Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast, a weekly conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. I'm your host, doctor Joy hard and Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or to find a therapist in your area, visit our website
at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com. While I hope you love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with a licensed mental health professional. Hey, y'all, thanks so much for joining me for session three ninety eight of the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. We'll get right into our conversation afterword from our sponsors.
Hi.
I'm doctor ke Hallman. I'm on a Therapy for Black Girls podcast.
Today.
I'm in session discussing the myth of individual success and the transformative power of community.
We've been fortunate to have such amazing guests on the show, which makes it all the more exciting when we get to have them return. Today, I'm rejoined by my dear friend, doctor Lakisha Hallman to discuss some of the themes in her new book, No One Is Self Made, from community care and entrepreneurship to the response and responsibility of small business owners in the wake of corporations repealing THEI we get into the idea of building out by first building within.
As I reflect on the last ten years of my journey with Therapy for Black Girls, I'm especially proud of how it inextricably linked our show. Success has been with building community outside of the podcast, and I'm really excited for you to hear this incredible conversation. If something resonates with you while enjoying our conversation, please share it with us on social media using the hashtag TVG in Session. Here's our conversation. So it is officially launch a week. How are you feeling?
I feel good. I feel good. I am. I feel very grateful.
I think that's like the overwhelming feeling I just had these moments.
I'm be like, man, God, we did that good.
So you helping the self care and all of the grounding and everything to get through this world. One week?
Yeah, I am.
I had a great workout before sitting down with you, and then I'm gonna go for a walk a little bit later today. I think as long as I do those things and still have quiet time, I feel good.
Good good. I'm glad.
I figured you already had a put but I definitely wanted to check in.
Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of moving directions. I have a whole tour line up. Yeah.
Yeah, you got a lot to do within these next couple of weeks. So I am very honored to have one of my close friends, doctor Key Holman, joining us today just talk about the launch of her new book, No One Is Self Made. And so, doctor Key, I know a lot of the origin story behind the book and why it feels more urgent and more timely than ever now, but I'd love for you to share with our community, what was the really the impetus for writing No One Is Self Made?
Before I answer that question, can I just say I'm so excited to be on Therapy for Black Girls a second.
Time, second time visitor, second time.
I'm so so excited.
But answer the question around the origin story how we got here, Doctor Joy. I've wanted to write forever. One of my earliest childhood memories, maybe six or seven years old, I would tell my mom and sign her Mother's Day cards, her birthday cards, her future Author and my first time I remember doing that, I was maybe six or seven years old. So this has been like a dream of mine for the entirety of my life. And I think, what's so incredible about this time now? I couldn't have
written this book ten years ago. I couldn't have written this book five years ago. This book is all about divine timing because it's all about building community. And I think we're in a place now where it's less about talking about community. I think we realize how much we needed and no one is self made is talking about how to be in community, because for me, community will be and always has been the thing to save us.
So first of all, I didn't know that story until I read the book about you signing your cards is your Future Author? Was so sweet and so like I feel like manifesting, right, because that feels like very much a you, thing that you would have done at six years old. And I think we often think about community really in terms of like personal stuff, right, Like, so you think about your friendship circles, you think about like that.
I think what is unique about the way that you talk about community is that you also talk about the impact it has in terms of entrepreneurship and the success of businesses. So can you talk a little bit more about the need for community, especially as it relates to economic success.
Absolutely, I think the model for our community in particular, or in a group that's deemed as a minority, collective economics. Group economics is the way forward. As business owners, I can only imagine where I would be if I had the mindset that I have now.
I knew to build in community, but I didn't.
Necessarily know how to do so in twenty sixteen when I was building a village market, I didn't really understand the functioning. The functionings of success is contingent upon how having a clear vision and values aligned ecosystem, and so I think for entrepreneurs business owners, it's the model. It's the model of how do we pull our resources, our
money together to go after bulk bides of inventory. How do we pull our money together to go after office space, warehouse space, How do we pull our money together to share a fractional COO, a fractional CPA, all these things. Because when you're first starting, you don't necessarily have the capital to afford all these things. But we can do it, and we can afford it together and beyond those tangible things, there's nothing like having an ecosystem, a community of people
that understand what you are doing. So being in community with like minds and sharing your startup journeys, sharing the hard days, stressful days, it's nothing like it. It's a place of resolve and it's also a place of solution. I've been able to have many tough conversations with you about business, about oh, doctor Joy, this is going on, and we problem solve in real time together.
