Hey, hey, hey, we're black, We're brown. Wait, we're back, we're black, We're brown ambition, hey, Mandra.
And all black and brown lives matter. Yes, I've loved the little tweak that people are making to that hashtag. Now all black lives matter. Yes, it's one of the highlights of the week. I am you know what I
have tapped into my college freshman self. I feel like a bright, ad, bushy tailed eighteen year old Mandy Lee out of the house, let loose on a campus an hour and a half away, and so excited to sign up for all the career fair, you know, not career fair, all the activity at the activities fair, you know when you're a freshman. But I don't have the stamina that I quite did, so I think I've signed up for a few too many things the past week, and I am tired. But it's a good kind of tired feel.
I know that there are so many people and you have every right to be exhausted and just drained and sad, and I know that there are plenty of you. I mean, listen, I'm from Atlanta and my heart is bleeding for that city. My family is there, my brother was out there in the streets protesting yet another killing, this time a young man named ray Shard Brooks, who just you know, you guys have probably seen the video. Don't have to get into it, but there's a lot of heaviness out there.
What I will say is, I've chosen I've chosen to This is gonna sound kind of like crappy, but I feel like we have to take advantage of people's guilt, y'all. And you know what people I'm talking about. And people are feeling real sorry because they have been to face theirselves in the mirror for the first time and face their own their own what do you call it, their own complicity in allowing these types of things to continue. And people are acknowledging, oh shit, I could have done
something all this time and I never? Why did I never? What do I think this is? Did I think this was okay all this time? And they're really people. And I'm talking not just about people like in my family, but but companies too. A lot of businesses out there are trying to talk to their employees, talk to the public, and rise to this occasion. And for me, for me, it feels like a call to action. I really have
felt this calling. I know I joked about it, but I feel like, if you're out there and you want to be an ally, I'm not quite I I we all have every reason to be cynical about the people who are stepping up now, reaching out of hand to lift us up. Why weren't you here, you know, hundreds of bodies ago, Why weren't you here deck ago? They're here now. And I personally have chosen to go with hope,
and I've chosen to go with optimism. I've chosen to reach out, grab their hand, but pull them where I want them to go, and lead them the direction that I want to go. And I and I think if if you're not tired enough, or you're not tired and you're not exhausted, I encourage you to look at this as an opportunity. This is the moment finally people are listening. So what can we ask for? What can we what can we do to lift black Americans up at this time?
And that is Yeah, that's how I'm doing. But it's been a it's been a hell of a week. But it feels good. It's like it's like when you work out, which you know I don't do anymore, but you're good. Yeah, I just you know, what about you? What's happened in the budget needs to land.
I don't know. I just feel like I think opening up talking about like what does it look like to be allies? Just a great opening because I did this this movement called Share the Mic. Now, some of y'all might have sinked it. It was awesome. It was put together by Lovey, my friend Lovey, my friend Bozima, and Stacey Bennett. I think of alex Olivia and oh it
was another woman's name. I'm sorry, I'm forgetting her name. Basically, two white women, two black women decided, let's get together and do something to amplify the voices of black women. And so what they did was they found fifty black women and fifty white women, and the white women had like a collective audience size of like something insane, like
two hundred and eighty million or something like that. And so they had everyone from Allen to Courtney Kardashian to Julia Roberts to just like just every type of woman, to Hillary Clinton to Chelsea Handler, I mean some of the largest names that you know out there, and they gave their platform for the day. There Instagram platform to a black women that they were paired with. I was
paired with soccer superstar Ashlyn Harris. She's totally badass and she uh she was in the She won the Feet for World Cup with her and her team last year, and then I think in twenty fifteen, she and her and her wife live in Florida. She played soccer for the Orlando Pride. Honestly, she's just dope all around. So we got on the phone ahead of time and she was like, honestly, Tiffany, do whatever you need to do. Like I was like, well, how's your audience gonna take it?
She's like, no, there used to be standing up. I stand up for LGBTQ whites all the time, and I stand up for black lives matter as well. So I was a little nervous. So I started off like, yeah, you guys.
Don't interrupt you. But to interrupt you, I watched and it was I wondered because you posted on her account thereout the day, and I wondered how you picked because this was a big opportunity for you. Yes, I and you were so articulate. I know you had some technical difficulties, but on the other end, coming in and watching it after you. It didn't don't worry because I thought it
was great. It was still fantastic, But I did wonder, how did you pick and choose the stories you shared with that audience, because you know, it was it was a moment to rise to the occasion.
So beforehand, Ashley and I spoke on the phone the day before and she, you know, I just told her, what do you think is going to be most impactful? And she was like, honestly, storytelling, And I said, I agree, that's my natural nature anyway, but I wanted to see with her audience because who would know best. And so once we just decided that, like you know, storytelling is going to be super impactful, I really sat with myself and I said, what is it that I want people
to take away from this? Folks that the point of taking over an Instagram account of a white woman, it's because her audience is likely not to know me, and so I get to be in front of an audience so they can hear me and see me. Because you love this particular woman, you follow her. And so I decided I wanted to open up with just some facts that was like my well, my first everybody's first had to be about themselves, like, you know, allow me to
reintroduce myself. My name is be right. So that's what I did my first post. My second post, I really wanted to share some facts, but easily digestible facts about how on every aspect of life, race plays a role
in a way that negatively impacts African Americans. So whether it's employment, whether it's health, whether it's even a student, like black children are three times more likely to be suspended, you know, even healthcare that doctor sixty seven percent of doctors said they have a bias against African American patients.
That's crazy, sixty seven percent. So I just wanted to share like those, like something that people can visually see, and so I shared that first, and then I thought, Okay, how do I get people to see that racism is not just the dead black bodies you see on social media,
It's the systematic thing. And so the second post I did was myself when I was when I experienced my first overt experience with racism when I was nine and I was followed in the store and basically the lady told me to get out because I was black nine like knock need like I had like a Jerry Crow afro,
not intimidating, you know, like just nine years old. And I ran home to tell my mother and she told me that she too had been put out of that store in Westfield, New Jersey, shout out to barons, Hey bitch.
So so that was the second that's the opposite of a shout out, you know.
And then from there I was like, Okay, now I have to take over. I think the third post I did was just like, hey, I'm going to go live tonight. So when I went live and sharing the stories, I really wanted to illustrate that racism wasn't just this like getting punched in the face getting that it was these like the seemingly innoculous innoculo, innoculous, inoculus, innoculus anoculous. Oh my goodness, I swear no words.
Through Well, you used to probably go to Manhattan through the oculus, which I don't even know what it is, the shopping mall, the Freedom Power Area, Okay, go ahead.
