April 28, 2025 • 63 mins
A revolutionary approach to mental health emerges through Sherry James's powerful concept of "Creating Mental Wealth." Drawing from her 30+ years in corporate America and personal journey through profound loss, Sherry introduces us to a framework that transforms how we understand our emotional well-being.
The magic of Sherry's method lies in its accessibility—she teaches people to treat mental health like balancing a checkbook. Every experience becomes either a deposit or withdrawal from your mental wealth account. A walk in nature might add millions to your balance, while a toxic relationship could represent a significant withdrawal. This simple yet profound reframing helps individuals recognize what nurtures their spirit and what depletes it.
"The number one thing that supports suicide is silence," Sherry shares with raw honesty, having lost her father to suicide at age seven and her mother at twenty-seven. For decades, she kept these traumas locked away until therapy following her divorce in 2016 helped her understand how unprocessed grief affected her life. Now, through her company Phoenix Speaks and nonprofit 2020 Lives Changed, she helps others find their voice—because "the words need to be spoken in order to be healed."
Particularly valuable for creatives is Sherry's wisdom about consumption. "Be careful of what you're consuming," she advises, referring not just to food but to media, relationships, and information. "If what you're consuming doesn't pour into your art, limit your access to it." This perspective offers creatives a practical way to protect their energy while nurturing their gifts.
Ready to transform your relationship with mental health? Discover how to build your mental wealth through Sherry's speaking and coaching programs. Connect with her work at Phoenix Speaks and learn how small shifts in perspective can create profound changes in how you experience life's inevitable challenges.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
but yeah, I I'm not going anywhere.
Like as long as I'm breathing,I'm saving lives.
So, uh, if you see me in thecommunity, if you guys are, oh,
oh.
The last thing I forgot tomention is that I'm a creative
designer for a photographystudio that gives me like a $40
million mental wealth depositevery time I do it.
(00:32):
I love styling fashion shoots.
That night I met you guys.
There was a gentleman there whowas my intern 30 years ago and
now he's got his.
He's running his ownentertainment company now, which
is super cool.
He said he's got like 70 people, but it's really awesome to be
able to come back and like, giveback, like I'm so excited to be
(00:55):
able to give back and say, yep,it's possible, it's, you can do
it If you just stay focused anddon't don't hide the words.
The words need to be spoken inorder to be healed focused and
don't hide the words.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
The words need to be spoken in order to be healed.
Yeah, this is something thatcreatives across the globe need
to hear.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Hello and welcome to another edition of For the Love
of Creatives podcast.
I'm your host, dwight, andjoined by our other wonderful
host, maddox, and today ourfeatured guest is the wonderful
(01:43):
Sherry James.
Hey, sherry, so glad to haveyou here with us, here with us,
I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, welcome to the podcast, thank you.
So a little bit of history.
We just met Sherry recently.
We were at a big event that wasfilled with all kinds of
creative people I won't mentionit but what it was.
But we just randomly bumpedinto her there and struck up a
conversation, and it was areally good conversation and
(02:14):
Dwight and I kind of looked outof the corner of our eyes at
each other and said, yeah, let'sask her to be a guest on the
podcast.
So here we are.
You know, we've kind of breezedover some of your story.
I think Dwight's looked at it alittle bit more thoroughly than
I have, but I've certainlylooked at it and we think you
have a lot to share and we'rereally excited to hear it and
(02:35):
share it.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Thank you, thanks for having me here.
Yeah, if I recall correctly, Iwould say that the three of us
were probably the best dressedat the event that we were at,
and that's what brought ustogether is our obvious love for
fashion and color and all ofthose things.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yes, thank you for that.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I really was taken by reading the your contribution
to the ripple effect of impact.
I love the way that it toldyour story and it seems like
everything that you're about issharing some things that were
(03:24):
very painful for you.
To make things a little bitbetter and actually make those
ripples and touch people's livesthat, in your own words, you
may never even see.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yes, yes, dwight, before we jump in that, can we
give Sherry just a moment, kindof to tell the audience a little
bit about who she is and whatshe's about?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
That's where I was going next.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I felt that segue coming.
I felt it coming.
I felt it.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And then we'll get into the, you know, the deeper
stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, so I know that there may be a lot of people who
have not gotten to experienceyour story and the way that I
have, so how would you introduceyourself to our listeners,
sherry?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Well, thank you so much, Dre.
I appreciate that.
Yeah, so my story has severallayers, and so I always like to
start with that typicalcorporate layer, because that's
what I've been trained orprogrammed I don't know which
one to do, but I did spend wellover three decades in corporate
(04:33):
America.
I worked in various leadershippositions, from training
development.
That's going to be importantlater for a small company.
Neither of you probably everheard of AT&T.
I don't know if you're.
But I worked with them for along time.
They moved me to Dallas, theymoved me everywhere, but then,
when I got to Dallas, I loved it.
(04:54):
They wanted to move me againand I was like, nope, I'm
staying here.
I love it.
So back in the 1900s, I starteda company called Sankofa
Management, and that was me kindof leaving my past behind.
I had a lot of trauma in myearlier life when I moved to
(05:16):
Texas.
It was me kind of starting overwith a new slate, and so I
decided to call my companySankofa Management, and Sankofa
means we must return to the pastin order to move forward, which
is very interesting becausewhen I met you, gentlemen, we
were talking about how it wasour first time at this
particular event, but that,maddox, you and I had been
(05:39):
around the Dallas creative sceneeven before there was such.
And so in that span of time, inthat 30 years between coming
here almost 30 years I went intocorporate.
I spent a lot of my time leadingand mentoring others, which I
absolutely loved.
I always had a group of internsthat I would pour into, and I
(06:04):
got divorced in 2016 and went totherapy for the first time like
ever Right, and my therapist islike, well, we should talk
about I want to talk about my exhusband, of course, right, like
let's talk about this guy.
And my therapist is like weshould talk about your past.
And I'm like like yesterday,like that's about as far back as
(06:24):
I'm willing to go, andeventually she got me to break
down and talk about my parentsand talk about the fact that I'd
lost my dad to suicide when Iwas seven and my mom at 27.
And I never told anyone.
I just walked through life withthis little box on a shelf in
the corner, wrapped very tightly, that I promised to never
(06:46):
unwind.
And when I unwound it, as itturns out, I wasn't the only one
struggling.
As I decided to change mykeynote speeches from servant
leadership and projectmanagement, I started talking
about burnout in the workplaceand you know, as it turns out,
corporate wasn't too excitedabout that message.
You know people weren't hiredlike, oh, let's get shared and
(07:10):
talk about how hard we'reworking our employees, so yeah.
So I decided to branch back outon my own.
I started Phoenix Speaks in2019 so that I could now do both
things.
I love I can help people whoare in a place where they don't
understand what's going on withtheir mental health, because
sometimes we take on otherpeople's stuff and it's not
(07:33):
really ours, or we self-diagnoseit's not really ours, we might
just be having a bad day.
So I created a program calledCreating Mental Wealth.
It's a different way to look atmental health and I teach it
all around the worlduniversities, companies,
nonprofits and I just go whereI'm led.
So I was led to come to thatevent that night to meet you
(07:54):
guys.
So here I am.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
And that's beautiful.
That's quite an arc and quitean amazing story and I cannot
recommend highly enough that ifanyone wants to learn more about
the nuances of your story, ifthey're not able to actually go
(08:17):
and see one of yourpresentations in person, that
they will definitely be moved ifthey hear about what you share
in that in your entry in thatanthology.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
it's amazing thank you, yeah, and it's, and thanks
for mentioning so.
The ripple effect of impact, uh, in essence was a closing of a
chapter for me Pun intended, nopun intended, because it was
just one chapter, but it reallywas me deciding that I have
identified my trauma as such andthat I know where my trauma
(08:54):
belongs and that every now andthen, something will remind me
of it.
But writing that chapter inthat book meant that whatever
impact I was going to have hadto be positive, going forward.
I could not keep talking aboutmy trauma and my past and the
things that happened to me,because those things happened to
me so long ago.
I have evolved, hence PhoenixSpeaks, right, I am that phoenix
(09:19):
aflame rising above my ashes,right?
So it's very different.
Like, I want to help peoplehave conversations proactively,
to talk about their just everyday, just like we used to do.
I think both of us all of us areold enough to remember
checkbooks.
Remember when you forget acheckbook and you're like okay,
my deposit was $1,000 and myrent was $2,000.
(09:42):
Oh, we're eating peanut butterand jelly for two weeks, right?
We understood balancingcheckbooks and I think, for my
generation, I think we were alittle bit better at balancing
even the mental stressors of ourwork.
We knew how to turn off workand turn on home and people
don't know that anymore.
Nobody's teaching that, even toour university students.
The college students don't knowhow to balance.
Nobody's teaching that even toour university students.
(10:05):
The college students don't knowhow to balance the mental check
.
Like, hey, this is going to be abig test today.
That's probably going to be amental wealth withdrawal.
I should probably not go to arave the night before, right,
let them do their owncalculations.
What's a good deposit, what's awithdrawal?
Their own calculations what's agood deposit, what's a
(10:28):
withdrawal?
But yeah, I've taken all of thethings that I've learned in
corporate America and I now tryto make it easy to understand.
So children as young as fiveyears old we go into
kindergarten classes talk aboutfeelings and emotions and things
from Brene Brown's Atlas of theHeart.
That's required reading foreveryone on the team to
understand that there is amyriad of emotions between good
(10:51):
day and bad day.
There's so much more.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I love how you've positioned it.
I love the mental wealth, butalso the whole analogy of, you
know, checks and balances.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, the whole reconciliation analogy is
perfect.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, and you know what, when I do this keynote
guys, it's interesting because Imake them, I make everybody do
an exercise.
I'm not your regular keynoteLike I, don't just stand up
there and look pretty Like I.
I get off the stage, I amwalking around people because we
understand as creatives thatthis is an energy exchange,
right, and I don't want toproject out and down.
(11:32):
I want to be in there with you,I want to feel what's going on,
but we're dancing.
It's not a woe, is meconversation, it is.
Hey, this morning I woke up Ifelt like a million bucks.
Now somebody might've cut me offin traffic on my way here, but
I didn't allow that to be awithdrawal, and so when people
see that and feel that they'relike, hold on, I can probably.
(11:52):
Maybe I could do that too.
Maybe I could decide if thenews today is going to be a
mental wealth withdrawal or adeposit.
I think that if I lived in acountry and, as someone who only
cared about billionaires,became president, what I hear is
I need to become a billionaire.
I mean, it's simple.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Love the spin.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
You have to do it in order to keep your account
balanced right.
I mean, it's what you have todo.
There are some externalinfluences that we can't change.
The only thing we can change ishow we respond to it that hits
me right here yeah, that'sbeautiful.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Some some of these words are her words that I
actually hear right now, sothank you you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Everything happens on purpose.
Do you guys remember my wordfrom when I met you?
Do you remember the word Itried to introduce you to
Pronoia?
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Yes, pronoia, yes, oh , you remember?
Yes, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I keep remembering the essence of it, but I can't
seem to get the word lodged inmy mind Every day or so.
I'll go well, how did you saythat word again?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Just think paranoia and you take para out and put
pro in Paranoia, knowing thateverything that happens is
supposed to happen to you whenit's supposed to happen to you.
It kind of puts you at rest.
For me, anyway, once I got to50, I started caring about a lot
less.
Maybe it was just me.
Was it just me?
Speaker 3 (13:27):
be caring about a lot less.
Maybe it was just me.
Was it just me?
Well, you know, a lot of peopletake a long time to reach that
level of maturity and somepeople don't live to see it.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Agreed.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
It's compartmentalized for me.
I'm thinking about it andrealizing, yes, there's areas of
my life where I care a lot less, and then there's other areas
where I still care a whole hellof a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, but even in those, in both of those spaces,
just knowing that it's all goingto work out right.
I was in Philadelphia a fewweeks ago and someone asked me,
like you know, what do you think, what do you want to do when
you retire?
Where are you going to move to?
And I'm like bro, I just wantto know what I'm having for
dinner tonight.
Like I the long-term plans thatI can I make it through today.
(14:14):
Like, if I make it throughtoday, we'll talk about tomorrow
.
Right, but it's, it's.
We all talk about being present, but we don't know what that
means.
