Latest / Eating While Broke / APRYL JONES -Who knew Seaweed and Rice could be filling?

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APRYL JONES -Who knew Seaweed and Rice could be filling? · Eating While Broke

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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Colleen Wit and we're on another episode of
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Speaker 1: Eating Will Broke. I have the lovely April Jones here,
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Speaker 1: and what are you going to have us eating today
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Speaker 1: for your broke dish? That's so hilarious broke dish? Well, um,
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Speaker 1: growing up, my mother is Asian and so I'm half
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Speaker 1: black and Asian, and um, one of the struggle meals
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Speaker 1: that we used to eat, which is very simple with
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Speaker 1: seaweed and white rice. But it's so good and it
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Speaker 1: is so fulfilling, and it looks extremely affordable. It's cheap,
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Speaker 1: the struggle meals. So I'm going to show you how
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Speaker 1: to kind of do it. And what do you think
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Speaker 1: this costs on average? Because I went to the store
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Speaker 1: and I think this was the cheapest dish I think
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Speaker 1: we've ever brought on this. So these are the little
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Speaker 1: packs of seaweed, and I think sometimes they go for
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Speaker 1: what like nine you know it said said something, and
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Speaker 1: then rice and then you get so much rice in
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Speaker 1: the bag, which is like what no more than three
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Speaker 1: dollars four dollars depending on where you are a location,
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Speaker 1: l A is expensive, okay, but if you're from Chicago,
1:01
Speaker 1: you know, the South, you can get some rice for
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Speaker 1: a dollar two dollars, but now they have like different
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Speaker 1: flavored rice, like you can get a rice and beans
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Speaker 1: or I'm sure you didn't do that. I'm just playing
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Speaker 1: white rice. That's it. Ok Asians do steamed white rice. Okay,
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Speaker 1: So that's what I'm cooking right now. And actually it's
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Speaker 1: going to be almost done. Yes. Uh so for everyone
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Speaker 1: listening and watching, she's been cooking since she got here,
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Speaker 1: so we wouldn't spend all day waiting to eat some
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Speaker 1: seaweed and rice. Yes, So now we're on our last
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Speaker 1: little moments of it getting kind of moist because we
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Speaker 1: like that sticky white rice. And then you'll give it
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Speaker 1: a taste it, we'll roll it up, we'll do it together.
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Speaker 1: I'm super excited about this. So when was the last
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Speaker 1: time you ate this? Last night? So now you get
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Speaker 1: to eat it. I'm sure it's not from being broke,
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Speaker 1: but because this is just like a comfort meal at
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Speaker 1: this point or yeah, I mean honestly, growing up, I
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Speaker 1: never knew that this was considered sushi, you know. Um,
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Speaker 1: it was just kind of like what we did and
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Speaker 1: like being in l A. I hated sushi when I
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Speaker 1: first moved out here, and then I recognize, Oh my god,
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Speaker 1: this is seaweed paper with rice, except it has other
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Speaker 1: things on top and all this, so it's like, okay,
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Speaker 1: so I love sushi, but this is something to me.
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Speaker 1: It's just yes, like you said, it's a comfort food.
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Speaker 1: It's a food for me that it's pretty tasty, like
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Speaker 1: it really is because the seaweed is like sometimes you
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Speaker 1: can get them free made where it's salted and when
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Speaker 1: you put the rice, it's just it's just a perfect combo.
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Speaker 1: Now does it ever come moist or is it always crispy?
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Speaker 1: Like this always crispy unless you put water on it,
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Speaker 1: or unless it gets wet with rice. So when they
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Speaker 1: make actual sushi they use this. Yes, I was funny
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Speaker 1: because for all you guys that don't know, but I
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Speaker 1: actually pick up the ingredients. And when I do pick
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Speaker 1: up the ingredients, um, you know, it's usually fairly easy.
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Speaker 1: But on this trip for the sea weed, I thought
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Speaker 1: I was looking for like a moist role like like,
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Speaker 1: so they have that girl shower like I don't know
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Speaker 1: if she wants this particular Nope, she comes. And honestly,
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Speaker 1: the ones that I did when I was growing up,
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Speaker 1: they were like the big sheet paper so it would
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Speaker 1: actually be like big, bigger roles, so it was more fulfilling.
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Speaker 1: This is like you have to take one sheet, put
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Speaker 1: it in there and roll it. I mean it's like
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Speaker 1: tiny bites. I'm so excited about it these times. It's
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Speaker 1: still good. So you originally from well you your army,
3:29
Speaker 1: like you said, army brat So born in Germany and
3:33
Speaker 1: then four years old, came to the States, lived in
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Speaker 1: Chicago for a year on fort shared in base and
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Speaker 1: then moved to Cincinnati from when I was five until
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Speaker 1: I was eleven, and then came back to Chicago from
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Speaker 1: when I was eleven untils eighteen, did college and then
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Speaker 1: when did you migrate to l A two thousand twelve?
3:51
Speaker 1: Two thousand twelve, and what was a migration for music entertainment? Um,
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Speaker 1: So I have a degree radiation science, but I'm also
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Speaker 1: a creative So I felt like, you know what, I'm
4:01
Speaker 1: gonna do my two years work at one of the
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Speaker 1: best hospitals in Chicago. Give my mom that because she's
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Speaker 1: a strict Asian parent, like, no, you need to do school.
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Speaker 1: Fulfill that obligation. And I did that, and I was like,
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Speaker 1: you know what, My heart was just calling me to
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Speaker 1: really just chase the arts. So I've been here ever
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Speaker 1: since nice and then you got heavily into the entertainment scene.
