Speaker 1: Hey, Hi, Hi, good morning, good afternoon, good evening. You
Speaker 1: are listening to the Vitamin D Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Mama doing day, all day, every day, um, and I'm
Speaker 1: here to help you understand how to best use your
Speaker 1: best asset. Or you don't know what that is, well,
Speaker 1: you need to listen and then see what is that
Speaker 1: thing that if you improve it, you will improve every
Speaker 1: aspect of your life. What in life shows up with
Speaker 1: you everywhere you So I'm here to show you the
Speaker 1: different ways to utilize yourself through inspirational conversations with inspirational people.
Speaker 1: As we move into Women's History Month, I'm constantly thinking
Speaker 1: about what it means to be a woman in We
Speaker 1: have a long history of ancestors and mentors, mothers, grandmother's,
Speaker 1: matriarchs who we need to celebrate and remember as much
Speaker 1: as we also have to look at women of today
Speaker 1: who are doing it for themselves as well as those
Speaker 1: who are doing it for the days to come. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about the women making history right now with their
Speaker 1: lives going against the expectations of this world. So with
Speaker 1: that in mind, I knew who I had to reach
Speaker 1: out to and bring on the show today. I decided
Speaker 1: to bring on a woman who has been instrumental in
Speaker 1: my development, who I see as a mentor. Hey, you
Speaker 1: might even call this a mentor. Monday Deja Vu is
Speaker 1: a media personality and broadcaster known for her hilarious personality
Speaker 1: and sharp with on her own show w b LS
Speaker 1: is Deja Vu in the Afternoons, which airs in New York,
Speaker 1: and the syndicated beat Deja vusham Um. We sat down
Speaker 1: and she shared with me to talk about knowing when
Speaker 1: it's personal and when it's business, when to let go,
Speaker 1: the importance of balance, and what it means to go
Speaker 1: full out for your dream and that includes igniting the hustle. Okay,
Speaker 1: that fool knowing how brilliant you are. So I know
Speaker 1: that you're going to enjoy because I know I did.
Speaker 1: So without further ado, it's time for your dose a
Speaker 1: Vitamin D. Get your Vitamin D right with me and
Speaker 1: get excited about hi Ja v day all day, every day.
Speaker 1: And how are you doing? Are going? Oh? Good? Good?
Speaker 1: How are you? I'm excellent, no complaints at all, living
Speaker 1: life girl. I'm so happy you're here. I just want
Speaker 1: to let you know that we're live on it's recording.
Speaker 1: So um, but you said, how am I doing? I'm grateful.
Speaker 1: I love your voice done. I was telling my sister,
Speaker 1: I was trying to describe it, and I said, she
Speaker 1: had such a full, rich, how am I doing? It
Speaker 1: was just so pretty? Do you know how much that
Speaker 1: means coming from you? Girl? Please, it's beautiful. But you've
Speaker 1: had this voice. I was telling her. I said, you
Speaker 1: had maybe recently graduated college of your years, and you
Speaker 1: still had that full, warm, that sound, and I'm glad
Speaker 1: to see you using it. Thank you, And I want
Speaker 1: to say that I'm grateful for you for believing in me.
Speaker 1: You you you always made the time for me. And
Speaker 1: I was just thinking, like, you know, being a Women's
Speaker 1: History month, I had to think about, like who are
Speaker 1: the women that I admired, People that helped paved the way,
Speaker 1: you know, shed light on the way, just spend time
Speaker 1: as I was on my way, and I'm like, deja day,
Speaker 1: I mean taking it back like you were talking about
Speaker 1: a few years after college, deja I had a dream
Speaker 1: of being a worldwide At first, I used to say motivation,
Speaker 1: but as I talked to a mentor, he said, you know,
Speaker 1: you get motivated to get started, but you gotta get
Speaker 1: inspired to change your life. And I said, okay, inspirational speaker,
Speaker 1: but da it was you. They gave you the official
Speaker 1: moment to speak at a high school. We were in Jersey.
Speaker 1: I remember that you took it on me days. That
Speaker 1: means so much. That's crazy that you remember that way
Speaker 1: back then. And yes, but you rocked it. You rocked it.
Speaker 1: So you're getting emotional now because I don't think people
Speaker 1: realize that. People don't realize how important it is to
Speaker 1: have mentors in your life. Absolutely, and I guess even
Speaker 1: having you today, I want to talk about that with
Speaker 1: you because you know, you look at you and it's
Speaker 1: like you're in a number one market at WBLS. You're
Speaker 1: syndicated on ABC Radio with the Deja Busha. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're you're doing live announcements for Ryan and Kelly like
Speaker 1: or Kelly and Ryan like, oh my gosh voice over.
Speaker 1: It's like, and here's the thing. People get on this
Speaker 1: journey for this dream, right right, and you know you're
Speaker 1: thinking like, oh, I'm a run and I'm gonna arrive
Speaker 1: and it's just like I guess Michelle Obama's book and
Speaker 1: she's always she's talks about becoming because we're always becoming.
Speaker 1: And like you said, you talked a little woll Dawn
Speaker 1: fresh out of college. Here we are looking like almost
Speaker 1: ten years later, girl, and I'm still twenty nine in
Speaker 1: holding the thing. I was thinking back, I said, how
Speaker 1: does stage is still look the same? Listen, girl, But no,
Speaker 1: you know what, it's a grateful thing to be on
Speaker 1: this journey. We're steadily evolving, right, and the fact that
Speaker 1: we are now in this moment of our lives in
Speaker 1: the world, that we have time for us to be
Speaker 1: able to take our time. Remember back in the day,
Speaker 1: it seemed like by the time you were thirty, life
Speaker 1: is over. You were sitting down, they were putting you
Speaker 1: out the pasture and all that stuff you would see
Speaker 1: if you see the older movies, you're like, thet was
Speaker 1: only thirty five, and why would she mean put back?
Speaker 1: Now you see women doing things in I mean all
Speaker 1: the me up until whenever they want to stop. Seriously,
Speaker 1: So I just think it's amazing, and not just women,
Speaker 1: but men too. We've been afforded this opportunity to be
Speaker 1: able to continue to grow in our passions and be
Speaker 1: able to still live out those dreams. That's the blessing
Speaker 1: of being where we are right now at this present time. Yes,
Speaker 1: And when you said present time, it's about the gift
Speaker 1: of now and living out your dreams and how that
Speaker 1: takes courage, how it's going to take you to stretch
Speaker 1: and so looking at you and how you come like
Speaker 1: I got so many questions as to how I want
Speaker 1: to start, because I'm approaching. I feel as though the
Speaker 1: women that I worked with starting it's ubls like now
Speaker 1: I'm taking a chance and I'm seeing the viewpoint I'm seeing,
Speaker 1: you know, whether or not you know, whether you're hiring personnel,
Speaker 1: how you're focusing your dreams, how you're starting to think about,
Speaker 1: you know, relationship, how you're thinking about, you know, standing
Speaker 1: up to a family, also dignifying your worth. You know.
Speaker 1: It's so then dealing with the fact that you are
Speaker 1: getting old or more exactly although twenty nine and holding
Speaker 1: serious the grateful part and the gracious and grateful part
Speaker 1: of it is again like I said that we're still working.
Speaker 1: I did an interview recently with Biblica and she was
Speaker 1: mentioning that same kind of thing. She's like, the baby
Speaker 1: woman are killing it out here. I didn't realize that
Speaker 1: she had just got finished doing her twenty five lifetime
Speaker 1: movie producing. Right, we don't see that because sometimes she's
Speaker 1: not in front of the camera. But she just got
Speaker 1: finished producing these movies. Then you see to Roggie, all
Speaker 1: these women are fifty and over now who are still
Speaker 1: living their best lives and looking sexy. That ever did
Speaker 1: you see Holly Berry hanging upside now doing her SUPs
Speaker 1: on a fighting on a punching bag. Says it's old,
Speaker 1: says says school me. So then I will know when
Speaker 1: I approach consis why not I see you twenty nine
Speaker 1: and holdings right? Brilliant black Woman's dad is let me
Speaker 1: see that shirt? What is actually like it? We'll see
Speaker 1: you one. It's my new thing, brilliant black woman? What
Speaker 1: is that? Okay? Women's History Month, brilliant black What is
Speaker 1: this about? Well? You know, I have all these different
Speaker 1: phases of what I do. So I have my hustle,
Speaker 1: hers have your night, your hustle. But I just was
Speaker 1: looking at something and I saw something and someone said,
Speaker 1: and I still have. I have my Black Woman series,
Speaker 1: so I have the proud black woman, the strong black woman.
Speaker 1: And somebody said, why do we always have to be
Speaker 1: proud and strong? Why can't we just be brilliant. And
Speaker 1: I said, boom, there is black woman. So behold the
Speaker 1: brilliant black woman T shirt. And I am going to
Speaker 1: be gifting you one and set amounts of different people
Speaker 1: and I sell them as well. So yeah, we gotta
Speaker 1: we have to own who we are, right. We've seen
Speaker 1: so many of these message tease this and not saying
Speaker 1: this and whatever, But I say, own who we are
Speaker 1: and what we are. This is the time for us
Speaker 1: to be proud. People are saying black girl magic. Yet
Speaker 1: we are magical as well as brilliant, and let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and step in and live in that. Why not
Speaker 1: let us sink in and be proud about it. I
Speaker 1: was looking at something from I forgot what it was.
Speaker 1: I think it was something on PBS, and they had
Speaker 1: a thing where they were transitioning out of the sixties
Speaker 1: civil rights to the seventies when people were like, I'm
Speaker 1: saying loud, I'm black and I'm proud and they have
Speaker 1: the afros and they were finally living that and sinking
Speaker 1: into and being proud of their blackness their brilliance. And
Speaker 1: it was amazing to see it after having come look
Speaker 1: at that where we're on the second end of it.
Speaker 1: But they were coming from the civil rights movement, who
Speaker 1: slavery and all that, and they were enjoying it. And
Speaker 1: right now we're seeing everything that's happened in the past
Speaker 1: few years. Let us sit and enjoy our blackness and
Speaker 1: be brilliant in the midst of it. So what does
Speaker 1: it mean to be brilliance and black completely? As far
Speaker 1: as Stasia it's concerned Florida, Jacksonville, Florida. For me, it
Speaker 1: means that you are living your purpose. It means that
Speaker 1: you are walking in that divine purpose. That you are
Speaker 1: spiritually fit, you are professionally fit, and you are financially fit.
Speaker 1: You're working on your way. We're steadily evolving in our brilliance,
Speaker 1: but it's a continual thing. We're always growing and always learning. Right,
Speaker 1: But while we're here, we're experiencing this brilliantness. I am
Speaker 1: I did something. I am somebody in words of Jesse,
Speaker 1: Reverend Jesse, I am somebody. But no, we're letting our
Speaker 1: lights shine, no matter vitamin A, matter the circumstances. You know,
Speaker 1: that's what vitamin D is all about. Shedding night right,
Speaker 1: come on, come on, so vitamin D. You know it's
Speaker 1: upon off my name. You know vitamin D from the sun.
Speaker 1: So this podcast is all about shedding light and believe
Speaker 1: it or not, day Ja. I started vitamin D back
Speaker 1: in twenty and right when I was in I was
Speaker 1: working at VLS, I was working at Music Choice, and
Speaker 1: it came back from my love of music. I remember.
Speaker 1: I remember because you were using lyrics, I remember, and
Speaker 1: you would send out the emails and everything. I remember
Speaker 1: and look at you now, this is the brilliance of it.
