Latest / Story Scaling / Blackbelt Voices and the Power of Story

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Blackbelt Voices and the Power of Story · Story Scaling

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Story Scaling by PodcastVideoscom, where creators share the truth behind the content, the grind and the growth Intro music.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Please, Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friends and family, I am Bang with PodcastVideoscom.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: This is Story Scaling, and I'm joined by an incredible guest, Adina White.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Adina White, thank you for joining us today.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: I'm excited to be here.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought we were going to do a virtual thing.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: We are in person.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: You pulled up in person, right?
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: I'm glad you were here and I'm like, uh, I can just do this from my car.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: This is great.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: This is great.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: So the way I like to start the show.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Um, I'm going to read this bio and this is your opportunity to tell me.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: You hit it spot on, or you should have said this.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Let's add this, let's take this out.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: It says adina j white, apr.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Founder and chief storyteller, black belt media host black belt voices podcast.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Today, we are joined by adina j white, apr.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Accredited storyteller, founder of black belt media and host of the Black Belt Voices podcast, adina has spent more than 15 years weaving culture, social change and brand strategy into meaningful narratives that honor Black Southern experiences.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Her podcast has earned national attention from Apple, oprah Daily and Vanity Fair, while she leads story-based campaigns for nonprofits through Excel by Eight.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: A thoughtful communicator and a changemaker, adina is reshaping how communities tell stories and who gets to tell them.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: I think that's great.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, is that spot on?
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, black Belt Media is sort of like it is my business name, so you have kind of two arms of that right now.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Sure, the Black Belt Voices podcast, which is the black southern culture and stories, is how it started.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: And then, like you said, excel by Aid, the Arkansas Black Philanthropy Collaborative.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Those are some social impact organizations I provide communication support to through Black Belt.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: So, yes, so it's kind of like we're telling stories either on our own podcast or helping these social impact organizations tell theirs true communications I love it so when I love reading these bios, because people deserve their flowers oh yeah you do, I think, personally I'm.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I'm recently introduced to you, but I'm going back and doing my googles and my research and my history.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: I'm like man, you have done some really, really neat stuff, and so whenever I read the bio, a lot of times the guests would be like oh man, you know I've done that.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: It's almost like surprising what stands out to you when you hear all of the things that are associated with Adina.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: That's a good question because I know a lot of times we have imposter syndrome about what we do and I was just at a event last night hosted by the Women's Leadership Network and they were saying just show your receipts.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Like that's one way to combat imposter syndrome is to show your receipts.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: That's kind of like my receipts, like you kind of showed me, like okay, she did this and did that, and I think the better we can weave that story together about ourselves, I think the more powerful we can be because we see threads that we may not have seen before.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: So when I was first starting off, I probably didn't think my career at the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce would relate to what I'm doing now for these social impact organizations.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: But there's always these threads that we have and I think we can just figure out what makes us tick and I think we'll.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's kind of the heart of it is figuring out that thing that's been consistent throughout your career.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: There's so much in what you just said and we can really go in one of two ways.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I'll let you decide where you spoke about imposter syndrome, typically the conversation will build and then you will get into something like that.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: But we can jump in right there, or we can jump in at when you started storytelling, like where did this even come from?
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I'll let you decide, okay, where we go let me start with the second part, because the first may come up in.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Okay, sure, um, but yeah, I, I I didn't know what I wanted to be when I was.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: When I grew up, like it wasn't like I want to be this or that, but I was watching a soap opera called Days of Our Lives.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: And then Carrie Brady she did PR for a hospital, like she did public relations for a hospital, and I was like, well, that sounds neat.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: So there was no Google.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: So the next day I went to school and I got the Occupational Outlook handbook and looked up public relations to kind of read what it was, and I saw they.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: They made pretty good and I was like, okay, so, wow, yes, how old are you at this time?
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: I was probably about you know, 16, 17, wow, maybe a little bit younger, like thinking about college, but like, not really like I have to decide my major right now, but um, so I went to arkansas tech university in russellville.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Shout out atu, atu, go wonder, boys slash golden sons I used to live in Russellville.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Okay, yes, yes, yes.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: So I chose to major in speech, communication, and then I added on journalism, and then, because PR was under journalism, so I did those two things.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Thankfully, writing and storytelling was part of public relations, which I didn't know when I picked it in that book.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: But yeah, anyway, that's how I got exposed to it, because I didn't have a lot of examples of that sure so thankfully it worked out because it was having storytelling and writing and I ended up really loving it.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: So that's how that career got started.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: But then after that, can we pause real?
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: quick.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, that's crazy, not not in a way that's I say crazy, for lack of better words, it's dope.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I too, had no idea what I wanted to do when I was growing up.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I started college, undeclared major yeah, literally never knew.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I used to look at the kids.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: That's like, man, I want to be a fireman man, I want to play basketball, and really envy them because I'm like, I don't know what I want to do and so you watch days of our lives, somebody else's job title and ran with it yeah, yeah, because, like I think I was.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: I think they always say you people be what they see, and so, like I think at one point probably I was younger, I like I can be a teacher because I had teachers.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I had a really nice eye doctor, so probably around seventh grade it's like I'm gonna be an optometrist and then I had braces.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: At one point it's like, oh, an orthodontist would be cool.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, I never really had like, what do I like to do and what kind of job can I have?
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: But there's a lot of criticism now about the way we ask kids what are you going to be when you grow up?
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: anyway, and like 18-year-olds are supposed to have it all figured out.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think we're kind of getting away from that and it's okay to be undeclared.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: So I'm glad we're there now.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: But at the time I was kind of like oh, I have to know and like sometimes it just kind of unfolds in different ways and thankfully my major, I'm still working in the thing I got a degree in.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: But there's some people who enter PR or communications through different fields that aren't related to like.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: I studied journalism.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: I think it's good to be flexible.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Keep going in the story.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: So you go to ATU and then what happens from there?
