August 7, 2023 • 19 mins
On this week’s “Podversations”, iHeartPodcasts President, Will Pearson is joined by MeMe Walker, host of the podcast, “Hand Me My Purse.”.
"Hand Me My Purse" provides a comprehensive approach to understanding and tackling social emotional well-being, cultural matters, mental health, and everyday life experiences in the Black community. In her purse she has everything you need to approach these experiences from a transparent, relatable, authentic, and funny perspective. MeMe works in the educational field supporting young people with an emphasis on mentoring girls. It was authenticity and resilience that pathed her way to becoming a storyteller.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
iHeartRadio presents Conversations, a weekly discussion with the biggest names
and influencers in podcasting. I want to learn the secret
Psycho rituals scrubstars Zach Braff and Donald Beson used before
Every Fake Doctor's Real Friends taping. How Vice News parachutes
into war zones to rescue journalists from life threatening situations.
Bord Why Kegan, Michael ke and Blumhouse believe three D
(00:27):
audio is the future of storytelling. Whether you're a newbie
trying to break into the podcast game or an exec
trying to refine your playbook, conversations is the easiest way
to keep your pulse on the industry.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Hello and welcome to the iHeart podcast Speaker Series. I'm
Will Pearson, President of iHeart Podcasts. As you know, each
week we like to get together with one of our
favorite creators, podcasters, producers, talk about what's happening in their lives.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Talk about their show.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Really been looking forward to today's conversation Every time I've
told somebody that I was having a conversation with the
Mimi Walker, host of Hand Me, my first podcast, There's
two things that keep coming up. I've heard people say
she is an amazing soul or she has a wonderful spirit.
I hope that someday somebody describes me that way. But
we're just gonna jump right in and I'm going to
(01:20):
introduce you, guys, Mimi Walker.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Thanks so much for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, you visited with our podcast team a few weeks ago.
About one hundred people jumped on to have a conversation
with you, and the feedback from that was, again, just
sort of a contagious spirit. Have you always been known
as somebody that had sort of a contagious spirit and
energy about you?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
You know?
Speaker 5 (01:43):
I would say yes, I think that I've pretty much
had the same personality since I was a little girl.
I would say that. But I'm definitely the kind of
personality that either you really like me or you really don't. Yeah,
it's not a lot of great people either really like
being around me, where they're like, I can't deal with
this lady because she's too much.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Well, the good news is podcast listeners and our team
seem to very much like you. So you found the
right audience and you're joining us today. Surrounded by kids
in the background, drumming.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
We were talking about this just before.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Do you want to tell us sort of where you are,
not specifically, but generally where you are today?
Speaker 5 (02:20):
So today I am. I actually came home a little
bit early, but before I left work. I'm an educator
and students just came back into the building for summer
boost program. And when they walked in, I was like,
what is happening because I'm a total grumpy auntie in
the summer, like I don't want to see any kids,
and if I have to see them, I don't hear
a lot of noise. Right, The gentlemen came in with
(02:41):
like twenty buckets, twenty orange like home depot buckets.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I was like, what is happening?
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Because I sit at the front door, so I had
to buzz them in and they came in.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
They were like, we're part.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Of the drumming program, and I was like, drumming program
and I was like, man, please let them be on
the third floor and not anywhere near where I will be. Yeah,
they're right about twenty feet away from the door of
the main office in the auditorium, so I heard them
drumming and banging on buckets.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I hope you had access to what I'm.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
Really good at just tuning stuff out good.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
That's definitely a good quality and when you're working in school.
So I want to go straight to the.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Name of the podcast, which I love the name. It's
definitely one of those names that people talk about. But
going back to this idea, this metaphor of the purse,
but hand me my purse, can you talk about the
origin of the name, what it means, and then we'll
jump in from there.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
So originally it was gonna be everything with the kitchen sink,
realized that there was already a podcast by that name. Okay,
I had to go back to the drawing board, and
I talked to a good friend of mine, I call
her my big sister, Angelica, and I was like, I
need a name, and we started talking about like the
premise of the show. And for me, I consider myself
(03:55):
everybody's favorite auntie. I don't have any children, I'm forty three,
I'm not married, so I'm like the fun auntie, Like
I don't you know, whatever you want, you can.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Have, just don't get on my nerves.
Speaker 5 (04:05):
Whatever you want, as long as it's not illegal, right,
or nobody's gonna get hurt, and so we were talking
about it and I went to get my.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Purse for something and she was like, what about your purse?