Speaker 1: Before I was talking to Joy and I was talking
Speaker 1: to my sister, and then we were talking about you,
Speaker 1: and I said, Dawn has been doing our thing because
Speaker 1: we talked started talking about your voice. But I was
Speaker 1: telling her what you did, and I said, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you remember this. You were the one when
Speaker 1: I first got to w b l S to actually
Speaker 1: train me on the w BLS board in the sound
Speaker 1: system and everything how it went down. I had no clue.
Speaker 1: And that's how you and I got to build out
Speaker 1: report and I'm friend you told me and taught me
Speaker 1: how to do that. I didn't know I was coming
Speaker 1: from another station, so you filled me in on how
Speaker 1: everything was going on over at w BLS. Wow. Right now,
Speaker 1: that you put it back. Yeah, that because that was
Speaker 1: our moment. Yes, and now look at this, look at you,
Speaker 1: I said, Now she's doing all this stuff. She's got
Speaker 1: her I already a podcast. He's doing stuff with Steve Harvey.
Speaker 1: I said, you were on reality shows and John you're
Speaker 1: are you? You're doing a lot of acting and everything. Now,
Speaker 1: so's try to about that. Look at me, I'm interviewing
Speaker 1: you improve I'm doing improv at the groundlings. I think
Speaker 1: it's so amazing. So where does this go? Where do
Speaker 1: you go from the improv? What is what's the next
Speaker 1: evolution for you and your brilliance? Well? Hello as uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be big in an old rotation. And so
Speaker 1: remember when you had your opera moment? Which one or
Speaker 1: the article? Yes? Amen, thank you, hallelujah, thank you God.
Speaker 1: I want to have a yes and cons what you say?
Speaker 1: Which one? Okay? I wasn't sure you were talking about
Speaker 1: my article in the New York Times, but the time
Speaker 1: about when I was because the article said a voice
Speaker 1: for radio with Oprah's ambition, right, And weren't you on
Speaker 1: the show just on the show I was talking about? Yes,
Speaker 1: I remember, Oh I was on the show. For Queen
Speaker 1: Sugar and so what it was. I had an opportunity
Speaker 1: to ask one of the questions to the cast, and
Speaker 1: you know, you had Oprah and you had Ava de
Speaker 1: Renee and then she said Dawnte, Dawnte, and I asked
Speaker 1: my question and then uh Ava said she said, Dawn,
Speaker 1: we ought to get you on the writer's wrong. So
Speaker 1: I didn't wait a minute. And then one of the
Speaker 1: actors I ran into him, uh Timan. I can't think
Speaker 1: of his last name, but he is the husband to
Speaker 1: the actress with my same name. I think it's Dawn Dawn. Yes.
Speaker 1: He I ran Intohim on the red carpet at the
Speaker 1: Bounce Awards and he from with me. He was like,
Speaker 1: I've met you. I said, Amy, I'm gonna get theim
Speaker 1: with my pack is yeah, walking into it because I'm
Speaker 1: still going on days and I'm still figuring it out.
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you just letting me know what
Speaker 1: I am. Thank you, and just I keep saying, but
Speaker 1: thank you for seeing me, because you know people be
Speaker 1: talking about this journey and you know you say proud,
Speaker 1: you stay strong. But even in the part of the brilliance,
Speaker 1: like is there a moment to be weak. Absolutely, that's
Speaker 1: all encompassing. That's a part of it because even in
Speaker 1: our brilliance, we do have those weak moments when we're
Speaker 1: feeling like, Oh God, how am I gonna do this?
Speaker 1: What's happening now? Why is this happening to me? Why? God? Why?
Speaker 1: When God went, did you forget about me? Hello? I'm
Speaker 1: still down here grinding. But then there's a little uh something,
Speaker 1: a phrase. It's phrase. I didn't coin this, but it's
Speaker 1: called a god wink God to do a little something
Speaker 1: like look at you. Come on, And if it's not
Speaker 1: God for you, maybe it's universe, the universal or matterfests
Speaker 1: something for you to be like, look at this. They
Speaker 1: haven't been forgotten. I have not been forgotten. And even
Speaker 1: in my career, I've been in it since I was five,
Speaker 1: since I'll you know, holding I've been in this career
Speaker 1: thing for a minute, right, and even certain things that
Speaker 1: happened now to this day. Uh, you know, here's the thing.
Speaker 1: I'll say it because regardless of the center age, the
Speaker 1: thing that's amazing that people is not a spread. This
Speaker 1: is a marathon and people need to know that's the
Speaker 1: thing that is. But that's the beauty and where we
Speaker 1: are now, dawn, because back in the day, my eyes
Speaker 1: will waking. I got a little bit of love your work.
Speaker 1: I love your work. I study every day. But but listen,
Speaker 1: there wasn't time. And I keep saying this because it
Speaker 1: was when people would try and shut you out. And
Speaker 1: even still in our entertainment industry, they want to aid
Speaker 1: you out of certain things. But because technology is evolving,
Speaker 1: we're able to be here front and center in your face.
Speaker 1: We can do this. We can extend our rands in
Speaker 1: many different directions. So even after I've been in it
Speaker 1: as a seasoned professional for a minute now, things will
Speaker 1: just happen. Certain things will just pop up and people
Speaker 1: will say stuff, or you know, you'll get somebody to
Speaker 1: call and say, hey, I was thinking about using you
Speaker 1: for such and such. Really, okay, thank you. I have
Speaker 1: not been forgotten. I am still on this journey. And
Speaker 1: so that lets me know even in my weak moments,
Speaker 1: in those value moments, I know that God is still
Speaker 1: with me because my steps have already been ordered. It's
Speaker 1: already ordained. And I don't know how you all believe,
Speaker 1: but this, this is how believes, and this is what
Speaker 1: I go through. Hey, I know that everything is already
Speaker 1: pre played and predestined, and we're just walking in it,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So I'm just excited right now.
Speaker 1: I'm excited, get excited about your lot. I tell people
Speaker 1: that all the time. And it's everything that you've been
Speaker 1: embarkeding on. Talking about the whole thing of standing a
Speaker 1: moment and being present, understanding your values and your goals,
Speaker 1: but then also understanding the value of yourself. And that's
Speaker 1: what I talk about being your greatest asset, And it's
Speaker 1: that thing, having the connection of knowing who you are.
Speaker 1: Once you lose the identification of who you are, then
Speaker 1: therefore you have nothing to stand on. And if you
Speaker 1: have nothing to stand on, what are your roots holding on?
Speaker 1: As you grow tall? Because guess what, the seasons will change.
Speaker 1: And to that point, I was in the change of
Speaker 1: seasons when I met you, because if you remember, I
Speaker 1: had just recently been let go from a company that
Speaker 1: I built my career with. I had been with him
Speaker 1: for a while and then I gotten let go. But
Speaker 1: but within like thirty days I was still with another company,
Speaker 1: which is a blessing for you. That was a hard
Speaker 1: heard I mean, because it happened so suddenly and thankfully
Speaker 1: I had saved you know, a little nest egg or whatever,
Speaker 1: and had and I got. You know, they compensated me,
Speaker 1: but professionally, but emotionally, but egotistically. What you can't fire
Speaker 1: me off? What I do? So on? So o for
Speaker 1: the station I'm on, pl I'm on ten other stations
Speaker 1: for you guys? How can you let me go? I
Speaker 1: didn't do anything? And that's what we remember. It's not
Speaker 1: about you. It's business, right. So this is where I learned.
Speaker 1: This is what I learned. Number one, it's not always
Speaker 1: about what you've done. This is their company. If you
Speaker 1: don't own your own thing, you're always at the hands
Speaker 1: of someone else because, you know what, They can run
Speaker 1: their companies the way they want to, because why it's
Speaker 1: their business. If they feel that putting down here and
Speaker 1: deja here is the best for their business and their
Speaker 1: bottom line, that's what they're gonna do. Yes, it hurts,
Speaker 1: but guess what, we don't own it. That's why I
Speaker 1: tell everyone, please make sure you own something. DVS Media
Speaker 1: that's mine, the Deja Bus show, that's mine. You cannot
Speaker 1: take that from me. So I had to learn that,
Speaker 1: though it took me a while it took me getting
Speaker 1: knocked down and getting fired to learn that you mentioned
Speaker 1: the DBS studio. I didn't know about that. That's MYEKS Media,
Speaker 1: that's mine, and that's that's what we're doing. We're branching
Speaker 1: out and doing some things. But that's where all of
Speaker 1: my things are falling under. So my dejab show falls
Speaker 1: under that, my ignite, your hustle falls under that. But
Speaker 1: I started. I learned that I had to hustle and
Speaker 1: that will benefit me, not just these businesses. So you
Speaker 1: know what I you. I come in, I do my
Speaker 1: show for the corporation, and then I work on my corporation,
Speaker 1: building my brand and my business to make sure I
Speaker 1: have something to fall back on. Now, trying to get
Speaker 1: that to be leverage to where I am, it's been.
Speaker 1: It's been a journey, but I'm working there and it's mine.
Speaker 1: So you can't even if they fire me tomorrow from
Speaker 1: where I am, God forbid, I still have mine, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. I still have my ventures and
Speaker 1: I have my other hustles. They say the average millionaire
Speaker 1: has what seven different streams of income, So if you
Speaker 1: don't have all that stuff lined up, if one just
Speaker 1: pulls out. Like we saw during the pandemic, people lost jobs.
Speaker 1: It wasn't their fault, it was just what happened. It
Speaker 1: was life. But if you didn't have anything else coming in,
Speaker 1: you might have been left out there kind of hanging.
Speaker 1: So I have multiple things going on. I learned that
Speaker 1: from getting fired. That's when I was in my valley
Speaker 1: and I'm like, okay, am I gonna lose my house.
Speaker 1: As soon as I made up my mind, I said,
Speaker 1: all right, well here's my strategy. Yes, but this is
Speaker 1: what happens. I said, okay, well here's the strategy. If
Speaker 1: I have to, I can storage everything up, I can
Speaker 1: shrink down my husband. I will go down into whatever
Speaker 1: apartment or maybe we'll go back into our rental property.
Speaker 1: Those people out and go into that little space and
Speaker 1: we'll just make it work. As soon as I did
Speaker 1: that and let it all go, when I tell you,
Speaker 1: Skip was like, hey, we're thinking about doing some other things.
Speaker 1: Skipp was my boss at w b LS forever and
Speaker 1: I will for always be appreciative of him, as well
Speaker 1: as Barbara dey Lalu. But you know Barbara was just
Speaker 1: here last week. Okay, go ahead, sorry, but uh but yeah,
Speaker 1: because she's the one who introduced me the skip. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about that later too, But at any rate, all
Speaker 1: of that, when I was in that process of trying
Speaker 1: to figure out what was going to come next, God
Speaker 1: just took it all out out of my hands. When
Speaker 1: I said, all right, I surrendered to you. Here's what
Speaker 1: we're gonna do. I'm gonna do this, and I'll be
Speaker 1: patient and I will wait in this. In this sometimes
Speaker 1: you have to sit in those hard moments, right and
Speaker 1: it's uncomfortable, it's prickly, and you're like, I don't know
Speaker 1: what to do, but I'm gonna sit here. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: endure this, this cramp, this pain, this this headache right here,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna endure it, and I'm gonna find peace in it,
Speaker 1: and God's gonna teach me the lesson in it. And
Speaker 1: when as soon as I was doing all that, girl,
Speaker 1: they were like, well, we want to make some chains.
Speaker 1: You want to do so and so and so, and
Speaker 1: the next thing, you know, rolling And because I got
Speaker 1: fired from that one particular company, I was at a
Speaker 1: certain rate over the years that that has happened. That
Speaker 1: was ten years ago. Now it's been ten years. Um,
Speaker 1: I have made more money in my career now than
Speaker 1: I did in those whole ten years. Shut the front door.
