Latest / Kickin’ It With KeKe: Life, Love, & MINDSET / Season 7: Episode #7 w/Deidra Mwalimu

Transcript

Season 7: Episode #7 w/Deidra Mwalimu · Kickin’ It With KeKe: Life, Love, & MINDSET

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Kicking In with Kiki. Kicking Ki Ki, kickin
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Ki Ki Ki for a little personality, switching up the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: storyline on God, were making a story.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: And hooks chase one day at a time.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Much problems to the side.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Enjoy yourself, free your mind, Chicken ki Ki.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Hello, Hello, Hello, and welcome back to another episode of
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Kicking It with Kiki. I am your host, Kiki Shanel,
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Award winning author, lifestyle blogger, and certified life coach, newly
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: owner of nineteen lifestyle magazine. This season is all about
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: personal growth, as you but we're tapping into the life,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: love and all that other shit because life be lifeing
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: and it's all about some other shit.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: So I have a special guest that's here with me today,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: and you guys know how I like to do. I
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: like to give my guests it the opportunity to introduce themselves.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: So I'm gonna turn it over to her. Y'all give
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: her a warm welcome, Dedra, thank you for coming to
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Kicking with me today.
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: Hey, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: My name is de Ddre Wallymu and I am the
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: CEO and founder of Network of Women.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Now absolutely, But thank you for being here. It's a
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: pleasure to finally meet you. I know we've talked and
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: email correspondence, but seeing the face and all of the things, that's.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Always a plus.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: But we're going to get right into the life part
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: of the segment.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: Okay, how have you been. You know, it's been busy.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: It's been a busy season. We're trying to kind of
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: wrap up twenty twenty four, which is like gone already.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: You know, there were a lot of things that I
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: needed to focus on, a lot of projects that I
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: wanted to complete, and I'm looking forward to twenty twenty five.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Okay, all right, Well I like to hear that you're
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: staying busy and you're doing the things that you love.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: That's always a plus.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: So when it comes to life, I always ask this
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: question for this season, if you had to give life
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: a definition, what would yours be?
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: And why? M You know that is a very good question.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: If life was a definition or a word, I would say,
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: life to me is about self preservation. Oh. I like that,
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: you know, because you know, on this journey as women,
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: let's just talk about women right now. You know, no
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: shade to anybody else, but just women period. We go
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: through these phases in our lives, from phases and our
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: rights of passage, and each one we go through it
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: is about learning different lessons. And in this season of
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: my life, when I look back at how those lessons
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: have played out to get me to where I am now,
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: you know I've learned a few things, like it's important
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: to be healthy mind, body, and spirit, not just just
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: you know, not just basically but mentally, and watch your
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: diet and you know, pay attention to the little things
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: in your body, like your health. That is important. But
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: it's also important to understand that time waits for no
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: one absolutely, So whatever you're going to do, you know,
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: you can talk yourself out of it, but procrastination just
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: takes so long sometimes for you to just get onto
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: what you need to get onto. And whether it's forgiveness,
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: whether it's for planning, whether it's for taking a trail
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: of or changing something about your life, trust me when
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: I tell you don't want to keep experiencing the same
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: negative stuff, even the positive stuff, because everything grows and
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: everything changes. It is better to change quicker. And when
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: you do that, I find you're much more healthier. You
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: have a lot more longevity. You think clearly, and you're
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: able to put things in place that you know you
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  Speaker 4: dreamt about. So I think self preservation is about all
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: those things, because when I finally close my eyes, I mean,
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  Speaker 4: I want my tombs to only say well done.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, she left it out here, she died empty.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, must must be because I have too many
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  Speaker 4: things that I'm trying to do and accomplish for me
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  Speaker 4: to not fulfill those dreams. So in order to do that,
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  Speaker 4: I must be fully conscious in this mind, body, and spirit.
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  Speaker 3: I love that.
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  Speaker 2: I love that her definition of life is self perseverance.
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  Speaker 2: I love that because people are so self absorbed they
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: don't realize the things that are important that has passing
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  Speaker 2: them by day today, and some people didn't make it
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  Speaker 2: to today and we're still here.
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  Speaker 4: So and I don't mean that in a like a
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  Speaker 4: narcissistic kind of way when I talk about the preservation.
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  Speaker 4: You know, what I learned about life, I'm able to
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  Speaker 4: pass that on to the next generation so they can
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  Speaker 4: avoid some of the pitfalls that I've had to. Hey,
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  Speaker 4: I'm giving you this in like three bullets. You know,
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  Speaker 4: it's like you can take ten years off your life,
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  Speaker 4: you know, right, you don't want to repeat some of
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: the things that I did because no one told me
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: about these things. Now, I understand that, you know, young
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: people need this younger generation need to experience certain things
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: for themselves, you know, but there are some things you
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: really don't want.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: To experience exactly. So we want to talk. I want
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: to talk about life a little bit on that perspective.