That is what community is, and that is what I want us.
To start building and thinking about and putting that as our framework on it as and how we build hmm.
You know, I appreciate you bringing in that example because I'm remembering and reflecting on some of the very difficult conversations we've had about like what does this even mean? Like how do we find ourselves here? Like trying to do these big girl things as we sometimes call it.
But I'm thinking about like when I first met you, I wouldn't have been having very open conversations with you about like finances and like, hey, I'm really struggling with this thing in my business, which is something that you address in no one is self made, right because in order to say hey, let's go have on a CFO or let's split a website design person, there's a level of honesty and like safety, I think that has to happen. So can you talk about how you get to that
place right in business? Because these aren't necessarily people that you would have known from college, right, Like these are newer relationships, Like you're a newer friend to me, right, And so I think that there can be some heloitance to talk very honestly about numbers and like the intricacies of our business with people who may be fairly new to us.
Absolutely, and that's a great call out. So business relationships is like any other relationship. I don't think you come in on the first day making out the demands of what you want. I think is gradual over time. How trust is built. The way that we've been able to collaborate in business was not from the very first time we met. But we knew when we first met. I knew that there was something special about you and that you would be in my life, and I allow that
to just happen organically. I think as we go into a community, one thing that we can control for is the intentions that we write or as you say, manifests. But we can be very intentional with the type of partners we want to attract, the type of people that we want to bring. Again to me, that is step one being able to identify the type of collaboration that we want to have, and then secondly going out and being in spaces of community of like minds. So it's
not going to every entrepreneur event. It's going to entrepreneur events that speak to you. So I'm more of a holistic entrepreneur, so I need the wellness piece. I need that to be married with a conference that's also talking about scaling. The reason why that's important to me. I can imagine there's other people like me that's going to be in that space because we all decided to go
to the same thing. And then thirdly, from reaching out to people and saying, hey, you know, I would love to cop on a zoom with you, learn more about you as a person and I share more about me than we began to form a relationship. I think what happens after that is that either the relationship catches own or it doesn't. But I do not believe that you jump into relationships saying let's go buy a building together. I think too soon, too soon. Vulnerability takes time, Trust
takes time. What I tell entrepreneurs and folks like I was almost ten years ago, you don't have to knock it out of the park with your first experience. I think that we meet people and we say, I finally met doctor Joy. I gotta tell her everything I got to work with her today. I think we have to
trust the evolution of relationships. I think we have to trust that if you build organically, if someone reaches out and talks to you from a real place, doctor Joy, of just recognizing the gifts that you have and telling you thank you for creating therapy for black girls, I believe that is a deeper way to start saying I see you in the ability of being seen. I think
we get to see other people. I love more warm approaches rather than coming again hot with all these big demands of what we want from business partners.
So you talk about in the book, like the importance of recognizing other people's gifts and like trying to kind of hire from within your village as much as possible. I feel like we've had other conversations not you and I, but me and other guests on the podcast, just about
some of the difficulties with boundaries when like you blend relationships. Right, So your sister works in one of your businesses, you have another business with two of your really close friends, So you've really done the work of like multiple relationships
with people in your life. Can you share some about how do you manage boundaries and like what kinds of maybe difficult conversations have you had to have with those people when you're extending a current relationship to from personal to now business first?
Can we talk about boundaries?
It's necessary in everything, and it's necessary and business is necessary when you are a leader in the world because so much is incoming and so much is outgoing. And so I've structured my life almost there's a fortress around me to make sure that my mental health is strong, my spiritual health is strong as well. But yes, I've been able to partner with two friends, Juel and Tracy, for our company three ten Studios. My sister, Yolanda is
my operations manager for the village. None of these relationships were premature. What's so beautiful about Yolanda leading the way? Yolanda is an impeccable business woman. She is so skilled in the retail industry, and how that relationship happened, meaning she decided to come drain me on the mission.