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: I'm interested to see where we go.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I get that major, I get an internship at the Winter Rockefeller Institute on Petty Jean Mountain.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: So it's a pretty cool place, like Governor Rockefeller when he came to Arkansas he wasn't governor then, but he just started a home on Petty Jeanne Mountain basically transformed the state, but that place kind of honors his legacy.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: It was a conference center and when I joined it had just gotten this new identity, like it was something else and it became the Institute and I was kind of on the ground floor of like figuring out what it was going to be.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: It was a cool job.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: I was there three years but as a new professional I was kind of isolated.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: Sure, I had people I love to work with, but it um, that's how I really dove into the public relations society of America, the Arkansas chapter in Little Rock.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: So they would let me work from home once a month, which was a big deal back then because there was no zoom and stuff.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: So I would just work from home, go to the meeting in Little Rock, and then I met so many people locally who did PR.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: So I had those examples there and I just kept with it.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: I realized I liked to write.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: I liked telling stories, but of course it changed over the years.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: But I just kept sticking with that career path and then I started working for the Conway Chamber of Commerce.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: I was there 11 years and just I got to figure out that I liked talking about the place I lived.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, and it was.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: It was a neat transition because I did communications there as well, a lot of writing for our publications.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: But the thread thing I was talking about earlier really came out because I didn't know that the institute work and the chamber work were really connected outside of communication.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: But when I look back in my career, both were very grounded in place.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: So at the Institute, canadian Mountain, I mean it was about a place.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: It was about Governor Rockefeller choosing that place to start a farm, choosing Arkansas over New York City, transforming the state.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: The chamber was about Conway as a place, how we can make it the best place for people who live you know, live there, work there, visit there.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: And then my podcast became about place.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: It became about black people in the South and just how we contributed to this place and how this place has shaped us.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: So I think the whole thread of it is kind of like it's storytelling but it's kind of like the power of place and how we shape the places we live and then they shape us too and I think I really get excited about talking about places.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of like a different thread but like yeah, just very place-based work and even the nonprofits I work with now Excel by Aid.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: They're in early childhood development.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: The Black Philanthropy Collaborative is about philanthropy, but both are like very place-based.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: You know the Black Philanthropy Collaborative is about philanthropy, but both are, like, very place-based.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: One's about serving Arkansas children from prenatal to age eight.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: The other is about changing the narrative around what it means to be a philanthropist, and we're focused on Arkansas.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: So I think it's just that's just so important to me and I wouldn't have known that until I started getting these different roles and figuring out what really made me come alive.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, you spent well.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I'm going to snap that up.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: That's very well said, thank you.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Very well said.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: You spent a lot of time telling stories on behalf of commerce, or whether that be the Rockefeller Foundation, and then you start telling your own stories.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Where did you find your voice?
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Or maybe another way to say that is at what point was there a turning point in you?
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: That's like, man, I have something that I want to say, I want to share.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I think it was early 2017.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: And the exact moment, and actually, well, was it 2015?
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: I think it was 2015 when, like you know, nine black people were killed in a church in.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Charleston, south Carolina, and that was kind of when the Black Lives Matter movement was gaining steam and I was paying attention to Black Lives Matter and Trayvon Martin.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: But I think it really started hitting home when you just saw that the things you thought went away back in the 60s hadn't.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: And then I think what disturbed me, uh, of course the loss of life, the racist led killing of people, innocent people, was traumatic sure but also the response to it.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: it became a conversation about the Confederate flag and then there became like these rallies where people were waving their flags and all this kind of thing.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: So it was just like all of that was an outcome of black people getting killed in the church.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: So, I was really.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: I had a lot of anger.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: I wanted to leave the South.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: I wanted to get out of here.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: It was like this is not for me, but I was born and raised here and my family's been in Central Arkansas for generations like a long time but I didn't leave.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: But then in 2017, fast forward in 2016, we had a presidential election.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: We led it toald trump becoming president and I noticed I wasn't liking the way people were talking about black folks and then also the way they were talking about the south.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: So during the election season, whenever you know race would come up, I think, uh, donald trump would pivot to talking about crime in chicago and things like that.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: He wouldn't talk about race talking about crime in chicago.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Um, after he won, you had people on the left who would say things like you know, the South is horrible for electing Donald Trump.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Let's just get rid of the South, racist backwards.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: People live there.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: But black Southerners, of course, did not vote overwhelmingly for Donald Trump.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: And when you look at a map, a Pew Research Center has shown that the majority of black, has shown that the majority of black Americans live in the South.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: So when you talk about the South, you're really talking about black people too.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Even if you're trying to be progressive and inclusive, you can't bad math the South without bad mouthing black people.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Because, we live here, we make it up With an overwhelming majority.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and maybe not the majority, but, like, the majority of us live here.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: So we have a few in the, you know, we have so many percent in the West and Northeast and Midwest, but mostly here.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: So I want to tell more of our stories, more stories of black Southerners, because I think part of it was kind of like when I went to leave, feeling like there was nothing for me here, like, oh, this place isn't a good place for you know, black people to be.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: But then when you step back, when you think about the movements in this country that have kind of led to other movements, it started a lot with, you know, black folks resisting and doing things like that.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: So like we've always been that and sometimes we forget because we just look at the problems but not like how, the way ways black people have kind of progressed this country forward, especially, you know, in the south.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: So, um, I want to tell more of our stories.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: People who are just show the diversity of black people, so our diversity of the south, and also talk about it is inspire people to where, like, there's folks here doing cool stuff you may not hear about in the news, but there's people here just building their communities, like just doing these things.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: So that's how black voices as a platform got started.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: And then I can pause here, but there, that was a turning point there about how we got from a blog to a podcast.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: But I can just pause if you need me to.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: No, I'm with it, let's roll like this good, this is good.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: I feel like I'm saying, I'm taking it in.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Let's go.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: I'm just like I can talk.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: This is good, okay, well, um, so that was 2017, around 2018.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: I think I told one story of someone who inspired me.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Um, she was also affected by the election.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Like she worked for a chamber in um williamson, county tennessee, and we were both communications directors and in the chamber world you always benchmark different chambers.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: So they came to our chamber in Conway to learn more about what we do and we just connected.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: So she and I had the same job.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: We connected on LinkedIn, stayed in touch and after the election she started this nonprofit called the Equity Alliance to help talk about voter disenfranchisement in Nashville, tennessee.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: So I saw how she just pivoted her career and became outspoken.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: I was like man, she's inspiring.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: So I talked to her for the blog because I'm a writer, I write.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: So we were on the phone and she was like I had maybe her kids softball practice and when she would talk she was just had such an energy and she got emotional at one point when she talked about her mom and what her mom has done for her.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: And she got emotional at one point when she talked about her mom and what her mom has done for her and she was crying on the call and, like I, was very moved and I also thought this will be some great audio, but I don't talk on camera.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: I don't do podcasts, so we're just going to let that slide.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: So that's the first time it kind of comes in the back of your mind.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: You're thinking like podcast?
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: No, no Right.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: So it started with a story like it started with me wanting to tell stories and then it was like what's the best medium for that?
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Is this just lengthy blog post and no one's going to read, or should I do something else?
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: So then, um, the black belt voices idea I presented to a few different people in the area, kind of see, get their buy-in, get their opinions, and one woman in particular, uh, carol wilkins.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: She was excited about.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: She would follow up with me about it when I would see her and I'm like, yeah, I haven't started on it.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: And then one day we were just having coffee, just casual talk, and she was just talking about, like you know, jay-z and Beyonce and their cultural relevance.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: She's just funny, she's a funny person, she has a bright personality.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: And then I was like, hey, kara, if Black Belt Voices, you know that thing, if that was going to be a podcast, would you co-host with me?
