Gringo's Guide To: Remembering You're Not Alone

Dramos is joined by members of the Just Be Social Club to talk about the power in sharing our stories, finding community, the shared struggles that many of us faced growing up, wanting more out of life and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Love me talking about talk here we go.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
He said he lived life as a gringo, where you
question where you fit in.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Every time you mingle, they.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Say you do this would not of that my rapping
was really bad life.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yes, hello, and welcome to another episode of Life as
a Gringo. I am dramas of Horse, and I apologize
my voice sounds a little bit a little bit horse today.
I am. I've just had a I've had a week.
I'm I was in Puerto Rico. I had mentioned that,
I think on the last episode that's why we didn't
have any shows last week.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
I spent the week in Puerto Rico, which was amazing.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
I was running around a ton, shooting a bunch of
just content for fun more than anything else, and just
getting to enjoy the vibes out there. I got to
see my grandfather, who was in his mid nineties and
looking amazing, so that was awesome as usual, and then
I had basically like just hopped off the plane, took

(01:05):
a nap, and was back to like my normal grind.
I was djaying on Saturday. Then Sunday we had my
monthly party and I completely lost my voice after that.
So it's actually a miracle that we are even here
doing this this podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Right now, I've recovered to that point.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
But we hear and I'm really excited about today's show.
I'm really excited in general about kind of the direction
of Yeah, I don't know my life, you know what
I'm focusing my time, my energy on. You know, if
you hear my dog, he of course is deciding to

(01:44):
go crazy in the background right now as we started recording.
He was completely calm before that. He has a great
internal clock of when he should be making noise and
when he shouldn't. But anyway, I'm I'm really excited about
my This brand Just Be is a part of what
I really feel like is overall like the grander vision

(02:06):
of my life and my purpose. And you know, we
are are getting ready to kind of expand into the
next chapter of that and really hone in on the
idea of community, which has been I feel like at
the center of everything I've been doing, you know, since
I was even playing in bands as like a teenager
and things like that. It was the idea of coming
together with like minded people for you know, the the

(02:27):
greater good or a common cause and just be. We've
been able to do that through our mastermind groups you know,
on a smaller level.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
But now this is a chance for us to really
figure out a way.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
To bring in more people and not only bring in
more people to be a part of it, to indulge
in what we're doing, but also to empower other people,
you know, and we'll get into kind of the Grandio's
vision of it all. But for me, I want this
platform to be something that is collaborative, you know, for
everybody who is is a part of it and also

(03:02):
has the opportunity to empower others from our community. It
give them a platform to have their voice heard, you know,
to hopefully eventually as it's large enough to financially empower
other creatives to you know, create content for the community,
and even beyond that, just having a place for everyone

(03:23):
to go to, you know, recharge, right to regroup, to
be inspired, to get feedback, all the different things.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
You know that that I want to envision for what
we're creating here.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
So I'm just really excited for this next iteration of
the just Be Social Club and and just be our
brand and in an effort to kind of, you know,
I don't know, just kind of give you a bit
of insight into what we've been doing, where we want
to go and and kind of some of the experiences
and relationships that have been built.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
I actually invited on a handful of of members of
the Just Be Social Club.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
We had two groups total over the last year, and
I invited a handful of our family to you know,
just hop on the podcast and.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Share their experiences.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
But also, I think, more than anything, as it means
to showcase that.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
You're not alone and your longing for more.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
And I think that's probably the biggest takeaway is like,
you know, beyond just hearing me talk about this, but
now you're going to hear some of the people who
actually listen to this podcast, you know, who support all
that I do and have found a sense of community
in this work and in these conversations. And I hear
from a lot of you on Instagram and things like

(04:39):
that about you know, the podcast providing that for you.
And I love when I get to platform those of
you who have been a part of this journey to
once again reiterate just how we are truly not alone
and all that we struggle with, all that we're longing for,
and there's such a beauty and comfort within that, So
I invite a handful of members that Just Be Social

(05:01):
Club who have gone through the experience thus far to
kind of just talk about what drove them to look
for something more, you know, the experiences that they've had.
I also have my partner Brenda, who's an incredible coach
as well, who is helping run the Just Be brand
as well and is a partner with me in this
whole entire process. So yeah, that's what we're gonna be

(05:22):
sharing today, just a conversation of our experience over the
last year of really doing these masterminds of getting together,
of pushing ourselves for growth and trying to fill some
voids in our life in a healthy manner. So that'll
be today's episode. So we'll do that in Army hint
the segment, all right, so on the show that we

(05:51):
have a bit of a reunion of sorts here. It
makes me very happy to bring together this group well
particularly we also have some OG Group members who haven't
I haven't seen a couple of months.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
So it's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
But we're gonna we're just gonna have a conversation about
our experience together. I've with the exception of of of
brand who I've been working with I think for almost
two years, will be going on at this point, if
I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
The rest of y'all.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
We we just I've known you guys for a minute,
a couple of you, but we really got to consistently
see one another on a regular basis for the.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Course of a year.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
And you know, it's been a beautiful, beautiful sort of
thing to all come together in that way beyond just
like random social media interactions. Beyond randomly just like a
you know, avatar that comments on random things, or you
know that you kind of come into contact with back

(06:54):
and forth via the DMS or comments on live or
something like that. But to actually like get to know
people behind it all, it has been a beautiful experience.
And as we're getting ready to kind of like really
try to open up the just be social club idea
to a lot more people, because of just how amazing
it's been, I wanted to bring on a couple of
you guys who have been a part of the process

(07:16):
and have been super active in it with us to
just talk a bit about it. You know, I feel
like we never really get a chance to get real
time feedback or to allow y'all to really you know,
I don't just express all that we went through together.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
I feel like within this whole thing.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
So I'm gonna just just so people can begin to
recognize voices, because there's a few of you and this
can get a bit chaotic. I'm just going to introduce
you by name just so you can say, you know,
you're hello, so people listening can get the recognition of
the voice here. So we have Jade, who has been

(07:56):
a long time home virtually and now we've we've been
able to connect a lot more.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
Jad if you want to say hello to the people
so they hear your voice.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Virtual checking in I actually yeah, I just met Jade's
mom as well v Instagram the other day, which is
a beautiful thing as well.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
So this we're just out here.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
That does not surprise.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
It's just absolutely listen. I love it and it's a
beautiful thing. Chelsea as well, Hello Chelsea.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
Okay, we got Chelsea.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
That's a very recognizable voice, so you'll know you'll know
Chelsea uh with the little southern twang that she gets
in there every once in a while. And then Uh
Antonio as well, who I was just on his his podcast,
which we'll get.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Into all that as well. But Antonio, how you doing, sir?

Speaker 3 (08:48):
From the Left Coast Antonio here.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
Love it, love it.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
And then Brenda my my my partner in crime over here,
who's been on the show as well a bunch of times.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
She's she's with us as well.

Speaker 5 (08:57):
Yeah, and yeah, this voice is it's probably not as
recognizable some of your guys's voice.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
But yeah, we're all recognizable in some sort of way.
But all right, so now we got that out of
the way, and I want to just well kind of
like I'm gonna try to leave the same format that
we do when we have the club together, where I like,
ask a question and just leave it open to whoever
wants to answer first and chime in, right, instead of
just like picking on somebody.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
But I think what's interesting.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
To me, which I feel like we never really got
into or had the time to completely dive into, was
what was like the thing that made you guys actually
long to be a part of this, right, because I
think you know, it's it sounds easy in theory, right, Oh,
It's like, Okay, there's a couple of people meeting up
via zoom virtually whatever it might be.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
And yeah, like the actual aspect of.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
You know, just logging onto your computer and doing it
is is not anything strenuous, but it takes a lot
to really commit yourself to consistently be a part of
it on a regular basis and to not only sort
of be there like a fly on the wall.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
But the reason why you know, you guys.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
In particular, are are sort of on this this episode
is because you also were really going out of your
way to like get the most out of the experience.
I feel like that that we all were coming together
to do. So whoever wants to to kind of, you know,
go go first. I would love to kind of just
hear what was going on in your life, you know,

(10:28):
your your motivation or whatever you were searching for that
made you kind of reach out and say, hey, can
I be a part of of this thing that you're
you're trying out right, which again at the beginning was
like nobod knew what the fuck it was going to be.
We're all just kind of figuring this thing out together.
So I'm just curious, you know, what was the motivation,
if you will, And.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
This is how it usually starts.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
Yeah, a quick moment of silence for the politeness before
somebody decides to jump in.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
This is exactly what our master.

Speaker 6 (11:03):
I'm not even on mute, so Jade here checking in.
I'll kick us off that way we can grip.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
The band aid. So I don't know.

Speaker 6 (11:12):
The order for us meeting compared to Chelsea and Antonio,
but I remember specifically, you know, in twenty twenty and
I was temporarily laid off from the work I was doing.
I was really at home and kind of just falling
through social media. I actually thank you and I connected
just on the phone a couple of times from managing
the lines back at the breakfast club where you probably

(11:33):
recognize my number at some point. And I followed up
there with the commentary because it was a part, part
social justice, part just being really interested in what was
going on the front end. But once I followed behind
the scenes and really saw what you were doing, what
you were building, there's a lot of like serendipity there.
For me, there was a lot of alignment of just
like just trying to drink bigger and create something on

(11:56):
your own outside of what people perceive for what they
thought was cool of like, oh, you know, a producer
from the breakfast club, but I was like, but what
is he doing after this? I think that's always the
question I've been asking me, like what's next?

Speaker 4 (12:08):
What are we doing?

Speaker 6 (12:09):
And so there have just been so many times that
things come up with this group that just become completely
aware for me that there's something bigger kind of aligning
the stars for us being connected. Whether I think the
three of us, you, Brennan and I were in Puerto
Rico like literally a week apart and just could not
think it up and it just happened, you know, we

(12:29):
were going there, and then I think that realistically, just
having the the real talks like behind the scenes and
understanding that all of us coming from different backgrounds, upbringing
and you know East Coast, Left coast, just having some
of the same like millennial and magit right behind it.

(12:51):
Inner crises of like what are we doing here? And
how many fucks do we have left to give? Is
really what like sold me. And I was just in
and I say that I'm being like a little flippant,
but like I literally have a jar here. That's like
it says, that's where I'm at. So when I sit
at my desk, so there's a little bit of a

(13:11):
dark humor in there. For me, I think that there's
a lot of transferable skills and just what I'm looking
to invest in personally, but also into a group that
I can see the returns, like impacting community.

Speaker 4 (13:23):
Just beyond what we do from day to day.

Speaker 7 (13:25):
And that's what's always brought me back is exactly what
you said after you know, these calls, even if it's
a long day, it's really energizing and it's good to
catch up with a group of people that kind of
just get it and that are going through some of
the same things and have a bigger north star and
a bigger mission that drives them outside of what we
kind of see around us.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
So that's really my full circle.