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  Speaker 2: How important is it for the other, for the more
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: seasoned generation to just say hey, to the younger generation.
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  Speaker 2: I know you might not want to hear what I
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: have to say, but this is something that will actually
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  Speaker 2: help you along your way to be more mindful of
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  Speaker 2: the things that are around you as for your life
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: and things like that, because it is necessary. And I
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: know that we live in a day and a time
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: where people don't like being told anything absolutely, But how
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: would you say that, you know the importance of making
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: sure that you're at least taking one, are grabbing one
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  Speaker 2: and instilling those values, morals and life lessons and to
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: that person so they can not go through, you know,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: the pitfalls.
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  Speaker 4: As you said, I mean, this is all about what
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: I do. What Network of Women is all about. It's
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: about part of network of women. Now We use this
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: word all the time, and it's actually a product that
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: we you know, hand this bb it's a sly word.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: It means grandmotherhood. These are the things that we pass
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: down to our children, especially when I and when it
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: comes to our girls, like you know what's going to
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: happen when my period comes on? And you know what
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: happens when I have sex, or have a baby, or
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: go through menopause. Those are different stages of our lives
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  Speaker 4: that we need to be able to talk to one
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: another about so we can understand what is really happening.
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  Speaker 4: And I think we are out here alone, you know,
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  Speaker 4: it's like, oh my god, nobody's going through this. But really,
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: those jewels of wisdom that we pass down to one another,
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  Speaker 4: it really does help. Especially you know this, and when
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: we like we understand that girls are hitting puberty as
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: young as six. Now, wow, so what happens if they
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: don't have anyone in their family or anyone close to
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: them to share with them about Hey, what to expect
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: when you're expecting your period. These are the things that
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: you need to look out for. And you're not dying,
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: You're okay. This is a natural part of life. So
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: let's just put things in place so when it does happen,
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: you're ready. And that's essentially you know, how I interpret
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: the question is preparing our students are our children for
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  Speaker 4: what's to come, even if they don't want to hear it.
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  Speaker 4: Trust me, when I told you, my mother used to
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: tell me. So I'm like, but later in life, I
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: was like, nah, that little voice came back and she's
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: your mom said that this was gonna happen. So even
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: if they're not listening, I think they are listening.
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  Speaker 2: I believe so too, because I have a fifteen year
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: old son and I have a twenty seven year old daughter,
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  Speaker 2: and the things that I told her, we have conversations
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  Speaker 2: about it now and we laugh and then we like say, oh,
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  Speaker 2: he's totally different because he's a boy. He's seeing it,
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: you know, seeing life from a boy's perspective.
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  Speaker 3: But just certain things that.
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  Speaker 2: I taught her, she is now saying, hey, no, you're
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: gonna get this done the right way because he just
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: so oblivious to on the goal, trying to be on
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: the on the game, and he's starting to date and
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: stuff like that. So it's just funny to sit back
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: and just watch, like listen to her be me for
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: a minute, because I'm like, I told her the same words. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: I did something right, That's right.
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  Speaker 4: You think they're not listening, They are listening because eventually
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: it'll play out in their lives as well. And that's
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: that's where you know the experience come from. And that's
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: when you know your child, when you know that they
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: know that they're on the right track.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Right, absolutely, absolutely, So let's get into talking about the
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Network of Women now, Like, what prompted you to start it?
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  Speaker 2: I know you just talked a little bit about it,
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  Speaker 2: but what actually got you say? You know what, I
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: need to do something to make sure that I am
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  Speaker 2: helping women that look like me.
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  Speaker 4: Mm hmm. Well, you know, it was a long time
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: in the making. I've had other versions of Network of
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: Women now, but the most current version is when I was,
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: you know, helping this other nonprofit organization travel around the
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: world delivering art supplies and we had gotten a lot
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: of supplies for Mister Hygiene Products and we delivered our
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: first project together because he has started the organization before
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: I came on board, and I just happened to call
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: him up and say, hey, what are you doing? He
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: was like, I got this organization. Let's work on it together.
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: And I said, okay, you know, you know, as long
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: as I can do some traveling, you know, I'm cool
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: with it. You know, when we went to Tanzania, we
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: had to give the feminine hygiene products out like behind
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: the scenes, and I went to him and I told him,
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: I said, you know, realistically, as a woman, I can't
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: abide by us, you know, pushing things behind the scenes
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: for women. And we talked about it and he was like, okay, cool.
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: So I said, you know, this is what's going to happen.
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: You know, I'm start a nonprofit. It's gonna network with
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: women and we're going to be focusing on women and
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: women issues. And he was like, okay, cool. And that's
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: essentially how I started. I incorporated in twenty twenty and
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: in December of this year, it will be our five
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: year anniversary.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: Congratulation.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: So, what has been one of the challenges that you
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: faced since you started the organization.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: I think there has been several challenges. Number one is
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: people finding value in what I do. And the other one,
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: you know, the the heartbeat of a nonprofit is always,
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: you know, secure funding. So that is the other thing.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: But one of the more major things this is this
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: is this is you know, I've been thinking about this too.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: It's about us as women, and it is important that
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: we keep our word. Yeah, you know, I just don't
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: even know any other way to say it. So if
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: I'm having a meeting with you and I'm talking to
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: you about what I do, then you turn around and
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: take the conversation that we had and write a grant
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: and just completely leave me out. You like integrity?
