No More Black Momma Struggle P*rn (ft. Elizabeth Ayoola & Haniyah Philogene)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I was trying to watch that new movie Straw. I

(00:02):
don't seem that yet.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Yes, that movie took me on a roller coaster ride.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Don't no spoilers. I only got like fifteen minutes in.
I don't know if I want to keep watching, Like.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Oh, well, I have thoughts. So I went to go
and watch it, and then I said, I'm not gonna
do this.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
So because you started it and you, like me, were like,
this is painful.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Thank you. So I appreciate what Tyler Perry is doing
in terms of amplifying black stories, in terms of paying
black women more, but I'm not gonna lie. I'm tired
of the struggling, troubled or yeah, and as a single mother,
I'm not trying to sit down and watch that trauma.
You know, Like, the world's stressful enough right now. I

(00:43):
don't need to watch that. I don't.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Hey bea fan. Welcome to the Brown Table. I can't
believe it's only been a week since we were with y'all.
It feels like it's been a year and so much
has happened. But what can I say. I'm so grateful
to have another week with the BAFAM and we have
some incredible brand new faces. Last week I went ham.
I had three panelists on the show. It was so fun,

(01:11):
brand new voices for the BA fam. We had Alexa
Brooks Major from The Financial Diet. We had Evy Saint
Louis from Blavity look at me and my recall my memory.
And he was a third one. John Quillin Hill JQ
from The Voxes explain it to me. Please be a fam.
After you listen to this episode, go catch up because
I'm loving having, first of all, meeting some new friends

(01:33):
and just invite y'all to come hang out with me
on the internet. It's fun and I have I've tricked
two more incredible women to join me at the Brown
table and here they are. They said, Yes, it's amazing.
I have got look at me. I almost said, han
Naia Okay, okay, you say your name.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
I have the Grio reporter, Yes, Anya Philogeen. I'm so
excited to be here with you guys today.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
What a beautiful Anya religion. And we have Elizabeth Ayola Yes,
Aola Iola Yes from Nerve while it's Smart Money Podcast.
Welcome ladies. Hi, how are you feeling? I already gave
you my little like might be cool, be cool with
pep talk, which probably stressed me out more than if

(02:19):
I hadn't.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
I feel great. I feel great now we're good.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, yeah, I feel pretty good too. I'm not a
coffee drinker TMI, but I tried a coffee this morning
because I was uplate self stoptaging, and I actually feel
quite energized.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
So oh, okay, any shakes, Let's see the hands right right.
I don't usually drink coffee.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
So if we see her jitterating me, is.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
That because you did your own braids? Are those microbraids?

Speaker 4 (02:49):
Even?

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Because that is insane?

Speaker 3 (02:51):
I love small, long, but length braids. So it took
me to braid these braids longer than usual, about ten
to twelve hours, so I spent my entire Saturday. But
The Godfather of Harlem is it cop Fathers? I started
watching that and that kept me entertained while I braided?

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Is that with the ugandaan? He's not from Uganda? You
know how? I'm talking about the actor.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
The main character. I wish I could tell you his name,
but he's definitely a popular I've seen him in many movies.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Right, he was a Uganda president movie?

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (03:24):
Yes? Yes?

Speaker 1 (03:25):
What is it? Blood?

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Diamond. No, that was anyway. I know, I know the
one you're talking about. I watched that movie.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
He was the director of Waiting to Exhale. Why can
I not think? Why can't wait listen?

Speaker 3 (03:37):
It's not Forest Whittaker, right, Finally I guess the actor's name.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
But now I'm panicked. I don't know anyway, it doesn't
matter BA fan fact check us. But you're watching that. Well,
your hair looks amazing. How do your shoulders.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Feel, honey, My shoulders are fine. It's my fingertips that
really suffered. And you know, I'm in my mid thirties,
so to lower back, you know, but I think it's
all worth it.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
You know how much did you save? How much they
charged down in textas?

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Oh my goodness, you know. So every time I'm about
to braid my hair, I go like, just get somebody
else to do it, And then I start going into
Facebook groups and on Instagram and I have not seen
a braider charge. And these are quite small, as you
can see, any less than three point fifty and that's
for medium and jumbo size. So if I wanted them
this size, I could be paying around four hundred bucks.
And ain't nobody got time for that.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
So that's forty bucks an hour. Yeah, yeah, I could see.
That's very economical.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, and I get it. I used to braid hair
actually for people, and it does take a while.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
It is a lot of time.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
Now however, I'm still not paying that. I'm sorry, not
yet anyway, not at this season in my life.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Anya, do you have protective style? What's your what's your
summer protective style of choice?

Speaker 4 (04:50):
Usually I'm actually looking like Elizabeth. I love a good
bus down braid. Sometimes it's a color I don't know.
But see, I got blessed one am I very very
good friends. She braids hair, so she does my hair.
Now I still pay her. I still pay her a
reasonable wage, but it is a lot less than what
they charge in the braiding chops. And she actually cares

(05:11):
about my hair. It's kind of like our hangout time,
like we literally will turn on a series of shows
and just catch up Kiki braid. I'll be there until
three o'clock in the morning sometimes and it's okay though,
because like that's my sister.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
So yeah, maybe I should get my hair braided because
for me, I've only done it once, can you believe?

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Oh wow?

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Once? And it was a few years ago. I did.
They were beautiful. I love the braids, but my butt
was so tired.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
And the sitting, the sitting.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
And I don't know what was worse the I Actually,
you guys, I paid to have them take them out too,
which I know you would like get a cousin smart.
And still my cousin like she only took them out,
and I was so tired. I was like, don't even
worry about washing combing it, like I'm getting the hell
out of here. I have my cousin Anna like degunkify
it because I guess like all the product and you know,
goods stuff, the good and glorious stuff. But no, I

(06:03):
was scarred for life. So I do a wash and go,
and if you're fancy, I would do like a curly
bang and a puffball.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
That's my well, what works for you works for you,
you know so truly.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
But I have children, y'all sound like you ain't got
no kids.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
I have a kid. He is seven, Okay, I do
old enough?

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Okay, old enough to entertain?

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, you have.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
A seven year old.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
I have a seven year old. My little baby, yes,
my little my little love buck.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Oh they're all struggling.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
Yes, he's so affectionate and it's so sweet and I
love him so much. And he's also very annoying. So
I did to throw that out there, you.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
See, like your little I do there. They are very
annoying and they know it and you just but I
annoy him back. See, he doesn't know Mama was a
little sister. So I know how to be just as
annoying as he does.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
What about you, Anya, I do not have any kids,
Iron Team, no kids. I'm living in my beautiful twenties
and keep it that way.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
My niece, what's the like chaotic? Every day?

Speaker 4 (07:06):
Every day it feels like halfway existential crisis, halfway like, oh,
but I have time. But then social media is like, oh,
you don't have time. The world's like you don't have time.
I'm just taking a day by day.

Speaker 3 (07:17):
They're all lying, they are all.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
That's how I feel when I get on TikTok and Homegirls,
like today I'm harvesting my tomatoes from the garden. But
she's in a different zone than me. My tomatoes won't
be ready until like August, you know. But just to
carry this plant metaphor, I'm saying it's not. We're all
on our own journeys in the garden of life, and
time is an illusion sometimes heavy on this. Sometimes your

(07:41):
twenties have a way being permanent. So you just be careful.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
Listen, listen. That's the conversation for another day.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
But yesterday's turning into five and seven year olds poking
you in the ribs while you're trying to sleep, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
Yeah, we're very careful about that on this side, very
very careful. Not yet.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Oh yeah, all right, Well, I want bea fan to
get to know y'all a little bit. Elizabeth, you're in Texas, Anya,
where are you at?