That means, do you have a planfor something two weeks from now
?
Yes, absolutely, but your brainjust needs today.
Just like we used to check ourcheck registers every day.
(14:34):
Every day we spent money.
We had to pull out that checkregister and write down oh,
negative, blah, blah, blah.
So maybe I should go find outwhat's one of my deposits.
Find out what's one of mydeposits.
One of my deposits is art.
I'll go to a museum.
That's like a million dollarsworth of a deposit into my
account that might, depending onthe day, not cost me a dime,
(14:55):
right?
So I walk people typicallythrough this exercise and I'm
like write down the five thingsthat bring you joy.
And people are like you know,the first couple of people that
I pick on, they're like my guys,my family.
I'm like nobody's, you know,nobody's recording this.
You don't have to say that.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
My family liar.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
You don't have to say that If it's your car, you can
totally say it's your car, Right.
But we use that kind of levityto make sure that people feel
comfortable, Right, and sayinghere are my five highest
deposits my family, my emotionalservice animal, shoes.
You know, every day it couldlook different and I have them
(15:41):
then assign a value to that.
And I have them then assign avalue to that right.
Like, well, how good does itfeel for me to have my emotional
service animal here right now?
Like it might be negative 5,000because at any moment she could
hop on the keyboard.
I'm going down this path ofwhat could happen.
However, all we're talkingabout is the value of the moment
(16:03):
being present in this moment.
The value of her being here nowis amazing.
She at 2 million plus, justbecause she's here, she's quiet,
she's calm, which is calming medown, which is also a deposit,
right.
So everything that is awithdrawal on the outside.
If we analyze it further, if westop and slow down, we do this
(16:25):
thing called seven seconds ofsilence.
If you can just give a thing,seven seconds of silence, All
right.
This is actually worth.
This is like an interestbearing activity on this call.
Hopefully everybody is gainingsome, some you know something
and some deposits.
So this is a huge deposit forme, right, and maybe that's 4
(16:48):
million.
People will always tell me thatthe negatives are more, but
they never come out that way,Like ever when we do the
exercise, they never come out.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I'm having the awareness in the moment that
some of our relationships, allof our relationships, can be
looked at.
Is this relationship a depositor a withdrawal?
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And it's amazing to me.
I mean, I wouldn't have had thelanguage for this but in the
last just few years, like threeor four, I have withdrawn my
funds out of some of therelationships that were
withdrawals.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
There you go, understood yes.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And you know I hear all this conversation.
We're kind of off topic alittle bit but conversation
about cancel culture.
I have walked away from somerelationships and I don't feel
like I'm canceling people.
I don't hate them or haveanythinging people.
I don't hate them or haveanything against them.
I didn't fire them.
I just moved away because itwas a withdrawal, absolutely.
You know I had to make thedeposit in me.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah, I love it.
Thank you so much for using thevernacular.
I love it.
That's true.
It's interesting because whenwe walk through that exercise
you just nailed it Right when Iwalk through, like, what are
your withdrawals?
And those same people whostarted out with, like family is
my number one deposit, they'realso like family is my number
one withdrawal.
It depends on you know the mood, but the truth is our
(18:26):
relationships can have asignificant impact on our mental
health and if we're not talkingabout it, especially if we're
not writing it down so this isnot popular at the college
campuses y'all Like they don'tlike this at all.
You have to write it down, don'ttype it on your phone, don't.
(18:46):
No, you need to use.
There's a thing, there's ascience behind what happens when
you write things down,especially the good things.
Today was an amazing day.
I got a parking spot right infront of my favorite restaurant
and this was where that added$5,000 to my account.
If I'm going around all daywriting down the good things
that are happening to me andbecause of my pro noia state of
(19:10):
mind, which means I already knowit's all working out for me
anyway, then all I see is good.
Are bad things happening,absolutely.
Could you look at that thing,dwight, and say, well, I think
that's terrible, sherry, and wecould both be right?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
We can both be right.
We could all be right and wecould all then be all right if
we knew how to balance ourmental well checklist every day.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Well, most of us have probably had experiences where
something came into our livesand at the time it seemed really
terrible and then later inretrospect, you could realize
how it played a key role in yourlife in a very, very positive
and powerful way.
Your life wouldn't be what itis today if it hadn't been that
(19:57):
awful thing back there.
I know I can certainly lookback in my life and see some
things that you could offer meto rewrite history, and I would
not do it.
Even though the things that Iwent through were incredibly
painful and I wouldn't wish iton even my biggest enemy, I
wouldn't rewrite it because if Irewrote it then I couldn't be
(20:21):
who I am.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
And I want to be who.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I am.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I am and I want to be who I am.
I agree, that's so important.
Just deciding, deciding what'syour narrative like, what's your
story and what of it do youchoose to bring it into this
next generation?
You know this next cycle oflife, right?
So so?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I have a question.
I'm ready Because you know ourintention with this podcast and
with everything we do withcreatives.
It is our.
Creatives are our life and ourbusiness right now, and I mean
truly.
I eat it, sleep it, dream it.
You name it.
It is.
Oh, wow, lord, okay.
(21:02):
So we talked to creatives fromall walks of life and every form
of creativity, and creativitycan show up in almost everything
and anything.
Listening to your story, you'revery much an entrepreneur.
Yes, would you call yourself acreative entrepreneur?
I mean, that's a, that's a termwe're hearing right now a
(21:23):
creative entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah.
So about terms, about terms andlabels, I would probably just
give myself like I'm an advocate, right, the work that I do
spans so many different groups,like from our, and obviously art
(21:49):
is my thing, fashion is mything for, uh, yeah, I will wear
a highlighter, neon sweater andneon boots and a white suit.
I don't care.
Like I love fashion, I love the, the arts, and also I own
businesses, right, but I don'twant to.
The two are not mutuallyexclusive, in my opinion, right,
like everyone's got their workthat they do, whether it's a
(22:12):
nine to five and in corporate,or if they're building a new
company, or if they, likeeveryone's on the same cycle,
cycle, right, everyone, at somepoint in life, you will hit a
part of a cycle where you got towork your tail off using your
body and your mind 24 hours aday, and then there's a season
of life where you don't have todo that and you can slow down a
(22:34):
little bit and you can relax andyou can recoup and you can
revitalize.
And so I think that, like whenpeople title themselves, or they
put themselves in these buckets, like I'm a creative
entrepreneur, well, what if?
What if, in six months, Idecide to go back to project
management, which I have everyright to do, am I not?
Am I no longer a creativeentrepreneur?
Do you know what I mean?
(22:54):
Like I'm trying not to putmyself in any particular bucket,
and that's very new for me.
To be honest with you, maddox, Ialways wanted to be a corporate
speaker, corporate leader andoh, by the way, I'm creative and
I do creative shit right.
Like that wasn't like the fine,fine fine print.
But in this season of my life,I am disabled, I am a business,
(23:16):
owner of a nonprofit and afor-profit.
I plan on changing lives forthe rest of my life.
That's it.
I want to have people, right,and so what happens is if you
(23:44):
put yourself in too narrow of abucket, then in some cases you
will find you're just in thatbucket by yourself, right?
As opposed to saying I'm aperson who loves people, I love
art, I have to eat, I have twochildren, one of them is 17.
So I still got to feed him too,right, but I don't want that to
define me, maddox.
Does that answer the questionat all?
(24:06):
Like, I don't want to bedefined by a label or a term.
I am creative, I am an author,I am, you know, a TV show host,
because that's what creatives do?
We do all the things, we do allthe things.
So yeah, I am, I'm very happyin my life and it's the first
(24:27):
time that I think I've beencomfortable saying that.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Oh, I'm so glad that you are breaking out of all
those boxes because just the waythat you're sharing it, I'm
thinking it's going to give ourlisteners permission to to look
at themselves and think abouthow they don't have to be
defined by their job title orwhere they are in any particular
way that they might measurethemselves and they can listen
(24:52):
to their heart.
I'd heard that you mentionedyour team and you mentioned a
lot of the ways that you reachout and you have events where
you're among people.
It sounds like community is abig part of the things that you
do.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Absolutely yeah.
So one of our business part ofour business model when we
started Phoenix Speaks and funnystory.
You guys will have to know thisstory because they'll say you
haven't talked to Sherry.
If you don't know the 2020 lifechange story, you guys will
have to know this story becausethey'll say you haven't talked
to Sherry if you don't know the2020 Lives Change story.
So I decided to start anonprofit after I started
Phoenix Speaks and you know Iprayed about it, I slept on it
(25:32):
and I woke up with this number2020.
So I'm like we're going tochange 2020 lives next year.
That's what I thoughtIncorporated my nonprofit with
that right because I wanted tobe very present in the community
.
I wanted to make sure that Iwas doing just as much work in
the community that I was doingfor paid speaking gigs.
As it turns out, the name 2020Lives Changed ended up having a
(25:55):
lot more impact than I evenwould have imagined.
Right Like I was like I don'tthink I got it until like August
and I'm like you know whaty'all?
The name of our company is 2020Lives Changed.
While everyone is like 2020 isthe worst, but, as it turns out,
that was when people were readyto talk about their mental
(26:16):
health.
People were confined to theirhomes and had no choice but to
talk about their mental healthin some cases, right and so it's
so awesome to see how theuniverse aligns when you lean in
and say, hey, I'm here to serve.
I don't know what it is aboutmy corporate background that I'm
bringing into this season of mylife, I just trust it.
(26:36):
And that's what happens.
You end up with an organizationcalled 2020 Lives Change, where
you can go into schools and,like the Veterans, associations
and professional developmentplaces who can't afford to bring
a keynote in, but we can stilltouch that community and teach
them how to be mentally wealthy,teach them how to talk to their
(26:57):
kids about something more thana smile sheet good or bad day,
right.
So the community aspect has beenbaked in since the beginning.
It's my favorite part, which iswhat makes it so difficult to
get paid to speak, because if Igo, I'm going to speak right,
and so if I get paid, that'snice.
That rarely happens in the past.
(27:19):
We're changing that in 2025 andbeyond, because I thought this
was, this is my philanthropy,right?
I created this to give thisback, and so community not only
helped to build it, because myteam is all volunteer and
they've been with me since dayone, right?
And so that says a lot aboutthis mission and the fact that
we believe everybody has theability to be mentally wealthy.
(27:41):
They just knew how to do it.
If we just could show them how.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
That's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, your story is incredible.
I would love to know where thisall started.
You know what?
Where were you and whathappened when you realized that
you wanted creativity to spillinto everything that you did?
Speaker 1 (28:06):
A really good question and I'm so happy you
asked it because I've beenholding this on my heart for a
while.
So thank you, maddox, you arekind of in my psyche.
So my love of fashion neverleft.
So for your listeners who havenever met me, I am five foot two
inches.
(28:28):
I'm a tiny thing, pretty closeto bald, but before this I had
dreadlocks.
So I would come to work prettymuch dressed no different.
Like my jewelry, I always worea black leather cuff band.
So your eyebrows, maddox, Ilove you so much.
(28:49):
So I say that to say, and thatwas a statement piece for me,
right, that was a very boldstatement pieces.
Like you know what?
I am artistic, I am creative,but I also am managing a
multimillion dollar PMO.
I am doing both things at thesame time with red glasses and a
(29:09):
red lip and maybe red bottoms,right, like.
So, like, my creativity justkind of moved around a little
bit, right.
My love of fashion and the artsnever stopped, even while I was
working in corporate.
I was one of the chartermembers for the Perot Museum.
I had an opportunity to seeMichelle Obama and Spike Lee, so
the arts were always a part ofme.
(29:33):
That doesn't ever go away.
Who pays?
Speaker 2 (29:36):
the bills.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
That might change from time to time.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Take us back to the very beginning, though.
Where did it start?
I mean, were you, like you know, five years old and you know
making mud pies in the garden?
Speaker 1 (29:51):
or where did it start ?
That was not it, um, I was.
So where did it start?
I don't, I don't know.
I think, well, my well, um, I'mgoing to fix this light y'all,
or I'm not, it's done.
So my mom actually was a modelbefore she died, when she was
much younger, and my childhoodactually used to be looking
(30:13):
through, like Lord and Taylor,magazines and, oh my gosh, I
loved Vogue and Harper's Bazaarand Cosmopolitan.