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: Oh yes, that is.
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: The major problem that I have been finding with some
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: of the organizations that I have been engaged with for
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: black women, and I have been just trying to figure out,
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: you know, what is.
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: That all about?
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: Figuring out how better to work with one another. So
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: those three things have been major kind of hur rules here.
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: That I have been finding. But yeah, I mean, yeah.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: And that's so unfortunate because I love what you do.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: It is so necessary and thank you.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Me being a woman who was not taught about certain
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: things for my mom, my oldest sister showed me a
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: lot of things because my mom taught it to her.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: And so I'm like, what about the people are the
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: young girls who are growing up and they don't have
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: a woman in the household. They may have lost their
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: mother at a young age, or she may have passed
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: doing childbirth. Like what happens with those little girls who
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: grow up to become women. How did they learn to
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: navigate as a woman, you know, learning about different things
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: like that. So when my best friend told me about
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: the organization, I writ and watched the commercial and stuff
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: like that, and I was like, this is amazing. I
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: need to have her on the show because so many
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: people need to understand and know that we do have
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: organizations like yours that exist.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: No, And that is why I phrased what I did
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: for the last question is because ultimately the mission is
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: about the girls, not about ourselves.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Right right, absolutely, And that brings me to the next
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: question is why is empowering women so important to you
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: when it comes to like personal Hagien.
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: Mmm, you know that's a pretty loaded question because I'm
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: pulling on my own life experiences and you know, I
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: grew up in Mississippi and I didn't know that, you know,
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: I'm poor, you know, I mean, I had my parents,
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: my grandparents. I have come from a large family. I
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: had a whole church community, I had my aunts, and
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: uncles all around. I mean, I was just so innundated
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: with family. I mean I had everything that I needed.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: So I was a normal kid. You know, I didn't
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: think anything was exceptional about my life. It's just, you know,
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: it was what it was. When I was twelve, I
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: started my period. Okay, normal, you know, you were the boys,
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: because the boys around the house. And you know, my
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: mom was like, I don't remember one guy came. We come,
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: this is the first time.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: What.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: So she was like, on the pill and I was like, yeah, okay, okay, cool.
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: So my sister and cousin and I went and got
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: on the pill. Well, you know, we went to get
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: on the pill. They got their little brown bags full
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: of pills.
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: It was at the local clinic, and you know, when
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: it came to me, they were like, we found an issue,
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: so you need to come back with your mother. And
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: it just kind of like at that point it just
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: like warp speed into me having surgery and going through therapy,
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: and it was just this entire ordeal that I was
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: just mentally not prepared for. Not only myself, my mother
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: wasn't prepared for it either, right, So it ended up
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: having you know, to have you know, a surgery for
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: what the doctors claim. You know, it's like, oh, well
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: it be for her, I want to have children. But
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: I felt like there was a lot of experimentation that
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: went on with my therapy that you know, my mother
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: nor I could really understand because we didn't have popularity,
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: we didn't have the language, we didn't have the tools
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: to really prepare for what was coming, you know, in
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: the in the next couple of years. Because I was
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: like under treatment for like two years, and my mother
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: was financially responsible for getting me to the doctor because
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: I was living in Macomb, Mississippi, but I had to
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: go to Jackson for treatment GOTA and once I you know,
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: so my mother had to take off work, she had
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: to drive, you know, we were there all day sometimes,
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: so it was like it was just this major ordeal.
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: And after initially after the surgeries, you know, I was
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: going maybe twice a month, but then eventually it went
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: to once a month. But still that was a financial
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: hardship on her. And then you know, I couldn't talk
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: to her about it, but I was still in school.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: I was in high school. So yeah, so just navigating
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: through that and the fact that that experience has been
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: a part of my journey to lead me to where
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: I am now, because you know I have I have
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: an autobiography that is coming out very soon where I
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: talked about how the women in my family had to
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: contend with their own journey. So what I do is
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: a direct reflection of what I've experienced for generations. Yes,
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: and it's a natural part to talk to young girls
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: about what is happening because, like I said before, I
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: didn't even have the vocabulary to be able to articulate
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: what was actually happening to me. Hm. Because of that.
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: In my undergraduate part of my undergraduate studies was women's studies.
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: When I traveled abroad for my summer summer broad Products projects,
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: I was always looking at how, you know, women were
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: impacted by different environments around the world. So I've always
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: included women's studies and situations that happened to women. It's
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: just that the reproductive part of it is essentially how
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: we define ourselves as women.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I was about to mention that you have
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: a book coming out. How when can we expect the book?
