September 13, 2025 • 38 mins
Cassandra Crawley-Mayo welcomes resilience expert Charisse Walker, who shares her journey from childhood trauma to becoming an author, Emmy-nominated TV host, and real estate powerhouse while raising six children.
• Understanding how childhood experiences shape adult behaviors and success patterns
• Converting rejection and trauma into motivation for achievement and helping others
• Taking strategic action instead of waiting for perfect timing to pursue dreams
• Breaking free from feeling trapped by taking small, manageable steps toward goals
• Focusing on just three priorities for 12 weeks rather than overwhelming yourself
• Recognizing different life seasons and being present while working toward dreams
• Getting strategic coaching instead of following every new business guru
• Remembering that your unfulfilled potential affects those waiting for your help
If you're ready to stop being in your own way and start achieving what you've only dreamed about, get Charisse's book "Flipping the Iceberg" and visit unbreakablemompreneurs.com to connect with her about relationships, real estate, or business development.
Get ready to break free from obstacles and live life on your terms!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cassandra (00:00):
out there to all of my listeners and I'd like to
welcome you to Is your Way Inyour Way?
And I am your host.
My name is CassandraCrawley-Mayo.
And, for those new listenersout there, not only is my
podcast titled Is your Way Inyour Way, but so is my book.
So this podcast is forindividuals who are in their way
(00:22):
.
Now you're probably thinkingabout what does that mean?
But let me ask you this.
Before that, let me tell youthis we talk about topics
related to personal development,personal improvement, even some
business development andbusiness improvement, and they
will enable you to do someself-reflection, and my prayer
(00:46):
has always been it'll besomething that you have heard,
that will enable you to pivotand say you know what, based on
this conversation today, I amgoing to start acting on what I
used to dream about and I'mgoing to fulfill my dream.
So let me ask you, before wedive into today's powerful
(01:07):
episode, I want to ask yousomething Are you in your own
way?
I already asked, but I'm goingto say it again Are you in your
own way?
If you ever questioned yourworth, doubted your purpose or
felt stuck in fear, this podcastis your space to break free Now
, which is interesting to me is76% of people report feeling
(01:32):
stuck either with their career,their relationships, their
health or sense of purpose.
Are you in that 76%?
So, if you're listening, today,the show where faith meets
freedom and purpose gets real.
We're going to talk to a womanwho's walked through struggle
(01:52):
and came out soaring.
So now let's get into it, and Iwant to introduce you to
Cherise Walker.
How are you doing, Cherise?
Charisse (02:02):
I'm doing so fantastic .
Thank you for having me.
Cassandra (02:06):
Oh yeah, I'm so glad to have you.
I can't wait to dive into thisconversation.
First of all, let me let myguests know the title of our
podcast today is how to Achievewhat you Only Dreamed About.
Now, before we ask and delveinto these questions and,
(02:27):
charisse, I want to know am Ipronouncing your name correctly,
charisse Walker?
Yep, okay, Charisse, all right,I'd like to read your bio to my
listeners, because they'regoing to want to know what's
qualifying you to achieve whatyou only dream about.
So let me just tell them alittle bit of your background.
Charisse Walker is a definitionof resilience in motion, from
(02:51):
food stamps to financial freedom.
She's a mother, a mogul andmotivator who turned adversity
into a legacy.
As an author, emmy-nominated TVhost, real estate powerhouse
and founder of the UnbreakableMompreneur podcast, she empowers
(03:12):
women to rewrite their storiesboldly, unapologetically and on
their own terms.
Whether she's coachingentrepreneurs, speaking on
stages of guiding couplestowards a lasting relationship,
charisse proves that what'sbeneath the surface is often
where the breakthrough begins.
(03:33):
I like that Author of Flippingthe Iceberg, and she's starting
on another book and we'll talkabout that.
And she's discovering andcelebrating what lies beneath
the surface in yourrelationships.
So we're going to find out.
How can you achieve what youonly dream about?
(03:53):
Now?
I already mentioned Charisse,how, number one, what my
understanding of what I've readand what I've observed.
You're very stubborn.
Understanding of what I've readand what I've observed.
You're very stubborn and youare.
You're resilient and you alwayssay don't expose your weakness.
(04:14):
For example, one of the thingsshe said is when a person gets
on stage and they want to speak,don't get on stage and say, oh,
I'm so nervous because this ismy first time being on stage.
She said don't ever expose yourweakness.
Don't believe that and startbelieving in yourself and what's
important.
And with all that said, yourcharacteristics, charisse, were
(04:37):
all those characteristics I wantyou to share with the audience,
my listeners.
Charisse (04:46):
What was your backstory for you to have these
type of characteristics?
Yeah, that's a long answer.
I think that I think back toand this is really pathetic and
when I was in sixth grade, Iremember going out on recess, so
school had just restarted andfifth grade was fantastic.
(05:07):
So, to even go a little more,my parents moved.
We moved a lot when I was a kid, and so I started elementary
school in Utah and then I wentto California and so we found
out that my birth date, like it,fell at a certain time where I
had to wait to start in Utah butin California I could have
(05:28):
started a year earlier.
So I don't remember thisbecause I this didn't happen
later, but I ended up skippingfourth grade.
Long story short, went fromthird grade to fifth grade, and
so I showed up in fifth gradeand all of a sudden everyone's
like well, why are you in thisgrade?
Why aren't you in fourth?
So I had to work really hardbecause I didn't realize in
(05:50):
fourth grade, that's when youlearned long division, that's
when you learned history, that'swhen I mean those types of
things.
So basically having to learntwo years worth of stuff.
And so my class was phenomenal,my classmates, my teacher was
phenomenal, my classmates, myteacher was phenomenal, probably
my favorite teacher ever in theworld.
And so then I get to sixthgrade and expecting that same
(06:10):
type of thing, like it's all thesame people but I was shunned.
I don't know what happened andso you remember, like recess and
I talk about this in my bookthat I went up and asked two
girls if I could play and theylike looked at me and they just
laughed and kind of turned andthat was my first time ever
experiencing rejection, neverfeeling like I fit in.
(06:32):
From then on, right in my highschool, in my so I got very,
very involved in lots of thingsbecause I figured if I could get
involved in things, then I hadcontrol over who I got to
interact with and I didn't haveto feel like I had to play at
recess because I was always busylike these other activities.
So I was like voted involved,which is a pathetic thing to be
(06:54):
voted, but um, that's where Ithink I started like I have to
overachieve, I have to do stuff,I have to be involved in all
these things.
So I think from there it wasjust do, do, do, do, do, and I
think that's where it kind ofstarted, I guess, to answer your
question.
Cassandra (07:12):
Wow, that's interesting.
So, in other words, you werelike all right, a little part of
that.
That sounds like you were kindof a people pleaser, oh yeah,
yeah, kind of a people pleaser,but you wanted to fit in, so you
did whatever it took to fit in.
If you didn't want to do thosethings and get involved, you
still got involved because thatwas the way that you felt that
(07:34):
you would be a part of something.
So now I have understandingabout resilience and don't tell
anybody about your weakness, andyou believe in yourself.
Don't tell anybody about yourweakness and you believe in
yourself.
Uh, so then for there, you, youhave a lot of um.
Your background is phenomenalto me.
You, you were in real estate.
You still in real estate.
(07:54):
You um started a school, isthat correct?
You started teaching.
You're a mom, you have sixchildren, um, but.
But yet you talked about umtrauma to triumph, and what I
didn't hear from there is thetrauma.