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Speaker 1: Was that transition getting in? Was it because you're a
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Speaker 1: beautiful girl? Think you are stunning? I think way even
4:29
Speaker 1: more stunning for everyone that's listening, ors way more stunning
4:32
Speaker 1: even in person. You know. But was it hard to
4:36
Speaker 1: get into entertainment and pursue your dreams because it's a
4:41
Speaker 1: it's a male dominated industry. Yeah, and it's still hard
4:44
Speaker 1: because I think that with beauty and sometimes when you
4:46
Speaker 1: hear people who are like beautiful people and they say
4:48
Speaker 1: it's a gift and the curse, it really is because
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Speaker 1: especially being a woman here, you know, men want to
4:53
Speaker 1: take advantage or it's like I'll help you, and it's like, okay,
4:56
Speaker 1: help me, thank you. You think there's like genuine people
4:58
Speaker 1: that really want to help you, and then it's like, no,
5:00
Speaker 1: they expected something from you. You know. So then you
5:02
Speaker 1: feel like, for me, I'm not willing to sell my soul.
5:04
Speaker 1: I'm not willing to give parts of myself to people
5:07
Speaker 1: for a small time moment like no, I'm gonna work
5:11
Speaker 1: hard to get there. But you know, you sometimes feel
5:14
Speaker 1: like there's many setbacks because of that, you know, and
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Speaker 1: you just for me, I've had to press svere through it.
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Speaker 1: But it's annoying when you feel like it is male
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Speaker 1: dominated and these men are just like they hound. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: I remember at one point when I was younger, I
5:29
Speaker 1: would just first of all, I would always dress like
5:32
Speaker 1: a tomboy, but I cursed like a sailor, and dudes
5:35
Speaker 1: would be like, she's crazy. But it was like literally
5:38
Speaker 1: the only way to get guys to semi take me serious,
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Speaker 1: because if I were even slightly girly, I'm sure it
5:45
Speaker 1: would have been ten times worse for me. That's me now,
5:48
Speaker 1: because like a sailor and pretty much on tomboy, I
5:50
Speaker 1: came in here with was some sweatpants and angers. I
5:53
Speaker 1: got a little sexy top on. But it's like that's
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Speaker 1: all you get. Yeah, exactly, no heels, no, none of that.
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Speaker 1: I'm just fine. But so no, I agree. But I
6:02
Speaker 1: call you the ultimate woman's champ because I feel like
6:06
Speaker 1: when I see you on TV or or social media
6:10
Speaker 1: clips or what have you, anytime I get exposure to
6:13
Speaker 1: watching you, you're always keeping it real and you're not
6:16
Speaker 1: just like I'm gonna be the pretty girl, that's silent,
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Speaker 1: like you're the woman's champ. You're saying what every woman
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Speaker 1: thinks and feels. And I think there's not enough credit
6:27
Speaker 1: to the women champs, the Cardi B's, the all these
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Speaker 1: women that eat kind of our trend setters. You know.
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Speaker 1: Even being pregnant in the industry was like a huge milestone.
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Speaker 1: I remember when Lauren Hill had done it, and we
6:41
Speaker 1: haven't really heard from her since. It was almost like,
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Speaker 1: you get pregnant, that's it, that's not Then you have
6:46
Speaker 1: these women that are doing breaking these milestones, and I
6:49
Speaker 1: feel like you walk that same rope of finally someone
6:53
Speaker 1: has said something. You know, you use your platform for that.
6:57
Speaker 1: And you know, from everything that I've known, you know,
7:00
Speaker 1: I hear about you from mutual friends and stuff. You're
7:04
Speaker 1: the ultimate hustler. And I love it because it's it's
7:08
Speaker 1: like nice to see a beautiful person who can also
7:13
Speaker 1: be a hustler and be street smart. You know. So,
7:18
Speaker 1: what would you say has been the hardest hustle you've
7:20
Speaker 1: had to maintain, especially in l a market. You don't
7:24
Speaker 1: have family here, right, no family, Um, all my families
7:27
Speaker 1: in Chicago, and mind you, my family is small because
7:31
Speaker 1: most of my family is in Taiwan. Well, my mom
7:33
Speaker 1: is the only person in the United States here um
7:35
Speaker 1: from her side of the family. Um. So yeah, I'm
7:39
Speaker 1: here by myself as a single mom. And I say
7:42
Speaker 1: a single mom. Yes, Omari does his work, but you know,
7:45
Speaker 1: when I have my children, I have my children, you
7:48
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. And it's hard. It's difficult because
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Speaker 1: I don't have the nanny's. I don't have you know, um,
7:53
Speaker 1: the family to help me. My family has become my friends,
7:56
Speaker 1: which are my village, and even hell, my friends have
7:59
Speaker 1: kids too. Was like we're all struggling, you know. Um,
8:02
Speaker 1: so I'd say the hardest part just really it's just
8:05
Speaker 1: when becoming a mom and still trying to live this
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Speaker 1: non conventional life. It's we're not working nine to five
8:13
Speaker 1: jobs here, you know, it's is l a. So it's
8:14
Speaker 1: like whatever we can get, we're gonna take those those jobs,
8:17
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like whether it's for me
8:19
Speaker 1: doing acting or if I get a role on the
8:22
Speaker 1: show or like a reality show or whatever. It's just
8:25
Speaker 1: not nothing's conventional. So um, just having to be a mom,
8:29
Speaker 1: having to know where to place my time, not having
8:32
Speaker 1: like I said, to help um and but knowing that
8:35
Speaker 1: you have to scary having to provide for two children
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Speaker 1: by myself, and even when I'm tired, even when I
8:43
Speaker 1: feel like I'm broke down. On some days, it's like, no,
8:46
Speaker 1: you need to get up, you gotta go out here,
8:48
Speaker 1: you gotta work so that you can provide for the kids.
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Speaker 1: And I think that it's just it's hard, it's mentally draining,
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Speaker 1: it's difficult. Um but then you look at your children
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Speaker 1: and then you realize why you're doing it for place?
