What It “Post” to Be - From Dollhouse to Doing the Work w- Chyna Russell (Founder, Dollhouse Cosmetics) - TMI

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Tamika D.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
Mallory and it's your boy my son in general.

Speaker 1 (00:03):
We are your host of t M I.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Tamika and my Son's Information, Truth, Motivation and Inspiration.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
New name, New Energy. What's going on? My song? Lennon?

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Oh another day? Yeah? Another God? Then let us wake up.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Funny.

Speaker 4 (00:25):
Well, we got a really packed show today, a lot
of stuff happening and a bunch of topics we want
to talk about. So rather than me sitting here telling
you about my week and all the things that I
usually like to talk about. Last week, you said I
didn't even let you that.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Was your thing talk about.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
You did you? Did you thing?

Speaker 4 (00:44):
No, I would not do that this week. I will
actually just go to the topics at end. So shout
out to our girl, Yandy Smith Harris. Yes, ma'am has
a new film out that I'm very very about, Secrets,
Scores and Scandal. It's a two B movie. I need

(01:05):
to figure out how to get me a to B
movie that's.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
A little crazy. Secrets and Scandal.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
It doesn't it doesn't sound that crazy. It actually sounds
very very like a lot of people's lives. So I'm
sure that I haven't actually had a chance to see
the film. I wasn't able to make it to the premiere,
and now I have to figure out how to download
to Be. I don't know, just to be on your TV,
like you just go to to b dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
I mean, what what do you do?

Speaker 3 (01:33):
I don't even know.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
You don't watch to Be movies?

Speaker 3 (01:36):
No?

Speaker 4 (01:37):
Oh, well, everybody else seems to be watching and they
love it. I gotta know, you don't need to tell
people what you have.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
But I just don't watch it.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
I yeah, in the hair salon, they have to be movies.
So when I go in there, I'm gonna tell them
I want to see it. But nonetheless, even though we
haven't watched it, millions of other people have watched the movie.
And I'm really proud of Yin because you know, she
has been saying that the arts in general. I mean,
obviously we saw her last year. I think it was
Christmas time. She actually sang a beautiful song and showed

(02:12):
that her her voice, her vocals work a beautiful song
and she looked beautiful, and you know then and now
here she.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Is moving into film.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
I think one day she'll be in theater like Yandy
really seriously can perform in many different fashions like she
just It's also one of the things about Yell her
skincare line and why it's done so well is because
you see her in front of the camera often. I'm
not saying that she always wants to do it, but
she certainly is really really good at being in front

(02:45):
of and behind the camera, and so this I'm so
excited for her that this is a new world, you know,
a new lane. It's gotta be worth something to be
on TV for as long as she has been on
a show that has had so many ups and downs
and a lot of downs, a lot of negative attention
and press and all of that, and so you know,

(03:07):
it's just it's just good to see that it's turning
into her really understanding like the whole film industry and
getting out and doing what she wants to do so well.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Y is a master marketer, like people get that. She's
been into marketing and management pretty much her whole life.
So she knows how to brand herself and she's done
an excellent job at doing it. And you know, even despite,
like you say, the ups and downs of the show
and the negativity, she's always been able to magnify the
positivity in her all the time. She does never focus

(03:42):
on the negativity. Even when she's dealing with the negativity,
it's never her focus. So she never allows herself to
get pulled into the minution.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Of all of that.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
She's told a few people, Yeah, but when I.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Think that doesn't overshadow her or you know a lot
of times when you watch these reality TV shows and
it be good people and the negativity starts to overshadow
the goodness of the individual and it gets swump.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
But Yandy doesn't do that.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Like if you go to her social media go anywhere,
you see her positive. You see her promoting positivity. You
see her promoting her brands, promoting the Yell, which is
an amazing product that I actually use.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
But she's constantly doing it.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
So you know, and when I was saying ups and downs,
I wasn't necessarily speaking to like drama but life happening.
You know, She's had a number of things that have
happened throughout the show that's not so much drama, but
it's real life. But everybody, getting to see your real

(04:45):
life story is not easy. It's really really hard to
have to put your entire life on display for the world.
So anyway, it's turning into something different. Right, God can
do all these things, that's right. And so now she
gets a chance to make films that will be still

(05:06):
about real life stories, but she gets a chance to
build from a total different way and she can put
people on and you know that's something that she loves
to do in terms of making sure that other people.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Have Yeah, bro, you know, I got my little accent.
I put my accent hat on that.

Speaker 5 (05:24):
You should actually call it.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
Sometimes you got to remind people.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
So speaking of women, black women that's doing amazing things.
Shout out to the Brandy and Monica Tour. What is
it called The Boy Is Mine?

Speaker 3 (05:39):
By Right?

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Is a sol out show we got. It's coming to
New York actually this week. It'll be in New York
for two being New York in the Ballclays, then it'll
be in a Prudential Center in New Jersey, and then
it'll be in Atlantic City. So my best friend happens to
be one of the promoters of the Black Promoters Collective
who are putting on this show, and I'm so proud
of I just was on the phone with him, you know,

(06:04):
and we were just talking about life like we usually
do we just get on the phone and have conversations.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
We just sold my life and.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Just told about how and I would just tell him
how proud I am just to see him.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
He's always been consistent in this, you know, Shelby.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Shout out to my brother, best friend mother mine as
well have the same mother, Shelby Joiner, and he's always
been consistent.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
You know. He started doing.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Comedy shows and parties and just was consistent and consistent
and persistent. And we just talked about how persistence and
consistency breaks down resistance and a lot of times people
don't see your vision, but you see.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
It, you know, So shout out to him.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
And the tour is going to be So it's pretty
much been sold out and it's been getting rave reviews
pretty much everywhere. So if you haven't seen it, make
sure you go out and see it. Shout out to
the whole Black Promoters collective as well.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
It's so many people there that I just admire. I
admire the work and I know that it's not easy
one to break through the way that they have as
a company that promotes artists and entertainers and shows and
the way that they do because there are so many
other big brands that folks will run to. That's just

(07:16):
the nature of how it goes when you're black and
you're doing something and you are not afraid to say,
we are the Black Promoters collective, right, So that's one
people automatically are going to assume it's not gonna be
done well, there's gonna be issues. What I do appreciate
is that even in with the Boy's Mind tour, they

(07:37):
had some hiccups in the very very beginning, and you
can see how the quality has shifted. Like people and
I'm proud of us, right, Like black folks say, Okay,
I'm not gonna go canceling or not showing up. There
was some negativity online, which, of course, if a show
stops abruptly with one of the artists walking off the

(07:57):
stage and nobody knows what's going on, you're gonna you're
gonna hear some people who are upset. So I can't
say that I have any issue with that. But what
I love is that as they have continued to other cities,
people are still showing up.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
The shows are still selling.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Now.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
I just watched a beautiful video of them performing. Obviously
they've gotten there, their groove is there. They're back on
the stage, Monica and Brandy, and it looks really good
to see them. I saw something that said that in
nineteen ninety eight they were on the Billboard one hundred list,
I think for thirteen week straight, right, like that's they

(08:35):
were number one. They were number one for thirteen weeks straight.
And knowing what they had gone through that the two
of them were kind of like not they weren't getting
along people with issues between them, just competition, all the
things that happened when unfortunately we are forced to be
super competitive rather than super collaborative. And for them to

(08:57):
grow up and show as two black women that we're
better together while working with the Black Promoters collective, it's
like a win for black people overall. We win in
right now for this us for the win absolutely all right,
So let's move on to this crazyness that we call

(09:17):
the federal government the Epstein Files. It's you know, I
think we were going to say a lot when we
worked on this show. There was a bunch that we
were going to say. But now the new news is
that Trump is saying he doesn't care about the files
coming out.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
He's like, whatever, I don't care for me, and I.

Speaker 4 (09:41):
Literally have very very little to say about this. I
saw that our brother, jolly good Ginger, y'all check him out,
white man. He's a good, good white man. He was
saying that something has happened to the files. But we
already figured that, like even before all of this, we
know that the files ain't right. And it's like you

(10:03):
don't want your parents to see your report card when
you know you don't erase things and move things.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
Even though you did it, you know it's not gonna
look right.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
It's not gonna be consistent with the words on the
side where they give the notes, say you talk too
much and you need to do better, and then you've
done somehow erased and put b when it was actually
a seed.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
It don't work. It's not gonna work. And so he knew.

Speaker 4 (10:28):
That all along, and I'm sure in their minds it
was basically, if we don't talk about it, if no
one sees it, they don't have to see all the
redacting and all the stuff that we're doing to try
to cover how many times he particularly shows up in
these files.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
And I'm sure it's not just him.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
I'm sure that he's also thinking this can open up
a can of worms with so many different things that
he has to do what Jeff Epstein did, whether he
killed himself or if something else happened to him, It's
all about protecting themselves and all the people who are
involved in this situation. So I would just say that

(11:09):
I agree that it may be that something that you know,
the files have been altered in a way that he
feels most comfortable with them coming out.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
But I think that even more than that, and why
I don't.