Speaker 2 (08:04):
I am in the DMV area.

Speaker 4 (08:06):
Now, if anybody is a DMV native, they're gonna be like,
oh no, no, no, no, no, I'm in northern Virginia.
I'm in like the Alexandria area. But you know, depending
on who you talk to, that's not a part of
the DC Maryland Virginia conglomerate.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
I'm always gagged by the DMV thing. There's three whole states.
They're not small. Yeah, how y'all got lump them all together?
I mean, DC is not really a state. Okay, fair, but.

Speaker 4 (08:30):
Okay, Well, here's the thing. It's like, it's not all
of Virginia that's included in that. It's usually like northern Virginia.
The way they do it is if you can take
the Metro, you can be considered into the DMV. Now,
the reason why Northern Virginia is kind of like a
it's the cousin that they kind of include but don't
really include, is because they just introduced the Silver Line,
like not that it's like not too long ago. Like

(08:51):
the Silver Line feels very new, and that's the main
line that connected the like some of the more prominent
parts of Northern Virginia to DC.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Before that, again, the car get on that highway.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
So yeah, only good things happened on the Silver Line.
Everyone's optimistic on the Silver Line. Right, We'll say that
are you from there originally?

Speaker 4 (09:10):
Yeah? Literally, born and raised out here, but then I
went to school in New York and came back here.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
So yeah, and what about elizabeth A, you're from Texas.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
It's complicated.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
So I told us you have a really amazing life story,
so we need to get into it. But it can't
take the next hour.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
You're only gonna have to rate me. Yes, I'm gonna
bullet point. But I am not from Texas. I am
a British, American and Nigerian. So I actually moved from
the UK five years ago. Well back, because I also
moved from the UK to the US when I was seven,
and then I left when I was seventeen after I
ran away from home and my parents were like, yeah,

(09:46):
America's not good for you. We're shipping you back to London.
So then I basically did my you know what we
call sixth form over there. I'm not sorry, sure, From
seventeen to about twenty one, I lived in the UK.
So after I finish my undergrad I was like, you know,
the Western world sucks because I did it on globalization
its effects on the Nigerian economy, and I was like, oh,

(10:08):
I'm moving back to Nigeria and I'm going to make
a difference. So I spent all my twenties in Nigeria
and then I got married and I moved back to
the UK at twenty seven, and then I moved back
here five years ago and I'm divorced now.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
So holy crap, that did feel like, so is your
where's your baby from? Where's his citizenship?

Speaker 3 (10:28):
He's just like his mama. We have tri citizenship, so WO.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
Got the combo pack.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
I love it way if you talk to me long enough,
Some things that I say sound British, I had. I
once had a friend who called me three accents. So
you'll hear. Yeah, you'll hear the Nigerian. Sometimes the American
and the British come out. It just depends on who
I'm talking to and what I'm talking about. I hear that.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
I was just in London actually, and I went to Yeah,
I went to see Beyonce and everyone said my accent
was trash. But I watch a lot of Love Island
that is education the UK count stand the Americans. I
don't know. I think it's quite nice. You're joking maybe

(11:21):
because like we were just obnoxious Beyonce fans in London,
like they were probably Sigas, just like running those streets crazy.
But I went to this really good Nigerian spot called Okara. Okay.
It's it's next to Borough Market, so it was very
it was kind of touristy, but it was It was
cool because you go through this insane market which is
just like like just buzzing with people everywhere, and one

(11:43):
of our Ba fam Yeah, b r FAM listeners to Kumbo,
thank you so much. She invited me and my my
friends to this restaurant and I was like, of course,
i'll meet you stranger, and so she took me. So
it was like having a It was like having a
guide and to Kumbo, shout out to her. She she
does like curated West African cuisine, kind of like food

(12:05):
events in the London area. It was dope. I got
to try. Well okara is the is the black bean
fritter or no black eyed pea for black kara?

Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah, I grew up eating that a lot. It is
made because yes, it's made of beans and then you
fry it. I used to make that once upon a time.
But pretty good, would you think?

Speaker 1 (12:22):
I thought it was really delicious. It was definitely upscale.
It was like it was like West African street food
and like upscale. So I'm sure it's the kind of
food that you would probably pay, you know, like we
would for you know, taco truck food. Yes, but it
was very delicious and they Oh I had the best
cocktail when I was there. What was it called the kojo?
What else did I eat there?

Speaker 3 (12:43):
Then?

Speaker 1 (12:43):
I can remember? I mean, did I say at Kara kara. Yeah,
I'll never.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
Say it, right, I know, And that's okay. It effort counts,
you know.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
So yeah, and there's a little bit of Caribbean influence too.
We have some plantain dish. Oh and we had this
giant fish that poor guy guys I think it was
a supreme I don't know. It was big and round
and very dramatic, but it was lovely. I had such
a good time. I'm glad in London.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
It's been a year since I've gone, but me and
my son are going to go in October. So I've
just been craving some fish and chips. I'm looking forward
to that.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
Well, then, how the hell did you end up a
nerd Wallet of All Places podcast?

Speaker 3 (13:24):
Okay, another bullet points. Okay, so I actually do not
have a journalism background, per se. I started writing poems
when I was I don't know, twenty something, and then
when I moved to Nigeria, I was supposed to get
a job in waste management. However that didn't work out.
So I was looking for a job for almost a
year and someone was like, hey, want to edit a
job and things are a little bit more flexible, you know,

(13:46):
Nigeria in terms of qualifications and things like that.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
So we're in Nigeria now, okay, in Lego, sir.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
So it's like, well, I've never been an editor, but
I've written poems. I don't know if that relates, but
let me try it, you know. And that is basically
how my journalism or you know, journey started. So I
started out as an editor, then I would write to
and fast forward when I moved back to London. Unfortunately,
the Western world don't really be respecting Nigerian qualifications and
work experience, so I kind of almost had to start

(14:17):
back from scratch. And then I got a job at
a buy now pay later loan company. So and I
got that job on accident because I went in there
trying to work at a call center and they were like, hey,
we see on your resume you've done some writing, so
we have a job open. I was like, okay, great.
So that was my first kind of Western experience writing
and from there writing what about money? So just writing

(14:40):
about money, personal finance.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Really content. Oh sorry I should have been Yeah, you
were writing content. You were doing like SEO content probably
exactly how to get a buy now, payloadit later. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Then I went down the content mills, which are awful,
you know, just to kind of get some experience. And
then I landed my first big gig and Pop Sugar,
and I wrote for Pop Sugar for some time and
then I just started getting more and more bylines. Fast
forward to moving to the US. I worked at a
nonprofit who for addiction, Yes, nonprofit for addiction. I wrote

(15:14):
for them. Then I went to another company. And then
when I was at the other company, I was at
my desk and I was like, I want to work
from home, and then something just came in me. I
think it was the spirit, and it was like, Hey,
look at nerd Wallet's website and see if they have
any openings. And that's where that journey began. So what
I love that.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, and you have a co host, So tell me
a little bit about tellbaf'm about the Smart Money podcast.
This m should be other than the fact that I
was on it recently, because.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
We are your financial besties, and I know that money
can feel like a mystery to a lot of people.
It feels very complicated and overwhelming. But we do our
best to break down complex money issues and make them
easy to understand. You know so, and I find so
much joy in doing that because a part I left
out about my career journey is I started writing about

(16:03):
personal finance because I was on a personal journey to
try to achieve financial freedom. And you know, a lot
of the times when we want to learn something new
I don't know about y'all, you know, it kind of
goes like, well, I'm going to take time to start
studying this thing, but you never get around to doing
it because you're busy. And I was like, well, since
I have to work full time, maybe I should get
a job writing about money since I was already writing,

(16:23):
so then I have to learn on the job. So
that's actually how I ended up writing about money. So
but point being, it's such a joy to think about
where I was maybe seven years ago, eight years ago,
knowing nothing about money, to how much I've learned, and
to be able to share that information with other people
so that they can get themselves out of the trenches,

(16:44):
hopefully if they're in some financial trenches and experience more
financial freedom.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
So, oh, okay, I want to talk more about financial
freedom and that whole concept. But Anya, I want to
hear about your career journey Oh, no, pressure, you don't
have to take us across oceans or anything like that.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
I was about to say, I'm part of the story.
I don't think it's as exciting.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
It's probably closer to mine. I went to school to
do something, and then I did that thing exactly.

