Speaker 1: Hey, hey, Hey, Yes, we're bad. We're Black Mountain Ambition.
Speaker 1: Ambition is Ambition Studio. Mandy.
Speaker 2: Hi, I feel so happy to actually have a regular
Speaker 2: voice again. I'm sure. I'm sure y'all are y'all are
Speaker 2: sick and tired of listening to me be sick and tired.
Speaker 2: So it's so good to see you again. I had
Speaker 2: to write solo last week.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's all. Yeah, I honestly, I was still in Kenya.
Speaker 2: Witch.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you something, Mandy, let me tell you something.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: I went to Kenya and the girls were going up
Speaker 3: for Brown Ambition. The Kenyan girls in Kenya. They were like, Tam, Mandy.
Speaker 1: I'm terrible with access. I love her. I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, yes, can you imagine?
Speaker 2: Can you tour?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: When I tell you, I couldn't believe, not one not
Speaker 1: to that thing.
Speaker 3: I mean, I couldn't believe how many women were like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, I love you, Budjanista. I listened to
Speaker 3: brand ambishon all the time. I'm like, and I'm thinking, like, oh,
Speaker 3: you're here on the trip with us. You live in
Speaker 3: the US, but you just have to be Kenyan. They're like, no, No,
Speaker 3: I live in Kenya. I'm like, wait, you listened to
Speaker 3: Brown and Mission here on the Motherland at Kenya.
Speaker 1: They're like, yes, I love it.
Speaker 3: I couldn't, honestly, I said, wait till I tell Mandy.
Speaker 3: So shout out to you Kenyan women.
Speaker 1: We love you.
Speaker 2: Kenya is popping, like a lot of people are talking
Speaker 2: about Nairobi and she's like having this whole renaissance and
Speaker 2: like such a great prid to live. Is that where
Speaker 2: you were?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: So I was in Nairobi and also to oh I
Speaker 3: flew to we flew to the coach. So I went
Speaker 3: on this trip called the Safe Journey Retreat that's done
Speaker 3: by Ijoma Kola.
Speaker 1: She is Nigerian.
Speaker 3: We actually grew up together and her husband is Kenyan
Speaker 3: and so she she moved to Kenya, Kenya after marrying
Speaker 3: him and they now is back in the States. But
Speaker 3: she went loved it was like the girls have to
Speaker 3: come out here. So she has this black woman retreat.
Speaker 3: This was their first one and she asked me to speak.
Speaker 3: It was maybe like four or five other speakers. But
Speaker 3: when I tell you, the sisterhood, it was the perfect
Speaker 3: way to start the new year because I was there
Speaker 3: from the first to the ten, so ten days and
Speaker 3: to be surrounded by amazing, kind, loving, funny, multifaceted Black women.
Speaker 3: So each a herself is a PhD. So she also
Speaker 3: has this Black woman PhD community group that she started,
Speaker 3: so so many of the women there were also PhD.
Speaker 3: So these brilliant but then you know, black women brilliant,
Speaker 3: but also like, girl, let me change something. It was
Speaker 3: it was when I tell you everything. And then Kenya
Speaker 3: itself was most places I go and I'm like that
Speaker 3: was great, but I'm gonna go someplace else because you know,
Speaker 3: you know, time is money. But Kenya I would go
Speaker 3: back again so much, so I would go back again
Speaker 3: this year because to Nairobi was amazing. All the hotels
Speaker 3: dy and were amazing. You know, we got to go
Speaker 3: to the museum, we did it so far, which was
Speaker 3: out of this world. And then we flew into Kenya
Speaker 3: to the coast. I think it started with the ann Milani.
Speaker 3: I'm staying it wrong, but that hotel it looked.
Speaker 1: Like a I don't even know, like a.
Speaker 3: Moroccan castle and it was right on the beach. It
Speaker 3: was just every turn was so beautiful. I just honestly
Speaker 3: not even a ten out of ten a twenty out
Speaker 3: of ten. It restored, it rejuvenated, It just did all
Speaker 3: the things that I needed and more because it was
Speaker 3: the holiday season, if I'm being honest, was really really
Speaker 3: hard for me this holiday season. It really hit me
Speaker 3: that Jirell wasn't here, and it took me out. Like
Speaker 3: I was like dark room, laying in the bed, could
Speaker 3: barely get up, didn't want to shower, I didn't want
Speaker 3: to brush my teeth, and I didn't even want to
Speaker 3: go to Kenya honestly, Like I didn't pack until like
Speaker 3: the day before, you know, and I dragged myself to
Speaker 3: the airport, and it poured back into me everything I
Speaker 3: needed and more. And so like if she ever has
Speaker 3: that retreat again, I recommended had times a thousand, not
Speaker 3: just for the women, but also have the planned Oh yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, like I don't know what I
Speaker 3: would have done honestly, because it was it really took
Speaker 3: me out. So yeah, I'm just so grateful, but I'm
Speaker 3: so happy to be back. And yes, the Kenyan women
Speaker 3: go up.
Speaker 2: That's my brother's hope is that we're going to get
Speaker 2: my little brother. He's like you me, Dad, were going
Speaker 2: to make a trip to he wants to do Kenya
Speaker 2: or South Africa in I was like twenty twenty four
Speaker 2: because I.
Speaker 1: Got the baby's coming.
