Legacy Building

Welcome you to episode 10 of the F.L.O.W. Podcast.  You may or may not be familiar with the phrase “buy back the block”.  This is the concept of those who have made it in life to return to their old neighborhoods and help revitalize it.  Well, today’s guest has done just that.  Tamaira “Miss Tee” Sandigfer has a conquering spirit and her mantra is “all things are possible”.  Not only did she pay off $600,000 in debt in four years, she purchased an entire city block with the goal of leaving a lasting legacy in her community.  

 

Tune in to learn about:

• Miss Tee's extraordinary journey to financial freedom
• The driving force behind her mission to give back to her community
• How her conquering spirit led her to believe that anything is possible
• Ways you can make a lasting impact in your own community

 

Connect with Miss Tee:  Website: www.sweetteetime.com www.studiotarts.org Instagram: @sweetteetime @studiotdance  Facebook: www.facebook.com/studiotdance   YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/studiotdance

 

Connect with Angela:

Instagram: @coachangelavharris   @theflowpodcastwithangela  LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/angelavharris Website: www.angelavharris.com

 

Thank you for listening to the F.L.O.W. Podcast.  The F.L.O.W. is released bi-weekly on Wednesdays and is available on over 15 platforms. Listen and subscribe to the F.L.O.W. Podcast on your favorite platform today!

 

If you've been enjoying the episodes, please share the podcast with your friends, family, and colleagues and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your reviews help us reach more people and continue to grow this amazing community.

Episode Transcript

Angela Harris (00:05):
Welcome to the flow podcast. Fearlessly leading
our way. This podcast is a spacededicated to spotlighting the
unfiltered voices of black womenand their unique leadership
journeys. I am your host, AngelaV. Harris. I'm an award winning

(00:27):
coach, speaker, author, andchampion for black women. Make
sure to like and subscribe tothis podcast to stay connected
to our conversation. Let's getready to flow
Hello fearless leaders andwelcome back to the flow Podcast

(01:01):
where we explore the journeys ofblack women leaders. I am your
host Angela V. Harris. If thisis your first time tuning in,
I'm glad you're here. If you'rea regular listener, thanks for
your support. Today's guest isTamaira Sandigfer,
affectionately known as MissTee. Miss Tee has dedicated her

(01:22):
life to being a champion for thedevelopment of every child
because they can buildconfidence character in a
conquering spirit that believesanything is possible. Our
mission is to help youth developcritical creative and life
skills through exposure to thearts and entrepreneurship. This

(01:43):
award winning fearless leaderhas mentored over 880,000 youth
across the country andunderserved communities beyond
California, with our nonprofitorganization, studio tea arts
and entertainment. Welcome tothe show, Miss Tee. Thank

Tamaira Sandigfer (02:00):
you so much. Thank you for having me.

Angela Harris (02:04):
I am honored to have you.

Tamaira Sandigfer (02:07):
Certainly honored to be here. It's always
a remarkable thing when you getto experience people do their
their excellence in their lane.So I'm just excited to only talk
to you but I'm excited to learnfrom you this morning to write

Angela Harris (02:19):
Likewise likewise and listeners I have a feeling
Miss Tee is going to take us toschool today, as her bio says
you're going to leave with aconquering spirit that believes
anything is possible. So makesure you have your notebook or
your journal ready. Right?That's

Tamaira Sandigfer (02:34):
true. I do believe anything's possible. I'm
pretty. I

Angela Harris (02:38):
just love your spirit and love your energy. So
I'm excited to dive right in.Okay, I'm ready when you are.
Okay, so tell us how did you gofrom being a young child in
Richmond, California to becominga nationally recognized
entrepreneur and nonprofitleader?

Tamaira Sandigfer (02:54):
My gosh, that is a big question. I will, I
will, I will start with youknow, a lot of the experiences
that I gained, you know, growingup in Richmond really have been
come become catalyst for whatwe're doing organizationally and

(03:16):
programs to the organization. Soyou know, growing up where, you
know, you experienced extremepoverty, you learned a couple
things. And one of those thingsis you learn how to be very
innovative and very creative andhow to stay alive. And the other
thing that you learned issurvival mode, which became
critical when the whole worldwent into survival mode during

(03:38):
pandemic. So it established meas an expert in survival. The
other thing I would offer by wayof learning is you you see the
people around, you havedifficulties, some of them are
life and death difficultiesgrowing up the way I did. So you
you learn very quickly how tobecome your brother's keeper,
your sister's keeper. And sothat is followed me, you know,

(04:00):
my entire life, I am very much apublic servant. I am always
intentional about strategicallypositioning myself to be of
service to people. And I mayhave the ability that capacity
and even, you know, the grace,to have a strength that some
people are still trying to find.So to show up in someone's life

(04:22):
by way of service or a guide toguide them out of their
situations and circumstancesthat are difficult for them, I
think is something else that hisyou know, been a major component
in what has been built and whatpeople are. Tagging is a
successes in my life. And thenbusiness entrepreneurship.
Again, I know as a culture, wealways got a hustle a side

(04:45):
hustle or, you know, thisbusiness plus this other
business or we could do hair orwe can cook real good or
recreated we all dance, we domusic, we make beats. And so
just culturally I grew up withthat around me all the time. But
it was You know, no one evercalled it entrepreneurship, they
just call it what we do so thatwe have a little extra so that
we can make it. Soentrepreneurship has been a

(05:08):
massive piece since I was 11years old, got my first job.
I've had maybe nine companies,you know, throughout my, my
lifetime, and this one is theone that this one is the one
that's become, you know, mostmost vital. This one's the most

(05:32):
me the other ones, I think I wasjust building something to make
extra money this one is reallyhas my personality, my
characteristics, my heart. Andso this is just me executing,
you know, who I am, in otherpeople's lives through
entrepreneurship. And it seemsto be the one that's working the
best. So it gives me a sense of,you know, I learned how to

(05:58):
congratulate myself through thethings that we were doing
through studio T. and So anyhow,it gives me the opportunity to
not only show up for people, butshow up as myself, and see that
it's working in the lives ofother people. So it's very
gratifying. And it's establishedme as, you know, a leader
communally. And it's also openedthe doors to, you know,

(06:21):
multitude of opportunities, butnot just for myself for every
young person that I serve as intheir family. So there's
something to be said, When youfind your purpose, when you know
exactly why you were designed tobe on this planet. There's
something to be said about that.So you know, sky's the limit.
Just keep doing what we'redoing. And it seems to be
working.

