Latest / Mosaic Sparks with Lesley George / The Yes That Built a Movement: Mosaic Nation, Women’s Empowerment, and Emotional Healing

Transcript

The Yes That Built a Movement: Mosaic Nation, Women’s Empowerment, and Emotional Healing · Mosaic Sparks with Lesley George

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are viewing from, wherever you are listening to us from.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Today is a very special day.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Today is May 5th, 2026.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: But before I get into that, I have the honor of having a special guest in studio with me today.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Her name is Coach Shirley Infelder.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: She's also known as the Trash Talk Queen.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: She's an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and transformational coach with more than 30 years of leadership experience.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: She's also the co-creator of Mosaic Nation, a global women's empowerment community formed during COVID.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: We all remember those times.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Shirley spent over three years helping inspire, coach, and empower women worldwide through daily conversations, focus on growth, courage, and authentic living.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Through her company, Ordinary Greatness Consultant Inc., she helps individuals and communities soar through emotional trash, reclaim their power, and build stronger foundations.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Known for her humor, honesty, and real life wisdom, Shirley brings powerful insights into what it truly takes to build, sustain, and protect meaningful communities.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: So without any further ado, welcome, welcome, Shirley.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And how are you doing today?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I am fabulous.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Fabulous.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Happy to be here.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, awesome.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for being here with me today.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: And as I mentioned, as I got started, May 5th, 2026.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: When you hear that date, what does that date mean to you?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's a life-changing day for me.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: That day um changed my life.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Someone uh offered me an opportunity to do something just when I was about to run out the door.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh, we were on that that platform, Clubhouse, and people were talking about, oh, for$39.99, we could 10X it and make you a millionaire and do all.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I know how hard I had to work to to make millions of dollars before.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: You can't do it.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know how many$39.99s you need.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was about to get off that platform, and then somebody tapped me on the shoulder.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we've been chasing each other around and following each other in all these little rooms, right?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: And and supporting each other and encouraging each other.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then somebody said, Hey, I got an idea.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: You want to do something?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: The crazy thing is I said yes, but when I was done, I was like, I don't really know what they want me to do, but I'm gonna do it anyway.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because it was the best opportunity I had since I'd been there.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: It was the only thing that made sense to me, and it was in alignment with who I am and what I want to do when I grow up.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And how long ago was that?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Gosh, it's five years.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Five years.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's funny because we always think that we can never make an impact.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and as you say, five years ago, May 5th, 2021, where you know the world was falling apart, we did not know what was gonna happen.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't know what the next week, month, year would look like, right?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: But as both of us came together, one of the things that we're very aligned on is empowering others, right?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And and empowering others when two people can come together um with an aligned focus, amazing things can happen.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and so, as you mentioned, you know, we were chasing each other around and and we build that synergy.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, just for context for people that are listening, uh, the Mosaic Nation, we built that community to over a thousand women.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we hear all the time about women can't come together.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we built the community in a period of three years of over uh a thousand women.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, as I talk about alignment and in female empowerment, what is it, what is that thing for you that is that fire inside of you for that female empowerment?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it that you are female empowerment is something that's so dear to your heart?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, for me, for those who don't know my story, my mother died at 39 years old, and I was only 12 for 30 days.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And no woman should leave this planet that early because she doesn't have support, she doesn't have a place to go and talk to people, there's no help for her.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now, of course, we're talking 1978.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's a different world today.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: However, people still don't feel empowered to speak up for themselves.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: So people need advocates, people need mentors, people need that to grab them by the arm and say, I've got you, we're gonna do this together.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Because courage is not so common, and not many people have courage by themselves.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, my mother left this planet way too soon.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: And my job, I've given myself this job, is to see every woman as my mother until I feel she's okay.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because you could never look at my mother and tell that she was struggling with anything.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: And she died with so many secrets that I've later found out that no wonder she had to leave this planet with stress and heart situations and alcoholism.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: It took her out.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so for me, I'm gonna help every woman with an earshot of me till she gets sick of me, till I know she's okay, because we all know, and this isn't a feminist thing, this is a real thing that women push things forward.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: We see what women are doing today, right?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're not believing anymore, stopping or don't do this.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: They're not taking those words anymore.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: They're going for it and they're making a difference.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: They're starting businesses, they're movers and shakers.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, look at the woman who just won the derby, you know, just things are happening and life is a beautiful thing.