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: I love the name My Soul's Unrest. I love that name.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: Uh, I just got the I had a proof read to.
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: I just got the word back that it's good to
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: go today. I just got it back today that it's
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: really good to go. Okay, so I'll start, you know,
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: putting promo out promos. I think I want to do it,
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: you know, around my fifth anniversary. So it's just gonna
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: be this full circle moment. So it will be out
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: for sure next month.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: All right, I love it. I love it?
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: So are you doing pre orders? With it be available
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: on all platforms? How can people support? Because I want
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: I want all my listeners to make sure that y'all
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: go and support and buy this book.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well it's gonna be on Amazon. We are doing
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: the book and hardcover and back, so be able to
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: get it on email. You can follow me to because
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: I'll give updates on my social media, which is Networkingwomen
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: dow dot dot org, which is my website, or and
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: all my social media is Networking Women now, Instagram, Pinterests, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram,
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: all that, so you know, I'll be highlighting it. And
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: I haven't done anything right now because I just wanted
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: to make sure that the product that I put out
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: is a good product. And so in the book, I
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: talk about, you know, my early beginnings and how that
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: event change the trajectory of my life, because well, I
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: don't want to say change the trajectory, because I don't
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: know if you remember, Ebony had put out these black
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: encyclopedias and my mother bought the and I used to
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: always read them and I was just I would put
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: pins and them and y'auld mark, I'm like, okay. I
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: would look at the maps. I'm like, I'm going here,
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: I'm going here, I'm going there, I'm going there, I'm
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: going there. And I have pins all over the world
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: and I've pretty much been able to travel to these places.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: What I did know that what the message was that
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: I would be traveling and you know, so now this
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: is the message. So this is like my second book,
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: because I have a work book that helps girls to
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: you know, learn a vocabulary, learn about you know, self
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: preservation and boundaries and what to expect when they're expecting.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: So when I put that book out, I don't think
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: that people understood the link that it had to me
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: in my mission. So that's why I followed up with
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: the autobiography to let people know that, you know, I'm
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: just not talking because you know, I don't have a
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: point of reference, and that point of reference is, you know,
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: my experience. So when I say, you know, my soul's unrest,
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: it's about not only was I medically sterilized, and that's
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: what the book is all about me being medically sterilized.
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: My mother was medically sterilized and her mother before her.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: So that's why three generations of failed reproductive healthcare and
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: women in Mississippi. So that is in the historical perspective,
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: because believe it or not, that's why I was saying,
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: I don't want girls to think that they're alone because
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: this had been happening for a very long time, especially
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: for color Yes, and there was an incident in Georgia
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: which was an entire lawsuit about two sisters, one was
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: twelve and the other was fourteen, where they were medically
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: sterilized the under the guys of family planning. They were
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: black girls, young black girls, and when they look at
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: the permission slip, the mother had signed her name with
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: an ex so their mother was not even literal enough
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: to understand what was happening to her to her daughter.
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: So you know, for sterilization had been happening for a
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: long time, but in the south southern part of the
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: United States, this was a big issue going back as
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: far as the fifties, and when this happened to me,
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: this was well into the you know, eighties and nineties, right,
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: you know, that is why Mike's story. I feel like
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: people need to understand it. And then when you look
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: at this whole political climate that's happening right now when
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: they repealed Roe versus Wade. You know, women's reproductive health
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: is very political.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: Right, yep, very very political, and it's sad it is.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: So I try not to talk about politics, but you
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: can't help but talk about that part because as a woman,
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: it's gonna affect all of us.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: God are change, We're gonna.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Change gears a little bit. And I want to get
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: into this work the work book too, because you talked
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: about a good but I want people to know that
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: they can get the workbook.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: It's out there.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: But I wanna talk about love. How important do you
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: believe that self love is when it comes to personal hygiene.
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: Underneath what we do. I mean, really, it's about loving yourself,
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: having a healthy relationship not only with yourself, but also.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: To be able to.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: Have a healthy relationship with your partner, because if things
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: are not working right with your body, you are not
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: able to be receptive to love. To lust is hire
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: two activities to drinking, to eating. You know, it's like,
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: you know, even bathing. Sometimes you can go into this
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: depression where you know, you don't know what's happening with
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: your body, but you don't want to get out of bed,
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: you don't want to do normal activities. So self love
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: is you know, about caring for yourself enough to know
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: that you're worthy of having a healthy lifestyle or having
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: a healthy body. You know, of being able to invite
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: love in because you know we talk about you know,
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: what you put out is what you receive. So if
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: you're putting out love because you love your body, you
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: love the way you look. You know, you look at
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: the mirror and say, I'm a little fly there.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: You know, it's like.
