Latest / Deeply Well with Devi Brown / The Story of You with Kia Miakka Natisse

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The Story of You with Kia Miakka Natisse · Deeply Well with Devi Brown

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Speaker 1: Mm from grandmothers who whispered in their baby girl in
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Speaker 1: two fathers on dimly lit street corners, instructing young soldiers
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Speaker 1: to always keep their eyes open. You be queen, you
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Speaker 1: were fired. You will pass through centuries on the hands
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Speaker 1: of your daughters. They called you wisdom. Proverbs on the
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Speaker 1: backs of diamond eyed school children who growing into hymnals
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Speaker 1: recited by amethyst holding urban philosophers who recited neighborhood commandments
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Speaker 1: out of the windows of restored Alchemedo cheriots to keep
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Speaker 1: the warmth of their blood, be wise, be smart, being black.
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Speaker 1: Opal Brown courts bloodstone and prayer. Be every form of
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Speaker 1: jim se King told, scribe, scribe, told son, son, told wife,
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Speaker 1: wife told her daughter, and daughter told the ass and
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Speaker 1: the ancestors told me that you would come to give wisdom. Thousands.
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Speaker 1: They said you would come. Dropping Dropping Gem It's the
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Speaker 1: Dropping Gems podcast. What up, everybody? Welcome to the show.
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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Debbie Brown. This is the show where
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Speaker 1: we like to deep dive into higher consciousness but make
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Speaker 1: it really deeply applicable to our day to day life.
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Speaker 1: I'm always thinking, how can we expand, how can we grow,
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Speaker 1: and how can we do it with ease, grace, and beauty,
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Speaker 1: and I think that's what we're going to explore today
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Speaker 1: on the show. The way that I like to do
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Speaker 1: that is with investigating my own story. Storytelling is one
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Speaker 1: of the oldest and greatest, most impactful ways for us
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Speaker 1: to share literally everything in a lasting way. You know,
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Speaker 1: some of the stories that we revel in from childhood
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Speaker 1: or have been passed down from people we love, or
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Speaker 1: have come up in the religious systems or beliefs that
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Speaker 1: we connect to or operate within, exists because they were
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Speaker 1: powerfully investigated and explored and then intentionally shared for the
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Speaker 1: highest good of all that connected to them. And so
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Speaker 1: when we think about the power of our stories, we
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Speaker 1: have to also understand that through really examining and then
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Speaker 1: expressing our stories, we are really turning ourselves and our
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Speaker 1: lives into myths. I love a lot of work around mythology.
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Speaker 1: I used to be really drawn to Greek mythology when
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Speaker 1: I was younger, Always powerfully drawn to storytelling. I think,
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Speaker 1: in every form and in every way that I've showed
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Speaker 1: up in the multiple careers that I've ad it all
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Speaker 1: really centered around two things, curiosity and storytelling. Even when
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Speaker 1: I think back to my time of working in radio,
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Speaker 1: and you know, having the privilege to interview different artists
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Speaker 1: and different rappers and different actors and musicians and politicians.
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Speaker 1: My deeper calling and my deeper yearning was always what
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Speaker 1: is the deeper story that's in front of me? What
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Speaker 1: is the story to tell? What is your story? What
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Speaker 1: is the recipe of you? How did you come into
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Speaker 1: this moment? We are all layered in very complex ways,
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Speaker 1: um and sometimes the complexities are only known to us
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Speaker 1: because we know all the facets of our story and
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Speaker 1: all the facets of ourselves. But it is through that
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Speaker 1: knowledge that we are able to heal, grow, transform, and
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Speaker 1: then show up in service to the world, which is
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Speaker 1: what I believe is the root of what all of
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Speaker 1: our individual purposes center in. So on today's episode, we
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Speaker 1: are investigating the power of storytelling, especially as it relates
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Speaker 1: to our spiritual and healing journey. I found I like
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Speaker 1: to call this my self bology. My study of self
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Speaker 1: is the driving force of my life. I am always
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Speaker 1: in my mind, in my heart, in my body, exploring
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Speaker 1: how I feel, my responses, what led me there? What
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Speaker 1: is my past experiences? How does that plan too? Now?
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Speaker 1: And I think what's so important is through that investigation
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Speaker 1: of self. That is how you find your purpose. That's
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Speaker 1: how you show up forward in a really lasting way.
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Speaker 1: And that's also how you heal yourself. You can't heal
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Speaker 1: what you avoid. So I always connect with the art
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Speaker 1: of storytelling. I love powerful storytelling. And something I really
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Speaker 1: love right now is us being able to tap into
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Speaker 1: what is our inner myth. And by that I don't
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Speaker 1: mean what are you know potentially um untruths or you
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Speaker 1: know too deep ego identifications with our stories. But we
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Speaker 1: should all be looking to live our life in myth
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Speaker 1: thick ways. For me, becoming a myth is more important
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Speaker 1: than what we call leaving a legacy. Legacy is beautiful,
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Speaker 1: but it's also a little the word is a little
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Speaker 1: more closely related to uh to ego, because what we're
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Speaker 1: thinking of is I'm leaving my name on a building,
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Speaker 1: right Like it's about kind of cementing our current identity
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Speaker 1: for the test of time. But is that for the
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Speaker 1: greater good? Or is for that first self? Grandizing is
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Speaker 1: something I just start to explore sometimes in my mind.
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Speaker 1: Whereas when you are looking to become a myth, you
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Speaker 1: are finding the most powerful parts of your story, the
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Speaker 1: most powerful parts of what make you you, and you
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Speaker 1: are living them to the grandest of your ability possible.
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Speaker 1: And when you're gone, that is the piece that carries
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Speaker 1: on after you. That is the piece that inspires others
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Speaker 1: to be more, to change. That is something that can
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Speaker 1: exist for thousands and thousands of years. That is not
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Speaker 1: connected to who you are in terms of your name
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Speaker 1: or what you may have accomplished in the physical world,
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Speaker 1: but it's more tied to the essence of your soul
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Speaker 1: and how you radiated and what you shared or what
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Speaker 1: the big karma was that can be used as a
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Speaker 1: tool or information for other people. And sometimes our myths
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Speaker 1: are the hero's journey and sometimes our myths are the
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Speaker 1: cautionary tale for people, but both are necessary. So today's episode,
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Speaker 1: let's get it in. I have an amazing, amazing person
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Speaker 1: um who is really doing big work and the storytelling space.
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Speaker 1: Kia Miyaka Natis. Kia is the new co host of Invisibilia.
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Speaker 1: I know a lot of people big fans of that show.
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Speaker 1: It's a podcast about challenging the forces and powers of
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Speaker 1: the status quo. And before stepping up to host the
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Speaker 1: mic at mp R She's told stories in nearly every form,
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Speaker 1: from developing reality shows and scripting web shorts to interactive
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Speaker 1: art and experimental documentaries, and most recently, Kia had a
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Speaker 1: really powerful story that she shared around reparations for Invisibilitia. So,
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Speaker 1: without further ado, let me go ahead and welcome to
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Speaker 1: the show, Kia Miyaka Natise. So welcoming to the show.
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Speaker 1: Really excited, Kia Miyaka Natise. Thank you for joining me,
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Speaker 1: thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here.