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Speaker 1: So do you think at times it's harder for you
9:03
Speaker 1: compared to say, uh, and I'm just then the fact
9:08
Speaker 1: that say a Marion is, say a celebrity, who's who
9:13
Speaker 1: from the world, I don't know is how much he
9:15
Speaker 1: makes or or or what is his bank financial I
9:18
Speaker 1: don't believe in counting other people's money, but from the
9:21
Speaker 1: world's perspective, you know, do you think it's harder when
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Speaker 1: people are like, Okay, well you have a baby daddy
9:27
Speaker 1: that's successful, who's famous. You know, so either they're either
9:32
Speaker 1: taxing you more, do you get that, or do you
9:36
Speaker 1: feel like it's harder for you at dating someone of
9:38
Speaker 1: that stature? Then it would be of a single mom dating.
9:43
Speaker 1: You know Johnny that works at wherever. Well, I don't
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Speaker 1: look at it that way because I don't receive the
9:48
Speaker 1: financial help that way. You know, when he has the kids,
9:49
Speaker 1: he takes care of the kids. When I have the
9:51
Speaker 1: kids to take care of all of you guys doing
9:52
Speaker 1: like yeah we got week golf Like it's not It's
9:55
Speaker 1: not like I look at his life and like, oh
9:57
Speaker 1: you're this Like no, like so even if I was
9:59
Speaker 1: today a little Annie over here and we're splitting time,
10:02
Speaker 1: it wouldn't make a difference because little Johnny is still
10:04
Speaker 1: taking care of the kids and when I get them
10:06
Speaker 1: and taking care of them. So just like when O
10:08
Speaker 1: gets and he takes care of them, it doesn't make
10:10
Speaker 1: a difference to me because I'm see you know what
10:12
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So for me, it's difficult because you're talking
10:16
Speaker 1: about on and off weeks. Well, when I get my children,
10:19
Speaker 1: that's two weeks out of the month that I'm shut down.
10:22
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna stay at home mother, And that's a struggle.
10:25
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, well, how can I Now I gotta
10:26
Speaker 1: hustle five times harder for the two weeks that I
10:29
Speaker 1: actually have off. I mean that that yeah, that I
10:32
Speaker 1: actually have off because he keeps them to try to
10:34
Speaker 1: make the money that I can make so that I
10:36
Speaker 1: can provide. And then are you at the place where
10:39
Speaker 1: you make what I would call sleep money yet or
10:42
Speaker 1: you still like hustle to hustle to hustle. Um, I
10:46
Speaker 1: can make sleep money, but then I'm also still at
10:50
Speaker 1: the hustle like sleep money there that I've got and
10:54
Speaker 1: where I'm like okay, like you know, and I'll call
10:56
Speaker 1: these jobs like for example, like campaigns where I'm like, oh,
10:59
Speaker 1: this was zee, I made this much cool. This will
11:02
Speaker 1: hold me off, you know, But Um, I have a
11:05
Speaker 1: hustle mentality every day every day for me, point my
11:07
Speaker 1: peer is gonna be a damn hustle. It just is
11:09
Speaker 1: gonna be that for me. Um And feeling like I'm
11:12
Speaker 1: doing it again by myself. I got two kids to
11:14
Speaker 1: provide for, and I got to try to provide for
11:16
Speaker 1: myself like every day. Like I've just been that way
11:20
Speaker 1: since I was a kid. Survival you know. It's always
11:22
Speaker 1: been did you gotta survive? Yeah, exactly, And it just
11:26
Speaker 1: I don't think that's ever going to go away. Even
11:28
Speaker 1: if I am sleeping in my sleep, it's still gonna
11:30
Speaker 1: feel like, Okay, I need to I gotta do more.
11:32
Speaker 1: I want to do more, you know. Yeah. Yeah, So
11:35
Speaker 1: before I get into the next question, I want to
11:38
Speaker 1: eat something. Okay, so we show me where we're eating.
11:41
Speaker 1: All right, so the rice looks definitely ready. Yeah, I
11:44
Speaker 1: turned those this off while we were sitting here. Okay.
11:48
Speaker 1: Oh wait, all right, so okay, him in your plate? Okay, perfect? Yeah, okay,
11:52
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna give you a little scoop of rice
11:55
Speaker 1: and want to start small. Yeah, oh girl, this rice
11:59
Speaker 1: is looking real boys, yes, and this is the soft
12:02
Speaker 1: jasmine right switch is my favorite? Yes? Okay, so we
12:07
Speaker 1: got the rice on the plates. So what would you
12:10
Speaker 1: say is your was your craziest hustle ever that you
12:15
Speaker 1: either schemed up and failed at or schemed up and
12:18
Speaker 1: actually ended up being a super profitable. I mean, I
12:23
Speaker 1: had little hustles like I don't care if it was
12:25
Speaker 1: when I was growing up. You remember them, like you
12:27
Speaker 1: remember when we could go to the store and it
12:29
Speaker 1: was like you could create your own popsicles, and then
12:31
Speaker 1: you had the sticks that you can actually put in there,
12:33
Speaker 1: and then people would knock on your next your neighbor's
12:35
Speaker 1: doors and be like I pays for a snow cone
12:39
Speaker 1: or for like a popsicle. I've never done that. Girl.
12:44
Speaker 1: I thought you're gonna say when you could buy ten
12:46
Speaker 1: packs of gum for a dollar. So it was actual,
12:48
Speaker 1: like it almost looks like ice cartons, but instead they're
12:51
Speaker 1: deeper and you can actually put the little brown stick
12:53
Speaker 1: until you put the coolie. You make the cool aid,
12:55
Speaker 1: you pour the cool aid in there, you put the stick,
12:57
Speaker 1: you freeze them and then so that was one of
12:59
Speaker 1: my hustles growing up. And then I'd be like, yeah, yeah,
13:01
Speaker 1: I got the hot summer days, come knocking on my
13:03
Speaker 1: grandma's door. I sell those for cents. I buy a
13:07
Speaker 1: big bag of like blow pops and sell them joints
13:10
Speaker 1: for like cents. Yeah you were, you were an entrepreneur
13:13
Speaker 1: from the So I believe. I'm gonna try yes to
13:17
Speaker 1: grab you some um. So I'm a firm believer. Like
13:22
Speaker 1: I've met so many people that went to school for entrepreneurship,
13:26
Speaker 1: and I always feel like that some people are either
13:30
Speaker 1: just it's kind of like a born with or if
13:32
Speaker 1: you had a parent that was an entrepreneur, you were
13:34
Speaker 1: exposed to it like so early that it's engraved. You
13:38
Speaker 1: look at things as profit and cost or what have you.