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: And she said, yeah, sure, so then that seed was planted.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: It's kind of like you put a feather in that.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: And then my sister is a former TV producer, her husband he was a teacher at the time, but he also is a musician.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Shout out to bro and sis.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, bro and sis.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Shout them out, shout them out, he's a musician.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Shout out to bro and sis.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, bro and sis, shout them out, shout them out.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Yes, so Katrina Dupins is her name, my sister, her husband's, prentice Dupins Jr.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: So she knew about the idea, of course, and we were talking on the phone about our hopes and dreams and she had just shifted from broadcast journalism to PR.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: So she loved her job and she was like you know, I miss creating something.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: I was like, oh yeah, you know, black belt, right, this is going to be a podcast now and Kara Wilkins is going to co-host.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: Do you want to help produce it for us?
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: And she was like, yeah.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: So then my brother-in-law.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: I was like, hey, I want, like, um, lift every voice and sing kind of, with some trap music in the background, can you?
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: make that work, and then he came up with some bomb intro music and outro music and then in September we launched our first episode, Wow, and so it really.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: I think with podcasting these days it's kind of like people want a podcast, but the way we approached it was we had stories to tell and then we figured out the best way to tell those stories was audio versus written, or not just versus, but like you need all things together.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: So that's how we got started as a podcast.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: So it was kind of like a long way to say like, yeah, the story was the heart of the whole time.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: Like we had a reason for wanting to tell these stories and then we just thought about what meeting would be best and it took you know that was from 2017 to 2019.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: It's a long time, but I don't move very fast sometimes, but it was still.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: I don't move very fast sometimes, but it was still.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: I like thinking of the story in that way, because we didn't set out to just have a platform or just to have our voices out there or to have a show.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: It was kind of like no, we have something to say and we need the best way to say it, you know so I think, first of all, snaps again.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: That's really well said, and when I hear you speak it's there's a richness behind the things that you say.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: And me, I'm a musician, so, and that's a long story, my journey, I think, is a little similar.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: OK, we got to hear this one day.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, we'll break.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: No, no, this is for the next five.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: This is what's about you, we'll dive into it.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Um, but fell in love with writing initially, and then, from writing stories and narrative, it bled into poetry, which bled in the songwriting it's all the same, but when I hear you speak, there's an emphasis on the story, and whether that's a blog post, whether that is a podcast, the focus is the story yeah what makes story so important?
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: so story is, that's how we see the world and it's the oldest form of communication.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: It has always been how we see the world and there's there's a theory going back to the communications uh, major, excuse me called the coordinated management of meaning.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Um so, what it says.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Coordinated management of meaning yes.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Cm theory okay so it basically says that, um, our social worlds are shaped through communication and that communication is through stories lived and stories told.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: So my lived experience, I mean, that's a story.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: But how I tell that story also informs how others see me and same with them.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: So it's like everything is about stories lived and stories told, and it's like those stories together all shape a narrative.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: And so I think they're just so important and people are.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: Storytelling is kind of like I'm going to call it a buzzword because it's not going away, but the stories are.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: I think Brene Brown says they're just what it means to be human.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Shout out to Brene Brown.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: Shout out to Brene Brown.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: She's just yeah, Is that we Can Do Hard Things?
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: That's actually.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Glennon Doyle Okay, but I like her too.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Brene is what's her?
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Brene Brown is a.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: She's a social worker.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: She has a doctorate in social work and she's what's her books Daring Greatly.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: That's it.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: She has two podcasts Dare to Lead and then Unlocking Us.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, that's it.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: Shout out to that other one okay, yes, so Brene Brown called herself a researcher storyteller.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: I think those those two researcher and storyteller so like, yeah, that's what makes us human, our stories, and so I think we all have stories to share.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: And like, yeah, that's how we learn about ourselves, about each other, and so, yeah, they're incredibly important, but they have to be handled with care too.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: Sure, you know, um, the way we tell someone else's story has to be handled with care, because that's their story.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: And even the storytellers, like, like, part of the reason we wanted to do black belt voices was because there's another quote I love by elaine welter off, and, um, it's like, if you want to change the story, you have to change the storytellers.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: So sometimes we need to have different storytellers talking about things that they relate to better than anyone else, even if and it just matters kind of who's telling it as as much as it does, like, what the story is.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Sure, you know.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: So this is snap, snap, snap.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Do you consider yourself more introverted or extroverted on that spectrum?
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: And that's a pre-question to another question.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, and I love that you called it a spectrum.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Because I 100% introvert is what I would say, what I used to say, but now that I have my own business and work remotely, I realized that I do.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: I'm not an introvert, but I think I do need some people connection sometimes.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: So when I think about introversion and extroversion, it's like where your energy comes from.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: My energy does come from being alone, but it also comes from, like deep conversations with other people.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: This is energizing.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: Me going to a room full of people and you know, make a small talk and you know that drains me, sure, but I do need that sometimes but deep conversations, I mean, I really love that stuff.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm, I'm like you in that regard.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Uh, I'm very charismatic, very big personality, and I'm outgoing, and so people and I'm a performer, so people see me and assume I'm extroverted, but but I'm actually introverted.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: I get my energy from either being alone in small settings or intentional conversations.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: So the exact same thing.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Yes, I can see that in you, and so it makes me wonder how do you still show up in a space where you're putting yourself out there and you're?
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: You know, it was just story, so it, it was just words.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: So maybe at some point, when you were just doing your blog post, it might have been a little bit easier to fade into the shadows.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: But now you got your voice out there, your picture out there, and this will be video, not to, you know, put a little song in there, but it'll be, this is gonna be a video, and so how do you show up?
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: I guess maybe talk about that tension of being introverted but also still showing up yeah, um, I think part of the reason I reached out to Kara was because of that introversion, was because I felt like my personality alone wasn't enough to carry the show I wanted to do.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: I feel like I needed someone else who was more outgoing to help me and I love having her as a co-host, and you know, but if I look back, part of it was because of my own fear of having me being the only voice and, um, our show also was scripted.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: I don't want to say scripted, but we had a script and it was very structured.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: So I think that made me more comfortable, because I wouldn't have to worry about fumbling too much, or you know.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: So I think that's how I reconcile with having audio versus written word only.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: But, um, when we first got started, not, it was no, it was about 2020.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: So, after we got started, you know, at after george floyd's murder, when people cared about diversity, equity, inclusion, and it wasn't and woke wasn't a dirty word there was my podcasting studio.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: I forgot where it was, but they were inviting Black-led podcasts to get some free consulting.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: And so I signed up for one, and then one thing he said was I listened to a few episodes Great stuff, but y'all need to talk about yourselves more, and I'm like no, the whole point was to tell these other people's stories on our platform.