Speaker 6 (13:48):
And here we are, almost what four years later, and
it's it's interesting to look back on, you know, just
I can see the growth, and I can see in
everybody and also in myself and sometimes that I'm just
I'm so impressed and have to remind myself of that
when I'm reflecting in real time, to like keep going
and of just dreaming bigger and not even knowing what

(14:09):
the end result is going to be, but something beautiful
for sure.

Speaker 4 (14:12):
So I'm all in.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah no, and I love so much of what you said.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
I think, Yeah, you and I we we really started
interacting consistently when I was doing like the Instagram lives
during the pandemic, I think, and that's when we kind
of began to to you know, build that rapport and
that that friendship. But I think what's what's interesting is
as like difficult of a time period as as that was,

(14:39):
you know, for for everybody, basically there's just a weird
time to live through an experience. I think it also
it exposed so many of us to maybe what was
missing in our lives, right and and then because of
the sort of advent of like new technology with Zoom
and the lives and all these streams and things like that,

(14:59):
it'll allowed us then to sort of connect with with
a lot of different people from all over the place potentially,
right And and I think what I realized in doing that
was just how much I lacked community, you know. And
we all have people in our immediate lives that are
close to us that we love, that are friends that
that you know, we we've spent a lot of time with,

(15:21):
and we have you know, good, bad, weird, whatever it
might be. Relationships with but I think you know, so
many of us.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Are are sort of.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
It's almost like we're we're like dehydrated, Like we're like
we're dehydrated from substance to a degree, right, Because you
can have a lot of amazing people in.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
Your life, but.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Not everybody is is growth oriented or wanting more out
of out of life in the same way, right, or
sort of is is not?

Speaker 1 (15:57):
I don't know, it does is not.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
I think there's like this awareness, and it's a gift
in a curse, right, And some of us who have
awareness as to what's missing or what we want more
of or the potential that life could have for us, Right,
that's a beautiful thing, but it also is incredibly alienating
to a degree because not everybody around you shares in
that same awareness, you know. And I think that is

(16:20):
sort of what I felt like, and speaking to your
point about the idea of it being energizing the days
that we did come together when there's a lot of
times where we're all tired from our days at work,
with family, whatever it might be, I think it was
always this sort of reminder of like, yeah, I'm not
alone in this right, in this search for more this
hunger for more, this want, this need that I know

(16:42):
that there's more available to me, even though maybe I'm
a bit drained or beat up because it feels like
I'm beating my head against the wall trying to convince
those around me. Once you step into like this sort
of group setting where everybody's on the same page, there
is this piece that comes over you and this reminder
of like, Okay, I'm not crazy and sort of saying, hey,
I want more than my current situation, and I know

(17:04):
I'm capable of, you know, more than this. So I think, yeah,
that that speaks a lot to what you you were
kind of talking about. I think why this whole thing
has has been so special. All Right, I'm hopping real quick.
We'll take a pause on the conversation. We'll take a
quick break, and then we'll be right back. All right,

(17:25):
we are back, and whoever wants to go next on
this topic of the conversation of kind of like your
motivation for wanting to be a part of this and
where you were at.

Speaker 4 (17:36):
I will go. I saw that it's okay, so for me.

Speaker 8 (17:43):
Yeah, I'll go a little backwards.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
So at first I used to watch the.

Speaker 8 (17:50):
Breaklest Club a lot, Like I watched it on TV
whatever Twitter in the day time, and I was like,
I'm sorry, dramas.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
I gotta say.

Speaker 8 (17:58):
I was like that a cute guy in the back.
So then I was like, let me go find him
on the Instagram. And then like you know, the pandemic happening,
he was going live and I was cutting up on
the lives I met. Jade, loved me some Jade love.
And then when you asked me, like when you asked
me to join, I was like, I don't know about that,

(18:19):
because you know, I do too much sometimes, but I
was like, all right, I'll give it a try. And
then then I was like, oh, I know Jade. I've
seen her a couple of times. We follow each other.

Speaker 4 (18:28):
She know how I do.

Speaker 8 (18:29):
And then like she's coming back every month, like actually
getting to know these people, and we always are there
for each other and building a family, like even though
we've never met each other in person, Like that's my
family and I love it. And then like you always
push the the narrative a little bit by challenging us
and making us look into ourselves and do the work,

(18:50):
and I love that, and that's kind of why I
kept coming back, and I'm grateful to be a part
of it. I love Brenda, my baby, even though we
were the same Maje, that's still my baby.

Speaker 4 (19:00):
But you know, I just.

Speaker 8 (19:01):
Love it and I love you guys, and I'm grateful
for the opportunity to even be a part of the group.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
No, I appreciate that, and the love is mutual.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
It's funny, I forgot that I had reached out to
to you about it.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
I think, Yeah, I think that's sort of like.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
The the beauty of it all is like when we
were especially that you guys are the first kind of
guinea pigs of it all. It was it was really
just like, you know, who have I been interacting with
on a consistent basis that like you know, seems like
they're on the same page, but like you know, it's
sort of like showcasing, wanting to sort of have this
rapport and this like you know, this this relationship of

(19:38):
like really just having conversations about life and things like that, right,
And I think that that's how Brenda and I connected
in the first place, was like this was somebody who
was actively trying to participate in in something I was doing,
and you know, basically participating in my life, right, be
it virtually, but still being an active member of what
I'm doing. And and yeah, I think that that's I

(20:01):
totally forgot that, Yeah, that I had reached out to
you guys as well initially about it, so that I
think that makes it even more of a a sort
of beautiful thing.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
I think it was, like, you know, in.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Because I always say, like, the idea about this is
like it's literally just me creating what I always wanted
to see, right, what I was always looking for at
the end of the day. You know, for me, this
journey has been very lonely at times, and I always
felt like I didn't find my place to sort of
fit in. And then it was eventually all right, well,
you know how I've sort of said, if you don't

(20:33):
see it, create it, and and that sort of was
the I guess that the beauty of reaching out to
people where I was like, oh, I think like I
see that that potential of like being able to build
with these people who have consistently been participating in what
I'm doing, and and that's you know, sort of what
we've been able to do over the last year.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
So that's a beautiful thing. I forgot about that. I
appreciate that that reminder.

Speaker 5 (20:56):
I also wanted to add Chelsea because I heard you
say like the work. You know, we were doing the work,
and like that's what keeps you coming back. And it's true,
Like I think there are certain coaches that actually cause
it that that call it like the work, but it's
that the simple and it's simple, but not that it's
easy of like coming back to yourself, right, like at

(21:17):
the end of all of these conversations, like those reflective questions,
all the things like and we've had these conversations to
dramas where it's like we don't always need to see
eye to eye, but it's you feeling safe enough to
reflect on that on yourself because this is this is
what this community, what I'm what I've really like set for,
is just that we come together in a virtual like

(21:40):
safe space where we get to grow, We get to
do that work, the work on ourselves. And that's like
at the end of the day, if if you didn't
leave this group with nothing else but learning how to
start like managing your own thoughts and emotions, like that's
the win. And that's really a lot of the work
that you were saying like that's what we were doing
month to month, like coming back and being like, Okay, yeah,

(22:01):
these are the beliefs or these are the thoughts and
things that you were raised hearing or seeing examples for you.

Speaker 9 (22:08):
But at the end of it, like what do you think?

Speaker 5 (22:10):
Like it was coming back to you and to you
and usually like we can't have those same conversations with
the people around us, our spouses or our family or whatever,
because they have this narrative of like who we've been
our whole lives, right because they've been seeing us from
beginning to end, versus you just showed up in this space.
And like if you would have showed up and been like, oh,

(22:31):
I'm Chelsea, this millionaire blah blah blah, we would have
not known the difference. Right, Like, this was the space
where you got to be like that new authentic you
that you were stepping into and that is the work,
like challenging yourself. So podles to you for catching that
because it is the work.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, That's the other thing is like we would always
end it with like homework and whatever, and then so
basically the work is like whoever got the most out
of this was the were the people who consistently showed
up and actually participated in every single way at the
end of the day, right like if you were truly
showing up, you know, as much as you could month
to month, and all the extra things and actually like
challenging yourself to sort of do some of the tasks

(23:09):
the homework that we would we would leave at the
end of it, Like, you know, those are the people
that at the end of it, you're like, damn, I
can genuinely sort of see the change that began to
occur a month to month of all of us coming together,
and yeah, so it's definitely, you know, it's it's beyond
just like and I hate this, don't I never want
to be like, oh, we're you know, like I'm a

(23:32):
coach or this, blah blah blah. It's like to me,
it's just like we're we all came together to have
a conversation and that's the beauty of it. And then
through that conversation, we all began to figure out a
bit more about ourselves, you know what I mean. And
you know, there are so many times where one of
you brought things up and then it made me think,
and then it made me have process what we're talking about,
we and like get to a certain thing right or
there are times where I'm like way to more maybe

(23:55):
more candidate than I should be about what I'm going through,
And like I think in that it's like, yo, yeah,
we're all no matter what, we're all still figuring it out.
And we're gonna have our good months, our good weeks.
We're gonna have our ones where we feel off, where
shit is just not connecting the way that we feel
like it should. But again, that's like the beauty of
it all is like like Brent said, it's the authenticity
of it that allows all of us to then show

(24:16):
up as ourselves because we know nobody's trying to put
on a front of perfection or that they have it
all figured out.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
You know.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
The sort of community aspect is the honesty of everybody saying, like,
we're all just trying to figure this out, and it's
a bit easier and a bit less lonely when we're
all sort of sharing our own experiences, our own wins, losses,
et cetera.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Together.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
I think that's the beauty of it all. Kind of
piggybacking off of what you said, Brent, but yeah, Antonio,
you want to you want to close us out on
that topic.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 10 (24:52):
I remember I think the first episode it and I
didn't know at the breakfast club or anything of that,
so I came in like in a.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
Totally different direction gen X.

Speaker 10 (25:04):
But I say with Moon and millennial because I think
I think I'm a millennial. But you know, I was
listening remember the episode I was listening to I think
you were inter viewing like she was a pop star
and she was talking about the conflict between her LATINX

(25:27):
Hispanic site and like American culture, you know, and it
was just real like I really was like, oh yeah,
like I can relate to this, you know. And I
am a podcast junkie.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
I know that.

Speaker 10 (25:39):
You know, you listen to Gary Vee and those others,
and and there's just one thing a lot of those
guys have in common is that they're like old cis gender,
white males, you know what I'm saying, And like they
have cool messages and I can and I understand I
know how to. I'm in recovery, so I know, I
go into a recovery meeting and I listen from what
I need not not.

