Pigeons & Pink Slips

We’re back at the Brown Table with Yanely & Chris, BA Fam! And we cover everything from unexpected pigeon encounters to major shifts in the job market, media, and entrepreneurship.

This week, we dive into:

• Elon Musk’s proposed job cuts to federal agencies and what it could mean for the workforce and economy
• Navigating job loss and career transitions, plus how to bounce back and build new opportunities
• Why civic engagement matters, especially in local elections and policies that impact your finances
• Media shake-ups and what the cancellation of Joy Reid’s show means for representation
• The rise of TikTok creators and how digital media is shifting
• The realities of entrepreneurship and why collaboration beats going solo
• Financial literacy and wealth-building strategies for uncertain times
• Marvel’s new Captain America movie and whether it lived up to the hype
• Boosts and Breaks of the week—because life keeps life-ing

Hit play and join the conversation. Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave us a review!

Follow BA at @brownambitionpodcast

Follow Yanely @missbehelpful

Follow Chris @popcornfinance

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi, Chris, Hey, Chris, how's it going. Let me tell
you some pigeons.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I've been there. I felt like I was in New York. Yeah,
I'm out there fighting pigeons.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
What's going on?

Speaker 2 (00:18):
I get back. I went for a walk this morning.
I had plenty of time to get ready for the recordings.
I sat on the couch. I'm going through the show
notes that uh uh, Maddie said to me, going to
make sure I know what's going on. And I hate
this noise in the background. I hear like a little
like a little rustle. I'm like, I get up. I
walk around the kitchen island and there's a pigeon on
the floor, just chilling. Kitchen pigeon, a live pigeon inside

(00:42):
in the kitchen, right by the washing machine. And I'm
like what, And then I must have said something, because
then just went wow. I just jumped in the and
started flying across the kitchen.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Oh, I don't like birds.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
How did it get in though?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
That's what I'm trying to figure out. I'm like, it
ain't coming with me because I didn't it at all.
It was it was already chilling in the kitchen before
I got here. It was it making a snack.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
It was there when you woke up and you didn't
notice it.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
It was it was in there watching TV. It was
all watching Netflix.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Living in the even noticed you had a roommate.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yes, yeah, Ellie, did you catch did you catch that?
B and Chris they lived together, though he tried for
the shoot that y'all moved in together.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
It's a living arrangement.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Business out there.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Throw all my bites in the streets.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
And I already came up on a previous episode.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
You kind of said it, Chris, I just wasn't gonna
double down on it.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, that makes me look like immature, but it does.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Really somebody here has a higher maturity level. I'm not
gonna point in what you want to be here it is,
but you really tell me.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Ellie talks about like civic action and stuff, and I'm
just like, wow, I need to like really button up.
I'm like, I voted in a recent election, one of
those small matter. It was the county executive. So George
Latimer was the county executive for Westchester where I live,
and he it's kind of unfortunate. So Jamal Bowman, do

(02:10):
you know that name him?

Speaker 4 (02:12):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (02:12):
He was a yes, but he lost his election to
George Latimer, who was our He's a more moderate, still
a Democrat. But Latimer went up against Jamal Bowman, who
had made some lightly anti Israel, like had had basically
been not anti Israel but pro Palestine, and had made
some remarks about obviously the the ongoing crisis over there

(02:36):
and like, and you know, I think Brennan ambition as
a whole, like we've always supported like a peaceful resolution
and ceasefire all of that. But anyway, Jamal Bowman he got,
he lost his seat. He basically sacrificed himself. He's like, well,
I'm not gonna not stay with Palestine. I'm going to
say some things even though his district is heavily Jewish
in Yonkers, and like were he anyway, So he lost

(02:58):
his seat to George Latimer, which then opened up a
spot for the county executive in my in my county,
and like that's what I mean by these local elections.
It still has a huge impact on you know, how
things are run, different policies and stuff. So and the
turnout was abysmal for this little small election.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
I don't get it, because I don't understand how you
don't know that when you turn out and droves for
a presidential election that has very little impact on your
daily life, and you ignore the ones that are highly
localized that have a massive impact on your daily life.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Maybe I mean, they just don't teach civics in schools.
I guess I just don't get it.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
It's also like the lack of local news. I mean
it's there's not like before you would have like your
paper of record for your town, your city, you know whatever.
In Georgia that was always the Atlanta Journal Constitution a lot.
You'd read the AJAC next year, New York Times next
to your journal and all that, and like there's so
much there's no there's not these like prominent local voices

(03:53):
that people pay attention to. And now everyone's on the
freaking internet. And if you can't it's back to your
point about money, Like I think I saw one sad
little sign for homeboy who was going up against the
conservative candidate for this seat, one little paper sign, like
on the way to daycare one day, and it's like,
there's not a lot of money in these races, and
if you ain't got the money, it's just it takes

(04:16):
so much money and that's why a billionaire was able
to buy the White House and did and uh, it's
just it's infuriating. But that does remind me what I
wanted to kick off the show with, which I did
not put in my show notes. It's all good because
I forgot too, but I wanted to start brown ambition

(04:37):
this week at the Brown table by asking y'all, I
just need you to send me just five bullet points.
What did y'all do last week? And is your spot
here at the Brown table in Jeopardy Like I don't know.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Hey, look, I can tell you none of the other
people fighting pigeons. I can tell you that successfully fighting pigeons.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
I mean maybe on next week's email to save your
seat you can include that. But like technical, this is
a new week, So like last week, what did you do?
Five things?

Speaker 3 (05:02):
Let's go in retrospect, not at Corentin.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
You know one thing I would do is you know
I'm like an old married lady. Is because my mom
yesterday I was talking to her on the phone and
she was like, Mandy. I was texting Enrique about this
whole like elon Musk email that he needs to send
five bullet points of what he did last week, and
I this is my husband, right she texted him on Saturday,

(05:28):
and I'm like, oh, yeah, I haven't even talked to
him about this at this point, Like I'm at the
grocery store and I'm like, oh, so, what did he say?
Is he going to do it? His agency? He works
under the Department of Justice, which is obviously a huge thing.
And so they've been told right now, like, don't respond
to that email.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Or I saw that.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
They've been multiple agencies have been telling them ignore the email.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
But like, I wouldn't ignore it.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
I don't know, man, because that's tell me job, that's
your job on that.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
I don't think they should ignore it because honestly, those
people who are like his boss and stuff, he's like,
oh he's a day And I'm like, yeah, baby, you
don't understand. They have no power anymore. The power is
in the hands of Musk and his doge people.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
You know.

