Speaker 1: Greetings and welcome to Woke a f with me Danielle Moody.
Speaker 1: As you may already know from my social media platforms
Speaker 1: at D two cents or from listening to previous woke
Speaker 1: AF episodes, I want to bring you conversations that give
Speaker 1: you the tools to embody wokeness in all aspects of
Speaker 1: your life. This week, I'm bringing you insightful taste from
Speaker 1: amazing conversations that I had with two inspiring black women
Speaker 1: on Monday's edition of woke AF Daily, which you can
Speaker 1: hear right now at patreon dot com slash woke AF.
Speaker 1: I shared my full conversation with Black entertainment lawyer extraordinaire
Speaker 1: Marcy Cleary. Take a listen to her valuable insight into
Speaker 1: how black creators can get their work off the ground
Speaker 1: and protect their ownership of it while still sharing their
Speaker 1: vision with peers and mentors. What advice, Marcy, do you
Speaker 1: have for people that are are ready to take a risk,
Speaker 1: that are ready to you know they have a great idea,
Speaker 1: and you know a part of them is just like,
Speaker 1: do I pitch this idea? I'm scared because I don't
Speaker 1: want it. I don't want to get it stolen right,
Speaker 1: but they're ready for the risk. How would you explain
Speaker 1: to them how they begin to navigate this massive industry. No,
Speaker 1: that's a great question because everybody asks it, like because
Speaker 1: everybody's nervous because that's their baby, right to put their
Speaker 1: baby out in the world, and somebody not kidnap, kidnap
Speaker 1: the baby, right, right. I would say basic rules is
Speaker 1: if you have a finished script, like a full script,
Speaker 1: copywriter registered with the copyright Office before you send it out,
Speaker 1: you can protect it's the unique it's the expression of
Speaker 1: a unique idea. So the expression is I'm saying you
Speaker 1: got a full script, like something written out, like you
Speaker 1: don't just have a notepath that says, oh, we have
Speaker 1: this character Danyale in Brooklyn. That's not protectable, right, it's
Speaker 1: not unique and it's not fully thought out. But if
Speaker 1: you have a whole twenty page, thirty page, forty page
Speaker 1: script about Danielle in Brooklyn, Okay, you got here ideas there.
Speaker 1: So I always say, if you have a script, will
Speaker 1: copy richiar with Copyright Office. It costs maybe sixty five
Speaker 1: dollars to do so, right, that's easy. But don't go
Speaker 1: around having people sign in DA's non disclosure agreements before
Speaker 1: you send it. That's a turn off. So some folks
Speaker 1: will say, oh, well before you review it, can you
Speaker 1: please sign this nondisclosure. Well, I'm not gonna tell Oprah
Speaker 1: she can't look at my script before she signed something. Right,
Speaker 1: that's a place. Right. So you also just got to
Speaker 1: trust who you're sharing your material with, right, and know
Speaker 1: that that person is not gonna take the risk. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: if you sharing yourself with somebody you scare gonna take
Speaker 1: you know it's gonna show up on television next year,
Speaker 1: then that's not the person. Yeah, it's somebody you gotta trust.
Speaker 1: But the basis of its copyrighted, Have it written down,
Speaker 1: have it is thought out as possile before you share.
Speaker 1: Because it's easy to just take a sketch idea. Anybody
Speaker 1: can have a similar idea and make it better. And
Speaker 1: it's I don't know how to protect you man, got it?
Speaker 1: Got it? No, that's really important. I think that you know,
Speaker 1: you hear all of these horror stories and then you
Speaker 1: have people that are like, well I'm just gonna you know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take the risk, or they're gonna sit on
Speaker 1: something that's great because they're afraid. Yeah, and so I
Speaker 1: think that there's this this part of needing to let
Speaker 1: go of fear. Really, like, this really is in the industry, right,
Speaker 1: It's not the industry for fear and fear of rejection too.