Speaker 1: I'm so serious in the calendar years I've made because
Speaker 1: I've had so many other opportunities flow from that. I
Speaker 1: did not know that, but sometimes that's how life works
Speaker 1: for us, right. You might have to be kicked down
Speaker 1: from something that you thought this was your destiny or
Speaker 1: where you were supposed to be, and then you're really
Speaker 1: being being aligned and positioned. Had I not been aligned
Speaker 1: and positioned by getting fired and being on WBLS, then
Speaker 1: I would not have been contacted in that way by
Speaker 1: my ABC people because they saw me doing Facebook live
Speaker 1: on WBLS. They heard me on WBLS. That's where they
Speaker 1: were looking. They weren't looking where I was before. So
Speaker 1: it all works together for my good and just like
Speaker 1: you said, even to find the piece, it just reminds
Speaker 1: me of a song with the Clark's Sisters Blessed and
Speaker 1: highly favor I'm just resting in my father's hands, even
Speaker 1: though the winds will come stand hills not my forte. No,
Speaker 1: but don it's just been a journey and it's been
Speaker 1: an amazing thing. I mean, you can attest you know
Speaker 1: how ups and the radio industries up and down. In
Speaker 1: media industry is up and down. So many opportunities with
Speaker 1: the streaming platforms for us to be able to grow
Speaker 1: and extend even with podcasting what you're doing right now.
Speaker 1: Ten years ago podcasting was around, but it wasn't like
Speaker 1: this right and now you are right. And I was
Speaker 1: telling them, was like, Dawn, you know you kind of
Speaker 1: been doing this with the vitamin dikause I had it
Speaker 1: up on SoundCloud and it's just now it's just on
Speaker 1: a different platform as an I Heart Radio and the rest.
Speaker 1: But you're right, and you know, I just I love
Speaker 1: what you said about the ebbs and flows and letting go.
Speaker 1: There were so many things that you hit on, because
Speaker 1: that's what I want people to really grasp when we
Speaker 1: talk about vitamin D, when we talk about living life
Speaker 1: on purpose, when we talk about being excited, it does
Speaker 1: not mean that you're not going to have the sun
Speaker 1: and you're not gonna have the night, because they have
Speaker 1: to coexist. You can't have one without the other. And
Speaker 1: with the appreciation of one, you understand the appreciation of another.
Speaker 1: No one wants to be up seven a day. So
Speaker 1: hence that's why the sun has to go down, and
Speaker 1: when it does, that's the time for rest. That's the
Speaker 1: retime for rejuvenation. That's for the check in season. Kind
Speaker 1: of like what you're talking about. And I love that
Speaker 1: you said that because I don't think people understand what
Speaker 1: happens when you press into a grape and you make
Speaker 1: that grape juice. You understand the appreciation of that. I
Speaker 1: love you get that oil. You even understand when that
Speaker 1: seed goes into to the dirt and that darkness she
Speaker 1: got to bring into guys when you press it in
Speaker 1: in nobody. But look, you don't want to be pressed.
Speaker 1: You don't want to be prune. You don't want to
Speaker 1: be pricked. But that's where the making comes in. That's
Speaker 1: where the shaping is when you're trying by that fire,
Speaker 1: but you're coming out as pure goal. Come on, Clark's sisters. Okay,
Speaker 1: So I guess the thing that I guess I was
Speaker 1: thinking about when you were saying that about your ebbs
Speaker 1: and flow. Tell me why you feel is so important
Speaker 1: to let go. I think that you're holding onto the
Speaker 1: past or what was, if you're continuing to hold on.
Speaker 1: You've heard the adage you can't hold on it and
Speaker 1: receive something new. If you're still holding it in your
Speaker 1: hands are clothes. You have to open it up to
Speaker 1: receive the new blessings that are gonna take you to
Speaker 1: the next way. And it always some well, sometimes things
Speaker 1: don't look like we thought they would, right, but you're
Speaker 1: still being able to live out that dream. Is just
Speaker 1: not the way that you thought it would be. I
Speaker 1: thought I would be over here doing whatever whatever. Actually
Speaker 1: I thought I was gonna be doing TV stuff. That's
Speaker 1: where I really wanted to go when I first got
Speaker 1: into the industry. I did my radio and I thought
Speaker 1: I was gonna do TV. But now I'm doing radio
Speaker 1: and then TV stuff is coming later. So it didn't
Speaker 1: go way that I thought it would. But it gets
Speaker 1: you there eventually, right, And you have to let go
Speaker 1: of that old thing because that's all that's rotten, that
Speaker 1: the expiration that was already there. You open up the can.
Speaker 1: It's sour. Yeah, it's still something in the can, but
Speaker 1: it's soured now, So you have to let that go.
Speaker 1: There's a new bottle of whatever right over here, a
Speaker 1: bottle of greatness, a bottle of lessons right over on
Speaker 1: the other side. But you have to go through here
Speaker 1: and then you get to that. So you have to
Speaker 1: be able to let it go. But there's there's bravery
Speaker 1: in that letting go. You can do it, you just
Speaker 1: have to dig deep into it. And just to say
Speaker 1: spiritually balanced, that to me has been my key and everything,
Speaker 1: my key to success and everything. No matter whether you
Speaker 1: are Jewish, Muslim, whatever your beliefs are, atheists, I think
Speaker 1: there should be some kind of spiritual balance for whomever
Speaker 1: so that you can have that place that you go
Speaker 1: to when you're meditating, when you're praying. There has to
Speaker 1: be something that's greater than us where you go to center.
Speaker 1: That's that to me is so key that you can
Speaker 1: get to that next level you said snoring. It's like,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know if we've ever talked about this.
Speaker 1: I have my belief in God, but I don't subscribe
Speaker 1: to Christianity. But there are a lot of things in
Speaker 1: the scripture that I understand that I understand that I
Speaker 1: see it as a way of communications so that I
Speaker 1: can understand who God is in my life. And just
Speaker 1: like you're saying, of having that thing to hold onto
Speaker 1: a center, you know, greater is he who was in
Speaker 1: me than he was in the world. So all it
Speaker 1: takes is in the moment when you were talking about
Speaker 1: being in that valley you sat down with days at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, it's just, however you need
Speaker 1: to get to inside of you, kind of like I'm
Speaker 1: pulling because I just thought about what I read on
Speaker 1: your bio, the interview coaching. It's the interview because even
Speaker 1: I don't think it's even if you look at the
Speaker 1: word into me in the in the it's in the
Speaker 1: in me, it's in the me. Everything that involves is
Speaker 1: just kind of like in ourselves and how we can
Speaker 1: become outside of ourselves. And as you were talking about
Speaker 1: this whole thing of holding onto something, another thing I
Speaker 1: piggyback on you said, we're done, what's the comp I'm
Speaker 1: living out everything. And that's one thing that in this
Speaker 1: season in my life of blessings, I had to understand
Speaker 1: to let go my mother. She uh, that's hard. Well,
Speaker 1: not necessarily I didn't complete it. My mother's passing. Her
Speaker 1: anniversary was just the other day. But I'm saying as
Speaker 1: far as my mother holding onto things, and what I
Speaker 1: mean by that, it's a it's a jug because if
Speaker 1: you're a person in situation where you've lost you're just
Speaker 1: trying to hold onto something the whole you, sanity, but
Speaker 1: not realizing that the thing that you hold on could
Speaker 1: very well be that circle. And you keep thinking of
Speaker 1: a change. So with my mother, of my father dying
Speaker 1: when my was three months, my sisters three years old,
Speaker 1: you know, her mother died a year after I was born,
Speaker 1: then being diagnosed with cancer after that, lost loss, whether
Speaker 1: it's loss of your job, whether it's loss of you know,
Speaker 1: the mobility of your body. And so with that, hell
Speaker 1: with that, I shouldn't say help with that affected me
Speaker 1: in the sense there's a hoarding sense. My mother held
Speaker 1: onto everything deja and you know, it's something that a
Speaker 1: lot of shame, you know, for a while, if not
Speaker 1: wanting to admit. But it's like if I'm talking about
Speaker 1: shedding the light, and that's what I'm saying when I
Speaker 1: talk to people about vitamin D. It's cutting the light
Speaker 1: on the good and the bad, and it's shedding light
Speaker 1: that if you cannot live in a place of shame,
Speaker 1: because you need light to grow, whether you're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about literally vitamin D from the sun, you need inspiration,
Speaker 1: you need positivity. But if we want to walk in
Speaker 1: a place of hiding so much of this fear, of
Speaker 1: this anxiety. We can't. I'm noticing the abundance that's happening
Speaker 1: in my life, and I've talked about it on previous
Speaker 1: episodes of just me getting rid of things and clutter
Speaker 1: because I thought I had to hold onto it, even relationships,
Speaker 1: even with people, relationships, even friendships, sometimes you have to
Speaker 1: clear that stuff out. Now, as far as clutter, I
Speaker 1: can't turn this camera around right now because we'd see that.
Speaker 1: But but yes, to your point, we do have to
Speaker 1: rid ourselves some of those things, those things so we
Speaker 1: can make space. We gotta make space for the blood
Speaker 1: things you're holding on to all this other stuff. And
Speaker 1: even in the relationships, especially our friendships, sometimes that have
Speaker 1: just run its course. Some people are supposed to be
Speaker 1: there for what a reason and a season, and then
Speaker 1: you have to release them and let them go, and
Speaker 1: that's how you continue to grow and evolve over time.
Speaker 1: But we have to learn that it's a it's a
Speaker 1: maturity level, you know what I mean. You have to
Speaker 1: get to that point. Everybody's not there. And I don't
Speaker 1: think it's an age thing. It's just a personal development
Speaker 1: and growth thing where you have to get to that
Speaker 1: point where you realize and you understand, okay, we have
Speaker 1: to we have to go ahead and make moves now.
Speaker 1: And you know, even like when you said that's not
Speaker 1: an age thing, I guess always trying to think of
Speaker 1: ways of how to make a sense, like if we
Speaker 1: can use a real life example so that somebody can
Speaker 1: see it. It's just like in the Work for Wors.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody can be on the career to be
Speaker 1: a president of a company and despite the agent, it
Speaker 1: depends on what did you turn? Did you miss that turn?
Speaker 1: I was in Place Verdes and this is right before
Speaker 1: the whole thing happened with Tiger Woods and his accident.
Speaker 1: But I was like, man, I'm gonna have my house
Speaker 1: out here. I was like, listen to this. I said,
Speaker 1: you can be in some areas. They may have a
Speaker 1: stray cat, they may have a dog. They got peacocks,
Speaker 1: they got cocks. That's the kind of lifestyle I want.
Speaker 1: So I say, all, I said, that's that's what I want.
Speaker 1: I want. I want to make sure that the pe
Speaker 1: I'm not about to hit the peacock. But this is
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I was trying to find my way
Speaker 1: over to Bluff Cove hiking with Barbara. Were in a
Speaker 1: card together and um, we kept missing the turns. Its
Speaker 1: body in l al too. Hey you speak that over
Speaker 1: her because this is what she wants to be in California.