Speaker 4 (06:11):
That's I personally would not trust an agency over like
the folks on the top, because they can fire the
entire agency.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
They've been doing that.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
Have you not been seeing them fire entire cohorts of
teams of people like that? That's a gamble, girl. You well,
your mom talk to him. Now, you gotta talk to him.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
If we're just surviving. That's the funny thing, is like, yeah,
when you have small kids, it's just hilarious. How yes
we're all like I see the news and stuff, but
like the for us, the day to day emergencies are
like did you pack the snacks the extra snacks? And
we have diapers in the diaper bag? And are their wipes?
And like which kid is screaming? And it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
You have to like survive bedtime routines, girl, I.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
Truly, and you have to like plan if we don't
have morning coffee in the morning together like at seven am,
just to like and and we have like a hug
and a kiss and just like a cup of coffee.
I mean that maybe the last time I connect with
him until like the next morning, because that's how insane
it is. Sometimes. Well that got sad and af.

Speaker 4 (07:10):
There's a lot of moms of littles out there listening
like damn Okay, at least I know it ain't just
me because the first few years too, so it's listening
real af very raw.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
Oh thanks y'all. All right, Well Chris, would you what
would you do? If that if you got that email.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
It's hard because I get why people are saying, don't respond,
because like, you don't want to give validity to someone
who's not even like who. No one elected you, no
one told you that this is your role now to
make all these decisions. You who are you? You nobody
to be making these choices for all these other people.
So I get it. But at the same time, I
see what you're now. They're saying too. It's like you
don't want to give them an excuse because they are
just at any point, it's just letting people go, and

(07:47):
it's it's it's so okay. I don't know. Maybe I
would write them down and be like, let me just
ask a couple of people what they're doing, and maybe
we like a unified things. I mean, they can't fire
the whole they can't hire fire that everybody got to
keep us because these these foods to go.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
But they can just fire everybody and then like hire
some of them, hire.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Two or three people.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
Bet right, that's sure they are doing it.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
I'm texting him right now. Did you send your email? Also,
we should be using the signal app for this signal
is like encrypted.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
Yeah, true, Hey, don't be putting that in check in
your and your eye messages.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
At this point, I'm losing track of doesn't it feel
like when you read the news now, it's just like
drinking water from a fire hose. Yeah, Or I feel
like brending where I'm just like hanging on to a
light pole and a hurricane, like those memes of like
weather people, whether men and women, who are out there
telling them whether and it's like mile you know, winds
are one hundred and fifty miles per hour and they're
just like hanging on for dear life to a like

(08:42):
a stop sign. Like that's how I feel.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
No, it's yeah, it's the meme of the little cartoon
on fire and he's like.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
It's okay, everything's okay.

Speaker 4 (08:50):
That's burning, like quite literally a couple weeks ago, everything
is burning. It's just that I just don't understand how
people are gonna go about life acting like everything's okay
and normal. So many people are and I'm like these
federal workers, like, first.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
Of all, the country is thrilled, true, although.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
I haven't seen quite a bit of stuff in my
feet of the people who voted that way, being very
upset right now, because they didn't think this was going
to happen either.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
They personally are being affected, their families being affected, their
loved ones, and they're like, this is not what I
voted for. This is not so.

Speaker 4 (09:23):
And when I see them, I'm like, oh, a tiny violin.
But I am seeing a lot of that. Maybe it's
targeting me on my social.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
I think social to make us feel a little bit better,
but I don't feel better. I feel sill.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Man. That's what it's meant to do. It's meant to overwhelm, right.
It's like the game plan is to put out so
much happening at once, so you can't really focus, so
you just tune out and just don't pay attention at all.

Speaker 4 (09:45):
Right, And like I you know, a tiny part of
me is always trying to be contrarian, Like, okay, what
if I'm just looking for confirmation bias of my own
ideas and thoughts and beliefs. Right, So, if I was
in charge of trying to clean up and let's be honest,
bureaucracy tends to get really big and lots of unnecessary
positions in government for sure, Yes, but what would be
my plan of attack? It wouldn't be to fire everyone

(10:07):
and start getting everyone to do it would be like
maybe last in first out, maybe like like I don't know,
I would figure out a way to yes, reduce because
I don't understand that needs to happen. But the way,
the tactics, the strategy, the methodology that you're using is
ridiculous and it's so like near to impossible to justify.
So I think that that's the problem that I'm having

(10:28):
with it. I'm not up here trying to say they
shouldn't be doing this and this is horrific.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
It needs to stop, Like, let's all be honest.

Speaker 4 (10:34):
There are plenty of government jobs that people go they
sit at their desk, they shop on Amazon all day,
or they work from home and don't do much and
they get paid a government benefit, a government salary with
good government benefits. So that does need to be addressed,
but not in this fashion though. I just feel like
it's the way they're doing it that's just wrong and
that it's tasteless.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
He showed us exactly. He showed all of us at
Twitter when he went in. It was the exact same thing.
Fire thousands, hire some. It's all very confusing, but at
the end of the day, there's no recourse. I mean,
like they can do it. It is what it is.
And I think that this is the strategy that I can't.
I just can't. Everyone saw everyone who voted for them,
like they said this, they said they were going to

(11:13):
do this, and that is what they've done. So yeah,
I really have like negative patients for anyone who is
shocked by this. And I'm just like, well, you know,
for me, when I wake up and I think about
brown ambition and the promise that I've made to our
to be a fan, to be like that voice of
hope and inspiration and like let's keep pushing forward. Woo.
Sometimes it's I mean it's not always the easiest thing.

(11:34):
But I was just thinking about, like if you've been
let go by one of these agencies, I mean, the
thousands of y'all that have been let go and are
hitting the job market at a really difficult time. I
was just wondering, like if we could chat a little
bit about for them, you know, like what would you say,
because they got bills.

