Speaker 1: And I feel like men a lot of times they
Speaker 1: get thankless jobs. Yeah, you know, and they don't get praised,
Speaker 1: they don't get acknowledged for the roles they play in
Speaker 1: their family's lives.
Speaker 2: And I was like, on paper, a perfect candidate. She
Speaker 2: walks in oppositions and Nigerian next, and they're like no.
Speaker 2: I was like, no, why why? Because there's a Columbian downstairs.
Speaker 3: Why I can't understand men are not transparent around the
Speaker 3: experience the realities of being in the diaspora and the
Speaker 3: journey of my grating. And I'm so glad that you
Speaker 3: opened up about so many aspects of that journey.
Speaker 1: And then I started to ask myself, am I really
Speaker 1: the sum of solely my mother's contribution?
Speaker 2: Mom always always they careful.
Speaker 4: Hi, I'm a Panda and I'm Romby. Welcome to Slayered Podcast.
Speaker 3: We're under the Black Hoss Network powered by iHeart recording
Speaker 3: in studio today in Malbezy.
Speaker 2: You trying to get them out disy, but yeah, we're
Speaker 2: here in Bittersweet Studio with our lovely setup done by
Speaker 2: the Pink Lady Picnic.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, You've been laughing even before we press record because
Speaker 2: we have an amazing guest for you today.
Speaker 4: Someone is very very excited about who do we have
Speaker 4: to day?
Speaker 5: Be Okay, we've got Simba in the building.
Speaker 3: But wait before we before we welcome, Welcome, we want
Speaker 3: to let the people know who you are so they
Speaker 3: know that they need to come.
Speaker 1: Correct.
Speaker 3: So we're trying to do over here, all right, So
Speaker 3: I'm gonna read out your bio. No pressure, but the
Speaker 3: pressure slick like Harvey Spector, but raps with the best
Speaker 3: of them. Lawyer turned rapper Simba Mac traded his suit
Speaker 3: and Hi, you can see he's rocking a suited.
Speaker 5: He's looking so good if you're not watching online. Good.
Speaker 3: He overstood the assignment his STUDENTAI career for a career
Speaker 3: in music, so he's based in Melbourne where he's practiced
Speaker 3: as a lawyer. Simber Mac is an artist who has
Speaker 3: always embraced duality, particularly when it pertains to career and vocation.
Speaker 3: His music articulates his life's journey from Zimbabwe to Australia
Speaker 3: and exploring everyday themes that relate to anybody with a
Speaker 3: desire to dream in spite of their background. Can I
Speaker 3: get an a man on that bio? Welcome, Welcome, Welcome,
Speaker 3: welcome a.
Speaker 2: Is not even touching half the things that you have done,
Speaker 2: like so inspirational. We love like I've known you obviously
Speaker 2: when you know someone personally, but you also see them professionally.
Speaker 4: And ever since I saw you perform Anyway two thousand and.
Speaker 2: You it's literally it's insane that the power you have
Speaker 2: on stage.
Speaker 1: Appreciate that like it's a.
Speaker 2: God given talent. And to see you now years later
Speaker 2: still it makes my heart single joy literally because it's
Speaker 2: like I mean, Rumby and I are always supporting creatives always,
Speaker 2: especially from Zimbaba, because we know how much there's an
Speaker 2: extrud to Max. So to see you still doing your
Speaker 2: thing and doing it brilliantly, kudos to you.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's I think a lot has
Speaker 1: to be said to I guess where we come from.
Speaker 1: It's a big thing, right, So community has always been major, right,
Speaker 1: Like no one's ever self made, that's a myth, right,
Speaker 1: So we're all a combination of a culmination of everyone
Speaker 1: that's sort of poured into us one way or another. Right,
Speaker 1: So that's one thing. But God you knows as a
Speaker 1: foundation for all of that, you know, And then I
Speaker 1: think the perspective that we've had because before we've come
Speaker 1: from right, that adversity, right, and and having that perspective
Speaker 1: of like the resilience we've we've had to endure together,
Speaker 1: what was poured into us, not knowing where we'd be,
Speaker 1: that we just be put on plane one day, you
Speaker 1: know, and our parents saying for the best, sending us to
Speaker 1: countries they've never been to. Yeah, and saying we hope
Speaker 1: we've done enough for you to figure it out, but
Speaker 1: don't humiliate us then embarrasses and remember the struggle you've left,
Speaker 1: what we sacrifice for you to be in that position. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So every time we've gone through things, we've always had
Speaker 1: that as sort of like a measuring stick to say, well,
Speaker 1: have we stayed where we were compared to what we're
Speaker 1: having to endure where we are now? You know? Are
Speaker 1: we better off back home or we better off in
Speaker 1: this appearance of an advanced strengthle you know. And that
Speaker 1: and then having that community of peers around you at UNI,
Speaker 1: for example, cheering you on or hating on you or
Speaker 1: whatever it is. But you're all in it together, right, true,
Speaker 1: and they look like you on some level you can
Speaker 1: identify with a collective struggle you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So when one suffers, you moan together. When one celebrates,
Speaker 1: it inspires you. Whether it's through envy or jealousy or
Speaker 1: genuine celebration, it causes you to look in the mirror
Speaker 1: and really assess, am I fulfilling what my parents sacrificed
Speaker 1: so much for me? Yeah, we all helped each other.
Speaker 1: So even even you guys doing what you're doing that
Speaker 1: this is inspirational because same deal, because you laugh about
Speaker 1: it because at Uni, our parents were like, you know,
Speaker 1: make sure you focus on your studies, can get that
Speaker 1: bands because no one really makes money off that back right,
Speaker 1: And our parents didn't have a lot of the advantages
Speaker 1: we have of like you know, accessing you know, private
Speaker 1: school or really decent education that allows you to qualify
Speaker 1: to you know, come to a university in a foreign
Speaker 1: country based off our grades back in Zimbabwe. So so
Speaker 1: for them, their way of us advancing is by them
Speaker 1: giving us what they didn't have, because they think that's
Speaker 1: leveling up, right. But then another thing that they don't
Speaker 1: always appreciate or the blind spot for them is we're
Speaker 1: different generation. But then we've also been thrust into a
Speaker 1: different world Unlike this is so the amount of adjustment
Speaker 1: required and attention to nuance to just even survive in
Speaker 1: this new space, which for which were the first generation, right,
Speaker 1: is something they will never understand. And for us to
Speaker 1: be in a position where we can now sit here
Speaker 1: and not have sub stories but victories, but we can
Speaker 1: also share the journey of the struggles until we got
Speaker 1: to this point, right, it just changes the whole day.
Speaker 1: Like because I can give you an example, like when
Speaker 1: so so when when I headlined new y z here
Speaker 1: in Melbourne, right, find like tens.
Speaker 5: Of thousands of people just dropping that casually.