She was helping me interview people.
And we couldn't find the right fit. And if y'all read the book, you're going to learn all about this. But we couldn't find the right fit. And it hit me one day, doctor Joyd. I was like, we're sitting and interviewing and a person I need is a person has always been consistent, honest, hardworking, shared within herself the same values that I have about treating people, and also has the experience to do what I'm striving to do.
I didn't have to look anymore. I call Yolanda and I said, I think I've been looking for you.
You.
I think we've been interviewing people and we can't find anyone because it's you. And she made the decision in less than four to eight hours to uproot her life and moved to Georgia to be on this mission with me. And the level of trust that we have in each other, it is beyond the physical sisterhood of sharing parents. It is a sisterhood of what we are committed to and bringing forth in a community. So I didn't just get
to hire a sibling. I got to be on a mission with one of the best in the industry who so happens to be my sister. And for Jewel and Tracy, we've been friends now for a number of years and this is our first time going on a venture together. Because the timing was perfect, we didn't even overthink investing in three ten together. Tracy found a building, reached out to Jewel, reached out to me. We met at our friends' venue.
We sat there and we talked maybe two to three hours, and we made a decision that we were going to do it. It was much more than business. We all have respect for each other. So I think if you're going to bring a family member or a close friend on, you have to make sure that they have respect for you as the business woman that you are or the businessman that you are. For all our listeners, you have to have people that understand that you are on a mission and on a path, and they respect that you
are the person that's appointed to do it. They're willing to work alongside you. I have a profound respect for Jule. I have a profound respect for Tracy and they share the same with me, And we knew that we could open three ten and do something and set a presidence of what it means to put your money together and physically go do something and not overthink it.
But for me, the.
Boundary always begins and ends with love and respect.
More from our conversation after the break, we talked a little bit about like why it feels like your book is so important, especially in this time you and I have not had this conversation. I purposely not talk to you about this conversation because I wanted to save it for the podcast. But you know, in the past couple of weeks we have seen all of these rollbacks of
DEI programs. Specifically, I think Target, right, so, I think Target has felt the most impactful in terms of the Black community because I think it, at least outwardly, there were such an incubator for new black businesses, right, Like I know they have like put on the map some of these brands that we all love now and like
we love that we can find it in Target. And so lately I've been observing these conversations around like how do we continue to support like these small business owners if we make the choice not to support Target, And so it feels like there is not like confusion about whether we continue to support the business owners. It feels like the confusion is about how and what is most impactful to me. It feels like this is an inside versus outside conversation, though it's hard because there is no
real place for an inside conversation. I feel like we are trying to muddle through it right, like we're trying to figure out, like what is the best path forward? And this is how I feel like our books are in conversation with one another, because I do feel like there is a way for us to come to each other in love, even though this is a messy situation we're all trying to figure out, and I think sometimes
that is lost. And so I would love to hear your thoughts about how do we move forward, because you know so much of your platform is like around collective economics, and it feels hard to do that when we can't really get on one accord about like what the path forward looks like.
Yeah, and thank you for asking me that question.
I share in the overwhelming feeling that I feel that many of us had with Target. We were like, oh no, not Target, not Target.
Because yeah, not tar Jack, not tar Jay.
But you landed on Why it mattered, it's because how they stood, it's how they stood out is the bold steps that they were taking to ensure that diversity, equity, and inclusion were power statements well, an affirmation of how they were going to coexist with us in the world. And for them to roll back that, it's like, auh, you were doing so well standing, why must you sit now when we need you to stand? And because of that,
it left our community in a sense of discombobulation. Some felt in many feel Target would never get a dollar of mine again. Others may feel only black brands would get my money at Target. But I think what many people feel is a sense it's a betrayal, and either one of those solutions or how we decide to move is a sense of betrayal there because we expected better for a corporation that said they understood our value, and that is a betrayal, being a let down of values.
I want to remind all the incredible listeners not everybody participated in the montgovernment bus boycott.
