Black Perspective: October 22, 2023

This week on The Black Perspective, we talk about heart health and Black women; Neil deGrasse Tyson joins us to talk about his new book; Garcell Beauvais speaks about the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, representation and working in Hollywood in her 50s; Ahmed Gordon discusses a new show for sneakerheads, and Doug Davis has a conversation about content creation.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's October twenty second, and todaywe talk about heart health and Black women.
Neil deGrasse Tyson joins us to talkabout his new book. Garcel Beouvay
speaks Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,representation and working in Hollywood in her fifties.
I Ed Gordon discusses a new showfor sneaker Heads, and Doug Davis
has a conversation about content creation.Those stories of more coming up. Welcome

(00:24):
to the Black Perspective. I'm yourhost, Mike Eiland. Welcome to the
Black Perspective, a weekly community affairsprogram on the Black Information Network featuring interviews
and discussions on issues important to theblack community. Black women, beware,
it can hit you at any time, and at the worst time. I'm
talking about a heart attack. Imagineyour young, energetic and it's days before

(00:46):
your wedding. The Black Information NetworksVanessa Tyler has one woman's story and Vanessa
has information on heart health. Andyou have to hear this. It was
exciting for Sarah Krthin Watson wedding wasabout a week away, still so much
to do. Thank you so muchfor having me, Vanessa. Your intro

(01:07):
said it all. It was themost exciting time of my life. I
was very excited. I had justyou know, gotten to Atlanta to get
started on the final wedding preparation.We were about a week out from our
wedding and I felt this really intensepressure in my chest and I couldn't explain
it. It had happened to mea few days before, after I had

(01:29):
been exercising. I had run acouple miles on the treadmill and I felt
it for about forty five minutes andthen it went away. So I assumed
it was something else, dehydration,you know, some kind of fluke experience,
until I went to Atlanta and experiencedit again, not doing anything,
not exerting myself at all, andso that's when I started to get concerned.

(01:49):
Okay, maybe this is something thatrequires me to get checked out.
And truthfully, I only went togo to the doctor because, of course,
like you said, who it's timefor this, I'm trying to get
a wedding together. We've got goodiebacksto assemble and people to pick up from
the airport and all of that.So I really only got it checked out
because one of my family members said, well, you know, if it's
something serious. You don't want toget down the aisle and then fall out
in front of everybody, so youmight want to go get it checked out,

(02:12):
just to make sure it's nothing serious. So I went to the emergency
room at Peedmart Hospital in Atlanta,one of the best cardiac departments. It
was the best party department in thestate, and I was told to I
had to wait for about six anda half hours. I walked in and
told the front desk person that Ithought I was having a heart attack,
and she told me to wait.I saw the trioge nurse. They did

(02:37):
an EKG, it came back clear. They did the chest X ray and
it came back clear. But Iwas still having this press room in my
chest. And they essentially told methat that it might be anxiety, that
there were other people who were morehad more pressing issues than me, and
they made me wait for about sixand a half seven hours before I was
even seen by a doctor. Andeven then they ran some tests, and
thankfully I had family members who werein the medical profession, and they told

(02:59):
me tests to ask for, andso I asked that they run my troponin
levels, which apparently is a hormonethat your heart secretes when it's exerting itself
or working too hard, usually aftersome sort of event. So they ran
all these labs, including the troponin, and of course the troponin is the
one that takes the longest to comeback, so they were ready to send
me home, and I said,well, everything else came back clear,
so we're just waiting on the tirponin. It's late. Why don't you

(03:20):
go home and we'll just give youa call and tell you what the troponin
levels are. And thankfully I insistedthat I wait because they came back and
my troponin levels were off the charts, and all of a sudden they were
like, oh, we really haveto admit you. We've got to do
this, so they admitted me.The next morning, I had an echo
cardiogram and then ultrasound of my heartwhere they identified some abnormalities, and later

(03:43):
on that day I was sent tothe calf lab to have a stint put
in my heart. Sarah's story isthe story for a lot of women.
Did you know heart disease kills sixtimes more than breast cancer, That one
in five women die of heart diseases, and hundreds of thousands die a year.
Doctor Selima cam Ruden knows. She'sSarah's doctor and a top cardiologist specializing

(04:06):
in women's heart health in charge ofthe women's cardiovascular clinic at Oshner, a
major healthcare system. Doctor cam Ruden, welcome, Thank you so much for
having me. When we talk abouther risk factors for heart disease, we
know the traditional risk factors the diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, incidentary
lifestyle. For one, women tendto have smaller arteries, and what we

(04:30):
have discovered is that a woman's smokeris three times more at risk for heart
disease versus a man. A diabeticwoman is four times more risk of heart
disease than a man. We're seeingthat there are these gender differences in heart
disease, but also there are sixspecific risk factors that only happen because you
happen to be a woman, suchas developing high blood pressure and diabetes during
pregnancy is a huge risk. Alot of women that have high blood pressure

(04:53):
during pregnancy, unfortunately, are havingproblems in the first six weeks after delivering
a baby, which is either aheart attack, congestive heart failure, or
a stroke. And that is becausewe're not doing a good job of managing
high blood pressure in the postpartum period. You would never think of getting an
obgyn and a cardiologist at the sametime. Yes, and that is what

(05:13):
our program is all about. We'recollaborating with upstatrics and gynocologists so we can
get them to understand that if awoman delivers and our blood pressure is now
normal within the first three to sixmonths, they're going to go back into
high blood pressure and back. Alot of women have high blood pressure right
as they deliver, within the firstseven days, and this is the time
where they're having more events, whetherthey're having congestive heart failure, or they're

(05:36):
having acute heart attacks, or they'rehaving strokes, and so getting us involved
with them is trying to lower therisk of maternal mortality. I wanted to
point out there are few other riskfactors for heart disease that are specific to
women. Inflammatory conditions such as lupusand rhumatar art critis increase the risk of
heart disease and women. Doctor camRouton also points out women who have undergone

(05:58):
infertility treatment are at greater risk,and of the millions of women who survive
breast cancer, you beat that,but it's heart disease. Now you have
to watch out. Four If youstop your menstrual cycle before the age of
forty for some reason, whether youhad a hysterectomy or you had excessive bleeding,
those women are at high risk forheart disease later in life. And

(06:19):
lastly, but not the least isat menopause. There are lots of changes
that happen in the cholesterol levels.You know, there is weight gain,
and if you have existing risk factors, you increase your risk of heartnet gas
increases after menopause just because of thechanges in hormones. The doctor suggests you
know your risk factor and don't waituntil you have a heart attack to act.