Speaker 2: Baby, the baby is coming.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I just heard his little heartbeat this morning. He's in
Speaker 2: there kicking on my bladder. Let me know he's there. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm very excited. Yeah I am, I'm almost. I have
Speaker 2: had lunch with a friend. Remember we talked about before
Speaker 2: the for like our New Year's episode. We were talking
Speaker 2: about our intentions for the New year, and I think
Speaker 2: one of the themes that really resonated was the sense
Speaker 2: of making time to reconnect. So like you and me,
Speaker 2: we need some time.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: And then I saw one of my oldest girlfriends who
Speaker 2: I hadn't seen since August, which is a damn shame.
Speaker 2: We used to like you know, when you work together
Speaker 2: in your twenties. We were just like a cubicle away
Speaker 2: and we were in each other's business. You know. All
Speaker 2: I knew everything I knew is she ate for breakfast.
Speaker 2: I knew how she was feeling about the weather, like everything,
Speaker 2: And now I just found out she had shingles, She
Speaker 2: had a whole illness. Yeah, well, you know we were
Speaker 2: catching up, but like she had COVID and then shingles,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, yeah, I have flu and bronchitis and
Speaker 2: other stuff was happening, new jobs and stuff, but it
Speaker 2: was so lovely and I got to go to city
Speaker 2: and felt it felt really good to start reconnecting with
Speaker 2: just new friends and not new friends old friends. In
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, and I'm trying to get it all done,
Speaker 2: you know, before May, because I got this ticking, this
Speaker 2: ticking clock, and we planned speaking up. We're planning like
Speaker 2: a little baby moon, which will be our first time
Speaker 2: traveling anywhere since twenty nineteen. Like it's pretty sad, you know,
Speaker 2: but we're going to Costa Rica.
Speaker 1: Ooh excited. I love It's very beautiful and lush.
Speaker 2: I just want nature and quiet. And I feel kind
Speaker 2: of like I feel I need twinge of guilt that
Speaker 2: Rio is gonna miss out, but like it'll be okay,
Speaker 2: He's gonna be fine. He'll see the slots another time,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Plus he's still really because how old is Rio?
Speaker 2: He's three?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's like the kind of vacation that he
Speaker 3: might remember, like a general thing, but not the specific
Speaker 3: things anyway. So it's like I'll give you one more
Speaker 3: year before You're like, I remember, I could.
Speaker 2: Hardly take two hours on a plane to Atlanta. I
Speaker 2: don't know how I would do five and a half.
Speaker 1: I know, Oh my god.
Speaker 2: But I saw some like I wanted to kind of
Speaker 2: you know, we used to do Buzzworthy back.
Speaker 1: In the day.
Speaker 2: I wondered if we can bring back brown Ambition buzz.
Speaker 2: I was like, the ba buzz. Let's call it the
Speaker 2: ba buzz. There's a lot that's been going on, So yeah,
Speaker 2: first do we need to we have to talk about this.
Speaker 2: Have you seen? And and Happy MLK Day everybody? That
Speaker 2: was we're recording on Tuesday. It was yesterday. But have
Speaker 2: you seen the statue in Boston the new Cure?
Speaker 3: I mean I saw the picture was based off of
Speaker 3: but I was like, what is giving?
Speaker 2: I hate myself because it's like I want I'm one
Speaker 2: of those people who I want to appreciate artists, you know,
Speaker 2: their work and all the time and all that. But
Speaker 2: my husband, I didn't really know there was a new
Speaker 2: statue I was going to be unveiled, but all like
Speaker 2: my husband just like puts his phone in front of
Speaker 2: my face and he's like, what do you think that is?
Speaker 2: And we're we were potty training Rio this weekend, and
Speaker 2: all I can think of is is that a like?
Speaker 2: Is that is that gold turd?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: What am I looking at here? It was so and
Speaker 2: then I felt so horrible when I learned what it was.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that thing, it's causing a lot of controversy
Speaker 2: because it looks like a sexual act. Yes, I just.
Speaker 3: Beautiful because I'm just like, how many people did that
Speaker 3: have to go through for it to be made?
Speaker 2: And no one said, that's exactly what our producer Emani said.
Speaker 2: No one said pick somebody else the sketches. Maybe they
Speaker 2: had to make like a little mini mirror of means
Speaker 2: of course they did. Yeah, I mean, what do you
Speaker 2: do now? You can't there's no overturn.
Speaker 1: See, I'm like, this massive, it's just phallic symbol. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you need to see it.
Speaker 2: Maybe need to see it in person, you know, from
Speaker 2: the right angle. But uh, why just the arms in
Speaker 2: the hands? Why know torsos or there were heads? I
Speaker 2: just do. It's gotta be really awkward to be at
Speaker 2: MLK descendant.
Speaker 4: I know they're really like, okay, thank you, oh boy,
Speaker 4: So we want to know y'all's thoughts on the new
Speaker 4: MLK statue.
Speaker 2: I want to be the kind of person who can
Speaker 2: find beauty and anything, and like, I just feel bad
Speaker 2: for the artists because God, like, you know, he put
Speaker 2: his whole life on hold for that, and you know,
Speaker 2: art isn't the eye of the beholder or whatever they say.
Speaker 2: Some good news though, so inflation is it's gotten so bad,
Speaker 2: like the cost of groceries and especially eating out. We
Speaker 2: can't even look at door Dash or Uber Eats without
Speaker 2: spending seventy five dollars. It feels like I'm just a
Speaker 2: regular meal. So I even took my butt to Costco
Speaker 2: and I was like, we're gonna be buying in bulk.
Speaker 2: It's a new day, it's a new life. I'm feeling good.
