> 01:08:53,240
Speaker 4: you have, I have lots of friends that have to

1286
01:08:53,320 --> 01:08:57,760
Speaker 4: take medicine and it's needed. And but I just think

1287
01:08:58,200 --> 01:09:00,880
Speaker 4: making sure not really being a shame of it.

1288
01:09:00,880 --> 01:09:03,439
Speaker 3: And I think that's the bigger thing is.

1289
01:09:03,320 --> 01:09:08,479
Speaker 4: Like destigmatizing mental health, Like we have to destigmatize that

1290
01:09:09,640 --> 01:09:10,960
Speaker 4: sometimes you are not okay.

1291
01:09:11,600 --> 01:09:14,400
Speaker 3: I believe everybody at some point is not okay.

1292
01:09:14,600 --> 01:09:18,639
Speaker 4: So we have to destigmatize this notion that we're always okay,

1293
01:09:18,960 --> 01:09:24,200
Speaker 4: destigmatize going to therapy, destigmatize if you need to take medication,

1294
01:09:24,640 --> 01:09:31,320
Speaker 4: and destigmatize this notion that mental having a mental health

1295
01:09:32,479 --> 01:09:36,280
Speaker 4: diagnosis is the end or that something is you know,

1296
01:09:36,360 --> 01:09:39,000
Speaker 4: innately wrong with you. Because we are made by God

1297
01:09:39,840 --> 01:09:43,559
Speaker 4: and God does not make mistakes, and we are all

1298
01:09:44,240 --> 01:09:48,519
Speaker 4: we are all made perfectly imperfect, and I think it's

1299
01:09:48,560 --> 01:09:51,680
Speaker 4: important for us to just accept and I think as

1300
01:09:51,720 --> 01:09:55,479
Speaker 4: a society, where we destigmatize that we don't, we will

1301
01:09:55,520 --> 01:09:59,599
Speaker 4: not have, you know, this question of you know, it's

1302
01:09:59,600 --> 01:10:01,120
Speaker 4: one thing to think about, do I want to put

1303
01:10:01,160 --> 01:10:02,240
Speaker 4: medicine in my body?

1304
01:10:02,360 --> 01:10:02,679
Speaker 2: Yeah?

1305
01:10:03,320 --> 01:10:04,639
Speaker 3: Is it healthy for me? Yes?

1306
01:10:04,680 --> 01:10:08,240
Speaker 4: It's another is what how do I feel if people

1307
01:10:08,280 --> 01:10:11,640
Speaker 4: know I'm taking medicine? You know, I'm all meds, you know,

1308
01:10:11,720 --> 01:10:14,360
Speaker 4: And I think that's the part that we've got to stigmatized.

1309
01:10:14,400 --> 01:10:15,679
Speaker 2: No, for sure, that's so good.

1310
01:10:15,800 --> 01:10:19,920
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for me, Sierra, I would echo

1311
01:10:20,080 --> 01:10:23,519
Speaker 1: what you said about being still in silence and hearing

1312
01:10:23,560 --> 01:10:29,200
Speaker 1: God's voice. I for me, a journal, working out is

1313
01:10:29,240 --> 01:10:34,920
Speaker 1: my therapy. I have a therapist, but also meditation in

1314
01:10:34,960 --> 01:10:38,040
Speaker 1: that sitting still and really hearing God's voice. But also

1315
01:10:38,120 --> 01:10:40,880
Speaker 1: with journaling, I'm getting out my thoughts. That's my outlet

1316
01:10:41,200 --> 01:10:43,599
Speaker 1: when I don't have anybody just to physically sit down

1317
01:10:43,600 --> 01:10:46,639
Speaker 1: and talk to, I can also write down how I'm feeling.

1318
01:10:47,479 --> 01:10:49,920
Speaker 1: And when it comes to church, and I've heard it

1319
01:10:49,960 --> 01:10:52,120
Speaker 1: so many times like I don't need therapy or I

1320
01:10:52,120 --> 01:10:56,360
Speaker 1: don't need help because I have Jesus, or I feel

1321
01:10:56,360 --> 01:10:59,599
Speaker 1: like you will get conflicting messages when it comes to that.

1322
01:10:59,720 --> 01:11:03,720
Speaker 1: But I am a true believer that both go hand

1323
01:11:03,760 --> 01:11:04,440
Speaker 1: in hand.

1324
01:11:04,320 --> 01:11:09,320
Speaker 4: Both go ahead because Jesus gave the doctors the expertise

1325
01:11:09,439 --> 01:11:10,800
Speaker 4: to be able to help you.