(06:42):
So, in other words, don'twait till you have a problem.
Get yourself a cardiologist just because justlike you have an obgyn, just like
you have a primary or just likeyou get a mammogram. Why do we
get early mammograms. I think wewant to get the risk evaluated as early
as possible. Chest pains don't alwaysdismiss it as gas in women. There

(07:04):
could also be nausea, pain underthe breast. Go to the emergency room
and says to be seen. RememberSarah who had her heart attack, she
waited for hours, not knowing awoman as well as a woman of color,
has longer wait time than er andwe know that from Sarah's story.
She waited for six hours before shegot attention, and finally when our blood

(07:25):
work came back that she's having aheart attack, she finally got the attention
that she needed. As for aspecific test, though, doctor, what
does she she mentioned something that Iguess we all should know and ask for.
Okay, perfect, this is agood question. When you're having a
heart attack. There's there's a enzymethat's released from the heart muscle, and

(07:46):
that enzyme is called troponin, andtryponin. Once it's elevated to a certain
threshold that we look for, itis a sign that you're having a big
heart attack. Depending on the sizeof the troponin in a large the troponin
sizes, the more the chance ofheart attack is much bigger. In Sarah's
case, the troponin was sky high, not just a little high, and

(08:09):
so that triggered for the cardiologists andthe physicians over there that this is a
major heart attack. So I don'tthink it's a bad idea to say,
could I be having a heart attack? But the first order of business always
is to get an egg, whichis the test where they put leads on
the chest wall and get an electricaltracing up the heart. An ultrasound is

(08:30):
also very useful in the emergency departmentbecause it tells us where the heart is
functioning normally or not. There's alsoa V scan. Doctor cam Bruden says
it's small like a stethoscope that canbe used to check your heart. Still,
a heart attack, you just neverthink it could happen, especially in
your twenties, your whole life aheadof you. You feel invincible. I
was super young. I mean thecardiologists and the nurses and residents I was

(08:56):
working with, they were astonished.They went through all the risk factors me.
I was active. I was onlytwenty nine at the time, and
my most significant risk factor was afamily history, and so that was kind
of what they chalked this all upto. But it was really overwhelming at
twenty nine to think about having acondition I'll have to manage for the rest
of my life. That was reallydaunting. I felt kind of robbed of

(09:22):
my ability to move and live theway I wanted to. You know,
I was very active. I playedsports growing up. I exercised a lot.
I you know, like I said, the first time I felt this,
i'd gotten off the treadmill that Ihave in my house, and it
felt really scary to know that Ihad done all those things, you know,
eat healthy, exercise, do thethings that were supposed to be healthy,
and this still happened to me.So that was something that I really

(09:45):
had to grapple with as well.But mainly I was just so thankful to
be okay. You know, I'vehad family members who've had heart attacks.
My grandfather and my father both diedof heart attacks. Sarah val this would
not take her out. Remember sheplanned to life the wedd now days away,
and she was still in the hospitaland I was discharged the next day.

(10:05):
That was a Tuesday, and Igot married back front. It's been
a year. She is taking careof her heart and so very grateful to
have her heart beating life again.And when you go into the hospital as
a black woman, you're already goingto be looked at in a different way.
Your pain is not going to betaken as seriously, your symptoms are

(10:26):
not going to be taken as seriously. So not only is it important to
get checked out, because something thatyou think is minor, you think might
go away, could end up beingsomething really serious, but also once you're
there, it's unfortunate that we haveto do it, but we have to
stand up for ourselves and say no, I want the test run, I
want to see the doctor. Idon't want to be sent home and wait

(10:46):
for you all to call me.I want to know what's going on and
what you all are going to doabout it. My other message is to
make sure to read up on whatsymptoms of different health conditions look like for
black women or black people, becauseit's not always the same. So I
was completely unaware of what symptoms fora heart attack would look like in women,
and so the symptoms that I experienced, like I said, it would

(11:07):
never occur to me that those wouldbe symptoms of a heart attack. So
right now, I tell all myfriends, I tell all my aunties,
I tell all my line sisters,sores, this is what happened to me.
If you feel any of this,go to the doctor immediately. I
don't want to hear it. IfI see you and you tell me that
you had some chest, pain tinglingin your arms, and I hear you
didn't go to the doctor, You'regonna have to hear it from me.
So that's really my message both nowand in my personal life, is really

(11:31):
make sure you're paying attention to yourbody, Listen to your body, get
checked out when you can, andmake sure you're advocating for yourself. Great
great messages and great advice. Ohmy gosh, that's amazing. Sarah Karthen
Watson, thank you so much foryour information and your strength and for sharing
your story with the Black Information Networkanytime. Thank you so much. Thanks

(11:54):
Vanessa. No one can make themysteries of the universe more comprehensive and fun
than you. De Grasse Tyson,in his new book, To Infinity and
Beyond, the world's most celebrated astrophysicist, explains the universe from the Solar System
to the farthest reaches of space withauthority and humor. In this episode of
Color Between the Lines, Esther Dillardspeaks with Tyson about the book and his

(12:18):
career. I'm Aster Dillard on theBlack Information Network chatting with writers and authors
who offer an added perspective for ourlisteners. This is the Color Between the
Lines. In this special edition ofThe Color Between the Lines, we talk
with the legendary Neil deGrasse Tyson,who is an astrophysicist who's made a big

(12:43):
name for himself. He came tothe Bion to talk to me about his
latest book, called to Infinity andBeyond. And before I got a chance
to talk to him about the book, I wanted to talk to him about
him growing up and what made himbecome the man he is. Folk is
so much on science, Now,why is this my first time on your
show? That you don't call,you don't write, you don't I'm telling