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I do this work in honor of my mother, Maddie May.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, wow.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: What that is, you know, before we we came on live, we're talking about the the um the ripple effect, right?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And your mother, I know she's looking down on you, but the the impact that she's left on you for the age that you were 12 to now, that is your life's work.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's your mission work, right?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And something like that, you know, they always say that um whatever your passion is, it doesn't matter whether you get paid or not, because that is just your mission work.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: As you were talking about your mother, what what I what I also heard is lack of community.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: We hear that word community a lot, but but really and truly, what does community, when we say the word community, what does that look like?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: What does that feel like for you as we were able to build this community of of women?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Our community started with the two of us, and then we went to four.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Then we were the magic five for a while, and then we were like, five more came on today, and three more.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Do you see how many people we had in a room?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we laugh because we were supposed to do 15 minutes from 7:45 to 8 o'clock.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: We ain't never done 15 minutes.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know why?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because there's so much.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because what makes a community is when people are, they feel seen, they feel heard, and they feel valued.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: So everyone brought their whole selves to those rooms with us and and put it on the table.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: This is who I am, this is my struggle, this is what I need.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Or when we had a topic, because you know, we had themes, right?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: So when we had a topic, they were like, oh my God, you know, that I feel that I feel that.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: And they would share how they felt.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: And and it was just, you know, some days I got we got off there.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: I just wanted to cry because like I'm emotional now.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking about it because we changed lives.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: And we went right two to four to five.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: And as five, we were doing little workshops and speaking and doing things and had grandma celebrations and this celebration.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: And and it was, you just watched it like, you know, like put water on flowers and just watched it do this.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it was beautiful.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And and again, you know, the thing is, oh, you know, women can't get along or women can't do this.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: And and we did it.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: We did it for three years, three and a half years, as a matter of fact.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: And what happened is we had to get back to the real world.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Things are starting to open back up, everybody had to go back to work, they couldn't stay at home anymore, and we had to be responsible adults.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, community, you you you go to a place where you feel like not you got yes people, but you have you feel like people understand you.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: They look like you, their hairs like you, they have a background similar to you, right?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: They understand you.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: They don't come in a room and be like, why are they talking about that?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, oh my god, that happened for me too.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: So we had camaraderie, we had alignment, and people, uh, that's how we came up with the nation.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we just started as mosaic.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, we you we got people from Liberia, people from the UK, like we're a nation up in here.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: We're the mosaic nation, just different types, shades of color of people, women in different careers, different paths.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: And in that community, we we did a whole lot.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: We helped people launch businesses, become, I mean, you helped me become a number one best-selling author, right?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't even want to write.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: You was like, girl, you do the dance, right?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's what it is too.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I there were some things I won't do.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, girl, you doing it, and I did it.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm grateful for it.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm grateful for that push, and I'm grateful for the extended deadlines, I'm grateful for all those things because it allowed us to have more proof in the pudding for our community to show how a community works, where we love, accept each other, and extend a hand up, not a hand out.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: I love when you said yes, people, right?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, I'm a big Michael Jackson fan, and um, watching the movie last weekend, it just reinforces, you know, things that we we knew about him in terms of um him having people around him.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: When you are that large, it's important to have people around you that won't say yes all the time.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And and so, and even in community, building community, it that's also so important to not for everybody to not be groupthink, right?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's so important for you know, if may not agree.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you and I have had times where we did not agree on certain things, and and just because you don't agree, that doesn't mean that okay, well, that's the end of the relationship, you know.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: In community, there's so many things that I learned because you know, one, you're dealing with so many women from different cultures, different backgrounds, so many different things, right?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so could the com a community gives you such a great way to learn, not only just learn about people, but also to learn about yourself and to learn about yourself and in in stretching and growing, you know.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: One of the phrases that I love about Les Brown is once the mind expands, it can never go back.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so, in community, in healthy community, as you're growing, it should be where you are learning about other people and you're learning about yourself.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, is there any anything that you you know that you will say that you learned about yourself in community, in in the community, as we were building the community?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: And like you said, we started off with just you and I, and and being honest, we what we knew is we wanted to impact women.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: That was the foundation.