Speaker 4 (11:20):
Talk about it often at all, like you never see
me post about the Epstein files, is that there is
literally nothing that they could ever tell me about dirty,
nasty old men in general, because I'm not gonna sit
up here and tell you that only white men have
nasty obsessions with young girls. Okay, let's be clear that

(11:44):
this is this is a and by the way, some
old women have nasty, whatever you call it, desires for
young kids in general. So this is not something that
shocks me at all, the mere fact that it's even
being discussed to me. It should be something like we
now know that the government something is wrong. When this

(12:06):
the fact that he doesn't have to go before some
kind of like court of law and deal with this.
I don't even want to talk about it because even
if they do something about it, which they're probably trying
to find a way to get rid of him, because
that's just what these people do. But even if they
do something about it, the mere fact that these women

(12:27):
and families and other advocates have had to go through
all that they have gone through to even get to
this point, it is absolutely asinine to me. So that's
why I don't talking about I'm not saying y'all shouldn't.
I'm just saying, is why I don't.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
I think for me, the reason why I talk about
it because it's the hypocrisy, right, And it's the fact
that as a president you campaigned on this promise to
release it, and then it became you became vehemently against it.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
Right.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
You just watching the spat between him and Marjorie Taylor
Green over this subject, and now all of a sudden,
you like, I don't care about it. You just completely
do her under the bus and everything else because she
wanted the Epstein files, but now you don't care about
So just to me, it's just like just watching something implode.
So I want to I'm always gonna keep the thing

(13:18):
to thing. It's like, I understand that we have a
lot of different issues, but this right here is a
sitting president who's people have said, Oh, I've wrote against
this because I ain't want the boys and the girls' bathrooms,
and I didn't want the trance thing, and it was
the moral thing, and it was this and that, and
now you're forgetting the morals when it comes to the
pedophila right that that has been rampant. That's deep, this

(13:41):
is and this is what it is for me. So
it's like, I'm not gonna let y'all off the hook
with that.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
We're not.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
We're just not moving past that because y'all moved past
everything else. And shout out to the young white boy
that's on Instagram. His name is Dean with us. He's
a real shock. I loved it. He does he No,
he doesn't know yet somebody I've been following DM. I'm
trying to get him to come on the show. Hopefully
he'll hit me back. But I would love to have

(14:07):
Dan on our show. That brings me to our TMI
did that usually bring on TM, but I.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Wanted to because because.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
You know, it's crazy, because he was on his live stream.
You know, he talks. He has people call in, different
people and a lot of them be Magat supporters that
want to attack him and tell him how wrong he
is or whatever. So, you know, this particular individual called
and they were talking about the Epstein files, and he

(14:35):
asked Dean, he said, okay, let's say you're right. Let's
say Trump is in the Epstein files. Let's say he
did all these things. You know, what does that mean?
What is so wrong with that? So Dean was like,
excuse me, will you you asking me what's wrong with
child raping children? He said, yeah, yeah, that's what I

(14:56):
said that. He said, so you asking me what is
the issue with it? And men said, yeah, yeah, you're dumb.
You can't hear what I'm saying. I said, yeah, I
want to know what's so bad about that? What's wrong
with that?

Speaker 3 (15:06):
Tell him? You tell me what it is.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
And Dean, like most of us who are seeing individuals,
was so taken back by the fact that this individual
didn't know what was wrong with this, Like.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
He really didn't. He was like, and he just kept
on saying, what you are you gonna.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
Explain to me or what? And he was like I
really didn't think he said. I knew that, Maga, we
would do anything. I knew that y'all take up for
January sixth and the releasing of the January sixth people
who were arrested, and start and the insurrection is the partners.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
I knew you do all of that. I knew that
you would start, but I thought.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
That you would draw the line at Pedophila. And it
was a it was a real shaking moment. And it's
like from the TMI is like, is that too much?

Speaker 3 (15:59):
Like? Because is it me? Is it you? Are we
just crazy? Because the fact that.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
They are actually individuals that think like that, it's really
scared and they're not.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
The thing is, they're not scared to come off. So
this is what has happened with this administration.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
In my opinion, this administration has empowered and emboldened individuals
who have levels of sickness, hate, levels of evil inside
of them to just feel comfortable saying it or expressing it.
And it's like for me, it's like, damn, wow that

(16:37):
that man really got on like a public place and
said those words out of his mouth.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Well, okay, so let me just say because another part
of this is that Megan Kelly, who's the former Fox correspondent,
and you know she's she's she's a big deal, I
guess in the Republican world. She also said last week
that he that Trump or no Epstein excuse me, didn't

(17:06):
like eight or nine year olds. He liked like fifteen,
you know, fourteen, I guess fifteen or sixteen year olds.
So he liked the he didn't like the barely legal
I think, oh no, he likes the barely legal right,
which means closer to eighteen legal right.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
But means that you're eighteen. You just made eighteen right.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
So anything.

Speaker 4 (17:27):
But anyway, whatever she said is just the whole thing
is fed up and wrong. So that's why I can't
even figure it out, because it doesn't matter when you
mentioned fifteen and sixteen year olds at that point, right
when you say that, the conversation is old.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
As sixty, like, what do you want.

Speaker 4 (17:44):
Well, they want kids, because fifteen and sixteen year olds
are children. But I just want to say that I
think it is what you said is important that people
are in bolden under this admonished to just say and
do and reveal themselves as being some of the most

(18:07):
heinous individuals in our society, and that is very, very scary.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
But I just want to make sure.

Speaker 4 (18:15):
That while we are dealing with love, I love what
you said about the hypocrisy of a sitting president who
people voted for because their intention was to block the
trans community, to stop the boys and girls from using
gender neutral bathrooms. They don't I mean, they don't want

(18:38):
they don't want abortion, they don't want any of these things.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
And they said and.

Speaker 4 (18:44):
They said that this administration represents Christian values and all
of that. And now you have people on both sides,
you have people who because by the way, this is
not a new thing. Donald Trump told y'all that he
grabs women by the kuchie. That's what he said.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
He said, he said that of the dressing rooms of
the pageants.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
That's right, that's what he said. That's what he said.
So we already know who he is. We already know.
I think it was his first wife who wrote the book, okay,
and his first wife was trying to tell people about
his nasty ass. So we already know who this man is,

(19:30):
what I am saying, And it's definitely too much. So
when you ask people over here trying to figure out
what we're talking about is.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
It's too much.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
The man on the phone is t M I. Megan
Kelly is t M I. It's all too much. But
here's the only thing that I don't want us to
to to move away from too quickly. The pedophilia exists
in people's homes right now. You can sit up on

(20:02):
see the Internet, social media and say, I can't believe
it because you got two sides of this coin. You
got people who knew already and still voted for the man,
and then you got people who have been awakened all
of a sudden and they're like, oh my God, like
I can't believe it.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
So it's two sides of the coin. Who should have known.
But whatever, whatever, it's just.

Speaker 4 (20:27):
But there are pedophiles that are in your house, at
your grandmama house down the street, down the hall right now,
who prey on children. And we can deal with Trump,
and we should and we can deal with because I
don't care if it's Democratic Republican, if they was out
here with kids, put it.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
On the table so they can all be dealt with.
Put it on the table.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
I said, all the time they said, oh, what you
gonna get?

Speaker 1 (20:53):
I don't give them think.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
Y'all have us fucked up?

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Listen, we have been aligned with people who are in
the Democratic Party because there are a lot of individuals
who have shared values that we have. There are a
lot of politics that agree with things that we want.
But we are not just no political pundits. We don't
give a fuck about no Democrats, or I.

Speaker 5 (21:18):
Would be in a political pundon.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
Well, I'm saying we don't have a I don't have
an allegiance to anything. That's what I want you understand.
We do not have all We will call out.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
Anybody that's wrong. We don't have an allegiance to any party.
So when you come with that shit, you got us
fucked up like you got it. Confuse, if the Democrats
is raping kids, then they nasty ass need to go
to jail.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
Under the jail.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
I want the Epstein files to come out and show
everybody and whoever is on it need to go to
jail right now.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
This is not We're not asking you to release the
files of a congressman song and so slept with his assistant.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
I don't give a shit. That's not my We talking
about kids.

Speaker 4 (22:01):
Were talking about young girls who, by the way, now
that there are adults, many of them are standing in
front of a screen saying this was me as a
child when I met Jeff Epstein. Right, this is a
man who was allowed to function in society with people
knowing that he was a nasty ass.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
And what I am.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
Saying to you is that it represents stuff that happens
right now in our communities.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
Every single day.

Speaker 4 (22:29):
The pedophile is able to exist, move around.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
No one does anything about it.

Speaker 4 (22:35):
If anything, they make the young women or the young
boys feel like they're the problem. That's the fact, and
it is and it is a sickness. It's a culture that, yes,
it needs to be rooted out at the top so that.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
People can see.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
You know, people need to be able to see that
something happened as a result of there being a they're
being not an admittance, because it'll never be an admittance,
but that they're being an exposure of this type of
behavior and all those who were involved in it.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
That should happen. But if it's.

Speaker 4 (23:10):
Going on around Joe House, your neighborhood, direct center, the daycare,
the school, that needs to be rooted out as well.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
So that's all I have to say.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
All the way, all right, let's go to my thought
of the day. Because we ain't buying it. We ain't
buying we ain't buying it. We ain't buying it. We
ain't buying it. We are not buying it. Black Friday
is coming up. And by the way, honey, these corporations
are promoting from now. They already started their sales because

(23:45):
they know our patterns and they watch what we say.
We get on the internet, we tell everybody everything we're
gonna do. And you know, we're trying to figure out
how to communicate with one another. So we use the
resources that we have. But we also have to know
that when we speak, they listen. They say, oh okay,
we already know. They boycotting a few things. Here it
looks like they coming together. And now we need to

(24:08):
be very careful not to rely on the days that
they're used to.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
And they meaning all the people.

Speaker 4 (24:16):
Excuse me, they meaning all the people, because now I'm
seeing all kinds of people. What's the name Chelsea Handler?
And I mean everybody's getting involved in this thing.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
Now.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
I saw Cedric the Entertainer, I saw Tammy Rowman, I
mean people. It is becoming a widespread understanding that this
holiday season, we ain't got it and we ain't buying it.
And so what they say is we can't rely on
the days that they're used to. We got to start
these sales from now. I happen to go into a
store to get my granddaughter something the other day and

(24:49):
all my way, matter of fact, it was Macy's, and
on my way out, I said, you know what I need.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
I need some new wash clubs.