(13:11):
you. I was a huge Iam a huge fan, and when I
was told that you are available foran interview, I was like, oh
my god, please can we please? And they were like yes, yes.
I was like, fantastic, becauseyou're such an inspiration to so many
different people, not just black andbrown folks, but you know, all
across the spectrum, but especially forblack and brown kids who often don't see

(13:31):
folks who look like them working asa high profile scientist. And I was
hoping maybe I could talk a littlebit about your past before we talked about
the book, because I think thatit's important for us to kind of know
where you came from, to knowwhere you are right now. I did
a little bit. It was kindof like a path of most resistance if
you think about it that way.Yeah, I mean growing up. I

(13:52):
mean I'm an old fart now,so back in the day, but U
you know, times have changed forthe better, as hard as it may
be to admit that at times,especially given intermittent news stories the even when

(14:13):
you see evidence of police brutality,of course that's nothing new. If you
go far enough back in time,you get lynchings, and you know it's
It's in one of my books,not the current one. I talk about
if you had a time machine,and if you're a female, a person
of color, or on the genderspectrum, and you could pick any time

(14:37):
past or future. Is there atime in the past you would pick?
What do you say I was treatedbetter? Then yeah, let's go back.
There isn't one there just simply isn'tone. And so yeah, I'm
going to the future. That's howI'm thinking. That's how I think about
the timeline of the cosmos. So, but growing up, the visible people

(15:01):
of color were athletes, entertainers,preachers, and that's about it. And
so for me to say I wantto be an astrophysicist, something I knew
since I was nine, ten,eleven years old, it was interesting to
see how people didn't know how toabsorb that information. It was, oh,

(15:28):
by the way, but you looklike, but you're so good at
basketball, you're so good at this, You're so don't you have a musical
talent? You know? There wasa disconnecting. Yeah, there's a disconnect.
And it wasn't it wasn't abject racismor any evil behavior. Was an
evil conduct, but it was stilla kind of a bias. Now,

(15:50):
when you're in power and you havethat bias, that's a challenge for the
person trying to overcome it. Andfor me, my father used to run
track, and so I have sometrack vocabulary. I wouldn't otherwise have some
track wisdom. But one of themis in life, when you when you

(16:11):
come upon a hurdle, jump overit. Yes, what you do in
a track, right, that's whatyou do with hurdles, You jump over
them. Okay, so now ittakes a little extra energy to jump over
hurdle and then to run through it. So yeah, there's an extra tax
paid. In terms of psychological,emotional, physical energy, there's today what

(16:36):
people might call microaggressions, which weresort of daily phenomenon. But you learn
to live with that, you leanto survive it, you learn to fight
it, not in an active angryway, because that's that takes way more
energy than to ignore something. Imean, today there's a sensitivity that people

(16:56):
have to aggress to these microaggressions.And I'm a hardened from decades past.
You know, if a taxi doesn'tpick me up heading north in Manhattan,
I'll just say, Okay, Iwill double the tip I give to the

(17:17):
next taxi who picks me up.Yeah, and it's my little you know,
No, I'm not losing sleep overthis. I will reward the person.
And by rewarding that person, it'skind of like punishing the other person,
all right, the person who justdrove by. So little things like
that throughout life. So yeah,it was the struggle was there, but
it was built into the energy reserves. I made sure I always had to

(17:44):
achieve the goals that I wanted.Your dad, from what I heard from
another interview, was a kind ofa civil rights person social sie. It
was very active in that period innineteen sixties and seventies, and your mom
was a stay at home mom,and she then decided, she told,
you know, made a pact withyour dad that she would be stayed at

(18:07):
home mom until she until you guyswent off to college and the three of
you, and then she went backto school. And I said, well,
where's the science. That's what Iwas trying to figure out. Where
did you get the science part?And then I read that you got interested
in science around twelve years old.You went to the Hayden Planetarium and that
was like a life changing moment foryou. Could you talk a little bit

(18:30):
about that. Yeah, people normallypresume and understandably that when a person has
an interest, that that interest wasimparted or imbued or or stimulated by someone
close to them, a family memberor a relative. And that was not

(18:52):
the case for me. My fatherwas trained in sociology. My mother,
when she went back to school,became a gerontologist. These are fields that
deeply care about the condition and plighthumans in this world, in society,
especially those who have been historically disenfranchised. So my feet were anchored in reality,

(19:15):
for sure. But when they noticedthat I took an interest in the
universe, stemming from a first visitto the Hayden Planetarium, my local planetarium
in New York, that was atage nine. By age twelve, they
saw this interest as real and thenthey fed the interest. That's different from
imparting interest. I just want tomake that clear, because that means my

(19:38):
interest was homegrown within me. I'mnot fulfilling some lost dream that my parents
might have had. You know,you hear these stories. I always wanted
to be a medical doctor, soyou're going to be a I always wanted
to be an engineer, but Icould, So you're going to be an
engineer. And all of a sudden, you are implicitly living the dreams of

(19:59):
your parents rather than the dreams ofyour own. So that so in my
case and the case of my siblings, our interests were were home were grown
from within, and by age twelve, that's when they gifted me my first
telescope. Awesome. Again, itwas not wishful, like, well,
let's give them a microscope or tell. No, it was I was already

(20:21):
there, I already knew how touse the telescope. That evening I took
it out and found Saturn and thatyou know, the rings of Saturn,
the moon's of Jupiter, and gotsolar filters tracked sunspots across the Sun.
And I'm twelve years old. Iyou know, it's just began seventh grade.
It was and so so, andI was hooked ever since. That

(20:45):
first visit to the planetarium. Lookingup at the night sky was something I
don't have as a city dweller.You don't have a night sky. You
don't have a relationship with anything inthe sky. You kind of know,
you know where the Sun is andoccasionally where the moon is, and that's
it. And looking up you seebuildings. Back then, there's a lot
of air pollution, definitely light pollution. So it's odd that my first night

(21:07):
sky was artificial. It was theprojected stars on the dome of the Hayden
Plant there. But I've been hookedever since. And as I say this,
I think I maybe I had nochoice in the matter. It was
the universe that called me awesome.Oh, before I get to the book,
I have one more question about yougrowing up. In one interview you
said I don't believe you. Ithink, Well, my question with about