Angela Harris (06:43):
I love that, like I'm getting a guest goosebumps
is hearing you say that and justyou know, seeing your face as
you're describing it, she'sglowing. I heard you say you had
your first job when you were 11years old. What was that job?

Tamaira Sandigfer (06:58):
Oh, my goodness, I I got up at 4am
Every single morning. I was apetite, you know, five foot
little situation. And I wrappedpapers. And I did I had a paper
out. And I had two paper routes.And I had three paper routes
because my little sisterwouldn't do her paper out. You

(07:20):
know it. It was an interestingthing that I did, you know, no
one really had the money for thenewspaper in my community. So
sometimes I wasn't getting paid.But it built disciplines in me
that I use today that mostpeople find difficult to build.
So getting up at 4am with analarm clock, because they didn't

(07:41):
make alarm clocks that you plugin the wall, they made the alarm
clocks that had batteries, and Ididn't have money for batteries.
So I had to condition myself toget up at 4am Every day, at the
age of 11, I still get up a veryearly riser. And I'm intensely
disciplined. It builds characterand integrity in me even though
you know, I knew that somefamilies couldn't afford to pay
me, but they wouldn't get thenews. Otherwise, they wouldn't

(08:03):
get updates otherwise, eventhough I couldn't get the money
I was still faithful to deliver.And I'm still faithfully
delivering what I say I'm goingto do today. And again, that's
another character and integritybuilder that was built in me and
then I became a supplementalprovider for my family. So the
money that I was making, my momwas a single mom with six kids.

(08:26):
And, you know, the money that Iwould make, I didn't need a lot,
you know, just like I boughtcandy, you know, things like
that, you know, little so I gavemoney to my mom. And sometimes
that meant we got to eat dinner.So and I didn't know the gravity
of what we were living in, youknow, as a kid, I don't know
that, you know, kids reallyunderstand that. But you can
sense that, you know, the theextreme difficulty and the

(08:50):
tremendous pressure, you know,on my mom every day, so I you
know, I was helpful in that way.And I'm still helpful in that
way providing, you know, basicneeds for you know, tons of
families now where it startedout, you know, with me at 11
doing that for my own family sodeveloped, developed a forger in
me. So if I don't, you know,family needs something, you

(09:13):
know, I'm very good at going tofind help, or going to find, you
know, supplies or materials orfood I'm very good at going to
find what's needed. And I don'thave difficulty knocking on
doors and I'm a very good Askerand I think that you know, I
subscribe to the belief that youknow, you have not because you
ask not most people don't ask,but I'm a very good asker but I

(09:33):
think that was also somethingthat was developed when I was
just really young, starting outin entrepreneurship by
delivering papers at 4am in themorning.

Angela Harris (09:43):
Wow, those are some amazing lessons learned at
a very young age.

Tamaira Sandigfer (09:48):
made the difference between making it and
not making it I mean, I had alot of you know, family members
I had a lot of friends you know,people in the in the
neighborhood that that didn'tmake it but They didn't have you
know, they were trying to hustleother ways. So, you know, we
grew up during the height of thecrack epidemic, we were losing
our parents to the, to the, youknow, the drugs and gang

(10:10):
violence, you know, we didn'tknow which which students which
kids were not going to show upto school the next day, just
because they were caught in thecrossfire of something. So
really, truly getting up thatthat early in the morning.
Another really interesting thingis it made it you know, it made
it so I didn't get to hang outat night. Had to go to bed
early, to get up early. Soreally, truly, that that kind of

(10:33):
responsibility at a young age.It kept me out of a lot of
nonsense kept me focused.

Angela Harris (10:40):
Now, where exactly is Richmond, California?
What is it? Oh, it's,

Tamaira Sandigfer (10:44):
oh, my goodness, it's in the Bay Area.
So I grew up in Oakland, andRichmond. So Oakland, West
Oakland, it's not very far fromSan Francisco. It's just on the
other side of the bridge. It'sprobably the one of the most
challenging cities in NorthernCalifornia by way of, you know,
poverty, you know, gangviolence, drug violence,

(11:04):
homelessness, it's really adifficult place. But it's also
one of the most remarkableplaces communally. Just because
of what we've been able to becreate innovatively, you, that's
where a lot of our artists comefrom, you know, anywhere from
singers to rappers, that's wherea lot of our, you know,

(11:25):
innovative technology is youthink of places like DreamWorks,
and Pixar, and those places arein the vicinity of Oakland, but
but they're dealing with a lotof really, really creative and
talented young people thatcontribute to that kind of
stuff. And so Richmond is just ahop, from Oakland. So we went
from Oakland to Richmond,Richmond, you know, it's where

(11:48):
people like us could afford tolive. So it didn't offer a lot
of the benefits that a city likeSan Francisco could offer. So we
had to make our own, make up ourown stuff. And in most often,
you know, you have people in thecommunity that just stick with
to what they know, and what theyknow is not always the best,
very few of us get out. Butsomehow again, by the grace of

(12:10):
God, we were able to, and but Inever, I never lost the
commitment I made to mycommunity that if I got out, I
would always go back and pullothers out. And so now I just do
that across the country. Wow.

Angela Harris (12:32):
What career did you envision for yourself as a
child?

