Latest / Coconut Justice / CJP #37: Candice Avery - Black Education Station

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CJP #37: Candice Avery - Black Education Station · Coconut Justice

• speaker-0: Hey everybody You know, I'm big on education and you know that I've been introducing you to people that want to improve our kids lives when it comes to education and We spoke to a very motivated young man by the name of Hoteb a few weeks ago and he had introduced me to black education station This is Candice Avery from black education station speaker-1: Hi. Hey there, how are you? speaker-0: I am good. How are you? speaker-1: I am fantastic, happy to be here. speaker-0: Thank you for coming. I know we're at the tail end of your day. speaker-1: Yes. speaker-0: So thank you for taking time to come and talk ⁓ speaker-1: I love any opportunity to talk about BES. speaker-0: ⁓ How did you get involved with Black Education Station? speaker-1: Oh, it's a long story and I'm not going to give you the bullet points. I'm actually going to give you the long story. So, is actually pretty diverse. I come from and healthcare background. So, I graduated from college in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in psychology premed. speaker-0: Yeah, man Isn't that where Dr. Huckstable went? speaker-1: Hillman, so okay, funny story. So Hillman the college that they referenced in the Cosby show in Different World, which is not a real college, but it was actually filmed on the campus of the college that I went to. So was the footage that you see on Different World, like they show the dorm that I stayed in, they show like some of buildings. That's cool. But yeah, so yes and no, I guess. speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ speaker-1: But yeah, so 2004, psychology pre-med and kind of the summer after I graduated, I hung out with some doctors, did some shadowing in healthcare and decided that being a doctor wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. But I did have a heart for taking care of people and patient care. So I went and got a bachelor's degree in nursing. So I became an and I was an RN for a little over a decade. worked in high energy places. I'm a high energy adrenaline junkie. ⁓ I worked in cardiac ICUs, like I jumped right into the ICUs. I worked in the operating rooms and then eventually I moved into leadership positions. So I worked in leadership, developed a few programs and then started getting burnt out ⁓ when it came to work. I just wasn't loving it anymore. And then this is probably the maybe one of the only times you'll ever hear this, but thank goodness COVID happens. Yeah, so during COVID. speaker-0: We before I let you go you know I'm one of the few people on this planet that can say thank God for feed out Castro speaker-1: why, please, I need to hear this story. speaker-0: It was because of him that my dad escaped Cuba and then that's he met my mom here in Chicago. ⁓ wow. Yeah, so you know bad things. I'm sorry it happened Cuba, but thankfully. So thank God for COVID. ⁓ speaker-1: COVID. I took some time off from work because my daughter, was in second grade. Bless her heart. But she was a second grader and her school closed like a lot of schools across the country did. I ended up speaker-0: they closed or they shut down. speaker-1: They shut down for it was only like a couple of months. yeah, the school was they were like we're doing online learning, ⁓ which was so much fun for. A very energetic second grader who at the time was very much into Disney princesses, so have several pictures of her doing online learning, wearing a full princess dress. speaker-0: ⁓ okay. Hahaha! speaker-1: ⁓ I have videos of some of her teachers. Olivia, stop jumping on the bed. Come back to the. It was a wild time. Okay. It was it was crazy. speaker-0: I ⁓ I do some work with this place. I forget what it's called now, but ⁓ it's where professionals go into virtual meeting into a classroom for high school and grade school students. And I talked to them about animation and multimedia and stuff like that. And during COVID, I'd be talking, but all the kids were turned off their. but nobody told me that they were gonna do that so I'm talking and I'm waiting for some reactions and nothing is happening and I'm like a but a but a speaker-1: It was such a time. mean, and then just like, even now, what are we technically, what three years after COVID? And you still see a lot of virtual, like I hate it. I hate virtual everything because I'm a face-to-face person. feel like, I feel like people don't get me unless we're like in the same room. You know what I'm saying? speaker-0: Yep. speaker-1: virtual stuff like kills me every time like there are so many conferences they're like oh we're gonna be virtual this year like why like I can't I can't except for podcasts of course speaker-0: I wish I could do this live. It'd be so much fun. speaker-1: So what's funny, and we can talk a little bit about this later, but my daughter and I have a podcast. So she's 12 now. ⁓ cool. He's middle schooler and we have a podcast ⁓ called the Fashionably Late Show. And Fashionably Late is a brand that I've developed that I'll go into in a little bit, but it's called the Fashionably Late Show and late is an abbreviation. So there's like a dot in between. every letter, but we're on YouTube. We only have a couple of episodes because she's so busy and she insisted on being my co-host, but then she's so unavailable. ⁓ So much fun to film with her. Like this is actually where I am now is our little podcast filming space. Yeah. It's, it's, it's amazing. And just like, just to hear how she thinks and processes things as a 12 year old. ⁓ And then just kind of sharing with her my thoughts. it's, it's amazing. So, like, I love podcasts ⁓ of, like you said, being in person is amazing as well. But yeah, so that's just a little tidbit about kind of where I am as a mother and apparently podcast co host. ⁓ speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: a better appreciation for the education phase. speaker-0: And imagine having to do it with like 15 to 20 kids. speaker-1: I imagine. I don't know how they do it. gave me a new found respect for teachers for sure. But it also showed me some holes and gaps in the education system, honestly, just the way I started looking into how our teachers train, what are the systems like and the strategies in schools. Needless to say, I did not go back to work as a teacher, as a nurse. I actually transitioned into working in education. So I started partnering with a group of educated education consultants. And basically the skills that I have learned in my leadership training and the program that I've developed for leaders, I was able to translate that into the education space. And ⁓ essentially that's how I met up with the owners of like education station and they pulled me in. to help with community engagement and outreach in that space. So, story short. ⁓ speaker-0: That's why it was easy to get out. went straight to the source. That's awesome. speaker-1: Exactly. So that's how I became a part of the network. And so now I work with community engagement. And then also my daughter hosts a show on the network as well called House of Wonder. So she is a show that makes me a producer. speaker-0: Wondered? That is so cool. speaker-1: Yes. But I love it. ⁓ love the network and the message and the mission and just all the people I get to meet in this role as well. speaker-0: So when you, the owners are they trying to be public? Like, can you say their names? Can you give them a shout out or? speaker-1: the ⁓ speaker-0: I appreciate that. speaker-1: I get to be the spokesperson, I the public face, I guess, of the network right now. I I hope eventually that they will come out because I think that there are awards and honors in store for them for creating such an amazing brand, but that's just not something that they're ready to do right now. Yeah. speaker-0: That's cool. Well, whoever you are, thank you. speaker-1: I'm sure they'll be watching this interview. speaker-0: Yeah, if they're successful and they and they care about the app as much as to finance it without looking for all the glamour behind it, it speaks volumes. We we we see where you're coming from. speaker-1: they actually developed it kind of as we were coming out of COVID. even know. Like I do the quote, the air quotes when I talk about COVID, like, we ever out? As I just, we just decided it's over as a, as a community. And so it's over, but technically, you know, getting sick, but during work, you know, speaker-0: the For real. speaker-1: coming onto the tail end of like all the quarantines and ⁓ all of those things that were going on. It's when they created Black Education Station because they have young children, well, they had young