She said, what is.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
Something that an aunt or an older woman always says?
And I was like, they always talk about their purse,
Give me my purse. And so we talked through it,
and that's how handy my purse was born. Because women
always have to go in their purse for something. And
if an auntie goes into her purse for something, she's
gonna take something out of there that either is gonna
make your life really great or you're gonna be really.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Upset about it.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah, but all the tools are in there.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
Everything she needs, a belt, if you need a spanking,
candy if you're in church, and you won't keep still
because I remember those days because I've had the same
personality my entire life. I'm all over the place. I
can sit in church for four hours and not have anything. Candy,
a mint, a sewing kit, an earring back, like everything
you need, every you need, she has in her purse.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Anything that you need I'll have in my purse.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
So you decided to call the podcast that, but even
before that, when you decided you might want to start
a podcast.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
What was the origin? What made you think to start
a show?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
It's so funny.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
In twenty ten, I remember I have a friend, her
name is Aerin and she was a beauty blogger and
in another lifetime, I was a professional makeup artist.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
That's a whole different story. And she said you should
start a podcast. This is twenty ten. Keep in mind.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
I was like, what is that and she was like,
a podcast, you know, it's like a blog with on
the radio. And I was like, nobody assigned for that.
I'm trying to make money, be in the next Pat McGrath.
I don't have time for that. Well that didn't quite
work out because there's only one Pat McGrath. Google her
if you don't know who she is. She's amazing. And
so she said that she planted the seed in twenty ten.
(05:46):
I never thought about it again. Another friend of mine
did this like podcast intensive with MPR. They selected five
people out of five hundred applicants to be a part
of this intensive and the five people got to learn
everything about podcasting, and then MPR would work with them
to help they already had a podcast, but help them
to develop it and your podcast will be on NPR.
(06:08):
So my friend Michelle asked me to come in and
be on her pilot episode. Right, And so I go
into the NPR studios in DC and somebody's working, you know,
the controls, and I'm.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Blah blah blah blah blah. All I do is talk.
Ask Taylor. He'll tell you I'm a talker. And so
I'm talking.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
But when it's time to start recording the episode, you know,
it's serious business because this is her podcast. I want
to be serious. And so two days later she texts
me and was like, they were really impressed with you
when you were recording. Then she texted me the next
ding and said the woman that was the head of
the entire program was like, she said that next year,
when they do it, she wants you to apply. So
(06:45):
in my mind I was like, Okay, I need to
get ready because next year it's going to happen. And
so that lady went on to work for like Lemonada.
They didn't do the program anymore, some company. They never
did the program again. But I was like, I still
want to do this because I had a good time
and if somebody else sees something. This is the second
time I've heard I should do a podcast, let me
look into it. So I did research for a total
(07:06):
of thirteen months, very context research, yep, and on March
the first, twenty twenty, I started it.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I do think that's amazing that somebody mentioned this to
you back in twenty ten. I mean, so few people
would have been listening to podcasts at that point.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
I didn't know what she was talking about.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, you're like, okay, yeah, whatever. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
People always tell me what they think I should do.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Right, right, So your mission with the podcast, how would
(07:48):
you describe that? What you're hoping listeners take away or
hoping to accomplish with it.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
I want to tell stories about black people that are
not often heard, you know, because people see people in
a way in there. That's where stereotypes come from. People
see all people through their lens, and you know, there's
the media, there's news, there's word of mouth, there's versions
of history, and then there's what you learn in your
family or in your community. I want to tell stories
(08:15):
that don't really get told. And there are a lot
of stories that just don't get told, not your traditional stories,
but stories that you don't hear about. And also I
talk a lot about mental health and self care and
self worth because I want to normalize having those kind
of conversations as well. And the interesting part is that
(08:36):
I am always befuddled by the fact that anybody wants
to listen to what I have to say. But it's
so interesting to me that there are people from all
different walks of life that tune in to listen to
my show, and it kind of just helped me understand
that what I'm talking about is not specific to the
black community. What I'm talking about really is about not
necessarily how too, but having conversations around being the best
(08:59):
version of yours. What that looks like, it's like at
first it was literally a walk through my own self
healing journey, but it is something I think that everybody wants.