Speaker 1: That's a huge one, you know, Like I would say,
Speaker 1: my clients are tougher than I am because you're gonna
Speaker 1: hear no fifty thousand times before you get that one yes,
Speaker 1: and all you need is a one yes. But you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to tweak it a lot. Everybody's gonna give
Speaker 1: you notes, you know, like for a long time before
Speaker 1: it becomes great. But that's art. Yeah. Well, Marci, you
Speaker 1: are champion in a whole field of black content creators.
Speaker 1: And I pray that this is not just a moment,
Speaker 1: as I say, but it is a movement of you know,
Speaker 1: us changing this industry from all different aspects of it
Speaker 1: because I feel like when we own things, you know,
Speaker 1: then we create the path that other folks can follow.
Speaker 1: You know what else is crucial, Danielle is sharing information. Right.
Speaker 1: I can't tell you the reason why other folks have
Speaker 1: had a jump in this industry is because they talk
Speaker 1: to each other, right, Like they tell each other they
Speaker 1: have role models of like this is what you do,
Speaker 1: this is what you don't do. Right, So I would say, like,
Speaker 1: you know, it's great, everybody's building, era's getting their deals,
Speaker 1: but you gotta talk to each other and say, you know,
Speaker 1: are you agreeing to this much like this amount of money? Okay?
Speaker 1: Like share information. Don't be so private and it's hard
Speaker 1: because you know you win, and you don't want to
Speaker 1: tell people about the losses as openly as you talk
Speaker 1: about the winds. But that's just as important because that's
Speaker 1: how we build, that's how we learn, right, and that's
Speaker 1: how we grow. And I think that's also is what
Speaker 1: creates the sustainability. That's why I have in the Macros
Speaker 1: and the Spree Hills is so important because they're sharing
Speaker 1: information amongst a community. So that's crucial too. It is crucial.
Speaker 1: Marcy Cleary, I'm so happy that you came on woke
Speaker 1: f to talk to us about this new world. It's
Speaker 1: not it's not new, but I think that I think
Speaker 1: what it's new and exciting about it is that I
Speaker 1: just want to see more beautiful black stars. That's what
Speaker 1: I want to see. I want to see. I want
Speaker 1: to see as EASTERI said, I want to see us win,
Speaker 1: and it's wonderful to know that we are. There are
Speaker 1: people like yourself who have our back right and then
Speaker 1: can usher us through. Thank you so much for coming
Speaker 1: on woke f appreciate you. Thank you. Whatever our role
Speaker 1: is on this earth, be it creating, leading, serving, we
Speaker 1: all need to make spaces in our lives for ritual
Speaker 1: and self preservation. I was so happy in honor to
Speaker 1: be joined by my spiritual big sister ricikat Okay Day
Speaker 1: on this week's Feel Good Friday edition of Woke af
Speaker 1: Daily to tell us what self preservation and ritual really mean,
Speaker 1: how they're different from what we call self care and habits,
Speaker 1: and how we can put them into practice in our
Speaker 1: everyday lives. What have you noticed over the past year
Speaker 1: receive as we are moving through this multiple pandemics, right,
Speaker 1: we're moving through and kind of trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how to manifest ourselves in this new normal space, and
Speaker 1: so what have you found in terms of the way
Speaker 1: that people are trying to connect and trying to ground
Speaker 1: with themselves. So the big thing is that a lot
Speaker 1: of people I haven't been doing it, don't know how
Speaker 1: to do it because our life you know, pre COVID
Speaker 1: was go go, go, go, go, go go. And so
Speaker 1: while yeah, I make tea blends and you know, I
Speaker 1: like candles, and you know, I'm do full moon and
Speaker 1: New Moon rituals. That was there was there was a
Speaker 1: part of my life that was that was a very
Speaker 1: small group of people that um kind of operated in
Speaker 1: that space naturally. And when the pandemic hit and folks
Speaker 1: were forced to sort of sit still, you start asking
Speaker 1: questions like, well, what the hell am I doing here
Speaker 1: and why is this happening? And in order to address, like,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot, I had a lot of friends
Speaker 1: that I you know, had to talk off the tree
Speaker 1: I call it, to prefer a real tree where I'm
Speaker 1: literally at the basis tree like all right, come on,
Speaker 1: you can come down now, not know and it's like no,
Speaker 1: but you can really come down. It's okay. What happens
Speaker 1: is that when you were forced to sit with yourself,
Speaker 1: you were forced to face things. And what you find
Speaker 1: is that a lot of us, myself included, had not
Speaker 1: been doing our due diligence when it came to our
Speaker 1: self preservation. And don't I don't like the term self
Speaker 1: care because it can you know, for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: visions of spa days and getting your nails done and
Speaker 1: backrubs come in and that's not really what self care
Speaker 1: is about. It really is asking you to preserve the self.