Speaker 4 (24:56):
So I went over and I picked up a few
wash cloths. And when I went and they were good
wash calls, Charter Charter Club, Charter Club, Charter Club, these
are good ones.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
So when I took it over to the register.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
The washcloths on the wall said that they were like
eighteen dollars, eighteen ninety nine, I guess, or something like that.
When I took it to the register, it was like
three ninety nine. And this was like two a week
and some change ago. So this is not directly in
the in the black Friday to cyber money, cyber money, yep,

(25:34):
Cyber Monday period. But these people are hit. They already
understand our patterns. So they're already doing sales now. From
my perspective, unless I absolutely need it. I'm not buying
anything period for the entire holiday season. I just want
to make sure that we give credit where credit is due.
When I think it was after Mike Brown was killed,

(25:56):
I believe that that was around the anniversary of the
Millionaire March.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
And one of the.

Speaker 4 (26:04):
Things that I was attracted to the most was that
Minister Fara Khan was not just kind of like you know.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
Of course he knows how to speak to the time.

Speaker 4 (26:18):
So the issue happening of black men being killed by police,
of course, he had profound things to say, police and
killing each other, the whole thing. He had profound things
to say. But what I appreciated the most as we
traveled the country going out to get people organized for
the Millionaire March.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
Is when he got real quiet.

Speaker 4 (26:40):
He said, this does not have to be a big
old fallout. It doesn't have to be a huge argument.
We don't got to throw down about it. It's very simple.
Put your money in your pocket and hold your money.
And he said, redistribute the pain be hurting, somebody else

(27:01):
needs to hurt too. And these corporations are getting away
with being either quietly support quietly supportive of these policies
that harm our communities.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Or they out here being public about it.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
As we see now with the Trump administration and the
amount of people, including Target, that invested a million dollars
in his inauguration. Donald Trump says that he's building a
he's building a golden ballroom, and he's using private money.
And I listen to that and thought to myself, there

(27:39):
are some people out here who are so naive or
just or they lack They just don't understand because they
got so much going on in their lives. They just
are not focused on this every day. So when they
hear private funding, I've seen people write comments that, well,
this is not taxes, not federal money, So I don't

(28:02):
care if he builds a new ballroom. Excuse me when
they say that they're using private money, it's our money. Still,
it's coming from these corporate homeboys who would like to
be up in his face, Like Target given the million
dollars for an inauguration.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
That's where he's gonna get the money from.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
That's me and it's.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
Gonna harm us because he's gonna allow them to implement
policies that are gonna negatively affect us. Well, yeah, but
that's why they do it. Well, that's why they lobby.
A lot of these corporations. They're lobbying, and they're paying
for this as a gift to the president so that
he can allow them, he can get them taxticals. That's
gonna raise our inflation, that's gonna do all the type
of shit to us, and we're gonna ultimately have to

(28:46):
pay for now.

Speaker 4 (28:47):
Absolutely, But I'm saying, forget about what you said is
high level. I'm going with the basics. I'm going with
the basics. The basics for me is Donald Trump and
his policies and what he represents is evil and dangerous.
If you support him, me and you can't be friends.

(29:07):
I just want to go with baseline, very simple things.
So if you're supporting him, we can't be friends. It's
some things I can't get around, right If I'm in
the city and I have to get to the next location,
I might have to take an uber or a lyft
and I can't necessarily get around that that. But I
don't have to go to Target, I don't have to

(29:28):
go to home Depot, I don't have to go spend
my money on Amazon.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
I don't have to do that.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
I can still find a way, So I hear people
all day, oh well, why don't we boycott John and
I want to do such and such, and this company
and that company, boycott everything you want to play. You
don't got to wait for somebody to tell you. You
could say, I've decided that this is a part of

(29:53):
my boycott right now, And that's what you do. What
people have done is to design for you you a
way to participate, to help it, make it easy, give
you other people that you're in community with.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
But it does not mean that.

Speaker 4 (30:07):
You have to stick with one process over the other,
or one company over the other. You might be you
might say I can't walk away from said company for
various reasons, but I can do this, I can be
involved in this way, find your things. Stop worrying about
trying to tell people, Oh well, well, it's not even that.

(30:28):
It's trying to tell people that they're not doing it right,
because they should be doing That's not what this thing
is all about. And all I'm saying is just remember
when they say that this man is building a private ballroom,
or that he's getting private money, he is still getting
your money. It's either coming from your tax dollars or

(30:50):
it's coming from your spending habits one thing or the other,
and for me, either way, we need to be exercising
our muscles to keep buy money in our pocket. There's
no reason why you should be going to the store
and food is expensive and you still running around talking about, well,
well I need I need these shoes, I need this

(31:11):
and that, and I'm broke. I'm complaining about this price
and then going and buying stuff from these people at
the same time. It's crazy. We're doing the same old
thing over and over again and expecting that.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
We're gonna get different results and different results.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
Now, we did our things a little backwards, but you
was you was piping hot. So the TMI came before
the thought of the day today. But this particular interview
that we have coming up is somebody who I am
just completely impressed with. We take this interview a few
days ago. This young woman who you are are about

(31:46):
to see is a part of a series that my
son and I on the TMI show have released. It
is It is a series that we are working to
make really good for you. It's called it Ain't What
It Posted to Be. And so every week we're trying
to find diamonds in the rough people who look real
good on social media, but also have stories to tell

(32:08):
about the struggles of building business, about the struggles of
keeping their lives afloat in the midst of also building.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
So check this out.

Speaker 4 (32:17):
China Russell Dollhouse Cosmetics is coming up with a previously
taped interview.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
Check it out and we'll be back, all right.

Speaker 4 (32:27):
So we are here today with a young lady who
became my friends. During the release of my book I
Live to Tell the Story. I did a live with
China Russell and honey, it went viral.

Speaker 5 (32:43):
They was all.

Speaker 4 (32:44):
Over it talking about telling me I look so cool
and oh my god, cannot believe that you hooked up
with China. Then I went and did some more research
and since is a complete powerhouse. And so we're so
excited today to have China Russell with us, who is
a beauty expert and an entrepreneur and as part of

(33:05):
our series it Ain't what it posts to be. It
ain't what it post to be. Hopefully I know they get.
This is our first episode of the series and we're
talking about entrepreneurship today, talking about the challenges the beauty.

(33:27):
Of course, let's not put challenges before beauty. Beauty is
absolutely a thing when you can work for yourself and
get your own brand off the ground.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
It's not easy, but it is still beautiful.

Speaker 4 (33:41):
However, the series It Ain't what it posts to be,
is really to help people get a glimpse behind the
curtain because we post on social and all of us.
I mean, I got a new light that I just ordered, honey,
and it came today and Jan and I tested it out,
and that light is hopping. But one of the reasons

(34:05):
why I neat the light is because I noticed that
as I'm getting older, when I take pictures and videos,
sometimes you can see certain things that the light helps
to illuminate and bring the face and the skin out
and all the things.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
You see what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
So behind the curtain it may be one thing, but
in front, we always try to put our best out
to the world. Then your parents tell you to get
your Easter suit on when you go somewhere nights and
fix up, clean up, but get your haircut. That's right.
I'll never forget when I was a younger mother, my
son must have been about nine years old, and I

(34:43):
used to wear I told I told my son on
this story all the time, I used to wear a headscarf,
and you know how you had the doobie and as
long as the hair would stay in it, you didn't
have to take it off.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
You just kind of let it just sit in the doobie.

Speaker 4 (34:57):
And then I have my little night clothes on, and
I I looked so busted. But when I would go outside,
I looked so cute and fabulous. And my son said
to me, if people only knew how you look in
the house, he said, they would just not They would
be so shocked if they knew how you look.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
And that's the point.

Speaker 4 (35:17):
When we go out, we look one way, but on
the inside there's a lot of things going on. So
China Russell is joining us today to talk about what
it has been like to build Dollhouse, your brand from
when it was the cosmetics company to now there's an.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
Actual brick and martar.

Speaker 4 (35:36):
You have moved up in the world and we are
so excited to have you to join us, so.

Speaker 5 (35:40):
Excited to be here.

Speaker 6 (35:42):
YEA, to me here you don't understand like this was
like what because I really get like the real deal.

Speaker 5 (35:48):
We try to be yeah, no, seriously, So we're trying
to be real.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (35:53):
You travel all the way from well, I'm not sure
where you live, that's not important, but you were Brooklyn night,
So you all all over here?

Speaker 2 (36:01):
Sure?

Speaker 6 (36:01):
Yes, yes, yes, but I go back and forth. Like
my family is in Atlanta, so I go back and forth.
But I live in Jersey now, but I'm from Brooklyn.

Speaker 5 (36:08):
I'm from you know, the say you get a couple
of dollars and you get out there.

Speaker 3 (36:12):
Now, we always do that, we get out the way.

Speaker 6 (36:17):
But I had to because I was a young mom,
and like it was like, okay, I can't really I
couldn't really raise my son in Easter, New York because
you know, his dad was there, his dad went to prison,
his dad still in prison. So I'm like, I don't
want my son to become a sisistic, you know. So
it was really on me to like change that narrative
and like get us up out of there.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
How long ago did your son's father get arrested?

Speaker 6 (36:39):
My son father went to prison when I was former's
pregnant with him, came home when my son was five,
went back to prison and came home my son was seven,
and then been in there since then.