13:41
Speaker 1: And that's what it sounds like with you and you
13:43
Speaker 1: started so young, you're yeah, well I had to because
13:46
Speaker 1: I didn't have a mom or dad around. So for me,
13:49
Speaker 1: it was just always again the level of just you
13:52
Speaker 1: have to survive and then being shown the example of
13:55
Speaker 1: what I didn't want to become, which was seeing my
13:57
Speaker 1: mom who wasn't at home mother struggling the way she
13:59
Speaker 1: did with my father was incarcerated. So it was like
14:02
Speaker 1: this is what I don't want. Yeah, like I don't
14:04
Speaker 1: want that life. And my mom did a hell of
14:06
Speaker 1: a fucking job. She really did. I mean for me, yeah,
14:10
Speaker 1: she is a super woman. Um, but I saw the
14:13
Speaker 1: struggle that you know she went through and it was like, yep, no,
14:17
Speaker 1: don't want that. So you know, anyway to the rice,
14:23
Speaker 1: Take the spoon take this boon. Take um like a
14:26
Speaker 1: little well, I guess the spoonful of rice because it's
14:28
Speaker 1: they're small. And then what we're going to do, it's
14:33
Speaker 1: just you gotta use your hand. These like finger foods, Okay,
14:35
Speaker 1: so they just roll it up it's so sticky and
14:39
Speaker 1: the you just eat it. No, this is really these
14:49
Speaker 1: are as salty as I would like them these, but
14:53
Speaker 1: even still, like if you had Sessami oil, you can
14:55
Speaker 1: put sessami oil on here, like just take a little
14:57
Speaker 1: and rub it with your finger and then put salt
14:59
Speaker 1: on and then just do the same thing. So it's
15:01
Speaker 1: more like they're like almost like to me, like chips.
15:03
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, I actually like the texture. I wish
15:09
Speaker 1: you guys. I feel bad for the crew because they
15:14
Speaker 1: only get to watch and smack eat it. Everybody is
15:19
Speaker 1: so good. I am definitely gonna I feel like all
15:24
Speaker 1: these dishes on this show are going to make me
15:26
Speaker 1: a very big person because they're always good. Grow up already,
15:30
Speaker 1: gain weight. I've been going to weight out during quarantine
15:33
Speaker 1: a lot of thirty pounds from where April from What
15:36
Speaker 1: have you lost this weight? Grow up? I'll show you pictures.
15:39
Speaker 1: I was literally I was like one three and then
15:42
Speaker 1: I went down to one two and then now now
15:46
Speaker 1: it's because I've been eating just I can't help bad. Yeah,
15:50
Speaker 1: well this is so good. I got to be careful
15:55
Speaker 1: with this guy's because rice is the thing eating want
15:57
Speaker 1: broken actually make it kind of game weight. I actually
16:00
Speaker 1: never thought about just even using ced like you can
16:03
Speaker 1: use this for so many alternatives, like it's just the
16:06
Speaker 1: I love the texture of it. I'm never thought to
16:10
Speaker 1: do this. And I remember seeing people when there was
16:13
Speaker 1: like a craze where people were like snacking on seaweed
16:16
Speaker 1: and instead of chips, and this is delicious. So what
16:26
Speaker 1: do you think there? Do you think there's any misconceptions
16:29
Speaker 1: when it comes to you, like what is the biggest one?
16:33
Speaker 1: You think? There's so many. I mean I can go
16:35
Speaker 1: into saying, oh, you know when people saw me on
16:37
Speaker 1: TV on the show, at first, they're like, oh, like
16:39
Speaker 1: she was quiet and she didn't say anything and she
16:41
Speaker 1: had no voice, and it was because, like I will
16:43
Speaker 1: say again, that whole scenario being on TV was controlled.
16:48
Speaker 1: But who I am. I'm light and I'm fun and
16:51
Speaker 1: I like to live life. I mean you know, um,
16:54
Speaker 1: and I speak my my mind like whatever I feel,
16:57
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm
17:00
Speaker 1: that way. UM. So when people have seen me on
17:01
Speaker 1: the internet and I've said certain things, it's like whoa are?
17:03
Speaker 1: Because I'm like a liberated female who's okay with talking
17:06
Speaker 1: about sex and body parts and all these things and motherhood.
17:11
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, ship, we can't have a woman who's
17:13
Speaker 1: beautiful and speaking about these things. It's like, no, I'm
17:17
Speaker 1: going to talk about them. But I think that speaks
17:19
Speaker 1: to your realness. Like I've never been ashamed of anything.