Charisse (08:15):
Tell us what the trauma was um, well, really
personally, as a kid and I againI didn't even realize this that
there was a neighbor that youknow, he was an older gentleman
and got a little too handsy witha lot of kids on my block, in
(08:36):
my neighborhood, and I neverrealized anything until seventh
grade when I started like havingthese flashbacks and things
that I was afraid to talk talkto boys, I was afraid to talk
like male teachers, and Icouldn't understand it.
And that's when I went andtalked with um well, I'm going
to leave those people out of itbecause they swore if I ever
brought in their personal life.
But I started having someconversations and realizing that
(09:00):
there were things in mychildhood that I didn't know,
and so I became very submissiveand very obedient, I think, to
men especially.
And so it wasn't, you know,when I graduated college and my
very first job out of college,tons of sexual harassment, like
you know, just things that Iwould never have expected, and I
(09:23):
didn't know how to handle itand I didn't know how to deal
with it, and so it was like that, some of the trauma there, that
being obedient and submissiveand doing what I'm told because
I had to.
In addition, like I love my daddearly, like I love my parents,
but my dad was a Vietnam vetand he came home to people
throwing things at him you knowfood and objects and he wasn
(09:45):
home to people throwing thingsat him.
You know food and objects andhe wasn't revered.
He was told how horrible a babykiller and different things,
even if he wasn't.
But so he came home to that andhe bottled all that up and the
things that he went through.
He had his own PTSD.
That again, at that time thatdidn't even that word didn't
even exist or those acronyms andso he grew up very strict and
(10:07):
so he had to do what my dad said.
And then it was a verydifficult childhood because of
some of the things, the dynamicswith some siblings as well and
so the relationship with mysiblings and my dad were not
positive.
And so my dad would come intomy room he only did this once
that I remember, but justbawling, saying sherry's, please
(10:27):
don't you know, like your, yoursisters, please don't you know.
And yeah, and not that mysisters would do anything bad,
um, they're just difficultbecause of their own issues as
well, and so it wasn't until acouple years ago that my dad
actually approached all four ofus siblings or children and said
I am going to go to the VA Likehe would never ask for help.
(10:49):
And finally we had to writeimpact statements and again it
didn't really occur to me theissues and things that happened
in my life that were impacted bymy childhood, and so those are
the traumas, those are theicebergs that we all have,
icebergs from a little sixthgrade playground.
How would that have impacted meto where I don't want to open
(11:12):
up to people?
I started taking an inventoryand it wasn't until I got
divorced that I realized I gotsome work to do on myself,
especially because I have abunch of kids.
So I think that those thingsare kind of how it started.
Cassandra (11:28):
Okay, okay.
Well, I appreciate you sharingthat, because I always said I
actually have a chapter in mybook in regards to how your
childhood has a lot to do withyour adulthood.
And another reason why I'm gladyou said it, because right now,
from trauma to triumph, you'vetriumphed.
I mean, we still have work inprogress.
But to let individuals know,regardless you know we of
(11:50):
rejected you and you know yourdivorce, your family, how you
grew up.
The trauma Did you always have,did you?
(12:13):
Well, let me ask you well,first of all, what was your
dream?
Did you have a dream back then?
Charisse (12:20):
So I loved kids.
I babysat a lot that's actuallyhow I paid for my college and
so I it's so funny before I evenknew how you had kids, I wanted
to have 22 mom.
That was my dream.
In addition to that, I realizedthat I actually wanted to be a
(12:52):
high school counselor, and thenI got to college and that
completely changed.
But I think growing up I knewthat I'd always wanted to help
people, and so, whatever it wasgoing to be, I wanted to help
people.
Cassandra (13:03):
OK, all right, because the title is how to
Achieve what you Only DreamAbout.
What you're saying is you didachieve that, I did, but yet, as
life happens, you had otherdreams, right, and so was your
dream ever being in real estate?
(13:24):
No, never.
Okay, why did you segue intoreal estate?
And you still do real estate,but that's not what you all,
that's not the only thing you do.
Charisse (13:38):
No, it's not.
So I graduated college, got ajob.
Like I told you, it wasn't apositive experience, so I left
that pretty abruptly and I gotthis interview to work at a
college I interviewed.
It was the temp agency, and soI was working in the bursar
office, which I didn't even knowwhat that was.
It's like okay.
And so I was there for like twomonths and I get I have some
(14:03):
people approach me and they said, sure, so you graduated in
sociology, right?
And I said, yeah, I did.
They're like have you everthought of teaching?
I said, well, I used to want tobe a high school counselor.
So, yeah, I've thought aboutteaching.
And they said, okay, well, howwould you feel about teaching
this class?
And I'm like, okay, great.
And they said, well, think thiswas like Friday night.
They said, think about over theweekend, let us know what you
think.
And I said, okay, mondaymorning they approached me like
(14:25):
11am.
They said, sure, I'll give it atry.
And they said, great, they putthe book down on my desk and
said you teach in two hours.
I'm 22.
And most of these people are menthat are much older than me,
and so I'm thinking, okay, nowwhat do I do, and so I had no
clue.
(14:45):
Like the teacher was firedabruptly and I had no clue what
they had learned, what theytalked about, there was nothing.
And so I just looked over thetopic, which I was very familiar
with, and said okay, and Iremember going to the door and I
said, right before I opened thedoor, a thought hit me.
I have two choices here.
I can walk in and say I have noidea, I've never taught before,
(15:05):
I have no idea what I'm doingand they didn't tell me anything
.
Or I can go in and I can sayhey guys, I'm here to teach
about this and let's go.
So of course we chose thelatter and, like by the and I
talk about this as well, but Ifeel like I might if I would
have lifted my arms, I wouldhave probably just had showering
sweat coming Cause I was sonervous.
(15:27):
Long story short, they hired meon full time and I taught for
seven years and then I becamethe dean and then I became the
director and then I opened up aschool, and so it was one of
those things where that was mydream.
Like I love changing lives, Ilove the impact and the way that
it went and so fast forward alot.
(15:49):
Some things happened, um, and Igot to be a stay at home mom.
I got remarried, I went througha divorce and then, a couple of
years later, I ended up findingmy current husband and and so I
got to be a stay at home mom,but we were on food stamps
because I chose to stay home andso it was very short stint but,
like because of a family memberand a best friend, we were
(16:11):
$400,000 in the hole because wehad lent them some money.
So we were in a really bad spotIn real estate.
We started flipping homes and Irealized that I'd get my
license, and so I got my licenseand realized very quickly that
we could do really well that way.
So I love it because for me,you're educating people on one
of the biggest financialdecisions of their life and help
(16:33):
them not screw that up.
That's how I got into realestate.
Cassandra (16:37):
Okay.
Well, how do you balanceentrepreneurship and motherhood?
How do you do that?
Charisse (16:51):
You don't balance.
Okay, you know.
Let's be honest, I feel veryoff a lot, and so I try now to
do my real estate during thetimes that my children are gone
or like at school.
So I've been doing a lot more.
Where here's, my working hoursis during school.
I hate not being home with themnow when they get home from
(17:11):
school.
So I'm trying to do that.
It's not always successful, andthen my husband is home at
night.
He can be with them so I can goand show homes at night, and so
there's not a balance.
I'm starting to have that guiltmom feeling again, where I
realize I'm out of whack, thatit is taking way too much time
because it is the season rightnow, but my kids are very
(17:34):
involved in it as well.
Open houses I have four olderkids.
All of them have had their turndoing open houses.
Oh, okay, so that I can be homewith the younger ones as well.
Cassandra (17:45):
Wow.
So you engage your kids intowhat you do.
They're all very involved,right?
But, quite frankly, you've notreally overcome it, right?
And what are you going to say?