Speaker 1: It was crazy, Right, So I just finished, We just
Speaker 1: finished settling. Like I was in a class action team
Speaker 1: for a really big firm. We just set of like
Speaker 1: the largest settlement in Australian legal history at the time, right,
Speaker 1: And I was like thirty at the time, and I
Speaker 1: was just sitting in my office thinking, man, like I've
Speaker 1: just like piacked so early, and by then I had
Speaker 1: achieved it. I needed to do help Mom, got my
Speaker 1: brothers through high school in union and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: And I had sacrifices really like my whole life, so
Speaker 1: I could do that whilst I was here, which is
Speaker 1: the point of me coming. So I was like, I
Speaker 1: wanted to do something for myself, and I really wanted
Speaker 1: to pursue music. But then the challenge I had was,
Speaker 1: you know, I was living this dual career situation where
Speaker 1: I had to provide for my family, right, So the
Speaker 1: law thing was paying the bills. But then I was
Speaker 1: a gospel rapper at the time in church, right, so
Speaker 1: you're performing for souls, you know, to you know, preach
Speaker 1: the gospel and all that kind of stuff. So that's
Speaker 1: sharpening your skills, but it's not paying the bills. So
Speaker 1: I really wanted to really have an opportunity to pursue
Speaker 1: my music because I felt like like that was my
Speaker 1: care you know, my vocation, and law was my career.
Speaker 1: Music and entertainment was my vocation. And there's a difference
Speaker 1: between the two, right, your career, like people go to university,
Speaker 1: they can learn how to do that, you know, they
Speaker 1: acquire skill, you know, but your vocation it's God given,
Speaker 1: you know. The most anyone can do is if you
Speaker 1: have it, you have it, you can just polish it
Speaker 1: and make it better. But if you don't have it,
Speaker 1: there's nothing you can look about it. Right, So I
Speaker 1: knew that with a career because so many people can
Speaker 1: qualify to be a lawyer, right, Yeah, I can only
Speaker 1: negotiate my true value up to a certain degree based
Speaker 1: on what the general populace of doing. So unless I
Speaker 1: own a law firm, I have to fit within a
Speaker 1: brackt in theories, right, however, with my vocation, because people
Speaker 1: can't be taught to do exactly what you're described in
Speaker 1: the beginning, right, Read a crowd, whether it's twenty people,
Speaker 1: ten thousand people, one hundred thousand people, and determine how
Speaker 1: you're going to adjust the flow of energy so they're
Speaker 1: receptive to what you do. That's something that's just like
Speaker 1: God give me. And because you've that particular skill set, right,
Speaker 1: that then allows you to actually demand a value because
Speaker 1: people now want to pay for the Symbermac experience. They
Speaker 1: want to pay, you know, for the room experience, their
Speaker 1: mand experience, right, and they can't get it anywhere else, right,
Speaker 1: which is why Chris Brown can charge wady charges, why
Speaker 1: can charge word charges, right. And lawyers have to pay
Speaker 1: whatever they want to and they can always negotiate with
Speaker 1: the lawyer because there's always a cap on their value.
Speaker 1: But there isn't a cap on 's value. There's an
Speaker 1: a cap on Chris Brown's value. So I always understood that.
Speaker 1: So I always want to explore that the entrepreneur and
Speaker 1: me always wanted to see what that looked like. And
Speaker 1: I was like, well, I'm kind of a good place
Speaker 1: with my legal career. It's a nice time to do something.
Speaker 1: And even if I were to fail, I'm going to
Speaker 1: fail forward, but I've said enough for a foundation to
Speaker 1: come back into law. Yeah, So I explained it to
Speaker 1: my mom. I had to have a blessing, right because
Speaker 1: you have single moms, you know, you know zim moms too,
Speaker 1: So so did that and then what happened was so
Speaker 1: fast forward about within about a year and a half.
Speaker 1: What happened was that the fact that I was a
Speaker 1: lawyer allowed me to jump a lot of steps. So
Speaker 1: I got put on like main stages because I was coming.
Speaker 5: For background, so they you knew how to happen.
Speaker 1: Well. I definitely was carrying myself a certain way, energy
Speaker 1: and confidence about me. But at the same time, like
Speaker 1: it takes somebody that's either delusional or knows what they're
Speaker 1: doing to leave a corporate situation uncomfortable, but to embark
Speaker 1: into something that could possibly resulting you not earning anything
Speaker 1: an idiot of yourself. So if people know you've come
Speaker 1: from a successful situation, they're more likely than not to
Speaker 1: give you a shot with your next venture because you've
Speaker 1: done what most people perceive as the hard. Yes, right,
Speaker 1: so they're like, Okay, shouldn't take them too much to
Speaker 1: be able to rock his stakes? Yeah, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. So I just had to sell the image
Speaker 1: right to at least give me an She needs to
Speaker 1: be on stage saying fast forward New Yar's Eve happens.
Speaker 1: I'm on stage right, and I'm headlining the whole thing, right,
Speaker 1: do the fireworks for the whole city whatever. Right. And
Speaker 1: then as I'm performing, right, because a lot of my
Speaker 1: music's autobiographicals by my mom are struggling all yourself and
Speaker 1: my journey, you know, because I love to inspire people, right,
Speaker 1: that's what it's about. I'm thinking to myself, like, I
Speaker 1: need to do three or four of these, and I
Speaker 1: need to fly mom over because she couldn't. She accepted
Speaker 1: the fact that I needed to do it because I'm
Speaker 1: general right by her, But.
Speaker 6: At the same time she's just like, yeah, yeah, my
Speaker 6: son is nice. I'm still going to say quiet this
Speaker 6: so what unbeknownst to me? Right, So so at the
Speaker 6: end of like the concert whatever, So Citium Melbourne was
Speaker 6: involved in it because it was a Federation square and stuff.
Speaker 1: Right, So my team come up to me and they're like, yo,
Speaker 1: someone from city speak to you. So I'm just like
Speaker 1: ship yeah, right, And because then you can't really you know,
Speaker 1: touch on religion or you'll be careful is such a
Speaker 1: public space. So I was thinking to myself, now we're
Speaker 1: so thorough about it, like we spent six months curating
Speaker 1: the show for a whole hour, Like now we knew
Speaker 1: what we do. How could I have gone anything? Who
Speaker 1: did I offend? So anyway, I go to the back dances.
Speaker 1: Everyone's at the back there, you know, the band or whatever,
Speaker 1: just like looking all somber and stuff. I'm trying to
Speaker 1: boost people's morale, Like, guys, do you understand what we just? Do?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Like, there's there's no there's
Speaker 1: a blueprint on how to be a lawyer. There's a
Speaker 1: blueprint on how to be an engineered. There's a blueprint this.
Speaker 5: Stuff, Like there is no blueprint.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we brought this into fruition based off a dream
Speaker 1: that no one believed in, Like who would have thought, right?
