Checking In w/ Michelle "Bridgerton" Williams

able to do what I do. I wouldn't be able to be here, especially because y'all keep subscribing and downloading the episode. So I'm thankful to my Black Effect family. iHeart I am thankful for every listener. I hope y'all have been having a great summer so far. We are going into what this is pretty much the last full week of July. We are really flying into this year of twenty twenty three. I was about to say we are flying into the new year, this new year, but

it ain't so new. We are seven months, almost eight months in to this year. I hope you've gotten a few things accomplished, a few goals reached, and if you haven't, it's okay. Maybe let's get some help in finding out, you know, what's been keeping you from reaching those goals. But don't feel any pressure. Remember your race is your race. Run it at your pace. But if you can be built in condition to run that race, to pick up the pace as I should say, I would say, go

for it, go for it. But it is your own race. You run it how you run it. But again, if I'm the coach and if I can see that you can be conditioned to run your race at a faster pace, then that's going to be me. I'm going to be on the sidelines rooting for you. I'm going to be on the sidelines, helping, helping you get stronger, Like, no, you got this, uh uh, I know you tired, keep going, you got this all right. So again, don't feel pressure if you haven't gotten a lot done this year, but

kind of figure out why, and it's okay. If you feel like, man, you've gotten lazier. Maybe you've procrastinated a little bit, or maybe there have been certain things, certain circumstances. Maybe you're going through something personal with family, a loved one, your boo thing is getting on your nerves and so that's been a distraction and you haven't been able to really complete certain tasks. But remember, I feel like distractions sometimes are distractions are sent to get you off course.

Distractions are sent to get you off course. And once you can identify, wait a minute, this is a distraction that's trying to hander me from reaching this goal, you can, like, you can identify it, get rid of that distraction, at least address it. I think it's acknowledging that it's there

and adjusting. Right. So I just want to encourage y'all there, you know, maybe try to figure out what's been going on that's been keeping you from reaching your goals this year, especially if it's a goal you set in twenty twenty two that you said you was going to do from twenty twenty one and you and twenty twenty two came and you didn't do it, and then you was like, well, all right, I messed up in twenty twenty two, or I didn't have the coins that I thought I was

gonna have in twenty twenty two to do this. Now twenty twenty three is here and you still haven't done it, all right, So get out of your own way, all right, mother, ain'tie? So this girlfriend has spoken, all right? All right? Well, I want to just give you a play by play of my last few weeks. My birthday was Sunday, July twenty third, and I just want to thank everybody for the love, the IG stories, the tweets, the threads, the

Facebook messages, the IG messages. You get so overwhelmed. I know, I get so overwhelmed because I want to repost everything, but sometimes I just get so overwhelmed, like, but at the time, I still want people to know that I saw the love that they've given me. And so yeah, that's been kind of difficult to manage, but it's all been a blessing and I saw as many messages as possible.

I think my birthday is one of my favorite days because that's when you just get an influx of love and you just live and sit in all the love and it just pumps me up to keep going for the rest of the year. So I really appreciate the birthday love. All Right, So Nashville. I went to Nashville. I actually, okay, I love road trips, so I drove, Well, Nashville is about four hours for more, I live in the Georgia area, and I drove to Nashville to see

Beyonce in concert. All Right, y'all. I got a new car and I wanted to put it on the road and open it up a little bit and see how fast that baby go. And she goes okay, But everybody in my life knows that I love a road trip. My sweet spot is about five hours. Now, I will drive longer, but my sweet spot is five hours again. Nashville is about four four and a half hours for me,

and I got so excited. Get to Nashville and I drive my car down into the loading duck right, and everybody is loving this new car, and I think I'll show it one day, y'all. It's rare. I rarely if I show my car, you might sew the you might see the love of seats on the inside of especially if I've done an IG story or live or something. But I don't show my vehicles. I don't know why. I just know that's just me. I don't know it's I don't know if it's necessarily for safety reasons or

just I don't know. That's just having been part of my brand showing what I have. But I might show this one because it's really really cool. Anyway, get to Nashville, drive down in the loading dot people are like, wait a minute, like, yes, it's me, it's me, it's big, it's me. I'm here to see the quake Bee. We're so excited. She didn't know I was coming. It was a surprise. So I got there and she's getting Uh. She's just I love, I love. I love when I

get to hang with my sisters. It's just amazing. So I'm able to love on everybody. I get to love on Emily Bear, Beyonce's pianist, because she's from Rockford, Illinois, my hometown. She's got someone named Dominique that works in wigs for the dancers, and so a couple people from my hometown area. Her bass player is from the Chicago area, so I was so excited to love on some folks that are on her tour that's from my hometown area. I think that's amazing. I think that's amazing because when

you think about it, Rockford is small. So I love when I see anybody from my hometown that's living their dream and doing well. Okay, y'all the show, let's get to the show. Mind blowing. I tried not to look. I even told me, I said, I don't even be trying to look at your pictures on Instagram a lot because I want to be surprised. But that is why she does all of the different outfits from day to day. You don't know what she's gonna have, so that's good.