Speaker 4 (11:53):
To pay, The bills don't stop even when the Jicks
stop the paychecks.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
I you know, I would say, like be on LinkedIn.

Speaker 4 (12:00):
I mean, I know that it is exhausting and you're
not in an emotional state of being where you can
be positively doing that. But if you need to take
a day or two to just like cry, disconnect, vent,
write down your frustrations, call your BFF, and like just rant,
do all those things.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
But once you're done with that.

Speaker 4 (12:18):
Like dedicate time to it, and then like get your
battery pack fully charged, because you gotta go. Like at
the end of the day, you have to go, go, go,
Like I'm picturing the little energizer bunny right, Like, you
don't stop, like you have to. You have to be
on LinkedIn, you have to be reaching out to your network.
It to be texting everybody that you're close to, Like
if you hear of anything, send it my way. This
is the position that I'm in, you know, but I'm
in positive spirits and i feel like I'm ready for something.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
I'm ready for my next move. Because when people see that.

Speaker 4 (12:43):
That's a demonstration of your character, of your resilience, and
that's the type of person they're gonna want to put
on when an opportunity does come to their email in
box or to their desk. So it is a little
frustrating because you're sort of being asked to be everything
all at once. But I do think you definitely want
to address the negative emotional aspect of it, like cry
it out, do what you gotta do, go outside and scream,
throw plates, I don't know, do what you have to do.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
But then come back and like snap into it.

Speaker 4 (13:07):
Because you have people in your family and in your
home depending on you.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
You, you know you need to keep it going.

Speaker 4 (13:13):
And then don't be ashamed to take like a smaller
part time role or to do some ten ninety nine
contractor work in the meantime, bro like that holds us down.

Speaker 3 (13:21):
Like I will tell you I've gotten in.

Speaker 4 (13:23):
Certain situations where ten ninety nine little contractor jobs that
I've done have held me down when I was not
full time employed. And you know, granted that was for
me maybe a fourth five month period of time, so
it wasn't extended.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
But those are the things that I think, Yeah, you
got to be prepared to do.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
One thing that sometimes takes people that I've talked to
a long time to do is like look up your
unemployment benefits by your state level and immediately apply even
before I think it's like each week sometimes you have
to apply for unemployment benefits to like get on that
track so you have some money coming in hopefully, especially
because it doesn't seem like a lot of workers have
gotten their separance payments yet finding cam Unity and other

(14:00):
people who have been let go. I know, for my husband,
his offer was rescinded by an agency that he was
supposed to start with in the new year. Yeah, that's terrible.
Nearly two decades of civil service and he is not
a worker who just sits on his ass. Another one
of his colleagues was also in the same boat, and
like talking to them took the sting out of it.

(14:20):
You know, it's almost like by opening up about what
you're going through and doesn't have to be a public
LinkedIn post, but just like an email to your network,
you know, just to privately, sort of privately tell them
what's happening so that they can support you and like
make you feel better. But it's it's it's really a
noock to even if you know it's part of this

(14:42):
like crazy political you know, power play move, it's still
not to the confidence like to your oh.

Speaker 4 (14:48):
For sure, in the case of your husband, where like
it's not that he didn't get it he.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Got it and then he took it back.

Speaker 4 (14:56):
Like that is some other psychological emotional layers too, because
like it was mine, I earned it, I got it,
I was given the offer, and that's this whole other thing.
But I agree having some like having somebody companieser rate
with is so important. Yes it's frustrating, Yes it's emotionally draining,
But if you're actively looking for work, you have to
actively do it.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
You can't be like, I've been looking for work for
you know, six weeks, and I'm like, okay, how many
how many LinkedIn messages have you sent? How many? You know?

Speaker 4 (15:20):
Did you sign up for LinkedIn Premium for free for
a trial so you could blast a bunch of people?
What have you actually done in these six weeks rather
than just say I've been open to work. Being open
to work doesn't mean you're actively taking the steps to
find and secure position or make a connection with someone
who can hook you up.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
And I mean, Mandy, you may you probably know this
better than I do. But from what I've been hearing
from people too, it's like a lot of it is
like you gots just like leaning your network. You can
be a little more unconventional about how you're broaching it
down because with all these tools ail tools out there
are weed out resumes even if you are qualified, they're
spitting people out. And it's been a lot of people
who've may reach out to those people they know with
their network who have been able to have more success

(15:57):
just because it's just so hard out there. We have
so many other people looking for work and it's like,
not even a guarantee you're qualified, you'll get through. You
got to get a little more creative, which is more
work and it's harder, but it's like you have to
do it, which is just like, you know, I hate
having to help people. Yeah, you just got to do
work even harder to find a job than you would
have had to before. But it's kind of turning into
that now.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
But that I think when it comes to jobs, that
it's just like accepting the reality that's a really tough
job market. It may take you months. The average amount
of time someone's looking for a job now is six
months in America. The Department of Labor tracks that, and
so that's a long time. And you're gonna need a
system and a process and almost like treat your looking
for nine to five like a nine to five in

(16:35):
a way, and it's a huge but it's the mental
game too, and it's the mindset. And I think where
you can fall into depression and lethargy and like really
filling down is when you when you give in to
those feelings of like it's not fair, it shouldn't be
this way. You know, everything is terrible. It is like

(16:57):
drinking water through a fire hose. You turn on the news,
it's all pressing. And to really build resilience, you have
to build like that mental resilience to be able to
say I accept the way that things are and I
will keep taking a step forward. And I had the
saying that I use a lot, which is that there's
a version of me a year from now who's already
been through this and has gotten me through it, and

(17:19):
all I gotta do is just like think about her,
because like she's rooting for me, she's gonna she's telling
the story of how it took so long and she
figured it out, and like you just have to be
It's optimism is a choice, it really is.

Speaker 4 (17:34):
Yeah, that's a great point. And I love that perspective,
like picturing yourself a year from now being past this
and like channel that strength of like the light at
the end of the tunnel and push.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
But yeah, like use WhatsApp group chats.

Speaker 4 (17:45):
If you're not in them, get in them, you know,
find community. I'm in a lot of slack communities and
I'll look at the Slack channel that's like opportunities or
like job openings.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
There's so many.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
If you're a black woman listening to this. I have
a good friend named ronisiha Being who started a community
called her Agenda, there's so many. There's no profits, you know,
like get get with your people and help each other out.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
Because at the end of the day, like if you.