Tamaira Sandigfer (12:35):
Oh, my goodness, I want to be a dancer.
Okay, I just thought that wasthe coolest thing ever. I did I
have my dance hero, Miss DebbieAllen. In a show called fame, it
really inspired me. And so youknow, growing up in the hood,
again, watching television, evenback in the day with media,

(12:55):
which is why I'm very investedin media. And entertainment is
because growing up you didn'tsee people that that looked like
us being mixed wasn't the bestthing. And we grew up with that
being a bad thing. Because westraddled a cultural fence and,
and neither side was acceptingof us sometimes. But when fame

(13:17):
came out, I saw someone thatlooked like me on television for
the first time. And, and shetalked like us, like if you ever
watched the show, she was veryNew York, very brass. She was
very straightforward. And thatwas the first time I realized
that, you know, you could getyou could have a career as a

(13:38):
creative. And I watched her doit. So if you ever hear me
teach, you'll hear her voice. Ifyou look at my program, you'll
see her her thumbprint all overit. She's very much an
inspiration for me still today.After 37 years of being my dance
hero. I got to meet her for thefirst time last year and thank
you. Wow, yeah, I got to tellher thank you. And I got to
share with her some of thethings that you know, I've been

(13:59):
able to build because of herinspiration. And she's been a
sensei for me for many, many,many years and didn't know it.
So she was extremely touched byit. In fact, one of the
connectors with her and myselfis the same architects that
built her brand new performingarts studio in Los Angeles, her
and Shonda Rhimes are buildingours here in Sacramento. So that

(14:23):
was another connector and Ididn't I didn't make that
connection on purpose. That wasfine, a Divine Alignment but so
we were able to you know, havesome conversation around that
she was very encouraging. But toanswer your question, what did I
want to be I wanted to besomeone that you know, I wanted
to be a famous dancer.

Angela Harris (14:44):
What is your favorite form of dance?

Tamaira Sandigfer (14:47):
Oh, hip hop all day. I never took a dance
class. There weren't dancestudios or anything like that
growing up. In fact, I didn'tknow that people got paid to
teach until I was about 20 Maybe19 When he and I, it was just
always something that we did.So, you know, Thanksgiving you
know, or, you know, reunion orbarbecue at the park, you know,

(15:08):
the music comes on everybodynoticed steps, you know, so we
always just did all the steps.And so culturally, that's just
what we did you know, and thenthe music came on we dance and
then thank God for MTV back whenit was just music videos,
because that's where we that wasmy dance class was I would get
three minutes to learn theroutines and thriller. Way I
remembered the routines as Iwould teach it to my my younger

(15:30):
sisters. And that's how Idevelop my ability to teach and
do choreography is because youget three minutes to learn and,
and that's all you get, youknow, and then you have to teach
it so that you don't forget it.So, anyhow, that's, you know, it
wasn't until you know, muchlater in life that I learned
that people actually get paid todo this. So, you know, hip hop

(15:53):
has always been my thing Ididn't, I didn't delve a ton
into other disciplines. I didhave some interest in tap, I did
have some, but that's onlybecause of Savion Glover and
Gregory Hines, I did have aninterest in you know, like the
contemporary stuff. But that'sonly because you could, you
know, create something in closealignment with hip hop with it.

(16:13):
But as far as the traditionaldisciplines, I you know, we
offer as a something that ourkids could get into, so they're
competitive in the industry, butit's not necessarily something I
ever did so, but dance, that'sdefinitely dance and I wanted to
be rich.

Angela Harris (16:26):
Well look at you now, you're doing all that? I'm

Tamaira Sandigfer (16:31):
doing my best

Angela Harris (16:32):
you are you are. I want to talk more about Studio
T Arts and I love the work thatyou're doing because you take an
answer and approach with yourorganization and thought it's
really a family affair, becauseyou use dance as your primary
tool for engaging the youth. Butyou also engage with their

(16:52):
families and teach themfinancial education, life skills
and entrepreneurship. So whathave been some of your
highlights from that approach?

Tamaira Sandigfer (17:00):
Oh, certainly. Um, so when we first
started doing dance, you know,we, we were able to get the kids
to do some remarkable stuff. Imean, I have talent that you
know, is all over Hollywood, youknow, anywhere from Creative
Directors for Beyonce, it'sRenaissance tour to talent that
dance with the likes of, youknow, JLo, Bieber, Britney
Spears, Rihanna, Chris Brown,Usher, the list is very long I

(17:23):
have So You Think You Can Dancewinter program graduate, so
they're all over the place. Butone of the challenges we started
to experience is that, yes,these kids were great dancers,
but we were losing them, youknow, still to the streets and
stuff. And so I recognize that,okay, you know, I'm doing all
this great work with the kids,but then they go home. And if I

(17:43):
didn't start concentrating myefforts, you know, for the
parents so that the parentscould elevate with the kids,
then we would keep losing thekids, because they would just go
back to what they know. And so,you know, I would notice that
when the kids would, you know,come in to train with us. The
parents would just sit there. SoI started to, you know, tell my

(18:04):
parents, you know, okay, I'mgonna bring something so that
while the kids dance, youadvance, and I pulled them for,
you know, what, what, how can Ihelp? What can I, you know, what
can I do to make life better,easier, or less challenging for
you. And some of the key thingsthat came up is sometimes we
don't have enough food out wasone of the second thing is debt.

(18:27):
We had more check cashing placesand liquor stores than we had
banks and grocery stores in ourcommunities that we were
servicing kids and how I grewup. So I knew that financial
literacy was a massive, massivepiece of art, I had to teach
people how to get out of debt. Iwas in debt. You know, I've been
on welfare for an extendedamount of time homeless, I was
homeless, I had over $600,000worth of debt that I was able to

(18:50):
get out of, in less than fouryears. That was a whole lot of
prayer and a whole lot ofstrategy. But I started teaching
the my families to some of thethings that I had learned
organically with trying to getmyself, you know, weaned from
the welfare system, you know,out of debt. And, you know, I
wanted to own homeownership. Andthat was another thing was our

(19:12):
families, they wanted their ownhomes. And you know, a lot of
them were living in low incomehousing, I was living in low
income housing. And so justfollowing the steps and some of
the steps, my friends and Iactually started hiring coaches
so that I can learn how to teachmy people, you know, how to how
to, you know, push out of whatwas their multigenerational
norms. So while our kids danced,our parents advanced and I find

(19:33):
that I found that Okay, so westarted concentrating our
efforts. And then not only wereour kids shifting up, but our
parents are shifting up. Andthen really, the great majority
of our programs, they they camefrom me just listening to the
people and what they werestruggling with. And when I
found that there was a patternstruggle, we just implemented

