Latest / Jess Ask / The Woman Behind the Title: Lashunda Scales on Faith, Family, and Leadership | EP146

Transcript

The Woman Behind the Title: Lashunda Scales on Faith, Family, and Leadership | EP146 · Jess Ask

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Yo, it's your girl, Jessica as Smith, and you already
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: know that you've entered the safe space for influencers to decompress,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: have fun and just ask God for another Do you
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: already know what it is? And then you know it's
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: about the get real to be sure to show your
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: girl the love and like, come in subscribe God.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: For another day. Hey, hey, I know we could be
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: another way.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Yah yo yo, yo, is your girl Jessica as Smith,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and you have entered the safe space where influencers can decompress,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: have fun and guess what, and you know that I
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: do nothing without my girl. Desiraate deliraate, deli deliate, deliraate,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: deli rate delire right now you now, hey, hey, hey,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: watch your mouth. I know what I'm Yoah, listen, I
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: mean here, you know, stuff be moving and shifting and stuff.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, y'all can see me, y'all clear clearly they
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: see that computer. I mean, but they can see. But
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: it's okay. They know I'm here, You are here in present.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: How you feeling. I'm good? Are you, holly favorite? That's
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: that's that's that's an honest that's an honest answer. You
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: know sometimes that I'm good be like the first thing
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: we say because that's what we think we want to know.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: But I that is a that is a true statement
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: for me. Yeah, I'm good. I'm glad, you're good. I'm nervous.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: You see, I got my button down on today Corporate.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: I got Jessica as Smith on to day. I had
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: had to put the whole name on today, you know,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: but might need to button this this little button up.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: But you know, we have a very very I can't
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: put all the varies on there, but a very special
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: guest today. I'm really excited to get in conversation with
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: her because I don't think that the story has been
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: told the way it needs to be told. And today
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: we're gonna get it. She said, I don't have any limits.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: What she said, the Holy she said, the Holy Spirit
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: can be activated on this platform today, and so we're
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: gonna activate it. Listen, gonna be good. We are. We
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: are talking to someone that understands business, understands structure, understand
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: going from nothing to something greater, going beyond themselves. We're
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: talking to a woman of God today, and I think
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: that it's a great time. Because March is Women's International
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Celebration month. I might say that wrong. But this is
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: the time where we hone in on women that are
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: doing some major things that have gonna be on themselves
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: to make sure they make their mark here on earth.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: And so I'm really excited to talk to Jefferson County's
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: own though she's from the West side, which is the
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: best side of Birmingham. Commissioner, let's shundas scared welcome. Listen.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I am so when I say, let me calm down,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: because I you know, this button down getting to me.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: I'm not I wear a T shirt, but I wore
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: a button down just for you. Special thank you, Thank
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: you so much for being here. So I'm super excited
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: about you being here because when I was doing my
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: research on you, and I was digging and just asking
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: God for what he wanted this to be for you,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: and the thing that I just kept coming up with
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: is get to know the woman. I don't think that
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: you've been able to expose the woman the you are
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: in the political lives you've been You've been in politics
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: since twenty twenty and nine. Can we Okay? So I
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: know we're going to get to go know the woman,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: but just let's start off when I say commissioner. What
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: does that mean? What does that mean to be a commissioner?
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, first of all, I want to thank you
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: for allowing me to be here on your platform, and
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: I'm not taking it for granted, you know, so I
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: want to first of all say thank you for that.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: I want to thank you for wearing your button down
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: even though you didn't have to, because you find out
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: I'm cool, I'm gonna dressed apart because you got that
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: white dress on it. I'm glad I did put this down.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: I was just excited to equally see you as well.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: I was excited about today. And so when you say, well,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: what does it mean to be a commission First of all,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: a commissioner we do two primary things. One is that,
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: to make it plain and simple, we pass policies the
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: way the county operates. So we pass all the rules
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: and regulations in terms of how the county government runs.
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: And then the second thing is that we pass a budget.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: Lastly, we appoint people to various boards that the commission
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: has power authority over, and so we have an Economic
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: Development Board, we have a Zoning and Planning Board, we
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: have different boards and agent and we just made those
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: appointments and it's really just that simple. So the first
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: is policy, the second is money. The thirdest boarding agency appointments.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: So how did you because you went from being on
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: the Birmingham City Council to being the commissioner and the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: commissioner transition came in twenty eighteen, correct, yes, So how
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: do Let's go back a little bit, because like I said,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: you're from the west Side. This is the best sack.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. That's because only only girls
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: from the West Side can understand girls from the West Side. Absolutely,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: So let's talk. Let's talk about that. You you grew
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: up in Ansley.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: No, as a matter of fact, I was in West End.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: West End, Wesn. Okay, let's talk about growing up. What
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: did you go to school?