Speaker 4 (18:06):
Send out an email, just like Chris said, to a
person who doesn't know you, they are so much less
likely to go out of their way, bend over backwards
to put in a good word they don't know you.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
And same thing is true for a resume. It's just
words on a page.

Speaker 4 (18:19):
But if it's a person behind those words that I
know and I can vouch for, it makes all the difference.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
All right, Well, let's take a quick pivot into more
like I guess it's not maybe not pop culture, but
sort of related. My inbox was blowing up yesterday and
my social media feed was the news about Joy Joy
read from MSNBC her show has been canceled, the read out,
and I didn't MSMB. I mean, it's it's just shocking

(18:50):
to me that they would cancel her show's and yeah,
I just want to I want to acknowledge what an
incredible legacy she's leaving behind. She has one more show.
It's gonna air the twenty fifth, I believe, so by
the time this comes out, it's already going to be passed.
But I'm sad.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
You know, she's amazing, She's such a powerhouse.

Speaker 4 (19:09):
And it's funny because I looked into it and I
was like, why is this happening? And everything that I've
read that that it has nothing to do with her specifically,
but that they're trying to make shifts that could lead
to higher ratings across the board.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
They always are. Usually it means let's fire the black ladies.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
Right, you know. But then that's the thing.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
I was like, yeah, right, they're just trying to get
rid of her. And then when I looked at what's
replacing her, it's it's.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
Simone Sander's, right, Smon Sander's.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
Thomson's and yeah, and then I think Alicia Menandez and
and then some another guy something.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Your memory is like, I'm jealous.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
I've literally read it.

Speaker 4 (19:47):
But oh, I recognize Lisa Menandez because I did go
to a conference where she spoke, and I do respect
her a lot, and small Sandra's just incredible. I read
her book, which you know, I just I do think
it's interesting that they're just positioning this as multiple voices
and some diverse rather than one black woman's voice. And
that is what I noticed about the shift.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
Yeah, I mean it did appear to me. I think
that third, the guy whose name we don't remember, he's
more of like a conservative slash moderate kind of voice. Yeah,
I think he's actually a Republican if I'm not wrong,
which I don't mind that. It's not about for me
that they're you know, I like the multiple I mean clearly,
that's what I did with Brown Ambition. I was like,

(20:27):
I want more than just me, I want more than
just two voices. Let's add it, you know, two and three.
And I love that approach. I think, you know, we
should be open to different opinions. But Joy is just
such an icon and her voice has just been I
don't know. She's just one of those people that something
big happens, like Kama, like it's the nomination. You know,
these even during Trump's inaugural, that whole like that whole week,

(20:51):
you just want to like turn to these voices to
find comfort into, like you know here, I mean not
that she was always giving comfort because it was a
lot of straight talk. It was a lot of like
you know.

Speaker 4 (21:02):
You know, they had expanded her show to be a
panel that included her would be.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
I bet they gave her that option. I doubt she
took it because for her to step down, yeah, I
think it was more of a pride thing.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
You have to step down, but step down is better
than a step away. I think we want access to
her voice and her she's so powerful.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
But I guess hard get it.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
She's probably like, no, I can go somewhere else and
grow rather than you shrinking my you know what, my impact.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yeah, well, you feel like they've lost confidence in you
all of a sudden. That like it probably probably makes
you just want to say, you know what, I'll just
do something else. I'll go somewhere else. We're on one
and not where you're going to try to push me
to the side.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
I feel that.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
But at this see something they're saying that they're trying
to push towards like a younger demographic. But I'm like
it may sit bec I don't think has the draw
they think it is to bring in young people, making.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
Young panelists if you want, if you want to target
a young audience.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, and I'm someone too, like I got rid of
cable over there.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
People are not watching TV.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
Yeah, people not watching it turns its turning on their TV,
clicking the little click to get to the No, that's
not happening anymore.

Speaker 4 (22:02):
So that the row MSNBC clips on YouTube shorts like
if they if.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
That that's where I watched my clips. I don't watch
a full thing of I can't take it. First of all,
it's too much to have these news channels on all
the time. But yeah, clips right, and the joking people.
I think we're just not consuming news in the same way.
Like it's not like a think like my parents just
have the news on all day in the background.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Like we're like it's horrific. I don't want to sit
there and listen to this all day long. Give me
a bolt, carve out a window. I'll take it a
little bit and then I'm cutting it off.

Speaker 4 (22:31):
But it's also a shift to the technology, Like we
don't really use TVs that much anymore, Like I know
most homes probably have them, but they don't.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
They just like collecting us.

Speaker 4 (22:39):
Like most people watch stuff on Netflix on their on
their laptop or they'll connect it, you know, through HTMI
to their TV screen or have a smart TV to
stream on the TV. So I just think the fact
is that people are looking at stuff on the Internet,
not on television networks, and so that's really the shift.
And it's it's not like I don't mean, I don't
think it's to blame Americans for not turning on.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
The news all day every day.

Speaker 4 (23:01):
It's just that we don't have TVs on running all
day every day like we used to. I mean, I
remind parents used to do the same thing they used
to have when Telemundo on all day on the at home.
But it's just not a thing like anymore. I don't think.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
No, they're not really shifting with the times. And the
thing is like you you got to pivot, and these
traditional media networks like they still are hold on. Obviously
they're not gonna give up cable because there's still people
have it, but they're not really smoothly making that transition
into like a digital streaming service. I know, like on
Max they have a few news and networks that are
streaming there, but it's not really prevalent. Like I don't

(23:36):
think Netflix really has an option. No, I don't think
anyone's going on Peacock where they're looking for stuff like that.
I might be over there.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
I think Netflix. I feel like these streaming services, like
live TV is a huge you know, you've seen like
Netflix do more live events. Netflix just stream the SAG Awards,
and I'm sitting here thinking, oh, I can't watch the SAgs.
I don't have abciously, I don't have regular show, but
it was it was streaming on Netflix. I could have,
but I don't know. It's the time I was going
to sleep really anyway. But I feel like there are