1326
01:11:11,200 --> 01:11:12,320
Speaker 3: And so that's the part too.

1327
01:11:12,439 --> 01:11:15,439
Speaker 4: It's like, you know, God gave them, like you know God,

1328
01:11:15,640 --> 01:11:18,880
Speaker 4: God gave them the God gave them what they got

1329
01:11:18,920 --> 01:11:21,679
Speaker 4: to help you. Sometimes God is helping you through other people,

1330
01:11:22,400 --> 01:11:23,479
Speaker 4: helping you do other people.

1331
01:11:23,560 --> 01:11:25,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, thank you so much for writing in.

1332
01:11:26,160 --> 01:11:26,920
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.

1333
01:11:26,960 --> 01:11:29,639
Speaker 1: Your advice was spot on, and thank you for sharing

1334
01:11:29,640 --> 01:11:30,759
Speaker 1: your experience with that.

1335
01:11:31,160 --> 01:11:32,400
Speaker 2: Yes, is there any way that we.

1336
01:11:32,360 --> 01:11:34,880
Speaker 1: Can support you or anything that the audience needs to

1337
01:11:34,880 --> 01:11:36,200
Speaker 1: be on the lookout for it because we want to

1338
01:11:36,200 --> 01:11:38,080
Speaker 1: get behind you on everything you have going on.

1339
01:11:38,320 --> 01:11:41,679
Speaker 3: Well, I would first say When with Black Women.

1340
01:11:41,760 --> 01:11:43,280
Speaker 4: If you're a black woman, I know there's lot of

1341
01:11:43,320 --> 01:11:47,840
Speaker 4: black women I here watching, Yes, y'all, yeah, I love it.

1342
01:11:47,840 --> 01:11:51,240
Speaker 4: It's just if Big in DC was so amazing saying

1343
01:11:51,360 --> 01:11:54,840
Speaker 4: so many sisters driving fly in, come in. You know.

1344
01:11:55,040 --> 01:11:58,360
Speaker 4: I love the community. But I would say, you know,

1345
01:11:59,000 --> 01:12:01,240
Speaker 4: join us on a Sunday night. I would love for

1346
01:12:01,280 --> 01:12:03,760
Speaker 4: you to come on us Sunday Night When with Black

1347
01:12:03,760 --> 01:12:06,840
Speaker 4: Women and talk about not only the podcast but.

1348
01:12:06,840 --> 01:12:07,960
Speaker 3: Everything that you're doing.

1349
01:12:09,040 --> 01:12:13,240
Speaker 4: It's at Women Blackwomen Dot Org on most Sunday nights.

1350
01:12:13,240 --> 01:12:14,000
Speaker 3: We're on Zoom.

1351
01:12:14,160 --> 01:12:17,720
Speaker 4: Still all of us are still getting on zooms, thousands

1352
01:12:17,760 --> 01:12:21,519
Speaker 4: of us and it's really like forty four Well we

1353
01:12:21,680 --> 01:12:24,880
Speaker 4: started in twenty twenty during the pandemic and they were

1354
01:12:24,960 --> 01:12:27,040
Speaker 4: like that was what it was like, hundreds of us

1355
01:12:27,840 --> 01:12:28,639
Speaker 4: and it was interesting.

1356
01:12:28,680 --> 01:12:30,679
Speaker 3: So even from twenty to twenty twenty four.

1357
01:12:30,640 --> 01:12:34,080
Speaker 4: The Miss Oprah gotten on the Calls I'll Never Forget

1358
01:12:34,400 --> 01:12:35,000
Speaker 4: was like, so.

1359
01:12:35,200 --> 01:12:37,400
Speaker 3: You have these calls. I wanted to get on one.

1360
01:12:37,439 --> 01:12:39,679
Speaker 3: I'm like, girl, what I'll never forget?