Speaker 2: Oh well, good news is that apparently customers, like consumers,
Speaker 2: we have been changing our shopping habits. Finally it's like
Speaker 2: gotten too expensive, and businesses are finally like, okay, we're
Speaker 2: gonna slow down the price hikes and in some cases
Speaker 2: either going back on them. But it seems like most businesses,
Speaker 2: according to the Wall Street Journal, are just ceasing, you know,
Speaker 2: additional price hikes. So hopefully a carton of eggs ain't
Speaker 2: gonna cost girl you know, twelve dollars anymore.
Speaker 3: Well, we can't eat eggs around here, that's what that means.
Speaker 3: We ain't eating them eggs, but we're gonna have chicks
Speaker 3: to the back, like girl produced, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: How much could it cost to have a chicken? I
Speaker 2: felt so bad. We went to Enrique's my husband's moms
Speaker 2: for I don't know, like lunch the other day, and
Speaker 2: Rio loves making eggs. He's not always interested in eating them.
Speaker 2: And she got the fancy you know, the cage free
Speaker 2: or and he made her make four of them join up.
Speaker 2: And he did not eat a single egg. And I
Speaker 2: was like, Myra, do you need twenty dollars like all
Speaker 2: paint for these eggs? Oh?
Speaker 1: Here, these fancy kids. He's like from gold dust on it.
Speaker 2: I was like, Myra, get one of the you know,
Speaker 2: the blue styrofoam eggs, girl, like, you know, the cheap ones.
Speaker 2: I was like, get some of them for him to
Speaker 2: play with next time. Yeah, oh god. Oh. And then
Speaker 2: I caught a little bit of the Golden Globes just
Speaker 2: because randomly someone was like tweeting about it. But black
Speaker 2: people this Award season in Hollywood were cleaning up cleaning up.
Speaker 2: Have any speeches or any winds touched your heart?
Speaker 3: What I didn't see? I mean, I'm so glad for Quinta.
Speaker 3: Quinta is really like slang. I love that, and I
Speaker 3: love because you know, I remember Quinta from Oh he
Speaker 3: got money from her?
Speaker 1: Ye, like what I can get on my popcorn got
Speaker 1: I remember her from that?
Speaker 3: So she I just love to see this for he
Speaker 3: of course, who does not love the incomparable Cherylie Rolf
Speaker 3: because she's fabulous.
Speaker 2: Yes, I was sad she didn't win the Golden Globe
Speaker 2: because we didn't get a shiry Lee Ralph's speech, but
Speaker 2: then she won something else, like it was Critics Choice Award. Yes,
Speaker 2: have you seen that clip that's going viral.
Speaker 1: With the one about that Kim Kardashian.
Speaker 2: No, oh that one too, but no that was Golden Globes.
Speaker 2: No this one. She's like giving the speech and she's like,
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter what anyone thinks about you. We should
Speaker 2: just play a clip because I'm not going to do
Speaker 2: her justice at all. But basically, it's like, you better
Speaker 2: love what you see in the mirror. It doesn't matter
Speaker 2: when anyone else you know thinks about you. Is really moving.
Speaker 3: Yes, No, I love that, honestly, I just I'm just
Speaker 3: really I just love to see that people are getting
Speaker 3: you know, that people are getting appreciated while they're still here,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so I just love to see that.
Speaker 3: I mean, I mean because Charlie, she says she's been
Speaker 3: an icon, I mean, from Dreamgirls to I think she
Speaker 3: woned like miss Jamaica Toshau's mama.
Speaker 1: She'd been out here. Yeah, so she ain't new to this,
Speaker 1: She's true to this.
Speaker 3: So it's nice for the bigger I mean, the black
Speaker 3: girl we knew we were like girl, not not Ryl.
Speaker 1: Right, but you know, sorry miss Lee Ralph because you
Speaker 1: know you're grown. But you know what I mean. But
Speaker 1: I love when people kind of get a chance.
Speaker 2: To cross over and become household names.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: That's what you're wanting, you know what I mean, Because
Speaker 3: not everybody's wanting that, you know, but that's what you're wanting.
Speaker 3: And so I'm loving that she's getting kind of like
Speaker 3: this turn to be seen and appreciated.
Speaker 2: So I love that, and the girls are loving what's
Speaker 2: his face? What's this? Tyler? James Williams the guy who
Speaker 2: plays mister m As.
Speaker 1: Do you like Abbat?
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 3: You know I don't watch TV, so wait, I know
Speaker 3: you know what. You don't even shame me, but on
Speaker 3: stream I know.
Speaker 2: I don't read books.
Speaker 1: No, I just I've been doing a lot of walking.
Speaker 3: I just because I got out of the habit of
Speaker 3: watching TV when I started the Budgeonessa because who had time.
Speaker 3: And then it's hard for me to get back in
Speaker 3: the happen because I get so bored so easily. So
Speaker 3: I watch the little clips here and there, so like,
Speaker 3: don't shame me, and I'm actually like act tonight, I
Speaker 3: told myself, I'm taking myself out on a date, me,
Speaker 3: myself and I, the three of us, and we're gonna
Speaker 3: go see Black Panther.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen it. Don't get nobody either.
Speaker 2: No, no, I haven't because me like a pole babysitter
Speaker 2: to see it, and then the times are always so
Speaker 2: inconvenient for babysitter hours. Yeah, no, I'm I'm gonna go.
Speaker 2: I'm waiting for it to come on streaming. I gave up.
Speaker 3: I said I was gonna but I said, you know what, Tiffany,
Speaker 3: go outside, girl.