(19:54):
program that would challenge thestruggle, so that that wasn't
the struggle anymore. Sobuilding Something that not only
teaches you budgeting, it alsoteaches you savings. It also
teaches you how to not go brokeat Christmas, that was a big
thing. Like a lot of ourfamilies were losing their homes
come January, February, or theywere really ill, they were
living in their cars. But that'sbecause they spent all of their

(20:14):
responsible money trying to givetheir kids at Christmas. And so
we had to start to the year toteach them how to save every
month, even if it's just $20 youhave a budget for Christmas. So
that you're not waiting untilNovember and December spending
all your money getting cashadvances, putting yourself in
debt, and then losing your youryour place to live because you
can't pay because you spent allof your money the handful of

(20:36):
months before so how to not gobroke at Christmas was one of
the first workshops that I did,and it was still today the most
popular one. And then we spent alot of money, money on food, you
know, a lot of our families, youknow, single parent families,
they work so hard, that they'retired at the end of the day. So
they drive through somethingWelcome to McDonald's may help
you they think shopping from thedollar menu is cheaper than

(20:57):
going to the grocery store andmeal budgeting. Because it's $1
burger. And so teaching them howto save money on groceries, I
have a good friend of mine, thatshe would do the extreme
couponing. So that's a whole bigthing. So just teaching my
families how to do that was thegame changer. And then I would
add that another component thathas been exceptionally valuable

(21:18):
is teaching our young people howto show up as supplemental
providers in the family. Andthat was by helping them learn
something as simple as mealprepping and cooking. And so we
started buying, you know, crockpots for our families and
teaching our kids just how to dosomething simple, like make
beans and rice, you make beans,and you have nachos, tacos,
burritos, beans, and rice, orbeans and meat and a vegetable.

(21:40):
And our kids are doing that forour parents that are you know,
working single and single parenthouseholds, our college students
needed the training. So, youknow, a lot of his stuff just
became, because we wereresponding to the needs of the
people that we were servicing.And, you know, originally it
was, yes, it was aboutperformance, but then it became
more about how to make sure thatwe're doing legacy impact for

(22:05):
our family so that we don'thave, you know, kids who are
having kids that, that continuethe pattern of poverty that
continue the pattern of, youknow, criminal activity, because
they're just trying to survive.So we did that with our kids
that would come to the studio,but then we started going into
schools and doing it at schoolcampuses, because our kids could
walk there and our parents canwalk there. I even go into

(22:27):
juvenile hall and, and teach itthere. You know, a lot of times,
that's where our young peopleare, you know, they end up
because they're trying tosurvive, and they do things that
they got to do to make it butthey ended up there. So teaching
those skills so that when theycome out, and we call it we
don't call it jail, we call itboarding school. So when they
graduate from boarding school,they're able to, you know, come

(22:49):
out with the skills that theyneed just to, you know, thrive
day to day. And then, you know,offer them something by way of
entrepreneurial training so thatthey can, you know, get the jobs
or work for themselves, becausesome of them have kids. So yeah,
that's, that's, that's the gistmost often I just do a lot of
listening and a lot of doingonce I see that, you know, we

(23:10):
can be responsive with support.Yeah,

Angela Harris (23:14):
I'm just like, completely blown away from
everything you're saying. Idefinitely sense the servant
leadership and, you know,meeting people where they are
this your deep desire andcommitment to bettering your
community. Yeah,

Tamaira Sandigfer (23:27):
well, I, you know, sometimes I think people
look around and they say,somebody has to do something.
And I think that when you'regifted with the ability to see
there's a problem. That meansyou're also gifted with the
ability to do something aboutthe problem. And most often
people see the problem and theytalk about the problem. But they
don't, they don't take the nextstep in do something as a

(23:51):
problem solver. And so I've beengifted with the ability to see
the problems, but I've also beengifted with the ability to be a
problem solver and I thinkeverybody has that in them. They
just don't always activate it.So I wouldn't say that I mean,
any any, any sort of remarkableother than I'm just a good seer
and a good doer.

Angela Harris (24:10):
I love what you just said when you are gifted
with the ability to see theproblem you are also gifted with
the ability to solve it like yousaid, I think so many people
this probably overlooked at orfocused on know what could go
wrong versus what could go rightin the situation.

Tamaira Sandigfer (24:25):
100% 100% and I like to remind people of you
know, the story in the Bibleabout David and Goliath. You
know, you can look at theproblem of the Goliath and yeah,
it's big and it's gnarly, andit's horrible, and it's loud,
it's obnoxious. And it'schallenging everything that you
and your community. You know,it's challenging your ability to

(24:46):
thrive and be better and have agood life and it's introducing
things like beer. But I alsoadd, David was he became famous
because he faced the problem.And he didn't just face the
price. problem, the problemtalked, but he talked back
problem moved and he movedforward, he moved toward the

(25:07):
problem. And so most oftenthere's a level of success,
there's a level of fame thatcomes that's added to the doer,
who's positioning themselves asa problem solver. And there's
always fear attached, I won'tsay that I learned anything that
I'm doing in a book, I didn'ttake college classes to learn
how I'm doing what I'm doing.Really, truly, I learned by

(25:30):
doing something, I didn't haveanything. You know, by way of
business model, that that wouldsolve some of the issues that
were able to solve. But I didhave a heart to help people. And
I knew how to teach dance. So Istarted with a small seed of
just gathering people throughcreative movement. And it's

(25:53):
evolved tremendously from there.And problems present themselves
every day, the only differencebetween today and 30 years ago
is I recognize that, okay, thisis inspiring fear, is giving me
some level of anxiety, thatmeans I'm on to something, don't
run from it, face it. And thenyou know, when you learn how to

(26:14):
just stay in the ring, and keepthrowing blows, you know, I love
the amount of the learning thatyou know, having done all to
stand you stand, and I'm taughtthat you stand there for and
sometimes all you got is astand. And you'll you know, so
I'll take a stand for what Iknow is not right, you know, and
it says it says, you know, mytraining, it says, You stand

(26:35):
there for and then I added youstand there for him to you get
what you stand in there for. Soeven if I don't know how to
fight the fight, I'll at leastshow up in the ring and stand,
at least they'll know I'mserious about the battle and I'm
in it. So, you know, I get Ithink sometimes there's a
there's a level of courage thatcomes with commitment to solving

(26:56):
the problem that is developed.Once you you know, you take the
first step, and then the nextstep, and the next step. And the
next step. And again, I don'tknow that I have any kind of
remarkable other than I'm a goodseer, and I'm a very good doer.