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: I don't want to talk about myself, like.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: So it was hard to hear.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: Actually, it was refreshing to hear, because when people say I want to hear from you, that's a compliment, sure, but it was scary because I'm like, I'm the storyteller.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: No one needs to know about me.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: So that's something I always kind of thought about.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: And it does become important because the podcast led to speaking opportunities.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: People wanted to know, like, how did y'all do it, how did y'all get Oprah's attention, and and like, and so I did a lot of talks on storytelling and it's just always hard to be vulnerable and tell your own, but it's necessary because people want to know about the messenger too, not just yeah you're talking about.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: All right, we're going deep, okay yeah, let's do it I, as a creator slash storyteller, am currently facing the wall that I'm hitting because I'm having trouble being vulnerable, specifically being vulnerable, in a digital space.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Oh yes, you know what I mean Showing up online and it's interesting because when I came up, social media was basically just a highlight reel People only wanted to see, particularly in music, and particularly in hip hop music, people only wanted to see, like you doing some fly stuff.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: So the cooler that you were on social media, the better your chances of being seen, so on and so forth, like expanding your brand.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Now it's reverted to the opposite, because it felt so much like a show all the time.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Now people are just begging for some genuine connection, and so it's not as cool as you can be now.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Now it's as open as you can be, as cool as you can be now.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Now it's as open as you can be, as real as you can be, and so I'm kind of struggling with that personally, because it's like, yeah, you can only be as connected to a person as you are willing to be vulnerable, and so I know that, but it's still a just a kind of conflict, and so when this person tells you yeah, put, put more of yourself out there.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: You know you got to open up a little bit more and you're like oh no, I don't want to, you know, do that I want them in my business.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Exactly, I don't want them in my business.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Who are these people right?
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: What do you say now to that person that's like me or someone who's experiencing something similar?
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Maybe they have something in them that they want to do.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's not a want, maybe it's something that they feel called or compelled to do, but there's this fear of being vulnerable.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: How did you get through it, slash?
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: How do you work through it?
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: And what would you say to somebody else that's working through that?
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Back to Renee Brown, who's kind of like helped vulnerability become part of our lexicon a little more Um her research.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: She actually was saying that being vulnerable doesn't mean just telling all.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: It doesn't mean you have to tell everybody everything about you.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Um.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: So it requires courage, but you don't have to always just tell too much.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: You still need boundaries.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: So I think, um, I think, when you think about connection vulnerability, I think we can still honor our boundaries, but then I just, I guess, be truth tellers, but but like also protecting, because online can be a very horrible place, sure but but um that comment section oh my gosh, yeah, yeah.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: So I think people, I think you can be vulnerable by maybe talking about the truth behind something or kind of opening up to maybe a process, but I guess we don't have to like get online and cry or, you know, do the things that people think you need to do to kind of show humanity.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, I need to find what she really said about that.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: But yeah, basically you don't have to tell everything.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: I think that's good sound advice, though, because it's an element of being honest.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I got a friend of mine.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: If you ask them how they're doing, they will look you in the face and say, oh terrible, Right, you know what I mean.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: They'll be like, oh, this is one of the worst days I've had in years, and when I first heard that it rocked me.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: I'm like dang bro, like give me the, give me the automated.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: But that's them being vulnerable and showing up, and because of that it's changed how I respond to people.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: If somebody asked me how I'm doing, I'm like, oh, I actually stop and I think about it, and it's not necessarily a tell-all or me divulging all of my business, but it is me being vulnerable and honest in that moment, and it comes back to just telling the truth.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: I don't have to say everything, but you know, so I think that's good.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's showing your humanity.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Like you know, we're not robots.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna have good days and bad days, and it's like yeah, yeah, so I think that does matter.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Well, I need to learn from your friend.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Like yeah.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: In the theme of story.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Tell me about a story, either early on in your journey or recently, that's impacted you in a way that you didn't anticipate.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I talked about the Charleston incident, but there's a story around that same time, even though I am a black woman.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: I didn't really know a lot about race and racism beyond individual acts of racism.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: You know people, I went to school with saying the N-word or a Confederate flag.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: But after the Charleston massacre I got to where I was craving knowledge about race.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: Like I was following people on twitter, different people on twitter.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: I was changing, like the books I was reading, because I felt like I was behind a little bit because I grew up in a majority, a small country town, um, the only black people there were like family members and stuff like that.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: Um, I graduated 32 people.
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: So just very small, very, very black community I was a part of, like my family's huge I have a huge family, extended family.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: Sure, we all went to church together, so I had that.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: But like just having um education on the history of race in america, systemic racism, learning about james baldwin, you know, and reading his work, that's something I didn't get.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: That's an experience I had in high school or college and so I had to kind of self-educate.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: So, um, there was a workshop I went to.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: It was a workshop on race that was hosted by an organization, little rock, um arkansas public policy panel, I believe.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: So they brought in a speaker I believe he's from new york and that national speaker named glenn harris and he, he was over this um social inclusion institute or something like that, yeah.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: So a story he told.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: It stuck with me and it sticks with me to this day, but he was trying to explain equity in a way that made sense.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: So he, he's an example, um called streetlights in Seattle, and if you google that you can read the story, but I'll try to summarize it.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: But, um, I think there had been something happened in like a black neighborhood in seattle which is mostly white, but there was a maybe an incident where some people were killed or something.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: And so, like the city officials, the mayor, he drove around the city, that that part of the city, to kind of see what was going on and stuff.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: And then they noticed that all the lights, the street lights, were out in that city, like there had a lot of light bulbs out.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: And I think someone said why are all these light bulbs out over here?
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: And then they said, well, because to fix the light bulbs you call in and then someone comes and fixes them.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: But then to encourage equity, what they did was they just made a note of the life expectancy of all the light bulbs and changed them on the schedule, which is a very I mean, just think about how small that is.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: But the reason it was so powerful was because they didn't.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: Everyone was happy, so you know who's the most happy about this change.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: The residents.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: The residents in the other parts of town, the more affluent parts, who weren't afraid to interact with government because they didn't have to call as much.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: They didn't have to pick up the phone every time a streetlight was out and say, hey, come, fix the streetlight.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: They knew what to do when a streetlight was out.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: They weren't afraid of interactions with city officials.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: They spoke English.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: They were well off enough to kind of care about the streetlights.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: But that part of town they probably wouldn't interact with city officials.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: Some people didn't speak english so it's like once they had the more the most vulnerable in mind.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: That change affected everybody.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: It helped everyone.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: But let's say they would just start it with like how can we make these people happy over here?
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: Like how can we make the people in the richer part of town happy?
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: they wouldn't have had that solution right because they would be just being like oh, we can make it easier for you to call.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: How about you can text a number like they?
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: You know we come up with solutions uh, non-creative solutions when we don't think about everyone so when they.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: When you think about the most vulnerable, you think about everyone if you think about those only at the top.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: You only think about those at the top.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: There's no tricklele down.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: So I love that story.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: It was so beautiful because it was such a simple solution to a huge problem and the streetlights themselves didn't cause the crime, but it probably encouraged it.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: When there's more cover of darkness, you don't feel safer as safe going out at night, and so I think maybe the place aspect made me love it.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Their approach to problem solving made me love it.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Um, their approach to problem solving made me love it because it wasn't it wasn't in your face like we got to help these people over here.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: So what can we do?
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: Right, it was just like a simple thing that made sense.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: Like, looking back, you're like why wouldn't you just change light bulbs on the schedule?
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: Why would you make people call?