children at the time and they wanted to have everything in a space where those children could, number one, see representation of themselves, ⁓ have a place where they could go and not worry about, you know, ads and things like that because the network it still doesn't have ads. It's completely supported by this family. ⁓ And they wanted to just have something safe for their children during that time. ⁓ thankfully for other children around the world, they decided to share that with all of us. ⁓ speaker-0: So the app does reach globally. Yes, I love hearing that. how I wanna take a look at the app, but from different people's point of view, yeah? Okay. As the app, as Candace, when they first pitched you on becoming the community, speaker-1: It sure does. speaker-0: ⁓ Director of Community Engagement. Thank you. ⁓ What was it about the app that made you say, of course, of course, let's do this? The app itself. speaker-1: Director of Community Engagement. ⁓ The app itself, it looks amazing. So a lot of times when you hear of something that is kind of like a startup, for lack of better words, it can be boot lag, just to be completely honest. So, you know, so that's even, you know, when it was first, ⁓ speaker-0: Been there, done that. ⁓ speaker-1: presented to me, looks like when you open it, it looks beautiful. When you go on to see the different shows, it looks like Netflix to me. looks like high quality. ⁓ The layout of it was beautiful. So that to me was like, ⁓ you know, it's like, okay, they are putting some money into this and they are making sure that this is something that is going to be engaging for children and also, you know, easy to use. ⁓ and just beautiful. So that was my big thing was like, wow, this really, you know, looks amazing. And it looks like something that is. ⁓ speaker-0: Look and feel when you're different. ⁓ don't know if you know this much about me, but I've done software development, software design. I've been on software teams all over the place, everywhere. Look and feel is one of those things that we always talk about. What good is your content if it looks and feels trashy? That's, that's a very important thing. speaker-1: did not know that. Right, Yes, and then the fact that it's in all of these app stores, like it's not like, you just have to go to this website. That's the only way you can access it. You can go, there are so many different ways you can get to it. To me also just spoke volumes to how much they valued the content and kind of get it out there. speaker-0: So it is a lot like Netflix. It is a lot like YouTube where the content lives. speaker-1: Yes, I would say more like, ⁓ I usually compare it to like a Netflix and PBS kids had a baby. And then the baby was black. ⁓ speaker-0: Hahaha! speaker-1: That is kind of the analogy that I use. speaker-0: ⁓ my god, that's fucking hilarious. speaker-1: That's basically it in a nutshell. Because you can download it from any app store. So you can go on the website, like educationstation.com, watch it that way. Go into your Apple, I can't remember what the store is called, the app store on your phone, or you can go into of these other places. The thing that I love is watching it on Roku. That's my favorite because you're getting like the big screen kind of thing. you're able to watch it on TV. you're speaker-0: You guys are everywhere everywhere speaker-1: everywhere. It's phenomenal. speaker-0: Yeah, how much of this how much of this connectivity meaning the different ways to connect to the content? How much of that was in place when you got there? speaker-1: So the strategy itself was already in place. I came on early, pretty early on, but all that stuff had kind of already, not everything. So I was able to give some input on a few things when it comes to the infrastructure. But for the part, it was pretty much set and the plan is kind of behind the scenes. It's kind of, it's really simple to just be like, yes, I want to hear, hear, hear, know, almost like checking a box. wanted. speaker-0: Cause again, we're looking at it from your point of view and I'm trying to think of you're having to sell this thing. So there's a lot of pressure on the owners to have you understand like, okay, this is what we, this is where we are. This is where we're going. Do you want in? And you still said, yeah, was still wanting. speaker-1: And you know, another big thing was I have a child that I knew that this would be helpful for. Like I remember specifically she was a big YouTube kids person. She would watch YouTube kids. And ⁓ at one point she was watching a video and an ad came up and I don't even know what it was, but it was something that like basically horrified her. And I don't think watch YouTube kids since like, that was probably five years. Like she was just like, no. I'm done, I'm done with that. done with that. can't have kids around the world scarred from an ad in a space that you're able to control ads. So to me, that was a huge deal. Being able to have something, and even though she was kind of at the upper age limit for the app, being able to have something like that for her, and then being able to let her be creative in that space too has been a really big plus for me. speaker-0: Yeah. And I want to go back to something that you said earlier that ⁓ when I was when I was a kid, I grew up in the 70s. And so everything was still literally black, white and brown. speaker-1: Right. Yeah. speaker-0: And it never really clicked in my head that we didn't have anyone to look up to, with the exception of probably Ricky Ricardo. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. love Lucy. I love, love Lucy. speaker-0: My dog Ricky is laying right there And he's Cuban he's Havanese so Yeah, me too, I adore I love Lucy ⁓ And I had a pit bull that passed away a couple years ago her name was Lucy So for a hot second, I was living my dream of having a dog named Ricky and Lucy Those little wins But ⁓ speaker-1: That's speaker-0: It never really, it never really clicked to me until I started seeing brown people on TV. And now that we got Bad Bunny coming to do the Super Bowl, I'm like, girl, you know, I got an attitude. speaker-1: How excited are you? speaker-0: Man This weekend the world is falling apart after what happened in minneapolis, right? and and I was I was on I was on ⁓ instagram live just like venting Because it was a hard one what happened was a hard pill to swallow and so My first bounce back my first idea when I was getting angry was At least bad bunny is doing this super bowl speaker-1: I love it. love it. My team, my daughter is, so she's been doing like Spanish. She's been ⁓ in a dual language program since kindergarten. So half of her day for elementary school, like K through five, half of her day was in English and the other half was Spanish. So she's pretty fluent. Yeah, she's pretty fluent, but this year she has her Spanish teacher. is a huge Bad Bunny fan. And my daughter actually was in, are you familiar with the movie Caught Stealing? The most recent movie? Mm-hmm. I started a background in that movie. And I asked, did you tell your teacher that you're in a movie with Bad Bunny? And she was like, ⁓ man, I forgot to tell her. So she told her. She was like, she was so excited. I think I'm her favorite student now. speaker-0: Hahaha! ⁓ speaker-1: like, yeah, girl, you have to share these things. You know, she loves that man. speaker-0: So your daughter does extra work? speaker-1: She does. She does extra work. Get it and fit it into her schedule. A lot of acting right now is in musical theater. She loves singing and the dancing and all of that. So that makes her pretty busy here locally. But I'm always looking for like extra like that one was shot in New York. So was like, we can go to New York. Let's go to New York for a few days. So we went up and one full day on set. you know, it was speaker-0: ⁓ yeah. speaker-1: It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, she can't watch the movie because it's our favorite. But it was a great experience for her. speaker-0: ⁓ She's got about another what, six, seven years and then she'll be fine. speaker-1: Yeah, so that's extra. The, like I said, musical theater is her, her big, her biggest love right now because she, she loves, she is in a musical theater class right now. And when she gets, I don't know, she's here because I'll hear her singing. Like she sings constantly, constantly. speaker-0: the ⁓ speaker-1: Exactly. So yeah, so that keeps her busy, but she wants to eventually get into film. Yeah. So we'll. speaker-0: You can tell her I did extra work too. Yeah, I've always been fascinated by animation and movies and stuff like that. And when I was still in Chicago in college, you know you gotta do. I'm not going to go to a diddy party, but I will go do extra work. So I've been