Speaker 4 (17:10):
But I feel like in journalism, though it's almost like
now that feels like such a rare story. A lot
of people that I've met or that I've talked to,
they didn't necessarily study journalism. So I was a part
of that group that I went to Syracuse. I studied
magazine news and digital journalism, with a focus on digital
journalism because naturally we know the attention.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Span for magazines is slowly dwindling.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
Wait, I'm shocked. What year did you graduate?

Speaker 4 (17:37):
I usually don't discuss that, no, just because I usually
don't like people knowing too much about my age because
then it turns into a thing. But I did graduate
fairly recently, in the last five years.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
Oh well, I have no like, that's amazing. I don't
think I was just asking because I'm just shocked that
because I thought I was the last journalism graduate who
was like allowed to study magazines because they were like
dead by the time I graduated an nine, which was like,
you know, the recession be don't know, but that was
when I know a little bit. Newspapers and magazine print

(18:13):
was like on its way out, and everyone they brought
to my college to talk about it was so depressed.
They were like, yeah, graduate, go build your career. By
the way, anyone hiring let me know, because the speakers like,
we are about to lose our jobs. But that's in
Syracuse has a really great journalism program. But anyway, I

(18:33):
hope that you learned all the things that you know
are useful. You're at the grio now, so let's taught
you something good.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
Yeah, no, definitely, I will say I was a part
of the year. I'll say the year graduated in twenty
twenty two. I want to say the year the year
before that, they had just like kind of pivoted the
magazine program to magazine news and digital journalism because okay,
they knew they had to kind of like involve add
a lot more to it. Take don't quote me on

(19:01):
that timeline, but essentially they taught us everything like from
podcast productions to magazine writing, online writing. They said, you
have to be a jack of all trades to be
ready to go out into this industry, as I'm sure
we all know. So, Yeah, graduated. I was an intern
at Forbes for like two years back to back immediately

(19:23):
after graduation, and then I landed at the Crayo and
I've been here ever since doing what I love, which
is covering all things black and black, black.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
Black period.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
I love that incredible journey because you know, you are
one of the few, let me not say a few,
but reliable sources that we have left because now we
have journalism muddled with social media influencers, no shade muddled
with you know, you know, so it's nice to see
people who have read some of them deserve them shade.
I ain't want to be the one to say it

(19:53):
so much shade that you can't even see them anymore, Well,
crowd them out.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
No, I love that I'm getting to chat with you
this early in your career. Listen, like being an elder
millennial and having started my career at a magazine like
you know, back in twenty ten, I moved to New
York and it's just you're gonna go on such a ride.
The Grio is probably just the first stop on you
know the path to many different publications and it will
be fun. I'll get to introduce you every couple of years.

(20:21):
I'm not trying to encourage you, but I am. I mean,
Elizabeth knows this. I tell people to quit like all
the time.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
I don't know how to do that.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
So it's kind of well, yeah, we love a pivot.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
This is true period.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
But actually having like real people humans, especially in the
age of bots two like writing content. So the way
that I found you, Anya was through your story on
basically like the Target boycott and what was coming next
and calls for black Americans. First of all, proud. I
don't know. You probably have to be like objective or

(20:53):
whatever as a journalist, but I don't have to because
it's my bob. So yeah, fuck Target. I don't shop
there anymore. I'll get sponsored by someone else. It's fine,
haven't shopped there in months. And I was interested because
I hadn't heard about the Dollar General boycott. So do
you cover a lot of like news about like the

(21:14):
retail backlash in this postdi attack era?

Speaker 4 (21:19):
I thought people I cover a little bit of everything nowadays,
but my official title is lifestyle, So because of that,
like inn at the grio that encompasses a lot of
things beauty, fashion, business, culture, like all those things. So yes,
I've definitely found myself covering a lot of that, a
lot of people's reactions, and just as more and more

(21:42):
details have come up in terms of like Target announcing
that like oh, they saw a decrease in foot traffic
and they are now warning their stakeholders about like hey,
this may be a thing that causes more of an
issue down the line. Those are things that I've definitely
been covering as well.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
So yeah, hey, ba fam, We're going to take a
quick break, pay some bills, and we'll be right back.
All right, ba fam, We're back. So are we boycotting
Dollar General? Like what's happening?

Speaker 2 (22:11):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (22:12):
So yes, as a short answer, yes, long answer though,
it's a little bit more complicated, which I think, like personally, objectively,
I think this is a very.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Interesting approach to it.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
So, as we know, Jamal Bryant, he leaded the forty
day Fast, the forty day target Fast, which became indefinite,
and he recently announced that he was doing that we
should be doing a Dollar General boycott in response to
the fact that Dollar General, despite black consumers making up
their main market and then also being in a lot

(22:46):
of black communities, black neighborhoods. There's apparently there's like a
Dollar General in like five miles of seventy five percent
of American neighborhoods. So Dollar General is everywhere, but they
hold back on their DEI initiatives and their practices and
have not necessarily been serving the key demographics that.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
Have been giving them money.

Speaker 4 (23:10):
So because of that, Jamal Bryant announced a Dollar General boycott.
But the like, I think the caveat in there that
I really appreciated is the fact that he acknowledged that
Dollar Generals, a lot of them feed into food deserts, right,
and they are in for a lot of communities, dollar
General is the only place they can go to to
get produced, to get groceries, whether that is because of

(23:33):
economic challenges or because of the simple fact that there
are no grocery stores within a ten mile radius of
their house. So, with that being said, while he does
encourage people who do have other options to shop to
stop shopping at Dollar General, he is also like kind
of pushing for a more virtual protest as well, in

(23:56):
case like, if Dollar General is your only option to
shop there by all means you know, eat you can't starve,
but also encouraging on social media to you know, boycott,
highlighting the issues.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
And what they are not doing, et cetera.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
So yeah, is that what it's like? We're part of Texas?
Are you? And Elizabeth? Who?

Speaker 3 (24:17):
I'm in sugar Land. I'm in the suburbs.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
See the little pops? I don't know. I can't pop
my lips like what.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
You say every time.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
That's a little like, I don't know. It's Nigeria and pop?
Oh me do it?

Speaker 4 (24:29):
You know what?

Speaker 3 (24:30):
I've been doing this all my life and let me
be about to tell a story. Honey, pop is happening?

Speaker 1 (24:35):
Okay, but have you ever mastered it? I don't know
what's wrong with me.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
I don't even realize I'm doing it.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
So since my Wisconsin, my background, my cousin's librarian, and
she does it so good? You just remember. But go ahead,
go ahead. Sugar Land, sugar baby, Where do you live?