Charisse (17:59):
no, I think, um, as an entrepreneur, we can always say
balance, but life isn't abalance, it's a juggle.
This falls in the air.
My mom just came to stay withus.
Um, we went and did a motherdaughter thing for the first
time ever and it was crazy, andI remember going like this, you
know, because there's all theseballs up in the air and I'm like
(18:19):
they're starting to fall.
They're starting to fall and Ithink sometimes you know it's
great and everything just goesright in line and other times it
doesn't.
But I think for me it's thecommunication and relationship I
have that I really do try toseek out my children at least 20
minutes a day or something, orcall if they don't live with me,
(18:39):
to create that relationship andso being a mom is very
important and them knowing how Ifeel, what I want, and helping
them realize that they canachieve anything they want and
they don't need to settle.
That's, I think, my drivingforce, that's my why, for what I
do, I want to be for them.
Cassandra (18:58):
OK, so because the title is how to achieve what you
only dream about.
What do you dream about now?
Charisse (19:07):
So I dream about honestly being on stage and
impacting other people, becausethat message is really my
message.
I'll never forget the veryfirst time I was pregnant with
my second child.
She would be my number three,though, because I had twins and
I didn't know I was pregnant.
And so I was at a collegegraduation with all my students
(19:30):
and I had had some of them fortwo years, some of them for four
years, and I remember themwalking across the graduation
stage and I remember therelationships I had with these
that they told me their storiesof they're the first to ever
graduate.
They're the first to evergraduate high school.
They're the first to they weretold that they're dumb or stupid
.
They'll never amount toanything by their teachers, by
their parents, by their family,it doesn't matter, mom, they're
(19:51):
stupid, they'll never amount toanything by their teachers, by
their parents, by their family,it doesn't matter.
And to watch them walk acrossthat stage and to hear the
people that for two years theytold me were their biggest
naysayers, to hear those peoplecheer for them yeah, life
changing.
So for me it was.
My mission is to help peoplerealize they can do whatever
(20:12):
they've put their mind to it,that, if they really do want to
do it, they're the only peoplein their way, and that they
should never listen to thosenaysayers Like I had one.
I had it, I, my twins werethree.
They just well, they, yeah,they just turned three.
But I, with my second one, a lothappened with that second one
(20:33):
that I remember coming back.
I decided to take the fullmaternity leave.
So I was gone for three monthsand like the week after I came
back, a new Dean he comes in,did not like women and he said I
remember him turning his chairaround with this smug look on
his face.
He's like guess what, charisse?
You're no longer going to havea job after this semester.
(20:55):
And I go what?
And he goes yeah, you don'thave a master's degree, so you
know you're out of a job.
And I said that's not true.
And he goes nope, it's true.
Accreditation has changed andwe have to we're just going to
have to let you go.
And so I immediately walked out, called headquarters and said
is this true?
They're like no, charisse, he'sjust.
(21:15):
You know, he wasn't the Deanvery long.
But I said I will never letthat be an excuse.
And so my, my twins were three,my baby was three months old.
I enrolled in a master's degreeprogram that day and I started
the following week and I took atwo month or two year program
into 15 months because I wantsomebody that's in working full
(21:37):
time, because my my ex would not, and so I, somebody very, very
dear to me, guilted me all thetime that I was being selfish
that I wasn't that I?
you know how dare I?
I, I don't need a master'sdegree and different things.
And so because of that, um, Ijust said no, and when I got
that degree, fast-tracked it Iit literally doubled my income.
(22:01):
I was able to become a dean at adifferent school so it changed
my family and had I listened tothat person, um, I I would.
I don't know where I'd be todaybecause of it.
But it's those types of thingsthat, if you really want to
achieve it like I had three kidsunder the age of three working
full time and going to schooldouble full time Cause I doubled
(22:24):
it up, and so it's you can dowhatever you want.
Cassandra (22:29):
Right Resilient.
That's one of yourcharacteristics, girl.
That's powerful.
Now you want to speak and Ibelieve when you wrote your book
the Iceberg let me see it'stitled.
What's the name of it?
Flipping the Iceberg, yep Right.
(22:55):
What triggered you to writethat book?
Charisse (22:57):
my kids and what I had gone through.
Uh, when I left my my thenhusband, my grandma thought it
was all my fault and told me, ifI would just quit my job, my ex
would step up.
And I'm like grandma, if I didthat, we would be homeless.
And it was probably two yearsafter, afterwards, that she came
(23:21):
to me and apologized and saidcharisse, I'm sorry, I had no
idea.
And I said, grandma, I know, Iknow, because he comes across as
this great person and we have agreat relationship to this day.
We have a great relationship tothis day.
We have a great relationshipabove the surface.
If we go lower than that, um,it's not a good thing, and so I
think, when people look atsomebody, if they look at you,
(23:41):
they look at me and they, theycan think whatever they want and
they make an assumption, butthere is a real person
underneath that surface and withan iceberg, 10% above the water
, 90% below.
So if you can flip it, now youget to person, and that's always
been like my mission the kidsthat were bullied in school.
Those are the people that I wasdrawn to, because I feel that
(24:04):
and to try to understand whythey do what they do which is
why I have a degree in sociologyto try to understand humans and
society and what, what gets youto be who you are.
And so with an iceberg andflipping it, first of all we
have our own trauma, those areour icebergs, so that affects
our relationship.
So if we can figure out whatthose are and heal ourselves
(24:27):
from it so we can make healthydecisions, and then there, once
we find the person that we wantto marry, that we can now flip
that iceberg and really get toknow who they are.
Before you say I do Because Italk about it, I call, my first
husband was Barbie's Ken.
Like he looked the part, he waseverything, and on my little
(24:48):
checklist that I wrote yes, hefit, he checked all those boxes,
but, uh, the person he was andhe was dealing with his own
demons, as was I.
And so I think had we done alittle more research and talked
to each other, like what I writeabout the book, we probably
would have gotten married.
Cassandra (25:09):
Okay, your checklist.
Let's talk about your checklist.
And you also do work aroundrelationships.
And let's say you're on stage.
What would you talk about?
What's your dream talk?
What would you talk about?
Charisse (25:33):
dream talk, and what would you talk about?
Yeah, no, that's beautiful.
There's two that.
The first one is really, again,achieving your dreams.
Like what?
What is your purpose?
What is your passion?
What is that little thing down?
Because I believe we all have acalling in our lives, that we
were put on this earth toaccomplish something, and it
could be more than just onething.
But we all have differenttalents for a reason, and so, if
we can figure out what thosetalents are and what, what is
(25:55):
your little intuition tellingyou that you should be doing
with your life?
And are you achieving, are youliving up to your potential?
That's the other thing is whatis your potential?
And helping people with that,and so that's like live your
potential and don't let anybodystop you.
So that would be one of them.
The other one is making surethat you don't feel trapped.
(26:18):
You know, do you feel stuck?
Do you feel like you are in aplace that you feel like you
can't get out of, whether thatbe a job, whether that be a
career, that, whether, which isthe same thing whether that be a
relationship, and so how do wework through that to be able?
to live our dream.
Cassandra (26:35):
Okay, many of my listeners that's what I would
call the purpose of is your way,in your way, because they're
stuck, they're trapped,individuals that also there's
another side is really fixatedon their purpose.
I say that because I wasfixated.
(26:56):
You know, like what is mypurpose.
You know, and I'm so hung up onpurpose I don't really get a
whole lot done because I'mtrying to figure out what my
purpose is.
So how do you guide yourclients in discovering their
purpose?
Charisse (27:13):
That is a great thing, which I actually even struggled
with for about three yearsbecause I was the same Like.