in. I was on ER a handful of times. And what else I was in a movie with. speaker-1: Yeah, okay. Right. speaker-0: Alec Baldwin before he started shooting people in the face? speaker-1: Okay. speaker-0: Ha speaker-1: Good thing you got air before you shoot. speaker-0: Yeah, but no, it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. Is that so ultimately your little girl wants to get into movies and stuff? speaker-1: Yeah, mean, she's she ultimately her ultimate goal is to have like her own little show like a Nickelodeon sitcom. She's hilarious. So I can see her doing just like some comedic acting, but. speaker-0: This podcast is going to be a wonderful exercise. speaker-1: think too if I can get her to do it. She's so busy. Like her schedule, even on Saturday, like it's crazy how busy her schedule is. But yeah, so I'm looking forward to definitely like bulk filming some episodes with her. speaker-0: I'd be interested in taking a look at your idea and what you guys have set up. And maybe there's, maybe I can help like make this happen. Cause this needs to happen. That's more. ⁓ for the past at least year, maybe a little longer now, ⁓ YouTube has been taking aim at TikTok. So they push shorts more than they do the actual episode. So now the challenge for you and your daughter, but for you guys is you don't wanna fall into the trap of being a shorts maker if speaker-1: makes sense. speaker-0: your strength or your ultimate goal is the actual video. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, I mean speaker-0: into the video and then I like for me even this this video here. This is the video but the little shorts and the little clips are like the commercial to come get the bigger thing. speaker-1: That's kind of what I wanted as like how it would be formatted. you know, time and energy and, you know, trying to fit that in. That's like it's a it's a passion project. It's fine. ⁓ But then you actually have like real work to do. So that's right. Part of the challenge is kind of managing all of that media around other stuff. speaker-0: But I'm assuming it's very similar to my situation with Mike. I was telling you earlier, Mike will come on when he can, but, and for those folks that watch regularly, see for explosives. ⁓ But Mike will, he's out being a wonderful parent, but he can't always be on the show. And so we've been trying to figure out how to have one person speaker-1: Yeah speaker-0: You know the producer whatever and the other one is the satellite that's like going around. We just need to figure out how to track that set. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. makes sense. ⁓ speaker-0: What the? ⁓ So the podcast is called ⁓ Fashionably Late. speaker-1: Yes, the Fashionably Late Show. the name came from my so the rest of my story of my work in education is I started with leadership training. I've written a few books since I started in that space. And most recently, I wrote a book basically for Olivia called Fashionably Late and the late stands for living authentically transformed and empowered. The book itself. based on bedtime stories that I would tell her about myself growing up. But of course, every story, there's a lesson. So I tell her about my best friend, and then I ended with a lesson on that. And so every chapter of the book focuses on a different lesson. And then it has a fashion tip, because as I was doing all those other things I described, working in health care, all of the transitioning, I, on the side, am a fashion stylist. So I do personal shopping. exactly. speaker-0: What is in the water in Between you and HOTEP. speaker-1: I don't have time. We like to stay busy, okay? But I love fashion, I always love fashion. And actually when I, my first idea of entrepreneurship was to be a full-time fashion stylist, but my opportunity to transition into entrepreneurship was during COVID and nobody cared what people were wearing at that time. so education became kind of something that I started and then now I love that I've been able to incorporate my love of fashion into my education practice because I've turned it into a curriculum for girls. So it's a mentorship program for girls where we get to talk about all of those challenges around resilience and friendships and confidence and all of that. ⁓ So it's called Fashionably Late and ⁓ So everything I do now is basically passionately related. So the podcast is passionately related. We still talk about some of those topics as another reporter. Eventually when we start bringing on guests, we'll pick a topic for them to discuss as we go through the show as well. So that's what we do. speaker-0: the speaker-1: Yeah, I love it. I love it. I love always having fun. Well, and a lot of the work that I do now is creative, which is so much fun for me. And it really. No, I so as a kid, I was a big reader, so I loved reading. speaker-0: Were you a creative kid coming? That's that answers a lot of questions. speaker-1: Total nerd, straight A's. I tell people I wear glasses now because I would be up all night reading books in the dark because my parents, bad time, I'm trying to finish whatever chapter of Nancy Drew I was reading. ⁓ But yes, was a big nerd. But I feel like I was always wanting to be creative because I was smart and because when I was young, I knew I wanted to be a doctor. I knew I wanted to be a doctor. ⁓ So that was kind of my focus. And I didn't really pay attention to any creative things besides writing. I would always write. ⁓ So being able to kind of shift the focus to that and just kind of tap into that part of me has really been a lot of fun. like, I'm create like, I don't want to get into all the things that I like my little fight quest that I have going on right now. speaker-0: Bye! That's what I'm saying. Especially at COVID, how many projects did you start when COVID hit? speaker-1: I think I wrote like three books during COVID. I've written five. Yeah. And then since I've developed fashionably late, like I've developed like a little cartoon character. So now I'm like, what do I do with her? Like I'm making stickers. Like I'm doing all kinds of stuff just because it's fun. It's just, it's, it's lot of fun. now like, can I incorporate this girl into all the other things, but just trying to being able to weave everything together. speaker-0: saying. speaker-1: ⁓ and make it work. Like even just being able to have fashion a huge part of this mentorship program. Number one, it lets me kind of stay in that space. And it also keeps the girls engaged because they want to get to the fashion, which is the fun part. But I use that kind of as the incentive for us to have these other conversations about, you know, the meat and potatoes before we get to the dessert. You know what I'm saying? So it's fun. It's a lot of fun. speaker-0: That's amazing. How is it? Is it that Atlanta is supportive? Is it the community or is it just like the energy that you guys are feeding off of each other and you guys just got that that hustle mentality no matter what? speaker-1: ⁓ I think it's a combination. definitely think Atlanta is a space for creatives. ⁓ There's so much to do here, like in the creative space, but I do sometimes feel like it's kind of saturated with creatives as well. Like everybody's artist, everybody's a producer, everybody's a rapper, know, everybody can sing. So like being able to kind of maneuver in that space within Atlanta, but for the most part, a lot of the work that I actually do is outside of Atlanta. Yeah, my programs are in Texas and Arizona, California, like around the versus here. But yeah, I definitely think that being around other creatives really pushes you to kind of like tap into your own. speaker-0: Yeah, there's a memory that's bouncing around my head right now. I went karaoke singing in Hollywood. Hey, once I didn't sing, I just went. speaker-1: You're an observer. speaker-0: Everybody, everybody was outstanding. speaker-1: Yeah, see. speaker-0: Everybody. go, my friends go get up there. You can sing. can, I was like, the hell I can. speaker-1: you But that's... speaker-0: We're having a good time. I don't want to ruin it. speaker-1: gonna have to kill the vibe. But yeah, yeah, and even if they can't sing, they think they can. And so, you know, it's fun though. It's a fun space to be in. speaker-0: Yeah. That is funny though. Everybody's creative. Speaking of which, let's say you're a creator. How could a creator leverage Black education station? speaker-1: So ⁓ we are always looking for content creators or we call them producers. So producers of segments on the show ⁓ always there is certain criteria of course that your ⁓ content has to meet the primary ⁓ thing is that it has to be educational. So you pass through our educators who are you know, looking at the content, making sure that it's appropriate. And our age group is ages zero to 10. So if you have educational content for high schoolers, that's not necessarily gonna fit right now. ⁓ So that's one big thing. It has to be educational. It has to be age appropriate for our age group. And either the main character or ⁓ the creator has to be black. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: Those are the criteria outside of that. ⁓ We are always looking for any unique and creative idea that people have. We have music videos on there, which is one of my favorites. ⁓ We have, of course, like general English alphabet shapes, ⁓ colors, numbers, those types of things. And then we have some things that are just entertaining. but also have a positive message. So I know you talked to Hoteb about Black Lion and Cubs, and that's of our pieces of content that's not necessarily hugely educational. You're not going to use that to teach anything, but it does have a positive message and it's empowering. So kind like that. And then it's amazing to watch too. kids, that's one of our highest watched shows. on the network is Black Lion and Cubs because the kids love it. And then, know, of course, Hoteb's always creating other things to kind of follow with it. I have video games, I have toy, like he has everything to kind speaker-0: That man keeps sending me pictures of things that he's doing. speaker-1: always something. So I think that drives the ⁓ attention to that brand as well because he goes on a lot of our press tours and he's speaker-0: Is that how he got up on stage with Colin Kaepernick? speaker-1: Actually, that was at an education conference. So POTEP is one of the education consultants that I started working with when I moved into the education space. And ⁓ that was a education conference in Chicago. And they asked him to ⁓ be a part of a master class with Colin Kaepernick. And it was really good. Like the clips, you've seen the clips. Yeah, so I think he probably. out to more than Colin. But it was was great. So that's how he ended up there was was for education. But of course, if you're in a room full of educators, how can you not talk about Black Education Station? speaker-0: Hahaha It's a must. It's a must. Yeah, and I mean, I love that. I love that it's black centric. ⁓ And that people are actually putting in the effort to to create educational content. Because again, growing up in the 70s, we were spoiled. It was easy. We turned on the TV and you know, ⁓ Schoolhouse Rock was on or you know. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: or Mr. Rogers or Sesame Street, stuff like that. And we got some folks that are taking all that stuff away. Like, I don't wanna pay Netflix to watch Sesame. ⁓ speaker-1: Right. saw that on Netflix. I was like Sesame Street is now here. Like it was it's yeah, so that it's one big reason I think why ⁓ The owners of the s don't want ⁓ Basically outside funding Definitely my government funding because then you can trust them. Everything is censored now. Yeah Like in the past few days speaker-0: Yeah, speaker-1: So my timeline is not that bad, but my sister, she somehow got kicked off and got back on. She was like, my timeline is completely different. It's like completely censored. I'm not saying anything that I was seeing before, but you know, they got new ownership. So again, that goes back to keeping it privately owned, keeping, you know, government hands off of it. That way you can control messaging. speaker-0: Because if it's not ownership, it's a slave ship. ⁓ speaker-1: Exactly! Success students! speaker-0: Yeah, Yeah, I did. ⁓ Yeah. We're we're seeing in in real time what it looks like when a country stops investing in education. We're seeing it in real time. speaker-1: And it's so sad. speaker-0: It really is. It really is. We run such a good track. speaker-1: you are. Yeah. I mean, there's still time. speaker-0: Yeah, that I trust the only reason and the only reason I I'm I'm Way beyond hopeful. I know that change is happening because I'm pay I'm talking to people that want to make that change I Have a front-row seat to a bunch of people that are like nah, we go with this speaker-1: Yes, no more. speaker-0: Yeah, we're good. And if, if you need someone with a big mouth to be the one that, that starts making noise, I raise my hand every time. I raise my hand every time because no, we can't keep doing this. speaker-1: Yeah, definitely. We are definitely not on the right trajectory with education right now. speaker-0: Yeah, with all of the advancements that we have done in technology. ⁓ we should not be anywhere near whatever level we are. out of all the speaker-1: compared to the rest of the world. speaker-0: Yeah, we're like 3040, 50, whatever we are. That's crazy. And then as much trash as we talk as a collective, we're not that smart. If we were that smart, Elon Musk wouldn't actually that's more of a price issue. That's more money. speaker-1: embarrassing. Clear. speaker-0: I take that all back. That's why I don't have a job in Silicon Valley now. His old punk ass. ⁓ Did you did you grow up in Atlanta? speaker-1: No, I actually grew up in Memphis. So Memphis, Tennessee. ⁓ And then I moved here as soon as I graduated from high school. Yeah. College. And so I lived here, ⁓ got married. We moved to St. Louis. I lived in St. Louis for a couple of years. Ohio. I lived in Cincinnati for a couple of years. And then I and those two moves were for my husband's work. And then I was like, well, I want to live somewhere fun. So that's how we ended up in Brooklyn. So we lived in New York for three years, my favorite, hands down favorite place to live. outside of Atlanta. It's really close between New York and Atlanta. But I go back to New ⁓ many times a year because I loved it much. And I think, I know the only reason we are not there anymore is because I got pregnant with Olivia. And my husband and I are both from the Memphis area. And we were like, ⁓ she can't, she can't ride the subway to school. we gotta get her drive. We gotta get her around family. This is not normal. And then she's like five or six and decides she wants to be an actor. I'm like, ⁓ my gosh, you should have just stayed. speaker-0: It was right there If you're is your is your husband supportive of all of your your projects and activities and stuff speaker-1: I'm not sure. He isn't thank goodness because with of course, know, entrepreneurship, it is very up and down, especially working in education as an entrepreneur right now. It is not anywhere consistent. So I always thank God for him being such a great support system for me. He's not creative at all, but he, you know, he acts like he understands what I'm saying and he's always interested in what I'm doing. Yeah, that financial and emotional support is big. Like I don't I don't know that I could do it honestly without. speaker-0: Entrepreneurship is not for everyone and being the spouse of an entrepreneur is not for everyone either. speaker-1: So, so true. So true. My dad was always an entrepreneur. So I have these conversations with him a lot. ⁓ Before my mom passed away, she was getting the steady paycheck. She was a teacher. still made more money than her, that, you know, that consistency is something you grab hold to. But it's always fun having these conversations with him about kind of how it was for the two of them. ⁓ with him being the entrepreneur. It's a lot of fun. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. You as someone with this type of brain that always needs a project and always needs it, you know, like that I scare people sometimes. speaker-1: Yes, yes. It's like, well, what are you working on now? Well, what happened with that other thing? Like working on three things at the same time. What do you mean? Like, I'm putting that to the side for now. It's always fun. Like when I'm writing. I have like a list of like big ideas. I call it my big idea list in different projects that I want to, to at least start. But one of them is to write a novel. So all of my books have been like training books, like boring stuff. the most recent one, which is my life story, but it's still not fiction. I want to write a real fictional novel. And that's been on my list of things that I want to do for probably about a year and a half. And at least once a week, probably, I go in and I'm tinkering with the idea. I don't even know. I have a general idea of what I want it to be about. Long story short, my husband's like, so what's happening with the novel? Like, what are you, what are you, I'm like, I don't know. speaker-0: I get that all the time. speaker-1: But I always have to go away. I was like, you'll know when I'm writing it because I'll need to be away from home for several days to actually work. You don't get real work done at the house. But yeah, so talking about the different projects is