Speaker 5 (36:47):
Wow, and was just now twenty two.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
Wow. Wow, Wow.

Speaker 6 (36:50):
So I knew like this wasn't a place that I
wanted to raise my son for sure, you know, So
I had to do something. So I moved out of
Eastern like like twenty years ago.

Speaker 3 (37:02):
Wow, and that's when that's when you started the house.

Speaker 5 (37:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (37:06):
So initially I didn't have a So I had a
Bricker motor. I had opened my first Bricker motor nineteen
years ago. But when I saw it my brand, it
was like I was in my mother's house in a kitchen,
Like I would have clients come to the house in
the kitchen and I would take my clients and stuff
like that. So what end up happening was I had
got like foundations and lip losses. I saw the with

(37:26):
like two products because I had this whole idea of
like having this book, big, full line, but.

Speaker 5 (37:31):
I didn't have enough money.

Speaker 6 (37:33):
So when I went to the manufacturer chemist and she
was like, you know, I had like twenty thousand dollars
saved up, and she was looking at me like that's
not going to get you anything. But she liked me
and she saw like something in me, I guess, and
she was like convinced me, like if you can convince me.

Speaker 5 (37:49):
To take a risk on you.

Speaker 6 (37:50):
I would take the twenty frontshoe product and then you
owe me, but let me see what you can do.
So I had like came up with this idea to
have this event called glam Day, and I would have
women come in and where they pay ten dollars and
they get their hair styled, not like a full hairdoo,
but like style curled, and I would do their makeup.
I don't know who told me to do this, because
it was like three hundred people came and I was

(38:12):
slaving over faces for ten dollars. But she ended up
coming to the event. Wow, and she's seen that had
all these women coming. She saw the influence I had,
and she had me come in the next week and
she took my twenty and she fronted me and we
did a whole full.

Speaker 5 (38:24):
Line and that's how I started my brand.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (38:27):
And you know what's so funny is crazy because she
was a white woman and you just wouldn't expect.

Speaker 5 (38:31):
I didn't expect for her to even see me, you know,
but she understood that. There was when I was going
in those rooms and.

Speaker 6 (38:37):
I was having the conversations about there needs to be
products for women of color and realistically at that time,
they were like, well, black women don't buy makeup, And
I was just like, how is that possible when I
come from a blood line full of black women, Like
it didn't make sense to me because like I knew,
you know, growing up young in the hood, like you
really don't understand what like oppression is. Right, you probably
grew up a little different because you grew up in

(38:57):
a household that was like proud about the blackness and
stuff like that. And not saying that my parents wasn't,
but they just wasn't knowledgeable even teaching us.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
Just what I'm you probably yeah, they were learning your history.

Speaker 6 (39:07):
To me in school, and school didn't really make you
proud about being black. And you was in school and
you had no one to relate to you for real, sorry,
no one to relate to you for real. So like
it started to manifest in me, Like I started to see,
like it's so much more than just here. And I
never felt bad about being brown skin, and I saw
colorism happening, and it was like I just felt like

(39:29):
I need to do something about it. And even though
like my mom, she never like thought about being an entrepreneur.

Speaker 5 (39:35):
But my mom is like believe in me so much.

Speaker 6 (39:37):
Like anything I ever wanted to do, my mom is
like one hundred percent behind me. So I feel like
that's why I tell parents, like you need to not
be dream killers like you as a parent, you have
to like really show love and support to your children
because kids really don't know what they're capable of doing.
But when their parent, when your mom be like I
don't understand, but I can follow you, that gave me

(39:58):
all the courage, you know. So I just wanted to
employ and empower my community, but not really realizing that's
what I was doing because I didn't want no one
to feel unseen because I knew what it felt like.
And coming from like East New York and stuff like that,
you're told like you're really not gonna be nothing. And
I was nineteen and a young mother, and people thought

(40:19):
my story was over. But I'm like, I had every
reason why.

Speaker 5 (40:24):
I was nineteen.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
You're not supposed to be telling me, I know, but
you know, it's so funny.

Speaker 6 (40:30):
Before I had my son, I was pregnant at eighteen.
I had a baby girl, but she passed away. Wow,
So like I always tell people like, you know how
like I know for a fact that God chose me
to like tell my story and to like help other
people and share it in my testimonies because I didn't
go through all these things for no reason.

Speaker 5 (40:46):
I still survived it, and I'm.

Speaker 6 (40:47):
Still humble and still love and still grateful on all
those things. Because some people go through things and they
become bitter. But I feel like everything that I've been
through made me a better person, and it gave me
so much information to like share, because I feel like
that's why a lot of people stop or don't dream,
because they don't have anyone to say, listen, I come
from exactly where you come from, and I've been through
all these things, and I promised you can do anything.

Speaker 5 (41:10):
You want to do, you know.

Speaker 6 (41:11):
So with Dollhouse, it was like a love letter to
black women because I just felt like, especially growing up
brown skin, growing up brown skin is a different experience,
especially in errors like I'm an eighties baby, and maybe
I shouldn't have said that.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
But I already got it.

Speaker 5 (41:26):
A colorism was so major, like videotas.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Yeah, when we were young, it was bad.

Speaker 6 (41:30):
Yeah, and it almost made you feel like you didn't exist.
But in my world, I was always told how beautiful.
I was because you are, thank you so much showing you.
And I always looked at my mom. My mom is
chocolate and beautiful and not just come from that, you know.
So I just never felt like I just felt like
we were the most beautiful, you know. So makeup really
was the expression for me to like get out of

(41:51):
my neighborhood and my environment, you know. And a lot
of my friends I would tell them like, you know,
I'm gonna do all these things. They would be like
looking at me like I was crazy. And some of
them when they see me now and they was like,
I can't believe it.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
I said, well, I told you, you.

Speaker 5 (42:03):
Got to start believing people, you know.

Speaker 6 (42:05):
So Dallhouse really was a love letter to myself and
two black women, and it just landed from there. But
I was working in somebody else, renting in someone shop,
and she was like a popular, famous person, she was
on television.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
So the motivation was being a love letter. You just
wanted to do something better for the community. How was
that process being a young mother, you know, understand it
after you had already lost a child.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
I know that must have been trauma. Like what was
the whole process from there?

Speaker 6 (42:39):
I think for me, it was like still wanting to
become who I thought I could become. And when I
gave birth to my son, like my son became like
a whole motivation for me.

Speaker 5 (42:51):
And I was like, cause I wanted.

Speaker 6 (42:52):
To be a lawyer initially and me too, really yeah,
And when I had my son, everything changed and it
was like now I got to really get to and
I got to really make a difference. Because I always
thought like I wanted my kids to like be able
to know that I left like legacy for them. I
didn't really care about like my kids hearing like how
fly was or what I've done in the sheets and

(43:13):
stuff like that.

Speaker 5 (43:13):
I really wanted to build legacy.

Speaker 6 (43:15):
So it really inspired me once I became a mother
and just to change the projectory from like my sister
and my mom, like it was on me. I'm the oldest,
so it was like it was my responsibility. I felt
like I needed to get I had to get us
out of this environment and just change our life.

Speaker 5 (43:30):
So it was really just a necessity. And I loved beauty,
you know.

Speaker 6 (43:35):
I used to see my mom and my grandmother in
them get dressed and put on their lipsticks, and I
just thought they were so fly, so I wanted to
be a part of that.

Speaker 5 (43:41):
So that really motivated me.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
And then you so building this.

Speaker 4 (43:45):
I mean you talked about your first brick and Martar,
But in your mother's kitchen, what were you doing?

Speaker 1 (43:50):
Were you doing makeup?

Speaker 4 (43:51):
Yeah, okay, so you were doing makeup and then using
whatever products were out there, But then you started using
your own Yeah yeah, so I didn't even have I
had my own makeup line and didn't have a location,
didn't even have a website, but.

Speaker 6 (44:03):
Word of mouth is like I feel like, that's why
I'm so happy. I come from like the not the
new era of entrepreneurship. I love that I built my
business without social media, without Instagram, you know, like this
when I was like hustling and like taking cards and
going around town and stuff like that.

Speaker 5 (44:18):
So that kind of built the foundation.

Speaker 6 (44:20):
And I think when you build a foundation from solidness,
then it's like nothing you can't do. That's why sometimes
I feel when you were like an innovator and you
did things before it was the time. In because I
opened up my first beauty bar that was like nineteen
years ago, no one knew what a beauty bar was.
I should have patented that I didn't know how legendary
it be. No one knew when I actually went from

(44:41):
my LC and my paperwork. They were trying to call
it a salon, and I was like, well, I'm not
conforming to that.

Speaker 5 (44:45):
It's a beauty bar. They didn't get it.

Speaker 6 (44:47):
So I always was always thinking ahead of the time
because I feel like like my beauty insight is gifted now,
like maywhether like he's the greatest, but it's not.

Speaker 5 (44:57):
Also, just talent is hard work and dedication.

Speaker 6 (44:59):
And feel like some people just got the gift and
then when they work hard, it makes them even extra special.
I think that's how legends is created. So I feel
like I was gifted already. And then I was like
really diligent on, like working hard and like perfecting my craft.

Speaker 5 (45:14):
So my first thought was really, and.

Speaker 6 (45:15):
It's so crazy because I had got I already got,
like can I I really got shitted on? So I
was renting my daughter father. Okay, so my daughter father
got murdered when my one daughter was one years old,
and that really changed my life. Like I really went
through a deep depression that I really couldn't really I
didn't want to accept it, and I was like just

(45:36):
I was so skinny, I lost so much weight.

Speaker 5 (45:37):
It was really bad.