But I think I should do this,but I'm drawn to be doing this
and my advice would be let'sstart, ok.
So what are you doing right now?
And like, let's just start onwhat is it?
What can you do right now tohelp you take that step to the
(27:34):
next?
Because for me, it was like Iwould have never thought my
podcast Unbreakable Mompreneursand my book Flipping the Iceberg
and Real Estate like what inthe heck?
How do those intertwine?
And so when I finally sat downand went, oh okay, I see an
underlying message.
And so what are you doing inyour life that you enjoy, that
(27:57):
you can take a baby step withright now?
And I'm not saying quit yourjob because you hate it, and now
let's go become an entrepreneur.
You can do both things at thesame time.
Let's put this on the side andlet's take baby steps and as we
start to grow this and it'sstarting to take off.
Now do you need to putfull-time effort into this or
(28:18):
not?
You know, five hours a week, 10hours, 20.
And then eventually, yes, youcan jump off the cliff and go
full-time, but you don't have to.
Cassandra (28:27):
Okay, because I think you know somebody.
My coach told me something theother day and I'm like but I'm
just so overwhelmed.
You know I'm doing this and I'mdoing that and when you get
overwhelmed you don't getanything done.
Yeah, and she said you'reoverwhelmed because you're not
prioritizing Right.
What do you mean?
(28:47):
I'm not prioritizing?
You mean I'm not prioritized.
And you know there's certainthings and stages in life that
you, for example, if your kidsare young, you prioritize your
kids first.
You know, if that's the case,you can't do it all exactly.
Yeah, so my listeners arestruggling with.
(29:08):
Okay, I have to keep working, Ihave kids, but what I want to
do is start a podcast and basedon that, then you start thinking
but how am I going to do that?
And I always tell people youcan't do it by yourself.
You know, if you got to get acoach or somebody that you
admire, you know that you cantalk to them about it because
(29:30):
that's going to help them start.
That's like an accountabilitypartner.
So I just you know.
So when you talk about yourdream now, your dream now is to
(29:51):
be on stage.
You know to talk to.
You have two dreams actuallylive your potential and not not
feeling trapped.
How would you and I like thefact that you talked about that
people that want to do thingsbut they feel trapped how would
(30:12):
you help them to move forward?
Charisse (30:15):
Yeah, you mentioned a coach and I remember somebody I
hired.
I went on a spending spree, Ishould say for about three years
, and anybody that I felt couldhelp me I threw money at them,
like the amount of money that Ispent was ridiculous and
unnecessary, because I got intoa point where I can I can have
(30:37):
five different coaches all atthe same time.
No, you can't, you absolutelycannot, like pick one go fully
in like, jump in with all feet,so get a coach.
That's the thing I love that.
You said Definitely need to geta coach and decide.
So my coach, one of them.
He said you're having a hardtime, all of you guys, you're
wasting time.
Just decide right.
(30:58):
Just decide on one thing.
And the third talk I would talkabout is seasons.
I did actually give a speechabout that once to a group of
people, that to everything thereis a season and a time for
every purpose.
You know I think it was in theBible that talks about that and
we do have seasons in our lifeand you need to be patient and
(31:19):
you need to enjoy those seasons.
With my kids, when they werelittle babies, I even have a
picture.
I sat there for hours juststaring at my baby because it I
didn't think I'd be able to haveher, and so because of that,
you have to enjoy the time thatyou have.
And if you're constantlylooking at well, I can't wait
(31:42):
until and I can't wait until,and you're looking towards the
future and you're forgettingabout the here and now, then
you're missing the whole purposeof life.
Cassandra (31:52):
Exactly.
Charisse (31:53):
Enjoy the journey, and so people that are struggling
it's get a coach.
But I want you to be very, verystrategic, because there's a
lot of people out there that say, pay me $25,000 and I will blah
, it's not $25,000.
And you need to make sure thatperson is experiencing what
they're teaching and successful,and so you need to do your
research and maybe it's likeYouTube university, right,
(32:17):
there's a lot of free stuff outthere right now.
When I did my real estateinvesting, I had learned for a
year and a half, cause I was astay at home mom at that point,
and so for a year and a half, Ijust sucked up as much
information as I could.
And then I went to one meetingand they said stop, just go do
it.
And so I drove on my first flipand that's when my life changed
(32:40):
, and so I did it.
I took a step, and so that'swhere you are is.
Where do you want to be?
Where are your goals?
What do you want to accomplish?
And now let's back, let'sbacktracks.
How many, how many calls do youneed to make?
How many do you want toaccomplish?
And now let's back, let'sbacktrack.
How many, how many calls do youneed to make how many like?
Do you need to send out mailers?
Do you need to do like for me,direct mail?
Like different things, there'sdifferent steps.
So what can we focus on?
(33:01):
And so, and then, the 12 weekyear is a beautiful book.
Let's pick three things for 12weeks and we're going to focus
on those.
Stop overwhelming yourself.
Just here's your baby step.
Here's your baby.
Here's your baby step.
Cassandra (33:16):
Right, make a decision and act on it.
And as we're talking, we'retalking about for me when it's
time.
But I always say, when God sayswell done my good and faithful
servant, and it's time for me togo, I don't want any regrets.
You know, as you indicated thethings that were in my heart
(33:38):
that I want to do, I don't wantto.
I'm not going to say at the endI wish I didn't work so hard.
You know.
I'm going to say I didn'tfulfill my purpose.
I always wanted to write a book.
I never did that.
And I always wanted to write abook.
I never did that.
And I always wanted to speak onstages and I never did that.
Because you never did it, it'snobody else's fault, but you.
So I, like I, would highlyrecommend individuals get your
(34:05):
book and please tell them aboutthe next book that you started.
Charisse (34:07):
Yeah, so the next one is flipping the iceberg after
the I do.
So if you end up, you're marriedright, and I didn't get to work
with you before that because Iwasn't around which that's the
other thing I want our listenersto really think about is by you
not doing what God's purposefor you is.
Here you're, you're thosepeople are waiting for you and
you're missing out on theopportunity to help them change
(34:29):
their lives, to become thepeople that they are supposed to
become.
So if you're waiting to launch,just know that, like for me,
it's how many marriages arefalling apart right now because
I haven't written this book andI'm not saying I'm going to save
them.
That's not what I'm saying.
But so the next book is calledFlipping the Iceberg After the I
Do, and so it's from anyone,from newlyweds like oh my gosh,
(34:51):
we just got married.
We don't even know each othertoo, the nearly deads, I don't
know how to say it but wherethey've been married for a very,
very long time and they've losttouch with each other, and how
can they reconnect?
Cassandra (35:04):
That's good.
That sounds like anotherpodcast, because relationships
are very critical in our lives,you know, and unfortunately,
listeners, our time is runningout and perhaps I'll have
Sharice back on and we'll justtalk about relationships,
because I don't know who wouldnot want to hear about
(35:25):
relationships.
Relationships neverunderestimate the value of
relationships and the mostimportant one is in the event
you decide to get married.
It has to be kind of right on,you know.
So yeah, so, therese, I knowtime has closed.
Is there anything?
(35:46):
Well, let me ask you, how dopeople get in touch with you?
Charisse (35:50):
Yeah, so my current website, sharicewalkercom under
construction.
Hopefully it'll be done.
Unbreakable Entrepreneurs Ifyou go there you can find
whether it be relationships,real estate or business.
I can help you with any ofthose if you want to find the
book as well.
Cassandra (36:07):
Okay, well, I want to thank you for your time, your
insights into harnessingresilience and balancing life
demands and pursuing dreams, sohopefully you are inspired by
your personal barriers and youachieve personal and your
professional goals, my listeners.