Speaker 1: I said, Glass slide. I said, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna actually gonna treat myself to one of the
Speaker 3: dining theaters. Girl were gonna be fancy in the WHOA
Speaker 3: love those girls. So have you seen me out on
Speaker 3: about and You're like, ooh, she with other people? It's
Speaker 3: myself and I.
Speaker 2: Well, damn it. So I'm gonna have to cross off
Speaker 2: below deck discussion from my list of buzzworthy because I've
Speaker 2: been obsessed with below deck, y'all, it's so messy and delicious.
Speaker 2: All right, Uh an employee and employment news. Well, one
Speaker 2: thing I just wanted to like, I had a coaching session.
Speaker 2: I sometimes this is off the record except for you
Speaker 2: guys when women are let go from their jobs. And like,
Speaker 2: if I've ever given you a coaching session, if you
Speaker 2: reach out to me, I'm probably going to offer pro
Speaker 2: bono coaching session if you've been let go. And so
Speaker 2: I met this young woman earlier today and she had
Speaker 2: been let go from a big tech company. I'm not
Speaker 2: going to put her business out there, and like, you know,
Speaker 2: thousands of people were let go from this tech company
Speaker 2: and she was so down. I mean, obviously it's it
Speaker 2: sucks because these layups have been happening, you know, right
Speaker 2: around the holidays, and it really broke my heart because
Speaker 2: she's the second, no, the third woman who I've met
Speaker 2: who was let go the same year that they made
Speaker 2: the change to that new job. And the sense of like,
Speaker 2: when it's hard enough to take a career risk, right,
Speaker 2: and to move new to move new jobs and all
Speaker 2: of that, and sometimes we forget like there's this element
Speaker 2: of shame to being let go and then let and
Speaker 2: then you have this fear that if people you used
Speaker 2: to work with find out that they're going to have
Speaker 2: like they're going to be judgmental about it, like, oh,
Speaker 2: you were all, you know, cool because you got a
Speaker 2: job at this big tech company. And to hear her,
Speaker 2: I mean, she got she was getting emotional about it,
Speaker 2: you know, because I was suggesting that she posts on
Speaker 2: LinkedIn and announces that she's open to work and all
Speaker 2: of that, but there was this like she really didn't
Speaker 2: want to do it, and she's just in the thick
Speaker 2: of that job search. And so it just reminded me
Speaker 2: that all these statistics about like layoffs and even though
Speaker 2: the job market is still strong, there are people suffering
Speaker 2: from like long term unemployment and long term job searching
Speaker 2: out there, and so I just want to like acknowledge
Speaker 2: that and say, you know, if you're feeling shame about it,
Speaker 2: I really hope that you can be compassionate for yourself.
Speaker 2: You're so not alone, and I feel like there's so
Speaker 2: much I was trying to tell her. There's more to
Speaker 2: be gained by telling that story and sharing it, I
Speaker 2: believe than any potential downside of maybe someone passing a
Speaker 2: judgmental you know, thought about you, Because I feel like,
Speaker 2: if you don't share it or talk about it sometimes,
Speaker 2: how do you then open yourself up to the help
Speaker 2: and support of other people. So that was on my
Speaker 2: spirit today.
Speaker 1: Maybe I could just save in lives.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I saved your life in half
Speaker 2: an hour, but I made her you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Like there's just like sometimes you just need that person
Speaker 3: to like, you know, pour into you, encourage you.
Speaker 1: And so I love that you did.
Speaker 2: That for her. Yeah. Please, I mean I'm coming from
Speaker 2: the person who quit a job, didn't take a job,
Speaker 2: came back six months later begging for the same job,
Speaker 2: got the job, got a new job, and quit a
Speaker 2: month later, and then got laid off from that job
Speaker 2: that she quit for. That's my story.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: I know, don't talk to like. I've been there, I've
Speaker 2: taken their risks, I've fallen on my ass and I'm like,
Speaker 2: it's okay, you know, it's okay, all right. And our
Speaker 2: last little news nugget is that if you heard you
Speaker 2: know what non competes are, you probably do because you
Speaker 2: probably have. Yeah, we so the fts Yeah, and like
Speaker 2: non competes for employees, they can really stop you from
Speaker 2: being able to work for other big places or like,
Speaker 2: you know, navigate your career strategically because your company may
Speaker 2: have a non compete saying you can't work for any
Speaker 2: other fer months like ours, and if you do, you know,
Speaker 2: really specific work that could limit your opportunities. So the
Speaker 2: FTC good news. The FTC is like pushing to ban
Speaker 2: non competes and employers are losing their damn minds.
Speaker 1: Well here's my take.