But I didn't even want to see video or pictures of the set. I just y'all. I probably said this last time I saw a show first. I don't know. I always wonder how is she gonna outdo the last one? And she always does. It was spectacular. It's spectacular, honey, it was amazing. So get to the venue and love and hug on everybody and just hang out with some friends that were also in Nashville that are there. I won't say their names because they probably don't want folks

to know. I just value friendship and relationships, so it was good to see some folks that I know. I don't give too many intimate details of my time there, but y'all, y'all will know because I put it on threads that I was there and that she is absolutely unmatched. The set is amazing, her choices, the song choices, the choreography,

the music, Oh and gee, it's amazing. So I think I don't know if it's called the Ace of Spades Risers with Jay and we're just and then he was like, y'all come on, So we go down to the lower area and have a closer coulduring near touch the stage, but it was the Bee High. That's it for me. We danced together, honey, we got our evert lasting lives, okay. And I was just sitting there and I was like,

I want to dance. I want to dance, and so of course I got pumped up and somebody was like, go dance with them, and I hopped God help, and somebody walked me over around the gate because I was gonna hop over the gate. There's like, no, Michelle, we're not gonna hop over the gates. You're just gonna walk a few extra feet and you know, well, I'll help you get in the crowd. And so that was lovely

from someone from the Parkwood staff. That made sure I was able to get my life because everybody was so free. And sometimes if you're ever in my position, you want to get free, but cameras are out and then the next thing you know, it's gonna be on somebody's page. But you just want to be free. So at that point I didn't even care about. I don't even know if somebody got footage of us dancing together and having

a good time. But I also thankful that they let me come and dance with them because I was like, y'all are y'all are having way too much fun? And then I walked right on back to the area that I was at and watched the remainder of the show, which is which is just again. I don't know how she continues to outdo herself, but she does everything the lighting y'all, I'm sorry, but every element. Pay attention to everything.

If you can, if you go, and if you've gone to the show, let me know your thoughts and all that good stuff. All right. Then I was able to head to Chicago, Illinois, where I was tapped to be a special guest for Beyonce's organization called Be Good Black Parade Route the Small Business Impact Luncheon. It's an invitation only event for local small business owners, so seeing that I'm from outside of Chicago, it was only right for me to go and represent and just literally love on

and encourage small business owners. I was able to talk to them about success that I've had in the past, my bedding line was a seven figure betting line, the Candle Line, which is coming back. I am excited to share more about that, and just to you know, if I'm honest, you know, entertainers are pretty much self employed, you know, and so it was good to share and at the considered a small business owner, so it was

good to encourage people. So I did that. That was so I got I got to Chicago Friday morning because my flight was canceled the night before. So whenever I have something in the morning or like noon ish, I like to fly in the night before because y'all, I don't like getting up early in the morning to catch a flight and then go right to work. I can't do that. Why I can do it because I did

it Friday. So I was supposed to fly to Chicago Thursday night, which was the twentieth, but my flight was handled, so I had to fly in the morning of the twenty. First I had to get hair and makeup done and then go right downstairs for the luncheon, right go to the luncheon that's at twelve. Then I had a flight at like three forty five to Omaha, Nebraska. Yes, I had a speaking engagement, so I had two speaking engagements

in two different cities and states. So at noon I was in Chicago and then by seven o'clock at night, I'm speaking in Omaha, Nebraska. Make it make sense. Why did I torture myself? Well, because I love what I do and I knew because it was a Since it was a speaking engagement and it wasn't performance, I was like, I can do this. It won't be too taxing on my body. I can do this. I love talking about mental health. It was an easy trip for me to do. Then I tried to get a flight back, whether it's

commercial or private. I tried to get a flight back to Chicago that Friday night, because again I didn't have to want to wake up early in the morning. Well, couldn't get anything, So I had to take a six am flight back from Omaha, Nebraska to Chicago to make it in time for Beyonce's first show in Chicago. Why did I do all that? Well, my nieces and nephew and my older brother went to the show. But it was the reactions of my nieces and nephew that I

wanted to see the most. Honey, they had all access, they got a list treatment. Honey, they got to park their car in the loading area, honey, where everybody else got a park in the parking garage. Okay, they were able to park where Beyonce and folks they got to park. They were parked like. So I was like, they got a little flex here, they got they got star treatment, right. It's good to have Michelle as your auntie. And they're

good kids. All of them are high school graduates. One is going to be a senior in college, one is going to be a sophomore, and then one is a freshman in college. So they're doing very good. So they deserve this treatment, right. And of course my brother, my only brother, Aaron Williams, producer of a song called Love on the Destiny's Child album Destiny Fulfilled, and he has also produced for me and some of my solo work.