Speaker 3 (24:50):
Sugar Land?

Speaker 1 (24:51):
Yes, it's such sugar Land? Okay? So is it like?
What's it like out there in the burbs?

Speaker 3 (24:56):
Like?

Speaker 1 (24:56):
Is dollar General as big as it is? I feel
like in Georgia, dollars like on the way to my
dad's house, and he lives in south of Atlanta, and
on the way to the Publics, which is like the
big supermarket, there are two dollar generals. So really and
truly he is, like I think, in that demographic, and
he loves him a dollar general.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
Ask you all are talking. I just thought to myself,
when is he from the last time I've been to
a dollar dollar general. So to answer your question in
my area, I do, honey, I'm not I'm not boogie.
I like to save a dollar two.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Okay, Americans are like London's posh.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
I know, honey. Okay, Look, Linday has so many ghettos.
I grew up right next to them.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
I know.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
He please, Okay, yeah, but no, there are not many
dollar generals near me. There are dollar trees, but not
many dollar generals. And I go up in the dollar tree,
you know, when I need to get a little balloon
or you know, some batteries or something.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
For cheese, sell cheap hot wheels tracks if your kids
into that.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
Oh he was, but now the iPad has taken over,
so I don't know, I know, but I only let
him use it on the weekends. But still all week.
He's fantasizing about that.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
I oh, really and truly well that I'm I'm first
of all, I'm just like I'm listening to you, Anya,
But I'm also like, god, damn, did I sound that
eloquent when I was three years out of school?

Speaker 3 (26:20):
I know?

Speaker 2 (26:21):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
Oh you're just explaining things, remembering people's name.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
What do you? Okay? So I have to be I
wanted to talk to y'all. This is like way down
on my list of things I wanted to chat about.
But as you're talking, I was before earlier this afternoon,
before my dad called me and pissed me off, telling
me some health advice which he has no business giving me.
Just raises my blood pressure. He interrupted me. I was
trying to watch that new movie Straw with Taraji p Henson,

(26:48):
and I think Tayana Taylor's in it. I don't seen
that yet.

Speaker 4 (26:51):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (26:52):
Who was? Who said?

Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (26:53):
I had you minimized on I'd seen it.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
Yes, that movie. That movie took me on a roller
coaster ride.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
Don't no spoilers. I only got like fifteen minutes in.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
I won't spoil it.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
I'm only at the part it's trust the shirt out
of me. I don't know if I want to keep watching, Like, oh,
I loved the first have you seen it? What, Elizabeth,
have you seen it yet? Well?

Speaker 3 (27:15):
I have thoughts, So I went to go and watch it,
and then I said, I'm not gonna do this.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
So because you started it and you, like me, were like,
this is painful.

Speaker 3 (27:25):
Thank you. So I appreciate what Tyler Perry is doing
in terms of amplifying black stories, in terms of paying
black women more, but I'm not gonna lie. I'm tired
of the struggling, troubled or yah, and as a single mother,
I'm not trying to sit down and watch that trauma.
You know, Like, the world's stressful enough right now. I

(27:46):
don't need. I don't need to watch that. I don't
for what you know, So honestly, I probably am not
gonna watch it. I still think people should watch it
and support black films, and but for me personally, right now,
TV is an escapism for me for everything happening in
the world. I want to feel joyful when I watch things,
and it's too close to home. I am in many

(28:07):
mom groups and there are so many moms struggling. They
are struggling financially, they are struggling with their mental health,
They don't have any support. They are on the edge,
and I just don't want to see that on TV.
I don't. It's already happening all around me.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
So thanks for putting words to what I was processing it.
And I was just I was like, I was in
this very same chair and just going in. It just
felt like my heart was being raked by hot coals.
Just because you have to watch her endure in the
first fifteen minutes, her child being taken away, her losing
her job. I think, I just I think I got

(28:42):
that far being denied at the bank, trying to Oh
that bank part pissed me off. She's like a heartbreaking
just all and it really is like it's like black
women struggle porn. Yes, and I feel like I know,
but it's been the number one movie on Netflix, apparently
all these headlines have come out. Who's watching it, though?

(29:03):
Are we?

Speaker 2 (29:04):
That's a really good question, because I.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Think this is the kind of shit that people expect
our stories to be.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
Thank you, and y'all see it every day, So why
y'all need to watch it on the TV screen? You know?
I signed up.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
They don't see it every day for them, For like
people who don't look like us, this is like going
to the zoo, like, ooh, a wild African American, right, yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
Because it's like this makes me think of two incidents
where I've had recently where I just randomly meet you know,
white people out having small talk. And I was at
the museum the other day with the guy I'm dating,
and a white couple starts talking to us, and you know,
I mentioned that I'm a single mom and I have
a membership for the museum, and then she tells me
about this fancy restaurant and then she goes, that comes

(29:46):
with it, you get a discount with the membership, and
she goes, you know, but essentially because your single mom
might be expensive for you, so you can try the
cheaper one, basically the cafe with the you know, so
people already have stereotypes and you know about what black
single mom's lives are, right, and it is real to
some extent, But we also don't need to keep perpetuating that,

(30:08):
you know, Like I mean sound you know.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
I would have just been like, yeah, I'll mention that
on my very popular podcast Smart Money Nerd.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
I am trying to do all that, but I might.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Listen. Sometimes you have to let them know, you do
have to kind.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
Of point that out.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
But I do think I think you have to a
good question about who is watching it, and I think
there are multiple types of viewers, because while I listen,
I fully agree and respect you Elizabeth for not finishing it,
because halfway through me and my friend were saying they
were like, why are we watching this? Why are we
putting ourselves through this? But we were too far in,
we were invested in the story at that point. We

(30:46):
had to make it through the end. Like I said,
emotional roller coaster. But I do think on one end,
Tyler Perry knows his audience, and I do think that
there are some people. While some of us are like
we need the escapism, there are some people who kind
of there's that emotional like that that feeling of seeing
yourself or seeing an experience that you recognize on screen,

(31:09):
that is almost I think cathartic might be the word
for that. That that's why they sit through it and
they watch it and it can almost be seen as
like a form of empowerment.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Almost.

Speaker 4 (31:21):
Now I'm not saying that that is the case, for everyone,
but I respect those that are like, listen, these are
because there's been arguments about like, Okay, are we supposed
to sweep these stories under the rug? Just because we
know that it's a story, Does that mean we're not
supposed to broadcast it? You know, And there's that argument.
But then on the other end, you know, it's like,
why do we keep showing the same stories? I think

(31:43):
ultimately it's a testament to the fact that we need
different black storytellers in these spaces. We need a diverse
arrangement of variety, because we know the black experience is
not monolithic. So with that being said, we need the
Tyler Perry's to show to shine a light on that.
We need the Easter Race to shine a light on this,
We need the Ryan Coogler to shine a light on this,

(32:05):
and so on and so forth, and hopefully as time
goes on, we get more people that are doing that
at the level that we've seen Tyler Perry.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Do it at.