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: When you walk into a room, you have all this
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: confidence and you you attract you know, the love to
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: you and you're able to go out and conquer the
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: world when you love yourself, you.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: Know, absolutely, I feel like it's enough hate around that.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: Don't give into that.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Like if you don't like something about yourself and you're
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: able to change it, change it. But God puts you
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: on here on this earth and made you the way
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: that you were supposed to.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: Be for a reason.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: You know you love you're in Yes, absolutely, And I
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: feel like a lot of people are superficial when it
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: comes to love nowadays because social media has made it
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: so in your face and we don't know what happens
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: when the camera stopped rolling and it's scripted and all
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: the things like that. So speak to the listeners who
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: are so involved in the love stories that are being
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: portrayed on social media.
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we really need to be careful about the information
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: that we put out. And that's one of the things
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: that I try to be very responsible about. You know,
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: we have to be able to put out truth, you know,
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: to our young girls. And you know, I'm not saying
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: that ever since this incident happened with me, it's been
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: you know, you know, roses like I'm like that can
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: be father for the truth. But you know, when we're
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: in relationships, my mother told me this. She told me,
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: she said, once you leave my house and go out
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: in the world, there are going to be things that
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: you're going to do that only you and God will know,
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: I had no idea what my mother was talking about
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: until I started living. Yes, I started interacting with other
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: people until I was in relationships with men. And not
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: that they were bad relationships, it was a lot of
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: it was that I didn't understand and who I was. Yeah,
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: And so those truths are what I tell my nieces
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: and even my nephews today about you know, you being
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: in a relationship with someone who's damaged.
• 29:15
  Speaker 6: Right, and it's it's it's not impossible, but it can
• 29:20
  Speaker 6: be a very difficult role when you're trying to love
• 29:24
  Speaker 6: someone who doesn't love or respect themselves.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: And so social media when you're looking at you know,
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: because the kids, you know, this is the first generation
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: that are coming out that it's all digital yeap. So
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: they have access to a lot of things. But what
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: they don't understand about these phones is that I'm a
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: go into a story right now. But it's important that
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: they understand what's happening. So about six years ago, seven
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: years ago, Mark Zuckenberg of you know, CEO of Facebook,
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: he was trying to put out meta But what happened
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: was when they tried to use the business model to
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: have those the clickbait for your phone, like what you research.
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: It was just supposed to be for other businesses to
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: see and track how many times people click on your
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: you know, your product or your website. But when he
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: was trying to merge you know, the business format with
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: the with the digital AI kind of format, they started
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: communicating with each other and creating a language, which he
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: was like, you know in this article already was like, oh,
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: we shut it down because we didn't understand what was happening.
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: Then a few years later, under the radar, all of
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: a sudden, you know, it's supposed to be fixing now
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: it has now meta is out, So what it is
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: doing is and you noticed this, but you don't really know.
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: And this is what the kids do not know. If
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: you notice, if you talk about something, if you click
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: on something, all of a sudden, that becomes your over
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: and over again. So let's just say, you know, and
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: I'll just take I just use this as an example,
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: you know, the political situation. If you're gonna whatever political
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: party you affiliate yourself with, you know, if you click
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: on nothing but that that's all you get. You don't
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: get any diversity in the conversation. You don't get other platforms,
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: you don't get anything like these young kids. If you're
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: only looking at you know, fights all the time, that's
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: all you're gonna get, and you're gonna think, oh, this
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: is all that's out there on the internet, right, And
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: that's not true. So it's hard for our young kids
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: to distinguish what is fact and what is fiction, yep.
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: And if they're not getting it in a home or
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: there's a representation of what they're seeing in the home
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: and what they're seeing on the internet, it's hard to
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: kind of step out from that. And as a fifteen
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: year old girl that had experienced what I experienced, one
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: of the questions that I had to come to terms
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: with and my reality was what value am I to
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: a society that deems that I am damaged goods if
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: I can have children. So that is the one question
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: that I had to ponder throughout my treatments, throughout my
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: young adulthood, throughout my you know, middle age or whatever
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: up and ten now. So at a very young age,
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: I answered that question by saying, I'm gonna create the
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: life that I want to create. I'm gonna do something
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: positive with my life, and I'm gonna be happy to
• 32:46
  Speaker 4: get to that point. And I have been working on
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: that for a long time. So I have to represent
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: a model to the kids that you know, you can
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: create whatever lifestyle you want, but you gotta do it
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: with integrity. You must be happy while you're doing You
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: should be happy while you're doing it. You know, not
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: that it always.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: Happens, Absolutely absolutely, And I always ask the question about
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: social media because each guest gives a different perspective, although
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: it's almost the same. You have to make sure that
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: we are feeding ourselves stuff that will keep us grounded,
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: keep us walking integrity, and not make us feel like
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: how we live and how we look and the things
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: that we value is not like outlandish or fore fetched
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: or whatever, because what.
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: Does that mean.
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: It's like social media has really brainwashed a lot of
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: people thinking that it's okay to have a toxic relation,
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: Like like that's what love should be at.
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: Toxic relationships?
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: Are you waking up and putting on a face full
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: of makeup? Is what most people deem as being beautiful?
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: Stuff like that, Like normal normalcy is not really that
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: normal anymore because of what we see on social media.