Again, therese, thank you somuch.
(36:28):
I appreciate your insight and Ilove the characteristics that
you have, and all that you'vebeen through was for a reason
and I just, I just cherish that,because all we go through is
for a reason.
It's a lesson and let's use it.
So I say no test, no testimony.
So again, thanks so much, godbless you, god bless my, my
(36:52):
listeners.
And, as I say, thanks so much,god bless you, god bless my
listeners and as I say bye fornow.
out there to all of my listeners and I'd like to
welcome you to Is your Way Inyour Way?
And I am your host.
My name is CassandraCrawley-Mayo.
And, for those new listenersout there, not only is my
podcast titled Is your Way Inyour Way, but so is my book.
So this podcast is forindividuals who are in their way
(00:22):
.
Now you're probably thinkingabout what does that mean?
But let me ask you this.
Before that, let me tell youthis we talk about topics
related to personal development,personal improvement, even some
business development andbusiness improvement, and they
will enable you to do someself-reflection, and my prayer
(00:46):
has always been it'll besomething that you have heard,
that will enable you to pivotand say you know what, based on
this conversation today, I amgoing to start acting on what I
used to dream about and I'mgoing to fulfill my dream.
So let me ask you, before wedive into today's powerful
(01:07):
episode, I want to ask yousomething Are you in your own
way?
I already asked, but I'm goingto say it again Are you in your
own way?
If you ever questioned yourworth, doubted your purpose or
felt stuck in fear, this podcastis your space to break free Now
, which is interesting to me is76% of people report feeling
(01:32):
stuck either with their career,their relationships, their
health or sense of purpose.
Are you in that 76%?
So, if you're listening, today,the show where faith meets
freedom and purpose gets real.
We're going to talk to a womanwho's walked through struggle
(01:52):
and came out soaring.
So now let's get into it, and Iwant to introduce you to
Cherise Walker.
How are you doing, Cherise?
Charisse (02:02):
I'm doing so fantastic .
Thank you for having me.
Cassandra (02:06):
Oh yeah, I'm so glad to have you.
I can't wait to dive into thisconversation.
First of all, let me let myguests know the title of our
podcast today is how to Achievewhat you Only Dreamed About.
Now, before we ask and delveinto these questions and,
(02:27):
charisse, I want to know am Ipronouncing your name correctly,
charisse Walker?
Yep, okay, Charisse, all right,I'd like to read your bio to my
listeners, because they'regoing to want to know what's
qualifying you to achieve whatyou only dream about.
So let me just tell them alittle bit of your background.
Charisse Walker is a definitionof resilience in motion, from
(02:51):
food stamps to financial freedom.
She's a mother, a mogul andmotivator who turned adversity
into a legacy.
As an author, emmy-nominated TVhost, real estate powerhouse
and founder of the UnbreakableMompreneur podcast, she empowers
(03:12):
women to rewrite their storiesboldly, unapologetically and on
their own terms.
Whether she's coachingentrepreneurs, speaking on
stages of guiding couplestowards a lasting relationship,
charisse proves that what'sbeneath the surface is often
where the breakthrough begins.
(03:33):
I like that Author of Flippingthe Iceberg, and she's starting
on another book and we'll talkabout that.
And she's discovering andcelebrating what lies beneath
the surface in yourrelationships.
So we're going to find out.
How can you achieve what youonly dream about?
(03:53):
Now?
I already mentioned Charisse,how, number one, what my
understanding of what I've readand what I've observed.
You're very stubborn.
Understanding of what I've readand what I've observed.
You're very stubborn and youare.
You're resilient and you alwayssay don't expose your weakness.
(04:14):
For example, one of the thingsshe said is when a person gets
on stage and they want to speak,don't get on stage and say, oh,
I'm so nervous because this ismy first time being on stage.
She said don't ever expose yourweakness.
Don't believe that and startbelieving in yourself and what's
important.
And with all that said, yourcharacteristics, charisse, were
(04:37):
all those characteristics I wantyou to share with the audience,
my listeners.
Charisse (04:46):
What was your backstory for you to have these
type of characteristics?
Yeah, that's a long answer.
I think that I think back toand this is really pathetic and
when I was in sixth grade, Iremember going out on recess, so
school had just restarted andfifth grade was fantastic.
(05:07):
So, to even go a little more,my parents moved.
We moved a lot when I was a kid, and so I started elementary
school in Utah and then I wentto California and so we found
out that my birth date, like it,fell at a certain time where I
had to wait to start in Utah butin California I could have
(05:28):
started a year earlier.
So I don't remember thisbecause I this didn't happen
later, but I ended up skippingfourth grade.
Long story short, went fromthird grade to fifth grade, and
so I showed up in fifth gradeand all of a sudden everyone's
like well, why are you in thisgrade?
Why aren't you in fourth?
So I had to work really hardbecause I didn't realize in
(05:50):
fourth grade, that's when youlearned long division, that's
when you learned history, that'swhen I mean those types of
things.
So basically having to learntwo years worth of stuff.
And so my class was phenomenal,my classmates, my teacher was
phenomenal, my classmates, myteacher was phenomenal, probably
my favorite teacher ever in theworld.
And so then I get to sixthgrade and expecting that same
(06:10):
type of thing, like it's all thesame people but I was shunned.
I don't know what happened andso you remember, like recess and
I talk about this in my bookthat I went up and asked two
girls if I could play and theylike looked at me and they just
laughed and kind of turned andthat was my first time ever
experiencing rejection, neverfeeling like I fit in.
(06:32):
From then on, right in my highschool, in my so I got very,
very involved in lots of thingsbecause I figured if I could get
involved in things, then I hadcontrol over who I got to
interact with and I didn't haveto feel like I had to play at
recess because I was always busylike these other activities.
So I was like voted involved,which is a pathetic thing to be
(06:54):
voted, but um, that's where Ithink I started like I have to
overachieve, I have to do stuff,I have to be involved in all
these things.
So I think from there it wasjust do, do, do, do, do, and I
think that's where it kind ofstarted, I guess, to answer your
question.
Cassandra (07:12):
Wow, that's interesting.
So, in other words, you werelike all right, a little part of
that.
That sounds like you were kindof a people pleaser, oh yeah,
yeah, kind of a people pleaser,but you wanted to fit in, so you
did whatever it took to fit in.
If you didn't want to do thosethings and get involved, you
still got involved because thatwas the way that you felt that
(07:34):
you would be a part of something.
So now I have understandingabout resilience and don't tell
anybody about your weakness, andyou believe in yourself.
Don't tell anybody about yourweakness and you believe in
yourself.
Uh, so then for there, you, youhave a lot of um.
Your background is phenomenalto me.
You, you were in real estate.
You still in real estate.
(07:54):
You um started a school, isthat correct?
You started teaching.
You're a mom, you have sixchildren, um, but.
But yet you talked about umtrauma to triumph, and what I
didn't hear from there is thetrauma.
Charisse (08:15):
Tell us what the trauma was um, well, really
personally, as a kid and I againI didn't even realize this that
there was a neighbor that youknow, he was an older gentleman
and got a little too handsy witha lot of kids on my block, in
(08:36):
my neighborhood, and I neverrealized anything until seventh
grade when I started like havingthese flashbacks and things
that I was afraid to talk talkto boys, I was afraid to talk
like male teachers, and Icouldn't understand it.
And that's when I went andtalked with um well, I'm going
to leave those people out of itbecause they swore if I ever
brought in their personal life.
But I started having someconversations and realizing that
(09:00):
there were things in mychildhood that I didn't know,
and so I became very submissiveand very obedient, I think, to
men especially.