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: Well, first of all, I went to several schools and
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: I'm kind of glad if you don't mind for me
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: to elaborate a little bit please, Because my mom was
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: single parented, we lived in various parts of West End,
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: so I did go to Lee Elementary School. Eventually I
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: went to Phillips, but we still lived in west End,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: if that makes sense. And a lot of that was
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: because I was scared of some of the folks who
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: were West and so you know, I went to Lee
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: Elementary School, went to Hill Elementary School. Hill is more
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: toward Parker High School, but they were just different schools.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Matter of fact, I probably went to a different school
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: every year because Mom had to try to make it.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: And I think a lot of times people see me
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: and they wonder where does that killer drive come from.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: It came from seeing this woman, my mother, take four
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: kids with a dead husband. She and my father were
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: not together, my brother and his father, they were not together,
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: and so Mom had Mama had to make it, you
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: know what I mean. And so to answer your question
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: in short, that was a part of my story. That's
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: why I'm so compassionate when it comes to children and
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: why I do so much for children, because see, I
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: understand it's everything to a kid that we called the ghetto, right,
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: But I was one of those ghetto kids too, and
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: someone had to believe in me. And so that came
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: out of a spirit of you know, Mama just moving
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: up around, just trying to get you in the best
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: neighborhood possible. On Section eight yeah, okay, yeah, food stamps.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think that's an important part to your
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: story because, like you said, people know you as a fighter.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: You be out here fighting. Have to no, no, no, no, no,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: let's not be light on it. You be out here fighting.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: If I could call you miss the skills, Mama skills,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: as you could have called yourself publicly, you out here,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: you are out here fighting. I think knowing the story
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: behind the fighter and not just seeing the fight fighter
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: is just as important as understanding getting behind the fight right.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: And so knowing where you come from is important, like
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: the fact that your mother was a single was a
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: single woman doing it all by herself. But you come
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: from these these areas of opportunity in Birmingham, that's right,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: because we don't call it the ghetto. And I know
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: that's something that you just like. I'm not no, these
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: are children. They are fearfully and wonderfully made. If you
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: didn't know, she is a minister by the way, I'm
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: putting facts down. She is a minister, by the way.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: And so your passion comes from where you come from,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: and I think that's important to know. So we go
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: from living in this life where your mom is trying
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to figure it out. You mentioned that somebody took a
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: chance on you, who is that somebody? And what did
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: that look like?
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm gonna be frankly honest with you, it really
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: came from my teachers. It came from janitors. It came
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: from the lunch room lady who recognized that I didn't
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: have enough money for ice cream, so she'll put the
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: little quarter and the cash register and said, gone by
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: your business. Yeah, had I never forget one of the
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: when I went to Illton School that's on the west
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: side too, that's closed, And never forget that. We had
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: a janitor and she had a daughter. The daughter was
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: at Illton School too, and her daughter's named Angela, And
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: I never forget She said, baby, I don't want you
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: to be like me. You see how momping thee floors
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: and I'm having to do all of this. I want
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: you to have something better than me. And it was
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: those kind of people that typically other folks overlook. That's
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: the reason why when I fight, I'm always fighting for
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: the voiceless a lot of times, and what they call
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: a political arena, which I don't. I'm an ambassador for
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: God in the government because the government was on Jesus's show, right,
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: and so I am a voice for people other folk
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: what ordinarily overlook because to me, those are your quiet cheerleaders,
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: those are your ride and die people that they really
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: don't care about who you are, Jessica, who Lashonda is,
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: and what she represents. It's like, no, I'm here with
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: you and I'm down with you. And so those people
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: are the village. That was my makeup of my village.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: It wasn't a bunch of you know, educated folks. But
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: I will tell you those educators And that too, is
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: something I say to teachers. You are an educator. That
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: means I'm an educator in all things. I don't just
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: teach you math, science, history, whatever that looks like. I'm
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: teaching you about life in addition to what you are
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: looking at in terms of your academics. And so back
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: then you had well rounded type of teaching that took place,
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: that people understood that man. Outside of us sticking together,
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: most of us wouldn't have made it out.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: I think that's so powerful, But I am curious, like
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: you're saying that you can contribute it to like teachers
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: and the janitors shout out to y'all teachers this time.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it's a job.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: It's a job.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: More than a job.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Listen, I'm telling you it takes a special breed. So
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: what made you not go into that field versus because
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: I know you didn't go straight into politics, but you
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: have your own PR firm and all that stuff like that,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: What steered you that word versus going to what you
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: see and seeing and what you knew.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: Well to be very candid with it, I take those,
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: like you said, opportunities that some would say was a challenge.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: But God gave me life opportunities that I could have
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: failed victim to the system, and he allowed that system
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: to teach me how to treat other people. And what
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: he called me to do, you see, and what he
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: called me to do. I knew very young, whatever I
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: did it was gonna be about people, because my mother
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: would say, you just love talking to folks. You know,
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: you one of those kind of people. Every time in
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: the ground you talking to somebody, you understand. So when
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: I was growing up, I would tell all my friends,
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: I don't know what I'm gonna be and what I'm
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: gonna do, but man, I love people. You know what
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: I'm saying. Some people and what I've learned, even in
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: this arena where I am, they don't even like people,
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: creating what we call policies that make laws that affect
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: people every day. But you don't even like people. So
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: I knew whatever I did it was going to be transformative,
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: life changing for people, because I had been, as they said,
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: done so wrong by this system and otherwise would not
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: have made it out had it not been for the
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: grace of God.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so good, and I love that the fact
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: that because you did the I would say, it's a
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: little non traditional route going to was it Jeff State?
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Absolutely?
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Jef State? And then you went to steal men? Was
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: it still mean?