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: What it looked like, had no clue what it would look like, but but you know, the foundation that the why was there, the how was was something else, and the and the how, as you said, just grew and grew, and pretty much us as co-leaders had to adapt.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And to be honest with you, now looking back, like that adaption had to be pretty quick.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like it wasn't there wasn't any time that okay, let me try and get a class or try and whatever, right?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: It it was something you had to figure that out as it's going.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, the thing is, we were on there five days a week and holidays.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't take break for Christmas, Thanksgiving.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: We three years we spent holidays together.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: We were a family.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Most important though, it was a safe place for people, right?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where the magic was.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was a safe place.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Not only was it a safe place, I still remember um when we had to do an intervention.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: At night, we were like, hey, one of our sisters is going through this, and we piled up on that Zoom and we were there for hours, just pouring in the love.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: Could you imagine if there were more community that just said, oh, sister over there in apartment six B got a problem?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: We going over, united, and helping her, whatever it is she needed.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, back in the day, that's that's how our ancestors survived.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Looking out for each other, right?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, when you think about it, we get away from so many things that work because we're so modernized, right?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's also what happened when we started to grow, right?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: Those growing pains, like you said, we had to adapt every day.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh, we have somebody different in the room, somebody with a different background.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna have to expand to that and incorporate, you know, we're doing some homework, right?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: And and we're moving and grooving.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so um it was it was on the go.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: There was no, there was no time for rehearsing, which was beautiful, which made it organic and authentic.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: I get excited when I think about it.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I miss us for sure, but we all have lives and we have to move on and expand because we can't stay in the same position, right?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: But um, the fact that it just became a daily safe place for women around the world.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: How amazing is that?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm an old school, old school girl.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like I like the belly-to-belly situations, right?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it took me a long time to even adjust to the zooms.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I fight technology as long as I can.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't fight anymore.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Me and Chad and Claude, we hang out, we good.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: However, thank you, thank you, Sine and Charlene.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: However, the fact that, you know, growth has a lot of complexity.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so things started to get a little bit more complex because we didn't we didn't go in there like an architect and design.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is how it's gonna be.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: We was just doing 15 minutes and then we was doing five hours.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Then we were doing 15 hours.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we had marathons at some point, and what that said is we all needed to be there, to be in community with each other because you ain't spending 14, 15 hours with people that don't have an alignment with you, that aren't speaking the words you need to hear, that aren't speaking life into you.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: We've launched boutiques, books, websites, company.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: How amazing is that?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, so you know, the problem is though, when we get complex and things like that, it gets a little messy because we didn't we didn't understand boundaries, what we need, right?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good point.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we needed some boundaries.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're developing community, there has to be boundaries.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I I shared with you one time before an organization of women that I had been with for 23 years, and they pulled a coup on me because there were no they their boundaries were we don't want somebody like you because you're gonna change us.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: And they pulled a coup and put a 70-year-old woman in my position, and no one had ever run against the president-elect, because that's what I was.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: And she beat me by five votes, so they pulled a coup.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: They had their boundaries in place as a group of women who had been together for over 40, 50 years, right?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, there's not gonna be one of you in here, right?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: And that's when you realize that you're not in the right community.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: So at first I was angry.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh, I was mad because I'd been with those women 23 years.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: I came in there as a little green rookie, right?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Learning about the women of New York State and the different entities and different things that they're out there for other women.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And this is what happened to me.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: But that's when I realized that I needed to go back and pour into a different community because I didn't belong there.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: But I learned things, I had lessons taught to me, and then I learned things and moved out.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so in our organization, as we started to get bigger and bigger and bigger, and then there wasn't really a lot of competition, even though most of us were coaches, which was a beautiful thing.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: We all had our lane, and you know, people used to say, How do you hang around all those coaches?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, aren't you afraid afraid of what?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: First, they're my sisters, right?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Second, they poured love into me.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: I've poured love into them.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't care who you are, if you're worried about competition, then we need to have a conversation because there is only one you.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: If somebody said, Oh my God, you speak just like Shirley, you know that person's crazy because Shirley has her own isms, her own trash talk, her own thing.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Leslie has her own isms, right?