So they don't seem so big, but they add up. So I shared stories like from what I was really young, because I wanted them to be bite sized. I shared stories from when my sister was in second grade and someone rode on a wall in the bathroom. My baby sister, Lisa, and we lived in Westfield, where I grew up a Lajoriti white town. So some kids said that with Lisa
it was not But that wasn't the hard part. The hard part was they brought her into them principal's office, and they basically threatened her and said they were going to call the police on a second grader. Meanwhile, did never call my parents? She's hysterical crying. They're like, you did, do it? Send her back to class. She comes home later on that day crying and telling my mom what happened. I mean my mother the way she flew down to
the school the next day. She let them know, I'm going to call every new station, every magazine, every every outlet possible and tear this place up. But that is so I wanted to show that, like second graders getting the police called on them because someone said you've run in the bathroom or all. That's what it is to
be black, you know, in this country. And I moved up to when I was in college and how we were talking to my friends and I were talking to some boys outside we were all teenagers, maybe like nineteen at most, and how the police pulled up and the boys lived in the city in New Brunswick, it's a very college town, and the police pulled up and we
were just talking. I didn't think anything of it until the boys got up and spread their legs and their arms and leaned against the gate as if this was just what happens every day, because it did that every day. A couple times a day, the police pull up and they're expected to be inspected like modern day slaves. And I was like, this was like, I mean, I'm forty,
this was twenty years ago, you know. And then now when getting my house appraised, because it was always my intention to have my white friend pretend to be me, because I know that homes of black folks are are not a praise as high and sometimes discounted to up to twenty three to twenty five percent. And sure enough, you know, I had a realter come in before, and sure enough we came in. She told me at least four hundred thousand, but likely up to four twenty five,
and we got three ninety. And I was like, and I couldn't have my white friend Catherine pretend to be me because it was quarantine. So I was just like, but you know, like it's just I wanted people to just see that, you know, racism takes different forms, and so it was just really powerful. And well, I have to say this about Ashlyn's audience. They were amazing. I mean, it's one thing to post something on the page and read,
but to go live and not one negative comment. I just I told her it was a testament to her character and how she shows up because her audience was like, thank you so much. I'm here to learn. I can't believe it. What can I do? And then something that was really important was shared Mike was that they also
wanted you to provide two solutions. So I shared two solutions about what you can do as an ally, and one is to be a miss the Daya that was my next door neighbor when somebody tried to burn our house down and the police try to blame it on us and said my sister Lisa, say Lisa had a blowtorch.
It just was ridiculous. But missus Dadeya, who's white, she went to bat for us, and she used her privilege as a shield, and because of her, they listened and because of her we got everything we were supposed to get and because of her we were protected. And so be a mister Daya. Use yourself as a shield because the consequences for you as a white person are not the same as it is for someone who's black. And secondly, I said vote with your dollars, that your money and
your spending should be in alignment with your values. That if a company is disparaging against black folks lgbtqs, something that you just know is not to not write, then why are you spending money with them? That we can shut down almost anything by just refusing to patronize them. So those are my two solutions. But honestly, it was just really powerful. I mean really powerful. I think they got over a billion impressions from Share the Mic now,
and you can learn more. Their Their ig is at share the Mic Now and you can learn more and see some of our stories there, and you can go to if you haven't watched my Share of the Mic Now video. Ashland is as h l Y N Harris h A R R I S twenty four. I guess that's her number, So Ashland Harris twenty four and you can see my brown face all up on her ig feed and you can see like what happened. It was awesome.
What I loved about the talk that you gave was that, well, the story that broke my heart the most is one that you didn't just mention in your recap, which was about your little sister. It was Tracy or Lisa, Lisa, probably Lisa, who went to school and was put into classes that were not they were like remedial or yep, just the basic classes, and she was basically underestimated from the minute that she went to that new school. Right
that's apps I mean not. And I think each of your stories, if you really look at it, and this is so true to your platform and what you stand for. It you were sharing how the simple, the simple color of your skin, something that is out of your control,
can literally set you behind economically. So imagine if your mother had not gone to that school and advocated for your sister like she did, to get her put in classes that were, you know, that matched her level, that matched her intelligence, she would have been maybe not prepared for college. Mm hmm, you know that may or she might have been prepared, but her her I almost said, resume,
what do you call it? In school. Yeah, your transcript, you know, you wouldn't have the classes that maybe they wanted you to have at a certain college you wanted to go in, and then you just it's a domino effect and it and the point about home ownership. You know, if you if your house is undervalued, like you shu about your parents for years and years and years, I mean, that is diminishing returns on your investment. I mean, your race is actively working against the growth of your investment.
It's just it's important and storytelling is very important and I thank you for sharing because it's fucking hard to I mean I could tell you were raw. I think I texted you after like, God, I hope you are somewhere just doing whatever it is that makes you relax, because it's exhausting to give to relive those experiences which are traumatic and you work so hard to get past them, and yet people still need to hear them. And that
is what has been proven. People need to know these personal stories in order for them to feel the empathy that is required for them to take action. And yeah, so I commend you for that and thank you for it because those seven hundred thousand. However, many followers she had. However, many people tuned in. Those are people who are walking away with a bit like you force them to see and she helped force them to see you. And that movement is so great and I hope, I hope there's
more of that And that is me too. That is the definition of allyship, when you get out of the way, when you put someone else, put a spotlight on someone who deserves and doesn't usually get a spotlight, whose stories are maybe not as palatable to your audience, but by virtue of your own endorsement of them, or you stepping aside and putting them in front of your people, that
you help them be seen and heard. And I wish more people understood that, people who wanted to be an ally It's not about you using the hashtag, it's not about you retweeting or sharing. It's about how can I And it's as simple as I love that anecdote about your neighbor. Yeah, it's as simple. And it's fucking sad that she had to do that for you, but in your family. But it's about you, know, in whatever moment you have, how can you help lift someone up and
recognize that you have something to offer them? Just because people see you and see you differently, and they see them much differently based on this color, the color of their skin. And yeah, I I so let's talk more about allyship because I know it is such a loaded word. And there's this new phrase, not new, but the phrase that's going around now is performative allyship, which is to be uh, we should all be very weary of performative allyship. And how would you describe performative allyship?
These damn companies in my inbox talking about black lives matter, but you have nobody black on your board or who works in any position of power, Like, please miss me with that. It's like when all these brands who years ago, when I reached out to them said I want to help black women and they were like, oh girl, no Now they begged me. Literally, if you see my inbox, like ebany, my admin is like what is this? I'm like, it's called the first girl and they don't care, and
so I don't care. Like that's why you rarely see me partner with anyone because quite honestly, where were you when we really needed to help? Now that I got my Now that I got my folks, I got them big, good so that's what it is. It's it's when you say a thing, but you don't do a thing that is performance allyship.
So it sounds like you're totally like for businesses that are stepping up now or not stepping up, that sounds like they're doing something. But for businesses that are looking for a way to respond to this moment, do you generally look at them with that level of cynicism, like, what's what's the what's an example of a business that maybe is doing something that could because I you want to people to feel called to the moment, but I totally get it. You know, they're not walking the walk.
There's lip service, you know.