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: Well, actually, i'll tell you the truth about it, since
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: you said that, everything is all open.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: So in eighty nine I graduated from Phillips High School.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: Didn't have the money to go on to college, but
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: anyway I met a person. They were on it, as
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: they would say, the wrong side of the track, but
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: they knew I wanted to go to college.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: So, to make a long story show, we did a
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: semester of stealing got to go to the second semester.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: Didn't have the money right and didn't have the support
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: to get the money, and so I ended up having
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: to get out of school, drop out, just to be
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: honest with you. And then at nineteen, I became pregnant
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: by this guy, right, And so then I go from
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: that to by the time I'm twenty, now i'm married, right,
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: And it's a it's a story in between, which is
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: how I got to know God.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about it.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, Well if we got yeah, we got time,
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: and I do. So I'm gonna tell you when I
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: met him. I met him through a relative. Didn't know
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: that being.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: The father of your daughter the father of my daughter.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: And to make a long story short, our testimony in
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: short is that he too had life experiences. So I'm
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: kind of talking COVID those from the West Side, East side.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: All you gotta do is remember the last name, okay,
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: and so then folks know them, and it's it's not
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: a proud moment, it's just a matter of it's a
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: testimonial for us about the change that occurred in our
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: life because I almost got killed at the age of nineteen,
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: and it was because of things that he was involved in.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: And anyway, I got to know the Lord, and I
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: made a promise, like we always say, you know, God,
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: if you just give me no but I'll never forget
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: the day I said, God, if you get me out
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: of this, I surrender. And I saw someone who basically
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: had been for lack of better words, because I know
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: people you know will see this and they'll try to
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: cut up your video and make it into something else.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: So let me just say this, I had a near
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: death experience. I saw the power of God. Nobody had
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: to convince me at nineteen. I saw God's hand and
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: I never forgot that experience, and so it caused me
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: to say, yeah, you're pregnant out of wedlock, but we're
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: gonna we need to get this thing right. And so
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: we got married. But not only did we get married,
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: God changed his life because he ended up being shot
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: and because that he has half a stomach, one kidney removed,
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: twelfth real removed. And I saw God do all of this,
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: like heal him, do all of that, and I'm like wow.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: And so when I had my burning Bush experience, I
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: ended up saying, you know, I'm not finished with college.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: We get married, he wanted to at home wife. We
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: end up having another baby like four years later, and
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: then I wanted to be an example to my daughters.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah that I'm a fighter, but a fighter also has
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: to fight with then, meaning the enemy in me.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: That's so good, and.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: I'm like, okay, so Lord, even though I didn't have
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: the money back then, I'm gonna do what I need
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: to do now. So the Lord blessed. Actually was a
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: storm that took place in two thousand and three, and
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: I'm trying not to cry on y'all. So two thousand
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: and three, that was a real bad storm on this
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: particular day, and I was like, God, I don't want
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: to be in debt, but I want to go back
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: to school. My husband and I didn't have much money
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: at the time, and I said, okay, but Lord, if
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: you just blessed me and showed me how to get
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: it done, and so I never forget. I went to
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: jeff State and I talked to this professor. But in
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: the meantime when I went back, I called him, but
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: it was storming, and he said, I will give you
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: this scholarship. He said, are you willing to come today?
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: And I said yes, I am. He said, if you
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: willing to drive in the storm to come to get
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: this scholarship, he so, I'll give it to you. And
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: the Lord blessed me where every time we came up.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: His name is Ray Edwards White gentleman. And I went there.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: I graduated a semester early. My kids were one was
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: in middle school, the other one was elementary, kind of
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: like cheering me on, like, man, you in school with us,
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. And so they got to
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: see man do that. And then I said, okay, I'll
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: never forget. I then had faith and I said, okay, God,
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: I want some professional development. And then I went from
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: there to applying crazy enough to apply for Harvard Kennedy
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: School of Government. And then I'll never forget how the
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: Lord moved within a week of me submitting my I
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: wouldn't say, we would call it turn paper, but you
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: had to do a five paragraph piece. And in a
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: week they accepted me. So that was twenty fifteen. Then
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: I'm crazy enough to do it again. So then in
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: twenty sixteen, I go back to Harvard Kennedy School for
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: another type of program, right, and I'm like, okay, God,
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: I'm sitting in the international community right twenty sixteen. I
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: then said, okay, cause I'm trying to be that girl
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: for my daughters. You get me, Okay. Then in twenty sixteen,
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: I sign up for Leadership Birmingham. Then I go through that.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: You can't just get in it, you pay for it,
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: but you got to be accepted. And then in twenty
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: twenty two I went to Leadership Alabama. You get me
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: so for me, whereas so it's a resume builder for
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: some people, For me, it was like I gotta be
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: a testimony to my daughters. Yeah, my daughter's got to
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: see Mama don't quit. Yeah when challenges come and she
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: tell me, you know mc hammer when I was grown
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: up and said, you know you too legit.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: And quick come on.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: So for me it's like, no, only a dream come
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: to a sleeper. So we can't sleep on this dream.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: We got to get up and we gotta make it happen.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: If you'll give me one second to address the audience
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: real quick. Yeah, I'm about to tell them. Do me
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: a favorite, get some tissue real quick, put the camera
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: on me, and I don't normally do this, but I
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: need to do this real quick. Let me make this
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: very clear. This is a safe space, and the safe
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: space means that sometimes tears fall. If you only know
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: people's testimony and how they go through and how they
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: are able to overcome. Right, you'll feel that too. While
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: while you were talking, I couldn't do anything but get
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: emotional because when somebody hears that part, like, oh, I
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: didn't do it in a traditional way, right. I did
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: my little research, you know, I did my little research,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: but I ain't hear it. I didn't hear that part
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: where no, I went, I planned, thank you, I plan
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: to do you have to. I planned to go to school,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: and then all these things happen. But I made a decision.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Even after the fact, while I'm older and more mature,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: my kids won't know that I didn't finish what I started.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: And it's important to me because as you talk about
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: your story, I can see my sister in this current state.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: In this current state, she has had to fight to
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: be back in school. But she said, I heard God
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: tell me this is the time for me to go
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: back to school. She's been an entrepreneur. She does my hair,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: uh huh. Shout out to Kendl's dread heads, but she
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: does my hair, and thank you. But all I can
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: think about are women specifically, because that's who you're called to, right,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: That's what I've seen, and we're gonna get into that.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: But knowing that about you, that you had to fight
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: through that. Now I have another understanding. Now I have
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: another understanding of Now this ain't just coming out of
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: nothing like she think when you move, you think about
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: your daughters even they probably older, much older now, and
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: just hearing that, it's like I had to do this.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: I had to make this move on their behalf. My
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: success is due to me making sure that I go
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: beyond my to my space to the place that I'm
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: ordained to end God, so that they can go beyond.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: I need somewhere to go beyond. That's what I just
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: heard you say. You can put it back on the screen.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: I just had to address like she ain't no pump
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: because she she got a tear. Now I ain't no
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: punk either. I got a little tear in my eye. Okay,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: I'm very I can just feel it like it's like, no,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: she ain't whack because of that. Because I think women
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: in politics get a get a I don't know, Like
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: what I've seen is not attractive. I'm just gonna tell
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: let's let's come. We said we were gonna talk real.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Let's talk real. It's not attractive. And I think about
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Jazz main Crick Crockett crocket, and I think about the
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: tears she shed for the woman that was unalived by ice.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: And I think about the response of a man saying
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: getting mad because she cussed, versus being upset that somebody
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: died at the hands of something that is just immoral.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: I think about women that are voiceless. I think about
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: women that don't have an opportunity to share themselves. And
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: so when you talk about the passion and where you
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: come from, I see it now. I see it. I
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: didn't understand it before. So I'm like, I can cry
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: with you. I can say because I can feel it.