Speaker 6 (45:39):
And I would like cry every day and I wouldn't
get up and I wouldn't like do anything. And it
was like a hard time for me because I was
so close with his family. And then when he got killed,
they just switched on me. But they still loved my
daughter and it was the one hundred percent, So I sacrificed.
I didn't care about how I felt. It was more
so like my daughter had her dad family, you know,
and I was just so honored to have them. So
I kind of took like a lot of pain from them.

(46:01):
And I was so depressed and I thought I lost
my passion.

Speaker 5 (46:05):
I didn't want to do anything.

Speaker 6 (46:06):
And I never forget this ex friend of mine. She
ended up being a bad person, but sometimes bad people
could come in your life and still do some great
things for you.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
Right.

Speaker 6 (46:15):
So she had called me one day because she had
just lost her husband, and she was just like leaving
me voice messages and was like, you know, take showers
and just like take it day by day. And then
she had told me that someone was renting a space
and she was like, I think you should go when
you should try to do it. And that same night,
I heard my mom crying and I was like walking
past the room and she was talking to my aunt
and she was like, you know, I've always been able

(46:37):
to help my child, and she's like in this time,
I cannot help her and I don't even know what
to do. And just to hear my mom like so
like in that place I was because my mom had
always you know, been near for me. I told myself,
I said, Okay, I am still blessed because in my mind,
I'm thinking I don't have my dad, my son father
went to prison. Yeah I am again my single mother again.

(46:58):
Like it was just like wow, you know, like I
which didn't. I just felt cursed in a sense. So
because a lot of experiences that when I do my
pregnancy with my son, I didn't experience with my son's father.
He wasn't at the baby show, he wasn't at the birth,
he wasn't here for my son first steps, you know,
And so here finally I was. He was at the
baby shower, he was there for his door, the first steps,
and then just snatched.

Speaker 5 (47:16):
From us, you know.

Speaker 4 (47:17):
So the black experience exactly about a black ass, like
so many of us.

Speaker 5 (47:24):
So many of us unfortunately, you know.

Speaker 6 (47:26):
So I went into this, I said, I started fighting
for myself because it was real bad for me. And
then I started renting out of this space and it
was and it was like I was just like bussing me,
like I was having clients like through waiting for me
all day, Like it was just like booked and busy
and still grieving. But then there was an environment where
these women were just so mean, you know, and I

(47:47):
was in the worst place in my life and it
was still so mean to me, so mean spirited, so
intimidated and stuff like that. And then I was like
I was coming in every day with candles, trying to
change the energy. And then I was like one day
one of the girls there was trying to fight me,
and I knew, like, okay, this is this is it,
Like I have to like find another way or like

(48:09):
figure it out. And I literally literally was walking up
the block and seeing a souff rent and something in
my spirits like just call. And I've never in my
life thought I can really own the story. It was
never something that was, you know, in my mind. But
called the number, got a meeting, went to the meeting,
and got it and it was literally down the block
from the place I was renting.

Speaker 1 (48:27):
Wow, And it wasn't this place was by yourself because
the place you were in was like all work.

Speaker 5 (48:31):
Yeah, I was renting from someone.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
Yeah, you know I used to.

Speaker 4 (48:34):
I had a nail tech one time and we were
in a salon where other people were there, and this
older woman, she was a younger woman who does nails,
and she's like nasty, like just amazing. She's like one
of those people could put all the stones and draw
inside and she can't never be on time anywhere. Oh

(48:57):
that was the problem. But her skill set was she's
extremely talented. And the older black woman in the space,
who probably thought I was just as young as the
nail tag, was ridiculously nasty and she was a physically
aggressive like changing the TV, slamming doors, pushing things in

(49:18):
the way, and I'll never forget. One day I got
up and was like you, I'm now now you have
a problem with me because I'm.

Speaker 1 (49:27):
Watching what you're doing to this young woman.

Speaker 4 (49:29):
It was so disrespectful, and she thought I was a
kid until I opened my mouth and started talking to her,
telling her she's a battle axe, bit.

Speaker 7 (49:37):
Right right, and then you can get like And then
she was like, oh oh shit, I said.

Speaker 4 (49:44):
You come back over here one morning. Ye see, but
you're right. The jealousy, Oh my god. In the salon,
that's what and I and I thank god. I go
to Phoenix Salon in Harlem now on Adam Clinton Powell
and it's a space full of black women support one
that they love to share anything and he my son. No,

(50:04):
they those ladies love him. They support us. They got books,
love that you selling something. They all come together.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
You walk in there and she's too busy. She gonna
wash your head to get you ready.

Speaker 6 (50:17):
Community.

Speaker 4 (50:18):
It's a community together to drink and they might have
some drama because yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (50:24):
But we were just talking about working with family.

Speaker 2 (50:28):
So you your sister and your mother are in business
together that process.

Speaker 6 (50:34):
So you know, I've always didn't. I never wanted to
be the biggest in my family. You know, some people
want to be like the one. I always wanted it
to be us, right, because I think legacy can't exist
without us together.

Speaker 5 (50:47):
Legacy just need one person.

Speaker 6 (50:48):
We want legacy for us as a family, as a community, right,
and just as black people in general, because.

Speaker 5 (50:53):
It's old to us. So with my mom and my sister.
They poured into me so much.

Speaker 6 (50:58):
I would not have been able to do what I've
done because one I was a mother, and I was
a single mother and with two kids, and you know
certain envionument your kids going could be in danger. I
was able to grind and going in my business while
my mother was watching my kids.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
Right, me too.

Speaker 5 (51:11):
And even though my mom.

Speaker 6 (51:12):
Like probably didn't have the most money to give and
stuff like that, what she did because when I had
to give up that twenty thousand, my mother gave me
three thousand dollars off her money. S right, but my mother,
my mom always give me her time. She'll come clean up,
She'll be like watching. She watched everything because my mom
has discernment too, So my mom is watching who come in,
like who's who's who? Like I don't really trust her, like,
you know, So I.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
Got from a Caribbean background.

Speaker 5 (51:33):
No, people always people always think that's you know, the Caribbean.

Speaker 6 (51:35):
Yeah, don't put Oh, my mom always dealt with West
Indian men. So we like, I like grew up with
a Jamaican and a Jamaican household, and my sister dad
was Jamaican, you know, but she just was on point.
And my sister, you know, like my sister was young,
my sister was like fifteen. My sister's so talented. I
think she's better than me. And like I'm one of
those sisters. I'm a big sister that like I really

(51:56):
love my sister, like she's my kid.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
You know.

Speaker 6 (51:59):
And I just wanted to give my sister everything, you know,
and and my mom everything. And I just wanted to
just change our life. So them being a part of
the partnership. It was always partnership. It's just that for
the moment, you know, I was the one probably taking
the most risks, but the whole idea was for us
to do something together anyway. And my mom, I just
wanted to give for that because my mom just.

Speaker 5 (52:19):
Be lung cancer, so.

Speaker 6 (52:22):
Yeah, you know, and my mom was my mom was
shot innocently outside our building and stuff like that. Like
so just so many things, like I said, like you know,
blessings could be in a bloodline, like my mother is
a chosen, blessed, anointed woman. And I feel like I
have annoyings over my life, and then my kids have
annoying things over their life, you know. So it was
just like it's just a difference in like a family unit,

(52:45):
and like my mom is just so like my mom
prayers saved my life, like you know, changed my kid's life,
my sister life. So opening the business together was like
something we had to do. And then you know, like
in a mail industry is the biggest industry we dominated
as black women, but we don't want right, it's like
forty five percent I'm Asian owned, and like twenty something
percent other and then like we're like ten percent, not

(53:06):
even ten percent, like four percent of owners of nelslawon.
So I wanted to change that narrative. I'm like, why
can't we own the businesses in our community? We know
that redlining exists and all those things, right, So it's
so it's done intentionally, and I'm like, I remember when
I open my first shop up and people were saying,
oh're opening your shop up in the hood, and I said, well, damn,
this is our hood and everybody else can see the
value in it, but we don't.

Speaker 5 (53:26):
That's something's wrong with that, y'all.

Speaker 6 (53:28):
Trying to say something negative to me because I decided
to open up something and I realized that that's what.

Speaker 5 (53:32):
They want us to do.

Speaker 6 (53:33):
They want us to run out of our community to
build up other places and not build up our own.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
But did you did the client base come to you?

Speaker 3 (53:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (53:40):
So what did they still go?

Speaker 5 (53:41):
Oh?

Speaker 6 (53:42):
No, they had to because I was the only one
doing it. I ain't trying to be like but I
was like the first one of the ones. Like some
of your favorite maybe like some of the figure your
favorite makeup artists right now was once a client of mine.

Speaker 5 (53:53):
You know, a lot of them don't like to.

Speaker 6 (53:54):
Admit it because it's something about like giving each other
our real flowers. Sometimes peop don't want to give your flowers.
They atimidated so they feel like they can't. But I
really didn't do it for that. I really did it
to impact and for real so blessings, My blessings don't really.

Speaker 5 (54:05):
Come from what people say, is really what God say.

Speaker 6 (54:08):
And when like God put you on assignment, you don't
you don't, you don't you don't like look for the reward, right,
So for me it was like way it started to
I had to unpack it because I saw this.

Speaker 5 (54:19):
I didn't understand why black women was so jealous.

Speaker 6 (54:22):
At that time, I'm thinking I did it for you,
and I was so confused because women would come in
my place and they would say things like and I
never heard this before until I was a business owner,
like that's why I'm support black businesses, and they would
find everything negative with it, and I would be like, wait,
I'm so confused because like, and I worked in white businesses.