Everybody wants to be the best version of themselves and
figure out what is and feel good about who they are,
even if they're not the best version of themselves. Yet
they want to feel good about who they are. And
I think that has nothing to do with race, it
has nothing to do with socioeconomic status. That's just about
(09:22):
being a human and I think that is kind of
what my mission is.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, but I do like. I know that you mentioned
that the podcast is for everyone. I do like the
wave sort of embrace this idea of the auntie that
is so sort of prevalent within black culture.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
As a kid, I grew up next door to kid
named Jason.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Would always go over there and he would introduce me
to somebody that was over for the day, and he'd say,
this is my aunt Joe, this is my aunt Sandy,
this is my and each one. I'd say, so it
is that your mom's sister or your dad sis She'd
say neither one. I was so confused by this idea
until finally understanding it over time. But the role that
they played in his life was tremendous. So I was
wondering if we could talk about like that a little bit,
(10:02):
because I do love that that's sort of incorporated, even
if it's for a broader audience, the role of the
aunt within a.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Community absolutely, and from my own personal experience without sharing
too much, I don't know, and I'm.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Not gonna get emotional, I'm not gonna cry, but.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
I don't know who I would be as a living,
breathing human being without the aunties in my life, whether
it's my godmother when I was a child, whether it
is my great aunt who was the first person that
ever curse at me and call me the B word
when I was nine, whether it is my actual aunt,
my father's sister, or my mother's sister, like my grandparents sisters.
(10:40):
Like even if it was just watching them, I don't
know who I would be as a person, like a
functioning citizen.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Of the world without them in my life. I don't.
I don't.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
It's so important because your auntie does not have to
be a sibling, your grandparents, your parents, or your great grandparents.
It could literally be the lady at church that your
grandmother likes to sit and gossip with. In my case,
it could be your fifteen year old mother's best friends.
It could be any woman that is close to you
that can offer you wisdom guidance in life, or not
(11:16):
wisdom and guidance because she's still your auntie if she's
not giving you guidance. But even in that not so
great influence, there's wisdom or a lesson to be learned,
whether it's to make you a better person down the road.
I know watching one of my aunts, I know, like
I don't want nothing to do with that and that
was a lesson for me, and she had no idea
that she gave me that. But it's like, oh, I
don't want no parts of that when I get older,
(11:37):
so let me just sure that I file that away.
I think that black aunts play such a vital role,
like they're icons in our community. They are because you
can talk to them about things that you can't talk
to your mother about, that you can't talk to your
grandmother or your father about. Oh yeah, you have to
have a safe space, and they provide a safe space.
Oftentimes not all the time, but most times they provide
(11:59):
a space for you to go to and learn about
self worth, even if they don't know they're teaching you that.
Learn about why you should be the best version of yourself,
learn about why it's important to look good all the time,
how to feel good about yourself.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Yeah, even TV aunties.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
Black TV Auntie's like Wellana from Good Times, She's a
good god post.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
For a black auntie.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Absolutely. I love that.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
When you're on the show, you are often dealing with
difficult topics and I'm wondering if for even you personally,
you find the podcast to sort of be an outlet
for you to work through difficult topics and difficult things.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
So I've been going to therapy since I was twenty five,
off and on. I've been in really intense therapy, and
I'm not ashamed to talk about it. I think just
in our community, I think in all communities, talking about
going to therapy is like.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Ooh, you're really crazy if you need to go to therapy.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
I think it's starting to become less and less taboo now.
But I've been in really intense therapy for the past
three years. I love my therapist. She is a god
to me in real life. But it does help me
to process information, and even if it's not about me,
it's helpful for me to process what may be going
on with people in my.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Life, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
And I think that what I try to do is
take the things that my therapist has helped me to
learn in that time frame, because really, I started going
to therapy the same time I started this podcast. So
as I like grow, I'm kind of imparting some of
the wisdom that I get from her, because technically she's
like a black auntie too, the wisdom that I get
from her, and kind of sharing it with the world. Like,
I don't know if you know this, but you.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Better start doing.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
One of the things that I say all the time
is do what you want to do and do not
do what you don't want to do, which is something
that she drills into my brain all the time. And
so not be telling Ellen from Vancouver, you don't have
to do things you don't want to do. You don't
you should do things that you want to do. So
it is very helpful for me. It's very cathartic, and
it also helps me to process some of the things
(14:11):
that I learned in therapy and the things that I'm
working on myself. And I even say that on the
show a lot that you know, I'm working through this
myself as I'm sharing this with you.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
You know you mentioned starting this three years ago.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
So really this podcast has been alive through the duration
of COVID of the pandemic, and we saw a real
shift in what people were looking to listen to. It's
no surprise to anyone that you look back five years
ago and true crime was sort of everything in podcasting
and it is very much still a huge category. We
saw people coming in and kind of going in two directions.