And so it wasn't, you know,when I graduated college and my
very first job out of college,tons of sexual harassment, like
you know, just things that Iwould never have expected, and I
(09:23):
didn't know how to handle itand I didn't know how to deal
with it, and so it was like that, some of the trauma there, that
being obedient and submissiveand doing what I'm told because
I had to.
In addition, like I love my daddearly, like I love my parents,
but my dad was a Vietnam vetand he came home to people
throwing things at him you knowfood and objects and he wasn
(09:45):
home to people throwing thingsat him.
You know food and objects andhe wasn't revered.
He was told how horrible a babykiller and different things,
even if he wasn't.
But so he came home to that andhe bottled all that up and the
things that he went through.
He had his own PTSD.
That again, at that time thatdidn't even that word didn't
even exist or those acronyms andso he grew up very strict and
(10:07):
so he had to do what my dad said.
And then it was a verydifficult childhood because of
some of the things, the dynamicswith some siblings as well and
so the relationship with mysiblings and my dad were not
positive.
And so my dad would come intomy room he only did this once
that I remember, but justbawling, saying sherry's, please
(10:27):
don't you know, like your, yoursisters, please don't you know.
And yeah, and not that mysisters would do anything bad,
um, they're just difficultbecause of their own issues as
well, and so it wasn't until acouple years ago that my dad
actually approached all four ofus siblings or children and said
I am going to go to the VA Likehe would never ask for help.
(10:49):
And finally we had to writeimpact statements and again it
didn't really occur to me theissues and things that happened
in my life that were impacted bymy childhood, and so those are
the traumas, those are theicebergs that we all have,
icebergs from a little sixthgrade playground.
How would that have impacted meto where I don't want to open
(11:12):
up to people?
I started taking an inventoryand it wasn't until I got
divorced that I realized I gotsome work to do on myself,
especially because I have abunch of kids.
So I think that those thingsare kind of how it started.
Cassandra (11:28):
Okay, okay.
Well, I appreciate you sharingthat, because I always said I
actually have a chapter in mybook in regards to how your
childhood has a lot to do withyour adulthood.
And another reason why I'm gladyou said it, because right now,
from trauma to triumph, you'vetriumphed.
I mean, we still have work inprogress.
But to let individuals know,regardless you know we of
(11:50):
rejected you and you know yourdivorce, your family, how you
grew up.
The trauma Did you always have,did you?
(12:13):
Well, let me ask you well,first of all, what was your
dream?
Did you have a dream back then?
Charisse (12:20):
So I loved kids.
I babysat a lot that's actuallyhow I paid for my college and
so I it's so funny before I evenknew how you had kids, I wanted
to have 22 mom.
That was my dream.
In addition to that, I realizedthat I actually wanted to be a
(12:52):
high school counselor, and thenI got to college and that
completely changed.
But I think growing up I knewthat I'd always wanted to help
people, and so, whatever it wasgoing to be, I wanted to help
people.
Cassandra (13:03):
OK, all right, because the title is how to
Achieve what you Only DreamAbout.
What you're saying is you didachieve that, I did, but yet, as
life happens, you had otherdreams, right, and so was your
dream ever being in real estate?
(13:24):
No, never.
Okay, why did you segue intoreal estate?
And you still do real estate,but that's not what you all,
that's not the only thing you do.
Charisse (13:38):
No, it's not.
So I graduated college, got ajob.
Like I told you, it wasn't apositive experience, so I left
that pretty abruptly and I gotthis interview to work at a
college I interviewed.
It was the temp agency, and soI was working in the bursar
office, which I didn't even knowwhat that was.
It's like okay.
And so I was there for like twomonths and I get I have some
(14:03):
people approach me and they said, sure, so you graduated in
sociology, right?
And I said, yeah, I did.
They're like have you everthought of teaching?
I said, well, I used to want tobe a high school counselor.
So, yeah, I've thought aboutteaching.
And they said, okay, well, howwould you feel about teaching
this class?
And I'm like, okay, great.
And they said, well, think thiswas like Friday night.
They said, think about over theweekend, let us know what you
think.
And I said, okay, mondaymorning they approached me like
(14:25):
11am.
They said, sure, I'll give it atry.
And they said, great, they putthe book down on my desk and
said you teach in two hours.
I'm 22.
And most of these people are menthat are much older than me,
and so I'm thinking, okay, nowwhat do I do, and so I had no
clue.
(14:45):
Like the teacher was firedabruptly and I had no clue what
they had learned, what theytalked about, there was nothing.
And so I just looked over thetopic, which I was very familiar
with, and said okay, and Iremember going to the door and I
said, right before I opened thedoor, a thought hit me.
I have two choices here.
I can walk in and say I have noidea, I've never taught before,
(15:05):
I have no idea what I'm doingand they didn't tell me anything
.
Or I can go in and I can sayhey guys, I'm here to teach
about this and let's go.
So of course we chose thelatter and, like by the and I
talk about this as well, but Ifeel like I might if I would
have lifted my arms, I wouldhave probably just had showering
sweat coming Cause I was sonervous.
(15:27):
Long story short, they hired meon full time and I taught for
seven years and then I becamethe dean and then I became the
director and then I opened up aschool, and so it was one of
those things where that was mydream.
Like I love changing lives, Ilove the impact and the way that
it went and so fast forward alot.
(15:49):
Some things happened, um, and Igot to be a stay at home mom.
I got remarried, I went througha divorce and then, a couple of
years later, I ended up findingmy current husband and and so I
got to be a stay at home mom,but we were on food stamps
because I chose to stay home andso it was very short stint but,
like because of a family memberand a best friend, we were
(16:11):
$400,000 in the hole because wehad lent them some money.
So we were in a really bad spotIn real estate.
We started flipping homes and Irealized that I'd get my
license, and so I got my licenseand realized very quickly that
we could do really well that way.
So I love it because for me,you're educating people on one
of the biggest financialdecisions of their life and help
(16:33):
them not screw that up.
That's how I got into realestate.
Cassandra (16:37):
Okay.
Well, how do you balanceentrepreneurship and motherhood?
How do you do that?
Charisse (16:51):
You don't balance.
Okay, you know.
Let's be honest, I feel veryoff a lot, and so I try now to
do my real estate during thetimes that my children are gone
or like at school.
So I've been doing a lot more.
Where here's, my working hoursis during school.
I hate not being home with themnow when they get home from
(17:11):
school.
So I'm trying to do that.
It's not always successful, andthen my husband is home at
night.
He can be with them so I can goand show homes at night, and so
there's not a balance.
I'm starting to have that guiltmom feeling again, where I
realize I'm out of whack, thatit is taking way too much time
because it is the season rightnow, but my kids are very
(17:34):
involved in it as well.
Open houses I have four olderkids.
All of them have had their turndoing open houses.
Oh, okay, so that I can be homewith the younger ones as well.
Cassandra (17:45):
Wow.
So you engage your kids intowhat you do.
They're all very involved,right?
But, quite frankly, you've notreally overcome it, right?
And what are you going to say?
Charisse (17:59):
no, I think, um, as an entrepreneur, we can always say
balance, but life isn't abalance, it's a juggle.
This falls in the air.
My mom just came to stay withus.
Um, we went and did a motherdaughter thing for the first
time ever and it was crazy, andI remember going like this, you
know, because there's all theseballs up in the air and I'm like
(18:19):
they're starting to fall.
They're starting to fall and Ithink sometimes you know it's
great and everything just goesright in line and other times it
doesn't.