(21:30):
you growing up in terms of beforeyou kind of got to where you are
today. You talked, you talkedabout how a college friend said to you
kind of left up kind of aburden on your shoulder, and it kind
of connected you to your parents.They're they're wanting to help with society and

(21:51):
helping the black community. And hepretty much said that you have such a
I guess, uh, such anintellect that the black community didn't have a
luxury of losing such a person tosome something such as I guess not trivial,
but not as important. Well,well, in his opinion, the

(22:11):
astrophysicist to go that way was justlike a loss for the black community.
Can you talk about why you feltso guilty about going forward in science in
a way and then how that turnedaround? So just a point there.
So, while my father, asI said, was active in the civil
rights movement, which in that periodlargely almost exclusively involved the polite black Americans,

(22:38):
it was never couched that way tous. It wasn't we have to
help black people, It was weneed to help people who need help.
It was there was no that.So if a person is is literally or
figuratively disenfranchised, be they women,be they people called be they immigrants,

(22:59):
be they the elderly homeless people atthe time. Back then they were just
called you know, bums, right, there was no the word homeless as
a as a demographic did not reallyexist yet. But of course such people
existed in the street, and theywere typically associated with just alcoholics. But
now we know alcoholics addiction is itswhole other thing, right, so people

(23:22):
in need. That was the foundationof the caring. So now I'm in
college at a fellow wrestler, hewas a couple of years ahead of me,
one or two years ahead of me, and we were about the same
weight. So we would spark togetherand the way ask me, what what
what weight was that? What weightwas that? Okay, so that was

(23:47):
it wrestled one hundred and ninety pounds. Wow. And what's what's what's crucial
about that is if you weigh morethan that, you put in the category
of unlimited. So really good incentiveto be at weight. Okay, just
so you know, anyhow, myfelt this fellow wrestler is black, and

(24:08):
he he became a Rhodes scholar,I think, and very prestigious major in
economics. He studied economic enterprise zonesand the inner cities, so he was
doing he was fighting the good fight, and he says, remind me what
you made you, and I said, astrophysics. And that's when he said,
the black community cannot afford to havesomeone of your intellect squander it.

(24:32):
And that might not have been hisword, but that's the tone, squander
it on astrophysics. And that restedheavily on my shoulders, that that declaration,
that observation that he shared with me, because there I am in one
of the finest institutions of the land, studying something as esoteric as you know,
the Big Bang, black holes andquasars and curve space time. So

(24:57):
what a waste? And I thoughtsto myself, am I wasting my life?
Doctor Neil de grass Tyson tells mewhat he did after that that changed
his entire life in the second partof my interview, which you have to
wait for until next week. Sothat's it for this edition of The Color
Between the Lines. I'm Ester Dillardon the Black Information Network. Esther Dillard

(25:26):
will continue her conversation with Neil DegrassTyson next week. A new season of
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is readyto kick off, and Mimi Brown gets
a chance to talk to Garcelle Beauvayabout the new season, her career changes,
and representation in Hollywood, and howshe's thriving and living the healthiest life
in her fifties. Mimi, I'mso happy to be speaking with you today.

(25:48):
Welcome Garcel, Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be talking
to you. Thank you. Youknow, you've had a diverse career,
from acting in films and TV showsto hosting talk shows. How do you
want pro each role differently? Well, I'm going to say the talk show
world is really where I thrive.It's what I really love to do.
I have opinions about things that I'mnot afraid to say. That's my love.

(26:14):
But then acting, you know,you get to play another character and
it's just fun to sort of liketell a story, and it's unbelievable.
Sometimes people will come to you know, will come up to me and say,
you know, that role really touchedme because I was going through something.
So you don't really realize the reachthat we have until you know,
you think people are watching in thisbox, but the reach is really incredible.

(26:37):
As a successful black woman in Hollywood, how do you think the industry
has evolved in terms of diversity andrepresentation and what changes would you like to
see in the future. You know, I think we've made huge strives.
I mean I think not only diverse, but also women leading you know,
TV shows, women directors. It'sbeen really great to see the growth and

(27:00):
you know, us doing well interms of like the shows that we're in,
our hits, the movies, we'regetting people to come to the theaters.
I mean, all those things matter. What do I want to see
more? I want to see moreof our stories told about everything, you
know, not just about history.I want love stories. I want you
know, rom coms, I wantthrillers. I think, you know,

(27:22):
all of it is important. Ihave to ask because everybody wants to know
what kind of joys and surprises canwe expect As The Real Real Housewives of
Beverly Hills Season thirteen gets underway soonStrap strap on your boots. It's going
to be a doozy. I mean, I think Beverly Hills feels like from

(27:45):
what I've seen, feels like oldBeverly Hills. It's about the friendships,
It's about the you know, thetravel and the fabulous close and then of
course You're always going to get drama. If you have eight independent, modern
women, we're going to have differencesof opinion. And then of course,
I know you guys, I know, you know that there's been you know,
things about Kyle's marriage in the press, so of course you'll see a

(28:07):
little bit of that. But weget a lot of stories, like personal
stories. This season. I haveit with my boys. You know,
they're teenagers trying to navigate that.You know, they want to be young
men and they want to sort of, you know, have a little bit
more freedom, and I'm trying tohold on because I know that window is
closing. So it's really nice toget back to also personal stories. You

(28:29):
know, we all have different thingsgoing on in our lives. As the
first African American housewife in the BeverlyHills franchise, how do you feel about
the representation you bring to the show. I feel pretty good about it when
it's good. I mean, Ithink, you know, it's always great
to be the first, but youknow, there was a lot of pressure
with that. But now I feellike I found my footing. I am

(28:52):
exactly who I want to be,and it's nice that people feel like they
can relate to me, and mystory is important because you know, we're
in every zip code, every zipcode. I love that I'm from Alaska,
so every zip code. Wow,I've ever been. I can't wait
to go one day. Yes,definitely. You've recently partnered with GSK Thrive

(29:14):
at fifty campaign. Can you tellme more about your involvement and why this
initiative is so important to you?Sure? I mean when GSK came to
me with a Thrive at fifty pluscampaign, it made perfect sense. I'm
in my fifties. I had heardabout shingles in the past, but never
thought it really would, you know, affect my life. I'm healthy,