(14:44):
On the one hand, they wanted an escape, and so comedy,
pop culture, entertainment in general sort of escape from it all,
and then on the other hand, going right at it
and sort of the growth of mental health shows, seeing
things like Happiness Lab, The Psychology of Your Twenties, and
Therapy for Black Girls and so many other shows that
have just taken off. And I think that's no surprise
(15:07):
why so many people are gravitating to your show.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
It's a little bit different.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I think what they find with your show is very
real accessibility because you're right there with them. You're not
saying I'm the expert. You know, I'm a trained like
therapist or anything like that. You're saying, we're all going
through this stuff together and let's talk it through. Is
that important to you that for your listeners to sort
of feel like you're right there with.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Them one of the things that and I never really
realized it until like maybe two to three years ago.
My best friend who was recently on the show. I
know that ever since I was a little girl, individuality has.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Always been really important to me.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
Yeah, and as I've gotten older, I realized that authenticity
is like, if I had core values, authenticity would be
number one or number two, And I just want people
to understand that, like I'm not dealing out any like
phony business, Like this is real life. I'm not making
anything up, I'm not telling any lies. I'm not trying
(16:02):
to sell any snake oil. Like this is real life.
And I think it's important for people to feel like
they have access to an authentic voice because sometimes and
this is not to put any show down or anybody down.
I'm not speaking about any show in particular, because when
you listen to shows, or when you watch television, or
when you read books or listen to radio shows, I know,
(16:25):
for me, I'm like, this is not who this person is.
And you can tell like when you're not authentic for
me anyway, it's like your skin turns a totally different color,
like you turn the screen.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
And I want people.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
To understand that there are people who are still authentic,
and there are places that they can go to still
have really authentic voices that are speaking not only on
their behalf, but on the behalf of the person themselves.
To let people know, like you're not the only person
that's going.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Through whatever it is you're dealing with.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
It, Like we're all human, we're all dealing with like
life is not easy, but you have the choice to
decide about how smooth it is gonna be for you,
Like how are you going to receive it?
Speaker 2 (17:01):
It's tremendous advice. And that's what I hear timing again,
even from our team with respect to the podcast, is
just how one how real it feels, and how accessible
it feels, and how you feel like you've got a
host or a talent that can really identify with what
you're going through. And so it's been a blast to
just see the podcast continue to grow and to get
out there. And you mentioned earlier that it's always been
(17:22):
surprising to you that that many people would want to
listen to you. Has it been fun to see the
podcast growing.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Though it's funny.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
I do pay attention to numbers, right, numbers are important,
but it's interesting to watch my show from twenty twenty
to twenty twenty three before I joined iHeart podcast and
then now I still look at the numbers. But the
most important thing to me, I tell people this all
the time, is I like to look at where people
are listening and lows my mind. When I have someone
(17:50):
listening in Germany every week, it blows my mind that
people all over the world are listening to me, and
I think part of it that really throws me off
is because my entire life, teev have told me to
shut up or told me like.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
You're too loud and you talk.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Too much and just wait and shush, and it's like, yeah, no, yeah, no, shushing.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Now it's time.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
And we're glad that you didn't listen to that, because you,
like I said, you bring an energy and an intelligence
and a spirit that we love having here. And we're
so happy to have the podcast and the family here.
Anybody that has not yet checked it out, hand me
my purse. It is a fantastic podcast. I think anyone
can listen to it. You will walk away having laughed
(18:34):
a few times. You will walk away having learned a
few things.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
And I'd be.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Very surprised if you don't walk away feeling a little
bit better. And so, Mamie, I really appreciate you spending
some time with us, and congrats on the success of
the podcast so far.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Thank you so much. I appreciate everything you said.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
And when I turn this off, I'm probably gonna lay
down on the floor and cry like a newborn baby.