(24:02):
these live events. I mean, it started with the Love
Is Blind reunion show that was a sh show, and
it was like all was that the one? It was
all glitchy to start with, but then beyond sample was
a big test for the sample. I mean, I'm not
worried for Joy because I feel like she's an icon
shall always have a space. It's another example of like
why we can't trust even the you know, you'd think,

(24:25):
I'MSNBC is so liberal and progressive and stuff, but at
the end of the day, it's a business, and businesses
are going to business and with this like fire hose
of information that we're getting, especially in like in terms
of layoffs and stuff, I think you'll see other CEOs
and like company leaders take advantage of this time of
chaos and just start cutting people out. I mean, you're
I think DEI has been obviously impacted by everything happening

(24:48):
with Trump, and you'll see you'll see more like shake
ups and stuff to come. And it's just another signal
how powerful your own personal brand has to be and
how we should always be no. Joy like it's going
to have a million contacts people who want to come
out for her for the win with Black Women Network
literally hosted an emergency call last night and supportive in

(25:10):
suppport of Joy, And it's just another like, Yeah, it's
a good reminder to just like keep that network that
you have, your friends, your colleagues, your peers, keep their
support and like keep your networks tapped into what's going on.
With you, because they'll be the ones, like you said,
youan Ellie who can open those doors to opportunities in
a way that yeah, not many others can. In fact,

(25:34):
if that happens, it's giving. It's giving, you know, financially,
get your together. It's time to be paying off your debt.
It's time to be saving, it's time to be investing.
It's time to be and investing in your own self.
I think it's a time. I honestly feel like it's
a time for us to be entrepreneurial as people of color,
as marginalized communities, like building businesses, like creating our own

(25:56):
sources of wealth. I feel like there's this we can
we have. That's that's a form of resistance, is a
form of survival. Even it's just like build your own
because we see how fallible our systems are to wealth
and white superiority and the majority, and like it's that's

(26:18):
the that's what's given me a bit of optimism is like, Okay,
well we can't fix that, Chris, you with us?

Speaker 2 (26:24):
What happened?

Speaker 1 (26:25):
All right? Your face went, You're frozen.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
I'm just sitting real switch off, No, I hear you.
I love that. Mandy I do.

Speaker 4 (26:36):
I will point out I know that there's so much
pressure for everybody to go out there and start their
own thing and do their own thing because we can't
depend on anybody. But I know I also recognize there's
people out there who are like, I'm so tired of
being pushed towards entrepreneurship. It doesn't call me, it doesn't
speak to me, it's not me. In my bones, I
know that I am not going to be an entrepreneur
and I'm not interested in that, and that's okay. But

(26:57):
I would say, go find your people who are are
those visionaries, those entrepreneurs, and help them build You don't
have to build that law.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Not for someone who is launching,
like no, absolutely, one hundred percent. I don't want y'all
to be doing this from a place of fear. I
want it to be I want people to find their inspiration,
Like I wake up excited to like make this show
and to build Brown Ambition into like a multi channel
media brand, and I want other people to join me

(27:28):
on that journey. And it's like we have to open
up the door and we're gonna hear actually be a
fan and there's all there's many different ways to like
build our own and to to to build our own
sources of wealth. It doesn't have to be, you know,
to your point y on Ellie dropping everything and going
to like build a bakery or buy some vending machines
or a trucking business.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (27:50):
I just I want to say that because I just
feel like I just spent some time with college students
and they told me that they feel so much pressure
to like become a millionaire by twenty one and like
being make your own schedule, don't let you know.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
And I was like, yeah, don't be that noise.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
That's because we're all out here trying to say in
sound bites you why, that's the truth of a Kid's
like everybody's trying to push in a sound bite or
in a social media clip or in a headline, but
like you're just hearing the same and people's attention spans.
It's like we need more books and long form content.
People need the full comprehensive picture behind that.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
We just like need to make room for nuance.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Nelly, can you do speaking engagements or no?

Speaker 3 (28:34):
Yeah, I did want to speak engagements.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
Tiffany had asked me and for like some people that
I recommended, like if she gets something and she can't
do it, and she's like, I didn't think you, Nellie
could take paid speaking gigs. Okay, good, okay, I don't
want to block your blessings.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
Thank you, Christy.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
Your name didn't come up.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
But you know what, I was just acting like they
had nothing to do with me.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
I with me, what is going on with you?

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Didn't need the comment didn't need the commentary from you
on that on that topic. But you know, I figured
it wasn't applying to me.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
I didn't mention you. What is other than pigeons? How
is that stuff? How's your career.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Going going on?

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Over there?

Speaker 2 (29:15):
It's going well. I was. I did some more stuff
with fuse who me and you Ellie didn't work with.
So I was down in La back in Wait on
a couple of weeks ago, right before the week before
Super Bowl, I was down there doing it. So I
did a couple of shoots there and that. But so
far it's been fun something news. I'm out of the box.
So uh yeah, yeah, doing that and then I'm trying
to m I did and I couldn't. I couldn't come

(29:38):
here and say, no, I know you're gonna look at
me crazy.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
How do you make money because y'a elle, you're like
primarily with next gen PF, but then you have your
extra stuff on the side, right, and your book is
your own business, right, like that's your own thing. I loved,
Just like the multiple incomes.

Speaker 4 (29:52):
Yeah, anything that's in the school system, yeah, no.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
For me, it's like four or five different income streams.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
So if it's in schools attending p if it's advocacy,
it's Mission twenty thirty fund, which is a separate job,
separate check, separate email inbox, then.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
It's missed off.

Speaker 4 (30:06):
Well, we'll see for speaking and for books and mind
your Money books dot Com for any speaking engagements related
to the book and book sales. So it's it's like
four at least or five different incomes streams, which is
I think truly what it has to be in order
for you to be successful these days, because just trying
to do one thing over and over're going really well
lucky if you get that. But I just knew that
setup was going to be much harder to pull off.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Chris. I think you and I have talked about not
just trying to get into the money or ask like
gotcha questions? Always?