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Speaker 1: You know what's interesting, and I'm so excited to dive
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Speaker 1: into you with so many things because the work that
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Speaker 1: you do, and we were kind of offlining about this,
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Speaker 1: the work that you do, even if it's not explicitly
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Speaker 1: called that is deeply spiritual work, Like it is the
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Speaker 1: art of the story, of sharing, intergenerational nourishment, of you know,
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Speaker 1: creating a myth that will outlive everyone you're even talking to. Yeah. Absolutely,
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Speaker 1: I mean I'm like a born storyteller and it's how
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Speaker 1: I understand the world, and like nothing makes sense until
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Speaker 1: there is a narrative where I could like understand how
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Speaker 1: do I fit inside whatever paradigm we're existing in um
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Speaker 1: and the power of storytelling to like shift paradigms of
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Speaker 1: like wait if you and then we do this all
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Speaker 1: the time at work, which is like, well, if you
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Speaker 1: put a certain situation inside of a different frame, you
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Speaker 1: get a whole different meaning and and that's really like
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Speaker 1: a powerful tool of like even understanding myself of just
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Speaker 1: like well maybe I could shift it a little bit,
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Speaker 1: put in a different frame, and that could have different
8:38
Speaker 1: energy around it, and I could just approach the topic differently.
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Speaker 1: So I have a theory. Tell me if I tell
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Speaker 1: me how this lands. I feel that people that are
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Speaker 1: called to the path of storytelling are typically some of
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Speaker 1: the most self aware and self evolved people that exist
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Speaker 1: among us. How take it? Okay? I will say what
8:58
Speaker 1: I will say, especially working at this job, which is
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Speaker 1: like just a real like univers aligning sort of thing,
9:06
Speaker 1: but coming to NPR and talking to people, it's a
9:10
Speaker 1: group of the most intelligent and aware of people. Like
9:13
Speaker 1: so you really can't show up with the BS because
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Speaker 1: everyone's reading you. You're like reading your face, they're reading
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Speaker 1: your body language, and they're really aware and like that's
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Speaker 1: their job, because if you're a journalist, you want to
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Speaker 1: really be observant of what's happening, take it all in
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Speaker 1: and then try to, you know, share it with a
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Speaker 1: greater audience. And so working here and especially with this team,
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Speaker 1: it does it's just like there's no there's no hiding
9:34
Speaker 1: and there's not a lot of that's it. Yeah, you
9:37
Speaker 1: can't show up fake. You have to show up on authentically,
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Speaker 1: which is like a dream because there's so many workplaces
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Speaker 1: where it's like, no, you have to show up fake.
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Speaker 1: You cannot show up as yourself. Yeah, you have to
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Speaker 1: have that mask or that armor. And it feels like
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Speaker 1: to be able to tell more aid in unpacking the
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Speaker 1: story of another or larger stories, you have to be
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Speaker 1: very intimately for familiar with all of your own facets.
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Speaker 1: You know, you have to be able to kind of
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Speaker 1: unpack and repack yourself in any moment to be able
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Speaker 1: to see those pathways in another person for their story
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Speaker 1: to be expanded and shared. Yeah. Yeah, Like a deep
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Speaker 1: sense of empathy is what I really draw upon of
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Speaker 1: Like I'm going to get inside what this person is
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Speaker 1: feeling and seeing and then try to connect it to
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Speaker 1: myself so that it's not just like because it's very
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Speaker 1: easy to listen to people and just take the surface
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Speaker 1: information of just like oh, that's just what's happening, And
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Speaker 1: instead it's like, Okay, how can I dig in deeper?
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Speaker 1: How can I find something in myself that I understand
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Speaker 1: and can connect with that so that when I tell
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Speaker 1: the story it comes from a real place and not
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Speaker 1: just like I'm listening facts. This is what happens, you know,
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Speaker 1: like your third eye has to be Hella activated, you know,
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Speaker 1: you have to pick up that aren't being said and
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Speaker 1: the small nuances and cues. Yes, how did how did
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Speaker 1: you find yourself in this work? How did you become
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Speaker 1: a storyteller? I do feel like I was just like
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Speaker 1: a born storyteller, Like I just came And I think
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Speaker 1: I came into this world with like my parents built
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Speaker 1: to mythology around me, and so then I just what
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Speaker 1: does that mean? Wait? That sounds well, it it's only
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Speaker 1: juicy now because it's like it's coming the past. But
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Speaker 1: I think, like you know, in my family, telling stories
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Speaker 1: is how we understand each other. It's how we preserve
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Speaker 1: each other's histories. It's also how we kind of can
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Speaker 1: create stereotypes and norms around who each person is. And
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Speaker 1: so I was the second born um and and my
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Speaker 1: sort of mythology is that I came into the world
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Speaker 1: and I was just very alert and aware and so
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Speaker 1: like my father will always tell this story of like
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Speaker 1: I was born and he was holding me and he
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Speaker 1: was like, oh, hey, booboo, and I turned my head
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Speaker 1: and I'm like, who the hell is this? I was
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Speaker 1: just alert out the womb. And I think I've carried
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Speaker 1: that narrative with me and that mythology of like I'm
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Speaker 1: a very observant person, and I'm a very curious person,
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Speaker 1: and I'm here to like see what the world has
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Speaker 1: to offer. Like I'm just very interested and like always
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Speaker 1: been very inquisitive and analytical, and that's like a part
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Speaker 1: of my own mythology in this world of like what
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Speaker 1: I feel like I'm here for. Yeah. Wow, we were
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Speaker 1: some of the early stories you were really drawn to,
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Speaker 1: like the things as as a kid, even that jest
12:26
Speaker 1: really drew out your curiosity. M I mean so much.
12:31
Speaker 1: I definitely was the child who was always asking questions,
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Speaker 1: and I think my mother just really encouraged it. There
12:38
Speaker 1: was a point maybe early on when I was maybe eleven,
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Speaker 1: and my mother was just always pushing me to like
12:44
Speaker 1: do more and like go above and beyond. So there
12:47
Speaker 1: was like assignment where you had to like create your
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Speaker 1: own personal narrative, like tell your autobiography, and you know,
12:54
Speaker 1: it's like, all right, you just like write a little story.