Speaker 5 (54:37):
I've never heard white people.

Speaker 6 (54:39):
Come and have a bad experience and say this why
I'm support white businesses.

Speaker 5 (54:42):
So I'm like, this a black thing.

Speaker 6 (54:43):
And then I realized that it's self hate because like
they looking at me like how could you do this?

Speaker 5 (54:48):
Because like for some reason, like.

Speaker 6 (54:50):
The way they oppressed this, they made us think like
if one do it, then is it like it's saying
that you can't do it?

Speaker 1 (54:55):
Yeah, like they think I work today.

Speaker 6 (54:57):
Right, So I feel like they thought like I'm trying
to shit on them, that are uplifting them.

Speaker 5 (55:01):
So I'm like this is.

Speaker 6 (55:02):
Crazy, like you know, like but I was the hottest
shit moving and now they had to come.

Speaker 5 (55:07):
So you know what it was.

Speaker 6 (55:08):
So it was I was for makeup, Yeah, for makeup,
like they be cause I changed, like I literally I
really opened up my shop and like made it like
a place of luxury, like you get serve champagne. It's
like this like nineteen years ago and you getting serve
champagne and getting a beat face and you might see
a celebrity on love and hip hop in there, like
you know, things like that, just like really innovative, having
makeup classes Sunday makeup classes and just treating black women. Well,

(55:32):
we wasn't like sometime we feel like we don't deserve luxury,
like we ain't the ones, you know.

Speaker 5 (55:36):
So I'm like, we deserve this, you know.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
So you were serious?

Speaker 6 (55:40):
Yeah, I wasn't playing like I was like I just
had a dream, like I just knew, like I could
do this.

Speaker 4 (55:47):
So what would what would be some of the things
that you could say, Because if someone comes in and
they say, this is why I don't support black businesses,
I think that's the wrong mentality. Although I know I
have said it, I've never said this why I don't
support black businesses.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
So let me get that shy.

Speaker 5 (56:02):
Yeah, don't believe you said that.

Speaker 1 (56:02):
This is what I have said.

Speaker 4 (56:04):
This is what I have said black businesses, black businesses.
I will say that, yeah, which means I'm like you said,
I'm frustrated. But what would you say are some of
the things that you had to learn to do better
so that folks did not have that experience.

Speaker 6 (56:18):
Yeah, so for me, right in my business, when I
first opened up my first business, I didn't know nothing
about business, but I was dedicated and I was hungry
and I was grateful. So every time somebody walked through
my door, I was so grateful that I almost was
like selling myself short because I was just feeling like
I didn't understand, like what community was. I didn't understand

(56:40):
it was supposed to support me. I didn't understand that.
I felt like they didn't have to, but they were
supposed to. We have to support each other, Like I.

Speaker 5 (56:47):
Didn't know, you know what I mean, Like, yes, why
wouldn't we? Like when I opened up.

Speaker 6 (56:52):
My first place and it's a beauty company and it's beautiful,
and my own cousins didn't show up to myself, whoa
I don't have We didn't have an argument like why
didn't you come? And I think because like I started
to understand, like they thinking the light is on me
and they don't realize that come with me. Because if
this talent is bluntline, like y'all so talented, and if

(57:15):
y'all pouring to me it can make make more.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
But they so stand about the wrong thing, right I was.

Speaker 6 (57:21):
I couldn't even enjoy because I was so busy, being
so nervous to not mess up. So I did learn,
like being a better leader and understanding that business is
business and people don't have to, you know, them coming
in and say I want to patronize your business. I
need to write and I have to provide a certain
amount of service to them. And I had to understand

(57:43):
that and I don't get to fall short and say, well,
give me a chance, and you know, I'm grateful.

Speaker 5 (57:48):
No, this is business, you know.

Speaker 6 (57:50):
So it was just learning how to be a boss,
but not a boss like in people face, but handling
my business and delegating correctly. Because at first I was
like a little girl. I was scared to say no.
I was scared, like you can't do that in business,
you know. So it really made me turn into a
woman too.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
How what's the so tell us about the money you made?

Speaker 5 (58:10):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (58:10):
Right, because that's the thing that people want to know
is all this hard work and yeah and struggle.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
Oh yeah, the money?

Speaker 1 (58:18):
What kind of money?

Speaker 3 (58:19):
Money is money?

Speaker 5 (58:20):
The money is money, and I mean the money has money.

Speaker 6 (58:22):
The money has afforded me to be able to send
my son to college and buy a house and take
care of my family and things like that. But I
will say this, I in the beginning of my career,
I mean millions of dollars.

Speaker 5 (58:32):
Did I see the millions?

Speaker 4 (58:33):
Know?

Speaker 5 (58:33):
Where did you?

Speaker 1 (58:34):
How did you make millions? As I was selling makeup?

Speaker 5 (58:36):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (58:36):
So when I open my first shop up when I
tell you I was banking with Corver Bank, shout out
to Corver Bank, one of the really good black black
bank and like a community bank. They were seeing the
numbers I was doing. They was calling me in Erea
of the week like what's happening? What was going on here?
What are you selling? I'm selling Cacilla's and foundation. You know,
they didn't understate they was so shocked.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
You know, I Marrie a white woman back.

Speaker 5 (58:56):
I've been paid her back.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
We got some good white women.

Speaker 6 (58:58):
Yeah, we got some good I'm Roberta. She recently passed
and she loved me. She seen so much in me
and she knew.

Speaker 5 (59:06):
She was like, you changed the game.

Speaker 6 (59:07):
You know.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
Did she support you more than once?

Speaker 3 (59:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (59:09):
She supported me a lot of times. That's yeah, she
supported me a lot.

Speaker 4 (59:14):
Rebat miss Roberta God bless you. Absolute like women sometimes
telling you that.

Speaker 6 (59:19):
I always say you got to keep a little white
woman and something in your wait white.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
She works with us and we trust and love Julian.

Speaker 5 (59:29):
That's what's up. I love that.

Speaker 6 (59:30):
I love that we got something that's out there that
was support us and believe in us and never wanted
to tell her.

Speaker 4 (59:35):
So I'm loving a fighting harder than we fight. Absolutely
I have forgive that.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
So you were going to say, no, I was.

Speaker 2 (59:40):
Going to ask this, you know, the name of the show,
like the segment of the show is not what it's
supposed to be. Like when we see you online, you
always look happy. You always have this energetic you know energy,
You look like you upbeat. Everything is winning. Is it
every time that you go online and you not really
winning but you realize that you have to put affront

(01:00:01):
to continue to win or you're not in a space
where you feel positive and you just putting up a
front sometimes because sometimes it's a lot of us that
we know we got a smile when we should be crying.

Speaker 5 (01:00:10):
Yeah yeah, maybe two months ago.

Speaker 6 (01:00:15):
So many times again, like when I saw in my business,
I didn't know how to run a business. So I
ran into irs issues and I had a fire and
didn't have it. Then I should have had a million
dollars in insurance and didn't like, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Just being you said the money was coming in, but
you wasn't seeing it.

Speaker 5 (01:00:30):
Wasn't seeing it because guess what I was.

Speaker 6 (01:00:32):
This what happens in business when you when you go
to a company and a manufactured company and a local vendor. Right,
so I'm locally creating a chemic, having a chemist create
my product, which is more expensive because it's local as
in America.

Speaker 5 (01:00:45):
So I'm paying top dollar. I'm not having enough inventory.

Speaker 6 (01:00:48):
I'm selling out and I'm not inventory because the inventory
is so expensive. So instead of me I may had
had a thirty thousand dollars week, I could have had
one hundred thousand dollars a week, I'd had more inventory. Not
knowing to outsource, not knowing that there's a chin and
you can get your products created for a cheaper amount,
I didn't understand. I didn't know that, and at that time,
no one wanted to share because it's like I'm not

(01:01:08):
trying to tell you because I don't want you to
go and get your getting fels past me. So it
was like that whole thing. So it took me a
long time to be able to outsource and be able
to really get a bang and a real bigger profit.

Speaker 5 (01:01:20):
And I didn't know margins and I didn't mark up,
so I didn't know any of that.

Speaker 6 (01:01:22):
I was just selling my makeup and like just grinding
and that's it. Like I didn't have an accountant at
that time. It was like so many things that I
didn't know really what to do. But I really feel
like because God anointed it and appointed it, I feel
like he protected me.

Speaker 5 (01:01:35):
He covered me.

Speaker 4 (01:01:36):
So the answer the question that my son is asking,
so like, when you're going through this, the IRS issues
and trust me, I know all about that, honey, irs
not Jesus help us.

Speaker 6 (01:01:46):
You got to do a fifty percent payment before you
even get a payment plan.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
That's you know about that.

Speaker 5 (01:01:53):
God two years ago, I had.

Speaker 6 (01:01:55):
To give them, you know, a lot of money, but
I was thinking God that I had the money to
give them, you know, so got them off my back.
I'm good, debt free, don't owe nobody nothing on me.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
That's what's up.

Speaker 4 (01:02:06):
But you you're going through those times, you're still out.

Speaker 5 (01:02:10):
There, like and you're losing my mind.

Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
Oh I know about it.

Speaker 6 (01:02:15):
Losing my mind, relationship, personal life, business, all those things
crashing down at once.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
Is it hard to be an entrepreneur in the space
that you're in and have a relationship.

Speaker 5 (01:02:30):
I think so really hard.

Speaker 3 (01:02:31):
Being a boss woman? Is it hard to relationship?

Speaker 4 (01:02:33):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:02:33):
But for me, I put to be honest, I'm a
love a girl. Love comes first. Love come first to me.