Angela Harris (27:14):
I'm curious, do you have like a favorite mantra?
Or are you kind of go back to ora scripture that you use to kind
of motivate you or ground you?Yeah,

Tamaira Sandigfer (27:23):
oh, all things are possible, who would
have thought again, and when Isay that I was on welfare. That
I would that was in my 30s. Withwith three kids, you know, I
grew up in this system. Growingup, you know, you eaten for
breakfast, we had to fightroaches in and stuff our food,

(27:46):
you make your bowl of cereal,you got to pick them out. And
that's if you add cereal, so thelevel of, of, of poverty that
that, you know, I grew up as mydaily norm to, to where I am
today that somehow he could takethis shy kid that that didn't
have a thing going for otherthan some level of fearlessness

(28:10):
because she didn't want to die.She wanted it and she didn't
want to see the people aroundher that she loves die. She
didn't want to see the people inher community they do and they
bet you want to see him die,that he can take just that a
person like me and do somethinglike what I get to do every day.
It is a privilege. It's an honorto show up in people's lives and

(28:31):
help them forward. Help themupward. Like every day is a
privilege. I'm grateful everyday do I have a marketing yet?
There's nothing impossible.There's no such thing as I
can't. There's only I won't. Youcan do in me thing. Decide what
you want. And then do it. Decidewhere you want to go and then

(28:55):
go. And I learned this God leadsby red lights. If he's not
telling you to stop, you knowwhat you should be doing? Oh,
go. Everything about your lifeshould be Go Go Green means go.
If he's not throwing up a redand you'll only do that to
protect you or redirect you. Butif he's not throwing up a red

(29:18):
light is Go baby you can havethe life you want. The only
thing that's stopping you isyou. So what do I live by?
Everything's possible. I don'thave any ceilings, any walls or
any closed doors. And I'm clearabout what I want. I want to see

(29:40):
some people really make it. Iwant to challenge the idea that
because you grew up broke thatyou can't become I want to
challenge the idea that peoplethat's in certain communities
need welfare. They don't. Theyneed to be empowered to produce
for themselves. Yeah. They won'ttell you show us wrong. I'm
going to help you show up rightit so that they can show up in

(30:02):
life as leaders as, as communitymembers that are contributing to
a thriving community, not ahurting community. And I don't
know what that, you know, Idon't know what that makes me
that hopefully it makes me agood person that's doing
something right before shetransition step and

Angela Harris (30:24):
I had a feeling you want to take us to school
today was definitely

Tamaira Sandigfer (30:32):
no, possible. That's a true statement. Most
people challenge that because ofwhat they've been through or who
they are, or who they who theirparents are, or who their
friends are. And, and Ichallenge that, a challenge that
if you're not living the lifeyou want, it's because you made
a decision.

Angela Harris (30:52):
Like you said, show up in the rain to stand
there. That's

Tamaira Sandigfer (30:56):
it. Having done all to stand there for you
stand until you get what you'restanding there for, at least at
least show up. Show up in thewealth. What most people won't
even navigate the realms thatthey want to populate. You want
to be famous, you want to be anactress you want to be a dancer,
will show up where dancers are.I don't know how to do what they

(31:18):
do, then stand there until youget it. But at least show up and
stand there. Oh, I want to beyou know, debt free will show
up. We're debt free people arewhy don't know how to do what
they do. Just stand there. Youknow, we're debt free. People
talk about how to get debt free.If you just stand there. And
listen, I promise you, you'lllearn something. Most people

(31:41):
don't even show up in the rightround that they say they want
to. They want to be successfulin you want to be a business
person, then where did thebusiness people be? Then show
up? And if you don't know, juststand there, I learned so much
through observation than I everlearned through education. Just

(32:04):
look, the answers areeverywhere. Opportunity is
everywhere. Most people don'tposition themselves to receive
those sorts of things. They talkabout how it's not available,
pay the price and be present. Gowhere the people that you want
to become like go read what theywrite. Watch what they record.

(32:27):
Listen, when they speak. Some ofmy greatest mentors have never
met me. But they've impressed meand helped me build something
special. But we've never met. Doyou see what I'm saying? Yeah,
yeah, I've never met. I didn'tmeet Miss Debbie Allen for 37
years. But she's inspired anempire. She had no clue I

(32:55):
existed. And I knew everythingabout her. So some people will
make an excuse. When watch.Nothing's new under the sun. The
wheel just keeps. You don't haveto reinvent it. It just keeps
going around and around andaround and around and around.
Watch and learn. You can bepressed. But again, back to your

(33:20):
your question. Everything'spossible. There's nothing
impossible. I just bought anentire city block a bought it.

Angela Harris (33:28):
And I want to talk about that. So I'm good.
That's a perfect segue is thatmany people talk about buying a
block, especially in ourcommunity, but you've actually
bought the blog. Share with usyour your recipe for success.
Number one, don't

Tamaira Sandigfer (33:42):
don't tell everybody. That's number one. I
think sometimes people get adream and they start sharing it
prematurely. And then they shareit with the wrong people.
Everybody is not for you. Andeverybody can't see what you can
see. So because you have avision, the dream and the goal,
it doesn't mean everybody cansee it too. And sometimes if you

(34:03):
start sharing your ideas, yourdreams, your goals prematurely,
you can encounter someone thatwill encourage you to backup to
not do it, or that's a lot. Andso I had to learn that over
time. It's a lot for you. It'snot a lot for me. That's hard
for you. It's not hard for me.That's you're afraid, I'm not

(34:26):
afraid. So one of the thingsthat I had to do is not not be
very intentional about who gotthis intel until the paperwork
was signed. And then you know,the building that I purchased,
it wasn't necessarily for sale,it came to me. So just
recognizing when opportunitypresents itself and then giving

(34:46):
yourself the courage to take astep. So the opportunity came to
me they wanted me to do somelevel of leasing. I said I'm not
going to lease the space. Theonly way I occupied this space
is if I own it, and what theywanted to do was break it up and
give me a small piece of so theonly way I'm gonna own, this
building is about own the wholething. And it's a collection of
four buildings that take up in acity block immediately. The

(35:07):
question was, how are you goingto do this? That's not your
concern or your challenge.That's me. All I need to know is
how much and get the paperworkready. And so when you ask how I
did it, you know, that was atremendous walk of faith. First,
I had to agree that I was goingto do it. And most often people
will never get in agreement withthemselves about their dreams.