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Speaker 1: But then my mother was like, well, what if we,
12:58
Speaker 1: you know, take some home video and what if you
13:01
Speaker 1: interview your relatives? And so it turned into this little
13:04
Speaker 1: like video that's probably like an hour long, and it's
13:06
Speaker 1: kind of what I used to call like a rite
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Speaker 1: of passage to get to know me, where I'd be like,
13:10
Speaker 1: now you have to watch this VHS. But it was
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Speaker 1: just interesting because this is like me as a child,
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Speaker 1: interviewing people about how they perceived me. And that has
13:19
Speaker 1: become like a consistent theme in the kind of work
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Speaker 1: that I do, which is kind of like I've had
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Speaker 1: to understand it. As you know, I am trying to
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Speaker 1: understand myself very deeply, because that's the thing that I
13:32
Speaker 1: can know the deepest. You know, I could try to
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Speaker 1: know other people, but everybody is a mystery. Like I'm
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Speaker 1: a mystery unto myself. A lot of times, even when
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Speaker 1: I reflect on who I was in the past, it's
13:42
Speaker 1: like that's a different girl. But you know, it's really
13:45
Speaker 1: interesting to see and so I think that kind of
13:48
Speaker 1: set me on that journey of self discovery. Um. And
13:53
Speaker 1: then there was also like a book that caused a
13:55
Speaker 1: real existential crisis I think also set me on like
13:58
Speaker 1: a path of um uh, emotional and spiritual enlightenment. It's
14:04
Speaker 1: this book called um oh, I'm going to get the
14:07
Speaker 1: title wrong now. I think it's called like what Happened
14:10
Speaker 1: to Nancy or something. And it was this book my
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Speaker 1: sister had, uh that I took my sisters like three
14:16
Speaker 1: years older, and I just like took this book because
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Speaker 1: I'm an obsessive reader. And it was supposedly the true
14:22
Speaker 1: diaries of a young girl who fell in love with
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Speaker 1: this guy, got aids and died. So it's like a
14:28
Speaker 1: really really heavy book. Uh yeah. And so reading that
14:33
Speaker 1: at ten years old and that being like my first
14:36
Speaker 1: confrontation with the idea that you could die at any age,
14:40
Speaker 1: you know, like not just like living until you get old,
14:42
Speaker 1: but instead like life is kind of random. It threw
14:45
Speaker 1: me into a real existential crisis. Like I was just
14:48
Speaker 1: kind of like I don't understand what the point of
14:49
Speaker 1: life is. Like I was very despondent for a period
14:52
Speaker 1: of time, um, and just had a lot of like
14:55
Speaker 1: sort of questions of like why are we here and
14:58
Speaker 1: what we're doing and what are the what like if
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Speaker 1: if the rule is not that you are born, you
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Speaker 1: get old, and you die, then what are the rules
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Speaker 1: you know? And what are the sort of governing principles
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Speaker 1: of this space that we're in? Um? I think for
15:13
Speaker 1: me like being in that space of despondency and my
15:15
Speaker 1: mother like completely not having a clue of how to
15:18
Speaker 1: address it, but going into spirituality for me it was
15:21
Speaker 1: like a way out of that hole of like, Okay,
15:23
Speaker 1: well I have to make meaning while I'm here, Like
15:26
Speaker 1: there's no getting out of being here, so I have
15:29
Speaker 1: to make meeting And part of my meaning making was
15:32
Speaker 1: exploring like this sort of spiritual existence or like those
15:37
Speaker 1: the big questions, why are we here? What are we
15:39
Speaker 1: supposed to be doing while we're here? What? What is fulfilling?
15:43
Speaker 1: What feels good to my spirit? What can I learn?
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Speaker 1: And like learning just being like a big sort of
15:48
Speaker 1: driver of my existence of just like I really want
15:50
Speaker 1: to learn, um, it's always what I'm pushing for. So
15:54
Speaker 1: we're kindred spirits. Um just putting that out there, I
15:59
Speaker 1: feel it, you know that first of all, that was
16:03
Speaker 1: really powerful what you just shared and equal parts gift
16:06
Speaker 1: and burden, right, because to be awakened so young, it
16:09
Speaker 1: gave you such a beautiful head start on this thing
16:13
Speaker 1: called the human experience on planet Earth, you know, and
16:16
Speaker 1: what a what an interesting way to develop your connection
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Speaker 1: to yourself and the way that you connected to young
16:24
Speaker 1: to other people at such a young starting point. Um.
16:28
Speaker 1: But on the flip side of that also at a
16:31
Speaker 1: certain level traumatizing right to have access to that kind
16:34
Speaker 1: of information um or to that type of perspective at
16:38
Speaker 1: an age where literally your home is your earth, your
16:41
Speaker 1: parents are your God. It's it's such a big expanded
16:44
Speaker 1: view with no life context. But it's interesting because like
16:48
Speaker 1: to hear you mirror that I you know, I consider
16:52
Speaker 1: myself someone who has always been led so deeply by
16:56
Speaker 1: their curiosity at every turn, Like that is my life's purpose.
17:00
Speaker 1: My superpower is my curiosity. And I remember when I
17:04
Speaker 1: was eight years old, I was I was like the
17:07
Speaker 1: kid that was always befriending adults. But when I was eight,
17:11
Speaker 1: I remember like I went, I stopped by like the
17:13
Speaker 1: guidance counselor's office, and we were like talking, and um,
17:17
Speaker 1: she recommended this book to me, which looking back, I'm like,
17:19
Speaker 1: I don't think you should be working with children. But
17:23
Speaker 1: she recommended this book to me, and I was eight
17:26
Speaker 1: and I read it and it was adult book about
17:28
Speaker 1: a young boy who had been sexually abused by both
17:31
Speaker 1: of his parents and had gotten AIDS and died. What
17:36
Speaker 1: I swear to you, that's why it was like, so
17:39
Speaker 1: we're kindred spirits. Um. And it was like, well, long
17:43
Speaker 1: story short. I mean, this was another avenue, but it
17:45
Speaker 1: was called Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and
17:47
Speaker 1: it was this story about this young boy in New York.
17:50
Speaker 1: I mean, his best friend ended up dying of cancer,
17:52
Speaker 1: like he ended up getting aids. He it was such
17:55
Speaker 1: a horrifying story, um, for a child to read. Like. Um.
18:01
Speaker 1: It also turned out to not be true. When I
18:04
Speaker 1: I was gonna say this too, I'm sorry. Now I'm
18:06
Speaker 1: developing a theory because the book that I read also
18:09
Speaker 1: have since googled and is supposedly not true. What I know,
18:14
Speaker 1: I'm like, what was happening because this was like the
18:16
Speaker 1: early the early nineties, right like when you were reading
18:19
Speaker 1: this book. Yeah, there's probably a story here of like
18:22
Speaker 1: there was some cottage industry of like because the girl
18:25
Speaker 1: in the book Died of Aids, and there might have
18:28
Speaker 1: been like a cottage industry. It might have been the
18:31
Speaker 1: same author, truthfully, because I actually ended up researching this
18:34
Speaker 1: woman in this book. So I sat and tried to
18:36
Speaker 1: research too, because one when I got to a certain age,
18:39
Speaker 1: like I used to think, oh, I'm so mature, like
18:42
Speaker 1: I was entrusted with such a deep, profound story, so
18:45
Speaker 1: young because adults recognized my wisdom. And then I got
18:48
Speaker 1: older and I was like, so that was actually kind
18:49
Speaker 1: of sucked up, Like why was I reading that book
18:52
Speaker 1: at that age with no additional support and understanding what
18:56
Speaker 1: I read? Like what guidance counselor gives that book to
19:00
Speaker 1: an eight year old child with no context, with no
19:03
Speaker 1: parental approval anyway, So when I started thinking about that,
19:08
Speaker 1: when I got older, and I'm like, whatever happened? Like
19:11
Speaker 1: I gotta know more about this boy, And so I
19:13
Speaker 1: started googling it and I found like a forum of
19:16
Speaker 1: people calling out the author as like this hypochondriac woman
19:21
Speaker 1: and who made this entire story up? No one had
19:24
Speaker 1: ever met this kid that she wrote the book about.