(29:36):
you know, I eat well,I do all the things right, but
that doesn't matter. And if youhad chicken pox, ninety nine percent of
us have the virus in our bodies, not even though not everybody's going to
get it, but ninety nine percentis a huge number. And I really
want to keep thriving doing all thethings that I do. Plus, so

(29:56):
I want to stay healthy and beproactive. You know, you mentioned that
you're thriving in your fifties. Whatspecific lifestyle changes have contributed to your well
being and happiness? At this age. Yeah, I think it's the whole
self care. I mean, weknew to take care of ourselves, but
I felt like during the pandemic,self care really became something that we focused

(30:19):
on more so. It's really prioritizingmy health. You know, I take
care of my family. I takecare of my career. You know,
we all do so much that puttingmyself first, not in a selfish way,
but taking care of myself so thatI can do all the other things.
I can't fill anybody else's cup ifmy cup is empty. How do
to balance taking care of your careerwith taking care of your health, your

(30:44):
family, your well being. It'sa juggling act, if I can be
honest, I mean, listen,like all of us, we're all busy.
It's really prioritizing you know. IfI have to work, obviously that's
important, but then making sure I'mthere for my kids, making sure I'm
there for the big moments. Myson. Just when my son Jay just
went on homecoming, went to homecoming, and you know, I wanted to

(31:04):
be there and take the pictures anddrive him there and you know, just
do the things that you know Iwon't be able to do. Again,
right, it's one time. Canyou share some tips for staying active and
healthy in your fifties. Yeah,it's really you know, you don't have
to go out and like do hugethings and climb mountains and you know,

(31:26):
do all kinds of stuff. Itake walks, I do baths. Anything
that can get me back to beinggrounded, anything that just makes me get
back to me and sort of like, you know, just tune out the
noise for a minute and just getback to me. Whether like I said,
it's a bath, it's taking awalk, it's going to work out,
it's being outdoors. All of itis very very important. Well,

(31:49):
Garzill, thank you so much forsharing your inside, your experiences, your
wisdom, your health journey with us. That's going to help so many women
who are just you know, kindof trying to figure it out once they
get to fifty and what's next forthem. So they're going to open absolutely.
Memi Brown will be back with adirect relief recipient later in the show.

(32:09):
If you are a sneaker head,well there is a new show for
you to check out. It's calledJust for Kicks, and it's a show
that puts a spotlight on shoe culture, fashion and fun. One of the
hosts of the show goes by thename of Young Wayne and the Black Information
that works on Met Gordon had anopportunity to speak with the host about the
new show and his career. ThanksMike, and with me right now is

(32:32):
a young man who has been everywhere. If if you've been watching podcasts,
if you've been watching Playing two kyou've seen his face and heard his voice.
Okay, my man, Young Wayne, how you doing, sir,
Yes, sir man. It's ablessing man to be here with you.
Man. Hey, look, it'sreally good to have you on with us

(32:52):
today. And the reason why wehave you on is there's this new show
on Crackle. It's called Just forKicks. It's a show about sneakers.
I heard about that. I heardabout that, you know, and you
have a little something to do withthat. You you are part of the
show. Can you tell to peopleabout Just for Kicks and what it's all
about. Man, it's all aboutman, sneaker culture, fashion, uh

(33:15):
everything, man, like what weall have grown up to love, grown
in love. We have a showabout it. So we actually have you
know, the freshest kick song wegot the freshest guest on and we got
me, we got Don Benjamin,Johnny Torrez, Wes Armstrong, and even
the DJ. We got DJ whoKid deal with us as well. So
we're bringing everybody here and we hadto talk to that shoe culture man,

(33:37):
had those conversations of what people broughtto the culture, fly people that brought
into the culture. So and whenI also coming, I played some of
the games with them too, Sowe got games, music, culture,
sneakers man. It's it's everything youwant, man. I you know,
I've seen We've seen like culture showslike this before in the past. Usually

(33:58):
it's a little segment of things thatthey've done, you know, part of
bigger or larger shows. The coolthing I've always loved about the show the
shows is seeing behind the scenes becausesneaker culture is so huge, and I
guess a lot of people have saidover the last maybe ten years, it's
kind of changed a little bit whereit's so much inclusivity and you know,

(34:19):
you have the nikes, got themmemes and everything like that. Can you
talk to the audience about sneaker culture. How do you feel about sneaker culture
right now where it's at, whenit comes to, you know, getting
the sneakers. You want, youknow, inclusivity of these sneakers and can
you And it's harder to be asneaker ahead now than it was in the

(34:42):
past. I think, I thinkit is harder to be but you know,
the people that I'm serious about it. It's a full time job.
You got to make sure you gotto know what's going on. You got
to have your connections of how toget them. A lot of people are
upset, like yo, everybody noweverybody want to we sneakers, like they
gentrified the sneaker game. Everybody wantsto be a part of it. But
that's what you build. You buildculture, You build community for that for

(35:05):
it to grow, for its expanse, so you touch many people of the
world. So now like it's almosta language, you know, stick culture
is a language and to be apart of a show that's able to exhibit
that in a way. And we'rejust getting started. So who can we
expect on the show. I alreadywe've already seen I've seen some clips of
Jordan Clarkson on the show from theUtah Jazz and I hear the new vice

(35:27):
president reebok Allan I about how youincorporate them and guests into your show man.
You know they have they have somuch a part of the part of
the culture. Like Jordan Clarkson newpart of culture. He's into fashion.
He wants he wants to always havethose looks. You see his outfits if
you follow his Instagram, you knowyou see what you see how he gets

(35:49):
down, but he's really serious aboutit. Something he wants to do after
ball as well while playing ball,but even after the ball, it's fashion,
you know what I'm saying, Sofashion sports if you want having part
of the culture icon that Alan Irisonis to be able to get him shout
out to Antoine and the whole teamwas able to land allan iverson the cultural

(36:09):
icon, go right. He startedall of this stuff with the NBA really
and himself, you know what I'msaying. So having him a part of
him telling his story about how heeven landed with Reebok and now we have
to have that follow up conversation andhow now he's the vice fresident along with
Shaq. I could just see somuch power in that. And I think