Speaker 1: And that looks like you know, meditation for others. That
Speaker 1: looks like you know, turning off Twitter for some And
Speaker 1: we initially are so wedded to our technology because that's
Speaker 1: the only way for us to stay in touch that
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people just want into overdrive.
Speaker 1: And then at some point when you realize this was
Speaker 1: not going to end quietly and quickly, and as more
Speaker 1: things started to get canceled, you start to see people
Speaker 1: really start delving in too, like you have to find
Speaker 1: some balance, You have to figure out how your life
Speaker 1: is going to look because you can't go outside and
Speaker 1: you can't you know, socialize, and people start finding ways
Speaker 1: to manage. But they also start to realize that in
Speaker 1: the absence of constant motion, that their lives, if they
Speaker 1: allow it, are actually more enriched in the staying still
Speaker 1: and sort of not having there because part of the
Speaker 1: going going on is the expectation that somebody's looking for you,
Speaker 1: or the idea that you that's a that's proof of
Speaker 1: your hustle or proof that you're making moves because you're going, going, going.
Speaker 1: For some it's a way to fill the void. And
Speaker 1: so when all of that goes away and you're kind
Speaker 1: of forced to sit, you start to really think deep
Speaker 1: and ask questions. And there's only so much netflix benching
Speaker 1: that you can do. There's only so much you know,
Speaker 1: you know, pandemic eating that you can do before you're like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: what exactly what does my life look like now? And
Speaker 1: I think a lot of us are finding that previous,
Speaker 1: pre pandemic, we were doing a ship job of taking
Speaker 1: care of ourselves. And now that you have no choice
Speaker 1: because it's just you and your kids, or you and
Speaker 1: your family or whoever's in your household, if you want
Speaker 1: to be here when it's all said and done, then
Speaker 1: self care, self preservation becomes a natural part of this.
Speaker 1: And folks are finding that they actually like it. Like
Speaker 1: a lot of folks that I'm talking to, they don't
Speaker 1: trying to go back to whatever was normal before. They
Speaker 1: really want They like getting up and working from you know,
Speaker 1: working from a place that is not the office. They
Speaker 1: like you know, taking their time, you know, they like
Speaker 1: the idea of setting boundaries because COVID has taught us
Speaker 1: a set boundary. So I'm not taking meetings after six pm,
Speaker 1: or I'm not you know, taking meetings at eight o'clock
Speaker 1: of the morning or whatever it is that you're doing.
Speaker 1: And people are like, yo, this way of living is
Speaker 1: not ideal because we didn't expect it. But it's teaching
Speaker 1: us all some things. And one of the big lessons
Speaker 1: is that the life, the way we were living before
Speaker 1: was just it was insane. It was absolutely insane, and
Speaker 1: that was considered normal. Tell us about ritual and why
Speaker 1: that's important for how we develop and show up in
Speaker 1: the world. So for me, ritual is something you do
Speaker 1: with intention. There are a lot of things we do
Speaker 1: out of habit, and you know, the issue with habit
Speaker 1: is that there's no thought to it. It's just something
Speaker 1: that you So it becomes easy over time to not
Speaker 1: realize that you're doing it, or to not realize that
Speaker 1: you might be harming people and doing it because it's
Speaker 1: just like if you have people say, well, that's just
Speaker 1: the way we've always done it. For me, ritual is
Speaker 1: really about being intentional, and I think anything can be
Speaker 1: ritualized if you take a minute to think about what
Speaker 1: it is that you're doing. So when you get into
Speaker 1: a space where ritual is sort of how you leave
Speaker 1: your day, what ends up happening is you prepare yourself.