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: Well, reality has nothing to do with reality anymore, right, Yeah,
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: that's the one thing that I get from it. And
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: you know, and I can say, this is why, you know,
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: I'm between two worlds where I knew growing up. Yeah,
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: there were some things that I didn't know because I
• 34:27
  Speaker 4: was a kid. But I was able to be a kid.
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, me too.
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: You know, I could play outside, I can climb trees,
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: I can play marble my brothers and ride bikes with them.
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: You know, I was able to do those things. But
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: now kids are you know, glued to social media and
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: the and and all these digital platforms. But what about
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: reading a book?
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: Read in this house?
• 34:57
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, you better read how you apprehend something.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, And if all this stuff crashed, a lot of
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: people are going to be lost, exactly.
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: So you know that leads a question. People don't think
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: that it could happen, but over it was any indication
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: about what is actually going on right now? You know,
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: when we shut down with COVID, people find out how
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: much they really didn't like each other. Oh yeah, in
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: the same house.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: A lot of people found out they didn't like themselves
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: because they were able to glamorize and leave the house
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: and put on that mask. And now you all stuck inside.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: So you can't get dressed or where you could have,
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: but where you're going. But it's like a lot of
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: people realize that they didn't even like theirself. They didn't
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: know who they were because they just put on the
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: mask and went outside. It came out, they took it,
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: they took it off. But then it's time to go
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: to bed, and you just give your family what you
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: want them to see, and you'll become a whole another
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: person when you leave the house the next day.
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: I mean, look at it. You know, the the schools
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: were raising your kids, were babysitting your kids for better
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: part of the day. Your work took up another part
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: of your day, so you had the small window that
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: you were interacting with your family, and you know, when
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: the lights go off, you know, hey it's done. Lived
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: for another day. But COVID, you know the wider implication
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: of oh yeah, you know, we couldn't. We didn't, we
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: couldn't travel or go out. But the entire world shut down. Yep,
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: if you have that much power to shut down the
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: entire world, what do you think they're gonna shut What
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: happens when they decided to shut you down? Especially as women, right,
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: especially as a woman of a black male. M what
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: if you know, there's a lot of what is but
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: I mean we've seen from evidence how historically you know, atmatically,
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: just by the push of a button, our world can
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: be really different.
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: Really different, and not in a good way.
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: Absolutely yeah.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: All right, So we're gonna get last question, and is
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: we gonna get into this all this other shit and
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: we done talked about some of it within what we've
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: been talking about. What is one life lesson where you
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: were so bogged down into some shit that you learn
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: and that you instill into other people like nieces of
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: the women of color, yourself, What is one lesson that
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: you instill when you were so bogged down in all
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: your other shit that you take and try to help
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: somebody else from not being in that part.
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: You can have your pretty party, but you better come
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: up out a real quick. It's okay to cry, It's
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: okay to sit down and put your head and your
• 37:57
  Speaker 4: your head in your hands and regroup. But once you
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: come out, come out swinging.
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: M Yeah. Because life happens.
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: It does not stop for anybody, and you are not
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: exempt from anything.
• 38:15
  Speaker 4: Absolutely not. You know, there are many times when I
• 38:18
  Speaker 4: just broke down and just cried, I called my brother
• 38:21
  Speaker 4: like by dieces, I'm like okay. They're like wait wait wait, wait,
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: wait wait wait, what's going on? And they, you know,
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: when I finally you know, try to you know, make
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: sense of it. One of the other things is that
• 38:37
  Speaker 4: you know, we can't be emotionally, emotionally attached to a
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: lot of things that are happening to us, and we
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: when we're emotional, we can make some really bad decisions.
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: So being able to you know, cry about it, fuss
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: about it, you know, and let it be done. When
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: you come back, then you kind of calm down, you're
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: in your right state of mind, you can make a
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: better decision, because when you're emotional, it can go really
• 39:07
  Speaker 4: bad real quick. So you just try to talk to
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: yourself and keep yourself calm and realize that you know
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: this too. Shell pass you know, my mother and you're
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: so Ho's like when people minimize your life, you got
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: to maximize it. So most of the time when we're
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: in these when we're in these positions, it's because something
• 39:29
  Speaker 4: external has happened, and you know, we're reactionary, and so
• 39:37
  Speaker 4: you know, whatever somebody does to you, you tend to
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: kind of like go off or things don't work well
• 39:44
  Speaker 4: for you. And you know, just even with Network of Women.
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: Now you know, I was playing in this major event,
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: and you know, I put all the work into it
• 39:52
  Speaker 4: and did everything and I was supposed to do social media, marketing, girl,
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: did interviews, did all this so and nobody showed up.
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 40:04
  Speaker 4: How disappointing is that. Yeah, so you know, I've had
• 40:10
  Speaker 4: my setbacks. Don't get me wrong, I've had my trials
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: and tribulations. But I knew I had to come back
• 40:15
  Speaker 4: out of it. But now look at me. I'm you know,
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: Networking Women is five years old. I had to move forward.