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: But you wouldn't have come up with that solution without thinking about who was most affected by it.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: So I love that story.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: When I think about it, I just feel good, excited, because it's just one small example of what happens when you do that.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you said something.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: When you think about the most vulnerable, you think about everyone.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: When you think about those at the top, you don't think about those at the top.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so it's hard to kind of.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: One example is like when you think about someone with a disability.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: So we all use elevators, but elevators were intended for people who could not take the stairs, but we all benefit from it.
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: So if, because they because you know, disability justice folks long time ago decided that buildings should be ada compliant and made that possible, we all benefit from having an elevator.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: When we have a bunch of luggage to carry, when we have boxes about that, right, it was like, and they were made for some, for a vulnerable population, but we all benefit.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: Well, they were like how can we make stairs better?
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: That would get you nowhere.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: But when you think about how can we make this building more accessible for everyone, you have a solution that you didn't have before.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: So it's like I love that stuff, yeah, I know, and you don't think.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Think about those things, and those are the types of ways I want to solve problems.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Think more systemically and then well, I think, think in terms of systems, but it's hard, it's hard to do, but then when it happens, if someone gives you examples of it, it's always so simple.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: But then I think you just have to think about all the parts of the system and how they all work together and but um, I just want to be that type of problem solver you know that type of thinker and it takes practice.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: but, um, that's just how to be that type of problem solver and that type of thinker, and it takes practice.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: But that's just how I that story from Glenn Harris really inspired like how I want to show up when it comes to thinking about problems, Thinking about how to make society better.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: So you know it's interesting because a lot of times the stuff that's easy to do is also easy to not do and not think about.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: But I love how you simplify the importance of not only problem solving.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: But how are we even thinking about what is a problem versus what isn't a problem?
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, right, yeah.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: You know, and so yeah, that's so true.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: Very well said.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: Because someone could be like, yeah, the fact that they saw that those streetlights being out were a problem, and who knows, it could have been like it was a problem because it wasn't aesthetically pleasing.
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: But you know, they may not have been thinking about safety, absolutely.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: So yeah.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Well, I think if it doesn't affect me directly, I'm less likely to think about it, and I feel like I don't know if I'm unique in that right.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: I think a lot of people are like that and so, again, it's just really encouraging to hear you talk, because now there's a challenge of how can you see beyond yourself.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Like you're saying, somebody is looking at them streetlights like, oh my gosh, it's so ugly.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: You know I need my city to be a vibe like fix these lights.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: But it's like, nah, somebody on that side of town is actually experiencing a lot worse than just something not being aesthetically pleasing.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, uh, dang, I gotta sit with that for a second yeah yeah, just let that sizzle in my spirit for a second.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Yes, who is on your storytelling, mount rushmore?
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: It doesn't necessarily have to be four people, but when you think about great and and and glenn is a great example but when you think about whether that be through music, through books, through fashion, like yeah every time you see this person or hear something from this person, you're like they have a incredible story that they're telling um.
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: First person comes to mind is, uh, brian stevenson he's based in montgomery, alabama love.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: Yes, what's the?
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: Um the equal justice institute or initiative eji okay, but um, he has a book or probably got seven.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, um, I want to say love justice.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, uh, dang, it's something like that.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: There's a movie that they did about him too.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Okay, keep going.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about the same person, same person, okay.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: Based in Montgomery.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: So I was at a conference earlier this year in April.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: He spoke.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: He spoke for an hour but he didn't feel like that long at all.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: He had no notes but he spoke from his heart about his experience like helping um incarcerated people and things like that and just like his personal story and the way he told that story and what he could.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: He wove things together like you just sit there and just kind of like cry about just the way he his stage presence but also the material and he just had all the elements of a powerful storyteller like he.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: I mean he had he had the lived experience, he had the stage presence, he had the, the um, the systems type limbs that he viewed the world with like it was, it was just beautiful.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: So he was like he's amazing and I love what he's built in montgomery the legacy museum about um, you know unsolved well about lynching in america, so he put that museum in montgomery.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: So I think he's a powerful person.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: Um, someone else I love to learn from is uh, tressie mcmillan cottam.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: She's on instagram.
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: She's a uh, she is so, I guess, a sociologist, social scientist, but she's a professor.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: She's based in north.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: Scientist, but she's a professor.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: She's based in North Carolina, but she's always thinking like the way she thinks is just lovely.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: She has a book called Heavy which I've read, but just yes, I'm familiar.
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: Yes, so I love the way she tells stories and brings things together as well, so anyway, just big thinkers I just love.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: Brene Brown is another one.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: Who's like of she's?
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: She has a researcher thinker.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: Part two and also the um.
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: The storytelling piece is there so, yeah, I guess, if I had to name three, and I guess the fourth would be probably, uh, james baldwin, you know for the historical aspect, and so, yeah, those are those.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: I got four out, that's a good.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: That's a good list too.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: That's a strong list.
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: There is a through line, how you were talking about earlier, just like a thread that ties everything together.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: There's a through line when it comes to your work and the work of the people that you admire, and it's just thought, putting a certain level of thought into what you do.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: I'll take my snap.
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: I'll take my snap.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: Just thought, oh, putting putting a certain level of thought into what you do, I let snap for you.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay I'll take my snap, but but that's what I'm hearing when I hear you speak about, like I said, whether that's your work or the work that sticks with you or you admire, and I think it's interesting.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: Now, substance and thought feel very, very lacking in our current climate.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: I, and I despise taking a stance that feels like I'm kind of waving a finger, like you know what I mean, right, but if we were being honest in a world of content for the sake of content, yes, instead of just, you know, for the sake of you wanting to tell a story or or, or sharing a perspective or or doing something thoughtful, it feels like when you hear someone who has an emphasis on thought behind something, yes, you appreciate it so much more.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: And so when you I mean what makes that so important, like, why not just write as many blogs as you can and let ai turn them out and right and and touch on anything you can, just for the sake of touching on something like what makes the thought behind something so crucial for you?
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: and I think goes back to that quality uh well, quality over quantity, for sure but also goes back to that human part of it, like thought is what makes us uniquely human.
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: Like I have a mini poodle.
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: He doesn't think too much, he's very automatic with what he does, he's very consistent, but like he's just like very, you know, automatic.
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: But like I think that's what's going to separate us from AI, is our ability to think.
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: And I think if we don't exercise that muscle, it's going to go away.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: And I'm someone who uses ChatGPT and things like that.
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: But like you, after a while you start to notice like I have a question and I want to run to ChatGPT for the answer, and you start to realize you're losing some of that muscle.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: It's kind of like working out If you don't exercise it, you lose it.
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: So I think, yeah, scary, it's so scary, scary, yeah.
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: And so like I mean we don't have to use it, we should reserve our brains for the big stuff.
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: We don't have to use it to come up with you know an email subject line?
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: sure, I mean.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, we don't have to use our brains for that stuff, right?
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: We can use ai for what it's meant to be used for, but like, yeah, just the thinking part of it is that's that's about being human.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: I think that's why it matters, because we can.
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: That's unique to us.
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: No, a machine can't replicate that and, like animals, can't do it the way we can.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: So I think that's why it's so important and why it stands out how do you?