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, the island girl, you know, I still play that song every now and then.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: I lost it the other day, I gotta find it.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but anyway, so you know, we all have our own lane and our own things, but we have to understand and respect boundaries.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: When we give our word, we have to stick to that because all we have as a human being is our word and our honor.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And people, people take that very serious.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: We can't be nonchalant about that.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that was the power of that.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: That gave us the ability to have those moments and those meetings where we're doing interventions because they were like, I trust them.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: They poured into me.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: So when you build these communities and you develop them, you you have to have those boundaries in place.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: You have to have some rules and some guidelines.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: We were kind of operating off the seat of our pants because it just felt so good.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it just, like I said, it fell together so organically.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we we had the IT girl, we had the website girl, you know, we had the mission state imperson, we had the the motivational, inspirational Shirley, we had the wow women, like you know, our wild women Wednesdays.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: That was so much fun.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: You would research amazing women that I still think about going to was it Alabama with us?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, actually, I had to tell somebody about that the other day.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Alabama.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: I still like look, I got goosebumps just talking about it.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, when you when you talked about that and you did the research to find women that in history every day still popping up, doing amazing things.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine if my mother knew about those women while she was struggling?
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Her struggle wouldn't have been solo.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: She would have been in community with other like-minded women fighting for whatever it is they want, like we were doing.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: We were fighting for entrepreneurship.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: We were fighting to do what we wanted.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: All of us wanted to start our own businesses and be entrepreneurs and help and teach, whether it was, you know, food, nutrition, whatever it was.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so that Wild Woman Wednesday was a beautiful thing, right?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and Monday, you know, magical Mondays.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: I was telling someone the other day about how you big Disney fan, you you know, how you would find the stories and some of them movies I never saw.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and you would find the stories.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: And here I am, like, you know, here I am 58, 59 years old, 57 years old, fine.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: They're looking at Disney shows for the first time, been out forever.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they already in collectors items.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm looking at them forever because you took those stories and applied them to today and drew the analogy to life.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Where could you go and find that?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: In the Mosaic Nation, nowhere else, right?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: And there are other communities, there are other communities of women.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: We had, you know, there's a lot of communities came out of Clubhouse, but they weren't like us, right?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so going back to people who think they have competition, there's only one you.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to know who you are and perfect you.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: And not make yourself perfect, but perfectly understand you and accept you the way you are.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, um, I'm glad you you brought those points up because for me, as I talked about learning about myself, there were there were parts of me that that I would hide, like the like the Disney part, like the acronyms, just just different parts that I've been doing that all my life.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: But only until then, like a lot of it I had forgotten about.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like I just said, I'm a big Michael Jackson fan.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: At 13, I wrote out a whole acronym for thriller.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: It had, and my my um my brother-in-law still talks about that to this day because it was on my bedroom, my bedroom door.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: It was every song in Thriller was an acronym that leads you back to the actual word thriller.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay and that we're talking pre-Chat GPT, right?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, and you know, I'm a military brat, so that's kind of where those acronyms came from.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: But until then, I had buried though that part of me.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: I had buried the Disney part of me until until then.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, in community, there's things that you learn about yourself as well, as everybody is porn.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, not just don't look at as leaders as they are perfect and they have everything together and they know whatever anyone that would that's listening now.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you're thinking about building a community or you're part of a community, it is about it's a reciprocal process, it's about what you are giving the community and what you're getting from the community.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a take, it's a take and give because as we were co-leaders, we were getting something every day that we were able to deposit as well, you know.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then you mentioned boundaries, boundaries are so important, and yeah, we were flying by the seat of our pants, um, just doing this thing daily, just knowing that we had to show up for women.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: So for three years consistently, there was not that room open for three years consistently.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if anybody in Clubhouse can really say that.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: That that no matter it was a holiday or birthday, I was in the hospital, no matter what it was, that room still open, right?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, in terms of boundaries is one, so so so we knew we we we knew that we we had a boundary for that in terms of we knew what we said we needed to continue doing what we said we were gonna do, right?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, though those are some really um key lessons as you're bringing people along, as as you're making impact, you know.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, so now let me just shift a little bit and let's talk on the side that somebody may be listening, uh, maybe a woman listening.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: She's saying, Yeah, that's great for you.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: You guys had a great community, oh, you guys are doing this and that.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that was not my experience when I was in a community and and I've been hurt in a community.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't want to be a part of any type of ongoing community.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: What what would be what would be like maybe two or three highlights that you can give another woman?