Overall phenomenal musician. So I was excited for my brother to be there because we were both amazed at a lot of the musical choices, the sound, everything was cranking in Chicago, so I wanted to see their reactions. That's why I flew back and went to the Chicago show, and just to see my family's reactions was amazing because I wanted because they were they were so little, they were tiny. You know, they were young the last time,

you know, they got to see Beyonce in person. So now that they're grown, they had their own time and just had a good time. So let me let me get to My niece sent me the most amazing message, she said. One of them said they had the had absolute blast. More than an amazing time. It was a night I'll never forget. She said. My love for music was started by watching you Be and Kelly perform. So having the opportunity to watch my aunties, she said, yes,

I call all y'all my auntie. She said, having the opportunity to watch my aunties do what they love is aspirational and makes me work hard for my goals and dreams. All right, so let me get to this. Exposure is everything. What do we want to expose our children to? What do you want to expose your nieces and nephews too. I wanted them to also have that a list all access treatment, so that they could know, Okay, maybe they don't want to be an artist, but to know when

you work hard, this is what it looks like. They might not want. Fifty thousand people screaming their name. But this is what working hard for twenty plus years, this is what it looks like. I wanted them to see the consistency Beyonce's persistence, her resilience. You know, they see things of me personally and professionally, but I wanted them to see other people in my life get access to what they're doing. My best friend, Amira is a dentist. I can't wait for them to be exposed to things

that she does. I have, We have family members that are physic physicians, doctors. So my thing is, what are we exposing them to. I wanted to expose them to that side of the game versus let it okay, exposing them to what it all is. You know. So they got a good a good, a good seat. They lost their minds when they saw Jay, and I was like, ah, y'all, y'all not gonna make me look like y'all ain't never

been nowhere. So he was very gracious and all that's because again they were young the last time they've been around, and so I got a big family, and so it's so I tried not to I guess what I say, I try not to have all one thousand of my family members you know, around. But it was so good to have my immediate family there and they had a blast, and so that was that, all right. So that was Saturday,

July twenty second. Yes, I got an early birthday present from a good sister, and I'm not going to tell y'all what it is. I'll wear it in a picture and then y'all can see y'all point it out and see. So I'll at least say that it's something that I can wear. Y'all will just have to point it out because I know the folks listening the fact that I'm talking about this tour, I already know about eighty clips

of this they're going to make the internet. Oh, I didn't talk about the speaking engagement in all my Oh, it was a mental health summit with my boy j Barnett. It was a mental health summit, and it was about eight or nine other panelists that were talking about mental health from the seat that they sit in. There was young man that was talking about mental health and what his mental health was like when he was incarcerated. Then you had a young woman from the LGBTQ I A

plus community. You had someone talk about mental health from their standpoint as a therapist, and then just who they are with their mental health, like taking that title of therapist off. You had someone who was on the panelist as just someone from the faith based I think it was a pastor or a minister. And there was also someone on the panel that was talking about mental health from a space of grief and loss. She's lost her husband, her sister, and her mother all within a span of

like two years. So that was I loved that panel. I don't think I'd ever sat on a panel with that diverse of a panel. I thought it was amazing. And that's when I flew back to Chicago that Saturday morning to take my nieces and nephews to the show. All right. Then Sunday morning, I wake up to fly to NAPA for the speaking engagement that I had with MMA Global. It was a summit for CEOs and cmos, so it was people from Kellogg's, at and T, Disney, Ge, Verizon,

so many companies. Every company that you probably utilized somehow in your house in your household was represented there. So I got to speak on my birthday. And why did I choose to work on my birthday? Well, because the type of event that it was and the topic that they want me to talk about was mental health. And the fact that it was in beautiful NAPA, I couldn't say no, but I felt like that room would have needed something that I had to say because so many

people have titles. You're the CEO, you're a Cfoh, you're the COO, the Chief Operating officer and you're the chief marketing officer, or you're this, or you're that. But that title don't take away the pain that you could possibly be in. The title doesn't take away the frustration you could possibly have with your work, business, and your personal life. That title don't help nothing. The only thing that title can do is by the time you become CEO, CMOCFO COO,

your income is good. You're probably in the six digits or seven digits. So that does help you help you to afford the care that you need, the therapy, the resources. You're able to maybe get medication, You're able to get massages or just take a wellness trip. That's what those titles afford you. But that title didn't take away the pain, right and so when I got through with my speech, I mean the hugs that I received, personal stories that

people shared with me. I said, that's why I came here today, this is why I am here, and I would do it all over again. So yeah, I flew to Napa and I stayed a few extra days to go to some of the vineyards and to explore. I know, we went last year for Kelly's birthday and got to visit some cool places, and so I added on for this trip, I can't wait to go a again. Harvest season is a good time to be in Napa. This,