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: I will tell you this, Jessica, one of my wake
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: up calls. Actually what changed me in terms of the
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: softer You know, I'm a soft person when you you
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: actually get to see me and no, but that's why
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: when I saw you, tib but I was doing it. Anyway,
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: when I think of my daughters, this is what I
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: tell people. My father grew up without his father, his
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: mother grew up without her father. In fact, is a
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: story behind that, because you didn't even know who they were, right,
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: And I never forget when I was growing up because
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: many people know that my dad as a concert promoter
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: most of his life as an entrepreneur. Ag Gaston was
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: his mentor, right, And when you grow up with out
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: a dad, you always seeking that affirmation that's just the truth.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: But a part of that my dad was very, very
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: straight up. You know the world calls a candidate.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: No.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: My dad could really, as we said, hurt your feelings
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: because the truth was so brutal. But life also had
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: dealt him a dirty hand. And so to make a
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: long story short, I never forget this. I was doing
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: a concert and for those of you all who at
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: the time, you know may or Mary had just not
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: too long come out, you had Gelanda Adams. Anyway, it
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: was called Sisters in the Spirit, and there was a
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: promoter that had worked with my father years ago. And
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: I never forget. You know, I'm a small company, and
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: here I am small business and I'm just asking for
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: from a check. You normally don't struggle with it. But
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: I didn't realize nine to eleven had taken place that
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: day while I was getting my hair done. And anyway,
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: when I called him by my chain, you called me
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: out bout it. Yeah, f in check, and you blah
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: blah blah blah. And when I say. He undressed me
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: with his mouth, with his words. I was like, over
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: something that you owed me. And it was more than
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: six weeks. I mean, you know, I don't have that
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: kind of money to be on the road and doing
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: the stuff that I was doing with no pay, right, Okay?
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: So I called my dad and since this is a
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: safe space, I never forget. My dad said to me,
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: he said, and I was crying too, And I said,
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: I can't believe so and so told to me like that,
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: how many Dad? And he said, Lashanda, why are you crying?
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: I said, did you hear what I just said? He
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: said to me. See like there, sometimes you can be
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: doing business and people may say, okay, forget you, Jessica.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: It's another one is f you, Jessica? Matter of fact?
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: And I'm not even paying you know when you when
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: you that abrasive? See now it cuts beyond just tell
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: my business. Right. So he took it there. But my
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: dad told me, he said, then you know that you
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: are a girl in a man's world.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: And when he said that, that's when I start. Now
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: the Bible tell us about putting on the whole God,
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: But Darland, that's when I started putting on that armor
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: because I had to think about that I am doing
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: something that has a majority male dominated and you coming
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: in here, he's talking to you, but you folding on
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: the because then that emotional side of you has taken
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: over rather than the business of the day. Because again,
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: like I said, out of the integrity of it. You know,
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: I'm calling out my chat because I had rendered the
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: service you said you liked it. I had done, Judge Matthews,
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: I'd done a whole bunch of stuff for the first PR. Yeah,
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: this is in my PR comment that we're small, like
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: a lot of the small business owners that I here
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: listening to us right now. You can't afford to be
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: going months without your invoice getting paid, right, So for
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: you to curse me, but to use the kind of
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: language that he used was like you might as well
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: have said the B word. I mean, you didn't said
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: everything else but that. Yeah, And when my dad's response
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: was not compassion, now we baby, I'm so sorry. No,
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: you are a girl in a man's world. And what
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: people don't understand is this only the strong survive. See that.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: Go back to what I was saying about the neighborhood,
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: that it's the hood because we didn't have the neighbor resources.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, okay, So to put it nicely, you can't
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: be in the hood man and then think you gonna
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: the week. They're gonna succumb to everything, whatever the environment present.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: You going with that. But this is why I say
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: eagles travel alone. I've never seen an eagle on a plate,
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: but I have seen packs of chicken in your local
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: grocery stuff. Uh huh. So that's why SCALE said, no, dear,
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: I recognize that I am in a man's world, meaning
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: I'm in a male dominated arena. And if I'm gonna
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: be in it, you can't be talking about hey you
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: it's a touch spot. Can't be talking about hey you
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: hit me. You just said no. It's like okay, so
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: that's what we're doing, okay, thank you. And all I
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: do is study the rules of engagement, and then I
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: will engage.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: So let me let me ask you this. People that
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: because I have to being rendered as too strong or
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: too uh to to whatever.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: People say things about you that they really admire, they
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: just don't want to tell you.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: That yeah too whatever, And so I can empathize, sympathize
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: whichever thighs it is. I can do that with you,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: because for as long as I can remember, it's like, oh, Jessica,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: to this or to that, And I wonder, is there
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: an area or a safe space to where you feel
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: like you don't have to be that?
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: Oh? Absolutely. As a matter of fact, here's where I
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: am in life. God has blessed me where there is.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: First of all, I had a spiritual mentor that he
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: transitioned in twenty twenty four. And then God blessed me
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: with this woman pastor. And I have a pastor of
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: my own. She's not my pastor, but he blessed me
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: with her. And here's what I tell people. Allow people
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: to become naked, because that's what happened in the garden
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: of Eden.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: When Satan brought in shame to Adam, God already knew
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: he was naked. So when you say I'm a safe space,
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: that means don't weaponize what I have taken off and
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: bared my soul to you. And I'm telling you that
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: behind my strength, take it from me, there were some
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: weaknesses that I had to overcome and I'm still overcoming weaknesses.