Speaker 3: I mean, I can see like not if you're not
Speaker 3: working for me anymore, okay, but I don't want someone
Speaker 3: who is simultaneously because sometimes people have side hustles, which
Speaker 3: I encourage, but don't side hustle with. Like, although I'm
Speaker 3: not gonna say I have a competitor or whatever, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean? So because that's not really but
Speaker 3: do you know what I mean? Because there a definitely
Speaker 3: some point where I'm just like, yeah, yeah, I wouldn't
Speaker 3: want someone working with me and then also working with
Speaker 3: someone you know what, that's actually true. For example, Tracy,
Speaker 3: my publicays, came to me and said, Hey, Tiffany, I've
Speaker 3: got this potential client. She reached out to me, wants
Speaker 3: to work with me. But she asked, would this compete
Speaker 3: with your client the bunch of Nista, And I was like,
Speaker 3: probably not because she's Tracy has worked with other financial
Speaker 3: brands before. But then when she described a woman, I
Speaker 3: was like, actually that is what I do, you know,
Speaker 3: because for example, she's worked with people who only talk
Speaker 3: about investing. No problem because I might cover it lightly,
Speaker 3: but that's I'm not to invest Innista. You know, I'm
Speaker 3: more of a if I'm going to be on TV
Speaker 3: or whatever. As far as a poblicist is concerned, I'm
Speaker 3: a generalist. People have me come on a little bit
Speaker 3: of credit, a little bit of this, a little bit
Speaker 3: of that, you know, And so if someone is highly
Speaker 3: specialized in the thing, then no, that's not a compete,
Speaker 3: even if it's personal finance, you know, or like let's
Speaker 3: just say, for example, she worked with Tanya from Oh,
Speaker 3: I forget what it was called before, but she has
Speaker 3: like a kid's app, a kid's in money app. I
Speaker 3: forget it was called something else before, but it has
Speaker 3: a new name now. Anyway, Tanya Vancourt. She's got this
Speaker 3: awesome app that helps kids like save money and put
Speaker 3: money away whatever. So even though Tanya has financial education,
Speaker 3: but it's a specific she's specifically for kids and the
Speaker 3: specific app no problem. But like I said, this other
Speaker 3: person was really kind of like a generalist.
Speaker 1: And after when she.
Speaker 3: Was describing it, because I told her, I said, you
Speaker 3: have to think to yourself, if you're going to pitch her,
Speaker 3: how are you pitching her. Is it for a specific
Speaker 3: thing or is it for she can do what Tiffany
Speaker 3: does basically? And so we both talked about it and
Speaker 3: I was like, I'm glad that that woman, you know,
Speaker 3: had to Wherewithal was like, think about it before we
Speaker 3: move forward, and I was just like, oh yeah.
Speaker 2: No, yeah to her credit, like she also would want
Speaker 2: a publicist, you can focus on her pitching her, yes,
Speaker 2: And Tracy, I mean not only is your publishers also
Speaker 2: your sister. And I'm like, yes, she's gonna know that
Speaker 2: it will be weird.
Speaker 1: But try to say because I'm my pa says, people
Speaker 1: just think that.
Speaker 3: But I know, girl, whatever, but you know because because
Speaker 3: she's you're right, because because here's the thing. If I'm
Speaker 3: being honest, if she's going to pitch, you know who
Speaker 3: who is she pitching? You know, like, if they're pitching
Speaker 3: the both of us, you know, not to flex. But
Speaker 3: I've been doing it longer, so today Sho's gonna be
Speaker 3: like Tiffany, but he just had it a couple of
Speaker 3: weeks ago. Yeah, Tiffany, you know, to me, it wouldn't
Speaker 3: actually be fair to her because if she's going to pitch,
Speaker 3: you know, so yeah, so I just thought that that
Speaker 3: was really you know, like that, I like, I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm not opposed to non compete. If it's like you
Speaker 3: are currently working with me, I don't think that you
Speaker 3: should be working with someone who does exact same thing.
Speaker 3: But if you're not currently working with me, then you know, like, girl,
Speaker 3: that's your business, you.
Speaker 2: Know, right, But it's about that like trade secret. I mean,
Speaker 2: how can you stop people from sharing what they learned
Speaker 2: at a Facebook with a snapchat, you know, if they can't. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so it's all that. So I just I was like,
Speaker 2: I wonder, I wonder what because that's like the golden
Speaker 2: handcuffs a little bit. That's why they give you like
Speaker 2: sweet equity and stuff. And then they have the non compete,
Speaker 2: which is like this like carrot and the stick a
Speaker 2: little bit. That's the stick, like if you leave us,
Speaker 2: we're going to come for you. And you have seen
Speaker 2: people get sued, you know, and lost their jobs because
Speaker 2: they got a new job. And then they're like, oh,
Speaker 2: we don't want to go against that big corporation. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, it's a fine for you.
Speaker 3: I think there should be some moderation with it because
Speaker 3: I can understand as a company, you know, because I
Speaker 3: mean I had somebody on my team that was doing
Speaker 3: that secretly working for like someone who did the exact
Speaker 3: same thing and feeding them everything we were doing. What
Speaker 3: she didn't know is sauce sold separately, so you know,
Speaker 3: because honest see, the sauce is sold separately. So when
Speaker 3: I found out, I let them go, and I was like, well,
Speaker 3: that's not cool. But when I saw how I was
Speaker 3: looking on the new person. I was like, well, that's
Speaker 3: that's what.
Speaker 2: She gave you.
Speaker 1: Okay, girl, it's not looking the same.
Speaker 3: Sen it's because it's a different you know, it navigates
Speaker 3: differently on other people. But I just didn't like that,
Speaker 3: like you know, kind of like secret back backyard dealing,
Speaker 3: you know, because we're literally sometimes we're working through things,
Speaker 3: so you're you're, you know, you're bringing it to someone else.
Speaker 1: I just was like, oh no, girl, you can't stay here.
Speaker 1: So you know, I definitely have seen it both ways, so.
Speaker 2: You're the sauce, just to be clear. So so all right,
Speaker 2: well that's it for the brown buzz probably wait ba
Speaker 2: buzz the ba buzz.
Speaker 1: I love that?
Speaker 2: Really getting back to my uh set, my twelve year
Speaker 2: old run the school paper roots here. Oh god, all right,
Speaker 2: let's take a quick break and come back with Brown
Speaker 2: Boosts Brown.
Speaker 3: Break and We're Bad and We're Black fun for Boost
Speaker 3: to Break, the Boost to Break.