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because obviously there's some healing that needs to take place there, right?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: So so what what what what could be some That you could offer to someone that's listening.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: And let me just preface this.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always going to say women because I speak women.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: So you're going to hear me say women, but if there's men that's listened, that's fine.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: We welcome you.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: So first, I think we have to keep in mind this that no matter how beautiful the mission is, they're going to be unhealed people, unclear boundaries, and gossip can challenge the strongest communities.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: So there's going to be breakdowns.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: It happens in your own home, right?
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it's no different in a community because you have some control in your own home, right?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, community isn't just about bringing people together.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's about maintaining trust when things get uncomfortable, right?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: So if you've been part of a community and you've been burned, here's what I'm going to say.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's a lesson learned, right?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's a lesson.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: There's wisdom behind everything that happens to you.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's an opportunity for you, you know, as we always used to say in community, to grow, stretch, and learn.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so you can't take everything personal.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's the other thing.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, as women, it's like, oh my God, that person hurt me and we're putting all these badges on us.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no, no, no.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: Go in for what serves you and leave the rest because there is always something for us to learn.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's always a lesson for us to learn.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: There's always a way for us to get ahead.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: State while you're there.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: Let people know.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's the other thing that we have to do.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: We have to speak um more boldly about ourselves, who we are and what we want, right?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and that's that's a big part of the work that I do.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because, and this isn't a shameless plug, this is real stuff right here.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, as we were talking earlier, I've learned a lot about the work that I do as I've been, you know, kind of rubbing it and kneading and doughing and, you know, treating it like it's dough.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: And the thing is, when you know who you are and what you stand for, you are unstoppable, right?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: But when you put on mask A today, mask B tomorrow, C on the next day, and then the following day, we don't even know who you are.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, who is that that look like Shirley, but that's not her today.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be able to stand up inside yourself and love you.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: I say this all the time.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm the trash lady.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: God doesn't make junk.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: We do when we're afraid to step inside of who we are.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever our quirks are, whatever, whatever we're made up of, whatever nationalities, whatever our culture is, right?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think that's just so, so important to know who you are.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then once you know who you are, you know, somebody can look at you and be like, oh, your hair looks green today.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now you know your hair is brown because you pay for that Auburn color to get that gray out.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: So they can say whatever they want, but there'll be people that try to push your button because that's what makes them excited, right?
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: There'll be people who try to be greedy or selfish or look out for themselves.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's a they problem.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: There'll be people who come in because unfortunately it's the way women are structured, because at first they're insecure until they feel comfortable, right?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: But at first, it's protect myself.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: Who is she?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: What are they looking at me?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: Stop all that stuff.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody got junk in their closet and skeletons and bones.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh nobody can't we spend so much time worried about what someone else is thinking about us, girl, they ain't thinking about us, they got more problems than we got.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: And if we could focus more on that and just focus on self, I didn't say be selfish, but I said focus on self.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: What am I here to bring to this table?
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: And what can I take away from?
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we we also learned about speaking life into ourselves, speaking boldly.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you came up with the term the brag, right?
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Brag about yourself, tell people who you are, damn it.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: Don't don't let them get it twisted and let them write the story.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: You write the story, right?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: So those are some of the beautiful things that came out of our community.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: People learn how to speak love and life into themselves, right?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: People knew that there were people there that cared about them.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: And when you create a community, you have to protect the mission.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: You have to protect that mission.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you have to address conflict quickly.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yes.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so there were some boo-boos made, you know, because we weren't thinking about conflict, we were just in love with each other.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: We weren't thinking about conflict, we weren't thinking about any of those things.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, don't we can't ignore the unhealthy behavior?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, right.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and as leaders, we have to evolve too.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: We have to do better.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: We have to, you know, we might have started there and then we did, though.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we did, but we was growing fast after a while because we was like, okay, it's two of us gonna do this, all right.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's five of us, we're gonna have these programs down, right?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: All right, now we got some new people, we're gonna add them on Friday.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we start evolving and growing and including people, and we started doing what a community is supposed to do, build people.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so that that's the you know, the the the beauty of it.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: Building community is easy, just sustaining it requires emotional maturity.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: And again, we have people who will come in, and it could be one of us.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not passing judgment, I'm speaking general, or people come in who are unhealed, who have some jealousy, envy still because they're not sure who they are and what lane they're supposed to be in, and they're not sure sure how to show up.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you can have a powerful vision and it can bring people together, but only the structure and the integrity can keep it all together, to be honest.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: And go ahead.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: So you wanted to No, no, no, you go ahead.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: Great, go ahead, finish.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: And not every breakdown means failure either.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: We grow.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we grow out of the shell, right?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, our kids grow up and they moving out and we want them to stay, but they've come for what they needed, and now it's time to go on.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: But as women, it's mine, my mind, I love this, you know, and I learned this the hard way in business.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: I had an opportunity to sell my business for a couple million dollars.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: But I was oh no, this is my baby.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I made this baby.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna ride it till the wheels fall off, and that's what I did, file bankruptcy, right?