17:23
Speaker 1: I'm done. You know, I've been through it, survived it,
17:26
Speaker 1: and trust me, there are things that I probably should
17:29
Speaker 1: be ashamed of, but I'm not. But I think that
17:32
Speaker 1: the level of confidence it takes to you're genuinely real,
17:35
Speaker 1: Like when I see your hey, you know I don't Yeah, yeah,
17:40
Speaker 1: it has it's but I think the fact that you're
17:44
Speaker 1: able to speak and uh speak into a camera and
17:48
Speaker 1: not turn it on and turn it off says more
17:51
Speaker 1: about you, you know, thank you. So I just think
17:55
Speaker 1: that I think that, you know, when people see who
17:57
Speaker 1: the father of my kids is or who I've dated, like, oh,
18:00
Speaker 1: you think you know someone's life and you don't, and
18:03
Speaker 1: whether if you feel like you do, the facts remain
18:05
Speaker 1: that you don't have the facts. And so I always
18:07
Speaker 1: tell people like, you know, if you could just mind
18:10
Speaker 1: the business that pays you instead of worrying about what
18:12
Speaker 1: someone else's life is, and maybe then you'll be at
18:14
Speaker 1: a better place in position in your life. But I
18:16
Speaker 1: feel like those are the misconceptions is like you think
18:19
Speaker 1: you know me because you grew up with these people,
18:21
Speaker 1: or like watching these people, or you watched my life,
18:23
Speaker 1: and so she is this way, and it's like, but
18:26
Speaker 1: I'm really not. So then when people meet me, they're like,
18:28
Speaker 1: oh ship, damn, she's so cool. And then I become
18:31
Speaker 1: friends and it becomes like year on year and they're like, damn,
18:34
Speaker 1: you're so consistent. Wow, all this was just a facade,
18:37
Speaker 1: and it's like, that's why, you know, do you think
18:40
Speaker 1: l A Because I'm from New York and I feel
18:44
Speaker 1: like l A people definitely are like a little bit
18:47
Speaker 1: more plastic. I hate to generalize out there, but do
18:51
Speaker 1: you think your illness comes from the fact that you're
18:53
Speaker 1: not l A l A homegirl? I won't say that
18:57
Speaker 1: because I feel like I actually have been a blessed
18:59
Speaker 1: to encounter some real l A folk. Um. You know,
19:02
Speaker 1: I think that we sometimes it's a melting pot here
19:04
Speaker 1: and everybody moves from other places, and it's like, Okay,
19:06
Speaker 1: we think that they're from l A. And then it's
19:08
Speaker 1: like we found out they're not, and then then you realize, okay,
19:11
Speaker 1: but I've actually had the opportunity to meet real l
19:13
Speaker 1: a people, I just feel like you either got it
19:15
Speaker 1: or the funk you don't. You either real or you
19:18
Speaker 1: just not. So can you ever? Can you? And would
19:22
Speaker 1: you be open a shan like a time where you
19:24
Speaker 1: felt like you weren't going to be able to survive
19:28
Speaker 1: as either a single mom or pre pre being a
19:31
Speaker 1: mom where you were like broken down and we're like, okay,
19:33
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna make it. Yeah, I would say after
19:36
Speaker 1: my breakup, which was two thousand and sixteen, I was
19:40
Speaker 1: I just had my daughter. My daughter was two months
19:42
Speaker 1: and at that point I was in very bad postpartum
19:46
Speaker 1: and I knew something was wrong. Excuse me because I'm
19:49
Speaker 1: very in tune with my body, but I just still
19:51
Speaker 1: like mentally, I was like, what's happening. I'll wake up
19:53
Speaker 1: every morning I would cry and be like, what is
19:55
Speaker 1: going on here? And you didn't have a reason for
19:57
Speaker 1: the crying because I don't fully understand Paul um No,
20:00
Speaker 1: and I didn't understand it either. Um. It wasn't until
20:02
Speaker 1: I talked to my midwife and I was like, yo, like, hey, um,
20:05
Speaker 1: I'm waking up and I'm just crying, like I just said,
20:07
Speaker 1: on the edge of the bed and I'd just be
20:09
Speaker 1: like gazing out and then I'll just be like like literally,
20:14
Speaker 1: that's and then you'd be like, what is happening with
20:17
Speaker 1: my what's something's going on? But if you don't know, um,
20:20
Speaker 1: and thank god I have the support that I have.
20:23
Speaker 1: If she's like okay, yeah, like I know what's happening
20:27
Speaker 1: with you, and the fact that you know what's going
20:29
Speaker 1: on with your body, you're telling yourself. So she's like,
20:31
Speaker 1: this is step one. And so then obviously I had
20:33
Speaker 1: to go see a therapist and you know all of that.
20:35
Speaker 1: But that to me around that time, because I was
20:39
Speaker 1: going experienced postpartum, I was experiencing a breakup. I didn't
20:42
Speaker 1: feel like I had the support from my partner at
20:44
Speaker 1: the time, which was really jacked up to me um
20:47
Speaker 1: and having to you know, my job was at a
20:49
Speaker 1: hole mom at that time because I had already had
20:51
Speaker 1: my son and so baby still knew. So you're still
20:54
Speaker 1: breastfeeding and everything. I'm breastfeting two babies at this point.
20:57
Speaker 1: I never thought about that. So so and they're both
21:00
Speaker 1: like in diapers and I'm like getting no sleep, and
21:02
Speaker 1: he's just able to work and go do a thing.
21:04
Speaker 1: I just felt very at that point neglected. I felt
21:06
Speaker 1: like it was a lot that was happening. And when
21:09
Speaker 1: we experienced that, that breakup, it was like, all right,
21:12
Speaker 1: I went back into survival mode. I went back to
21:14
Speaker 1: fouling applications to go back to work for what I
21:17
Speaker 1: went to school for, which, um, I end up getting
21:18
Speaker 1: a job at m OK. Like but all while I'm
21:22
Speaker 1: going to postpartum, all while I just had a baby.