Speaker 1: And then everyone's just like yeah, yeah, it's like come on,
Speaker 1: clap people like And then corner my eye, I see
Speaker 1: my mom just walking. She was in the concert the
Speaker 1: whole I had no idea. In fact, we had such
Speaker 1: a bad sound check. I called her and I was like,
Speaker 1: Mom and my buddy umiliated myself in front of the
Speaker 1: whole of Melbourne, and I'm gonna probably need to go
Speaker 1: back on my tailing between my legs and pay for
Speaker 1: my job back. And I was just like, baby, I'm
Speaker 1: on my way to work, I'm busy, I'll talk to you.
Speaker 1: And I was just like this.
Speaker 5: For me, right, yeah, when I need it.
Speaker 2: Mo.
Speaker 1: She's like, okay, it's one of those I told you
Speaker 1: some moments. But seeing her right and knowing that this
Speaker 1: was probably the pen ultimate in terms of experiences for
Speaker 1: me right, having pulled this off right, that all just
Speaker 1: erased my man. I forgot where I was, it didn't matter.
Speaker 1: Tears and then my mom was crying and we like
Speaker 1: crawled to each other. I wasn't find everybody right and
Speaker 1: were just crying. Yeah, and then my mom just came
Speaker 1: and embraced me. And said I couldn't believe it was
Speaker 1: my you're my son, like and she was crying the
Speaker 1: whole time, saying I was just repenting to God, saying
Speaker 1: I did not know that you had this gift in you,
Speaker 1: you know. And I used to spend two hours in
Speaker 1: the toilet when I was nine, and I got this lyric.
Speaker 1: I'm like, like, let me take you back to nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty five. Barbara gave birth to this fat little guy.
Speaker 1: She called him beloved, She called him somebadashi. But Daddy
Speaker 1: looked at me. I said, he's probably gonna make it.
Speaker 1: I remember sitting on the toilet seat age now with
Speaker 1: my pen and pat trying to run my very first ramp,
Speaker 1: My knocking at the door, thinking I'm out of my mind.
Speaker 1: To me, I'm doing homework. To her, I'm wasting time.
Speaker 1: You give me so like so that just came just
Speaker 1: it's crazy, but like to you remember that moment, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's like it just it all made sense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So even my dad not even being in my life,
Speaker 1: like that was all the validation I ever needed. And
Speaker 1: then everything just sort of like the world became It
Speaker 1: made sense to me, made sense to her why she
Speaker 1: had this weirdo you know kid, but you know, like
Speaker 1: you know, glory to God, like you know, I had
Speaker 1: a lot of friends, people like you family, you know,
Speaker 1: to just keep me accountable to my to my vocation
Speaker 1: and to my career along the way.
Speaker 3: So yeah, you touched on so many things. We can
Speaker 3: we can we can, we can dive into. But I
Speaker 3: would love to talk on this aspect of you being
Speaker 3: Zimbabweing right and especially as a man. Do you find
Speaker 3: it hard like that duality you're talking about where you know,
Speaker 3: we've already gotten a picture of how you kind of
Speaker 3: have this belief even from a young age that you
Speaker 3: wanted to make music, but it was kind of like, ah,
Speaker 3: you know, you're a lawyer, you know, but truly going
Speaker 3: an unconventional profession. And I think to our listeners, Simba's description,
Speaker 3: I think gives a good idea of how complex it
Speaker 3: is doing unconventional things if you come from a Zimbabwean background.
Speaker 3: So what was the hardest part for you or do
Speaker 3: you think the goal was so much bigger that you
Speaker 3: never saw it as hard to pursue you know, music
Speaker 3: as well as you know you did law.
Speaker 5: You did what she needed to do.
Speaker 3: But do you understand what I'm saying, Like, like or
Speaker 3: was a goal just that much more of a motivator
Speaker 3: that the hardship was, Like, Okay, it's part of it,
Speaker 3: but the goal is so much bigger and that's what
Speaker 3: I want to do. And what advice would you give
Speaker 3: someone who understands your struggle and is like, I want
Speaker 3: to do that, but I have this dichotomy of like,
Speaker 3: I need to provide for my family, but I also
Speaker 3: feel this calling to do what I was called to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, that's such a brilliant question, and it's such
Speaker 1: a loaded question, so many ways you can sort of
Speaker 1: tackle it. Perhaps I'll use maybe a bit of an
Speaker 1: unconventional sort of response. Okay, so I'll look at it
Speaker 1: from this point of view. So pretty much for the
Speaker 1: majority of my life, I've always heralded and praised my
Speaker 1: single mom, right for the sacrifices she made, right for
Speaker 1: myself and my two younger brothers. Right, But my dad
Speaker 1: passed away in April this year, and we didn't have
Speaker 1: much of a relationship to say the least, right, And
Speaker 1: I never ever gave that man credit for anything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it was only maybe about a month or so ago.
Speaker 1: I ever really posted about him. And it took a
Speaker 1: lot because in spite of what I'd gone through being
Speaker 1: able to be successful, in spite of you know, him
Speaker 1: being an absentia for a big significant part of my life,
Speaker 1: there's still that resentment and then unforgiveness. Right, So naturally
Speaker 1: I try to be the optimist and focus the attention
Speaker 1: of my mom, who did the positive things in my eyes, right,
Speaker 1: But answer your question, I'm about to be a dad, right.
Speaker 1: So on Father's Day I realized, like, that's when I
Speaker 1: broke down for the first time. So my dad died.
Speaker 1: I didn't cry or anything, you know, because I just
Speaker 1: had so much anger anyway towards him. On Father's Day
Speaker 1: it just hit me that, you know, I want to
Speaker 1: be dead, And I was like, would I ever want
Speaker 1: my child to never want ter have a relationship with me?
Speaker 1: And that made me break down. Then the regrets started
Speaker 1: sitting in. Then you go on this path, it can
Speaker 1: be dark, but it's very reflective at the same time.
Speaker 1: And then I started to ask myself, really, the sum
Speaker 1: of solely my mother's contribution, what did this man pour
Speaker 1: into me? Right? Because I look at my siblings, I
Speaker 1: look at me. We built different they've been raised solely
Speaker 1: by my mom. I at least save my first seven
Speaker 1: years of my life for my mom and my dad, right,
Speaker 1: actually eight years. Now. Here's the thing when I think
Speaker 1: of my upbringing. My dad was so intentional about my upbringing.
Speaker 1: So the first thing he said is you're going to
Speaker 1: be an international statement. My mom looked at him, like
Speaker 1: you're crazy, and my dad said, he's going to master
Speaker 1: the Queen's English. He's not going to speak shun her
Speaker 1: the first seven years of his life. He's going to
Speaker 1: master English because he needs to learn that skill so
Speaker 1: he can conquer wherever he ends up in the world.