1361
01:12:39,720 --> 01:12:42,000
Speaker 4: Like this we had like it's like the first people

1362
01:12:42,000 --> 01:12:44,280
Speaker 4: don't realize when were black women calls for the first

1363
01:12:44,600 --> 01:12:48,160
Speaker 4: four and a half years before the viral call was

1364
01:12:48,200 --> 01:12:52,479
Speaker 4: a regular zoom on my zoom account that had like

1365
01:12:52,520 --> 01:12:55,000
Speaker 4: a thousand people could be on the zoom, and so

1366
01:12:55,040 --> 01:12:58,559
Speaker 4: I never forget what type. When Missus Winfrey Oprah got on,

1367
01:12:59,200 --> 01:13:01,080
Speaker 4: it was like the zoom went form like two hundred

1368
01:13:01,120 --> 01:13:03,519
Speaker 4: and fifty. It went like the ninth, nine and nine,

1369
01:13:03,520 --> 01:13:06,120
Speaker 4: and everybody was like because like over like getting like

1370
01:13:06,120 --> 01:13:07,960
Speaker 4: you're just sitting in a zoom and Oprah in the

1371
01:13:08,000 --> 01:13:10,280
Speaker 4: box just with you, and she just sit there and

1372
01:13:10,320 --> 01:13:12,639
Speaker 4: she was just like all the calls like it's been

1373
01:13:12,840 --> 01:13:15,080
Speaker 4: so over the years, like we had had every black

1374
01:13:15,120 --> 01:13:17,400
Speaker 4: women that were running for office, you know, black women

1375
01:13:17,439 --> 01:13:19,719
Speaker 4: and entertay. It was all of it, and so people

1376
01:13:19,800 --> 01:13:21,479
Speaker 4: knew about it. If you knew, you knew.

1377
01:13:21,880 --> 01:13:23,800
Speaker 3: And so the crazy part was the night that we

1378
01:13:23,840 --> 01:13:27,640
Speaker 3: had the viral call. I'll never forget that day. I

1379
01:13:27,760 --> 01:13:30,639
Speaker 3: was crazy. I was in South Carolina because my mom

1380
01:13:30,720 --> 01:13:32,000
Speaker 3: first got sick.

1381
01:13:32,240 --> 01:13:32,479
Speaker 2: Wow.

1382
01:13:32,520 --> 01:13:34,720
Speaker 4: So I was in South Carolina because I just went

1383
01:13:34,760 --> 01:13:36,840
Speaker 4: to check on my mom because she wasn't feeling well.

1384
01:13:36,880 --> 01:13:40,200
Speaker 4: So it was July twenty fourth, Yeah, and so the

1385
01:13:40,520 --> 01:13:43,719
Speaker 4: announcement comes out. We had already had a call set

1386
01:13:43,800 --> 01:13:47,120
Speaker 4: for Sunday. It was already set, and so the Women

1387
01:13:47,120 --> 01:13:50,960
Speaker 4: Black Women Call was set. Jasmine Crockett, Congresswoman Jasmin Crockett

1388
01:13:50,960 --> 01:13:53,479
Speaker 4: was on the gyenda Donna Brazil, and so we were

1389
01:13:53,520 --> 01:13:58,160
Speaker 4: talking about Melanie Campbell. Shout out to Melanie Campbell because

1390
01:13:58,200 --> 01:14:01,080
Speaker 4: everybody was trying to push President Biden out and black

1391
01:14:01,120 --> 01:14:04,600
Speaker 4: women were like, no, President Biden has been good to

1392
01:14:04,680 --> 01:14:07,200
Speaker 4: us until he's ready to go, then he'll go. And

1393
01:14:07,320 --> 01:14:09,800
Speaker 4: sinster Melanie Campbell had pinned an open letter as eight

1394
01:14:09,840 --> 01:14:13,599
Speaker 4: thousand black women had signed that letter, and we were

1395
01:14:13,640 --> 01:14:17,439
Speaker 4: standing firm yes. And when he made his decision with

1396
01:14:17,439 --> 01:14:21,400
Speaker 4: an announcement happened. I remember it was like about two

1397
01:14:21,400 --> 01:14:23,400
Speaker 4: o'clock and so we were like, oh, we got the

1398
01:14:23,479 --> 01:14:26,680
Speaker 4: call tonight. So we shifted kind of the focus of

1399
01:14:26,720 --> 01:14:30,240
Speaker 4: the call. And I really thought that they might be

1400
01:14:30,800 --> 01:14:32,679
Speaker 4: we would have gone from a thousand and maybe three

1401
01:14:32,680 --> 01:14:36,120
Speaker 4: thousand people on the call, you know, and we were

1402
01:14:36,160 --> 01:14:38,320
Speaker 4: just thinking like, oh, to be maybe a thousand, we're

1403
01:14:38,320 --> 01:14:40,200
Speaker 4: going to hit our max. And I never forget I

1404
01:14:40,280 --> 01:14:43,600
Speaker 4: told you know, one of the sisters that helped on

1405
01:14:43,680 --> 01:14:45,360
Speaker 4: the tech, I was like, let's keep it at nine