Yes, so a business an ideal business, right who is not performing as an ally because they were an ally before ring an after? Is Ben and Jerry's like they those are some GE's boy like banning. Yes, have you seen their ig? You know they about that life.
I can't say I've ever thought to follow them. Yes, I do enjoy their non dairy selection. They have improved it over the years. They are my ally and continuous.
And so if you go to Ben and Jerry's website, they have this whole educational component for Black Lives Matter. That's why I pulled a lot of the visuals that I used on Ashland's page from Ben and Jerry's icteam page. Can you imagine like they have all this research they posted.
I mean, they've been about that life. But Ben, like if you they were interviewed for how I built this a podcast that we like, But they have always been their old school hippie so they've always been like, you know, anti establishment and what's right is right, what's wrong is wrong, and so I mean they are I mean, if I had to say an A plus plus gold star ally, it's Ben and Jerry.
That is amazing. That's amazing. Yeah, well, I'm glad to hear you say that, because I do think that there are some companies and you're right, but then there are the ones that maybe haven't done anything, or there's there's an there's over on what was it. I feel like Silicon Valley, I don't know, maybe ten years ago, I forget now had that big wave where they started publishing
diversity stats and it was appalling. It was like one percent of your staff as black, like thousands and thousands and thousands of people, and it was just it was just replicated across Silicon Valley and that put a lot of pressure on corporations to step up, and so you saw people appoint heads of diversity or you know, start departments dedicated to within human resources, dedicated to inclusion and having you know, trainings and unconscious bias and things like that.
But still, I genuinely don't think those things move the needle at all because it was just sort of a box you could tick. And also on the list of priorities for a big company, whether private or public, often there is no one preaching the value and diversity, and diversity is an indirect it has indirect value on a
company's bottom line. And companies are so used to focusing on how do I spend a dollar and get ten Like give me that idea and it's you know, advertising or just very like straight, that straight idea of capitalism is what drives them. And so when it comes to issues of inclusion and diversity, it's just not always in the top of the list.
How has your company showed up that do you feel comfortable and the way they showed up. I know we talked about you feeling nervous about you know, wanted to ask for a moment of silence, How are you feeling now about it?
And wasn't that telling? I've had to reflect on the way that I felt. So I can't say that my company has been doing great because I, as an employee, was nervous to do a moment of silence, to acknowledge the death of another black man and to acknowledge the protests and everything that was going on. That being said, I believe, and you know, I work for a company.
It's not on the scale of Amazon. It's not massive, but it has, you know, hundreds of employees and I've been there three years, so I feel like I've got some I have definitely, and I've been watching and I've been listening, and I've been in those rooms when they have, you know, acknowledged, Oh, hey, you know, we understand. Our c suite is white guy, white guy, white guy, white guy. And the act of acknowledging it, I could tell to them felt like progress, like, oh, look at us, we're great.
We acknowledge that we know there's a problem. Look at us. We understand we're white. Hey we see color.
We know.
But still there was no action behind it, and I'm busy build my little team, taking advantage of my you know, taking advantage of my position, hiring I don't know, at least a couple dozen people over the last three years, and doing it purposefully in a way that was inclusive. And that's why you see my team now as forty percent black, Indigenous or person of color BIPOC is what I'm calling it. I don't know if you can say BYPOC, but that's how I've been pronouncing it. They BIPOC, and
that is not evident to me across the company. So for me, I think there's a lot of good intentions at my company, but I have not seen actions. And so I hopped on the phone with one of my colleagues, who he yeah, talk about like the what's the opposite of imposter syndrome? This guy walks through the world and God bless him. God bless him because he walks through the world like and what are you going to give
me today? And I used to think he was kind of a dick, but honestly, I have so much respect for him because he actually he actually encourages me to kind of have I'm not going to go to that level because not you know, being a woman and having that attitude it will not get you. Honestly, it's sad to say and not going to get me very far. I'll become a bitch in a minute, according to everyone
who interacts with me. But anyway, I talked to him and I found out that he was going to be emailing the CEO, and I started to think, like, I have something to say here. And I saw you know, human resources starting They were doing these you know, group small group discussions on Zoom and there was a slack channel diversity and Inclusion with hundreds of people in it, and it was I'm sorry, a lot of non black people talking about what they've learned, and it got very
annoying very quickly, so I muted it. So I sat down and I thought, I'm like, what what can I what can I ask for? I have had a unique position in this company where I've been able to hire and I've seen, I seen where we're falling short, and I'm tired of it. And I can feel that they want to do something more than just send an email out, and so I sent, I penned an email to I penned,
I typed an email to our CEO. Let's be real, okay, And there was six points in my email, and I'll go through them really quickly because I think if you are in a position of and you think you need to be this is the beautiful thing about this moment. I think any like it gives you if you're a person of color in a company, there's many of us out there, okay, And if you feel like if you're at a town hall and they have an open mic, I think we have. There's a little bit of like
this halo of protection around us right now. And you know your company better than I do, but I do feel like it is being champion and celebrated people of color speaking up and calling out their companies right now. So I would be a little bit braver than usual if you feel like you have something to say to your company, whether it's an email or you know, speaking up at an open mic or whatever. But here are the six things that I asked for based on my experience.
So One, publish diversity statistics on employees because people like I. I pay attention to that and I actively try to improve it on my team. But you know it's work, and it's already hard enough recruiting, and I know it's not going to happen until we as a company face the music. What are our diversity stats? What what are the demographics of our workers? And where do we where do we stand and where you know, how can we improve? Those have not been published. They've been talked about. I
think they exist, they haven't been published. The next one is commit to inclusive hiring practices and training. This is key training for hiring managers and unconscious bias because a lot of companies, you know, they get people power to hire people, but they when you don't set people up in a way that helps them recognize their own their own bias and the way that they're recruiting people or
who they're going to to recruit people. And whether you work for a company you own your own business, the same applies. This is how you end up with executives that all look the same or employees across the board who all look the same because of recruiting practices. And this is a big one for me. I personally worked very hard. I mean it took me six months to recruit my number two, which is a senior position on
my CMP, because I was determined. I wasn't determined to turn down people who weren't people of color.
But I was.
Determined to cast my net wide enough so that I felt like I had enough people of color in the mix, just just to like have a shot at it, you know, and a very and very few people, in my opinion, take that time and have that patience. But I you know,
it's not and people will. I know that they will, maybe not our listeners, but if someone were to hear this who is more conservative, or maybe the Black Lives Matter movement, you know, makes them nervous for whatever reason, because oh no, there's not enough for everybody, and they're going to take mine. The mentality is that, oh, well, you're just taking away jobs from people who are qualified. No,
And this is a very important point. The key to inclusivet inclusive hiring is that you are casting a wide enough net so that everyone starts from the same position and you are getting more people than what you may get by just reaching out to the person you know at your last job or reaching out to your alma mater. You are purposefully putting people in the pool that are reflective of the population so that you have a chance to run across people who are not just one type
of person. And I think that's very important and it requires it requires you to admit and make it okay to say I see color or I may have a bias against certain names. Like the data is out there, we have it, you know, so we need to recognize that and train people for it, because I think it's irresponsible not to. And anyway, so the third thing, I know, I said it'd be quick, but here I am improve how we recruit and retain BIPOC talent, retain black talent.