Speaker 1: But you know she's using several times so hey, she visited,
Speaker 1: we're calling her over here. But we were talking about
Speaker 1: it at that moment because we were trying to find
Speaker 1: our way to the coastal Hike and guess what if
Speaker 1: you miss one turn, it takes you all the way around. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's a good one. And so what could have been
Speaker 1: a left term for that five minutes and you would
Speaker 1: have been there. Now you got to spend an extra
Speaker 1: fifteen twenty minutes. So even as you're talking about the
Speaker 1: whole holding onto things and how you're talking about the
Speaker 1: maturity process, what it says to me is that you
Speaker 1: gotta be able to catch it and receive it, because
Speaker 1: what happens. Have you had a situation in your life
Speaker 1: where so you wanted something and you got it, but
Speaker 1: then you realized that you did not have the capacity
Speaker 1: to hold it. M M. What wasn't when I got
Speaker 1: to certain positions in my job. I I had titles,
Speaker 1: but I was not there maturity wise or ability wise.
Speaker 1: I had to learn those things kind of had to learn.
Speaker 1: Or the fly learned to build the plane as I
Speaker 1: was flaying it. So I got there, and I almost
Speaker 1: lost certain things because I wasn't to snuff. So I
Speaker 1: had to actually do the work and put an extra
Speaker 1: time on that, and it could have lost those things.
Speaker 1: But I know that I was given stuff where I
Speaker 1: needed room to grow. But it was up to me
Speaker 1: to be able to try and get to that growth.
Speaker 1: If I had not sped up and someone hadn't tapped
Speaker 1: me on the shoulder, he says, you need to handle
Speaker 1: your business. Some people would come to days you need
Speaker 1: to handle your businesses. So I had to step up
Speaker 1: my level and get to that part. Otherwise it would
Speaker 1: have been taken away from me. But I was given
Speaker 1: the tools so I could go ahead and make it
Speaker 1: and keep holding onto it. But there were other opportunities
Speaker 1: or other situations where that that could have just slipped
Speaker 1: out of my hands had I not had those people
Speaker 1: around me to help me get to that level. But yes,
Speaker 1: I know exactly what you're talking about. When you get
Speaker 1: stuff and you're not ready for You see a lot
Speaker 1: of the hip hop stars, they get the celebrity, this
Speaker 1: huge fame. They're doing this, and you don't know that
Speaker 1: you have to have another hit coming up behind that.
Speaker 1: That money doesn't always keep flowing you out of here
Speaker 1: flashing and doing the phone call with the bricks of
Speaker 1: the money. I want to do that one day, but anyway,
Speaker 1: but no, but you have to make sure that you
Speaker 1: have something else to balance that out. Is the career
Speaker 1: gonna look like? What is it gonna look like in
Speaker 1: five years? To shoot bump that two years? Because you know,
Speaker 1: we have a short time attention span, right, If you're
Speaker 1: not focused on what's happening, you can go ahead and
Speaker 1: miss that same thing, that next opportunity for you because
Speaker 1: you're so busy flaunting, but you're not working and grinding
Speaker 1: and getting that thing out, the next music, that next hit,
Speaker 1: that next level of your success out. You have to
Speaker 1: be ready for it and be able to hold onto it.
Speaker 1: Just like you're saying, all right, and it's interesting, you
Speaker 1: know you use the word you said you missed the opportunity. Um,
Speaker 1: I guess my. The way I'm looking at life has
Speaker 1: so many ebbs and flows and ups and downs. I'm
Speaker 1: wondering do we have do we ever miss what's truly ours?
Speaker 1: You missed that go around. It's certainly some of what
Speaker 1: you're saying. You took that extra detour. Like in the
Speaker 1: Bible they went around the wilderness for forty years when
Speaker 1: it was an eleven day trip. You just missed this
Speaker 1: turn forty years. That's that's generations, all right. The lastes
Speaker 1: are getting checkled on. But now you want to round
Speaker 1: and a round and around and around the wilderness for
Speaker 1: forty freaking years. We're in the eleven day trip because
Speaker 1: you weren't paying attention. Yeah you're gonna get there, but
Speaker 1: it might take your forty years you don't pay your attention.
Speaker 1: Can I tell you? Let me tell you what happened
Speaker 1: to me. You know, I went to Howard. I will
Speaker 1: never forget this day. I'm on student council and uh,
Speaker 1: this is time. It's amazing. First of all, everything I'm
Speaker 1: doing in my career right now is kind of the
Speaker 1: same thing I was doing for my fellowship as far
Speaker 1: as filming at a radio station. But I'm the sergeant
Speaker 1: arms and so it's all about just thinking of different
Speaker 1: programs and stuff for the students and bodimen and or whatever.
Speaker 1: So I was on Entertainment Careers dot dot. That was
Speaker 1: my goal to for all of my internships, for all
Speaker 1: my jobs. I'm checking on there. What I had the
Speaker 1: alarm set. There was for Sony Pictures in Culford City, California.
Speaker 1: They were gonna do a fellowship or internship at the
Speaker 1: at the network. And I don't know if Queen Latifa
Speaker 1: show was there, just the act, but I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm going to applied for that. So I got the
Speaker 1: call from the network. They call right I'm in the car.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm on the on the bowl
Speaker 1: or whatever, but I'm heading from Hyattsville and I'm who
Speaker 1: headed to the school to see Howard University, coming from
Speaker 1: the towers. I get a call. So in l A
Speaker 1: or California, the area codes are three one up. In
Speaker 1: Maryland the area code is three old one Asia. I'm
Speaker 1: in my little Grand Vatar Suzuki. I'm leaving out the driveway.
Speaker 1: I'm I just got out the parking garage. I get
Speaker 1: a call. Stay focused. I get a call Dawn. Stay focused.
Speaker 1: I get a call. How is this Dawn? Um? We're
Speaker 1: calling to such as such I'm so busy worrying about
Speaker 1: the next thing, and that whole thing that you talked
Speaker 1: about earlier being the present. Um, hey, I know that
Speaker 1: you applied for blah blah blah. Said, Oh, can I
Speaker 1: give you a call back? I told Sony, just can
Speaker 1: I give you a call back? This is Dawn at twenty.
Speaker 1: She said, do you have the numbers? Pay attention, Dawn.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the number. It's like three, what is it?
Speaker 1: It's like three one oh four or five six the
Speaker 1: Trump numbers. I'm like, yeah, I have the numbers. She said.
Speaker 1: There she said, okay, I'll call you back in the rush.
Speaker 1: In the haste, I get to the student council meeting.
Speaker 1: I'm telling me the young lady who's the vice president
Speaker 1: of the time. I was like, yeah, you know, I
Speaker 1: just for this job. She said, Wait a minute, this
Speaker 1: could have waited. That opportunity didn't come like that again.
Speaker 1: And what I'm saying is just a testament of what
Speaker 1: you're saying about paying attention and when you have to
Speaker 1: be ready, because those opportunities you can so call you know. Miss.
Speaker 1: Now fast forward five, six, seven years later, you know
Speaker 1: I'm in l A. I've been to the studio. I've
Speaker 1: had opportunity to uh attend to taping a Queen Lativa
Speaker 1: show as well as you know to be on that.
Speaker 1: But you're right looking at how that path. But I'm
Speaker 1: wondering even with you, you know your brand is all
Speaker 1: hustle her, it's all about the hustle. Why is the
Speaker 1: hustle so important? And how can the hustle set you back?
Speaker 1: Some people don't like the word hustle because it just
Speaker 1: means you're distracted, you're moving too fast, you're all over
Speaker 1: the place. I think of it more as you're moving
Speaker 1: and you're strategic, and you're hustling and you are taking
Speaker 1: care of your opportunities. Now for me to hustle, like
Speaker 1: I said, means to get out here and make moves,
Speaker 1: make moves that are gonna predict how I'm going to
Speaker 1: be spending my future. It can set you back when
Speaker 1: it overwhelms you. But in everything, there's balance, right, We
Speaker 1: have to remember to balance a lot of conversation is
Speaker 1: going on right now about mental health. We have to
Speaker 1: remember to take that mental health break. We have to
Speaker 1: have a time where we're just gonna be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: the hustles, We're positive. Right now, I'm taking a nap.
Speaker 1: I will be back on Monday. This weekend is mine,
Speaker 1: But that too is a part. It's a part of
Speaker 1: everything that you do. It's a part of the brilliance.
Speaker 1: It's a part of the hustle. It's all encompassing. Do
Speaker 1: you understand. It's a part of life. So when you
Speaker 1: break it down, your hustle is about your strategic steps
Speaker 1: right and your goals and get into where you need
Speaker 1: to be. But in that, a part of taking care
Speaker 1: of yourself is knowing that even though we're hustling, I
Speaker 1: still have to pause and give myself a mental break.
Speaker 1: I still have to spend some quality time with my husband.
Speaker 1: I still have to spend time with my family. That's
Speaker 1: around that. But they helped to build it up because
Speaker 1: they're gonna ask me about things, they're gonna encourage me,
Speaker 1: They're gonna pour back into that. Well. You know, when
Speaker 1: you do your hustle thing, you can do such and
Speaker 1: such and such stage when you do, you're not your
Speaker 1: hustle academy. You should really do so and so and so. So.
Speaker 1: It's still a part of it. It's still working, but
Speaker 1: you find balance and silence in moments of silence when
Speaker 1: you need to. But I think the thing is people
Speaker 1: get overwhelmed and things that I have to be doing,
Speaker 1: have to be doing, have to be doing well. If
Speaker 1: you make I'm sorry, I'm stuck here. If you make
Speaker 1: strategic moves, you don't have to do all the time.
Speaker 1: They're ways that when I set up my show, I
Speaker 1: can work things in advance so when that comes, I
Speaker 1: don't have to do that all the time because guess what,
Speaker 1: that's already done. So I'm chilling for a minute, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, my brains one pause for a second.
Speaker 1: I'm chilling out. I'm vegging out on some crazy mess
Speaker 1: on Netflix or whatever. But the hustle will continue, right
Speaker 1: So I think that's what I mean when I'm talking
Speaker 1: about ignite your hustle, or we're getting out there and
Speaker 1: we're moving and making strategic steps to get to where
Speaker 1: we need to be goals, action, plans, and results, and
Speaker 1: then you have time to chill. That's boss, because you know,
Speaker 1: you know, I think about the hustle. I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hustle my entire life. But that's anybody. That's
Speaker 1: if you've run in the circles with people in New
Speaker 1: York and radio and media entertainment to l A. You know,
Speaker 1: everyone has been on some sort of hustle, you know,
Speaker 1: but I had to learn that dawn when I got
Speaker 1: to New York. From being down south. I didn't know that.
Speaker 1: I didn't know about trying to hustle. That's important to me.
Speaker 1: I learned how to hustle when I got to New York.
Speaker 1: I didn't know. I just sat there. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: have a job. Okay, I'm cool again. It goes back
Speaker 1: to me just being like, oh okay, I'm here. But
Speaker 1: I wasn't as focused on those particular professional goals. So
Speaker 1: that's where I am, or that's where it was for me.
Speaker 1: So how did you how did from from quote unquote
Speaker 1: not hustling, I guess in the you know, the big city.
Speaker 1: How did you get that opportunity to get to New York?
Speaker 1: How did you get in that room? I have a mentor,
Speaker 1: Doc Winter, who is with my heart. Yes, yes, Doc
Speaker 1: hit me. I'm way way back in the day. But
Speaker 1: he was in Jacksonville, UM earlier in his career, in
Speaker 1: his career, and he was just guiding me throughout my
Speaker 1: career and one year, one day I was in Richmond
Speaker 1: because I was programming a station there. W J W
Speaker 1: B h J, bt B t J B t J
Speaker 1: is so many there's so many call letters. But anyway,
Speaker 1: bt J and Richmond, Virginia. And he asked me first,
Speaker 1: did I want to go to Virginia because I was
Speaker 1: at that time working in St. Louis. And he's like, hey,
Speaker 1: do you want to go to Richmond to be a
Speaker 1: program director? What? Let me see? Okay, I'm not married,
Speaker 1: I'll have any kids, how how anything holding me back? Yes? Hello?