I know it.
It appeared like we were all on the same page. But we don't know what those closed door conversations were being. We don't know how many doors would slam, how many arguments, how many tough conversations.
We don't know that.
So what happens on social media we get to see it played out loud. We don't have the safety of privacy on social media because I do believe that people have to respectfully and can respectfully disagree with each other. But what broke my heart joy is that we began in this process to turn our folks on each other when the focus should have been solely on these corporations. We began to attack each other, and that is not the solved. We can respectfully disagree, but we have to
remember that we are not each other's enemy. We are not the people that created this. So there is no time to then start to tear down your sister or your brother. We are one functioning body that may have different ideas on what the body needs, but we are one functioning body. So I have a great deal of respect and empathy that this has been a trying time.
But I also want us to know that this.
Is a trying time that we did not create in order to exist in this moment. And to survive this moment, we have to recenter our gaze not on each other, but on.
Who was the steward of this discord.
And it wasn't us. And so I write about the book the power of our Words. I write about the book and how that we must hold each other with delicate hands even if we disagree.
Because that's okay.
It's totally okay to disagree, but it's not okay for us to become harmful with our words and with our fingers towards each other.
M Yeah, And I really appreciate you saying that, because it does feel like that is very much the function of white supremacy, right like that, now we are fighting with one another, and the onus is not on the corporations anymore, right like now, it is us figuring it out for ourselves. So I really appreciate that. I want to take a step back and think about where did this idea that we had to be self made even
come from? Where did this idea of that's the only way that success looks is that you are self made and like nobody helped you to get there.
I think our country unfortunately sits on the foundation of individualism, and I think if its seats in the roots of individualism, then you're going to have things like self made. And I would tell you in our own community, when we call each other self made, I think the only intention there is to say I'm proud of you. You did that, you made a way out of no way, as my grandma would say. I think that is what our intentions
are in that. But I think as a culture, as a consciousness, we are communal people.
So even on my.
Best day in business, even with the release of no one is self made, even with sisterhood heels, there are many players that contributed to us being able to write books, to own businesses, to be leaders. When we champion self made, I believe we erase those people, and that is not our intention. I believe that we erase the players who were so influential on our journey. But I think we get in as a country and we're talking about business owners.
I think self made comes from an individualistic mindset, and that individualistic mindset is causing peril in our community. We need to shout to the raptors that we are a village made, that I'm a reflection of a number of people who assisted in my greatness, and I'm not taken away from the level of self determination, self reliance it takes to achieve the things that we've achieved. You must
answer the individual call in your life. But I also know that there are many people that assist us on our best day and also be there for us on our worst day. And that is what I'm hoping that our community get back to. We must return to community. Community is the only thing that would propel us forward, and we have to divorce divorced mindsets of individualism. We have to divorce constructs that have never pushed us forward but hold us back. It is not good enough for
one of us to succeed. It is to our betterment that we have a functioning body that many of us are rising at the same time.
And that's the story that we're telling.
The other book, you talk about like six different rules that you feel like are important for a community to be successful or for a business to be successful, and I really love the breakdown of that. So would you talk about those six different types and how people might figure out like who they are within their own communities.
I don't want to get too much away to our listeners, but I will say for people who feel they are builders. I wrote something for you, people who feel that they are those that can cast and see a vision into a future.
Futurist, I wrote something for you in this book.
The reason why I broke it and broke down these six functionings of a community because in order for us to build in community, we have to know where our gifts lie. In order for me to know that if I'm a futurist and a builder, and I need to make sure that I attract more cheerleaders, that I attract more observers, y'all, I'm giving y'all nuggets in a book, more observers in the village. You have to know what you possess in
order to know what you need. And so I'm hoping as people come to that chapter, I hope that you also reminded that your gifts are powerful and needed. So, if you function as a cheerleader, you have power and being a cheerleader. If you're functioning as an observer, we
need all your wisdom. If you're functioning as a futurist, make sure you're a partner with a builder so we can make sure those things that you're envision they actually come to be But the reason why doctor Jorye this chapter and breaking it down meant so much to me is because I meet people often that say, doctor Key, I don't even know where to start a doctor Key, I don't really know what gives the talents that I possess.