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: And that's why in my district, that's why my kids
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: call me Mama Scales because, believe it or not, my
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: children are a safe space for me, believe it or not,
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: when I talk about my students. I stood over the
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: casket of one of my former students about a couple
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: of weeks ago that even now, it still bothers me
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: because I know some of the things that I told
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: him right, but he was killed. But I've been to
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: several things like that. And when I'm with my children,
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: they don't get the commissioner, they don't get the former
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: city counselor they get this wraw Mama Scales where my
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: husband actually had to get on because man, I could
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: see my kids on the street. Get in this car.
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: Where you going? You're doing out here this time of
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: the evening, not even late. And I remember, just to
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: give you a story, there was a young man to
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: a couple of young men and before Huffman High School
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: where it's located right now, there was a shopping center.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: Never get this young boy, he was coming out and anyway,
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: to make a long story show, you know, when people
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: try to make you think because of your race, they
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: profiling you, right, And there was this particular office officer
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: who is not black. Y'all can put that together, and
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: he yelled at this young man. Now, I'll never forget
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: when he gave his commands. The young man kept saying, yes, sir, yes, sir,
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: some of the things we see right now. But the
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: mama scales in me. I'm telling y'all, stop my truckle, sir.
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: What are you stopping him for? You're giving him commands.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: He's respectful, respecting what you're saying. Why are you yelling
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: at him? Now? Let me tell you why I did that, Jessica,
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: because most people be like you an invitnam. No, I
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: want you to put it in this proper context. The
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: thing was, is that for me, Jessica, this is how
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: children grow up angry, and from growing up angry children.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: Now I'm an angry teenager. Now I'm an angry adult.
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: You don't just get to kill someone that was something
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: that happened in your life and then started young. And
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: so for you to yell at that young man even
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: though he's saying yes sir, no, sir, all of that
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: kind of stuff. And truthfully, the officer was really showing
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: out because at that particular time, we used to have
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: a restaurant over there, and he literally came outside of
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: the restaurant to get inserve so.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: And so, and I'm like to show his authority.
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: But here's the point. They weren't doing anything. They were
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: just walking in the parking lot and the sun had
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: not even totally set. And I was like, why would
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: you do that? Because when you are developing relationships with
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: children out of their sincerity, you understand, see, because if
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: you want to call them a thud, they not saying
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: oh no sir, now if anything is like okay, you
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: coming at me like that. Okay, So it's like that, Okay,
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: we bout it. You understand, remember, not when we talk
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: about this from the west side. So it's like, no,
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: why why are you trying to And so when I
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: see certain things even now that's why with my students
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: that safe spaces, Hey, you gonna get mama skills. So
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: then I'm giving them me. I'm giving them life experiences.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: I'm giving them all kinds of things that I know
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: goals beyond talking about I went to a school. You know,
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: that gets me when people use school and education to
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: talk about a platform. And but yet at the end
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: of the day, it's like, okay, yeah, so outside of
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: when you campaign and when are you going to spend
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: time with these shows? Matter of fact, what what are
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: you doing to grow? Absolutely?
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Because in my research, because I had a hard time
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: finding the personal about you, I got a lot of
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: the political right. And this is why I know my
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: assignment here today is more personal than political. Sure, but
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: isn't it. I saw personal. And one of the things
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: I was impressed by was there was I think it
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: might have been a year. I don't know. I don't
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: know if this was election time for you. I'm not sure.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: I can't confirm or deny that. However, what I was
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: impressed by was that you was like, I don't know
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: what school was, but it was in your district, Jefferson County,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: and you stood in front of a school and you
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: was like, happy Monday today, We're going to pray for
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: the kids.
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I know what you're talking about.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: Okay. So it was last yes, and you and the
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: the the portrait that we have of Skills, let's just
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: call a spade a spade. The portrait that we had
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: of Scales is not the portrait that I seen in
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: that video.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: Wow. And I didn't feel like I'm I'm I'm a
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: woman of God first, Okay, And when I listened to
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: that fool.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: It's only about a minute or so. But I don't
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: see that a lot with political figures because they've taken
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: the Bible out of school, They've taken the word out
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: of a lot of things. And we we as women
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: of God, we as kingdom builders, have a responsibility. And
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: when I saw that, I was like, oh, oh, she
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: praying and you prayed.
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: Like it wouldn't know it want the was a right,
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: wouldn't one of them soft prayers like God, just can
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: you let Billy and Sarah and let them have a
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: good day?
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: No, she said, they will know science. I was like, oh, oh, okay,
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: so I can speak to that. I saw it for
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: myself and I was impressed by it. I was grateful
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: for it. So when you say, oh I talked to
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: they believe mama skills, it's interesting to know that. Now
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: everybody needs a camera to prove everything. But it wasn't
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: a lot of videos, but the authentic sound that came
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: from your voice in those sixty seconds. I was like, Oh,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: she go to some schools and she be praying, and
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: so we need we need that.
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: So and I'm glad that you said that, because here's
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: what you gotta remember, I just said my children on
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: my safe space. That means that when I go into
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: those safe spaces, I'm not trying to have a lot
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: of cameras there. You understand me, because I don't want
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: my children to think when Mama Scales comes to my school,
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: she's coming here because this makes her look good. You
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: get it. So that's why I said my children are
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: my safe space, and I'm not trying to put my
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: children out there on display, just like I do my
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: own natural children. You understand. See people say, well, white
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: Scales don't talk a lot about our family. I'm not that.
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: That's that's my family. And see when you throw your
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: assault weapons at my family, then you getting ready to
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: get mama skills g g up. So it's like so
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: that's the reason why you will see it. But the
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: district they feel it because they know, like, no, I'm
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: Scales in these schools, you know, and they know that
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: and they can depend on it because consistency bills. Trust
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: My children know they don't need to see me hitting
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: and missing. They got to know and believe it or not.
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: When I first won my first election, I was the
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: first black city council and I'll be honest with you.