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: very well said, I want to stay in this band a little bit yeah how do you become a better thinker?
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: and the, the way I see this is for me, I, I, I have two numbers I can't remember right now off the top of my head two cell phone numbers right, you know what I mean whereas 10 years ago you had to remember 20, and you just and that's a small example of even how we've stopped using our brain or if I need to run somewhere, even if I I know where I'm going, I'm nine times out of 10, I'll put it in maps and instead of saying, like I have to remember, like no, you know, you go hop on this highway, take a right here, you know.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: And so I was watching a video from Neil DeGrasse Tyson and I don't I don't follow much of his, his work, or anything like that, but I just saw this particular video and he said something profound.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: He said that the challenge is knowing enough about something to think you're right, but not enough about something to know you're wrong.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and I'm just like what does that even mean?
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: And I sat with that for a second, but it was important because it made me think yeah, right.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: And at that moment I was like man, how many times during the day do I have these moments where I'm actually puzzled or I'm actually perplexed or I'm sitting with something Right?
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: Not many.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: You're running Google, I'm running to Google or I'm running to ChatGPT.
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: So how do you become a better thinker?
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: I think it starts with being a better listener, and I think it starts with being a better listener.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: And I think also, kind of like, if we think about what we consume when it comes to information, the same way we think about what we consume when it comes to food, I think we have to think about our digital diets a little bit better.
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: Like, how much junk are we putting into our bodies, I mean our minds?
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: So like, how much you know know how many?
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: How often are we scrolling on Instagram and seeing a bunch of junk and then not picking up a book and reading something that some thinkers put together?
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: and so I think, um, digital diet, you know that and that it's probably out there somewhere, but that, but yeah, I need to.
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: I need to dive in this more because I just I just thought about putting it that way, because that is what it is my first time ever hearing that Wow.
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: So, like I think, to improve that digital diet, I think you read books, you talk to people, have conversations with people who think differently than you, to help you, to help you see some holes, that you may have, some blind spots.
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: So I think it'll come from conversations, reading and and just consuming different types of media.
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: That isn't just instant gratification, like you know.
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: Just you know just low-hanging fruit right but, but that stuff is very, um, our brains are wired to kind of be attached to those things.
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: So it's hard, you know, it's hard to pick up a book when you have 10 things to do.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: But, like you know, just listen to listening to an audiobook, right, you know, every once in a while, and but then of course that stuff matters too, like, yeah, I guess, just find something you're interested in and, like you know, going deep there, but kind of like what he, what, uh, dr tyson was saying, the grassy tax?
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, yeah, just consuming things a little differently Because there's so much information you were talking about not remembering phone numbers and maps.
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: In some ways I'm glad I grew up in this time because I'm directionally challenged, probably because I haven't exercised that muscle.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: But in some ways the benefit of technology is that we're not having to remember trivial stuff like that.
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: But it also shows you how dependent we are on it.
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: Right when, like one day, I think, my phone um wasn't working, something was happening and I didn't have access to maps, oh yeah, at&t was down and I was just going somewhere, simple, I'm like I don't know how to get there.
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: And so, uh, yeah, it was, it showed, it showed me right then, like man, I have a problem.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm old enough to remember having to go.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: My mom used to go to MapQuest.
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: You remember MapQuest?
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: Print off the directions.
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: Print it off Like, legitimately, we would go from Arkansas to Florida with the printed map.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: Okay, we got off on this exit in Tennessee, flipped a page, and I'm just like you know they had to exercise that muscle and use that part of their brain.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: And so I agree with you Just like anything else, there's a tension right, like if you're using it to help you.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: You know, come up with what you should eat for the week.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm trying to say Great, you know what I mean.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: Like that, or an email subject, great, yeah.
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: But, like I said, I'm personally trying to lean into man.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: How can I use my brain a little bit more and exercise it and be a better thinker?
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because confirmation bias is an interesting thing in our time, because you got algorithms that feed you only what you want to see and you think because it's coming up on your page, it's right, it's like like I might just be what you are used to see.
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: So diverse perspective is important too, like you said yeah, and that's so hard because, like, I don't know you, you want that community, you want to learn more about what you like.
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's very true, because it can be dangerous to only have those ideas.
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: In some ways it can protect us, like if I'm not getting a bunch of you know, I don't know racism or patriarchy stuff, like, yes, that's, that's good, but sometimes it's good to know what's out there who know who you're dealing with yeah, you know it's hard and even music like.
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: You like a certain type of music, you listen to it.
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: You're only going to be exposed to that music.
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: And I mean, I know you, you like music, but I'm just, I'm someone who kind of listen to same old stuff I like what I like if I have a new song, I like play it out to us yeah, so I'm not I'm not one that ever find new music, but that it kind of limit.
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: We can't really do that as much anymore yeah, because, yeah, I think, yeah, I mean you hit, you hit the nail on the head.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: Perspective is is so important, um, why black belt voices?
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: well, when I was trying to think and think of a name of this platform that focused on black southerners, I wanted to think of something that kind of represented um, represented us, in a way that wasn't too stereotypical but that also showed that what we were talking about a population.
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: So I was just googling, googling yeah, I was searching like terms that kind of meant like came up with black in the south and I came across the black belt.
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: It was two words and it's um.
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: I I should have known this, but like I'm not, I'm in arkansas but like alabama, they use black belt for a lot of things, like they have a black belt region in their state.
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: So it basically is the.
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: There's different.
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: Um takes on where the name came from sure but the general consensus is that that soil was rich and dark and it was fertile ground for growing crops.
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: So we had enslaved africans work in the soil.
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: Um, they continued to live there after emancipation, so then it became a double meaning.
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: So the soil was dark, which is the original meaning, but then it became the mean the black folks who live there, and so like, um, there is, there's a crescent-shaped region across the south and every.
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: Every southern state, like its former confederate state, has a black belt county and some people say is where the black people outnumber the white people.
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: So when you I guess that's kind of how they define it politically Because if you look at an electoral map by county you'll see the South has a bunch of red but there's like a blue swath because black people tend to vote Democratic.
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: So you can see that through line there.
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: Right on.
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: So the name is a double meaning.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: So like I kind of felt a little guilty for taking it, because I'm like, well, we don't really call ourselves, you know, the black belt in arkansas, but it's expanding that to mean, uh, black southern people love it, yeah, yeah, and so, um, I've squished the word together, made the, the, the b lowercase, just to kind of make it a little bit different.
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: So we're not the black belt proper, but we are black belt in a sense.
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: We're talking about black people in a specific region, kind of like Bible Belt, you know.
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: So it's like black belt.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: I like that.
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: It's an homage.
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes, yes, Right yeah.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: What's an underrated black tradition?
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: Southern black tradition.
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah right, right, right.
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: What is an underrated one?
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: Trying to think of something that goes beyond what we see online.
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: Like you know, the phrase invited to the cookout has become so well known, so I'm trying to think what goes beyond that, but I think I that's kind of my head.
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to think what goes beyond that.