• 40:21
  Speaker 6: I had.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, learning the pivot doesn't take you out of position.
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: I think it positions you for your purpose. I really
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: do believe that because not everything is gonna be sunshine
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: and rainbows. People are not gonna always show up. Some
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: people are not gonna show up because it's you. But
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: you have to be okay with it and know that
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: your people will come. Just keep doing the work, keep
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: showing up, and keep walking in integrity with humility, and
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: not everybody has that. That plays a big part in
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: the things that we are supposed to do. And I
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: believe that because I'm one of those people that if
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: I cannot keep my word, I'm gonna try my best
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: to make it up some type of way. And if
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: I can't show up and I've given you my word
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: that I'm showing up, it got to be something that's
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: just like I cannot avoid not coming.
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, if it means that much, you know,
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: just say something. And I find that. You know, here
• 41:24
  Speaker 4: when we talk about me doing what I do. You know,
• 41:27
  Speaker 4: people are so interested in tailgating football and you know,
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: whatever the food is, the cuisine. You know, everybody wants
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: to do that. But when it talks when we talk
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: about our girls, you know, you only want to talk
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: about them when they're in trouble or you know, oh
• 41:48
  Speaker 4: she's pregnant or she dropped out of school. But there
• 41:52
  Speaker 4: were some signs long before then that you never even
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: wanted to discuss. Right, Our boys are the same way.
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: You know, there's no curriculum in the schools really that's
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: talking about you know, masculine hygiene. It's against them, right,
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: you know, to teach sex education.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: Wow, I did not know that.
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: So if you're not talking to girls, and you know,
• 42:22
  Speaker 4: there are some schools that where like ebr Parish. The
• 42:30
  Speaker 4: nurses through our Lady of the Lake, they can go
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: in and talk to the kids about hygiene. But it's
• 42:37
  Speaker 4: not mandatory. It's kind of an elective. But there's some
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: school districts there's no one. There might be a teacher
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: that decides, hey, we need to talk to our girls,
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: but certainly with the curriculum and the workbook that I have,
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: they don't have that. And I have gone into the
• 42:55
  Speaker 4: schools in some schools with my work book and teach
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: the girls and talk to girls. But you know, this
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: this subject part of the problem. When we're talking about
• 43:08
  Speaker 4: issues when it comes to reproductive health, then you know,
• 43:11
  Speaker 4: the powers that be don't want you to talk about
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: the LGBQ plus community. They don't want to talk about transgender.
• 43:20
  Speaker 4: So I'm saying to them, it's like everybody needs a
• 43:24
  Speaker 4: toothbrush and toothpaste, yeah, the odor on you know, that's
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: personal hygiene is universal. You need a bar soap.
• 43:34
  Speaker 6: Or clean underwear, right, you know you need to bathe
• 43:38
  Speaker 6: every day?
• 43:40
  Speaker 4: Hey, you need and girls when they're on their period
• 43:44
  Speaker 4: is they need the resources to be able to change
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: every day because most girls only change their paths maybe
• 43:50
  Speaker 4: once a day. And that's only because they don't have
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: enough supplies, right.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: Right, So let's talk about the handbook. I know you've
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: been talking about it. Tell the name where people can
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: purchase it from before we get on out of here.
• 44:04
  Speaker 4: Let them know, Okay. So the name of the workbook
• 44:07
  Speaker 4: is Empowered Hygiene Workbook, and in this word book is
• 44:11
  Speaker 4: fifty two pages of interactive puzzles. There's coloring section, there's
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: a small journal in there, and we talk about, you know,
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: the importance of hand soap, hand sanitizers. We talk about
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: how to read the packages, especially for girls. This is
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: just for girls. How to read the packages on the
• 44:36
  Speaker 4: sanitary pad, packages like always and all those what the
• 44:40
  Speaker 4: numbers mean. We talk about all the products that are
• 44:43
  Speaker 4: out there on the market because those products can you know,
• 44:49
  Speaker 4: can range in price and affordability. So I'm finding that
• 44:55
  Speaker 4: just polling the girls, they lean towards one thing more
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: than another. But but you know, how do they have
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: access to it? And then we also have a vocabulary
• 45:06
  Speaker 4: list of words that if there's an issue, like girls
• 45:10
  Speaker 4: don't understand that if their periods fall outside of the
• 45:13
  Speaker 4: rangers of three to seven days per mom, there's a problem.
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: And so we talk to them about that, about those things,
• 45:23
  Speaker 4: so they would know if there's a problem, then they
• 45:28
  Speaker 4: consult their parents. Then their parents can take them to
• 45:30
  Speaker 4: a physician, and then they will have a working vocabulary
• 45:34
  Speaker 4: to be able to articulate what is actually going on.
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: I love that.
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: So that's basically what the book is all about. And
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: now we're beginning to find that this book, that the
• 45:46
  Speaker 4: book is being translated into different languages.