(36:30):
that's another that's the cool thing aboutwhat you have are doing because I think
you'll be able to have those conversationswith the people behind the scenes of these
major shoe corporations. To have theshack and the irisons being already like Iverson.
Of course you did the interview withIverson before he got the promotion,
but the opportunity that you know you'llhave moving forward with some of these big
names behind the scenes, and Ihave a better understanding of the sneaker genre

(36:53):
that we're going through right now,Young Wayne, host of Just for Kicks
on Crackle, available right now,right now, it's available right now.
I want to talk to you aboutkind of your emergency because I guess some
people would say that this has beena meteoric rise for you. What I'm
saying, I've always seen you.I've always seen like what you've been doing,

(37:14):
and you've been m seeing events,you've been at basketball game, you've
been doing your thing for years,and to see where you are now,
first of all, this congratulations onall your success. So you can see
you with a podcast with Little Real, to see you being part of two
K, like you're facing your voicesin two K, to this show,
to doing what you've been doing withNike. There's guys out there, women

(37:37):
out there that want to be partof this world. What is your advice
to them to how can they canmake it? How can they become an
EMC, How to host events likethis? What goes through the process to
get to where you are now?This is something that I really want to
start my own company and business tohelp mold this because it's important some people

(37:59):
are doing. You know, socialmedia is giving people like not the shortcut,
but like they're able to like showtheir personalities at least online. But
I'm telling you, man, that'sa different beast when you got to do
that groundwork. You know, likeyou got to get out there and figure
out, like how do you doit? How do I get with these
brands? How do I get this? So what I what I tell people
is now with the platforms that youhave with social media is be yourself.

(38:22):
You have to literally be yourself becauseonce you start trying to do something you
see is cool and then you runout of ideas because you weren't yourself.
You're like, once you you beyourself, you to maintain establish and maintain
relationships. Don't always ask for somethingright away, you know, kind of
just show your work show who youare, be yourself and then working hard.

(38:46):
You can't. I'm not gonna sayturn jobs down and not turn job
there, and that's not a realthing. The opportunities will come as you
continue to go and continue to grow. Young Wayne the new host for Just
for Kicks on cra available right now. You can go ahead and catch some
episodes right now, Young Wayne,Can you let the people know what can
they expect? Of course, wetalked about Jordan Clarkston, the icon Alan

(39:09):
iverson what else can they expect whenit comes to the show and what are
your plans for the future of theshow Man Jess for Kicks on Crackle out
now, we can expect amazing conversationgetting you probably expect a great conversation to
come out of show. You thought, oh, sneakers show is going to
talk about no talk about shoes.Now we can talk about everything. We

(39:30):
want to learn more about the guestson how they contributed to the culture.
You know, how what cultures,What have shoes the sneakers done for them,
and just bring it all of thesneaker community, sports, fashion,
et cetera. So we're doing itall and the future of the show Man
is really taking it, taking itup, man, getting getting more guests,

(39:51):
taking it maybe overseas, and justhaving those conversations, seeing how we
can tie and connect more people.Like I say, this sneaker culture.
The community is a language. Whatpeople know. This is people people eat
the eat, oh boy, eatand breathe. Sneakers and this culture.
So we want to be able toreach more people and touch the world.

(40:12):
Man. How can they follow youand follow the show on social media?
Man? Hey man, you canfollow me at young Wayne zero zero on
Instagram. I just got our Christianmingo recently, so yeah, taking me
off that but Instagram definitely young Waynezero zero. I think my TikTok is
zero sale young Wayne. Somebody tookthe name. I don't how do I
get it back from them? Andand just for Kicks show is the name

(40:37):
of it on Instagram Just for KicksShow. Just like that spell everything's spelled
correctly. Hey man, I appreciateyou, thank you so much, man,
Yes, sir, thanks mad.The Direct Relief's Fund for Health Equity
was created to increase access to healthcareand improve health outcomes for marginalized communities.
The Black Information that Works me MEIBrown is back on the show with an

(40:59):
organization that talked about how direct reliefhas benefited their community. I me Me
Brown for the Black Information Network,and today I have the honor of speaking
to Corine Sanchez from Taywa Women United, a nonprofit organization based in New Mexico
that is dedicated to promoting health,safety, and well being of Native American

(41:19):
women and girls. Kareine, thankyou so much for taking the time to
speak with us today. How areyou. I'm doing well, Mimi,
thank you for having me of course, of course, so can you tell
us about the mission of the TaywaWomen United and what inspired its founding.
The mission of tay Women United isto really end violence against women, girls
and weather Earth, so Native women, girls and mother Earth, and to

(41:43):
promote peace in New Mexico. Thatwas our incorporation and through the years we
were established in nineteen eighty nine andthrough the years have been really focused on
the intersections that impact the well beingand health of Native women and girls in
our area. Can you talk talka little bit more about the specific programs
and services that the organization offers tosupport some of the women and girls in

(42:06):
your area. Yes, So westarted out as a support group for women
and then we transformed into a standalonenonprofit in two thousand and one. So
we've had years of organizing, mobilizingadvocacy to really create the environment that then
would be able to uplift the violencethat has been directed at Native Indigenous women

(42:27):
and girls. And so that's justbeen a powerful piece to be a part
of as an organization. To seethe transformation. We've had movements around children's
advocacy centers, justice advocacy centers whereinvestigations of child sexual abuse and violations are
being approached in a team approach tothat, so you have multidisciplinary teams of

(42:50):
law enforcement, DIA's offices, socialworkers, mental health counselors, advocacy programs.
And so for many years we rana direct service around forensic interviewing and
providing direct services to sexual assault survivors. We pivoted to prevention around twenty sixteen
because we weren't really seeing the needleon prosecution rates change and we really wanted

(43:16):
to get to the question of howdo we end violence against women and girls?
And so for us, that's,you know, how do we do
and develop culturally responsive prevention programs.Our approach to that was also starting a
DULA program to be able to askthe question, how do parents become parents,
what knowledge and information is being shared, how our parents being cared for

(43:39):
as they care for their children.And so those are a few of the
programs that we offer. We alsohave our Women's Leadership and Economic Freedom Program
which houses our gender justice work orour prevention work. And we have a
Healthy Healthy Masculinities toolkit that we launchedwith our sister organizations. And we also