That was my kind of escape.
So I was a mad nerd, right.
So imagine me in, like fourthgrade that's probably my
(30:39):
earliest memory of me falling inlove with poetry and we got a
summer reading assignment toread some, read a poem or a
series of poems and come backand talk about it.
I was in the fourth grade, um,and I came back and I wanted to
recite um the raven from EdgarAllan Poe.
And so I remember thecounselors.
I got sent to the counselor'soffice because they were like,
(31:01):
why is this poor baby readingPoe?
Like, why is she reading EdgarAllen Poe?
I was supposed to be reading,like whatever little kids were
reading at the time, right?
So there's always been acombination between me reading
and exploring the world throughbooks, because, as an only child
as an only child after my daddied, you know, as an only child
(31:22):
after my dad died.
I had to then be there with mymom as she slowly descended from
this place of despair intodepression to, ultimately, her
death.
The thing that was consistentfor me was fashion and books.
I want to know more, I want toread more, I want to see more
about more places.
That was my therapy.
(31:42):
Art was likely my therapy forespecially the time between my
mom and dad's death, becausethere was so much trauma that
happened to me in that time, andso my escape, if I didn't have
a magazine to look through, wasto go find a book, and the
bigger the better.
The longer I could read, thelonger I felt safe.
I felt safe in books.
(32:02):
Read the longer I felt safe.
I felt safe in books.
And so I remember thinking thatlike I'm going to be an author
one day and I'm going to write abook, and just having so much
negativity coming to me from myfamily, like you're not going to
write a book, like you're notgoing to you know you're not
going to you're going to end upjust like your dad, and you know
again, that's one of thosechallenges of healing and going
to end up just like your dad andyou know again, that's one of
(32:24):
those challenges of healing andgoing to therapy and ripping
that box open is then you startremembering some of those things
.
But then I also remember thefond memories of me going.
I'm going to show you.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Oh, you took the words right out of my mouth.
I was going to say, girl, Ialready see you and know that.
That just spurred you on.
I'll show you it did.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
It really did.
But it's so interesting becausenow that I'm older, I'm
researching the bond betweenBlack mothers and daughters and
it's so deeply broken for somany generations back.
So when we think epigenetics,right, a lot of people think
(33:16):
epigenetics when we're talkingabout Holocaust survivors right,
and mothers didn't know how tolove us.
Their mothers didn't know howto love them.
Their mother's mothers, andsometimes their grandmothers,
were slaves.
They weren't taught nurturingand you know, spending time and
quality time and being present.
(33:37):
No, they were working in fieldsand they then taught their
daughters not whatever you do,don't work in a field but didn't
give any direction to doanything else.
And so then now these youngwomen are like I just don't want
to be like my parents.
I will move as far away as Ican, I will take a job,
(34:23):
no-transcript mothering.
So I've got to do somethingabout it.
So when I was able to dosomething about it, I looked
back and realized I hadeverything I needed.
I don't need anything, I don'twant for anything.
I've done all the things.
I've flown in the jets and I'vebeen in places on the beaches
(34:47):
and I knew this day would comeLike I feel, like when I was
seven, eight, nine years old andI would escape to books.
I saw myself at a fashion event, at a, you know, at a
hoity-toity fashion event where,you know, several people knew
me when I walked in the room.
That was my escapism, right, myability to project.
(35:08):
No, that is who I will be and Iwill continue to work until I
get to be that and then tomorrowI get to be that times two,
right.
So I hope that answered yourquestion, maddox, just the kind
of the step from the beginningof like.
I've always loved art andfashion and also have a little
dark.
You know, there's a dark sidethat I've always kept at bay,
(35:30):
and my reminder was my leathercuff bracelet, right, so that
that never went away.
My love for the art never wentaway.
My love for fashion never wentaway, and I am a continuous
learner.
I read six to seven books amonth and I want to be smart
enough that I can supportanybody in the community who
(35:51):
needs me, and if I don't know it, I know someone who knows it
and I want to be able to makethose connections, and so that's
how we got to meet.
I'm so honored to have been,you know, been a guest on your
show.
This was amazing.
But, yeah, I'm not goinganywhere.
Like, as long as I'm breathing,I'm saving lives.
So if you see me in thecommunity, if you guys are, oh
(36:15):
oh.
The last thing I forgot tomention is that I'm a creative
designer for a photographystudio that gives me like a $40
million mental wealth depositevery time I do it.
I love styling fashion shoots.
That night I met you guys.
There was a gentleman there whowas my intern like 30 years ago
(36:36):
and now he's got his.
He's running his ownentertainment company now, which
is super cool.
He said he's got like 70 people, but it's really awesome to be
able to come back and like giveback, like I'm so excited to be
able to give back and say, yep,it's possible, you can do it If
you just stay focused and don'thide the words.
(36:57):
The words need to be spoken inorder to be healed.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Yeah, this is something that creatives across
the globe need to hear.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
Yeah, it is, it is, and I think it's great that you
have this perspective of beingable to see how that intern went
on to have a flourishing career, on to have a flourishing
(37:28):
career.
Are there other great successes?
Speaker 1 (37:29):
like that that you can reflect on and share with us
.
Yeah, this is going to be.
This is going to be.
This is where the conversationgets awkward a little bit.
You ready, maddox, hold on,hold on, we're ready.
No, it's not that bad.
So there was a gentleman that Irepresented when I still had
Senkosa management and he wasone of the most talented spoken
word artists that I'd ever met.
(37:50):
I love poetry.
It's not all Edgar Allan Poe.
Obviously I've got Mayatattooed on my arm, so it's not
that bad.
But this guy, I just lost mytrain of thought.
I almost made it Maddox throughthe call and I did, you know.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
I did that a few minutes ago, but it came back,
thank goodness.
So don't feel bad, it justhappens.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Sometimes we have to hop the track, and that's okay.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
No, I mean it's gone.
Maybe ask the question again.
I love this.
I want people to hear thisbecause this is how you use.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Yeah, I was just saying you'd shared how you met
the intern who had gone on tohave his own huge success.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
And were there other similar stories that you could
share?
Speaker 1 (38:34):
So, tim Ross, thank you so much.
He's always good to have ayounger, smarter, a younger
brain, more elasticity in theroom.
That's great.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
That's why I have him .
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Good job, good job.
We needed this.
We needed this today.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
I'm smart.
That's why I have him.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
So you did a good job , thank you, maddox.
So Tim Ross, when I met him, Irepresented him.
He wanted to be, he wanted tobe a rapper, right.
So he's this amazing lyricist.
I remember one of his eventswas here in Dallas and he said
you guys don't believe that Ican just rap about anything.
(39:13):
And he gave he had me, ofcourse, as the manager, cause
that's what we do.
We did back then uh, giveeverybody big post-it poster
boards and they had to write aword on it and whenever he would
point to you, you would put thesign up and he would put that
(39:33):
word in his presentation or inhis rap, right.
So I took his information andhis music to New York City and I
shopped him to a particularrecord label and I had to come
back and I cried the wholeflight back because I had to
tell him that this particularrecord label said there is no
room for good boys on bad boy.
And it completely like I meanit crushed me to have to go back
(39:59):
to say that because the talentthat this young man had, I was
just determined that he wasgoing to get signed Like.
I just knew it Like there was no, I had no doubt.
But when you fast forward totoday to you know, recently this
particular person has millionsof followers online.
He now has a program he callsthe Basement and, with his
(40:24):
people, called the BasementDwellers.
But he's and he's a.
He's a preacher, he's aminister, but not the kind that
you see in churches standing onpulpits like he and his wife,
juliet, talk about parenting.
They talk about one of theirepisodes, one of their episodes.
I want to say that someoneasked a question about women
(40:46):
being honest with their husbandsand Tim's response was most of
you can't handle your wifegiving you the opinion that she
really has of you, like you knowwhat I mean so he's not just a
typical, you know, he's justlike here's how you can live
life as a married Christian man.
You know he's like stop askingher for her opinion, because if
(41:06):
she tells you the truth, yourfeelings are going to be hurt.
But this man is a he's doing,he's living so much beyond what
he thought he was going to be.
Right, he thought he was goingto be this, you know, clean
rapper, this Christian rapper,which would have been great, but
it would have been A associatedwith this particular agency,
(41:28):
which right now he wouldn't wantto be.
Right, that's one of my biggestsuccesses, right?
Just to say, hey, I sowed aseed, I planted a seed, and I
watered it and I pruned the treea little bit and then I left
and to come back and to see thatit is, it's bearing fruit by
the millions, um, because Ibelieve that, as a creative, you
(41:49):
should strive for success andnot fame.
Fame is short-lived, success isforever right, say that again
that means I can go to thegrocery store without people
taking pictures of me and nobodyknows who I am, and I can live
and move about the planet theway I want to.
But having all that you need isgreat.
(42:10):
When you see someone that youplanted a seed in and they've
gone on to become this amazingexactly what they were supposed
to be there's a sense of justlike I'm doing this right, like
I didn't know what I was doing.
I just planted a seed.
I planted a seed and I taughtand I coached and I mentored and
I did what?
Again, what I felt was theright thing to do.
(42:31):
So there's quite a few storieslike that, but I'm not like I
don't.
Those aren't the ones that Iwant to talk about, right?
I mean, I want to talk aboutthe folks that I haven't met yet
, who don't know that it's okayto talk about not being okay,
and that I say this on everypodcast that I'm on.
(42:55):
The number one thing thatsupports suicide is silence, and
we can't do that anymore, right?
And so if people are, you knowthere's 988, there's a hotline.
I was a big part of the pushfor 988 to become a resource for
if people are struggling andthey need someone to talk to, to
talk them through a crisis.
They can do that by calling 988.
(43:16):
And, depending on which cityyou're in, that should go to a
crisis helpline center and notto the police station.
Right?
So, behind the scenes, like, Iwill never stop working for the
community when it comes tomental wealth, all of us will be
mentally wealthy.
I'm going to be sure of it.
I'm going to make sure that weare.
And then we want to make surethat the next generation can see
(43:40):
that there's hope somewhere.
Right, the hope always comesfrom art.
It always comes from thecreatives.
We are the ones who actuallyleave the imprint for this part
of our era, for this era.
Right, people will go man, wereyou around during 2020?
Like, yep, I lived through it.
Were you around when?
(44:00):
Yep, I remember when that wentaway?
Yep, I remember therepercussions of that.
So, know that we are now theelders.
We talk about this, right,maddox?
Like we are now the elders.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
Nothing we can do about it.
It is where we are Now.
What do we do with that?
Speaker 2 (44:16):
power said about silence is, you know, not the
way we maintain mental health orwealth.
I've done some studying aboutshadow and one of the things
that they teach us, you know, isthat shadow is anything that we
(44:38):
hide, deny or repress, and ifyou hide, deny and repress long
enough, it will grow in power towhere it can overcome, you,
take you over, and we're seeingthis played out in the news
every day.
We're seeing it played outbecause people have.
We all have light and darkinside of us, but when you can't
(44:58):
give the dark a voice, I havelearned and Dwight can attest to
this the darker voice.
I have learned and Dwight canattest to this that when I'm
feeling dark, I have to get itout of my body, and the way I do
that is to speak it out loud tosomebody that's there to hear.
Can't speak it out loud in aroom by myself.
I have to speak it out loud ina manner that it gets heard by
(45:20):
at least one other human being.
Speaker 1 (45:24):
And then it dissipates.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
It dissipates when you can get it out of your body
like that, giving it a voicehelps to diminish it, because
shadow work says that darknesscannot survive in the light of
consciousness.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
Well, but nor can light survive without the dark
right, so they both have toexist um either.
If they didn't both exist, thenneither would exist.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
So we live in a, in a universe of duality, exactly
yes, can't have up or down isthat I don't.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
I don't know that we should.
So I really wish we could getaway from the light and dark
vernacular Right, becausesometimes dark just tends to
always have a negativeconnotation.
And so shadow work, in myopinion, like my shadow is.
My shadow has her place.
She should always be behind me.
I should never see my shadowbecause there's nothing I can do
(46:21):
about it.
I've already passed throughthat place right Now.
Whatever, if you get my shadow,it's because you miss me, you
miss the real me.
If you get my shadow and thatdoesn't mean just like actually,
physically speaking, when I'mwalking I can't see my shadow.