always so much fun. speaker-0: Is is the approach of writing a? Technical book. Uhm, is the approach similar to when you did the biography? ⁓ speaker-1: There were some similarities. So for both, I. I like to outline. When I outlined for the technical book, I like the outline was exactly how the book went for a for fashionably late. I did an outline, but it was more it was very loose. So the chapters of being rearranged, you know, what I talked about in each one was a little different than what I originally wanted to address. So that that was a big difference. It's just it's more fun to me. to write a personal story. A big motivation behind it, like I said, was Olivia. I lost my mom. I wasn't super young, but I hadn't done so many of the things that I've done now when my mom died. And when she died, I was grasping at, like, I wonder if she would be proud of me. I wonder if she would want me to do this. I wonder what she would have thought of this. And so I looked, you know, I have a bunch of her stuff. So I always look at things that she wrote. And like, it's usually like, the budget for the week. Like it's not the grocery list. But always like looking for messages and like looking to see, know, try to figure out what she would have thought. We had a pretty good relationship, but it was we never our relationship never evolved into like the adult daughter and mother type of relationship. So a lot of conversations we didn't have. And, you know, I moved away for college and then I got married. I never came back home. you know, after I moved from after high school. And so I feel like there were a lot of like gaps in our relationship. like in my mind, I just wonder a lot of the things. So I wanted to make sure that I had exactly what I wanted to say to Olivia in writing so that she would know. And so like to me, I loved writing that book because it never wanted to allow me to kind of think back on, you know, this chapter is about pivoting. what do I want to say about that? And like, what story do I want to use in that chapter that I think is going to make the biggest impact and that's also going to be entertaining and like meaningful, you know what I'm saying? So like writing that book to me, it was incredibly different, but there were definitely also some similarities between that and the other one. The others are just so boring to me. speaker-0: Thank you. You're making so many moms look lazy as hell. You wrote a love letter to your daughter. speaker-1: So every chapter had a at the end of it. Like, if you ever wonder what I think about relationships, here it is. speaker-0: I'm over here like, speaker-1: love it though, because even like it literally the letters at the end are like dear Olivia this and then at the end it says love mommy like she doesn't call me mommy anymore but I was like I'm mommy. That's the name I prefer. But like even when I talk to groups like a lot of times groups will buy my books and use them like as a book study or like they'll use them and then I'll come in at the end and have these conversations. One of the most meaningful conversations I had speaker-0: Hell yeah. Thank ⁓ speaker-1: ⁓ was actually at a church. So there was a brief group at a church here in Atlanta who used my book as like a book study for their group. And so there's a chapter in there where I talk about my experiences and my mom and it's the chapter is about resilience. And so, you know, talking about what my experience was like after that. But I, you know, I talk about that experience and one of the most meaningful conversations I have. I think ever had about the book was with a gentleman from that group, like after he came up to get his book signed and he had like a bunch of stuff highlighted. He was like, well, tell me what you what you were thinking when you wrote. Like we had a really like 10 minute conversation, but it was just so amazing to me because he was the opposite of what my audience was when I wrote the book for girls. to have him. come up and he was like, love the letter at the end, like the letter you wrote to Olivia, really touched my heart. like, ⁓ my God. But being able to see the impact of that book on so many different people and different types of people in different spaces has been, it's been life changing for me. And because of that, I'll never stop creating things. I'm always gonna be creating. speaker-0: the speaker-1: Yeah. He's done. He's done. Yeah, because like I'll never, don't imagine ever like I think sometimes I wonder like, I wonder how it would be if I went back to the hospital, especially like when work is slow, you know, and I still maintain my nursing degrees. I'm like, should I go back like not full time, but like part time did my toe in. I'm like, I can't imagine clocking in. I can't imagine. speaker-0: That's it. No, have not have you not been watching the pit? speaker-1: No, have to say it's on my list. It's on my list. But like, can't like imagine having to be in a building all day and not be able to leave until somebody tells me I can't like, I, did I live like that? speaker-0: I back at some of the times when I worked in, I worked in like big advertising agencies and stuff. And the amount of work I put out and my paycheck never moved. was on a salary and I, it was ignorant. The amount of time I clock for these people was ignorant. I don't, I work like that for me now. speaker-1: Eds. people who do that because my husband is one of them. So keep, keep. speaker-0: Keep doing it. So what? We need you. speaker-1: That's like entrepreneurship isn't for everybody. The nine to five is also nice. speaker-0: Yep. I work too hard for nine to five. I work way too hard for nine to five. speaker-1: Yeah, there's no way I would feel appropriately compensated for what I do at a nine to five salary job. speaker-0: Cause I do everything. Like I've been hired to be a programmer. When they find out I do design too, they do, they leverage that. Then they find out I do animation. They'd move them over to the commercials. And then they find out that I do over here. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. speaker-0: Nah. Nah, I'm good. speaker-1: That's so fun. speaker-0: Do you draw and paint and stuff like that? speaker-1: I dabble like that's nice that I brag about but I do I have an iPad. speaker-0: You have an iPad? Either you have procreate. Yeah, there you go. You need to dabble. speaker-1: I do a whole bunch of stuff, and that's one that I want to make anything out of. It's just a fun little... I call myself, I am an analog girl. I'm not a digital girl so much as analog. So I use a paper planner, I journal, I write in a journal. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Olivia can find them as an adult like, ⁓ wait, what? speaker-0: You are the coolest mom ever. You're the coolest mom ever. speaker-1: I write on paper, so I'll doodle in there. It'll be like, OK, I had a book event, so I'll draw a stack of books. It's for fun. speaker-0: Yeah. When you're entrepreneurial, what do you do? speaker-1: still a big reader. Now that I do do on my iPad, I have an iPad mini just because it's just how many books can you have in that thing? You can have millions of books. Yeah, so I sometimes I do read a paper book because I do have like I have a library card and I'll go to the library sometimes. ⁓ speaker-0: to unwind. All of them. You know about hoopla? speaker-1: Ooh, speaker-0: Google has an app that's connected to the public library system and you get access to movies, TV shows, audiobooks. speaker-1: So here we have Libby, it's called Libby, L-I-B-B-I, it's probably similar. Although I don't know if there's like visual media on there, but we do have access to the library books. I don't like it because they only have like, I don't feel like they have enough copies. Even like the digital copies, it's only a certain number that can be checked out at a time. Yeah, so the one you're talking about might actually be better in that sense, but. speaker-0: ⁓ huh. speaker-1: here is like connected to, guess they ⁓ license, you know, they probably license five copies of each book. And if it's a popular book, you have to get on the wait list and it'll be like, ⁓ the book it's gonna read. I mean, it's, I'll just buy it. speaker-0: Yeah, for real. Yeah. speaker-1: I have Amazon unlimited so I get a lot of them for free anyway because you know when you have a subscription. But otherwise yeah, I don't want to wait. Not that type of girl. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, well, besides your iPad Mini, there, you leverage technology much or are you mostly like, do you have a card catalog of all your contacts and stuff? speaker-1: Not that bad. do have a vinyl collection. So love physical, you know, ⁓ I do ⁓ I to get a CD like redo my CD collection. still have like, did you ever have like the big giant book of CDs? then you just, I found that like at Christmas, I found it. like, okay, now I need a CD player, but now I want a record player and CD player all in one. So I can just have like a speaker-0: Nice. Yeah. speaker-1: library of ⁓ physical media. I love physical media. ⁓ But no, I don't have a card catalog. My contacts. I carry business cards though. Like I am really like I'm speaker-0: I have business cards too. I had to get back into that. speaker-1: I don't like the digital cards. ⁓ speaker-0: Not everybody has their phone. Not everybody wants to have their phone. speaker-1: Exactly. I ⁓ not everybody's going to keep up with a business card either, but it just makes me feel good. Like, here you ⁓ ⁓ so yeah, really, gosh, I really am old school. Like you're really making me realize how old I am. speaker-0: No, I say that because I have no idea how old you are. I don't even care. for me being in the transition from not even having an answering machine. ⁓ Like we used to call people and if they weren't home, they just weren't home. speaker-1: I never knew you called. speaker-0: ever. There's no caller ID. We used to get tricked all the bill collectors and everybody calling to get in and I'm like, I'm just trying to talk to my friend. speaker-1: All right, so I will say I am I'm slightly younger than you. Okay. Um, but I learned how to type on a typewriter. There you go. Yeah, but right when I learned so we used to have to take typing classes and the year I learned how to type the next year they had computers. I was like, ah, I want. It was weird. It was weird. speaker-0: I would have learned that a lot better. speaker-1: using a computer keyboard after learning how to type on a typewriter. This is how much of a nerd I was. One year. One year for Christmas. I probably was, I may have been 11 or 12. Like the only thing on my Christmas list was a tiebreaker. a typewriter. I was like, want to, I just want to type. I want to type my letters and speaker-0: I have things to say. speaker-1: Yes, I just want to be able to type and they got it for me. like, don't even know where that is. Probably should check with my dad and see if it's in storage. But yeah, I begged for a typewriter for speaker-0: year I begged for a tape recorder. You remember the one that tape was down here the buttons were on the end and the speakers on the other end? I was recording everything. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Okay. Yes. One year I asked for a boom box and I did use the boom box to record the music from the radio. You know how they have like the CD player on top and then the two cassette players. Yeah. speaker-0: too. ⁓ You had to want it back then. Now it's like they give it to you. Now everything is handed to you. You used to have to work back in the day. speaker-1: You did, you did. Yes, yes, I was just. speaker-0: We used to have to track down software so we can learn Photoshop and you know, we used to have to jump through hoops. speaker-1: Yes. That is so true. couldn't have, yeah, you would have to be recording, like editing out the DJ, you know, making the noise at the beginning of the song. I feel like they would do it on purpose because they knew you were recording. speaker-0: They had to be like you never talk this long. speaker-1: Back then they got the horns, like you're messing up the intro. ⁓ speaker-0: And then when people started using music for like their, ⁓ when you got their voicemail. speaker-1: ⁓ okay. Yeah. Yeah. speaker-0: Start with like some Jody C or something and then someone like that. Hey ⁓ speaker-1: Yes. ⁓ man, those were the days. Those were the days. And now we have social media. Everything's complete. speaker-0: And yeah, and now the alternative is everybody's in your business. speaker-1: Right? Right? Yeah. speaker-0: There has to be a happy medium somewhere. There has to be. speaker-1: sure. But it's like, my struggle with social media is, you know, I don't, I don't have anything personally against it. It's just, it almost feels like you have to be on social media to have a successful product, or you have to have like some type of presence. And like, I don't like having to do that in order to be successful, but like that's It's like you meet people now. Like I go if I go to a networking event, it's like, ⁓ what's your Instagram? Like they ask for your Instagram instead of. Or I'm like, Instagram, I've started telling people I don't have one. I don't have one. I have a small digital footprint. speaker-0: Or anything else, yeah. have a theory. What is it? And it's kind of like I've worked in Hollywood and la la la. So I'm kind of tainted by that world. But ⁓ the people that have money have figured out that people will do the majority of the work if you just. Hold that carrot in front of them. So they want you to build up your audience and they want you to do all of the marketing. And then you come to them, you know, you're in shambles and then, know, and they're on the TV or shark taking shit. And you're like in shambles because you've given your whole entire life to this IP. And then they're like, speaker-1: Hmm It's just alright. speaker-0: you And so they yeah, and so they they they force you to do everything and then now with social media now, you know, you can grow your audience and and I think who was it? I think. I think it was Kevin Hart was one of the first people to ever be like, yeah, no, you gotta pay me to advertise on my Instagram. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. speaker-0: And people were like, wait, what? no, no, no. That was my hard work. speaker-1: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I mean, and I love that for him. I need to be in that place where people are paying me. Like, you you have to have the audience. Exactly. speaker-0: You don't need to be me. Give me money so I can be me over there. speaker-1: And we suppose to where send me money to go shopping because. speaker-0: That fits perfectly into the podcast too. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. One day. With your help, I can get there. speaker-0: We're going to take a, we're going to take a peek under the hood and see what you guys are running over there. speaker-1: Okay. I love it. ⁓ speaker-0: So you guys are currently actively looking for creators for the BES app? speaker-1: So we open, we do like a quarterly window where we are accepting applications for creators. And I think the window is still open for this first quarter of 20. If not, ⁓ it just closed. I'm sure there are still applications trickling in now, but yeah. So the next one will be quarter two. speaker-0: Yeah. And then walk me through that process. If I wanted to ⁓ pitch something to you guys, and we already went through the list, it has to be educational, has to be age 0 to 10, the creator, or the main character has to be black. If you fit that criteria, you apply, you send in the application. speaker-1: Yes. So we have, it's really easy actually. It's a Google form that you complete and you fill in all of your information. know, most of it's like demographic. Who are you? What's your show about? If you already have a show that's ideal, if you already have a show that fits the parameters, that's ideal. Ask for a sample of that. So a lot of people just do it. And then ⁓ the curators will take a look and say, Yeah, yeah, this is something that we want or, you know, sometimes people will just have like one pilot episode and we do that was something that I forgot to mention. We do require five episodes before you can have like your your channel started. ⁓ So if it's something that, you know, that they think is a good idea or a good fit, they'll reach back out and say, hey, you know, your content looks great. ⁓ Do you have any more episodes or, you know, get us four more? get them over to us and we'll get your channel started. the full process, if it's already content that's available, the process is about a month, I believe, right now before it's completely, you know, your channel's created and all of your content is there. ⁓ speaker-0: application to channel. It's about a month. speaker-1: I would say, right. Really also depends on like what else is needed because we have someone on the team who helps create like the thumbnails. So a lot of just to make sure that they are congruent across the network, we have those created. Some shows don't have the intro. So especially a lot of people that do like the YouTube, they just jump right on and start talking, which is fine, but we'll help them create an intro. for their show. And then we have the House of Wonder show that I mentioned that Olivia hosts, is like a Sesame Street, basically, like a black Sesame Street. So that show is actually made up of multiple producers. ⁓ If people have just like several shorts