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