Speaker 1: Okay, Oh I forgot, Oh I forgot the song already.
Speaker 3: I thought you were bringing us into a new year
Speaker 3: with a new beat. Girl, I forgot the song the
Speaker 3: are we gonna boost? I was talking about are we
Speaker 3: gonna break? Right?
Speaker 1: Look at me? My bootstop, break up, boost stop break
Speaker 1: Are we going to boost? Are we going to break?
Speaker 2: Which?
Speaker 1: Which are you gonna take? I don't remember anyway, you
Speaker 1: know we boosting, we break in. You want to go first? Second? Manager?
Speaker 1: How are you feeling?
Speaker 2: I want you to go first? But I got my boost?
Speaker 1: Okay, I have a boost too.
Speaker 3: So one of the things we did in Kenya that
Speaker 3: was so transformative for me, because the whole trip was
Speaker 3: amazing is that we did a service project at this
Speaker 3: place called Wings, Wings for Hope.
Speaker 1: I think that's what it's called, Yes, Wings for Hope,
Speaker 1: And it was a.
Speaker 3: A shelter of some sort, but like a compound, because
Speaker 3: like a series of buildings for young teen moms.
Speaker 1: Some of the girls were as young as twelve years
Speaker 1: old and pregnant.
Speaker 3: You know, all of them obviously had been taken care of,
Speaker 3: taken advantage of, because you know, you can't be twelve
Speaker 3: and consenting to whom, you know, But honestly, most of
Speaker 3: them had been oh well, all of them had been
Speaker 3: kind of disowned or thrown away by their family as
Speaker 3: a result of the pregnancy. And some of them were
Speaker 3: even you know, taking advantage of. And this is just
Speaker 3: I mean, if you might want to fast forward if
Speaker 3: this is going to be triggering. I should have had
Speaker 3: a trigger warning, but had been taking advantage of by
Speaker 3: their own fathers and were carrying their father's babies.
Speaker 1: It was really heavy, and.
Speaker 3: I was just like, I mean, you know, eleven, twelve, thirty,
Speaker 3: I just and so.
Speaker 1: When I was there, I mean, we were.
Speaker 3: All fighting tears because it just was so heavy. And
Speaker 3: the angels that run It's a husband and wife they
Speaker 3: met while kind of doing the work. The wife was
Speaker 3: a nurse, and she said that baby would come into
Speaker 3: the hospital that had been found thrown away in trash bags,
Speaker 3: hidden in bushes. Yeah, and she was like, where are yes,
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Mandy, yes, and she just was like, where's okay?
Speaker 3: But where are these babies coming from? And so as
Speaker 3: they started to like the husband was volunteering at the hospital.
Speaker 3: It was at the time it was just a guy,
Speaker 3: you know, like volunteer at the hospital.
Speaker 2: And she.
Speaker 3: After doing more research, she found out that it was
Speaker 3: these t young teen girls that were doing this, that
Speaker 3: the large variority of these babies that were coming to
Speaker 3: the hospital were as a result of these young young
Speaker 3: girls who were like I don't know what to do.
Speaker 1: I'm twelve, so.
Speaker 3: She said, which I think is so beautiful. How do
Speaker 3: we solve the issue. It's not just like taking care
Speaker 3: of the baby that when it gets here, can we
Speaker 3: take care of that girl? And so they created this
Speaker 3: beautiful place for the girls, Wings for Hope, where you know,
Speaker 3: when they find out a girl's been kind of like
Speaker 3: thrown out of her family as a result, you know,
Speaker 3: as much as they can, they take them in here
Speaker 3: and then look after them, give them food, shelter, they
Speaker 3: get therapy, they get you know, education, they pay for school,
Speaker 3: they do all these things and based upon all like
Speaker 3: donations and things. And so one of the reasons why
Speaker 3: I said Kenya was restorative is because before I left,
Speaker 3: like I said, I was drowning in the grief. And
Speaker 3: this going here like reminded me a lesson that doctor Green,
Speaker 3: my amazing black therapist, told me a few months after
Speaker 3: Drill passed away. And because I kept saying, this is
Speaker 3: the worst thing that could have ever happened, this is
Speaker 3: the worst thing that could have ever happened, And then
Speaker 3: one day she said, is it.
Speaker 1: The worst thing?
Speaker 3: Tiffany and I wanted to jump through the zoom and
Speaker 3: rock and sock with her, cause I was like, what
Speaker 3: are you talking about? Of course it is, you know,
Speaker 3: you know, and so because what she was saying, your
Speaker 3: parents are still here, your sisters in Roman and Amelia
Speaker 3: and Lily, and but at the time I was like,
Speaker 3: and am I trying to hear all that it is
Speaker 3: the worst thing?
Speaker 4: And so.