Speaker 1: My grandparents, who barely could speak a word, had to
Speaker 1: learn how to speak to me because I couldn't speak
Speaker 1: to him. Right. I only started and Shauna because it
Speaker 1: was compulsory because of school, you know. And even with
Speaker 1: that I got to excel. But having a mastery in English, right,
Speaker 1: and then having to go to the schools that we
Speaker 1: went to amongst white people, my dad just gave me
Speaker 1: this sense of like equal, you get what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Even an equal like that, I was superior, Like I
Speaker 1: was always the smartest person, even if I wasn't like
Speaker 1: you give me a sense of you've got enough ego
Speaker 1: to give it a go, and even if you fail,
Speaker 1: you got enough ego to try yet. Right, So having
Speaker 1: that is a foundation right in my mental blueprint, right
Speaker 1: like or my mental DNA R gave me this this
Speaker 1: insurmountable sense of.
Speaker 5: I can do any anything.
Speaker 1: And then now that combined with my mom now taking
Speaker 1: me to church and stuff and watching her overcome what
Speaker 1: she did in a patriarchal society as the matriarch in
Speaker 1: the family where she's not designed to thrive, right, and
Speaker 1: she did kept us in private school. Mama was a
Speaker 1: receptionist when we're at Hartman Urson Saint George's, was able
Speaker 1: to keep me in there, right, But then the endurance
Speaker 1: and she never gave us an excuse. My dad went
Speaker 1: to jail so many from the bank you worked for.
Speaker 1: Right when I was she's like nine years away. That
Speaker 1: was public knowledge. And you imagine to go to school,
Speaker 1: and then I was going to Saint George's, right, and
Speaker 1: I was like one of maybe a handful of guys
Speaker 1: would go to school in public transport Macombe, you know,
Speaker 1: and you know that driveway is a long right, and
Speaker 1: then everyone's like looking at she likes. Right, So you're
Speaker 1: like the poor school, poorest kid at the richest school,
Speaker 1: and you have to go and sit there every day.
Speaker 1: And I remember we used to live in Zada Circle
Speaker 1: for a while, right, So like but you know, like
Speaker 1: an like you know, like like a dryer right to
Speaker 1: dry clothes. So the maid who washed you know, like
Speaker 1: our clothes with their hands, right then hang among the
Speaker 1: clothes line, right. But we didn't have like an electric stove,
Speaker 1: so we cook outside with like, you know, firewood, so
Speaker 1: the smoke was going to of course clothes. And then
Speaker 1: you get into the next and guys are like, yeah,
Speaker 1: why are you smile like that? You know where you're
Speaker 1: coming from or whatever, you know, So dealing with that.
Speaker 1: But then even with that, like I always remember, like
Speaker 1: my mom's struggle, I always remember my dad told me
Speaker 1: I was right. See even at Saint Georgie's. I was
Speaker 1: president at Tourstmasters by Lower six, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like all of these things, I was a prefect both
Speaker 1: at Harmanas and I just I didn't I had this
Speaker 1: relentless drive right to just go, go, go, go go.
Speaker 1: And because you didn't have much money and all that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. I had to find creative ways to
Speaker 1: spend my time. Then it was either God, church or music,
Speaker 1: you know, poetry, whatever. So I was always exploring those things,
Speaker 1: plus my academics and then sports and arts and all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. So I always had that constantly,
Speaker 1: like as a running thing throughout all. Right, So my
Speaker 1: mom would just be too busy to tell me not
Speaker 1: to do certain things, you know what I mean, as
Speaker 1: long as I was like kicking goals and yeah, she's
Speaker 1: like whatever, I don't know what he's doing or whatever.
Speaker 1: So even coming to us like I had to be
Speaker 1: so you know, there had to be so much ingenuity
Speaker 1: in the way. I even thought of how that leaves me, yes,
Speaker 1: because we don't even have money. My mom was like, well,
Speaker 1: it is what it is. But I had faith from
Speaker 1: God and I always knew got to call me to
Speaker 1: be president of Zimbabwe one day, right, So I was like,
Speaker 1: this can't be the end and I can't just go
Speaker 1: to use it. There's nothing wrong with that. But then
Speaker 1: Dad prepped me knowing at some point in my life
Speaker 1: I was going to have to go oversea to go
Speaker 1: master and learn certain things so I can come back
Speaker 1: home and you know, help my people. Right, So I
Speaker 1: was like, nah, So I wrote a letter to tendor
Speaker 1: the wealthies businessmen I knew back home, to see someone
Speaker 1: responds to me. Yeah, went to see them all. The
Speaker 1: tenth guy saw everyone knocked me back. The tenth guy
Speaker 1: I saw said, okay, leave in your dream and pay
Speaker 1: for my first semester so I could get a visa
Speaker 1: to just come in to Australia. Then my mom's sold
Speaker 1: a card to pay for my plane ticket, gave me
Speaker 1: a few hundred bucks to start up. That's how I
Speaker 1: ended up in Australia, right, And then I had to
Speaker 1: work four jobs pretty much concurrently, just so I could
Speaker 1: pay my school fees and all that, just to get
Speaker 1: by and stuff like that. So what when when you
Speaker 1: facing that kind of adversity, right, for a lot of
Speaker 1: people that don't have anything to counter it with. We
Speaker 1: grew up around black lawyers, black doctors, black garbage collectors
Speaker 1: or whatever. Right, So whatever adversity I was going to
Speaker 1: go through here, I had something to counter it with
Speaker 1: because of what I saw in my what I was,
Speaker 1: what I was immersed in back home. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: which is so so I didn't have to permanently code switch. Yes,
Speaker 1: compared to a kid who's born here, it doesn't have
Speaker 1: anything to challenge when they told a black kid that
Speaker 1: your race, you're you know, you're black, or you're not,
Speaker 1: you're only worth this much or whatever. And then you're
Speaker 1: the society or the institutions condition you to that you
Speaker 1: need to code switch to white, to free, not just
Speaker 1: to fit in, but just to have a chance to
Speaker 1: make it right. And and we we were told you
Speaker 1: can be all of these things because we've seen that.
Speaker 3: And that's actually something we don't talk enough about, I think,
Speaker 3: is how we have that privilege of having seen, you know,
Speaker 3: black people succeed in their own country.
Speaker 1: We don't have to worry about race, Okay, So it's
Speaker 1: it's normalized. So when someone tells you you can't do
Speaker 1: it here, you're like, what are you talking about? My dad?
Speaker 1: Is this? My mom? And my AUNTI is this? It's
Speaker 1: not even that far removed, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I'm here, I'm juggling full time, juggling full time UNI,
Speaker 1: and I'm thriving at both. So what's what's the right?
Speaker 1: What's all of these things? So you learn how to
Speaker 1: be duality or being a trifecta of skills, like you
Speaker 1: have to be like what about is all things to
Speaker 1: all men? You know? And even when you're in this space,
Speaker 1: it's not it's not good enough as a black person
Speaker 1: to just be good at one thing, right. You don't
Speaker 1: get to get into corporate just being good on one thing, right.
Speaker 1: You gotta be good at the thing that everyone else
Speaker 1: is good at it. Then you want to show them
Speaker 1: why you're special because because for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: you're the first version of your complexion they ever seen
Speaker 1: in that space. Definitely take like you gotta you got
Speaker 1: a Nelson Mandel, Do you know what I'm saying? And
Speaker 1: that's not because so that you can thry, so you
Speaker 1: can keep the door open.