But that really touches my heart. I really appreciate everything
that you've said. I believe everything that you're saying. It
feels very authentic. I believe that you are saying it
and you mean it.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
And I'm really, really, really.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
Grateful to be here and to be a part of
such an amazing everybody has been so amazing.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
I'm just grateful to be here.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Well, thank you, Mimi, good luck with the kids this summer,
and yeah, we'll hopefully see you sometime soon.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Absolutely, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Thanks everybody for joining us today, and we'll be back
with you again next week.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Take Care.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Conversations is a production of iHeartRadio. You can find more
from the biggest names in podcasting on the iHeartRadio app
or wherever you get your podcasts.
iHeartRadio presents Conversations, a weekly discussion with the biggest names
and influencers in podcasting. I want to learn the secret
Psycho rituals scrubstars Zach Braff and Donald Beson used before
Every Fake Doctor's Real Friends taping. How Vice News parachutes
into war zones to rescue journalists from life threatening situations.
Bord Why Kegan, Michael ke and Blumhouse believe three D
(00:27):
audio is the future of storytelling. Whether you're a newbie
trying to break into the podcast game or an exec
trying to refine your playbook, conversations is the easiest way
to keep your pulse on the industry.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Hello and welcome to the iHeart podcast Speaker Series. I'm
Will Pearson, President of iHeart Podcasts. As you know, each
week we like to get together with one of our
favorite creators, podcasters, producers, talk about what's happening in their lives.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Talk about their show.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Really been looking forward to today's conversation Every time I've
told somebody that I was having a conversation with the
Mimi Walker, host of Hand Me, my first podcast, There's
two things that keep coming up. I've heard people say
she is an amazing soul or she has a wonderful spirit.
I hope that someday somebody describes me that way. But
we're just gonna jump right in and I'm going to
(01:20):
introduce you, guys, Mimi Walker.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Thanks so much for joining us today.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, you visited with our podcast team a few weeks ago.
About one hundred people jumped on to have a conversation
with you, and the feedback from that was, again, just
sort of a contagious spirit. Have you always been known
as somebody that had sort of a contagious spirit and
energy about you?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
You know?
Speaker 5 (01:43):
I would say yes, I think that I've pretty much
had the same personality since I was a little girl.
I would say that. But I'm definitely the kind of
personality that either you really like me or you really don't. Yeah,
it's not a lot of great people either really like
being around me, where they're like, I can't deal with
this lady because she's too much.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Well, the good news is podcast listeners and our team
seem to very much like you. So you found the
right audience and you're joining us today. Surrounded by kids
in the background, drumming.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
We were talking about this just before.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Do you want to tell us sort of where you are,
not specifically, but generally where you are today?
Speaker 5 (02:20):
So today I am. I actually came home a little
bit early, but before I left work. I'm an educator
and students just came back into the building for summer
boost program. And when they walked in, I was like,
what is happening because I'm a total grumpy auntie in
the summer, like I don't want to see any kids,
and if I have to see them, I don't hear
a lot of noise. Right, The gentlemen came in with
(02:41):
like twenty buckets, twenty orange like home depot buckets.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I was like, what is happening?
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Because I sit at the front door, so I had
to buzz them in and they came in.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
They were like, we're part.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Of the drumming program, and I was like, drumming program
and I was like, man, please let them be on
the third floor and not anywhere near where I will be. Yeah,
they're right about twenty feet away from the door of
the main office in the auditorium, so I heard them
drumming and banging on buckets.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I hope you had access to what I'm.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
Really good at just tuning stuff out good.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
That's definitely a good quality and when you're working in school.
So I want to go straight to the.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Name of the podcast, which I love the name. It's
definitely one of those names that people talk about. But
going back to this idea, this metaphor of the purse,
but hand me my purse, can you talk about the
origin of the name, what it means, and then we'll
jump in from there.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
So originally it was gonna be everything with the kitchen sink,
realized that there was already a podcast by that name. Okay,
I had to go back to the drawing board, and
I talked to a good friend of mine, I call
her my big sister, Angelica, and I was like, I
need a name, and we started talking about like the
premise of the show. And for me, I consider myself
(03:55):
everybody's favorite auntie. I don't have any children, I'm forty three,
I'm not married, so I'm like the fun auntie, Like
I don't you know, whatever you want, you can.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Have, just don't get on my nerves.
Speaker 5 (04:05):
Whatever you want, as long as it's not illegal, right,
or nobody's gonna get hurt, and so we were talking
about it and I went to get my.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Purse for something and she was like, what about your purse?
She said, what is.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
Something that an aunt or an older woman always says?