(35:29):
There's always a reason how youcan't I don't ever give myself
reasons why I can't I look forthe reasons why I can, how can I
do this. And then when Iencounter somebody that says,
that's not going to work, tellme what will work. I don't want
to know what doesn't work, Iwant to know what will work. And

(35:50):
so I've found the differentprograms, it took me about a
year and a half to do it fromgetting the vision getting the
building, doing the paperwork.And then a very critical piece
for me is I didn't want soleownership, I wanted my nonprofit
to own it too. And that addedanother layer of challenge
because, you know, people getafraid when you say nonprofit,
they think nonprofits are broke.And I said, Well, mine isn't.

(36:13):
And so there was some level oflegwork that I had to do,
because I'm thinking legacy, I'mnot going to be here forever. So
no matter what happens, youknow, beyond me, the community
will always own a piece ofproperty that they can call
home, and my kids and myprograms will never be
displaced. So beyond my years,this place will exist. For

(36:36):
multiple families, for my kids,as kids as kids, so that added a
layer of challenge to theprocess. And again, you know,
trying to get people tounderstand those sorts of
things. So I had to find theright program and the right you
know, pool of resources to pullfrom so that ownership of not
just for me, but for my myorganization was at the

(36:57):
forefront of everything that Iwas doing. And it took me a year
and a half. But again, there areso many, so many moments where I
just had to stand, I just had todo just had to stand and I had
to wait and had to watch. And Ihad to observe and I had to and
then make sure that I all my keyplayers, right. And then I even
had to get in here and do somelevel of you know, activation.

(37:19):
But I had to cover the wallsthat cover the windows, I
couldn't let people see that wewere in here servicing people,
because there were otheragencies in the community that
didn't want us to come into thiscommunity. And so there was a
lot of question around can shedo it? Will she do it? And the
answer is yes. I decided this in2016. And I had, you know, you

(37:42):
create the vision for the stuff,feed the

Angela Harris (37:46):
plane, you cost

Tamaira Sandigfer (37:48):
and you then you feed it and you fellowship
with it, and you build arelationship with your vision.
So it's realer to you than youactually reaching out and
touching it. It becomes realtangibly once it's real to you
internally. And most peopledon't take the time to do that
kind of work. Again, with thebuilding, you know, it's not

(38:11):
something that I didn't think Icould do. It's something I knew
I had to do, and it was nextlevel service. So anyhow, yes,
we acquire the block. And, youknow, my objective in doing that
is not so that we solely have aplace to do our programs. But we
create a destination for peopleto come and study the model so

(38:31):
that they can activate thingslike this in their own
communities. So I needed a adestination headquarters for a
part of the city that mostpeople have written off is is
too hard to fix. So I'mdefinitely intentional about
making a point here. Because Ilived in a community that people
had written off that surelynothing good comes out of that.

(38:53):
And I'm something great thatcame out of Richmond in Oakland.
And I just need to make surethat whatever I construct going
forward, that it helps peoplesee that you can't overlook. You
can't you can't practice. Youknow, a lot of people live with
unwanted invisibility. You can'tignore the problem that people
face, especially when they'redesperate for your help. And so

(39:17):
I'm certainly making a point inbuying the property where I
bought the property so thatpeople can see that there's a
different approach that thatworks. If you just take a look
at the the people, you know, thepeople are people are
remarkable, or talented, we'reinnovative, we're creative
people, we're resilient. Andwhatever we come up with becomes

(39:37):
international trend. We are aminority, but we sure do inspire
the majority. And I think, youknow, I just got to a place
where I just like I'm a littlefed up with the fact that they
undervalue and underestimate usas a people. I think I'm gonna
change that. So that's one ofthe reasons I bought the
building in the block where Idid it so that The one we have

(40:00):
ownership a tool, I'm about tomake a point.

Angela Harris (40:03):
You are you're doing it I want to touch on
something you said earlier, yousaid that you were in debt, you
basically paid off $600,000 indebt and four years, how did you
do that?

Tamaira Sandigfer (40:19):
Oh, my goodness. You know, I was on
welfare at the time, too. And Iwas a full time college student
and I was in the process ofrebuilding my, my company. And
you know how I did it, I wouldsay miracle after miracle.
Again, I was on welfare. So youknow, we didn't have money for
food. So, you know, I survivedreally on church program, you

(40:42):
know, I had a church programthat I would do budgeting, with,
you know, a budget, a budgetbuddy, which which built a
system of accountability, whichreally helped me when you're in
survival mode, some of the, youknow, more difficult things is
structure and stability andaccountability, because you're
just trying to survive. So justhaving the stability of meeting

(41:04):
with someone weekly, and goingover my numbers, and then prayer
was massive. Again, I believeyou, most people have not,
because they asked not, Ibelieve that, you know, God is
good. I don't think he's apunisher, I think he's good. And
I think that when you makemistakes, that, you know, he'll
help you learn from them, and,and then help you come out of

(41:24):
them. So prayer was key. Andthen, you know, I learned how
to, you know, as a full timecollege student, so I learned
how to write grants, and applyfor scholarships and things like
that. And then once I, you know,learn the system of that, that
was very helpful as far aseducation, which means I could
take my money and put it towardsdebt, I put something on my debt

(41:48):
every day. And I used to getmade fun of, because sometimes I
would put like, $1 on it. But $1to, you know, the principal of
your car is big. I would savecoins, I would renegotiate some
of the things that, you know,with some of the debtors, I