Speaker 3 (25:59):
Listen, and there to critique.

Speaker 10 (26:00):
There's always going to be something there, but like it
got to a point of where I wasn't relating it
as much where I felt like these guys, you know,
they just see it differently. And so yeah, I think
I fell in love with the podcast that episode and
I just kind of went on my way. I would
listen to it when I was riding my bike Stars Aligned.
I lived up here in near Portland where it's very

(26:23):
very white, like there's not a lot of BIPOK individuals
and so like community was few and far between, and
I just kept listening to the podcast and I was like, oh,
I really enjoy this.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
And then I.

Speaker 10 (26:35):
Heard the you know, the call out for if you
want to be part of the Just Be Social Club,
and I'd tell my colleague work about it. She lives
down in LA and.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
I was just like writing.

Speaker 10 (26:47):
And I remember like it was like one day before
supposedly like it was going to close, and I was like, God,
I should I should just do it. I should just
do it, And I went and signed up. Didn't tell
my wife, you know, I just said, I'm gonna just
just tell it's her birthday present. When she sees where
the money is, you know, and anyway, I signed up
for it, and I remember I just heard Losey speak too.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
I think I had joined.

Speaker 10 (27:10):
The Sale the Wealth one with the other groups and
it was so good, Like I was like, wow, this
is and I and I love what people might call
self introspections some people might call like hippy dippy stuff,
you know, like you know, I love when you talk
about authenticity and those types of things kind of just.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
Being in recovery and like the work.

Speaker 10 (27:30):
The path I've been going to therapy and and doing
those things for like the last fifteen years is like
you know, doing I'm doing the trying to do the
work wherever I'm at. You know, I asked my therapist
for work, give me some work, and I didn't do
the work all the time in here, but I tried
to play catch up. And working with Brenda has been
you know, it's been amazing. She's like, you know, we
have like the pecathechist like you know, sister Brother thing.

(27:53):
And I like her style and she's just she's just
real and authentic and it's been awesome. And she will
be accountable and that's something that I really need, is
somebody to hold me accountable. And then just to have
the community here people who are just trying to become
a better version of their self every time they wake
up in the morning.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
So yeah, yeah, I love that that accountability part of it, right.
And it's not accountability of like like, oh, you better
do this type of thing. It's just accountability of like
we're we're all sharing and we're all like month to
month updating each other on progress, right, And in that
that provides a bit of a structure for like, you know,

(28:33):
the rest of your time where we're not together. You know,
that's sort of the accountability of of just having a
group of people who are all collectively doing something and
by you know, being a part of that, it makes
you sort of have a little bit more discipline and
wanting to do the work as well, Right, And I
think that's what a lot of people are sort of lacking.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
And I think that's why they when they.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
Talk about the idea of like like you're the product
of whatever it is, like what the five people you
spend the most time with, right that you're the average
of that. The reason behind that is because you're inevitably
subconsciously taking cues from their.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Behavior as well.

Speaker 2 (29:10):
Right, So the way that they view life, the way
that they participate in life. You're inevitably going to mimic
it in or mirror it in some sort of way,
you know, or you're going to have some sort of reaction,
even if it's the polar opposite of like a visceral
reaction to it. But you know, you are are in
some sort of way going to be affected and touched

(29:30):
by them, good or bad, by the people that you're around, right.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
And that's why it's so important.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
Like the beauty of modern technology and social media and
podcasts and all the shit that we have now it's
like you can really kind of craft those friendships, those
relationships with people who are not even necessarily you know,
those you see on a regular basis in person, you
know what I mean. And shit, there's even you know,
people I consider mentors that I have never even met

(29:58):
in my entire life, or that died before.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
I was born, you know.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
But that's the beauty of all the technology and the
books and things like that, is like making an effort
to be influenced by people who actually, you know, are
on the same page as you are, aligned with how
you see your life sort of shaping up or how
you want it to shape up at the end of
the day. And I think also, I mean, I think

(30:21):
I kind of want to because I think we haven't gotten.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
Into this either as like as a group.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
But like I know, for me, I didn't grow up
talking about this shit at all, right, Like my parents
weren't cognizant of this type of stuff of like talking
about you know, feelings or expressing that like you know,
you were missing something or that there was something wrong
or whatever it might be, right, or the idea of

(30:45):
wanting more than than the norm, you know. I think
for me, I my experience for sure was like, you know,
my dad grew up incredibly poor. So for him it
was like, how dare you complain when you have everything
I never had?

Speaker 1 (30:58):
Right, there's nothing.

Speaker 2 (30:59):
Wrong for you in your life, Like you have nothing
to complain about essentially, right, So, like me expressing lack
of fulfillment or longing for something, to him was like,
you're not being grateful for all that you have in
comparison to the way that I.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
Grew up, you know.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
And obviously that's like playing the Trauma Olympics at the
end of the day, right, and everybody's.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Going to lose.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
There's no way wingers and losers when it comes to
comparing who had it worse off than the other. Like,
all of our trauma, all of the things that we
struggle with, are very real to each and every one
of us, regardless of our background or where we came from.
But I think, particularly when we're talking about communities of color,
there is this sort of survival mechanism of what's not
that's not even.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Address those problems, or we don't even have.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
The privilege of addressing those problems because we have so
much other shit to worry about, you know, there's so
much other struggle sort of happening outside of our doorset
that like we have to just like be tough and
put on a face because this is just the way
things are, right.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
And I think it's like.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
The our generation and and you know has sort of
been able to stop for a second in question and say, like,
hold on, why does it have to be this way though?
Why do we have to be in constant survival mode?

Speaker 1 (32:11):
Right?

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Why are we it sort of just okay with the
crumbs at the end of the day, right, Like the
the the sort of spiritual crumbs of just sort of
everything being okay, but it not being great and not
being exactly what you wanted to be to a degree, right,
And I think that's sort of you know, the beauty
of a lot we're talking about too, But i'd be

(32:31):
curious about other people's like backgrounds and experiences grown up
and brand. I don't know if I missed you on
anything that you wanted to add or we were talking
about kind of coming together with the just be social.
I think you and I were on the same page
of like wanting to build community. I don't if you
have anything you want to interject before I move on
to that next point.

Speaker 9 (32:49):
Yeah, no, I think that was the thing, especially after
you had developed like the pillars, and that's when it
was like was more clear to me of like of like,
this is what we're going to be building within the community.

Speaker 5 (33:01):
I realized that in the last year of like in
the last year and a half of working together of
just being like, oh shit, like I really do like
to build community. I didn't really know that there was
like like a market, like a job for it, really, right,
And I started doing it online with you, and that
led to a lot of local stuff as well. But
I think at the end of the day, like being

(33:22):
able to know that you're in a space where you're
going to be talking about things that help move you forward.
Because I don't know about you guys, but with me,
I find myself in some of those friendships or relationships
that are just you know, whether they're family or whatever.
It is, like the it's really hard for me to
be having those like very surface level conversations now, like

(33:44):
or hearing people just you know, bitch and complain about
other people or their current circumstances or realities.

Speaker 9 (33:51):
Like this space really allowed for me to be.

Speaker 5 (33:53):
Like, oh, I'm going to be in a room with Yeah,
we are going to go through things that we don't
want to go through or that we don't want to
be going through, but we're also like in this growth
mindset together where we're going to be looking for answers
and seeking ways to support each other versus not And
that was like a huge part of this group for me.
And Antonio is one of the ones who's not in

(34:15):
our OG clubs, so at this point we've moved through
a couple of clubs, so he had a little bit
of a disperience and had some more one on ones
with me, which is probably why he was exciting about
the accountability, because yeah, I don't think it was like
accountability of like you're in trouble if you don't do this, Antonio.
But it was more of like that like, hey, if
this was a struggle, like what about it? You know,

(34:38):
what became more important? Or how can we look at
this different and coaching him for those things. And I
think that's more of the accountability, like, hey, we know
things change and change or shift. If you're pivoting, cool,
what are you pivoting to? And And so I just
want to add that in there because that was some
of those follow up questions with that accountability, like if
you're not being where you want to be, then what's

(34:59):
becoming more important?

Speaker 9 (35:00):
What's that big obstacle? So just for any of you
guys who might here in the same.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
Boat, Oh yeah, yeah, I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
I just went what Brenda just said.

Speaker 10 (35:10):
Yeah, yeah, definitely it was I think Brenda's her her
her process and all the all the work that she done,
uh with with being a coach is plays into this
like intuition along with her intuition plays into like she
just kind of knows, like she you know, there were
things that I was like, I would I would say
it was kind of waffling on it. She was like, well,

(35:32):
you're you're telling me this, like you know what I'm saying. Like,
so it was more of holding me accountable for not
backing down on things that she could see that were
super important to me that if I have an out,
I'm going to take that out and just and just.

Speaker 3 (35:47):
Set on the sidelines.

Speaker 10 (35:48):
But so so yeah, it's been incredible for her to
be like, oh, yeah you should just you just need
to do this, tell me what day you're going to
do it by, and and I can't wait to see
what looks like you.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
Know, yeah, yeah, no, I mean to that point, I
think that this is what is what I think people
don't get. Sometimes you're too close to the problem and
I'm using problem loosely, but you're too close to the
problem to see the solution right, And at times you
just need people around you who care and are you know,

(36:20):
on a bit of an elevated awareness to the you know,
in comparison to the average person to just sort of
help you gain a little bit.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
Of clarity on that, right.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
And it's even like that's why therapy is so powerful
I was talking to somebody recently who was like, you know,
I'm on the fence about therapy because i feel like, how.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
Can this person know me better than myself? Right? And
I'm like, but it's not even about that.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
It's it's literally about them just helping you process this
and helping you have clarity in your thought process and
you can begin to see the solution, because again, we're
all so close to it, and we're inundated with the
problems and the issues of our everyday lives and the
things that we're working through that oftentimes we can't sort
of see the solution.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
That is right in front of us. You know.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Like I even I met up with, you know, one
of our I won't say them by name, but I
met up with somebody from from one of our groups,
and you know, they're sort of telling me about one
of their frustrations or whatever, and and it was like,
you know, within a couple of minutes, I was like,
you realize, like everything you're looking for, you're already there.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
You just literally probably have to ask one or two
people and it's there.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
And then they were just like, oh shit, like it's
been there the entire time, but it just wasn't exactly
the way that I thought it would look, so I
couldn't see it in front.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
Of me, you know what I mean, And then me
having a you know.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
Zoomed out perspective on it, can see a different angle
that maybe they didn't right.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
And that sort of.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
Why having dialogue with people who are on the same
page is so incredibly important, because you know, you're kind
of getting that instant feedback loop that allows you to
maybe see things that you wouldn't have otherwise, you know,
And I think that's what so many of us are missing.
I mean, for me, growing up, I didn't I didn't
have that. I didn't have friends that I felt like

(37:59):
I could truly culd fed in. You know, even as
an adult, that's a difficult thing to find, you know,
especially as a male as well, you know, to have
confidants that you can can bounce you know, really vulnerable
ideas or concepts or feelings off of to sort of
find yourself in. But I mean that that kind of
brings us back to the sort of next thing I

(38:19):
wanted to get into. It's just you know, how many
of us grew up, you know, I'd kind of like
to hear a little bit of some of your guys'
experiences of you know, when you were lacking something, where
you were looking for something, you know, did you have
safe spaces growing up to have those conversations, you know?
And I think the beauty of this is like all

(38:40):
of us grew up in different parts of the country,
right and and into different families, different experiences, and and
you know, there's something that's drawing us all together even
though those those differences are very obvious and very loud.
So in that sort of spirit, I'd be curious for
you guys to share a little about your experience sort

(39:01):
of growing up as well.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
We could use that first.