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: When I could have sold it.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we have to have a certain mindset that when it's time for things to move on, you gotta let it go.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: So we we built something beautiful, and we also learned that even beautiful things require boundaries.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think that that's the biggest lesson that beautiful things require boundaries.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: And we have to meet occasionally and say, well, you know, where are we?
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: Where are we?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: But we were moving so fast and we were working and getting back to work and building our businesses.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we didn't really have a lot of time to meet and fix and fix and fix.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, however, I have not one regret.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: I have made beautiful friends.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: We all still stay connected.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: We get together when we can, when we're in each other's towns, you know, we drop in.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm coming through.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: I still, just like I did in the rooms, I still try to stay connected.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, I was talking to uh, oh God, Shaylin this morning.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: She's felt beautiful.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I saw her face and I, you know, on Facebook and I said, you know, you are so beautiful.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then we caught up and talked about her mama and stuff.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, you know, give your mama a big hug for me because I wish my mama was here today.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and those are the beautiful things, the stories, you know, uh Tina and I bumped into each other, me and Cookie see each other.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: The uh girls were in the city from another win, from another organization that grew out of Clubhouse.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so I went and snatched them up and drove them and brought them here.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, they're two hours away.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to get my sisters.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, that's what we do, and that's what we did.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: And we had beautiful meetings, you know.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: I still remember how I pole danced, you know.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so we had we had great times.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: It was beautiful things, you know.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Daphne, um, we connected.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I made some beautiful connections that are lifelong for me, absolutely lifelong for me.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: I have no regret, and I feel like I stay true to myself because I'm I'm always gonna be in people's business loving on them, whether they want me to or not.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone that came in that room, I called them and I said, look, you got a few our infamous few minutes.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I talked less than an hour and 45 minutes to anyone that came into our room on a personal level to get to know them.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: And and but it was a beautiful thing.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: And again, you know, we created structure, we had themes so that people knew, like people were crowding in for that Wow Women Wednesday, right?
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: And and then, you know, we had I forgot that lady's name.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: Remember the lady who had us moving our fingers and doing stuff.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Is it Judy?
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: Was it Judy?
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Judy, that's it, Judy.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, you know, so we had like really cool people coming through and doing things, and and we all learned new things, took us out of our comfort zone because that's what community is for, too, right?
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, took us out of our comfort zone, but we were comfortable within each other, so we were okay to grow and stretch within each other's space.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Shirley, thank you so much for joining me today.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: As we said, today is a five-year anniversary of when we started Mosaic Nation May 5th, 2021.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: And this was five years ago, and you gave such great points.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what I absolutely love is protect the mission, protect the mission and the and the boundaries.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: And boundaries, you know, we talk about I teach on boundaries, and boundaries are so important, not just for everyone else, but boundaries are really for you.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so without you having the correct boundaries, you really don't really don't understand kind of how you're moving and where you should be going.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we just want to thank each and every one of you for popping in, listening to us.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: I know that when when you listen to the pod, it's a different day than when when the pod normally goes live, but thank you for joining us today.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Leave a review, share this, and for share this with anyone that is interested in building a community or has a community and looking to sustain that community, um, because it's something that we did um consistently for three years, and we made a tremendous impact in the world.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: So bye until next time, and um, we will see you around.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: Bye bye.