Speaker 4 (32:13):
Because I can't deny that he's had a very interesting
and like almost unprecedented run in Hollywood and what he's
been able to do in craft within himself.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
But yeah, yeah, I appreciate your perspective, I think, I mean,
that's what it's about. It's art, and it's like it's
really how it makes you individually feel. And also I
didn't even I mean, of course, Tyler Perry, he always
becomes the We always have some form of this conversation
when one of his films comes out and people are like,
but we need him, And I wanted to talk to

(32:46):
you all because it feels like so Sherry Shepherd I
think was in the movie. She played the bank teller.
I think she anyway the bank manager, but the manager. Yeah,
so she's in the movie. And then of course, to
rogiph part of me is just like, why can't we
just when's the last time I saw to Roggie in
a role where she just gets to be like a
like not sense cookie, because she hasn't like I guess

(33:06):
sugar sugar, sugar averyan color purple, but like like she
doesn't get a lot of like the big, you know,
powerhouse roles where she gets to be you know, just
like a different, like you said, a different kind of
story of a black woman. But she deserves because she's
so I'm just tired of saying to Roggie and pain,
you know, like Yeah, that's also me, Like I love

(33:28):
her as a person so much, and she's such a
good actress, that's seeing her in that much pain, it
hurt me twice as much. I think in a way
that's probably really telling why do I care whatever?

Speaker 3 (33:40):
You know, at the parallels, She's also was a single mom,
you know, for most of the time where she took
that movie right, So maybe that's why she's able to
embody it so well.

Speaker 4 (33:49):
So yeah, I mean, she did say that it wasn't
hard for her to like connect with the character because
she knew Jania's story, Like she's like, I recognize that story,
So I think that's a part of it. She also
ironically did an interview where she was saying, I can't
remember I can't remember what movie.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
I can't remember what it was, But she.

Speaker 4 (34:09):
Was working with a director who essentially asked her what
role she wanted to play. She picked the role of
a girl who is a little bit more quiet, and
the director was like, I'm glad you said that, because
your eyes tell the story. And like, because of that,
I think that may play a role into why we
don't see her like playing certain things or she's always

(34:30):
kind of in these like deep characters because she has
this really beautiful ability to just she matches you in
when when you're watching her, it's like, oh, this is
not to ROGI Beansen, this is Jania.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
This is right.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
I'm watching the little girl to Raji and the adult
Toagi at the same time. Have you ever noticed that
Elizabeth being a mom? Like sometimes when I'm watching someone,
i just imagine them as a little kid.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
Yeah, and I'm like.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
This person is just a baby, Like they were just
a baby going through all this.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
I've been thinking that about my parents a lot lately,
you know, like they were once little kids.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
And have their own story in our season of forgiving
them because they were just children.

Speaker 4 (35:09):
Dear last night, Yeah, getting there.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
Okay, It's been a flow, right, so as healing is
a roller coaster, So there are times where I'm like, oh,
this is great and where you know, and then there
are other times I'm like that was messed up.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
So mm hmmm, yeah, we got to skip past the
whole Father's dave it all.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
But the reason I brought up Sherrie is because I
think she was giving an interview and to Roji also
said this, like Tyler Perry was one of the first
directors to pay them really well as a filmmaker, and
that I love for them. They deserve to get those checks,
you know what I mean? But I agree, I hope that,
Like when's Ava do Rene's next movie coming out? And

(35:50):
Gina what is it? Gina blythe Prince. She directed The
Women King and a bunch of other films, but she
has a new What is Gina doing? Oh, she's doing
The Children of Blood and Bone.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
Oh, that's exciting.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
That's like it's supposed to be. I think a dystopian
like it doesn't it's not a specific country in Africa,
but I think.

Speaker 4 (36:09):
It's like it was inspired by Ebo culture, like the
author's Nigerian.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
There's a lot of lore behind that.

Speaker 3 (36:19):
But yes, yeah, I believe in touches on the religion
or practice. But I actually have the book at home
and I picked it up again. I've had it for
years and write age three. I like the audiobook, but
I heard it's good. Oh I can't do audiobook. I'm
so old school. I'd like to feel it and touch
it and underlie.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
So I just put that back down. When you're not
interested in not novels are hard to get through well,
what are y'all? Oh, there's so much Okay, So another thing,
have y'all watched The Pit? Do you know that show
on HBO? No you don't, Okay, So that's also kind
of a hard to watch show. But just because I
want to talk about this, it's an incredible show. I

(36:59):
binged it. Well, I actually I couldn't binge it because
it was like coming out live in the winter. But
it's basically like Er but in today's age, and it's
an emergency room and it's the it's like a hyper
realistic twelve hour shift in well, yeah, in emergency room doctors.
And they have the lead actor he used to be
on ER. He's just like, you know, everyone's calling him there.

(37:20):
You know, there's Zaddi or whatever. He's a new pagero
pascal because he's hot. He has a beerd he's a
white duty six to two because that's all you need
to do, be hot. But the cast, a supporting cast
there is. It's a super diverse. There's a South Asian actress.
They have Filipino Filipinas who are playing two nurses on
this or Scenary two like admin workers. They're not nurses,

(37:43):
but they like I forget what their exact roles is,
but they are there in the intake center. They have
just a super diverse I'm trying to think if they
have a black male doctor. I don't think I've seen one,
but they have this incredible black woman who plays one
of the surgeons or one of the er doctors. It's
for me watching it, it was like a breath of

(38:04):
fresh air because it unfortunately having been in the hospital
with like family who's been sick in the past couple
of years, it felt like accurate to what a city
er looks like. And the show was a huge hit.
I don't know why, but Variety magazine released a cover
their cover of some of the cast members and the
only three actors actresses on the cover were white actors.

(38:32):
Crazy only three Yeah, And they were like, we didn't
have enough room. That was literally their statement. Do we
need to.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
Show them those covers where there are like fifty people
on the cover?

Speaker 4 (38:43):
Right? If we got a Hollywood reporter does it every
year every year? The Hollywood reporters, like we did one.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
Vogue, like every magazine every time a new Marvel movie
comes out, they fit all those superheroes on one page.
It's the comments was like, it's kind of ironic because
they're called variety. They got it should still happening. You

(39:12):
got nothing?

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Are we gonna say the quiet Heart out loud?

Speaker 1 (39:17):
You know? I mean I imagine opening that up as
their colleagues and just being like.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Where where was my invite?

Speaker 1 (39:23):
Where did they get one?

Speaker 4 (39:26):
I was gonna say, are the colleagues even in the building?
Are the colleagues?

Speaker 1 (39:30):
But those are the performances that I mean, I don't
want to of course, it's like, yeah, those actors are
very talented. I want to see if, like the other
actors have released a statement, because one of the actors
was like, it's such an honor to be on the cover,
but yeah, I'm upset that they didn't include our cast
mates in that case. Like I actually would be more

(39:50):
upset with the actors being on the cover for not
turning around and bringing my.

Speaker 3 (39:56):
Colleague here, Like I worked with them hours every day
and you didn't say nothing.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
Right, Like that's what you can do with your privilege.
Why didn't you thank you? That would be hell awkward
to go back if you knew that's.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
What would hurt me the most. And then I got
to go to work with y'all the next day after
y'all had this little secret cover shoot without us.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
Like, no, not cute? All right, well, thanks Variety for
absolutely giving us nothing. What have y'all read recently? Because
there's like, it feels like everything is so dark. What
is some like content? Movies, films, books that are like
actually bringing you joy these days? Bring in some levity?

Speaker 3 (40:40):
Can I be honest with y'all. I, as much as
I work in the media and obviously I need to
be on top of the news, I have been finding
solace and shutting off and picking up hobby. So your
girl has a painting class today for two hours that
I'm trying. I have been painting, riding my bike and

(41:00):
to those are the things that are giving me joy
because I think online it can sometimes be over stimulating.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
So yeah, that is.