And I was like, they always talk about their purse,
Give me my purse. And so we talked through it,
and that's how handy my purse was born. Because women
always have to go in their purse for something. And
if an auntie goes into her purse for something, she's
gonna take something out of there that either is gonna
make your life really great or you're gonna be really.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Upset about it.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah, but all the tools are in there.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
Everything she needs, a belt, if you need a spanking,
candy if you're in church, and you won't keep still
because I remember those days because I've had the same
personality my entire life. I'm all over the place. I
can sit in church for four hours and not have anything. Candy,
a mint, a sewing kit, an earring back, like everything
you need, every you need, she has in her purse.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Anything that you need I'll have in my purse.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
So you decided to call the podcast that, but even
before that, when you decided you might want to start
a podcast.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
What was the origin? What made you think to start
a show?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
It's so funny.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
In twenty ten, I remember I have a friend, her
name is Aerin and she was a beauty blogger and
in another lifetime, I was a professional makeup artist.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
That's a whole different story. And she said you should
start a podcast. This is twenty ten. Keep in mind.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
I was like, what is that and she was like,
a podcast, you know, it's like a blog with on
the radio. And I was like, nobody assigned for that.
I'm trying to make money, be in the next Pat McGrath.
I don't have time for that. Well that didn't quite
work out because there's only one Pat McGrath. Google her
if you don't know who she is. She's amazing. And
so she said that she planted the seed in twenty ten.
(05:46):
I never thought about it again. Another friend of mine
did this like podcast intensive with MPR. They selected five
people out of five hundred applicants to be a part
of this intensive and the five people got to learn
everything about podcasting, and then MPR would work with them
to help they already had a podcast, but help them
to develop it and your podcast will be on NPR.
(06:08):
So my friend Michelle asked me to come in and
be on her pilot episode. Right, And so I go
into the NPR studios in DC and somebody's working, you know,
the controls, and I'm.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Blah blah blah blah blah. All I do is talk.
Ask Taylor. He'll tell you I'm a talker. And so
I'm talking.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
But when it's time to start recording the episode, you know,
it's serious business because this is her podcast. I want
to be serious. And so two days later she texts
me and was like, they were really impressed with you
when you were recording. Then she texted me the next
ding and said the woman that was the head of
the entire program was like, she said that next year,
when they do it, she wants you to apply. So
(06:45):
in my mind I was like, Okay, I need to
get ready because next year it's going to happen. And
so that lady went on to work for like Lemonada.
They didn't do the program anymore, some company. They never
did the program again. But I was like, I still
want to do this because I had a good time
and if somebody else sees something. This is the second
time I've heard I should do a podcast, let me
look into it. So I did research for a total
(07:06):
of thirteen months, very context research, yep, and on March
the first, twenty twenty, I started it.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I do think that's amazing that somebody mentioned this to
you back in twenty ten. I mean, so few people
would have been listening to podcasts at that point.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
I didn't know what she was talking about.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah, you're like, okay, yeah, whatever. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
People always tell me what they think I should do.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Right, right, So your mission with the podcast, how would
(07:48):
you describe that? What you're hoping listeners take away or
hoping to accomplish with it.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
I want to tell stories about black people that are
not often heard, you know, because people see people in
a way in there. That's where stereotypes come from. People
see all people through their lens, and you know, there's
the media, there's news, there's word of mouth, there's versions
of history, and then there's what you learn in your
family or in your community. I want to tell stories
(08:15):
that don't really get told. And there are a lot
of stories that just don't get told, not your traditional stories,
but stories that you don't hear about. And also I
talk a lot about mental health and self care and
self worth because I want to normalize having those kind
of conversations as well. And the interesting part is that
(08:36):
I am always befuddled by the fact that anybody wants
to listen to what I have to say. But it's
so interesting to me that there are people from all
different walks of life that tune in to listen to
my show, and it kind of just helped me understand
that what I'm talking about is not specific to the
black community. What I'm talking about really is about not
necessarily how too, but having conversations around being the best
(08:59):
version of yours. What that looks like, it's like at
first it was literally a walk through my own self
healing journey, but it is something I think that everybody wants.