It's not just about getting them in the door. You need to understand they may not feel welcome, they may not feel safe, they may not feel confident and raising their hand asking for what they need to work. They may feel isolated if there's not very much diversity, they may be facing microaggressions every day. You need to make it a safe place for them. And so I ask not just to improve retainment, but let's look at attrition rates of black employees. What can we glean from exit interviews?
Why are they leaving? What do they say? Let's talk about that and let's face and commit to making them feel more included, you know, And there's small things that you can do to do that. Commit to eliminating pay disparity for black employees people of color in the company.
This is a big one, and it can be done, and maybe companies are doing it in the background, but actually telling, like being transparent about it, telling your employees, hey, we have consultants or we have whoever looking at pay
inequities across our company. That kind of thing matters. And I've been at and it's not just the company I'm working for now, but when it comes to deciding compensation, you have to look at who is in that room, who's at the table, and who values what Are there people at the table who value things like pay equity Because I'm telling you now, I have had to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight to get equal pay for people on my team over the years, and often I'm the one who cares
the most and I'm just annoying enough to get it done. It shouldn't have to be that way, you know. So that's a big one, showing a commitment to the advancement of black employees in the company. So this is key sometimes and this is not just for black employees, it's for every employee. Like you need to level the playing field, and one way to do that is to explain how
the game works. It should not be a mystery because you do not have the benefit of having uncle or a cousin or a friend from college who had been there before you, or know someone who know. If someone who knows how it works and can, like you know, take you aside and explain you know how negotiation works, or how do promotions work, or how do you get to the c suite? How do you get to the c suite?
Like?
How? And why is it a secret? Why should it be? I think education and knowledge is the great equalizer, or one of them, and you should give that to your employees so that the path is clear for everyone. And if employers can't answer that question, that is a real clear sign to me that there's issues there there. If you're not if you're not dictating and able to explain to me the career path, then how he or she
or whoever got to the top. If it doesn't make sense, or if it's happening for random reasons, then you're actively I think working against underrepresented employees, especially black employees. That's just I just can't I can't sit and know that as a com company, we're not transparent about that kind of thing and telling people. Here's how you do it
like it just shouldn't be a secret. And the last one, and this is one that I encourage people to look at because you may not realize this, but many many corporations out there have political action committees. Do we know what a pack is? No political action committees? So this is you know how there's limits on how much you can donate to a political candidate you personally, tiffany or
as a business. So what they do is they set up a political not they, but you can set up a political action committee and then people can contribute to that. And that's how you can have so you have packs for all different kinds of ideologies, all different kinds of businesses and industries. Like a pack that supports reproductive rights is going to raise money and then give it to candidates who have policies in line with their beliefs. So my company has a pack and it's one of those.
It's an open secret. Literally you can go to OpenSecrets dot org, look up the name of your company and find out if they have a pack, and if they have a pack, who they're contributing to. And in my in the email to our company, our CEO said that he supported Black Lives Matter and he wanted to be an ally. I'm not quoting him directly, but that was the message. I want to be an ally. I'm here to help. I believe in this cause, I believe in
racial equality. I have a lot to learn. Okay. I went to OpenSecrets dot org looked at who we contributed dollars to, and no, I didn't recognize all their names or senators from local races house, you know, legislators from all over. So what you can also do, and I recommend this, open a new tab and go to the NAACP scorecard because they have a beautiful PDF where they literally give every senator and every representative in the House a grade on how they vote according to NAACP important issues,
so usually issues of civil rights in racial justice. So I could look, and I could and I could compare and see the vast majority of Canada's are pack contributed to scored an f Wow, you and you talked about Tiffany like voting with your dollars. This is literally a company voting with its dollars. And corporations often you know, big businesses, of course they and we're in the financial sector.
Of course, you want to support policies and candidates who probably have more leniency toward tax structure, corporate tax structure, real estate, if you're building a new office or whatever. I get that, But if you're going to tell your employees that you really and truly care about these issues impacting the black community, that does not jive to me. That to me is hipocrisy at its highest level. And I called that out and I'm not the only one
at the company. It's just it's one of those things that like people have asked about or it's known, but I never really had a good answer for it, and I'm tired of it now. I'm like, tell me, why why do we need to contribute to these campaigns or these candidates if they're not in line with the issues that you say are important to you.
Exactly because you vote with your with your dollars. A yes, your money is in alignment with what you truly think and feel. And so what you're telling us is that you say one thing, but you're doing another. So why shouldn't I Why should I show up fully for this place in space? So one of the things we did for because you know, my company is largely I mean there's literally one person that's not African American. And I know it's honestly, it's been like today, you know, we're
taking on Monday. So on Monday, you know, I don't know if y'all know, but we have our Monday mental health check in Mondays and we just honestly, we did a lot of venting because all last week because it was just so heavy. So last week I basically gave the whole company the week off. I was like, yo, hung your babies, relaxed, relax. So we rotated like so you knew what days that, you know, because we it was such a short notice. So we did three days off.
So you met with your team lead and they organized a schedule when you had your three days off, and we plan on I want to do a full full week where you know, but it's just like I said, literally it was like a Thursday, and I was like, you know what, next week, let's take three daggs off east just to wusan that whole week. And we did. So it was so nice to slow down so much. So even today we had our calls and stuff. If we weren't all backed up like we usually are, we
didn't have like a ton of things. It's just there's just so much going on and it's so heavy, and I wanted to honor the fact that you are human being and you feel and you're afraid and you're scared, and you're frustrated and you're angry and you're mad. We talk about it on Slack like, yo, you see this BS, like you know you are free to express yourself completely and fully, and it's honestly expected. But I get it. It's different because it's black folks talking to black folks. It'spending.
The only one non black person has not said anything, which is hilarious. I guess keeps keeping in lights. I suppose in more ways than one, which is funny. But whatever, But I'm here. You're here, so you know, you'll you know, I don't know, maybe to be fair, maybe he just feels uncomfortable, like it's not my place to say anything, but you will listen because we talk about it at our team meetings. We talk about it and we will continue to talk about it because we serve black women.