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: When I won, I always give this testimony at when
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: I go because I go to all the graduations, yeah right,
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: every year. I never miss them. And I go to
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: other things too, but their graduations especially, because that's an
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: accomplishment for them. It's not about me, it's about them.
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: And so make a long, sir short some valid elementary
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: school and never forget. The teacher called me and she said, well, Mama, Scales, uh,
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: we need you up here at the school. And I
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: had just won my election right now, keep in mind,
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: I wasn't a corporate person to win, so I had
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: to read my own maps. I had to knock on doors,
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: I had to do all the stuff that normally people
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: pay to do. I didn't have the money to do it,
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: so my husband and we had to do it on foot,
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: like literally right. And I was so taught. Meant, I
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: was like exhausted, and I said, okay, well the kids
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: want to see you. Mama Scared, I said, okay, well
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: all right, just give me a minute, let me get
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: myself together. Little did I know, and I'll never forget this.
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: I went to the school, I boohoo. You know why.
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: They had a big Okay, they said congratulations, and they
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: stood around me and they was like, congratulations, Mama Scales,
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: and I was like wow. So every year I always
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: go back and I tell that story because remember I
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: said this the softer side of me, and I actually
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: I'm not hard. I'm just about business. Yeah, and that's
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: what you were talking about as relates to Jasmine Crockett,
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: is that I wouldn't want to entrust my business to
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: no one that's not passionate.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: Don't confuse my passion with the fact that this lady
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: is still compassionate. Yeah, you understand say I'm still very compassionate.
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: That's what's driving the passion. And I will tell you this.
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: You have to question anyone who can talk without shedding
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: a tear and they talking about people if you can't
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: literally tell me some kind of connection. Because it's just
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: like you and I we're sitting here in this room together,
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: even though we're just a few feet apart. You're like
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: I am. We're readers. Yeah, and you know when people
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: are like, Okay, well that's a nice interview, thank you, Okay,
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: and you know, like, man, I just had a whole
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: experience with this lady. That's why I tell people I'm unforgettable. Yeah,
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: there's a song called that. Yeah, Nat King Cole made
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: that long time ago. I wasn't listening to it, So
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: I don't want you to say, oh, ladies so old
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: Now it's just some songs, are there?
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, forgettable.
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: That's who you are and that's what God has given me.
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: That when you step into a room, you should suck
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: the adut of it because the authentic you will drive
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: out all of that stuff that's not real.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, that man. We're going places that I didn't
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: know we were gonna go today. Like you, you got
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: me amped up. You got me amped up. But I
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: don't want to gate another passion of yours. You're passionate
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: about kids, children, and specifically the children in your district
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: known as Mama Skills, But I can't negate that you're
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: passionate about not only women, but women in that entrepreneural space.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: That's we've had several conversations, and that was one of
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: the first things you talked to me about you. Actually,
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember this, but after the
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: opportunity I had with Tabitha Brown, you said, ma'am, I've
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: been looking for you. She said, to me. She was
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: like calling around, I've been looking for you, and somebody
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: was like me, why are you looking for me? And
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: you were very clear, I'm passionate about women. I'm passionate
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: about entrepreneur. What are you trying to do? How can
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: I help you? It was nothing political. It was very
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: much so woman to woman. And so thank you for
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: that because I was like, why are you looking for me?
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: But I appreciate that. So what ideas or what incentives
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: or maybe programs do we as women miss that could
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: help us in that entrepreneur role that you know about
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: that you can make us aware of.
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: Well, absolutely, that's why I put a lot of money
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: into workforce development programs, just like what Defunbe has over there,
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: the link which I encourage for go over there. She's
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: a good sister. But here's the thing. Whatever your craft
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: or your passion is, it always need to serve a solution.
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: You'll always be in business if you're providing a solution
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: to another person's problem. You see what I mean. It's
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: kind of like we tell people this is this is simple,
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: but it's the truth. It's just like we didn't like
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: tags in the back of my clothes and then guess
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: what somebody thought of, Well, hey, why don't I make
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: a T shirt with no tag again? And I doesn't
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: scratch your back anymore? Right, Okay, Well, the same thing
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: as we tell about your sister. You say, hey, my
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: sister's doing hair. Okay, that's fine. Then be the best
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: stylist that you can be. Okay, So now we're going
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: to find programming around that. There's a young lady that
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: does my hair, Devin Woods. Devin does natural hair. Never
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: thought I would have long hair without a perm. That's
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: another conversation for another day, because for me, I was
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: a slave to that. Relax. I'm like, oh no, no, no, no,
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: my hair napping. You know, I just went through a
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: whole yeah, doing the most and then anyway, hair grew
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: all of that. But then Devin herself is now teaching
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: and I support her fuller. She's now teaching classes and
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: she going into schools. So what does that mean? Whatever
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: you are passionate about, ask God, Lord, show me how
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: to perfect my craft. Let me be so good at
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: what I do that I'll be sought out for it,
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: you understand. So then once we do that, which is
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: why I put money into workforce development, right, Okay, So
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: now once we do that, Okay, God did increase my
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: net work. That means that God is gonna begin to
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: put you in some un for lack of better words,
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: uncomfortable places. That's what he did for me with my business.
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: I never forget. I didn't want to go back to
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: work for anybody else. I'm just gonna be honest with
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: you and excuse me. Then two thousand, it's when I
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: started my business. First. It came from a woman that
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: was working with TDJS. Tyler Parry had just stopped sleeping
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: in his car literally, so I got to lay woman
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: died loose behind closed doors for colored girls. I did
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: all three plays. That was my first client, and then
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: went on from there to Damn Magic Johnson became a
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: client in the Burger King Corporation BJCC. Downtown became one
• 43:03
  Speaker 3: universal circus. It just because then people started hearing about, Hey,
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: I met this lady Da Da Da, And even though
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: I was small, what I did was begin to surround
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: myself with other PR companies that had more experience than
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: I did. And that's the other thing. Allow yourself to
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: be mentored. That's an investment. Don't go there talking about money.