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: But, um, that's kind of my head, I'm trying to think of mine.
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, yeah you think yours too.
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: I think, um, even though not everyone is religious or something, I think the black church is so central to the way we see ourselves as black southerners.
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: So the way black folks, the way we just can take a song and make it gospel, it's just to me, it's just the funniest thing, so like there's videos of people doing that online.
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: But I mean all my life we'll be sitting around and then we'll start singing gospel songs and my aunts and stuff one time were making an old McDonnell gospel song and it sounded good.
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: We were like that same, that type of vibe and stuff.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: So I feel like just the black church and those black church traditions are just so we just connect over that.
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: And I remember when twitter was was new and popular a little bit you know more before it became x right, and when you see, like when the, when the black twitter jokes were just kind of coming on the scene, but you felt so connected because y'all all grew up saying we all grew up saying like, do you got McDonald's money?
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: And like they became like we.
• 52:12
  Speaker 2: Sometimes we think we don't have a culture as black folks because we just we don't ever think that, but like um, we look at people like black people from you know the islands, or africa for sure yeah and our art is very well defined.
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we just.
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: I think we're happy to see how this translates across families and stuff there was a documentary that well said.
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: I agree with that wholeheartedly.
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: Um, there was a documentary that came out recently.
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: I forgot, I didn't even watch the whole thing, but there was an excerpt on there where they talked in depth about black Twitter.
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: And they talked about how it's exactly that.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: You know, it's almost a larger family, a digital family reunion, so to speak, and it's like, dang, y'all got up on Saturday morning too and like cleaning up your house, like every Saturday, and gospel was playing.
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: You know all of these different things and it's just like, man, I haven't felt so seen.
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean, and so I love that.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: I think for me I would say family gatherings yeah, you know, I think that's underrated.
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: When I grew up, it was all the time, for any little reason, my family found to get together.
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: Like whether it was birthdays, whether it was you knowgiving, whether I mean you can name anything my family would pack in my great-grandmother's house and everybody just get together.
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: And now I'm at that age where I'm the uncle, so we got a plan to get together and it's just like it's not happening quite as much, and I think I don't know if my family's unique in that.
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: I think it might be a generational change thing.
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, where you know, when do you pick up that baton?
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: And it's just like, you know, the matriarchs and patriarchs are getting at that age where if we want gatherings now, we gotta plan them and we gotta buy the food, and so that is.
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: That is like it just happens.
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: There's a shift, like our last reunion for one side of my family.
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: I forgot when it was, but my aunt at that time was saying like well, it's up to y'all to kind of take it over, and I don't think we've had one since uh because, like, yeah, it is hard to um.
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: I don't know if we're more connected than ever digitally, but like, when it comes to that kind of thing, it's just it's not happening, that's much.
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I saw, uh, speaking of black twitter, uh a tweet a long time ago that's like dang, who's gonna be the pastors?
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: You know, like we, like we getting older, like who's gonna be the doctors and teachers, like who's gonna be the pastors?
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: Like that's true, and I'm just that's just.
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: You never think about that, you know so I mean.
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: One more quick thing.
• 54:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's um, I forgot what it's called, but it's like the word b.
• 54:41
  Speaker 2: I saw this.
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: I saw this as a tweet.
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: Somebody did a study on the word bee.
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: So, like you know, we always talk about African-American vernacular English, formerly known as Ebonics, like it's not a, you know speak properly.
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: That's not real language or whatever, but I think it's called the colloquial bee.
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: But anyway, they did a study on some children and then it cracks me up.
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: Here's another story.
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: I love the study.
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: The question was they had two Sesame Street characters, cookie Monster and Elmo.
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: Cookie Monster was just Cookie Monster.
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: Elmo was holding a cookie, I believe.
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: I hope I'm not getting this wrong.
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: But then the question was who be eating cookies?
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: The white kid said Elmo, because Elmo had the cookie.
• 55:25
  Speaker 2: The black kid said Cookie Monster because oh, habitual bee, that's what it is.
• 55:30
  Speaker 2: Because it's like Elmo is eating a cookie, but Cookie Monster be eating cookies.
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: And it's such like even that phrase like people, kind of like we've been taught, like you want to speak properly or whatever.
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: Like people kind of like we've been taught, like we, you want to speak properly or whatever, but like we've been taught, like there is a rhyme and a reason to like african-american english, and people are borrowing from it and claiming it to be.
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: You know, oh, that's how gen z talks, or that's how, but like that is a.
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: I love that because it really showed that there is a a pattern of speech to this, just like any other language absolutely so like if you say, uh, she be running, that means she runs consistently right.
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: It doesn't mean she ran today right.
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: So it's like it's so powerful.
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: Like you know, we I just love that because I think that's what that's, so that's what a black, I guess, black american type thing that we just that's underrated absolutely you know, I think I appreciate you saying that there's a there.
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it feels like there's pressure to justify ourselves right, yes, you know what I mean or or prove ourselves, and you hear the cliche.
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: What's understood doesn't have to be explained.
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: We can have a conversation and we get it if you're like, yeah, he'd be whatever, yeah, he'd be playing, he'd be gaming, he'd be tripping, right, they're like we already know, like there's no.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: But then you get to a point where it's like, even sometimes within our own culture, uh, why?
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: Why do you talk like that and then don't be a person who is educated and black, because, you know, my mom taught me how to speak a certain way in an.
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: But also he'd be tripping Sometimes you need it.
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: Like I said, I'm like, yeah, she'd be like it's emphasis, like you're showing it's a habit and one time thing he'd be tripping Right, yeah, you know.
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I love that I love it yeah.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: Language underrated black tradition.
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: Right, if someone's getting started today want to, like I said, they want to tell stories and they want to.
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: They want to jump into whatever medium they decide, whether that's social media, podcasts, blogging.
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: Give me your five storyteller commandments oh, okay, and this can be.
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: Uh, you must do this, you must not do this, and five is a bit ambitious.
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: So if you got it, great if not, then it could be whatever, whatever, I just say five because I, like you know, that's the southern church in me, that's the three points, right, okay, five, uh, well, not five.
• 58:02
  Speaker 2: Emphasis on just commandments.
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: Hmm, I'll go with what I said earlier Kind of like honor the person's story, mm-hmm, and whether that means getting permission to share it first.
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: Respecting what they share, that's probably the first thing.
• 58:29
  Speaker 2: It doesn't mean we can't ask questions or ask why, but just honor their story and what it means to them.
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: Even if it's your own.
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point.
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess.
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: The second would be to, um, I think we can think about stories as part of a larger system.
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: So, so, when we think about narrative, like a story would be a stone and the narrative is the mosaic, so a lot of stories together form a mosaic.
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: I mean a lot of stones form this mosaic, which is the narrative.
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: So I think we always think about stories in a very positive way because they are what it means to be human and they do shape who we are.
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: But they also can be damaging.
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: So we can see that now in the political world, the way stories are being told about American history or not being told about American history.
• 59:37
  Speaker 2: So I think stories are part of a larger system and they matter.