So how dare we not honor the fact that this is a community that has long since suffered and something needs to be said. One of the things I said that someone told me resonated with them when I took over Ashland's ig accountants that I said, you know, it hit me that, which is also a very ironic word, that I and myself and other black African Americans are are in an abusive relationship with the with America. That because I was wondering to myself, why am I so angry,
so sad, so frustrated. I mean, this is not the first time something like this has happened, but this time felt different, and I realized that you we have been getting I have been getting hit my whole life by America, right so like second grade, third grade, fourth grade, I mean, my whole life nine years old. Get out, nigga, when I used to work at Balley's at nineteen, like just my whole life hit hit and sometimes you duck and you dodge, and you you and but you've normalized the
abuse because it happens so consistently. This happens, so you adjust, You say, Okay, in order to not get abused here, I'm gonna have my white friend Catherine come and I'm gonna put away all my black pictures, Okay, in order to this. I'm gonna make sure that I go to this school and I'm going to make sure that I'm not too loud, okay, in order to be like, we make these adjustments to minimize the abuse, and we normalize that.
And what this, what's happened now, is that you couldn't It's like someone you are at your doctor's office, sitting in the in the examination room with no clothes on, and all of your bruises, some of them faded, some of them fresh, some of them new. You are fully
bruised up, and now you're exposed. That's why that's why there's such this rage and anger and sadness, This universal just I'm over it is because you finally look down and you just see just how much abuse you've taken, and you realize it's not normal and normal.
You also feel you remember things that you that you forgot, like, yeah, have you had those I've heard from people time and again. I thought this was normal. Now when I look at it through the lens of what we're going through, now, that's not okay. That wasn't okay, But you're right, it became so normal and just to get through the day just like you would it would protect yourself to get through another work week. Just get me to Friday, just make it payday. I'll leave these people behind. And it's
it's sad. It's very No, you're right, it's very very sad.
Yeah, knowing, like even grown as I am now, it's much money to have my bank account. Now, I dare not touch something in certain stores if I'm not buying it, because it's going to be a problem. Like that's crazy. There's something to be said around living around black folks. I was considering moving from Nework, and if I do move, I'm certainly moving to another black city because I refuse because I love going the Whole Foods and the security
yard is black. He's like, what upsys, I'm like, what up? The cashier is black, the stock boy is black. I'm not followed. I don't feel any kind of way like I honestly, more now than ever, I realized that because I grew up in an all white town and I understand why my parents brought us there because the school system was so great, but I.
Don't want it.
It's yeah, it's it just took an emotional toll in exchange for that education. It's like it took such an emotional toll, and I look at my husband and there
ain't a way in hell. You know, it's hard enough living across the street from the neighbors, right, but ain't no way in hell that I'm putting him through, like to live in a different neighborhood, putting him through what that would look like when when when his nephew comes to visit, or when you know, my sister comes to visit and like you being followed, the neighbors call the police on you and your own house. I'm just not with it. And so yeah, it's just that's why allyship
is so important. That's why you've heard black folks say that this is not a problem that we can fix. Because I can't fix the fact that someone says my house is worth less because I'm black. Someone has to step in, someone has to be missed the DAYA.
And white that it is now they're white. People in power are white, and so it's not until they recognize the until they recognize the power they have and that they have something to contribute and they can make meaningful change, which hopefully I hope is happening now. We can't do it alone. And that's why it's been so fucking exhausting because you feel like you're fighting and banging your fist, you know, at the very bottom of the ladder, and.
It's like one thing. I will say that, like the something happened in the comments when I share the story about my house, someone was like, I'm a president of a of a credit union and I did not know of those stats. He said, I am going to when I get back, I'm going to talk to my team about looking at our appraisal process and what we can do to help circumvent that. You know, I could have wept. I could have wept with joy because sometimes people don't
know because it's not happening to you. You're not getting hit, so you don't realize other people are getting hit every day. And so just hearing that that's Allyship, that's Allyship. I hear you, I see you. I'm listening. I act that is Allyship.
And I encourage I mean you, you know, I will bring up I know my mom is listening to the podcast now, which makes me very like, makes me very self conscious because I'm like mom. We talk about raise a lot anyway, but we had a very frank discussion with as a family this week. My mom is white, my sister is white. My little brother and I are biracial anyway. But we had like a like a two and a half hour conversation, and my mom is really
going through it. It is like she has she has woken up to her own privilege and it's all hitting her at once, and we're trying to like, I'm very happy for her, but I'm just like, you need to just you know, you have a lot to educate yourself on. You need to catch up. We are happy for you, but you need to do this on your own time.
And there's a lot of willingness out there, and a lot of a lot of willingness for white Americans to finally admit that the story that they've been telling themselves, a story that the America has told them for so long, that you got where you got because you're good, and you're better, and you are more educated, and you're smarter,
and you deserve it and you worked hard. And everyone who's not here often Black Americans lazy, always asking for things, don't rely on, you know, relying on other people to give them what they need. That toxic mentality, and then I know a lot of white people. You know, I've grew up around them my whole life. I mean, not that they're the endangerous pecies obviously their majority, but who believed that that toxic mentality? And you really have got
to It takes work. You have got to actively rewire your brain to look at a black family, to look at a black girl in the second grade coming to your school, and tell your brain, this person has great potential. I don't need to make any assumptions about this person not being ready for that or you know, being this type of person because of the color of their skin. And you have to acknowledge. You have got to see it. You've got to admit that color changes the way you
perceive people. Forgive yourself, I guess, for having this toxic mentality, and then commit yourself to doing your every day doing the work of changing it. It's not going to be an overnight change. It's not because it's not all people out there with nooses running around in KKK robes that is racism. But it is the intrinsic, systemic racism built into the fabric of our life every day that truly is killing and damaging people. And it's very, very important
and Yeah. The one thing I do want to say, just to wrap up to the credit of the people that I work with, is I do have a meeting with the CEO next week along with a couple other people, and we'll see what happens. But I want that to be you know, for those who are listening work for corporation, you're thinking about sending a similar email or speaking up at a town hall or whatever, there is some hope,
you know. I'm walking into this meeting with an open mind, and I genuinely believe that the people I work with are great and the well meaning, and we have so much potential, and if it can't happen here, I kind of feel like it can't happen anywhere. So I'm I'm determined and I still have enough energy to try. But I also recognize I'm after this. I can't keep doing that.
I can't you know, who knows how long I'll stay at this company, But I can't go like I can't go to another place and have to do this all over again. The next job that I choose, where I will take my talent, they will have a proven track record of serving their black employees, lifting them up, and I can't settle for anything less. And I think for and not everyone has that position or aren't in that
position where they can choose. You know, you just take the job that you need a paycheck, and lord, you know I'm saying I can do that now. But because I have a job, hopefully I'm in a position where I can choose like that. And I believe when the talent starts going to companies that are demonstrating their commitment to racial issues and their commitment to inclusive hiring and retainment and all those things and pay parody, that's a clear message we can send because talent drives revenue, and
revenue is what talks. And exactly that's all I'm won't say about that. Yeah, maybe I shouldn't. Maybe I shouldn't end it with the bubba bubba gum. I just I know when we talk about corporate refugees, and I just feel like for the long term success of Black Americans and for not just success to not just get a job and get a paycheck, but to thrive to reach levels of success that haven't been attainable, we need these companies to get it, and we need to get in
the boardroom now fast. It needs to happen so that future generations don't have to work this hard. And just because we're in the door does not mean that we've won. And there's so much work that companies can do, and I I they just have to get it. They just have to freaking get it. And I hope this is it. I hope this is it.