Speaker 1: So I went to Richmond, Virginia, and I'm programming there,
Speaker 1: running the station, doing a thing and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: I hadn't even un packed and unboxed everything, and maybe
Speaker 1: had just thrown out one of my big boxes. Eight
Speaker 1: months later it was he called me. He says, listen,
Speaker 1: we have a project we're gonna be doing in New York.
Speaker 1: Would you like to come Richmond, Virginia and New York City.
Speaker 1: It in a hard decision, so I you know, I
Speaker 1: didn't mind getting up and going back in the day.
Speaker 1: That's what you did. You picked up and moved wherever
Speaker 1: the opportunities were. Because if you sat there and waited
Speaker 1: like you know some of the legacy folks who had
Speaker 1: been on the air in New York. You have a
Speaker 1: funk Master, flex Or and Angie Martinez. They've been in
Speaker 1: New York forever, and I gotta sit there and wait
Speaker 1: on them. No, you have to move around. So I
Speaker 1: was was Enrichmond, but I decided I wanted to move around.
Speaker 1: You have to go where the opportunities were. So the
Speaker 1: opportunities were there with this new station at the time,
Speaker 1: it was Power one of five one that we launched
Speaker 1: in New York City, and that's where I came. That's
Speaker 1: why I got here. Did you know that I didn't.
Speaker 1: I did not know the plug with Doc wins Or.
Speaker 1: I knew you were a part one on five one,
Speaker 1: but I didn't know. I didn't know that you were
Speaker 1: in rich Man. I didn't know that part. Yeah, I've
Speaker 1: been knowing docsins way back in the days when I
Speaker 1: was just getting into radio. I think maybe I met
Speaker 1: him a year or so into my radio or two
Speaker 1: into my radio career. Okay, well let's talk, because then
Speaker 1: this is the real part. You know, you know, you
Speaker 1: eat someone like the hustle. How did you find the balance?
Speaker 1: How did you meet your husband? And here's the thing,
Speaker 1: being such a boss station, you're a boss. Anybody's listened
Speaker 1: to this podcast right now, you could tell dere's the boss.
Speaker 1: Boom boom boom. ABC. How did you balance that out? Y'all?
Speaker 1: When I tell you? Okay, we'll talk about ABC stuff later.
Speaker 1: But I met my husband broadcasting. I was at I
Speaker 1: was in Columbus, Georgia or no Augusta, Georgia for an
Speaker 1: event for one of my stations that I was voice
Speaker 1: tracking four at the time, Power one on seven seven.
Speaker 1: But I wanted guest and now with the Deja bo
Speaker 1: on another station. But anyway, um, and one of my
Speaker 1: record reps was there and she's like, who are you
Speaker 1: dating now? I say, girl, ain't nobody New York for
Speaker 1: me today? It's just whacked. These guys are bananas blah
Speaker 1: blah blah. And she's like, I got this guy that
Speaker 1: I want to introduce you to. And so I said, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: um hook me up. So she gave him my number.
Speaker 1: He called me that week I was in Georgia. So
Speaker 1: I came back to New York that week. He called
Speaker 1: me and asked me if I wanted to go to
Speaker 1: a concert. And I was like, dude, I don't know.
Speaker 1: You want to no concert, there's no first date, so
Speaker 1: that's okay. So we ended up meeting in Times Square
Speaker 1: at a record store Kump dump dump Dom. They had
Speaker 1: those things back there where you went and body records.
Speaker 1: They don't have those anymore anyway. It was Virgin Mega
Speaker 1: Store of Virgin Records in Times Square. I can still
Speaker 1: remember the building. We met there. We went to Virgil's barbecue.
Speaker 1: It had some dinners and lunch or whatever. I had
Speaker 1: on this little great dress and I got from H
Speaker 1: and M A M hell. I remember it all. But
Speaker 1: any who, we were just friends. But we met on
Speaker 1: that blind date. So we stayed friends for quite a while,
Speaker 1: maybe like three years and then three at year three,
Speaker 1: that's when we got serious and stopped dating. Of the
Speaker 1: people in all and that's our story, but on a
Speaker 1: blind date. But he is industry adjacent, so he understood
Speaker 1: what I was doing. To your point, how do you balance?
Speaker 1: He understood that, and you make time for that. But
Speaker 1: he had to be secure and who he was too,
Speaker 1: because here's this woman who's out here with these guys.
Speaker 1: He's wearing these outfits. How do I deal with that?
Speaker 1: He didn't care. You know he understood the game. He
Speaker 1: knows the game. You know, you have to be out there.
Speaker 1: I used to date one guy. He got mad because
Speaker 1: I was interviewing somebody and he said it sounded like
Speaker 1: I was flirting. I proughtly, was that's what you do?
Speaker 1: You hey, when you're looking fine, are you don't like
Speaker 1: let me some about you know? You do those little
Speaker 1: things you make, the little snarky comments. It's all a
Speaker 1: part of the ginning actor and actress. When you're on
Speaker 1: the mic. Amen as you you balanced that part of
Speaker 1: your relationship. Now, did you ever want to have kids?
Speaker 1: I did. We thought about having children. Um, I had
Speaker 1: some medical issues going on. And that's a whole other story, girl,
Speaker 1: because that that's ups and downs too, and balancing in
Speaker 1: the relationship and dealing with that. We neither run of
Speaker 1: us have children. He didn't have kids from a previous relationship.
Speaker 1: Neither did I. But when you have those pitfalls and
Speaker 1: you hit those moments, you're like, what is your relationship
Speaker 1: built on? And that took us through some things too,
Speaker 1: because you had to come to the realization that Okay,
Speaker 1: this is not this is not gonna happen. It's is
Speaker 1: gonna be you and I right, and now we're cool
Speaker 1: with that. We're cool with that. Girl. I got my
Speaker 1: little baby knees, I have my little godson, my cousins.
Speaker 1: But I don't know for me, even if the physical
Speaker 1: limitations weren't there, I don't know if that really been
Speaker 1: high on my list of things for children because my
Speaker 1: life is so busy. But my mother says, oh girl,
Speaker 1: it will change you, and I probably would have adapted.
Speaker 1: I've seen some when my girls adapt, but a lot
Speaker 1: of them have had kids later on in life versus
Speaker 1: earlier in our careers because there was really no time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a real thing. I'm at that age
Speaker 1: where it's like, you know, you gotta really think about
Speaker 1: I said, well, hey, I can't do it with cast
Speaker 1: but right now, but fraze your eggs. Let me tell you,
Speaker 1: if you want to do and phrase your eggs, you
Speaker 1: can always thought out y'all right. And that's that's the
Speaker 1: one thing that I'm embarking. I'm looking on that because
Speaker 1: you know, I think about that times. Like the way
Speaker 1: my lifestyle is, you know, I go go, go, I
Speaker 1: do do do, and like you said, I can pick
Speaker 1: up and go when I want um like the best
Speaker 1: on ever because I love my nephews and I gather,
Speaker 1: you know, just letting everyone in. But that's something really
Speaker 1: to think about and to balance it because I put
Speaker 1: everything in my dreams and I know that when I
Speaker 1: have children, these will just at least that's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 1: But I guess you don't make realm for them because
Speaker 1: of the love of what you're doing, and you'll incorporate
Speaker 1: them into what you're doing. I've seen parents. You've seen
Speaker 1: these parents bring the kids to one and have showls
Speaker 1: with them, and it's amazing because they're part of it,
Speaker 1: and it just kind of seems, you know, seamless almost. See.
Speaker 1: That's why I love improv. You asked me about the
Speaker 1: whole acting what was next, and it's like, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be a cast member on SNL, but improv at the
Speaker 1: groundings and I guess improve of the wall. But my
Speaker 1: introduction was always the yes. And And it's so interesting
Speaker 1: even in this conversation of every thing we're saying, well,
Speaker 1: you're talking about igniting, when you're talking about hustle. Everything
Speaker 1: has been that you said about expansion, and that's the
Speaker 1: way we have to live our life. And that's the
Speaker 1: way that as far as from me, improv has taught me.
Speaker 1: Yes and yes, I'm receiving what I am. I'm sitting
Speaker 1: in my mess. Now how can I build? Yes, I
Speaker 1: have to let go of this, but now I've received
Speaker 1: an opportunity. Um. Yes, I may not be able to
Speaker 1: have children, but you kind of had children you a
Speaker 1: different way. All the people you mentor Flavor Unit. Tell
Speaker 1: me about Flavor Unit. Is it still going on? I
Speaker 1: have the Flavor Unit. It's starting out as a focus group.
Speaker 1: Way back in the day. I would have the high
Speaker 1: school kids come up to the radio stations, um, just
Speaker 1: to find out what they were into. At the time,
Speaker 1: I was on one of the hip hop stations, and
Speaker 1: we wanted to stay on the cuspop of what was next.
Speaker 1: And you know, the high school kids predict the trends,
Speaker 1: so we would talk to them. But then I really
Speaker 1: started doing some things. I wanted to be more mission
Speaker 1: minded and like, listen, we have to make a difference
Speaker 1: in our community. That's the entire mission of the Flavor Unit,
Speaker 1: to make a positive change in today's society through community service.
Speaker 1: So we would partner with those bigger organizations like your
Speaker 1: Salvation Army or the Food Bank and do different things
Speaker 1: with them. We'd go and uh, there's a volunteer match
Speaker 1: dot org if I think it's still around, but it
Speaker 1: has all kinds of volunteer opportunities for people. And we
Speaker 1: have the kids come up to the station and you
Speaker 1: the kids needed um community service credit hours. That's a
Speaker 1: part of their enrichment or extracurricular and so they would
Speaker 1: get that. They got the bonus of being at the station.
Speaker 1: Sometimes artists would be up there on time. Jay Z
Speaker 1: was up there. The kids got to run and change them.
Speaker 1: It was just cool for them. But it was good
Speaker 1: for me too because it made me feel like I
Speaker 1: was getting back and those are my babies and now
Speaker 1: to look at them even like Karina fifteen years old.
Speaker 1: Karina was fifteen years old in my plaving unit. She
Speaker 1: is now a morning show personality in Dallas. Did you
Speaker 1: say first chair? Did you say first chair? Which is
Speaker 1: she's first chair? Yes, first chair on the morning show.
Speaker 1: She's helming it herself, a female and she was like,
Speaker 1: I want to be a radio personality, Cary, whatever you
Speaker 1: don't you hear the kids say it all the time.
Speaker 1: And this chick took it to the next level. But
Speaker 1: she's not the only one. I've had another one, Jane
Speaker 1: Nixon Atlanta turned out to be a radio personality uh
Speaker 1: DJ critical as a DJ. I have several other what
Speaker 1: is Alan's name? I forgot Allan's name. Alan is a DJ.
Speaker 1: Several of my Flavor Union kids have ended up being announcers,
Speaker 1: but others have gone on. They did the program in
Speaker 1: high school and they've gone on to college and created
Speaker 1: their own community service programs. Shout south to Sylvia who
Speaker 1: did that, and they started doing more things on their
Speaker 1: campuses as well. And then one of my girls, Priscilla,
Speaker 1: she is now where is she? She sells media commercials
Speaker 1: and spots and stuff because she got into it for
Speaker 1: the love of what was going on at the radio station.