I got six for you, and I bet they're somewhere in that six you will see yourself, and there's somewhere in your six you're going to see other people in your community.
And as those people begin to come to your.
Mind, I need you to write their names down, because you could be writing a blueprint for your team. You could be writing a blueprint for the community that you're going to foster and create.
You talk about this, and I really appreciate that, because you're talk in the book about not really feeling afraid of the vision once you had it right. And I think that that is where a lot of us get stuck, that we kind of start thinking about something. It's like, I don't even know where to start with this. This feels really scary. What would you tell people about pushing past any fear they have along that vision?
Absolutely, listen, so many people have done things scared and they did it anyway. I will say this in twenty twenty five. I need you to do it, afraid if you're consistently getting the vision and it keeps coming back to you and back to you. One of my favorite movies is The Color Purple, and I remember sug Avery talking about it. She can't sleep at night, and she wonders why, because God is trying to tell her something.
If you are an entrepreneur and that vision keeps coming back to you and you can't sleep at night, it's because there is something for you to birth.
It is something for you to do.
Let you hear from me. You are capable of doing it. And there is no such thing as a perfect process. There are moments when you get full body yess and then the world be like, no, sit down, No, I need you to stand back up. I need you to stand back up because this is a critical time.
For us to be alive.
I think it is upon our destiny, doctor Joy, to be alive at such a time as this. And so if you are the person that nagging thing keeps coming in twenty five, in twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven, we need you to do it.
This is such a time for us to be alive.
But I am so inspired in fuol by it, So listeners, all the collective, I need you to build anyway.
I need you to build anyway.
One other thing that I was really inspired by in the book is that you are very transparent about mistakes that you have made along the way, right, And I think a lot of times people who are on the outside don't know that, like, of course you're humans or you're making mistakes. But I think sometimes we mask it really well, like people just don't know the inner workings.
So what can you say that you've learned about making mistakes as entrepreneurs that you would maybe want other entrepreneurs to know.
Yes, first, I'll say the reason why I wrote that chapter in such a way, with such level of vulnerability, because we need to start to humanize success. So when others have set back to what the perception of failures, you can say, oh wait, doctor Key had hard moments, doctor Joy had hard moments, and keep thinking of entrepreneurs because in our truth telling, we empower other people to
be perfectly imperfect. So I wrote that chapter from an open space in my heart because I want people to see the human and the humanity and what it means to build something, and the hard stuff for me and those tough lessons I've learned the reason why I can get on here and talk to you about them now, doctor Joy. I just allowed them to empower me. I'm in a place in my life and my headset in mind space is that if I go through a hard moment,
I just want to know the lesson. I want to know what is this moment trying to reveal to me about myself, less about people, but about me, Because I think as we get to know and understand ourselves more, we can better discern people. But we have to know and do and have a strong understanding of who we are. But I really take my lessons on my hard lessons on the chin, and sometimes I take my hard lessons in my prayer room, and sometimes I take my hard
lessons to save spaces of my friend groups. And sometimes I take those hard lessons to my family and those who I know that I can confide in. But I don't allow those lessons to just sit. I apply them so I can ensure that I am building better and that I understand why I experienced it so I don't make the same mistake again. I just open myself for growth, I don't learn lessons and also have the perception that I've somehow I'm at the pinnacle and I never have
a hard moment again. The other part about experiencing hard things is know that you can survive hard things. So every tough lesson, especially as I was writing that chapter, I remember in my draft stage, I told myself, and you survived it, and you are still here. You are here and you're even better. So for entrepreneurs and people change agents who are building and they you may be experienced in a very rough moment right now, you will
survive it. And if you sit with the lesson and you ask the lesson, what are you trying to reveal in me? I believe that you will have some truths that's edifying to you to ensure that you're on a more focused and structured path.
I think one of the things that sets you apart as an entrepreneur and like the way that you have built your business and also the businesses that you have helped to build and help to set a path forward for, is that there has always been a very intentional focus on wellness and mental health. Why has that been important to you to be a cornerstone in so much of the work that you've done.