I mean this time of year. I learned so much too about the grapes when it's Someone said that when grapes are stressed on the vine they mature faster. All right, But yeah, so to be in Napa when I said, I said, hey, I get to speak life today on my birthday because five years ago, last week, you would have been seen in memory posts of me, you know, because five years ago that's how hopeless I was. And I felt like I lived my life. I felt like I've done good things. There was nothing more for me

to do, but I thank God for life. When that birthday came came out, I cried, but I didn't cry too much because I wasn't sure if my makeup was waterproof, so I held it. I kept it cute, literally kept it cute. And I wanted to I wanted to get at the people when and I said, everyone here has a title, but that title does not matter when you get home. And I think that's what struck most with the people, because people think that your titles, or what you have, or what you do in life makes it

all better. I'm guilty because I'll never forget being seventeen eighteen years old. I remember saying, I can't wait to get out this house because when I go to college, it's going to be own and popping. Yes, boo, it was on and popping, all right. But that that pain that was unhealed, that wasn't processed and talked about and talked through, it didn't go anywhere. It just it just

it doesn't go anywhere, guys. So that's what I wanted to encourage them about, you know, And I think I did a pretty good job from what I've been told. Last but not least, let's talk about the shade room. So my men were lit. Was it yesterday they made the post or the day before yesterday? And let me go. Let me go, because I want to be accurate. Okay, when did they make this post of me? And I was nervous because I said, I was like, well, oh, what have I done? Now? What did the shade room

or what happened now? So they posted it two days ago. So two days ago they posted regarding my birthday and saying that nobody eats a bridge up like Michelle Bridgerton Williams. So I was like, oh, okay, nothing crazy was said. And I was like, oh my gosh, now this is not towards the Shade Room, but this is towards a

lot of people. I was like, I felt like I have been hazed for the past twenty years of my career, and I feel like the last three years I've been seeing these amazing, inspiring posts of people quote unquote giving me flowers or putting respect on my name, and y'all, I always made a vow, whether I have a verse, a bridge or the chorus, I'm gonna make it do what it do. So it was cool to see that, but I was nervous because like, oh Lord, when you're seeing all these all I saw was at Michel Williams,

at Mischel Wims. It could be someone's comment at Michel Williams. So I'm scrolling, I'm like, what is going on? But I am like, uh, there's no time like the present for love, you know. And a part of me was like, well, why didn't people see this about me a long time ago? But someone actually made a comment and said, you know, they hated on me because that was because I was

the new girl in the group. And so I've been seeing that a lot, like, Okay, maybe I was called unquote haze or bullied because I was the new person on the block, the new girl in the group. Again, I am grateful and thankful for the love I just am. You know, even there people saying that they appreciate my tone more that they didn't realize back then how great

my tone is. So I said, I hereby accept the title bestowed to me Michelle Queen of Bridges Williams signed by the Bridgeston Estate Bridges because Queen of Bridges the Bridgeston Estate. So that's got seventy two thousand likes, and uh, it's it's love. It really is love, and I'm thankful. I'm really thankful that I feel like the hazing has

it stopped? Am I on y'all's good side. Now. Now I've got my listeners who have been ride or died for me since the year two thousand and you know exactly you know, Eggs Eggs, egg z a t. You know exactly who you are. And I thank you, and I'm thankful for the new folks that I've come around. I'm thankful for the new love. I'm thankful for the new followers. I'm thankful for the new listeners. So if you are new to this podcast, thank you for listening. If you do not have my book Checking In, go

get my book. If you don't have my albums, go get my albums. All right, thank y'all so much. I hope y'all enjoyed listening to this solo episode of Checking In. I love getting to run my mouth about things that I'm doing personally. I give folks a sneak peek of what's going on. So I really really hope that y'all enjoyed this episode. I hope that you took something away, especially the part when I said, expose friends and family members to very viious aspects of your life that can

be inspiring to them. All right, all right, I'll see y'a later, Love you much. Bye. Checking In with Michelle Williams is a production of iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.