Speaker 1: And some of us, let's be honest, we live in spaces,
Speaker 1: We operate in spaces. Our soul contracts require us to
Speaker 1: be in service. You are in service, and so those
Speaker 1: of us who are born to be in service and
Speaker 1: to lead as servant leaders, oftentimes we don't have caretakers.
Speaker 1: It's just it's this weird thing. But what happens is
Speaker 1: that you have been given certain amount of knowledge and
Speaker 1: you are surrounded by people who can show you how
Speaker 1: to care for yourself. And when you remove the sort
Speaker 1: of human aspect of oh, well, what I want to
Speaker 1: want to take care of me? Yes, we would all
Speaker 1: love that. But in order for you to do your job,
Speaker 1: in order for you to do what you came to do,
Speaker 1: you have to be fully charged. That means that you
Speaker 1: have to be intentional about what you put in your body.
Speaker 1: You have to be intentional about the colors that you
Speaker 1: might wear that day, or intentional about you know, who
Speaker 1: you talk to that day. Just because if your goal
Speaker 1: is to get this information out and you know that
Speaker 1: there's going to be very little reciprocity. Then that means
Speaker 1: you charge up and you go out into the world
Speaker 1: protected and you can sustain yourself. It's so easy to
Speaker 1: fall off the cliff. Like that's the thing about ritual
Speaker 1: and it's about about you know, sort of self preservation.
Speaker 1: It is amazing. It is much harder to get back
Speaker 1: off the cliff than it is to get you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. When you fall off that cliff, if
Speaker 1: you don't catch it and recalibrate immediately, it is so
Speaker 1: much harder to get back up there. Like for all
Speaker 1: of that momentum that you build the minute you fall off,
Speaker 1: it's such a hard place to get back from. So
Speaker 1: that's the part, you know. I remember I would have
Speaker 1: clients who would you know, I would work with and
Speaker 1: we would put blends together, and that would say, if
Speaker 1: this works, don't let it run out, because once it
Speaker 1: runs out and you've gone two or three weeks without it,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to go through a whole process to
Speaker 1: get you back and sink. And those that listened fared well,
Speaker 1: and those that didn't. You know, here we are so
Speaker 1: It is important that you recognize them as rituals and
Speaker 1: you recognize them as intentions, and that you know you
Speaker 1: have people around you be like, hey, did you did
Speaker 1: you do? Did you drink or smoothe today? You seem
Speaker 1: a little on edge because it's easy, right all right,
Speaker 1: back off? Yeah, Accountability partners is also a big part
Speaker 1: of how we take care of each other. Everybody can't
Speaker 1: maybe everyone can't take care of you, but people can
Speaker 1: ask did you drink water? Did you eat today? You know?
Speaker 1: Have you you know, have you gone outside? You know
Speaker 1: you're taken a stop for a minute and done some
Speaker 1: deep breathing. And that is just as that is just
Speaker 1: as critical I think we're not We can't do it
Speaker 1: by ourselves, like we definitely need our village to help us.
Speaker 1: I tell you I could have talked to Risikat for
Speaker 1: a full hour about all the ways we can preserve
Speaker 1: and enrich our lives in this unprecedented moment. If you
Speaker 1: want to hear more of her knowledge and insight, check
Speaker 1: out our full forty minute conversation at patreon dot com.
Speaker 1: Slash woke af as always, five dollars a month gets
Speaker 1: you five full one hour shows every week. And I
Speaker 1: have some great conversations coming up that I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to share with all of you, So head over now
Speaker 1: and subscribe so you don't miss any of the wokeness
Speaker 1: that I'm dishing out until then, Power to the people
Speaker 1: and to all the people. Power, get woke, and stay
Speaker 1: woke as fuck.