21:24
Speaker 1: So but who's watching the babies while you're I had
21:26
Speaker 1: to pay for four centers? Oh my gosh, that so
21:31
Speaker 1: um yeah, and I'm working like it was crazy. But anyway,
21:35
Speaker 1: So going through all of the emotions of the breakup,
21:37
Speaker 1: going through the emotions of the postpartum, and then like
21:40
Speaker 1: transition because I didn't want to live in a situation
21:43
Speaker 1: with my partner anymore. I was like, you know, I'm
21:45
Speaker 1: gonna move. It was so much that I felt like
21:48
Speaker 1: just emotionally depleted. Not only was I physically depleted, looking
21:52
Speaker 1: in the mirror every day and realizing like I don't
21:54
Speaker 1: like the person that I'm seeing, Like physically this is
21:57
Speaker 1: funked up. Were you losing a lot of weight? Some people,
22:00
Speaker 1: some people when they get the press, they're like I
22:02
Speaker 1: was flabby, I was soft. My breast I had the
22:06
Speaker 1: bomb's breast prior to KAF they were gone, you know,
22:11
Speaker 1: like tired, like literally my my skin was gray because
22:14
Speaker 1: I just had no life. I was ending up in
22:17
Speaker 1: and out of the hospital for sleep deprivation and dehydration.
22:20
Speaker 1: I was depleted, depleted. So I feel like at that
22:23
Speaker 1: point in my life and I never wished that upon
22:26
Speaker 1: anybody or I would never want to experience that again
22:29
Speaker 1: in my life. That was the hardest time for me,
22:32
Speaker 1: the hardest, worst time. And to feel alone doing it,
22:37
Speaker 1: that was the worst. What did your mom say when
22:39
Speaker 1: all of this was going on? We obviously she was
22:42
Speaker 1: angry and she was upset that I wasn't receiving the support,
22:45
Speaker 1: and you know, she was like, you need to quit
22:48
Speaker 1: that job and you need to just focus on you
22:50
Speaker 1: and those kids. The MLK job. Yeah, and this is
22:53
Speaker 1: what's paying your bills though, right, Well yeah, and I
22:56
Speaker 1: was doing this but it pays really good. So this
22:58
Speaker 1: is kind of like when I'm almost like five, sin
23:00
Speaker 1: get ready of doing the job, and she's like seeing
23:02
Speaker 1: me in and out the hospital and she was like,
23:03
Speaker 1: quit the job because it got to a point where
23:06
Speaker 1: I was going to work and I wasn't even remembering
23:07
Speaker 1: how I got to work because I was not tired.
23:10
Speaker 1: So she was like, at this point, quit the job.
23:13
Speaker 1: You've saved up enough, and just like we'll help you.
23:16
Speaker 1: You know, like and my mom has been there and
23:18
Speaker 1: she did where you like working to not let the
23:23
Speaker 1: ship sink or was the ship sinking and you were
23:25
Speaker 1: just like, okay, I'm I'm trying to get the water
23:27
Speaker 1: out there. Ball. I was working because I didn't want
23:29
Speaker 1: to have to rely on the father my kids, Like
23:31
Speaker 1: I didn't want to have to be like can you
23:32
Speaker 1: give me money? Like we had agreed that I was
23:34
Speaker 1: going to be an at home mom, but when it
23:36
Speaker 1: got to the point we broke up, who wants to
23:37
Speaker 1: go to them and be like can I have money?
23:39
Speaker 1: It was like, hey, I need your help to get
23:41
Speaker 1: back on my feet. At least help me do that,
23:43
Speaker 1: because we both agreed that I was going to be
23:45
Speaker 1: at home mom. But at this point growing and got
23:49
Speaker 1: that job, I was working, and it was like for
23:50
Speaker 1: me again back into survival because you don't want to
23:52
Speaker 1: have to rely on nobody because you feel like, for me,
23:55
Speaker 1: I don't really trust a lot of people like that,
23:57
Speaker 1: you know, I trust myself, so I know that at
23:59
Speaker 1: the end of the day, I gotta have my back.
24:01
Speaker 1: Not only that, but now I'm responsible for two people,
24:04
Speaker 1: so I'm not going back. I refused to go back
24:07
Speaker 1: and be like, hey, can I have money. It's like no,
24:09
Speaker 1: you see that I'm struggling on the mother to your children,
24:11
Speaker 1: and I feel like at that point, help me. Do
24:14
Speaker 1: you think did he did he at least offer or
24:17
Speaker 1: was it just like I will say that when the
24:20
Speaker 1: situation initially happened, Um, yeah, he basically was like cool,
24:25
Speaker 1: I'll help you, kind of like get your apartment kind
24:28
Speaker 1: of thing. But after that, when I started working, I
24:30
Speaker 1: was paying my bills. Yeah, that's a tough situation was
24:34
Speaker 1: and it's also real life to a lot of people.
24:38
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of them. Everybody struggles. I love
24:42
Speaker 1: this show because I think when we look at people,
24:45
Speaker 1: like if you're sitting at home or you're wherever you are,
24:50
Speaker 1: you could be in the bathroom by yourself going through
24:53
Speaker 1: whatever it is you're facing. You have your pears, you
24:55
Speaker 1: have you know, first of all, with social media, you're
24:59
Speaker 1: constantly in aided with beautiful women, successful people people that
25:04
Speaker 1: from what it looks like from the outside man, They
25:06
Speaker 1: just it just happened overnight, you know, and then you know,
25:10
Speaker 1: we get to sit down with someone of like you.
25:13
Speaker 1: I was just like, yeah, it looks great, but this
25:17
Speaker 1: is the behind the scenes, and behind the scenes is
25:19
Speaker 1: real and real, really relatable. It is. But I also
25:22
Speaker 1: feel like more women need to start talking about it.
25:24
Speaker 1: And it's like, at the end of the day, yes,
25:26
Speaker 1: the father of my kids is who he is, but
25:28
Speaker 1: at the same time, I also experienced real life my so,
25:31
Speaker 1: so why should I not be able to speak about
25:33
Speaker 1: these things? You know what I'm saying. And I feel
25:35
Speaker 1: like a lot of women feel like, well I gotta
25:37
Speaker 1: protect and all this. It's like, yeah, but your story
25:39
Speaker 1: is your story too, you know. So I've gotten to
25:41
Speaker 1: a place now where I speak about it more and
25:43
Speaker 1: not to slander anybody because no one wants to do that,
25:46
Speaker 1: but to just really speak truth and you know, ship
25:49
Speaker 1: that was wasn't easy. But you say, lives by doing
25:52
Speaker 1: that exactly, But I think my own life by doing it,
25:57
Speaker 1: because me speaking about it is therapy and it's healing.