I typically always walk withthe sun behind me, right, and
(46:42):
that's literally andproverbially like.
I want to make sure that thepeople behind me are carrying
the same radiance of lightinside of them that I am, so
that there is no shadow cast.
There is nothing dark or bad,it is just a different
perspective, because the samething that was terrible for me
40 years ago.
I'm so thankful for it today.
(47:03):
So it wasn't good or bad, itwas what it was meant to be.
It's that pro noia mindset,right, it's not good or bad, it
just is.
Alan Watts does some significantstudies.
I loved Alan Watts.
If you've listened to him andlistened to his work, he talks
so much about us assigning agood or a bad and instead of
just being, we are humans.
(47:25):
Being In this moment.
Shadow work can have a negativeconnotation to some people.
Right, maddox?
I understand what you're saying100%.
The challenge is, when we'respeaking to younger people,
sometimes they're very literal,right?
Or sometimes they'll take itand they'll Google it and
they'll be like, oh and whatever.
The first thing that pops up,which means whoever paid for the
(47:48):
first ad, is what peoplebelieve.
And so that's one of the otherthings about creating mental
wealth is understanding thatexchange of energy.
Maddox, when you're like, Ijust have to say it to someone,
it's an energy exchange, becauseif you say it out loud in a
room to yourself, it just comesback to you and you're like I
need now, I have.
Now I'm disappointed in myselfbecause I said it out loud and
(48:11):
as opposed to an energy exchange, as long as it's a healthy one
you're making deposits.
This is a withdrawal for you.
So you're making, but you have.
Did you choose to make adeposit instead of withdrawing
from others?
Because you are being withdrawnfrom, which is very easy for us
to do Having a bad day.
Don't talk to me, don't call me, don't touch me.
I don't want to.
(48:31):
That's kind of a human, sadly,even more so after 2020.
People are like.
I'd rather not people for thenext six months.
You wouldn't say that before thepandemic, right, but that
exchange of energy, maddox, thatyou talk about is what we
encourage in this creatingmental wealth.
Who gives you the biggestdeposit?
(48:52):
You don't have to call them.
Maybe you can just shoot them atext and be like hey, I just
want to let you know I wasthinking about your friend, and
that person could have been inthe rock bottom of most rock
bottom places and that text wasfree, took you three seconds to
do it, but it could have verymuch saved someone's life.
And so, especially in times whenthere's a lot of chaos and
(49:14):
volatility in the news andsocial media, like, well, what's
what do you have right here?
Like, but what's what do youhave right here?
Right here on this screen arethree creatives who care enough
about the community to cometogether, have a fireside chat,
as it were.
This, this won't ever end Right, there's always going to be
(49:35):
people like us, people who arecreatives, who will find a way
to keep the art alive, to keepthe you know fashion we'll say
fashion forward.
Whether we're in a courtroom, aboardroom or a lunchroom, right
, we'll always stand.
I have a feeling the three ofus will always stand out
wherever we go.
But that is planting a seedinto the next generation to say,
(50:00):
okay, if she had the nerve towear red lipstick and red
glasses, maybe I could do thattoo, right?
So I love that we're at thatage that we can just be.
Speaker 2 (50:13):
It's definitely a personality thing that totally
suits who you are and yourenergy.
I think that that might lookridiculous on some people if it
didn't fit their energy.
I think that that might lookridiculous on some people if it
didn't fit their energy.
You know, as a beautyprofessional for 40 years, one
of the worst things I would seeother beauty professionals do is
put the latest trendy haircuton somebody that it didn't match
(50:36):
their persona.
It didn't match who they wereat all.
You know you have hair that'sabout an eighth of an inch long
and it's bleached blonde and itlooks absolutely fabulous on
your skin tone and with whatyou're wearing.
You look like a well, I'd say amillion dollars, but somebody
used to every time I'd say thatthey would say what do you mean?
Green and all green andwrinkled.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
Wow, you know what Next time someone says that say
no, uh, like the black card, itjust like.
No, like the black card.
Just flip the switch and justtell them no.
Speaker 2 (51:10):
Yes, your look definitely is an extension of
your energy and who you are, asit should be.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
Thank you, yes that, thank you, yes.
So, sherry, what if you weregoing to sum it up and share
some words of wisdom for anycreative that might be going
through a challenging time intheir creative journey?
What would you say to them?
Speaker 1 (51:41):
I don't want to.
I'm not going to say thestandard keep going right,
because everybody says that.
Um, I'm going to say theopposite.
If your body says stop, thenstop, listen to your heart.
Um, your, your heart and yourmind work in sync.
Um, actually, your heart, yourmind and your gut work in sync,
actually your guts in control.
(52:01):
So for my creatives that areout there, I need you to feed
your mind by feeding your bodythe right things.
One of my best friends, johnSally, was on an episode of my
show and he refers to meat aslike carcasses, like you're
eating other dead animalcarcasses.
That being said, be careful ofwhat you consume as a creative,
(52:26):
whether that's actually eating,whether it's what you listen to,
it's what you see, it's whatyou read.
Be careful of what you'reconsuming, and if what you're
consuming does not pour intoyour art, I would suggest you
limit your access to that.
Creativity exists when you areinspired by things externally,
but then you go internally tointerpret it.
(52:48):
So just be careful what youconsume.
Doom scrolling for hours at atime does not help your craft.
That social media was createdto keep you distracted, but you
were born with the ability tocreate, and now we have amazing
tools with AI to allow you tocreate and then share that art.
(53:11):
Just don't get caught up in theweb.
That's it.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
You know, I am pretty far on the spectrum, leaning
into an empath, and I suspectthat there's probably a pretty
high percentage of creativesthat are in that spectrum
somewhere that are empaths.
And we do have to be verycautious about what we consume.
And you're right, it's what youread, it's what you look at,
it's what you watch, it's whatyou eat, it's what you drink,
it's everything.
(53:47):
I particularly have to be verycareful about what I consume
visually, because I'm extremelyvisual, really discern reality
from fantasy Like I cannot, asan empath.
I cannot watch a horror filmbecause I'm in the film, I'm the
(54:11):
one that the monster is chasingand I don't.
You know.
It's so real to me that I can'tsay, oh, it's just on the
screen.
My nervous system reacts likeit's actually happening to me
and it's been that way my wholelife.
And I know that's the empathpart of me.
And so I have to be verycareful about what I consume.
News is the same way.
(54:32):
I have to be very careful aboutwhat news I consume, big time.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely Agreed,
wholeheartedly, I mean.
Speaker 2 (54:42):
I love what you're saying right now about be
cautious about what you consume.
Nobody else has said that inany of our interviews.
That's not necessarily aquestion interview I don't use
that word necessarily questionthat.
We've asked other creatives,but you're the first person that
has come up with that as ahere's my words of wisdom and
it's just like wow, yeah, Likeding ding ding, ding, ding hit
(55:05):
the bell.
Speaker 3 (55:06):
And I think that we need to appreciate all that
you've said, because one of thethings that you shared before
was just with the whole.
Your whole program is anotherway of approaching the topic of
equanimity, in a way, but alsobeing in control of what you can
(55:28):
be in control of.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (55:31):
Bad things are going to happen, but here's the thing.
They were probably going tohappen.
Anyway, you can choose how youshow up.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely nomatter what's happening.
We have a say in what ourexperience is of it.
Speaker 1 (55:50):
We do and we determine how it gets written,
right.
I mean, I keep going back tothat and I don't know if at some
point somebody's going to goman Sherry said that but, like,
like, literally, at some pointpeople are going to refer to the
art that we collect and buy and, and you know, donate, like
someone's going to say our namesat some point.
(56:13):
Right, and so when you knowthat you live differently, you
walk differently, youcommunicate with people
differently.
It's not just about me, it iswhen I'm writing and when I'm
creating.
You know things, but this is mygift is for others.
As a creative, your gift is forothers.
It's not to be kept foryourself.
(56:34):
It's a gift that was given toyou so that you can amplify that
gift and give it to others.
But make sure that what you'regiving is something that is
healthily consumed, right?
So just like we want to watchwhat we're consuming, we should
also watch who's consuming whatwe create.
There are some parts of myconversation that I obviously
don't tell if I'm in akindergarten class Completely
(56:57):
irrelevant, not top right, Nottime to talk about it, wrong
audience.
And as creatives, we need tohave that amount of emotional
intelligence as well andself-awareness, to understand
that it's not always time totell our story.
Sometimes it's just to say hi,Right.
And once that relationship hasbeen established and there's a
safe place for you to share,then, Maddox, the way you
(57:19):
mentioned, make sure that theperson that you're that's
receiving that energy can handleit, that they've got the
bandwidth.
And so when we talk aboutwealth, it's an easier
conversation, Like how are youdoing today?
How's your mental wealthaccount doing today, Maddox?
How are you feeling?
You feeling 5 million-ish orabout 200?
Like where are we at?
Speaker 2 (57:39):
You know, I would have to say, after this
conversation I am feeling muchmore mentally wealthy than I
felt beforehand.
So thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (57:50):
Yay.
Speaker 2 (57:51):
I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (57:52):
All right, this has been a complete joy.
Thank you.
It's awesome, Dwight.
What about you?
What's your?
What's your balance sheet?
Look like.
Speaker 3 (58:03):
Oh it's.
I'm seeing lots of zeros.
Speaker 1 (58:04):
Well, you know what?
We're going to be seeing lotsof zeros for the rest of 2025.
Even though it's it is the yearof the snake, I know we're
going to do some.
It's the year of the snake,which is a very good year from
pretty much everybody elsearound the world.
So we're going to use ourparanoia skills and make this
our best year ever.
We're going to be the mentally,we're going to be the
(58:26):
wealthiest ever, mentally andotherwise, and until then, I
will see you at some amazinggathering somewhere with a bunch
of other amazing people, I'msure, sometime soon.
Speaker 2 (58:39):
No doubt yeah.
Speaker 3 (58:43):
I know I, I know that we're uh, we're running a bit
over time, but uh, do you havetime for a few rapid fire
questions?
Speaker 1 (58:51):
I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (58:52):
Okay, Uh, first question what's your creative
spirit animal?
Speaker 1 (58:58):
Uh, black Panther.
Speaker 3 (58:59):
Ooh, love that.
Speaker 2 (59:03):
That is fitting you, sexy thing.
Speaker 3 (59:11):
What's the best decision you've made in your
creative career?
Speaker 1 (59:16):
Never stopping.
Speaker 3 (59:20):
That hits and what's one way you give back to your
creative community.
Speaker 1 (59:29):
I am the silent partner, so I connect people
with people who they need toknow, even though they don't
know that I'm the person thatdid that.
That gives me a joy that Ican't explain when people are
like, oh my gosh, I don't knowhow this person ended up in my
inbox and then, you know, I getto just watch this beautiful
(59:50):
thing grow.
So my, I like being behind thescenes and just making things
happen.
Sorry y'all, that philanthropicside.
I actually like not tellingpeople who I work with.
It's not, I don't do it for myown glory, I do it because it's
the right thing to do.
Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
So, yeah, I love that .
That's you're.
You're like the fairy godmother.
Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
I totally will receive that.
I am fairy godmother for therest of this year.
I like it.
Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
Just sprinkling gold dust on everyone.
Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
We'll do that when we see each other out.
We'll just do our little.
Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
It'll be our own little.
Speaker 3 (01:00:36):
Well, I've got to tell you, this has been
absolutely delightful.
Is there anything that youwould like to share with our
audience that we haven't talkedabout?
Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
Yeah, so shameless plug, since it's time for that
right, because creatives, we'realways hungry.
We always need to eat right.
Starving artists is a thing, sowe recently, this year, started
a speaker academy at PhoenixSpeaks, and so we have speakers
that are traveling all aroundthe world to speak.
What I'm noticing is that thecommunity needs someone to teach
(01:01:10):
them how to speak eloquently infront of people, and that's a
new offering.
Interestingly enough, the eventthat I met you guys, where we
met, I think, a couple of peoplekept saying like I'm struggling
with speaking, I hate speaking,I don't want to be a peer, I'm
a troubled speaker, and it'sliterally one of those moments
where I was like I should justgo up and say you do know I
could help you with that.
Like that's literally what I'vebeen doing for 30 years, and so
(01:01:32):
I encourage people to reach out.