Speaker 1 (41:07):
So not I mean, that is not a hot take.
It's like a healthy take. I'm glad to hear that.
I So you chose painting, Yeah, I chose planting.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
Yeah, but how many do you have? You're a plant mom?
Oh my god, guys, I have to leave in one minute.
But how many do we have?

Speaker 4 (41:23):
Do you have?

Speaker 1 (41:24):
You do have to leave it?

Speaker 2 (41:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (41:26):
Oh? I thought you said one thirty pst.

Speaker 3 (41:28):
Oh wait, what is Oh my god, no, what is
Texas time? I always mix up the time zone pst.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
Oh okay, I thought we had more time. I'm so sorry.
That's okay. You can jump off and I can hang
out with Anya. Well, was there anything that you wanted to,
like talk about specifically before we leave, anything wanted to
let us know? Anything you want to promote?

Speaker 3 (41:50):
Hmm, that's tough. I feel like I'm being put on
the spot. Yeah, let me think.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
When does Smart Money come out?

Speaker 3 (42:00):
You can just say that, okay, yes, So you can
listen to Smart Money. We have episodes coming out twice
a week. One is Money News in case you want
to keep up to date with what's happening in the world,
So we give y'all a nice little spiel rather in
the financial world. And then we have another segment that
comes out during the week where you can listen to
us answer listeners money questions about different topics, whether it's mortgages, budgeting, saving,

(42:25):
anything under the sun, and you can learn something new,
So please tune in. And sometimes we tell our business too,
in case you need an incentive to come over.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
So y'all do have a fun vibe. What's your co
host name, Scott.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
No, Sean Piles, Okay, Clement, Yes, that's Sean Piles.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
Chemistry. It's fun.

Speaker 3 (42:43):
It is fun, So come and listen. And I am
a huge, huge, huge advocate of people trying to figure
out their money, trying to start investing. Please please, I
beg all my friends and family, even if you have
five dollars to invest, and if you need some convincing.
One of my weird hobbies is popping numbers into a
compound interest calculator. That changed my life. So compound interest

(43:06):
calculator will tell you that basically, if you invest five
dollars and your rate of return is a modest I
don't know, three percent or four percent, over the next
ten years, your money is going to grow to x amount.
So I feel like when you're able to see the
power of investing even a little bit of money and
how it can give you passive income, it might change
your mind about starting today. So invest what you can.

(43:31):
Future you is going to thank you.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
Yeah, that's a good reminder. Actually, I did have a
headline I was going to share that found and I
was shocked by this. But Americans are finally saving enough
for retirement brings me so much joy. However, before investing, yes,
but before I bounce, I would love to see the
breakdown of how many black and brown people and women

(43:53):
in that number are investing, because there's so many disparities
for those groups of people. But i'd love to see
more women and more people of color investing.

Speaker 3 (44:03):
Me joy.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
Yes, I know it's it's it's scary out here a
lot of Like I was surprised to hear that at
a time when I feel like what's happening in my
family group chat is like, you know, should I take
this money out? I've got some debt to pay off.
Should I take it for my CD? Should I take
it for my investment? Like that kind of conversation. So
I think it's good to point out there may be
some disparities there. But Elizabeth Ayula, thank you so much

(44:28):
for joining us at the Brown Table.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
Thank you. This was so fun.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
All right, ba fan, We're gonna take a quick break
and be right back with more of the Brown Table.
I've got Anya Philagene from the Griot in the studio.
Be right back, Welcome back, be a fan. Let's get
back to the show, all right, Anya, NBA fan, Welcome
back the beautiful berated Elizabeth had to bounce because we

(44:56):
finally got our time zones figured out and she had
to go, which is but she'll come back on the
show hopefully. All right, Anya, We're gonna keep chatting. We
were just talking about the Variety magazine cover insanity and how, yeah,
just how those actors who were on the cover really
could have done something like should have used their power,

(45:16):
their their their privilege in that moment to at least
bring their sisters with them.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
I agreed.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
I agreed. Well, what else can we chat about? Well,
the No King's protest? Did you cover any of that?

Speaker 2 (45:34):
Yes? And no.

Speaker 4 (45:35):
That was one of those things where I was like
on call for the weekend, so I was like keeping
an eye out in case anything crazy happened.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Thankfully nothing did.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
At least not in the DMV. Right, and we got
shot in Utah a couple and then someone got run over.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Yeah, I yes, I don't know. I don't know too
much about that, if I'm being honest.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
No, please be honest, it's fine. I don't either. I
just saw, Yeah, I think one like they had a peacekeeper,
like probably like a volunteer peacekeeper at a protest in
Utah shot a person who was carrying a rifle and
like pointing it around and shot that person, but then
hit another protester, like an innocent protester and who unfortunately
passed away. And then I think in Virginia it was

(46:20):
there was a first of all, Instagram is like these
images maybe you know, disturbing to some and it's like,
why do we need to play the video of cars
ramming down people? Like why, to Elizabeth's points, stay off
the social media, Just turn it off, Go paint, go touch.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
Grass, go water a plant.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
But if you're at the grio, you don't necessarily get
the privilege of being unplugged right and being completely out
of tune with it. But yeah, so fortunately I guess
there wasn't a ton of upset or unrest, but you're
also having the I want to call it the parade
Trump he must not be named birthday parade military party.

(47:03):
The theme was US Army for his birthday party. And
what was that? Like?

Speaker 2 (47:10):
I was not there.

Speaker 4 (47:12):
I know all the streets in DC were shut down
essentially for miles and miles and miles, but from what
I did see, I don't think they met the anticipated
numbers that they thought they were going to see.

Speaker 1 (47:30):
And yeah, but you know, Birthday Boy was probably cranky
about that. He does a lot his crowd sizes.

Speaker 4 (47:36):
I heard, I heard, I heard, I saw little snippets
about that, But that's truly all I know.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
That's one thing I fully tuned out of.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
Yeah, and yeah, I saw you covered the cutest Well, okay,
he's an eighteen year old man. But there's this eighteen
year old kid who's running for mayor in a town
in Alabama.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
Yeah, I was literally this morning.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
Fairfield, Alabama. Yeah, so how did you find out about
that story?

Speaker 4 (48:06):
Honestly, somebody dropped it in our slack and because I
think Ben Crump had posted, he like reposted his story
and his announcement and naturally came up on our timelines,
and I was like.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
Ben Crumb, attorney, Ben Crump is sort of a news source.
I see. I get a lot of my black news
first from Ben Crump. So shout out to him, right,
and whoever is on his team and that madost good
for a yes down for a repost. He's always like
and I think people know and trust him so much.
He's got that amount of power as they should because

(48:39):
he is like a hero in so many ways. But yeah,
he is an official, unofficial news source that I love.

Speaker 4 (48:46):
I agree, I love that. But yeah, very very cool story.
I think it's so commendable. Like he announced he made
his mayor announcement like two weeks after he graduated from
high school, and he's getting ready to start his freshman
year of college. And I'm like, when I graduate from
high school and I was about to start freshman year,
I was thinking about a summer job so I could
pay for all my clothes that I wanted for college,

(49:06):
so I could look so cute and do all the things.

Speaker 1 (49:08):
So where did you work? Where did you work?

Speaker 4 (49:10):
I worked at Hollister for a while, and then I
worked at Urban Outfitters.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
It was like a split summer type of situation.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
So, yeah, I was a retail girally couldn't trust myself
at a bar or a restaurant.

Speaker 4 (49:22):
Yeah, I knew I didn't have the patience for a restaurant.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
I knew it.