Speaker 9 (39:06):
I go first, okay, because Jay looking like not me again?

Speaker 8 (39:12):
Well, growing up for me essentially I'm black, right, I'm mixed, I'm.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
Caribbean, but essentially I'm black.

Speaker 8 (39:21):
And we don't talk about nothing like your feelings, hurt,
suck it up, question what's wrong with you? Like you know,
So there was never really a safe space outside of
myself to talk about how I was feeling or what
I was going through, what made me uncomfortable. I didn't
have the luxury of that because everybody's like, well, we

(39:41):
came from the Bahamas. We did this is it and
it's like a whole lot of bunch of different things.
And I'm like, but I'm feeling empty now, not worthy,
Like where do I go with these feelings? And now
that I'm thirty, I'm loving it over here. Now that
I'm thirty, I just say what I want to say,
and I if I'm like, you know what, at the
end of the day, I feel like I'm going to

(40:02):
over communicate how I feel.

Speaker 4 (40:03):
I want you to know how I feel. You can
take it to leave it.

Speaker 8 (40:06):
But like going and going through this experience, I feel
like because I lost a relationship over the course of
our yearly thing like learning to put me first and
respect my feelings and put it on the table. I
learned that in this group that my voice matters. It's
okay to not be okay, and it's okay to let

(40:28):
people know how you feel in real time. I didn't
have that growing up, but I have that now and
I found my voice more so doing the work in
this group. And you guys actually care about how I
feel or what I want to say in my opinions,
and that's kind of where I am.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
Oh, that's beautiful. That touches that touches my heart. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
But again, like so you and I didn't know each
other in like in real life, or didn't grow together
anything like that, but like I resonated with that story
so much as well, Right, And I think that that
what I'm like really trying to get at is I
feel like we all exist in.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
Our own sort of world, in our own bubble.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
We oftentimes think we're alone in what we're struggling with
and what we're suffering with, right, And the reality is,
there are so many people that relate to what we're
going through, what we feel in some sort of way,
and we're.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
Not alone in it.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
And I think the more that we have this open dialogue,
the more we realize that.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
And there's something healing about that. Right.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
It doesn't solve everything, and we're always going to be
on this path of you know, learning and getting better
and and you know, struggling and undoing past things. But
there's something really comforting about knowing that you're not the
only one going through that, right, that that you are,
you know, having sort of this this shared struggle, this

(41:48):
shared experience, that you know that you can learn from
one another, and that you know I don't know, it's
just not as isolating as it felt like as if
as a kid it felt really isolated, right sharing in
those emotions, it felt it felt like you literally are
on a planet by yourself and nobody gets you, and
everybody else seems to be happy with what they've got
and you seem to be the one who can't figure

(42:09):
it out right, And I know that.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
I think that's the energizing part.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
Is like there's a sigh of relief that comes over
you when somebody shares like what you shared and it's like, oh, okay.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
I'm not the only one, you know.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
I feel like there's a there's a little bit of
peace that comes over sort of having that that shared
struggle together, which I think is a beautiful thing.

Speaker 1 (42:29):
So thank you for sharing that.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
All Right, I'm hoping here one more time, will take
a quick break, and then we'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
All right, we are back. Who wants to go? Wants
to go? Next? That same conversation? Okay, Jade?

Speaker 4 (42:48):
Okay?

Speaker 6 (42:49):
So and as a black woman myself, who you know,
I learned Spanish in school. Like when I say black,
you know, my roots just come from a very mixed
family where we have like some New Yorricans. We've got
some Dominican, but like I, you've met my mom, so
hopefully as we go into childhood, she will not listen
to this episode.

Speaker 1 (43:09):
I love.

Speaker 6 (43:10):
You, but I'm giving the context for our audio listeners
that you know, I overlap and cultures just through my
love of being like multi hyphen it.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
And I've always been that way as a kid. I
was a theater kid.

Speaker 6 (43:25):
I am a very fair skinned black woman, and I mean,
I've got my sunset ring light over here and some
bronz are on because it gets real pale.

Speaker 4 (43:33):
I am like everyone on this call, like in the
true sunlight.

Speaker 6 (43:36):
So growing up I had a lot of alienation at
one point that was you know the question of just
like what are you and going to you know, schools
where you know, I was the only black child in
the classroom for probably all the way up until middle school.

Speaker 4 (43:54):
In a lot of cases are one or two.

Speaker 6 (43:56):
And in that particular situation, I also experienced, you know,
being inundated with whiteness around me, and that also created
another layer of like identity of being like, you know,
but you were black in you this is your culture
and this is what we're instilling in you. And so
the thing that we often see in the black community is,

(44:17):
you know, the way to shine and the way to
rise above per se is to assimilate or associate my
uniqueness with brilliance. And I'm saying that in quotes for
the fact that you know, I worked to overachieve and
that led to the perfectionism and some of the other pieces,
Whereas now you know, I'm in a full three sixty

(44:38):
spiritual journey of like eldest daughter syndrome on like my
own thing too. At one point it felt like isolation.
At another point, it's really just like I shared with
you guys in the group yesterday on that heeling on
your own time and letting others around you do that too,
and looking for a life where I strive in some
ways in some days to just really be, like you

(44:58):
know what, I really wish I could just be the mediocre,
you know girl out here that is getting the same
accolade that I see in other spaces that I'm in
where I'm having to advocate twice over for those who
look like me and those who culturally align with my
upbringing and what I understand my experience, but they don't
see it because you know, I may be getting into

(45:20):
the room on some unspoken piece of just like people
don't know what I am. I do know for a fact,
you guys know, like my background is, you know, I'm
a project manager, but also like I work in a
char and joke with my husband at one point that
there was a good five years that I found out
later in a record when I was hired at one
of my first jobs. They checked white on the box
and like, did not know And I only happened to
see it when I was getting a promotion. At one

(45:40):
point in my husband's like no, no, no, do't change it,
I said, no, these records need to be right, you know.
So I'm just looking at that like full circle at
the point of you know, what I thought I wanted
was really a projection of what others were feeding me
for the majority of my childhood, and that projected in
ways where you know, I did the music thing, do
you know, the modeling, I'm you know, gonna want to

(46:03):
be this big sar and all these other things, and
now I just want like peace in my own little
like writing my best selling books and finding multiple streams
of incomes and being able to have financial freedom and
flexibility to travel, do the world, dream bigger, and do
all those things I want to do without needing the
brilliant piece attached to it. Like I think that that's
a given. We all are in our own way, and

(46:24):
that's the piece that's really where I'm trying to instill.
You know, I have a daughter that even now I
learned from her in a lot of ways because her
experience is different from mine. Where it's one of the
things where like you talk about my mom, begin on
your comments, my mom and my dad are both like
darker than me.

Speaker 4 (46:39):
So the gene just gives around my family.

Speaker 6 (46:41):
We're really like all over the place in terms of
like you know, the colors of Benaton and where we
look like a family gathering. And my daughter is brown skin,
like a combination between myself and my husband, And so
her experience growing up is obviously different than mine, just
in terms of little and things that I see that

(47:01):
she is all about. You know, she's an airy she's
ready to go, like fight to power, and that's just
that generation of children anyways.

Speaker 4 (47:08):
Like it's not right, she's an injustice will not you know,
be unknown to her.

Speaker 6 (47:13):
And I think about some of maybe the political correctness
that was like instilled into me or what we call
like respectability politics, and just how I navigate through rooms
and try to find a balance because it's a skill set, right,
Like we can pull on those labors and use it
when we need to. But there's two sides to it,
because like I'm here with you in this group in
the evening, and that is just a different hat that

(47:34):
I feel like I put on.

Speaker 4 (47:35):
But I've really worked, especially over the last.

Speaker 6 (47:38):
You know, four years, and what pandemic like ripped us
apart and really found identities for those who wanted to
do the work of just like I am all of that,
and I am all of those things and it is
okay to be all of those things about having to
put a label on it.

Speaker 4 (47:51):
So I just really think that's another piece.

Speaker 6 (47:54):
Of alignment where you and I, you know, when you
were going forward with the pod and I would understand
and the upbringing of like life as a bring goo
and I was like, I need a word for that
in the you know, light skinned black woman that like
is just fighting the fight from the inside of Like
you don't understand my journey of just you know, making
sure people get it and are able to connect in

(48:16):
that way, and so that's been one of the pieces
that I look to unlock every day, you know, whether
that was through in my twenties and therapy and trying
to figure that out and writing and then just being
able to articulate it in a way now that aligns
with whether that's other generations coming up behind us and
building that community, or just people that we see each
other in so like you know, for each one of

(48:37):
you and listening to you guys as stories over the
years and the calls that we've been on, it's very
much alignment of just like I see you, I hear
your story.

Speaker 4 (48:45):
There's pieces of that in there for me, and it's
what keeps bringing me back.

Speaker 6 (48:49):
I just love it so much and I'm so happy
to be in a place where like it's not something
that we are ashamed to speak about and that we
that is really what the community feels like a hole.
There's no way to like put I wish I could
bottle up that feeling and sell it, and I know
that's what we're doing with jes Be. So we gotta
we gotta keep that going, which is you know why again,
I always volunteer of like we're manifesting the next thing,

(49:12):
like you know, our treat pr and just bringing everybody
there and.

Speaker 4 (49:16):
I see it.