But I think for me it's thecommunication and relationship I
have that I really do try toseek out my children at least 20
minutes a day or something, orcall if they don't live with me,
(18:39):
to create that relationship andso being a mom is very
important and them knowing how Ifeel, what I want, and helping
them realize that they canachieve anything they want and
they don't need to settle.
That's, I think, my drivingforce, that's my why, for what I
do, I want to be for them.
Cassandra (18:58):
OK, so because the title is how to achieve what you
only dream about.
What do you dream about now?
Charisse (19:07):
So I dream about honestly being on stage and
impacting other people, becausethat message is really my
message.
I'll never forget the veryfirst time I was pregnant with
my second child.
She would be my number three,though, because I had twins and
I didn't know I was pregnant.
And so I was at a collegegraduation with all my students
(19:30):
and I had had some of them fortwo years, some of them for four
years, and I remember themwalking across the graduation
stage and I remember therelationships I had with these
that they told me their storiesof they're the first to ever
graduate.
They're the first to evergraduate high school.
They're the first to they weretold that they're dumb or stupid
.
They'll never amount toanything by their teachers, by
their parents, by their family,it doesn't matter, mom, they're
(19:51):
stupid, they'll never amount toanything by their teachers, by
their parents, by their family,it doesn't matter.
And to watch them walk acrossthat stage and to hear the
people that for two years theytold me were their biggest
naysayers, to hear those peoplecheer for them yeah, life
changing.
So for me it was.
My mission is to help peoplerealize they can do whatever
(20:12):
they've put their mind to it,that, if they really do want to
do it, they're the only peoplein their way, and that they
should never listen to thosenaysayers Like I had one.
I had it, I, my twins werethree.
They just well, they, yeah,they just turned three.
But I, with my second one, a lothappened with that second one
(20:33):
that I remember coming back.
I decided to take the fullmaternity leave.
So I was gone for three monthsand like the week after I came
back, a new Dean he comes in,did not like women and he said I
remember him turning his chairaround with this smug look on
his face.
He's like guess what, charisse?
You're no longer going to havea job after this semester.
(20:55):
And I go what?
And he goes yeah, you don'thave a master's degree, so you
know you're out of a job.
And I said that's not true.
And he goes nope, it's true.
Accreditation has changed andwe have to we're just going to
have to let you go.
And so I immediately walked out, called headquarters and said
is this true?
They're like no, charisse, he'sjust.
(21:15):
You know, he wasn't the Deanvery long.
But I said I will never letthat be an excuse.
And so my, my twins were three,my baby was three months old.
I enrolled in a master's degreeprogram that day and I started
the following week and I took atwo month or two year program
into 15 months because I wantsomebody that's in working full
(21:37):
time, because my my ex would not, and so I, somebody very, very
dear to me, guilted me all thetime that I was being selfish
that I wasn't that I?
you know how dare I?
I, I don't need a master'sdegree and different things.
And so because of that, um, Ijust said no, and when I got
that degree, fast-tracked it Iit literally doubled my income.
(22:01):
I was able to become a dean at adifferent school so it changed
my family and had I listened tothat person, um, I I would.
I don't know where I'd be todaybecause of it.
But it's those types of thingsthat, if you really want to
achieve it like I had three kidsunder the age of three working
full time and going to schooldouble full time Cause I doubled
(22:24):
it up, and so it's you can dowhatever you want.
Cassandra (22:29):
Right Resilient.
That's one of yourcharacteristics, girl.
That's powerful.
Now you want to speak and Ibelieve when you wrote your book
the Iceberg let me see it'stitled.
What's the name of it?
Flipping the Iceberg, yep Right.
(22:55):
What triggered you to writethat book?
Charisse (22:57):
my kids and what I had gone through.
Uh, when I left my my thenhusband, my grandma thought it
was all my fault and told me, ifI would just quit my job, my ex
would step up.
And I'm like grandma, if I didthat, we would be homeless.
And it was probably two yearsafter, afterwards, that she came
(23:21):
to me and apologized and saidcharisse, I'm sorry, I had no
idea.
And I said, grandma, I know, Iknow, because he comes across as
this great person and we have agreat relationship to this day.
We have a great relationship tothis day.
We have a great relationshipabove the surface.
If we go lower than that, um,it's not a good thing, and so I
think, when people look atsomebody, if they look at you,
(23:41):
they look at me and they, theycan think whatever they want and
they make an assumption, butthere is a real person
underneath that surface and withan iceberg, 10% above the water
, 90% below.
So if you can flip it, now youget to person, and that's always
been like my mission the kidsthat were bullied in school.
Those are the people that I wasdrawn to, because I feel that
(24:04):
and to try to understand whythey do what they do which is
why I have a degree in sociologyto try to understand humans and
society and what, what gets youto be who you are.
And so with an iceberg andflipping it, first of all we
have our own trauma, those areour icebergs, so that affects
our relationship.
So if we can figure out whatthose are and heal ourselves
(24:27):
from it so we can make healthydecisions, and then there, once
we find the person that we wantto marry, that we can now flip
that iceberg and really get toknow who they are.
Before you say I do Because Italk about it, I call, my first
husband was Barbie's Ken.
Like he looked the part, he waseverything, and on my little
(24:48):
checklist that I wrote yes, hefit, he checked all those boxes,
but, uh, the person he was andhe was dealing with his own
demons, as was I.
And so I think had we done alittle more research and talked
to each other, like what I writeabout the book, we probably
would have gotten married.
Cassandra (25:09):
Okay, your checklist.
Let's talk about your checklist.
And you also do work aroundrelationships.
And let's say you're on stage.
What would you talk about?
What's your dream talk?
What would you talk about?
Charisse (25:33):
dream talk, and what would you talk about?
Yeah, no, that's beautiful.
There's two that.
The first one is really, again,achieving your dreams.
Like what?
What is your purpose?
What is your passion?
What is that little thing down?
Because I believe we all have acalling in our lives, that we
were put on this earth toaccomplish something, and it
could be more than just onething.
But we all have differenttalents for a reason, and so, if
we can figure out what thosetalents are and what, what is
(25:55):
your little intuition tellingyou that you should be doing
with your life?
And are you achieving, are youliving up to your potential?
That's the other thing is whatis your potential?
And helping people with that,and so that's like live your
potential and don't let anybodystop you.
So that would be one of them.
The other one is making surethat you don't feel trapped.
(26:18):
You know, do you feel stuck?
Do you feel like you are in aplace that you feel like you
can't get out of, whether thatbe a job, whether that be a
career, that, whether, which isthe same thing whether that be a
relationship, and so how do wework through that to be able?
to live our dream.
Cassandra (26:35):
Okay, many of my listeners that's what I would
call the purpose of is your way,in your way, because they're
stuck, they're trapped,individuals that also there's
another side is really fixatedon their purpose.
I say that because I wasfixated.
(26:56):
You know, like what is mypurpose.
You know, and I'm so hung up onpurpose I don't really get a
whole lot done because I'mtrying to figure out what my
purpose is.
So how do you guide yourclients in discovering their
purpose?
Charisse (27:13):
That is a great thing, which I actually even struggled
with for about three yearsbecause I was the same Like.
But I think I should do this,but I'm drawn to be doing this
and my advice would be let'sstart, ok.
So what are you doing right now?
And like, let's just start onwhat is it?
What can you do right now tohelp you take that step to the
(27:34):
next?
Because for me, it was like Iwould have never thought my
podcast Unbreakable Mompreneursand my book Flipping the Iceberg
and Real Estate like what inthe heck?
How do those intertwine?
And so when I finally sat downand went, oh okay, I see an
underlying message.