• 45:49
  Speaker 5: I love it.
• 45:50
  Speaker 4: I love it, thank you.
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: And it's also on Amazon.
• 45:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, sorry, yes, it is on Amazon. It is the
• 45:57
  Speaker 4: Empowered Hygiene Workbook created and written by me. It's through
• 46:03
  Speaker 4: Network with Women Now. So it is on it is
• 46:07
  Speaker 4: on Amazon. It is not it is not in any
• 46:10
  Speaker 4: of any other format because it's a workbook and it's
• 46:13
  Speaker 4: an interactive work because there's puzzles involved. So it is
• 46:17
  Speaker 4: a hard copy. It's fact but it's a hard copy.
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: Okay, yup. And guys, all of this information would be
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: in the show note, so just read the notes and
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: you can get all the information to purchase the workbook,
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: how to connect and follow on social media, find out
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: more details about the upcoming autobiography and the fifth year
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: of Network of Women Now. So I'm super excited about that.
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: Thank you for coming to kick it with me today.
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: It has been a pleasure.
• 46:49
  Speaker 4: You know, thank you so much. I mean, I think
• 46:51
  Speaker 4: the whole vibe here. I mean I'm looking at you
• 46:54
  Speaker 4: geinst the artwork, which is really beautiful.
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: You know, got to painted that.
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: Oh is she okay?
• 47:00
  Speaker 5: So you know what?
• 47:02
  Speaker 4: You know, next year we're gonna we're trying to do
• 47:05
  Speaker 4: an art exhibit for girls, and we're empowering young girls
• 47:12
  Speaker 4: to be okay with the skin that they're in. We
• 47:18
  Speaker 4: want girls to you know, have this sense of femininity
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: and being a boss and you know, just being adventurous
• 47:29
  Speaker 4: and being able to create the life that they want
• 47:34
  Speaker 4: to live through art work, through you know, writing, through singing,
• 47:38
  Speaker 4: through whatever it is medium that you want to be.
• 47:40
  Speaker 4: If you're just brainiac, you're brainiac. But you know, everybody
• 47:45
  Speaker 4: needs to have their own identity, and I think that's
• 47:48
  Speaker 4: how we have healthy relationships with one another. I don't
• 47:51
  Speaker 4: want to be you, you don't want to be me,
• 47:53
  Speaker 4: but I can still see the beauty and everything that
• 47:56
  Speaker 4: you do.
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: Absolutely let me know about that. I would love says assist.
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: I would love to assist.
• 48:01
  Speaker 3: Really.
• 48:02
  Speaker 4: I certain there's more all coming we're just in the
• 48:05
  Speaker 4: planning stages right now, but it's gonna be at the
• 48:08
  Speaker 4: end of next year. That's why I said when I
• 48:10
  Speaker 4: do twenty twenty five, twenty five is gonna be a really,
• 48:14
  Speaker 4: really big year for Network of Women now because we're
• 48:16
  Speaker 4: we're we're focused on making sure that our message is
• 48:22
  Speaker 4: heard and that somebody said we're not taking any prisoners
• 48:28
  Speaker 4: because we're just gonna go and we're gonna we're gonna
• 48:31
  Speaker 4: do the damn thing as they say.
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: Hey, that's I love it. I love it.
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: But you guys have been listening to another episode of
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: Kicking In with Kiki. I am back with a new
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: episode every Thursday to make sure you tune in on
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: your favorite podcast streaming platform.
• 48:47
  Speaker 5: Uh.
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: Did you have any words of encouragement, any last thoughts,
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: or anything you would like to say to the listeners
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: before we get off today.
• 48:54
  Speaker 4: Djer, I just want everyone to make sure they understand that,
• 48:59
  Speaker 4: you know, women, girls, we play a very pivotal part
• 49:02
  Speaker 4: in society and no girl should ever have to ask
• 49:07
  Speaker 4: the question how valuable am I in this society? Because
• 49:11
  Speaker 4: you consider me as damaged good and you know, also
• 49:15
  Speaker 4: consider that the dynamics of the family is really changing now.
• 49:20
  Speaker 4: And like my brother is a single parent of a
• 49:23
  Speaker 4: teenage daughter, and I had to work through you know,
• 49:27
  Speaker 4: this workbook with him to get him to understand, you know,
• 49:31
  Speaker 4: what he needs to expect with his daughter, what she's
• 49:33
  Speaker 4: going through. She having cramps, you know, does she always
• 49:37
  Speaker 4: you know need paths up, Like every time you go
• 49:39
  Speaker 4: to the store, you better pick her up song, But
• 49:41
  Speaker 4: she's gonna need them, so you know. I just want
• 49:44
  Speaker 4: to encourage everyone to uh, to really show their daughters
• 49:48
  Speaker 4: how special they really are.
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely yes. But that being said, until next time,
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: Purple hugs, thank you for tuning in, and thank.
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: You chickened with keep
• 50:09
  Speaker 4: The Am a cons