Speaker 6 (49:16):
I see the vision, and it's just it's really inspiring,
even when it comes from a place where we all
have like our traumas and our pain that we've worked through.
Like it's really if you keep going, you know, the
only way out is through, and it's so beautiful on
the other side. So we have to take it all
and try it. And that's that's really what brought it
for me three sixty.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
No, No, that's that's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
I think it's it's like, you know, you're talking a
lot about like surrender even right, like getting over perfectionism,
with just the idea of surrendering to to life and
surrendering to your authentic self without being concerned about how
it affects those around you know, Chelsea's have done that
as well. And I think even just like piggybacking off
of this concept of why I wanted everybody to kind

(49:57):
of share a bit about their own upbringing. There's obviously differences,
but there's similarities, there's connection, and there's also, I think,
bigger than that, the effect of us all sharing.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
There is sort of a.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Silent power that comes from you know, everybody's sharing their truth.
And I think we as human beings, you know, no
matter how evolved or how much work we do, we're
still those same kids that are looking for validation or
connection in some sort of way. Right, We're looking for
somebody to tell us that it's okay to be us.

(50:34):
And there's those shortage of people in this world or
the way society and life is set up that tells
you no, you know, you have to conform to what's
the norm of this right, And I think the beauty
of like us together, even just in this you know,
conversation as hour long conversation, is like it reinforces that
muscle of you being okay, just being yourself right, being

(50:57):
your authentic self because all of us just share gives
you that co sign, that inner you know, wounded child
that we all have. It's like no, no, no, you know,
there's a lot of people telling you you have to
be more like them, but here are people who are
you know, co signing you being just good enough as
you are who you are, right, your authentic self, your
authentic version of yourself. And it might not make sense

(51:20):
to everybody, but like us, each sharing in our story
then gives us, I think a little bit of a
reminder of the importance of our authenticity and that, you know,
reminds us to find the strength in that, you know,
which I think is the beauty of all that we're
talking about. So thank you for sharing that. That resonated a
lot with me as well. And Antonio, what about you?

Speaker 3 (51:45):
That was beautiful.

Speaker 10 (51:46):
Jade and Chelsea, thank you so much. Yeah, you know,
I just wanted to kind of also say I also
wanted to start. I just turned fifty, you know, and
I've been in corporate America for like the last twelve years,
you know, so I think stories different in that way
that it's one of those things where I was fifty

(52:07):
and I have I've married and have kids and everything
is going well there, but like I still like there
was still something in me that, you know, like wanted
more and I was and it was the community connection
what I was hearing. And you know, I grew up
as funny as it sounds like, I mean, I grew
up in Wyoming, of both places, and my dad was

(52:31):
pretty hardcore La Rasa from Mexico. Like he was always fighting,
like the people in the newspapers saying, this is our land,
and you know, you guys took our land from us.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
And he was also older too.

Speaker 10 (52:45):
My dad just passed away during COVID twenty twenty one.
He was ninety seven when he passed away. So I
grew up with an older dad who all we knew
how to do was work hard. You know, all you
how to do was work hard. He crossed the border
multiple time times, and so that was a value he
had instilled in us. But and my mom was you know,

(53:08):
she was white American and she didn't really talk about
her feelings. She had her own trauma, and yeah, there
was just like a nod was. I grew up in
a dysfunctional household, you know, untreated, recovering alcoholic, and a
very codependent mother, and we just didn't talk about things.

(53:29):
And I spent a lot of time in my room
daydreaming and pretending I was playing for the New York Knicks.
And so so, you know, it took to it took
then I just hid behind a bottle.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
I hid behind drugs and alcohol.

Speaker 10 (53:45):
And then when I finally got sober and started doing
the work in twelve step, then I was able to
have like raw conversations like this.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
But I think, you know, even even having.

Speaker 10 (53:55):
Been doing that for the last ten fifteen years, like
spaces I was in were definitely more like eurocentric, Like
there wasn't a lot of Latinos like or LATINX people
bipop people in the rooms, you know, doing doing introspective work.
And then you know that that looked like me that
had similar experiences that you know, and we bonded over

(54:20):
over alcoholism. But that was kind of as far as
it went. And when I found this club, I was like,
oh wow, like these these people are like they're they're
they're reaching for more, like they're reaching for this intangible
that you know, energy or source or whatever it is.

(54:40):
And so yeah, that that was by root and and
that just makes it easier. It makes it easier for
me because of some of the work I did work
in therapy to like, you know, I was like, what
do I expect out of this? I'm probably like fifteen
years older than most of you, you know, like I
had to I had to say. It was humbling, like
I'm you know, I'm coming back and I was like, Okay,

(55:02):
what do I expect from this? And like I just
like dove in and by doing that and by breaking
myself and being transparent and open, and the work I
did with brand is like, you know, things came out
of every session that I did that was like, oh shit,
like I got you know, I got a lot out
of that, and it was Yeah, it's been definitely much

(55:24):
more than I expected.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
And even if we only.

Speaker 10 (55:28):
See each other, you know, once maybe twice a month,
So yeah, it's been. It's been amazing.

Speaker 2 (55:34):
No, that that's awesome, And I appreciate you you you
being so you know, open with that, and I love
I love the fact that you know, even just you
sharing that your your fifth year, that you're you you know,
you're you're older, and that I think, like what you
maybe you don't.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
Realize it or you do, but you're you're actively.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
Showing up authentically and in doing that any perceived judgment like.

Speaker 1 (56:02):
I don't I'm not thinking.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
I'm not even batting an eye about it, even when
you told it to me, I'm not badding an eye
because you're owning that thing, right, Like, and that I
bring that up just as an example of like when
you can confidently begin to own the parts of yourself
right because I'm sure in theory kind of what maybe
you're alluding to. It's like, you know, maybe there's a
part of you that's like, what do you know, what
do I have to relate to people who are ten

(56:25):
years younger than me?

Speaker 1 (56:26):
Right, I have a different life experience or whatever it
might be.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
And I think when we are able to get over
ourselves a little bit, right, that's when like all of
a sudden, life really begins to open itself up to us,
because we're truly just sort of like it's the idea
of living in accordance with nature to a degree, right,
where you're just open and you're part you're actually a
part of something. You're a part of what's happening around you,

(56:49):
and you're not looking at it with the lens of judgment,
but you're just being open to what experience may follow
from it. And that's where the good stuff lies in
this life, right. And that's that's even for me. When
I began to you know, own my otherness, right or
not feeling Latin enough, it's like, all of a sudden,
I got fucking everything you know that I.

Speaker 1 (57:08):
Was striving for.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
Right, It was because when I own that, I allowed
myself to then just be open to life and and
allowed that sort of openness to then draw the right
people to me. That's what began to happen, right in
my vulnerability, in me owning the ship that I was
always self conscious about, all of a sudden others saw
themselves in me, and it drew the very people that
I've always been looking for to me essentially right. And

(57:30):
that's sort of the the beauty of of what you
were talking right there. And I think it's sort of
the overlying theme of that idea of surrender that I
think we've each touched on in some sort of way today.
And Brand, you wanna you wanna, you wanna add a
bit about your your experience and then I just have
I think one last thing I want to be respect
for every time as well. But but I know Brand

(57:52):
has has her own stories as well, from from growing
up and things that she's she's gone through for sure
that've shaped her.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
Into the amazing coach that we've all been talking about today.

Speaker 9 (58:04):
Thank you guys, thank you. No, yeah, I think so.

Speaker 5 (58:08):
My childhood, for those who don't know, like I grew
up in LA I grew up in Watts Compton. My
parents separated by the time I was like twelve, So
my dad lived in Compton, my mom stayed in Watts
And so growing up in those neighborhoods, like gang violence
and just violence in general is some of the norms
that I really I wrote down what you said, Antonio,
the untreated recovery alcohol like recovering alcoholic. I think that's

(58:33):
a lot more like prevalent in those neighborhoods because people
are just like, no, I'm not an alcoholic. I just
drink to celebrate, and drink when I'm said and drink
when whatever.

Speaker 6 (58:40):
Right.

Speaker 9 (58:40):
So it's such a norm.

Speaker 4 (58:43):
And and for.

Speaker 5 (58:44):
Those of you guys who don't know, there's something called ACES,
and I would recommend anyone to go. You could just
google like adverse childhood Experiences and there's a little test
you can take and it talks about, you know, like
did you did someone in your home? Was like in prison?
Were they doing like alcohol, drugs? And all these other questions.
But once you start taking that test for yourself, you
realize like, okay, like I may not be like this

(59:06):
perfect picture. But also because of these adverse childhood experiences,
like the fact that I'm even here is already huge right,
And so I grew up in that. I grew up
in that environment. I grew up in that broken home
type thing. My mom became both my parents became parents
when they were teenagers, and so there was just all

(59:28):
of these things stacked like quote unquote against right and
just coming from LA. I was probably supposed to be
that statistic too, but it was that simple act of
like again, it wasn't easy, but it was simple of like,
I had to move, I had to change my environment.
I had to switch things up to see what else
life had to offer and what else I had to

(59:49):
offer life when I actually was able to move into
an environment that allowed.

Speaker 9 (59:53):
Me to feel safe.

Speaker 5 (59:54):
And I was just sharing that because now I live
in a small town in northern California, and I work
at a school, and I work with a lot of teenagers,
and I'm seeing them experience some of the same things
that I was experiencing and recognizing like that so much
of us like flourish, flourishes when we literally feel like
our nervous systems safe enough to take these risks, right,

(01:00:18):
Because when I was in La, like literally by the end,
it's so fucked up now that I as an as
a grown up, right that I realized, Like, man, by
the time I was like six or seven, like I
already knew how to recognize like cars that were not
like normal to my neighborhood, how to like kind of
be on the lookout for drive bys when drive bys happened,
like how to drop and get to the back. Like

(01:00:39):
all of that was normal to me by the time
I was like seven, and recognizing that that shouldn't have
been normal was like huge. But all of that to
say that it was the changes in these communities, right,
the things that we talked about, the pillars, awareness, the
community still working on that money healing, right, and then
having that long term vision Antonio, right now that you said,
you know you spent that time in your room dreaming,

(01:01:00):
I like really laughed because I'm like that was really
me too, Like I had a lot of nights with
long fights, or that my dad never got home so
my mom's up like calling and d Right. But that daydream,
that imagining and all of that that I had since
I was little, and that I was always like but
why not, Like I'm gonna dream this, and why not

(01:01:21):
can we make it happen?

Speaker 4 (01:01:22):
Right?