25:59
Speaker 1: Now when it's brought up, do you get emotional over
26:03
Speaker 1: it sometimes? Thinking back, Um, not as much as I
26:07
Speaker 1: used to. I actually look at it now and I'm like, whoa,
26:09
Speaker 1: my god, you are so real and you when I
26:13
Speaker 1: didn't realize what was happening, you know what I mean? Like,
26:15
Speaker 1: now I'm at a place where you have made it
26:17
Speaker 1: the picture, you know, the bigger picture. I see it
26:20
Speaker 1: now and I'm grateful for that, you know what I'm saying.
26:23
Speaker 1: But yeah, back then, when I would look on up
26:25
Speaker 1: like how the hell do you just how do you
26:28
Speaker 1: not help somebody? How do you love somebody? One minute?
26:30
Speaker 1: And then you just don't care that that Like I
26:32
Speaker 1: don't So then I feel like wow, like you know,
26:35
Speaker 1: you start to as women, was this unconditional? Is this
26:37
Speaker 1: based on condition? Like you start to look at life
26:40
Speaker 1: in all these different ways and it's like damn, Like yeah, so,
26:44
Speaker 1: I mean I have been emotional about it before, but
26:46
Speaker 1: when you have no emotional connection anymore or ties to
26:49
Speaker 1: a human being, you don't get fucked. Yeah, you're you're
26:52
Speaker 1: liberated by it now. I've been there, gone through breakups,
26:57
Speaker 1: invested in dude, been the fake front whatever, you know.
27:02
Speaker 1: But I think as a woman, it's hard to especially
27:08
Speaker 1: being on your own, it's hard to ever say Okay,
27:10
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let my guard down and just trust you
27:12
Speaker 1: to have the ball like I have to have. Like
27:15
Speaker 1: I know, there was a saying like where you have
27:17
Speaker 1: to have your pocket. You know you have your husband,
27:19
Speaker 1: but then you have your like secret money just in case.
27:22
Speaker 1: Do you feel like when you get into relationships now
27:25
Speaker 1: you're always thinking about like, Okay, how long is this
27:29
Speaker 1: gonna last? Or do you feel like there's still a
27:31
Speaker 1: guard there? No. I feel like for me, I don't
27:34
Speaker 1: walk into any new relationship holding onto a bad baggage
27:37
Speaker 1: from a previous And I think that when people do that,
27:40
Speaker 1: they're not ready to embark on a new journey. And
27:42
Speaker 1: that's when I tell people, if you're not, if you
27:44
Speaker 1: haven't let go of the things that you've dealt with before,
27:46
Speaker 1: stop trying to hop into another relationship because it's unfair
27:49
Speaker 1: to the person that you're dealing with. So I believe
27:51
Speaker 1: in that. So for me, until I know that things
27:54
Speaker 1: are deaded and done and I'm fully emotionally not invested anymore,
27:58
Speaker 1: I'm not moving on to the next thing. Um. But
28:01
Speaker 1: I also feel like people you can't say this person
28:05
Speaker 1: is gonna be this person. You gotta just trust that
28:07
Speaker 1: people are gonna be who the funk they say they
28:09
Speaker 1: are and sometimes they're not most of the time, but
28:12
Speaker 1: it's okay. It's a learning lesson, it's a new experience,
28:14
Speaker 1: and it's more efficiency. And that's how I look at life,
28:16
Speaker 1: because you know, when you're a rare gym, you realize,
28:20
Speaker 1: like I'm not the one missing out, yeah and you are. So,
28:25
Speaker 1: so how what are your next steps? Like do you
28:28
Speaker 1: see in your future? As far as where do you
28:32
Speaker 1: see yourself in your platform? Like I feel like you
28:35
Speaker 1: have this strong educational radiation by like whatever science like background,
28:44
Speaker 1: So is that like a backup plan? And then where
28:46
Speaker 1: where is your ultimate dreams headed? You know? Um, I'll
28:51
Speaker 1: always have that degree. I'm grateful for my mom for that,
28:53
Speaker 1: but I do have I feel my show, like a
28:56
Speaker 1: couple of months ago it called After Hours and it's
28:58
Speaker 1: a slumber party kind of talk show, late night talk show,
29:02
Speaker 1: and I'm hoping that that goes somewhere. It's really it's awesome.
29:05
Speaker 1: I can't go into too much detail, but I'm also
29:07
Speaker 1: creating some other things, like um journals, and I have
29:11
Speaker 1: this saying, which is life is to be lived because
29:13
Speaker 1: I really live by that, like we have one life
29:15
Speaker 1: to live. Fun what people think, Let's live it. And
29:18
Speaker 1: so for me, everything that I do is in my
29:21
Speaker 1: model for that. That's my mantra um. And I'm just
29:24
Speaker 1: gonna create things that make me feel happy with that,
29:27
Speaker 1: be a great mom, and I just live. I don't
29:30
Speaker 1: even I don't necessarily. As I've gotten older, I'm like,
29:32
Speaker 1: God got me, you know what I mean? Like, I
29:34
Speaker 1: don't think about oh so am I should? I I
29:36
Speaker 1: believe my blessings come by just being me. And sometimes
29:41
Speaker 1: when you're not thinking or looking, opportunities present themselves. And
29:44
Speaker 1: so I don't know. I think I'm gonna be happy, healthy,
29:47
Speaker 1: My kids are gonna be happy and healthy, and I'll
29:50
Speaker 1: be good in the years to come. Now, when you
29:53
Speaker 1: embark on these new endeavors, do you look at it
29:56
Speaker 1: from the business perspective or just the creative perspective? I
30:00
Speaker 1: guess both, yeah, or do you have you noticed like
30:05
Speaker 1: I noticed? For me, I'll throw myself into a project creatively,
30:09
Speaker 1: all fascinating, creative. But then I think the laws of
30:12
Speaker 1: attraction somehow get like distribution, or someone will come along
30:15
Speaker 1: and be like here is money, and you kind of
30:18
Speaker 1: like saved by the Yeah, you have to look at
30:20
Speaker 1: it from creative because that's why we do it, you know,
30:22
Speaker 1: creative to do it because we love to do it.