I mean, allow me to be creativeand support creatives, not just
in the photography world, butalso when it comes to speaking
skills, because I, you know, Idid the toastmasters thing for
two decades, which might make mea masochist, I'm not sure, but
I learned a lot about how toeffectively communicate, and so
(01:01:54):
that's what I would love foryour listeners to do is find me,
hire me or refer me so that Ican continue to give back.
Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
Well, and we will make that very easy for them.
So, for the listeners, justknow that you can look in the
show notes and find the waysthat you can connect with Sherry
and what she has to offer.
Thank you so much for this.
This has been amazing, yes anabsolute delight.
Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
Thank you, Sherry.
Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Thank you too, until we, until we see each other
again yes, yes.
but yeah, I I'm not going anywhere.
Like as long as I'm breathing,I'm saving lives.
So, uh, if you see me in thecommunity, if you guys are, oh,
oh.
The last thing I forgot tomention is that I'm a creative
designer for a photographystudio that gives me like a $40
million mental wealth depositevery time I do it.
(00:32):
I love styling fashion shoots.
That night I met you guys.
There was a gentleman there whowas my intern 30 years ago and
now he's got his.
He's running his ownentertainment company now, which
is super cool.
He said he's got like 70 people, but it's really awesome to be
able to come back and like, giveback, like I'm so excited to be
(00:55):
able to give back and say, yep,it's possible, it's, you can do
it If you just stay focused anddon't don't hide the words.
The words need to be spoken inorder to be healed focused and
don't hide the words.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
The words need to be spoken in order to be healed.
Yeah, this is something thatcreatives across the globe need
to hear.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Hello and welcome to another edition of For the Love
of Creatives podcast.
I'm your host, dwight, andjoined by our other wonderful
host, maddox, and today ourfeatured guest is the wonderful
(01:43):
Sherry James.
Hey, sherry, so glad to haveyou here with us, here with us,
I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, welcome to the podcast, thank you.
So a little bit of history.
We just met Sherry recently.
We were at a big event that wasfilled with all kinds of
creative people I won't mentionit but what it was.
But we just randomly bumpedinto her there and struck up a
conversation, and it was areally good conversation and
(02:14):
Dwight and I kind of looked outof the corner of our eyes at
each other and said, yeah, let'sask her to be a guest on the
podcast.
So here we are.
You know, we've kind of breezedover some of your story.
I think Dwight's looked at it alittle bit more thoroughly than
I have, but I've certainlylooked at it and we think you
have a lot to share and we'rereally excited to hear it and
(02:35):
share it.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Thank you, thanks for having me here.
Yeah, if I recall correctly, Iwould say that the three of us
were probably the best dressedat the event that we were at,
and that's what brought ustogether is our obvious love for
fashion and color and all ofthose things.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yes, thank you for that.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I really was taken by reading the your contribution
to the ripple effect of impact.
I love the way that it toldyour story and it seems like
everything that you're about issharing some things that were
(03:24):
very painful for you.
To make things a little bitbetter and actually make those
ripples and touch people's livesthat, in your own words, you
may never even see.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yes, yes, dwight, before we jump in that, can we
give Sherry just a moment, kindof to tell the audience a little
bit about who she is and whatshe's about?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
That's where I was going next.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I felt that segue coming.
I felt it coming.
I felt it.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And then we'll get into the, you know, the deeper
stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, so I know that there may be a lot of people who
have not gotten to experienceyour story and the way that I
have, so how would you introduceyourself to our listeners,
sherry?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Well, thank you so much, Dre.
I appreciate that.
Yeah, so my story has severallayers, and so I always like to
start with that typicalcorporate layer, because that's
what I've been trained orprogrammed I don't know which
one to do, but I did spend wellover three decades in corporate
(04:33):
America.
I worked in various leadershippositions, from training
development.
That's going to be importantlater for a small company.
Neither of you probably everheard of AT&T.
I don't know if you're.
But I worked with them for along time.
They moved me to Dallas, theymoved me everywhere, but then,
when I got to Dallas, I loved it.
(04:54):
They wanted to move me againand I was like, nope, I'm
staying here.
I love it.
So back in the 1900s, I starteda company called Sankofa
Management, and that was me kindof leaving my past behind.
I had a lot of trauma in myearlier life when I moved to
(05:16):
Texas.
It was me kind of starting overwith a new slate, and so I
decided to call my companySankofa Management, and Sankofa
means we must return to the pastin order to move forward, which
is very interesting becausewhen I met you, gentlemen, we
were talking about how it wasour first time at this
particular event, but that,maddox, you and I had been
(05:39):
around the Dallas creative sceneeven before there was such.
And so in that span of time, inthat 30 years between coming
here almost 30 years I went intocorporate.
I spent a lot of my time leadingand mentoring others, which I
absolutely loved.
I always had a group of internsthat I would pour into, and I
(06:04):
got divorced in 2016 and went totherapy for the first time like
ever Right, and my therapist islike, well, we should talk
about I want to talk about my exhusband, of course, right, like
let's talk about this guy.
And my therapist is like weshould talk about your past.
And I'm like like yesterday,like that's about as far back as
(06:24):
I'm willing to go, andeventually she got me to break
down and talk about my parentsand talk about the fact that I'd
lost my dad to suicide when Iwas seven and my mom at 27.
And I never told anyone.
I just walked through life withthis little box on a shelf in
the corner, wrapped very tightly, that I promised to never
(06:46):
unwind.
And when I unwound it, as itturns out, I wasn't the only one
struggling.
As I decided to change mykeynote speeches from servant
leadership and projectmanagement, I started talking
about burnout in the workplaceand you know, as it turns out,
corporate wasn't too excitedabout that message.
You know people weren't hiredlike, oh, let's get shared and
(07:10):
talk about how hard we'reworking our employees, so yeah.
So I decided to branch back outon my own.
I started Phoenix Speaks in2019 so that I could now do both
things.
I love I can help people whoare in a place where they don't
understand what's going on withtheir mental health, because
sometimes we take on otherpeople's stuff and it's not
(07:33):
really ours, or we self-diagnoseit's not really ours, we might
just be having a bad day.
So I created a program calledCreating Mental Wealth.
It's a different way to look atmental health and I teach it
all around the worlduniversities, companies,
nonprofits and I just go whereI'm led.
So I was led to come to thatevent that night to meet you
(07:54):
guys.
So here I am.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
And that's beautiful.
That's quite an arc and quitean amazing story and I cannot
recommend highly enough that ifanyone wants to learn more about
the nuances of your story, ifthey're not able to actually go
(08:17):
and see one of yourpresentations in person, that
they will definitely be moved ifthey hear about what you share
in that in your entry in thatanthology.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
it's amazing thank you, yeah, and it's, and thanks
for mentioning so.
The ripple effect of impact, uh, in essence was a closing of a
chapter for me Pun intended, nopun intended, because it was
just one chapter, but it reallywas me deciding that I have
identified my trauma as such andthat I know where my trauma
(08:54):
belongs and that every now andthen, something will remind me
of it.
But writing that chapter inthat book meant that whatever
impact I was going to have hadto be positive, going forward.
I could not keep talking aboutmy trauma and my past and the
things that happened to me,because those things happened to
me so long ago.
I have evolved, hence PhoenixSpeaks, right, I am that phoenix
(09:19):
aflame rising above my ashes,right?
So it's very different.
Like, I want to help peoplehave conversations proactively,
to talk about their just everyday, just like we used to do.
I think both of us all of us areold enough to remember
checkbooks.
Remember when you forget acheckbook and you're like okay,
my deposit was $1,000 and myrent was $2,000.
(09:42):
Oh, we're eating peanut butterand jelly for two weeks, right?
We understood balancingcheckbooks and I think, for my
generation, I think we were alittle bit better at balancing
even the mental stressors of ourwork.
We knew how to turn off workand turn on home and people
don't know that anymore.
Nobody's teaching that, even toour university students.
The college students don't knowhow to balance.
Nobody's teaching that even toour university students.
(10:05):
The college students don't knowhow to balance the mental check
.
Like, hey, this is going to be abig test today.
That's probably going to be amental wealth withdrawal.
I should probably not go to arave the night before, right,
let them do their owncalculations.
What's a good deposit, what's awithdrawal?
Their own calculations what's agood deposit, what's a
(10:28):
withdrawal?
But yeah, I've taken all of thethings that I've learned in
corporate America and I now tryto make it easy to understand.
So children as young as fiveyears old we go into
kindergarten classes talk aboutfeelings and emotions and things
from Brene Brown's Atlas of theHeart.
That's required reading foreveryone on the team to
understand that there is amyriad of emotions between good
(10:51):
day and bad day.
There's so much more.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I love how you've positioned it.
I love the mental wealth, butalso the whole analogy of, you
know, checks and balances.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, the whole reconciliation analogy is
perfect.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, and you know what, when I do this keynote
guys, it's interesting because Imake them, I make everybody do
an exercise.
I'm not your regular keynoteLike I, don't just stand up
there and look pretty Like I.
I get off the stage, I amwalking around people because we
understand as creatives thatthis is an energy exchange,
right, and I don't want toproject out and down.
(11:32):
I want to be in there with you,I want to feel what's going on,
but we're dancing.
It's not a woe, is meconversation, it is.
Hey, this morning I woke up Ifelt like a million bucks.
Now somebody might've cut me offin traffic on my way here, but
I didn't allow that to be awithdrawal, and so when people
see that and feel that they'relike, hold on, I can probably.
(11:52):
Maybe I could do that too.
Maybe I could decide if thenews today is going to be a
mental wealth withdrawal or adeposit.
I think that if I lived in acountry and, as someone who only
cared about billionaires,became president, what I hear is
I need to become a billionaire.
I mean, it's simple.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Love the spin.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
You have to do it in order to keep your account
balanced right.
I mean, it's what you have todo.
There are some externalinfluences that we can't change.
The only thing we can change ishow we respond to it that hits
me right here yeah, that'sbeautiful.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Some some of these words are her words that I
actually hear right now, sothank you you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Everything happens on purpose.
Do you guys remember my wordfrom when I met you?
Do you remember the word Itried to introduce you to
Pronoia?
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Yes, pronoia, yes, oh , you remember?
Yes, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I keep remembering the essence of it, but I can't
seem to get the word lodged inmy mind Every day or so.
I'll go well, how did you saythat word again?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Just think paranoia and you take para out and put
pro in Paranoia, knowing thateverything that happens is
supposed to happen to you whenit's supposed to happen to you.
It kind of puts you at rest.
For me, anyway, once I got to50, I started caring about a lot
less.
Maybe it was just me.
Was it just me?
Speaker 3 (13:27):
be caring about a lot less.
Maybe it was just me.
Was it just me?
Well, you know, a lot of peopletake a long time to reach that
level of maturity and somepeople don't live to see it.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Agreed.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
It's compartmentalized for me.
I'm thinking about it andrealizing, yes, there's areas of
my life where I care a lot less, and then there's other areas
where I still care a whole hellof a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, but even in those, in both of those spaces,
just knowing that it's all goingto work out right.
I was in Philadelphia a fewweeks ago and someone asked me,
like you know, what do you think, what do you want to do when
you retire?
Where are you going to move to?
And I'm like bro, I just wantto know what I'm having for
dinner tonight.
Like I the long-term plans thatI can I make it through today.
(14:14):
Like, if I make it throughtoday, we'll talk about tomorrow
.
Right, but it's, it's.
We all talk about being present, but we don't know what that
means.
That means, do you have a planfor something two weeks from now
?
Yes, absolutely, but your brainjust needs today.
Just like we used to check ourcheck registers every day.
(14:34):
Every day we spent money.
We had to pull out that checkregister and write down oh,
negative, blah, blah, blah.
So maybe I should go find outwhat's one of my deposits.
Find out what's one of mydeposits.
One of my deposits is art.
I'll go to a museum.
That's like a million dollarsworth of a deposit into my
account that might, depending onthe day, not cost me a dime,
(14:55):
right?
So I walk people typicallythrough this exercise and I'm
like write down the five thingsthat bring you joy.
And people are like you know,the first couple of people that
I pick on, they're like my guys,my family.
I'm like nobody's, you know,nobody's recording this.