Speaker 2: For the next Yeah, the amount of times I go
Speaker 2: to meetings on my PA and they greet my pa,
Speaker 2: I am you are the paps. And also she's an
Speaker 2: older white lady and she now gets the point where
Speaker 2: she kind of loves it. She knows it's gonna happen,
Speaker 2: Like she's like, no, that's Amanda. Yeah, I don't even
Speaker 2: like one guy, I literally like muscle this way past
Speaker 2: me to come and greet her.
Speaker 1: That's crazy, Like no, it's like, you know, they've just
Speaker 1: never seen that. And also with that, right, then comes
Speaker 1: the thing of like you have to also condition yourself
Speaker 1: to understand you can't as offensive as certain things. Maybe
Speaker 1: you cannot operate from a place of emotion no, right,
Speaker 1: because you got to understand nuance right, because there's there's
Speaker 1: a difference, and we all learned this. Right. You don't
Speaker 1: get a playbook of how to thrive in this situation, right.
Speaker 1: Our parents didn't know how to do it. We're the
Speaker 1: first ones to try it out, right, But the wise
Speaker 1: ones of us figured out that we have to make
Speaker 1: a decision whether we want to be right or whether
Speaker 1: we want to win pick one, because when you start winning,
Speaker 1: you can afford to be right. Sometimes when you choose
Speaker 1: to be right, you seldom can afford to wait if
Speaker 1: you don't control the system in place. Right, So we're
Speaker 1: trying to be in there and to normalize our presence
Speaker 1: in a lot of these spaces where us being there's
Speaker 1: a foreign concept or unlikely and things like this still
Speaker 1: happen to this, you know, but.
Speaker 2: It's exhausting, But we do open avenues for other people.
Speaker 2: I remember the first time, I mean at my workplace,
Speaker 2: I was the first black woman. And then we did
Speaker 2: another round of interviews for like it was just not
Speaker 2: a like an entry level job, and this Nigerian lady
Speaker 2: applied and she said, look, I've raised my three girls.
Speaker 2: Now I'm an empty nest, so all I want is
Speaker 2: just a job until I retire. So this is perfect
Speaker 2: for me. And I was like, on paper, a perfect candidate.
Speaker 2: She walks in obviously shows a Nigerian accent.
Speaker 1: They're like no.
Speaker 2: I was like, no, why why because there's a Columbian downstairs.
Speaker 4: Why can't understand?
Speaker 2: But like, y'all think she's cute, so that's why, you know,
Speaker 2: And I had to challenge them. I thought, you know what,
Speaker 2: this is probably the reason why you do open the doors,
Speaker 2: you said, for others to come through.
Speaker 4: And she's apisolutely brilliant type of kills it because she
Speaker 4: has that purpose because she's.
Speaker 2: Like, you know, I'm at home, I'm all alone. My
Speaker 2: job is my social network. And now they all love her.
Speaker 2: But it took that like jumping into that known for
Speaker 2: them because they were like, oh, we can't get past
Speaker 2: the accent. And in fact, she's speaking English again you
Speaker 2: can all hear what she's saying.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, you know, that's interesting, that's that's such
Speaker 1: a valid point. So firstly to your point about being tied, right,
Speaker 1: there is a degree of exhaustion, right. And and the
Speaker 1: thing is like, even amongst ourselves, right, sometimes you can
Speaker 1: be so embarrassed even to discuss amongst ourselves what we're
Speaker 1: struggling with, because we always want to appear strong, because
Speaker 1: that's what you know, keep up appearances, right.
Speaker 5: Because that's what our parents did to be fair.
Speaker 1: To be fair, that's a form of codes because you're
Speaker 1: not being real, but she's being what's necessary for the moment.
Speaker 1: But some of us don't uncode switch back to reality,
Speaker 1: and that's where the stress comes, that's where the frustration comes,
Speaker 1: that's where the unrealistic expectations come, and that's where the
Speaker 1: very realistic disappointment comes. Right. And if we have more
Speaker 1: of these discussions amongst ourselves and also acknowledge and also
Speaker 1: make it, make people aware of it. And because we've
Speaker 1: done well all right, we're probably the best candidates to
Speaker 1: actually broke discussions like racism that way. We're not coming
Speaker 1: from an emotional stand true, because we have a right
Speaker 1: to you, but we want to win this discussion and
Speaker 1: we don't want to win the argument and lose the person.
Speaker 1: So we will never come from a place of emotion,
Speaker 1: will come from a place.
Speaker 4: Of intellect, said like a true lawyer.
Speaker 5: Yeah, very very diplomatic.
Speaker 3: We see, we see why you do what you do,
Speaker 3: like you do want it for TV?
Speaker 1: Okay, but you feel me right like, no, I get
Speaker 1: it at the end of the day, right, because people
Speaker 1: always they rush to racism, and yes, but that's a
Speaker 1: very simplistic way of putting it. And you know what,
Speaker 1: to somebody where to whom it's happening to, it makes sense. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: But then there is this thing about racism right where
Speaker 1: it's like colonization back in the day, you know, Britain
Speaker 1: could go in and invade a country and do what
Speaker 1: they wanted. Right now they get to do it to
Speaker 1: multinational companies. In fact, it's an evolutionary version of colonization, right,
Speaker 1: all right, And there's that's it's a long story, but
Speaker 1: there's the reason why we're all here and not at all, right,
Speaker 1: but that's a different discussion together. They're calling us out nice,
Speaker 1: But what I will say, though, what I will say
Speaker 1: is that racism's version of that is classes and when
Speaker 1: it evolves, right, So then it becomes this thing where
Speaker 1: racism shouts classes and whispers. Right, So racism shouts offense,
Speaker 1: classes and whispers offense, and it's designed specifically to be
Speaker 1: targeted at the person it's supposed to undermine and keep down.
Speaker 1: And then because it's whispered, only that person hears it.
Speaker 1: And then when they say it out loud, because no
Speaker 1: one else hears it, no one else, it might not happen.
Speaker 1: And that it didn't happen, it couldn't have happened. So
Speaker 1: sometimes racism is a preferred thing because it can actually
Speaker 1: it puts things on the table that can be dealt.
Speaker 3: Have you watched Origin, a movie by Ava currently on Netflix.
Speaker 3: I'm telling everybody to watch.
Speaker 1: This Australian Netflix.
Speaker 4: That's yeah, on European European Netflix.
Speaker 3: But if we got it on the European Netflix, I'm
Speaker 3: sure it's come to it or it will come. But basically,
Speaker 3: she's challenging this notion of we always quick to say
Speaker 3: everything's racism, but then her as you talk classism, I
Speaker 3: think it's very true. We had an episode on classism
Speaker 3: if you haven't really listened to it, but also cost system.