Everybody wants to be the best version of themselves and
figure out what is and feel good about who they are,
even if they're not the best version of themselves. Yet
they want to feel good about who they are. And
I think that has nothing to do with race, it
has nothing to do with socioeconomic status. That's just about
(09:22):
being a human and I think that is kind of
what my mission is.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, but I do like. I know that you mentioned
that the podcast is for everyone. I do like the
wave sort of embrace this idea of the auntie that
is so sort of prevalent within black culture.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
As a kid, I grew up next door to kid
named Jason.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Would always go over there and he would introduce me
to somebody that was over for the day, and he'd say,
this is my aunt Joe, this is my aunt Sandy,
this is my and each one. I'd say, so it
is that your mom's sister or your dad sis She'd
say neither one. I was so confused by this idea
until finally understanding it over time. But the role that
they played in his life was tremendous. So I was
wondering if we could talk about like that a little bit,
(10:02):
because I do love that that's sort of incorporated, even
if it's for a broader audience, the role of the
aunt within a.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Community absolutely, and from my own personal experience without sharing
too much, I don't know, and I'm.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Not gonna get emotional, I'm not gonna cry, but.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
I don't know who I would be as a living,
breathing human being without the aunties in my life, whether
it's my godmother when I was a child, whether it
is my great aunt who was the first person that
ever curse at me and call me the B word
when I was nine, whether it is my actual aunt,
my father's sister, or my mother's sister, like my grandparents sisters.
(10:40):
Like even if it was just watching them, I don't
know who I would be as a person, like a
functioning citizen.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Of the world without them in my life. I don't.
I don't.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
It's so important because your auntie does not have to
be a sibling, your grandparents, your parents, or your great grandparents.
It could literally be the lady at church that your
grandmother likes to sit and gossip with. In my case,
it could be your fifteen year old mother's best friends.
It could be any woman that is close to you
that can offer you wisdom guidance in life, or not
(11:16):
wisdom and guidance because she's still your auntie if she's
not giving you guidance. But even in that not so
great influence, there's wisdom or a lesson to be learned,
whether it's to make you a better person down the road.
I know watching one of my aunts, I know, like
I don't want nothing to do with that and that
was a lesson for me, and she had no idea
that she gave me that. But it's like, oh, I
don't want no parts of that when I get older,
(11:37):
so let me just sure that I file that away.
I think that black aunts play such a vital role,
like they're icons in our community. They are because you
can talk to them about things that you can't talk
to your mother about, that you can't talk to your
grandmother or your father about. Oh yeah, you have to
have a safe space, and they provide a safe space.
Oftentimes not all the time, but most times they provide
(11:59):
a space for you to go to and learn about
self worth, even if they don't know they're teaching you that.
Learn about why you should be the best version of yourself,
learn about why it's important to look good all the time,
how to feel good about yourself.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Yeah, even TV aunties.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
Black TV Auntie's like Wellana from Good Times, She's a
good god post.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
For a black auntie.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Absolutely. I love that.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
When you're on the show, you are often dealing with
difficult topics and I'm wondering if for even you personally,
you find the podcast to sort of be an outlet
for you to work through difficult topics and difficult things.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
So I've been going to therapy since I was twenty five,
off and on. I've been in really intense therapy, and
I'm not ashamed to talk about it. I think just
in our community, I think in all communities, talking about
going to therapy is like.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Ooh, you're really crazy if you need to go to therapy.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
I think it's starting to become less and less taboo now.
But I've been in really intense therapy for the past
three years. I love my therapist. She is a god
to me in real life. But it does help me
to process information, and even if it's not about me,
it's helpful for me to process what may be going
on with people in my.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Life, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
And I think that what I try to do is
take the things that my therapist has helped me to
learn in that time frame, because really, I started going
to therapy the same time I started this podcast. So
as I like grow, I'm kind of imparting some of
the wisdom that I get from her, because technically she's
like a black auntie too, the wisdom that I get
from her, and kind of sharing it with the world. Like,
I don't know if you know this, but you.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
Better start doing.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
One of the things that I say all the time
is do what you want to do and do not
do what you don't want to do, which is something
that she drills into my brain all the time. And
so not be telling Ellen from Vancouver, you don't have
to do things you don't want to do. You don't
you should do things that you want to do. So
it is very helpful for me. It's very cathartic, and
it also helps me to process some of the things
(14:11):
that I learned in therapy and the things that I'm
working on myself. And I even say that on the
show a lot that you know, I'm working through this
myself as I'm sharing this with you.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
You know you mentioned starting this three years ago.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
So really this podcast has been alive through the duration
of COVID of the pandemic, and we saw a real
shift in what people were looking to listen to. It's
no surprise to anyone that you look back five years
ago and true crime was sort of everything in podcasting
and it is very much still a huge category. We
saw people coming in and kind of going in two directions.