(44:00):
have our Being Healthy Sexuality Body SovereigntyProject that talks about healthy sexuality. Right.
So just some of the few ofthe things that we're doing. Wow,
so much work being done within theorganization. I wanted to know too,
how is the Direct Relief grant impactedyour organization and the work that you
were doing in the community. DirectRelief has been amazing to get to the

(44:23):
point where we have some general operatingfunds, where we have funds that are
really supporting the work to the extentof multi year. You know, that
just gives us the ability to reallybe adaptable, to really really respond.
We had a grant from Direct Relieffor our Healthy Sexuality, Body Sovereignty Project

(44:46):
which impacted you know, youth inour community, we'd have developed a culturally
responsive curriculum, so we were inmiddle schools and high schools in our area
sharing and teaching from a cultural responsivemodel. And our most recent grant from
Direct Relief is around upscaling our doulatraining and also doing an assessment of doulas

(45:08):
in our community because since our sincewe created our DULA program about fifteen years
ago, where there was none thatexisted and none that really existed in our
area that were indigenous, established andimplemented to this place where we've trained or
provided access and training to over twohundred doulas in the last three years,

(45:30):
we've actually implemented our own curriculum thatwe co created with our community midwives dulas
in our area. And now we'relooking at the need is so high and
we know the value that the valueadded things that dulas provide, and so

(45:50):
now we get a lot of ASDsfrom across the country, not just New
Mexico to provide open up our doulatraining and so we're taking this time to
really look with Direct Relief grant whatupscaling mean as an ecosystem has also changed
for doula services. There are alot of more programs, a lot of
culturally responsive programs that have been developedhere in New Mexico. We actually have

(46:14):
now in our state, New MexicoDoula Association. So again looking back from
fifteen years ago when nothing existed toreally having support for bipoc doulas and culturally
rooted curriculum and programs in our communities. So direct relief is just really helping
us uplift and yeah, continue totransform the terrain that's out there, the

(46:38):
ecosystem that's out there. Awesome.And what do you see as the long
term impact of the grant on yourorganization? So on our organization, I
want to say, but it isreally going to help us to expand our
services. But I think what thismeans for our community is that hopefully we'll
get to the place where every family, every pregnant birthing person has a doula

(47:01):
and is being supported doulah support familiesand support communities. They're connecting people to
resources in the community around housing,around counseling, around support. Also,
because not all pregnancies end in birthright, there's also loss, and we
know that miscarriages in bipop communities,Black and Indigenous communities are often really high

(47:25):
and so supporting families around that griefand loss, supporting around you know,
your body's flooded with hormones and youknow the all of these different impacts and
having the support of a doula throughthat process has also been life changing.
Well, Kreene, thank you somuch for taking the time to speak with
us today here at the Black InformationNetwork. We are so excited about the

(47:49):
work that you are doing. Thankyou for taking the time to fill in
our listeners. Mimi, thank youso much for making space for community voice
to be heard. We really appreciatethat. Thanks Mimi. Social Media,
Content and Money, Doug Davis hasa special guest who is an executive at
a new black owned social media platformwhere they put the power and money into

(48:09):
the hands of the content creators.Doug, Thanks Mike. This is Doug
Davis and welcome back to another euroBlack business. Social media and content.
Every day we jump on social mediasites, we see tons of videos,
some good, some bad, somefunny, some sad. As platforms become
more part of our everyday lives,people are monetizing from their content. But

(48:30):
how does it work? How canI make money from a simple video that
I posted on either TikTok, YouTubeor some of the other popular social media
apps well to share with us howwe can get into this new money making
craze. Is Jessica E. Washington. She's an entrepreneur and content creator with
a talent in marketing, advertising,strategic planning, and producing. Currently,

(48:54):
Jessica is the vice president of Artistsand Content Development for a new black owned
streaming platform called Discover dot tv.Jessica Washington, welcome to your black business
helloud, thank you for having meand I could probably go on for another
ten minutes about all the accolades andgreat things that you've done, But thank
you so much for taking time withus. Jessica, real quick before we

(49:16):
get into the nuts and bolt,for saying tell us about this black owned
streaming platform, discover TV. Ilove this concept absolutely, Thank you,
and you know, I'm so happyto be with you talking about Discovered today.
You know, for many of us, as creators and especially creators of
colors, black creators, you know, we're in a space where we don't

(49:37):
own our own distribution platforms, andwe're creating some of the most amazing content
on the planet right now with allof the technology that's available and we're just
not getting compensated for it. SoDiscover comes in to fill in that gap
for all creators. And we justbasically brought a new concept to the table

(49:59):
and said, hey, hey,let's fairly pay the people that we work
with. So our motto is toshare fifty to fifty on the advertising revenue
from day one. You don't haveto have subscriber minimums or watch hours or
anything special other than what you're bringingwith your creativity. And so that's really
the way we feel the industry shouldbe, and that's really how Discover was

(50:22):
born. What are some of thenormal splits that you know, top streaming
platforms provide for content creators. Well, you know, if you think about
it on a broad scale, youknow, we upload content to all types
of platforms, right, and generallythat split is zero. Most creators aren't
making any revenue off of any ofthe content that they post globally on any

(50:45):
platform, you know, if they'rea new creator or sometimes experience when you
start getting into the splits, mostof these creators, they have such a
big following that they're actually in adirect deal with these platforms. Right,
you have to have so many thousandsof sands, so many thousands of views,

(51:06):
so many millions of you know,followers, this type of mindset.
So generally it depends. I meanevery platform is different, but you know,
some have restrictions where you can't makemoney with them until you hit a
certain mark, and so that's youknow, normally what creators are used to,
right right, So Discovered TV,that's a very unique name, have

(51:28):
a very unique business proposition with youknow, splitting your ad revenue. Tell
me more about the site and howcould I, if I was a content
creator jump on your platform and earnsome money super easy? I'm as you
asked that. You know, it'sjust as simple as signing up. The
best part about Discovered we are apatented platform. We have different modes,

(51:51):
that's the best part. So wehave music mode, we have movie mode,
television mode, gaming mode, live, and social, so we work
with all type of creators. Simplyclick sign up, fill in the details
and you're all good to go.I checked out the website and it's definitely
independent driven. Would I be honestby saying that? Would that be correct?