Speaker 1: So I just think it's amazing and the impact and
Speaker 1: those are my babies. Do you see what we have
Speaker 1: to celebrate you on Women's History Mom? That God, you
Speaker 1: know what when you asking about that, I forgot about
Speaker 1: some of those. Yeah, Like that's amazing because that's what
Speaker 1: we talked about, planting seas and I'm just here. It's like,
Speaker 1: why is giving back to you so important? Like why
Speaker 1: why doing it it's just been a mission. I actually
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's it's innate in me because my
Speaker 1: sister is like, I didn't get that change. I don't
Speaker 1: want to. Me have been a slue kids. I said,
Speaker 1: come on, that's just not for me. I said, come on,
Speaker 1: we have to give back, we have to help. I
Speaker 1: have been so blessed in my life and I don't
Speaker 1: even know. It's just been something that's been on my heart.
Speaker 1: I have my phone because I screenshot something earlier, um
Speaker 1: from a journal that I had when I was in
Speaker 1: high school and I was talking about what I wanted
Speaker 1: to do, and I had a prayer for my girlfriends
Speaker 1: that I wanted to pray for and help them, and
Speaker 1: and and it it says something with the teenagers that
Speaker 1: I want to my heart. I have a heart for teenagers.
Speaker 1: I was a teenager myself when I wrote this, and
Speaker 1: I think it's just been in me. I can remember
Speaker 1: being we weren't rich, you know, my mom is a teacher,
Speaker 1: a dads electrician, but they still had their rough patches, right.
Speaker 1: So I can remember going on one of my feel
Speaker 1: trips for a club I was in and I just
Speaker 1: really didn't have a lot of money. My mom and
Speaker 1: them didn't have money to spare, and so I only
Speaker 1: had a little bit, and my teachers looked out for me.
Speaker 1: They gave me money. You know. Of course I felt
Speaker 1: a little embarrassed or whatever, but I was so grateful.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I'm gonna start crying down. God. Um,
Speaker 1: I was so grateful, you know what I mean. I
Speaker 1: was so grateful. I remember her ms Broun says, she
Speaker 1: was so sweet. And then like even my band director,
Speaker 1: these people poured into me and they did things for me,
Speaker 1: and so I said, I want to make sure that
Speaker 1: if their children, their high school kids, who are in need,
Speaker 1: who just need something, I want to be there for them.
Speaker 1: So I was like the big sister. I would have
Speaker 1: them driving around. We were driving me around all in
Speaker 1: New York City and all of the cities that I
Speaker 1: wore broadcasting. I always did the blaby unit and they
Speaker 1: were just like my they're my babies. But I just
Speaker 1: think it's been an eight in me that I feel
Speaker 1: like I want to leave an impact and I feel
Speaker 1: that people have been such a blessing to me throughout
Speaker 1: my life, my career. Growing up. I have friends who
Speaker 1: shouts out to Joe Nathan who locked me into the
Speaker 1: production room and made me learn how to cut commercials.
Speaker 1: I was getting frustrated. He's like, you're not leaving until
Speaker 1: you get this right. I had people who planted those
Speaker 1: seeds and me, and that's why I feel I have
Speaker 1: a responsibility to give back. It's just not this is
Speaker 1: not just for me, this is I have to do this.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Do you re me here crying,
Speaker 1: Because that's what it's about, you know myself up. We
Speaker 1: asked God to grow and it starts raining. Girl. That
Speaker 1: was I didn't thought about Mr Brunston in a while,
Speaker 1: but I can't remember being on a trip and not
Speaker 1: having any money to go and get any field or whatever,
Speaker 1: and they those teachers looked out for me. And because
Speaker 1: my parents were in a difficult spot at the time,
Speaker 1: I felt like I couldn't ask them for a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff because I knew what they were going through.
Speaker 1: And it was the teachers or around me. And that's
Speaker 1: why it's so important for us to to be cognizant
Speaker 1: of what's going on around us with the young people
Speaker 1: who were mentoring right, and not even just young people,
Speaker 1: adults as well learn to pick up on cues and
Speaker 1: to and to deserve what's going on with people. If
Speaker 1: you get a little nudging to check on somebody, check
Speaker 1: on them. If you have something that says, hey, call
Speaker 1: this person, call that person. They might need you and
Speaker 1: they might not feel comfortable asking, but you feel something like, hey,
Speaker 1: is everything Okay, Hey, let me just bless you with
Speaker 1: some ice cream money right here? That's what I do.
Speaker 1: My aunt said that's to me one time before. So
Speaker 1: now I still live, rest in peace and still if
Speaker 1: I just want to give somebody something, I just here,
Speaker 1: here's some ice cream money. Go get you some ice cream.
Speaker 1: Give him a couple of bucks, hundred bucks, twenty. But
Speaker 1: whatever it is you have that you feel led to give,
Speaker 1: blessed them and they will be so grateful. You never
Speaker 1: know if that person is in need, which is too
Speaker 1: afraid to ask, you know, save life. Okay, I'm not
Speaker 1: talking anymore, don No, this is great. So how did
Speaker 1: you so going through high school? Is that where you
Speaker 1: found into radio book? No? I was an announcer since
Speaker 1: I was eight years old. Okay, wait I was this
Speaker 1: knew I should not. Like I've been announcing since I
Speaker 1: was eight years old, Like for real, my my mom
Speaker 1: bought me um something called a recorder. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you guys know what those are. A tape recorder
Speaker 1: for those of you who don't know, it's this ancient thing.
Speaker 1: At any rate, I had the tape recorder. A girl
Speaker 1: when I heard the sound of my voice, said I
Speaker 1: could record. I was hooked. I was interviewing everybody, so
Speaker 1: what do you think about this? And what do you
Speaker 1: think about that? And la lah lah. And then when
Speaker 1: I was twelve, so I would announce different things at
Speaker 1: school and stuff and different church activities. I was twelve.
Speaker 1: Mr Jenkin is my band director, gave me a microphone.
Speaker 1: It was not attached to anything. He just gave me
Speaker 1: the mic And so he's like here because I would
Speaker 1: walk around with the paper towel holder and I had
Speaker 1: my radio station w x y z f M nighty two,
Speaker 1: your radio station. So anyway, that's the way I said it.
Speaker 1: So Mr Jenkins, game in my thing, gir. I you
Speaker 1: know the little label makers from back in the day.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember, don, but they had
Speaker 1: label makers and you can make letters. So I put
Speaker 1: X y Z on my mic. I will go around
Speaker 1: school interviewing people. That was my thing. And then when
Speaker 1: I got to high school, I did the announcements, good
Speaker 1: morning Eagles, there would be no band practice today, you know,
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. But that's I knew that I
Speaker 1: wanted to do broadcasting. I still have cassettes. Those are
Speaker 1: ancient things people, um from when I was in high school,
Speaker 1: and any girl, when you got the little mini cassette thing,
Speaker 1: you couldn't tell me nothing because you don't have to
Speaker 1: have a pig when you have the little mini come
Speaker 1: on now, yes, but yes, I still have recordings of
Speaker 1: that stuff. One of them melted in the car of
Speaker 1: my heart broke. It was so hot in the car
Speaker 1: I had. I had it and it melted. I wanted
Speaker 1: to cry, like real tears because it was when I
Speaker 1: was like thirteen years old, and I would record people
Speaker 1: on the radio and then I come back and record
Speaker 1: over the announcer and say my own partner, there are you?
Speaker 1: Are you the latest one? That's Shannon Jackson, um whatever,
Speaker 1: that's the way love goes or whatever whatever whatever. On
Speaker 1: w x y Z after nightting two, here's an old
Speaker 1: even goody for song. Yes, so I'm gonna ask you
Speaker 1: this because you know it's woman says three months. Come on,
Speaker 1: who told you that you were possible? My mother? My
Speaker 1: mother told me that I could do this because I
Speaker 1: thought I was gonna be uh oncologist and oncologist. But
Speaker 1: I didn't know any I just thought it sounded great.
Speaker 1: What okay, I liked the word. I wanted to help
Speaker 1: people with cancer. I was not good at science, nor
Speaker 1: was I good at math. My mother knew my strengths,
Speaker 1: so she poured into those. But she was like, you know,
Speaker 1: why don't you think about something like broadcasting because you're
Speaker 1: always doing it, and you're so good. You have a
Speaker 1: great voice, and you're always interviewing people. This is before me.
Speaker 1: I was already interviewing people simultaneously, right, But I just
Speaker 1: thought that oncology would be a great thing. But she said,
Speaker 1: you know, you're really good at such and such because
Speaker 1: she knew that I wasn't gonna be following through with math.
Speaker 1: Me I get hide just thinking about it. But and
Speaker 1: when she said that, it just started kind of clicks.
Speaker 1: And then I started seeing Oprah. Then I started seeing
Speaker 1: the news people, the Barbara Walters of the world, um
Speaker 1: kind of Chung of the world. Now you can really
Speaker 1: I'm dating myself, but yes, those were like the announcements.
Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, I want to be like that. And
Speaker 1: then when Oprah started blowing up and getting bigger, You're like, whoa,
Speaker 1: I really want to be like that. So that's kind
Speaker 1: of where I went with the broadcasting it. But my
Speaker 1: mother was the one who planted that sea to me,
Speaker 1: I ain't that amazing with mothers too, are just really
Speaker 1: figuous And you know, just like you said, that's why
Speaker 1: I tell people all the time, when you find somebody
Speaker 1: that takes a liking to you, hold on because as always,
Speaker 1: it's not a situation of you know, and I say this,
Speaker 1: I'm learning, and I'll being on the other side that
Speaker 1: I'm building a team. I'm learning how my communication goes,
Speaker 1: learning how to balance, learning how to keep that barrier,
Speaker 1: but always wanting to give that opportunity. But I try
Speaker 1: to stress all the time when somebody puts their eyes
Speaker 1: on you make sure you give them something to see.
Speaker 1: And like you said, come on, I like that. I
Speaker 1: know I just can't that right, yeah, um, because there's
Speaker 1: a reason they're putting an investment. And if you know
Speaker 1: somebody's intention, know that it's only for the betterment. Because
Speaker 1: I look back at some of the mentors that I've
Speaker 1: had and both experience, I have treasure good and bad
Speaker 1: things that I've seen how I can matrore on and
Speaker 1: now that I'm in a different age, I can see
Speaker 1: probably their viewpoint and the thing that I look at
Speaker 1: you and I think of our mentorship that develops in
Speaker 1: a friendship, and you know you always have the patience
Speaker 1: and understanding and that it explains because of your mentoring
Speaker 1: of the young teenagers to understand where they're coming from,
Speaker 1: to know that you see me. So that's just so appreciative.
Speaker 1: It is. And I just want to stress the people
Speaker 1: if you get somebody, hold on because it's not easy.
Speaker 1: And I look at how I'm matured just coming up.
Speaker 1: You know it's so easy, like oh you want to
Speaker 1: be on arrow, Oh you want to do that? And
Speaker 1: it's like, do you know how many years it took
Speaker 1: for somebody to get in this room before? Do you
Speaker 1: even open your mouth? Talk about it? Please, because you
Speaker 1: have so many folks who are this's microwave technology. They
Speaker 1: think that it's gonna happen overnight. I'm gonna be fifteen
Speaker 1: seconds because I held up I've spoken to a microphone
Speaker 1: at one time and during a podcast or maybe somebody's
Speaker 1: spotlight me. Now I'm a radio personality. No I do radio.
Speaker 1: No I do radio. It's you might be getting there, honey,
Speaker 1: I do this. Okay, do this. And you have to
Speaker 1: work your way in. You have to learn all angles.