(42:08):
would renegotiate terms, Ilearned that they bought things,
you know, for dime on thedollar. So I know that, you
know, if I offered themsomething, rather than nothing,
that they would work with me,and I learned that system, and I
worked at quite quite a bit. Andthen I had, you know, a large
part of the debt was me buyingmy very first building, I was, I

(42:29):
don't even think I was 30. And Ibought a half million dollar
building. And, you know, it wasthe kindness I was, again, I was
doing the thing where I wasgiving them something. So they
would get an envelope with athank you with $1 saying, I'm
doing my best. And here's what Igot for today to pay you back.
And then I remember one day,they sent me a note saying that
we're relieving you of thismassive chunk of debt that I

(42:54):
owed on the building. And sothat was a gift. But again, you
know, I took my stand that I'mgoing to pay you back but in, in
the heart of me wanting to, youknow, pay back and you know,
clean up my mess. Peopleremoved, you know, as I step
towards freedom, people weremoving towards me to help me get

(43:14):
free. And so just, you know,being honorable, again, that
characteristic tote integritypiece, some people don't ever
say okay, I how do I pay thisback? Most people just like, oh
my gosh, that will fall off myreport in seven years. So I'll
just ride it out. I didn't wantto do that. And so just putting
something towards debt andagain, looking at a budget and
finding out what can you whatcan you you know, pray for and

(43:38):
believe for and, and intentiontoward that you can bring to you
and then what do you absolutelyhave to pay for. And so, you
know, I had to do a lot ofshopping for my kids at the
thrift store and a lot ofpraying for clothes for, you
know, work stuff. I, I wouldpray for everything, my gas
tank, multiplied my gas, my gastank, just so I can get to these

(44:00):
interviews. And you know, mostoften I wouldn't even know what
the level of gas was in my car,because I had become so reliant
on asking for multiplication andincrease. And so again, that's
something that I've carriedforward. I don't know that, you
know, there's real deficit inthis world we live in, I think
that there's so much abundanceand supply around us that that

(44:23):
most often you have to ask andthen most often you have to ask
for eyes that can see it aroundyou. Because I didn't see that I
had solution. They didn't seethat there were programs for
people like me, I didn't seethat there were grants that I
could apply for I didn't seethat, you know, there was the
kindness and people that youowed money that would be willing
to do something remarkablebecause they see your effort. So

(44:44):
you know, just being able to gothrough those experiences and
seeing that there's absoluteincrease everywhere you turn.
You just gotta have eyes to seeit and then have the courage in
the confidence in your desire tobe free to take steps towards
freedom even if that means youYou pay for your meal for the
next day, but you take that $5for Starbucks, and you put it on

(45:05):
your debt. And then it became,you know, I wasn't, you know,
once I got out of debt, I wasn'ttaking that $5 and putting on my
debt, I was taking that $5 andputting it into my savings, I
was taking that $5 And I wasputting it towards the
downpayment on, you know, abuilding, I was taking that
extra money and putting that sothat I don't have, you know,
debt on my vehicles, I own allmy cars, everything in my

(45:27):
building, I own all of mycomputers, my equipment, all the
all the tools that my staffneeds to be an international
success. We own everything. Sogetting out of that debt, but
then practicing the steps hasled to, you know, a debt free
life for me personally, but alsoa debt free life for my company,

(45:49):
and my employees, and theirfamilies and my students. So it
was difficult, but I wasintentional about beating it.
And I think that you know,sometimes people say I want to
be out of debt, and I wish butwhen you want to be out of debt,
you will get out of debt by anymeans necessary, even if that
means you're gonna lose someweight because you can't eat

(46:10):
out. But you get free. And now Ican eat out whenever I want. But
I'm still very frugal.

Angela Harris (46:24):
When you have such a rich and diverse career,
what accomplishment are you mostproud of? And why?

Tamaira Sandigfer (46:36):
I would say you know, a, an endeavor. I
don't know that I could pinpointone but I would say is the
success of my young people. Youknow, my son is in college. He
went away to college. He's thefirst black male in my family to
do that. The bulk of them havealready been in jail. By the
time he's their age, theyalready have kids and different
women. By the time there is hisage. None of them have iron,

(47:00):
higher education. They all stillhustle. That's an accomplishment
as a black successful son. Thatis showing up in the world,
right? have daughters of Godchildren that are showing up in

(47:21):
the world, right. I have collegegraduates. I have high school
graduates. I have kids that wereslated for for prison that are
headliners for, you know, aheadlining Show in Las Vegas
called the Jabberwocky keys. ButI'm pulling them right out of
juvenile hall. I have, you know,not just me learning ownership.

(47:42):
My kids are learning ownership.I have a solid team of young
people that have been groomedthrough the program that have
been employees of thisorganization for the past 10
years, and are doing circlesaround everybody that thought
they'd never be nothing. That'san accomplishment. I can say I
help people. That's massive. Forme. I can say I needed help. Now

(48:08):
I'm the person who shows up tohelp. I can say that, you know,
pre COVID A lot of what we did,people didn't understand. But
then the whole world went intosurvival mode. And I was
established as an expert. And Ithink helping the world see that
there are better ways to servicepeople that live in trauma

(48:31):
informed atmospheres that dealwith multi generational poverty.
Now people are starting to seethat there are better ways to
support and serve those sorts ofcommunities. Because of how I
showed up. That's anaccomplishment. I have
grandchildren. That's anaccomplishment. I got to turn 50

(48:56):
And I'm alive. And I have asound mind and I can think and I
can still dance I can do circlesaround them little God bless a
kid don't get no don't play mysong we can still get down here.
Oh, anything Mary J all day. Allday, don't mess with me all day.
All day love her stuff. She'sinspiring to me. That that's an

(49:21):
accomplishment. I'm stillphysically able to do what I do
in lead. By way of creativemovement. That's an
accomplishment. I don't dothings that that challenged my
length of days on the planet. Idon't have habits that
challenged my length of days orquality of life. That's an

(49:42):
accomplishment because everybodyin my family has an addiction
problem. So you know what, Idon't know that I have a
singular thing. But thecollection of things you know,
make me very proud that I get tothat I get to be this, I get to

(50:03):
be this and I'm justexceptionally you know, my kids,
my young people that I mean,this is in a watch and how they
fight the fight every day andthey keep showing up to learn
something new and somethingdifferent that that to me is I'm
inspired by them. That'simpressive to me. So I don't

(50:24):
know that I have a singularthing. I think that it's the
holistic perspective of who Iget to be. That makes me very
excited, very proud to be aliveand to get to call this my, you
know, career, if you want tocall it a career, it's really my
purpose of my call.