Because that is the most important thing. I am not on a path, doctor Jordan. I want our people to be economically liberated. I want to be economically liberated, and I also think what should come before that, what should lead that charge, is making sure that we have peace in our soul, that our bodies are well, that our mindsets are well. That is the difference and the clear distinction of how I do and build all my work.
I take this as a holistic approach. I do not want the wealth without the help.
And if I have to.
Make a conscious choice, Doctor Joy, if I got met with key, you can have health, you can have wealth. I'd be like Hollo wealth because I got to be here sound mind and sound body. I want to love the body that I'm in. I want to have peace in my mind. And for us to achieve economic liberation, for us to heal the collect the body, then healing has to be in the roots of what we are building. It's no time now to only focus on building businesses
and scaling. You can't simply do that any longer. The time now is like, let me ensure that I an well, because if I one well, and I'm partnering with someone else will then we have an opportunity to do something transformative. It's no longer the time for just I'm just focusing on seven eight, nine figure companies. That is not our focus, y'all. That is not the mission. The mission is to be in well mind, body, spirit, and soil that would lead
the type of entrepreneurs and founders and leaders. And the way that we would interact with those on our team, the way that we would position ourselves in community, the way that we will operate in the privileges that comes with success, the way that we would handle when hard moments come when you're successful, those hard moments when you grow and reach another stage nobody prepares you for. It's
also hard. But if you've done the spiritual work, if you've done the mindset work, then you would have a spirit in a community. Then nothing would be able to break and shake.
You one for my conversation after the break. So support is a verb is one of your most popular mantras, One of my favorite things that you say, and it's really permeated like your work with the village and comes through clear in the book. What does it look like to move towards a more active, kind of intentional mode of supporting one another versus maybe more passive.
Great question. Listen, Michelle Obama.
Our forever first Lady, said, it is the time to do something. Support is a verb, is about action, y'all. It is time for us to live a life where we are actually doing well. We're actually physically operating in a community that if you love black businesses, then you should be patronizing those businesses. If you are passionate about getting people registered to vote, then make sure that you're
getting people registered. If you're passionate about helping people with their wellness, you need to make sure that your social media content is actually saying that in doing that. This is the time to be highly activated. I want us to have time to reflect. I want us there's power in stillness. But after we have been still, there's power
in the way that we do things. Back to the question on wellness, When you take care of yourself, when the's time for you to activate, when it's time for you to do the way the force that you're going to be because of the way that you're operating, in the way that you're mobilizing. But this is a time of profound action. Nothing passive about this time that we're in. Now, we get to be transformative, and that is the pursuit I believe that we should all be on now.
So I think in conjunction with our action, we know that there are some systemic beg briers that also need to change. What kinds of things would you lay out for people who to have a conversation with like their legislator or people who actually have the bower to change some of these systemic things? What kinds of changes would you like to see in the interest of black businesses?
And I'll say this, doctor Joy, I write in the book a great deal of those systemic things. So I want the readers to know that I grounded this book and a great deal of research, because we're not writing from a place of with reality sitting on the other side of it.
Reality is what it is.
And so Number one, the way that we can advocate for black businesses in a black community is showing up for council meetings that we are aware of what's going on, or referendums and things that's on the ballot.
All of that is awareness.
The more we show up, the more that we can advocate for, because then people are not making decisions When our voice is not in a room, so many decisions, so many decisions are made for us because we simply would not show up. But as I see that there has been a lot of conversation on federal contracts and removing exclusion for minority owned businesses, we need to be fighting that. We need to be fighting against that. So much wealth in this country has been made due to
federal contracts. So we need to be asking on the city, state, federal level, what are we doing about contracts, How are we going to ensure that they're equitable, and what does it mean to roll back the How does that impact my black business? How does that impact me? And what are you going to do about it? And so I think we have to be very clear on what we're
fighting for. But you raise a good point. I do think it's time for us to get into our friends groups and grow that group and we start to think about what are our demains. As people are asking us to vote for them, then what do we want from them? If they want our vote and they will work for us, then what should they be working for. So our conversations have to start changing in our friend groups and in
our community groups. We need to start thinking about the things that we want and it can't be the thing that will only benefit you. We're moving away from individualism. What is the thing that you may have a privilege and it doesn't even impact you, but you know that it impacts a number of people. That is what we need to be fighting for. And so doctor Dreward put
the onus back on the community here. Our conversations with our friends need to evolve and we need to think about we can't only operate from the places of our privilege. Privilege gives you, even if you don't want it, a blind spot, that blind what have you advocating for things that only advance you but would impact the body? So we have to get away from our privileges and think about what is best for the body. That's what we need to operate and start asking and holding people accountable for.