Speaker 6 (01:02:40):
I feel like I don't care about like even though
my business is my passion, Like, but what is it
without love? What is it out without someone to share
with and like grow with and be there for you?
Like I put love first, but sometimes love don't put me.

Speaker 7 (01:02:56):
So relationships whoa my really just played out on the
internet because I'm a lover girl, So I post my
man and all that, and then people get invested in
your relationship more than your business.

Speaker 5 (01:03:08):
And then now you broke up and you're trying to
hide it and you.

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
Want people to know it ain't what it posted.

Speaker 5 (01:03:14):
It's just like, girl, I thought you said you were
so happy. I was right, Now I'm not.

Speaker 1 (01:03:19):
You know why.

Speaker 6 (01:03:20):
I am an open book. So I do go in
my lives and I do tell my truth and I
do use my captions as a place to uplift and
give the truth. My sister always say, why he's just
gonna be a Babache, and I'll be like, well, it's
really easy to be a Babbage. So I use my
captions to inspire and to tell a story and to
like inspire someone because I know what it's like to
want to give up and be like literally at your
breaking point and then somebody might post something, say something.

Speaker 5 (01:03:41):
And just change your life. Many of you guys did
it for me many at times.

Speaker 6 (01:03:45):
That's why for me, this is so legitimatey to be here,
because it's like, that's how I know I'm really one
of the ones.

Speaker 5 (01:03:49):
Even more. And I spoke to you last time. I
was like, yeah, I gotta read.

Speaker 3 (01:03:55):
I was like, this live is lit.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
I don't think you no, it was really good.

Speaker 4 (01:03:58):
I mean a lot of people, you know, I've made
the joke of viral. I don't even know what that
means anymore, but I will say that a lot of
people who follow you I did. They follow me and
they came and they were like, oh my god. It's
just so wonderful when you see people connect that You're
like those two you'll be good together.

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
So I'm so happy that I've been fighting againting so righte, y'all.

Speaker 6 (01:04:19):
I donate to all your stuff, like I wrote you
out so many times, like my followers and stuff. They'd
be like, China, you gonna get next to them, You
get next to them and not next to them, y'all,
Like because you you't people to get next to you'a
they want to try to destroy and try to do No.

Speaker 5 (01:04:30):
I want to get next to you and en join
in and get in the beautiful all that you know.

Speaker 4 (01:04:37):
Well what you said in the beginning about you know,
your parents not necessarily giving you like the whole we
as a people have been more pressed and they weren't
necessarily giving you the history and bringing you so much
into the movement the way that my family did. But
you learned it quick enough. And that my sister is

(01:04:58):
brown skin as well. I've watched what she has gone through,
and I also listen as a kid to what people say,
right like, I've heard family members and friends say things
about her. But my parents, my mother's also very brown,
and they've always been very protective of my sister and
me for various reasons. I talk too much and my

(01:05:19):
sister was brownskin, so you know, it was like to
one or the other. And I understand what you mean
that it's either going to make you a breakthrough. You're
either going to be extra confident or you will have
you a lack of confidence so bad that you won't
take care of yourself. And I'm so happy for you
that you gained the confidence you need to be great,

(01:05:41):
because you are great. Now tell us this last thing
before you go. Where first of all is the beauty
bar in Neil Salon are you hiring? And then finally,
are people in our community supporting you the way you
should be supported?

Speaker 5 (01:05:55):
So our Nelson, so the Nelsonien.

Speaker 6 (01:05:57):
So now we have the Nelson Antibuy bud Together is
in Brooklyn on three thousand Fulton Street. And I'm opening
another business. I haven't I haven't dropped it yet. It's
it's been under construction for the past sixteen months. It's
like the biggest project of my life. It has took me,
taking me to another level, opened me, stretching me, like
building me like I've never even had, Like I've opening business,

(01:06:18):
been opening brick and mortar for the past twenty years,
opening on Jersey, like I've done this right, But I've
never had architects and mill workers and all these things
making real money. Yeah, just another level. And God told
me that. God put this this one on my heart.
He told me that was going to another industry. So
I'm trying to diversify my portfolio, that's right. I don't
want people to keep me in a box. So nel

(01:06:40):
salon this other business, a couple of other things. We
just we got two houses in Atlanta. Like you know,
I'm just I'm just trying to like make make it
work for us. Like you know, you ain't trying. Thank you,
you are making and doing it.

Speaker 5 (01:06:51):
I'm trying. I'm doing my.

Speaker 3 (01:06:54):
Ones.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
But I want you there's a young little brown skinned girl. Yeah,
she's sixteen, eighteen, she's pregnant, and she doesn't know what
her life is gonna look like. And I want you
to give her some inspirational words.

Speaker 6 (01:07:09):
I would say that no one gets to determine your story.
You know, Failure sometimes is a place where we can
find ourselves and renew things. Like God think failure is
necessary because you get to learn new tricks. Like I
feel like sometimes we get comfortable. And I was a
young mother and that is my biggest inspiration. And I
feel like when people count you out, it's like the
worst thing they can do because in the same birth

(01:07:30):
they'll end up have then country back in. Your story
doesn't end with your bad decisions. You get to rewrite
your story anytime you want. And I think that's the
beauty of life. Like we get to change, we get
to evolve, and sometimes people don't want us to because
they so afraid, and we let other people lack of
information and other people lack of experiences to hinder us.
And I feel like, dream big, dream as big as

(01:07:51):
you can, and all things are possible, especially with faith
and like, but we can't just rely on faith. We
have to put work towards it. So I honestly say, like,
you could do all things that you want. Like I'm
from East New York, Brooklyn. I was a mom at nineteen.
My son father went to prison, and I became a
mom again, and my daughter father got murdered. And I'm
still here and I'm an entrepreneur and my son is
in college. My daughter's sixteen, she's driving now. Like our

(01:08:14):
story is just still going, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
So still going, still in.

Speaker 6 (01:08:18):
It to another little brown girl like me, I see you.
I think I created a space for you, and I
want us to continue to create spaces for each other
and know that we are more than just our environment,
you know. And I love being from Eastern York because
it gave me a different type of hustle. And anyway
I'm I'm always telling people like I'm from Brooklyn, and
some people.

Speaker 5 (01:08:37):
Be saying, is she from Brownsville. No, I don't have
a problem with Brownsville.

Speaker 6 (01:08:40):
I'm Eastern York though, Like please don't get it twisted
where I'm from, Like, it gave me a different type
of hustle. It gave me some character, and it gave
me like the will to keep fighting, like I'm undefeated
for real and just get ready for like all things
that's coming, and just like stay faithful.

Speaker 1 (01:08:54):
I'm undefeated. I'm just China rustle.

Speaker 4 (01:08:57):
Now. I'm sure y'all go out and so poor dog
House Nail and Beauty Bar, Dollhouse Nail and Beauty Bar,
three hundred or three thousand, three thousand Fulton Street, and
I need y'all to come.

Speaker 5 (01:09:11):
To my other business. I'll tell you, tell us what it's.
I'm changing the game.

Speaker 1 (01:09:16):
That's that's its.

Speaker 4 (01:09:18):
Just up We're very proud of you. Yes, you keep going.
You know, maybe you are what it supposed to be.

Speaker 1 (01:09:23):
I don't know, right, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:09:27):
Maybe the next series will do it is what.

Speaker 5 (01:09:31):
Thank y'all do much.

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
I'm so grateful, thank you for joining the tm MY show.

Speaker 5 (01:09:35):
Yes, one of them.

Speaker 2 (01:09:37):
So much. Love to miss China Russell. She has a
major spirit, she does. She is one of the ones.
Like we said, like just listening to her story, it's touching,
it's compelling, it's real, you know, it's it's something that
we've heard before. It's kind of similar to yours.

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
I mean there's some similarity.

Speaker 6 (01:09:58):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:09:58):
My mom didn't get shot like that's crazy.

Speaker 4 (01:10:00):
And she lost her child's father, you know, one in prison,
one deceased, lost the child.

Speaker 1 (01:10:08):
She went through a lot.

Speaker 4 (01:10:09):
Everything she went through is like, as she said, the
prescription of others would be that she wouldn't make it
like she would just be you know, not in the
position she's in today.

Speaker 1 (01:10:20):
Put it that way.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
And I'm proud of her me too, you know. And
that's that's a testament of what we're talking about in
this series. We're talking about it ain't what it supposed
to be. Basically, letting you understand that. You see entrepreneurs,
you see successful business people, you see successful people period
on the internet, and you think it's simple and you
don't know the story and the backstory behind what they

(01:10:42):
had to go to to attain the success. We're gonna
be interviewing a range of people who have different stories
and you don't see their real story on the internet
and you look at it and you see the pretty
and the shine and the glow, but you don't understand
that the work and the struggle and the trauma that
they've actually been through.

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
That's what this series is going to be.

Speaker 4 (01:11:01):
Well, some people do tell you their story online, but
I think people like it.

Speaker 1 (01:11:06):
Maybe they ignore it. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:11:07):
It's like because gloss over it, did you just see okay.

Speaker 4 (01:11:11):
Yeah, but let me see the car, the nice thing,
or just the successful business that's doing.

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
That's that's going well. And I think also.

Speaker 4 (01:11:20):
Most people with hard stories, they've been through challenging situations,
they don't walk with it once they become successful because
they understand that God has blessed them or whomever whatever
it is that they praise and give honor to that
they know they've been able to get through and past

(01:11:44):
all of that, and so they shine even when that's
not what they're trying to do. It's not that they're
being fake, it's just that they know, Yeah, all of
that happened to me, but here's where we are today.
And so I think, even though they might go back
and tell you a thousand times, you don't know where
I came from. We don't understand the struggles of my
childhood and all of that. A lot of times people

(01:12:04):
kind of they gloss over it, as you said, and
focus only on the good things.