Speaker 5 (01:01:22):
So yeah, that's what I have to share for childhood
and saying that our upbringing doesn't doesn't have to tell
the rest of the story, right, So.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
Yeah, and I and also I think even just like.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
In sharing, that there's so much value, right, you know,
I think a lot of us are are So we're
programmed to be ashamed of the fact that we didn't
grow up in the cookie cutter life, right, and we're
programmed to not talk about it because it makes us
lesser than you know, and you know, even like my

(01:02:02):
I can think my own upbringing and things like that,
like we you know, we were we I was taught
to basically lie because out of embarrassment and shame of like,
you know, my parents not having great credits, we'd have
come with all kinds of elaborate excuses for why, you know, uh,
we were going to the shady car dealership to buy
a car, you know what I mean, and like stupid
things like that, right, And that like just programmed me

(01:02:22):
to just be a steel trap of information that I'm
not sharing with anybody from a very young age, you
know what I mean, And to normalize the idea of
of just having all these elaborate background stories to cover
things up right, and to make yourself be on the
surface of looking perfect to the outside world as much
as humanly possible, right to fit in.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
And I think you know, and even like with Brenda,
you know, a.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
Lot of the work that that she's doing now in
the community, in the school and all those things, you know,
she's connecting with with kids who are are teenagers who
are coming up in you know, some difficult circumstances.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
Is because she has a story to tell, a story to.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Share, right, and her being open about it allows those
kids to feel seen and heard and provides them with
a safe space to then you know, share their own experience,
but to also see a possibility that is beyond what
they've been taught.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Right. But you know, it's like healing and.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
I think connection and all these things, they're all on
the other side of us being brave enough to just
own our story, right and to recognize, as difficult as
it might be, as traumatic of it, the experiences that
we've all had, and all those different things, there's also
power in all that we've experienced in our life, right there.
There's also so much to take away from it as well, right,

(01:03:41):
and and not that we should you know.

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
Make excuses or lesser that lesser.

Speaker 2 (01:03:49):
You know, not sort of hold people accountable, right or
put a false glorification on the crazy shit that we've
been through.

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
But at the same time, I think when you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
Actually embrace it all, you work through it, you know,
you can then turn that pain into something that is
powerful for you to then give to the outside world,
almost right, And I think.

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
That is the beauty of sharing your.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
Story because you really never know who's listening or who
needs to hear it in that moment, you know, and
that could be a simple interaction with random friends, family,
whatever it might be. You know, Like I know, me
being open, my parents are beginning, even at their age
to question a lot of the shit that they thought right.
And I've seen a bit of a difference in my
mom and things like that. So, like, you know, there's
something beautiful about that sort of domino effect that happens

(01:04:38):
when you begin to really own your yourself at the
end of the day. And I want to just end
on on this because I think Antonio touched on it before,
and it's interesting to me. You were talking about how
you waited till like the very last minute to like
reach out and want to you know, be a part
of this, right, And you're not the first person, like

(01:05:00):
I can think of a few people who are, like
I kind of wrestled with the idea, you know of
even like you know, hopping on the zoom, right, even Chelsea,
I know you you felt like you're a little bit
apprehensive about like, am I really you know this thing
you're inviting me to.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
I don't know if I'm totally into it, you.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
Know, And I think it's it's funny how we sort
of like our mind almost plays tricks on us to
a degree, right, or gets in our own way of
things that potentially could be positive for us just because
they're different, right, or they require us, like we were
talking about, you know, just being a little bit more

(01:05:34):
open than we're used to.

Speaker 1 (01:05:35):
Right. That's uncomfortable, and I'd.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
Love for you, you know, to sort of you know,
if anybody listening to this is on the fence about
wanting to join something like this, right and they're they're
having that same sort of emotion or you know, apprehension
about like putting themselves out there again, I think there's
so much power in each of the sort of seeing

(01:06:01):
one another, validating it, but also holding each other accountable
to want to be better. Right, So I, you know, whatever,
whatever little quick takeaway you would want to give to
somebody who's on the fence about you know, joining something
like this or putting themselves out there and beginning to
do some of that work.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
I think it's it's be powerful to.

Speaker 2 (01:06:19):
Hear it from you, not just from from you know,
me or Brenda at this point, whoever wants to wants
to hop in on on that one.

Speaker 8 (01:06:31):
I don't go because like I feel like day looking
at me, like you know, they talking to you, it's
like they like, go, Chelsea, go. I would say to
anybody that's on the fence and thinking about joining one
of these groups, go ahead and do it. I mean
you won't know until you try, and you might be

(01:06:52):
surprised with the outcome. Like I had no idea what
I was giving myself into the people that I was
going to, you know, be interacting with. And I think
it's it says a lot that we are there for
each other, even when you think nobody cares.

Speaker 4 (01:07:07):
We all are there, even if it's just a random hey,
like Brenda other day was like yea, just checking in.

Speaker 8 (01:07:12):
Make sure you check in the check ins matter, people care,
and you don't know these people, but you will get
to know.

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
Them, not say do it beautiful, Absolutely go Jade.

Speaker 4 (01:07:25):
I will second what Chelsea said.

Speaker 6 (01:07:27):
I also just wanted to call out and make sure
that when we talk about I see you Antonio, just
what you shared resgnated so much. And I appreciate the
fact that I think, knowing everybody in this group, that
we have probably a culmination of like twenty years that
spanned between us, so we've got all generations are welcome.
You know, we talk about bringing people in, I am
probably the opposite. I'm the person that just jumps in

(01:07:48):
head first. I go off of a lot of just vibes.
You know, I have my cards and all my other
stuff that also came out of that whole four year
like emotional development. But I appreciate, she ate the vulnerability
and what you said, and I just want to validate
for you how important it is and how grateful I
was to hear you express not only your initial hesitation,

(01:08:10):
but the fact that you just show up fully and
acknowledge that, Hey, it feels a little different from me
because you have a different point of view, but it's
so beautiful to me that you probably have the ability
to make the most impact because you have one the
experience there and your I think, you know, Drama said
domino effect. I'm thinking like trickle down effect in terms

(01:08:30):
of like the immediate impact of the community and the
way that you show up for your family, the way
that that resonates.

Speaker 4 (01:08:36):
You know.

Speaker 6 (01:08:36):
We joke in the what I was talking about with
the millennials, like everybody's on that trend.

Speaker 4 (01:08:40):
We're woo woo, and we're just we're all trying to
figure it out.

Speaker 6 (01:08:43):
It's us hard, but I think and then you know,
generations coming up behind, Like my sister is a decade
younger than me, so like I see it, she's closer
to where Chelsea and Brenn is in that mix immediately,
but that full circle of just like when we bring
everybody on along and being able to see the different
points of view, it comes together in the way that

(01:09:03):
it should be. So I you know, think that there's
so much alignment there and I really appreciate you know,
you sharing that as well, and I just wanted to
make sure that I got to give you a direct
kudos and being like that's amazing, and it's again I
think we started at the beginning is I thought you
were part of our original group the whole time, and that's
really have no idea. We are all like, oh, he's

(01:09:25):
in another group, so it's great, But you kick it
back to the drop and brand on that one because
what we're building is so much greater than just anything
that I can even keep up with at this point.
But I'm so excited to see where it's going. And
I think that this is the time really for anyone
that is listening that had that moment to wonder like

(01:09:46):
how to make the connection and what that spark can
feel like.

Speaker 4 (01:09:48):
This is what it feels like.

Speaker 2 (01:09:50):
So yeah, uh Antonio, uh.

Speaker 10 (01:09:55):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jade, I accepted. Thank you so much.
I'm definitely honored. It's interesting because you can be I
believe you could be with individuals virtually and feel like energy,
you know, Like I don't think it's just a if
you're you're you know, if you're really in that space

(01:10:16):
of intention and yeah, like I really I will have
to say, yeah, if you were listening and you're questioning
whether or not you should be here, you probably should
first and foremost because you're questioning that, probably because you're
not finding a space that you feel is a space

(01:10:42):
where you feel like you could be safe or where
you feel like you could be part of. So you're
sitting there and I was listening, and I was like,
I want to be part of that space. I want
to be part of that space. And so yeah, if
you're listening, just just do it. You know, I think
the universe is going to put it put everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:11:03):
Every it does.

Speaker 10 (01:11:04):
It has its own time time frame and puts everybody
where they need to be. And it's not a mistake.
You know that we're all here together, and yeah, I
believe you. Jade and Chelsea are like the impact this
has had on me from just the last what is
it like maybe nine ten months of like I came

(01:11:26):
in here not knowing what I was even coming in
here for, and now I'm doing something that I really
enjoy doing and I love to say I met with
Dramas and it's interesting because it aligns to something someone
else told me. He was saying, well, if you're going
to be doing your podcast and and you know it's
a big world out there, the podcast, will was what

(01:11:47):
if you don't make it? And I was like, I
just really am enjoying it and loving doing this, like
I feel with my.

Speaker 3 (01:11:54):
Heart and soul. And he said, Okay, that's where you
need to be.

Speaker 10 (01:11:57):
And I talked to another friend a few weeks later,
who is one of our friends that is in the
spiritual path and and he said, yeah, this is the
year from his guru that he heard that, like, it's
it's following those passions that you it's following those passions.
This is the year to follow your passions. So if
you're out there, yeah, come join the familia. And like

(01:12:19):
it's it's special.

Speaker 3 (01:12:20):
So thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:12:22):
Yeah, no, that that's that's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
All you guys are getting me a little emotional over
here in here, you guys, you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
Share that stuff, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
I mean, yeah, I mean shit, I'm I'm a little
bit at a loss to be honest with you. I
think I think in just hearing that that sort of feedback,
you know, because I'm I question a lot of times,
am I on the right path of what I'm doing right?
And I still have the part of me that watches

(01:12:53):
a lot of my former peers and I see their
their monetary successes where I see their successes with fame
and things like that, and I begin to question the
path that I've decided to take that is far more
you know, what I consider to be far more substantive,
but lacks that flashy instant gratification, right, And I go

(01:13:14):
back and forth a lot of playing the comparison game,
or of wondering if I'm like, you know, my own
worst enemy, where I just like am throwing away throw
away possibilities that could have been and things like that,
and you know, in all of you guys sharing that, genuinely,
in my heart, I felt like, naw, this is exactly
where you're supposed to be what you're supposed to be doing,

(01:13:35):
you know, and recognizing you know, what I'm doing and
what I'm being a part of and the relationships that
I'm building are far more fulfilling than any of the
fame or money or any of those things that could
have come from the other path that I could have
taken in this life.

Speaker 1 (01:13:53):
So yeah, I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:13:55):
This, this is just like a perfect example of, like,
you know, that we're all in this together, and even
with these calls and things like that, and I agree
completely that even if it's virtually you could feel the
energy you know, come through you know, I always say this,
and it sounds like a broken record, but it's like,
you know, like I'm beyond exhausted. I just flew back

(01:14:16):
in and I was like working literally got since I
got off the plane. But like every time I finish
one of these calls, I feel energized and I'm like
reminded of what's important and and and you know all
that I'm a part of. And I think that is
you know, the real takeaway from like this whole thing
is like, you know, it really gives you that energy

(01:14:38):
you know in a in a life, and a society
loves to continue to take take take from you, right,
And that's the beauty of all of us coming together.
So yeah, I thank all you guys so much for
all that you've shared and all that you said. I'm
really touched by it and just reminded of just like
how important this slow grind of building something like this
really is, and as difficult and as much of an

(01:14:59):
uphill battle as it is to get people to see
the vision and to want to participate in in what
we're really building that I genuinely feel like could be
life changing for you know, hopeful thousands and hundreds of
thousands of people.