1406
01:14:45,400 --> 01:14:48,120
Speaker 4: to fifty. Let's only let nine to fifty people in

1407
01:14:48,360 --> 01:14:51,200
Speaker 4: so we have like a you know, special guest that

1408
01:14:51,240 --> 01:14:54,040
Speaker 4: would to get it. We got enough space when I

1409
01:14:54,080 --> 01:14:56,479
Speaker 4: could get on my own zoom, and then we switched

1410
01:14:56,479 --> 01:15:00,760
Speaker 4: the webinar and in real time. The reason why we

1411
01:15:00,760 --> 01:15:02,600
Speaker 4: were able to grow in real time it was a

1412
01:15:02,680 --> 01:15:07,439
Speaker 4: sister black woman got on the phone. While we were like,

1413
01:15:07,479 --> 01:15:09,080
Speaker 4: I don't know so many people on that call. We

1414
01:15:09,080 --> 01:15:11,800
Speaker 4: were like, yeah, people are like trying to get in,

1415
01:15:12,240 --> 01:15:13,680
Speaker 4: and I'll never forget that.

1416
01:15:14,760 --> 01:15:16,360
Speaker 3: I'll never forget.

1417
01:15:16,400 --> 01:15:18,599
Speaker 4: She picks up the phone and she calls her friend

1418
01:15:18,600 --> 01:15:24,240
Speaker 4: at Zoom and in real time real time artists Hampshire

1419
01:15:24,320 --> 01:15:27,600
Speaker 4: or Cohen calls her friend the coo a zoom in

1420
01:15:27,640 --> 01:15:30,280
Speaker 4: real time ten thirty or something at night, they open up,

1421
01:15:30,320 --> 01:15:34,120
Speaker 4: the engineers come in, open up the zoom what in

1422
01:15:34,160 --> 01:15:37,920
Speaker 4: real time And that's when they lifted the cap off

1423
01:15:38,040 --> 01:15:40,320
Speaker 4: and it went to forty four thousand. But by then

1424
01:15:40,400 --> 01:15:44,120
Speaker 4: there were thirty thousand people at clubhouse. There were ten thousand.

1425
01:15:44,320 --> 01:15:46,320
Speaker 4: My line sister told me she just put out a

1426
01:15:46,400 --> 01:15:49,160
Speaker 4: free conference call number and she said the next day

1427
01:15:49,200 --> 01:15:50,680
Speaker 4: she was like, it was ten thousand people on it.

1428
01:15:50,720 --> 01:15:55,000
Speaker 4: So there were we count probably about one hundred and

1429
01:15:55,000 --> 01:15:58,559
Speaker 4: fifty thousand people were either on the zoom or watching

1430
01:15:58,600 --> 01:16:00,400
Speaker 4: that zoom that night, and so that.

1431
01:16:00,520 --> 01:16:01,920
Speaker 2: Was the power of the black woman.

1432
01:16:02,040 --> 01:16:04,120
Speaker 4: That's how they the power of black the power of

1433
01:16:04,160 --> 01:16:09,200
Speaker 4: the group chat, in the group chat and the group text,

1434
01:16:09,280 --> 01:16:11,439
Speaker 4: because we would be like, how did that happen? It

1435
01:16:11,520 --> 01:16:14,200
Speaker 4: was like child as black women talking to each other.

1436
01:16:14,680 --> 01:16:18,040
Speaker 4: That's how that call happened. It was black women, black women.

1437
01:16:18,080 --> 01:16:20,439
Speaker 2: We will definitely be tapped in. Yeah, I love that.

1438
01:16:20,720 --> 01:16:24,240
Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you so good.

1439
01:16:28,560 --> 01:16:31,559
Speaker 1: This is a powerful reminder that even in the hardest seasons,

1440
01:16:31,640 --> 01:16:34,960
Speaker 1: healing and purpose can coexist. Thank you guys so much

1441
01:16:35,000 --> 01:16:37,799
Speaker 1: for tuning into another episode to keep it Posita, sweetie,

1442
01:16:38,120 --> 01:16:41,320
Speaker 1: don't forget to subscribe and share this episode with someone

1443
01:16:41,320 --> 01:16:44,280
Speaker 1: who could use a little encouragement today. And it's always

1444
01:16:44,280 --> 01:16:47,880
Speaker 1: stay blessed, stay encouraged, and remember keep it posa sweet.

1445
01:16:48,200 --> 01:16:49,200
Speaker 2: See you guys next time.