Speaker 3: But it's all about you know, putting someone else down
Speaker 3: to you know, put yourself. And I think we need
Speaker 3: to realize that the conversations around discrimination are very nuanced
Speaker 3: and we can't always just leave it to race, and
Speaker 3: with things like classism and cost systems. It also challenges
Speaker 3: you because it happens between people who look the same
Speaker 3: of the same nationality, same race. And we don't like
Speaker 3: that because it makes us feel like, oh so you know,
Speaker 3: and if you think about it in that perspective, it's uncomfortable, right,
Speaker 3: So you you Bridge, you speak a very good point.
Speaker 1: But the thing is, the thing about race isn't them
Speaker 1: which is And I love your points, they're so on
Speaker 1: point racism. Think about it. It actually gives you a
Speaker 1: cheat cut. If you're successful and rich, you get to
Speaker 1: enter into this is. You get us set at the
Speaker 1: table classes in no matter how successful you are, exactly
Speaker 1: like you will remind you of who you are.
Speaker 7: Fact, you're not part of the origin families, this situation,
Speaker 7: you know what I mean, through the cracks and the
Speaker 7: system whatever.
Speaker 1: So to me, the exhaustion in having to more often
Speaker 1: than not be the only person in these rooms where
Speaker 1: there's high pressure expectations to perform or whatever and bite
Speaker 1: your tongue right for the sake of whoever might come
Speaker 1: after you, for your survival, for your ability to thrive,
Speaker 1: takes a massive toll that nobody that doesn't look a
Speaker 1: certain way hasn't gone through. What we want to think
Speaker 1: about it. We're like, what, seven thousand miles eleven thousand
Speaker 1: kilometers away from the place who were born, and we've
Speaker 1: been that way for the last two decades with no supervision.
Speaker 1: How do you end up like this? There has to
Speaker 1: be something in the water where there's cultural discipline, whatever
Speaker 1: it is, back home, because there's just way too many
Speaker 1: of us that have come from that situation of abject
Speaker 1: poverty or something or whatever, and we're just thrust into
Speaker 1: this situation, put on planes to come here. Have made it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if we were to flip the script with kids born here,
Speaker 1: the resilience.
Speaker 4: We're not there.
Speaker 1: We're cut from a different apologetic about that, and there's
Speaker 1: something to be celebrated about us even surviving here. But
Speaker 1: we've thrived.
Speaker 3: Thank you for saying that, Because I think this rhetoric
Speaker 3: around millennials of a matching our parents' success and all
Speaker 3: this it's very loud, right, but I think The way
Speaker 3: you've kind of put it is that think about where
Speaker 3: we came from and the odds we faced that are
Speaker 3: on a completely different playing field too. You know a
Speaker 3: lot of our peers who don't.
Speaker 2: Have that, and the opportunity is not given. A lot
Speaker 2: of times they won't tell you about the ground. Yeah
Speaker 2: university are you land? You know, yeah, I'm working for
Speaker 2: jobs to make It's not the same, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the thing is because they gave your leg up.
Speaker 1: And here's another thing. We we all majority of us
Speaker 1: came here, right, So back home they'll think, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: simple as in Australia. Yeah, right, okay, cool. But if
Speaker 1: you think about it, the way things are supposed to
Speaker 1: work from one generation to the next, right, You're supposed
Speaker 1: to have compounding interests. You're supposed to be the benef
Speaker 1: history of those that came before. Right. So for example,
Speaker 1: like in my situation, fine, I found a way to
Speaker 1: get myself here, right, But then I'm the first generation.
Speaker 1: I'm what the first Italians were, the first grades were,
Speaker 1: That's what I am, right, But then I'm not working
Speaker 1: oft an inheritance from my parents. Big fact, I'm coming
Speaker 1: here to something so I can pay a black time. Yes,
Speaker 1: So I'm coming here to be a parent.
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1: So I'm missing I don't when I look back at Younique,
Speaker 1: it wasn't enjoyable to me. I had to fake. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you guys even noticed that I was
Speaker 1: working for jobs or whatever. Mind Roma got canceled five
Speaker 1: times because I was behind on my school. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. It's like I supposed to be deported
Speaker 1: five times over, like the Romance managers, like at least
Speaker 1: is paying his rent on time whatever, and his grades
Speaker 1: are decent. I'll try and keep it from the ball
Speaker 1: from the bar, doesn't you know what I'm saying. But
Speaker 1: then amongst your peers, you're also trying to hustle and
Speaker 1: do these kind of thing. So when you think of
Speaker 1: all of that stuff, and then we're starting at a
Speaker 1: point where we've got to send money back, so we're
Speaker 1: not even making like that forward stride we're supposed to
Speaker 1: if we had said or kept all the money we're sending. Yeah, definitely, right,
Speaker 1: So I get to start my family way later because
Speaker 1: I had to raise my brothers and all that stuff. Right,
Speaker 1: So that's all my But at the same time that
Speaker 1: also forced me to push myself beyond what I was
Speaker 1: willing to do for myself. Right, there was a benefit,
Speaker 1: there's a bigger goal, yes, for sure. Right, but we
Speaker 1: all we all struggle like in that respect, like having
Speaker 1: to do those kinds of things. Right, So you're here
Speaker 1: and your savings are necessarily up to power or whatever,
Speaker 1: and you're at X age whatever, but it's you've paid
Speaker 1: a black tast black Your life may actually realistically speaking
Speaker 1: properly start with you being enjoying the fruits of your
Speaker 1: labor maybe age.
Speaker 2: And then people are thinking about you been there for
Speaker 2: thirty years, twenty years? What?
Speaker 1: And then it's think about it's scary to post anything
Speaker 1: on social because I can be interributed back home really
Speaker 1: something nice whatever, eating you know, like and also the guilt.
Speaker 2: Do notay even in a room be coming here and
Speaker 2: we'll be just so frank even coming out with the podcast.
Speaker 4: But so the.
Speaker 2: Podcast making myself and it's like people don't understand the satrifice, sacrifice.
Speaker 3: You're scared to let people know the work because listen,
Speaker 3: we can go on and like there's so many things
Speaker 3: touched on, so many.
Speaker 4: So late, but I.
Speaker 3: But I will say thank you, I know, we have
Speaker 3: to wrap up now and time is running out, but
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 5: It was very.
Speaker 3: It's been very important, I think hearing especially from a
Speaker 3: male perspective. I think that's another thing, especially in our community,
Speaker 3: men are not sparent around the experience the realities of
Speaker 3: being in the diaspora and the journey of my grating.
Speaker 3: And I'm so glad that you opened up about so
Speaker 3: many aspects of that journey, as well as trying to
Speaker 3: be a creative whilst also being a support system to
Speaker 3: your family, especially back home and financially. Like, there's so
Speaker 3: many layers to your life, to a lot of our
Speaker 3: lives when we are trying to make it in this
Speaker 3: new world we've been given.
Speaker 5: So I just want to say thank you for that,
Speaker 5: for sharing that.
Speaker 4: Clearly we need to have.
Speaker 5: Another conversation because clearly so much more.