Speaker 1 (01:15:11):
Hopefully you know one day.

Speaker 2 (01:15:14):
And yeah, I'm just really grateful of all you guys
for you know, trusting you know, Brand, and myself for
going on this journey with us, and you've given you know, I'll.

Speaker 1 (01:15:22):
Let her speak as well for herself.

Speaker 2 (01:15:24):
I know we've had conversations where you guys have given
us just as much as we've given you, if not more,
you know, in these this last year that you know,
we've gotten to spend together, so you know, in this format,
it's really been just a great reminder of what's really important.
So I thank you guys so much, and Brand anything
you want to you want to add. As we kind

(01:15:44):
of close things out.

Speaker 5 (01:15:47):
My phone's on three percent, so I'll keep it very low.
But I think, yeah, just told I think I texted
you this the other day, drummals. I was having a
reflection and I'm like, instead of us coming over here
with the just do it and to like come join
and just be it, you know, because that is the brand,
right just be And I can't put it any other
way but that you can find this place where you

(01:16:09):
can come and.

Speaker 9 (01:16:10):
Just be, like be whoever you need to be, So
we just need to be it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:15):
I love it. I love it with that. Listen again.
I appreciate you, guys. I love you all so much,
every in this room.

Speaker 2 (01:16:19):
I'm so proud of you, and I'm just so happy
that we get to come together. And you know, I'm
genuinely taking away so much from it in a moment
that I felt like I needed it most, and I
think that's the power of all this stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:16:32):
So thank you, guys.

Speaker 2 (01:16:35):
If you want to shout out anything you're you're working on,
any projects, your social media, whatever it might be, please
do this.

Speaker 1 (01:16:41):
Do it now. Feel free to take take the platform
and do with it what you need to.

Speaker 5 (01:16:47):
Yeah, and Tonio, go ahead and let people know what
you did in eight months, because it's actually been eight months.

Speaker 10 (01:16:53):
Inspired by Dramas, I have been inspired and I'm following
him and watching him closely like a student does a teacher.

Speaker 3 (01:17:02):
Even though he's my my junior.

Speaker 10 (01:17:05):
So I am the host of the multi Racial Verse
podcast multi racial verse dot com and we have conversations
with inspiring individuals about their multicultural, multi racial, biracial and
allies about their journey. So come check us out on Apple, Spotify,

(01:17:26):
wherever you can hear podcasts.

Speaker 3 (01:17:28):
So thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:17:29):
I love it, man, so proud of you brother doing
doing it. You're doing the damn thing. Anybody else want
to want to shout anything out there that they're working on.

Speaker 8 (01:17:38):
I'm really not working on anything but a handling journey.

Speaker 11 (01:17:41):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:17:42):
If you want to follow me on my handling.

Speaker 11 (01:17:44):
Journey following on Instagram, it's Chelsea c h E l
s underscores, John Nay and everybody say it's saying it's
the h A E.

Speaker 1 (01:17:54):
E perfect listen.

Speaker 2 (01:17:56):
I appreciate any I think bread the phone finally died,
but on behalf, I've heard myself. It's always so good
to see you guys, and we're both so proud of y'all,
and I love you guys very very much. Thank you
so much for hopping on as always been amazing to
get to connect together. And yeah, we'll all link up
soon obviously as we always tend to do so. I

(01:18:17):
appreciate you guys so much. Thank you, We love you.

Speaker 4 (01:18:22):
To be taking a show on the.

Speaker 1 (01:18:23):
Road, yo.

Speaker 2 (01:18:24):
Yes, all right, y'all, take care, Yes, let's go.

Speaker 1 (01:18:34):
Man, big shot too.

Speaker 2 (01:18:35):
Might just be social club family for hopping on the podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:18:42):
I'll dive into this when we do the conclusions too.

Speaker 2 (01:18:45):
But you know, sometimes you just like I feel like,
oh man, I'm like exactly where I need to be,
right and you just needed like a conversation to kind
of confirm that for you.

Speaker 1 (01:18:55):
That was this for me in a very deep way.

Speaker 2 (01:18:58):
And I'll get a little bit deeper into it and
our conclusions too, but first let's take a quick break
and then we'll.

Speaker 1 (01:19:03):
Be right back.

Speaker 3 (01:19:09):
Time for comp.

Speaker 2 (01:19:15):
All right, So again, big shots, everybody who hopped on,
everybody who listens, like, I hope you you saw yourself
and heard yourself in this conversation with the members of
the Just Be Social Club, who are just incredible parts
of my life at this point. And yeah, I'm just
so proud of the work that we've been doing and
it's really touching. And you know, I'm really weary of

(01:19:40):
like how much I talk or push the brand, and
that's probably my own detriment because I never want to
come across as sales or that I'm trying to sell
you on something. But I really believe in what this
can become, and I see the vision so much. You know,
I think there's a lot of things I want to

(01:20:01):
just quickly touch on, but even in like a practical sense,
you know, for me, like a life changing moment was
getting this podcast right, was the idea that my vision
was going to be aided and being brought to life.
But also I was going to be financially compensated, which
then allowed me to go one hundred percent into this right,

(01:20:21):
And I envisioned down the road they just be Social
Club being able to pride that same sort of experience
for other people. You know, we are are charging a
membership and it's not a lot, It's fifty five bucks
a month, and I want to be as transparent as possible,
Like where is that money going towards?

Speaker 1 (01:20:39):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:20:40):
This isn't isn't you know, the idea of me becoming
rich off of people or my partner or any of
these things. Like I genuinely envision us being able to say, hey,
you know, Tina, you have a great idea for a podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:20:53):
Why not bring it to the just be.

Speaker 2 (01:20:55):
Social Club community exclusively and will pay you to create
that content, right, And like that is like empowering somebody
from our community to now be able to, you know,
depending on how big we are, you know, at the
very least have extra income being yielded in doing something
that they love doing while sharing a positive experience or

(01:21:18):
a positive message for those in our community, you know,
And that's what I envisioned it being. I would love
to be able to create all this like original content
under this one roof that is really dedicated to those
from our community who are growth minded, who are looking
to be inspired, who are looking to collaborate and connect.

Speaker 1 (01:21:36):
Like that's what the vision I have for this.

Speaker 2 (01:21:38):
And in order to do so, you know, we have
to be able to charge something, right, so there is
that money to go around, So there is that money
to promote and to bring in more people and to
advertise it and everything that comes along with it. And now,
you know, I want to be as transparent as possible
of like the vision, you know, so that you understand
you're not just you know, lining somebody's pockets, some random

(01:22:02):
person's pockets for you know, random reasons they have extra
beer money or something like that.

Speaker 1 (01:22:09):
Like we're genuinely building something here.

Speaker 2 (01:22:12):
Like I feel like, you know, I want to be
able to look back in a few years and we're
all going to be able to sort of in retrospect
be like, wow, I was a part of building something
that has become an incredibly important pillar for communities of color,
a safe space that we can all come together and
collaborate and meet like minded people and be a part

(01:22:35):
of something and also get positive content that's actually contributing
to our community in a positive manner rather than something
that is sort of to the detriment of our people,
which is what we often see in mainstream content on
television or social media and things like that.

Speaker 1 (01:22:51):
You know, shit, who knows what this could become.

Speaker 2 (01:22:54):
We could be funding TV shows probably, like all kinds
of stuff. But it all, it all starts with each
of us doing our part right and and and also
it's not just like a donation thing like there's you're
going to be getting a lot out of this as well.
You know, we're going to be doing the masterminds. We're
going to be having the conversations, you know, the live
streams and and then having you know, the ability to

(01:23:17):
connect with other people. Like for me, you know, I'm
leading these these masterminds we've done, but really I'm getting
something out of it, just like the you know, members
are and and in a way of like I get
to have beautiful conversations and see myself and other people
and gain feedback and and just exchange ideas with people,
and that's been so beneficial to me. You know, so

(01:23:40):
that's where we're looking to build here, and even you know,
in this conversation today I wanted to share this was like.

Speaker 1 (01:23:46):
You know, I feel like I am.

Speaker 2 (01:23:50):
In not a reset mode, but I'm definitely at that point.
You know, I think that that tends to happen every
few years of kind of like all right.

Speaker 1 (01:23:57):
Let's what's the next chapter going to look like? For me?

Speaker 2 (01:24:01):
You know, particularly you know as a creator, there's there's
all types of sort of ups and downs within your
life cycle as a creative, you know, and there's a
necessity to constantly be evolving, you know, if you want
to keep up with being able to create for a
living or being able to keep being passionate about the

(01:24:24):
work that you do, you know, you sort of have
to keep moving with the times and evolving and also
challenging yourself to keep it fresh. And you know, I
had to kind of particularly come into this year with
the ideal and the notion and the feeling like, you
know that this was sort of a year of evolution
and change for me. You know, not to say that
I'm not blessed or don't appreciate or don't love what

(01:24:48):
I do.

Speaker 1 (01:24:49):
But I also know that there's.

Speaker 2 (01:24:50):
A new sort of version of me being birthed this
year for whatever reason, Right, I'm longing for a bit more.
I'm longing to dig deeper into different areas, and I'm
longing to sort of figure out what the new version
of me in twenty twenty four, you know, is wanting

(01:25:11):
in terms of his fulfillment, Right, And with that you
begin to question everything that you do, you know, and
like anybody else, I look at peers on social media,
and at times I can find myself getting sort of
caught up in wondering if I'm making the right choices,

(01:25:32):
you know, or if you know this sort of path
I've taken of shifting away from being.

Speaker 1 (01:25:44):
You know, I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:25:45):
I hate the word fame, Well just use fame being
fame focused, fame or you know, riches focused. If me
sort of digging deep and wanting to do things of
more substance, if I'm being a hindrance to my own.

Speaker 1 (01:26:00):
Quality of life?

Speaker 2 (01:26:01):
Right, I struggle with that because we live in a
world where it feels like the bullshit and the negative
get propped up to the top and the good and
the positive are are sort of lost in the back burner,
right They're not as popular or they're not as rewarded
or incentivized, you know, And I struggle with that sometimes
of thinking to myself. You know, I was even just

(01:26:23):
having a conversation with somebody recently and we were both
just kind of joking around of you know, if we
decided to just become like a crazy hardcore Republican content
maker or a misogynistic Andrew Tate type of you know,
a commentary on the world, we would be far more
successful than we actually are right now. Like if we
told if we chose to just say, hey, you know

(01:26:44):
what I'm going to, you know, feed the blood, the
bloodlust of of people, the easier path, even if it's negative,
it's gonna provide me with quick income because that's what
gets rewarded.