19:27
Speaker 1: And then I just spired and I was like, I
19:28
Speaker 1: don't even know what's going on. Let me just close
19:30
Speaker 1: the screen. But oh my goodness, no, that definitely and
19:33
Speaker 1: now I'm gonna get to googling once we get at
19:35
Speaker 1: the phone. Because it was this woman who was known
19:37
Speaker 1: for kind of like writing these very like diaristic journal
19:41
Speaker 1: like I got the real journals from this boy. I
19:43
Speaker 1: think she also did one about a guy who may
19:46
Speaker 1: have ended up in a cult or like something to
19:48
Speaker 1: do with statan worship. But it was like in that
19:49
Speaker 1: time period of the early nineties where I feel like
19:52
Speaker 1: everything was very much like it was a little bit fearmongering. Yeah,
19:56
Speaker 1: the eighties were so busy that it was like, don't
19:58
Speaker 1: do this and don't do that. This is bad and
19:59
Speaker 1: this is bad. And so it sounds like we probably
20:02
Speaker 1: ended up on the same like narrative train, which is like,
20:05
Speaker 1: I agree that book rocked my world. I was just
20:08
Speaker 1: kind of like I had no idea that young people
20:10
Speaker 1: could die, and it was just like the narrative was
20:12
Speaker 1: such a like she fell in love with this dude,
20:15
Speaker 1: had sex with him once he gave her aids. She
20:17
Speaker 1: died on a ranch by herself, where they would bury
20:20
Speaker 1: the diapers behind the house because she had AIDS and
20:23
Speaker 1: no one really knew what AIDS was at that point. Um.
20:26
Speaker 1: But yes, A totally as an adult now reflecting on it,
20:29
Speaker 1: and like, a yes, wildly like the times that adult
20:34
Speaker 1: supervision would have saved me, particularly from media, right because
20:40
Speaker 1: I think, you know, for my parents, it's like you're
20:42
Speaker 1: in the house, you're safe, and it's like, no, you
20:44
Speaker 1: have no idea what being exposed to. Um. But at
20:47
Speaker 1: the same time, totally did set me on a path
20:50
Speaker 1: of like wanting to understand spirituality as a means of
20:55
Speaker 1: wanting to find purpose in whatever this is. Because at
21:00
Speaker 1: that point in time, I was like, am I a puppet?
21:02
Speaker 1: Am I trapped in a snow globe on a kid
21:06
Speaker 1: giants desk like an alien science project? Like what's happening?
21:12
Speaker 1: Am I? The two in the Simpsons? You know that
21:14
Speaker 1: Lisa's looking down on It's like for anyone that has
21:17
Speaker 1: watched The Simpsons. But you know, it's interesting you say
21:20
Speaker 1: that because I think, I mean, ultimately there's purpose for everything. Right.
21:24
Speaker 1: So even though if the book was a scam, which
21:27
Speaker 1: it now appears that it was, um, it did it
21:30
Speaker 1: did send me on that path of really one empathy,
21:34
Speaker 1: like understanding that people are arriving to my knowledge of
21:39
Speaker 1: them with a lifetime of story or you know, so
21:41
Speaker 1: many different experiences that I may not have had access to. Um.
21:46
Speaker 1: But it also, yeah, it's sent me down this path
21:49
Speaker 1: of being really fascinated by transformation, like like that was
21:54
Speaker 1: like kind of a driving force of my childhood, of
21:56
Speaker 1: being really fascinated at the mechanism of what makes someone
22:01
Speaker 1: make the choices that they make, or like I remember
22:03
Speaker 1: as a kid, I my whole life I've been fascinated
22:07
Speaker 1: with studying the Holocaust because it was the most horrifying
22:12
Speaker 1: thing I've ever heard of, and I could not understand
22:15
Speaker 1: with my mind how something like that could ever happen,
22:20
Speaker 1: you know, and it it, I mean that very much
22:23
Speaker 1: informs the lens that I see the world with now. Um.
22:27
Speaker 1: But you know, I say that to say it's interesting
22:28
Speaker 1: because I think when you're on that path of being
22:30
Speaker 1: a storyteller, one the driving force it really is this
22:35
Speaker 1: like insatiable curiosity, this desire to know every fiber and
22:40
Speaker 1: facet of anything that gets your attention in that moment.
22:44
Speaker 1: Like my nights every night looks like at least an
22:48
Speaker 1: hour dedicated before bed to going down some Wikipedia rabbit
22:51
Speaker 1: hole and then finding supporting information. The most random thing
22:55
Speaker 1: sometimes is deep, right, Like sometimes I'm like studying the
22:58
Speaker 1: deepest thoughts ever thought, and sometimes I'm just like, how
23:01
Speaker 1: did I arrive here? Why are you so curious about everything?
23:06
Speaker 1: Right now? I love that I'm the same way where
23:08
Speaker 1: it's like I love to learn new things. I love
23:11
Speaker 1: to have a random fact in my pocket. Like that's
23:14
Speaker 1: just like how I'm known in my friend group of
23:16
Speaker 1: like Askia she probably knows, like because it's just like
23:19
Speaker 1: that's just my interests. And I think it does have
23:21
Speaker 1: to do a lot to do with the people I
23:22
Speaker 1: grew up around, like my grandmother, who is I'm gonna
23:26
Speaker 1: about your age, but she's over eighty five, but she's
23:29
Speaker 1: a ravenous learner and like so once she, you know,
23:32
Speaker 1: gotten to the internet, it's like I say, her and
23:35
Speaker 1: my teenage brother are like the worst online because like
23:38
Speaker 1: they wake up in the morning, they're on their phones.
23:40
Speaker 1: But she's just she loves to learn, and so I
23:42
Speaker 1: think being around her, being around my father, who's also
23:45
Speaker 1: a big reader, it also just kind of taught me
23:48
Speaker 1: to be interested in what is out there and like
23:53
Speaker 1: what there is to learn, what there is to study,
23:56
Speaker 1: what there is to add to yourself to evolve as
24:00
Speaker 1: a person. Yeah, on your show Invisibilia, which is um,
24:05
Speaker 1: you know, it's a it's a really celebrated show that
24:08
Speaker 1: expands on so many different kinds of pathways and stories. Um.
24:12
Speaker 1: You know, before you step to the mic there at MPR,
24:15
Speaker 1: you've also told stories in so many other ways and
24:18
Speaker 1: so many other forms. What are you finding you know,
24:22
Speaker 1: I'd love from your perspective some of the stories that
24:24
Speaker 1: have really stuck with you. And also what are you
24:27
Speaker 1: finding is the piece of your purpose of the kinds
24:32
Speaker 1: of stories you were meant to tell? M mmm, yeah,
24:35
Speaker 1: that's a good question. So yeah, I used to make
24:38
Speaker 1: reality TV? Which shows? Which shows? Were you? Were you? Yeah?
24:44
Speaker 1: So the first show I worked on was The Fabulous Life,
24:47
Speaker 1: which one that old show. I used to love it.
24:49
Speaker 1: Once I worked on it, I was like, this show
24:51
Speaker 1: is horrible, uh, just because it was very repetitious. Um.
24:56
Speaker 1: And then I worked on Salt and Peppa's reality show
24:58
Speaker 1: if you remember that if each one? Um, and I
25:02
Speaker 1: worked for al Broker for a while and just worked
25:04
Speaker 1: in development pitching shows. And then the last job I
25:08
Speaker 1: worked on was Kamara Simmons show, The life in the
25:11
Speaker 1: fab line. Um. So I had done all of that
25:14
Speaker 1: and just came up short and reality TV. Truthfully, like,
25:18
Speaker 1: there was never a space that I wanted to work into.