Speaker 3: But this sitting in this compound, you know, with the
Speaker 3: girls and this amazing husband and wife team, It's like
Speaker 3: there was a huge prospective shift and it wasn't trauma
Speaker 3: comparison that instead it opened up for me to see
Speaker 3: that like is it the worst thing that could have
Speaker 3: happened to you, Tiffany, Meaning like is it just grief
Speaker 3: that you're experiencing in your life or is there so
Speaker 3: many things to be grateful for?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 3: And it was literally like a line in the sand
Speaker 3: of the before Tiffany and the after Tiffany. And I
Speaker 3: said to myself like I was talking to doctor Green
Speaker 3: about it, like, you know, and she was like, you know,
Speaker 3: you know, it was a transformation for you because you
Speaker 3: got to feel simultaneously or your grief but also acknowledge
Speaker 3: the other grief of the people in that room alongside
Speaker 3: of you. Without detracting or adding to the grief that
Speaker 3: you're holding. And then on the third part, I was like,
Speaker 3: what can we do to help? And so one of
Speaker 3: the best ways for anyone to kind of get out
Speaker 3: of the situation is always education. And so we were
Speaker 3: asking them, like, you know, how much does it cost
Speaker 3: for like a year to like, you know, there's about
Speaker 3: maybe twenty twenty five girls there, because in Africa in
Speaker 3: many places, although school is free, you have to pay
Speaker 3: a school fee to go to the next level. So
Speaker 3: you take your exams in order to get those exam grades,
Speaker 3: you have to pay a fee. And for all the girls,
Speaker 3: like twenty twenty five girls, it's you know, there's a fee,
Speaker 3: and so it's maybe like fifteen thousand dollars for the year.
Speaker 3: And I said, okay, that I'm going to pay that,
Speaker 3: and you know, maybe the year after and the year
Speaker 3: after and in the year after. And so it was
Speaker 3: like doctor Green was like, I don't think you realized
Speaker 3: what you've unlocked in yourself, Tiffany. And then you can
Speaker 3: acknowledge your grief, you can acknowledge that it's part of
Speaker 3: a larger like grief that is in that room, and
Speaker 3: then you can even from a place of your own sadness,
Speaker 3: say I want to help with somebody else.
Speaker 1: She was like, that's a huge transition. I hope you
Speaker 1: recognize that.
Speaker 3: And so it was just when I say so transformat
Speaker 3: in it just felt like such a joy to be
Speaker 3: able to do that. And so I just yeah, like,
Speaker 3: I'm hoping that Wings for Hope will like start like
Speaker 3: a because they're a nonprofit in Kenya. They're not based
Speaker 3: in the United States, and hope they'll have like an
Speaker 3: you know, like some sort of arm here so.
Speaker 1: People can donate and give.
Speaker 3: Because so I exchanged emails with the oldest girl there
Speaker 3: him as say, she's in school in college New Alsara
Speaker 3: is twenty.
Speaker 1: She has a seven year old.
Speaker 3: You know, and you know, but to see I could
Speaker 3: see the joy in her, and she was sharing how
Speaker 3: she tries to come back from school as much as
Speaker 3: possible to help the younger ones because some of the
Speaker 3: younger ones are having such a hard time, you know,
Speaker 3: they have to stop them from harming their babies sometimes
Speaker 3: because they don't know what's going on. And so she
Speaker 3: but I could see the joy in her, I could
Speaker 3: see how happy her son was. And I asked her,
Speaker 3: because you know, sometimes you have these facilities and you're like,
Speaker 3: is it really good, because sometimes it's more it's worse
Speaker 3: than where they came from. And she was like, they
Speaker 3: love us so well here, Tiffany, they love us so well.
Speaker 3: I don't know what I would have done. And so yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm just committed to like that type of service. You know.
Speaker 3: I certainly I've lived my life in service and teaching
Speaker 3: and even the BUNCHONISA does an active service and every
Speaker 3: but this is more concrete for me, and so just
Speaker 3: looking for opportunities to do this. It just yeah, So
Speaker 3: that is I mean, I know, I hopefully it's not
Speaker 3: a Debbie Dowter for y'all, but it just it up
Speaker 3: did me so much to know that like I can
Speaker 3: participate in like helping making these like because they look
Speaker 3: like me, these they are us, these little black girls.
Speaker 3: That's just me, just a different circumstance or situation. And
Speaker 3: so so yeah, that is my brown boost wings for Hope.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for the amazing really just amazing
Speaker 3: miracle work that you do with these beautiful girls. And
Speaker 3: you know, in the ways I can help and I
Speaker 3: find more ways that I'm sure you guys are like
Speaker 3: I want to help. When I find more ways, I
Speaker 3: will share them with you because I just think that, like, yeah,
Speaker 3: because they want to have they want to be at capacity,
Speaker 3: they want to be at sixty girls, but they can't
Speaker 3: currently afford it. They don't even have enough beds. And
Speaker 3: so we're all like kind of working together and figure
Speaker 3: out what does that look like? How do we help
Speaker 3: so more girls are not left in the dangerous situation.
Speaker 1: They have a safe place to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think it's also a beautiful message of when you travel,
Speaker 2: just leaving a place better, like even a little bit better,
Speaker 2: you know, than the way you found it. And even
Speaker 2: that impulse for me is to cringe and to look
Speaker 2: away from a story like that, but it doesn't stop
Speaker 2: the story from being true and those girls needing help.