(52:14):
Correct? A lot of independent artists? But I mean, how do
I know that people are actually youknow, viewing this platform. What kind
of promotional marketing opportunities have you providedso people can can learn more about this
platform because you are up and liveabsolutely no several different ways, and I'm
glad you brought that up as well. You know, this is our real

(52:35):
public push. You know, we'vebeen building and developing, discovered for it
to be everything that it is nowfor the last four years, five years
to get to this point where wecould serve as creators in this way.
So now that we're really out there, let's just say it. You know.
Number one, we're available on allplatforms, so your fans can find
you on Apple iOS, they canfind you on Firestick, Roku, Samsung

(53:00):
TV, Android TV, and theSamsung TV is huge, you know because
they service around fifty percent of thescreens globally, so you have a huge
base of people that you can reach. And we also are available on web
and mobile webs Aside from that.As the VP of Content Development, what

(53:20):
I love to do is work withcreators on campaigns and creating cool ideas,
one of which is Celebrate Black Love. It's a whole campaign targeted towards couples
and relationships, and you know,we brought in another podcast that was in
that direction. We collaborate with people, So that's one way that we work
with creators and get them out.The other way is you know, promoting

(53:43):
all over the world socially and alsothrough our partnership with Microsoft in terms of
developing and delivering media to all oftheir surface platforms globally. So for the
viewers, Microsoft Surface platforms includes everythingfrom Edge Things, MSN to watch Start.

(54:04):
You're talking about two hundred and fiftymillion active users daily and also the
one point six billion Windows installs.So there's a lot of reach and a
lot of ways that we help thesecreators to get exposed. If I'm a
creator and I'm a part of DiscoverTV, I can take advantage of all
of those other opportunities that you justtalked about. Absolutely all you have to

(54:28):
do is just sign up. It'sjust that simple. And you know,
honestly, Doug, this is away that it should be for creators.
You know, we do labor hardto get our projects done, whether you're
doing a film or a music video, or a television show or podcast,
even gaming, you know, tobring your vision to life. There's a
lot of work. So you know, we just feel like at least you're

(54:50):
compensated for that work and you're ableto see the fruits of your labor in
dollars, right, and that's whatreally matters for a lot of creators.
Yeah, yeah, So what arethe abcs behind getting paid for content?
So? For example, right,I'm a regular guy, have a nine
to five job, looking for asmart side hustle. You know, I
love to interact with people. Ilove social media, love shooting crazy videos,

(55:12):
love interacting. Right, and soI've posted some videos up on my
you know, YouTube page. Ijust decided, hey, you know what,
I want to try to get intothis craze of read up a little
bit. How do I make money? Absolutely? Well, the key answer
here is, you know, uploadyour video to Discovered and then simply just
share share with your network, youknow, whether you're texting through social media.

(55:36):
Another good thing about Discovered is thatwe also monetize all the share links,
and we also monetize the embeds.So for those creators that may have
a website or they want to embedtheir video someplace else, they're also getting
paid for those views as well.So okay, so it works great,
right, that's okay, sounds greatfrom a layman standpoint, someone like myself,

(56:00):
an average person trying to figure itout. I'm trying to figure out
what really you just said. Solet's take, for instance, right,
I'm on Discover TV. I've gota cool video up, and then I
post it on my I take thatlink and I posted on Let's say TikTok,
Right, what happens then? Imean as the traffic starts to come,

(56:21):
it's really simple. This is it'sso amazing that that's why you know,
we made it simple for creators.So on the back end of Discovery,
you actually have a dashboard. Ourdashboard is real time and it also
shows you not only your views becausewe want to know how many people are
watching, but also how many advertisementshave played on your content. So users,

(56:43):
a lot of let's say content creators, right, they're really not aware
of how videos make money. Wecan start with that, because I think
that's the base point A lot ofpeople don't get. So videos make money
from advertising. So when you're ona video platform and you see those two
ads before a piece of content,that company is making money. Now the

(57:06):
question is is that creator making moneyfrom those ads? So this is where
we come in. We automatically placethe ads. We're programmatic, and now
you can count these advertisements to say, hey, every time one of these
ads plays, that's how I makemy money. So for example, if
I have a short music video,in the beginning of my video, I

(57:29):
may have two ads, maybe it'syou know, one company, another company,
and then my video really quickly inand out. So with this you're
already monetized. You've had two adviews, and those ad views is what's
paying you, not just views,but ad views. So if I'm doing
a podcast and I have a fifteenminute podcast, I may have a commercial

(57:51):
break what every six to eight minutes, and every single time those breaks come
in, you're actually getting paid fromthose ads. Just to put it in
that mindset, and you know,a lot of creators don't understand CPM.
That's what we use in our language, which basically means for every one thousand
advertisements, you get paid X amountof dollars. That's industry across the board

(58:14):
for advertising. Most creators are inthe advertising side, and to be honest,
that neither was. I coming intothis. I was like, what
does that even mean? But nowthat I understand that this is an industry
standard thing. Every one thousand advertisements, I'm getting paid X amount of dollars.
This is how the whole industry works. Right, So then I started

(58:37):
to you know, zero in onit, and so this is what creators
can focus on. We're actually showingthem this secret sauce and this is why
creators love working. This discovered Jessica. Unfortunately, our time is running short.
We're going to have to bring youback next week for a part two,
if you don't mind. I reallyappreciate that this information is invaluable.

(58:59):
My name is Doug Davis. You'relistening to your Black business and I'm talking
with Jessica E. Washington, vicepresident of Artists and Content Development for a
new black owned streaming platform called Discoverdot tv. This is the Black Information
Network. Thanks Doug for more onthese stories. Listen to the Black Information
Network on the free iHeartRadio app orlog onto Bionnews dot com where you can

(59:22):
hear this program in its entirety ondemand. Also follow us on social media
at Black Information Network and on xformerly known as Twitter at Black Infone Net.
We thank you for joining us onthe Black perspective and look forward to
continuing to have needed conversations for theblack community. Next week, I'm Mike
Island on the Black Information Network.