25:21
Speaker 1: I just accidentally got a job there because someone else
25:24
Speaker 1: didn't want a job and she was like, hey, you
25:26
Speaker 1: can put it your resume and they're looking for help,
25:28
Speaker 1: and so started working in this field. I actually wanted
25:30
Speaker 1: to be a music journalist and I want to work
25:32
Speaker 1: for magazines. But at the point that I graduated college
25:35
Speaker 1: was when the Internet was kind of like messing with
25:38
Speaker 1: print publications and no one knew how to like they
25:42
Speaker 1: it was just like this moment of like what do
25:43
Speaker 1: we do the Internet? And so a lot of print
25:46
Speaker 1: publications were literally exactly how it was. Yeah right, but
25:50
Speaker 1: just so weird to reflect on now, like it just
25:52
Speaker 1: feels so obvious, like, well you just put that content online.
25:54
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah. Um. And so I, you know, I just
26:01
Speaker 1: couldn't find my way into that space, and so started
26:04
Speaker 1: working in reality TV and you know, all these different
26:07
Speaker 1: forms of storytelling. I had entered, uh, interned at FM
26:10
Speaker 1: stations in college and done you know, reality TV production. Um.
26:15
Speaker 1: And then also I've always really been interested in technology,
26:18
Speaker 1: so I was doing stuff online and learning how to code,
26:21
Speaker 1: and eventually went to grad school to kind of put
26:24
Speaker 1: all those things under one umbrella. Because for me, as
26:27
Speaker 1: someone who just like loves telling stories, it's always been like,
26:31
Speaker 1: what's the best way to tell this story? Less than
26:33
Speaker 1: being like I'm a writer and all I can do
26:35
Speaker 1: is right, it's like, Okay, what's the story that needs
26:38
Speaker 1: to be told and what's the best way to tell
26:40
Speaker 1: this story? Um, And so I guess like for me,
26:43
Speaker 1: also creating stories being a place of interaction of like
26:49
Speaker 1: my personal narrative colliding with yours, like in this interview
26:52
Speaker 1: where it's like, oh, we have these things in common.
26:54
Speaker 1: Now we're like building a connection. And so it's not
26:57
Speaker 1: necessarily a story, but it's something that I've held I
27:01
Speaker 1: feel very proud of that created moments of interaction. Was
27:05
Speaker 1: a sort of art interaction that I did for a
27:09
Speaker 1: festival on Governor's Island many years ago called the Selfie
27:12
Speaker 1: Portrait Project, and basically I would invite people to sort
27:16
Speaker 1: of sit at this table and write a description of themselves.
27:20
Speaker 1: And I always said, like it could be open ended,
27:21
Speaker 1: like there was a mirror there, but you don't have
27:24
Speaker 1: to like base it on how you see yourself, but
27:27
Speaker 1: instead it could be a description of who you are.
27:29
Speaker 1: And then once they wrote out that description, I'd give
27:32
Speaker 1: them a sheet of paper and they would have to
27:33
Speaker 1: draw somebody else's picture based on the description that person wrote.
27:38
Speaker 1: So it became this sort of experience of like defining
27:41
Speaker 1: yourself but also listening to other people's definitions, interpreting them
27:46
Speaker 1: and trying to create a portrait of that person based
27:48
Speaker 1: upon what they wrote. And so it's like an exchange
27:51
Speaker 1: of content. And what was really fun for me was
27:54
Speaker 1: giving people the space to see themselves in open ended ways,
27:57
Speaker 1: you know, um and the and the random pairings of life.
28:00
Speaker 1: You know, someone one of my favorites is someone basically
28:03
Speaker 1: described themselves as a um A dots in like, you know,
28:09
Speaker 1: a little skinny hat. And I got paired with someone
28:12
Speaker 1: who was like a really great illustrator and like drew
28:14
Speaker 1: a perfect little picture and it's just like this kind
28:16
Speaker 1: of random kindness thing. But that also to me expands
28:21
Speaker 1: the way people can see themselves, you know, not so
28:24
Speaker 1: much being defined of like how do I look and
28:27
Speaker 1: what do what do people think they see? But rather
28:29
Speaker 1: how do I see myself? How do I want to
28:31
Speaker 1: be seen in the world and you know, giving people
28:34
Speaker 1: space to really like embody that and give that to
28:37
Speaker 1: someone else, and then someone else feeling like the responsibility
28:41
Speaker 1: but also the kindness to really like take time and
28:43
Speaker 1: say like, okay, let me try to draw with this
28:46
Speaker 1: person sees in themselves. Yeah, so I really that that
28:51
Speaker 1: was like one of my It's like I said, it's
28:52
Speaker 1: like it's a story, but there's like multiple little stories
28:55
Speaker 1: in it. But there's also the story of like people
28:58
Speaker 1: kind of interacting in the stranger altruistic away of like
29:03
Speaker 1: you know, this is just a kind thing you're doing
29:05
Speaker 1: for another person. You're not gonna outside of that, you
29:07
Speaker 1: don't really net anything. Um but it's a it's it's
29:11
Speaker 1: still an intimacy of seeing other people being seen by
29:15
Speaker 1: other people and adding your own sort of like flavor
29:19
Speaker 1: interpretation to that. Um. So that's one of my favorites.
29:23
Speaker 1: But also working out Invisibilia, there's so many great stories.
29:27
Speaker 1: I was a long fan of the show, long before
29:30
Speaker 1: I ever came to work for it. Working for this
29:32
Speaker 1: show is an absolute dream and a blessing because it
29:35
Speaker 1: was like my favorite show and I never had the
29:38
Speaker 1: ambition even to say, like oh, I want to work
29:40
Speaker 1: for that show, let alone host that show. Like that
29:42
Speaker 1: was just not in my mind. I was just like,
29:44
Speaker 1: this is a great show. There's so many great stories told.
29:48
Speaker 1: I will send them to my friends, especially when people
29:51
Speaker 1: might be like going through moments of emotional, spiritual, whatever,
29:54
Speaker 1: it's like, Oh, try this episode. It really helped me, um,
29:57
Speaker 1: And so to end up then working for it and
30:00
Speaker 1: being able to lead in this way truly feels like,
30:03
Speaker 1: you know, divine timing. I would love to sink into
30:07
Speaker 1: this moment for a second, because what I'm hearing is
30:10
Speaker 1: I'm hearing you talk on this show something we speak
30:12
Speaker 1: to extensively, and it's also my highest rated episode of
30:16
Speaker 1: all time is Conversations on Purpose, Right, And So what
30:21
Speaker 1: I really love about everything that you just shared, I
30:24
Speaker 1: feel that you created, um, this really beautiful expanded view
30:32
Speaker 1: of what it is to be in purpose at each
30:35
Speaker 1: moment of our lives. Right, and the theme tends to
30:39
Speaker 1: always be the same, Like it looks like your your
30:42
Speaker 1: purpose is really to be a myth. It is to
30:45
Speaker 1: share myth. It is to be so curious that you
30:49
Speaker 1: are able to get to know yourself as deeply as
30:51
Speaker 1: possible and by nature of that, you're also a catalyst
30:54
Speaker 1: of that for others, or you're helping masses of people
30:58
Speaker 1: be connected to that in other people. And you just
31:03
Speaker 1: explained every step of the way how purpose evolves. And
31:07
Speaker 1: like something that that I've spoken to on this show,
31:09
Speaker 1: especially on one of our two Purpose episodes, is really
31:13
Speaker 1: around how purpose you know, it's it's not it doesn't
31:16
Speaker 1: even have to be the thing that makes you money.