You don't have to say that.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
My family liar.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
You don't have to say that If it's your car, you can
totally say it's your car, Right.
But we use that kind of levityto make sure that people feel
comfortable, Right, and sayinghere are my five highest
deposits my family, my emotionalservice animal, shoes.
You know, every day it couldlook different and I have them
(15:41):
then assign a value to that.
And I have them then assign avalue to that right.
Like, well, how good does itfeel for me to have my emotional
service animal here right now?
Like it might be negative 5,000because at any moment she could
hop on the keyboard.
I'm going down this path ofwhat could happen.
However, all we're talkingabout is the value of the moment
(16:03):
being present in this moment.
The value of her being here nowis amazing.
She at 2 million plus, justbecause she's here, she's quiet,
she's calm, which is calming medown, which is also a deposit,
right.
So everything that is awithdrawal on the outside.
If we analyze it further, if westop and slow down, we do this
(16:25):
thing called seven seconds ofsilence.
If you can just give a thing,seven seconds of silence, All
right.
This is actually worth.
This is like an interestbearing activity on this call.
Hopefully everybody is gainingsome, some you know something
and some deposits.
So this is a huge deposit forme, right, and maybe that's 4
(16:48):
million.
People will always tell me thatthe negatives are more, but
they never come out that way,Like ever when we do the
exercise, they never come out.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I'm having the awareness in the moment that
some of our relationships, allof our relationships, can be
looked at.
Is this relationship a depositor a withdrawal?
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And it's amazing to me.
I mean, I wouldn't have had thelanguage for this but in the
last just few years, like threeor four, I have withdrawn my
funds out of some of therelationships that were
withdrawals.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
There you go, understood yes.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And you know I hear all this conversation.
We're kind of off topic alittle bit but conversation
about cancel culture.
I have walked away from somerelationships and I don't feel
like I'm canceling people.
I don't hate them or haveanythinging people.
I don't hate them or haveanything against them.
I didn't fire them.
I just moved away because itwas a withdrawal, absolutely.
You know I had to make thedeposit in me.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah, I love it.
Thank you so much for using thevernacular.
I love it.
That's true.
It's interesting because whenwe walk through that exercise
you just nailed it Right when Iwalk through, like, what are
your withdrawals?
And those same people whostarted out with, like family is
my number one deposit, they'realso like family is my number
one withdrawal.
It depends on you know the mood, but the truth is our
(18:26):
relationships can have asignificant impact on our mental
health and if we're not talkingabout it, especially if we're
not writing it down so this isnot popular at the college
campuses y'all Like they don'tlike this at all.
You have to write it down, don'ttype it on your phone, don't.
(18:46):
No, you need to use.
There's a thing, there's ascience behind what happens when
you write things down,especially the good things.
Today was an amazing day.
I got a parking spot right infront of my favorite restaurant
and this was where that added$5,000 to my account.
If I'm going around all daywriting down the good things
that are happening to me andbecause of my pro noia state of
(19:10):
mind, which means I already knowit's all working out for me
anyway, then all I see is good.
Are bad things happening,absolutely.
Could you look at that thing,dwight, and say, well, I think
that's terrible, sherry, and wecould both be right?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
We can both be right.
We could all be right and wecould all then be all right if
we knew how to balance ourmental well checklist every day.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Well, most of us have probably had experiences where
something came into our livesand at the time it seemed really
terrible and then later inretrospect, you could realize
how it played a key role in yourlife in a very, very positive
and powerful way.
Your life wouldn't be what itis today if it hadn't been that
(19:57):
awful thing back there.
I know I can certainly lookback in my life and see some
things that you could offer meto rewrite history, and I would
not do it.
Even though the things that Iwent through were incredibly
painful and I wouldn't wish iton even my biggest enemy, I
wouldn't rewrite it because if Irewrote it then I couldn't be
(20:21):
who I am.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
And I want to be who.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I am.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I am and I want to be who I am.
I agree, that's so important.
Just deciding, deciding what'syour narrative like, what's your
story and what of it do youchoose to bring it into this
next generation?
You know this next cycle oflife, right?
So so?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I have a question.
I'm ready Because you know ourintention with this podcast and
with everything we do withcreatives.
It is our.
Creatives are our life and ourbusiness right now, and I mean
truly.
I eat it, sleep it, dream it.
You name it.
It is.
Oh, wow, lord, okay.
(21:02):
So we talked to creatives fromall walks of life and every form
of creativity, and creativitycan show up in almost everything
and anything.
Listening to your story, you'revery much an entrepreneur.
Yes, would you call yourself acreative entrepreneur?
I mean, that's a, that's a termwe're hearing right now a
(21:23):
creative entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah.
So about terms, about terms andlabels, I would probably just
give myself like I'm an advocate, right, the work that I do
spans so many different groups,like from our, and obviously art
(21:49):
is my thing, fashion is mything for, uh, yeah, I will wear
a highlighter, neon sweater andneon boots and a white suit.
I don't care.
Like I love fashion, I love the, the arts, and also I own
businesses, right, but I don'twant to.
The two are not mutuallyexclusive, in my opinion, right,
like everyone's got their workthat they do, whether it's a
(22:12):
nine to five and in corporate,or if they're building a new
company, or if they, likeeveryone's on the same cycle,
cycle, right, everyone, at somepoint in life, you will hit a
part of a cycle where you got towork your tail off using your
body and your mind 24 hours aday, and then there's a season
of life where you don't have todo that and you can slow down a
(22:34):
little bit and you can relax andyou can recoup and you can
revitalize.
And so I think that, like whenpeople title themselves, or they
put themselves in these buckets, like I'm a creative
entrepreneur, well, what if?
What if, in six months, Idecide to go back to project
management, which I have everyright to do, am I not?
Am I no longer a creativeentrepreneur?
Do you know what I mean?
(22:54):
Like I'm trying not to putmyself in any particular bucket,
and that's very new for me.
To be honest with you, maddox, Ialways wanted to be a corporate
speaker, corporate leader andoh, by the way, I'm creative and
I do creative shit right.
Like that wasn't like the fine,fine fine print.
But in this season of my life,I am disabled, I am a business,
(23:16):
owner of a nonprofit and afor-profit.
I plan on changing lives forthe rest of my life.
That's it.
I want to have people, right,and so what happens is if you
(23:44):
put yourself in too narrow of abucket, then in some cases you
will find you're just in thatbucket by yourself, right?
As opposed to saying I'm aperson who loves people, I love
art, I have to eat, I have twochildren, one of them is 17.
So I still got to feed him too,right, but I don't want that to
define me, maddox.
Does that answer the questionat all?
(24:06):
Like, I don't want to bedefined by a label or a term.
I am creative, I am an author,I am, you know, a TV show host,
because that's what creatives do?
We do all the things, we do allthe things.
So yeah, I am, I'm very happyin my life and it's the first
(24:27):
time that I think I've beencomfortable saying that.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Oh, I'm so glad that you are breaking out of all
those boxes because just the waythat you're sharing it, I'm
thinking it's going to give ourlisteners permission to to look
at themselves and think abouthow they don't have to be
defined by their job title orwhere they are in any particular
way that they might measurethemselves and they can listen
(24:52):
to their heart.
I'd heard that you mentionedyour team and you mentioned a
lot of the ways that you reachout and you have events where
you're among people.
It sounds like community is abig part of the things that you
do.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Absolutely yeah.
So one of our business part ofour business model when we
started Phoenix Speaks and funnystory.
You guys will have to know thisstory because they'll say you
haven't talked to Sherry.
If you don't know the 2020 lifechange story, you guys will
have to know this story becausethey'll say you haven't talked
to Sherry if you don't know the2020 Lives Change story.
So I decided to start anonprofit after I started
Phoenix Speaks and you know Iprayed about it, I slept on it
(25:32):
and I woke up with this number2020.
So I'm like we're going tochange 2020 lives next year.
That's what I thoughtIncorporated my nonprofit with
that right because I wanted tobe very present in the community
.
I wanted to make sure that Iwas doing just as much work in
the community that I was doingfor paid speaking gigs.
As it turns out, the name 2020Lives Changed ended up having a
(25:55):
lot more impact than I evenwould have imagined.
Right Like I was like I don'tthink I got it until like August
and I'm like you know whaty'all?
The name of our company is 2020Lives Changed.
While everyone is like 2020 isthe worst, but, as it turns out,
that was when people were readyto talk about their mental
(26:16):
health.
People were confined to theirhomes and had no choice but to
talk about their mental healthin some cases, right and so it's
so awesome to see how theuniverse aligns when you lean in
and say, hey, I'm here to serve.
I don't know what it is aboutmy corporate background that I'm
bringing into this season of mylife, I just trust it.
(26:36):
And that's what happens.
You end up with an organizationcalled 2020 Lives Change, where
you can go into schools and,like the Veterans, associations
and professional developmentplaces who can't afford to bring
a keynote in, but we can stilltouch that community and teach
them how to be mentally wealthy,teach them how to talk to their
(26:57):
kids about something more thana smile sheet good or bad day,
right.
So the community aspect has beenbaked in since the beginning.
It's my favorite part, which iswhat makes it so difficult to
get paid to speak, because if Igo, I'm going to speak right,
and so if I get paid, that'snice.
That rarely happens in the past.
(27:19):
We're changing that in 2025 andbeyond, because I thought this
was, this is my philanthropy,right?
I created this to give thisback, and so community not only
helped to build it, because myteam is all volunteer and
they've been with me since dayone, right?
And so that says a lot aboutthis mission and the fact that
we believe everybody has theability to be mentally wealthy.
(27:41):
They just knew how to do it.
If we just could show them how.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
That's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Yeah, your story is incredible.
I would love to know where thisall started.
You know what?
Where were you and whathappened when you realized that
you wanted creativity to spillinto everything that you did?
Speaker 1 (28:06):
A really good question and I'm so happy you
asked it because I've beenholding this on my heart for a
while.
So thank you, maddox, you arekind of in my psyche.
So my love of fashion neverleft.
So for your listeners who havenever met me, I am five foot two
inches.
(28:28):
I'm a tiny thing, pretty closeto bald, but before this I had
dreadlocks.
So I would come to work prettymuch dressed no different.
Like my jewelry, I always worea black leather cuff band.
So your eyebrows, maddox, Ilove you so much.
(28:49):
So I say that to say, and thatwas a statement piece for me,
right, that was a very boldstatement pieces.
Like you know what?
I am artistic, I am creative,but I also am managing a
multimillion dollar PMO.
I am doing both things at thesame time with red glasses and a
(29:09):
red lip and maybe red bottoms,right, like.
So, like, my creativity justkind of moved around a little
bit, right.
My love of fashion and the artsnever stopped, even while I was
working in corporate.
I was one of the chartermembers for the Perot Museum.
I had an opportunity to seeMichelle Obama and Spike Lee, so
the arts were always a part ofme.
(29:33):
That doesn't ever go away.
Who pays?
Speaker 2 (29:36):
the bills.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
That might change from time to time.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Take us back to the very beginning, though.
Where did it start?
I mean, were you, like you know, five years old and you know
making mud pies in the garden?
Speaker 1 (29:51):
or where did it start ?
That was not it, um, I was.
So where did it start?
I don't, I don't know.
I think, well, my well, um, I'mgoing to fix this light y'all,
or I'm not, it's done.
So my mom actually was a modelbefore she died, when she was
much younger, and my childhoodactually used to be looking
(30:13):
through, like Lord and Taylor,magazines and, oh my gosh, I
loved Vogue and Harper's Bazaarand Cosmopolitan.
That was my kind of escape.
So I was a mad nerd, right.
So imagine me in, like fourthgrade that's probably my
(30:39):
earliest memory of me falling inlove with poetry and we got a
summer reading assignment toread some, read a poem or a
series of poems and come backand talk about it.
I was in the fourth grade, um,and I came back and I wanted to
recite um the raven from EdgarAllan Poe.
And so I remember thecounselors.
I got sent to the counselor'soffice because they were like,
(31:01):
why is this poor baby readingPoe?
Like, why is she reading EdgarAllen Poe?
I was supposed to be reading,like whatever little kids were
reading at the time, right?
So there's always been acombination between me reading
and exploring the world throughbooks, because, as an only child
as an only child after my daddied, you know, as an only child
(31:22):
after my dad died.