Speaker 2 (30:35):
I got your question Ryanlle's getting these nice, beautiful questions, like, Chris,
so what's going over the relationship? Where where's your money
coming from? Can we can we lighten up on me
a little bit? I don't want you to get more emails. Okay,
you're gonna be get some more emails about how you drink.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
We got a nice one coming up for you, Chris,
We got a nice one up next.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
You know you don't come up lunching the emails anymore.
You also haven't been on the show in a minute.
But no, you and I spoke, we did our high
last summer, and I think you were talking about like
what's next for popcorn Finance, and like where you want
to go next, and so like how are you strategically
looking at how your business is laid out? And for
BA fam too. I think it'll be interesting to hear
your approach to it. So, because you're a serious dude,

(31:15):
and I take you very seriously.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Yeah that no one believes that you know what I'd say.
I look, I'm not as strategic of a person as you,
And really I actually look up to both of you
and how well you strategize and plan and think ahead.
I'm trying to get better at that. So for me,
my business is like it's the podcast makes up a
portion of it. It's more so like this is how
I connect with people. This is what gets my name
out there, is how people find me. Other work I

(31:39):
do is I do. I've been working with Trueliant Credit
Union out in North Carolina for the past three years.
So I host a seriously called money Bursts, So I
do basically similar I do with the podcast, but like
more video format. So I do like educational stuff for
them personal find it's not a flops.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
Back of your all state Polo shirts.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
You talking about it in the beginning of this very
bright blue shirt where.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
Like a Polo branded shirt short.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
Oh god, and they're like, yeah, you can drop that.
I say, okay, I think that's a good move for
move to me wearing my own shirts. But no, that's
been really fun. They've been like you're super easy to work.
Whilce I do that. I still do some consulting work.
So I used to be a financial analyst. I would
do like revenue analysis, and so I still do that
from time to time. I'll do you know, we have
a few hours here and there on that, and then

(32:26):
you know, just I do some do some speaking, I
do some brand work and things like that. Stuff I'm
doing with Fuse now and a million stories. So yeah,
it's kind of like a like I was saying, you
got the.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
Men's Health thing, You're a contributing writer at Men's Health.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
Completely forgot how I do that. I write article it is,
so I probably do like four to five articles a
year for them. So once every other month I do
an article for them. Yeah, So you gotta you gotta
be peace mailing it. You gotta be you gotta be
spreading it out because at any point one thing can disappear.
You don't want to be like left just holding the bag, like,
oh wow, I don't know what's going on now that part.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah, income streams in twenty twenty five. Yeah, well, I
won't just put y'all in the hot seat. I'll share too,
because that's one of the things that I have my
accountability buddy that I meet with like once every couple
of weeks. And at the beginning of the year, we
made a goal to like basically dig into our dusty
closet of like digital product services, you know, things that

(33:20):
were just like on our websites that we had offered
and kind of forgot about webinars and stuff and instead
of creating new stuff, like try to repurpose and actually
like tell people about stuff that already exists, Yeah, that
they could take advantage of now Glass or you know
remember the app fish Bowl, Yeah, yeah, Glass bought them.
There's alls like an anonymous an anonymous like company advice,

(33:45):
like professional advice kind of thing where you could be anonymous.
You can post questions like a Reddit thread kind of
thing on what's going on with you. And they have
all these different bowls and the bowls are like different
themes like negotiation and career pivoting and men in tech,
women in tech whatever. I guess men in Tech is
just called the tech Bowl. And but anyway, so I

(34:07):
Glassdoor is like has influencers come on and like create
content for their bowls, And honestly I love Glass store bowls.
Like if y'all now it's now it's like the that's
been branded Glassdoor, but it used to be Fishbowl. So
if y'all are not on fish Bowl, the engagement is high.
People are really there to help and to like provide
you can put any kind of question. I mean, definitely

(34:27):
send your questions to Brown Ambition, But like if you
want to engage, I'm I'm having fun, all right, Okay,
Well we lost a lot of time to Chris's pigeon expedition,
so we're gonna take a quick break.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
Hey, it was tough. Look I'm still here. I survived.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
You might need to get a tetnis shot or like some.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
I know everything that pigeon touch.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
All right, fan will be right back with Brown Boost
Brown Break. Stay tuned a and we're back. It's time
for Brown Boost, Brown Break, y'all, Nellie, Chris, I don't
got to tell y'all what a brown booster or break is.
You got anything you want to share, shout out that's exciting,
you can boost or anything you want to. I mean, Chris,
you can't break your pigeon because that's you've already talked

(35:14):
about it.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
That's a boost right there. That was an adventure. I
didn't even need to drink coffee. I'm awake now stop.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
I can go first if y'all want to think there,
all right, I have a double boost one I want
to I don't think anyone's talked about this very much,
but can we just acknowledge black Captain America's movie is out.
I'm not a Marvel person, but I am an an
Anthony Mackie stand and I just want him to have
all the success he deserves. And I don't know, Chris,

(35:45):
have you seen it? You're a dude.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
Oh, I've seen it. I've been there. I went there
and saw it at Imax. I gotta say, look, Marvel,
they've been a little bit of a dip movie that
been as great. But look, the movie got a lot
of hate for obvious reasons. We all know why. People
have internet movie got to hate Captain America. We all
know why.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
With anti Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
It was getting like before it even came out.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
Really was primarily the platform where people were hating on it.
And y'all know why.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
Yeah, we all know why.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
It's a woke Marvel movie.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
Is not what it is, of course, but it was.
I enjoyed it, like, look, is it the best movie
I've ever seen? No, of course that i'd expect you
to be. But it was fun. I had a good time,
had great action scenes. You had Anthony mackin there, you
had Harrison Ford. It was I thought they that for
Marvel and not having to put out a movie in
about a year a little over year. It was. It
was solid. I had a good time.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
Good well, I just I want to acknowledge that, and
also I really needed something fun to listen to. So
I turned on I got the Libby appout.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Yeah, I would been using that for years.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Oh you have Okay, I was late to the Libby party.
But it's like the library app. You have a library
card and then your library I guess because a certain
number of loans you can get for audio books, so
it can be hard to get newer titles. I had to.
I was on the wait list for Keiki Palmer's book
Master of Me, but I decided to listen to Jennifer Lewis's.