31:18
Speaker 1: Sometimes it crosses over, and that's phenomenal, I'll take it.
31:21
Speaker 1: But you know, purpose is like this ever evolving tapestry,
31:26
Speaker 1: but that's like woven together with grace, but doesn't fully
31:32
Speaker 1: make sense as it's happening. And so curiosity and storytelling
31:37
Speaker 1: really as your baseline, like that deep self awareness as
31:40
Speaker 1: your baseline, and then at every step of the way
31:42
Speaker 1: you got new layers and new deepenings of your purpose.
31:46
Speaker 1: And so even beginning, you know, early in your career
31:49
Speaker 1: working for that UM, working for those reality TV shows,
31:55
Speaker 1: it's like you were storytelling and you were finding and
31:58
Speaker 1: I'm sure you were even connecting in your mind, not
32:01
Speaker 1: necessarily sharing on TV, but you were you were connecting
32:04
Speaker 1: some deeper self awarenesses of each person and how those
32:07
Speaker 1: things were displayed and how to share them, and then
32:10
Speaker 1: at the new levels of you in divine timing, as
32:13
Speaker 1: you were ready, you expanded to an even more deepened
32:17
Speaker 1: view of something you had already done. And so each
32:21
Speaker 1: level is a new level of mastery until you arrive
32:24
Speaker 1: at this incredibly divine moment that is so synchronistic that
32:29
Speaker 1: you realize only God could have allowed this to happen,
32:32
Speaker 1: you know, and you're working in someplace that you felt
32:35
Speaker 1: already so deeply connected to um and in such reverence
32:40
Speaker 1: of and respect for, and then now you're the host,
32:42
Speaker 1: you know, and it's like, wow, wait, hold a minute,
32:45
Speaker 1: Like can we sit in that and really like just
32:50
Speaker 1: sit in the gratitude, in the awe of that of
32:53
Speaker 1: that is how life expands, you know, And it's so important,
32:56
Speaker 1: I think for people to hear and to see this
32:59
Speaker 1: in your story. It's one it's never overnight, because all
33:04
Speaker 1: of it is necessary, all of the levels of it
33:06
Speaker 1: are necessary. And yeah, you were doing reality TV, weren't
33:10
Speaker 1: that interested, but it served purpose and allowed you to
33:13
Speaker 1: arrive at the perfect moments every step of the way. Yeah. Absolutely.
33:18
Speaker 1: I mean as you were saying all of that, I
33:20
Speaker 1: had multiple chills just because It's something that I definitely
33:24
Speaker 1: am aware of, but it's almost hard to sit with
33:27
Speaker 1: because it is so much bigger than my ambition, you know,
33:32
Speaker 1: like this is it. Being in this position, in this
33:35
Speaker 1: space and time is an absolute dream that I never
33:38
Speaker 1: even had the ambition and dream, you know, And so
33:41
Speaker 1: to arrive to this moment and to see all these
33:43
Speaker 1: things fall in the place, and like you're saying, all
33:45
Speaker 1: these sort of like random skills that I've picked up
33:48
Speaker 1: on the way that like, don't know, if you wrote
33:53
Speaker 1: out my career journey, point A does not look like
33:56
Speaker 1: it leads to point B, you know, Like no one
33:57
Speaker 1: would say, like you start there and then in ten
34:00
Speaker 1: years from now you'll be a host And it's like, no,
34:02
Speaker 1: that makes no sense. I mean literally to three years ago,
34:05
Speaker 1: I was in this really sort of in between space
34:09
Speaker 1: where I was between destinations basically. So it's like I'd
34:13
Speaker 1: finished grad school, but I hadn't found a job that
34:16
Speaker 1: really worked for me, and want had this creative impetus,
34:20
Speaker 1: but no, it's no right place to put it. And
34:23
Speaker 1: at the time, I was living in Chicago, and so
34:25
Speaker 1: I was just picking up random jobs and like side
34:28
Speaker 1: hustling my creative passions. And one of those random jobs
34:31
Speaker 1: was being a substitute kindergarten teacher, which like one could absume,
34:36
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with you know, telling or being
34:40
Speaker 1: a podcast host. But at the same time, it is
34:43
Speaker 1: telling stories, it is observing people, it is being you know,
34:46
Speaker 1: compassionate and empathetic even when you don't want to be.
34:50
Speaker 1: It's like being you know, all these different things that
34:52
Speaker 1: I do think make me better at my job, but
34:55
Speaker 1: weren't like no one, no career advice would be like
34:58
Speaker 1: before you go work out a podcast, substitute teach kindergarten
35:01
Speaker 1: with the kindergarten. And it's funny because even that piece
35:04
Speaker 1: you identified, that may be a facet of your purpose
35:07
Speaker 1: that's just yet to arrive yet, right, But there may
35:09
Speaker 1: be some incredible project and if so, let's timestamp this
35:12
Speaker 1: so that we can you know, add it when it
35:14
Speaker 1: comes out. But there might be something really powerful you
35:18
Speaker 1: are meant the you know, to help the world understand
35:21
Speaker 1: even about the psychology of children, or a way you
35:24
Speaker 1: can help free people that whose stories that you're telling
35:27
Speaker 1: around their childhood is so fascinating. Yeah, no, I'm really
35:32
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you can see it and like understand
35:35
Speaker 1: it as I do, because it is it's something that
35:38
Speaker 1: you know, I don't necessarily readily talk about to a
35:40
Speaker 1: lot of people, just because it is like it's a
35:42
Speaker 1: personal journey and it does require an understanding of like
35:47
Speaker 1: the spiritual nature of existence that like you could plan,
35:50
Speaker 1: you could plot, you can make lists. I'm definitely one
35:53
Speaker 1: of those people where like I write everything out and
35:55
Speaker 1: that helps manifest things in my life. Um, but there
36:00
Speaker 1: things that have happened beyond my list making, beyond beyond
36:03
Speaker 1: my dreams, and it does feel like, Okay, I'm operating
36:08
Speaker 1: inside of something that I have a deep respect and
36:12
Speaker 1: reference for, um and that I am dedicated to collaborating
36:17
Speaker 1: with and working on. Behalf in a sense of just
36:21
Speaker 1: like what what what do you want me to do?
36:24
Speaker 1: You know, Like my my dreams can be small, you know,
36:27
Speaker 1: so it's like what is the greater purpose that I
36:30
Speaker 1: need to serve in this space? It's funny on my wall,
36:33
Speaker 1: I have like a little all these things I kind
36:35
Speaker 1: of look at to motivate myself, and one of them
36:37
Speaker 1: is I want my purpose to be clear, because it's
36:40
Speaker 1: like I want I want to know what I'm doing
36:41
Speaker 1: here and I want to be intentional about what I'm
36:43
Speaker 1: doing here. I love that, Like, like to me, it's
36:47
Speaker 1: just it's just so powerful and I have a feeling.