(14:44):
On the one hand, they wanted an escape, and so comedy,
pop culture, entertainment in general sort of escape from it all,
and then on the other hand, going right at it
and sort of the growth of mental health shows, seeing
things like Happiness Lab, The Psychology of Your Twenties, and
Therapy for Black Girls and so many other shows that
have just taken off. And I think that's no surprise
(15:07):
why so many people are gravitating to your show.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
It's a little bit different.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I think what they find with your show is very
real accessibility because you're right there with them. You're not
saying I'm the expert. You know, I'm a trained like
therapist or anything like that. You're saying, we're all going
through this stuff together and let's talk it through. Is
that important to you that for your listeners to sort
of feel like you're right there with.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
Them one of the things that and I never really
realized it until like maybe two to three years ago.
My best friend who was recently on the show. I
know that ever since I was a little girl, individuality has.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Always been really important to me.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
Yeah, and as I've gotten older, I realized that authenticity
is like, if I had core values, authenticity would be
number one or number two, And I just want people
to understand that, like I'm not dealing out any like
phony business, Like this is real life. I'm not making
anything up, I'm not telling any lies. I'm not trying
(16:02):
to sell any snake oil. Like this is real life.
And I think it's important for people to feel like
they have access to an authentic voice because sometimes and
this is not to put any show down or anybody down.
I'm not speaking about any show in particular, because when
you listen to shows, or when you watch television, or
when you read books or listen to radio shows, I know,
(16:25):
for me, I'm like, this is not who this person is.
And you can tell like when you're not authentic for
me anyway, it's like your skin turns a totally different color,
like you turn the screen.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
And I want people.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
To understand that there are people who are still authentic,
and there are places that they can go to still
have really authentic voices that are speaking not only on
their behalf, but on the behalf of the person themselves.
To let people know, like you're not the only person
that's going.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Through whatever it is you're dealing with.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
It, Like we're all human, we're all dealing with like
life is not easy, but you have the choice to
decide about how smooth it is gonna be for you,
Like how are you going to receive it?
Speaker 2 (17:01):
It's tremendous advice. And that's what I hear timing again,
even from our team with respect to the podcast, is
just how one how real it feels, and how accessible
it feels, and how you feel like you've got a
host or a talent that can really identify with what
you're going through. And so it's been a blast to
just see the podcast continue to grow and to get
out there. And you mentioned earlier that it's always been
(17:22):
surprising to you that that many people would want to
listen to you. Has it been fun to see the
podcast growing.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Though it's funny.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
I do pay attention to numbers, right, numbers are important,
but it's interesting to watch my show from twenty twenty
to twenty twenty three before I joined iHeart podcast and
then now I still look at the numbers. But the
most important thing to me, I tell people this all
the time, is I like to look at where people
are listening and lows my mind. When I have someone
(17:50):
listening in Germany every week, it blows my mind that
people all over the world are listening to me, and
I think part of it that really throws me off
is because my entire life, teev have told me to
shut up or told me like.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
You're too loud and you talk.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Too much and just wait and shush, and it's like, yeah, no, yeah, no, shushing.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Now it's time.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
And we're glad that you didn't listen to that, because you,
like I said, you bring an energy and an intelligence
and a spirit that we love having here. And we're
so happy to have the podcast and the family here.
Anybody that has not yet checked it out, hand me
my purse. It is a fantastic podcast. I think anyone
can listen to it. You will walk away having laughed
(18:34):
a few times. You will walk away having learned a
few things.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
And I'd be.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Very surprised if you don't walk away feeling a little
bit better. And so, Mamie, I really appreciate you spending
some time with us, and congrats on the success of
the podcast so far.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Thank you so much. I appreciate everything you said.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
And when I turn this off, I'm probably gonna lay
down on the floor and cry like a newborn baby.
But that really touches my heart. I really appreciate everything
that you've said. I believe everything that you're saying. It
feels very authentic. I believe that you are saying it
and you mean it.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
And I'm really, really, really.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
Grateful to be here and to be a part of
such an amazing everybody has been so amazing.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
I'm just grateful to be here.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Well, thank you, Mimi, good luck with the kids this summer,
and yeah, we'll hopefully see you sometime soon.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
Absolutely, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Thanks everybody for joining us today, and we'll be back
with you again next week.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Take Care.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Conversations is a production of iHeartRadio. You can find more
from the biggest names in podcasting on the iHeartRadio app
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Conal Byrne
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