(37:09):
You know, Jennifer Lewis from Blackish, Yeah, the mother, the
Mother of Black Hollywood exactly. She's so phenomenal. But the
best thing is her book She reads them herself, and
it's like getting as it's a free ticket to a
one way Broadway show with Jennifer Lewis, so her.

Speaker 4 (37:24):
Specifically, yes, and yes, both of them, but Keky's so young.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
Jennifer's just got so much history, you know, I love
Keky's books for other reasons, but Jennifer is just like,
it's so funny and she's just she talks her ship
and I love it. So I wanted to boost her book,
her second memoir, Walking in My Joy. It's a fun listen.
And if you haven't, go back and listened to her
first book, The Mother of Black Hollywood, because it's also huh.

(37:52):
Warry Is.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
Got to read them both.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Yeah, you know, for Libby too, you know, because they're
known for the way time because obviously libraries they got
to pay for all those books there they're loaning out.
But you can have multiple library cars, just so you know.
I just picked up my San Francisco library car because
I live in San Francisco now, so I got like three.
I got my Long Beach library car from when I
lived there. I got my LA Public Library, I got
my San Francisco.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
You have my mom's Saint Louis library car.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
Chances ripple your chances. I'm not mad at that strategy.
I didn't think about that.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
Sorry, well I can go next.

Speaker 4 (38:24):
I'll do the I'll do a brown break, which is
that I got so many dms the last week of
February with people freaking out about the stock market. The
news headlines were like, it's the worst day in stock
market history for twenty twenty five, which is literally sixty
days in Like, so you mean to tell me the
last the worst performance in the stock market in the
past sixty days, and you're freaking out, ready to wipe

(38:44):
out your accounts. Like I had to talk people off
the ledge.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
I had to talk to people. There were people like
what do we do? Like, I just don't understand.

Speaker 4 (38:52):
And so for me as a brown break because it's
so frustrating that like, no matter how I feel that
we're constantly putting out so much educational content, so much
education content like out there, right, And I'll say again
and again and again again, this is normal. The stock
market will go down. This is a normal part. If
you're in it for the long haul, you don't pay
attention to these drops. They're going to happen. They're natural.
It's just normal, right, Like, and then I get people

(39:13):
sending me, you know, nine hundred and twenty seven billion
dollars was wiped out from the stock market today worth
day of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
What do I do? What do you think about this?

Speaker 4 (39:20):
And it's just like, oh my gosh, it's I think
the same thing that I thought the last time you
asked me. Like it's just so frustrating to be like
saying the same broken record, you know, again and again
with the same thing.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Baby girl, you chose personal finance and wait, I know,
but you just gotta say, all we do is say
the same shit one hundred different ways from Sunday.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
That's so true. And you know what, it's a good reminder.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
It's a good reminder for me that like sometimes I'll
be like, already made ten videos about that, make an
eleventh because you never can, like, you know, it seems
to me like I'm being a dead horse. But no,
like people really need to hear it again and again
and again. And so you know, somebody had asked, like
explain it to me. I just don't understand, and so
what I sent her a message and I'm going to

(40:04):
make this into a real because I just feel like
other people probably are also confused about it. But like
she didn't understand how nine hundred and twenty seven million
dollars could just disappear. Not I said million billion would
a beat How nine hundred and twenty seven billion dollars
could just disappear.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
And so then I explained it through real estate.

Speaker 4 (40:20):
I was like, if everybody's trying to buy your house,
and your house is worth one hundred thousand dollars, you
got so many people trying to buy it, you can
increase the price. You can sell it for five hundred thousand,
right because because there's so much demand, So you could
create four hundred thousand dollars of value by increasing the
price of your home. And if somebody wants it that bad,
they'll be willing to pay same thing. When your house
is not selling, you listed it, it's been listed for

(40:41):
ten months, you haven't.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
Got one offer. Well, maybe you lower.

Speaker 4 (40:44):
The price from one hundred thousand to ninety thousand to
see if you can find a buyer desperately. Then you
just erased quote unquote wiped out ten thousand dollars of
value by lowering the price.

Speaker 3 (40:55):
Of your home. And so I explained to them that's
exactly what happens in the stock market. When you think
of a like Nike. We're if one.

Speaker 4 (41:01):
Hundred and thirteen billion dollars, say there's a billion shares
of stock of Nike, that's one hundred and thirteen dollars
per share of stock. But if the price drops to
eighty dollars per share because everybody's selling it, so now
the price decreases, well, now you got to do eighty
dollars per shit per billion shares, right, and so now
you're seeing.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
Oh no, that means that quote unquote they went from
one hundred and thirteen billion dollar.

Speaker 4 (41:23):
Value of the company to only eighty billion dollars, and
that difference thirty three billion dollars is wiped away, right,
like quote unquote disappeared. So it's not real money. Guys,
Like I just I know it's so confusing, but I
just felt like when I explained it that way, like.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
She was kind of like, oh, I get it.

Speaker 4 (41:41):
I guess maybe connecting it to real estate, which is
something tangible that people can understand.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
But yeah, I guess my break is.

Speaker 4 (41:47):
A little bit of like a break with myself and
reminding myself that I just have to keep repeating some
of these lessons again and again in different ways.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
Because hired traveling world. That's why we need each other.
That's why when I'm like, I know, that's one of
the reasons why I'm really excited with Brown ambition is
like having a content hub, like having because I'm gonna
just hire a bunch of people to write the content
that I know we need, but that I like, but
that I'm tired of writing. All right, Chris, you had
enough time.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Now, I know. I'll sit there thinking, I'm trying to
you know, hating to pay attention and think at the
same time.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
We all got a prom you.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
Know, I'll give it a quick boost to my boy
Johnny the pigeon, who was in here. We were hanging
out for a bit this morning. Chris, you got, I
gave it. It's a small one, you know. He came by.
We had a little we were gonna have coffee. Bad
to kick him out because I was like, I got
a podcast to do, But you know what I'll do.
My brown boosts will be for uh. Yesterday I went

(42:45):
and saw all the Oscar shorts at the theater down here.
They didn't ran him back to back. It was a
five Oscar nominated short films. These are the live action ones.
I'm gonna see the animated ones tomorrow. But they were
really good. There's some really powerful ones in there. One
that stood out there was two two I say that
was my favorite. There's one it's called Anujah. It was
done in India and it was based off of these

(43:07):
two girls who are working in like a basically like
a sweatshop making making clothing essentially, and there's a girl
who was like the younger sister was like really smart,
and they were trying to make sure she got to
the school to test to get into this boarding school.
So it's a really really cool story, really well told.