Speaker 2: I just had one question to ask you, and as
Speaker 2: you were speaking about how you mastered the English language,
Speaker 2: do you think that played the usual and you being.
Speaker 1: A lyricist, No one's got no one's got painted like that,
Speaker 1: That's what I mean. Excited finish that thought. So so
Speaker 1: when I was reflecting on it, right, I was like,
Speaker 1: the only reason I got the the springboard right to
Speaker 1: even have the mindset of God, to even have the
Speaker 1: ability to identify things by a nuance or whatever, because
Speaker 1: I had an advantage and a head start from anyone
Speaker 1: else up against So even in schools, killing the white
Speaker 1: kids English even here killed the white kids even and
Speaker 1: mastering English because of the way the languages constructed helped
Speaker 1: me learn languages like Latin and French. You know, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Oh, I guess law.
Speaker 4: Yeah, even this is.
Speaker 1: A Saint George's like they used to.
Speaker 3: People like Latin people did I did not know that, Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, And then you got to do your you
Speaker 3: know your sciences, you know, chemistry, biophysics or whatever, you know.
Speaker 1: What I mean, like like you do it all right.
Speaker 1: But then he gave me that, and I always and
Speaker 1: for a long time. Yes, I did carry shame because
Speaker 1: of what my dad did, you know, going to prison
Speaker 1: on le style, but I also carried pride because of
Speaker 1: our last name and what he did, what he represents,
Speaker 1: all the stories they do about your uncles and stuff. Right,
Speaker 1: So credit to my dad. May rest in peace, but
Speaker 1: he puts such an incredible thing. And I feel like
Speaker 1: men a lot of times they get thankless jobs, you know,
Speaker 1: and they don't get praised, They don't get acknowledged for
Speaker 1: the roles they play in their family's lives in nine
Speaker 1: times out of ten, like what tends to be highlighted
Speaker 1: is what they do wrong, you know. And I'm literally
Speaker 1: an example of that, right well, my dad, you know.
Speaker 1: And it's unfortunate that you know, it took that long
Speaker 1: to realize that, right, But I'm glad I did anyway,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But it also is helping
Speaker 1: me deconstruct why I'm the way I am, why I'm
Speaker 1: different from my brothers who only got raised with unconditional love.
Speaker 1: My dad raised me with full on, intense discipline right
Speaker 1: for the first half of my life when I was
Speaker 1: in zim and then I had unconditional love for my
Speaker 1: mom solely, right, but my brother's only got unconditional love.
Speaker 1: We build different in was sometimes you need a man
Speaker 1: because I don't think I don't listen to my mom
Speaker 1: the way I would have. My dad put a sense
Speaker 1: of reviewing. I'm not saying it's healthy extent to which
Speaker 1: way where like, you know, you've got to get the
Speaker 1: kid to get certain things done, and he put just
Speaker 1: enough in me that when he was absent for the
Speaker 1: rest of my life, those seven years were enough.
Speaker 2: I mean, Ruby, I'm sure has seen it now even
Speaker 2: with Jerome like I'll be like, I'm so comes through
Speaker 2: and does what he needs to do it. So, I
Speaker 2: mean this season, we were really trying to celebrate black women,
Speaker 2: and but it was really important for us to have
Speaker 2: you on because there is black men too, and I
Speaker 2: think you don't have spaces that we always celebrate you,
Speaker 2: so to have you on our podcast, but this episode
Speaker 2: has been so special for us.
Speaker 4: And shout out to our brothers.
Speaker 6: Yes and.
Speaker 5: So good.
Speaker 1: I would this makes sense because I was, for the
Speaker 1: most part of my life raised by a single woman, right.
Speaker 1: I will tell you, as a man, I do have
Speaker 1: a nuanced appreciation and perspective when it comes to women.
Speaker 1: So because of what I saw my mom did right
Speaker 1: as a single woman in that patriarchal society, when I
Speaker 1: look at women, I know there's a lot of things
Speaker 1: you do do way better than we could if it
Speaker 1: were a civil parents a little louder for those. But
Speaker 1: because I was there to see my mom, there's things
Speaker 1: that I expect out of women that I'm like, nah,
Speaker 1: you can do that I know what you're capable, I
Speaker 1: know how strong you can be. Not for everyone, but
Speaker 1: for a lot of you. There's that. So also want
Speaker 1: to also send a message that there is that thing
Speaker 1: that men do see, you know, and it is the
Speaker 1: time for women to actually shine, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And we are in a world now where it doesn't
Speaker 1: always have to be on the man to do the
Speaker 1: financials or whatever. You women have demonstrated, our mothers have
Speaker 1: demonstrated right that you guys are just as intellectually confident,
Speaker 1: if not more so than us men. But then the
Speaker 1: ability when we are talking about duality, since we are
Speaker 1: on that topic, you guys are literally the blueprints of that.
Speaker 1: You guys are the originated. You showed us how to
Speaker 1: do it. I learned how to duality from my mom,
Speaker 1: you know. But then when we do master your skills,
Speaker 1: say thank you to us, encourage us, as we've got
Speaker 1: make to.
Speaker 4: Give you some flowers.
Speaker 1: Flowers, flowers perfect.
Speaker 2: So twenty twenty five you started with the bang with
Speaker 2: obviously having you on the podcast what you have in
Speaker 2: store for yourself for twenty twenty five. Obviously as you're
Speaker 2: going to be a fan to your father, that's crazy.
Speaker 2: It's exciting in your creative space.
Speaker 4: What can we look.
Speaker 1: Forward to it? Yeah? Dropping music. So I'm I'm like
Speaker 1: a serial like perfectionist. So I've done all these things
Speaker 1: my music and stuff like performing and stuff, but I've
Speaker 1: never released anything. I've always just wanted to have like
Speaker 1: the perfect representation should be. So if I listened to
Speaker 1: ten years from now, I'm not cringing, you know, and
Speaker 1: I think I've got to that place now. They're probably
Speaker 1: releasing some new music, so that's going to be crazy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And just focusing on being a dad and being present
Speaker 1: man and like trying to to to you know, part
Speaker 1: a lot of what I learned from my parents and
Speaker 1: from my experience as well, and also just navigating I
Speaker 1: guess that that that challenge now for like raising you know,
Speaker 1: arguably a black kid. You know it should be half
Speaker 1: you know, Zimbabwe and a half Italian, right, like like
Speaker 1: just raising her in this foreign sort of space, you know,
Speaker 1: where also there's a very good chance she won't. Identity
Speaker 1: is a big thing, right and then it look like
Speaker 1: her dad looks like a mom exactly you know, my
Speaker 1: girl dad girl.
Speaker 4: For my intellect, so.
Speaker 1: You can stick to you and you can get a
Speaker 1: license to.