36:50
Speaker 1: But I it's also hope and desire that everyone listening
36:54
Speaker 1: is really connecting these dots because of what I'd really
36:56
Speaker 1: love to encourage and every person listening is this is
37:00
Speaker 1: all true for you too, So start investigating these dots
37:05
Speaker 1: and also appreciating them and taking them seriously, you know,
37:09
Speaker 1: like the thing that's at the bottom of your resume,
37:11
Speaker 1: that little bullet point of something that's a blip. It's like,
37:15
Speaker 1: but is there something else to know about that moment?
37:18
Speaker 1: Is there some way that it served you? Is there
37:20
Speaker 1: something else that can unlock you? And I think for
37:22
Speaker 1: so many of us, like I mean, my pathway is
37:25
Speaker 1: like this, it's like just you know, nonlinear. It is
37:28
Speaker 1: up and down, up and down. But one thing that
37:31
Speaker 1: I love so much about my life is that I
37:34
Speaker 1: know my personal recipe is my own. And that is
37:38
Speaker 1: why I am never in lack mindset. I'm never in
37:41
Speaker 1: a competitive mindset. I don't want to compete with anyone.
37:44
Speaker 1: All of us are deserving of everything that life has
37:47
Speaker 1: to offer, and I don't have to have all of
37:48
Speaker 1: it to feel that I'm better or to feel that
37:53
Speaker 1: you know, this is why it's important, and that's this
37:56
Speaker 1: is why it matters. And so when you investigate yourself
37:59
Speaker 1: in all those crevices and all those those facets of
38:02
Speaker 1: your story, you just think so deeply in your power
38:06
Speaker 1: that you are like effortlessly and naturally magnetizing your purpose.
38:12
Speaker 1: To you, it's not you running out and applying for
38:15
Speaker 1: everything and just hoping you'll get some of back and
38:17
Speaker 1: let me send the perfect letter and let me do
38:19
Speaker 1: the follow up, and let me do this like you
38:21
Speaker 1: have created you know, this this space for yourself. You're
38:26
Speaker 1: still showing up with the work, You're still showing up
38:28
Speaker 1: as the best version of you. You're still committed to
38:30
Speaker 1: your work. But it's this magnetization of all that is
38:36
Speaker 1: for you. It is not a chasing. You are now
38:39
Speaker 1: in the state of receiving. Yeah, yeah, no, there was.
38:43
Speaker 1: There was a point where it's like I feel like
38:46
Speaker 1: I'm standing in place and like I can see these
38:48
Speaker 1: things coming and it's like now you could run to it,
38:51
Speaker 1: or you could just wait and be patient and wait
38:54
Speaker 1: for those things to come to you. And that's like
38:56
Speaker 1: a new thing that I'm learning, which honestly led me
38:58
Speaker 1: to this place was just of like don't push, don't
39:02
Speaker 1: don't fight, just like be in agreement and to go
39:07
Speaker 1: with and also to have a level of trust because again,
39:09
Speaker 1: like to three years ago, someone want to say, oh,
39:11
Speaker 1: but then like three years there'll be hosty, I wouldn't
39:14
Speaker 1: have believed them because it didn't feel like I was
39:16
Speaker 1: on that path. I hadn't set that intention. UM. I
39:20
Speaker 1: just felt so far removed and was really kind of
39:22
Speaker 1: nervous and scared because I had spent so much of
39:26
Speaker 1: my um young adulthood doing what I wanted and then
39:31
Speaker 1: feeling guilty about it afterwards that I wasn't at a
39:34
Speaker 1: place where my peers were and I wasn't accomplishing these
39:37
Speaker 1: sort of societal goals that you know at certain ages
39:40
Speaker 1: that you think you're supposed to hit. And I was
39:42
Speaker 1: feeling really um down on myself because of that, like, oh,
39:45
Speaker 1: I wasn't serious about you know, I guess checking off
39:49
Speaker 1: the list of adult experience. UM. But now I feel
39:53
Speaker 1: really affirmed by like, oh, no, I can trust my
39:56
Speaker 1: path is my own and I can trust that, um,
40:01
Speaker 1: even if it doesn't make sense right now, it may
40:04
Speaker 1: make sense down the road and again I can just
40:07
Speaker 1: like trust wherever I am of like, okay, it's okay,
40:11
Speaker 1: you know, like I'm I'm still working towards something. Yeah,
40:15
Speaker 1: it all serves purpose. Hold that thought. We are coming
40:20
Speaker 1: right back, so joining in visibilia. You know this, you
40:32
Speaker 1: you're bringing in so many new dynamics, so many new curiosities,
40:39
Speaker 1: right that have probably never been thought of on that
40:42
Speaker 1: show before. You have such a unique perspective in such
40:45
Speaker 1: a varied life. What are you hoping to share with
40:48
Speaker 1: the audience? What are the stories you'd like to tell? Yeah?
40:52
Speaker 1: I mean I think I have been really inspired in
40:55
Speaker 1: the past few years by other storytellers who are incredibly
41:00
Speaker 1: honest and they don't you know, they are not concerned
41:04
Speaker 1: with you know, respectability or form. They're willing and open
41:09
Speaker 1: to acknowledge the complications of life. And I think that's
41:12
Speaker 1: what I'm really interested into of, Like, you know, life
41:16
Speaker 1: no story. A lot of times we simplify stories for
41:19
Speaker 1: the sake of controlling the audiences interpretation um and or
41:24
Speaker 1: like the ease of understanding. But it's like life is
41:26
Speaker 1: very complicated and nothing. Most things are not black and white,
41:30
Speaker 1: you know, most things exist in this space of like
41:32
Speaker 1: it was a little bit good and it was a
41:33
Speaker 1: little bit bad, and it helped a little bit, and
41:35
Speaker 1: it heard a little bit um. And so I'm really
41:37
Speaker 1: interested in in stories that highlight these kind of different
41:43
Speaker 1: perspectives and challenges um to kind of break up the
41:47
Speaker 1: binary of like is it good or is it bad?
41:49
Speaker 1: And it's like, yes, it's good and bad, you know,
41:51
Speaker 1: like there's no yeah, yeah, just being a bit more honest.
41:57
Speaker 1: I'm very into like honesty, directness, and so I'm just
42:02
Speaker 1: really interested in stories that can talk about difficult subjects
42:08
Speaker 1: in honest and direct ways that hopefully encourage other people
42:13
Speaker 1: to do the same in their own lives. Of like,
42:15
Speaker 1: we can have these conversations, we could ask these questions,
42:18
Speaker 1: we can endure whatever discomfort might come with it for
42:21
Speaker 1: the sake of growth and learning, um and improvement to
42:26
Speaker 1: whatever extent you think things need to be improved. This
42:29
Speaker 1: seems to be I'd love your perspective on this. This
42:32
Speaker 1: seems to be such a potentially even the most special
42:37
Speaker 1: time in human history to tell stories because our understanding
42:42
Speaker 1: of ourselves are our level at least for many of
42:45
Speaker 1: us right um, our access to internal investigation is at
42:51
Speaker 1: an all time high. Our collective consciousness has been expanded
42:56
Speaker 1: to the largest amount it ever has been. Right, we're
42:59
Speaker 1: fine really having stories told, um from really a non
43:05
Speaker 1: white nonsenis perspective, And it's like in in such an
43:10
Speaker 1: expansive way and in so many different places. So it
43:14
Speaker 1: must be, Um, I don't know, I just imagine that
43:17
Speaker 1: it must be an even more beautiful experience to be
43:21
Speaker 1: a storyteller today than other times in human history. You
43:25
Speaker 1: can get into pieces of people that twenty years ago
43:29
Speaker 1: they wouldn't have even had access to. Yeah, for sure,
43:32
Speaker 1: and like we're building we're building on now we have
43:37
Speaker 1: this sort of library of a certain type of human history,
43:41
Speaker 1: not comprehensive, not everybody's and definitely not everybody's perspective, but
43:44
Speaker 1: we still have these stories that now we're building off of.