Speaker 1 (43:22):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
And the other one, I think, I don't know if
you've explained it right, but it's like a it's like
alien but it's a and then space Lean and it
follows this couple, I'd tell it there in New York.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
They were going down to the immigration office to apply
for for the husband to apply for a green card
and had a daughter together. He had lived there for
here basically grew up in New York his whole life.
He grew up in I think it was in the Bronx.
And so then they get there and as he's in
his interview, Ice shows up and they're arresting people in
the immigration officers who are applying for their green cards.

(43:53):
And it basically it was a story of this process
and how this is happening and how common it is
for ICE to do these raids on immigration offices as
people in the documentary, it's it's a short film, so
it's it's it's not like actually documentary, but it's like
depicting these real life scenes that are going on, and
it was it's like just in an environment where it
now is just like powerful, sad, frustrating all the things

(44:15):
to see that like that. But I think it's it's
really well told and it's something I didn't know. I
didn't know that was going on because it makes that
makes no sense to do that. Why would you do that?

Speaker 4 (44:24):
So how can you trust any government agency, local, federal,
How can you trust any any office If that's the
kind of stuff happening.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
Right exactly, it shouldn't be. It shouldn't be legally allowed
to do something like that. But I'm really happy just
got nominated. So it's out there and I was able
to catch it. So if anyone out there wants to
go sar, I don't know how you can go find it.
I saw it in the theaters, but I'm sure there's
ways of streatment out there. So a Leen is the.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
I'm the worst sister in America because my little brother
makes short films and he has one premiering tonight and
I forgot to boost.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
Wow on social now was something.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
Man.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
The thing with short films is they are like and
I Chris, I'm so glad that you supported too, because
theaters will do these short fests, these like film festivals
where it's just short films. That's the only it's literally
the only way that their art gets seen. And I
was asking his girlfriend. You know, she's also a producer
and makes films and she has incredible work, and I'm like,
so what happens when the movie's out, and like if

(45:21):
does someone buy it? And then she's like, well, maybe
a streaming platform. There's Quelly TV kW e l I,
which focuses on underrepresented voices, so they'll buy content from
creators and then you can watch it on QWLLY. But
other than that, if it doesn't get an award, or
it doesn't get shortlisted for these awards, and even then,
if a streaming network doesn't pick it up or regular network,

(45:43):
then just kind of like disappears. So they're really just
more passion projects. Yead. My little brother Alex, he's been
on the show before, he's going to be on it
again too, because speaking of income streams, he's a full
time AI sales director and he does his art, his movie,
his films on the side. But his film is a
short film called.

Speaker 4 (46:08):
My God, My God, you are the worst right now,
the sister everybody needs right here.

Speaker 1 (46:15):
I went to the premiere in New York. I was there, so.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
You should know the name you.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
Four. All I could think about was Atlanta because I
just was looking at my boyfriend in my head, Brian
Tare Henry, and he was in Atlanta. Anyway, this is
like follow follow, Okay. I've never felt more seen by
a celebrity than when Carrie Washington thought she forgot to
thank Tyler Perry and her acceptance speech at the NAACP
Image Awards, and then she ran across the stage to

(46:42):
take over the mic for the next presenters and said,
I forgot to thank Tyler Perry. And then the audience
is like, you did, you did, and She's like, bye, that's.

Speaker 4 (46:54):
So freaking Can we just admire her brilliant talent, beauty.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
I love carry Washing.

Speaker 4 (47:02):
I'm literally like I think I would I have a
girl crush on Kerry Washington.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
I just I'm just gonna say it all out. I'm
just gonna say it all out. I love her more.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Yeah, yes, I mean stunning. She's just so smart. She's
always been like politically active. She never kind of like
tried to get that part of herself. She was such
a Yeah, she was such a force during the twenty
twenty four election. And for her to also have made
this movie six Triple eight, y'all know, I'm not good

(47:31):
with titles.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
She's well, is that you are?

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Now? So why am I wielding a colored pencil?

Speaker 2 (47:36):
I don't know, but I will say unlike Mandy, I
got I got the information for you about these films.
So you can watch Alien on Vimeo and they posted
it up there on Vimeo, and the Anuja is on Netflix.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
Okay, yeah, I'm definitely gonna check those bolt outs.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
And my brother's film Thomasville, you can watch if it
comes to a theater in your you which it. It's
in Atlanta. It was in Atlanta two days ago, so
you missed it. But his production company is called Pineapple Cut.
So if you google them and you go to their website,
you can get on their list and they'll let you
know when their other films are going to be premiering

(48:12):
in these different short festivals, and please support your local
short fest because these filmmakers are just like truly artists
and they are putting out their work and it's very inspiring.
I'm so proud of him. We come a long way
since editing each other's Harry Potter fanfiction.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
Say that you know, Wow, it's super short. It's under
fifteen minutes. Okay, I just looked it up. I'm totally gonna.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
Bookmark this alien or what was it? No, I'm talking
about Thomas or Thomasville. Oh okay, yeah, he wrote it,
directed it.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
Oh look at it director Alex Woodraw.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
You two looks so much alike.

Speaker 3 (48:45):
Yeah, you really do.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
We're both writers. And yeah, I'm just really proud of
he inspired me. You might see a short film by
Mandy Woodrif Santos Hey Trick.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
I bet you remember the name.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
He is a better person than me in many ways,
so he probably won't. But yeah, I love my brother.
It's also his birthday, Happy birthday. How do I get
the balloons to come up again?

Speaker 3 (49:10):
You gotta do something with your hands.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
I don't know what.

Speaker 4 (49:13):
Yeah that you did it like by mistake and then
when you were to happen, it doesn't happen.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
Is this uh okay? B A fam? All right, well
that is the show. Thank you to Chris and y'a
Nelly for joining me at the Brown Table. BA Fam,
Stay strong, stay hopeful, choose optimism every day. We love y'all,
See you next time.