Yeah, and then if they don't, don't be afraid to start something. Here's the thing. Small business drives this country. You know. Not everyone's going to be you know, Jeff Bezos whatever, and that's okay. You might be a small business that can hire three employees, but then another small business another three. You know, almost fifty percent of all employment in the United States it can be attributed to small business. So you can make a big difference with
a small business. So knowing that you can create a safe space for people like you, so don't discount that as well.
I feel like the budget Nesta is the Wakanda businesses, right.
I mean it's not it's not easy, Jazz. It's not easy.
It's not easy, but it's worth the work and no, absolutely at least I think. So all right, well that is your heavy, heavy, buzzworthy segment. Let's take a quick break and come back with your questions.
So it's up a question, maybe question like singular, because we haven't had a heavy, a long, buzz buzzworthy segment, segment. What's you think one question?
Let's see, well, the first one's kind of a comp Let's start off with a compliment. You guys have been so nice sending us so so so many questions. I feel give a lot of new listeners to because other we have I don't know, we've been tagged in more podcast listicles than I can name, which is fabulous. Like, we'll take all the free publicity you feel guilty talk about our podcast, get some points. But thank you to any new listeners welcome. Here's a message from an Instagram listener.
She says, I'm a longtime listener, kudos. While binging some of your earlier shows, I came across a show where Tiffany told a story of a man who planted a farm of pecan trees. I think was it acorn tree, Tiffany, I.
Think it was palm trees. Keep keep telling the story off sem trees.
Okay, that's a very different type of tree. Okay, Tiffany told the story of a man who planted a farm of pecan trees. I think, knowing that he would never reap the benefits, but instead of trees, palm trees. Okay, he did it for his future generations. I have two middle school boys, and I think about this story often because I wasn't raised this way. I was raised with the mindset I got mine, you need to get yours.
I keep trying to explain this concept to my family, but I'm hit with what if the kids don't do right by what is left for them? I want to play that part of the episode for my family since it resonated so close to me. That was really speak comment and that is such an important anecdote. So palm tree is okay?
Yeah, I thought, well, because palm oil in Nigeria is one of the most it's like they call it liquid gold because palm trees take almost like one hundred years to reach full maturity before they can before they can yield the fruit where you can get the palm oil from. They use palm oil to cook. It's a it's a it's an oil that it's very popular for cooking in Africa. So that's why. So if you plant a palm tree.
Now you're not going to be able to you're never going to see in your lifetime that palm tree yield the palm fruit that yields the palm oil. So for my uncle to have a farm that was that was, you know, hundreds of trees deep. That means his great likely great grandfather planted that knowing I am not going to reap the rewards, but my grandson or my great grandson, or my great great grandson or my great great granddaughter, well in Nigeria's grandson unfortunately, but that they will reap
the rewards. And so yes, we have to think like that that I always think, not just when it comes
to your family. I believe to who much is given, much is required, and that in every blessing there is excess, meaning that when you have something that comes to you your intelligence, your looks, your position, your money, whatever that is, it is meant for you to enjoy that blessing like ooh yes I'm so cute, yes fabulous, I'm so smart, great, I've got money, awesome, But there's excess in that blessing that access should be set aside to help others. And
so I think if you keep that in mind. That's how we keep blessings flowing. And the more you do that, the more you're given. People always ask all the time, like tivity, you know, how did you get here? I mean literally ten years ago I was a preschool teacher and now I run five businesses, one of the mix seven figures a month. That's crazy how And honestly, I attribute a lot of that to sticking to that in
every blessing there's excess. So I'm very mindful of managing that X and really trying to navigate living a life of service. And I think as you do more mores given than you do more and mores given, and you do more and mores given. So yes, what do you speak to your family? Yeah?
What do you say to her to what her family is saying in terms of like, well, what if the kids don't do right by what we leave for them?
And so one of the things you have to do along with, you know, the leaving of the things for the kids, is to talk to your children. So my father didn't just like leave us with like, you know, whatever financial things that he gave us as far as like paying for college and things like that, but we had regular talks We had family meetings every single week where we talked about grades and chores, but we also talked about finances and the families finances, so we were
really those things were ingrained in us. And so you can't help how your kids turn out, but you can't help what you put in. And so that's all I can say is that, like, there's no guarantee for anything. You know, we might not even be here here tomorrow. There might be a meteor. Remember they said there was bees coming this way. We were like, what now?
How about a killer mistake? Is that the saying I didn't google it?
So with all that said, you know, you do your best by pouring into them regularly, and so you know good good seeds, beer, good fruit. So I'll just say that that there's no way to know for sure, but it's still better to pour in than not to.
That's beautiful and I think it's very very important. This is a mentality This is a mentality shift for I mean, I'm speaking for my family, my black my black side. That sounds stupid, but whatever, my dad's family. There is this like there is this this lack of planning for the future because you're spending so much of your mental bandwidth, trying to get through today, trying to pay this week's this week's bills, next week's bills. You know, paycheck to paycheck.
That's the classic definition of paycheck to paycheck. And we need to get to a place where we can think long term for our children and and also see the value in planting seas now and understanding how you know, it's not just it's not just about going and getting your minimum wage or getting your part time job or whatever and earning your hourly wage. We have to educate people, especially Black Americans, and it's your family. Educate your family.
If you know something about building wealth, how to invest, the importance of not trying to say home ownership is the best way to build wealth, but it is certainly an important way and a huge way to build wealth, generational wealth in this country. Life insurance, even we talked about life insurance and how that is not just about I mean that literally is ensuring that your heirs are taken care of, your children. Whoever you have doesn't have to be your child. It can be a charity, it
can be a God's god daughter, a god son. It can be you know, a friend, whoever you want to leave your you know, make your beneficiary. But these are really I mean, this is how we chip away, chip away at not just income inequality, but general rational wealth inequality. And I think about that all the time, Like what am I building? Do I have enough to to reach beyond just you know, my my son, Like could I create something that my family, my children's children's children's children's
could benefit from. I mean, that would be a beautiful thing. It's just a it's a big leap for especially if you come up in a family where just getting through today is an act of you know, is you consider that to be a blessing? We need to just aim higher.
Yes, just remind him, like Dame Dad you know Dame Dash. Well, I don't know if you don't, because you know Mandy sometimes you'd be surprised me. You don't know no millennial things. So Dame Dash was the manager of jay Z. Do you know? Yeah?
Is he the yes? Uh huh. I'm just gonna say yes before I say anything else. Makes me sound stupid, now.
No, So Dame Dash manager of jay Z. He was. He's kind of like the wild boy of hip hop. Anyway. He he was on a podcast and he said, I wish these young men. He didn't say young men, but that's what I'm gonna say. I wish these young men and just really young people out here understood the purpose of work. The purpose of work is to own, it was so eloquently said, because we forget you're not just supposed to be working for work's sake. Ownership equals wealth.