30:23
Speaker 1: But at the same time we understand that, like you know,
30:27
Speaker 1: we have mouths to feed, ye, and we would hope
30:30
Speaker 1: that this can help people while at the same time
30:32
Speaker 1: making money from doing it. Who doesn't want to make
30:34
Speaker 1: money doing what they love doing? Yeah, who doesn't. But
30:37
Speaker 1: it's not to me about the money. People, It's never
30:39
Speaker 1: been about the money. It's never been about the money. Yeah.
30:43
Speaker 1: You know, Well, when I was younger, I remember always saying, oh,
30:46
Speaker 1: by the time I'm twenty four, I want to have
30:48
Speaker 1: this much money and I want to make it. And
30:50
Speaker 1: then like ten years into my second company, the first
30:54
Speaker 1: one failed. Um I remember just not having any money,
31:00
Speaker 1: could barely pay my rent, you know, living check to check. Uh.
31:05
Speaker 1: And I remember at that point success was money. But
31:08
Speaker 1: now I'm older and I'm like successes and money it's
31:11
Speaker 1: just being able to pursue what you love or you
31:13
Speaker 1: dream or whatever and inspire others while doing it. Of course,
31:17
Speaker 1: success is just to me, like I said, living, and
31:21
Speaker 1: I always tell people because people are like, yeah, I
31:23
Speaker 1: have to reach this, and it's like yeah, but once
31:24
Speaker 1: you reach that then you feel like it's not success,
31:27
Speaker 1: but you just keep on trying to climb the ladder.
31:29
Speaker 1: And it's like at some point people have to start
31:31
Speaker 1: being more content with where they are and just be
31:33
Speaker 1: more realistic about Okay. So for me, what I tell
31:36
Speaker 1: myself all the time is at the end of the day,
31:39
Speaker 1: in my life, all I want to experience, period point blank,
31:42
Speaker 1: is peace and whatever brings me peace and comfort in
31:46
Speaker 1: my job and my personal whatever is what I want.
31:49
Speaker 1: And that's it. So you don't say happy. I was
31:52
Speaker 1: thinking you were gonna say happiness. Pieces happiness, go on peace.
31:57
Speaker 1: I want utter piece, leave me alone, don't bother me,
32:00
Speaker 1: don't want to be right here, eat my seaweed my
32:03
Speaker 1: broke struggle me. Oh yeah yeah. By the way, I
32:12
Speaker 1: really appreciate this, but I swear like my best times
32:17
Speaker 1: is hanging out with friends over a struggled dish or
32:19
Speaker 1: laughing at I struggled this. How will you see like
32:22
Speaker 1: del taco? Like day old. I'll talk about the trunk
32:26
Speaker 1: of my car. Hey, it was like a dollar. Okay,
32:30
Speaker 1: I was not about to let that dollar go away.
32:33
Speaker 1: It's like you put it in in the frigerator. It's like
32:35
Speaker 1: it's still was good when you. This meal was absolutely delicious.
32:39
Speaker 1: I had such a great time you too. Thank you
32:41
Speaker 1: for having me, Thank you for coming out. And I
32:44
Speaker 1: know we were working around your schedule, and like you said,
32:47
Speaker 1: you know, I remember when we were trying to work
32:49
Speaker 1: it out, you were working it out around your children,
32:53
Speaker 1: and just the respect and that just coordinating it and
32:57
Speaker 1: then having you come out. And I truly believe that
33:01
Speaker 1: you are the women's champion and you need to keep
33:05
Speaker 1: speaking up because you never know who's gonna hear it
33:07
Speaker 1: on what day or right day or wrong day of
33:10
Speaker 1: based on what they're going through. And and this dish also,
33:15
Speaker 1: I liked it because me being also a mixed person,
33:18
Speaker 1: I feel like as a mixed person, you do want.
33:22
Speaker 1: I feel like in America mixed, if you're have a
33:26
Speaker 1: little bit of black and you have black, you're considered black.
33:29
Speaker 1: And I feel like two black people not all the
33:32
Speaker 1: time you're accepted. So I always try to lean towards
33:34
Speaker 1: like I'm black, I'm black, I'm black, because I don't
33:36
Speaker 1: want everyone to be like she's a white girl, or
33:39
Speaker 1: Youriish girl, whatever. But I love that this dish was
33:42
Speaker 1: more Asian beamed, you know, versus you could have won
33:47
Speaker 1: the other. And trust me, we went back and forth.
33:49
Speaker 1: You had a couple of creative ones. I just didn't
33:51
Speaker 1: want to smoke up the student yet I had some
33:54
Speaker 1: fresh cries. That was my other struggle dish growing up.
33:59
Speaker 1: By the way, in college is Kabye and a four
34:00
Speaker 1: with potatoes. But that's another story. We'll do that another time.
34:03
Speaker 1: But I love this dish and I enjoyed having Thank
34:07
Speaker 1: you so much for coming out and again off camera
34:10
Speaker 1: broke Yes, yes, yes, I'll picture you and I'm doing
34:16
Speaker 1: my thing. Okay, Well, thank you so much for coming out,
34:20
Speaker 1: thank you for having me yes, and thank you all
34:22
Speaker 1: for listening and checking out another episode of Eating Will
34:25
Speaker 1: Broke with April Jones, Piece Piece Out Guys. For more
34:30
Speaker 1: Eating Wall Broke from I Heart Radio and The Black Effect,
34:33
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
34:36
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.