Speaker 1 (49:27):
I was like, I love a bad story. Do you
feel like you get to cover a lot of news
that it's on the positive side or more of like honestly,
you know, it feels like, I'm looking at your your bylines,
I check out your stuff, and I'm like, Okay, it's
like it's a good mix because it's pop culture, it
doesn't feel so heavy.

Speaker 3 (49:43):
Probably.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (49:44):
I always tell people, I'm like, I cover more of
the fun stuff than the doom and gloom, or I
get to cover more of the fun stuff than people
who have like more political beats and certain things like that.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
So I think it's a nice balance.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
You know, every now and it's political, you know, truly, Yeah,
you know, yeah, that's just how I feel like. There's
that there's not really that disconnected. Politics is always lurking,
you know. One of the things you got I want
to talk I wanted to talk about was Ananda Lewis,
the MTV former MTV VJ host who passed away from

(50:17):
breast cancer. I saw that you had covered a little
bit about her story. I had not been fought. I
didn't know that she was ill, and honestly, I hadn't
thought about this. You know, Ananda. Is it a Nanda
or a Nanda?

Speaker 4 (50:29):
I think it's Ananda. I feel like everybody said Ananda,
but I'm I'm not sure. I think it's a Nanda.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Gotcha yeah, Ananda, I had not really I kuindn't remember her.
I was trying to think, like, where did I see
her in the last MTV VJ I remember? I mean,
do you even know what an MTVBJ is?

Speaker 2 (50:45):
I do? I do?

Speaker 4 (50:46):
But that's because I will say I am an anomaly
in the sense that I was one of those little
kids that used to really love watching throwbacks and stuff
that like all my older cousins used to know about.
I was watching that, Like I would watch reruns of
One of six and Park when Free and AJ were
on there, Like I loved going into the archives. I
was just a culture nerd from young.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Oh that's amazing. They raised you right, yes, get your history. Well,
but what was And so you know, I saw her
story and I'm like, it's very sad. And you know,
on this podcast we've covered breast cancer and all types
of cancers in the black community and how it impacts
us so much more. And part of the reason is
like lack of preventative treatment, preventative care. And what was

(51:30):
so disappointing and like sad to me is that apparently
she knew that she was ill for a long time
and had been completely like pushing away or pushing away
from modern medicine. She wasn't interested. She was doing that
like crunchy, like I'm gonna let my body heal itself.
My body knows what it's doing. I'm going to shrink

(51:50):
the tumor myself kind of vibe. Didn't even get a
mammogram for years.

Speaker 4 (51:56):
Yeah, she took She had said that she wanted to
take a more homeopathic approach to it and more natural
approach to things. Where she was it's like she was
doing nothing per se, But I know she took a
more like she's going to change her diet and she's
Her first step was like flushing out all the toxins
and doing different treatments and things that are out there

(52:18):
that are just designed to I think, cleanse your body
more so than chemo and the traditional things that we
see in modern medicine. When you hear about cancer diagnosis,
ses diagnosis, yes.

Speaker 1 (52:31):
Yeah, one of those, that's fine, right, but yeah, Yeah.
What was really chilling was in an interview where she's
explaining I don't know if you saw this or not,
where she's explaining how her mom had been diagnosed with
breast cancer and how in her mind, the mammograms that
her mom did dutifully all those years was the reason
why she got breast cancer. And so that's what it

(52:52):
led Ananda to eschue her own doctor's orders to get
a you know, or doctor's recommendation to get a mammogram.
So she didn't do that, but she did at least
come out and say, I really regret it, Like that's
one of my regrets. Is you know, maybe had I
caught it sooner. Listen, I'm in my plant Girl era.
I love I do. I was just talking to my

(53:14):
dad too, my dad. I'm trying to like compartmentalize what's
going on, but my dad actually is getting he's he
has a big surgery tomorrow and it's all very exciting
and it could change his life in a lot of
great ways. But because his whole family, like my whole family,
has had a ton of health issues because of the

(53:35):
quality of diet and the misinformation around diet and exercise,
and like we're talking about before, which is like the
access to healthy foods in our communities is just so
you know, it's getting better, but it's still there still
are many food deserts. But like also the foods that

(53:56):
are catered or targeted toward our communities, are specifically made
to be addicting and so hyper like flavored, Like what
is the word that was in that study? Like, there
was a study that came out that's like the ultra
processed foods and how they are formulated so that we

(54:18):
and because they are marketed I think to more our
communities and more available to us, they become so addicting
to us that we crave them. And like, as my
dad's going into this life altering procedure tomorrow, he's like, yeah,
I went down and got some chicken wings. I really
wanted some chicken wings and some fried rice from the Chinese,
you know. And I was like, d you kid? Yeah,

(54:42):
And I'm like, oh man, no, literally, I'm staying at
my playing girl era.

Speaker 4 (54:48):
It makes me think of that movie they cloned Tyrone,
and I'm like, ever since that movie came out, do
you see that movie?

Speaker 2 (54:54):
Complex? Oh?

Speaker 1 (54:56):
Is it good?

Speaker 4 (54:57):
It was good. It was not spoiler the plot, but
it was like centered around chicken and the impact of
this one chicken spot in a community, and it like,
I'll leave it at that, but it was just kind
of like that whole movie had me sitting and thinking like,
maybe they are really putting something in the chicken, Maybe
they really are putting something in the food, because it's

(55:20):
a little scary. It gets a little scary when you
think about it. But yeah, no, it was very It's
very sad when you sit and think about some of
the statistics surrounding our health and how it specifically impacts
the black community. And it's not always like our fault
per se. It'll literally be just like socioeconomic statuses, the
way the cars were dealt, and you find yourself in

(55:43):
these positions.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
So I just wrote it down. They cloned tyrone, They
cloned tyrone. Yes, well, when I'm not with my plant babies, yes,
I'll try and watch that. But I it's I was
trying to. I have a five year old, and I
was trying to He's been actually eating vegetables and speak
with them in the garden, which is really cute to see.
He doesn't always like them. Usually he doesn't like them,

(56:05):
and he's like, oh, it tastes he's chewing it. I'm like, well,
at least he put it in his mouth. That's a wind, right,
And I'm trying to help him understand that vegetables are
never going to taste like French fries, like like they're
never going to taste like a happy meal. They're gonna
taste like dirt and earth and like they're gonna taste

(56:25):
like I mean, that's not gonna be on the marketing plan.
But like you ever had a beat, It tastes like dirt.
It's earthy. You know, they say earthy because they want
it to sound bougie, but it's dirt. And how vegetables
like that's their flavor and you have to like learn
to appreciate it for what it is, and how everything
is not supposed to be like covered in everything bagel seasoning,
and not that he would do that anyway, because don't

(56:47):
let him see a fleck of peppery.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
Oh he doesn't like like anything.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
Oh, everything has to be invisible or in cookhetti sauce.
That's the trick. But it's hard because you know, we
get these hyper like these foods that were made in
labs to design to entice us and to satisfy us
and tap into like those receptors, those joy receptors in

(57:13):
our brain. And it's like and then you want us
to have a turn up and be happy about it. Yeah, yeah,
but yeah, we have to train ourselves to like that.
Shit really might be a lost cause. But I don't know.

Speaker 4 (57:29):
No, I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (57:30):
I don't think his diet not in life. He's gonna survive,
He'll be fine.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
Okay, Okay, I mean listen, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (57:38):
Everything go great, pretty god, but yeah, like he's just
so stuck in his ways for him, like eating healthier
is having a six piece wing instead of a twelve
like you know what I mean, Oh, win is.