You are supposed to work, Yeah yeah, pay your belt, that's cool. Yeah yeah, go out and have fun, that's cool. But you were supposed to work to set aside money so you can save. And then you save so you can own. Whether it's it's real estate, whether it's it's bonds, whether it's stocks, whether it's businesses, whether it's it's rights to a book or rights to your music. The purpose of work is to own. If you are not working toward ownership, you will always work because eventually the things
that you own, this is the goal. You want to put them to work for you so they can replace you working. So you work to own. You might own ten properties and all of a sudden, the rent from those properties can replace your income, and you can you can continue to work at your regular job or not, or you work work, work, you start a business, all of a sudden, the business can replace the income from
from your from your regular job. So just reminding yourself that that the purpose of work is to own, so the things that you own can put you out of work.
I love that. That's a way more eloquent way of saying it than my Olshpiel girls stock.
I started from Dame Dash, girl, I stowed it up from Dame.
Dash, same dash. But that's what I was saying. Well, thank you for your comment. It was sort of a comments last question, but it's a really meaningful anecdote, especially in light of what's happening today. We've got to be helping teach generational wealth to to our families and the importance of that. I'm going to inherit my dad's sock drawer, and who knows what I'm going to find in there, a lot of world quarters, I imagine, bless his heart. Okay,
he's a lost generation. All right, Okay, cool, Well, thank you for your questions again. Hit us up on Instagram if you go to brand ambishenpodcat ask fund us in the gram where you can email us at Brandon Mission Podcast at gmail dot com.
Fuck em so now It's time to boost a break for the ba Family new tune. Are you gonna boost? Are you gonna break? What you're gonna do? Mandy Well, I was flat at the end, but what else?
I think you might still owe a cut to Mickey Bounce like it's a little close. They're gonna have to settle that in court we didn't do. I'm gonna do a boost. I'm gonna do a boost. So I feel, I mean, I feel like it's just I feel. I don't know, I feel some type of way about this, But I never knew that my alma mater hads And I don't know why. I mean, I guess you're just
living in Georgia growing up. You just have to you just have to, you know, not look at things too deeply, just to get through the damn day because there is so much intrinsing racism and in that state. Bless bless
their hearts and all of their hearts. But anyway, I went to the University of Georgia, and there are Hella buildings on that campus that are named for people who own slaves, who are white supremacists, etc. My journalism school, I found out not too long ago thanks to some high school students in Atlanta who started their own petition to get their high school renamed because it was named for the same man that my journalism school was named.
So I have to give the youth credit. They inspired someone on my campus to speak out about the name of our journalism school, and I have hopped right onto that. Well,
I was dragged onto the bandwagon. But I'm on this task force now that we were working very hard to get the attention of the board of regents in our state to get this college renamed at a minimum, this college, and not just drop the name of the school and just call it the School of Journalism, but to in place of the name that we have now, which is it's the school's name for Henry W. Grady, who was a white supremacist but a famous He had a famous
newspaper called the Atlantic Constitution, which today is the Atlanta Journal Constitution. But he was a big deal. I see why his contributions to journalism were recognized by naming him for this building. However, he wanted to oppress the black race and talked about, of course, how white Americans were superior, and gave speeches on this, and I mean in twenty twenty. Do we really want to have a school in themed after him? I sure don't want to. I'm embarrassed. I'm
embarrassed that I didn't know this sooner. So we've got a petition, change dot org and I always want to boost the task force putting the putting the petition together, and our next steps are to rally if we need to. I'm hoping we don't need to. I'm hoping that people help us make enough noise on social media that the pressure is boiling, and that the university and the border regions will just give us what we want and rename the school, because why just do it? It's easy, it's simple.
It's a show of support and solidarity. But we are working very hard, and I'm going to post the link in our show notes. It's changed dot org slash rename Grady. You don't have to have gone to my school. I know y'all probably never heard of it, but please go and sign the petition because we're trying to get to at least ten thousand signatures this week. I don't I
think we're at eight thousand already. We're catching up, and I'm going to be tweeting and sharing on Instagram and if y'all can retweet, if you can share my Insta tag people that you may know in George or anybody, so that we can get more momentum behind this movement. I really I feel this is a small contribution that I can make, and it's a small It's sort of like I talked about us making an impact in our communities and our families, and this journalism school is my family.
I mean, I've treated them like my family for so long, and I think it's time for us to have a talk y'all, like a little family meeting about the name of our college and get it right. But we can't do it without y'all support. I am really it's trouble.
And you know what I talked about, like we kind of forget the microaggressions that we've encountered over the years, and it's it's bringing me back to all the things that happened to me while I was at UGA and talking to my brother about his experience there and how sort of like how it just resentful he is about
his experience. In some ways, there is a lot of systemic racism in Georgia and even at the university that I come from that I that I was educated by, and we have unfortunately, we have to break through to again the people in power to get them to make this change. So help me be the squeaky wheel. Help us get it out there. Check out my insta, check out on Twitter Mandy wood Druff or my Instagram is at Mandy money and I can really I oh, thank you Mandy with an eye. Hope my aunt is listening.
It's with an eye yeah, and thank y'all in advance. And I will continue to have my son provide free advertising for our cause.
And he is so doorable. I was like, look at him in his summer gear. Yes, oh you saw it? Cool?
He gets way more likes than anything else I post.
So well, yeah, yeah, babies always do because he's adorable. Yeah, those curls.
It's a trick.
So I am going to booz. So I had a really good like leadership lesson. Usually we've been like in business, there's always you can always do better. So we've just been struggling with like kind of like new direction and how fast to grow and what ways to grow and just like how much to spend, how little to spend. Anyway, it's not been easy. It has not been easy. So as we struggled with I mean, I tried all the
tools that I knew. How So finally I reached out to a friend and she said, hey, you know, one of our other mutual friends just brought on a business coach, like a high level business coach. And I was like, huh. So I called our mutual friend and she was like, oh my gosh, he's amazing, this business coach. It's not just Sam. He's got a whole team. He's not cheap. Girl. I was like, okay, So my business partner and I met with the coach. He was more amazing, and honestly
I anticipated. We had two kind of preliminary calls that were like an hour and some change each and those were transformative. And so you know, his price was natty. Let's just say you could get two really nice expensive cars for what he costs for two months. And well, I'll just say it's seventy thousand dollars for two months, because you know me and my numbers don't.
Well, if you run a business, it's not like Tiffany is paying. Oh you're your pocket, right, I mean, you can rune that all for whatever Your phone seven biggures you make money. We heard you tell us.