So, how do you pop that people engage with no one and self made? And what are maybe some of the major takeaways you'd hope they leave with.
You know, doctor joy, I wrote this book and you read it. I wrote this book in a way that it is very conversational. I don't think that there is any space in this book that is hard to digest. I did that intentionally. So the first thing that I want the reader to feel is love. I wrote this book from a place of love for our community and my belief in what our community can achieve. I also wanted to write this book for people who feel extremely lonely and lost. I want this book to be your companion.
You got my voice in your hair, you are not You got an advocate. I also want readers to take away from this book that they begin to identify and ask themselves from reflection questions. Every chapter ends with deep reflection questions that really moves you to action. Because by the time we make it to chapter eight, the way that you're thinking, the way that you're moving, I hope
will change or evolve or being handsd. But what I'm hoping the biggest, biggest, biggest takeaway, Doctor Joy, I want the readers to know that the stuff that I'm talking about this is not something that can happen thirty forty years from now.
It can happen now.
It's just a sum of our daily choices that we can experience the warmth of our community now. It depends on how we decide to move. It depends on how the steps that we take to heal. And so this book for me is a love offering from the center place of my heart. I believe so much in our community.
I see us, and I only leave inspire. I have goose bumps when I think about the goodness that we possess as a collective in what is possible if we operate as one moving body towards with the same values, in the same way that we decide this is the way we're gonna treat each other. This is the way that we're going to operate and take care of the body. When we build businesses, we're gonna make sure that we treat people well who decide to be on our team with us. All of that is a palm of our choices.
I think that many people will leave very inspired and move to action, as you hope they will.
They read it.
So let us know where we can stay connected with you, and where can we get our copy of No One Is Self Made?
No One Is Self Made is available everywhere books are sold, so all those major major retailers. I also want you to check with your local bookstores. Shout out to local but you can go to No One at Self Made dot com no Www, No One at Self Made dot Com. You can learn a little bit more about the book and you can purchase the book. Y'all purchase the book. If you want to join me on tour, it's laid out there. I hope to see you in real time. And if you want to keep up with me on
social it's doctor Keith Hallman. I spend the most time on Instagram and a little time on LinkedIn, but I hope to be able to connect with you as you read the book and Doctor Joy, I wish I want to tell you thank you. Thank you for being my friend, thank you for being my sister. And when you all read the book you will see what I mean that Doctor Joy is is sisterhood and action. But you got to read the book to see what I'm talking about.
Such a little call outs and E says there, But thank you so much. I appreciate you joining me and do hope again that people will go out and grab their copy of No One Is Self Made. Thank you for being here. I'm so glad Doctor Key was able to join me for this conversation to learn more about her or to grab a copy of No One Is Self Made. Check out the show notes at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com slash Session three ninety eight, and don't forget to text this episode to two of your girls right now.
Did you know?
You can leave us a voicemail with your questions for the podcast. If you want to suggest other movies or books for us to review, or even give us thoughts around topics you'd like to hear discussed on the podcast. Drop us a message at Memo dot fm slash Therapy for Black Girls and let us know what's on your mind. We might just answer your question on the podcast asked. If you're looking for a therapist in your area, visit our therapist directory at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com slash directory.
This episode was produced by Elise Ellis and Tyree Rush. Editing was done by Dennison Bradford. Thank y'all so much for joining me again this week. I look forward to continuing this conversation with you all real soon. Take good care,