Speaker 4 (57:50):
A window, right, you know we are slowly weaning off
of it instead of like two million calories some million
calories like slowly but chilly.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
That's how you gotta think about things, you know.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
All Right, Well, I want to take a little another
quick break and I want to come back and will
you join me for a brown brust brown break to
close the show? Out of course, all rib i fam,
we are back where you going to wrap up today's
brown table. I want to excuse me. Thank our guest
Elizabeth Ayula again from Nerdwallet's Smart Money podcast, from joining
us and Anaya nope, Anya Anya Philogeene from the Grio

(58:32):
for also joining us today. All right, would you like
to go first, madam, where would you like me to
go first?

Speaker 2 (58:37):
Your choice, You go first, You set the precedent.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
Okay, great. So I am going to do a big
boost today. And I want to preface this by saying
that I really could have done a break but I
feel like this was like more of a heavy topic
show than I had cared for today. But I feel
a lot of joy because my little community garden that

(59:01):
I started. You don't know this, Anya unless you listen
to the show. But anyway, I started this kind of
like ghetto community garden with my neighbors where we just
put garden beds. It's not ghetto, I just mean like
completely una like not tied to any real initiative of
community gardening. But I was like, we need to be
growing our own produce, and I don't want to do

(59:22):
it alone because I already have human children. Growing plants
with by myself is just even more responsibility. But I
got this local restaurant that had had shut down. I
got them to donate the owner to donate a couple
of like garden beds that he had out back that
I had been seeing from the street. Because I'm a
creeper and I was like, what are you going to

(59:42):
do with those? I'm trying to grow. I'm trying to
start a community garden. And luckily that's all it took.
He was like, sure, take them. And we have all
the herbs you can think of now. Our squash babies
are growing, our tomatoes are growing. We have so much lettuce.
I'm about to send an email to my community, to
my my neighbors or texts later today being like, please

(01:00:02):
come get some lettuce because it is so like I mean,
they're beautiful, but they are so freaking huge, and there's
just too much lettuce and I cannot eat any more salad.
I would love to be able. I just I can't
beat you and leaves anymore. I've been to and leaves
all day for days, Anya. But I'm just really proud

(01:00:23):
of it, and I think it's it's just like very
simple and you really don't need too much. And so
now we share, we have like are we share a
little tool shed, we share soil, we share plants. We're
all like you know, and the kids kind of help
out and they gather around and it's just very It
is such a source of joy. So as much as
I make fun of myself for being like that elder

(01:00:44):
millennial who now is a gardening fanatic. It truly just
touching dirt and touching leaves, and even if we never
actually harvest anything, like if slugs come tomorrow and abolish
our crop, like we'll just start again. And I think
it really is about like the the experience of it

(01:01:04):
and the nurturing of it and the investment of time.
And it's become a form of meditation. And as I
was talking to my dietician, I've been working with her
because again family history of all the things. She and
I were really just like working on my own perception
of what healthy movement can be like and not doesn't
have to be going to the gym. And how my

(01:01:28):
garden has become our garden, i should say, has become
like not just a source of like joy and peace,
but also exercise and movement in a healthy way. And
I'm just very proud. So this is your sign. If
you're listening to ba fan, get you a pack of
seeds and tell your neighbor to get a pack of seeds,

(01:01:49):
implant something and see what happens.

Speaker 4 (01:01:51):
Guys, we need community now more than ever, So I
love that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
Yeah, I love it all.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
Right year turn Okay, be a fan. I've never done
this before my boost right oh?

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
Going positive? Okay? Good?

Speaker 4 (01:02:07):
Yes, I feel like we talked about so much negitive.
There's so much taking in the world. Why would we
Why would you seek into that? I think naturally, my
boost is literally just tuning, tuning into my voice and
finding my voice and the storytelling that I'm able to
do through my work. But also like beyond work, I

(01:02:28):
found myself tapping back into my creativity a lot more,
having more fun on like Instagram and trying to bring
the fun back to like social media and things and
making it less serious or lace.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
Where are you doing TikTok dances? What are you doing?

Speaker 4 (01:02:42):
No? I So, I, like I said, new House trained
us to be, you know, jack of all trades, all
the things in Syracuse, and so I actually really have
a love for graphic design. I love designing things, whether
it's like a flyer, whether like making an Instagram post
that looks really intricate or like reminds you of scrap book.

Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
I've been leaning more into that a lot more, just
because it's fun.

Speaker 4 (01:03:05):
It fuels that left side of my brain or whatever
side of the brain they say it is. So yeah,
I think that's been my thing, just fueling my creativity,
tapping into that a lot more, having whenever I have
that spurs that spark of inspiration, leaning into it and
just doing that. So I am going to boost creativity.

(01:03:25):
I'm going to boost finding your voice, whatever that may mean.
And for me, if you want to see more of
my voice, check me out at the graio dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
What are you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
At? Anya?

Speaker 4 (01:03:40):
So the way you see my name on the screen,
put an ex king me right, I know it's I'm
so sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Origin of the spelling.

Speaker 4 (01:03:48):
Why it's actually Arabic. Yes, I have no Arabic backgrounds.
I am Haitian American.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
But it means happy in Arabic.

Speaker 4 (01:03:59):
And I had somebody actually like fully translated and tell
me that it's a very specific type of happiness where
it's like at the end of like a really dark tunnel,
like that joy you see.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
That's what they say, Anya is Now.

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
If that is wrong, beautiful.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
That's what an Arabic speaker told me.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
So it's really with it if you believe it, you
know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
Amen? Amen?

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
So, yeah, like how I thought I was a I
thought my sign was different than I'm a Leo, and
I was like, wow, I am so what was it?
What's before Leo must have been a cancer or something.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
Anyway, if you.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
Believe that it's what will become true period. I believe
that it's a beautiful name. And shout out to your
parents for going outside the box because where it's the.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
French listen, it's there, it's there, it's just not you know.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
Well. Anya Phillageen from the Grio, thanks so much for
joining me at the Brown Table. I hope you'll come back.
Wasn't that bad?

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
No, I love this. I call me on some more podcasts.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
I would love to Yeah, yeah, I mean, And if
you're working on anything, just feel free to shoot them over.
We can help amplify even if we just share on
the show. Or if you want to come back again
and talk about a big story that you that you're
working on. Promote your work. Get yourself out there and
thank you for sharing your your POV. You're light with
the ba Fam and we'll hope to see you soon.

(01:05:19):
Thank you, okay, va fam, I will see you on
for Friday for the ba QA. Don't forget. We are
on Patreon now you can join us put the link
in the show notes for you to join. You can
join free, but if you want to have access to
a live audience link so we can come to our
recording sessions. You want to join the paid version find
out all the kind of goodies we have going on,

(01:05:41):
so check the show notes for that and you can
hit me up at Mandy Money on ig and we
are also at Brown Ambition Podcast on all platforms until
next time. Bye bye, okay va fam. Thank you so
much for listening to this week's show. I want to
shout out to our production team, Courtney, our editor, Carla,
our fearless leader for idea to launch productions. I want

(01:06:04):
to shout out my assistant Lauda Escalante and Cameron McNair
for helping me put the show together. It is not
a one person project, as much as I have tried
to make it so these past ten years. I need help, y'all,
and thank goodness I've been able to put this team
around me to support me on this journey. And to y'all,

(01:06:25):
ba fam, I love you so so so so much.
Please rate, review, subscribe, make sure you sign up to
the newsletter to get all the latest updates on upcoming episodes,
our ten year anniversary celebrations to come, and until next time,
talk to you soon via Guy

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