Speaker 1 (01:26:56):
Right. If I can become a Latin.

Speaker 2 (01:26:57):
Dude going in on you know, conspiracy theories and loving
Trump and all these different things, I'd be like a
Candice Owens where I get to be platformed and rewarded
because I'm the anomaly in that area, you know. Or again,
if I become like anentertate and in a world where

(01:27:18):
toxic masculinity is being shunned. I become the ultimate you know,
toxic man, and and you know, get rewarded for my
crazy comments and things like that. And I never would
do that, but there are but it does feel like, man,
why am I choosing the hardest path possible, you know,
in my particular given field or industry or whatever. And

(01:27:39):
you know, you you go through those phases and those
struggles sometimes when you feel like you're not achieving all
that you want or you're hitting a lot of walls
and you can't figure out what's next. And to kind
of get back to what I was originally talking about,
like sitting in these conversations and looking at this group
of people that I've built a rapport with, some of
which over the last few years, but particularly in these masterminds,

(01:28:01):
just be over the last year.

Speaker 1 (01:28:03):
So you know, I'm reminded of.

Speaker 2 (01:28:09):
What I stand for, who I am, and why what
I'm doing is so important and why I'm exactly where
I need to be. You know, just hearing feedback of
people talking about how I've touched their life, even in
the most minor way, and I've made a positive contribution
some sort of way like that is the ultimate reward
right that can't be bought, you know, And.

Speaker 1 (01:28:34):
That for me was exactly what I needed to hear.

Speaker 2 (01:28:38):
And that, to me is a perfect example of what
happens basically every time that we get together, you know,
is like just by proxy of having that genuine human
connection where there's real vulnerability, real connection, real trust because
you know, everybody in that in that space is on
the same page as you, and it's a judgment free space.

(01:28:58):
That's us just trying to be ourselves by proxy of
view being around that, even if it's just for the
hour of a live stream or a conversational or virtually
just communicating back and forth with one another, checking in
things like.

Speaker 1 (01:29:10):
That, Dude, like that is so rewarding.

Speaker 2 (01:29:16):
And it again, it's like the recharge that we often
need to kind of just keep going on our path.

Speaker 1 (01:29:20):
And that's what that was for me today at this conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:29:23):
And yeah, I think it's just again it speaks to
what we're building, what I'm inviting you to be a
part of. You know, this is this is something bigger
than myself. It's bigger than my partner, Brenda. It is
really for me the way that I look at it.
It's like a lasting legacy that can continue on beyond

(01:29:46):
my time here on this earth. I want this to
grow into a real community and in a real safe
space where it's like yo, people who look like us,
who come from our backgrounds, know that they can come
here to better themselves, find the thing that they've been
searching for, the thing that's been missing in their life,
you know, the lack of inspiration or or you know,

(01:30:08):
just a safe space to be authentically them. This is
the hub, the home for that. That's what I'm trying
to build. And anybody that is a part of it
that decides to sign up, you know you are are
going to be a contributing member to building something that
hopefully has a grand impact on our community for generations

(01:30:30):
to come.

Speaker 1 (01:30:31):
And that's what this is all about for me.

Speaker 2 (01:30:33):
In the short term, we're all self you know, selfishly
going to hopefully get some of that fulfillment or you know,
belonging that we've been looking for.

Speaker 1 (01:30:42):
And in the long term, we're all.

Speaker 2 (01:30:44):
Contributing to something that really, I genuinely feel like could
have a great impact on our community. Like I said,
for for generations. And I invite you to be a
part of that, you know. So it is open now.
We're doing like a soft launch for everything as we
we begin to kind of roll out and fill up
what the content is going to look like inside of this.

Speaker 1 (01:31:04):
We're doing it through Patreon, which is in app.

Speaker 2 (01:31:08):
The only comparison I can make And I hate even
doing this, but it's like it's like OnlyFans minus the porn.
If you will, right you subscribe on there. There's an
app as well. You can get on your computer and
through it you have access to like you know, this
this membership where you can view all the exclusive content.
Some of it is some videos. Some of it is

(01:31:28):
going to be exclusive podcasts that I do on there,
everything from like we're I'm talking about doing a lot
of different things on.

Speaker 1 (01:31:35):
Her, you know, like study like low find mixes for
your study and work too.

Speaker 2 (01:31:38):
I'm gonna start making exclusive ones just for that, like
a lot of like one stop sort of lifestyle type
of content.

Speaker 1 (01:31:45):
And you know, connection.

Speaker 2 (01:31:47):
There's going to be you know, like community boards where
you can you know, post things that you're working on,
get feedback, connect with others.

Speaker 1 (01:31:55):
Like we've talked about, you know, sort of this.

Speaker 2 (01:31:57):
I want to be able to bring you know people
who have Oh, we had Jade on this. She's arrest
she writes, right, so she can help you write a
dope resume. She's working HR and all these things. He
does work in HR. Now you can connect with somebody
like Jade who is helping you. Oh you're looking for
a job, boom, Well Jade is actually an expert in
this that she's your community member, why not reach out
to her? Like, That's what we're building with all these things,

(01:32:18):
and we're gonna have the monthly Masterminds as we always do,
where I have a live stream and we just talk
about different you know, sort of parts of the philosophy
of the four pillars of conscious living and life in general.

Speaker 1 (01:32:31):
So yeah, that's what we're rolling out.

Speaker 2 (01:32:34):
And again Patroon is the app that we're doing it through.
And right now it's like a friends and family rolled out.
So you know, those who are a part of the
other just be social clubs, the originals, they're going to
get the invite to begin to hop on as we
start rolling it out and really building it out. And
those of you who listen to this podcast, I consider
you guys friends and family as well, you know, So

(01:32:55):
we're still keeping it kind of like hit me up
if you want to be a part of it. The
difference is, you know, you reach out to me via
Instagram at dj Dramos or email Brenda brendatmindewit youong lord
dot com and we'll send you the link for the
Patreon and then you can you know, subscribe there. And again,
you know, this only becomes as big as as we

(01:33:16):
allow it to be, essentially right, you know, everybody who
signs up for it is being a part of creating
something that I again I think really has the potential
to change our community in a in a.

Speaker 1 (01:33:30):
Positive way forever.

Speaker 2 (01:33:31):
You know, So if you want to be a part
of that, you know you want to do something for
the community and really be a founding member of what
we're doing here, please, you know, join us in this
sort of next couple of weeks, so we do the
soft rollout of the friends and family. It's you know,
fifty five dollars a month. It's nothing crazy, not to

(01:33:54):
cheapen you know anything. I know for everybody, you know,
we all have different things going on, but I promise
you we are doing our best to make sure that
the fifty five dollars that you're investing in yourself, because
that's what you're doing. Basically, this is an investment in
yourself that you're going to get a return of ten
times that, if not more. You know, we're working over time,
you know, bring the candid both and so to speak

(01:34:15):
for now, just trying to like say, hey, how what
other things of value can I bring to anybody who
chooses to be a part of this right now? So
you want to be a part of it, DM me
at DJ Dramas or email Brenda Brenda mindef youong Lord
dot com. I'll put the link in the show notes
for that as well, and we'll send you the link
and you can hopefully join and be a part of

(01:34:36):
it and enjoin us on this journey of what I
think is really going to be a transformative community experience
for our community. You know, I keep using the word community,
but yeah, that's my vision for this. I really do
feel like this is going to be one of sort
of my lasting legacies that I get to leave behind,

(01:34:57):
that I get to have have contributed to our amazing
culture and our amazing people. So that's what I'm hoping.
But again, it only goes as far as we allow
it to so in the same way that Coca Cola
doesn't have to, you know, justify why they're charging you whatever,
two dollars for a bottle of soda or whatever it
might be. You know, that's the irony as well, by

(01:35:20):
the way, I feel like I'm like overcompensating for like
the value, and I want, I always want to be transparent.
But isn't it ironic that we have no problem buying
into these random companies from people who are there just
to make a profit. They don't need to essentially justify

(01:35:42):
why we're buying into them. But us as creatives, as
smaller guys in this this thing, we feel the need
to over justify why.

Speaker 1 (01:35:49):
Somebody should support us.

Speaker 2 (01:35:51):
Right, And it's also funny how people are so you know,
those in our lives or whatever it might be, like,
you know so many friends, how many times have you
done a creative project? And it's like, bro, how are
people not running out to support me in the way
that they should like people you have a relationship with, Right,
There's always that meme that goes around. It's like, support
your your your creative friends the same way you support

(01:36:13):
a bunch of rich strangers you know, via Amazon or
whatever brand or whatever it is. And I think it's
just human psyche in general, just just sort of like
food thought on things as I like digest to all
that that I'm working out right now, and how I
also could be a better member of the community in
general as well.

Speaker 1 (01:36:29):
But yeah, just things to think about.

Speaker 2 (01:36:31):
But again, like this is this is our moment to
build something and I really feel passionate about it, and
I invite you to to join us and to come
along and to be a part of that ride, that
journey with us, and also real time feedback. I want
you to tell me what you're looking for, what you
want more of, how we could do things better. This
is again, this isn't just me. This is me opening

(01:36:52):
things up to all of you guys who are listening.
Everybody you know from our community who still hasn't discovered
this and is searching for something more.

Speaker 1 (01:37:01):
Like that's what just be is? That just be is not?

Speaker 2 (01:37:04):
You know, that's why it's not you know, DJ Dromos
is social club. It's it's something bigger than myself. I
might be the vehicle or the vessel right now, but
this is for all of us, and this is you
know for all of us to come together, and nobody
is is bigger than the community, you know, and we're
all here to get together and learn together and grow together.

(01:37:25):
So I'm merely the vehicle for it right now. But
this is all of our thing, and I really feel
passionate about about it, and I invite you to to,
you know, be a part of it and contribute if
you're you're able to, you know, and and that's that.
So yeah, I appreciate all y'all for tuning in. I
hope to see you in the club. I hope to

(01:37:47):
be able to connect with you on a deeper level
like I've been able to do with these amazing people
via that just be social clubs. So yeah, hit me
up you have any questions or anything like that. I'm
always free to to hopefully answering things or just get
feedback or get feedback whatever it might be.

Speaker 1 (01:38:03):
With that said, thank y'all so much for tuning in.

Speaker 2 (01:38:05):
I will catch you on Thursday for a Thursday Trends episode,
So then stay safe and we'll talk soon. Life as
a Gringo is a production of the micro Thura podcast
network and iHeartRadio