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: Stories are part of a larger system and they and they matter.
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: So, um, if there's a story that we're elevating and not elevating others, we're, we're using those stories in a manipulative way to paint a picture that we want to be painted.
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: So I think, um, stories are part of a system that can be used to manipulate or it can be used to make things better and, um, yeah, so I guess yeah, I guess, a sub point these stories are powerful.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: So, um, yeah, not just powerful and like yay for stories, but also like, yeah, that can be pretty damaging too.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, just the, just the things we tell ourselves.
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: Um, so I guess the other thing.
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: So I guess, if I was giving advice to someone, use them with care.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 2: So think about how that story is advancing.
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 2: A narrative, a dominant narrative, that may be harmful to some people.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: So, if the story you're telling, think about the ways it can help and harm and who benefits from that story goes back to seeing the vulnerable yeah.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 2: So so like who's benefiting anytime we hear a story, just thinking critically about them, who benefits from this story and who's harmed from the story, because there's always going to be not always, but like for social impact type stories, there's always going to be an answer to that Someone's going to benefit and someone's going to be harmed.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 2: So I think, thinking of that, as we build platforms and get people on the platforms, I just kind of what kind of platform we're trying to build, what kind of world are we trying to create?
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: Because stories shape our worlds and so we we have a lot of control over how that looks, and some people know that and they use it in ways that are not good, and some people use it, you know, to better society.
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, uh, that baptist three is good okay, we'll say yeah, no, I think that's it for now someone comes up, it's a lot to just sit with.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: That is that is a lot.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: Honor the, the person whose story you're telling, even if that's your own, um handle with care.
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: And then there was something that you said in between there I'm trying to figure out how to word it, but it was so rich.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: Stories are systems.
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: Stories are systems.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: I was going to say mosaic Stories are a part of a larger system.
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: That's great.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: That's great advice.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: Oh good, yeah, Last question.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, Let me see, let's jump in here to this.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: Is so not last question?
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: Two questions the snack that gets you through a long editing session.
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: What is something where you're like if I just need to power through?
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: Is it Lay's chips?
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: What's the go-to snack?
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 2: I'm someone who loves some, some good processed meats Like I try to eat them too much.
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 2: But like those little protein packs you get from Kroger, I like I don't know if it's Hillshire or Farm or whatever, but they have the meat, they have some little crackers some of the cheese.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: Maybe if you have some chocolate curd almonds you're good.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 2: So one of those snack packs like yeah, it's going to get to you in the afternoon, I like those Fire, yeah.
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 2: So that's probably my favorite snack, because they're not you're not like super healthy, like vegetables and stuff, but like it gives you some protein Totally Instead of just some you know some carbs and stuff.
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 2: Shout out to Kroger, we don't have that around here there's no Kroger.
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: I didn't realize there was no Kroger in Northwest, Not in Northwest.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 2: Arkansas.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 2: Well, that makes sense, but I never thought about that.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: No, kroger.
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: Okay, kroger, I mean, I forget where it was, I mean Walmart, when I get there from.
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: Walmart.
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: Shout out to Walmart.
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, walmart, we yes um, if your voice had a superpower, what would it be?
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 2: oh, this is a good question.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 2: Okay, this really comes up with a story.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: Okay, I think it would be.
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 2: I'll tell the story and then people can infer what they want.
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: Let's do it.
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: But, um, I was in high school, I was, I was a shy kid, like not just introverted, but kind of shy, didn't really talk a whole lot.
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 2: Probably around seventh or eighth grade I started kind of talking a little more and by senior high, like 10th, 11th, 12th grade, I was kind of you know I was, I was kind of finding myself a little bit sure.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 2: So I was in class, in the computer class one day, talking to um, talking to someone else, and then the teacher said adina, your voice carries.
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 2: That like just kind of floored me, because the fact that she didn't just say hey, dina, quiet down, you've been too loud, she said your voice carries.
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 2: It made me very, um, what's the not, what's the word?
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 2: Uh, self-conscious, because I knew that I had a you, a black, southern sounding voice.
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 2: So when she said carries, it made it sound like, okay, my voice stands out more than this person's because of how it sounds, and it just made me want to clam up.
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 2: It didn't take me forever, but it just stood out with her phrasing of that and that was the story I always tell jokingly to people like what about her saying my voice carries?
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 2: And my sister heard this story for years and after the podcast got started and she said hey, adina, that's the name of your book, your Voice Carries Because, like it, can have a double meaning.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: It can be the volume and the way it sounds, and it can also mean that you know it can get attention.
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 2: So I guess a superpower for me would be, even though I talk more than I did, I don't I still don't like to say a lot.
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, I like to think before I speak.
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 2: I don't just talk just to talk, and so when I do speak, I want it to be something that's that doesn't be profound, but something that's thoughtful, that's not just adding to the noise that people want to listen to, and so I think that would be.
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: The superpower I would want is to, um, just have a, have a voice, that, um, I guess that goes beyond the surface, that that has a little substance behind it, and not just hearing myself talk, because that's something I never, and I've never been a big talker and I don't want to make sure that I continue to like, say what needs to be said, what needs to be said, but not, but also listening more than a talk.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: You know so from this conversation, you do have that superpower oh, I appreciate it's been so fun this.
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you.
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: Yes, down and joining us.
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: Anything else you want to add that we need to be paying attention to?
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: How can we keep up with you?
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: What can we do to support you on your storytelling journey, gotcha?
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, black Belt Voices and thank you.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 2: Thank you for your questions, your thoughtful questions.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: I enjoyed talking to you too, like I mean we could go for another hour.
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 2: We actually easily could.
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: Yes, we could go for another hour.
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: We actually easily could.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'll say this I'm impressed because you weren't prepped for this and a lot of the questions I even I sent you I think three questions, yeah, yeah, and I don't know how many of those we touched on, but being intentional and thoughtful in your responses in real time is just really refreshing and I appreciate you showing up oh, thank, oh, thank you so much.
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 2: I guess the last thing I mean I wouldn't be a good podcaster if I didn't say the podcast is called Black Belt Voices.
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 2: You can find it anywhere you may see.
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 2: Our last episode came out about a year ago.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 2: We're not the most consistent, but I think there may be some.
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 2: We have a 40 something episodes, so there may be something good there.
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 2: So that's where you can find the podcast and that side of the work that I do, and we'll bring it back one day.
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 2: And I guess I'm grateful to be here at podcastvideoscom because it's like impressive studio and even just y'all's approach to like talking about story and helping people get their stories out there.
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 2: I think it's very important.
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 2: So I'm glad to kind of visit this, visit the place and learn more about all the cool things going on.
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: Thank you, I appreciate that whenever you've told amazing stories and now you're living out your own story, and so whenever you're ready to jump back into it, yeah, we'll be ready let's do it all right.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 2: We'll get you on black boy voices when I ever come back.
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: Whenever, that's what I'm saying, whenever you jump back into black love voices.
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: We'll be ready.
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, we appreciate it, thank you for joining.
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 2: Good to be here.