I had to then be there with mymom as she slowly descended from
this place of despair intodepression to, ultimately, her
death.
The thing that was consistentfor me was fashion and books.
I want to know more, I want toread more, I want to see more
about more places.
That was my therapy.
(31:42):
Art was likely my therapy forespecially the time between my
mom and dad's death, becausethere was so much trauma that
happened to me in that time, andso my escape, if I didn't have
a magazine to look through, wasto go find a book, and the
bigger the better.
The longer I could read, thelonger I felt safe.
I felt safe in books.
(32:02):
Read the longer I felt safe.
I felt safe in books.
And so I remember thinking thatlike I'm going to be an author
one day and I'm going to write abook, and just having so much
negativity coming to me from myfamily, like you're not going to
write a book, like you're notgoing to you know you're not
going to you're going to end upjust like your dad, and you know
again, that's one of thosechallenges of healing and going
to end up just like your dad andyou know again, that's one of
(32:24):
those challenges of healing andgoing to therapy and ripping
that box open is then you startremembering some of those things
.
But then I also remember thefond memories of me going.
I'm going to show you.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Oh, you took the words right out of my mouth.
I was going to say, girl, Ialready see you and know that.
That just spurred you on.
I'll show you it did.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
It really did.
But it's so interesting becausenow that I'm older, I'm
researching the bond betweenBlack mothers and daughters and
it's so deeply broken for somany generations back.
So when we think epigenetics,right, a lot of people think
(33:16):
epigenetics when we're talkingabout Holocaust survivors right,
and mothers didn't know how tolove us.
Their mothers didn't know howto love them.
Their mother's mothers, andsometimes their grandmothers,
were slaves.
They weren't taught nurturingand you know, spending time and
quality time and being present.
(33:37):
No, they were working in fieldsand they then taught their
daughters not whatever you do,don't work in a field but didn't
give any direction to doanything else.
And so then now these youngwomen are like I just don't want
to be like my parents.
I will move as far away as Ican, I will take a job,
(34:23):
no-transcript mothering.
So I've got to do somethingabout it.
So when I was able to dosomething about it, I looked
back and realized I hadeverything I needed.
I don't need anything, I don'twant for anything.
I've done all the things.
I've flown in the jets and I'vebeen in places on the beaches
(34:47):
and I knew this day would comeLike I feel, like when I was
seven, eight, nine years old andI would escape to books.
I saw myself at a fashion event, at a, you know, at a
hoity-toity fashion event where,you know, several people knew
me when I walked in the room.
That was my escapism, right, myability to project.
(35:08):
No, that is who I will be and Iwill continue to work until I
get to be that and then tomorrowI get to be that times two,
right.
So I hope that answered yourquestion, maddox, just the kind
of the step from the beginningof like.
I've always loved art andfashion and also have a little
dark.
You know, there's a dark sidethat I've always kept at bay,
(35:30):
and my reminder was my leathercuff bracelet, right, so that
that never went away.
My love for the art never wentaway.
My love for fashion never wentaway, and I am a continuous
learner.
I read six to seven books amonth and I want to be smart
enough that I can supportanybody in the community who
(35:51):
needs me, and if I don't know it, I know someone who knows it
and I want to be able to makethose connections, and so that's
how we got to meet.
I'm so honored to have been,you know, been a guest on your
show.
This was amazing.
But, yeah, I'm not goinganywhere.
Like, as long as I'm breathing,I'm saving lives.
So if you see me in thecommunity, if you guys are, oh
(36:15):
oh.
The last thing I forgot tomention is that I'm a creative
designer for a photographystudio that gives me like a $40
million mental wealth depositevery time I do it.
I love styling fashion shoots.
That night I met you guys.
There was a gentleman there whowas my intern like 30 years ago
(36:36):
and now he's got his.
He's running his ownentertainment company now, which
is super cool.
He said he's got like 70 people, but it's really awesome to be
able to come back and like giveback, like I'm so excited to be
able to give back and say, yep,it's possible, you can do it If
you just stay focused and don'thide the words.
(36:57):
The words need to be spoken inorder to be healed.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Yeah, this is something that creatives across
the globe need to hear.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
Yeah, it is, it is, and I think it's great that you
have this perspective of beingable to see how that intern went
on to have a flourishing career, on to have a flourishing
(37:28):
career.
Are there other great successes?
Speaker 1 (37:29):
like that that you can reflect on and share with us
.
Yeah, this is going to be.
This is going to be.
This is where the conversationgets awkward a little bit.
You ready, maddox, hold on,hold on, we're ready.
No, it's not that bad.
So there was a gentleman that Irepresented when I still had
Senkosa management and he wasone of the most talented spoken
word artists that I'd ever met.
(37:50):
I love poetry.
It's not all Edgar Allan Poe.
Obviously I've got Mayatattooed on my arm, so it's not
that bad.
But this guy, I just lost mytrain of thought.
I almost made it Maddox throughthe call and I did, you know.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
I did that a few minutes ago, but it came back,
thank goodness.
So don't feel bad, it justhappens.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Sometimes we have to hop the track, and that's okay.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
No, I mean it's gone.
Maybe ask the question again.
I love this.
I want people to hear thisbecause this is how you use.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Yeah, I was just saying you'd shared how you met
the intern who had gone on tohave his own huge success.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
And were there other similar stories that you could
share?
Speaker 1 (38:34):
So, tim Ross, thank you so much.
He's always good to have ayounger, smarter, a younger
brain, more elasticity in theroom.
That's great.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
That's why I have him .
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Good job, good job.
We needed this.
We needed this today.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
I'm smart.
That's why I have him.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
So you did a good job , thank you, maddox.
So Tim Ross, when I met him, Irepresented him.
He wanted to be, he wanted tobe a rapper, right.
So he's this amazing lyricist.
I remember one of his eventswas here in Dallas and he said
you guys don't believe that Ican just rap about anything.
(39:13):
And he gave he had me, ofcourse, as the manager, cause
that's what we do.
We did back then uh, giveeverybody big post-it poster
boards and they had to write aword on it and whenever he would
point to you, you would put thesign up and he would put that
(39:33):
word in his presentation or inhis rap, right.
So I took his information andhis music to New York City and I
shopped him to a particularrecord label and I had to come
back and I cried the wholeflight back because I had to
tell him that this particularrecord label said there is no
room for good boys on bad boy.
And it completely like I meanit crushed me to have to go back
(39:59):
to say that because the talentthat this young man had, I was
just determined that he wasgoing to get signed Like.
I just knew it Like there was no, I had no doubt.
But when you fast forward totoday to you know, recently this
particular person has millionsof followers online.
He now has a program he callsthe Basement and, with his
(40:24):
people, called the BasementDwellers.
But he's and he's a.
He's a preacher, he's aminister, but not the kind that
you see in churches standing onpulpits like he and his wife,
juliet, talk about parenting.
They talk about one of theirepisodes, one of their episodes.
I want to say that someoneasked a question about women
(40:46):
being honest with their husbandsand Tim's response was most of
you can't handle your wifegiving you the opinion that she
really has of you, like you knowwhat I mean so he's not just a
typical, you know, he's justlike here's how you can live
life as a married Christian man.
You know he's like stop askingher for her opinion, because if
(41:06):
she tells you the truth, yourfeelings are going to be hurt.
But this man is a he's doing,he's living so much beyond what
he thought he was going to be.
Right, he thought he was goingto be this, you know, clean
rapper, this Christian rapper,which would have been great, but
it would have been A associatedwith this particular agency,
(41:28):
which right now he wouldn't wantto be.
Right, that's one of my biggestsuccesses, right?
Just to say, hey, I sowed aseed, I planted a seed, and I
watered it and I pruned the treea little bit and then I left
and to come back and to see thatit is, it's bearing fruit by
the millions, um, because Ibelieve that, as a creative, you
(41:49):
should strive for success andnot fame.
Fame is short-lived, success isforever right, say that again
that means I can go to thegrocery store without people
taking pictures of me and nobodyknows who I am, and I can live
and move about the planet theway I want to.
But having all that you need isgreat.
(42:10):
When you see someone that youplanted a seed in and they've
gone on to become this amazingexactly what they were supposed
to be there's a sense of justlike I'm doing this right, like
I didn't know what I was doing.
I just planted a seed.
I planted a seed and I taughtand I coached and I mentored and
I did what?
Again, what I felt was theright thing to do.
(42:31):
So there's quite a few storieslike that, but I'm not like I
don't.
Those aren't the ones that Iwant to talk about, right?
I mean, I want to talk aboutthe folks that I haven't met yet
, who don't know that it's okayto talk about not being okay,
and that I say this on everypodcast that I'm on.
(42:55):
The number one thing thatsupports suicide is silence, and
we can't do that anymore, right?
And so if people are, you knowthere's 988, there's a hotline.
I was a big part of the pushfor 988 to become a resource for
if people are struggling andthey need someone to talk to, to
talk them through a crisis.
They can do that by calling 988.
(43:16):
And, depending on which cityyou're in, that should go to a
crisis helpline center and notto the police station.
Right?
So, behind the scenes, like, Iwill never stop working for the
community when it comes tomental wealth, all of us will be
mentally wealthy.
I'm going to be sure of it.
I'm going to make sure that weare.
And then we want to make surethat the next generation can see
(43:40):
that there's hope somewhere.
Right, the hope always comesfrom art.
It always comes from thecreatives.
We are the ones who actuallyleave the imprint for this part
of our era, for this era.
Right, people will go man, wereyou around during 2020?
Like, yep, I lived through it.
Were you around when?
(44:00):
Yep, I remember when that wentaway?
Yep, I remember therepercussions of that.
So, know that we are now theelders.
We talk about this, right,maddox?
Like we are now the elders.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
Nothing we can do about it.
It is where we are Now.
What do we do with that?
Speaker 2 (44:16):
power said about silence is, you know, not the
way we maintain mental health orwealth.
I've done some studying aboutshadow and one of the things
that they teach us, you know, isthat shadow is anything that we
(44:38):
hide, deny or repress, and ifyou hide, deny and repress long
enough, it will grow in power towhere it can overcome, you,
take you over, and we're seeingthis played out in the news
every day.
We're seeing it played outbecause people have.
We all have light and darkinside of us, but when you can't
(44:58):
give the dark a voice, I havelearned and Dwight can attest to
this the darker voice.
I have learned and Dwight canattest to this that when I'm
feeling dark, I have to get itout of my body, and the way I do
that is to speak it out loud tosomebody that's there to hear.
Can't speak it out loud in aroom by myself.
I have to speak it out loud ina manner that it gets heard by
(45:20):
at least one other human being.
Speaker 1 (45:24):
And then it dissipates.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
It dissipates when you can get it out of your body
like that, giving it a voicehelps to diminish it, because
shadow work says that darknesscannot survive in the light of
consciousness.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
Well, but nor can light survive without the dark
right, so they both have toexist um either.
If they didn't both exist, thenneither would exist.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
So we live in a, in a universe of duality, exactly
yes, can't have up or down isthat I don't.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
I don't know that we should.
So I really wish we could getaway from the light and dark
vernacular Right, becausesometimes dark just tends to
always have a negativeconnotation.
And so shadow work, in myopinion, like my shadow is.
My shadow has her place.
She should always be behind me.
I should never see my shadowbecause there's nothing I can do
(46:21):
about it.
I've already passed throughthat place right Now.
Whatever, if you get my shadow,it's because you miss me, you
miss the real me.
If you get my shadow and thatdoesn't mean just like actually,
physically speaking, when I'mwalking I can't see my shadow.
I typically always walk withthe sun behind me, right, and
(46:42):
that's literally andproverbially like.
I want to make sure that thepeople behind me are carrying
the same radiance of lightinside of them that I am, so
that there is no shadow cast.
There is nothing dark or bad,it is just a different
perspective, because the samething that was terrible for me
40 years ago.
I'm so thankful for it today.
(47:03):
So it wasn't good or bad, itwas what it was meant to be.
It's that pro noia mindset,right, it's not good or bad, it
just is.
Alan Watts does some significantstudies.
I loved Alan Watts.
If you've listened to him andlistened to his work, he talks
so much about us assigning agood or a bad and instead of
just being, we are humans.
(47:25):
Being In this moment.
Shadow work can have a negativeconnotation to some people.