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: You say, hey, Jessica, tell me what I need to
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: do in order to learn how to do a podcast.
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: Don't go there talking about well, see I do a camera,
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: and if I do this, that and the other, you
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: know where I charge two fifty. But they want your mentorship. Yeah,
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: that's an investment, personal investment. So now I'm go first
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: of all, get me some education so I can perfect
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: my craft. And then in addition to that, I'm gonna
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: surround myself with someone who can mentor me. And then
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna take that mentorship. And now I'm gonna begin
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: to execute it. And I won't, for lack of better words,
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: I won't become upset about small beginnings. So people didn't
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: recognize the same person who took five hundred dollars because
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: my work ethic was she gonna stay up. I call
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: it cat napping. I mean, we don't really nap.
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, uh huh.
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: We take power naps.
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: Right, So when I'm doing an event, we're gonna do it,
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: uh huh. And I went from doing a small concert
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: and now I'm doing stadium dates. So then people are like, well,
• 44:24
  Speaker 3: Lashawna's kind of different. Yeah. There, because while you're sleeping
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: and you trying to get a dream, scale's gonna live it.
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: But it comes through work. And that's the reason why.
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: I was talking to someone that was doing my design
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: work and she said, well, Lashawanna, what do people know
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: you for? I said work And she said, okay, so
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna pray about that, and she told me the
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: Lord gave her she works. That's how she works. Was born.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: I was gonna ask you about this what I tell
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: you all the experiences because I was like, oh, Hanstag,
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: she works. I like that. I liked that because even
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: in your era of time, there was a transitional period.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: You went from women that were just not like representatives
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: of their household, only they weren't known for putting the work.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: Work and woman did not correlate with each other. It
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: was the man that worked. It was the man that
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: did everything. So you were in that transitional stage as
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: where like, no, we we outside, we out here doing
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: the thing. So I think it's very befitting for you
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: to get a hashtag or a mantra that says she works,
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: because she does. She represents all of us, you get
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like all of.
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: Us women that are fighting to just be first of all,
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: and then for the for not even just acknowledging acknowledgment,
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: but so that our our stamp can be made made
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: clear and visible because.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: We have something to do. And I really appreciate that
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: and learning that about you because it's like you name
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: some very big names for TDJS to be your first. Yeah,
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: that was your first. So where's the PR company now?
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: So actually kind of like on an as needed basis,
• 46:15
  Speaker 3: because guess what then I started venturing off into property
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: and property management. And yeah, so I'm thinking legacy now.
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: I love it because you said a name, and that
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: name is why I'm talking about legacy. You were just
• 46:31
  Speaker 3: saying it and you didn't know. You said my grandbaby's name,
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: and her name is Sarah. And so I only have
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: one granddaughter, U. And so my quest in life because
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: actually when I went back to school in my thirties,
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: remember I said I was about thirty five, I went
• 46:46
  Speaker 3: back for my daughters, right, yea, So my transitioning in
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: life about the next generation started really in my thirties
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: because when you come out of a tough situation growing up,
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: I want to leave my children and my children's children,
• 47:03
  Speaker 3: which God says that that's what he looks at his wisdom. Right,
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: I want them to have better than me at a
• 47:10
  Speaker 3: younger age than me. But I want to I want
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: God to use me to be that conduit. Right, and so,
• 47:16
  Speaker 3: believe it or not. My Sarah, which there's a miracle
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: story behind her, but I will tell you that my
• 47:21
  Speaker 3: baby is just as feisty. And I tell people this,
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: don't stop the gift because you're too intimidated to allow
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: God to use you with a gift. He gave all
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: of us a gift and the narrative that women. If
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: you go study the virtuous Woman, she wasn't a lazy
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: woman at all. In fact, she were in and out
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: the home if you go read it. And so what
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: I believe the narrative has been about women who are
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: about their business without compromise. That's why I love Sheelle
• 48:00
  Speaker 3: Obama because when you're looking for authentic people, they're gonna
• 48:05
  Speaker 3: tell you this is what I had to overcome. I'm
• 48:08
  Speaker 3: not just here by accident. I literally had to overcome
• 48:11
  Speaker 3: some things. And overcoming is what made me be when
• 48:14
  Speaker 3: I am today. See, it's hard to be authentic and
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: fake at the same time. So you can't learn anything
• 48:21
  Speaker 3: for me. If I said, well, you know what, Jessica, Well, darling,
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: I got married at twenty, and you know, I went
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: on this school and all that sound all it sounds right,
• 48:31
  Speaker 3: but when you break it down and said, no, sweetheart,
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: I got pregnant at nineteen. Okay, I got married at twenty,
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: but I married somebody was out there in the street,
• 48:40
  Speaker 3: right okay. And then from there we both got together
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: and then I went to school later on in life. Well,
• 48:45
  Speaker 3: most people are too ashamed to share that part of
• 48:49
  Speaker 3: their life. But to me, I'm like, no, dad, then
• 48:52
  Speaker 3: that means I'm taking away God's glory. God did this
• 48:56
  Speaker 3: for me and so for women who said you know what.
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: And I laughed about this because the other night I
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: had my granddaughter on my lap before day in the morning.
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: I still do late hours, y'all, and I'm not that
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: old and early mornings early morning, but date hours, hey, work,
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: We're necessary. And I'm gonna tell you what happened. I
• 49:19
  Speaker 3: was literally at my laptop with my grandbaby, just like
• 49:23
  Speaker 3: somebody you know in their twenties, and I'm I'm typing,
• 49:27
  Speaker 3: I'm on a Google call and we Google meets rather
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: and I'm on this call talking to someone internationally with
• 49:36
  Speaker 3: my grandmad who's up literally and I'm typing right, Okay,
• 49:41
  Speaker 3: that's the Lashonda scales that earn the name she works. Okay,
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: because see, if you're looking for something comfortable, Bishop Jake
• 49:50
  Speaker 3: says this all the time, can you stand to be blessed?