Speaker 1: And here's another thing we're talking mentorship. Remember that your
Speaker 1: mentor does not necessarily have to look like you. One
Speaker 1: of my very first music mentors outside of DOC was Colleen,
Speaker 1: the Vinyl Queen, Colleen Cassidy and COLLEENI. It's just she
Speaker 1: has this long black hair's all gray now smoking. Hey,
Speaker 1: d so do you think so? It's Colleen girl. Colleen
Speaker 1: knew her music, she knew the formulas right. So when
Speaker 1: she taught me when I became a music director, she
Speaker 1: taught me. She and her husband Um taught me the
Speaker 1: basics of how to program and what to look for
Speaker 1: and how to trend and see spot the trends and
Speaker 1: and pick the hits and went to know when it's
Speaker 1: not a hit even though you love it, but the
Speaker 1: people don't love it. And she taught me that had
Speaker 1: I just been looking on the outside, would have been
Speaker 1: like a related on know nothing. You have to be
Speaker 1: open to get the knowledge from where it's coming from
Speaker 1: and be able to let us sink in and soak
Speaker 1: in and you know, parslt what doesn't apply to right.
Speaker 1: But don't don't turn away because that person does not
Speaker 1: look like you, or it's not the same gender as you,
Speaker 1: or does not believe like you, because they still can
Speaker 1: have things that say something that could resonate and teach
Speaker 1: you something something that you can always you know, take
Speaker 1: and apply. That's the thing. Apply, it's an addition in
Speaker 1: your life. You don't need it. Let it go. It's
Speaker 1: not a takeaway exactly, but again it goes back to
Speaker 1: you getting to that point and learning those things done.
Speaker 1: I think being in New York has opened me up
Speaker 1: a lot from my little bubble of just being in
Speaker 1: the South and doing this, going to this church, doing that,
Speaker 1: and that's all I did. When I got to New York,
Speaker 1: it was a whole different world. I'm like, what is
Speaker 1: this even just talking religion stuff. I never knew about
Speaker 1: the ashes people put on their head for ash Wednesday,
Speaker 1: had never seen it until I moved to New York.
Speaker 1: And I was a full growl woman. Okay, I was like,
Speaker 1: what what I sense? What's going on. I had never
Speaker 1: seen it because I'm down south. We're in a nondenominational church.
Speaker 1: That's where I went. I didn't go to where else.
Speaker 1: I didn't go to the people I didn't see. I
Speaker 1: didn't know any Catholic folks who were practicing, and if
Speaker 1: they were Catholic, they weren't really going and getting ashes
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. I had never even seen it.
Speaker 1: So expand your minds, think about things that are not
Speaker 1: just about you, and it helps you grow into a
Speaker 1: fuller person. It helps your personal development. So we're always
Speaker 1: talking about our success and our professional development, but we
Speaker 1: have to learn to grow. And I think that's what
Speaker 1: you're viting and d does, Dawn. It helps people be
Speaker 1: able to explore those concepts of thinking, a sting and growing.
Speaker 1: I don't know, just expanding your mindset from being in
Speaker 1: your own little bubble. Expand. Pop the bubble out there,
Speaker 1: Poppa the bubble, take off the roof, no sailings. Let's
Speaker 1: just expand and grow. But you know, just as much
Speaker 1: as you said about the whole expansion, let's not forget
Speaker 1: at the roots. Gotta get deep, yes, get your roots
Speaker 1: in there, get your roots. That's the building of the Foundation,
Speaker 1: and we were talking about earlier. You said something about
Speaker 1: you have to be ready for those things, those opportunities
Speaker 1: that come, and I wanted to go back to kind
Speaker 1: of like where we are in the present, stay ready
Speaker 1: so you don't have to get ready. I had what
Speaker 1: all those situations happened recently with the Kelly and Ryan Show,
Speaker 1: and Ryan Seacrest called out, never happens. Dude is always there,
Speaker 1: but he's you know, doing whatever. But I guess he
Speaker 1: was a little when feel well and wanted to air
Speaker 1: on the side of cautution. Whatever the heck. They needed
Speaker 1: someone to do something on the show, and to fill
Speaker 1: out this segment they were having a game show kind
Speaker 1: of thing because Ryan was gonna play the host and
Speaker 1: Kelly was gonna play one of the participants as well
Speaker 1: as the person who was there. And so they were like,
Speaker 1: who were gonna get? Who we're gonna get? And they're like, Dija,
Speaker 1: would you mind doing so? And so now you know,
Speaker 1: deep down inside, I'm like, what I'm mind? Are you crazy?
Speaker 1: I was built a come on, let's do it. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love to, But you're because I had already been
Speaker 1: practicing in my room at home back in the old days.
Speaker 1: I've always been talking, I've been broadcasting, I've been ready.
Speaker 1: I was beating my face even though I wasn't on
Speaker 1: anybody's camera, just because I needed to look right. I
Speaker 1: have my little white boots on because I wanted to
Speaker 1: look right for me. So when they say let's go,
Speaker 1: guess who was ready? I was rest to go. I
Speaker 1: was a little nervous, my hands were sweating, but I
Speaker 1: was there and I had the opportunity. Carpet d M
Speaker 1: sees the day, sees, the opportunity just to get up
Speaker 1: in there and hold a microphone and say, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: let's play the game. We'll be right back in a minute.
Speaker 1: You never know who saw that. You never know who
Speaker 1: saw that. After that, the president of ABC New York
Speaker 1: came and said, hey, I just want to introduce myself
Speaker 1: to you. What come on, say how you do? Hi?
Speaker 1: Nice to meet you as well. Thank you, it's nice
Speaker 1: to meet you. What you never know when those opportunities
Speaker 1: are gonna come, So you have to be ready. You
Speaker 1: have to be studying your craft, honing your craft. You
Speaker 1: have to be ready so when it strikes, you're there
Speaker 1: and you're ready for it. Right girl, They put me
Speaker 1: on camera. What I mean just announcing right, I'm normally
Speaker 1: in a booth by myself, you know, just sitting in there,
Speaker 1: and I, you know, see through them, and I hear
Speaker 1: people talking to my headphones and everything, and they put
Speaker 1: me on national television. Just let me get this one
Speaker 1: big toe up in the door, baby plea. But no, seriously,
Speaker 1: it was an amazing experience, just that one little moment.
Speaker 1: And that's another one of those little godwins, like, Hey,
Speaker 1: I've forgot about you. I know what you want to do.
Speaker 1: Your steps are already being ordered to say, I got you.
Speaker 1: Hold on, I know what's happening behind this curtain. We
Speaker 1: don't act one right now at one thing too. We
Speaker 1: haven't even gotten to the next year, right And I
Speaker 1: just need you to be right here and right here, guys.
Speaker 1: Using every information that you need right here is knowing
Speaker 1: who you are and staying ready right here is walking
Speaker 1: in your authority. Essentially, That's all I feel as though
Speaker 1: we are designed to do in life. Walk in your
Speaker 1: authority and guess what it's given to us when we
Speaker 1: were a child. You know. It's just as though you
Speaker 1: put this money, this down payment in a bank account,
Speaker 1: put it on your life, put on your dreams, and
Speaker 1: invest in it and in this process of life, right,
Speaker 1: treat it just like an account. What are you depositing in?
Speaker 1: What are you taking it out? And like you said,
Speaker 1: because you cannot control the valleys, you cannot control when
Speaker 1: the mountains come, you cannot control when the hill the
Speaker 1: cliff will be there. But what you can say is
Speaker 1: there's balance. And just like any account when you're establishing credit, balance, right, girl,
Speaker 1: that balance y'all gonna check the balances? No, but seriously,
Speaker 1: that's it's what you're saying. You have to be ready,
Speaker 1: you have to be right, and you have to check
Speaker 1: the balances of everything that goes on in your life.
Speaker 1: That's how we are fully grown and fully evolved people.
Speaker 1: That's that's all there is doing. But don't don't think
Speaker 1: that your moment has passed you by. Just keep on going,
Speaker 1: keep on grinding, keep on doing what you're doing, and
Speaker 1: it's gonna work out. But why for what? Why are you?
Speaker 1: Why do you keep going? I keep going because I
Speaker 1: know there's more and it doesn't stop. My mom has
Speaker 1: been retired for about ten ten years now and she
Speaker 1: just published her second book, self published, Go Mom, Come mom,
Speaker 1: and she was like, you know, saying that what's next?
Speaker 1: What am I doing? What am I doing? What's next?
Speaker 1: And my mother is going on seventy, you know, she
Speaker 1: still wants to do stuff. She's like, I wanted I
Speaker 1: want to do something else, she said. She wrote in
Speaker 1: her journal that she wanted to do something else and
Speaker 1: she wanted something more. The next the very next day,
Speaker 1: someone called her about teaching at Bible College. The very
Speaker 1: next day that she put it out there. You keep
Speaker 1: going because it's a continual process. Remember, we're still evolving
Speaker 1: in our brilliance and we continue to go on. And
Speaker 1: you want to go on because that's what living life
Speaker 1: is about, right, you have more to offer even at seventy.
Speaker 1: My dad was just ordained the preacher at seven me,
Speaker 1: so he can still go on. He's still in Bible
Speaker 1: College at seven days. So you know your parents were
Speaker 1: boring in about what around fifty one because my mom
Speaker 1: she would have been seventy one. Yeah, she would have
Speaker 1: been seventy of this year. Yeah, so parents the same age.
Speaker 1: My dad was born in forty four, right, So I'm
Speaker 1: trying to sell you that because when you're trying to say, oh,
Speaker 1: you're so seasoned. You're making me seem like I'm so seasoned.
Speaker 1: Ghaz trying to do math. We're talking, stop trying to
Speaker 1: do mathematical equations in your head. And no. But I
Speaker 1: just I think that you can continue to go on.
Speaker 1: That's all I'm saying. You continue to go on, and
Speaker 1: you can continue to thrive. That's what life is about.
Speaker 1: Your work is not done until you take that last breath,
Speaker 1: and even then, whatever you've put in place, your legacy
Speaker 1: will continue. That's I just read. Did you see that
Speaker 1: article about the man who gave the twenty million? He
Speaker 1: and his wife gave twenty million to Morgan State. He
Speaker 1: was a student there for two years, he had to
Speaker 1: drop out because of financial issues. He went on to
Speaker 1: work at UPS as a driver and worked his way up.
Speaker 1: I don't know what the heck I'm doing. Maybe I
Speaker 1: need to go at UPS because this man had twenty
Speaker 1: millions to give. Wow, twenty million dollars and he's already
Speaker 1: they've already put forty something kids through school. Yes, he's
Speaker 1: already going to he and his wife. But I just say,
Speaker 1: that's the legacy part. So right now, I heard Luda say,
Speaker 1: he's like he's the legacy building time of his life.
Speaker 1: So now this is everything that I'm doing now is
Speaker 1: gonna harken back to whomever comes after. And if I
Speaker 1: don't have physical children, then it's gonna be my cousins
Speaker 1: and my nieces. The scholarship fund that I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: doing that will continue. What's the scholarship can we can
Speaker 1: people if? Well, right now I don't all together, but
Speaker 1: the dreams, the reality foundation will be where it's gonna be.
Speaker 1: I really wanted to do and I know they're trying
Speaker 1: to um give school years free, but until they do that,
Speaker 1: I really want to do something called first year free.
Speaker 1: I want to do it for the first year because
Speaker 1: some people I had a difficult time financially trying to
Speaker 1: cover that, so I want to do that for those people.