Right, maddox?
I understand what you're saying100%.
The challenge is, when we'respeaking to younger people,
sometimes they're very literal,right?
Or sometimes they'll take itand they'll Google it and
they'll be like, oh and whatever.
The first thing that pops up,which means whoever paid for the
(47:48):
first ad, is what peoplebelieve.
And so that's one of the otherthings about creating mental
wealth is understanding thatexchange of energy.
Maddox, when you're like, Ijust have to say it to someone,
it's an energy exchange, becauseif you say it out loud in a
room to yourself, it just comesback to you and you're like I
need now, I have.
Now I'm disappointed in myselfbecause I said it out loud and
(48:11):
as opposed to an energy exchange, as long as it's a healthy one
you're making deposits.
This is a withdrawal for you.
So you're making, but you have.
Did you choose to make adeposit instead of withdrawing
from others?
Because you are being withdrawnfrom, which is very easy for us
to do Having a bad day.
Don't talk to me, don't call me, don't touch me.
I don't want to.
(48:31):
That's kind of a human, sadly,even more so after 2020.
People are like.
I'd rather not people for thenext six months.
You wouldn't say that before thepandemic, right, but that
exchange of energy, maddox, thatyou talk about is what we
encourage in this creatingmental wealth.
Who gives you the biggestdeposit?
(48:52):
You don't have to call them.
Maybe you can just shoot them atext and be like hey, I just
want to let you know I wasthinking about your friend, and
that person could have been inthe rock bottom of most rock
bottom places and that text wasfree, took you three seconds to
do it, but it could have verymuch saved someone's life.
And so, especially in times whenthere's a lot of chaos and
(49:14):
volatility in the news andsocial media, like, well, what's
what do you have right here?
Like, but what's what do youhave right here?
Right here on this screen arethree creatives who care enough
about the community to cometogether, have a fireside chat,
as it were.
This, this won't ever end Right, there's always going to be
(49:35):
people like us, people who arecreatives, who will find a way
to keep the art alive, to keepthe you know fashion we'll say
fashion forward.
Whether we're in a courtroom, aboardroom or a lunchroom, right
, we'll always stand.
I have a feeling the three ofus will always stand out
wherever we go.
But that is planting a seedinto the next generation to say,
(50:00):
okay, if she had the nerve towear red lipstick and red
glasses, maybe I could do thattoo, right?
So I love that we're at thatage that we can just be.
Speaker 2 (50:13):
It's definitely a personality thing that totally
suits who you are and yourenergy.
I think that that might lookridiculous on some people if it
didn't fit their energy.
I think that that might lookridiculous on some people if it
didn't fit their energy.
You know, as a beautyprofessional for 40 years, one
of the worst things I would seeother beauty professionals do is
put the latest trendy haircuton somebody that it didn't match
(50:36):
their persona.
It didn't match who they wereat all.
You know you have hair that'sabout an eighth of an inch long
and it's bleached blonde and itlooks absolutely fabulous on
your skin tone and with whatyou're wearing.
You look like a well, I'd say amillion dollars, but somebody
used to every time I'd say thatthey would say what do you mean?
Green and all green andwrinkled.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
Wow, you know what Next time someone says that say
no, uh, like the black card, itjust like.
No, like the black card.
Just flip the switch and justtell them no.
Speaker 2 (51:10):
Yes, your look definitely is an extension of
your energy and who you are, asit should be.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
Thank you, yes that, thank you, yes.
So, sherry, what if you weregoing to sum it up and share
some words of wisdom for anycreative that might be going
through a challenging time intheir creative journey?
What would you say to them?
Speaker 1 (51:41):
I don't want to.
I'm not going to say thestandard keep going right,
because everybody says that.
Um, I'm going to say theopposite.
If your body says stop, thenstop, listen to your heart.
Um, your, your heart and yourmind work in sync.
Um, actually, your heart, yourmind and your gut work in sync,
actually your guts in control.
(52:01):
So for my creatives that areout there, I need you to feed
your mind by feeding your bodythe right things.
One of my best friends, johnSally, was on an episode of my
show and he refers to meat aslike carcasses, like you're
eating other dead animalcarcasses.
That being said, be careful ofwhat you consume as a creative,
(52:26):
whether that's actually eating,whether it's what you listen to,
it's what you see, it's whatyou read.
Be careful of what you'reconsuming, and if what you're
consuming does not pour intoyour art, I would suggest you
limit your access to that.
Creativity exists when you areinspired by things externally,
but then you go internally tointerpret it.
(52:48):
So just be careful what youconsume.
Doom scrolling for hours at atime does not help your craft.
That social media was createdto keep you distracted, but you
were born with the ability tocreate, and now we have amazing
tools with AI to allow you tocreate and then share that art.
(53:11):
Just don't get caught up in theweb.
That's it.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
You know, I am pretty far on the spectrum, leaning
into an empath, and I suspectthat there's probably a pretty
high percentage of creativesthat are in that spectrum
somewhere that are empaths.
And we do have to be verycautious about what we consume.
And you're right, it's what youread, it's what you look at,
it's what you watch, it's whatyou eat, it's what you drink,
it's everything.
(53:47):
I particularly have to be verycareful about what I consume
visually, because I'm extremelyvisual, really discern reality
from fantasy Like I cannot, asan empath.
I cannot watch a horror filmbecause I'm in the film, I'm the
(54:11):
one that the monster is chasingand I don't.
You know.
It's so real to me that I can'tsay, oh, it's just on the
screen.
My nervous system reacts likeit's actually happening to me
and it's been that way my wholelife.
And I know that's the empathpart of me.
And so I have to be verycareful about what I consume.
News is the same way.
(54:32):
I have to be very careful aboutwhat news I consume, big time.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely Agreed,
wholeheartedly, I mean.
Speaker 2 (54:42):
I love what you're saying right now about be
cautious about what you consume.
Nobody else has said that inany of our interviews.
That's not necessarily aquestion interview I don't use
that word necessarily questionthat.
We've asked other creatives,but you're the first person that
has come up with that as ahere's my words of wisdom and
it's just like wow, yeah, Likeding ding ding, ding, ding hit
(55:05):
the bell.
Speaker 3 (55:06):
And I think that we need to appreciate all that
you've said, because one of thethings that you shared before
was just with the whole.
Your whole program is anotherway of approaching the topic of
equanimity, in a way, but alsobeing in control of what you can
(55:28):
be in control of.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (55:31):
Bad things are going to happen, but here's the thing.
They were probably going tohappen.
Anyway, you can choose how youshow up.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely nomatter what's happening.
We have a say in what ourexperience is of it.
Speaker 1 (55:50):
We do and we determine how it gets written,
right.
I mean, I keep going back tothat and I don't know if at some
point somebody's going to goman Sherry said that but, like,
like, literally, at some pointpeople are going to refer to the
art that we collect and buy and, and you know, donate, like
someone's going to say our namesat some point.
(56:13):
Right, and so when you knowthat you live differently, you
walk differently, youcommunicate with people
differently.
It's not just about me, it iswhen I'm writing and when I'm
creating.
You know things, but this is mygift is for others.
As a creative, your gift is forothers.
It's not to be kept foryourself.
(56:34):
It's a gift that was given toyou so that you can amplify that
gift and give it to others.
But make sure that what you'regiving is something that is
healthily consumed, right?
So just like we want to watchwhat we're consuming, we should
also watch who's consuming whatwe create.
There are some parts of myconversation that I obviously
don't tell if I'm in akindergarten class Completely
(56:57):
irrelevant, not top right, Nottime to talk about it, wrong
audience.
And as creatives, we need tohave that amount of emotional
intelligence as well andself-awareness, to understand
that it's not always time totell our story.
Sometimes it's just to say hi,Right.
And once that relationship hasbeen established and there's a
safe place for you to share,then, Maddox, the way you
(57:19):
mentioned, make sure that theperson that you're that's
receiving that energy can handleit, that they've got the
bandwidth.
And so when we talk aboutwealth, it's an easier
conversation, Like how are youdoing today?
How's your mental wealthaccount doing today, Maddox?
How are you feeling?
You feeling 5 million-ish orabout 200?
Like where are we at?
Speaker 2 (57:39):
You know, I would have to say, after this
conversation I am feeling muchmore mentally wealthy than I
felt beforehand.
So thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (57:50):
Yay.
Speaker 2 (57:51):
I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (57:52):
All right, this has been a complete joy.
Thank you.
It's awesome, Dwight.
What about you?
What's your?
What's your balance sheet?
Look like.
Speaker 3 (58:03):
Oh it's.
I'm seeing lots of zeros.
Speaker 1 (58:04):
Well, you know what?
We're going to be seeing lotsof zeros for the rest of 2025.
Even though it's it is the yearof the snake, I know we're
going to do some.
It's the year of the snake,which is a very good year from
pretty much everybody elsearound the world.
So we're going to use ourparanoia skills and make this
our best year ever.
We're going to be the mentally,we're going to be the
(58:26):
wealthiest ever, mentally andotherwise, and until then, I
will see you at some amazinggathering somewhere with a bunch
of other amazing people, I'msure, sometime soon.
Speaker 2 (58:39):
No doubt yeah.
Speaker 3 (58:43):
I know I, I know that we're uh, we're running a bit
over time, but uh, do you havetime for a few rapid fire
questions?
Speaker 1 (58:51):
I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (58:52):
Okay, Uh, first question what's your creative
spirit animal?
Speaker 1 (58:58):
Uh, black Panther.
Speaker 3 (58:59):
Ooh, love that.
Speaker 2 (59:03):
That is fitting you, sexy thing.
Speaker 3 (59:11):
What's the best decision you've made in your
creative career?
Speaker 1 (59:16):
Never stopping.
Speaker 3 (59:20):
That hits and what's one way you give back to your
creative community.
Speaker 1 (59:29):
I am the silent partner, so I connect people
with people who they need toknow, even though they don't
know that I'm the person thatdid that.
That gives me a joy that Ican't explain when people are
like, oh my gosh, I don't knowhow this person ended up in my
inbox and then, you know, I getto just watch this beautiful
(59:50):
thing grow.
So my, I like being behind thescenes and just making things
happen.
Sorry y'all, that philanthropicside.
I actually like not tellingpeople who I work with.
It's not, I don't do it for myown glory, I do it because it's
the right thing to do.
Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
So, yeah, I love that .
That's you're.
You're like the fairy godmother.
Speaker 2 (01:00:15):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
I totally will receive that.
I am fairy godmother for therest of this year.
I like it.
Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
Just sprinkling gold dust on everyone.
Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
We'll do that when we see each other out.
We'll just do our little.
Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
It'll be our own little.
Speaker 3 (01:00:36):
Well, I've got to tell you, this has been
absolutely delightful.
Is there anything that youwould like to share with our
audience that we haven't talkedabout?
Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
Yeah, so shameless plug, since it's time for that
right, because creatives, we'realways hungry.
We always need to eat right.
Starving artists is a thing, sowe recently, this year, started
a speaker academy at PhoenixSpeaks, and so we have speakers
that are traveling all aroundthe world to speak.
What I'm noticing is that thecommunity needs someone to teach
(01:01:10):
them how to speak eloquently infront of people, and that's a
new offering.
Interestingly enough, the eventthat I met you guys, where we
met, I think, a couple of peoplekept saying like I'm struggling
with speaking, I hate speaking,I don't want to be a peer, I'm
a troubled speaker, and it'sliterally one of those moments
where I was like I should justgo up and say you do know I
could help you with that.
Like that's literally what I'vebeen doing for 30 years, and so
(01:01:32):
I encourage people to reach out.
I mean, allow me to be creativeand support creatives, not just
in the photography world, butalso when it comes to speaking
skills, because I, you know, Idid the toastmasters thing for
two decades, which might make mea masochist, I'm not sure, but
I learned a lot about how toeffectively communicate, and so
(01:01:54):
that's what I would love foryour listeners to do is find me,
hire me or refer me so that Ican continue to give back.
Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
Well, and we will make that very easy for them.
So, for the listeners, justknow that you can look in the
show notes and find the waysthat you can connect with Sherry
and what she has to offer.
Thank you so much for this.
This has been amazing, yes anabsolute delight.
Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
Thank you, Sherry.
Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Thank you too, until we, until we see each other
again yes, yes.
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