Speaker 2: So I love hearing stories like that and the spin
Speaker 2: is okay, it's a tragedy, but then what good can
Speaker 2: come of it? And what can you do? That is beautiful? Yeah,
Speaker 2: I got to put Kenny on the list for sure,
Speaker 2: the huge list of where I need to go. All right, well,
Speaker 2: I'll do a quick little I'll take my bigger boosts
Speaker 2: and do my quick little one, my little backup boost
Speaker 2: I wanted to. I read this article in Fortune just
Speaker 2: today and I thought it was so powerful. It's called
Speaker 2: the pandemic killed my Ambition and here's how I'm getting
Speaker 2: it back. And I thought it was such a I
Speaker 2: won't read the whole I'm gonna read the whole article,
Speaker 2: but I love it because this is the kind of
Speaker 2: conversation I'm having all the time with my BANDI money Makers,
Speaker 2: about like redefining ambition on our own terms, and where
Speaker 2: does the ambition like where can we embrace our ambition
Speaker 2: and our want to learn more and always be growing
Speaker 2: and you know, developing and all that, and where does
Speaker 2: that fall with also wanting a softer life and not
Speaker 2: wanting to grind ourselves into the dust. And I'm just
Speaker 2: happy to see an article like this, And we'll post
Speaker 2: a link in the show notes because I feel like
Speaker 2: this is it. It's really up to us how we
Speaker 2: define ambition. And I mean, for a show called Brown Ambition,
Speaker 2: what I hope is we can define it in such
Speaker 2: a way that it gives you time to reflect on
Speaker 2: what it is that you're striving for and not just what,
Speaker 2: but why, like the why behind why you're ambitious about
Speaker 2: a certain opportunity or a certain you know, moving up
Speaker 2: in a certain way, and just taking time to reflect
Speaker 2: and personally, like, when I approach twenty twenty three, I
Speaker 2: have these I do have these big goals for Mandy money,
Speaker 2: and I feel this ticking clock of there's a baby
Speaker 2: coming and I have to I got a lot of
Speaker 2: shit to do before I go on maternity leave and
Speaker 2: all that. But these first few weeks of the new year,
Speaker 2: I have found myself just like really slowing down and
Speaker 2: trying to think thoughtfully before just rushing into things, and
Speaker 2: just trying to be intentional about what it is that
Speaker 2: I'm doing instead of just going all in, burning myself out,
Speaker 2: so that I can, like what skin across the finish
Speaker 2: line into the labor and delivery room and be like,
Speaker 2: you know, thank God to have a break, you know,
Speaker 2: a free a freeze, not a free day at a hospital.
Speaker 2: I don't want to be like that, you know, I
Speaker 2: want to I want to have some energy left, you know,
Speaker 2: for having two little ones at home. So I'll post
Speaker 2: a link to that. But if you're struggling with that,
Speaker 2: I feel like women are. If you're struggling with the
Speaker 2: idea of how can I be ambitious but still want
Speaker 2: that softer life. I think this is a great article
Speaker 2: to read and then start like redefining that for yourself.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 3: I think I feel like that's the space I always say.
Speaker 3: I was telling the girls that the and Kenya, like
Speaker 3: the other Retreat members, I said, I'm in my shadd
Speaker 3: era right about now, like I used to be in
Speaker 3: my Beionce era.
Speaker 1: So you don't Beyonce like her. I'm talking to Icon.
Speaker 1: Whatever it takes, the grind, the work, you know, I'm like,
Speaker 1: we off that for me anyway. Yeah, So I'm in
Speaker 1: my shad Day era.
Speaker 3: So if you know anything about shad Day, she literally
Speaker 3: comes out with an album every seven to fifteen years.
Speaker 3: Like she literally would be like, oh, here's a little something,
Speaker 3: go back to your business, and then she will go
Speaker 3: back to wherever she's living her best life.
Speaker 1: Because Shade is sixty but skin glowing.
Speaker 3: She just looks beautiful. She looks well rested, like she
Speaker 3: minds her business and drinks water, you know. And so
Speaker 3: I that's the space that I'm in now that I'm not.
Speaker 3: I don't have the desire to be ambitious anymore in
Speaker 3: the traditional sense, you know, because even though Shade is not,
Speaker 3: like you know, out there doing all the interviews or whatever.
Speaker 3: I suspect she's still making music for music's sake, you know,
Speaker 3: meaning like I like, I'm so, I'm still I'm still
Speaker 3: doing beautiful work, and you know, but I don't have
Speaker 3: this necessity to be externally gratified by it anymore. I'm
Speaker 3: just tired and I don't have the desire to go
Speaker 3: as hard as I used to go. There's nothing wrong
Speaker 3: with the Beyonce era because there's this place. There's a
Speaker 3: reason why I can buy that condo cash. It's because
Speaker 3: of my Beyonce era. So certainly I'm not going to
Speaker 3: turn my nose up in somebody who is in that
Speaker 3: space right now. But even Beyonce, and it ain't even
Speaker 3: have Beonce era, you know, are the visuals. Girl, If
Speaker 3: y'all to leave me alone, She says, I have fifty
Speaker 3: eleven kids. You heard her in a song, I got
Speaker 3: fifty eleven kids.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3: So even Beyonce has taken down the Beyonce era. And
Speaker 3: so because there are moments, you know, I think, then, yeah,
Speaker 3: many of us make the mistake of staying one place
Speaker 3: too long, and so like, yeah, so I love that. Honestly,
Speaker 3: I can't wait to read that because I'm like, you know,
Speaker 3: to redefine what ambition looks like.
Speaker 2: All Right, we're going to keep that show called Brown Ambition,
Speaker 2: but we're redefining it as we go. Okay, y'all, Oh
Speaker 2: so good to be back with you, TIV, Happy New
Speaker 2: Year everybody. Officially, yeah, we'll see y'all next week. We'll
Speaker 2: see you Friday for BAQ and a bye bye hey
Speaker 2: ba fam. We could not do this show without your
Speaker 2: support or the support of our team behind the scenes.
Speaker 2: The Brown Ambition podcast is produced by Cumulus Podcast Network.
Speaker 2: It's edited by the wonderful Emani Crosby and produced by
Speaker 2: Tanya Bustos. Dennis Taplinsky is our in house tech crew,
Speaker 2: and I am Bandy Woindchard Santos your co host, and
Speaker 2: I will see y'all next week.