• 49:53
  Speaker 3: See all of us want these blessings, but a part
• 49:56
  Speaker 3: that's some work that gotta come with it too now.
• 49:59
  Speaker 3: And if you don't want work, then you're not worthy. Yeah,
• 50:03
  Speaker 3: because faithful that works is dead. So I tell people
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: all the time, you won't outthink me. You want outwork scales,
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: because I've determined in my mind, just like I did
• 50:14
  Speaker 3: that life in the ghetto was hard and I wanted
• 50:17
  Speaker 3: a different life. So I had to work three times
• 50:21
  Speaker 3: as hard so that that didn't happen to my children
• 50:24
  Speaker 3: and my children's children. But it wasn't gonna happen just
• 50:27
  Speaker 3: because I don't want it. That's not even real.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: You just set them out for you, just set them
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: out full. And I know desiree over that itching to
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: because he's just listening. Did we didn't We didn't desireate,
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: we didn't laugh, we didn't learn, we didn't know. We
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: know that she works hashtag she works. She what you
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: got to say about commission? This is a This is
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: such a great conversation. I was sitting here and what
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: was what came up was jeremih twenty nine to eleven.
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: Before I know the plans that I have, he says
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: the Lord. And that's true from before before we even
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: make it into the earth. You know what I'm saying,
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: Before he even puts us here, he already knows what
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: what what he has for us to do in this
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: in this earth, and sometimes our circumstances that we're born into,
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: if we don't have those voices around us to to
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: to to encourage us to keep going, well, we can
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: succumb to our situations.
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: So I just love that even in in in the
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: moving around, even in the the areas that that you
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: are in, God still plant people around you to encourage
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: you to speak the worst, even though they are generalated.
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: I believe it.
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: I believe they were doing exactly what they're supposed to
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: do in that time and that moment to continue to
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: push forward the plans of the Lord. And so it's
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: just been encouraging to watch and listen to like through
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: all the adversity, through the trials, through the trivelations, that
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: you still partner with God to bring his kingdom to
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: the earth and what He's callsed you to do, which
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: is in this space, this male driven space, and you're
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: being able to encourage other women to be confident enough
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: to step into the spaces that they've been called to
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: you too. So thank you for your voice today. Thank
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: you for encouraging us today. Yeah, because I'm encouraged. I'm encouraged,
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: And that's I think I've talked. When we talked earlier
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: before that, I mentioned that we believe in the descripture
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: revelation where they said they overcame by the blood of
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and I
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: think it's important that Scales testimony is told right. And
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: I know there's more to the story. I know there's more.
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: We only got to tap just a piece of the story,
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: but I didn't see it out there. And so I
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: want to say thank you so much for allowing us
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: to be able to expose the testimony, because I know
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: that many might come for one reason, but the reason
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: God always us.
• 53:03
  Speaker 3: The glory periods.
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: Okay, hallelujah, I love the Lord. Yes, Okay, so as
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: a tradition on Just As the podcast, we allow our
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: guests to have the final word. And so if the
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: Lord gave you something on your heart, if you have
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: just anything, you have the floor to do that. So
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: you'll look at this camera and you'll speak directly to
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: the audience.
• 53:26
  Speaker 3: Well, first of all, again I want to say thank
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: you Jessica for even giving me a voice today to
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: be able to talk to those who are listening to
• 53:37
  Speaker 3: your platform. And as you were talking, let me just
• 53:40
  Speaker 3: tell you what was in my spirit to say to
• 53:43
  Speaker 3: you is that you are born to win. Winning is
• 53:48
  Speaker 3: in your DNA. Don't let anyone tell you that you
• 53:52
  Speaker 3: cannot be what God has called you to be. And
• 53:56
  Speaker 3: when you ask God in your quiet time, God connect
• 54:01
  Speaker 3: me with the people that I need to be connected
• 54:03
  Speaker 3: with and disassociate me with people that I don't need.
• 54:09
  Speaker 3: And so today I want you to know that God
• 54:12
  Speaker 3: wants you to put on the whole armor of God
• 54:14
  Speaker 3: that you will be able to stand in the evil day.
• 54:17
  Speaker 3: And then having done all the stand stand okay, and
• 54:21
  Speaker 3: just know that God met you. He for where He's
• 54:24
  Speaker 3: taking you. You gotta be strong. You gotta be strong
• 54:28
  Speaker 3: and understand that when he calls he qualified, and who
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: he qualifies, he justified. So when adversaries come, then know
• 54:37
  Speaker 3: that God said, if I be for you, I'm more
• 54:40
  Speaker 3: than the world against you. So I'm gonna leave on
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: that note. Yay. In all things, God has made you
• 54:46
  Speaker 3: more than a conqueror. Amen.
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: I love it. We winners out here come winners. We
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: definitely won with this on him. I didn't know what
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: I expected, but I didn't expect this, and I'm grateful
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: that this is a safe space for all influencers. There's
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: people that are called to really impact the areas that
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: they're supposed to impact. Whether it's politics, whether it's entrepreneurship.
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: The list goes on and on and on, and so
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: we take that really seriously here. So we thank you
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: so much for tuning in to this week's episode until
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: next time. Until next week, remember life could be much
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: more simple if you just ask thank you for tuning
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: in to this week's episode. Since you've made it this far,
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: you might as well connect with us on all social
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: media platforms at the Jessica S. Smith. I know I
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: won't see you back until next week, but until then,
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: remember to love always yourself and always thank thank God.
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  Speaker 3: For one another day.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, I know we could be another way. Hey, pray
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: thank God for another day. Hey Hey, I'm just thankful
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: for another day. Hey hey another day? Oh, another day wise,
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: another day to get it right, another day to rise up,
• 56:18
  Speaker 2: another day living another day. We loved ones. I always
• 56:21
  Speaker 2: remember hold it down for a ball, one ye