So, but still that's a lot of money, you know, and you know, but I'll say this, We've tried everything, and so we had our first meeting on Friday and it was my business partner, I and his team and it was so great. What I really love is that he's equal parts the soft skills and equal parts like the hard thing. So he's got like a financial expert on his team that's going through our books. He's got a marketing digital marketing expert that's going to be going
through all of our campaigns and our spending. He also has hr expert to make sure everyone on the team is like it's working in their genius zone, is actually happy. You know that he's working with myself and my business partner. We're meeting with him weekly individually and joint and really just working on are we working in spaces that bring us energy and what we can do to shift to make sure we're all working happily. It is so amazing.
The it's just so amazing. And when I tell you already, he already said that you'll make your money back, honestly, honestly, with some of the changes we'll make that money back in like two or three days. Hands down, just a few tweaks. I'm like, in two or three days, we'll see that money back. So it was worth its weight
in gold. So I just share that because in all things, you might find yourself stuck, and you might find that you've done all that you know how to do, and so there is no harm or shame in asking for help, big or small, because sometimes that is the thing. Because I kept telling myself, how do I not know how to fix it? And I'm like, well no, I finally realize that what I was supposed to do is ask for help. It was not meant for me to fix it. Was meant for me to find an outside tool to
come in to help fix this issue. So yeah, honestly, I'm super excited. My business partner is super excited, the team is excited, and it just, yeah, I'm proud of myself for like reaching out and asking for help and like, you know, paying for help because sometimes, you know, especially as a new entrepreneur, you don't have any money, so everything seems like a scam. But as you start to lean into business a little more, you grow to understand
that some things cost nothing and they're amazing. Some things cost a little and they're amazing, and some thing's called a hell of a lot of money and they're amazing. And being able to vet the difference, like I said, worth its weight and goal, we will make that money back in two or three days max. So yeah, so just like boosting, like my business coach, his name is Zion,
and we did this last week. I talked about a Instagram Maybe I'll make this like a thing, an Instagram account that I think we could all use for some musa. So I told you guys about wordy dot talk on IG. This time, I think I want you guys to follow Tony Baker comedy. Huh freaking larious if you need a reprieve from all that is happening. He is hilarious. Yes, he is a black comedian and he I just he's hilarious. So he needs yourself a giggle. Now he does post others.
You know, he's very socially conscious, so you're gonna see some black lives matter. But in betwixt in between, you were going to get your GIGGLEA on Tony Baker Comedy on IG.
Oh well, I want to respond to your first point, but you just made another one. Go ahead, go ahead, And I love that you're doing business coaching. And I feel like if I were an employee at the Budgetista, I would be so excited and so motivated because I mean, I feel like the way that you're feeling trickles down to your employees. And if you're feeling like, you know, you're you're stymied or whatever, you're not happy with certain things, they're probably feeling that too, and it's nice to know
that they were. I would say, if I were you, look at Tiffany. She is she is humble enough to admit when she needs help, and she also is not just doing this for herself, but it's also for the company. And yeah, absolutely, I mean this is you wouldn't do open heart surgery on your own body, right, And I think, I mean, this just sounds like a really smart business decision, and it's also something that I think a lot of companies can be doing. This is why consultants are important.
I know that everyone thinks of consultants like, oh, it's a scam, but genuinely having a fresh pair of eyes on the way you've been doing her every day is so I mean, I had. One of one of my favorite professional relationships was a former content director from a company that we acquired who was kept on as a consultant and she literally just became my coach for six months.
And just having someone else to talk to at your level who's not someone that reports to you or something like that, or there's you know, or a friend in your company that you know, it's just it's going to be I'm excited, and I'm also excited for you to share the advice that you get from this person so we can get it full free at friend.
Ambitions and I certainly will. Yes, absolutely, I would say first things first, just one of the things that helped me is identify. He asked us to identify the things that you do that give you energy, like you know for the business, and the things that you do that take away energy. That was for me that was life changing. I was like, huh, what are the parts that I really like? And I didn't And it made me realize that I'm gonna make a huge shift in change already.
I'm gonna let the team know before I let y'all know, so because you know, be listening like what like ooh, tea girl, I will do it at team meeting. But so she's like Jotna Lie is on our team. She works for, works for, works with us. So yeah, it made me realize, huh wow, when I started to really think about the things that gave me energy and the things that took away energy, and it made me realize that I need to be in a different position. So
that's something I'll leave you with that. That was a huge, huge, So so yeah, that was awesome.
And I love that his name is Zion. I know that sounds biblical and powerful.
I know, because that doesn't Zion I mean like Paradise or like the Promised Land donuts.
I don't really not really religious, but it sounds and.
Like Rastafarian religion. That's what That's what I remember. Mourn Hill, she had that song and the joy of my world is in Zion. Her son. She named her son Zion.
It's like a lot of hospitals are named Mount Zion. I feel like it's like I say, it's powerful.
It is powerful.
So yeah, Zion is coming to the Budgeonesea wawanda wakanda, yes, oof okay ooof well all right, well I'm again grateful for this hour that I get to spend with you every week hour and a half because you know we we uh chit chat before the show. But yeah, thank you, and thank you for continuing to share your stories. Tiff. No, you have been doing it for so long, and I feel like I have been working for so long and
you feel like you're working. Uh well, it's like people recognizing your value is never too late, I feel like, and even though it seems like people may be recognizing the value now because it's trendy or it's mainstream now or whatever, and oh, we need to align ourselves with people like the budget Neista, or hey, we want to promote people like Bandy. I mean, I'm gonna take that promotion.
That's okay, because we want to elevate women like take it whatever, like they're here, they're wanting to give, ask and take it. And don't feel guilty about that because ultimately that is the goal, right for each other and everyone to be lifted up and amplified. And I hope this continues. And one last thing I will say to your point about the comedian that you mentioned, I love that he addresses black lives matter but then also makes you laugh. We have got to laugh yes, we do.
We have got to what do you say, wusaw? We have got to woo saw. You have to woo saw and then get back at it. I made a rule for myself that if the group chat goes a day or two without mentioning anything happening with BLM, I'll bring it back, just because I don't want people to forget and I don't want people to get too comfortable with uh, you know, ignoring it again, because that is very important. But I also you have to allow yourself some levity.
And yes, there is so much joy to be had.
There is, there is, there's a lot of ship. There always has been a lot of shit. We will get through this, we always do. But you've got to give yourself some grace, have a have a giggle. I hope this, I hope this show is a little bit of a reprieve for you. Yeah, keep it, just keep trying, just try, just try, and keep saying we're all doing our very best.
Hmm.
I'm done now.
Ask for you.
Love you girl, Oh, I love you too.
Virtual hugs you already know someone to me the other day and she was like, so, I know you don't like huggs, but I'm saying you want anyway. If you're O G listener, you know I'm not really a huggy person, but Mandy insists upon it. I'm like, okay, girl.
I can't wait to actually well, I feel like we've been socially distanced for a few years now from each other. I know, want To't we ever going to see each other again?
Oh my god, we will, We will see you.
Gotta meet my baby.
He would, I know.