And so what are you doing inyour life that you enjoy, that
(27:57):
you can take a baby step withright now?
And I'm not saying quit yourjob because you hate it, and now
let's go become an entrepreneur.
You can do both things at thesame time.
Let's put this on the side andlet's take baby steps and as we
start to grow this and it'sstarting to take off.
Now do you need to putfull-time effort into this or
(28:18):
not?
You know, five hours a week, 10hours, 20.
And then eventually, yes, youcan jump off the cliff and go
full-time, but you don't have to.
Cassandra (28:27):
Okay, because I think you know somebody.
My coach told me something theother day and I'm like but I'm
just so overwhelmed.
You know I'm doing this and I'mdoing that and when you get
overwhelmed you don't getanything done.
Yeah, and she said you'reoverwhelmed because you're not
prioritizing Right.
What do you mean?
(28:47):
I'm not prioritizing?
You mean I'm not prioritized.
And you know there's certainthings and stages in life that
you, for example, if your kidsare young, you prioritize your
kids first.
You know, if that's the case,you can't do it all exactly.
Yeah, so my listeners arestruggling with.
(29:08):
Okay, I have to keep working, Ihave kids, but what I want to
do is start a podcast and basedon that, then you start thinking
but how am I going to do that?
And I always tell people youcan't do it by yourself.
You know, if you got to get acoach or somebody that you
admire, you know that you cantalk to them about it because
(29:30):
that's going to help them start.
That's like an accountabilitypartner.
So I just you know.
So when you talk about yourdream now, your dream now is to
(29:51):
be on stage.
You know to talk to.
You have two dreams actuallylive your potential and not not
feeling trapped.
How would you and I like thefact that you talked about that
people that want to do thingsbut they feel trapped how would
(30:12):
you help them to move forward?
Charisse (30:15):
Yeah, you mentioned a coach and I remember somebody I
hired.
I went on a spending spree, Ishould say for about three years
, and anybody that I felt couldhelp me I threw money at them,
like the amount of money that Ispent was ridiculous and
unnecessary, because I got intoa point where I can I can have
(30:37):
five different coaches all atthe same time.
No, you can't, you absolutelycannot, like pick one go fully
in like, jump in with all feet,so get a coach.
That's the thing I love that.
You said Definitely need to geta coach and decide.
So my coach, one of them.
He said you're having a hardtime, all of you guys, you're
wasting time.
Just decide right.
(30:58):
Just decide on one thing.
And the third talk I would talkabout is seasons.
I did actually give a speechabout that once to a group of
people, that to everything thereis a season and a time for
every purpose.
You know I think it was in theBible that talks about that and
we do have seasons in our lifeand you need to be patient and
(31:19):
you need to enjoy those seasons.
With my kids, when they werelittle babies, I even have a
picture.
I sat there for hours juststaring at my baby because it I
didn't think I'd be able to haveher, and so because of that,
you have to enjoy the time thatyou have.
And if you're constantlylooking at well, I can't wait
(31:42):
until and I can't wait until,and you're looking towards the
future and you're forgettingabout the here and now, then
you're missing the whole purposeof life.
Cassandra (31:52):
Exactly.
Charisse (31:53):
Enjoy the journey, and so people that are struggling
it's get a coach.
But I want you to be very, verystrategic, because there's a
lot of people out there that say, pay me $25,000 and I will blah
, it's not $25,000.
And you need to make sure thatperson is experiencing what
they're teaching and successful,and so you need to do your
research and maybe it's likeYouTube university, right,
(32:17):
there's a lot of free stuff outthere right now.
When I did my real estateinvesting, I had learned for a
year and a half, cause I was astay at home mom at that point,
and so for a year and a half, Ijust sucked up as much
information as I could.
And then I went to one meetingand they said stop, just go do
it.
And so I drove on my first flipand that's when my life changed
(32:40):
, and so I did it.
I took a step, and so that'swhere you are is.
Where do you want to be?
Where are your goals?
What do you want to accomplish?
And now let's back, let'sbacktracks.
How many, how many calls do youneed to make?
How many do you want toaccomplish?
And now let's back, let'sbacktrack.
How many, how many calls do youneed to make how many like?
Do you need to send out mailers?
Do you need to do like for me,direct mail?
Like different things, there'sdifferent steps.
So what can we focus on?
(33:01):
And so, and then, the 12 weekyear is a beautiful book.
Let's pick three things for 12weeks and we're going to focus
on those.
Stop overwhelming yourself.
Just here's your baby step.
Here's your baby.
Here's your baby step.
Cassandra (33:16):
Right, make a decision and act on it.
And as we're talking, we'retalking about for me when it's
time.
But I always say, when God sayswell done my good and faithful
servant, and it's time for me togo, I don't want any regrets.
You know, as you indicated thethings that were in my heart
(33:38):
that I want to do, I don't wantto.
I'm not going to say at the endI wish I didn't work so hard.
You know.
I'm going to say I didn'tfulfill my purpose.
I always wanted to write a book.
I never did that.
And I always wanted to write abook.
I never did that.
And I always wanted to speak onstages and I never did that.
Because you never did it, it'snobody else's fault, but you.
So I, like I, would highlyrecommend individuals get your
(34:05):
book and please tell them aboutthe next book that you started.
Charisse (34:07):
Yeah, so the next one is flipping the iceberg after
the I do.
So if you end up, you're marriedright, and I didn't get to work
with you before that because Iwasn't around which that's the
other thing I want our listenersto really think about is by you
not doing what God's purposefor you is.
Here you're, you're thosepeople are waiting for you and
you're missing out on theopportunity to help them change
(34:29):
their lives, to become thepeople that they are supposed to
become.
So if you're waiting to launch,just know that, like for me,
it's how many marriages arefalling apart right now because
I haven't written this book andI'm not saying I'm going to save
them.
That's not what I'm saying.
But so the next book is calledFlipping the Iceberg After the I
Do, and so it's from anyone,from newlyweds like oh my gosh,
(34:51):
we just got married.
We don't even know each othertoo, the nearly deads, I don't
know how to say it but wherethey've been married for a very,
very long time and they've losttouch with each other, and how
can they reconnect?
Cassandra (35:04):
That's good.
That sounds like anotherpodcast, because relationships
are very critical in our lives,you know, and unfortunately,
listeners, our time is runningout and perhaps I'll have
Sharice back on and we'll justtalk about relationships,
because I don't know who wouldnot want to hear about
(35:25):
relationships.
Relationships neverunderestimate the value of
relationships and the mostimportant one is in the event
you decide to get married.
It has to be kind of right on,you know.
So yeah, so, therese, I knowtime has closed.
Is there anything?
(35:46):
Well, let me ask you, how dopeople get in touch with you?
Charisse (35:50):
Yeah, so my current website, sharicewalkercom under
construction.
Hopefully it'll be done.
Unbreakable Entrepreneurs Ifyou go there you can find
whether it be relationships,real estate or business.
I can help you with any ofthose if you want to find the
book as well.
Cassandra (36:07):
Okay, well, I want to thank you for your time, your
insights into harnessingresilience and balancing life
demands and pursuing dreams, sohopefully you are inspired by
your personal barriers and youachieve personal and your
professional goals, my listeners.
Again, therese, thank you somuch.
(36:28):
I appreciate your insight and Ilove the characteristics that
you have, and all that you'vebeen through was for a reason
and I just, I just cherish that,because all we go through is
for a reason.
It's a lesson and let's use it.
So I say no test, no testimony.
So again, thanks so much, godbless you, god bless my, my
(36:52):
listeners.
And, as I say, thanks so much,god bless you, god bless my
listeners and as I say bye fornow.
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