43:47
Speaker 1: We have a conscious awareness of we understand what impact
43:52
Speaker 1: those stories and the way we've told those stories have
43:55
Speaker 1: influenced our reality. And so it to me, it does
43:58
Speaker 1: become now this possibility of like stories help construct realities.
44:02
Speaker 1: So what realities are you trying to construct? Um? And
44:05
Speaker 1: being really thoughtful about that, because you know, ultimately wanting
44:10
Speaker 1: to encourage our society reality whatever to develop in ways
44:16
Speaker 1: that support the health and humanity of everything here, you know,
44:20
Speaker 1: then becomes like a narrative challenge of like, Okay, so
44:23
Speaker 1: I don't want to do like just a bunch of
44:26
Speaker 1: human gloom stories, or I don't want to tell sensational
44:29
Speaker 1: stories that might get everybody's attention but don't leave you
44:33
Speaker 1: with any sort of positive feelings. I mean, honestly, that
44:36
Speaker 1: was one of the reasons why I got out of
44:38
Speaker 1: reality TV, because it felt, um like it didn't have
44:42
Speaker 1: a lot of humanity, Like it was just all about entertainment,
44:46
Speaker 1: but with zero sort of reflectiveness of like what kind
44:51
Speaker 1: of what are you hoping to generate from creating this content? Um?
44:54
Speaker 1: And that just was never a question I heard anybody
44:57
Speaker 1: ask and and very easily create a rule for me.
45:00
Speaker 1: Whereas like I want to put good into the world.
45:02
Speaker 1: I don't want to just put like filler into the world. Yeah, yeah,
45:08
Speaker 1: Like I want to add something to this existence that
45:11
Speaker 1: feels good to people, um and like it encourages growth.
45:15
Speaker 1: And so I think telling stories specifically on this show,
45:19
Speaker 1: in this space, in this time, it does it. It's
45:24
Speaker 1: really interesting and exciting, even though it's also really challenging time,
45:28
Speaker 1: but it's like everything is alive now and we're our
45:32
Speaker 1: awareness of it and our ability to influence it is
45:35
Speaker 1: so um rich. You know. It just feels like the
45:40
Speaker 1: possibility is in the air, and it's on anybody really
45:44
Speaker 1: to seize those moments and and make something that they feel,
45:48
Speaker 1: you know, could benefit the greater population hopefully. M hm.
45:54
Speaker 1: It has been amazing having you on this show, Kia. Um,
45:57
Speaker 1: this has been I just love it. I love everything
46:00
Speaker 1: that you're doing. I love your path, I love your perspective,
46:03
Speaker 1: I love your voice, I love your truth. Um. We
46:07
Speaker 1: ask at the end of every episode for our guests
46:09
Speaker 1: to share some soul work with the audience, and that
46:12
Speaker 1: can be in the form of a self care practice,
46:14
Speaker 1: maybe a ritual that you enjoy, a journal prompt um.
46:18
Speaker 1: But I'd like to invite you to share a takeaway
46:20
Speaker 1: for the audience to spend some time with when this
46:22
Speaker 1: show ends. Yeah, well, I'll share something that we do
46:25
Speaker 1: on the show. Actually we don't do it on broadcast.
46:27
Speaker 1: We do it as a team. Um. And this is
46:30
Speaker 1: like again me that I brought this to the team
46:33
Speaker 1: as like my offering of like hey, before we do recordings, um,
46:37
Speaker 1: especially we will do body scans with each other, and
46:41
Speaker 1: so we take a moment to like, okay, breathe, check
46:45
Speaker 1: in with your body, scan your body, observe where you
46:48
Speaker 1: might be holding tension, you know, relax that tension um
46:53
Speaker 1: and then also set the intention as a group of
46:55
Speaker 1: like what are we about to do in this space?
46:57
Speaker 1: And so that's our own little like invisibile, a habit
47:02
Speaker 1: of like, oh, okay, let's let's remember to check in
47:05
Speaker 1: with our bodies, check in with these vehicles that were
47:08
Speaker 1: in um and make sure that we're good. And so
47:10
Speaker 1: that's something that I like to do with my coworkers,
47:14
Speaker 1: but also like by myself and and to release tension
47:17
Speaker 1: and just to raise awareness of of It's so easy,
47:20
Speaker 1: I think, especially as a storyteller, to be very much
47:22
Speaker 1: in your head and to forget that what happens in
47:27
Speaker 1: my brain is also impacting my body, and I need
47:30
Speaker 1: to be very aware of where those balances are happening
47:34
Speaker 1: or not happening, and trying to constantly like rebalance it
47:37
Speaker 1: so I could be aware and effective in the work
47:40
Speaker 1: that I do. I love that, Yes, please everyone add
47:44
Speaker 1: to cart a beautiful body scan and a beautiful intention
47:49
Speaker 1: setting for whatever space you're going to be occupying for
47:52
Speaker 1: that moment. How can everybody connect with you? How can
47:55
Speaker 1: they find you? Yeah, so I'm on most socials as
47:58
Speaker 1: at Miakonatis. It'll either be with the daughter or Dash.
48:01
Speaker 1: I know that's a mouthful, so no one is. It's
48:03
Speaker 1: like I can spell it, but there's no point. It's
48:06
Speaker 1: a lot um. But also you know you can download
48:08
Speaker 1: Invisibility wherever you get your podcasts. Where almost finished with
48:12
Speaker 1: our first season as new hosts, and then we'll be
48:15
Speaker 1: coming back this summer with some more episodes, and we're
48:18
Speaker 1: really excited just to welcome new listeners into the Invisibilia
48:22
Speaker 1: world of storytelling. Amazing. Thank you so much for your time,
48:27
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on the show, thank you for
48:29
Speaker 1: having me. Hey find me on social Let's connect at
48:33
Speaker 1: Debbie Brown. That's Twitter and Instagram or go to my
48:37
Speaker 1: website Debbie Brown dot com. And if you're listening to
48:40
Speaker 1: the show on Apple Podcasts, please please please don't forget
48:45
Speaker 1: to rate, review, and subscribe and send this episode to
48:50
Speaker 1: a friend. Dropping Jams is the production of I Heart
48:53
Speaker 1: Radio and The Black Effect Network. It's produced by Triple
48:57
Speaker 1: and Me Debbie Brown for more podcast us from my
49:00
Speaker 1: heart radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
49:04
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.