Speaker 8: Get into morning so she can pay bills, that can
Speaker 8: be a full time parent, you know, but things like
Speaker 8: that forward looking forward to that.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to doing a lot of things and
Speaker 1: correct doing a lot of course correction, I think, and
Speaker 1: actually taking a break from just the hustle and bustle
Speaker 1: and just slowing down and just reflecting on life and
Speaker 1: being present, which is something luxury we just haven't had,
Speaker 1: right you know, when we're going to UNI, like other
Speaker 1: kids had their families and had meals cook for them,
Speaker 1: you know, grocery and all that.
Speaker 2: Whatever we remember through COVID, people will be like, I
Speaker 2: can't see my mom.
Speaker 4: She's gonna trouble as I'm like the board does a
Speaker 4: close anywhere?
Speaker 1: Please different, there's level service and it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's actually good. We can laugh about a lot
Speaker 1: of this because there's a lot of trauma, you know.
Speaker 1: And the thing is like our parents nine times out
Speaker 1: of ten and family back home are just concerned primarily
Speaker 1: with just the result the goal. Did you do what
Speaker 1: we sent you to do. We're not too concerned about
Speaker 1: how you got there, unless you're going to embarrass us
Speaker 1: and do something right, So we raised each other. That's
Speaker 1: the point I'm trying to make the peers that were
Speaker 1: with us, because you are the ones that are part
Speaker 1: of the journey. I have friends that like I remember
Speaker 1: when I was like it was too hard to raise
Speaker 1: school fee's money, right, I was like, I'm going to
Speaker 1: focus on being an artist because that's what comes. And
Speaker 1: actually like I'll be a rapper. I don't think I'm
Speaker 1: going to be a lawyer. I'm probably go to get
Speaker 1: to port before. So maybe if I pursue my music,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe I can potentially get a record deal,
Speaker 1: you know, because I don't think I'm going to graduate.
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm going to finish law ands like,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a real thing for me. But
Speaker 1: it was being around friends. I have a friend called
Speaker 1: Rodney who was a union that's in visual right, so
Speaker 1: he's like a cardiologist, like crazy surgeon in Adelaide now,
Speaker 1: And I remember he was studying BioMed did BioMed too,
Speaker 1: and that's a three year degree. And I remember like
Speaker 1: he would go and study for that game said exam
Speaker 1: by himself and like you tell us like he wants
Speaker 1: to be a doctor, and mean just at their murder
Speaker 1: at whatever. Yeah yeah, yea, yeah yeah yeah pipe dream
Speaker 1: pipe Dane. He went, so people go and get private
Speaker 1: lessons and stuff to do that he taught him. So
Speaker 1: he's self taught. When set the game said, examin himself.
Speaker 1: Got into University of Queensland Medical School, hushold his way
Speaker 1: through the moment he left Perth. Most people get to
Speaker 1: have that experience at the end when everyone graduates and
Speaker 1: then they're like, Okay, everyone gets a job, everyone moves on.
Speaker 1: I was fortunate enough he finished his degree before me
Speaker 1: and left. I felt that hollowness of like I don't
Speaker 1: want to be that guy that was left, and all
Speaker 1: my other guys amade to lunches or whatever, and guys
Speaker 1: are like, now we got you, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, you know I don't want to I
Speaker 1: never wanted to be. And that just woke me up
Speaker 1: and I was like, do you try. I've got my
Speaker 1: mentor my symbol mushroom bob. We're coming from church. Once
Speaker 1: I was still in that mindset of like life is
Speaker 1: too hard, you know, like you know I'm not going
Speaker 1: to make it. I was in that give up mode,
Speaker 1: right and he just graduated. He'd done become you know,
Speaker 1: accounting and all that, and he just got an internship
Speaker 1: at an accounting firm. We're coming from church one day
Speaker 1: in pert hour holidays, right, and then he'd forgotten some
Speaker 1: paperwork at work so had to drive through the city
Speaker 1: so you couldn't gave me in the car because it
Speaker 1: was too hot. So he's like, I do just come
Speaker 1: on me, right, So I was like, okay, whatever, some there,
Speaker 1: I head backwards, you know, I was, you know, like
Speaker 1: begging jeans, you know, it is skunking, yeah, all day,
Speaker 1: so in oversized teas whatever. I'm thinking, I'm a thug
Speaker 1: aut in these streets. Right. So we walk into this
Speaker 1: corporate space, right, So I'm used to seeing him work
Speaker 1: at at the Kioska Celtics, right, never seen him in
Speaker 1: a corporate station. So now I'm thinking, like he told
Speaker 1: me at the jobs like whatever. So we walk into
Speaker 1: it into the building again to the lift go up forever.
Speaker 1: He's got a pass and he's going through this stuff
Speaker 1: and I'm just like a black man works in this space.
Speaker 1: It took me back to Zim and reminded me of
Speaker 1: where I came from. Then, without him having to usher
Speaker 1: a word, sorry utter a word, right, he ushered me
Speaker 1: into my future. That's why mentor is important because they
Speaker 1: can they can express things to you that you're willing
Speaker 1: to receive. But that also caused the course correction for
Speaker 1: to be like, you have no excuse not to do this,
Speaker 1: to finish it. Yeah, and that's why I'm in the position.
Speaker 1: I mean, so we always.
Speaker 3: Bars bars okay, such, thank you so so much. Where
Speaker 3: can people keep up with you so when you finally release, yeah,
Speaker 3: we can be in the note.
Speaker 1: Appreciate that. We'll probably launch our website at the time,
Speaker 1: but for now, Instagram is probably the place. And so
Speaker 1: it's simbamac that's the handles at I T S S,
Speaker 1: I N B A m ak yep. Hit me up there, man,
Speaker 1: Let's stay connected, be empowered people. You know, thrive, thrive, thrive.
Speaker 1: You know it's not always easy, but it's possible. It's possible.
Speaker 1: Anything you practice and you're willing to learn, you can achieve, conquerrent, thrive.
Speaker 1: So I encourage you to do that.
Speaker 4: Oh, thank you, beautiful, thank you so much.
Speaker 3: I feel like I've gone through like a life life coaching,
Speaker 3: like you know, it's been.
Speaker 4: Such a beautiful episode. Hey, someone needs to some money.
Speaker 2: On that note, there are we better go, and thank
Speaker 2: you so much for tuning in. It's been a beautiful episode.
Speaker 2: And thank you Simba for your time.
Speaker 1: Thank you for the opportunity for the platform, and thank
Speaker 1: you for even just allowing us to come and share
Speaker 1: our journeys and our stories, you know, unfiltered, you know,
Speaker 1: and asking the right questions and actually caring enough to
Speaker 1: go to those places because because sometimes you know, you're
Speaker 1: you know, the people you're interviewing will take you certain places.
Speaker 1: But like that's why Oprah is a genius, because it
Speaker 1: takes a very special person able to sit across the
Speaker 1: table from and bring out like how much stuff do
Speaker 1: you guys need to know? How intelligent to pull that off? Intelligence?
Speaker 4: Oprah?
Speaker 3: You heard that right here right now, Oprah. Anyway, with that,
Speaker 3: thank you so much, everybody, catch you guys on the
Speaker 3: next guy.
Speaker 1: Bye.