Angela Harris (50:44):
And you are leaving, like such a massive
legacy with the work that you'redoing the hundreds of 1000s of
individuals that you serve, andwill continue to serve for years
to come.

Tamaira Sandigfer (50:55):
That is the hope that is the hope that I'm
certainly working towards it.

Angela Harris (51:00):
Yes.

Tamaira Sandigfer (51:01):
try my best.

Angela Harris (51:05):
Well, Misty, before we wrap up, I have one
final question for you. What doyou like to do when you aren't
fearlessly leading?

Tamaira Sandigfer (51:13):
Oh, my goodness, um,
that's a new thing before I I'mso invested in you know, what
I what I do what I call work,it's not really my work. So it's
always you know, in the pastconsumed so much time, but I'm
picking up some new things justbecause, you know, I'm an empty
nester and and I had to do aprocess of rediscovery, I just

(51:38):
turned 50. And somebody asked mea very critical question. They
said, so what do you like to do?And all I could think of was my
work stuff. And so I had torediscover, you know, I don't
have to run home and cook dinnerfor you know, my kids, I don't
have to, you know, tidy up afteranybody because it's just me
there. So now I have this added,you know, added chunks of time

(52:00):
where I'm like, I better figureout how to get a personal life.
So I've been doing sometraveling, and I enjoy that
tremendously. I like meetingpeople I like, you know,
learning new cultures. I'm veryanthropological. I like
studying, you know, communitiesand learning, especially, you
know, internationally, so I getto do some level of that. I'm
trying new foods. I'm a I'm acreature of habit. So you know,

(52:23):
I'll do the same things. I'mvery disciplined. But what it's
done, it's I only eat certainthings and someone said, You're
a picky eater, and I'm like, I'mnot a picky eater. I just know
what I like. And it's thisthere'll be little things so
I'm, you know, I'm exploringother communities but I'm also
exploring blurring the you know,the foods you know, I'm trying
new things. And then I wouldalso suggest, you know,

(52:48):
organically I'm really a shykid, I really am. And I know
that you know, most people Ispeak you know, to 1000s You
know, I take stages you know,often I walk red carpets and
things like that. But if Ididn't have those things slated
into my day by a very strong andamazing staff and team I spent

(53:09):
an absurd amount of time youknow, growing up just being by
myself under the bed living inmy you know, living in my books.
And so when I especially inpressured seasons I try to do a
lot of that I like to read Ilike to study the Bible is one
of my my, you know, favoritetools I can I can live there for

(53:34):
hours and hours and hours. Butyou know, that's something that
most people I don't share thosesorts of things I'm you know, I
like the you're asking thesequestions and you're easy to
talk to so but those sorts ofthings I just you know, and then
watermelon licorice, that's mynew thing. I like this
watermelon licorice and I toldmy kids you know this is I don't

(53:56):
know if this is bad or good butthis is bad number two, someone
should take this so but that'sthe gist

Angela Harris (54:05):
of your travels ever raised to DC I would love
to meet you in person. If I'mever in Cali near your studio. I
would love to come visit. Well,

Tamaira Sandigfer (54:13):
just so that you know we do I do some work in
DC in fact, I just had a handfulof kids do we walk the halls of
you know, our states, the samehalls that our presidents the
White House, we work with anorganization, the community
communication department. So wedo some communicating out what
are some of the initiatives foryou know, our country's

(54:33):
leadership and so I am in DC toso you know it literally
physically at the White Housewith my young people who are are
vetted content creators for theWhite House. So yeah, I'm there
and 100% all day. I would loveto

Angela Harris (54:50):
you. Well, thank you so much for taking us to
school today. I know I took aton of notes you dropped so many
gyms during that conversation.How can I listen? to stay
connected with you.

Tamaira Sandigfer (55:02):
Oh, that's a wonderful question a couple
different ways. I do have awebsite sweet tea, sweet tea
time.com That sweet tea time.comYou'll also find sweet tea time
on Instagram. Tea Sandy is myhandler for Facebook, I'm
definitely on LinkedIn. And thenorganizationally website is
Studio te arts.org You'll find alot about who we are, what we do

(55:25):
and how we apply that. Incommunities. You'll also find
studio tea Arts on Instagram,Tik Tok, Facebook, you name it,
we're on all the stuff YouTubefor sure. You'll also find sweet
tea time on YouTube. So I do tryto capital you know, capture a
lot of, you know, strategies,tips, you know, and put them in
video form so that people aregetting the opportunity to grow

(55:47):
even if we can't be in presentwith them. And then lastly, I'll
offer that you know, we have Ihave e courses. So one is 30
days of greatness, you can findthat on my website. And the
other one is rags to riches, itwas very important to me that,
you know, once I broke themillion dollar ceiling that I
taught other people how to doit. So there's a whole ecourse
just chronicling all of mysteps. Again, I'm very

(56:08):
disciplined and I documenteverything. So I have that out
there for people who want tolearn more grow and have self
study so they can do it whenthey have time.

Angela Harris (56:17):
I'll make sure I include all those links and
resources in the show the shownotes for our listeners. Thank
you. So our listeners. Thank youso much for listening today.
Until next time, take care.

Tamaira Sandigfer (56:32):
Bye Thank you.

Angela Harris (56:40):
Thank you for listening to the flow podcast.
As we wrap up today's episode.Always remember your unique
path, your voice and yourleadership matter. If you loved
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(57:03):
with someone who can benefitfrom these conversations. You
can stay connected with me onInstagram at the flow podcast
with Angela or visit me on theweb at Angela v harris.com.
Until next time, take care, stayinspired and keep fearlessly

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leading in your own way.