Speaker 1 (01:12:10):
And you have to understand. I think the point of
it ain't what it posed to be.

Speaker 4 (01:12:15):
Is not to deter people or to make people feel
like they can't do it. It's to say, despite whatever
you may be going through, you can still become a success.
And it ain't about what you put online. It's about
what's happening in your real, real life.

Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
And I say that all the time, we judge ourselves
by the best ninety seconds in somebody else's life.

Speaker 3 (01:12:37):
You online and you see.

Speaker 2 (01:12:38):
A post and you're like, wow, those are goals, But
you don't understand the work, You don't understand the sacrifices,
you don't understand the tears. You don't understand the those
that they got before they actually got to that success.
So I think we want to be able to show
that and show you the finished product because people don't
realize that, you know, to become a diamond, you as cold.
You know, we got to show you the cold part

(01:13:00):
so then you can recognize and really appreciate the dumb yep.

Speaker 4 (01:13:03):
Absolutely, So what does beauty mean to you today compared
to when you started? Da heal?

Speaker 6 (01:13:08):
So beauty to me is more than skin deep. Beauty
to me is our legacy, our story. For me, I
feel like our beauty was defined for us and now
we're defining it.

Speaker 5 (01:13:18):
It's like instead of telling you.

Speaker 6 (01:13:20):
Who you are, knowing who you are, and it's our
hair texture, it's our strength, it's everything about us as
women of color, Like it's just beautiful being a woman
of color. Three easy products to give a flawless application.
Our perfect finished foundation is literally flawless skin. And then
you're going to follow up with our concealer that is
going to hide the blemishes and cover the bags. And

(01:13:42):
then you're going to go on with your HD powder
that's going to manify your whole face and bring everything
together and then La Lah, you have flawless skin.

Speaker 5 (01:13:48):
How do you want people to feel when they use
Da House products?

Speaker 6 (01:13:51):
I want them to feel when most women do. Sometimes
we feel so good inside, but we want the outside
to match. So when women use my products, I want
them to know that it was created solely for them.
Like imagine like just using something and knowing that is
directly for you. That is what I want women to
know when they use my products, is that this is
made in the likeness of you. This is made to
enhance you. This is made to bring out the things

(01:14:14):
that you want people to see. It's a showstopper. It's
for you to feel the most comfortable. That's why we
create products that are so flawless, not to take away,
but to bring out. So I want them to feel
like they better sell.

Speaker 3 (01:14:27):
So for my I don't get it. Today.

Speaker 2 (01:14:30):
I've seen something online where there was a story about
Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey's daughter talking about her siblings.

Speaker 1 (01:14:39):
Oh Lord help God.

Speaker 2 (01:14:42):
So she was talking about her siblings, and let me
make sure I say it right. She says she has
a twin Moroccan and then she has half siblings, and
it sparked the debate, and it just sparked the discussion.
And for most people that I know in black house,
we don't use the word half. Like I've never heard

(01:15:04):
the word half in my household. Like I know other
people in my family or people that I'm close to
who don't have the same mother and same father, because
like I said, me and my sister have the same
mother and father.

Speaker 3 (01:15:16):
Me and my brothers don't have the same father.

Speaker 1 (01:15:19):
But your sister tells people she always says.

Speaker 2 (01:15:22):
That she always says the same mother, that's her thing.
But she's never saying she'll never call me her half brother.
Like that's never been a conversation. So I don't know.
Is that some type of cultural thing or what it was,
But I don't get it. I always felt like, if
we have one parent that's the same, then that's my brother,

(01:15:42):
that's my sister.

Speaker 3 (01:15:43):
So I don't know, Like what do you think, Well,
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:15:46):
I mean I've heard different people say half brother. So
I never hear anybody introduce a person as half brother,
half sister, But in a conversation they might say, well,
you know, we don't have the same father. Whatever my
I have had, I guess I guess they're half brothers
and sisters.

Speaker 1 (01:16:04):
And we are not.

Speaker 4 (01:16:06):
There's no there's never been a time when they've been
introduced as half anything. I also don't remember a time
where my parents have used the word step either to
describe that, unless if my parents never have never done it.
But I know that there are some adults who might
say it, or parents who might say it because the
child prefers it or the other parent prefers it. But

(01:16:30):
it's not really a thing that you use the title.
That's clearly because Mariah and Nick's child is being taught
that somewhere, like that's some energy that's coming from the
adults around. And I probably would put my money up
to say that it's not Nick, who you know, is
saying half.

Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
You know, I don't think so.

Speaker 4 (01:16:50):
But it's it's a tricky thing because you know, also
there's so many kids in his family that they might
feel a way about.

Speaker 1 (01:17:01):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:17:01):
Maybe they feel a little like it's so much his
time is spread out among so many people. So maybe
that's some type of emotion, But it's not a natural
thing that I hear people say half.

Speaker 1 (01:17:12):
Now, what I will say is.

Speaker 4 (01:17:13):
That during the campaign, I'm Donnie's campaign in New York
City for Mayor Mayor elect now Zorhan Mandanni. He had
said that his aunt told him some story. I don't
know what it was, didn't even care. I just know
somebody's aunt. I saw it one day, and then later
on they found out that it was actually his cousin,

(01:17:35):
that the aunt is really his cousin, and so they
made a big deal out of it and said that
he lied. And I'm thinking to myself, y'all gotta be
kidding me. Y'all telling me that you don't know that
we call if it's an older cousin, then it becomes
like you say, y'are.

Speaker 2 (01:17:50):
They said, I've never actually done that, because, like, my
older cousins have just been my cousins, and we weren't
like that tight knit in the film, So we would
be separate. We would see each other once every few
months or whatever. But I believe if you lived really
in close proximity. Most of the people I know that
lived in close proximity to their cousins, and their cousins

(01:18:13):
were way older, it was pretty much like a aunt.
So I've heard that terminology I wanted to reiterate. I've
also the term stepfather, right, because when my.

Speaker 3 (01:18:24):
Brother's father first came to our fail, my father was
still alive.

Speaker 2 (01:18:27):
So and then my father passed away, so I didn't
want to just replace him with this is my father, right,
So I always let people know how closed me and
my stepfather are. But you I always use the term
as that's my stepfather because I wanted to make sure
that my father held his space and I didn't want
to relinquish his space.

Speaker 3 (01:18:45):
So that's probably the only thing.

Speaker 1 (01:18:47):
Yeah, But that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (01:18:48):
It's emotions that are clearly coming out when people use
that language, because under normal circumstances, I bet you your
stepfather does not say my son is my step son son.

Speaker 1 (01:19:02):
He says that's my son.

Speaker 3 (01:19:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:19:04):
So it's some emotions that people are dealing with. And
I'm not trying to say that it's all negative. It
just means that somewhere somebody something they're hearing or something
that they're feeling.

Speaker 3 (01:19:15):
There's a need for simplation exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:19:18):
That's that's all. It is.

Speaker 2 (01:19:19):
So prob not to anger wanted the parents or not
to make the other you know.

Speaker 4 (01:19:24):
Usually yeah, not to aspect the parents. It's learned behavior.
Because we didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:19:28):
We didn't.

Speaker 4 (01:19:29):
I never even thought about my siblings being step In fact,
my my my brother's father. I loved him like uncle.
You know, he was like family. Shout out to Rufus,
who passed away some time ago. But he was like uncle.
He loved me, you see, me and my dad would
be right there like you know what I'm saying. So

(01:19:50):
it is it is an that and that dynamic made
my brother my brother. But if there had been any
difference of a thing or separation of us, then I'm
sure I probably would have telt people, that's my stepbrother.

Speaker 1 (01:20:07):
It's not my stepbrother.

Speaker 4 (01:20:08):
The mama child is not your step child, stepbrother, half brother, half, yes,
step it's not step It would have been my half right, yeah,
you know it's not half.

Speaker 1 (01:20:19):
It's not my half all the way. Brother.

Speaker 2 (01:20:21):
The only thing they got half is fractions and math.
We ain't doing that with no people.

Speaker 3 (01:20:26):
My brothers, my brothers, my brothers.

Speaker 2 (01:20:29):
That brings us to the end of another episode of TARMI.
It's been a dope episode. Shout out to China for
her amazing interview, Like her energy is just.

Speaker 3 (01:20:38):
She's she's a beautiful young you know, she's an entrepreneur.

Speaker 2 (01:20:41):
You just you could just sense that she's she's not
even nowhere near finished. You know, she's just beginning. And
she gives me motivation. Like you're looking at her, and
she just looks like she believes. Like you know, there's
a there's this thing about belief. People don't understand that
when you speak things into existence and you really believe something,

(01:21:02):
you manifested. And I'm a big believer that of manifesting,
using your words and your energy to manifest things. And
she does that really well.

Speaker 3 (01:21:11):
So shouting. Make sure y'all follow her and.

Speaker 4 (01:21:14):
Support her and follow us at Tuscore Show on Instagram.

Speaker 2 (01:21:20):
Or tm I Show PC on YouTube. I'm not gonna
always be right, Tamika d Marriage. I could always be wrong,
but we will both always and I mean always, be
authentic

All Episodes

What It “Post” to Be - From Dollhouse to Doing the Work w- Chyna Russell (Founder, Dollhouse Cosmetics)

Episode Transcript

Hosts And Creators

Mysonne

Tamika Mallory

Popular Podcasts

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Crime Junkie

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}What It “Post” to Be - From Dollhouse to Doing the Work w- Chyna Russell (Founder, Dollhouse Cosmetics)