Speaker 1: And that's just a goal. It's not in set in
Speaker 1: stone anywhere. It's just here. And I've already got the
Speaker 1: domain name, of course, but just put it, put it
Speaker 1: on out there. But those are the legacy type things
Speaker 1: I want to leave for people. That's you know why
Speaker 1: I appreciate that everything that you've said and what you've done,
Speaker 1: and anybody that's been watching listening definitely has an essence
Speaker 1: of who Desia is and why it's so important um
Speaker 1: to be in the wrong with you, to be in
Speaker 1: my air, on your audiobox, wherever you are coming through,
Speaker 1: because there are gems that you constantly deposit, and it's
Speaker 1: coming from a fruitful tree. I'm not talking about plastic.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about somebody that knows what it's like for
Speaker 1: somebody to give a hand out to somebody, for somebody
Speaker 1: to just see you and say I believe in you.
Speaker 1: For somebody that's coming from like you're saying, doing radio
Speaker 1: to a fledgling that's still got breast smelk coming off
Speaker 1: the mouth to be humbled up to say, this young
Speaker 1: lady is gonna sit here and show me how to
Speaker 1: run the board. This young lady, I will sit down
Speaker 1: and talk to her, you know, to give her a moment,
Speaker 1: you know. And then also this young lady who wants
Speaker 1: to be a speaker, I'm gonna give opportunity. Now. Look,
Speaker 1: ten years later, this young lady is working on a
Speaker 1: syndicated radio show we can't segment. Thank you that it's
Speaker 1: because of you, Tasia, Thank you, Dasia, thank you for
Speaker 1: allowing me to be a part of this, this movement
Speaker 1: you have going on. So wait before we go, what's
Speaker 1: next for you doing? What are you doing next? Well? Next, um,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm speaking in to existence. Uh the show that
Speaker 1: I was on for the Love of Jason, which is
Speaker 1: on the All Black TV. Uh, they got renewed for
Speaker 1: season two, so hopefully you will be seeing my character
Speaker 1: come back for that. Also, I'm still in up Groundling's program,
Speaker 1: so constantly putting up sketches and so forth. Soon you're
Speaker 1: gonna see me on that stage and then we're gonna
Speaker 1: get on s and l um. But uh, yeah, we're
Speaker 1: just we're taking vitamin D, expanding it more and more
Speaker 1: to share the life. And you know I'm doing my
Speaker 1: voice overs. I want to days you inspire me. I
Speaker 1: want to announce a war. Shows like go and that
Speaker 1: thing just came as a fluke to when I tell
Speaker 1: you what this is why, I say, even though you
Speaker 1: may have gone a certain distance and you may feel
Speaker 1: like whatever God has not forgotten about you, that man,
Speaker 1: let me tell you hold on take my water. I
Speaker 1: was parted up in here. Shout out to David. David
Speaker 1: was the guy who contacted me, the producer who contacted
Speaker 1: me for Live with Kelly and Ryan. He said that
Speaker 1: he sent me an email on my social on on Insta,
Speaker 1: on Facebook, and on my website. Anas like not on emails. Girl.
Speaker 1: I was in Florida right scurorel with it because sometimes
Speaker 1: I have so many pictures, things get crowded and I
Speaker 1: don't get every message. So I was deleting deletely. I'm
Speaker 1: sitting on the couch in Florida in October, late October too,
Speaker 1: and I see a picture, I mean a message so
Speaker 1: onside from ABC Live with Kelley, and I'm like, what, girl.
Speaker 1: I looked at it. The man had said this thing
Speaker 1: to me like three weeks prior. Don He's like, uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: we would love to get you to come on and
Speaker 1: be a guest announcer for Live with Kelly Ryan. I
Speaker 1: said what, So I email. I was like, I'm just girl.
Speaker 1: I hit him back at eleven thirty. I'm just seeing
Speaker 1: your email blah blah blah. How crazy did I look?
Speaker 1: For anyway? When I tell you, When I woke up
Speaker 1: Sunday morning, it was another email response from him. Halla.
Speaker 1: So he was like, yo, I didn't really think you
Speaker 1: were interested because I hit you here and here. I
Speaker 1: had never seen the girl. I finally went back through
Speaker 1: all my messages because you know, as a personality, you
Speaker 1: get all these crap spam bots and everybody's saying I
Speaker 1: don't like this svice, and so I just some of them.
Speaker 1: I don't really check all the time, guys, so it
Speaker 1: gets muddled down. So at any rate, I finally found
Speaker 1: his other email that he had sent me. He was
Speaker 1: asking if I want to come on. This was weeks
Speaker 1: to go, so they had already booked somebody else to
Speaker 1: do the auditions because they were holding on this, and
Speaker 1: so they still technically are. But he said we're holding
Speaker 1: auditions and he said, well, we won't be able to
Speaker 1: get you in until the end of the year. I said, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm good. Whatever you want me. I'm here. I'm here,
Speaker 1: I'm drinking my water, making sure my voices. Right, do
Speaker 1: you know they called me. He's like, listen, there's gonna change.
Speaker 1: Can you come in earlier? So they called me in
Speaker 1: early November. I was like what, So he calls me in.
Speaker 1: I do my thing. They're like, well, would you like
Speaker 1: to stay to December? What do I like to stay?
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? So? I've just been here, so
Speaker 1: technically we're still in in a audition phase or whatever. However,
Speaker 1: some things are on the way, but we'll leave well,
Speaker 1: we'll leave it there. But girl, when I tell you
Speaker 1: that God is opening doors that you can't even fathom,
Speaker 1: I'm just saying. So, if it's happening for littlo me, Dawn,
Speaker 1: you are amazing. Things are gonna be blowing up and
Speaker 1: opening people who are listening. Go ahead and open up
Speaker 1: your hands, oh my hands right now, and be able
Speaker 1: to accept those blessings because they're coming coming and pull
Speaker 1: down to you boom here. It is an expected all right.
Speaker 1: When I tell you, I don't think that because you
Speaker 1: are twenty five or thirty five or forty five, sixty
Speaker 1: years old, It does not matter the age. What's for
Speaker 1: you is for you. Even if this changes to something
Speaker 1: else people have already seen in contact with me from
Speaker 1: this one opportunity. When I tell you, be ready, be ready.
Speaker 1: Oh that's the notion, be ready for expansion. Okay, So
Speaker 1: is there anything and not like you haven't said, is
Speaker 1: there anything that we should be looking out for? UM?
Speaker 1: My podcast will eventually launch, and Jesus name you pray
Speaker 1: a man, I've been trying and do all this. Um,
Speaker 1: my Hustle Earth podcast. So we're getting it, and do
Speaker 1: you have to return the favor for me then I
Speaker 1: will really interview you. Okay, all right, And Mike not
Speaker 1: your Hustle Academy is going to be launching this spring
Speaker 1: as well. So that's gonna be for people who are
Speaker 1: trying to get those dreams off the back burner, trying
Speaker 1: to get that business launched, that that next move for you.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be talking about just basics of setting up
Speaker 1: something so it's your own right, and even maximizing our
Speaker 1: social media. I think that we play so much, we
Speaker 1: post so many things, we're doing so many challenges. But
Speaker 1: are you banking off of this social media? Are you
Speaker 1: making anything? Are you building any contacts? Do you have
Speaker 1: a list of people that you're talking to on a
Speaker 1: regular basis. That's the stuff that we're gonna be covering
Speaker 1: in our agnitious of Academy. So look up for that.
Speaker 1: Oh well, I got my eyes pilled wide open. Hey.
Speaker 1: So one thing I always ask for everyone who comes
Speaker 1: on the podcast, as you know, we're all about vitamin D.
Speaker 1: It's all about making depositans in your life bank account
Speaker 1: and shedding light. Is there a dose of vitamin D
Speaker 1: that you would like to share. I know you've been
Speaker 1: really going on and talking about the importance of igniting
Speaker 1: and hustling. Anything you want to say to anyone that's listening,
Speaker 1: um to anyone that's listening for vitamin D, I just say,
Speaker 1: get out there and try. You never know what you
Speaker 1: can do until you try. Just get out there. If
Speaker 1: you feel, pick yourself up, scratch off the dust that's
Speaker 1: on you, get the duft dust off your shoulders, and
Speaker 1: keep going. But put some effort into something, because if
Speaker 1: you don't do anything, if you're just sitting there, nothing
Speaker 1: is gonna happen. You have to put a little bit
Speaker 1: of spunk to get the thing rolling. You gotta press
Speaker 1: the gas pedal a little bit to be able to
Speaker 1: roar and come to life, and put that thing and dried.
Speaker 1: Even if your car is not in, if the car
Speaker 1: is not moving, if you don't put the pedal to
Speaker 1: foot on the pedal, pedal to the metal, as they say,
Speaker 1: I just say, get out and try do a little something,
Speaker 1: and don't forget to constantly be learning and evolving. And
Speaker 1: that's it. Come on, learning and evolving, growing. Oh my gosh, well,
Speaker 1: thank you Dasha, thank you. This was fun, This was
Speaker 1: somber I had. I mean, we went on a whole
Speaker 1: roller coaster from joy. It's a joyful tears night. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. Thank you, don Daye. I love you,
Speaker 1: love you too. Oh my gosh. Yes, it was so
Speaker 1: nice to have days your own one and to just talk.
Speaker 1: You know, I completely forgot that. I taught her the
Speaker 1: board of b LS call your mentors. But yeah, that
Speaker 1: was just such a great conversation. And you know what
Speaker 1: really stuck out to me, how Daisa just let it
Speaker 1: go when she lost her job. She had faith and
Speaker 1: all it took was faith the size of a mustardcy
Speaker 1: Come on, somebody, and it's that same amount of faith
Speaker 1: that can propel you through a valley and that umph
Speaker 1: to get over that hill and check this out. While
Speaker 1: the hills and the valleys are many, we know that
Speaker 1: we have come so far because we are able, and
Speaker 1: if we weren't, you wouldn't have survived and thrived through
Speaker 1: life trials and trouble lations to be here today. I mean,
Speaker 1: just think about it. You have survived of your worst days.
Speaker 1: So what are you worried about now? Yes, you may
Speaker 1: have lost your job, but don't disregard the fact that
Speaker 1: you have several more opportunities standing right there in front
Speaker 1: of you. Just think about it. How many opportunities can
Speaker 1: you create from this? It's endless. Remember that the life
Speaker 1: bank account only pays out the dividends you're investing into it.
Speaker 1: You just can't sit on your laurels and think, because
Speaker 1: you've created a pretty vision, it's just going to happen. No,
Speaker 1: faith without works is dead. One foot in front of
Speaker 1: the other. They saying, inch by inch, life's ascent yard
Speaker 1: by yard. Life is hard. So understand that you've gotta
Speaker 1: build and there has to be a level of accumulation
Speaker 1: because if you don't, it will just stay the same forever.
Speaker 1: And see, what we know is is that change is
Speaker 1: the only thing that's constant. And every day that you
Speaker 1: wake up above ground, every day that you have breath
Speaker 1: inside your lungs, No, you got a chance for a
Speaker 1: new dawn of a new day. And you better know
Speaker 1: that if you stay ready, you ain't gotta get ready.
Speaker 1: Are you interested in keeping up with Deja Vu? You
Speaker 1: can find her on Twitter and Instagram at Deja Vu Speaks,
Speaker 1: and you can keep an eye out for her Ignite
Speaker 1: your Hustle Academy on our website Deja vu Speaks dot
Speaker 1: com and it's always You can catch us here in
Speaker 1: your phone or whichever smart device you're using every Monday,
Speaker 1: Wednesday and Friday with more inspirational conversations and insights. And now,
Speaker 1: if you want to keep up with me to getting
Speaker 1: even more Vitamin D in your life, follow me at
Speaker 1: Dawn day Speaks on all social media. And before you go,
Speaker 1: I want to close with this, always remember you are
Speaker 1: your greatest asset.