that they want to use, we can use those, can sometimes incorporate those into the House of Wonder episodes as well. So there's a lot of different options and ways that people can become involved and I always get so excited when the application season is open just to see what's coming through or what like posts on or like comment under some of the posts from the network and say, hey, I have content. And then like I go over to the page like, yes, yes, please make sure you do the application. it's not my job, but. speaker-0: it's one of the perks speaker-1: And yes, yes, I love seeing that. speaker-0: That's excellent. Yeah, so there, if you're a creator and you want to teach your big fan of education, we have an outlet for you. speaker-1: Yes. speaker-0: But be careful, it's run by a bunch of motivated people. speaker-1: We will push you. We will push you to work. If you give us five good episodes, guarantee we're going to ask you for five more. Just that. speaker-0: You know? Yeah. And then how would, how do creators get paid? speaker-1: So currently there is no pay structure for our producers. We give our producers the ability to maintain control of their work. even if, so for example, if there's someone who's really successful on YouTube, for example, we let them, you know, hey, keep it on YouTube if you're getting paid over there. And then, you know, we can put duplicate work or original work here on the network. They are looking at, I don't, is something I should know. It's a trick question. We are talking about the capability of people to subscribe specifically to certain networks. So for example, if you were to create a show and you had a channel on the network, instead of people subscribing to the network as a whole, they can subscribe to your channel and they say, ⁓ you know, I only want to see Carlos's stuff or I only want to see the Black Lion stuff because I don't have kids, but I want to watch. they can subscribe to your channel and then you would be able to keep percentage of subscription. I believe it was like 80/ 20 or something like that. ⁓ So is one way that our producers can get paid either currently or very soon. ⁓ But yeah, so that's one way and I think that's gonna be the first way because honestly the network, ⁓ speaker-0: Hahaha speaker-1: We launched it in 2022. That was kind of like a soft launch. We've really just started, you know, trying to get some publicity around it and really pushing it and hoping to get it in to our households. So it's just now got into profitability here at the end of last year. so now, thank you so much. Now that we are at profitability, now we're starting to have more of those conversations about paying our producers, you know, making sure that speaker-0: That's big. speaker-1: in addition to the maintenance and the keeping it ad free and all those things like the operations of the network that we're now able to kind of see what's left and work with our producers to help them get paid too. speaker-0: Yeah, for those folks that are maybe got a little uncomfortable with the no pay structure thing, you have to take a look at the advantage of this. have, it's basically, you're going directly to filtered content with an established entity that's not going anywhere. And we're learning that they're actually doing this more for the benefit of the app than it is anything else. So, you know, and they're they're telling you that it's okay if you find a different way to get money. You know, if you get if you find a different way to get money and and attention on your product, it's going to help BES and the same thing BES can help you to. speaker-1: Exactly. Yeah. And then another thing that we are doing. So a lot of our producers are like me where we're creative and, you know, I'll produce a show, but I also have a product. have a book that I sell. have a program. So one of the things that we are also doing with our higher viewing ⁓ producers is making sure that we're getting them out into these different events. So BES is a big part of my job actually is kind of building the bridge between the network and the public in general. A lot of that involves going to outreach opportunities, conferences, ⁓ expos and things like that and having a space for BES. So we are, a lot of our producers, like I said, have books or have toys or products or services. And so we're allowing them to come and sell their products at the BES table, use their products as an to get subscribers. So one of the things that we did recently out in California is a couple of our producers were there and what they did, they price their, basically they gave away their products for anyone who subscribed to the network and then BES paid them for their products. So they get a subscription and their book, they usually get $20 for their book. give them the $20 because they got a subscription. So, you know, there's, there's, you know, although there's not like, here's a check for, is you are, there are still so many opportunities and incentives. speaker-0: That's cool. Let me tell you, it's hard work trying to blow up our YouTube. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, it's hard work. speaker-0: Think of it. You can easily think of it as like. This is it sounds like a really good networking opportunity. speaker-1: Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. It's a lot of fun. We have fun over here. We actually have a big event coming up at the end of February here in Atlanta where it's a family event. So we are wanting to have parents and families come out, but a lot of our producers are gonna be here too. And it's gonna be a lot of their first time meeting. So I'm excited about it. It's gonna be a lot of fun, but yeah, it's a fun place to be. ⁓ If you love creating, you love kids and you know, it's the place to be. speaker-0: That sounds wonderful. I've been telling people for a long time, I really Schoolhouse Rock. Even the Cosby kids, because that was educationally backed. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. speaker-0: And obviously, know, the Mr. Rogers and everything he did and blah, speaker-1: Do you remember? OK, I'm going to age myself for real now. This was actually, was before my time, but my mom had them because she was a teacher. Do you, did you ever know of like the letter people, like literacy? I feel like it was records, like 45s with ⁓ ⁓ letters of the alphabet. And there was like a song for each one. And this was, I don't think it was on TV at all, but it was. I wonder if this is something that only teachers had now. I'm so curious. See, these are the questions I would be asking my mom because my dad has no idea. You don't remember the speaker-0: Yeah. I don't remember those records, but there's so many things that people have done like Probably the only the closest thing to an educational record me and my siblings had growing up was Sesame Street disco Okay. speaker-1: familiar. speaker-0: the speaker-1: I randomly thought of the letter people. It's just randomly. I was like, I wonder if it's on YouTube. And I was able to find like a couple of videos. was like, damn. ⁓ I'm pretty sure that's how I learned to read the speaker-0: Cool I don't remember the letter people, but that is awesome. speaker-1: You have to look if and like I'm a person that learns better through song like I can rap most hip hop songs like off the rip because I remember music so much easier. like having that type and that's another one of the things I love about BES is like a lot of things are set to music and if they're like me who learn better that way like it's it's a phenomenal phenomenal place to be. speaker-0: being a writer, did you ever write rap music or music at all? speaker-1: No, but I need to put that on my list. speaker-0: You should, let me tell you, last year... speaker-1: That's not true. That's not true. So my daughter, before she started hosting ⁓ House of Wonder, she did voiceover for a show called Black in Time. And so that was like her first series on the network. And so she was probably like eight. But I wrote her intro song for, and it's a rap. It's like. speaker-0: Tell me. Yes ma'am. speaker-1: One of my friends is a producer, like we went to his studio, like he produced it. And she was like, yes. speaker-0: ice cube. Take it. I need to add a 3000. speaker-1: to my list of credentials. Yes, I have written a rap. Yeah. speaker-0: ⁓ Last year I wrote a song and I did the studio session and everything. It's incredible how much fun it is. It's fun. Yeah, man. I wrote a diss track to rappers that do their own graphic design. speaker-1: so much. Please tell me it's on YouTube, please. speaker-0: It is. I'll send it to you. I'll send it to you. speaker-1: Yes, I need to hear this. speaker-0: Yeah. There's some rapper that so I'm kind of I've been tapped into the Chicago hip hop scene. I was working on a documentary and stuff and. And so I have a lot of friends in the rap in the game from out there, right? And I was on Facebook and someone said it was during COVID 2 and someone said. Just because y'all got a lot just because y'all got a lot of extra time on your hands don't mean you're gonna be a good rapper And I said this bitch you did terror. I saw your album cover. It's terrible So I wrote a diss track speaker-1: ⁓ my goodness. I definitely that's happening as soon as we get done. gotta go here. speaker-0: Uhhh... speaker-1: That's so funny. speaker-0: That is it. And it was a great time. It was a great time. And that's one of those things like, I'm assuming you're a lot like this too, cause you've written five books and you've done all these things. Like for me, if it's a learning experience, I'm in. I'm in. If it's, if it's writing a rap song, if it's jumping out of a plane, if it's, I'm about to go get my, I'm about to go get licensed for scuba diving. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, same. Really? speaker-0: ⁓ yeah. Yeah. What were you said? What were you saying? Adventurous and you're looking for that too. speaker-1: I don't know what I'm gonna do next, but I do I definitely want to go skydiving, but I don't have anybody who will do it with me. Like nobody has to do it with me because somebody has to be alive if I go splat, right? speaker-0: Yeah, but you don't think of it that way you think of it as you think of it as ⁓ So number one I went with my sister and we jumped out of the plane and we landed and it was such Such a satisfying adrenaline rush. They said the next plane is about to leave you want in I said, And I looked at my sister. I said you want it. She says I don't have the money. I said come on speaker-1: twice. speaker-0: Got it for her. We went right back up and jump right back down Is and if there is any doubt or any kind of the way I describe it is if there's any rust on your life that you're kind of Weighing you down jump out of a plane that rust is gone Your limbs feel better like everything you're just like ready to go speaker-1: Yeah. You've convinced me I'm doing it before my next birthday. It gives me about nine months to figure it out what's happening. speaker-0: do it. ⁓ it's it's so good. Everyone that I talked to, if I get to talk to them before they do it, when they do it, they're like, Yep, you're right. speaker-1: Yeah, we're going to be texting you. Carla, that's what I did. speaker-0: as you're falling. ⁓ speaker-1: Open or were they closed? Okay. ⁓ speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ You have goggles and So there there's there's one point I actually have this video up on YouTube to where I actually did it But there's one point you know you're trying to be brave, you're like whatever whatever and you have the goggles on And you're like am I gonna die and then you're like no you know you're gonna be fine And then right when there there's like this tipping point When they're when you're leaning out the plane speaker-1: Thanks. Yeah, yeah, It's like, speaker-0: You you you poop just a little And then and then you fall and then it takes you a couple moments to be like Okay, okay. All right. All right. All right. All right cool. All right cool And then you're convincing yourself that you're not afraid so you're starting to look around You know, there's someone with the camera behind Trying to take your pictures down And you're like move. I'm trying to see right and then you realize that you're falling once you start falling through the clouds. You're like, OK, this dude needs to go ahead and pull the parachute out because we're falling through clouds now. But it's amazing. It's amazing. It's such a good experience. Yeah, I can't wait to hear about when you go. speaker-1: . ⁓ I'm gonna film it. I'm gonna let you know. speaker-0: Do it. It's so much fun. Yeah. So that's why like I, you know, I've had of I'm like you, I'll get into something as long as it's constructive and educational and all that stuff. I've won script writing ⁓ festivals, I've won or I've had films in film festivals, you know, it's hard for me to say no. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, we are. speaker-0: Yeah Like I was telling Hota like you turn around and you look and you're like man, I I Forgot I did that I forgot that that that that that speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ Yep, yeah. speaker-0: I tell people when I get to heaven, Jesus is going to open up the gates. He's going to give me a high five and smack me on the ass and yell into heaven. That's how you do that. speaker-1: My goodness. ⁓ speaker-0: Yeah. So Candice, we're going to go ahead and wrap this one up. you want you. speaker-1: I just realized it's been talking for a long time. speaker-0: Yeah. unless you want to keep going. But what I was going to say is if there's anything else that you want to add to your path or black education station, any of that stuff, let us know. And then let us know how we can find you and the app online place. speaker-1: Okay, so first I just wanna say thank you. This has been, you said the two hours were gonna fly by and you were so right. has been a very fun, probably the most fun podcast I've done. Like it's just like our conversation was just very natural and I love that. So thank you for having me. ⁓ As far as Black Education Station is concerned, I love to close all of my conversations with our mission. speaker-0: You I appreciate that. speaker-1: And our mission is to be in every black household. So I always tell people, if you have Netflix, if you have Disney, if you have Hulu, all those other apps, you should also have Black Education Station. There's no reason that you shouldn't have a space that is safe for your children to be educated by people who look like them, that is curated by educators, that is ad-free, comment-free. ⁓ It's just, to me, it's a necessity in every household. So if you don't have it, you should. ⁓ So you can find Black Education Station on TikTok as well as Instagram at Black Education Station. One word, of course. ⁓ The website is blackeducationstation.com. If you are interested in subscribing and downloading the app, it can be found in app stores under BES TV. And that is what it's called in all of the app stores. I also want to close with just ⁓ encouraging all the mothers and everyone who is a caregiver of a girl to make sure that you are having real conversations with them, making sure that you create a safe space for them to be themselves. My biggest word for my brand is authenticity. So that's something that I always try to bring to the table. And that is something that I encourage the young ladies that I work with to always put at the forefront of everything that they do. making sure that you're creating a space for them to be them. their most authentic selves is so important. So please make sure you're doing that. I can be found at, I to remember, I'm an analog girl, all what's my social media? It's CandaceAveryStyle on Instagram. I am also on TikTok where I have started a series called The Late Shift. late with the same letters L A T E living authentically transform and empower but the conversations I have are more for the adult audience not you know it's not spicy or anything like that but you know we're the same themes but in a way that you know adults can talk about it so my tick tock is underscore Candice Avery and that's my social media ⁓ our podcast Olivia and my podcast can be found on YouTube at the dot Fashionably Late Show. It's very long. It's the best I can do. V.Fashionably Late Show. And that's it. speaker-0: Thank you so much. That was awesome. I am so glad. Again, thank you, Mystery Black Education Station. ⁓ speaker-1: Owners. Yes, there's stealth behind the scenes. But yes, they're doing an amazing job. And again, I'm so proud to be a part of ⁓ the revolution in education. speaker-0: Yeah Yes ma'am and it's coming. It's coming. There's there's a lot of. There's a lot of educators that are running for office. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. That's Yeah, ⁓ I think we'll see speaker-0: We need a mix. I don't mind having lawyers in there as long as we have teachers in there, as long as we have plumbers in there, as long as we have, you know, the house needs to be ours. And it needs to represent us, not just lawyers, not just whomever's in there. Thank you again so much for coming on and being such a positive influence. speaker-1: Yeah, agreed. speaker-0: to all these wonderful young ladies that are gonna watch this show and see you talking and just making it happen. in such a positive way. I love it. speaker-1: a lot of fun. I gotta go watch the video now. speaker-0: ⁓ All right, everybody. And with that, we're out. speaker-1: Okay.